TRPG General Chat

Adeptus

00:02

Thomas Markov

00:28

Site is in read only mode

Yuuki

so it's october

halloween's gonna be interesting this year

Thomas Markov

@Yuuki I expect to see significant spikes in COVID cases on college campuses,

Yuuki

Aren't we already seeing that?

Speaking of Halloween, imagine a haunted house but instead of jump scares, it's awkward social interactions.

BESW

00:46

I've seen a lot of haunters working on changing their techniques and styles to make houses safe.

For example, here's a trailer for an online course, "Dynamic Scaring in a Post Covid World."

Haunt Covid Training - Link in Description

►

Allen Hopps has always been a "Figure out what you can do with what you have, don't let your limitations stop you from making stuff" guy, this is just another set of parameters for him to work with, alongside budget, space, crew, etc.

Joel Harmon

01:14

I must say I'm disappointed in chat today. Several people are discussing a falling whale, and nobody mentions a bowl of petunias?

5

BESW

I'd rather mention Ursula Vernon's 2017 Hugo acceptance speech for "The Tomato Thief".

I rather like that this is a space where 40-year-old shibboleths aren't considered mandatory.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW likewise

However to fit in better you must know what a shibboleth is... Only kidding

Adeptus

01:42

@AncientSwordRage sounds like a Lovecraftian monster... /s

Joel Harmon

@Adeptus No, I think that one comes from purely human horrors.

user15026

02:19

@JoelHarmon I have no idea what you are referring to.

Joel Harmon

@Ash Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

user15026

Ah, a thing I know very little about and have no real interest in.

Joel Harmon

If it helps, the petunias thought "oh no, not again" before falling from orbit onto a planet. The whale's thought process was wondering what the ground was, then hoping it wanted to be friends.

user15026

@BESW I did not know all of that about whales. I like that I know that now.

nitsua60

@ThomasMarkov Ooh, I wanna guess. gelatinous cube, a slime, and a mold?

Thomas Markov

02:28

@nitsua60 Gas spore, shrieker, violet fungus

nitsua60

@Yuuki That's basically every Halloween for me. I have a severe discomfort with costumes/masks/esp. makeup. But I have three cute little children, so I'm very much pressured into going out walking around for at least a while among people whom I'm normally friends with and who, that day, make me want to claw out my eyes, run away screaming, and hide under my covers.

I'll take half a gorilla suit any day!

@ThomasMarkov Aah!

@JoelHarmon Importantly, a great deal of tragedy could have been averted if only we'd known why the petunias thought that.

Yuuki

@BESW That always makes me think about people endlessly quoting Monty Python and how that must grate on those comedians who valued improv comedy so much.

Hmm... I suppose sketch comedy isn't improv comedy.

Joel Harmon

I'd assume that making people happy decades later would be appreciated, but hearing only five or ten of your jokes repeated ad nauseum might dull that.

Hot RPG Questions

8

Q: Playing to find out "Why X" and not "Will X"?

I've been brushing up on DW rules in anticipation of a game I might be running soon. One thing that's got me scratching my head is the Stakes in your Fronts/Dangers. So I can cut to the chase, I'm going to assume you already know how they work. There are some stakes I feel like you could come up ...

Bardic Wizard

03:27

On the subject of horror, I made a friend a crocheted Cthulhu for her birthday!!! It’s a jellyfish pattern with an extra tentacle made to be the nose/mouth/snout/whatever the h*ck Cthulhu has.

Unfortunately I forgot about pictures until after it was wrapped and put in a mailing box.

BESW

04:15

@Yuuki I'm less concerned about the diminishing returns of the funny, and more about how knowledge of certain properties has become an obligatory sign of belonging. That it's remarkable to the point of comment when a 40-year-old British pop culture reference isn't made at every possible opportunity, in every "geek" adjacent space of any kind.

It's no longer a joke, it's a ritual.

trogdor

yeah,... it's weird to think about that

BESW

To describe one catechism with another, "this is the way."

trogdor

04:46

I don't have any idea where that is from

XD

AncientSwordRage

09:52

@trogdor I know where it's from but I have not seen it

trogdor

@AncientSwordRage what is it?

AncientSwordRage

The Mandalorian

I have approximate knowledge in many things

trogdor

ah

yeah haven't watched any of that

AncientSwordRage

11:05

@trogdor same

trogdor

I have seen the baby yoda thing circulate but that's basically all I know

and that was mostly "look at this picture isn't it exceedingly cute"

it wasn't a treasure trove of information XD

AncientSwordRage

@trogdor which to me is ... not really anything outstanding. I mean cute things existed before 'The Child'.

trogdor

lol

AncientSwordRage

The other thing that annoys me is how the series inspired the phrase 'Do X, you cowards'

trogdor

I have not seen that around

lisardggY

11:09

Yo.

trogdor

also to some extent I agree, there are plenty of cute things

but I also don't protest more cute things

3

AncientSwordRage

(The production team was going to make The Child using CGI, when animatronics/puppetry were available, so someone involved/respected said "Use a puppet, you cowards")

trogdor

ah

AncientSwordRage

But people use the phrase very carelessly

trogdor

my thing is, sure Baby Yoda is cute, but it's not the cutest thing I have ever seen

AncientSwordRage

11:12

to the level of "Re-open my question, Cowards!" (not seen that specifically) or "Re-print these cards, Cowards!"

trogdor

not so mind blowingly cute that everyone on the planet should have been linking it around places, but wtv people have different tastes in cuteness and people like the show I guess

there will be another thing that gets passed around like that just like there were things before it XD

AncientSwordRage

@trogdor The connection I see is something like "It's from my fandom, and it's cute?!" as though that makes it more noteworthy to people outside that circle, which feels... shallow? I'm not sure how to express my feelings on it

trogdor

no I understand, I think

having also not watched the show at all, and being generally a fan of cute things, at best I found it ignore-able

AncientSwordRage

but like you said, I wouldn't normally protest more cute things

trogdor

probably not annoying but not like, something I was personally interested in

there was a time when I might have protested cute things because I was insecure about liking cute things

that time has passed

XD

AncientSwordRage

11:16

@trogdor [ everybody liked that ]

It feels, I'm speculating on my own inner thoughts, that people want to draw attention to how special this New Cute Thing is, based on its cuteness, without realising the real reason seems more that it's a New Fandom Thing.

trogdor

I won't say I'm no longer insecure about liking cute things to some extent but i'm definitely not at the point anymore where I would protest cute things

XD

AncientSwordRage

@trogdor this is good

come to the cute side, we have cute things

trogdor

yeah

I mean I don't like to broadcast all my interests to everyone who knows me but that's a general thing really

it's not restricted to cute stuff, although that's at the top of the list because toxic masculinity is still a thing and I'm not interested in experiencing more of that

XD

judgement and ridicule and wtv

but yeah I aspire not to add more of that into the social ecosystem at the very least

I don't personally see huge appeal to Baby Yoda over other cute stuff, but people like the show and it's their perogative if they post baby yoda over other cute things / shrug XD

Hot RPG Questions

11:49

3

Q: How do I handle bonds that don't resolve?

So my first game of Dungeon World has hit the ground and we're all having fun, but something seems off in handling Bonds at the end of session. One of my players has the bond, "Able always has my back when things go wrong." while another has the bond, "I am working on converting Baker to my faith."...

dungeon-world bonds

trogdor

@HotRPGQuestions try stronger acid XD

it's been a while since I made a stupid out of context joke at Hot RPG questions XD

that one was just too easy

Thomas Markov

As my daughter says each morning, "Happy morning time everyone!"

3

AncientSwordRage

12:10

@ThomasMarkov it's a good phrase

trogdor

good morning from other times of day XD

Thomas Markov

She will go from dead asleep and just pop up and scream it.

NautArch

o/

@ThomasMarkov speaking of sleeping...the rules about unconscious seem problematic.

or does asleep =/= unconscious and I just need coffee?

Thomas Markov

As noted in that comment I think Xanathar fixes it.

dndbeyond.com/sources/xgte/dungeon-masters-tools#Sleep

NautArch

Xanathar's is just an optional rule, though.

Prior to xanathar's, is it weird?

Thomas Markov

12:22

Prior to Xanathar, it isn't at all.

NautArch

Because asleep =/= unconscious?

Thomas Markov

No, because it just isn't defined.

Someone_Evil

Outside of the sleep spell

Thomas Markov

The only place "asleep" is given a meaning outside of XGtE is the sleep spell

"each creature affected by this spell falls unconscious until the spell ends, the sleeper takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake."

NautArch

Ah, gotcha. So without the unconscious condition, then it's not an issue.

I clearly am still asleep.

Thomas Markov

12:24

If you aren't using XGtE rules, asleep means whatever the DM says it means, since there are no rules for it.

NautArch

Now i'm just not sure what to do with that edit on the question.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch Upvote my comment and flag for moderator attention? :P

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov dI think I already upvoted. Not sure it requires mod.

but they're here, so....

Someone_Evil

*waves*

Thomas Markov

I flagged it a little bit ago.

Shoot, my answer about armor class blew up over night.

@Someone_Evil I assume you saw my flag?

Someone_Evil

12:30

Yeah, looking at it now :)

NautArch

@Someone_Evil You agree that it's not a dupe? It sure seems like a dupe?

I don't want to start a dupe-war and figure we can talk it out here before meta.

Thomas Markov

Seems like a bit of an odd criterion.

Someone_Evil

It's close, but the problem of the question isn't whether an unconscious creature can hear, it's that the creature needs to be able to hear for that ability

Thomas Markov

Right, but that's written in the question. If that's the question, then the question answers itself.

Someone_Evil

It's in the quote made by the question, but not in the analysis ie. what the question understands

Pierre Cathé

12:45

Hi all, how's everyone ?

NautArch

howdy @PierreCathé!

Pierre Cathé

Quick question : is there any way to put a spoiler tag in a comment ?

Thomas Markov

@PierreCathé I do not believe so.

Someone_Evil

Not really, other than the pseudo-link method

Why do you need it?

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil I think it quite clearly satisfies the first two duplicate criteria. You're saying it doesn't meet the third?

Pierre Cathé

12:47

I see, I wanted to respond to one of your comments @Nautarch, about how to intercept Sending, I think there's an example of that in Curse of Strahd

But I didn't want to include module spoilers in broad view

NautArch

@PierreCathé you can tell me here and use spoilers. Is the spoil-lair still a thing?

Pierre Cathé

Ok what's the markdown for that ?

Someone_Evil

@NautArch There's a bunch of frozen/deleted rooms

@ThomasMarkov I don't think it meets the first two, probably pending on "obvious"

Feb 28 at 4:43, by Adeptus

[spoiler](http://like-this "like this")

goodguy5

I wish we didn't have to hack spoilers into existence

Pierre Cathé

test

goodguy5

12:54

nailed it

but make the bracket word "spoiler"

and then the actual spoiler goes in the quotes part

Pierre Cathé

Ok so in Curse of Strahd, it's possible for spoiler

@NautArch

NautArch

@PierreCathé spoiler

Pierre Cathé

You have to put a http link I think

NautArch

i give up

Pierre Cathé

@NautArch Yeah it is, just saying that there is precedent to allow interception of Sending

goodguy5

12:58

@PierreCathé spoiler

Someone_Evil

@NautArch I got you :)

goodguy5

/// [spoiler]\(https:\//hmmmmm "Hmm, that seems to be about messages going in and our of barovia, not for within?"\)

break. close enough

you need the square brackets, the url, and also the words in quotes

Pierre Cathé

So anyway that's all for me, back to lurking and commenting on obscure edge-case rules

Have a good day all

Thomas Markov

Im pretty proud of the phrase I just used.

"allegations of duplicature"

2

That's a 25 cent phrase around here

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov you'll notice I didn't self-answer :) Mostly because I was typing the question I began to be unsure.

Thomas Markov

13:07

Im almost done with my three point sermon.

@NautArch I think the admission that deletion would be preferable is pretty self-incriminating, so to speak.

That's weird.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov yeah, i'm leaning heavily towards dupe-status, but I see where @Someone_Evil is coming from.

Thomas Markov

Every message I send tries to send twice.

BESW

@ThomasMarkov Yeah, that happens to me too sometimes. It means there's some significant lag in the Internet somewhere between you and the Stack.

NautArch

issue with main site, too

Thomas Markov

SEDE is still up.

We're back.

The Oracle

13:36

2

Q: Should this question on unconscious and hearing be a duplicate?

This recent question on What happens when an unconscious creature fails their saving through against a banshee? seems to be a duplicate of this question on Can an unconscious PC hear you? As the entire answer for this is predicated on whether or not the siren can hear you, it seems like a clear d...

discussion specific-question duplicates

Thomas Markov

15:13

@NautArch That question about ritual spells is asking a separate, wholly unrelated about guidance.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov I clearly glossed over that. Should be removed as it's not related to the title or the first part.

Bardic Wizard

15:27

Good morning

NautArch

@BardicWizard top o the morn!

Bardic Wizard

The people here are about twelve times nicer than some people in my neighborhood, so thank you all for being nice

Someone_Evil

I'm both glad and sorry to hear that, which sounds odd

Bardic Wizard

I was jogging and a person came out and yelled at me for making their dog bark. The dog was barking before I jogged by

NautArch

THat's not weird

Did you bark back?

Hot RPG Questions

15:36

8

Q: Can the artificer's spell-storing item affect a Rakshasa?

My character is being hunted down by 3 Rakshasa. The character is aware they possess limited magic immunity which reads as follows: Limited Magic Immunity. The rakshasa can't be affected or detected by spells of 6th level or lower unless it wishes to be. It has advantage on saving throws against...

dnd-5e monsters artificer

GcL

16:09

@BardicWizard Maybe that's because you're not making our pets upset. /S

Rubiksmoose

@ThomasMarkov that is adorable and made my day better :-)

Bardic Wizard

@NautArch no

AncientSwordRage

@BardicWizard Sounds like they wanted a scape goat shrug

kviiri

16:25

Sadly, it's a particular breed of dog owners that are really defensive about their canine companions.

not that it's particularly dog-specific tho

AncientSwordRage

heh

nitsua60

8d10

Dice Service

5

3

1

9

3

8

9

10

kviiri

re: the phonetic spelling discussion yesterday

The first Finnish rock band to make ~any impact outside Finland, Hurriganes, made their songs in English despite their lead singer not really knowing the language. (This was around the 1970's.) He had the lyrics written phonetically for him

AncientSwordRage

@kviiri woah

kviiri

16:35

and at least one of their songs, they self-described as "Rock-Esperanto" instead of English because though it's phonetically English and mostly uses English vocabulary, it makes absolutely no sense

Hurriganes - Get On

►

NautArch

@kviiri like phish lyrics?

kviiri

It's something like Prisencolinensinainciusol except it's mostly actual words, just no meaning

AncientSwordRage

Like Sigur Ros?

kviiri

Hurriganes is the pure distilled sound of rock for me, I like lots of bands more but they represent to me what remains of rock when everything non-rock has been distilled away.

NautArch

@kviiri sex, drugs, and alcohol?

kviiri

16:40

@NautArch Alcohol is a drug too!

:>

NautArch

@kviiri Get out of my head! Was literally thinking that as I typed it.

GcL

Ahhhhhhhhh..... technically correct... the best kind /S

kviiri

I'm not actually sure how rowdy the "Ganes" got. I know at least the lead singer had a criminal background and considered the music career to have helped him stay clean

NautArch

Woof. Not sure if anyone caught that last comment on Pyrotechnical's answer to that racism question on meta, but whooboy. Glad it's gone.

kviiri

Of course, "clean" is sometimes relative

GcL

16:42

Get your hands dirty learning a new skill, like guitar, then clean them by rolling them on rocks.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch Aww man, I missed it.

GcL

@kviiri Maybe their brand of rock and roll is more of a pumice.

AncientSwordRage

@NautArch I did not catch it...maybe that's for the best

kviiri

@AncientSwordRage I don't know Sigur Ros

GcL

You dodge 100% of the bullets meta shoots at you if you don't take yourself there.

3

AncientSwordRage

16:44

Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈsɪːɣ̞ʏɾ ˌroːus] (listen)) is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi's falsetto vocals, and their use of bowed guitar, the band's music incorporates classical and minimal aesthetic elements. == History == === 1997–1998: Von and Von brigði === Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson (guitar and vocals), Georg Hólm (bass) and Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson (drums) formed the group in Reykjavík in January 1994. The band's name means Victory Rose. They took their name from Jónsi's younger sister Sigurrós, ...

NautArch

@GcL Wise words from a wise GcL

AncientSwordRage

> All of the lyrics on ( ) are sung in Vonlenska, also known as Hopelandic, a language without semantic meaning, which resembles the phonology of the Icelandic language. It has also been said that the listener is supposed to interpret their own meanings of the lyrics which can then be written in the blank pages in the album booklet.

nitsua60

@GcL You also dodge 100% of flags when you step down as moderator. AMIRITE @doppelgreener!?

(he he he)

kviiri

@AncientSwordRage Ahh right, that's more like Prisencolinensinainciusol except done towards one's own language (Prisen-etc is more like how Italian ears hear English)

They do capture the general sound of English quite neatly!

AncientSwordRage

@kviiri I may have heard that one

GcL

16:50

@nitsua60 Opt not for the avenue lined in flags as a flag has no real significance for peaceful uses.

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 hey that's our line!

kviiri

btw I didn't link this here yet did I? a choir some of my friends sing in released this gorgeous video youtube.com/watch?v=wnUVbCnP5Ik

NautArch

I just read that as 'chair' and not 'choir'

Bardic Wizard

@nitsua60 low quality posts has flagged posts in it so i don’t think it’s quite 100% that you dodge

kviiri

The guy with the plaid shirt and green trousers is one my best friends since early childhood

nitsua60

16:53

@BardicWizard True, but I doubt I've clicked into that queue for years =\

Bardic Wizard

17:06

@nitsua60 fair

How’re people doing?

kviiri

CSS by the day, computational science by the night

strange ironies of life

nitsua60

@BardicWizard Got my run in this morning, know what I'm teaching this afternoon, looking forward to a rehearsal this evening. So, pretty good! You?

Bardic Wizard

17:25

@nitsua60 decent; busy with school mostly

What are you rehearsing for?

nitsua60

18:18

@BardicWizard I play in a community orchestra. Presumably we'll have a concert... someday?

doppelgreener

18:55

@nitsua60 [sits back eating a sammich while a bajillion flags fly through the air]

V2Blast

19:57

@doppelgreener I want a sandwich now

Thomas Markov

@V2Blast I didn't want one till V2Blast wanted one.

V2Blast

lol

Thomas Markov

Im going to make myself a "what came first the chicken or the egg sandwich"

fried chicken breast with barbecue sause, a fried egg, lettuce and Duke's mayonnaise

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov That ritual question...I did not even consider OP was taking too much time "casting" the spell.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch I definitely had not considered the possibility that they were taking 10 real minutes before moving on with the game.

NautArch

20:25

@ThomasMarkov But we've got 3 answers with it.

hopefully OP replies, that's a bizarre reading.

Thomas Markov

Is the skin of the dragon different from the scales?

Cuz the image definitely looks like it has scales on it.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Given that both techniques create scale mail, i'd say it's the same thing but two different ways of harvesting.

Thomas Markov

Imagine your an armor smith, and Johnny the adventurer brings you a dragon hide. Do you say "Im gonna make some scale mail with this, but first, off with these scales"?

NautArch

Maybe, butit's the scales he's using?

i dunno, the exact formula ain't there. Just the parts.

Thomas Markov

I feel like what you quoted isnt enough to exclude actual scales being part of the composition.

NautArch

20:34

@ThomasMarkov THat's all we have, though.

So I'm going with what we have.

Thomas Markov

Right, that's exactly why I think youre going in the wrong direction.

"It's made of skin and hide" does not mean "It's not made of metal".

"It's not made of metal" is just as much "more than we have" as "it is made of metal".

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword with email in answer, email in answer, messaging number in answer, potentially bad ip for hostname in answer (340): Is there need for messengers in DnD 5e, if spell Sending exists? by Micheal Merry on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose)

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Yeah, I deleted. I think it's most clearly organic, but not worth arguing over.

I think the real answer is "it's unclear, so it's up to the DM" unless there is lore to support it from previous editions.

Thomas Markov

20:51

Now that's one I can upvote.

paul23

21:45

how can I get a closed question opened again?

I added a lot of explanation to the question :P (and am actually wondering with the new wording it might seem a complete different question).

Someone_Evil

Link?

paul23

3

Q: What is the appropiate use of ritual spells that provide little utility?

Well say I have the "detect magic" spell as a level 1. It is kind of a waste of a spellslot to just use it willy nilly. However I could stand still every step and cast it as a ritual for 10 minutes. This however seems really silly when dungeon crawling, to stop at each "point of interest" and sta...

dnd-5e spells rituals player-techniques

NautArch

I think part of the problem is that it's starting to draw opinion-based answers.

paul23

I guess that's fair, I just felt really awkward during the first session not wishing to be splashy but at the same time feeling like I "need to do what I came here to do".

NautArch

It sounds like it's really mor about finding your place at the table.

Which is reasonable!

Talk with your DM and other players about your character and how you seem them acting.

THat helps set up why and when you do your thing.

paul23

21:49

I like being a support. I do not like being in the spotlight :P. (It's why I like being a support who pushes someone else to the spotlight)

BESW

22:50

When I made my 50th anniversary Doctor Who module, one of the pre-made characters had the stunt
Because I have leadership training, I get +2 when Flashily creating aspects to coordinate a plan.

It let her stand aside and give +2s to everyone else by orchestrating the action.

Hot RPG Questions

23:27

7

Q: Eldritch Smite: Can you decide whether the enemy goes prone or do they always go prone?

Once per turn when you hit a creature with your pact weapon, you can expend a warlock spell slot to deal an extra 1d8 force damage to the target, plus another 1d8 per level of the spell slot, and you can knock the target prone if it is Huge or smaller. Since it says "can knock the target prone."...

dnd-5e class-feature warlock conditions eldritch-invocations

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