TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:00

After enough games of the same sort, you start to figure out how to cut corners. Like with the HELP WANTED board.

Skathix

Right. I'm going to let her decide

BESW

You identify the fun parts of the game, and you streamline everything else to funnel the sessions towards the fun.

Skathix

I'm going to write up a few quests, just standard jobs

And if she checks the notice board, there's the jobs

If she doesn't, NPCs talk to her about the jobs

Regardless jobs are offered

BESW

And they tell her to read their post on the message board for more details.

All roads lead to Rome.

Skathix

I will say, the Mage's guild Jones twist is something I'm SUPER hyped about

BESW

00:01

Yey!

Seriously, never be ashamed to steal from your players' inspirations.

Skathix

We were already going for a bit of a saturday morning cartoon/really leaning into the fantasy of D&D. Add in Indiana Jones and you've got a nice rich fun story that can be serious and silly

I love it

BESW

You might want to even consider making an influence map.

Skathix

Explain

BESW

An influence map is a collage showing the different films/shows/books/whatever that are influences and inspirations for your game.

It helps keep things coherent and focused, reminds you of the sort of thing you're trying to make.

For example, this is my influence map for the "spaceship to stop solar flares" game I mentioned above:

You can see it's got robots and cyborgs, animal-like humanoids and magic, a lot of action and combat.

Skathix

Awesome

Mmk I can do that

BESW

00:08

If you recognize any of the influences, you'll get some more hints toward my sense of tone and theme: highly competent people in an organized institution combating world-threatening Weird Stuff in a setting that's rather silly but takes itself seriously.

Skathix

Oh I'm familiar with pretty much that entire map lol

BESW

It's just another way to process and codify things about your campaign that might otherwise remain subconscious and thus harder to actually embody.

Skathix

We've got a pretty big spreadsheet at this point with tons of info

Oh, speaking of which have you seen www.inkarnate.com

BESW

Interesting. Not really something I'd use these days, but there was a time...

Skathix

Yeah, I used it to make a full-on world map

It's not great for cities, but continents/worlds it's great

Shalvenay

00:14

hrm, interesting

if it can get hydrology right, decent random terrain, and get me something I can unproject into a GIS DEM instead of just making artsy-fartsy maps...

Skathix

Ugh GIS

I haven't had any experience, I work at a university and an annoying student was begging for it

Hold on

Let me make sure I'm thinking of the right thing

Nope, some map making software that cost like $600 that she wanted us to buy

For 1 project

BESW

Though, even in the last few years of D&D, I was becoming more appreciative of maps that had empty spaces or were obviously not super accurate.

Skathix

That google maps would do it lol

BESW

Yeah, I've got a couple games recently where I actually used a private Google Maps document to share with my players and we'd annotate it accordingly.

Good for games like Bubblegumshoe, Dresden Files, Morts...

Skathix

I like this because I can have a good idea of stuff, but I can also duplicate these maps and clear it and give it to my player so she can have a general map

Idk though, I've always run theater of the mind

BESW

00:21

I haven't made big-world maps from scratch since my last D&D games.

Shalvenay

yeah, re the tool you mentioned @Skathix -- my big doubts are on the third

hey as well @NautArch

NautArch

00:42

howdy @Shalvenay

what's up?

Shalvenay

not a whole lot, still LFP for the mino-maze

hey there @KorvinStarmast, how've things been?

KorvinStarmast

01:01

Hi shal, mostly OK

working, fixing the house, gettting repair estimates on the roof ...

Shalvenay

ah. things are OK here. whipped up another convention-dungeon over the last couple of weeks and could use playtesters atm :)

KorvinStarmast

A play by post deal?

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast play-by-chat more or less (we used roll20 for the first playtest, but straight-up play-by-chat in our backroom or in Discord is possible as well)

KorvinStarmast

Hmmm, when?

My free time comes in splotches...

Shalvenay

basically, whenever I'm on and can round up folks

KorvinStarmast

01:06

OK, well I'll check in with you when I am on, we'll see what luck. Low, mid, high level?

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast need 3 5th levels or 2 7th levels. hoping to run with exactly 3 5th levels to get a feel for if the final boss would be too close of a shave for what I've pegged as a min-spec party for the dungeon

KorvinStarmast

Ok, you make the chars or do we?

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast chars are up to you folks

KorvinStarmast

OK, I can put together a 5th level something and we'll go from there. Have anyone yet?

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast NautArch is interested but hasn't started in on making a char yet

KorvinStarmast

01:09

OK, I can be anything the party needs. At the moment, my opening offer is Paladin, Hill Dwarf Druid, or any cleric. No rogues, I played too many over the years. Monk or Ranger, yeah. All the other two have to do is tell me what they need to round out the group.

Do you nave a teaser/hook or intro for the story?

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast teaser for the dungeon is the classical rumor of a maiden trapped in a minotaur's maze ;)

KorvinStarmast

Is she hot?

Is her daddy rich?

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast HAHAHAHAHA -- you will find out ;)

KorvinStarmast

Is her momma so good lookin' ... and is it summertime?

(A riff on Porgy and Bess there ...)

I'd love to do this ....totm?

Discord might be the best bet.

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast can be run that way, yes. first playtest had the party hand-sketching a map + using map/tokens for combat b/c parts of the party were very position dependent (kobold twins incl. ranger with Sentinel&Horde Breaker)

KorvinStarmast

01:13

Sounds like one for foll 20

roll20

Shalvenay

@KorvinStarmast 'twas what we used for the last playtest. Discord s/b fine provided we don't have another party o' kobolds tho

KorvinStarmast

let me know, I'll either be able to or I won't. All depends on time.

And now, momma calls. I'll check in with you next time I'm on.

Shalvenay

hey there @nitsua60

nitsua60

@Shalvenay ahoy

Shalvenay

how're things going?

nitsua60

01:31

My little bell-ringing band is set to attempt a quarter-peal on Sunday, but we failed tonight during practice to get one last little bit down right. Because I screwed it up repeatedly. So, keeping fingers crossed for when the observers are here =)

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 ah

alright here

nitsua60

02:17

RfC: possibly running a one-shot tomorrow in 5e. Party size anywhere from 2-10, composition and levels unknown. Aside from reviewing 5-room dungeon layout, bringing plenty of scratch paper, and flossing, any tips?

Miniman

03:19

@nitsua60 Wow. 2-10, with level and composition completely unknown. I guess my #1 tip would be...wear clean underwear, you never know when you might get hit by a car.

Shalvenay

hey there @ThomasWard and @Ben

and @NautArch too

Thomas Ward

good bacon to you @Shalvenay. :P

Shalvenay

how're things going?

Thomas Ward

meh

i'm slightly drunk, and it's not a friday evening. does that sum things up?

Shalvenay

heheheh. trying to find players for a D&D 5e mino-maze-with-a-twist short-form dungeon I want to playtest a bit more

Ben

03:38

@ThomasWard I'm with ya on that one haha

Shalvenay

03:51

hey there @mxyzplk

Erics

06:14

Hmm .. in 2e they have a system opposing schools of magic, and specialists in one can't cast from the other. So, Abjurists can't cast Alteration spells and vice versa. Except for Avoidance, which is both Abjuration and Alteration magic. There's also half a dozen Invocation/Evocation & Enchantment/Charm spells too.

@BESW did the players get to see & pick from a choice of options?

Erics

06:50

@BESW this West Marches thing sounds very much like the world I'm building. Reading through what is there I see many mentions of bits of information shared about ... but how do they avoid the problem of "Everything is a Checkov Gun" misapprehension?

BESW

@Erics Yes. I'd have between three and six ads up most of the time.

@Erics By telling the players what kind of game they're playing.

@Erics If I had something I particularly wanted the party to get involved with, I'd make sure that each ad touched on some element of that thing. For example, every beginning adventure hook would be a thing the main villain of the campaign was somehow connected with, however distantly.

@Erics The best way to tell players what's really going on... is to tell the players what's really going on.

There's very little gained by playing charades-by-proxy, where the GM tries to tell the players something by having his NPCs tell their PCs something.

Erics

07:20

It's all in the framing.

BESW

Communication by implication is... fraught, at best.

Erics

If relying on players to interpret clues, it's a good rule of thumb to have multiple clues pointing to the next thing. Don't set up a choke point of (a) discovering the only clue, and (b) hoping the players interpret that clue the way you imagined it.

BESW

And don't ever try to use in-game cues to communicate metagame information, like whether a particular behavior is expected or acceptable at the table.

Trying to control table-level behavior with game-level tools is a sadly common technique that ultimately ends poorly.

Game mechanics are not a substitute for social niceties.

Erics

07:35

Totally. No "oh, an ogre appears and unexpectedly<cough> rolls a crit" as punishment for using sexist language about an absent player.

BESW

So if you've got something like "Not everything in this game is part of some big overarching plot," that's a thing to say out of character.

It's a GM decision that impacts player decisions, so it should be communicated that way.

Erics

Yup, set up the baseline very early on.

"You will come across lots of information about this world. Much of it is not relevant to your immediate objectives. Some of it might come in handy much later on."

And set up multiple paths through the content that intersect, don't try to force an A→B→C→D storyline. The players could pursue the Brigand Black Pete storyline, or the Kobolds in Hills, or Pilgrims Needing Escorts. While rummaging through the trash that is kobold treasure the players find some documents of a trade deal with local brigands. While rummaging through the Brigand Camp they come across barrels of rotgut rum with strange brand markings - they almost look like Draconic, weirdly.

BESW

07:50

And remember, the world responds to adventurers.

Often the presence of an adventurer is like knocking a bowling ball through the NPCs' chess game.

Embrace that.

Give NPCs--good and bad--goals and plans and backup plans. You don't even need a plot, per se. Just let an adventurer loose in a world full of motivated people acting to achieve their goals, and all the NPCs' carefully orchestrated plot threads will start twisting and tangling and breaking in the wake of the PC.

The story comes out of how the world deals with that sudden chaotic element: do they try to stop the PC? Manipulate or control her? Team up with her?

kviiri

08:04

@BESW I have noticed that whenever a NPC questmaster in one of my Apocalypse World one-shots tells the PCs to be diplomatic and discreet and not be provoked by whatever they're facing up to meet, it ends in absolute carnage.

doppelgreener

@BESW thank you :)

Erics

The adventurers take out Black Pete and his merry band. Now the kobolds don't have a middleman to sell their rotgut to, so they instead strike a deal with goblins. The goblins get bent so often that they neglect their religious vows and [something something]

The Wagoneers guild no longer have a supply of illicit rotgut, so the Town Councilman running the local brewery is getting more profits. Which comes in handy because he's secretly on the Blood Court, and underground faction of demon worshippers. They now have more cash available to finally finish digging that secret tunnel under the city walls.

Erics

08:45

@BESW Not only ineffectual to say as an NPC, also weirdly Genre Savvy. How would an NPC even know that or be thinking that?

BESW

@Erics Well, part of the problem with that scenario is, in my experience, the GM is trying to convey the out-of-game meaning through the implication of in-game avatars who can't say it directly.

Hence "charades by proxy."

Erics

The closest you might get is a Wise Mentor given to spouting platitudes. "Every cloud has a silver lining. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Look both ways before crossing the street. When you can balance a tack hammer on your head, you will head off your foes with a balanced attack. Only you can prevent forest fires"

As a player, DMs that do that are annoying. Even if they are TERRIBLY mysterious.

BESW

09:00

I once had a dungeon, toward the end of a very long campaign, where each level had a guardian who asked a riddle. Each riddle was about some part of the setting or plot they'd encountered, and the real purpose was to remind them about what was going to be important for the end of the campaign.

So any answer they gave was accepted so long as it had made them talk to each other about that part of the game.

The players didn't know that, though--which was why they'd spend five to ten minutes recapping the game and reminding each other of things at each level of the dungeon.

It was more manipulative of me than I'd do now with my current group, but it worked very well for that group's playstyle.

BESW

09:24

I just realized @dndoggos is the next generation of dogs playing poker.

Tweeted by wolfflax on October 18, 2017 at 9:04 PM

BESW

12:50

[stays up late rebuilding a worksheet page in InDesign because the only copies he has are all filled in]

If my printer is found bleeding toner in a ditch, I need you guys to say I was nowhere near it tonight.

Who is responsible for diversity in board games? Thread.

Tweeted by beth_sobel on October 19, 2017 at 6:56 PM

Anne Aunyme

@BESW do like Jan Jansen. He hired a hundred monkeys to dress up like him and be seen in different places, like that he had a hundred different alibis

trogdor

@BESW lol, I can give you my blade runner ticket :P

BESW

13:10

Double-sided collation on a twelve-year-old printer that didn't even used to be able to recognize my operating system.

DForck42

mornin

@BESW lol, I had to do something similar where I had a .png of a form that we needed to print

the .png was of terrible quality, so I referenced it to recreate the form

doppelgreener

13:26

I've just posted a meta about the RAI acronym. Could y'all check it and see if it might be a sorta helpful thing to have around, or if it's a problem and/or misguided effort?

0

Q: Please avoid using the RAI acronym, or use it carefully

The RAI acronym is a bit of a problem. People use it often, and correspondingly often get asked to clarify it. This meta exists to explain the acronym's problems so the person requesting a change from you can link to this and focus on suggesting what you can do. There's two primary issues which ...

It only took a few minutes to write out, so no big deal if it's a problem to have around and should be removed.

BESW

Not sure if it fits in your post, but something I've noticed with RAIntended is a misapprehension about the nature of RPG design writing.

DForck42

@doppelgreener ...I didn't even know there were two interpretations. I've always read it as "read as intended"

BESW

There are different kinds of writing, and we're usually taught only one way to study them in school: as if the author spent a very long time carefully crafting and polishing the text, and then collaborated with a talented editor to perfect it.

RPG writers? Especially in the sorts of systems where RAI is a thing in the audience culture? They aren't usually that kind of writer.

They're writing in bulk, fast. Listen to RPG designer podcasts, and you'll hear them talk about hitting word count goals without worrying too much about the sterling quality of the prose.

Game design text is, generally speaking, not worried over and polished and perfected.

It's piecework written with a deadline.

DForck42

@BESW interesting

BESW

It's the nature of piecework: you're paid for the words you turn in, not the time it took you to write them.

The faster you turn your work around, the more piecework you can do.

Most professional authors are familiar with this, but the authors we study in lit classes tend to be the ones who took their sweet time because they weren't making bread money off their prose--or if they were, the classes gloss over what that means.

So we get a very narrow and generally inaccurate impression about the craft of writing professionally.

Margery Allingham is a good example: to make her money she wrote book reviews and magazine columns, quickly and effectively but without any real attention to making them shine.

Then when she'd made enough money from work writing, she'd take time off to write a novel.

For her novels she'd write, then take out everything which didn't need to be there. Then she'd re-write it, "polishing her prose until it shone over-bright." And then she'd read it aloud to her husband who would write it down again, in order to get it back into something vernacular enough to be fun to read.

I guarantee you, the authors of Savage Species or Vampire: The Masquerade did not polish their prose until it shone overbright. They hit their deadlines.

DForck42

13:40

@BESW that's... an interesting process

@BESW yes, and it's obvious in the white wolf books... ugh

BESW

@DForck42 Allingham is one of my favorite novelists ever.

DForck42

@BESW cool

I'm pretty into jim butcher, terry pratchett, and Patrick rothfuss

BESW

When I get some time, I'm going to try turning one of her novels into a Gumshoe One-2-One campaign.

DForck42

@BESW heh, nice

NautArch

@BESW I remain completely hooked on the Dresden Files series. Up to White Night right now :)

BESW

13:52

Fair enough.

Glad you're having fun with it.

DForck42

@NautArch yessssssss... let it consume you!

@NautArch 6 more books, and you're all caught up

except for the short stories at least

and the optional graphic novels

and the tv series that wasn't great but I still enjoy watching it again every few years

NautArch

@DForck42 Churning through! @besw I definitely see where the Denarian storyline is concerning, but so far I like how they've treated it.

The TV series is what originally got me hooked. I really liked it, but that was years ago and want to revisit after I catch up on the books.

DForck42

@NautArch yeah, you'll quickly realize that, except the pilot episode, it's not REALLY dresden

NautArch

@DForck42 that's kind of a bummer

DForck42

@NautArch yeah. apparently the original producer or whoever was gonna full on base it off the books, then ti changed ahnds and they scrapped that idea, basically

NautArch

14:03

I've got so many theories in my head about what's going on but don't want to be spoiled

DForck42

@NautArch lol

The Oracle

3

Q: Please avoid using the RAI acronym, or use it carefully

The RAI acronym is a bit of a problem. People use it often, and correspondingly often get asked to clarify it. This meta exists to explain the acronym's problems so the person requesting a change from you can link to this and focus on suggesting what you can do. There's two primary issues which ...

discussion terminology

DForck42

also, it's already been over 3 years since the last book, Skin Game. however, Jim's getting his life settled back down again and should be getting Peace Talks Out

doppelgreener

@BESW Thanks, I did find a place to mention that. First paragraph of the second issue, last phrase.

NautArch

@DForck42 geez, that's near george rr martin levels

RAI/RAW seem just like problematic tags because of unknown expectations

BESW

14:16

Yeah, but they aren't tags we can simply burn because the community expects them and will reinvent them if they're removed.

So we have to figure out what use they can be.

NautArch

True true. Is it bad that I've generally taken to ignoring those tags?

DForck42

@NautArch well he had a divorce, is (or has gotten) remarried, built a new house, etc. last couple of years have been very disruptive to his writing. martin's just slow

NautArch

@DForck42 The risk is real though. Martin used to pump out those Wild Cards novels like he was giving away free candy.

I also thought you were talking about Dresden for a second :)

DForck42

@NautArch lol

BESW

NautArch

14:21

@BESW your personal list?

BESW

Aye.

NautArch

heh. what do the asterisks mean?

DForck42

@NautArch so, for comparison, since 2000 GRRM has released 14 books. JB has released 23

BESW

They're wildcards--so [*dnd*] blocks out dnd-3.5e, dnd-4e, dnd-5e, adnd, etc.

NautArch

ah

DForck42

14:24

@BESW what do you play?

NautArch

@DForck42 did you read the alera codex?

DForck42

@NautArch yup, good series

BESW

From my profile:

DForck42

@BESW neat

I should really expand my repertoire at some point. it's hard though cause I live in a smaller city

and most of my friends are only reallyed interested in dnd

BESW

Almost every game I've ever played, I've chosen and organized.

DForck42

14:27

however, after my wedding and after I get my SKT game going, I REALLY want to start a Fate game

BESW

36

A: How do I convince my group to try a new system without always having to DM it first?

I've had similar challenges, both with getting group buy-in to try new systems and with getting people to feel comfortable GMing anything at all. My solution was a long-game process of changing the "landscape" of how people at the table viewed their role in the game. I didn't set out to delibera...

doppelgreener

@NautArch thankfully there is no RAI tag, but also yes, examining the RAW tag has been a past time for me recently. E.G. we recently had a tag warning added for the RAW tag to help reduce the amount of untagging of it we do.

NautArch

@DForck42 that was my first introduction to him

Yuuki

@NautArch I liked it although it does show Butcher's unfortunate tendency to escalate into world-ending crises.

I like the first few Dresden books more than subsequent entries.

doppelgreener

@BESW A friend of Dan and I really, really enjoys developing or nurturing stuff as a theme, and also really enjoys exploration. He wants to have his thing, improve it and make it flourish. He enjoys Sim City (and Cities Skylines), and in Civilisation frequently gets so engrossed in just helping his city flourish that he forgets to make sure others don't burn it down.

When we played Magic recently whilst I was in Australia, I gave him a deck that's about building itself up with +1/+1 counters and he enjoyed using that.

He also enjoys games like Elite Dangerous and No Man's Sky, which just let him explore and discover things and marvel in them.

I kinda want to do an adventuring guild kinda plot with him one day, one where he can have fun nurturing the guild as an officer.

BESW

14:41

oooh.

...InSpectres.

Definitely check out that system for mechanics to yoink.

doppelgreener

Thank you, I shall!

Yuuki

@doppelgreener To me, the most exciting plot that I've never been able to do in D&D (or other TRPG) is building a castle/town/settlement.

DForck42

@NautArch nice!

BESW

@doppelgreener I think I'm gonna try running a game of it next week.

doppelgreener

@Yuuki Could you tell me about it? :) Hearing about that might be a good learning opportunity for me.

@BESW I look forward to it. \o/

Yuuki

14:50

@doppelgreener I mean, I've never even designed it, it's just something that I want to do. Every campaign I've played has involved traveling adventurers.

doppelgreener

@Yuuki Ooh. Nuts! I thought I was going to be able to hear about it in practice!

Yuuki

I just want to play a campaign where we stay where we are for the most part and help a place grow.

NautArch

@Yuuki It actually took me a bit to really get into it. His writing vastly improved as the series has gone on

Yuuki

@NautArch Yeah the writing is better but I don't like the escalation of scale. I've always had more of an affinity for street-level heroics than world-saving. Spider-Man > Avengers, to put it in comic-book terms.

NautArch

@Yuuki Yeah, the escalation is kinda crazy. He walks the line between local heroics and larger issues, but it seems like he'd prefer to do the local stuff, but gets sucked into the big stuff. And it's the big stuff that's forcing him to be someone he may not be.

Yuuki

15:01

@NautArch I think it began when he started adding more concrete references to real-world mythology and religion. Like werewolves and nebulous wizards are normal paranormal/fantasy stock but then he started adding things like the Swords of the Cross and the Denarians and the Fae started stealing the spotlight rather than functioning as plot devices.

DForck42

@NautArch oh you have so much more to experience...

Anne Aunyme

@doppelgreener did he try factorio? Seems like he would like this game

DForck42

@Yuuki whereas I enjoy the depth that he's gone into, and the escalating power issues also follow the same issue as dnd players gaining power. the problems become bigger

@AnneAunyme I LOVE factorio

Yuuki

@AnneAunyme The only thing I don't like about Factorio (from the demo) is that you have to occasionally fight monsters.

I just like building things and making things.

doppelgreener

@AnneAunyme i don't know if he's tried factorio but frankly i'm terrified to recommend it to him. he may not be seen again for weeks.

Yuuki

15:11

At least with Stardew Valley, I choose when to fight monsters.

DForck42

@Yuuki there's a peaceful mode

as in, you can completely disable the biters

doppelgreener

15:44

@Miniman SEDE challenge for you: a query that grabs all questions with one of their tags in their title in brackets [] or parentheses (). Not related to us, but to Game Development. In other words if a question says "How do I foo the bar [Unity]" in the title and is tagged unity, it shows up in the query. If it asks "How do I foo the bar in Unity?" it does not show up in the query because the word wasn't in brackets.

Bonus points, list the creation date of the question.

MadMAxJr

16:14

Dear self. I promise I will not buy any pre-holiday madness kickstarters.

Not even if Monte Cook goes 'Guys I have this new THING you might like'

doppelgreener

the thing that got me funding fewer kickstarters and no longer buying all the steam deals and humble bundles, was recognising at what pace I'm using what I already have, which is to say, I was barely playing stuff and the games I already have because I wanted to play them will last me years and I simply don't need to buy anything else.

DForck42

@doppelgreener yeah, it's gonna look gory. tsql has some ok string manipulation, but out of the box it's not straight forward to just strip tags out of text, especially multiple tags

Yuuki

@doppelgreener Well, IGN also just bought Humble Bundle.

So there's that disincentive too.

DForck42

@Yuuki ewwwww

doppelgreener

@Yuuki Whoa, oof. That's concerning. Not surprising though because Humble Bundle has been transforming a lot from a charity drive to a for-profit-with-charity-also-being-a-thing.

Yuuki

16:18

@doppelgreener Yeah, IGN now having a storefront is very very problematic.

doppelgreener

Also I've noticed I've historically had my love for things tied up in consumerism, such that I express my love for a thing by buying glasses/mugs/statuettes/shirts/etc about that thing. That's not necessary though and I can just love a thing without having any possessions related to that thing.

Yuuki

It's as if Rotten Tomatoes bought Cinemark or something.

Or vice-versa.

doppelgreener

@DForck42 I tried doing it with a join on posts to tags wherever the post matched a pattern of '%(' + tag name + ')%', but that didn't work.

MadMAxJr

I miss Humble Bundle when they were "Pay what you want and everything with DRM free versions available!"

But I'm sure the organizers got a pretty good buyout offer.

Yuuki

I'm happy for them and I'm also happy to not have to pay for the Humble Monthly subscription anymore.

They're happy, my wallet's happy, we're all happy.

MadMAxJr

16:35

More importantly, all the shaking my monitor in the world will not make Kingdom Death 1.5 ship faster. :(

doppelgreener

@DForck42 (cc @Miniman) If that query is not possible and/or excruciating and/or looks like it could plausibly summon Cthulhu should it ever be run, feel free to not actually write it. It doesn't need to be done, but I'm interested in making a feature request and some data to back up how often this is happening with various tags can be helpful.

DForck42

@doppelgreener shrugs data.stackexchange.com/gamedev/query/744855

NautArch

ooh, witcher 3 for $20 on steam.

MadMAxJr

I think the Witcher 3 bundle is equally cheap.

doppelgreener

@DForck42 Huh. That is ... not the kind of result I was expecting.

NautArch

16:42

@MadMAxJr yup, got it. Needed a new game, as I'm getting kind of bored in fallout 4 and waiting for the DLC to go on a big sale over the holidays.

but I do generally enjoy exploring fallout4 world and finding little disturbing storylines

DForck42

@doppelgreener part of the problem is that, for example, [Gamemaker] doesn't match [game-maker], the actual tag

@doppelgreener there are also false-positives, such as [...] looking like a tag, when it isn't one

doppelgreener

@DForck42 oof, that's true D:

DForck42

@doppelgreener so what were you trying to figure out?

doppelgreener

@DForck42 Gamedev.se has people very frequently dumping tags in titles and I was considering suggesting a feature that prevents people from doing that ... but this shows doing so might be really unreliable

DForck42

@doppelgreener yeah, looking through it I'm not seeing a consistent use

doppelgreener

16:52

@kviiri you've got me thinking drow/drider hobbit stuff

DForck42

@doppelgreener there are cases of it representing a sort of tag, a coordinate, a value range, missing text, etc.

GreySage

18:17

@doppelgreener A very short drider with furry legs?

doppelgreener

@GreySage yes. but i'm trying my best not to picture it.

Trish

19:14

@mxyzplk my comment about the difference between anthropophage and canibal wasn't an answer, it was jsut a sidenote of a misconception that canibal means "eats humans"

DForck42

someone posted a photo of the ToC of Xanthar's Guide to Everything (on facebook)

CTWind

WOTC tweeted it as well.

(Better resolution)

2

DForck42

@CTWind oh nice!

I wasn't sure how official it was, so I didn't want to post it here

Trish

Publishing the ToC is pretty common by now. it makes people want it for the stuff inside

DForck42

@Trish makes sense. I just didn't want to post anything that might be perceived as illegally leaked.

CTWind

19:26

I like the sounds of all the stuff in chapter 2 (not that I don't love me some more character options). Lots of little bits that very commonly had no guidance and ended up with very different rulings depending on the table. Lots of confusion over "Tools and skills together" and especially "tool descriptions", assuming that is a section that describes various proper uses of tools and provides more coverage to the various artisan tools.

(mildly surprised at seven pages of tool descriptions, but pleasantly so)

GreySage

I want to read chapter 2 right now. When does it come out?

CTWind

This says Nov. 21 for the official date, and FLGSs sometimes can start selling 2 weeks early.

GreySage

So the 5th or thereabouts

CTWind

Yep. I need to check in on my FLGS at home and see when they're getting it in, I put in a reservation with them since I had a gift card.

doppelgreener

21:53

@Shalvenay you might like this. (Or might not, depending on your work.)

Shalvenay

22:09

@doppelgreener "cleared for 360s on papa pad"

diego

@GreySage @CTWind At least according to Tibality the LGS date in the 10th (and I'm pretty sure I've seen that date other places too, that was just the first reference I ofund when I searched)

doppelgreener

that book seems to be way too short to be a guide to everything, unless it is very, very abridged

BESW

22:32

@doppelgreener I prefer these abridgements.

trogdor

lol

doppelgreener

22:45

@BESW those are also great. i would also accept a guide to everything in their format.

Shalvenay

hey there @nitsua60 and @ErikSchmidt

nitsua60

hiya

Shalvenay

23:11

what's up?

nitsua60

Of the seven students who told me yesterday that, yes, they wanted to have a session tonight, exactly zero are here. 40 min after start-time.

I'm leaving.

Shalvenay

ouch

BESW

@nitsua60 Time to learn how to run a onesie!

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Just annoying--I could have been home helping my wife get the kids ready for bed. I don't mind evenings away from my family for students. I greatly mind evenings away from the family for no students.

@BESW That's how I started =)

(And how I continue playing, on a daily basis!)

trogdor

@BESW that is just cruel

:P

nitsua60

23:27

Hmm... four kids just walked in as I was packing up to leave. =\

doppelgreener

23:47

@nitsua60 were they bringing their cousin from out of town with them and asking to use your radio set

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