@fectin fyi, saw your flag, thanks for raising it -- raise a rude/abusive flag for content like that (instead or as well) since moderators will still see it but also the system auto-deletes content once it hits 6 spam or abusive flags, so users can beat moderators to it if they use those flags (and often do).
@Adam They would have. And they did. They wrote letters and postcards to them all the time, and even called the Gygax house. (Source: Empires of Imagination.) The key differences are that in the one case they took their time, sorted through, and answered selected questions weeks-to-months later in Dragon, in writing, in paragraphs. In the second case Gary chatted with people, had context, and told them what he'd done in similar situations. None of that sounds like twitter to me.
In our 5e game, I was put on the spot for some loot the players were promised by a Hill Gnome. When it came time for their reward, I made up a dagger that can paralyze whatever it stabs, gave it to our Dragonborn Fighter, and it really threw off the balance of the game. It's all he ever uses anym...
@nitsua60 ok well,... Putting my dislike of it aside I don't think relying on a movie to expose you to what the game is like is necessarily a winning strategy
The reason I dislike the franchise in the first place is that they made 2 million (obvious exaggeration) games of it and barely changed anything other than setting each time
I've heard enough good things about the newest AC game, from people who seem to share my wariness of the previous ones, that I might get it when it's picked up by GOG and goes on sale there.
Ah yes I remember when I used to tell stories by flashlight about the horrific hellhounds, apocalyptic archangels, creepy changelings, and other fantastic supernatural creatures such as these:
> I suppose you could say the film made me slightly more likely to play one of the games, but only because I'd do just about anything before I saw this movie again.
Hey guys, my druid is wearing something like a large leather trenchcoat with a good few straps, buckles, etc all over it. Can I merge the jacket and leave other parts dangling out
basically picture straps, patches, buckles, connecting to the jacket. I wanted to merge the jacket and have straps left on my character, easy areas for someone to potentially grab (ally or foe)
@Yuuki In most D&D-like versions of druid, their ability to shapeshift into animals includes subsuming all worn and carried objects into their form so they look like a normal animal--not an animal wearing a hat and tangled in the tattered shreds of a shirt.
Depending on which game Skyler is playing and how their druid is built, the druid may be able to choose which clothing to merge or not, and possibly even modify clothing to fit the new form.
@Yuuki I think it's covered by the rules. "Any equipment that the form can't wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it." Skyler's explicitly contemplating a piece of equipment partially merging and partially not, neither being worn nor dropping to the ground.
They can totally talk to their GM and I don't see any huge problems with it, but I do think it's covered.
I got done a few weeks ago with reading One River, and the description of flooding in some areas of South America was also a thing I am glad doesn't happen here
One of the #icecubecars belongs to my office mate. He's bummed, obviously, but as a structural engineer he's also really psyched to get a look at it after a thaw so he can see what the freeze did to it.
Repost: Things you should know but didn't know you needed to know before knowing:
A nasothek is a collection of the broken noses of statues and busts.
Now you know.
when your players are in a town bustling with dozens of adventure hooks and they're like "sorry, we'd love to help but we've gotta return our horse cart rental" #JustDungeonMasterThings
Newly discovered Caihong juji, a winged dinosaur that roamed what is now China around 161 million years ago, likely had colorful feathers https://trib.al/E8T7Nte
@eimyr Well the game mechanic certainly improved after the first installment, but I think that's got more to do with the first installment being bad than the latter ones being particularly good.
Although I must admit, I have no experience with any Assassin's Creed after III so my info has slowly crept from "relatively fresh" to "hopelessly outdated" territory.
@eimyr Yuh, it was a huge step up from the first one. Although it also undid some of the more charming bits of the first game, like the villains having more personality.
I tried to play AC1 and had the following complaints: The gameplay loop of sneak - assassinate - fight - run away was samey and unchallenging, combat itself had poorly designed options (OP block-counter, terrible everything else), the story was pretty bland and the themes suffered from jarring mode-switching between history and animus-abstergo subplots.
recently I tried AC4 and enjoyed it. The gameplay loop was improved by making sneaking more like a puzzle and a fight more like a skirmish, assassinations each came with a twist, combat was satisfying with enough options and tools to keep me engaged (except the smoke bomb which was an easy way out of every combat). The story was bland, but PIRATES, just enough interesting NPCs to make it passable. Very light on Abstergo rubbish, could play for hours before being reminded of it.
Hi @NurSharifah, welcome to the chat. Only users with reputation over 20 can talk here, but you're welcome to lurk until then :)
@eimyr It's a realistic FPS, you carry a maximum of 2 weapons, damage is tracked per limb (being shot in the legs slows you down and eventually makes you fall prone), when you switch magazines it doesn't give you accurate ammo count, just "magazine is heavy" or "magazine is light", bullets have realistic physics
It has tanks but they are almost impossible to use because you need the historically accurate roles (driver, gunner, commander) to have 3 separate people assigned
@nitsua60 I you mean the SmokeDetector, the loyal instrument of our digital overlords? Absolutely, it can be serious and funny at the same time, all hail Siri.
@NautArch It is the experience of the digital overlord that patrons of the mandatory field trip do not request a refund after they are processed at the destination.
@NautArch Your knowledge of Paranoia is against the rules of Paranoia. Please proceed to the termination chamber, your assigned cabin symbol is: pineapple.
Two-handed sword that belonged to the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II, 1689. http://pipedreamdragon.tumblr.com/post/169727672606/bagged-a-bazooka-coolartefact-two-handed
@nitsua60 @NautArch @SPavel I'm currently working on ways to tweak Animate Dead, since it only allows you to animate humanoids. What do you guys think on a rule that says you can animate a creature that has a HP equal to the total HP of zombies or skeletons that can be summoned using the spell.
For example: a 9th level Animate Dead can bring back 8 zombies with 42 HP each (assuming a 20th level wizard). That should be enough to animate a white dragon as a zombie, since its HP max is under 336 HP.
Yeah, but CR is based on HP. Besides, the way I see it, having more zombies is better than a powerful one, due to the importance of action economy in D&D.
Think of it this way: with the 8 zombies every time you deal 42 damage (caveat: undead fortitude) you take down the opposition's action-economy by a notch. In the case of the zombie dragon that's not the case.
I would also note that having one beefy zombie means that if enemies deal a total of 300 HP to your flock, you still have 1 zombie, so your investment is much more secure
Having many zombies, you will lose them quickly and need to replenish them, so the power of having zombies is checked by their attrition
So I'm a brand new GM and a fairly new player. I ran my first session for a group of friends the other day and it just spiralled out of control and ended in complete chaos. I chose Dungeon World because I liked the ruleset and it was quite easy to pick up. I'm still very new at running a game so ...
@NautArch I've looked at doing it by CR values and by size, and the math isn't great. Also, my players feel that a 9th level spell should be able to get you a better companion than a CR 4 undead.
@QuantumDM Hmm, and they think this isn't powerful enough? "When you cast this spell using a 7th-level spell slot, you can animate or reassert control over four ghouls. When you cast this spell using an 8th-level spell slot, you can animate or reassert control over five ghouls or two ghasts or wights. When you cast this spell using a 9th-level spell slot, you can animate or reassert control over six ghouls, three ghasts or wights, or two mummies."
@QuantumDM But that may mean that the "good" answer is "slow down, let's tackle some issues big-to-small, others have to wait until you've developed your own feel/style."
I think you're being too lenient on the players. If I sat down with a group who knew it was my first time with a system and they deliberately did things to make me uncomfortable, confused and not have fun, I'd walk away in an instant - not worth it
@NautArch I don't think it's necessarily a question of power. It's more of a question of diversity and RP. I'm running an evil campaign, and my party is a cabal of necromancers.
@QuantumDM Hmm, I mean they're talking about upcasting Animate Dead, but they do have access to Create Undead. If they want more powerful, use the morep owerful spell (and upcast it)
@Wibbs Sometimes you don't necessarily have your pick of the audience, and starting with a demanding group can be good. It's the Beatles phenomenon: they started in rowdy bar in Liverpool, and that's where they got good.
@NautArch I think the main problem is the restriction to humanoid-like undead always fostered on the players, whether it'd be using Animate Dead, Create Undead, Finger of Death or even the Wand of Orcus.
@Wibbs To each their own :) I started with an online crowd, which as you know is rarely the best. It made me learn to think on my feet, and more importantly it taught me that sometimes you have to put your foot down and tell them that you're the one running the game.
@Wibbs I found a way I could feel comfortable editing and reopen-voting. Mind taking a quick look at my last revision for a sanity-check? (Feel free to invoke the sanity clause.) cc:@doppelgreener
I'm not sure I'm even a fan of that particular tag's existence. It seems like a meta-tag. Or some sort of anti-tag. Is system-agnosis really a thing someone around here can be expert in?
@NautArch Create Undead is still humanoid-like ("Choose up to three corpses of Medium or Small humanoids within range."). I'm looking more for ways to create the other types of undead in the MM (like minotaur skeletons and undead ogres and the like). But you guys are right, the CR system is probably better. I'll try to come up with a ritual that allows them to either burn several spell slots at once to animate even better undead, or to allow a form of group casting.
(Then again, by the site's standards I'm one of the top experts in the-tag-that-shall-not-be-named and I still don't really have a clue what people are trying to accomplish with it.)
@kviiri That's actually pretty neat. THat means they have to cleanse it, kill a dragon (or whatever creature they want to animate), and get it there. It gives them the ability to do something awesome, but it ain't easy.
@QuantumDM ah, gotcha. I was looking at pure power potential - not just 'form'. I still think Create Undead is your choice - not Animate Dead. Maybe look at similar CR creatures for ways to increase options.
@kviiri I thought about it. Originally, they wanted an undead dragon at the head of their army and I told them that the way to do it was to make it a dracolich and then use Control Undead on it. I think I'll revisit that.
It's actually a system in Dungeon World, for Wizards. One of the more loosely defined ones. Basically the Wizard says what they want to do with magic and the GM tells them what they have to do to make it happen.
@QuantumDM I'm leaning more and more towards @kviiri's idea for giving your players something awesome. It removes all limits other than the logistics of actually doing it (which are real logistics)
@QuantumDM let us know how it works - but definitely think about how they'd get the creature there. And make them fight it! Don't just give them the dead thing they want :)
@kviiri great idea, sir! Now I'm thinking about how to incorporate something like that if I end up doing a campaign.
My players had fun last week trying to solve a murder mystery... or at least they laughted like mad when they went from place to place, shocking the family and friends with telling them the gross details of the murder scene... They did even go so far as to try to ask the family for the corpse for an autopsy... they backed off as I reminded them that Anatomy is a skill that is pretty much banned and defiling a corpse is heresy.
@NautArch The right incentives I guess. Either insult the dragon's mother or steal one of its jewels. And slay the first wave of minions sent to retrieve it so the dragon has to do it on its own!
I'm trying to do idea crafting for a Fate game with a shared worldgen (agreed to be cyberpunkish but will be done in Session 0) and a heavy emphasis on the players having narrative freedom. Might prove interesting.
However, I'm not exactly sure how a group of 3-4 people will keep the game from fragmenting into 3-4 separate games.
@kviiri over in fate chat, @BESW and @trogdor and I have been working through exactly that kind of problem.
More notably a solution to it.
We have a shared game world called Amaterasu which is about weird science. We based it around properties like hellboy and atomic robo and xfiles and warehouse 13. However different players were only familiar with subsets of those properties, and they have very different tones.
So we decided a way to resolve that would be to figure out the influences we're each bringing to the game, and agree on a core set of common influences which would form our game's palette of tropes, narrative flow, tone, etc.
@kviiri ttfn!!
We recently found a TV show called the Librarians. BESW got all three of us into it. It does what our story does so we'll likely build around it as a core narrative influence.
@NautArch yes, the very same! i'm into season 2 of the TV show, BESW's seen a lot more plus the movies, and trogdor's seen 4 TV episodes. i plan to see the movies soon too.
THe movies were kitchy fun, but I'm so far behind on all my shows and can't add another. But I did completely catch up on the Dresden Files :) Reading the ancillary stuff now (Side Jobs)
@SPavel Librarians are people who go out and find untamed magic, misused magic, or dangerous magical artifacts, end any danger connected to them, then bring them back to ~THE LIBRARY~ to be archived out of the hands of anyone who would misuse them (or worse, use them for evil) out of an effort to keep magic from unsafely affecting the world.
It's pretty fun, can be pretty serious, and isn't afraid to be both at once. The protagonist's best friend in the pilot episode is Excalibur, the legendary sword, which makes dog noises.
Like barking and yapping excitedly, growling territorially, etc
@NautArch Usually that is the case, but not always. Sometimes a group can pull off an evil player character and the other players accept it.
Alternatively, this is a That Guy problem, but that issue has been asked and answered so many times, such that it's not worth including in this new question. Or they already know how to handle the antagonizing player.
@MikeQ It is extremely hard to imagine that this player is actually enhancing fun for the group. Almost every single party of new players has that person that is a rogue and goes around stealing from everone including the PCs and it is just never fun in my experience.
@NautArch It is hard to imagine that he snuck and stole successfully in the middle of a battle without being seen by anybody, but yeah I'm hoping the DM played it out right.
@Rubiksmoose Oh I know. It's very unlikely that their behavior benefits anyone, but still possible that the other players tolerate some competitive play.
@NautArch well you roll stealth to take the hide action. If you are trying to conceal your location, hide is correct. At least according to my understanding
@SPavel broken maybe. You're giving up your Action for that round. Unless you're a rogue with Cunning Action, a fighter doing an Action Surge, or have Haste going.
@SPavel An engaged Dodging character in 5e would still take Opportunity ATtacks if they ran away. They'd need to take the Disengage action to run away cleanly :)
Reason #1 why I have to get books from the library: Took me 6 months to read the current Dresden Files series (15 books). I simply can not afford to buy my books. :D
@SPavel I always feel pretty bad though because I want everybody's question to be answered. The obviously bad ones get downvoted right away by me though.
Downvoting doesn't have to just be by itself, it can include a comment about what to improve in order to both get good answers and change one's downvote to an upvote.
@Rubiksmoose I downvoted, if that helps. I understand what TJL is saying, but not having any idea what saving throws are for is a bit of a sign of poor research.
@PeterCooperJr. The best part is when the downvoters leave a comment, but their comment is wrong, and then they don't upvote when the mistake is pointed out
@SPavel huh. That seems weird. If I see a wrong tag I retag not downvote. Maybe most of the people that do that to you don't have enough rep to retag you?
