TRPG General Chat

doppelgreener

2:10 AM

@BESW I didn't get into the DFRPG playtest :'(

BESW

@doppelgreener Did they send you a denial email?

Because, um.

doppelgreener

@BESW Congratulations :D

And yeah they did.

BESW

@doppelgreener That's nice of them.

doppelgreener

[cries 5ever]

BESW

So I'll do the NDA stuff and they'll get back to me in a week. On Saturday I'll talk about it with whoever's there.

doppelgreener

2:24 AM

Cool, ok. :)

BESW

Ah, it's not an NDA; it's a DA.

Aight, I'll have the playtest packet by next Friday.

Which is not a LOT of time to read it and prep for a next-day game, but these are sacrifices I'm willing to make.

mbriand

2:48 AM

@BESW I've taken a look at those articles on the dfrpg magic system they were very interesting. Only thing missing really is it won't help me with balance.

Lord_Gareth

Someone has summoned me

With words

Words of PAIZO

(How is everyone?)

BESW

@Lord_Gareth I'm in the DFRPG playtest!

Lord_Gareth

@BESW Congrats! Here's hoping the devs either aren't crazy fruitcakes or that they are, but can accept critique to create a game that doesn't look like crazy fruitcakes made it

BESW

Nah, it's Evil Hat. They're talented and cool.

Lord_Gareth

Badass

BESW

2:59 AM

I'm gonna resurrect my Skylanders campaign, I think.

(So called because the first session of it involved babysitting a kid whose Skylanders came to life and attacked.)

Lord_Gareth

Today in Adventures in Pathfinder Development: in response to critique that the dex-to-damage feat promised for swashbucklers works for exactly none of their iconic weapons (rapiers, daggers, shortswords, etc), Paizo has announced that instead of releasing errata for their feat, they're going to make a second feat, with an identical effect, that is just for rapiers

This is the leader in the tabletop market, people. These folks, right here.

Freaking.

Paizo

BESW

Although... well, I guess it'll have to wait 'til I have the packet, but if campaign development is part of the DFRPG FAE experience I should probably not pre-determine it.

Lord_Gareth

A fair stance

BESW

@doppelgreener I'd like to also run an online game concurrently, but I'm not sure if I can clear a hole in my schedule that'd mesh with possible takers.

doppelgreener

3:29 AM

@BESW EXPLAAAIIIN?

BESW

3:45 AM

@doppelgreener Oh, it's a "how will you talk about it," rather than a "you will not talk about it."

doppelgreener

@BESW oh good!

BESW

I'm not allowed to freely share the texts themselves, or any excerpts from them, but I'm encouraged to talk about my playtest experience.

doppelgreener

@BESW noooooooooo

Miniman

@doppelgreener How come you're suddenly editing all of the questions?

BESW

@doppelgreener I assume that some kind of exception will be made for my players.

doppelgreener

3:54 AM

@BESW well yes but when you mentioned it was a DA, I was hoping there might be some allowance for me to go on and share it with my own. :P

BESW

He's acting on this meta decision.

12

Q: burninate new-gm tag

The new-gm is a meta-tag and should be burninated: The criteria: Only Tag: If the tag can’t work as the only tag on a question, it’s probably a meta-tag. new-gm doesn't really describe any area of a problem. It just describes who is asking about the problem a tag: experienced-gm would be a m...

doppelgreener

2

A: burninate new-gm tag

I'll concede to SSD; he's made a great point: there are usages of new-gm where it isn't a meta tag, but it just gets overwhelmingly used as one. I'm going to begin eliminating [new-gm] from the questions using it as a meta tag. I will target questions where being a new GM is neither here nor t...

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman He has been empowered by dark sorcery

doppelgreener

down to 149 new-gm questions from ~200, strictly by eliminating those questions where someone's saying "I am a new GM. Also, here is my question, that has nothing inherently connected to me being new."

Miniman

Ah, my first thought was that something happened on meta but I couldn't see any obvious reasons.

It's funny, speaking as an entirely [new-gm] it would never occur to me to put it on a question.

doppelgreener

3:55 AM

excellent

@Lord_Gareth This too, but that's unrelated

BESW

[pins a medal on Miniman] You're our boy.

Miniman

@BESW nice guthrie reference

BESW

I can never tell if anyone's going to get my references, but I make them anyway.

Miniman

But I just meant that it's a site for, you know, asking questions. Surely your own lack of knowledge is implicit in the act of asking for knowledge?

doppelgreener

@Miniman yep! I figure it must be because of our tag-suggester

Miniman

3:59 AM

@doppelgreener Wait, there's a tag-suggester?

doppelgreener

Huh. I actually can't trigger it...

Metool

Ooh. I need to use this at some point.

doppelgreener

@Miniman There is a tag suggester on some SEs, maybe it's off on ours?

BESW

@doppelgreener It's a quantum feature: once it's been observed, it ceases to exist.

Miniman

@doppelgreener I dunno, I'm a longtime lurker on SE but only started posting questions and answers recently

That reminds me of something cool I meant to try out

doppelgreener

4:02 AM

Heisenbug

Heisenbug is a computer programming jargon term for a software bug that seems to disappear or alter its behavior when one attempts to study it. The term is a pun on the name of Werner Heisenberg, the physicist who first asserted the observer effect of quantum mechanics, which states that the act of observing a system inevitably alters its state. Similar terms, such as bohrbug, mandelbug, and schrödinbug have been occasionally proposed for other kinds of unusual software bugs, sometimes in jest; however, unlike "heisenbug", they are not widely known or used. == Examples == Heisenbugs occur because...

Miniman

4:20 AM

Is there a meta.meta.rpg.SE? I need advice on posting questions on meta

Lord_Gareth

That's chat

Speak, Suppliant

Miniman

Ah should've guessed

I want to ask a question about [rules-as-written], but it's gonna sound like a rant, especially since a question on that tag already exists

BESW

@Lord_Gareth You're out of date.

Miniman

@BESW It's pretty specific to rpg.SE, though

BESW

In this case, yes.

But there is a meta meta.

So, what's the RAW question you want to ask?

RAW is a kinda flamebait subject, depending on context.

Miniman

4:24 AM

Exactly...

Lord_Gareth

@BESW This is precisely one of the things wrong with RPG.SE that continues to be wrong with the culture.

Miniman

I keep wondering, given this question [meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/3484/…, how you go about getting RAW answers and not a bunch of suggestions about houserules and how the rules don't make sense

Which already sounds like a rant

Lord_Gareth

Essentially, you add, "I am seeking answers that conform to the rules as written" to your question

And then you weather the storm of people who either don't read that part or ignore it

Miniman

Yeah, when I was young and naive in SE, I used the tag and added that to my question. I still got a bunch of people telling me not to worry about the rules

BESW

Aye. At the end of the day it's a tag for answers, not for questions, which isn't quite right.

@DanielJyc Hi! You'll need at least 20 rep on any one Stack Exchange site before you can type in chat rooms, but you're welcome to hang out until then.

Lord_Gareth

4:30 AM

@Miniman Yeah, I've had this happen to me to. It brings me great wrath. My hate doth rise like the morning sun and illuminate the kingdoms of men with its baleful eye.

BESW

Which is silly, of course. People give bad answers that ignore the question's parameters, and so we downvote them and we don't accept them.

If the answer is instead an effective challenge of the question's frame, then it might be more useful.

Miniman

Fair enough. I do still suspect that this was the original objective of the tag, but I can see how it qualifies as a meta tag.

BESW

Oh, yeah. It's just not a good use of tags in the SE sense.

Miniman

And yeah, answers dealing with inherently flawed questions is an entirely separate issue which I'm perfectly comfortable with.

BESW

Sometimes answers are bad. Tags won't fix that.

2

Miniman

4:34 AM

@BESW And now I'm crying.

Metool

Next time I'm looking for a RAW solution, I'll note that I could easily make a ruling/ask my GM about it (and probably already have, if it comes up) and ask what the actual rules say, or would say.

BESW

SE's designed to let the bad answers sift to the bottom and the good ones float to the top.

Miniman

@Metool If I could bet rep that you'll still get answers telling you not to worry about RAW, I would.

BESW

Although we have some general policies to reduce bad answers (like avoiding list questions and strictly reigning in recommendation questions), the system expects bad answers and knows how to deal with their existence.

Lord_Gareth

Though like all social systems it's vulnerable to social trends

See: anti-RAW people

Miniman

4:38 AM

@Lord_Gareth Does anti-RAW really count as a social trend?

BESW

See also: anti-anti-RAW reactionaries.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW Yeah but I just raeg in chat, I don't pollute questions asking for house rules or homebrew by going, "NO DIS OFFICIAL THING WORK BETTAH"

Miniman

Why do I suspect I've planted myself firmly in that category?

Metool

"Please don't answer with 'don't worry about RAW, here's a sensible solution' because I already have a sensible solution. Voters, be ready to downvote such answers."

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Spend 48 hours on Paizo's official boards observing things. Then, once you've knitted together the shredded tatters of what is now a once-human soul, come back and ask that question again with a straight face.

Metool

4:39 AM

Too much?

Adeptus

Completely off-topic... I've just got a compilation of 80s-90s game music (mostly C64). OMG, the sound of nostalgia as produced by a SID chip!

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Not to disparage PF in any way, but I think I'm going to stick to 3.5 for now.

And my beloved 5e ofc

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman I didn't say convert to PF. I said observe their boards.

Miniman

@Adeptus For me the SNES is still the perfect balance of old-school nostalgia and technological sophistication (And not just in music)

Lord_Gareth

@Adeptus You lucky bastage

Metool

4:43 AM

I'll just keep throwing variant rules on top of variant rules on top of d20 until I have something that looks pleasing, for now, and explore more rules-lite systems once I've concluded a campaign.

doppelgreener

@Miniman in general: ask a meta question, use the meta tag

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth I don't really do forums, I observed SE for years before I even thought about participating. A forum that I'm not even fussed about the topic of...which you've already told me is toxic...

Metool

@Miniman But the toxicity is the point of the suggestion, here.

Lord_Gareth

@Metool This.

You asked, "Is anti-RAW a social trend?"

I answered, "Look at this wretched hive of scum and villainy."

Miniman

I have a confession to make.

You have defeated all of my arguments, and yet I'm still not going to go anywhere near the Paizo boards.

Magician

4:49 AM

^ internet arguments in a nutshell.

doppelgreener

I'll summarise then (LG might do a better job of it though): The people on Paizo boards tend to hate RAW, and will vehemently attack anyone who does and brings it up.

that appears to be the case from my brief observations

Lord_Gareth

@doppelgreener To the point where implying that the game's mechanics influence its play quality will get you attacked.

That's the wonderful, awful, soul-harming part

doppelgreener

which is REALLY WEIRD, because they have ONE OF THE MOST RULES-HEAVY RPGS EVER. If they hate RAW so much, why aren't they playing Roll for Shoes?

Miniman

The forum of the people who make the rules seems like a really weird place to hate RAW no matter how heavy or light.

doppelgreener

@Miniman Yes. Let that sink in a little. But not deep enough to do its horrible soul-consuming thing.

Lord_Gareth

4:51 AM

@doppelgreener I can actually explain this. The short version is "Freaking SKR and Buhlman I swear to the blackest gods of Hell"

The longer version is forthcoming

doppelgreener

And then also cease to wonder quite so much why KRyan and LG so enthusiastically describe what is wrong with Paizo.

Lord_Gareth

See, after the PF beta was over (that's a different, yet related rant)

doppelgreener

(I'm putting that in gentle terms, of course)

Miniman

That awkward moment when you open a can of worms and it turns out it's extra-dimensional...

4

Lord_Gareth

SKR and Buhlman spent a lot of time making sure that only the 'right' customers were on their boards. When PF's community was still small it was like living in a freaking police state. Critique of any kind was an 'attack' and essentially ban-worthy. Dissatisfaction with the system was likewise an 'attack'. You can see traces of that to this day, in their moderation.

The result is that the core online PF community, at least on Paizo's own boards, is made up of sycophants

With outliers and system masters only recently re-emerging as PF has grown too big for Paizo to farm their favored form of feedback

doppelgreener

4:54 AM

►

Lord_Gareth

That core group of sycophants learned, from watching how Sean K. Reynolds interacted with his own customers, that it was okay to flame, belittle, and mock anyone who did not share their opinions. To this day they continue to get away with saying that other playstyles aren't just "minority", but wrong and toxic to the hobby as a whole.

Metool

@Miniman Can of wormholes?

9

Lord_Gareth

SKR may be gone but the disciples he created remain

And the behaviors he fostered in them remain tolerated

Not all of that is necessarily the current moderation's fault; they became mods when PF was a much-smaller community. Now they run a kingdom and don't have the skill to do it with.

But ultimately it goes back to the heads of the community saying that it's okay to attack people for being different.

(End rant)

QUESTIONS, SUPPLICANT?

BESW

That was actually mostly coherent and relied on information rather than emotion. Well done.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth If 1 and a half chickens lay 1 and a half eggs in 1 and a half days, how many eggs will 9 chickens lay in 9 days?

Metool

5:01 AM

@Miniman I'm sorry but I can't get past half-chickens.

Going to guess 54, though.

Miniman

@Metool We all have our limitations. Especially when it comes to bifurcated farm animals.

And yes, 54 is correct.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW Victory is miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine

BESW

@Metool [takes notes]

Metool

@BESW Oh, but not on the fiendish firepenguinslothowlbear?

doppelgreener

@Miniman It took me a little while to deconstruct that. That's a good trick. ;)

Metool

5:04 AM

[shrug] Guess they can't all be winners.

BESW

@Metool That's just silly.

doppelgreener

(actually I like it only a little, that's also a frustrating trick xD)

Miniman

@doppelgreener From the genius mind of Asimov. I'm not nearly that smart.

@BESW Surely that belongs in the spoiler lair?

doppelgreener

@Miniman but we don't know what it's a spoiler for

he could spring it on us at any moment in any campaign!

BESW

Cower in abject uncertainty!

Magician

5:08 AM

@BESW Maybe I won't!

Miniman

I just had a great idea for a purple worm in a can. If I ever do my own campaign (as opposed to published ones) that's definitely going to be a thing.

BESW

@Magician Then you leave me no choice; I must roll dice threateningly behind my screen and mutter direly.

Miniman

@BESW There's nothing like asking a player what their passive Perception is and then saying Hmmm...

BESW

I find a surprised "Oooh!" is much better than "hmm."

Miniman

I'm new to this, cut me some slack.

Magician

5:10 AM

@BESW Schrodinger's adventurers: both saved and dead until the dice are rolled.

BESW

@Miniman For variety, every now and then you can laugh.

In all seriousness though, since I started running more narrative games--in particular not D&D-- I've almost entirely stopped using that entire set of GM tools.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW I still use that in narrative systems, but that's because my group tends to be passive participants in storytelling; they react, instead of acting.

So giving them something to react to is almost always a good move for me.

BESW

Fair enough.

Most of my players will find something to do if I don't give them something.

Miniman

@BESW Don't you miss the Hammer of Fear and the Screwdriver of Oh God what was the DM's 20 rolled for?

Lord_Gareth

Also means that I don't have to worry about them invalidating a plot because of player agency. I don't railroad, I just let them react down my story hallway.

doppelgreener

5:15 AM

@BESW I have never yet had to do it and I love that I haven't.

BESW

@Miniman Not much, but I must admit to enjoying the Forceps of Dawning Realisation We're Doomed.

(Hence my enjoyment of Cthulhu Dark, I suppose.)

Lord_Gareth

@BESW I like doing this with narrative situations, even in games like 3.5. I still treasure the looks on their faces when I said, "You awaken in a strange location, out of doors and definitely not your inn room by any stretch of the imagination. You are surrounded by corpses in various states of savage dismemberment, some of which clearly destroyed by magical power - a few still have icicles or flickering flames on them."

Whole group had this collective "Oh sweet merciful hell" face

Miniman

@BESW My problem tends to be the players attempting to doom themselves more than the reverse. Leaving out the spoilers, in HotDQ they came very close to fighting an army.

At level 1

I had to send the cleric a sign from her god to suggest that it wasn't a good idea

BESW

@Miniman I will always assume that abbreviation stands for "Horror of the Dairy Queen."

3

trogdor

in my experience, PC's don't need help being doomed in some way

and this comes from someone is has been almost exclusively a PC

Miniman

5:19 AM

@BESW When did I suggest it didn't?

Magician

Schrodinger's Cage of Infinite Possibilities: Your target is sucked into an icosahedron-shaped void which appears around them. It is a gateway to infinite parallel worlds. In some of them, they are alive and well and nothing has changed for them. In others, they are dead. Arcane symbols briefly flash on the surface of the void as it starts to spin, then stops, shunting the target back into your reality. They make a save, dying if they fail.

Or, hm, maybe they have to volunteer to make a save to exit it, otherwise it just hangs there.

Miniman

@Magician Following the grand OOTS tradition of slightly misspelling the names attached to spells?

Magician

Gah!

Lord_Gareth

Damnit now I wanna run a game again. I was going to get the chance to run a one-shot, had a story for it and everything

Players were eight hours late

I ran nothing

Metool

@Lord_Gareth ... Eight?

doppelgreener

5:24 AM

I don't think eight hours late counts as attendance

I'm pretty sure being eight hours late counts as spontaneous arrangement of an entirely different event

4

BESW

That's "showing up for the afterparty."

doppelgreener

Yes, that

Magician

The stars are aligning tonight.

doppelgreener

Aug 19 at 23:58, by doppelgreener

we frequently have our star list full of messages not more than a day old

2

and within days of saying this it's true again

Miniman

Because we're all so damn interesting!

Useful, not so much.

Lord_Gareth

5:29 AM

nah, it's because @BESW posts here.

And is like unto a god of starrable witty quotes

user61230

The thing is, it's all gold

user61230

...mostly gold

Magician

Except he only currently has one starred quote that I can see.

user61230

.....there's actually quite a bit of silver, but who's counting

Lord_Gareth

@Magician Silence with your logic

Magician

5:31 AM

We have long held the belief that @BESW would consume the world should the entire star panel be his. Maybe, this is our chance to imprison him forever, by depriving him of his presence there!

6

Miniman

@Emrakul Wait, gold, silver? What?

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Metaphor, Miniman

Anyway @Emrakul I herd u were talkin' crap m8

user61230

?

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth I never met a phor. People talk about them, and I have no idea what they are.

Lord_Gareth

@Emrakul Ah, wait, it was Mad Max

trogdor

5:35 AM

@Magician this is untrue

Lord_Gareth

Nevermind, I retract my badly spelled accusation.

trogdor

you cannot actually stop that

user61230

Ooookay

Lord_Gareth

(I have had my system mastery questioned. This is the skill upon which I trade my job)

(I do not really have a desire to let that stand)

user61230

Ah, this is understandable.

Miniman

5:38 AM

@Lord_Gareth I'm not a master of any of the skills involved in my job. My previous job, I was a true master of, but that's because I was a checkout operator.

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman I write for Pathfinder. If I don't have mastery over the system, I will, by definition, do a very bad job.

Questioning my mastery over said system is essentially equivalent to saying my writing is garbage, and this without having read it.

To say that I'm peeved is an understatement.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth I'm not disparaging you in any way, just saying mastery is not necessarily a prerequisite of jobs.

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman I was explaining why I'm mad at Max, not suggesting that you were agreeing with him.

Though this sorta feeds into the super odd belief that Pathfinder is a totally distinct system, rather than an offshoot of D&D 3.5

@BESW has witnessed me many times, scratching my head and/or raging at people not comprehending that mastering one of those games is like 80% of mastering the other.

Miniman

I know what you mean. I've never even looked at PF, but I'm pretty sure I could get by on my 3.5 knowledge alone.

Metool

@Miniman Pretty much, especially with the SE question about the changes between the two.

Lord_Gareth

5:44 AM

@Miniman Like me you will find a ton of extremely annoying little catches everywhere you turn.

Metool

Well, there's that as well.

Miniman

It's all good since I've thrown 3.5e aside (mostly) for the new hotness that is 5e.

lisardggY

Good morning.

Miniman

Good afternoon.

user61230

Good evening.

lisardggY

5:47 AM

Night? Night? Do we have anyone with a good night? We need to close this series up, folks!

Miniman

@Emrakul Wait, really? I never see anyone who's more advanced than Australia.

user61230

California. It's 22:47 here.

Magician

Speaking of 5e, @Lord_Gareth, I recall you being unimpressed with it, which wasn't all that surprising. Would you care to follow me to the 5e room so I can ask you a couple of questions?

Miniman

@Emrakul Oh, you mean yesterday.

Lord_Gareth

@Magician No but only because I'm about to do a League match followed by bed. Will you be on at, oh, 10 AM EST?

Magician

5:48 AM

@Emrakul You're living in the past!

user61230

AAAAAAH WHAT DO I DOOOOOO

Miniman

@Magician Unimpressed with 5e? I gotta get in on that and destroy it with terrible blazing fury.

lisardggY

►

Magician

@Lord_Gareth I'll answer with resounding "probably".

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman You know not the demon which you challenge, petulant mortal.

Magician

5:50 AM

Nothing important, just curious about some things.

@Miniman Sign me up for that, too :)

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth I have faith, for my advantage and my proficiency will walk by my side as I traverse the heart of darkness.

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman You will suffer the terrible tide of monsters that hilariously outscale PCs.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Wait, what? My players have crushed every encounter that was winnable. Leaving out the spoilers, the only battle they've lost was the 1-v-1 duel against a high-level fighter.

Magician

D&D 5e Overflow

For when main chat wants to talk about other things too.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Wait, I know. You're talking about the Starter Set, not HotDQ, right?

Lord_Gareth

5:55 AM

Tomorrow, Mini. Tomorrow

Miniman

You're talking about 1:00 in the morning for me, but I'll try to be on to fight the good fight.

Lord_Gareth

Though to clarify

Magician

1am for me, too, but my sleeping schedule makes it easy.

Lord_Gareth

@Magician - I did not play myself. I did observe a friend running a game of it. The results were...well.

Magician

Aye, well, that's still more hands-on than my experience.

Miniman

6:00 AM

I will restrain myself from arguing further until another time...

BESW

M'rr. Internet keeps bugging out.

@Magician I am myriad as my stars, eternal as the chat log! I cannot be restrained!

Miniman

I was trying to come up with a joke about internet and bugs, but all I've got is some half-assed crap about the Web.

BESW

(I can, however, be temporarily stymied by poor internet service.)

@Emrakul [wave] Any new thoughts on FAE Doctor & Friends?

Lord_Gareth

And now LEague

Miniman

ew league

Lord_Gareth

6:07 AM

hush you

Miniman

Sorry, I'll leave it at that.

Lord_Gareth

Pffft

@BESW, envision this for a moment

BESW

[envisions "this" momentarily]
[finds it rather boring]

Lord_Gareth

An archer who slows people down and a teammate that hastes her vs. an archer that hastes her teammates and her partner, who slows people down

We have literally inverted archer/mage pairings

Miniman

mages have always slowed people down

user61230

6:09 AM

@BESW Honestly, it looks rather complete to me, as far as a character basis goes, excluding the existing comments.

Miniman

Although I'll admit that an archer who hastes their teammates is definitely unusual.

BESW

@Miniman I know 3.5 gameplay always slowed to a crawl on the wizard's turn while we looked up the spellcasting details.

Miniman

@BESW Well played...

BESW

@Emrakul Yey! [pokes comments morosely]

trogdor

@BESW I don't think you are missing anything important

BESW

6:12 AM

@trogdor At the very least I still need a fourth aspect for Adric, another word for Sarah Jane's high concept, and a summary blurb for K-9.

trogdor

you mean third aspect for Adric?

BESW

And I haven't finished statting up the [spoiler].

trogdor

the fourth ones are all intentionally blank

BESW

> ADRIC OF ALZARIUS: Naive prodigy of E-Space (a dying pocket universe)
Trouble: A desperate need to prove my courage
- A gold badge for mathematical excellence
-
- [to be filled in during play]

trogdor

K9 might be close to impossible to give blurb to simply because the show itself gives him very little character

maybe something like "K9 is a robotic dog who was given to the Doctor by his creator. he is logically intelligent but doesn't understand emotional thought well, and is strictly programed to obey his master's commands."

other than that I can't think of much

BESW

6:20 AM

That's a start.

trogdor

I hope it helped a bit then

I see you used it and also filled in some extra stuff

:)

BESW

> K-9 was gifted to the Doctor by his grateful creator. He’s a logical, intelligent assistant and combat-ready, albeit slow over rough terrain. K-9 is strictly programed to obey his master's commands, but he doesn’t have to be gracious about it.

trogdor

sounds good to me

BESW

I added that he likes Sarah Jane.

trogdor

works for me

BESW

6:26 AM

If you wind up playing him, you can make that his last aspect if you want.

trogdor

I mean it was one of his only character traits

I would certainly consider that

at the very least, it is an aspect that is already on the table in case I can't think of one I like better

BESW

(Behind the scenes, Tom Baker hated sharing face time with a toy, and it often comes through as the Doctor's patronisation or annoyance with the robot dog. Eventually the writers just started writing it in because they knew it'd happen anyway.)

Okay, next: Sarah Jane's high concept is Investigative Journalist. It should have something added to give her a bit more width and depth as a character.

I'm thinking something about how much she's traveled and experienced.

Eh. "Plucky."

I realised I didn't have anything directly addressing her courage, and it's crucial enough to the character to go into the high concept.

Phil

worldwise?

Metool

@BESW this is why you have spells possessed written on index cards, and tick boxes added each morning

BESW

Okay, Adric needs another aspect. I'd like it to be about him trying really hard to be tough and street-smart enough to join his older brother's gang of thieves, but they rejected him as too small and clumsy and naive.

trogdor

6:51 AM

and it should not be his trouble?

BESW

It could be, but I think his current trouble is pretty great.

@Arkhaic Hi!

Arkhaic

Hi

BESW

Something on your mind, or just dropping in?

(Some of the chat folks have been helping me with putting the final polish on my Doctor Who RPG pre-made characters, but it's nothing that can't be put off for another topic.)

Phil

Hey

trogdor

@BESW perhaps "unsuccessful street urchin"?

Arkhaic

7:08 AM

Just dropping in for now.

BESW

Wannabe artful dodger, maybe?

@Arkhaic Fair enough. Happy to have you.

@Arkhaic (If you'd like to follow along, I'm composing the pre-made characters in this document, and the system is Fate Accelerated Edition.)

Okay, so now it's just a couple of aspects that I'm not totally happy with but are functional.

Arkhaic

Still don't have the time to learn fate.

Tried to play a game of it, and I've came to the conclusion that 5e is trying to be fate.

But I still don't understand the latter.

BESW

That's an interesting conclusion. I'm not immersed in 5e, to be sure, but I don't think I've seen anyone make that claim about it before.

[curious]

Arkhaic

Well.

Inspiration is pretty clearly an imitation of fate points.

The skill system is also sort of a lazy-man's Fate.

BESW

When you put it that way, I suppose so. I guess Fate's one of the most prominent contemporary systems to use that kind of mechanic, so parallels should be drawn.

user61230

7:20 AM

I'll be honest, I got that feeling too, @Arkhaic

Arkhaic

What I've been hearing (and seeing) of the monster scaling is sort of horrific though.

BESW

I guess because I got into narrative-first gaming around the same time Fate Core was coming out, the Fate point economy was just another in a line of "mechanics rewarding character-driven action" systems I was discovering so when 5e churned out a rudimentary version of it I saw it as just a trend in the culture.

user61230

I really wish RPG.SE had a stronger community of LARPers...

BESW

I'd love to see that.

user61230

It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. LARPers, self included, don't ask questions because there's nobody here who understands the terminology or theory.

trogdor

7:28 AM

I don't personally find it appealing for myself

not to say there is anything wrong with it

user61230

That's fair. It's a medium that's definitely not for everyone.

trogdor

to be honest, I had an unfair view of it for a while, but even now I don't personally like the fact that it is by definition role play outside of a table or table equivilent.

BESW

RP in Punchspace.

Arkhaic

Heh.

user61230

Punchspace?

Arkhaic

7:31 AM

The space where people can punch you if they get angry, presumably.

BESW

Jan 22 at 14:36, by BESW

IRL, The Place Where You Can Be Punched, Outside the Tubes, The Big Bright.