04-15-2010, 03:06 PM | #31 | |
In Nomine Line Editor
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Frozen Wastelands of NH
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
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--Beth Shamelessly adding Superiors: Lilith, GURPS Sparrials, and her fiction page to her .sig (the latter is not precisely gaming related) |
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04-15-2010, 05:21 PM | #32 | |
Untitled
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
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However, Superiors do make an honest effort (or a dishonest effort, in the case of some Demon Princes) to ensure the Vessels they make for their Servitors behave in ways similar to the ways actual bodies behave. Not where it would be inconvenient, of course (thus the removal of the requirement to eat or sleep), but they do try to have Vessels blend in. Hence, bullets do some damage to a Vessel. The closer the Vessel's hit points are to an actual human's hit points, the better the Vessel responds to certain stimuli. (How's that for a rationalization?) Except for whoever Novalis dropped onto. She wouldn't kill anything... <g>
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Rob Kelk “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch, Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950 No longer reading these forums regularly. |
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04-15-2010, 07:14 PM | #33 |
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
Killing? What a gauche way to put it. She's recycling. Those flowers have to be fertilized somehow ...
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“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking” --Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger" |
04-15-2010, 09:54 PM | #34 |
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Bellflower, CA
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
It just occurred to me that we were concentrating on the gun aspect so much we forgot his initial questions.
What's the difference between a corporate takeover and a merger? What responsibilities does a CEO have and how are they different from those of a president, a major shareholder or a member of the board of directors? When in role, who does the character answer to? I believe Rocket Man did his usual awesome job answering these. I know I'll find them handy. Thanks Rocket Man! Who are his greatest competitors? For what? His position? I would say the people directly below him, like his assistants and such. Remember, when you are climbing up the ladder, there is always someone trying to knock you off. Aren't you always looking for a promotion? Most importantly, what elements of the corporate world can I utilize to enhance the quality of my story? What can't you utilize? Anything and everything you find is always good for adding more authenticity to a story and that is always great for getting the players more emotionally involved. Looking for info on the corporate world is a challenge because there is so much. It would be better if you had more specific questions and Google or Wiki them. My very first job out of college was at a global corporation and I can give you my observations (for all it's worth) In a corporation, there are so many people, promotions are hard to come by. Standing out was tough, and if you are really good you probably won't get promoted because you are too valuable where you are. That was my mistake. I was too good at what I was doing. They wouldn't fire me (I survived three rounds of layoffs) and they couldn't promote me because no one else could do my job half as well as I did. It was frustrating. Networking was very important. You never know who could open that door for you, so it was very important to be able to meet people, talk to them (and most importantly), have them remember you. Something to think about is how the corporate office are run. When I was working there, we had two buildings. One was where R&D and marketing took place. So our building was very casual. Jeans and t-shirt was the standard dress code and there were posters and other fun stuff everywhere. This building was very fun and casual. The other building was where the Board's offices were, and it was where all the wheeling and dealing took place. That place was very business formal. Everyone was dressed in proper business attire and I used to hate going there. In my building, people would joke and laugh but then I would go to this other building and I felt very out of place. My sneakers would echo and it was very quiet. Everyone whispered and it was a very sterile atmosphere. One of the most important person in any department we used to refer to as the 'gatekeeper'. This person (me in this case) was the pointperson for their department to the rest of the company. This was to ensure that only the most important things got in the door because 80% of the time the gatekeeper is able to do it. For instance, I was the gatekeeper for the Creative Department. We did all of the promotional pieces and packaging for products. Most of the time people wanted PDFs of things, or other assets and I was the one who got it to them so that the designers weren't interrupted. At one point there were people in Europe and Asia who knew my name because no one will talk to them. They would forward their emails to me to take care of it. Everything was on schedules and they were made way in advance. Everything we worked on we had at least eight months from talking about it to actually getting it done. And our stuff came in towards the end of the big project, which was usually on a three year time table. Milestones were set and HAD to be met, no exceptions. But one thing that always struck me, every year the head of my department always had to cut costs by 5-7%. If we came under budget, we would scramble to use up whatever was left because otherwise our budget would be cut by whatever we had managed to save. The logic being, if you didn't use it this year then you don't need it next year. So there was always pressure to meet our budget, exactly. I never understood that. It was like we were being punished for being smart. I am not sure if this helps at all. If it doesn't I'll apologize now. But feel free to ask me to clarify things. Just because it makes sense to me doesn't mean it makes sense to anyone else...:P |
04-16-2010, 08:51 AM | #35 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
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I do not agree that an unsuspecting demon in a human vessel (which behaves like a regular human vessel in most ways) should be able to survive a high-powered, high-caliber, high-gunpowder-packed sniper rifle round fired at terminal velocity when it connects directly with his forehead. At the very least, I think that if it didn't make his head explode, it would open up a new can of worms for anyone who witnessed the event. I get what you're saying: it's just a metal shell, and he's an immortal entity bound into a vessel constructed by a Demon Prince. I still think his head should pop like a ripe melon in a Gallagher show. Maybe it's the human in me? Even if you score a miss with that weapon, they say that the force of the round is so powerful that can wrench away body parts. Now, a demon who has enough consciousness to activate a song of healing, or who has an operative shield...well, that's a different story. Unfortunately, hit points work exactly the same way for humans as they do for Celestials. Systematically, a human with toughness/2, corporeal forces/3 and a strength/8 is no different from a demon with vessel/2, corporeal forces/3, strength/8 (with the exception that the human pays more.) Cinematically they're different, but systematically they have the exact same HP. Even a really powerful rifle with an Accuracy +2, Power +8 isn't going to one-shot someone with 40 HP. I've considered trying to generate rules for called shots, but I wouldn't know where to start. Quote:
Feel free to PM me if you want to expound on this. I'd love to swap ideas. I <3 Novalis.
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"A knight's a sword with a horse. The vows, the sacred oil and the lady's favors, they're ribbons tied 'round the sword. Maybe the sword's prettier with the ribbons, but it'll kill you just as dead." |
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04-16-2010, 09:11 AM | #36 |
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Birthplace of the Worst Pizza on the Planet
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
I happen to agree. A vessel is a refined human body, but it remains a human body. It needs no sleep or food, is immune from disease, and can take any blood type.
However, if they could wish away drug interactions, they would. Drowning is darned inconvienient. Why didn't they put a fix in for that? The obvious answer is that they can't, at least not at a price they are willing to pay. If an angel wants a 'shambling corpse' vessel, i.e. one who can withstand these huge amounts of damage, well, there is Vessel/6. Go buy it. You don't get it at Vessel/1. So while bones are slightly to significantly reinforced, blood clotting is almost miraculous, shock happens to other people (and believe me, shock is a killer! That alone justifies the resistance of Celestials), having most of one's gray matter spread over the street is a death blow. |
04-16-2010, 09:43 AM | #37 | ||||||
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
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I have scoured the website for Heckler & Koch, which really proved fruitful in some regards. For example, they have a list of dealers in California for civilian and LE, which provide me with excellent fodder for secretarial jargon "You have an appointment with Mr. Webb with Shoot Straight at 5:00PM, sir." Initially, though, I was thinking about business competitors from outside of H&K. The question (though broad), was intended to ask things like "What other megacorporations would he have to contend with, and how might they clash?" Although...a Balseraph of War would make a hell of an ambitious marketing agent! Quote:
Looking back on it, that was a really vague question. [/quote] [QUOTE=ladyarcana55;967637] Looking for info on the corporate world is a challenge because there is so much. You've got that right! It's so easy to get overwhelmed by it all. Quote:
What are some common corporate divisions and office titles, and what are their functions? I know that question is probably one of the hardest to answer, because efforts to research it have proved fruitless. This is one of those things where I could really use someone like you, who has experience working for a corporation -- even if it was totally different! I believe a previous poster suggested asking around to see if there are any role-playing games based on the corporate world? Not a bad idea at all (although probably best tailored for Role-Playing in General). If anyone knows off-hand, PM me. Quote:
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Unfortunately, whereas my friend may take this as an opportunity to prove himself and eventually become a GM (where he will also be bumped around from store to store in an effort to get everyone to fall in line, I have no doubt), or someone who works a high-liability post is MORE eligible for promotion...the corporate world sort of sounds rough. You're basically talking about balancing your performance so that you are not completely irreplaceable by any means, but industrious enough that you always avoid a layoff.
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"A knight's a sword with a horse. The vows, the sacred oil and the lady's favors, they're ribbons tied 'round the sword. Maybe the sword's prettier with the ribbons, but it'll kill you just as dead." |
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04-16-2010, 09:44 AM | #38 | ||||||
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
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...the most important knowledge (apart from improv), however, is plot-construction. Quote:
Is there a gatekeeper for every department within a corporation? Quote:
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My main "corporate questions" at the moment are these: What are the most common corporate departments? What are they responsible for and how do they operate? What sort of corporate departments is a gun company liable to have? What are common corporate offices (ranks) and the responsibilities of those offices? I am a little worried that this is veering too far away from In Nomine...but I'd be willing to have the thread moved. Thanks for your help!
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"A knight's a sword with a horse. The vows, the sacred oil and the lady's favors, they're ribbons tied 'round the sword. Maybe the sword's prettier with the ribbons, but it'll kill you just as dead." |
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04-16-2010, 12:18 PM | #39 | |||||
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Bellflower, CA
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
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The main function of the gatekeeper was to make sure everyone wasn't bothered with small requests. Yeah it''ll take a minute to fill this request, but if you have ten of them, that's ten minutes you lost on your project. Not every department has one, but quite a few did. They are awfully useful for a lot of reason. Very few people in the department know it so well. I used to know the project schedules, who was working on what, their meetings, where everything was, everything. They tend to also be the office gopher. Low in rank, but important. EDIT: I forgot to mention. The gate keeper can also affect how other people within the corporation look at your department. A good gatekeeper is a godsend, and it makes it look like that department is all buttoned up and has it's stuff together. A bad one is a nightmare and can make people think that the department doesn't get anything done. I was talking to Rocket Man. He said it best when he said "A good one is a godsend, making everyone's job so much easier. A bad one causes frustrations like you wouldn't believe. And the really efficient one you gotta try to work around." My response: "And two gatekeepers working together is comedy." Quote:
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Admin: HR, Payroll, Financial tracking, making sure everyone is working well and smoothly Marketing: Letting people know they are out there and to explain why they want to buy their products R&D: Constant research is being done to improve how things are made and how they work. That's just off the top of my head. Quote:
a HUGE legal team! ALWAYS Quote:
Department Head, Managers, Supervisors, Lead, Senior You can take it as you will. A lot of times they are just titles to make it official that this particular person knows what they are doing. Last edited by ladyarcana55; 04-16-2010 at 02:35 PM. |
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04-16-2010, 12:31 PM | #40 |
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
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Re: Gaming and the Corporate World
Another player to remember (if I haven't overlooked it upthread) is the Chief Financial Officer, who has exactly the authority you'd expect: budgets, financial planning, tracking expenses and revenue, and so on. In smaller companies, the CFO is often the head of human resources as well (since he's already overseeing payroll and benefits), and thus a major influence in hiring and firing.
Why does that matter? Because as a trained CPA with access to all the company's financial information, the CFO is the most likely person to spot any "midnight requisitioning" of resources. Of course, if he's an ally or an opponent (that Balseraph of The War perhaps?), he's also the best-positioned to cover up any irregularities.
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“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking” --Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger" |
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