Re:Guidlines for Creating Mutants

[Qzzrbl]

...like "youth", "brute", "amputee" are still being allowed. From what I can gather, the reason they're still allowed is because when such a noun is accepted, it's usually assumed to be human, or human-ish.

I've never seen amputee or brute used. Youth is usually human, or half-breed if it's not noticeable. Otherwise, you would probably need to do 'elven youth' or 'dwarven youth', etc.

I think I've seen a couple of "brutes" and an amputee in my time, and I had no clue what their race was until I looked at them, humans all around.

The same goes for "Crone", there's been a few of those around.

With other races, I'm sure you'd have to put "elven crone" or "half-giant brute" or "halfling amputee", but if the character's a human or a breed, you wouldn't have to denote race in the sdesc.

But "mutant", you have to denote race no matter what race it is.

I'm just having a little trouble following the logic behind the change. 

[Myrdryn]

What do mutants look like?


























Now, what do crones, brutes and amputees look like?

Which is most definitive?  Which is least definitive?

[Qzzrbl]

"A human mutant" still leaves me no clue whatsoever of what the mutant looks like.

And if we follow the same guidelines with "crone" or "youth" or any of those other nouns, then anyone with "mutant" in the sdesc will be assumed to be human.

Because here's what I'm seeing:

Half-giants: Must denote race in sdesc.
Elves: Must denote race in sdesc.
Halflings: Must denote race in sdesc.
Dwarves: Must denote race in sdesc.
Muls: Must denote race in sdesc.
Humans: Can end with "man", "brute", "crone".... Heh, pretty much anything. No need to put "human" in there. But you can't use mutant unless you denote race too.
Half-elves: Can end with "man", "brute", "crone".... Heh, pretty much anything, so long as you selected "human" as to what it looks like, you don't need to put "human" in there. But you can't use mutant unless you denote race too.

[Nyr]

It's that way because staff said so after staff discussion on it.  There's no IC reasoning on it.  It is OOC policy; it is staff policy.  It's okay to disagree with it, and you do.

[Qzzrbl]

Well what's the OOC reasoning behind it then? And why has it become OOC policy?

"If a mutation will affect you so strongly that your base race is no longer discernible, it is not acceptable for play as a character.  Your base race must be READILY apparent in both your short description and your main description.  Mutant is no longer acceptable as a short description keyword."

That's pretty much the reason I got out of it, the change was made stop any misdirection as to what race a character was, and why "mutant" is no longer an acceptable keyword. Even if the character's mutations still allowed him to make his race clear in his mdesc.

But just about every sdesc that doesn't have "man" or "human" or lacks any denotation of race in it leaves everyone in the dark as to what race the character is at a distance just as well. Yet they are still allowed.

And saying, "It's that way because we say so." is, no offense, a pretty weak argument, and certainly doesn't answer my question as to why only "mutant" was taken out as a main noun, while others that equally hide race at a distance are still allowed.

Nouns that are definitely okay to use in an sdesc       

   * adolescent
   * amputee
   * blond/blonde
   * brunette
   * brute
   * crone
   * female
   * hag
   * humanoid
   * lad
   * lass
   * maiden
   * male
   * man
   * midget
   * redhead
   * teen
   * teenager
   * youth
   * woman

Any sdesc using these nouns without denoting race does -exactly- what "mutant" did when it was still allowed.

But every race other than humans or breed pretty much have to say what their race is anyway, so humans are the only ones that use them, thusly it can be safely assumed any PC not denoting race in their sdesc is either a human, or a breed.

If all these can be used in lieu of "human" in a human or half-elf sdesc, why can't mutant?

And you're right, I do disagree, and I'll continue to disagree until I get sound reasoning behind the change.

[Cerelum]

Half-elves: Can end with "man", "brute", "crone".... Heh, pretty much anything, so long as you selected "human" as to what it looks like, you don't need to put "human" in there. But you can't use mutant unless you denote race too.

Half elves who are trying to fake being human can use deceptive nouns?

If this is true that's awesome, cause the problem with playing a half-elf that is creatively designed DESC wise is that any twink can go, contact figure, you connect with blahy, blah half-elf and know they are a half-elf, at least with a creative, deceptive noun you have a way around that.

[Yam]

Half-elves: Can end with "man", "brute", "crone".... Heh, pretty much anything, so long as you selected "human" as to what it looks like, you don't need to put "human" in there. But you can't use mutant unless you denote race too.

Half elves who are trying to fake being human can use deceptive nouns?

If this is true that's awesome, cause the problem with playing a half-elf that is creatively designed DESC wise is that any twink can go, contact figure, you connect with blahy, blah half-elf and know they are a half-elf, at least with a creative, deceptive noun you have a way around that.

You never had to use half-elf as an sDesc noun when creating one.

[Nyr]

You seem to be hung up on (and have admitted to this being a personal bother) something pretty minor:  that the word mutant can't be used in sdescs.  This (and all argument about it) should only deal with mutants, because that is the only thing we've addressed with this policy.
Other staffers and myself have offered explanations and elaborations and discussion on this matter as well as the overarching reasoning behind it.

The OOC reasoning behind it is that people were creating mutants that were too mutated.  We hope to curb that with this new policy.
It has become OOC policy by necessity to reduce staff workload on deciding whether or not a mutant is acceptable.
We're only dealing with mutations and mutants because there appeared to be too much leeway in the existing policy and documentation to allow full-out monsters rather than minor mutations.

Bringing up all sdesc words is a red herring.

[Adhira]

I'm locking this thread now. I'm sorry that some people are upset with the changes but these are in place and will remain in place for the forseeable future.