Posts made by Seraphim73

So with our own Dieselpunk (and Two-Fisted Tales and Modern Magic) game, we were very careful to present a relatively light Overview page that provided the barest details on the setting with links to deeper study, plus a list of inspirations, a gallery (on another page), and a list of the top 5 pages on our web portal to start reading with.

Just like you, we've found that the amount of setting info and the theme is more dense than some people want with their pretendy fun-times (I want to be clear that I don't mean any insult by that--some of my better online friends have decided that they want something that they don't have to study as much to enjoy, and I respect that decision). I think that Runescryer has provided some great ideas, and I would also urge you to layer your content, so that people can just dip their toes in if they want, or they can stick their whole leg in, or if they choose to dive in they're at least diving into the deep end.

Dahan's Saga Edition code included a map grid and movement. Once you got used to it it was pretty smooth, but it had a pretty steep learning curve.

@Groth Yes, if you have a coder, then I'm sure you could code up the BattleTech rules into Ares -- after all, as @Darren said, there's already a BattleTech MUX. I was just thinking that you could get a worthwhile abstraction of the BattleTech rules with FS3. You wouldn't have heat or losing armor from hits unless you coded those in, but otherwise you would be pretty good (you could even use Teams to represent range, I've certainly done that before).

But that's a game design question -- do you want the "authentic" BattleTech experience, or do you want something faster and easier for people to learn. Both have their benefits, but (in my opinion) it really comes down to the question of how broad the intended audience is.

I'd be down for Battletech, certainly. If you weren't set on using the tabletop rules for Mech combat, you could certainly do it well enough in FS3.3 (although Heat would have to be handled via Ammo or GM fiat).

Solaris VII is a great setting, but it definitely has both upsides and downsides. It misses some of the grand space opera feel of the greater setting, but it also skips out on the travel time and brings all of the factions together in one place. Personally, I would prefer having everyone working together in a single Merc Company with its own JumpShip, so you can go place to place but everyone has a reason to be on the same side, but I think Solaris VII would work too.

@Ninjakitten His communications with us on MSB were entirely with Blu, and not with myself. Granted, that may be because Blu was the one predominantly talking to him on TSS. Call our experience neither a point for or against the theory.

@faraday has been an excellent RP partner, someone I've had a great deal of fun discussing game design with, someone I've butted heads with on game design philosophy and details, someone I've argued with and gotten frustrated with over scene details, someone I've gone right back to having a good time RPing with and discussing game design with, someone who has revolutionized (along with the Evennia team on similar paths) MU*ing, someone who has helped me set up and bug-check games using her code that ran contrary to what she thought was best for the code, someone who has donated what I expect is literal tens of thousands of hours to the community via her coding and Staffing, and someone I consider one of my better friends in the MU*ing community.

Thank you, @faraday.

@silverfox I'd start with the Overview page. It has the 30,000-foot view, plus has a list of the five most important wiki pages to read (and some inspirational photos at the very bottom). One of those is the step-by-step Chargen Guide though, so you can wait and go through that as you're working on a character.

Howdy. Rome here.

We hadn't listened to the song on the character's page. As @GirlCalledBlu said, it's been removed and the player contacted.

As to the question of Japanese military characters, we've been very careful to ensure that those who have been approved are not aligned with the military forces who are instigating the war crimes in China and Korea (and would be responsible for other ones elsewhere later in history). There is definitely some nuance and question (from what I have read) about how directly involved in all of that Emperor Hirohito was, but I agree that we need to be careful -- probably more careful than we have been in the past.

I will admit that since the game is focused in Europe, we haven't put as much detail into developing South America, Africa, Asia, or Oceana, or our policies in regards to characters from those locations. We will change our policies to be explicit that any Japanese characters must be explicitly opposed to the harsh occupation methods and aggressively expansionist plans espoused by portions of the military. If I knew a common term for those groups that would be understood as well as "Nazis" is for Germany, I would absolutely use it. If any of you have an idea for that term, we're open to suggestions.

The same will be true of Soviet characters, they must be explicitly opposed to the purges and other horrors of Stalin's regime.

Here's the relevant part of our policy:

IC Discrimination
We've specifically designed our setting with the Great Upheaval to remove issues of discrimination against women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. We've also bumped off Hitler and replaced the Nazis with the Drachenordnung to shift the focus of fascism in Germany away from Jewish people. So just don't do it. We're great with characters who just plain don't like one another, but this is not the game to live out your dreams of "historical" misogyny, racism, homophobia, or other -isms.

ETA:
Here's the new addition to the Forbidden Characters section of the Chargen Guide:

• War Criminals: Members of authoritarian states who are not explicitly opposed to the excesses and war crimes of members of those states.

@Grindle Just a note (that you probably already know): the Saga Edition system has a Background system already. It's in the Rebellion Era book and is a replacement for the Destiny Point system.

@Autumn Fun fact, this game started because I wanted to play with Ares and put together a Crimson Skies simulator so that I could throw aircraft at zeppelins. It got (even) better.

Thank you all for the kind words. We're totally excited to see people out there and playing. Don't forget about our Plots-in-a-Box to give you a jumpstart for some instant adventure.

We're nearly out of roster characters, because so many people have been picking them up. We'll be aiming to add more in the next couple of days.

@TNP I mean, Hypaphian (https://savageskies.aresmush.com/wiki/beings:draconians) is a gold dragon, but... I think he's more likely to have a you of his own than vice versa.

@surreality Thanks! We are so far. I'm excited to see what players add to the setting, and all the stories they tell (and we tell with them).

@Lyanna Thanks! That's all Blu.

@Kestrel You can absolutely do one of those two things.

Fly the unfriendly skies in airplanes that never were, casting spells, dodging dragons, and fighting fascism in the late 1930s. Characters will be members of a "free" militia, The Sky Guard, secretly serving the interests of the French and British governments from an airship base. They will crisscross the Continent finding high adventure.

The Savage Skies MUSH is a game of dieselpunk adventure and modern fantasy. Players might be flying against air pirates one week, gathering information on Nationalist Spanish movements the next, trading spells with minions of the Drachenordnung another, and then treating with a great dragon to convince it to join the cause at the end of the month.

All characters will be explicitly tied to the militia group at the heart of the game, either as a fighting member or one of the smugglers, informants, and hangers-on that work directly with them. From there, you'll work together with other players to create your own adventures within the setting and metaplot provided by Staff.

https://savageskies.aresmush.com
savageskies.aresmush.com:1616

@Derp said in Model Policies?:

This is why I actually tend to have two documents: a pure policy document, and then an FAQ about the policies that I hope clarifies the vision and reasoning.

Something that I've found helpful on games is to have a series of Staff Notes that can work like an FAQ, but can also be used to provide information that isn't worthy of its own huge wiki page, but could still be helpful. On an original theme game, this could be the mechanics of how boarding starships work -- it's not going to interest all the players, but it's still good to have available so that players who are interested can all be on the same page. It could also include Staff's philosophy on game running, or how to balance combat for GMs, or FAQ on a particular policy.

@Derp said in To OOC Room or Not to OOC Room (and Other Artifacts):

Big Grids with Player Builds

I've experimented with this on a couple of games now, and have come to the opinion that you need at least 20-25 non-PC rooms and that 30-35ish is probably a better idea. While I am an absolute fan of a small grid, and believe that there should never be a room that doesn't have 1-3 explicit RP hooks in its description. I prefer to remove connector rooms -- one "street corner" or "corridor" room in a game can be fine for random running into people, but I don't believe that you need many of them. I think much more than 35-40 rooms (for a game under around 50 players) is likely to mean that you've got too many connector rooms. Of course, if you have a game larger than 50ish players, you'll probably need a larger grid.

I don't count PC build rooms in this, because I generally think that they're unnecessary in Ares, even if having the description saved can be nice at times. I do, however, recognize that some people enjoy them, and I don't think they hurt anything.

Chargen 'Rooms'

I don't find the need for this, especially on Ares-FS3 games, but the lack of them can sometimes confuse new players. Ares-FS3 has the client-side chargen process split up into distinct steps, but it just doesn't require rooms to do so.

Below are the policies we're using for the game we're prepping. There are a couple that are specific to the setting, but I think that most of them are relevant to most games. We've split the difference between just "don't be a jerk" and listing specifics.

Rule One
Our first and most important rule is "Don't be an asshole." Don't harass your fellow players, don't be a creep, don't metagame, don't share IC info/resources between alts, don't power pose... it all comes under the heading of Rule One.

Non-Consent
[Game Name] is a non-consent game. While we encourage players to work together to arrange for a mutually-agreeable solution, in-character actions have consequences, which cannot be avoided. If the player would like to avoid roleplaying out the consequences, they can always request a Fade to Black, and that request will be granted without question or delay, but the character will not avoid the IC consequences.

Alts
All players may have up to three PCs. They should generally not have the same role and should never interact ICly.

Player-Run Plots
We encourage them. All we ask is that you run the general idea past a Staffer before scheduling it. If it's a combat event and you need help setting up combat, just ask. If you want to run something off the cuff? Do it. We just ask that you don't destroy the Guinevere, kill a great dragon, or shatter a nation. Bar brawls, shady info exchanges, spy extractions, and dogfights with air pirates or wyverns/wyvernettes are all totally fair game.

Magical Artifacts
We're great with players coming up with magical McGuffins, and even doing it on the fly. They can even be potent and powerful within the plot itself. But all major artifacts will end up in some giant government warehouse ala Indiana Jones or Warehouse 13 (but might come back up later). Minor artifacts may be approved as plot rewards on a case-by-case basis, but they will never be something that provides a direct game bonus, they will only ever be things that provide flavor to RP. Things that provide bonuses count as major artifacts and will end up in a warehouse somewhere (stupid governments).

Language
We're an R-rated game (although we aim for PG-13 on channels), and we use the Translation Convention: 1930s curse words don't have the same impact on modern readers, so feel free to use the curse words that come naturally to you (although we do ask that you avoid modern cultural references ICly, of course).

OOC Discrimination & Harassment
We won't stand for it. Period. If someone harasses you, please let us know immediately -- there's a good chance they're doing it to someone else too, and we absolutely want to know. Depending on the circumstances, we will usually give one warning, but that's it. Ares has wonderful reporting tools so we don't have to worry about he-said/she-said issues (check out the channel/report and page/report commands and the ability to forward any harassing mails).

IC Discrimination
We've specifically designed our setting with the Great Upheaval to remove issues of discrimination against women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. We've also bumped off Hitler and replaced the Nazis with the Drachenordnung to shift the focus of fascism in Germany away from Jewish people. So just don't do it. We're great with characters who just plain don't like one another, but this is not the game to live out your dreams of "historical" misogyny, racism, homophobia, or other -isms.

Privacy
Staff will never read pages, mails, or anything like that unless they are sent to us via the built-in reporting systems as part of a complaint about inappropriate behavior. Staff will never watch private scenes unless we are explicitly invited to do so (and all participants approve). Please be aware that things said on channels are retained in the backscroll for some time and may be visible to people not logged in when the comment is made.

@Auspice said in How to Approach (nor not) a Suspected Creep:

But the [person] who seems to be collecting a harem of [people] meant to be latched onto [them] and [them] alone while [they're] juggling six of them? That's fucked up.

I just wanted to step back into this one for a moment and point out where I see the problem in this scenario. It's not in one character juggling six other characters, it's in one player juggling six other players, while telling each of them both ICly and OOCly that they're The One. It's showing no indication at all that there might be something wrong when they say "Oh no, baby, you're the only one for me" ICly. That turns it from IC gaslighting to OOC gaslighting, and I'm not cool with that. The moment it turns from IC gaslighting to OOC gaslighting is the moment I think it's appropriate for Staff to step in.

@Auspice I could see some people claiming that they're being punished in Chargen by not being allowed that 8th dot of the Awesome skill, when they see that some other characters have it. On a well-run game, those other characters will have more experience/training/etc, and that will have been made clear to the complaining player (along with suggestions on how to explain how the character got their skill that high), but we all know that that won't stop some players from feeling like they're being punished anyhow.

@Ghost said in Staff’s Job?:

Head staff states what they're looking for from staff, then posts what staff IS and ISNT to the players. Everyone is on the same page. Boom.

This is actually something that we came up with too. I think it's a good idea to define what Staff believes Staff's responsibilities are, because then players know what to expect. They can define how much metaplot they'll be providing, how much theme-custodianship they'll be enforcing, etc. Players can see how PrP-dependent the game will be, how theme-strict it will be, and whether they want to play there.