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Silent Heaven: Small-town Horror RPG
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I just want to give a HUGE shout-out to @Jumpscare – both things I brought up in my feedback last week have already been addressed!
No more smacking into walls when I try a command that doesn’t exist, no more awkward freeze when I see a new person and aren’t sure if they’re an NPC or not!
That kind of responsiveness from a game runner just feels like MAGIC.Thank you @Jumpscare!
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This game is phenomenal. My only issue is a personal one, which is that I don’t know how to play someone who doesn’t believe in magic (a permanent weakness chosen at character creation) in this setting without playing someone who is an idiot or who is denying reality to a level that’s pathological.
I guess worst case scenario I just make a new character if the concept isn’t fitting.
ETA: I have just recalled I can have her believe in magic and reject it on account of her religion. PROBLEM SOLVED.
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@Rinel said in Silent Heaven: Small-town Horror RPG:
I don’t know how to play someone who doesn’t believe in magic (a permanent weakness chosen at character creation) in this setting without playing someone who is an idiot or who is denying reality to a level that’s pathological.
There are a lot of ways you can represent being Bad at Occultism without your character being an idiot! You have a lot of freedom.
Maybe you’re just really skeptical and demand proof for everything, making people fight to gain every little bit of ground to convince you of things.
Maybe you believe in the supernatural, but refuse to participate because you think it’s evil (similar to what you settled on)
Maybe you’re just really literal and lack the inventiveness to do Occult Shit without the guidance of others
Maybe you believe everything but your spirit is weak.
Maybe you can’t stop knocking over candles.
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@Juniper I recommend classic conspiracy theorist beliefs. Magic may not be real, but alien abduction sure is! Or the government putting implants in your brain, or whatever.
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Technology which we do not understand is indistinguishable from Magic. That’s a pretty scientific / cynical way to approach the problem of disbelief.
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@Arik said in Silent Heaven: Small-town Horror RPG:
Technology which we do not understand is indistinguishable from Magic. That’s a pretty scientific / cynical way to approach the problem of disbelief.
For sure, but if you believe that then there’s no real reason not to engage in attempts to figure out the tech/magic by doing it, and my character is designed to never do magic.
(My current gripe is that I really need to find some climbing equipment, because there is a whole lot of RP that is inaccessible to me. I did not realize being unable to climb would prevent me from leaving the tiny beginner’s area!)
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Obviously I don’t play but people create barriers to their own success and learning new skills in the real world all the time. For example everyone can learn some basic coding in a scripting language. Many believe they cannot. Some believe at the age of 30 they are incapable of learning new career skills. There are people who have wanted to dance or sing or play music who never learn. It’s very easy to be like… I COULD NEVER TRY MAGIC/SCIENCE until I understand it… Oh I can’t understand this nonsense clearly these people don’t know what they’re doing and they’re misusing technology. I will study it with the science I have on hand until I can use it… PROPERLY!
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@Rinel I’ve been trying to understand this post for a couple days now. I just realized you are referring to being a KLUTZ in the Occult skill.
I have no idea how you drew a line from that to “permanent weakness is she doesn’t believe in magic”.
The occult skill says:
“Religion fascinates you, either as a scholar, or as an initiate seeking to join a cult, or as one looking to be ordained by otherworldly forces. One in tune with the Occult finds better harmony with the elements in Silent Heaven.”
Could just be as simple as the otherworldly forces look at you, shake their heads and want nothing to do with you.
You literally don’t have to make any character RP choices about this at all.
Or you could simply never care about joining a cult. Or simply not give two damns about the supernatural.
I don’t know where you got “because I am a klutz in occult I have to be a raving idiot and maximally acrimonious about my non-recognition and denial of obviously supernatural phenomena” from the skill definition.
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@watno said in Silent Heaven: Small-town Horror RPG:
I don’t know where you got “because I am a klutz in occult I have to be a raving idiot and maximally acrimonious about my non-recognition and denial of obviously supernatural phenomena” from the skill definition.
Chargen phrases things differently from how help files phrase them. In chargen, the choice that gives you klutz status is much more hostile to the idea of magic.
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@Rinel That’s fine. The char gen questions are along the lines of “are you more likely to…” than they are hard and fast forever commitments, whereas the help file reflects the literal definition of the skill and its ramifications.
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@watno said in Silent Heaven: Small-town Horror RPG:
maximally acrimonious
this isn’t changing though
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This is a weird critique post because I do like the game, but:
-I basically can’t play it due to the whole ‘idle out on grid and bad things happen’ bit. I have kids and I work and so I have constant sudden interruptions even if I have carved out some time to play. And yes, sometimes (too often) those things are so sudden that I don’t even have time to hit the pause button (that I am glad was installed). I have been EXTREMELY lucky that most people are cool and seem to understand that part sucks and have returned me to the hotel room each and every time, but it instills an anxiousness in me OOCly that I really, really dislike. It takes me out of the game. It bleeds into RL in a way I really hate because after dealing with an emergency or any sudden, stressful situation I have to be like oh fuck, I need to run to log into this game and hope something hasn’t happened that I’d need to deal with IC while I was RLing and sit there and hit the buttons and wait to get back to the hotel so I can just sign off.
-The game is also heavily, HEAVILY skewed to combat. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t ever make a fighter Misfit that can travel fast and climb. You are at an extreme disadvantage without any of that and might not even realize it until you hit the grid after chargen and see what your weaknesses are. That can be fun to play! It can also get really frustrating when you find you can’t engage with a lot of the systems or areas of the grid because of a certain way you answered a question in chargen without realizing it.
-While people admire the lack of OOC on the game I find it disorienting and confusing. I was one of the every day RPers early on, but two things turned me off hard for quite awhile–one was a very weird IC (?) drama situation that I am still, to this day, not sure if it was totally IC or some OOC that appeared to cause at least one person to leave the game. Or maybe change characters? Because there’s no OOC there’s zero way to know, but it was all incredibly uncomfortable and not in a way I think the game was designed to be. Was someone being an OOC creep? Were people OOC bullying? Was it all IC?? I still have absolutely no idea.
-Unless you’re online when changes are made or game problems happen, you have no idea about them. I would love if there was at least a forum on the site (if there is one I haven’t found it) where game updates or things like that could be posted. I don’t want to have to sign up for Discord to be in the know. I would love to have a place to post feedback that isn’t here!
-The second thing that made me wander away was the Quills. I love the idea of the Quills and it really fit my character concept. I ended up hating it because it felt like every time I signed on I was getting assigned chores/homework. Go to this event not to have fun and RP in it, but so you can write it up later. Here’s an actual list of things we want you to write articles about. Write something every 2 weeks or you don’t get paid. It very quickly started to feel more like work than fun. It’s no wonder this always appears to be the least populated group on the game.
-RP on the game is at a breakneck pace which is both a great and a bad thing. It is hands down the easiest game to find wonderful RP all day every day that I have ever played. If I sign on even for five minutes I have two people trying to scene with me just moving room to room. That’s great for people who have that sort of time–I would have loved it if I were an unmarried, child-free college student. But I guess Ares has lulled me into lazily wanting distracted scenes, which is just not be a thing that can happen on this game. A total plus for people who aren’t switching screens or getting distracted every so often, but not so great for anyone else.
Again, it’s a great game with responsive staffers and lots of RP, but there are some roadblocks that I just can’t seem to get past even though I keep trying. A lot of them are absolutely “me” things where this is a game I want to like that doesn’t fit for someone with a busy RL. But I do think some sort of forum on the site would help with some of the other things (has anyone ever been banned? Are there problematic behaviors to watch out for? Game Updates, feedback, etc.).
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@DrQuinn I definitely think SH isn’t a game for everyone. It seems to have been created with a very strong vision and I admire how the custom code, setting, and policies all work together to encourage that vision and specific kinds of RP.
But some people are going to bounce hard off of it. I was one of them despite loving several of the ideas - the lack of OOC was a breaking point for me, too. I’m just a…chatty person and I like to be able to chat with the people I’m playing with.
I’d also agree with something about the character weaknesses. Like Rinel above, I made a character whose weakness was climbing and I did not realize that would keep my character somewhat trapped in a small part of the grid. Some more information on how various strengths/weaknesses are likely to come into play would be interesting.
But, ultimately, I think for the people the game works for, it really works.
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I hugely struggled with my climbing issues, yeah. For what it’s worth, about a week in someone helped my character get climbing equipment, and if my nasty character can get helped I’m pretty sure anyone can.
I will admit that I was getting really frustrated, though, and I don’t know that I would have kept playing if I had continued to feel trapped in the starter area (so to speak). As it turns out, there are other ways around, but they aren’t obvious at all.
I have definitely complained to friends about the time it takes to hike back to the Dreamless. I’ve just accepted that this is part of the game I’m never going to like, but yeah. Cosigned, as a single woman without kids.
For me, those things are worth dealing with, because I love the game. But I do understand why it would be a barrier to play.
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@DrQuinn I feel like that’s a totally reasonable review of Silent Heaven!
-I’ve noticed a number of people say that they don’t like how there’s no OOC. I believe everyone means a global in-game OOC channel, because local OOC is available and highly encouraged, and global OOC is on the Discord server. I made the decision to have it hosted on the Discord server (and requiring being a current player) as an extra layer of safety for the community, and to allow players privacy of their in-game identity if they so wish. If it were in-game, someone could ban evade and worm their way back in to OOC chatter. But requiring a Discord account means they’ll have to take an additional step of creating a new account. Discord shows the age of an account, which helps me be aware of fresh faces. Although I find this creates a safer OOC environment, I can still understand some folks’ aversion to Discord.
-Regarding weaknesses, we offer a complete reroll on XP up to 200 XP earned, so if something’s not working out early on, you can completely shift your character around if desired.
-I believe I know which weird drama situation you’re referring to, if it involved a “manifesto.” The person at the center of it is no longer a player. But I should have been more clear to those involved at the time, especially since it stuck with you. I’m sorry that happened. Another violation of relationship policy happened recently, which I was able to resolve much easier and clearer now that I’ve had more experience as a game-runner.
-An area of the website that has game updates is a great idea! I’m admittedly terrible at making the website able to do anything, but I’ll add it to the to-do list.
-Regarding the fear of not being paid, I’d like to make it clear that no in-game occupation will withhold pay if your character isn’t contributing to their group. While there are 3 raises available for characters who do contribute, your character can just as well do nothing and still get paid. Being a Quill is a position where you can write the history of the town however you wish it to be remembered, and thus have other factions who at times will pay your character to spin the narrative to make them look better. Personally, I feel that makes it one of the most powerful groups in the game. Combat is temporary, but history is forever. Still, I can understand how the Quills can begin to be more work than fun, and how it can feel like there’s pressure to write.
Overall, I completely agree with your sentiments that a busy RL makes RPing on Silent Heaven difficult. And you’re right in how Ares games are great for distracted and async scenes. I haven’t played on Harvest Moons, but it looks like an Ares game that might tap into the spookiness at an async speed!
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@Jumpscare I will note that in-game identity privacy is not really ‘optional’ but is effectively enforced on the Discord server; when I joined I changed my name to my character name and was immediately DM’d by three people to ‘not do that’.
So it’s really hard to talk about anything game-wise on the discord regarding events, really.
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@Redbird On the Discord server, yes, I ask that you don’t reveal your character name there, or spoil current events. You’re allowed to do it anywhere else, including on BMD, and you can even create your own private or public groups of people you enjoy talking to – and that’s the main point. It’s so you only talk to the people you want to talk to. I want players to be absolutely comfortable with someone new they’re playing with before they decide whether they want to give permission to share OOC contact information.
The reason privacy is mandatory is to prevent the feeling of peer pressure from multiple players revealing their characters. Even if you personally don’t feel that pressure, I’ve heard enough stories from players who have.
It’s also to encourage RP. One gripe I’ve seen repeated in the MU Peeves Threads is how people share IC goings-on over OOC channels to the point that it saps away RP opportunities. Subtle references and memes are completely fine, and the community is really good about realizing when they’re dipping too far into spoiler territory. You’re more than welcome to say you had a blast at a recent event, or that you were confused by a certain something happening, as long as it’s kept relatively vague. For example, “I didn’t understand how characters got plot items in the last event.” or “The event last night was amazing. You’re all so talented!” Things like that are perfectly fine.
Overall, yes, while these rules stifle handfuls of discussions, I feel that it’s an overall improvement to safety and privacy, as well as providing a significant increase to the amount of RP that happens in-game. Players almost always find RP when they want to RP, and they chill on the server when they want to chat OOC. I wouldn’t say this setup works for all games. But for a game like Silent Heaven with lots of secrets and mysteries, it keeps the game world bustling with activity, and it provides a clear separation between what’s IC and what’s OOC.
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@DrQuinn said in Silent Heaven: Small-town Horror RPG:
-I basically can’t play it due to the whole ‘idle out on grid and bad things happen’ bit. I have kids and I work and so I have constant sudden interruptions even if I have carved out some time to play. And yes, sometimes (too often) those things are so sudden that I don’t even have time to hit the pause button (that I am glad was installed). I have been EXTREMELY lucky that most people are cool and seem to understand that part sucks and have returned me to the hotel room each and every time, but it instills an anxiousness in me OOCly that I really, really dislike. It takes me out of the game. It bleeds into RL in a way I really hate because after dealing with an emergency or any sudden, stressful situation I have to be like oh fuck, I need to run to log into this game and hope something hasn’t happened that I’d need to deal with IC while I was RLing and sit there and hit the buttons and wait to get back to the hotel so I can just sign off.
Having played a bit more, I wanted to come back to this, because it’s starting to really get to me. Ending a scene and logging off can become a 15-20 minute affair as I navigate the rooms to get back to the hotel. It makes it increasingly difficult to justify logging on and finding roleplay when I can’t simply dip out after a little bit. I understand the benefits of it, but it’s an unfortunate roadblock for me. I’d be willing to take a substantial hit to my character, whether in terms of money or skills or anything, to be able to log out wherever.
(I realize you CAN log out wherever but then it feels like an imposition on the kindness of others, just like Quinn said, and that’s even worse.)
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The game has been running for a while now and while new games tend to fizzle out and die I’d just like to give kudos to Silent Heaven for going strong and continuing to mature.
In particular I think the gamerunner has done a lot of work addressing and removing negative influences, and the community has never been such a welcoming and chill place to be.
