Posts made by ThatGuyThere

My own thoughts on smoking and vaping as a former smoker, I would one hundred percent rather hang out with smokers rather than vapers for one reason, sadly smoking looks cool watch old movies or hell even know movies granted it is all a cultural construct but there is a cache to smoking. I have yet so see someone vaping that didn't look dorky as well in the process. (One slight exception, the vaping gear that looks like cigarettes)

@Arkandel said in Difficulty of single-player computer games:

How do you guys feel when a game offers both single- and multi-player modes? Are you feeling the urge to compete in ladders?

For me, no but then I never play multiplayer unless I am sitting in a room with that person. For me video games are my entertainment when I don't want to deal with other humans so for me multiplayer defeats the purpose of the games. I understand why other people love plying video games with others but it is not my thing.
When I want to have entertainments with other humans I tend to MUSH, or do RL things.

For me it is simple I do not change the preset difficulty so that ends up being normal.
If i got game that was already pre-set hard or easy I would likely leave it there.
On a rare occasion I will lower the difficulty if I am totally stuck but more often in that case I just set the game aside and move on to the next one, I only change difficulty like that if I am near the end and really want ot see the end of the story.
The exception to this is sport games or fighting games, those I tend to start on easy to get the hang of the controls then up the diff as I need to so the game presents a challenge.

@WTFE
Then those players might have issues understanding any mechanics. Heck the documentation on how the system works is available and except for the +combat parts it not complicated at all and the +combat parts are entirely handled by the code. Certainly not more complicated than WoD or Shadowrun or D+D 2.5/Pathfinder which have all been used for multiple games.
I have been on I two games that used it, and while i will admit most scenes did not use the mechanics, the same has been true for any game I have been on, mechanics tend to be brought out only when the randomness is wanted or when disagreements arise regardless of the system in play.

My guess is that past history has shown that a game getting handed off is much the same as a table changing dealers at a casino, a clear sign to walk away as things are about to get a whole lot worse.
While it is not always true, I can definitely see the mind set of "I signed on to play under X but now Y is in charge this sucks."
Now I don't think attacking someone on here is the right way to go about it, (at least outside of the Hog Pit) but there are a couple of folks that while I think they are a definite benefit to the hobby I would not bother playing on a came they started at least not until after I saw who it was handed off to.

It makes me think of an old professor in a den somewhere pontificating on something.

It also comes down to what role you want XP to play in your game. If the goal to have XP simulate the skills the character picks up and improves through RP, or is the goal of XP to provide the player the ability to have their characters abilities increase and provide the player with goals to engage with, both are valid ideas of game design but are at odd with each other. Those are two ways of seeing XP I thought of off the top of my head but I am sure there are many others as well.
Personally I see XP as an out of character construct, mainly because I find most learning and teaching scene to be dull as dishwater so learning my characters do is always off camera unless game policy mandates a log in which case i put up with two hours or so of bland RP.

On the topic of other ways of advancement Star Crusade had an interesting in theory method, at the end of each week you would write up essentially small xp justifications, (can't remember what term they used) and then you would get to credit towards raising those skills. You were limited to a set number per week but the justification could be both from on screen and off screen activities. I think the off screen part is essential.

New Prospect had an interesting idea for xp in WoD. Instead of doing it as xp and spending it, it was time based you had a number of slots you could be actively learning things with and then when enough time passed it was added to your sheet. I don't remember hearing a lot of complaints about the system but the game did not last long due to other dramaz.

@surreality said in Course Corrections:

This is similar, to me, to 'I don't care how many dice you have or how good your roll is, you are not going to jump the English Channel on your motorcycle: this is an impossible task.'

What if the character was Arthur Fonzarelli?

@Arkandel said in Course Corrections:

I don't know what bullshit stinks the most, that this would be a plausible plan at all ("you can totally do it, that's how sound works!") or that his illiterate barbarian from some shitty village would possess sound engineering skills to fight his way out of total darkness.

When I run things my solution is perception rolls, most systems have some sort of mechanic to tell how well characters are able to perceive the environment they are in. In the barbarian example in D+D 3.5 for example i would allow the idea and be all make your listen check to see how well this works for you. Player still gets benefit of creativity sure but unless he has put point in listen it won't be much of one. If the barbarian has put a lot of point in listen then for whatever reason this particular barbarian likes cool sound tricks so have been playing with things and now has found a use for them.

Edit: My all time favorite reason for why gun powder won't work in a fantasy setting was from Spelljammer it mentioned that smoke powder (the AD&D version of gunpowder) went inert when brought into Greyhawk space. The reason, the gods decided it did. Simple, keeps the setting they way the authors want it and impossible to really argue against.

I pretty much agree with the general trend, though I would vote to allow it for mortals. It lets the mortals have a nice boost. Though I would definitely make sure to wipe it from the sheet after any sort of becoming or the like.
And my mortal here i pretty much mean stock mortal, not ghoul or blooded etc they get their own toys.

@Arkandel said in What does advancement in a MU* mean to you?

On St. Petersburg they used a hard-cap XP system you could hit once you roleplayed for a reasonable-but-not-too-high amount per week. The exact numbers might escape me but it was something like "you gain XPs automatically as you RP and you can make a maximum of 2 XPs per week". Once you hit the limit that's it, you couldn't go any higher.

At least one person I knew back then wasn't motivated to play any more once they hit that cap. The player was completely reasonable by the way and never one I associated with "play to win", just the contrary, but that's just how the system itself made them feel.

I did not play on St. Petersburg so I was not this person but I agree with them once I hit the weekly limit I would stop. Not because i need a reward for RPing since I have been in multiple scenes on Fallcoast this week and will get the exact same weekly rp if i had been in none, but once you start to reward X then cap that reward you create a system that caps my desire for X, in fact you incentivize delaying x if it is near the cap refresh date. Lets say you get XP for rping up to a weekly cap, if that cap refreshes on Monday for example and i hit that cap on Friday, if someone asks me for rp over the weekend I would be a fool not to put them off til the next Monday, because why do something for free when you can wait a bit and so the exact same thing for a reward.

Off topic, I just wanted to point out they are not totally superfluous since they inform you if someone @tels in without using one of the exits, for example from a +meetme command or even just the old fashioned @tel way.

@Ganymede said in Course Corrections:

See, I don't have a problem with this. I'd have a problem if the following occurred:

<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "wtf don't you know what a gun looks like?!"
<OOC> Artsy Fartsy says, "I know what it looks like, but my PC has no idea what a gun is and doesn't know what you're referring to."
<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "well ur goin to know now cuz everyone knows it unless they're stupid"
<OOC> Artsy Fartsy says, "Look, guns don't exist in this world, so I don't even know how your PC knows what gunmetal is. Guns don't exist in Westeros. I'm just trying to keep things IC, know what I mean?"
<OOC> Lord McFarty says, "ive never watched GoT!!! i don't plan to so don't tell me what i can't pose!!! i don't plan to change"

If I read that exchange I would be disinclined to RP with either ever again.
Neither look good not the I must defend every hill of IC knowledge artist nor the willfully ignorant lord seem like people I would have an enjoyable scene with so any IC issues that had to be dealt with could get handled over mail.

@faraday said in Course Corrections:
I agree my issue would be with her reaction not her use of Lego. Her over-reaction to the FYI would cause me to avoid her, her use of Lego wouldn't even make me blink.
After all we are stuck playing these games with a language that is filled with cultural references even ones we do not think about such as calling soft soled athletic shoes, tennis shoes when the IC game culture likely never developed a sport of whacking a ball over a net on a lawn (and then having that sport evolve to being played on clay and hard courts as well as grass) let alone calling that sport tennis.

@Roz said in Course Corrections:

Also, like, just make up plastic block toys that aren't called Legos?

But why not then call them Legos? Yes i know they would not be called such in character but if that is the simplest way to communicate what they are why not? I am sure I am in the minority but if I read plastic block toys I would think something closer to Lincoln Logs or just the blacks with letters and nubers on them a la pre school before i thought Legos so while the name night be out of theme I would rather have the clear communication of what is happening then worry about the use of a brand name, unless they also want to police all such things like say Aspirin (also a brand name though one that has lost trademark protection) instead of whatever the hell drug would be to proper name for Aspirin.

@Rook
You can loose faith in someone with out becoming offended.

@Three-Eyed-Crow said in Strange Game Dev Inquiries from surreality (condensed):

That's a long TS file and is the kind that just makes me shake my head. Long TS files tend to do that, because it twigs my, 'If you're spending this much time explaining Tinyfucking, you must really care about Tinyfucking' light in my brain. Which is never a positive for me.

But I get that people from vastly different game cultures than me think it's necessary. Mostly it depresses me about other players. Do whatcha got to do.

Sadly all of that is pretty necessary, I have seen drama stem from just about every example @surreality gives.
I am pretty sure the first file I would write would be the TS one and it would pretty much be Surr's only with more don't care and fewer examples so hers is likely better.

@Arkandel said in Roleplaying writing styles:

@SG Come on man, youtube video comments is the closest thing I've seen to hell on earth.

I see you have never read the comments on ESPN.com articles or Yahoo articles, do yourself a favor and don't.
Though Youtube takes the bronze in the worst comment section event.

@Arkandel said in Which canon property/setting would be good for a MU* ?:

I've read Rebirth and I don't know! Is both Barry and Wally Flash? This is becoming a Spartacus situation.

Not that bad really considering for most of the companies history DC has had multiple active folks using the Flash name, after all Jay was active as the Flash from golden age to Crisis on Infinite Earths along with Barry whose existence kicked off the Silver Age, and with the return of the JSA from Limbo, (Not being flippant here the actual in universe reason the JSA was gone from COIE to their retrun in 1991 was that they were in Limbo fighting Surtur and the rest of the Norse baddies.) from 1991 - 2009 you had Jay and Wally, with an interlude of Jay and Bart as Flashes, and from 2009-2011 you have three active Flashes with Jay, Wally, and Barry all actively using the name in different titles. The only periods with just one Flash were from 1940-1956 when it was just Jay and from the end of Flashpoint when it was just Barry until Jay was re-introduced not long after that.
Edit to Add: One more period of just one Flash, Wally was the only active Flash from the end of COIE to late 1991.