TRPG General Chat - 2022-05-11

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12:18 AM

@nitsua60 depending on what you're looking for, there might be a query in SEDE to do the job

oh wait, oops meta.stackexchange.com/questions/269745/…

12:36 AM

@AncientSwordRage Ah yeah, it's pretty cool and there's almost as many different ways to do token exchange as there are ways to use dice. NDNM is one school (it emerged as a kind of diceless PbtA hack, so far as I can tell, but is very much its own thing now), but there's also methods like you find in Golden Sky Stories, A Penny For My Thoughts, or even Dog Eat Dog (which technically has dice but they don't matter).

1 hour later…

Hot RPG Questions

1:44 AM

1

Q: Fireball alternative for a demon heavy campaign?

What are some good AOE spells (5th level or lower) for a wizard to get rid of hordes of weak to medium demons?

dnd-5e spells baldurs-gate-descent-into-avernus

1

Q: Does attacking with a Dragon Wing Hand Crossbow require one hand or two?

A hand crossbow is a one-handed weapon that ordinarily takes two hands to fire, due to the loading portion of the Ammunition property. Ammunition: Drawing the ammunition from a quiver, case, or other container is part of the attack. Loading a one-handed weapon requires a free hand. The Artifice...

dnd-5e magic-items weapons

1:57 AM

@nitsua60 Hot and humid, otherwise fine, going to see our grand daughter at the end of next week. 😎 Hope the kids and the Missus are thriving at your end.

AncientSwordRage

2:23 AM

@BESW interesting!

I'll need to take a look at some point

And of course, token exchange is also the point system in Fate, that's a big part of what makes it Not Fudge.

(And you can remove the dice entirely without much trouble!)

(Historically, one of the reasons for Fate existing is that Fred Hicks and Rob Donoghue liked Amber Diceless but wanted randomness because they like that in their games.)

3 hours later…

Hot RPG Questions

5:06 AM

2

Q: Are classes from a tabletop RPG copyrightable?

E.g. Dungeons & Dragons has a SRD licensed under OGL (Open Game License), for the 3rd and 5th editions, but not all classes are in the SRD. Are the overall characteristics (not just the description texts) of the classes not part of the SRD protected by copyright to prevent reuse (even in non-OGL ...

intellectual-property

@HotRPGQuestions Neither asker nor answerer specify if they're talking about international or national IP law, and if national then which nation(s).

5:29 AM

I’m considering going and dying in a hole, I think I failed the AP English Language test today, and turns out I’m going to prom all on my lonesome. How’s everyone else doing?

4 hours later…

AncientSwordRage

9:14 AM

@BardicWizard I'm good, but that sounds rough! Let us know if you need to vent!

9:45 AM

I think I just figured out how to have the "lead" in my card mechanic actually lead narratively.

I think having a called card quality will work nicely.

10:33 AM

If you cast "true resurrection" on leather armour does the guy wearing it get locked inside a cow?

@BardicWizard I second @AncientSwordRage

1 hour later…

AncientSwordRage

11:35 AM

@BESW go on?

@AncientSwordRage What's it called when the dealer flips a card and that suit is significant for the round?

12:11 PM

Hi, I'm looking to run a space-based, action-adventure, semi-realistic campaign and am looking for a good system to run it. Something similar to the hijinks of the *Rocinante* in *The Expanse*. And before one says "Expanse RPG", I'm currently looking for options.

A few things I'm looking for are (all of whom are optional, but preferred):

1: An interactable spaceship

2: Limited magic/anomalous properties, if not no magic.

3: A focus on action and adventuring, and less on horror.

4: The presence of science fiction technology

Okay, so most of the things you've described are elements of setting rather than system. It's useful to have pre-made setting options, but it's usually more important to find a system that supports the kind of story you want: "action and adventuring, less horror" is the primary thing I'd focus on here, as well as "interactable spaceship" which I'm taking to mean a system which treats vehicles as characters.

Are you looking for character-driven action where PC motives and goals are the primary push for what's happening (as opposed to, say, D&D where why characters are doing the things is never a question the mechanics ask)?

Do you want PCs to be hypercompetent so that their obstacles and failures come from outside, or do you want to allow for dramatic internal obstacles and incentivize making non-optimal choices?

Ah, I see what info you need now

Is resource management something you're interested in?

Are the relationships between PCs important?

Is character death sudden and unexpected, or only shows up when it would be narratively satisfying?

> Are you looking for character-driven action where PC motives and goals are the primary push for what's happening (as opposed to, say, D&D where why characters are doing the things is never a question the mechanics ask)?

Yes, that is one of the elements I want from this system. I'd say I want the primary obstacles to come externally. Resource management should play only a limited role and the relationships between PCs is something I'm cordial on. I don't mind killing characters if it serves the plot or if they do something really dumb or if combat really doesn't go their way.

Do you want lots of fiddly bits to character development/progression that can be studied outside of sessions, like how D&D provides "solo play" with its complex a-la-carte character designs?

12:19 PM

In terms of character progression, I don't have strong opinions on that

Also, I'm trying to look for a system that isn't balanced around magic

AncientSwordRage

@BESW the card is the 'trump card'

One thing that comes to mind is Ghost Planets, a free Fate setting/system book about being a team that explores a lonely galaxy filled with the remnants of dead alien civilizations and trying to learn what killed them so humanity isn't next. Deciphering alien hieroglyphics, disarming ancient weapons, and saving humanity from extinction. Just another day on the job.

[rummages through chat history]

Oct 14, 2021 at 22:54, by BESW

Starlight Riders by Cezar Capacle. A space western game about heists through the galaxy

@BESW This looks like it contains many of what I want. I'll be sure to check it out!

There's Lady Blackbird which is a bit more fantastical than you're after but worth mentioning.

Space Between Stars by Viditya Violeti is An Interstellar RPG About Who You Are & Where You're Going

@nitsua60 Sad to see I'm not the only one who has noticed. There are a lot of common names that used to interact a lot who continue to log in, but don't ask/answer.

Sad to also see that one of our moderation team chose to use a different service to ask a question on a less-popular game - the very thing we were trying to get more of here :(

12:31 PM

ORBITAL BLUES by Sam Sleney & Zachary Cox. A roleplaying love-letter to off-beat sci-fi, vintage music, and cooperative old-school styled roleplay, Orbital Blues allows you to play out rules-light tabletop adventures in the style of space westerns such as Cowboy Bebop, Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy.

1:12 PM

@NautArch I wish the Stack weren't set up to treat "exists as part of an ecosystem of similar options which people also use" to be a failure. The Stack is built on the principle of competition and needing to become the Best And Only, and that's just not a model we should buy into.

@BESW I don't mind it being part of a greater ecosystem - I do mind when our moderation team decides not to even try and use the service they moderate and instead go somewhere else completely.

(a) Moderators are users who volunteer unpaid time and emotional labor, they haven't pledged exclusivity or loyalty; (b) this is genuinely a Bad Place to ask a lot of questions and I think it's totally reasonable for somebody who's already given a lot of their emotional energy to this site... to want to just get useful answers and not have to deal with the Bad Place even more in their off time.

1:27 PM

Just to come flying in off the top rope.

My read isn't "Best and only", but rather "This specific niche as to not compete with the other platforms"

@goodguy5 One of the Stack's specific, explicit goals is to be the top Google result for searches, beating out others. That's one reason duplicates aren't deleted.

but I'm admittedly replying after only reading the preceding messages for about a minute and trying to make sure I comprehend that

@BESW oh neat, didn't know that

It's a very common model, I'm not claiming the Stack is unique in this respect: everything from Facebook to D&D to Disney is in the business of being the only business.

I'm just sayin', let's not give mods grief for spending some of their personal hobby time in spaces where they aren't expected to perform the same emotional labor they already do as volunteers.

2

Wait, who's griefing mods?

Not "griefing" in the MMO troll sense, just--it feels wrong to talk about a moderator using a "competing" option as if it were some kind of a betrayal. But I also didn't mean for my pushback to turn into a litigation.

Brave Zenith by Roll 4 Tarrasque. POST FANTASY TRPG ACTION And there's a twitter thread by the creator, about what went into making the game.

chaibypost wrote a twitter thread about talking as the TRPG equivalent of "how movement can be fun by itself in videogames."

Kazumi Chin wrote asked on twitter about "where the new stuff is at these days" and for people to share "stuff that isn’t BoB/PBTA/FITD/heartbreaker/a hack of something popular" which they made/read/played recently.

DOMINOES by Jeff Stormer. Modular Roleplaying in the Bronze Age of Comics

Itchfunding: Biz City by kumada1. Chase your dreams in a city with an organized crime problem. TTRPG.

Kazumi Chin wrote a twitter thread about social mechanics and "building them in a way that is opposed to forcefulness and opposed to randomization," with a followup about "social mechanics that support those who feel less comfortable with social interaction in game."

Jason Pitre started a twitter thread urging people to support designers from the Philippines and asking for links to their games.

@AncientSwordRage Okay, so after the crisis leader has dealt all the cards, they can choose (not flip randomly, choose) a trump card from the remaining cards in the deck. Any crisis helper who plays that card's value or suit gets an extra bonus on top of the usual effects of that card.

This lets the crisis leader choose which guide's goals will be focused on (the suit of the card you play determines which guide's goals get advanced), and can also provide a way to silently communicate something about the values that would be best to play in order to avoid busting the hand.

Hot RPG Questions

1:57 PM

7

Q: How to manage time pressure?

The game assumes multiple encounters per day. However, sandboxes or megadungeons give players a lot of control about how far and how long they want to push each day. Sure, factions can also act independently and send ambushers, but for the most part it is up to the players to explore new areas an...

dnd-5e gm-techniques pacing

AncientSwordRage

2:15 PM

@BESW sounds good to me

1 hour later…

3:16 PM

@NautArch Yeah, I felt like the "confession" was worth putting out there. It's not so much that "I feel like I'll get better answers elsewhere," it's that I didn't even think first to ask here, but rather in a dedicated gamespace.

(I.e. when I thought "what does it mean that X will apply Y effect in the context of Z?" RPGSE wasn't my first thought for where to get a good answer.)

In any case, I didn't read you as criticizing me for making that choice, I read it as a sad symptom of our non-utility to non-D&Ds that I chose a different route. Of course, I may be reading it wrong =)

@KorvinStarmast as for being jealous that I get to run Traveller, it's easy: I just tell my son to invite his friends over for D&D and then run Traveller.

They love D&D night =D

AncientSwordRage

@nitsua60 HAH

My daughter's at the age where she wants to start having friends over for D&D night, too. We talked a bit about stories and themes and settings, and I'm pretty sure her D&D is going to be Tales From the Loop. I'm more excited for D&D than I have been in a long time =)

AncientSwordRage

3:32 PM

@nitsua60 I think my thing is.... I didn't even know there was a discord for Traveller, let alone an official one.

And you wouldn't find it via a search engine

@nitsua60 Which version of Traveller are you running? I only ever played the original and I still have my books.

@nitsua60 A little bit both :) I wasn't criticizing for making the choice to ask on discord, but for not also asking here. When we know we don't get as many non-D&D questions, to purposefully not ask here is a major disservice to our community.

And I don't know if it has anything to do with a greater issue of others not coming here (or if it's how we treat each other in front of new users, or something else), but I do know that if we as 'power users' don't use our site, then that's a much bigger issue.

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch I don't think we should talk about in terms of 'disservice to the community'

@AncientSwordRage That's how I feel, though.

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch It's valid to feel that way, but the phrasing implies an intent I think is lacking

3:47 PM

@AncientSwordRage No intent is mentioned or necessary - the result is something i'd say is a disservice. Not having non-D&D questions here is a disservice (at least, it has been in the past based on the concern of too much D&D.)

AncientSwordRage

Also, nits made it clear they didn't 'purposefully not ask' here, it just wasn't their first thought

@NautArch that's quite the bar to clear

I don't see much of a difference between "didn't purposefully not ask' and "never asked"

AncientSwordRage

it's the difference between making a mistake and making a choice...

Making a mistake would generally involve doing something after it to change the mistake. If the mistake isn't 'fixed', then was it a mistake?

AncientSwordRage

yes

3:50 PM

k

AncientSwordRage

we're all volunteers - moderators even more so - so I wouldn't even expect them to ask and self-answer, despite me thinking that would be a really good idea

2

In a work context I can see that making sense

but moderator's 'job' is to moderate first

huh.... I accidentally shift clicked instead of ctrl clicked to open a new tab.

Did you guys know that it opens the link in a new window?

AncientSwordRage

@goodguy5 yes

it's a weird one

2 hours later…

6:15 PM

What's the cross through formatting? ~~tildes~~? ah ha, three hyphens

2 hours later…

7:47 PM

Bit of a tangent, but I just learned that from a volumetric standpoint, the sun outputs roughly about as much power/heat as an active compost heap.

It's just that the sun is rather big [citation needed].

6

AncientSwordRage

8:01 PM

@Yuuki as in per volume or...?

AncientSwordRage

8:22 PM

@BESW I looked into two of those: PfmT and Golden Sky Dreams, but I can't see how the latter uses tokens (I looked here writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/professorprof/…)

Also in terms of your lead/trump card, it almost feels better for it to be the 'expert card', so the leader in that crisis is the expert and everyone should follow their lead/follow suit.

Migrating cyteratops mean you need to ford a river? The hydrologist takes point and picks the card

Sorry, cyber-tooth tiger, I forgot it's mammals in the setting

Can anybody help me with some game related word choice

I want an escalation tracker for the system I'm making, but I want it to count down

At zero, if you haven't resolved the conflict the predetermined consequences happen: the bomb goes off, the ritual is complete, or the guards draw their swords

But things that escalate go up, and I don't like countdown as it's too neutral

@AncientSwordRage 13th age uses a d6 as an escalation mechanic. You do more X each round based on how many pips are up.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast I want to count down because then I can start at a number and take tokens/counters away - risky actions do more but take away more tokens and vice versa

@AncientSwordRage has to either be per volume or per mass and I can't figure out which would be more surprising

AncientSwordRage

@goodguy5 plasma is light, right?

@AncientSwordRage yea, it's not super heavy

8:40 PM

@AncientSwordRage you'll want to look here specifically: writeups.letsyouandhimfight.com/professorprof/… Golden Sky Stories' tokens are called Feelings, Wonder, and Dreams.

@AncientSwordRage OK, this looks like "spending game currency to achieve X" and maybe Pirates and Dragons (a d6 game, and their dubloons, is a better model). Have to check the book when I get home.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast please do, sound promising

Is it shared between players?

@Glazius thanks

@AncientSwordRage mercury retrograde? Not as I recall. Each player gets 6 dubloons for each session. Will give details later.

AncientSwordRage

8:56 PM

@KorvinStarmast thanks

I'm specifically trying to think if a word for a shared 'fuse' tracker but anything similar helps

2 hours later…

11:03 PM

@KorvinStarmast it's technically not even Traveller. It's Cepheus Deluxe, which is an OGL fork of MGT1.

@AncientSwordRage per volume

AncientSwordRage

@Yuuki that makes sense

@AncientSwordRage technically, it's ionized/charged particles so it's more like spicy air

AncientSwordRage

@Yuuki is that not the same thing?

By light I meant not weighty
...

🤦🏻‍♂️

11:23 PM

Density is gonna depend on temperature and pressure (sim to gasses). Apparently the sun has an average density of 1.4 g/cm3 which is denser than liquid water

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil that'll vary massively given the temperature and pressure difference as radius changes, right?

Oh, yeah

Density at core apparently up to 162

TheDragonOfFlame

40

Q: What are the official, WotC-published classes and subclasses in 5e?

There aren't too many published materials that contain official classes (classes here meaning sub-classes and archetypes included) but they are scattered resources. What are the official, 1st-party, WotC-published classes and which resources are they found in? For the purposes of this question ...

dnd-5e class archetype

I’m surprised this has so many upvotes. Isn’t it essentially a ‘read the book to me’ question?

But the notion that plasma has low density doesn't fully hold when you talk about the pressures that are present in stars

@TheDragonOfFlame Yes and no. While on its face it's might be low-expertise, it has value as a reference list (compiled from multiple sourcebooks) and from its near 100k views it'll accumulate upvotes from being useful, and a signpost

The meta discussion (and the one linked from that meta) might be worth reading

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May '2211

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