La Storia della Arcana Famiglia [SU/OOC][T]

[CarefulWetPaint]

Originally Posted by Supervegeta

I suppose I will be posting tomorrow and getting Swords to start killing people. Or whatever.

Originally Posted by Xlugon Pyro

Yay killing people! I mean, what!?

Permission has already been granted! Fun is allowed!

[Xlugon Pyro]

Anyone interested in doing things and playing hero with Xoxaa in town? Otherwise I'll have her do her own thing and SAVE THE DAY.

[Lilizuki]

I don't see what the point would be, given that it's impossible to win this battle.

But, will there be slow motion running? It seems like some...omniscient force is conspiring to have Xoxaa be very sexy and dress in revealing outfits. Who could that be? d:

[Xlugon Pyro]

Originally Posted by Lilizuki

I don't see what the point would be, given that it's impossible to win this battle.

But, will there be slow motion running? It seems like some...omniscient force is conspiring to have Xoxaa be very sexy and dress in revealing outfits. Who could that be? d:

Makes the RP more interesting is all. Otherwise all I'll be doing is posting about Xoxaa doing some stuff on her own and finding a ship and escaping or something like that. Granted a few people have already done that.

This omniscient force you speak of has only made her attire revealing in regards to her legs, excluding her unfortunate luck with her ball clothing. She's generally pretty modest everywhere else.

[Lilizuki]

I'd be more interested in doing such if the outcome wasn't a predetermined "You lose". There's a reason most fiction allows the people to come to this conclusion themselves.

And yeah, I was only teasing. She does have, as I recall, the physical form of a fertility goddess, though. :3

So, I don't think I'm going to make a post until other people are on the boats, and I can briefly describe Oda helping out the Swords, then getting on the boat.

Because I have nothing better to do, I'm going to explain why I don't care for the situation at hand.

Spoiler:

The Event

Problem #1 - Victims

I don't care about them. None of the civilians have been fleshed out, so they're a faceless group like any other. It's the rule of statistics; the further away somebody is from a violent event, the less they care. And, to me, these people are no closer than somebody in Australia, which means it's the ST's job to flesh them out.

A guy stands up in the La Famiglia ball; he's a little buzzed and a little goofy, as he makes a speech about how grateful he and his family are to Sword for protecting his family, and La Famiglia for allowing them a fine place to grow up. He slurs a little, makes a few mistakes, forgets a few things, and we connect with him, because he's human! His wife is facepalming a bit, but it's earnest, and it builds character.

Suddenly, The Event happens and we care about what happens to this guy! We relate to him! By extension, we care about his family, and all the other people on the island, because they've been established as people, instead of a statistic.

Not doing this is emotionally manipulative; we're meant to care because they're people. But they're not, because they're just a number that we haven't gotten to know. This is especially egregious as, no offense, you're a new GM to the game, which means the players haven't had a chance to develop trust in your style, which is a recurring problem in this explanation.

The argument could be made that the character cares, so I should care. But that's not how it works. It's killing my character's parents at the beginning of the story, when I haven't gotten a chance to know them yet. They've had no development. And if I don't care, I can't put feeling into my posts.

Problem #2 - Diabolus Ex Machina

There are no stakes. No tension was built. We're told straight away that we have no hope of winning. So, I don't care about the situation.

The Victims problem relates to this in that they haven't been developed. Likewise, we haven't yet been made to care about the island, and we haven't had a chance to get attached to it. So, instead of feeling like a loss of my character's home, it feels like a scenery change that I'm supposed to force empathy for.

No tension; there was no subtle continuation of the evening, where perhaps Marcus was called off to the side to discuss something briefly. There were no ships on the horizon for us to look at and wonder about. None of the people who were meant to protect the island did that; no calls on the radio, despite the fact that security is on high alert. Just, boom, suddenly there's a bunch of dudes inexplicably murdering people. No explanation.

In a game where I trust the storyteller, who has let us figure out such clues before and discover the mysteries, I would be able to go along with it. But I don't, which is no fault of yours, but is a result of the sudden ST switch. Instead of becoming a mystery for us to solve, it feels like something pulled out of hammerspace so we can be screwed over.

Then, the final thing, is that there's no hope of success. There never was, because we were told in the very first post with a new ST that we lose. The leaders of La Famiglia fled, and we couldn't stay or do anything to stop it. It completely removes any player agency, without an illusion of choice. There can be no happy without sad, and there can be no despair without hope. Snatch it away or have Moreno's troops beat it out of us, but don't tell us that we've failed before we can try.

It's a surefire way to make a player not care about what's happening.

So yeah. Hopefully that explains my issues with the situation sufficiently, and I can get more invested with the game upon leaving the island.

[Khawill]

Yea, I have to agree with Lil. My character isn't a sword and wouldn't be willing to die saving people she doesn't know. Though she does care for her master which is the only reason she didn't leave right away (without my previously made NPC she would've snuck in and tried to straight up save her uncle disregarding any civilians at all.

I think the suprise attack is both good and badish. Though
Pro: A little more action in the RP, change of location, more baddies to beat up, great way to end the day.
Cons: Too unexpected (I had plans right after the ball), No idea what will happen now, thus I can't plan out my character more, It was way to out of the blue, scouts would see an army of this size easily.

I don't really care for the no hope thing, as cliché as it is, a change of location is fine by me.

Final question though, where would the boats be going? Like is this on earth and we will end up in Europe or Asia, or is this in an alternate world where we will land on a native filled continent of sorts?

[雷影 イチロ]

Serious guys, stop all this ******** and moaning. If you're not enjoying the RP, then say so and leave. There's nothing holding you here. Give the guys a break, it's their first attempt at GMing and you're acting like spoilt brats.

Feel free to give them advice, although you guys haven't been on all that long so I can't see you guys being any more versed in RPing than them, but don't ***** and moan because it just brings the whole RP down.

And honestly, you're just attention seeking by writing provocative **** like you have. If you had nothing better to do, then you could have easily written a post about, perhaps a character from your character's past that was in danger, or something along those lines. Much better for the progression of the story than the complaining and criticizing.

So before this gets out of hand into a flame war, quiet up, stop trying to provoke argument, and maybe start using that brain of yours for creativity rather than criticism.

[Retro Bug]

Normally, I don't like to get involved with things like this but I find it/this utterly ridiculous.

I don't know what the point of fighting this is going to do... It's going to do nothing. The plot has already been set let's just keep moving on from there. The whole plot right now is that the island is getting taken over because Moreno overpowered us. Yes, we lose. That doesn't mean your character can't put up a fight, it doesn't mean your character can't take a chance at trying to change those results.

Plus, you're part of La Famiglia whether or not you are in Sword your responsibilities are to this Island (Regalo) and would your character really want all the citizens that La Famiglia has spent years protecting dying? Seriously?

Originally Posted by Khawill

Yea, I have to agree with Lil. My character isn't a sword and wouldn't be willing to die saving people she doesn't know. Though she does care for her master which is the only reason she didn't leave right away (without my previously made NPC she would've snuck in and tried to straight up save her uncle disregarding any civilians at all.

You sure about that? I just read your character's SU and it says this tad bit that I found interesting, "She doesn't do things to go against authority," Hmm, let's see Liberta (who is an authoritative figure in the family) told her that she needs to save the citizens. So despite if she wants to or not according to your SU she wouldn't disobey it.

[Khawill]

"It would be more correct to categorize her as a free spirit, as she only does what she wants." Although she doesn't go against authority, she is not a going to take the orders of the family over the life of the closest family figure she has. If she was at her masters house during the attack, then she would've got him to a safe place then started helping. But she wasn't.

Also during an attack logic is far from a teenagers mind. An adult may be thinking straight, but teens are not so clear minded, and are not good at seeing consequences or thinking under stress.

I never complained about the post, I'm not sure when using strong language and demanding people to quiet up has ever prevented a flame war, but I can assure you I'm not complaining or whining about the event. I listed my pros, I listed my cons, and with you superiority logic that because I have RPed as much as you I have no opinion is like saying that the president is always right because he's the freaking president and knows more about politics then everyone else.

I'd also like to say the same for Lilizuki, she voiced her opinion about the event, and it wasn't positive. Not everything that people do is going to make others happy, just going to have to deal with it. It should be noted that we both voiced our opinion after we posted our characters responses to the event.

[AlexOzzyCake]

I know I haven't been around much due to ridiculous amounts of work from uni and I really do apologise for that, but with the whole "battle you cannot win" scenario, that's just the start of the battle that you have to fight. Luca died for a reason that'll be shown later and the royal family are on a boat to safety whilst you have to get your characters to safety. It's a battle that you can't win because it's leading you to the start of your resistance. Despite being a crucial event, this isn't supposed to be a part of the story that a lot of time is spent on, it's just a case of get off the island to safety whilst saving as many people as you can and regrouping with the others before preparing to start the battle against Moreno - that's what the whole town situation has been leading up to. I apologise if this isn't what you expected, but when would you expect a surprise attack? I think the problem has come slightly from the wording of the post in that it seems like you're supposed to fight whereas that's not the aim at all as there's no way an army of that size could be held off - the idea is to escape so that you can plan how to fight back instead.

I'm aware that the transition of STs isn't helping the situation, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about that right now and Tom's doing a good job. We obviously need to communicate more on what's happening in the story but part of GMing for the first time is having no experience, so we'll work on that. Like it was said above, if you aren't happy with how the RP is going then no one's forcing you to stay, but it'd be infinitely more helpful if you'd suggest improvements in response to the criticisms.

That's my stance on the situation, now I'd much prefer it if we could get back to the plot. :)

Edit: I've been asked to make it clear that the story and plot etc are still my ideas, Tom's just writing them up into posts whilst I'm busy, so if you have problems with the story or want to suggest improvements then please direct them at me instead. :)

[Lilizuki]

I've said nothing provocative, and I would thank you to do the same.

@Retro Bug: You're correct in that my character wants to save the island. But I don't care about the civilians, and I explained why in that spoiler. This is basic storytelling, and I was attempting to help by pointing out these issues so CarefulWetPaint can improve as a storyteller in the future.

"Criticsm may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

[Retro Bug]

Originally Posted by Khawill

"It would be more correct to categorize her as a free spirit, as she only does what she wants." Although she doesn't go against authority, she is not a going to take the orders of the family over the life of the closest family figure she has. If she was at her masters house during the attack, then she would've got him to a safe place then started helping. But she wasn't.

I'm not saying she would save the citizens over her master. I'm saying after that's all said and done she still needs to help because that's what she was ordered to.

Originally Posted by Lilizuki

@Retro Bug: You're correct in that my character wants to save the island. But I don't care about the civilians, and I explained why in that spoiler. This is basic storytelling, and I was attempting to help by pointing out these issues so CarefulWetPaint can improve as a storyteller in the future.

"Criticsm may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

Ari doesn't care about the citizens either that doesn't mean she still isn't going to help them because they got direct orders from a superior to do a job. (Well, technically Ari didn't but I'm just saying for her it's applied protocol.)

And CWP isn't coming up with this stuff on his own it's a collaboration between AlexOzzyCake and himself. I believe he's just working with what he's told so he's not coming up with this material by himself. I don't think you should be solely aiming your criticism at him and him alone.

[Lilizuki]

Originally Posted by Retro Bug

Ari doesn't care about the citizens either that doesn't mean she still isn't going to help them because they got direct orders from a superior to do a job. (Well, technically Ari didn't but I'm just saying for her it's applied protocol.)

And CWP isn't coming up with this stuff on his own it's a collaboration between AlexOzzyCake and himself. I believe he's just working with what he's told so he's not coming up with this material by himself. I don't think you should be solely aiming your criticism at him and him alone.

I think something may be lost in translation here; Oda does care about the citizens, and she will be doing what she can to aid them. I, Lilizuki, will have issues finding the motivation to write detailed descriptions of her doing so.

CWP isn't the only one to blame, fair enough, I didn't know that. I apologize for any offense as a result.

@AlexOzzyCake: I'm interested in this RP. I would have left if I wasn't, and wouldn't write up why it wasn't working for me if I hadn't. I did provide suggestions on how to improve in that spoiler tag, though not for every one of my criticisms.

[CourageHound]

Hey guys. Due to the work I have at hand and restrictions of time, I dont think I'll be able to actively keep up with the RP atm.

Thus I'm sorry to say, I sall be resigning from the RP . Best of luck to all of you.

[Retro Bug]

I don't want this RP to die... So, I'm willing to start any and all interactions if that's what must be done.

Come on guys, what are people waiting for? So we can get the ball moving once more.

[Khawill]

Is the RP dead? I was waiting for another story post but it has been a while...