TRPG General Chat

Q: Would this homebrew rule on initiating combat be balanced?

9

Very often my party comes up with interesting traps and ways to initiate combat. The problem is that in 5th edition, once the combat is initiated, everyone rolls initiative and the combat goes from there. Specifically, my issue happens when an entire group surprises the other. Here's an example:...

V2Blast

1:41 AM

@Adeptus Thanks for posting that! I meant to post it earlier but forgot.

(well technically I didn't have the Free League Publishing announcement link, so thanks for that too :P)

@Medix2 Hmm. Well, I'd say it's helpful to know what's not an option for answerers and why... But at a certain point it sort of overwhelms the question itself (and the more stuff you rule out, the more limited the set of possible answers remaining).

It could perhaps be made more concise and focus more on overall limitations (what stuff to "optimize" for, what stuff to avoid) rather than ruling out very specific solutions.

Q: Is this homebrew Whip Specialist Fighting Style balanced?

2:21 AM

8

Similar to the this question, I've been trying to find a balanced way to improve the effectiveness of the whip. Instead of a feat, however, this homebrew feature is a Fighting Style. As such, the trade-offs and balancing criteria are somewhat modified. The feature is as follows: Whip Speciali...

dnd-5e homebrew-review fighting-style

3:29 AM

@Adeptus Do you have/have you played Forbidden Worlds? I kickstarted it (with no memory of why/what caught my attention) and haven't broken its shrinkwrap yet.

3:50 AM

@BESW the site didn't like you asking questions about those games?

@trogdor Heh. I haven't even tried, because I've seen the responses to much simpler questions that require understanding marginalized identities. Got a question closed as "too opinion-based" for asking about how a setting treats its orcs, for example. Or the walrusing that crops up every time someone tries to talk about gender at the table. Or the wailing every time someone hints that L*vecraft's properties are super problematic.

:'(

It doesn't feel responsible of me to bring vulnerable creators to the attention of the users who pass through mainsite spaces, even if I thought I'd be likely to get answers to my questions that rose above Basic Intersectional Harm-Reduction 099.

Ok, that's fair

I wasn't even thinking about that kind of exposure of the creators of the games to this environment

I've only spoken to the creators of one of those games but I still think that's probably the right call for all of them

Unfortunately

Especially if this site can't handle simple discussions of gender at the table

:/

I mean, you've seen that this chat, which is overall leaps and bounds better about these things than mainsite, can stick its foot deep into its mouth around issues of pronouns or appropriation. I've stopped talking about Sundown much here because every time I mention it, the conversation at some point swings into insistence that it should accommodate cis/het/neurotypical/etc people who want to explore marginalization.

4:04 AM

Ugh

I can't imagine the kinds of responses a Sundown question would get on mainsite, partly because I don't want to try.

It might be worth a try to point out that a game system does have its own views. Most games don't specify those, leaving that up to the player(s), but this doesn't fit in that scope.

For example, if a Dark Eldar showed up to a Human camp, it would likely be shot at first sight

Because that's the universe

Yeah, if we as a site struggle with understanding that Fate and Lady Blackbird don't have spell damage, I don't feel like I have the energy to spare on tilting at the windmill of "own voices for own voices games don't need to coddle outsiders."

Point

That's sad

Maybe you missed the conversation last time I tried to use Sundown as an example of something we were taking about in chat. It turned into people insisting on dictionary definitions of concepts that the game's core theme is challenging by applying a queer lens.

There's an entire genre of that kind of game. It's called "Belonging Outside Belonging." But I don't really talk about them here because... well. I don't have the energy to explain the basic concept every. single. time.

4:16 AM

Yeah i hear you

V2Blast

ye

Explaining an issue of identity/(un)belonging/ect. To someone who doesn't understand the issue at hand and is used to being treated as wanted and normal is exhausting

I've been on both sides of that conversation too

:/

And that's not getting into the development questions I'm not asking here, like how to build support tools into the core of a gameplay loop rather than adding them as an overlay.

Understandable. I get the concept, because I often do it myself; the "Belonging Outside Belonging". Perhaps it might be worthwhile to find a blog about it, or a Q&A. That way, we can refer to it the same way we refer to "My Guy" or "Lawful Stupid". (Bad examples for comparison lol)

I guess I'm saying that if you wanna beat the herd, you gotta lead them in ways they already know. Using an acronym or phrase that describes a concept is something that already exists, and has a definition. So people have become accustomed to those concepts. You could do the same for this situation.

@Ben generally I don't think that works, because it's inherently personal, generally, to the person who has to explain it, and the person who "needs explaining to" wants the short version, not to have to read an article

4:23 AM

@trogdor Not to be blunt; but too bad. The case has been presented, and there is evidence that this is not just "opinion based". If you don't want to read what has been said, then don't answer.

@nitsua60 No, haven't played it. The name rings a bell... but I might be thinking of Forgotten Worlds...

@Ben i agree with you but what I'm saying is, that that solution doesn't fix this problem

At least in my experience

It took too long for same sex marriage to come around. And it still hasn't completely. But it has to start somewhere

Maybe that's an extreme comparison, but that's my point anyway

Just because someone doesn't agree with the way I think and feel, doesn't necessarily mean I'm wrong or should be quiet.

Speaking from the third person there

@Ben Nobody here is saying anything like that.

I don't think he means that

That way

4:28 AM

No, I'm not saying anyone is.

Then it's a strange thing to bring up.

I'm using your situation of your questions being closed as opinion based because "5e doesn't do it that way"

I may have gone off on a tangent... I think I'm losing my own point here a bit.

@trogdor you seem to be following?

I think i get what you mean but it was hard to parse XD

What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't feel like you want to, or have to back off, because "everyone else" doesn't want to listen. You've said you don't want to have to re-explain everything, every single time, so now you've just stopped talking about it. I'm saying that's not fair.

Oh that isn't what I'm saying

What I'm saying is that it's exhausting to have that conversation

And i honestly can't have that conversation every time that conversation is supposedly needed

And from what i understand neither can,... A lot if not most if not all people who find themselves in that situation on a regular basis

4:36 AM

And I'm offering a point of view where feeling like the best option is if you don't want to have conversation, you can instead throw a blog at them, and say "if you don't want to read that, then your opinion isn't valid, because your opinion isn't taking everything into account"

But yes it's not fair at all

XD

@Ben ok I mean, fair enough

XD

I'll leave it there though. Because I admit I don't have the full picture either.

Mainly for me it's autism spectrum, or wtv the hell they call it now

@trogdor It's not the nicest way to deal with it. But sometimes you need to tell people to stick their foot in their mouth. That my experience.

Maybe also ADD or ADHD because I've suspected for a while that the diagnosis i got of that might not actually be wrong

But mainly autism

4:39 AM

@trogdor The brain really is its own adventureland :P

Every time i run into a depiction of autism done by someone who doesn't self identify as having it is,... Draining

If not outright existentialy threatening

I am constantly second guessing whether or not I have epilepsy, or how the hell I can go unaffected for a week without smoking cigarettes, then continue as if nothing changed.

@Ben oh believe me I've done that

@trogdor My father with Anxiety and Depression.

Sometimes it's blown up in my face with no consequences to the person i told it to

4:42 AM

@trogdor That makes me sad and angry

Yep

One thing I've learned is that perception is powerful and dangerous. People perceive they're doing the right thing, when actually they're undoing everything you've built up. They don't see anything wrong and when you try and explain, they still perceive that they're in the right, so you're the one doing the damage.

I hate to say it, but there's a double standard for emotional outbursts, some people I've met or even who i know really don't like it if you raise your voice to them, meanwhile they are constantly getting away with doing the same to you and pretending its ok that they do it

Yup.

At least some of them definitely know my autism diagnosis and will occasionally casually enrage me with a reference to it that i can't prove is malicious

Mostly it's like, freinds of my parents or something

4:47 AM

That must be so stressful

It is

In all honesty, I often forget about your autism. It doesn't come through very much in text, obviously.

Anyway, there's a point to what I'm saying

Oh ok :)

Often someone is struggling with what society says is "wrong" with them in ways that are invisible to other people

When that's the case it's an outright threat to thier safety or health to have them confronted with someone who wants them to answer questions about it

When that happens they might not even have the strength or energy to link material about it

Also, any material they find might still miss things more specific to them

And finally, often enough the person asking these questions doesn't want to research Even if a link is handed to them

I don't say this because I'm mad at you, just to be clear

I just wanted to point out my problem with the solution you mentioned before, some people simply won't take it at that

Maybe some will, but not everyone

4:55 AM

Fair. I can see how my raving might have/did come across as "you're not doing enough; you need to try harder". Which I apologize for. I assume people are filling in the gaps sometimes. That's something I do a lot, especially when I get... excited isn't the right word.

And either way it shouldn't be up to the marginalized person to provide even that much anyway

@Ben that's ok XD

I'm not at all saying that; to be clear. I'm offering it to anyone that might be willing to do the same. I would, if I were put in that same situation, simply because I do have that energy and drive to tell people to listen when they aren't, and leave when they aren't thinking properly.

The only reason I wouldn't is simply because I personally don't know enough.

user15026

@Ben just a gentle note - this is not going to be the compliment you think it is for all people.

Uh

I can't even see that on my phone

Oh there it is yeah,... Just a warning

Don't say that to people with autism who you know

Fair. Feel free to remove that.

5:01 AM

Or who you've just met

My apologies

user15026

@trogdor or anyone really

I've occasionally told people i have autism and they have said that and it shut down all my ability to even speak to them for the whole day

user15026

(it goes beyond autism, to any sort of thing, going "you don't look sick", effectively, is really awful)

@Ash yeah basically

user15026

5:03 AM

Because wtf does that even mean, if nothing else. Yay I pass for functioning, in your mind?

Sorry it went into a very personal space when i imagined all the times something like that was said to me

There you go. Perception in action.

:(

user15026

@trogdor offers hugs or more potato dragon or maybe even space whales

@Ash exactly, but also "what do you actually think it means to be (thing)? Because apparently you are way off which is horrifying

user15026

@trogdor yeaaaah

user15026

5:05 AM

It doesn't help that media has given people really messed up ideas about what NAT people are

2

My sincerest apologies

@Ben completely accepted

Oh I just realized I'd apologized twice. Imo it feels like I should... I'd just forgotten Id done it already cos I felt so bad haha

I didn't think you meant that badly in the first place, but it's nice to get an apology for it

Oof there it is, i got an adrenaline spike or something just having this conversation XD

And now it's wearing off

@Ash also yeah, I've lost all track of how many times I've ranted about that exact thing

user15026

@trogdor it makes me so upset! Which is why I get so excited when I find stuff that does it good that I can share.

5:17 AM

@Ash yeah exactly

That's why i couldn't just read Xandri and not tell anyone about it XD

Or Unkindness of Ghosts

I'd definitely be interested in reading that kinda stuff :)

Or to some degree The Deep (from the same author as Ghosts)

Heck probably to the same degree

user15026

I haven't read The Deep yet

@Ben well if you have a chance, the Xandri Correli series is good, Unkindness of Ghosts is good (but content warning, massive slavery), and The Deep is also good (content warning,... Slavery and casual murder of pregnant slaves)

Will do!

user15026

5:25 AM

I also have some romance novel recs with NAT rep if you are interested.

NAT = neuro-atypical?

Yes

ok

And Ash's romance recs with NAT rep are good, all the ones I've read were fantastic

Honestly never really read romance. Never been able to focus on it properly.

5:28 AM

That's fair

It's not for everyone

user15026

@Ben in what sense?

I like it but i can only read so much of it over a period of time

user15026

(also if you haven't read it you should read DANGEROUS books for Girls by Maya Rodale because it is a good primer on "whatever you think romance novels are actually for and actually do is probably super wrong")

user15026

Plus it's just a good book.

Oh i keep forgetting that even exists

5:33 AM

I read an urban fantasy, that I later found out was supposedly romance. It... kind of had a relationship in it, but didn't really spend more time on it than many non-romance novels...

X/

@Adeptus yeah that,... Sounds like it was labeled wrong, which apparently happens a lot?

@Ash -scifi and -fantasy. If romance is a sub-section of that then it's ok, but that's not what I focus on in the story. It just never captures my attention.

@trogdor It was published by what I later found out is Harlequin's SF/F imprint 🤷‍♂️

I read* -scifi and -fantasy

@Ben i have the opposite problem, i can't really read two romance novels in a row because i get really invested in,... Interpersonal problems which are generally the bread and butter of the ones I've read

So when i finish one i have no energy left for that particular type of investment

Heck, i have a book floating in the middle right now because of that

MikeQ

5:40 AM

@trogdor Do you also dislike reading the same author twice in a row?

@Adeptus i have no idea what that is?

@MikeQ no Because it's kinda not the same thing XD

user15026

@Adeptus just because it says Harlequin on the cover doesn't mean it's gonna be whatever stereotypes Fabio bodice ripper lalala people assume romance is.

In fact i kinda like reading a bunch of the same author in a row

Unless i just didn't like them to begin with or get sick of thier gimmick

@trogdor Same. Series are even better haha

Yes

user15026

5:42 AM

@trogdor now I am curious what book!

Sometimes i even re-read the same series,... An embarrassing number of times

@trogdor Same XD

user15026

@Ben I can't read too many of an author in a row. I gotta take breaks.

user15026

@trogdor I cannot even recall how many times I've read some series over and over

@Ash Get a Life Chloe Brown, i really really like it

That's kinda the problem XD

user15026

5:44 AM

@trogdor oh that's a good one!

I can't finish it because I'm on the edge of my seat whenever i pick it up XD

Even for like, a single minute

user15026

Aww <3 well there is a second book about her sister Dani coming out in June if that's any helpful impetus :p

Oh no

My free time! Whhhyyyyy XD

user15026

I'm a terrible enabler

@Ash Anyway... it was The Retrievers series, about a modern day magic-using thief. Quite good urban fantasy (with a side of romance I guess?)

The spinoff series Paranormal Scene Investigations, about a magical CSI team, has more romance, and was also quite good (probably not as good, but still good)

user15026

5:49 AM

Ooooh I don't know this author but perhaps I should!

user15026

They sound fun!

user15026

And yeah, Harlequin and other romance publishers have a number of imprints for different stuff. It's tricky to keep track sometimes.

Jun 3 '16 at 3:34, by Adeptus

Heh. I'm reading an urban fantasy where a Chinese restaurant has a real Seer writing the fortunes for the cookies. One character swiped the cookie off someone else's plate. When he opened it, the fortune read, "This fortune not for you"

user15026

I shall add them to my to read list (that's approaching 400 things again. People gotta stop writing so many new books honestly how am I supposed to catch up)

user15026

@Adeptus okay that is great

5:52 AM

Sick burn

XD

Akixkisu

Should this question have the lore ?

user15026

@Adeptus found the first book in this series for relatively cheap in ebook, so it's mine now. Have a handful of other things to read first though

6:07 AM

@Ash Yay! Hope you enjoy

user15026

6:25 AM

I shall try to remember to let you know how it goes!

Q: When did Druids make their first appearance in D&D, and how do they differ between editions?

6

My curiosity continues after asking When did Artificers make their first appearance in D&D, and how do they differ between editions? based on the initial question regarding Warlocks by aaron9eee: A quality answer would have more than just a release date, and would ideally cover what makes e...

dungeons-and-dragons druid lore edition-comparison

V2Blast

6:47 AM

@Akixkisu Probably, as it seems to be asking how they're related in lore rather than anything about the design choice

7:35 AM

@Adeptus Haha, you're absolutely right! It seems it's been long enough since my last 5e forays when my terminology starts slipping x)

Q: What is the relation between Tabaxi and ordinary cats?

8:24 AM

6

I'm currently playing a Tabaxi Swashbuckler/Battlemaster (and I love it). I'm thinking of taking the Magic Initiate feat and thus gain access to the Find Familiar spell. I thought it would be funny to have a cat familiar and have my character think of it as a kind of miniature avatar of himself. ...

dnd-5e lore forgotten-realms races tabaxi

8:34 AM

@HotRPGQuestions If Tabaxi are anything like humans, it's servant-master.

@Adeptus I chuckled at this. The fortune cookie trope plus bad English is a bit unfortunate but I'm going to swipe the joke itself.

Q: How do I keep spells from trivializing survival needs?

9:21 AM

3

I'm planning a hexcrawl with the focus on travel in the perilous wilderness, clear group-roles definitions, and resources (time, rations) expenditure. I'm wondering what should I do with spells that make travelling too easy (spells like Goodberry for example)?

dnd-5e spells travel food-and-drink hexcrawl

10:30 AM

That gestalt question reminds me that I still haven't really understood how DnD 4e Multiclassing and Hybrid classing relate to each other

Miniman

@kviiri Multiclassing means taking a feat that gives you some ability from the secondary class, and allows you to pick feats normally restricted to that class.

So my fighter picked the warden multiclass feat, allowing him to use their free action "mark every adjacent enemy", and letting him choose warden-only feats.

@Miniman Paragon paths too, IIRC. Which is kinda handy

Miniman

Hybrid is a completely new class constructed by taking pieces from both.

@kviiri Yeah, and destinies as well I think. Plus there re further multiclass feats to get more abilities from the secondary class.

So a hybrid fighter warden would be a unique class with some abilities from each.

10:46 AM

@Miniman Hm, completely new... I didn't remember that part. I must say like most of the PHB 3 content, it didn't really feel that good to me.

Can we have like, edition wars, except between which PHB is the best? (/s)

Carcer

@kviiri I find the late-era PHB more visually appealing but he was funnier in earlier comics

12:02 PM

Tonight's pesto: basil, arugula, walnuts, garlic, parmesan, cayenne, salt, sesame oil, Greek yogurt.

Q: New ask page: How do we want to use it to help new users specify their system?

oooh

The Oracle

0

The stack exchange network recently got a new question page (our meta post which links to the MSE post). With it comes an expansion of customization for the individual site (which needs to be implemented by a Community Manager, who will do that following a meta on the site). Questions being pos...

discussion game-systems user-interface

Oh, and lemon juice! Forgot to mention the lemon juice.

12:31 PM

@trogdor I have not encountered that situation, but what I have done of late is alternate my recreational reading between fiction and non fiction. If I finish a non fiction book, I usually look for a novella, a novel, or a short story for my next relaxing read. Do you find that alternating like that is useful, or even refreshing?

@KorvinStarmast yes in fact

although to be fair I can read like, scifi and fantasy stuff for extended periods

I'm also pretty good with like, historical stories

@trogdor The old "based in real history but is fiction" stuffy like Harry Turtledove's books on alt history?

stuff either based off of a real occurance (that isn't itself real and is definitely adding embelishing details), or even sometimes literal documents written by a possibly/likely biased but still present historical figure themselves

@trogdor ah, cool.

like Master and Comander, it's apparently based off of some like, real naval actions, but the characters in it are either only based off of real people or are entirely made up to fit the narrative, and the actual details of what happened are possibly based off of things that happened but are still,... not the actual details obviously

12:37 PM

@trogdor heh, I binge read the Patrick Obrien Books, I think the first nine, when I was deployed. My mom would send them to me after she finished them. She got hooked on them through the Jane Austen society, since they were contemporary time periods to the Jane Austen books and historical period of interest to her

however, the works of Josephus, while quite likely written in a biased perspective (which I just assume because he's literally writing about his own life) is entirely a historically based document I think

(though the translations may also make that wonky too to be fair)

Like most history books, it is a history written from a particular point of view. It's a useful book nonetheless if one tries to understand that period of time.

either way, they are both also the types of things that interest me enough not to need to "switch" to some other genre too

or at least not immediately

@KorvinStarmast neat

What I find, by switching, is that I get to work my brain differently for non fiction, and then I get to relax my brain and just soak it in when I read fiction. Uses different muscles, so to speak.

@KorvinStarmast yeah I don't mean to say it's not useful, I just mean, by pointing it out, that anyone writing about their own life or history for the purpose of others to read is going to slant perspective in their own favor

maybe leave out details of things they did they don't want people to know

12:40 PM

heck yeah

or embelish their own importance or morality or wtv it's important for them to maintain

I don't even think that's entirely intentional or malicious just,... something humans do enough of that I assume I should take a grain of salt even with actual historical documentations like that

Oh man, a few years back I read a fictional story based on the real histories of the Pelopponesian Wars/Tyucydides ... arrgh, Tides of something ... lemme check. It was from the PoV of Alcybiades I think and the attempted conquest of Sicily. Also, there was a book by Pressfield that was a fictional account based on Thermopylae.

Gates of Fire and Tides of War; same author. He also did one I think about the eruption of Mount Vesuvius during Roman times.

The old "based on historical events but embellished into novel form"

I found them very easy to read and quite entertaining.

cool

I haven't read anything like that in a while to be honest

so technically I don't know if I can still read a lot of it at once

but that being said I doubt that will be an issue

I have a lot of stuff i could read in-between

FWIW, we lived near Vesuvius for a number of years, so the one about the Pompeii Eruption was going to be more vivid for me since I recognized some of the local area ... and of course I'd visited Pompeii multiple times.

a few unread and a lot of read books on my tablet, plus all the physical books I should really get around to reading piled everywhere in this house

anyway, I think I need to sleep now XD

12:50 PM

@trogdor sweet dreams

will certainly gun for that

Q: What are the benefits of multi-classing over gestalting?

1:28 PM

1

I am trying to get my head around understanding the benefit of multi-classing over gestalting. When multi-classing, each class is leveled up separately which hurts the overall progression of your character. Multiclass example: A character that multi-classed into: Warlock 3 / Rogue 2 would hav...

dnd-3.5e multi-classing gestalt

1:58 PM

@HotRPGQuestions I feel like the answers aren't quite getting to the question.

Like yeah, everyone's pointing out that gestalt is a game variant but no one's pointing out why gestalting is better than multi-classing.

@Yuuki Does this mean we get a Yuuki answer?

Yeah, I'm writing one up right now.

woohooo!

THere better be a pun in it.

Argh. I really want to award a user for a question, but I have to just pick a random answer of theirs somewhere else to award.

Root around for a Q&A that needs polish or more recognition anyway?

@Someone_Evil Yeah, I'll look through their other answers. Problem is the ones I like are already highly upvoted :)

2:13 PM

@NautArch Speaking of which, you wanted to pass along my threatened bounty to someone else. Can you remind me who?

@nitsua60 I think @Someone_Evil made a lot of those updates, righT?

To the AL answer? I did the bulk and then someone else fixed the Eberron part

@Someone_Evil Yup! @nitsua60 Give it to this guy :)

@NautArch Well, there's one.

@Yuuki hahahaha. works for me :) I want to +1, but I honestly don't know enough about the system to know if you are speaking the true-true.

2:19 PM

If you just know the concept of gestalt versus multi-class, it's pretty evident that gestalt is better. Think two fruits for the price of one versus buying an apple and an orange.

@NautArch Excellent--will do.

@Someone_Evil (mind linking it to me?)

@nitsua60 Linking you what exactly?

The AL answer? Oh, is it the one Naut made a CW?

@nitsua60 Aye, 'tis

Ah, I'll find something else of yours to bounty.

Aaaaand... have to wait a day to award it, that's right.

2:25 PM

@KorvinStarmast And I'm paying forward (with interest) your bounty as well. I really like the history of class questions that aaron9eee started so am giving them a bounty.

@nitsua60 just rediscovered that meself

"Reward existing answer" should bypass that step.

If it is worthy of extra reward it is worthy of highlighting, no?

Ooo, realized that I could add another pun: "The reasons why this makes gestalting better than multi-classing for your character chassis are manifold"

2:39 PM

@Yuuki Intake manifold or exhaust manifold?

(somewhere in the back of my math head I recall a thing about tensors, vectors, and manifolds ... but then I run into a memory wall)

Sir Cinnamon

@KorvinStarmast Floating Disc?

"Tenser," said the Tensor.

@kviiri The morning after: "Ten sore," said the Tensor.

@kviiri A vector is IIRC a kind of Tensor. Tenser the wizard is an anagram or Ernest (EGG's son)'s name; a friend of mine named his Magic User Vector with the above play on words in mind.

@Yuuki "Tonsure," said the old mathematician at the monastery - he was hard of hearing.

"A ton, sure" said the purchasing agent, when asked how much grain he needed to have shipped to the feed lot ...

@KorvinStarmast Direction and magnitude. Oh yeah.

JohnP

2:52 PM

Well, it's starting. Our governing organization just cancelled a 4 day camp/tournament in Cascais, Portugal for early April. :(

@Yuuki Hate to break up a set, ya know, like Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello,

@JohnP United Airlines recently reported to the SEC a 10% reduction in operations/flights (and Southwest is reporting something similar as a forecast)

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast Personally I think people are over reacting, but it is what it is.

@JohnP yeah. I saw a sarcastic comment yesterday about "hmm, a virus/flu is attributed to the deaths of many people in their 80's ... how is this a new thing?" (FWIW, my Father in Law died of pneumonia back in 2011, he was 78)

But there are people in other age brackets who it is taking down ...

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast It can be deadly to elderly or compromised individuals, much the same as a regular flu. It's only slightly more infectious than the common cold, and can be contained with pretty much the same precautions.

The "regular" flu (also caused by a corona virus) had a very deadly season last year, and they did not do things like cancel all public events with attendance greater than 1000, etc. I agree it's a problem, just not sure why this one is causing such hysteria.

@JohnP My wife has gone a bit strong in the "make sure to wash you hands and not touch your face" and I am trying to comply. And then you realize how many times in a day that you touch your own face ... and you have to resist!

2:57 PM

@KorvinStarmast "Tenser," said the Tensor is a song from Alfred J. Bester's sci-fi howdunit murder mystery The Demolished Man

It's plot-important, too.

@kviiri I take it that the Tensor was never very relaxed?

I recall it being a very funny book, I should maybe... either re-read it, or decide never to lest I ruin the memory of it