TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:01

@Styphon Hi!

RedRiderX

00:12

Mistake or no?

BESW

Just a spoiler.

RedRiderX

Oh oops

Well if it's on toys we can maybe spoil it right?

BESW

Well, it's a year+ old spoiler and this chat usually embargoes spoilers for a month at most.

wax eagle

and tbh, it's her first appearance

so it really only spoils that particular episode

wax eagle

00:37

We need to contact the OP from the RFS thread and see if he'll let us publish RFS quickstart rules :)

BESW

heh.

tpg2114

@Brian Ballsun-Stanton or anybody else who puts the comments on game-recommendation questions -- you might want to ask the SE folks to set up a permanent banner for you, a la what has been done over on Physics.SE:

8

A: Books banner: top or bottom?

Yeah, this looks terrible. Not only does it waste the preview, it gets in the way of the question, and can easily end up being longer than the question itself. Fortunately, we have a system for attaching permanent banners to posts that doesn't get in the way of viewing the question. I've adde...

wax eagle

@tpg2114 ooh custom post notices. nice

tpg2114

@waxeagle Yeah, nobody over there knew it was possible until Shog told us about it. Since that game-rec comment is used really often, it's probably worth asking about

BESW

Spaaaaam in the Stack!

wax eagle

00:51

@tpg2114 suggest it on meta plez?

tpg2114

Sure thing

wax eagle

I use the citation needed/insufficient explanation notices all the time on C.SE

@BESW spam flagg'd and protected

BESW

And ooh, I now have the power to vote to delete.

wax eagle

nice, added my del vote

BESW

@tpg2114 Awesome, thanks for the suggestion!

Also welcome to chat.

tpg2114

00:55

@waxeagle Posted

wax eagle

@tpg2114 thank you ser/madam

tpg2114

@BESW No problem -- I always lurk silently, figured I actually had something useful to contribute :)

BESW

Meta post: Permanent banner for game-recommendation tag

4

Link for pin.

Nicely done, peeps, that spam post lasted less than five minutes.

wax eagle

my only concern with the meta proposal is that it needs to either be automatic with the tag, or they need better tools for adding post notices

tpg2114

I'm not a mod so I don't know how the tools work, but that was the concern on Phys.SE too

We just flag it for moderator attention -- it seems like a mod is always the one to post the comment here anyway, so it might not be much of a workflow change for them

wax eagle

01:00

@tpg2114 basically a mod has to click "mod -> post notices -> choose notice" what needs to happen is for a user/group of users to be able to do it

@tpg2114 yes, ideally they should be trying to work themselves out of that job though

BESW

Right now I think they're using a script for automated commenting; you select your comment from a list and it drops the text in magically.

wax eagle

@BESW yeah, won't break that workflow much. Maybe a couple more clicks

tpg2114

@BESW I wonder if a script could be written to click-through the notices for them

But I don't know how the API works either, so that may not be possible

wax eagle

you could write a userscript to expose the option, and make it pretty easy I think.

The Oracle

4

Q: Permanent banner for game-recommendation tag

On every question (correctly) tagged with game-recommendation, somebody comes along and leaves a comment reminding answer's how to address the question properly. To make this more permanent than the ephemeral comments, RPG.SE mods should request a permanent banner be set up. For example, Physic...

feature-request

tpg2114

01:06

Alright, time for me to fade back into anonymity :) I hope if you guys decide you like the idea that you'll get it!

BESW

@tpg2114 Thanks again, and feel free to drop by even when you don't have amazing ideas.

wax eagle

01:31

you know you're working late when the automated overnight cleanup scripts delete the file your working on.

BESW

Oops.

wax eagle

quite all right, I happened to have it up in my IDE still so I just saved it again

Alex P

01:48

Looking at these forum-RPer image macros makes me realize I really have no idea how any part of the culture works. What the heck is a "muse?"

Metool

@AlexP the inspiration that drives you to do artistic stuff

Alex P

@Metool Not in the context they seem to be using it? Or at least there's some very specific subtext beyond just that.

Metool

@AlexP one of them that I saw matches it

Alex P

Ah, okay, I guess it's "my inspiration" + "my character."

BESW

03:39

Teenager: "You should just TRY Dark Souls!" Me: "Did you have a presentation at school about peer pressure? Maybe DARE was involved?"

Tweeted by UrsulaV on February 1, 2014 at 3:37 AM

Teenager: "...yes." Me: "I'M HIGH ON LIFE, MAN!"

Tweeted by UrsulaV on February 1, 2014 at 3:37 AM

BESW

05:17

I just answered this question and now I'm remembering when I thought such detailed, explicit, and painstaking attempts to model intuitive "Well, duh" elements of the setting were... elegant and praiseworthy.

Alex P

You mean like 300 words to define explicitly what "changing shape" means?

BESW

Mhm.

I mean, for a complicated game like D&D there do have to be established rules about how your ability scores change and what happens when you turn into something with innate magic.

But "If you lose your wings, you can't fly" doesn't feel like it needs to be on the list except because EVERYTHING needs to be covered in painstaking detail.

I'm trying to remember why I felt that there was an actual need for details that, frankly, if anyone couldn't be part of reaching a quick group consensus on such things they probably weren't the kind of person I'd've wanted in my group.

Alex P

05:35

I think in the context of the other kinds of detailed rules, it reassures you that the writers did consider the issue.

BESW

True.

Unfortunately that seems to extend to all manner of things --like economics and torture-- that I rather wish they hadn't considered.

Alex P

But then sometimes you pull your hair out because there's just so much stuff to navigate and also it makes things worse when they do just miss something wholesale.

Also I think that's part of why D&D magic feels so anodyne to me.

It feels like all the consequences and details are just there, spelled out.

Aaron

Oh wow there are people on this late.

BESW

Late? It's a quarter to four in the afternoon.

Aaron

Oh. It's 11:45 PM here

Alex P

05:46

12:45 here

:P

Aaron

Good morning to you then @AlexP

Alex P

I'm game-designin' in my other window.

Aaron

What kinda game?

Do you have any games out?

Alex P

I'm helping my friend with a thing.

It's an indie game kinda inspired by Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell.

It's kinda Jane Austen + Byron + faerie magic.

BESW

06:44

That sounds entertaining.

Phil

11:02

@AlexP That's a superb book

doppelgreener

11:23

@Styphon For reference, here's the original feature request from which the "Please consider leaving a comment" pop-up after downvoting originated.

455

Q: Encouraging people to explain downvotes

I used to get "upset" (though that is too strong a term) when I got downvoted without comment. If my answer isn't good enough then I'd like to know why. Not only does it improve the answer for the OP but it improves my knowledge too. Where the down-vote has been explained I've found it useful & ...

feature-request status-completed voting down-votes comments

RedRiderX

11:57

> this is now implemented and live for users with reputation below 2000. It is shown on every downvote until you get to 2k

I hope that bit changed

Well now that I think about it I haven't seen those messages for a while...

RedRiderX

12:35

Mystery solved!

BESW

13:28

Samson
Spider alien detective
Ask questions first, shoot later
I'd do anything for Astrid's Diner
Eyes on Taurus
Dames are blabbermouths

This... is not an elf wizard.

RedRiderX

No it is not.

BESW

The other PC was a Belligerent Lizard Warrior with the trouble Loud and Proud.

RedRiderX

Oh my

That would be interesting.

BESW

In the middle of the spider's attempt to blackmail a corporate CEO, the lizard attacked the CEO's bodyguard.

RedRiderX

Ahaha

That would go well I'm sure.

BESW

13:35

The setting turned out to be 1920s Chicago IN SPAAACE, which meant all the characters were animal-like aliens (the CEO was a dragon) and everything had "space" in its name.

So when the lizard got caught stealing files from a space pig PI, they had an exciting chase in space cars down the space highway.

RedRiderX

Sounds legit

BESW

I love Trogdor's characters. The lizard had all the expected skills--Fight, Athletics, Provoke, Physique--and then down at bottom "+1 Burglary." And I had to totally re-evaluate my vision of the PC.

RedRiderX

Oh my

Yeah that would certainly be an interesting character.

So how do they go about their burgling?

Just go around punching locks or something?

BESW

Smashing always works.

RedRiderX

Haha

BESW

13:40

Taurus
Belligerent lizard warrior
Loud and proud
Involuntary diplomat
Eye on Samson
Smashing always works

(No sketch.)

RedRiderX

Is this Fate?

BESW

Yes.

RedRiderX

Ah ok.

BESW

It was the spider's player's first time in a non-D&D-3.5 system.

I was expecting him to stay in his "elf wizard" comfort zone.

RedRiderX

Well good for them

It's always nice to break out in to a new setting

especially a radically novel one

BESW

13:45

yeah. I gave them carte blanche to come up with any characters and let their choices define the setting.

RedRiderX

Ah intersting

BESW

And so we got a "Spider alien detective" recently let go from the Galactic Police for shooting a hostage.

At about the same time, the sketch got a fedora and the backstory got an asteroid diner called "Astrid's."

I started channeling Futurama-meets-Bogart.

RedRiderX

@BESW Fedoras always help with that kind of thing.

BESW

It says something about me that when the player said he didn't know how to draw a fedora, I had a graphic novel with a fedora-wearing main character within arm's reach.

RedRiderX

14:04

Hmm yeah.

I don't think any of my graphic novels have fedoras in them

But I don't have many

BESW

Britten and Brülightly

Britten and Brülightly is a British graphic novel written and illustrated by Hannah Berry, and published by Random House under their Jonathan Cape imprint on April 3, 2008. Plot Fernandez Britten, private investigator, would rather be called a 'private researcher'. Tired of years spent dragging people's unpleasant secrets to the surface, the only thing which keeps him going is the hope of one day unearthing a happy resolution along with the truth. In that vain hope, he takes on the case of suicide Berni Kudos, whose fiancée Charlotte Maughton refuses to believe he would ever have kille...

Alex P

RedRiderX

@BESW Oh wow a melancholy yet hopeful PI

Intersting

BESW

@RedRiderX And crazy. Don't forget crazy.

The man's partner is a lecherous smack-talking teabag.

RedRiderX

Ah but of course.

@BESW ...

wow really?

Oh wow maybe I should check this out

BESW

14:17

It is not played for laughs.

RedRiderX

amazon.ca/Britten-Br%C3%BClightly-Hannah-Berry/dp/B004KAB84S

Heh

Amazing value

But hey I could maybe get it used

or see if it's at a library

BESW

B&B is not my favorite graphic novel, but it's a brilliant one.

The art alone is worth reading for, with deft use of colour pallets to reflect mood, and the characterisation is... memorable.

RedRiderX

It sounds like it

BESW

It's just overall a very masterful work, showing perfect control of the craft.

RedRiderX

14:33

Ugh now I want to get it but I want if for less then $21 plus shipping D:

BESW

Anyway, sleepytimes for me.

G'night.

RedRiderX

Night

lisardggY

15:13

Ah.

-2

Q: Who killed Kennedy?

I was always thinking that the killer of J.F.Kennedy was Lee Oswald. A few days ago, I've seen that video: http://youtu.be/gK_xpL2k64s (you can turn on subtitles). What to think about that?

president john-f-kennedy

Once again, I propose a "Flag as Conspiracy Theory" flag for History.SE.

2

Alex P

16:44

@lisardggY Flag it as off-topic because it's a basic historical fact.

Joshua Aslan Smith

good morning everyone

Joshua Aslan Smith

18:33

@waxeagle any good character themes for barbarian?

Joshua Aslan Smith

19:10

@waxeagle went with mercenary

wax eagle

21:41

@JoshuaAslanSmith guardian is a good one depending on the party

John Craven

22:53

I just flagged that as well @lisardggY

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