TRPG General Chat

Momonga-sama

00:19

So little people :p

doppelgreener

that's a fair point actually, it's in the middle of our busy time

trogdor

well, right now it is yeah

but that won't last forever

and I don't know how invested the rest of our group is in an SGC campaign

doppelgreener

oh no i mean momonga, i thought he was making a comment on the room's population

^ busy time = now (red line)

trogdor

ah ok I see XD

DuckTapeAl

00:42

@doppelgreener Just got home, writing a "Yes" answer now.

doppelgreener

@DuckTapeAl welcome home!

DuckTapeAl

I spent the day hanging out with friends, so I wouldn't have a chance to obsessively check polling numbers. :P

doppelgreener

nice.

DuckTapeAl

01:10

I'm also asking over on Arqade chat how their [community-events] tag has worked out for them.

BESW

I think there may be a disconnect between the nature of their events and the nature of the proposed events here.

DuckTapeAl

Very true.

That's basically what they told me.

DuckTapeAl

01:30

Okay, super random english usage question: If I end a sentence with a parenthetical, and that parenthetical ends with an abbreviation, how many periods do I use?

Example: "(like game setting, the software to be used, etc.)."

Okay.

BESW

...yes, like that.

Punctuation can rarely do double duty.

You need one period inside the parenthesis to indicate an abbreviation, and a second one outside the parentheses to indicate the end of a sentence.

DuckTapeAl

MAkes sense.

Miniman

What if the sentence was contained by the parentheses?

BESW

The exception to the "punctuation doesn't do double duty" rule is if the exact same punctuation would be repeated immediately.

Miniman

Ah, right.

DuckTapeAl

01:38

One more question before I post this.

Does this paragraph sound inflammatory, or insulting?

I definitely agree with mxyzplk that Meta questions like this could potentially cause problems with the normal functions of Meta. However, I'd like to solve for the problem that we have right now rather than the potential problem we might have in the future. If it turns out that this experiment causes more problems than it solves, then we can shut it down.

BESW

It disregards Mxy's actual argument in favour of one that's easier to defend against.

DuckTapeAl

In his post, he says "People have enough trouble finding the key rulings on meta without digging through old game formation posts."

Which is what I'm addressing there.

BESW

He's saying that it's not what Meta is for (you have to argue that it is, perhaps by drawing on examples from Arqade); that it's better suited to a different medium (you have to argue why it's better in meta than in chat); that meta is already experiencing clutter (you have to argue that it's not, or that more posts on a new topic won't add to that).

DuckTapeAl

Yes, and I do so in another part of the post, further up.

BESW

In no way are any of his points talking about a predicted future problem that has no current standing.

The last point is predicting an aggravation of an existing issue.

Which is very different from "a potential problem we might have in the future."

DuckTapeAl

01:45

I see what you're saying.

BESW

It may seem like nit-picking, but understanding an argument is kinda important if you're gonna be taken seriously when proposing an alternative.

(And I do find myself that it's getting rather hard to track down specific posts on certain topics.)

I'm not sure a new set of meta posts on a new topic would add to that clutter, but I agree it's a concern that should be looked into. At the very least, community events are a secondary concern on meta and shouldn't be allowed to impinge on site functionality.

DuckTapeAl

Hey, if I didn't want nitpicking, I wouldn't have asked. :P

BESW

Then you've come to the right place!

DuckTapeAl

I've never actually run into any problems finding stuff on Meta myself. I was wondering where he was getting that claim from.

BESW

However, to address your original question more directly: if that paragraph were addressing mxy's argument more head-on, I'd find it a non-objectionable way to do so.

DuckTapeAl

01:52

Okay. That's what I'm doing.

Okay, what about this:

I don't believe that this would appreciably add to the issue of clutter on Meta. I haven't personally run into any issues finding important rulings on Meta, but I don't think that there will be enough posts of this type to make it more difficult to find things here. Based on the frequency of game ads that I see as a moderately-active chatizen, I would expect roughly one game ad per month to end up on Meta.

I count 23 Meta questions asked in the past month, so I don't think game ads will ever be a significant source of Meta posts. In addition, it's fairly easy to exclude particular tags in a search with -[tag], or even hide them entirely if you're not interested in seeing them at all.

(had to split it up to fit the message length)

BESW

Seems reasonable.

DuckTapeAl

Cool. Thanks!

@doppelgreener Posted my yes answer.

BESW

03:22

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Joel Harmon

03:55

@BESW I see the Discussion tag is pretty heavily used on meta. Would it be appropriate to add something like a Canonical tag for the best-of-meta?

BESW

@JoelHarmon That'd be faq.

Joel Harmon

not sure how I missed that one

anyway, I'd suggest that perhaps your conundrum finding things on meta could be solved with tags (though I'm not sure what specifically you have trouble finding)

BESW

If I'm looking for something straightforward or definitive, it's usually not a problem.

Miniman

@JoelHarmon I don't think anyone here has issues finding stuff on meta - they were discussing mxy's argument that people do.

BESW

I just have a tendency to go off digging for weird edge case stuff or looking for comments that can't be searched.

Joel Harmon

03:57

shrug

Shalvenay

hey there @JoelHarmon

Joel Harmon

@DuckTapeAl you get a longer message length if you include a new line

hey @Shalvenay

Shalvenay

04:23

@JoelHarmon how're things going?

Joel Harmon

pretty blergh, what with the illness and all. You?

nitsua60

04:45

@DuckTapeAl one weak point I see in your meta A: in the second-to-last paragraph you argue that game ads wouldn't clutter up meta, extrapolating (it seems) from how much (little) chatter this room gets about planning games. But earlier in the post one reason you argue for using meta to organize games is the increased visibility.

But increased visibility would seem to push up the prediction/estimate of game-ad posts, making your supposition about possible clutter... weak, IMO.

(I don't know if I'm saying that well. Ping me if it doesn't make sense.)

Shalvenay

hey there @daze413 and @nitsua60

daze413

yo @Shalvenay, whats up?

nitsua60

05:01

hiya

BESW

05:21

→ 5 messages moved to Not a bar, but plays one on TV

DuckTapeAl

05:38

@nitsua60 I modified that line a bit. I meant that it would end up being 1/month after more people started doing it due to high visibility.

Fibericon

Wild magic sorcerer in 5e is too good. Advantage whenever I want at the low low price of maybe exploding the entire party.

Miniman

@Fibericon The problem with wild magic sorcerer is that it puts your character almost completely in the hands of the DM.

Fibericon

How so?

Miniman

> Any time before you regain the use of this feature, the DM can have you roll on the Wild Magic Surge table immediately after you cast a sorcerer spell of 1st level or higher. You then regain the use of this feature.

So it's not "Advantage whenever I want", it's "advantage as often as the DM chooses to give me".

Worse yet, it gives the DM no guidance whatsoever as to how often this should be.

Fibericon

Ah. We agreed during character creation that if there was an opportunity to roll on that table, I would. If there was an opportunity to roll to see if I would roll on that table, I would. Maximum wild, basically.

Miniman

05:46

And the same thing applies to Wild Magic Surge, too.

@Fibericon Which is cool, and I'd argue is how it should have been written in the first place.

But as a piece of game design, the Wild Magic Sorcerer is a big ol' ball of Oberoni.

Fibericon

Yeah, if you leave something up to interpretation, someone will invariably screw it up. No arguments there.

Miniman

In this particular case, it's not like they left it up to interpretation - it's just entirely up to the DM.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't an issue for a lot of people .

But I still think it's weak in terms of game design.

Fibericon

I suppose it could be seen as silly in some games, so the DM would rarely bring it up if ever.

Miniman

And at that point, you're losing the whole point of picking it in the first place.

Fibericon

I'm reminded of a "worst RPG session" story, where the player who was telling it had picked up a feat to capitalize on opportunity attacks, only to find out that the DM didn't bother with opportunity attacks because it was too much of a pain. Then refused to let her change her character. There were other things way worse with that session, but that was the first thing that stuck out to me.

SirTechSpec

06:00

Hey all

Miniman

@Fibericon Yeah, that's...wow.

@SirTechSpec Hey, long time no see!

Fibericon

@SirTechSpec Heyo

SirTechSpec

@Miniman yeah I've been trying to spend less time on the computer since Sept and I'm afraid you fine folks were a casualty

Miniman

@SirTechSpec That's a good goal, though.

BESW

→ 4 messages moved to Not a bar, but plays one on TV

The Oracle

08:58

0

Q: Words that shall not be used…

Base off the extended discussion on this question. I used the word idiot which as the definition shows is "formal". I, mistakenly, believed that this would be fine. It apparently was with a large number of upvotes (↑51, ↓4) but several flag were raised that the answer edited. Just to be clear: I...

BESW

09:09

@TheOracle VTC dupe.

BESW

09:24

→ 17 messages moved to Dark Souls™ Conversion

Miniman

Thanks.

BESW

11:20

@ToshinouKyouko [wave]

Toshinou Kyouko

@BESW yo :)

BESW

What's new?

Toshinou Kyouko

hmm, a good many things

company is getting bought, got a new gf, started 2 new 5E campaigns (curse of strahd and a 2-person one), gonna be author of a paper at a conference

BESW

Wow, that is a lot.

What's your paper on, if you can share?

Toshinou Kyouko

Neural Networks. Don't think i can share the title til its been published

BESW

11:23

Cool.

Toshinou Kyouko

yeah it all happened in a very short period of time

I also had some holidays

Toshinou Kyouko

12:01

how about you @BESW

BESW

My current RPG project is converting a d20 Spycraft campaign to Fate Accelerated.

Toshinou Kyouko

ooh

BESW

Yeah, I wrote an SG-1 campaign about eight years ago and then realised the official SG-1 RPG is using entirely the wrong engine for the franchise.

Toshinou Kyouko

how is Fate Accelerated as a system? I haven't tried it

BESW

I like Fate. It's flexible for most any campaign that expects PCs to be proactive, competent, and dramatic, and it has a great crisis/victory narrative cycle built into the mechanics.

Fate Accelerated is especially good for "TV logic" campaigns where the Smart Person is good with computers AND medicine, the Tough Guy can intimidate people AND break down doors, etc.

The trick with Fate is, the group needs to have a strong sense of the kind of setting and story you're telling because the mechanics won't enforce it for you.

BESW

12:28

@ToshinouKyouko Do you have any specific questions or wonderments about it?

BESW

12:50

TIL that according to some accounts Persian soldiers in 525 BC carried cats into battle against the Egyptians to force them to not use arrows for fear of harming the sacred animals.

2

doppelgreener

i'm impressed

are there records of people using cows in a war against india?

BESW

Picture

doppelgreener

there are cats several meters in the air, why

(by shocking revelation, the artist probably was not actually there and this picture may not be completely accurate)

BESW

Maybe they think the Egyptians will be forced to drop their weapons to catch the cats?

@doppelgreener It's not what you intended, but....

trogdor

XD

Toshinou Kyouko

12:58

@BESW not really, what you said above is fine :)

doppelgreener

13:13

whoa, tough break

The Oracle

0

Q: How to proceed with an answer that is ultimately the same as a previous answer?

I wrote an answer to a question, then after posting I realised that the actual answer I gave was precisely the same as the actual answer already given, so I deleted my answer, and upvoted the earlier one. The answer that was already there was simpler than mine and I believe had extraneous parts ...

discussion

doppelgreener

15:23

Prestidigitation can be used to warm nonliving material, such as food, but the change reverts after an hour. What happens if you warm an ice cube to water then drink it?

nitsua60

ice-nine

ice? nein.

doppelgreener

15:38

dec-ice-mation?

nitsua60

got it:

@doppelgreener you get a weak martini.

doppelgreener