TRPG General Chat

BESW

04:01

afk a bit, heading to cafe for a few hours to work; back when I'm there.

BESW

04:12

Baaaaack.

user61230

Hi!

BESW

[wave]

user61230

How goes the battle?

BESW

I have something to show the clients this evening.

I really hope the DFA playtest packet comes through sooner rather than later....

user61230

Clients... professional clients or RPG stuffs?

BESW

04:20

Graphic design; specifically advertising for the local university theatre's upcoming production.

user61230

Huh, cool! What time is it in Guam?

BESW

It's 1425 Wednesday.

I'm meeting the production crew at 1800.

user61230

When it's 14:25 on Wednesday, I'll be in work again after a long night's sleep and a good breakfast.

user61230

That's just weird to think about.

BESW

Heheh.

(I'm in the Brisbane zone.)

user61230

04:25

This chart is almost spot-on the current time.

user61230

...oh, it's XKCD

user61230

No wonder!

BESW

xkcd.com/now

Whenever I look at this sort of thing, I figure it'll take a mind like Randall's to figure out how to design the visual layout of the new standardised Bahá'í calendar.

user61230

Oh?

BESW

It's a solar calendar which may shift back and forth a day or two each year (as the New Year is determined by the relationship between the Sun entering Aries and the sunset), and it contains a couple Holy Days which are determined by the lunar cycle so they move through the solar calendar.

Lord_Gareth

04:31

@BESW Black gods of hell that does sound complicated. Have you proposed just hiring Randall?

BESW

Until a couple months ago, different parts of the Bahá'í community (mostly divided between Western and Middle Eastern) calculated the New Year differently, and the Western world just fixed the lunar Holy Days in the Gregorian year.

But in July the Universal House of Justice made a binding decision that the New Year is calculated based on sunset in Baghdad.

Simultaneously, to unify the calendar across the world, they also enforced the lunar calculation of the Twin Birthdays.

@Lord_Gareth I know, right?

Lord_Gareth

Incidentally I think the Internet has corrupted my surprise reaction

A co-worker startled me last night and what I yelled as I jumped was "I need an adult!"

BESW

[blink] I'm not going to ask how they surprised you.

Lord_Gareth

They opened the salad case next to mine while I was cleaning

And I did not detect them until their head was in the case with me

BESW

Today in Things I Google For My Job: "overweight valet uniform."

Lord_Gareth

04:47

@BESW I had to do a downright stupid number of searches to find a 'nymph' pic that was not porn, in the name of a book I was recently writing.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Way too late, but Neverwinter Nights has a good one.

Adeptus

@BESW The "most Australian cities" label is too far across... and does it allow for daylight saving?

BESW

I am unsure. I imagine the xkcd forums talk about it.

Adeptus

(I do like the "business hours" and "rude to call" bars)

Lord_Gareth

05:20

Finally decided what to write my next post about

This one may contain more screaming to go with the data.

BESW

3

trogdor

lol

Lord_Gareth

05:47

s288.photobucket.com/user/legalgator78/media/orly.gif.html

user61230

My college's website has literal working hours.

user61230

What the ungodly hell? Website working rights?

BESW

[snerk]

Lord_Gareth

POSTED

There may be cussing

@BESW I cannot stop looking at this. It's, like, hypnotic

BESW

@Lord_Gareth I think we've found your avatar.

user61230

06:00

Anyone here know how to tell if a value is odd with AnyDice?

user61230

Looking for just a straight 0 = even, 1 = odd (equivalent of mod 2)

Lord_Gareth

@BESW Pfft, not even sure how I'd do that

Metool

@Lord_Gareth Gimme a moment.

Use that.

Lord_Gareth

No, I mean, how do I even add that to my profile

Metool

Oh, find the edity bit on this page.

BESW

06:03

Mouse over your icon in that profile page.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Wait, that's why you've been using your autogenerated one all this time?

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Yep

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth I don't know whether to be horrified or amazed.

@Lord_Gareth First thing I do on a new website is fix my avatar. Bonus points if you can tell me what it is (No cheating)

BESW

It looks like you're set up so the icon should propagate to chat on its own.

doppelgreener

@Lord_Gareth Your new avatar is glorious

BESW

06:06

Anyway, must dash; caretaker's leaving soon. See you soon.

doppelgreener

@BESW Ta ta!

Miniman

@BESW See you

Lord_Gareth

Lemme leave chat, then re-enter

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Ninja-ed the comment I was in the middle of typing.

Lord_Gareth

Damn, didn't work

doppelgreener

06:08

Yeah it will still take a little while to propagate. Give it an hour or two.

(Speaking from experience when I changed my username)

trogdor

maybe it will show next time you log in

doppelgreener

@BESW Also something tells me that if I ever do this, I also ought to roll an insanity dice. (Like, just by attempting, I am almost certainly willing to risk my sanity to succeed.)

Lord_Gareth

I almost feel like I should use that for my tumblr

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Don't contaminate it with ponies!

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Silence thine whore mouth, heretic, and speak not words which blaspheme Equestria

Miniman

06:12

@Lord_Gareth Equestria are great. It's anima equestria that should be sealed with you in your hellish prison of a thousand eons.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW Seal him in the moon.

Miniman

@Quentin Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

doppelgreener

@Miniman I think with a blog like UNENDING RAEG, ponies are totally appropriate.

3

They'll either be cool or perceived as a shot at irony / invocation to more rage. Sit back and watch as people respond with either.

Miniman

@doppelgreener Ponies are never appropriate.

@doppelgreener I place myself firmly in the latter category.

doppelgreener

Lord_Gareth

06:18

@doppelgreener You are my new god

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth @doppelgreener Quick, command him as his god to love D&D in all its forms.

Lord_Gareth

Aww, it's cute. He thinks the power of a god could quell the UNENDING HATE WITHIN

BESW

Back.

Miniman

@BESW You work 10 minutes from home? Wow.

BESW

@Miniman I usually work at home, but now that we have a caretaker for my dad most weekdays I'm going to local coffee shops to work.

Lord_Gareth

06:21

@Metool Not sure if liking my posts to be a bro or if posts actually of quality.

Metool

How did you know?

Miniman

@BESW So many popular concepts to insult, so little time. (coffee shops I mean, not caretakers or dads)

Metool

Anyway no, they're great posts. Or at least passable and I can link them to people.

BESW

@Miniman Drinks, wifi, wall plugs, low-cholestoral food, nobody bugs me, near the house...

But you'll have a hard time engendering anti-pony sentiment in this chat.

Lord_Gareth

Hail Celestia! Praise Luna! All kneel before Cadence the Love-Bringer!

Miniman

06:24

@BESW Or anti-coffee, I know.

BESW

doppelgreener

BESW

...okay, I'll stop now.

Lord_Gareth

Mods are awake, post ponies?

Miniman

Why stop now, just when I'm hating it?

BESW

06:26

@Tarmikos11 Hi! You'll need at least 20 rep on any one Stack Exchange site before you can type in chat rooms, but you're welcome to hang out until then.

Metool

Oh, hey, I know that guy!

Miniman

@Tarmikos11 Although the way this chatroom is going, you'll probably wish you hadn't...

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Because we want to expose you to the Friendship in gradual doses, until you no longer notice your own addiction. Then, when you are finally in its thrall, you will hear it - the strains of music, glorious and strange and full of rapture - "Myyyy little pooonyyyy...."

Metool

@Metool "Yeah, I figured that out."

doppelgreener

@BESW I get that one!

BESW

06:27

You want on-topic ponies, we can talk about my attempts to convert cthulhu-dark to My Little Psyche.

Miniman

I vote that a pony room be created and all pony-related chat happen there and not here.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW My Little Legend had a campaign with a Shoggoth pony PC

Metool

I don't think a ponies.SE would go over very well.

Miniman

@Metool Do you live on the same Internet I do?

doppelgreener

@Miniman This is the pony room

Miniman

06:29

@doppelgreener Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Metool

@Miniman T-man says "You'll come to love the ponies, just give it time. Also, 'til further notice. Metool is my interpretor."

Lord_Gareth

Just like this is the Dr. Who room, no matter how much I rage, sob, and commit chainsaw seppuku

By the by, chainsaw seppuku is painful

Don't do it

BESW

Hmm.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Wait...wait...we...agree on something???

BESW

@Metool It is within my power to enable him to type in this chat despite his rep level.

Lord_Gareth

06:30

@Miniman Yes, we agree that chainsaws in the intestines are painful.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth I don't remember agreeing to that.

Metool

@BESW "Uhm, sure," he says.

BESW

(BTW, for anyone who hasn't noticed yet, @Lord_Gareth's new avatar has kicked in. Just refresh the chat window.)

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Well, we can test it briefly

Miniman

@BESW I refuse.

doppelgreener

06:31

@Lord_Gareth See, now, exposure to you and KRyan makes Miniman's current expressions of anger and disgruntlement seem like a calm and pleasant conversation

Lord_Gareth

[Revs chainsaw, plants it in @Miniman's intestines] On a scale of one to ten, how would you describe your pain level?

@doppelgreener See, from my end it just comes off like petulance. The RAEG has become a normal method of hearing frustration for me >.>

Miniman

@doppelgreener Actually I'm fine now that there are no pony pictures on my screen.

@Lord_Gareth Actually I'm fine now that there are no pony pictures on my screen.

Metool

@Miniman [pulls up pony image site in a new tab, hovers threateningly]

Lord_Gareth

Side not: damn but I love Kog'Maw's opening lyrics in his "This is War 3" rap

doppelgreener

@BESW Wooooooo! \o/

BESW

06:32

@Metool Hrmmm. It's being recalcitrant. Maybe that's a mod-only option even though it's available to me.

doppelgreener

It's beautiful

Metool

Oh dear.

Guess we'll have to have him ask/answer.

BESW

@doppelgreener And the colour didn't change too much either.

doppelgreener

@BESW It's true!

Lord_Gareth

"Welcome to the void, meet the mouth of the abyss/Are you here to feed me, 'cause I'm getting quite ravenous/I'm munching crunching on my luncheon/Dropping nukes on enemies bunching/Atomic stomach, acid vomit, drop it like a bile comet."

Miniman

06:33

@Metool The most recent question needs an answer, and it's pretty easy

Metool

@BESW "That's another good word. We're putting a silver coin in the smarty-jar."

2

BESW

@Lord_Gareth I wanna see you smile, smile, smile!

user61230

Does anyone here object to me tweeting quotes out of this chat?

Miniman

@Emrakul I've said nothing I'm ashamed of.

Lord_Gareth

@Emrakul You may repeat Our words, mortal thing

doppelgreener

06:34

@Emrakul all of this is public by default and theoretically CC; I have no issues with it

Miniman

(Especially cos no one I know uses Twitter)

BESW

It's public anyway, but maybe ask first each time to be polite.

Metool

@Emrakul "If you're talking about the smarty jar thing? Go for it. I don't give a [snip]"

doppelgreener

@BESW That would be courteous I suppose yes!

BESW

(Taking things out of context can be problematic.)

doppelgreener

06:35

@BESW (Taking things [...] can be problematic)

2

BESW

BTW, @Emrakul, can you pop open a can of antifreeze on the Fate Game Room?

Fate chat and game room

Good questions raised here should hit the main site too! Fudge...

Miniman

@doppelgreener ([...] things [...] can be problematic)

Lord_Gareth

I am going to have a serious problem with being hypnotized by my own avatar now.

BESW

Thanks!

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth You know the solution...

user61230

06:36

@Miniman ([...] @Problematic)

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Offer your soul to dark powers to make myself immune to such beguilement?

BESW

@Miniman Shhh. Maybe it'll help keep the bile down in chat.

Miniman

@BESW True, but I must leave this chat window open for eternity so I @Lord_Gareth appears as a non-pony

Lord_Gareth

@BESW That is being kept down by the part where I've entered the 'refresh compulsively and panic' phase of having posted content

Where I am terrified that someone might actually read it

BESW

@Lord_Gareth Yes, but hypno-Pinkie seems like a better long-term solution.

doppelgreener

06:39

@Lord_Gareth I'm going to have serious problems with being hypnotized by it too

Lord_Gareth

@BESW the Aperture Science researcher noted. "The subject appears to be wholly engrossed by the image."

Miniman

@doppelgreener When the pony apocalypse comes, I'm going to feel extremely vindicated and gratified.

Lord_Gareth

Anyone else remember that one time a mod came in here to try and clean up our starred message board and just spent an hour watching it fill, re-fill, and just move

I think we broke his soul a little inside

doppelgreener

@Miniman Won't you also be dead though?

BESW

@Miniman But we will have read the fanfiction and know how to survive it.

doppelgreener

06:41

@Lord_Gareth Really? When did that happen?

Miniman

@doppelgreener No, I'm going to be one of the few humans who doesn't have a pony burst out of their stomach.

doppelgreener

(Why would a mod even do that?)

@Miniman Oh. But. You'll also be destroyed. By the apocalypse.

Lord_Gareth

@doppelgreener Awhile ago. One of the site mods came here to try and comprehend why it is we were blowing up the chat with starred messages and had layers of his sanity stripped away.

doppelgreener

@Lord_Gareth Wow. XD

Miniman

@doppelgreener I plan to be the John Connor of that apocalypse.

Magician

06:41

@BESW Pony up.

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman John Connor died.

doppelgreener

@Lord_Gareth But, slightly less hastily compared to most others.

BESW

We do have one of the most active star bars I've seen.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth After heroically saving humanity from the greatest threat it had ever encountered. (Bronies - this means you.)

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman Bite your tongue. I watch the show. I am not a Brony

BESW

06:43

@Magician You want post-apocalyptic fimfic? Let me go digging.

Miniman

@Lord_Gareth Did I say you were? You leapt to that conclusion, for reasons best left to yourself.

@BESW What a shame I have to leave soon.

Magician

@BESW I was marely horsing around.

doppelgreener

@Miniman Well, it's not exactly an unreasonable (or large) leap to make.

BESW

Try the Apocalypse group on fimfiction.net for starters.

Miniman

@doppelgreener Don't undermine me here, I'm trying to suggest that he subconsciously believes himself to be a brony.

BESW

06:45

The definition of "brony" is fairly vague.

Lord_Gareth

@Miniman I will do things to your anatomy that violate four-dimensional space, sir

You will have injuries that displace themselves in time

doppelgreener

@Miniman Consider such an assertion undermined; I was inclined to say I'm not either. Doesn't suddenly mean I subconsciously am through denial.

Magician

@BESW ...there's a group for postapoc ponies.

BESW

@Magician With 180 stories!

doppelgreener

(An assertion of "you denied X therefore you are X" is self-undermining; and it's pretty reasonable to assume you might be talking to us via assuming that everyone who doesn't hate ponies must be a brony)

Lord_Gareth

06:47

@Magician - So as the only RPG blogger I know that has not been filed into the 'Terminate as soon as feasibly possible' list, can I ask you to read some of the stuff in mah fledgling tumblr and offer thotz/advice?

Magician

Will do. It's on the reading list, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Lord_Gareth

Yaaaaaay

[Posted a new thing earlier tonight]

BESW

If I'm a brony, I'm also a Trekkie, and a Whovian (no denials there, for sure), and whatever you call someone who likes SG-1--there are many shows I like for which an aficionado of the show has some stigma and there's a blanket term to describe them, but liking any of those shows is not crucial to my identity as a person.

doppelgreener

@Lord_Gareth I vaguely recall a story with some time-travel themed gangsters of some kind. One punches a guy into next week. Literally. The guy gets a bloody nose, and winds up in the same spot a week from that point. The story was very silly.

Miniman

@doppelgreener With that assumption, yes. On the other hand, denying things without an accusation is a great way to make yourself look like that thing.

I am not a hideous deformity on the rear end of humanity.

Lord_Gareth

06:49

@doppelgreener Changeling: the Lost has a power like that. I ran a Summer Court sorcerer for awhile who hunted vampires on the city streets by making them vanish out of crowds, only to reappear at about 1 in the afternoon

doppelgreener

@Miniman Some part of "it's pretty reasonable to assume you were talking directly to us under the strange assumption we are bronies because we do not detest ponies" is being lost in communication

Miniman

@doppelgreener I agreed with you about that assumption making it reasonable.

Metool

@doppelgreener "I want to say Problem Sl-- no, Midnight Crew." Is that The Felt?

Lord_Gareth

Needless to say there were all manner of power groups in every supe community super mad about the increasing number of news stories covering the "Epidemic of spontaneous combustion"

doppelgreener

@Lord_Gareth Ha! That's pretty funny, nice approach.

Lord_Gareth

06:50

@Metool No, I know w hy you're thinking that and no, not quite.

doppelgreener

@Metool Yes! That was it! It was one of the guys in the Midnight Crew.

BESW

@Lord_Gareth ....[takes notes]

Lord_Gareth

The Felt removed a guy from time and then un-did it

BESW

Heck, there's an application of that which is worth dropping into the Spoil-Lair.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW I'm increasingly thinking that someone should just buy you all the Changeling books so you can mine them for your FATE games

doppelgreener

06:52

@BESW Man, actually being a player in your games is one of the best and worst things ever

Miniman

Now that I have garnered a sufficiency of hate, I must leave while I still have a nose.

doppelgreener

Pro: In BESW's games. Con: Barred from Spoil-Lair.

2

Lord_Gareth

@doppelgreener My players feel like this so much

"What's coming up?" "Nope, playing it close to the chest." "Gareeeeeeth"

They wanna KNOW, but they also want to DISCOVER

Those things are not compatible

BESW

It goes both ways.

Magician

My players have basically informed me they're turning our Fate supers game into a dating sim. I'm equally amused and horrified.

BESW

06:55

I miss brainstorming with @doppelgreener.

Lord_Gareth

@Magician Counter by turning it into the AVENGERS SITCOM

"BY ODIN'S BEARD, YOU WILL TELL ME WHAT SIMPERING COWARD HAS EATEN THE LAST OF MY DIP!"

doppelgreener

@BESW :')

BESW

[Hulk hides dip-covered hands sheepishly]
[laugh track]

2

Seriously though one of the recent animated TV show versions of the Avengers does that. With Hulk eating Hawkeye's pickles.

doppelgreener

@BESW ... did they too have a laugh track?

BESW

No. Thankfully.

doppelgreener

07:01

Phew.

Okay, that's bearable.

(I do not think modern TV should use laugh tracks except satirically.)

BESW

It's sad, because they also do some awesome character development on the Hulk.

But Hawkeye is always the odd man out in terms of character development.

Lord_Gareth

@BESW Almost like he's the low-powered Mundie in a group of walking gods

Magician

Which is one of the reasons why his current ongoing is so good.

BESW

@Lord_Gareth Black Widow gets more character development than he does, and it's usually the Token Woman whose character development is limited to the skimpiness of her costume.

Magician

Summarized by this panel:

Or this:

BESW

07:06

Heheh.

Adeptus

aww poor hawkguy :P

if I ever play a superhero RPG, I'll name my character Hawkguy! And make him either very similar to Hawkeye, or completely different...

lisardggY

@doppelgreener The first season of Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night had a laugh track, but it felt like he added it under protest - it was muted compared to most laugh tracks, and only clicked on some of the jokes - and not the good ones.

BESW

lisardggY

Second season dropped it completely, thankfully.

doppelgreener

@lisardggY Oh good.

Adeptus

07:13

@BESW Yes! Name: Hawkguy. Concept: Hawkman x Hawkeye. Now I want to play this hypothetical supers game...

doppelgreener

@lisardggY This is the problem with them. It is basically instructions that this part is meant to be funny, laugh now. It means I don't get to find my own amusement in the show. It repels me when it cues on something I don't find funny.

Alienates, some synonym of that.

Magician

@Adeptus FYI, there're hawkguy tshirts.

lisardggY

@doppelgreener In the first season, it felt like he had the easy jokes, with the laugh tracks, to appease the network that it is, in fact, a sitcom.

But the funnier bits, not wrapped up in easy to chew joke form, didn't have a laugh track.

This is pre-West Wing, so I'm guessing it took one moderately successful season before he could convince the network to let him do it his way in the second one.

The Oracle

0

Q: Should I ask one question or several?

I have multiple questions for a spell. The questions cover: Duration of the spell Targets of the spell Effects of the spell After-effects of the spell once it has worn off Would it make more sense to ask a separate question for each, or to ask one question that touches on all 4 topics? The an...

discussion

doppelgreener

07:29

@BESW leaving this here partly as a self reminder; when I get home I'd like to ask for your advice on some fate campaign development stuff

MrLemon

07:42

Good Morning everyone

lisardggY

Good morning.

Saffron

08:08

Hello

doppelgreener

08:19

@BESW Let me know when you return!

lisardggY

Return? @BESW is always here. His presence is felt in the room. It's just that he doesn't always reveal himself to us fully.

doppelgreener

08:43

@lisardggY I have reason to believe he has not actually yet ascended to demigodhood, though I will agree his presence is generally felt

@trogdor hi!

trogdor

hi

doppelgreener

Might you be available to help me with some campaign development stuff? :o

trogdor

I suppose so?

what do you need?

doppelgreener

I need to make the researcher's archives be less boring in my mind

and actually engaging in my mind

I keep thinking of only empty hallways, collapsed tunnels, and stairwells and ledges and collapsed walkways and so on, between the entry and the target room, and occasionally sneaking past something lethal.

are you aware of what these archives are for? have you been here for talks about it?

trogdor

I don't think I have

I have been just a little busy this past week, and have not been here quite as often as I usually am

which wasn't too much to begin with

doppelgreener

08:56

Oh! Alright. It's a location my players are going to dive into whenever we get around to our next fate session. A researcher developed a werewolf serum, but got himself turned into one, so we have to delve into his lair to find the cure or his research notes at least.

I have some notes about it, but at the moment, my mind just shapes it as a half-ruined dungeon with natural obstacles and some creatures in it that are variously either lethal or pitiful.

The point is to get to the lab and find the notes, and there'll be a brief encounter there with a lovecraftian entity that is for one of the characters in particular (a cleric who has seen too much)

... but I need to fill this out. This can't be all it is, because environmental obstacles only go so far.

I'm just not sure what to do with the concept. Make it an open-air place with a lot more going on? I'm drawing blanks.

Any thoughts on what I can/should do?

I'm considering that maybe I should dump the idea of the researcher's lair being a partially-underground castle, and make it something else more naturally inclined toward excitement.

Oh hey, maybe I could build it into a cliff face! That gives me underground areas, and open-air areas, and lots more environmental hazards like wind and tricky terrain and climbing.

trogdor

09:22

I just need a few minutes to get some housework done

I will be back in at least 20 minutes I think

doppelgreener

@trogdor sure

trogdor

09:37

@doppelgreener ok I am back

it sounds like what you are struggling with is mainly what kind of setting you want it to be

doppelgreener

Hola!

trogdor

between sort of open air and confined?

doppelgreener

Yeah; more precisely, I have a setting but I am struggling to find ways to make it exciting to be in

And dramatic, maybe

We're doing episodic missions/plots; the entire mission is to get there, get into the lab, and get out again

Which counts for either I cannot work out an exciting and dramatic setting, or I cannot work out a way to make this setting exciting and dramatic

the world is one where magic is powerful but mysterious, rare and secretive. the players are playing in a hellsing-like organisation.

every now and then, occult stuff manifests: vampires, werewolves, strange beasts, odd artifacts, etc.

no super powerful stuff, but they're going to get a hint it exists in the lair.

(I'm wondering if I should open a spoil-lair and move this stuff there)

trogdor

mm

to be fair BESW would be better at this

but I think you might be best served by making most of this place sort of cramped

doppelgreener

oh yeah?

trogdor

09:44

especially if you might want the PC's to have trouble getting out at the end

doppelgreener

@trogdor I've no doubt he's got valuable stuff to offer, but so do you! you might not be a GM, but you are a player

trogdor

like something wakes up and starts chasing them on their way out

doppelgreener

@trogdor yes ;) it's possible there will be that, or a self-destruct, or etc

trogdor

and if there are too many open spaces they might try to have an idea to take a shortcut out

Saffron

You could go with some NPCs in there

Someone ventured in the caves for some reasons but got himselt changed / trapped.

also, the experiences of the professor could have changed the nature of the place itself

Given it some kind of soul

doppelgreener

09:47

@Saffron current flavour is that the archives were also host to various caged monsters being studied; a recent earthquake has killed/released many of them. One of the aspects is Nothing is worth fighting - everything they meet is obviously either too weak/scared/timid/harmless to fight, or too powerful to fight. (This is because I have set myself a challenge to run an entire session without physical combat.)

@Saffron What would you suggest? (most of that is open to change, except the aspect, given the challenge I'm setting myself)

@trogdor Yeah, alright. Cramped castle built into a mountain/cliffside :)

Saffron

I love it when I go somewhere to do something, but find something unrelated, that somehow give life to the place

A story

The professor didn't choose this place randomly

Is has something special

It was a place of dark rituals and exorcism before

doppelgreener

@Saffron Oh? Could you give me an example of what that might be like? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what you might mean exactly.

Oooh.

trogdor

@Saffron or he found something under the place

Saffron

Or the lair of ancient creatures/beings that tainted the place forever

trogdor

for example

Saffron

09:50

The cave is now influencing the mind of those who venture in it

Which is why the professor failed

He couldn't resist the temptation

trogdor

maybe they find some notes of his that don't pertain specifically to the cure, that hint at something but don't actually go into full detail

Saffron

The PCs will have to fight against their mind, tricking them

BESW

41

A: What are the key considerations to creating compelling environments?

This isn't a science, it's an art. You'll get better with practice, and nobody's process will work for you except your own. That said, here's some of my precepts and guidelines. Please keep in mind the order I'm presenting them has no bearing on importance or chronology: it's all a big jumble of...

27

A: Giving a setting a feeling of ancientness

Well... first you actually need to have ancient history to call on. If you don't, it'll be hard to just simulate. That's what made LotR work in this way; Tolkien had all that history at his fingertips and could refer to it casually in passing. Pulsehead's answer provides one way to accomplish thi...

Saffron

Oh I think I have a nice idea

What if the decisions/mindset of the players

Something you realised from earlier session, that would define each player

Would shape the cave's answer to their trespassing

doppelgreener

@Saffron I am absolutely going to use this in a separate location my players are separately planning to visit that has a terribly oppressive presence

Saffron

09:54

@doppelgreener have you played Amnesia : A machine for pigs ?

doppelgreener

@Saffron very little, on account of I am scared.

Saffron

You could use inspiration from this fear :p

doppelgreener

@Saffron That's true, haha

@BESW [goes through these, adds features]

Saffron

Alternatively

doppelgreener

@trogdor ... I should do this too!

Saffron

09:58

There could be no cure, for there is no sickness

trogdor

@doppelgreener and later this could also become just a little clearer when a monster shows up to chase them out of the place

Fate chat and game room

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