TRPG General Chat

not a whole lot, got to bounce a few things off nitsua re: what I want to roll with for his ToA run come the new year. mind telling me a wee bit about Blades in the Dark btw?

nitsua60

1:13 AM

@doppelgreener I'll second The Court Jester, and creat a sockpuppet ring to third and fourth and fifth, as well =)

Shalvenay

hey there @ShadyGrin

nitsua60

@NautArch "being trolled." Is that... a fishing pun?

@BESW Yes. But they've done their darndest to hide all the GM-wisdom of the last thirty years from new players and GMs. You have to look in juuuuust the right places and read between the lines.

@Shalvenay hiya

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 how're things going?

Mike Q

@nitsua60 You're thinking of "being trawled"

@Shalvenay Good morning/day/afternoon/night/25th hour!

Shalvenay

@MikeQ how're things going?

BESW

1:17 AM

@nitsua60 Maybe some questions for 5e like this one for Fate might be in order?

nitsua60

@MikeQ nah, trolling's also a fishing thing:

Trolling (fishing)

Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side, e.g. when fishing from a jetty. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as salmon, mackerel and kingfish. Trolling can be phonetically confused with trawling, a different method of fishing where a net (trawl) is drawn through the water instead of lines. Trolling is used both for recreational and commercial fishing whereas...

Shalvenay

@MikeQ no, fisherfolk troll too :) -- cast your line out, stick the rod in a holder on your boat, and start going nice and slow :)

nitsua60

(Funny that the first line's "not to be confused with 'trawling'")

Miniman

@nitsua60 If I endorse this message, proving I'm a sockpuppet, will you ban yourself?

nitsua60

@Miniman Yes. And also request account merger, invalidating our hundreds of cross-votes but creating a 145Krep 5e monster in the process. Long Live the King of Rep!

Miniman

1:20 AM

(Also, The Good Place is also really good. It's the only TV show for a very long time to appeal to every member of my family.)

Shalvenay

@Miniman ... wonders why all the lost socks have migrated to RPG.SE ...

@nitsua60 -- sorry about missing you last night btw, Thanksgiving kinda caught up with me slightly. I should be around tonight tho :)

BESW

@nitsua60 I shall dub it... Minisheep.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay No worries--I'm just about to start the kid-bed thing, but will be back in an hour or so.

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 You see a drooling gnoll off in the distance...

nitsua60

I'm on high alert:

BESW

1:24 AM

Not nearly mini enough.

Mike Q

@Shalvenay Things are ok overall. Lots of work and school. Tabletop-wise, I have once again embraced my role as "party accountant", for better and for worse!

Shalvenay

@MikeQ heheheh. got roped into a 3.5e game, while the 5e punchspace game I'm in is going to make some more progress inter-holiday I hope. (also, thinking about Elves vs. Krampus at some point...)

Mike Q

What's this about punching space?

BESW

Jan 22 '14 at 14:36, by BESW

IRL, The Place Where You Can Be Punched, Outside the Tubes, The Big Bright.

trogdor

It's like meat space only more violent

Shalvenay

1:31 AM

@MikeQ punchspace, meatspace, IRL, poke-with-foam-swords space :)

Mike Q

So like... LARP with 5e mechanics, somehow?

NautArch

@nitsua60 I was starting to worry no one noticed

BESW

It's just an idiom for physical (tabletop games), as opposed to online (tabletop games).

doppelgreener

Just a real life at-the-table 5e game

Shalvenay

@BESW yup

doppelgreener

1:33 AM

Punchspace is the space in which you can be punched, i.e. not the internet

Also known as meatspace

BESW

@trogdor Where all the Doctor's favorite butlers can be found!

Mike Q

Ah. I suppose that there is always that slight chance of being punched while playing tabletop games in person.

trogdor

@BESW yeeeesssss

XD

Shalvenay

2:16 AM

hey there @Ben

Ben

\o

Shalvenay

how're things going?

Shalvenay

2:35 AM

hey again @Asteria

Asteria

whoops sorry, a meeting at work was called.
It's the first time I'm going to be playing it, but from what I understand it's set in a world where the sun stopped rising. "Protection domes" are powered with demon blood to stop the hordes from attacking towns and stuffs.
You play as a robber / assassin / cultist in a little gang and be basically nasty

its the first game I've played thats more dark then light, so I've gone suuuuper dark with my character

Shalvenay

@Asteria interesting. what engine is it based on btw?

Asteria

I doooon't know...I'm pretty uneducated with TRPG's in general, but it doesn't remind me of DnD or fate

Mike Q

@Asteria I would be very tempted to play a scientist character who would constantly question/criticize the whole "sun stopped rising" concept

Asteria

@MikeQ someone in our group is playing a mad(literally insane) scientist type, so he might go down the same idea!

Shalvenay

2:40 AM

xD

Asteria

@Shalvenay kickstarter.com/projects/2080350433/blades-in-the-dark if you're interested (though thats from 2015)

Mike Q

@Miniman Excellent recommendation, by the way

Miniman

@MikeQ I was just seconding BESW's recommendations, but thanks!

BESW

@Shalvenay It's inspired by Powered by the Apocalypse, but not actually using that engine.

Shalvenay

@BESW ah

BESW

2:44 AM

It's by the same guy who did Lady Blackbird, and you can see some of that in there too.

Asteria

Thankfully @BESW is a very clever cookie

BESW

I haven't actually studied the game, but I've looked at some of the ephemera and read people talking about it.

nitsua60

@NautArch you around?

(also, @Shalvenay, I'm back)

(Kids went down fine, but I got a call from a friend unhappy in her job, and then a photo of my parents' car upside-down and half-crushed on a busy roadway. They're fine, though they'll both be stiff and sore for the foreseeable future.)

Shalvenay

2:59 AM

@nitsua60 alright, would you rather we talked here, on Discord, or somewhere else? got some ideas for my Chultan native for your ToA run and wanted to throw them by you as a feasibility check against the campaign materials

nitsua60

Why don't we just jump over to the NAB? That way if anyone's interested they can lurk, but we're not monopolizing the room?

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 ouchies. count another win for Vince and Larry tho, at least :)

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Vince and Larry?

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 yanno, the crash test dummies :)

NautArch

@nitsua60 I is

nitsua60

3:02 AM

Didn't know that. These are the only crash test dummies I know by name:

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 re: NAB, only concern is mild spoilers for ToA's setting (I don't mind, but a lurker might)

nitsua60

@NautArch I know it's a bit of a hike to get down here, but I'm putting together a group to playtest some upcoming WotC product. It'd be many sessions, catch-as-catch-can, through second half of December and most of January. Any interest? (It has to be face-to-face play--I can't run anything sequestered using electronic aids.)

NautArch

@nitsua60 it's a possibility, but my main group has been meeting more which reduces chances. but let me know when and i can give you a maybe

nitsua60

@NautArch Okay--I'll keep you informed.

NautArch

3:22 AM

@nitsua60 sounds good, wish i could commit more

nitsua60

3:44 AM

Hi chatizenry: I just held this question from a new user and encouraged an edit, but I'm off to bed now. To the extent that you're active, mind keeping an eye on review queues in case an edit comes? I hate to hold-and-run on a newbie, but this sheep's getting blee-eee-eeeeeeeary eyed =)

Shalvenay

4:37 AM

hey there @Nyoze

Nyoze

\o

Sup?

Shalvenay

not a whole lot, back home now, as for you?

Nyoze

Just at work, trying to catch up. Been a busy week :\

Shalvenay

ah. hoping to be available sometime in the not-so-distant future to run a 5e shortform for you :)

Nyoze

Don't stress too much, I don't think I'm going to have a lot of time in the next few weeks. thanks though

Shalvenay

4:48 AM

@Nyoze ah, np.

Anaphory

11:06 AM

Hi folks!

Hope all of you are better than I am, 'cause I've been in hospital due to a bike accident last week.

trogdor

oh man

:(

@Anaphory I assume you are out now?

doppelgreener

12:07 PM

@Anaphory Oh goodness. Are you holding up OK?

Anaphory

12:27 PM

@trogdor No :( I'm still in, there is still liquid seeping from my ruptured pancreas and it's not becoming less, but I'm finally back to a state of feeling like doing other things than lying in bed.

trogdor

oh man

I hope that doesn't continue too long, it does not sound fun

Anaphory

It's not fun, and might still take some time.

It's just ups and downs, with everything.

But now I have an idea for a Lovecraftesque setting.

doppelgreener

Tell us about it!

Anaphory

12:44 PM

Single, young person has accident in foreign city. Location: The hospital, some giant PPP, with kind-but-naive nurses, sometimes beds being moved for no discernible purpose, unreachable doctors, a special ward, a suspicious lack of ward Surgery 3

doppelgreener

Nice :D

trogdor

at least you got something out of it I guess?

Anaphory

:P

It's not like Lovecraftesque is even a game I might play much.

doppelgreener

1:10 PM

I hope you have a smooth recovery Anaphory, and I wish you the best.

doppelgreener

1:25 PM

^ a setting idea for you

Erics

@doppelgreener Heh. Demons are not compelled to honor their word though, that'd be devils.

@Anaphory Many hospitals will have a ward which is not listed. It'll have a number, but it's just not listed on any of the directories/signage. It's usually the psych ward.

trogdor

1:58 PM

@doppelgreener so in this setting, a Minotaur and centaur breed with a coin flip to see what their kids turn into?

I mean, to be fair, I suppose I have read/heard weirder stuff in D&D

NautArch

2:28 PM

top o my morn!

Adam

Hello!

NautArch

my morning is confused with battlemaps vs grids :)

Adam

2:43 PM

@NautArch In what way?

NautArch

@Adam in this way :D

namely, can you move in less than 5' increments on a grid

Adam

Ah

NautArch

i was under the assumption you couldn't, but I may have been making an ass of myself

Adam

3:18 PM

@NautArch I'd argue that you're right: you can't mechanically.

> Rather than moving foot by foot, move square by square on the grid. This means you use your speed in 5-foot segments.

But I agree with this answer that it really doesn't affect that much

NautArch

@Adam hmm, this is interesting. So it does seem like you have more leeway in totm than a grid. The jumping example is a specific case where it matters.

Adam

In what way?

NautArch

in that with a grid, you need 10' to jump over a medium creature. But in ToTM you only need 6'. The high jump only gives you 8' of movement.

Adam

What?

Even looking at the question you referenced in yours, I'm not sure I really see a meaningful discrepancy

NautArch

so on a grid, it's not possible without a DM ability check, but in ToTM you can do it without that.

SOrry, let me try again. Someone with 20 strength can only jump 8' high (with a running start)

On a grid, you'd need to move 10' to jump over a medium creature, right?

bah! i linked the wrong question. bad nautarhc.

Adam

3:30 PM

Technically, you'd only need to move 5 feet directly up, assuming that you and the creature are the same size and on the same plane to start

NautArch

what about to avoid an OA?

Adam

High jumps provide no horizontal movement, so trying to high jump next to a creature would provoke opportunity attacks.

NautArch

right, i was trying to combine the running jump with the high jump to allow jumping over a creature

Adam

Oh, well doing that is a DM call, so heck if I know

NautArch

3:55 PM

@Adam haha, it seems legit :)

I see american football players leaping over defenders

but usually not whenthey're standing at their full height

Adam

Jumping over somebody like that standing at their full height would be pretty impressive. The current record for a high jump (based only on a google search) is something around 6 or 7 feet, so while it's possible, it would be pretty insane.

And that's a dedicated high jump, if you could jump that high and also jump 15 feet horizontally, maintaining at least that 6' height in the air for the whole 15 feet, well, I'd eat my hat.

Given that d&d has it's fancy reach rules though, to jump and avoid opportunity attacks, you'd have to have your body at least 10 feet in the air for the 15 foot distance.

NautArch

4:15 PM

but hero adventurererers! :)

Adam

exactly :)

NautArch

decided to give my own answer

NautArch

4:36 PM

Tonight may be the first time I can use Find Greater Steed. I'm a little giddy :)

Adam

I can relate. Saturday was my first game where I killed a PC. Also my first game using a creature with legendary actions.

NautArch

@Adam ohno. I never like killing off a PC. First time it nearly happened I had my DMPC (a regular PC, but we've run our PCs ourselves when DMing...that is no longer the case)save him. But then over the course of my short campaign I ended up killing two (one from a 100% critical fumble which at our table is auto-death) .

Adam

In my case, it was a deliberate kill. The PC was unconscious and caught in the cone of a dragon's breath weapon. Took 60 some-odd damage and died from the overkill. The dragon was trying to hit some of the other PCs as well, and I felt it would be unrealistic for the dragon to purposefully avoid keeping the downed guy out of the blast in this case. 2 rounds later, the cleric revivified him though, so all is well.

Well, except for the fact that they're low on health, low on spells, and in the middle of a warzone, but that would've been the case even if that character hadn't died.

NautArch

@Adam Revivify is the bees knees. Saved our cleric with it and now I'm demanding they have it prepared as well (no one else had it)

tuskiomi

5:45 PM

Anyone have recommendations for a d&d5e adventure for players that love the game "Secret Hitler"?

NautArch

@tuskiomi wow. that game.

i'm not sure 5e is the right platform

Zachiel

7:43 PM

@tuskiomi Isn't that game just a less politically correct Werewolves (the card game)?

NautArch

@Zachiel that was my quick-read on it.

nitsua60

@NautArch do I have your meatspace contact info? I feel like we've exchanged it before, but I'm not finding anything in my gmail. (I'm putting together a playtest LFP/announcement.) If now, do you mind if I mod-peek behind the hood and snag it from your profile?

NautArch

7:59 PM

haha, sure. not even positive which email i put it in there. but if it's not my main one, just email me there and i'll give you my primary.

nitsua60

8:10 PM

Okay. Just sent you something at the address on file.

NautArch

8:22 PM

@nitsua60 just replied :)

nitsua60

got it. Replied as well =)

SPavel

8:56 PM

Secret conspiracy? My briefcase full of BEES ought to put a stop to that!

doppelgreener

9:29 PM

@SPavel why do you have a briefcase full of bees? is that part of a secret conspiracy?

BESW

> Briefcase full of bees. Why would you have this? +2 to create advantages with Provoke. Once per adventure you can open it to make a +4 (weapon:2) attack against everyone in the scene (including yourself). You lose the bonus to Provoke for the rest of the adventure after you use the bees to attack.

doppelgreener

@BESW i want to use this.

BESW

Not to be confused with the Briefcase Full of BESW.

Asteria

@BESW and what does THAT briefcase do?

Miniman

9:51 PM

@Asteria Graphic design.

SPavel

@doppelgreener It's from my side gig as DOCTOR BEEEEES

doppelgreener

@SPavel :O !!!!

SPavel

(it's on Youtube and pretty funny)

trogdor

10:19 PM

@Asteria @Miniman it also shows you movies you have not seen and finds ever more RPGs you have not heard of

it's a strange artifact

doppelgreener

@trogdor occasionally also enlightening sociopolitical discussion and/or very good books slip out of the briefcase

trogdor

10:35 PM

lol

Alphaeus

10:48 PM

Evening folks

Asteria

hey hey @Alphaeus

Alphaeus

Been hanging around the questions section for a bit, started being active more recently, decided to give this a whirl

first question, @Miniman would the words "SP" or "Outworld" mean anything to you? Because there is another guy I know who goes by this username in other chats...

Miniman

@Alphaeus Don't think that's me, sorry.

Alphaeus

Fair enough

Just odd -- another site I've veen on for a long time has a mod named Jeff and a guy goes by Miniman...join here and see a tag for "jeff" and a guy that goes by Miniman

#alternateuniverse

Miniman

@Alphaeus Nice!

Alphaeus

10:55 PM

Anyhow, how goes things?

doppelgreener

@Alphaeus our Jeff tag traces back to this event

Alphaeus

Ahhhh kk

Miniman

@Alphaeus Pretty quiet for me, how about you?

Alphaeus

Decently quiet. Doing work stuff (because, ofc, I'm bored all day at the office but once I go home and am on call all the stuff floods into my computer). Doing some DnD stuff on the side.

Shalvenay

11:11 PM

hey there @Alphaeus @Asteria

Hey Hey @Shalvenay

Hey @Shalvenay

how're things going?

pretty good

well, correction -- dealing with a really bad DM currently

GreySage

@Alphaeus Lame

Alphaeus

11:24 PM

yeah, ik.

Annoying, but I can handle it for now

Shalvenay

@Alphaeus oh, what sort of badness? :/

Alphaeus

Soo.....

The biggest offense is that he has the habit of creating homebrew rules spontaneously AFTER you do something that he doesn't happen to like.

The second is that he changes what he's approved previously once he decides it's not working out like he wants it to

and the third is surreptitiously tweaking the actions of enemies/npcs after you took your actions.

Thank God we're round-robin DMing this so that after 3 more encounters he'll be off the docket for a while.

He's still the "main" DM though

GreySage

@Alphaeus Is he actually changing what the npc's do, or just not explaining what they do effectively?

Alphaeus

Literally changing what they do

For example, he had one NPC change an entire movement because based on his post it was going to cast a spell in a Silenced area of his own making. After we're already taking actions and catch this mistake, he claims it moved in the opposite direction

His conception of space/distance is also rather questionable

5 creatures melee attack a Mount that occupies a 20ft space. These creatures are, according to him, 80 ft apart.

Shalvenay

he probably should stick to map-and-minis stuff then

Alphaeus

11:34 PM

Yes, agreed

Thankfully, most of the people in the group are really experienced, so we're able to sorta bull-rush the errors and make things work

The upside is, ofc, that it is round-robin, so other DMs will take over mostly later, and with 6 people this means he'll be off for awhile. The second upside is that this is a long campaign that will take us up to lvl 40/divinity, which is going to be really interesting

BESW

Sounds like maybe your GM is struggling with overload and loses track of details. I know when that happens to me, often I have to ask my players to bear with me because I said something I didn't mean to say.

Grids and minis might help keep track of those things, but he might also want to try a system with less bookkeeping than D&D; I know it helps me to start out with a few variables to keep track of, and slowly work my way up as needed, rather than jump in the deep end.

5e's not the most bookkeeping-intensive iteration of D&D, but it's still at the deeper end of the bookkeeping pool in terms of RPG systems.

Alphaeus

Well, he claims to have run many campaigns before (he's new to our group) and been using 3.5e for many years.

That said, I do agree he's taken on WAAAAAYYYY too much

6-7 players with high powered chars

No resource limitations except no third party

Several people have leadership

BESW

Ouch, that'll do it.

Alphaeus

First encounter was us escorting groups of 100 7th lvl soldiers (each 400ft apart) into battle against groups of 500 orc berserkers supported by squads of 5 Half-fiend Wyverns ridden by Babau casters and rogues.

That's an encounter I would never want to create :P

BESW

[blink] I hope those were abstracted into legions or something.

Alphaeus

11:43 PM

It worked like this: 1 Player (plus any companions/cohorts/followers) guarding 1 group of 100 soldiers, fighting 500 orcs and a single squad of 5 Half-Fiend Wyverns w/riders.

We were each 400ft apart from each other, so we couldn't directly aid one another except with long-range spells.

Goal was to 1) Save as many troops as possible [bonus XP per good soldier saved], 2) Kill as many attackers as possible.

Shalvenay

yeah, it sounds like you want someone with significant experience running tabletop strategy stuff even

that's bigger than anything I'd ever try, especially Theater of the Mind

Alphaeus

If we do a major battle in the future, I've suggested that we have multiple people DM, each one taking a specific aspect of the battle.

But yeah -- I've run major combat before, but there are certain encounters I just wouldn't willingly do :P

Shalvenay

You wake up one morning to find that an entire caravan of Orcs has decided that your ranger's campsite logic is good enough for them, and has engulfed your camp like an amoeba as a result. Before long, a big Orc walks up with a large pan in his arms that looks to be full of some sort of breakfast casserole. "Wake up, it's chow time!"

Alphaeus

You suddenly realize you never liked being a living being anyway But I don't like eggs.

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