TRPG General Chat

8:05 AM

Håfa adai o/

XD

hello refined gentleman

I haven't been fined nor refined except by the library establishment --- enriched I have been but by no fault of mine.

lol

I have that awkward deal where I am somewhat allergic to dogs and cats, but how seriously depends on a wide assortment of hidden variables probably including the phase of moon and the oscillation of pulsars. I visited a house with two dogs and a cat over the weekend and I'm still sneezing frequently, and it's also the flu season. I can't tell if I'm getting sick or just recovering slowly from the allergies.

Usually allergies ought to clear out fast after exposure I'd guess but recurring sneezing is a bit of a self-perpetuating thing.

8:34 AM

I know somebody who is allergic to dog pee, but not to dogs.

Carcer

I spontaneously developed awful hayfever at 21 and every summer since has been awful

but it would be worse not to be able to hang with dogs/cats.

Usually I can hang around them just fine, but this time was unusually bad.

May 29 at 10:03, by kviiri

^ that dog

and his older adoptive brother Hiski, of whom I don't have as good pictures but he looks just like a Chewbacca.

Do antihistamines help?

Yes, although I'm usually a bit slow to take them. This time I practically had to because I had stuff to do on Sunday evening after getting back home so it was important to know whether it was the flu or just allergies :)

I can't use extra-strong antihistamines, they make me badly depressed.

10:39 AM

@kviiri yeah my dad and I both have allergies but they seem to be seasonal and I have no idea what they are to

basically we both get really clogged sinuses around the same time of the year

not that my nose is particularly sturdy most of the time anyway but it's markedly worse around the middle of the year I think

SmokeDetector

11:07 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, messaging number in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, +1 more (438): When casting the Alarm spell, does the caster need to explicitly specify which creatures to ignore? by SHAKA MOMUDO on rpg.SE

@BESW I read Masters of Umdaar, it seems really cool and inspirational. I might have trouble ever getting to run/play it because it's Fate but I'll hang onto it in case the opportunity strikes.

Cool!

I especially like the point where it especially tells you that they recommend starting it as if you've faced the villains before

Yes! That was nice.

I have some trouble with the Cliffhanger mechanic, I usually just ignore it and use something else like brainstorming.

Yeah, I'll need some time to absorb that and the more Fatey stuff in there

11:16 AM

When I had our PCs visit Umdaar as a mini-arc in a bigger Earth-based campaign, one of the players rolled up a native Umdaarian to join their party and he was the one with the recurring history with the Umdaarian villain.

The villain assumed all the Earthly PCs were Ancients who had returned from... wherever the Ancients went... and she kinda freaked that her foe had made an alliance with them.

That was this one:

Aug 4 '18 at 0:50, by BESW

But our latest major adventure involved recovering a lost moon-sized Atlantean generation ship, the inside of which has mutated to become a Masters of Umdaar world, with the unexpected side effect of destroying the world's electronic infrastructure.

Atlantis had tried to colonize Mars... and missed.

Ooh

Have you used the five swords -plotline the book suggests?

It kinda reminds me of Jackie Chan Adventures with its artifact collection setup, although I'm well aware that's one of the most common types of fiction there is :>

@BESW XD

Not for that particular campaign, but for our pure Umdaar campaign, yes.

it turns out the Atlantians weren't the best at space travel

@kviiri Notes on swords.

The Rule of Fantasy Apostrophes is always in effect in my Umdaarian games:

Jul 14 '13 at 15:57, by BESW

The Rule of Fantasy Apostrophes: All apostrophes in the middle of fantasy names are now to be pronounced "boing."

11:28 AM

@BESW What about the Firerain wheel?

I set it up so that each sword points toward two other swords, so you can collect them... and maybe track opponents who also have swords, or be tracked by them.

I had not yet determined what the Wheel was. Maybe a terraforming device.

@BESW That sounds cool

@kviiri It was very Shadow of the Colossus: you raise the sword and shout the name of the sword you're looking for, and a piercing column of light rises straight up out of your sword for all to see for miles around... and then it bends toward the sword you named.

Key point about Umdaar artifacts in my games: they are Not Subtle.

@BESW Does the holder of the other blade, if any, know they're being tracked this way?

No, except for the giant pillar of light pointing at them.

11:50 AM

Hehe :)

12:09 PM

@kviiri Yeah, using a sword's tracking ability was always a strategic risk. Sometimes we'd have sessions dedicated to finding other ways to track down new swords, because we didn't want to give away our location and plans.

...and because it's Fate, I think at least once we compelled the villain to use her swordtracking so we'd know where she was without giving ourselves away.

Interesting idea. I'll be sure to include the sword tracking, either in the swords themselves or a separate artifact, if we ever play this.

Or separate artifacts*, rather, because I think it makes it more interesting if there's more than one actor capable of using this power.

Yeah, I agree. Or a single artifact that the whole group uses together.

Back in my D&D 4e campaign I gave them badges which let them communicate with each other over over long distances, and gave them a long-cooldown emergency teleport on each other so they could yank somebody out of danger.

Vehicles can also make for fun group artifacts.

12:25 PM

Interestingly, the Masters of Umdaar setting is quite close to a setting I had envisaged for a DnD game recently: a wizard cold war with the superpowered sorcerers ruling over dominions they have no interest to protect but to collect their magical reagents, leaving the common folk miserable and poor as their daily life consists on hard work and trying to dodge whatever magical attacks their land has to withstand from their overlord's enemies.

That'd be a great model for the lands the Masters rule!

Yes!

Joel Harmon

@BESW Like how it takes several people to pilot a TARDIS, and you can get hilarious results if you don't have enough?

I recall this being inspired by something in particular in my case but can't recall what... it's not really as much "cold war" as it's "nukes already flying but everyone's powerful and aloof enough to not care much" :P

But the idea that magical reagents or items are not an infinite resource but something the strongest wizards would want to corner seems like an interesting one to explore.

Q: How could a limited amount of gasoline be duplicated when such "future technology" doesn't otherwise exist in the setting?

@JoelHarmon That's pretty much how a ship works, yeah. Imagine a flying ship that the whole party needs to operate or you have to take costs in order to succeed. (Only the Tenth Doctor ever seemed to need a crew to fly the TARDIS, though. Her unreliability is inconsistent, and usually due to being either broken or having her own ideas about where to go. I think Ten just made up the "needs a crew" thing to give all his companions something to do as a distraction from a very traumatic experience.)

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12:40 PM

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goodguy5

1:13 PM

<ITAG>, gamers.