TRPG General Chat

Miniman

12:14 AM

Wow, the Stack's been unusually busy this weekend.

BESW

I think Recent Events have kept a lot of people closer to the Internet.

Miniman

@BESW Recent Events with capital letters? Did I miss something in my extreme unawareness of current affairs?

doppelgreener

12:39 AM

@Miniman Yes. For instance, sandwich got mentioned by an admin. And some other things happened.

BESW

@doppelgreener As a friend of a friend says, "My Facebook feed looks like a battle broke out between the Confederates and a Skittles factory."

doppelgreener

actually, some really good and really bad stuff happened: the USA supreme court declared marriage equality was protected by the constitution, and a mosque was attacked in Kuwait by a bomber (no happy endings this time, it succeeded).

also, a flag hoisted at a march celebrating the supreme court decision which was covered in sex toys was mistaken for an ISIS flag by some onlookers.

so, a bunch o' things.

BESW

My own Facebook feed, because I went to college in South Carolina, is quite concerned about the renewed focus on that state's relationship with the Confederate flag.

doppelgreener

@BESW what's this mean? for better or worse?

BESW

It's always better to be talking about it than otherwise, so...

In the wake of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church shooting, there's been renewed examination of the flag's symbolism, history, and its role in modern politics and morality.

I really don't think it'd be appropriate to get into the details in this chat; that's what the NAB's for if anyone really wants to.

doppelgreener

12:52 AM

I would very much like to know.

(to NAB! pshooooo)

BESW

I'll be afk a bit first.

doppelgreener

Ok!

BESW

2:59 AM

@Shalvenay I think Bankuei hit the nail on the head. Repeatedly.

The Pendulum Rocket Fallacy is a good name for a band.

Shalvenay

3:19 AM

@BESW -- I agree, for the most part -- I think I simply haven't really had much in terms of competing motivations IRL -- usually, one very strongly dominates for me

(I am a bit mystified by the closevotes that question's accumulating though)

Sandwich

Nail and Hammer of Building

doppelgreener

@Shalvenay The close votes are too broad & primarily opinion based. There doesn't seem to be a correct answer available except to those with keen insight (even I'm hard put to consider how to begin responding), in this case that was Bankuei.

And the 'too broad' vote is partially about an enormous amount being required to properly respond - BESW and I have previously told you the problems you face are beyond what we can reasonably handle on the Stack and would require seeking professional help and coaching for a while. The community may recognise this, so the too broad close votes are not surprising to me.

BESW

Also, as I mentioned in a comment, you're using jargon like "narrativist" and "literary" to elide personal experience into generalised terms which the Stack audience doesn't share definitions on.

Each person with a different understanding of "narrativist RP" is going to read your question differently.

And the example you've given the most space to is anaemic: it's the start of a problem without a conclusion. It's full of you getting shut down before your ideas hit the table, when what you're describing in the rest of the question is your ideas disrupting actual play when they do hit the table.

"I find myself latching onto the in-character goals of either my own character or another character, and running with them to the expense of the table's out-of-character literary goals" is at odds with an account of having another player reject your suggestions before they cause any actual problems.

So, yanno. Unclear too.

Shalvenay

yeah, I admit the example I originally gave isn't the best one by any means -- it was what came to mind at the time in a pinch (and I'd have to do a pretty deep dredge to find a good one, there's just a lot of logs and stuff to sort through)

BESW

Then it's not surprising you're getting close votes on a question that you know still needs some more time and effort to improve.

Shalvenay

3:31 AM

yeah, what was surprising was the lack of commentary to go with 'em

BESW

No need.

doppelgreener

@Shalvenay there's plenty of commentary right there in the close reasons

BESW

All the comments there already say what I've just said.

Shalvenay

aaah

didn't realize you could see the close reasons on your own questions :P

BESW

You still haven't done this:

Can you provide a specific example of how working towards an IC goal goes against the OOC goals of the players? And maybe define what you mean by narrativist? Looking at the wiki article on the GNS theory, narrativist does not mean non goal oriented play and therefore your pursuit of IC goals shouldnt be a problem. — MC_Hambone 22 hours ago

Shalvenay

3:33 AM

@BESW -- I suppose I could come back and reworkshop it in a little while -- I just don't have the time or energy atm

BESW

That's reasonable.

Sandwich

AMAZING mario level which plays itself and own music

►

BESW

Just--it's gonna get closed until you have that time and energy.

Shalvenay

yeah

re: the professional help thing -- is it just a matter of getting general social/... help? or should I broach things in that context from a RP standpoint?

BESW

You shouldn't ignore the RP element, but it's probably not exclusively an RP thing.

doppelgreener

3:39 AM

It is definitely not exclusively a RP thing.

Shalvenay

you're right that it isn't...I'm just asking because certain features in RP environs seem to amplify it dramatically

doppelgreener

@Shalvenay The professional help is about going to a psychologist, some sort of coach, or so on, and seeking help with your general social issues. You should make them aware of your situation, and the RP stuff is part of your situation, but only part of it. They will coach you on the whole, and part by part.

Shalvenay

@doppelgreener -- yeah, that much I know -- I've had a fair bit of professional help with it in the past, which is where some of my workarounds come from

doppelgreener

\o/

I am glad you have already engaged in that previously.

Shalvenay

I think a big chunk of the problem is trying to push past old scars and wounds more than brand-new stuff; that, and trying to harness my focused-teamwork style to the OOC goals of the players

if I'm able to do that latter thing, I think I'll largely be fine

doppelgreener

4:02 AM

3.5e folks: is the Crafting economy set up so that profitability is always directly proportionate to the price of an item?

e.g. are there items you can make and sell vs 10% profit and others you can make and sell for 50% profit, or is everything always sold for a virtually guaranteed profit ratio or not at all?

I've been considering that most expensive magic item by caster level question and might point out to the asker that most expensive is probably the wrong question to ask and they should instead be looking for the most profitable item, but are those necessarily one and the same or is there truly a difference in the system?

e.g. consider if the most expensive magic item can be sold for 11,000g, but takes 10,000g to make, so there's only a 10% profit. Alternately, suppose there's magic nails that can be made for 100g and sell for 150g. Use your 10,000g to make a hundred of those, and you'll sell them for 15,000g in total.

I remember stuff about e.g. wizards summoning giant blocks of iron and smelting them into knives and making tons of gold (if you forget about the implications of flooding the market). Is that relevant here?

Miniman

@doppelgreener Wall of Iron is the accepted 100% profit mechanism in 3.5, although Wall of Salt from Sandstorm is even more efficient.

(You don't actually need to make the iron into anything, because there are set commodity prices.)

doppelgreener

Ah right. Summon materials, sell them, crash the iron and salt economies for decades to come.

What about if we absolutely must sell them in the form of magic items?

Miniman

12

Q: Are the money pumps described in Harry Potter and the Natural 20 legal under 3.5 rules?

Harry Potter and the Natural 20, a fanfic, describes several potential money pumps in the 3.5 rules: Casting Wall of Iron, and selling the iron produced. Creating items of summon undead, and then using the resulting undead (he suggests squirrels) to build a mundane item factory Building a more ...

a computing pun

Items only have one price; there's no "crafting price" vs. "selling price". It costs a certain amount of materials to make an item which is directly dependent on the item's price. But some items cost slightly more than just their materials cost if crafting them requires casting a spell that has material components.

Miniman

(Just btw.)

a computing pun

4:12 AM

(The amount of time it takes to craft an item is also purely dependent upon the item's price, which leads to the infamous Infinite Quarterstaff trick)

Sandwich

The key point here is that wizard is broken

Miniman

@Miniman Sorry, that should have been 1350% profit.

doppelgreener

4:50 AM

@Miniman That's a rather good profit margin.

doppelgreener

5:11 AM

So that question wound up with a pretty good answer anyway. \o/

Miniman

5:31 AM

@doppelgreener I don't really understand economics/business/finance/accounting/commerce/pretty much anything to do with money, but it seems ok to me, yeah.

doppelgreener

@Miniman well what you should understand is that being able to summon an enormous chunk of metal really makes making money pretty easy

BESW

William Scrym, died 1382, fell from a tree attempting to overthrow a nest of magpies

Tweeted by DeathMedieval on June 29, 2015 at 5:16 AM

Magician

Sovereign monarchy of magpies remains unchallenged.

3

@doppelgreener In Ars, turning a mountain into gold is relatively simple. But then nice people from the Order of Hermes (to which you also belong, because Join Or Die might as well be their motto) go "dude, not cool". You don't want nice people from Ordo Hermes to go "dude, not cool", that tends to leave smoking craters.

BESW

@Magician Mr. Scrym is lucky; John Uskglass wouldn't have been so lenient.

doppelgreener

6:47 AM

@BESW Australian facebook feeds are mostly just business as usual or a skittle factory explosion.

Adeptus

@doppelgreener Taste the equality

doppelgreener

7:14 AM

@Adeptus nice one

BESW

doppelgreener

@BESW haha!

looks like equality tastes delicious.

BESW

It's kinda spicy, actually.

doppelgreener

That looks like a lotta spicy.

Sandwich

7:36 AM

Pfff

Weather factory

How silly

BESW

Personally, I'm a subscriber to the fan theory that Cloudsdale's mandate over the weather, like other "natural" phenomenons which are pony-controlled in Equestria, is a grim necessity brought about when the avatar of Chaos itself broke the land beyond repair some two thousand years earlier, shattering the ordinary progression of weather, seasons, migrations, and other "natural orders."

Since then ponies have been holding the world together with their own hooves--almost literally.

Pixie

8:00 AM

Oh, hey. Sudden renewed interest in a stalled freeform game. I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch, but there's a chance for revival.

It'd be nice to have something going on again, though. Spirit of the Century is over, we don't know what we're doing next, and I think it'll be a while before Exalted resumes.

MC_Hambone

8:37 AM

quick question you guys... I recently asked a question as a result of not seeing 1 line in the power's descriptor. Now that I have the answer to my question... and the question essentially boils down to a "read the book to me" question, should I answer my own question or just delete it?

BESW

9:50 AM

← 1 message moved from Fate chat and game room

MC_Hambone

so i take it i posted that in the wrong chat? lol

couldda sworn i hit Gen chat XD oops

BESW

No worries. You'll just get a bigger audience here.

MC_Hambone

indeed, do you have an opinion? I'll link the question... 1 sec

1

Q: How does the Postcognition Sense work?

Looking at the postcognition sense effect in the DC Adventures book (same rules as m&m3e) I noticed it required checks to determine what your visions are that reveal info about the past (DC15 for a confusing symbolic vision, DC30 for a clear matter of fact vision). What I couldnt find was what y...

m-and-m-3e

I missed the line in the power descriptor that said "you can make a perception check...."

since the answer now makes the question a "read the book" question, should i delete or answer my own question and get that badge?

BESW

Generally speaking--is it a mistake that others are likely to make?

That's my personal rubric for such things.

Miniman

@MC_Hambone I'd suggest answering it. If it gets downvotes, you can delete it.

BESW

10:00 AM

It's a genuine problem you had, and your effort has yielded an answer. So I wouldn't say it should be deleted.

But if you consider it truly trivial and don't think it'd be of benefit to anyone else ever, then you would be justified in removing it as being more noise than signal for the site.

MC_Hambone

lol, my genuine problem was that I read too fast for my own good sometimes and miss info XD

any ideas for this one tho? rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/64109/…

i'm starting to think that the only benefit of the Trance advantage is it costs 1 power point instead of however many the immunity to poison and disease would cost... and that its porbably more for character flavor than anything else

BESW

I don't know the system, so I'm of minimal help with specific clarity issues.

MC_Hambone

for some reason I am having a hard time fully understanding the logic behind the system... but I keep on keepin on. Its weird because I get D&D, 7th sea, Scion, and percentile based games like Spaceship Zero. Not sure why I have trouble with Mutants and Masterminds

I probably over think things too much in this game since its highly customizable

but i'm off for the "night" (its 6am here) gotta be up in 6 hours to play D&D :D

BESW

ttfn

Aaron

12:46 PM

Morning

sillyputty

G'day

Played my first real game of Microscope yesterday. It was like heroin to my friends and I. I fear for our lives now.

Aaron

Microscope?

sillyputty

Essentially a collaborative world-creating game. You all make a history together, creating Periods, Events inside those Periods, and Scenes inside those Events. You aren't allowed to collaborate after initial setup, so everyone is forced to make decisive...decisions that take the history in unexpected and cool directions

Aaron

So everyone makes stuff at setup and then one person DMs the world?

sillyputty

1:01 PM

mmmmm... kinda? everyone collaborates stuff at setup and then everyone takes turns fleshing out the world. So on my turn I could make a Period like "The Age of Corruption" and describe what that means like "The Abyssal Energies of the Lower Planes have seeped through in vast amounts in this age due to the God Kings meddlings and machinations. Demons ravage the landscape, and people are mistrustful and paranoid under the God Kings' rules."

Who are the God Kings? what are the Lower Planes? We don't know yet, but through play we will define them.

In the same way, on my turn I could also make an Event, which is a smaller chunk of something that happenes, or a Scene, which is a specific moment during an Event, which gets roleplayed out by the entire table.

It was incredibly cool and right in my playgroup's wheelhouse.

Aaron

Sounds cool.

sillyputty

Yea it was very enjoyable. How was your weekend?

Aaron

Ok.

Our bathroom is finally looking like a bathroom again

It actually has walls now

sillyputty

1:24 PM

Well that is a definite plus!

Aaron

1:37 PM

Yea.

MadMAxJr

1:57 PM

Microscope is all fun and games until your glorious, revolutionary leader you've spent turns carefully crafting gets assassinated.

Aaron

lol

BESW

That's the beauty of Microscope, though--you can still go back and indulge in your Glorious Leader pre-assassination.

Aaron

Did someone mention the Glorious Leader?

MadMAxJr

Microscope is great for wanting to tell a large scale story.

An associate had us play Microscope to fill in the details of his sci-fi RPG setting. He got to put down the general plot points he wanted, but other players gave it some chaos to prevent things from going exactly as he intended, which made the end result far more entertaining to read.

sillyputty

@MadMAxJr Kill your darlings ;)
But also, yes. This is exactly why I wanted to play Microscope. I have just done a lot of "stringing the players along" type games. We were all enjoying them, no harm no foul, but I'm kinda getting burned out on that. So I wanted the exact opposite. And what better way to start the exact opposite than by letting my players equally share crafting responsibilities of the world!

doppelgreener

2:11 PM

@sillyputty play roll for shoes

it is spectacularly capable of careening out of anyone's control, so long as you give it an inch

sillyputty

I will give it a try! =)

doppelgreener

it's probably also capable of games where you string players along, if you're determined to

but since its primary mechanic is also a world-building mechanic, your players are well equipped to take things out of your hands

(your player can midgame discover he was a vampire all along, or that he has untapped wizard powers, or he is actually a bear)

sillyputty

hahahahaha like the Very Diplomatic Bear

doppelgreener

yes

The Tale of Inbar Rose, Sir Bearington and the Sword

Aug 28 '14 at 11:54, 20 minutes total – 162 messages, 9 users, 0 stars

Bookmarked Sep 17 '14 at 23:03 by doppelgreener

sillyputty

2:38 PM

I am a fan of any story with Sir Bearington. And this story lived up.

Grubermensch

4:15 PM

Next silly game I run is definitely including Sir Bearington

KRyan

5:32 PM

huh

any idea why my attempt to change avatars didn't take?

did that yesterday, still not actually displayed as such

irritating; anyway, should any of those interested see this message, note that it was my full intent to switch to a rainbow-fied avatar, even re-installed Photoshop to do it.

Pixie

7:10 PM

@MadMAxJr That's why you don't get too attached to anything in Microscope. :P

BESW

10:19 PM

@sillyputty One of my first games of Roll For Shoes included a PC named Loud Bear But Quiet in the Village.

By the end of the session we'd learnt that he was an actual bear--who could talk.

BESW

10:40 PM

Air plant jellyfish.

2

Pixie

I still need to play RFS. Maybe I'll try to arrange something in the game room at some point.

Maybe I can channel some of the retro RPG flavor I've been into lately into it. Seems like a good, broad theme. Nothing too specific will survive, I anticipate that much. :P

Sandwich

@BESW You trying to give us nightmares bruh, that's a beholder waiting to happen right there

BESW

♪ Little baby 'Thulhu
Floatin' through the nether...

doppelgreener

11:01 PM

@KRyan do you have the relevant picture chosen in the Change Picture list?

(i imagine it'd change automatically but worth checking)

KRyan

11:30 PM

@doppelgreener when I upload it, yes, but when I navigate away it reverts

doppelgreener