Reading back through the OOC and the IC after being out all day, I have some comments to make as a GM.
First and foremost, the very first rule of this RP.
1. I have ultimate authority. What I say goes. Deal with it, scrublord.
I am all for healthy interaction between GMs and RP'ers-that is a necessity for an RP to function. RP'ers need to have faith that the GM has a good idea for a story and will allow the RP'ers the opportunity to play meaningfully. In turn, the GM's need RP'ers who are willing to play along and will be respectful and follow the rules. Now, I am not suggesting that you never give any feedback, never offer any criticism, but something needs to be made clear: this RP is ultimately being run by Lone. Beneath him are Jazzy and myself, and that's only because he's appointed us there. If this RP was being run by someone else, I would defer to their rules. If I did not like their rules, I would leave.
That being said, I am not suggesting you follow us blindly. If you have questions or concerns, feel free to enumerate them (just as it says in the rules). However, at the same time, remember that it's Lone's call at the end of the day. If he wants to make one of his characters exponentially stronger than the rest of ours, well, we have to deal with that because it's his RP and his rules. If we're that bothered by it, we can leave. If we're not, we have to play along. The point of all this is that if you have a serious disagreement with a GM, you should discuss it politely and respectfully. At the end of the day, if you're still disagreeing, you need to go with what the GM says. It's not a grey area, it's pretty set-in-stone. This applies to Jazzy and myself just as much, albeit we serve as moderators when Lone can't/is being lazy. (Yeah, I can Fight The Man too.)
Now, the second point, and this has been irritating me for quite a while before this, is that a great many of you are trying to win this RP. You need to stop doing that. This RP is not directed towards any one person, it is not made for any one of us to enjoy. It is a colloborative effort. Even the lead character in a play would be useless without every other person to act and make the rest of the play function. In a similar manner, the fictional strength of your made-up character does not determine jack shit. As a result, there is no point in our engaging in a dick measuring contest regarding what our characters can and cannot do. Some of the best written characters I've ever seen were horrible fighters. If everyone continues to try and one-up each other by not-so-subtly mentioning how their characters are surely "among the best at the Academy" or "far more experienced than everyone else" then I'm going to start calling people on it individually and I will likely not be tactful about it. I am asking politely for people to stop doing this, as it will eventually cripple an RP. I have seen it happen many times, particularly in superpower RP's. This is not an individual power fantasy or a forum for you to create your own story. Your subplot should not override the RP, your characters are not the focus. If your characters die, the story will still go on. This is a fact you all need to accept and be prepared to deal with. If my character gets backed into a situation where she cannot plausibly survive, I will let her die, because the integrity of the RP does not yield to me wanting to use my character. I think you all need to take a step back, look at how you've been RP'ing, and focus more on your character's development, personality, and psyche. If you try and engineer your character to be the best, the most badass, the coolest, it will not work. Not to be an asshole, but no one really cares about the badass characters. How many people in your life can kick your ass? Are they somehow better people because of it? If everyone in this RP is focused purely on combat, on being the strongest, on having the most tragic backstory and, subsequently, the most hardened, badass character now, we're going to be screwed later on. We have a disproportionate number of characters who have killed people in the past, endured abuse, etc, and are displaying next to no psychological repercussions as a result. For those of you who haven't seen or read Watchmen, I suggest doing so, and thinking about what effect violence, traumatic situations, etc, have on your character. And from a purely mechanical standpoint, we will be facing enemies later on who are infinitely more deadly than any character in the RP is. I don't care how strong you think your guy is, the antagonists we have in mind will destroy them with ease. You will need diversity of powers, creativity, teamwork, etc to overcome them, not raw force. Thus far, we are severely lacking in those categories. Remember, this RP's going to get pretty dark by the end. There is a good chance that a lot of your characters will die. An RP is like an improv sketch: we have a loose idea of where we're going, but really, what we're trying to do is work together and make something that's enjoyable. You cannot "win" at improv, and neither can you "win" at RP'ing. Right now, a number of you are alarmingly similar to Michael Scott's improv (for those of you who do not watch the Office, he does the same thing in every improv activity: he declares himself an FBI agent, whips out a pistol, and begins shooting people, regardless of the situation).
Discrimination, abuse, and violent pasts can break people psychologically as-is. Throw superpowers into the mix? God bless the psychiatrist who's willing to touch that case.
This diatribe is not directed at any individual, but is rather a word of caution for the group as a whole. If you take it as a personal attack, first off, stop being silly, I just said it's not, and second off, maybe you should wonder why you assumed it was about you. On the other hand, don't assume you are above doing this either-I have been RP'ing for a great many years and I still fall prey to some of these things. I get that nobody wants to have a lame character, but we as a whole need to stop trying to have badass caricatures and focus on more well-rounded characters. Savvy?
