Empire Discussion Thread
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@Ominous said in Empire Discussion Thread:
I am concerned that this will just be pretty princ(ess)es primping and preening for parties, parades, and promenades without any crunchy politics and intrigue underlying it or flowing from it
This is what Lords and Ladies games are, though, for the most part. And boy howdy do the pretty princ(ess)es get upset when you don’t swoon at their feet and pay them the most fulsome compliments for their daring and delight.
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@MisterBoring said in Empire Discussion Thread:
@somasatori I totally agree with this. Each character in the roster could have a set of links to the important world lore that drives their character to help people find what they need to know.
Looks like this has been done! It’s pretty helpful - there’s a nice in-web-site glossary now that lets you get immediate information on what certain things are.
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https://empiremush.org/map/interactive_map/
Channeling my inner Bilbo Baggins here. hell yeah, a map!
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The game is really fun, Ada is very active and awesome so far. She ran an action scene the other night and was completely open to feedback and changing code displays that were confusing people. She seems to do her best keep everyone involved.
She also ran a coronation scene where a random no name house from somewhere tried to ambush the Empress into accepting them into the Empire. A house that is on the other side of an enemy kingdom.
People are so far really cool and the game is fun.
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And then this happened:
You page Ada: When we need a response on an action, do we need to tell you about it? What’s the protocol there?
Ada pages you: You can submit a question on the action if needed. Which one is it?
You page Ada: Well 27 is one. It has a question but it hasn’t been answered, which is why I’m asking. 18 we’ve been waiting on even longer. I cancelled a bunch of others cause having a bunch of actions open that we’re being addressed was really making me feel a kind of way.
Ada pages you: On 18, I haven’t seen any substantive RP to justify the extreme investment from Kournis. None of the other players on 27, bar Sophia, have been notified of the detail, nor have their characters assented.
You page Ada: We’re supposed to send logs?
Ada pages you: No, but there is a scene logger. That notwithstanding, have you actually done scenes with Sophia?
You page Ada: Yeah, that’s how the whole thing came about to begin with. I had 0 idea that all that stuff had to be put in the scene logger. Did I miss that somewhere?
Ada pages you: It shouldn’t really, but the proposal to hand over all of Kournis’ resources is the only action submitted which I cannot discern an in-character rationale for.
You page Ada: But you didn’t say that or ask about that. You just ignored it. And when we wrote out long explanations the last time, you said don’t do that, its too long and you didn’t want to read all of that. So… that’s a bit frustrating.
You page Ada: For the record, its a loan that I have to pay back over time which is supposed to help her with a dwarven thing.
Ada pages you: I often caution gamerunners about problem players. I am not going to be browbeaten into providing response times faster than the less than five days for which action 18 has currently been waiting. Please log out. You are banned.
You page Ada: LOL. Okay. Bye.
That’s the log in entirety. Nothing left out. That was it, completely. So be careful if you’re there. Don’t ask questions about policies or procedures. And definitely don’t communicate if you receive mixed messages and are confused.
And no, there were no other incidents that preceded this. It was just this from start to finish. One and done. I mean, bullet dodged, for sure. Kept me from wasting a bunch of time. But definitely wanted to let other people know. Waste time at your own risk.
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I have no interest in this game and shall never be present upon it but my friend in Beelezebub I do not think this proves the point you think it does.
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@Warma-Sheen said in Empire Discussion Thread:
And no, there were no other incidents that preceded this. It was just this from start to finish. One and done. I mean, bullet dodged, for sure. Kept me from wasting a bunch of time. But definitely wanted to let other people know. Waste time at your own risk.
I’m gonna agree with @Third-Eye here and say that’s not the bad look for the game you’re trying to spin it to be. I’m all for game runners cutting people off the moment they don’t jive with the way they want to do things.
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Can someone please clue me in? I know Warma Sheen has some history, but to a request like that, I’d say something like, “I’m focusing on finishing up plot X. But looking at the request, I don’t think we have support for that kind of RP, unfortunately. Try another angle aside from a complete wealth transferral (however temporary). Sounds good?”
What am I missing?
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Okay… I guess I’m in the wrong. If I am, I’ll own it. What did I do that I wasn’t supposed to do?
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@Warma-Sheen said in Empire Discussion Thread:
I cancelled a bunch of others cause having a bunch of actions open that we’re being addressed was really making me feel a kind of way.
you complained that job 18 had been open longest and she points out that it hadn’t even been 5 days? that is looney toons, dude.
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@Wizz said in Empire Discussion Thread:
you complained that job 18 had been open longest and she points out that it hadn’t even been 5 days? that is looney toons, dude.
I have no connection to this game or any of these people, but I’m kind of puzzled by this take. WS said:
“having a bunch of actions open that we’re being addressed was really making me feel a kind of way.”
As staff jobs go, that is the mildest of mild complaints, and easily handled by a simple: “We try to handle jobs within X days, you can expect a response soon.” Even better if you have a policy to point to on job response times. Personally I always tried to respond to jobs within 24 hours, 48 at the most. MUs can be fast-paced, esp if players are playing multiple scenes a week. I don’t think a polite follow-up after a few days is unreasonable.
The back and forth about the scene logger is a bit more perplexing. Ada seems to expect some evidence of RP (“I haven’t seen any substantive RP…”) yet does not clearly state how that evidence should be provided. Are they, in fact, expecting a log? An explanation in the job? A confirmation from the other player? I can understand WS’ frustration on the lack of clear instructions. But it sounds like maybe there was some prior history there (re: “we wrote out long explanations the last time, you said…”) so there might be more to the story.
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canceling a bunch of other jobs out of frustration because one hadn’t been responded to in less than a week just feels like really entitled behavior in 2025, and definitely doesn’t feel like a polite follow up to me, but ymmv.
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@Wizz We don’t have all the details, but I read that more as they chose not to submit more jobs when there were already a couple open. The job systems I’m familiar with don’t really have a player-driven “cancel” feature. If this one does and they +job/cancel-ed a bunch in a fit of pique, that’d be different. But even then, cancelling a job because you’re impatient is hardly something I’d consider a bannable offense. (Though staff is obviously free to ban anyone they like for any reason, or no reason.)
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it wasn’t just canceling the jobs, it was that entire exchange. as Ada called it, getting browbeaten like that over something incredibly minor, to me, reads like a big red flag for what was only going to be an escalating series of headaches and selfish behavior down the road, and showing a player like that the door early really doesn’t seem like a bad move to me.
if you want a GM at your beck and call, just to be frank, there are professional paid online tabletop services that offer that you can go and find very easily. they’re advertised everywhere.
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@Faraday said in Empire Discussion Thread:
The back and forth about the scene logger is a bit more perplexing. Ada seems to expect some evidence of RP (“I haven’t seen any substantive RP…”) yet does not clearly state how that evidence should be provided. Are they, in fact, expecting a log? An explanation in the job? A confirmation from the other player? I can understand WS’ frustration on the lack of clear instructions. But it sounds like maybe there was some prior history there (re: “we wrote out long explanations the last time, you said…”) so there might be more to the story.
As I understand it, scenes connected to actions are meant to be logged using the in game
@scenecommand so that Ada can review the logs and make sure the RP matches the intent of the actions. I’m pretty sure I saw that in the game’s documentation somewhere.
