TRPG General Chat

12:01 AM

@Adam Just be aware: the principle at play is (IMO) an important one: the Stack's mission isn't to answer the querent's question, it's to farm querents and answerers to create a repository of Q&A for readers.

See also:

267

Q: We're working on a new stat to help convey the reach of your posts here

We've got a new statistic on the shiny new Profile Page Prototype. It's not perfect yet. And we did a pretty crap job of explaining what it's all about! Let's talk. What you do here isn't just about solving one person's problem. A while back, a user contacted us about his friend's account. His...

BESW

12:17 AM

A khanda broadsword from Rajasthan, Northern India, in the mid-1800s, with a couple of extras in the form of a katar punch-dagger and a single-shot percussion pistol.

@Fado Hi! You'll need 20+ rep to type in chat, but you're welcome to hang out until then. Also, you may be looking for a travel.se chat room.

Shalvenay

1:30 AM

hey there @Chemus

Chemus

Heya @Shalvenay, how's it goin?

Shalvenay

alright here, as for you?

Chemus

Just poppin' in...to lurk moar.

Papayaman1000

@Chemus This.

hey there @Shalvenay

Shalvenay

hey there @Papayaman1000, how're things going?

nitsua60

1:41 AM

[shuffle shuffle lurk lurk]

Papayaman1000

Okay. The nieces are rambunctious. My son is helping me with them, though, so it's not too bad.

nitsua60

Quick GM improv: what's that ^^ a euphemism for? ("The nieces are rambunctions.")

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 btw, you are correct that decreasing ambient pressure increases the vapor pressure (for a flammable liquid, decreases the flashpoint)

Papayaman1000

@nitsua60 It's the Rogue, trying to get a sneak attack in on the Wizard to take his valuable magic items.

wait

oh

oh god please no

Nathaniel Davidson

Excuse me...

Papayaman1000

1:42 AM

@NathanielDavidson You're excused.

Nathaniel Davidson

Thanks exactly is... Tabletop rpg

nitsua60

@NathanielDavidson Hi! Welcome =)

Nathaniel Davidson

What

What exactly sorry

nitsua60

@Papayaman1000 [dopeslap] =D

Papayaman1000

Well, ever hear of Dungeons and Dragons?

Nathaniel Davidson

1:43 AM

Sure

nitsua60

That's the most-known, though not entirely-representative, example.

Nathaniel Davidson

Hmm... Ok maybe i just HEARD of the game... What platform is it on

nitsua60

@NathanielDavidson <tires screech> Not computers or consoles.

Nathaniel Davidson

I'm just picturing in my head a chessboard

Ohhh

So... On a board?

nitsua60

People, often sitting around a table, maybe books and papers, maybe miniature figures, maybe all of this is online-mediated.

[rummages for pictures]

Did you watch Stranger Things?

Nathaniel Davidson

1:46 AM

Hmm, interesting

No

nitsua60

Tabletop role-playing game

A tabletop role-playing game (or pen-and-paper role-playing game) is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a formal system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, players have the freedom to improvise; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the game. Unlike other types of role-playing game, tabletop RPGs are often conducted like radio drama: only the spoken component of a role is...

That photo there, while pandering to all the stereotypes, isn't exactly off the mark for some large portion of play.

Nathaniel Davidson

Thanks

One question before I dive into the wiki

nitsua60

But I've participated in everything from a game with one die and an index card while driving my kids (we call that game "Little Adventures") to a game played on a "set" build spanning multiple tables.

Nathaniel Davidson

Is there a pre-dinner plot?

Defined

Or it's rules of play is entirely up to the players

nitsua60

@NathanielDavidson Nope. Collaboratively explored/invented plot, though how exactly that happens will vary a lot from game to game and group to group.

Nathaniel Davidson

1:49 AM

Cool... Hey thanks guys for bearing with me lol I know this was... Random.

nitsua60

@NathanielDavidson No worries! This is literally exactly what this room's for =)

[calls after him...] *we're so Random we've even got dice in this room..."

d20

Dice Service

1

nitsua60

[fails to make himself heard by departing visitor]

Shalvenay

2:14 AM

@Papayaman1000 -- have you tried running a politically focused game before?

Papayaman1000

@Shalvenay A few.

Shalvenay

@Papayaman1000 ah. perhaps we can hop off to the NAB for a bit and talk about approaches to IG politics then?

Papayaman1000

@Shalvenay Sure!

Nathaniel Davidson

Lol now I know why nitsua hit the brakes so hard ^

Thanks for the wiki

Shalvenay

2:32 AM

@NathanielDavidson -- would it help if you saw some chatlogs from play?

nitsua60

@NathanielDavidson No worries. Just know that that wiki article tries to not be very-much focused on D&D, but it desribes "typical games" as very much like D&D. There are many thousands of RPGs, covering almost everything you could think of.

But not everything--there's still room for you to write your own =)

Shalvenay

yeah -- there really is no "typical" RPG although there are several major clusters games tend to group around

NautArch

2:59 AM

Howdy @Shalvenay

Shalvenay

how're things going?

NautArch

Looking like the bright side of life

Any dungeon tonight?

Shalvenay

we'll see if daze turns up

NautArch

Sounds gouda

Joel Harmon

3:41 AM

@NautArch what a cheezy pun

nitsua60

2:27 PM

@JoelHarmon @Zachiel this is the sort of thing I was thinking of when I made this comment:

May 29 at 23:37, by nitsua60

Hey Stackizens: I and other mods have noticed (though I don't have numbers for--this is purely a gut-feeling thing) an uptick in community moderation in the last month or so: closures with comments, welcoming comments, proactive+helpful edits, flags, pointers to metas, participation in metas I think this is great! It's wonderful to see even more users stepping forward and helping make this "a healthy community full of knowledgable, considerate people."

Thanks for the informative and welcoming comments!

Joel Harmon

You're welcome.

I usually feel like I have too many exclamation points in there, but I'm not sure how else to convey the tone.

nitsua60

I used to reflexively avoid all exclamation marks, as I believe them to be utterly banal in writing prose. But through the stack--and particularly, through welcome messages--I've come to appreciate that they really do convey a tone in an internet-comment that's both useful and cheery. (I still avoid them like the plague in meatspace writing.)

Or should that have been "I still avoid them like the plague in meatspace writing!"

=D

Joel Harmon

The irony!

nitsua60

Oh, my! Indeed!

Alright--gotta run. Happy gaming!

doppelgreener

I treat exclamation marks as if they'll be read like I'm yelling unless there's a clear case for interpreting them as enthusiasm.

Joel Harmon

2:37 PM

@doppelgreener Why?!

doppelgreener

@JoelHarmon I find that tends to work most reliably. People might have anxiety, or be conditioned to think people will be mean to them more often than genuinely enthusiastic, or expect people to be mean on the internet until proven otherwise, etc.

So sometimes I get a response as if I was yelling -- not necessarily on here, but on other mediums where people will provide that kind of feedback like a chat.

So I try to make it abundantly clear when I'm just being excited! :D

Joel Harmon

@doppelgreener Sorry, tone over the internet. I was attempting to be mildly amusing; perhaps I should have used more exclamation points!!!!!

doppelgreener

Yes you should have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joel Harmon

Though the genuine enthusiasm thing is why I typically use it in "Welcome!" and "Happy gaming!" in the newbie comments, and actual enthusiasm in long form text.

Papayaman1000

3:07 PM

@doppelgreener I never noticed that second one, but WOW does it explain a lot.

Shalvenay

hey there @Papayaman1000

Papayaman1000

Oh and nice new profile pic, doppelBLUEer

@Shalvenay hey there

Shalvenay

how're things going?

Papayaman1000

Okay. Nieces stil. Cousin is graduating today. THat'll wrap me up for most of the day.

Shalvenay

guess we'll see who's around tonight then

Papayaman1000

3:09 PM

I'll be back around 9-ish EST

in 10 hrs, in other words

hey there @Zachiel

Shalvenay

hey there @Zachiel

Papayaman1000

long time no see

doppelgreener

@Papayaman1000 ty!!! Someone fixed the blue color for me though.

Papayaman1000

@doppelgreener I was more joking about the contents of your profile pic

doppelgreener

ohhh ;D

Papayaman1000

3:13 PM

Though it does have that nice double-meaning, and the timing is just... impeccable

doppelgreener

well I did become a diamond :D

Papayaman1000

"Doppelgreener's blue now!"
"Wait, in what regard?"
"Yes"

@doppelgreener I... you... I hate you.

Zachiel

You're welcome! I don't think it's something new by me, but if nobody beats me to it and I'm in the right mood I like trying to get in the head of people and saying "Hey, here's a thing they might not have realized, let's help."
Admittedly, I'm usually more brash and I often come off as judgemental, but I know that I'm speaking to people who don't know me and I sometimes manage to remember to avoid the "you're wrong, do this instead!" tone. ;)

doppelgreener

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

( ͡– ͜ʖ ͡°)

Papayaman1000

*leaps at doppelgrener, brandishing a knife*

"WHO REALLY KILLED THE PINK MOD"

Zachiel

3:17 PM

Pink Mood?

doppelgreener

[in reality papayaman is more just flailing around at ankle height]

Zachiel

(Hello @Papayaman1000 and @Shalvenay)

Shalvenay

how're things going?

doppelgreener

Papayaman1000

@doppelgreener ok now how could I possibly one-up that

doppelgreener

3:19 PM

[KPOOF]

Zachiel

Ok, now. What's with the pointy noses.

Seriously. Opal. Urubosa.

Artists. Stop drawing pointy noses, they're unsexy. (:p)

Papayaman1000

The worst parts of the SU fandom would all heavily disagree

to a disturbing extent

like guys

eww

doppelgreener

[draws more pointy noises than ever in response]

Papayaman1000

'>'

U

YOU HAVE BEEN BOONDOGGLED

( ͡° ͜> ͡°)

Zachiel

@Papayaman1000 it's a crow! A cute crow.

* > *

:^

Zachiel

4:14 PM

So, apart from BESW, Trogdor and the Vanished Eagle (I hope Wax is OK), who's proficient in D&D 4e here?

Chemus

[crickets]

Magician

@Zachiel been a while...

Zachiel

@Magician Hey! Sup Magician?

Magician

Was about to go to sleep

But then I felt something drawing me, across the vast gulf of space

I used to be proficient in 4e, did you need help with something?

Zachiel

I've played D&D 4e from level 1 to level 16 and I've never needed to really reason about enemy team composition because I've always used predone encounters. So now, apart from expecting some sinergy from monsters in the same general block (among fire giants, or among fire elementals in this case), I'm realizing I don't know jack about setting up an interesting encounter.

Especially not about setting up an encounter that builds on the strenghts and weaknesses of the party.

Magician

4:25 PM

I believe DMG covers the basics fairly well: don't make every monster the same type, especially if it's soldier - those guys just tank. Mix it up.

Do you know what the party's capable of? Not just their classes, but their favorite tricks? Then you can cater to those. Trying to guess what they can do doesn't really work.

Zachiel

Ok, that I get. I know the theme of these 1-3 encounters is gonna be fire (a mage made a ritual to become a powerful elemental while PCs were busy solving a different invasion of the same city) and he's gonna be the artillery in the last encounter.

Magician

Fire, great. Do PCs know this? Potions of fire resistance are a thing. They can either make encounters trivial... or be required to survive.

Zachiel

Two in the party are tieflings, a fire mage that I think ignores fire resistances (or was it from next level?) and an elementalist who has a radiant and a thunder power too. The fighter can't be flanked, can shake off stunned and dazed conditions, the leader has a lance that removes AC save ends and can dish out tempo HP pretty easily. Then we have a frostcheese ranger archer.

Tieflings are resistant to fire

the fighter also has some resistance (3 I think)

The PCs suspect nothing. They gave him the chance to perform a purification ritual to purge undead and they had no idea that would have been by burning the whole city down.

Magician

Be vary of those resistances - check if any enemies become useless. Can easily happen if their main damage comes from ongoing fire.

A thing that took me a while to realise: in 4e, it being combat-as-sport and whatnot, combat outcome is predetermined: PCs will win See this ancient post for details‌. So I tried to have at least some of my encounters have other outcomes as well. As in, how much of the city burns down.

For instance, maybe the pyromancer's fire cleansing ritual is still in progress when the PCs get there. There's a circle surrounded by braziers. Fire elementals fly out of them every round at great speed, heading into the city. PCs can knock down these braziers with a minor action, which instead spawns a fire elemental in front of them. Say there's 3 braziers, and 15 elementals total waiting to fly out.

All you need is a chart: 15 elementals made it to the city - completely burned down. 10-14 - a few sturdy buildings left, survivors huddled within. 5-9 - half the city still stands, will take a while to put the fires out. 1-4 - lots of smoke, fine otherwise.

Just as an example of combat affecting outside world.

Encounter building itself is sturdy enough, you don't need to worry too much about it. Oh, use MM3 monsters or updated monster math, especially if the party is paragon or higher. Without it, enemies are barely ever threatening.

Well, I hope that was useful, or at least coherent.

Zachiel

4:58 PM

@Magician I'm using MM3 and MV

Magician

Cool, that's one potential problem avoided.

Zachiel

Combat as sport is killing me. The fighter is looking for a character change after his current character dies and I'm not able to satisfy him. XD

Maybe I shouldn't, the party does not need a fourth striker.

Shalvenay

5:35 PM

hey there @NautArch

NautArch

Howdy @Shalvenay

Shalvenay

what's up?

NautArch

Enjoying a lovely 5 year old tantrum... You?

FYI, I am the worst dad and a big bad bully

Shalvenay

OK here I suppose. what's your availability look like tonight btw?

NautArch

6:33 PM

Not really sure, maybe around 11 eastern for an hour or so

Shalvenay

7:19 PM

hey again @Papayaman1000

Papayaman1000

Oh, just here for a moment. On the way out. The tab was just open. Later.

trogdor

9:01 PM

@Magician (hears the call of a distant twin)

WrongOnTheInternet

9:24 PM

@doppelgreener That was the best moment in that show.

@Zachiel I kind of wish there was a game that supported combat as sport & combat as war equally well (and supported them fully, not in a wishy-washy way)

Shalvenay

10:46 PM

hey there @nitsua60

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