TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:01

I now hear that word in Sylvester McCoy's voice.

user61230

00:16

user61230

"One of the few badger requests that isn't just off the wall"

BESW

01:19

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl mindthe'gap.

The excavation of the The Great Old One at Tottenham Court Road is progressing well. Soon He will wake and look upon his dominion.

Tweeted by TlfTravelAlerts on November 3, 2013 at 5:51 PM

BESW

02:30

@Problematic [wave]

I think Tweets to Campaign By has queued up the last of the usable backlog of tweets posted on chat prior to becoming a tumblr.

There's about two weeks' worth in the queue, at a rate of 2/day.

Submissions are, as always, welcome.

[adds "submit a tweet" /ask link to blog]

Magician

02:57

@BESW So should I post a suggestion here, or there?

BESW

@Magician Whichever. I'm going to be pasting all tweets into chat so I can screenshot them in the appropriate ratio.

Magician

Tweets to Campaign By thinks it might be time for another revolution.

2

you need to understand that the British invented time and if you keep misbehaving we will keep confiscating an hour from you each summer

Tweeted by warrenellis on November 3, 2013 at 7:52 PM

BESW

@Magician Queued. #warrenellis #time #extortion #overlord #magician

33 Tweets in the queue.

Tweets to Campaign By knows a PC when we see one.

Remember to believe in magic, or I'll kill you.

Tweeted by ShadowTodd on November 4, 2013 at 2:42 AM

Tweets to Campaign By is happy to report the apocalypse will be deep-fat-fried.

2

Paula Deen, on the other hand, embraced the disease. She became the queen of the zombies.

Tweeted by fanfiction_txt on November 3, 2013 at 11:45 PM

Tweets to Campaign By is getting jaded.

The Alien Encounter used to be much scarier...

Tweeted by UrsulaV on November 3, 2013 at 11:26 PM

Tweets to Campaign By hadn't considered the family-bonding opportunities presented by the zombie apocalypse.

Have again proved my status as family sharpshooter.

Tweeted by UrsulaV on November 3, 2013 at 10:41 PM

...I am considering an #actuallydisneyworld hashtag.

Okay, I think I'm done for now.

doppelgreener

04:45

I just found out something about our site:

That's from the All Sites list on Stack Exchange

100% of our questions are answered.

Only 8 other sites on a fairly long list have that rate. :)

Magician

That's patently untrue: rpg.stackexchange.com/unanswered

doppelgreener

"Answered" means there's an upvoted answer, I believe.

user61230

rpg.stackexchange.com/…

user61230

This is the actual query, afaik, used for that statistic.

user61230

We have seven unanswered questions.

doppelgreener

04:47

Okay, then that is weird.

Maybe it rounds upward? xD

user61230

Hmm. Based on my calculation, it should read 99.9%.

user61230

Ah, yeah, it rounds up to the nearest percent.

user61230

We're at 99.876% answered => 100%.

doppelgreener

@BESW I am worried a couple of these aren't Tweets To Campaign By, just Tweets With A Stimulating Thought But Don't Really Set Up A Campaign

contrast to earlier ones which suggested something very palpable to deal with, like a gang of roving hobos

or the British government time stealing agency

user61230

You might be interested in the Game Generator.

2

user61230

04:54

i.e. An adventure game where you meet eldritch monstruosities in space.

user61230

A social media game where you tickle hats to make virtual money.

doppelgreener

@AvnerShahar-Kashtan My stack exchange now has an abundance of badgers and I am very pleased

except that it turns badger into badgerr and probably will turn that badgerr into a badgerrr and so on

2

(it did)

Magician

It's badgers all the way down.

2

doppelgreener

with each one putting an increasing number of r's into it

because of the proportional amount of "RRR" they're vocalising in holding up all the other badgers

@Emrakul different to tweets to campaign by but neat 8)

user61230

I... oh my gods, I just discovered this one. Alright, new campaign idea:

user61230

05:02

"A role-playing game where you must obtain collectible dwarves while upgrading your gear."

3

doppelgreener

@Emrakul this is marvellous

user61230

I can't stop thinking about how great this game would actually seriously be as a one-shot, ridiculous, silly game.

user61230

05:25

I think I have a new tool in my toolbox for bringing non-RPers into the world of story-driven RP. That campaign.

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

05:38

Yeah, I really should fix that.

Alex P

05:50

@Emrakul You'll have to elaborate, I'm afraid.

How are the dwarves being collected?

user61230

I haven't really given it any serious thought, to be honest.

BESW

@AlexP With a saucer of beer and a butterfly net.

doppelgreener

@Emrakul I like how the badge-request tag actually changed :)

BESW

@JonathanHobbs I still hear all the badgerrrrrs read in McCoy's voice.

doppelgreener

@BESW I can see why you would xD

user61230

06:05

@JonathanHobbs There's a disciplined-badger tag now. Gods, I love this userscript. "What is the purpose of the 'disciplined' badger?" "Can I have a copy of this badger?" "you care enough about badgers that it pushes you over the line"

BESW

@AlexP Depending on the kind of dwarf you catch, you can upgrade your net, your saucer, the quality of your booze, or even the rocking chair you wait in! (+1 rocking chair of nodding off in the afternoon sun)

doppelgreener

@Emrakul "Why don't I have this badge yet?" "How can I get this badge?" "We should have a badge for this"

user61230

@JonathanHobbs "Are badgers only to be used for serious purposes?"

user61230

"Badgers exist to reward and encourage the kind of positive behavior we want in our community. But not everyone seems to understand that." "If a badger exists, people will try to get it."

doppelgreener

and @BESW now has a 1:2 silver:bronze badge ratio

(precariously maintained)

BESW

06:12

I currently have slightly more than half as many silver badgers as I do bronze ones.

user61230

"You can't really just say that a badger exists 'for humor', unless it's completely irrelevant to how people use the site."

BESW

I need more copper badgers to restore balance.

doppelgreener

@BESW the balance of badges is very important

but you are on the nicer side of the badge balance

user61230

Badger badger badger badger

doppelgreener

I wonder if there are things we can replace with snakes and mushrooms that would actually be cleverly funny and not just zany for the sake of it

(probably just badgers is enough :D)

BESW

06:17

Guru badger:

2

Magician

At this rate, we need a "totem animal of the week" banner for this chat.

BESW

(Every now and then Ursula Vernon does badgers. And it is awesome.)

user61230

OOH. USEFUL FATE LINK.

3

doppelgreener

I just thought of something to blog about. \o/

BESW

@JonathanHobbs ....badgers?

doppelgreener

06:26

@BESW ... Yes. Also, "What's in a fractal?" Also, I will use a badger for the example.

BESW

Should you need a second animal, I suggest an owlephant.

doppelgreener

@BESW trouble: terrifying beyond all measure

BESW

@JonathanHobbs Can be compelled to flee in a rampaging panic at the sight of its own reflection.

doppelgreener

Mirror test

The mirror test is an experiment developed in 1970 by psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. to determine whether an animal possesses the ability to recognize itself in a mirror. It is the primary indicator of self-awareness in non-human animals and marks entrance to the mirror stage by human children in developmental psychology. Overview The classic mirror test is performed by surreptitiously marking the animal with two scentless dye spots. The "test" spot is put on a part of the animal that would only be visible to it through use of a mirror; the "control" spot is on an accessible but complete...

Elephants can recognise their own reflection in a mirror. Owls would just see their reflection as another owl. Between the two, the Owlephant is just not sure one way or the other.

3

(and probably never pauses long to consider it)

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

07:21

I have brought joy and badgers into the hearts of others. What more can a man ask for?

Now I just need to fix that $#&#% regex.

BESW

Classy.

doppelgreener

07:43

@AvnerShahar-Kashtan /(badge[^r])/ig ?

(ignoring the extra script-induced r following badge)

(which amuses me)

there is no longer any such synonym of medal or pin

there is only badger

Inbar Rose

@JonathanHobbs Brilliant.

BESW

08:01

@Magician One thing I like about Passages and Plunder is that it sounds like there's no point at which some people are "out" while others are still playing.

IE, in many board games when you lose the rest of the group keeps on playing, leaving you to just watch.

Magician

@BESW That's one of the dynamics that emerges, I've found. If someone's too far ahead, everyone else starts behaving selfishly to catch up, making the current winner carry most of the burden... or letting the colony starve, which quickly ends the game.

It's possible to exile particularly uncooperative players, which does take them out of the game, for one simple reason: if someone's being purely selfish, they will result in everyone's loss. It's a wrong tactic, but I've seen some people do it repeatedly.

BESW

But it sounds like (outside of exile) it's not just a "dynamic," that it's hard-baked into the rules: losing is either caused by everyone dying (and the game is over) or someone winning (and the game is over), so the instant anyone loses, the game's over.

Inbar Rose

There are two sides of the coin. In games where you can get eliminated, it might feel bad that a player is no longer playing. But in games where they are not eliminated, there can be an obvious winner early on, like in Dominion, or Arcana, or Risk for instance - in which case the player or players who are obviously losing are just dragging their feet playing the game where the other player who is winning won't let them surrender because he wants the win. At least in Elimination its over fast.

BESW

Aye.

Inbar Rose

However - if the game is a very long game, elimination is sucky. Like in Republic of Rome... which can take HOURS, and someone could die early on...

BESW

08:07

It sounds like P&P is doing well to avoid these issues.

Inbar Rose

I forget the name of the game, but one where when you "die" you become the bad guys.

It's a dungeon crawl game

with tiles

Anyway, in that one you solve both problems with "life after death"

BESW

I should get back to Heffalumps and Woozles some time.

Inbar Rose

Though the problem could also be solved in some games where there is no "losing" until the very end. Like in Cosmic Encounter, where you can always swing back.

BESW

In it, if a Heffalump or Woozle "died," he turned into a Wary Bear--and Wary Bears turned into Heffalumps or Woozles.

Inbar Rose

Also - games where you are eliminated, but are not so long are also not so bad, like betrayal at the House on the Hill

I like that Role playing games suffer none of those problems.

BESW

08:09

And everyone being Wary Bears was a win condition.

Only one Heffalump or Woozle could win, but Wary Bears would win all together or not at all. And you changed teams several times over the course of the game.

Inbar Rose

If you are the last Heffalump or Woozle, and you have a situation where you might turn into a Wary Bear, why wouldn't you want to?

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

08:44

Ok, SOBadger script is updated to not turn a badger into a badgerr. userscripts.org/scripts/show/181456

2

Inbar Rose

09:24

Wow, that is the ugliest hack I have ever seen.

Do you want someone with actual programming experience to maybe fix that for you?

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

Wow, that was rude and obnoxious.

Inbar Rose

Sorry, it's just so horrible.

You didn't even change the variable names, it still says keyboard -> leopard everywhere.

I offered to help earlier.

Avner Shahar-Kashtan

Yes, I saw. I'm glad I didn't ask for it, since I'd rather leave it an ugly hack.

I'm not incapable of changing variable names, as you seem to think. I just didn't think it worth the time.

Inbar Rose

Fine. No need to get all bent out of shape.

I don't mean to offend. I feel I can step casually in here with what I say, as opposed to tiptoeing lightly. Programming is my profession And if you re-read my messages in a friendlier tone, you might notice I am only trying to help. Though - in all honesty, I could have said that much nicer, but, as I said. I am just being myself here. No need to super-proper-bs.

Sven B.