TRPG General Chat

Ben

00:20

Wait...

@doppelgreener are you greener than the average ganger?

Ben

01:06

Or is it just a translation error on my part?

BESW

@Ben He is!

Shalvenay

so yeah -- on the Gnome Stew foldable minis, if you don't have access to Acrobat, what should you use to edit them and replace the gnomes with your own pics?

BESW

01:23

You... Don't have access to the basic reader?

Shalvenay

I use an alternate PDF reader

Ben

Adobe is free?

Shalvenay

I was under the impression you needed the full version of Acrobat to edit the GnomeStew foldable mini PDFs

Ben

Unless there's something special about them, I wouldn't see why not

If the PDF is editable, you can do it in Reader

Shalvenay

I think there's some sort of JS thingymabob in the PDFs that evince doesn't handle

...or do you have to drag the new pic atop?

nope. gotta be some JS magic that Reader handles, but most PDF viewers don't

BESW

01:54

Yeah, you just open it in Reader and click a gnome, and it'll open a dialog box to search your computer for a different picture to replace the gnome with.

Shalvenay

@BESW yeah, that JS magic is no good over here

Ben

@Shalvenay JavaScript?

Shalvenay

@Ben yeah, there's some of it (or some other funky thing) embedded in the PDF for the GnomeStew print-and-fold minis

Ben

@Shalvenay Can you send me a link for this pdf?

BESW

@Ben Gnome Stew Print-and-Fold minis.

I used them for all my minis in D&D 4e. Great customization and portability, low cost.

Ben

02:09

Ohh Right, yes you showed me these before :)

I'm having no issues with it in IE...

(Using the Reader add-in)

Joel Harmon

@Ben That's gotta be a first.

Shalvenay

hey there @JoelHarmon

Ben

And again no issue in Reader (Saved the target from the browser)

Joel Harmon

hey there @Shalvenay . How are things?

Ben

@JoelHarmon Funnily enough, I've found IE to be far more reliable than most other browsers

Shalvenay

02:15

alright here

Joel Harmon

@Ben Surely Lynx doesn't count, though!

Ben

Primarily though, the reason I use it is because it's the onle browser that still supports Java

@JoelHarmon Never used it, so not counted haha

Joel Harmon

@Ben It's a purely text-based browser. I only really use it for simulating blind users (as I don't have good screen reader access), and for making fun of poorly constructed sites.

Ben

Ah, well in that case, no I doubt it would be considered "bad", since it is designed to be simple.

Joel Harmon

@Ben You could also try Links. Like Lynx, but includes JavaScript support!

Ben

02:30

I would, but my application kinda needs a bit of a higher standard for remote customers haha

Shalvenay

03:04

hey there @nitsua60

Ben

So, yes - question to put to the group and am looking for feedback

Who has been/would be interested in reading a "Play by Post" D&D adventure on FB?

Miniman

@Ben It's certainly something I'd look at if I was bored and looking for something to read - can't predict how I'd react to it, though.

Ben

@Miniman Let me know when you're bored then...

facebook.com/groups/1432137587094602

Miniman

@Ben Right now! ...sadly, I also have work stuff I need to get done.

Ben

03:26

Basically, we were using facebook as out platform, however this is going to be moved to Discord. I however still want to keep the page going, and we are going to try doing "per encounter" posts

Joel Harmon

@Ben I'm not really available, but it may be helpful if you were more specific about what you're looking for (VTC unclear)

Ben

VTC?

Miniman

@JoelHarmon Unless I've misunderstood, he's not asking for anything, just offering up a resource for entertainment purposes.

Joel Harmon

@Miniman Well, I can conclude that at least one of us is wrong, then.

Unless he was just looking to entertain some internet strangers, in which case I suppose we'd both be correct.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay hiya

Ben

03:35

The group was made specifically for the people playing - as a common ground for everyone to play (we all live in different parts of the world). It was then opened up to the public to read along.

Just looking to see the level of interest in such a thing

The format was a post was made for an encounter, and we would all comment on the post, until we reached a new encounter, and a new post was made.

Now, however, the format is going to change a bit - each post will be a recount of each encounter, and people willing to comment, can do so.

daze413

kinda like a recap

Ben

Yeh :)

An example of what we're hoping to achieve might be a little like this: docs.google.com/document/d/…

That is a recap of a whole session, the Fb posts won't be so massive. They'll only be a post per encounter

daze413

@Ben needs permission to access, try clicking the "share" button on the upper right corner

Ben

Done - forgot that step haha

Also: there is some crude language in there, and some violence, so might be worthwhile to suggest it may be NSFW - depending on what your boss is like :P

daze413

definitely above PG, yeah

Miniman

03:48

@Ben Wow! Do you guys write that as you go, or at the end of a session? Is it collaborative, or just you?

Ben

@Miniman It was mostly just me, and it was post-session, throughout the week. Lots of going back and double checking details haha

I glad you liked it! That was one of my favourite ones :D

daze413

@Ben whoa. hehe

Miniman

@Ben It's a pretty impressive piece of work - I used to do session summaries, but there's a world of difference between a summary and, well, that.

Ben

But now we're doing a text based format, detail management will be a lot easier :D

@Miniman Thankyou very much :D

Unfortunately that game ended a while ago, and we haven't been able to get back to it.

I really miss it haha

Miniman

I kinda wish there was support for WH40K RP outside of the Imperium.

I mean, I like the setting, I've just never been a fan of humanity in it.

Ben

04:00

That certainly is the general feeling toward it.

daze413

@Ben Tomorrow, I do.

Ben

So, as an example, that "recount" would be split into probably 8 different posts, perhaps 9, for each encounter

@daze413 Tomorrow is Friday.

You're not referring to me or @Miniman are you? :P

daze413

04:45

@Ben no no, I was trying to be cute, and failed the charisma check

Ben

Lol

daze413

changing "Yes" to "tomorrow", interchanging what you ranted about.

BESW

@Miniman what kind of support is lacking?

Ben

@daze413 Oh haha. I get it :P

BESW

Could you play it in another system?

Ben

04:48

I think he's referring to the setting. Dark Heresy is very grim and brutal

Miniman

@BESW There are WH40K RPGs for playing as agents of the Inquisition, playing as Rogue Traders, playing as Space Marines, and playing as Imperial Guardsmen.

Ben

But I suppose the fact that both of us got a different meaning from that means that both of us is right, and wrong, both simultaneously and asyncrhously, all at once!

Miniman

Which is to say, 4 different types of humans.

There is also a game for playing as humans who are followers of Chaos rather than the Imperium.

@BESW And of course, you could play in another system. But it'd be nice if there was a WH40K RPG that wasn't about being humans in the Imperium.

Ben

@Miniman I heard of a game where all the players were psykers

BESW

I guess I was asking if there's a dearth of setting material to support the RP, or a lack of mechanical support.

Ben

04:52

Then the GM explained that the emperor had died. Instinctively, I recoiled haha

Miniman

@BESW A bit of both, really.

Setting material for non-Imperium parts of the setting exists in the WH40K Codices, but those are designed to be used with the strategy game, not for roleplaying.

So they're very high-level, broad introductions to the culture behind an army.

In terms of mechanical support, the WH40K RPG is generic enough to be used, but you'd have to write all your own career paths, racial bonuses, etc.

None of these are insurmountable problems - it'd just be nice if there was a "Tau RPG", for example.

Ben

@Miniman So you're saying there's not much to tell you about the kind of history your character has? Just more "You are a [insert class]"

@Miniman Ohhhh

I suppose an argument for that might be a bit meta - but basically it's just that everything that isn't human is foreign and volatile, so "we" don't know enough about them to understand how they think?

That's a cop out though. Lol

Miniman

@Ben I mean, I had the same thought, and it's a very valid point.

Ben

We did have some NPCS in one game - some Kroot mercenaries. All they did was purr so we named them after rivers in America. Hudson was my favourite. Completely indistinguishable from the others so no reason to favour one amonst the three.

I just remember one session - we went in to see a psyker that gave us (and a whole bunch of other pirates) a psychic map to a treasure world. Once we came to, the Rogue Trader immediately let loose with his flame thrower, screaming "HUDSON?! HUDSON!! IT'S ALL ON FIRE HUDSON!!"

That's one of our group's "in" jokes. Cracks us up everytime.

BESW

07:49

@Miniman That's twice the Pi RPG, then?

doppelgreener

08:04

@BESW it's twice the RPG the pi RPG could ever be.

Miniman

08:30

@BESW Badumtish.

BESW

10:52

Tonight was not fun, so I made gingerbread with turmeric instead of mustard, and I added crushed walnuts and chopped candied ginger.

....And aquafaba instead of egg.

kviiri

12:44

Aquafaba is one of my favorite cooking lifehacks. I like canned chick peas for other stuff too, so being able to use the liquid saves money and is ecological.

BESW

Aye.

We never used eggs enough to go through a whole carton before they went bad.

And we're watching cholesterol now, too.

But it's not just garbanzos that work. I made corn muffins with black bean aquafaba last week.

NautArch

on my morning hike this morning, I realized a pretty awesome synergy in 5e between Bag of Tricks and a caster with Polymorph :)

Adam

@NautArch and what synergy is that?

NautArch

@Adam that I can toss a friendly animal out of bag and then polymorph it into any beast I want and control it as it's still the beast from the bag

toss out an axe-beak...nah, T-Rex! Get 'em, Rexie.

Adam

13:00

polymorph requires the new form to be the same or lower CR than the old form though, doesn't it?

NautArch

@Adam yes. sad face.

darn you, @Adam!

Adam

Sorry! But it's still a good idea if something pops out that you don't want and the CRs align

NautArch

Probably not worth the spell/concentration cost at that point. Highest CR you can get is 1.

last session I pulled a tiger out (had lots of time so just kept pulling until i got it), and it lasted through all the encounters.

Adam

Giant Elk in the grey bag is CR 2 :p But yeah, probably isn't worth it

NautArch

i've got a brown bag

Guess grey>brown

BESW

13:06

The best use I ever got out of a Bag of Tricks was RP in an evil campaign.

NautArch

@BESW <sits down for the story>

BESW

Nothing fancy, just terrible.

I played a chaotic evil catfolk who got kicked out of his tribe because (a) he believed that the more people he killed, the longer Death would take to collect him, and (b) he enjoyed acting on that belief.

So his idea of fun downtime was sitting under a tree playing with a Bag of Tricks.

All the fun of a cat toying with a mouse but none of the cleanup.

NautArch

you are a twisted individual.

and I mean that in an awesome way

DForck42

mornin

Adam

good morning

NautArch

13:16

morning!

DForck42

how's everyone?

Adam

Bleeding money. My wedding is about a week away, and all of the final payments are coming up.

godskook

@Adam Get a blood transfusion?

Adam

Not a bad idea!

NautArch

@Adam I tried to convince my current wife (2nd marriage, 1st for her) to not do a wedding. I failed.

DForck42

13:32

@Adam fun

min's about 1 1/2 months away

@Adam how big is your wedding oing to be?

Adam

about 100 people

DForck42

@Adam yeah, that's a decent number of people

we're having 20 at ours

Adam

My cousin did that. She had a really small ceremony with something like 10 people there maybe. It ended a friendship, unfortunately.

A family friend who had known her since she was a baby wasn't invited. It was one of those "our kids grew up together and you didn't invite us?" things.

DForck42

@Adam see, I don't get that mentality of "I've known you since x, I DESERVE to be at your wedding"

for ours we ARE planning on a wedding "celebration" thing half a year later that's more open invites. it's basically a potluck in a park

Adam

I'm not sure I get it either really. Granted, there could be something else that went on with the whole thing. That's just what I hear through the grapevine since neither me nor my family was invited either

DForck42

13:39

we just can't afford a huge wedding

we shot my dad down pretty hard early on. he asked if my aunt was invited, I said no, and he started getting huffy about my god mother not being invited and I was like "umm, are you paying for this? no? ok then stfu"

kviiri

@Adam That's sad to hear.

I guess that's one of the reasons why my SO doesn't want to get married. I'm the cerenomial person in our relationship, she's the pragmatic one :)

DForck42

part of the reason we're doing a smaller wedding was that, the next line she could reasonably chop the list off at, is about 50 people for her side

godskook

@Adam Is this more of a psuedo-aunt/uncle relationship or friend relationship to the betrothed?

DForck42

while I'd struggle to get more than 30, cause I don't get along with most of my extended family

Adam

@godskook I'm not entirely sure. I never knew them that well myself.

NautArch

13:49

i'm telling ya. Just skip the wedding and use the money for investments or to take some time off and travel together. While the day is amazing, is it that level of cost amazing?

Adam

Bit of a tangent, but personally, I think travel is overrated.

godskook

Well, my perspective is this: If I trimmed my half of the wedding party down to one person, barring issues, that person would be "that guy I grew up with".

@Adam I think that travel for the sake of "travel" is overrated, but if there's certain things worth seeing, doing or experiencing, those sorts of travel are wonderful, imho.

DForck42

@Adam as a big guy, I don't like the process of getting from one place to another

generally once I'm there, I'm happy, but I don't like GETTING there

kviiri

14:05

My parents have taken me to a variety of places, like France, Spain, England, Estonia, Sweden and the Canary Islands. As an adult, I've only went to Estonia and Tanzania, and I need to figure out what sort of kicks I'd get out of travelling with my SO, who has never went abroad except on a school trip to Hungary.

It's rather hard to get that "walk around and look at historic landmarks, and savor the local culture on every step" unless one is conditioned to be like that from a young age I guess.

NautArch

14:15

i don't think anyone loves the getting from one place to another bit.

but I love seeing other places/countries. I'm not so into visiting major cities, though.

I'd rather visit countryside and the geography than 'another city'

godskook

I have yet to meet a person from a foreign culture such that I got the impression that "traveling to experience culture" would be uniquely different from visiting new and exciting parts of my hometown of Chicago.

kviiri

I like smaller towns myself. Most of the travelling we do is to the port town of Pori where my SO's relatives live, and quick trips to various villages and forests for geocaching.

Anne Aunyme

what is geocaching?

NautArch

@godskook It is, but in a different way.I think it's important to know where you're from, but also wonderful to go beyond and see and experience things that are well outside of your own life's norms.

godskook

Geocaching

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and sometimes a pen or pencil. The geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name, in order to prove that they found it. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person...

NautArch

14:20

@godskook Googlekook?

kviiri

@AnneAunyme It's a hobby where people hide little containers with logbooks in various places and then others try to locate them based on co-ordinates, clues or both.

Anne Aunyme

I heard about that, but the name didn't ring any bell. Thanks!

Adam

@NautArch Speaking of the countryside, my bachelor party was actually a hike up a nearby mountain

kviiri

My SO and her father are both enthusiastic geocachers, and I frequently tag along to score finds in the more remote places since I can't drive nor would I be bothered to. I'm more of the bicyclist cacher type.

NautArch

@Adam my first bachelor party was like that. we just went camping and it was awesome.

godskook

14:27

@NautArch I mean...seriously, what's "well beyond" the experience of living in the ~24th largest city on the planet? I've met people form every continent.

NautArch

@godskook I love history and geography. Being able to visit ancient sites and see landscapes that are unlike anything near me or even in my own country is interesting to me. And the more I experience other cultures directly, the more I feel I can understand other viewpoints besides my own.

For instance, I visited the West Bank once and it completely upended my views on the israeli-palestinian relationship.

kviiri

My visit to Tanzania opened up a lot of new insights to me, because there's so little in common to where come from. The language isn't even distantly related. The population is a diverse mixture of culturally and religiously unique tribes instead of a relatively homogenous nation-state I hail from. There aren't even the same seasons or anything, and it's amazing how the whole place transformed when the rainy season started (it's not like one'd imagine it was, btw).

And there were mountains and everything. Nothing like Finland. Here if I don't see something it's because there's a tree in between.

godskook

I gotta keep reminding myself that Europe on the whole is only marginally larger than the US, so my concept of "travel" is on a VERY different scale than a European's.

kviiri

Probably yeah. Europe has a ton of everything in a rather neat, tiny package.

We Europeans only think we're so big because of the Mercator projection :)

NautArch

14:45

ALthough, to be fair for Americans - there is a LOT of variation in our country that I haven't yet even begun to visit.

my goal is probably to do initial travelling with my kids in the States, and as they get older start going international.

I personally think it's even more important to do that in today's world where nationalism is rising and want my kids to feel a part of the global community rather than our very insular community locally.

Anne Aunyme

To me it's kind of the opposite: I miss my dear French countryside the more time I spend near Paris

DForck42

I live in the Midwest (USA). it's mostly grass, trees, and cows here

Anne Aunyme

my countryside is not a touristic thing at all, so nobody goes there "to open up to new cultures", but still I don't think it is the same culture as in the capital

French and American countryside seems very different

DForck42

@AnneAunyme depends on which part of the US

kviiri

I see countryside a bit differently than I did as a kid. When I was a kid, everything was small, green and pretty. Now I see economically unsustainable communities whose only thriving parts are the old folks' homes and graveyards.

DForck42

14:53

the US has a fairly wide geological selection to choose from

kviiri

(Note; may not be applicable to your countries' countryside, but the urban pull of larger cities and the current economic situation is rather taxing on the smaller municipalities here)

DForck42

@kviiri yeah, a lot of that is because of megafarming. now only one family is needed to farm thousands of acres, mostly by machines. farms don't support a community like they used to, and as such, the small farming communities are collapsing.

godskook

@AnneAunyme Ha! "American Countryside" includes desert, equatorial tropics and land beyond the arctic circle. Could you be SLIGHTLY more specific?

kviiri

@DForck42 Many municipalities here successfully transitioned into industrial production where infrastructure allowed. Too bad that's not very profitable either, anymore!

Anne Aunyme

@godskook I can't really, I am talking about places with villages which have nothing particular

not close to the sea, not in the mountains, not in a desert, etc

godskook

14:57

So....Kansas?

DForck42

@AnneAunyme basically the midwest

Anne Aunyme

are they villages in Kansas or is it only isolated houses like I picture it?

kviiri

Now the economy's riding on the guys who are good with their numbers, their statistics and their computers, and they are refined in the university towns. It's rather easy to move to the nearest university town, though, but the slow, quiet life of a rural village needs quite a big pull to get those brains back later.

DForck42

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the American Midwest, Middle West, or simply the Midwest, is one of four geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States of America. It was officially named the North Central region by the Census Bureau until 1984. It is located between the Northeastern U.S. and the Western U.S., with Canada to its north and the Southern U.S. to its south. The Census Bureau's definition consists of 12 states in the north central United States: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota...

@AnneAunyme depends on the area. a lot of the structure tends to group up around highways and interstates, getting sparser and more isolated the further you get away from them

Anne Aunyme

that's it, States seem way sparser than what I am used to

from the village I am talking about you can reach three different towns in something like half an hour

godskook

15:01

Half an hour by what?

Walking?

Anne Aunyme

car

godskook

Sounds normal in the country

Anne Aunyme

isn't American country sparser?

with more distance between towns?

godskook

A bit? IN some places?

DForck42

@AnneAunyme depends on where you are. but in general you can find a new town every 20-30 minutes on a highway

kviiri

15:03

On average, yeah, but I'm under the assumption the distribution isn't even. There's larger empty areas of no towns at all, I'd reckon.

godskook

Like, the Upper Penninsula of Michigan is rather sparse, but also a rather unique area.

Because the snow is atrocious up here.

Anne Aunyme

yes, on a highway, I was talking about small countryside roads where you have to drive at 90km/h and not in a straight line

and the closest highway is... not close at all

NautArch

@AnneAunyme that's because cities are cities. countryside > cities :) in my opinion as an ex-NYC resident.

kviiri

Wait, 90km/h is slow? On a small countryside road?

Anne Aunyme

it is the maximum

DForck42

15:06

onthemap.ces.census.gov

that tool can show you where people live and work

godskook

google.com/maps/place/Vandalia,+MI+49095/…

DForck42

what you'll notice is that people tend to live closer to major highways, and get sparser the further away those are

Anne Aunyme

@DForck42 how am I supposed to use this tool?

I don't get it

but anyway your result doesn't surprise me

godskook

That's a sparser area of southern Michigan, @AnneAunyme and Cassopolis is about 10-15 minutes by car, Dowagiac <30, from Vandlia

DForck42

@AnneAunyme when it initially loads you have a search bar, you can type in a state name

nitsua60

15:09

@kviiri There are. And you don't have to be in the Upper Peninsula to see it. In plenty of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Tennessee (the ones I've got relevant experience with) on major (interstate and large state highway) roads like @DForck42 mentions you'll see a town pretty-regularly. But get onto smaller state or county roads and you may drive an hour without seeing a structure.

DForck42

I searched missouri

then click on States - Missouri

nitsua60

(Heck, in parts of Texas and Maine--again, limiting to my direct experience--you can drive half an hour and still be on the same parcel of land.)

DForck42

click on perform analysis on selection area

Anne Aunyme

ok, I'm looking for kansas

DForck42

then select either home or work

I tend to run it for All jobs

then click go

on the left I tend to uncheck point overlay, it makes it too busy imho

at the top you can click hide chart/report to get rid of the right sidebar

there's a tab on the left called base map that lets you play with what's visible

it's a very powerful tool once you figure out how to use it (took me a while too at first)

Anne Aunyme

15:13

What I see is that the majority of the surface is covered by less that 5jobs/miles²

DForck42

yes

this data comes from employment data, so those that have reported some sort of income

GreySage

@DForck42 I've always found it strange that "the Midwest" is most of the eastern US.

Anne Aunyme

(as I selected "homes" and not "jobs", I don't know if that's supposed to be population density)

DForck42

@AnneAunyme it's not quite the same as population density

this data doesn't include anyone under 17 yo I believe

Anne Aunyme

probably, and don't include other people who don't work either

DForck42

15:16

yes

but even with that you'd probably find tha tit doesn't change much

Anne Aunyme

I would need the same map for France to compare with

But anyway, my point was that to me traveling didn't really help me to open to other cultures, rather the opposite.

kviiri

It's funny how foreign the idea of there even being many cities is to me. Not strange, nor inconceivable, just foreign.

NautArch

@AnneAunyme i'm not sure i understand how exposure to other cultures closed your feelings towards them

Anne Aunyme

Before moving I only have heard stuff like "people are like this and that, dumb because of this, bad because of that". As it was the same people saying this than the one telling you strangers are necessarily evil thiefs I didn't took it seriously. Then I moved in the city, and after some years I started to see that it wasn't as far from the reality as I thought. Now I am scared to try to understand another culture and discover that those horrible rumors were true.

NautArch

@AnneAunyme I think that's both fair and unfair. There are bad people everywhere, and there will be times that 'stereotypes' do get supported rather than thwarted. But the exposure to those countries/people/places I think is still a good thing. I'd rather experience things myself and make my own judgements and still learn and see things that I wouldn't if I stayed put.

But I do absolutely understand your viewpoint. There are places I've visited that I no longer want to visit and it's colored my view on the people from those countries. But I also remember that the loudest voices get heard - and often times the loudest voices are the jerks.

Anne Aunyme

15:29

A few years ago I read a book. I don't remember the title, but it was about some guy spending a year among the inuits in the 19th century. There was a reflexion that marked me:

- when you don't know about a culture, you find it weird and joke about it

- when you go there for a short time you are amazed about how awesome it is

- when you have to actually live here, you end up hating it

NautArch

I think that's incredibly accurate (sadly)

godskook

Sounds like a derivation of the "Grass is always greener" saying.

Anne Aunyme

It the book it was pretty extreme (like he was amazed by how respectful toward nature they were, and shocked when he discovered that a family assassinated their grandma because she would be hard to feed the next winter)

DForck42

@AnneAunyme was she famous?

Anne Aunyme

I don't remember, I don't think so

but it was a fiction

It was nice chatting with you, but I have to go

goodbye!

DForck42

15:38

@AnneAunyme ok, cause assassination is usually for famous people. otherwise it's just murder

godskook

Senicide. There's a word for exactly this thing, apparently

DForck42

ahh

Yuuki

@DForck42 Whomst've among us is really famous though?

GreySage

@Yuuki Whomst've?

Yuuki

Whomst've'd?

DForck42

15:45

@Yuuki who has the highest rep?

Yuuki

What is famous though? We're just a tiny speck in the universe, is anyone on Earth really famous?

(Mostly joking, fyi)

@AnneAunyme For some people, I think you can switch up 1 and 3.

@nitsua60 In Texas, you can be driving at highway speeds (60-70 mph) for eight hours and still be in the state.

godskook

16:15

@Yuuki There's ~50 countries in Europe and 50 states in America. The US is more comparable to the EU than to any of the countries, which are in turn more comparable to individual states in America. By land-mass and population, at least.

DForck42

@godskook the US is like the EU, but with more racism

NautArch

17:01

@DForck42 more? I'd say we're pretty equally racist/anti-semetic, etc.

DForck42

17:33

@NautArch really?

Mike Q

@DForck42 Yes. First, the USA is very big and it's hard to make a blanket statement that describes the entire population. Second, overall the USA isn't significantly more or less racist than most other places, however it's arguable that it's a more significant issue to Americans.

DForck42

@MikeQ interesting, I always just assumed we were the worst

except not, if that makes sense

Mike Q

I mean, it's still problematic. But I'd say that racism in America is more likely to gain attention, so they probably perceive it more often, whereas in some other regions (e.g. eastern Europe, India, Middle East) it's more ingrained into the culture.

NautArch

@MikeQ they've/it's been around longer

Mike Q

@NautArch Yes, that's a significant factor.

doppelgreener

17:43

@DForck42 why is the midwest not called the midnorth

NautArch

@doppelgreener Because the "north" is exclusively the Northeast :D

Mike Q

Because Americans have weird naming conventions

doppelgreener

@NautArch ... well i guess that makes sense then

godskook

Because the "North" is likely a hold-out term from when there wasn't a "midwest"

NautArch

although, I guess i'm really wrong. Sorry Pacific Northwest. Although they did add "Pacific" to it, because I guess Northwest is too confusing?

doppelgreener

17:48

@nitsua60 Also we're the only ones allowed to use the pesticide and the acid/alkaline chemicals because otherwise the inadequately forewarned would mistake it for bottled water and then things would be bad for everybody, and we're also the only ones allowed to use the heavy machinery, and some stuff like that.

godskook

@DForck42 Can we keep the sweeping insulting generalizations about large groups of people not supported by rigorous statistics to a minimum, please?

DForck42

@godskook what, I'm not allowed to call my own country racist?

Mike Q

@DForck42 You're technically allowed, but it's an unfair accusation of 320+ million people who you don't know

Why do yall keep starring my common-sense statements? They're not supposed to be profound or anything.

doppelgreener

18:35

We've been maintaining this space to be free of USA political drama so I agree -- I'll remove those messages.

NautArch

back on topic: do you guys give out/get a lot of magic items in 5e?

doppelgreener

→ 8 messages moved to Trashcan

@NautArch i have given out and been given 0 magic items in D&D 5e thus far

this is a great injustice

(... but righting it is pending me playing a D&D 5e game at all)

@MikeQ stars also get used as "i agree" and dammit we'll star all the unprofound junk that's relevant to others' viewing later that we please :P

Yuuki

> Jeff Pinkner (“The Dark Tower”) will write the script for “Venom”

pls

sony pls

doppelgreener

i hear stan lee's in negotiations to get both X-Men and Spiderman back from Sony.

NautArch

@doppelgreener our rotating DM campaign is starting to get absurd with the amount of items. but it's over the top anyway, so may not matter.

just may let the current DM (his first time doing it two nights ago) know to maybe scale it back a bit.

doppelgreener

18:41

and is 👉 👈 this close to finalising the reacquisition.

NautArch

i haven't seen Homecoming or Dark Tower yet.

Yuuki

Homecoming is all right. I mean, it's not going to win any Oscars, but it's all right.

Dark Tower is... the less said of it, the better.

NautArch

and so you want the writer of dark tower to do Venom?

Yuuki

"pls" in this case means "why would you do this thing"

doppelgreener

@NautArch i haven't seen homecoming either, that one fell off my radar!

Yuuki

18:45

@doppelgreener You mean it escaped your Spider-Sense?

godskook

@Yuuki It was alright for Spiderman. However, that was the best Vulture portrayal I've ever seen, as well as a good example-movie of how to write plot-lines that are epic-feeling without being world-destroying.

NautArch

@Yuuki oh! I read that as "pretty please" not "please don't"

doppelgreener

@Yuuki nice :D

Yuuki

@godskook I think Tom Holland did a fantastic job of portraying both Peter Parker and Spider-Man.

Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were good at one or the other, but not both.

DForck42

@doppelgreener thank you

I'm in a mood

godskook

18:53

@Yuuki I like Tom Holland as spiderman/peter, but his portrayal is more "the least of things you could call flawless" than it is "amazing". He just doesn't "pop" for me like... Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth or RDJ do for their roles.

doppelgreener

@DForck42 crisis averted. i left the few messages that brought that conversation about since it seemed to spur some constructive discussion.

DForck42

@doppelgreener thumbs up

Adam

@NautArch I tend to give out a fair share of magic items. But a lot of it is stuff that isn't obviously useful, or that has a relatively compact effect. Not every item is a +1 sword, +1 rod of the pact keeper, or a belt of giant strength for example.

The games I'm a player in basically don't give out magic items at all.

DForck42

alright, so for the game I'm going to dm, I've got a two-weapon fighter (my fiancée), a druid (my oldest niece) and a barbarian (youngest niece). the other three are up in the air, but I trust two of them to make their characters because they've played a lot already. what are good recommendations for the last one, he's never played before

NautArch

@Adam I like some magic items and I think our main campaign has a good variety, but it's just getting silly in our rotating DM one. And some folks have crazy stuff (+2 rod of pact keeper, for instance)

godskook

18:59

@DForck42 5e or 3.5?

DForck42

@NautArch I plan on being pretty giving in my game. I don't want to just hand out +3's, but I'd like to dig into other magical items that aren't used as often

@godskook 5e, sorry

storm king's thunder to be precise

doppelgreener

is there a relatively simple-to-handle cleric archetype?

Adam

@NautArch So, in the two games I've been in as a player, one game had homebrew crafting rules, but they were still kind of working the kinks stuff and so we never got any magic items because we could spit out crafted items the DM felt were just as good. And in the other game, the DM gave out some powerful items a bit too early, and is now struggling to get the balance back.

So we don't really get magic items in that game anymore

godskook

With the size of the party and the relative "bounded accuracy" of 5e, I'd expect that "player preference" would be the most important factor, wouldn't it? Or is this 6th man going to be "that bad" such that you'd want to minimize mechanical considerations?

Adam

I maintain that champion fighter is the easiest and most boring class in the game. But if that player just wants to swing a sword, roll dice, and kill stuff, that's probably the best intro class.

DForck42

19:03

@godskook nah, he's a gamer and I think will pick it up pretty quick. more so interested in just suggesting classes that'll work well within the party, but he's free to make whatever he wants

and if one of my nieces decide they hate their character, I'm gonna let them roll a new one

doppelgreener

@godskook i imagine there's still complex & weighty classes, like the wizard, which would have a more intense learning curve.

NautArch

@DForck42 what types of classes is he drawn to? casters? fighters?

DForck42

@NautArch unsure tbh

I think the only one I'm NOT going to recommend is ranger

NautArch

that silly flowchart may help

rangers are fun! I had a good time trying it out with @Shalvenay in his dungeon run-through.

DForck42

@NautArch nice!

godskook

19:18

@doppelgreener There's not a class in 3.5, and likely not a class in 5e, that I'd personally find "too intense", but yes, that consideration was what I was getting at there.

DForck42

@godskook if he asks about widards i'll be like "they're super awesome, super flexible, and a bit complex. you'll basically have the book out open in front of you to play this class"

Mike Q

19:35

@DForck42 One way to have a lot of magic items without unbalancing the game is to have custom items with unusual or non-numerical benefits, often with some sort of utility purpose that helps the PCs stay on track

DForck42

@MikeQ neat. got a good example?

Mike Q

A small artifact that glows when there is a hidden door within 100 feet. Or if someone nearby tells a lie. It doesn't indicate the direction or position, just glows to indicate "yes".

Adam

Better example more like Mike's, I gave my players a sword that tells them how far underground they are and gives them a general sense of the direction of the nearest path leading up

DForck42

@MikeQ neat. my bard has a wand that lets him know if there are any hidden passages nearby. I haven't used it once

godskook

One of my 3.5 players LOVES his Shiftweave outfit

And it has no mechanical benefit that I can distinguish.

Adam

19:41

I really like that!

GreySage

One of my all-time favourite magic items from 3.5 was the Robe of Infinite Twine. We solved so many problems by throwing enough rope at them...

godskook

Ring of Arming, another 3.5 item without much mechanical benefit, allows you to hide your weapon/armor trivially, but won't make combats harder or easier.(And since the ring itself is still magical, won't enable you to sneak magic items past magical security)

Mike Q

You can also make custom items that provide a small benefit. For example, the rogue can find a +1 dagger that can transform into a masterwork thieves tool. It's just as balanced as owning both the dagger and the tool as separate items, but it's conceptually an interesting feature.

The goal is to hail back to older fantasy stories, where the heroes would find magic items that do a very specific thing, and then they utilize these items to solve problems. Like Sting, the sword that also acts as an orc-detector.

They could even be "joke" items, just to see what your players will do with them. One time I gave a barbarian a magical bar of soap that never ran out. She was amused, and would often use it before social encounters, even though it provided no bonus whatsoever.

DForck42

19:57

@MikeQ hah!

Adam

101

A: Why is mayo in the alchemy jug?

Funnily enough, Christopher Perkins goes into exactly this topic during his 'Storytime'1 speech at PAX South 2017. Summary: Being exhausted and angry about broken air conditioning at WOTC led to them making up a list of silly liquids for the Alchemy Jug. Mayonnaise eventually was the only survi...

DForck42

20:13

@Adam hah!

godskook

@MikeQ Note, Sting was supernaturally sharp, which in 3.5 was modeled as an enhancement bonus.

Yuuki

20:52

@MikeQ Actually, all elf-forged blades glowed blue in the presence of orcs not just Sting.

Orc detection being a unique property of Sting was more of a movie thing.

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