TRPG General Chat

12:00 AM

I'm still not sure we ever could trust it. Maybe we just didn't see the bad stuff back then.

:P

Nah, it was pretty good back in the day. But its fall was swift and silent, and now only a barren wasteland of ads and unwanted addons remains.

It's sort of the Internet equivalent of Minas Morgul.

SevenSidedDie

12:23 AM

Has anyone tried Tabletop Simulator?

Miniman

@SevenSidedDie Yep. But not extensively.

@SevenSidedDie What were you thinking of using it for?

SevenSidedDie

@Miniman This conversation just reminded me of it. I've seen it on Steam and been curious about how well it works, or if it's clumsier than real life.

Miniman

@SevenSidedDie It is indeed clumsier than real life, especially in terms of setup.

Don't get me wrong, you could build really beautiful battlegrounds in it - but it would take you half an hour, which just isn't practical in terms of actually playing.

Also, the controls are trying very hard to be intuitive, but just aren't succeeding.

SevenSidedDie

@Miniman Mmn, that's the impression I got. Unfortunate! I would love a minis and terrain simulator that would capture the feel of tabletop wargaming. Sounds like that's not it. :)

Miniman

@SevenSidedDie For the sort of wargaming where you can be confident that the layout you spent so much time building will actually be used, it might be good.

Except that you'd then be stuck with the generic fantasy unit models that the program comes with, which wouldn't really work out in that kind of wargaming.

SevenSidedDie

12:35 AM

@Miniman Until we get inexpensive 3D scanning or wargame designers start releasing 3D models, that's a pretty big barrier too!

Miniman

@SevenSidedDie Yeah, it's definitely an issue - plus there's the sad fact that Warhammer models (to pick a totally random example), are about the single most expensive habit you can have, and I doubt that the software versions would be any different.

The only business model that can really work here is the one where you get the software version when you buy the hardware version, but everyone hates that business model.

It's the same issue as Fantasy Grounds - if I want it to make my life easier in any way, I have to sink $200-ish on books I already own.

SevenSidedDie

@Miniman Yeah. A business model that works will probably emerge eventually, but it'll be a long time coming.

nitsua60

12:53 AM

@SevenSidedDie Have you tried 123DCatch?

Hard to believe this question about introducing D&D hasn't already been asked-and-answered... but I can't find a dupe.

SevenSidedDie

@nitsua60 Cool! No. Last I looked at photo-to-3D-scan software, it was pretty flakey tech.

BESW

@nitsua60 I love it when we get questions like that.

Shalvenay

1:09 AM

hey there @nitsua60

nitsua60

@SevenSidedDie I've had some success with it, but it's not yet at Darkman-levels.

I did a capture once of a mini--using about a hundred photos--and got something about the quality of an injection-molded plastic figure as the output.

(OTOH, even three hundred photos of a bonsai tree weren't enough to prevent "cobwebbing" between the branches. Better lighting might have helped, though--I never tried it in our school's photo studio.)

@Shalvenay hiya

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 how're things going?

nitsua60

@Shalvenay writing a test =\

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 ah, finals time, of course.

nitsua60

Got any questions about solid geometry you've always wanted answered?

Shalvenay

1:13 AM

@nitsua60 heheh.

nitsua60

I'm thinking of going with this one...

"Why can't I get this !@$#@^$ couch down the spiral stairs?"

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 haha, practical if nothing else ;)

Adeptus

@eimyr In what way?

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Given the difficulty I had with this two weekends ago, and that scene from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency where we've got an AppleII trying to solve the same problem, I'm wondering if it's an archetype hard-wired into our brains....

Like, two million years ago some cave-guy was saying to his cave-wife "but I got this rock into the cave in one piece!"

Miniman

@nitsua60 Dirk Gently's was a fairly exceptional example, though.

At least, I assume.

nitsua60

1:18 AM

@Miniman Perhaps not?

=)

Miniman

@nitsua60 It would explain a lot, I guess...

nitsua60

[validated] I'm so glad there's at least one here who'd read it =)

Miniman

@nitsua60 Lol. I don't think that's something you have to worry about, somehow.

nitsua60

also, a little nervous--'cause off the top of my head I couldn't remember if it was Detective Agency or Tea-Time that featured the wiremesh sofa. They kinda blend in my mind.

Miniman

@nitsua60 Detective Agency, because the reason for the sofa was exclusive to that book. (Trying to avoid spoilers.)

nitsua60

1:22 AM

@Miniman That's the one with the salt-cellar also?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Yep.

nitsua60

I just love imagining that at all stages of technological advance we've always been trying to tackle the problem of reversing the process that wedged [object] into [space].

Adeptus

@nitsua60 At a local con I went to recently, they had a booth that did 3d scans of people, and turns them into 3d printed miniatures. From what I could tell it uses video projectors (for a grid), cameras, and some bright lights. It did a pretty good job of scanning me, but lost half of the brim of my top hat.

(this is their website)

nitsua60

@Adeptus certainly, going big -> small has some serious advantages

Adeptus

(actually, that was their technology provider's website... this is the actual local-to-me company)

nitsua60

1:27 AM

I used autodesk's version for a project classifying trees by their fractal dimension. I.e. trying at full-scale to quantify holistically "bushiness" vs. "treeness." It worked pretty well, methinks, for tech that's deployed to a phone. (Post-processing, of course, on desktop.)

Adeptus

1:44 AM

At a previous con, they had a Matrix "bullet time" style camera rig - 30-odd cameras in a ring. They posted the results on YouTube. That was cool. I converted one into a gif, let me see if I can find it...

hidden for less annoyance

That's a couple of my friends dressed as dwarves

doppelgreener

2:30 AM

Real women fire laser pistols at people who damage their man's helmet. https://t.co/ePzQCqbcGZ

Tweeted by TheMichaelMoran on May 24, 2016 at 8:47 PM

Joel Harmon

2:51 AM

Great, now I've got to add Dirk Gently to the reread pile. You guys are a terrible influence.

Adeptus

3:06 AM

@JoelHarmon You guys are a ~~terrible~~ great influence.

nitsua60

@JoelHarmon =)

user15026

3:21 AM

@JoelHarmon Dirk Gently?

Adeptus

Dirk Gently

Dirk Gently (born Svlad Cjelli, also known as Dirk Cjelli) is a fictional character created by Douglas Adams and featured in the books Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. He is portrayed as a pudgy man who normally wears a heavy old light brown suit, red checked shirt with a green striped tie, long leather coat, red hat and thick metal-rimmed spectacles. "Dirk Gently" is not the character's real name. It is noted early on in the first book that it is a pseudonym for "Svlad Cjelli". Dirk himself states that the name has a "Scottish dagger feel" to it....

It's been a while since I read them, too. I'd forgotten about his real name. I still remember the couch on the stairs, though.

@AshleyNunn (also, congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000)

user15026

Ah, I don't know if I have ever ready any Douglas Adams to be honest.

Adeptus

@AshleyNunn Hitchhiker's Guide is great. I first read them as a (pre?)teen. Except for the last couple of books, which weren't written until later.

nitsua60

@AshleyNunn Have you read Terry Pratchett?

BESW

I get tired of Adams pretty quickly, myself. He's got very limited range in delivery and structure, and he's a bit too cynical for my taste.

user15026

3:33 AM

@nitsua60 Yes! I have watched a lot of Pratchett :D

user15026

...read, not watched

BESW

Probably the examples of Adams' work I like best are found in the Fourth Doctor stories he worked on, like "City of Death" or the one where a robot parrot and a robot dog have a laser fight.

nitsua60

@AshleyNunn So, imagine Pratchett preferred to write scifi-ish, rather than fantasy-ish. You'd have a good approximation of Adams.

user15026

I feel like that could either work or make me crazy

BESW

Pratchett is, in my estimation, much more endurable as an optimistic humanist. Also he's got more variety in his delivery.

nitsua60

3:35 AM

@BESW I have Adams filed away in a similar sort of part of my reading-brain as Piers Anthony or Dragonlance: really important to have read at the age that I read them, and thus forever-nostalgic toward them, but not necessarily holding up in the cold light of day.

BESW

@nitsua60 That seems reasonable; I know a lot of people who would put Ender's Game and The Giver in that category too.

I suspect somebody else's novels filled the Douglas Adams niche for me, though I'm not sure who.

nitsua60

Who thinks Ender's Game doesn't hold up? Let me at 'em? =)

BESW

[raises hand]

nitsua60

[hmm... hadn't actually expected BESW to produce one... how to proceed...?]
So, how was the Fest?

BESW

It was hard to track down events at the time and place they were happening--it's scattered across multiple villages and the schedules are last-minute. But the storytelling in the Latte park was fun!

Joel Harmon

3:43 AM

@Adeptus the real problem I have is I have 20+ books, most of which I intend to re-read, and that's just within arm's reach of where I am right now

Miniman

@nitsua60 The ways in which I find it doesn't hold up, it never held up.

BESW

One of the storytellers, instead of telling us about the local White Lady ghost legend, told us how to prank a friend using the legend.

BESW

4:05 AM

@Miniman It did have the "Pollyanna" line, though, which will never not be sadly funny.

Miniman

4:33 AM

@BESW I've been wracking my brain, and I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to.

BESW

> "The kids are vicious. They make 'Lord of the Flies' look like 'Pollyanna.'"
"When did you read 'Pollyanna'?"
"It was a book?"

Miniman

@BESW This may be a sign that I need to reread it again.

BESW

It's honestly the only part of the book I remember fondly.

BESW

4:52 AM

Today in "Hilarious Homophones," the pathfinder tool and the Pathfinder game.

Sejanus

morning o/

Miniman

@Sejanus Afternoon!

Adeptus

@BESW and the Pathfinder car

The Oracle

5:16 AM

0

Q: When a Question changes, should answers change, too?

This question on OOC talk has changed significantly since it was originally asked and several answers given. When something like this happens, offering new information, is is best to edit an answer you've given, or to let it stand? (I see the question is now on hold, so perhaps the question is m...

discussion

Sejanus

good question...

Longspeak

5:33 AM

Thanks.

Asteria

5:55 AM

@eimyr Hi! Weird, I wasn't receiving notifications for messages that tag me :/ So very late hello!

BESW

6:31 AM

When you exit the train please remember to take all your longings with you.

Tweeted by TlfTravelAlerts on May 25, 2016 at 6:28 AM

Longspeak

Best typo ever.

"Please do not leave your longings behind. We have enough to deal with on our own..."

BESW

It's not a typo; TLF is a surreal performance account in the style of Travel For London.

Longspeak

Aha!!!

Even cooler.

trogdor

@Asteria I seem to be getting all of mine late, and am getting some for ones I already saw,.....

Miniman

6:49 AM

@trogdor It might be linked to the search failing.

trogdor

I wouldn't be too surprised

it just seems weird that Asteria (and probably some other people) are having a problem with notifications, but seemingly an entirely different one from mine

Anaphory

7:03 AM

Eyup! Good Morning!

Eidolon108

Welcome to the flip side (in the Pacific anyways)

doppelgreener

7:27 AM

The buses are restless today. They sense something. No sudden movements, and do not make eye contact. Enjoy your journey.

Tweeted by TlfTravelAlerts on May 20, 2016 at 7:35 AM

I like this one.

(I like a lot of them but out of recent ones, I like this one in particular, and this one is the one I will post, being the one that I like.)

trogdor

lol

BESW

We've had reports of a passenger on the Northern line behaving in a cheerful manner, leading to severe delays along the entire line.

Tweeted by TlfTravelAlerts on January 5, 2015 at 8:05 AM

Derpy

8:15 AM

Morning.

Just dropping by for a sort of service message.

There is an ongoing discussion on the Tavern started from an user that seem to have been permanently banned from RPG Stack Exchange

I don't know the details, but if any of you thinks it would be wise to alert some of the site mods, I will leave here the link.

in Tavern on the Meta on Meta Stack Exchange Chat, 54 mins ago, by Peter David Carter

I wish to appeal my permanent ban from RPG Stack Exchange.

Bye.

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