Is there anything that CAN be done so mushing is remembered as ‘having been a thing’ in a century?
If nothing else, we can upload our dead wikis and game sites to electronic archives, like archive.org.
Secret Society
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Posts
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RE: Mu* and history and time
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RE: Arx
Okay, as I have time I’ll do some lore posts that will give a hint about the theme of the world and what changed, though it is still medieval stasis adventure-fantasy. So starting areas, beginning with Arx itself.
The Necropolis
“One stands before us in Durance. Speak thy name and testament.”
Arx is a city of history and memory. If one wished and spent time in the Great Archive, they could learn of each different age of the world. Of how the Great Necropolis of Arx was built, of how the Compact of Arvum rose with the now city of Arx as its capital, and how the Compact spread through all the world. In these walls, you could learn of the Sixth Age and how this place came to be the greatest city in all the world. We have no shortage of memorials with the names of deeds of the great heroes from those past ages, and there are reminders all around us of how many spent most of their all-too-brief lives here. Near all rest here, in our Necropolis. We built a golden age, an empire with Arx as its crown jewel.
That was before the Penitent’s arrival and the Shroud over Arx.
To this day, we don’t know who the Penitent is. Or was. There were always guesses, and the most popular was that he was the god of Justice descended in mortal form, the Sentinel made manifest and come to Arx to shield the city from what was to come. The Sixth Age ended with the Penitent crafting the Shroud over Arx, a great gray haze of a barrier that prevented all entry. The Penitent was near never seen, but we felt his eyes upon us always, and those inside that threatened the city were struck down by the Penitent’s magic without a word. Not quite without warning, his statues would turn to give notice, but near enough for most. We wouldn’t quite call it a prison, not when the Shroud only blocked entry to Arx, but any could pass through if they chose, never to return. It was, we were told, a safety measure against the end of the world, for the greatest city that ever was, a city of three million people, to ride out the apocalypse. Most at the time thought it would pass quickly.
It has been a thousand years.
“As Arx endures, we remember.”
Years winnowed us. There were the Great Callings, when the greatest among us would be gathered by the Penitent and ride out through the Shroud, never to return. Over the years, more and more stifled under the Shroud’s gray sky and the unceasing watch of a being we know nothing about, and traveled to see what world remained beyond. Age after age passed, underneath the Shroud, and we kept and honored this city despite a malaise that tested us all. Few who were born here did not at least consider leaving, even knowing that we could not be certain anything at all existed beyond the barrier. Of the three million when the Greatest City was sealed, there are under fifty thousand living within Arx today. But at least we were safe.
And then came the Vanishing.
Five years ago, during the Eclipse of Mirrors masquerade under the Blood Moon, a great mist entered the city and with it came the demons. Those with magic to fight, our Gifted, were not great in number in our current age, as how many could stand to remain and languish here when possible adventure called beyond the Shroud? But few as their number were, every last one of our puissant was killed or taken from us on one night, shocking us to our core and breaking that lifetimes long lethargy from us. We could see cracks in the Shroud now, fractures in the gray sky, and not a word from the Penitent as our city was gutted in a surprise attack.
We still know not what directed the attack, who the demonic foes were, or where those captured were taken. Some believe the city could have been massacred, and know not why it wasn’t. Some left the Shroud to seek answers, never to return. And we started to see beasts, corrupted abyssal things prowling the lands around the city. Minor foes we could handle, but more proof they could penetrate the weakened Shroud.
“Still Here.”
And now the Shroud has broken completely. The sound of breaking glass, like a million mirrors all shattering at once during the night. The lands are open to us, and as we are to them. Those with strength to do so gather to go forth. Others panic and pray, hoping that the Penitent will answer, despite that he has never done so during the past thousand years. We were born and raised in a city of ghosts and echoes, a Necropolis that has been the resting place for the greatest men and women of every age. But if one cares enough to read their stories, some believe they know what the gods will ask of us.
Because most of the heroes were born here too.
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RE: Arx
@Juniper So the first Arx was designed more for a pretty small group in that it was very much a mush with a very few immersive grid based elements. People coming from muds frequently said some version of 'I do not know how to play this game ’ as mush design was still a very top down ‘go out and find RP and get involved in story’. There is a lot about mushes and this kind of play I enjoy, but there’s some fundamental differences in Arx’s reboot, I’ll talk mechanically a bit about that and then start doing lore teasers in follow up posts.
So I am very big on interactive grids and the coming game might feel a good bit more like a mush merged with a RPI or old style moo in how much someone can do without needing staff to make it real. I view automation as kind of in tension with high quality personalized story telling, so I’ve been very pointedly trying to make sure I, and anyone else storytelling on the game, can try to focus on that and have as few barriers to doing that as possible. Structurally it is mostly born of me thinking about the different pain points people have playing a mush and trying to smooth them out, to the point where role players I know on other formats might be able to enjoy it, as I remove a lot of the blockers that we in the hobby grudgingly tolerate.
Mostly this means me designing a game that I hope would be better with my storytelling there, but it isn’t as reliant on me or any one person. I am believer that if things on the game engage people, if there’s mini games on grid they find fun and want to do, it is more likely they will be around and available for RP and creates a reinforcing environment. I expect my testing to take a good bit as it’s just too important I hit the right notes there.
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RE: Filtering player temperament through game design
@Kestrel For me it is less about intentional exclusion and more just being fine knowing that a lot of people won’t play a game of X, Y, or Z. A lot of these are just mutually contradictory. For example, I think a collaborative game and an unrestricted pvp game aren’t completely exclusive but the degree of work you would need is just something I’m not willing to do, vs just doubling down on the former. A lot won’t play that and that’s fine.
If I make collaborative story telling the only way characters advance, people not interested in that leave, and that is for the best.
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RE: Non-Boring RP
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.
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RE: MU Peeves Thread
@howyadoin bc the player turned out to be unstable and odd and yes, i’d say toxic after a good few months of playing with them. I ended up in a spot where i was tying myself in knots to accommodate them and it was real freaky for me given some past stuff. Thankfully i dropped it!
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Filtering player temperament through game design
For people who have either created games, or are at any stage of the creative process to attempt it, I’m wondering:
Are there aspects of your game design that exist almost as an intentional net to filter certain player temperaments?
Some examples might be an arbitrary chargen requirement meant to excite/repel certain players out the gate. Or purposely overdeveloping social skill options, because you find Might Is Right style players offputting.
For my part, I recently found myself deep-diving some studies on how preferences for certain genres and literary themes correlate with certain personality traits. It has me second-guessing the genre I want to focus on, and looking into ways to incorporate themes that might better appeal to players I’d like having.
I remember also talking to a game dev who was very hurt by how badly some bad actors had spoken about a game they’d made. On the other hand, I said it was actually a very good sign that such shitty players find the game unplayable, and a sign of good game design — since it didn’t have the kinds of tools they needed to fully enable shittiness, but was rife with prosocial and storytelling tools they found pointless.
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RE: MU* Wishlists
@bear_necessities Probably because the people interested in building one are also backers of the upcoming TTRPG and waiting to see if the TTRPG can be converted to a MU.
