@Sandwich The theory goes: Wobuffet is actually the tail. The blue part is just an enormous, distracting punching bag of sorts. The pokedex entries about Wobuffet all make allusions to the fact it hides and protects its tail as much as possible, keeps it hidden in the dark if it can, and only ever really flips out if its tail is attacked. Also, its tail has eyes, its body doesn't.

@Pixie It has a Kamina speech for an opening quote ;_;

@doppelgreener Of course. xD

@Shalvenay Hey!

@Pixie Have you seen Gurren Lagann? :O

@doppelgreener I have not! I plan to at some point, though.

Gooooooooood~

[taps fingertips together, narrows eyes]

It is a wonderful anime.

It hits some lulls on about three episodes in the first half but it's very good.

On that note, have you seen Gunbuster? I have been told by people who've seen both that Gurren was inspired by Gunbuster. Gunbuster is very, very, very good.

So if you like one, I imagine you might enjoy the other.

(More reasons for me to watch Gurren.)

[adds to Things To Watch list]

And the same studio did both.

only a couple of decades apart.

It's an old OVA series, Hideaki Anno's directorial debut. It starts out as a sports anime parody and gets very cool, very fast. It is a bit dated in some respects, but otherwise, it's pretty great.

Excellent :D

It's this but also this. (Warning, outfits a bit revealing. The major thing about it is that it's late 80s/early 90s OVA fanservicey.)

@Miniman -- rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/58631/… -- working up a character based on this multiclass (12 of Paladin, 8 of Warlock) -- was thinking I'd do 4 Paladin levels, then 4 Warlock levels, then 4 Paladin levels, then 4 Warlock levels, than finish out with the last 4 Paladin levels

(decided to do Oath of the Ancients with an Archfey/Pact of the Blade lock, though)

although I wonder if you could make Repelling Blast (or any magical ability for that matter) do nonlethal damage

@Pixie that's awesome XD

@doppelgreener It's very very hot-blooded shounen, but also some sports anime parody, but also some shoujo-y drama elements complete with "Onee-sama!"

@Pixie Aw XD

That sounds like a wonderful mix.

@Shalvenay Hmmm. My first thought is that you're planning a melee character, but it's going to be level 9 before you get Extra Attack - maybe worth considering taking a few more Pally levels up front.

8 is a really nice place to stop taking Pally levels, since the next big thing after 8 is at 15.

@Althis @Sandwich Will be ready to play Maid shortly if you are around.

@Miniman -- part of the reason that taking that first level of 'Lock at L4 Pally is on the mind is b/c it'd work out well for the char getting pacted as a side-effect of their oath quest

@Shalvenay That makes sense - it's definitely good to have your character development make sense in-character, and it's not like you're going to be underpowered or anything. Just missing some of the really good stuff for a while.

yeah

and our party is not short on melee combat capacity xD

(we have a Sorc for arcane stuff -- but my Palalock is going to have to be responsible for putting folks back together)

Okay... that is the third carpenter ant I have seen in my room. I think this has now reached a state of Not Good. One, not a big deal. Two, troubling. Three...

@Pixie -- yeah, time to get an exterminator over to look at things. regular picnic ants are a non-problem, but carpenter ants? I'd rather not deal with 'em

@Shalvenay I just saw a fourth!

Carpenter ants apparently bore into wood... that definitely isn't good.

we have termites here for that

Normal ants are fine. I do not care. Slightly annoying, but whatever. They're even kind of cute. These ants are big and winding up in my bed.

Which has a wooden frame, so I am suddenly terrified. Also my walls are wood.

though we have at least a few different kinds of ants, and I once saw a colony fight termites over a tree XD

That is very bad. ;_;

Definitely exterminator.

yeah

kill em

they don't deserve a meal of someones bed

@Miniman -- are there any clear losers when it comes to Paladin fighting styles in 5e btw? I was thinking of taking Great-Weapon Fighting for my char, but you probably know more than I on this topic.

@Shalvenay Well, it depends on what you're planning to do and what you want to prioritise.

For example, if you're focusing on damage, you'd pick a Greatsword. Then it only makes sense to pick the Great Weapon Fighting Style, because it'll boost your damage even more.

well, making sure the party's on their feet at the end of the day

so, come to think of it, Protection might be a better choice

But personally, if I was going to use a Greatsword, I'd probably take Defense over Great Weapon Fighting, because the damage boost from Great Weapon Fighting is so minor.

On the other hand, if your DM lets Great Weapon Fighting apply to Smite damage, it becomes much better.

I'm not a fan of Protection personally, because it's SUPER conditional (ally within 5 feet, ally attacked, you holding a shield) AND requires your reaction, and after all that, it's not even guaranteed to block the attack - just adds disadvantage.

@Miniman I'm assuming in 5e the best defense is still a good offense to stop the damage everyone else is dealing ASAP, then put the pieces back together afterwards?

@Nyoze Generally, yeah.

Although damage mitigation got a lot better - there's a lot of ways to take half damage from stuff, and that's definitely worth doing.

@Shalvenay I like the concept, but the execution just seems weaksauce.

@Miniman If it's reducing your average DPR by less then half, definitely. If you're cutting out your actions to survive longer though...

@Pixie We are a go?

@Althis @Sandwich hasn't turned up yet.

I'm also a little busy right now trying to get everything out of the way so I can check for ant infestations. =w= But if Sandwich does turn up, I will take a break to run the game.

Cat. =w=

What is it even that there is between a cat and a keyboard?

I think they just look at it and think their bed just need more click-clacks.

My cat likes to step on my keyboard just on her way to do other things. I can move the computer, and she'll change her path so she can run across it while she goes to the food bowl.

I think she believes it is a springboard.

Like in Sonic...

I just imagined the most preposterous thing ever.

Thank you.

@Pixie She probably thinks it feels really cool under her feet.

@doppelgreener My friend's hypothesis has long been that computers look delicious to her.

Computers are delicious, cats just happen to know better then we do :P

Interesting fact.

Cats are actually a few degrees hotter than us.

So most stuff also feels a bit colder to them.

That is why they like sleeping in ridiculously hot places.

Like under heaters.

And on my computer's heatsink.

I've got to go for a while, gotta check under my mattress. See y'all.

Bye :)

I return. I'm gonna call it on Maid, though.

@AshleyNunn It's really difficult to tell. We couldn't find the source or anything.

But, at the very least, no obvious massive infestation... xD

@Pixie I find flyspray helps with ants :D

@Pixie Yeah. I think Sandwich finally collapsed in a coma somewhere after SGDQ.

@Nyoze Oh, the irony of an SGDQ marathon.

It's not something I'd ever try, that's for sure.

I might see if I can find a copy of the Sonic runs online at some point though.

I'm curious to watch the Chrono Trigger run, but the timezones didn't work for me.

@AshleyNunn Oh cool, I'll have to check that out!

@AshleyNunn Thanks :)

@AshleyNunn Thanks!

Btw, your avatar looks familiar - where's that from?

I'm assuming so, since mine is just a pair of shoes :P

@AshleyNunn Yep (Sorry it took me so long to reply)

@Nyoze And I've never seen anything like it

My friend once named a chicken in Harvest Moon 64 after me. It died. From that point on, it was understood that chickens were never to bear my name.

@AshleyNunn I guess I must've seen it while casually browsing Arqade. It's pretty awesome.

@AshleyNunn I know! RIP, me chicken.

Harvest Moon...that takes me back.

(Admittedly mostly to making fun of my little sister, but the nostalgia is real :) )

@Miniman Psh. Harvest Moon is awesome. :P

@Miniman Were you making fun of her for playing harvest moon!? Dx

Wow. Everyone's quiet today. :(

@doppelgreener How're you feeling?

I'm feeling ok at the moment.

@doppelgreener Awesome, hope it stays that way :)

Me too :D

no, you can't feel ok, that isn't allowed

:P

@doppelgreener That is good to hear!

@doppelgreener More the way she played it. She has her own distinctive style of gameplay which she applies to all games, and I find it hilarious.

(We've actually contemplated starting a Youtube channel "My Sister Plays Games", but it'd be a lot of work and it would get old really fast.))

I fake teased my sister for playing Runescape, I played it myself for a little while XD

@trogdor I tried once, cause everyone else was when I was what... 12? I couldn't. :\

@Miniman Ok well good << >> << still don't know how I feel about that but teasing for playing harvest moon itself would have been UNACCEPTABLE!!! [cue lemongrab shrieking]

Runescape? yeah I couldn't get into it for long myself

@trogdor I'm extremely glad I never touched Runescape; I know someone who still can't stop playing it, while fully admitting that she doesn't enjoy it.

mm

I am still not sure how that all works honestly

I did play WoW for longer than I should have

and I even replayed Halo one way too many times

@trogdor Addiction? I have no idea either, but there's plenty of research out there you could read.

and Resident Evil 4

@trogdor IMPOSSIBRUUUUUUUUUUUU

Addiction is a horrible thing :(

I briefly tried Runequest and (thankfully, it would seem) didn't care for it at all.

@trogdor Thanks for making me add Halo to my list of games I need to replay.

lol

I started killing some elites by juking behind them and meleeing them in the back

@trogdor Difficulty level? If you say Legendary I'm going to feel really shamed.

not all of them mind you, but the fact that I had spent so much time on the game that I actually could pull things like that off was a sign

Legendary

[feels really shamed]

to be fair, I usually picked off their entire squad first

the melee in the back was just my occasional reward for myself

I'm still pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do that

I wasn't like, matrixing through a whole squad who was still alive to do it or anything

Plasma grenades or pistol/pistol were my elite-killing strategies

like I said, I played way too much

plasma grenades are great

the pistol is practically the best gun

I was even meleeing Hunters to death

sometimes

again, not all the time, if I was having trouble I killed em with a pistol shot

@trogdor I did manage that a couple of times

It's the most satisfying kill

yeah, it wasn't the hardest thing

they loved to get into melee with you

and once they did they were really predictable to dodge

Yep, and the instant kill on them is easier because of the power of ORANGE

yeah

they had that obvious weak spot

Saw Ant-Man. It was a solidly entertaining film. Five years ago it would've been a very good comic-book-hero film in the "brightly coloured" wheelhouse. Today it's scraping the low end of good, but it's still overall fun and feels comfortable finding its own place in the MCU.

yeah, I agree on that

It looked pretty decent. Have yet to see it but would like to.

it definitely isn't the quality you would expect considering the experience you would think they have at making Marvel films now

There were a few sour notes that made it hard to really give myself to the film, unfortunately.

hey guys, do you have any suggestions for good graph paper to design dungeons on? I am looking for sheets larger than 8.5x11 with fairly small grid squares. this would be to design on paper like a blueprint so i know where to place my custom tiles n junk. i'm thinking like 4-6 squares per inch.

@MC_Hambone if you just need to know where to place your custom tiles, do you really need graph paper for that?

i can imagine drawing squares on blank paper with a number or something would also do

all my tiles are sized for game play tho and a grid makes determining what size corridors n stuff go where... like I have 2 inch hall sections 4 in and 6 in etc. the grid helps me pack everything in there perfectly

i get kinda anal about that kinda stuff lol. color coding corridor sections and rooms so i know whats what when building on the fly

There are some sites where you can input your desired specs and get pdfs to print your own paper.

so you guys just print your own these days? I guess i can deal with standard printer paper... but i was planning on designing a fairly large mega dungeon

i guess i could tape sheets together lol

That'd at least get you a slightly larger size with a standard printer if you get legal size paper.

It's been a while, but I remember being able to find 36x26 grid paper pads at office supply stores.

But that's only a few inches on letter, so probably not worth it if you're taping it together anyway.

Not the most convenient route, but the cheapest.

i was designing on a grid i made in photoshop yesterday, but when i printed it out the grid was so small it was hard to read

Look online for graph paper sizes, find the one closest to your needs so you know what it's called, then go to an office supply shop and ask.

k i'll look again. maybe go past the first page of results this time lol

Try "oversize quad paper."

(The first Google search on a new topic is never expected to be successful; it's an exploratory mission to discover vocabulary and associated phrases to make future searches more fruitful.)

especially if you are looking for something too specific

because there are a lot of things that are probably going to be like it

or it will just be too obscure

but sometimes that also works in your favor because what you want will be the first thing that pops up

google is a strange beast

oversized quad paper

on google images lol

but i did find some graph paper in the searches XD

Morning

Morning

> The Ant-Suit: (Extra, 2 stunts worth) I get +1 to overcome with Physique or Athletics when I can use my suit's powers to help. Also, I get +2 to attack with Combat when I can use my suit's powers to help.

> Ant-Speak: (Extra, 2 stunts worth) My character aspect And my little friends is my signature aspect (I get one free invoke on it each issue, and it costs two Fate points to compel). Also, I can spend a Fate point to use any skill once as if I were in a different place than I actually am, provided ants could reach that place.

Quite possibly the most overpowered stunt in any game - ever.

@Nyoze It costs a Fate point per use, which balances it nicely.

> Also, I can spend a Fate point to use any skill once as if I were in a different place than I actually am, provided ants could reach that place.

Wow.

I hate markup.

@BESW True, but even still...

@BESW Do you get to use the skill including your modifiers, or just at +0?

Your modifiers.

But that Fate point could otherwise be spent to make that skill roll more effective. It's still a gamble that the roll will work at all.

@BESW Yeah, that's true...

It's a stunt that's very powerful when used in the right situation.

But if you spam it, you quickly run out of Fate points and get compels you can't resist.

Isn't the whole fun in Fate not resisting compels anyway? :P

I've unfortunately never played, but I think that actually encouraging compels is a good thing isn't it?

Sorta, but the ability to choose to resist is important.

yes, but when you literally can't resist them the GM could throw a really bad one at you

Yeah... That makes sense I guess.

There's a big difference between being forced to take a compel, and choosing to take one.

@BESW also a lot of this

Besides, Fate is only worried about "balance" in the broadest of concepts.

So long as one PC doesn't feel overshone by another, there's no big fuss.

True :)

And if you're playing Marvel, everyone can do some pretty crazy stuff.

Aye.

I'm tuning those stunts around Atomic Robo, which does Marvel craziness quite well.

In ARRPG, Ant-Man will start a session with 5 Fate points. That means he could probably spend one encounter at a distance using only his ants, and then he's dry for the rest of the session unless he takes juicy compels.

And that's only if it's not a really important encounter.

('Cause if it's an encounter with teeth, the numbers getting swung around --and the stakes involved-- mean that he'll want to be spending those FP on pumping up his rolls rather than on staying away.)

I will get a chance to play Fate one day maybe lol.

Heh.

We're planning for Friday again... some of my players had stuff come up, so last Friday wasn't ideal. I can't exactly say I mind extra time to wrap my mind around the rules. xD

But it would still be nice to play, so hopefully third time's the charm.

If there's anything you'd like to ask, several of us are here and eager to wrap our heads around more Fate stuff--the best way to understand something better is to help others study it.

There's nothing specific that I need help with at the moment. Just trying to fix the flow of the game in my head and such. Thanks for the offer, though! If I have trouble with anything, I definitely know where to come.

One of the things I've been struggling with is pacing: learning how to start a scene where the drama is, and end the scene as soon as its purpose is fulfilled.

My players are so awesome that I'm tempted to let scenes drag out while I enjoy their role-playing.

Fate is probably the most complex game I've tried GMing, especially without having played it before. We did play SotC, but things changed, and also, I don't feel like we used it even nearly to its full potential. That wasn't a problem; it was still fun.

This is a good lesson: playing Fate "wrong" can still be super fun. We've repeatedly gone, "oh, wait, that was totally not how that works! Oh, well, next time."

Haha, yes. I don't think that will be an issue with us.

The Fate point economy is the most important part, I think--and one of the hardest for me as a GM.

I just want to actually be semi-prepared for these things. And that's one thing about our SotC session -- there wasn't a lot of that going on.

Spending Fate points as a GM encourages players to both spend their Fate points and to seek compels. This in turn fuels the cycles of crisis and victory at the heart of the kind of storytelling Fate seeks to encourage.

I will keep that in mind.

And you've seen this, right?

I have!

Those attitudes and strategies are a good basis for game prep, too.

Look at PC concepts and goals, and the kind of situation/setting they're in, and seek conflict that arises between PCs and their setting to get in the way of their goals.

Damn... I won't be able to finish watching Chrono Trigger today :(

Watching?

I have 2/3 sheets now too. Maybe 2/4, we shall see... but hopefully I'll have the third before too long. Having aspects in front of me helps immensely.

@SPArchaeologist Chrono Trigger Speed Run for SGDQ

Gosh, yes. I'm still figuring out the best way to have 25+ aspects at my fingertips.

That too, but just in the sense of getting to know the characters better. Even after discussing concepts, I still learned some very important details about one of the characters. I also feel like it's generally a good indication of what I'm meant to notice about the character.

Very much so.

"This is an aspect, so it's especially important and I need to think about it."

We also figured out a starting point, so I know the characters' immediate shared goal, and I think I have a decent grasp on their individual ones.

They decided they'd probably be familiar to each other as Local Item Weirdos, and we've made the item trader NPC's shop an informal hangout for item hunters to loiter and exchange news. Some inside information from the NPC will lead them to a collection spot that, to the best of her knowledge, no one has been able to enter yet. However... :v

@Nyoze chrono.wikia.com/wiki/Dimensional_Adventure_Numa_Monjar

pretty hard to find anywhere nowadays

@SPArchaeologist Hah. I'll have to watch that at some point.

... I'm going to have to clarify what our priest's trouble is, though. I see three that could work on his sheet. xD

Personally I find Troubles are a bit... cramped... for long-form campaigns, and I prefer to have PCs with several double-edged aspects. But for short games, or starting up with new players, Troubles are a good shortcut and leave open the opportunity for other aspects to be straight-up awesome without clear disadvantages.

Yeah. I don't intend to focus on them overly much, and I certainly have no issues with his aspects being as double-edged as they are -- they will be super fun. But if there's one he'd like to focus on as his Trouble, I want to be sure of which one it actually is.

Because Need to Atone, Deserter, and Pacifist could all be very Trouble-y.

yeah, I think the main thing I still need to focus on is the ability to keep some track of all the PC's aspects

or at least the most compel able ones

I am pretty tempted to make you notice that troubles/problems are a type of card in the mlp ccg too, but that would be a little too nerdy, even for me.

our group has enough people who all have 5 aspects that it is kind of a problem

I also need to talk to him a bit more about his character's situation in general so I can make these things matter in the setting. We've decided, I think, that keeping the actual cosmology vague is best. We don't need any actual, obvious presence of gods (a la 3.5/Pathfinder). But from his aspects, I see lots of elements that could be really fun to work with if I had a little more information.

All right, I'm out of here :)

See ya tomorrow folks

Seeya.

@SPArchaeologist There was a time when I thought Fate would be a good fit for my pony-inspired game, but it's not quite right and too fiddly for my goals.

@BESW Don't think there exist a RP system that would easily match FiM, at leas excluding custom fan made ones.

I'm working on a very specific set of design and experience goals to emulate a particular idea from the series.

Working title, My Little Psyche: Friendship is a Fragile Barrier Holding Back My Seething Neuroses.

Right now it's looking mostly like a cross between Pilgrims of the Flying Temple and Cthulhu Dark.

Yes, I remember that, but as you said it is more oriented at a single specific idea.

I was thinking of something that would embrace the show setting as a whole.

aye, the show crosses genres quite frequently.

It's a little hard to cover every part of many series in an RPG as they're designed with wildly different goals in mind. They can encompass a lot of elements and move fluidly between them. Focusing in on specific desired qualities from a series is often a better idea -- certainly an easier one.

Imho, a system that attempt to model the actual show should have at it center some sort of mechanics that represents the bond between characters.

I want to ask a question on the main site about how I can physically organize Aspects and other Fate-related notes on the table. But I fear the answers are all very subjective, and equally valid. I really do need some answers on this question. So how can I frame it best so that it follows your rules?

Should I turn it into a community wiki or is that not the purpose of it?