TRPG General Chat

4:31 AM

Dear old Doctor Who: I love you so much. New Who couldn't possibly have characters named "Professor Scarman" and "Dr. Warlock" without making a joke about it, but you never blinked.

trogdor

4:49 AM

lol

BESW

Hey, @trogdor, you'd prefer if I use a Doctor Who story you don't know, right?

trogdor

I guess?

I still had plenty of fun on our last game

BESW

'cause the obvious choice for next Saturday is The Web of Fear.

Your character could come back as a consultant!

And I can't remember if you've seen Pyramids of Mars...

trogdor

ah, The web of fear, one of the episodes that showed me that people were racist against welsh people

at least at the time

BESW

Yes, well. Pyramids of Mars is kinda racist toward... Muslim Egyptians? I'm not quite sure.

trogdor

5:04 AM

I realize there were probably several episodes that were racist

but that is one I have seen where they were very much not even trying to hide it

BESW

Oh, man. Some time we'll watch The Talons of Weng-Chiang.

It's a great story, except for the constant, painful, unoverlookable racism.

trogdor

mm

yeah, web of fear the racism is at the very least overlookable when the character is not around

which is ironic because he is usually not there because they racist-ly portray him as a complete coward who is constantly trying to run away from every problem.

BESW

6:02 AM

@Tablesalt Hi!

BESW

6:32 AM

@trogdor So, would you rather be able to play Tex again in a story you're familiar with, or start a new Investigator in a story you're less familiar with?

trogdor

that first option is pretty dang tempting

I think that is my vote

BESW

Okay.

lisardggY

7:26 AM

Hola.

BESW

Hey.

I'm starting to question the suitability of Pyramids of Mars for adaptation to a Chtulhu adventure.

GMNoob

Did someone from here create a user on dampd.com?

I can't tell if the user is spam or not

BESW

Not I.

GMNoob

The username is MitziMcNicoll

BESW

7:54 AM

Arqade question in RPGland, vote to close.

lisardggY

8:08 AM

@BESW Done.

BESW

8:18 AM

Hmm.

Okay, so Pyramids of Mars gets far too sci-fi for me to easily salvage it into traditional horror.

Rockets and teleporters.

Hard to remove.

GMNoob

@BESW Isn't there a migrate button?

@BESW Blimps and Elevators? :)

BESW

I don't have one.

@GMNoob [Spoiler1] is trapped on [spoiler2] by a device on [spoiler2] so [spoiler1] makes a rocket to destroy [spoiler3] in order to escape [spoiler2].

GMNoob

Ah, so a bomb.

BESW

At any rate, the whole story is a bit too--hrm, proactive? for the protagonists.

Maybe I can salvage the Vervoids...

Or perhaps The Daemons. Good excuse to watch it, anyway!

BESW

8:54 AM

@kviiri [wave]

kviiri

@BESW Hi!

BESW

What's new?

kviiri

Nothing much. I've got my crowd together for Apocalypse World, starting next week.

BESW

Cool!

kviiri

Everyone wants to be a battlebabe. Only one exception, who ceased to be an exception when I told him that "yes, a battlebabe can be male too".

BESW

9:07 AM

Heheh.

trogdor

@kviiri that is very equal opportunity

BESW

Perhaps he's a battledude, in the late 1800s sense of the word "dude."

trogdor

it's possible I would be,... that too. if I actually knew what it meant

BESW

In the late 1800s New England cities, "dudes" were... what we'd have called "metrosexual" five or ten years ago.

kviiri

I summarized the "battlebabe" class to them the same way it was introduced to me: "it's a sexy rogue".

trogdor

9:11 AM

oh

not quite my thing then

BESW

@kviiri Yup, battledudes.

trogdor

in some cases, I might not even see the difference between them and rogues

kviiri

Although I guess it puts too much emphasis on the "sexy".

BESW

("Dude ranch" came from recreational farms designed for spoilt city boys to pretend they were cowboys for exorbitant prices.)

kviiri

Charming rogue would be equally appropriate.

Anyhow, I've told them there can only be one (of each class). The pool of various different character specialization options (mechanics-wise) is rather small so I think it's for the best if everyone has a different class.

And they've all got two or three favourites now so it should be ok.

BESW

9:19 AM

Fair enough.

@JonathanHobbs My first idea for the adventure didn't pan out, but I've got a new one!

GMNoob

@BESW Isn't that just a wussy city boy and not a metrosexual? I.e, me with my RPG neck beard and bad body oder would also be part of the "dude ranch", no?

BESW

9:34 AM

@GMNoob No. A dude is identified by his adherence to the extreme edge of fashion.

GMNoob

@BESW Damn you TV shows making me think I'm learning something when I wasn't

BESW

It carried with it connotations of "city boy who can't cope in the rural," which later overpowered the "fashion" element of the term.

But originally, it was nearly synonymous with "dandy."

GMNoob

@kviiri I was a bit surprised when I saw that class in the rules. I thought people would be upset with such a gendered class.

imdb.com/title/tt0096610

kviiri

@GMNoob It's not actually gendered, now, is it?

Don't they use "babe" for males too?

GMNoob

@kviiri only if you are talking about a literal infant

kviiri

9:38 AM

@GMNoob Nah, I've seen it used about a hot male (by a woman).

BESW

@kviiri That's still... exceptionally colloquial/regional.

kviiri

I dislike Apocalypse World rulebook's use of gendered pronouns, though.

GMNoob

Babe Ruth being the obvious exception.

@kviiri The picture shows a woman in skin tight leathers. shrug

trogdor

yeah, I have not really heard babe used in any way other than in referance to a hot female

BESW

@GMNoob "Babe" was, strangely, a common nickname in baseball at the time.

GMNoob

9:42 AM

Oh this is classic. An older woman is playing D&D with her grandchild. She is given the Wizard character. On the first encounter with goblins she says, "I send my staff to fight the goblins".

BESW

(It seems to have been associated with the ownership of players by managers.)

GMNoob

@BESW It wasn't because of his "baby fat" face?

She assumed that "staff" meant a group of people who works for her.

trogdor

I have heard babe used by a woman to refer to her significant other, or her kids

BESW

@GMNoob That's another speculation, but--I can't quickly track down anything concrete on any of 'em.

trogdor

usually in movies or something though

kviiri

9:44 AM

@GMNoob A lot of class pictures have obvious genders

BESW

It's infantilising when used for either gender, but less so for women because it's --somecreepyhow-- gained connotations of sexiness.

GMNoob

@trogdor I think that's common in the South US, like "sweety"

BESW

@GMNoob Thass' righ', darlin'.

trogdor

probably

GMNoob

@kviiri Yes, but Fighting-man was changed to Fighter :P

trogdor

9:46 AM

I have not ever really gone to the southern US for anything other than connecting flights

and to be perfectly honest, I also have not gone to the northern US for anything other than visists to relatives

kviiri

@GMNoob Fighting-man is a rather awkward name :)

GMNoob

@kviiri Yes but battlebabe is a near direct translation :P Only, not a man.

BESW

@GMNoob It's not the meaning that's awkward, it's the scansion.

kviiri

"Ok, so here's our party of adventurers: Josh is Fighting-man, Billy plays Archer-man, Sasha is Sneaking-man, Max is Magic-man and Lisa is Healing-man. The big boss today is a humanoid robot called Rock."

BESW

Murderman, now that's got a ring to it.

GMNoob

9:53 AM

It was Fighting-man and Magic-user

kviiri

Maybe I'm just familiar enough with this stuff to know that unless explicitly stated a class allows both sexes.

BESW

That's a lovely notion which is usually true, but most games feel the need to point it out specifically anyway and in some few games it's not true.

kviiri

There's also the usual "sex appearance options" for battlebabes: man, woman, ambiguous or transgressing.

BESW

When that's part of the conceit--okay. But I've seen a couple games which say nothing about gender... and then suddenly and seemingly-randomly throw out some mechanic which makes it clear they assume your PC is a particular gender.

kviiri

10:15 AM

I guess I wouldn't have expected that from Apocalypse World. A game where you're explicitly given the option to be a transsexual isn't really the prime candicate for "only sex X can do this"

trogdor

I am not sure I have seen that

BESW

Often it's not deliberate, but a matter of oversight.

kviiri

Shame, none of them seems to have picked Hardholder as one of their favorites.

(it's a class that controls a holding from the get-go)

Zachiel

that's the rule. There's only one Battlebabe per game. (Unless you get to your second character, IIRC)
Also, the battlebabe is the force that creates problems. I strongly suggest having an Arsenal to solve 'em.

kviiri

@Zachiel Yep, I was 90% sure it was the rule but because of those 10% I didn't say it out loud. It's a good limitation anyway, because it ain't fun being special if you're not! :)

I like features like holdings, gangs etc. Not for their game-mechanical effect (which can be fun too) but primarily for their ability to create drama.

Nothing like power-hungry seconds-in-command

BESW

10:27 AM

@kviiri All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter!

kviiri

Ah, good ol' feudalism. Nothing beats that.

BESW

10:41 AM

@JonathanHobbs [wave]

doppelgreener

@BESW hi :D

BESW

@Zachiel I forgot you know AW.

kviiri

I swear that if one of them is or becomes a gang leader, a hardholder or a cult leader, they will have NPC lieutenants who WILL cause trouble.

Unless kept very happy, of course.

BESW

10:57 AM

@JonathanHobbs Got any thoughts on how an online Cthulhu Dark game would be handled mechanically?

Like, rpg chat, Hangout, R20?

There's not a lot to keep track of: name, profession, and insanity score.

But something basic to track who's where would be nice too.

"I'm in the room with the sacrophagus," "I'm in the garden," "I'm on Mars!"

GMNoob

11:20 AM

R20 has nice features if you need to make the same complicated roll often. Otherwise I find it to be a large overhead.

BESW

We need... 1 to 3d6 with the potential for one die identified separately (no sum needed), one stat we can easily increase and decrease on each PC, a little place for a couple notes on each PC, and the ability to track who's where on a rough schematic.

GMNoob

R20 sounds good then

you can't have that sort of persistence without regular updating in hangouts or rpg chat unless you use google docs

part of the headache of R20 is building the PC sheets. But yours sounds simple enough that it should be a breeze

BESW

PCs are literally name, occupation, and a single stat that can increment up and down from one to six.

doppelgreener

@BESW Skype, webcam, evening, lights off, dice on the table and trust, and maybe a shared google doc of some kind

the google doc is for keeping track of where we are, if we can't handle it mentaly

BESW

Aight.

doppelgreener

11:32 AM

I'm not sure how it was for you as a Keeper, but I imagine that if I were there with only 2-3 other players, I should be able to keep track of where they are OK.

But then again, I wouldn't be also being the Keeper and devoting half my concentration to making the game tick.

BESW

I had four players and it was--okay. I occasionally had to ask to be reminded about goals and things.

"Wait, why are you returning to the yeti cave?"

doppelgreener

your feeble human intellect was being destroyed from within by the unbeings your imagination was channelling

BESW

Yes, well. The answer was "Because the monastery is full of yeti."

So, I'm guessing this is going to be a weekend night?

Zachiel

11:55 AM

@BESW I know people who played it and posted several Actual Plays. I'm not a good AW player because I don't like making author-stance choices between bad options (similarly to GMNoob) but I really like the fiction it produces.

kviiri

What does author-stance mean?

trogdor

@BESW I had a perfectly good reason for going back there

and it did not actually only include the monastary being full of yeti

I believed they key to stopping what was happening was in the cave

and I was not wrong

kviiri

I personally think a hard choice is the core of a game ("game" as in game theory, but also applicable to RPGs among many other situations).

BESW

@kviiri The Forge on stances.

kviiri

@BESW Thanks.

Zachiel

11:57 AM

@BESW thanks, I was afk for a moment

BESW

(Note the article is 13 years old, so the prevalent game design philosophies may be a little outdated, but the underlying "ways to think about gaming" is sound.)

Zachiel

I don't think the stances have ever been redefined, tho'

lisardggY

Bankuei's formulations in 2011 are a bit different than Edwards' in 2001, but the essence remains the same.

Zachiel

@kviiri I know it is, but it makes me anxious about choosing the right one. I have analysis paralysis problems.

lisardggY

bankuei.wordpress.com/2011/08/31/stances-101

BESW

12:00 PM

@lisardggY Nice link, but check your numbers.

lisardggY

@BESW Already fixed the typo.

kviiri

@Zachiel That's exactly why I like the hard ones - there's no obvious right one.

Zachiel

That's why I like googling my Diablo II build, following it, knowing that I'm using the best math for the character I want to play and using builds where I can just go and bash at the enemy without worrying about tactics.

kviiri

If there was, it'd be a no-brainer and where's the fun in that?

BESW

@kviiri Both Zachiel's analysis paralysis and his tendency to find gaming groups with extremely unhealthy social dynamics are somewhat legendary here.

lisardggY

12:02 PM

Second only to Lord_Gareth's UNENDING RAGE.

Where has Lord_Gareth been lately?

Zachiel

@kviiri That usually makes me unable to play because I stop and think and ask opinions, and if I'm supposed to chose now I go by guts and then regret whatever I choose.

BESW

@lisardggY I've no idea. Been wondering that meself.

lisardggY

Has his book been published yet? Maybe he's deep in the final stages.

BESW

He still logs onto the site.

Zachiel

@lisardggY I saw him having some family time, or so his IRC name implyed.

kviiri

12:03 PM

I've been playing games like Civilization since I was a kid, I guess I'm just used to tradeoffs.

Aaron

Good morning

BESW

[wave]

lisardggY

Incidentally, it has just been announced that Pathfinder will be translated into Hebrew (following the announcement by WotC that 5e won't be translated into any langauges any time soon), which is nice.

kviiri

Sacrifice X but receive Y - the eventual winner is the one who makes the best deals.

Zachiel

By the way, how's the situation in your zone, @lisardggY?

Magician

12:04 PM

@kviiri In AW, it's often not about the best outcome but the outcome you like.

BESW

@lisardggY In Which Pathfinder Continues to Thrive by Doing the Minimum Amount More Which Wizards Won't?

lisardggY

So far the translator's experience with Paizo has been rather positive, so I hope Lord_Gareth's sour experience with them is more of the exception.

@Zachiel In what way?

kviiri

@Magician Yeah, that's one more reason I don't really see the problem myself.

lisardggY

@Zachiel Oh, the political one? Crappy, as per usual. :)

kviiri

It's not a competitive game like Civ, with clear goals.

Zachiel

12:06 PM

@lisardggY I think his negative experience is most focused on the forums and playing style discrepancies, and I know it to be because of betrayal of expectations (he said that last thing in this very chat)

@lisardggY I have no idea how far your place is from the front. Let me open gMaps.

lisardggY

@Zachiel He also has a lot of personal rancor towards Sean K. Reynolds, but again, I think a lot of it comes from pinning a lot of hopes on the original promises.

Zachiel

And some of it comes from SKR being insulting towards those who optimize characters

lisardggY

@Zachiel Yeah, he seems to have something of an attitude problem. However, he's no longer with Paizo, and so far they've been very friendly, from what I hear.

A PFS chapter was opened in Israel for the first time in the last couple of months, and they've been very cooperative, sending big bunches of books to serve as door prizes and the like.

Zachiel

National TV channel's news titled, in English, "I cant' even [...]". Booing at the editors.

@lisardggY That's nice, but it's still PF they're selling. ;)

lisardggY

@Zachiel Personally, I prefer PF over 3.5 any day.

Though I'm worried that the upcoming PF books - the Advanced Class Guide and Pathfinder Unchained - will splatify PF too much.

kviiri

12:13 PM

@Zachiel When I was a kid, there was a noticeboard next to the school gym, with info about extracurricular PE and other sport stuff. And a sign "endurance add's [sic] life". I found it cringeworthy even back then.

stupid highlights

lisardggY

Oh, that doesn't bother me at all.
Assuming 'endurance' is a verb.
And 'add' is a noun.

Given completely free rein to redefine vocabulary, this sentence parses fine!

BESW

@lisardggY Or it would, if Fine where here for the sentence to parse. Sadly he seems to be missing.

kviiri

There was also "Meat ball's" at the cafeteria.

For lunch.

BESW

(And +1 for "free rein" instead of "free reign.")

lisardggY

@BESW That's one of my linguistic pet peeves.

BESW

12:18 PM

lisardggY

I was alternately amused and annoyed by Lynne Trusse's "Eats, Shoots & Leaves", with occasionally highlighted such annoying linguistics errors, but in general took itself way too seriously.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation is a non-fiction book written by Lynne Truss, the former host of BBC Radio 4's Cutting a Dash programme. In the book, published in 2003, Truss bemoans the state of punctuation in the United Kingdom and the United States and describes how rules are being relaxed in today's society. Her goal is to remind readers of the importance of punctuation in the English language by mixing humour and instruction. Truss dedicates the book "to the memory of the striking Bolshevik printers of St. Petersburg who, in 1905, demanded to be pai...

BESW

[yawn] Bedtime for me. G'night.

lisardggY

@BESW Nighty night.

kviiri

I find pronouncing certain English words difficult but it's alright, seems to me so do many native speakers.

Zachiel

Native speakers are not a reliable mark

kviiri

12:25 PM

I am Colonel Kernel, I play bass at the base.

GMNoob

@BESW 4e was translated into Hebrew, I'm sure 5e will as well. they just don't know when.

Aaron

@kviiri Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

Zachiel

@kviiri A basebass player!

Aaron

12:48 PM

@kviiri en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

kviiri

@Aaron, at least the buffalo buffalo thing is pronounced sensibly!

And isn't something to occur in everyday speech.

Aaron

@kviiri This one hurt my brain

That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is

That that is is that that is not is not is that it it is is an English word sequence demonstrating syntactic ambiguity. It is used as an example illustrating the importance of proper punctuation. The sequence can be understood as either of two sequences, each with four discrete sentences, by adding punctuation: This relates a simple philosophical proverb in the style of Parmenides that all that is, is, and that anything that does not exist does not. The phrase was first noted in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. A similar sequence, consisting of only one sentence and no punctuati...

kviiri

Apparently some people get pimples from even simple repetition, even though it is perfectly normal in English.

Aaron

@kviiri Get pimples?

kviiri

Oh, I may have accidentally slipped in a Finnism in there.

Magician

12:55 PM

"Had had problem", from Fforde's The Eyre Affair.

kviiri

Hah!

@Zachiel, have you ever mastered AW?

(considering our previous discussion on this chat, I think I ought to clarify that "mastering" means the act of being a GM)

GMNoob

@Aaron No matter how many times I read about that phrase, I still don't understand what it means.

lisardggY

I've managed to grok it, after intense effort. Also, after being in Buffalo and seeing a buffalo. Though I've never been buffaloed.

GMNoob

1:11 PM

@lisardggY Without 'thats' I can't comprehend it.

lisardggY

@GMNoob I've managed to get the rhythm and cadence for it right.

kviiri

I think it's fairly simple. If we replace Buffalo (the proper noun for the city) with York and buffalo (the animal) with bull, and just to preserve some kicks buffalo (the verb) with "bully", you get this: York bulls York bulls bully bully York bulls.

A comma between the two "bullys" should clarify it even further.

no wait, I think that might be misleading. Scratch that.

Inbar Rose

That is not correct.

kviiri

How so?

lisardggY

The Wikipedia entry mentions that you can replace "Buffalo" with any other word that is a place, noun and uninflected verb, such as "Head head head head head head head head". However, where it really gets dicey is when you simply mix and match them: "Police fish Dice head buffalo head Perch police"

Inbar Rose

1:16 PM

Indeed.

From Wikipedia:
> The sentence uses three meanings of the word buffalo: the city of Buffalo, New York, the somewhat uncommon verb "to buffalo" (meaning "to bully or intimidate"), as well as the animal buffalo. When the punctuation and grammar are expanded, the sentence could read as follows: "Buffalo buffalo that Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo." With the use of synonyms the sentence could become "Buffalo bison that other Buffalo bison bully, themselves bully Buffalo bison."

kviiri

So how is that not correct?

At least in Finnish we don't have this kind of stuff, just suffix nonsense.

GMNoob

@kviiri I do'nt know, but I can't understand the sentence without "that" or other intersdispersed words.

lisardggY

@GMNoob Maybe it's like people who can't see the 3D images in stereograms. Your brain is buffalo-proof.

kviiri

I don't think it's that much different from phrases like "Cats people abandon live on the streets." (that's actually pretty similar, structure-wise)

Inbar Rose

In dutch you have something funny (from my years living in the Netherlands): Zij zijn zijn zijn

GMNoob

1:21 PM

@kviiri Yes, but in this case it would be "Cats people abandon live streets"

Zachiel

@kviiri Never

kviiri

@GMNoob Nah, you're confusing prepositions with... whatever they're called.

GMNoob

You can say, "Cats people abandon live on the streets", and you can also say, "Cats that people abandon to live streets"

Zachiel

@kviiri That's assumed by everyone I know, no risk to make someone misunderstand it ;)

GMNoob

But combinding them together creates nonsense.

lisardggY

1:23 PM

@GMNoob So go for "American cats American people abandon eat American garbage". That's pretty close.

Aaron

@GMNoob I linked the Wiki article that explains it.

kviiri

@GMNoob But the buffalo phrase is no more nonsense than my cat phrase, syntactically.

GMNoob

@Aaron Yes, I read the wiki. And without words in between, it's nonsense to me :) It's like the old saying what does "Ghoti" spell? Fish

Inbar Rose

Lets use a good example from fantasy: "Elven archers Elven archers shoot shoot Elven archers."

Aaron

@GMNoob I see.

GMNoob

1:25 PM

The "gh" from enough, the "o" from women, and the "ti" from fiction.

kviiri

"Cats" correspond to the first two Buffalo, "people" corresponds to the next two, "abandon" to the next one, "live" corresponds to the next one, "on the streets" to the next two.

GMNoob

@InbarRose That's a good example.

Inbar Rose

And you can actually do it properly with the word "Dwarf". A Dwarf (the race) a Dwarf (someone who suffers from dwarfism) and dwarf (to be taller than something). So that would be: "Dwarf dwarf Dwarf dwarf dwarf dwarf Dwarf dwarf."

Zachiel

In other words, Elven archers shoot by elven archers shoot elven archers

Inbar Rose

It's even more a mouthful than buffalo.

Zachiel

1:27 PM

@InbarRose dwarves can't dwarf the same dwarves they're dwarfed by

Inbar Rose

Of course they can.

> verb
verb: dwarf; 3rd person present: dwarfs; past tense: dwarfed; past participle: dwarfed; gerund or present participle: dwarfing
1.
cause to seem small or insignificant in comparison.
"the buildings surround and dwarf All Saints Church"
synonyms: dominate, tower over, loom over, overshadow, overtop More
stunt the growth or development of.
"the dwarfed but solid branch of a tree"

Zachiel

How can something that's taller than something else have that else thing be taller than them?

Inbar Rose

It's usually a metaphorical

Zachiel

oh, so in different fields

Inbar Rose

Aye.

makes a mental note to play a Dwarf dwarf in a future game.

Zachiel

1:29 PM

fine, ttfn

kviiri

@InbarRose In Finnish, you have this monstrosity "olimme käveleskelevinämme" (we were pretending to be walking around casually). The first word is just "we were", the next word contains the base verb for walking plus a weird bag of suffices indicating perfect past tense, first person plural, pretending and casuality.

GMNoob

@InbarRose Shouldn't that be a Dwarven dwarf?

Inbar Rose

@GMNoob Dwarven is describing something that is Dwarf in nature.

GMNoob

Yes, but as soon as you apply it to another word, it shifts.

Aaron

RPG chat is Literature chat today XD

kviiri

1:31 PM

But there's a "dwarf gecko", not a "dwarven gecko".

Inbar Rose

Like a Dwarven axe, or the Dwarven language. Being a Dwarf, you are just a Dwarf.

A Human dwarf is just a "Human dwarf" not a "Humanic dwarf"

GMNoob

The elven archers allowed me to see the Buffalo, thanks :) The wiki article was actually misleading.

Humanic isn't a word

kviiri

@GMNoob How so? I actually got it from the Wikipedia article.

Inbar Rose

@GMNoob That is entirely possible. I just made it up.

kviiri

"Humanoid" is often used as an adjectival (is that the correct word?) for describing something that has human-like properties.

GMNoob

1:33 PM

@kviiri Because it put the thats in the wrong places, and didn't group them clearly.

Yes, but a Humanoid dwarf, is a dwarf which is anything that is not a human. Or you are uncertain if it's human or not.

kviiri

@GMNoob At least all the examples I bothered to check got it right.

GMNoob

corrrect and clearly are different things.

kviiri

Well you said they put the "thats" in the wrong places, so...

GMNoob

Ok, it's actually the lack of commas with the thats between the buffalos

I read this as a group. "Buffalo buffalo (buffalo from Buffalo NY) [that]"

instead of this as a group. " [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo"

kviiri

Both are groups.

I just don't know where the comma would be best appropriate. "Buffalo buffalo [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo, buffalo Buffalo buffalo." would follow my natural rhythm of speech but I think that'd be misleading.

Inbar Rose

1:39 PM

kviiri

For example, again: "Cats people abandon, live on the streets" would seem silly. Like an ad for a live show featuring abandoned cats?

GMNoob

[Buffalo buffalo (buffalo from Buffalo NY) [that]] [ Buffalo buffalo buffalo (that the buffalo from Buffalo NY bully)] [ buffalo Buffalo buffalo (are bullying buffalo from Buffalo NY)] Is not a clear grouping.

[Buffalo buffalo (buffalo from Buffalo NY)] , [ [that] Buffalo buffalo buffalo (that the buffalo from Buffalo NY bully)] [buffalo, Buffalo buffalo (are bullying buffalo from Buffalo NY)]
That's more clear to me atleast

kviiri

"Homegrown cats, people abandon live on the streets" looks stupid to me as well

I'd just omit the comma altogether.

With "that", it's somewhat better though.

Aaron

1:57 PM

Hello @DampeS8N Welcome to literature chat :D

DampeS8N

I've been DMing a Pathfinder game set in a high-fantasy space-opera setting. One of the players thinks we should steal from Star Fleet Battles for managing some likely space battles to come in the near future. I picked up the core books but they have not arrived yet, does anyone here have experience with the system?

Aaron

@DampeS8N No but it sounds interesting.

DampeS8N

From what I gather it simulates not just the ship-to-ship aspects of the battles, but managing power in the ships as well as specific locational damage and even has rules for boarding parties and things like that. Could be really useful, could also be way too much for what the campaign needs.

Aaron

That sounds like an awful lot of detail for a paper game. Depends on how they handle it though.

GMNoob

2:15 PM

Sounds like wound points and body parts to me. Not too bad.

DampeS8N

The sheets certainly seem more complex than wounds and body parts, but it is an older game system and so it is probably simpler in execution than the sheets would seem.

And it may be that I can harvest bits and pieces from it.

I just really want to talk to someone who has played it.

wax eagle

2:56 PM

Ooh 5e Monster Manual has been extended by 32 pages.

Also more codename morningstar introductions (now with women!)

Oxinabox

What day is it in the US?

wax eagle

@Oxinabox monday 7/14 for the next 13 hrs

(give or talk half a dozen)

Oxinabox

Right so it is day time and all.

work hours even. cool

wax eagle

yep, 11am on the east coast, 8am on the west

Oxinabox

Time is ... very complicated...

wax eagle

3:00 PM

@Oxinabox aye

I'd imagine it gets harder when you live near the IDL

Oxinabox

There are worse places to be:
Kiribati is at UTC+14:00

Aaron

On the UTC scale where is US Central?

wax eagle

interesting Codename Morningstar has raided Backflip(Ninjump and Dragonvale) for talent. Solid seeming studio, both those titles are on my iPad and I enjoy both of them

Aaron

It is 10 here now.

wax eagle

@Aaron -5

Aaron

3:03 PM

@waxeagle Ok.

wax eagle

(although IIRC UTC uses the old Daylight savings model, so we change earlier and later...)

Aaron

Hey anyone else bought Drop Dead Studios Spheres of Power alternate magic system?

wax eagle

no wait, it never changes, so we change, not UTC

Aaron

It is still in development.

I hate daylight savings. It is so annoying.

Oxinabox

Yeah UTC has no daylight savings.
GMT does.

wax eagle

3:05 PM

@Aaron so you're either at -5 for CDT or -6 for CST

@Aaron move to Arizona

Aaron

@waxeagle I don't fit in here it would probably be worse in Arizona DX

GMNoob

3:24 PM

@Aaron Why did I think you lived in arizona? wierd

Aaron

@GMNoob I have no idea. I live in Missouri

wax eagle

@Aaron AZ is actually an awesome state, I'd probably 4th or 5th on my list of places to live...too hot in the summer though

Oxinabox

how hot?

wax eagle

@Oxinabox most of the state is a desert.

GMNoob

@Oxinabox It will melt your popsicle

Oxinabox

3:26 PM

Most of my country is a desert...

wax eagle

probably 100-110 most of the time, low humidity though

Aaron

@waxeagle Key words here. Low Humidity

Oxinabox

wax that is about the same as where I am.

wax eagle

@Oxinabox yeah...I'll stick with my 80-90s with moderate to high humidity...

(and moderate to cold winters)

GMNoob

Highest recorded temp is 128 F. Though highest in California is 134 F

Aaron

3:28 PM

@waxeagle I would rather live with less humidity.

Oxinabox

We get >115F maybe one or two days a year.
I'm on the coast, in land abit it is much worse

mpdc

Hi all, has anyone had any experience with the Dungeons board game? Looking at getting the latest version.

wax eagle

@Aaron really depends. We at least get cool breezes most of the summer where my house is (and a summer like this one, we've had less than 10 days in the 90s), So even though it's steamy, it's tolerable. (helps to live on a mountain and across from pasture land)

@mpdc you mean Dungeon! or one of the other various D&D board games

mpdc

Yeah, Dungeon! I see the fifth version came out a couple of weeks ago.

GMNoob

@mpdc I just bought it, but I won't get it for another few days

mpdc

3:38 PM

Have you played one of the older versions? I've played The New Dungeon! (1989 version), and it was great, but I was wondering if the newer versions played the same. £12 for 5th edition looks like a steal...

GMNoob

It's the same game with new artwork

mpdc

Excellent. I'm hoping it has a HUGE game board, too.

It does have card player pieces, as opposed to the old plastic ones. Know any good sets of hero character miniatures I could get to use instead?

wax eagle

@mpdc reaper minis Bones, or the DDM prepaints that come out tomorrow (Icons of the realms)

GMNoob

@mpdc sorry

Oxinabox

Did cool figures come free with every demo set for 5e? (like they did for 4e)

(did 5e demo sets even comeout?)