Search found 549 matches

by Marsi
Fri Jan 12, 2024 2:57 pm
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Availability of Special Appearances
Replies: 92
Views: 7789

Re: Availability of Special Appearances

In theory overabundant specials bother me, but in practice I find I don’t really care.

Annoying, tacky players will always find a way to be annoying and tacky, wings or no. And a strong roleplayer can make even the most socially bankrupted concept/race feel new and exciting.

by Marsi
Wed Dec 27, 2023 4:32 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Removing Outcast and Pirate Tags
Replies: 58
Views: 5552

Re: Removing Outcast and Pirate Tags

If I am wrong about this please correct me but I believe the purpose of putting the outcast tag on characters was to force consequences of being an outcast. I believe too many players were using it to gain access to the UD portals while not roleplaying as an outcast. Yeah. This is how I remember it...
by Marsi
Mon Dec 11, 2023 4:17 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: meme posting
Replies: 75
Views: 25776

Re: meme posting

Let people have fun. Why? Why must we make sure the players doing the least are "having fun"? What does that even mean? I don't think this has anything to do with ESL. No-one is arguing that we should all write in Elizabethan English. I think the complaint describes a kind of discord-brained player...
by Marsi
Tue Nov 28, 2023 9:31 pm
Forum: Polls
Topic: Area Size Design
Replies: 19
Views: 10711

Re: Area Size Design

I prefer a grid of small, well-formed areas. No-one likes run-walking around massive, empty areas, why must we tell ourselves that we want Skyrim-esque open world immersion? I've always seen Arelith's small, abstracted size as pro-social and critical to its success in the face of other servers with ...
by Marsi
Sat Nov 25, 2023 7:11 pm
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Observations on surface "Good" vs Evil "roleplaying" (Moved to "squashing the OOC beef" leave the salt here)
Replies: 82
Views: 16627

Re: Observations on surface "Good" vs Evil "roleplaying"

While frustrating to deal with, I genuinely believe a complacent, cruel, or hypocritical team “”good”” will eventually face a satisfying correction and comeuppance. Maintaining bully power and the moral high-ground is tricky the stress wears down all the components in the system. Character assassina...
by Marsi
Tue Oct 24, 2023 11:39 pm
Forum: Questions & Answers
Topic: Roleplaying Epic Levels
Replies: 25
Views: 3332

Re: Roleplaying Epic Levels

"Immersion" is an extremely arbitrary term that means different things to different people, and to say an abundance of winged characters breaks your immersion or isn't true to the setting is only an opinion... This is a fantasy world based on nothing in reality, so what the baseline is supposed to ...
by Marsi
Tue Oct 24, 2023 3:48 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: State of the Arcane Tower
Replies: 8
Views: 812

Re: State of the Arcane Tower

Yet, Arelith at its best is about player leadership and action driving the world. [...] the fiat in-game that seems very insinuative of "this is not a player community, don't try to make this into a player community." You feel like you're Homer, looking around at the ruins. It is all very neat, but...
by Marsi
Sat Oct 14, 2023 12:25 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: ChatGPT & Roleplay
Replies: 122
Views: 99665

Re: ChatGPT & Roleplay

GPT descriptions are REALLY obvious. They are always structured the same. GPT can swap adjectives in and out but it's as though it has only a few templates for structure and voice it can work with. Whenever someone shows me "ok" output (if we suspend critique about form and voice) I will notice they...
by Marsi
Fri Oct 13, 2023 4:30 am
Forum: Questions & Answers
Topic: Roleplaying Epic Levels
Replies: 25
Views: 3332

Re: Roleplaying Epic Levels

As with all fiction, we need to suspend our disbelief a little. You'll see these things aren't as important as you might think.

The story happens between players, not between a player and the game mechanics.

by Marsi
Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:38 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: Mythic Characters
Replies: 64
Views: 34673

Re: Mythic Characters

It's a fascinating subject! People tend to privilege the present or the distant past when they talk about this. Character legacy, who is and is not remembered, can be very incidental and unfair. There are a lot of characters who did great things but played during or shortly before unfortunate times....
by Marsi
Thu Oct 05, 2023 5:19 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Death Amnesia - Bad wording, and feedback it needs to be stronger.
Replies: 89
Views: 6162

Re: Death Amnesia - Bad wording, and feedback it needs to be stronger.

Why not just make death a KO? It's weird that we insist on a condition where death is serious but we are a multiplayer persistent world where there is no permadeath and we are entitled to easy respawn. It's a system that has always operated on the good faith of honest roleplayers. Clearly we have be...
by Marsi
Tue Aug 29, 2023 2:24 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Some Observations from an Old Man Yelling at a Cloud
Replies: 39
Views: 2474

Re: Some Observations from an Old Man Yelling at a Cloud

I had intended this to be a one-and-done post because I doubt discussion will be as constructive as much as simply philosophical - and so not aiming to rebut or respond to anything raised. But I do want to add an addendum based on some more thoughts/experiences around this. Within the last few days...
by Marsi
Fri Aug 25, 2023 10:39 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Gift of Wealth
Replies: 24
Views: 1264

Re: Gift of Wealth

It would need to be an audience that cant/wont go to a dungeon once (or more) a week, not even a sail or adventure with friends, not a shopkeep or a crafter that sells their crafts either. I dont think this audience exists but lets examine the idea further. If you're the guy who really doesnt have ...
by Marsi
Mon Aug 07, 2023 2:44 am
Forum: Kudos
Topic: Server History!
Replies: 19
Views: 1858

Re: Server History!

The great thing about IC history and record-keeping is that it can itself be reacted to IC and inform future roleplay.

by Marsi
Wed Jul 05, 2023 2:15 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: ChatGPT & Roleplay
Replies: 122
Views: 99665

Re: ChatGPT & Roleplay

It's incredibly noticable. The tool just isn't there. Seems very gimmicky at the moment. Not buying into the hype. Maybe one day, but atm it's just word salad. It isn't this creative tool people make it out to be. It cannot be anything other than generic, the absolute average of whatever prose it h...
by Marsi
Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:51 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: Thinking out loud to UD and surface relations
Replies: 76
Views: 26560

Re: Thinking out loud to UD and surface relations

Who controls the narrative is a matter of soft power. You can kill someone 100 times, you can't make them care about your character or your ambitions. I don't believe you can truly brute force your way into power through overwhelming force. I've seen it attempted many times and it almost always ends...
by Marsi
Tue Jun 20, 2023 10:26 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Spell-casting, Alignment & IC Reactions
Replies: 77
Views: 54140

Re: Spell-casting, Alignment & IC Reactions

So when a change is made ingame to reflect a staff decision made out of game, players who would gladly revolt otherwise... honestly that seems like a non-starter. It's like how all drow players know they'll never succeed in actually razing myon to the ground; while some things are made "heck around...
by Marsi
Tue Jun 20, 2023 9:15 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: Triday, trine, tricycles.
Replies: 81
Views: 4797

Re: Triday, trine, tricycles.

I mean, I just don't really see what the big deal is here. I don't think anyone is making out it's a big deal. It's just a pattern of behaviour that's become prevalent enough to isolate and critique. IC/OOC abstractions sometimes need to happen, but I like to see it used as an opportunity to expres...
by Marsi
Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:25 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: Triday, trine, tricycles.
Replies: 81
Views: 4797

Re: Triday, trine, tricycles.

I don't think it's right to call it slang. Slang is a property of culture. This is just shorthand to form an OOC/IRL/game approximation. Which, while not exactly "out of character", emerged to serve the purposes of the player, not the character. Friction between the language of the character and the...
by Marsi
Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:31 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Spell-casting, Alignment & IC Reactions
Replies: 77
Views: 54140

Re: Spell-casting, Alignment & IC Reactions

The setting has been dictated to us that the King & Queen of Cordor, highly politically influential people who set the tone for the setting have lead us to this position in Cordor where the use of such magics is kosher. I just want to point out they are roleplayed NPCs, not archons of setting enfor...
by Marsi
Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:31 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: Capture RP
Replies: 115
Views: 8135

Re: Capture RP

I do understanding these OOC wellness checks are most-times simply well-meaning players trying to avoid any anxiety over causing anymore distress, but at times they can feel intrusive, inapprioriate, or even somewhat creepy. This is what I was referring to when I called OOC communication off-puttin...
by Marsi
Sat Jun 10, 2023 3:42 am
Forum: The Slanty Shanty
Topic: Capture RP
Replies: 115
Views: 8135

Re: Capture RP

I find OOC communication weird and off-putting. I'd rather just play the game. If something requires so much OOC consent-gathering and checking-in that it begins to resemble a play, rather than it being a natural encounter. it's perhaps an indication that it oughtn't be done. I'd send a tell for rai...
by Marsi
Wed Jun 07, 2023 2:13 am
Forum: Feedback
Topic: Spell-casting, Alignment & IC Reactions
Replies: 77
Views: 54140

Re: Spell-casting, Alignment & IC Reactions

I feel like this is a downstream consequence of there being no real designated place for evil to exist on the surface. Evil players, and the players who enjoy the roleplay that evil players bring to the table, naturally feel compelled to create a more permissive environment in whatever places it's ...
by Marsi
Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:31 am
Forum: Questions & Answers
Topic: If someone gives another character name
Replies: 28
Views: 2588

Re: If someone gives another character name

With regard to disguises, I remember it being policy that were you to spend too long in a disguise persona (particularly to subvert name-based mechanics) your character's mechanical name ought to be changed to the disguise name. But honestly I've never thought about how a settlement should exile a c...
by Marsi
Mon Jun 05, 2023 3:57 am
Forum: Questions & Answers
Topic: DM involvement in mass PvP?
Replies: 23
Views: 1888

Re: DM involvement in mass PvP?

But it does promise an immersive roleplay experience, if the front page of our website is supposed to be taken at its word. DMs shouldn't arbitrarily rain hellfire and death upon one side of a conflict with no apparent justification or precedent. In a persistent world, the world's behavior should b...