Off-topic thread for discussing the GMing Advice
By
Ammon,
Posted on: 2007-03-16 09:15 in Roleplaying
Well.. I do kinda wish you'd let my ONE MISTAKE fade away, you old meanie person you! 
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
well this isn't so much a complaint as a mere question, didn't know where else to post it to be honest.
Where on earth are villains meant to RP BESIDES Pocket D's we have no equivilent of the GG statue on our side and most of the RP is heroside...so you can understand we hit a stump.
So your saying that Pocket D's is a bad place to run plotlines in your guide..but we villains simply have no choice.
Badge Earned: Wing Clipper
A real showstopper!
Some people have tried to get something going under the clocktower in Mercy Island, but alas it keeps dying due to lack of interest.
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Well.. I do kinda wish you'd let my ONE MISTAKE fade away, you old meanie person you!
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Don't worry, won't be long before he'll forget due to his age
Oh, and now I have the opportunity to clear the air without feeling bad...
*takes a deep breath*
Actually, I don't really have that much to say
I just thought it might be fun
To have a bit of a windbag of words
Which are assumed to be insulting
but really.. aren't...
I thought about doing so in Dutch
But this 'censorship' works fine too
Pffew... there, that's that out of the way.
Good points raised in the advice though.
Wish I had similar hints for my first GM attempt
I did get things right, though! (even if most was by accident)
@ShadowGhost & @Ghostie
The Grav Mistress, Mistress of Gravity
If you have nothing useful to say, you have two choices: Say something useless or stay quiet.
Don't ask me, mate. I've roleplayed once in the Rogue Isles. It was a chance meeting just after CoV launch which took place around the Arbiter in Mercy Town.
Generally, I don't like the kind of RP I've seen villains get up to. If I want my villains RPing, I'll take them to Pocket D. I don't think we ever identified an entirely suitable area with the advantages GG has/had, and you have to remember that GG was a bit of a fluke.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
(My agreement or not with your reasons is totally irrelevant )
My main gripe with it is okaying Railroading, for some of us Railroading is capital punishment worthy sin. That said I can see how some form of control is needed in open RP, said control is discussed fine in your "Dealing with God Modders, Attention Seekers, and Plot Breakers" paragraph.
Now I recognise that a lot of people here are very pro Railroading, maybe at the very least make a note that as soon as some people realise that it's happening they will certainly step away from the plot?
Shadowplay - Scrapper DM/DA SL 50
Doctor Storm- Brute SS/Elec SL 50
"speed boosts someone in the face" - Cognito
Man, I wish there was some way to look for roleplayers when looking for teams (in CoV). I put it in my description a while back and the downside was no one sent invites if they weren't willing to roleplay. So the drama was: Label yourself and hang out alone or not label yourself and not roleplay?
:sigh:
Stupid catch 22's.
If anyone's serious about getting Villain roleplay going, I'd love to be included. I found an Roleplaying SG, but you know...there has to be more roleplayers on the servers.
So because i rolled a villain it's 'tough luck' regarding RP...great...
I can see why railroading is needed. If something goes TOO far off the beaten track then people will just simply wonder what on earth is going on.
Oh and reward players with recognition for furthering the plot or simply adding enjoyment to the plotline. That often makes them want to continue with it.
Oh and the way most villains RP...what did you mean by that? Being overtop the top and cartoonish or just plain moody?
Oh and mail me @Dr Mechano if your interested in inviting me to and RP SG...would love to find one myself to be honest, but none have been suitable. (EVIL is more along the lines of a mercenary outfit and the other SG that asked me to join was Gothic Horror themed, while the doctor looked and sounded the part, robotics didn't fit the Gothic horror theme, if i'd chosen necromancy then i would have joined in a heartbeat.)
Badge Earned: Wing Clipper
A real showstopper!
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Now I recognise that a lot of people here are very pro Railroading, maybe at the very least make a note that as soon as some people realise that it's happening they will certainly step away from the plot?
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As I said in the actual thread, when I expounded on the subject, I think most of us understand the need for a certain amount of railroading, and tacitly know it's happening, but only get uppity when it's thrown in our faces directly, or blatently.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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Now I recognise that a lot of people here are very pro Railroading, maybe at the very least make a note that as soon as some people realise that it's happening they will certainly step away from the plot?
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And naturally the same if you're in a plot that's not sufficiently railroaded/plotted/etc. for your liking.
Personally, I think the only universal rule of roleplaying is that there are no universal rules of roleplaying. The biggest divide I see in MMO roleplaying is that some people prefer to stick within the limits of the game - i.e. no playing NPCs, non-heroes, etc., just playing the characters mostly within the game, and some - usually, but not always, the more organised types - prefer to effectively use the MMO as an environment and go beyond the limits with the whole shebang of GMs, tightly defined plots, playing NPCs, etc. and usually a whole bunch of extra organisations and other background which isn't a part of the game world otherwise - all of which naturally brings with it a whole lot of extra rules. Note I'm not talking about CoH specifically here.
It's usually pretty obvious who's taking what approach though. Personally, I think the main piece of advice is to remember that your way (generic your, not directed at anyone specific) is not the only way, and not to try and enforce it on others, taking part in plots/events/etc. or not accordingly.
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My main gripe with it is okaying Railroading, for some of us Railroading is capital punishment worthy sin.
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Personal preference: no railroading. I'm also realistic enough to realise that some railroading is necessary in a setting where you cannot freely decide the outcome. As I said, you can't have a plot where the city is going to be destroyed actually succeed, so, somehow, the PCs must win.
Of course, I would also prefer it if people didn't write plots which will result in the end of the univers/world/city/zone/anything larger than a car, so that you don't have to railroad them at all.
Essentially though, I'm just trying to be realistic, and I'm just trying to get people to give their players the best RP experience they can have, even if behind the scenes they are being treated to a less than perfect world.
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Now I recognise that a lot of people here are very pro Railroading, maybe at the very least make a note that as soon as some people realise that it's happening they will certainly step away from the plot?
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I will, indeed, amend the text, though the whole point was that the players should be conned into thinking they aren't being railroaded.
Addendum: I have so ammended the text. Hope that meets your needs. Like I say there, I really don't like railroad plots, I just recognise that people intent on saving the world might need railroading to be sure they do save it.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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So because i rolled a villain it's 'tough luck' regarding RP...great...
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I think most roleplaying in CoV takes place in SGs and on missions. Since I almost exclusively solo in CoV, I'm not really sure about that.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
I've done a fair share of RP in CoV, but as RW mentions it was limited to SGs, missions and Pocket D... which now that I think about it is where it is done for my hero characters as well. 
Shadowplay - Scrapper DM/DA SL 50
Doctor Storm- Brute SS/Elec SL 50
"speed boosts someone in the face" - Cognito
Channelling the spirit of _Max_ yet again, It's Ellen Darc, mediator for the subscription impaired!
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For me, if the plot has to be railroaded at some point, then it should be a case of setting guidelines rather than barriers. One GM I play with will do the sensible thing if we go very off-course, and call a 15-minute break, just so he can readjust the boundaries, so that they still lead reasonably towards the intended goal.
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So because i rolled a villain it's 'tough luck' regarding RP...great...
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I think most roleplaying in CoV takes place in SGs and on missions. Since I almost exclusively solo in CoV, I'm not really sure about that.
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Usually get heaps of RP on Villians, atleast enough to keep me happy. The EVIL & TST plot was great fun which involved an RP base raid and then capturing Coile the whole virus thing. I'd have to agree RP on Villians is alot more rare than it is on heros due to a simply fact that people are all spread out IMO. I cant stand Hero RP it just doesnt do it for me, thus why ive RP'd on Villians since release.
Probably in the next month we'll be organising a villian meet hopefully with some kinda of plot, thats why Clocktower died, again IMO. People ran out of things to talk about eventually and it died. Theres a house in Port Oakes near the coast that EVIL held the 'Mercenaries Ball' was great fun but unfortunatly only one off. Soon as we get a few plots aside try and kick it off again as a regular meeting place, with a plot behind it and a reason for the meetup.
Oh and the guides good Ravenswing, im really no good at GMing but have had to do it on occasion
Its a great guide.
I have to admit though, that I'd be unwilling to GM any storyline unless I knew all of the characters involved first, and we had a common agreement on what kind of powers were reasonable.
I loathe and detest god-level characters, as they are almost always boring, and require plot devices that for me, completely lose the suspension of disbelief. So to have a GM'd session where some of the players want to be more powerful than the GM themselves is both pointless and unenjoyable.
All of the best GM lead roleplay I have seen has been where the characters were created specifically for the over-arcing storyline and gameworld. In every case of 'poor gaming experience' there has been a character brought in from some other game with other rules, and thus is built to an entirely different game universe to the one of the session.
That's why so far all the GM lead roleplay I've been willing to engage in on COH is with new groups, built around and within pre-defined game limits.
However, where players are generous and game-spirited, freeform RP does not need a GM at all, as all things are decided collaboratively between the two sides involved. Just like in saying (I swing at CharacterX, rather than I hit CharacterX, allowing the other player(s) freedom to decide what happens at their end).
Freeform does not suit all players, and anyone who tends to have characters who need uber-powers should probably avoid it, as this is not a play style for people who have a need to have 'winners' or 'losers' - its more about the experience and shared self-development.
http://www.savecoh.com/
I think there is two different types of going pass the in game rescritions.Things that can be achieved through fudge, and things that never can be disproved. A player can die, if such players are created to do so , or if the said play deletes him or her, they are dead. A city can be destroyed as long as its a frictional one, or one that the GM is certain that no one uses/knows about. (Like genosha city, or the floating avian city of narina..). However as Raven said I would refrain from saying Paragon will be destroyed, Icon will be destroyed etc
Also there are certain things that can be achieve in game I believe, typically the whole unmoveable object/ irresistable force. Unless Forumn RP or an agreement between characters, it is much easier to say I am Invulnerable, save such a such, rather than I can kill anything. Unless such a party godmods, saying "my sword pierces your armor and you die"
You can't disprove the person is nigh invulnerable, as you can't force him into a situation in which he isn't. But as raven said I would say refrain from using such characters, unless its a closed" plot that you are GM of.
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I think there is two different types of going pass the in game rescritions.Things that can be achieved through fudge, and things that never can be disproved. A player can die, if such players are created to do so , or if the said play deletes him or her, they are dead. A city can be destroyed as long as its a frictional one, or one that the GM is certain that no one uses/knows about. (Like genosha city, or the floating avian city of narina..). However as Raven said I would refrain from saying Paragon will be destroyed, Icon will be destroyed etc
Also there are certain things that can be achieve in game I believe, typically the whole unmoveable object/ irresistable force. Unless Forumn RP or an agreement between characters, it is much easier to say I am Invulnerable, save such a such, rather than I can kill anything. Unless such a party godmods, saying "my sword pierces your armor and you die"
You can't disprove the person is nigh invulnerable, as you can't force him into a situation in which he isn't. But as raven said I would say refrain from using such characters, unless its a closed" plot that you are GM of.
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Characters get killed, people might get worried if we started "deleting" players 
Even then the character does not need to be deleted, I have several that are now no longer RP chars and have had all the RP tags removed to avoid any IC interaction, that way I did not have to delete characters I liked playing the game with
Hi guys - sorry to be a bit off topic, but I noticed the phrase "RP tags". Is there an easy way to spot RPers? I only ask as I was bimbling around with my tank (I forget the area - I'm abroad just now) when I was asked for some help by what turned out to be an RPing group. They'd decided to tackle the huge group of Super trolls near a warehouse but were massively outgunned and PMd me. I helped out and was initially surprised by the thanks and praise I was getting. It didn't take long for the penny to drop, but I wondered afterward if I could have made the experience more fun for them by "being in character" (obviously my inner RPer was seeking a stage...!). Any thoughts?
Some people will put (( Roleplayer )) or (( RP )) in their bios. There was some talk of getting a badge added, but it would never have worked.
So, no, not really.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
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Characters get killed, people might get worried if we started "deleting" players
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Oh I know, that why i put or delete a character.
It's a comic book world. "Dead" characters don't usually stay dead very long...
@FloatingFatMan
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
[ QUOTE ]
It's a comic book world. "Dead" characters don't usually stay dead very long...
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It took them ages to ressurect Jean Gray...
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.
Post here all the things you wish to accuse me of regarding my reasons for posting the GMing Advice Thread.
This is just to avoid the problems I see coming when someone decided I'm picking on them for being a bad GM/human/entity/banana.
Hopefully, no one will actually need to use this thread.
Disclaimer: The above may be humerous, or at least may be an attempt at humour. Try reading it that way.
Posts are OOC unless noted to be IC, or in an IC thread.