It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's magical: That one in a million person with whom you just instantly click. Not necessarily in any sort of relationship - personal, intimate, whatever - but it's just a click like finding the ideal acting partner. The riffs flow, the scene is a series of 'yes and...' that builds into a perfect character building and expanding experience.
That's what I love.
@ziggurat I certainly agree that specific events can be ignored or what-have-you. But in terms of wide-spread social wobbling, I think it'd be... disingenuous, I guess, to totally pretend they're not there.
I'm not saying that every plot or NPC or whatever has to react to it outwardly, but the perception and feeling of a time and place should be preserved as much as possible. Naturally, if you're setting a game in now, and an event happens you aren't prepared for, then skirting around it is definitely appropriate especially if it's of a horrific nature.
I'm also not shouting for PCs to react 'authentically' really, though that's an option if that's what you want to explore... There are ways of portraying a level of racism or sexism or homophobia without outright yelling 'bender' every opportunity you get.
Still, games are about fun and if something isn't fun to play, you shouldn't have to play it. That said, if you don't find it fun to explore the causes of, say, the Harlem Renaissance, then you shouldn't use that as your backdrop. If you don't want to explore the legend of the Trojan War, don't set your game in the period that's going on.
Most folks don't play a modern game to explore those themes, and that's fine. But if someone says "oh we're making a game set in the latter half of WWII in California..." some folks are going to think "Okay... so are the Japanese-Americans in camps, or..."
@arkandel said in Historical settings:
On the other hand I do dislike creating rules around trying to stop jerks from doing jerk things
Have detailedish rules tailored for 'decent people that sometimes make errors of judgement' and an ultimate open-ended 'anti-jerkwad' rule. Then whenever a punishment for the latter is applied, be open and transparent about it. This not only ensures that players know what will trigger your ire, but it also allows them an inside view of the way staff works when it's usually a "don't look behind the curtain" thing.
@surreality said in Historical settings:
In a modern setting, it's also present.
Indeed, but almost nobody is saying "So we're setting the game in 2018... but we're not including anything that actually happened that year in the background." Which is unlike what some people always say the minute a 'historical' setting is described.
@sunnyj And I, unfortunately, fall on the opposite end of things, to at least your first point. I used to super dislike (read: hate) the mandatory adoption of wikis. I grumble about it, but it is what it is now. There are too many things to worry about now that are seemingly mandatory: Wikis, log posting, running your own plots, etc. It's a lot to deal with, and generally it's all regarded as mandatory.
I'm not saying the old days were better, or simpler, lord knows that's not the case at all. But I know I'm not alone in being a bit of a philistine in these regards.
The main problem with our little community is that there's recently more emphasis on bigger and better, without any agreement as to what better is and the pervasive assumption that to be a success a game has to worry about log-in numbers over actually telling an interesting and fun story. Naturally these are all generalisations, but they're still there.
@apos said in How old are MU* players?:
Like most MUSHes that aren't a 'do it yourself' style sandbox would just flat out collapse if their player bases doubled or tripled, which makes games always want new people but at a pretty controlled and steady rate, rather than huge influxes.
We see that quite often when The Next Big Thing (tm) opens. Big influx at the start, interest peters out, and a happy medium is sometimes met.
There's a distinct barrier to entry too, with MUing. Getting a client, finding a game, learning the ropes, etc etc. Very few games have actual... 'friendly' tutorials like a standard video game does.
In... many cases the actual setting itself is secondary to the prevalent themes of the setting-like-genre. You can take those themes and use them in another setting just fine, or with a modicum of work.
Space western, anyone? Dystopian 30s-style Gangsters?
You can have the themes you want in your own original creation, without having to worry about any of the uncomfortable or complicated historical baggage.
@arkandel said in Historical settings:
All 'Hollywood' means to me is that we shouldn't let gameplay get bogged down in unnecessary details.
Unfortunately the decision as to what is unnecessary isn't going to be an easy one. Anyone desiring to make any kind of historical or pseudo-historical game is likely to be exceptionally interested in the period - probably to a weirdly specific degree.
@kanye-qwest I mean, those are strictly ahistorical. That's kind of the point.
@seraphim73 Super in-depth historical would probably be best for an online tabletop rather than a MU.
I think the only thing that really matters in any historically set game is that you don't erase the history of actual people. Downplay some stuff that doesn't fit, sure, but just erasing it wholesale to make you feel better? Pick another period.
ETA: By 'actual people' I mean people that we can actually and easily link ourselves directly to. People who's story directly impacts our own. Black folks in the 20s (per the example in the other thread), Aboriginal people, etc.
@seraphim73 This is all, seemingly, working from the idea that a game must appeal to the widest audience. Which it doesn't. I'd argue that if you're going for Hollywood Historical Accuracy, you're safest approaching a period that doesn't... directly impact modern society as much. Hollywood Medieval vs Hollywood 1940s, for instance. But if you go for the latter, be very very narrow in what location and exact themes you want to explore to enable you to massage out the distasteful parts without diminishing the impact of those parts on fairly recent history.
If one wishes simply to utilise some key facets of a particular period, be it 1930s gangsters, then one needn't concern themselves too heavily with societal mores outside of those explored by that particular genre; in this case, alcohol, corruption, organised crime, and the like. Other matters less consequential to the stories you desire to tell can be left to the wayside as needed.
These sorts of games would, given their historical vagueness, would enable more 'modern' social mores to come into play with the PCs as they wish, and it should be heavily noted where historical reality ends and where fictional handwavey history begins. Historical organised crime, fantasy-style race relations for instance.
Most of your questions depend entirely on what you intend on using the historical setting for, in my view. Is this going to be a full-bodied 'experience' for your players, or are there some certain key attributes of the historical period you want to explore?
If one is aiming for the former, then the foundational nature of the period's societal situation must be given more than a casual glance over the newspaper. People in those times are the way they are in no small part due to the frictions and biases the societal goings on. In most cases, extreme representations are entirely harmful: nobody wants to be called names every single time they step out their front door. But at the same time, one cannot simply ignore the entire societal situation as that would be simply disingenuous. A balance must be struck between playability and accuracy.
While it's true that PCs are generally the exceptions to every conventional rule, it's important to temper this with dashes of realism. PCs that, using simple bigotry as an example, are overly friendly to the 'wrong sort' of people would likely face a backlash from the unwashed NPC masses. If this backlash doesn't exist or doesn't impact PCs in any meaningful way, then the history you're trying to explore will remain in the background being useless and thus the purpose of setting your game in a historical era is lost.
In most cases, the strictly historical games would be a niche market to begin with, generally restricted in interest to those with an already present desire to explore such a period or those that have a desire to learn and to do so on their own. So very little education should be necessary beyond perhaps referencing inspirational materials and jotting down a few paragraphs of background for the particular period you are exploring. If you want to make the game open to a wider audience, then perhaps some information on demographics and their lifestyles, common occurrences, and the like with a list of favourite source materials for the period - as anyone wanting to make a truly historical game would likely have some in mind.
@aria Are those real pockets, or stitched pocket-like-things?
Man, as much as I hate herringbone, that is a nice vest.
@arkandel More importantly, who brought them here?
@coin Is that why they're always late and smell of pee?
@auspice Low pay, client satisfaction, and you do a great deal of work?
Yeah, that certainly sounds like the company is simply keeping you where it gains the most. I'm not entirely sure it's a sex discrimination so much as it is capitalists being shitty (tm), but it's definitely worth looking into.
