Vine News: (L.I Subsidiary)

I'm kinda waiting for the day someone puts himself or herself in his/her top 3.

Interview with Armistice

When did you start rpg'ing?

Online

I joined Comic Vine on 1/13/2011 but did not dip my toe into the RPG side of the site until late in the year so about two years ago. My arrival coincided with the later stages of the Vine Prime universe during the Age of Empire where I was active for around 5 months of sporadic participation at best, most of my time was spent on the fringes through interactions as the few events I took part in proved not to be worth continuing and I have yet to not abandon one midway.

Finding Prime to be more trouble than it was worth I left the RPG scene for about one year until Mercy convinced me to give it a second try when the CVnU came along. The idea of a clean slate where years of missed canon and a complete lack of established landmark characters, teams, events, etc. had me curious enough to give it a go. Since then, while more active than my stint in Prime, I once again found myself remaining on the fringes and focusing on one-on-one RPG's and interacting with a small circle of writers.

Offline

My traditional RPG'ing experience spans almost 20 years where I have taken part in and/or ran campaigns in many different well known systems and genres (Dungeons and Dragons, Shadowrun, etc.), finding all of game engines lacking in one way or another I developed my own and it has been the only one my RPG crew has used for the past 16 years and been through too many numerous revisions to count. After a nearly 4 year break caused by real life getting in the way, my offline RPG crew starts back up again in January.

Compare and Contrast the sites you rpg'ed on, to the CV's rpg section

Comic Vine is the first and only online RPG scene I have ever taken part in before, to be honest I've never actually looked for one before and stumbled in here by chance after a period of time participating in other sections of the site. The only comparison I could offer is between online and offline RPG but that would be a really, really long answer so lets just say night and day.

What are some positives about the CV's rpg section.

Diversity – By not being tied to a local geography you get a mix of people making the writers and not just the inhabitants of the fictional universe a true melting pot. Different backgrounds means different perspectives which is always a plus when it comes to the creative side of RPG, on the other had it also makes getting such a group to agree on anything even more difficult than usual.

Logistics – The true selling point of online RPG has been and always will be the ease of access, as long as you have a laptop and a steady internet connection you have a forum to participate in regardless of where you are. This factor alone probably accounts for the sheer majority of people who have ever tried out RPG'ing here, if only they stuck around.....

Name some things you'd change around here if you could?

I could honestly write a book on this, and there are enough of my long-form “Fix-the-Vine” posts floating out there someone can search for should they want to hear it all in detail, but lets assume not everyone wants me to repeat and I'll just stick to the one point I have probably repeated more than any other, as well as the one that is IMO the most obvious and easily fixed should everyone just get over themselves.

We > Me

RPG is a collaborative effort, the product of a multitude of writers creating stories and events that take place in a shared universe, yet all too often no one can see past their character, wants, needs, and goals. So many of the failed and abandoned directions and events can be boiled down to ego and short-sightedness dooming a promising premise because someone(s) just does not care enough to take the time to consider how their actions affect the other people involved.

Sadly there are way too many people far more interested in showing off than actually creating a compelling storyline that has a purpose and impact for everyone involved. Even the majority of whom are usually considered the “elite” Vine RPG writers fail in this regard on a consistent basis and simply assume people will find their own place in an event not their own and with the outcome completely out of their hands. Just one of the many things that has never failed to boggle my mind abut the way things go on here.

What's the difference between rpgers and writers?

Writers focus on telling THEIR story, RPG'ers focus on telling OUR story.

An RPG writer takes the time to integrate his/her ideas into other aspects of the shared universe as to make the sum of the whole greater than the parts, if all you really care about is how things affect you and yours, go write Fan-Ficton and stop cluttering the RPG section.

Do you think New Rpgers have a hard time establishing themselves?

Absolutely, there has been some improvement since Prime but there are still far more reasons for a prospective RPG'er to just not bother than there are to stick it out. The addition of mentors is nice and all but when most of the advice boils down to “just go do something” because after 5-6 years there is still no mechanism in place to really help integrate newer people, that speaks volumes and I'm never shocked when people just vanish wondering what is the point.

Organizationally speaking, Vine RPG is in an embarrassing state, for all of Prime's faults people still at least took the time and pride to record characters, teams, and events of note to make some sense of canon, yet the CVnU version has not been updated in who knows when. If that reference point was not available when I showed up in Prime as a guide to work off of, I never would have even bothered in the first place. Expecting prospects to stick it out when all the burden is placed on them from the onset is asking for failure.

From your tenure here, what do you think could help activity?

Foundation – The CVnU lacks any kind of stable foundation whatsoever, and by that I mean active teams and organizations that last for the long-term and do not just pop up and disappear whenever a single writer or event has run its course, grinding any associated momentum to a sudden and complete halt. Even something as little as a single Blue-leaning and Red-leaning team could be the pillar to spin new things off of while always having the steady presence for when other things come and go. How many teams have come and gone because one popped up without a counterpart to contend with? This isn't rocket science.

Power Limits and Specialists – There are so many characters that between their power sets, abilities, skills, and NPC's that they really do not need anyone to accomplish any of their goals, and they rarely do unless that is as some kind of lackey or cameo role that no one but the most extremely bored would want to bother with. People are so worried about creating “character builds” covering every base in terms of combat, they completely lost focus on the collaborative aspect of RPG. The whole point is to need others to cover all the bases because it forces team-ups to deal with situations as they come up and creates interactions that actually make sense and are not just random right-place-right-time drivel.

Name 3 of your favorite rpgs

Big Trouble Comes In Small Packages – My first flashback RPG (with Mercy) between Armistice and Ellie Knightfall, it was these one-on-one, closed, and plot over battle based RPG's that kept me from abandoning the CVnU a long time ago. Neither of the two characters may have the impact of others on the CVnU but they IMO tower over anything else out there in terms of depth of personality and history between characters, not just a bio on a page.

What Happens In Vegas – This actually barely ever got off the ground but I really did enjoy the limited time where Feral Nova and I began to flesh out the relationship between Armistice and Honor Girl between here and the Sovereigns. Nova is such a refreshing change-of-pace by playing a character that you can actually relate with at some level and not a perfect-in-their-own-mind uber-meta with the personality of a WWE wrestler. It's nice to see a character that does not have all the answers, and a writer that is confident enough to play that role and not be ashamed for it.

An Unexpected Reunion – I'm sure certain people will be shocked I chose not just a battle, but a non-canon one as one of my favorites, but it is actually the only battle I ever enjoyed myself having on the Vine. It was the only one that felt natural and not forced, I cannot mention the number of battle requests I have had in the past and no one ever bothered to take into account why the two were fighting in the first place. This one sold itself.

Do You believe the Vine has a clique problem?

Yes and no, there is nothing wrong with having an established set of writers that you work with the majority of the time, but if you never even try to expand that circle things become closed off and stagnant. IMO most of the vets on here have been in a rut for quite some time and tend to filter through alt after alt because none of them stand up to their old main in Prime in their own mind. Too many of the same writers falling into the same relationships and roles because its comfortable when they should be challenging themselves.

I did not even want to be part of a team, much less lead one when I created the Sovereigns, but at the time there were two villain teams and no hero ones. After watching a PM involving creating one spin its wheels and go nowhere I decided to just do it on my own as to not miss out on the rare opportunity of having active teams on both sides of the equation. While the team flamed out because both the HFC and Monarchs vanished almost the moment we got rolling, it was from that I started working with Feral Nova and Edward Windsor into what became integral parts of Armistice and his ties to the CVnU in general (Not to mention the first time I had ever written with LL, Andres, Darkchild, Pyro,etc). That is quite a bit of an expansion based off of a single premise and IMO got that much attention not because of me, but because it was designed to tie into events and not just be thrown against the wall and hoped it worked.

What usually kills your participation in rpgs?

Why Factor – If the reason behind the events do not make any sense and are little more than a paint-by-numbers and half-ass excuse to square off and battle, I'm gone. People fighting for what boils down to no good reason other than it is convenient for the lame so-called plot puts me to sleep. I would challenge people to take a look back at many events and really ask themselves if it really stands up to even minor scrutiny, you might be surprised by how flawed they look in hindsight.

Preconceived End – If we are going to be honest for a moment, the result of the vast majority of events are cast before the first post is made. Someone puts in an amount of effort to put a plan in motion and very rarely is a monkey-wrench allowed to change them in anything more than a superficial way. Nothing kills interest in an event more than knowing that nothing you do really matters because the person running it will negate your impact at will to keep things on track. This is the number one cause of heroes no longer bothering to defend, what is the point when the track record says you are meant to lose.

Stroking – This is when an RPG really comes down to someone just wanting to show/remind people just how smart, powerful, awesome, etc. their character is and it really has no real purpose outside of that. If you are creating an RPG or event and the impact starts and ends with your character and your character alone, you are not a bad-ass, you are a clueless tool.

Loved it.

First interview I didn't enjoy reading, but that's more of a personal issue. Keep up the good work Shanna.

I actually really liked this interview... I think because of how Armistice broke everything down and I knew what was going on LOL

Niceeeeeee

Kinda self righteous. A good interview though.

Interview with Mercy

Okay this has got to be one of the more insightful interviews. Loved it.

In-depth answers. You could feel these werent just thrown out answers but genuine ones. And that is because the questions were spot on. They were questions I think the majority of people wanted to hear Mercy answer. Awesome job(s) :)

@gambler: @_cain_:

@mercy_: I don't see anything XD.

LMAO. Figures.

Anyways, thanks, guys <3

Sha's doing an amazing job running these.

Aww Mercy :)

Nice interview .

Letter to the Editor

From Mt. Fire to infamous (let's not forget numerous) battles with Nova to KOV to now, what has been YOUR Favorite RPG?

Man, what a question. My favorite RPG would have to be either Vine 2030 or The Conference. It kind of sucks that with as many RPG’s I’ve been in since then; that I’d choose an old one. Both of these RPG’s had elements in them that made rpging fun; for me at least.

There were set lines of heroes and villains, a strong sense of conflict (Both MvM), and tons of character development. 2030 was a “Non-Canon” RPG that drew from a bunch of canon events. What made it so good for me was the fact that it drew widespread participation.

The conference was a canon RPG, but it was an example of how a series of canonical events should operate. It answered the questions that the previous RPG’s before it left standing, nothing seemed forced or out of the blue.

Where do you get your ideas? I mean it's no secret you're one rpg'er who always seems to have ideas. So, where do they all from? (Characters, rpgs, teams, etc.)

A lot of my teams come from well, other teams; or something along those lines. Same for characters, I can create a characters based off anything or, any person. The tricky thing is separating them from the rest of the universe. That’s a task in itself because; the people here are equally creative, so I like to draw from religion, typically extreme social groups; and things deemed socially immoral. You know things people wouldn’t dare touch (Like Incest, or sex)

“A real writer has real issues” I try to blend as much reality as I can into a fantasy based world. It’s one thing to write a concept, character or team that LIVED through the Civil Rights Movement, that’s not to hard most of what we know about the civil rights movement is only a google away.

It’s a totally different thing to create the struggle, to create the conflict, to create the players; those things take time; but those are things I like to do. So in short just the world around me.

What is your process on creating a character? Or a RPG?

Why did it happen?

How does this affect everyone else?

What happens next?

I can usually set up a story by asking myself these three questions, if I can answer them without too much revising I know where I want to go; if I can’t then it’s, back to the drawing board.

What brought you to the RPG section?

I came to the RPG section with two friends of mine, but I didn’t start as an rpger; I sort of just wandered around. I didn’t really read comics or anything, I was just sort of here because I didn’t have anything else to do. I remember logging in one day and getting a message from Cobalt; about We Are Legend, and Man of Forever about Tenth Magnitude. After that I created Mt.Fire only 4 days of being here; after that I’ve been here ever since.

The RPG section seems diverse at times, and at other times, not so much. What do you wish you saw more of and less of (Character and RPG WISE?)

I hate (and always have) hated this system of; “It’s in my bio so, I’m a badass”. It’s the system many of us were indoctrinated into, so it’s a non-issue. If it were me, the bios would contain the most basic information for a character; and the accolades that came with it would be validated in an actual RPG.

Now, I understand why that Can’t be done; but If I could I’d change that.

What advice do you have for new rpg'er coming on to this crazy scene?

Don’t suck lmfao.

No, just have fun. Don’t get caught up in this BS talk about the Vine’s elite, cliques, illuminati; or any of that other crap. Take the advice you need, write what you want, and achieve what you came for; cheesy? I know; I’m tired lol Ciaocitos.

@fallenprophet: Well done buddy! Well done.

Wonder if I'm on the list...

@_tails_: Do a character interview. <.<

@schlampe:

I'd totes do an IC interview. Don't know which character, but I'd do one.

OMG...LOL.....I think Mercy, being a lock-keeper, has took a huge tole on me. Now every time I read a word that begins with "L" in it. I see "lock".....I swear, I saw "lock", like, fifty timed in his/her interview...Every time Mercy post, I feel like a little kid when their parents are around.

I think I'm becoming paranoid...

dO.Ob

Great answers Mercy

Wonderful interview as usual,loved it. :D
That moment when Mercy mentions the vet user illuminati that I said totally existed. lol