TRPG General Chat - 2016-02-16

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12:13 AM

There's an RP joke I've seen in several places; here's a version from the 1999 Alice in Wonderland.

> "I recognize your accent. Girton College?"
"No, Missus. I went to Oxford."
"You poor devil. And what did you study?"
"How to talk like this."

RP being used as a false neutral is also why such a big deal was made over the Ninth ("Lots of planets have a North!") and Twelfth ("I'm Scottish--I can really complain about things now!") having non-BBC accents. Given that Tennant was asked to replace his own Scottish accent for the role, it's not an issue that's exactly put to bed.

(And you'll find that American reviews of Jessica Jones say amazing things like "[Tennant's] natural accent is liltingly Glaswegian, but Kilgrave sounds a little more British and closer to Tennant's time-traveling sci-fi icon on Doctor Who." [bolding added by me])

(What Tennant was going for was someone with an accent associated with the lower classes who was unsuccessfully adopting RP in order to distance himself from his roots. I've also read books where someone with an RP accent tries to "roughen himself up" and distance himself from The Establishment by adopting a northern accent.)

1:13 AM

@BESW I'd love to.

1:39 AM

@doppelgreener Mostly I just don't remember much/anything about him, or I'd feel more comfortable extrapolating from there.

Is StackExchange really slow for anyone else today?

Like, slow to load?

Yes, very much so.

It seems to have improved in the last 10-15 minutes, but it was awful both at home at work for the past 12 hours.

1:58 AM

I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Hmmmm. Probably Comcast sucking in new & exciting ways. It's my ISP at home, and I think it's what work uses...

@BESW I kept a copy of our truck ambush session tracking sheet, which has Brother James at the bottom as well.

@doppelgreener That's helpful! Do you have the original flashback James?

@BESW I just found it! Down the bottom. A young idealist who believed chaos was necessary to help any society evolve. Also he thought ninjas were cool and had named his own martial art move.

He had a lucky poker chip then and he probably still has it today.

I love that character progression.

2:11 AM

He also had a burglary toolkit his mentor gave him, whoever that might've been.

From an anarchist thief and gambler to the psychic leader of a chaos cult.

@BESW .... who says he's not still an anarchist thief and gambler?

[grin]

Kleptomania would make for an interesting Fate character aspect (or part of one), come to think of it.

Sounds like a cost to me.

> Souvenirs. You are absolutely better at theft (Burglary) than a human, but weak against kleptomaniac urges.

2:37 AM

I figure as part of an aspect it's also narrative justification that you just happened to grab that thing earlier without thinking about it.

"Damnit, where's a spark plug when you need one!?" "Uh... is this a spark plug?" "Where'd you even find that?" "I'm not sure, I just kinda grab these things."

2

3:04 AM

@doppelgreener That. ^^ My five year-old daughter.

3:16 AM

@doppelgreener When I play(ed) a Kender, I did it like this. I never deliberately stole anything, I'd just occasionally ask the DM if anything had fallen into my pockets...

> Snappy Dresser. Once per adventure, you are wearing exactly the right clothing for the situation. Gain an appropriate aspect with two free invokes.

@BESW I'm going to use this and have it always be a suit. Barney Stinston joke.

(I might not actually use this but still)

@doppelgreener I was inspired by the scene in Gravity Falls where Mabel's lightbulb sweater actually has a battery-powered light sewn into it, and they wind up in the dark.

@BESW oh man XD I remember this

Her lightbulb sweater is so good.

But see also wearing a shirt with your mark's favourite team on it, or anything else.

3:43 AM

i like the thought of this.

Dan's been vaguely interested in the idea of a character with foresight, but with some horrifying mental trauma consequences that are probably way too heavy for our game. If he was still interested in pursuing a lighter version, that stunt might fit them. (Or @trogdor might want to use it.)

Like, y'know, he just had a good feeling about this thing when he bought it, and had a good feeling about putting it on today.

that'd just be for the foresight theme though :)

Hmm. That'd be pretty interesting to build. Most of the stunts would probably focus on boosting the power of fate-point declarations.

But also things like "+2 when defending with Combat because you saw it coming."

> Timeline Headache. Once per session you can dodge a physical attack by seeing it coming and then ducking; use your mental stress track instead of your physical one to absorb the stress inflicted by the attack as you pre-remember the pain of the attack that won't have happened.

> The best possible outcome. Whenever you spend a fate point to declare a story detail, gain a related boost.

4:04 AM

@BESW That is pretty much exactly the mechanism he went for, too. Actually, he mechanised him as a dude who was immune to physical consequences because he could see just about everything coming, but (a) that results in weird stuff if he's in a position to choose to let something physical happen to him, and (b) that's the angle from which all the trauma was happening. (He sees all the possibilities. All of them. And it sure felt like the ones he dodged happened.)

In other words, all his physical consequences were also mental consequences.

So uh. Dodging things sometimes that you see coming, but not all the things, resonates better. It'll result in less Weirdness, and the visions being brief rather than constant sources of trauma.

> Echoes of the future. Sometimes visions of the future distract you from the present. When you fail an opposed roll by three or more, you get +2 on your next action.

I like the way you phrase the end of Timeline Headache, too. :)

@BESW I like it!

> I've seen your death. You get +2 to overcome with Provoke when not trying to act like a normal person.

And now for something completely different.

Hatoful Samurai: Would be Game of the Year, for sure. https://t.co/P8a6gTtj8j

Tweeted by tofugu on February 15, 2016 at 11:46 PM

user image

2 hours later…

6:02 AM

Random rambling of the day: let us examine how different systems handle something happening to a character. Which is related to how they handle the character doing something, but only sometimes. In fact, in Fate and AW it is kind of the same thing: you decide what you do in response to the event, and that dictates which skill or move you'll roll. AW also typically lets you pick one or more options out of a list in the move.

D&D is different: when something happens to your character, you typically don't make any choices. Instead, the event determines which score you'll use, and all you do is look up a pre-generated number.

It's not just D&D, of course, a lot of systems do that.

so, Fate/AW have an active response, D&D etc have a passive response?

There are pros and cons to either approach (also, are there entirely different approaches I'm missing?). D&D is fast: no choice or creativity is involved, you've done all that previously. It was up to you to not be in a position where the event would happen to you, but now that you are, deal with it.

@Adeptus A decent way to phrase it.

Rather than "active" and "passive," say "proactive" and "reactive."

@BESW I dunno. I wouldn't even call looking up your Reflex score a reaction.

@BESW I thought about that, but "something is happening to you" is kind of a reactive situation anyway

6:07 AM

@Magician You are proactive in setting the terms of the situation in Fate and AW. D&D doesn't let you do that, it only lets you react in the slim ways you can. I think the proactive/reactive language is decent.

Proactive vs passive could even do it.

They're not directly dichotomous, but this isn't a direct dichotomy.

Consider a game like Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, wherein the group is told the result of a character's action and then a subset of the group is given carte blanche to decide what happens to them or what they do in order to achieve that result.

@Magician Also: "Ranblingdom."

@BESW You are horrible.

Fate is creative. You get more interesting descriptions, more varied story. One drawback is that we don't necessarily care about NPCs being creative that way. AW may have the best approach as it is player-facing. Players dictate which mechanics will be used, and how.

@BESW Yeah, various story-games are weird. Haven't yet played PoFT.

[think think] proactive and reactive and active don't sit well with me for describing any of these things, but i like the description of D&D as passive, since it is. you're there, standing there, doing nothing, with a thing happening to you, you hapless fellow.

D&D might afford you the option to react in slim cases (like "aha! i readied an action for this!") but that's another matter.

Active/proactive/etc approach is also more natural. People who're not used to D&D frequently clash with it, as they want to do something in response to the enemy action.

Side point re: Fate: In Core, if you're subject to a mental attack, you're pretty much told to defend with Will. If it's physical, Athletics. You get to narrate what that looks like, but you're locked into the mechanical skill unless you've got a mechanical permission to use something else. Buuuut! In Accelerated, when you're attacked you always get to use narrative agency to define which mechanic you use to defend.

6:14 AM

@BESW In Fate you also always have an option of invoking an aspect.

@Magician Yes, but that's less... fundamental. It's saying "I can make my roll better," not "I can choose what roll to make."

@BESW Considering aspects are a core mechanic, I'd say it is fundamental. You always have an option to add to the story somehow.

@doppelgreener creative/predetermined?

@BESW I think the distinction is that in D&D, you can only stand there like a helpless schmuck, watching the terrible thing happening to you unfold, and following your instructions when the terrible thing requires your participation.

[cough]

HA. That cracked me up. I never knew that's what it was slang for.

Unfortunately that post is also now beyond editing.

6:20 AM

For future note, then.

[rereads: "you can only stand there like a helpless..."]

I was certain it was a Hebrew word for something like "stupid/gullible person".

> GM: There is an intellect devourer in the closet you just opened.
Warrior: Oh.
GM: Roll INT.
Warrior: ...9? [but really anyone can do this part, it requires no participation on the player's behalf.]
GM: Welcome to the monster ranks, meat puppet. Here's a fresh character sheet. Rogue, the fighter whirls at you with his axe all of a sudden. [roll] And it beats your AC. You take... [roll] Actually you're dead. Here's a fresh character sheet.

@Magician I thought it was something like that too.

This may be one reason chargen is fetishised in D&D-like playstyles.

> "Schmuck", or "shmuck", in American English is a pejorative term meaning one who is stupid or foolish, or an obnoxious, contemptible or detestable person. The word came into the English language from Yiddish (שמאָק, shmok), where it has similar pejorative meanings, but where its original and literal meaning is penis.

And now we know.

6:23 AM

More or less the actions directed at the players usually only require their participation because they happen to have the stats handy in their mind and on their sheet, or maybe there's the off chance something lets them go "NO WAIT! MAGIC SHIELD!"

Somehow, I think, this ties into the old-school playstyle. Emphasis on preparation and making choices before mechanics get involved.

A fight is a roll of the dice, literally. You do your best to avoid it, or stack the odds in your favor.

In that school of thought, it's fine if a roll of the dice determines if your character lives or dies. You should not have been in the position where the dice were required if you didn't want it to happen.

I could, of course, be misinterpreting the OS position on such things, as I've never really played that way.

But, yes. Chargen is fetishised because it is one of the most important opportunities for preparation you will have.

Yep. Hence charop/minmaxing. To stack the odds in your favour

Yeah, it's not "You don't have any control over your fate," it's "Your control was mostly in the planning."

...compare deadEarth, or more reasonably Eclipse Phase's random chargen, wherein you front-load most of your character's agency without having much player agency over the front-loading.

6:40 AM

Yeah, but random chargen is, indeed, random. You abdicate agency to the tables and dice.

@doppelgreener the only character I have who would use that is probably Adrian

and he has stiff competition in the Golem

It's also worth noting that systems with creative response tend to be relatively light on mechanics.

A long while back, I wrote about 4e characters being spherical adventurers in vacuum. They have complex mechanical powers, with lots of things happening on their end, but their output is always simple, always targetting a number and prescribing what happens. They never involved interaction.

I keep having an image in my mind, of character abilities and mechanics as cogs. You choose your cog, your target chooses theirs, you put them together and see how they rotate.

@Magician En Garde!

Duels, yes. Also targeting exposed weak spots, utilising surroundings...

This is not a finished thought, despite it rolling around in my head for years.

@Magician I think he literally means the game En Garde

6:53 AM

...

Yes, literally En Garde!

It's exactly what you describe: each turn every player chooses a set of moves simultaneously and then the GM resolves the interaction between each move.

How interesting. I wasn't aware it existed.

Brian ran a few turns of it in the Back Room several years ago.

Which is why I assumed you knew about it.

Despite appearances, rumours and foul accusations, we are not a two-headed hydra.

lol

6:58 AM

@Magician ... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm... [revises surprise birthday party plans]

I think I found the rules of En Garde!, or at least some variant of them, and that's not what I was thinking of at all.

No, but it's an extreme distillation of the concept.

7:38 AM

...I'm thinking I might want to make a new PC in place of Jessie for the new Weirder World.

Maybe whip out my old ideas for a shulassakar or musteval.

Or is it finally time for my fishlock?

in Fate chat and game room, Dec 19 '14 at 2:34, by BESW

She had no idea that she was a warlock, instead believing her powers came from her understanding and manipulation of practical astrology. The quirk where she occasionally says "fish" instead of whatever she means to say? What are you talking about? She's perfectly fish.

That is an unfortunate quirk for a warlock. Especially a summoner.

[ponders]

If she's a Dagon worshipper, it might take a long time to notice.

Fishful Thinking

Otiluke's Telekinetic Fish.

Also a great filter for profanity.

7:47 AM

"Oh yeah? Well fish you, you miserable little fish!"

fish

what sorcery is this

As her condition worsens, she starts telling folks to perch themselves with a fugu.

Seriously, how are you doing fish??

*`fish`*

fish

fascinating

7:51 AM

There ya go.

@BESW fish you.

[bow and a fish]

Hmm. Alternately, shulassakar might be fun.

1 hour later…

9:16 AM

Morning, all :)

Yawp.

The lurker. He never sleeps.

What's the weather like in Guam?

Warm and humid with a light wind and occasional sudden but brief showers.

Light evening earthquake is expected to anger the giant crabs, travel is not advised.

4

I'm actually gonna be signing off soon; waiting for other folks to show up for a Ruhi group.

@Magician You joke, but.

9:19 AM

Do you get much sunlight? What's Ruhi?

Our days are about 12 hours long year round, give or take an hour on either end.

Jan 26 at 12:59, by BESW

@Polyducks The Ruhi Institute in Colombia publishes a series of training books, inspired by the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith, which give individuals tools and structures for social and spiritual transformation in their areas. It's being used throughout the world, by Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís alike.

Oh I remember this now :)

Morning, @eimyr!

Indeed.

Hi

lol

9:21 AM

Are you having a gneiss morning @eimyr?

@Polyducks we get plenty of sunlight

@eimyr, ~~@PureFerret~~ @AncientSwordRage [wave]

Woah, this chat really crawled to life quickly

Smashing.

:C

it's before 10:30 so I'm in zombie mode

I need my tea and a biscuit.

lol

9:24 AM

I'm drinking Mr. Brown to stay awake.

Poor Mr. Brown

I woke up only 40 mins ago and I've already been at my desk for 30 minutes -_-

Trying to work out what's wrong with this template before I run out of time to work on it again and all I can hear in the background is the marketing department trying to get an A-Z list of bands that sung about something obscure for the blog.

I honestly wonder how we can work in the same building sometimes.

I think I'll add in a deathly hallows symbol to the code today

Any new RPG experiences today?

10:20 AM

@Polyducks do you work that close to home?

Yeah, literally eight minutes walk

@eimyr I just roll out of bed

Down the road to the industrial estate and bam I'm here

nice

1:15h of driving.

@Ahriman No, it wasn't hack n' slash. It was a 3D game something like Garry's Mod.

That's a pain @Eimyr. I really need to learn to drive so I can escape a bit more.

@Polyducks it's REALLY easy in the UK, you can be taught by your family, mates or whatever.

I learned how to drive in Poland and you can only learn to drive with a qualified instructor there.

Also my license is for life and not for 5 years, so when I'm 85, blind, lame and demented I can still give you rides.

10:53 AM

Anyone has experience with Trello boards?

@BESW Do you?

@Polyducks you know why I love Mage 20th Anniversary? that's why:

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition vs. Mage Revised http://t.co/wybhym9KXS

Tweeted by VonAether on August 17, 2015 at 11:18 PM

I've used Trello before. My memory of it is vague

@eimyr what do you need to do?

we started using it to manage games in our rpg group

How's it working for you?

so-so

great for game organising, much less for associated discussions

11:10 AM

I find it very difficult to retain users in forums and things. As you could tell, it's much easier with skype because it just automatically loads on the user's computer

Oh, it's for pre-game activities.

Like choosing what to play next.

11:40 AM

They have something similar on roll20 too

I really need to get better at using forums

11:51 AM

@Wibbs I don't think your avatar looks like a tarantula. It's rather nice and cuddly.

12:16 PM

O_o its a squirrel

12:35 PM

23 hours ago, by BESW

@eimyr That's not nearly as messed up as Wibbs' avatar, which in thumbnail looks uncannily like a tarantula.

1:02 PM

Ah, now your comment makes a lot more sense :)

2:01 PM

[wave]

hello ragefaceavatarguy

hello tarantula

Greetings, pixels.

@eimyr did you get to see him with his headband on?

Yeah, that was great

2:20 PM

@Magician greetings, not-hydra

2:30 PM

Good morning people

4 hours later…

Joshua Aslan Smith

6:39 PM

blah what a bad question

0

Q: How do I deal with a member of my party who attacks me whenever I cast a spell?

I'm new to D&D and so are the friends I play it with. My character is a Chaotic Evil Pact of the Tome Warlock. One of my party members is a Lawful Neutral Warrior, and in his backstory he dislikes mages because of what happened to him/his family. In total, there are four players Whenever I use ...

dnd-5e group-dynamics social-contract

there we go 3rd times the charm

@JoshuaAslanSmith lol

yeah that's just...why.

Joshua Aslan Smith

the first answer posted, I flagged it as not an answer because its so bad

the comments, not helping

@JoshuaAslanSmith yeah, first answer isn't great, put my mod hat on to see if I can entice a better version of it. Because it's technically an answer, just a terrible one

Joshua Aslan Smith

I can already picture the table, a gm I wouldve called a grognard during my 4e days, running, probably gave a premise about no "meta"gaming at his table, emphasized roleplaying the alignment chart t the fullest

3 hours later…

9:23 PM

@BESW one for your cool stuff please - kickstarter.com/projects/545820095/weird-war-i-savage-worlds/…

9:53 PM

huh, weird war II came before weird war I

apparently anyway

10:19 PM

Hey guys. Do you know of any system where you get to play as a benefactor?

For example, an NPC that helps the main characters. Games where you are the guy that shows up in the story once or twice.

I was just reading up on the legend of Kim Qui and it was really fascinating. A giant golden turtle that crafted magical weapons to help different kings.

**Cool RPG stuff:** [Bundle of Holding](http://bundleofholding.com "buy RPGs cheap in bulk, support charities & indie designers!");
[7th Sea 2nd Ed](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/johnwickpresents/7th-sea-second-edition "Revised rules, revised Nations, updated for the 21st Century");
[Mourners: Scum of Shatterdown](https://imgur.com/gallery/qsrCH "a fantasy novel by our own @Lord_Gareth!");
[Weird War I](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/545820095/weird-war-i-savage-worlds/description "In the violence and horror of war, dark things rise...");

What what?

Hmm?

Bubblegumshoe looks like it'll be fun.

Though granted, I was more a of Three Investigators kid than a Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew kid, so I'm a little skeptical it'll hit all my buttons.

11:21 PM

@trogdor That's... weird

11:35 PM

@Miniman markovchain must feel like he's being assaulted by the welcoming committee: you, PurpleMonkey, and I are all editing/commenting simultaneously!

Simultaneous editing is... not really good?

You just override each other.

that's why I bowed out and went to check out WB.SE's election results.

11:59 PM

@BESW yeah, the SE could do with handling that better

hey there @nitsua60

heya @Shalvenay

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