TRPG General Chat

12:07 AM

@PeterCooperJr. IIRC the DMG touches on it... somewhere? but who knows. the DMG is not well organized. :P

@SmokeDetector boom

12:24 AM

Roundup of free D&D stuff for the past week: DDAL modules 05-07 thorough 05-10, plus "Riddle of the Raven Queen" (a DMs Guild Adepts level 5-10 adventure), and "Encounters in Sharn" (another DMs Guild Adepts product compiling a series of tier 1 and 2 adventures set in Eberron). There's also a free background/wallpaper of the MM cover art, and 2 more coloring pages as usual.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay hiya

@V2Blast Whaddya mean? They took all the useful stuff, randomly sorted it into two piles, and put each half on either side of the magic items =)

V2Blast

@nitsua60 lol

linksassin

@nitsua60 That is the best argument for DMG organisation I have seen yet.

Shalvenay

12:40 AM

@nitsua60 how're things going?

nitsua60

@Shalvenay Not bad--the headmaster gave us the day off today, which is the first time in over a decade I haven't had to work Memorial Day =)

You?

Shalvenay

doing alright here, pondering some worldbuilding stuff, like just how bad off folks'd be if all the spiders disappeared tomorrow (spoiler: from what I've seen so far, we'd be in big trouble, because there just aren't enough other insectivores versatile enough to pick up the slack)

Adeptus

12:58 AM

@V2Blast Have they stopped doing the daily freebies? Or... it's a long weekend in the USA, isn't it? I guess we'll wait and see tomorrow...

Hot RPG Questions

1:17 AM

7

Q: If a Cleric uses holy water in a spell, does the flask eventually get used up?

e.g. the Bless spell calls for "a sprinkling of holy water" Is the flask essentially unlimited for Bless, or is there a conversion of X sprinklings in 1 flask?

nitsua60

1:42 AM

@Shalvenay Like if Lloth got peeved and stomped off Cartman-style? ("Screw you, guys, I'm going home.")

Shalvenay

2:01 AM

@nitsua60 LOL

more like Arachne than Lolth in my book

Aah.

Afternoon

o/

How is everyone today?

linksassin

@Ben Pretty good, yourself?

Ben

2:10 AM

Chilled haha. The weather is maintaining a below 24C average. It's stopped raining at least

And for reference, I grew up on the edge of the desert, so I'm more accustomed to the heat, than the cold

That sounds kinda exotic doesn't it "I grew up on the edge of the desert".

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 but yeah, I'm actually trying to think of that because of Faerun...."if Lolth stomped off and took all the ordinary-spiders with her, just how bad off would elfkind be without the spiders?" (I doubt anyone would miss Lolth, though :P)

linksassin

@Shalvenay My old DM just replaced all spiders with scorpions or things with more or less legs than 8. It was a law of the universe that no creature could have 8 legs.

The giant septapus was terrifying.

Ben

2:25 AM

Question RE: Corruption system. I renamed the mechanic from "Corruption" to "Influence". But that was a while ago and I don't remember why exactly. Does anyone see any issues with renaming it "Corruption"?

Any POV is welcome :D

linksassin

@Ben No. I think corruption is clearer.

Ben

Yeah. I think it might have been an ambiguity issue in a previous version, or something conflicting with the effect of the system.

Medix2

@Ben Don't know much about what the corruption does but for me the word corruption implies some sort of slowly changing/growing negative effect that is difficult to cure or remove

Ben

@Medix2 Well, that's what I'm aiming for :D

Shalvenay

@linksassin :P was this to deal with an arachnophobe at the table?

or just general concern/paranoia about such?

linksassin

2:31 AM

@Shalvenay Yes. The DM.

Shalvenay

@linksassin aaaaah :)

linksassin

2:42 AM

I'm coming to dislike the "peer pressure badge" not because there is anything wrong with the badge (which there might be) but because it's preventing me from completing the bronze badges.

Ben

@linksassin Ask a really bad question? Lol

linksassin

@Ben See that's the problem. That is what it is kind of encouraging. I don't want to do that.

Joshua

I had no trouble getting that badge from a bad answer.

Ben

Well, that's if you do it on purpose. I've got it, and I beleive it was because I was still learning about a new system (DH/RT or pathfiner maybe)

Joshua

I wonder how long before a DM makes a map with premade teleportation circles to other planets.

linksassin

2:50 AM

My lowest voted answer is only at -2 and I don't plan on making worse answers.

Joshua

I can downvote it if you want.

linksassin

@Joshua In what context? I'm sure it's been done.

@Joshua No it's ok. I still stand by what I said. And asking for votes is against site policy for gaming the system.

It's just a frustrating badge.

Ben

@Joshua Not other planets... but I am planning on making a map with premade teleportation circles from other areas back to a "hub"

Joshua

Something we noticed in the 5e rules; teleportation circle doesn't have a range limit. We thought that teleport omitting its range limit was a mistake, but the same just can't be said of teleportation circle.

It's almost like it's designed for someone to unlock its true meaning of stargate.

Ben

@Joshua 5e does have scifi rules :P

BESW

2:55 AM

[amused] I wonder if they did a bad copy-paste job from 4e?

Ben

It's like the episode of Castlevania where he dreams about the Infinite Corridor

linksassin

That is basically the point. But creating Teleportation Circles as targets is extremely expensive and difficult.

BESW

Ah, that does sound like 4e.

linksassin

Teleportation Circle is basically fast travel to locations your DM allows. But you have to have a way to discover the gyphs first.

BESW

Yup, that's 4e. Non-combat fast travel to places that you have specialized knowledge of.

Joshua

2:56 AM

@linksassin: While you're on your first interstellar journey you've probably got nothing better to do with your spellslots than prepare a permanent teleportation circle on a tarp or three.

BESW

Limited only by same-plane, and narrative knowledge.

...did they leave out that part?

linksassin

@Joshua You can't place it on a tarp. Plus you have to cast it everyday for 1 year.

43

Q: Can a permanent Teleportation Circle be made on a moving vehicle?

There is a similar question about this for 3.5e, but can a permanent teleportation circle be created on a large moving vehicle? For example, a sailing ship, or a wide portable floor? The spell says: You can create a permanent teleportation circle by casting this spell in the same location ev...

dnd-5e spells teleportation

@BESW Must be same plane and you have to know the sigil.

Joshua

You mean you can't just teleport to random sigils until you find something?

BESW

The SGC tried dialing random addresses for decades with very little success.

linksassin

@Joshua Correct. Plus you would probably die from attempting it. I imagine every bad attempt would result in mishaps for the regular teleportation spell.

BESW

3:01 AM

And they were only dealing with 38 symbols.

Joshua

I'm pretty sure it can't be worse than ending up at つてしんす by random probe.

Ben

@BESW Sometimes they just didn't link up, other times they led to something deadly, from memory?

BESW

@Ben Almost always they simply failed to dial.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, pattern-matching email in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (348): How can a disease be removed, if the description of the disease does not specify? by clara kat on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose)

linksassin

@Joshua Well a mishap is 3d10 damage each and you reroll on the table. Each time there 50/50 chance to arrive in a similar area to the target, or take more damage.

Joshua

3:05 AM

Ouch, but still better than 100% chance of dead so fast you don't know what killed you.

linksassin

Since you just have random runes, it's possible a "similar area" doesn't exist. So you just keep taking force damage until you die.

BESW

One of the things I liked about 4e's ritual casting was that it was a lot more hand-wavy and open to GM fiat without messing with the careful tactical balance of combat.

linksassin

This all happens instantly too. So pretty good chance that a random combination would kill you instantly.

Joshua

wait ... similar area always exists because your origin point has a copy of the sigil sequence that round

For SGC I got Strategy Gaming Club but I think you meant something else.

BESW

StarGate Command

linksassin

3:08 AM

@Joshua Similar area is defined at "thematically similar". I guess the closest thing to thematically similar to non-existant is the abyss?

Shalvenay

@linksassin I personally don't consider the argument against allowing TCs on vehicles and such to be convincing, but then again, if someone tells me that "a ship isn't large enough to accommodate one", I'd be like "are you sure about that? because I've been on a ship that's large enough to accommodate one for sure, and probably several at the same time..."

Joshua

I would have said dumped into intergalactic space only because the spell isn't supposed to change planes.

linksassin

@Shalvenay You can put them on ships. But not tarps. I think that so long as it is a solid surface it is fine.

Shalvenay

@linksassin ah. XD.

Joshua

Oh; that's your distinction.

linksassin

3:10 AM

@Joshua Yeah, that is the limitation. But I feel like that is how I would rule it. You take a bunch of force damage and get dumped into the abyss

Joshua

I guess I'm packing some steel plates into my BoH for my next interstellar transit.

Shalvenay

@Joshua LOL XD fair enough

linksassin

Plus anywhere that would be a valid destination has a powerful enough spellcaster to have created the circle. And they aren't necessarily friendly.

Shalvenay

although, I suspect mithril might be a wee bit more practical for such a travel

Joshua

Best heatshields: dandwiki.com/wiki/Ironwood_(5e_Spell)

Come to think of it, what would happen if two PCs decided to make two permanent teleportation circles with the same sigil sequence.

Seems like something's going to go very wrong.

linksassin

3:20 AM

@Joshua That.... is a good question... I don't think the rules would cover it.

MikeQ

> Each such circle includes a unique sigil sequence--a string of magical runes arranged in a particular pattern.

Ben

Well, in other news I think my Corruption System is done - just needs some reviews, maybe some balancing, and a playtest!

linksassin

Though I do wonder if the caster gets to choose the sequence or it the sequence is determine but the unique place it is being cast.

Joshua

If the latter, one should be able to deduce the site of a teleportation circle from an arbitrary sigil sequence, regardless if it's actually there or not. I've always assumed the caster sets it.

linksassin

@Joshua Just because it is determined doesn't mean you could reverse it. Think of a password hash or something.

But the spell is unclear.

Joshua

3:25 AM

If the caster can determine it in his head in one round, it can be reversed on paper in a few hours.

Ben

linksassin

They don't determine it in one round. They have to memorise it ahead of time which takes one minute of careful study.

Joshua

Uhh; they determine it in one round when making a new one.

Shalvenay

@Joshua LOL. that sounds like the worst address conflict ever

makes all our bitter grumblings about IP address conflicts, and I guess the occasional mailing address conflict, look trivial in comparison

Joshua

lol

linksassin

3:27 AM

@Joshua Hmmm... that's not entirely clear. Do they determine is in one round at the first casting, or do they figure it out over 1 round each day for a year?

Joshua

For some reason I thought my worst rules abuse was feather-fall from .9999c.

linksassin

@Joshua Pretty sure the deceleration would kill you.

Adeptus

@Joshua Convert all the letters in your full name into numbers (a=1 ... z=26). Add them together. The total is your "arbritrary sigil sequence". Now take that total, and without knowing how you got it, work out what name it refers to.

Joshua

talk about address collision

Adeptus

just an example of how something can be unreversable. Same concept as the password hash @linksassin mentioned.

linksassin

3:32 AM

If one of my players wanted to try to determine the sigil for a place purely based on knowledge about the location and having never seen the sigil. I would let them make an arcana check. But the DC would be 30 or higher.

@Adeptus Only difference is that the password hash is guaranteed to be unique. But the calculation is so complicated you can't possibly reverse it.

Joshua

Actually that's the easy way. What you want to be hard is given an arbitrary sigil, find out where it would go.

MikeQ

Only if you roll a nat 20 on the preimage attack roll

linksassin

@Joshua That's the reversing the hash part we are talking about.

It's basically impossible. Though again I would likely allow it with a ~DC35 arcana check.

Adeptus

@linksassin depends on the hash algorithm. MD5 was thought to be (as good as?) unique, but then they found that there were collisions

Joshua

How long do you think sigil sequences even are?

linksassin

3:41 AM

@Adeptus True. I was going on the concept of hashing rather than any exact implementation.

@Joshua Doesn't need to be very long for there to be a lot of variations.

It's a combination of number of options per character and number of characters.

Ben

@linksassin I actually have a salt/hash tool that I can use to reverse engineer - but it works off the original salt/hash key. So maybe that's something you could do - set a quest to find the "Salty Hash powder" to find out the key to the Teleportation Circle :P

linksassin

@Ben Perhaps the "salt" is the unique magically signature of the caster who made it? If you know who created the circle you could figure it out.

Ben

Magic Hacking 101

Adeptus

@Ben Interesting, I thought it was virtually impossible. Which algorithm(s) does it work on?

Joshua

I fed one of my friends several of my citybusters and some of the other junk including the plane-buster to try on an unsuspecting GM. Never did hear back how it went.

Ben

3:44 AM

@Adeptus Math mostly :P

linksassin

@Adeptus If you have the key that was used to hash you can undo it. That's why it's called a 'private key'

Ben

Can't remember off the top of my head, but it doesn't work unless you use the exact same salt/hash

Joshua

You don't have enough keyspace for public/private key pairs in the sigil sequences.

Ben

@Joshua That's what the Salt is for - it masks the sigil to mean something else entirely.

Joshua

It's be like trying to do RSA in 64 bits; we could just plain old up and index the whole thing.

Ben

3:47 AM

That's part of the ritual. You write the sigils in the order you want (which is your password) then you sprinkle the Magic Salt Powder, and use the Special Keyphrase that only you know, to Hash the spell, and the sigils change to mask the actual order :P

Joshua

That's incompatible with being able to teleport to anybody's sigil sequence.

BESW

> Reagents: pink salt, a potato

linksassin

@Joshua No it's not. It just means you can't work it out.

You have to be given it and memorise it.

Joshua

In which case from that point the original caster also has to memorize it.

Ben

@Joshua Well he has it written in his spellbook

linksassin

3:49 AM

@Joshua Correct.

Ben

@BESW Yes XD

Joshua

Oh; it's like you want an arbitrary third ruling; when casting it to make a new circle you get a new arbitrary sigil sequence.

The problem with the scheme as you wrote it: a few million circles in the plane and you'll start getting collisions.

BESW

Maybe that's why D&D civilizations are cyclic.

linksassin

@Joshua Not necessarily. The draconic alphabet in skyrim has 34 symbols. Using that as a base you only need 4 symbols to create over 1 million combinations.

Joshua

The constraining rule is "one minute careful study" which means you've got something like 10000^6 space, so any kind of secure generation collides after about 10000^3.

linksassin

3:54 AM

I think most planes are going to be pretty safe from that number of circles. Plus don't forget about the unique magical salt that makes them unique.

It means a single caster could create millions of circles (provided they lived that long) and each would be unique.

And at the end of the day. We're discussion whether magic obeys the rules of our world.

Joshua

As I said, you want a ruling that every time you cast one you get a new unique sequence. But it would really work much better if there simply wasn't any input to the function.

linksassin

There could be thousands of other way that make a sigil unique. The exact aura of magic. The finger used to draw it. The pitch of your voice as you chant.

Joshua

More like the universe does truncate(md5(sequencenumber), 6)

linksassin

I think the spell is geared to all of them being unique. How exactly that happens is up to the DM.

Ben

I think we're forgetting the main element here: magic

linksassin

3:57 AM

If you want to be able to guess or reverse them there would have to be inputs that could be understood in universe.

It is left open enough that the DM can decide if it is possible or not.

Joshua

The trouble with rules magic is if the rules aren't consistent, it's going to be catastraphic.

linksassin

I would let you try but make it difficult and make the cost for being slightly wrong high.

Joshua

I got my plane-buster from an adverse ruling.

linksassin

@Joshua I'm not familiar with your plane-buster.

BESW

Again, I super appreciate that 4e abandoned any pretext of rules as reality simulator.

3

It opened my eyes to a lot of awesome alternative ways to make games work.

Joshua

4:01 AM

Somebody ruled that wall of force remains stationary over the surface of the body it's cast over.

The Sun's SOI extends over one light year.

linksassin

@Joshua In what reference system?

Joshua

@linksassin: Are there any other choices besides caster's reference frame and closest SOI?

linksassin

@Joshua Planar reference, continental (moves with continental shift), local (moves with a vehicle) who knows? You can create a reference system to anything you like.

Joshua

So the idea is really simple, either by one or two colliding walls of force, provide so that all paths out require superlumions velocity. So if someone rules the plane remains stationary over the surface of the earth, you just have to get far enough away. For the earth, there's no far enough away because you leave the SOI first, but for the sun not so.

But if you have local walls of force, we just collide them with a tiny offset angle (think scissors). It's just a trig problem at that point.

linksassin

Basically your point is that colliding walls of force create nearly infinite energy?

Joshua

4:13 AM

Turns out it's not near infinite, it's an actual infinite, which is bad news because E=mcc

goodbye material plane

And this is why in-character you don't teach the stardrive sequence to just anybody. You just know some mage is going to use a poor trig table.

BESW

Or, the reference system the rules are intended for?

Hot RPG Questions

5:16 AM

5

Q: Do class or subclass features that affect spellcasting apply when casting a spell from an Artificer's Spell Storing Item?

In my recent question about a homebrewed Artificer subclass, I was asked in a comment how one of the abilities that modifies spellcasting would interact with casting spells stored within a my subclass's variant version of the Spell Storing Item feature that all Artificers get. I'd not considered ...

dnd-5e spellcasting artificer

V2Blast

6:21 AM

@Adeptus Probably has to do with it being Memorial Day. I'm guessing it'll resume tomorrow (or later today, depending on your timezone) :P

Hot RPG Questions

1

Q: What is your spellcasting ability when casting a spell from a Ring of Spell Storing?

The Ring of Spell Storing states (emphasis mine): [...] While wearing this ring, you can cast any spell stored in it. The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell attack bonus, and spellcasting ability of the original caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell. [...] S...

dnd-5e magic-items spellcasting

5

Q: Can concentration spells be "adjusted" while silenced?

For an example, the party is fighting Strahd, a vampire spellcaster. The party cleric casts Dawn, off center on Strahd to only affect him. Then the party wizard casts silence directly on top of Strahd, which will also affect the cleric. On Strahd's turn, he moves out of the effected area of Daw...

dnd-5e spellcasting spell-components

V2Blast

Prepared! A Dozen Adventures for 5th Edition by Kobold Press is free through May 31 using the code SaferAtHomeWeek2 during checkout. Warlock #15: Boss Monsters is also free through June 7 using the code SaferAtHomeWeek3.

(It was previously included in the "Humble RPG Bundle - 5E Dungeons, Hordes & Horrors by Frog God & Friends", so some of you may already have it.)

Adeptus

6:55 AM

@V2Blast I hate it when I already have a freebie...

V2Blast

lol

Adeptus

They're also giving away Boss Monsters

(which I ~~don't~~ didn't have)

V2Blast

7:13 AM

@Adeptus Ah, good call

V2Blast

8:04 AM

also, Civilization VI is free on the Epic Games Store until Thursday

Hot RPG Questions

10:02 AM

5

Q: How to model opposed rolls in Anydice?

I've seen there are quite a lot of brilliant people on this board answering questions about Anydice. I am hoping somebody will be kind enough to answer this one too. I want to use anydice to figure out the probability of success with opposing dice rolls. For example, 1d6+1d8 (test roll) vs 1d1...

anydice

Peter Cooper Jr.

12:40 PM

@V2Blast Yeah, the DMG touches on handling dead characters in Chapter 8 under "Small Groups", that if you have a small group you might have each player have multiple characters, and oh yeah maybe people could have a backup character ready in case their main character dies. It covers more about handling missing players than it does missing characters.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Korean character in title, potentially bad ns for domain in body, potentially bad ns for domain in title (99): Jiu너무도 des-by.com/thenine/ - 더존카지노 by tearose2v on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose)

JohnP

1:22 PM

@KorvinStarmast I am guessing so. My original hiring supervisor said he was sure a couple people vouched for me, but declined to provide details. He's a DM to the core. :p

KorvinStarmast

@JohnP You made your Ability Check, so Hooray!

JohnP

@KorvinStarmast Ayup. And I think if I had had a couple more days, there would have been multiple offers. But, it is what it is, just glad to be gainfully employed.

BESW

2:06 PM

Thought of the day: Thousand Cousins using Agaptus rules.

JohnP

2:53 PM

Well, this is annoying. Evidently my phone # was randomly selected by a robocaller to spoof. Getting calls all morning.

GcL

@JohnP What kind of calls?

JohnP

@GcL "Hello?" "Yeah, what'd you want? You called me."

GcL

Yeah. Probably a spam caller spoofed your number. There's other ways that kind of thing can happen as well to provoke a distributed denial of service against someone's phone. If they're asking why you called... probably a spammer spoofing your number. That sucks.

JohnP

Eh, random chance was bound to pick it someday. Wish I had the same luck with lottery tickets.

KorvinStarmast

3:51 PM

@Rubiksmoose I like my odds on that answer, and will take it to Vegas and put money on it. On the other hand, five years ago that would get closed as a "read the rules to me" question ...

Rubiksmoose

@KorvinStarmast I'd say that would be smart money :)

Honestly though, I think it's likely a dupe assuming 5e.

Medix2

I was looking for a dupe and couldn't find one

Rubiksmoose

huh maybe just misremembering. Could have sworn we had one about the HP notation

Medix2

I was sure I'd seen a dupe but using [dnd-5e]+[hit-points]+[monsters] I personally found nothing

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 BTW I removed your DnDB link for the time being since we don't have a system.

nitsua60

3:57 PM

@Rubiksmoose this one's a near-neighbor:

32

Q: What does "+6 to hit, Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4)" mean in a creature's stat block?

My friends and I are very new to D&D, played like 3 times. In a monster's stats next to weapon damage it says stuff like "+11 to hit" and "Hit: 5 (1d8+1)". For the premade characters it just says things like "+4, 2d6 + 2 slashing", though. Why are there two "hit" numbers for monsters? Which do I ...

dnd-5e monsters damage

GcL

@Rubiksmoose I thought the holy schism was about putting the ability score or the bonus in the big box or the little one on the char sheet.

nitsua60

But I don't remember one that's HP-specific.

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose oh... Right, oh my gosh wow was that an oversight on my part

@nitsua60 also this one:

15

Q: What does the first number represent in the damage section of some monster/NPC attacks?

I understand most of what each number represents, but monster/NPC statblocks often have a number in the damage section before the damage roll in parentheses. For example, for a Sahuagin Priestess (MM, p. 264), one of her attacks looks like this: Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ...

dnd-5e monsters damage

KorvinStarmast

Yeah, it must be some other system; it simply must be. Might even be that fake system that Vicki dreamed up as a joke.

Medix2

For HP I only found this one about determining a monster's hit dice

GcL

3:59 PM

Can we add an option to downvote user names?

KorvinStarmast

@Medix2 But they don't even understand what HP and HD is?

@GcL What do you mean by that?

Medix2

@GcL Huh? I guess report them

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 maybe that's what I was thinking of. I can't find anything either.

GcL

@Medix2 Nah... that's serious. I just want an totally meaningful and important internet points tally.

KorvinStarmast

@GcL I once reported a user name that I thought was offensive (and I am hard to offend) and SSD told me "nope"

GcL

4:00 PM

@KorvinStarmast So i see a user name, and I want to downvote it. There's no button for that... yet.

Medix2

Does SSD ever appear in this chat?

KorvinStarmast

@Medix2 used to now and again, but has probably found time not spent here very productive, based on the farewell meta.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 Not for a long time. And even when they were much more active, it was fairly rare.

(in the few years I've been here)

KorvinStarmast

@GcL And there should be one .. because ... why? (I sense a wry GcL joke looming, but not seeing it yet)

NautArch

howdy howdy

KorvinStarmast

4:02 PM

@NautArch Hail Naut

o/

NautArch

\o

Rubiksmoose

ahoy hoy

NautArch

So...is anyone else interested in running Dead in Thay? I'm getting a little worried that my group will not be finishing it any time soon and I think a second party in the dungeon would be interesting.

or even a third!

@JohnP Glad to hear you're employed!! I'm currently dealing with losing employees so they can make more on unemployment.

KorvinStarmast

Do you mean "create characters and be a PC in
*Dead in Thay* ?" Where do I sign up?

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast More like does anyone else want to DM a group inside the dungeon moving parallel to mine? :)

Peter Cooper Jr.

4:05 PM

@NautArch What platform, schedule, etc.? It's hard to carve out more time for gaming, but it's fun to dream about doing so.

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose Which is so sad to me, because before that, they were a pretty active chatizen. Maybe not daily-active, but certainly weekly-active, which made him both (a) always pingable and (b) seem accessible to me, a new user at the time.

JohnP

@NautArch Yeah that's a problem for some of the smaller businesses here as well.

KorvinStarmast

@NautArch I can't do any more DMing, or the wife will hit me with a stick.

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 Agreed :( I always enjoyed chatting with them when they were around.

NautArch

@PeterCooperJr. Well, I wouldn't be DMing it. I'd be coordinating with whomever is so that information and dungeon states are shared. But more to get a 2nd party moving through so that information on how to finish it can be found/move faster.

KorvinStarmast

4:06 PM

And I am looking forward to the 13th age game with kviiri this summer ....

NautArch

It's a big ask, tho :)

just a neat idea i was having.

KorvinStarmast

... don't want to jeopardize that.

Peter Cooper Jr.

I'm a bit overcommitted on the DMing front already (meaning 1 weekly game online, and perhaps finishing up an in-person game if we ever get back together)

And I'm also trying to figure out best way of RPGing with the kids. I'm exploring Fate Accelerated now (as we wanted something with a bit more mechanics then Amazing Tales or No Thank You Evil or the like, but a lot less than D&D.) Fate Accelerated might fit the bill, but I think I need to read the rulebook a couple more times to make sense of it.

KorvinStarmast

how old are the kids?

Honey Heist is kind of fun, and Golden Sky Stories strike me as a possible fun game that has no combat in it.

Peter Cooper Jr.

The ones I'm most likely to be gaming with would be 10 and almost-8, though they have some level of Autism making things even more fun.

Yeah, they want all combat all the time, without any costs or resources anything. And some PvP sometimes depending on the game.

Which I'm trying to redirect, but Fate at least has a concept kinda-like-hp but without character death, which I think might work well for them

NautArch

4:13 PM

@PeterCooperJr. yeah, it's a pretty big ask :)

GcL

@PeterCooperJr. I'm looking forward to Magical Kitties Save the Day by Atlas Games when I can get back to being face to face with family.

Peter Cooper Jr.

@GcL Thanks; I'll check it out

It's hard to find a game system that will appeal to both the kids and the adults in the game at once.

GcL

@PeterCooperJr. Herding children playing cats with magical powers was highly entertaining for everyone in the room involved or not. I did it once when the beta was release to kickstarters.

Yes, and... Yes, and... Yes, and... next scene.

Peter Cooper Jr.

@GcL Yeah, the kids often want to play in the universe of whatever cartoon or video game catches their fancy at the moment, but redirecting it to something else might be useful too.

GcL

@PeterCooperJr. So you're saying we need to make a show.

nitsua60

4:29 PM

@PeterCooperJr. Have you thought about Descent or (to go all the way) Gloomhaven?

Peter Cooper Jr.

4:53 PM

@nitsua60 Haven't heard of either of those; I guess I'll add them to the list

nitsua60

@PeterCooperJr. They're both tactical boardgames with fantasy rpg themes/mechanics.

They're GMless; the game's materials present you with scenarios, and the enemies execute pretty simple targeting decisions.

In Descent (which I'd look into first, Gloomhaven is a lot bigger/heavier) IIRC the scenarios tend to be "go into this hole in the earth and come out with item/treasure/hostage" or "go into this hole in the ground and defeat the necromancer."

Rubiksmoose

Gloomhaven also serves as a great core/arm workout if you have to move it more than 5 feet.

nitsua60

boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/descent

@Rubiksmoose Gloomahaven is a good intro to DIY if you want a way to be able to set up or break down in under an hour.

Rubiksmoose

XD

JohnP

Argh. My old supervisor is a DM to the core. Keeps secrets just because he knows it yanks my chain. :p

Peter Cooper Jr.

5:10 PM

I may also try breaking out my childhood copy of Hero Quest if we go that route, but so far they haven't really shown much interest in playing; they just like the minis.

NautArch

@PeterCooperJr. My 8 year old starting playing 5e earlier this year when neighbors got the Stranger Things box set for christmas. Covid has ended that and we haven't really played since.

But he was all-in on the combat. Less so on the RP.

Peter Cooper Jr.

Oh, they liked D&D, but want to play oddball characters and character creation is just so involved (especially if you're making custom races)

NautArch

@PeterCooperJr. Yeah, I did most of their charcter creation. Asked more genreal questions and then built the characters.

Peter Cooper Jr.

5:26 PM

And they didn't like being told "no, you can't do that yet", since D&D has a big theme of advancement and getting more powerful over time. They just want to play superhero-style and squish bad guys. Thus, we're trying out more storytelling-based and less mechanics-based, but Amazing Tales might be going too far in that direction.

JohnP

Ok background.

1 experienced player/inexperienced DM.

Group: Inexperienced players.

Premise: Best starter 5e adventure.

NautArch

@PeterCooperJr. Yeah, when I told the oldest kid (13) to pick ou tsome spells for her cleric, she ignored levels and just picked spells.

Zachiel

@PeterCooperJr. Or just start at a higher level

JohnP

Go.

Peter Cooper Jr.

@JohnP I'd suggest LMoP unless the experienced player has played it before.

Zachiel

5:34 PM

@JohnP I don't know if that would be Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, but if it is so, it's basically my Monday group.

NautArch

@JohnP For a really quick entrance, if they are familiar in even a passing sense, the Stranger Things adventure is kinda fun.

JohnP

@PeterCooperJr. The experienced player has not.

NautArch

It's short and gives some guidance to DMs.

If it's adults, I'd honestly look at the Rick and Morty adventure. IT's a LOT of fun and the rick and morty humor is dropped in while explaining the rules, which actually makes it pretty good for adults to learn.

Peter Cooper Jr.

@Zachiel Dragon Heist has the challenge of the players being in a city where they can go anywhere in it. If the new-DM is good at improv and thrives on that, I can see it working real well, but I could also see it being pretty overwhelming.

JohnP

@PeterCooperJr. I'm....ok at improv. Not great.

Peter Cooper Jr.

5:39 PM

@JohnP The problem with any published adventure, of course, is that invariably the players manage to go "off-script" and you need to at the very least have a "random" encounter in your back pocket to pull out while you figure out how to get the players back on the railroad, or at least in the neighborhood of it.

Zachiel

My Inexperienced Dm is good at it if he readies situations in advance, and I suspect he likes us doing stupid things and having to avoid both the good and the bad guys... but it all started when WotC pulled the usual "you have no authorization to be there, you might not even want to be there, you're not sure the plot hook is even there, but it's the only place that's left to go and every NPC thinks the place is a mystery worth solving".

Peter Cooper Jr.

Dragon Heist is also much more focused on intrigue than your "typical" D&D, which might not be the best intro to the game for the inexperienced players. Unless, of course, that's the kind of game they're looking for.

Zachiel

@PeterCooperJr. Unless you tell the players "this is a published adventure. It works if your characters want to do this thing and will work towards it."

NautArch

@JohnP Have you talked with the players to find out what they are looking for in a game? What are you looking for in running a game?

Zachiel

@PeterCooperJr. I'm at a certain "convince this guy not to ally with those other guys" quest and I have no idea how to do so except offering a bribe - and we're poor.

NautArch

5:42 PM

@Zachiel there are other ways to pay for things besides money...

JohnP

@NautArch Not yet. We were planning a session zero right before all the lockdowns. Then it just hasn't happened yet.

NautArch

@JohnP I'd probably start there :) That may help narrow the options. But if they are all adults and have a sense of humor, i'd very much consider that Rick and Morty.

JohnP

What's rick and morty?

Rubiksmoose

Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadventures of cynical mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his good-hearted but fretful grandson Morty Smith, who split their time between domestic life and interdimensional adventures. Roiland voices the eponymous characters, with Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer and Sarah Chalke voicing the rest of the family. The series originated from an animated short parody film of Back to the Future, created by Roiland...

NautArch

@JohnP A childish adult-oriented cartoon with over the top characters. You play their character's characters, but can run it with custom characters, too.

Zachiel

5:45 PM

@NautArch Just to find that guy our tiefling necromancer did things I can not name in this chat.

NautArch

It's pretty silly, but there's good content and soeme fun puzzles.

Peter Cooper Jr.

Yeah, plan a few options and see what appeals to the group. If they want urban intrigue go with Dragon Heist. If they want open-ended exploration and "seeing the world" then Storm King's Thunder. Etc. Lost Mine of Phandelver is a pretty good "default" for new players with some elements of everything, and can pretty easily be transitioned from into one of the other published works when it's done if desired.

NautArch

I just really liked the tongue-in-cheek attitude in the adventure, and really liked the way they explained the rules via sidebars from the characters.

JohnP

@NautArch I'll take a look, thanks.

Peter Cooper Jr.

And Dragon of Icespire Peak is free on D&D Beyond for another couple days, if they're looking for a "quest board" approach.

nitsua60

6:27 PM

@PeterCooperJr. Ok--Descent is very much like a beefed-up version of HQ. (And then Gloomhaven is Descent after it got a PhD, did a couple of postdocs, and is now working on tenure.)

@JohnP I'd second LMoP. It's surprisingly good at stepping newer players through some things. Especially if the GM can run a productive session 0 and then spend a day taking a red pen to LMoP. (When I ran it for a son and his friend I reskinned a bunch of the content to mate up with some carryover elements from an Amazing Tales scenario they'd gone back to a couple of times. It didn't take much to change it from feeling like a generic "rout some goblins, shoo away some bandits" module.)

Hot RPG Questions

7:10 PM

2

Q: Where has my History proficiency come from?

I'm new to DnD. I was typing up my character sheet (I've decided to do this every now and then as my annotations become more messy), and in the process I didn't spot any reason for me to have the History proficiency I have. It's likely that I just made a mistake when making the sheet, but maybe ...

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V2Blast

44 minutes left in the election!

don't forget to get your votes in :)

(and you can change who you've picked as your first, second, and third choices right up until the end)

JohnP

@V2Blast I really did mean to put in a bid, but life kinda went sideways at the wrong time.

V2Blast

7:44 PM

@JohnP understandable

nitsua60

8:11 PM

2020 Community Moderator Election Results

10

The Oracle

8:25 PM

4

Q: 2020 Community Moderator Election Results

Role-playing Games's fifth moderator election has come to a close, the votes have been tallied and the two new moderators are: They'll be joining the existing crew shortly—please thank them for volunteering, and share your assistance and advice with them as they learn the ropes! Also, pleas...

discussion featured election

Xirema

@nitsua60 Congrats to the new mods! ^_^

Someone_Evil

Dear heavens there a lot of new little bits to learn now...

If anyone sees anything slightly strange over the next few days it's probably just me figuring out how something works (intentional or not). Feel free to ask about it

A. B.

Grr, I wanna do something!

Congrats to new mods, I know nothing about it whatever but wish you luck.

Someone_Evil

@Xirema And thanks. It's a bit scary

JohnP

@Someone_Evil Nah, you'll be fine. Mostly just keep on keeping on the way you normally do.

I don't think it will take you or @linksassin long to settle in at all. Congratulations to you both.

Someone_Evil

8:40 PM

Cheers, one thing that will definitely trip me up a few times is that the mod option on posts is left of share

JohnP

8:55 PM

And poof. You're blue.

nitsua60

@Someone_Evil Sooo many little tidbits to read, all hidden away where they're impossible to find. I didn't so much 'retire' as 'give up after three years of trying to find all the mod-docs' =D

V2Blast

9:15 PM

@Someone_Evil It's okay, we don't really know how everything works either :P

congrats to the winners, and thanks to everyone who ran!

Maximillian

@nitsua60 I wasn't here much to talk to, but I've seen you around when I was more active. Thank you for your contributions during your administration.

nitsua60

@Maximillian Thank you.

I think there's something wrong with the color balance on my display:

There's a lot of blue along the left, there ^^

Rubiksmoose

9:31 PM

@nitsua60 Yeah there is! Those should all be green!

A. B.

9:41 PM

Dunno what to do. I could go in Fort City (that IRC RP channel) again, but I'm not sure I'm up to risking it being another stint of laboriously making conversation with a character and hoping something will result from it and it never does.

Someone_Evil

@nitsua60 Wasn't there some userscript to change it to green?

Oh, open your eyes self. Rubiks already made that reference

Peter Cooper Jr.

9:58 PM

Is there someone here familiar with Fate Accelerated who can help me unlearn all my D&D-isms and make some sense of its turn structure?

BESW

Jan 3 '18 at 11:35, by BESW

Blue? That doesn't make any sense. Mods are green.

31

Q: Spoilt for choice: helping traditional-system players adapt to narrative-control games

My group teethed on D&D 3.5 and loved 4e, but now we're eager to take advantage of FATE's more narrative- and character-driven philosophies. However, on our first (DFRPG) game last night, my players frequently seemed spoilt for choice: faced with "what do you want to do?" instead of "which of the...

new-players fate dresden-files system-introduction

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