Posts made by Tennyson

@chibichibi Call me always on the lookout for a Mage game. 2.0 is still a little rough for me but I'll definitely start drafting up some thoughts for Frisco area.

@Wavert I'd love to get my hands on the Beleriand code and reopen it. The game had some awesome descs done up. Sadly the site is down. Not that it had been active in years.

@lavit2099 said in City of Splendors: A Forgotten Realms Adventure:

Also, in regards to paladins: in 5e, a paladin does NOT have to be lawful good. They are less "beacons of shining purity" and more "I follow an oath and get power from that." There IS a spec that is all about "I follow my god" and, at high levels, gives you "angelic" features, like wings and flight speed.

This gets into a particular point of nomenclature. To me a Paladin will ALWAYS be the 'beacon of shining purity'. If you want to play a divine warrior devoted to an evil god? Fine. Just don't call yourself a paladin. The writers of 5e have essentially caved and pandered to the Darth Vader is cool crowd here.

Of course, I also have a fundamental problem with games that allow 'evil' PCs from the standpoint that it always invites pvp drama as players square off.

@Warma-Sheen Meh. I'd call that defeatist. Point is that everyone, FC or no, is on equal footing. In a setting where Han or Luke or Leia or Darth Maul or whoever gets the badass points and everyone else sits back and watches the FC show, that's huge. I've made a character there that's every bit as rich as any FC character and loving my rp. SAGA still suffers from 'gear factor' whereas FATE you have to buy anything special with your finite refresh. It's inherently balancing. There's something else to consider. If a stunt turns out to be too powerful, staff can always re-evaluate it and tone it down.

@TNP Thing is.. I tried SAGA. It turned into as much of a twinkery fest as any game system could be. D6 was bad only because ancient PCs could have craptons of dice everywhere but that wasn't the death. The death of d6 games was twofold. 1) Econ. Mechanized systems in play that made being the guy with the best gear the focus. 2) Factionalization. Inevitably, one side wanted to win. Because of that player animosity developed.

FATE.. well.. brings the focus back to the story. I'm interested in seeing how it all works out.

@RnMissionRun said in RL Anger:

@Vorpal

Nah, it was "Kent".

That's what you get for playing with yourself?

(Movie reference people, deep breath)

@dontpanda These are the things that restore my faith in humanity. Freaking awesome.

Moving right along then.

@Ghost said in The Shame Game:

@Tennyson said in The Shame Game:

@Lithium said in The Shame Game:

@Tennyson Only thing downvote worthy in that, is the assumption that all countries have the same rights as others.

Oi. Tooootally separate discussion. But yet another reason why Americans behave like overpriveleged children. They don't understand just how good they have it when compared to a large portion of the world.

I think it's sad that Canadians and the English and the Germans and the French and the Swiss and the Swedish and the Australians and the Luxembourgish don't have freedom.

They, like, must be reallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreallyreally jealous of America having it written on a piece of paper that we're allowed to talk, because those dudes are clearly not allowed to speak.

Edit: Found and shared a gif, because in Wales, they get put in jail if they gif and I wanted to show off how great it is to be free.

Wow. That. Was an incredibly obtuse and derailing reply. It took a cited example of 1st world privelege and turned it into an exposition of ignorance.

It's also a perfect example why shaming is a failed methodology.

I saw this topic and wasn't going to reply initially. Then I thought about all of those scenes that when I was done partaking of... I sat back and went 'phew'. They were emotional roller coasters. I felt a high or a low or a rush or just otherwise 'moved'. I felt a connection with the character, the other characters in the scene, and generally the whole experience. And.. isn't that the whole purpose of art? To achieve a connection on some level in some form with the viewer/partaker? So yeah. Not every scene hits that level. But damned if you don't feel it when it does.

@Lithium said in The Shame Game:

@Tennyson Only thing downvote worthy in that, is the assumption that all countries have the same rights as others.

Oi. Tooootally separate discussion. But yet another reason why Americans behave like overpriveleged children. They don't understand just how good they have it when compared to a large portion of the world.

@Warma-Sheen said in Fallen World MUX!:

Holy moly. People are rabid for this game... That's good, I think. Everyone else's eagerness makes me want to play, even though I've stayed away from Mage like it had the plague.

I guess its kind of cool that I can still find something new to experience.

Here's why I want to play it. One, 2E. I've been intrigued by 2e since it came out and there are a lot of things that 2e mage cleans up about 1e. 1e was a refreshing take on Mage. I liked classic Mage don't get me wrong but new mage just felt.. cleaner somehow. The problem was that 1e had a LOT of twinkery options available to it. With 2e mage, especially with the restriction on mastery that gnosis has now, things are brought into check a bit. Now I've not played a 2e game that was purely 2e so the god machine (Chronicles of Darkness) rules are a little fuzzy but.. I'm holding out hope. It feels more cinematic.

But while the fact that this is 2e is a tease, that's not even the most intriguing. It's a Mage only game. This means that we can really focus on what it is to be a mage. Delve into magic. And we don't have other spheres competing for resources or otherwise fussing that mages are too powerful, ZOMG MAGIC OP! Ahem. No distractions.

Further, the wiki seems to really put in place theme points (I'm a theme junky) which makes the setting a struggle. We have a reason to preserve shadow names. We have a goal. We have, even achieving the goal of a Consillium, and ongoing fight. There's an immediate direction. Focus. Purpose for being. And, with the gnosis cap in place, it means that even long time characters won't become microgodlings. They'll have to branch out into skills and resources and become connected to the grid through other means than phenomenal cosmic power. So that temptation that always exists on games like TR and the successor Fallcoast to constantly blow the wad on gnosis and arcana because if you don't you'll be stomped by the guy who did? Gone. That was one thing I liked about HM. Becoming a master was HARD. Once you got there? Folk knew you were badass. It /meant/ something. When the game turns Monty Hall with 600xp? Suspension of disbelief fails.

So yeah, for all of those reasons, I'm eager to play this game.

@Pandora said in The Shame Game:

My conclusion really is that MSB doesn't really care if you reform your wicked ways, it just kind of wants you to shut up unless you agree with its many talking heads, because dissenting opinions are bad and shameful, k?

Oh good god. This. See, I come from a world where dissenting opinion isn't a bad thing as long as you can articulate how you came to the view you hold. It may not be a view I agree with but if you can give me rationale, maybe back it up with some citations, then hey, it's your opinion and we can agree to disagree. That's it. But holy crap if you disagree with someone on a mu? Heaven forbid they're a staffer? YOU ARE EVIL! You're a shit stirrer. You have a bad attitude mister!

To which my opinion is generally, meh. Whatever.

Which people have equated to calling me an asshole or rude or what have you.

Sorry guys, the thing that makes this country great is the fact that the guy next to you, even if he's a total tool, has a right to be a total tool. If he's not hurting anyone, leave him be. And if he is? Meh, we have laws to deal with that. But that's a totally separate problem entirely.

So. Shame. Does it work? Not really. It's a weak effort at best because it tries to turn public opinion against a viewpoint that could very well be valid with no rationale other than we disagree. Some people might even call this bullying. People have committed suicide over it. Yeah fun right?

My preferred method? Discussion. Argument. Discourse. But that requires thought and exposition and it's easier just to tell someone they're being rude.

Which brings me back to... meh.

I used to get worked up over it. Now? I'm too tired to meh.

Just my two cents. Feel free to downvote.

Meh.

Eh, mostly I'm just going to pine for gnosis 6 because that'd unlock 1 more attainment level but.. I get why they capped it at 5. It's all good. Honestly, I'm keen on seeing 2e operate. The upper limit on the masteries is really the thing that has me smiling. I'm still going through the book piece by piece to catch the changes. Some of them are real subtle. The praxis and yantra bits are going to take some digesting.

What's killing me is that I already have a concept rolling in my hand and I can't pitch it or make wiki or anything... let us in let us in!

@Songtress said in Fallen World MUX!:

Agreed in that case. Looks like I'll need to spend that 20.00 on the new book.

Twenty? I want the hardback! Hurry up and release it already! (reading pdf makes me blind)

@Jennkryst said in Fallen World MUX!:

The Mastery effect may not be in play, as this appears to be 2.0, and I think I read you can only haz 1 mastery ever until you hit Gnosis

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that detail. All the better. Let's people get in their favorite arcana mastery but keeps them from god moding with multiple masteries. Definitely a perk.

It's probably to keep the silly down. I mean if you hit gnosis 5 and are a master that's 10 dice of casting power. Plus at 6 gnosis and above you can raise stats above 6. Again, I imagine it's just to keep the lid on the crazy. As much as I'm disappointed we won't be able to reach the top end of a legacy.. I understand why.

Then there's the Mastery effect. At Gnosis 3 you can be a master. 4? Double master. 5? Triple. You play a game long enough and you, at some point, become a silly character. Go become a Magister already and leave the grid alone. Or Ascend and become the personal errand boy to the Oracles. At that point, you really have no business messing about in Consillium politics or the like. They're beneath you.

Holy crap. I am so there. Or.. will be. Yes.. Mage.. my precious.

I do have one question. Legacies haven't really been fleshed out yet in 2e and 1e conversions will leave holes at 1 and 5. I assume that each one will have to be custom fit?

Speaking of book, is the hardback released yet? I have the pdf but books are so much easier to read.

@ShelBeast

Alas. I haven't read the new version but gmc cleared a few things up so I had hope for it. Maybe someone will do a mage only game. Or I will. Of course my wife would kill me for trying to run a game but...