[Microscope] Who wants to make history? (OOC thread)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [Microscope] Who wants to make history? (OOC thread)

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

The lives and times of Great King Ragnor and the Dark Wizard Elwin. How they rose from obscurity best friends, made history as bitter enemies, and faded into legend friends once more.

# ¿ Nov 24, 2014 04:40

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:47

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

There are two problems with this. One is that again it's way too specific; look at the examples I gave in the first post, how brief and, importantly, how vague they are.

The other is that you're not thinking big enough. Microscope looks to cover hundreds of years and an entire continent at a bare minimum. Something like 'the story of two immortal rivals across millennia' is more the scope we're talking about, and even then we can expect large chunks of story to be not about them specifically but the effect they have on empires and ages.

Having played Microscope before, I can say with confidence that any time scale is compatible with the system, as long as it feels all epoch-y. The record of a great war, the life of someone who changed the course of history, etc. That's the beauty of Microscope, is that it can stretch to cover the entire life of a universe, or the life of one man. And, obviously, there would be events, scenes, and so on involving non-central players. I'd compare stories like that to the legend of King Arthur, and how scores of tales were told not just about him, but about the many knights who served him, as well.

To give an example from my own experience, I played a game of Microscope where the big picture was about an alien invasion and the resulting war, the twist eventually being that the aliens were microscopic and invading human bodies as a sort of virus, and they had to be fought using power armor, shrunk down Fantastic Voyage-style. The story obviously included the prelude and aftermath of the actual armed conflict, but even then, all told it was probably less than fifty years, but it still maintained the grandiosity of scale that defines Microscope.

But, if you don't like that premise, that's cool, I got plenty more. Though, a theme that runs through them all is that they all have a sort of focal point, one thing the rest of the history hinges upon, even if nobody in the world we build remembers it. I find it to be a fun challenge to answer the question of what, precisely, that focal point was, why it was so important, and how it resonates (possibly without even being noticed) throughout the ages. Like so: One word, spoken one day, by one otherwise unimportant individual, leads to one thousand years of war.

# ¿ Nov 24, 2014 06:35

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

I invite you to offer further insight, then! I'm just going by having read the rulebook thoroughly; I haven't had a chance to actually play this.

(So why am I doing the recruitment thread? Because I love mad, beautiful ideas, and because no one else volunteered.)

EDIT: I'm also going to encourage people to throw out multiple ideas! Just don't rehash one someone else has done.

Well, you have the right idea, but you don't need to span millennia. In theory, you could pull a Ulysses and have it cover just one days, but more practically, anything you can describe as a significant period of time is great material, which can include even political campaigns or a single semester of high school, it all depends on how personal you want it to be. The grand history of a country isn't likely to give you as much insight into any individuals as a story about just one war, plague, invasion, or so on taking place within that country would. On the other hand, those grander, more long-view stories let you explore the world and its underpinnings more thoroughly by seeing how things changed, and how they stayed the same.

Now, to be fair, smaller time frames will generally have fewer Periods added, Events will take place over smaller stretches of time, and Scenes will be more plentiful, whereas longer time frames will generally have more Periods and Events may take place over a span of time that dwarfs the entire timeline of a smaller game. So, it comes down to a question of preference and taste. Also, while I wouldn't recommend much detail in a seed normally, due to the fact that it sounds like we're going to be playing each of the big pictures proposed by the accepted applicants, adding some small predetermined detail, or giving a vague arc, can help out if one of the players isn't particularly inspired by someone else's idea. It gives a sort of jumping-off point that the entire group knows ahead of time, and can work around. It also introduces a bit of a challenge, building history around what's known by the description, adding details to those predefined aspects, possibly subverting their assumed meaning. Referring to the first story seed I posted, it begs questions like: When did any of these things happen in the two men's lives? How did they become friends? How did they become a Great King and Dark Wizard if they came from obscurity? Why did they become enemies? What effects did any of this have on the world at large? Did they engage in all-out warfare, or did they only fight each other in direct combat? Which of them was in the right, if either of them was? Did they have allies, or did they act alone? Did they survive their reconciliation, or did they only make up as they lay dying from the wounds of their final battle? Was that truly the last the world saw of them?

By getting players thinking about these kinds of things with the story seed, you give them a valuable resource for coming up with ideas, in case they run short. Further, expressing their thoughts on said questions definitively would require a Scene, which is good, as I find that sometimes, players can get a little preoccupied adding Periods and Events, and can forget to do Scenes now and then.

If you want a more visual example of how a small-scale Microscope game would play out, try this video. Imagine the instances of aging as the breaks between Periods, and each big thing the two characters do as Events, with the specifics of those things being the Scenes. Or you could watch any vignette-based slice-of-life film/series, like the critically-acclaimed new film, Boyhood.

# ¿ Nov 24, 2014 10:17

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I've got some random musings.

Angels and Demons switch jobs for a Celestial Day (10,000 years for Earth), to see who has it easier.
The campaign and administration of President Jim Lewis, who had no experience or qualifications.
A world where viral videos are literally transmitted through airborne vectors, vermin, etc.
The rise and fall of the rock star who brought about world peace.
An alien spaceship crashes into international waters, and the world scrambles to exploit the technology held within.
A world based on Neil Gaiman's essay from SimCity 2000, when the cities wake up.
A doomsday cult summons forth the Elder Gods, and it turns out they're not so bad.
A civilization was truly convinced, for thousands of years, that the world would end on a given date. Then, it didn't, and they realized that their society had a whole future to deal with.
Fast Times at Hogwarts High.
Red Hand of Doom: The Microscope Perspective.
A time when humanity finds that the only way they can communicate effectively with each other anymore is over social media, and language must adapt.
Boyhood, a Michael Bay film.
What if Hollywood's studio system hadn't collapsed?

# ¿ Nov 26, 2014 02:58

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Okay, here's my faves from each of you dudes:

Rich White Man:

The Gods' War rages, pitting the mortal races against themselves, and threatening to rend existence to tatters.

Abyssal Squid:

A primordial floating continent's figurative rise and literal fall. (Not much choice, there, though.)

Fred M. Sloniker:

All video game worlds are real--and the walls between them can be broken. (And I just got a friend of mine Project X Zone for Christmas, too!)

Moi:

Well, I'm cool with whichever of mine you guys like, but I'm partial to Angels and Demons switch jobs for a Celestial Day (10,000 years for Earth), to see who has it easier. because I like classic sitcom plots applied to unusual settings.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2014 07:19

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Abyssal Squid posted:

A castle adapts, and at times fails to adapt, to the changing world around it.

Ooh, I like this one, I've always enjoyed stories about how the times are a-changin'.

# ¿ Nov 27, 2014 21:29

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

It'll be fun seeing our individual tones come through as we make the different periods, events, and scenes, especially when it comes to deciding whether a thing was Light or Dark. I'd tell you guys my style up-front, but I'd hate to spoil the surprise.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2014 03:06

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I'm down for that, though I should say, if we manage to finish this Big Picture, we should definitely keep going with others.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2014 08:11

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I should point out that, as the Palette is yet to be made, one should refrain from adding elements that may later be banned. Also, since the bookends are by committee, I propose that we each come up with a beginning and an end, and that they can be chosen independent of one another by the group (so that one player's beginning might be pair with another player's ending).

My proposals:

Beginning:
Tired of life in an ancient, stagnant city, a group of disgruntled citizens leave to found their own small settlement.(Light)

End:
The city, having become ancient and stagnant, is abandoned as its citizens leave to found their own small settlements.(Dark)

# ¿ Nov 29, 2014 09:46

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

I'm seeing a lot of support for a light-toned starting Period and a dark-toned ending Period. If I may, though, I'd like to campaign for having both Periods be light.

Specifically, and looking at other folks' suggestions, I'd like to see something like this:

Outcasts and refugees from a dozen civilizations found the City in a land no one else wants. Light tone.

The City is finally destroyed - but from its ashes, new civilizations will rise. Light tone.
I'd like the impression, to borrow a phrase from the Battlestar Galactica reboot, that all this has happened before and will happen again - but I want that to be a good thing. There will be plenty of dark Events during both Periods, most likely, but if this were a show, the last shot would be not of the smoldering ruins of the city with people leaving in the distance, but of people leaving the smoldering ruins of the city turning away from it to a new horizon. Does that make sense to anyone else? That I don't want the ending to be a downer?

Well, there's also perspective to consider. An ending that's Dark from one perspective would be Light if you just shifted whose perspective you look through. Like, my suggestions, taken together, describe a completely symmetrical cycle, with the tone-defining difference being that the ending is from the perspective of the city being abandoned, rather than the hopeful people abandoning it.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2014 19:58

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Keep in mind that endings don't need to be hard endings. They can be meaningful turning points towards a brighter future, a period of instabilty reaching a state of relative calm, and so on. Much like a series of novels or TV show, the ending is just a send-off for the setting we've made, not necessarily and end to its existence.

# ¿ Dec 1, 2014 04:14

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I can't say I care for big cataclysmic endings, it's kind of overdone. I'd rather go for something a little more understated, but that's me.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 19:24

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I think we might be losing sight a little in regards to the big picture, in that it's not about how the city came to be, or how it ended, but how it changed over time. Like, try this:

Once isolated, a new invention pushes the city into an era of greater contact with the world at large than ever before. (Light)

Ultimately unable to cope with the changes brought on by contact with the outside world, the city retreats into isolation once more. (Dark)

Note that I'm keeping the circumstances fairly vague, so we can define the nature of the isolation as we go along.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 00:41

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Abyssal Squid posted:

Seconding that beginnings and endings are changes, and allowing an invader to take over because you can't get your house in order definitely seems like a failure to adapt to me! That is a good point though, we should keep the Big Picture in mind as we come up with Periods during the game.

Some more ideas for the ending:
The population dwindles as the countryside yields sustenance with ever-increasing reluctance. (Dark)
Surrounded by foes on all sides, the city dwindles to insignificance. (Dark)
United with its neighbors, the city flourishes as the capital of a new kingdom. (Light)

All of these happen as a result of changes outside the city itself.

I like the first and third of those, those sort of exemplify the more subtle, understated tone I'm in the mood for. Maybe it's too many of them Hollywood blockbusters, but I'm hoping for something that's more down-to-earth and political, rather than a story about dragons and lost civilizations. That's one of the things I really like about Microscope. With other RPGs, you kinda need to have it be about something big and dramatic to get the players moving, but with Microscope, it's about exploring the chosen time period, so the stories can be more subdued. Hell, scenes don't even need to cover pivotal moments, they could just be a slice of life during an important period. A glimpse into how the people of that time coped with, or reacted to whatever big, important things are going on way above their heads. Like, Star Trek wasn't always about that week's anomaly or alien encounter, sometimes it was a story about getting some mid-level technician to come out of his shell a little instead of wasting his time on the holodeck, or an android learning the appropriate customs for a friend's wedding. I'm a fan of those little moments.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 05:31

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Abyssal Squid posted:

In defense of the second, the "surrounded by foes" one, I meant that more to be a drawn-out affair of cultural attrition rather than a dramatic showdown between armies. Even if the city has a powerful army, all of its neighbors imposing onerous tariffs and tolls would kill it just as surely as the farms failing to produce would.

I'm equally open to dramatic and subdued stories, for what it's worth, as long as the tone is kept somewhat consistent.

Yeah, interpreted like that, I like how it sounds. For a beginning, I'm also thinking something more gradual. Like, a prosperous town makes the transition to full-fledged city. Though, I like it when the ending and beginning work as sort of mirrors of each other. How about a village, surrounded by enemies, achieves peace by uniting all sides into a grand city?

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 05:52

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

I'm partial to this pairing myself:

A powerful warlord draws together the Twelve Clans, and establishes the City at a site of great significance. Light tone.

United with its neighbors, the city flourishes as the capital of a new kingdom. Light tone.
Would anyone have a problem with that?

This works for me.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 01:05

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Abyssal Squid posted:

Looks good, except again the beginning is worded like an Event rather than a Period. Change it to "sets about establishing" and I'm sold.

EclecticTastes, you seem to have experience with the system, am I being pedantic here?

Well, a Period and an Event only truly differ in the amount of time they span (relative to the Big Picture's time span, of course). If the warlord establishing the city is the defining moment of the entire Period, that's fine, but then of course you could dig down and find the Event where it actually happens, and then the specific Scene where he officially unifies the tribes. The Period would include the time both before and after the establishment of the city for a number of months/years/decades (based on the time scale we eventually decide is appropriate), as long as it all ties back into the city's founding. You could classify Periods as one of two types, either a sort of anthology where a series of Events (and Scenes within those events) depict the theme of the Period in a general sense, and a more centralized sort where one primary Event defines the period, and other Events and Scenes within the Period relate to it directly. To take a pair of similar examples, if the Period described a war, that would be more of an anthology, as the chronicle of the war is delved into, while a Period that describes a specific military victory as being pivotal to a war, that would center the Period on that particular Event, with other Events/Scenes being focused on what led to, or resulted from, that victory.

Now, keep in mind that even when dealing with massive time scales, you can still do centralized periods, history has a funny way of showing you how everything ties together. Look at World War I. It was set off by a clusterfuck of centuries-old grudges and alliances, mixed with some of the worst luck in history (no, really, everyone was trying to prevent it from happening, but all their efforts went awry). And then, afterwards? The Treaty of Versailles is still being felt to this day. I could spend paragraphs talking about all the things that came about as a result of the Great War. Every war, and thus every major technological advance (which have their roots in technologies developed for wartime applications), of the twentieth century can trace its lineage back to that one grand political breakdown. Hell, modern Europe as we know it is a result of the crumbling of the old power structures following the end of WWI (and the turmoil that came from WWII, but WWII is a direct result of the Treaty of Versailles). That's really just the tip of the iceberg, just pick any trend, any event in the last hundred years, chances are you can work your way back to WWI as a common event between all of them. I mean, ultimately, everything is a result of something in the past, that's just causality, but the modern world is almost universally defined by the same thing, in that one point in time. All the threads came together for a while, before spreading back out, if you need a visual metaphor.

So, anyway, that's how you do pivotal moments when working with really long spans of time. A single rude letter a thousand years ago led to the border skirmish that led to the lingering hostilities that led to the massive war currently going on. The massive war led to the rearranged borders that led to the resentful locals angry at having their nationality decided for them that led to the rebellion that overthrew the monarchies of old. And so on.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 05:06

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Actually, the way the Palette works is everyone can keep adding, in order, until someone passes. Given that setting up an order would be impractical, here we can just have everyone add one, and then do it again, until someone doesn't feel like adding anything. For me: No supernatural/paranormal elements. That's no magic, no dragons, no aliens, no ghosts, no elves, none of that stuff. I'm sick to death of the lot of it, I'm ready for a story about humans. Possibly extraordinary humans, but still humans, as we understand them.

Also, I'm pretty sure we're gonna name the city once we've started the game, no need to capitalize it.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 14:03

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

As for your Palette suggestion, I'm going to object. When we started off in this thread, you suggested a bunch of wild and crazy ideas, but I feel like you've been getting more and more restrained, to the point where I feel like your end game is you setting up a Scene about a middle-income suburban couple eating breakfast and wanting us to roleplay it for a couple RL months.

I get dragons and slimes and beetles from every other RPG, I'm looking for a story with politics, with humans dealing with other humans. When I saw the Big Picture, that's what I thought of, is stories about people, not monsters. I could meet you in the middle at a Low Fantasy/Hard Sci-fi setting (keep in mind that we haven't actually determined what sort of genre we're even doing, aside from it taking place in a city), but the idea is that the world is driven by regular ol' humans and their politics and cooperation. Bit of Conan, a bit of Game of Thrones, a bit of The West Wing. If there's monsters, they're rare and present a more interesting problem than just "kill it before it kills too many people". There will be people looking to gain politically from whatever mayhem the monster causes, maybe people looking to exploit the creature for some sort of unethical research or something. If a war breaks out, I want to examine how it affects the people fighting it, and the people back at home, with the actual fighting being a secondary concern. That's why I love Microscope, is you can have these sorts of stories about politics and feelings. If I want to see dudes just fight monsters, I have somewhere around fifty RPGs to do that.

Also, I really can't get on board with capitalizing "the city", it looks silly and nobody outside a cult or House of Leaves would do that sort of thing. Not even the most jingoistic person calls America "The Country".

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 20:49

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

I think you misunderstand. I don't want to see 'dudes just fight monsters'. I want to see kobolds and dragons and stuff as the dudes. Like, that time the mayor got emergency voted out of office for his mishandling of the flooding, the contenders to replace him were a giant centipede, a lich, and an intelligent, but ordinary-sized, rat. I am totally on board with low-level political 'people dealing with other people' stories. I just want to get rid of the boring humans. Or at least just make them one of many races.

Except, that's really silly. Picture in your mind any of the major scenes from Twelve Angry Men. Now imagine if the jurors were giant centipedes and kobolds and zombies. Bet you anything you chuckled a little bit. Disbelief doesn't suspend that far, and much like a lightsaber with a crossguard made of two tiny lightsabers, it pushes things over the line into farce. For an example using real-world animals, have a look at this Supreme Court case, paired with footage of dogs and other animals posing as the people present, courtesy of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I'd be imagining that, except with the various Monster Manual All-Stars instead of dogs.

# ¿ Dec 5, 2014 23:15

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Abyssal Squid posted:

I feel you, Fred, I was gonna say "No: corporeal undead" and "Yes: ghosts" but I think we should play by the rules and have Palette suggestions be non-negotiable. "No: fantastic stuff" is a really huge ban but I feel like I can work with it.

My suggestion: Yes: Widespread BELIEF in the supernatural which I think shouldn't be in conflict with EclecticTaste's ban. Someone may hire a sorcerer to curse a rival, but the effects of that curse are purely psychological or social.

This is both a great idea and also a good description of how people used to weaponize feng shui with the help of their friendly local geomancer (or, at least, so says the folklore). :eng101:

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 00:57

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

A RICH WHITE MAN posted:

I'm going to guess you've never been to New York? Or, say, Constantinople or Rome? These are the types of images I'm trying to evoke with the City.

Anyway, I kind of agree with Abyssal EclecticTastes; Microscope, to me, is appealing for its ability to portray normal human stories in an exciting and engaging way. As for me, I will say:

Yes: A focus on politics.

I think I might be misreading, but it looks like you're agreeing with me. Might be you were typing Abyssal and forgot to backspace all the way, happens to me all the time.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 05:26

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Yeah, I'll walk back my "no supernatural" clause to "This is a Low Magic setting." Most "magic" exists only as tricks and chicanery, and all real magic is extremely difficult to wield and usually quite costly to the wielder, with the effects being much less than similarly taxing spells in settings like the Forgotten Realms, and obviously a fairly strong negative stigma towards all sorcery exists, even if it's on your side. Something like the lower end of power in The Lord of the Rings, where mortal wizards end up exhausted after just a fireball or shockwave. If anyone in our world does have potent magic, it will have warped and twisted them beyond all recognition as their bodies are consumed by the power they wield, and they'll still be beatable by sufficiently skilled non-magical heroes.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 07:56

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

As for A RICH WHITE MAN's suggestion, I don't want this to be The West Wing the RPG, but I'm okay with a focus on 'the total complex of relations between people living in society'. Would it be acceptable to reword it to Yes: a focus on politics in its broadest sense?

I think the wording there leaves it a little ambiguous, but as I understand it, a focus on politics would mean that some scenes would focus more on stuff happening, but there would also be scenes exploring the social and political impact of those things. Say, like, a race of people living underground is discovered in lands "belonging" to our city. We'd definitely want a Scene or two about the actual first contact, or some of the early difficulties in getting along with the new neighbors and working out who owns what, or if maybe they might be cool with integrating with the city. There might even be some violent outbursts, but basically these would be scenes of action as much as words. But at least me and Rich White Man would want some scenes dealing with the political and social ramifications. Maybe Councilman Z'Grek, who gets sizable "donations" from the local mining mogul, wants to unilaterally annex these folks' tunnels for their easy access to ore and precious stones, while Councilman Dorian, noted isolationist and xenophobe, wants all access points collapsed and for everyone to just forget we found anything down there, and Councilman Pikkart, hopeless idealist that he is, would rather try to make friends and see what new things we might learn from one another through fair and forthright collaboration.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2014 05:56

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

I just want to be sure that A RICH WHITE MAN is not asking us to focus on 'the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power'. As I said before, I don't want to play West Wing the RPG.

I doubt he expects that to be the only thing we do. And just so you're not too bummed about the prospect of some West Wing scenes here and there, keep in mind that The West Wing was as much a comedy as it was drama.

(And Bartlett's drat right, the only shellfish worthy of consumption is caught in New England.)

# ¿ Dec 7, 2014 07:03

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

That works, and I thinks it's six one/half-dozen the other on the wording of my Palette entry, so whichever makes the bookkeeping easier. Now, for my second round entry, this one might be a tad obvious, but No: Easy solutions. The Gods (whether they exist or not) do not provide assistance, no magic is dramatic enough in its effects to solve any real problem by itself without causing major problems of its own through side effects, and no one group or person wields enough power and/or influence to deal with things on their own without putting some serious elbow grease into it. If something looks like an easy, one-step solution, it's guaranteed to result in more problems than it solves if used.

EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Dec 8, 2014

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 23:50

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Sure, things are lookin' good.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 23:56

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

A RICH WHITE MAN posted:

Sorry!

Timeline:

Period: A powerful warlord draws together the Twelve Clans, and establishes the City at a site of great significance. Light tone.

Period: The harsh but prosperous reign of King Nazrack the Dragon Lord. Dark tone.

Period: Beset by the twin threats of internal strife and external pressures, the City faces an existential crisis from which it barely manages to recover. Dark tone.
- Event: Interracial tensions mount as the dominant political party, the Goblin-Orc Party, push through laws that make dragons into second-class citizens. (Dark)

Period: United with its neighbors, the City flourishes as the capital of a new kingdom. Light tone.

I like this, I'm editing my thing into it.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2014 05:46

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I shall adopt the role of Wheezy Grikk, enforcer for the local goblin organized crime outfit (known in their native tongue as the Mah'feeyah).

# ¿ Dec 11, 2014 10:39

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Remember, you're here to collect a debt, not party with a buncha crazy fruitcakes. Boss said to remind the innkeep he's got this place insured for a hefty sum, and let him know what'll happen if he don't have the money by morning. Whether or not the rest of us live to see it, he sure won't.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2014 07:02

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

FredMSloniker posted:

Okay, a few things on the IC thread. First, we seem to have a disagreement on what the scene is. I wanted it to be an inn full of revelers; EclecticTastes wants the inn to be relatively quiet. Now, since I went first, EclecticTastes can choose to Push, but I wanted to be sure he understood that he would be Pushing and didn't just misunderstand my post. (I am totally okay with the streets having revelers too! I just want the inn to be crowded.)

In addition, A RICH WHITE MAN established his character as being in the inn on the stairs, while EclecticTastes said there were no guards inside the inn. This can't be Pushed; A RICH WHITE MAN has final authority over his character. EclecticTastes could say Grikk didn't notice Glubgork - except for point three, which is that Glubgork made a huge commotion. Grikk needs to react to that in some way, even if to ignore it.

Two of you have posted pictures of your characters. That's great! Unfortunately, I was thinking of a specific picture when I described Kevan, and that picture seems to have gone away. I'll keep trying to find it. For the moment, though, note that Kevan takes more after a gecko than the general reptilian form of most kobolds (hence the eye-licking thing).

Finally, Abyssal Squid still needs to post something. He can wait until EclecticTastes has edited his post if he likes.

You might want to check the top line of my post. I'm adding to a different part of the night entirely, five hours prior. I'll catch up with the rest of you guys, but I needed a little extra time on the clock for my stuff, I thought it needed more input from you than I'd be able to get from just establishing it as background. Also, it'll be fun working to avoid contradicting the scenes happening later.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 00:20

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Abyssal Squid posted:

I could go one of two ways, either EclecticTastes does his thing at T-5h while everybody else does their thing at T-1h (you might have to pull double-duty, Fred, if you're up for that) or we can Push to have the meeting established in flashbacks while the party goes on. Either way, I think it's less disruptive and more in the spirit of the game to retcon as little as possible, so the main timeline should stay at T-1h..

Precisely. Feel free to do whatever at your point in time, I'll maneuver around it. More fun for me that way.

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 06:57

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

I reworded the first bit into a flashback, and added something going on at present, though now things are slightly inside-out, as my first post now comes after Squid's first post.

EDIT: Hold on, need to edit, I was working mainly off squid's "thoughts" which don't quite reflect his post.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2014 06:01

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:47

EclecticTastes: Sep 17, 2012; "Most plans are critically flawed by their own logic. A failure at any step will ruin everything after it. That's just basic cause and effect. It's easy for a good plan to fall apart. Therefore, a plan that has no attachment to logic cannot be stopped."

Nah, it's fine, man, we got it covered. We're just figuring out why the place burned down, and if someone really needs details added that work towards answering that, they can just have it as a quick flashback, since you don't want anachronic narrative in your scene.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2014 07:46

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > The Game Room > [Microscope] Who wants to make history? (OOC thread)