TRPG General Chat

Metool

10:03

The textures have been swapped, but the writing has not been touched.

(Praise Gokesus, our Lord and Saiyan.)

Julix

10:24

hey metool

Metool

Heya.

[/late]

Julix

it is late

haha

Metool

What are you up to at this hour?

Julix

aparently not sleeping

I didn't sleep at all last night

I hoped that would mean going to bed early today

instead I stayed up photoshoping some stupid picture

Metool

[pat]

Julix

10:38

Say, why is it we don't have a private message system in SE? - because you aren't really supposed to have a conversation with someone in comments, but who knows when they'll be online in chat...

I want to be able to leave a message in such a manner that it can be addressed at the receiver's convenience - how do you do that in SE?

BESW

Like this: @Julix

If you're not around when I ping you in chat, but you've been in chat relatively recently, you'll get notified the next time you sign in.

Julix

all that does is make a sound if they happen to be logged in, right?

oh cool

didn't know that

Metool

Also a number listing how many unread notifications they have, that they can click to skip along to.

BESW

It's the same function as when you get an answer to a question you asked, or a comment on one of your posts.

Julix

If I had know that I might not have abused comments for discussions so much :D

sorry everyone

Metool

10:43

This reminds me of a certain Star Wars player attempting to play a droid with the flaw: lactose intolerance. — vsz Sep 4 '12 at 6:16

Wow, do people do that?

BESW

@Metool What, try to game the system by inventing toothless flaws?

Julix

Alright then. A bunch of people (no one I've ever played with) have been pushing me (with varying degrees of gentleness) towards using fluff more liberally. My self-perception is that I do allow and use fluff when ever it makes ingame sense, but never just for the fun of it. In other words if just for the fun of it you want to have naturally pink hair as a human you'll have to come up with a sensible "how" for me.

What exactly makes sense varies on the system - and perhaps somewhat subjectively, and since the system is made up without rules there's no way to prove something makes sense or not, you got to just roll along with the DM or decide to go play elsewhere.

Metool

It varies not just by system, but by setting as well.

Julix

very good point.

Not all settings are high fantasy, where Drizz clones (i.e. good drows) are sensible

lisardggY

There's nothing in the Pathfinder system that says that humans have the same range of physical characteristics as those on Earth. If a player says "My character comes from a region in the northeast where humans naturally tend towards pink hair", what's the problem with that?

Julix

10:52

None, that's a perfectly fine explanation for me

in my mind I'm thinking genetical traits and sexual selection

a little bit of biology (wondering what color combinations would make pink and why we never got that but flamingos do)

but nothing that would rub me the wrong way. that's exactly what I mean by giving me sensible explanation.

Metool

@Julix Shriiiiiimp.

Julix

however if he or she gives no reason at all, then I'd not allow it - but there's infinite things they could try to suggest and I'd be open to many. Some strange event (say you're an alchemist, one time you made this shampo and it just never went away again) - or you bought said product :D

Metool

Oh, the possibilities.

Julix

If you're a magician it might have been a wild surge when you were still young :D

don't know if that's a thing in pathfinder...

wild mages, wild surges or any kind of surges... but I'd probably roll with it

yeah, the possibilities are cool.

But they're only fun if they're explored, so I like pushing people to come up with an explanation and quickly one thing can lead to another. So you're from that town in the north, eh? :D

BESW

If these people aren't playing with you, you have no reason to take any advice they have to offer if it doesn't seem useful to you.

Metool

11:05

Aaaand now I want to ride a Metal Gear.

Julix

but it might be really useful - especially the don't overthink part

:-P

BESW

The "right" way to play an RPG is in a way that makes people safe and happy. Any other criterion is secondary at best.

Julix

even safe is optional for some folks... I like safe

Metool

Even happy is optional for some folks.

Inbar Rose

@BESW I don't agree. I think some RPG's are designed purposefully to make you feel unhappy and fearful.

Julix

11:07

hahaha

BESW

As for your specific issues... well, each RPG system has a different level of fluff and GM fiat that it can easily accommodate.

Metool

Satisfied, maybe.

BESW

@InbarRose If that's what the group wants, though, it's the same thing

Julix

Pink hair is easy - and doesn't change anything except for more fluff. Perhaps there's people who are super into pink hair and it ends up being worth a lot to an escort type character, but also leads to people whistling after her on the streets in that particular strange town...

Now I asked a question about snake hair before and people said it's basically no different. For me it seems like it's really quite different, because it leaves so much more open to explanation. If these snakes actually live in your hair do you have to feed them? What's their relationship to the "host"? And how the …

Inbar Rose

@BESW Making Generalizations is never a good thing /irony

BESW

11:08

@Julix It's a matter of what matters to the game's mechanics.

Does scalp/snake symbiosis need mechanics in your game?

Julix

I'm not worried at all about the mechanics

everyone keeps jumping there. - I need to feel comfortable with the fluff to allow it

Then we can make it work somehow - if necessary I'll invent the feats to let you use it in my world

as long as you have a way to make it make some kind of sense

Inbar Rose

Why?

Julix

Why sense?

I like it that way

BESW

Okay, so you require a deep level of detail and explanation attached to your fluff?

Inbar Rose

yes

Well - explain magic?

Explain why dragons exist?

Julix

11:11

Who said it was magic? that's a good start

Inbar Rose

Explain where the gods get their power?

Explain why some characters in the game are good, and some are evil?

Julix

I don't know the history, but I'm sure those all have (multiple, conflicting) explanations ingame :D

Inbar Rose

Do you need everything explained?

Somethings are fun as a mystery.

Maybe the character herself doesn't know how she got the snakes?

Maybe it's just a thing she woke up with one day, with no explanation of?

Julix

Mystery I can go along with as well, but only if that means I get to come up with something later :D

BESW

Setting detail can be fun, but there comes a point where you have to just let it go: otherwise you wind up needing to explain your setting to a level of detail that we don't even have for the REAL world.

Each group has a different cutoff point for it.

Inbar Rose

11:12

Why do short swords do less damage than long swords?

:)

Julix

haha - balance

Inbar Rose

What does the length of the blade matter? :)

BESW

I've never played a game where the story needed to have a detailed star chart, or understand quantum physics.

Julix

actually it matter for slashing, just not for the stabbing which is what you usually do.

Inbar Rose

How come I can put a portable hole in a bag of holding, but I can't put a bag of holding into a portable hole?

Metool

11:13

@InbarRose The weight of the material you're swinging with, the chance that you aren't just grazing the opponent.

Julix

I didn't say detailed and deep

Metool

@InbarRose MAGIC WHY.

Inbar Rose

I am just asking silly questions man. :)

Julix

I just want to have something good enough not to shut up my mind

BESW

@Julix And that's what I'm talking about.

Inbar Rose

11:14

"because" isn't a good enough reason?

BESW

For some people, "a wizard did it," or "snake/scalp symbiosis" is enough.

It's not for you.

Julix

It might be

actually

Metool

Owlbears: A Wizard Did It, maybe.

BESW

Presumably you don't have to work out the precise chemical interaction of snake/scalp symbiosis, but others might feel like they should.

Inbar Rose

How about - the snakes are parasites that attached to her scalp, and through some strange coincidence, they don't eat her - Imagine that. :)

BESW

11:15

Personally (and @JonathanHobbs can back me up here) I spend an unusual amount of time on geological history when I'm designing my settings.

Inbar Rose

Isn't there a trope that discusses this exact situation?

lisardggY

As @BESW mentioned earlier, there are many facets to a "classic" fantasy setting that simply don't hold up under a microscope.

Inbar Rose

A Wizard Did It

lisardggY

The trick is not to hold them up under a microscope.

Julix

gha, why are we still talking about the microscope?

I don't have to know the unknowable

BESW

11:17

@Julix Because it's what you're talking about, so far as we can tell: explaining things until they make sense to a level that satisfies you.

Julix

I just like coherence

lisardggY

It's just that I know the feeling of wanting the campaign setting to be coherent - to not have just random things in it.

Inbar Rose

Or how about the Hand Wave?

BESW

Only you know when you reach the satisfaction level, but it will always involve "zooming in" on things.

Julix

microscope is things that you can't see with your human eyes... my problems you can see if you squint... it's really more like reading glasses :D

lisardggY

11:18

But if you're not careful, you'll notice that a lot of the basic concepts that make the game aren't coherent themselves.

Julix

yeah, I've been there

Inbar Rose

Like skill checks.

Or the whole concept of experience.

Julix

that's why I like to obsess about other things that don't make sense so I can forget that it all doesn't make sense ;-)

Metool

Internal consistency is a bitch.

BESW

Frankly, the D&D setting (especially under Wizards or Pathfinder) is a poor choice for someone who enjoys coherence.

Julix

11:19

Just kidding. Honestly, someone pitch a concept for the snake hair thing

Inbar Rose

"coherence" itself is a bad choice for people who like RPG's

BESW

The mechanics themselves don't mesh logically, much less the fluff which is half pre-mechanics and half post-mechanics.

Julix

I can think of a few: A. neither player nor character knows, DM has to make up the fluff but it might come to haunt you later

Inbar Rose

@Julix magic ?

Metool

I misread.

Inbar Rose

11:19

She has 1% snake DNA ?

BESW

@Julix Are you familiar with the anemone crab?

Inbar Rose

Cursed by the lord of snakes?

Julix

that's good.

I like it

BESW

A particular kind of hermit crab has developed a symbiotic relationship with a certain kind of sea anemone: it affixes the anemone to the top of its shell.

Metool

@InbarRose I was going to suggest something similar to this, because plot hooooooks.

Julix

11:20

haha

Inbar Rose

@Metool A whole head of plot hooks. :)

Julix

hehehe

BESW

The anemone provides camouflage and stinging protection to the crab, and the crab (a messy eater) feeds the anemone with the particles of its food that float up to its tentacles.

Inbar Rose

Or - how about something more dastardly? Backlash from casting spells that were too powerful for her to cast? or for angering certain beings? or simply the side-effects of witchcraft?

She was grinding up a bowl of snake scales and a potion of X dropped in, it blew up on her face, now she has snake hair.. :P

BESW

Does PF have yuan-ti?

wax eagle

11:23

@JonathanHobbs if I have a chance I'll hunt through the books today, there's basically nothing in the compendium past the arrows/bolts/bullets getting consumed verbiage. after that there seems to be absolutely nothing on how one picks up items after combat. My guess is that it's left to the DM to decide, but I'd like to take a pass at trying to find some language that clarifies what happens

Metool

@BESW Product identity, I thought.

BESW

Probably.

Julix

Haha - if the potion is cheap and the snake hair does anything useful at all i'd have commoners ask her what's up with the hair and if she tells the story rumours will spread and eventually teens will start doing it to rebell against their parents :D

Inbar Rose

@waxeagle I remember reading somewhere about the chanced for arrows breaking when used.

BESW

Yuan-ti have the often-overlooked habit of using non-magical alchemic potions to turn humans into yuan-ti.

Inbar Rose

11:23

@Julix Why not?

Julix

no reason. I like changing the world based on past events

BESW

The potions have a good chance of failing, either killing the human or turning them into a hideous monstrosity.

Inbar Rose

She was trapped in a teleportation device with a snake! (style of The Fly)

Metool

@ProfessorLokiCaprion Ahoy!

Julix

ahoy captain, I mean caprion

Professor Loki Caprion

11:26

Good morning, everyone!

BESW

That's Professor Captain to you.

Professor Loki Caprion

And people here at my job actually do call me "Captain," since my last name is Morgan.

Inbar Rose

@Julix He is a professor, not a captain :)

Professor Captain it is.

Julix

how's your "morgen" (german for morning) going, professor captain caprion morgan?

Professor Loki Caprion

Meine Morgan morgen ist gut, jetzt.

(Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch)

Julix

11:28

haha, sehr gut

Professor Loki Caprion

Haha.. Professor Captain... almost wanna change my display name.

Inbar Rose

@ProfessorLokiCaprion DO IT

Julix

Prof. Capt. Loki

Either his new title, or a secret message... oh no, some professor captured loki.

Professor Loki Caprion

I give in to peer pressure.

Inbar Rose

... --- -- . --- -. . / ... - --- .-.. . / - .... . / -.-. --- --- -.- .. . ... / ..-. .-. --- -- / - .... . / -.-. --- --- -.- .. . / .--- .- .-.

Julix

11:32

WHOO DARE steal cookies from the cookie jar?

Inbar Rose

:)

Julix

Oh yeah, since there's more people here now here's a graphic I made this weekend of what that white haired witch will look like i.sstatic.net/8q75v.jpg

Inbar Rose

@Julix lol.

That is some very bizarre artwork,.

Julix

that is true

Inbar Rose

Is that creature riding a tiger? awesome

Julix

11:35

But it's a very bizarre character too. - It's a goblin and no. It's riding a riding dog who is disguised as tiger

Inbar Rose

@Julix Naturally.

Julix

Actually not that naturally since most goblins hate dogs

Professor Loki Caprion

Aw, I couldn't fit "Professor Captain Loki Caprion, esq."

Julix

that's too bad

Professor Loki Caprion

I don't think it's taken effect in the chat, for some reason.

Inbar Rose

11:36

Prof. Capt. Loki Caprion, esq. ?

Julix

I just saw something pink that looked like a pokemon jump off the pictures that indicate people being here

Inbar Rose

How about: "Captain Loki Caprion esq. phd."

Julix

there it is again... oh nevermind. - it's not pink. thought it was that pink thing that isn't pumelluff.

Professor Loki Caprion

Is Pumelluff an actual Pokemon? o.o

Inbar Rose

brb

Julix

11:38

in germany it was :D

Metool

Wigglytuff?

wait...

Julix

the singing one

Jigglypuff

Professor Loki Caprion

Oh!

What was the tiny baby one? Igglytuff?

Julix

But it wasn't that one that I was thinking of. It was the one with the black tips on the pointy ears - otherwise similar

Clefairy

pokewiki.de/Datei:Sugimori_036.png reminded me of Prof. Loki's avatar. - Perhaps it really is time to go to bed

other way around I mean... his avatar me of the pokemon

@ProfessorLokiCaprion I think that's right

Professor Loki Caprion

@Julix Haha, wow...

Julix

11:50

It's almost 4 am and I didn't sleep last night either

the plan with the not sleeping was to use that to go to bed early today. hah

Professor Loki Caprion

I guess I can see how a very tiny Sons of Aether symbol will look like a monochrome Clefairy...

Julix

hehe, yep

even the medium sized one looks nothing like her, but the tiny one does :D

Metool

12:11

2d10

Dice Service

6

9

Professor Loki Caprion

Hah.

Metool

I'm trying to generate a background for my ponysona, and that actually gives the result Equestrian.

> The first time you rode a horse, you discovered a kinship with it and knew you were born to ride, and the superior horsemanship you gained through your bond with the animal propelled you into the ranks of the cavaliers.

As much as I'd like to adapt that, I need to reroll.

2d10

Dice Service

10

3

Professor Loki Caprion

3!

1d100

Ah, I didn't think that'd work.

Metool

12:18

> An otherworldly agent of law and good tasked you to be a divine champion. You accepted the calling (maybe grudgingly) because ultimately you realize that the laws of destiny and one's divine calling cannot be denied. In return, that celestial agent watches over you and makes sure you can fully realize your destiny and meet the course that has been set for you by a higher power.

(I'm deciding class with this, too.)

Need help...

Metool

12:32

Can't decide on race...

BESW

@ProfessorCaptainLokiCaprion d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20.

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

@BESW Shiny

BESW

@Metool I've got no context for what you're saying, so I have no idea what kind of help you're even asking for.

Zachiel

Hello :(

BESW

If I had to guess, it sounds like My Little Pathfinder: Murderhoboes are Magic.

@Zachiel :(?

Inbar Rose

12:43

@BESW Sounds like an awesome game.

BESW

@InbarRose Eh. I prefer my ponies not shoehorned into a system that's built on play assumptions which have nothing to do with what ponies do.

Inbar Rose

@BESW That depends on what ponies do do.

BESW

Cognitive dissonance can be fun, but it's pretty flat and there's only so much you can milk it for.

Zachiel

@BESW I just had my usual gaming con. I bumped into a car with mine while going to the place. Nobody was hurt but the idea of needing to pay way more than I was ok with is sorta killing me. I just need to vent frustration.

lisardggY

12:58

@Zachiel Urg. That sucks.

Those things that you can't even properly blame anyone for. Frustrating.

Inbar Rose

Blame is so relaxing.

lisardggY

But how was the con? I remember you were a bit frustrated with the nay-sayers and the bad-mouthers.

Zachiel

@lisardggY It was meh. I had some little fun when something that made us laugh happened in game but I was irked by the incident, energy-drained, a little bit ill and tired

Why don't I have a time machine to warn myself?

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

I really want a DeLorean.

wax eagle

@ProfessorCaptainLokiCaprion not too many of those left on the road

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

13:07

@waxeagle There's actually one that visits my local Starbucks pretty regularly!

wax eagle

@ProfessorCaptainLokiCaprion awesome

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

And there's the remade Electric models, but those are expensive as all get-out.

wax eagle

weren't the originals heavy as all get out?

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

@waxeagle Oh, yes. You'd never be able to get one UP to 88 miles per hour without some modification.

Aaron

13:22

Gmornin

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

@Aaron Baruk Khazad!

wax eagle

it's a double rainbow kind of morning (literally, double rainbow, out my office window)

lisardggY

@ProfessorCaptainLokiCaprion Despite Dwarven being inspired by semitic languages, and the fact that this quote could pass for an informal greeting in Arabic, I'm pretty sure that as far as Tolkien's languages go, you just called Aaron an axe.

Or axes. Plural.

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

Aaron is an axe! :D

Aaron

@ProfessorCaptainLokiCaprion Huh?

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

13:26

(I know fake languages better than real ones)

lisardggY

@Aaron "Baruk Khazâd" means "Axes of the Dwarves".

Aaron

@lisardggY oh. I figured it was some kind of greeting.

lisardggY

tolkiengateway.net/wiki/…!

Aaron

Is the link on the starred comment "..I don't know what... this is not it" safe for work?

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

Wait... deja vu... I feel like we've had this conversation before....

Aaron

13:30

?

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

I feel like I've said "Baruk Khazad" in here, then someone pointed out it sounded like something else, then someone translated it with a link.

Or I'm living in Quantum Leap.

(Which was an awesome show, no matter what my wife and friends say)

lisardggY

It was totally an awesome show

Which I refuse to watch again today for fear of finding out it wasn't.

Professor Captain Loki Caprion

@lisardggY I saw it was on Netflix. I was about to start playing it, but my wife wouldn't let me.

So I played Assassin's Creed instead.

Aaron

@BESW ziom05.deviantart.com/art/…

doppelgreener

@BESW I hereby formally back up this statement

gomad

13:47

Am I the only one who thinks this is a bad place for "design my game for me" questions? That is to say - we cannot possibly provide concrete answers to questions like "Why doesn't my mechanic work?"

doppelgreener

@gomad We can, if we actually understand what's going on.

If we can't, and it's not answerable, it can get closed as unclear.

Phil

@JonathanHobbs Not sure I agree

What exactly defines a correct question in this instance

doppelgreener

@Phil One where the author explains what's going on, and asks us why a particular mechanic doesn't work, and the situation and their explanation allows for us to (a) understand and (b) provide an objective answer

gomad

Questions like this one: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/31496/… make me crazy. Not that this is a bad question or a particularly bad example.

doppelgreener

Assuming you mean "correct question" as in "an question of that kind which is not a bad fit here"

gomad

13:53

The answer is: "These questions are not inherently wrong for this place. They are pushing your buttons, gomad, and that's your problem."

Phil

you are not alone in that @gomad

I really, really, really don't like them :o)

gomad

@Phil Ah. OK. That would be nice, too. :)

Joshua Aslan Smith

Good morning everyone

gomad

They drive me nuts. I usually refrain from saying anything, but they do bug me.

So I thought I would find out if it was just me.

doppelgreener

@gomad I'm voting to close it.

I am voting to close this as too broad. There are an awful lot of ways to make close-combat range work, especially since this is your own design and you can do basically anything you want. The answers are many and varied. We also are not really deeply involved in your system or goals, and can't really accurately respond to your needs. This is probably a better fit for a discussion with a forum or your development team. — Jonathan Hobbs 14 secs ago

gomad

13:56

Glad to know it's not just me.

I seconded your vote and comment.

wax eagle

that question is too broad. You can't ask for new homebrew to add onto your own existing homebrew when you've less than adequately explained your existing homebrew

(and really, asking for specific help with homebrew is OK, this is asking for a whole new subsystem which is out of scope

Transcript for