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12:16 AM
Hullo! Any computer savvy people on right now?
 
@Helwar Maybe. What's going on?
 
sooo
I'm informing myself now and it's less severe than I thought but I thought my google account was compromised
I just started to get calendar alerts with prizes and sexy ladies that want to frolick with me and some asking me to "verify" myself in dubious links
 
May want to change your passwords anyway.
 
sure
my 24 characters alfanumeric thing, again
now that I could do it without reading it
T_T
i have 139 spam notifications in my calendar
that I have to report ONE BY ONE
Sorry for asking before looking myself, I was driving home and started to get alerts and was quite nervous. I should hold the horses next time, and look it myself first
 
12:33 AM
I'm reading it but I have no clue what to do man.
 
nah I found the solution, it's just that gmail adds events to your calendar if they get to your mail
even if it goes directly to spam
just had to configure calendar to not automatically add anything
thanks anyway!
 
1:10 AM
1
Q: Is there something that can completely prevent the effects of the Hold Person spell?

Cody ChristensenI have been listening through Glass Cannon, and just got through the episode where they were all hold personed and monologued at by Brandor. I am still relatively new to Pathfinder, but I was wondering if there was an item or something that could completely prevent being affected by hold person?...

 
1:30 AM
2
Q: Does the Way of Shadow monk's Shadow Step feature count as a magical ability?

HanzelManThe Way of Shadow monk's Shadow Step feature says (PHB, p. 80; emphasis mine): At 6th level, you gain the ability to step from one shadow into another. When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in di...

 
1:58 AM
Is "What are the differences between the sidekick rules in the D&D Essentials Kit and the ones that were in Unearthed Arcana?" a stackable question? I'm just not sure if "tell me if it's worth buying something that's different from what's been posted for free" is frowned upon.
nevermind, it looks like the question already exists
Silly me, not searching first. I must be tired.
 
meh, actually writing up a question involves more work than looking for an old one. Next time you're tired remember that you might be able to save up on some of that precious stamina :P
(Just a thing I need to remember myself too often :P)
 
Well, sometimes coming up with the right terms to use can be tricky, particularly for some topics where the reason you have a question is that you're not sure what something is called.
But in this case searching for "[dnd-5e] sidekick" was pretty effective
 
2:16 AM
I totally get you. Sometimes I wanna search for something and I don't even know how to phrase it so google will understand what I want
 
2:34 AM
hey there @RangerBryndil, welcome to the RPG.SE lair :)
 
Thanks. Happy to be here.
 
[wave]
 
 
3 hours later…
5:17 AM
I don’t get why people feel the need to tell me to toughen up and just need to take prejudice at my table.
 
@Gwideon oof :/ what are you running into?
 
More rude comments on the same question as earlier.
 
@Shalvenay another comment on my question that completely misses the point
It’s less rude this time but still
I’m just replying once in a calm manner then never replying to them again
 
Eh, the guy's being a standard-issue jerk, good call on not engaging with them further.
 
Why don’t people get that I run an rpg for fun not to have prejudice thrown in my face
 
5:28 AM
"If you suffer hardship you'll be better equipped to deal with it in the future" Like.... okay, internet asshole, you're not COMPLETELY wrong, but the goal of a Role-Playing GAME is for people to have fun, not to constantly process real world problems and prejudices. It's one thing if everyone at the table agrees to play that kind of game, but if not, just let people have some form of escapism.
@Gwideon So, yeah, I'm fully in agreement with you.
 
Yeah. Sorry if this is annoying but I’m just really irked by this
 
@Gwideon You have legitimate reason to be irked by this.
 
The question is getting a lot of attention, which usually means some unfriendly flak. Not your fault. We'll probably need a mod to move the comments into its own chat room.
 
Yeah, I flagged the post for conversational comments. Hopefully they'll clean it up sooner or later.
 
Yeah that might end up being a good idea
 
5:31 AM
Anyways. Original reason I signed into chat this late: my party managed to slay a Lich and a Bone Dragon in the same adventuring day, and we leveled straight from level 10 to 12 because of it. XD
 
2
Q: Does the Ranger Planar Warrior bypass resistance to non magical attacks

Fernando Fuentes MartinsSome creatures have: Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, slashing from nonmagical attacks Does that apply to the Planar Warrior ability, since the attack is made from a normal weapon, but the damage is changed into force damage? Planar Warrior At 3rd level, you learn to dra...

 
(Also we took out like 100 Skeletons, but they were all bog-standard CR1/2 skeletons, so they don't really count)
 
Nice
 
Fun fact: The collective pronoun for 100+ skeletons is called a "spooktacular"
 
@MikeQ lol!
 
5:34 AM
I started running that sci-fi campaign today. They fluffed up a stealth mission but one of the players managed to get them through with a well timed Nat 20 deception check
 
@Gwideon What system? d20 modern? Some hack of D&D 5e?
 
A hack of dnd 5e called ultramodern 5
With a bit of Esper genesis thrown in for space combat
 
Don't engage.
Also, try to keep things clean in the chat room.
 
Sorry
 
No worries. You can delete your own recent messages by selecting the little dropdown on the left side of the message.
 
5:48 AM
I’m trying to be reasonable with this guy but he he’s just being so
I don’t know.... stubborn
 
Just ignore em.
 
yeah, he reached the point where he drew a comment flag from me
 
Sorry it’s hard to ignore.
He’s missed the entire point of the question
 
Flagged for a mod due to repetitive condescending comments that, if they were actually trying to help, would be an answer.
 
Speak of system hacks, I had a weird idea that I was hoping to bounce off some system-experienced folks here in chat space. But last time I checked, not too many were familiar with the Maid system mechanics.
 
5:50 AM
Maid system?
 
Maid RPG, no?
 
Yes, there is a tabletop RPG system where the players are maids and do chores
And sometimes shoot lasers and become werewolves
 
There's a few people familiar with Maid who drift in and out of the chat. I haven't looked into it much as the setting's attitude toward sexuality and gender isn't something I'm interested in wading through to see if the mechanics can be hijacked for other uses that my friends would be more interested in.
 
Sounds really interesting. Sounds like the perfect set up for an anime styled campaign
Though I might have to lighten certain things about it depending on how stuff is handled
 
I do play Golden Sky Stories, which is by the same author.
 
5:56 AM
I'd say that the intended playstyle of GSS is kinda hardcoded into the system mechanics. Not so much with Maid, which is why I think it could be used in other genres and settings.
 
That's probably another reason I'm less interested in Maid? I've become much more interested in systems that have a particular experience in mind and use their mechanics to push for it hard.
 
I prefer a more versatile system as I like to add things into my games so modularity is pretty important to me.
 
Yeah, there's a balance to be had, especially in systems intended for long-form campaigns (a lot of the systems I use these days are for one-shots).
 
Also this maybe a bit random but I kinda wish the grid from tron was made into the setting for an rpg.
 
But, for example, Fate is one of the most flexible, versatile systems around in terms of content--but it pushes really hard for a particular kind of pacing, and for valuing the influence of subjective qualities on objective outcomes.
 
6:01 AM
Yeah that does make sense.
 
@Gwideon Maid doesn't seem geared toward long-form campaigns. Things can escalate from "slice-of-life light comedy" to "musical demon apocalypse" within one session.
 
Also sorry i’m a huge sci-fi nerd and random ideas kinda come to my head about settings and stuff. Also that sounds really fun
 
Similarly, InSpectres is about ghost-busting... but the mechanics are all about the complexity of running a startup company with almost no resources, the supernatural elements are almost completely narrative.
 
@Gwideon No need to apologize. I'm sure plenty of us experience that on a regular basis.
 
@Gwideon What about the tron grid appeals to you as an RPG setting? Chances are good somebody's done something that touches on it, I might be able to help track a game down.
 
6:04 AM
@Gwideon I know what it's like :)
 
It’s a really interesting setting overall with a really cool aesthetic and theming.
It also lends itself to the kind of stories I like to tell. Also gives me an excuse to play the tron legacy soundtrack during sessions
 
What kind of stories do you like to tell, then?
 
@BESW There's Save Game, the Fate module where the players are video game characters in a collective digital space
 
@MikeQ Yup, Save Game came to mind immediately but it's starting to sound like that's not the part of Tron that Gwideon's interested in.
 
I don’t know how to put into words
I like stories that I can make my players see humanity in a different light. I also like stories where the players can rise to impossible odds and overcome them.
I know that’s kinda vague but yeah
 
6:10 AM
@Gwideon For starters, who would the players be? Flesh-and-blood humans who can interface with the tron world, but also the real world? Or are they sentient programs who move around in digital spaces?
 
i’d prefer it to be from the program’s perspective
 
@Gwideon Well, that reminds me of several non-human/post-human games I want to read, so thank you for that!
 
Um this maybe be dumb but tron uprising is what i’m Thinking of when it comes to this sort of stuff
It was a cartoon that told some really excellent stories within that setting and um yeah
Sorry i’ll Shut up
 
Oh, cool. A TV series would provide a lot more opportunity for character development of the programs, so that makes sense.
I was unaware of it!
 
It only got one season and ended on a cliff hanger but it’s a really good watch if you have time for it.
 
6:16 AM
[reads about]
That's some solid voice talent.
 
Yeah the voice work is excellent
 
Fate would seem like a good starting point. It could support a fixed setting and tone, and allow for simplified combat and other challenges, and an episodic format where characters don't have power drift over time.
 
Fate is a good choice for a pre-determined setting that everyone at the table can share an understanding of using an outside reference point.
 
Hmm yeah i’ll take a look at it.
 
And it's got really good mechanics for character growth and major changes to the setting as a result of player action, looks like the show is big on both of those?
 
6:18 AM
yeah it is.
Um there is the slight fear that my players might get bored of the setting.
 
Here's the Fate SRD. I'm gonna guess that Fate Accelerated is a better fit for the starting chassis for that kind of game, but Accelerated and Core are the same basic system. Accelerated is streamlined for faster time from open-the-rules to start-the-game, and part of that is a simplified skill-like system which I find works better for pulpy TV-type storytelling.
Ah, yes. Setting fatigue is definitely A Thing.
In my experience there are two major ways to avoid setting fatigue. First and most obviously, just run a short game, maybe five sessions or less. Start with a simple, obvious, seemingly easy goal and add a complication that needs to be overcome. As you play, look for more complications if the story seems to be wrapping up, or let the complications get resolved in order to hit your session count.
 
That’s why I usually my games pretty large in scope so if my players do get bored of one part of the setting they can always move to a different part of the setting but Yeah.
 
Second, and the best way in my experience to get buy-in for long campaigns, is getting player investment by having them help create the world. Fate has some decent tools for this.
 
That’s a good idea actually
 
Or start small, and expand as needed. Add new set pieces, change up the scenery and NPCs and such. Instead of creating the whole campaign universe all at once.
 
6:24 AM
One of the cool things Fate empowers is that it gives players the tools to add details to the world during play.
They can make skill checks, or spend currency, to declare that a new NPC is someone they used to know. Or that a whole previously unknown faction or city exists.
Fate tempers this by emphasizing that everything is collaborative, and the group needs to encourage people to be creative but squash stuff that's going to make other people unhappy.
 
That is cool. This might end up being a small campaign I run for a group at some point. That Is really freaking cool. I need to read up on this system
 
(Fate is NOT a good system for groups that argue and insist on their own way at the expense of others.)
 
I find that there’s a bit of bickering with in my group but it’s minor and almost never lasts for more than a minute or so. Anyways it’s getting a bit late for me.
Goodnight
 
Goodnight!
 
7:24 AM
@Gwideon It's not annoying --- you have a perfectly valid complaint, and are addressing it in a good manner. Like many subcultures, TTRPG culture is still growing out of its toxic tendencies and other people imposing hurt on you under the guise of "it's just a game" is one of them. I'm glad the actual answers are largely in agreement with this.
I'm frankly surprised the comments are still there. That's both improper use of comments and unkind.
 
I think most of the mods are asleep at this time.
 
7:44 AM
Hm, time zones.
It's just me, probably, but I think we could've actually used five moderators.
I'm somewhat used to being the "redundancy guy" at our office, because it's one of my favorite topics: pointing out that "hey, this thing becomes unsustainable if Infra Jim has as much as two days of sick leave"
 
8:07 AM
@Gwideon I've cleaned up the comments on the question (again).
@kviiri I don't disagree :)
Though of course it doesn't help if we all happen to be active during the same times...
 
@V2Blast Yeah. We'd specifically need someone a bit further out
 
I remember that was a consideration in conversation about voting in at least one previous election.
Most of the stuff that mods need to handle, doesn't need to be handled super-fast. But abusive behaviour...
 
I am slightly disappointed that an open discussion about the desired size of the moderator team was not had in the 2019 elections. I respect mzy's decision and right to retire, but I think we should've had an open discussion about whether five would be a good number in itself or just because of redundancy.
 
I think it's part of the problem with the Stack's moderation structure, that abusive behaviour is handled with the same set of tools and unpaid workers as answers that should be comments.
 
brb, going on a walk
it's a beautiful day here
 
8:29 AM
BESW: [starts making plans for nice long early-morning walks as part of an attempt to improve general quality of life]
dengue fever: [arrives on Guam]
 
8:53 AM
@BESW oof
 
yeeeah. Apparently the mosquito we have that carries it isn't very good at carrying it (it has to transmit the virus quickly between hosts, it can't incubate the virus) but that's small comfort.
 
9:20 AM
"Paradox and Promise of “Physical Games” on itch.io," by Evan Torner for the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies.
[wave] Hi again, @RangerBryndil
 
 
2 hours later…
11:17 AM
@BESW I mean that makes me feel slightly better but not by much
dang dirty mosquitos
 
It's not the mosquitos' fault that tasty people flew here with dengue fever.
 
it's their fault they carry it
I'm certainly not gonna blame the people, it has an incubation period
either way, I am not happy about it
like I need another thing to worry neurotically about
I didn't know they couldn't carry it for very long
and it really does make me feel slightly better
but incubation period
that's still bad
 
Make sure your home doesn't have any standing water! Try to wear long sleeves and pants, especially in the evening.
 
yep
 
If you get a fever, stay indoors so you don't spread it.
 
11:31 AM
also a yep on that
 
Do you use mosquito nets in Guam? The last I checked they were regarded as the most cost-efficient method of combating malaria.
(I guess it ought to work against dengue too?)
 
Many houses here are air conditioned and don't get mosquitoes in the sleeping areas.
 
Ah, okay
 
yeah
thankfully
 
When I was a kid and visiting my grandparents in the countryside, my grandfather would reward me and my two brothers ten pennies for every mosquito we caught inside the house. Stinging stuff like wasps went for ten times as much.
I think I was too young to understand the perverse incentive, because I don't have any memory of hunting for said bugs outdoors or leaving the doors open.
 
12:02 PM
Hey kids. Wanna hear a story about some PC renovations while we're here?
"Shucks kviiri do tell"
 
lol
 
Okay so I mainly play strategy games and various other less hardware-intensive games of the retro/indie/FLOSS dimension so my gaming PC tends to have some rather unusual specs. Notably I had a GPU almost ten years old and when I found a discarded GPU that was from something like 2013 I was elated to have a free upgrade.
So elated in fact that I rejoiced loudly on most of my IRC channels.
One of my friends went: "Oh my, that's an upgrade for you?!"
 
Aw.
 
So they gifted me one of their old GPUs, not very new either but at least it was top-of-the-line back its day.
 
nice!
 
12:07 PM
 
I was even more elated. Then I start installing it. Step 1: I notice my PSU (which was relatively high end in the early 2010's I bought it) lacked the connectors for it. I did a quick scan through my cable and wire junk drawers, and couldn't find any additional cabling --- seems that I had either discarded said cables or my PSU never had 'em in the first place. Sad.
The PSU upgrade would've been likely to be necessary anyway, though, so I went to buy a PSU. So much for a free upgrade! :D
Step 2: I install my new GPU and PSU, having to resort to increasingly advanced (read: kludgy) techniques to fit all the cabling in. Then I notice my SSD's bracket blocks the SSD connector: the new one had slightly different wiring for the connector. Different "chirality", in a sense.
After making snap plans to drill some holes in the SSD bracket, and arranging for the tools I realize that the SSD can be repositioned in the bracket --- it's not symmetric, and the other position allows SATA power access from below.
Finally, I did some RAM upgrade at the same time and was spooked out of my mind when UEFI alerted that two of the new modules failed their checks. Luckily disconnecting and reconnecting helped and now my PC renovation is a success!
The next time I'm getting a bigger case though.
 
this all highlights why I hate digging into electronics
XD
 
Yeah! I like computers, always have. But I've only enjoyed my... err, first ever computer renovation. And even that only like halfway through. Since that it's been a stressful chore.
My father was rather protective of our computer for perfectly understandable reasons so my first PC renovation was fixing an old hunka junk that our grandparents in the countryside had left plugged in during a thunderstorm. It was actually a computer hardware course project, so I got two birds with one stone.
We figured the lightning had probably damaged the PSU and salvaged a new one from dad's work, and it worked.
Thankfully I liked old games even back then because that's all one could play with that one :D
 
yeah I think I need a new laptop soon
this one is starting to have trouble with Hollow Knight, which admitedly is probably the most demanding game I own
 
I'm trying to figure out if I want a Wacom computer tablet, an iPad, or a Surface, for my next big tech purchase.
The iPad is probably the best choice for right now, but probably the worst for long-term planning.
 
12:18 PM
I think my gaming profile is starting to be such that I'd do just fine with a laptop
 
well I think I have more issues because mine is old than because it's a laptop
and it's not like I am playing any triple A shooters or exploration games
 
I have a friend who keeps their machine perfectly up-to-date as a hobby in its own right and then they play Pdox strategy games on it
Not the worst use of high-end hardware otherwise, but graphics-wise they used to have abysmal support for 4K until recently...
Also I think they introduced 64-bit support to Clausewitz engine only over the Summer
 
 
3 hours later…
3:05 PM
poking around inside computers is fun
 
3:52 PM
12
Q: What happens to a net with the Returning Weapon artificer infusion after it hits?

Marc VeilleuxThe 2019 UA artificer can infuse any simple or martial weapon that has the thrown weapon property with the Returning Weapon infusion. The net is a martial ranged weapon with the thrown property. A returning net comes flying back into the hands of the creature that threw it, regardless of whether...

 
 
1 hour later…
4:59 PM
@Glazius @ACuriousMind I can try to DM for you today, but I may be rather...scatterbrained/even AFKish at times
 
@Shalvenay If you're not feeling it today, no shame in canceling. PbtA leans a lot on the GM's at-table presence.
 
@Shalvenay It's fine if you'd rather not play that way - we've got a cliffhanger after all and I'd rather have it DM'd by a full Shalvenay ;)
 
 
4 hours later…
8:52 PM
 
9:12 PM
8
Q: How can I tell the difference between fishing for rolls and being involved?

Maiko ChikyuI have recently started playing Burning Wheel and I decided to go in a new direction (Mainly because i couldn't make a druid.) and made a charlatan with some bard sprinkled in. A noble woman in her early twenties that were to receive formal education at a religious institute but bailed out after ...

 
9:32 PM
Hey. The second link in this answer ("Interestingly, ...") has rotted into a steroid spam site. I don't even have an account on RPG; could someone please edit or remove it?
 
I already had the same thought
link 3 was also out of date but that was easier to fix to a more recent link to same content, looks like a site reorg
good spot though
 
thanks
 
Thank you!
 
...it might be worth adding the Safety Tools Toolkit link to that answer?
 
9:47 PM
how would you describe that collection, specifically? A curated collection of tools of that nature?
 
That sounds about right, yeah. [rummages]
Yeah, I can't find a better concise description, easily.
 
 
1 hour later…
10:55 PM
hey there @user10843224, welcome to the RPG.SE lair :)
 
11:39 PM
Yearbooks, by Claire Grindle and Maayan. A game about teenagers balancing school life with piloting mechs for their nations.
 
11:52 PM
@Carcer Thank you so much for the "link rot" edit!
 

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