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    World Tone / Feeling

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Game Gab
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    • PavelP
      Pavel
      last edited by Pavel

      It really depends on the day. If I’ve had a shit day, I probably want to play something light and fluffy. But if I’m in the mood for something deep and meaningful, I want something with a little edge. Something inspired by Raymond Chandler perhaps, or maybe Alan Moore. Something more ‘grit-dark’ than grim, there are elements in the world that just fuckin’ hate you in particular but also moments of levity and lightness to make the contrast all the more stark. Somewhere that trying can lead to rewards just as often as failures, rather than continually sucking forever.

      But alas so often people hear dark and they take that to mean violent and horrifying.

      ETA: I think this is the most lit-wanky thing I’ve ever written here.

      He/Him. Opinions and views are solely my own unless specifically stated otherwise.
      BE AN ADULT

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
      • AshkuriA
        Ashkuri
        last edited by

        The intersection of sad and funny is where I thrive.

        PavelP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 8
        • JennJ
          Jenn @bear_necessities
          last edited by

          @bear_necessities

          Oh. And. Uh…

          Also…

          The Appalachian-set Curseborne game I’m bullying y’all into building.

          And probably the maybe possible potential of a what if the stories are all true reimagining.

          We're all mad here.

          MisterBoringM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MisterBoringM
            MisterBoring
            last edited by

            I’m pretty open to any sort of tone or feeling. My tonal issue is primarily that there inevitably will be people who seek to be so mechanically powerful in the ruleset used for the game that their character will almost always run against the grain of the tone and feeling for the game.

            If the game is supposed to be about a community in a post apocalypse struggling together against the harsh reality of their blasted world, having someone come in like Tequila in Hard Boiled just because they noticed that they could build themselves a certain way and chose to do so.

            This can be prevented in the chargen stage by staff doing a good review of the character (both background and sheet) to ensure they’re fitting the tone and feeling of a game. Often times, when such a character ends up in play it’s either because staff is so overwhelmed with tasks that they push characters through as long as they meet a basic set of criteria, or because the player in question has a relationship with a staffer that basically means they get pushed through regardless because for some people having their friends on a game is more important than having everybody follow the same tone and feeling with their character builds and concepts.

            Proud Member of the Pro-Mummy Alliance

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • MisterBoringM
              MisterBoring @Jenn
              last edited by

              @Jenn said in World Tone / Feeling:

              The Appalachian-set Curseborne game I’m bullying y’all into building.

              Curseborne? Where? a cartoon character holding a piggy bank with a dollar sign on it and the words i must have it

              Proud Member of the Pro-Mummy Alliance

              JennJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • JennJ
                Jenn @MisterBoring
                last edited by

                @MisterBoring

                LOL. I’m being such a bully about it that they still haven’t told me the IP because then I’m unstoppable.

                But the lore/setting/theme-y stuff we’re workshopping on Discord while our coders figure out how they wanna put together sheets and assign splats is at least danged entertaining.

                We're all mad here.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • PavelP
                  Pavel @Ashkuri
                  last edited by

                  @Ashkuri said in World Tone / Feeling:

                  The intersection of sad and funny is where I thrive.

                  I’ve made a career of it.

                  He/Him. Opinions and views are solely my own unless specifically stated otherwise.
                  BE AN ADULT

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • HobbieH
                    Hobbie
                    last edited by Hobbie

                    I’m less concerned about grid-level mood than with having the freedom and flexibility to run a scene that might fit whatever sort of tone I want to hit today. For example, on one grid on one character, I GMed:

                    • A tomb of zombies horror
                    • Mad Max desert rig chase
                    • High class well dressed casino heist
                    • Hacking a secure server (THAT was interesting to GM because you can’t write “and he typed on the keyboard” and be evocative)
                    • Run
                    • And a badly dubbed chop socky kung fu comedy

                    tl;dr I tend to chafe if the tone is too rigid, flexibility lets me be creative. If a grid is a canvas I prefer it unpainted.

                    MisterBoringM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • MisterBoringM
                      MisterBoring @Hobbie
                      last edited by

                      @Hobbie said in World Tone / Feeling:

                      I tend to chafe if the tone is too rigid, flexibility lets me be creative.

                      I agree with this. Rigid tone is stagnation. At the same time, too much flexibility and you lose the original intent of the game in the sauce. If I were to join a post apocalyptic game of community building and the struggle to survive, the sudden addition of a Dragonball Z style combat scene would be too jarring.

                      Proud Member of the Pro-Mummy Alliance

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • DrQuinnD
                        DrQuinn
                        last edited by

                        Honestly the world is on fire so much lately that I want something not so depressing when I try to disconnect from the news so I stay away from grimdark and horror, but pretty much would be looking for a game where the PCs would get to be heroes. Which is not to say they win all the time hooray, but more like a place where the PCs could work towards the greater good without getting smacked down for trying.

                        I’d be down for a good supernatural cowboy game. Where you can shoot a werewolf or a ghost or something and then go to a rodeo or watch a bar fist fight. Something fun!

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 7
                        • O
                          Ominous
                          last edited by Ominous

                          The grim/noble dark/bright alignment system might be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/bB0gvqrwjL

                          I am firmly on the Noble side of settings. I am down for anything on the Bright-Dark setting with slight leaning towards Bright, but I don’t have Grim in me anymore. As @DrQuinn said, if I want Grim I’ll look at the damned window, and I’ve been in that state for about a decade now.

                          EDIT: After thinking about it more, I’m going to take it back. I’m down for anything but Grimdark. I’ll take Grimbright. Arx felt Grimbright to me.

                          Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

                          PrototartP RozR bear_necessitiesB TezT 4 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 5
                          • PrototartP
                            Prototart @Ominous
                            last edited by

                            My white whale is and will probably always be an at least canon-adjacent superhero game that is relatively light and acknowledges the genre was built on sex

                            bear_necessitiesB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • RozR
                              Roz @Ominous
                              last edited by

                              @Ominous said in World Tone / Feeling:

                              The grim/noble dark/bright alignment system might be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/bB0gvqrwjL

                              I feel like Nobledark and Grimbright are my favorite sandboxes to play in.

                              she/her | playlist

                              D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                              • C
                                catzilla
                                last edited by

                                a man in a striped shirt is sitting at a desk with a piece of paper in his hand

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • D
                                  dvoraen @Roz
                                  last edited by

                                  @Roz said in World Tone / Feeling:

                                  @Ominous said in World Tone / Feeling:

                                  The grim/noble dark/bright alignment system might be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/bB0gvqrwjL

                                  I feel like Nobledark and Grimbright are my favorite sandboxes to play in.

                                  a man says you and me both in front of a poster

                                  I think Arx corrupted me. 🤔

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • L. B. HeuschkelL
                                    L. B. Heuschkel
                                    last edited by

                                    I need a mix. Depending on my mood and fatigue levels, I may want grimdark horror one day and vanilla slice of life the next day. My preference goes to settings that can accommodate most moods.

                                    Any pronouns. Come to Chincoteague. We have ponies. http://keys.aresmush.com

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                    • bear_necessitiesB
                                      bear_necessities @Ominous
                                      last edited by

                                      @Ominous Ooo I like this chart, thanks!! I think I’m on the noble side of things but I also like grimbright.

                                      I was mostly wondering if the general consensus was ‘the world right now is grim and so I want to stay away from that’ when I asked this question. I don’t think I’m capable of playing in a fully grim/grimdark setting myself, and there’s a big part of me that doesn’t even want to play in a modern setting anymore even if the “real” world politics are ignored. But I also don’t want to play in a modern setting where everything is happy/bright? Because it just doesn’t make sense for me lol

                                      @DrQuinn I too wish for a good supernatural cowboy game. Give it to me.

                                      O 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                      • bear_necessitiesB
                                        bear_necessities @Prototart
                                        last edited by

                                        @Prototart said in World Tone / Feeling:

                                        My white whale is and will probably always be an at least canon-adjacent superhero game that is relatively light and acknowledges the genre was built on sex

                                        Reply

                                        Not to double post but this game exists and is listed here https://arescentral.aresmush.com/games bet you can’t figure out which one it is lol

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • TezT
                                          Tez Administrators @Ominous
                                          last edited by Tez

                                          @Ominous Good chart.

                                          I join the crowd on the nobledark > grimbright line. I don’t particularly enjoy anything that strays too far in either direction toward noblebright and grimdark. I don’t want to feel helpless and like I can’t change anything, but at the same time, I want to feel like the choices characters make matter. I think the nobledark / grimbright line best captures that.

                                          ETA instead of a doublepost:

                                          @bear_necessities said in World Tone / Feeling:

                                          I was mostly wondering if the general consensus was ‘the world right now is grim and so I want to stay away from that’ when I asked this question. I don’t think I’m capable of playing in a fully grim/grimdark setting myself, and there’s a big part of me that doesn’t even want to play in a modern setting anymore even if the “real” world politics are ignored. But I also don’t want to play in a modern setting where everything is happy/bright? Because it just doesn’t make sense for me lol

                                          This is basically where I fall. I’m not opposed to grim settings when the world is grim, but only so I can OVERTHROW THEM.

                                          she/they

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                                          • O
                                            Ominous @bear_necessities
                                            last edited by

                                            @bear_necessities I am surprised you hadn’t encountered it before. It’s been a bit of meme in tabletop gaming since Brighthammer and Midhammer

                                            Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam

                                            bear_necessitiesB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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