TRPG General Chat

nitsua60

00:01

@Shalvenay it depends on the timing of a houseguest--I haven't heard back from her yet when she's arriving/departing. (Messaged a few hours ago.)

BESW

I think a lot of x-rec is just x-technique in disguise.

nitsua60

@BESW According to Jeff, probably just-about all of them =)

BESW

(Apparently you can't put * into tags, even imaginary tags, and even using \.)

@nitsua60 I think RPG.SE does have some subjects that are irretrievably shoppy, but probably a lot fewer than we think.

I should start with my own!

nitsua60

@BESW Your question about 5e "showcase" adventures is how I got to ENWorld's competition, which led me to "Mind Blast," which I punched up into an "audition" adventure, which went really well and which group has turned into my firmest current RP group. So: years later, I thank you for posing that off-topic question =)

BESW

@nitsua60 Yey!

...I have to go be professional with Don't Start Unbelieving stuck in my head.

trogdor

00:10

@doppelgreener I started watching this just yesterday XD

nitsua60

00:30

@Shalvenay be back a bit after kids' bedtime

doppelgreener

00:41

@trogdor it's so enjoyable

trogdor

I have only seen the first 2 episodes, but it is so good so far

I was afraid they wouldn't be able to make it interesting considering the fact that the main character is who he is

but so far they are handling it well

doppelgreener

@trogdor it has surprised other friends of mine who thought a story with this premise could not be dramatic

trogdor

well, just to be fair, I am coming from the perspective of the closest thing I have seen to this is like, DBZ,... and while that was fun in it's own way there was a lot of BS involved in it too

doppelgreener

oh yeah this is more like superman

one punch man is like superman if it just stuck to its guns with him just being the most powerful person on the planet

"let's create a villain who can beat superman!" no "let's give him a critical weakness that threatens to destroy him!" let's not

trogdor

00:57

I am glad they have the courage so far to not shy away from the fact that he just beats everything he hits, inject humor into it, and so far have at least one other interesting character (though they also poke fun of that in itself XD)

doppelgreener

hahaha

trogdor

@doppelgreener yeah that too, I am pretty sick of the hero who suddenly has to develop a weakness, or fight some villain who has three power level forms to keep things dramatic,.... or charge his attack for three episodes and miss

XD

so One Punch Man is actually hitting the spot right now, as concerned as I was before starting it that it might not be the best thing to have a show where the main character defeats opponents really easily.

wax eagle

@JoshuaAslanSmith @Grubermensch @Shalvenay @KMallory gonna be a bit late as copy is just now booting

Grubermensch

mmk

Shalvenay

@waxeagle should we expect further connectivity difficulties from our DM tonight?

KMallory

01:01

@waxeagle k

wax eagle

@Shalvenay hopefully not, our new to s been reasonably reliable of late, just dont use my desktop much and didnt realize it was off

Shalvenay

@waxeagle ah. changed ISPs or?

wax eagle

Nah, may just be we've had better weather

Don't actually have any meaningful choice in isp

Gah must have been installing updates :(

KMallory

mmm... climate derived reliability, so much fun

Joshua Aslan Smith

brb mixing a beverage

wax eagle

01:08

K may have to go fine 2nd beer already if this boot cycle makes much longer :(

Grubermensch

I should have food inbound in ~10 minutes that I'll need to briefly step away to grab fyi

Shalvenay

@waxeagle remember, friends don't let friends DM drunk

KMallory

@Shalvenay that sounds like terrible policy, I don't want to imagine DMing me without booze

trogdor

seems like a great policy to me

our group doesn't typically allow alcohol at all

GM or otherwise

Grubermensch

I support. Although in an entirely remote game I care much less.

trogdor

01:13

during sessions I mean, obviously during any other time I don't care if someone wants to enjoy some

wax eagle

I'm not one prone to excess anyways :) 2 is about my sweet spot, I get a bit too chatty to game with any more than that :)

trogdor

I just don't drink alcoholic stuff

RobertF

Sorry - late

Shalvenay

@RobertF no worries

Grubermensch

Not in practice @RobertF we haven't started at all

trogdor

01:19

it's cool if other people want to, during their own time obviously, but I agree with a policy of not going in for that during an RPG session I am involved in

it can be disruptive if not handled absolutely perfectly

RobertF

That's cool - are we all drinking alcohol instead? :)

wax eagle

@RobertF I'm having computer issues (old and slow not connectivity)

Grubermensch

Well I'm eating delicious delicious Indian food.... if it ever gets here :(((((((((((((((

wax eagle

if I used my desktop for more than this I'd probably invest in some upgrades, but this is basically the only thing it gets used for until my office gets cleaned up pretty heavily

RobertF

Bay Area traffic is pretty bad isn't it

KMallory

01:23

@RobertF It can be, there are a lot of highways, only tolls are on bridges, but also some mega-employers and a lot of choke points

The sheer number of google employee's makes things exciting

wax eagle

hangouts.google.com/hangouts/_/zrtevdpafza37mmp4mbpw64ykqe

yeah, finally have a linky

RobertF

Ok getting my microphone hooked back up...

wax eagle

yeah, it's not letting me join for some weird reason.

Shalvenay

@waxeagle the Hangout or r20?

KMallory

Someone taunted murphy, didn't they

wax eagle

01:31

hangout, finally let me in

doppelgreener

04:50

@Grubermensch this is where I would put my indian food... IF I HAD SOME.jpg

trogdor

XD

this is where I would put my BURNINATION trophy, IF I HAD ONE

user215373

hi

trogdor

hello

user215373

do some one here have followed the neuroscience

user215373

@trogdor do you

trogdor

04:55

neuroscience? not particularly

user215373

yes

user215373

@trogdor it is really intresting..

user215373

@doppelgreener are you online

doppelgreener

@kalash i'm here, hi

any particular reason you're asking?

user215373

do you play coc

doppelgreener

05:05

might need to de-abbreviate that

user215373

i want you to follow it

doppelgreener

uh, are you sure you're in the right room?

user215373

yeah

user215373

its a general chat

doppelgreener

it's the RPG general chat, specifically, and i'm pretty confused. you're asking people if they follow neuroscience because it's interesting and saying you want us to follow it?

i mean, i hear news about developments in the field, but that's a weird request.

user215373

05:09

its not wired at all

doppelgreener

it is a bit. (maybe something's being lost in translation.)

user215373

if you don't want to follow it its your problem

doppelgreener

Alright then.

@BESW @trogdor Hey, do you have access to those betrayal at house on hill fan rules you use?

trogdor

@doppelgreener I don't, but BESW pulls it up every time we play so I see no issue there

user215373

do someone know how to send colored text in chat

doppelgreener

05:15

@Dr.ZOMBOOS you cannot.

user215373

@doppelgreener ok

doppelgreener

@trogdor Hmm. @BESW Would you be able to send those custom rules to Dan's skype or my own?

user215373

hmmm

eimyr

09:12

O.o

@Fibericon Hello!

Fibericon

d=(^_^)z

eimyr

realisation drops OH IT's A THUMBS UP!

Fibericon

Yep. And it's sticking out the side of my head.

eimyr

+1 for the left hand sass

Fibericon

So, I think I've decided to bail on my Exalted group. After I took a step back from the whole "GM metagamed to kill my character" bit, I realized that entire story arc was just awful, and it got worse with each passing session. We were basically doing chump work for some NPC's epic redemption arc, then standing around and watching her kill the death lord (who suddenly forgot how to fight when confronted with the NPC).

eimyr

09:19

Hehm.

It's an awful thing to judge a campaign by two sentences of a disgruntled player, but it does sound like the a Mary-Sue would-prefer-to-play-instead GM magical realm

BESW

WoD seems strangely prone to that kind of thing.

Fibericon

Yeah, we did switch GMs every few months. I was the only other player doing it since everyone else was newer to Exalted. He may have not wanted to GM at all - hard to say.

eimyr

Well, a large part of the 2nd and Revised edition rulebooks were treatises about how to manipulate players into doing what you want in a huge adventure about this awesome world you are running

Fibericon

Exalted has so many solutions to any situation that if you don't manipulate the players in some way, you have to be very good at making something up on the fly. There was one session where an enemy burned an important note in front of us, and another PC just took a small amount of the ashes and used a charm to read the whole message as if it was fully intact. GM didn't anticipate that one. We were supposed to go on an epic adventure to figure out what the note was about.

eimyr

~~1st World~~ God Tier Problems

Same with high level Wizards in D&D

Or smart players in Mage

In my current campaign (starting tonight!) I'll have the main plot location prevent magic in a mysterious and scary way, just to have a way to limit super-quick progress

Fibericon

09:28

Pretty much. Or ride charms that can potentially get your horse to 150mph for a day at a time. In a setting with no cars.

What system are you running?

eimyr

Mage: the Ascension, 20th Anniversary edition

this is kinda my thing

Fibericon

Ah. I guess my thing is Exalted, though Shadowrun is a close second. I cobbled together a star wars homebrew with SR3. It's such a mess.

eimyr

I'd say interesting Fate incarnation is my second choice

Fibericon

I've been attempting to put together a custom system lately. It's... pretty deadly so far. Armor is almost a must.

eimyr

@Fibericon Do you know why combat in RPGs is more like cinematic, stage combat or sporting bouts than real combat?

Fibericon

09:33

Because getting shot in the face and dying immediately isn't much fun?

Aether

@eimyr Mages who aren't allowed to use their magic?

eimyr

PRecisely.

I attended a few classes of HEMA too. A swordfight ends in 5-15 seconds with one side dying, wounded helpless or yielding.

@Aether only in a certain location which they are going to have to revisit a couple times.

Fibericon

Yeah, by my math, it turns into less of a meat grinder at higher levels. I just need to find a way to mitigate it at lower levels.

eimyr

10:07

@BESW Ever heard of Terralith Dice ?

BESW

Sounds like an Umdaar location.

...and looks hard to read.

eimyr

It is hard to read

Also, quite expensive.

I saw your Metal Dice link and thought of these

BESW

I'm not a big fan of metal dice myself.

I can see the appeal, but since I'm used to moving my venue unexpectedly I like props that are light to carry and won't gouge up the surface.

My Fate tokens are about the only vanity prop I have.

Aether

@eimyr They actually look pretty cool to me, but super-impractical...

eimyr

I agree.

Aether

10:18

And i though regular d4 caltrops were bad!

eimyr

@BESW I like your Fate tokens. One of my friends bought a large bag of Firefly coins - unfortunately, they are as tough as sequins and about as thick

Aether

(Though they do seem to have moved to something that looks more like an octahedron for the d4 - it's certainly less spiky than it could have been)

eimyr

Every game he loses some to forces of entropy.

BESW

Heh, yeah.

And for travel in uncertain conditions, I still have a bag of plastic poker chips.

eimyr

@Aether d8/2

Aether

10:21

@eimyr Exactly. I've seen them used before; easier to read, less painful to step on.

BESW

@eimyr My minis were like that, back when I used minis. But that's because they were just copier paper printed and folded.

Aether

(Also easier to pick up the wrong die, though)

BESW

...hm. I don't think I've ever stepped on a d4, or maybe ever any die.

When we drop 'em, we usually pick 'em up immediately.

'cause, yanno, we were using them at the time and still need to roll.

Aether

It's the time when you drop it under your chair, and you scoot back to look for it, and in the process of scooting your foot comes down...

Having said that, I don't think I've actually done it either. It's just a thing I hear a lot. Might just be a lot of people passing anecdotes that never happened to them...

BESW

@Aether That's why you need a spotter.

@Aether Hah! A long time ago in a comic shop back room far away...

This one guy stepped on a d4, and it was legendary.

Aether

10:28

@BESW Dice Wars Episode d4: A New Hope

Fibericon

Scrolls up

We have a player in our D&D group with the metal dwarven dice. He's not allowed to roll them on the table.

BESW

@Aether I think you mean A Noob Hops.

Aether

@BESW Yes!

Fibericon

I'd be tempted to get the brass d10s if I didn't need so many of them. They're too expensive for me to pick up 40 dice, but they do look thematically appropriate for solars.

BESW

I'm glad Evil Hat made awesome Fate dice just as I was getting into the system.

And that they're plastic.

Fibericon

10:32

I just googled them, and screamed internally at the valentine dice.

BESW

Is that scream "EEEE," "AAAA," or "RRRR"?

Aether

@BESW Yeah, those dice are awesome. I have the blue/green/purple pearlescent ones, which are among my favourite dice

Fibericon

Definitely an "AAAA"

BESW

Yeah, I got the Core and Spirit of the Century dice.

Troggy got Atomic Robo and Eldritch.

Fibericon

And I'm looking at dice that cost more than anyone should spend on dice. D20 systems are alright, because you generally only need one or two sets. Dice pool systems though...

BESW

10:40

...I kinda want to buy a brick of d6s.

But I'm unlikely to ever seriously use a system that would require bricks of dice.

Aether

I tend to have a few sets of d20 dice, plus extra d6s, d10s (for things like ORE), and Fate dice...

As a 5e Paladin in my latest game, I'm thinking I may also need extra d8s

Critical longsword smites vs. Undead can be a problem...

Fibericon

Here you go, you just need tens of thousands of dollars to spend on dice: fashiontribes.typepad.com/main/2005/11/a_pair_of_bacca.html

BESW

I think this count is out of date by about two dozen d6s:

May 21 '15 at 9:06, by BESW

9d4, 69d6, 24dF, 22d8, 44d10, 11d12, 17d20

...no, it's accurate. That was shortly after I bought the small brick.

@Peeps Hi!

Peeps

Hullo!

BESW

Welcome to chat. Anything in particular on your mind?

Peeps

10:52

Nothing in particular. I just noticed for the first time that there's an actual chat, thought I'd come check it out.

BESW

Fair enough. We're surprisingly on topic right now, but so long as things stay nice the discussion ranges pretty far afield.

We always prioritise RPG stuff, though, if someone wants to bring it back.

You're welcome to hang out and lurk or chat as you like.

Peeps

Currently working, but I may stick around for a while and chime in if the mood strikes.

BESW

Shiny.

Hey, anybody got a good line on game manual design resources? Blogs, podcasts, etc, about layout and organisation and so forth?

eimyr

@BESW Try boardgame design forums

Producing manuals is their bread and butter, you might get some inspiration there

Peeps

boardgamegeek may have something relevant

BESW