TRPG General Chat

Well, this year I can only use the site while at work on mobile, and I'm trying to minimise even that. That leaves the period between work and sleep, which is a quiet one anyway.

trogdor

this year's hatmass has had a much lesser incentive for me, personally

though I did like the vader hat and this moon hat a lot

none of the others though,......

Miniman

That, combined with the much less exciting and much less attainable hat collection, makes hatmas not an incentive.

trogdor

except, I do like SSD's hat, at least on his particular avatar

Miniman

12:18 AM

And it becomes a disincentive because it means the site is a mess - edits bumping random questions all the time, fastest gun in the west even stronger, and so on.

So I've still been doing stuff, but I've felt fairly unenthused and disenfranchised overall.

nitsua60

@Miniman =(

Miniman

It could also be a case of not being on the leaderboard - I'm only human, and not winning makes me less inclined to play the game :)

nitsua60

sorta a vicious "death spiral" of Hatmas, eh?

Miniman

Yeah, that initial 12 hours of not being active while hatmas was getting started sort of set me on a downward path.

trogdor

last year there were a lot more hats that I either liked because of what they looked like, or what you would do to get them

this year, not so much

personally

Miniman

12:23 AM

Yeah, this year it's much more dependent on others, and I haven't seen any hats I really wanted anyway.

trogdor

though, again, I still really really like this one hat

@Miniman I have had an issue with that with every hatmass I have been here for

I get that some of them probably should rely on other people, but having more than just one that does that is a bummer to me

BESW

Mmm. My "Bad Dads" gimmick is a little forced compared to last year's.

trogdor

and this year in particular has more than just that restriction on some hats

nitsua60

you mean, the number that end up depending on votes?

Miniman

And then you've got SO-exclusive ones, and ones which rely on cross-site participation...

trogdor

12:25 AM

yeah

they upped the ante on all of that this year, not a direction I am excited for

Miniman

@nitsua60 And stuff like the Jayne one, which requires that other people close a question that can later be reopened.

I mean, if I see a question that needs closing, I'm gonna cast my vote.

trogdor

yeah, one issue for me is that a lot of the hats this year encourage you to do things I normally wouldn't do here

and besides that, in a possibly abnormal way to get said hats

not a thing I am interested in doing

BESW

Tubey fair, Hatmas has always been about gamification of desired behaviours--perhaps this is a year when the behaviours we've been enjoying are common enough to not need seasonal gamification?

trogdor

some of the hats this year are also easier to get than normal, which I like

but it seems like every hat that isn't ridiculously easy to get is locked behind an action I don't feel comfortable partaking in

it's a weird hatmas all around

Miniman

Given how successful it was, and how much it's needed, I'm amazed they didn't bring back a hat for welcoming new users.

trogdor

12:35 AM

it is odd

considering, especially, that they do seem to bring back the same hat, or very similar hats, every year

not the same hat really, but a hat for doing the same thing

getting a gold or silver badge, getting a particular number of votes on an answer to a downvoted question, stuff like that

nitsua60

12:56 AM

My kids made their grandma a classic gable-roofed birdhouse for Christmas, which I just wrapped. That required some serious creativity, wrapping a pentagonal prism neatly.

@SevenSidedDie I don't know how you do it every morning.

trogdor

does what every morning?

nitsua60

=)

Magician

Wrap a pentagonal prism neatly. Keep up with the conversation, sheesh :P

nitsua60

[waits for it...]

trogdor

oooh

nitsua60

1:00 AM

=)

trogdor

@Magician oh please, like I don't have better things to do XD :P

Magician

I know, I just got here after missing for a week :P

trogdor

hehehe

LegendaryDude

1:48 AM

@nitsua60 In cases like that I resort to the ol' gift bag and tissue paper.

Adeptus

2:09 AM

@LegendaryDude Deliberately oversized box & ton of bubblewrap

LegendaryDude

@Adeptus My wife does that to keep me guessing at what's in the box, haha.

doppelgreener

3:41 AM

@LegendaryDude There was an imgur album about someone putting small gift in a guitar-shaped box

BESW

@Miniman I think ooze amulets are all-weather terrain vehicles; do they count?

SevenSidedDie

@nitsua60 I have a really good tailor.

doppelgreener

@Miniman there was a hat for doing that..?

nitsua60

@SevenSidedDie =)

Miniman

@doppelgreener Last year, yeah.

doppelgreener

3:47 AM

@Miniman i am very confused because i don't remember it even a bit

nitsua60

from stackoverflow.blog/2016/01/Winter-Bash-2015-Hats-Off

doppelgreener

oh huh interesting

guess it must have been a secret hat

i wasn't in the habit of welcoming people regularly back then i think

BESW

Was there ever a hat for queue clearing?

SevenSidedDie

@BESW I don't recall one… If there had been, I imagine SO being pitchforks and torches since their queues never get cleared.

BESW

[feigns indifference]

nitsua60

3:57 AM

113

Q: Greeter Hat seems to be causing problems

Is it just me or is the Greeter Hat causing a lot of questionable upvoting and trivial editing? Perhaps I'm growing cynical, but it seems like I've come across a lot of polished turds with single upvotes this morning. Greeter edit and upvote another user’s first post, which must have bee...

It's kinda interesting seeing how the hats actually are fairly-similar from year-to-year:

26

A: What positive behavior is each hat encouraging?

Questions about the origins/purpose of the hats have come up a few different ways in a few different places this year. I was planning on including a fairly detailed rundown at the end of the event. I think at one point I said in the blog post, although I've realized the post-mortem on meta would ...

doppelgreener

oh now i remember this :D

it wasn't for commenting, that's the confusing bit for me

nitsua60

Yeah, I didn't remember it either.

doppelgreener

1:38 PM

Woo! Marty day! @BESW

BESW

[grin]

Chat doesn't seem to have caught up yet.

@doppelgreener Troggy and I talked a bit about what makes us happy about our Bubblegumshoe campaign in the Not At Bar. If you have anything to add, please do.

doppelgreener

@BESW I shall take a look while I wait on my train!

BESW

1:54 PM

Traaaaains.

doppelgreener

2:29 PM

@BESW leaving thoughts!

LegendaryDude

3:26 PM

Is the "standard" notation for characters with mythic tiers in Pathfinder similar to wizard X/archmage Y, where X is the class level and Y is the tier?

This is confusing to me. It reads as a multiclassed character with X levels in wizard and Y levels in archmage.

doppelgreener

4:00 PM

Hatmas is also Bountymas for me. If there's a question you know that you think deserves a bounty for some reason (including new attention needed, or you think a particular answer is exceptional and worthy of additional reward) please bring it to my attention. Or set a bounty yourself! Though I have spare rep to burn. :)

@LegendaryDude I don't know about standard notation, but what about "wizard X (archmage Y)"?

doppelgreener

4:16 PM

Wizard 20 / Archmage 5 / Druid 8 / Elder Druid 3 reads to me as a level 36 character, but Wizard 20 (Archmage 5) / Druid 8 (Elder Druid 3) is more easily parseable as a level 28 character once I know how to read it

LegendaryDude

5:04 PM

@doppelgreener Yeah, that was my thought too. I had edited a question to make it more clear that "archmage 3" doesn't refer to multiclass levels, but another user reverted my edit

doppelgreener

10:21 PM

@LegendaryDude Btw that question is probably a good main site one. "what's the accepted practice for annotating this?"

Joel Harmon

10:40 PM

@LegendaryDude I don't know about the notation either, but I did the same thing. I read Archmage as the 3.5 prestige class, and jumped to the conclusion that the poster was high enough level to do what he wanted without workarounds.

doppelgreener

11:20 PM

@LegendaryDude I wonder if the user who reverted the edit understood what it was that was being annotated — and if they themselves confused it for multiclassing

BESW

11:39 PM

"In most role-playing systems, the spell list is rigid and uninteresting, never magical." Let me stop you there, Kickstarter pitch.

(This is also the first KS I've seen where the "Risks and challenges" section gets so... personal.)

SevenSidedDie

@BESW D:

Powerdork

You have to remember that for every table playing Dungeons & Dragons, there is a unique version of Dungeons & Dragons.

So, from that point of view, not inaccurate.

BESW

I'm not sure what you mean. I mean, I agree with your statement but I don't see how it's relephant.

D&D is a loud but small corner of the RPG landscape, and even a lot of D&D-inspired games deal with spells in a more flexible, narrative form.

SevenSidedDie

There are so many sadface flags there. The stretch goals promising entire new books for a mere couple thousand, starting at $20 for a PDF, the Fantasy Heartbreaker pitch, the Risks section, calling the game “Title” in the fourth sentence…

I really hope this doesn't fund. They'll be so disappointed, but at least it won't destroy them.

BESW

Yeeeah.

Powerdork

11:46 PM

@BESW If we're also looking at non-Fantasy roleplaying, then yeah, a spell list of nothing is rigid and uninteresting, never magical.

SevenSidedDie

On further thought, a sadface flag I missed is encouraging: asking for $10k is a bad idea, but also means it is probably not going to fund. Bullet dodged!

Zachiel

[thinks about magic in his D&D game] [goes crying in a corner]

BESW

@Powerdork I'm looking at, say, Dresden Files; Dungeon World; even All Flesh Must Be Eaten attaches more significance and mystery to its spell systems than D&D does.

Powerdork

And from there I follow. Just saying, we can't know the angle they're coming from with that claim, only guess.

BESW

I think anybody looking to make a flexible magic system which fronts narrative creativity should at least glance at Ars Magica.

@Powerdork Sure. Just--I see a lot of failed Kickstarters trying to solve solved problems because the brand-new baby designer didn't research existing solutions.

6

Powerdork

11:52 PM

That's sad.

BESW

So "He doesn't know about those games" makes me less sanguine about the project.

Powerdork

I'm gonna go be sad.

SevenSidedDie

Looking at the PDF player's guide. So far it's D&D.

(In the proper spirit of noticing Fantasy Heartbreakers, I'm looking for its One Amazing Thing.)

BESW

He's got some good instincts, like replacing HP with "one good narrative hit."

Joel Harmon

@BESW Mage also has an extremely flexible system. "Here's roughly what you can do at each of five levels in this Sphere of magic". Have fun!

SevenSidedDie

11:55 PM

Hit points are still there, and work like 3.x. Even not-being-hit is called AC (“Avoidance Chance”).

BESW

@SevenSidedDie Aw.

@JoelHarmon Aye. In my experience, only the die-hard traditionalist D&D-likes have rigid spell-list magic systems.

SevenSidedDie

Strength reduces how much damage you take? And AC = Dex bonus (which is -5 to +5 as in 3.x). Everyone has Mana Points, but they're handled behind the GM screen, which means they won't be explained in the free PDF.

Joel Harmon

@BESW I'm trying to come up with counter examples, but all I have are video games

BESW

@JoelHarmon CthulhuTech comes to mind, I guess.

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