HMD #5

[jacket]

damned_institute HMD Meme

PLEASE READ ALL OF THE BELOW RULES BEFORE POSTING.

1. POSTING TO THIS MEME IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL. This means that if someone chooses not to participate, you must respect that decision and leave their characters out of any crit you post. Conversely, if you do choose to post your character(s) to the meme, you must accept all constructive input you receive. You do not have to agree with everyone's crit; however, any replies you post are expected to be courteous and respectful.

2. NO UNCONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS. Regardless of the kind of input you're giving, be it reinforcement of something positive or calling attention to something questionable, you must ALWAYS give concrete reasons for why you feel the way you do. "Because," "due to," and "since" are examples of the kind of vocabulary you should use in your feedback. You are also, of course, expected to be courteous and respectful toward your fellow players.

3. PROHIBITED CONTENT IN COMMENTS:

• Unconstructive input, be it negative or positive
• Breaking any rules set by the original input request
• Malicious or sarcastic wording/emoting
• Threats or demands
• Falsification of facts
• Spamming

The above apply both to input givers and input receivers. Any comments containing the above will be subject to being deleted, frozen, or screened, and their posters will be subject to penalties.

IF YOU SEE ANY COMMENTS CONTAINING ANY OF THE ABOVE ISSUES, please do not reply to them and instead notify one of the Head Mods immediately.

4. IP LOGGING IS TURNED ON. However, Court, Psyche and I are the only people who will be able to see the IPs, and we will absolutely not share this information with anyone. The logging will only be used to identify rule-breakers, should the need arise.

5. PLEASE USE THE TEMPLATE BELOW FOR YOUR INPUT REQUEST. If you would like to specify certain guidelines, explain yourself, or ask for focus on a particular aspect of your playing, feel free to do so in the "other" section. Remember: if you're uncomfortable with receiving input in a public setting or if you'd like to give Anons the option of giving you input without their IP being logged, you are perfectly welcome to specify your preferences and link people to your character's personal HMD.

Name/Handle:
Character(s) Played: Character Name (char_username), Character Name (char_username)
Anon input allowed?: Y/N
Other: (optional)

<b>Name/Handle:</b> <b>Character(s) Played:</b> Character Name (<lj user="char_username">), Character Name (<lj user="char_username">) <b>Anon input allowed?:</b> Y/N <b>Other:</b> (optional)

---

We're fairly certain no significant problems will arise, but if they do, please e-mails us at damned.mods[at]gmail[dot]com. Alternatively, you can also PM, IM or private Plurk either Court, Psyche or myself. If you have any questions, concerns, or reports about the meme, please do not hesitate to bring them to us.

Thank you!

Comments

GAME THREAD

[jacket]

This is a thread for crit about the game itself! Suggestions, ideas, and so forth can go here, but the same rules that apply for player crit apply here. Do not post anything unconstructive or malicious. Anonymous comments are allowed.

Re: GAME THREAD

[inherited]

I've been trying to come up with a way to suggest things for the game for a while, but I realize that it's more of a criticism than a suggestion. I don't feel adequately immersed enough in Damned's setting half the time to make suggestions on plot, and I'm not sure "plot suggestions" are the way to go. I think that might fall on you guys.

But ... to be completely frank, I'd like for more plots to be less things that happen to characters or things the characters respond to or have to go look at or whatever, and more things that will actually lead to some end. At this point, Damned has been going for a very long time, and the playerbase has shrunk down a lot. I feel as if Damned could successfully pull off plots that involve aspects of the playerbase base at slower paces than what's typically going down. I am not saying they get out of the institute or anything like that. But there is only a handful of things and for me, as a player, the prospect of "a new area to explore" is really boring for me as a writer. I realize there's a plot, but the plot is ran about 90% by NPCs and what information the characters do have, they aren't able to employ it as well as they'd like—if at all.

Other games (ones I'm in, ones I'm not in) have been able to employ plots that give characters information to run with. Damned, in a lot of ways, has the constant feel of things being the same. Stickers/badges/missions/etc. are different things to do, this is true, but it doesn't ultimately add up to much. I understand the game is survival horror, but it feels less like that and more like trying to hopelessly find things before you come up for air before a new day starts. I'm not sure if that's what Damned is meant to be.

I guess my overall crit is to have some kind of plot (or multiple plots) that employs the characters more and has them carry things out and potentially have good, bad, and neutral endings to each plot. Have things change as a result of things that the characters do, rather than what the NPCs are doing around them. That way, it's a lot more constructive and the characters might eventually see a point in building up a better system of communication within. Perhaps another way to alter Damned would be to come up with ways to promote that communication within the characters beyond a third party (IE the radio). I'm not sure what that can be, either.

I want to repeat: I think that the game itself and its structure is fine, but adding new things to work with that aren't things that have a stop and start, things that can actually build up and go somewhere, etc. might help add some new feeling to the game. I think plots designed around the characters actually affecting it instead of responding to crap happening to them would be more effective, and if executed well, the people not interested in those paths could just as easily avoid them. I think the world of Damned is rich, and I think altering the way the story of the game flows so that it really depends more on the characters could help. I'm not sure how, since I don't know where things will be going, but I find myself disinterested in the current sum of things because while it's interesting to play my characters through the horrors, there's a part of me that asks obvious questions: why don't all the characters just meet in the same place every night and work together? why haven't certain things just worked? why don't they have certain areas figured out? The smaller the game gets, the less believable it is for me as a player that these characters wouldn't be getting each other on the same page in an adequate fashion. This is through no fault of the players, mind you, but in the amount of handwaving and the way the game is set up. I guess I'm wondering if something new can be added, and if that might change the atmosphere.

[jacket]

Name/Handle: Jansen
Character(s) Played: Claude C. Kenni (earthling), Woody Pride (pullstring), Spock two_worlds, and Barnaby Brooks Jr. (baniichan)
Anon input allowed?: Yes!
Other: Since Barnaby's my newest character, I'm especially interested in hearing any feedback people may have about how I play him. But, obviously, crit for any of my other characters is great too. If people would like the option of leaving feedback without having their IP address logged, all of my character journals should have private HMD posts.

[diamondstorm]

Not really much, but I hadn't had a chance to thread with you before, and I just wanted to say that I was really impressed with how much content you put into Barnaby's posts. It's really nice to see that amount of detail.

[kwithay]

Name/Handle: Kristyn
Character(s) Played: The Scarecrow (scarefaux), Edgar Figaro (girlsandgadgets), Guybrush Threepwood (threepwood)
Anon input allowed?: Fine by me!
Other: I know I have been dreadfully slow as of late, but feel free to note it again!

[court]

Name/Handle: Court
Character(s) Played: Sora (lighthearted), Guy Cecil (nobleman), Harvey Dent / Two-Face (dualistic), Castiel (freewill)
Anon input allowed?: Y!
Other:

[jacket]

HI, COURT! 8)

I just want to say that I really appreciate how reliable and prompt you are with your threads and responses. It's really easy to form CR with you, which in turn helps open natural ways to do more extensive plotting between characters later. Honestly, I can't come up with anything for you to work on or do differently, but I wanted to mention it because it's something I do really enjoy about playing with you.

The only thing I guess I'd point out is that you seem a lot less stressed about threads now that you've dropped down to 4 characters. That's probably kind of obvious to you, but I think you made the right decision by scaling back.

Anyway, yes! Carry on my wayward so~n!

[javits]

Name/Handle: Javits
Character(s) Played: The Doctor (timedork), Orihara Izaya (propheteer), Firo Prochainezo (immortale)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: If anyone has some feedback on Prussia, since he's still kind of recently dropped, he's fair game, too!

[strayfag]

Name/Handle: Sra
Character(s) Played: Badou Nails (strayfag)
Anon input allowed?: Yup, anon is fine.
Other: 'Stop being so lazy' is totally valid and acceptable crit. u_u

[diamondstorm]

First off, really find it excellent that you re-apped (whenever back that was); secondly, I think I've said this from the beginning, but I'm so impressed with how much I can see Badou in your posts. I'm not up to date, but from reading what I did of the manga, all of his actions and reactions are completely believable under this kind of setting. Keep doing what you're doing, basically.

[terriblehaiku]

Name/Handle: Andy
Character(s) Played: Hijikata Toshizou (terriblehaiku), Gren Eckener (stellarregions)
Anon input allowed?: Sure... there's HMDs on their journals too, if you'd rather.
Other: Nothing I can think of?

[lysoke]

Name/Handle: Lysoke
Character(s) Played: Locke Cole (kings_thief), Johnny Rayflo (not_heavens_adam)
Anon input allowed?: Sure~
Other: I know Johnny hasn't inro'd yet. Juuust putting him here in case.

[corvus_veritas]

Name/Handle: Ginga
Character(s) Played: Byrne Faraday (corvus_veritas), Zero (dividedby)
Anon input allowed?: Yep - and there are HMDs on each of their journals if you'd prefer to post there!
Other:

yeaaah I got nothin'

[diamondstorm]

I haven't actually played Byrne's canon, though I've been meaning to. I have a couple of the games, but regardless, I can't really judge for ICness. For voice, however, on both Byrne and Zero, you amaze me constantly. It's obvious that Byrne is your main guy, but both of them bring so much to the table to work with. You're one of the handful whose posts have actually made me burst out laughing from the content. I don't see any weak points to point out from my threads with Byrne; he's a fully realized three-dimensional character and you show that beautifully. And Zero comes off well as an android trying to become used to the changes he's been given.

Oh, this isn't really helpful, but as an additive, I really want to say how impressed I am by how you've handled Byrne coming to terms with things in Landel's. He didn't just start believing and understanding things one hundred percent; he very realistically had a shift into it, and bounced between faith and disbelief. I have a fully human, no special attributes character that I'm considering apping, and I'm basically taking notes from you. XD It's a amazingly realistic approach to a human shoved into all of this, and I'm really glad to have been a part of all of those transitions.

[gald_digger]

Name/Handle: Pazu
Character(s) Played: Anise Tatlin (gald_digger), Rita Mordio (overlimit)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: I've had them both for a long while now, so let me know if I've slipped anywhere, or developed any bad habits!

[oyaji]

It's hard to develop good "bad" CR and I am so glad that Goku and Rita's dynamic works that way. I also think a lot of people are afraid to risk CR turning sour, but I enjoy it a lot. Not everyone can be friends and I am glad you are willing to put up with the idiocy that is Goku for a bit of bad CR XD

Thanks o/

[rainboompow]

Name/Handle: Eryn
Character(s) Played: Tenjou Utena (revolutionise), Scott Pilgrim (vstheworld), Rapunzel (hairraising), Rainbow Dash (rainboompow), Dr. Peter Venkman (ghostbusting), NS-Only Sam (burngoddamnyou)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: CONCRIT ON RAINBOW DASH PLEEEASE. For any of my others is awesome too, but I'd love to know how I'm doing with my newest. (Feel free to comment on my activity as well. adsfasf;;; )

[(Anonymous)]

I can't do this logged in, because I was your Rainbow Dash second opinion.

I noticed that you made some changes in response to my suggestions, like setting her age a little bit younger. I think you deserve praise for making good decisions, putting a lot of thought into the character, and being willing to make adjustments.

Keep up the good work!

[vinesofregret]

Name/Handle: Cocoa
Character(s) Played: Cho Hakkai (vinesofregret)
Anon input allowed?: Y

[complicatedliar]

Name/Handle: Katsu
Character(s) Played: Renji (norainu), Loki (complicatedliar)
Anon input allowed?: Sure, why not.

[oneman_onekill]

Name/Handle: Tiki
Character(s) Played: Kratos Aurion (forsworn), Niikura Shou (oneman_onekill), Prof. Layton (puzzle4thought)
Anon input allowed?: Y also HMD's are on all of their journals if you would prefer that
Other: I'm really looking for crit on Layton most of all since I've been feeling shaky with him...might be because there aren't enough puzzles and he's out of his element, but I haven't been feeling 100% about his voice. This might be why his tags are taking 500x more time than all others. (I'm so sorry, Jansen and Ginga ;A;)

[diamondstorm]

Name/Handle: Aison
Character(s) Played: Renamon (diamondstorm), Albedo (purgatio), Mikado (ofthemotions), Rei (hasnomeaning).
Anon input allowed?: Y.
Other: Let me know if I'm slipping anywhere. Or if there's things to work on.

[dividedby]

I've always thought it's so cool how you've got four characters into play, and yet they all have their own style going on. I mean, the way you write each one is really different without straying too far from your own personal writing style, and that allows each character's personality stand out while one can still be able to tell you wrote them. If...that makes any sense. this is really really hard for me to describe. XD;;; BUT YEAH. Personally, I find that balance between character voice uniqueness and my own writing style to be challenging with even just two different characters, not to mention trying to make them sound unique from each other alone, so I've always looked up to you for being able to do that so well!

Now, while I can't tell you if you've been specifically slipping with characterization (as the only series you play from that I'm familiar with is Digimon, of which I...only know the first season XD;;;;), you haven't been slipping with Renamon as far as I can tell from all the threads I've had with her. Her voice to me has always been very constant and believable. I've never had a moment where I read a tag from her and thought 'wow, Renamon really did/said that? That seems kind of ooc'. So yeah! I'd say you're just fine with her voice, and overall, I don't think you need to work on anything as far I can tell. Keep up the good tagging! o/

[survives]

Name/Handle: Alex
Character(s) Played: Leanne (survives)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: I'm totally interested in hearing any and all crit! ...Aaaaand "Be faster, damnit" is totally acceptable crit too, sob.

[inherited]

Name/Handle: Alison
Character(s) Played: Riku (inherited), Ramona V. Flowers (fluctuate)
Anon input allowed?: Sure.
Other: I know I'm a super unreliable tagger at the moment, but I am trying to get it together. I got kind of behind on homework but after tonight, I should be back up to snuff.

[no_dont_go]

Name/Handle: Cager
Character(s) Played: Aigis (no_dont_go), Ilia Silvestri (avengingfists), Shiina Nagasawa (requitedfate)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: Feel free to speak your mind! I know I've been slow, but hopefully I'll be able to pick up the pace in a few weeks when I wrap up some things.

[crouchingtiger]

Name/Handle: Tsuki
Character(s) Played: Claire Stanfield (railroadmenace), Kurama (vulpinisms)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: Anything goes! Really. I just need all the feedback, whatever kind! Even if it's the 'you suck at tagging on time, do something about it!' kind of feedback!

[psyches]

Name/Handle: Psyche
Character(s) Played: Nigredo (atrabilis), Tear Grants (fonichymn)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: Each of my characters have an anon-friendly, IP-logging-off HMD post in their respective journals.

[mirthful]

Name/Handle: Lauren
Character(s) Played: Gamzee Makara (mirthful)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: If you don't want to post here, there is an HMD post on his journal as well.

[grimnir]

Name/Handle: Claire
Character(s) Played: Depth Charge (cpt_minnow), Inspector Lunge (herr_inspektor)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: Both characters have anon-enabled HMD posts in their journals as well, if you don't feel comfortable posting here. I'm also very open to any crit that isn't specifically related to either character, related to OOC plotting and the like or related to a character I've dropped (namely Kibitoshin)!

[oyaji]

I've only played with Depth Charge once so far, but I really enjoyed our thread together. Depth Charge is the gruff type and I think a lot of people have a hard time finding and holding onto long-term CR with those kinds of characters, but the way you portray him and play him makes him very accessible despite that.

A+++ WOULD RP WITH AGAIN!

[puddingtreat]

Name/Handle: Sam
Character(s) Played: Muroi Seishin (unpriest),
Anon input allowed?: Y!
Other: There's a HMD post in Seishin's journal, if you prefer that. But other than that, please let me know if there's anything amiss with how I'm playing Seishin. ^^ Thank you!

[ninelivesonce]

Name/Handle: valentinite
Character(s) Played: Sangamon Taylor (toxicspiderman), Taura (ninelivesonce), Lana Skye (fourstonewalls), Rose Lalonde (lovecraftcomplex), Rover (byhookorby).
Anon input allowed?: Y. All of my characters have HMDs in their journal, although I don't know if I remembered to turn off IP logging after the DW import. The LJ accounts definitely have unlogged HMDs.
Other: I know I've been a little flakey about typos and HTML failure lately; I'm working on it, but feel free to PM me if I have a glaring failure.

[oyaji]

Name/Handle: Claire
Character(s) Played: Son Goku (monkeyboy), Luke fon Fabre (dispersive), Ippo Makunouchi (ippo), Kotetsu T. Kaburagi (oyaji)
Anon input allowed?: Y
Other: All my journals have HMD if you would prefer posting there. I am open to any and all constructive crit, especially Luke and Kotetsu since they are my newest additions.