TRPG General Chat

trogdor

12:05 AM

@Ash yeah that's not great

trogdor

12:30 AM

Ugh waiting around at the vets office so I can take the other cat home

Who knew it would be both boring and tense

He needed to be sedated just not to attack the vet

user15026

12:41 AM

@trogdor oh no :( is the cat and/or the vet okay?

nitsua60

@V2Blast I tend to accept when I requested help with something and then received it, or when it's a big site-thing that ended up being implemented (and I add a <hr> and a note about that implementation). Other than that, not so much. 21/60 questions I've accepted an answer, for comparison.

V2Blast

good to know

@trogdor <3 to your cats and to you as well

nitsua60

I went back 5 pages ago and see 21/50 meta questions have accepted answers. So with that similar result I assume that I can generalize my 60-question experience to all 2000 of them and surmise that it's very situational =)

Shalvenay

hey there @nitsua60

V2Blast

https://www.reddit.com/r/AdventurersLeague/comments/bhem1p/introducing_seasonality/

"As we move forward, we’d like to offer cool and unique play opportunities for each story. Sometimes this might take the form of variant character creation guidelines, sometimes it might involve specialized magical items as treasure, and sometimes it might even include unique play opportunities.

To facilitate this in a manner that provides equal opportunity to everyone, starting with DDAL Season 9 (beginning in September 2019) we’re going to ask players to create a new character (or new characters, for tho…

new AL rules

it's a big 'un

(I've never played AL but this seems to eliminate one of the major reasons people put up with it)

nitsua60

12:57 AM

@Shalvenay hita

@V2Blast The thing is, these are good rules if you believe/admit that the purpose of AL is onboarding new players.

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 mind if we talk on Discord some more? we never got to the other topic I wanted to bring up

nitsua60

At that, I think AL does a decent job. I just Wizards would say that's what it's for. Because it sucks at "I want to play campaigns like I hear cool stories about."

@Shalvenay That's fine, but you'll only have half my attention. Have to get through grading a diff.eq test.

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 we can talk another time :)

nitsua60

(Which task, obviously, only has about half my attention.)

@Shalvenay Actually, that's good. Because Angry Chat just started up, so I'm going to eavesdrop on that while grading.

Shalvenay

hey there @BESW

Ben

1:13 AM

Afternoon all

user15026

Evening!

Ben

I think I need to talk to my GM about timing and player inspiration.

At this point, I'm starting to lose interest in our game night that has been going on for a few years now, because the timing of the events and responses to our "ideas". For example in our last game, we were interrogating a captive. A persuasion roll failed, but before we could try anything else, we were attacked by his henchmen. Then I tried an intimidation roll, but the GM had killed him with a suicide pill during the combat.

Sometimes we tie a few points together, and come up with a theory, or a plan; and I get the feeling the GM uses that to his advantage, to come up with something else contradictory.

I can understand if he wants to maintain a certain level of challenge, but at this point it's making me feel like the effort is just wasted.

nitsua60

1:34 AM

A bit of a treadmill feel?

Ben

In other news, should I add an explanation of how to use my corruption system? Like, "the goal is not to try to corrupt the characters only to provide the situations that will lead to it". So the GM doesn't try to corrupt people as quickly as possible, or anything like that

@nitsua60 I think it's more contradictory than that.

At this point I think it's reached a point of "if I don't contribute I can't be wrong"

Though, now I think of it the character progression has a treadmill feel to it. I level up and I still get floored by new, and sometimes recurring enemies.

BESW

I feel like an important part of good system presentation is being very clear about goals.

Ben

Yeah. The idea is that it's management is meant to be in the player's hands, not the GM. I just need to come up with a wording for that

V2Blast

1:49 AM

@Ben Yeah, definitely good to state design intent. :)

nitsua60

@Ben ugh, that sounds rough.

trogdor

2:09 AM

@Ash well I brought him in to see if he has parasites and just got back home, apparently it's early kidney failure

so he's fine for now but it means he only has 1-3 years left

as an estimate

plus he needs a special diet now, antibiotics to kill a bladder infection he currently has, and extra fluids every week sorta like dialisis I guess

Ben

@nitsua60 yeah. It's kinda ruining the fun

BESW

@trogdor Which cat? The aloof one or the homicidal one?

trogdor

that's kinda both

Ben

@trogdor oh no! :(

trogdor

the one who isn't obsessed with me

the he cat who hates most visitors except the ones he likes better than us

well the Single person he likes better than us anyway

user15026

2:14 AM

@trogdor oh goodness, that's a lot. :(

trogdor

but now we have to bring in my cat too just to see

they are the same age

@Ash it is

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: Can a Bard use the Spell Glyph option of the Glyph of Warding spell and cast a known spell into the glyph?

If you read the description of the "Spell Glyph" option of the Glyph of Warding spell, it says you cast a spell that you have prepared into the glyph. Bards can learn this spell, but they don't prepare spells; they learn them. Can a bard cast a spell that has been learned (rather then prepared) ...

BESW

That's the one who left a claw in a guy's neck once, right?

Your cats are terrifying.

user15026

...i haven't met these cats but I am inclined to agree.

user15026

I have been dealing with my cat being diabetic (although we have a good feeding/needle routine now), so I feel you, somewhat, on the unexpected changes in intensity of cat care and needs.

V2Blast

2:18 AM

@BESW All cats are terrifying.

BESW

@V2Blast These are the "I will try to smother you in your sleep" kind of terrifying.

V2Blast

@BESW Still not seeing the distinction from regular cats :P

BESW

I have met many cats which never tried to smother anybody.

trogdor

@BESW I think that was my black cat actually

@BESW I think the reason he did that was because my brother has the audacity to have fluffy thick curly hair

but I woulnd't put it past him trying to kill someone that way either

user15026

My cat just wants to like...sit close to you and purr.

trogdor

2:22 AM

that's what my black cat does

Ben

My GM has two cats. One stays away from everybody, the other is constantly stealing your seat, or using you as one

trogdor

this other one though

he only wants attention at certain times, and all other times its food or "go away before I cut you"

he is legitimately a bit scary

BESW

@trogdor Your black cat wants to sit close to you and purr. Everybody else can go to h*ck.

trogdor

@BESW yeah and? :P

she's actually worse than that though

she constantly teases my mother

by being just out of reach and laying down like she wants attention

anyway, thank you all for the sympathetic ears, I'm not too happy about it but I can deal

I just need the time to process it

user15026

That's totally understandable! offers hug

trogdor

2:39 AM

@Ash thank you

BESW

2:57 AM

"Q&A: Nell Raban, the Filipina who developed 'Home Again,'a tabletop RPG about reclaiming one's lost cultural heritage," by Michael Logarta for GMA News Online.

Ben

In other news, did anyone else cringe when they shaved Spock's beard off in Discovery?

trogdor

@Ben they disposed of the demon muskrat?

user15026

@Ben I was like "okay I knew that we had to get from that Spock to TOS Spock but...no thank you"

trogdor

XD

Ben

I have been warning everyone else to brace when they see it coming (the very obvious beard stroke). So far it's saved a few people.

user15026

3:02 AM

Aww crap that was the wrong reply stupid fingers augh augh augh

Ben

Yes I was going to say, I think I'm missing the context there haha]

user15026

I can't figure out how to fix that on mobile

trogdor

@Ash yeah that sucks, if it's like mine you have to press and hold on the yellow border with the down arrow and then it gives you the options I think you need

Ben

Uhh, you should be able to select the message (it'll gray out the others). Then at the top it'll show a couple of options. The pen is to edit

trogdor

yeah you might have to select it first

user15026

3:05 AM

Yeah I know how to edit but I can't figure out how to easily relink it to @BESW post about the game thing

Ben

You may need to scroll a little to make it show up

trogdor

@Ash oh that is even worse,... for me that's finicky

user15026

@BESW "And that's really the experience I'm trying to portray with "Home Again." What is it like to know you've lost something, but to almost have no idea what it ever was? This is why it's important to me that the game takes place more than a generation after the initial cataclysm. You're dealing with a trauma that has been passed down to you, rather than having experienced it firsthand." I am very intrigued.

user15026

Okay that isn't right either in the sense it doubled the message but whatever

BESW

@Ash Yeah, it's very... I want to talk to some of my Chamoru friends about that, if they're willing.

trogdor

3:06 AM

but they way I do it is trying for 5 minutes to select all the text, if I succeed I can copy paste it, if I can't,.... I wait till I am on my comp XD

Ben

The dyslexia is storng today

user15026

@BESW I can see why, their perspective would be interesting

trogdor

@Ben for me it definitely isn't that, it's full fledged warfare specifically with my phone because we hate each other

Ben

@trogdor To the point where your phone is attempting to undermine you, and your dylsexia is flaring up so that you're actually forming cohesive sentences? :P

trogdor

@Ben I have like, the opposite of Dyslexia

but my phone is definitely a sentient hateful saboteur

Ben

3:15 AM

All I can hear in my head is HAL: "F*** you, Dave"

Haha

user15026

My phone and I are somewhat symbiotic except when we aren't.

trogdor

oh I definitely need my phone

but I have to,... discipline the current one every once in a while as an example to it's successor

user15026

Gotta keep them in line.

trogdor

all the ones I have had keep trying to change the words I am using or misspell things for me

Ben

Maybe you should name your phone "HAL 9000"

user15026

3:18 AM

Oh that's just asking for trouble.

trogdor

@Ben I'm on like, Hal 9005

Ben

Well, I watch Code Bullet on YouTube, and he does a lot of "teaching AI to play [game]" videos. And if Hal 9000 is anything to go off, 9005 would be a downright monster. Haha

trogdor

none of my phones are like, smart phones

or at least if they are they aren't like cutting edge or new ones

not only do I not feel like I need that but I like my phones not to be smarter than me and evil to boot

XD

Ben

Awesome Series - War for Awesometron

►

trogdor

ah Aran Hanson, still immature I see

Ben

3:26 AM

@trogdor Oh that was from when he was immature. Pre Game Grumps. Lol

trogdor

hmmm well

either way

Ben

Not saying he isn't now. Just saying that yeah, this is from when he was at his pinnacle of immaturity. Lol

trogdor

I would say that is probably fair enough

I don't want to assume he would still make,.... well any of those jokes now

although I won't assume he,.... wouldn't either I guess

Ben

There would at least be some second guessing. Haha.

BESW

Maybe my favorite new addition to Delver!

Tweeted by NeitherNora on April 25, 2019 at 1:00 AM

2

user15026

3:35 AM

@BESW oh, I like this. I like this quite a lot.

BESW

@Ash So do I.

trogdor

it's definitely good

although it looks like mostly just like a more fleshed out X card?

BESW

Goodness knows the X card needs to be fleshed out.

I'm mostly just happy so many games are putting this sort of thing into themselves.

trogdor

yes

that is good

and one other disadvantage of the X-card is that it isn't like,... talked about in games

which this seems to be for a specific game so double points

user15026

3:50 AM

@BESW it does my heart good.

user15026

I mean I don't play stuff really but I like that it exists for people that do, and for me when/if I get there.

BESW

@Ash Hmm. This coming weekend you're either concussed or at the National Convention, and the weekend after that I'm gonna be dragging Troggy to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? so he probably won't have the social spoons to also run Golden Sky Stories, and the weekend after that I'm dragging him to a birthday lunch... so tentatively schedule GSS for the 19th?

trogdor

ugh use me as an excuse to delay more GSS why don't you XP

BESW

We'd be doing it on Sunday so if you WANT to run GSS on the same weekend as a play or party there's room in the schedule. I just figure you'd want to make it your primary social thing for the weekend. i'm happy to be wrong!

trogdor

hmm

wait not this Sunday though?

because I thought you had said we couldn't this week

for,... some reason?

user15026

4:00 AM

@BESW do you mean your 19th or mine?

trogdor

looks like ours

user15026

(like I thought we had talked about my Saturday evening, which would be your Sunday AM, I think? Time zones....math

trogdor

extrapolating from the fact it would be a Sunday for us and assumedly a Sat for you

user15026

nods

BESW

@Ash Oh right. Ours. Your Saturday night the 18th is our Sunday morning the 19th.

user15026

4:02 AM

Okay, cool, I will stick that in the external brain calendar.

trogdor

@BESW I do think you are right though

like, I would love not to make that a reason not to run what I think is currently my favorite game but like

I can't assume I would be up for both things

user15026

That should work. It's theoretically a buck and doe for a family member's wedding but honestly I don't wanna go (it would mean a two hour drive post-work to a thing centered on drinking), and I already donated money so I feel okay about this being a better choice.

user15026

@trogdor no worries, I understand spoon conservation!

BESW

I'll let Troggy set the starting time, keeping in mind that Ash is probably available starting about 9 or 10am our time and should be allowed to leave by 2pm our time.

trogdor

mm

uh,.....

user15026

4:05 AM

does math yep that sounds right

trogdor

@BESW how long do you figure our first game of it took?

BESW

@Ash If I've got it right, that's 7 or 8pm to midnight, your time.

@trogdor Three hours?

trogdor

ok

BESW

Probably less.

But we all already knew each others' play rhythms.

trogdor

that's actually fine like, I could start at 10

user15026

4:06 AM

@BESW that's doable!

trogdor

thats a margin of error but not 9

which I don't honestly think I am capable of doing on a Sunday XD

10 should be good

user15026

That gives me time to get home from work and eat a food and decompress and then have the right number of spoons

trogdor

ok cool

that sounds real good then

user15026

Oh gosh I am so excited about this.

trogdor

I could also do later if that's better? but I say 10 because that I think is a good "the earliest I could do it" margin

BESW

4:09 AM

We'll aim to be ready at 10, and if anyone needs longer OH NO WE WILL HAVE TO TALK AMONGST OURSELVES.

trogdor

Lol

Also yeah 10 seems good because of that and also because if we assume it takes 3 hours we aren't automatically forcing @Ash to choose to decide between going to sleep before midnight or continue the game

user15026

10am your time works for me - the only thing that might get in the way is if I am pulling on call that weekend and something breaks but if so I will let you know asap

trogdor

Plus the margin for error thing

user15026

@trogdor midnight isn't all that late for me, as @BESW can attest to (I have a weird late schedule for sleeping more often than not)

trogdor

@Ash yeah don't worry about it if IRL stuff makes it impossible for you to do unexpectedly

@Ash I kinda do too

BESW

4:12 AM

yeah, I expect Ash to be good past midnight but I want to leave it open because it's a work day.

user15026

It shouldn't, by that time oncall is almost done for the day anyhow because I can't really send field techs out in the dark

trogdor

I try not to assume it of others and also I do try to sleep at maybe around 10 or 11 instead

user15026

@BESW I appreciate it!

trogdor

Also I get tired more early on Saturdays, I think specifically because of going out late

The not being in my own house thing

Stress spoons and all the other things

user15026

nods I totally get it.

trogdor

4:17 AM

But yeah this time I would be running it in the middle of the day

So it's not like I'm gonna nod off,.. probably, in the middle of it

Also,... Do we just want probably that scenario I've run twice?

Or possibly something else?

BESW

Dealer's choice.

trogdor

Mk

user15026

I am up for whatever! This is a new adventure for meeeee

trogdor

I mean, I really like it, and it's so easy to run especially after doing it a couple times

But it's main downside for you guys is only one GM character to interact with

If you don't so much have a request though I think I'll do that again

It will be interesting to see the deviations from the two groups I've already run it for

XD

It was so different both times even though I feel like I mostly handled it the same besides the improvisation

It's such a treat to see that

And of course be part of it

user15026

It's goona be good

trogdor

4:27 AM

That's my line!

XP

Ben

OK... In regards to my earlier point about the quality of my game... I was thinking of asking a question about the problem from the GM's perspective. Would that be a good idea?

E.g. "My players seem to be losing interest in my game because of [problem], what balance should I use to resolve this?"

trogdor

@Ben I don't see why not,... But are you asking because you are not the Gm? Or because this is theoretical or something?

Ben

The idea is that potentially the answers would provide some examples I could take to the GM to talk about. I like to approach a problem with the intention of working toward a solution.

trogdor

Ah

Ben

"This isn't working. Fix it" vs "I feel like this is an issue, and I want to work toward a solution. Here are some potential ideas"

trogdor

4:34 AM

But maybe you should ask it as you, and frame it as suggestions for the GM

Because that's what it is?

Ben

Yeah

It might get a bit confused otherwise. I'm the player, asking on behalf of the GM, to talk to the GM as the player. Haha

V2Blast

@trogdor agreed with trogdor

Ben

So I just had a revelatory moment. VaatiVidya is referencing Vaati from LoZ

Yet there is zero LoZ content on his channel. No idea about his other pages though

Ben

5:04 AM

Posted. I think I might need to review it, and possibly add/change the tag(s)

Miniman

5:28 AM

@Ben Yeah, I've wondered about that too.

He sells tshirts with vaati on them and everything.

Ben

Is he allowed to do that? Legally? [Spiderverse reference :P]

Miniman

At a guess, it's different enough.

Or under the radar enough.

Ben

Haha yeah

Miniman

But considering what redbubble et al get away with, I think there's a hole I don't know about that allows this sort of thing.

Ben

That is very true actually.

Nintendo is fairly tetchy about their IP, though. Who knows what they will or won't get fired up about

kviiri

6:09 AM

@Ben Nintendo sent a C&D order to a hobbyist who ported the original SMB to C64, just a few days ago

Err

Stupid mobile keyboard

Anyway that's about as touchy as it gets :/ I have a hard time believing there's any just cause in protecting one's IP against a fan work on the fricken Commodore 64 in 2019

Ben

@kviiri I suppose that's different, like ROMs for example, to tshirts or other things.

But even then, You'd be hard pressed to find any DKC roms, as opposed to Mario, or even any other Nintendo games

Using the SNES as an example

kviiri

Tees being sold are a far better example of what I'd consider IP violation, true

Hot RPG Questions

6:31 AM

5

Q: Can a barbarian keep raging if she shoves an enemy on her turn?

A barbarian has to stop raging if their turn ends and they haven't attacked a hostile creature since their last turn or taken damage since their last turn. (PHB 48) Can I shove an enemy on my turn (without dealing or taking damage) to maintain my Rage? Since shoving is described as a "special m...

dnd-5e attack barbarian rage

Miniman

6:54 AM

@kviiri There's no just cause, but there is clear legal cause, sadly. It's not an IP issue - anything that allows people to play the game without owning the game is violating Nintendo's...something, I don't remember the term.

kviiri

7:08 AM

I had a dream where I played Super Mario World a few weeks back. I guess that technically counts :-)

trogdor

lol

man it's really weird when I get videogame dreams

it doesn't happen too often but it is weird

it's also usually when I decide I have been playing too much of whichever one it was recently XD

kviiri

I used to have TV dreams relatively often

trogdor

now that has barely ever happened

kviiri

There was this really scary PSA that gave me the occasional nightmare well into my teenage years.

trogdor

the only time I still vaguely remember was a Stargate SG 1 dream

and I think it was actually just,.... an episode replaying in my head

kviiri

7:17 AM

Strangely, I also had good dreams about it. I guess it was such a prominent childhood fear of mine that it was appropriate as both spooky material and a kind of a symbol of overcoming irrational fears.

trogdor

interesting

V2Blast

I almost never remember my dreams

and when I do, they're usually not good

trogdor

@V2Blast this is true for me now too, I used to remember more of them

V2Blast

I never remembered very many

though I remembered them more often when I kept a dream journal (or notepad, rather)

kviiri

@trogdor I could link it to you but it needs a bit of context

trogdor

7:22 AM

mm

I imagine it does

I mean, I can think of one commercial just right this second that would too

kviiri

Not much! I assure ye

So there's this children's program from something line the 1970's

BESW

Welp, Terrorsaur is a free one-page game by Nora Blake, in which you are an eldritch pterosaur who channels death-magic to wreak vengeance on humanity for daring to say you're not a dinosaur.

3

kviiri

They had this intro where some characters form the shape "2" youtu.be/C8q5USWRvdE (the orange one is the channel's vanity plate)

Those characters don't actually appear on the show, it's a "magazine show" whatever that is in English --- so there's a host who talks, does crafts or little plays or music, and then short programs between the host clips

trogdor

@kviiri huh

ok

kviiri

So every year, a few people get in serious danger by falling through thin ice esp. during springtime or fall

It was a popular topic for PSAs because it's one of the deathly risks that's quite easy to prevent through education

trogdor

7:31 AM

yeah seems fair

kviiri

So in the 1980's they made this youtu.be/4GhC6qKdQ8o

trogdor

@kviiri like how I agree with our PSA's that I used to see when I watched TV about drunk driving even though I don't think they were effective unfortunately

kviiri

It was aired after the main show, occasionally. Not marked on the TV schedules despite being a few minutes long so you never knew if it was coming

It was like a masterpiece of shocking surprise for the wee child I was at that age: suddenly the same, featureless characters one saw everyday in the show's intro were actually doing things, getting themselves in mortal danger, speaking (even if it was just one line, "Beware of thin ice!" which is basically the icing on the scary cake) and so

and the music was like that

@trogdor Yeah, I think there are definitely low-hanging fruits for PSAs and conversely, harder to tackle ones

And I dare say, the PSA I linked is the "tame" version --- the real horror, of course, was in the distorted memories I had of it for years to come. Until, y'know, YouTube allowed me to re-experience the slightly less horrible reality of that PSA :)

Also great how they segue into the show's intro plate before having the character deliver the lesson of the PSA; made me paranoid it might happen any time the show opened.

BESW

@kviiri And then Bear lost his right ear to frostbite, and had to live on medical pension.

trogdor

7:47 AM

@kviiri ouch

Hot RPG Questions

2

Q: Initiative: Do I lose my attack/action if my target moves or dies before my turn in combat?

I am new to 5E. Something I am wondering about is if I declare that this turn I am going to move X feet and attack target A and then move X feet and attack target B, what happens if my target moves or dies before it is my turn? Do I do nothing? Do I move but not attack and lose all or some of my ...

dnd-5e combat initiative

kviiri

@BESW That's what you get for taking a shortcut over the lake

trogdor

@kviiri so uh, I guess it would be weird if I mentioned this reminds me of probably my most vividly remembered dream where I was stuck under a small pond (or maybe I was it? i wasn't drowning or anything) staring at the moon while two puppets walked on the tiny planet (yes that was just a thing, they were the only things there other than some random shack) but I just have to mention it anyway

oh and there was a token dead tree

kviiri

@trogdor Coincidence? I think not

trogdor

lol

I do not think I had seen this before now so

/shrug

XD

kviiri

7:54 AM

Cutout animation is a fast lane to uncanny valley

trogdor

yeah a bit yeah

BESW

8:10 AM

This is my biggest issue with per word pay in RPGs and why I can’t take on this type of freelance work anymore. Hours of work prototyping, planning, and retooling. And generally less than $100 for a 1,000 word game. Even at .10 a word it’s nowhere near sustainable. https://twitter.com/bluestockingetc/status/1121426088515768320

Tweeted by hanbandit on April 25, 2019 at 2:57 PM

[gestures above] This is why you're thinking about it harder than the devs did.

V2Blast

Hey everyone. I'm an admin on a general Tabletop Gaming discord, and it's been stagnating for a bit. To try and make it a little more active and more of a community, we're thinking about organizing a series of one-shots designed to introduce those playing to a new system. That said, our own experience as an admin team only covers a limited subset of games (mostly D&D). I know some of you guys have experience with a wide variety of RPG systems, including some that are less well known.
Would any of you be interested in running such introductory one-shots? If you are, please check out the serv…

4

BESW

8:27 AM

Are you looking for recommendations, volunteers, or...?

V2Blast

I got distracted, sorry

:P

BESW

Oh yeah that's some bog-standard systems you've got there. [grin]

I'm not really feeling up to negotiating time zones to run games for strangers right now, sorry.

V2Blast

8:47 AM

That's fine. Right now we're just seeing if there's interest from GMs in the idea

BESW

It boggles me that people run the most complex RPGs over one- and two-channel mediums as the default normal.

V2Blast

@BESW what do you mean?

vicky_molokh

> 6. We do not hold RP or games here.

Well that's sudden. ^_^

V2Blast

lol

guess those haven't been updated in a while

BESW

When we run a game online, we lose most of our communication channels: body language, facial expressions, and other space-based communications, including most shared props. There are interfaces which try to poke some of those channel back into the experience, like Roll20, but they add a layer of interface interference.

And yet, we tend to use the most complex systems which assume multi-channel inputs like grids and minis.

vicky_molokh

8:55 AM

Hmm. Interesting observation. For me, using text (not voice) is good precisely because it gets rids of implicit-and-fuzzy channels and means people default to explicitly spelling out anything that is supposed to matter. I find playing text generally easier because it doesn't require constant strain of trying to guess what this or that eye-twitch meant, and instead I can re-read a statement or ask a clarification without breaking the flow.

BESW

Using communication systems that reduce and fuzz our channels, we still use the most communication-intensive game systems.

vicky_molokh

Voice (as opposed to text) with no spatial stuff is worse IME though, which is why I avoid voice-over-Internet games (I signed up for one and it doesn't feel convenient so far).

BESW

Yeah, I'm roughly the same.

Which is why I prefer games that don't assume so many different channels of input as a default.

vicky_molokh

But in terms of system complexity, I don't have evidence that would suggest any correlation. I ran a series of GURPS campaigns in a generally rules-light and very rules-are-invisible manner, and the lightness and invisibility got high praise.

(I have many flaws, but I like to think that the lightness-and-invisibility is a thing I'm good at.) I'm currently trying to GM FATE (a bit over a dozen sessions so far), which is conversely more crunchy (e.g. with zone maps) than before, and game mechanics are more in-your-face.

Yet I remember playing a much more complex thing - Exalted 2½e - in a face-to-face campaign. Without a combat map. And I know people play WH40K RPGs without maps either. So I'm not sure what the default is.

nitsua60

9:28 AM

@V2Blast Do you mind if I edit this line into the message 4 above it so that I can pin the earlier one for visibility and have it contain the whole context?

vicky_molokh

@nitsua60 You can edit other people's chat lines?

nitsua60

@vicky_molokh Yes.

Anywhere on SE chat.

Come to think of it, it's not clear to me that's really an intentional feature for elected mods to have, rather than just some side-effect that never got looked at too hard.

@vicky_molokh Mainsite comments, too.

Hot RPG Questions

9:46 AM

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BESW

Elected moderators have great power.

...also great ulcers.

V2Blast

10:17 AM

@nitsua60 go for it!

I tried to put it one message but hit the character limit

vicky_molokh

As for contemplating your request for help, @V2Blast, I think while I could reasonably introduce people to GURPS, both the system and my GMing style are better suited for long-term, serious-investment kinds of campaigns rather than one-shots where people spend the first hour in chargen. (And I don't think I'm suitable at all for introducing people to FATE, at least yet.)

But now that I think of it, some people at the GURPS Discord do run one-shots at times, such as Pointless Warfare sessions (I don't recall whether those are arenas or mass combats).

BESW

11:08 AM

Ben

Thought process: saving vs full Influence. My original system was DC10 + points over/under max (this was using items that could reduce total Corruption Points). So if they were 2 over max, the DC for a successful save would be 12.

In this system, I'm thinking of having a similar thing, along the mines of players being able to allocate their points into 6 separate tress. This means that they can be anywhere between 19 and 115 points before they reach this point

So I was thinking of making the save DC 10 + 1 point for any additional trees over tier(x). So a player at the bottom would only need a DC10... a player at the top would need a DC15

illustro

I made my answer to this question a community wiki answer: rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/146901/…

as I'm pretty sure it's designed for answers to exactly this type of question

was I wrong to do so?

Ben

11:23 AM

@illustro I don't think making an answer a community wiki answer is ever wrong?

kviiri

Using community wiki answers is discouraged here, because they have a history of not really working well. I'll let someone who remembers the history better explain

Ben

@linksassin This can work with that also, potentially. The DC can be raised by any other Embrace/Resist types over a certain point, and it can also give players a bonus to the save (Wisdom for Resist, Con for Embrace)

BESW

18

Q: How should we use Community Wiki, Part III

In the beginning, RPG.SE was Community Wiki crazy. We used it for everything. We have an old Meta question on what to use CW for. But then we realized list questions were bad and CW was being used as a dumping ground for bad questions. So now CW is anathema. Some hunt down and kill old CW questi...

discussion faq community-wiki

Ben

@kviiri I rescind my previous comment. Lol

illustro

My rational for it was, the answer is comprehansive as of now but as new sources become published by WoTC there will need to be updates made to that answer. I can't guarantee that I will always be around in the future, hence community wiki status seemed the most appropriate for it

as it (should) encourage others to update the answer. We currently have a culture here of not updating answers if they become out of date, favouring posting new answers. That isn't really conducive to answers to that specific type of question.

doppelgreener

11:40 AM

It's a fine case for community wiki, but it would also be fine if it wasn't. If the list changed it's equally valid for someone to just post their own answer.

Jan 8 '18 at 16:31, by nitsua60

@doppelgreener I once posted a question that, according to our meta and meta.se would seem to fit all the criteria for "yeah, that's what a wiki's good for." And it ended up being such a pain that I just reclaimed ownership.

(nits says question there but means answer)

Jan 8 '18 at 16:41, by doppelgreener

@Yuuki Nitsua60 had compiled a large post that could be collaboratively maintained due to significant effort involved in doing so. The CW was meant to be an invitation to maintain it and edit it freely, but their experience was that everyone kept asking permission to edit it in comments, or suggesting changes in comments, far more than anyone was actually just freely editing it, which made the CW-ness pointless. :P

Ben

12:01 PM

Ok... when a plyer reaches max, this can be outside of combat. Meaning that basically, they roll up to 5d20 to determine if they succeed or fail. Perhaps, instead, they need to roll an additional d20 whenever they try and do anything - a skill check, a save, etc.

...and they can choose which dice does what, after the roll. E.g. they are making a Con save vs a poison trap. They roll 2d20, and get a 17 and a 4. They decide that saving against the poison is more important, because this is the first roll vs the Influence.

When they reach 2 failures, and 2 successes, and a trap had fired a bolt at them. They can dodge (acrobatics) to get out of the way. They roll 2d20 again, and get a 15 and a 10. At this point, they need to succeed to save vs. Influence, so they take the bolt damage.

If I do that however, I'd probably just go with the base DC for the Influence save?

Hmm...

Yuuki

12:19 PM

My stance is still that community wiki is obsolete and unnecessary. There's nothing that it solves that isn't already solved by other parts of the system in one way or another.

nitsua60

1:00 PM

@V2Blast Got it. Hard line-breaks (CTRL-ENTER) ftw!

@illustro My $0.02: it's the advertised case for what CW should be good for, and I wish you better luck with it than I had =D

KorvinStarmast

@Yuuki I'm with you on that.

David Coffron

1:23 PM

@Yuuki Doesn't it remove the rep barrier to edit? It does have some function

Rubiksmoose

@illustro fwiw, I made edits to that answer already (edits that wouldn't have been kosher to do to another user's answer), but I still did think that the answer didn't need to be one.

Yuuki

@DavidCoffron There's no rep barrier to edit, unless you mean editing without approval.

illustro

1:42 PM

@DavidCoffron Yes, it lowers the rep barrier to edit without approval significantly (any user over 100 rep can edit a CW answer without approval)

@Rubiksmoose I noticed :p

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