TRPG General Chat

Zachiel

00:05

How do you call it when one has serious problems understanding people?

Pixie

I think that would depend on the circumstances.

Zachiel

I guess you call it Zachiel.

I'm trying to decide if venting or not, based on several dirfferent factors among which: is is interesting to others? Am I just ranting/whining? Will this identify me as a wierd person (well, more than it already is)? Will this chat being logged make it possible for a person to track me and find out I'm bringing to the public things that happened?

BESW

That last bit is the most important.

I'm gonna strongly discourage gossip and backbiting.

Zachiel

Well, it wouldn't be proper backbiting. Yet it's hard to explain without going into details and... well I probably need to talk about this in private with some friend which response will indoubtably be "you shouldn't care about what other people thinks about you". Sigh. Friends are so useless sometimes.

Miniman

@Zachiel I'm never sure if giving the right response instead of the response they want to hear is being a good friend or a bad one.

BESW

00:15

Heh. I've got one friend where I can consistently say "Here's what you should do. And here's what you'll actually do."

Zachiel

Heh.

Miniman

@BESW I say that to myself all the time :P

Sandwich

@Zachiel Depends on the circumstances, and yes everything is archived

Zachiel

Well the answer I'd like is "you should tell this person this and this, and it should be enough to let him understand your position and cricize you less for it". What I wouldn't like to hear is "don't talk with that persona anymore, you're compromised", because finding new communities to try to get into and then having to leave them because people can't stand you (or even worse where you can stay but you can't talk to people you wish you could) is... well, stressful.
I guess anything in between would be an ok response?

@Sandwich Yes, yes, I know this.

Sandwich

@Zachiel I don't think anyone is going to respond with the latter "wouldn't like to hear" answer

BESW

00:23

[new tag dance]

Pixie

With things like "you shouldn't care about what other people think about you," in an ideal world, that may be so, but it's just not actionable advice for some people. It's often not helpful coming from someone who's successful at it to someone who has to work around an inability to do so. "Just do x," where "x" is a learned and socialized behavior that cannot simply be picked up by somene who struggles with it, rarely is.

Sandwich

We're generally pretty accepting guys, and I don't think anyone is gonna tell you to stop talking here because you seem like a generally nice person who normally contributes to conversations here

doppelgreener

Even the girls are pretty accepting guys, as this room is magical and does strange things to people. (We know not why. We have not wandered far. We fear to actually find out what that noise is at the bottom of the spiral stone stairs over there. The rest is about as frightening and confusing.)

Zachiel

@doppelgreener (Mystery? I tought it was BESW. :p)

doppelgreener

@Zachiel (BESW is a side effect of the magic but not the source itself. Current theories are he is an illusion.)

trogdor

00:27

lol

Zachiel

Then, trogdor must be an illusion as well since the two go around telling they know each other in real life, right?

trogdor

no

I am hallucinating him obviously

get it together XD

lol

BESW

in Not a bar, but plays one on TV, Nov 12 '14 at 11:08, by doppelgreener

BESW is actually a hive mind of like a dozen and a half people

trogdor

or maybe I am just an insane illusion myself

doppelgreener

trogdor returned from one of the passageways with an impacted cranium and has never been the same since. We cannot help him but at least he has accepted his predicaments. We could only heal the physical wounds.

trogdor

00:30

this is a strange place at any rate

Zachiel

This conversation reminds me of all the times I try being jokeful and people think I'm serious because I didn't put an XD at the end.

trogdor

that is a thing I sometimes agonize over

but to be honest, I laugh at my own jokes anyway

Zachiel

@trogdor My theory is that the reason this place is nicer than other places is because it is logged and publicly searchable, and people know. But then, nicknames hamper traceability so... well, maybe it's not that?

trogdor

I don't know, I feel maybe that could be part of it

but I think there be more to it than that

BESW

@Zachiel Oh, there are some SE chats that get pretty awful.

Zachiel

00:32

Ok, ok ok I get it. Well no, not the nice chat thing, how to say what I wanted to say without actually talking about it.

@BESW uhm, true.

Which ones, we shall not say.

doppelgreener

@Zachiel That is a definite contributor. On another in-development site that's been working out how to handle temporary logging (or not) of chat rooms and for how many days, some people have expressed terror and discomfort at the idea of logging. As they put it, they say a lot of stupid stuff, and would rather it disappear quickly and not be permanently archived. The fact this chat room's archived must naturally repel such people or at least get them to put some thought into their behaviour.

BESW

This chat is excellent because its participants have decided it should be excellent and are willing to put in the effort to make it so.

It's not a passive quality, but an active attitude. When we get complacent, it slips.

doppelgreener

That is so. ^

The archiving has only scraped off the absolute worst it can get.

Zachiel

Another great thing of this chat is that whenever someone new logs in we're all very curious to know why he's here, experiences and such, There's no closed group of people that's only interested in talking with people they already know, which would make it hard for new people to get accepted (and to feel accepted in the first place).

doppelgreener

@Zachiel It has been a careful and perilous journey of practice to reach this point personally, with a lot of mistakes made along the way. I find that it helps to ensure that something in what you say is just so patently absurd no sane person could accept that you're being serious in even the most unlikely scenarios, and must necessarily conclude you're joking. Also, don't kill the joke in the process. (This takes some working out. Patently absurd claims don't have to be wild claims.)

Mostly I do it subtly. It's there and noticeable enough but doesn't pull attention away from the important bits.

Zachiel

00:49

I guess it's also because of in-jokes. If I say something about BESW not being real, he knows I'm joking and all is fine (unless the thing becomes trite).

doppelgreener

01:04

That too.

Pixie

It definitely requires the effort of the participants, but thanfully that endeavor seems to be largely successful. I've been in a lot of RP-related spaces online. A lot. Things that go down just fine here often make me pull my hair out and eventually stop trying elsewhere.

trogdor

01:18

I have never specifically been to other RP related places

but I have been to see forums and such

and it isn't by any means the same thing, but online games tend to have plenty of trolls too

Pixie

I have a pretty long history of RP-related forum and chat participation.

Althis

So.

Robo happened.

It was a doozy.

Actually, that was my biggest issue with it as well.

I honestly found it too easy.

For the GM, that is.

Because the brainstorm takes a lot of the work from me.

I actually missing doing more stuff.

doppelgreener

This sounds like great news. XD

"This game makes GMing too easy. This is terrible!" - Althis 2015 [not actually quoted, defamation lawsuit impending]

3

What'd your group get up to?

Althis

01:34

Exploded drunk giant gerbils.

And fled in a fast car as the frozen tundra exploded around them.

I just wish they had brought their sunglasses.

That scene definitively needed them.

Pixie

Brainstorming and some other aspects of Atomic Robo interest me.

Althis

Btw, the first session is always a bit crazy right? Before we start tying all the madness together?

BESW

Umm. Our first session of Atomic Robo had one of amazon.com's nuclear physicists (because of course amazon.com has those) get kidnapped by giant Canadian moles hired by Russians.

Althis

So.

That is normal then.

BESW

It concluded with a PC swimming in a nuclear cooling tank to help catch a radioactive goldfish.

Althis

01:39

I had a feeling it would be, since there is very little to tie the world together at the first session, you are still coming up with all the mythos of what is normal and accepted or not in this world, and you probably need some time before you start understanding it is not just nonsense.

BESW

Although our world isn't actually the Atomic Robo setting. There's magic, too.

Althis

Yeah, neither was mine.

I guess if it were it would have been less nonsensical.

Miniman

@BESW I think you could make a strong case for the existence of magic in the Atomic Robo universe.

Althis

Since it IS a established thing.

Next session I will start drawing from tropes made up this session, and then thing will start seeming more cohesive.

But yeah, I really didn't like how little I got to do.

BESW

You'll find your sweet spot eventually.

My group brainstorms every other issue or so.

Althis

01:43

I think I need something to feel more proactive.

Wait, you only brainstorm every session or so? I thought it was an "every session" thing.

trogdor

Issue

though I suppose that is the same thing? it still confuses me

but we don't have to have brainstorms all the time

partly because we don't always run into weird stuff that is already unexplained

BESW

Brainstorms aren't mandatory.

trogdor

they are just a tool, like anything else you can do

BESW

Yeah: like any other mechanic in a Fate game (except the Fate point economy), brainstorms are tagged in when the narrative makes them the best mechanic to deal with what's happening.

Althis

Yeah, but I thought you were supposed to keep coming up with new stuff.

I thought that was within the spirit of Robo.

BESW

01:49

Sometimes it takes several issues to deal with one particular thing.

And sometimes "what's going on?" isn't the question, but rather "What shall we do about the obvious problem?"

Like, recently in my game:

We had an issue where we encountered a time portal. We were too busy dealing with the giant carnivorous worms coming out of the portal to brainstorm about it, and then the portal closed on its own.

So for the next issue, we started by seeking out a time portal.

This time, knowing a bit about what we were up against, we did a brainstorm to figure out what makes portals open and close so that we could control it.

trogdor

yeah,.. it was strange that we never brainstormed that the first time

oh well XD

BESW

The issue after that (our current issue) we found another time portal, but in a new context that's raising more questions. However, we haven't yet come up against a question that's really suitable for brainstorming.

Althis

Yeah.

I did an interesting thing today.

So, my friends were coming over, and one of them gets here first.

And we start talking about this hollywood conspiracy and aliens.

And then we decide it would make a great campaign.

And people want to run with it.

So, instead of doing my expected conspiracy about Pinky & Brain.

We do this one.

And I have no idea what to do.

doppelgreener

@BESW There could be many such opportunities in the dwarves session, come to think of it.

Althis

So I come out with a problem: The Gerbils.

And I make them brainstorm what they could be all about.

And I used that to inform how the rest of the session would go.

That might be why I felt I didn't have much input in it.

The GM can't take part in the brainstorm.

doppelgreener

02:00

This is a kinda good thing though: it means you're taking what your group gives you (and it gives them space in which they are to give you what they want), and you run with that.

That means you're not just telling the story you feel like telling. You're telling the story they feel like hearing, which is important.

BESW

As a GM, my proactive element in brainstorms is taking it and running with it afterward.

Althis

You know what I wish?

BESW

Doing my best to make the new information an integrated part of the world and make it matter.

Althis

That after you had all the facts, that the GM would bring it all together into an hypothesis.

Not the players.

Because they already came up with several things.

BESW

And the GM gets to come up with things all the rest of the time.

trogdor

02:02

yeah, I don't see how that should be a thing

BESW

And the GM is the one integrating the hypothesis into the scenario for the rest of the issue.

trogdor

the PC's have to spend Fate points or at least get good rolls every time they declare something

Althis

Yeah.

trogdor

the GM can do it for free

Althis

So, @BESW, I didn't do much of that today.

doppelgreener

02:02

As someone who's a player and a GM in the same ARRPG game, given a choice between a player vs the GM being the one to make the hypothesis, I would always choose the players.

Althis

Maybe next session I will feel a little better when I get to do that more.

BESW

And honestly it's really no different from any other time the PCs spend Fate points or make creative Create Advantage rolls to influence the story in ways outside their own character's agency.

doppelgreener

The GM has enough work making sense of things, and enough opportunity. The brainstorm is the player's turn to shine, all on their own, and they should get all of it, including the final decisions. It's theirs. The GM is meant to sit out and hand over control, this isn't their turn to have it.

BESW

The brainstorm is a concentrated pocket of player agency, but it doesn't change what the players can do or reduce what the GM can do in any fundamental way.

trogdor

plus, PC's like to spend Fate points on a few more things rather than only declaring stuff

BESW

02:04

@Althis That could be the case.

doppelgreener

"The players already came up with several things" but yeah, so did the GM, the entire rest of the time. The players don't surrender control after some brief influence - they are supposed to have it, and regularly.

trogdor

brainstorming is for the PC's

BESW

But if you feel that the GM needs to have a privileged position over the players in terms of worldbuilding, Fate may be hard for you.

Althis

I never said that.

I just think the GM also needs to leave a session satisfied.

Like any player.

And today it didn't cut it for me.

BESW

Aye. What satisfies you is the rub.

Althis

02:05

rub?

BESW

Difficulty, problem.

Althis

Yes,

I like the problem.

It was easy, tonight.

Too easy.

doppelgreener

It sounds like the problem wasn't "it was too easy" but that you had less ability than you would've desired to have input and control over the world and didn't get to put out there all the things you wanted to, and that the things that got put out there weren't what you were after.

BESW

When you say things like "I wish the GM got to make the hypothesis because the players already got to come up with stuff," when the GM is making up stuff all the time for free and the players need to spend resources or trigger specific events to make up stuff, that sounds to me like there's a disconnect with the Fate player/GM agency paradigm.

Althis

That was just a suggestion.

trogdor

02:08

and if the PC's fail at the Brainstorm, the GM then gets to tie things together himself everywhere where they failed

Althis

I think my problem is what @doppelgreener said.

I didn't have much agency today, so I have this burning desire to squeeze things to get any of it I can.

I really hope next time I can come up with more stuff.

BESW

So, the Fate GM's primary agency is in setting the scene.

Althis

I also only played one NPC today.

BESW

I get to lay out the starting scenario and then the players come in and I roll with how they interact with it.

Althis

Because there were lots of gerbils.

And they were not too smart.

doppelgreener

02:11

@Althis we see that, but the reasoning you gave is insightful ;)

BESW

"There's a time portal spewing carnivorous dinosaurs onto a golf course" is the set-up. After that, the party can brainstorm to figure out what's causing the portal, and can plot to deal with the dinosaurs, and I have to let go of any ideas about how it'll turn out or what they'll do.

Althis

I had so much fun with Dresden and Core, and love the spirit of Robo just so much I wished it were more. I guess I am just disappointed.

I had lot's of fun, though.

BESW

I create a point of tension or drama, and I add complications through compels and costs.

Althis

Just not that something else I get in other games.

I will give it longer to grow in.

Maybe once I start fleshing out the conspiracies I will feel more agency, and all will be well and fine.

Oh! I also did that explosion thing.

That was a great tool!

We had a lull, and I just unleashed an orbital drop.

BESW

I suspect the problem may be that it sounds like you asked for a brainstorm to find out what the scene would be, rather than creating a scene that would prompt a brainstorm to find out what was really going on.

Althis

02:14

Great tool for keeping up the action.

@BESW No. The brainstorm was to get the beginnings of what the conspiracy was going to be.

The following scene I set myself.

BESW

[shrug] I don't have the full picture of how and when your session progressed, so I'm just going on what I see.

Althis

@BESW Yeah. But anyway, something I was meaning to ask you Robo veterans.

Does the world start making sense after a while?

BESW

What I see is a brainstorm that was used to determine what the problem would be, when brainstorms are best used to explain an existing problem.

Althis

Once you start knowing established things about it?

trogdor

Ours does not make too much sense

if you look at it from a real world perspective at least

BESW

02:17

Our world has a lot of open holes, but it's got an internal narrative consistency: the same themes and organisations and threats recur.

Althis

@BESW Yep, that is exactly what I wanted to know.

BESW

Example: We had a flashback session to explore the origins of a PC.

doppelgreener

@Althis This is what he's referring to though. Your session began with a brainstorm that decided gerbils were the issue. Alternately you could present a strange situation, which the players brainstorm the cause of. Both are fine. The first didn't work well for you though.

Althis

Because I was thinking, that to have twists and double crosses and stuff, people need to know what to expect.

BESW

The other players invented new characters who were his young friends decades ago, and played them as PCs.

Drama happened, and the characters parted on bad terms at the end of the session.

doppelgreener

02:19

Worked well in creating a session but this time apparently didn't come with satisfying stuff for you to play.

Althis

@doppelgreener That is also not how it went either. I gave them gerbils, and they asked:"What... Why?!" and then I made them create an hypostesis as for why.

BESW

Now both those "friends from long ago" have returned as NPCs who turn out to be involved in existing plots we'd already had going before the flashback.

doppelgreener

Alright then.

Althis

So, you guys just had a single volume so far?

BESW

We're on our second volume.

Althis

02:21

What was the first one about?

BESW

Gathering components for a near-Sun spaceship.

Althis

And you were flying to the sun why again?

BESW

Our second volume is about dealing with a sudden rise in magic and Weird Stuff like time portals, and increased cult activity.

In the third volume we'll fly to intercept a mysterious moon-sized object that's causing solar flares and may be associated with the rise in Weird Stuff.

Hopefully we'll be able to keep it from crashing into the Sun, because that'd probably be bad.

I came up with the "intercept the Nibiru Object" concept for our first session, based on the backstory of one of the PCs which made it reasonable for him to be involved in a near-sun space launch.

Althis

Really? I thought stuff crashed into the sun all the time.

BESW

The spaceship is treated as hardware, and the first volume was about meeting the requirements and overcoming the complications that the hardware needs in order to be put together.

Althis

02:29

So you actually let them use the spaceship around earth?

I guess it would make a rad ride.

BESW

@Althis Not moon-sized blackbody objects capable of course correction, which started causing solar flares while still further out than Venus.

trogdor

It isn't finished yet

Althis

@BESW Good point.

It is either evil, or not a moon then.

Possibly both.

BESW

"Evil Moon" would be a good name for a band.

Althis

Evil Moon Rising would be a great album for them.

BESW

02:35

I've put a lot of thought into what the Nibiru-1 Object is, and that will be how I describe it. But I won't actually say "this is what it is," I'll just say, "This is what you see," and if brainstorming or declarations move the concept in a different direction that'll be awesome.

Althis

So.

What you are telling me.

Is that it IS evil.

And moonlike.

BESW

If I say, for example, that it seems to be made of living flesh, I might be thinking of it as a kind of innocent space "whale" that feeds off the EM energies of stars.

doppelgreener

It is probably not evil.

Althis

@doppelgreener Do you think it is just misunderstood?

doppelgreener

The fox is not evil for eating the rabbit nor trampling the insects underfoot in the chase.

BESW

02:37

But my players may decide that "made of flesh" means it's a bioweapon created by the Black Raven Atrocity cult, crafted from the mutated remains of crash-landed Martians.

(Spoiler: I will not say that it is made of living flesh.)

Althis

@BESW How did you know what I was thinking?!

trogdor

@doppelgreener the fox isn't killing all grass in existence though

BESW

(Obviously it is a vampire moon composed of UnDead flesh.)

trogdor

or all rabbits

The Oracle

0

Q: Should the DMG be an assumed resource?

Many questions have simple answers... If you have the appropriate reference at hand. But should we expect the DMG is ubiquitous? I know that at my AL table there are plenty of people with only the PHB, and some with only freely-available materials. Many questions seem to be--at least, to a compl...

Althis

02:40

Thank you Oracle.

trogdor

very appropriate to the conversation, you are sooo good at this

that link just fits like a glove

BESW

She says what we're all thinking!

doppelgreener

@trogdor to such a being we may just be the ant nest that gets flooded out when it forages beside their pond or something.

trogdor

but we are not evil if we end up swarming it and killing it like an angry nest of ants either :P

If we were to do that

doppelgreener

@trogdor correct

Pixie

02:46

BESW

Beings aren't evil! Beings just do evil things!

doppelgreener

@Pixie Ha! I love how real that scene suddenly gets.

BESW

Here, have some magical forests.

Pixie

@doppelgreener "That's just nature, Gunther." was all I could think. xD But yes I like that scene a lot.

doppelgreener

03:03

@Pixie I hear his voice saying it.

BESW

04:15

eartha kitt, i want to be evil

►

Pixie

04:33

@BESW I. Love. This song.

One of my favorites.

BESW

@Pixie Ditto.

Pixie

The version on Purrfect is pretty good too. Can't beat this performance, though.

BESW

04:57

Saturniidae moth caterpillar is pure beauty. [photo: Marco Fischer] http://t.co/soaIKC7HHF

Tweeted by ziyatong on August 17, 2015 at 12:54 AM

Grubermensch

@BESW This is one of those things that will murder you straight out, right? The mantis shrimp has taught me to be ever suspicious of pretty animals.

Pixie

It wants you to think so, at the very least.

trogdor

it looks like a combination of the aliens in terraria

Miniman

@Grubermensch I dunno, it's made of ferns.

Grubermensch

@Miniman You can never trust ferns.

BESW

05:03

Oh, yes. Some of that family can kill humans.

I'm guessing that's one of them.

Miniman

@Grubermensch What? There's a fern in the same building as me! Should I run now, or will that just provoke it?

Pixie

@Miniman Go lightly. Never let it out of your sight. Try to appear bigger.

Grubermensch

@Miniman WHY ARE YOU TAKING THE TIME TO ASK!

BESW

@misterducky Hi!

misterducky

Hello

I think we've talked before.

doppelgreener

05:16

@BESW Once they evolve to adulthood, apparently Saturniidae moths don't eat or have a digestive system and just survive for about a week on food storage left over from their caterpillar stage. I am not 100% ok with this arrangement of affairs.

BESW

@doppelgreener This is a fairly common setup for a wide variety of insects: the larvae eat so the adults can spend all their time working on reproduction until they die of exhaustion/starvation.

It's efficient! For values of efficient.

Pixie

While they are around, at least some of them are very cute.

BESW

And sometimes they have chicken faces.

Pixie

@BESW Eeeeee.

doppelgreener

@BESW and a triforce. don't attack this chicken(-moth).

trogdor

05:22

I have never seen a moth IRL that was anywhere near that good looking

doppelgreener

@Pixie They are cutie patooties, that is a large part of what makes me unhappy with this state of affairs XD

Pixie

@doppelgreener It is tragic.

@doppelgreener If we're in LoZ, just don't attack chickens.

Just don't.

trogdor

but it is so fun

Pixie

Fun and dangerous!

trogdor

then they murder you

Pixie

05:23

Yes. It comes at a price.

A chicken with a triforce would be terrifying, in that light. They are bad enough normally.

BESW

"Triforce Chicken" would be a good name for a band too.

Miniman

@Pixie Actually, anything that has the whole Triforce shouldn't be terrifying at all - you can only have the whole thing if you're pure of heart (or something like that).

BESW

...or a WoW guild.

doppelgreener

topical:

Magician

@Miniman It shouldn't be terrifying if you're also pure of heart. Otherwise, well...

doppelgreener

05:26

Link to the Past with a Portal Gun

►

Pixie

@Miniman But would that stop them from summoning every chicken in the world and swarming you if you started it?

Miniman

@Pixie I don't think saying "But he started it!" works if you're pure of heart. (Or over 12, for that matter.) :P

@Magician Hmmm, good point.

Pixie

Chickens, though. One could argue that they're pure of heart in their simplicity. They cannot grasp malice.

Miniman

@Pixie Is that because they're pure of heart, though? Or is it just because they don't have hands?

Pixie

At least they can't wield the Sword of Time.

doppelgreener

05:30

@Pixie One could say the same of polar bears though.

Miniman

@doppelgreener From what I hear, polar bears can grasp reeeeally well.

Magician

Police, upholders of the law, are fine. Obey the law, you've got nothing to fear. But paladins... What if one looks into your heart and finds you lacking? How can you not dread their judgement? We all think ourselves decent people. But what if a paladin were to look at you and sigh in disappointment? Not today, then tomorrow.

doppelgreener

@Magician I would cast Summon Sunglasses. They would descend slowly onto my face from the heavens. And when they land, I would burst into the dance of Can't Touch This silently.

BESW

The paladin calls for a police officer to arrest you for public disturbance.

Miniman

@doppelgreener I think that only works if you have the flashing "THUG LIFE" subtitle.

doppelgreener

05:42

@Miniman This is possible with prestidigitation or other illusion magics.

@BESW A very quiet one.

misterducky

The officer would arrest you quietly

BESW

> You fail the Create Advantage roll on summoning sunglasses, and choose to succeed at cost: a few sunglasses drop from the sky and shatter--then a downpour of black shades sends pedestrians scrambling for cover.

> The officer ducks into his car and adds "littering" to your arrest sheet.

doppelgreener

Oh my goodness this sounds beautiful.

I want to do horribly disastrous silly magic and fail.

misterducky

Anyone have any feat ideas for Pathfinder for an inquisitor of Mammon who is basically a Holy Tax Collector?

BESW

Sorry, I'm not very Pathfinder proficient.

misterducky

05:48

shrug It's okay

I feel bad, I got a little... shouty... at Hey I Can Chan today

BESW

Aw.

misterducky

He downvoted my answer because I didn't have a rules citing for saying that you'd use an inhaled potion in combat by opening a stopper or throwing the vial.

And I called him overly pedantic, because there is no rules about transferring crafted poisons to their containers at all.

BESW

That's an interesting omission, but not a surprising one considering the d20 System.

misterducky

I think it's just implied that if you succeed at a craft check, you get the poison in the bottle.

Because, you know...

That's logical.

BESW

yeah.... there's a weird gap in d20 System rules/narrative/logic philosophies.

If there's a rule, it trumps logic. If there's not a rule, we're expected to apply logic.

This is difficult to navigate without resorting to extremism.

misterducky

05:53

Which is something I think some people on stackexchange forget.

Magician

Well, no. When you make inhaling poison, you hold your breath (using swimming rules) and hope there are enemies nearby.

misterducky

Actually, it's using suffocation rules, but heh

BESW

@Magician Offensive crafting? Tagging @doppelgreener for his alchemist concept.

misterducky

He was like "What's to prevent a DM from saying "You created the poison, now make the save!""

And I was like "Rules for crafting poisons say you don't expose yourself unless you roll a 1

BESW

Mm. In an exception-based system like d20, that is a good answer: "There's a rule for exposure to poison while crafting, and that's not it."

misterducky

05:56

Yeah, but I was still frustrated by his nitpicking. The question asked how to use inhaled poison in combat.

I provided an answer.

Then he nitpicked about out of combat scenarios.

BESW

heh.

I've started just responding, "That's a great subject for another question!"

misterducky

I actually burned my first flag, and flagged it a non-constructive.

Magician

@BESW Extreme Combat Alchemy. Use enemy's laser fire to catalyze your reactions. Entangle their conductive swords in a wire mesh.

misterducky

Also, technically, once an alchemist gets instant alchemy, as long as he has the materials, he can make an alchemical item in a standard action

So yeah, you could actually fast craft a poison right in front of an enemy

Magician

....be mind controlled and drop the bundle of alchemist fire vials under your feet. Been there, done that to Brian's character.

BESW

05:59

> Reactive Alchemy. When you defend with style against an energy attack, you can inflict 2 stress on a target in your zone instead of getting a boost.

Magician

@BESW Nice!

misterducky

Did you guys see the question about weather you threatened your own square the other day?

BESW

The Tale of the Gobber

Sep 17 '14 at 5:09, 26 minutes total – 50 messages, 6 users, 10 stars

Bookmarked Sep 17 '14 at 5:41 by doppelgreener

@misterducky I don't pay much attention to PF questions usually.

misterducky

Fair

doppelgreener

Alchemy offers so many fun avenues. ;_;

And now I'm considering making her a witch in light of these summoning hijinx.

Pixie

06:07

It does. It is such a fun thing.

doppelgreener

And I can only pick so many stunts for it!

I'm actually not sure how the whole Alchemy thing should be mechanised. Like if I have a door and I want to get through that door... can I just do arbitrary transmutations to that door to open a hole in it or something?

Magician

Just like magic, alchemy is arbitrarily powerful.

You may want to set some Laws of Alchemy.

Pixie

There are a lot of way you can interpret it, really.

doppelgreener

06:31

It's true, and I am totally spoiled for choice.

Miniman

@doppelgreener I think you want to transmute it from the Closed (Cl) element to the Open (Op) element.

doppelgreener

I definitely want a more "I'm doing magic! Pow pow!" flavour out of this character than "here, drink this potion I made."

Magician

@Miniman Sounds OP.

Miniman

@doppelgreener I can't remember whether you were involved in the FMA chat in NAB a while ago, but you could consider drawing some alchemical inspiration from Full Metal Alchemist.

Pixie

Alchemy OP?

doppelgreener

06:35

@Miniman I might have been! I do like FMA anyway.

Pixie

It's definitely a good place to look for action!alchemy.

Miniman

It's interesting, thinking about it - Alphonse is pretty much the only person we ever see do alchemy the way the series presents as standard.

Pixie

That's because he gets his Cool from being a possessed suit of armor.

Miniman

Everyone else uses pre-drawn circles or no circle at all to beat the action economy.

(Side note: Action economy is an awesome term that can be applied to many things outside games.)

doppelgreener

06:50

@Pixie I suddenly realise that if Alphonse were just some kid who had to doodle this stuff he'd be much much less cool.

Pixie

@doppelgreener Basically. But he's not! He's a giant empty talking suit of armor. Others do not have this luxury of automatic Cool Points.

Miniman

So...where everyone else gets to break the action economy, he gets to break the...coolness economy?

doppelgreener

and Edward's cool points cost an arm and a leg.

Miniman

@doppelgreener Heh heh heh.

doppelgreener

B :)

B:)

B)

Pixie

06:58

Whereas Al's pretty invested in his... body and soul. :P

The Tale of the Gobber

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