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Anaphory
Anaphory
12:13 AM
Hi!
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
hey there @Anaphory, how're things going?
 
Anaphory
Anaphory
@BESW Lovecraftesque was decent, and I'm willing to play it again.
 
BESW
BESW
That seems reasonable.
 
Anaphory
Anaphory
@Shalvenay Good, just coming in to … dunno, unwind? … and say two sentences about the RPG today before heading to bed because it's really late for a weekday.
I think we could have had more distinct scenes, and my co-players were not thrilled by the lack of a GM with a mystery to uncover, but took it in good spirit, and the story was mostly worth it.
Mostly worth it, as in, the things happening were horrifying to us onlookers, but less so for the Witness, which may be the wrong way round.
 
BESW
BESW
That's interesting.
 
trogdor
trogdor
12:22 AM
That feels very topsy turvy
It was definitely the other way around when we played that
Not that that is a problem. Just odd to me
 
Anaphory
Anaphory
Our witness gave quite willingly in to becoming part of the sea mind that had already absorbed her brother, essentially dissolving in the bay, because she was drawn in there by the remains of his mind that were not fully dissolved into uniformity yet.
 
trogdor
trogdor
That is extra scary just because I have siblings
Not sure I would do that in that scenario but not sure I wouldn't either
Thankfully I am rather certain it won't come up XD
 
BESW
BESW
12:47 AM
I ordered a phone case and screen covers from Amazon in late July. They just arrived.
 
KorvinStarmast
KorvinStarmast
It's a slow boat from Brazil. (Or was that the fast boat?) 8^D
 
BESW
BESW
They predicted I'd get it in early August. Then late August. Then the USPS tracking site just gave up and said "It's on its way, don't ask us."
A month for shipping something is... not unusual. Not as common as it was when I was a kid, but still not surprising.
 
Miniman
Miniman
@BESW I mean, at least they were honest about it. I see a fair bit of "Package has been delivered", in total defiance of reality.
 
BESW
BESW
I paid for air mail shipping.
USPS: Your package is in Richmond!
BESW: ...oh no you don't. [face/palm]
(If a package destined for Guam goes to Richmond, that means it's going on a boat next.)
Oh, well. Now I can take the adhesive felt off the back of my phone.
 
Miniman
Miniman
@BESW That's pretty crappy. Did you send a complaint?
 
Anaphory
Anaphory
12:56 AM
@BESW Aw. I had the opposite, pleasant, surprise today with the physical Lovecraftesque book arriving on my doorstep this midday, when I had only remotely hoped it would be here before I go to a con in two weeks time.
 
BESW
BESW
@Miniman Not this time. I've long since given up trying to go through Amazon with complaints about their third-party shippers.
I just try to order from other stores whenever possible.
@Anaphory Cool!
 
trogdor
trogdor
Amazon is pretty bad here
 
BESW
BESW
They won't even ship a lot of electronics or software to us.
 
trogdor
trogdor
I have had them say that living here meant they simply couldn't possibly send over a camera
 
BESW
BESW
They refused to send us a DVD of tax software.
 
Anaphory
Anaphory
12:59 AM
Wha? Why?
 
BESW
BESW
Something about state lines and international shipping of electronic goods or some such nonsense.
 
trogdor
trogdor
They seem to think we are not in America
 
BESW
BESW
At least they're usually okay with us not having street addresses.
 
trogdor
trogdor
And while, yeah we are not in America,... Their reasoning is also tied into American specific shipping laws
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Shalvenay hiya
 
Anaphory
Anaphory
1:01 AM
[It's way past my bed time, I should ask what your addresses look like some other time.] TTFN!
 
doppelspooker
doppelspooker
@trogdor @BESW I saw Thor Ragnarok finally this evening. It was amazing.
 
BESW
BESW
@Anaphory Usually PO Boxes.
 
doppelspooker
doppelspooker
(Seeing Stranger Things on the weekend w/ a friend ran overtime so I missed my moviegoing opportunity then. It was worth it though.)
 
BESW
BESW
I still haven't seen past the first episode of ST s02.
 
trogdor
trogdor
The biggest problem seems to be that they treat us as not America and as America at the same time
Which is almost apt except we get treated badly on that basis enough already thank you
 
BESW
BESW
1:03 AM
A lot of online stores really don't like that UPS can't drive to Guam.
 
trogdor
trogdor
@doppelspooker nice grats on that
 
doppelspooker
doppelspooker
@trogdor ty!!!
 
trogdor
trogdor
It is a fine film
 
doppelspooker
doppelspooker
that it is
 
Miniman
Miniman
@trogdor Wow, spoilers.
There's a notice and everything.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
1:05 AM
Srsly.
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Miniman why didn't you jump on it when I mentioned what the first 5 minutes was roughly about? :P
 
Miniman
Miniman
@trogdor I guess I wasn't paying attention?
(Also, I've seen it.)
 
trogdor
trogdor
(If anyone is searching for that, first shame on you, second it is in not a bar, not here)
@Miniman oh I see how it is, hypocrite XP
 
Miniman
Miniman
@trogdor Wait, it's a spoiler that I've seen it?
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Miniman it makes as much sense as "it is a fine film" ;P
 
BESW
BESW
1:12 AM
 
Miniman
Miniman
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Miniman I can't look at that for about 5 hours
XD
 
BESW
BESW
1:28 AM
@GailSimone How useful is Thor’s hammer, really? It doesn’t even have a claw on it for removing nails.
Tweeted by NeKap on November 6, 2017 at 10:44 PM in reply to GailSimone
 
Ben
Ben
1:43 AM
Morning all!
Can someone please point me in the direction of a stat block editor for 5e monsters?
I have a monster to create
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
hey there @Ben, how're things going otherwise?
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
 
Ben
Ben
Hey @Shalv, honestly it's a real roller coaster ride. But, I'm holding on and haven't been thrown off the side yet so I can't complain :)
@nitsua60 Dang this firewall!
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Ben my firewall allowed that
But sure, no tiny YouTube clips
 
Ben
Ben
Reason this site was blocked: "Alcohol not allowed"
...what??
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
1:52 AM
@Ben Looks like (six messages up) GailSimone's got a hammer that could punch through that firewall.
@Ben "brewery"
 
Ben
Ben
Seriously...
 
trogdor
trogdor
@nitsua60 Well it also literally asks if you want to buy the guy a beer
 
The Oracle
The Oracle
2:15 AM
1
Q: What should we do when a querent doesn't understand the full breadth of the material they're asking about

the dark wandererThe question that triggered this for me was: is there a class/achetype/pestige class/feat that can absorb the lifeforce of its ennemy to fuel it's power ? Sometimes a querent wants to know how to do X thing in Y system. That's usually fine; there's often not more than three or four ways to do a...

discussion questions close-reasons
0
Q: Do we really need all of these closure-related tags?

the dark wandererWe have a LOT of tags that are basically about closure. Can we synonymize some of those? close-reasons, closed-questions, vote-to-close, and closing-questions can't all be sufficiently independent, can they? I do see that except for closed-questions they are all pretty close in terms of usage ...

discussion tags synonymization
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
2:32 AM
hey there @Nyoze, how're things going?
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Good thanks Shal, how about you?
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
alright here. slowly letting ideas for yet another convention dungeon congeal in my head while working on other stuff
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Procrastinating is apparantly a habit of the super-succesful, so you're on the right path!
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
2:47 AM
@Nyoze -- say, what have you been getting up to game-wise as of late?
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Nothing much really. Been completely out of the swing of things, and haven't had any luck talking my partner into anything, so just the last couple of weeks, trying to find an online game to ease into things
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze hrm I suppose I could run a 1on1 with you sometime in the near future if that'd help :)
 
Ben
Ben
AHA! I got it!
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
 
Ben
Ben
3:04 AM
Quick question: average speed for a human?
5e
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
30' p/round?
Pathfinder/3.5 anyway
 
trogdor
trogdor
Do they keep the 3.5 speed rules?
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Ben Yep, 30 feet.
 
Ben
Ben
Ta
Thought it was something around there. Just needed to double check :)
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
576 ft/round, if falling.
(IIRC)
 
Ben
Ben
3:07 AM
@nitsua60 I think we spoke about that - there is only so much you can travel in a 6-second time frame. We spoke about that when I was talking about the "Jump" spell.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
Wait, are you crazies going to try to tell me that a D&D human who falls out of a weather balloon will only fall 30' per round, because that's their speed?
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 I mean, who knows. Looking forward to finding out, though.
 
Ben
Ben
Something along the lines of a creature affected by jump can move up to (STRxSpeed or something), but, they are incapable of completing the full movement in a single round
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Well, unless you have Featherfall and slow yourself down, does it really matter? You'll be dead anyway :O
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben Yeah, I'm known for crazy perfectly sensible unusual views on that one.
 
Ben
Ben
3:10 AM
Alright... next question - slightly trickier: Basic resistances/immunities for Undead creatures
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Mind-Altering Effects.
I know PF dumped SA immunity, I don't know if 5e kept it or not?
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
SA?
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Sneak Attack
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Nyoze Nah, it's dead.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Undead in 3.5 were immune to Sneak Attack
 
Ben
Ben
3:12 AM
I know Slashing, Piercing, and cold... is poison one?
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
10
Q: Is my Half Orc Barbarian invulnerable to death by falling?

RobertForgive me if I've botched any math, but here's the situation I've found myself in (assuming 4th level): Falling damage caps out at 20d6 at terminal velocity. Kronan the Barbarian has 55 Max HP currently. (+3 CON mod, three great HP rolls at level-up.) That means that from Max HP, a fall of any ...

dnd-5e damage barbarian damage-resistance
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Ben It varies from undead to undead, but slashing, piercing, and cold work perfectly well on most undead.
 
Ben
Ben
Well, to be specific then: Skeletons
 
Miniman
Miniman
All zombies are immune to poison damage and poisoned condition.
Skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning, immune to poison and exhaustion.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben immune to poison. For the reasons covered in this article
 
Ben
Ben
3:15 AM
@nitsua60 Unfortunately another victim of the firewall
But it makes sense - no flesh or organs, so nothing to infect
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
> "What's puzzling about this," Cambridge University archaeologist Sir Ian Edmund-White said, "is that skeletons would not benefit from harvested crops, as any food taken orally would immediately fall through the hole behind the jaw and down through the rib cage, eventually hitting the ground."
 
Ben
Ben
@nitsua60 A skeleton walks into a pub, and orders a rum, and a mop
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze -- ah. undead in 5e are not immune to sneak attacks. this also is partly due to sneak attack being reworked in 5e
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Well, as I have 0 5e experience, I'm just guessing lol
 
Ben
Ben
@BESW I have read this three times, and only just got it.
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
3:18 AM
(5e sneak attack runs off gaining advantage on the attack, which means it's easier to trigger in 5e vs. 3.x)
@Nyoze -- would you like to give 5e a whirl?
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Shalvenay (It's easier because it's triggered by adjacency, if it was advantage it'd be harder than it was in 3.5)
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Miniman ah, yeah, adjacency or advantage
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
@Shalvenay At some point, I wouldn't mind it. Let me get back into the swing of things with a system I know how it works though :)
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze ah, so you'd want to play some 3.5 first or?
 
Ben
Ben
what's the average of a d8?
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
3:24 AM
Probably Pathfinder. I'm just crusing RPOL looking for games atm :)
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze ah
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben [facepalm] prompted by you, just re-read enough to get that there's an 'it' to get, and then finally got it.
@Ben 4.5
(assuming it's fair)
@Miniman another two days or so...
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze I actually tried to get into a PF campaign, but it fell apart shortly after starting
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
(I've been watching the all-time rep list.)
 
Ben
Ben
It's a d8+2, for an enemy attack, so I rounded it down to 4+2
 
Miniman
Miniman
3:26 AM
@nitsua60 Oh, right.
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
(I'd like to get into some games further afield -- want to do DW again, and take GURPS and Fiasco for spins)
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
I'd love to get into some Chronicles of Darkness games at some point as well. Always had an obsession with VtM, and MtA
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 Atm I'm thinking way more about Marshal, I've been 2 flags off for days now.
post spam plz
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze my relationship with that stuff is...weird. I have some Vampire headcanon-char-bits I could toss into a game, but at the same time, I have a tendency to normalize the supernatural that'd probably clash with most Chronicles tables, never mind M:tA's reality-by-belief system (which makes for the ultimate in no-data worlds)
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
[sends note to other mods not to handle the next two of miniman's flags that come across our bow]
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
3:29 AM
@Miniman :P comment flags count for Marshal I believe
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
[cackles/bleats villainously]
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
so just find a couple of comments that need cleanup
although maybe you want to save that for next month to get the hat?
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Shalvenay I mean, I could, but I don't want to force it after all this time.
@Shalvenay Oh damn. I hadn't even thought of that.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
I've been 20 points off of 2k Rep for about a week now... But I just can't find any questions I want to answer lol
Get the hat?
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Nyoze hatmas is only a month out
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
3:31 AM
What is hatmas? :P
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
I actually wish I could stop earning bronze badges on RPG.SE
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Shalvenay nice catch!
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
as I put far more effort into DIY.SE but don't get the bronze-badge rewards
primarily because my primary active tags there are rather light on the voting activity
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Nyoze I can't find a link that explains it, but basically, through December (and January?) SE adds for-fun badges represented by hats that you can wear on your avatar.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Ohhh
Interesting :)
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
3:33 AM
598
Q: Winter Bash 2016 - All Hats

DavidI decided to start the traditional secret hats post, but instead of just another "here is how you get the secret hats" post, to also add in all the hats. There are two answers: one for the secret hats, and one for the regular hats. Some notes about secret hats: A secret hat for correctly gue...

discussion winterbash secret-hats winterbash-2016
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Nyoze So Shal is suggesting that I hold off on 2 flags until the event starts, because there's generally a hat for getting a gold badge during the event, and it's pretty hard to do organically.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
I never heard about Hatmas before... Must of missed it when I was here.
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Miniman I'm trying to pick it up on a tag badge believe it or not
for my gold badge for Hatmas
I'm believe it or slurp it two answer upvotes away from that milestone
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Shalvenay Nice - it's another one that's somewhat controllable.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
I went a little crazy during hatmas last year--this year I'm'a try to just play it cool and see what happens. (Will still contribute to the photo album, though.)
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
3:35 AM
(it is posing the challenge that I need to make 150rep by the end of this month without the use of my primary tag)
(over on DIY, not here, tho. trying to get to 20k rep by the end of the year)
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 Interesting, last year (I think we talked about this) I sort of skipped hatmas.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Nyoze behind the scenes it's a mix of SE staff trying to just share a little fun with people and testing out possibilities for new badges.
Dec 23 '16 at 0:11, by Miniman
Also, hatmas this year is acting as a perverse disincentive to participating in the site for me.
 
Ben
Ben
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 From memory, that's where Refiner came from.
 
Ben
Ben
Well that went wacky...
 
Miniman
Miniman
3:39 AM
@Ben I think you've got AC and HP the wrong way round.
If not, that's amazing.
 
Ben
Ben
Lol... AC is meant to be 15
This is a CR 1 creature
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Magic Missle and AOE are the only things that can touch it? :P
 
Miniman
Miniman
Also, imuunity to poison damage?
 
Ben
Ben
@Miniman Should that only be a resistance?
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Ben No, I meant, shouldn't he have it?
 
Ben
Ben
3:42 AM
... He does..?
Well, Condition Immunity anyway
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Ben he needs immunity to Poison damage as well as immunity to the Poisoned condition
 
Miniman
Miniman
Yep, most skeletons are immune to poison damage as well.
Obviously you can decide otherwise, I just thought I should point it out.
 
Ben
Ben
Ok. Honestly I was thinking his conditions and damage types were getting a bit bulky, so I paraphrased a bit haha
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben I did lolfigsl when I read that statblock and saw the AC. I may now have to write up a creature with a triple-digit AC.
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 Waterowlbear?
 
Ben
Ben
3:44 AM
@nitsua60 Does the Tarrasque not do that well enough? :P
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Miniman LOL
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben The tarrasque shouldn't have a statblock, IMO.
Plus, I want a creature with an AC of 127 but only 7 hp.
 
Ben
Ben
@Miniman Why did I somehow read that as "Growlbear"..? I though "An Owlbear that growls... wait... isn't that just a bear??"
@nitsua60 My friend put it well: A Tarrasque is a Plot Device with a stat block
 
Miniman
Miniman
@Ben You know, I still don't know why owlbears are supposed to be more dangerous than regular bears.
 
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Ben ...until you find yourself with a Tarrasque PC
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
3:47 AM
@Miniman I would have thought the same thing, until I saw my neighbor's 10-lb yappy little dog chase a mature black bear out of their yard.
 
Ben
Ben
@Miniman Cos a barbarian looks at a bear and sees a wrestling partner, a druid sees his buddy Frank, the Ranger sees a creature worthy of respect.
But an owlbear is just nope.jpg
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
I mean, I find the dog annoying, too. But for the bear it'd totally be socially acceptable to slaughter the thing.
 
Ben
Ben
But, all that aside.. what do we think? That guy is pretty much completely custom
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 Animals are weird like that. Our dog is constantly getting bullied by chickens that he could swallow in a single gulp.
@Ben Pretty cool, and tactically interesting. A lot of moving parts, though.
 
Ben
Ben
@Miniman Yeah... the armour is the most complex.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
3:51 AM
@Ben I'd say a little more complex than necessary. The armor bit is flavorful, but mechanically the minion trait serves a lot of the same purpose.
 
Ben
Ben
But I don't want these Boss monsters to just be "Smash the bad guy".
This is being designed for a starter game - pretty much everything is preset - character archetypes, story arc, even up to who dies at the end.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
Give him a ranged attack. Let him throw something. That turns into a skeleton.
 
Ben
Ben
For example - I have 6 characters, all of different classes
So none of the monsters can be overpowered by the entire party all at once.
 
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 Yaaas.
Or let him throw skellies.
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
Copy-pasta the "minions" language from the goblin-boss statblock.
@Ben what's his size?
Maybe make the mace force a STR save vs. prone? Or knockback?
The difficulty with a boss is when it gets locked down in melee and all movement stops.
I'm a fan of giving even low-CR bosses legendary/lair actions.
 
Ben
Ben
3:55 AM
@nitsua60 Well, that's what the minions are for. There are 3 "kinds" of skeleton - Warrior (Shortsword/hand axe), Archer, and "mage" - deals fire damage for unarmed attacks, and has a very weak hellish rebuke, which does destroy the skeleton as well. Kind of a self destruct.
@nitsua60 Only slightly larger than average. So not big enough to move up a size category
@nitsua60 This would be the armour, you mean?
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben No, actions it can take at the end of a PCs turn. For a CR 1 boss I might go with a pushback, maybe a "commander's strike"?
 
Ben
Ben
@nitsua60 Oh, you are a fan. I misread that
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
I like things that either physically move things around, that re-shape the battlefield, or that spread the PCs' attention.
 
Ben
Ben
I might do that for the next boss. In truth, everything in this dungeon is very heavily themed, and highly flavoured.
As you may remember, I have been ranting about my Diablo-themed dungeon
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
Lair action: dancing bones. in a 50' circle around him bones rise from the ground and jitter in the air. This area is difficult terrain, and all skeletons in the area are as under the effect of blur.
 
Ben
Ben
4:01 AM
@nitsua60 But maybe I can make the "action" for the armour a lair action?
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
(though disadvantaging attacks stinks sometimes--slows things down)
@Ben I don't know Diablo.
 
Ben
Ben
Haha. Well then you may enjoy this dungeon ;)
 
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Ben I'd go for that. So it's not foregoing an attack.
I'd drop the boosts to con and str, though; refiguring the rest of the stat-block on-the-fly is a pain.
 
Ben
Ben
The only thing though is that the minions technically are something that "gets in the way". Sure, they can ignore the minions to simply attack the King, but they are an extra thing to deal with
 
Ben
Ben
4:24 AM
Behold: The Skeleton king
 
Ben
Ben
4:39 AM
Also - the other thing I want to try and figure out is different Corruption types and their effects. For example, Necrotic corruption would mean skin-deep degeneration (so looking older etc), and then starting to take negatives to their stats as it increases; while perhaps demonic degeneration would mean bloodlust or something like that
I was also thinking about some sort of madness, but I can't think of how that would develop, and I think if I could get one more going that would be good too.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Madness is amazing if done right
Hallucinations, Paranoia, etc :)
@Ben Don't know if you ever played Eternal Darkness? Had some of the best "Sanity Effects" I've ever seen in a game. Definitely worth looking into.
 
Ben
Ben
5:01 AM
Sanity effects would be great :D
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
5:15 AM
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze Oh... these are nasty
And perfect :D
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Honestly, I have never known greater terror then the "Your saves are being deleted" while I was borrowing a friends memory card to play.
Obvs all aren't translatable to Tabletop, but... You could describe most of them pretty easily.
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze I'm pretty sure that "Your saves are being deleted" would be an appropriate madness effect haha
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Actually, for a Diablo themed dungeon... Could be fun lol
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze I could just give them a 1st level player sheet haha
Player: "Wait... this isn't my character?"
Me: "It is now"
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
5:23 AM
"You feel the knowledge and experience you have gained through your quest being drained from the core of your very being. As you attempt to gather your composure, you realize that your bag contains nothing inside."
Oh my god
That would be perfect.
And just
 
Ben
Ben
Hahahaha
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Straight face
"What are you talking about? Of course it's your character"
 
Ben
Ben
[Roll sanity check in-game and RL]
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
I wish I was part of this now lol
You'd keep your players guessing constantly as to what they're seeing is really there or not.
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze And, this allows for me to add my "Closed door" trap
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
5:31 AM
What's that?
 
Ben
Ben
DM: "You see a wooden door"
P: "I check the door for traps, and if there is none, I open the door"
DM: "Ok, it appears clear of traps, and the door swings open smoothly"
P: "Ok, I step through"
DM: "You bang your head on the door, as the door is closed."
P:"Wait... what? I just opened it"
DM: "You did. But the door is closed"
Also a perfect opener for an ambush, especially depending on how much of the rest of the party get involved in this door... which would be doubly hilarious if they can't see it
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Is this being run RL, or online?
It would be amazing online, so that you're messaging the 1 player with the door, and then you message everyone:
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze I haven't started it yet. Currently I'm at about 90% done with the structure of the game itself, and I have only completely fleshed out the first level, of what is going to be a 6-level dungeon.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
DM: "You see P checking for traps on an unremarkable stretch of dungeon wall, and making odd gestures. After a time, P steps forward and bangs his head directly into the wall"
 
Ben
Ben
I was planning to run it RL first, but depending on how it goes, I'll likely run it again for another group
This was actually inspired by a friend who started it in AFMBE. He is obsessed with Diablo, and the energy he put into the game was really impressive. We only played one session of it, but I was immediately hooked :D
@Nyoze Either that, or this does lead down a corridor. That could be doubly confusing because then it looks like there's some sort of invisible forcefield in place
But, lo and behold - there is none (for the rest of the party)
They open the door, and step through with no issue
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
5:42 AM
DM: "While you step effortlessly through the door which P opened, you find P seemingly unable to join you, as he seems to be bumping his head on the wall"
Oh wait
Rather then the invisble force field
P"I open the door and step through"
DM: "You open the door, however behind the door, you find a blank stretch of wall."
 
Ben
Ben
I was thinking more like
DM: "P1 Appears to be struggling moving through the open corridor, as if something is blocking the way"
(P2 investigates, finds no issues, and cautiously steps past the apparent obstacle with no issue)
DM: (To P1) "P2 has stepped in front of you, offering to try and investigate. He opens the door, and steps through. The door closes behind him."
Only players affected by madness would see the door haha
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
That's awesome :)
 
Ben
Ben
Then they roll a sanity check, and the door vanishes
Or the party can pull them through
 
Erics
Erics
ho @trogdor
 
trogdor
trogdor
I mean, I personally would draw the line at trying to make me roll a sanity check IRL
@Erics hello
 
Ben
Ben
5:51 AM
@trogdor Of course. But they would certainly be confused
 
trogdor
trogdor
It would be good to make sure your group was OK with something like that
 
Ben
Ben
@trogdor Oh it would only be temporary. After a few minutes of play (or a few objections about their character sheet) I'd give them back their character sheet
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Erics are you just saying hi cause I popped in or did you have something to talk about?
 
Erics
Erics
just hi .. saw you joined moments after i joined
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Ben yeah but like,.... Prior consent would be good
@Erics fair enough, no objection to that whatsoever:)
 
Ben
Ben
5:54 AM
Disclosure: This game is going to be following your ascent into hell. This will involve some violent images, possibly fear-inducing situations, and some mind-games. If you do not wish to personally be subjected to this, I will restrict to in-game effects only
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
They're going up to hell? :P
 
Ben
Ben
Correction: Descent*
Haha yeah only just realised that
@Nyoze Actually did you ever play Dead Space 3 multiplayer (as Carver?)
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Nope :(
Only ever played about 20 minutes of the first one.
Coincidentally, borrowed from the same friend who loaned me Eternal Darkness.
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze That was done really well. Both Isaac (the main protagonist) and Carver (secondary protagonist) were affected by the marker, which caused hallucinations. Occasionally, either Isaac would start seeing a series of flashing markings all over the wall, and would freak out. The person playing Carver would be standing right beside them, and see nothing.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Oh nice lol
 
Ben
Ben
6:04 AM
And occasionally Carver would see his son's favourite toy pop up in places (backstory stuff). Obviously this would attract the player's attention, and they'd just run off in an (apparently) random direction.
The player controlling Isaac wouldn't see anything and would (probably) be forced to just blindly follow
Perhaps that could be another illusion - a crying child or something that only a Mad player could see/hear, drawing the party into an ambush
Haha...
DM: "You see P2's head roll of his shoulders, and hit the ground. For some reason, P2 does not seem overly perturbed by this."
P1: [Rolls sanity check - fails miserably]
DM: "P2's head turns and winks at you. You chuckle. P2 is such a character."
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
P2: *Ducks below attack from enemy*
P1: "Why duck, you don't have a head?!"
 
Magician
Magician
Ducks Below, new elder god?
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Nah, just a demi-god, who strives to follow in the footsteps of Geese-Above.
 
trogdor
trogdor
6:27 AM
@Ben this is quite adequate XD
@Ben oooh very good example
I didn't play that but I watched a co-op playthrough
it was a very nice touch to the game
 
Ben
Ben
@trogdor First time I played it with a friend it really messed with our heads haha. I freaked out, which freaked him out cos he had no idea what was going on
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Ben it actually doesn't lose tooo much watching it
obviously it isn't quite the same, but the two people communicated very well (they work together often) and when I watched it from the perspective of the Isaac player, the Carter player was freaking out about toys everywhere and it blindsided me
it was great
so I ended up watching both perspectives which made it way better
 
Ben
Ben
And Carver's episodes were just as good, just in a completely different way. Isaac's episodes were violent, but short, whereas Carver's episodes were subtle, yet drawn out
 
trogdor
trogdor
Carver's made more of an impression on me honestly
 
Ben
Ben
I feel the same. Isaac's were more "jump-scare"-y. But Carvers' really built up the tension
 
Erics
Erics
6:44 AM
Anyone got any tips on how to keep a distinction between role-play speech and meta-game speech at an in-person table? That is, avoiding the DM asking "uhh ... are you asking me, or is your character actually saying that to the evil wizard, to his face?"
Asking because the ambiguity has slowed down the last couple of sessions so far.
 
Magician
Magician
We use the "time out" gesture to speak out of character.
 
Erics
Erics
And because this DM is a bit of a dick and will take a meta-game comment as an excuse for an in-game nasty
ooh, that sounds good.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
Accents are always helpful. When speaking as a character, give your character a funny accent. BESW had a post recently where he'd use bad celebrity impersonations for NPCs, but it could quite easily be applied to your players as well. This way when your talking in your normal voice, people know it's OoG
 
Ben
Ben
26
A: My players are a crude bunch, and I'm having a hard time staying in character among the chatter

MołotThere is a time for chatter, there is a time for role playing. And usually these should be reasonably separated. Talk Make sure your players know that you don't mind their sense of humor, but at times it makes your GM work harder. Tell them why, when and how. Some people might not realize just...

 
Erics
Erics
((One time, player A called out to player B, who had gone to the kitchen to fetch a drink, "Bring me a beer will you" ... and the DM then announced that that call echoed around the caves, alerting the goblins to our sneaky infiltration.))
 
Magician
Magician
6:47 AM
Ugh
 
trogdor
trogdor
@Ben jump scare is cheap, build up is cool
 
Erics
Erics
@Magician The gesture thing can also get physically tiring if constantly used ... which is a good counter to endless meta-chatter =)
 
Ben
Ben
@Erics There is a comment on the answer I shared - suggesting "wearing a token", and when you intend to speak OoC, you simply cover the token
 
Erics
Erics
Yup, that token thing looks a good idea there, especially given the other roles it played in the situation.
 
Ben
Ben
Actually... just had a brain fart...
What if the Skeleton King had Sweep... but the sweep could target a nearby skeleton as well? So for instance if the Fighter was taking on 2 Skeletons by himself, the Skelton King attacks, Sweeps, And knocks out one of the skeletons?
Would that be too much? It'd be mainly for flavour, obviously - this enemy is meant to be the Resurrected "Mad King"
cc @nitsua60, @Miniman, @trogdor, @Nyoze
 
Miniman
Miniman
7:01 AM
@Ben That seems pretty cool.
 
trogdor
trogdor
yeah I don't see a problem
very nice flavor there
and I assume it doesn't make a huge impact on the fight for him to occasionally wipe out a minion
 
Ben
Ben
@trogdor Nah, not overly. He has the ability to resurrect his minions (funnily enough) when he deals damage to the PCs.
 
trogdor
trogdor
lol
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
So effectively
 
trogdor
trogdor
yeah seems like no big deal here
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
7:04 AM
Say, he had a bunch of archer minions, and the fighter charged
 
Ben
Ben
In this instance I'd say that if there were less than 5 skeletons, a different one would be resurrected (not the one he just destroyed). If not, nothing happens
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
He could sweep the fighter, knock out an archer and replace it with a warrior?
Or does he only have a certain number of minions?
 
Ben
Ben
@Nyoze Up to 5 in total
But, the setting is that he's got enough bones of dead warriors to do whatever he wants - just not enough power to control more than 5 at once.
So the turn of events would be:
1. Attack a PC. If he deals damage, he gets to resurrect a skeleton (of whatever type) unless there are already 5 skeletons.
2. Sweep. Knocks out a Skeleton.
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
So yeah.
It makes sense and could even be to his advantadge if he wants to change his minions around.
 
Ben
Ben
So effectively, he'd end up with 4 skeletons either way
@Nyoze Maybe... but it's too heavily weighted on chance. The only way he can resurrect another skelly is by dealing damage to the PCs
And... I could even go one step further and just make him use the sweep regardless of whether or not he hits a PC - adds more "madness" flavour and "Big-ass mace" flavour. Haha
Though that might be just a little too far
 
Nyoze
Nyoze
7:34 AM
True
Take it too far :O
 
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