TRPG General Chat

9:00 PM

And yeah it was your recommendation that made me look at it. :)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uRxyN9FE7byF08iT6bON_Fc6seCyh_0J While I was working on my Friday night Monster of the Week game, I made up this version of the Mystery Prep sheet for @MotW_rpg. Hopefully it might be of some use to other Keepers out there. #rpg

Tweeted by KnightErrant_JR on June 7, 2018 at 2:34 AM

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch Update: she's using standard OoA oaths. My consensus was definitely that she was stressing over nothing, but the DM did the best solution and offered her in-game relief without sacrificing immersion.

NautArch

9:21 PM

@Rubiksmoose heh, good call. She gotta relax, though

Zachiel

9:51 PM

I've been thinking about rolling a new character lately, but I'm intimidated by my own will to adhere to canon. Also, Maybe I should at least make a token attempt at changing the spell list of my current character before wantedering in idle thoughts.

Mike Q

@Zachiel 1. What would you be changing from? 2. What would you be changing to? 3. What canon is the problem?

Zachiel

@MikeQ I'd be rolling a new, separate character (west-marches campaign, same world, lower level character) 2. I'd like to roleplay a voodoo lady, similar to the one in the Monkey Island series: large and solemn, with some dark humour and talking about destiny and predestination and having a mysterious aura. I'd like to be faithful to the FR setting and to (fictional or real) voodoo

I know jack about voodoo apart having played Monkey Island, having seen that James Bond movie where they raise zombies, having read Gurps Voodoo once and having read some western stories that had baron-samedi-like opponents.

Also, when I tink voodoo I usually think about scrawny girls with rasta hair and bad teeth, I don't know why.

Mike Q

Live and Let Die didn't have real zombies, that was a guy dressed as Baron Samedi, a spirit-god

Zachiel

Of course I know that I want to cast fog spells, maybe have a crocodile pet, walk with a staff and cast mond control spells, even if they are weak. DMs will surely throw something controllable at me, every now and then.

Yuuki

IIRC, voodoo (or vodou) consists of a quasi-pantheon of spirits subservient to a singular Creator deity. Worship and prayer mostly revolves around the pantheon of spirits (called loa).

Mike Q

10:05 PM

@Yuuki Pretty much, yeah.

Druid, cleric, warlock maybe

Yuuki

Adherents are aligned with a particular loa and each loa has its own taboos and codes.

Zachiel

Can voodoo have something in common with D&D book magic?

it looks spirit shaman to me but druid/wizard into arcane hyerophant would be great

Mike Q

Voodoo

Voodoo may refer to: == Religions == See also: Afro-American religion for a list of related religions which are sometimes called or mistaken for Vodou/Voodoo. Brazilian Vodum, one of the major branches (nations) of Candomblé Cuban Vodú, a syncretic religion that developed in the Spanish Empire Dominican Vudú, a syncretic religion that developed in the Spanish Empire Haitian Vodou, a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti Louisiana Voodoo or New Orleans Voodoo, a set of African-based spiritual folkways West African Vodun, practiced by Gbe-speaking ethnic groups of Africa == Technology... ==

There are different regional branches of voodoo, with different practices

Also what system is the game in?

Zachiel

D&D 3.5, with a specific subset of manuals and rules

Mike Q

@Zachiel As for connecting it to D&D magic, it would definitely be divine of some sort. In the actual religion, practitioners are all about communing with the spirits, conducting ceremonies as worship, and borrowing the spirits' power to cast spells and hexes and curses and whatnot

Zachiel

10:11 PM

@MikeQ spirit shaman :(

and maybe hexblade

Yuuki

You can be a Wizard and practice voodoo, although it might be odd. Casting spells could be flavored as giving offerings in return for a loa to intercede on your behalf.

Zachiel

yeah, no voodoo books with rituals

BESW

Media depictions of "voodoo" tend to be... very very wrong, and to confuse aesthetically or culturally adjacent practices as well as outright made-up-for-fiction elements.

Zachiel

@BESW I'm ok with media descriptions

BESW

(see also Hoodoo, Vodun, Bò, Yoruban Juju, Santería...)

https://warhorn.net/events/gopher-mafia-games/schedule/2018/06/08/sessions/244648 If you happen to be in the Champaign-Urbana area, there is still room in my Monster of the Week game at Gopher Con this Friday night. I'd be thrilled to run for you! @MotW_rpg #rpg

Tweeted by KnightErrant_JR on June 7, 2018 at 4:06 AM

Mike Q

10:18 PM

@BESW ...Yeah, I was unsure how to address this aspect. Personally I wouldn't try to RP what is basically a stereotype of a real cultural group, especially if I didn't know much about it... but I didn't want to imply that it was badwrongfun

BESW

I'd love to read some Akata-style "own voices" urban fantasy about Afro-Caribbean syncretic spiritualism, but I'm not aware of any. [goes digging]

Zachiel

goodnight to me, anyway

goodwhatever to you all

BESW

ttfn

GreySage

10:34 PM

1

Q: What is the difference between sapience and sophonce?

The words sentient and sapient have fairly clear meanings, but the neologism sophont appears to be a synonym of sapient. Yet in a number of fiction a kind of hierarchy is made between the three. In a fair amount of science fiction, the word sentient is misused as a synonym of sapient. In fiction...

terminology

I know people have discussed this topic here before, so maybe they can take a stab at it

BESW

And now I have three Daniel José Older books in my TBR.

user15026

10:48 PM

I need to read what I have of his :D

BESW

I'm almost done with the Rachel Peng series, then I should probably finish Master of the House of Darts.... maybe THEN I'll get into Older.

And Trail of Lightning comes out later this month!

Kieran Mullen

11:27 PM

I have a question about whether a posting is appropriate for rpg.se. May I ask it here?

Mike Q

@KieranMullen Go ahead

Kieran Mullen

About a week ago I asked for ways to role-play PC's getting info from (what amounts to) an information demon. I did not want them to "roll versus their poker skill" or simply cut cards. I wanted something with a bit of tension and a bit of skill that seemed thematic. I came up with five or six different ideas. Is it appropriate to post them as "Here are fun things to do in a scene like this"?

Mike Q

@KieranMullen Not as a question, no. It would get closed as either open-ended or opinion-based.

Kieran Mullen

I thought of posting the question and answer, but it is more akin to posting a module or a new monster of the like. It doesn't seem appropriate here.

BESW

You'd need to ask the question as if you didn't have an answer, written so that others can answer it too within the Stack format as normal.

Kieran Mullen

11:33 PM

How about this: I did some calculations of dice probabilities in a particular game and figured out the chance of success with the GM rolls N dice and the the player rolls P dice for the rules in that game. I thought it might be useful to other GM's to rate difficulty in that gaming system. Is that appropriate?

BESW

Having an answer already doesn't change the guidelines that questions need to adhere to.

Mike Q

@KieranMullen If your goal is to pick one of these ideas, you could pose it as "Which of the following options for a puzzle is most thematic?", but even that is very likely to get closed as opinion-based

nitsua60

@KieranMullen To expand on BESW's correct guidance there ^^, does "what is the probability that GM wins given $RULES?" strike you as a good question for the site? (Specifically: did it actually give you trouble at some point?) If so, go ahead and ask it. And if you know the answer, go ahead and answer.

54

Q: What is the probability of surviving my death saves?

If my character drops to 0HP but is not killed instantly by massive damage, what is the probability that I will stabilize via death saves unassisted/unhindered? As a refresher, here are some of the rules on death saves: Death Saving Throws. Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you...

dnd-5e statistics

^^ is an example of exactly such a thing.

Kieran Mullen

Thanks. I probably will post it if I can figure out a good way to format the result.

Mike Q

If your goal is just to say "Here is a thing that I did", then use the chat here, or maybe a forum. Either way you'll get feedback

Generally speaking, if you want to brainstorm or get feedback or share an anecdote, just use the chat

Plus, if you're lucky, @BESW will be here to snipe all the bad ideas and gradually write your campaign for you

nitsua60

11:50 PM

@MikeQ I agree. On the other hand if it's "people keep asking so I sat down and did the sums" (which is what prompted me on the death save question) then it might be a good fit for mainsite.

BESW

@MikeQ oops?

nitsua60

(I assume "snipe" in the "on a rooftop seven timezones away, culling away lingering bad ideas who never saw him coming" sense rather than in the "carping needlessly" sense.)

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