Adventures Assemble! OOC

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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

My first reaction was "A 22 hits."

And then I looked back at my character sheet. "Hmm, guess it doesn't."

I don't usually make defense shifted characters; they are almost always Toughness shifted.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

I didn't expect it either. By the way, I also forgot to mention one thing in my post: the Mayhem Machine counts as being in a successful Grab by you (because you grabbed the pod). This is just a drawback of the pods.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

You can use Move Object to throw things at targets and damage them. This seems similar.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

kenseido wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:35 am You can use Move Object to throw things at targets and damage them. This seems similar.
The Heroes' Handbook 3e says "Move Object cannot inflict damage directly; you can’t “punch” or “crush” objects with it." (pg 119) But, characteristic of the poorly-written rulebook, it says this immediately after saying "Objects thrown into targets as attacks base their damage off your power rank as if it were your Strength rank," suggesting that you can, in fact, throw things at targets to damage them, and from there it's not a stretch to propose throwing the target itself to harm it.

Personally? My take would be that you need Damaging to inflict Damage. Simple, clear, and 100% consistent. But this brings up 2 more issues that have been ongoing for a while now:

1) You have a way of talking, IC and OOC, that punishes me every time I make a ruling that does not go your way. I don't know if this is deliberate, or just all in my head, but it detracts severely from what little enjoyment I have in this game. As a recent example, I ruled that you can't have more than 1 point of luck. When you failed the first check of the story you immediately commented OOC "Yep, that's why I usually buy 2 Luck points" and this makes me feel punished for making that ruling, because as a GM I want to engage my players and give them a fun experience, and now you are waving a sign in my face saying "kenseido isn't having fun because of your houserule!" Similarly, now I feel pressured to accede to you because even though you started off saying "I don't know if this move is covered in the rules" it just seems to me that you're applying pressure to me to rule a certain way.

I do want to listen to your concerns and would rather you speak up about them than not at all. But the frequency at which this happens is concerning, detrimental to my own enjoyment of the game and perhaps a sign that we are not a good fit for each other.

2) Another issue is that you have never, ever dealt with failed rolls gracefully. Every significant failure is accompanied by a comment of the likes of 1). I don't know if this is because you have had bad GM's in the past that just don't know how to let players succeed any anything, but you are so guarded and wary of any kind of failure or your character being put in any kind of danger that I do not get a sense of trust from you at all despite having run games for you for 8 years now. I think this is why you want lots of Luck because you want to roll dice but want the dice to always fall on your side. And that's not really possible.

I don't know if there's a solution to this situation. But for now, what we'll do is this: I'll allow you to throw characters as attacks since you do have a damage power arrayed, and from a game balance perspective, it's not much different from you just switching the array and using damage.

But I want you to think about the issues I have raised above because they are serious enough that I no longer enjoy roleplaying with you. And at the end of this adventure, I want you to think seriously about whether I am the right GM for you. It may turn out that you'll be happier in a different game and that it will be best for us to part ways. I'm sorry if this sounds very confrontational, but I'm just being as frank and blunt as possible. I'm trying to learn to be more assertive and stand up for myself, after years of being pushed around by toxic players in my own games.

And finally? If you actually feel strongly about a ruling, make that clear before I write 6 paragraphs of text. Don't say "I don't know if this move is covered in the rules.". Say "I think this move should be allowed." Don't give me the impression that you will accept my judgment, only to then push for changes that require me to edit my posts. I am GMing multiple scenes for multiple people and my posts by nature are longer and more complex than those of players. Anything you can do to reduce my workload and eliminate the need to edit posts is appreciated.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

To all players: by the way, I have stopped using Skype, as some of you may have noticed. Any further communication with me should be in this OOC thread. You can also send me a forum PM but I prefer discussions to be here, in public, where possible.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Well, I am sorry, I thought we were co-GMs in this game. I thought we discussed things like this before making final rulings. But I guess not.

Also, you should consider how your GMing style has changed since we began. I love your stories, but you have really gotten more sour and sensitive over time.

You made some legitimate complaints against me, but with the snail's pace it is going at, and my constant need to walk on egg shells around you; this is no longer the game for me.

I wish you all the best.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

kenseido wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:00 pm Well, I am sorry, I thought we were co-GMs in this game. I thought we discussed things like this before making final rulings. But I guess not.

Also, you should consider how your GMing style has changed since we began. I love your stories, but you have really gotten more sour and sensitive over time.

You made some legitimate complaints against me, but with the snail's pace it is going at, and my constant need to walk on egg shells around you; this is no longer the game for me.

I wish you all the best.
Alright then. I also acknowledge that I have been too overbearing, and failing to consult you first on rules issues is not respecting your rights as co-GM. I am sad to see you go; but ultimately, you need to do what will make your roleplaying experience enjoyable for you. If you change your mind in future, you are welcome back either as player or GM.

As for the rest of you, I am aware that I have indeed got more sour and sensitive in recent years. This is a problem for the game because, as mentioned, if you have to constantly walk on eggshells around me, then concerns will not be brought up, or done so too late. Ideally, we could just focus on the roleplay, and discuss any problems candidly and openly.

Part of the problem is that I've just had a lot of negative experiences in the past, and when I look back at the last 10 or so years, the times I truly enjoyed myself in this hobby were few and far between. I don't want to go over the past in detail because it's not healthy for me to do so. But relevant to this particular incident, for those of you who played in my ECK campaign, there used to be a player (not kenseido nor any of you currently in this game) who would literally PM me after every IC post and rant at me about how the campaign as not to their liking. I even got yelled at through PM. That made me very miserable for a time, and it nearly killed ECK. So that makes me extra defensive against the same kind of thing happening in future and struggle to respond in a proportionate way to situations that are much less serious. It's very difficult for me to find that balance, though I try.

This is also part of why my posting frequency has fallen, even though my health issues are largely resolved now. I am aware that my posting rate is as little as 1/week (when I used to be able to post almost daily) and this is severely harmful for the health of the game and your enthusiasm in it. It's just very difficult for me to work up energy to post when I keep thinking about the past and all the negative things and bad experiences I've had - even if I acknowledge that you are not responsible for them, and they are partly due to how I respond to issues and how I allow negative experiences of the past to color the future.

I don't think there is an easy solution to all of this. However, I am still not willing to give up on this game in particular. I did have fun in the past; I really enjoyed the first few adventures of both this game and SA adventures, and they were the best roleplaying experiences I had, either here or elsewhere. I had a lot of fun with the last Lord Steel adventure, too.

For me, this adventure is an attempt to recapture something of those early days, even if a lot has been lost, and I appreciate those of you who are sticking with me. The one concrete thing I can do now is to try and improve the posting rate sustainably.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

I am sorry to hear about the bad experience you had during ECK Ysariel and while I may be wrong I suspect it was the same player who would PM me a lot in the last game I ran. I do enjoy the stories you run and appreciate just how much you prepare in the background that I suspect we do not see in the game as we go a different route than expected as players always seem to do.

I am keen to continue as long as you are happy to do so but if you feel it is time to bring the game to a close then feel free to do so as we all need to be enjoying the experience.

And yes I also enjoyed alot the last Lord Steel encounter :)
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

Gilliam wrote: Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:24 amI am keen to continue as long as you are happy to do so but if you feel it is time to bring the game to a close then feel free to do so as we all need to be enjoying the experience.
I have been thinking about this over the past few days, and I now regret my outburst at kenseido and see how it was wrong.

All of you currently in the game, and especially kenseido did a lot to support me, particularly in that time when my health was poor and my posting rate fell to as low as 1/month. There are very few players willing to put up with a game at such a pace (in fact, I myself am not). kenseido went as far as messaging me to check on me during those periods where I vanished for weeks at a time. Over the years he often sent me messages telling me how he liked my posts or adventures. When I complained about issues in his adventures he was always very responsive. He deserves far, far better treatment than this.

The fact is that, even though I wrote about not being ungrateful and about showing trust, I myself did not behave in the way I asked of you. In a way, I have become more like the kind of poisonous person who caused me so much grief in the past. I think my fear of being hurt has also led me to become more controlling, which then caused issues with co-gming with him.

I will be messaging kenseido to apologize in person, although I do not think he will return.

I have been trying to write, and it is just not the same now. Everything feels hollow and empty and so much has been lost that can't be restored. When I think of the past, I wish so much I had cut out those toxic people who poisoned my experience of this hobby much earlier, and actually treated the players who supported me right. Everything I do now is too little, too late.

However, I do want to continue, as long as there is one player who is truly interested. I have 6 Anarchy Command adventures I want to run, and perhaps 3 more cosmic adventures to close out what was my half of the story.

I am making some changes to prevent such incidents from happening again and to address some of the criticisms kenseido made before leaving.

In my view, the most urgent one is the fact that you players have to be wary of what you say around me. You should be able to speak frankly and honestly because without communication and trust it's very hard to run a game. I promise not to be so sensitive, but as a concrete measure, I am immediately abolishing all restrictions in my post dated May 21 here. The players who mocked Amethyst previously are gone, so it doesn't make sense to apply these rules to you going forward. If you do anything hurtful, I will just talk to you about it.

Secondly, my low posting rate is also a problem. This is much easier to address definitively. I will commit to a schedule of Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun (US time), posting 4 days a week. Since it is now Sunday in the US, I will be updating Moonlight and hopefully Nightbird's scenes soon. That said, in situations where multiple scenes run concurrently I can't guarantee I will be able to update them all on the same day, so please be patient.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Ysariel and I spoke today, and all is forgiven on both sides. As long as no one has objections, I would like to rejoin the game.

There are still a lot of adventures I want to run for you all.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

Welcome back kenseido.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

Welcome back kenseido. I am delighted to have you back!

So, I previously said that I will not be available on Skype anymore, but on second thought, it is useful for communication and a lot faster than waiting for a back-and-forth of PM's. So those of you in this game are still welcome to contact me on Skype.

Stavaros, let me know if you are stumped for what to do. I think the simplest thing you could do would be to create a force construct and airlift the civilians to safety; with the help of the staff on-site you can get them to land before the Marshal becomes un-distracted. The closest safe area would be the Golden Gate bridge.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

And that is my post for Wednesday (a few hours late, sorry about that)! Gilliam and kenseido will be updated by Friday at the latest.

As you may have noticed, for this initial encounter the named enemies you meet are minions. They may reappear later as non-minions. Let me know if you have any particular thoughts about this and whether you would prefer the enemies to consistently appear as minions or non-minions instead.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

I have no problem with it.

It is the reverse of how comics usually do it. The first time a villain shows up, they tend to be really tough and almost beat the hero. The next time is a hard fight that the hero barely wins. Eventually the villain just starts jobbing to the hero (loses just to make the hero look cooler/tougher).

But there is no reason a villain can't overestimate the hero and later on learn from the fight.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

I agree with Kenseido, it is a nice change and mixes things up and it does feel right for Nightbirds scene, while the White Knight is suppose to be a threat from what I have seen over the years he always ends up as a jobber to the heroes.
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