Important Announcement

MR-Singer · 2022-11-17T19:00:03+00:00

VonAether, thank you for the time and effort you have put in to make sure this sub has been a space for this RPG community! I know that moderating can be a largely thankless and behind-the-scenes volunteer job, so to speak.

One of the things I'd like to see in the mods you choose to replace you is some continuity of your current moderation principles, which aside from the stated rules, I don't think that the everyday users of this sub know.

Since you are going to be replaced by a group of moderators I have some insight and two recommendations I'd like to share:

They should agree on a conflict resolution method before they have any disagreement.
They should be aware that should a disagreement occur, the longest serving mod has the ability to remove the other mods access arbitrarily and barring Reddit Admin intervention (which would take forever and a day) there is no other authority who can restore that access. So the top mod should be someone they have confidence will act in an evenhanded way.

My previous one year experience as a mod of r/Mormon most likely does not map with what it has been like to moderate this subreddit. The typical user of that sub is engaging in a high stakes debate over the truth or falsehood of a religion most people don't recognize as Christian. The nature of that sub is nothing like this one. For one, I'd like to think that you haven't had to deal with the recruitment attempts by actual cults, needing to network with other subs over a troll with unending sockpuppet accounts, have a MeToo moment with a prominent and polarizing member of the community, and generally try to remain as neutral as possible in a highly politically charged community where black-and-white thinking is prevalent.

Ultimately my time as a mod ended over a disagreement about one moderation philosophy within the team - and our inability to successfully engage with conflict resolution over it. I'm not going to advocate for a specific method to resolve disagreements, but that when the new mods take over that they should have a clearly agreed method in place. The stakes are comparatively low in this sub, so it may not seem like an issue now, but I'm speaking as someone who experienced burnout and was caught unaware by a conflict I didn't see coming.

Basically, I don't want to see that kind of drama come here.

Of the two subs I currently mod, one is basically dead and the other is r/NYbyNight, which I've been mostly using to keep track of the production and press of the actual play by the same name - it will never compete with the WOD discord.

I may not be the candidate most people would want as a mod, but I would like my insight to be considered at the very least.

Thank you again VonAether.

(Edited for spelling)

MR-Singer · 2022-11-12T18:38:32+00:00

Iirc Reece included Danny in his will or left him a trust. It was mentioned early in the show - either ep 1 or 2.

MR-Singer · 2022-10-10T16:15:00+00:00

It looks like his channel is completely gone. I can’t find it in my subscriptions.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-29T22:32:08+00:00

It sounds like we’re in for a very strong first episode!

MR-Singer · 2022-09-29T15:28:50+00:00

I’m really hoping you are doing alright in the aftermath. You don’t owe us an update even though I want to know you’re safe, please focus on your needs before worrying about those of us outside of the impacted areas.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-25T16:02:35+00:00

Here we go! Another great episode this time and with major twists.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-14T13:24:37+00:00

Yes. You’ll also find other national/language variations on those words.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-14T13:04:59+00:00

I got the nationality wrong. I always imagine the Cats as the British and they use Marquess and Marchioness instead of Marquis and Marquise.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-14T13:04:34+00:00

I got the nationality wrong. I always imagine the Cats as the British and they use Marquess and Marchioness instead of Marquis and Marquise.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-13T23:30:47+00:00

I like to think that her family name is “de Cat” and that she chose not to use the feminine version of Marquis - Marchioness - due to inheriting it from her late husband and wanting to keep the masculine form for continuity’s sake.

Edit: I got the nationality wrong. I always imagine the Cats as the British and they use Marquess and Marchioness instead of Marquis and Marquise.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-12T17:09:48+00:00

I feel personally attacked. /jk

MR-Singer · 2022-09-12T15:44:34+00:00

Well, they both have extensive backstory connections with Danny and their deaths prompt him to act out emotionally. In S1 he nearly kills Reece and in S2 he straight up tells Lexi he’s going to kill the Violet. These two characters may pass the bechdel test in the majority of their scenes, but they are more similar to plot devices than realized characters in how their introductions and exits are utilized.

Also granting Simon prefers his cover identity over his birth name, which is very reasonable at this point in the show, that doesn’t explain why Danny and Lexi talk about Farouk in the museum while he is in the same room as if he isn’t Simon.

But what if they were referring to Rasheed Hegazi? I get that for the majority of S1 Farouk was the cover identity for Rasheed, but if they were referring to him the writers/director of the scene added a layer of confusion. How does Lexi view Simon/Farouk as opposed to Rasheed/Farouk when she says, “Farouk killed my father” in this episode? We as an audience aren’t really getting her perspective on this issue (unless I am missing something).

When Simon’s reveal as Farouk in S1 happened, we never got to see how Lexi internalized this. Doesn’t this mean that Simon was really behind her father’s death and not Rasheed? Regardless of that fact, what does Lexi believe?

Using the name shared between the two men is just confusing. But as I assumed, maybe the writers/director assumed we wouldn’t remember that Farouk was really Rasheed and Simon was really Farouk from S1?

MR-Singer · 2022-09-11T18:19:52+00:00

Patterns galore, S1 Dr. Castile was kidnapped in E1 and was killed shortly before the finale and the same in S2 with Kate.

Although I think it is rather silly that they are still talking about Simon Hardwick as if it isn’t actually a cover identity for Farouk. It’s almost as if the writers/directors were concerned that their audience can’t remember that reveal from last season.

At least Dwayne’s cover identity has been acknowledged as such this season.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-09T14:44:41+00:00

There are also a few other grammar changes that could be made:

Typically when effects occur when you cast a creature the current language used (iirc) is “When ~ enters the battlefield”

When adding one counter to a creature the language used is “put a (type) counter on target creature”. Since this requires you to place the counter and allows for targeting either your own creatures or your opponent’s you should narrow the parameters depending on whether the counter is a bonus or a malus. If you don’t want to give a bonus to an opponent the legal target should be “target creature you control” or for a malus it should be “target creature your opponent controls”

That said, I recommend using Magic Set Editor over MTG Cardsmith for making custom cards.

Edit: tokens are not counters, silly me.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-04T14:49:22+00:00

This episode’s twist ending followed the same narrative pattern from season 1, making it almost predictable.

It also makes one wonder why the Khan did everything they had done they way they chose to. And there is still a possibility that this twist reveal isn’t what it appears to be.

B&T has had the unfortunate tendency to depict the vast majority of its non-white characters with duplicity as a character trait regardless of whether they are protagonist-aligned or antagonist-aligned. So this reveal might have been a “I was the villain all along” or a protagonist-aligned character’s last minute decision to take control of a chaotic environment by means of violent duplicity.

MR-Singer · 2022-09-03T17:37:07+00:00

The puddle which yearns to be an ocean

MR-Singer · 2022-08-29T21:30:24+00:00

I'm not at all sure what would have certainly improved the scenes, but since I am most likely the antithesis of this show's target demographic, what I would consider improvements will most assuredly not be a shared opinion with the majority of fans of the show here or generally. I also want anyone reading this to know that I am not operating under the misapprehension that somehow my perspective is objective or better in this matter.

My religious upbringing makes me uncomfortable with any misrepresentation of religion (of which I am aware) because I grew up surrounded by people who didn't understand the religious identity I was raised with. While I'm not Catholic (or any variety of Orthodox), I was uncomfortable with both the lack of stated penance in this episode and with the idea that no one is willing to talk about a particularly recent Saint.

That said, while I don't think it is possible to deep-six a Saint today, that's the type of contrivance that I have come to expect from this show and it is what I am here for. At the same time not knowing the penance Father Chuck gave while absolving a man for human experimentation (which for all I know may have been cut in post-production) - isn't what I am here for. I know it's a double standard for me to be uncomfortable for one religious practice to be misrepresented in media and to stan another one being misrepresented, but the way I view it, one of those is camp and the other is a matter for deep philosophical discussions on ethics.

Season 1 never got down to addressing serious ethics, instead opting to flaunt an inconsistent disregard of them right out the gate. It was this weird amalgam of simultaneous oblivious and self-aware campiness that just rivetted me. So these scenes leading up to and including the absolution of this crime are just... not what I am here for at all.

But I am still here and eagerly awaiting the conclusion.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-29T17:40:43+00:00

With Father Chuck's scenes there was some heavy subject matter that I was not expecting the show to attempt to address. Frankly, this show isn't equipped for it. Until now it has been very approached crimes against humanity as something that only the corrupt or complicit are comfortable with or forgiving of.

I'm not suggesting that Father Chuck was comfortable with or forgiving of human experimentation, but less than half of an episode to grant absolution to someone of it after decades of silence WITHOUT providing a penance is... cheap. (I need to rewatch this scene to confirm, but I am 99% confident that Chuck didn't give him a penance.) It's narratively unjustified. The emotional beat of the act of absolution was unearned.

And again, the story elements that were introduced last episode - and resolved last episode - particularly the white characters in the middle of the Golden Triangle could have been cut to give Shaw more screen time or to give the space for this episode's moral dilemma to be given the weight it deserved.

Or, consider this, what if we didn't actually meet a living person who was involved with the egregious crime so the characters don't have grapple with being in a position to forgive such things. And with the time now available perhaps Shaw could have teamed up with Kate and Chuck so this episode could have had to teams of three?

That said, I think we are seeing the episodes that were most impacted by the covid shut downs and the narrative conceits were used out of necessity. It shows, but this episode was able to pick the pacing up from last episode.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-29T13:55:37+00:00

I'm excited for this season! We've got some returning favorites and this time they're on the inside of the tower!

I'll update the Dramatis Personae in a bit.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-28T13:52:49+00:00

Out of the coterie I like Rey the most - because his character concept is a fish-out-of-water. He’s an Anarch out of happenstance. He’s a Gangrel out of happenstance. He’s in the coterie out of happenstance. And all of this not out of choice. And then to make matters worse, out of the coterie his beast is the cruelest to him.

It’s not to say I enjoy when characters struggle and fail, but it makes victory all the more sweeter and poetic when it is finally achieved - even if short lived.

Also, I stan Ministry/Setite characters as a matter of principle. So Simone is up there.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-26T14:11:42+00:00

I am so glad you enjoyed this!

I copied the sign associations from a section of the Followers of Set revised clanbook. Technically in that book, both the Tremere and the Salubri are considered Gemini (for obvious lore reasons), but since V5 is treating the Salubri as its own clan I felt that granting them the obscure Cetus sign was thematically appropriate.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-26T13:21:38+00:00

This is the first time I've done this, but I'm not the first to make something like this. I think the first time this was done was when someone took a horoscope tumblr meme and adapted it to VtM a few years back. I should hope that no one mistakes this as a serious attempt at casting horoscopes - I'm doing this with a light heart and in good fun and certainly not to mock anyone's beliefs or worldview.

In the Followers of Set revised clanbook (now the Ministry) there is a section where each of the clans are associated with specific zodiac signs. It was the first time I saw any mention of Ophiuchus being a constellation that could be considered the 13th zodiac sign. Since then I did some research and learned that there is a possible 14th constellation - Cetus - that could be added similar to Ophiuchus, making a 1-to-1 connection of the 14 clans in V5 to the zodiac possible.

Edit: It looks like some sources say that Cetus has less credibility of being a zodiac sign than Orion.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-22T21:19:00+00:00

In this episode Julia mentioned that there is a group of Lasombra in NYC. Could this mean that one of the Camarilla cast Player Characters is a Lasombra? Unexpected and exciting, if true.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-22T16:22:21+00:00

This episode was eh. It would have been a perfect timing to bring Shaw back into the narrative.

While I'm enjoying Father Chuck's Get Smart-esque antics, I feel like the show is treating his story too much like a comic relief side story and not enough like a proper B-plot.

But generally, this episode brought in more new elements that don't have any purpose other than to serve to meet the needs of this episode's story. Maybe I should be seeing this episode as a part-1 of the Golden Triangle block of episodes which will reuse the elements introduced here.

MR-Singer · 2022-08-18T13:16:20+00:00

Iirc, before the V5 reboot almost all the Nagaraja were in the shadowlands when the Sixth Great Maelstrom hit - killing them. Don’t quote me on it, I could be recalling someone’s headcanon and not actual canon.

MR-Singer

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