« first day (2547 days earlier)      last day (2714 days later) » 

nitsua60
nitsua60
00:26
@Miniman so tempted to downvote this for "he's the authority on these matters." =D
trogdor
trogdor
Mk I will probably have some time around 4:30
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
hey there @nitsua60
Miniman
Miniman
@nitsua60 Hey, you do what you gotta do.
BESW
BESW
On 10/23 we start #BlackBag Detectives is set in 1977 NYC on @SavingThrowShow . This new season, we'll be using @EvilHatOfficial #Fate
Tweeted by platemailgames on September 19, 2017 at 3:55 PM
Ben
Ben
00:39
user image
BESW
BESW
Yawp.
nitsua60
nitsua60
@Shalvenay hiya
Yuuki
Yuuki
@BESW Hmm... I'm not sure that's correct. Mainly because nobody ever explicitly taught me how to walk and I walk heel-first. IIRC, a big thing in marching band is teaching the newbies to walk a different way, no?
Of course if you need to move quickly and abruptly, being on the balls of your feet is better. That's what I learned playing tennis, but just everyday walking is instinctively heel-first.
I think.
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
hey again @Yuuki
BESW
BESW
I wouldn't know about marching band, but we learn a lot of things we were never explicitly taught.
Yuuki
Yuuki
00:51
Yo.
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
hey as well @Ben
@Yuuki how're things going over there? staying dry?
Yuuki
Yuuki
@Shalvenay I will admit that my butt puckered a little bit yesterday when it rained for the first time in two weeks.
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Yuuki I take it things are slowly returning to normal as well?
Yuuki
Yuuki
Can you get PTSD from rain?
Because I think I have PTSD from rain.
Well, not PTSD but heightened anxiety.
BESW
BESW
Sure, natural disasters are traumatic. ...especially the way America tends to handle them.
Ben
Ben
01:06
@BESW I do like the idea of "Let's turn Irma into a Llama" (Emperor's New Groove pun). Lightens the anxiety a bit.
As opposed to "Let's shoot at a hurricane because guns ae the answer to everything"
@Yuuki I don't think you can get PTSD for rain in itself, but perhaps you feel that rain can be a trigger for PTSD, for something more severe?
 
1 hour later…
Ben
Ben
02:18
So... am currently at work. Someone's asked me to do a job for them. No problem.
I let them know how long it'll take - they get confused, normally it would take longer, following the process that they use.
I try to explain how my process works. It is different, and a bit technical, so they get confused, and frustrated.
I prove that it works, and they still get upset, because they don't understand how it works, even though they can see, and agree, that it works.
I mean, it's good that people are willing to be more efficient... but it can be frustrating to teach some people sometimes
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
yeah, that it can be
Ben
Ben
I personally, can't really understand things unless I'm given a working example of what happens. Analogy works well too - comparison with a similar process.
Others can really only learn through familiarity.
BESW
BESW
Broadly speaking I've found the concept of schema helps a LOT when I'm guiding people to learn new material.
Ben
Ben
Then you get the really talented people like @miniman that just absorb things first time :D
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
02:33
so, I've been thinking about how a "long form" fey summoning rite would look/work
Ben
Ben
@Shalvenay "long form"?
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
as in a ritual summon more akin to a planar binding, vs a short-form, "need help nao" combat-type summoning spell
Ben
Ben
@Shalvenay Ah right. Your 10-minute rituals
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
yeah
I was thinking about using the summoning circle concept, but instead of the ol' fiendish pentagram, inscribing a rank-3 Sierpinski triangle instead ("triangle of three")
Miniman
Miniman
@Ben Oh crap, I recognise this. He's about to ask me to for a favour.
Ben
Ben
02:35
I always imagined that rituals would be mostly sitting in a ring of strange items (powders, beetle legs, etc), mumbling under one's breath
@Miniman When I have one to ask... sure :P
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
and the results of the ritual can be varied by omitting triangles in certain places
Ben
Ben
@Shalvenay Have you ever read the Bartimaeus Trilogy?
I like the depiction of "Summoning circles" they had in that series. Basically; 2 circles, connected by a row of incantations, inscribed on the ground. The smaller one for the summoner, ringed with protection spells, in the instance that the summoned creature may become hostile; and a larger circle for the summoned creature, surrounded by spells of binding.
It was a cool concept :)
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
@Ben I have not, but that actually makes sense
I take it the row of incantations controls what sort of creature you get out?
(and p.s. runaway summons suck, no matter who you are or what you're summoning :P)
(watches druid chasing summoned bear down the main street)
Ben
Ben
@Shalvenay Well, in the story, the whole practice was dangerous - if the summoner stepped out of the circle, the whole incantation was broken, allowing the Djinni freedom, for the instant they remained in the 1st plane of existence.
However, I can see that working that way
BESW
BESW
03:22
@doppelgreener I'm trying to use Violentmonkey instead of Greasemonkey, and the Fudge script seems broken.
doppelgreener
doppelgreener
03:49
@BESW I'll have to check that out next week when I'm back in the UK.
BESW
BESW
Aight.
Ben
Ben
04:03
@BESW So ghetto
Adeptus
Adeptus
04:19
@BESW Violentmonkey keeps throwing... "Fudge"?
BESW
BESW
You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment.
 
1 hour later…
BESW
BESW
05:38
Obduction is $18 on GoG.
It didn't live up to its hype, but it was interesting nonetheless.
...And The Witness is $16. That's pretty good.
 
1 hour later…
Adeptus
Adeptus
06:57
@BESW Abe's Oddysee is free. On both GoG and Humble.
BESW
BESW
I'm not familiar. Is it good?
Adeptus
Adeptus
07:13
I've never actually played it. But it was well-received when it was released 20 years ago
trogdor
trogdor
@BESW never played it, but it is supposed to be really good
I have played Strangers Wrath though, and I really liked that
Adeptus
Adeptus
@BESW has good reviews on GoG and Steam too (also free on Steam)
trogdor
trogdor
though I understand they are very different games
kviiri
kviiri
Yeah, Stranger's Wrath is a 3D third-person action-shooter-platformer-thingy, while Abe's Oddysee is a 2D puzzle platformer like the original Prince of Persia.
trogdor
trogdor
mhmm
just mentioning it as, I dunno, proof that they made good games
kviiri
kviiri
07:35
Yeah
Abe's Oddysee was a bit too puzzlish for me. The early parts of the game set in the Rupture Farms were fun though.
BESW
BESW
It appears to be a bit too Windows-only for me.
I've been trying The Talos Principle lately, and been deeply underwhelmed.
trogdor
trogdor
@BESW doesn't compare well to The Witness huh?
BESW
BESW
Doesn't even hold up well according to its own self-identified principles, so far.
And the sagging is in ways and places that I don't think can turn out to be a clever twist.
The puzzles themselves are okay. Not great, not terrible.
But the framing, which is what's supposed to be so amazing about the game, is so... small... compared to what it should be.
Miniman
Miniman
07:51
@Adeptus I picked it up this morning - I've been wondering whether it was a coincidence all day.
BESW
BESW
You could have made your robot temples look like ANYthing, and they're generic Western church-gothic. You had all of human existence to choose the three philosophical periods to best illustrate your point, and you chose Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Medieval Europe.
trogdor
trogdor
Egypt sounds like it was a good choice, if possibly overdone
but the other two are definitely overdone
BESW
BESW
Eh, Egypt is just focused on a weird re-telling of the Book of the Dead as metaphor for the game.
trogdor
trogdor
well I didn't know that
I just know that Ancient Egypt was awesome
BESW
BESW
And I'm okay with overdone if it's a good fit for your philosophical point. But in a game about the nature of consciousness and the physicality of the self vs the intangibiity of the soul, you skipped all of India and Asia.
Honestly Egypt was the best choice of the three, because the Ka and the Ba work well with the game's allegory.
But, um, hi. Your game is a literal re-enactment of the cycle of reincarnation. Throw me a bone here.
trogdor
trogdor
07:55
lol
Adeptus
Adeptus
@Miniman Apparently it's to celebrate its 20th anniversary
BESW
BESW
(The game's conceit is that you're playing one of many many programs solving puzzles in a digital simulation in order to test for true artificial intelligence. The simulation has been running a very long time, overseen by something that calls itself Elohim and presents itself as the programs' creator.)
kviiri
kviiri
So deep.
:P
BESW
BESW
08:14
It has potential, along the lines of Bioshock, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Witness, to comment directly on the nature of the video game experience.
But nope, not really.
Instead, it's tossed philosophical salad for everybody.
trogdor
trogdor
lol
@BESW so what was your idea earlier today?
BESW
BESW
Okay, so.... NAB? I'm gonna copy-pasta some stuff.
trogdor
trogdor
mk
 
1 hour later…
kviiri
kviiri
09:40
One of my players wants to change gods (from Kelemvor, the god of Death, to Lathander, the god of Rebirth) for their cleric and wants the process to be meaningful in-game. (I offered the switch as a total freebie, but he wanted to make it more like a journey of character growth, and I'm ok with that)
Ideas for a cool quest that would serve as a rite of passage/spiritual growth and that would naturally include the rest of the party too?
Anne Aunyme
Anne Aunyme
09:59
who are the rest of the party?
did the character already decide to change his deity, or is it only the player's idea?
Anaphory
Anaphory
@kviiri I have no idea about these gods, but I had my mythic-Greek players essentially do a travel into the underworld/HeroQuest/enaction of the Eleusinian Mysteries at some point to fix what was wrong with Hades.
kviiri
kviiri
They're all professional adventurers, part of a society that trains and organizes heroes as a public service. There's an elf druid, a human fighter, elf rogue and gnome ranger.
The character already has felt a sense of spiritual disconnection, but it's mostly the player at this point.
I'm not really a fan of making my players run though hoops to play the characters they want to play, but I can see this being a major, interesting plotline for the character as long as it's not overdone.
Anaphory
Anaphory
@kviiri I don't think it's making them jump through hoops when they ask for it.
kviiri
kviiri
@Anaphory I dunno, I think DnD sort of conditions players to the idea that everything has to be earned.
Anaphory
Anaphory
10:15
In that case maybe you could have Lathander pick up that “stray” cleric and take him in even before a quest, and let the player decide how fast the character is willing to accept it? Reading short bits about that god, he might be one to do that?
kviiri
kviiri
Yeah, we sort of started that way.
Now I need a proper quest that makes it feel significant :)
Anaphory
Anaphory
10:32
Where would Lathander and Kelemvor differ? Can you build a quest that is an explicit decision between them?
kviiri
kviiri
I'm not really an expert on the lore, but the player said he finds the grave domain to fall rather flat both mechanically and thematically, and wants his character to focus more on life than death.
I mean, his thing was mainly healing people because they weren't meant to die yet, and performing ceremonial burial to those who had already passed.
BESW
BESW
Rebirth... redemption, second chances, hope, renewal, psychopompery. Against anything which halts the soul's progress--such as many forms of the undead.
I once had a character accidentally dedicate himself to the goddess of redemption in my 4e campaign.
kviiri
kviiri
This would be easy if he was making a sort of redemption move, but Kelemvor is not evil or anything. It would be uncharacteristic for him or his priests to give pursuit to someone who changed their allegiance.
BESW
BESW
Nah, you don't need to be evil in order to need redemption.
"The character already has felt a sense of spiritual disconnection."
He needs a second chance, a renewal of faith.
You don't have to be Saul on the road to Damascus to experience a moment of grace.
kviiri
kviiri
Yeah but I mean, making a move from Evil to Good would be an easy quest opportunity: don't get killed by the agents of the Evil god who seek to off traitors.
BESW
BESW
10:46
I'd suggest working closely with the player on this, but what comes to mind is presenting a situation where the guidance of Kelemvor is insufficient to the choices at hand... and somehow give him Lathander's guidance as an alternative.
kviiri
kviiri
Hmm, that's a good starting point
BESW
BESW
Oh, and the cool thing about neither god being directly opposed to the other? He doesn't need to make the transition in a Saul moment.
He can try to balance both for a while.
That's the great thing about pantheons which D&D tends to miss out on.
20
A: How would an Unaligned Vecna worshiper refrain from being/becoming Evil

BESWThe D&D gods are a pantheon I'll get into Vecna's personal issues later and how they make this weird, but a common mistake in trying to get a handle on the D&D pantheon is forgetting that pantheistic cultures have much more complicated relationships with their gods than monotheistic cultures. A...

kviiri
kviiri
@BESW Yeah, that's true.
@BESW Heh, I always try to stress out to my players that people aren't usually monotheistic or even mono-alignment in terms of gods they worship, but most people still like the idea of picking one true patron deity :)
BESW
BESW
Hmmm. I did a workup on Wee Jas as a god of death that might be an alternative way to look at Kelemvor's portfolio, instead... [rummages]
kviiri
kviiri
Tiamat is one of my particular favorites, because as a god of greed and wealth she is a natural one to worship for even perfectly honest businessmen. Or greedy misers who still fall short of being truly Evil.
BESW
BESW
10:58
Jan 29 '16 at 12:40, by BESW
I once designed a church of Wee Jas that was dedicated to impartial justice and the proper order of things. One of their self-appointed tasks was making sure people met their proper fates. Sometimes this meant proper burial rights and the occasional vampire staking or zombie beheading, but it also meant they claimed legal jurisdiction to judge murders.
> Keeping the dead in the ground and keeping the living out of the ground before their proper time. They despised resurrection and reanimation magic, but were fine with spells that let you chat with the dead.
3.5 Wee Jas's portfolios, for confusing reasons of tradition, wound up being Death, Magic, Love/Vanity, and Law. So I made her a goddess of destiny: Some things in life are inevitable, and if you accept that she's there to celebrate with you in the good and support you during the bad. But if you try to buck the inevitable, she's there to shove you back on the foretold path.
The fun part is figuring out how a god's portfolio actually intersects with everyday life, and extrapolating policies and doctrines from that.
kviiri
kviiri
11:15
That sounds a bit like some bits from American syncretic faiths like voodoo.
kviiri
kviiri
11:27
This player has been playing the grave/death domain as a very "friendly" death priest too. Not really a beacon of laughter, but definitely positive about the fact that everything has to die. ("But not just yet", he adds, healing his wounded comrade)
Anne Aunyme
Anne Aunyme
12:07
Maybe someone important in Kelemvor's clergy just died, and it would be great if he was resurrected. However Kelemvor can't (for political divine reasons) resurrect his own servant, so it has to be a worshipper of some other deity.
So the inquisition of the clergy decides the best is to make that guy who is already borderline with Kelemvor's concepts pass to the side of Lathander. They just throw him outside of the cult, make an agreement with Lathander's clergy so he can join them after he proves him worthy, and here is the quest.
You can (and should) even use this quest as a plothook for your main campaign and/or make it reveal secrets for an other PC's backstory.
I know all this stuff doesn't involves deities as much as cults around them, but it sound less cheesy to me than the weird "you had some dream last night where you saw three fat cows and three skinny ones" when the player already know what's up.
@BESW funny to see how in Pathfinder the goddess of 2nd chances is like the most important one of the good side of the pantheon, and in DD it is a minor one
kviiri
kviiri
12:36
@AnneAunyme I dunno, we do this kind of stuff all the time.
Shipped the new issue of my inter-session newsletter. One of the PCs' mentor is dead, the collective boss-friend of the PCs' has disappeared, their HQ is under attack. Good setup for an "end-of-season" session.
Anne Aunyme
Anne Aunyme
12:51
Tough times!
@kviiri I mean it is weird when you make it sound mysterious but everyone is already aware about what it means
kviiri
kviiri
@AnneAunyme I don't think it's that weird, tbh.
I'm completely fine with my players acting out confusion they aren't a part of :P
Anne Aunyme
Anne Aunyme
That's just a question of point of view, it's totally ok to play your way!
I know I often have less fun roleplaying incomprehension when as a player I completely get what's happening.
kviiri
kviiri
I personally enjoy it the most when the players are far more genre-savvy than their characters :P
BESW
BESW
13:15
Ah, once again we ambushed by that most persistent of bugbears, Immersion.
Anne Aunyme
Anne Aunyme
13:34
I was talking more about specific details than general genre-savvyness. If I play a dumb goblin, find a necklace, as a player recognize the strange symbol on it as the one some NPC told us one year ago was a symbol of bad luck, I don't like having to put it on just because my character shouldn't have remembered this fact.
KorvinStarmast
KorvinStarmast
There's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on. While the shake in Mexico today has a rising death toll, there's a lot of seismic activity (and a bit over a week ago there was a big one (8.1) off shore further south)
A bit more powerful than an "earthquake" spell.
NautArch
NautArch
13:49
there's definitely some malevolent caster or maybe te fiti is pissed.
kviiri
kviiri
@AnneAunyme I know some people have successful experiences with keeping player and character knowledge neatly tied together, but most of the time I've tried it (except for some rather specific purposes) people meta around it anyway.
Can't really blame them, people like knowing things.
So I usually let just players know a lot of stuff liberally and then they take bad options knowingly because they tend to be the interesting ones :)
Of course, that's something that works way better in eg. Apocalypse World than it does in DnD.
Yuuki
Yuuki
Hmm... is there a TRPG that's themed specifically around buddy cop adventures?
NautArch
NautArch
14:20
@nitsua60 found this for you
 
1 hour later…
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
15:42
@NautArch Nice.
RobertF
RobertF
Woohoo, Humble Bundle offering a good deal on pdf copies of the 1st and 2nd edition Warhammer RPG books: humblebundle.com/books/warhammer-rpg-books
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
Having recently had it driven home to me that the 5e spellcasting sheet is pretty useless if you don't already have every detail memorized, I'm looking for something that will be better for new players, with room for the basics of each spell (casting time, level, range, etc.) and some notes/reminders on how each works. Suggestions?
I know there are spell cards, but flipping through all the possible cleric spells doesn't seem like it'd be much of an improvement - a single list would be better. So far, my best idea is to repurpose a GURPS 3e grimoire sheet.
Yuuki
Yuuki
As far as pen & paper goes, the spellcasting sheet does kinda suck.
But there are several electronic sheets that handle spellcasting better.
NautArch
NautArch
@SirTechSpec I haven't tried to create a character on DNDBeyond yet, can you do a custom spellbook for them for anyone who has tried to build one?
@SirTechSpec also, they only have access to the cleric spells they've prepared. It's a much smaller subset that may be more manageable.
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
@NautArch True, but I think 12 cards (level 5, WIS +4, 3 cantrips) would still be a bit much. And then there's choosing spells to prepare... :P
NautArch
NautArch
15:53
@SirTechSpec I mean, the problem seems to be more that there is a large number of spells and not necessarily an issue with the display. This is a fairly standard experience design problem. Does it have to be physical or is an electronic idea okay?
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
@NautArch The spellcasting on DND Beyond characters is... decent. I like that it will display the attack bonus or required save inline. However, any other details require you to click each spell to expand, which is... just okay.
@NautArch This player doesn't use a computer during play and doesn't have a smartphone, so physical would definitely be preferable.
NautArch
NautArch
Hmm, then any paper solution is going to create a volume issue. What about making a spreadsheet for them?
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
The more I think about it, the more I think a grimoire sheet is the way to go - the list/table format is what I'm after. I was just hoping someone already had a good one with columns for 5e info rather than GURPS info.
DForck42
DForck42
mornin
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
@DForck42 For a few more minutes, yes :)
DForck42
DForck42
15:57
@SirTechSpec just over 2 samurai here
NautArch
NautArch
@SirTechSpec I'm not sure how legit this is, feel free to delete this if it's not. But there is this and you can download a CSV of it.
howdy @DForck42
almost time for me to try out the scallop tacos at a delicious taco joint that i'm currently addicted to
DForck42
DForck42
@NautArch nice
so yeah, I'm ready for my current campaign to be over. the mix of a terribly designed module with not a great dm is wearing me down. I like my dm as a friend, and I enjoy playing board games with him, but he really shouldn't be a dm
Mike Q
Mike Q
@Yuuki I don't know if there's a system specifically built for buddy cop adventures, but I've realized that you can easily ad lib one by getting two friends and running them through a story made of buddy cop story cliches. And it works.
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 I feel ya.
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
@DForck42 Trying to avoid that is why I didn't sign up for the Starfinder game at my FLGS - the idea of going through a published adventure path actually appeals to me (as far as not having to put quite as much faith in the adventure-writing abilities of people I don't know well), but the GM is strictly interested in the combat/strategy part of RPGs, not roleplaying at all. I figure that would get old for me pretty quickly, even though I also do like combat.
DForck42
DForck42
16:05
@NautArch an example. last night we were on our third fight for the night (in 3 hours) and everyone was getting a bit tired. fighting gets boring after a while. so the dm's wife sets up a reaction of a thing becomes hostile, and said thing became hostile, but she was distracted on her phone. her turn comes around and basically the dm intestinally didn't tell her that her reaction would have gone off
@SirTechSpec it DOES get old. I tried warhammer once... it took 4! hours for a single fight
Mike Q
Mike Q
@Yuuki Take a simple plot like Lethal Weapon or Bad Boys, then simply rename stuff according to the setting ("town guard" for D&D, "imperium inquisitors" for 40k...). Maybe start by assigning which player is the "loose cannon" and which is the "straight and serious" type.
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 that's not cool
Although I generally agree that if you're not paying attention, you suffer the consequences
DForck42
DForck42
@NautArch agreed, but this was just petty
he also tends to have an "us vs them" mentality
Yuuki
Yuuki
@DForck42 Someone's sleeping on the couch tonight.
NautArch
NautArch
@Yuuki haha, I missed that it was his wife. That's poor decision making.
SirTechSpec
SirTechSpec
16:18
@NautArch Questionable judgment as well as questionable GMing, for sure. XD
Yuuki
Yuuki
@SirTechSpec My issue has always been that while I like RPing, I'm not good at it and it results in me disappearing into the background.
Mike Q
Mike Q
16:34
@Yuuki That is understandable. Do you prefer DMs who target you for a RP scenario, or do you prefer other players to take the focus and you can jump in when you want?
DForck42
DForck42
@MikeQ I prefer jumping in
Yuuki
Yuuki
@MikeQ I prefer jumping in but I also wish I was better at RPing.
DForck42
DForck42
@Yuuki it helps to have othe rplayers that are also willing to commit
in my current game there's just no time for rp, it's all fighting cause we want to finish the module before the dm starts college
Adam
Adam
@Yuuki Don't dream it, be it!
Yuuki
Yuuki
@Adam Maybe I should take anti-anxiety meds before D&D?
Adam
Adam
16:44
Not quite what I meant :p Just make small incremental steps to change things. Actively set a realistic and achievable goal, work toward it, achieve it, and then set another goal.
You say that you wish you were better at it. Well I believe that you have the power to get better at it for reals. You just have to make small, less nebulous, actionable goals to get there.
NautArch
NautArch
@Adam for real reals?
Mike Q
Mike Q
@Yuuki I agree with @Adam. Start where you're comfortable, make little steps. Don't force yourself to be the party face, but whenever you see an opportunity (for your PC) to say something, then go for it. You will get better at it (and in the process, less anxious in those situations) over time.
Adam
Adam
for real reals realz
NautArch
NautArch
out of pure curiosity, in a somewhat offtopic...anyone play fantasy football?
Yuuki
Yuuki
@NautArch Like gambling or like Bloodbowl?
DForck42
DForck42
16:47
@Adam reels
NautArch
NautArch
@Yuuki gambling, although i realized the play on words in the RPG.SE context of fantasy
Yuuki
Yuuki
@NautArch I barely know enough about football to follow a football game so I've avoided fantasy football.
DForck42
DForck42
@Yuuki we talking American football or rest of the world football?
NautArch
NautArch
@Yuuki hehe. I had considered starting a stack for it, but I don't think the format really works.
DForck42
DForck42
@NautArch is there a sportsball stack yet?
Yuuki
Yuuki
16:57
Well, chess exists and some people consider it a sport.
And yet those same people will say that esports aren't sports.
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 i don't think so...and the problem is the relevancy for questions for fantasy is very short-lived.
I've had general arguments with folks on what constitutes a sport.
Mike Q
Mike Q
Why gamble on fantasy football when you could gamble on steampunk rugby or sci-fi basketball?
NautArch
NautArch
I tend to lean more on objective benchmarks for winning rather than objective. It doesn't mean that subjective things don't require immense training, skill, etc. but once a winner isn't objectively chosen, then it clouds the win.
@MikeQ I mean, you could do fantasy e-sports. The idea behind it is that you draft your team of existing real-world players on others teams. As long as there is an analogue, you can do it. There's even fantasy movie league based on box office sales.
DForck42
DForck42
@Yuuki that's why I called it sportsball, cause it's sports with at least one ball
godskook
godskook
@NautArch Such as?
NautArch
NautArch
17:09
@godskook Gymnastics, diving, figure skating
godskook
godskook
@NautArch What about football and baseball?
With their DESPERATE need for referees to adjudicate key gameplay features?
NautArch
NautArch
@godskook those have objective scoring systems.
the refs adjuciate the validity of a play, not the quality of the play.
they may have an impact, but they aren't THE impact.
Yuuki
Yuuki
@NautArch So what you're saying is that you're not a Cleveland fan?
godskook
godskook
@NautArch And this is?
Code of Points (artistic gymnastics)
A Code of Points is a rulebook that defines the scoring system for each level of competition in gymnastics. There is no unified, international code of points; every oversight organization — such as FIG (Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique), NCAA Gymnastics, and most national gymnastics federations — designs and employs its own unique Code of Points. == The FIG Code of Points == Gymnasts competing at lower levels or outside the FIG's jurisdiction (e.g., NCAA gymnastics and local club teams) are not scored according to the FIG code. === 2006 revised Code === In 2006, the Code of Points and the...
NautArch
NautArch
@godskook Subjective. If a different judge can award points differently, then it's subjective. If the code means that anyone looking at the event gives it the same score, then it's objective.
but they don't all give it the same score when following the code, which means they are subjectively deciding how/when to award those points.
Yuuki
Yuuki
17:20
Judging by the Olympics, figure skating is NOT objectively scored. By any means.
Well, I guess there's the objective measure of how much money your nation managed to funnel into each judge surreptitiously.
NautArch
NautArch
A potential equivalent is saying that a soccer ball going into the net is 1 goal. But if someone can say, "well, the ball didn't go in as well as the other goal, so I'm just going to give .8 points", then it's subjective.
Zachiel
Zachiel
I hate it when my IT manager gets sassy.
Mike Q
Mike Q
@Zachiel Have you tried turning them off and on again?
5
NautArch
NautArch
@Zachiel are they plugged in?
Zachiel
Zachiel
@MikeQ I don't want to turn on my IT manager. He has a wife for that.
Mike Q
Mike Q
17:28
@Zachiel Get your mind out of the elemental plane of gutters! The generic meaning of "to turn someone on" is to complement them, speak to them in a nice way, or do something to put them in a pleasant mood.
GreySage
GreySage
@MikeQ I was thinking "turn on" as betray. Like "The rogue turned on us and sold us into goblinoid slavery".
Which started me thinking, why is the IT managers wife turning on him? And why do you explicitly need to avoid that?
Zachiel
Zachiel
Hahahaha
I guess I had him feel a little too like a mere tool when I e-mailed him the problem with my PC and a link to the official microsoft page with the announcement of the bug and how to solve it.
Mike Q
Mike Q
@GreySage English grammar is weird. "The rogue turned on us" is different than "The rogue turned us on."
GreySage
GreySage
@MikeQ Although both can be equally likely with some rogues
Zachiel
Zachiel
All the same, I don't feel "How lucky that someone wasted his time to find a solution that's someone else's job to find!" was the best e-mail I could have got this morning.
Mike Q
Mike Q
17:39
@Zachiel What? That's just plain rude. You did them a favor. Don't write anything back, just leave it as is and let them stew in their bitterness.
NautArch
NautArch
@MikeQ or toss a friendly Maui 'You're welcome" back at him :)
Yuuki
Yuuki
@Zachiel Tell him that his robot overlords won't appreciate his sass in the future.
Mike Q
Mike Q
No no. Don't respond - it won't lead anywhere good. Among the people you never want to fight with at work, you certainly don't want to anger the person who controls your work computer and can access your internet usage.
Yuuki
Yuuki
As someone who works in IT, you also don't want to anger people who can send an endless wave of tickets at you.
It goes both ways and I'm tired of the "don't piss off IT" high horse that a bunch of other IT professionals seem to have.
Mike Q
Mike Q
Why is that a high horse? It's practical advice.
Yuuki
Yuuki
17:45
The rule should be "don't piss off anyone". IT shouldn't have some special regard over everyone else.
GreySage
GreySage
@Yuuki Fighting at work is just a bad idea in general
DForck42
DForck42
@Yuuki I have a BA for that
NautArch
NautArch
@GreySage i have a BAT for that.
Mike Q
Mike Q
Well, sure. But those aren't mutually exclusive. "You shouldn't annoy the IT people" is different from "You can annoy anyone except for IT people" (which I don't think anyone is saying)
Yuuki
Yuuki
I've run into more than my fair share of IT guys who basically go around saying "don't talk back to me, I can melt your hard drive" or something to that regard.
Where on earth is that an appropriate response?
DForck42
DForck42
17:48
@Yuuki it's not
GreySage
GreySage
@Yuuki If they ever did something like that, they would be in WAY more trouble than you would be for losing your harddrive (especially because you keep backups, right?)
Yuuki
Yuuki
Eh, maybe because it's a (relatively) new field and it's going through growing pains, but some of the "revenge" stories I've heard from IT guys makes me really... concerned.
DForck42
DForck42
@Yuuki if by new you mean 50 years...
Mike Q
Mike Q
@Zachiel @Yuuki More realistically, an annoyed IT professional would react passive-aggressively. So if you annoy the IT folks (who are stereotypically impatient), they won't destroy all your files, but they may be noticeably slow the next time you ask for help.
Yuuki
Yuuki
@DForck42 Relatively speaking.
godskook
godskook
17:57
@Yuuki, I've only had working relationships with 4 IT guys, and all 4 were AMAZING.
Mike Q
Mike Q
But it's not like IT are unique in this position. If you annoy HR, they may be slow the next time you ask them for some paperwork. If you annoy the secretary, they may "forget" to inform you of things. Of course, these are more likely if you're dealing with grouchy and bitter people. Friendly and professional people probably won't resort to that.
DForck42
DForck42
I mean, if people aren't a-holes to each other then there's generally no problems
Mike Q
Mike Q
Generally speaking, yes. I originally using @Zachiel 's scenario, regarding their unreasonably sarcastic IT person who insulted them for trying to offer help, and also going back to @Yuuki's comment about IT folks talking down to other people.
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 can someone tell that to world leaders?
Yuuki
Yuuki
Rule #1: Don't be a jerk.
2
Mike Q
Mike Q
18:05
Agreed. Pretty much a universal concept, but it should be said now and then.
Yuuki
Yuuki
Rule #2: See Rule #1.
Rule #3: Don't talk to me about Fight Club.
Adam
Adam
Diplomacy, Running the Game #40, Politics #3
►
Mike Q
Mike Q
Anyway, speaking of non-sequiturs, has anyone here played/seen the 3.5 "bard-barian" in action? (Asking here for the chance of hearing some personal stories or thoughts)
Yuuki
Yuuki
@MikeQ No, but I'm sure you'll definitely hear one in action.
NautArch
NautArch
@Adam i love matthew colville
Mike Q
Mike Q
18:09
@Yuuki rolls to rimshot
Thomas Ward
Thomas Ward
@MikeQ roll result: nat 20
:P
Adam
Adam
@NautArch As do I. I have learned much about how to run games by watching people like him. Plus his content is entertaining.
NautArch
NautArch
@Adam and his patter is awesome.
DForck42
DForck42
18:23
@NautArch patter?
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 might be wrong word...the way he speaks.
yeah, pretty sure that's not the word i was thinking of.
mostly, I like the way he talks
DForck42
DForck42
@NautArch lol, I was thinking that's what you meant, but the use of that word didnt' make sense
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 yeah, my bad. I'm clearly distracted by work gameday starting in 3 hours.
DForck42
DForck42
@NautArch maybe you meant diction? google.com/…
NautArch
NautArch
@DForck42 yes, thank you!
GreySage
GreySage
18:37
@NautArch Banter?
NautArch
NautArch
@GreySage no, diction was it.
i'd really like to try and answer this question, but I really don't want to wade that directly into the invisible/hidden argument.
Yuuki
Yuuki
@NautArch He got a purty mouth?
NautArch
NautArch
@Yuuki soooweeee yuuuukkiiii
GreySage
GreySage
@NautArch The question is really about GM techniques, not about the mechanics of invisibility
NautArch
NautArch
@GreySage but in order to give guidance, you have to explain the mechanics, no?
Yuuki
Yuuki
18:47
@NautArch No, in order to give Guidance, you have to be a Cleric or Druid.
GreySage
GreySage
@Yuuki heyooo!
NautArch
NautArch
@Yuuki is on fire (evocation wizard now)
Adam
Adam
@NautArch Not necessarily. Since the question is specifically about what happens when you have to guess position, we can safely assume that we are not working with a situation where the target is invisible but the attacker still knows the target's location.
NautArch
NautArch
@Adam hence my question in comments to clarify. THey don't state Hidden, just invisible. which then brings up the mechanics for location when invisible.
Adam
Adam
They emphasize guessing. In order to guess you can't know location. If they are not hidden, you know their location. And if you know their location they aren't hidden.
At most it's worth a one line footnote saying "If they aren't hidden it isn't guessing, so location is known"
NautArch
NautArch
19:00
put my answer in...
GreySage
GreySage
@NautArch I feel like your last sentence is the only one that actually answers the question, but the rest is good "FYI" stuff too
Adam
Adam
Agreed. At its heart, the question is about fair ways to model and NPC guessing the location of a target, even though the player controlling that NPC, the DM, does know the location.
NautArch
NautArch
@GreySage Yes, it just got complicated with the hidden/not hidden issue. Without being actually hidden, there is no need for a random determination.
should I try and reformat so that the answer is clearer?
added a sub-header
Adam
Adam
No matter how much you say "if the creature isn't hidden, then the NPC knows", that doesn't solve the problem where the NPC actually doesn't know and truly has to guess. And I feel that's where the biggest deficiency in your answer is.
NautArch
NautArch
@Adam Hmm, maybe I'll swap my ordering so that's first and then have the supplemental info
Adam
Adam
19:08
I feel your answer is more about "These are the circumstances where the creature guesses, and where it knows" but the question is "When I have to guess, is there a method that I should use to model a guess fairly, given I know where the target is for real?"
Though upon reading the question again, it may be more like "is there a RAW way that the DM is supposed to model a guess?"
In which case "the DM can do whatever they decide feels fair" is useful.
NautArch
NautArch
made some changes, what do you think?
Adam
Adam
Much better. And upvoted.
NautArch
NautArch
grazie!
ooooh, new privilege!
now i have to decide if i want to tackle the OA question.
GreySage
GreySage
19:35
@NautArch It looks really good now
NautArch
NautArch
20:17
@GreySage thanks! was pretty surprised with how quickly it was accepted (in the middle of my edits), but so be it. Have been trying to come up with other ways to randomly select, but dice seem easiest.
nitsua60
nitsua60
@NautArch Same here... =)
NautArch
NautArch
hehehe. i'm completely distracted now that i'm down to the last bit of the workday.
GreySage
GreySage
20:41
@NautArch I still have 3 hours :(
NautArch
NautArch
this relative motion question is pretty interesting. Don't understand the downvote.
GreySage
GreySage
@NautArch I liked it (and ninja'd Hey I Can Chan on the edit).
NautArch
NautArch
hahah, was about to try and edit it, too!
i thought this was straightforward until i realized it wasn't :)
BESW
BESW
Nobody dared go near the tower. A fearsome dragon sat on its top. Until one day, a knight rode up. "Do you need help to get down?" "Please."
Tweeted by MicroSFF on September 19, 2017 at 5:13 PM
NautArch
NautArch
@BESW hahahaahah
reminds me of a my little pony movie i just watched with my daughter
BESW
BESW
20:56
Which one?
NautArch
NautArch
twinkle wish adventure
i had never heard of a lot of the ponies in that one
BESW
BESW
Aaaaah it's Core 7 run ruuuuuun.
NautArch
NautArch
Core 7?
BESW
BESW
My Little Pony comes in generations and revisions. Core 7 is the tail end of Generation 3, just before they scrapped everything and made Friendship is Magic.
G3 is... kinda notorious.
NautArch
NautArch
Whoa
BESW
BESW
21:09
Core 7 was their attempt to "fix" Generation 3 before they gave up on it completely.
Mike Q
Mike Q
What is G3 notorious for? And why is Core 7 bad?
(I know nothing about the context here)
NautArch
NautArch
I just okay the one on Netflix she points at
But dying to know now
BESW
BESW
@MikeQ Ridiculously cheap production values, aggressively thoughtless plots, some of the most brainless lead characters in the history of the franchise... Core 7 improved some of those problems, but at the expense of abandoning the "whole village" concept of the franchise in favor of only making stories and toys for their seven chosen main characters.
Twinkle Wish Adventure is probably the best thing to come out of G3.
It's also one of the very last things made for G3 before they moved on to Generation 4 and Friendship is Magic.
DForck42
DForck42
@BESW ...why is MLP so complicated...?
BESW
BESW
MLP is downright simple compared to, oh say, Transformers.
Mike Q
Mike Q
21:20
Transformers is super simple! It's just "good robots versus bad robots"
with the occasional "also parallel universes and wars and time travel and reincarnation"
BESW
BESW
Occasional. Right.
GreySage
GreySage
@MikeQ I love transformers, but the old stuff REALLY does not hold up well today.
Yuuki
Yuuki
Transformers were created, right?
BESW
BESW
Jun 2 at 1:02, by BESW
@Ben Yes. The Transformers continuity has almost 16 million "clusters" of parallel universes, each cluster containing all the universes which are closely similar to each other.
Mike Q
Mike Q
and a small, tightly-knit core cast of 50+ characters who we all know and love
BESW
BESW
21:22
And got killed off by Orson Welles.
Yuuki
Yuuki
> Nobody knows anyone who plays, but as soon as you decide to DM a game suddenly everyone wants to play and knows someone who wants to play and you have to pick and choose from 12 people to keep the game reasonably small.
5
> "Is.. Is this how it feels to be attractive?" I once said during a ramble about this very subject to my roommate.
BESW
BESW
@Yuuki I would like to have this problem again, please.
Yuuki
Yuuki
@BESW Ah, so you have the other problem.
> Group Finally Schedules Conversation about How Much Fun It Would Be to Play DnD Some Time.
BESW
BESW
Last weekend was our first multi-player session in months, and that happened because one of our players was in another country.
DForck42
DForck42
@Yuuki someone's either browsing reddit or the dnd 5e facebook group, lol
BESW
BESW
21:26
@MikeQ This is G3's "Newborn Cuties." Notice the cheap Flash animation, the stilted voice acting, the obvious padding, how their mouths don't move when they talk...
Also that they appear to have all been infested with some kind of terrible brain parasite that's making their heads swell.
@rdonoghue Rule 2d6: If it exists, there is a Powered by the Apocalypse hack for it.
Tweeted by loganbonner on September 20, 2017 at 6:38 PM in reply to rdonoghue
@loganbonner @mc_ellis @rdonoghue 10+: It's published. 7-9: There was a Kickstarter, but it hasn't delivered yet. 6… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/910588189676412929
Tweeted by sawofthetable on September 20, 2017 at 7:35 PM in reply to loganbonner
Mike Q
Mike Q
@Yuuki I've found that I can exist in one of 3 distinct states:
A) "I should run a campaign or one-shot" -> "That sounds fun, I would totally do that but I never have time."
B) "I'm planning a campaign, would you be interested?" -> "I'll have to check my schedule. If I'm never available, is that okay?"
C) "I'm currently running a campaign after months of wrangling players together" -> "Oh wow, can I join?"
2
(Assume that these are interactions between me and the same person in all 3 cases)
By the way, the correct answer to that last question is "No". If they didn't have enough time to commit before your campaign started, then they probably still won't have the time to commit now that they want to join.
GreySage
GreySage
@MikeQ This made me laugh far more than I should have
DForck42
DForck42
@MikeQ lol, so true
Zachiel
Zachiel
22:23
My current state is "I can't play on wednesdays, what's the only weekday you all can be here?"
Mike Q
Mike Q
22:39
I would classify that as state category B. You think you have your players' schedules down, but next thing you know, one of them throws a "Oh I forgot to mention, I'm only available every other Tuesday from 2AM-4AM"
BESW
BESW
22:51
Wednesday Warriors: a human ranger. #FAE #Fate #RPG #DnD #Pathfinder https://hyvemynd.wordpress.com/2017/09/21/wednesday-warriors-human-ranger/ https://t.co/Fi0oPhXJg7
Tweeted by HyveMynd on September 20, 2017 at 5:09 PM
GreySage
GreySage
Right now I'm in state D) Everyone agrees to a time, but then a week (or less) before the game the SAME PERSON keeps cancelling.
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
23:06
I'm in state E) -- the DM seems to have the most unreliable schedule in the group I'm in ATM
Shalvenay
Shalvenay
23:24
or actually, the most unreliable home ISP in the group, it turns out
hello there @ErikSchmidt

« first day (2547 days earlier)      last day (2714 days later) »