TRPG General Chat

12:03 AM

@V2Blast Im in the same boat as you, I too haven’t played those past editions and I assumed that phrase in the spells description to be a reminder about Rule 0, essentially saying to players “hey, we don’t know what you’re going to try and use this spell for, but don’t be surprised if your DM doesn’t let you do something extremely powerful with this spell”.

BESW

I'm gonna take this as a lesson for my own game designs, not to be coy by using in-world phrasing to signal table-level policies.

Liam Morris

@BESW A wise decision. Something that might also be a good idea is to avoid mixing flavour and rules, this rarely leads to a good outcome and often just creates confusion, as this discussion shows.

Miniman

@BESW Yeah, 5e suffers enormously by its lack of fluff/crunch separation.

Even moreso by its insistence that it has no fluff text facepalm

BESW

@Miniman Which saddens me because we know they could do it: 4e was really good at that.

Miniman

@BESW And 5e is really good at forgetting the things 4e was good at, sadly.

BESW

12:12 AM

And that's part of why I feel like 3.x context is legit to bring to 5e content; it's filled with 3.x thinking and in some places even 3.x text copy-pasted and not modified to properly fit its new 5e context.

KorvinStarmast

@Miniman Gygax and his 00's predate warhammer by something like two decades. But it's funny: is a high roll, or a low roll, that you want?

BESW

Though these days I'm getting really interested in games which legitimately don't need to make that fluff/crunch distinction, at least as much if not moreso than games which are good at making the distinction.

It's really cool to see what designers are doing when they break out of those structural assumptions.

KorvinStarmast

People who insist on fluff / crunch distinctions I find far more difficult than trying to sort through whether there is one, or not, on my own and with my group.

MikeQ

@KorvinStarmast WH40k TTRPGs use a d100 system where you want to roll below some value. Rolling 00 means rolling a 100.

Miniman

12:31 AM

@KorvinStarmast The funny part (at least to me) is that in D&D, it's theoretically a desirable outcome. But the consequences are often sufficiently gamebreaking that it's actually far more of a disaster than the warhammer outcomes.

Ben

12:42 AM

Morning all

Quick, off-topic question. Why do some users have italic usernames? In this specific circumstance, @BESW and @Miniman are the two I can see

MikeQ

@Ben Methinks it's because they're room ops for this room

BESW

@Ben We're room owners with access to room-specific moderation tools.

Ben

Thought it might be along those lines.

Some identifier to show a different level.

Liam Morris

@Ben Good (very early) morning from the UK :P

Ben

@LiamMorris It's almost 2am there, no?

BESW

12:47 AM

@Ben You may not have noticed earlier because until a few days ago I was the only room owner since Brian Ballsun-Stanton left.

Liam Morris

@Ben Almost 1, our clocks went back an hour a few days ago

Miniman

@Ben Wait, where do you see that? I never noticed that.

Ben

Potentially. Now I think about it though, I think it was specifically Miniman's name. I remember yours being italics always, but thought nothing of it

BESW

Liam Morris

@Miniman Its the name right next to your profile picture

Ben

12:49 AM

@Miniman On the web version of the site. I'm not sure if it shows up on the mobile version

Liam Morris

@BESW That works too :P

@Ben Just checked, no it doesnt

Ben

There we go :)

Liam Morris

You also can’t see blue names on the mobile version for some reason

Miniman

@Ben Ah, that's the one.

BESW

Blue? Nobody's names are blue in chat.

Ben

12:51 AM

We all know who the RPG.SE Gods are

Mods*

Liam Morris

@BESW The moderators are

Ben

Liam Morris

Oh of course, they’re green if your name is @doppelgreener :P

BESW

Ben

Lolol. Brilliant :P

BESW

12:54 AM

Next you'll be telling me you can't roll fudge dice.

Ben

Is there a chance that someone has a guide/blog about writing a adventure guide for a custom D&D adventure?

Liam Morris

Most likely, though i wouldnt know where you’d look for that

Miniman

@Ben Pretty sure I've seen something along those lines before. Although from memory it was missing the snarky "the official adventures do not follow this advice" comments.

Ben

I'm also investigating some writing techniques to manage a story written from the first person perspective of a character with the personality of a binary PC

Hot RPG Questions

12

Q: Can Fire Bolt be twinned?

Spells that can target more than one creature can't be twinned, even if they are used to target only one. Spells targeting objects can't be twinned, and Fire Bolt can target either creatures or objects. Are both conditions for twinning -"single target" and "creature target"- applied based on...

Ben

12:58 AM

@HotRPGQuestions no, that doesn't look like what I'm after. Thanks though

BESW

Hmmm.

This probably isn't helpful either.

Jul 29 at 23:50, by BESW

The Pulp Plot Framework, a Spirit of the Century adventure structure guide.

Miniman

@Ben Binary?

Ben

Well it is helpful, because it clarifies that I asked my question incorrectly haha.

Liam Morris

Yeah, a Personal Computer that works on 0’s and 1’s :P

BESW

Feb 16 '18 at 3:52, by BESW

Mary Kowal delves into her process for writing "The Worshipful Society of Glovers." Includes tools and structures useful for RPG story creators, too.

Same Sykes has some good insight into how to pace your writing.

Ben

1:01 AM

I have all of the information - the monsters, the plot, the NPCs etc, I just am looking for a standard format of how to lay it all out. Like "intro; basic plot; pasrt 1; npcs (refer appendix d) etc

@Miniman Lol. I'm writing a short story based around my DH techpriest character.

He has literally no personality

Works entirely on a "request-response" interaction.

BESW

@Ben Maybe the DMs Guild Creator Resource - Style Guide Resources would be helpful?

DMs Guild Creator Resource - Adventure Template

Affinity Publisher Template and Beginner's Guide

Ben

Wow awesome!

Thanks :D

BESW

R🐘 search.

Liam Morris

@Ben I find On Writing and Worldbuilding by Timothy Hickson to be very useful, he has a series on Youtube but he’s also written a book about it. The book has an exclusive chapter about how he plans a novel which you might find helpful, you can either buy a physical book or get it on Kindle (or the Kindle app).

The channel is called Hello Future Me if you’re interested in seeing what he has to offer

Ben

A Servant of the Machine God; This is what I've written up so far, of an afternoon one day. No preplanning or anything... just putting words down on the paper (in a figurative sense)

If I write up a plan, references, perspectives and all that, it'll definitely help the development. I want it to be interesting because of his different perspective of things; little to no emotion; entirely logical, rather than that being the reason people detach, as they (may not) relate to him.

BESW

1:14 AM

If you're looking to spend a little cash on making it happen, Scrivener is an amazing writing tool.

Very few people need specialized tools to make writing happen, but some people find that the right tool makes it a lot easier.

Hot RPG Questions

4

Q: Should I classify the homebrew race I'm working on as a large race?

These are bug-people, who can wield normally-sized weapons (they have 2 sets of small hands). They are typically about 9 feet in height. Should I, and would it be a wise choice to, classify them as a large race?

dnd-5e homebrew races creature-size

Ben

@BESW Is this for the adventure, or the short story?

BESW

Both, in my experience.

Ben

Ah fair enough

BESW

In fact...

nitsua60

1:29 AM

@HotRPGQuestions nope.

Ben

@HotRPGQuestions I immediately pictured an insectoid T-Rex

BESW

Future Folk - "Sting Theory" Live at Pete's Candy Store, Brooklyn NY 3/30/14

►

@Ben I gotchu covered.

Ben

@BESW That's amazing.

XD

BESW

Jamila R. Nedjadi explains why they made I Built A Church In My Heart For You And It's Full Of Ghosts: Someone... said something like "I tell designers to not bother with a layout or images until the game is complete, and look for a publisher first." And I said, you know what, [h*ck] that. I wanna make an overly gorgeous mess of a game.

Liam Morris

@Ben Just read through your story, seems really interesting. I like the cold and clinical approach to things Hadden has “The thumb on the left hand is hyperextensive. Interesting. Ultimately useless.”, you’ve definitely captured that binary feel i think.

Ben

1:40 AM

@LiamMorris I do have fun with those parts :D

BESW

I confess to preferring a different kind of digital personhood in my fiction.

Ben

@BESW I do like this too. It's a bit different IMO to the main character in my story though. RobotFan does not have emotions, but seems to be interested I learning about them. Hadden (my character) is very much not. Lol

Liam Morris

I’ll be honest, it was a little bit confusing at first because i didn’t know it was more of a sci-fi/fantasy story but, if i knew that going in, that wouldn’t have been an issue. This line is a bit confusing though “ Assignment:- Torian, Hadden : Crimson Guard” as it makes you think that Hadden is the assignment, feels like the name and role should be on a different line.

Ben

Ok, that's a fair point.

One of my biggest issues is that I write things with the knowledge that I know what I'm talking about, but I have a hard time capturing all of the necessary information to portray that to others.

BESW

Jan 8 '18 at 9:14, by BESW

> I write every paragraph four times - once to get my meaning down, once to put in anything I have left out, once to take out anything that seems unnecessary, and once to make the whole thing sound as if I had only just thought of it.
- Margery Allingham

Ben

1:50 AM

Interesting! That would certainly help build a better perspective

BESW

Writing: voyage out, voyage back

Apr 12 '13 at 21:53, 2 minutes total – 6 messages, 1 user, 0 stars

Bookmarked Sep 8 '13 at 11:46 by BESW

I'm not a professional writer but I spend a lot of time around them.

Ben

@BESW I think this is what I do actually. Though probably in shorter voyages.

I'll write one chapter or half chapter, then hack at it, then move onto the next one.

nitsua60

51

Q: New Post Notices rollout on Stack Overflow

As has been previously announced, we have been working for some time on a full refresh for post notices. I am happy to announce that all initial development work and testing has been completed, and that the new notices are now live on Stack Overflow. During our initial launch period these will ...

discussion closed-questions post-notices announcements

(Just fyi)

Ben

Though in saying that as I write more, I probably make my sweeps cover everything I have written up to the latest pointr

Liam Morris

@Ben Also a lot of the terminology seem’s like things like things i should know but aren’t really explained or described like the Potentia Coil, Cogitator integrator and Servo Skull but most other things you can have a guess at what they are. From how the Servo Skull was presented, it seems like a floating personal assistant made out of bone? Omnissiah comes up a few times but i’d imagine thats a machine-messiah or similar.

BESW

1:58 AM

Jan 29 '18 at 11:59, by BESW

Beverly Cleary would write the last page and then go back to the beginning and write to find out how the characters would get to that ending.

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: Would webs catch fire if Fire Bolt is used on a creature inside of them?

Webs created using the Web spell will catch fire if exposed to flame. If Fire Bolt is cast on a creature caught in the webs, would that count as exposing them to fire? Or would the webs ignite only if a fire spell is targeting them?

dnd-5e spells targeting

trogdor

Hmm

I feel like I would have to figure out how things start first

Ben

@LiamMorris Yes, this is all in-universe stuff from the WH40K Universe

trogdor

And then how things end

And work between them to the middle

Liam Morris

@Ben Ah okay, that would explain why i don’t know a lot of the terms then.

BESW

2:00 AM

Ursula Vernon writes all the scenes she knows how to write, and then figures out which can be edited to fit together into a coherent story and last she fills in the joining bits.

trogdor

Lol

I write like a page if story and then give up and delete it

XD

Black Spike

40k prides itself on throwing flavoursome-yet-unexplained concepts out there.

(well, it used to, until people started taking it seriously ...)

BESW

...sounds like Doctor Who.

Ben

@trogdor Haha. I've done that many a time as well. Sometimes I just write stuff that has no context, or setting, it just sounds cool.

Black Spike

@BESW Indeed so. And a compliment to both! :D

@Ben Isn't that the Big Advice for writers? Just write! context? Setting? no, just write! :)

trogdor

2:05 AM

@Ben Lol

I've done it a couple times but I only got really serious enough to do a whole page one time

Then I realized I had nothing other than a concept and I didn't even like it anymore

Ben

I think it's kinda like the writer's version of doodling

Yippie McSmashmouth

My name is Yippie McSmashmouth.

Ben

I have written one short story which I really liked, and wrote to completion, because I started with a plan. Character profile, story arc. The conflict and resolution points, etc.

I then came back, added more to it and kinda feel like it just bloated the whole thing :P

@YippieMcSmashmouth Welcome

BESW

@YippieMcSmashmouth Is there something we can help you with?

Yippie McSmashmouth

No, I just wanted to see how the chat room works.

Ben

2:14 AM

I shall return

BESW

Yeah, I need to learn how to use Affinity artboards. ttfn

nitsua60

ciao

Ben

I have returned

MikeQ

2:29 AM

G'day

Ben

Sup

Black Spike

Hi @YippieMcSmashmouth

Latest news from SpikeVille: Been fighting with Amazon. Ordered a TV (and a few other bits). Things went downhill from there ...

Ben

@BlackSpike did you manage to redirect the wall of cash?

Black Spike

@Ben Tried to side-step it,

Got my TV. Unleashed "Dissatisfied Customer" on their Support Lines

Ben

If you can't play your strengths, exploit their weaknesses :P

Black Spike

2:39 AM

:P

... and "customer support" does appear to be a weakness ... :(

I used to save this level of Ire for TalkTalk, but Amazon are bringing a new level of challenge ...

me: I have a problem
Amazon: We love to help!
me: your communication has been lacking, I'd like to know what's going on
Amazon: #tumbleweed

Liam Morris

2:55 AM

Quick off-topic question, how does one embed links in comments, like how @Ben has made “wall of cash” orange? I know how to do it with questions but its not so obvious in comments. Been around for 7 months but i’ve still never managed to pick up that skill :P

GcL

@Ben How's the madness thing going?

Ben

@LiamMorris [text label](url link)

Liam Morris

Huh, seems so simple now :PP

Ben

@GcL Slowly. Currently on hold but I've got plans on how to move forward

@LiamMorris Yeah, just gotta know how ;)

Liam Morris

i thought there was a more complicated process but obviously not :P

GcL

2:58 AM

@LiamMorris It's pretty standard markdown syntax. At least for posts. A small subset works for comments and chat... but it's ~~weird~~ pathologically different

Ben

Also only on hold due to priorities lying elsewhere haha

GcL

Gotcha.

Ben

Swinging back around though :)

Liam Morris

No idea what markdown syntax is but i imagine it is a computing language of some sort?

GcL

Formatting syntax

# for Heading. Wrap text in ** on either side for bold. Stuff like that.

Ben

3:01 AM

@LiamMorris html stuff. For example surrounding text with backticks (`) also negates other syntax commands

GcL

Lighter and less expressive than HTML or LaTeX, but a heck of a lot easier to type.

Ben

E.g. **This would normally be bold**

MikeQ

# Big heading
## Slightly smaller heading
### Even smaller heading

Liam Morris

Okay gottcha, I know bits and pieces, i mostly learnt from opening up the Edit window on other user’s questions and answers just to peek at the cogs in the machine before cancelling the edit :P

Ben

Sneaky sneaky

Joel Harmon

3:06 AM

@LiamMorris There are pretty comprehensive help docs linked from any given edit box.

Also, note there are some special things; for example, saying [help] or [tour] in comments on questions and answers will link to the respective help or tour pages for the site you're on.

Ben

@JoelHarmon TIL

Liam Morris

@JoelHarmon True, but this was back when i was just starting out on the site. And i know little bits like that as well, how things link to [chat] or Role-playing Games Meta or Role-playing Games etc. or other .SE sites

Joel Harmon

Apparently the comment formatting docs are worth linking again.

On re-read, that may have come across as sarcastic; if so, apologies! That was not the intent.

Liam Morris

@Joel No worries, tone is hard to get across on the internet :P

Ben

The glories of depicting emotion and intent (or lack thereof) through text :P

So, first post over on writing.se

Liam Morris

3:16 AM

But i will say it makes a lot more sense now that i know what it means

Joel Harmon

@Ben I'm pretty sure that's actually the 48770th question over there, but go on.

Ben

There's always that dread that your first post on a new site will always be done wrong, and immediately be closed and downvoted :P

Joel Harmon

(yes, that was sarcasm :) )

Ben

@JoelHarmon 9,074th actually

You got me all excited about getting a round number :P

Joel Harmon

@Ben I went based off the URL, which would include deleted questions. I suspect that makes up the difference.

Ben

3:18 AM

Fair.

That is a huge difference then.

almost 40,000 deleted questions?

Joel Harmon

Deleted and closed, maybe.

I typically only end up over there via HNQ, so I couldn't comment, but I'd guess locally here we're at about that.

Rather, that ratio of 1 in 4 questions remaining open long term.

Liam Morris

Where did you get 48770 from?

Ben

> Interesting, though ultimately useless

:P

Joel Harmon

@LiamMorris If you mouse over that link (or click it, whatever), the URL contains "/questions/48770/" right after the domain name.

Ben

@LiamMorris the url:

https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/48770/using-third-person-character-interactions-to-create-a-relatable-hook-for-a-chara

Joel Harmon

3:25 AM

And I have to agree with Ben here: interesting, but ultimately useless.

(Ben, style note on your question's sample text: change "43" to text for consistency. Also consider using decimals over integers.)

Liam Morris

I think that might actually be the number of users (including deleted accounts)

Ben

@JoelHarmon Noticed that too. And that's a good point. I like it

Joel Harmon

(I'm also not sure how you'd distinguish between lateral and horizontal neck motion)

Liam Morris

Newest user tag is 41916 which is a lot closer to 48770, could even be including the number of guest accounts shrugs

Ben

> Lateral: of, at, towards, or from the side or sides.

So, ear to shoulder

That's what I was going for, anyway

Joel Harmon

3:32 AM

This internet stranger's initial read was that both referred to axial rotation along the spine (chin to shoulder) rather than flexing the spine (ear to shoulder).

Ben

Never mind. I get what you meant.

Joel Harmon

Sure.

Ben

@JoelHarmon Yeah. I think I need to really get into the technical asset descriptions like that. Talk about all the "components of the mechanism".

Joel Harmon

@Ben Estimates on maximum stress and/or expected component lifetimes could be interesting and emphasize an alien intelligence. You could also throw in analyzing things that are unfamiliar to him, like "the subject's pupils dilating and avoiding eye contact indicates 82.3% chance of a lie"

Liam Morris

I’ll just chip in here with when i read it, i understood it as him moving his head ear to shoulder, so currently half your audience correctly interpreted what you wrote :P

Ben

3:39 AM

@JoelHarmon There's definitely going to be some of that. Lol. Taking notes on aspects of interaction with others based on inexplicable events, outside his realm of understanding. Exposure to the source of the anomaly is guaranteed, so understanding the anomaly is beneficial. Otherwise he would likely remove himself, or herself, from the equation.

@LiamMorris Oh yeah, the following sentence though was ambiguous "movement laterally" vs "movement horizontally". Probably should be "rotation horizontally", for example

Liam Morris

Yeah i suppose thats true, i understood though that it meant him turning his head side to side, as if looking across the horizon.

Ben

What's large, grey, and doesn't matter?

Irr🐘s.

Liam Morris

4:06 AM

@Ben Is it an “Interesting. Ultimately useless” elephant?

trogdor

Lol

XD

Ben

@LiamMorris Much like the rest of my humour :P

Liam Morris

Well, i have been up far longer than anticipated :P. Im going to retire for the evening (morning? Dawn? 4:20 am) :P

linksassin

4:21 AM

@Ben I started reading that question from writing's homepage and was like "wait.... I've read this before"

Liam Morris

Ben

@linksassin I was thinking of the Gandalf meme, but then I realised it was "I have no memory of this place", so it didn't work :P

@LiamMorris Night!

Liam Morris

Night guys :P

Ben

Can you request apps on stackapps?

linksassin

@LiamMorris @JoelHarmon It seems to be the post number. If you edit the number to one lower writing.stackexchange.com/questions/48769/… it links to the latest answer on the site.

MikeQ

4:33 AM

@Ben Have you read any good examples of narration where the POV doesn't think like a human?

Ben

I don't think so

linksassin

@Ben They don't seem to have a meta and I can't find an answer on the site but based on the tag wiki for app I would say that no, you can't request applications.

Ben

@linksassin I did find this so, I think the answer is "yes, but only if someone wants to do it"

linksassin

@Ben Hmm.. that would seem to be the case yes. What kind of app are you looking for?

MikeQ

@Ben When it comes to narrative writing, the second-best experience is to read. Lots and lots of reading. Different authors, different styles. Learn the patterns. Ask what works, what doesn't work, and why. Then develop your own style over time.

Ben

4:38 AM

@linksassin My guten<tag> idea :P

@MikeQ Very true.

linksassin

@MikeQ This is basically the writing equivilant of "up to the DM" :P

@Ben I don't think that is possible. It would require the recipients to have the app I think. The central server can only have one version of the transcript. You can't send different messages to different users in the same room.

Ben

In this situation, he is a Techpriest… so it's not all there. He still does experience "emotion", in its chemical form, at the very least. He does get excited about things, or feel a sense of accomplishment.

MikeQ

@linksassin Not at all. I'm not being dismissive. When it comes to writing advice, the answers one finds online are... packaged? processed? They're from the perspective of other people who have read. That's not the same experience as reading firsthand.

Ben

@linksassin Yeah. The idea is that people with the app would receive the appropriate greeting based on their time of day, whereas those that didn't would simply see the input for the trigger (i.e. "guten<tag>")

linksassin

@MikeQ That's not what I meant. I mean how "up to the DM" is basically an appropriate answer to almost every question on rpg.se. Over on writing "read more" is a good answer to basically everything.

Ben

4:47 AM

@linksassin "Talk to the DM" :P

MikeQ

@linksassin I suppose so. It's the kind of solution that isn't always obvious. And it's more a strategy, less so a solution, as it doesn't necessarily solve the presented problem.

The Oracle

5:25 AM

0

Q: What is the best practice for editing in references?

Lately I have been making small edits to posts to include quotes, references to the books, and links to online resources when a question does not include them. Some good examples of this are these two questions: Would webs catch fire if Fire Bolt is used on a creature inside of them? How do the...

discussion editing citations

Ben

Well I just had a very scary moment. Changed a pretty fundamental value in my program that I've been working on for over 5 years.

Very much like the Rick and Morty Episode where Rick topples the Galactic Empire by changing a 1 to a 0.

Except in my case nothing actually broke

linksassin

@Ben Are you sure it's a fundamental value then?

Ben

Pretty fundamental

I mean, technically I just redirected where it got its value from

linksassin

Or are you sure it actually changed? I've had a case where the original author was so confident a constant would never change it was hardcoded everywhere. Changed it in the logical place... Nothing changed.

Ben

That's what I'm checking now.

It's pretty much a situation of value = a is now value = b

BESW

5:59 AM

@BESW You can use the Transform panel to change the size of your artboards!

Ben

Keywords in different sets of syntax is always the confusing part

@linksassin So I did have that issue originally. The value was actually set in two places.

Well, sort of. Lol

Being a program that's been in and out of development for so long, there are a lot of things wrong with it. Not errors, just functionalities that cause it to not work as intended. Lots of fixes, redos and such

On a separate topic, (taking a break from puzzle solving), The Hitman's Bodyguard vs The Good Guys

I disliked Anyone else seen these movies?

linksassin

6:24 AM

I have seen Hitman's Bodyguard. Good for a laugh and some decent action.

V2Blast

@Ben I would maybe change the "paragraph" where his status/height/weight etc. to a monospaced font, simply to make it visually obvious that it's some sort of digital readout. But I don't know if you're looking for that sort of feedback. (There's also one verb tense issue: "these issues will be removed" should be "these issues would be removed".) I do quite like your writing style. :)

@BESW I googled the fictional anime mentioned in the story and ended up at a literature.SE question by Rand al'Thor, who mentioned that you'd made him aware of the story in the first place :P

4

Q: Is "Hyperdimension Warp Record" parodying/referring to a particular anime?

The short story "Fandom For Robots", written by Vina Jie-Min Prasad for Uncanny magazine,1 concerns a robot entering into the fandom of a particular anime TV series. As a member of an online sci-fi/fantasy community myself, I can tell that this is a broadly accurate depiction of such fandoms in g...

story-identification short-stories

Ben

@linksassin So, IMO The Hitman's Bodyguard sets SLJ's character (the Hitman) on the moral high ground (doing all the wrong things for the right reasons), whereas the Bodyguard is the one that needs to be put in his place.

BESW

@V2Blast [amused] Probably over in lit.se chat, when I was still hoping that would be a thing I'd be interested in.

kviiri

God morgon

Ben

In The Good Guys, Russel Crowe's character does morally questionable things for morally questionable reasons, and is taught to do the right things for the right reasons, because he is actually a good guy.

MikeQ

6:29 AM

@kviiri Dog Gnomor

linksassin

@Ben Yep pretty much. I think the whole premise is that the bodyguard spent his whole life trying to do the right thing that he didn't stop to see if he was doing it for the right reasons. The hitman is meant to be the opposite side of the coin.

BESW

I linked a lot of free contemporary online fiction, trying to show people what was being done outside the well-worn pop culture and academic channels.

linksassin

@Ben Haven't seen that one.

Ben

I don't like that premise in THB. If they did the same thing in TGG, I'd enjoy it more

@linksassin It's worth a watch :)

@V2Blast Thanks! I enjoy writing it, so it's good to hear that others enjoy it. And thanks for the feedback. Minor details like this can still be helpful, in the grand scale. (lot's of minor problems do eventually add up in the big picture)

V2Blast

Anyway @BESW That short story was a great read :D

BESW

6:38 AM

It's my second-favorite "mechanical non-human enjoys human pop culture" story!

Ben

Just as paying attention to the finer details can also help create the atmosphere (like saying "this fuzzy green area is a forest" vs actually adding trucks and tree-like patterns of green)

Hot RPG Questions

7:11 AM

4

Q: How to persuade players not to cheat?

I am dming LMOP for 5e with my two friends, and one of them is bringing his two friends. They use D&D beyond, and their character sheets contain almost all 16 or 18 stats with tons of manually input gold. one of them is also a druid with 24 health. So how to persuade my players not to cheat?

dnd-5e problem-players

V2Blast

7:34 AM

@HotRPGQuestions "please don't cheat"

STT LCU

8:55 AM

Good morning! D&D5 Q: What's the general consensus on using the Disengage action to actually bypass Opportunity Attacks while getting closer to a target with reach? To me, it feels like a clever trick that goes against the spirit of the rule.

Carcer

getting closer to a target with reach doesn't provoke opportunity attacks anyway

OAs are when you exit a creature's reach

Someone_Evil

@Carcer Barring the Polearm Master feat

Carcer

yeah, barring polearm master

remembered there was a feat which played with, was about to try look it up

Nyakouai

Morning

Carcer

at any rate I'd still allow the disengage action to avoid OAs regardless of which direction you're moving

it costs an action to do, unless you're a class which is specifically meant to be very good at that kind of battlefield mobility

Pierre Cathé

9:07 AM

Morning

Someone_Evil

@STTLCU Think of disengage as using their focus on actively fending off attacks (instead of say attacking). Which way you're moving doesn't change what you're doing as part of the action

STT LCU

9:24 AM

@Someone_Evil Good point, I haven't visualized Disengage like that. Thanks!

I might or might not be the one building on top of polearm master... :D

kviiri

9:43 AM

I agree with Carcer, I think it's not really broken so no need to fix it.

Liam Morris

11:01 AM

There was an Unearthed Arcana feat called Spear Mastery a while ago which says “If that creatures moves within your spear’s reach on its next turn, you can make a melee attack against it with your spear as a reaction. [...] You can’t use this ability if the creature used the Disengage action before moving” so the D&D team, or at least Mike Mearls, thought it was fair game to use disengage before moving to get closer.

BESW

No space between ] and (

Liam Morris

@BESW Thanks : )

STT LCU

11:49 AM

@LiamMorris Fair enough

BESW

@LiamMorris My pleasure! Chat markdown is weird and unique, it's not even the same as mainsite markdown. If I can help other people avoid pain and frustration while learning it, I've made the world a little better. [grin]

Business Card Jam, hosted by beatingthebinary and Star West. RPGs don't have to be book-length in order to be compelling game experiences. In fact, they don't even have to be page-length. This is a jam for making games that can fit onto a business card.

BESW

12:39 PM

The BadTTRPG "Change Your Name" Jam hosted by Riley Hopkins. you all seem extremely insistent that the BadTTRPGs twitter account is posting good games. So if you're so sure about it, make them.

If there isn't a seagull jam by the end of the week I will be sorely disappointed.

kviiri

There's a seagull mage in Stand Still, Stay Silent :>

BESW

Does Jonathan Livingston Seagull count as a mage?

kviiri

(as in, a mage who works through gulls, without being one... I guess?)

@BESW Huh, so that's the book's English title

BESW

What title did you read it under?

kviiri

Lokki Joonatan ("Jonathan the Seagull")

BESW

12:47 PM

That seems reasonable!

kviiri

It's been so long I kinda forgot it exists outside the high school reading bubble :D

BESW

It was introduced to me by an older relative at an age far too young to understand any of its homily.

Carcer

Seagull Mage requires your personal effects

kviiri

@BESW I think at one point it was a "cult favorite" in a sense here because it was commonly the shortest choice on high school "read one of these books for essay" lists.

BESW

Hah, that's great.

Ebert called it "a book so banal that it had to be sold to adults; kids would have seen through it."

kviiri

12:58 PM

I can appreciate high schoolers trying to make most of their busy schedules, but I was a bit sad in school seeing how many kids of my class were actually averse to reading and really tried to do as little of that as possible, like do the book essays on same books if the teacher changes so no one will notice.

BESW

I had a classmate who used the exact same Animal Farm presentation, with recycled props, for at least five years in a row whenever an assignment could even vaguely justify it.

goodguy5

yissss

That's just smart

BESW

It got a bit silly when he tried to choose Animal Farm for his semester-long American Literature project.

Also, by that time the other people in the class would boo and heckle whenever he walked into class with the props.

goodguy5

I bet that guy is a software developer now. He knows how to reuse code.

kviiri

@BESW That's a feat in its own.

We had one student who was in voluntary literary class because he thought it'd be easy, and he did his book report of a children's book that he had last covered in primary school five years ago. He... got a bit of funny looks but the teacher assumed he had actually read it in good faith.

I loved our voluntary literary teacher. She was this kind-hearted lady who always roiled with excitement when teenagers actually were into reading and culture.

Too bad she was also a sensitive soul and got a horrible lot of students under her, eventually.

Carcer

1:20 PM

kids are evil

I feel bad for teachers who care a lot

kviiri

She was also the class teacher for my best friend (grades 7-9 in here usually work so that each subject has a separate teacher, but each class also has an assigned teacher who usually but not always is in charge of administrative stuff in addition to the teacher's main subject, in this case, Finnish and Literature)

Carcer

same system in secondary school in the UK in my experience

kviiri

Said friend is, and was back then, a lover of books, kind and quiet, even a bit timid. It's a little joke that he was in one of those "special classes for extremely naughty children" in school, which is true --- because their entire class was made one when their original class teacher had to take a medical leave for stress.

GcL

@Carcer groups of humans. The threshold for engaging in behaviors changes from what individuals would do. That can go well, but more often just lowers the threshold for undesired behaviors.

NautArch

@LiamMorris I used that move (disengage before approaching on my mount) so that my mount and I could retreat without risking OAs quite often.

Rubiksmoose

1:32 PM

@NautArch such a strong move. Mounts are great if you don't get trapped into all the rules gaps.

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose Yeah, we generally are pretty loose with mounts and other summoned creatures under the character's control. It definitely makes them powerful (like my familiar acts as part of my turn).

I try not to abuse it too much and generally have the familiar provide the Help action for an ally rather than myself. But when I need to or don't have another option, then I'll take the Help.

Rubiksmoose

Yeah the whole turn thing, I think we treat them the same way. Just makes things easier.

Haven't had a huge amount of experience with mounts though, I wonder if my former DM would have gotten frustrated with them.

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose I know mine did. There were definitely several instances where he said "The mount does not want to go in" and was left without it.

GcL

I always left familiar alone as they were considered non-combatants by most intelligent foes... until they weren't. Like attacking or taking the help action made them valid targets for enemies. Lets the player choose to risk losing the familiar or not.

NautArch

@GcL Yeah, I think how my DM is currently viewing them, too. I do try and keep it out of the way (thanks owl fly-by!) but it's a risk I'm willing to take. Advantage is a big deal and if the DM wants to burn an action attacking it...well, that's a win, too.

GcL

1:40 PM

Also, it's what? 10gp to re-summon a familiar?

NautArch

@GcL Yeah, but 10gp of charcoal, incense, and herbs. I did buy a bunch in our last town, and i'll buy some more as we go into a new town.

And it's an hour-ish of time. Thankfully, my table is generally okay when I ask for an hour to cast a helpful ritual.

GcL

I concur. The time is probably the real cost during an adventure. The 10gp just prevents spamming.

NautArch

@GcL And my table generally tends to honor time crunches when we perceive them. I'm happy that we're not just pushing forward for the sake of pushing forward when there isn't a clear time crunch.

And our fighter/tank likes to take short rests to use HD to heal. So that helps me out when I need to cast. I just need to make sure I play smart and try to stay away from getting hit so I can cast rather than heal.

GcL

I have the opposite. They like to take many days to accomplish things and frequently try to long rest inside a dungeon.

NautArch

I think we took a long rest in the dungeon we were just in.

It was a series of really difficult fights and were clearly out of resources and hurt.

Our Hit Dice/HP rules are long rests give full HP back, but only 1/2 of the used hit dice. DM is considering removing the full HP restoration. But pretty sure that's a terrible idea.

Liam Morris

1:53 PM

You know, i’ve never really seen the point of material components, especially because there so many ways to get around them, like buying a component pouch or spell casting focus.

NautArch

@LiamMorris Do you mean non-consumed material components or them in general?

Writing: voyage out, voyage back

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