Demens Chosen [PL: Into the Abyss - CLOSED]

[Holy Lykos]

If you've already posted, it's fine.

I kinda got worried and got rid of it already px its saved so I could put it back up.

Though I might not, I didn't really contribute much to the scene anyway.

[Stormwrath]

To clarify as this thread is like getting caught up on human history in a few hours (:P) our characters are intended to be personifications of our NS nations correct?

Well, not exactly. More like you can make any character you want, since it's a sandbox-ish RP. Take note of the "ish" there.

Also, you have met me somewhere else in NS. By which case I say hi.

[Swith Witherward]

Some questions came up recently regarding Cer's "odd" statement:

Personification Life is a multi-line boxcar storytelling game backed by mutual consent rules. Quasi-mechanics are used during character generation and in combat or when doing heroic feats. It is a predominantly Popsicle game though, at times, we let loose with Zalgofests, naked fairies, or Carnal Carnivals that have a Poptart feel. Players are encouraged to explore the world and may sit out stories provided their antics do not disrupt everyone else (the setting, the time of day, the stories). However, what happens becomes canon so play wisely. This is why actual Poptart shit doesn't work in PL.

It's a what the what huh? And we said we liked poptart!

Online Roleplay Glossary

These aren't "NS things". Rather, this is some of the etiquette and terminology used on RPG forums across the 'net. Not all places use these terms. I've only touched upon what pertains to the current situation. (It's important to note that a lot of this was pulled from FRP and other gamer sites. The stuff found on FRP (forumroleplay.com) is also on wikipedia. So this information based on information based on old gaming techniques meshed with BBS common sense, as written on the flanks of a dead cat that didn't realize he couldn't walk through walls until he had gone half way through.)

Post Requirement Length

One-Liner
Roleplay consisting of only a single line or a few short lines — often occurs within chatrooms, widely considered to be very amateur. Sometimes referred to as “action roleplay” wherein actions are interspersed with speech, like so: *Azazel walks into the room, glowering.* I just got caught poaching from the boss’s private stash! *Azazel kicks over a trash can.*

Para, Paragraph, Multi-Para, or Multi-Paragraph, 3-Liners
Roleplay that consists of many lines and, often, multiple paragraphs. Generally, roleplay of this flavor is over 100 words. PL's minimum is 3 lines.

Consent & Consequences

Non-Consent
In this type of roleplaying game, In Character consequences are favored. Your agreement to negative consequences doesn’t matter in Non-Consent RPGs. For example, even if you do not want your character to die, other characters can kill your character if they enter hostile land.

Non-Consent games are often very difficult for forum roleplaying newcomers to enter. You may not always comprehend the danger your character is in. Non-Consent games are bad for players who are very attached to their characters. Conversely, Non-Consent forum roleplaying games are good for players who enjoy the unexpected.

Limited Consent
Limited Consent attempts to strike an even balance between consent and consequence. Certain negative consequences can be enforced without player agreement. Character death, physical damage, and other severe consequences still require roleplayer agreement, though. For example, the wolf forum roleplaying game that allows an Alpha to kick a member out of the pack would fall under this category.

Limited Consent roleplaying games are likely the most common type of play-by-post forum-based RPG. Most of the resources on Forum Roleplay are written from a Limited Consent perspective. For example — Bad Roleplay such as powerplay may not even exist in Non-Consent games.

Limited Consent games may bore the player who wants the thrill of the unexpected. However, they may be too free and open for the roleplayer who values a structured environment offering total character control.

Consent
Players cannot control anyone’s characters but their own, and consequences or life changes of any sort must be agreed to by the player. The example of this is the high school roleplay which would require a teacher’s roleplayer to ask the student’s roleplayer if the student can be failed.

Total consent games are relatively rare — as roleplaying is a collaborative effort, being so absolutely unable to affect another character’s life is somewhat contrary to the idea in the first place!

Poor Form

Twinky, Twinking
Characters that act nonsensically from an IC perspective; a gross violation of realism and believability.

Cheesing, Cheesy
Forcing the plotted or expected outcome of roleplay by invoking an unmentioned fact.

Munchkin (derogatory)
A roleplayer who plays a non-competitive game in an aggressively competitive manner.

Two Different Play Style Types (there are several)

Poptart
People have tried to define Poptart play as "light and fun". Any game can be light and fun.

Poptart, by actual definition, depends upon twinkification to work: TF guns, black hole guns, genderbender bombs, turning someone into something, turning someone into a little baby, building a sub base without city permission, eating babies from the morgue, blowing up the city park, firing atomic bombs at the building, drone invasions, flaying corpses, crashing a spaceship into the city, etc. This stuff is typical of a non-consent roleplay. There isn't any objective to poptart games. There isn't character development unless its Fucktart play (poorly written porn disguised as knock-off romance written by virgins), and there isn't any growth because there isn't believable conflict. All problems are solved with antics rather than logic. Introspection only occurs when a player wants to do some Teartart - woe is me and my suicidal teen character! Who will save me from my emotional state?

Popsicle, Ice Pop, Ice Lolly, Freezer Pop
Epsicles... the original Popsicle, were first made by Frank Epperson. He accidentally left a glass of powdered soda and water with a mixing stick in it on his porch during a cold night, a story still printed on the back panel of Popsicle brand treat boxes. The thing about Popsicle is that anyone can make them if they have patience. It's frozen something stuck in a form and with a stick inserted in it. Players take a basic flavor (soldier, scholar, teacher, preacher, warrior, whatever) and fill it with a unique flavor then add interesting elements like fruit or chocolate chips before stuffing the stick in. They'll wait a long time for it to freeze solid enough to use. Babies run around and make a mess, but an older kid will sit down and carefully nibble the edges to keep the stuff balanced on the stick, setting a pace that allows it to be consumed before fully melting yet not eating it so fast that they get horrendous brain freeze. Popsicle players sometimes shit kittens if you fuck around with their stick before their plot has set.

Setting Element

Sandbox
Usually when people say "sandbox" today they mean a campaign that does not have a specific prescribed storyline, but one where the GM sets up a world (or at least a small section of one) and the PCs are free to wander where they will and find adventure where they will. It's about freedom of player choice. Pure sandbox play is purely simulation driven. A super hardcore sandboxer places a dungeon (or whatever) in the game world and that's where it is, for the PCs to come across or not (and for NPCs to come across before them or not). If a thief is sneaking into a mansion, in a sandbox game he is able to avoid guards and traps, and not have predetermined plot points presented to him regardless of his actions.

Railroad
The antonym of sandbox, railroad (or railroading) is simply extreme constraint of choice. Some perceived constraint of choice is always there in any simulated world in that there are always choices that are impossible to physically perform or clearly undesirable, but where you cross the line to railroad is when these things are obviously being imposed by the GM/metagame (usually in the name of "The Story" or "The Plot").

Boxcar
Most games are somewhere on the continuum between pure sandbox and railroad, or even move between the two based on need and GM inclination. Many campaigns switch back and forth between railroad and sandbox. Railroading to move the story on when the players lose momentum and sandbox otherwise it a frequent GM tactic that lets the players be free when they want to be but gives them structure when they're feeling lost.

Boxcar gaming can be desirable because it produces a sense of game world reality that enables the player to focus less on the metagame and immerse in their character and the game world. It can be problematic because players can feel like they are spinning their wheels and wasting limited leisure time without more guidance, and because sometimes a preplanned story cam have more "big, interesting" things happen in it plot-wise than a sandbox. However, when players do nothing but sequester their characters and work on "feelings and emotions", they cease to be immersed in the world and turn into a dead weight that sucks other characters in, affects IC time, and makes everything all about them.

A Few Game Styles
Please note that elements from each style can be found in some games. PL blends them in, for example.

Storytelling Roleplay
The entire purpose is to tell a story. Players often work in tandem to bring conflicts into a game in order to allow other characters to grow. Or, they might take turns playing the damsel/dude in distress, or the hero.

One of the primary distinguishers of a storytelling roleplay is bending “reality” (that is, established laws in the setting) for the sake of the narrative. As reflected in the title, storytelling roleplays are stories. They might not necessarily make sense in reality and reflect a “mythologized” view of reality, sometimes, where fantastic things happen and doing good is rewarded (or the opposite, in a crapsack setting).

Mechanics Roleplay
This is dice and calculators, or games set in rounds or stages. We have mechanics elements in PL, mostly as a means to prevent "Your character isn't as powerful as mine" bickering when characters fight. It's also used when players want to dabble in wargaming (a form of roleplaying that very few people in PL seem interested in despite sending their characters onto a wargaming field).

In some mechanics games, the ruleset is prioritized beyond anything else. Established goals and so forth are used to drive the characters into the situation, but they do not determine the outcome - only the rules, dice, and math do that.

Blitz Roleplay
This is usually played live, with a group of posters blazing through forum pages. Our "sole survivor" Creepfest was a Blitz game. Each game has different rules (consent vs non-consent, post minimums (if any), etc). Blitz Roleplay that has a plot to it, and encourages not only interaction but player immersion into the game itself, belongs in P2TM. Blitz Roleplay that is pointless and just an excuse to entertain bored people with spam action and empty dialog, with blurred IC and OOC interactions, belongs in F7.

[Giovenith]

Most excellent, Swithers.


How are you feeling, by the way? You've come across as a bit down lately, hopefully not too stressed. Anything we can help with?

[Torsiedelle]

My characters were originally Hetalia-esque embodiments...even though I hate Hetalia. Good thing that changed...the personification part, not hating Hetalia.

EDIT: I'm still pulling my hair out, decided who to keep: Flan or Montressor.

Might just take this as an opportunity to ditch both and go with Katya and an older character concept, but I feel like that would also be a bit bad.

[Giovenith]

My characters were originally Hetalia-esque embodiments...even though I hate Hetalia. Good thing that changed...the personification part, not hating Hetalia.

I don't watch Hetalia, I prefer SATW, but I still reference Hetalia in regards to personifications because it provokes immediate understanding of what is trying to be described.

[Torsiedelle]

My characters were originally Hetalia-esque embodiments...even though I hate Hetalia. Good thing that changed...the personification part, not hating Hetalia.

I don't watch Hetalia, I prefer SATW, but I still reference Hetalia in regards to personifications because it provokes immediate understanding of what is trying to be described.

The concept of Hetalia is good, but I can't bring myself to watch it because of...ugh, it enrages me.

Also, the fandom is just awful.

That said, I love Polandball. Kurwa.

[Giovenith]

I don't watch Hetalia, I prefer SATW, but I still reference Hetalia in regards to personifications because it provokes immediate understanding of what is trying to be described.

The concept of Hetalia is good, but I can't bring myself to watch it because of...ugh, it enrages me.

Also, the fandom is just awful.

That said, I love Polandball. Kurwa.

Yeah, it goes a little too far with the "girly boy" thing for me. Not that there's anything wrong with girly guys, I do play Willow after all, but the whole, "Yeah, let's hardcore push the fact that they're somewhat effeminate with constant blushing, sparkles, gay implications, and embarrassing situations!" thing just turns me off. I like it when a male character is allowed to be "feminine" without being constantly turned into a buttmonkey over it or losing his self-respect, you know, just be a person with unique interests, not a walking punchline of "AHAHAHA! LOOK AT HIM! HE DOES GIRLY THINGS! HE'S SLIGHTLY SHORT AND HAS SOFT FEATURES EVEN THOUGH HE'S A GUY! ISN'T THAT FUNNY?! ISN'T THAT WEIRD?! A GUY WHO ISN'T TOTES ALL MANLY! FUCKING LAUGH!!"

[Torsiedelle]

The concept of Hetalia is good, but I can't bring myself to watch it because of...ugh, it enrages me.

Also, the fandom is just awful.

That said, I love Polandball. Kurwa.

Yeah, it goes a little too far with the "girly boy" thing for me. Not that there's anything wrong with girly guys, I do play Willow after all, but the whole, "Yeah, let's hardcore push the fact that they're somewhat effeminate with constant blushing, sparkles, gay implications, and embarrassing situations!" thing just turns me off. I like it when a male character is allowed to be "feminine" without being constantly turned into a buttmonkey over it or losing his self-respect, you know, just be a person with unique interests, not a walking punchline of "AHAHAHA! LOOK AT HIM! HE DOES GIRLY THINGS! HE'S SLIGHTLY SHORT AND HAS SOFT FEATURES EVEN THOUGH HE'S A GUY! ISN'T THAT FUNNY?! ISN'T THAT WEIRD?! A GUY WHO ISN'T TOTES ALL MANLY! FUCKING LAUGH!!"

Nah, to me it's...well...

"Like, oh my kami, you stupid baka, isn't, like, Prussia so fucking kawaii, like holy fucking shit *sips bleach*, and Italy-Kun is so sensitive. The Axis was totally misunderstood by Russia-Kun and the western allies. Sparkle dance~! Pokie pockie."

And I sit there with a vein popping out of my neck about to give them the "No you fucking troglodyte, now let me tell you why you're fucking stupid and then go over the history of the Second World War. Oh, and the HRE wasn't a happy party like you think it is because motherfucking Austria has a gay relationship with Bohemia like in your fanfic, now lemme tell you about my homeboy Gustavus Adolphus."

Hetalia Physically hurts me to bring up. It must be purged. Deus Vult.

[Giovenith]

Yeah, it goes a little too far with the "girly boy" thing for me. Not that there's anything wrong with girly guys, I do play Willow after all, but the whole, "Yeah, let's hardcore push the fact that they're somewhat effeminate with constant blushing, sparkles, gay implications, and embarrassing situations!" thing just turns me off. I like it when a male character is allowed to be "feminine" without being constantly turned into a buttmonkey over it or losing his self-respect, you know, just be a person with unique interests, not a walking punchline of "AHAHAHA! LOOK AT HIM! HE DOES GIRLY THINGS! HE'S SLIGHTLY SHORT AND HAS SOFT FEATURES EVEN THOUGH HE'S A GUY! ISN'T THAT FUNNY?! ISN'T THAT WEIRD?! A GUY WHO ISN'T TOTES ALL MANLY! FUCKING LAUGH!!"

Nah, to me it's...well...

"Like, oh my kami, you stupid baka, isn't, like, Prussia so fucking kawaii, like holy fucking shit *sips bleach*, and Italy-Kun is so sensitive. The Axis was totally misunderstood by Russia-Kun and the western allies. Sparkle dance~! Pokie pockie."

And I sit there with a vein popping out of my neck about to give them the "No you fucking troglodyte, now let me tell you why you're fucking stupid and then go over the history of the Second World War. Oh, and the HRE wasn't a happy party like you think it is because motherfucking Austria has a gay relationship with Bohemia like in your fanfic, now lemme tell you about my homeboy Gustavus Adolphus."

Hetalia Physically hurts me to bring up. It must be purged. Deus Vult.

I think we're pretty much on the same page, just saying it in different ways.

[Swith Witherward]

Gio, I could use an extra double-shot of energy this week.



OKAY... assessing, and reassessing, and what-if'ing and planning! Now we need more input:

Alright, as most have guessed, poptart play in Personification Life is coming to an end. Yes, we will continue to have elements that are light (such as Zalgofests, blitz gaming, boar and sheep antics, sandbox moments for those not engaged in a rails story). "Light" and "poptart" are not the same, and the twinkification isn't helping anyone.

We're staying boxcar. Personification Life is a training RP. We can't effectively help players strengthen their gaming skills in a total sandbox. We do need some sort of overarching story, a purpose, a means to engage player imaginations and keep characters active.

We're looking at three options after the Island story ends:

1. Return to Galli. We pick up where we left off. We work to tighten things. We set up mission teams. We conduct missions through the Gates. This is an intensive story line however, and some people are extremely bored with it.
   
   
2. Return to Bielefeld. Forget about the God War. This will be after the Trials are over. Obviously the "Supers" won but there are few left now. The Building goes back to its spot near the beach. Minor stories involving CoOP/OP happen now and then but it's up to players to create their own fun within the limits of the game. It's basically a second chance at what the city offered years ago... serve on a task force to keep the city and tiny nation safe.
   
   
3. Go Somewhere New. If we do this, we need a purpose. We also will not be going to relocated to any known countries, especially player-controlled nations. We'd love to hear suggestions on this.

My own opinion:

I'm torn between going back to the city and going back to the pocket dimension. I am NOT in the mood to make a new setting.

I like Galli. I think we can make it work provided players use the gates to entertain themselves. I can understand us doing minor things in the Galli dimension... things that we can cut short should we need to time skip, such as characters having coffee or sitting in the Building library and looking up gunpowder recipes. But quests in Galli need to be at a minimum. The things planned for UA, and the Dwarven City story... these need to be scrapped or else tweaked and done through a Gate.

If we stay with Galli, I plan to begin training players. We might combine all our McBadass soldiers into a Tier 2 SMU but I'm going to focus on something Tier 1.

A Tier 1 is typically a closed team staffed by invitation. Think of that whole They're the best of the best of the best, with honors thing. We're going to be less DEVGRU or DELTA Force, and our teams will be made up of characters other than super soldiers and die-hards. Demens Chosen also come in small packages and tiny parcels, do they not? They have gifts or talents other than combat. But we'll keep that same "CIA" clandestine purpose... we don't want political deniability, but pantheonic deniability, so characters will need to understand that they operate under the some covert op principle.

My character, Neste, would be leading this effort. She's the one training everyone to operate under a uniform table of organization and equipment (TOE). We'll standardize things to make it easier for characters of all backgrounds. Example, the order to take cover can mean many things to many people, but in Demens' Forces, it means exactly X and everyone knows that everyone else will understand this order.

There is a downside to this. I get to be picky about who I choose for the final teams.

[Torsiedelle]

Galli is a good setting. I personally have a bias for Bielefield. I'd say either is fine.

If there is a new setting, I would very much love to help in creating it.

[Torrocca]

I never participated in Bielefield myself, but from what I do know about Galli and its concepts, I have to say, I'd rather go with the Galli setting.

I do have a personal bias though, because I had some wicked awesome storylines for my characters planned that wouldn't work without the Galli setting or the Gates...

[Giovenith]

I'd rather stay in Galli. Going back to Bielefeld feels like a regression to me, I don't think there's anything you could get out of it that you couldn't get from Galli but a lot you couldn't get from it that you could from Galli. People are able to play more independently with the Gates and the player-created businesses, so not only is there less risk for doing zany things but also less of an excuse for those who depend too much on others for something to do. Anyone can do what they want, the only thing stopping them is their own effort. The main plot has also come too far to be set aside, hard work that lead us this far shouldn't be sacrificed for some people's old comfort zone.

[Primordial Luxa]

Galli is too big to fail.
We've built it up much more than any one city and we owe it all those who built it to keep playing in it.
Its fun but some parts do seem so big to be unapproachable or so distant that they don't offer alot.
I think if we can fix that then it will have a little bit of something for everyone.

[Torsiedelle]

Makes me seriously consider dropping the new two for an older concept, for the reboot. Was thinking of a soldier/medic, which would give them a set of skills allowing them to work effectively with healers, as well as not being as vulnerable in a fight.

I also think that having a soldier, they could more easily integrate and work with a team, and follow orders.

Galli is too big to fail.
We've built it up much more than any one city and we owe it all those who built it to keep playing in it.
Its fun but some parts do seem so big to be unapproachable or so distant that they don't offer alot.
I think if we can fix that then it will have a little bit of something for everyone.

Seconded.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Gio, I could use an extra double-shot of energy this week.

*hmph* I know you have one, er, two.

I don't specifically care about the setting if it's just a base area without OP/Co-OP-driven stories, and players have to entertain themselves. I do care a great deal about the Gates and an overarching story (currently the God War). The Gates give storytellers a canvas as big as they want, and they can run stories in alternate words without having to worry about the "main" setting or uninvolved players. I really like this set-up.

To go with that, if we continue to play in Galli, I'd like to move Ascalon to another of Demens' pocket universes. Oh, he only had one? Uh... an undetected instability in Galli mostly hived off Ascalon. (Or other suitable technobabble.) Yeah, that's it! I like cyberpunk. I know a few other players do, too. But cyberpunk settings are challenging... which means not everybody likes them, but on the gripping hand means they're good for learning certain kinds of skills.

I have... problems with the God War, or at least the way it's being implemented now. However, I think RPs benefit from having overarching stories, unifying goals, shared antagonists, or some other "built-in" source of plot direction. Other stories can then be tied into that main plot as makes sense. The overarching story should make people want to participate in it or the stories tied to it, but not require every character to be constantly involved with it.

[Torsiedelle]

Gonna dip out for today. Later.

[Chedastan]

I would prefer that we stick to Galli and not abandon it outright. We've established quite a lot of it, and it'll be a shame if any good that came from it went to waste. We just need to tweak a couple of things, and get ourselves on a solid playing field with a functioning team.
I fear that if we were to return to the Bielefield setting, all we've accomplished so far in Galli will all be forgotten and lost forever.

Essentially I just want to maintain a overarching theme and grand plot for PL that I thought was solid, the God War. If we were to abandon that and Galli, I fear we'll lose a lot of ambition for characters to grow and develop, and instead of having stopped Poptart play, the directionless and no grand plot nature of Bielefield will only prove to encourage the dreaded existence of Poptart play in PL.

To try and explain in an analogy, imagine if you want to reach the stars. You gotta first set the goal itself and know that something grand awaits you up there that entices you to no end. But if you don't know what awaits you up in the stars, why would you ever try to reach them? You'll have no reason to if you don't know what's up there or plainly don't care, and you'll simply mill around due to the lack of ambition within you. There'll be no drive to go anywhere, and nothing would have been accomplished. A shameful waste.

I don't want something like that to happen to PL, we must maintain the course we set precedent towards and improve on our previous failings. We may fail still at times, but through every failing we grow and improve. And if we stick to Galli, I'm faithful that will happen, because everyone here wants to change at least one thing around here. And a overhaul of what we have with Galli to improve stuff in that setting will only prove to help all of us out now and forever.

[Torsiedelle]

Agreed, the main plot and setting right now is kind of already established, and to cut it would be...not preferable.

[Holy Lykos]

I pretty much agree with Gio, word for word.

Another setting could be interesting, but we've put a lot of work into Galli, it wouldn't be right to throw it away.

Ched also says it well. Stick to our guns even if its the harder path, as its the one that promises to make PL into what we want when we get past this kerfuffle.

Who doesn't love the word kerfuffle, by the way? its oddly silly.

It took me five times to post this. People kept posting and preventing me from doing so LOL

[The BranRiech]

I'd prefer to stay in Galli as well, no need to get rid of a good setting.

[Tiltjuice]

Hmm.

I like Galli, too. However, would it be possible to have the occasional trip back to Bielefeld through a gate? Training can't be 24/7 necessarily.

I'm interested to hear more about what you mean by pantheonic deniability, since chars won't necessarily have a pantheon.

Pickiness is fine. It's the whole Crucible feel again, imo.

[Highfort]

Assuming we stick with boxcar play, I would prefer staying in Galli. Beyond worldbuilding, I believe that training best occurs through popsicle play through the gates (since those are controlled environments where participants can learn specific techniques or see consequences applied to their characters' behaviors specifically.

I would be for access to Bielfield through a gate for relaxation or also to run stories in the city as well. Bielfield has a lot of worldbuilding that can be used for stories if done correctly, I think.

[Swith Witherward]

Assuming we stick with boxcar play, I would prefer staying in Galli. Beyond worldbuilding, I believe that training best occurs through popsicle play through the gates (since those are controlled environments where participants can learn specific techniques or see consequences applied to their characters' behaviors specifically.

I would be for access to Bielfield through a gate for relaxation or also to run stories in the city as well. Bielfield has a lot of worldbuilding that can be used for stories if done correctly, I think.

I agree with this point 100%.

The one thing we need to keep in mind is that Bielefeld is critical to the God War so we can't blow it up. We'll need certain elements to stay in place, but... and this is where I suddenly feel like this plan could work... we could pick up some city contracts, and that would keep us in the government's good graces.

Also, I've missed the fish market. I've missed the giraffe statue, and the Japanese tea gardens. I've missed Gio's park, and seeing Tsu's statues. I think a small part of my soul will always cling to many things in Bielefeld because they were enhanced by player's imaginations and made to stand out. It was a first attempt at worldbuilding for some, and those elements are something to be proud of.

Gio, I could use an extra double-shot of energy this week.

*hmph* I know you have one, er, two.

I don't specifically care about the setting if it's just a base area without OP/Co-OP-driven stories, and players have to entertain themselves. I do care a great deal about the Gates and an overarching story (currently the God War). The Gates give storytellers a canvas as big as they want, and they can run stories in alternate words without having to worry about the "main" setting or uninvolved players. I really like this set-up.

To go with that, if we continue to play in Galli, I'd like to move Ascalon to another of Demens' pocket universes. Oh, he only had one? Uh... an undetected instability in Galli mostly hived off Ascalon. (Or other suitable technobabble.) Yeah, that's it! I like cyberpunk. I know a few other players do, too. But cyberpunk settings are challenging... which means not everybody likes them, but on the gripping hand means they're good for learning certain kinds of skills.

I have... problems with the God War, or at least the way it's being implemented now. However, I think RPs benefit from having overarching stories, unifying goals, shared antagonists, or some other "built-in" source of plot direction. Other stories can then be tied into that main plot as makes sense. The overarching story should make people want to participate in it or the stories tied to it, but not require every character to be constantly involved with it.

THAT stuff puts me in cardiac arrest if I eat too much. I've hidden it, though, because I went out and came home and found half the small, fruit-note one missing. I retrieved the missing half before it was completely consumed.

Hmmmm... an entire cyberpunk world would be fun to play in, if you guys want to make it into an expanded play zone. We do a gate to it.