Best posts made by Sparks

For me, 5e has just the right amount of crunch-to-story ratio. You have enough crunch and mechanics to keep things interesting, but its streamlined enough that the story keeps moving at a decent clip regardless.

As a former Pathfinder player, going back to Pathfinder after playing 5e feels (to me) like you end up spending a lot more time rolling dice and a lot less time actually advancing the campaign in a meaningful manner.

There's other bits too—they've done careful balancing of the classes, so that regardless of what you play you can still have an interesting and meaningful role to play in the party—that contribute to my fondness for 5e, but it's really the crunch-to-story-advancement ratio that won me over.

This isn't to say that Pathfinder's flawed or somehow a lesser system, just that for me 5e seems the best D&D (or D&D-adjacent) system I've yet played.

@Meg said in Forum Factions:

@Roz It does:

Actually Constructive About Hobby On A Board About Hobby

Notable members:

• @Apos
• @faraday
• @Sparks

I'm not sure if I should be proud to be in such company, or take this as a message that we're all doing this forum wrong.

I think the best systems are ones that aren't required to participate in the game, but which allow people things to do which can impact the storyline without GM involvement.

Arx's clue system is a great example, in my mind. You can RP with people about the clues, share the clues, etc. If people aren't around, you can organize your clues into theories for easy reference or sharing. It feels more meaningful than BarP, because the clues tie into the metaplot. But you don't need to participate in the investigation system to play; you can get clues from others, or just rely on people who have gathered lore to pull you into the actions those lore bits inspire.

Games like Texas Hold'Em or Scrabble are fun minigames, but I kind of agree with others that they're toys that don't always lead people to add to the story.

@scar said in RL Anger:

@Sparks Agree w @Roz on this one. DMing is gonna steal that last bit of life force. Here, I'll sit in your place -- do they like crying in fetal positions? (I really won't, though. I do not volunteer.)

I arranged someone else to guest-GM, and handed them my notes for the session. Because you are right; I would be dead by the end.

@auspice said in Game Restarts:

@kanye-qwest said in Game Restarts:

1. Reboot any and every game into a game of Pugmire
2. Profit

Where's Parxmire?

As I've said before, it's gotta be "Barx".

@Thenomain said in RL Anger:

@Sparks said in RL Anger:

@Thenomain said in RL Anger:

Hell, just copying the previous out of my text file was as easy as throwing the cursor somewhere in the middle, hitting cmd-b a few times, then shift-option-leftarrow.

Get me that in SublimeText or Atom and I'm there like a dudebro on vape.

Sublime is extensible via Python. Anything I need in Sublime, I can write a Python script for. That fact is slowly winning me over, since I can create any missing feature I need.

How much do you want to add the functionality I'm asking for?

Since we're in philosophy mode: "Write a script in Python, implement one feature request for a man. Make a man learn to write Python his own damn self, all his feature requests are attainable forever."

@cobaltasaurus said in Arx: @clues:

@Sparks Gave me one of the most chilling clues in the game (imho) but it's only so chilling because of the context that comes with that clue. It's akin to real world when you find out why the story behind "Ring Around the Rosie".

Was that Hush, Hush that you're referencing? I'm still rather happy with that clue.

Honestly, clues are not the be-all and end-all. They're nice because they can be used in other systems (not all of them obvious like revelations are), but they're much more fun if you have the context for them. They're there as an avenue to learn more about the bits of the game that interest you, and to share your knowledge with others, but trying to have every one of the 1200 clues there are so far would be a recipe for madness. Especially since people will try to assume that all clues must form a single cohesive truth, which isn't the case; there are many plotlines, and many different clues tied to those many different plotlines.

It's far more effective to focus on the storyline that interests your specific character through research and actions, rather than spreading your attention across everything. That way lies madness and paralysis.

@derp said in RL Anger:

One per pay period? Where do you work?!? What do you do? More importantly, can I come work with you?

I work at a product development firm; we engineer products for other companies. For instance, a company comes to us and goes "we want to build X, but we don't know how to make that work," and we help them do that. Or a company comes to us and goes "we have X, but it needs to Y, and it doesn't, please help" and we help make it work.

It's nice because we get to work on all kinds of different projects: wearable technology, mechanical engineering for civil projects, virtual reality, etc. You don't end up stuck quite so much in a rut as at some companies, where you're working on the same thing endlessly.

It's a good company.

@pyrephox said in Constructive (keyword) Criticism of Arx Systems:

When I try to critique Arx's systems, though, it's always with a caveat that there are at least two huge systems which currently don't exist, but which are likely to change everything else around, in terms of character resources and actions: Dominion and Magic. And I can't even say that I know enough of what those are going to look like to speculate on their effects.

The magic system is actually in the codebase already, so the basic design is done, though there may still be tuning to do; there's a few knobs I still want to twist and fiddle with to dial in balance better. (I also wrote up a guide to magic ahead of time, in hopes it'll make the system more approachable when it does go live.)

However, I've put aside finishing up the system, in particular the coded effects and consequences—the building blocks that get put together to make the results of magic—to look at redoing Prestige instead, since Prestige seems to be such a pain point for people right now.

@kanye-qwest said in Constructive (keyword) Criticism of Arx Systems:

@pyrephox Yes. I don't honestly find this kind of display very constructive, because the projected margin is so slim it's in 'who gives a damn' territory, but is presented in a way that all but begs for interpretation by people who don't want to math out the systems as "oh no if I don't do this right I am at a big disadvantage".

My thought is that if people are going to focus specifically on the math of a system in a constructive criticism thread, I feel like it should be coupled with an explanation of what they think needs to change in that math and why. Even there, though, it's going to be a pretty niche discussion; I mean, no offense meant to those who derive their enjoyment of the game from optimizing the math, but I feel like a better focus for a constructive criticism thread is looking at the systems at a macro level to see what stymies engagement (or, conversely, makes people feel like engagement is required, which should not be the case).

If people aren't using haggle, why not? If people are no longer using modeling, why not? What could make the systems more fun?

As one of the Arx coders, that's what I skim the thread looking for.

@aria stamps "PURCHASE APPROVED" across post

@groth said in Constructive (keyword) Criticism of Arx Systems:

@saosmash said in Constructive (keyword) Criticism of Arx Systems:

People definitely know that modeling exists, though. This is a reduction in numbers from people using the command before.

Before people could run the command in the privacy of their own homes couldn't they? It's a pretty big ask for most people to have to be at a big event to run a command.

I do think the intention of making it so people were modeling actual outfits (not just privately modeling things named "-" or "shirt" or "for model" that were then immediately recycled) by making you model in front of others kind of backfired in ways we didn't intend; seeing the use of modeling go down—even though the rewards are potentially higher—suggests people don't like the idea of public scenes being required.

So I'm probably going to back out the public aspect of modeling as part of the prestige changes I'm working on.

As Apos suggests, though, we're still going to want to come up with some kind of public fashion thing so that people can engage with the system in public, and some way to incentivize real outfits over throwaway. Ideas are being tossed around by staff, but they still need to "gel" a bit more before I think they can be detailed here.

@surreality said in RL things I love:

Every part of my inner geek went 'squeeeeeeeeeee!' just about at once.

There's a starman waiting in the sky,
He'd like to come to meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds.

(For those who don't get the reference, the mannequin in the SpaceX prototype spacesuit driving the Tesla Roadster they launched to Mars is named "Starman", so as the launch succeeded, they played Bowie's Starman to celebrate.)

@pyrephox I don't disagree; the issue I see is that "singling someone out to the NPCs" needs to be something that has a meaningful system tied to it. If social characters are only useful in GM'd actions ("I'm pointing out that Gertrude is starting an evil cult in her backyard!") that doesn't give them a lot to do in their downtime.

Simply generating social resources isn't going to do much for them either, especially because "you can make a resource for me" is just a grindy system where people use social characters like vending machines, which probably won't be fun either.

I want social characters to always have an advantage for staying on the buzz list, because they know how to manage their fame and publicity. Given that, what can being on that list let them do without requiring GM attention (like actions would)?

Without answering that, the prestige list will not matter to people, and houses will go back to "no, you can't have money for clothes or jewelry, we need to keep the funds for weaponry" (which is what happened before).

@auspice said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I've been just struggling through work most days , but I had to stay home today. The vertigo has been too bad to be able to drive. I've just been napping off and on. Downside is the earliest appt with my doctor that fits with my schedule (thanks to holidays) isn't until the first week of December.

My doctor finally got tired of throwing medication after medication at my migraines, and prescribed me aimovig (a once-a-month injection in an auto-injector like an EpiPen). I'm five weeks in, and that shit has been life-changing.

I went from pretty much having a constant low-grade migraine interspersed with crippling agony to having like two migraines a month, and those much reduced in intensity.

If your doctor is willing I highly recommend it. And if your insurance won't cover it, the manufacturer has their own "aimovig ally" program where they'll give you a year for free.

@Thenomain said in Fallcoast Domain Expired:

@Arkandel said in Fallcoast Domain Expired:

I can't look at most of those IP ranges without cringing.

Or Bill is such a nerd that he knew this and didn’t want to spam someone’s site by accident.

And we know how much of a nerd Mr. Amend is.

There's one IP address in that strip that's an actual valid IPv4 address, and since I do actually think Bill Amend knew enough to know all the others weren't valid... I'm now really curious what used to be at that address back when that strip came out. Since whatever is at that IP address now doesn't accept incoming connections (even ICMP requests), and has no reverse-lookup name associated with it.

Finishing out an evening by watching an episode of your favorite web-series that has made the fandom lose their collective minds... after which you will go fly to another city in order to watch a one-shot of said web-series live.

(I don't have a Critical Role problem you have a Critical Role problem and I CAN STOP ANYTIME I WANT DON'T YOU JUDGE ME.)

((Besides, there's no such thing as too much D&D.))

I don't think I've ever reused a character wholesale on a MU*, but I have done what I refer to as "repaints" a few times where the general feel of a character gets reused. For instance, I had a standoffish sweary biotic on a Mass Effect game years ago who I enjoyed playing. More recently, I made a standoffish sweary character on an urban fantasy game. The characters are not the same; they have different names, different backgrounds, different PBs, and differences in motivation. However, their dialogue style and physical mannerisms are very similar, which let me slip smoothly into writing poses for the urban fantasy character.

@Sunny that was how the impromptu memorial at my company ended: "You were a good robot, and you won't be alone forever. We're coming to find you ourselves, soon."

@AeriaNyx said in MU Things I Love:

To second @Sparks, when you have a reeeeally out there idea, and you spend days working it out and layering in things and really working hard to make things make sense. And you finally get to the day you have to run it, and not only are the players awesome, but they pick up on what you're trying to do and they just make it glorious.

Yeah. The moment when the story becomes clear, where the fog lifts and the road is visible ahead, and players realize "Oh!" and you can see them fall into sync with the plotline... it's the best part of GM'ing.

I love having a story unfold, player-side; discovering something ICly I didn't even know OOCly, especially when it involves my character directly or peripherally, is a joy. It's one reason I do love tabletop games; in the groups I've played in, the GM will often write secrets and plot twists tied into the backstory of various characters, which means you can sometimes end up seeing your own character's backstory—or character themself!—in a new light, after some twist or revelation the GM unveils.

But I love giving other people those same kind of moments even more, when I can. It's why I run a D&D campaign at work for co-workers. It's why I GM on MU*s.

When you see the players really engaging with the plot you've laid out in front of them, it's one of the best dopamine hits in the world.

@AeriaNyx said in MU Things I Love:

Now. If i could just get better at guesstimating timing. What I thought would take about 4 hours, ended up taking nearly 12. And kudos to them for sticking with it that long! It was probably the most fun I've had in months. It was all of the warm and fuzzies.

I'll note that keeping a plot to a specific length is an acquired skill, and has less to do with guesstimating timing and more to do with adjusting your GM'ing style on the fly.

If I've set aside 3 hours for a plot and the players are deeply into it and posing rapidly, I can drill down into details more. Let's say the overall plot is to get into this ancient vault, pass into the tunnels of that vault, and locate some ancient artifact (which will doubtless do something Unexpected when claimed). And let's say the NPC who has served as their guide and escorted them to the entrance of this vault needs them to perform a ritual to unlock it, before they can continue on.

If folks are zipping along in their poses, the explanation of the ritual can be drawn out over multiple pose rounds (allowing for the PCs to react as the steps are described "You need our tears, our sweat, and our blood for this? The blood kind of alarms me..."), and the ritual itself can be multiple pose rounds (to show the effects growing, and build to the moment when the ancient vault's door begins to move).

But if the PCs are being very thoughtful about their poses—or there's just a lot of PCs present—I start to compress; the ritual instructions might be described in one pose round instead, allowing one pose round for reactions, and then the ritual itself will probably also be one pose round (with, admittedly, one heck of a long and dramatic emit to describe the ritual). That way, we can keep moving on the meat of the plot—following the tunnels into the ancient vault, in search of an artifact with mysterious effects!—rather than being hung up trying to open the vault for an hour and a half, and have people have to bail on a plot before reaching the heart of it.

So it's less about guessing "how long will this take", and more about how you can tweak your own GM style/pace to try to fit the plotline as closely as you can to the estimated time.

@Cupcake said in Good TV:

Has anyone watched The Order on Netflix. It is...kinda bad, but also kind of good, and pretty much can be summed up as "What happens when werewolves and the Mysterium don't like each other much. Together, they fight crime!"

It is a weirdly watchable terrible show. An actual conversation between my housemate and myself while watching this first season:

"This show is... not good."
"No, it really isn't."
long pause
"Watch the next episode?"
"Yeah, go for it."