TRPG General Chat

12:00 AM

It's part of this false divide between quantifiable and unquantifiable realities, which in D&D creates weird stuff like "classes are either martial or magic and monks are weird because they have both" kind of nonsense and just. what. no. Anybody can throw salt over their shoulder. Everybody co-exists with our ancestors. Everyone and everything has mana.

Shalvenay

@BESW whereas, I'm thinking "there are things we've quantified, things we haven't quantified at all yet, and things that'd take too many numbers to handle easily so we don't bother with those most days"

BESW

And I'm coming from the idea that some things can't be understood numerically--not "are too complicated," but simply that numbers aren't the right tool for the job.

Adeptus

12:24 AM

@BESW I was going to ask how CHamoru relate to other cultures of the area, but decided to google instead, and found this on Wikipedia: "The digraph ch is treated as a single letter, hence both characters are capitalized at the beginning of a sentence or proper noun" (which they don't do anywhere in the article...)

linksassin

→ 23 messages moved to Coronavirus Chat Zone

BESW

@Adeptus That orthography was officially adopted only in the last few years, and only by one island that has a different government from the others.

(But it's the most American-connected government so it's the one that gets the most visibility.)

Adeptus

I just found it ironic that they say "this is the correct capitalisation (that we didn't use anywhere in this article)"

BESW

It's an ongoing conversation.

Wikipedia isn't very good at handling things which have multiple simultaneous truth values.

2

(And, well. Notice that the talk page has gems like "They aren't naked or wearing grass skirts, so how is that traditional?" Wikipedia is not a great place for nuanced expressions of Indigenous identity.)

Adeptus

12:40 AM

wow

nitsua60

Alright @doppelgreener @Rubiksmoose @V2Blast: I finally watched the last season of The Good Place.

(And now I want to drop a bunch of spoilers just so I get a third conversation moved today....)

linksassin

@nitsua60 I don't think theres a badge for moved messages :P

BESW

@nitsua60 Would you like me to make a spoiler chat in the Spectacularly Bad Plan of Rassilon? We're all in that server.

linksassin

So I'm finally back online after 5 days of terrible internet due to a network fault. Trying to catch up on everything I missed.

NautArch

Welcome back!

BESW

12:47 AM

Good luck with that!

linksassin

I never realised how dependent on solid internet connection I had become until I didn't have one.

nitsua60

@BESW No need--I don't actually need to chat about it, I was just shooting for the elusive "Take It Somewhere Else" badge =)

Bardic Wizard

@BESW there are a lot of reasons I’ve mostly given up on Wikipedia, but the minimal diversity and the insane number of people who tell you to “assume good faith” and then don’t do it themselves are the two reasons I mostly stopped checking anything not in mainspace

Wikipedia hasn’t changed much since then

Hot RPG Questions

1:06 AM

9

Q: Can a barbarian maintain rage by attacking a creature that is not present?

Suppose a raging barbarian cannot reach any seen opponents on the battlefield on their current turn, but is attempting to maintain rage in the interim by attacking a hostile creature, according to the following: Your rage lasts for 1 minute. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if you...

Adeptus

2:27 AM

Look what I got yesterday!

My wife preordered it about a year ago as a gift... and it finally arrived

it's got a pair of dice in a cutout in the pages

(I haven't had a chance to actually read through it yet...)

MikeQ

2:48 AM

@Adeptus Does it remind you of the babe?

GcL

3:08 AM

@MikeQ What babe?

Adeptus

4:58 AM

@GcL Jennifer Connelly ;)

Bardic Wizard

5:32 AM

This is a random question I fully expect that there will be no easy answer to, but is there any kind of challenge for TTRPG stuff like inktober and nanowrimo and naSweCroMo (drawing something every day in October, writing a 50 thousand word novel over the course of November, and crocheting a 50 thousand stitch sweater in a month though this one has no governing group)?

I’m not sure what it would be, but the point of all these is to focus on the task every day and to lose the inner criticism that keeps people from focusing on that task, so maybe like writing a setting, an adventure or adventure path, or a game system over the course of a month?

If not, anyone want to start one with me? (I have two friends doing inktober this month and a friend who’s doing nanowrimo young writers program next month, I want to do something similar that plays to my strengths)

MikeQ

There are occasional challenges to design a mini-rpg, usually with ~200 words for system text. Within 1 month, one could plausibly design, playtest, and refine a system like that.

GcL

6:50 AM

@BardicWizard My colleague and I wrote 20 some odd vignettes for rpgs last year. Three paragraph little jobs: exposition, complication, and completed when. E.g. There's a fire in town an otherwise sleepy town. Corey the town crier is running about crying. The fire is actually a fire elemental lumbering about the place. The episode is complete when the town is no longer on fire.

BESW

7:33 AM

@BardicWizard For a regularly occurring event there's things the annual 200 Word RPG Challenge, but I find game jams a lot more inspiring.

Jams are non-recurring that usually last about a month but can vary, and anybody can "host" one. Jams are more focused: each has a theme like The Gays Will Not Stay Buried or Numinous Mazes & Ethereal Labyrinths. This twitter account re-tweets announcements of game jams.

Most of the games I've written have been for jams.

For me, jams have that same "I can't be perfect under these restrictions and that's freeing" effect you're describing.

Hot RPG Questions

8:31 AM

5

Q: Is there an alternative word to be used in place of Humanoid?

I find the term Humanoid to be (obviously) human centric, and am looking for a more generic term to use in place of it to define all intelligent creatures that exist in standard society of these fantasy worlds. A few examples of what I'm looking for: A small hamlet town consisting mostly of gno...

dnd-5e terminology languages eberron

doppelgreener

9:53 AM

o/

trogdor

\o

XD

doppelgreener

mornin troggy

trogdor

good evening

goood eeeevvveniiiing

XD

doppelgreener

good evening, troggy :D

trogdor

lol

hi

kviiri

10:12 AM

I don't know what time it is xD

for any of us three

I went to sleep at around 3 AM ultimately, then got a message on my phone and while I usually don't read them when already trying to fall asleep I somehow felt it was important

turns out one of my roomies had locked herself outdoors

Mr Hero strikes again

trogdor

lol

it's almost time to sleep around here

I assume it's morning over where the green one is

I literally have no idea for you what your time is

normally I would just ask you XD

AncientSwordRage

10:42 AM

\oo//

trogdor

11:03 AM

lol

I love that lol is the person holding hands straight up and also laughing

XD

AncientSwordRage

@Adeptus SQUEEEEEEEEEeeeee

AncientSwordRage

11:24 AM

hows tricks with everyone today?

V2Blast

@nitsua60 Haha, about time! :D

trogdor

@nitsua60 oooh great

I didn't like the last season as much as the rest of the show but it's still ok

mostly I don't agree with the way they chose to end it

V2Blast

11:42 AM

I was generally satisfied with the ending, the show being what it was

trogdor

I won't try to argue you out of it

I just didn't personally like it ending on that note myself

XD

NautArch

12:29 PM

→ 8 messages moved to Not a bar, but plays one on TV

nitsua60

1:15 PM

I know someone here can answer intelligently: the signifier for the current time zone in London is BST, yes?

(@doppelgreener and many others, I believe)

@trogdor I do appreciate that the writers had a hugely hard task in ending it, one set them the moment the show's central conceit was greenlit. Personally, I was alright with the ending, but that might just be that the emotional rush of seeing Michael's guitar teacher in that cameo carried me across the finish line.

Rubiksmoose

I think I also was satisfied with the ending but in no way amazed by it. I think they did the best they could and I love all of it.

The guitar teacher bit was great

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose I was certainly very happy with the whole last season leading up to the finale. I worried a couple of times that a shark might have been jumped, but each major turn kept making it better and better. (IMO.)

(That's a couple of times over the series, not just during the last season.)

Rubiksmoose

Agreed. And it would have been so easy for that show to jump said shark. It is a testament to the writing that they didn't

NautArch

er...what show?

Rubiksmoose

The Good Place

lol that hadn't been mentioned in a while XD

BESW

1:26 PM

[has Opinions]

Bardic Wizard

@BESW does anyone not?

Rubiksmoose

On the internet? hah!

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 yes, for British Summer Time. Ends in ten days.

NautArch

@doppelgreener What does it change to?

I usually opt to just say Eastern rather than remember if it's Daylight or Standard :)

Rubiksmoose

Same. Partially because I never remember if it is DST or not currently

doppelgreener

1:37 PM

@NautArch BST is UTC+1; I think the normal time just gets called Greenwich Mean Time. Learning that dashed my hopes we'd move between British Summer Time (BST) and British Standard Time (BST).

NautArch

ohmy

BESW

The Good Place had a lot of great qualities, but it also had major problems from the very beginning (the writing room was absolutely awful about Jason and Manny Jacinto gets ALL the credit for that character's success under such terrible conditions), and I think the series disappeared up its own backstory in the last season and flubbed the finale hard but covered its tracks with well-executed sentimentality.

doppelgreener

There is no British Standard Time, alas. That would've been fun.

AncientSwordRage

@doppelgreener very fun

@BESW is it still with a watch, in your opinion?

doppelgreener

There is only British Nonstandard Time, which is whatever time gets used in flootball.

nitsua60

1:39 PM

@doppelgreener Thank you--I'm scheduling a call next week with a Londoner and want to make sure I don't flub time zones.

Rubiksmoose

@doppelgreener hahaha

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 UTC+1! It is currently 14:40 (also you're welcome)

BESW

@AncientSwordRage The only major deal-breaker is the constant, blatant, deliberate anti-SEA racism in a series that keeps patting itself on the back for being so progressive and compassionate.

Other than that, my major complaints are significant thematic drift in the back end of the series.

Rubiksmoose

@AncientSwordRage Can only speak for me, but I'd say it is still worth a watch if you can come to terms with the faults here and there

BESW

The actors are consistently excellent.

Rubiksmoose

1:42 PM

100%^

AncientSwordRage

@nitsua60 worldchatclock.com

BESW

I was able to endure Jason's treatment by the script, because Manny Jacinto does so much good stuff with the role anyway.

Rubiksmoose

So nice to see Ted Danson back in stuff.

BTW speaking of football and shows, has anybody here seen Ted Lasso?

Ted Lasso

Ted Lasso is an American sports comedy television series developed by Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Joe Kelly and Brendan Hunt, based on a character of the same name that Sudeikis first portrayed in a series of promos for NBC Sports' coverage of the Premier League. The series premiered on Apple TV+ on August 14, 2020 and was renewed for a second season five days after its premiere. == Premise == American college football coach Ted Lasso is recruited to coach an English Premier League team, AFC Richmond, despite having no experience in association football. == Cast == === Main === =...

If not, I give it a hearty recommendation even as someone that cares not a lick for sports and has no knowledge of soccer/football.

@BESW BTW I didn't know this and it makes me sad.

BESW

@Rubiksmoose I can bring receipts if you want, but maybe not here.

Rubiksmoose

None needed (I trust you fully) but I wouldn't mind a link on Discord which I can read through later today so no rush at all.

NautArch

2:06 PM

I could have sworn we had a question on if bonus actions are a type of action in 5e, but ic an't find.

Thomas Markov

@NautArch There's a (in)famous JC tweet where he says bonus actions are action.

And im sure its been quoted many times.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov Was hoping for not something on twitter.

Thomas Markov

Upsettingly, Im having trouble finding any questions that quote it. But I know they exist.

Bardic Wizard

@ThomasMarkov ... are you sure they exist? If you can’t find it does it really exist?

Prior knowledge is not proof

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch I recall something like this as well

Thomas Markov

2:18 PM

@BardicWizard I was not prepared to have my epistemology deconstructed this early in the morning.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov this question covers the rule. Might be good to add a RAW response.

Thomas Markov

Fair, I'll add that.

Ive quoted that rule before, like in the last week lol

@NautArch SAC is officially trash.

1

A: Do bonus actions trigger the save from an Internal Injury?

Yes, because a bonus action is an action In the SA Compendium, on page 7 you can find the Q/A: Does using a bonus action break invisibility from a warlock’s One with Shadows invocation? Taking a bonus action breaks the invisibility of a warlock’s One with Shadows. A bonus action is an action. F...

KorvinStarmast

2:36 PM

@Shalvenay not sure when I can do this, but I think it would be interesting to have a short session where you take each of three characters (two of whom are waking up with 1 HP, tied up, trussed up) and see how they attempt to get out of their situation. I'll follow up with you tomorrow.

NautArch

@ThomasMarkov GEnerally yes. But I do agree that a bonus action is a type of action.

too many shenanigans if you don't

Rubiksmoose

3:16 PM

Following community discussion in Not a Bar, Here There Be Dragons is our new room for opt-in conversations. Not A Bar has transitioned fully into what it was evolving into: a place for off-topic, pleasant conversations that don't belong or aren't preferred in the main chat. Here there be dragons is the room for conversations that don't belong in the main chat for other reasons and will be opt-in only.

11

MikeQ

I thought the main chat was for off-topic conversations that don't belong in the main chat

3

Rubiksmoose

Anyone can ask for a conversation to be moved to the Here There Be Dragons (or other chat room) at any time and a room owner or rpg.se mod will re-locate it as swiftly as possible. This does not reflect poorly on the topic, the conversers, or the asker; sometimes there's just a need for conversations to be opt-in rather than opt-out. Every RO and rpg.se mod has agreed to support this, and we'll never ask for justification.

11

Someone_Evil

Errant "the" ahead of the room name?

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil yes

ACuriousMind

it could also be a missing "room" after the room name

Rubiksmoose

3:24 PM

room topic changed to TRPG General Chat: Main chat room for tabletop role-playing games. Anyone can ask for a conversation to be moved to Here There Be Dragons (or another room) at any time: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/55837453#55837453 [dice] [pen-and-paper] [roleplaying]

@Rubiksmoose Community discussion here: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/13848/conversation/…

2

Bardic Wizard

It’ll be nice to not have to go through a three-program thing to be able to access NAB around school content filters every time a discussion becomes opt-in

doppelgreener

@BardicWizard is that some specific issue with NAB itself?

or will you have to go through a three-program thing to be able to access here there be dragons as well

Bardic Wizard

@doppelgreener room name. Not a Bar — bar triggers some content filters sometimes

doppelgreener

oh shoot!

hopefully it's fine with dragons

linksassin

@BardicWizard Wow... you should have raised that a long time ago! I had no idea that was an issue.

Bardic Wizard

3:34 PM

It’s usually no big deal; i just have to go through one other app, running a web browser, to get around it. It’s annoying, not that hard though by now

it’s sometimes hard to do though

and my school has crazy filters so it’s prob just me

V2Blast

Still, it's good to know about

Medix2

3:55 PM

@ThomasMarkov Agreed, that breaks like... everything

doppelgreener

@ThomasMarkov Sword Adventures Coast?

Medix2

@NautArch The problem is when something can be done "as an action" or something "takes an action"; can you use a bonus action? The SAC seems to say say "yes"

doppelgreener

Swordmaster's Aggravating Calluses

Spry Animated Cauldrons

Bardic Wizard

SAC: Sometimes Actually Correct

2

linksassin

@doppelgreener Glad I'm not the only one. Sage Advice Compendium?

KorvinStarmast

4:00 PM

@BardicWizard Nice one. :)

Bardic Wizard

@KorvinStarmast thank you bows

NautArch

@Medix2 I don't get that reading from it.And it's pretty clear they aren't interchangeable

Medix2

@NautArch I just see "Taking a bonus action counts as taking an action" which, to me, implies that "If something requires you to take an action, you could take a bonus action to do it"

NautArch

@Medix2 bridge too far for me.

While it's possible I guess to read into it like that, I don't think its a good faith reading.

Medix2

@NautArch That's fair, it's not like the books did a very good job at avoiding confusing or ambiguous terms anyway XD

Hello the like... ten or so different types of attacks...

GcL

4:13 PM

@Medix2 We ran into the opposite situation. Can you use a spell or ability that takes a bonus action with your action? The assumption was bonus action was a more limited and specific kind of action. Bonus action was the square to action's rectangle. We eventually went with no, and that naming things is hard.

Medix2

@GcL As somebody who once wanted to go into taxonomy... yeah... naming things is hard

GcL

We hired a philosophy grad to help do some ontology development a couple of years back, and we were glad to have someone who enjoyed that work.

Hot RPG Questions

5:09 PM

4

Q: Do Strahd Von Zarovich legendary actions movement trigger sunlight damage?

I read this quesion about legendary actions not triggering effects from spells that happen at the beginning of the monster turn. Since I'm playing in Curse of Strahd, I wondered: Can Strahd von Zarovich, who can do a legendary action and move out of his turn, run (as a legendary action) in the su...

dnd-5e damage actions curse-of-strahd

Bardic Wizard

5:19 PM

I just had a really weird experience ... my math homework just up and disappeared like a minute ago and I don’t know where it went? It fell on the floor and I can’t find it even though the floor is almost completely clean

V2Blast

oof. is there anything it might have fallen under? or behind?

RevenantBacon

I assume it is on a standard 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper? It can't have gone far, so if the flor is only "mostly clean" odds are it slipped underneath something.

GcL

Math homework just became physics work?

V2Blast

lol

MikeQ

Maybe the physics engine glitched and it fell through the floor? Have you tried switching to wireframe mode?

GcL

5:22 PM

Revenge of Clippy

kviiri

^ yeah, my guess is that the carpet doesn't have a collision box

so very thin objects can get obscured by it

MikeQ

Try reloading your reality, it could be a caching issue

Bardic Wizard

It’s not under my chair, desk, pile of books, box of yarn, or anything else

kviiri

Walk around until the "Interact..." text shows up

RevenantBacon

@MikeQ I dunno, last time we did that, it took a few hundred billion years the finish installing updates

kviiri

5:23 PM

Ok, now I apologize because for a moment I assumed this was a joke about you not doing your math homework

If that happened to me, though, I'd assume I had already picked it up absent-mindedly and placed it in an unusual location where I forgot to search

RevenantBacon

@BardicWizard do you have a desktop PC or a laptop? If desktop: does it sit on the floor? If yes: have you checked under that?

Alternatively, are there other papers on your desk it could have gotten mixed in with?

Bardic Wizard

I had it on my desk, picked it up with my notebook, put my notebook on my desk, had it in my hand, dropped it on the floor when I tried to keep my textbook from falling, dealt with my textbook, turned around, and it disappeared

MikeQ

Maybe you discovered the Konami code of real life. Try repeating those steps and see if something else disappears.

GcL

Snuck away while you weren't looking. Classic misdirection.

Could have glided further away than you expect, or caught an edge just the right way and is flipped up against something. I've had pages cling to smooth surfaces before, so maybe check the walls or panels of the desk?

Bardic Wizard

5:43 PM

Apparently its just gone

Mark Wells

@MikeQ I had a physics professor who would blame things like that on "fluctuations in Planck's constant"

kviiri

@GcL I meant to respond to this earlier, but I think they had a really easy and even somewhat obvious option of prefixing the term "action" with some qualifier to specify when they're talking about the particular "resource" on one's turn.

Bardic Wizard

I have to go to class now, hopefully I don’t get in trouble for it (it’s electronically turned in but we use paper versions for correcting)

kviiri

So eg. "Standard action" to refer to action as the action economy resource, and just "action" to refer to actions in general

Mark Wells

While I'm not generally a fan of trying to solidify the nomenclature in D&D, "standard action" is useful enough that I'll use it

Thomas Markov

5:47 PM

Malus action / bonus action

GcL

@kviiri I think that would have worked.

kviiri

How does pre-4e DnD handle it? I don't recall seeing anywhere near the confusion concerning the action economy "tiers" for those games

Mark Wells

(The other term I routinely use when talking about the mechanics is "spell charge" rather than "spell slot", because they're not "slots".)

@kviiri 3e uses "standard action"

kviiri

4e too uses Standard/Move/Minor action

Mark Wells

As opposed to "move action" and "full-round action", iirc

GcL

5:48 PM

Which might be why they didn't do that. My 3.5e players still confuse terms between editions.

kviiri

4e also has the nice feature where each of those types can be "downgraded", so you can take a Standard action as a Move or Minor action (which is kinda "Dash", except you don't need a special rule for it). I can kinda understand a game designer not wanting this, though

But it kinda does help with the bit where bonus action is supposed to be extra swift but "nope you can't do it because you only got a longer action" ;)

GcL

Could be a case where it was thought that just "action" was simpler. Makes me wonder about the process that was used to write the rules. Did bonus action come in later and they didn't feel the need to rewrite all the action stuff?

Mark Wells

Right, that's the kind of TCG-like logic that 5e mostly tried to avoid. Keeping each kind of action in its own lane is a way to limit combo craziness.

GcL

@kviiri That was our initial thinking.

Thomas Markov

@Medix2 I dont understand your comment

Medix2

5:52 PM

@ThomasMarkov Is Readying the spell not "when you cast it"?

kviiri

@MarkWells Yep, that's my understanding as well

Medix2

So like... first you Ready the spell and later you release it. Which of those events is "When you cast this spell"?

Thomas Markov

Oh, I think I understand. This is terrible.

kviiri

This is another one of those places where the authors didn't clearly think it all the way through x)

But... I'd say it depends on the context.

Medix2

Casted not being a word sure is fun

I think we have a question on this somewhere...

GcL

5:55 PM

"When you ready a spell, you cast it as normal but hold its energy, which you release with your reaction when the trigger occurs." To me, that reads as you cast it when you Ready it.

Medix2

There's this at least rpg.stackexchange.com/a/80962

GcL

That's the one where if the trigger doesn't occur before your next turn, the spell slot is wasted?

Medix2

Readied spells? Yeah "What would be the balance implications of a house rule allowing a readied spell to be held indefinitely?"

Wait @ThomasMarkov How did you edit that while it was deleted?

Thomas Markov

I deleted it.

Medix2

But you can't edit posts that you delete?

Thomas Markov

6:02 PM

Though I dont know that mattters

GcL

@Medix2 That's similar to the house rule my table went with. You can continue to spend your action. The only stipulation we added was the caster couldn't change the trigger.

Thomas Markov

Pretty sure anyone can edit their own deleted posts.

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov I think that was removed to prevent stealth spam

Thomas Markov

IDK. I deleted my post, edited, then undeleted.

Medix2

"Let me edit my own self-deleted question" and "Why can I not edit a self-deleted question?"

Thomas Markov

6:03 PM

Maybe just questions?

Medix2

@ThomasMarkov Oh hmm, maybe... weird

Yeah, seems to be just questions, weird

Rubiksmoose

The reason is spam^

Bardic Wizard

Found my math homework!!!!!!!!!!

Rubiksmoose

woo!

and where was it?

Bardic Wizard

it had slid all the way across the room and under the door

Rubiksmoose

6:07 PM

lol

Bardic Wizard

i found it 5ft into the hallway

NautArch

@doppelgreener I'm still pretty new to avatar, but I thought there was an order. But then I looked at a wiki, and it seems to go Wan (initial power from fire), then an unknown, followed by the cycle we know of fire, air, water, earth

doppelgreener

@NautArch it doesn't matter what element you start at

the ATLA intro goes water, earth, air, fire; but there's no specific reason you gotta list it that way

you just don't go earth, water, fire, air, unless you're a nincompoop

Bardic Wizard

@doppelgreener why not?

doppelgreener

@BardicWizard cuz that's not the order!

NautArch

6:18 PM

@doppelgreener I was looking at the beginning of them. Wan got his initial power from the fire turtle. My hunch was that was where it started, but then the next avatar is an unknown (per the wiki)

after that one, it goes fire/air/water/earth in order

doppelgreener

honestly tho you really could just say them in any order; it's just that one specific order comes to mind when the Avatar's the context

NautArch

And now it's repeating, so it seems to go fire/air/earth/water, but that ignored the first two avatars.

doppelgreener

there's also an order of nations getting owned for example (air, water, earth, fire) but that just so happens to also be the avatar cycle. (not actually a coincidence.)

WHOOPS i misspoke when talking about the intro: it went water, earth, fire, air

Mark Wells

@Medix2 About that travel pace question, I don't think the distances per hour are actually wrong, they just assume you're not moving at full combat pace all the time. If you move 300 feet/min and spend exactly 12% of the time resting, you cover 3 miles/hour.

doppelgreener

@NautArch yes, the avatar cycle always repeats through those four elements in that order. there's always a firebender, then an airbender, then a waterbender, then an earthbender, then a firebender, etc.

NautArch

6:22 PM

@doppelgreener or at least, it starts that order with the third avatar.

also , no spoilers. On season 3 i think of korra.

Mark Wells

For comparison, the U.S. Army gives a travel speed for infantry on a road, during the day, of 4 km/hour.

doppelgreener

@NautArch this is just The Last Airbender material; Legend of Korra back-filled the Avatar lore.

And the waterbender alternates between the northern water tribe and the southern water tribe—that's why the Fire Nation was focused entirely on the Southern Water Tribe and left the Northern one alone during the raids in ATLA. They knew the next avatar would be a waterbender from the Southern tribe.

NautArch

@doppelgreener i know, just sayin'

doppelgreener

@NautArch gotcha

NautArch

@doppelgreener ooooh! I didn't pick up on that!

Mark Wells

6:24 PM

(and recommends 10 minutes of rest per 50 minutes of marching)

NautArch

From a wiki page: The Avatar Cycle is based on the passage of the four seasons, which coincides with the order in which Wan first learned the elements; fire related to summer, air to autumn, water to winter, and earth to spring.

Also, I find it amusing we're focused on the element cycle of avatar and not the question on D&D :P

doppelgreener

6:46 PM

@NautArch it's definitely not stated at any point in either show; i don't recall where it gets brought up.

NautArch

DIgging into this...does each nation have cardinal temples/regions?

doppelgreener

@NautArch not that i know of.

NautArch

Air has the four cardinal direction for temples

Water seems to be just northern and southern

and earth and fire seem to just have their land

doppelgreener

Right.

NautArch

ALthough I guess AIr has also been pared down to just the single temple now

doppelgreener

6:51 PM

though, the air nomads were the air nomads

nitsua60

@BardicWizard Pretty amazing what a millimeter of air'll do to the flight of a piece of paper =)

NautArch

@doppelgreener Is the lore that they were actually nomadic?

MikeQ

Yes. They didn't all live in the temples, those were like monasteries and waypoints. Most of the nomads migrated around on flying bison.

kviiri

My favorite fantasy elements are the Yevon Temples of Final Fantasy X: Water, Fire, Ridiculously Obscure Lightning, Ice With Terrible Pacing, Cyberspace and Tetris.

Hm, although I think Besaid temple didn't actually have any particularly strong water thematic elements

it was more like "generic ancient stone temple" vibe

Mark Wells

7:11 PM

Given everything else in the world in FFX, I don't know how you'd make "water thematic elements" stand out, short of putting the entire temple in a Blitzball arena

kviiri

When I was a kid the lightning temple (Djose) bothered me the most because of the absolutely infuriatingly convention-defying puzzle. Nowadays there's the internet one can check those things from, so the Macalania temple one where the puzzle kinda interrupts a moment of escalating drama bothers me more.

Mark Wells

(also, FFX had the most interesting storytelling structure in the entire series. fight me, internet :) )

kviiri

I think it's good in many ways, yes

Although it's one of the first games with a Serious plot I've played so I probably have a soft spot for it

(I've been more of a strat gamer since childhood, so I was kinda late to the CRPG/JRPG party and never stuck around for very long)

But there are a few amateurish problems with pacing that show they didn't REALLY think things quite through

GcL

@MarkWells Does it have moogles?

kviiri

@GcL Less than many other entries. Moogles are mainly present as the weapon-of-choice of the party's black mage. (Which should indicate they don't see quite that much use)

Can't remember there being a single actual character that's a Moogle.

GcL

7:16 PM

Well, as long as they're still there I can get behind FFX. I really enjoyed Mog back in the day.

Chocobo are still a thing in that one as well?

kviiri

Yep

Mark Wells

@kviiri Final Fantasy wiki says there are no actual moogles in X (or X-2) but, interestingly, Lulu has the moogle doll as a weapon and someone wears a moogle costume in X-2. Which suggests that they may be mythical creatures in the world.

kviiri

@MarkWells Lulu's dolls appear to be animated, but it might be just her magic doing it

Speaking of Final Fantasy. I was discussing video game music with a friend, specifically how many pieces of video game music have strong resemblance to classical music or other public domain tunes

GcL

Ahhh... the internet did not fail me. Five minutes from wanting Mog riding a chocobo to an order for a refrigerator magnet depicting it.

kviiri

Eg. this one: youtu.be/smRM4FiOxu4

A moderately well-disguised Greensleeves starts at around 0:40

But then I cursed myself with an ear worm

Because a tune came to my mind that's very similar to Prokofief's Dance of the Knights, and I remembered it being from some video game, but no idea which

And for some reason I latched on to 40 Winks' soundtrack, but no matches

...turns out it was FF too. FFIX to be exact: youtube.com/watch?v=ZNr8cDdHBLg

Mark Wells

7:34 PM

@kviiri "Dancing Mad" from FFVI is pretty much Bach with a guitar solo, though I am not a music guy and can't pick out specific Bach pieces.

kviiri

@MarkWells There's a bit that sounds like Badinerie at least

No wait, I think I got my pieces confused

Hungarian Dances 5 by Brahms is definitely there

JohnP

8:59 PM

ugh. 2020 needs to stop kicking me in the teeth.

NautArch

@JohnP What now?

Hot RPG Questions

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dnd-5e optional-rules injury bonus-action

GcL

@JohnP I concur with the addendum "and my butt"

KorvinStarmast

9:14 PM

@JohnP +1 for that, amigo.

kviiri

9:39 PM

and my axe

AncientSwordRage

@JohnP oh no

Bardic Wizard

9:53 PM

@JohnP something happen? Also, hugs

Ben

Morning all

@JohnP Hear hear

AncientSwordRage

@Ben <iTag>

Bardic Wizard

@kviiri and my running joke in geek culture that really isn’t very funny any more but everyone pretends it’s still funny

Ben

@kviiri [chuckles heartily but not too loud as to distract from the mood of sincerity]

AncientSwordRage

@BardicWizard I thought that too until I took an arrow to the knee

Ben

9:56 PM

@BardicWizard d20 + cha

kviiri

@BardicWizard Gimme a break, I get to do this like once a year at most x)

AncientSwordRage

Wildsea is launching on Kickstarter soon (Reddit Link), there is a link to the KS and a quick start pdf inside.

That'll teach me to try and link something from mobile

Bardic Wizard

I mean, if you want it you can have my seditious muttering about teachers who assign a test on 6 chapters the day before the test...

Ben

So I have a few questions, and I don't mean to imply anything about this group by asking; it's simply I find this group to be supportive and productive

Bardic Wizard

@Ben I agree with you on supportive, don’t know about productive... but I’m willing to help answer them

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