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    Posts made by Thenomain

    • Brus' Five Pillars of Good Staffing

      This is ripped straight from old WORA. Brus had a lot of important things to say, and this is one of the most lasting. I am copying it here because it's something everyone should read.

      I can include the conversation that followed, but we need to start here.

      (edit: originally posted Wed Aug 05 14:17:55 2009)


      So, it seems the theory of good staffing is coming up more and more in the threads, as well as in PMs. I have gotten 3 in as many weeks from new/returning after hiatus staffers asking for my advice in being a good staffer. I think my reputation is overstated and it is not like anything below is stuff you all haven’t heard before, but hey, I have ideas I have followed and offered for years and they seem to work, so I thought it might be helpful to put them all in on place. For what it is worth, here is what I think makes a good staffer.

      1. Have a Vision

      It isn’t enough to say I want to run X game in Y setting. You have to know why you want to run it. What is your specific goal? What do you want to do in the RPG? I call this detailed idea a Vision, it is what separates your game from every other X game in Y setting. So, instead of saying “This is a Vampire game set in San Francisco”, you should say, “This is a Camarillan Vampire game set in San Francisco with the theme of how predators fare in a social setting, with a heavy focus on Clans.”

      Having a Vision acts as a road map. When questions come up about what new character types, plot lines, expanding the game in different directions, and so forth, having a Vision keeps you focused. It stops you from doing the “Ooo, I should add X because it would be Cool.” You should add X because it fits your vision. If it isn’t, it is diluting the game, making it a mish mash of stuff, just like every other boring MU* that seems to lack anything new and interesting.

      This also applies to staff joining an existing game. If you can’t get a straight answer to “Why should I play this game?” or “What does this game do that other X theme games don’t do?” then you are going to have problems staffing. If existing staff can’t tell you what their game is really about, how can you help them run it?  If you are picking up a dead game and trying to revitalize it and no one knows what the Vision of the game is, make one!

      In the end, the game is going to succeed or not because people want to play it. If you have a Vision and the Vision works with players, then you have a shot at making something really cool. You want to have this game, players want to play in this game, everyone wins. And if the Player’s don’t share your vision?  Then find a new one. You can’t force players to play the game you want them to play, and you will just be annoyed if you run a game you don’t want to run. Having a Vision you can articulate makes your statement up front, “This is what I am offering you.” It will save you a lot of grief in the long run.

      2. The Game is Your Focus

      Staff often times get distracted by other things that get in the way of good staffing. Some people are too involved in their own ideas of how cool they are, some cater too much to the players, some are fiercely protective of the source game and try to emulate it perfectly, and some just want to watch out for the friends. (Good) players don’t come to the MU* because they think you are cool or the game system is holy writ or to get ahead and be the big fish in the small pond, they come because they want to play a game. They want to have fun. Their focus is the game, so yours should be as well.

      This means you need to be ready to say “screw it” to game books and canon setting. This means you need to be ready to make unpopular decisions that will piss players off. This means you need to forestall your own ego or your own sense of how things should be done if it is hurting the game.

      Putting the game first is the best away to avoid abuse as well. Almost every time you hear a horror story about a MU*, it is because people are not putting the game first. Staff are using the game for their own ego stroking, players are trying to make their own fiefdom, slavish attention to setting makes the game a chore instead of a game. People log into a MU* to play a game, so that is the focus.

      3. Communicate!

      Staff has a lot of duties and time constraints, so just issued edicts from on high seems like a good idea because it is efficient. But it is also counterproductive. Players and staff are here to do one thing, play the game. You may have different roles, running the game vs. playing the game, but the game is the thing. So if your players are part of the people making the game happen (you can’t have a game without players), include them. When you decide something, tell them why, just don’t issue it.

      Communicate also means listen. Be available to your players, talk with them about their concerns. You don’t have to agree with them or do what they say, but you need to understand their positions about things. You need to be able to explain why you can’t do what you want them to do not because you don’t know why, but because you have considered it and you think your way is better. You may not be able to persuade them, but at least they will know you heard them.

      And be persuaded at times by them!  You are not god (even if you have access to #1). You are fallible, you will make mistakes, and you will make bad calls. Your best reality check is your player based, because they see first hand the impact of your decisions. If you start ignoring them or rejecting their ideas out of hand, you are no longer serving the game, you are serving yourself, and that just leads to abuse.

      Lastly, Communicate also means be honest. Never make a decision in secret that you wouldn’t want to be known by the player base as a whole. If you have to hide something because you will look bad if players find out, you have stopped serving the game. You don’t have to broadcast every thing you do, but keep in mind that in the net people will probably find out sooner or later. Further, admit to your mistakes. You will make them, and if they hurt someone, apologize. People are much more willing to forgive an honest apology than forget a slight never acknowledged.

      4. Be Open to Change

      Opening a MU* is like having a wedding. There is a lot of work and effort and passion getting to that point but the day after is when the work really starts. It is one thing to make something new and interesting, it is another thing to keep it new and interesting. You should always be striving to make the game better.

      This does not mean, however, you should make change for change sake. There is still the Vision to remember; that is your road map. And there is focus on the game. If a change doesn’t fit the Vision and if it does not serve the game, it is not good change, it is just change for the sake of change.

      However, if a player offers a new idea, if metaplot or player actions make significant alterations to the world, or if people want some thing new that isn’t what you expected; and if this new stuff fits Vision and Game, then do it. Your default position as a staffer should be to say yes. Unless Vision or Game gives you a specific reason to say no, say yes. This will keep the game alive and fresh and new. Saying no as default locks the game into staticity. Static and unchanging is just another way of saying dead.

      So do not be afraid to try new things. Innovate. Alter. Expand. You will make mistakes and some of the ideas or stories will be craptastic, but trying is better than not. Be open to change, and the game will stay fresh and young for you and your players.

      5. Have Fun

      The whole point to doing this hobby is to have fun. You aren’t getting paid, you aren’t going to save the world, you are not going to get laid (probably). The reward is the enjoyment, the fun. If you aren’t having fun, then for god’s sake why are you doing it?

      Lots of staff fall down on this one. They stay staff even without having fun out of a sense of obligation (if I don’t do it, who will?), or because players ask them to do it, or because they may hate their game but they love the attention. At best, these reasons will lead to burn out and you doing a piss poor job as a staffer. At worst, it will make you abusive because you will no longer be serving the game, but serving the players or your own ego.

      Now that is not to say throw in the towel the first time you get discouraged. All staff have bad days. But if over time you realize you are not having fun anymore, that the game is a chore, then quit. Either turn the game over to someone else, or reboot it being something you do want to play, or shut it down and do something else. You will be happier and in the end, part of being a good staffer is enjoying yourself.

      tl;dr

      1. Have a very specific idea of what you want your game to be, and what it will accomplish beyond “be fun”.

      2. Focus on making the game suceed, not yourself, the players, or the other details.

      3. Communicate!  Talk with your players, not at them, with honesty.

      4. Be open to change. If you aren’t trying new things to make the game better, you will have a dead game.

      5. Have Fun. This is a hobby. If you aren’t enjoying it, you aren’t doing anyone any favors.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Fallout 4

      Is it me, or was @Lithium's reply dismissive? What is interesting to someone else is one reason I asked for input on mods. The reason Fallout 4 is not "interesting" to me is because it's too flat. Beautifully written when you get into interactions, but those interactions don't really lead you anywhere; they are self-contained and while I don't mind having a character whose motivations are pressed on me, those motivations are left behind once you get out of the starting area and into the wider world. There's no story there, there's just a game. There are smaller stories, and almost all of them are compelling, that's about it. There are few things to invest in.

      Even Fallout 3 eases you back to the main plot, even if you choose to ignore it. It reminds you that there is a plot to the game, not just ... things.

      That's what I mean by interesting.

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Fallout 4

      I have yet to find a mod to make the game world (in the world-building sense) more interesting. Prettier, funnier, more realistic, but not more interesting. I'd like to try some of these out.

      posted in Tastes Less Game'y
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @Jennkryst said:

      Shadowrun has far more in common with WoD than it does D&D. Because if you want to go and learn how to fight better, you pick up a combat skill.

      Systematically, yes. I was talking theme when I brought in D&D and Tolkein. I had already admitted to D&D and ShadowRun not being systematically equivalent when I quoted myse-- you know what, why am I arguing this?

      @faraday said:

      I guess it all comes down to how you define a game.

      Nobody has managed to define a game to any single definition, but they usually come down to having rules, limitations, and voluntary involvement. Mind you, if we can't come up with a single definition of "game" then I don't see us coming up with a single definition of "role-playing game".

      When I said "if it's not in the main rules then it's optional", this is a personal conceit because I've had this it-depends argument too many times. For an even more wildly off-topic example, when Mage: The Awakening came out, I complained that its was far too limited and a few people mentioned how the second book fixes a lot of that. I don't think it's fair or even a good idea to expect anyone to buy an expansion. The game that's in the main rulebook is the game that you're being asked to play.

      I am 100% behind playing outside the rules and setting, but at which point the main book is being houseruled. When you're playing a Mu*, house-ruling the main rules is ... something we complain about on a fairly regular basis.

      Most of the early fiction stories weren't about traditional runners at all. That helped to shape what Shadowrun means to me.

      This tickled me. What defines a traditional crook in modern society? I don't know! In the third Shadowrun Returns game, you don't start out as a 'runner, but by god you end as one. Maybe it's entirely how people see you.

      Ahhem.

      @Finn said:

      @Thenomain Still accepting players if for kickoff plot!

      Does is even really matter debating a fictional universe vs the real world universe? Why not just let it be what it is- anachronistic at some points (wired internet, bulky cybernetic implants), and completely on point at others (i.e: Complete corporate coup of world governments + insane rich/poor dichotomy).

      And BTW - Much fun to be had at Shadowrun Denver on the new plot.. Just log on!

      Point taken, sir. Point taken!

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @Jennkryst said:

      While Shadowrun has archetypes, they are not classes.

      @Thenomain said:

      You could also have countered by reminding me that the character classes in ShadowRun are actually just archetypes

      😎

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @faraday said:

      Neither game really explains what you do besides "be an adventurer" or "be a shadowrunner".

      Except Shadowrun does. Does the fact that it's in a supplemental sourcebook and not the main book make it any less a part of the game?

      A dangerous question to ask me! It's my very strong opinion that if the main rulebook doesn't tell you how to play the game, then it's optional. So as an option you can play something besides a shadowrunner, it sounds like. (Edit: And if a game doesn't tell you what your characters do in the course of the game, it's probably a pretty shitty game.)

      You could also have countered by reminding me that the character classes in ShadowRun are actually just archetypes, things to get you started, and you can play any skill-based character that you want.

      Even though it's three kinds of mage (spirit, non-spirit, internet), two types of fighter (magic and technology), and whatever the hell riggers are supposed to be. Rangers, maybe? Do they get a level bonus versus giants? Hm.

      There are no thieves because, let's face it, you're all thieves.

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @faraday said:

      The world is open for you to tell whatever stories you want to tell, but the game is structured around the idea that most players will be doing 'runs - a very limited slice of the world. I'm curious if that's what @Thenomain was getting at?

      This is part of it, yes.

      The other part if it is that I wasn't saying anything much, so the idea that my bringing up a point was or was not a "problem" was ridiculous. I was at lunch doing things far more interesting than defending a point I never made (i.e., eating and inventing board games), so being contrarian was the most expeditious way for me to hold a mirror up to the silliness.

      It's also silly to say "you can do x in game y". Of course you can. You can have fun playing Monopoly, a game designed to be as un-fun as possible. You can play Vampire: The Masquerade as a Toreador who, with a Malkavian, ghouls each 15 gerbils in one night and set them loose on a rival city.

      I did this, and it was fun.

      But if you asked anyone what Vampire is about, they're probably not going to say that this is something that you would do on a night-by-night basis unless you were in a gaming group with me when I was 19. I would never let anyone get away with this on a Mu*, due to how far off the known theme it was and what the game says vampires are and what they do, but I did this, and it was fun.

      @Thenomain said:

      What does an adventuring party do when they have nothing to adventure? What defines a shadowrunner when they're not on a run?

      The real reason for this statement is to make the parallel between D&D and ShadowRun. Neither game really explains what you do besides "be an adventurer" or "be a shadowrunner". On Mu*s, most of what you do when logged in is neither adventure nor run shadows. Of the two, I find D&D to be far more lenient as you are defined by your ability. You are a fighter, what you decide to fight and why are up to you. As a shadowrunner you run shadows. If you didn't, you wouldn't be a shadowrunner, you would be playing BarBouncer, the sci-fi fantasy game set in a dark near-future.

      Without adventuring, a mage is still a mage. Without shadows to run, a shadowrunner is ...

      ...

      I don't know. You can decide to be something else, but you are changing the nature of the game. You're going outside the lines, thinking outside the box, which is fine and well and good but needs tread carefully. My Toreador may have a new pet for you.


      edit:

      Faraday, I posit that your group was still adventuring. You may not have been going on planned adventures, but the "friday night fire fight at the Stuffer Shack" example mentioned earlier is an adventure, 'run or no. Because it would be boring as hell to get together as friends and talk about spending at time at a bar day in and day out. Mushes are painfully different that way.

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @Lithium said:

      This isn't a problem in my eyes

      It is in mine.

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Design Chit-Chattery

      Here's my entry, written over lunch while thinking about how much I enjoy Tsuro, which is kind of the opposite of this challenge.

      BUMPER CAR DERBY

      Theme: Four bumper cars going from the start to the end. Easy, right? Well they are bumper cars.

      Goal: Make it 15 spaces on a board that is built with square tiles as you race. Each tile represents your path.

      Mechanics

      Draw until you have three tiles in your hand. The face of these tiles are hidden from view of the other players.

      Lay one tile so that your token (bumper car) is moved along the path. Each tile has multiple paths and can be placed in any configuration. You must lay the tile so that one side lines up exactly to the tile next to it.

      If the tile puts you on the path of another player's car, you have run into them and sent them spinning. Move their car onto a different path on their tile and then follow it to the end of that path. This is where they end up. Do the same for your car.

      If any bumper car runs into another bumper car, you get to pick the paths the new cars end on until all cars stop moving at the end of a path.

      If a car ends up back at the start line, they can place a new tile next to any existing tile at the start and try to catch up.

      The first car over the finish line, after the track is 15 tiles long, they win.

      Trade-offs

      As long as the tiles are well designed, the players will weave and exchange positions, allowing someone who can follow all the existing paths to see the best way to get to the finish. As the track gets laid out, other paths will become available so that someone kicked back to the start can jump forward on existing tiles. Bumping someone off their current path should throw them back several tiles, or may put them in the way of another player, or may force them to place a tile sideways delaying their forward momentum.

      Stupid bumper cars.

      Each tile side should have 2-3 paths available with many ways to cross paths and a few, but not overwhelming number, of turns.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @faraday

      I never knew what ShadowRun was supposed to be. A fun game with great art and a janky ruleset where you play a fantasy race in a post-modern corporate-run world.

      I have a pretty good idea what cyberpunk is supposed to be, and ShadowRun lives with only one foot in that theme. The other foot is squarely in Tolkein-inspired fantasy.

      The only thing I know is consistent in ShadowRun's theme is that you play someone who decided to make money as a criminal for hire in a time and land where the law can change depending where you are and who's doing the talking, which pretty well describes a D&D adventurer.

      What does an adventuring party do when they have nothing to adventure? What defines a shadowrunner when they're not on a run?

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @rebekahse

      Shadowrun opens with a circle of Native Americans chanting until magic happens and they all become free. I'm surprised, sometimes, that it managed to be cyberpunk at all. It's ShadowRun's setting, not its technology, that I think people are holding onto. What would the game world be if Dunklezahn didn't have a 50+ page will released as a game supplement, after being elected President at one GenCon. Not very cyberpunk for a very long time, but very ShadowRun.

      You play the game you love, that's all. But if you want to see ShadowRun turned cyberpunk, it can be done. There will be a ripping of bandaids. It will not feel very "AD&D With Cybernetics" at all.

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @ThatGuyThere said:

      I would sacrifice quite a bit to purge the world of social media.

      No online forums for you!

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @rebekahse said:

      But the lack of paranoia about it is what makes the difference, because Shadowrun's all about the paranoia. It's not a game that would get made in today's climate, I don't think.

      Absolutely not, because that's not where we are, but you can easily update CP2020 into the modern climate, so why not ShadowRun? We are paranoid, these days. We are paranoid as fuck. Apple unlock your phone because think of the children are we paranoid! We're just not paranoid about corporate control, as the US Chamber of Commerce has announced a lawsuit against Seattle trying to allow unionization of Uber drivers.

      We can feed that paranoia, it just takes a good twist in the right direction.

      You could theoretically put wireless, social media, etc. into all of those, but you're basically having to write a lot of new rules for an old, established game system at that point, and I've never seen that work really well.

      Are you saying that CP2020 is not an old, established game system?

      That the latest rules sets are not thematically cyberpunk, that I can get behind, but let's also admit that the whole concept of cyberpunk is very 80s. Gibson's writings have moved on while playing to the strong social noir that made cyberpunk to begin with. I played a point and click adventure called "Void & Null" that captures the mood without having to be cyberpunk.

      We can near future sci-if noir, if we wanted. Let's do it.

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @rebekahse

      We are more mega corporate than anytime before in history, it's just not something we feel we can, or need, to do anything about. A radio piece I heard from a pop culture analyst had superhero movies and now tv as popular because we feel that we have no control over impossible situations, mostly terrorism and rising control of our every day lives.

      Back in the 80s, we still had a sense of the "punk" that's in cyberpunk.

      I find the conclusion that you can't put in wireless or social networking into ShadowRun to be kind of strange, because Cyberpunk2020 is ready for it right now, and CP2020 has a heavy dose of world building too. (Five corporation books, four cybernetics books, etc.)

      Cyberpunk 203x, while wildly unpopular, introduced reputation as currency, too, has a strict timeline of events starting in 2003, and many other conceits that you can find in ShadowRun.

      So why do people flip their lid at idea of updating the game world?

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: The guy who coded Kishi Kaisei MUX [L5R]

      (Side-comment. I am trying to make a complete 7th Sea Second Edition roller. Oh god, the pain, the pain. There may be danger, Will Robinson.)

      posted in A Shout in the Dark
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Previously Mutants & Masterminds MUX, now a Question! DUN DUN DUN!

      @Lithium

      There's nothing wrong in using a game system where too much can be done with it. Trait-based superhero games, for instance. oWoD Mage. No, the problem is that learning the system so that you don't screw over yourself and the game as a whole is more difficult. Hell, the ease of which you could create a character in M&M 2 who teleports people into the sun is one of the things that needs educated because the system itself sure as hell lets you do it.

      One of my biggest complaints about M&M is that the chargen is more open than others, and the ability to screw yourself over is higher than many other games. Yeah, absolutely higher than WoD.

      But the number of times I've had this conversation, I'm going to leave this to the reader to follow the logic the rest of the way down. There are certain to be turtles.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Previously Mutants & Masterminds MUX, now a Question! DUN DUN DUN!

      @Lilli

      Someone else mentioned that the ORE, especially when it gets as complex as Wild Talents, requires care in handling the different dice types. It's easy to say "all my dice are now 10s" without realizing that this is likely to remove an entire town is wiped off the map. (Thanks, Superman.) If I remember correctly also easy to counter "all 10s" with a competing "all 10s", while someone who has a broader spectrum of dice results is more likely to get things done, if smaller things done.

      It's been a while since I've looked at it, tho.

      I wouldn't code this system, no way no how. ORE would be one of the few systems I would code to be: Decide what dice you rolled, here's what you get, do what you want with the results. I have created a system that sorts the breakdown of the dice (colored, even, if you want), but that's about it.

      posted in Mildly Constructive
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Cheap or Free Games!

      Talos Principle. $10.

      Not quite Portal, but it's still worth $10.

      posted in Other Games
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: Shadowrun Denver & New Plot

      @faraday said:

      @Thenomain Fair enough. Setting suspension of disbelief aside though, adding wireless makes the decker/hacker a much more integrated, fun and playable concept. And AR is just neat.

      Well of course. Anything to solve the Decker As Solo Character is a good thing, and I'm glad that AR was stolen whole-cloth from Cybergeneration.

      posted in Adver-tis-ments
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
    • RE: The guy who coded Kishi Kaisei MUX [L5R]

      The 7th Sea version, includes what to do if you roll 0 dice and some other tricks:

      https://github.com/thenomain/7sea-mux/blob/master/7th Sea Stat System.txt#L454

      posted in A Shout in the Dark
      Thenomain
      Thenomain
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