<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Game Gab]]></title><description><![CDATA[Conversations and questions about current, upcoming, and advertised games and the hobby as a whole.]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/category/12</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 02:07:46 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://brandmu.day/category/12.rss" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:27:53 GMT</pubDate><ttl>60</ttl><item><title><![CDATA[Street Fighter Character Creation Question]]></title><description><![CDATA[Well, I’ve already done more than I thought I’d be able to do.
[image: 1787079960552-563b6d65-97aa-4f67-ae8b-158dedace629-image.jpeg]
I’ve added an Action Panel for players and a Referee panel for Referees.
[image: 1787080024859-a5812c4c-90f7-4c3e-8ffb-08b357f56b7b-image.jpeg]
Anyone in the scene can be made the referee. So if you only have two players and they want to throw down, they could. This is what the designated referee would see when they call up the panel. Non-referees would only see who was set as the Referee. Technically, they’d have the option to override that, but I’m going on the assumption that all players are here to have fun.
The Referee can override just about everything in the scene, including when a new Turn begins(which resets all maneuver selections).
[image: 1787080175380-659e0d9f-2a21-4640-9600-06a93e585ed7-image.jpeg]
This is what a player would see. They can select their maneuver and target and lock it in for the turn.
When maneuvers are locked in, or if the referee changes anything, emit a generic message to everyone in the scene (just letting them know what the action was, not the specifics of that action).
My plan now is to give the referee an “Execute Maneuver” button that does exactly that: executes the maneuver and emits the results to the scene. It would also tabulate and apply any damage or whatever. All of this is scene-specific, so in theory, a fighter could be in multiple fights in multiple scenes, and everything would be okay.
I wasn’t sure I’d make it this far but I think it’s all coming together nicely.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/686/street-fighter-character-creation-question</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/686/street-fighter-character-creation-question</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Raistlin]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:27:53 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[New Game Musings]]></title><description><![CDATA[Lindaaaa is styled Lindaaaa even outside of MUdom in the GoT fandom.
“Blood of Dragons”, Lindaaaa and Elio’s MUSH, is specifically approved by GRR Martin. He even linked it.
George R. R. Martin began to write this epic series and did not make a concordance, bless him. There are interviews of him kinda bragging on this, tapping the side of his head and saying “It’s all in here.”
Westeros.org was originally the BoD’s game page and wiki. It expanded into a general fan-site with news and forums and a wiki that’s a really fantastic concordance. By 2000 it had gotten pretty good and L &amp; E shared it with GRRM, who uses it. Or, if you take him literally in an interview, just telephones Elio about any continuity thing an author or writing team usually looks up in a concordance.
Linda and Elio didn’t work on the show, except for the Swedish subtitles. For five seasons of it they did do commentaries for every episode. As far as I know, they consisted mostly of casting complaints that came across as racist and complaints where the show deviated from the novels. It didn’t seem to go over well.
They did spend a lot of time trying to say that BoD being approved by GRRM means any other MU is disapproved. I doubt that GRRM, a TTRPG player, could fail to understand that some people might prefer another set of GMs and another in-world scenario and setting.
I had a lot of fun running Game of Bones MUSH and miss it, though it wouldn’t do now since inconsistencies with House of the Dragon would make a mess.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/685/new-game-musings</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/685/new-game-musings</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gashlycrumb]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 17:55:05 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Mu* and history and time]]></title><description><![CDATA[Oh man, what I would give to log onto PernMUSH once more, just to look around. So many happy and bittersweet memories of the place, and how it changed over the years I played there. Up till about a year before COVID, the last ‘owner’ of the database kept it online; then it dropped connection, and I haven’t seen it since.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/684/mu-and-history-and-time</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/684/mu-and-history-and-time</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Roo]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2026 12:20:56 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Filtering player temperament through game design]]></title><description><![CDATA[Well, I think I know how to filter some player temperament through using my knowledge of the English language. It certainly gave me some application question ideas to send to Staff if there is a Player Helper application for Arx 2.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/683/filtering-player-temperament-through-game-design</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/683/filtering-player-temperament-through-game-design</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[dvoraen]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2026 03:13:48 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Non-Boring RP]]></title><description><![CDATA[If something is advertised as a bar scene, a karaoke night, or auction, I just don’t go. Avoid contributing to boring RP by not being there.
Otherwise it helps if you do a passable imitation of somebody who is paying attention to what people are saying to you. I use Pyrephox’s method of a) reacting to what people give me, then b) do something that takes the action further and give other people something to react to. RP is a game of catch. Catch the ball and throw it. Don’t sit there gormlessly hanging onto it.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/681/non-boring-rp</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/681/non-boring-rp</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Juniper]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:37:05 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Making MU*s more OOCly Interactive]]></title><description><![CDATA[I refer to resolution systems outside of the standard resolution system that rely on player skill as “mini-games” like in video game design.  I think of things like Yahtzee Locks in OSR D&amp;D or using the Mastermind board game to resolve code breaking or hacking computers.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/676/making-mu-s-more-oocly-interactive</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/676/making-mu-s-more-oocly-interactive</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Ominous]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:57:46 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Age Verification & Games]]></title><description><![CDATA[This strikes me as such an obvious doxxing vector. Pass.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/672/age-verification-games</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/672/age-verification-games</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[A10 Rockwell]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 18 Jul 2026 20:41:33 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Staff Bits Linking Handles]]></title><description><![CDATA[@renaveleigh Naturally.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/671/staff-bits-linking-handles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/671/staff-bits-linking-handles</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[chorus]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:49:42 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Poor Cat]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Jihgfed Yay, glad it went well! Thanks for spreading the word about the hobby!
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/665/poor-cat</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/665/poor-cat</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Andruid]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 05:11:54 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hello, Survey, and Looking for Recs]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Jumpscare The short-desc stuff is what I was meaning.  I forgot to elaborate my thought in the previous post, but that’s exactly how it worked in a few of the RPIs I played.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/661/hello-survey-and-looking-for-recs</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/661/hello-survey-and-looking-for-recs</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Ominous]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2026 15:45:58 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA["My Guy Syndrome"]]></title><description><![CDATA[I tend to be (I hope) rather nice, understanding and malleable as a player. I tend to yes and for the most part. Which is how one of my chars got married in a pub on a quasi-maybe-date. It leads to some great RP. I also try to go towards the funny and just see what happens.
That said.
I have also played a very arrogant full of himself asshole. He was a great character to play, but he also had money and power behind him so it made him more than a little insufferable. I would OOC disclaimer that as the pilot of my char, I could come up with a reason for him to be there. I can’t guarantee it’s going to be enjoyable for a few different reasons. I was also willing to tone down or full send the jerkfaceness depending on the OOC person and I did check in a lot, BUT the char was designed a certain way. If you weren’t part of his chosen few, you weren’t worthy of air in his eyes. I still had amazing RP and one of his IC best friends started as one of his nemesis at the beginning. It means I can see the ‘my guy’ as also writing for the the story line and where/how your char fits into the story.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/660/my-guy-syndrome</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/660/my-guy-syndrome</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[RightMeow]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 20:42:18 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Non-toxic PvP]]></title><description><![CDATA[@MisterBoring said in Non-toxic PvP:

Also, if you approach IC conflict in a fully RP MU (so a MUSH or MUX or whatever) as though it’s a round of all slappers in Goldeneye, I would suggest that you’re in the wrong place and would better be served by a PvP MUD.

I promise you I am in the right place lol.
Also - my bros and I never demanded no contact orders from our parents after a round of GoldenEye slappers. So maybe we had it right after all?
@Kestrel said in Non-toxic PvP:

There are players who enjoy playing weird little gremlins or satirical characters they see as totally separate from themselves, where they get to have fun at that character’s expense.

This is me.
@Kestrel said in Non-toxic PvP:

…is basically a service you’re providing other players…

you’re welcome.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/656/non-toxic-pvp</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/656/non-toxic-pvp</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[howyadoin]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 02:12:08 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tales of Zalanthas]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Wikibara said in Tales of Zalanthas:

@Juniper It’s for people who want to live in both denial and sadness simultaneously, I guess.

Ah. Marriage.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/654/tales-of-zalanthas</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/654/tales-of-zalanthas</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Pavel]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:15:55 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[WoD: House Rules]]></title><description><![CDATA[Big things for me:

Is the house rule clearly explained so I know how it is likely to affect my play?
Does it pass the “smell test”? Which is to say, when I read the rule, can I see what it’s trying to do, do I agree with what it’s trying to do, and do I think it will actually accomplish that? (And, honestly? WoD/CoD generally DOES need a little more houseruling than it gets when trying to blend spheres that have conflicting powers/themes/foci.)
Do I think it’ll be fun and fair to all players?

If those three things are a yes, then I’m willing to run with it. When you’re talking about big changes–adding or removing or completely rehauling a system like pledges or whatever–then I do want the new rules to maintain the theme and appeal of the game for me. Like, HR rules to streamline making spirits and how they interact with the world from the rather complicated setup in CoD? Sure, I’m in, as long as spirits are still CoD spirits in recognizable ways.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/652/wod-house-rules</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/652/wod-house-rules</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Pyrephox]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 22:12:54 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[When is the last time you played?]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Ominous said in When is the last time you played?:

To find out how the story resolves?  Just because everyone knows all the details of a setting doesn’t mean they know how it plays out.

Quite. If the PCs have agency you can’t know how the story will resolve because you don’t know what they will do.
It’s not a ‘I don’t care because I already how will things play out’ issue, it’s a potential-cheating issue. Like how we had to make up new monsters for our HS D&amp;D campaign because one player would read the Monstrous Compendium and then somehow his character knew the weaknesses of every monster.
If the PCs don’t have agency and are just watching NPCs and weather cause events to unfold, then yeah, they will lose interest if they know what’s going to happen by reading the game lore pages. But they will probably lose interest without reading the lore pages, too, because they probably think reading novels is a lot less frustrating than RPing as a character who is utterly incapable of affecting the world, and that if all you can do is watch, most published novelists produce better stories than most MUSH STs.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/651/when-is-the-last-time-you-played</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/651/when-is-the-last-time-you-played</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gashlycrumb]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 02:06:46 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Scenes within Scenes]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Pavel right and i think it’s better to focus on creating culture/implementing rules that determine how those systems are utilized rather than scrapping a nice thing
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/650/scenes-within-scenes</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/650/scenes-within-scenes</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Artemis]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 19:18:45 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[RP Standards]]></title><description><![CDATA[@hellfrog and me 
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/648/rp-standards</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/648/rp-standards</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Cobalt]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 17:04:46 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Keys]]></title><description><![CDATA[Resolved now. Posting somewhere about it always solves a problem before anyone has a chance to find out what’s really wrong.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/646/keys</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/646/keys</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[L. B. Heuschkel]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 11:33:52 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Does Anyone Even Care?]]></title><description><![CDATA[My mentality is “I’m here for a good time and maybe a long time.” If I’m not interested in what’s happening, I just kinda…wander off. Or, if I really like the place, I’ll try to make my own fun right up until someone tells me “I’m doing it wrong.” Which is basically what happened with AoA and Cujo.  Right now I’m between games and just waiting to see if one pops up that looks more interesting than just booting up the PlayStation.
I don’t really feel any drive to ride a game into the sun.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/645/does-anyone-even-care</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/645/does-anyone-even-care</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Lemon Fox]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:52:58 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Grid vs Web Scenes]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Clarion It’s more about the grid feeling like a virtual location where Ares / web scenes just have a flatness to them that I can’t get out of my brain (even though I know they’re both just scrolling walls of text).
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/644/grid-vs-web-scenes</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/644/grid-vs-web-scenes</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[MisterBoring]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:01:30 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[RP Safari - Pacing Styles]]></title><description><![CDATA[@bear_necessities I think it’s more just a clash of expectations.
Some people see async as merely a “last resort” when you can’t sync up to play live, but still expect a degree of responsiveness to get the scene done. For example, even back when folks were doing async with LiveJournal or Google Docs, it could be considered rude to let a pose go three days without a response. At that point, it’s not really about syncing up timezones and can start to feel more like the other player just doesn’t care enough to reply, isn’t engaged in the scene, etc. (Or they, aka me, just have ADHD and forgot the scene exists.  )
Other people (including those who are influenced by other, slower RP modalities like forum RP, storium, etc.) might not even think twice about going days between poses.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/643/rp-safari-pacing-styles</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/643/rp-safari-pacing-styles</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Faraday]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 23 Feb 2026 20:59:23 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Paid Role-Playing]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Third-Eye said in Paid Role-Playing:

The idea of dealing with players who think they’re a paying ‘customer’ always gets a legit, IRL, full-body shudder out of me when this comes up.

Yeah. I think we have problems with players and staff viewing the games as transactional when are meant to be reciprocal, and making them literally transactional would make it worse.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/642/paid-role-playing</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/642/paid-role-playing</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Gashlycrumb]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:09:50 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Brainstorming Game Ideas]]></title><description><![CDATA[@hellfrog This. Exactly this. I want players to do things and be rewarded, not be rewarded for logging in.
The system I have in my mind may not work at all. But it can be changed. I just don’t want to continue doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/641/brainstorming-game-ideas</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/641/brainstorming-game-ideas</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jupiter]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:19:06 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tips for GMs]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Cobalt said in Tips for GMs:

@bear_necessities said in Tips for GMs:

@KDraygo said in Tips for GMs:

Try to keep the scene moving,

Please. Please keep things moving. I’ve been in GM’d scenes where we haven’t even finished “posing in” and have already hit the 1 hour mark.

I know this is a few days ago, but this irks me so bad. It is why in the last few years that I was GMing for people, I instituted a rule that if you had not posed after 5-10 minutes when it was your run and not responded OOC your turn would be skipped.
But scenes moving so slowly that I’d lose all focus on them, is a big reason why I stopped GMing and RPing altogether.

To help with that, I try to make sure the beginning of a major event is “on rails,” like a guided tour. That is, everyone has 10 - 15 minutes to post before the next thing happens (NPC does a thing, everyone move to the next room, etc.). Everyone sticks together until the beginning is finished, and then you’re set free to go wherever you’d like, RP about the situation, take actions, etc.
Having a beginning prepared in advance helps to strike a balance between player agency and moving things along.
Unrelated: if someone wants to do something that’s beyond what you’re capable of handling, such as using everyday household objects to make war crime weapons in your My Little Pony game, you’re allowed to say, “I’m sorry, we don’t have support for handling that type of RP in this game. It’s outside the scope of the game’s theme.”
Somewhat related: Be prepared for mediating players’ interpersonal issues in a calm and helpful manner. That includes banning, if necessary. Unless you have a positive reputation from past games, you need to understand that players are usually entering your game with zero trust of staff. The odds that a player has been burned by staff in the past is very high. So be keenly aware that you are the one who needs to earn their trust. Not the other way around.
Also unrelated: Give your players things to do in their downtime. PRPs, RP about current events, take actions leading up to the next event, and optional scenes that produce tangible results are great for player engagement. Things like, “Make some clothes for the donation bin; we’re low on shoes,” or “The cows can be milked once a month to improve our town’s reputation,” or “The camp needs 20 pounds of wood to repair structures and 20 pounds of boar meat to survive the month in a healthy state,” can motivate players to do optional scenes in between major events.
And it helps to fill in the four levels of player engagement:
Metaplot: The reason why everything is happening. You’ll barely touch this, but it’s important to write down. You can drop little lore nuggets at the end of every chapter as a reward, but your players won’t directly interact with the metaplot.
Chapter / season plot: These are the major plots that take months to resolve. They’re the backdrop to what’s happening in the story right now. These are the ones that are resolved over the course of multiple major scenes, as well as player actions over time. When a chapter plot resolves, it should usually cause a major dynamic shift in how the players RP, and what they RP about. For example, the PCs successfully opened the door to Twinkle Town, and now scenes are possible there, but it’s a very dangerous place to explore. The next season may be about making Twinkle Town a safe place to live as their homes on the Tiny Islands collapse.
Episodic plot: Your “monster of the week” plot. These are the small steps forward in the Chapter Plot. They could also be unrelated to the chapter plot, too. Not everything that happens needs to end with a TV displaying Moriarty’s laughing face.
Day-to-day plots: These are the things your players will be doing during their downtime, which I explained above. This is the most common type of RP that happens, so it’s really important to facilitate it however the players wish. They should be instantly accessible, either through guidelines or through automation (pre-written rules about rolling dice, adding code if that’s an option, etc.).
Write down the metaplot, at least 3 chapter plots, at least 3 episodic plots per chapter, and at least 5 day-to-day plots. Now you’ve got a plan for keeping your players engaged for at least a year.
Building a game is the easy part. Keeping it going for years is the real challenge.
And on that note, it’s okay to have an ending in mind! You don’t have to run your game forever. A satisfying conclusion will be far more memorable than a game that just fizzles out due to lack of engagement. And, as a counter-point, it’s also okay to say that the game isn’t going in a direction you can handle, and wrap it up for the players. Sometimes experiments don’t work out, and that’s okay.
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/640/tips-for-gms</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/640/tips-for-gms</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jumpscare]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:51:48 GMT</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Web-based CharGen or in-game CharGen]]></title><description><![CDATA[@Pavel said in Web-based CharGen or in-game CharGen:

@hellfrog said in Web-based CharGen or in-game CharGen:

yeah applications are to tell you about the player more than the character, I think. "Name a non-fictional woman that is smarter than you’ would be a perfect application prompt.

Faraday and Cobalt. Next question.

you’re in, buddy!
]]></description><link>https://brandmu.day/topic/638/web-based-chargen-or-in-game-chargen</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://brandmu.day/topic/638/web-based-chargen-or-in-game-chargen</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[hellfrog]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 19:23:28 GMT</pubDate></item></channel></rss>