TRPG General Chat

user61230

05:07

So my druid character apparently became super powerful.

user61230

There's a spell called Call Lightning, which is Ridicul-Os.

Metool

Pretty much, yeah.

user61230

05:48

Anyone know about the Bundle of Holding?

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

Hello

user61230

@Avner Good beforemorning!

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

'ello 'ello. Anything exciting happening today? Heated arguments? Mild disagreements?

user61230

We had one or the other!

user61230

We argued about the definition of the "accessibility" tag

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

05:56

Do we have it on RPG.SE?

user61230

And then discussed a mechanical modification for a game.

user61230

I think we do now? I'm not totally certain.

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

I see it now, yes. But no questions on it?

user61230

Hm. I'm not totally sure why that is.

user61230

7

Q: What should the scope of the [accessibility] tag be?

Today I created the accessibility tag for our now-growing category of posts dealing with issues such as blind players, prone players, dyslexic players, autistic players, etc. I also tagged one post (How can I help my PCs remember clues that they found?) as accessibility as well. This is why I am...

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

05:57

I thought tags were generally created on-the-fly as needed, rather than being pre-built.

user61230

In this case, there was one question tagged with it, but the tag was removed.

Metool

@Emrakul I have heard of it, but not in time to get the previous one.

user61230

And as a result, a debate ensued about how we should define it.

user61230

@Metool ?

Metool

Bundle of Holding?

user61230

05:59

Oh, yes, sorry.

user61230

I'm curious what's typically in it.

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

I'm reading the meta post right now.

Ok. Read it. Still don't have a clear-cut opinion.

user61230

You can start reading our discussion here

user61230

It continues for a good couple hours, but covers a lot of the discussion.

Metool

06:20

... 11 mana, turn 3. What?

user61230

11 mana in pool, or available by turn 4?

user61230

AUGH ALERTS ARE FRIGHTENING.

user61230

GAH. Phone issues an Amber Alert. An alarm goes off that sounds like the world is ending.

user61230

...okay, that's actually serious enough to blare violent alarms in one million peoples' pockets for.

user61230

All is forgiven when lives are in danger.

Metool

06:39

11 mana available at turn 3

@Emrakul what happened?

user61230

How did they do it?

user61230

And, two children were abducted by a guy in a blue car who had just killed the mother (single) and eldest child in a burned-down home.

user61230

It's pretty serious. They issued the warning because the kids are in immediate life threat, but could very well still be alive. foxnews.com/us/2013/08/06/…

user61230

They apparently actually activated the TV emergency broadcast system, as well.

user61230

@Metool how did they do it/is it consistent?

Metool

06:55

This user is typing.

First turn - Forest (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=8338), Llanowar Elves (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221892).
Second turn - Tap both for Priest of Titania (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5823); play Gaea's Cradle (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=10422), tap for Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Discussion.aspx?multiverseid=15237).

Does that not interpret?

[headdesk]

user61230

That last one interprets just fine :P

user61230

That's a pretty lucky ramp.

user61230

What's the deck style?

Metool

It's just TO at this point.

... G world enchantment... all creatures have haste... what?

user61230

Huh?

Metool

07:01

gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/…

(TO is theoretical optimization, apparently. I might be misusing the term)

user61230

That's not at all overpowered, no.

user61230

With that deck you'd probably get up to 8 or 9 with some consistency.

user61230

Could be a good elf deck.

Metool

It's just that haste is out of colour.

user61230

07:17

Get enough elves, though...

Metool

Yesyes.

Hrm. 2/5 for 5, and 1G: Folk of the Pines gets +1/+0 until end of turn.

user61230

Not red deck winsy enough.

user61230

Looking for more creature ramp...

user61230

Would it be too late for Oracle of Mul Daya?

Metool

Please don't talk about red deck wins.

No.

doppelgreener

07:28

Hint hint, there's a magic the gathering room that has trouble staying alive

Magic: the Gathering discussion

MtG! Go! Discuss!

(Even a generic B&CG room!)

Board and Card Games

General discussion for boardgames.stackexchange.com. Chat abou...

2

I'm not kicking you out, but maybe you could bring some life to them? c(:

user61230

Whoa. BGSE has a Go chat room.

user61230

Once SE chat gets XMPP/IRC support...

Metool

IRC, eh?

user61230

IIRC, it's status-deferred.

Metool

Pardon?

user61230

07:32

If I recall correctly, it's been deferred by the SE devs to a later point.

user61230

Low-priority for them, but it's on their list.

doppelgreener

There is limited benefit and a lot of trouble in doing it

Metool

Limited benefit?

doppelgreener

Something a lot of people don't recognise is that the IRC protocol, and other chat protocols, are not just a way to communicate but a definition and set of rules for how a chat is supposed to work

Metool

Ah, of course.

doppelgreener

07:35

SE Chat has a lot of features that aren't compatible with IRC, and expects stuff like login information and a static username which IRC is less friendly with supporting. Likewise IRC has expectations and features SE Chat doesn't care about.

user61230

While they could communicate via IRC, it would take some hacking to get right.

user61230

Some serious hacking and user scripting.

doppelgreener

A lot of people assume it's some kind of de-facto chat protocol it should be easy enough to support but it isn't really, and when people can just connect over the web clients (which have more features) quite often it's... not really worth it necessarily

Yeah pretty much what Emrakul said

Metool

I'd rather have these chats not taking up browser space, is the thing.

user61230

It could even be a direct drawback. People connect automatically in IRC; we'd quickly see rooms with 90+ people who just don't quit their IRC clients.

user61230

07:38

I would like to see a desktop app of some sort.

user61230

IRC/XMPP aside

Metool

gyazo.com/cee9f3f890c6bb4f8a363bb0ee871a38

user61230

A desktop app would definitely help and I would be much happier.

user61230

@Jonathan It appears our woes have been solved. I almost feel bad for wasting dev time.

doppelgreener

I wouldn't call it a woe. :)

user61230

07:43

What? You have no idea how many thousands of people suffered from unintentionally striking the pipe key and then being generally confused!

doppelgreener

Probably zero thousand

user61230

It's pretty close.

user61230

08:16

Goodnight!

Zachiel

10:09

what happened by striking the |||||pipe?

doppelgreener

one could see forever

Zachiel

you mean, no more death? XD

no more blindness?

doppelgreener

10:29

well actually it's just that every name in the room would show up for a suggestion after you entered, say, @|a

@z suggests Zachiel, but @|z would make everyone show up.

Alex P

11:00

@Metool Haste isn't out of color if you're using older cards like Priestess of Titania. But most elf decks don't need it because they use an alternative trick. I can explain in B&CG main or Magic chat if you'd like to know more.

BESW

11:55

Darths and Droids bonus strip.

Alex P

13:10

A silly question:

BESW

A silly answer:

Alex P

Which is worse: coming up with fanciful names for basic character classes ("glaive" for warrior) or coming up with fanciful names for the GM ("Seneschal," "Hollyhock God")?

BESW

Why is either of these things bad to start with?

Alex P

Because I can't call another player the Seneschal with a straight face?

BESW

I mean, I could see an argument that it confuses things, but it's not like "wizard" and "sorcerer" are meaningful distinctions either.

Alex P

13:12

Because when your game has three character classes, why are they referring to one of them by the name of a weird-ass polearm?

@BESW Agreed.

BESW

"Glaive" says more to me than "fighter" does.

As in, "Aren't all our characters going to be fighting?" At least a Glaive indicates to me that he's a weapony guy.

Metool

I always thought glaive was a glove.

That said, I accidentally started playing music over the house speakers instead of my own bluetooth speakers.

BESW

@Metool <insert Princess Bride joke here>

doppelgreener

@BESW That was lovely.

BESW

@Metool Was it All Ponies Must Be Perfect or something similar?

Alex P

13:16

@BESW Well, that's because "fighter" is too far on the side of flavorless and non-specific. Like "magic-user."

doppelgreener

@AlexP What are the other classes named?

Alex P

@JonathanHobbs Umm, jack and nano, IIRC.

That is rogue and mage.

BESW

Oh. Those aren't class names. Those are triplets born at Woodstock and named by a guy under the bleachers.

2

doppelgreener

Glaive, Jack and Nano.

Metool

@BESW soundcloud.com/tarbyrocks/saturday-morning-2-wip

doppelgreener

13:17

The term Nano bothers me just because of the ways I see it used, but Glaive and Jack I don't mind one bit.

BESW

"Glaive, Jack, and Nano" would be a good name for a band.

doppelgreener

Very importantly: the Fiction Rule of Thumb does not necessarily apply to RPGs.

Alex P

They could be Frank Zappa's kids.

BESW

@JonathanHobbs Why not?

If anything, I feel that RPG names should be kept simpler than names in prose fiction.

Metool

after this

BESW

13:19

I can get behind those, I think.

Alex P

@BESW Get behind what?

doppelgreener

@BESW Oh, yeah, I agree. But then there's terms like psionics. I suppose they just get more leeway.

BESW

@AlexP @Metool's song choices.

doppelgreener

Actually nevermind, it probably fully applies :I

John Craven

It reeeeeeeeeeally depends on the feel of your game.

If you're going light, there is no reason whatsoever that you can't have characters named Princess Fluffycheeks Steelchaser

A lot of the time though when a game is more "serious" (as serious as RPGs can be, anyway), you get slightly more normalish names

Alex P

13:22

And if you're going heavy, Killfuck Soulshitter.

called2voyage

@AlexP >.<

John Craven

I kind of draw the line at "Bob", at least in medieval RPGs; show me a PC named "Bob" and I'll show you a player who is "mailing it in", so to speak

called2voyage

I think that's more horrible than Fluffycheeks

wax eagle

@JohnCraven Hey! I resemble that remark

has played a fighter named Bob for years

John Craven

A person named Killfuck Soulshitter would have to have a nickname to really be able to do much in the real world

BESW

13:23

@JohnCraven You mean the Town of Bob, run by Mayor Bob?

John Craven

it seems like a good start for a player, at least

called2voyage

@JohnCraven K-man

Alex P

@JohnCraven He is a cyborg assassin. So no he does not.

BESW

Anyway, that's nothing like what I was trying to get at.

called2voyage

@AlexP Ah, that helps things.

BESW

13:24

Hobbs is talking about made-up words, and I'm advocating using recognizable language.

John Craven

haha if I played under a GM who did that (had a town called Bob) I would probably ask what all the major places are and take a tourist-style tour of the place, just to force him to improvise all of that shit

Alex P

@JohnCraven Well, arguably the more medieval you get, the more "Bob" is acceptable. Not always Bob per se, but, you know, pretty regular names.

called2voyage

@BESW How made up? Like Eragon or Cthulu?

BESW

@JohnCraven Most everyone in that town is named Bob, and looks exactly like the GM, beard and all. Even the women.

John Craven

Robert is acceptable for an English based medieval thing

Alex P

13:25

I mean, "canonical names" is a thing.

BESW

I get the feeling nobody actually clicked on Hobbs's link which started this.

7 mins ago, by Jonathan Hobbs

Very importantly: the Fiction Rule of Thumb does not necessarily apply to RPGs.

John Craven

although I usually try and get people to choose the French or Italian or Spanish versions of the names just in case they're actively trying to play the annoying guy at work

wax eagle

(just a note on the language guys, it's fine in moderate doses, but try not to use so much you attract flags or you'll have a flood of 10k users and mods from other sites in here and it won't be pretty.)

Alex P

There were eras when the list of acceptable names was pretty short so people start just creating bizarre nicknames.

That's where the bajillionty nicknames for names like Robert or William come from.

John Craven

well, that and people were known as much by their profession as anything else

Alex P

13:26

Too many Roberts. So some are Rob and some are Bob.

Yeah, if you want to get "authentic," give people bynames. It's easy and fun!

John Craven

if you want to make a character named John Smith, that's cool... so let's talk about what it was like to be raised a blacksmith, and why you are giving up that life (the pay is pretty damn good) to go adventuring

but yeah, calling yourself "Champion" is actually kind of an awesome move too in my book... okay, maybe your 'real' name is Bob but championing is in fact what you do

BESW

or Campion.

For an entirely different flavor.

John Craven

in the end, I guess we tend not to spend too much time on names unless they're distracting

Alex P

@JohnCraven Your village was burned down by a super-evil villain and you have been honed into the world's greatest warrior by gladiatorial fighting and walking around that wheel thing all day!

BESW

@AlexP Or, you're not a smith at all. Your family's craft is calligraphy, but the border guards couldn't pronounce your name and gave you a new one.

John Craven

13:31

wow... so I think my work may have blocked Wikipedia

and not rpg.SE

Alex P

@JohnCraven Are you in the UK by chance?

John Craven

No

Metool

Spellshaaaare.

John Craven

Also, wikipedia doesn't have a lot about rape and/or porns so I think the UK is safe anyway

Alex P

No idea, then. I know in the UK sometimes people try go get Wikipedia described as pornographic content because it has, like, pictures of rock album covers.

wax eagle

13:33

@JohnCraven fabulous. my work for a long time had SO blocked but not SE

SO is actually relevant to my job, most of SE is not

Alex P

@waxeagle That's just terrible.

John Craven

I hope and pray you're not a developer, @waxeagle

wax eagle

@JohnCraven yes, yes I am

thankfully 1. google caches SO very nicely and 2. my job is pretty easy

John Craven

damn

doppelgreener

Well I went away for a few minutes <_>

John Craven

13:35

Sometimes I wonder how people think we actually do this job... like, do you want us to spend several weeks re-inventing some API which is probably already out there and has been tested or used?

Or do you want me to spend several hours trying to come up with creative solutions to what is likely a very common problem someone else in the community has already solved?

doppelgreener

I do think a game should feel free to come up with words (and they will come up with a few for races, exotic items or things like Tenser's Floating Disk) but I think it should be sparing and where necessary. Finding a new word for no reason when a more common one is appropriate, you'd better have a good reason.

In the case of Glaive, Jack and Nano, I am fine on all counts, except that Nano is a measurement prefix.

wax eagle

@JonathanHobbs strangely related to what John Craven just said, just different context

Metool

Whenever a spell that has a duration targets you, if it is not a copy, you may project it. To project a spell, create a copy of that spell for each other ally within your Bastion Aura.

BESW

@JonathanHobbs Maybe he's a No Copyrights Were Infringed version of Antman?

John Craven

and "Glaive" makes me want to say their name like Jerry Lewis

GLAIVE

Nano's fine in a SF setting... to be honest my anachronism bells kind of go off in something like DnD

Alex P

13:37

@JohnCraven I'm talking about sci-fi D&D in this context (Numenera)

BESW

@JonathanHobbs One issue is the Translation Convention; at what point do you expect the players to learn a new language as part of play?

Alex P

Though in a sci-fi context, "jack" might be a bad class name if that term is used elsewhere.

John Craven

For Numenara, just add the word "space" to all medieval things and you will be set

or the suffix "-3000"

Alex P

@BESW I once had a super-terrible session based around the word "blockhouse."

It was a one-shot.

BESW

I generally prefer to use existing (often English) words, and if I must I'll pretend they're the translation of the Quenya or Hrissian or whatever.

Alex P

13:38

We're walking through a ruined city.

The GM says we see a large blockhouse.

We investigate.

Hobgoblins attack us from the parapets!

Wait, what?

None of us knew "blockhouse" meant "fortress" and not some kind of, you know, house

BESW

Hrm. It's actually a one-story wooden fort with arrow holes, but okay.

John Craven

@BESW: It depends on what feeling you're trying to convey

BESW

"Parapets" is going a bit far even with the medieval definition.

@JohnCraven Obviously.

Alex P

I never said the GM was good at using words. ;)

John Craven

the big advantage of using words that everybody knows is that you can circumvent a lot of potentially game-stopping description, but sure, if you want to give someone or some place a funky name, why not?

BESW

13:40

I ask the question rhetorically, meaning that the GM/group/game designer needs to ask it of their particular situation.

Then I clarified my standard answer to it.

Alex P

Our compromise with names is that we try to use historical names but we don't bother using full names.

John Craven

I just wouldnt' describe places as "ziggurats" unless I was pretty sure everyone knows what a ziggurat is becuase their players wouldn't be thinking in that language, necessarily

Alex P

Like a real Byzantine Greek could have like 4-5 names since they stack family names a bit like people from Spain do. We just call them by their first names, though.

And never come up with the other names.

John Craven

I'd also imagine that in a day to day setting nobody is calling that dude with 5 names all of those names at once

BESW

I like using obscure real words for place and people names, but the more important something is the more inclined I am to make it memorable by making it recognizable.

@JohnCraven Depends. How angry was he likely to make his mother?

Aaron

13:42

I found a great generator.

BESW

@Aaron Hi.

John Craven

haha that was exactly what I was thinking of when I typed that too

Aaron

Hello.

John Craven

I just decided not to "go there"

Congratulations!

BESW

@JohnCraven Your mention of that word caused me to become gripped with the terrible fear that I'd spent a year-long campaign pronouncing it wrong. Happily, I was saying it correctly.

John Craven

13:43

A great generator of what?

BESW

@JohnCraven Questions in chat. Congratulations, you're number one.

Aaron

Anyone want a link? It generates really good world maps with different contents unlike most I found which just have one big land mass.

It has different options for what kind of map as well.

John Craven

I have a generator like that as well. It's called Civilization V. :D

Aaron

I played the xbox version of that game. It was too easy I have heard the computer version is much better.

BESW

@JohnCraven I used the Casesar III map generator in my early D&D GM days.

Aaron

13:46

@BESW how long have you been DMing?

John Craven

@BESW there are worse ways to go. Civ5 even has a mod out there which generates more realistic map content. Just... don't allow your players to be like "I have found Mount Fuji!!! My happiness has been increased by 3!"

BESW

@Aaron Nine years? Ish? I can't remember if it was winter/spring 2004 or winter/spring 2005.

doppelgreener

@JohnCraven If this is their approach to flavouring items I am going to go like this --> ;_;

Aaron

I think I have 1 year at least under my belt. My text RPing experience has helped me greatly in making the games I do as well.

John Craven

Where I draw the line is when PCs ask if the city they've encamped in has built a Granary yet.

doppelgreener

13:48

@Aaron Go ahead and post the link. :)

Alex P

@JonathanHobbs It is not. We were just harping about the fact that all of this transhuman technology has just ended up trickling down on the lesser species (humans) in the form of interdimensional demons and robot succubuses

BESW

@JonathanHobbs "Space-maid! Don't forget to empty the space-chamber pot into the space-gutter."

doppelgreener

@BESW aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Alex P

@BESW I would totally do this while playing Rock of Tahamaat.

Except you should never refer to a single space-maid.

BESW

Actually, I think for proper effect it should be a laser chamber pot.

doppelgreener

13:50

I now have Ziltoid the Omniscient's album in my head.

Alex P

"Space-servants! Empty the space-chamber-pot into the space-gutter of ten thousand lamentations!"

Aaron

topps.diku.dk/torbenm/maps.msp

Alex P

@Aaron Thanks.

doppelgreener

@Aaron Are you sure that's correct? I get an error: "Firefox can't find the server at topps.diku.dk." :(

BESW

Ditto.

Aaron

13:54

One sec. I copied the url and pasted it into evernote. I am trying to find out what went wrong now.

Hrm. Perhaps the site is down. I hope not it was a really good generator.

doppelgreener

@Aaron If you used it recently, maybe it's just down for now.

Aaron

@jonathan I used it last week.

doppelgreener

@Aaron Diku.dk apparently being a University domain, I suspect it's just a temporary outage.

Aaron

@jonathanhobbs Ah. Thank you.

John Craven

Or maybe the student who posted it took it down

doppelgreener

14:18

@JohnCraven Well, diku.dk is actually down!

And Google says it's a fully established large site

I am off to sleep, goodnight!

Metool

@JonathanHobbs Night.

BESW

15:10

Oooh. I'm 10 rep away from a expanded usercard on scifi.se.

Alex P

So, back on the names thing. I'm pleased that Game of Thrones kinda has bynames, kinda. At least in the sense that a lot of people are known by silly-ish folk titles like "The Mountain."

BESW

In college I was well-known as "Guam," and slightly less well-known as "Trench coat boy."

I was very fond of a D&D 3.5 monk/paladin vow of nonviolence NPC who was widely known as The Bastard.

He was a bastard. Literally. Also he had some unfortunate "helped support a world-sweeping holy war" backstory.

I guess I'm kind of surprised at the implication using that some kind of byname isn't a common practice in RPGs of the appropriate settings.

Alex P

I think it really varies by the media the group has consumed.

BESW

I mean, it's so easy it seems like cheating.

Alex P

I don't actually like a lot of Game of Thrones (though I did binge on it), but overall I'm very happy it's around being one of the flagship fantasy things.

Unfortunately a lot of D&D tropes have been canonized for all time in video games already.

BESW

15:25

John Bywater, Gretta Eriksdottir, Alexander Portsman.

Zachiel

When Spugnoir becomes "Sponge", Lareth who lives in a herborist shop becomes "Herbs" and the players go out of their way to find slight resemblance to common names for every proper name I say, that's when I know I want a different rpg group

BESW

@Zachiel Heh. I have a player who likes to do that.

But he's good at making it funny and keeping it at the right level.

Aaron

So they try to find a normal name to use for the more exotic names you use? Is that what you mean? @Zachiel

Zachiel

"And then, how could we call this Validor guy?"

BESW

Splug the tag-along goblin NPC was promptly re-Christened "Splat," and everyone agreed this was a very appropriate change.

Sometimes they're just having fun, sometimes it's a not-so-subtle hint that the GM is giving them too many things to keep track of.

Zachiel

15:29

@Aaron they don't go towards less exotic, they go towards funnier

BESW

They may be telling you that Lareth is just "the herbs guy" and they don't want to give him the narrative weight that goes with remembering a name.

They may be saying that Spugnoir is far too exotic a name for them to recall.

Aaron

Ah.

Zachiel

And it happens for minor NPCs whose names aren't important for the story. I guess the English fantasy names sound really funny to a non-English speaker already.

BESW

But then, having heard about your group in other contexts, I may be giving them too much credit.

Zachiel

but he's not "the herbs guy". He's "Herbs". Capital H.

BESW

15:31

@Zachiel That's what I mean; by naming him for his function in the game, they're putting him in his place.

Zachiel

and they do remember the original names pretty well (maybe -because of the Monikers-)

BESW

"Herbs" means "you're just the herbs guy, don't get any ideas about becoming important to the plot."

Alex P

Sounds a bit like a defense mechanism against having to be too "in-character," maybe?

Zachiel

Except when the evil clerics go as far as resurrecting him and giving him the supreme sword of the cult champion, because he's the chosen one but they realized that after the PCs killed him.

BESW

@AlexP That's very much the case, I think, based on some other stories I've heard about the group.

Zachiel

15:33

I don't know, it has serously toned down since a player moved away

BESW

I'm glad to hear it.

Aaron

Speaking of herbs. I have been thinking of launching a short horror survival zombie campaign. Somewhat like Resident evil. Just off the top of anyone's head do you know of any good resources for this? I want to use the herbs and everything. Characters would not level up and gain stats but they would have to train and such to increase the stats.

Zachiel

Not so glad, he was the only one that used to show up every time

BESW

@Aaron Off the top of my head, All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

Alex P

Would it help to get rid of the first-person component of that?

Like, I usually do my roleplaying in third person and elide a lot of dialogue.

Zachiel

15:35

@Aaron On top of mine, there's a project for a game called "Escape!" but I don't know if it's being translated from Italian to English

wax eagle

@Aaron the right genre and tone, but no improvement of abilities and probably too light on the crunch if you're talking about skills at all is Dread

BESW

(I'm not very familiar with RE, but AFMBE has sections on how to turn it into several different kinds of zombie tropes.)

Alex P

Just "She explains that they're in a hurry."

Aaron

What are tropes exactly? Is it like types?

wax eagle

@Aaron plot concepts essentially

Zachiel

15:36

@AlexP I don't like that kind of narration very much, but I feel inadequate at doing any more than that

BESW

"Tropes are storytelling devices and conventions."

Aaron

Ok.

Thanks

BESW

Common zombie tropes.

AFMBE even does the plant zombie thing Skin Horse recently depicted so well.

I've got a soft spot for spore zombies, I guess.

wax eagle

@BESW oh hey, NPR was talking about new video game with spore based zombies

BESW

Orly?

wax eagle

15:42

inspired by an insect fungus. lemmie find it

npr.org/2013/07/09/199040676/…

BESW

Sadly, I'm not actually very fond of zombie stories/games at all.

But spore zombies hold a certain fascination, as do voodoo zombies.

Science zombies, meh.

Interesting idea.

I'd be more interested in a Swamp Thing/Poison Ivy/Cypress conceit, though.

Alex P

@Zachiel I think the trick is to start with that kind of bird's-eye-view thing and then kick it into detail for the interesting stuff. "She explains that they're in a hurry. 'So either you'll help us now or I'll gut you and take what we need.'"

Not the only way to do it, mind you.

It's the format I like.

I compare it to how TV shows sometimes just jump-cut right into the middle of the interesting part of a conversation.

BESW

Good-quality prose fiction does it regularly.

Alex P

I think in ten session of play I've said "hello" all of once.

BESW

It's a "zoom out, zoom in" focus trick to let us get through the boring bits without feeling like we missed anything.

wax eagle

15:54

@AlexP unless it's a major plot point formalities should be abstracted. get to the interesting bits of conversation :)

Alex P

@waxeagle Exactly.

Once it was a major plot point.

BESW

I try to gauge how much the group I'm working with is interested in that.

I had one group that was perfectly content to spend two whole sessions wandering around a pirate bazaar chatting with the vendors.

Alex P

@BESW The thing is, I can't do that myself. My brain melts.

BESW

They bought a dog for the lonely itinerant gnome salesman.

@AlexP [grin] I love random plotless improv, especially when I can tie it to characterization and worldbuilding.

The instant I as a GM (instead of I as the NPCs) have a "point" I need to get to, I start to freeze up.

Alex P

16:11

I do think "talk to the shopkeeper for two hours" is a legit style.

Metool

Have I shared the wonder that is Jamsas in here yet?

BESW

@AlexP My next big group, I learned the hard way, would slaughter each other if not given something else to kill each session.

@Metool Don't think so, but I'll have to see it in the morning. Beeeeed. Sleeeeeep. [thunk]

user61230

Good morning!

user61230

(Just for irony's sake)

Metool

►

Alex P

16:20

@BESW Man, I really wish all RPGs came with some kind of "flagging" mechanism.

"This is what I want to do now."

Players have a tendency to forget that they can just say that. And instead look around at the tools they have and just try to force it clunkily.

2

I'm certainly not immune.

user61230

16:33

What is going on with these Candy Crush questions on Arqade?

wax eagle

@Emrakul whacha mean?

I only see one terribad recent one

user61230

Go back through recent questions

user61230

There are a lot more

user61230

Oh. The others must have been deleted? There used to be four, if I recall...

wax eagle

@Emrakul probably scrubbed. mods are pretty good about cleaning up crap like that

Joshua Aslan Smith

16:41

@johnW Your DM is severely wrecking the class balance in 4e if he's giving you double the dailies of every other class.

hello everyone

Metool

Hello, @JoshuaAslanSmith

Alex P

@JoshuaAslanSmith /wave

Metool

Who's JohnW?

wax eagle

guy asking questions on the site

Joshua Aslan Smith

yes, dont know if he has the rep and whatnot to come in chat

but It didn't seem right to put that on the question when his main question was about burst attacks targeting squares rather than creatures

wax eagle

16:47

@JoshuaAslanSmith he does, but he hasn't been here yet so he won't get your ping

Joshua Aslan Smith

gotcha

wax eagle

@JoshuaAslanSmith yeah...I was going to comment about that but it wasn't appropriate for the question

Joshua Aslan Smith

maybe a general comment inviting him to chat would be appropriate

wax eagle

@JoshuaAslanSmith always ok

Joshua Aslan Smith

I just dont understand people unbalancing 4e like that

Aaron

16:55

I have been trying to compile a list of metals both real and fantasy metals (Mithril etc.) I have googled it a lot but I have not found a good source.

Joshua Aslan Smith

all metals? thats a tall order considering the ridiculous amount of steel alloys in production or that have been research, not to mention others

Aaron

I have found a Wikipedia but does anyone have other sources they know of?

Not all but a large list.

Joshua Aslan Smith

wikipedia is good for sources, ie the footnotes at the bottom of the page can direct you to real, reputable sites sometimes

are you simply looking for elemental metals (iron, aluminum, gold, silver, etc.) or alloys as well?

Aaron

Anything that can be found in raw form.

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