TRPG General Chat

Shalvenay

01:29

hey there @nitsua60 -- does tonight work btw? waxeagle's game is cancelled this week

nitsua60

02:18

@Shalvenay hey. Not really, sadly. I'm stuck monitoring study hall for a bit, then turning in early.

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 ah.

Yuuki

03:23

'Ello.

BESW

[wave]

Yuuki

Been awhile.

The Oracle

0

Q: Community Promotion Ads - 2016

It's 2016 now, and we've made some changes to the sidebar size. As such, we can now restart the Community Promotion Ads for 2016! Keep in mind, we have updated some of the guidelines compared to previously - the changes are marked in bold in the Image Requirements section. What are Community Pr...

BESW

03:49

@Yuuki Indeed. What's new?

(I'm in and out, trying to get some writing done.)

Yuuki

I'm trying to make Pathfinder versions of Monster Hunter monsters.

Which is surprisingly difficult because I'm working with low-levels and Monster Hunter monsters are kinda way too strong for them.

BESW

I'm not very familiar with Monster Hunter, but I've found that a lot of the problems with big solo monsters in d20-like games can be mitigated by splitting them up into a collection of mechanically individual body parts.

Yuuki

The one I'm working on right now is called Dinovaldo:

MHX:Ecologia Dinovaldo

►

It has a sword for a tail that it can light on fire.

BESW

Like, narratively it's a dragon, but mechanically it's a head with a breath weapon, wings with a flight speed and a buffeting attack, claws with a ground speed and a slash attack, and a tail with a sweep attack. Each is lower level than the monster would be as a single creature, but each gets its own turn and has its own hit points: when you defeat the head, the dragon can't breathe fire; when you defeat the wings, it can't fly; etc.

Yuuki

@BESW That sounds interesting.

BESW

03:54

(Of course they all move together, so the wings grant their fly speed to the whole collection, forced movement moves them all together, etc.)

Yuuki

It would side-step the whole problem with size modifiers making a Huge-size monster waaaay too strong for 1st levels.

BESW

It emphasises how massive the monster is, enabling "called shots" and "so big I can only attack this part of it" scenes, but also actually makes the monster more manageable and rewards interesting tactics.

I haven't done this in 3.5/Pathfinder, but I did it several times in D&D 4e to great success.

I got the concept from @Magician's blog.

Yuuki

That interests me, but I'd have to run by one of the GMs since they're the ones technically running the thing and I have to get my stuff approved by them before I can use it for everyone.

BESW

It also makes solo monsters harder to handle at higher levels, when a party has enough crowd control and debuffs that a single monster gets pinned down and disabled.

Instead you have to choose, are you going to slow the wings or the feet?

Problematic

@BESW Is there a link for this around somewhere?

BESW

04:09

It's Ponderings on Games, which you can find in his profile.

Problematic

Thanks.

BESW

The monster design tag is the place to look for the sort of thing I'm describing above.

Particularly Patient One and Patient Two, though for @Yuuki the Anathema and its Worldbreaker variant might be useful too.

@Pixie For you:

Cartoon: Hatoful Eight! Enjoy :) https://t.co/4UqMSbUVAf

Tweeted by lartist on January 15, 2016 at 3:47 AM

And for everyone, a basic game design principle:

'Folklore is always generous. It gives every lake a lady or a monster.' - C.L. Nolan #FolkloreThursday https://t.co/pwRGwzMhPB

Tweeted by HooklandGuide on January 14, 2016 at 12:12 PM

2

**Cool RPG stuff:** [Bundle of Holding](http://bundleofholding.com "buy RPGs cheap in bulk, support charities & indie designers!");
[Fate More: From Bits to Books](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/fate-more-from-bits-to-books "Help Evil Hat expand its Fate Core line");
[choose RPG.SE ads](http://meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/q/6024/4398 "Community Promotion Ads - 2016");
[D&D 5e OGL & SRD](http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/systems-reference-document-srd "Albuquerque. Snorkel.");

doppelgreener

04:26

I'm tempted to add a badly-resized 300x250 ad for a joke.

like this

3

trogdor

lol

BESW

05:18

Tonight at D&D I befriended a fungus and then defended its honor, so pretty much like any other night for me.

Tweeted by RosemaryMosco on January 15, 2016 at 4:18 AM

doppelgreener

Flag as spam

(It's a new kind of spam! Check it out!)

BESW

"IQuzil" sounds like the name of a demon.

doppelgreener

I'm pretty sure that's what they're selling.

> The disposition may remain sluggish with times of rage which might be injurious to your Mental Health. Overall maintain your self guarded with the evils related to your wellbeing.

Sounds like "become the host of a demon today! It'll be great!"

BESW

"Sluggish with times of rage" is the weather forecast for the Fifth Circle of Hell.

trogdor

05:34

lol

it got blammed before I even got to it

doppelgreener

05:51

@trogdor Zero to fireball in ten minutes!

trogdor

hee

I like that

very efficient

Pixie

07:16

@BESW Heh.

Derpy

08:03

Ohayo gozaimasu, (class)room.

@doppelgreener Seriously, you should consider making the dice touching the circle in your site logo... that way it would double up as a summoning circle for calling up @BESW whenever you need a quick answer.

trogdor

lol

BESW

08:21

The first rule of summoning is, always look up the banishment rite first.

Derpy

@BESW I was counting on the fact that you would be too busy begin summoned around by thousands of users to actually have any time left to plot something :P

BESW

@Derpy That's one of the advantages of being a collective.

trogdor

lol

indeed

Derpy

@BESW For some odd reason I can't seem to point out, for a split second this answer made me imagine you as a part of the Sibyl System...

doppelgreener

08:57

@BESW Yeah, I know better than to uncork that one. XD

BESW

The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society - Go Summon Up The Dead Ones

►

doppelgreener

@BESW [wonders if BESW is hinting at his true nature here]

trogdor

09:21

@doppelgreener has he never linked this one to you before?

he has played it a few times on Saturdays

doppelgreener

@trogdor he has, but i suspect he is also sending me HINTS here

trogdor

ah XD

doppelgreener

alternately he's not consciously doing anything but the cursed dead ones that comprise his burgeoning empire are manipulating him to subtly reveal his true nature OH NO

BESW

09:33

"Burgeoning Empire" would be a good name for a TV show.

The Oracle

11:03

0

Q: Our Community Ads place holder is still using the old dimensions

The sidebar got expanded to 300px the other day, so the latest community ads look like this: But our place holder on the CDN still looks like this: It should become 300 × 250 too.

bug

Polyducks

11:14

Hey gang. What's new in the world of rpgs?

Last night we played a pure RP game. It was nice to have a break from slaying things and puzzles. Seems we do it every other game. Maybe that fills our social interaction quota?

eimyr

Hi!

Polyducks

How are you, @eimyr? :)

/msg eimyr test

/w eimyr test

hrm. Worth testing private messages. Was wondering if it's possible to use whispers to make mini text games...

BESW

@Polyducks I once had a group that liked RP a lot, but needed exactly one combat scene every session or they'd start stabbing each other.

Took me some time to figure that out, and things were (literally) dicey for a while.

Polyducks

haha @BESW I know that feeling all too well

If you don't give them a common enemy they'll quickly turn on each other.

BESW

11:29

Oh, they had common enemies.

It didn't matter what they were fighting, they just needed to fight something every session and if I didn't give them an externality they'd turn on each other to meet the need.

Polyducks

how very odd.

Hey, question, is it possible to send PMs to users on chat?

doppelgreener

@Polyducks Our site doesn't and won't ever have private messages. (private-messages)

Polyducks

Why?

I like that it enforces a sort of openness and hivemind. Was that planned?

doppelgreener

No, that's not the idea, it's that Q&A becomes really hard and terrible when people start inviting other people (especially the querent) to talk things over in private.

11

A: Is there any way we can set up whispers to certiain screen names in chat?

No. Stack Exchange is probably never (ever, see meta.se) going to have a private messaging system. Private communication methods exist for official moderator business, but that's about it. Remember, we're first and foremost a Q&A network that's here to build a public wiki to help people through ...

> In light of our wiki goal, having PMs opens us up to one of the more counterproductive acts available, which is people using them for Q&A. (This happens too often on forums.)

> Q&A happens here in the public eye where (a) everyone sees the author's clarifications and updates, (b) everything gets peer reviewed (and terrible ideas like "reinstall your operating system" get called out as such), (c) you can see things everyone's suggested so far, and (d) when it's finally solved, it's solved in public where everyone can access the solution forever.

> None of that really happens in PMs, so they don't help our goals and probably undermine them. (I also left out all the potential scam/harassment/exploitation scenarios.)

Polyducks

Sorry, the first time I opened the tag it had nothing at the destination. The second time bought up the answers. Found your reply now.

Sweet relevant XCKD ;)

Derpy

11:37

375

Q: Any way to send a personal message to another user?

There has been quite a few times that I wished I could send a message to another user on SO - not ask a question for everyone to see, but just a short message informing them of something or requesting them to do something. Are there any plans to allow this to happen in the future? Related: Ho...

feature-request status-declined private-messaging

doppelgreener

Yeah whoops, I had created the tag right at that moment and edited it from private-messaging to private-messages in the middle there.

OH and now it turns out the meta.se version is private messaging. PSH.

Derpy

to be more specific, taken from above:

> The consistent response to this is that it's a bad idea, because:

- It could hide information from the community: useful information transmitted privately is unavailable to other readers, subverting the core purpose of the site.

- It could be used to harass other users ("Answer my question!", "Accept my answer!", "Yer momma so fat she overflows the stack!", etc...)

2

Polyducks

Yes yes... Just was trying to see if there was a way to pass private notes to a bot so you don't flood chat.

Derpy

mumble... let me check if it is still running..

eimyr

@Polyducks Hi, I'm well, how are you?

Any new exciting maps you drew?

Polyducks

11:40

Oh, not yours @Derpy. Just wanted to know for...reasons

@eimyr Actually, yes. I drew one specifically for you at the airport over Christmas.

@eimyr I think I showed you. It was the one that had a ton of robots around it

eimyr

@Derpy +1 for "Yer Momma overflows the stack"

Polyducks

so...I guess no new maps yet. But the map we've got has been fully explored now so I'll have to expand it some time this week.

eimyr

@Polyducks yeah, it was very nice

BTW, have you seen this thing?

deepnight.net/tools/tabletop-rpg-map-editor

Derpy

@Polyducks In the past, I was made aware of dystroy.org/miaou , which is an openid based chat with private room support. It also handles Stack Open ID. I know that some stack users use that one when they need private rooms, but I can't personally guarantee the security it provides.

Polyducks

No!

This looks hot.

Brilliant, @Derpy, thanks. I only want to see if I can host a little text-based game.

eimyr

11:47

So simple, so elegant.

Polyducks

hahaha

Choose wisely (not "wisely").

eimyr

I used it to model a Mage (Ascension) chantry, Technocracy compound, a spaceship, thieves hideout and a temple.

they all looked the same, but the players never noticed

Polyducks

@eimyr oh my god, this is beautiful.

The drop shadows really 'make' it.

eimyr

Their imaginations simply filled the details in.

take a look at examples

Derpy

@Polyducks technically, it shouldn't be able to steal any account information since the auth is delegated to Stack, and the chat only use stack to confirm your identity without every receiving passwords or other private data, but if you really want to avoid any risk, you should just be able to use a dedicated github/google account made only for this purpose.

I seem to remember the developers behind the chat are also pretty famous on SE, so I would guess that if they did something bad... they would already have been "consigned to a Rutland tree"

Polyducks

11:55

What does 'consigned to a Rutland tree' mean?

@Eimyr I'll definitely use it for planning out big games, but I tend to sketch maps on the fly because it's useful to have walls made out of clay I can sculpt as needed ;)

Pixie

@Derpy This is neat (certainly a better alternative to quickly deleting contact info messages or leaving them up forever to public scrutiny :P). However, I got an error when I tried to connect my SE account. Hrm.

eimyr

@Polyducks Which is great if you have the necessary skills. And deepnight ANAmap is actually making plans, not maps.

Derpy

@Pixie I think it may require the Stack account to be using an actual Stack based open id. You can connect to Stack using other providers - Facebook and the such, but I think that that chat requires you to use the official Stack Open ID provider.

@Polyducks Black Adder quote, old BBC show that featured the "would become" Mr Bean actor, Rowan Atkinson.

Pixie

@Derpy I have a Stack account, I'm not connecting through anything else. Maybe it just doesn't like me. Technology often doesn't!

BESW

@Derpy Or as I like to think of him, the Moffat Proto-Doctor.

Polyducks

12:05

@Derpy I know Black Adder! What kind of rubbish Briton do you take me for? I just don't understand the context.

Pixie

@Derpy Oh, I figured it out. Apparently you have to have an SO account linked to your SE account or it won't work.

Polyducks

@Pixie Maybe it's human-racist?

trogdor

@Pixie what? it's biased against people without certain stack accounts?

it's grown sentience and wants to kill us all?

it wants to grow up and raise a family and then kill us all?

XD

ok I am done now XD

Polyducks

mmmmokay(!)

haha

Pixie

@Polyducks Probably just infected with the gremlins that follow me around.

Polyducks

12:09

@Pixie damn, just realised you have a vulpix for your screen pic.

Sweet pic yo

trogdor

lol

Derpy

@Polyducks Episode one, Richard III "inspiring words" before the battle

eimyr

The feels.

Pixie

@Polyducks Yes. I am apparently a Vulpix.

eimyr

VulPixie?

Pixie

12:14

Yes. Vulpixie. That's not where it comes from, but it is a convenient portmanteau. :P

Derpy

@eimyr I officially hate you because I am still waiting for my package and you just managed to remember me that ;_;

eimyr

@Derpy what package?

Derpy

@eimyr One I had to order thru Amazon and is currently still on the way thanks to the holidays delays. A very shy package if I may add.

eimyr

Oh.

Maybe it would help if it fluttered faster.

Derpy

Exactly.

trogdor

12:18

XD

oh man, I just,,.. like, can't guess what it is

guess I will like,... live the rest of my life not knowing XD

Derpy

@trogdor I assume you are thinking somepony specific. But what exactly is the question :P

trogdor

there is no question

XD

I am just resigned to the misery of never being able to guess this impossible riddle

Polyducks

@eimyr Holy shit I love that terrasque story. It's got to be one of the best greentexts.

@eimyr that and the gazebo

I'm sure it'll arrive by first horse, @Derpy.

Surrounded by people at work and they're all talking their own language about back-end programming. I've no input to make and they genuinely ignore me.

Derpy

@Polyducks If I start to speak and look like Gollum, you will at least know why.

Polyducks

This is why you guys are a godsend.

Pixie

12:24

@eimyr ... [clutches ~15 year old plush unicorn]

Polyducks

I still have my childhood toy. He sits on a bedside table and watches my girlfriend get undressed. 10/10 best future for a toy.

trogdor

I still have 2 of mine

the 2 best ones even

granted they sit on a shelf now but still

Derpy

Does the fact that I still buy figures, games and such count?

trogdor

eh, sorta

Pixie

I still have many stuffed animals from childhood. I've managed to get myself to part with a lot of them, but it's a slow process, and there are a few who are far too important.

trogdor

12:30

it just depends on what definition you use

Polyducks

back soon gang. Going out to get sushi! Well excited :)

My girlfriend has two stuffed toys I made for her

trogdor

I just kept these 2 because they were always my favorites, and I have had them forever

Polyducks

I even gave one of them a wooden skeleton

so it feels like a little living creature

Pixie

Ooh, very nice.

trogdor

that is pretty cool

Derpy

12:32

@trogdor at least if your brain doesn't associate it to Plush Springtrap....

Pixie

My boyfriend made me a little amigurumi bat.

trogdor

@Derpy yeah no thanks XD

@Pixie I think I saw someone working on a,... I want to say small Pokemon one?

it was a while ago though

Pixie

Quite possibly! There are a lot of different patterns.

trogdor

it could have just looked like that

Derpy

(wrong room sorry :P)

trogdor

12:40

lol

Derpy

If anyone want, I can leave it in the other room, but I don't think you may be really interested. Unless there are some devs among you.

doppelgreener

13:14

@eimyr so many feels ;__;

eimyr

@Polyducks funnyjunk.com/channel/dungeons-n-drags/Tg+d+d+tales+1/faLgLsn

I think Gri'gori's story is the best one ever (there are more pages like that in the comments)

Derpy

13:28

time to perform the "so cute" attack once again

^ @Pixie @trogdor

doppelgreener

Oh man. A Paranoia story! ^

Polyducks

@Pixie omg I just looked up Amigurumi! It looks like such a good medium

@Derpy I'm a dev. What did it say?

Pixie

@Polyducks It's so cuuuute.

Derpy

@Polyducks There is an ongoing discussion on the network Meta about a change in the license code is posted under on Stack. Many user are raging because they can't downvote since they don't have the required rep on the main site.

Result: one of them posted a question stating this

more info about the discussion here

Actually, I now wonder if the license covers just code or any "creative content". If it is the second... then it may impact people on sites like Writers or World Building too

trogdor

@Derpy AAAAGHGGHGGGH

XD

Derpy

13:43

@trogdor I have always though about having someone try to replicate that doll for me, seem I wasn't the only one.

Polyducks

@doppelgreener are all the players robots in that game? It was hard to tell.

@Derpy

>attribution
>stack overflow

Pick one

You can't copyright code or rules and that demanding attribution is just...misguided at best.

Although it's good practice to source your stuff for future devs anyway.

off-topic rant over

eimyr

@Polyducks how's the griefing going?

I had my first game in roll20 recently.

Hated the game, loved roll20.

Polyducks

@eimyr well, we had two players simply not turn up last game. I'm going to talk to them and see if they'll give up their place. I think I might have a space for you. I should check times with you though - 7pm GMT until 11pm GMT okay for you?

eimyr

what day?

also 7pm is about when I come home from work

Polyducks

Thursdays (so yesterday)

eimyr

13:53

Depends...

Voice or text?

Polyducks

We play by text and joke around by voice. Even if you don't speak you should listen in. It can be pretty funny :)

It's so we can feign some sort of social interaction while allowing people in a populated house to keep voice chat to a minimum. Also text gives more time to think

Also, by playing via text we can keep a log I can refer to because I have long-term-memory problems.

eimyr

Cool.

That could work surprisingly well.

I am currently exiled from my regular desktop PC to the laptop, as my gf plays Skyrim

so in the evenings text based games could work well

Polyducks

That's brilliant! Oh, and if you have headphones, +1 to you because I make some amazing soundscapes for gameplay

doppelgreener

@Polyducks If this is a serious question, I can explain! (They're not robots.)

Polyducks

send me an email at ben [at] polyducks dot co dot uk?

@doppelgreener it is! Please explain.

eimyr

14:03

@Polyducks done. Good luck with the pronunciation.

Polyducks

@polyducks haha gold. I've got access to that email at home. I'll take a look when I get home and I can keep you informed on the availability :)

duh... @eimyr woops

doppelgreener

@Polyducks Paranoia is a game focusing on the population of people living in an enormous, totally sealed off, underground bunker complex that is completely consumed by Cold War paranoia and ruled by Friend Computer. Friend Computer is a psychotic computer with the mind of a child. Friend Computer may not be questioned, questioning Friend Computer is treason, treason means Friend Computer will kill you.

Polyducks

Is it pronounced 'Stavek'?

eimyr

It's a ł, not a t

Polyducks

@eimyr I don't know how to pronounce that letter

eimyr

14:04

SwAH-vehck

Polyducks

@doppelgreener that sounds AMAZING. have you played paranoia before?

haha @eimyr ;)

doppelgreener

@Polyducks I have not. I have been told stories by friends who have. It's on my TODO.

The game generally revolves around you playing Troubleshooters of extremely low rank (infrared, as per the colour spectrum) who are tasked by Friend Computer with maintaining the bunker complex. It should all be so simple but it isn't.

eimyr

@Polyducks So what's the game?

doppelgreener

Friend Computer will assign your team a simple task, like: go here, change the light bulbs. But then it will turn to one of you, and say, make sure the light bulbs are incandescent. And then it will turn to another one of you, and say, make sure the light bulbs are flourescent. Friend Computer does not see the issue with this. One of you points out this is a problem. Questioning Friend Computer is treason. They are incinerated on the spot.

Luckily, all the players have what's known as a "six-pack": they have backup clones. A new clone of your friend replaces him. He has one less now. His clone is absolved of his previous incarnation's crimes.

eimyr

WOW

doppelgreener

14:09

You all now head out to replace the light bulbs. You cannot all complete the mission, it is impossible. Your only chance is to make sure you succeed, and that the other person doesn't, and they will have failed their mission, which is unacceptable, and Friend Computer will kill them and replace them with a clone. However, they are planning the same thing for you.

eimyr

I need to play this.

doppelgreener

Your best chance is to frame them for treason against Friend Computer, get them eliminated, make sure the light bulbs are incandescent, and go report with the rest of your squad the job is done.

Polyducks

@doppelgreener thanks. Added to playlist to play, like, yesterday.

doppelgreener

The other person who was charged with making sure they are all fluorescent lights is there. He has failed, because you killed him temporarily. They must now explain why they have failed. They will pin it on everyone else. They will be required to explain why they have not caused failure, and will blame everyone, including you. Probably everyone will be considered to have failed unacceptably and be incinerated.

Polyducks

@eimyr we play OSRIC, which is a combination of 1st and 2nd edition. You can download the PDF for free, but you don't need to know any of the rules really. You can pick them up as you go along and we're all pretty well versed on any questions you might have.

eimyr

14:12

ouch

Polyducks

@doppelgreener how long does it take for them to respawn? That is so... deviously glorious.

eimyr

I didn't know that.

I think I might be allergic to oldschool gaming.

Polyducks

@eimyr We're very rules light :) It's mostly RP and good story.

doppelgreener

@Polyducks I don't know. I look forward to finding out.

eimyr

@Polyducks who is there in the party?

Polyducks

14:13

@doppelgreener I'm going to read up on the rules tonight. If I host a game you're invited.

doppelgreener

Alternate scenarios might involve, say, you are tasked with painting the walls over here. Make sure they are orange. Also, make sure they are blue. Please obtain the paint from Infrared clearance storage room 22-C. Infrared storage room 22-C is inexplicably located on a causeway that requires Violet level clearance. You are not permitted to head through this causeway, your clearance level is not high enough. I wonder how you'll get that paint.

Also, everyone in the shelter belongs to a conspiracy group. Probably. One of those is the Communist conspiracy group. Nobody remembers what Communists are, though, except that they wear round fuzzy hats and speak in a Russian accent. So this is what those Communists do.

Polyducks

@eimyr Willem, a bard with a huge ego. Nerida, a half-elf thief who is sweet but quick to anger. Illya, an assasin teenager who balances precariously between chaotic good and chaotic evil. Fernu, a young dwarf. Tellan, a scholarly mage.

@doppelgreener Damn. You really should host this. You have such a good head for it.

doppelgreener

It is treason to be part of a conspiracy group. However, you cannot actually accuse these people of being in a conspiracy group, even if they are speaking to you in a Russian accent and wearing a round fuzzy hat. Accusing them of this is criminal (I think).

@Polyducks Most of these things have been explained to me, I'm repeating them. :)

You can do fun things like: if someone asks you why you're here in the Violet causeway, and do you really have clearance to be there, you can ask them, well, do you have clearance to ask me that? And they might shut up because they're not sure.

And leave you alone, hoping it won't come back to bite them.

Polyducks

haha woah

doppelgreener

Also, mutants are outlawed. Anyone found to be a mutant will be killed. But, because the water's radioactive, everyone's a little bit mutated.

Oh, also: if a player demonstrates knowledge of the GM section of the rulebook, they have committed high treason and will be executed by Friend Computer.

eimyr

14:19

@Polyducks and who would you need?

doppelgreener

(If I remember correctly, all chatter at the table is considered in character.)

eimyr

@Polyducks Fernu would be a meat slab kind of character?

Polyducks

@eimyr you'd think so, but she plays a ranger. She's got tanky abilities but she just doesn't pull her weight in battle. I stupidly let her be 14 years old, which is like, a sperm in dwarf years. She gets all kinds of penalties as a result.

eimyr

@Polyducks Do you have a recommendation what character might fit nicely with the group?

Polyducks

@eimyr this is probably the character you're replacing.

eimyr

14:20

Hmmmm

I know who I want to play I think, but I don't know how to build it yet.

Let's head to...

Genesis

Creation! PCs, NPCs, worlds, etc. (This means more than just r...

Polyducks

I'd love to, but I'm actually building web pages right now

sort of pretending I'm at work

doppelgreener

@Polyducks Also: I plan to host this. I do think I have a good head for it, and I'd love to run it for people.

eimyr

haha

alright

Polyducks

@eimyr I'll send you a message tonight on the result of probing around on player attendance.

Oh, there's also a druid called.... I forget what he's called. Another player that is fading into obscurity.

@doppelgreener I'd kill to be a player for once. If you have space, let me know?

doppelgreener

@Polyducks If I run it in chat someday I'll let you know

in or for chat

Polyducks

14:23

Thanks, I really appreciate it.

eimyr

@Polyducks cool. In broad strokes, would you agree to a Crusader-type obnoxious LN/LE seventh son of a minor noble, a half-orc at that, who travels with an entourage of servants he oppresses, is a self-important self-righteous nobody and his name is Kard Hox?

Polyducks

@eimyr to answer your question, we need more heavy-hitters. I don't think a lawful evil character would fit with the party, and having a large entourage would require hirelings. You'd be starting at 4th/5th level depending on party average and it's unlikely you'd have the charisma roll (or the gold) for that many hirelings.

eimyr

You know, forgettable no one to the Lords, but His Lordship to peasantry.

@Polyducks what level was Leadership feat again?

Polyducks

@eimyr Well, you don't have feats as such, you get abilities as fighters. Let me take a quick glance.

doppelgreener

@Polyducks If you're not picky about what you're a player in, I have been known to host spontaneous Roll for Shoes games in chat.

Polyducks

14:26

@doppelgreener yes. Yes. YES.

eimyr

@Polyducks I don't mean entourage that is useful. Pot-scourers, stableboy, a wench for warming bed.

Polyducks

@eimyr Lord is at level 9

eimyr

Maybe 5-6 stuff.

Polyducks

@eimyr That could be quite funny to have an entourage like that

doppelgreener

@Polyducks You sound interested!

Polyducks

14:28

@eimyr I actually quite like it. You'll have to flesh out his flaws a little so the character isn't just a special snowflake. I prefer player characters to become special through their actions as opposed to starting the game special.

@eimyr a rich-kid young snob would be a great addition to the game.

@doppelgreener added that link to my favourites bar. I love pool dice rules.

eimyr

Flaws: Entitled jerk, knows his noblesse is crap but will push it on everyone, treats underlings like slaves but pompously considers himself a benefactor to the masses, just because he lives like a knight errant.

Polyducks

@eimyr haha glorious

eimyr

Will absolutely certainly be bribed and rob travellers as long as he believes he can get away with it.

But as soon as he is at a court he "saved the local fort from the influx of vagrants" (by sinking the ferry and taking their valuables)

Polyducks

@eimyr check out the PDF sometime :p http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/osric/downloads/OSRIC.pdf

Just read up on things like fighters so you can get a handle on it. Keep in mind we simplify the book quite a bit otherwise combat can take days, so rules lawyering and min-maxing is sort of out the window.

eimyr

Also he is a half-orc and anyone who mentions that goes on his petty revenge list.

Polyducks

14:31

Weird thing to get angry about

Maybe play a less antagonistic player to start with so you can bond with the group a little bit. It's more about teamwork than showmanship

We're a very close-knit friendship group

eimyr

Oh, he is perfectly civil an helpful to the PCs (because he believes it will benefit him)

doppelgreener

@Polyducks Roll for Shoes is pretty fun. I find it's great for one-shots that get out of hand & aren't taken too seriously.

eimyr

It's that asshole friend you go to the pub with that is a normal dude until he gets drunk

I mean it like that.

Polyducks

@eimyr We can play a little test session before we start to get you introduced to the world. I have a feeling such a high-ego character might clash with leaders of the party as they might see you as a threat

eimyr

@Polyducks Well, his Lord Father and Lord Mother are both human. He is considered legitimate at birth. At the age of 7 he gets his fangs. Guess what happens.

Fair enough.

Polyducks

14:35

@doppelgreener I actually made a system similar based on the 'pond' system for a space game. I guess it's a common mechanic.

@eimyr we once played IRL with a guy who was a halfling thief and he stole from the party all the time. Everyone else became good friends, but the other guy - despite being pretty cool - was kind of avoided because we only really spoke with him in-character.

eimyr

That's a bad idea to steal from the party...

Polyducks

Yeah.

Everything I'm doing in the game is to try and push the players together. Maybe you should meet the party with a neutral character and then you can decide your character based on the others. You could play off their flaws and fill in gaps.

(Everyone appreciates a healer with six cure-light-wounds spells ;) )

@doppelgreener I've played games where everything has descended into chaos before. And constant splitting of the party. Unbelievable.

eimyr

OK, a sample behaviour: Kard Hox meets party at a tavern. Buys drinks and tells tales of honour and glory. He offers to join. When the party wakes up, his underlings have prepared the horses and cleaned the party's gear. He wakes up, shouts at the servants for being loud/slow/stupid and apologises for their incompetence to the party.

Polyducks

ooooh yes!

Now that is the kind of luxury they'd really appreciate.

eimyr

He says the stableboy was an orphan he picked up on the road and is schooling him to be a warrior. He is not. Also, the boy is an orphan, because he raided his village for being slow with the taxes.

Polyducks

14:44

and he'd need to join the party for finances to afford to at least feed them because he's been cut off by his family (need a reason why he starts with regular starting-gold so as not to give an unfair advantage)

eimyr

Oh yes. His family wants nothing to do with him and he is 27th in line to the title. He can display his father's banner, but that's about it.

And OFC he joins the party to seek honour and prove his chivalry. Becoming rich is just a collateral.

Polyducks

@eimyr Lucky, because the group is currently in 10,000gp of debt as of last night. They spent the gold trying to get a resurrection for their friend.

doppelgreener

@Polyducks Last year when my regular group was just myself and 2 other people, I ran a game for them. It started with them playing two sales clerks in a large department store, competing in a sales competition with each other. Someone sold a customer a jeep with a gun mount. From there, one sales guy started pulling ahead selling people items and warranties, the other guy was falling behind and resorted to unconventional tactics.

anaximander

@Polyducks ah, the old favourite plot hook: "we're low on cash"

doppelgreener

Eventually he started rousing angry mobs (all of whom were outfitted with guns and armor and other riot equipment by the guy who'd been winning the sales competition, complete with warranties) and going on the news and stuff.

Polyducks

14:48

@doppelgreener haha holy shit.

eimyr

@Polyducks (that was sarcasm)

Polyducks

@anaximander It's reliable ;)

doppelgreener

After ~3 hours the game ended with a large and well-armed angry mob, lead by one of the players, storming the department store and declaring it an independent nation and ceding from the USA, at which point the sales competition was mostly moot.

Polyducks

@eimyr I was being facetious ;p

anaximander

@Polyducks great way to get your party mixed up in something, in the style of Firefly's "Train Job" episode

ie. the party take a job that pays well, without looking too closely...

...only it turns out they've been suckered into doing something evil

and then when the party learns all the details of the situation, well, then they have a choice

Polyducks

14:53

@anaximander The current hook is that there's a rival guild who are the epitome of underhanded jerks. If I get my players to hate someone enough, they'll stop at nothing to make sure they get revenge.

Sometimes I'll make parodies of the player characters and because they can see themselves in these characters it makes them hate them even more. It can be quite funny.

anaximander

the enemy the party love to hate

always a fun one

that's my current conundrum: how to get a party from monster-of-the-week or running-errands-for-townsfolk to longer story arcs

if all goes to plan, I'll be starting a campaign as DM sometime soonish

Polyducks

@anaximander Just go for one of the fairytale classics. Make them love something and then take it away. An NPC. Their castle.

doppelgreener

@anaximander have subplots

anaximander

@doppelgreener I've got the first few sorted out, and a few of them have ways to lead on from them

doppelgreener

do it like 10 minute cartoons like Adventure Time and Steven Universe do it: most (but not all) small adventures come back to a developing story

anaximander

14:57

yeah

doppelgreener

\o/ excellent

anaximander

well, the first "errand" is that it's early spring, and the Rangers' Guild normally send a few rangers to clear the roads of beasts and bandits around this time of year, but they're late

Polyducks

oooh

Owlbears!

anaximander

so there's beasts and bandits to clear out, for which the party will get the money that would normally be used to pay the Guild's fees

(I love owlbears)

Polyducks

very nice.

Genesis

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