askstarcatcher:

MAH PLOT.

Has anypony ever told you your braids make your tail look a bit like that of a manticore?

For reasons entirely mysterious to Us, she has requested it. She says it helps her relax and think.

*Nightmare Moon’s horn glows, and Sugar Song is again encased in a nullentropy effect field, this time within an outer shell of marble. She levitates her onto a pedestal in the gallery, and sets a timed release spell for six hours.*

Thats not nearly as threatening as when the ocelot human does it.

captain-blackmane:

ask-nightmaremoon:

captain-blackmane:

(Before anybody asks, DEM is short for Deus Ex Machina, literally “God from the machine”. A term used somewhat derisively to describe an apparent system/idea/item that has all-powerful benefits, but no downsides.)

What is the downside to magic? Easy question, to which the answer is also very…

((ooc: Now I’m going to have to disagree with you there. Roleplaying is not about who’s character gets ahead and who’s doesn’t. It’s about getting together with people and telling an interesting story. It’s a collaboration, not a contest, and whenever it becomes the latter it’s one step removed from roll-playing.

Some of the best games I have played have been using Nobilis, a setting in which the PCs are physical gods, capable of freely reshaping reality or mowing down entire armies of ordinary people single handedly. Now, there will of course be one or two players new to the system who, at first, take advantage of this fact and go on a power trip, but they get bored quickly and either leave the group or get into what all true roleplaying should be about: social interaction.))

I disagree with you on the idea that true roleplaying is only about social interaction. If what you have said is true, that being roleplaying is about a collaborative experience in telling a story (which I agree with completely), then you must realize that your story will go far and above simply social interactions to a whole new level of interactions. And I would also argue that contests and conflicts drive roleplaying, with interactions serving as facilitators for these contests/conflicts.

Because, while there may not be a clearly defined “winner” in role-playing like in Nobilis, to use your example, that is not so here. A lot of the characters here have some very clearly defined goals, and are out to accomplish those goals.

In my mind, roleplaying is driven by the urge of every roleplayer to have their character accomplish those goals, and then find a new set of goals to pursue. And truth be told, in almost every story, conflict, brought on by (possibly, though not always) social interaction, drives the plot forwards. Now, I will not deny the need for interaction, it is key, but I will continue to assert there is a contest, even though it may be as clear as I would like it to be.

((ooc: I did not mean that characters cannot have goals or ambitions. For example, Nightmare Moon has big ambitions. She wants to conquer all of Equestria, destroy the Elements of Harmony, and kill her sister. However, I, as her player, decided from day one that she would fail. She might gain small successes here and there, to keep her threatening as a villain, but overall she will not succeed at any of her goals. I’m a fan of the classics, and, at least to me, the story will be better if the villain is either redeemed or defeated.

I also was referring to social interaction as between the players rather than between the characters. The storyline should not be decided by who has more dots in what, or where the dice happen to fall, but by what the players involved, collaboratively, decide should happen.))

Well, bronzing is the traditional stasis method, but We suppose We could manage stone. Get into a nice pose, now.

captain-blackmane:

(Before anybody asks, DEM is short for Deus Ex Machina, literally “God from the machine”. A term used somewhat derisively to describe an apparent system/idea/item that has all-powerful benefits, but no downsides.)

What is the downside to magic? Easy question, to which the answer is also very…

((ooc: Now I’m going to have to disagree with you there. Roleplaying is not about who’s character gets ahead and who’s doesn’t. It’s about getting together with people and telling an interesting story. It’s a collaboration, not a contest, and whenever it becomes the latter it’s one step removed from roll-playing.

Some of the best games I have played have been using Nobilis, a setting in which the PCs are physical gods, capable of freely reshaping reality or mowing down entire armies of ordinary people single handedly. Now, there will of course be one or two players new to the system who, at first, take advantage of this fact and go on a power trip, but they get bored quickly and either leave the group or get into what all true roleplaying should be about: social interaction.))

We don’t know. We can get drunk, so maybe. But We can’t be poisoned, so maybe not.

hoofbeasts:

ii 2wear thii2 “2ymantec” company ii2 liike 2omeone2 iidea of a practiical joke that2 been taken way two far

((ooc: Norton Disk Doctor killed my first computer. It actually managed to screw up the hard drive’s formatting so bad it damaged the hardware. True story.))

Now that’s no fun, is it?