TRPG General Chat

Thomas Markov

12:00 PM

Hello friends

BESW

Flashbacks can be very quick, just a sentence or two, which means other players don't feel left out.

Thomas Markov

well that was inappropriate of me.

BESW

If they're extended (which LB doesn't really encourage, but if the group wants to why not?) then you can ask other players to take on the roles of NPCs in the flashback.

[wave]

Sos

ok, I have to leave for now. Thanks a lot for all the suggestions and patience to bear with me, you guys rock!

BESW

ttfn!

Medix2

12:16 PM

@ThomasMarkov Things alright?

Hot RPG Questions

5

Q: Does a character automatically fail one death save when they drop to 0 hit points?

I have a question regarding death saves and whether anyone knows an official source that can determine this. So according to my DM's interpretation of the RAW, if an attack brings you below zero hit points, it not only knocks you unconscious but also inflicts an automatic failed death save from t...

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 haha yeah, when I first attempted to type "hello friends", i typed "hell friends".

Medix2

@doppelgreener That's why every GM I've had got rid of EXP and loot and maintained them only as end-of-arc rewards; removed so much of my least favorite things

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 i made it to 10k rep

Medix2

It feels weird, but good, when you all describe D&D in a certain way that is so fundamentally different from the experiences I've had in playing it

@ThomasMarkov Oh no, my deleted posts! I think almost all of what 10k has done for me is let me read spam and advertising. That might be cast delete votes too

Oh absolute nevermind, 10k is Mod Tools! I stare at those a lot. Oh in-line tag editing too!

Thomas Markov

12:26 PM

apparently I can undelete other people's deleted posts.

Or maybe thats just a vote to do so?

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov You can add an undelete vote, yes

Thomas Markov

IS THIS WHAT TRUE POWER FEELS LIKE?!

Medix2

Wait maybe not? Hmmm the 20k page says it grants undelete voting

Thomas Markov

It looks like i can mash the undelete button.

@Rubiksmoose hey friend maybe you know

Medix2

Ah 10k is question, 20k is answers

Thomas Markov

12:30 PM

I see.

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov I can at least pretend to know! What's up?

Thomas Markov

just hit 10k and I could see an undelete button on deleted posts.

was wondering how it all worked. apparently its questions at 10k, answers at 20k.

Rubiksmoose

Ah yeah. That's a vote. I think it takes the same amount of votes to undelete as to delete.

Medix2

Is there a guideline for when a bad answer exists from a new user? Should you just delete it and then, if they come back and edit it, undelete it? Is there a special queue for "recently edited deleted posts"?

Rubiksmoose

Undelete doesn't get used very often here because we usually don't have people deleting stuff without good reason.

Medix2

12:34 PM

Yeah just wasn't sure if we have deleted posts that have been turned into quality posts and sat there still deleted

Since I can't imagine anybody goes "Oh I should check back up on those posts I voted to deleted in case the poster made them better"

BESW

"Bad answers" don't get deleted.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 I don't know if we have any site specific guidelines, but as a non-diamond, I would downvote and vote to delete VLQ questions from new users if they didn't respond fairly quickly. More often then not, I find they don't get fixed so it saves a bit of time and votes can always be reversed if it gets edited.

BESW

Answers get deleted if they're not actually answers, or if they're tragically inappropriate. But just being a poor answer is what downvotes are for.

As usual, it's more useful to talk about broad principles when they're being applied to a specific example.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 we do have the follow feature now!

Not sure if it works in deleted answers. I suspect not...

doppelgreener

@Medix2 that's what I would do if I ran D&D again, and it's something I've advised others to do as well when they describe issues with pacing, loot, xp, etc

Thomas Markov

12:38 PM

there some fun deleted stuff to be found linked on meta posts with large negative scores.

Carcer

@ThomasMarkov fsvo "fun"

Medix2

@BESW Okay that's fair I suppose I should have said "undeniably and utterly awful" or something; I'm not going and deleted just any bad answer

@Rubiksmoose You can follow them before they get deleted, just not after

Rubiksmoose

Yeah and I assume that changes after deletion don't get tracked either.

Medix2

Oh yeah, no idea

Does undeleting a post deleted by its author feel weird to anybody else?

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 a little bit.

ooooooh there a SEDE query to find deleted questions.

NautArch

12:47 PM

@Medix2 It does.

Medix2

Yeah I find it... Strange(?) that SEDE does things users can't

@NautArch Okay, I just saw some posts, deleted by their authors, that have undelete votes; I'll probably just watch them since there's no "keep deleted" vote

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 is there like a undelete queue or something?

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 It does feel strange and I think that is generally a good thing. Keeps us from overusing the tool.

Outside of reversing someone mass-deleting their stuff in rage quitting mode which happens periodically, I've only used it a handful of times on this site.

NautArch

@Medix2 Yeah, I remember having a similar discussion at some point in the past, but ultimately unless the answer/question is really good and deserves to be up, I leave it well enough alone.

AncientSwordRage

Bear in mind that questions can't be deleted if it has an answer with a positive score

Medix2

12:52 PM

@Rubiksmoose Yeah I see it recently done presumably because the author didn't realize they can't edit a post they delete themself

BESW

Hmm I need to learn how to use endnotes in Scrivener.

NautArch

Inhappier news, my players will be having their final session in Dead in Thay next Tuesday! They have spent 2 in-game days crawling through the complex and have done an enormous amount of destruction in that time. In real life, about 3 months of 2/week sessions.

Definitely pushed the limits of the adventuring day.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 Wait, you can edit any post you have rights to edit, no matter who deleted it right?

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose You can't edit posts you delete if they are your own posts last I checked. Because otherwise this happens: Delete, Edit into Spam, Undelete and now there's just untraceable spam

AncientSwordRage

@Rubiksmoose at some point you can edit your own post and others, but I'm guessing some users don't notice you can edit anything

Rubiksmoose

12:55 PM

@Medix2 hmmmm I wonder if that has a rep limit to it. Because I'm pretty sure I deleted my own answer before and then edited it and undeleted.

Or maybe I'm just misremembering

16

Q: Why can I not edit a self-deleted question?

One real example: I posted a question and, after a first comment, I decided it needs a rework. I can not do it immediately, thus, I've deleted the question to not waste the time of other users. I'd like to edit it and, after that, undelete. However, the system only allows me to edit an undeleted...

discussion edits deleted-questions

Thomas Markov

it looks like I can edit others' deleted questions.

Medix2

@AncientSwordRage Or multiple answers with any scores

Rubiksmoose

Looks like it might only apply to questions?

Medix2

Apparently you can't delete six of your own posts in one day

Rubiksmoose

Let me edit my own deleted post

@Medix2 oh? I'm pretty sure I've seen evidence to the contrary. There's an autoflag when people start to delete too much, but it doesn't stop them.

Got a source for that I can look at?

Medix2

1:02 PM

Yeah gotta go find it again, one sec

Here under "When can't I delete my own post?" Says "You can't delete any of your own posts if you've already deleted five of your own posts on the same day." It links to this: "You have already deleted 5 of your own posts today; further deletes are blocked"

nitsua60

@BESW I consistently use the line with parents and kids "my job is to see that you are--in order--safe, healthy, and happy. Learning is part of those last two and, occasionally, the first."

Medix2

Apparently deleting five of your own posts in a day removes your deletion ability for a week? Or it at least used to

nitsua60

@GcL No, I'm talking about the provision of universal education, then the mandate of universal education, then the ubiquity of the two-income household adding up to a societal structure where we need a place for kids to be safely supervised for most of most days.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 huh TIL! But I swear I've seen a user do more than that...

Thomas Markov

just found a post tagged "spellcaster" about a woman who had a doctor cast a spell on her estranged husband and it brought her family back together.

Medix2

1:10 PM

@ThomasMarkov It begins

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov that guy is the best!

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov Ah yes, what would we do without the help of doctor so-and-so that did that shifty thing over a whatsApp number.

Thomas Markov

Sounds like a good premise for a one-shot adventure.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 Now I need to look and see where the autoflag limit is set at...

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose Autoflag?

Thomas Markov

1:12 PM

just read a post that was just a history of the Visual Basic programming language.

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 Moderators get notified when people start removing content en masse. So the system will throw up a flag for us. It's a recurring problem when people get upset and decide to try to remove all their stuff from the site.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Just realize that some number of deleted posts are deleted specifically because their author wants them gone and people not viewing them. Something the 10k tool (compared to the diamond tool) helps with, though I doubt it was ever meant to do that

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov I hope the information will improve your RPG experience. ;-)

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose There's also that thing where you can remove all posts from being associated with your account, I'd have thought that would work, though I've never looked into that much

Thomas Markov

Im just reading old spam posts.

Medix2

1:16 PM

@ThomasMarkov They're fun, well, when they're fun XD

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 Yeah dissociation. It basically removes your name from all of your posts. That is something you have to request SE to do. Usually that only, at most, slightly mollifies users who wanted to leave the site with a bang and take all their stuff with them.

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose True, silently removing your post associations isn't exactly bang-y

Rubiksmoose

@Medix2 And you lose all control over what happens to those posts in the future.

But it is a useful tool for other issues. We're not really concerned with appeasing the desires of rage-quitters that are explicitly not allowed and that was never the purpose of the tool to begin with.

Medix2

@Rubiksmoose Glad that's not a priority

Thomas Markov

1:38 PM

alright so I found a post

and i cant tell why it was deleted.

it was not deleted by the post author

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov was it roomba'd?

Thomas Markov

25 upvotes

answer has 25 upvotes

NautArch

is it an opinion-based answer?

Thomas Markov

There's a meta about it here: rpg.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5668/…

But the meta only discusses its closure it seems, not deletion.

Korvin's answer discusses undeleting it.

Ah, I found a comment about why it was deleted.

Medix2

2:00 PM

I could've sworn we had an open question asking about the same thing...

Bardic Wizard

I finally finished the RPG I wrote!

It’s called Ensign of the Week (thanks to one of my friends who beta-read it), and is available here to try out. I’m looking for people who want to try it, either with kids or as a play-by-post (or as a regular game)

3

I’d appreciate any and all feedback, as it is the first game I’ve designed from scratch.

Thomas Markov

is there a way to format numbered lists in questions?

Bardic Wizard

I’m usually in chat, or you can put comments into the doc or send an email to the gmail that owns the doc (it’s owned by Bardic Wizard, which is obviously me)

Thomas Markov

similar to bulletted lists?

I know you can just type numbers, but can you format it with the hanging indent you get using bullets?

MikeQ

Yes, the text in posts should automatically format numbered lists.

Thomas Markov

2:16 PM

@MikeQ I think i figured it out

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Just make a numbered list? Double line-break 1. [text] linebreak 2. [text]... I think?

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 that works without manual linebreaks

Medix2

Otherwise probably adding 2 spaces before each line?

Thomas Markov

Im re-asking the chronal shift legendary resistance question.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov I greatly doubt (it hasn't any time I've tried) that but I'll go test

Thomas Markov

2:20 PM

@Medix2 it appears to be working in the question im currently writing.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov It did not for me. Typing "1. Go home, 2. Eat food, 3. Sleep" Just appears as regular text. I must add linebreaks to make it a list

Thomas Markov

Ah, to clarify, Im using the > operator to block quote it first

its working with ">" at the front of every line.

Medix2

Oh your numbers are on separate lines?

Thomas Markov

ill make ap icture real quick

Medix2

Yeah you're using linebreaks XD

Thomas Markov

2:26 PM

none of the lines have the "double space" line breaks

Medix2

Oh yeah you don't need those with any sort of bulleting/numbering

I honestly never use them (double-space at end of line) at all since they aren't even noticable depending on your zoom and browser

Also feels weird to block quote something that's not a quote to me

GcL

@nitsua60 Gotcha. I concur that the requisite two incomes for households these days is currently a bad situation, but that's definitely a NaB topic.

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 the hanging indent seems to work without the blockquote actually.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Yeah you can add spaces before a number to make it indent further as well

Hmm, that might only work with lists in lists actually

GcL

@Medix2 You don't even have to increment the numbers if it's markdown. 1. first thing \n 1. second thing \n 1. third thing

The renderer will increment for you. Makes inserting stuff into an existing list far more pleasant.

Medix2

2:35 PM

@GcL Yeah I never increment them because incrementing myself makes editing it later just annoying

GcL

@ThomasMarkov You want to indent an entire list or have a list in a quote block?

Thomas Markov

@GcL I wanted to be sure that the list used a hanging indent when the block width was shorter than the text width. What ive got seems to be working as intended, but I have formatted it before where the list didnt use a hanging indent, though I dont remember how I did that.

GcL

Like a bibliography section?

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov I have an answer for it, though it feels... bland

Thomas Markov

Great, bland is okay if its clear and correct lol. Question is about to go up.

GcL

2:45 PM

Yeah, can't figure out how to get a hanging indent like a bibliography for a list. Best I can offer is ending the first line of a list item with a trailing double space means you don't need a double newline to make a second line of the list item, and don't have to manually put in a <br>

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Blandness obliterated; I missed how something was specifically phrased... hmmm question confusing once again

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 questions up, have at it.

ill be away for a bit, gotta go supervise midshift clean up.

GcL

3:21 PM

Does Legendary Resistance operate in the same was as automatically succeeding on a save?

KorvinStarmast

@Sos What I found works best is if the sessions are three weeks apart, the first ten minutes of the next session are a summary and or recap of what went on last session, making sure everyone is clear on "the story so far. Then you do "... and now we continue as we find that large block of ice obstructing the passageway ..." or whatever to get them "into the moment."

Bardic Wizard

3:42 PM

Can somebody help me figure out what kind of a comment to leave on this answer? I know something’s off but I can’t put it into words. Feels like it’s both a forum post and extremely negative

doppelgreener

@BardicWizard seems like it's just a discussiony tangent or a rant, not a well founded answer or solution to the querent's question

KorvinStarmast

3:57 PM

@doppelgreener @BardicWizard Buried in that answer is "here is the one use for it" but it's mostly a "don't choose this spell" caution, which one could deem to be a frame challenge. Sometimes on this SE when a question is asked "how do I do this" the answer is mostly "Well, you don't."

I left them a comment, we'll see if they upgrade the answer.

Bardic Wizard

@KorvinStarmast thanks

doppelgreener

4:21 PM

@KorvinStarmast that seems like a good assessment, in which case it takes some rearranging so as to frontload the use and make it less of a "bad product do not use" review

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 One of my goals was to make my rewrite a decisively better question, which I think I achieved.

GcL

Yeah. That answer could use some qualification of the scenarios in which it's bad to use and perhaps even some numbers as to why it's bad in those situations. Also, a 75% reduction in uppercase would be nice.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Yeah I'm just realizing 5e didn't define enough "the result" as being numerical result or success/fail result or define enough whether a reroll of a save is still the same save or even the same roll... :(

I at least know how I'd rule it, but deleted my answer since I don't want to deal with those weeds of arguing for it

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 the idea I got from the most upvoted answer is that (1) the reroll is still the same save and (2) legendary resistance means the save succeeds full stop.

Even if you reroll the save, legendary resistance has already determined the save is a success.

GcL

I'm thinking Legendary Save works similarly to automatically succeeding on a save. Regardless of the roll, the legendary creature succeeds on the save. And the chronurgy wizard isn't forcing a re-save. It's forcing a re-roll for a save the legendary action just dictates saves.

I explicitly disallowed wildemount content from my campaigns when it came out so my players wouldn't bother buying the book to try to use the content. So I've got no horse in the race.

Thomas Markov

4:35 PM

Personally, I think the most upvoted answer is incorrect.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov That's what accept votes are for

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 yeah, but im gonna give it some time.

Medix2

They let you signal which one you like and they give that answer more views and attention (for better or for worse)

GcL

@ThomasMarkov At least a day. Gotta give the Aussies and Kiwis a change to weigh in.

Thomas Markov

@GcL thats the plan :)

whats the point of in-line tag editing?

why is that a 10k feature?

GcL

4:39 PM

You had it right the first time. They have a perpencity to add "ie" or "y" to the end of works. Mosquitos = mosies, football = footy, univesity = uni

Medix2

People disagree whether waiting to accept is a good idea or not so eh

GcL

People can disagree with good plans as much as they like /S

Medix2

> This allows you to quickly retag questions that need it, which you'll find especially useful combined with the list of new tags on the stats page.

GcL

Yeah, or just add the 5e tag to stuff. That makes people really happy around here. /S

2

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 so its literally just "you can now add tags 2 seconds faster than before?"

Rubiksmoose

4:41 PM

@GcL XD

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov For long questions it's certainly faster; but yeah? I'll do digging

Rubiksmoose

@GcL Best idea: Just write a script to add dnd-5e to every question.

GcL

@Rubiksmoose but that's like... work.

doppelgreener

@ThomasMarkov yes

it's a very small QOL improvement, but i miss it when i'm on sites where i can't use it

GcL

@Rubiksmoose I was actually entertained by the discussion of the original chronurgy question. Sometimes I imagine I'm collecting an ultra calcified material called pendantite and that thread was a rich vein of it.

Thomas Markov

4:43 PM

I guess it requires some amount of trust to be able to add tags so easily. The extra steps is a deterrent to bad tag edits i guess?

GcL

@ThomasMarkov Sometimes you can sneak them by. Usually wait till the question has passed the attention span of the stack, then edit at around 07:00 UTC

Medix2

Found a blog post on in-line tag edits

> With inline tagging, you can tag more stuff, faster. This is somewhat dangerous, so we prefer that more experienced users have access to it.

Rubiksmoose

@GcL lol

GcL

Role play gamify everything! It makes meta readable.

AncientSwordRage

4:59 PM

@GcL Footie and Uni are both in British English as well...

GcL

I credit the Aussies & Kiwis. I blame the cats. I suspect the Brits.

AncientSwordRage

Does anyone know of a system that a) uses a dice pool, b) uses the number of successes for success/failure and c) total rolled as the extent of the success?

GcL

@AncientSwordRage Lady Blackbird

Medix2

@AncientSwordRage That sounds... complicated. Especially since as the minimum number for a success lowers the extent of success remains unchanged; it just applies more often

Carcer

@Medix2 complexity arising from simply applied rules can be very good, though

GcL

5:06 PM

It was pretty simple for our table. Kind fun because each player had different color dice, so you could see which players were lending help when they gave another one of their dice pool.

One of the last rolls of a scene had four extra dice from the other players doing their thing and communicating to coordinate in an absurdly rube goldberg way in order to help the pilot.

Thomas Markov

5:19 PM

just used the inline tag editor. it's the Cadillac tag editing.

KorvinStarmast

5:59 PM

@doppelgreener yeah, I think it could use some work. And it will take a bit of work to improve on what Dale offered...

AncientSwordRage

6:11 PM

@GcL seriously? The one mechanic I've been looking for, for however long, and it's in the game @BESW mentioned to me that I dismissed initially? 🤷🏻‍♂️

GcL

It's a fun quick game. So at least for that one, I can second the recommendation.

I found it works well if you try the improv style "Yes, and..." and most of what the GM does is just point to the person that's got to do the next "Yes, and..."

AncientSwordRage

Sounds very good then

RevenantBacon

6:31 PM

Quick question: We know that a cloud of flour particles in the air is incredibly flammable. How much damage would the cloud deal if it was accidentally (or intentionally) ignited?

Hot RPG Questions

7

Q: How do I identify the edition of a Shadowrun book?

There is guidance on how trade dress of WoD and D&D changes over the editions, but how do you do that in Shadowrun? How can I tell what edition a particular Shadowrun book is for?

product-identification books shadowrun

GcL

@RevenantBacon Sawdust is the same. How much are you talking about? It's pretty explosive, but you're talking about concussion burns and some minor discomfort if say... you filled a metal coffee can with an inch layer and whipped the thing against a garage wall to disperse the flour.

On the other end, sawmills have exploded killing the occupants as a result of sawdust explosions.

Carcer

yeah, it really depends on what volume you're dealing with as to how energetic the whole thing will get

GcL

Also, it's kind of a pain to disperse it nicely in a contained area without the use of fans. It does tend to settle rather quickly unless it's exceedingly finely ground.

Also, powdered sugar does not work the same.

Maybe divide number of five foot cubes by 3 or 5 to get damage vs CON save for not breathing in when the thing goes... because that will cook your lungs.

@RevenantBacon So 3x3 is 9 squares. 3 damage to everything in it? 5x5 is 25 squares, so 8 damage to everything in it?

You scale that up to a lumber mill and it's unlikely to be survived which tracks.

RevenantBacon

6:46 PM

Like, say, someone took a 5lb sack of flour and whipped it around in such a way that it filled most of a 20x20 room.

Let's say they had the Gust cantrip or similar to assist in dispersing it.

What about simplifying it down to 1 damage per 5' cube affected? i.e. a 15'x15'x5' (3x3x1 squares) area would take 9 to each occupant? maybe that's to much, half that rounded down?

GcL

16 squares? I'd say flat 5 damage to everything in the room. Dispersing 5 pounds would require gust of wind or something. Getting a small amount to disperse into the are involved shaking the heck out of it in a container with plenty of space and then throwing that with a lot of energy.

Save for 1/2 per usual from explosions.

RevenantBacon

hmmmm

GcL

You wouldn't need 5 pounds to fill a garage sized space (20'x20'). Depending on how efficient you are at dispersing it 1/2 pound would do it.

RevenantBacon

Anyways, I'm asking because I'm planning out an encounter with some very clever kobolds. Basically involving a lever/button that sends down a few pounds of flour into a room, where the kobold leader can then ignite it with his fire breath.

I'm saying 5lb because I don't expect the trap to be super efficient

GcL

Is this that dungeon?... ugh... what's the name of that article

Tucker's Kobolds?

AncientSwordRage

6:55 PM

@GcL that's the Badger

KorvinStarmast

@RevenantBacon I'd scale it along the lines of alchemist's fire or maybe the dragon breath for dragonborn. Flash burns unless there is a lot of flammable material around. Note that a web spell ignites and does 2d4 to anything in its 5' square, so 2d4 looks to be about right.

RevenantBacon

@KorvinStarmast oh, that's a good point.

GcL

@RevenantBacon The criticism of that kind of thing is can turn out to be the party vs the DM's favorite NPCs.

@KorvinStarmast That's a good idea. Reskin some existing spells or abilities. Would also make the DC calculation a bit more straight forward.

RevenantBacon

@GcL Oh, no, these kobolds are not meant to survive, unless the PC's, for some gods-forsaken reason, end up liking them, even after the sheer level of irritation these little guys are going to inflict.

You see, most of their traps aren't deadly, but they are difficult to bypass/disable, and there are several that send them through chutes back to a starting point in the dungeon

GcL

If any of the characters are familiar with kobolds, they might know how much they value shiny valuables. Few things are as cheap to distract as kobold. 100 copper pieces are a decent contribution to the "hoard" kobolds tend to amass.

Chutes and ladders?

RevenantBacon

7:06 PM

Have you ever heard of the module Quest for the Heartstone?

GcL

Rings a bell. Was that 2nd ed?

@RevenantBacon Looking at the wiki, I don't think that's what I'm thinking of. What's up with that module?

RevenantBacon

@GcL It has the hideout of Denachrys, the Master Thief, which I am using for my inspiration for this particular dungeon. In it are a myriad of traps designed to confound, surprise, and bamboozle unsuspecting adventurers

In said hideout are traps like a room, that upon entering and triggering the pressure plate, fills with water. On the inside of the door are the words "TeRn thA DilE"

and on the far wall, is a large dial connected to a pipe of some sort.

Except the room only fills up to about 3/4 of the way to the ceiling, and turning the dial actually opens a trapdoor in the ceiling that then drops an undead crocodile onto the players

and the room empties after about 5 minutes, whether or not the dial was turned, or whether or not the 'dile was turned.

there's also a large pool of water about halfway through with a bridge over it, and there are no less than 5 traps that drop you back into the pool, the first of which is on the bridge itself.

AncientSwordRage

7:22 PM

Lesson #5: Don't confuse "interesting" with "fun"

2

GcL

Interesting.

AncientSwordRage

@GcL or fun

GcL

That one is probably unlikely to leave a bitter taste in the player's mouths, as the room fills, but non-leathally, and empties of it's own accord.

There can be some issues with mechanics that do nothing.

But this is essentially, press a button to receive an undead crocodile

5 minutes is more than enough time for the combat to fully resolve. Does futzing with the dial do anything at all? or is it a red herring?

If so, you might want to have a glyph of a red fish discoverable upon closer inspection. Someone might get a kick out of figuring that out.

Or turning it to the red fish symbol "produces a inordinate amount of sound of metal jingles and clacky noises. It reminds you of a noise maker used by town criers"

RevenantBacon

The dial is only there to release the undead croc from the ceiling. It's supposed to be an "oh, that's what that meant" moment. Anyways, I'm not running this actual module, I'm just using it for inspiration on the dungeon I'm writing up. Probably gonna leave out the croc room, since I know (at least) one of the players has already done the dungeon mine is based on. I do plan on leaving some easter eggs in for him though.

AncientSwordRage

@GcL it's interesting that the puzzle uses the homonym "'dile" and "dial" but that in itself doesn't make it fun in and of itself

Maybe the word 'dile is used elsewhere giving an advance clue or theres a later puzzle with "tern the gator" and there's a statue of something labelled "negator" to set them up

@RevenantBacon "oh that what it meant" can be hit and miss sometimes. They can fall between "HAH gotcha" and "oooh that was clever"

One ends up being more adversarial depending on how much agency the players actually have

SmokeDetector

7:40 PM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at beginning of answer (32): Gigantic Steed class ability gives all the benefits of a Huge mount? by I will play whatever on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose)

RevenantBacon

@AncientSwordRage You're overthinking this. There are far more dangerous and obtuse traps in the original adventure. Most of them are going to be harmlessly recreated by the kobolds, with the majority amounting to wasting the characters time (in game, hopefully not out of game) and having silly things happen to them. Very few are going to be "here's a completely nonsensical clue, haha get punk'd"

AncientSwordRage

7:52 PM

@RevenantBacon I'm just going by experience as a player and GM

RevenantBacon

8:09 PM

Although, the more I think about it, the more I'm warming up to @GcL 's idea of just dropping a MASSIVE pile of fish on them.

Bardic Wizard

But what if they find it a little fishy? *rimshot

RevenantBacon

"The sound of rushing water slowly decreases, until eventually, it tops, the room being filled to about shoulder height on a human. the room is mostly bare, except for a large red dial connected to a pipe against the far wall, and the door you can in through, what do you do?"

Thomas Markov

@RevenantBacon i cast fireball

2

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov Fair enough. The remaining air in the room is now full of steam.

Fighter, your turn

Thomas Markov

steam is great for exfoliating your pores. You're welcome.

RevenantBacon

8:22 PM

LMAO

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov Would the fish then be broiled or blackened?

@RevenantBacon room becomes difficult terrain.

RevenantBacon

@KorvinStarmast That's an understatement, at this point, you're basically swimming to move.

Good thing the paladin's a triton, right?

Someone_Evil

Isn't swimming basically difficult terrain in 5e?

RevenantBacon

@Someone_Evil Probably, I can't remember. It may or may not involve an Athletics check if you don't have a swim speed.

That being said, the only ones who actually have to worry about it are the halfling and the gnome. And the dwarf.

KorvinStarmast

@Someone_Evil roughly, yes.

GcL

9:02 PM

I don't let anyone in heavy armor swim for long unless they have swim speed

When asked about the mechanic, "water is dangerous, yo"

nitsua60

9:14 PM

@BESW took a grim for a drive today. Long car trip with the kids, we drove past an abandoned lot, and a kid wondered aloud if it were a grim's Old Place. With no pauses and only a fleeting moment to look at the place it was very much an intellectual exercise rather than an emotional experience, but it was still fun. They brainstormed what things they'd seen, wondered what the place might have been, &c. But it was a test of recall/perception, not as much an engagement with the place.

Bardic Wizard

Well, I just tried to do the first (official, unofficially I’ve been testing bits and pieces for a while) playtest of Ensign of the Week, my finally finished RPG system, with my little siblings.

It did not start well, due to arguments about several unrelated things, and has now been postponed until after the art break.

AncientSwordRage

@nitsua60 sounds like fun with the kids

doppelgreener

10:03 PM

@nitsua60 I think that's still lovely

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov Congrats on hitting 10k btw. Had any fun surprises from your new privileges yet?

Thomas Markov

10:29 PM

@Someone_Evil had some fun using SEDE to explore deleted posts.

Someone_Evil

Hmm... not used to seeing SEDE and fun in the same sentence, but you do you :)

Find anything interesting (or something you'd broadly like to bounce of others)?

Thomas Markov

not really. Some of the troll posts were pretty hilarious.

Someone_Evil

I file a certain slough of answers under "screams from the void", and I'll advise not staring too hard into the abyss

nitsua60

11:06 PM

@doppelgreener It was, though I don't know whether it would have been if we'd not previously played it as written.

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