TRPG General Chat

12:04 AM

10

I run a campaign for a group of friends (ages 16-17) and we generally have fun, but there is one player I've been having trouble with. They tend to get frustrated with the other players goofing off out of game and when they get frustrated they tend to yell. Now out of character yelling is prohi...

Ben

1:39 AM

Mooorrr-- [checks watch] Morning all

Shalvenay

hey there @Ben, still under the weather I take it?

Ben

I sound like it at least.

Not feeling it, though. Which is a bonus

nitsua60

2:01 AM

Ben

Well, I just made a booboo

IT's my mum's 60th this year, so everyone wants to make it a special one. There's been email chains and secret conversations, even to the point where my comments to throw her off the trail have been hushed.

All the traffic on the topic has made me think it was this weekend. Except it's not until next month.

Lol

Black Spike

@Ben lol

always remember when my mum's b'day is: 25/12!

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 lulz

BESW

@BlackSpike Ah, yes. I used to do that, but I found that it made more work for me in order to create adventures that everyone would be invested in because I had to somehow come up with ideas that involved everybody's different backstories. It's much easier to create engagement when characters have relationships with each other and forward-looking goals.

Shalvenay

yeah, I usually reserve backstory more for answering salient questions about how a character came to be the way they are

Ben

2:14 AM

@BlackSpike I have 3 sisters, my mum, my dad, and my daughter's bday to remember. Or, "remember". Lol. All I remember is my youngest sister's bday, because I used to have the first birthday of the year, then she stole it. And My daughter's bday was on the 27th of Feb; born at 11:59. Due to my state of mind at the time, I thought she was almost a leap year baby.

Black Spike

@BESW Agreed. The next GM-Question is "how does that work, going forward?" :)

user15026

I am bad at remembering birthdays, I rely on my calendar.

user15026

I can remember mine mostly.

Ben

@Ash I would, except that would mean people need to advertise when their bdays are haha

user15026

@nitsua60 snorts

BESW

2:15 AM

I encourage people to make characters with shared goals and existing relationships, and the details can come out in the wash.

Black Spike

@Ash I rely on my mum! "Hey, you know it's your bro's birthday next week?" .. "yes, mum, -of-course- I know ... thanks for nudge!"

trogdor

@Ash same, I'm bad at dates of things in general really

BESW

Even when I can remember birthdays (hi @Ash!) I'm bad at gifting because I just give people the stuff I think would make them happy whenever in the year I find it?

user15026

@BESW Saaaame, I am like "why do I need to wait for a reason why can't I just say "this is for you because you are cool today and it is Tuesday" or whatever

Black Spike

@BESW we're a long-standing group of players .. implicit in PC creation is "you will be working as a group ... roll a PC that gets on with everyone (sort of ...)

trogdor

2:18 AM

@BESW I'm not complaining :P

BESW

@BlackSpike Sure, but that's not what I'm talking about. I encourage people to create specific (but not detailed) points of contact, not just a general expectation of non-aggression or mutual bonhomie.

user15026

Designated gift giving occassions give me hives.

user15026

@BESW like certain types of friendship or familial relationships or enmity or whatever?

Black Spike

@BESW we tend to 'drift' towards that ... and then the GM throws us a PLOT ... we all jump aboard the PLOT TRAIN :) we then grab the wheel and run it off the rails :)

nitsua60

@BESW I have a shelf in the closet for those things: I buy all year, put a post-it with a person's name on it, and when their birthday's coming up I look on the shelf. If there's a present there, I gift it. Otherwise, better luck next year!

user15026

2:21 AM

(also bonhomie always makes me think of bonhomme which means I totally think of this guy)

user15026

BESW

@Ash Like how in Masters of Umdaar each character picks another character and defines a family-like relationship such as "She's like my impatient little sister." Or Golden Sky Stories with its relationship suggestions like Rivalry, Admiration, Protection, Affection, etc.

user15026

Ah that makes sense :D

Black Spike

upcoming game, we have been given a Central Point (Venice-type canal-city) ... "the NPC has a boat. You are invested in this boat. "

trogdor

I'm pretty bad at gift giving because it's not part of my normal routine

Black Spike

2:23 AM

we get to decide how, but that's a Campaign Conceit.

Shalvenay

@BESW yeah, PbtA style Bonds are good for that I find

trogdor

My brain is pretty regimented into doing the same things through the day and the week

BESW

@Ash Masters of Umdaar is a good example because it also provides goal prompts: everybody has to provide a short phrase explaining why they've chosen to make a profession out of the ridiculously dangerous artefact-hunting activities that the game is based around.

user15026

@trogdor when Christmas comes around and I have to suddenly buy for a pile of people my brain shorts out

user15026

I always feel like I don't know what people like because I hyperfocus on things so it's easy to know what I like but non-NAT people don't do that do I don't know how to tell they like a thing

SmokeDetector

2:25 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 (437): Do ability scores have any effect on casting the Wish spell? by vicky danis on rpg.SE

Black Spike

Often we use the tired trope: You all have the same Boss, and he says you work together

BESW

@Ash Sometimes I just go "Okay, fine." and I sit down and make origami for everybody, choosing the specific creature/object that will show each person I was thinking of them in particular.

user15026

Oh, I like that

Shalvenay

...don't you just love the spam we get around here? :P

BESW

Because that's what gifting's about, it's "I care about you in particular enough to invest in thoughtfully displaying that care."

user15026

2:27 AM

I wish my brain remembered that better

BESW

Origami is shorthand for "invested time and effort and care in a thing," and picking the right shape personalizes it.

user15026

I love origami things, I like making it, although my hands are struggly with it

BESW

Get a bone folder. [nods]

A good (metal) ruler and a bone folder are so useful.

Black Spike

"I maded this, for you!" is always better than "i found this in the Mall"

Shalvenay

yeah, I really need to start unwinding my pile of half-baked crap though :P

trogdor

2:35 AM

@Ash yep

Same here

@BESW but I kinda hate that that is the only acceptable way to show that because it takes me an unfathomable amount more effort to do that than NAT people

BESW

@Ash Yeah, NT people struggle with figuring that out too. That's why there's so many jokes about obvious generic gifts like getting dad another tie for father's day or wedding gifts being mostly fancy appliances.

trogdor

I gotta get out of my rut/normal routine, figure out exactly what they want even if they don't tell me, find out where to get it, and then go there and actually get it

Some of those things sounds easy to a lot of you probably

Trust me when I say that when I read that list of things it makes me shudder

BESW

That's one reason I like that chenchule' is acceptable in services rendered, and is expected during events where certain services are obviously needed.

trogdor

At least when they are all combined

BESW

@trogdor ...I have never been able to muster empathy for people who consider shopping recreational.

trogdor

2:41 AM

@BESW ugh

It's a horrible chore

That's also one reason I like pet sitting though

I get to go to a place, do the same thing every day until the owner gets back, the animal/s actually don't want nearly the level of attention humans do (yes even dogs, I'm serious about this) and when they get back they are extremely grateful I did the things

I mean, for one thing animals don't expect you to look them in the eye, and even when I do it just doesn't hurt the way human eye contact does

Shalvenay

@BESW yeah, I can relate to struggling with gift-giving...especially regularly expected gift-giving

trogdor

5:43 AM

I mean, if it was my specific definition of "regularly expected" it would mean once every week

That would help a lot in adding a routine of it but would also be taxing in it's own right

Sirv

6:00 AM

My family asks each other what we want if we can't think of anything

Makes things a lot easier

And for parents birthdays and mothers/fathers day we'll often cook dinner for them

'cause parents are hard to buy for :/

(we being my siblings and I)

kviiri

6:16 AM

I get my dad tea, my mother is harder because she lacks a trademark favorite.

trogdor

6:33 AM

I second this extremely hard, parents don't tell you what they want

V2Blast

@Someone_Evil Did some copyediting ;)

@BESW Shopping is one of my least favorite activities, along with talking to strangers on the phone.

@kviiri Tea is a good choice 🍵

Nyakouai

7:16 AM

@trogdor They tell you they want you to be happy :)

trogdor

lol

or they just vaguely groan at the question and hem and haw about it

Pierre Cathé

Morning

Nyakouai

Morning

Nyakouai

7:43 AM

@Ash No, please, not again... Same struggle every year

Hot RPG Questions

8:39 AM

2

Q: Are the players on the same team as the DM?

I need an answer because I am a beginner. And I got the players handbook and it does not say a thing about this.

pathfinder-beginner-box

Someone_Evil

@V2Blast Some. (highly appreciated :))

kviiri

8:56 AM

@V2Blast Yeah and I'm a tea drinker myself, so I have the necessary domain knowledge to make good picks :)

@trogdor Ow, sounds hard :(

trogdor

@kviiri I mean,... it's not the worst thing, if they can't tell me what they want they know they aren't getting much

sometimes they actually ask for something

BESW

9:14 AM

Vocabulary-storming: types of fish whose names are very commonly known. Preferably not show fish like goldfish or fighting fish.

Cod, trout, salmon?

Tuna

hmm, good.

Shark, swordfish, ray, haddock.

Someone_Evil

Starfish, crab, lobster, shrimp, jellyfish, sea urchin. (See also, there's no such thing as a fish)

BESW

9:19 AM

That's a point. Shrimp might work, I'm looking for something that's not "charismatic."

Someone_Evil

Stonefish, eels, wolffish?

BESW

Ooh, eel is good too.

Someone_Evil

blobfish, anglerfish

Tiggerous

bass plaice sole monkfish hake basa

BESW

Anything with a -fish suffix won't work, too unwieldy.

vicky_molokh

9:25 AM

Pike.

BESW

I'm happy with shrimp/eel for now. Thanks very much!

Someone_Evil

Sea Pigs are worth an image search in the "your fantasy/SF creatures don't look weird enough, because this is real" category

trogdor

Pike?

Barracuda

oh someone said pike

BESW

@Someone_Evil I'll see your sea pig and raise you a sea hare.

Which reminds me. @Ash do an image search for "Christmas tree worms."

Pierre Cathé

Plankton

kviiri

10:05 AM

We invented a fun little role play thingy with my SO yesternight

I pretended to be Leonardo da Vinci and asked her to tell me about the coolest things of the future. And asked a lot of questions.

4

She did really good at explaining although I'm still a bit lost how all those cats stuffed in the "internet" tubes don't run out of breathing air

BESW

10:30 AM

There are robots all along the tubes that constantly blow in hot air.

kviiri

What's a robot?

I mean, apart from a means of transportation

BESW

A clumsy metaphor for cruel labor practices, taken literally by people with no sense of irony.

kviiri

I wonder if irony was invented in Leonardo's time

(of course it was, it was invented in the iron age)

Or maybe irony was invented first and when the iron age came people were using iron ironically and hence the name

Tiggerous

10:49 AM

Hi chat, I posted this meta a couple of weeks ago now - Is 5e a clear enough statement of game system by a question asker?

Community consensus seems to have settled on an answer. Should I do anything?

Should I Accept the most upvoted answer - or just do nothing and leave for it people to refer to later?

doppelgreener

Either one is fine

There's not really a need to accept an answer on policy discussions

Tiggerous

Cool - i'll leave as is. Thanks doppel :)

Jadasc

11:55 AM

Does anyone have any idea why my "living wood" answer has suddenly gotten so much attention? It's gotten like 10 upvotes in a single night. Is there something suddenly relevant about Innistrad's trees?

Someone_Evil

@Jadasc There was a new answer, bringing the question to the front page

Jadasc

@Someone_Evil That would do it.

The Oracle

12:13 PM

0

Q: Is it possible to create a tag referral?

A recently added tag was created with the UK English spelling 'flavour'. Many US English speakers may have trouble finding or be hesitant to use this tag. Is it possible to create a tag that refers to this one with the alternate spelling? https://rpg.stackexchange.com/tags/flavour/info

feature-request tags

Hot RPG Questions

7

Q: Is there any method of inflicting the incapacitated condition and no other condition?

From reading through conditions such as paralyzed (PHB 291) or unconscious (PHB 292), I realized that incapacitated seems to act largely as shorthand so each condition that inflicts it (paralyzed, petrified, stunned, and unconscious, for those keeping track) doesn't have to repeat the text "the c...

dnd-5e conditions

doppelgreener

1:15 PM

@kviiri that's a superb exercise

Rubiksmoose

@kviiri This whole thing was amazing. Thank you for that lol

kviiri

^__^

Rubiksmoose

3:18 PM

@KorvinStarmast FWIW I'm not sure I see any contradiction in JC's tweets there.

Wizards spellbooks aren't runes necessarily and also don't have any linguisitic meaning necessarily. :)

G. Moylan

3:30 PM

hello all, been a bit

Rubiksmoose

Hey!

How's it going?

G. Moylan

going well, yourself?

Rubiksmoose

busy busy, but can't complain too much.

G. Moylan

hooray! How's the new house treating you?

Rubiksmoose

Very nicely! Still working on a bunch of small and medium stuff in preparation for a housewarming party but so far it has been nothing but wonderful.

G. Moylan

3:40 PM

good to hear

Rubiksmoose

What have you been up to?

G. Moylan

not much, just working and family stuff. Been having to really focus a lot at work and haven't had the time or focus to manage having videos or chats open while working

Hot RPG Questions

4:11 PM

12

Q: When a creature runs away from combat, when can it trigger surprise again?

I understand how surprise works, but one thing I’m curious about is clarification on when combat “ends”, if it doesn’t resolve in the defeat of either side. This might make a little more sense with context of the situation that provoked this question. I have a villain that uses the rogue’s assa...

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Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan That makes sense. I'm definitely had that going on lately as well. Between work and house stuff it definitely eats up time.

G. Moylan

indeed. It doesn't help that I have ADHD, and while that enables me to shift gears rapidly, it also sometimes means I fall into rabbit holes for way more time than I should, or shift gears when perhaps it's best not to

but part of living with that is managing it and recognizing what your triggers might be. Chat windows and youtube are big ones for me, but today I'm feeling good about it

Rubiksmoose

Yeah I should almost certainly be doing more to help myself against my ADHD triggers (ADHD fist bump)

Kudos to you for being aware and attentive to yourself :)

G. Moylan

4:29 PM

bump I still have trouble getting ahead of them sometimes. I've chosen to not take medication for it for the past several years (almost 10 now) and sometimes that means I have days where I really struggle. But I have more good days than bad in that regard, so I think I'm doing alright overall

Hot RPG Questions

7

Q: Can more than one wizard copy a spell from a spellbook?

In the PLAYER'S HANDBOOK you can copy a spell into your own spellbook. In the DMG (p200) if a spell is copied from a scroll, the scroll is destroyed. If a spell is copied from a spellbook however, does the same apply? And could more than one wizard copy the same spell (or spells) from a found ...

dnd-5e spells wizard equipment

Rubiksmoose

@G.Moylan Dang that's still impressive. I would literally be unable to function without medication.

G. Moylan

@Rubiksmoose I was that way for a long time. I initially suffered when I went off medication (didn't do well academically in college when I really had no excuse). Reflecting on it now, I think I had issues in some form or another for several years socially, academically, etc. Really only these past 5 years or so, since I've been married, had "big boy" jobs, and had a kid in that time, so I feel like I've really been paying attention to what my triggers are

Mostly it's the fact that I noticed I'd have almost entire workdays where I struggled to accomplish much of anything, and thought "wow I need to fix something"

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