I am all for mini games. It’s part of why I lean more towards RPI than MUSHes.

@Jenn

Pffft, my character is back at the bar, so that he can do the girls there. Also, it’s not the darkness you must be wary of; it’s the gazebos.

Because at this point, I think how much the leopards are being force fed is intentional.

The snack of all gaming champions, both tabletop and video: Cheetos. With a Mountain Dew to drink, because it compliments my X-TREME hobby that involves sitting at a table and/or computer for hours at a time.

I still have a hard time understanding why someone would use AI to write their poses on a MUSH. I can understand using it to assist in writing a pose, such as for spell checking or helping quickly brainstorm some ideas for a pose, but I don’t understand using everything and only what the AI generates as a pose. It seems very analogous to this NSFW Oglaf comic: https://www.oglaf.com/performance-anxiety/ Someone who has in the past or currently does use AI to write their poses, please respond and elaborate on why this is a thing people, or at least you, do.

EDIT: I see that @Warma-Sheen in this post has given somewhat of an answer to my question. I still don’t get it, at least for just copy-pasting everything the AI generates. Again, I can understand using some of what it writes to riff off of in writing your pose.

EDIT 2: @Pyrephox said in AI In Poses:

Guess we all just hate the world and want it to die.

I thought that was a given. I assume that the individuals with access to their respective Buttons haven’t pressed them because they get off on the schadenfreude every new day brings.

EDIT 3: @Juniper said in AI In Poses:

I have to wonder why such a hypothetical person insists on playing a game around creative writing in a time sensitive environment if they struggle so much with creative writing in a time sensitive environment.

For the same reason that a person without functioning legs wants to participate in marathons or play basketball? They don’t want a physical limitation to dictate what they can and can’t do and work to overcome it even if it requires using technology to do so? They enjoy the real time back and forth and writing of others but cannot themselves contribute at the same level so need assistance to participate?

I can’t do async RP. My ADHD brain simply cannot deal with the delay between poses, and I unfortunately either nope out or altogether forget I was in an async scene after a few poses, so if my writing suddenly started sucking, I could see me utilizing AI to assist in writing poses so I can continue RPing in real time.

FINAL EDIT: Sorry, @Pyrephox. I keep ninja editing on you, so I understand if you want to pull back on your upvote after me adding something you disagree with.

@tsar said in Anime recs?:

Multiple recs for Mob Psycho, so I’ll put that on my list too! After Apothecary Diaries and I guess my kid isn’t watching Demon Slayer with me and will instead re-watch Solo Leveling multiple times, lol.

Solo Leveling? Do we have someone else who is deviant enough to enjoy Isekai? Well, if you are, I have some recommendations that I will work on and post later.

As for Apothecary Diaries one of the questionable things in the show and I forgot to include it in the “cons” is that Jinshi (the eunuch) invades Maomao’s personal space and teases her in ways that require consent without getting said consent. While it is thematic for the setting for him to not need consent from a servant, I take slight issue with the fact that he wears her down and it leads to romance (the good ol’ just keep flirting and teasing her until she relents and falls in love with you trope) rather than him dying by poisoning from Maomao. I try to interpret it as Maomao subconsciously liking him but consciously not realizing it, as it is established that she has trouble understanding her own emotions, so his actions are somewhat welcome.

@ProperPenguin said in Anime recs?:

I tried to get into Frieren a few times but somehow it just didn’t click for me.

My take on Frieren is ‘cute, but so predictable I’m getting bored’
I do not fault people for liking it! I don’t necessarily DISLIKE it, but I can also only watch a couple episodes at a time.

(Tho most of the time if I feel like watching Frieren I end up watching Delicious in Dungeon instead.)

Yeah, it’s a cozy anime. It’s slice of life, a touch of romance, and a little bit of shonen action. And the shonen action is of the OP MC Isekai power fantasy variety, because Frieren was a member of the party that slayed the demon king, so of course she is going to crush almost anything like a steamroller does an ant. But it’s fun to watch the crushination.

@Solstice I will second Mob Psycho 100, and I will do it having never seen it. I have had friends and coworkers rave about it, and it occasionally gets suggested as the Greatest Shonen of All Time by reviewers.

I have hesitated to post anything in this thread, because I very much do not appreciate being drafted into the role of OP for this particular topic. Anyways…

@ProperPenguin said in AI PBs:

Hi, tech writer here.

I am job hunting (as I left a toxic work environment right before the AI obsession began in corporations). I have been job hunting.

The work disappeared for a good while. And reports from people who weren’t laid off basically came down to them being piled on so high with work they couldn’t manage. One person even reported that her coworkers had nicknamed her AI. ‘Send it to AI.’
Which was hugely demoralizing (understandably) to her.

I know a developer who runs a team: he was made to lay off his tech writer and told ‘just use AI.’ Except he’s in the financial sector. They cannot use it (for security, accuracy, etc.) and when he pointed it out, was told ‘it’s just writing, do it yourself.’

And this is the core issue, the lack of appreciation and respect to a profession from other professionals and industries. “Anyone can write. Anyone can draw. Anyone can take a photograph. Anyone can shoot film. Anyone can work an assembly line.” No, anyone can’t, and no a robot cannot give you as good a quality, yet. If you need specialized, expert, professional work done, you need to pay for a specialist, expert, and professional.

I like AI for hobbyists, people who don’t have the cash or the level of personal investment into whatever hobby it is to pay for a professional. “I want a PB that isn’t a photograph of a real person, I don’t have any artistic talent at all, and I don’t want to pay $150 for an image I am going to slap on a wiki and never really think about again.” “I need a desc, but I hate writing them. I’ll just have an AI write one over and over until I get one I like.”

And I am now going to exit the thread again. Have fun, y’all.

I will second @Pavel’s recommendation of Cells At Work. It’s educational and fun!

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

Review: https://youtu.be/FJ8-7LXa-8A?si=UXumBlMrWU1TNZOE

Rundown: My significant other hates anime (a combination of a dislike of the art style and certain aspects of Japanese culture) and she watches this one. She likes the theme of friendship combined with the Fellowship of the Ring vibe. It’s a cozy fantasy with slice of life and occasional shonen elements (fighting demons, a sort-of “chuunin exam” arc, etc.) that becomes more frequent as the series progress, but it still keeps the cozy episodes.

Frieren is a Tolkein-esque (extremely long-lived, only dies to disease and trauma) elf mage who was one of the four members of the hero’s party that slayed the demon king and brought peace to demi/human-kind. The show starts with said party returning to the capital city they originally set off from to celebrate their victory and have a few episodes set 50 years after that. Then we skip ahead 80 years after the defeat of the demon king which is where the meat of the show is, which is how this elf woman comes to terms with losing her friends, missing out on romance because she failed to realize the hero had romantic feelings for her, making new friends, helping the next generation of adventurers come into their own, and dealing with keeping up with a world that keeps changing.

Pros: There is slice of life, heartwarming moments, heart wrenching moments, shonen action, and some really good humor (Mimics have Frieren’s number. She will die by Mimic, and it will be deserved.) This is an anime that can hit different between age groups. It might be a little slow to start for those under 30, but, if you sit with it, you get to the shonen action. For those of us who qualify as “olds” and have experienced some life and loss, it resonates on an emotional level, and you get some funny bits and shonen action to break it up. Also Frieren tends to be interpreted as being somewhat autistic and people like the inclusion of neurodiversity.

Cons: Loss, grief, the memories of those who we have lost, and dealing with the world changing around us is a central theme of this. If you’re currently in the midst of similar emotions, it could be cathartic for you, or it could be very much not. Also, you said you are coming off of Jujutsu Kaizen and are currently watching Chainsaw Man, so this show may be lacking the action you are wanting from anime.

Apothecary Diaries

Rundown: Do you like Sherlock Holmes? Do you like House M.D? Do you like Game of Thrones, Shogun, or Chinese palace dramas full of intrigue? Then this is the show for you! This is a historical fantasy intrigue/drama, mystery solver, shoujo romance show.

The protagonist, Maomao, is a medicine woman that works in the red light district of the capital of similar to but legally distinct from (seriously every episode has a “this is a work of fiction and any similarities are pure coincidence” line at the beginning) Tang and Quing dynasty not-China, when she gets kidnapped and sold to the imperial palace as a maid (“families” who send their “daughters” to the imperial palace get 20% of the money they earn). She proceeds to figure out why the concubines in the rear palace (the 2,000 woman and 1,000 eunuch strong, walled off area of the palace where the Emperor’s concubines are kept) are getting sick and the recently born crown prince just died. Recognizing her awesomeness, she becomes the unofficial medicine woman/detective for the rear palace, solving medical mysteries, murder mysteries, and thwarting sinister political intrigue, while also having a slow burn romance with that eunuch who runs everything and is so beautiful that even some lesbian women and straight men would be willing to let him do whatever he wanted with them, if he, you know, wasn’t a eunuch. Unfortunately for him, because he is intrigued by her, Maomao is one of the few that is immune to his charms.

Pros: This show has another strong female protagonist who also tends to get interpreted as being slightly autistic. This one sucked me in, even if my girlfriend hates it for reasons in the cons. The mysteries are solvable by the audience, meaning there are no ass pulls or ridiculous deductions or inferences that no one but Sherlock Holmes would make and only after snorting his entire supply. Only a couple of the mysteries kept me guessing, which is great, because if I solved all of them I would probably get bored. The romance is nice too. It doesn’t dominate the show, as the maga author isn’t trying to write a romance manga but her family members who read her work keep pushing for more romance, and it’s a slow burn. The palace intrigue is really good, too. They leave clues for plots in motion in early episodes, tying in previous mysteries to overarching plots. It’s well paced, intelligent, and the art is fantastic. The setting and the intrigue is influencing a lot of my ideas on the silly MU* server I suggested a few months ago. It also deals with gender roles, sexual exploitation, and other such themes in a mature manner rather than handling it like a bull in a china shop like a lot of other anime and American shows do.

Cons: Did you read that last sentence? Yeah, all sorts of trigger warnings on this one. This is pseudo Tang/Quing dynasty China. A progressive, egalitarian setting it is not. If women and the lower classes being exploited sexually and economically doesn’t squick you out of this anime, maybe the fact that suicide is discussed, threatened, and occurs will. Oh, and the previous Emperor was a pedophile. That’s not me calling him one; that is what the characters in the show refer to him as with disgust. The mother of the current Emperor was 10 when she became pregnant. Yeah. These things aren’t the focus of the show (well, the gender roles and sexual exploitation are because it’s set in a harem), but they are a part of the setting and so come up occasionally. Also, there is no shonen in this one, if that’s what you’re after.

Review: https://youtu.be/ZtTYc14IUm8?t=1092

I recommend Mother’s Basement and Gigguk for covering the anime released in a season:

https://m.youtube.com/@mothersbasement

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC7dF9qfBMXrSlaaFFDvV_Yg

@somasatori said in General Video Game Thread:

It’s so funny and very well written.

…Did…did the demons also tell you to write that review? Blink twice if you need holy water.

@MisterBoring I don’t play WoD servers, but I would play that.

@somasatori Yeah, I hate abstract economic systems as well. Fluff needs crunch to support it. Without the crunch, it’s all just “I shot you with my laser. Nuh-uh, because I had my laser deflector field up!”. The only abstract money I have been somewhat OK with was based on cascading dice, where items had a cost and you had to roll over the cost with the die your current money die. If you failed, you still bought it, but you dropped a die size. If it was impossible to roll over the cost (so costs equal to or higher than your current die size), you simply couldn’t buy it. It made you somewhat take into consideration the economics of things. “Hmmm, I have a d10 money die. Do I want to risk buying that cost 8 item?”

@catzilla Who gave you permission to access my MU* TS logs?

Belated reply. Put me in the “prefer the grid” group. I very much dislike off-grid RP rooms. Why even log into a server? You might as well just be RPing on Discord or by email at that point. I am fine with small or large grids, but I prefer location based.

@Cygnus said in Numetal/Retromux:

Will we ever get a WOD game that isn’t run by weirdos?

That’s like asking if we can get a WOD game that isn’t run by humans. This is a weird hobby. All of us are weirdos. You’re only ever going to get weirdos running a MU*.

@Dreampipe How old was the surge protector? I lost some things to a surge that were plugged into a surge protector, looked into it, and found out that the damned things have a lifespan of 3-5 years. After that, it’s just a fancy extension cord.

@MisterBoring said in System for Mech Game:

Not sure about the integrating with Ares part, as I’m a noob to Ares.

• Lancer + Lancer: Battlegroup - In my opinion, this is the new hot mech game. Where the tech in Battletech is a product of its time (the 1980s), Lancer updates that tech stuff to make more sense given current tech (Mechs are 3d printed, people can be backed up onto a hard drive type thing and restored to life if they die) along with a more anime art style.

Awesome game in an awesome setting (especially the Karrakin Trade Baronies) by an awesome creator. Unfortunately, it is probably compatible with FS3. FS3 is a rather unique skill/resolution system that I don’t think is really compatible with most TTRPGs without heavy modification to either the code or the overall TTRPG’s mechanics.

@catzilla That’s clever and a good use of AI for MU* purposes.

Honestly, I am coming more and more around to the idea that all PBs should be custom created art and/or AI generated images. The use of images of real people who didn’t agree to be used for such purposes has been making me more and more uncomfortable over the years.

So, as I was riding home from my Friday happy hour binge after a completely shit week, (God, I hate laypeople who think they can argue law. Which is hypocritical, because I am a layperson, a well trained layperson, but still a layperson who argues law) and I came up with a “rule.” It’s kind of like some states where you have to inform a home invader you’re about to blow their head off if they don’t leave, before you’re allowed to blow their head off. I drunkenly call it the Duty of Informed Consequences. If your character is going to take offense, hold enmity against, try to ruin, whatever another PC because of something they just did or posed, you MUST OOCly inform them that their character has “done fucked up” and give them the chance to retcon, repose, whatever. You do not have to specify what the exact problem is, but you have to go “Hey. You done fucked up. You get one re-do.” After that, if they go “Nah, I am good,” or the try to make a new pose but still do the fucked up thing again, you get to ICly hammer them or at least try to hammer them for their shit.

@Pavel said in World Tone / Feeling:

@Ominous said in World Tone / Feeling:

if the consequence of failure isn’t already clear

I think this point here is often a point of contention. What’s obvious to the person running the story isn’t always obvious to those of us playing the story, especially if it hasn’t been communicated accurately. Sure, some of the responsibility is on the players to ask follow up questions, but I’d really advocate for those telling the story to go that extra half a mile in making hazards and risks more explicit.

Well, my example was from OSR D&D. What I was meaning was cases like “I attack the orc with my longsword.” In that scenario, the player, unless they’re new to D&D, should know the roll and what the consequences of failure are (not hitting said orc). Basically, anything that isn’t a standardized action in the rules should be clarified between the GM and the player. For MU*s, pretty much every action is not standardized, so the GM should always be informing the player what failure looks like. I will note, though, there are cases where there is no GM but failure is still possible. In a L&L game, a PC might make a speech or whatever and staff reviews it later, makes them roll, and decides because they did a terrible job a mob has formed, and this decision takes place obviously after the player has already taken their action. I’m not sure how to address that.

EDIT: Drunken spelling and grammar. Then again, this is a drunken edit, so maybe the spelling and grammar were right the first time.