TRPG General Chat

12:00 AM

@Ben The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden. Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor.

The Shadowrun universe is supposed to be a well done mix of magic and technology, but I'm not very familiar with it myself.

Dresden Files by Jim Butcher is my go-to modern fantasy, but there isn't really any scifi there

BESW

The first couple Dresden Files books were pretty good, but they started repeating themes and tropes that I'm just not interested in.

Joel Harmon

The first was pretty good, but clearly a first book. The second very much fit that pattern, but the third fortunately broke it.

ACuriousMind

@JoelHarmon Shadowrun is well-done but very dystopian - you need to know if that's for you

Joel Harmon

@ACuriousMind Thanks for the tip!

BESW

12:04 AM

You might like McGuire's Indexing, or Every Heart a Doorway.

Joel Harmon

@BESW The rest of that series didn't feel as same-y to me, but there are very clear elements of "Harry gets in over his head, nearly dies, then ekes out something"

user15026

@BESW It's always weird when things like that change!

user15026

@BESW That was my problem too

BESW

@JoelHarmon Butcher's said very clearly that he makes his plot choices based on how miserable he can make Harry, and I'm just not into misery porn. Also it's got the usual ho-hum protagonist I've been reading for my entire life and I'm so tired of him.

Joel Harmon

Harry definitely gets stronger as the series progresses, but I don't think I'd say he really grows as a person/character.

Harry also isn't my favorite character from those books, either.

ACuriousMind

12:06 AM

@JoelHarmon You can actually run it rather light-hearted but it all has to come from the NPCs - the world itself is dark, unforgiving, and there's always someone or something who could simply crush you if they chose to

Ben

@JoelHarmon Like... Potter?

Shalvenay

hey there @ACuriousMind

user15026

@BESW Misery porn. That's a good way to sum up stuff I don't like in books.

Joel Harmon

@Ben Somewhat, but I have other gripes about that series.

user15026

(Or shows. Or anything really.)

ACuriousMind

12:07 AM

@Shalvenay ahoi

Shalvenay

@ACuriousMind how're things going?

Joel Harmon

But in some ways, yeah. Modern world, some bland-ish guy with personal problems finds out about magic.

ACuriousMind

@Shalvenay Fine, I guess - spent the evening drinking company-sponsored cocktails ;)

Shalvenay

@ACuriousMind OK I suppose, a bit sick around the edges and recovering from having to spend nearly 2h commuting (twice the normal time) tho

Ben

Aug 31 '15 at 23:12, by Ben

ACuriousMind

12:09 AM

@Shalvenay Ugh, is that 2h one-way?

Shalvenay

@ACuriousMind yeah, it was 2h one way

ACuriousMind

That sucks

BESW

The Dark is Rising sequence is a good "modern" (for the time of publication) take on the return of King Arthur. The first four Young Wizards novels are good, and smudge science and fantasy well.

Ben

@BESW OMG YES

I had completely forgotten about that series!

BESW

I found Young Wizards quickly outgrowing itself after the fourth book, though. Four was an excellent close to the series and didn't need anything more.

You might find The Twenty-One Balloons amusing, in a Jules Verne-lite sort of way.

Ben

12:11 AM

I have only read "Over Sea, Under Stone" and "The Dark is Rising" so far though. I read them ages ago, got them as a present for Christmas, I think

Shalvenay

@ACuriousMind good news is that if it works for you, I think we can set a time this weekend to resume hte DW game

Joel Harmon

First World Problem: The internet keeps making my book list longer.

2

ACuriousMind

3 hours ago, by ACuriousMind

Hiya @Shalvenay so I won't be available this Saturday, I could only do Friday.

Shalvenay

@ACuriousMind okiedokie, then

ACuriousMind

Friend of mine celebrates his birthday on Saturday, no time for online nerdiness ;)

Joel Harmon

12:13 AM

@ACuriousMind I like to think he does this every week.

BESW

Some people like the Atrocity Archives (aka Laundry Files), but I find it's got all the problems of the Dresden Files but doubles down on them: misery porn for the entire planet, boringly, predictably unlikable main character the author clearly doesn't think is as unlikable as they are, etc.

ACuriousMind

@JoelHarmon It's funny 'cause he actually dislikes celebrating anything and some people just nudged him until he acquiesced :D

BESW

I really liked The Borrowers when I was a kid. Not sure how they'd hold up now but I suspect they'd be just as good.

Joel Harmon

Peter Clines' books 14 and The Fold are somewhat scifi/magic, in a Cthulhu way. (hat tip BESW)

ACuriousMind

(he doesn't dislike the parties, just being the one it's about :P )

BESW

12:14 AM

(Ignore any adaptation or ripoff of The Borrowers except The Secret Life of Arrietty, they're nothing alike.)

@JoelHarmon Yeah, Cline's books are less misery porn, but have similar character problems. And if anything they're more sexist.

Joel Harmon

@ACuriousMind I'm happy to have a birthday party, because it's an excuse to hang out with friends and play board games, but I don't want it to be about me at all.

user15026

@BESW I found epubs of most of them recently, I should re-read them.

BESW

The best thing about the Borrowers was that Mary Norton clearly remembered the pure delight of children re-purposing ordinary objects for their imaginative play, and captured it perfectly.

@JoelHarmon And we're only focusing on reasonably contemporary speculative fiction!

Joel Harmon

@BESW I already have a to-read bookshelf (admittedly shared with my wife), plus a long-ish list of books I should read that I don't actually own.

BESW

My to-read list on GoodReads is about 250.

user15026

12:20 AM

@BESW That's why I loved them so much. I loved the idea of tiny people reusing things.

user15026

Oh, hey, my Goodreads TBR list is now under 400 things (by two things but shhhh)

user15026

Also I am two books behind schedule already :( So much pressure.

BESW

@Ash I don't try to compete with you on reading. My ego wouldn't bear the humiliation.

user15026

@BESW I don't mean to be all like "I read all the things"!

BESW

I know, you're very matter-of-fact about it, and it cuts to the quick how unreasonable I am about putting pride in my reading.

The Eyre Affair might be interesting to you, @Ben. There's a whole series but I think the first one is significantly better and stands alone.

Ben

12:23 AM

@Ash I never understood the whole "Under (x amount)". New car! Under $3 billion dollars!" (Actual price is $1 cheaper)

user15026

@BESW Agreed - the Eyre Affair is the best one, they kinda slide downhill after that

user15026

@BESW I mean part of it is that most indie romances (of which I read a lot, last year I think 40% of my 419 books was romances) are like 120-150 pages

user15026

So they go fast

Joel Harmon

@Ash The plus side for me is I average 2-4 books a day. The minus side is they're all re-reading children's books. In that vein, I can highly recommend Harold and the Purple Crayon, for is simple yet clever use of drawing, as well as a handful of good wordplay.

Yuuki

@Ben Did he really lead an army or did he lead a Anne Frank-style hide-people-in-the-secret-room thing?

Joel Harmon

12:26 AM

@BESW That's a good series, but I think you need to be a well-read book lover to get most of the references.

Yuuki

I don't know why people try to lionize Neville. He killed Nagini with Gryffindor's sword, that's already pretty awesome.

hey there @Yuuki

@Shalvenay Hi.

how're things going?

@Shalvenay Unfortunately, heater went kaput.

Shalvenay

12:28 AM

@Yuuki ah yeah, that's still kablooie eh? did you figure out what broke with it?

BESW

@JoelHarmon Frog and Toad, Hamster Princess, pretty much anything by Graeme Base, Leo Lionni, or Chris Van Allsburg...

Joel Harmon

@BESW Think toddler.

Really, if you're not chewing on the book, you're not getting the full tactile experience.

Yuuki

@Shalvenay We're figuring it's a load issue.

BESW

Do they still publish Pat the Bunny?

Yuuki

As in the fan might be drawing too much power and blowing the transformer.

Joel Harmon

12:31 AM

@Yuuki Do you clean the filter regularly?

user15026

@JoelHarmon I love Harold and the Purple Crayon

Joel Harmon

Or replace, anyway?

user15026

@BESW I love love love the Hamster Princess books

Yuuki

@JoelHarmon Yes.

@JoelHarmon And yes.

Joel Harmon

If the filter's clogged, it's harder for the fan to draw in air. You can blow the fan motor doing that.

Yuuki

12:32 AM

Okay, not the fan the heater.

If it was the fan, we'd have figured out the problem a lot sooner.

Living in the South, we rarely use the heater.

Joel Harmon

@Ash I really think of it as Baby's First Freeform DM book.

@Yuuki Got it. That was just my first thought with "the fan is drawing excessive current".

You could try asking over on DIY.SE

Yuuki

@JoelHarmon Eh, we're pretty sure it's the heater now. Every time the A/C system's failed, it's been in winter and every time, it's because the transformer failed.

Ben

@Yuuki The problem is that the story revolves around Harry, so you don't see much of anything else. But from what you do see, Neville has stepped up to the plate, as he always did in the previous books.

Yuuki

@Ben Sure but saying that he led an army is giving him credit for something he may or may not have done whereas him killing Nagini is something he definitely did and is still pretty awesome.

nitsua60

@JoelHarmon It's the one I give to all friends when they have kids. I keep about a half-dozen copies on my shelf just so I will always be able to give it away.

Joel Harmon

12:39 AM

@nitsua60 That's very reasonable, given how worn my copy is.

nitsua60

(It's kinda like A Grief Observed that way--I keep spares on hand for giving away when it's needed.)

Joel Harmon

My grown-up version of that was Redemption of Althalus. It got worn out and lent so often, we'd replace it. Suddenly, we somehow had four copies.

Ben

@Yuuki "Dumbledore's army" was a joke name. It was just a bunch of kids learning spells together, they weren't an "Army". However, they were the most advanced students when it came to practical defense.

Yuuki

@Ben Yes, I know that.

"no one to protect or think about except Ron or Hermione" is also an unnecessary attack on Harry.

And kinda completely misses the part where Harry goes out to the Forbidden Forest to give himself up to save several people, some of whom aren't Ron or Hermione.

Ben

So, no. There was no "army" to speak of that he led. He did take on a leadership role - people following him as he fought the enemy, but I would hardly say that he was the head of the whole army. But, the whole premise is that Neville was personally invested in winning the "war", rather than Harry, who just got dragged into it because Voldemort was getting peeved that one person refused to die.

Yuuki

12:43 AM

That's the other thing I dislike about certain parts of the fandom's fascination with Neville. It's all well and good to say Neville's an awesome person because he is, but you don't need to diminish other people's struggles or achievements to try to make your point.

Ben

True. It's all down to perspective really

Yuuki

@Ben That implies that the only motivation for Harry to defeat Voldemort is to rid himself of a rather persistent stalker.

Ben

...That is one way to look at it. Haha

Yuuki

Which is emphatically wrong.

That's like saying Neville killed Nagini to get revenge on this dude who once hung out with the people who ran into his parents by killing his favorite pet in front of him.

Technically true but implies some very unfortunate characterization of the person in question.

Ben

I think it'd be fair to say that the two were fighting in very different, but equally important parts of the same war. Harry, Hermione and Ron were dealing with Voldemort, and everyone else, (i.e. Neville) were dealing with everything else. The werewolves, Giants, Deatheaters, and whoever else had joined the fight at that point. Both were equally important parts in the effort to defeat the "enemy"

Yuuki

12:49 AM

At the end of the day, the true hero was Peeves.

He said nothing when Filch said "please".

Ben

@Yuuki Yes.

I have used this many times with children.

I miss peeves

BESW

1:15 AM

I learned much from Irvin Kershner, director of “Empire.” Kersh said when filming a story logic often takes 2nd place. When the Millennium Falcon was in trouble and steam was bursting into the damaged ship, he said no one questioned steam in a space ship. Logic: 2nd place.

Tweeted by TheFrankOzJam on January 11, 2018 at 3:37 PM

Parson's chameleon from Madagascar grows to 68 cm, making it one of the largest species of chameleon. (Photo: Frans Lanting)

Tweeted by Strange_Animals on January 11, 2018 at 2:00 PM

Ben

@BESW Unless you're my Omega Worlds variation - a Mutated Chameleon man that stands roughly 5'4" tall

BESW

I think Trogdor's cryptid chameleon might be taller.

Joel Harmon

1:34 AM

@Ben Is that opposed to the non-mutated version of a chameleon man?

Ben

@JoelHarmon Evolution works in mysterious ways, given enough time and the right environment

Joel Harmon

@Ben No, it's just genetics and statistics.

Ben

I'm a doctor not a scientist!

In truth though, I'm not even that :P

Ben

1:49 AM

So, apparently there is a "truth" to David Hasselhoff, similar to Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny?

I have been informed that the apparent truth about the Hoff is that he is not actually cool, he's just so lame that he has become cool.

BESW

2:26 AM

The foundation of coolness is knowing you're cool even when people think you're lame.

Ben

That's how I do it

BESW

The Hoff is cool because he knows he's cool, no matter what anyone else--or objective reality--might have to say about it.

In other news, the year-2000 cover art for Greenwitch is terrifying and kinda Flying-Spaghetti-Monster-ish.

Ben

@BESW Is that one in the Dark is Rising series..?

BESW

Yeah.

It's the first one I read, actually. It works as a deeply weird stand-alone novel.

Ben

From what I remember, the first two do as well.

BESW

2:33 AM

Aye.

But as the series goes on, it gets increasingly metaphorical/metaphysical/introspective.

increasingly.

Greenwitch is kinda L'Engle-ish.

Ben

I don't know what happened there

BESW

You tried to edit and deleted instead?

Ben

I posted, then it somehow posted again, with an error. (retry/edit/cancel)

I hit retry before I notcied

BESW

Ohoh.

That happens a lot on my end. It usually means the Internet's slow or hiccoughing.

The chat's "I-sent-it-did-you-get-it-yes-I-got-it-check-my-work-yes-that's-what-I-sent" protocols get jumpy when the ping rate drops.

Ben

"I sent it did you get it?"
"..."
"I'll send it again, did you get it?"
"Yes I did"
"Yes I did"

nitsua60

3:33 AM

@BESW do you mind if I share surgadores with a non-Stackizen friend? Follow-up: the most recent version I can put my finger on is 0.02, in a GDoc. Is that the best to share?

BESW

Go for it, and yes, I haven't updated it in a long time.

Please get feedback if at all possible!

Ben

4:56 AM

My day has slowed to a crawl.

I swear it should be 6pm right now. It's only 3.

trogdor

5:28 AM

Mm isn't that just how it always is

Ben

Not always

For me I find it only happens when I don't want it to

trogdor

6:24 AM

True

It's pretty unfair

BESW

6:54 AM

This cannot happen. We cannot let birds gain the power of fire. We let it slide with dragons, and look what happened. Their fixation grew until, desperate for heat, they huddled around the planet’s molten core. We need common-sense legislation to help these pyromaniacal raptors. https://twitter.com/newscientist/status/950334881145507840

Tweeted by QuietPineTrees on January 11, 2018 at 5:02 PM

Finding the Roots of Graphic Novels in the Ancient World

trogdor

@BESW lol

trogdor

7:25 AM

@BESW happens to me relatively often too

BESW

7:55 AM

To forge the sword Mimung, "weird and malicious craftsman, Weyland" filed down the workpiece thrice, fed the chips to geese, melted the iron from their droppings & finally created a weapon of unsurpassed flexibility & sharpness. Work-related #Folklore for #FolkloreThursday

Tweeted by DirkPuehl on January 11, 2018 at 7:01 PM

@GameAnim First of all, thanks for the warning. Second, "I animate eyes for a living" might be the creepiest phrase I've heard so far in 2018 😂

Tweeted by Dajmin on January 12, 2018 at 12:11 AM in reply to GameAnim

‘Gogs deathlings!’ was a 17th century expression of surprise or disbelief.

Tweeted by HaggardHawks on January 10, 2018 at 9:10 PM

BESW

9:01 AM

Character art: "The Mage" by Linda Lithén

doppelgreener

9:52 AM

@BESW cool! :D

doppelgreener

10:08 AM

^ Courtesy of Scifi.se: How not to create and manage narrative tension.

David Ben Knoble

10:27 AM

Looking for a TTRPG group in/around Montpellier France for the spring semester !

3

BESW

@DavidBenKnoble Cool! I'm not sure we've got a lot of French gamers in the chat these days, but I'm pinning it to the star board so anyone who comes through in the next two weeks will see it.

David Ben Knoble

@BESW thanks! I've considered posting in french.stackexchange as well—will try there

BESW

Makes sense.

Do you have any preferences about system, playstyle, tone, etc?

David Ben Knoble

Intimately familiar with D&D 5e, but would be open to trying other things provided I can learn the system. Great opportunity for practicing language.

BESW

Awesome.

There's a French translation of Fate Accelerated, which is a (free!) game that uses more natural language for its mechanics.

(Most of your character's sheet is just short natural-language phrases describing things which are true about them, or cool things they can do. The game's mechanics kick in depending on how the story you're telling relates to the phrases on your sheet.)

David Ben Knoble

10:34 AM

Epic ! I happen to know that the 5e core set was translated to french and published within the last year as well, but that's good to know. May have to start my own group ;)

doppelgreener

11:08 AM

Headcanon: Yag (pictured above) is actually a terrible mathematician. Givin (that's the name of his species) are usually natural mathematical prodigies, but what if nobody's figured out he's just awful at it? Because really -- that situation is predicted with linear velocities and they made it just fine, the odds were probably more like "nine in ten".

Either that or Yag has deep-seated anxiety and constantly factors in things like "the universe might explode at any moment" or "a black hole could sweep by at any moment" so one in seven thousand and fifty is a good day.

BESW

Or is a deeply twisted practical joker.

"People just take my word about mathematical stuff, so I'll go around announcing the most ridiculous and panic-inducing statistics possible."

doppelgreener

@BESW fabulous. i like that one even more.

"How big would it have to be to leave footprints like these...?" "Probably twenty tons. It's probably a ten-legged colossal insect honestly." "... Let's leave this planet."

(* actually just an elephant footprint)

BESW

12:03 PM

> Numbers never lie, but I do. When using Provoke to make people panic, you get +2 if you use wildly inaccurate statistics.

2

trogdor

12:20 PM

nice

doppelgreener

@trogdor is your new avatar a Troglich?

doppelgreener

12:34 PM