Best posts made by somasatori

Having seen the first bit of this show, I can safely say it'd work well on a MUSH.

"Hey guys, let's go do all this constructive stuff and make sure that we're safe and have shelter, and collect food and supp-"

"NO LET'S ALL FIGHT AND FUUUUUUCK~"

Not sure if he's been mentioned, but Hbomberguy, especially his videos on climate denial and HP Lovecraft (the latter making me feel a little inspired to come out as bi to some friends, which is silly to say, but it is what it is).

@Coin said in I will design you a MUX:

Your mom's a serious inquiry.

I figure since everyone else is doing it, I might as well jump on the bandwagon.

Here are the names I remember:
Roanoke (Former Headstaff)/Reagan/Bret/Connor@The Reach
Saturnine (Former Headstaff)/Jakob@Metro 2
Pink (Former General ST)/Charlie/Corgan@Darkwater
Will/Samantha@Haunted Memories
Samantha/Jared@Depraved Creations
Corgan@Ashes To Ashes

I was also on Santo Domini, Dark Wine & Roses, Masquerade, Star Wars KotOR, the original Star Wars MUSH, SerenityMUSH, Gorram, and a few other places, but I can't remember who the hell I played. The above would be the longest-lasting folks.

It also depends on what kind of crime you're using. Traditional street crime is done off-the-cuff, and usually by people that aren't professional criminals (which is generally a rarity). The people who are professional criminals (using the term extremely loosely) are doing what they do to get by, and a lot of it is pretty petty. While dealing drugs and theft doesn't seem petty to the people doing it and the people it's done to, these are typically low-end criminal activities that don't really earn much attention. They can ruin your life, certainly, since if you steal over a certain amount or are caught dealing/carrying over a certain amount it counts as a felony which fucks up your life in ways most people don't realize (even then, when I was a DoJ agent, we had a list of businesses that would still hire felons to ensure that there was a light at the end of the tunnel financially, plus advocacy programs).

Your organized crime like the 1%ers, various mobs and cartels and the whole smorgasbord of ethnic and local groups that make a business out of horrible fucking shit we do to one another on a day-to-day, operate differently. A good example is "The Wire," with the Barksdale organization. Crime, unfortunately, does pay pretty well. You'll notice that most of the low-end street characters fit the description above - and it's true, a lot of people end up in over their heads with groups like that. You see it with teens and the like that end up getting addicted to drugs or out on the street or escape an abusive situation or any number of things that leave them high and dry, so they have to resort to moving product (drugs, stolen merchandise, working cons) or selling themselves (though this is generally not something someone goes into on their lonesome, usually there's a handler or a partner involved). While there is a way back from that, it's genuinely unpleasant and usually involves institutionalization. A lot of the street dealers are expendable, which is also the point.

To bring this back into focus regarding the hobby -- also keep in mind that this is very US-focused -- if you're playing a low-level street dealer, hooker, thief or even muscle, you shouldn't expect to have much status among the community. Most people would rarely have heard of you, and usually if anyone knows who you are, it's limited to a neighborhood unless you hit the headlines with your name or do time. Something that should probably be taken into consideration would be a reputation system, which would work outside of any sort of status system. Where status is like rank, your reputation is your social currency. People might know you're the dude to get horse from and what you sell is relatively clean, but it doesn't necessarily mean you're automatically in with the cartel that's supplying it. It just means that you'll have more scrutiny from the police (because confidential informants will probably tell them, if they don't find out when one of your customers gets busted), and more scrutiny from other people who would prefer that you give your business to them.

If you're playing a character that's higher tier in their organization, you also should realize that you're pretty expendable as well. Most high profit criminal merchandise (drugs, cheap knockoff shit that breaks patent law, stolen goods and vehicles, people) is trafficked into the United States (or from one state to another), it rarely originates here. The things that are produced in the United States are usually trafficked out to other countries unless someone is running a solo business. To get from point A to point B, you need someone on either end. As a for instance, my state has a problem with drug trafficking organizations that originate from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia (the last count was around 35 international groups, if I recall), and production cycles of methamphetamine occur out of the state and are usually brought in. So, you've got the dude that's running the operation elsewhere (either out of the country or out of the state) and the guy that's facilitating the transfer of material into the area. That second guy, while useful, isn't the only person that could do this. If compromised, production and distribution won't cease. It may slow down for a good few months, but it'll kick right back up like nothing happened.

So, in playing a criminal character, the idea that you're really not all that special and someone else could do your job just as easily as you could should be reinforced. In running a Crime sphere, you should also focus on things like ensuring that the PCs have communication lines within their DTOs or rings. Ideally, you would have a core group of storytellers that would focus on interpersonal stories since you kind of have to look at a criminal PC as you would any other PC with a job. You will rarely RP out a scene where your character is doing data entry at his office; as such, you will just as rarely RP out your drug dealer PC selling cocaine, heroin, prescription drugs, meth, etc. It's background noise. So, the focus should be on criminals working together. Yes, it's understood that your character is a drug dealer/hitman/car thief/whatever, but how does s/he get along with her/his superiors? That should be the focus of the sphere, with the occasional scene done where you have a specific thing you need to do, such as run muscle during a production cycle (which is a fancy term for when someone brings something into the area) or if you need to grab a specific car or kidnap someone or whatever. Most of it should be attempting to jockey for favor with your boss, like in a regular job.

My final thought on this is that thematically, crime is very similar to how WoD Vampire functions. People are possessive over what scraps they manage to pull together. While there are quite a few people who will work together for the good of the organization, there are just as many people who would kill you or sell you out for a piece of your pie, either due to jealousy or simple greed. Anyhow, that's all. And also extremely long. Sorry for that.

Hey there @SilentHills, I'm not sure if we've ever talked to one another before (I'm not really great with screen names), but I wanted to say that your feelings are completely valid and if you do need someone to talk to and don't mind waiting for a small amount of time between responses, you can DM me here. If not, that's also cool - after all, you don't know me, but sometimes it's useful to bounce things off a stranger, even if you just want to yell at someone about some issue in private.

I'd also encourage you to get back into talk therapy, but with the state of the world that can be difficult. My university gave us some resources to give to folks who can't attend in-person sessions or are having issues affording them. I'll post the link below. I think it's fantastic that you're addressing that your feelings will hopefully not be forever. I also deal with some pretty horrendous chronic depression, and keeping a mindful attitude toward the idea that I won't always feel like I've been hit by a train is extremely difficult.

Have you ever heard of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? I really like it, probably in part due to how it can gamify therapy. The principal function of ACT is that it focuses on providing behavioral adjustments that can address cognitive issues. So, rather than CBT's "just change how you think about a thing" approach, an ACT approach will provide suggestions on how you should address certain behavioral functions on how you think about things. The most effective way I've seen this done is a deck of these very specific cards that suggest different behavioral and cognitive methodologies for addressing problems. I am trying to find a free PDF of them but am coming up short. If you're interested I can take some pictures of my physical copy and throw them your way. One example statement on the ACT deck is "Who is the wisest person you know?" Then, the follow up would be "why do you think this, and how could you emulate that wisdom?"

Anyway, just a thought. I hope you are doing all right today.

Resources from my uni: https://theshrinkspace.com/ - I used this for a therapist and it was pretty great. All telehealth, will work with some insurances, and most have a sliding scale.

My niece just hit six months in recovery and finally feels like she doesn't need methadone. Having gone through it myself (five years last December), she's definitely shown that she understands she doesn't need it anymore. Plus, she's got a new girlfriend and is going to school, so her priorities have shifted entirely. It's great and I'm so proud of her.

@SG said in Kinds of Mu*s Wanted:

I've been reading through the rules for Straight To VHS and think this would make for a really fun mu.

All the players could play actors in films (Tiny Plots), only the films are REAL! Or something. I like the idea of Character A playing a cop in one plot, and a burgler in another, getting meta-miffed because they don't have a particular skill that would come in handy in a situation.

"A werewolf stalks the mean streets of Miami... but not for much longer. Not if a nun (and former prostitute) named Gloria Vendetta has anything to say about it. Gloria’s cybernetically enhanced buddy in the precinct suspects the werewolf is being protected by Yakuza, but why? If only the retired heavyweight champion Tucker Smash could regain his memories. He was the only one who knew the antidote to lycanism, and now the plague is spreading."

You had me at "werewolf is being protected by Yakuza."

PLOT TWIST: I did. Which was weird, because I'm straight and don't know him.

Sweet. I've been looking for ways to make my hobby feel more like the tech support jobs I've worked!

(this does sound kind of cool and useful, though.)

An open letter:

Being someone who also has plugs, I think you should be required to sign a waver stating that you will regularly clean your jewelry and flesh tunnels because, guy in the Moreno Valley Whole Foods, the last thing I want to do while I'm shopping is smell your human gouda. We're in this together.

Also, another great world builder is Robert Heinlein. He's able to make a believable world in a singular work, which seems to function and act on its own accord and how the reader supposes it should without having to stretch it out into multiple books. You can see this in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, and even in Starship Troopers.

But yeah, about Bump In The Night...

(It's raining in California, by the way. Thought everyone should know.)

Anyone else see the new Far Cry trailer?

Okay, so I think this is the list of current games that are out there. Given that WORA's population has mostly been focused on World of Darkness, this list is more tailored to that, but I'll include some others that I've found.

The Reach (nwod, weird GMC/nWoD 1.0, mashup, all spheres) - thereachmux.org 2009
City of Hope (owod, all spheres) - game.cityofhopemush.com 7777
Requiem for Kingsmouth (nwod, full GMC, vampire/mortal only) - cynage.com 7891
City of Fog and Blood (nwod, full GMC with adjusted XP costs, vampire/mortal set in the '20s) - cofab.mechanipus.com port: 2514
RenoMUSH (nwod, full GMC, vampire/werewolf) - reno.mechanipus.com 7639
Dark Metal (we all know what Dark Metal is) - darkmetal2039.com 2039
Sheltering Sky: Colorado By Night (owod, vampire/werewolf/mage) - mush.shelteringcolorado.com 2601

Shadowrun still only has Denver. That's at denver.aelfhame.net:1999

The only Star Wars game with any player base whatsoever these days is Generations of Darkness, which is set slightly post-Clone Wars/birth of the Empire era. That's at galaxy.silvren.com:8311.

Game of Thrones
Game of Bones (get it? it rhymes, ha. ha.) - granitefallsmush.com 4222
Blood of Dragons - bod.westeros.org 3000

Exalted's only game is Where Rivers Meet at phantasmgames.org 2526

The only Dresden Files game is Dark Spires at darkspires.mechanipus.com 7777

Mass Effect's single entry into the hobby is Mass Effect: Legends here: legends.lunarlibration.com 2183

And that's all I know of. You can also find out most of this information through mudstats.com. If anyone else has anything to throw on the list, by all means. Also -- as a disclaimer -- I've played on maybe three of these places (not counting Dark Metal, because ohgod), so I don't have much of an opinion about most of them. This is just informational.

You know... If you made a Shadowrun game with PvP/PK as a primary element, I think you'd get a lot of players who'd really go for it. Obviously you'd need to find a coder interested in coding up a Shadowrun game, but Denver's been the only thing in town for something like 8-9 years now. I'm pretty sure you'd get a decent playerbase, and Shadowrunners who aren't on the same team as each other (and you could even open up apps for people in Lone Star, Knight-Errant, the Red Samurai, etc.) would be more inclined toward PvP than talking things out. I'd probably even help out with setting it up (though I'm a shit coder, unless it's something relatively easy or deals with building). You could also set up a system like BITN where you have an alt in the wings that'll come in as soon as your character dies. Character death being such a big part of Shadowrun, it'd work really well.

I tried watching LOST but there just wasn't enough lens flare to make it believable.

There's a Devolver bundle on Humble right now.

@SunnyJ said in I will design you a MUX:

@secretfire said in I will design you a MUX:

Yeah, post apoc Rome game is an awesome idea. You make everyone happy. Post apoc fans, historical "but not ocd" people...I'd play there.

For as long as there are Poochinksi elements, I am in.

And MY AXE.

@acceleration

So, what you would need to do with your metaplot would be to enforce some rationale as to why the characters would be against each other. The thematic aspect of the meta could literally be anything, from vampires and whatnot fighting hunters (like @ThatOneDude mentioned), or something like what we did on TR the first couple years when I was running it and have it stem from some kind of eldritch horror thing. Nonetheless, the meta needs to establish the animosity between PCs.

My suggestion would be similar to what was said before: have a few tiered Conspiracies in the area - pick three of them that don't work well together, like Task Force Valkyrie, the Cheiron Group, and the Ascended Ones, for example - and put them in a location that's highly anomalous. Your metaplot could be something as such: after a massive war between some extra-spatial beings (spirits and the like) and supernatural creatures in the mortal world, a section of the Amazon Rainforest has been cordoned off by the United Nations. Three groups of supernatural Hunters, one even funded by the United States government, have come forward to deal with the potential threat. Everyone knows about the existence of the supernatural now, as the Shadow now bleeds into the real world in the location where the last great battle was fought. Hunter cells are expected to travel into the Bleed Zone (B-Z) to take care of any obvious threat to the surrounding population, and most of the people in the area have been evacuated to safer locations. Each hunter conspiracy has its own reasons for being there, down to specific cells. Your orders from on high are to acquire any anomalous artifacts and equipment from the B-Z and bring them back to base camp in order to be studied and figured out to ensure that something like this never happens again. With luck and enough research and development, humanity may even be able to close the rift between the Shadow and Earth.

In this sort of setting, you could have supernaturals rounded up and captured, or in deep, deep hiding. They wouldn't be PCs, but you could throw just about any sort of PvE antagonist into the mix by using the stats from one of the splats. Vampires who have Blood Tenebrous interested in the Bleed Zone? There you go, now your Cell has to fight a Coterie of OD. Werewolf pack moves in while a TFV cell has an Ascended Ones cell pinned down with machine gun fire, and now the two groups have to fight off the werewolves. Then the one that takes the least casualties fighting off the theriomorphs finds that their former opponent is much less equipped to deal with them, so they take 'em out. The Cells are being run like a military op, with each other Conspiracy acting as a different military group, and therefore enemy combatants.

So PrPs could be something like: we're going into the B-Z to find this powerful fetish that was used in the big conflict. Word gets out to the other Conspiracies that this thing exists and they send in some of their own soldiers. Who can get to it first, and who can hold off long enough to get extracted? Or... We've recovered this artifact from the B-Z and now our best scientists are working on it back at base camp. But it seems like one of the other Conspiracies realized that we've got it, so now we have to defend our scientists from an all-out assault and push the enemy back. Even something like: we've figured out the properties of this vampire blood magic anomalous entity and we're about to have it extracted back to Washington D.C. so we can put it to use as best we can in defending humanity from the depredations of our supernatural enemies. Unfortunately, the Cheiron Group wants to take credit for its discovery and potential defensive abilities, etc., etc., etc.

Forgot to write out: So, the PrPs would push both the meta and they'd also theme themselves toward PvP, just by the nature of what sort of military operations are done into the Bleed Zone (or whatever you wanna call it).

It could also mean that someone's looking for a ghoul who has a very specific background. For example: this potential ghoul is a lawyer, and after finding out that his girlfriend is cheating on him in an orgy, he leaves her and purchases a home near the local college that he turns into a frat house. Following that, someone dies at the house under mysterious circumstances and the ghoul and his best friend from high school (who also helps running the frat house) are about to get shut down, but they set up a bunch of games and challenges to keep it open. Unfortunately, it doesn't work and they resort to figuring out if the dean of the college is corrupt, which they do after finding a recording of a bribe. After getting the dean fired, and due to that stroke of good luck, the chapter gets reactivated. Then some more stuff happens and he meets a vampire.

That could also be an old school ghoul.