OOC Pregame Thread

[Shosuro Kaoru]

No-book question- is Fitness martial?


5E's goddamn fiddly-ass mechanics are making the crunchy bits of this game a real tooth-grinder for me.

Yes.

Martial skills:
• Performing athletic feats and resisting harm (Fitness)
• Using close-quarters arms (Martial Arts [Melee])
• Using missile weapons (Martial Arts [Ranged])
• Fighting bare-handed and with improvised weapons (Martial Arts [Unarmed])
• Mastering oneself and controlling emotion such as anger, fear, and hate (Meditation)
• Fighting with squads and armies (Tactics)

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Then Kasumi Fitnesses-fails her way to not minding the hail at all.

[Shosuro Kaoru]

I am an overthinker (big surprise there, I know).

It has been suggested to me (on the devil's place a.k.a Discord) pop-ups and reverse pop-ups are "wrong" (lit. called "a waste of time"), in that one should come to the game with some kind of plan for their character, arrange for threads advancing through this plan via PMs at least one IC day in advance, and only use "open" threads as a complement if their schedule is light.

And now I can't of course stop thinking about it. And it's giving me posting paralysis. Well, that and the cold and darkness of November, the never-ending pandemic, the usual repetitiveness of "status quo is god" L5R games... Okay, more of a convenient excuse for posting paralysis.

But still. I always feel like they're a lot of unspoken rules to PbP games, if only because a lot of you have been there for like a decade and you don't even think about them anymore. Is "open only as a planning filler" yet another of them?

[Kaeru Kaori]

...that sounds really, really weird, to put it mildly, imo.

Mostly because you might never know who might your PC bounce off of, and frankly, I think an ideal game would have you meet at least most of the PC-s, or some at least, not just in a predetermined way, but also a "hey you, you're also buying bread at the market? Whoa, how cool!"

Also, playing things "wrong" is...dunno. Not a good approach? I think as long as no one is harmed/hurt/slighted, then you can't really play things wrong.

That said, some of the most fun PC-PC connections I had were based on random pop ups with no explicit plan to meet the other PC.

As for planning filler...depends? Like, if you have a set idea what you want your PC to do, sure, do that. If not, do a pop up, or join an existing one. For Kaori...I'm not posting as much, but trying to meet other people, mostly, no set goal. For other PC-s, in the past, I had a day all set up between meetings and stuff, because that was the nature of the PC and the game, but you really can't play things '"wrong," imo.

So...post away! I have stolen your posting paralysis excuse!

I think? I guess?

[Isawa Natsuko]

I can't think of the last game I came into with an actual goal. This one does have the one preset character link, which dictated one thread that needed to happen. More often threads are a message of some sort 'we should have a thread,' and the plan amounts to when and where.

That said, I don't do pop-ups/reverse very often. Partly schedule, partly anxiety. Partly that without the 'mid' timeslots there's less space for everything. Partly that spending my formative PbP years GMing meant not having a lot of time for more random threads. So I suppose that does make them more filler than primary mode for me. But I've certainly seen folks that operated mostly via pop-ups do fine too, and I don't really think they're ''wrong'

What they are though is a bit chancy. You kind of make them having to be open to the idea that maybe this particular one won't catch anyone's attention. And that maybe does feel like a waste of time?

[Kaeru Kaori]

Pop ups also, at least based on my experience, serve as a starting point for some kind of shared character narrative/plot etc.. with people otherwise you might not explicitly seek out.

[Shiba Ichiro]

Some people need pop-ups, some people don't. Better to have it, status quo or not, for those that need it. Expecting everyone to follow one proper path to successfully enjoying a game is the only flawed thinking in my opinion.

I'm also on team 'don't use pop-ups often' but just because by the time I get to them they're usually already filled But I absolutely could not play a game like the anti-popup poster was talking about because on top of all the regular PbP stress and potential burnout I now have to be absolutely vital to someone else's enjoyment of the game because they plotted their characters arc around interacting with mine? It's one thing having that stress as a GM, I'm in a different mindset when I GM, but having it as a player would fuck me up in and out of game.

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

It has been suggested to me (on the devil's place a.k.a Discord) pop-ups and reverse pop-ups are "wrong" (lit. called "a waste of time"), in that one should come to the game with some kind of plan for their character, arrange for threads advancing through this plan via PMs at least one IC day in advance, and only use "open" threads as a complement if their schedule is light.

[snip]

But still. I always feel like they're a lot of unspoken rules to PbP games, if only because a lot of you have been there for like a decade and you don't even think about them anymore. Is "open only as a planning filler" yet another of them?

Nope.

It's horseshit.

A plan is just a series of events that don't happen.

I play with some idea of who my characters are, but the little bastards invariably surprise me. And open threads are a great way to find those surprises.

[Asahina Sakura]

Nope.

It's horseshit.

A plan is just a series of events that don't happen.

I play with some idea of who my characters are, but the little bastards invariably surprise me. And open threads are a great way to find those surprises.

100% same hat.

I never have a plan. I just float along and enjoy the game for what it is, these days.

[Shinjo Jingyi]

I like the pop-ups/reverse pop-ups. I think they get used less now because of Discord, where it's quicker for people to organize threads. But, it can be fun to throw a crazy idea out there and see if anyone jumps in.

[Seppun Urusai]

Discord doesn't like me at the moment...

[Kakita Ahiru]

Without going into depth about it, popups depend much more on my posting schedule and if I have the time and energy to make them and enter them.

Also echoing Natsuko that without the Mid-slots, things get more packed.

[Ikoma Aya]

Having had pop-up threads with noone showing up myself, it does feel a bit frustrating at times, but especially when you don't have much bandwidth to plan stuff with other folks, or don't manage to hang around on discord often (my case atm, although I'm usually around!), or for one reason or another aren't in a position where you find much of a chance to plan things in advance, popups can help a lot.

Also... I'll second others above - I don't think there's any 'wrong' way to approach a PbP unless it makes other players (and GMs!) uncomfortable!

[Shosuro Yuuko]

They're all tools in the end. Pop-ups can be tough at times because of the uncertain nature of who's going to show up. However, at others that can be exactly what you're looking for when it comes to a scene. I use them as a reaching out to whoever interested when I've got spare time and wanna thread with anyone who wants to thread. I also use them to construct moments to show off a character moment that that doesn't require anyone specifically.

Like.. for example, sitting at the edge of the dock and thinking about the wild day or processing something in a solitary moment interrupted.

[Kakita Ahiru]

I use them as a reaching out to whoever interested when I've got spare time and wanna thread with anyone who wants to thread. I also use them to construct moments to show off a character moment that that doesn't require anyone specifically.

Like.. for example, sitting at the edge of the dock and thinking about the wild day or processing something in a solitary moment interrupted.

This.

When I do pop-ups, I do it more to make a character moment/scene than "just sitting here and waiting for someone to talk to". Well, not every time. In some games when I'm able to be very active, I have a goal of making one pop-up each day to meet new people. Though this one tends to work better when you have the big games (like Banner or Hollow Throne) because then there are more players to interact with.

I've just not been able to have my usual activity for this game as this time of year does get very hectic for me (and also hitting the usual seasonal burnout), but I wanted to give Ender's game a try so I focus my energy on the Events and the core elements of the character. I just don't have the spoons to make lots of scenes and write a lot of posts.

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Like.. for example, sitting at the edge of the dock and thinking about the wild day or processing something in a solitary moment interrupted.

Ding ding ding ding

Hell, sometimes a cinematic deliberately solo post is the best use for a timeslot.

[Seppun Urusai]

D'aww.

Thank you!

[Kaiu Taura]

The idea that there is "one correct way" to play an RPG, even a pbp one, is immensely confusing to me. I am here to get in some light roleplayer, chat with my friends, and (in character goal) not embarrass the Crab. Sadly, I do not have a ton of free time right now but I am willing to assign part of it here especially if I am in a scene with someone (or someones). Other people have other things they want out of the game, and that is cool too,

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Please don't feel like you're waiting on my approval for XP Spends. I trust y'all to manage your own sheets.

[Shiba Jiro]

Please don't feel like you're waiting on my approval for XP Spends. I trust y'all to manage your own sheets.

Huh. Seems the local mantis found 50 xp in their inbox instead of 5...