TRPG General Chat

From an advertising email's title... "save 50% on Half-Price Deals"

@Adeptus so they're a quarter price?

12:57 AM

Mrglbrgl guy-at-the-gym approach to fantasy.

And it's not even guy-at-the-gym, it's guy-at-the-desk-nearby, in the case that introduced me to the term.

1:23 AM

@IronHeart i don't follow, what's this about?

@doppelgreener Pathfinder developer posted something to facebook (or similar, I don't recall exactly) about how weapon cords (like Wii Remote wrist straps; made to make recovering from a disarm easier) were getting nerfed because he wrapped his computer mouse cord around his wrist and spent an afternoon trying to throw it into his hand.

@IronHeart ~_~

user23715

1:39 AM

Short comment: The "specific beats general" is a way rules interact in D&D (and many other games). It is not in itself a rule. Rules are things like movement rate by race, which rate can be modified based on rules for character class and/or feats. The "specific beats general" can't be modified like rules can be. Just like you can't modify using d20 for the attack die. Those things are inviolable else one is no longer playing D&D 3.5/Pathfinder.

I'm not sure what it is that makes it not a rule: "a principle or regulation governing conduct, action, procedure, arrangement, etc."

@user23715 To the end part, I point to Unearthed Arcana's Bell Curve Rolls variant rule.

wax eagle

@user23715 you're conflating mechanics and rules

You appear to be using a nonstandard interpretation of the word 'rule'

user23715

Fine, I don't really have time for this. I would rather play the game.

1:41 AM

Sure, ok.

Have fun!

@user23715 Hey, you're the one who brought it up >.<

(No seriously, have fun.)

I'm gonna delete my comments lest I spur further debate.

(for context, user23715 seemed still interested in discussing the issue so i directed them here)

Ah, sorry.

I stopped looking at that one because psr's arguments weren't making any sense as far as I could tell.

1:50 AM

i agree, i realised i can also leave my comment safely deleted because i was basically just pointing out what you already did in the first comment

@waxeagle teh laemz. One of these days we'll have a session...

wax eagle

2:19 AM

@Grubermensch indeed, hopefully it will be next week :)

2:51 AM

So, to re-cap: while attempting to avoid flamewars over RAW/RAI, a question instead incited hot debate over the nature of exception-based system design.

Mission... accomplished...

Also I gotta say it's probably got more potential to be a useful topic to discuss, even if it's not currently meeting that potential.

3:30 AM

Victory! Me: 1, SSIS: 0

That would have been easier if the error messages related to what was actually the problem... "A required parameter is missing"? Oh, that obviously means that I need to remove all column aliasing from the query...

Obviously.

(we now return you to your previously scheduled topic)

3:45 AM

@Adeptus [silence rains]

4:06 AM

In 5e there seems to be three main options for a character to pursue an Magic Archer:

Ranger=> Rangers can be archers and have moderate amounts of magic.
Eldritch Fighter=> They can be archers and have magic.
Arcane Trickster Rogue=> They get spells and can take a Bow and Arrow.

Since I haven't played they game yet, and I've been spending a lot of time lately simply building the world would someone mind explaining the pros and cons of these three options?

Arcane Trickster Rogue - spell selection almost entirely limited to Illusion and Enchantment means their archery will be entirely separate from their magic.

Still reasonably good archers, ofc.

Eldritch Fighter - Same as above, except with Abjuration and Evocation substituted for Illusion and Enchantment.

Ranger - Actually has class features that benefit archery.

Has spells that combine with archery.

Pretty much entirely more suited to what you're trying to do.

Other options you haven't considered - Paladin, Bard.

Paladin isn't naturally set up to be an archer, but they have the best spell list for a Magic Archer.

My personal experience playing an Eldritch Knight (though not as an archer) has been fairly disappointing.

Of all the half-martial half-caster classes, the Paladin is the only one that seems to have decent synergy.

Essentially it is hobbled by restricting to Wizard Abj/Evoc spells, which are few and boring, as compared to the much more interesting (and thematically appropriate) Warlock Abj/Evoc spells.

Although it does have issues for an archer, because the developers assumed Paladin = plate armour + greatsword.

4:13 AM

@Miniman thank you for your analysis. I about figured as much for the first three but haven't had time to vet the options. I'm curios what about the Paladin makes it better at imbuing archery?

@SolidusVerum The Paladin has a bunch of spells along the lines of X-ing Smite. (Blinding, Searing, Banishing, etc.)

@Grubermensch Thank you for the advice. I appreciate all the insight I can get.

These are bonus action spells that enhance your next attack.

So you cast with the bonus action then use your action to attack.

The Ranger has some (like, 2, I think) spells along these lines, but they also have other things to do with their bonus action.

You mentioned the bard which really surprised me. Is that something I should look into for my player or no?

The thing with the Bard is that it can do anything.

2

With the Valour Bard and careful selection of spells (especially the spells you get from other classes), you could build a pretty solid Arcane Archer.

4:16 AM

Oh okay.

Shameless self promotion: Some of the stuff I wrote here could be useful to you. Although the trick I worked out for that answer is both niche and munchkin-y.

(That said, I'm still guiltily proud of it. Munchkining in 5e isn't easy.)

+1 for "Munchkining"

"Niche and Munchkin" is a good name for a vaudeville act.

@Miniman I appreciate what you did there, but I must regretfully inform you that I feel as if that will be a bit much for my first time player.

@SolidusVerum If you want the Paladin archer to work, the DM has to remove the arbitrary restrictions on Fighting Style selection.

@SolidusVerum Yeah, I wasn't suggesting using that trick. Just thought some of what I wrote there could be handy.

4:23 AM

Well fortunately I'm the DM, so I can remove whatever the heck I want. I just don't want to wreck the experience for four first time player as my first time as a DM.

... so I'm cautious.

The other thing with the Paladin is that some of the Smite spells specify melee weapon attack where most of them just say weapon attack, so allowing that to work with ranged would help too.

@SolidusVerum D&D has some problems with unnecessarily tying mechanics and flavor together. This would be a particularly unnecessary instance of that. Lifting the fighting style restriction should have no consequences on game balance.

@Grubermensch [Nods vigorously]

[cough] AD&D racially-based limits on class levels [cough]

Would it be terribly difficult give a new Paladin class option that removes some of the Heavy Armor/Great Sword focus and Lean more into Dex and Arcane Archery? (I guess divine archery in this case)

4:33 AM

@SolidusVerum You could, but it seems unnecessary.

Most of the class features don't have that bias.

It's mostly just the Fighting Style choice, really. Of course, if I'm forgetting anything, removing the 'melee' keyword anywhere it crops up unexpectedly shouldn't cause you any problems.

In terms of balance, the main difference ranged weapons make is that it's easy to create situations where melee characters are useless.

I'm just trying to figure out which oath would do him any good and it seems that only the devotion sacred weapon action would be of much use.

The other difference is that culturally we expect Paladins to be standing in front, taking the brunt of direct attacks off of the squishier characters. Using ranged weapons makes the Paladin less likely to do this. Since all of your players are first-timers, these expectations probably won't be an issue.

@Grubermensch the cultural change won't be a problem, but most of the class features are just not very helpful to an archer.

at least that's what it seems like especially when there will already be paladin stacking aura benefits.

@SolidusVerum How so? Auras still work, since 2/3 of your party are ranged.

(granted that is assuming the melee paladin is next to all of the archers)

4:40 AM

@SolidusVerum That seems like an unusual situation.

I once had a "paladin" with a reach weapon.

The defender and rogue were up front, the paladin stood behind them and reached over their heads to smack things with his stick, and the ranged squishies stood behind him.

Auras for everyone.

Part of me want to take some of the features of one of these oaths and replace them to give it a more "archery" flavor.

Nothing stopping you! It is a fair bit of work, though.

It might be a good idea, because your 2 Rangers will have near-identical characters, and that can be unfun.

Well of the suggested feats in chapter six the only one that really seems like a good switch would be Sharpshooter, so I might have to look at some of the other classes for inspiration.

I just hope any changes I make aren't overpowered.

Also I don't think the other range considered an Archer Fighter.

It seemed like a Fighter Champion Archer could do some really nasty volley work.

All of those extra attacks doubled by an action surge, allowing for so many crits.

Relying on crits is pretty dubious, though. The Ranger's ability to fire a metric crapload of arrows is probably better.

5:02 AM

@Miniman the metric crapload is of course a rigorously defined unit inside Australia

@doppelgreener We specifically bred wombats to poop cubes for this purpose.

@Magician Yes indeed. Fun fact for others: Wombats poop cubes. Fact: This was not a result of mad science but so that they wouldn't roll away while the wombat marks its territory. Fact: The poop is the territory marker. Fact: Or WAS IT mad science? Fact: No.

That is more fun than I can handle at once.

@doppelgreener I feel ashamed that I didn't know this.

...Rust monsters poop cubes of rusted iron. Set a bunch of them loose on a scrapyard, and you'll get yourself a ton of iron bricks - handy for constructing an evil fortress.

5:08 AM

Unfortunately for future generations, those are actually eggs with centuries-long incubation periods.

(Best self-destructing fortress ever? I think so.)

!!

You do realise I'll be running a game for you tomorrow.

2

Beware the steel room in the dungeon.

Now then: are humans meat golems?

@doppelgreener Humans are possessed meat golems. Started out as clay golems, until a god used Stone To Flesh.

@Magician Then poked a spirit into there. Neat.

...this has horrifically amusing (or amusingly horrific) implications about zombies.

5:19 AM

Stone to Flesh would be... interesting as a siege weapon

@Adeptus Go look up "maedar" if you haven't heard of 'em yet.

@BESW "...hold the power to turn stone into flesh, and use this ability to provide food for their mates." Here, have a castle-steak

Apr 28 at 0:11, by doppelgreener

Escort them to your enemy's fortifications, have the maedar stare at them until the fortifications go all floppy and everyone's too grossed out to even use them.

@BESW What comes to mind for you in particular? Meat golems minus possession?

5:36 AM

Well, generally speaking it inverses the value judgements: zombies are basically "reverting to the natural state" instead of "unnatural abominations."

@BESW [suddenly horrified]

Pinging @BrianBallsun-Stanton, in case he wants to weigh in on the pros and cons of stone-to-flesh and flesh-to-stone in necroengineering.

Brains?

well, "meatball" is a well known and very traditional boulder removal spell.

But flesh is actually a really tedious component to use in necroengineered structures. Give me bone any day.

Building a castle out of zombies has its upsides and downsides, but without any skeletal structure, you just get... pile-o-meat (which then rots.)

No, it's much better to use nearby boulders as a food source.

And of course, flesh to stone doesn't scale very well. Which would otherwise be nice.

(unless you get one of those cursed few infested by chickens. Then it's amazing.)

...which actually raises the question: is bone "flesh", for purposes of Flesh To Stone? Or are there skeletons trapped inside stone statues?

Ooh, massive drama points: animate skeletons inside statues created by flesh to stone.

5:46 AM

@BESW that's a human turned to stone

@Magician From my perspective? Absolutely not.

there are indeed skeletons trapped inside statues.

Great for a certificate of authenticity by Our Dear Leader's most prized artists.

I give up

@BESW Well, the soul of a creature turned to stone stick around, right? As in, there are numerous examples of such "statues" being turned back into flesh centuries later and walking around like nothing happened.

So, given the IMMENSE variety of meats available, their qualities, textures, nutritional value, I am moved to ponder the implications of simply... magically... turning a boulder into flesh. What kind of flesh? Red meat? White meat? Fish? Just wobbly gross skin? Does it taste like lamb, chicken, pork, something else? Is it healthy? Do different types of stone convert differently?

So either that's a lie and you have a soulless abomination among you now, well done hero, or they're most likely insane from the torment of being a not-quite-ghost for centuries.

@doppelgreener At the end of the day, all stone tastes like chicken.

4

5:50 AM

"This here is the greatest granite-boulder beef-category steak this side of Thalassea! It almost tastes like real beef!"

"This steak is well marbled - is it Wagyu?" "No, it's... marble"

"Our steak comes only from the finest stone golems."

@Magician Or they were asleep.

So is lava meat-fudge?

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Gravy!

5:52 AM

Obviously enfleshed limestone is studded with teeth.

hehehe

yes, it is

but one wonders why someone would enflesh that to begin with

it's much more useful as a trap in a moat

Right. back to work.

Tiger's eye

Tiger's eye (also called Tigers eye or Tiger eye) is a chatoyant gemstone that is usually a metamorphic rock that is a golden to red-brown colour, with a silky luster. A member of the quartz group, it is a classic example of pseudomorphous replacement by silica of fibrous crocidolite (blue asbestos). An incompletely silicified blue variant is called Hawk's eye. == Cut, treatment and imitation == The gems are usually cut en cabochon in order to best display their chatoyancy. Red stones are brought about through gentle heat treatment. Dark stones have had their colours improved and been artificially...

Hmm.

@Magician So. Given we're talking about humans being possessed meat golems, and zombies being the natural unpossessed meat golem form (if also slightly decomposed), now you're talking about turning stone golems into meat and harvesting them. This makes me uncomfortable. XD

@BESW Oh, which brings me to an answer to this. An undead that is a perfectly ordinary healthy body, except soulless and controlled, is the natural state. An undead that's busy decomposing is a meat golem that's in severe disrepair, and not a return to the natural state, but a broken state.

@trogdor To use the teeth to use for a trap in a moat (mainly a psychological warfare trap)

mm

I mean, if you actually animated it by turning it to flesh, I suppose that would be better

but if not it makes no real positive difference, other than yeah, it will probably freak them out more

6:02 AM

Prank time: Find a noble, turn their jewelled necklace to meat.

6:19 AM

@doppelgreener A ring of gem smugglers posing as butchers

Hmm. Guild allegiances and mergers.

@Adeptus to account for all the little gems, they ally with the restaurants union and make small meatballs of various shapes and sizes an enormous phenomenon

I leave for 20 minutes, and suddenly the chat is filled with a bizarre mix of stone and flesh with a side order of undead.

Or, as it's usually called, "Friday."

You know what's really unusual, though? We're on topic.

lol

6:28 AM

@Miniman Also a little bit of philosophy.

@BESW Now that's a scary thought.

7:12 AM

quick

post an off topic pony

yesssss

wait

nooooooooo! sharks are cuddly and love having their noses rubbed!

Nurse sharks like hugs. Other sharks... less so.

7:17 AM

(* sharks have to keep swimming to breathe, so please don't do nose-rubbings for too long or shark-chan will die)

Sharks will also find places with strong enough currents that they can rest on the bottom and the water will pass over their gills as if they were breathing.

(And some species can pump water over their gills without moving.)

also, I dive at a spot where you can regularly see nurse sharks, but I suspect they have met too many gung ho diver guys who decided to grab their tails and ride them around

@BESW oh good!!

cause they flee at the sight of me and my dive partners

aww xD

7:19 AM

and I don't personally even want to touch them per se

I just would like it if they would let me stare at them lovingly

instead they GTFO whenever they see a person

also, they don't hang out there anymore after the morning is over, so I have barely ever even seen them leave

and heck, that might even be because people dive there basically every day

they could be abandoning the area every day in the mid-late morning just cause of that

there is plenty of food there for em, so I can't see too many other reasons

2

lol

still, even that picture could have been taken by moving the shark a bit in a way it might not have entirely appreciated

though it does look like he isn't manhandling it or anything

Here, have a tiger shark:

7:38 AM

8:30 AM

2

those damn drows

racist against drows 2015

user61230

9:19 AM

#NotAllDrow

user61230

(Sorry, I had to.)

[squint]

user61230

Hmm? And good morning!

Hi.

user61230

Does the battle progress?

9:24 AM

...which battle?

user61230

The battle, of course!

Oh, that battle. I thought you meant the other one.

user61230

Your battle, my battle; I don't know. Pick a battle?

user61230

Could be!

It goes poorly! The fortress's iron bricks turned out to be rust monster eggs.

Neither side won that day.

user61230

9:28 AM

...that is horrific. I am truly sorry to hear this!

What's new with you?

user61230

Things have been up and down.

user61230

Mostly down, recently. But, hopefully up soon.

user61230

Potential research stipend, courses coming to a finish, summer starting, y'know. There are good things ahead. Just a bad week, I guess.

Yeah, I hear that.

user61230

9:32 AM

What about you?

Been a lot of "down" over here. Going on vacation in a few days, which is up! But the down makes the vacation readiness process extra complicated.

Hello everyone!

Hey.

user61230

Hello, @Alex!

Next time someone says "Hey, dump out 200 dice on your table!" I'm going to say "Not unless you put them back."

user61230

9:34 AM

And yeah, @BESW, I get that. Seems to have been a hard week for everyone, y'know?

Aww, sorry, I really appreciated it though, hah

Yeah, awful week over here too

I knew what I was getting into.

user61230

Got any good War Stories of the Week, @Alex? :]

I'm almost forced to stay at home on Monday and Tuesday because of how I look, since they have government inspections and they don't want the inspectors to see the abominable deviant that I am

But they also can't justify the absences so it's like I'm randomly skipping two days of school

It doesn't bother me directly, but it kind of feels bad that simply having long hair would make everyone hate me so much

I didn't know that was a thing in your country. But then, I don't know much about your country at all really.

9:38 AM

Communism happened, then it didn't any more, but a lot of the things from that time stuck

like a ton of regulations involving male students like not having long hair or beards of any sort

Mmm. I cut my hair when I started needing to look professional after school.

Honestly, it doesn't even scratch the surface of how disgusting Romania is, yesterday night I wanted to walk around the city a bit and in under half an hour three groups of people harassed me for how I look

Also Guam's way too hot and humid for long hair that needs a lot of upkeep to stay nice.

Also, yeah, the sun is overpowering a bunch of the time, I have photosensitivity anyway

And compared to Britain, the prices are around half, but the wages are around 1/9

Which I've been to... maybe eleven times now? The difference between these countries is downright shocking

Either way, it's a pretty difficult time for me to be... me, depression is kind of messing with whatever changes I'm trying to do with my life, mainly because it's the end of twelve very painful years of school and there's a lot of unsolved stuff

Sorry, I didn't mean to just barge in here and rant over you guys

user61230

@Alex It's fine :]

9:43 AM

I feel like I do that a lot

well, it isn't healthy to just not talk about this kind of thing

I have done that before, and it is not a good thing

But yeah, the whole idea of "Yeah, it's been a dozen years, at least six of which were excruciatingly painful and abusive, but the hundreds of people that made my life a frightening hell are just going to get away with it" is a bit difficult to swallow now

No, I don't bottle it up, I get what you mean

Either way, sorry for that, I'm just home from that unpleasantry so it can seep out into rants like that

A thing I wanted to ask you guys about Fate.. is it okay to do mooks and enemies with approaches instead of "Good at/Bad at"?

Sure! Here's why:

user61230

@Alex It's okay, truly. I'm just not sure I'd know what to say.

Like a "Tiny ent, Forceful 2, Sneaky 1, 2 stress boxes"

9:50 AM

Fate doesn't like needless mechanics. Good At/Bad At is a way of simplifying things so we spend less time on mechanics for characters that won't stick around long enough for that kind of complexity to matter.

If you feel extra complexity is important, or easier, then there's no reason not to use it.

Are you familiar with the idea of "dials" in Fate?

@Emrakul Aw, it's fine, I've survived far worse, I don't like it when I end up ranting because it creates a sense of.. pressure for others to reply, when really that's not a thing that's necessary

@BESW Decently, I know what they mean and I've especially looked at the game creation sheet dials concretely

Yup, so Good At/Bad At is just a low end on the skill dial.

You can dial it down to "Gets a +1 or -1 modifier for each useful or detrimental aspect" or something similar, where there's no skill value at all.

And you can dial it up to lots of fancy skills with complex trappings.

Good At/Bad At is a couple notches down from Approaches on the dial, and that's used for mooks because the designers suspect it'll be simple and easy to capture the feel of the mooks with fewer moving parts.

Yeah, I guess, but I find it more tedious to make up and remember Good/Bad at since they're essentially made-up, specific Approaches

And I find it kind of...hmm... leads to some degree of.. how do I put it

If I have a creature that is.. I don't know, Good At [Attacking using its sharp claws]

and that's its only Good At thing

I'm probably just going to be doing a lot of attacking, instead of defending or creating advantages

I mean I know I should be picking more varied skills, but sometimes that's all I can come up with for a mook

whereas if it had Approaches, I'd be much more creative with its actions, let's say I gave it
Quick +2
Flashy +1

then as long as I can be Quick or Flashy I don't have much of a narrative limit to what it'll do

Plus, it lets players pitch in as well, they can call me out on an action that isn't exactly Quick and suggest something better, whereas with Good At they can't really say "Oh but it's not attacking with its claws now"

So, there's a thing I've experimented with, it's kinda halfway between Good At and skills.

Basically, I rate qualities the mook has.

And I can get very creative with this.

So, for example, Razor-sharp claws +3 is good for attacking, but also for ripping apart doors.

Big and fast +2 is good for dodging attacks and crashing through walls.

Ooooo, I like that

Maybe even give them absolute values

user61230

10:06 AM

Goodnight, all! And better times ahead, I hope, @Alex.

such as Huge 2 which would act as a +2 when it's good, like crashing through a wall, but a -2 when dodging bullets

ttfn

Good night!

That sounds like fun.

so the larger something is, the more bonuses and penalties it has, like a Huge 5 being a devastating bruiser, but a terribly clumsy thing

This wouldn't work with everything though, so I still like your idea more

In fact it's amazing

screen capping sounds

10:20 AM

Sorry, I'm a bit distracted. Trying to troubleshoot my dead external drive.

It's okay, I'm looking around other rpg systems too, it's just something I enjoy doing

Oh, I was going to give you that list of Humble Bundle kids games....

While this driver fix is downloading I can do that.

So, I haven't tried most of these, they're just part of a Bundle for kids that I picked up a while back.

Hero Kids; Camp Myth; Mermaid Adventures; Monster of the Week; Project Ninja Panda Taco; Adventures in Oz.

David Reeve

11:05 AM

morning

@DavidReeve Hi!

David Reeve

what's up everyone?

I'm pretty good, looking at RPG systems and being frustrated that <firstworldproblems> my glass beads got mixed with my quartz beads </firstworldproblems>

seriously, how can I tell them apart now?

(source)

@AlexMitan [gestures above] Helpful?

Oh my, thank you very, very much!

11:20 AM

I googled jewelry glass quartz difference and it was the second result.

Has anyone here played Roll For Shoes before?

Well they're not string beads, more like rounded stones

but I collect all kinds of stones and while I love glass, this is not the place for it right now

@DrRDizzle Several of us have!

I intend to, soon enough, @DrRDizzle

David Reeve

@AlexMitan you can always just hold them against a string or something

11:22 AM

@BESW I've got a question here (rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/62398/…) that may be better suited for chat - how do people handle combat?

MicroDungeon tracking sheet

@DrRDizzle I've been planning to write up an answer when I have some free time... which may not be for five days.

So for now, I'll just link to this:

in The Back Room: Live Tabletop Games, Jun 27 '13 at 0:00, by Problematic

That's the start of an RFS game we played in chat.

@BESW Thanks for the link.

A: How can I use roll for shoes to introduce someone to roleplaying?

Hope it helps.

Ummm.

This may also be useful:

13

I recently did exactly what you're talking about, and RFS was awesome for the job: its open structure let me model many different play strategies and styles quickly and easily just by applying different philosophies to different actions and scenes. First, the big pitfall I encountered: Roll For ...

The short answer is, "wing it, do what feels right for the story." The beauty of RFS is that it doesn't get hung up on fancy-pants pacing mechanics like HP; it lets the group pace itself.

If the group is struggling to pace itself, a system with inbuilt pacing mechanics might be in order.

@BESW So in effect, the flavour of your action is more important than the mechanics? I'm just worried that combat won't ever be a challenge in Roll for Shoes, but if that is an intentional part of the system thats fine. We are looking for something new, andd from the sounds of things I can always introduce a rudimentary HP system if need be.

The group should self-police, so if a single action looks to destroy the pacing, someone should speak up.

Sometimes it's cool for one roll to resolve a whole war, and sometimes a single moment of combat should take a dozen rolls.

Use this basic rule of thumb: the more interesting or dramatic a scene, the more rolls it should contain. Scale actions to meet that.

11:34 AM

@BESW Thanks for the tips!

12:32 PM

Morning

lisardggY

Is it? IS IT?

Yes

lisardggY

Oh, ok.

In that case, I guess I'm not off to get lunch, but breakfast instead. :)

G'bye.

See ya

1:34 PM

I hate people sometimes

2:22 PM

imgur.com/gallery/sXFQG

Brian Ballsun-Stanton really kicked up interest in Roll for Shoes

3:21 PM

@DrewS why him in particular?

@doppelgreener I think his question started, I could be mistaken. But looking at the timeline of tagged questions: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/roll-for-shoes

And the relatively highly upvoted comment on his question: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/61880/14649

oh, that one, maybe!

i'd forgotten about that

That's my impression anyway

it could very well be. :)

5:34 PM

We actually have a lot of answers and questions about Roll For Shoes. Brian's given it a recent boost, but interest has been simmering since 2010. :)

@SevenSidedDie Yeah, I actually learned about Roll for Shoes here, from one of those old answers. But looking at the tagged question list, this month we've gone from 3 to 8.

Which I'm all for. I think it'd a great little system and I'm happy to see it getting more interest

@BESW Was that debate hot? It seemed pretty low-impact actually. Especially compared to the RAW/RAI debates we've seen.

I wonder if the creator knows how much of a following it's gotten here.

@DrewS Yeah, you've got a point about a big jump in actual questions. It's a nice little game, I'm glad it's getting the love. :D

@SolidusVerum Sounds like you want the "modifying classes" advice in the DMG. You'd get a new, proper Arcane Archer class that way.

5:58 PM

@SevenSidedDie @SolidusVerum There's a pretty good Unearthed Arcana article on modifying classes as well.

@SevenSidedDie @SolidusVerum Which I forgot to paste. Oops. dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes

6:42 PM

Would later versions be named Roll for Hats?

Roll for Boots?

Roll for Electric Boogaloo

Roll for Shoes: The Shoes Strike Back

I guess Hats would be a splatbook.

Maybe the equipment guide?

I like the idea of an equipment guide that is just a list of everything the author could think of and the description just says "Roll to see if you have it"

2

⚅⇨👟👟 (aka "The Game Formerly Known As Roll For Shoes")

6:51 PM

We had that in Ninja Burger. When ninja reach into their uniform for an item, there was a table you rolled 2d6 and looked at. One is ninja pocket. Which may contain something you put in there previously, or anything the GM decided you would reasonably need at that time.

Putting something in a ninja pocket is easy. Trying to get that exact thing back could involve numerous rolls on the table.

Pull out a weapon drop, clang another weapon drop, clang shuriken... shuriken.. Delivery order for another customer, bones of my enemies.. Ah, here we are, CAR KEYS.

3

Ninja only have 20 skills in Ninja Burger. This /all/ they know. However you may convince the DM about creative, new applications.

"I use horsemanship to drive the car. The car is measured in horsepower, so horsemanship applies."

The rules of Ninja Burger were simple, fun. Infilitrate the customer site. Do not be seen. Deliver to the customer. Leave customer site.

We were never clear if the customer is allowed to see you.

So we simply made it a bonus objective if you could drop off the order and get paid, unseen.

@MadMAxJr Sounds like more fun if not.

Ninja have 10 points of honor. Ninja have 10 fingers. These are directly related.

Though losing several points of honor at once had weird side effects. Such as incurring the wrath of your ancestors. Who decimate everything nearby. But hey, guess what? No witnesses and you're barely alive. STEALTH.

Is this 1st or 2nd edition Ninja Burger? (It sounds like a perfect "break" game for my group, but I'm wary of PDQ games.)

It's the older one printed on cheap copypaper, 1st edition. I never looked at 2nd edition which was the larger book.

Ninja Burger is a fun one-off game, especially if you play with a little bit of alcohol at the table.

The added twist is on some runs, one of the ninja may be a traitor who belives that tofu is the one true way and that all-beef patties are the road to ruin.

Also, occasionally Samurai for no explainable reason.

Pass the security desk, into the vent, through the elevator shaft to the 3rd floor, sneak past ted from accounting and AUGH CRAP! Samurai in the break room getting coffee.

This sounds awesome. I will have to track down a 1st edition copy.

7:28 PM

I think it's a dirt cheap download on drivethrurpg too

God, i hate the idea of *-sexual terms as fads

Hey guys, you know what would totally piss Alex off? Lumbersexuality, bro!
-Definitely the people who let this happen

Also, @SevenSidedDie, sorry for the awkward question in RFS

I've made and run programs to evaluate all sorts of roll systems and the dice pool comparisons always end up with over 70% success rate for one or more die over the other pool, IIRC

7:47 PM

@AlexMitan Okay. I'm not clear on what the question is looking for then. You've got some reasoning behind making the change. What is the question asking whether it would work for, in that case? (Partly, "would it work" is undefined: it will roll and give a number, so it will work in that sense. Any other sense needs to be specified.)

Frankly I'm not quite sure, but the thing is dice pool comparisons are not nearly as balanced as people think, I did millions of individual tests

I know it's not much, but it's one of those things that never gets old to say... MILLIONS of tests

Again, I'm not sure how this connects to the question. What would a good answer to the question look like?

I...I don't know, sometimes I really slip and all of the Stack just frowns in disgust at my questions

I guess something like "Yes, we've tried it and it really worked better/didn't work"