TRPG General Chat

Miniman

00:02

For example, the magmin.

Shalvenay

@Miniman yeah -- that'll do it

BESW

Miniman

> Historians now believe that the burning of Rome was caused by Nero summoning a single magmin.

> Opinion is torn on whether he summoned because he thought they were pretty, or if he just wanted it to light his fireplace for him.

BESW

**[Timely RPGery](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nKltjD1HJ954pS3QZZL-E_ckNaKEeedxMKn7XwdFiio/edit?usp=sharing "Click for full source doc; please suggest items to pin!"):**
[BoH](https://bundleofholding.com "Buy RPGs cheap in bulk, support charities & indie designers!");
[fateSRD staging](https://plus.google.com/+Fatesrd_roleplaying_game/posts/ByEgqY1bEHn "
Want to kick the tires on the updated version of the Fate SRD? Take a look at the staging site and tell them anything that looks off/weird/wrong.");

Miniman

00:19

I get that people want to avoid copyright issues, but I can't help giggling a little every time I see something that says it's "for 5e" and mentally translate it to "Will work with the 5th edition of literally everything".

Claws of Madness, an Encyclopaedia Britannica 5e adventure module.

BESW

@Miniman "I can't wait to use this GM screen in King's Quest V!"

Please note the Timely RPGery pin has a link to the staging site for the new fate-srd.com.

...Headbands of Vase Intelligence don't sound very useful.

Miniman

@BESW I think you might be underestimating vases. You don't sit around holding flowers for weeks on end without picking up a thing or two.

BESW

That, or they're intended as an offensive weapon.

@Miniman Yeah, but the thing or two is usually some algae and dead bugs.

Adeptus

01:08

Bundle of Holding has Laundry RPG this week/fortnight/whatever time-period their bundles run for

doppelgreener

01:33

@Adeptus this laundry day

(and other laundry days)

BESW

01:45

What engine does it use?

Miniman

@BESW A washing machine, obviously.

The Oracle

01:58

0

Q: Where to ask about a game that straddles the line?

I have fond memories of Wizards, by Avalon Hill. To me it's basically an RPG - your characters have stats and levels, roll dice for random encounters, etc. It has some issues, though, so I want to adjust the rules to make it more appealing to my pals. If I said it was a board game, I probably wo...

0

Q: Is the design tag still useful?

The description of the design tag seems to focus on game design, and I think 90% of the questions in it could/should be retagged game-design. Is this tag doing anything for us besides splitting up game design questions into two tags?

discussion tags

Adeptus

02:33

> The Laundry uses the Basic Roleplaying System -- the same system that powers Call of Cthulhu

BESW

03:24

Aw.

doppelgreener

Needs 1 more close vote, idea generation question: rpg.stackexchange.com/q/595/1204

Sejanus

05:21

morning

trogdor

good morning

Miniman

Adjective followed by indicator of position in diurnal cycle.

trogdor

lol

BESW

Burning sun overhead!

Miniman

@BESW That's a very strange greeting.

BESW

05:29

But it follows the formula.

trogdor

I feel like, whenever I say (something about morning here) I mean "yes it is a good morning over there where you live but it isn't morning here, but good morning anyway" but I am afraid people might take it as "screw your morning" or something T.T XD

Miniman

@BESW Huh, I suppose it does. (Allowing the gerund, of course.)

Magician

@trogdor In a way, any comment about the solar cycle implies screwing the Earth.

trogdor

@Magician this somehow does not make me feel that much better about it

it's a nice try though

Adeptus

PLEASANT [TIME-OF-DAY], FELLOW HUMANS

trogdor

05:35

lol

Miniman

@Adeptus How are you feeling, fellow human?

Adeptus

I AM WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS

Magician

Fellow Human would be a great concept aspect for an NPC.

3

Miniman

@Adeptus Interesting - I suspected you might be a bot, but bots use full stops.

Asteria

@Miniman You just used full stops..... [gasp]

Miniman

05:43

@Asteria Yes. Yes, I did.

Adeptus

CLEARLY, MINIMAN IS A BOT

Miniman

Your logic is flawless and does not run afoul of any well-known and extremely common fallacies at all.

BESW

05:58

→ 6 messages moved to Not a bar, but plays one on TV

Nyakouai

08:18

This discussion make me hesitate to say "good morning"...

Is "good full-earth-spin " politically correct for everybody?

(Unless there is some flat-earth society members around here, in which case, I may offend some of them)

trogdor

ah, I didn't mean to make it sound like I hate people saying good morning

I was just trying to point out I am nervous sometimes when I reply that it isn't morning here, people might take it as more hostile than the joke it actually is

Nyakouai

08:35

It was a joke, I didn't took it that way, don't worry ^^

It's just that I don't know any way to greet several peoples across the globe

At least based on the moment of the day

eimyr

@Trogdor at least you're not at timezone +13, literally living in the future

trogdor

lol

I am in the future for some people though

Nyakouai

Well, if you stumble upon the lottery numbers, I'll gladly take them

Just sayin'

eimyr

I have the lottery numbers.

1-14-22-23-30-47

Nyakouai

Wouhou! Now, I only have to guess the correct country...

eimyr

08:44

They aren't necessarily the ones to be drawn, but they are indeed lottery numbers.

@trogdor how do you feel about princesses?

trogdor

@eimyr did you not see what I said before on that subject?

eimyr

I can't remember...

BESW

Apr 29 at 0:19, by trogdor

I see nothing wrong with comparing myself to a princess, especially if she is being angry, scary, and hilarious all at the same time

Nyakouai

I'm trying to picture Peach fitting this description

Yelling at Mario as soon as he arrives, for taking too long

[chuckle]

trogdor

09:00

@BESW you are too good at finding this stuff

anyway, yeah BESW's link above is exactly what I said, and I feel no current need to revise that satement

eimyr

Ooook

trogdor

I am not 100% sure why you asked the question but the answer is there now XD

eimyr

I'm researching Princess and Dragon classic fable template and I thought to do some primary research by asking at the source.

trogdor

09:15

lol

strangely enough, most of the stories I know with dragons or princesses in them don't have both

not to say there are not any

but as far as classic fables go, not sure I can remember many in that specific category

I moved on pretty quickly from classic fables on to full books that had those kinds of thing in them

eimyr

I think I'm approaching that from a more anthropological point of view

I'm ofc no qualified anthropologist and I know nothing, but I'm trying to get a lick of the basics in fable structure and significance

trogdor

not sure I can help much in that regard, I can make wild speculations around the overall theme of such stories in general, but I am certainly no Anthropologist

eimyr

I mean... aren't you a dragon?

trogdor

what does that have to do with my ability to analyze a story for purely anthropological significance?

do humans come ready made to do that in all stories that humans are in? if so that is a surprising ability

eimyr

09:31

well, know, but exploring the values and motivations of one of your people would provide additional insight

trogdor

my values compared to other dragons are easily as different as the values that differ between humans :P

my personal opinion of Princesses is that they can often be pretty awesome

not always but they can be

also, most older stories about them paint them in a light of being a prize to be won, which certainly must be less true in these modern times than they were back then

I also wouldn't say most dragons particularly like being compared to a princess

so my opinions may not line up with a general consensus

eimyr

How come it's the princess?

Surely there are more tasty or more substantial meals.

trogdor

these stories are told by humans, I imagine they find it romantic to have a princess to rescue from a mighty dragon

eimyr

I appreciate that an average princess is likely to be moist and tender, but isn't it too fatty?

Nyakouai

Value-wise, a princess as the potential value of a kingdom. And it's certainly less bulky than a pile of gold

BESW

09:39

Because dragons are just a particularly large form of heffalump and woozle.

eimyr

@Nyakouai I'm asking from the perspective of a dragon.

BESW

> If honey is what you covet you'll find that they love it
Because they guzzle up the thing you prize

trogdor

@eimyr dragons like money too

Nyakouai

@eimyr Exactly. A princess worth a huuuuge pile of gold. And there will be pity knights to try to rescue her. With gold and magic items. Win-win

trogdor

getting knights to visit is a hard task

Nyakouai

09:41

In the Tolkien Universe, they're the only race to top dwarfs in the field of loving gold

BESW

I dislike the "covetous for its own sake" version of dragons.

eimyr

If so, how come the dragon is always stopped seconds before he consumes the princess?

trogdor

@BESW I do as well, I also dislike the boring animal/monster version, I like it when they are portrayed as complex people rather than a list of predictable behaviours

BESW

Dragons steal/demand/collect/consume things that humans value because humans value them; not because the dragon buys into the human value system, but because it's a way to manipulate humans in ways that are valuable to the dragon.

trogdor

@eimyr consuming the princess isn't always the point of having a princess

you may just want someone to talk to, bonus if more people show up to save her for eccentric dragons XD

BESW

09:44

@trogdor Now we're getting into Enchanted Forest territory.

trogdor

@BESW intentionally

BESW

In that setting, having a princess to do your cooking and cleaning is a status symbol, similar to serving fancy dessert or booking a popular local entertainer.

This is because princesses are hard to get (they're well protected), and hard to keep (all the knights and princes who keep trying to rescue them).

Anaphory

I somewhere encountered a discussion on the real-world ecology of dragons, where the argument was that capturing a princess and not eating it means you get food walking all the way to your doorstep on its own.

BESW

But it's more of an annoyance ("Drat, another knight. Princess Eleanora, re-schedule my afternoon") than a problem.

trogdor

@BESW plus most of them don't necessarily want to stick around

eimyr

09:47

It may also be a survival tactic to avoid true dragon hunters.

A way of showing that this particular dragon is powerful and mighty because it can afford to handicap himself by having a princess (and all the rescuing business)

Nyakouai

@eimyr A remake of the Beauty and the Beast, where the princess developp a Stockholm syndrome, and actually want to stay with the well educated and polite man eating dragon?

Anaphory

(It also discussed that they are not hoarding gold. They are hoarding everything, it's just that the gold survives because the dragon is so acidic everything else rots.)

eimyr

Stotting

Stotting (also called pronking or pronging) is a behavior of quadrupeds, particularly gazelles, in which they spring into the air, lifting all four feet off the ground simultaneously. Usually, the legs are held in a relatively stiff position and the back may be arched with the head pointing downward. Many explanations of stotting have been proposed; there is evidence that at least in some cases it is an honest signal to predators that the stotting animal is not worth pursuing. == Etymology == Stot is a common Scots and Geordie verb meaning "bounce" or "walk with a bounce." Uses in this se...

Anaphory

@Nyakouai There's a funny German book called The Dragon Princess about a princess annoyed by all the courting and petty kingdom running, so she runs of and meets a nice dragon and resists all urges of her promised knight to rescue her and a lot of fairy tale tropes are invoked for deconstruction.

Nyakouai

@Anaphory A strong and independant princess who needs no man (but a dragon is always handy)

Anaphory

09:52

Very much so.

Apparently it's not a German book, it's the German translation of an English book. How memory can mislead you. Dealing with Dragons

Nyakouai

"Kazul assigns Cimorene to cook for her and organize her library and treasure hoard."

trogdor

@Anaphory oh, that was the book BESW and I meant

Nyakouai

And we're back with hoarding

trogdor

thought it sounded familiar

Nyakouai

At least, it should be neat stack, not the mess that Smaug treasure was

Anaphory

10:00

I thought it had been by Cornelia Funke or someone like that. Maybe I should read the English original.

I didn't see you discuss that book, otherwise I might have piped in then already.

And the reason I just found out it's originally English, by the way, is because I read a Two-Star review on Amazon which boiled down to “This translation is SOOO BAD” and I was like, “Huh? Translation?”

Nyakouai

I would have thought that, for each english words, there would be at least 3 germans equivalents. Translators should face far less problem than the other way (German -> English)

trogdor

@Anaphory we didn't so much discuss it as mention the series name once

Anaphory

@Nyakouai It's not that simple. And even if it was, having a choice of alternatives still means you can always choose the obsolescent one, which is what the reviewer criticizes ;)

@trogdor Ah, in that case I would not have noticed even if I was there.

trogdor

no big deal

BESW