TRPG General Chat

Miniman

5:03 AM

Oof.

Ben

Oct 18 '17 at 2:02, by nitsua60

Aug 22 at 5:47, by daze413

Aug 11 at 3:55, by Miniman

2 days ago, by daze413

Jun 16 at 2:57, by Miniman

20 mins ago, by BESW

2 days ago, by nitsua60

@JoelHarmon feature-request "groan" button next to "star" button.

trogdor

@Miniman I definitely recommend Stardew Valley over narcotics

XD

But I'm not a doctor

Miniman

@trogdor I'm not big on substances, in general. But I'm also not big on farming games, so...

trogdor

That's fair

I like Stardew Valley partly because it doesn't pull some of the things other farming games do

I don't know if they all do but many I have tried dump ridiculous debt on you as a tactic for keeping you working hard

Ben

@Miniman Or anything with "sim" or any extension thereof in the title. Haha

trogdor

5:17 AM

But I don't like that

And Stardew instead let's you wait as long as it takes to buy money sinks

But if you just don't like to farm as a mechanic you can definitely play something else

Technically farming itself isn't required to get things done but it's definitely the best source of income

Though I guess you would have to farm a little to get the community center fixed

Miniman

I mean, it's not farming I have a problem with as such. Well, except insofar as it's an example of an activity which you're expected to repeat on a regular basis for a long duration.

trogdor

But that's Soo little

@Miniman well yeah I can see that being an issue

Miniman

In general, I don't tend to enjoy sandbox/survival sort of games.

trogdor

I personally find it kinda meditative but I can definitely see someone getting bored of it after doing it enough

@Miniman there isn't a survival element but it's definitely a sandbox

Miniman

It's not just the repetition - it's the lack of explicit goals, too. Like, anytime I've played Minecraft, I've wandered around for a bit, made some basic stuff, then given up and just focused on annoying other players.

trogdor

5:24 AM

Personally I think it's a good kind of sandbox but if you don't like sandboxes I couldn't tell you if you would like it

@Miniman there actually are goals in the game

The trick is you can do them at your own pace

Although if you go for one that needs a specific season to do you have to wait till then

Miniman

@trogdor Oh yeah, I mean more the type of game that both survival games and farming games tend to be, where you can do whatever you want, but you're generally trying to build up over time.

trogdor

I haven't even finished all the things you can do in it

If you do play it you can reasonably stop once you fix the community center stuff

Though there is more you can do that I haven't gotten done yet

But yeah I mean, it isn't for everyone

Miniman

I'm not sure how to explain it, but Stardew Valley type games and zombie survival games (for example) are similar in a way that I find hard to explain but definitely don't enjoy.

trogdor

Some people would be bored by it and others might not like how unstructured it is

@Miniman I think I know what you mean honestly

Probably leaning towards the unstructured part

Miniman

I can't help but wonder whether it represents a flaw in my personality - like a low attention span or lack of creativity or something.

trogdor

5:35 AM

I don't think so

It's just a matter of taste

Miniman

I mean, even back in primary school, I remember being given an assignment where we basically had to choose a topic and what we would do, and I didn't come up with anything.

trogdor

No one is going to like everything

@Miniman that's thier fault for not giving you any guidance, I've had assignments like that and never did any work

Meanwhile if it was "read these pages in the textbook and then do the questions on this page" I was extremely on it

But also like

Maybe some people would have done better in a class where they were allowed to choose more of what they worked on

People are different

It's when we assume it's bad to be that there is a problem

Miniman

Well, yeah. On the other hand, though, lack of initiative is a problem for me (as in, actively makes life harder). So I would argue that I do have a deficiency there that I need to work on.

trogdor

There isn't anything wrong with constructively working on that either

No one's perfect or lacking space they can Improve on something

Especially for the sake of making your life better

trogdor

5:58 AM

And that's healthy, as long as you don't go overboard with it

Trying to improve when you have hit your limit is not good XD

V2Blast

@Miniman lol, perfect timing

Miniman

@V2Blast I know, right! How's the game going?

V2Blast

going well

killing neogi and umber hulks

Miniman

Oooooh, neogi are pretty cool.

trogdor

6:48 AM

oh those look,... like a nightmare beast

Miniman

Yeah, not great for anyone with any arachnophobia.

linksassin

@Miniman We aren't allowed to have any creature with 8 legs in one of my games. The druid transforms into a Giant Preying mantis instead of a Giant Spider. The DM hates spiders.

Miniman

@linksassin No octopus or scorpion? :P

Ben

Miniman

@Ben Is the Luggage a creature, or an object?

linksassin

6:59 AM

@Miniman Nope. If it is meant to have 8 legs it either has 6 or 10 and is called something else

Ben

@Miniman That is a very good question

@Miniman Septopus

Miniman

@Ben Well that's just silly.

Ben

Well a Nonapus sounds contradictory, and a Decopus is just excessive

Lol

linksassin

@Ben Dodecapus

Miniman

So a Hexapus, then. Which has the advantage of sounding cool and fantasy-ish.

Plus 6 legs is super common already.

@linksassin Icosapus! ...no, wait.

Ben

7:04 AM

Maybe just make the legs arms instead.

An Octopus walking around on 8 beefy arms

Striking poses to try and impress a mate

Miniman

I feel compelled to point out that tentacles are equidistant between legs and arms.

5

linksassin

@Miniman Today on sentences I didn't think I'd read...

Ben

And the lack of context on that star is almost definitely a successful clickbait haha

Miniman

@linksassin You're welcome!

linksassin

@Ben Exactly that's what it great about the star system. Completely out of context comments

Ben

7:13 AM

@Miniman Though, in this case it probably is irrelevant. They are 8 "appendages" that are making the DM uncomfortable. So you switch it up with something that is just absurd.

Like you could make a one-shot dungeon for them to play, full of creatures that have 8 of something, that is just absurd. Lol. 8 feet, but only 2 legs. Or 1.

Miniman

@Ben Oh, you want some absurdity?

Ben

Perfect hahaha

linksassin

@Ben Correct. Anything with 8 limbs of any kind is bad.

V2Blast

8:21 AM

@trogdor heh, yeah, hence the episode title :P

title of what?

edited

aaaahhhh ok

episode title

XD

I was gonna ask if it was a landed monster or something

V2Blast

8:22 AM

lol

Lord Neogi, Great Old Master of the Seditious Pride estate

Ben

[Whispers] It's free real estate

trogdor

lol

Ben

9:19 AM

7pm. I'm going home.

Been waiting at work for this program to work, and it's just been sitting there... Processing. I can see it's doing stuff, it's just been doing it for an hour and a half now

trogdor

goddang

BESW

9:31 AM

Tweeted by truffke on May 1, 2019 at 10:47 PM in reply to truffke

doppelgreener

@BESW that is a fantastic boid

BESW

Sol Koroleva

Tweeted by soldatsot on May 1, 2019 at 3:12 PM

Ben

@BESW I say, I say, I say cacaw!

I dunno if anyone younger than 20 would get that reference though. Lol

trogdor

9:49 AM

@Ben oh yeah wow

probably not

thanks for making me age 50 years

@BESW oh he should be in a party with the Honey Badger Seeker

BESW

I'm older than 20 and all I can come up with is a catchphrase for a character that hasn't been a regular pop culture presence since 1964.

trogdor

would that happen to be Foghorn Leghorn?

because I think that's literally who it is

BESW

Yes.

trogdor

I mean, we still saw him in re-runs

not that that means he was still like, big

if he ever was?

but we know who the heck he is and remember a catch phrase

Ben

Yeah, I only saw him occasionally in reruns as a kid, in the 90s

trogdor

9:58 AM

which yes, still makes me feel old, and how long ago he was any amount more popular doesn't lessen that effect XD

Ben

And speaking of things from my childhood, I'm in the bookstore, just having a look-see, and they're still selling Deltora Quest

trogdor

I do not know what that is

Ben

@trogdor Well I'm only 30, and people are already making Alzheimer's and arthritis jokes haha

trogdor

man

that is silly

BESW

@trogdor Apparently it's a set of Australian children's fantasy books published between 2000 and 2016.

trogdor

10:00 AM

oh

Ben

@trogdor It was a fantasy series about recovering magical gems, scattered throughout the kingdom, one per book. I think there was 7 in total?

And they had interactive puzzles and such throughout

trogdor

oh neat

Ben

It was a very repetitive series. "We need to recover x gem. But y is blocking it. We'll have to use z solution"

BESW

Wikipedia says eight Deltora Quest 1 books; three DQ2 (Shadowlands), four DQ3 (Dragons), six bonus books, a set-in-the-same-world series of four books, an anime adaptation, and a Nintendo DS game.

Ben

Oh wow

That's way more successful than I thought it was.

BESW

10:05 AM

Yeah, probably like how I was shocked when I learned there was a Magic School Bus television show.

trogdor

@BESW I was surprised to know it existed in any other form soooo

Ben

I knew of the first series, was vaguely aware of the second, but nothing after that

BESW

Hmm, let's see. The nostalgia pendulum seems to be swinging closer to 20 than 30 lately, which means we should see a gritty Animorphs reboot any time now.

trogdor

nooooooooooo,...... noo

BESW

You never read the last books, did you? There is no such thing as a gritty Animorphs reboot; such a thing is like better ice keke, or a 7 on the Kinsey scale.

kviiri

10:18 AM

I tried reading Animorphs in my late pre-teens but didn't ever get into it

Ben

@BESW ...the original or revamp?

doppelgreener

there's a revamp?

kviiri

A few years later I got hooked on Asimov who served as a sort of gateway drug towards more adult literature

BESW

The Magic School Bus Rides Again

The Magic School Bus Rides Again is a Canadian-American animated children's television series, based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It also serves as a continuation of the 1994–97 PBS Kids series The Magic School Bus, with Lily Tomlin reprising her role as Ms. Frizzle. The series premiered on Netflix on September 29, 2017. The second season premiered on April 13, 2018. == Plot == In a sequel to the original 1994–97 series, Valerie Frizzle retires from teaching and passes the keys of the Magic School Bus over to her younger sister, Fiona Frizzle, to embark on...

Ben

@kviiri Animorphs was pre/early teens for me haha. I gave up after the third book of Tobias complaining about his teen angst, even after he'd become a birb

BESW

10:19 AM

@Ben I knew about the first TV show well before the second.

@Ben Spoilers!

trogdor

@BESW I didn't but I mean,.... come on

that ruins everything

literally everything

Ben

@BESW Even the chicken dinner I'm eating right now

@BESW Arthur won't be long either.

doppelgreener

Arthur but motorcycle street gangs

kviiri

Arthur but he's a Pokemon trainer

doppelgreener

[sign on gate reads "NO ENTRY AFTER HOURS. TRANSPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED."]
DW: Well I can't read so that's not going to stop me. [uses bolt cutter to cut padlock, kicks gate open, loads her gun]

V2Blast

10:30 AM

@BESW I started watching it and got distracted

pretty solid reboot/continuation

BESW

@doppelgreener Wait, Doctor Who can't read?

V2Blast

and hey, Indian representation :)

kviiri

@doppelgreener Wait, Dungeon World can't read?

doppelgreener

yes to both

but also

Ben

This is the movie I am waiting for though

images.app.goo.gl/KxN6UWtE9PaK8hDY9

:P

I feel like the silence is halfway between "no-one knows what I'm talking about" and "I don't have the heart to tell him the truth"

Haha

doppelgreener

10:49 AM

that movie would be neat

BESW

@Ben Mostly it's just that we're busy in the Not A Bar, being incredulous about a "think tank" article on cozy gaming.

Ben

11:24 AM

@doppelgreener I'm just confused as to who would play who. I cannot imagine Chris Tucker doing a good Vinnie, and Cooper, out of the three of them, would probably be the best suited for Modo, only because I can't imagine Ice Cube doing it, but he'd be an even worse Throttle. Lol

And in those few short sentences, my true essence is revealed

doppelgreener

honestly biker mice was a show i entirely missed out on as a kid (i just had one of the toys and thought they were cool) so i have no idea :P

but i feel like at least one of them should be portrayed by Vin Diesel

BESW

Yeah, I only know of it vaguely through nostalgic references.

Ben

Dave Bautista for Modo... Cooper for Throttle... Hmm

Vinnie is the tricky one

Actually yeah, Vin Diesel would do a good Modo

trogdor

@doppelgreener I've seen I think literally one episode

BESW

@trogdor Want me to add it to the list?

trogdor

11:28 AM

sure I guess?

I'm not against trying it

we can always drop it if we don't get our attention all the grabbed by it

Ben

@doppelgreener My dad was away a lot at the mines, and he was always worried I'd forget him, or despise him cos he was never around, so he'd always come back with a new BMfM toy. I remember once he came back with Throttle, and Vinnie's bike, and I got so mad at him for messing it up. Lol

trogdor

the only reason I am not surprised that I only saw a little of it is because back then you couldn't just watch something

Ben

Oh! Chris Pratt for Vinnie! Nailed it

trogdor

you had to schedule watching it and back then I was definitely not in any way in charge of when I could watch stuff XD

BESW

@Ben Now I'm imagining Chris Pratt playing Vin Diesel.

trogdor

11:30 AM

@BESW wow that is an image right there

doppelgreener

@Ben awww, i feel for your dad.

Ben

@BESW Ahahaha with a really terrible bald cap haha

doppelgreener

i've gotten upset over gifts too though lol

trogdor

I don't think I have ever gotten mad about a gift

Ben

@doppelgreener Yeah I do feel bad every time I'm reminded of it. But then I remember that following a bad experience with a seafood platter, I swore of all seafood. Everytime we went to get fish and chips, they'd buy me potato cakes instead. Turns out they were actually fish cakes.

@trogdor In my defense, I was 5. Haha

trogdor

11:33 AM

@Ben yeah that's fair

Ben

I think my parents do actually still have one or two of them somewhere.

trogdor

to be fair, I did get mad when my parents told me to stop reading

it's not like I didn't get unreasonably mad about anything

Ben

But my prize item is my "Last Chance Garage" hoodie I bought. It's amazing

@trogdor After your bedtime? I did too haha

trogdor

@Ben not just that

Nov 8 '18 at 6:01, by trogdor

I would read crossing the street

like, there were far more legitimate reasons I should stop reading

BESW

@Ben Do you have an opinion about the 2006 revival?

doppelgreener

11:39 AM

@Ben oh no lol. did it work?

i had to have fishcakes as a kid due to speech therapy but i absolutely always hated them

trogdor

how was that used in speech therapy?

Ben

@trogdor oh dear

@doppelgreener I'm not allergic to fish, it was just a very bad once off situation that just put me off it for good. So I wasn't aware they weren't actually fishcakes, until my father told me the truth only a few years ago. Lol

@BESW Of..?

BESW

Biker Mice.

Ben

Honestly all I've seen was the fan made poster

That is news to me!

doppelgreener

@trogdor I needed more Omega 3, fish is a good source of it. Nowadays I take flax seed capsules, which contain chemicals that get metabolised into omega 3

trogdor

11:47 AM

oh

a dietary thing

Ben

Oh wait, I actually have been watching these recently! Haha. I do not remember much more than the basic concept of the original show, I thought these episodes were the original series haha

trogdor

ok

I never had that kind of thing

doppelgreener

Omega 3 is important for brain things

2

trogdor

I needed speech correction therapy but that was me not knowing how to say something

not quite the same thing I guess

doppelgreener

I had a lot of difficulty talking when I was young. I don't remember much of it, but I'm told — and I remember — that when I made any mistake expressing myself in a sentence, I'd stop and then start the sentence all over again.

trogdor

11:49 AM

I remember mine

Ben

@doppelgreener a brief Google Search of sources of omega 3 leads me to the conclusion I get no omega 3 in my diet.

trogdor

I remember that what I specifically had trouble with was pronouncing SH

I would always hiss out SSSSSSSSSS

doppelgreener

@Ben it's basically (1) fish (2) flax seed oil

trogdor

which I liked to do but I also literally couldn't go SHHH instead if I was trying

doppelgreener

Cod liver oil is also an option if you don't want to eat the fish the usual way. Given I don't like fish I hope you can understand why I've opted for the flax seed oil instead.

Ben

11:51 AM

@doppelgreener Yeah... I think I should look into that... Because I've been getting epileptic-like symptoms for a few years now

doppelgreener

Oh dear :(

trogdor

@Ben yikes

I am glad I get a decent amount of fish

doppelgreener

I can't promise omega 3 will do anything for that specifically, but it's worth a try, and even if it doesn't do anything you will still be getting more of a thing that is important.

Ben

It's nothing severe, the worst it got would just sort of "reset" my senses every now and then, and my ability to talk would flush as well. Haha

trogdor

still scary

:(

Ben

11:53 AM

No fits or anything like that. Now it's just short episodes of nausea and loss of focus

I was taking epileptic medication, which helped immensely. But lately the fact that I've been able to focus and suppress the "attacks" leads me to believe it's actually not epilepsy.

Hot RPG Questions

3

Q: How can I roleplay a follower-type character when I as a player have a leader-type personality?

Background When I started playing RPGs, I made characters with high intelligence and problem-solving skills. As an engineer, these kinds of characters were similar to myself in real life and suited my natural play style. As I grew more confident with roleplaying, I started playing characters w...

Ben

@doppelgreener Yeah. Eliminate the possible causes, and get healthier.

I am at a point where I need to start really making sure I'm getting enough vitamins. I'm lacking Vitamin D too. Shut up in an office 8 hours a day doesn't help

doppelgreener

My current course of vitamins is a multivitamin, three flax seed capsules, and a vitamin D3 pill each day. (D3 being the sunlight one.)

The three capsules take me over the 1000mg/day intake target.

Ben

Might be worthwhile getting into a similar cycle.

BESW

Note: if you're gonna try actual flax seeds instead of capsules, you gotta grind 'em up (or buy them ground, but they lose a lot of the good oil that way) or your stomach may not digest them.

Handy aside, one tablespoon of ground flax seeds in three tablespoons of water, refrigerated for about 15 minutes, is a good egg replacer in any baking recipe where egg is primarily a binder.

kviiri

12:07 PM

@BESW We use the goop in chick pea cans

doppelgreener

Keep flax seed oil in a dark cupboard, away from light. It starts degrading if it's been exposed to light for a few hours. Preferably buy a brand that stores the capsules in an opaque container.

BESW

@kviiri That stuff's magical.

kviiri

@BESW Yep

Ben

New plan: genetic engineering to allow humans to absorb all necessary nutrients through photosynthesis

doppelgreener

I've previously gone into a herbal store for the stuff only to find they had it stored in their super brightly lit display cabinet, with bright lights straight above the translucent jars of flax seed oil capsules. I informed them they'd made their stock useless by storing it there. Next time I visited those jars were stored on the normal shelves low down to the floor.

Ben

12:09 PM

Like in Knights of Sidonia

BESW

(For recipes where eggs are used to help the thing rise, baking soda and apple cider vinegar can be used to create the "science volcano" effect instead.)

kviiri

We have so many vegan friends we actually do most of our baking vegan nowadays

doppelgreener

They Might Be Giants - Photosynthesis (official video)

►

Ben

Personally, I'm pretty terrible at managing this kinda stuff. Even to the point where I sometimes miss out on some medication because I need to take it with food, and I either eat without access to the medication, or sometimes not at all

doppelgreener

@Ben My dad's got a reminder app on his phone that emits an alarm with the sound of a pill bottle rattling at times he sets.

Geoffrey Lim

12:12 PM

yo

Ben

@doppelgreener I'm not too bad at remembering to take them, it's just if I can make it part of my regular schedule; like when I wake up in the morning, without any other requirements, then all is well

doppelgreener

Oh got it :)

Ben

Well, I actually found a playlist for both series of BMfM on YouTube.

1. I would also like to suggest Idris Elba as Modo.

trogdor

Idris

Ben

2. I'd day they did well to keep the characters the same :)

trogdor

12:24 PM

but he is always a good idea so I guess? XP

Ben

@trogdor It liked "Elba", but not "Idris". Lol

trogdor

phone

phone of course, is always to blame

I feel your pain

CollinB

gotta be honest, not the conversation i expected when i entered this chat lol

Ben

Haha.

It never is.

trogdor

quick switch to RPGs!

CollinB

12:27 PM

the admins are coming! hide the transcripts!

Ben

@trogdor Personally I prefer ground to air missiles

@CollinB ah but the mod names aren't green, so we can't tell for sure

CollinB

they come in hordes.... unseen, unbeatable... before you know they are there, they've left, leaving devastation in their wake

ADMINS!!!!

Ben

[wondering how long I should leave it for @doppelgreener to pop up]

doppelgreener

KorvinStarmast

@nitsua60 supported, this looks like a nice tool.

Hot RPG Questions

12:34 PM

5

Q: How can I get people to remember my character's gender?

I really enjoy playing male characters and I'm currently playing a really fun Tabaxi lad! Unfortunately, a lot of my party members (in character) still refer to my character as she/her often. I have a high pitched voice and can't make it super deep- which is fine, but it makes it hard to pass as ...

roleplaying group-dynamics player-communication

BESW

@HotRPGQuestions Wear a gendered hat.

CollinB

make a no metagaming rule

lol

KorvinStarmast

@Ben My wife and I were eating avocado before they went mainstream.

doppelgreener

@KorvinStarmast if avocados are a hipster thing that makes you double hipsters

Ben

@KorvinStarmast before "avocado" became a home decoration label?

CollinB

12:37 PM

before "avocado" became a decoration?

Ben

Or am I thinking of "Jaffa"

CollinB

my house is covered in them

BESW

Ben

^ this

nitsua60

@KorvinStarmast He's put together some nice videos, too, about his illustrating technique. Makes it seem approachable to someone like me, a complete no-talent hack.

Ben

12:40 PM

@BESW if @doppelgreener dressed like this would that make them... Doppelgreener...er?

KorvinStarmast

@Ben I remember those days, the 70's, when new names of colors became so abundant. Emotionally scarred by mauve carpet, I was ...