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00:00 - 13:0013:00 - 00:00

12:25 AM
strange question of the day: can Mage Hand affect a living thing? (in this case, an ooze)
 
Totally expected response of the day: What system?
 
Unsolicited peanut gallery reply of the day: All of them. Give the answer which applies to all systems.
 
@BESW D&D 3.5e
 
@BESW yeah -- the argument against it is indeed that that living things are attended
 
12:34 AM
@Shalvenay Living things also aren't objects. No way mage hand can target a living thing.
 
"Totally Expected Response" would be a good name for Confusingly Jargonistic's third album, following on the success of "On The Tin"
Still haven't come up with their debut's name.
 
 
1 hour later…
1:53 AM
anyone around for a five-minute brainstorm?
(literally, as it turns out...)
 
@nitsua60 sure
 
@nitsua60 me as well
 
okay, tomorrow PCs are wandering into an area where a bit of a psionic 'bomb' has gone off, for lack of a better term. A number of NPCs' minds/psyches have been body-swapped.
(Local monks, drow raiders, visiting militia.)
 
@nitsua60 LOLOL
 
@nitsua60 ok
 
1:56 AM
I know the PCs lives will be made easier the quicker they can start figuring out who's who and performing the ritual that will get people back into their bodies. But I can't figure out how thePCs will (in-game) be able to figure out who's who?
What sorts of tells, clues, would help them figure out this mystery?
 
do they know the folks?
 
Nope--location-based adventure, and they come upon the place literally in flames.
 
Language and accents, obviously.
 
ok. agree with that. the other thing is that you can call out oddities like well dressed people smithing and dirty, strong looking folks doing beuracratic clerical work
 
Drow-minds will shy away from light while drow-bodies will be constantly forgetting.
 
1:58 AM
(and doing them adeptly)
 
@BESW that's an excellent call.
 
monks on patrol and militia in the cloisters
 
Ditto look at who deals with which weapons comfortably or uncomfortably.
A monk-minded militia body, even if he's trying to hide, won't hold his sword or wear his armour comfortably.
 
Monks on the streets, militia in the sheets.
2
 
Right, and as I apply or not the proficiency bonus (5e) there gets to be some meta-notice at the table. I'm okay with that.
 
2:00 AM
Think about subconscious interactive tics, like saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes or how you greet someone as you pass them in the street (salute, bow, wave, phrase?)
 
monk-minds, no matter their body, respecting the hierarchy of visible monk-bodies around them...
Awesome, thanks. (I've got four notes down; any more I'll just get turned around and not be able to make use of anyway!)
 
Dietary choices: rich foods, simple meals, disgust and confusion at up-world food.
 
I don't know that the encounter will last long enough for that to come into play. LITERALLY!
(sorry, had to.)
 
Oh, and don't forget the drow cultural flourishes like defering to and fearing women.
 
I thought all drow were misunderstood loners, dual-wielding their edged weapons to act out their impotent fury at being misunderstood and misjudged by the world?
 
2:05 AM
Yes, actually. Drow cities are basically their conventions.
The city known as MiseryCon has lasted for thirteen hundred years. The con organisers are effectively a priesthood.
 
@BESW "Wastin' away again in Menzoberannzan..."
(I definitely read lyrics to that in a Dragon some time in the 90's)
"Searching for my lost priestess of Lloth."
Ooh, there's the shibboleth of Lloth/Lolth!
"Some people say that Corelleon's to blame..."
afk awhile. I expect the album complete when I return =)
We've got a lot of good names sitting on the shelf. Let's not let them go to waste, people.
 
 
4 hours later…
6:10 AM
...shibbo-lolth.
 
@BESW XD
 
 
2 hours later…
8:21 AM
Do I add another answer to this
4
Q: How to represent 'instant expert' in nWoD?

PureferretI'm statting up a very smart character for a hunter game (Int ••••) and would like to represent his ability to look over some theoretical work (briefly) and become an 'instant expert'. I've noticed an ability of the same name exists in Changeling and Genius, but from the summary I read it doesn...

Or do I edit my existing one?
^what I was going to post
 
I would edit it in as another option
 
8:50 AM
...do we do game ID questions?
I know I've seen this game, and there's only gonna be one like it, but I can't track it down again.
 
@BESW [tag:product-identific -- yes ^
 
"0 questions tagged."
 
@BESW I misspelt it the first time, sorry.
 
Ahah.
 
8:54 AM
@BESW It feels weird for me to be telling you something, though.
 
Oh, look!
user image
3
 
@BESW Heh.
 
@BESW so that's why Leonardo won an oscar...
 
Spoilers!
 
9:18 AM
Whaaaat
he won an oscar?
 
Welp, I tracked down what I was looking for. Eventually.
Might make it a SAQ anyway.
Nomic is a game created in 1982 by philosopher Peter Suber in which the rules of the game include mechanisms for the players to change those rules, usually beginning through a system of democratic voting. Nomic is a game in which changing the rules is a move. In that respect it differs from almost every other game. The primary activity of Nomic is proposing changes in the rules, debating the wisdom of changing them in that way, voting on the changes, deciding what can and cannot be done afterwards, and doing it. Even this core of the game, of course, can be changed. The initial ruleset was designed...
> Nomic is a game in which changing the rules is a move. In that respect it differs from almost every other game. The primary activity of Nomic is proposing changes in the rules, debating the wisdom of changing them in that way, voting on the changes, deciding what can and cannot be done afterwards, and doing it. Even this core of the game, of course, can be changed.
— Peter Suber, The Paradox of Self-Amendment
 
9:35 AM
So... is it an RPG or a boardgame?
looking
"Playing time Variable, from minutes to years"
 
It's a metagame.
It's not exactly an RPG, but that's probably the closest common descriptor we have.
 
This Nomic sounds like a good way for a mathematician to waste a weekend....
 
@MaliceVidrine I agree! Sounds like a great daydream to have
might end up being the base of some futuristic colony
 
10:03 AM
@Polyducks expect surplus of dank memes today
 
10:13 AM
@eimyr Why? Is it national meme day?
Please tell me that isn't a thing
 
No, It's spoiler?
 
Is the joke that there is no webpage?
:<
 
Look at the address?
But I think it has already been spoken in chat.
 
I get itttttttt
I'm a cool guy just like you!
Speaking of being a coolguy, I'm almost at 1k rep :p
 
Grats!
 
10:18 AM
nice, well done!
About internet points, I'm at 99/100 for Fanatic.
@Polyducks I hope the bounty helped.
Wieck hasn't contributed anything further, so...
 
@eimyr And now I have "The Cult Song" in my head.
 
why?
 
Because "fanatic."
 
So one word is enough to trigger an earworm for you?
 
My free association dial is usually on 11.
 
Yup.
 
I'm looking at Humble PF Bundle.
So APG is behind the mean-paywall. Good business choice.
I wonder if I shouldn't buy the basic set, just for the core rulebook.
 
Hm, I could swear I remember a Fate document that suggested stunts wherein a successful non-"create advantage" action with the skill could also result in the creation of an aspect with a free invoke rather than a bonus. Am I just having a distorted memory of the "triggered effect" idea from the toolkit?
I mean, not that it matters, I'm still making stunts like that; just seems more elaborate than my bad memory usually makes up :P
 
I'm not sure what you mean by "rather than a bonus."
 
@MaliceVidrine "When succeeding with style on a Fight Attack action, instead of creating a boost, you can create a situation aspect with a free invoke."
I've read somethign to this effect.
Somewhere.
 
10:42 AM
@eimyr Yeah no idea what was going on with that. He wanted to be part of the convo, but I guess he saw my answer and figured it was all sorted.
 
Perhaps.
 
@BESW: My possibly liar memory tells me this was talking about it as an alternative to adding a +2 bonus to the related skill roll.
 
Then I'm very confused.
 
@Polyducks Well, I have heard some not too gracious opinions about the former WW team, specifically the Rein*Hagen, but I'm sure Wieck brothers were included too.
 
Confused?
 
10:45 AM
@Polyducks In his defence, I would stay faaaar away from any discussion of these matters and only issue official statements of denial.
@BESW Wouldn't an aspect + free invoke be a bit too OP in comparison to +2?
 
@eimyr That's what I would almost think. Part of why I'm having my "that doesn't sound right, where did I come up with that?" reaction :P
 
...Oooh. A stunt that gives a +2, not an action that gives a +2.
 
@MaliceVidrine My Fate sense tells me, a stunt that upgrades a boost to an aspect when you succeed with style on a particular action/skill makes sense.
 
@Eimyr is good with Fate
 
@Polyducks Wrong.
 
10:50 AM
What's the Humble PF Bundle?
@Eimyr is better at Fate than I am.
 
Oh, found it. Missed it on my first look through the Fate Core book: "You can also use this to establish any effect worth two shifts as an additional benefit of succeeding at the skill roll. This might be Fair (+2) passive opposition, the equivalent of a 2-point hit, a mild consequence, or an advantage that takes Fair (+2) opposition to remove." That's what I was thinking of. No mention of free invokes, that was my reading into it.
 
BESW is good with Fate. I might be OK with Fate, circumstance permitting.
 
@Polyducks It's in the Cool RPG Stuff pin.
I'm a bit off-kilter right now, got a lot going on.
 
Also in the linkstarboardpostpinnedthing
 
The rough rule-of-thumb guideline for stunt balance is "A stunt lets you do a specific thing that's roughly equivalent to what you could do with a Fate point, an average of once per scene."
Like get +2 on a roll, or declare a story detail (and make its associated aspect).
 
10:55 AM
@BESW @eimyr omg. Sold.
 
Which one?
 
@eimyr Humble PF Bundle.
 
full package. I'll buy the box I think
 
Which set of PF Bundle, I mean
Yeah, if you plan to actually use it the box has the best value.
Rest is in PDF, but it's still awesome.
@Polyducks BACKORDER NOTICE: Due to the overwhelming popularity of the Humble RPG Book Bundle: Pathfinder, Paizo’s supply of physical Beginner Boxes has been completely extinguished. Customers who purchase this tier will have their Beginner Box orders fulfilled in late April or early May, when the new shipment of Beginner Boxes arrives from the printer. Thank you for your patience.
 
@BESW: Yeah, for my own game I'm not too worried about adding a free invoke to an aspect created that way since in this game it's going to come up mostly with magical stunts, which would have corresponding drawbacks.
 
10:58 AM
Also, it's 50-60 dollars with shipping
 
@MaliceVidrine Aye. When a stunt's power gets noticeably stronger than a Fate point, it costs more: it's worth two stunts, or you have to spend a Fate point also, or you can only use it once per session or once per adventure, or it has some drawback or associated trouble.
 
@MaliceVidrine ... at a cost"
 
@eimyr Indeed!
My players will pay sooo many costs... :D
Balanced by RL beer and nachos.
 
11:16 AM
I do like magic in Fate, where you can do something cool pretty much anytime you want, but at a cost. And I love it even more, when the GM says "Ok, you did it. Forget about the cost this time, you're good." with that evil sparkle behind attentive eyes.
 
@eimyr oh... maybe I'll just get my PF box from Amazon. Probably cheaper that way
 
@Polyducks it's still cheaper - Amazon sells it for 50 pounds
oh, no wait
25
 
@eimyr And in the game I'm about to run there's rarely a need to fail a magical action at all, if you have consequences to bid towards a good outcome...
 
;)
 
Welp.
I think I still would prefer the HumbleBundle.
On the other hand... I don't play Pathfinder.
 
11:28 AM
I don't either, but it seems a good place to start
I think it's one of those classic systems that refuses to die
 
It's a new system...
 
sort of like 3.5, 5e and Exalted
Not that new
 
2009
 
Seven years ago
 
Yeah
 
11:29 AM
That's a third of a lifetime
 
I would say AD&D is a game that doesn't want to die.
 
...of a twenty-one yearold
 
Maybe yours...
 
Well, it's about one-seventh of your physical age and half your mental age ;)
 
The other way around.
 
11:30 AM
I really want to play Nomic
 
I'm an old man trapped in a body of a god.
Unfortunately, the god previously occupying the body was Bacchus.
OK, whine time.
I joined the rpg club, aight?
Everyone there loves indie RPGs.
Most folks also are well settled in RPG community, either as playtesters, designers or greaybeards.
No one to play 3.5/PF with.
Sad times.
 
On the bright side, everything we do is meaningless and then the void consumes us. So, you know, no 3.5/PF games isn't that terrible.
 
Classic.
 
11:39 AM
Except for any time Weiner invokes quantum mechanics. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
 
It's a pop-science comedy series.
I don't mind it plays on the popular understanding of the term as opposed to the scientific one.
 
I'm possibly more annoyed by it because he's got a mathematics background, and I'm a mathematician, so his math jokes are often quite funny. So I want all his field-specific jokes to be of a similar caliber :P
 
You want all-around aptitude, you go to xkcd.
You want occasional blunder and brilliance in the okay mean, you go to smbc.
 
But xkcd makes more compsci than pure maths jokes! I can't win! Life is traged!
Oh, wait, it doesn't matter.
(Nihilism for the win again.)
 
This, I was looking for this
Traged would make a great goblin name.
 
11:50 AM
Ha!
 
@MaliceVidrine Added.
 
Hehe
Cute list.
 
All courtesy of this chat.
 
12:04 PM
(Apropos of nothing: Critical Role episode 15 highlights all the problems of attacking an airship on animal back...)
 
Huh.
Doesn't it depend on the animal more than anything else?
unless it's the airship that rides an animal
 
If they were riding dragons it might work out berter for them. But in this case it's wyverns and a gryphon.
Well they fly in this game :P
 
Welp.
I just checked.
I always assumed wyverns are quadrupedal wyrm-like creatures
 
Since the riders don't seem to have good ranged attacks, the ship with a druid, a cleric, a bard, and a sorcerer on deck has a huge advantage...
 
12:10 PM
Actually one definition of wyvern is "almost exactly like a dragon, but with only two legs."
 
Is the ship flammable?
 
...another is "almost exactly like a dragon, but with two heads."
 
"I grapple it with my giant magic and and dump off the rider." "I use telekinesis to throw the rider off"
@eimyr: I think it's wooden. Looks wooden in the drawing they've got :P
 
So it's not a blimp, which I assumed it is.
 
This thing is levitating with magic elvish crystals or something.
 
12:14 PM
Crystals explain everything.
Elves explain everything, too.
"Elvish crystals" is redundant.
"Magic elvish crystals" is bordering on tautological.
3
 
What about crystal elves?
 
Well, Elves are often portrayed as crystal.
@Magician it's also called Mary-Sue
 
And by Billy Crystal.
 
Haven't had crystal elves yet in any of my campaigns. Crystal termites, yes.
 
12:16 PM
Magic Elvish Crystals, Magic Crystal Elves and Elvish Crystal Magic as permutations. Any amusing emergent properties?
 
I've never played a Tolkien-esque fantasy setting, so most of the McGuffins I've dealt with are "It's sufficiently advanced technology!"
 
Magic, Elf and Crystals are your three approaches. One at +2, one at +1 and one at +0.
 
> Any sufficiently advanced society will mistakenly believe all magic to be unknown technology.
 
@BESW Can Magic, Elf and Crystals be modes in ARRPG?
 
Peter Carroll said something like that.
But he was more of a wanker when he said it.
 
12:19 PM
@eimyr Absolutely. Crystals already is, kind of.
 
It was a stunt he had.
 
@eimyr Of course, but they'd need some narrative definition before we can assign skills.
 
Should we?
 
The obvious way to handle both Magic and Crystals would be to re-fluff the Science mode.
 
@BESW: But they all do the exact same thing as approaches!
 
12:20 PM
So some kind of further differentiation would be necessary.
For example; Magic probably contains skills that can attack, while Crystals probably doesn't.
 
I've attacked people with crystals.
 
As have I, but it's not often an inherent quality of the thing.
You need stunts or hardware to justify it.
 
Hm. I tend to think of "bludgeoning" as one of the inherent properties of most things.
Magic is maybe less good for bludgeoning attacks?
Or creating the advantage "shit just got bludgeoned"
 
Are you familiar with the "skill modes" mechanic from the Fate toolkit?
 
I've read through it.
 
12:23 PM
Modes describe broad areas of competency, the arena in which a PC is particularly effective.
It's not about describing all the potential things one could possibly use a crystal for. It's describing what someone who is very good with Crystals will be particularly effective at.
 
So magic, crystals, and elves are all the same mode, then.
 
That is the joke.
 
Ah, somehow I missed that you said "modes" in the first place up above.
 
But if we're gonna make 'em into modes as @eimyr asked, we CAN whittle down into unique narrative niches for each of them.
 
And by "somehow", I mean back pain and insomnia don't mix well.
And perhaps in Atomic Robo they would have different niches. But in the D&D-verse...
 
12:28 PM
Let's see.
- Magic is literally creative; it's a summoning/conjuring competency.
- Elves are about cutting through obstacles; whether through relationships or weird powers, things are just easier for them.
- Crystals are about power and control; it's about manipulating and enhancing existing things.
@eimyr [gestures up] How does that sound for a baseline?
 
It's cool but I've never seen elves as cutting through obstacles. that's what humans do.
 
Mmm. Think about what elves can do.
They talk to forest creatures. They see in the dark. They can move unseen.
They can sense secrets.
 
Elves can surf on anything.
They take no disadvantages for using wheel-less boards in skateboarding challenges.
 
They can do anything but choose not to.
 
> Ancient Elven Lore. If you have a loose object to stand on, you can move two zones instead of one for free on your turn.
 
12:32 PM
Ha!
 
Elves are about deliberation and careful tentativeness; whether is through contempt or suspicion, they take extra time to do anything, but perform with unerring excellence once started.
 
So, looking at my ARRPG Modes & Skills sheet...
 
@BESW steals
 
> ELF (10) - Athletics, Burglary, Combat, Empathy, Notice, Stealth
Now, is "Crystal" a mode indicating familiarity with using crystals, or being oneself crystalline?
I'm leaning toward the latter because a) it's a good way to differentiate from Magic, and b) it's awesome.
 
It's about having a particular type of symmetry group.
 
12:38 PM
> CRYSTALLINE (7) - Athletics, Combat, Notice, Physique, Will
(Crystalline has costs fewer points than typical, but that means a Crystalline creature can advance more of its trained skills! They're better at whatever they do.)
> Crystal Matrix. You can use Physique to defend against energy attacks, and to create advantages by manipulating energies.
 
How do you calculate skill point cost?
 
For ARRPG, you count the trappings on a skill.
 
I need to read arrpg
 
A trapping is a unique use of a skill, like "Defend against physical attacks" or "Create advantages by talking to people."
In ARRPG, the first two trappings on a skill are free. Every trapping after that adds 1 skill point to the mode's cost.
 
So any skill would have max 4 trappings, as that's how many actions there are total?
 
12:43 PM
Actually, Empathy has five unique trappings, so it costs 3 points.
 
What's the fifth?
 
You can't attack with Empathy.
 
and sixth?
 
But you can use Empathy to overcome and to defend in two different ways each.
You can use Empathy to overcome and thus remove mental consequences.
And you can use Empathy to defend against lies and to defend against folks trying to create advantages against you socially.
Some other Fate games, like Save Game, go for the simpler "1 point per action the skill can be used for" thing, and those games do have a max of 4.
> Magic - (4) Contacts, Notice, Magic, Will
 
I thought modes exist to simplify character generation process.
It doesn't seem the case now.
 
12:49 PM
Picking from pre-made modes does tend to make things simpler.
Making your own custom modes, well, that's peeking under the hood.
The vast majority of ARRPG PCs only need the four default modes.
Modes also make things "simpler" by tying to aspects.
You pick your three modes and assign +1, +2, and +3 to them, and almost all your skill ranks automagically fall into place. No fussing with exactly where to put each skill point.
Then you write a character aspect describing how your character deals with each of her modes. Does she have a particular tool, or attitude, or history, which defines how she acts in Action scenes, or when it's time to make Science happen?
 
I wonder how useful that would be in Courtly Intrigue game.
 
By tying aspects to modes, it helps make sure your character always has at least two aspects --mode and concept-- to invoke any time she's in a situation where she's an expert.
It also helps keep your character rooted in the kind of play you and the system expect.
So, @eimyr, I assume our PC is a Magic (+3) Crystalline (+2) Elf (+1)?
 
Or a Crystal Elf Magician?
Better! Elvish Crystal Magician!
 
afk a bit helping dad
 
cool
btw, I find it counter intuitive that the first word is more important than the last
 
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