Tensided Campaign OOC chat

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Also from the main thread:

Mere minutes had passed in what felt more like an eternity. A small but insistent voice in the back of his mind was yelling at him to run. He couldn't explain it, even if he wanted to - or tried to, but he would swear that he was being held here by some invisible force. Every move he'd made that day felt like it was the exact one... God? ... wanted him to make that day. Blaine was sure that if he tried to run, especially now, something inetivitably would block his way or turn him around, forcing him to finish what had begun here.

Are you suggesting that I'm running a railroad campaign (for the un-initiatied: a campaign with a pre-determined sequence of events where player decisions are rendered irrelevant)? Because I'm not. I don't even know what the story is going to be about until I've gotten an idea of how the players and their characters work and mesh together. I'm a seat of the pants GM as Heath so lovingly put it

[Alyrium Denryle]

So... about that suggestion implantation....

[CorSec]

I can assure you there is a perfectly logical, in-game explanation for that entire paragraph.

He couldn't explain it, even if he wanted to - or tried to, but he would swear that he was being held here by some invisible force.

The instinctual part of Blaine wants to run, just like pretty much every other person in the club. He's not sure why, but leaving Dirk to handle the cops alone just feels wrong. Despite the fact that he's never laid eyes on him before. Despite the fact that from this moment forward Blaine will be a wanted man - and the second worst kind of wanted: cop killer.

Every move he'd made that day felt like it was the exact one... God? ... wanted him to make that day.

Blaine isn't particularly religious, but neither is he a-religious. One of the things he hasn't pinned down is destiny. If you asked him, he'd probably confess that there's probably a good reason why he lost his job with VAST, lost touch with Stacey, a host of other things. It's part of his rationalization which helps him deal with what happens in his life.

Blaine was sure that if he tried to run, especially now, something inetivitably would block his way or turn him around, forcing him to finish what had begun here.

Subtext: I don't want to get shot by a cop, nor do I want Dirk to put a bullet in my back.

Are you suggesting that I'm running a railroad campaign?

That's my take on it, but if you want to read something deeper into it, I can't stop you.

With that said, does anyone know a good doctor? I need my tongue surgically removed from my cheek.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

So... about that suggestion implantation....

Well, what about it? It worked, didn't it?

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

*snippers*

I was just giving you a hard time, but thanks for the explanation

[Utsanomiko]

Are you suggesting that I'm running a railroad campaign?

This is about the furthest thing from a railroad campaign I've seen (and I thought my outline for my Fallout campaign was overly open-ended with 'go north and look for the item your Vault needs. Or not, whatever.'). Not restricting us to a specific location or action wasn't unexpected (though last time I did that was on the ALFA NWN server, but they didn't even tell us where exactly we were headed. Imagine my surprise when my Sorceress said she was 'going to the city and look for work' and found out the aformentioned 'city' was a three-person house), but the sheer amount of decision-making we're given is pretty impressive.

Many times I was expecting you to pull something scripted on us fairly quickly; I figured thecops 'convienently' catching Stavis getting money out of the phone and then going after him was an attempt to get us to meet up in the same cell, or at least give him some kind of motivation as a cop-killer, but what happens instead? Stavis tells him he's got a meeting to go to, and the asshole goes away. Not that Stavis knows the guy lef, let alone he's the last cop alive by now, but I certainly didn't expect it.

On the other hand, I see you let the Doc convince the kid to run off (did he actually get off at the station, which would be convenient timing, or did he just go to naother car?), and take his merchandise with him. I wanted that merchandice. The gun in his hand. The rocks 'round his neck. The socks on his feet. They're running home to momma now, when they should've gone into Stavis' coat pocket (taken either at gunpoint or from the kid's dead body).

I should mention that I find it rather ironic that not only is there so much happening at a nightclud I named, but there's a shootout at a club named after an early-80's Tryanglz song titled Burnin' in the Third Degree (Kudos to whoever knows how that song ties to a shootout). It came off the top of my head while making my first move. Damn good song.

[Gerard_Paloma]

I should mention that I find it rather ironic that not only is there so much happening at a nightclud I named, but there's a shootout at a club named after an early-80's Tryanglz song titled Burnin' in the Third Degree (Kudos to whoever knows how that song ties to a shootout). It came off the top of my head while making my first move. Damn good song.

Which is why everyone should GM like Art does. You don't even have to think up names for places and people, just let your players do it for you.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

This is about the furthest thing from a railroad campaign I've seen (and I thought my outline for my Fallout campaign was overly open-ended with 'go north and look for the item your Vault needs. Or not, whatever.').

Thanks. I didn't know you were gonna do a Fallout campaign. Is that still in the works?

Not restricting us to a specific location or action wasn't unexpected (though last time I did that was on the ALFA NWN server, but they didn't even tell us where exactly we were headed. Imagine my surprise when my Sorceress said she was 'going to the city and look for work' and found out the aformentioned 'city' was a three-person house), but the sheer amount of decision-making we're given is pretty impressive.

Hehe, when the GM has to create stuff using an SDK (although a very excellent one, to be fair) instead of just talk out of their ass it's a lot harder

Many times I was expecting you to pull something scripted on us fairly quickly; I figured thecops 'convienently' catching Stavis getting money out of the phone and then going after him was an attempt to get us to meet up in the same cell, or at least give him some kind of motivation as a cop-killer, but what happens instead? Stavis tells him he's got a meeting to go to, and the asshole goes away. Not that Stavis knows the guy lef, let alone he's the last cop alive by now, but I certainly didn't expect it.

I've always started campaigns with the characters already in the same place and on the same page in the past, but I thought I'd experiment this time. We'll see how it works..

On the other hand, I see you let the Doc convince the kid to run off (did he actually get off at the station, which would be convenient timing, or did he just go to naother car?), and take his merchandise with him. I wanted that merchandice. The gun in his hand. The rocks 'round his neck. The socks on his feet. They're running home to momma now, when they should've gone into Stavis' coat pocket (taken either at gunpoint or from the kid's dead body).

The train stopped at a station, but you can always shoot him in the back before he gets off:twisted:

I should mention that I find it rather ironic that not only is there so much happening at a nightclud I named, but there's a shootout at a club named after an early-80's Tryanglz song titled Burnin' in the Third Degree (Kudos to whoever knows how that song ties to a shootout). It came off the top of my head while making my first move. Damn good song.

That's the way I GM. It simultaneously plays to my lazy uncreative personality and gives the players satisfaction

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Made a minor update to the rules. Only real change is re-balancing of shotgun damages. Originally they were too high so I lowered them, then they were too low, so now we have a nice happy medium.

P.S. Check out the tagline in Heath's sig. Nothing like amputee humor!

[Utsanomiko]

Thanks. I didn't know you were gonna do a Fallout campaign. Is that still in the works?

I had it back in the summer, but put it on hold ofr a few odd reasons. It's essentially the D6 rules modified a bit for the available skills and items, and I've got some ideas on the locations, main quest, random encounters, and a few ideas how to quickly generate weapons. I started mulling it over a month ago and I plan on working on it a bit more and running it once this camapaign is generally done.

I was originally going to run it on aim (sinse it includes the random dice roller), but after seeing how this is playing out, I might just run it on the board and just have everyone make their thought-out and verbose turn after I call out the action (I'd probably schedule hour or two-long sessions where we'd all be on at the same time to make turns every couple minutes, as well as running it a bit like this adventure on the 'off' times).

The train stopped at a station, but you can always shoot him in the back before he gets off:twisted:

Nah, not really worth the trouble now that he's no longer in the picture. I was hoping to catch the newbie by surprise and use the confusion to get a few shots in. That, or Stavis didn't think quickly enough, and would rather figure out what the other three will do now.

[Gerard_Paloma]

P.S. Check out the tagline in Heath's sig. Nothing like amputee humor!

Everyone likes amputee humor!

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Thanks. I didn't know you were gonna do a Fallout campaign. Is that still in the works?

I had it back in the summer, but put it on hold ofr a few odd reasons. It's essentially the D6 rules modified a bit for the available skills and items, and I've got some ideas on the locations, main quest, random encounters, and a few ideas how to quickly generate weapons. I started mulling it over a month ago and I plan on working on it a bit more and running it once this camapaign is generally done.

Aside from a few complaints here and there, I think d6 is a great system. I'd certainly be interested in that. Heath and I did a face to face Fallout campaign not too long ago using the Tensided rules, but all the gun rules weren't nearly as fleshed out as they are for this one. It was fun none-the-less though.

I was originally going to run it on aim (sinse it includes the random dice roller), but after seeing how this is playing out, I might just run it on the board and just have everyone make their thought-out and verbose turn after I call out the action (I'd probably schedule hour or two-long sessions where we'd all be on at the same time to make turns every couple minutes, as well as running it a bit like this adventure on the 'off' times).

Don't think I'm complaining about the quality of people's posts, because I'm not, but when it comes to verbosity, I like the saying "If I had more time, I'd write a shorter paper." I certainly enjoy and appreciate the amount of thought you guys are putting into your posts, I just wish they were a little shorter sometimes

Anyway, the problem with forum games is that they're so slow paced that they almost uniformly die a whimpering death as everyone loses interest. I plan to deal with that by making the campaign short by face to face or chat standards.

The train stopped at a station, but you can always shoot him in the back before he gets off:twisted:

Nah, not really worth the trouble now that he's no longer in the picture. I was hoping to catch the newbie by surprise and use the confusion to get a few shots in. That, or Stavis didn't think quickly enough, and would rather figure out what the other three will do now.

And shooting a child in the back who just got a fresh perspective on life for his jewelery and socks is just... not nice

[Utsanomiko]

Aside from a few complaints here and there, I think d6 is a great system. I'd certainly be interested in that. Heath and I did a face to face Fallout campaign not too long ago using the Tensided rules, but all the gun rules weren't nearly as fleshed out as they are for this one. It was fun none-the-less though.

My only major issues with it so far have involved the complexity of some of the extra rules, but that's about it.

Don't think I'm complaining about the quality of people's posts, because I'm not, but when it comes to verbosity, I like the saying "If I had more time, I'd write a shorter paper." I certainly enjoy and appreciate the amount of thought you guys are putting into your posts, I just wish they were a little shorter sometimes

Anyway, the problem with forum games is that they're so slow paced that they almost uniformly die a whimpering death as everyone loses interest. I plan to deal with that by making the campaign short by face to face or chat standards.

Well, I certainly try not to make them longer than what woulfd go on in their mind for the moment, if fully-fleashed-out coherently (afterall, it's not possible for all those words to be expressed in 3-4 seconds. It'd be more like "that guy... now what if... there's a subway... mmm, hotwings..." ). I agree about the slow pace and the excess of verbatage, as well as the possibility of lost interest, so I'll have to think about it a bit more. Then again, I'd rather have to sift through four paragraphs than to have players not give full thought to being in-character or making good decisions (that'd go double if my brother's still going to play. Let's just say that in the past, thinking on the move was absent in RP sessions. I'm sure he's improved by then, but he definitely benefits from taking his time before acting). I figured if I couldn't get scheduled sessions where everyone could participate in the same time period, I'd opt to use the board anyway. I still have time to see, and 2-3 players who are quite enthusiastic about playing.

EDIT: there's also the factor that, since we're only making a couple turns a day, we inherently have to be more specific about our actions and flesh-out what's going on. If turns were being made more often and players were on at the same time, I'm sure we'd be spiltting our actions up a bit more and the like.

And shooting a child in the back who just got a fresh perspective on life for his jewelery and socks is just... not nice

Oh come on, he wouldn't need that stuff if he were dead; why try to rationalize whether the kid's life or Stavis' income is more important at this point? You ought to wait and see which one wins out before making that kind of judgement call, like Stavis does. 'Would', 'should', and 'could' can more or less mean the same thing in some instances, you know.

[CorSec]

I was just giving you a hard time, but thanks for the explanation

I deserved it.

Let's call it an homage to all of the borrowing that's going on. (Me being a prime culprit and all.)

[CorSec]

Don't think I'm complaining about the quality of people's posts, because I'm not, but when it comes to verbosity, I like the saying "If I had more time, I'd write a shorter paper." I certainly enjoy and appreciate the amount of thought you guys are putting into your posts, I just wish they were a little shorter sometimes

I try to be as terse as I can, but I'm enjoying the creativity of making my posts (actions) as interesting and as colorful as I can. There's only so much I can convey - and have it make sense - while still giving an honest descritpion of the who, what, when, where and how for my character.

[Marcao]

I try and give the DM as much information as possible when I post. This is the way I work, the way I have been taught to work and the way that to be honest, I enjoy writting. I can't break down a post into anything less than a parragraph anymore. I want to give you thoughts, rationalizations and everything else that Ernesto is dealing with. I will try and keep the stuff as short as I can manage though.

[Alyrium Denryle]

*happy teep dance*

Excellent...

I try and give the DM as much information as possible when I post. This is the way I work, the way I have been taught to work and the way that to be honest, I enjoy writting. I can't break down a post into anything less than a parragraph anymore. I want to give you thoughts, rationalizations and everything else that Ernesto is dealing with. I will try and keep the stuff as short as I can manage though.

I generally try to be short, sweet, and to the point. I have also been conditioned that "The GM is god" And I would prefer not to presume anything about the environment around me that I havent been told.

Granted, n this game, I will probably be able to presume that a fence or something exists... SO I will have to break this conditioning.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

I generally try to be short, sweet, and to the point. I have also been conditioned that "The GM is god" And I would prefer not to presume anything about the environment around me that I havent been told.

Granted, n this game, I will probably be able to presume that a fence or something exists... SO I will have to break this conditioning.

Right, with a forum game you can't ask whether things exist in real time, so you have to take a few liberties.

EDIT: Of course, Heath can tell you my usual response is to shrug and ask "do you want it to exist"?

[Marcao]

I am definately taking liberties as I roleplay. Furthermore, I am starting to get more into the groove of Ernesto. I am allready noticing the mistakes I have made and how to fix them as well as other things. These next few posts with Ernesto should be interesting for me, considering meeting the other people in his "squad" will make or break the proposition. I am also interested on the time frame of the job, and so on.

[Gerard_Paloma]

EDIT: Of course, Heath can tell you my usual response is to shrug and ask "do you want it to exist"?

Pretty much, yeah. In the past few years, Justin has really let his players have more control. I remember the railroad days, and I like this style much better.

[Alyrium Denryle]

So they are now just wantonly going to kill the people on the train?

Oh you evil bastard

[Utsanomiko]

So they are now just wantonly going to kill the people on the train?

Oh you evil bastard

Don't worry, none of those punks are going to die unless they deserve it. Same can be said for whoever gets to keep their jewelry.

"I seen my chances and I took 'em." -Some Tammany Hall boss.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Good luck to him, trying to shoot through a migraine so bad that he can feel his nerves pulse individually.

[Utsanomiko]

Good luck to him, trying to shoot through a migraine so bad that he can feel his nerves pulse individually.

'Shoot'? Good luck to him trying to point his gun when his pain has distracted him too much to even react to a 3" knifeblade being stabbed into his jugular.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

There is, in fact, Internet here, so I'll execute the next turn just as soon as everyone's actions are in *peers at Hotfoot*.