TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:01

...is there a Meta Stack Exchange feature request to put "ignore this user (everywhere)" a little further from "kick-mute this user" in the room control interface?

BESW

00:21

I just remembered that Magpie Games' Pasion de las Pasiones exists and I need to watch more telenovelas to vibe with it.

Anybody got recommendations?

trogdor

you know I definitely do not

XD

sorry

BESW

Which is why I'll be roping you into watching them with me.

trogdor

oh god

I should have just not said anything

AncientSwordRage

01:10

It's been nice knowing you @trogdor

trogdor

you underestimate my power,...... or maybe not

XD

AncientSwordRage

It's possible that if @BESW strikes you down you'll become more powerful than I could ever imagine

I have to dash though

ciao for niao

BESW

AncientSwordRage

02:34

4

Q: What to call a winged unicorn?

What is a word for a winged unicorn or horned pegasus? I've heard a few ways of describing such a fantastical beast, but I don't know which is correct. They are known as both Alicorns (ali- supposedly from ala (wing), and corn meaning horn), as well as Pegi(a)corn, a portmanteau of Pegasus and...

@ThomasMarkov look what you've done now ^

Glazius

02:59

@BardicWizard Oh, nobody told you? Your consciousness shifted to the parallel universe where Brussels sprouts taste good, without you noticing. xkcd.com/2241

trogdor

04:53

@BESW I'm fine with this comparison

XD

Bardic Wizard

06:36

Why is there never a good book around when you need one? And does anyone have a suggestion for a good book series that’s long enough to last a few days? I’m out of library books I haven’t read yet (and the library is closed for hold pickup until next week), there’s nothing in my house I want to reread (even though we have lots and lots of books), and my online library hold for a book a friend recommended has been jumping between “arriving in two weeks” and “arriving in 6 weeks”

I am frustrated at my lack of reading material

BESW

Seanan McGuire's "Incrytpid" series is fun. It's a contemporary science-fantasy series about a family of warrior-scientists who work to study and protect cryptids.

There's eight full novels and a ton of short stories so far.

trogdor

06:54

hmm

Murderbot Diaries is 5 books long

it's not actually about a murdering robot,.. mostly it watches media and protects people from dangerous situations

I think it barely kills anyone through the whole series and when it does they tend to deserve it

BESW

Murderbot Diaries is great, I recommend it to everyone, but only one of the books is a full novel; the others are novellas, so I'm not sure how long it'd take a dedicated reader to rip through them.

Bardic Wizard

@BESW ooh that’s cool looking and — searches hoopla and libby — if I try I could probably make the first two last until my hoopla lending limit resets since they don’t seem to be on libby (seriously why does hoopla limit you to 5 books a month it’s not fair to those of us who can rip through multiple books in a day)

@trogdor that sounds cool too! It looks like it’s on libby so I don’t have to try to make hoopla books last

BESW

@BardicWizard It does have some sexy bits. They aren't really graphic, I would've been fine reading them at your age and I was pretty sensitive about that sort of thing, but they're there.

trogdor

@BESW ah ok they seem to go by pretty fast I guess I never checked that specifically

still I think they are very good reads

Bardic Wizard

I ought to sleep now but thank you!!! I might last until the library’s back open this year!

BESW

07:02

@BardicWizard I'm on my third(?) read-through of Murderbot Diaries this year, they're that kind of "things are horrible but we find triumphs anyway" energy I need right now.

ttfn

Powerdork

Interesting what reasons exist for rejecting edits. I truly think this edit would be better served as a different answer. Maybe it has a place as a comment, but it suggests that the premise of a book's section on a special rule is obviated by a setting detail about how many days are in a week. That is all the edit does.

kviiri

Ugh, what have I read recently? I read Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Bluebeard, but I wouldn't recommend them unconditionally. Bluebeard maybe, it's much less cynical

They were re-reads for me, so their energy was easy to contain regardless.

trogdor

07:20

@BESW yeah I think i re-read it 3 or 4 times this year

twice in a row this month

BESW

Recently I caught up with Ursula Vernon's books under her T Kingfisher penname.

I re-read Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire earlier this year and might read it again; tor.com just dropped a new excerpt from next year's sequel.

I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH aloud to a friend, that was still quite good.

This year I've started a lot of really good books that I'm just not in the right mindset to finish and they had to go on hold.

Mexican Gothic, Storm of Locusts, Unconquerable Sun, The City We Became, The Deep, An Unkindness of Ghosts (I think I've started it three times now? it's so good and so hard to read)...

I'm very grateful I'd already read the Broken Earth trilogy because it's absolutely a story for this year but not one I could've actually read this year.

Also been watching a lot of films. Just watched most of the Harry Palmer films, because I was reminded of them from this chat's mention of Austin Powers earlier.

trogdor

07:39

ah yep Storm of Locusts, The Deep, and Unkindness of Ghosts are all good

in reverse order they are hard to read

IE Ghosts I think is the hardest honestly

BESW

I should re-read The Tea Master and the Detective before I read Seven of Infinities.

trogdor

it might be sorta debatable which of the other two is harder to read though I guess

The Tea Master and the Detective is good

BESW

(They're set in de Bodard's Vietnamese space opera future, and they're a sapphic Sherlock Holmes riff with Holmes as a disgraced tutor and Watson as a retired spaceship.)

trogdor

yes

is good

trogdor

07:56

I also like the Xandri Corelel series a lot

though I have to admit in some ways it's almost as hard as Ghosts or Deep to read

because the setting involves it being illegal to have kids that aren't genetically altered to make sure they don't grow up with neurodivergences and disabilities and such, the main character is autistic and has to put up with some #$%$ because said illegalization is due to fearmongering and bigotry and has also fostered even more fear mongering and bigotry

she sticks it to the status quo a lot but the status quo still sucks hard

(also she's on a ship of mostly supportive people who don't believe all that stuff)

it's also very sci fi with aliens, her job is first contact or sometimes diplomacy with aliens

trogdor

08:26

I also really love On the Edge of Gone but it's only one book and it's only like, a little easier to read than Ghosts or Xandri

another autistic protagonist and it's set in Amsterdam during a meteor strike on the earth that causes everyone to seek space in shelters or on generation ships

people die in it but the hardest parts to read are where her mother is high on something or other and also where people treat her poorly occasionally because they know she is autistic, or in at least one case where someone throws it in her face that they don't believe she is because "she's done too many things no one with autism could possibly do"

it probably also counts as hard to read but she has an actual mutism attack and I just have to praise this book for nailing what that is like completely even though it isn't a fun experience

Hot RPG Questions

09:01

4

Q: Is this homebrew Whirlwind Sentinel feat balanced compared to other feats?

I would like the community's opinion on whether or not this homebrew feat is balanced compared to other feats. Its inspiration is taken from the Sentinel (PHB 169) and Slasher (TCE 81) feats. This is for my level 4 halfling barbarian; he has a STR of 17, so I really want that +4 mod, but taking t...

dnd-5e feats balance homebrew-review

Akixkisu

09:58

When you miss-click in the review queue, yikes.

BESW

10:17

TRIAL by Dominique Dickey. A narrative tabletop role-playing game about race in the criminal justice system. Doms also wrote a short twitter thread about the game.

trogdor

I have stuck my face in the review que before and regretted my choices for sure

though that was me doing that on purpose

Derpy

little OT:

In case someone wants another hat.

in Not a bar, but plays one on TV, 11 mins ago, by Derpy

22

Q: Can you help a poor unicorn to find its way back home?

Our poor /unicorn Sparkles got lost, and is stuck in a never ending loop of dashing and jumping. While it may be fun to watch him run and to make him jump, he does need some help to find his way back home. Once upon a Wint Bash morrow, while I pondered, full of sorrow Over endless db rows record...

discussion winter-bash winter-bash-2020 unicorns hat-dash

just linking it here too for visibility.

AncientSwordRage

11:57

@BardicWizard unfortunately I dint have any recent books to recommend, but I'm happy you were able to get suggestions from chat 😅

RevenantBacon

13:04

@BardicWizard I love alive pigs. Alive pigs are great. Because you can use alive pigs to get more pigs, and then, since you have more pigs, you can have more bacon!!!

kviiri

13:22

Remind me to do a Starmas this year

RevenantBacon

I'll try but no promises

BESW

13:38

A friend is using Goblin Court as a first introduction to non-D&D TRPGs for one of their friends!

[marks 1 XP]

They gave their friend a short list of games to choose from, and Goblin Court was the one that piqued the friend's interest the most.

I've got a goofy grin.

Thomas Markov

@Derpy Im stuck on a question. gonna have to give up.

Derpy

14:00

@ThomasMarkov The ONLY thing that I will say to keep this fair is that if you think you can reply to a question by using the on-site search... results are capped to 500...

David Coffron

@BESW Isn't that made by you?

Oh wait; that's probably why the goofy grin; nvm, ignore me

BESW

Yes indeed.

doppelgreener

That's wonderful!

Bardic Wizard

@BESW I love mrs Frisby and the rats of nimh! It was one of the first books I can remember my parents reading to us for a bedtime story that took longer than a few days to read! (But I try not to reread books over Christmas break since I finally have brain power to comprehend new stuff)

@AncientSwordRage this chat is remarkably helpful a lot of the time

@RevenantBacon winces ummm

You do you I guess

NautArch

@BardicWizard you misspelled YUMMMMM

Bardic Wizard

14:11

@BESW congratulations!

@NautArch I’m vegetarian

NautArch

@BardicWizard ah, i missed that.

Thomas Markov

@Derpy Im at 8/10 now

AncientSwordRage

@BESW is it also a good intro for non-roleplayers?

BESW

@AncientSwordRage I'm increasingly unsure that's a meaningful question.

AncientSwordRage

@Derpy I don't follow

doppelgreener

14:15

@Derpy could you link this in an easily star-able way, like with link text? :)

Someone_Evil

I can fix that!

AncientSwordRage

@BESW people who are inexperienced or averse to roleplaying/acting

Derpy

Yaakov added a new secret unicorn-themed Hat! Go here for instruction about how to try to get it

4

Here you have the link

BESW

I know what non-roleplayers usually means. I just don't think there's such a thing as a game that's good for them.

Someone_Evil

That also works, I suppose :)

BESW

14:18

People have so many different reasons to be reluctant to try a TRPG, and so many reasons to overcome that reluctance.

What's a good video game for a non-video-gamer?

A good book for a non-reader?

AncientSwordRage

Those are all answerable questions I think, just not easily answerable

Thomas Markov

Most are quite easy

BESW

For most TRPG players, D&D seems to have been a good introduction to TRPGs. Yet at an entry cost of hundreds of dollars, hundreds of pages, expectations of larger groups and longer campaigns, and a very specific set of themes and play expectations which severely limit improvisational creativity, it wouldn't really be the first on any list of introductory games that was derived from first principles of approachability.

kviiri

@BESW Yeah, seems like a case of survivor bias

2

doppelgreener

@Derpy thanks! :D

BESW

14:27

I've got one friend who took to D&D because of all the fiddly bits he could master and mash together to make characters which let him say "Watch, this is gonna be cool" and then make the mechanics dance to produce unexpectedly impressive results.

I've got another friend who would never in a million years have tried TRPGs if they'd had to read more than a couple pages before they started. Character creation that lasts half an hour is too long for them.

Thomas Markov

There are more than 10 possible questions, and ive got 10 answers, so now just roll for my set of ten? lol

Akixkisu

Most people who I know who didn't want to try TRPGs and who eventually wound up playing D&D did so because it was socially most accessible.

BESW

Ayup. D&D itself is a pretty mediocre-to-lousy introductory system, but its context makes it king.

The best game to introduce TRPGs to non-roleplayers... is the game their friends are playing.

The game they have an opportunity to try, the game they're willing to give a chance, rarely depends on the game itself. And if all games DID have an equally approachable context for all players, there's still not be any magic quality which makes a game a good introduction for all--or even most--new players. It's about listening to our friends and figuring out what's gonna tickle their fancy.

Goblin Court caught the eye of this friend-of-a-friend partly because they thought the premise sounded "creative," but mostly because... they'd heard my friend talking about previous games and it sounded like my friend had fun.

Akixkisu

I think there is also the conception that it is easy to look up how to "do" D&D and see that role models/celebrities play it.

Thomas Markov

For me, being able to watch Critical Role taught me how to play dnd

I freed the unicorn

Akixkisu

14:37

The usual appeal of fandom.

BESW

@Akixkisu I have a separate rant about the problems caused at hobbiest tables by professionals presenting their edited content as naturalistic, but it's too late at night for that.

Akixkisu

@BESW you are never enough if you don't use photoshop.

BESW

I'm talking more like... editing out the use of safety tools, or the prevalence of trained actors and improvisers establishing unrealistic expectations for roleplaying.

Or gamers thinking they're doing something wrong because their stories aren't as good as the scripted sessions presented as improvisational.

Anyway, sleep now.

ttfn

Akixkisu

@BESW Yes, maybe the analogy is incorrect. It is about expecting something to happen at your table naturally, something that comes out of a refined process. It is an unhealthy view of how something is supposed to be that you are unlikely to reproduce, leaving you thinking that you are doing something wrong.

good night

Hot RPG Questions

14:56

2

Q: Does Returning rune imply Reload 0?

I was experimenting with building a Thor-like Human Fighter in Pathfinder 2e. I'm picking a mixture of feats that fit well for both melee and ranged, because Thor likes to throw his hammer, Mjolnir. I noticed the feat Double Shot, which reads Requirements You are wielding a ranged weapon with re...

ranged-attack pathfinder-2e throwing-things

David Coffron

15:33

@Derpy Wow; That took a bit for me; I had to reset until I got 10 of the 13 questions I could find the answers for

(But what else am I gonna do when I'm working Christmas Eve morning)

Thomas Markov

@DavidCoffron Same. Bet we had the same 13 questions answered

David Coffron

@ThomasMarkov We can find out on the 2nd lol

Derpy

@DavidCoffron oh, so there are more than 10? Guess I was lucky, only missed one first time before realizing I could not use site search because of the cap.

never resetted, just waited out on that single error

David Coffron

@Derpy The annoying ones for me were the ones that relied on in-site jokes, but I got them in the end

Bardic Wizard

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!!! 2020 is almost gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas Markov

15:36

@Derpy I had 13 right answers and 3 or 4 I didnt know, so theres at least 16 questions in the pool

David Coffron

@BardicWizard That is one of the few phrases worth 58 exclamation points :P

Bardic Wizard

@DavidCoffron I can add some more, I don’t think that’s quite 58 yet

David Coffron

@BardicWizard I used a character count tool lol

Bardic Wizard

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@DavidCoffron well the more the merrier

David Coffron

That's 84 ^

@BardicWizard Truth

Wouldn't it be crazy if I could just eyeball it though xD

Some people can do stuff like that

Bardic Wizard

15:40

@DavidCoffron yeah that’s a skill nobody I know can do

David Coffron

@BardicWizard Haha. I googled "guy can guess the number of things in a pile fast" to try to find some examples and stackoverflow.blog showed up from all my searching for unicorn answers (@ThomasMarkov )

doppelgreener

16:08

@BESW Or the mere fact that they're entertainers producing a product for people to enjoy watching or listening to means they'll adjust their behaviours. Polygon hosts weekly Friday night twitch streams of them playing party games like Fall Guys or Among Us or Quiplash, and at some points some of them seem like they're sorta tired of at least one of those games, but they play anyway for the sake of the stream.

AncientSwordRage

16:37

@doppelgreener hyperreality

They are presenting what they think should be real, and not what actually is real

doppelgreener

16:56

that's a great word for it

Bardic Wizard

How’s everyone’s Christmas Eve weather? Anyone got snow? We have fog and it’s so thick that at the park around the corner you can’t see one soccer goal when you’re standing at the other one

RevenantBacon

I still have snow leftover from when it snowed last week.

It's supposed to rain later though

Thomas Markov

Im driving 7 hours tonight and it looks like all of it is going to be in the rain.

RevenantBacon

RIP

doppelgreener

17:19

Take care!

My parents did a defensive driving course a few years back, and taught me a few things based on what they learned

(in a defensive driving course, you learn how to handle perilous situations like slippery roads, driving through trees, what to do if another car is about to hit yours, etc — all the worst case scenarios and how to manage them so as to minimise harm to yourself and other passengers.)

One of the handiest things I learned for driving through rain is to drive no faster than your reaction time. If you're well rested and driving on a well lit road during daytime surrounded by nothing but clearing with visibility for miles, you can safely drive at a good speed because whatever happens, you will have plenty of time to react to it.

But at night, on a less well lit road, while you're tired, something might happen you have to respond to suddenly only a hundred meters ahead, which you couldn't see before because of poor lighting. You being tired means it'll be fifty meters before you even register something's happened. If you're going fast, you have no chance to respond before you hit something. If you're slow, you have time—because you were driving slow enough to match your reaction time.

There's a day I had to drive through torrential rain, and I drove slow because it was hard to see things, and I might've been a pain in the ass to nearby drivers but I made it through without any mishaps.

Bardic Wizard

@ThomasMarkov that doesn’t sound fun at all but I hope it’s for a good reason

Thomas Markov

Going to see my family for Christmas. My wife and daughters are already at my parents house, I had to stay this week to kill chickens.

Bardic Wizard

@ThomasMarkov that’s a very ... blunt ... way of putting it

Thomas Markov

What a rollercoaster of a message haha

Bardic Wizard

17:34

I’m currently running on a mixture of caffeine, ibuprofen, and excitement; words are hard today

@doppelgreener I think that’s actually also part of drivers ed (possibly drivers training but I haven’t taken that yet) around here, at least the “drive at a speed that you can react to what’s on the road” bit

Thomas Markov

@BardicWizard I rarely have to be the one to actually kill the chickens

RevenantBacon

@ThomasMarkov Wait, I thought you counted them :p

Being a mathmechicken and all

Thomas Markov

I havent counted chickens in a while.

I did start working here as an inventory control analyst

kviiri

18:06

Re: weather, near-zero temperature, cloudy, dark, almost no wind

doppelgreener

18:21

@BardicWizard that's good!

I also learned another thing that saved my life once: when you may be about to collide with a car, the instinct might be to slam on the brakes, but you'll lose control and start sliding. Sometimes the best option is to slam on the accelerator instead and zoom out of the path of the collision, or at least have more control where it'll hit.

At one point, I had a bus hit my car from the side while I was driving. Because I zoomed ahead, it hit my driver side at the back, smashing in the back door and side of the boot, instead of my driver side at my ... me.

NautArch

The big thing about staying in control is also CPR: Correct, Pause, Return.

kviiri

I don't drive, myself, but I know two "life-saving tricks they don't teach you in driving school", courtesy of my ex-SO, now BFF

Weirdly they both concern snow plow markers: little plastic rods placed on each side of the road at regular intervals to guide snow plows with. They have little reflector strips at the top, so they can be seen at dark as well.

Usually in night conditions (which is most of the day over the winter...) you'll only see a dot of light. So tip 1: they're always placed in pairs, one on each side of the road, so if you see a lone reflection, slow down. The lone reflection is then usually something else: possibly an elk.

(the eye is a decent reflector)

Tip 2: If a reflector strip "blinks", slow down. (something is passing in front of it, often eg. again an elk)

NautArch

My bad, it was Correct, Pause, Recover

you need to give time for your tires to regrip in the direction you are currently going before you can move them back tow here they should be.

And also that your car isn't great at multitasking. Need to turn? Braking/accelerating will limit the turn. Brake before, turn, accelerate out

kviiri

I'm trying to do a Starmas by checking the starboard's "show all" button... apparently, it's not sorted by time consistently

NautArch

how to recover from an understeer/oversteer

kviiri

18:59

Happy Starmas! Here are six messages from this year that brought me grins and happiness.

3

Mar 12 at 18:41, by MikeQ

Also if you ask a ghost if they're a ghost, they're legally required to answer truthfully

Jul 14 at 20:48, by Someone_Evil

OK, no-one star anything anymore!

Oct 23 at 1:38, by Ben

@Rubiksmoose Rene Descartes is drinking at a bar. The bartender asks if he would like a refill. Rene replies "I think not!" and then ceases to exist.

Nov 8 at 8:16, by BESW

@Medix2 I just need to make, like, a "4e did it" sticker or something, don't I?

Oct 20 at 14:59, by MikeQ

If you learn the bear's true name, you can form a pact and become a Goldilock

Dec 16 at 12:34, by doppelgreener

STACK I AM CONCERENED ABOUT YOUR PERCEPTION OF WHAT COUNTS AS A HAT

Since the stack's message search kinda sucks, I'll start keeping a record in real time the next year. Too hard to find the relevant messages afterwards

doppelgreener

19:27

heyyy, i'm in there ;u;

RevenantBacon

20:25

I remember at least two of those!

trogdor

20:51

@kviiri XD

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