Personification Life OOC VI [OPEN]

[Tiltjuice]

Thank you Swith.

I had noticed this tendency earlier, when I ran that mini-adventure where MB teleported Ray and Albert to the offices of Allspice General Trading. Part of it was a refresher on my own GMing skills, since the last time I did a proper job of it was sometime back in The Walking Dead EP. 2 and I was feeling rusty. Along the way, I noticed these things (apologies to Eru and NA for using their chars as a case study, I'm not intending to pick on you guys!):

1. I can be very subtle. This happened in The Walking Dead EP. 2 and it happened in the mini-adventure at Allspice (and in other places in PL IC VIII). It's a flaw that I'm learning to correct. I'm not perfect. As I noted to Bran earlier in the OOC, I welcome commentary on my GMing.

I'd quote the TWD EP. 2 post to illustrate what kinds of things I throw at people, but there's a reason I slapped a gore warning on what happened when someone didn't pick up on the details I wrote.

2. Players aren't used to exploring the environment, or picking up details. In addition to what Swith and I pointed out, here's another example from the Ray/Albert mini-adventure.

"Hmph! Stupid rabbit, I was trying to relax! Can't give someone even that, no?", Ray grumbled unhappily, his armed crossed. He eventually sighed and calmed himself down, and then started wondering: what was he supposed to do here? He didn't think it had anything to do with his case from earlier, since he didn't think that MB even knew about it (which was a questionable thought to begin with). In all essence, however, Ray started to look around the office.

"...Well Kitty, I suppose we have to find whatever MB sent us here to find. Although I would have preferred that he wouldn't have removed the couch," he sighed as he went over towards the bookcases. Ray believed he might be able to find something in them, if anything.

The bookcase on Ray's left was filled entirely with copies of L'etrangere, in the original French and in various translations. The one on the right featured Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Art of War, Jin Ping Mei, The Book of Five Rings, The Tale of Genji, and several other notable Far Eastern works.

"Hmm.... Looks like it. Or it could just have been MB being random, as he usually is." Albert said, standing up as well to look around the room. His tail waved slowly behind him, in an annoyed fashion. He had really been looking forward to cuddling with Ray again, but he guessed that would have to wait until later, seeing as how they were now somewhere completely different, and Albert wouldn't be comfortable cuddling here. Only in their own home. So Albert just looked around, trying to find anything of interest or importance.

It was a standard office, mostly unadorned and austere-looking. The fountain pen was monogrammed with the letters 'AGT' in calligraphy. The nameplate, strangely, did not have a name on it.

Everything that's there provides a clue. At that point, Ray and Albert had no idea where they were. The Allspice-branded fountain pen gave Ray a clue. The nameplate (in this case) meant that the office was unoccupied, although that may be something a little too subtle (my mistake). The office being unoccupied, in turn, meant Ray and Albert had a chance to do some digging around if they liked. The bookcases are fake and holographic. They could be interacted with. If Ray had tried to pull a book off the shelf, his hand would have gone through the image. He did eventually get out of there, by noticing the computer was still running in an unoccupied office. Which is unexpected. Normally an office that no one is using would have all equipment turned off.

3. Characters are using their ids too much. Example...Albert just got teleported into a strange office building while underdressed, and he's still stopping to think about cuddling, even for only a little. I'd be thinking about hiding places or finding clothing.

4. RPers aren't placing their characters correctly, as pointed out in my other post about Yoshi being a journalist.

5. I'm not properly defining the spaces my characters inhabit. In part, this was a purpose of bringing Yoshi and Katya down - forcing myself to commit to a layout for Dora's apartment, in the same way that I forced myself to commit to their heights and weights earlier. The purpose behind introducing Luce into the scene and having him make strange noises by playing darts while lying on his side - well, there WAS a purpose to it, but the scene flowed past it anyhow, so it would be awkward to bring it up again.

Various edits - changing wording to make things easier to read

[Swith Witherward]

Oh my gosh, my own laundry list of player-dropped clues is nearly as long as the series of dents in my desk surface.

To be fair, though, I didn't realize that's what the blank name plate meant. I associated it with something secretive rather than an empty office.

Actually, my biggest giggle was all the totally missed posts IC. Small and subtle didn't work. Slightly larger didn't work. Outright glaring, larger than life and lit up like Vegas didn't work. Now we've gone beyond that to: HELLO, My name is Indigo Toshi. I've kidnapped your children. Prepare to die.

Thankfully, Swith and Bran are unaware of the kidnapping (per the plan) and probably won't be made aware of it if everything works out alright (and Cer didn't ask if he could kill the kids, so I know that's not part of his plan). Now, if this runs logically (*gigglesnort*), eventually Rachelle or someone involved will let slip about the abduction, which will trigger some investigation.

But what usually happens is players notice the event and then go right back to what they were doing or else forget about it in time. The shrew in the hall. The odd flickering lights. Luce talking to a statue. The strange plants on the building's side. The device. Klaus' buttons. The ministers' names/reactions. The funny carved dragon Klaus gave Gio during the Drone attack (actually, he's hoping Gio did forget about that... for a reason).

[AETEN II]

Oh my gosh, my own laundry list of player-dropped clues is nearly as long as the series of dents in my desk surface.

To be fair, though, I didn't realize that's what the blank name plate meant. I associated it with something secretive rather than an empty office.

Actually, my biggest giggle was all the totally missed posts IC. Small and subtle didn't work. Slightly larger didn't work. Outright glaring, larger than life and lit up like Vegas didn't work. Now we've gone beyond that to: HELLO, My name is Indigo Toshi. I've kidnapped your children. Prepare to die.

Thankfully, Swith and Bran are unaware of the kidnapping (per the plan) and probably won't be made aware of it if everything works out alright (and Cer didn't ask if he could kill the kids, so I know that's not part of his plan). Now, if this runs logically (*gigglesnort*), eventually Rachelle or someone involved will let slip about the abduction, which will trigger some investigation.

But what usually happens is players notice the event and then go right back to what they were doing or else forget about it in time. The shrew in the hall. The odd flickering lights. Luce talking to a statue. The strange plants on the building's side. The device. Klaus' buttons. The ministers' names/reactions. The funny carved dragon Klaus gave Gio during the Drone attack (actually, he's hoping Gio did forget about that... for a reason).

Volt remembers about the shrew, he simply knows it's out of his ability to track down.

Also I will now finally write my post. And you'd better not give me false hopes of converting you into a PC Gamer with DOW.

[Swith Witherward]

Volt remembers about the shrew, he simply knows it's out of his ability to track down.

Also I will now finally write my post. And you'd better not give me false hopes of converting you into a PC Gamer with DOW.

PL cut scenes:

Volturius rolling out of bed and picking up a piece of armor only to be run over by millions of shrew scattering from it.

[Tiltjuice]

Oh my gosh, my own laundry list of player-dropped clues is nearly as long as the series of dents in my desk surface.

To be fair, though, I didn't realize that's what the blank name plate meant. I associated it with something secretive rather than an empty office.

Actually, my biggest giggle was all the totally missed posts IC. Small and subtle didn't work. Slightly larger didn't work. Outright glaring, larger than life and lit up like Vegas didn't work. Now we've gone beyond that to: HELLO, My name is Indigo Toshi. I've kidnapped your children. Prepare to die.

Thankfully, Swith and Bran are unaware of the kidnapping (per the plan) and probably won't be made aware of it if everything works out alright (and Cer didn't ask if he could kill the kids, so I know that's not part of his plan). Now, if this runs logically (*gigglesnort*), eventually Rachelle or someone involved will let slip about the abduction, which will trigger some investigation.

But what usually happens is players notice the event and then go right back to what they were doing or else forget about it in time. The shrew in the hall. The odd flickering lights. Luce talking to a statue. The strange plants on the building's side. The device. Klaus' buttons. The ministers' names/reactions. The funny carved dragon Klaus gave Gio during the Drone attack (actually, he's hoping Gio did forget about that... for a reason).

I wouldn't be surprised if I missed some.

[Swith Witherward]

I wouldn't be surprised if I missed some.

That's both good and bad. It's good when someone needs to introduce elements without a fuss, but bad if they want anyone to act upon them. I miss stuff all the time.

I'm seriously starting to lose some of my skills because I'm not using them. There's a meaty RP in II, and another in P2TM that I'm interested in but for the first time in a long time, I sat there and realized I'm not up to snuff for them. Even my EH posts suck balls. My work is shallow, weakly worded, not grounded to the moment, and just finger farting for sake of rolling along with the story. It kills me.

[AETEN II]

I wouldn't be surprised if I missed some.

That's both good and bad. It's good when someone needs to introduce elements without a fuss, but bad if they want anyone to act upon them. I miss stuff all the time.

I'm seriously starting to lose some of my skills because I'm not using them. There's a meaty RP in II, and another in P2TM that I'm interested in but for the first time in a long time, I sat there and realized I'm not up to snuff for them. Even my EH posts suck balls. My work is shallow, weakly worded, not grounded to the moment, and just finger farting for sake of rolling along with the story. It kills me.

Eh, just trying putting more into your posts. It's why I turn dust clouds into characters. Less for the wish to, more for the need to.

[Tiltjuice]

That's both good and bad. It's good when someone needs to introduce elements without a fuss, but bad if they want anyone to act upon them. I miss stuff all the time.

I'm seriously starting to lose some of my skills because I'm not using them. There's a meaty RP in II, and another in P2TM that I'm interested in but for the first time in a long time, I sat there and realized I'm not up to snuff for them. Even my EH posts suck balls. My work is shallow, weakly worded, not grounded to the moment, and just finger farting for sake of rolling along with the story. It kills me.

Damn. I'd thought, if anything, helping to point out concepts like we just did would help strengthen our skills if anything ("if you can't explain it, you don't understand it") but I guess that doesn't always hold true. I noticed the same thing, in the other P2TM RP I'm in. I have no creativity for coming up with something as simple as a conversation topic. It took me hours to notice that there was something sitting right in front of my face that I could have my character comment on. It's disheartening, for sure.

[AETEN II]

That's both good and bad. It's good when someone needs to introduce elements without a fuss, but bad if they want anyone to act upon them. I miss stuff all the time.

I'm seriously starting to lose some of my skills because I'm not using them. There's a meaty RP in II, and another in P2TM that I'm interested in but for the first time in a long time, I sat there and realized I'm not up to snuff for them. Even my EH posts suck balls. My work is shallow, weakly worded, not grounded to the moment, and just finger farting for sake of rolling along with the story. It kills me.

Damn. I'd thought, if anything, helping to point out concepts like we just did would help strengthen our skills if anything ("if you can't explain it, you don't understand it") but I guess that doesn't always hold true. I noticed the same thing, in the other P2TM RP I'm in. I have no creativity for coming up with something as simple as a conversation topic. It took me hours to notice that there was something sitting right in front of my face that I could have my character comment on. It's disheartening, for sure.

It's also why my posts will at times lag behind. We need some nice spice, that explosion was nice. Something like it, only longer in duration.

[Swith Witherward]

That's both good and bad. It's good when someone needs to introduce elements without a fuss, but bad if they want anyone to act upon them. I miss stuff all the time.

I'm seriously starting to lose some of my skills because I'm not using them. There's a meaty RP in II, and another in P2TM that I'm interested in but for the first time in a long time, I sat there and realized I'm not up to snuff for them. Even my EH posts suck balls. My work is shallow, weakly worded, not grounded to the moment, and just finger farting for sake of rolling along with the story. It kills me.

Eh, just trying putting more into your posts. It's why I turn dust clouds into characters. Less for the wish to, more for the need to.

Meh. That's just it... I've run out of ways to express myself. I find myself using the same old phrases (she nods, he smiles, he laughs, she chuckles) for the same old things (gestures to Luce, vanishes with a pop, tilts her head up at Klaus) and I'm not going to put much effort into recapturing it because most of the other players don't read any of it except the dialog bits, and I end up wasting a lot of time trying to set up a scene that basically gets overlooked or elements completely ignored.

I think that's why I stick with certain players. I don't mean to offend anyone by saying this, but it's true... I crave role playing. I'm very frustrated when I work on a post involving (for example) a spoon, and go into detail as to what it's important (it's a murder weapon), only to have the other player's post completely ignore the spoon.

I think back to that scene with Tipper and Volt on the roof. I forget what exactly I had Tipper say... it was some misconception on her part based on rumors about Space Marines... and you picked up on it as a player. You had Volt get ruffled over her implications, and even give her a funny look. I could then respond to it in character because you'd formulated his response thoroughly.

[Tiltjuice]

Damn. I'd thought, if anything, helping to point out concepts like we just did would help strengthen our skills if anything ("if you can't explain it, you don't understand it") but I guess that doesn't always hold true. I noticed the same thing, in the other P2TM RP I'm in. I have no creativity for coming up with something as simple as a conversation topic. It took me hours to notice that there was something sitting right in front of my face that I could have my character comment on. It's disheartening, for sure.

It's also why my posts will at times lag behind. We need some nice spice, that explosion was nice. Something like it, only longer in duration.

" 'My good man, you hit the nail on the head...and for that, I pray that your shadow shall always be joined at the elbows.' "

[Swith Witherward]

That's both good and bad. It's good when someone needs to introduce elements without a fuss, but bad if they want anyone to act upon them. I miss stuff all the time.

I'm seriously starting to lose some of my skills because I'm not using them. There's a meaty RP in II, and another in P2TM that I'm interested in but for the first time in a long time, I sat there and realized I'm not up to snuff for them. Even my EH posts suck balls. My work is shallow, weakly worded, not grounded to the moment, and just finger farting for sake of rolling along with the story. It kills me.

Damn. I'd thought, if anything, helping to point out concepts like we just did would help strengthen our skills if anything ("if you can't explain it, you don't understand it") but I guess that doesn't always hold true. I noticed the same thing, in the other P2TM RP I'm in. I have no creativity for coming up with something as simple as a conversation topic. It took me hours to notice that there was something sitting right in front of my face that I could have my character comment on. It's disheartening, for sure.

Oh I know! *laughs* Thank goodness the one I was in recently was slower. I was able to go back and reformulate a better response before the player logged on. But I'd missed it the first time around. It was right there, right in front of my face, and I'd completely missed it because I've gotten so used to very basic posts.

Granted, small posts are sometimes very necessary. Like the small bits we're doing on Cer's thing. Those make sense. But for longer moments? Holy shit, I can't believe some of the stuff I'm neglecting to do.

Aeten, I don't mind if your posts lag. I only poke at you to post because it's fun to do that.

[AETEN II]

Eh, just trying putting more into your posts. It's why I turn dust clouds into characters. Less for the wish to, more for the need to.

Meh. That's just it... I've run out of ways to express myself. I find myself using the same old phrases (she nods, he smiles, he laughs, she chuckles) for the same old things (gestures to Luce, vanishes with a pop, tilts her head up at Klaus) and I'm not going to put much effort into recapturing it because most of the other players don't read any of it except the dialog bits, and I end up wasting a lot of time trying to set up a scene that basically gets overlooked or elements completely ignored.

I think that's why I stick with certain players. I don't mean to offend anyone by saying this, but it's true... I crave role playing. I'm very frustrated when I work on a post involving (for example) a spoon, and go into detail as to what it's important (it's a murder weapon), only to have the other player's post completely ignore the spoon.

I think back to that scene with Tipper and Volt on the roof. I forget what exactly I had Tipper say... it was some misconception on her part based on rumors about Space Marines... and you picked up on it as a player. You had Volt get ruffled over her implications, and even give her a funny look. I could then respond to it in character because you'd formulated his response thoroughly.

I remember it having to do with something about how Space Marines (and Chaos), cling to their legacies, heraldry, and honor to the point that you have entire damn wars starting between them over disputes, and even with loyalists shunning the wishes of Imperium officials over an offense taken. Tipper commented on something about dropping the legacies and making something from scratch.

[Swith Witherward]

But... caveat... even when we do add spice, it's overlooked in favor of vanilla conversations. We had a fully mapped, three-part adventure right there in the gate. Right there. Oh my god, it was going to be a fun, fast-paced game. And then Cer assessed things, and a few RL things kept people away (which is understandable) but even before that, during the lead up, people weren't cottoning on to what he was doing.

It was mildly entertaining for me because I could hear behind the scenes.

GM's major descriptive post... two paragraphs in length... fully detailed... brilliantly crafted by a guy who speaks English as a third language. Took him an hour to write.

Follow up post: 2 sentences and the character walks away to find its friend.

Absolute silence downstairs. I can hear the clock in the foyer ticking. And then... GM refreshes his screen.

GODFUCKINGDAMNIT!

And the dog darts up the stairs and hides under my bed.




Aeten... that was it! I was trying to lead into it to give your character a chance to establish its importance. It worked beautifully because you picked up on it and brought the knowledge into the game. Total "high five" moment for me when I saw your next post.

[AETEN II]

But... caveat... even when we do add spice, it's overlooked in favor of vanilla conversations. We had a fully mapped, three-part adventure right there in the gate. Right there. Oh my god, it was going to be a fun, fast-paced game. And then Cer assessed things, and a few RL things kept people away (which is understandable) but even before that, during the lead up, people weren't cottoning on to what he was doing.

It was mildly entertaining for me because I could hear behind the scenes.

GM's major descriptive post... two paragraphs in length... fully detailed... brilliantly crafted by a guy who speaks English as a third language. Took him an hour to write.

Follow up post: 2 sentences and the character walks away to find its friend.

Absolute silence downstairs. I can hear the clock in the foyer ticking. And then... GM refreshes his screen.

GODFUCKINGDAMNIT!

And the dog darts up the stairs and hides under my bed.




Aeten... that was it! I was trying to lead into it to give your character a chance to establish its importance. It worked beautifully because you picked up on it and brought the knowledge into the game. Total "high five" moment for me when I saw your next post.

The best thing is that I don't even have the codices! I go off information I've read from Black Library novels and the wiki, along with questioning friends. Although I will be getting a Chaos Space Marine Codex for my Birthday. Hopefully.

[Tiltjuice]

Oh I know! *laughs* Thank goodness the one I was in recently was slower. I was able to go back and reformulate a better response before the player logged on. But I'd missed it the first time around. It was right there, right in front of my face, and I'd completely missed it because I've gotten so used to very basic posts.

Granted, small posts are sometimes very necessary. Like the small bits we're doing on Cer's thing. Those make sense. But for longer moments? Holy shit, I can't believe some of the stuff I'm neglecting to do.

Aeten, I don't mind if your posts lag. I only poke at you to post because it's fun to do that.

True. Fuzznuck. The point I just added (#5) reflects some of the things that I let slip through the cracks. It's astounding, really. And a bit shameful to me, as someone who puts a lot of detail into characters.

But... caveat... even when we do add spice, it's overlooked in favor of vanilla conversations. We had a fully mapped, three-part adventure right there in the gate. Right there. Oh my god, it was going to be a fun, fast-paced game. And then Cer assessed things, and a few RL things kept people away (which is understandable) but even before that, during the lead up, people weren't cottoning on to what he was doing.

It was mildly entertaining for me because I could hear behind the scenes.

GM's major descriptive post... two paragraphs in length... fully detailed... brilliantly crafted by a guy who speaks English as a third language. Took him an hour to write.

Follow up post: 2 sentences and the character walks away to find its friend.

Absolute silence downstairs. I can hear the clock in the foyer ticking. And then... GM refreshes his screen.

GODFUCKINGDAMNIT!

And the dog darts up the stairs and hides under my bed.




Aeten... that was it! I was trying to lead into it to give your character a chance to establish its importance. It worked beautifully because you picked up on it and brought the knowledge into the game. Total "high five" moment for me when I saw your next post.

That's what's so infuriating, to put it right out there. I couldn't give a damn if the RPers wanted to stick to what they're doing. I just wish they'd tell us up front so we didn't waste time on it. We do our best to craft events and posts and storylines and then one of the following...

1. Short post
2. Vanilla conversation post
3. Short vanilla conversation post
4. Lead-in to short vanilla conversation post
5. Lead-in to vanilla conversation post
6. OOC - I'm sorry, did I not tell you yesterday when you freakin' told me in so many words that you designed an event mostly for my character and instead I let it go for another full day before "SURPRISE, I want to do mine instead!"

[Swith Witherward]

That's what's so infuriating, to put it right out there. I couldn't give a damn if the RPers wanted to stick to what they're doing. I just wish they'd tell us up front so we didn't waste time on it. We do our best to craft events and posts and storylines...

I edited the heck out of your post because you said something that completely resonates with me. (The other stuff did as well, but I left the words that best spoke my heart.)

I don't mind people doing their own thing. I don't mind the little drama stories. I don't mind if people want to play a less-pro game. I just want to know in advance if I shouldn't bother to include them in my stuff. And I want to make sure their stuff doesn't pull serious players away from what I'm doing. Because that... more than anything else... fucking pisses me off.

[AETEN II]

Well, we could also do a more advanced RP alongside PL. I've had one or two Warhammer ideas in my head for a week now.

Also, I just realized, if Tipper is spooning with Volt, the poor bastard with have a mouthful of hair.

[Cerillium]

That's what's so infuriating, to put it right out there. I couldn't give a damn if the RPers wanted to stick to what they're doing. I just wish they'd tell us up front so we didn't waste time on it. We do our best to craft events and posts and storylines...

I edited the heck out of your post because you said something that completely resonates with me. (The other stuff did as well, but I left the words that best spoke my heart.)

I don't mind people doing their own thing. I don't mind the little drama stories. I don't mind if people want to play a less-pro game. I just want to know in advance if I shouldn't bother to include them in my stuff. And I want to make sure their stuff doesn't pull serious players away from what I'm doing. Because that... more than anything else... fucking pisses me off.

Agreed.

Your alarm is going off. I pulled the battery out.

[Tiltjuice]

Agreed, Swith. I don't mind the edits.

[Swith Witherward]

Well, we could also do a more advanced RP alongside PL. I've had one or two Warhammer ideas in my head for a week now.

Also, I just realized, if Tipper is spooning with Volt, the poor bastard with have a mouthful of hair.

That question is on a lot of minds.

And poor Volt... but at least it's pretty hair.


added: Cer! I'm sorry! It's beeping because it's not registering a body. Did it wake you up?

*sheepish* Well, yep.

[Cerillium]

Did it wake me up? I always get up at 3:30.

PL had a schism prior. Two groups. One serious. One light. The light group complained because you didn't interact with them. You lowered your standards to include them. Raise your standards again. Let the light group rise up to your skill level. They'll do so if they're serious about wanting to game with you. Don't rely upon them to perform well IC if they aren't willing to grow as a player.

You also grew lax when gaming with GT. You did it because he was leaving. He's not here. No excuses remain. He comes back in 3 (or so) weeks. Use that time to polish off the rust. Go light when he returns but don't let rust form again.

[Cerillium]

Good night.

[Tiltjuice]

Good night, everyone.

[AETEN II]

Well, goodnight and hopefully you find the bed and not the floor.