Krayzikk

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Please do not take this statement as maliciousness on my part:

I hope that everyone who fought me to get rid of deadlines and the like is making the most of all this extra time.

It's very hard to convey the sincerity in that remark. I'm happy so long as this extremely slow pace is allowing for the desired characterization that drove the lobbying. I would just be disappointed if this wasn't the case.

@Lugubrious

This right here is what we call a straw man of Stay Puft proportions.

The context, as Seraphs pointed out a lot more patiently than me, for that lobbying was the disastrously brief amount of unstructured time to interact. You know, that time when a timeskip to missions cut short;

-A party that never got to start
-A trip to Vale
-A trip to the swimming pool
-A fight at the lake

Four interactions, each with at least three characters involved (save the swimming pool, but given that more than three were involved in all the others, it ends up being a low estimate), which adds up to at least twelve players that had their plans cut short permanently so we could transition to these "all-consuming and gelatinous gravitational anomalies". Puts a whole different spin on the concept when you can go and apply it to the first problem that crops up, doesn't it.

That said, I lobbied against mission deadlines, too. Because you wanted to set them at a time that would require getting everything done over finals and holidays, which would have lead to the majority of them being cut short anyway. Because I speak from a lot of experience when I say that creating a deadline doesn't create more time to do everything you need to, it leads to stress and cutting things from your schedule to create the illusion of more time.

Such things really have no place in an RPG done for fun. Now, Seraphs covered it pretty well himself:

<Snipped quote by Lugubrious>

I think the lobbying for more time was in situation when people had full and complete control over where there characters went and what was happening. Like a weekend adventure or some such. I think it was unfortunate that the petition for less deadlines came just as a mission was approaching because I think self contained events like the missions, combat classes and such, things that will only affect those that participate in them should be regulated in order to keep the RP moving. It's when there's an after school moment and a number of characters are cooking something up and it gets timeskipped over that problems start to arise. I think we should start wrapping up the missions within the next two or three weeks. You really can't tell me that after all this time you actually need more than that to finish whatever is going on.

@Prince of Seraphs

The petition for a lack of deadlines was with the intent of giving players the ability to actually have some autonomy, instead of trying to squeeze what we want to do inside of tiny blocks of time within the arbitrary schedule.

Missions, on the other hand, are not autonomous. They're rigid and inflexible, and that means that when a member of your team (or your antagonist) is taking a long time to post, you can't get anywhere. BASL and JCL? We want to get Brewing Storm done. At this point it's a chore for a list of reasons longer than my arm, and we're fairly punctual about getting posts done to do it.

But there are eight people involved. Eight. When a single one delays, usually for reasons outside of their control, the whole thing gets gummed up. And every other team has this potential, admittedly with a few fewer players. I could run the math on how much rigidity in missions increases the probability of delays, but I just finished my semester and I really don't want to. Not when the point is logically apparent.

I'm in agreement that missions should be wrapped up soon, and discussion should be had on how better to regulate missions and combat classes in the future. But blaming delays in missions on a lack of deadlines is a straw man of the highest order, given that deadlines would just have cut them short.

I don't even think the problem is that the missions have gone long, because it sounds like everybody has been working at it. The bigger issue to me is that it seems like 80% of the teams decided to do things collab-style, which really doesn't let anyone else know how things are progressing and makes the IC and OOC dead as fuck apart from the team or two that are doing things post-by-post.

@Plank Sinatra

This is completely true, too. Collabs are the bane of an RPG's survival the moment more than half the game is taking place in them. BASL/JCL and VGNB are currently the only teams actually posting within the main topic aside from releasing the latest installment of their collabs. As a result, no one needs to check the topic. As a result, the topic slows to a crawl.

These are factors to consider, instead of just throwing straw men at the problem.

Persona - Academic Akrasia (Being rebooted, see new int check)

Fuck that.

The pizza delivery robots from Hell were clever, Daisuke'd give 'em that. A frontal assault hadn't worked, so the shiny little fuckers were getting clever. Making use of their numbers to try and divide and conquer. Realistically, there wasn't a snowball's chance in Hell that he'd be able to stop both fronts. He saw them going for the newcomer, the guitar case girl, and going for Kimiko. Seven in total. Couldn't be in two places at once, could he? The delinquent was, unfortunately, still bound by the laws of physics.

Not that he really gave a fuck.

Long, long time ago there was a knot supposedly no one could ever undo. If you could then they'd put you in charge of whatever backwater thought that was a good way to pick a leader. He didn't remember the story very well, but he did remember how someone finally went and solved it. He just cut the knot. Pretty clever, if you asked Daisuke, and a damn good lesson. If you're lookin' at a complex problem, chances are there's a simple solution. Like being in two places at once.

"Benkei!" The delinquent hollered, tossing his staff in the fearsome Persona's direction and breaking into a dead run headed the opposite way. The manifestation of his being got the message and plucked the makeshift staff out of the air, throwing himself in the opposite direction as his master. A movement that, most notably, put the towering warrior monk between Kimiko and shards of ice that threatened to skewer Daisuke's best customer. They impacted against him instead, and if the Persona felt discomfort (or if it could) it didn't show. The icy projectiles failed to pierce his defenses, though not without some damage; unlike the fireballs, ice did hit. Which meant one front dealt with.

The other was going to be a bit closer. He could see the DRUs charging up their pizza-based attack, and the mental image of supernatural Italian food slicing through flesh and bone briefly flashed through his mind. Like the poor soul who'd taken one in the arm. Nothing quite like horror to add some incentive, and he found his feet moving faster than he'd normally have though possible. Normally he might've been a little concerned about how people might react to seeing a tall, wild-haired, somewhat reformed delinquent charging at them in full sprint. Now he didn't really have time to worry about that.

Contrary to how things usually go, the next few seconds didn't seem to slow down; if anything they went by too fast for Daisuke to really register. He pushed off the ground hard, turning himself into a projectile aimed at guitar case girl. His arm caught around her waist, knocking her off her feet none too gently. Both of them started falling. He heard the pizzas fly. And he felt the incredibly uncomfortable sensation of one tearing through the back of his shirt, just barely not flaying his back, and then the even more uncomfortable sensation of the side of his face hitting pavement.

Not pleasant.

But a lot more pleasant than bein' that knot himself, so he didn't really have room to complain.

Project Olympia 2.0

Acheri Solomon: We've Made Worse Choices

ost

"Five."

The (relatively) diminutive half-Hopi corrected, following her current orbit towards the gathering group with a single step forward. The voice in the back of her head that spoke of common sense was protesting, but Acheri wasn't listening. Go, East, and Soleil were going. There was a dose of ego there, refusing to back down while they were stepping up, but there were two doses of enthusiasm for every one. She may not have won the superpower lottery like some people named Eastwood Evans for example but she knew how to fight, which made her (even more) of a minority in the group. The closest thing she had to a crew was going in. Made things real simple. She needed to back 'em up. Besides, she'd been looking for a better way to train, now hadn't she?

She casually unzipped the sweatshirt she had pulled on over her exercise clothes and tossed it in the general direction of the coat hooks, were it caught and hung stably. Which made it look a lot cooler than she'd really expected it to be. Then she reached out with her will, stretching those new muscles again, towards the tethered dimension. It was always an odd sensation; she couldn't see it, but she knew it was there and knew what was in it. It was how she knew where to pull things back from. Like, for example, her hapkido staff. Which wasn't really an example, it was actually what she was retrieving. Once it was in hand she rested it easily on her shoulder, casually surveying the rest of the assembled group with a cheerful, excited, and anticipatory pair of green eyes.

"Can't let you rookies mess up, can I?"

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

@Krayzikk and company. I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but it is no longer the day that it would seem you guys are roleplaying. Time has moved forwards to the next day. And, unfortunately, I must ask that you do as well.

@Zarkun

My apologies. I'll see about informing the others.

Phoenix Wing (A Fairy Tail RP-Always Open, Open)

<Snipped quote by Krayzikk>
<Snipped quote by Plank Sinatra>

Kaia Iona

"Mmmhmm~" She hummed, gliding around the countertop to assist in the breakfast preparation.

"You say that Cyare," the blind girl teased, tossing a smirk over her shoulder at said Tactical Mage just as casually as she had thrown the blade and bludgeon across the room at her companion. She considered mentioning the fact that throwing things worked for her far better than being stationary ever could, but...

"Any special requests? Hate for one of you to keel over in the middle of it 'cause ya didn't get enough food."

@Silvan Haven @HereComesTheSnow

@Caasicam

Cyare Staunton

@Plank Sinatra @Silvan Haven @HereComesTheSnow

"The capacity for patience is key for success, in strategy and in life. Impatience leads to mistakes, ill will, and burned bridges." Cyare replied, attempting to settle more comfortably in her chair. Patience was one thing, but patience during unnecessary discomfort was another. She set her sword on an adjacent table, hilt angled towards her for an easy and swift reach, and continued settling. It was an unfortunately complex prospect; she needed to find a position that was comfortable, but also let her stretch a little to prevent an uncomfortable settling of the muscles after her exercises. This would require a little effort. She snaked one foot out to catch a second chair by its leg and drag it closer, then prop her feet up on it.

Since the average dining room chair (as these ones were) was not tall enough for her to have a comfortable way to rest her head, she put her hands behind her head to support it and leaned back. In this manner, both comfort and adequate stretching were possible.

"I would not mind, if the supplies and time were both present, some coffee. That would be my sole request."

Project Olympia 2.0

Acheri Solomon

"My actions were for the good of the world." The (relatively) diminutive college student justified, glancing up at the much taller not-so-Native American. Acheri was entirely unconcerned by the (pseudo) threat, instead waving at Soleil again and continuing her explanation unimpeded. "Nevertheless, we are familiar with the unwillingness of your people to help. We are accustomed to it."

After the doctor's explanation of the training room, however, the Hopi elected to remain in orbit around the walking freight train rather than move towards it. The last time she trusted anything this particular PhD said, she ended up with abilities she was still figuring out how to explain. There was no way in Hell, or any other religion's equivalent plane of torment, that she was being one of the first people to set first in a 'simulation room'.

Not unless 'poof' expanded to include immortality.

Persona - Academic Akrasia (Being rebooted, see new int check)

Soda mortars...?

"Alright!" The delinquent hollered back, directed Benkei (with a wave of his arm that the monk seemed to understand, probably more mental than physical) to quite literally tear the sodas out of the now defeated DRU's head and toss them to Daisuke, who in turn threw them like a football back towards Kimiko while he retreated towards them.

"Get the other ones!" He directed Benkei, who turned to Bash the lefthand would-be flanking DRU while continuing to follow the same path of retreat as his master.

Project Olympia 2.0

Acheri Solomon

"Yeah, not bad." Acheri agreed, nodding slightly at Emily's remark. Then, after a few words, raised a hand in greeting again. Even if she couldn't really see it, it was still polite. "Still trying to work out exactly how it works. And bringing things back is harder. But it's getting there. Hey, Soleil."

Once the group started moving a little deeper into the building, guided by the stench of something truly, truly unpleasant, Acheri began moving the same way. Not until she gestured for East and Soleil to move, too. The group might be new but that didn't mean she didn't have her preferences for who she stayed around. Commonality didn't necessarily mean kinship. That stench required backup, anyway. The source was pretty easy to ascertain, and Acheri's crisis of conscience lasted only a few seconds. The smell needed to be removed, and permitting its creator to actually consume it would be negligence. Possibly criminal, gauging by how it smelled. So exercising her will, and concentrating hard, she made the offensive pseudo food disappear.

Unfortunately, the container went with it. But it was a step in the right direction.

Speaking of steps, she retreated rather quickly behind East so that no one could pin it on her (plausible deniability), and raised a hand to greet Go on his way in.

"Hey, Go. Got those DVDs for me to borrow yet?"

Mobile Suit Gundam - Londo Bell's Rising

Posted. I apologize for the delay, but it's finals week and I haven't been feeling very well.

Mobile Suit Gundam - Londo Bell's Rising

"What he said." Akemi seconded, pointing to her brother with what was in her hand; a chip, naturally. The chip made its trip to her mouth very quickly afterwards, while the other half of the Newtype pair mulled over what the newcomer had said quietly. Akimi was busy thinking. He usually was. Might have been about the person, might have been about the food, but her wager would have been on the latter if she was a betting woman. Or if she had much in the way of money to bet. People didn't fascinate Akimi. Still, what this guard had said was something approaching useful vis a vis its factual content, so perhaps it was a conversation worth perpetuating for at least a little longer.

"We will not be here long." The female twin elaborated, making another chip disappear rather quickly. Such consumption of food seemed to punctuate her sentences as much as any mark. "We are present for our assignment to a new team. The lab shipped us here ahead of time in the event that situations moved the date of assignment up, but not so early that anything might go wrong."

"Their caution might be my fault. We disagree on that."