Numetal/Retromux
-
We all have to share the spotlight on a MU* or this kind of thing happens. I sometimes wonder if WOD could have been better if the mechanics and narrative were better suited to that, like the 2013 MET LARP ruleset, since that’s designed for games of like 15-20 people over 3-5 in tabletop.
-
@labsunlimited said in Numetal/Retromux:
I sometimes wonder if WOD could have been better if the mechanics and narrative were better suited to that
You get stupid people being stupid in every system. WoD has its faults, but selfish players are gonna be selfish regardless of mechanics.
ETA: That said, if you don’t sit down and look through the mechanics of the system and excise those that are more prone to main character syndrome abuse (anything that lets you be half one group and half another is a pretty safe bet, historically speaking) then you’ve really only got yourself to blame when things go pearshaped.
-
@labsunlimited I have long since considered building a Vampire MU run on the LARP rules as those are at least built around a larger player group, but my lack of free time and coding experience (as that system would almost be coded from scratch) is pretty much a constant stop to that.
-
@MisterBoring said in Numetal/Retromux:
The vast majority of players in our hobby understand how to make unique special characters without trying their damnedest to drive it into everyone’s faces at 100 miles an hour.
Yes.
However, there is also a majority or vocal-enough-to-seem-majority of players who do not appear to understand that not every unique special character is doing that.
I think of my semi-recent encounter with people whinging over a character who has some sort of vampiric plant power and OMG how SPESHUL and how much SUCK it is that he carries a potted plant around.
The eyerolls and discouraging comments I have gotten for proposing an Esctatic mage who doesn’t use sex and drugs for foci, but really good burritos.
The staffer who approved, then shunned and mocked, some poor fucker who apped a character whose too-speshul concept was straight out of VtM 1st edition.
Mean girls don’t really have to be the majority to suck the fun out of a game.
"This is Liberty Hall; you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard!"
– A. Bertram Chandler -
@labsunlimited This applies to all MUs that base their mechanics off a tabletop game, which is not uncommon.
Neither of the Star Trek game systems (FASA, Last Unicorn) were designed for games with dozens or a hundred PCs, but we played 'em and they didn’t WoD out like WoD games do.
-
@Pavel said in Numetal/Retromux:
Honestly my limited experience of Retro did remind me a great deal of old WoD MUs so in that instance of being ‘retro,’ it’s doing an excellent job
I swear I never saw these WoD MUs that were any different.
-
if a player is being disruptive about their very special unique character, the issue is the disruption, not having a special unique character.
she/her | playlist
-
@Roz Nuh uh, the issue is that I didn’t come up with the idea first to show how unique and cool and mature I am.
-
@Pavel skill issue, get specialer
-
@Gashlycrumb said in Numetal/Retromux:
However, there is also a majority or vocal-enough-to-seem-majority of players who do not appear to understand that not every unique special character is doing that.
Everybody has their own point at which a unique enjoyable character becomes a cringeworthy Gary Stu / Mary Sue, and very few of us in the hobby likely have the same level of special before hitting the cringe zone.
-
@MisterBoring Yes indeed. And for entirely too many people, that point is “When it’s not played by me or one of my personal friends.”
-
re: special snowflake characters
There are two north stars for Mushing
- Don’t be boring
- Don’t be a dick
If you can’t figure out how to do 1 without doing 2 then you’re going to get mocked.
-
-
@Pavel said in Numetal/Retromux:
@Roz said in Numetal/Retromux:
@Pavel skill issue, get specialer
I need TWO trenchcoats!
and 4 katanas?
-
-
@Ashkuri said in Numetal/Retromux:
- Don’t be boring
- Don’t be a dick
If you can’t figure out how to do 1 without doing 2 then you’re going to get mocked.
It might be more clear to say don’t be a bore. It’s okay to be boring sometimes. Or even to play a character who is largely static and stock.
“A bore is someone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.”
― Oscar WildeThere are non-boring characters who are bores. They’re not really interactive for you, but they do prevent you from pursuing other interactions. That’s probably ‘Main Character Syndrome’ in a nutshell.
-
@Gashlycrumb said in Numetal/Retromux:
It might be more clear to say don’t be a bore. It’s okay to be boring sometimes. Or even to play a character who is largely static and stock.
I feel like this is a very important point. I love to play “stock” characters like Stormtroopers, Clone Troopers, Children of the Light, Academy-fresh pilots, and other “boring” characters, and then not playing them as bores.
On the other hand, I’ve met players who can take an absolute special snowflake of a character, but the way that they play them is utterly boring and uninteresting.
Formerly known as Seraphim73 (he/him)
-
@Roadspike A simple recipe can be delicious with only a few well prepared ingredients, while gourmet ingredients can lead to inedible glop if you are unskilled.
-
@Roadspike I can think of a lot of setting/themes that might just be best if the set up is just pick a stock character template, tweak it or let a script tweak it randomly for you, and roll. Starship Troopers springs to mind for some reason. I would do it for imaginary MU #124, “Call of Cthulhu On The Love Boat”.
-
Genuinely one of my favorite things to do, especially on games with supernatural elements, is to make the bog standard human who knows nothing… and just let the experience shape them.
I also know STs like when people buy in (or at least I do when I ST) and there’s so much more fun buy-in from ‘human who has never encountered actual scary things’ than ‘stoic master of martial arts who has seen everything and is affected by nothing’
