@BESW is the little wombat describing Ursula Vernon's book

@doppelgreener BESW is the little wombat?

@Metool that should have had a question mark after it, haha.

@BESW, is the little wombat describing Ursula Vernon's book?

puntuation

@doppelgreener speeling

@Adeptus arses

what irony

Grimdark should be the name of a metal band

@doppelgreener Context is Ursula Vernon refusing to let people make her feel bad about reading children's books.

@BESW this is great then yes C:

that is important context

@BESW yellow submarine was great :)

Gothbat warms the cockles of my soul.

...alright. Airline headphones vs cafe radio: Fight!

@BESW Airline headphones suck. I bring my own, with an adaptor.

@Adeptus I use airline headphones for my regular headphone needs; I have yet to find headphones that won't break on me really fast, so I might as well use cheap free ones--and honestly although the sound quality isn't great, airline headphones last longer than most of the ones I've actually bought.

(Dear Photoshop: that man is not Caucasian, and that wall is not white.)

@BESW Are you flying? :o

@doppelgreener I'm in a cafe.

Ah right.

Got a caretaker for my dad, so I'm trying to actually get work done by leaving the house.

@BESW Depends on how much you spend. Well... not entirely. Some "premium" brands, you're just paying for the name & can get better for less.

Just thinking of flying is enough to make me feel sick again. :'( Maybe it has to do with the fact I've consistently flown behind the wings? Apparently there is less noise further forward. But the roar and the vibrations screw with my very sensitive ears, mess with my sleep, and make me feel unwell.

(I work on the 4th floor of a building. We recently had an evacuation drill. I could hear the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors' evacuation alarms when they were extremely faint, and was asking where the heck that faint alarm noise is coming from. Nobody else around me could hear a thing even after trying and were amazed when the alarms finally reached the floor below ours, and they realised and explained to me what I was hearing.)

After visiting Guam twice a year for four years while I was in college, I discovered that with the right music on loop I could just sort of trance out. Proper sleep, or conscious thought, was generally out of the question though.

@BESW Huh, okay.

"The right music" changed pretty regularly, though.

I've been lurking on head-fi.org a bit, so while I wouldn't consider myself a full-on audiophile, I've definitely been... tainted. My wife says I have too many headphones, but I keep window-shopping for more.

Sometimes it was Tool, sometimes it was Robyn Miller...

@Adeptus What is the value in such a range of headphones?

Different sorts for different circumstances. I have some plain earbuds that are easy to put in & take out, and let me hear a little of what's going on around me. I have some shallow "canalphones" (ie, go in like earplugs) that do a better job of blocking noise, but are comfortable for long wear. I have a set of deep canalphones, that block noise very well, but are uncomfortable after a while.

I have an over-ear, open-backed set, that have great sound, but are too bulky & fragile for portable use. And I have an on-ear set that is designed for mobile use & includes an on-cable mic.

And various ones that came free with phones & mp3 players

I have a terrible time finding anything that's comfortable for long wear.

Over-ear hurts my lobes; earbuds don't fit both my ears the same so one or the other isn't right...

I use Sennheiser over-ear headphones with replaceable cord. Which is the thing that breaks the most for me, so I've replaced the $5 cord a few times over the last few years, but the headphones themselves are still fine.

@BESW Yeah, I have 2 different sized buds on my shallow canalphones. Comply brand memory foam, comfy & good blockout.

If I was confident they'd work for me, I'd drop some money on headphones. But...

Graphic design leads to the strangest research.

I just googled "empire style door dimensions."

@Adeptus i was under the impression canalphones were bad for hearing, is that the case?

[Continues to debate if should tumblr]

@Lord_Gareth a good debate to entertain

Also a good, entertaining debate.

@doppelgreener Only if you have the volume up too high... But since they block out more of the background noise, you shouldn't need it up so high.

I'd read it, occasional vitriol is entertaining.

@Magician Same with Sennheisers; I have some $80 gaming headphones that lasted me for a couple of years. Then the cord broke. So I found another set just like it. Next time I'll also go for something with a replaceable wire.

For a while they made my ears uncomfortable, then my ears got used to 'em.

@Adeptus hrm, alright.

@Magician Thing is, while I am a user (and lover) of all-caps shouting I treat it as the intensifier/emphasis it is, not as something to write an entire post in. If I'm more than 40% caps chances are I need more data in my screaming.

@Lord_Gareth You'd definitely need to provide the basis for your raeg.

@Lord_Gareth "I need more data in my screaming" sounds like a good tagline.

@doppelgreener I love my Audio Technica AD700. They're massive but lightweight & comfortable. And have great sound. They really go around the ears, they're almost the size of a CD, and just have a ring of padding around the edge

@BESW Tagline?

Subtitle, hook, pull, pitch, blurb, Fate aspect?

Didn't know if that was a tumblr-specific use of the word or not

Hmm. [suppresses sudden urge to write up SE citizens as Fate characters]

DoitIwannaseeme

Do it the way of the olden days: anyone who requests an aspect from you gets one, but has to make the same offer.

But...but

I cannot FATE

I lack training

Well then: Rank untrained amateur. [bestows aspect upon]

BEStoW. That's how I'll pronounce @BESW's name from now on.

...Eh, I've had worse.

(Note to self: next time, don't think It's just a silhouette; I can Photoshop shoes onto the model in post.)

Argh

Okay @BESW, if I freaking do this I want you to know that I will be riding your butt for advice. I do not do personal pages. I hate wikis, I hate social media, I don't set the crap up or understand HTML or in fact any non-BBC coding

and I barely even understand that

@Lord_Gareth Spsh. You think I'm any better? You've seen the tumblr I ran.

@BESW Here, lemme rephrase this

I cannot make a formatted list on a wiki

I have never participated in a wiki.

Neither has your mother

However, I did have a couple weeks of half-hearted "how to copy-paste pre-formatted code into CSS" in one of my design classes.

@Lord_Gareth I would not be surprised if she has.

@BESW Italics are cruise control for cool

I've had a wiki for a while, with lists and templates and everything, I'm still useless

I still don't know how you guys make those blocks of text in chat with the scrollbar.

Human sacrifice

@BESW Magic

Argh now I need a title and description

@Lord_Gareth Rage Against the Broken Machine. Which was going to be my aspect for you :P

Rage: the Incoherency.

@BESW I like to think of my raeg as being very coherent

@Lord_Gareth Rage: the Dataening.

I think I'll actually use that one.

Apropos of nothing except that it just came up on my playlist:

I have a tumblr, but I mostly use it for following & reposting. I think I only have a handful of original posts. (Also I only look at it infrequently. Some people schedule posts... I shotgun them...)

Evidently I need to follow 3 blogs now

@BESW, yours is...?

@Lord_Gareth In my profile.

Might as well also go for Ursula Vernon's tumblr.

And... A to Zoo?

[grin]

@BESW Zachiel just mentioned in an answer that Lady Blackbird is based on the Solar System - if you weren't already aware

@doppelgreener Yeah, he mentioned that to me in chat a couple weeks ago.

@BESW Alright :)

Alright, check it at unendingraeg.tumblr.com

@BESW sufficiently large amount of multiline text

Intro post made

Loverly.

Raeg is what you do, Raeg is who you are?

@Magician Hate got me out of bed for eight years when hope had died and friendship didn't exist, so yes, I'd say that's a fair statement.

Anger is the engine that makes me go.

And now for a less depressing topic

Who likes Tally Hall?

[Hosts a funeral for the slain conversation]

@BESW If you do this, you should make people play an online game as themselves.

@Miniman Why make them play as themselves when we could grow as a community, in both understanding and empathy, by taking on the roleplaying challenge of representing each other?

@Lord_Gareth Because people would end up even more filled with unending Interwebs RAEG than before?

@Miniman Your lack of faith in @BESW disturbs me. I will now need to hunt you to the ends of the earth and destroy all that you love.

Ooh, my very own vengeful minion.

@Lord_Gareth That wasn't a lack of faith in BESW. I'm just pretty sure you would hate whoever ended up playing as you for not doing it properly.

@LordGareth "Here’s hoping this goes over well" - oh boy. I'm sure it will. Looking forward to the ride. :)

I can easily roleplay an avatar of Nyarlathotep who lusts after a chunk of plutonium, but can't for the life of me think of a way to roleplay one of my friends with whom I've been playing for the last few years.

@Miniman I have an odd relationship with my self-identity, where I don't place much confidence in my own judgment re: myself vs. the judgment of others. That is, I Death of the Author'd my own life.

I'd be more fascinated than anything.

One of my players wants to run an AFMBE campaign set locally, with everyone playing themselves.

(We're thinking Storium or Fate...)

@BESW Is...that...even...roleplaying???

Most people would say it is.

Anyway @BESW, would be delighted to see your FATE version of self

You're playing yourself, but in the role of yourself during a zombie apocalypse.

@Miniman It certainly is. You're cooperatively building a story with a fantastic premise.

@Lord_Gareth I don't know you nearly well enough to create a well-rounded character.

@BESW Well how dare you mock me with hope

@BESW Sorry, I read 'set locally, with everyone playing themselves'. I didn't think to look up AFMBE.

[Sees that last one, so much agreement]

(Extrapolating wildly from various half-remembered conversations.)

@Lord_Gareth By putting that on your character sheet, you're making it true. //brainslpode//

@Magician How very Young Wizards of us.

@Miniman You underestimate the power of how entirely stupid my play group is.

@Lord_Gareth I assumed you were talking about the RPG.SE community :P

@Miniman With a few exceptions that don't need to be discussed in this room, the RPG.SE community has been one of the best I've ever participated in.

@Lord_Gareth I was also thinking about some things you've said re: your IRL community beyond gaming.

@Magician Also, I meant to say - why isn't the brainslpode a published monster?

@Miniman Too controversial.

@BESW You can't fool me, I know what that is.

A squid thingy.

@BESW What the hell are they?

Squid thingies.

And here was me thinking squid thingies aren't under the OGL...

(See, the thing about making Fate characters for oneself or for other actual factual people is, Fate aspects ares supposed to cut close to the core of the character and talk about what makes them dramatic. That's not usually something we want to telegraph casually to others, even if we're comfortable with it internally. I kept some of Gareth's aspects more vague than I would have if he were fictional.)

@BESW Oh, dude, fire away.

No.

Also: unendingraeg.tumblr.com/post/96427358184/…

Nice.

...sigh. Posters are hard.

?

This is the third year I've done the posters for the local university theatre's productions.

Every year it feels like they've found some more text for me to cram into the thing, or a new logo, or something.

This time around I don't have any more text or logos than usual, but they want it done in half the time.

I feel your pain

...and there are grounds in my cafe coffee.

@BESW Blood shall drown the pitiful kingdoms of Man for this insult, and the screams of the innocent will be the sorrowful hymns sent up to appease your pain.

I am so spoilt by the cold brew I make at home.

People who drink coffee are ....strange.

...

Surround the heretic so that he cannot escape

I will do the knife-work

> People who drink coffee are ....strange.

There, fixed.

@BESW ...when you're a stranger

[Ponders doing a general Paizo post, thinks he might not be able to get away with that, professionally]

> ...when you're a stranger who drinks coffee.

Especially since my first instinct is to title it "Freaking Paizo I Swear to Hell"

@Lord_Gareth Talk to me, I'm over on IRC.

Hey, ah, @BESW

Pending your agreement/some discussion, what would you think of "You can't un-stab someone" being added to that list of aspects

Heh. Sounds like a good trouble.

Curious, what's the diff?

Fate characters have five aspects. The "high concept" is the pitch, the essence of the character, how you'd explain them quickly to someone who's never met them.

The "trouble" indicates what most often gets in their way, the obstacle to achieving their goals.

The other three aspects are more general, talking about the character's relationships, skills, goals, tools, etc.

Aaah. So in that context you can define a certain unwillingness about violence as a Trouble

(Often the only difference between a trouble and another aspect is that the player chose it as the trouble.)

Since it removes problem solving tools

Right, and it also becomes a problem when violence does occur.

And it can be extended beyond physical violence; for example if someone betrayed you (stabbed you in the back metaphorically), I could compel You can't un-stab someone to keep you unforgiving.

@BESW So, you're free to interpret an aspect however you want?

As opposed to it having an agreed-upon meaning?

@Miniman Aspects are, theoretically, little more than reminders to the group about some narrative element they've agreed upon. However a well-phrased aspect often turns out to be applicable in unexpected ways.

So long as the whole group is okay with it, such new applications or interpretations are cool because they expand the depth and width of the character.

@BESW Interesting...maybe D&D5e cribbed a chunk off FATE. Flaws/bond/traits/ideals seem like very specific aspects, from what you're saying.

@BESW This is also disturbingly accurate. What was that quote you gave me? Ah, yes - "All that daggers that have rusted in my back I now drive into yours."

@Lord_Gareth If it weren't also true to the character, the compel's new interpretation would be rightfully challenged and discarded.

(But often such new applications lead the party to discover something about the character they didn't know before, but which make sense and are consistent.)

By contrast, if Surrounded by idiots was your trouble, then you'd be blocked from your goals most often by the ignorance of those around you, and/or your expectation of ignorance in them.

With it as a regular aspect, it's not an obstacle as often and might instead be invoked to get bonuses when fooling, manipulating, or out-manoeuvring people.

@Emrakul ooh, do tell!

Aaand actual gaming post up. Um, @BESW, is it spam/bad if I share

That...is not an answer?

Submit your tumblr to be put on the chat feed, and then it'll get shared automagically without cluttering up the chat itself.

@Emrakul From what I've read/heard about Fate, it's not intended for "hack/kill mode" type games

(never played, myself)

@Adeptus Then what's the point?

@Adeptus It can be run that way, without any hacks except careful control of the writing of character aspects, but it's certainly not the default mode.

meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/a/4915/6172 <-Bam

Slaughter's better when you do it with friends <-Because you can't spell slaughter without laughter

(Invoke the smouldering rage in my stomach for bonuses on fire breathing.)

For an even more combat-focused Fate experience, tailor the skill list.

@Lord_Gareth It'd be so much more awesome if you couldn't spell laughter without slaughter...

I get the feeling that I'm going to use that pic a lot

Because it's just...so perfect

@BESW Maybe once I'm not at work.

Bweheheh.

Y'know, the Team Fortress "Meet the X" vids have some amazingly wonderful quotes.

Were you here for my "Refresh balance is not" a couple days ago?

"One shudders to think of what inhuman thoughts lurk beneath that mask. What dreams of chronic and sustained cruelty."

@Emrakul In a nutshell: balancing DFRPG's "powers" by granting extra Refresh to mortals who swear not to take any of them is thematically a great choice, but it's got nothing to do with any sort of actual balance in the system.

@Emrakul Wait, do you mean to tell me that these wretched fools succeeded to turning FATE into D&D?

Mortals are more likely to retain their free will in any given situation, but they don't have much to do with that free will.

@Lord_Gareth Well, it's Dresden Files, so wizards are supposed to be overpowered.

@BESW So you do the honest thing and either tell people not to play mortals or cop to their total lack of agency.

In my limited experience with DFRPG, the best thing a mortal can do with all those Fate points is declare story details.

You don't bait people into doing it by offering bonuses that don't actually affect play.

@Lord_Gareth Well, that's the thing. It does affect play.

Wizards can do a lot more than mortals, but it's really easy to get them to wield that power in ways they don't want to.

Imagine if the tradeoff for being a D&D wizard was that the GM got to choose your spells' targets for you.

(And every spell was friendly fire.)

DFRPG is not balanced in the sense that D&D theorists talk about, but it's thematically exactly where it wants to be: wizards are more powerful, but mortals have more control over their destinies.

@BESW That sounds awesome.

(Also, mortals tend to have greater endurance; wizards burn themselves out in fights pretty fast.)

Wizards go BOOOM but often not in a direction of their choosing.

Anyway, must pack up and head home before the caretaker leaves.

I'm very excited to see what DFA does with the paradigm.

Dresden Files Accelerated; I should have the playtest packet in about four days.

heading out; back in... under half an hour.

In any event, since this happened before I got poked into the feed, this post -> unendingraeg.tumblr.com/post/96430470189/… <-Explains oberoni and why it's bad