Hero Prime
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Posts
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Joined
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We're up to about 15 individual members, though not many are people's mains, so there aren't always as many people on as there could be. Still, there are nights when we have six or seven on - mostly during prime time for the US (E/C/M/P time zones) - and a storyline is starting to form up.
We're also looking for coalitions with other Heroic RP groups out there, so hit me up here, in-game as @Hero Prime, or on our website at www.tangentstation.com! -
You don't need the "show chat" part.
You can just use...
/bind ENTER "afk YourMessageHere$$startchat"
... if you want. But adding "show chat" doesn't hurt it or anything. -
Quote:You're not alone!Originally Posted by Kelenar
I thought I was the only one!
We should form a club.
*chuckles*
While there are times that RP dictates a bit of in-base discussion, I much prefer to be out doing stuff that superheroes should do, especially when playing my main, Hero Prime. -
Quote:Note: I already said that I like The Dresden Files despite that mechanic. And no, I wouldn't hate the way you start campaigns, as it's very similar to the way I launch mine.Originally Posted by Manofmanychars
There you go again with slipping in the snide comments amongst your cries for unbiased discussion. Maybe if you gave my views a little respect, yours might get some in return.
And, if I'm not mistaken, the Dresden Files RPG actually has a number of mechanics that are exactly what I've been talking about. Mechanics where you're forced to think up who your character is as you create them.
Of course you'd hate the way I start campaigns. Rather than say "Did you do this?" or "Are you here?", I ask "Why did you do this?" and "Why are you here?" Rather than the players having to determine if something is in-character for them, I simplify the issue, tell them the situation they start off in, and give them an opportunity to make it fit. My players tell me it's a very useful tactic, since not only does it ensure that the game begins smoothly, it also reminds players that motivation doesn't necessarily have to come before action, and that saying "yes, and" or "no, but" is far better than a plain yes or no.
But I can see why others have given up this discussion. You might think it's because you've won, but really, it's only because you refuse to listen. You tell people they're wrong and you're right and that's all there is to it, and when someone makes a valid point - one you can't argue - you shout it down because of the person's tone.
Yup, I'm done here. What I've said speaks for itself. -
Quote:I'm not claiming any high ground. I'm just trying to explain to you that, like mine, your viewpoint is nothing more than an opinion, and one that can be worked around. And I don't mind settings a bit - in fact, I've previously stated, I much prefer rules light games with heavy setting material, like The Dresden Files. Perhaps you missed that part.Originally Posted by Manofmanychars
You claim an unbiased viewpoint, yet you pepper your post with phrases with decided biased connotations. "Pre-conceived notions"? You attempt to claim the high ground of humility yet simultaneously place yourself above me as somehow more "open-minded".
If you don't want to roleplay a setting, play GURPS, or Tri-Stat dX, or Toon, or some other universal or setting-free system. Other games have settings for a reason, and when I run those games, the players are expected to take the setting into account. I'm perfectly happy to run any of the above-mentioned games if they want to be crazy space ninja cavemen or cyborg Barry Manilow. But those are two different kinds of roleplaying, they appeal to two different types of players. And by focusing on only one type of gameplay as the so-called "beginner's game" (that being D&D's number-crunching min/max environs), you risk failing to attract people interested in the other types of RPG.
All I'm trying to say is that if you require some kind of mechanic to shoehorn your player characters into the setting, then perhaps your players aren't all that creative. -
Quote:You need to add something to the end of your posts. Just three little words would help.Originally Posted by Manofmanychars
Actually, the inverse is true. By forcing you to think within the confines of the game's mythology and the various gameplay bits you selected, you are required to think of a more three-dimensional character, because even the best roleplayers develop patterns and flanderize their characters. By having reminders of greater depth on the character sheet, it prevents RP decay.
"For some people."
Your experiences are not universally true. I know this because my experiences (and the experiences of the hundreds of people who I've to introduced role playing games over the last nearly thirty years) say otherwise. The problem you seem to be having is that you're confusing "good roleplaying" with "good roleplaying with a narrow focus". I can guarantee that the creative mind is more capable of pure creativity when it has its freedom... for some people. Just not for you.
See how that works?
Equally, I can guarantee you just as enjoyable a roleplaying experience sitting down at a table with no character sheets, no pens or pencils, no maps, and even no dice - just a bucket of M&Ms - as I could provide with a game like ]The Dresden Files. And if my players are to be believed, that is a considerable level of fun. But I could only do that if you freed your mind of pre-conceived notions about what makes a game "good". -
Quote:I don't disagree with you about GNS being flawed. Maybe I was being too subtle in pointing out that people who normally fall into one camp can just as easily wander into others. *chuckles* That doesn't change the fact that your reasoning is flawed, as well.Originally Posted by Manofmanychars
Oh god, G/N/S is one of the most flawed sets of gaming theories ever written. I cannot even begin. But for starters, breaking down any group into only a few narrow definitions is a bad idea in any situation.
By the way, allow me to apologize and retract that essay I linked earlier. I had not realized it was written by Ron Edwards, the reigning champion of stupid in the RPG world. He actually said that games that don't operate like his cause actual, measurable brain damage, and then compared the people that play those games to child molesters.
I would, however, argue that systems which don't inherently tie your character to the background are better for pure roleplaying because they force you to think to involve your character in the world. -
Quote:I've been reading lively debate for a little while now, and while I'm a narrativist at heart, I take issue with the idea that there's nothing within D&D4E to enable roleplaying. The truth is, D&D provides a more fleshed out world than any other RPG, period, and provides a wide variety of classes and customization options that allow a good roleplayer to create pretty much any kind of character he or she wants. Whether those options encourage roleplay or not is a whole different subject, but it definitely enables roleplay. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Dungeons & Dragons, and fourth edition is my least favorite iteration. But to claim it provides nothing for the roleplayer is just silly.Originally Posted by Manofmanychars
Now you're putting words in my mouth. I'm saying that D&D is not made to appeal to everyone. It is made for roll players. Period, full stop, end of story. There is nothing, nothing, that enables roleplaying in D&D. New players often have trouble roleplaying, but if roleplaying is what appeals to them, D&D would leave them disappointed. Houses of the Blooded, on the other hand, would quickly become their favorite game ever.
7th Sea has elements to appeal to every type of gamer, and thus is a superior "first RPG" than D&D. That's all.
Here's the thing: A good roleplayer can roleplay with any system, and a good DM/GM/Storyteller/Narrator can encourage roleplay better than any system. If a person requires a system that has those encouragements built it, well, that's fine. But they aren't inherently better.
(Full disclosure: My current favorite system is FATE, specifically The Dresden Files by Evil Hat Games. It's got all sorts of background and roleplay-encouraging elements, and I personally find it more fun than systems like D&D4E. I also regularly game with someone who is more simulationist and someone else who is more gamist. Both these guys dislike FATE for the same reasons I love it, and both of them are excellent roleplayers.) -
I love the Chibis, DB. Frankly, your skill at taking just about anything and making it cute amazes me. *chuckles*
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I lost a Very Rare recipe. Fortunately, it was just a Soulbound Allegiance rather than a Hecatomb or Armageddon, but still... I hope there's some kind of resolution.
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Quote:This him? Grabbed his picture from a post in the American Legion's costume contest thread early in September.Originally Posted by Stryph
I don't suppose Virtue's Hero is your alt? I saw someone in the D just a bit ago who looks exactly like that. Not accusing one or the other of copying, just funny cause I just saw that same image and thought, "That's kind of a cool and simple setup."
That's not me. I've seen him around, and he has a VERY similar setup. His name is Virtue Guard.
Mine is just a variation on Hero Prime's main costume, using SG colors rather than red, white, and blue and the flared Valkyrie gloves rather than the bulky Valkyrie gauntlets, the one on the right in the pic below.
I didn't copy Virtue Guard, and I doubt he copied me, since we don't seem to run in the same circles. But even if he did? Wouldn't bother me a bit. It's different enough that I don't think it matters much. -
I'd like to offer my anecdotal experiences.
I'm a casual gamer. I mean, I'm in-game a whole lot - maybe fifteen to twenty hours a week - but most of that time is spent role-playing or with my nose tucked into Mission Architect or the base editor. My actual play time, the time I spend out and about, doing missions, TFs, and story arcs, is about five hours a week. Tops. Worse still, I have serious altitis, which means I'm on different characters quite a bit. (To be fair, this has changed recently... I mostly play my main, Hero Prime. But in the past I've done a lot of character switching.)
All that said, I've had four purples drop for me since my wife and I returned to the game three months ago. My wife, who gets into doing radio missions a bit more than I - maybe ten to twelve hours a week - has had eight drop for her. Between the two of us, one casual gamer and one medium-core gamer, we've had a dozen purple drops in ninety days.
As much as I'd like them to drop faster, frankly, that seems pretty steady to me.
Also, we do our Tip missions every day. It takes about half an hour each day - which means most of my actual "playing" time (the time I spend in missions and the like) is taken up by those - more than half of my playing time every week. That means between the two of us, we have enough Hero Merits to get a Luck of the Gambler: 7.5% Recharge every two days. Using this, we've not only gotten my wife's main character five of those for her build, but we've sold enough that we're sitting on nearly three billion in Influence. And that's without even having sold a single purple.
Dumpleberry is right: It's easy for even casual gamers to make money in this game. Ridiculously so. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just not using their time wisely.
As for the whole Monopoloy argument a few pages back, I'm going to have to call Shenanigans. If you play Monopoly and want to put hotels on your land, you first have to get the land, then you have to get the money to put the hotels on the land. That includes the price of the four houses you need to put there first. Hotels are like Very Rare IOs. You don't just get them because you have the game.
What a boring game this would be if everyone always had the best stuff and there was nothing to actually reach for. -
The first one is my current main character, Hero Prime
The second is my heroic Mastermind, Gadgette:
Both appear to have come across a little darker than I'd like. The only distinguishing feature you can't make out is his hair, though. It's the "Princeton" hairstyle, the one that sticks up in front. I'll try and post lighter images when I get home. -
Welcome back, Luficia. Glad to see you decided to return for good. *grins*
-Formerly Mr. Zen -
Ransim: Thank you for updating this, and for addressing every issue I had with the old site. (Not that you did it for me personally, obviously, but you know what I mean.)
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It's been a couple weeks, but I figured I would update this. We're up to 12 unique members, most of whom log on their Tangent characters at least a little each day. We're doing Task Forces on Monday night, starting with the low end and working to the high end. This week we'll be doing Synapse's TF. There's metaplot forming - its in its conceptual stages now - and RP going on at least a couple nights a week. As we get more players signing up, there will be more of everything, of course.
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Quote:As far as I can tell, two years after Epic IOs were released and Defenders and Tankers are the only two ATs that don't have purple sets designed for their primaries. No Defense or Resist purples. No Buff or Debuff purples. No healing purple.Originally Posted by Retrogression
Does this mean Defenders don't get any alternate animations? Because for Defenders, Sonic Resonance is a Primary and the blast sets above are all Secondary.
"devs hate defenders!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
So at least Defenders aren't alone.
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Quote:I'm with Tyger on this. I've had a Peacebringer almost from the very beginning, and while it's actually been several characters (Zoe Brightstar, Heavendust, Flutterfly, and finally Starbright), not all of them have been connected to Kheldian lore. The first, Zoe Brightstar, was a human merged with a Kheldian, and followed lore to the letter. The second, Heavendust, never did get a story, though she was the first incarnation of the single-form Peacebringer for me. When I couldn't come up with a successful story for her, I changed her name to Flutterfly, a character my daughter played in a homebrew supers tabletop RPG we played, and used her backstory. That character, again, was single form, and wasn't connected to Kheldian lore at all - in fact, she was a fairy for whom light was a source of power. Finally, because I wanted to try something new, I gave the Peacebringer the name Starbright. She's still single-form, but she's part of a project much like the Galaxy project in The Council. The idea is a company contracting with the U.S. Air Force came up with a means to crystalize Kheldian essence given freely by volunteers. In doing so, they created pure Kheldian energy fragments, much like the fragments infused in Galaxy troops. The beauty of the idea is, like the fragments in a Galaxy can grow to a full Nictus, allowing the trooper to make that change later on, the energy fragments used for this single-form Peacebringer could, in time, grow into a full, discreet Kheldian, thus allowing her to go tri-form.Originally Posted by Tyger42
As long as you're not saying you're a Kheldian but altering Kheldian lore, then where's the problem? Anyone who says there's a problem is wrong. When the game doesn't offer you the tools to directly create your concept, work within the tools to get as close as possible. Sometimes Kheldian fits the bill.
Anyway, I think people need to lay off those who use single-form Peacebringers and Warshades for things other than what they were intended to do. Either that or get on the case of everyone using dark for dust (the lore says it's dark, negative energy!) and half a dozen other powersets in ways they weren't intended. I mean, after all, anything else would be hypocritical. -
Tangent is a small but growing SG with a focus on extraterrestrials (including Kheldians) and interdimensionals. We only have seven active members right now, but we're working on building a solid foundation for a great group, and already have stories in-play. If you're interested, contact @Hero Prime in-game or visit our (new and still a little quiet) website at www.tangentstation.com.
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Quote:It's a balancing act, and it's one that's difficult to perform. When we ran The Zenvious Foundation for two years here on Virtue, we walked that trapeze line with a lot of care, and still failed from time to time. Fortunately, most of the members in our group - new and old - were forgiving of our mistakes. The group grew because the leadership (not just the SG leaders - all the officers) saw fit to make sure others got involved. Along with a greater camaraderie with SG members comes a greater responsibility to keep the SG fresh. That means that it's almost as much on the shoulders of those 'veterans who helped support and grow the SG" as it is on the leadership of the group to help make new members welcome, and to integrate those members with the rest of the group.Originally Posted by EverStryke
so you suggest the new members should take priority over the veterans who heped support and grow the sg they are a member of? I'm gonna love the fireworks after your response.
It's really the only way it works, if everyone works together. -
Quote:Not technically a support group, but a group built on the idea that people of similar backgrounds will be able to understand each other better, and therefore work better together. Sort of a people bound together by experience and motivation.Originally Posted by The_Spartan
That idea is kinda lame. Support group? Really? Naw. Hell naw.
Not so much a circle of people weeping into their handkerchiefs about how hard the cultural changes from Praetoria to Primal Earth are. -
Part of the perceived function of Tangent is just that - to provide a safe haven for people who come to Primal Earth, whether it be interdimensionals or extraterrestrials, especially those who have been driven from their homes by disaster, persecution, or exile. The idea is to take those refugees and help them become contributing members of the Primal Earth society, primarily in the form of doing good by helping keep this world from falling prey to whatever caused the problems on their home worlds.
No, we're not exclusively Praetorian, but the group definitely has what you're looking for as a feature. -
Quote:While I dislike the idea of a supergroup BEING a clique, I think a successful role-playing group will exhibit some clique-like behaviors. Any group must be selective on membership, and RP groups all the more. Leading a story-driven group means keeping a certain balance, helping to maintain the zone of suspension of disbelief for the members of the group. To that end, a role-playing group's leader tends to choose people that a) match the concept of the group, b) will be an asset to the ongoing story, and c) will enjoy and get something out of group interplay. So while it may mean no l33t d00dz, it also might mean no god-mode players (even if they happen to be sensational role-players), or even other limitations. Such is the nature of a themed, story-driven supergroup. The ongoing problem are the cries of elitism that spring up from those who don't fit, or those who join but are later found to be a bad fit, mostly made by people who don't seem to get that we don't think we're better than they are, just different.Originally Posted by Pravalen
QFT!
This is my number 1 pet peeve in any SG/VG/guild/legion, whether RP or not. It's a big problem when the leader and/or many of the officers are members of a clique. Cliques discourage new members and piss off people like me. =q
I think that's something we've lost as a society. In all our politically correct tolerance and acceptance of everyone else, we've forgotten that sometimes people just get along better with people most like them, and that not every group with a code of conduct and a list of conditions of acceptance is Inherently Evil™.
(Sorry, Pravalen. This post wasn't directed at you, but yours kicked off the thought process in my head, which is why it ended up being quoted.) -
Obviously...
- Daily Donuts
- Weekly Gummi Bear Fights
- Small, Fur-Bearing Animals.
Failing that..
- Good People
- Good Stories
- Good Fun
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Quote:No offense, Flea, but perhaps you're a little jaded. I didn't read that at all in what Genia said. What I did read was people have this tendency to want everything handed to them on a silver platter, and Genia wasn't going to be the one to do that. No problem with that philosophy, if you ask me, because SG leaders are there to have fun, too.Originally Posted by Flea_Mark_Evil
Ah, are we at the witty retort stage now? You ranted first chum. Call it as I see it. Who's the one who went into a little tirade about having to babysit and apparantly how dreadful it is that people expect some semblance of activity and don't do all the work for you?
Har de har har.
So yeah, I just re-read Genia's initial post and I still don't see the "I want everyone to do the work for me" nearly as much as I see "I think it would be great if everyone who joined contributed".
*shrugs* Your mileage may vary, but what he or she is saying can be distilled down to his or her own words:
Quote:Originally Posted by Genia
Do the leaders have responsibility? Yes. Do they have more responsibility than a casual player? Yes. Do they have sole responsibility and you have none? Sorry, no.