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[Iris]

I remember when I wanted to do a PbP GURPS game. Looking back, that was ill-advised - GURPS is crunchy enough that doing it play-by-post would be like waiting for a glacier to carry you across the Atlantic.

I see. I'm surprised FEF has survived so long with that kinda thing stopping other, more popular games from hitting it off.

....granted, I'm also the one running a lot of the FEFs nowadays, but we're getting that community drive to move stuff off now that we have an actual calculator to do things.

I've thought about trying FEF many times, but I'm not sure I am capable of the time commitment. What would you say it takes to get into it?

Could you kindly not quote me by that name (if that was intentional; SMF can be buggy sometimes)? I've left it behind, and I would strongly prefer you to call me Iris. Thank you.

[Man of Paper]

Nah, for real. If I had half the aptitude you seem to have for AR (from what I hear) I'd be twice as productive.

My secret is weed and coffee and a healthy dose of being able to fabricate bullshit on the fly that makes players think I know what I’m doing.

[Takosher]

Ah, my specialty. I am definitely a genius planner who lays out plots and character arcs months in advance and flawlessly bamboozled my players into thinking they are the ones in control. I am not at all just possessed by the ghost of Hussie and granted the power to pretend things make sense hard enough for my players to believe me.

[Iris]

Well, it's really a combination of factors. I'd say that the major ones are the GM's willingness to roll with pretty much anything, as well as the roleplay of the players (I am probably the biggest culprit here since I love torturing my characters ) and premise of the game itself (which also gets pretty dark at times). Although fighting used to be central, it's not so much anymore, and sometimes fights are even resolved narratively.

There's actually two components to any game system: How the dice resolve mechanics (which I will call "hard task resolution") and how whoever is in charge - usually the GM - resolves actions ("soft task resolution"). The balance between each of these resolution mechanics does a great deal in determining how gritty and "crunchy" the game feels. In this case, I would say it is this game's reliance on soft resolution in addition to the fairly minimal hard resolution (2d6 et al) that creates the authentic brand of chaos that is the game's trademark.

I want to talk about this game some more since it is my darling and I love it to death. I am not the GM, but I've been a player since the beginning, so I am very attached to it and a lot of it has been my doing.

In the beginning, we actually started with a much more inelegant system - superpower use was tracked with energy points, everything was rolled for with 1d6, etc. We eventually moved to a less strict tracking system, and the 2d6 task resolution, around the same time we realized that while it was originally a fan game it had taken on a life of its own outside of canon.

The game's premise was originally entirely based on the fights, but as we moved to roleplay instead of combat as the major driver of the game, we refined the system to be much fluffier. A lot of things are still determined by dice roll, especially surrounding power use, but now there is much more focus on soft resolution - initiative and turns were simplified, and on at least one occasion fights have been mostly diceless, only going with what is dramatically appropriate.

I think that the movement to a softer system was to the game's benefit; while randomness still has a role to play, and in fact is a significant driver of the chaos, it is the GM's ability to interpret the dice rolls that makes the game truly work. Part of good GMing is knowing when to follow the rules and when to break them, and I think our GM is very skillful in that regard. The system is only half of the game, after all.

[Man of Paper]

Flexibility is extremely important when it comes to gming in the long term. Founders, a game anyone can join at any point, just sayin, has rules and guidelines, but since I cannot predict everything those infernal player-type are going to do, nothing is set in stone. The rules are intended to be shifted and rebalanced to provide players with both fun and a challenge that they can’t assume will always resolve in a positive way for them.

There are some personal rules I do have though, the biggest being I don’t do retroactive changes. It just winds up muddying the waters and making things harder on everyone, at least in my own experience. Your mileage may vary though.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

I get that approach. I prefer to buff in favour of my players rather than nerf, and a retroactive change just changes the rules of engagement, which is never good for the players. You don't want them thinking you'll whisk something away from them as and when convenient; I've been on the receiving end of that and I actually quit that game as a result.

[Doomblade187]

I get that approach. I prefer to buff in favour of my players rather than nerf, and a retroactive change just changes the rules of engagement, which is never good for the players. You don't want them thinking you'll whisk something away from them as and when convenient; I've been on the receiving end of that and I actually quit that game as a result.

To be fair Elf, your players probably don't do dumb decisions multiple turns in a row, necessitating the Royalty of their side to exact their frustrations on the design team.

[Man of Paper]

I can only watch people hang themselves so much, man.

[RoseHeart]

I was wrong and I'm sorry for accusing people. My cases do not necessarily reflect the situation as a whole. Next time I'll try to verify with other individuals first.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

I get that approach. I prefer to buff in favour of my players rather than nerf, and a retroactive change just changes the rules of engagement, which is never good for the players. You don't want them thinking you'll whisk something away from them as and when convenient; I've been on the receiving end of that and I actually quit that game as a result.

To be fair Elf, your players probably don't do dumb decisions multiple turns in a row, necessitating the Royalty of their side to exact their frustrations on the design team.

Not yet, give it time and we'll get corpsewalling soon enough.

[King Zultan]

I still find it strange that RoseHeart sees my opinion as more important than those of others, because if you ask me I'd say my opinion wasn't worth shit.



Anyway I have always wondered if that FEF was as complicated as it looked just scrolling through a thread, but the main reason I've never tried to join one of those games is because of all the complex backgrounds I see in the sheets of other people and I suck at making backgrounds.

[Haspen]

That's mostly ElfCollaborator

For me, if your character is decent, a paragraph of bio is enough.

[IamanElfCollaborator]

That's mostly ElfCollaborator

For me, if your character is decent, a paragraph of bio is enough.

I learned from the best

[SirAston]

Anyway I have always wondered if that FEF was as complicated as it looked just scrolling through a thread, but the main reason I've never tried to join one of those games is because of all the complex backgrounds I see in the sheets of other people and I suck at making backgrounds.

The backgrounds from characters can only be as complex as the introduction to a game is and elf loves his worldbuilding, probably a bit too much, plus elf likes to experiment with mechanics leading to some of his games developing complexity creep. Compare this to my current game where setting infos are rather sparse and that sparse-ness is reflected on some characters. Tric's Artair and Chev's Rhian got accepted and are definitely on the shorter side regarding their backgrounds.

tbf it helps to be on the FEF server because it's easy to ask questions and bounce ideas around there. But generally I'm okay with short backgrounds as long as there's something that I could potentially use as a hook. There never was a Marchioness Brand before, but Tric introduced her and I can and possibly will use her in the campaign at some point.

[RoseHeart]

I still find it strange that RoseHeart sees my opinion as more important than those of others, because if you ask me I'd say my opinion wasn't worth shit.

Well, don't give yourself too much credit, my opinion was swayed by Meph. The mafia mod.

I should have asked him earlier, but all I saw was the same couple people getting upset with me, that make career out of it.