I'm A Forum Games Recluse, Ama

Did I announce this beforehand? Nah. Do I expect to be pelted with questions? I don't know. I hide in the not-this-section.

Permission to start this granted by @Pretzule (as well as permission to tag), so thanks again!



Who am I? I'm a recluse who writes Void Rift. I'm fairly good at math. I play too much Gungeon. I like Rubik's cubes. I'm a really big idiot irl even though some of my achievements make me look intelligent.

What do you want to know about me? I don't know, I'm not you. (I hope)

Spoiler: My only "rules"

- Please don't ask much personal stuff.
- I reserve the right to refuse an answer to a question.
- I've also never actually done an AMA before, so please bear with me if I do something "wrong."
- Not a fan of slurs and I don't really care for memes. Please keep this at least somewhat serious.

That aside...

Ask me (almost) anything!

 

What are said achievements that make you look intelligent?

 

The below are subjective, and I'm just going off of what I hear.

Spoiler: "Achievements"

- 6 chess tournament trophies (I hate chess now tho)
- Three math comp trophies
- A certificate for being the highest scorer in my group at a national math comp
- A plaque for being the highest scorer on a math test in my state
- 1520 combined score on the SAT on my first attempt

On paper, people say those make me look intelligent.
People who know me are still trying to figure out how I'm passing my classes.

 

Can you give me some advice on how to stop sucking at Gungeon?

 

- Play recklessly early on. If you start out by playing it safe, you're less used to tense situations later chambers force you into.
- Learn to love the starting arms... Exception for the Rogue Special because it hurts my brain so much.
- Patience. Nothing kills me more than trying to rush something.
- Challenge mode. Yes, it's painful, but the more you practice challenge mode, magically normal runs become easier.
- Identify what kills you, and for practice, opt to kill it last. The longer you can survive without shooting, the longer you last with shooting.
- Wait and look for patterns in room spawns. There are a bunch of different rooms, but enemy spawns are scripted per-room. Generation is random, waves are not.

 

kfc and watermelon?

 

I refer to rule 2 and made rule 4 as a response.

 

What do you recommend doing for a person who is thinking of joining a RP (Role Playing) game, such as Void Rift, D&D (Dungeon And Dragons) or just create one for their family and friends?

 

In my opinion, the best way to begin is to think of a character. They don't have to be complex and have a bunch of quirks - but make sure they have a problem. Make them dissatisfied, and go from there. Decide why they're dissatisfied, who or what made them that way, and make up ideas the character might try (character, not you) to "fix" it.

From there, just find someone willing to have you. Find a game that looks interesting (or multiple) and apply.
The only thing I wish was a rule, is that you should be a player in a RP before you become a host of a RP. When I started fleshing out Void Rift, I made tons of mistakes that brought everything grinding to a halt just a month in. I tried again and improved, but still did not do well. Then, I realized I didn't know much about keeping people's interest. If you want to be a good host, you need to keep the interest of a core group of players - at the time, I just wasn't sure how.
If you play in a RP or two before you try and host, you'll get a feel for what the community you're working with is used to, what they expect, and you can get a feel for what keeps them coming back. (Also, you learn to be flexible - most people aren't a fan of "rigid" hosts)

Spoiler: Extra Comments

Void Rift was a bold exception to that. I didn't know this community, and I didn't even know that the forums had recently gotten wiped. However, I had an idea of what some people were motivated by, and I originally focused my writing around that motivation. It didn't go over too well at first (I tried to cater to the wrong crowd), but once I got a feel for what my little group liked, I could start writing more specifically to keep their attention - and I don't just mean their character's attention.
Two years later, I can pretty safely say that the extra effort to try and figure out what the person behind the characters liked to do paid off.

 

Funny story.
I particapated in like 4 RP's before I started Turbo Charged Racers, and I still lost 2 of my 5 players because I couldn't make thier story interesting and I didn't really know what to do with them. In the end, thier notifications broke so they just quit.

 

Have you played Binding of Isaac b4?

 

Yes. Felt way too slow for me, and vanilla Isaac had crappy balance in the mix. Not a fan of either, but I understand the appeal.

 

Have you ever played D&D?

What are your preferred subjects at school?

 

No, but I've been considering it as of late.

Math and science, particularly physics, geology, and calc.
Somewhat ironic considering I host a giant forum rp and write in my free time, I hate english/literature with enough spite to completely ignore my teacher half the time. (I will withhold comments on just how utterly garbage my current english teacher is)

 

How’d you manage to get an AMA

 

You ask a mod and then they ask you questions and then they either say yes or no

Oh, how did I manage to get one? Good question

 

So, void rift is over 2000 pages as of now, and is the longest running forum rp on this server. Did you ever expect it to get this large?

 

Nowhere near this. At all.
I came to Wynncraft Forums because I came to the realization that the community on the other forums were part of my problem - I can't keep the interest of people who just aren't there all the time. The fact that it worked out this well is insane.

I've put in more work into VR than my schooling. It might not be good, but this is definitely a run to remember.
It died once, and came back bigger. It died again, and came back bigger.
It died a third time, and now it's the glorious mess I (somehow) manage now.

 

Have you ever thought about writing your own book.

 

Yes. Multiple times.

I don't want to, but I should probably.