TRPG General Chat

Miniman

12:13 AM

Homoncalypse?

2

trogdor

Yes exactly the word I would use to describe it

Adeptus

12:44 AM

@Papayaman1000 I read this in the 10th Doctor's voice...

nitsua60

2:14 AM

@JoelHarmon My kids have long since absconded with and repurposed them =D

Joel Harmon

@nitsua60 well at least they're being put to good use

I have a few small models on my desks and a large box of loose pieces that comes out too infrequently

Shalvenay

2:35 AM

hey there @Magician

Magician

Hello

Shalvenay

how're things going?

Magician

Not too bad. Bit busy...

Shalvenay

OK here. sadly stuck with 2 campaign ideas that I haven't been able to figure out how to run yet, and not much else :/

Magician

Better than no ideas

Shalvenay

2:42 AM

...sadly, not by much considering how hard they are to figure out :/

godskook

What are the "ideas"?

Shalvenay

@godskook ah. one campaign I have a decent set of notes for, but I'm stuck trying to figure out how to approach a story arc that hinges on a question of legal interpretation (vs. most courtroom drama arcs which are about twists of fact if you will AIUI)

godskook

AIUI?

Shalvenay

the other one is something I'm trying to work out more basic things about, but the conceit is that the Elves have been wracked by a terrible natural disaster, and a bunch of Hobgoblins are showing up as a relief force

@godskook As I Understand It

in the latter, the PCs are a conjoined pair of scouting parties

godskook

@Shalvenay, I've been having a lot of success by building a singular stable conceit that's non-epic in nature but that constantly ships the PCs into dealing with various problems that would require 3-4 sessions to settle.

Shalvenay

2:56 AM

@godskook what do you mean by "non-epic in nature"?

godskook

"You guys work for an adventurer's guild."

Shalvenay

@godskook vs?

godskook

"You guys have been tasked with stopping Xykon"

Focusing the conceit on the guild/city/country/whatever means that the story naturally persists through villains, and aiming for a lower-tier of danger makes for a more approachable adventure.

Natural synergy

Shalvenay

ah. this is more of a "we start off with this initial disaster, and then wind up having to deal with follow-on disasters, organizing public works, etal"

@godskook so yeah -- the idea is that the party is actually two in one -- part of them are coming from the hobgoblin side and part of them are coming from the elf side -- and I'd think the disaster would have had varying effects depending on the nature of the terrain etal

godskook

3:12 AM

What's the "terrible natural disaster"?

Shalvenay

@godskook one idea was a dry tropical cyclone that pretty much literally salted the elven lands

but I'm open to other suggestions for a wide-area one

godskook

You could steal teh Salt-in-Wounds campaign setting conceit for it.

The Tarrasque counts as a natural disaster, right?

Shalvenay

@godskook not so much

@godskook tell me more about the Salt-in-Wounds conceit tho

godskook

saltinwoundssetting.com

The idea is older than this, but their the ones doing a full-blown kickstarter about it.

giantitp.com/forums/…)

I run my own modification of the base-line conceit for my game.

Shalvenay

heheh, but not really....

godskook

3:22 AM

But it mostly serves as a justification for my setting's primary nation to have the massive power advantage they have.

Shalvenay

doesn't quite fit with the logistical focus I want to bring into the campaign

Joel Harmon

@Shalvenay did you find a system to play it in yet?

Shalvenay

@JoelHarmon not offhand

that's part of the question though -- the SOIAF system was mentioned in passing in a prevous discussion here as being good for the larger scale aspects, and Torchbearer was mentioned for the small-scale stuff

but I'm very open to ideas here, and it may take combining systems even

@godskook -- do you have any thoughts on the courtroom stuff btw?

godskook

I don't do courtroom stuff, personally.

Shalvenay

ah

godskook

3:37 AM

Its hard to imagine a TTRPG that could make courtrooms entertaining when not even TVs and movies could do it well without spending good deals of time outside the courtroom.

At least if you want to be at all serious about the courtroom

If you want to be silly...

Reskin paranoia

Not going to lie

Paranoia: Courtroom edition sounds entertaining.

Disagreeing with Friend Judge is contempt of court, please report for summary jailtime.

Joel Harmon

@godskook Fate handles social conflict pretty well

Shalvenay

@godskook yeah, part of the thing is its one story arc among several in the campaign

Chemus

3:56 AM

2

Q: What happens if the first layer of a multi-layered illusion is busted?

I have the Silent Image and Disguise Self spells. Let's say I Disguise as a muscular gladiator, then I make a Silent Image of a muscular gladiator on my own space, but a tiny bit bigger so that it englobes the Disguise (think of Russian dolls). Which of these 3 scenarios happen if a suspicious gu...

This question is interesting; it seems hard to have a definitive answer, though. Anyone see it differently?

godskook

@Chemus, can Silent Image explicitly work this way such that there's a contention?

Chemus

@godskook Not certainly. But if disguise self doesn't require concentration (or if his commentary option of 2 casters 'nesting' equivalent illusions were used) then it's possible to try

godskook

@Chemus, Disguise Self doesn't list Concentration in the duration

It just says 1 hour

Chemus

Though he only lists 3 options, the 'destructive interaction' of the two spells might be a useful answer. But that's kinda on the DM.

SmokeDetector

5:50 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer: Is the omission of a racial +2 to wisdom intentional? by anna luccy on rpg.SE

BESW

6:58 AM

Hmm. Okay, thought re: courtroom RPGs. There's a number of RPGs (Clink and InSpectres off the top of my head) which allow interrupting the action for a flashback or aside to assert something about past or concurrent events which is useful to the immediate situation.

It might be interesting to play out a game where the entire campaign is framed within the courtroom, and all exterior scenes are interruptions to establish context for a given courtroom event.

trogdor

that seems like it could get a little long winded on the interruption side. XD not that it's a bad thing

BESW

Probably it should be triggered by some kind of limited resource.

trogdor

yeah fair enough

but I meant more like, how long winded can the interruptions be?

BESW

If I were designing it, I'd borrow a lot from Microscope: context scenes start by asking a specific question, and they end as soon as that question is answered.

trogdor

seems like a decent idea

nwp

7:09 AM

Maybe the interruptions with backstory are more interesting than the courtroom and don't need to be limited.

BESW

In my version, the limited resource for interruptions would be based on InSpectres-like resources for contacts, money, investigation, etc. Running out of resources would mean everything's been established that can be established and the case needs to be finished with what you've got.

trogdor

@nwp it isn't about the interest,... so much as the conceit of the game itself

BESW

It's a natural limit to the entire campaign. Court cases don't drag on and on forever unless there's unusual circumstances--which would be represented by adjusting the resources at the beginning.

Think of it less as "You need to spend more time in the courtroom" and more as "You've got to try the case you have, not the case you want."

trogdor

yeah

there is that

but in my limited understanding, the judge probably isn't going to like it if you detour into information that isn't important to the case at all

time spent is still at least a "come on you are wasting everyone's time for the day right now"

BESW

is clifford the big red dog a kaiju

Tweeted by yiffpolice on June 29, 2017 at 8:15 AM

trogdor

7:33 AM

XD

doppelgreener

8:17 AM

just learned this is a thing:

29

Q: Set fire to people in chat

How many times have you been overwhelmed by your desire to set fire to people in Stack Exchange chat? Well now you can! Arqade Fire Get Chrome Extension Get Grease Monkey User Script Arqade Fire is a chat message immolation tool that will burn away messages. It adds a small extra button nex...

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BESW

8:28 AM

doppelgreener

8:39 AM

:D

trogdor

9:35 AM

XD

Miniman

9:46 AM

@doppelgreener Does this make anyone else think of Desktop Destroyer?

BESW

@Miniman [sudden waves of memory]

doppelgreener

9:57 AM

oh man

trogdor

of what now?

doppelgreener

i remember that one :D

---->

it was an app you could download and run to utterly destroy your own desktop for funsies

trogdor

huh

I don't think I can recall something like that

doppelgreener

trogdor was too busy burninating countrysides to burninate his desktop

Miniman

10:23 AM

As long as we're on this memory lane, anyone remember esheep?

BESW

10:50 AM

@Miniman ping @nitsua60.

Miniman

11:03 AM

Heh heh heh.

BESW

@Miniman What I remember like that is Petz.

daze413

What is esheep?

Googled it. Ah nope, never heard of it. Looks cute tho. And looks too much like those annoying pop up Ads

trogdor

11:20 AM

I had like, Tomagatchi pets, or whatever the brand of the one I had was

in fact I think it was definitely a different one than that

because the device that poped up on the image search for it was actually too small

oh wait, they had different sizes

it might have been after all

but it was great because I loved penguins as a kid, and mine had favorite food listed as "watermelon" so instant connection was made

Magician

12:51 PM

I'm done. Freeze my account.

T.J.L.

@Magician Ha ha ha.

nwp

@Magician someone is gonna up or downvote something just to spite you :P

T.J.L.

@nwp <cue innocent whistling>

Magician

Oh, no doubt. I've barely participated over the last year, and the score has steadily crept upwards

...you villain

T.J.L.

@Magician I have been called worse, sir!

nwp

12:54 PM

I turned off my phone.

T.J.L.

@Magician Actually, it was an amusing question I picked. I've wondered the same thing about Yuan-Ti Purebloods, do they lay eggs? :)

Magician

There is undoubtedly an AD&D book that goes into the details. Ask it :)

trogdor

@Magician do it, do it noooooooow XD

NautArch

@nwp i'm on it! <insert evil laugh> @Magician

Magician

Can confirm, my rep is ruined forever.

T.J.L.

12:59 PM

@Magician Done.

Magician

I'm just amazed I caught it at the round number, I wasn't trying to do so.

nwp

still shows 10k for me

I recommend serial downvoting in order to keep the 10k stable.

@trogdor your name sounds like this in my head

godskook

1:13 PM

@T.J.L., have you checked 3.0/3.5's monster manuals?

One of the later ones had Yuan-ti lore in it.

iirc

Not a LOT, but if you haven't read it, worth the read.

T.J.L.

@godskook I actually just added a bit there. I have Serpent Kingdoms for 3E. I was really thinking older stuff or material from periodicals, like on the owlbear answer. TSR liked a lot more fiddly little detail than WOTC does.

It's actually not entirely a curiousity question, either. I've got a Yuan-Ti Pureblood in one game.

nitsua60

@BESW you rang? No, I don't remember esheep.

@T.J.L. Do you have Volo? It's got a large Y-T section, though I only read it back when it came out, so don't remember whether it addresses this question. If not, when I get home I can check for you.

godskook

1:31 PM

MMIV was the book I was thinking about.

Also, this might help

Yuan-ti

The yuan-ti are a fictional species of evil snakemen in the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The species comprises a number of castes. In some campaign settings, the yuan-ti are descended from evil human cultists who mixed their bloodlines with those of serpents. They have formidable psychic abilities. == Publication history == The yuan-ti were introduced to the D&D game in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. === Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977–1988) === The original yuan-ti castes were the abominations, the halfbreeds, and the purebloods, which ...

T.J.L.

@nitsua60 I do, and it doesn't.

@godskook I was unaware there even was a Monster Manual IV. I didn't GM 3rd Ed, and have a near eidetic memory, so I deliberately avoided purchasing or reading things that would spoil things for me.

godskook

@T.J.L. "Yuan-ti society as described The Ecology of the Yuan-Ti, Dragon #151, 1989 was divided into the pureblood, halfbreed and abomination castes. The histachii were described as the progenitors of the yuan-ti. It was necessary for the yuan-ti to acquire human captives to turn into histachii, as breeding between any of three yuan-ti castes resulted only in abominations, while histachii could produce purebloods and halfbreeds.[3]"

@T.J.L. that's from the wiki and sounds exactly like what you're looking for.

ShadowKras

So yuan-ti, back then, were heavily inspired by deep ones.

Miniman

@nitsua60 I'd be pretty amazed if you did - they were a thing when I was in primary school.

godskook

@T.J.L., is that worth whipping into an answer?

T.J.L.

1:44 PM

@godskook It doesn't answer the question as asked, though "Dragon #151" seems to be the right source for an answer, if there is one.

godskook

Well, I won't have access to it until tonight.

Good luck

doppelgreener

@Magician

Congratulations, citizen. Your request has been processed. Your clone batch will be eliminated in ERROR INTEGER OUT OF RANGE working days.

Magician

...did you just modedit the chat message after it's been there too long to be edited normally? :P

I mean, thank you, Friend Computer

doppelgreener

@Magician You're welcome, citizen.

nitsua60

@Magician yeah, I definitely don't view that as the single best perk of having a diamond [guilty grin]

doppelgreener

1:56 PM

@nitsua60 it's pretty high up there 8)

nitsua60

@doppelgreener The hat, though. For me, that... (wait for it)... tops it.

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

i get it

NautArch

2:41 PM

oooh, witcher 3 down to $24 on steam.

related: are any of the Fallout 3 DLC not worth the cost?

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