pugbutter

Some ideas and thoughts about RPG - as a community, as a writing forum, but mostly just in general

Yeah, I mean numbered bullets. The code used to look like this:
[list=1]
[*]item one
[*]item two
[*]item three
[*]and so on[/list]

And it would result in a numbered list you didn't have to "type manually" and indent all by yourself. Sure, you can, but why the hell should you have to? It used to be so much easier.

Behind the Burning Hills: a Very Cheeki Post-Apocalypse RP IntChk

I'm ready to begin if y'all are.

The IC introductory stuff will seem pretty generic at first whenever the thread is put up. Don't be put off by that, as it is intentional. That's me waiting for the character sheets to come in and be approved, so I can adjust and alter the plot hooks according to the characters. For example, if most people are interested in playing assassins or bounty hunters, then I would probably be wise to put any copper-scrounging stuff on hold.

Mostly I'm preparing for the people who will need a bit of time to meet each other, as by no means will we all be forced to start in the same village area where I will be placing my character. After a point I hope the player interactions will run themselves.

@The Spectre@Hostile@Emuxe@PentagonWhite@DepressedSoviet@Chaotic Chao@Fyre Unholy@Mercenary5

Some ideas and thoughts about RPG - as a community, as a writing forum, but mostly just in general

Yeah, I was talking about deleting PMs mostly. I'm an internet neat-freak so I want to get rid of messages I have no more use for.

Although we have retrograded in other ways too. I remember when the BBCodes let us create

1. numbered
2. lists,

for example.

Some ideas and thoughts about RPG - as a community, as a writing forum, but mostly just in general

@The Spectre The quality of the site seems more dependent on the people inhabiting it than the site itself tbh, even if I agree that having a functional PM system would be nice.

I for one was here back when the site was founded (forgot my credentials and had to start a new account after a long hiatus; sue me). And I cannot comment on the quality of RP changing much between then and now; RpG has always had its stratified castes of roleplayers, and the swelling bell-curve of mediocrity who comprise the largest bulk of its population. But I like the site a lot more now than I did then, because back then we evidently were the last bastion of cringelord Scene-kiddies after the fall of MySpace, whereas now we've got a larger contingency of people who take writing seriously, who treat it more as a passion than a pastime, who are here for more than just time-whittling escapism.

There's a saying in the self-defense community: "You don't aim a kick for the groin. You aim for the chin and let the groin get in the way." Silly as it may sound, that is the philosophy which will distinguish great writers from good ones. If you want the less colorful Vince Lombardi version, you would rather say, "Chase perfection and catch excellence."

The cliques definitely still exist but unlike Buddha I think they have diminished over the years. I think the site takes roleplay a bit more seriously now, and that's a good thing, even if it's at the cost of raw numbers (namely population). I like to think we've trimmed more fat than meat over the years.

Some ideas and thoughts about RPG - as a community, as a writing forum, but mostly just in general

I'm not so sure. Once a clique has formed, I think there's a degree of infatuation, whereby a person will glorify his friends' talents but then overlook or even ignore these same people's flaws. Whether this happens consciously or subconsciously I cannot say, but in any case, just read any Guildmate's biography with a "Friends" section and you will witness this bias in action.

I'm obviously not going to name names. But I see Person A gushing in her bio about Person B, and naturally intrigued, I go to Person B's page and browse through his writing. When I see not only stiff, unnatural dialogue and cringeworthy personality development, but also beginner-level shit like mixing up homophones and fucking up punctuation, things which people with "passions" for writing would rather die than do, I realize that Person A has applied a thick layer of sugar frosting over Person B's "amazing" attributes, because they like each other as people.

But then, I'm the sort of guy who thinks friends don't let friends confuse "your" and "you're." So when you say "fewer people are helping each other on this site," I see a silver lining. I might just be a retarded dinosaur, but I'm hard-pressed to admire any community or clique which values obsequiousness over self-improvement. Some people will naturally be scared away by a community which doesn't fawn over them.

Some ideas and thoughts about RPG - as a community, as a writing forum, but mostly just in general

I'm confused. Are we becoming more cliquey or aren't we? You say we are, but just earlier you had complained of fewer people helping each other, which in excess always manifests itself as favoritism, nepotism, and an atmosphere, among newcomers who would want to join those peoples' RPs, of elitism and exclusivity.

I understand that both can be problematic in a community: cliquey exclusivity, and less diversity in talents, ideas, and RPs. But how can we have both problems simultaneously?

When revolvers ruled the West - A casual/low-advanced Western RP based on various Spaghetti Westerns etc.

Is this fictional Arizona town surrounded mainly by forest or by desert?

Behind the Burning Hills: a Very Cheeki Post-Apocalypse RP IntChk

Yeah, don't forget about Metro as well. This roleplay mostly reminds me of that game.

@The Spectre

Air filters definitely have time limits here. My character has some pretty state-of-the-art equipment (for the mid-nineties) and he'll bitch at least once about how his filters cost 22 pounds a pop even before the smuggling fees.

Behind the Burning Hills: a Very Cheeki Post-Apocalypse RP IntChk

@pugbutter

Probably keep it true to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, with maybe a little bit of Fallout and Metro mixed in.

@Hostile

So dozens and dozens of people who respawn endlessly at loading screens? Got it. Spread the word and invite your friends. ;P

Behind the Burning Hills: a Very Cheeki Post-Apocalypse RP IntChk

Warsaw Pact and NATO nations almost entirely. The war ended very abruptly with an appeal to mutually assured destruction: "If we go any further, all we will achieve is wiping each other out completely." Nations in the second and third worlds are almost untouched, as the nuclear weapons were targeted at population-dense areas for terror and morale purposes, and at vital infrastructure for the purpose of crippling the other side economically. So although, for example, the USA was already in the Middle East in the nineties, the worst the soldiers would receive there is the fallout carried on the winds from Western Europe. There aren't enough factories or power plants there to make the Middle East a target for crippling the USA's war efforts.

So there's a very shaky peace across the developed world ever since the Cold War thawed out. Basically we found a new Holocaust to grieve over, and everyone agreed unanimously to call it quits once the first footage of ground zero leaked. Stalkers are viewed by the outside world as madmen for choosing to enter these horrible hells which are now well-documented on TV.