I like the definition that a metaplot affects every character even if they don’t realize it. It also typically changes something major in the setting, though that major change may only be seen by specific characters.

An example I can think of is a oWoD MU* years back that had a metaplot centering around Locational Weirdness of a small city and it’s environment.

In specific, every sphere had different aspects of this Weirdness to attend to. For Werewolves, the Wyld and Weaver were best buddies for some reason and absolutely crushing all the Wrym spirits around. Things were still hella imbalanced, but imbalanced in a much different way from normal WoD.

Vampires had to contend with blood bonds simply not working any more. With anyone. This naturally threw huge wrenches into the vamps power structures. And now they actually had to treat their Ghouls well, since they could just rebel and weren’t mentally shackled to them any longer. Tremere were forbidden from entering the area and Sabbat were almost unheard of since the Vinculum just… didn’t work any more, so they quickly fell into infighting. Meanwhile, Anarchs moved in and quickly established themselves due to the massive power vacuum caused by blood bonds failing.

Changelings had to contend with a huge influx of Glamour. The place just glowed with the stuff. The downside is that this meant Bedlam was a constant threat and that all kinds of dangerous Chimera born from the dreams and nightmares of mortals around the place infested it. Some had to search out and purposefully cuddle up with Banal people just to keep the Things and ODing on Glamour at bay.

Mages – both Union and Traditional – made a pact to study the Weirdness. They also both lost established Constructs/Chantrys and there was a mystery there with both; in both places, the resident magi just simply disappeared without a trace. Magic also just… didn’t follow the normal rules where these places stood – the Technocratic Construct was without power and trying to reestablish it always met with failure (sometimes catastrophic), and the Traditions Chantry always treated ANY magic cast in it as Extremely Vulgar, regardless of paradigm. The Higher Ups wanted this thing Solved, so there was an oddly close working relationship between the Union and the Traddies. They met every week in the back of a bookshop/cafe. Donuts were supplied.

And regular mortals got treated to all kinds of bizarre weirdness. Disappearing alleyways in placed they’d been to a thousand times before, odd shadows that didn’t quite match, glimpses of Things just at the corners of their eyes, strange dreams and nightmares, inspiration striking with skills and knowledge they had no practice or understanding of, inexplicable equipment failures… and equally inexplicable equipment successes (“… This car has no engine. How is it running?”).

@Faraday said in Metaplot: What and How:

• Babylon 5 MU basically followed the key events from the TV series, with variations influenced by the PCs.

As a side note, I’d KILL for a Babylon 5 MU*. Sadly, one of the best (if not THE best) Sci-Fi TV series seems to have been mostly forgotten. Sigh.

@SolarFlare said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Hobbie "Surely these little robed beings with glowing eyes who stole my ship parts CAN’T be the ‘Jawas’ people in the cantina are complaining about stealing all their ship parts!

“I don’t know, Kandu. It’s a mystery. If only there was some sign or information about what these mysterious ‘Jawas’ are-- HEY! Dangit, those little robe guys started stealing the repulsor lifts on the speeder again! Jeez. Now, back to the mystery of Jawas…”

@Prototart said in MU Peeves Thread:

somebody on a WoD game once asked me to justify why my char had Dancing 4

like

Look, don’t you know how DANGEROUS Dancing 4 is? You’ve be able to cut up the rug and defeat Antedeluvian vampires in a breakdancing contest! Your pirouettes would dizzy the minds of mages! Werewolves would howl in defeat at your disco moves! Changelings would have no choice but to bow to your Thriller! Your ballroom dancing would shake the very pillars of heaven!

Totally understandable to ask for such mind boggling power to be justified.

@MisterBoring said in MU Peeves Thread:

This is why I try to write characters who are boring as fuck in their backgrounds. I thoroughly enjoy “random nobody gets drug into a world of whatever and has to adapt” stories.

This was why I liked playing bog standard humans in WoD MU*s. Just someone completely absent from the machinations of mages, the centuries old plots of vampires, the chicaneries of changelings, the violence of werewolves, the… bandages?.. of mummies, etc.

It was really neat to toss them into the world with these kind of characters and see what happened to them. Interestingly enough, most of the time these standard human characters ended up being quite popular with the supernatural crowd. It amused me to think that there was only, like, ten normal humans in the entirety of the WoD and I was playing one which all the other supernatural entities were trying to court.

@Hobbie said in MU Peeves Thread:

The great thing about broad strokes backgrounds (aka Schrodinger’s BG) is that you can fill things in retroactively as they arise in story. It also makes it much easier to write in the moment.

Or go the Old Man Henderson route and just make an insane background that has everything and the kitchen sink to justify any possible weirdness.

@Pavel said in Consensus on Roster vs OC vs Mix:

@Gashlycrumb said in Consensus on Roster vs OC vs Mix:

Ask B.F. Skinner about it.

He’ll just go on, and on, and on, and on about pigeons…

In college, my dad attended a guest lecture by Skinner in which he talked about Behaviorism. At the end he did a demonstration with one of the trained pigeons.

It didn’t perform as it was trained.

Skinner was clearly annoyed and embarrassed. My dad thought it was one of the funniest things he’d ever seen.

Even in psychology the old adage applies: never work with children or animals.

For me, I never play FCs/Roster characters. I just can’t get into them; they’re like ill-fitting suits. Always off, never comfortable. I need to play a character I create, even if said character is fitting a specific niche.

That said, I have no problem playing with FCs or Roster characters.

But as others have stated, if you’re just going to make OCs second-class characters, it’s probably better to go with Roster-only. Players will generally pick up on that attitude and you’ll slowly end up with a mostly or all Roster-only MU* anyway.

@Popes

Is Liberation the one where all plots have to come top down? And there’s only predetermined characters allowed in every sphere?

Yeah, I’m not surprised that place has basically become deadlocked and slowly dying. That sort of top-down play went out in the 90s because it’s completely unworkable in MU*.

I am surprised it lasted this long, though.

@Kestrel said in MU Peeves Thread:

Not a meaningful complaint. I know I’m being a silly insecure baby about it.

But I wish the person I’ve been playing with for years, who always expresses unequivocal enthusiasm and joy about our scenes, would sometimes actually initiate them, seek me out, invite me to games they’re on, so my brain weasels would stop making me doubt whether they actually want me there.

As someone who does this, I might be able to provide an explanation.

For me, I generally assume unless someone asks (either on chan or in pages) that they’re either busy or otherwise not available. That goes even more so with someone I play with regularly. My own brain worms keep telling me that they’ll get tired of me constantly playing with them, so I try to give them space and opportunities to play with others. It’s also a reason I tend not to page first – I don’t want to be That Player who just won’t leave someone the fuck alone.

Oddly enough, I don’t seem to have this problem when I just join a MU*. Maybe the excitement of hopping on to a new place and all the shiny and new things makes the brain weasels hibernate or something.

It is a problem I recognize and try to at least offer up scenes every once in a while. I do try when someone asks to come up with the setup. At the very least sceneset, if nothing else.

But with all brain animals it’s a difficult thing to constantly keep in mind and overcome on a regular basis.

Whether it’s the same for your friend or not, I don’t know.

@kalakh said in MU Peeves Thread:

For some reason this gave me the mental image of a fuming Klingon sitting in the shadowy corner of a medieval tavern. I don’t know why Klingon specifically, but Klingon.

[Public] Ko’Dath says, “WHY DOES NO ONE WANT TO HAVE AN HONOR DUEL WITH ME?! MY BA’LETH HUNGERS FOR BATTLE! IS IT BECAUSE I DIDN’T PAY FOR A ROUND OF BLOODWINE? MAYBE I SHOULD JUST TAKE MY K’TINGA AND GO BACK TO QO’NOS SINCE IT IS CLEAR ALL YOU DISHONORABLE CURS DO NOT WANT ME HERE!”

@Jennkryst said in MU Peeves Thread:

@STD Babies are grown in bellies, and that is whee food goes once you use your mouth to eat it. Ergo, mouth babies are just as valid as butt babies, especially since this was that game with telepregger-nobody-even-needed-to-touch creeper power.

Guh.

Even assuming you’re being facetious, Firan was even stranger than I thought.

… Breeding was one of the Staff’s (multiple staffers?) personal kinks, wasn’t it?

Also: dare I ask about the telepregger ability? That’s insane enough to be some sort of oWoD thing.

@Pavel said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Jennkryst said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Pavel said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Tez said in MU Peeves Thread:

Firan! I got you, old man.

Well, that one’s a gimme. If you can think of a stupid policy, Firan did it first and worst.

Firanites don’t have buttholes, remember.

This is kink erasure!

Yes. That is literally why that call was made. They wanted to avoid people using buttsecks to avoid running the breeding code.

… WAT?!

… Did Firanites not have mouths, either? Seems oral sex could be used to avoid breeding code, too.

@Pavel said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Tez said in MU Peeves Thread:

Firan! I got you, old man.

Firanites don’t have buttholes, remember.

… Wat?

Encountering and reconnecting with an awesome player who you knew 19+ years ago on a completely different genre of MU*.

It just seems like complete fantastic serendipity.

And then playing with them and discovering that not only are they just as good as you remember, but are actually better. Their RP has improved!

@Muscle-Car Big McLargeHuge!

@Roz

@Aria

Wow.

This is one MU* crazy I’ve been able to avoid even rumors of. It’s like hearing about a cryptid.

I sometimes wonder how I have being in the hobby for so long, but only had the lightest brushes with most of the notorious sorts. Is it luck or do I not present the vibe Bad Actors are looking for? Either way, I am grateful.

@allthecookies said in MU Peeves Thread:

Jill guest still making the rounds!

@Aria said in MU Peeves Thread:

@Buttercup said in MU Peeves Thread:

What if Jill actually is one of the aliens, desperate to connect with humanity? But sadly all they know of human culture is volleyball and high school sports physicals.

… Dare I ask, who is this Jill the Guest?

@Pyrephox said in Episodic Games & ‘Down Time’:

I could see being more chill with a longer downtime if it was like - the ‘episodes’ were missions into alien territory, and then the ‘downtime’ was being back at home base, having access to all the NPCs and your character’s life to pursue.

So, basically… X-Com MUSH?

@GF said in MU Peeves Thread:

@STD You are really kind of making me want to play a manic pixie dream mama. But I suppose that’s really just Mary Poppins, isn’t it?

There are many ways to play such a concept. One of my favorite Changeling characters was a Seelie Redcap babysitter who specialized in problem children. One night with her and they WOULD eat their vegetables. Terror, properly applied, could be a force for good!

Just ignore the life-long psychological trauma that results.

@mietze said in MU Peeves Thread:

yes, it was very much a case of ignoring that in favor of picking out the flavors for the magical babies and yes not reading the theme/source material.

No, I don’t really understand the appeal, but there are things I like that other people are like lol what. But at least usually they’re things in the lore/source that fascinated me while being boring/horrifying to others!

Eh, that’s fair enough. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Though I get the feeling that these magic babies were foist on others’ RP as a sort of accessory that one was expected to coo and awe over. I mean, a character can ignore or disparage a Treasure, but who would do the same to a wee babe who is just overflowing with Glamour! PRAISE ME FOR BEING KNOCKED UP!

@Jennkryst said in MU Peeves Thread:

@STD Oh its weirder than that. Changeling do not age while they are in the Dreaming and/or Freeholds. So it is totally possible your Kinain child has grown older than you.

Yeah, that’s true. I think I vaguely remember something like that being mentioned in either the Changeling mainbook or maybe one of Kith books (Sidhe, maybe? They have a much more… ethereal understanding of time as it is).

They can learn Arts and Realms, too, and since they are immune to cold iron, why not make faerie bargains with them to help fite the bad things?

Heh. Logical, I suppose. Though I would think there is a huge danger of them running in horror from the Things in the Dreaming and becoming Dauntain.

… incidentally, this could also be why Changelings hook up with Kinain, to have a ‘real’ parent around while they are out playing pretend with the others.

That’s… actually a good point. Foist the maintence of the Glamour machine off on someone who “isn’t as important” and go about your Changeling way.

Or, if you want to look at it in a less Unseelie way, Commoners do the ‘village to raise a child’ approach, and Nobles do Lords and Ladies ‘have the help raise the child for me’ thing.

Less Unseelie, perhaps, but certainly still shady as fuck.

Changelings are kinda jerks. A lot of people fail to understand that Changelings – and the Fae they come from – are alien MONSTERS who simply don’t think like humans. Humanity didn’t develop Banality just to be assholes; the Fae of old horrifically abused their powers (though one could make the claim that they didn’t have the free will to be anything other than their natures) and humanity responded by trying to force the chaotic nature of these creatures into some semblance of orderly understanding.

That orderly understanding just got tighter and tighter as the ages passed.

In short: Humanity did nothing wrong!

@mietze said in MU Peeves Thread:

There was a specific subgroup of folks on owod changeling places that loved to have magical twins, but after a few games that wasn’t enough so magical triplets started to happen. I never saw it pushed past that into higher higher order multiples clearly no one was hardcore enough.

This… is so strange to me. I think I recall that in the oWoD Changeling book it specifically mentions that Changelings having kids tends to be terrible.

Some Changelings think that having kids just gets them these effortless Glamour production machines, but in reality what generally happens is that the parents have to give up their own dreams to take care of the kid. So most Changelings who have kids end up quickly becoming Grumps or outright falling to the Mists.

Either that, or they get a visit from Child Protective Services and suddenly have to deal with the entirety of Banal bureaucracy landing on their heads. And that, in turn, might invite the notice of less savory Prodigals.

Basically, taking care of kids is really, really difficult and a responsibility you can’t shirk without inviting ever greater scrutiny and headaches.

But I guess those folks who engaged in magical multiple births just ignored the consequences.

@SpaceKhomeini said in Royal Paynes:

I recall this particular character was a Technocracy Void Engineer who had a habit of arranging sexual relationships on the game, often across opposing PVP faction lines (which he’d also leverage IC’ly to “win” in conflict scenarios –
The worst part to all this was he did successfully gain IC intelligence on a bunch of different people in the grid that he did exploit). Anyway I won’t go into the dirty details beyond the fact that supposedly in at least one scenario, a cheese log was used as an adult toy in a scene.