TRPG General Chat

BESW

12:06 AM

@JuneShores ...okay, I just processed this. What path led you to Misspent Youth so early in your RPG career?

It took me five years before I knew anything existed outside D&D and the d20 System except White Wolf.

Ben

@BESW That moment when you realise just how many RPGs there are...

Shalvenay

hey again @Emrakul

BESW

I think it went D&D; World of Darkness; Star Wars d20/Stargate d20/Pathfinder; Dogs in the Vineyard/All Flesh Must Be Eaten; My Life With Master/Everyone is John; [joins RPG.SE]/head explodes.

JuneShores

I actively avoided D&D and its kind for years. I started on freeform play-by-post and then discovered... I think it was FUDGE? Then I found a huge batch download of games that were released for free, mostly homebrews, and in there I found Eyebleed Edition.

BESW

Nice.

Oh, I guess I knew about GURPS pretty early on, but only as A Thing Which Exists.

JuneShores

12:12 AM

So I went from 0 to indie in about ten seconds.

BESW

I'd kinda sorta heard about D&D but never knew anybody who played that I'd actually want to play WITH until a college friend heard me declaiming a monologue from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and decided I would make a good DM. "Here are the books, read them over break, I'll have a group for you when you get back."

JuneShores

Haha!

BESW

Prior to that my closest exposure to RPGs was watching elaborate Harry Potter RPs unfold on LiveJournal.

JuneShores

I was very lucky to find a big meetup group in my area pretty easily when I finally took an interest in RPGs.

Yeah. I played on Livejournal and forums beforehand. They were... an experience.

BESW

Yeah, the only other RPGers I could find in my area were White Wolfers. They invited me to join their Mage game, and it collapsed from personal drama one week later.

Adeptus

12:18 AM

@BESW One week?

JuneShores

Wow.

BESW

I mean, they'd been playing various WoD games together for years and the interpersonal drama was reaching critical mass.

Shalvenay

@JuneShores yeah -- freeform communities are...special, and not always in a good way

BESW

I think they invited me partly in the hope that a new, chill player would slow or stop the inevitable boil-over.

Ben

My experience was a sit-in for one game as a mage in 3.5, then nothing for several years, until a couple of my friends invited me out to a game. We played Iron Kingdoms, then we got into Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader, then into a few homebrews (based on All Flesh Must Be Eaten), Then 3.5 again, then 5e

Adeptus

12:20 AM

Oh, ok. So it wasn't "Let's start a game" [boom, drama]. It was "Dramapocalypse imminent... Hey BESW, want to join?"

BESW

Yes.

Miniman

@Adeptus Or even "Stable group for years, BESW joins, INSTANT BREAKDOWN".

5

Ben

@Adeptus [White Noise] "Hey BESW wanna join?" more like :P

@Miniman Well that's just mean :P

BESW

A player and the ST from that group joined my D&D game afterward, and it worked out pretty well after they made the playstyle transition.

JuneShores

I don't think play-by-post works without a lot of elbow grease but most of the time Livejournal/forum games confuse that with convention and trends. Busywork over techniques.

BESW

12:22 AM

I also got invited to play in a second D&D group on the strength of stories that I encouraged roleplaying and this group had been trying unsuccessfully to insert more character moments into their optimal-mechanics playstyle.

Miniman

@JuneShores My experience with PbP is that, at best, it fizzles out quickly.

JuneShores

@Miniman Yep. That's truth.

Ben

@Miniman Our Facebook PbP (yes, facebook) is actually working well

Shalvenay

@JuneShores yeah -- play-by-chat-ish freeform isn't much better. the elbow grease isn't quite as bad as PbP and the scheduling is less of an issue (if only slightly) but you still run into lots of problems

Ben

We've set up a list of rules, and there is a fair amount of trust going on, but it works

Miniman

12:23 AM

@Ben o.O

BESW

That... was a weird little group. It was my first introduction to round-robin GMing, but without any accompaniment. So one player, on his turn GMing, decided our level 12 characters would fight four or five tarrasques at once.

JuneShores

@BESW That sounds excessive.

BESW

There was running and screaming.

Ben

We even play general RP ad hoc, and do major conflicts/combat during our set times (we meet once a week and actually sit down and play together online)

BESW

That group also loved its untested houserules. Like ignoring racial HD when calculating equivalent character level.

Miniman

12:25 AM

@BESW Wow, that's scary.

BESW

Or the magic point system where you regenerated points based on your relephant ability modifier. So I just rolled a mystic theurge.

Ben

Homebrew: "Break it until it works"

BESW

...and convinced the GM to let me use the divine/arcane casting rules depending on which point pool I spent from, rather than which spell I was casting.

(ie, by using cleric points I could cast wizard spells without failure chance from wearing armor.)

Miniman

@BESW The best (worst) I can come up with for that is the Black Ethergaunt - 17th level wizard spellcasting as a "4th" level character.

BESW

So I "encouraged roleplaying" by rolling up the oldest, frailest, slowest librarian wizard/priest I could manage, and dumping all my skill points into social skills.

I'd literally break up fights by asking to see the enemies' library so I could copy their books.

2

JuneShores

12:29 AM

That's amazing.

Adeptus

@BESW For me, playing/running games, it was... solo gamebooks; Dragon Warriors; D&D; Vampire/Mage/Werewolf/Shadowrun/GURPS/Paranoia/Tales From the Floating Vagabond/other stuff; Call of Cthulhu/Cyberpunk 2020/homebrew/other stuff. For awareness of games, put D&D about the same as solo gamebooks, everything else at the first big grouping

BESW

I was a level 12 character with level 2 hit points and casting like two level 8 characters.

Shalvenay

for me...it was way too much time in play-by-chat-ish freeform stuff, then D&D, then pretty much getting here

BESW

I was the only healer, so the others had a mechanical reason to go along with my plans.

The barbarian gave me piggy back rides so I could keep up.

My character's backstory was being a librarian monk until somebody burned his library to the ground, so he started adventuring to (a) collect books for the rebuilt library and (b) wreak righteous vengeance on the arsonist.

The GM never picked up the arson plot, so eventually the librarian became a lich rather than die of old age before finding out who did it.

Ben

Shalvenay

12:55 AM

so @Ben -- another thing is "what should the solution criterion for the party be?" simply having to Dispel Magic something strikes me as too simple, and also slightly caster-centric...

Adeptus

Speaking of drama... SFF.SE's main chat has been deleted

Ben

@Adeptus Wow.

@Shalvenay Go for the trope. The "source of the evil" is some kind of object

Maybe a Lich snuck in somehow

Or some kind of unholy object was snuck in

Miniman

@Adeptus Wow...again?

Shalvenay

@Ben clearly, it couldn't have been in the crypt for all time...maybe it got snuck in with the tributes to the dead?

I'm thinking a sentient magical item that...lost control of its own magics?

Adeptus

@Shalvenay If it's sentient, maybe it went mad?

2

Shalvenay

12:59 AM

@Adeptus that's a good one

Ben

@Adeptus Oooooh I like that

Miniman

@Adeptus Ooooh...or just got bored and decided to have some fun?

Ben

Miniman

@Ben Kutlass...good times.

No, wait, that's Kleever, isn't it?

Ben

@Miniman Kleever, yeah

BESW

1:02 AM

I once ran an evil campaign about the minions of a warlock whose goal was to trap a hero's soul inside an evil weapon.

Ben

@Adeptus Cooped up in an old temple for [insert deity] knows how long would send you loopy

BESW

(See also Lapis Lazuli.)

Shalvenay

so...I'm thinking that giving an animated weapon Fighter levels could be useful for our sentient magical item, no?

Ben

Is there not a sentient item stat block already?

Shalvenay

@Ben hrm...*looks a bit closer*

Miniman

1:06 AM

@Ben Animated weapons have a monster stat block.

Sentient items are just magic items with some extra properties.

@Adeptus Side note: Can I flag a chatroom's colour scheme as offensive to my eyes?

Ben

@Miniman epilepsy-warning

BESW

@Miniman I can't go to Arqade for very long because the pinstripes vibrate.

Ben

@Miniman I remember seeing someone come up with a Sentient Bag of Holding

It did not enjoy its purpose

Miniman

@BESW Honestly, I do wonder if decor is a factor in community culture. No, scratch that - I believe it definitely is, I wonder how big a factor it is.

Shalvenay

whoa, idea time: how about the mummy elf priestess' sword was stolen, then replaced at some later time by some well-meaning but ignorant type who didn't know a whit of the blade's power?

Ben

1:14 AM

So, my cousin has a separate entity that she likes to argue with. This is one such discussion:

> Internet: "Be a pineapple: Stand tall, wear a crown and be sweet on the inside."
> Genbrain: Slowly and insidiously devour the fleshy proteins of your meat friends. Your pineapple crown is heavy and you are ever-hungry.
> Gen: No more odd science facts for you, you just use them to make things weird.

> Bag of Scolding - this magical satchel not only operates as a bag of holding but is aware of this fact and resents it. It says things like "Don't you put that s**t near me you're never going to use it!" and "Wash your filthy hands."

Shalvenay

1:36 AM

@Ben heheheheh

@Ben: did you catch my line just above btw?

Ben

Oh, right.. yeah. Sorry, got distracted by the search for the Bag of Scolding

In truth, to me it sounds ok.

From @Adeptus' suggestion, I was thinking something a bit like Cortana. Left alone and went rampant while John slept

Shalvenay

yeah -- part of my idea would be how the dang thing got into the crypt and also linking it to the mummy without making it a gross screwup during the original burial

Ben

@Shalvenay Well... is it her sword that is the "sentient " item?

BESW

@Miniman I've seen solid evidence that a chat's name also has an influence on its culture.

Shalvenay

@Ben the replacement sword that was put in the crypt after the original one she was buried with was stolen

Ben

1:42 AM

@Shalvenay Yeah, that's what you were suggesting. What I'm suggesting, which is following the suggestion that Adeptus made, is that it is her original sword. Then, when left alone for (x) amount of years, went crazy.

A good mind, with a good purpose, when left alone for an extended period of time tends to go a little loopy.

Miniman

@BESW Hopefully we'll see some more soon!

Ben

Hence why it started raising the dead - it wanted company.

Shalvenay

@Ben ah. yeah -- we're talking a local priestess here -- she probably didn't have such a powerful artifact in life, so it doesn't make sense for her to be buried with an item that powerful.

Ben

And it refused to revive it's master - she was the one who abandoned it in the first place

Shalvenay

@Ben yeah, but at the same time -- its efforts at necromancy are at "epic fail" level

Ben

1:45 AM

@Shalvenay I've heard many stories where power left to brew unchecked grew into something far stronger

Shalvenay

@Ben true...

then again, these are elves we are dealing with here, it's rather unlike them to be aloof to such risks

Ben

Hmm... yeah ok'

I mean, there are exceptions to the rule

Perhaps since elves are a noble breed, and think that "a talking sword" isn't going to prove troublesome

BESW

> "There's all kinds of old buried magic rings and swords and crap in the ground, and sometimes the spells come loose and make trouble." (Digger, Ursula Vernon)

Ben

That pride con often lead to overlooking such trivial things

Shalvenay

the other question is "why would you bury someone with a high-powered artifact instead of passing it down the family line?"

BESW

1:51 AM

So, this is an intelligent sword that's been buried with its owner?

Ben

@Shalvenay No living relatives

And a "talking sword" is probably something annoying they'd be glad to be rid of

BESW

I can't find the start of the conversational thread, so I'm missing context.

Shalvenay

the one other thing is that the crypt isn't completely desolate -- folks visit it to pay their respects, make sure it doesn't get too nasty inside...

59 mins ago, by Shalvenay

so @Ben -- another thing is "what should the solution criterion for the party be?" simply having to Dispel Magic something strikes me as too simple, and also slightly caster-centric...

Ben

@BESW Elfen Guardian - buried and embalmed to ensure evil would not enter the temple. Evil somehow has snuck in -- but the question is: How?

Shalvenay

so if it had been brewing for a long, long time...there'd be "what's with the talking sword?" remarks...

Ben

1:55 AM

@Shalvenay She (and the sword) don't have to be on display, out in the open...

Shalvenay

@Ben that is true

Ben

Do they?

BESW

@Ben Okay, so that's easy.

nitsua60

@BESW me: D&D/Cyberpunk/Traveller/Marvel Superheroes/APFMT/joins RPGSE/finds *this chat*/head explodes =)

BESW

The loyal, devoted intelligent sword is buried with its owner and best friend... and goes mad with grief. Either the sword itself becomes evil from the loss, or its desperate and indiscriminate prayers invite something it didn't mean to invite.

Ben

1:57 AM

@BESW Adeptus suggested a magical item that went mad over time. That's what we're developing atm

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 hey there @nitsua60

nitsua60

@Shalvenay heya

Shalvenay

so yeah...ready for the dungeon discussion? as that's what you joined into the middle of actually

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Sure. Fill me in. (Not on the dungeon/features, but on your design objectives and stumbling blocks.)

Ben

I seem to be suffering some kind of page-scroll lock in my browser :/

Shalvenay

2:02 AM

so...right now, I'm trying to figure out how the sentient sword that went insane and caused the havoc (zombies rising from their graves to menace those who simply wish to pay their respects to their loved ones) that is the crux of the dungeon's problem got into the place to begin with

the basic question is "should it have been there all along and slowly gone mad, or should it be a more recent addition to the dungeon?"

nitsua60

How about sentient item was interred there well before the dungeon. It's the seeping energy/aura of the item that drew people to bury their dead there in the first place?

BESW

I'd go with "the sword was buried with someone, and isn't evil; it just accidentally invited a dead-animating evil into the tomb with its poorly worded prayers of grief."

So you have to get the sword to snap out of its grief, realise what's going on, and un-invite the evil.

nitsua60

[I swear @BESW and I aren't coordinating our responses in real-time on Discord right now.]

Shalvenay

@BESW that looks kinda interesting, not sure if it quite fits with the more...confrontational tone I've set for this dungeon though

nitsua60

In my version it might just be that the sword's trying to get all those bodies (dumped on top of it, after all) away from it.

Ben

2:05 AM

Works with the "untimely death" idea

Shalvenay

@Ben the idea that the sword was buried with her and accidentally invited the evil in, or?

Ben

@Shalvenay Both. That and the "grief" trope

Shalvenay

@Ben yeah, and it'd still work for the whole "she's trying to wrestle her own dang sword into submission" thing I want to do with her at some point

Ben

Could also develop into a "Ring of Power" trope, if you don't feel comfortable with the Elves burying a powerful artefact. It's grief drove it mad, and has forced other creatures to take it back to it's master... so they can be together forever

It needs to be with her... and has used it's power for its own gain... and has driven it mad

Shalvenay

@Ben I think we can go with the buried sword accidentally inviting an evil in...

or maybe the evil presence wants the sword for its own evil ends and was attracted by its presence?

Ben

2:08 AM

It has now reached her, and its power has grown so that it has possessed her as well... now they can be together... forever...

And boom - you now have a spell sword NPC

Shalvenay

and yeah -- destroying the sword would drive the evil presence off

@nitsua60 -- you got some ideas re: how to make a mixed bag of zombies? I'm thinking either reskinning the Ogre Zombie to a Medium sized thing + giving it a slam instead of weapons, or doing similarly, starting with Zombie-fying some of the Appendix B stuff and then doing the same weapon-to-slam swap (no armed zombies in my world as they don't have the brains to know which end is which even :P)

Ben

It can work both ways:
A) the sword created its own power, and possessed the guardian. or
B) the sword prayed to resurrect its friend, and an evil power granted its wishes.

Either way, the sword is the source of the corruption

Shalvenay

yeah -- I'm thinking "the sword's prayers were answered by this malevolent entity that's doing this, who also seeks to gain power from the weapon. destroying the sword will make the malevolent entity uninterested in this location"

nitsua60

@Shalvenay theangrygm.com/…

Ben

@Shalvenay When I suggested re-skinning earlier, I was thinking any and all monsters. Bandits, Cultists, other monsters born from malevolent energies. Just say they're zombies, and if you want, give them the "undying fortitude" ability

Trolls or orcs too

Shalvenay

2:17 AM

@Ben no trolls to be had -- orcs aren't normally malevolent out here, but orc zombies could work

Ben

Actually, in one game the GM came up with the story that Bugbears were created by corrupting elves with Orc blood. Over time, they would lose control, and eventually turn into bugbears

Could adapt that somehow

I've also used the cultist stat block with Undying fortitude to create "Undead druids"

Shalvenay

@Ben hahahaha xD

Ben

Ok... An alchemist jug with a twist... I just need to decide on the twist.

A) It never makes what you tell it to. (Random liquid)

B) Sentient, and oddly sexual

C) Hygrophobic

Shalvenay

@Ben hydrophobic you mean?

nitsua60

No, I think he means hygrophobic =)

Shalvenay

2:29 AM

:P

nitsua60

(Afraid of any moisture!)

Shalvenay

heheh

Ben

@Shalvenay Hydrophobia is a fear of water. Hygrophobia is a fear of liquids

nitsua60

@Ben Btw, I think it's called a Klein Jug =)

Shalvenay

@Ben aaah

Ben

2:31 AM

@nitsua60 Lol

nitsua60

$user image$

Ben

@Shalvenay We all learned something here today

Shalvenay

so yeah -- revisiting the elf "ranger"

we know he appears to be a woodsman, and well into his years at that

he has the ability to conduct seances and other such rituals, but not turn undead (or else he'd need the party's help way less)

he has some ability with blade and bow, too, more than what one'd expect out of a pure arcanist

and the final kicker...he has a companion. A Cloaker, to be precise.

(which says something about him being touched in the head, no?)

Ben

Slightly odd... But I wouldn't judge too loudly

Shalvenay

hey there @Arkhaic

so yeah -- one more thing, he's definitely touched in the head

thinks he's a better ranger than he really is

makes me wonder how to stat him though

Ben

2:44 AM

how do you mean

Shalvenay

@Ben he clearly can't be a cleric, but it seems that only clerics get the ability to cast things like speak with dead

Ben

@Shalvenay Following the rulebook, sure

But you are the GM

Shalvenay

that is true...

Arkhaic

@Sh

@Shalvenay totally forgot I opened the chatroom

Shalvenay

I wonder if undying pact 'locks get that sort of thing? (don't have my SCAG handy to check)

Ben

2:46 AM

Honestly, I'd basically make them a ranger, maybe give them the "confused" condition (under the spell of the sword; slightly loopy, but only if you want to play it that way), and then give them a few extra spells to match your needs

Shalvenay

@Ben yeah -- thing is, they really aren't good enough at being a ranger to merit more than at most a 1 level dip in Ranger

nitsua60

@Shalvenay neither are rangers =P

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 hahaha :P

Ben

@Shalvenay "they" being the elf?

Shalvenay

@Ben the elf, yes

Ben

2:53 AM

So make them a ranger, and give them disadvantage?

nitsua60

@Ben You mean, more disadvantage than being a ranger?

[You two are just lining them up for me to shoot down. I'd have to be... a ranger to miss!]

Okay, done. (Honestly, I didn't really have the heart for #2. But I really wanted to set up #3.)

Shalvenay

@Ben it's not just that they aren't good enough with weapons, its that they aren't good enough as a survivalist etal...I'll have to look at how NPC spell list customization works further though before I come back to this guy however

Ben

Or confusion

@Shalvenay Ok... What has being a survivalist got to do with anything when you're stuck in a crypt as an undead guardian?

Shalvenay

@Ben you're mixing up your NPCs

two different elves here!

Ben

Oh.

Shalvenay

2:59 AM

the elfess is a priestess, the elf I'm talking about now is the "ranger" :)

Ben

I had no idea there were two

@Shalvenay In that case, make him a fighter. You can simulate their abilities, give 'em a few spells just to snazz him up a little, and there are no survival abilities

Shalvenay

@Ben yeah, fighter with some basic survival skills from his background but low WIS would make sense

Ben

Actually... give him "goodberry". Just one spell that allows him to survive in the wild.

He has to rely on a diet of berries to survive

Miniman

@nitsua60 I got a bunch of laughs out of it during a really crappy day, so anytime you feel like resuming is fine with me :)

Ben

@Miniman Why did the blind man fall into the well?

He didn't see that well

nitsua60

3:05 AM

<groan>

Ben

Helpiiiing

nitsua60

(And, actually, there're a non-trivial number of people often in this room who either work in accessibility or have visual impairments--this might be a tough room for blind-jokes, specifically.)

Miniman

Nice!

nitsua60

@Miniman What do you call a camel with three humps?

Shalvenay

hey there btw @RollingFeles

Ben

3:07 AM

@nitsua60 Ah.

Fair enough

Miniman

@nitsua60 Well, the delay from posting via mobile made that weird.

Ben

@nitsua60 Ohh! Pick me!

nitsua60

@Ben (Not that you could have known.)

@Ben Yes... in the back?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Alice?

Ben

Pregnant!

nitsua60

3:08 AM

</rimshot>

Ben

My sister has a habit of filling up a glass of water, and only drinking half, and leaving it for later. When explaining this to me, she asked "Do you know why I leave the glass half full?"

I replied "Because you're an optimist?"

nitsua60

@Miniman Some time when you've got 5 min, check out this Zootopia scene.

2

RollingFeles

@Shalvenay [wave]

Ben

@nitsua60 hehehehehe

Shalvenay

@RollingFeles how're things going?

Ben

3:12 AM

@nitsua60 Seconded

nitsua60

My kids never get tired of watching me slow-play the reaction to the punchline
=|
=)
=D
ha

ha

ha.

Ben

@nitsua60 That was actually my sister's reaction when I told her she was going to be an aunt. (without the laughter obviously :P)

RollingFeles

@Shalvenay good. Got some sleep. Not much, but it would be enough. I'm pondering now about how I run DW and I think there is still things I do wrong.

Shalvenay

@RollingFeles ah. hacking on a 5e dungeon here

RollingFeles

@Shalvenay I see. How's the progress?

Shalvenay

3:23 AM

@RollingFeles got a basic idea going here -- got to figure out a layout now

Ben

3:44 AM

Has any one else with IT experience come across a PC, and while looking through a list of add-ons/processes thought "what even are these??"

This is what happens when my boss wants to "try out new software options".

Miniman

@Ben My default policy is to assume that anything I can't quickly work out the purpose of probably came preinstalled.

Ben

@Miniman Unless they are specifically stated as "unknown provider"

Miniman

("Preinstalled" means "bloatware garbage that companies pay PC vendors to include because there's no other way they can get a user to put it on their computer", for anyone who's unfamiliar.)

Ben

@Miniman Oh right. that kind of pre-installed

Miniman

@Ben ...is there another kind?

Ben

3:48 AM

There the same, just some come with other programs you install later. 2 different stages.

Pre-installed at factory settings, and pre-installed when you download and install "this totally great and completely free software"

Miniman

@nitsua60 Weird realisation: I actually have no idea what happens at a book club.

Ben

@Miniman You sit around and talk about books

Miniman

I was thinking "like a movie night, but reading books instead of watching movies", but the variation in reading speeds makes that pretty impractical.

Ben

Specifically the books that were set as homework

Just like in school

Miniman

@Ben OH!

Ok, that makes more sense.

Ben

3:51 AM

You always get that one guy that never reads anything, but they bring the snacks.

BESW

@Miniman There are versions with short stories which work that way.

But yeah, most of the time a book club is about getting together to talk about the book you all agreed to read at the end of the last meeting.

Miniman

@BESW Ah, so "everyone read this, then everyone talks about it" kinda thing?

BESW

@Miniman Yeah.

Miniman

See, I actually really like the idea of having a group of people around while reading a book - so often there's some witty (or not) comment you really want to say, but there's no-one around to say it to, (and even if there was they'd have no idea what you were talking about) so you're forced to abandon it forever.

But yeah, I can't think of a way that could actually work.

Ben

@Miniman They do that.

"When (x) did (y), I was thinking (witty joke)"

[everyone laughs politely]

Mind you, I've never actually been in a book club.

I just sat in for the snacks

BESW

3:57 AM

@Miniman I occasionally inflict those on friends via Skype or Discord or whatever.

Also:

Parallel play

Parallel play is a form of play in which children play adjacent to each other, but do not try to influence one another's behavior. Children usually play alone during parallel play but are interested in what other children are doing. This usually occurs after the first birthday. It usually involves two or more children in the same room who are interested in the same toy, each seeing the toy as their own. The children do not play together, but alongside each other simply because they are in the same room. Parallel play is usually first observed in children aged 2–3. An observer will notice that the...

Miniman

@BESW I occasionally find a ~~victim~~ ~~target~~ recipient too, but it's not quite the same as if they were reading it at the same time. (And were somehow magically up to the same bit you were.)

BESW

Trogdor is a master of parallel play and has taught me the glory of its quiet companionship.

Ben

@Miniman Sometimes they do do (hehe) group readings. They'll re-read a part of the book and take turns reading a paragraph each or so.

Miniman

> "Rubin et al.(1976) have suggested that those who play beside others may desire the company of other children but may not yet have the skills required to play in an associative or cooperative manner".

~~Nerrrrds~~ me us?

BESW

@Miniman Or, you know, we like hanging out in the same room while grinding different reps on our WoW characters.

2

Ben

4:03 AM

@BESW Playing on a Minecraft LAN, in completely separate parts of the world

And in completely separate parts of the house

/say @BESW I found sheep

Arkhaic

4:19 AM

Wow

BESW

@Arkhaic [wave] What's new?

Arkhaic

So, I'm ~fairly~ entirely, completely relaxed about what third party classes I allow in games, which usually isn't problematic because I don't play with horrible people.

Adeptus

Thursday nights are computer game night for me & my daughter. Usually we play something multiplayer together, but sometimes we play different single-player games. (My wife doesn't get it - "you're supposed to be playing together")

Arkhaic

What does happen is horrible broken mechanics sometimes slip by until a second or 3rd glance

Miniman

@Arkhaic Any particular system, or just in general?

Arkhaic

4:22 AM

In general, Pathfinder in this case

I just read through the full description of Adamant Entertainment's artificer's Weird Science ability

And it is utterly, hilariously broken (especially in a campaign with tons of downtime)

Shalvenay

yeah -- 3PP material is variable in quality, to say the least. my vote with 3.x is to embrace the breakage

because if you try to chase down all the breakage and excise it from your game, you probably won't have much left

Arkhaic

In this case the break is so bad that it is both broken as far as balance goes if used as intended, and broken in the sense that everything will have a caster level of N/A if you read it as written

Shalvenay

@Arkhaic oh, dear. that's getting close to Truenamer levels of breakage

Arkhaic

It can simultaneously cast any spell of under 4th level with a similar delivery method and casting time

From any arcane or divine list\

And has a caster level of ?

Ben

So... if I went with a Hygrophobic Alchemy Jug that, whenever filled with liquid, spewed it out until empty (yes... I know it refills automatically) could you use "seal evil" on it to make it stop?

Miniman

4:28 AM

@Ben Seal evil?

Like...orcas?

Ben

@Miniman I don't have the PHB in front of me, lol. I'm thinking there's some kind of spell that seals things.

Miniman

@Ben Arcane Lock?

Shalvenay

@Ben what'd happen if you filled it with compressed gas and put a regulator on top? :P

Ben

@Miniman that could work

The Oracle

1

Q: Let's schedule some [chat] events

Chat events are a thing, I recently learned. They range from project meetings to movie nights to happy hours. Are there ideas people have for events around here? Propose topics, time-frames (recurrence?), objectives, &c. I don't know how/whether any of this will work, but that won't stop me from...

BESW

4:40 AM

@Arkhaic This is the kind of thing which is often made artificially hard by two common assumptions: that the GM must present an infallible face, and that in adjudication precedent matters more than functionality.

Ben

I was thinking the Jug would have been made by some sub-par wizard, then when he realized it didn't work maybe just shoved an old sock into it and put some kind of spell on it to stop/absorb all of the liquid

BESW

It's a LOT easier to just say something like, "Hey, this weird thing came up that we didn't anticipate, and we need to figure out how to deal with it. I think [strategy] might work, do you have any ideas?"

Ben

It was, after all, found in a refuse pile in an ogres lair

Ben

4:58 AM

Or, I could do the opposite.... put it at the end of a super dangerous dungeon, as an artefact of a super-powerful wizard, sealed away from the world

Everyone thinks it's cos it's super powerful or something, but it's just the equivalent of their embarrassing high school eork

BESW

I once gave the party a cave filled with all the stuff in the DMG that looks like junk.

Ratty old cloaks, rusty barrels, boring rocks, cheap jewelry, the works, just straight out the book. So some of it's awesome, some of it's cursed, some of it's a lot-down.

Miniman

@Ben "I've defeated powerful monsters, answered ancient riddles, solved fiendish puzzles, overcome every obstacle Lord Jigawatz could come up with, and retrieved his fabled diary." "Does it contain the secrets of ancient and powerful magics? A spell so dangerous he hid it even from himself? A piece of his soul?" "Nah, it's just, like, really embarrassing entries from his angsty teenage years."

Ben

Hahaha

Miniman

5:18 AM

@TheOracle @BESW Is it crazy to suggest pinning this so that it's being advertised from both ends (if you see what I mean)?

BESW

Let's schedule some [chat] events.

10

Miniman

Beat me to it!

BESW

thbbt.

Ben

5:32 AM

What's a name for "not a morning person"?

BESW

Possibly "night owl."

In some places, B-person.

Nocturnal?

College student.

Ben

5:50 AM

Hm. I'm thinking more along the lines of 'doesnt like waking up'

Ceribia

6:07 AM

Good evening

Would someone with some more stack knowledge be able to help out Piero? rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/99836/…

Looks like they are super new to the site but I'm not sure where to point them

Arkhaic

6:23 AM

@BESW yeah, I definitely have no illusions about those two things. Just found it hilarious that something that broken (on multiple levels) slipped by unnoticed

Ben

7:05 AM

@Miniman [Reading quietly to self]

[Thinks of witty joke]

[Snickers quietly to self]

[Someone in back scolds you. This is a library]

[Quietly high-fives self]

Adeptus

@Ben Must be an old-fashioned library...

Anaphory

7:50 AM

Good morning everyone!

Ben

8:46 AM

@BESW new KoM variant: Angel Grove.

After rolling characters, once a round, roll a d6. On a 6, a plucky teenager appears. Once 5 plucky teenagers arrive, they summon a Megazord to protect Monster Island from being destroyed.

Anne Aunyme

Do someone know about a recent Pathfinder mob (I have seen it in a bestiary preview a few months ago) that is from the Ctulhu mythos, looks slightly humanoid with a pale tentacly-face, and has a very high CR?

I looked for it yesterday, and I couldn't find it, but I am sure not to have dreamed.

Anaphory

9:10 AM

@AnneAunyme That is a good thing to be sure about with Cthuloid monsters…

Anne Aunyme

indeed :)

Ben

9:49 AM

Playing Numenera...

DM: You hear the pitter patter if metal legs

Me: legs or eggs?

DM: How many times have you heard the Potter patter of eggs?