TRPG General Chat

1:12 AM

Looks like I'm too late to talk about my own database adventures of forgetting where clauses and transactions when updating a table that contained logic for advanced reports.

*in production

Also, I wish there were more people around here with experience in the Iron Kingdoms.

doppelgreener

@JeffFry Re the scrolls question, leaving it closed would be for the best. The question itself is just... very problematic for our format. You can get good answers from your group, but we can't provide them. If you would edit it to make it openable, you'd be editing it into an entirely different question - one you might as well ask separately. :P

@Ellesedil That is a horror story we don't need to hear even around a camp fire

(unless you had easily accessible recent backups and other good data protection procedures)

Ellesedil

@JonathanHobbs Heh, we did have backups, but it took two days to restore them because we didn't have the hardware to expand the backups.

So, we restored and then updated the table from the backup.

doppelgreener

1:33 AM

@Ellesedil Ouch. (Did you acquire the hardware?)

Ellesedil

@JonathanHobbs Yeah, it was mostly just a disk space issue.

Alex P

1:54 AM

So, there was a bit of a discussion about gritty/low-magic/&c. fantasy on RPGnet. And it struck me that my tastes could very much be described as low-magic and on the gritty side, but... I don't seem to enjoy things that purposefully chase those labels?

BESW

2:04 AM

In any medium, an attempt to deliberately be "gritty" for the sake of "grittiness" is likely to fail miserably.

Alex P

Like, in RPGs, I enjoy a good bit of realism but I associate "Realistic!" appearing anywhere in the actual game book with "Frustrating on purpose!"

2

BESW

Sounds about right.

Alex P

2:25 AM

I find this amusing: a defense of Bulwer-Lytton and "It was a dark and stormy night."

(TL;DR: Ask a bunch of writers what's wrong with a phrase that's considered to be the epitome of bad prose and they'll fall over each other trying to come up with super-flimsy justifications.)

As an aside to an aside, the Bulwer-Lytton Contest is crap compared to the Lyttle Lyttons.

shatterspike1

2:59 AM

I don't see anything wrong with the phrase aside from it being a cliche

But that's kind of its entire issue; it's so well known it's a joke.

BESW

Ummm.

Are they really just analyzing the one phrase?

It's not even the full sentence.

shatterspike1

Well, they got to the fourth complaint, where he talks about the phrase in full

BESW

"It was a dark and stormy night" is not, by itself, awful. It has come to be shorthand for overwrought prose because it was part of a lurid paragraph by an author well-known for such things.

> It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Alex P

That's not terrible by 1830s standards, to be honest.

They love them some digressions.

BESW

It isn't great either, and it is representative.

The subject/verb agreement shifts mid-sentence, for example.

Alex P

3:03 AM

Also Hemmens' article does cover why it's fairly solid in many ways. Decent metaphor that doesn't sound forced, for instance.

shatterspike1

But any native speaker would know what the hell the writer was saying

BESW

And furthermore, it's just repetitive.

It would be a better sentence without "It was a dark and stormy night" at the beginning.

BESW

3:39 AM

Okay, so for me the main reason it's a bad sentence is that it is an opening sentence which tells me nothing about what I will be reading.

Alex P

@BESW That's true. Though I think the parenthetical "London" is the worst bit.

BESW

It's an introduction which does not introduce.

Alex P

@BESW Enh, I think it does tell you a bit about the tone. It's clearly a Romantic story of a sort to me.

BESW

Yes, but compare this opening paragraph which says almost exactly the same thing in terms of literal content:

> Outside the rain beat in horizontal brush strokes across the shrubbery. The wind, getting in on the act, wuthered enthusiastically away in the chimneybreast. The square-built house of smoke-blackened stone on the edge of Roughlee-in-Pendle glared across the valley at the Hill, barely visible today beneath its shrouding of low cloud. It was a staring match that had been going on for a hundred and fifty years.

It's equally "the weather was bad, and I will tell you where the story is set."

Novian

i see persons three in a chat most literary.

BESW

3:43 AM

It's equally purple in prose, and equally attributes human characteristics to inanimate objects.

Alex P

Novian

Eww. that didnt roll quite right.

Alex P

A shrubbery, you say?

Novian

my brain is too fried trying to be taught math by a program that leaves way too many details to teach anything.

BESW

But it also establishes theme, which the "dark and stormy night" intro does not.

@AlexP You have failed the side quest.

Novian

3:44 AM

I cannot even construct a whimsical scentence to introduce my entrance.

Magician

@AlexP For a while after first watching MP's Quest for the Holy Grail, I was sure "shrubbery" was a made-up word. It sounded too funny to be true.

Novian

How goes the shrubtalk.

Alex P

@Magician I get that reaction about once every two months if I'm watching a lot of British TV.

Kyle Sykes

5:03 AM

Evening all!

Metool

Heyo.

BESW

7:27 AM

If you want to make dice a palpable enemy to the players' goals, then they must never grant unconditional boons.

At best, they can occasionally be neutral.

In such a system, the result of a roll would be in some way subtractive from the goal rather than additive.

By contrast, a system that represented the dice as uncaringly chaotic might provide an experience both additive and subtractive, and offer unreliable bargains with the players.

An entropic system might subtract the dice result from the character's modifier, providing the "best result" of a small penalty rather than a large one.

That is, entropy always reduces order, but the extent to which it does might be minimal.

In this system, character features might involve reducing the size of the dice pool, representing an increased ability to control the situation.

An uncaring-chaotic system might be nearly identical, but instead introduce mechanics like "Add +1d6 to the entropy pool to get +3 to your modifier."

In such a game you might find entropomancers, who can move dice from one pool to another, at the cost of introducing even more dice to the closed system: Reduce Henri's current entropy roll by 1d6, but Michelle's next entropy roll gets +2d6.

In an entropy system, dice pools increase easily and rarely decrease without cost--if at all.

With that in mind, perhaps a success-based pool system would be more appropriate--perhaps with failures built in as well.

Hmm.

Imagine: a system in which the dice pool size is universal: everyone rolls the same entropy pool for their checks.

Your skill stat is expressed as the number of failures you can endure before failing to complete the task; the number of successes required would be set by the GM.

To be pondered and expanded on later.

Inbar Rose

7:45 AM

Entropy based rolling mechanics, seems very interesting. But I would say that without a game system with a supporting platform, it would feel very isolated.

Alex P

@BESW Reminds me a bit of Rock of Tahamaat. The dice are really all about your powerlessness.

Metool

Well that was a productive session of stealth baking.

Secret lasagna!

BESW

@Metool I have heard of tea wizards and frog ninjas, and she's writing a book about Bread Magic, but I have never heard of Stealth Baking.

Metool

8:00 AM

Foodstuffs are better when enjoyed upon a throne of lies.

2

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

Mmm.... deceitful cookies...

Metool

"Have you seen the brownie mix?" "No, sorry."

Inbar Rose

@Metool "This won't make me fat"

Metool

[note: Metool does not condone the use of brownie mix in the construction of actual thrones]

BESW

@Metool Unusual furniture-crafting materials must be used with caution and forethought.

BESW

10:00 AM

xkcd's what-if about tea stirring says that "hurricanes tend to lose strength if they stop moving forward" because "their waves churn up cold water from the depths, cutting them off from the thin layer of hot surface water that was their main source of energy."

This is the exact opposite of my experience with typhoons.

(Also, that article links to physics.se, so WOOO!)

BESW

10:21 AM

This evening's quote is a filk of It's a Small World, found here.

It’s a song of sweetness, a song of joy,
Made for ev’ry girl and for ev’ry boy!
Sing of love, ’round the world,
‘Til your breakfast you’ve hurled!
And it’s in an endless loop!

[CHORUS:]
Singing in an endless loop,
Feel your eyelids start to droop,
’Til your brains have turned to poop!
It’s an end-less loop!

Hear the puppets sing, see the puppets dance,
‘Til your mind dissolves and you soil your pants!
All your synapses fried,
And you wish that you’d died!
And it’s in an endless loop!
[repeat CHORUS]

Zachiel

10:47 AM

Mhhhhhr. I'm in need of D&D 4e assistance. How's your awareness and concentration level, @BESW?

BESW

@Zachiel "Meh" and "blurgle?" respectively. What's up?

Zachiel

I'm getting some power cards done for my D&D group, but I'm not limiting myself to powers, I'm also doing conditions, races, feats, slotted items, class features, classes, backgrounds and the like.

I have this problem where some actions would be adequately stattedd as personal powers, but I'm sure it they actually were powers they would trigger things they're not supposed to

BESW

So you need some way to indicate [actually a power] vs [actually a feature].

Zachiel

So instead of "attack 1" they have the "not an action" tag.

I was wondering if this would be enough... because I'm rewriting things such as charge as a personal, at will, standard action (not a) power, green border and everything.

The question is "I'm right, if I said those were powers I'd be making a mistake, right?"

BESW

Yes. That would radically change the effect of some elements of the game.

I've run into trouble in that area because the Character Builder prints power cards for non-power features and doesn't do much to indicate the difference.

Zachiel

11:03 AM

is it the bull rush?

maybe it's the basic attacks too

BESW

I can't remember exactly.

I think basic attacks and bull rush are technically not powers.

The Builder also used power cards for things like the fighter reactionary mark features.

Zachiel

11:26 AM

Ah ok no problems with those

BESW

12:01 PM

Ridiculous animal mashup of the day: the narwolf.

Zachiel

Snail flail still wins.

Aaron

1:09 PM

Good Morning

BESW

> My favorite tactic my old GM used was to take polls (of drunk sailors) mad libs style. Collect them into lists and use them for random effects rolls. We used to mix 1st and 2nd edition D&D with GURPS and whatever books we were reading at the time.

...I think I have a few new lines for What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?

And for those of you interested in realistic post-nuclear-war RPG settings:

Nuclear War Survival Skills

Nuclear War Survival Skills or NWSS, by Cresson Kearny, is a civil defense manual. It contains information gleaned from research performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory during the Cold War, as well as from Kearny's extensive jungle living and international travels. Nuclear War Survival Skills aims to provide a general audience with advice on how to survive conditions likely to be encountered in the event of a nuclear catastrophe, as well as encouraging optimism in the face of such a catastrophe by asserting the survivability of a nuclear war. Overview The main chapters are precede...

(The medical text that document recommends was my mother's manual for all my childhood.)

Joshua Aslan Smith

1:28 PM

there is a wealth of real deal information out there for nuclear post apocalypse

BESW

Aye, and a good deal of it refers back to that document.

Aaron

1:40 PM

Anyone know of a good gunslinger build? I am thinking of asking a question along the lines of how to build a good ranged fighter(Not fighter as in class)

BESW

1:51 PM

That sounds 3.5y.

Joshua Aslan Smith

3

Q: How do I prevent my players from immediately recognising an ambush?

I'm absolutely new to DnD, as my whole group is, and I am the DM. For an easy introduction to the game I chose the H1 adventure (Keep on the Shadowfell). In the first and second combat encounter the PCs are ambushed by a group of Kobolds. This may be a silly question, but I am looking for tips ...

I hate ambushes as a player and a gm

it starts down a path that leads to 14 foot poles

throwing rocks at everything

and hiring cattle or homeless people as cannon fodder for dungeon exploration

BESW

Hmm, yes. I shall comment.

Please clarify if you're interested in keeping your players or your players' characters from anticipating an ambush. It's a crucial distinction. — BESW 13 secs ago

Joshua Aslan Smith

danke

BESW

Keeping your players in the dark about an ambush requires KGB-level distraction and misdirection.

Keeping your players' characters in the dark just requires player cooperation.

Aaron

Would asking for a gunslinger build help be on topic? I have seen a couple build questions that were shot down as not on topic.

BESW

1:59 PM

Build advice is on topic if you can be specific enough.

Joshua Aslan Smith

you really need to outline your goals for the character

BESW

Specific goals, with priorities.

Joshua Aslan Smith

yep

so for you is making as many attacks as possible as a gunslinger or the most damage etc.

BESW

"I want, X, Y, and Z, and A and B if possible. If I have to choose, though, I'll settle for just X and Z."

Aaron

I have never played a ranged character before so I am unsure what feats and skills are useful. To be specific I am playing a gunslinger in Pathfinder. I am hoping to make a build that can keep up with average damage or even surpass melee characters.

wax eagle

2:01 PM

and I'm pretty sure we've got a gunslinger question you can take a look at already

BESW

You'll have to define "average damage" in the context of your gaming group. There's no absolute objective number for that.

wax eagle

14

Q: How do I make a gunslinger with a decent damage progression?

I am considering playing a Gunslinger when next we play Pathfinder (I am currently GMing a game, and we'll be switching off afterwards), and thumbing through the Ultimate Combat Playtest v. 2, and I'm wondering how best to keep my damage progression on a decent track. I've considered a couple of ...

combat pathfinder damage

Aaron

@BESW Ok.

BESW

Are you okay with multiclassing or PrCs?

Is your race already chosen?

Joshua Aslan Smith

I really wish I could get my players to buy into dark sun

but they disliked the lack of magical items (despite inherent bonuses and alt rewards)

Aaron

2:02 PM

Gah my chat isn't scrolling down automagically.

BESW

Do you want a multi-level build that works at every level (if so, for what levels?) or do you just want a build for a single level (if so, which?)?

wax eagle

@Aaron make sure you're scrolled to the bottom, that should keep it stuck

Aaron

@BESW I want to stay gunslinger to lvl20

BESW

How's your gear allotment? What's your starting gold for the character, and if you want multiple levels of build, what's the wealth progression?

Aaron

@BESW Yes I am playing the same race I made with the half construct template added.

BESW

2:04 PM

What other characters do you expect in the party and how much do you want/expect to synergise with them?

These are just a taste of the specificity you'll be asked to provide in order for citizens to be able to give useful answers.

This is why we don't have a lot of build questions that stay open.

It's possible to ask good build questions, but it's really REALLY hard to.

Requires making explicit and conscious many of the decisions that are subsumed and subconscious in private character generation.

Especially when we get into things like "average or better damage," which is nearly impossible to quantify unless you already have.

Aaron

I am playing a ranged combatant for the first time.

Specifically I am playing a Gunslinger with only early weapons available.

We are starting at level two with the normal amount of gold and gear.

I am looking for feats and skills that I can take that will keep me useful but not OP.

My other party members are a shadow dancer, a ninja, necromancer (Cleric), and a puppeteer(Custom class he is a tank).

I would like to stay with the gunslinger class only.

I have already been told alchemical cartridges are likely a no, they are highly expensive anyway (6g even if I use the crafting feat) so…

Sven B.

Hello

BESW

Hey.

@Aaron Handy hint: Any time you use a word instead of a number, don't.

"Normal amount of gold and gear" should be replaced with the actual information. You're asking people to do a lot of work for you--don't expect them to also do the work you can do.

If you want a level 2 to level 20 progression build, say so explicitly. Otherwise you'll get level 2 builds.

Aaron

@BESW Ok.

BESW

If you want lists of suggested gear to get as you level up, ask for it.

(And tell them the progression of wealth you expect to get.)

Aaron

2:19 PM

Ok I added Gunslinger starting gold and even the gold per level chart.

Everything else makes sense?

BESW

I think so. I'm not sure what "early weapons" means, but I'll assume it's got some objective meaning.

You'll get flak about what "useful but not OP" means, because that's utterly subjective per group.

And if there's any requisite element or lack-of-element that you want to see, like the kind of gun, or dual-wielding guns, or having some special ability, you need to put it in.

Otherwise you'll wind up having to reject answers that are perfectly good for the question you asked but useless for the problem you have.

2

Joshua Aslan Smith

Are their class tiers for 3.pf?

BESW

2:35 PM

I presume they're pretty much identical to 3.5.

Joshua Aslan Smith

gotcha I didnt know how much classes differed

Aaron

2:50 PM

Gunslinger seems like it would be easy to break.

Joshua Aslan Smith

Ive heard you can get a ridiculous number of attacks per round for the class

Aaron

Just read a guide that said you can do 40d10 on crits at lvl 11

Rohan

Hey chat, yesterday i asked this question on rpg, rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/30019/… . Yet my group refuses this answer and instead they argue whether this power is balanced while absolutely none of us are balance experts. I was hoping if i could get some more input here?

BESW

@Aaron That doesn't sound very useful unless it's also a critfish build...

@Rohan Hmmm. Let me take a look.

Aaron

@BESW There is a deed that makes you able to roll all your attacks as one and if you crit on one you crit them ALL. crit range of 19-20 with a double from feat/enchanment means 17-20 which is a high chance.

Guns crit at x4

Rohan

2:52 PM

Here's another link that focuses on this matter: community.wizards.com/content/forum-topic/3397006

BESW

@Aaron 3.5 feat/enchant crit range enlargers don't stack. Dunno about PF.

Joshua Aslan Smith

@rohan its a perfectly balanced power, chessmanship in 4e is a way to negate enemy attacks, flanking, etc.

Aaron

@BESW I mean the feat OR enchanment no stacking them.

Rohan

@JoshuaAslanSmith So you also agree with that answer then?

wax eagle

@Rohan yes, it's balanced. E3 is not too early to force attacks

and your burning your immediate which is a big cost for a defender

Joshua Aslan Smith

2:55 PM

As plaugescarred says it could be interpreted as using the original attack roll OR the attack needing to be rerolled

I believe my table has always done it as just transferring the original attack roll to a new target

for 2 reasons:

1. It moves faster that way (dice shenanigans should be shunned)

2. Although 4e is gamist, and the power is written sloppily, the intent seems to be that fluff-wise you open a mini-portal that they end up attacking through (the teleport) and re rolling the attack seems silly and out of step

BESW

I suspect that by RAW it should force a re-roll, but that it's easier to just let the roll stand (4e combat is already relatively sluggish). At my table I'd probably houserule that a player can call for a re-roll, but that it's not made unless someone calls for it.

wax eagle

@BESW that sounds about right

Joshua Aslan Smith

"Yeah it will depend of the Table's interpretation of ''making its melee attack'' as being the whole Making Attacks resolution (RC 214) or just a portion of it.

Another interpretation would be that Dimensional Vortex use the same attack roll because it triggers when an enemy hits an ally with a melee attack and has the effect to force the target to ''makes its melee attack'' against a creature you choose, simply redirecting it.

Since it triggers after 3. Make Attack Roll (Step 3) and resolves before 4. Compare Attack roll to target Defense and see if it Hit or Miss (Step 4) it would not n…

@besw I feel that one way or the other the attack should either always be re-rolled or never re-rolled

BESW

Thing is, 4e mechanics have absolutely no interest in the flavor of the power.

Joshua Aslan Smith

yes I know

2. is more a way to asauge the doubts of the other people at the table rather than actually make a mechanical argument

@rohan why would they be arguing about balance of a power?

BESW

3:02 PM

@JoshuaAslanSmith Because they're D&D players.

Arguing about balance is how we do.

Joshua Aslan Smith

In the thread he links, dimensional vortex is pretty much compared to guardian's counter, which I think is fair

hah, Im saying theres nothing in this power that is inherently unabalanced

BESW

Comparing it to other similar powers is a good tactic for evaluating balance.

Nothing is balanced in a vacuum; without something to compare, it simply is.

Joshua Aslan Smith

true

wax eagle

@JoshuaAslanSmith heck guardian's counter is an E_....though theme powers are an interesting element to add to balance discussions.

BESW

@waxeagle E_?

Joshua Aslan Smith

3:07 PM

Im saying that nothing leaps out at me as potentially gamebreaking in comparison to other interrupt powers

Rohan

@JoshuaAslanSmith Well... One of them likes to compare powers how it would affect themselve ingame and the other prefers powers being weak. Both of them think they know how to balance a game that they have only recently started playing

Joshua Aslan Smith

@rohan are they grognards?

@rohan sometimes monster abilities mimic the roles that PCs have in 4e, but monsters will never have the same powers as PCs, monsters are and PCs are inherently different so its a poor idea to compare PC powers as used on PCs (4e does not support PVP)

BESW

@JoshuaAslanSmith By which I assume you mean "people who played older versions of D&D for some time and approach gaming in general from that point of view"?

Joshua Aslan Smith

@rohan as to the other guy, if you're playing heroic everything is fine (just dont play monk, witch, vampire, Assassin)

Rohan

@JoshuaAslanSmith This is the first RPG we're playing, so i'm guessing not?

Joshua Aslan Smith

3:10 PM

nerfing powers makes 4e drag

BESW

@Rohan 4e is probably the most balanced D&D system there is, coming out of the box.

Joshua Aslan Smith

@besw Im not saying all players of previous editions are grognards, but players who complain about what makes 4e, 4e in comparison to previous D&D editions are, in my opinion, grognards

@rohan are you guy using D&D Insider tools (compendium, character builder, and for your gm monster builder)?

BESW

@JoshuaAslanSmith Hence, "...and approach gaming in general from that point of view."

Rohan

@JoshuaAslanSmith Yeah we have a DID subscription

*DDI

BESW

Generally the players can stick with the DDI content and so long as everyone's got access to the same number of options (if one person uses backgrounds and another doesn't, that's bad), their characters will be hard to make unusually weak or unusually strong.

It's very possible, but takes more effort than in other editions.

Joshua Aslan Smith

3:15 PM

@rohan just use the compendium as a rules resource and character builder for options (and the forums for char op guides)

Ive successfully played in and run many 4e campaigns over the last few years using only DDI, the only thing not really in there is some of the GM philosophy and some of the super helpful tables for skill checks, treasure drops, xp by level etc.

@besw yes pen and paper does have that attraction for people who like to obsesses over finicky details

Rohan

Excellent, thanks a lot for all the help! stackexchange is truly bliss

BESW

@Rohan Our pleasure. Let us know how it works out, eh?

wax eagle

@BESW encounter, no level

Joshua Aslan Smith

@rohan yes hopefully your table embraces the deliciousness that is 4e, optimized, RAW, and powerful

BESW

@JoshuaAslanSmith Although we also accept converts to the Cult of Fate.

Problematic

3:23 PM

[ominous chanting]

Rohan

@BESW I will, between now and a few minutes I should get a reply on FB regarding the matter from the group

Joshua Aslan Smith

I like fate a lot

though pretty much only experience right now is dresden files up to the waist

feel free to bring them to rpg.se

BRING THEM ALL

I enjoy narrative focused games when the mechanics of the game support it

BESW

Ash fractal durbatulûk, ash fractal gimbatul,
Ash fractal thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

Joshua Aslan Smith

Cthulu Fate-tngnh

BESW

3:46 PM

Tweets to Campaign By thinks you should check around that corner first. Hm? Oh, no reason.

"Poetry is not alien. It is lurking around corners, waiting to spring on us at any moment." Borges' lectures http://www.openculture.com/2012/05/jorge_luis_borges_1967-8_norton_lectures_on_poetry_and_everything_else_literary.html

Tweeted by sydneypadua on November 12, 2013 at 1:56 PM

Joshua Aslan Smith

this may be my favorite tvtropes article of late

foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/cape-fear-punch-recipe/…

ah wrong lnk

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NetworkDecay

1st link si a great punch recipe

BESW

I do not consume anything alcoholic, but that reminds me of this quote from Dissipation and Despair:

> In summer, she made Pimms No 1 cup, mixing it with lemonade in the time-honoured proportions, and adding only fresh mint, cucumber and strawberry halves. In Advent she made Bishop, a mulled port with the kick of an army mule, brewed to a secret recipe that her aunt had had in grateful recompense from a man who had lived - thanks to her efforts - to command a battalion.

> And at all other times she produced a mixture of vodka and cranberry juice: clean, heady, a Sovereign Specific against cystitis, and, provided it was served from a huge china bowl with a matching ladle kept for the purpose, readily accepted as an authentic olde Englisshe punch by the punters.

(Context is the aging-hippie owner of a vegan B&B near Malfoy Manor.)

Joshua Aslan Smith

lol

making a drink only with pimms is silly since that stuff is like 20%

those are great descriptions though, even If I dont thin recipients stand out.

BESW

"The time-honored proportions" may have some mitigating influence.

Joshua Aslan Smith

haha

so a traditional punch has 5 things

alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices

which has become alcohol, sweet, citrus, water, tea/spices

@besw curious and feel free to not answer, but dietary or by reason of belief (or maybe you just dont like the taste of alcohol)?

BESW

4:04 PM

@JoshuaAslanSmith First and foremost religious; I'm a Bahá'í.

But also because my metabolism is strange and unpredictable, and even if I didn't have the religious ban I'd be rather scared to find out what effect alcohol would have on me.

Normal doses of cough syrup or vicodin give me effects that I'm told are like mild variations on taking fairly serious recreational intoxicants.

Antihistamines make me suicidally depressed for days after the positive effects wear off.

And I have a habit-forming personality.

Kethryweryn

I made a search for nine-pointed stars recently, but can't remember why. That's a bit frustrating.

BESW

Three triangles!

Not so easy to draw and get balanced, but simple with a stencil.

Kethryweryn

True

Joshua Aslan Smith

@besw thank you for being candid

BESW

No problem. My faith is a pretty major part of my identity, so it's already been the subject of discussion in this chat a few times in the past.

I also feel like my self-control is a vital component of my identity, and so I generally avoid things which would inhibit my inhibitions, if that makes any sense.

Joshua Aslan Smith

4:15 PM

Makes perfect sense, I basically only over indulge in alcohol once a year, on new years with my wife and then we catch a cab home

Im pretty anti-everything, influential substance wise except tobacco and alcohol

its interesting to me because alcohol and its mixing is one of the key hobbies in my life, up there with being a foodie, My wife is the chef of our house but I am the bar chef if that makes sense

BESW

Fair enough.

Joshua Aslan Smith

but I understand and support all of your reasons, not that you need it in anyway!

BESW

Thank you anyway, then.

Cat

5:05 PM

Ah, RPG chat, how I've missed you!

4

Hey @BESW!

BESW

@Cat OMG it's a @CAT!

Cat

I suppose it is late where you are, so I'll not bug you, but great to see you :)

:D

Sorry I went AWOL on the FATE game, etc. School exploded in my face, and life in general.

Hope everything's been hunkydory in your life!

BESW

No problem. The whole Enchanted Forest thing kind of fell apart because nobody but me was able to GM regularly and I couldn't handle a dozen players.

Cat

Understandably!

I'm glad you peaked my interest though.

I'm going to try and start learning FATE myself and run a game over the holidays, if I can drum up some interest.

As soon as my teaching practicum is done, that is ...

Or piqued?

I don't know...

BESW

I'm currently running a fantasy Ancient Egypt campaign in which Trogdor plays a werecat, and he's running me in a "private investigator" game based on the Thief video games (I'm a Homeless Ex-P.I. Shaman).

Cat

5:08 PM

Sounds entertaining!

Joshua Aslan Smith

@cat what time zone are you based in?

Cat

Can't wait to get back into some more gaming so that I can generate some more useful questions :) I'm in Atlantic Standard time, I believe @JoshuaAslanSmith

Just an hour ahead of EST

Joshua Aslan Smith

someone in a timezone east of me....

Cat

Yup :)

Joshua Aslan Smith

Im so used to having to deal with west coast gamers that this is amazing

Cat

5:11 PM

lol

Joshua Aslan Smith

if you run it online and are open to me playing I would be interested

I too am a disciple of BESW's fate cult

Cat

Sure, I may try a game or two IRL so that I have some grasp of the rules before I open it up to strangers.

I am by no means going to be like BESW - a true amateur who will have to be tolerated as such, but the only way to learn when alone is by doing.

BESW

One thing I've learned is that some of the most joyful and free games are the ones with people new to the role they're in (playing or GMing).

Cat

I'll keep that in my back pocket, then ;)

I think I'll try the Legends of Anglerre setting.

If you can find the PDF online, you'll be rocking @JoshuaAslanSmith

BESW

Oh, @Cat, Hobbs is working on that Fate online-desktop app and he's just put together a dev blog for it.

And I have succumbed to the urgings of the chat and made a Tweets to Campaign By tumblr.

Cat

5:16 PM

Ahh, I remember seeing some prototypes just before I left.

:)

Joshua Aslan Smith

hmmm never heard of this before

BESW

@JoshuaAslanSmith Which?

Cat

I think @BESW was the one who introduced me to it?

Oh wait! Just remembered, any Bronys around?

Joshua Aslan Smith

smh, bronies

BESW

@Cat Yo.

Cat

5:19 PM

My nephew wants to play an MLP character, and I'm trying to find what game/mod works for that...

He's said he knows there is one, but can't remember what/where

BESW

@metool [poke] Brony chat in progress.

Cat

Is is a Pathfinder mod?

Or a seperate gaming system?

I'd love to give him a session/book as an xmas present

BESW

There are mods and independent systems, each with strengths and weaknesses.

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

I ran a random googlesearch for "mlp rpg" and got this: mlprim.com

BESW

I've been tooling around with my own ideas for a system or a Fate mod for FiM.

The biggest stumbling-block is that nearly every RPG system is predicated on win/lose scenarios.

In every conflict someone wins and someone loses.

Cat

5:22 PM

I think a non-winning/losing scenario would be better.

BESW

Friendship is Magic games need an compromise/cooperative conflict resolution possibility. It should be difficult, but possible.

Cat

More in line with the "friendship is magic" mantra.

BESW

The simplest thing I've come up with so far is to use the Fate fractal very aggressively.

Cat

I guess I need to watch some of the shows as well to get a feel for the setting. Always with the lack of time in my life.

BESW

So instead of Babs having conflicts about bullying Apple Bloom, they are both attempting to fight a third combatant: Babs's trauma from having been bullied herself.

But Babs doesn't know how to defeat it and Apple Bloom doesn't know it exists, so they seem to be in conflict with each other.

Cat

5:24 PM

Interesting premis!

BESW

The villain in many episodes isn't a character, it's a problem. Some kind of trauma or misunderstanding.

The episode's story arc, then, is about identifying the problem and figuring out how to combat it. Once you do that, everyone can work together to defeat it...

...but until then, everyone's at odds because they can't figure out the source of the conflict.

The problem itself has skills and Fate points and stunts which it uses to spur the conflict.

Metool

Oops, hi.

Cat

Heya!

BESW

In Fate Core terms, I'd say that at the start of a session the group should identify an Issue which will be turned into an NPC villain by the GM.

The Issue could be a proper villain like The Great And Powerful Trixie, who goads the people around her into making fools of themselves by insisting that she's the best magician in Ponyville.

Or the Issue could be Babs is Vacationing to Get Away From Bullies Back Home.

Which then goads Babs and Apple Bloom both into behaving like bullies themselves (as one of Apple Bloom's potential Troubles is Silver Spoon Always Makes Fun Of Us).

Cat

Certainly lots to work with in those suggestions.

BESW

5:32 PM

As a slightly more labor-intensive alternative, I imagine that Do: Temple of the Flying Pilgrims could be turned into an FiM game.

Pilgrims in Do have only two character stats: How they help people and how they get into trouble.

Cat

As I've said, I need to read the wiki or have a pony marathon to get a feel for what we're talking about (aside from knowing the character names from being a little girl who loved ponies myself)

It has to be ready in under a month, so the labour intensive thing probably won't work for me.

I basically need, to start with, a multi-hour one-off that I could DM for my nephews.

If I had a physical present (rule book) to give to them with it, that would be bonus.

BESW

I need to toodle off to bed, but maybe @Metool can recommend some choice episodes for understanding the Friendship is Magic ethos.

Cat

Sure.

Thanks, and sorry for my noobishness regarding FiM

Metool

@BESW Night, then.

BESW

I know there's no "official" MLP RPG.

Cat

5:34 PM

OK.

BESW

But I know of at least three fan systems and a handful of mods.

Cat

We can talk more later BESW, get your sleep!

BESW

The main problem being that they aren't made by game devs, and usually rely on the win/lose dichotomy.

ttfn

Cat

night!

Metool

[flops]

So @Cat, do you know what your nephew likes about ponies? And did I miss that in my reading?

KRyan

5:51 PM

so mxyzplk continually deletes my comments on his answer that amount to "your speculation is not backed up by the evidence," and has now gone so far as to delete the useful comments on my answer that I was planning on addressing once I got some time.

I have no idea if the former is legitimate though I thought comments to the effect of "I believe this answer to be incorrect" were not such that should be summarily deleted

but the latter is certainly incorrect and it's pissing me off

because now I can't remember who left them or exactly what he had to say, and I never got nor will likely ever get an answer to my request for clarification

Metool

@mxyzplk Dick move, bro.

mxyzplk

6:21 PM

@KRyan You could ask instead of just bitching. I've undeleted the comments on your answer, flag them when you're done. I didnt' do the initial round of comment deletion, Brian did, but I definitely did the latest one - comments aren't discussion forums, which you know.

12 comments -> write your own answer and focus on it.

Joshua Aslan Smith

7:06 PM

@aslum Regarding your 4e revive question, theres a sort of official optional rule from dragon magazine, less death, more danger in which PCs incure minor and major rules when they hit 0 and then negative bloodied.

wax eagle

7:18 PM

wow, talk about a trivial edit to dredge up a 3 yr old bad question...

Alex P

10:00 PM

This edit. ::grumble::

rpg.stackexchange.com/revisions/1170/3

In the context of this site, changes like "roleplaying" -> "role playing" are not actually a spelling correction.

Zachiel

Samsung people are my new heroes. Anti-heroes. Sort of.
http://news-hound.net/samsung-pays-apple-1-billion-sending-30-trucks-full-of-5-cent-coins/

Alex P

@Zachiel Faaaake.

GamerJosh

snopes.com/politics/satire/samsung.asp

Zachiel

@AlexP Fixed it

Alex P

@Zachiel Piling on more trivial edits isn't really the solution in this case. (Although I will agree it makes sense to do so while the question is "fresh" again, rather than bumping it up.)

Zachiel

10:13 PM

Seeing these words completely separated gave me goosebumps. Must be my OCD kicking in.

I'm translating / errataing every power card we need for our friday's 4E game. I'm not letting anybody touch the cards for I fear they will add or remove punctuation marks (I've been loyal to the original text, with dots at the end of some fields and no dots on others). I wonder if this could be called "encouraging my OCD".

Alex P

@Zachiel Fair enough. ;)

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