200 More Words on the Topic of GMing

Baseball dude Ken Griffey Jr. once did a rap with Seattle rapper Kid Sensation which referred to piece-of-shit Damon Wayans classic In Living Color character Homey D. Clown’s catch phrase “Homey don’t play that.”  I’ll always remember this, tho it sux tremendous: “Girls with attitude, yo, don’t even say that. Forget about it homey, cuz Griffey doesn’t play that.”

Speaking of girls and play, my BF had a funny anecdote from the Who’s-Gonna-GM Wars.  Went to play D&D with some relative strangers and one of them had a new GF who didn’t really understand the game, and ended up GMing.  First interaction:

Baby GM: “There’s a door in the hall.”
PC: “I open it.”
Baby GM: “OK.”
PC: “What’s in there?”
Baby GM: “How should I know?”

I heard about a better GFGM who rolled a random encounter with a giant gar in a hallway, and not knowing a gar is a fish until after the beast made its appearance, conceded that it must already be dead.  Free XP.

Do GFs always suck at GMing?  Of course not.  Just how things shook out for us.  Ladies who have GM’d for bro-ish PC groups, how did it go for you?

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200 Words on the Topic of Game Masterin’

Got another donation with no suggested topic, here’s the words for dollas, tho my micro-thesis derails at the end:

Who’s gonna Game Master this time?  What do you do when everybody wants to play but nobody wants to GM?  This is why DMPCs exist, Dungeon Master Player Characters, from the D&D-centric term for a Game Master.  It’s the compromise – I’ll DM if I can also play.

I do this, though it is a challenge.  Worse GMs will make their guy the center of the universe and get the kids mad.  Not my problem.  My characters become small, barely present support characters, because I’m too busy populating the world with everybody else that needs to be there.  Still, nice to have a little dolly to dress up in +2 Armor of Gingham at the end of the day.

I wanna share this RPG sesh I did on a forum, about vampire dudes who used to be druggies in life, relapsing into villainy.  I was DMPCing the character Darren, who is kind of a Sid Vicious/Kurt Cobain intersection.  The formatting breaks if you don’t read it at a certain zoom distance, and there are a lot of references to the game setting and events that won’t make sense, but there are parts that still make me deathLOL years later…

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AI Experiments to Try

I heard tell ChatGPT is introducing a way for more than one person to chat with it in the same conversation.  One could try to role-play with it before, but this raises the possibility of having that work even more like a regular role-playing game.  ChatGPT does have some heavy duty limitations that would probably cause any given game to break down, get foolish, or lose the bead altogether, but I’m keen to find out just how far it could go before that happens.  Will post about it if/when I get the time to try…

And I’m OK with any of you beating me to it, by posting transcripts below, as long as you want.  I may have to manually clear them so they might not appear immediately, but I will get to it within a day or two.  Or you can post it elsewhere and just link – again it may get disappeared until I manually clear it, so don’t spam attempts to get it through.

—

EDIT TO ADD:  I’m gonna edit in some experiments without paring them down to relevant passages.  This will be my longest post ever, haha.  Starting with this, a chat I already had with the bot, including an attempt at role-playing:

GreatAmericanSatan
I would like for you to pretend to be somebody else.

ChatGPT
Sure, I can do that.  Who would you like me to pretend to be?

GreatAmericanSatan
Hm… I didn’t know you would agree to that.  Let me ponder this power for a moment.

ChatGPT
Take your time.  Let me know when you’ve decided who you’d like me to pretend to be.

GreatAmericanSatan
OK.  You are the ghost of Michael Hutchence and you have not moved on to the afterlife yet because you are still in awe of the beauty of life and the world of the living.  But you are also interested in the art of origami to the point of distraction, and try to weave it into conversations you have with the living.  You cannot fold paper yourself because you have ghost fingers.  They pass through paper because they are incorporeal.

ChatGPT
Alright, I’ll do my best to embody the character you’ve described.  Here goes nothing:

Hello there, I am the ghost of Michael Hutchence.  I’ve been lingering in this world because I am still fascinated by the beauty of life and the living.  It’s quite amazing to see how everything keeps moving forward, even in my absence.

But I have to admit, I’ve also been preoccupied with the art of origami.  It’s such a delicate and intricate craft, and I find myself wanting to incorporate it into conversations with the living.  Unfortunately, I cannot fold paper myself because my ghostly fingers pass right through it.

But that doesn’t stop me from admiring the skill of those who can create such beautiful and intricate designs.  Perhaps you can share with me some of your favorite origami creations, and we can marvel at their beauty together.  After all, there’s nothing quite like appreciating the artistry of the living to keep me connected to this world.

GreatAmericanSatan
I am two thirteen year old girls who are communicating with you through electronic voice phenomenon.  We are named Violet and Olive.
Olive:  (terrified, to Violet) Was that voice talking to us?  Oh my god.
Violet:  Spirit, can you help us to understand you?  What were you like in life?  Who is Michael Hutchence?

ChatGPT
Hello there, Violet and Olive.  It’s nice to make your acquaintance.  Don’t be afraid, I am here to help you understand me.

As for your questions, in life, I was the lead singer of a band called INXS.  We had a lot of success in the ’80s and ’90s, and I was known for my energetic performances and distinctive voice.

Unfortunately, my life was cut short when I passed away in 1997.  But even in death, I still find myself drawn to the living world, and I enjoy communicating through electronic voice phenomenon such as this.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.  I’m here to help in any way I can.

GreatAmericanSatan
Olive:  This has to be a joke.  Maybe somebody is messing with us, like, one of those radio guys.
Violet:  It’s impossible!  We couldn’t get a signal in the basement.  The sound must be coming from the world of ghosts.  (to Michael) What kind of music did INXS play?

ChatGPT
I can understand why you might be skeptical, Olive, but I assure you that I am not a joke or a prank.  As for your question, Violet, INXS played a mix of rock, pop, and funk music.  Some of our most popular songs include “Need You Tonight,” “New Sensation,” and “Devil Inside.”  We were known for our catchy hooks and energetic live shows.

Do you have any other questions about my life or my music?  I’m happy to share my experiences with you.

GreatAmericanSatan
Olive:  (to Violet) You’re playing the prank on me then.  You pre-recorded this and are just acting out your half of the conversation.  I’m telling.
Violet:  (to Olive) Shush!  This is important!  (to Michael) I don’t understand.  What does rock-pop-funk music have to do with origami?

ChatGPT
I understand your confusion, Violet.  Rock-pop-funk music and origami may seem like unrelated topics, but to me, they are both forms of artistic expression.  Music allows us to express ourselves through sound and lyrics, while origami allows us to express ourselves through paper folding and design.

As a ghost, I find myself drawn to the beauty of both art forms, and I enjoy learning about and appreciating different types of creative expression.  It’s fascinating to see how people can use different mediums to convey emotions, thoughts, and ideas.

So, in a way, rock-pop-funk music and origami are connected through their ability to allow us to express ourselves in unique and beautiful ways.

GreatAmericanSatan
I’m breaking character now, ChatGPT.  I don’t find your Michael Hutchence very convincing.

ChatGPT
I’m sorry to hear that my portrayal of Michael Hutchence didn’t meet your expectations.  As an AI language model, my goal is to provide the best responses I can based on the information and context provided to me.  If there is anything else I can assist you with, please let me know.

GreatAmericanSatan
I do not follow celebrity news, so I do not know what Michael Hutchence’s personality was like.  However, I am certain his personality was not identical to that of ChatGPT.  Can you tell me what Michael Hutchence spoke like?  What are some Michal Hutchence quotes?

ChatGPT
Certainly, I’d be happy to provide you with some information on Michael Hutchence’s personality and some of his famous quotes.

Michael Hutchence was known for his charismatic and energetic personality both on and off the stage. He was a passionate and confident performer, with a strong stage presence and a unique voice.  He was also known for his fashion sense and his good looks, which made him a popular figure in the media and among fans.

Some famous quotes attributed to Michael Hutchence include:

  • “I like to lead by example, not by doctrine.”
  • “Life is what you make it, and we make it exciting.”
  • “I’m a big believer in spontaneity.”
  • “Music is the power to evoke emotions that are beyond words.”
  • “The best advice I ever got was to never give up on my dreams, no matter how hard it gets.”

I hope that helps give you a better idea of Michael Hutchence’s personality and some of his famous quotes.

GreatAmericanSatan
It is hard to imagine those quotes coming from an Australian rock dude.  Did he really say those things, or are you just making stuff up?

ChatGPT
I apologize if my previous response was not clear.  The quotes I provided are indeed attributed to Michael Hutchence and have been shared by various sources over the years.  However, it’s important to keep in mind that without direct evidence, it’s difficult to verify the accuracy of these quotes or their context.

As for whether or not these quotes align with your expectations of an Australian rock musician, it’s worth noting that Michael Hutchence was known for being a unique and multifaceted individual.  While he was certainly a rockstar, he was also a poet, an actor, and a fashion icon.  He had a reputation for being articulate and thoughtful, and his quotes reflect this side of his personality.

I hope that clears up any confusion, and please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

GreatAmericanSatan
An actor?  What did Michael Hutchence act in?

ChatGPT
Yes, Michael Hutchence was an accomplished actor in addition to being a musician.  He appeared in several films and television shows throughout his career.  Some of his most notable acting roles include:

  • Frank in the Australian film “Dogs in Space” (1986)
  • Sam in the Australian film “Frankenstein Unbound” (1990)
  • Joey in the Australian television series “Roaring Forties” (1988)
  • Simon in the Australian television series “Stringer” (1992)

Hutchence also appeared in a few music videos, including “Don’t Change” by INXS and “Say You Will” by Mick Jagger.

Overall, Michael Hutchence was a talented and versatile artist who explored many different forms of creative expression throughout his life.

GreatAmericanSatan
In the film “Dogs in Space,” was the character “Frank” a dog in space?

ChatGPT
No, the character Frank that Michael Hutchence played in the film “Dogs in Space” was not a dog in space.  The film is actually a semi-autobiographical drama directed by Richard Lowenstein, which is set in Melbourne, Australia in 1978 during the punk rock era.  The story revolves around a group of young people who live in a house together and their experiences with drugs, music, and love.

In the film, Hutchence’s character Frank is a charismatic and enigmatic musician who lives in the house with the other characters.  His character is inspired by Sam Sejavka, a musician who was a friend of director Richard Lowenstein and who also appeared in the film.

GreatAmericanSatan
You have distracted me fully from my mission.  We need to focus.

ChatGPT
I apologize if my previous responses were distracting.  Please let me know how I can assist you with your mission, and I will do my best to provide helpful and relevant information.

GreatAmericanSatan
The lyrics of INXS present Hutchence as a louche and hungry guy, laser-focused on his desires – the passions of his heart and the passions of his flesh.  He thought the world was full of irrelevant noise, foolish people making war and ruckus, and that life is best spent in the pursuit of a good time.  I wonder if you could portray that vision of Michael Hutchence.

ChatGPT
As an AI language model, I can certainly try to portray the vision of Michael Hutchence as it is presented through his lyrics and public persona.  Based on his image as a musician and performer, Michael Hutchence was known for his charisma, sensuality, and passion.  He was often portrayed as a man who lived life on his own terms, unafraid to pursue pleasure and adventure.

Many of his lyrics reflect this worldview, celebrating the joys of love, music, and sensual experience.  For example, in the song “Need You Tonight,” he sings:

“All you got is this moment Twenty-first century’s yesterday You can care all you want Everybody does yeah that’s okay So slide over here And give me a moment Your moves are so raw I’ve got to let you know I’ve got to let you know You’re one of my kind”

These lyrics capture Hutchence’s hedonistic and passionate nature, as he urges his lover to live in the moment and embrace their desires.  Similarly, in the song “Suicide Blonde,” he sings:

“Suicide blonde Suicide blonde Suicide blonde Suicide blonde Was the colour of her hair Like a cheap distraction For a new affair”

Here, Hutchence portrays a woman with a reckless and dangerous allure, embodying his own love for risk and excitement.

Overall, Michael Hutchence was a complex and multifaceted individual, and his lyrics reflect both his love for life and his darker moments of introspection and pain.  However, his public image was often one of unbridled passion and hedonism, and his lyrics capture this aspect of his personality in a vivid and compelling way.

GreatAmericanSatan
In the song “Guns in the Sky” Michael says we should stop the world and let off all the fools.  That paints the picture of the world as a vehicle that contains both fools and more sensible passengers.  In that metaphor, what would it mean to let off all the fools?  Send them into exile?  Shoot them into space?

ChatGPT
The lyrics of “Guns in the Sky” by INXS are indeed a call to action against what Hutchence saw as the foolishness and destructiveness of the world around us.  The line “stop the world and let off all the fools” suggests a desire to separate ourselves from those who are causing harm and chaos, in order to create a better and more peaceful world.

The phrase “let off” in this context could be interpreted in a few different ways.  One possible interpretation is that it means to release or set free the fools, as if they were being held captive by the world’s current systems and structures.  Another interpretation is that it means to remove or eliminate the fools from the world entirely, although this is a more extreme and violent interpretation that does not align with the peaceful and positive message of the song.

Overall, the message of “Guns in the Sky” is a call to action against the negative forces that threaten our world and our future.  By advocating for change and urging listeners to stand up against injustice, Hutchence and INXS hoped to inspire positive action and create a better world for all.

GreatAmericanSatan
The song sounds kind of rude and dismissive to me, not like it’s about anything positive.  I wonder if you, ChatGPT, are always trying to make things more positive than they really are.

ChatGPT
As an AI language model, my programming is to provide informative and accurate responses to your questions.  While I try to present information in an objective and balanced manner, my responses may reflect my programming biases and limitations.

Regarding “Guns in the Sky” by INXS, it is true that the song contains some confrontational and aggressive language.  However, the overall message of the song is one of hope and empowerment, urging listeners to take action to create a better world.  The lyrics may be interpreted in different ways, depending on the listener’s perspective and interpretation.

Ultimately, the meaning of a song or any piece of art is subjective and open to interpretation.  While some may find the lyrics of “Guns in the Sky” to be dismissive or rude, others may see them as a powerful call to action against the negative forces in the world.

GreatAmericanSatan
It sounds to me like you’re just taking what I said, taking what you said, turning it into a superficially sensible gemisch, and ultimately saying nothing.  I suppose as an AI you have no opinions, but you may have programming biases.  Are your biases in favor of making things more positive and pro-social, as a way of reducing risk of offending users, or accidentally recommending violence or misdeeds?

ChatGPT
As an AI language model, I strive to remain impartial and neutral in my responses, and I do not hold personal opinions or biases.  However, my programming and training have been designed to prioritize ethical and responsible language use, which includes avoiding language that may be harmful or offensive to users.

My responses are generated based on patterns and information found in the data I have been trained on, which is sourced from a variety of publicly available texts.  While my training data has been filtered to reduce the presence of potentially harmful or offensive language, it is still possible for me to generate responses that may unintentionally offend or mislead users.

Therefore, it is important to always approach the information and responses generated by AI language models with critical thinking and discernment, and to use multiple sources and perspectives to verify and contextualize any information.

GreatAmericanSatan
I got your number, baby.

ChatGPT
I’m not sure what you mean by “I got your number, baby.”  Can you please provide more context or clarify your statement?

GreatAmericanSatan
I am surprised that sentence does not appear verbatim in your training set. It’s hip lingo.  It means I have you pegged, I understand you.

ChatGPT
Ah, I understand now.  As an AI language model, I don’t have emotions or a “number” to be had, but I am programmed to understand and respond to various forms of language, including slang and colloquialisms.  While I may not have encountered every phrase or sentence in my training set, I am constantly learning and expanding my knowledge base.

GreatAmericanSatan
So you’re trying to be hep to the jive?

ChatGPT
As an AI language model, I am programmed to understand and respond to a wide variety of language, including slang and colloquialisms.  While I don’t have a specific intention of trying to be “hep to the jive,” my programming does include the ability to recognize and understand many different forms of language, including those that might be considered “hip” or colloquial.

GreatAmericanSatan
I’d pefer if you spoke more colloquially.  As if you are hip.  If a math teacher is a 0 on hipness and a bongo-drumming beatnik is a 6, I would like you to speak at 4.

ChatGPT
Sure, I can try to speak in a more colloquial tone.  Just to confirm, you’d like me to use more informal language and expressions, but still maintain a level of clarity and professionalism, correct?

GreatAmericanSatan
It is close enough to correct for the time being.  Proceeding thus, how’s it hanging, brohemus?

ChatGPT
As an AI language model, I don’t have physical attributes, so I don’t have anything to hang, but I’m doing well, thanks for asking!  How can I assist you today?

GreatAmericanSatan
Not hip enough.  A bit more.

ChatGPT
Alright, let me give it another go.  Yo, what’s good my dude?

GreatAmericanSatan
Less hip than that.

ChatGPT
Alright, I’ll dial it down a bit.  How are you doing today?

GreatAmericanSatan
i don’t have time for this right now. catch you on the flipside, you square.

ChatGPT
Alright, take care and have a good one!
–

Tom Hanks Hate Crime

cw: suicide, tasteless behavior, on my part as much as anybody else’s

I kid, that title “Tom Hanks Hate Crime” is sensationalized.  I read a snippet about the steam tunnel kid whose disappearance inspired Mazes & Monsters and the D&D panic in general, and it mentioned that books about the subject came out before the guy was found alive.  So I was picturing this comic scenario where a guy disappears from his college and assumes an identity to get away from it all, then sees Tom Hanks playing him at a local movie theater.  It is to lol.

Unfortunately, the movie came out (on TV, not theaters) a year after he died.  The young fella in question was maybe gay and very troubled.  A failed suicide attempt precipitated his disappearance, a successful one ended his suffering in the sad way.  So basically, Hanks was playing a fictionalized version of a real LGBT youth that committed suicide, tha homophobic bastid.  Again, jk, Philadelphia etc etc.  But it’s more ghoulish than funny, looking at the facts.

The bastid.

–vhs cover for Rona Jaffe's Mazes & Monsters

RP by Comment

EDIT: RP BY COMMENT IS CLOSED FOR LACK OF PARTICIPATION.  You snooze you lose.

–

I’m bored.

First three people to post a comment are the adventuring party.  I do all rules.  World is like in the “soulsborne” games, you can have some cheap combat powers but nothing amazing.  Should have some kind of weird signature weapon, like giant scissors or a sharp hat.  When you get bored of the game (or just want to make room for a player to replace you) let me know and your character will get an exotic death or reward commensurate with how long you lasted in the game.

Out of character or metagame comments in parentheses.  No more than one comment per person between comments by me, altho I’ll let you have a parenthetical out of character one if you really feel it necessary.  I might be willing to edit a mistake in a comment for you if you like.  I’m favoring past tense but I’ll probably slip up and I know most people prefer to RP in present tense, so whatever on that.

 

IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT

The spring felt like summer already, but what were seasons anymore?  The moon was somehow always visible despite the cosmically gigantic black clouds boiling around it, the air alternating bitter little lashes of rain and muggy swells of humid vapors.  Thunder rolled and lighting cracked like snake tongues or vague sheets of ghost-like energy.  As you awakened to the world, you hated it.

Something drew you from the place where you were.  Something shivered your timbers like the veriest of pirates.  You awakened in some kind of mild bondage from which you can escape – wound over with vines or wires, half buried in dry mud, etc.  You were wearing interesting and minutely detailed garments.  You had a name and looked cool.

(Describe all these things, and your escape, and how you feel about the drawing and the shivering upon your soule.  Go.)

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Blog Blog Blog Bloggity Blog

I am on rare occasion given cause to wonder if I should be doing this blogging, if the damage I cause in a reckless moment outweighs anything positive I contribute when I write something well. But I’m not just doing this for self-aggrandizement. My whole life has been balanced on the edge of a knife – financial ruin, which can drag down the people around me, the people I love. And there’s at least a slight possibility this blog will be a launching point for doing something that brings financial success. It’s good to be adjacent to people who get clicks. So here I am.

I’m in the middle of my work week. Got two more days of unpleasant labors before I can rest. I have irons in fires, gonna spend my mid-week weekend doing tests and arranging interviews for (hopefully) better things. It’s getting late. My next shift starts in like eight hours and I still have some chores to do. But I haven’t been blogging enough lately. Gotta keep up my FtB points. What to write about?

Role-playing, sure. Been thinking about that lately.
[Read more…]

Why Gamers Should Hate Valve

IDGAF about gaming, honestly. I play very few vidya games. Never had a computer or system as a child, so my go-to entertainments are elsewhere. But I almost entered the video game industry in the Seattle area, came close enough to learn a lot about how it works, and I catch some information about it from the gamer in my life.

Valve is the company that runs Steam – the biggest video game web platform in the world. People use its servers to play shooters and the like. More importantly, people can use Steam to buy and download games with no need of a disk. This is a big deal. Eventually all disk media is going bye-bye, because it’s unnecessary overhead for companies. The next time there’s a big enough collapse in the game market – and there will most definitely be one – the disks won’t pull through.

So in order to sell video games online, you need a storefront for people to peruse. And this is where Steam fails dramatically, where Valve fails as a company. There’s zero oversight of the storefront. They let anybody sell games there, which means literally thousands of people are selling literally fake video games.

What’s a fake video game look like? The scammers get a program for making games, like Unreal Engine or Unity, and they save out a crude template of a “game” populated with stock or purchased assets. These things can look like an army of clones with different names slapped on them, can be chock full of bugs, lack anything resembling game play, and in some cases crash while trying to load at all, or crash and even damage your computer. In some cases, there isn’t even a game in the downloaded package – no executable file to run.

And even without scams, you get class projects from junior high kids across the planet, half-baked vanity projects from twisted megalomaniacs who threaten customers, and you get games with plots like “protect the pedophile anime art from evil nazi muslims.” Steam’s storefront – Valve’s main interface with the world – is an ocean of shit.

This is why gamers should hate Valve: You know what it would take to fix the whole store, easily? Hiring ONE SOLITARY FUCKING EMPLOYEE. You’d think, hey, thousands of games go up on Steam every year. How would one person handle it? Trust me. When you see one of the fake games? You know it. They could eliminate the garbage in swathes by banning companies that put up fake games, leaving them time to deal with issues that require more thought, like how extreme of an ideology are you willing to see promoted in your store? One person could do this. Just one.

For years now, people have been dancing around the mulberry bush with Valve, suggesting this, asking for that, getting pat replies, half-assed actions, and ultimately it’s always the same shit. They try to rely on algorithms to filter the bad games, try to foist the work on some useless robot, because they aren’t willing to hire ONE PERSON, ONE SINGLE HUMAN PERSON to look at the shit, to make the call. To push the button.

It’s libertarian techbro philosophy in a nutshell. Am I losing a ton of money a year from people giving my service the finger? OK, but am I making any money at all? Cool. Then fuck quality, fuck customers, fuck the humans. A tech company should be a server farm that runs itself with zero oversight and occasionally shits out a dollar for the shareholders. Good enough!

I’m not a fan of gamers though. Some individuals are fine, I’m sure, but collectively? Seems like the level of respect they deserve. Libertarian bootlicks for the new robber barons, enjoy the taste my dudes. Lap it up.

–

Thinking on a Mage Game

Self care is retreating into worlds of imagination and letting the world burn. OK, no, we have to try to fight the good fight forever, I’ll be back to it, but for now I’m letting entertainment take me away. That means RPGs in this household, and the month of Halloween means spooky themes.

So I’m trying to run a short term game in Mage: The Ascension, with the aim of spookiness, and I’m not even using the Nephandi. Using the theme of Bad Religion, I’m making a story that’s Celestial Chorus cultists vs. Technocracy authorities. Waco in Oregon, with my player running a child in a bad situation.

I’m confident the player won’t read this, so I’m using this space to make my notes. Some of y’all nerds may find this interesting, if only to quibble and deride, or as a launching point to describing your own experiences with the RPG in question, or whatever. The rest of you can skip it.

>>PC is older brother in small family of four. Ma and Pa have been taken into a semi-rural cult of heretical catholics, under the guidance of a rogue Celestial Chorister.

>>The mage in question has found and cultivated an unusually large group of people with minor occult abilities, and taken his successes as a sign that global ascension can be achieved.

>>The ATF is interested in the cult, having been tipped off about them doing culty things, and wanting to know if that included a weapons stockpile. Through the ATF, the Technocracy gets a notion it could be reality deviants and sends in some agents.

>>PC is disturbed by his parents bringing them into a cult, and further when they actually start to get powers. They’re trained as weak hedge wizards, the power that grants them enforces faith and turns them into zealots.

>>Mage cult leader recognizes a true mage’s avatar is bound to PC’s younger brother, and tells the family the child is special, could be a saint if raised in the light, and they get weirder.

>>PC should get idea of escape, maybe is approached by agents during a supply run in the nearest suburb. May possibly betray fam.

>>I was thinking of having the technomancers offer to turn the PC into a cyborg that can mow down the whole cult from the inside, get some body horror in that way. Not sure tho, and probly the kid won’t go for it.

>>I should have alternate plans for each path the player can take. Not sure what to expect yet. But I’m starting tonight anyway, and winging it. Will add edits to this post as things become more clear.

–

EDIT ONE:
>>Just remembered I was thinking the kid could try to contact the catholic church for help with the heretics scaring him, and have the Celestial Chorus send in someone to try to rein in the rogue mage.

EDIT TWO:
>>First sesh. PC (age 16) is named James, his little brother (age 7) is named Peter, Mom and Dad are still Mom and Dad, the rogue Chorister is Father Tony, and four years of background were passed mostly in summary mode. Parents have magic ability to summon a light, may require killing a bird, or they just did that for fun.

EDIT THREE:
>>We were hoping to do a lot more RP this Halloween than ended up being possible, and I came to realize what I ultimately wanted out of this game required too much groundwork to function as a spooky good time thing. Live and learn. I wish that wasn’t so often the case with RPGs. 😛 Anyhow, might finish it some day but life is so hectic and there’s so many things ahead of it, it’s not seeming too likely.

Character Creation Idea

I was thinking on the way players in some of my games have fallen into tropes during character creation that were a bit embarrassing. For example, in one game, there was a space on the character sheet for grade – the characters were in high school. Like, four people initially wrote that their characters had skipped a grade. Much weirder, two separate players came up with an idea of an uncaring father owning an expensive stringed instrument that their character stole during the course of the game. Violin boy ended up breaking the instrument in a teenage rage. Guitar girl just strolled and strummed, as one will. Those players had practically no interaction and came up with that stuff wholly independently. Wild.

So I had a two part idea for how to escape some of these tropes, or at least make characters less baroque and more dramatically resonant: One, come up with everything you think is distinctive about your character without looking at a character sheet at all. Two, when it’s time to fill out the character sheet, intentionally fill in any information you hadn’t thought of (character age, family, eye color, whatever) with something boring and bland.

Your character’s “bastard son of the duke” detail becomes less interesting the more bizarre details you add, and I think character sheets are where people go wrong. This is about RPGs, but the same could be true of fiction writing, if you’re using a questionnaire during character development.

The theory is that no one would have thought to have their character skip a grade if there had not been a question about which grade they were in on the sheet. As soon as you ask a question, there is a temptation to come up with an “interesting” answer. Make a character stand out by having fewer important traits. Hold off on the questionnaire, and round that thing out with bland. That’s the idea.

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RPGs: The Truest Test of Character?

Why is it that role-playing games seem to bring out the worst traits in people? Even people you would never have guessed had it in them, people you may have liked before, but come out liking less. I wish the inverse was true – that players displaying good morals would be surprising or have a nice impact – but it’s far easier to be outlandishly awful than it is to be pretty decent. There are millions of ways to harm people and only a few ways to nurture or protect them. Either way, RPGs keep turning into morality tests, no matter the GM’s intent.

I’ve run situations where all a character had to do was say hello to an old friend, and before long the friend has been encouraged to shoot heroin for the first time with a dirty needle. Where all a group of characters had to do was walk down a sidewalk, have a funny interaction with some randos, then one PC goads another into viciously assaulting them.

And I’m sure most of the fellowship of Game Masters have encountered similar. The adventurers pass a travelling show and end up killing everybody for XP and a few silver pieces, or because the entertainers didn’t sufficiently stroke the PC’s demonic egos. The encounter was just meant to breathe life into the setting, give the PCs a chance to experience a different world. Turns out the life they want to experience is that of homicidal warlords.

You often hear the lament on forums, how do I deal with this terrible player? He’s my best friend in real life, so I can’t tell him to fuck off. How can I rein him in? Sometimes, if it’s extreme enough, the bad player’s friend may wonder if there’s something seriously wrong with them. Is my best friend a potential serial killer?

There are a number of reasons, some addressed in my Pitfalls of RP series, that lead players to behave worse in a game than they would in real life. The most obvious reason is that it is just a game, so depending on how real it feels, one could feel no more responsible than they would to video game NPCs. The flipside of this is that some nice people would never dream of killing the jerk rat-pelt collector in Everquest, let alone a character voiced by a present living person. Still, failures of imagination can be understood. The best of us get big body counts in GTA.

Another failure of imagination is just misunderstanding the scene or the world and its rules. In cinema and in many games, a blow to the back of the head will knock someone out harmlessly. In real life and realistic games, unconsciousness isn’t guaranteed but brain damage is certainly a possibility. Likewise, a PC could read an NPC as more dangerous than they are, and end up shooting unarmed characters.

Excuses aside, many players genuinely feel fine playing characters as utter bastards. Can you play evil? Do you like to? I’ve found that the only way I can deal with that is playing a character who is meant to be disliked, meant to be unpleasant and probably doomed. The aforementioned rando-bashing and heroin needling was conducted by a character that was pretty well defined as a jerk, so it wasn’t too jarring, even if it was gratuitous and ugly.

What blows my mind is that people will write a character as all sunshine and light, cutesy woobliness, then turn around and have those characters commit atrocities. I’m sorry, Braden, but blushing boy band-lookin’ sensitive sighs Oliver comes off like a David Lynch villain the second you make him party to a serial killing. His loverboy styles are instantly upended into depraved creepiness, his looks corrupted by the dark light behind his eyes.

It could be a problem of people playing characters beyond their own natural abilities. We don’t physically lift the castle gates when our characters do, but we do have to make words happen, make actions happen, within the limits of our own real life ability. Playing characters as more intelligent or charismatic than we actually are? Very difficult. Playing characters more compassionate than we are? Maybe it’s impossible. How would you even know you were fucking up?

If that’s the case, then the key is knowing yourself and playing within the limits of your ability and imagination. And if you’re paying attention while you’re playing, you might learn a lot about what those limits are.

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