[REPORT] Routine action requests (Moves, Adbots, Spam, etc)

Code: Select all: [quote="Sunset";p="40104136"][quote="Birina";p="40103367"][spoiler=editsnip]This, to me, seems completely off base. Pick up any great novel or novela. Dubliners? The Old Man and the Sea? Moby Dick? Tom Sawyer? They all have one obvious thread in common: The author prattling on nonstop about how every piece of technology in their book works. Who can forget when Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer are rowing down the Mississippi and Mark Twain takes two pages to detail [i]exactly[/i] how the oar blades interact with the viscera in the water (and in fact repel water to [i]propel[/i] the boat!)? Who cares if the technology in those stories would be every day to the people in the story?! That's what makes good writing. And if you find any evidence to the contrary, well, I reject it on principle. I wrote this, I'll have you know, on my Electronic Personal Computer which functions by sending electromagnetic signals, via a key-to-board interface, to a system of coaxial cables, and then to fiber optic cables (which actually beam LIGHT, PEW PEW!) to a magnificent piece of technology called The Internet. Riveting stuff. Now if you'll excuse me I need to make myself some tea in my Electrical Water Boiling Device and put some slices of bread into the Bread Doublecooker that converts electrical energy into thermal energy in order to, effectively, [i]cook the bread again.[/i][/spoiler][/quote] [spoiler=editedsnip]That was fantastic, thank you. Though I would suggest that toast is one of the greatest culinary inventions of all time and that the Maillard Reaction is overlooked only by food barbarians and mastication despots! That said, and to keep things slightly on-topic, there's ample room for description in prose but that I submit to you (not you specifically but the room at large) that it is best occupied by answering the 'when/where/why/what/who/how' of a given character or scene rather than bogging oneself down in technical minutia. Unless, of course, that is one's goal as per an appropriate usage of parody or satire. As far as that whacky goblin-thing is concerned? I have seen compelling - or at least humorous - technical writing before [b]but[/b] it is usually character-driven and typically not done in the heat of battle. If I might draw a particularly poor connection..? I play tabletop. Correct that. I used to play a lot of tabletop - D&D, etc - but, well... Now I don't. But one of the problems with tabletop - for me - is when someone takes a long-ass time to determine just exactly [i]what[/i] their character's action is going to be. Ask the GM what's going on, look at where all the minis are, check their spell list, check a couple sourcebooks, get distracted by one of Sunset's off-color jokes... Thus a six-second action (eight, after inflation) becomes a twenty minute ordeal. What's my point, you might ask? Well, tabletop RP is collaborative story telling. The GM sets the scene, the wizard plays the same wizard whether it's Faerun or Shadowrun, and I try my best to derail the plot. But someone who takes a long time setting up their perfect action is just like a writer who explains the technical minutia in the middle of a battle. Except... Take a look at the published authors. They don't. Often, in fact, battles have literal pages and chapters of lead-up and are then over in paragraphs. They are punchy, sharp, quick - often chaotic - much like real combat is. And I would offer the personal opinion that [i]this is deliberate[/i]. Because pacing is important, both in good tabletop and good writing. Now you might say to yourself, 'self, not only is this man an idiot (fair) but in a competitive RP environment how does one compete without showing just how awesome their words are?' My answer is 'you don't'. To follow the rabbit trail under the deck and through the hedge, I'm of the opinion that - just like tabletop - the best enemies are NPCs and not your fellow party members. No one likes a PKer. That isn't to say there's not a difference between killing a party member and [i]getting[/i] a party member killed. The second can be hilarious, especially if it's that wizard. But if you must dive into the technical details... Well, that's what maintenance threads are for. Don't read mine unless you like off-color jokes.[/spoiler][/quote] Most of this may have gone over my head... but I think that 'technical details' belong in the forums (or in Dispatches), NOT in roleplay - they should exist to ground a world, NOT fluff up your single-sentence war post. In a battle, does a soldier outline their weapon's mechanics? Perhaps a tidbit about how they cleaned it earlier but it's a cheap weapon that could still get them killed... Notice: this comment was provided by a person who read the first page of this thread, took a few notes, and has no tangible experience with technology in roleplay.

by **PotatoFarmers** » Sat Nov 12, 2022 8:06 pm

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=526312
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=526315

Both are threads about questions regarding inscribing; so they can be merged (and into the correct forum which the mods/[v] prefers)