TRPG General Chat

doppelgreener

12:04 AM

@BESW what, hydra?

oh yeah i see what you mean.

DuckTapeAl

@doppelgreener QFT.

doppelgreener

(personally i am less of a fan of backronyms the more convoluted they get :P)

BESW

It's a Hydra reference, a Hydra parody, and it goes bonus points for being a SHIELD parody too.

doppelgreener

@DuckTapeAl are thermal driveways a thing?

BESW

Hydra is not an acronym, it's just a name which describes their organisational structure: numerous cells that can rise up to take the place of any cells which are destroyed.

doppelgreener

12:06 AM

just make the driveway super warm and melt the snow.

@BESW H.Y.D.R.A.T.I.O.N. is a backronym.

BESW

@doppelgreener Last I heard, they had some... engineering problems.

Magician

@doppelgreener Awww, you won't like WOMBATMANs we had...

BESW

@doppelgreener Right. In that sense, HYDRATION is a SHIELD parody.

doppelgreener

@Magician those get a free pass because the name is hilarious and fantastic

Magician

(Weaponized) Ordinary Mobile Builder, All Terrain; Modular Assembled Network.

doppelgreener

12:07 AM

also IIRC you actually came up with reasonable words for for it that didn't seem over-stretched for the sake of "oh crap guys we gotta fill out the rest of these letters"

Magician

Terribly overextended, but that's Dr Von Bat for you.

doppelgreener

Did it progress along OMBAT -> WOMBAT -> WOMBATMAN?

Magician

(it was the legged bulldozer-like WOMBATs, assembling together into a giant WOMBATMAN)

ala the giant robot made up of lions whose name currently escapes me.

DuckTapeAl

@doppelgreener My driveway is unpaved, and I've got a landlord who doesn't believe in shoveling.

Magician

@doppelgreener "Do you vant to know a zekret? Zey are ALL WEAPONIZED!"

DuckTapeAl

12:11 AM

The biggest problem with thermal driveways during a winter like this one is you convert 6 feet of snow into something like 2 feet of water, which isn't that much better.

It still doesn't have anywhere to go.

And the runoff will basically become a sheet of ice.

BESW

What you need is to replace your driveway with a series of giant spring-loaded platforms which hurl the snow away.

It doubles as a security system!

DuckTapeAl

That might work. It has the unfortunate side effect of hurling your car away, though.

Magician

BESW

> I hope to someday be as pleased with life as this platypus.

wax eagle

@Grubermensch Yes we should. Do you want to do voice, or will chat be sufficient? Either way, sometime tomorrow night perhaps? Let me know what time works for you?

@Magician look who's currently on my paint table: plus.google.com/100133206153519428257/posts/ZiJHKv95Npc

doppelgreener

12:20 AM

@Magician Hahahaha

Magician

@waxeagle Oooh!

doppelgreener

@Magician okay yes, this is a perfectly reasonable un-stretched addon to the acronym.

@DuckTapeAl o-oh. Right. Ice. That's bad.

Magician

@waxeagle Hmm. It's not Reaper Bones ID.

wax eagle

@Magician that it would be

doppelgreener

@BESW i was thinkin' like, the entire driveway as a set of enormous trap-doors leading to a ten foot fall into an enormous furnace. Doubles as a security system, and a constant source of anxiety over whether the mechanisms are still fine every time you drive over it.

Magician

12:23 AM

@waxeagle Was it in the first kickstarter? Do I have one hiding in the giant box of unpainted minis, waiting to strike??

doppelgreener

also doubles as an invitation to a property search warrant.

wax eagle

@Magician nah, it's in the second

BESW

@doppelgreener And an insurance hike.

doppelgreener

@waxeagle Do I spot a weird maths error in this question?

> At level 4, my bonus is +6. Next level it will be +7. That means that to counter a level 9 spell, I only need to get a 12 or higher- 40% chance of success.

DuckTapeAl

@doppelgreener That sounds an awful lot like a trap room I built in Evil Genius once.

doppelgreener

12:24 AM

Isn't getting a 12 or higher something like a 60% chance of success?

Magician

@waxeagle Ah, mine hasn't arrived yet.

doppelgreener

or am I missing something re: the situation the person's talking baout?

@DuckTapeAl that sounds a little like the entrance to my friend's dwarf fortress.

Miniman

@doppelgreener 12 or higher on the d20 roll

DuckTapeAl

It's actually a 45% chance. He needs to roll a 12 or higher, so he succeds on 9 out of 20 numbers.

doppelgreener

Oh, whoops.

Grubermensch

12:25 AM

@waxeagle Tomorrow night is good, and I'm fine doing chat instead of voice if that's better. Probably can't be before 10PM EST.

wax eagle

@doppelgreener you don't factor proficiency in that roll

doppelgreener

12 or higher is 12-20 not 1-12 ~_~;

i am in a weird brain mode clearly

Miniman

@waxeagle I know that, but it's not what doppel was confused about

wax eagle

@Miniman sorry, a lot went by as I looked up the spell

got confused about who was asking

BESW

@waxeagle I don't know 5e very well, but in 3.5 your answer would benefit from a quick mention that some features are really better off in the hands of only PCs or only NPCs.

wax eagle

12:27 AM

@Grubermensch that's fine

DuckTapeAl

Man, counterspell got so much better in 5e.

3

Miniman

@BESW Counterspelling is a brutal strategy no matter who's using it.

BESW

@Miniman Yes, but it's often better for the truly brutal stuff to stay in the hands of the PCs (IE, the guys who are expected to win most of the time anyway, so giving them more effective win mechanics has less impact on the flow of the game).

Miniman

@DuckTapeAl I feel like that deserves to be several font sizes larger.

DuckTapeAl

How do I make the font bigger in here?

wax eagle

12:30 AM

@DuckTapeAl you can't

DuckTapeAl

Aww.

Miniman

@BESW It certainly requires caution to let NPCs use it. Counterspelling a fireball is fine, counterspelling the party's last-minute emergency teleport that was meant to prevent a TPK probably isn't.

BESW

yeah. It's generally less mean to be brutal to the guys who were going to lose anyway--as counterintuitive as that seems.

wax eagle

@Grubermensch if I'm not around here (I'll try to be) when you're ready tomorrow night, ping me in google chat.

doppelgreener

# test

aw.

@BESW well, it's also less mean to be brutal to the guys who will disappear at scene-end to experience plot (potentially including magical healing), and more mean to be brutal to the players who will go on to have only three legs and five arms between the entire five-person party.

wax eagle

12:37 AM

@Miniman mind if I borrow that exact turn of phrase?

doppelgreener

and slightly less than the average two lungs, etc.

Miniman

@waxeagle Go for it!

wax eagle

@Miniman Thanks, and credited.

Miniman

@waxeagle Thanks!

wax eagle

@doppelgreener also to those whom spells slots are a trifling bother rather than a resource to be tightly managed

Miniman

12:41 AM

@waxeagle Who is that?

wax eagle

@Miniman the NPCs

if you're around for a fight...you probably have more spell slots than you need

Miniman

@waxeagle The limits are tight enough that it's still a concern (or at least, it has been for me)

BESW

1:23 AM

I am somewhat concerned that this kid doesn't feel comfortable asking his club's sponsoring teacher for help.

Grubermensch

Yeah that's a very weird constraint.

It could just be general shyness, perhaps.

BESW

Yeah, it's middle school, could be any number of things going on.

Grubermensch

I'm curious what the role of the teacher is in this club.

BESW

But it sounds like the guy is one of two GMs in the club, is only friends with three people in the club, and isn't on easy terms with the club's sponsor. That's hinting at something more than just average "teen awkward" underlying the dynamics.

Grubermensch

Possibly? The club is also only around a month old.

@BESW He said "able to GM Paranoia" specifically.

BESW

1:31 AM

Yeah, so it "sounds like" he's one of two GMs.

Most groups don't have an overabundance of GMs, and he's framed himself as one of the primary GMs in the RPG circles he frequents.

Grubermensch

Hmm yes

[afk]

DuckTapeAl

Holy crap. I just downloaded the HPMOR pdf, to re-read it before it ends, and apparently it's like 1800 pages long.

Adeptus

How do I introduce Paranoia to a Junior High School Pathfinder RPG club? Have you considered psychological experiments? :P

DuckTapeAl

That's like, half the length of the entire HP series.

Miniman

2:12 AM

If Tag A needs to be a synonym of Tag B, are we meant to suggest the synonym in the synonym box for Tag A, or Tag B?

David Wilkins

Wat

I would go with most common. Google the two, whichever has less results is the synonym for the other

Miniman

2:28 AM

I know which one needs to be a synonym of the other, I'm asking how to make it happen.

David Wilkins

Well you have more ep than me...rolld20?

Miniman

d20

Dice Service

2

David Wilkins

Well sh++

Hehe... what tags?

Miniman

race-feature should be a synonym of racial-traits

David Wilkins

2:33 AM

Ok, thats gonna, need a meta post

Close call and the community should weigh in

Miniman

Meta posts for tags aren't particularly well received if the tags in question aren't used much.

David Wilkins

Imho, in some systems traits are different from features

Miniman

"So in this particular case, my general line of thinking is "I just spent way too much time on even discussing a 9-question tag, all of our time on site curation could be much more profitably spent.""

11

A: The simulation tag

My general answer to questions like this is as follows. Tagging is a folksonomy. This is why people are free to create and apply any tag to a question. We have some limited guidance about tagging (no meta tags etc), and in certain places where a hierarchy is kinda needed (D&D game naming, WoD g...

David Wilkins

It is not cut-and-dry

Awesome example and a good question

Question, is tagging as simulation going to disserve any of these questions?

BESW

I think the point of that phrase is rooted in the notion of folksonomy: our tagging system is structured so that there's very little point in imposing artificial structure or policy on tags until they reach a critical mass of usage which we can use to understand what kind of structure or policy is needed--and indeed, if any is needed at all.

Mxy is saying that for this particular tag, he thinks nine questions isn't the critical mass number: the tag should be allowed to continue to grow unpruned for more time.

David Wilkins

2:45 AM

Ok fine. But if it takes more effort to split a tag, does it make sense to expend that energy?

Devil's advocate, not saying I know better

As @BESW points out, there is not a critical mass either way

BESW

I don't have enough experience with the tagging folksonomy to have an informed opinion on where critical mass, limit breaks, and meta discussions "should" fall for this stuff.

doppelgreener

@Miniman I can't find it now, but in the past when I've done small-scale but significant edit (such as destroying an entire tag), I've left a meta Q just saying: "Hey, I found this tag, it looked like a problem, so I did this thing to it. It affected these questions. Just leaving this here as a note for future reference."

BESW

There's nothing wrong with taking it to meta at any time, so long as you're ready for responses to include "Not yet worth our time."

doppelgreener

In that case I destroyed a tag that was on about a dozen questions, and it turned out it was a zombie tag so we blacklisted it.

David Wilkins

@BESW agreed

Shalvenay

2:51 AM

zzzzombies :o

doppelgreener

Oh wait, here it is:

13

Q: The [rules] tag has just been burninated (again), let's blacklist it

I just burninated the rules tag. It had no wiki, and appeared to be uselessly broad, since almost every question on here is about rules. I'm leaving this question here to record this burnination. If this tag crops up again, we'll know it isn't the first time, and maybe it'll be worth blacklistin...

BESW

braaiiins

doppelgreener

it turned from a post of "I just removed this thing" into "let's destroy this thing"

David Wilkins

And should have been

doppelgreener

But, this is what it originally looked like, and in your case @Miniman you could just leave a meta Q looking somewhat like that.

David Wilkins

2:55 AM

And that is the kind of meta I would back up

BESW

Today in Tweets Without Context:

The cats are fleeing before the rubber chicken chorus. I am wilting beneath an onslaught of puns. Please god, let the thaw come soon.

Tweeted by UrsulaV on February 18, 2015 at 2:11 AM

Adeptus

3:10 AM

@Shalvenay I saw your question re cutlass & saber in the transcript... Apparently they're listed in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, but if you don't have that, they're also in d20 Modern SRD. Comparing other weapons on the table to their SRD/3.5 versions, there's some variation on weights, but the combat stats match up.

doppelgreener

@Miniman that said though it might also be worth just leaving the [race-feature] tag be, it looks like it's a 5e-specific term (even if it might describe the same concept)

Adeptus

@BESW Random pop culture Guam reference - The main character in TV series Forever (who is a 200-ish year old immortal) claims to have been trained as a doctor on Guam

mxyzplk

4:05 AM

@doppelgreener hey so you gonna vote to reopen that 2-question question you edited, or...?

doppelgreener

4:29 AM

@mxyzplk haven't done the edit I was referring to yet, haven't had the chance but will shortly

doppelgreener

4:46 AM

@mxyzplk was about to do it, and looks like Adeptus has found a link to one of your explanations for favored class bonuses. going to see if that answers either/both of the asker's questions.

Adeptus

5:06 AM

\m/

Iron Heart

5:19 AM

@BESW Bounty expires soon, and you have a reply to your comment on the MLWM answer.

doppelgreener

6:37 AM

Dumping my auto comments here:

###Welcome message
Hi, and welcome to the site! Check out our [tour] for an overview of how our site works, since it might be very different to others you're used to. More information is available in the [help].

###Link-only answer
Link-only answers [don't make for good answers](meta.stackoverflow.com/q/8259) on Stack Exchange, because link rot will make your answer useless. We encourage answers to actually answer the question independently of their links, which usually means extracting the key information from that link and citing it. Imagine if the link goes dead tomorrow (it migh…

Did I miss any worthwhile categories of comments?

Iron Heart

@doppelgreener Error in chunk-removed: Context-independent "They're".

doppelgreener

6:51 AM

@IronHeart ah, that'd come in the form of say... "I've removed your first three questions. They're unrelated to the one I've left behind."

Iron Heart

Right, but what if it's just the one?

You'll remember to edit it?

doppelgreener

"I've removed your seocnd question. It's unrelated to the one I've left behind."

###Chunk removed from a multi-part question.
I've removed your {DETAIL HERE questions}. {It's/they're} unrelated to the one{s} I've left behind, and should be asked separately in their own questions. You can still retrieve its content in your [revision history](`{LINK HERE}`), which you can access by clicking the 'edited X time ago' link at the bottom center of your post.

editified

Iron Heart

"its own question" and "retrieve their contents" just as a reminder when you come back to this (if you do)

carry on

doppelgreener

7:10 AM

###Multi-part question: one question removed.
I've removed your {DETAIL HERE question}. It's unrelated to the one I've left behind, and should be asked separately in its own questions. You can still retrieve its content in your [revision history](`{LINK HERE}`), which you can access by clicking the 'edited X time ago' link at the bottom center of your post.

###Multi-part question: several questions removed.
I've removed your {DETAIL HERE questions}. They're unrelated to the one I've left behind, and should be asked separately in their own questions. You can still retrieve their content in …

fixed. ;D

BESW

7:23 AM

@IronHeart Yeah, I dunno what to say that won't just be an argument.

Iron Heart

Would you say you've voted it Not Useful, at least?

BESW

If "Rule 0 it" is the only solution, fine, but I'm not going to accept a Rule 0 answer until I've used it--and it's also unclear whether the answerer has used it themselves, which would give it a lot more credit.

@IronHeart Yes.

Iron Heart

Alrighty then.

BESW

I think a Rule 0 solution is extremely inelegant for a game which relies on uncompromising rule-based inertia for its narrative momentum, but that's arguable.

What's not arguable is that it's a homebrew solution without experience to back it up.

Okay...

Have you used this solution? If Rule 0 and participant conspiracy is the best answer, so be it, but the Stack's policies on homebrew and Good Subjective content need you to at least talk about why and how it's a solution which has worked for you. (Otherwise any answer suggesting an untested and unsupported solution is valid, and things get super cluttered super fast.) — BESW 9 secs ago

Iron Heart

[claps on the back, remains on vigil]

BESW

7:31 AM

@Adeptus Hmm. Do you recommend this series?

BESW

9:15 AM

Tonight's dinner is tofu and carrots seared in a soy/ginger/sesame sauce, served on fresh bean sprouts and kale, drizzled with a spicy/sweet version of the sauce.

Also: Lent! That magical time of year when people who prefer fish and veggie meals have more take-out and fast-food options.

BESW

9:36 AM

T-Rexes: We can't prove they weren't huge fatbirds.

BESW

12:32 PM

@Adeptus Tracked it down: the phrase is "went to medical school in Guam," which is... amusing. I thought maybe they were saying he was trained in medicine by the military, but instead it's a hilariously transparent fake backstory for the immortal to have chosen.

Guam's lack of medical schools is so awesomely patent that it leads to threads like this one.

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

12:49 PM

1

Q: Determining the range of spells

The Basic Set (p. B247) has the following entry for a Fireball. Lets the caster throw a ball of fire from his hand. This has 1/2D 25, Max 50, Acc 1. When it strikes something, it vanishes in a puff of flame. This spell is likely to ignite flammable targets. Cost: Any amount up to your Ma...

gurps-4e

The answers are only 8 seconds apart. :P

BESW

We have awesomely active citizens.

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Absolutely.

BESW

So, what's new with you?

BESW

1:10 PM

@DavidReeve [wave] You may find it useful to know that [help] and [tour] transform into automagical links to their respective site features, when used in comments.

(As does [chat]!)

David Reeve

oh ok

now i know that and am empowered by knowledge

BESW

There's lots of little features like that tucked away.

Aaron

Morning

David Reeve

good morning

Aaron

1:53 PM

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

2:26 PM

@BESW I don't know if you remember. You helped me out with some ideas, and it involved holy werewolves. The conclusion to that was a brother than became an accidental member and a very angry brother that decided to take on the entire group. Needless to say it was very entertaining.

BESW

@William'MindWorX'Mariager Cool!

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

It really was.

Dorian

2:46 PM

It just dawned on me that I know nothing about maptools and don't even know where to begin. Joining a game for it on friday and need a quickstart guide or something, any tips?

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Maptools?

The one from RPTools?

Dorian

yes

BESW

I haven't used it for.... about six years. And I didn't much like it then. So I'm not much help.

Dorian

Yeah it's been a hectic week for me so I totally forgot I needed to learn it and now I get to cram by finishing at least two characters, learning maptools, and a bunch of other crap all before friday. As it is, I can do it, and I work best under pressure like this... but still... Too much to do and not enough time

And their tutorials site is down too

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

That's pretty unfortunate. :(

I'm mostly getting into use Realm Works. It's been pretty great so far.

Mostly for GMs though.

Dorian

2:59 PM

Well DM picks the game system so yeah

BESW

[yawn] I needs me some sleeps. ttfn

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

ttfn?

BESW

TTFN.

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Ah :P

Dorian

TTFE BESW!

:P

jkjk

Kuranes

3:04 PM

Let me ask you guys a question. I'm reading the 3.5e rulebook and under two-handed weapons it says "Apply 1-1/2 times the character’s Strength bonus to damage rolls". and I'm like... why didn't they just write 1/2... one minus one half is one half, why write 1 - 1/2. So I serched for it on the stack exchange and found out it means 1.5. In what world does 1-1/2 mean 1.5? I just don't get it.

Dorian

They mean "One and a Half"

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Yeah

But it could be written better.

Kuranes

Didn't anyone on the team think.. "hmmm what if some people think that the minus in between numbers is supposed to be a minus?"

I wonder how many people think it's 0.5

Dorian

It's not a minus, it's a dash. I see what you're saying but yeah.

Probably very very few.

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

Are you reading an OCR PDF or the actual book?

Dorian

3:06 PM

The actual book has that in it, I have it in front of me lol

Kuranes

I know it's a dash, but the symbol looks the same

Dorian

Yeah.

Hmm... I suppose we could go to whatever writing/grammar/etc stackexchange we have and ask them if there's any actual reasoning behind that.

Seems to me like there's a rule for that format in writing but I can't recall it. I never misunderstood it myself even when I started D&D back in middleschool so it might be a rule I'm forgetting.

Or maybe I understood it through context clues

Kuranes

I'm Slovenian, so maybe it's an English thing that I've never seen before.

Dorian

3:23 PM

Maybe

Dorian

3:43 PM

Now that it's been mentioned, I was looking through my Secrets of Sarlona book for something and noticed they use the 1-1/2 way in there as well.

Kuranes

apparently Pathfinder uses it as well.

but according to someone from the stack exchange they took it from D&D

STT LCU

4:05 PM

good morning, chatroom

Kuranes

Mornin'

Phil

hey

STT LCU

almost-philosophical question: are your actions that define your alignment, or is your alignment that dictates which actions you're going to do? (I'm asking here because i think it's not a good question for the site, but I'm sure you can help me) If you want i can add more details to my particular situation.

Phil

yay, an alignment question! ducks for cover

STT LCU

yeah i know, sorry :(

Aaron

4:08 PM

Alignment is different to most people so that is difficult to answer.

STT LCU

I just read the meta post about alignment so i guess that here is the best discussion place for this

Phil

yeah, definitly wouldn't work as a proper question on the site

STT LCU

If this may help, the setting is Planescape with fate core system

Aaron

@STTLCU I see Alignment as something that your actions determine not something that limits your actions. If you are a Chaotic Good character and you perform an Evil act then your Alignment might change to Chaotic Neutral and eventually to Chaotic Evil if you keep performing evil acts.

Phil

I can't help as I am unfamiliar with the setting, system and anything alignment related as I've never used it. However, you might want to explain more about your specific situation

Aaron

4:11 PM

@STTLCU It is about character development to me. Your character might go through a life changing event that completely flips his view and he goes from being the super righteous paladin to the tyrannical selfish anti paladin. This is an extreme example obviously as most changes occur subtly over time.

But as Phil said us knowing your specific situation would be helpful to help you.

STT LCU

super-short story: A friend of mine was a CN character, we found some sort of deva-relic that can be drank (Devas are sort of angelic beings, pure LG stuff) for bonuses. She drank it and with the buffs it came an alignment change. It's ok, but sometimes she happens to have some outbursts of light chaos actions. I love that because I say that it's her true nature fighting back to regain the upper hand, while the rest of the table says "You're Lawful, you wouldn't think about that!"

@Aaron so it's similar to what you described.

Aaron

I sounds like it fits her character. If she normally acts in a Lawful manner I wouldn't worry about changing alignment or anything. She might just follow impulses sometimes.

STT LCU

I agree, but how can I prevent the other to stop her actions "before they've happened, because she wouldn't think like that"?

Aaron

@STTLCU Honestly I would tell them it isn't their character and they should leave her alone. I am a rather blunt person though so you might not phrase it like that.

STT LCU

4:28 PM

I see. She's quite shy so i guess she'll just change the action if they tell them that she's "wrong".

Thanks for your opinion :)

Aaron

Just a quick question

STT LCU

yes?

Aaron

If her alignment were to change to Neutral would it mess with her character or the buffs she got?

STT LCU

possibly, but i can't answer that because I'm not the GM

Aaron

Was the artifact homebrew?

STT LCU

4:33 PM

yes, almost everything is homebrew (fate core rules)

Aaron

Ok.

STT LCU

It's mostly based on the "rule of cool"

but yes, i think that if she loses her alignment he may lose the buffs

not 100%certain though.

Aaron

I would ask the DM if her being Neutral Neutral instead Lawful would be better and still allow the buffs as it is causing a small bit of friction? I don't know if it is causing friction but I assume you wouldn't be asking if it wasn't

STT LCU

It's not causing much friction to be honest, I am just wondering which interpretation is the most common, and if I was alone in my opinion. Nothing critical, thankfully. We still have fun times every session.

Phil

@STTLCU This is a definite, unarguable no-no at my table, and if anyone tried to tell another player how to run their character they would get one warning, with a second offense meaning they were politely asked to leave the game

no player should feel they have the 'right' to dictate or try to dictate how another player roleplays their character directly

if they have concerns then they should raise it with me, the GM, in private first

David Reeve

4:43 PM

@STTLCU you're using fate core? i thought fate didn't have alignments

STT LCU

I'm sure they're doing that with the best intentions, she's fairly new to RPG

Phil

doesn't matter

it sets a really dangerous precendent

STT LCU

It hasn't, it's an homebrew hybrid of DND player under the fate system

Phil

(and is one of the main reasons I detest alignment, as people tend to interpret it as a straight jacket for roleplay)

climbs off of soap-box

STT LCU

Agreed with that

David Reeve

4:46 PM

well since it's fate why do you need to enforce the alignment rigidly?

give them fate points when they do lawful stuff

Phil

this

STT LCU

Great idea

Phil

work with the strengths of the system you are using rather than try to shoehorn in preconceptions carried over from other games

David Reeve

drinking the law juice should just give them an extra attribute

STT LCU

Yeah but this is more a roleplay issue rather than technical issue

David Reeve

5:06 PM

you, as the gm, should try to invoke the lawful trait more often then

use the system to encourage better roleplaying if necessary

fate's probably the best system for it

JohnP

6:10 PM

@DavidWilkins - Up the magic or up the level. You could potentially up the henchmen as well. Or traps. I loves me a good trap.

Aaron

@DavidReeve He isn't the GM

STT LCU
possibly, but i can't answer that because I'm not the GM

David Wilkins

I am afraid of making it too deadly, or I miggt be missing the point...if is supposed to be unwinnable, I can totally kobiashi maru it

Its a dual in front of a crowd of both sides members, so a trap doesnt make sense

Zachiel

I feel like I've been trolled hard.

David Wilkins

@Zachiel why?

Zachiel

We were reasoning about why there's so many people playing evil characters in "my" D&D-like roleplaying website. Someone said it might be because evil characters have no great penalties for using good spells or items while good characters who use too many evil things experience alignment shift.

So, someone asked if we could use redeemed items - I'm not sure that's what they're called but it's when you take an evil item and turn it into a good one.

Aaron

6:28 PM

Where is the troll?

David Wilkins

Haha...I would say "reformed" items because that is a word used to reference religeous change

Zachiel

Our webmaster ruled it this way, I'm not sure it's official: you need to get the item, dispel it to stop its magic from working, then cast the same spells (or the good equivalent if it exists) for the number of days it took to create the item, then pay 20% the cost of the item.

Oh, easy, nice, now I can have that crown of terror I've always wanted.

Then somebody made me notice one of the spells has a 1000 GP material component.

David Wilkins

evil = no penalty but good = penalty bothers me

Zachiel

And I need to cast it 200 times since the item costs 200k GP to start with

Aaron

@DavidWilkins It fits though. Evil always has more power because they don't worry about where their power comes from.

Zachiel

6:30 PM

so in the end the cost is around 700k gold

maybe 800k

David Wilkins

Thats insane, but maybe appropriately so?

Zachiel

Which I think I can farm in 12 real life years, if nobody robs or kills me meantime and the site stays up

David Wilkins

Haha! I see where you are coming from but I love it

Zachiel

Or I could go around killing people to get the money, but at that point I'd better be evil.

David Wilkins

Indeed

Zachiel

6:32 PM

and buy it right now since I have the money for it

David Wilkins

@Aaron also they care not about consequences

Zachiel

It's just that I don't want to be evil. I want to be loved by everyone and so I'm trying to stay as much pure neutral as possible.

David Wilkins

So maybe i am not as bothered as i thought

Are you a member of an organization that takes donatiins?

Zachiel

Well, I am. But I have no idea who could give me that much money

David Wilkins

I was thinking more of clergy. Your organizatiin has tons of money and you could submit a grant proposal for the funds to not only turn an evil ite good but to use said item for good deeds

Zachiel

6:39 PM

Ah no. My organization only cares about partying hard.

David Wilkins

Oh well crap

You could sell your services as an event organizer

Zachiel

> Society of Sensation
> ("Sensates"), who believe that accumulating experiential knowledge through the senses is the only way to achieve enlightenment. Their headquarters is the Civic Festhall, which features an endless series of entertainments and a library of magically stored experiences. They are remniscent of ancient Epicurianism, as well as the more modern empiricism.

David Wilkins

Alright my method doesnt really work

Zachiel

Yeah, I'd better go earning that money as an adventurer. But it's riskier and it's doomed to make me even more enemies which I don't really want to kill, because I made the wrong character for a D&D game.

David Wilkins

Yeah thats a pickle

Zachiel

6:43 PM

I have troubles playing characters who don't just want to befriend everyone and live merrlily ever after.

David Wilkins

Not befriending anyone means living as a hermit

Zachiel

My characters usually end up trying to befriend someone, then having someone else tell them "I'm not going to be your friend ever again if you associate with that guy".

@DavidWilkins I'll rephrase: I almost always play characters who try to be friends with everyone.

David Wilkins

Ok thats where trolling begins to be plausible

Has your character given any indicatiin that it is untrustworthy?

Zachiel

No no the trolling was at "Ok you can have it. In twelve years, if you're extremely lucky"

I'm now trying to confince him that the spells should not be cast, just expended, as it happens with item creation.

David Wilkins

Ok wait...how powerful is this item?

Like what does it do now and what are you trying to make it do?

JohnP

7:33 PM

@Zachiel Nobody loves a neutral. You're always that guy sitting on the fence. :p

Zachiel

Yeah, I know. At least, nobody really cares enough to actually hate me.

JohnP

@DavidWilkins Doesn't necessarily have to be a preset trap.

Zachiel

@DavidWilkins It absorbs ten levels of targeted spells per round, gives a +6 to charisma of an unual kind of bonus (i.e. not enhancment) and other minor things.

Like a +3 (profane) bonus to AC and all saves

JohnP

What's the actual magic item?

Zachiel

Mh no according to another source it's a enhancment bonus. Whatever. "Crown of Sorcerous Terror"

JohnP

7:38 PM

Faerun? or 3.5?

@Zachiel It only costs 100,000 gp to make. 200k is the price to buy it already made.

Zachiel

@JohnP Dragon Magazine. And to redeem it it's one day per 1000 gp of the market price

JohnP

@Zachiel So why redeem it? Just have a good version made. You only need Craft Wondrous, Eagles Splendor, Hallow and Spell Turning.

Zachiel

@JohnP it's an evil only item and we don't use the rules for crafting personalized items

Long story short, we either have it as an evil or a redeemed item, no other possibilities.

JohnP

@Zachiel Hrm. Well, you could do something heinous and shade your alignment to neutral evil. :p

I think the DM is being a little unreasonable in the 200 days, I'd rule it at 100 days.

Zachiel

7:56 PM

Good news. Only the spells with evil descriptor need the good version to be cast again

Adeptus

10:47 PM

@BESW I've only seen the first couple of episodes so far. I figured it was a "nobody's going to check this" backstory, but didn't realise how obviously fake it was

BESW

10:59 PM

@Adeptus Most people he meets will have vaguely heard of Guam, so they accept it as plausible because it appeals to their sense of pride: they recognise something they think most people wouldn't, so they're inclined to nod and look smart rather than ask questions.

But if you actually know much about Guam at all (rather than simply knowing of it), his claims become increasingly silly.

shatterspike1

11:42 PM

How many people have had a positive experience with play-by-post games?

Miniman

@shatterspike1 If you remove one word from that sentence, I could answer "me". Unfortunately, that word is "positive".

BESW

28,653.

shatterspike1

Yeah, most of my experiences have been mixed to pretty awful, generally.

@BESW That's quite an exact number.

BESW

You can get "accurate" or "precise," pick one.

shatterspike1

Let's go with accurate; I'd rather not be precisely wrong.

BESW

11:45 PM

Aw. That's a lot harder.

Closest I've come to PBP is Storium, which doesn't really count I think.

Miniman

The PBP I've done has mostly been freeform, which I suspect was a much greater factor in the non-positiveness of my experiences than the PBP part.

shatterspike1

Eh, I've done PBP that was somewhat freeform and one that was system based

Neither turned out spectacular.

Why was your freeform RP bad?

Or you experience was bad, more specifically?

The Oracle

0

Q: What's the purpose of the 24 hour wait on awarding a bounty?

There was a totally awesome answer to someone else's question that really helped me out. So I want to award an additional bounty... just as a way of iterating this. I started a bounty, and checked that it was for an existing answer. And I have to wait 24 hours to award it. Why is that? And i...

discussion

Miniman

All the usual reasons. No rules to enforce player agency or prevent overpowered characters.

I think a lot of the problems were because I was with a group of bad players run by a bad GM, but freeform gives players and GMs the power to be bad at a much higher level than a system game.

shatterspike1

So, stuff like "I block it with my Perfect Defense(TM)"?

Or more like, you post something and then your post was totally ignored?

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