Best posts made by Seraphim73

@auspice said in MU Things I Love:

I don't think I'm a scary drunk.
I am a quiet drunk.

It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

@gryphter If I wanted to play a Wheel of Time game (and I do), I wouldn't want to play after the books, because that's not the Wheel of Time setting that I know and love -- it's radically different from the Wheel of Time. Heck, it doesn't even have the Light and Shadow war that drives... well... the entire series. There's a reason that the series ends at that point, everything after it is a very differnt story.

@sparks said in The Death Of Telnet: Is It Time To Face The Music?:

Moreover, people will not change from their current clients. I see people complain about how SimpleMU doesn't support https links and 256-color, but still refuse to change to Potato.

Hell, I'm still using zMUD. That's because I'm a stick-in-the-mud luddite grognard though. I'm sure that Blu will haul me over to Potato sooner or later. But yes, I'm part of the problem... I like what I like, and I want what I like to work with the new shininess -- even when it can't, because it hasn't been updated in a decade.

As @ThatGuyThere mentioned, I don't particularly want a bunch of images. I also don't really want to have to click on a button to page someone--it's much easier (for me) to keep my fingers on the keyboard. But a new player? Really shouldn't have to learn the 'page' command. It's archaic. It's arcane. It's a barrier to entry. If we want to gain new players, we grognards are going to have to be willing to change. If we don't want to gain new players? That's alright too, but MU*s will start to fade away, replaced by other forms of RP, because we're constantly losing players, and if we aren't gaining them to make up the numbers? Yeah... going away. That doesn't, of course, mean that you can't have a hell of a lot of fun on the way out.

I love the idea of a Rebels-era Star Wars game, and would love to play on one. Having been part of the last time one of these was attempted (Fires of Hope), I would agree with @Sparks and strongly, strongly urge anyone running a game like this to focus on one faction and really, really closely tie the PCs together. Characters on FoH started out very tightly focused on a single Rebel Cell and explicitly-linked Indies, but they spread out quite a bit through the brief life of the game.

As much as I would love to play the Imperial side of a Dark Times game, I think that you're going to want to focus both the playerbase and Staff attention on a single faction.

I also agree with @JillBioskop and @Sparks that FCs should be kept out as NPC quest-givers.

• General spelling and grammar are important to me, but neither has to be perfect. Just easy to read. Accents are part of this--as long as the accent is easy to read, I'm totally fine with it. As soon as it gets difficult, I want out.
• I'd like more than a line and a half of text, and less than two solid paragraphs, because I want enough to respond to, but I don't want to have to read a novel (and I want the opportunity for my character to butt in without negating a paragraph and a half of text).
• As long as the poses come regularly and don't take 20 minutes, I'm okay. I'd prefer 5-10 minutes between poses, but as long as the RP is good, I don't mind 15-20 (I'll just start playing an Xbox game that I can pause in the background). I also don't want a multi-person scene waiting on one person for 20 minutes every bloody round.
• Since I'm usually the person who posts the log, I love it when people put wiki codes in their poses, and I hate it when they put the -wrong- wiki codes in. Like, if you're going to italicize something, but only put a single slash instead of two? That's annoying. I also prefer things to be in a single paragraph unless it's multiple people acting (the PC and an NPC, or the PC and the environment, or whatever). %t annoys me.
• I like strict turns up to about 4 people in a scene. From 5+, I want the 3-pose rule, with the addendum that you never pose before anyone you directly posed at has a chance to respond.
• Headposing is alright as long as it's things that my character could reasonably catch: if you're posing about how this person annoys you, but in the actual descriptive part of the pose, your character is smiling and happy, screw you. If you're posing about how this person annoys you, and in the actual descriptive part of the pose, you mention how your character is smothering that annoyance and forcing a smile, you're awesome.

The most important one for me is pose detail. I want to get something back from at least every other pose. Okay, I lied, the most important one is being easy to understand from a spelling and grammar perspective. But to me, in a text-only hobby, that's table stakes.

@Ominous The danger with this, of course, is making sure that those limited outside players don't feel like extras in a story that the close-knit group is telling. I know that Spirit Lake is working hard to counter this tendency, but it's definitely a tendency with the type of set-up that you're describing.

@mietze said in The trappings of posing:

...out of synch tense...

Augh. Yes. This. SO many times this. If everyone around you is posing present tense, please do not pose past (or future) tense. If everyone around you is posing past tense, please do not pose present tense.

I love the era, and I think it's a good one. I'm very interested (although I'm not a huge fan of WEG, I suppose it would be better without Force-users).

I will put forward three issues with what you've proposed, and a couple of ideas on how to balance them out (just unsolicited advice and I won't feel bad if you totally ignore the suggestions).

1. There is a significant portion of Star Wars players who just want to play Jedi, and won't join any game that doesn't have Force Users. I see two solutions to this, either just accept that you won't get those players (my suggestion) or allow minor Force abilities (which I think will just frustrate the players who want to be Jedi).

2. A ton of players want to play Han Solo before he joined the Rebellion, and just want to be independent smugglers. My solution: keep the theme tight, require people to app in as actual members of the cell, and hold them to it.

3. You will have some players who want to play Rogue One, and some who will want to play The Force Unleashed. One group will want the entire Rebel Fleet to be beaten up by two Star Destroyers and a defense base, and the other group will want to have fleet engagements when they aren't trying to board Star Destroyers with 40 of their closest friends and take them over. I strongly suggest picking which of those two extremes (or more likely, which point in between them) you want to play, be very up-front about it, and enforce it ruthlessly and equally.

@apos said in Sci Fi/Opera Originality:

But also take any near future sci fi, cyberpunk and so on, all of those also are also minimized and simple too, so imo you are pretty much just left with sci fi settings trying to define something completely alien.

I would disagree that Dune or Warhammer 40K is fantasy (I don't know enough about Fading Suns to comment on that), but that's neither here nor there. Let me put it this way, in most fantasy games, you can say, "Tech level is generally 14th century, magic is scarce and feared, there's an orc army gathering to attack you, and a dragon lives in a cave on the mountain south of the city," and people can RP day-to-day life in the city. Yes, that's a slight exaggeration again, but not much of one. I'm pretty sure I could RP a character in that city for a couple of months without anything more than that to go on. But for a sci-fi game, technology is day-to-day. Do you have replicators to feed you, or do you go to greasy spoon diners? Do you take a flying car to work, teleport there, or telecommute?

And even there, I still don't agree. A creator just doesn't have to chase down all the rabbit holes.

These aren't rabbit holes, this is straight-forward day-to-day stuff that will come up in 2/3 of scenes. Is there a person behind the counter at the local coffee shop, or a droid, or an alien? Do I have a smartphone or a telecom implant to call my friends to come join me? How do I pay for my coffee? Yes, some of it can be handwaved, but the point is, a lot of it is simply default information that you can get across in 2-3 sentences for a fantasy game, but not for a sci-fi game. And while most people are willing to read 2-3 sentences to get them ready to play a game, a lot fewer are willing to read the 2-3 wiki pages necessary to lay out the basics of daily life in a sci-fi game.

Hell, for The Fifth World, we had a wiki page for economics, one for culture, one for fashion, one for general tech, and one for entertainment (that doesn't even count military, magic, nobility, the Hostiles, the various locations...), and we still couldn't nail down the feel that we were going for. Was some of that our fault for not writing the right things? Probably. But it was also a bare minimum required to get across some semblance of the feel we were going for.

@arkandel Oh, what I listed was already a pretty major compromise on channeling in my mind. You can compromise wherever you want on the spectrum from "channeling works like arrows" to "massive in-depth system that gets every nuance right," I was aiming for something right about in the middle of that. I would say that the nuances between Saidin and Saidar can be handled via RP, and same with who weaves are visible to. Learning weaves versus being a wilder wouldn't need to be coded, just handled via House Rules on learning weaves.

Also, sure, Whitecloaks killed Aes Sedai without losing thousands of them, but if you lose a dozen men to kill a single Aes Sedai and her Warder (and I think the number is likely to be a little higher than that unless it's an -awesome- ambush), that suuuuucks on a PC-scale. And it's a major power imbalance if one pair of PCs can kill 12-20 NPCs before they get killed pretty regularly, while a pair of non-channeling PCs can kill... I don't know, 5? 6? NPCs before they get killed, depending on how the dice go.

Also, as @faraday points out... WoT definitely isn't what FS3 is designed for. Even just with my suggestions above, we're beyond Faraday's Simple Skill System.

@ortallus said in Social Systems:

How intimidated am I really by the smurf with a nerf bat and 20 charisma telling me to drop my weapon? Yeah, no."

Now, if the smurf says, "Drop your weapon or my buddy the sniper will put one through your throat..."

@surreality: I would say that some people can't lie to save their lives, but can be plenty convincing with the truth, while some people can spin a lie out of fairy gossamer and spider silk that looks like the Arc de Triumph, but can't do so well with the truth. But in the end, I think that it depends on your skill list in general. If you have, for instance, just "Melee" and "Ranged" skills, I think that "Convince" or even "Social" is totally fine. But if you have "Blades," "Bludgeons," "Spears," and "Unarmed," or "Pistols," "Rifles," and "Throwing," then you should probably have "Persuade" and "Deceive" or "Convince" and "Schmooze" or some other words that give you 2-3 social skills.

@girlcalledblu said in Wheel of Time MU*:

Honestly, I'd be curious to see how a WoT game might work just using a traits system and pocket dice.

For the last five or six years (at least), A Moment in Tyme ran pretty much just like that... except without even a dice system. It just (basically) had those three stats I mentioned before. It worked fine. I think you could honestly use FS3 and versus rolls for Wheel of Time just fine... just don't use the autocombat system. I mean, you'd be losing what I think is the coolest part of FS3, but you could do it, and still have all of the chargen, XP, and roll parts of FS3. Heck, you could even just use FS3 to keep track of the things @Sunny and @krmbm were talking about and not worry about dice at all.

@ghost said in Bad Actors, and Bad Behavior (extended):

I'm sure we can all agree that the following falls under BAD

• Sexual Harassment
• Doxxing
• Unwanted OOC tracking/stalking
• Abusing the game's code for personal benefit
• Quid-pro-quo harassment
• Giving personal information out on people's RL
• Other OOC abuses including slander? Pestering? Unwanted advances after being told to stop?

You just defined most of "Bad" right there (I would add metagaming to get ahead, but that's about it). Because there's a difference between "an asshole" and "a bad actor." @surreality specifically asked about Bad Actors, not people who are mean. Now, granted, mean people can be detrimental to a game's health as well, but I would put that under "Other OOC abuses." If a player is giving another player shit for their desc on the game, I say they should be warned, and if they do it again, they should be shown the door.

I also think that as a Staffer, it's often possible to tell whether a charge is accurate or not by talking to the person. Most bad actors (in my experience) will not demonstrate any hint of being apologetic, they will try to explain why things totally weren't that bad, or why their victim is just misunderstanding. If there's any question in my mind, I would certainly ask for logs, but I often don't feel that I need them.

To get back to the original questions, I think that there are levels of bad actors. There are some (Elsa/Rex/Spider/Custodius/etc) who should just be removed from a game as soon as they're discovered. They have proven track records over years or decades of being bad actors.

For most others with reputations, I'll give them exactly one chance--and if I know that I have a suspected bad actor on the game, I'll actually make explicit check-ins with a scattering of players on the game from time to time (including brand new players), in case they don't want to come to Staff, but are willing to talk if Staff comes to them.

I'll excuse most people of one screw-up, because everybody has a bad day now and then.

As Staff, I really, really, really want players to come to me if someone is making them feel uncomfortable. It may be a case where I say "I'm really sorry that someone made you feel uncomfortable. I don't think that it's something that they were trying to do, but I'll certainly talk to them about how they came off--if you're okay with me talking to them about it," or it may be a case where I say "Nope, that's way too much. I'm really sorry that they did that crappy thing to you. I'm going to be giving them a single warning (or I'm going to be recommending to Staff that they be removed from the game), would you prefer if I not mention you by name?" Either way, I want to hear about it.

As a player, I want Staff to do some investigating, and then act quickly. I want them to make sure it's not a witch hunt, but I want the issue dealt with quickly, before whomever the Bad Actor is ruins the game for someone else.

@misadventure said in Social 'Combat': the hill I will die on (because I took 0 things for physical combat):

For combat, this sort of detail has in some games come in the form of hit locations, and variable weapon performance against types of armor. Different moves based on weapon type and reach, different defenses based on mobility, and of course differences based on fighting styles and or feats and advantages.

This is a really interesting point, I think. Most humans have the same hit locations for physical combat, but most humans don't have the same "hit locations" for social combat. Trying to use a generic combat system without taking into account the target character's personalities, passions, desires, and stubborn points is like trying to use a fish hit location chart for a person. Sure, you might get a "head" or "abdomen" result that works well enough, but you might also get a "tail" or "dorsal fin" result that... doesn't really work for the situation.

Likewise, most bulletproof vests with trauma plates offer... relatively similar protection. But someone's rank/position/status might provide a great deal of protection from someone who respects the hierarchy, but someone who doesn't care what your title is? Doesn't help at all.

@kitteh I'm becoming more and more convinced that a short list of "Defining Characteristics" (need a new term for it) should be included on every character's sheet in a game with hard social skills (ie, social skills that can be used CvC and the results of which are IC). In most situations, they should provide bonuses or penalties when trying to influence the character toward or against them (respectively).

@MarsGrad That's exactly how my Furystorm system (still in development) works. You declare your intended approach, the defender declares how effective it is and you set your "weapon" accordingly for bonuses or penalties, you roll, and then you work together to determine how that dice roll happened ICly.

(reading on, I see that @surreality has a very similar approach here)

As @faraday notes (and @ixokai before her), however, there are some situations where it just won't work. If the character can't afford a new car and doesn't want a new car, it's not very likely that someone is going to be able to sell them a new car (then again, there must be a reason they're on a car lot, yes?). But you might be able to sell them on the idea that when they do need a new car, they should come to you to buy it, and this is a great model, so you should do it sooner than you otherwise might have. For the example @ixokai used, a gay male character being approached by a woman for sex... perhaps they can't get sex, but they could probably get you laughing and grinning and charmed by them (even if not sexually interested in the slightest), so that you let them get close to you so they can clone your phone (without you knowing what they're doing, of course). It's still a seduction, but it doesn't lead to sex.

So I think that what a good social system that most people are comfortable with needs is the understanding that some things just can't be done by social combat rolls (turning the gay character straight), but that there's always some positive result for the winner of the rolls that can come about.

@insomniac7809 said in Fandom and entitlement:

I really don't think the Harry Potter films are at risk of losing $10mil unless the premier is literally shown on a rapidly-sinking raft made entirely out of $100 bills that is also on fire, and even then they'd probably break even.

From what I've heard, China won't even show a movie with an explicitly gay relationship in it. So yeah, the US returns might actually go up a little if a Harry Potter movie showed an explicitly gay relationship in it, but there would be no China returns, and that'll take a huge chunk out of international box office right there.

@surreality Yup. I'm one of those nutjobs working (on the side) on his own system. No matter how much I love Ares. But you knew this already.

I cannot tell that story sober any more. I just can't.

Start drinking. I'll start with you, because that sounds like my own experiences in game design, when the designer says, "But that's not how this works. It works like that." And I, the playtester, have to say, "Yes, you know that's how it's supposed to work, but that's not how it reads to someone who wants it to read another way."

@ganymede said in Game Design: Avoiding Min-Maxing:

On BSG:U, the +census feature was great because it allowed you to see how others built their PCs. I strongly advocate for open sheets on all games, even PvP ones. This is a good way for folks to meet expectations.

Yes, yes. 100 times yes.

Also, staff. As I've said countless times, I carefully look at applications when I'm staff, and I offer up suggestions to folks where I feel it is appropriate. Because sometimes a person is a newbie, doesn't know how to strategically allocate points, and genuinely appreciates it when someone takes an interest in their enjoyment on a game.

Also yes. Suggestions from Staff are great, and should always be appreciated.

To me, Shadowrun is and always will be Third Edition, particularly the art of Tim Bradstreet. It's gutter-punk as much as it's cyberpunk. People living on the fringes of society, fighting against The Man by getting hired by The Man to try to scrape together enough cash to get the next cool toy (cyberware, focus, whatever) to hold off the gang down the block. It's crazy stuff happening and no one important noticing... until the wrong person does notice and comes down hard.

It's the Steve Venters cover of Sprawl Sites (plus cyberware). It's gritty, it's grimy, it's dirty, and it's fun.

@kestrel said in Heroic Sacrifice:

@arkandel said in Heroic Sacrifice:

Start with rewarding failure. Not many games do this; in fact nearly none do.
I quite like the idea that failure would reward you (literally experience, or something similar), but success would cost you. Winning would have to be earned, ideally through a consecutive series of sacrifices made not just by you, but by other players throughout the story.

What about a game with only a single stat: Karma. In order to gain Karma, you have to take losses--personal, professional, physical, whatever. In order to "buy" successes (probably just in the metaplot/GMed scenes, not in day-to-day RP), you have to spend Karma.

The group can spend collective Karma, so if one person has been getting their butt kicked for months on the sparring field, they can show some awesome trick that they've learned and drop in 20 Karma, and another person can call in the (NPC) ally they made by losing a political election gracefully and drop in 15 Karma, and another person can lose a hand in the fight (gaining 50 Karma at a whack) but hold on just long enough to get the killshot by dropping in that 50 karma. If they'd spent less than 85 Karma, they couldn't have beaten the villain (but they would have gotten Karma for losing). Maybe they need 185, and so a fourth character decides to pay the ultimate sacrifice and die, gaining 100 Karma on the spot, and tackling the villain into a lava flow after the newly handless character knocked them off balance. Characters 1 and 2 were there and survived unscathed, gaining some notoriety, but characters 3 and 4 are trumpeted as the true heroes, who gave blood and life for the cause.

Clearly, Karma gains and losses would have to be measured very carefully--you don't want a guy getting insulted and taking it for 6 months and then taking out the Big Bad with an amazing sword maneuver. I would also suggest that the same kind of loss loses its potency over time. If you constantly get your butt handed to you in duels, it stops stinging after a while and people just expect it of you. Maybe the first 2-3 losses are worth 5 Karma apiece, but the next 2-3 are only work 3, and the next 2-3 are only worth 1, and after that, everyone just expects your character to lose any duel they're in.

In a less extreme system, you can always have a portion of earned XP carry over to the next character someone creates. Heck, you could even have the percentage of XP that carries over go up based on how supreme the sacrifice is (although this gets into issues of appearance of favoritism).

I also think that @faraday's point about shorter-term games is a good one. I've always wondered how a game specifically and explicitly designed to run for 6 months (or a year, or whatever) RL would do. I would -hope- that as the end of the game's lifespan neared, people would be more willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Tucker Case awoke to find himself hanging from a breadfruit tree by a coconut fiber rope. And then the murders began.

There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire. And then the murders began.

"Please, Tavi," wheedled the girl in the predawn darkness outside the steadholt's kitchen. "Just this one little favor?" And then the murders began.

"We should startback," Gared urged as the woods began to grow dark around them. And then the murders began. (really)

I'm going to cheat a little on this one:
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in the Mountains of Mist. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning. And then the murders began.