BrokenPromise

Mahz's Dev Journal

Oh, another interesting little hiccup I discovered.

I was looking through my PMs, and there's an empty page that reads this:

Page is empty.
In the future I'll prevent you from landing on an empty page.
← Back to Page 1

I'm sure it's a message intended to show up when browsing forum pages, but it also show up when there's nothing in an inbox folder.

Mahz's Dev Journal

@Exit Meanwhile on my phone, everything looks really tiny while unchecked, and checking it makes the text appear at its proper size. Interesting...

Mahz's Dev Journal

@Mahz Glad to be of service.

I'll test the forum on my phone when the update goes into effect.

And yea, there are some pretty cool layouts that people have made. If I had to guess how he made it I'd say trial and error or he has experience working with code like this.

I don't really know if I can actually contribute to fixing the code since I'm really just pushing things around until it looks good and I know nothing about coding a website, but I do want to point out something that BP said about bodies of text strung out in a single line. I don't know if it matters but sometimes if you're viewing the page anonymously or not signed in, the code acts differently as opposed to viewing it while you are signed in. On mobile that is. You can try viewing the same page signed in and seeing if the text is a proper paragraph again.

@Exit

There is an option to scale the forum to your mobile device that changes the layout a bit. If you aren't logged in, then it defaults to this not being checked. You probably have it checked, which is causing the difference between logged in and not logged in.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Off the top of my head I'm not sure how it should work on small device widths.

The current table implementation uses html/css width=100% and then it adds a horizontal scrollbar if the table content can't fit. I'm not sure if this is useful or not.

Maybe you or a bbcode expert like Exit can chime in on what they think the right trade-off would be?

What would the ideal table bbcode syntax look like? e.g. maybe table by default has width=100% but table=min has no width; it's determined by content size.

I don't use my phone to view the guild often, so I had to look just now to see what you're talking about.

It does seem kind of unintuitive to scroll tables horizontally. I looked at a fake forum post I made with BBC code and it seems like bodies of text get strung out to one line, which is sort of annoying to read. I think I'd have text move to the next line if it gets too long instead of scrolling horizontally. Though I could see some fringe cases where the table is too big to appear on a phone without a horizontal scroll. It's here if you want to try for yourself. I do think being able to tell the table if it should take up all the screen or "enough" of the screen is a neat idea. For the horizontal scrolling, maybe have a way to disable it or just have it off all the time. Maybe something like [table=hscroll] if you feel you need it. Feel free to get more opinions on that.

If anyone has a list of bbcode improvements that are curated to the ones you think are most important, I'd like to read that in general. But in the meantime I could make the table bbcode more general/useful.

@Mahz

There's some other BBC code that looks really weird on mobile. Sometimes paragraphs are displayed on screen in a single giant column. Like when people use indent a lot. This interest check contains several examples of what I'm talking about.

That's right @Exit, you're getting mentioned again!

But in the above case, that's a pretty creative use of tags, and I'm not sure if you're going to get the exact same result for everyone's use case.

Mahz's Dev Journal

Okay, let's have Mahz tackle a real problem now. Something that actually hurts people and causes them anguish.

Given that BBC code works inside of tables, I do not think it is necessary for tables to auto-bold the first row of text. Tables also do not play nice with each other when you put tables inside of tables. The table that is inside a table tends to bold up even if you skip placing it in the first row.

Here's a link for clarity and one users mental breakdown.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

”Good morning!”



”Nothin’ good about it…”

How would this incident affect them?

Evil Eye would likely be angry. They had discussed the new light magical girl and yet Hotaru attacked her using Shuuko’s body, which reflected poorly on all of them. A lot of the club would not care or would even understand, of course, however, her… err… their partner remained a worrisome consideration. She liked to be mysterious and even Ember could hardly predict what she would do, so it was difficult to prepare. But if nothing else, she had a flimsy excuse along with a bit of background that might make it more understandable.

Then there was the light girl. She wished to talk with them for some reason, despite the injuries Hotaru caused and that could also cause trouble. With how the mental space of Takae Shuuko had shifted, they could not see Chiaki anymore. Only her presence remained to assure them she did not die a gruesome death, that their mission had not failed yet. Perhaps the light girl could help reach out towards her again? Perhaps they also made a mistake in shielding her from the truth of the outside world in an attempt to be merciful.

Too many questions. Too few answers. So she put one foot in front of another as she advanced through the streets, the mechanical motion made possible only via Sylvia’s ever-vigilant watch, the subtle interface moving Shuuko’s limbs to avoid any hazard nearby. Fortunately, at this hour there weren't many people walking around. There would be no repeat of what happened at the school with Misoka. Then again, they had barely gotten away from their dorm. There was plenty of time for things to change. Which was why Ember was left to focus on what truly mattered. Such as one of her fellow Detention Club members approaching.

”Good morning, Oyama-san,” she waved with a smile.

But Oyama-san did not smile back. Her brow was pinched together and she was power walking straight for her. She nearly tripped on the curb, but stumbled right back into a stride. She did not wave, she did not speak. When she was just inside Shuuko’s personal space, she stopped.

”...” Suki folded her arms. ”You don’t have to be so formal with me, ya know?” Shuuko and Suki were in a weird spot in the club. They were too new to be considered seniors, yet too old to be considered fresh meat. They had even been in the club for around the same amount of time. Though they both filled the niche role of super-fast-melee-specialist and were seldom paired together. That, and it was hard enough for Oros to keep her focus with one partner. ”A-anyway! I’m running a few errands, but I wanted to ask you something. Tsubomi hasn’t been acting like herself lately. She’s been a little weird ever since the beach thing, but it felt like it really ramped up a few weeks ago.” She wiped her nose on her arm. ”You uh, the two of you got ambushed, right? Did anything weird happen to her?”

”Why, Oyama-san, I’m only being polite,” deflected Ember. She did not react when the other girl moved slightly too close to her, nor did she make a move to get away from her when Suki asked the question and… it was a good one. The last battle, Acid Drop seemed to be completely out of it, so it made sense to question what happened.

”I don’t think I can recall anything strange happening to Kana-san. She did act a little strange, but I don’t know too much about her, so it could be normal.” They had not gotten much in the way of conversation before the light girls showed up, after all. ”I do think what happened during the fight is a cause for concern, however, the best thing I can come up with right now is to try and talk to her.”

”Yea, I’m working on it…” Suki kept her arms crossed. ”Anyway, that was just something I was wondering about. But uh, you and Roach are an item now, huh? You seem like you’ve really warmed up to each other. If you don’t mind me asking: Why?”

Ah. Right. Sylvia’s relationship with Roche. While the protector would have been more suited to answer the question, Ember did not want to give up her time right now and besides, she already knew what to say.

”Do I really need a reason to get to know someone better?” The schemer’s question sounded sincere, like she thought it needed no explanation. ”I do enjoy her company, yes. But quantifying or qualifying why would be difficult.” No, it really was not. Roche seemed to show genuine concern for Sylvia’s well-being, which in turn served Ember’s purposes well. Sylvia’s purposes, too, even if she did not know about it.

”Riiiiiight…” Suki’s eyes squinted just enough to let her know that Suki thought she was a pretty shitty liar. ”I don’t think you’ve made much of an attempt to get to know anyone else, but whatever. If you see Roach, mind telling her something for me during your next cuddle session? Tell her I’ll give her another chance if she can get Nyxia to spend some time with me.” Suki didn’t wait for a reply. She immediately turned on her heel to leave. The familiar click of a zippo lighter filled the air, and so did the smell of cigarette smoke.

”Now, please hold on for a moment, Oyama-san,” Ember stepped forward to catch up with Suki, who looked a little surprised that she would bother. ”For one, that is an accusation I wish to defend myself against, for it wounded me to my very soul,” a wink to let her know that the schemer understood the message behind Suki’s response, as well as to indicate being playful.

The delinquent blinked. ”O-okay?”

”For two, may I know what is this exactly about? I am aware that you two were not on the best of terms, however, it sounds like something serious happened.” And if so, she needed to know about it.

Suki placed a hand over her face and sighed. The smoke rolled out between her fingers. ”I guess that was unfair.” She tucked her hands into her pockets. ”I’m just a little on edge because of how Tsubomi’s been. You don’t have to hear my life story. Roach beat me up and I decided I couldn’t be her partner anymore. It happened forever ago and I don’t like talking about it.”

”I’m sorry to hear about that,” Shuuko bowed her head slightly towards Suki. ”I’ll have a conversation with Roche about it, and I hope you have fortune in your endeavours with Kana-san. If you need a third perspective on that, I would be more than willing to help.” SHe meant it, too. She needed to have a conversation with the rulekeeper about what exactly went down, because it seemed that Suki did not wish to talk about it. That did not surprise her at all.

”I’ll uh, be sure to talk to you about it later.” She reached for her lips and pointed past Shuuko with her cigarette. ”Speaking of, I’ll see if I can get anywhere with her.”

”Good day to you then, Oyama-san.” she said to close off the conversation, then went on to continue her contemplations. Suki’s hands slid back into her pockets, but she watched Shuuko for a moment before departing herself.

Symphony on High

"Is this RP dead?”

— Mika Fang

Mika Stat Block

16 | Female | Gemini | Mad World (lesser)
Nails | Hands | Arcane | Cat Scratch Fever
Eye of the Tiger | Survivor
Spirit Animals | Nature | ANIMAL
[Poison, Transform], MAD WORLD

DAMAGE: C | SPEED: B | SENTINEL: E | 500

PHYSICAL: D | ARCANE: B | CHAOS: C | 500

Mika groaned.

Despite the importance of the operation, it seemed like both Ashley and Marrie were running late. She did hold either of them in especially high regard, even if they weren’t as involved with her mother’s death as she initially inspected. But this operation relied heavily on Marrie’s data, and Ashley was squad captain. It was fine to complain about your position, but at least pretend that you want to honor your squadmates by showing up on time. The longer they delayed, the longer Fritzi and Billy were going to menacingly stare each other down. That was equally embarrassing.

"Cerberus.” Fritzi didn’t bother turning her head. "Where are they?”

Right, Mika’s new power made her the operation babysitter. It was acceptable though. Marrie was a VIP and should have been under surveillance at all times, but you never knew. Mika opened her palm. "Orion was held up by her neighbor.” Mika had some colorful comments to add about prioritizing listening to Olivia stroke her ego, but kept those to herself. She paused when she heard Olivia call out her mother’s last name, but shook it off as a coincidence. Then she focused on Marrie. "Marrie is… wasting a lot of printer paper. I think she’s getting prepared.” Her eyes shifted to Billy. "You look a few short. Need any help finding them?”

"I appreciate it little girl, but I reckon they’ll be coming around the corner with two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

"Right…” Mika looked to doctor Moller.

Fritzi shrugged her shoulders. "Everyone should know the mission, but here’s a recap.The target is located in room 1408 of the Golden Trove hotel. However, we are expecting heavy resistance from other high value targets. Many aliases of known dark web espers and high level monsters have been batched from Marrie’s data. Various members of the weretiger mafia are present. The situation is delicate because there are civilians involved.”

Billy held a whiteboard in one hand and pointed at it with a marker in the other. Even though it was the biggest marker and white board they could get, they both looked small in his hands. He pointed between a building and a slew of motorcycles. "Our main force is gunna ride up to this joint and say hello the Maverick way. We’re attackin’ in the middle of the day, so all the gusts should be upstairs or out and about. Just make a ruckus and get security coming to the bottom floor.”

A laser pointer in Fritzi’s hand pointed between a dragon and the top of the tower. "Once that’s started, Gemini will ride Boteg up to the top floor and descend to room 1408. There they should be able to destroy the target. It won’t be simple, of course. There are a few interesting rooms that we suspect might be housing something interesting. The build plans all have the center of the structure as completely empty, but we think it might be a large elevator to move something to and from the upper levels of the tower. That’s not to say things will be any easier on the bottom floor.”

"Gotta expect those nuns to show up again...” Billy sighed. "And the Bates. Hope we don’t gotta muff ‘em up too bad.”

"It will be an evolving situation. Be prepared to adapt to changes on the battlefield.” Fritzi placed a hand on her hip. ”If there are no immediate questions, the Gemini agents may start boarding the dragon.”

"Mavericks? Rev those engines…”

---

There wasn’t a great deal for Himiko to do by herself. She considered all she had accomplished while spending a fair bit of time patting herself on the back. At her core, Himiko had always been a mobster and had adapted their mind set. They all suffered from megalomania to the extent some would consider it a sort of madness. Typically, we allow the servants of patrons to be as mad as they like, though sometimes their delusions need to be viewed through the impartial lens of truth. And in the case of Himiko, things looked very different when viewed through that sacred spyglass.

Gemini had tried to question her, but she immediately shut it down by speaking in riddles. She was far more interested in mocking the agents that trusted her and calling them accessories to a murder cult, essentially. Furthermore, it was clear that Himiko did not know what a honeypot was. A honeypot is one of several cybersecurity tools used to deflect cyber attacks from legitimate targets and monitor the attackers. It’s effectively a virtual environment that is designed to “look” exactly like the data structure the hacker is trying to access. While inside the virtual environment, the honeypot collects information on the attacker while they navigate the honeypot. There could also be things such as bogus reports and other such dubious information. After Binky’s brainwashing was discovered, well before Himiko got anywhere near a Gemini database, Fritzi made the choice to upgrade security on everything. Trust was extremely low for new recruits, and Himiko checked all the boxes for a perfect candidate to be a spy. They did not need to ask her a single question, because the honeypot was able to gather all the information it needed on both Himiko’s unauthorized attempt to steal sensitive files and her partner she was working in tandem with. They would be thrown in a cell beside hers in less than 24 hours. She may have learned things about Gemini agents from talking to them, but she was unable to get any useful data from the computer system. Though she was likely still under the impression that she had outsmarted them.

Gemini was also, definitely, not underestimating her. They just weren’t so heartless as to execute an esper because they happened to be against factions as an idea. Maybe someone with Himiko’s disposition would think nothing of killing someone just because they disagree with you, but that was not the reality for most sane and good natured people. It didn’t matter if she was the next Regina Bates or a trash esper. There are laws that need to be followed, and no one is above those laws.

Though Himiko had been even more wrong regarding her identity outside of Gemini. See, turns out the government is actually kind of sensitive about its secrets. Almost as sensitive about having agents turn on them before a big operation and conspiring to bring them down. Additionally, Glimr doesn’t want to host espers that are going to turn on their employers. It’s also a violation of terms of service to create a second account to fake an identity. Finally, Maverick Alternative is similar to Gemini in that they want loyal freelancers that are going to do what they are paid to do. Fritzi just had to make a single phone call to get Himiko blacklisted from Glimr, and most of the faction in and outside of Pax took notice. She would have a very hard time finding work outside of the dark web and certain organisations.

But for as wrong as she was, she was right about one thing. Ashley and the rest of Gemini would soon come to regret letting her live. They would wish that just this once they hadn’t shown her any mercy.

And that started with black dust pouring through the ventilation system. It swirled about before finally manifesting into a form in the center of the room.

"When you’re up to your chin in crap, try not to hang your head.”

— Bookman

"Hello there, miss.” The demon with a smooth, velvety voice squatted in the corner of the cell. "Gemini has gone off to fight, and they’ve taken the entire crew with them. I wouldn’t say it made reaching you easy, but it made it possible.” He opened a giant black tome. His fingers ran over Finn’s contract before turning the page. "I understand that you want to change the world. That’s kind of difficult to do from the inside of a cell. Maybe… We can make a deal?”

*Waves*

That avatar looks familiar.

Either way, welcome. There are a few Buffy fans on the forum and I don't think superhero fatigue hasn't kicked in for everyone. You should be in luck as far as your interests go.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

”Hey kings! Decided to CHECK that ass and now I’m moving in to MATE! Hurk! I think I’ll leave future thirst posting to Nefer.”

— Mac Ashley

Tonya “Mac” Murphy

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Cradle
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Cradle Supply, Connected, Gifted Item (Aigorost) | Monstrous Form, Exposed, Mercy, Distrust
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 20 | AGI: 20 | VIT: 20 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Earnings this post: DID WE GET ANYTHING FOR THAT!?!??!?!?!?

Remaining: 8 Gold, 30 Silver, 39 Bronze
Total: 12 Gold, 162 Silver, 183 Bronze

It worked!

The white king had surrendered, and the red one had gotten that warrior’s death he so desperately craved. Maybe it was due to her age, but Mac felt extremely poetic taking all of the queens’s arrows and shoving them into a single target. Harems weren’t all they cracked up to be, sukkah!

Normally Mac didn’t feel this amped up during combat, but she was feeling pretty relieved that they were past the chess match now. That, and she had been able to effortlessly switch to Ashley with no consequences. That, and she wasn’t being harassed by Magical Dream Princess. That, and she wasn’t Iron Mouse, so she didn’t have to worry about Nefer lusting after her. What was it about being a magical girl that turned so many people into thirsty thots? Did they used to be men or something?

It was too early to celebrate though.

”Good work everyone, let’s keep it up!” While the Ascendancy had become a lot more tame since the rave party, Mac did want to ensure Rachel didn’t do anything too erratic in the other room.

"I’m kiting the enemy forces, you have a magic kite. That’s why we are on the same team.”

— Chloe Irving

Chloe Irving

03 03 03 03 03
10 10 06 17 04
23/12 | Babe/Baby | Spirit
Mystic orb, Gauntlets | Third Eye, Tentacles | Horror
Wings, Enhanced Outfit, Big Damn Hero, Blood Magic, Interdimensional Home, Sorcery, Enhanced Transformation
Dominator | Dark Weapon
Nagash

6 Gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze

Chloe groaned. "Can that airhead have a single complete thought before getting distracted?"

The mortisan soulmason pondered this. "I am unsure. Though if memory serves, you were able to acquire some esoteric knowledge from an arcane somnium reigent."

Chloe was fully atop her Dread Abyssal now. "That’s a very strange way of saying Magical Dream Princess."

"Only because you are the only one I recognize as a princess!"

Chloe’s eyes went wide. "W-wow." She blushed and placed a hand on her chest. "If I need you guys to sacrifice yourselves, I’m ordering you to die last."

"Much appreciated!"

"In the meantime, continue to fall back. I’ll scout over there and see if there’s any reason we can’t join up with them."

"May Nagash bless your devotion!"

And with that, Chloe’s steed raced through the forest to join up with the others.

Meanwhile, the shrieker said "Awsistance inkumming, weeeeeeee!" Before reverting back to a normal blue bone-tithe shrieker and howling it's hideous scream across the battlefield. It immediately floated towards wonderland's incoming forces without slowing down. It had served its purpose, and would now continue to spread terror endlessly until it was finally dispelled.

Sup, Fellow Rpers?

@Terry Bogard Niche is sort of a nebulous term anyway. Back in the day, any non-Capcom fighting game was niche. Though after some questionable choices by them and solid moves by Arc and Neather Realms, We've seen Mortal Combat rise above it's campy origins and Arc is really becoming known for solid anime style fighting games. KOF feels like a name that would come up pretty often if you asked people to name 10 fighting games. It's probably not in everyone's top 5, but it's something everyone's heard of. But I don't really know. It's been years since I've been on a fighting game forum.

It's less a lack of will and more a lack of time. I'm currently GMing two forum RPs with sizable casts, participating in about two more, have a full time job, as well as other hobbies and responsibilities outside of that. I would love to play with you down the road, but it's not in the cards right now. And yea, toxicity is everywhere, but some have much more than others.