TRPG General Chat

12:48 AM

@MikeQ There's no question that on the butler, that worked really well. Not sure it'd work as well at court, or against an arcane BBEG, but it definitely worked like a skeleton key for that purpose. I enjoyed it!

It's like the elephants: it's not like you needed that particular build to snipe something, but being aware of what you built made it easy to spot a thing you could snipe.

MikeQ

I think the build could definitely frustrate some players. For instance, it achieves in 4 levels (for the Actor feat) the equivalent of a 13th level rogue, if not better.

nitsua60

L13 rogue in what sense?

MikeQ

Level 13 assassin rogue. I edited the message incorrectly. The assassin can spend 3 hours observing someone in order to mimic them. Actor only requires 1 minute, although it doesn't cover duplicating the person's handwriting.

nitsua60

Gotcha. But the rogue's got lots of other things that yours doesn't, presumably. I thought you were saying that ~all-around~ this was performing at L4 comparably to L13 rogue.

MikeQ

No no, sorry. I've gotten accustomed to quickly editing my messages in chat, sometimes I hurry and accidentally remove the important parts

nitsua60

12:59 AM

(I couldn't remember the stats on the lightning-thing, and whether that was comparable to sneak attack, &c.)

I've got an even bigger problem: I'd gotten used to slowly editing my messages in chat! Amirite, mods?

MikeQ

Lightning thing? If you're referring to the armorer artificer, that only does 1d6. At higher levels it becomes 2d6, indirectly via bonus damage effects.

Hot RPG Questions

11

Q: How to make players still feel rewarded after looting a dragon hoard?

Disclaimer: This question is tagged dnd-5e, since consideration of the value of money or the magic item system might be relevant. I do, however, doubt that an answer based primarily on these would provide a satisfying solution to the problem at hand. Clarification on magic items: I do not conside...

MikeQ

Ah, found a relevant mainsite question: How well can a Changeling copy voices?

nitsua60

@MikeQ Oh, right. I'm crossing characters, aren't I....

MikeQ

No worries! I mix up my one-shot characters all the time. I've just had so many of them.

Ben

1:26 AM

Moring all

MikeQ

Ahoy!

Ben

How are we today?

MikeQ

1:42 AM

Bored, mostly lurking in chat

Ben

2d20

Dice Service

4

17

Ben

whats your dex bonus?

MikeQ

1d100

1d4

Dice Service

2

Ben

1:44 AM

Well that'll make a 19. Consider yourself successful

i am currently hopping between work (we're rolling out our new product that we've been working on for the past 3 months - I'm not on-site for the install, I'm in the office making sure everyone is up to date), doing cleanup and writing down notes for my novel/short story/Diablo D&D game.

Oh! I came up with a new game idea: Dice Towers

Players use their dice to build towers (like, actually walls and turrets, etc) like in a tower defense game. You can only use the dice you currently have access to in order to defeat other players.

Each turn, players roll a handful of dice, and the highest total wins the round. The winner gains all dice used in that roll, and adds them to their "tower".

A player is eliminated when they lose all their dice - the winner is the last man standing

MikeQ

Seems like the person who wins earliest is most likely to win in the end, no? And how does the tower building factor into it?

Ben

2:00 AM

Ok... That's a point

What about the number of dice you roll with is limited to 6 (give or take) dice. Everyone can only ever roll 6 dice.

MikeQ

Same issue. If I win in the early rounds, I will have more dice to spend over time, and the opponents probably won't be able to spend more dice than me.

Ben

So when you lose a roll, you have to break down their defenses in order to make up the 6 dice

@MikeQ Sorry, I meant you all roll (x) dice. regardless of how many dice you have.

If you don;t have (x) dice, you're out

A little simpler - no imbalance that way :)

MikeQ

What does breaking down defenses entail?

Ben

So, we both roll 6 dice. If you get the higher roll, you get my 6 dice.

That way I have to use my "dice tower" to get 6 more dice to continue

If I don't have 6 dice, you win

MikeQ

Right, but what's the significance of the towers?

Ben

2:13 AM

Fun

Cos everyone loves building dice towers haha

MikeQ

What if the dice rolls are tied?

Ben

Up the ante maybe? Each roll one extra dice - until someone rolls higher?

Or you could just call a draw

MikeQ

It doesn't sound like players actually make any decisions though. Either you must roll exactly X dice, or you lose. It's equivalent to betting coins by having each player flip a coin.

Ben

Yeah. It's not a complex game at this point. I literally came up with the concept last night

Thomas Markov

Yeah I don’t get it

Just play craps tbh

BESW

2:23 AM

Untie the win condition from the way you achieve it.

(Like, in D&D you don't get worse at hitting people when you lose HP.)

Ben

@BESW ?

MikeQ

No, this would be like the round winner gains HP equal to the damage dealt, but both sides have equal chances of winning one round. Statistics wise I think that could just go back and forth until the players get tired out.

Ben

@MikeQ Yeah, good point

Perhaps it should be a 3-player minimum game. Players can choose to gang up - or choose their opponent when they roll?

So if one player is in the lead, a player can choose to gang up with the player falling behind, to make things more even, or vice versa, in order to kick someone out of the game?

Hm... but then that goes back to the same issue

Rubiksmoose

@MikeQ Reminds me of the card game war

MikeQ

@Ben If this is a competitive game where resources go back and forth, I would suggest implementing some non-renewable counter or resource to move things toward an end state

BESW

2:31 AM

@MikeQ Exactly.

Don't make the way you move toward winning, also the thing that makes you win.

MikeQ

@Rubiksmoose It's even simpler than war, it's the coin betting game. Similar structure, but the coin betting game guarantees the same odds every round.

Ben

The winner(s) and loser of each roll decide one dice that the loser gets to keep, then the rest are discarded?

That only works if you're using polyhedral dice. In the case of same dice (e.g. d6s) you can only keep as many dice as there are players

BESW

> GUIL: (Flips a coin.) The law of averages, if I have got this right, means that if six monkeys were thrown up in the air for long enough they would land on their tails about as often as they would land on their -
ROS: Heads. (He picks up the coin.)
GUIL: Which at first glance does not strike one as a particularly rewarding speculation, in either sense, even without the monkeys.

Adeptus

@BESW If you toss an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters in the air, how many times will they land heads or tails before they produce the complete works of Shakespeare?

Rubiksmoose

@Adeptus 3

BESW

2:37 AM

(I highly recommend Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, especially the 2017 National Theatre version with Joshua McGuire and Daniel Radcliffe.)

Consider: dice contain variables coins do not. Take advantage of that.

Perhaps sums determine who retains the dice, but natural ones grant advancement toward a win condition.

(the size of your dice then becomes strategic)

Thomas Markov

I answered a two year old question.

Thatguy

@ThomasMarkov Congrats!! Thats awesome!! Thanks for the input!!

Thomas Markov

@Thatguy so you’re gonna be that guy, huh?

:p

Thatguy

@ThomasMarkov ALWAYS!!! If i ever wasnt thatguy would i really be thatguy?

MikeQ

If you weren't yourself, then you would be ajar

Thatguy

2:51 AM

@MikeQ open to what?

Thomas Markov

@Thatguy I’d be worried that if you weren’t that guy, you’d be someone evil, and no one wants to be someone evil.

Thatguy

Except @Someone_Evil they want to be someone evil...

Rubiksmoose

They could always end up being @goodguy5 as well

Thatguy

I always am!!! Thats why i'm thatguy

hahaha

Ben

So long as your not the other guy

Thatguy

2:59 AM

exactly.

V2Blast

lol

Thatguy

SO how is everyone tonight? Anything exciting?

BESW

Trying to settle on a universal template for my TRPGs.

MikeQ

What about standard 8.5 x 11"

BESW

Well, there's a lot to go into the choice. First, is it intended for print or digital use? I may wind up with two templates, one for each, but cross-standardizing can be a pain.

MikeQ

3:04 AM

Ok, then go bold. 85' x 110'. Write in 2500-point font.

BESW

epub is probably the most accessible digital format, but that means sacrificing a lot of fancy graphical layout options.

Ben

@Thatguy Can't say how I'll be tonight, but I do have a game night on

BESW

For a print template, I think I'd like to go with a DIY zine format, which usually means single-fold booklet layouts on letter or A4.

(Extra-wide margins would make it possible to use one template for both letter and A4, which is good.)

I could go with PDF + txt so I can get both the fancy layout options and provide an accessible form, but honestly that feels... weird, like accessibility is an afterthought. And I'm likely to use layout as a way to convey information, so I should be designing in the space with the most limited layout options.

Then there's type; a lot of supposedly dyslexic-friendly fonts are... controversial, to say the least. And even setting that aside, the preferred typeface families for digital vs print design tend to be dramatically different.

So it's looking like I may be designing an epub and then embellishing it for a zine.

Bardic Wizard

@Thatguy writing a final draft of a ttrpg (hint hint i need playtesters)

Rubiksmoose

@BESW That sounds ... complicated.

Thatguy

3:18 AM

@BardicWizard I think you have more intellect in your big toe than i have in the entirety of my body when it comes to things like this. I think you got this!!

@BESW you as well. I have no idea how you guys create games that are even remotely fantastic. I couldnt do it. go you guys!!!

I'm gonna sign off for the night! stay safe everyone!!

Rubiksmoose

@Thatguy You as well!

Bardic Wizard

@Thatguy literally it’s my first time writing anything more than homebrew, but my siblings enjoyed what I’ve got so far...

@Thatguy have a good evening!

V2Blast

@Thatguy My POTA game yesterday was cancelled due to DM having work stuff and my Fate scifi game today was canceled because my GM was sick

so, it's going

lol

...I also went to sleep at like 8 am and woke up at 5 pm

it's been a weird day

Ben

3:35 AM

@V2Blast I read that backwards, and thought "Oh yey you got a normal sleep!" haha

BESW

@Thatguy You just start doing stuff, and figuring out what you're gonna do again and what you're gonna change. They're skills like any other, they take a lot of practice.

I've been making homebrews and minor hacks and drifts for 15 years, and started experimenting with my own independent game designs about ten years ago.

It takes a lot of looking forward to the mistakes you'll make.

V2Blast

5:13 AM

@Ben lol

Hot RPG Questions

6:26 AM

5

Q: What spells or magic items are available to detect lies?

I'm playing through Storm King's Thunder, and came across an unusual magic item: Gavel of the Venn Rune The Gift of Truth feature for this item says: Whenever a creature utters a lie while within the 30-foot-radius sphere, that creature takes 5 psychic damage and flinches visibly. This is prett...

dnd-5e spells magic-items divination

Ben

So I have a question regarding a bit of a loophole for new users.

A new user posted this question over on Arqade, which is a duplicate of an older answer. The problem is that for a new user, there's basically nothing can be done about it.

They don't have the rep to comment on other posts (yet) or do anything else about it, but according to them, the old answer is outdated and irrelevant

Ho could/should/do we deal with that (that hasn't already been done)?

Miniman

6:57 AM

I mean, someone put a bounty on the existing question, which is the obvious path.

Ben

Yeah. ust from the new user's perspective there isn't anything they can really do, is there?

Miniman

Not really, no.

Ben

:/

Ah well... I guess the most is post on Meta, but I daresay this isn't really an issue. It can be dealt with by other users

gszavae

7:13 AM

Is there a policy requiring posts to use gender-neutral pronouns?

@Ben They did all they could do, you just have to hope there is a friendly enough community to help them. They aren't asking in a vacuum.

Miniman

23

Q: Should RPG.SE enforce a specific standard for handling gender pronouns?

In this question, a user repeatedly left comments suggesting 'correction' of gender pronouns in cases where the original text wasn't itself incorrect. These comments were later deleted by moderators. No posts were actually edited by the person suggesting the corrections. Independent of the actua...

discussion language

gszavae

@Miniman Cheers. Interestingly I am asking for the exact same reason, someone was requesting edits saying they are "correcting pronouns". I'm fine with using neutral pronouns (I think it's worth the downsides) but saying that it is the only "correct" way to use English is weird to say the least. I know other communities allow users to pick whatever pronouns they want, but not sure if we had the same policy.

Sos

@KorvinStarmast thanks @KorvinStarmast!

BESW

7:32 AM

@Miniman Hmm. I'd be curious to see that revisited, given events of the intervening three years.

Miniman

15

Q: Does our standing policy on pronoun gender conflict with the SE's recent changes to the Code of Conduct?

This topic has been broached before but, in light of the recent changes to the Stack Exchange's Code of Conduct on the matter, I'm wondering if there's a conflict that needs to be addressed. Our policy, based on the selected answer to the question in the first link, seems to be that we do not car...

discussion code-of-conduct

gszavae

I believe those CoC changes only apply to the use of pronouns to refer to a specific person, not all use of pronouns.

BESW

And this is probably a good opportunity to mention the Stack Exchange Pronoun Assistant script.

29

Q: Pronoun Assistant

Screenshot / Code Snippet About It's hard to miss these days - the Code of Conduct is about to change. It will emphasize the importance of using the correct pronoun when referring to a user in third person. This most often comes up in chat, and some users already have information about w...

script chat

gszavae

Does anyone know of a policy about moderator responsibilities/conduct?

gszavae

8:33 AM

(btw I know about the legal one, I was asking more about site policies)

linksassin

9:00 AM

@gszavae Does the help centre article not cover your query?

gszavae

@linksassin Nah, unfortunately not

Actually, I was asking because I saw Naut's post about you opening that question, and it got me wondering if the community ever discussed what extent moderator powers should be used

That article basically just says "mod powers are for exceptional circumstances", which isn't very satisfactory for me

I think it was mxyzplk who said something like "mods can do whatever they want" which uhhh, idk about that either lol

linksassin

@gszavae There is the moderators meta tag of questions. Though most are election/retirement based and some of the others are... not great.

But basically as it was explained to me. We are regular users, free to use the site just like anyone else with the added responsibility of handling flags and other problems that the community can't on it's own.

However, since we have the diamond next to our names any action we take is seen with a bit more weight so we have to be more careful in what we say and make sure we are always settings a good example for the community.

@gszavae More simply though, like I said in my election post. "A good moderator is like a good DM, here to make the experience better for everyone." We have the power to do alot of things, but we have the responsibility to use it in a way that makes things better for all users of the site.

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