Posts made by Thenomain

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling a pig. It wastes your time and the pig likes it.

@Jeshin said:

2. Is there a steampunk themed book that anyone can recommend?

3. What is Steampunk? @Sunny's "Steampunk And..." is a misnomer, because Steampunk itself is not a genre, but a style on a genre.

What I would call Steampunk is: The Mysterious Explorations of Jasper Morello.

Alt-world Victorian with advanced mechanics based upon gear-and-steam technology. The thing about "punk" in "Cyberpunk" is that there is no consideration for the individual, the soul, ultimately making Cyberpunk a story about human beings. Cyberpunk is, again in my world, a disposable-future version of Noir.

We can see elements of what become some versions of Steampunk in things like Space: 1889 and Fallout (more neoretro-60s than neoretro-1880s).

The Difference Engine is maybe as pure as I've read for Steampunk, as there is clockwork technology mimicking our own but in the Victorian era, but with all the rules the same as our world. A Hard Sci-Fi Steampunk, if you would.

Castle Falkenstin calls it "anacrotech", as in technology that belongs to a different time period but will be represented by magic and/or mad science.

So I over-answered. It's my way.

So it seems to me that to a Mudder, different Mushes are running different code-bases. Sure, each Mush has the same command set, but on top of that we pile vastly different systems. I can see that to that branch of the hobby that to create a system requires getting into the guts and re-writing and re-compiling the game, thus slowly forking the code-base. For Mushers, we call that "Tuesday".

On the other hand, there are about four nWoD-based stat systems out there (two of them mine, preen preen). This makes for the same code-base but different games.

I thought that was interesting.

@Balerion said:

feel free

The shame-trolling has got to stop, dude. It's easier to have a reasonable conversation with someone when you're not telling them how they're bad and should feel bad. You can have a difference of opinion without being, well, disrespectful about it.

I admit, I am enjoying Cry Plays Telltale's Game of Thrones, tho. Youtube and Cryotic get my ad-supported money, and I recommend that you listen to Cry's dulcet tones and amusing side-bars. The game seems more like fan-service than their Walking Dead, but it's still well-written and does not suffer death-of-the-week.

I'm enjoying it, save for the story appears to be stuck on "not moving forward", but I understand that's a very GRRM thing to do.

Respect is a funny thing. I'm going to say respect and humility are not related, though I think they should be.

I'm also going to say that the challenging here about what "respect" is and means does not mean they're being hammered on, @Olsson. (Well, except for @WTFE, but he cut through everything that was going to be said before it was said. That's simply his way.)

The lesson learned here is: Buy more Telltale Games games, and watch Cry Plays the World. I've never dared play a Metal Gear game and he's doing MG3 right now. I'm finally understanding a whole range of nerd jokes.

When people who aren't lawyers or legally representative start pointing fingers for fan-created derivative works reminds me of the 1960s ... 50s ... let's keep on going backwards, shall we.

Unofficially, I see this thread as a lot of "nuh-uh" and "no you" and best of all, "better than thou". I've seen fans act this way before. I've seen authors act this way before. Both GRRM's and those who say they represent him have helped me not only not want to pick up his books, but avoid them. Nice.

Only if you set the '0' register somewhere in there. You don't. You probably meant (untested):

&cmd_TNroll dco=$^\+tndice ([0-9]+)d([0-9]+)\+?(-?[0-9]+)?\/?([0-9]+)?$:@remit %L=<Dice> %N rolled %1d%2[if(strlen(%3),if(gte(%3, 2),+,)%3,)] for [setr( 0, add(die(%1, %2),%3))] TN:%4 [if((gte(%q0, %4)),Success!,Failure!)]

Soon after, on the Werewolf channel ...

[Werewolf] Thenomain says, “WOLVES.”
[Werewolf] Thenomain says, “What would you like to type if you regained Willpower because of your big Bone?”
[Werewolf] Jack says, “Boner, clearly.”
[Werewolf] Jack says, “Or GetBoned.”
[Werewolf] Thenomain says, “I'm told you can have a little Bone or a big ol' Bone.”
[Werewolf] Nick says, “+bone(/all)?”
[Werewolf] Thenomain says, “No, it's going to be 'regain willpower' somehow.”
[Werewolf] Jack says, “Just do +BigBone and +LittleBone.”
[Werewolf] Jack says, “Because boring commands are boring.”
[Werewolf] Thenomain says, “If we weren't ending up with like 500,000 commands, I'd take you up on your bone suggestion.”
[Werewolf] Nick says, “Well, we could just do regain and regain/all maybe, and then just specify the stat?”
[Werewolf] Jack says, “That's boring Nick. So boring I'm dropping out of the conversation. From Boredom.”
[Werewolf] Thenomain : regain willpower=all for Bone
[Werewolf] Nick wasn't the one that said it had to be regain!
[Werewolf] Na'iska-Ur Deviant says, “BONE FOR ALL”
[Werewolf] Thenomain says, “And all for Bone.”

@Coin said:

We do seem to have a rather narrow window of time in which people are truly active. We'll have to see what we can do to broaden that.

Stop getting sick, loser.

@Jeshin said:

@Rook said:

We are so roleplay-centric that we do NOT code automation, and leave arbitration to player interaction.

I was referring to this portion.

Focus, perhaps, on "code automation", not the "so roleplay-centric", then. Your three criteria requires code automation (which clearly some people don't like) and permadeath (I won't beat that horse).

To be honest, I think you'd do well with clarifying what you want OR to represent, what goal informs the three rules, so Kushiel's Debut might say, "Pff, fine, I don't care about your 'no girls allowed' tree-fort," or whatever.

@Jeshin said:

I don't think that getting into a who is more roleplay heavy/better is really something that I'll touch.

I don't think this is his point. Re-quoting:

@Rook said:

So, really, you say one thing, but end up doing another. That, sir, is pretense, and this is (ironically) the historically WRONG place to out yourself as someone of that nature.

He is saying that your statements and actions don't line up, and that this is an inherent problem.

I have largely excused myself from this discussion, since I don't think you intend for anything to come to it, and the above touches on why; part of my head can't help but play marketing buzzword bingo. While I don't think "check your tone" is a good way to say it, I do think that you edge on the disingenuous in asking for input then defending your actions against the responses.

I am not going to get all up in arms about it, tho. You should run your web site to the standards you think are appropriate, and I believe that your responses are genuine from your current position and not malicious.

@Jennkryst said:

Randomly, if MUSHes and MUXes are the same, then why doesn't combat on... any mush ever, work like on BTMux?

Because the people who created the Mush-based Battletech combat system poured over it, in waves, with love.

@Jeshin said:

Would you prefer Creator of FutureMUD? Coder of FutureMUD? Dude behind FutureMUD?

Yes.

The marketing jargon. It burns.

I'm CTO of EldritchMux!

Wait, all this makes me a Senior Dev. Holy smokes!

Someone out there has been messing with my 7th Sea code. I can't remember who at the moment. Maybe they've cleaned it up a lot. It's available in its kind of stupid state here.

edit:
@Usekh said:

I can descriobe well

Are you making fun of my accent?!

@Jeshin said:

I agree that non-consent death does not ensure a good story as well. It is a requirement to be listed but we don't assume that any game with perma-death will be good at storytelling.

Then why is it a requirement? I think the answer is in the question quoted below. That is, because you want it to be. This is fair and I won't argue this. I still disagree with the conclusion of your thesis.

I can't speak for Reno, as I neither staff nor play there, but:

If I said that perma-death does not ensure quality storytelling but I believe it adds to story within text-based games would you agree with that?

I would whole-heartedly agree that you believe it. I believe that if it is part of the theme and setting then it should be mandatory, but if it's not, then it shouldn't be.

I think what makes an RP game is that there are game rules that everyone agrees to follow, which means there are game rules. I also think those rules should facilitate the playing out of a role with intent to tell a story in a theme and setting that is agreed upon by the act of logging in.

These roughly reflect your points #1 and #2. (edit: Even if a game does not have code for the systems, tools to facilitate those systems allows them to be followed and therefore they exist in an implied, if not concrete, state. Anyone who doesn't follow them isn't really playing the game and is therefore a right berk.)

I don't think any game is really a game without risk and, therefore, loss. Though you say that you meant for this in #3, you won't change #3 to be anything but death, at least you're not saying you would and are still defending the position (via probing, if not directly) so at the moment I'm reading that to mean that you still believe involuntary death must be on the table at all times.

Mind you, even in the all but most consent-focused games, there's no helping someone who runs toward the dragon with arms wide open.

@Jeshin said:

I do believe that death & loss play a big part in all story telling.

See, now it's death and loss. Your advertising rules only say "death". I've already agreed that "loss" is important.

Why do you believe non-consent death detracts from storytelling in text-based games?

I don't. I say it can, and has, and non-concent death does not guarantee a good story. It doesn't even guarantee drama. The only thing it guarantees is an ending. I have (and will again, below) agreed that drama is necessary for a good story.

If I said death has to be possible but not probable would that change our disagreement as it pertains to text-based games?

Nope. Mind you, you don't have to placate to me specifically. If you want to demand that death must be on the table, it's your medium. Take that message and run with it.

If I wasn't currently in the middle of a large project, I'd create a game where death was never on the table unless the target allowed it. 7th Sea would prove quite popular.

I apologize for coming off as overly comfortable.

Don't apologize. I was apologizing as coming off as overly antagonistic. I am chatty, and therefore I might look representative, but I'm not. Take everything everyone says here with a grain of salt. Friendly salt, mind you, because salt was used for money and taking money from other people is good.

@Three-Eyed-Crow said:

I'm curious how you feel about something like Faraday's FS3.

Faraday's code framework is love. FS3 is just the icing on the cherry on the cake.

I missed this:
@Jeshin said:

You know it only now occurs to me to comment on this but....

• If you are a roleplay focused game.

• If you have automated system(s): this can include crafting, exploration, combat, medical code, etc etc. Doesn't have to be all but you have to have one or two.

• If you have perma-death defined as the ability for story, characters, or the environment being able to kill off your character permanently without your consent.

Than you too can be listed on Optional Realities

I am having one of these days, so I'm going to respond to this a bit flippantly:

"Go you? Did you want a cookie or something?"

There are plenty of pure-consent games in the history of this hobby, good consent games, and I've been thinking about setting up one for fun and the fun of others. That doesn't mean there aren't stories. That doesn't mean that there aren't challenges. I think point #2 and especially point #3 is a Muddist view. I have never ran a LARP where death was more than a far-away spectre, something that was not really on the table unless the characters went running toward it with open arms.

Now I'm being more antagonistic than I like because it's been One Of Those Days, but I disagree with the core belief that a story has no meaning if it has no risk of death. In fact, in many cases sudden death can trivialize a character's story.

One of the John Wick RPGs requires target consent for death (7th Sea?), and I believe Spirit of the Century does too. It's a thing that happens. I don't understand the reason for the requirement.

I will set up my chargen system, but that's it. My New System Coding is reserved for the day that more than three people want @Ganymede's Mass Effect game.

I have been answering questions about the 7th Sea framework, and likewise, but Eldritch is eating all my code time.