TRPG General Chat

Pixie

06:52

Hmm. I'm thinking of putting together either some d66 or d100 generator tables. D66 is ideal because they're accessible, but it's a little limited in that you have lest list items. The issue I'm running into... I tend to have more than 36 items but less than 100, and not in amounts that lend themselves to extending the dice range. :P

Miniman

@Pixie How do you do a d66?

Never mind, Googled it.

Pixie

@Miniman Roll 2d6 and use one for ones, one for tens. It's a bit wonky, but it lets you do slightly bigger tables without any specialized dice.

Though I just realized that I might be doing my math wrong on the 36 results.

trogdor

interesting

I had never heard of that before

Miniman

For some reason I didn't think it would be an even distribution, but anydice says I'm stupid.

Pixie

Maid uses it, as well as d666, and I've seen a lot of d66 random tables floating around.

@Miniman Could you tell me how to do it in Anydice? I was trying to figure that out because I can't math. :P

Miniman

06:57

@Pixie anydice.com/program/6050

Not actually even, even with gaps

That was me being stupid by thinking I was being stupid.

Pixie

@Miniman Thanks!

Miniman

Meta-stupidity, you might say.

Pixie

Has layers.

Okay, I wasn't wrong. 36 possible results. xD It's not pretty or intuitive, but its main benefit in my case is d6s are common and frequently employed in the games I'm interested lately. I just need to figure out if 36 is going to be enough for the generators I want to make.

trogdor

if not, you could use 2 D10s

but that isn't to say you have any

Miniman

2 d8s would get you 64 if 100 is too many and 36 is too few

Anyways, gtg

trogdor

07:09

true

doppelgreener

08:52

@Miniman that works perfectly well for a d100 in base 6!

Wibbs

09:25

how sarcastic is it permitted to be in an answer to a question? ;D

trogdor

I am not sure, but I can't imagine sarcasm to be exceptionally helpful in an answer,....

Wibbs

yeah, I know - a somewhat tongue in cheek question :)

but given the question about polaris character sheets, I really, really, really am tempted to give an incredibly sarcastic answer about not everyone having a photographic, perfect recall memory like they obviously do

after all, 'its not like its hard to remember your stats'

Wibbs

10:01

The frustrating thing is that there is a really good question in there, as the character sheet for Polaris is used for much, much more than just recording those three stats. But with a tone like that, I have absolultely no intention of dignifying the question with an answer

Pixie

10:16

Ugh. My cat woke me up from a creepy dream in a creepy way and I have to leave for work in about 2 hours.

trogdor

oh god no

my cat sleeps in my room almost every night

if that happens to me I will freak out

Pixie

It was a dream where my family and I were all witches, and my mom had a creepy obessed guy (possibly extended family like cousin) who'd found our house and started stalking not just her but the rest of us too. He'd totally infiltrated our house and sent us gifts with taunting messages, but because we were all witches, him included (and he must've been powerful), he could have been in the walls, disguised as water, etc.

trogdor

that does not sound like a dream I want, thank you very much

Pixie

After I managed to suss him out, my sister and I left the house while his disembodied voice taunted our father about what he could do to us (the only one I remember being the somewhat amusing "bee curse" which, less amusingly, I knew would make bees find and attack you). We went in two different directions, and he followed me.

At first he was harassing me but he actually kinda came around not promising to stop but going so far as to helping me find a strange motion detector that could detect him. My cats hated it though, and they kept growling. Cue me waking up to growling under my bed...

trogdor

thankfully, so far, my cat does not pull that on me

I say my cat, I actually have 2 cats but only one is "my" cat

the other one can actually be a bit of a dick

Pixie

10:25

Extra creepy factor: There are two cats who stay in my room and a third (George) who likes to come in and cause trouble (and others but :P). I shut my door before I went to bed, and George was not in here. I woke up with an open door, George harassing Baby, and both my parents saying they didn't open my door.

@trogdor That is like George. :P

trogdor

my other cat, he "mostly" doesn't like people who visit us,.. except for one of my dad's friends who I would swear he likes better than any other living creature he has met

but

I am still scared of him sometimes, cause I never know what the hell he has decided to do

and I have had to give him medicine and stuff sometimes, he is not amused by that

neither is my cat, to be fair, but so far if it's ME doing whatever she won't retaliate.

Pixie

@trogdor I know that feeling... George doesn't hate me, but his desire to get in my room (where he is not allowed) makes him hate everyone if he's anywhere near it, especially me. I never know if I'm going to get attacked or not.

trogdor

the strange thing is, my cat, the one that likes me and is generally nicer to everyone, is the one who usually starts fights with the other one

not like horrible fights or anything, but fights all the same

Pixie

Some cats like people much more than they like other cats. Shadow, one of the ones who stays in my room, is like that. She adores people, hates other cats.

trogdor

and not often either, I am just sort of surprised and amused by the sort of role reversal

Pixie

10:32

Heh.

trogdor

@Pixie seems that way

my cat doesn't like any strays she sees

she WILL hiss at them, no question

BESW

12:47

Chemist gets knighted: "[The knighthood medal] doesn't look as if it's pure gold, but it clearly has some gold in it."

Tritium21

21

Q: What is the name of this book, covering character history generation?

Recently, over a text-chat session, my game master ran through a process of detailing my character's history, using a product she never named. My GM is currently unavailable to me, so I cannot simply ask her what the product was. The product was apparently a number of random tables, detailing t...

free 50 rep... answer with drivethrurpg.com/product/108091/…

My GM is finally out of her post-surgery haze, but does not want to make a post

BESW

Glad to hear your GM is recovering!

Tritium21

yus! she might be coming home today!

BESW

Hooray!

Tritium21

13:47

Im going through the book... and for $1.25 its damn worth it

Unlike central casting which tries to give some sort of context around their random tables, this thing leaves the context up to the GM or player... which makes it more useful to me at least

Alex Mitan

14:06

Okay... question here... in Fate... Stunts can't be invoked and compelled...can they? @BESW ?

BESW

Stunts aren't aspects, so no. But... [digs up Stack questions] One moment please.

Alex Mitan

"Because I am Sent by Cthulhu himself to wreak havoc upon the world, I can ___"

nobody can pick on that for invokes or compels, right?

BESW

17

Q: Must a situation's obvious characteristics be explicitly made into aspects?

I've never played Fate before and am learning from Fate Accelerated Edition with occasional reference to Fate Core. For the most part, it has been straightforward. On the other hand, I am somewhat unclear about how explicitly Situation Aspects must be declared. For example, Criminal Charlie is...

fate-core aspects

Basically: aspects represent the important bits.

If there's a bit that becomes important--or is discovered to be important--which doesn't have an aspect, it should probably be regarded as an oversight and immediately rectified.

Narrative creates mechanics: if a bit of narrative becomes mechanically important, suddenly it gets a mechanic assigned to it.

Exactly how that plays out depends on the precise situation at the table each time.

4

Q: Can I use non-aspects as narrative permissions?

I'm finishing up my Legend of Zelda Fate Core campaign, and I'm still trying to get a feel for how items should be represented. I know that Fate isn't a game where inventory and money are well-tracked, but there are few enough special items in a Zelda universe that we can make use of them without...

fate-core equipment aspects

Alex Mitan

In that market example... would invoking the Market aspect itself be enough?

It's crowded, sure, but it's part of the market itself, so can he just use that as an aspect?

BESW

At that point, as the GM I would say something like "Hey, I messed up by just giving this place the aspect Market when I narrated it as a Crowded market. Let me fix that." [scribble scribble]

Alex Mitan

14:16

Hm, sounds good

Also, I had another question

My players are weird

In D&D, the first thing that happens is they come across an ambush spot with two dead horses

They investigate a bit and such, but the warlock (previously mentioned), immediately runs up to the horses and starts collecting their ribs, and during their rest, he fashioned them into a disturbing headdress of horse ribs

It was completely non-mechanical, but he enjoyed that a lot. Similarly, the rogue-mage and the cleric started collecting specific bones and other miscellaneous items

BESW

Some players use RPGs--especially at first--as a way to push boundaries.

Alex Mitan

My question is this

D&D being D&D, they just wrote down their items next to the rest of their items...
Shortsword, waterskin, horse ribs

In Fate... can they just have a "misc. inventory" on a notepad of things they have, but don't matter mechanically?

BESW

Of course.

Alex Mitan

They're not aspects or anything until they matter

BESW

Right.

Alex Mitan

14:19

We abandoned that campaign, so I've no idea what became of the (in real life going to be a medic some day) cleric's goblin femurs

But they were there just as much as other items.

In Fate... if they were to become narratively important, could she have turned them into an Aspect and immediately invoked it for story relevance?

Or as part of a Create an Advantage

Or when the warlock was caught in a snare trap, dangling upside-down, the rogue shook him by the arms, dropping his trinkets on the floor... I did not expect the following: I asked the warlock what's the most interesting thing that falls out of his robe

It was his journal, written in a mess of a script, somewhere between spoken "common" and demonic runes

After that, the rogue kept it, because the warlock liked how frustrated she was, and knew she was going to try, in futility, to decipher it some other time

Could that have been written on her Misc Inv in Fate?

BESW

As soon as it becomes important, it can become an aspect. But a Create Advantage action is needed for a free invoke on it.

Usually, it's best to ask for the Create Advantage action when adding something to the scene that wasn't already fairly prominent, like "the right book falls out of my pocket."

If it's just something that was already part of the scene but hadn't gotten an aspect yet--like a crowd--that's different.

Alex Mitan

Mhm.. okay, but if X is not looking for a free invoke, can they just ask for that aspect?

BESW

Again, you'll have to feel it out at the time.

Alex Mitan

Mhm.. alright, thank you :)

BESW

You may ask them to spend a Fate point to create the aspect, for example.

Alex Mitan

14:26

Why would the Create an Advantage be used in the "the book falls out of my pocket" scene?

They weren't under any sort of time pressure

BESW

5

Q: When using a fate point to create an aspect, do you have to spend another to invoke it?

I'm running a new game, with just my friend and I on roll20. We're attempting to figure out the mechanics, while running a small game together. I'm having issues with the Fate Point system. Does someone spend a Fate Point to "discover" an aspect? "It's stormy on the deck of this ship, there are ...

fate fate-core fate-accelerated aspects

Alex Mitan

And it was something going on between the two players

Honestly, I had little interaction with that other than poking them to develop what happens

...which I loved, by the way..

BESW

I can't second-guess your decisions. I wasn't there.

Alex Mitan

No, I know, but I'm trying to think of it in Fate terms, because stuff like that will (hopefully) happen again...

Also, I keep hearing and reading about "Aspect spamming"

I kind of get what the problem with it is, but I also kind of... am not sure at what point it becomes that and what effect it has on the game

BESW

It can draw scenes out unnecessarily if it becomes forced.

If it's natural, it's fine.

Alex Mitan

14:37

What would be some decent examples of aspects that are attached to the characters? Things like curses, special equipment, promises... etc?

BESW

Can do.

Remember, though, that character aspects and stunts are permanent while most other character-attached aspects are temporary.

This is for a good reason: the number of aspects a character can draw on changes the amount of narrative power the player can wield.

Messing with the balance of that too much between PCs in the same game can lead to one player overshadowing the others.

Alex Mitan

Mhm.. alright, I'll keep that in mind

I'm working on a question, with some suggestions attached to it, and then I have to go

0

Q: How should pets/summons/familiars be handled in Fate?

I find that having some other entity that, while part of your character conceptually, is separate from their person, adds a lot to an RPG... Whether it's an Engineer's drone, a Warlock's summon or familiar, or just a squirrel that's tagging along, it's clearly an entity that isn't the character i...

fate fate-core fate-accelerated animal-companions extras

Alex Mitan

15:19

Why'd I get 2 [close] votes for that?

BESW

Because they're all appropriate for Fate; it's the specific situation that makes the difference between them.

Miniman

Also, because presenting a bunch of options and saying "which one of these is right?" isn't really how SE is meant to work.

BESW

It's totally impossible to say that one mechanic is best for a squirrel that just hangs out and a warlock's battle summon.

Give us the problem you're facing and we can make suggestions.

But "how should I handle all of these totally different but superficially similar situations which aren't actually happening?" isn't really gonna fly.

And, yes, "here are answers to my problem, tell me which is best" runs up against the XY problem: You've decided the sort of answer you're going to accept, rather than being open to the expertise of the Stack giving you answers you hadn't thought of.

Alex Mitan

15:38

Yeah, but it's just a bunch of suggestions... I thought it'd help people who answer.. Why would I hide that I have something in mind already, and I'd like some criticism on it?

Miniman

Because that's not what the site is for?

BESW

The Stack Exchange isn't designed to handle everything RPG-related. Speculation, in particular, is something forums do much better.

Miniman

Criticism of ideas, too.

BESW

You can make it work by focusing on the specific challenge you're facing. If you have both a tag-along animal and a combat summon, that's two separate challenges and two separate questions.

Alex Mitan

Ok, sure, but I feel I only added to the question by providing a semi-answer of my own. They can just ignore the box text, for all it's worth

BESW

15:48

@AlexMitan Except, your question is "Which of these solutions I just gave is right?"

Alex Mitan

Edited... you're right

BESW

And that's got two things which don't work in the Stack context, as outlined above: it's an XY problem (focusing on evaluating your solution, to the exclusion of other solutions to fix the problem you're actually facing); and the problem you're facing is insanely broad to the point that it's an impossible question to answer.

Even without your suggested solutions distracting from the problem, the problem is "What one mechanic can represent a harmless squirrel, a tech drone, and a savage demon?" without any sense of what role any of them might have in the story.

It's kinda like asking what one D&D class is best for the warrior and the priest and the thief.

Miniman

@BESW Well, that's a Bard, obviously.

Alex Mitan

Ok, so I got some amazing Fate juice, @BESW...

Another of my players, the "artificer"... apparently has a much better.. and much more different character idea than I thought

His character is based around this MtG card

gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/…

Basically, a strange human with the power to drain power and abilities from recently-dead creatures, such as a goblin's appearance, a mage's spellcasting, or an elf's marksmanship

But not shapeshifting, as the more traits he absorbs, the more abominable he looks

He has no awareness of actual Fate mechanics, and he just told me his character idea...

Immediately I thought... yes, yes this is amazing... what if he had a pool.. and he could rip off aspects from freshly dead things? The more aspects he had, the more stuff he could do, but the more unstable and compel-worthy they'd become

Oh, you've recently melded three dead guys into yourself, a mage included? Well, we'll see how well you can sneak up on the next one when your skin starts tingling and your newly-acquired spellcasting decides to let out a thunderbolt towards the sky, alerting everyone to your presence

Things like that..

If I'm going to be using your Rated Qualities model, maybe he could absorb their capabilities as well... he could meld a recently dead tiger's Sharp Claws 3 or something

What do you think about it?

BESW

ARRPG has a concept where you can offset the budget of a stunt with a cost or weakness: the stunt effectively doubles as an aspect that can only be compelled, never invoked.

Alex Mitan

16:05

Yeah, but I do want him to invoke the stuff that he gets.. I'm thinking it should cost him some refresh to have this, but he can have X at a time

BESW

That could work.

Alex Mitan

I would, and I'm pretty sure everyone would, like to see him be this mess of traits as an abomination trying to tear off various aspects and have them misbehave

BESW

I'd probably not make it extra aspects, though. I'd make it bonus stunts that don't count towards his total because they're also compellable.

But the cool thing about Fate is that there's always a lot of ways to do something.

Alex Mitan

I think it's such an amazing character idea from someone that doesn't even know any RPG system

He's had this idea from playing Black in Magic The Gathering

BESW

We don't need experience RPGing to be creative.

In fact, often spending too much time in one system will narrow our creativity into particular channels that we get stuck in.

Alex Mitan

16:08

I know, that's what I'm saying! I love it when non-RPGamers have these ideas while unaware of any mechanics

He was around when we had the D&D session (when I had to tell him the dreaded sorry, but there isn't such a thing in the book) and he was worried the "new game"'s mechanics wouldn't support his character either

I think there's a lot in MtG that could be useful for inspiration

about 6 of my "potentials" play MtG all the time, and they're particularly fond of flavour and such

Alex Mitan

17:17

Ok, I've always been confused... when people are talking about "how much stress" something has, for example 3... do they mean they have stress like this: [1] [1] [1] OR [1] [2] [3], which is basically 6 stress?

this is from the SRD, what does "2" stress mean?

Grubermensch

My read of this has always been [1][2][3]

So the Servitor would have [1][2]

Consider that a player character starts at a Great cap, and usually has 2 x 3 stress, which makes them about twice as powerful as the "Attendent" in that table.

Alex Mitan

18:15

Okay, thanks.. I find it confusing when people just say "This has 3 stress" when there's mooks and such with Stress like [1][1][1][1][1]

Also, does combat against a single powerful mob with no allies make no sense? If the players get their round before them, they're probably dust by the time they have their turn

Grubermensch

18:40

That's not necessarily true. A single adversary with high skills might be able to defend against the PCs easily

Generally though 1-vs-many fights are not a great idea because they create bottlenecks of various kinds.

On the other hand, approaching this numerically is not really the point of Fate.

What you want to do is figure out what kind of story you want the scene to tell, and then set the stage in the way that best expresses that story.

Consider how often pitched, hopeless battles come up in literature. Sometimes there's a good point.

Also, defeat in Fate doesn't equate directly to death. It equates to surrender. Death is a kind of surrender, but not the only kind. Many times it's not even the ideal kind for the opposing party.

Alex Mitan

18:57

Hm, okay.. I'll remember that.. thank you!

Pixie

22:24

@AlexMitan MtG cards are great for inspiration. I've used them myself, and my friend had known people to do so as well. As she remarked, pretty much any card with interesting art or ascribed meanings work well -- she's used Clow cards and even YuGiOh, while I'm fond of tarot.

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