Quote from: Doc Sammy;934000It was mostly a ranty joke done out of catharsis. I sincerely do want to write decent fanfics that aren't so ranty and silly. One with actual stories and character develop instead of fictional mobsters trolling writers I don't like.

Do this: Write something good that you like. Publish it. Do it. Then, ideally, you'll get your own fans. Then you can drop the "fan" in fan-fiction and just write fiction. Go Pro, Bro.

I just got back to this thread:).
Best wishes to you two P90-something almost-casualties, and have a speedy recovery!

Now, as a bonus question, how would you use your own personal experiences with overtraining for themes of personal horror;)?

Quote from: AsenRG;934183I just got back to this thread:).
Best wishes to you two P90-something almost-casualties, and have a speedy recovery!

Now, as a bonus question, how would you use your own personal experiences with overtraining for themes of personal horror;)?

Tenbones decides to get back on the P90x Pain-Train. This time he implodes, revealing that he wasn't really human after all. P90x is actually a program designed by Pentex's subsidiary called "Regurgination" and it forces you to have a physical blowout. The first time it happens it creates a connection to the Devourer Wyrm that lays a spiritual egg inside. So that when you "recover" - it's merely the chrysalis-stage of your development. When you rejoin the program and start up again, the creature inside you hatches, causing you to implode as it consumes you from within, leaving a Fomori version of yourself in its place.

Not sure what was happening with the rpg, but I did some Vampire LARPing back then.  In 93/94 in my area, Vampire LARPing was mostly just an excuse to socialize and have a few drinks.  By 95 or so, it had been taken over by goth kids who took their characters super seriously and became awash in their interpersonal drama, a toxic environment for folks like me who just did it every once in a while on a lark.

Quote from: tenbones;934290Tenbones decides to get back on the P90x Pain-Train. This time he implodes, revealing that he wasn't really human after all. P90x is actually a program designed by Pentex's subsidiary called "Regurgination" and it forces you to have a physical blowout. The first time it happens it creates a connection to the Devourer Wyrm that lays a spiritual egg inside. So that when you "recover" - it's merely the chrysalis-stage of your development. When you rejoin the program and start up again, the creature inside you hatches, causing you to implode as it consumes you from within, leaving a Fomori version of yourself in its place.

Nasty but still better than what happens when you over use a Bowflex.

Quote from: Nexus;934325Nasty but still better than what happens when you over use a Bowflex.

...I did not need that mental image...

Quote from: Doc Sammy;933945That's sort of the whole point of The New Jersey Project

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StylisticSuck

Regardless of how poorly written it is, it does illustrate a good point.

Joss Whedon's Firefly does stink worse than an anchovy's cunt.

To keep things on topic, Firefly is more repulsive than the ugliest Nosferatu.

You're probably on the wrong forum for that sort of trolling.

What about the (only 2?) PC games? Anyone tried those and how well did it go? One of my players had them and seemed to like the first. Not sure what they thought of the second.

Quote from: Omega;934595What about the (only 2?) PC games? Anyone tried those and how well did it go? One of my players had them and seemed to like the first. Not sure what they thought of the second.

Vampire Redemption - When it came out it was completely awesome. Starts in the Dark Ages and ends up in the modern era. It seriously was done well considering the technological level of the day. I think it's window of playability has been passed unless you're into retro-gaming. But I must have played it a dozen times.

Vampire Bloodlines - This game came out around 2004-5 and it was mindblowing how accurately they modeled the game. It was buggy as *fuck*, but they've patched the hell out of it since then and expanded it. It's definitely feeling its age but I recently played through and the game, for it's relative primitive engine, was *way* ahead of its time in terms of gameplay. If you're *really* wanting to feel the Vampire experience - it's a cheap buy and worth it (assuming you can get past the graphics). There is an amazing amount of detail they put in the game (the patched version) that is amazing. The cool part is allegedly Paradox is doing another Bloodlines game with the same teams that did original and the patch. So... keep your toes crossed.

Quote from: Omega;934595What about the (only 2?) PC games? Anyone tried those and how well did it go? One of my players had them and seemed to like the first. Not sure what they thought of the second.

Both are awesome. But they're awesome for different reasons.

Redemption was awesome for the fact that it was a straight-ahead, hardcore dungeon crawl mixed with fairly extensive (for the time) customization elements. You take the hub element of Deus Ex and then you go into various scenarios where you fight through different "dungeons" in narrative succession. It's story was pretty good -- even now, it earnest and that counts for a lot -- for what it was and was voice acted well given the cheese in the script. It's a surprisingly faithful rendition of the tabletop rules from OWOD Vampire although its firmly footed in the combat areas than anything else. It nailed the atmosphere of the universe and honestly made your standard D&D fantasy world seems pretty shit when you could simply do the same thing but in the gothic supernatural World of Darkness instead and it'd still work excellently.

It's a decent Action RPG with heavy focus on the Action part and is unfairly compared to Diablo in derisive fashion even though the gameplay styles are fundamentally different. Redemptio is about group cohesion, build paths (especially given the main character is initially statted as a sword-based brawler) and min-maxing party members stats; Diablo is about DPS, crowd control, aggro (which is NOT a viable tactic in Redemption) and specific approaches to each type of dungeon. Essentially, Redemption is a narrative dungeon crawl and representative of the kind of great games I was fortunate enough to enjoy as a young kid during the late 90's/early 2000s. (playing games I really shouldn't have been playing).

What's really unique about it is the time-warping aspect. You start in the Medieval era a Fledgling, end up in Torpor, and transition to the Modern era an Elder. The Medieval aspect is really quite something and is part of the charm of the game of trying to depict what Vampire unlife would have been like back then.  All the Clans fighting each other, allying with each other, backstabbing each other. You switch to the Modern era and now its Camarilla and Sabbat along with Independents getting in the way of both. Though you may be a Brujah unyieldingly in the game and you first companion is ALSO a Brujah, you quickly gain an appreciation for the fact that each of them is a *character* and you're playing *them* instead of random PC #1/#2. Then you get a couple others of different Clans in both eras and they play quite differently. The game's about 25-30% exploration and story, the rest combat (again, for ref, Diablo is 95% combat with barest of exploration)

Bloodlines is a phenomenal achievement in gaming -- or, at least, it would have been if it weren't for the seriously bad luck it endured at the outset. It is an incredibly faithful rendition of the tabletop game and strives -- and succeeds! -- to make most all playstyles viable. Combat is pretty nasty and a non-combat build tends to get overwhelmed quick without save scumming. Yet, you end with a LOT more money and phat lootz if you go for social builds or decent Finance and and Investigation (better prices and hidden loot, respectively).

 Each of the Clans feels different and although the base gameplay is pretty much the same, the Clans' initial offerings and Disciplines set mean you very quickly build characters to compliment their naturals while having the skillset you want and you are punished for trying to "narrative over mechanics" because the game expects you to specialize. The game is ALSO an Action RPG, with HEAVY emphasis on the RPG., It is an oft-mentioned cliche of denoting player agency but it is quite possible to make it through most of the game and not kill anything. One of the absolute best pieces of this game is the fact that you are not rewarded for enemies killed or evaded but for *solutions* found. And if that means killing, sure, but it's rare and usually its the means you're rewarded for (and there's always more than one way to take on a combat encounter).

The characters in the game are consistently excellent, some of them bona fide outstanding and the writing also achieves the same heights. The game is suitably dark and really touches on the Gothic horror elements -- maybe not in the Neo-Gothic way of NWOD but certainly in the Gothic-Punk attitude of OWOD. There's a lot of fucked-up individuals and every one of them in an unsympathetic assholes that in real-life, if you were empowered so, you'd probably end them yourself with a shotgun blast to the head. For those that aren't like that, they are charming and endearing in their own way and the magnificent voice acting that carries them cannot be overstated enough -- they had some really, REALLY genuine talent on this game.

The bit I love most about it, though, is the fact it is a faithful, loving capture of Los Angeles and, like, you can just SEE in the concept art and the in-game assets how they went through LA (interestingly enough ,it was only a car ride down from where Troika were based!) and just photographed all the places. I know the Venture Tower area and the artwork of it is based on a particular angle you can get from looking up at the financial skyscrapers from Pershing Square. I fucking love that and it made my own first in the States, in Los Angeles, all the more special. It's the perfect setting and having been to LA, that city is the reason I did my NWOD Mage setting there because nowhere else is really good enough. It just has everything.

Well, that certainly was a longer post than I was anticipating making, hah!

This thread has gone off the rails. Time for a new thread.

Let's discuss Requiem this time! I liked it better than Masquerade (though as awesome as Requiem 1E was with some minor tweaks, Blood & Smoke/2E is just plain awful)

Quote from: Doc Sammy;936893This thread has gone off the rails. Time for a new thread.

Derails often yield the most interesting stories.