TRPG General Chat

Ben

00:30

kviiri

@Ben That ship's in Cuphead!

Ben

When Moby Dick and Captain Ahab join forces

doppelgreener

Alternately Transformers in the 1700s

Ben

When the druid gets drunk at a party

trogdor

Lol

@doppelgreener what if Moby Dick was a transformer?

Shalvenay

00:33

@Ben hahahaha

doppelgreener

@Ben brilliant

@trogdor whaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAT :O

trogdor

I know right?

I might have read more than 3 pages of that stupid book if that was in it

kviiri

I like how the red arrow points at Mr. Toad as if the Goatguy was just a normal partygoer.

trogdor

But probably still not

@kviiri I also enjoy that detail

Ben

@kviiri What, Bill? Yeah man, it was his birthday.

kviiri

00:39

I'm on quite many layers of abstraction right now. I've been working on a CNF converter for a while.

Sets of sets of sets.

Shalvenay

hey there @kviiri

kviiri

Sup!

nitsua60

@trogdor I finally got through that book when spoiler, if you know what I mean.

(It was actually a pretty good read, in that sense. A nice collection of essays about 19th-C New England and sea life, and a short story about a whale hunt.)

Shalvenay

not a whole lot, as for you @kviiri?

trogdor

@nitsua60 the thing is, I have read and really enjoyed a lot of classic books

kviiri

00:43

@Shalvenay Doing some late-night thesis work :) although I guess I'm done for today

One major hurdle remaining for tomorrow

trogdor

But Moby Dick had just a horrible torrent of the things I hate in literature

So I dumped it like a sack of rotten potatoes

I don't know how it managed to be considered a masterpiece of any kind

Momentum I guess

kviiri

I haven't read Moby Dick, nor have I particular intent to do so. Through pop-cultural osmosis I already know Ahab marries the whale.

So not much of a surprise for me there.

trogdor

@nitsua60 i couldn't get past some casual racism followed by a ridiculously bloated description of a snowflake

Ben

@kviiri The movie was ok.

trogdor

@kviiri yep, I see no reason to read it XD

kviiri

00:48

@Ben I like the video game adaptation the most.

trogdor

@nitsua60 I am happy for you that you were able to read and enjoy it though

Ben

@kviiri Please tell me this was an 8-bit game

trogdor

It's always good to be able to enjoy a book

Unless it's the Necronomicon or something

Maybe not so great to read that one

kviiri

@Ben It was one of those modern day indie knockoffs of 8-bit aesthetics.

(ok, I'm joking, but seriously, there needs to be a Moby Dick video game)

Ben

And it needs to be in 8-bit haha I just can't see this game in any other format.

kviiri

00:55

As a Kurt Vonnegut fan I'd also like to see a video game adaptation of Cat's Cradle where you steer the frozen corpse of "Papa" Monzano through a course towards the ocean.

With Bokononist calypsos as loading messages.

now, however, I must long rest

G'nite

Ben

o/

nitsua60

@trogdor That's totally fair. I used to be a completionist for books until I met Humboldt's Gift. Realizing I was never going to get through all the books in life I really wanted to finish, I went ahead and gave myself permission to go ahead and not, no matter how good anyone else claimed it was.

trogdor

@nitsua60 I had that same attitude and the same revelation myself, except that I don't remember what book it was I had it for

I just remember that I used to compulsively finish every book I started, until some point when I started deciding that some books were not worth the time

I also think I either read more slowly than I used to as a kid or spend less time reading, possibly both

Ben

01:11

So found this one today... I did this a few years back. When we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive

The guy in the photo has a rule - if any player builds a dice tower during the game, the party is hit with a random encounter, levelled at (number of dice x number of players)

Meaning that would have been a level 60 encounter.

trogdor

I count at least 3 different types of dice in that

nitsua60

There's a dismaying lack of d4 in that tower =)

Ben

It's a good thing we were just waiting for the other players to arrive lol

@nitsua60 I know... my one regret

trogdor

Still impressive

nitsua60

@Ben Looks like you got hit by a M:tG duel, instead.

Ben

01:15

@trogdor I got the d6, d8, d10 and d12 in there, then Alex said "it doesn't count if you don't have d20's in it"

trogdor

Lol

Ben

@nitsua60 Haha. We used to play at a local game centre.

@trogdor so there's 5 in total haha

trogdor

I figured I might have missed some

Also I can't tell the difference between D8s and D10s in a picture like that, when I can't pick em up and hold them closer to my face or count on them

Ben

@nitsua60 I think it was just a case of by the time I'd (surprisingly quickly and smoothly) I didn't want to touch it haha

@trogdor Yeah.. I had to zoom in haha

trogdor

And I have a similar but less pronounced problem with D12s

Ben

01:23

@trogdor I actually had one player go the entire game rolling a d12 instead of a d20. It made sense why they were rolling so terribly all night

trogdor

@Ben oh man

When your max roll is reduced to "slightly above 50%".....

XD

CTWind

01:50

Anyone mind doing a quick pre-screen of a charop question before I post to see if it's too broad?

KorvinStarmast

@trogdor I finally found my XGtE. When you have sliding doors in the van, and you put a book in the door pocket, then when you open the door to look and see if you left the book in the car, it is hidden in the door that is open.

5

Shalvenay

hey there @KorvinStarmast

KorvinStarmast

@Shalvenay hi, I am still laughing at how I found my xgte

trogdor

@KorvinStarmast I used to drive an old beat up van and I had that issue as well

KorvinStarmast

And why I couldn't find it in the first place...sliding minivan doors

Ben

02:00

> Afro of Holding: once a day, you can pull 1 item from the Afro of your choosing

KorvinStarmast

Reason to by a corvette, I suppose. :p

trogdor

@KorvinStarmast what is XGtE though?

KorvinStarmast

Xanathar's Guide To Everything

trogdor

Ah

KorvinStarmast

WHich includes a guide to the ranger I want to build, gloom stalker, if we survive to level 3

Ben

02:01

@KorvinStarmast Or a DeLorean. At least then it will (almost literally) hit you in the face.

KorvinStarmast

A friend of mine just had his ferrari delivered. (He did well in real estate development in the 80s and 90.s

Ben

02:19

@KorvinStarmast [applause]

That's a high level achievement

nitsua60

@CTWind so basically: best non-concentration lockdown that also can cast moonbeam.

BESW

Fate Core community member Jesse Cox is working on a unified theory of stunts, after a fashion: https://plus.google.com/112234386288014033364/posts/QfpV7r4cyiA

Tweeted by fredhicks on March 22, 2018 at 7:15 PM

nitsua60

I worry that some of the caveats (okay if it can move out if there's a disincentive to do so, stat 20 or 18 with a feat) are a little loose?

But charop isn't my strongest suit, so this is just a layman's read.

I'd be tempted to go with a bearbarian =)

CTWind

More or less, yeah.

My ideas are all one step short, like lore bard that takes booming blade and moonbeam

nothing to lock them in place from the first moonbeam turn to the next

nitsua60

Or, frankly, straight druid--some of the dinosaurs they can get by L9 are good with pounce, grapple, bonus attacks while prone....

Ben

02:24

@nitsua60 Charon... Charop... Charom... Chalom... Shalom...

nitsua60

que es este?

KorvinStarmast

@CTWind I'll look at it tomorrow. Her Ladyship Starmast made me take her to dinner and a movie tonight. The good news is that in so doing, I found my lost copy of XGtE. But two glasses of wine means sleepy time now, been a long day.

Ben

@KorvinStarmast "Made you" :P

Shalvenay

02:45

Hey there @ravery, welcome to the RPG.SE lair :)

ravery

hey

was just going to ask if anyne was actually here

I have a homebrew question that doesn't really fit a formal question

I mave a 20 ft fine marble statue as an avatar for a goddess ( actually a pair)

does using a stone golems state for the statue seem reasonable?

Note: the statue uses a 7 foot long sword instec of a smash for same damage (slashing instead of bludgeoning)

**instead

Shalvenay

what system and edition?

ravery

D&D 5e

I can list specific stts if you want

str 22 dex 9 con 20 int 13 wis 11 cha 15 HP 178 AC 17

melee attack +10 to hit 3d8+6 (slashing)

and a cleave attack : The statue targets up to three melee opponents. Each take 1d8+6 damage on a successful hit, and must make a strength save or be pushed back 10 feet. And knocked prone if the fail is greater than 5.

Adeptus

03:05

If it's literally the same stats as a stone golem apart from bludgeoning -> slashing, then it's the same difficulty/CR as a stone golem. If you added stuff, then it's maybe a higher CR

ravery

the cleave attack is the only addition

and it assentially divides the damage with a knockback

Ben

03:36

@ravery If the question is "Here are the stats and rules of my homebrew thing... is it balanced?" Then yes, that's allowed on the main site :)

ravery

@ben I had a similar question that was closed.

Ben

Asking a Homebrew question is a bit tricky, but given the right format, it should be fine. Have a look through these questions so you can see what and what not to do when asking a homebrew evaluation question :)

ravery

04:02

I will look now, on the previous question the just referred me to another site

perhaps you can give insight as to why it was closed rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/115288/…

The Oracle

05:18

0

Q: Where does the picture from above come from?

I mean the image of the android's fighting the dragon above. It looks cool. Where does it come from?

discussion

BESW

05:41

@ravery The trick to "balance" questions on RPG.SE is, "balance" means something different to everybody. We can only help you with balance questions if you can explain to us what "balance" means for your particular group/campaign goals.

For your game, is balance about using mechanics to manage the spotlight so everybody gets time to feel useful (does out-of-combat usefulness redeem in-combat obscurity)?
Or keeping fights interesting by making sure they aren't too long or too short?
(What is "too long" or "too short" for your group? How can you tell?)
Is it about making sure the players will win the fights while keeping them feeling like they could die at any moment, or is it giving them a fighting chance but there's still a reasonable likelihood (20%? 50%?) of character death?

The Oracle

06:09

0

Q: What's the banner from?

I have a question about my Role-playing Games Stack Exchange post: Where does the picture from above come from? Same Question as above. Asking here because i'm not allowed to ask it there. And i don't have 5 fame. For reference i mean the image that's above both this and RPG Stack Exchange...

discussion

kviiri

08:44

Morning!

BESW

Somewhere!

trogdor

09:07

lol

kviiri

There's a lot of premade worldbuilding done in 7th Sea.

Maybe a bit excessive for my taste, the whole set-up of plot hooks and detail.

I'd be fine with "The nation of Vodacce is torn between feuding merchant princes constantly scheming against each others", while the book's approach is that plus "here are their names, brief family histories, main products and political affiliations". There's a lot more to absorb if one has any intent to be faithful to the setting.

BESW

12:18

For tonight's dinner we made calzone-like pastries out of pizza dough, filled with a teriyaki stir-fry of vegan sausage, onions, bell peppers, kale, garlic, and ginger, with vegan cheddar and mozzarella.

goodguy5

that sounds amazing

also, morning nerds

kviiri

I was a lazy cook yesterday, I just made chick pea and tomato soup.

I reap the fruit of this decision by eating that today, too.

goodguy5

wait, chickpea and tomato soup (one soup) or two distinct soups?

kviiri

One soup to rule them all.

Related topic: to me, the most concrete form of adulting is preparing a meal one doesn't intend to eat today but next week.

SPavel

@kviiri You didn't do meal prep as a student?

kviiri

12:28

Like filling the fridge or freezer with casseroles!

goodguy5

My wife and I more-or-less stopped doing that.

We cook a big meal Sunday or Monday, then again around Tuesday or Wednesday.

kviiri

@SPavel Occasionally. I never was particularly constrained, financially, because I've always been a bit of a miser and in IT it was always easy to land a part-time job with a good salary.

goodguy5

Oooh... GM question.

kviiri

And student meals are actually dirt cheap here. (sadly, that's not the only thing they have in common with dirt)

SPavel

@kviiri As a miser, you should be doing meal prep every day!

Buy lentils in bulk etc

kviiri

12:31

@SPavel I'm a lazy miser.

:)

But yeah, I've strived to do meal prep, but eating out at work and such is just too appealing.

SPavel

Fortunately, we get lunch served (unfortunately it's soup)

BESW

Ewww soup.

SPavel

I wanted to start doing a money diary until I realized that I don't spend anything during the week

goodguy5

I'm thinking of ways to keep voices straight and able to be picked "out of a hat", so to speak.

I've read to just have a 3-way chart of high-low/fast-slow/accent (southern,german,goofy/etc)

Or the seven dwarves + posture (slouch, vs "proper")

But I had another though..... Blizzard characters from their IPs.

BESW

@goodguy5 I do bad imitations of characters from films, myself.

SPavel

12:34

If it's a recognizable person, the characters will just refer to the NPC as that person

goodguy5

@SPavel Which is one of the reasons I like the blizzard characters. Most of these people aren't up on them.

Uther the Light Bringer has a specific sound. As does Tyrael, the Archangel of Justice, or Diablo, the Terror Lord.

SPavel

Diablo the Terror Lord needs better PR

BESW

@SPavel Hence bad impressions.

(Also, obscure films--and TV shows.)

goodguy5

James Raynor is another good one.

"hey-ey, man. Let's fill em full 'o daylight"

SPavel

"A dystopian parallel universe!" the visitors said. "...hey," we said. "Seal the portal, fast!" they yelled as they left. It was hurtful.

Tweeted by ASmallFiction on March 23, 2018 at 4:04 AM

KorvinStarmast

12:46

@goodguy5 From Starcraft I, "this is Jimmy" and "this could be good" have creept into the short hand my son and I use to talk during online games ... we like Jimmy Raynor

I think he's the first char I made in the Heroes of the Storm brawl game

Gee, I've not played that game in a while, I wonder what they've changed?

Rubiksmoose

morning all

SPavel

@kviiri look there's a picture of you in here

It’s a glamorous life, but I don’t just do it for the glamour

Tweeted by Pinboard on March 23, 2018 at 2:43 AM

goodguy5

13:02

If your son's name (or yours) is Matt, then you get to use one of my favorite lines.
"Light 'em up, Matt!"

kviiri

13:23

@SPavel I can even

kviiri

13:36

Ooh, there's two hot guys making out in the 7th Sea rulebook.

trogdor

lol

The Oracle

13:48

0

Q: Breaking Enchantment

I am starting to implement decisions made about enchantment, per New enchantment tag, not sure about this (A: Yes, it’s an issue and needs to go away.), Should charmed be synonymized with mind-control? (A: No.), and Should Enchantment be blacklisted as a tag name, or synonymized with another tag?...

discussion tags

SPavel

Related question: Is the scariest geometric object a fear sphere?

Sir Cinnamon

@SPavel Scare Square?

SPavel

@SirCinnamon That just sounds like a place in the Kremlin

doppelgreener

14:19

@BESW <- @JuneShores, @eimyr

Rubiksmoose

@SirCinnamon a dieangle, shocktahedron

Sir Cinnamon

@Rubiksmoose Killinder

SPavel

@SirCinnamon 007's next arch nemesis, Baron Killinder

Rubiksmoose

@SirCinnamon nice one

SPavel

Incidentally, he is not a baron, Baron is just his first name

Ma and Pa Killinder had bad taste in names

Sir Cinnamon

14:26

@SPavel Well they were named "Ma" and "Pa" so who can blame them

SPavel

@SirCinnamon Ma is a fairly notable Chinese family of warlords, Pa is a relatively normal name in some parts of the world

Sir Cinnamon

@SPavel And Baron is the son of a world leader

kviiri

14:52

Anyone know if there's some convenient information package regarding 7th Sea I can just feed my players? We have only one book, and it's going to be a pain trying to create everyone's character from it, especially with the ample lore stuff.

Yuuki

@SPavel And Killinder isn't his last name, it's a job title kinda like "Esquire/Esq." for lawyers.

goodguy5

I don't recall where I saw it, but I swapped out Jack Black for George Costanza as a pseudo houserule.
The Costanza Rule. If George Costanza can do it, you probably don't need to roll for it.

Sir Cinnamon

@goodguy5 Automatic success on saving suffocating whales? OP

goodguy5

he can't do it reliably

or maybe anyone can do it lol

Sir Cinnamon

I mean he just rams his hand in lmao

Yuuki

15:06

@goodguy5 So I get automatic successes on pretending that I'm actually a teenage girl in high school?

goodguy5

@Yuuki That's why I think George is a better candidate than Jack Black

Sir Cinnamon

Automatic success to creating funny voicemail messages

goodguy5

and "probably"

Rubiksmoose

15:37

the stack is so quiet on Fridays I feel.

goodguy5

you're quiet on Fridays

Rubiksmoose

how dare you?!

SPavel

The Stack Abides

goodguy5

But since you seem to want more conversation:

I'm going to run this module, but it has a part where a PC gets captured, potentially killed.

That seems anti-fun

I plan to introduce an NPC to fulfill that spot

SPavel

@goodguy5 If you're willing to modify a little bit, introduce a likable underdog NPC that the PCs will like, and kidnap that NPC

Someone potentially useful, like a low-level cleric

goodguy5

15:41

I was planning on either using a family member from one of the missing townsfolk, or the town drunk (who's trying to rise above his sterotype)

SPavel

I'm not sure the PCs will care

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 yeah unless your players are specifically into a grimdark game this definitely seems pretty unfun.

goodguy5

@Rubiksmoose I like the rest of the module, I just don't like "And the PC is captured for 3-12 rounds. no save, nerd"

@SPavel yea. He should have about a full session of time with them before getting captured

Mike Q

@goodguy5 What system/module are you referring to?

goodguy5

3rd party 5e Module, The Call of the Demon Prince.

Mike Q

15:46

I'm not familiar with that specific module, but I am intimately familiar with the scenario where you want to run a mostly-good module that has some ill-designed elements in it. Just skip or replace them. If you're the DM, you can ignore/adapt parts of the written content.

SPavel

If you wanted to really make the PCs care, kidnap a quest-giver juuuuust as they have completed the quest and are eager to get their reward

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel that's super devious

I like it

goodguy5

@SPavel I would, but it's session 1, so no chance

SPavel

And now boom, the old king and his Royal Sword of Overwhelming Power have been kidnapped, and what's worse, the BBEG has corrupted it into a Royal Sword of Overwhelming Dark Power which has an extra +2 to hit

Now they want that sword even more

Rubiksmoose

Whatever you do, hit the characters in their motivations.

if possible

goodguy5

15:48

Yea. I'll see what I can do

SPavel

But plot twist, the sword is intelligent, and orchestrated the whole thing

goodguy5

If no one minds, I'll just lay out the plot of this thing

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel So this sword plays music too?

SPavel

I want to run a campaign one day where all NPCs are intelligent magic items

@Rubiksmoose No, it's just a conductor (because it's made of metal)

Mike Q

@goodguy5 Generally speaking, if there's a questionable aspect to the content, ask yourself what purpose/benefit it serves. "Does ABC need to happen for the plot to advance, or can I achieve the same result if XYZ happens instead?"

Rubiksmoose

15:50

@SPavel :P

GreySage

@MikeQ You can solve anything with enough DPS

SPavel

You can always smush multiple modules together

And at the end, the villains fuse

goodguy5

Fuuuuuu sssiooooooon

HA!

SPavel

@goodguy5 I was thinking more Steven Universe, but that show is 50% DBZ anyway

goodguy5

@MikeQ I agree, but I always worry about changing other people's work.

Like: "I wouldn't know better than them, would I?"

SPavel

15:55

@goodguy5 Other people's work sucks, you are a solitary genius and master of all you survey.

goodguy5

@SPavel I think I may have literally just blushed.

^confirmed

That's the nicest compliment I've gotten in a while.

Mike Q

@goodguy5 Ha! One of my favorite fallacies. The authors of a published module aren't necessarily better writers or designers than you. They're just published. A lot of writers will include things that they think are cool (e.g. "It worked in my favorite anime, so it will definitely work in an interactive storytelling environment!") and not what is tested or properly considered.

SPavel

@MikeQ 50 Shades of Gray and Twilight were published.

Chuck Tingle's "Slammed in the butt by Chuck Tingle's 'Slammed in the butt by Chuck Tingle'" was published..

(yes, that exists, or something like that anyway, Chuck Tingle is a prolific gay erotica author)

Mike Q

@SPavel No, Chuck Tingle is an artist, and possibly the prophet of a nameless god of primordial chaos

Yuuki

Chuck Tingle is transcendent.

SPavel

15:59

@goodguy5 Nobody will give you compliments for being too modest to change what you see, get out there and crush it

goodguy5

noted

GreySage

@SPavel This is my default opinion of most things.

SPavel

@GreySage Good, confidence is key

Rubiksmoose

@goodguy5 Literally crush them. Just obliterate your PCs. Ancient Dragons? Yup 3. Lots of unavoidable torture? absolutely. SHOW THEM WHO IS BOSS AT YOUR TABLE.

SPavel

@Rubiksmoose "Unavoidable torture" is implied when you play with a DM that plot-kidnaps PCs

Torture for the players, though.

Rubiksmoose

16:18

Not saying it's top on my lists of plot devices that I would want to use, but I think it could be done well potentially.

@SPavel I mean I can actually see it being able to be done interestingly. Especially if that player is still able to have a short mini-adventure of their own.

SPavel

@Rubiksmoose eh, huge risk for little payoff

In a game like Fate you could probably pull of a character who is currently kidnapped, and affects gameplay through reroactively leaving clues and stuff

But in D&D, not really.

You'd have to switch perspectives, and then everyone else is sitting there masticating

Derpy

Good afternoon. Sorry to bother you. If anyone has a little spare time, I would like to ask you a quick question about what you consider NAA (Not An Answer) on your site.

Rubiksmoose

@Derpy sure. We shall do our best to answer your question.

Derpy

I am thinking about posting a discussion about a problem I see with the flag, and I would like to see if the various network sites have a common vision about the meaning of NAA.

To put it simple: do you commonly use NAA flags to handle posts that answers a different question than the one that was asked?

Example:

> user A asks how to handle a specific case in a D&D campaign, an user post an answer about how to handle it on FATE

SPavel

@Derpy Downvote and move on

Derpy

16:24

(assume the FATE solution isn't applicable to D&D)

SPavel

It's an answer, just not to the right question

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel this is not actually what the current thought on this issue is I believe

hold on while I digi it up

GreySage

@Derpy I will sometimes flag answers, if they are obviously not answering the right question like that

Rubiksmoose

21

Q: Are we comfortable with our current position on deleting general answers to system specific questions?

So this has come up a few times now, with different systems. Most recently the main issue has been with Dungeon World questions. We've had a rash of these, with answers from people that know nothing about the system who answer in a general, vague way. I generally supported the deletion of these a...

discussion moderation game-systems deleted-answers

GreySage

Most often it's just a bad answer so I downvote

SPavel

16:25

@Rubiksmoose It's my current thought on this issue

The rest of the stack can do whatever it wants, I'm a lone wolf, I'll downvote not-answers and star posts in the chat when I feel like it

Rubiksmoose

@SPavel thats fine, but Derpy is asking about site-wide thoughts on the matter so I just wanted to be clear on where that particular comment was coming from so as not to confuse the issue.

Derpy

yes, don't worry, while clues about official positions any site may have can be useful, I also like having data about how single users perceive the problem.

Rubiksmoose

@Derpy cool. as long as you understand the context of the comment, that is all I care about.

Derpy

you see, some time ago Shog (which for anyone not knowing is a member of the SE staff) wrote a post on the main newwork-wide meta site with this image.

as you can probably understand, the second picture (the orange) has promptly made many think that an answer to a different question is NAA

and discussion about declined flags has been made since.

Rubiksmoose

@Derpy That certainly seems to be a prominently held opinion by many memebers here

Derpy

16:30

As now I am doing some "interviews" to see how widespread this confusion is.

Rubiksmoose

It certainly remains (as far as I'm aware) an issue that there is some debate about.

on this SE

GreySage

Part of the confusion is that the line between "Answering the wrong question" and "Just a really bad/wrong answer" can be thin

Rubiksmoose

that linked meta post should give you a good feel for the discussion around the topic here, at least among meta-dwelling members

SPavel

What happens on meta, and what happens on the main site, are two different things :)

nitsua60

@Derpy my $0.02 are that I see daylight between what I think you're describing and what the meta Rubiksmoose linked describes. If you ask your SR5 question and get a "general" answer (like the meta contemplates) it might be good or it might be bad, but it's an answer. If you get an AM5 answer--clearly such, the author uses AM terminology that makes no sense in SR, references books published in AM, page numbers match AM rather than SR--then it's NAA.

The author was actually trying to answer a different question: "how to foo my baz in AM5" rather than what was asked, "how do I foo my baz in SR5."

Of course, in practice that doesn't happen with SR or AM--just people answering everything as if it were a D&D question.

That said, I find NAA and VLQ very difficult to adjudicate.

Derpy

16:36

@nitsua60 Well, as an alternate example, recently on a programming site an user asked why a specific piece of code didn't produce the same results as shown in the official product documentation. Another user answered by suggesting the asker to move to a different product.

nitsua60

I.e. when I get a VLQ flag coming across my desk I'm usually sitting there looking at something thinking "yeah, it's not good. What do you want me to do about it?"

SPavel

@Derpy That's a frame challenge, which is in some cases valid.

nitsua60

Yeah, but as described it's a crappy one, bordering on NAA.

SPavel

"The thing you are using is not well suited for the thing you want to do"

"Instead, use jQuery"

jQuery is the D&D of StackOverflow

kviiri

Validness of the frame challenge depends on whether the answer shows its work or not. "How do I do Fun in System X?" could be answered by either "here's how you do it..." or "I've got a lot of experience playing System X and here's why it's badly suited for Fun..."

nitsua60

16:38

[mental note: post question about how to implement online chargen for D&D in jQuery on both sites and see if I can get a war to break out. Profit from arms sales during said war.]

GreySage

@SPavel It really is :(

nitsua60

Gotta run--have a good weekend, everyone.

Derpy

@SPavel reread my example - probably I wasn't clear enough, sorry. He wasn't asking how to do something. He was asking why the sample copied from the site didn't produce the output shown in the picture on the site. Turned how that the code snipped was incomplete.

kviiri

But just "Don't use System X because System Y does Fun way better" is a bad frame challenge.

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 you too!

SPavel

16:40

@Derpy "Switch to product X which has accurate documentation"

Derpy

@SPavel yep, in a sense you are right. On the other side, if that had been the only answer, he would never have learned what was missing from his code.

kviiri

I think "switch to another product" is inherently better here than on programming stacks, too.

Professional programmers are not necessarily able to switch languages / techs at their leisure, after all. RPG players are seldom similarly constrained.

Derpy

Well, I think that is somehow granted, yes. Some RPG "frameworks" do fit some mechanics better than others. I have been out of the tabletop rpg scene for a while now but I do recall that something like the Rolemaster wasn't exactly fitting a "simple battle rules, focus on narration" approach.

Anyway, your answers do show that there isn't a common agreements on the issue here too. Thanks for your time. I will probably try to do some similar questioning on some other rooms too. Science&Fiction could be an interesting target.

SPavel

@Derpy Do you mean Science Fiction & Fantasy

Science & Fiction are two separate stacks :P

Derpy

@SPavel yep that one. ^_^'

Thanks you for now. Sadly have to go for a while. I will probably pop up again as I try to prepare that post.

See you later

SmokeDetector

17:08

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer: Does Blade of Blood accept temporary hit points? by Mary smith on rpg.SE

Maximillian

Thanks Smokey.

The Oracle

2

Q: Question for others as opposed to me

Can I ask a question if I know the answer but I think it may be useful for future viewers? Essentially, I had a question that detailed research revealed the answer to but I could see other people having difficulty finding the answer.

support on-topic self-answering

SPavel

17:44

I trained a neural network to generate new Dungeons and Dragons creatures, based on a dataset of 2,205 from the 2nd edition monster manual. http://aiweirdness.com/post/172170729017/dungeons-and-dragons-creatures-generated-by

Tweeted by JanelleCShane on March 23, 2018 at 2:51 PM

Maximillian

Kick Spirit!

Kick Spirit has to be a skeleton with a rad 80s jacket and sneakers.

GreySage

The Brain Spider Horse terrifies me

Maximillian

18:05

There's a drawing of it on her feed!

I'm going to believe the Burglestar is a Beholder that looks like Hamburgler.

Memeball should be in the Gibbering Ooze family.

GreySage

"Giant Dwarf" is actually just a human with a beard

goodguy5

hat fright is my favorite I think

Yuuki

18:23

@SPavel I'm not sure how to read "Pat, Great, Space".

"Great Space Pat"? "Space Great Pat"?

Rubiksmoose

If anybody hasn't read the previous iterations of this they really have to. They are absolutely hilarious.

Yuuki

"Memeball" is basically just coalesced Reddit posts.

Rubiksmoose

@Yuuki I was thinking 4chan but yeah lol

Maximillian

18:47

Pigaloth sounds like something out of Monster Hunter.

JuneShores

Howdy.

Rubiksmoose

@JuneShores hey :)

SPavel

@Yuuki Pat, Great, Space is the correct and only order.

Commas mandatory

GreySage

19:03

The Space Great Pat is a Great Pat that lives in Space.

Mike Q

@GreySage Is it as great as the Greater Mommy?

SPavel

@MikeQ No, Greater is obviously greater than Great

It goes: Least, Lesser, Great, Greater, Greater than Great, Phenomenal, Stupendous, Christ-Dwarfing

Mike Q

@SPavel Where do "OP" and "broken" fit in that list?

SPavel

@MikeQ They are orthogonal; that ladder goes - Truenamer, Powerless, Pitiful, Weak, Underpowered, Balanced (no evidence this tier exists), Overpowered, Broken, Epic, Deific, Abstract Being, Literally Gary Gygax, Wizard theorycrafting

Mike Q

19:18

What about the order - which axis comes first?

SPavel

@MikeQ Whichever one wins initiative

Mike Q

Is it a Lesser Deific hamster or a Literally Gary Gygax Christ-Dwarfing memeball?

SPavel

I think it's an unordered list

Mike Q

Okay, seems legit. Can you have multiple terms from the same axis, and if so, do they have to be paired?

e.g. Powerless Stupendous Abstract Being Least hamster

SPavel

One from each axis

Mike Q

19:22

Who would win, a Lesser Greater Demon or a Greater Lesser Demon?

SPavel

You can also take a note from the Immortals handbook and add new scales with Micro and Macro

Mike Q

Yes I assumed we'd need to incorporate SI prefixes somehow

SPavel

So you could have a low-power adventure with a Micro-Deific BBEG, or with a Macro-Least demigod

@MikeQ I would say Lesser Greater Demon

A Greater Lesser Demon is still a jumped-up Lesser Demon, while a Lesser Greater Demon is a Greater Demon, albeit one down on his luck

Yuuki

19:38

What about a Greatish Demon?

Mike Q

19:53

@Yuuki I hear they come from the Greatish Mean Time Zone

Yuuki

@MikeQ Where is that in relation to the Greatish Nice Time Zone?

Mike Q

20:08

@Yuuki You would have to Plane Shift to get there. In the GMT zone, it's always time to be mean, which is greatish for greatish demons.

GreySage

@MikeQ If you Plane Shift away from the GMT zone, are you in the PST zone?

Mike Q

@GreySage If you mean the Pleasant Standard Time zone, then yes it's possible

Sir Cinnamon

Plane Shift: Teleport from one airport to another. Material components: Several hundred Dollars. Casting time: Several hours

Mike Q

Fireball: All creatures in a 20 foot radius must take 10d6 shots of bad whiskey

IIRC there's a massive reddit thread somewhere with a list of other spell misinterpretations

Mike Q

21:12

@BESW [salute]

BESW

Mike Q

One of those weeks, eh? What's going on?

BESW

It's been one of those weeks for almost three weeks.

Mike Q

Are you expecting the week to continue for a 4th week?

doppelgreener

21:30

Holy cow—if you like fantasy maps, spend some time looking at New Orleans. WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON WITH THIS CITY?! If this came in from a freelancer, there are half a dozen things that would raise my eyebrows.

Tweeted by jameslsutter on March 19, 2018 at 1:54 AM

(a twitter thread)

Mike Q

@doppelgreener I'm failing my perception checks here, what is so strange about the map?

user15026

@MikeQ The thread goes through it in detail

BESW

@MikeQ Yes. Yes, I am.

@currymanswag Hi!

KorvinStarmast

21:50

I didn't mean to pretend to know anything about actual geography. I write about dragons for a living. :) Confession is good for the soul, James.

In the case of New Orleans, you might say that "the tale grew in telling"

BESW

My take-away from the thread is that worldbuilding isn't logical or reasonable.

Sometimes things happen for obscure reasons that made sense a long time ago, or were decided by committee, and sometimes just because somebody had a stupid idea and enough influence to make it happen.

KorvinStarmast

@BESW just because somebody had a stupid idea and enough influence to make it happen yeah, there's a lot of that going around.

trogdor

@doppelgreener oh this is pure gold right here

Too bad it's so short

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