Fun fact: If you linked two of your google accounts before they made it easier to link google accounts, and you forget the password to one of the accounts, you can be permanently locked out of that account, despite being able to send and receive email at that address.

And there's no live help service, so I can't ask a Google help person to verify my story and give me access to my account again.

grump face aimed at sky

hey there @DuckTapeAl, how're things going otherwise?

Less than great, primarily for non-chat-safe reasons.

Though I've been getting a lot of skyrim in, so that's nice.

:/ yeah....I've been annoyed myself

Hey, anyone familiar with Play by posts can give me tips on how to run traps better?

I just went through a trapped stair encounter that felt really lame.

but it would have worked on an IRL group.

Basically, with their passive perception, the PCs spot the trapped steps (the middle part is rigged to give way and send the hapless victim down the steps).

That sounds like the bones of a pretty good mainsite question.

it was resolved with only a "ok, so you spot it and just NOT go through the middle"

The trap has a second part though, anyone sent tumbling down the steps and lands on the foot, activates a flagstone which sends a spiked metal grate toward his face

or if anyone steps on the flagstone

(skyrim style!)

Well, to start you need to think about why you're putting a trap in the scenario. What's your goal, why is a trap the tool to achieve it, how does it achieve that goal, what makes it fun, etc.

I try to start any design work with the Big 3+1 Questions: What is your game about? How does your game do this? How does your game encourage / reward this? How do you make this fun?

It's not just useful for big-picture system design.

well, the trap is not really meant to kill off the PCs that dont avoid it. At best, it makes noise enough for a group of humanoids further inside to try to investigate.

if anyone falls for the trap, that's icing on the cake!

Is the trap there to make players nervous about what's next? To let them look awesome by overcoming it? To establish something that's true about the dungeon or the world?

well, (2) and (3). I really played up this dungeon to be full of traps and the players are already expecting them

my real problem is while juggling DM-player interaction may work in an IRL game, it kills a PBP game because of the posting time

So, how are traps overcome in your game? What can players do to look awesome?

Are they puzzles to solve with player brainpower?

Are they opportunities for players to show off their pre-game preparations?

puzzles, yes. I never give out "it's a trap!" but I give IC clues so the players can figure it out.

So, the puzzle is figuring out it's a trap?

E.g. what I did when I told the players that the stair looks plain stone but they spot this middle section thats not as well-tread

Once a trap is identified, is the interaction completed?

Or do they still have to "solve" how to pass it safely?

hmm.. I guess? Dang I see your point...

Alright, so it was a weak trap haha

Think about Indiana Jones: sometimes recognizing a trap is all you need to pass it safely, and sometimes it's obviously a trap and the challenge lies in finding the key to surviving it.

easily circumvented by sidestepping... so I can try to block that with something

For a goal of being awesome, the hidden traps should be humiliating or wear down the party or just make them nervous; the visible traps can be much more dangerous obstacles.

That way missing a hidden trap still lets you be awesome by surviving it.

And visible traps give you an opportunity to stop and show off how clever, strong, prepared, etc, you are.

Also remember: the more hidden traps you put into a place, the more paranoid your group becomes and the slower they'll go.

I call it Ten Foot Pole Paranoia, when a group slows to a crawl because they insist on explicitly poking everything with a stick before they do anything.

That's another reason to keep hidden traps as mild annoyances, because it helps mitigate the need for such paranoia.

I find that the 10-ft-pole paranoia thing only happens if the players dont trust the DM. I regularly spring hidden traps on my players but they only stick their poles when they open treasure chests (even though Ive never used mimics... yet)

or maybe my players arent clever haha kidding, ofc

so... traps as resource drain, what's your opinion on those? do they still need to make a player feel awesome?

Well, again, what's your goal for the game, the scenario, the scene?

the goal is so that the PCs aren't 100% during the final boss

I'm personally down on resource drains in general. They're necessary in many systems, and I consider them a good reason to avoid such systems.

hm, fair point. It is tiring to keep on draining resources

However, if it's necessary, there are two basic categories.

There's the Impending Doom resource drain, and the Victory At Cost resource drain.

@Joshauten Hi! You'll need 20+ rep to type in chat, but you're welcome to hang out until then.

what's the impending doom resource drain?

Im not familiar with it

It's a drain that emphasises the "countdown clock" element of the resource drain. You lost resources that you will sorely miss later on, and you feel that loss without any mitigating triumph.

I don't recommend using it often unless you've got dread as a game goal.

@BESW So, that'd be like sanity loss in a Cthulhu game?

Hm. If thats impending doom, whats victory at a cost?

@Adeptus Yes, but for players. [grin] eg, in 4e having to spend healing surges to pass through a door you must pass through. You know it's a resource drain, you know you'll need those healing for what's beyond that door, it increases the doubt that you'll survive.

@daze413 Victory at cost is a resource drain that you feel good about. Spending a daily power to finish a difficult fight, knowing that you'll probably miss having that daily available later but you just got an awesome victory so there's that.

A typical D&D trap is an impending doom drain. You lose some hit points and move on.

A typical D&D dungeon fight is a victory at cost drain. You win the fight but the end-dungeon boss will be harder.

Personally I like traps that convey information.

:o how does a trap convey information?

A trap can tell you things about the person or group that set it: the enemies they fear; the way they think; the resources at their disposal; their recent history; their relationship to the dungeon...

ooh, that sounds interesting. I'll think about those kinds of traps for future ones.

For example, your trap.

It's built into the dungeon's construction. It probably automatically resets on a counterweight system. It's in a main pathway and requires active avoidance.

That tells me a lot about the original constructors of the dungeon (clever, paranoid, access to lots of resources, don't expect uninformed friends to be wandering around).

mm-hmm... to give some background, the dungeon's original creators are gone. And now some transients have taken up residence and figured out the trap and avoid it but dont deactivate it

If the original constructors are still in charge, I know I probably can't count on them to buy "I was just wandering through." And they're probably well armed, well trained, and ready to defend themselves.

With new residents, I know they're stubborn and desperate enough to stay in a place that's been so paranoidly booby-trapped.

ah, yes, it's a stairs leading down in a mausoleum. Meant to kill grave robbers

And that they're paranoid enough themselves that they keep the deadly trap active.

I know they're resourceful enough to use whatever's at their disposal, but they don't seem to be doing a lot of their own work from scratch.

So I can expect them to be scavengers, improvisers, isolated, well-organised, well entrenched. They'll know things about their environment I won't and have given thought to how to use it to their advantage.

y'know. that's really spot on.

Alternately, I'm going to expect a single paranoid individual holed up down there.

(If there's more than one person, an active trap means being well-organised but isolated because everybody who's supposed to be there doesn't activate it, and nobody just wanders in by accident.)

it's actually a group of 3 well-organized scavengers

but, yeah, you're right. No army would put up a deadly trap at its entrance and expect every soldier to be mindful. Some day there will be a casualty

ok so I should block plan A of simply avoiding the trap. That was really helpful @BESW! thanks

Have fun.

Could I get some help in the Spoil-Lair? I'm putting together aspects for a game and would like a sanity check on how evocative/clear/useful they are.

Ooh, earthquake.

I didn't even feel that one

It was pretty short.

@BESW is that safe or unsafe for me to see?

@doppelgreener Unsafe unless you want massive SG-13 spoilers.

@doppelgreener muahahahaha now you are stuck in no spoilers land with me! XD

@BESW [takes spoil-lair back off favourite rooms list]

Good call.

I'll pad it and let you know if there's anything

@trogdor haha, that's not too bad

lol

it's not really supposed to be

this land feels very ......... mysterious

Hello :)

[wave]

@BESW that image is stuffing up for some reason. D':

that works!

What are your opinions about the election in USA?

@Momonga-sama we're pointedly not discussing that here in general chat

: X

@Momonga-sama btw, you can ask about it in NAB if you'd like. ^ i was over-broad in saying we weren't discussing it across the entire site.

NAB?

Not A Bar, our overflow chat room:

It's so peaceful...

si

After reading through the first few chapters of the Mistborn RPG book:

@DuckTapeAl What in particular?

There's that humble bundle on RPGs and I was almost considering getting it

Yeah, that's where I got it.

The general system feels similar to Fate, but with a combination of lighter rules and more friendliness to added complexity.

The stat system is set up more like a combination of Fate Accelerated and White Wolf, but also has a lot of interesting bits related to how magic is integrated into the system.

I've been looking for a while for a system that works well with my idea for a grimdark Harry Potter game, and I feel like this system (with some tweaking) works really well for that.

There's also a really detailed character creation process that looks like it tends to build the right kind of characters for the game, which is super interesting.

For me, it was totally worth the 15$.

My account seems to be messed up and I'm unsure where to ask about it other than here.

I'm unable to Ask/Answer and Up/Down vote, but I can suggest edits and join chat.

@THiebert Your site account has only 1 rep, so it's normal to not be able to vote (that's unlocked at 15 rep). You normally can't chat until 20 rep, but because chat is network-wide instead of per-site, your 71 rep on another SE counts and you can chat here. Suggesting edits also doesn't need any rep.

@THiebert However, you should be able to post questions and answers. What does it say when you try?

I had two accounts that merged. I think that's where the problem is coming from

"This email address is already registered. If it belongs to you, log in above or visit our account recovery page to get access to this account."

This is me: rpg.stackexchange.com/users/31633/inthemanual

hey 7

oh you 2 are busy I'll wait until your done

@THiebert When I view your account it shows an "Unregistered" after your username

Also links to Inthemanual as the username

Perhaps try some combination of logging out, clearing cookies, and logging back in?

7 you there?

@THiebert You should still be able to post questions and answers as an unregistered user. However, despite the page you just saw, your THiebert account is showing as fully registered under that email (which I'm about to redact from chat because that shouldn't be public).

You should probably have your accounts merged in any case though, by following these instructions: rpg.stackexchange.com/help/merging-accounts

@THiebert HMM. Despite you having two accounts on RPG.se (one registered and one not), both of them appear to be linked to your single THiebert account out on the rest of the network. That's weird. And possibly it's interfering with posting questions or answers. I can't handle things like that, but I will ping a Community Manager to take a look.

I have merged my accounts before. Thank you for your help

@THiebert Yeah, sorry I missed that message. :) It looks like the merge wasn't fully or properly done. I've contacted the CMs on your behalf to have them look at what's wrong and fix it. Hopefully it should not be long!

And sorry if this was a little off topic for chat. I just didn't know where else to mention it

That's fine. 👍

@THiebert Yeah, it's all good. If you're having trouble posting at all, then there really isn't anywhere else obvious. You could have used the “contact us” link at the bottom of the page, but that's not really obvious. This was fine. :)

While I'm here, is this a good place to ask for suggestions?

@THiebert Usually so.

@DuckTapeAl Mercenary joke?

I'm looking for a good resource to manage my worldbuilding for a homebrew 5e game. I want to stay organized, but also be able to share certain information, like maps, gods, and prominent locations and historical events with players who wish to do some out-of-game research into the world i'm developing.

If you're into simple things, keeping a google drive document up with all the infodump is not a bad idea.

That was my first idea. I'll probably end up doing that. Thanks!

@Zachiel I don't get your meaning.

@DuckTapeAl Uhm. Mistborn. The book.

Which I think is related to the game, but maybe I'm wrong?

Yes, it is. I just don't get what you mean by "mercenary joke".

@DuckTapeAl Like the ones Denth always makes when he talks about committing some crime and looking so serious and evil, and then having a laugh over it when people fall for it.

And stealing is surely a crime!

Oh, you mean Denth from Warbreaker.

I was double confused, because there aren't really any mercenaries in Mistborn.

Now I'm only single confused. Are you saying that I'm implying that I pirated the book or something? I still don't get the joke.

@DuckTapeAl That meme you used talked about "stealing" ideas.

Oh, I see now.

I sometimes get told that my humour is too British.

lol

I wouldn't say that that even nearly encompasses it, but there you go

the biggest difference I have personally seen between British and American humor is actually the difference in categorization

not that there are no other differences, just that that one has dwarfed others in my personal experience

D&D inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, they claim the "most important" contribution of D&D to gaming is its role as inspiration for computer games.

lol

if they had only just left out "but most importantly"

and by that categorization difference, I actually mean how often someone will point out a difference in humor

@BESW Looking at number of players, that's where more people have experienced D&D's... "legacy", if you will. I wouldn't call it more important, but definitely more visible and/or widespread.

either a person making some kind of joke or someone observing it

I see a ton more of "British humor" being called out as such, and a lot less "American humor" being called out as such

most likely because I am American, but details details XD

Here in Australia, we have a mix of both. And Australian humour is probably a mix of both plus a bit of its own thing, too.

the effects of particular culture on humor itself is pretty interesting

I think British comedians are just more interested in that kind of thing, for starters, than American ones

I have noticed that at least some British humor has a higher propensity to analyze the joke and the humor itself than American humor

I think we Americans just want to get the joke out there and then move on to another one

which has it's particular appeal, but might leave a little to be desired in the form of learning more about humor itself

I have not seen almost any Canadian humor though, or at least not any that could necessarily be counted by itself as a baseline for it

I see a lot of Japanese, and some Korean humor,... but it mostly confuses me, partly due to a language barrier

and especially as to Japan, it is everywhere

it's like a scattershot

My Uncle Napoleon is hilarious... for people who understand the culture of Iran from the 40s to the 70s. I know I missed a lot when I read it.

(It was shared with me by an Iranian immigrant in middle school.)

mm