TRPG General Chat

BESW

00:45

[amused] Somebody added a tag to a seven-year-old unanswered question I asked on scifi and I got six upvotes and a downvote.

bobble

I got several questions answered by necro-ing them with tag edits o'er on Lit

BESW

I have no expectation of this question ever getting answered unless someone from the dev team happens to wander by.

...it has an "opinion based" close vote. What.

Hot RPG Questions

02:57

2

Q: What is the mechanism for a character swapping their arcane/Druidic focus

As has been pointed out, a Druidic focus and a holy symbol are distinct from an arcane focus, but given they all perform essentially the same function, and the same issues probably apply to all of them, I’m going to leave this question broad to apply to all foci. At the core, I believe my questio...

BESW

03:46

NPC stunt:

> My name is in the title credits. You can always concede after being taken out, unless it is the final session of an adventure.

mbork

05:26

Hi all, a very beginning/inexperienced GM here (well, I haven't played as a player, either). What resources would you recommend to a father of 11yo daugther who wants to play "Amazing Tales" with her? We had 2 sessions already and it was great, but I feel I could do much better. I'd need help both with coming up with adventure ideas and running the game itself. Any books/blogs/podcasts/YT channels worth checking out? (Also, an almost 5yo son might want to join in some time.)

BESW

@mbork Ooh, welcome! I'm not familiar with Amazing Tales myself, so can't really help with general advice there unfortunately. Is there anything particular that you're struggling with? Like, in running the game are you having trouble with setting atmosphere and communicating what's happening, or handling what to do when dice say "no" to something cool, or incorporating your daughter's ideas into your plans on the fly...?

mbork

Well, AT is a very simple system (the rules themselves fit one A4 page in pretty large font). My main issues are (in no particular order): (1) adventure ideas (though this is somewhat mitigated by TV Tropes ;-) and using my daughter's interests), (2) being able to react to what's happening pretty quickly, and - perhaps most importantly - (3) thinking something up when my plans and (more or less linear) plan gets derailed.

BESW

05:46

Well, this is a generic adventure template I use, either on my own or --my preference-- in collaboration with my players:

Tribute to the Dragon

Jun 21 '14 at 4:55, 11 minutes total – 5 messages, 1 user, 0 stars

Bookmarked Aug 7 '15 at 9:09 by BESW

mbork

Of course, the right way to learn something like that is by doing (and that's what I'm going to do anyway), but any hints are appreciated, too.

thanks, checking it out...

BESW

And this twitter thread offers a good template for the "dangerous journey" portion:

Jul 7 at 4:25, by BESW

Alyssa Visscher wrote a twitter thread explaining "my "Dora The Explorer" method of running travelling, and how it's very helpful for new DMs."

mbork

ha, looks nice, thanks - bookmarked and copied to my file

BESW

Probably the most powerful technique I've ever learned as a GM is simply that it's okay to turn to my friends and say "I don't know what should happen next," followed by "Here's two ideas I can't choose between, help me decide" or "Do you have any suggestions" or "let's take a snack break while I think."

mbork

:+1:

BESW

05:52

Many game systems give the GM all the responsibility for worldbuilding, character development, plot advancement, story pacing, secret reveals, all of it. But those things can be shared or delegated to whatever extent the group likes, and in my experience the more we share the more creative and surprising and satisfying the results are for everyone.

3

mbork

Well, I did that (inadvertently) already - my daughter drew the map, for instance. ;-) Also, the AT book actually encourages this, too.

BESW

The "Running the Game" page in Lady Blackbird gives some really good specific advice for GMing that I apply to almost all my games, particularly regarding "Listen and ask questions, don't plan" and "Say yes, look for the obstacles."

@mbork Perfect!

mbork

thanks, too!

BESW

If you want more structure in planning adventures but are having trouble with plans becoming too linear, I recommend Cthulhu Dark's adventure design. It's for horror mysteries but the abstract structure works for any adventure where things escalate and lead toward a conclusion.

Let me see if the original free planning-guidance PDF is still online somewhere...

PDF link to "Dark Depths: Creating Scenarios for Cthulhu Dark"

You can find that link and others in the tag wiki info

It's basically a structure of concentric circles defined by things the player can encounter. They start at the outside ring and once they've encountered at least two things on that ring, the elements of the next ring inward become available to them. It can be clues to a mystery or moments that develop relationships or a magical traipse through a wonderland forest.

mbork

06:56

thanks a lot! That should keep me busy for a while! ;-)

BESW

07:17

I hope it's helpful!

There's others here who have more experience playing with younger people, like @BardicWizard and @nitsua60, they'll probably have excellent things to say.

Trish

08:38

@ThomasMarkov The newest 2 answers have no backup and are idea generation.

BESW

09:26

So, even when I spent a lot of time on mainsite Stack, I didn't go off rpg.se much. Is it common elsewhere to consider unsupported guesses "better than nothing" and thus acceptable answers?

rene

09:37

@V2Blast this could work but also probably includes binding mod flag deletes: data.stackexchange.com/stackoverflow/query/1442556 /cc @BESW

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I think the phasing using the word 'Case' implies somebody making reasoned argument, rather than just a straight up quote

BESW

@AncientSwordRage Which is absolutely fine, as per Good Subjective, and is especially odd to forget given that scifi's bread and butter is Wild Speculation gussied up in fancy logic-adjacent phrasing.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW the SFF stack does not have a good idea of Good Subjective (yet)

15

Q: Why was my answer deleted?

Earlier today, I answered this question: Why doesn't Worf use contractions?. I returned to find that my answer had been deleted. I am new to this community and terribly confused about why my answer was deleted. I've read the relevant help articles and they shed no light on this. One commenter cla...

discussion deleted-answers

AncientSwordRage

10:05

@AncientSwordRage geometry indicates otherwise — Amethyst Wizard 9 mins ago

REALLY?

BESW

I'm not sure how much use there can be in continuing to have that conversation, given their insistence on speculative abstraction over actually looking at the freely available information, much less the insulting notions that "zero to infinity" would be a range any reasonable person would have considered.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW yeah I was close to flagging as rude and moving on, but I hopped what I replied with would be helpful ? I dunno anymore

BESW

At this point I don't see any potential for understanding to come out of it, the conversation's been reduced to purely reactive defense of a a well-intentioned misstep.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW fair

I'm stepping back

BESW

My responses were rooted in how the answer could be improved. Now that it's been reduced to the philosophical statement that mathematics is its own objective truth value, productive outcomes seem to have evaporated.

You and I may know that mathematics is only ever as true as its premise statements, and the whole point of the discipline is to discover how useful or interesting results can be arrived at from different starting premises --and thus cannot be used to justify conclusions without defending the original premises-- but this is perhaps not an understanding which can be communicated in the form of accusatory Stack comments.

In this case I feel like after they ignored that the art isn't a simple circle, the conversation had reached its natural endpoint.

Personally I wouldn't have voted to delete the answer; the Stack's generally very generous about what stays up and expects things like that to fall to the downvote. Which it was.

But I'm not exactly lobbying for its return either.

I will say though, that this "I can answer a question without knowing anything about the source material" attitude is, again, not limited to any individual but is a common behavior in rpg.se with relation to indie and small-press titles.

This is the third or fourth person on this question to have such a belief, and the second to actually try to answer it in ignorance; the first answerer just had the grace to self-delete when they noticed that their information was too incomplete to answer usefully (in that case, that the phrasing "cover the sun" was too ambiguous to translate without access to the full text).

BESW

11:14

....I also don't really have the heart to tell them that I've seen the creator mention the "usual" range of dice used in playtests, and the answerer's highest possible number is lower than the lowest value in the reported range.

@AncientSwordRage Tonight we put fina'dene on hash (potatoes, bell peppers, onions, and spicy vegan sausages fried up together).

AncientSwordRage

@BESW yum yum yum

AncientSwordRage

11:36

that does sound excellent

My mother-in-law makes her version of Kachumber which I'd add to almost everything if onions didn't make my stomach very angry

BESW

oooh

I'd probably feel the same, except with me it'd be the tomatoes.

AncientSwordRage

11:58

@BESW :o

trogdor

I don't like tomatoes very much myself

AncientSwordRage

I'd consider them a staple

trogdor

I mean they are to some extent but I'm not entirely happy about that

BESW

My stomach dislikes them enough that I've never been able to really tell if I like them or not. I can mostly eat them as sauces, lightly spread, especially if there's some sweetness.

AncientSwordRage

12:15

thats understandable

BESW

But you know what's better than tomato sauce on pizza? Pesto sauce.

trogdor

Yes

AncientSwordRage

I've definitely met plenty of people who dislike the texture of tomato

@BESW that does sound excellent

trogdor

If tomatoes were replaced by pesto I would be extremely happy with that

I don't like tomatoe texture, I don't like it's raw taste

I don't like much about them at all really

AncientSwordRage

I don't want to assume this, but I'm only asking because I've seen people on reddit have this revelation... Are you eating nice tomatos? Because some are bland and mushy, and others are crisp and sweet

trogdor

12:24

well

my parents thought that was the problem too

then they grew some in their own garden that they loved and I tried to eat one small one and almost threw up

AncientSwordRage

well then, that's clearly not the issue then

trogdor

I just don't like them

that being said a tomatoe sauce or something is ok

it's not great but generally there's more than just tomatoe in there, and the texture isn't a problem unless it's one of those chunky sauces

I still like the idea of completely replacing tomatoe sauces with pesto

AncientSwordRage

12:48

I have nothing against pesto XD

my only issue is when I have reduced fat, which has reduced the fat by adding soya X_X

Hot RPG Questions

13:13

2

Q: What levels of spells can a Profane Soul Blood Hunter have at 11th level?

The Spells Known column of the Profane Soul table shows when you learn more warlock spells of your choice of 1st level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 11th level, for example, you learn ...

dnd-5e spellcasting blood-hunter

NautArch

13:38

Dang, TV prices are crazy stupid right now.

KorvinStarmast

Has anyone here played Earthdawn? I have a vague memory of that being on the shelves back in the 90's, but I never got it.

@AncientSwordRage our basil plants are producing a bumper crop this year; home made pesto every few weeks. Yummy!

Thomas Markov

So locking the DGtS post for a week was a good idea, but it seems to have failed to achieve what we implemented it for.

NautArch

Yep. And I'm pretty saddened by a toxic pseudo-answer getting so many upvotes. But hey, community gonna community.

Thomas Markov

"Youre policing my language" like no dude, Im trying to make your answer good cuz I agree with its premise and want to see it succeed.

AncientSwordRage

@KorvinStarmast I'd have to buy my own basil unfortunately

Thomas Markov

13:53

Our answers argue for the same outcome, yet mine is outscoring the other by 15, maybe I'm on to something about being nice about stuff.

NautArch

@KorvinStarmast My oregano turned into sideshow bob. I have soo much.

2

Thomas Markov

I found 81 questions the mention "spellcasting focus" that do not have the arcane-focus tag.

KorvinStarmast

@ThomasMarkov not convinced that it's causing a problem, though. (I was going to check the PF1 SRD but got side tracked by real life in the form of my mother-in-law yesterday)

NautArch

172

Q: What's the greatest number of hands I can have to annoy my mother-in-law with?

My mother in law is coming to visit tonight, for dinner. She hates me, and will criticize my food. But tonight is my night. I've prepared the dish she most hates, a beautiful roasted Tarrasque chop, and as soon as she makes her first comment, Oh dear lord, this meal looks dreadful! I want t...

dnd-5e optimization

BESW

14:19

@NautArch I am struggling with this concept.

NautArch

@BESW it's growing outwards in a huge uncontrollable amount

And it's established itself as a perennial for me, too - which is nice and surprising.

AncientSwordRage

soo much != to much I guess

NautArch

I keep giving oregano to everyone who comes by

BESW

14:36

@NautArch Please. stop. having. pointless. arguments. in. my. notifications.

NautArch

@BESW Will do -my bad. I'll remove my comments and flag the others. Sorry :(

BESW

4 hours ago, by BESW

In this case I feel like after they ignored that the art isn't a simple circle, the conversation had reached its natural endpoint.

It should be eminently clear by now that these conversations are not going to produce any useful outcome, they are argument purely for its own sake and if you want to do that, fine but do it where I don't have to get pinged every time somebody thinks of another clever way to say "no, you."

NautArch

I'll just flag for mod attention moving forward if more comments come up.

bobble

It's possible to comment-lock a question without preventing anything else, if that would be desirable

BESW

14:51

I'm going to re-write the question with malice aforethought.

NautArch

Malice Aforethought is a good band name.

Or character

Someone_Evil

Of the New England Aforethoughts?

NautArch

@Someone_Evil Definitely - and pinky's up!

BESW

Welp, that's a long and aggressive editing reason.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW it's incredibly tame compared to the comments that are now deleted, and entirely reasonable

BESW

15:01

Silly me, imagining that people who've never heard of a game before would NOT assume that a question about it would contain all the information they'd need to reduce it to a spherical cow.

Someone_Evil

How many dice can I fit into a spherical cow?

2

NautArch

@Someone_Evil Depends on how hungry the cow is?

BESW

Oh no, you've escalated from a rigorous packing of squares in a circle, to a rigorous packing of cubes in a ~~sphere~~ cow.

AncientSwordRage

@Someone_Evil offtopic here, try [pets]?

BESW

19

Q: Where can I ask agriculture-related questions? And will there be a site on SE for them?

I have a list of questions that are not a good pure fit to any existing site I know of on Stack Exchange. The area is agriculture, farming, precision ag. Is there a chance that such a site will be added? How should I ask questions related to this topic on existing sites?

discussion site-recommendation

Someone_Evil

15:05

@AncientSwordRage Or "how many spherical cows can I fit into the sun?" on Astronomy?

BESW

@AncientSwordRage I wrote and then deleted the paragraph about how if this was a rigorous packing question then it'd be a math.se question because people don't act like that at the table.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW then you realised some people here do?

I mean my last (~7 years ago) gaming group would have

BESW

@AncientSwordRage This is also a case where a reading of the text would be.... yanno, helpful, because it's a Pidj game and Pidj doesn't DO that kind of game.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I just don't think people are used to having to think of that

almost used strike out on the last two words

BESW

What, that different games come with different baked-in expectations of play? ~~gosh i wonder what juggernaut of a franchise could have dominated an entire hobby so that people can play multiple systems and yet think they're all so similar~~

[assigns homework to play We Forest Three, Wanderhome, and Sundown]

....now I'm imagining the kind of game Riverhouse Games would make in which rigorous packing of squares into a circle is a central activity.

They could probably title it Malice Aforethought.

AncientSwordRage

15:20

@BESW I'm grinning at the thought

AncientSwordRage

15:56

Listening/Watching Fall of Civilisations and I have to admit the Aztec one is hella depressing

KorvinStarmast

16:32

@AncientSwordRage Yeah, though they are in good company.

AncientSwordRage

I didn't find the Sumerian one as tough to watch, that may be the only other one I've watched

@KorvinStarmast good to know the rest are similar

Hot RPG Questions

6

Q: When does a poison interval of "one round" end?

When does a poison saving throw interval of "one round" end? Take this poison for example: Hunting Spider Venom (poison) Saving Throw Fortitude DC 16; Maximum Duration 6 rounds; Stage 1 1d10 poison and flat-footed (1 round); Stage 2 1d12 poison, clumsy 1, and flat-footed (1 round); Stage 3 2d6 p...

pathfinder-2e poison

Glazius

@BESW Sorry about the delay, my printer's been acting up. Then I realized I had a laptop I could balance on the screen end.

AncientSwordRage

@Glazius looks like a good answer!

Thomas Markov

17:26

My bounty queue is cleared, time to find new bounty candidates.

KorvinStarmast

17:58

One of my favorite tidbits from the Sumer one is a beer song. My cleric (retired) and now my celestial warlock are disciples of the deity of beer/Brewing. This song is a fitting bit of liturgical music, or just a good drinking song.
{Sumerian Beer Song}
I will summon brewers and cup bearers
To serve us floods of beer And pass it around
What pleasure, what delight!
Blissfully to take it in, to sing jubilantly of this noble liquor
Our hearts Enchanted, our souls radiant!

V2Blast

19:10

@Glazius Nice :)

Thomas Markov

@V2Blast Ive got two flags that are 44ish hours pending.

Thomas Markov

19:25

Because I can think of no better way to start our DGtS discussion off on the right foot than to call the policy stupid and accuse those who support it of having no common sense.

Thomas Markov

19:44

If my answer wins out and the policy is repealed, but along the way we establish the precedent that insulting others and the positions they hold is permitted discourse in meta discussions, I'd consider it a net loss for the site.

2

AncientSwordRage

20:05

@KorvinStarmast I remember that now

V2Blast

20:25

@ThomasMarkov Don't worry, we've had our eye on both of them and have been considering how to best handle the situation. We've handled one of those flags now.

Thomas Markov

@V2Blast did you intend to decline the flag and then delete the comment anyway?

V2Blast

Yes, how we handled the flag was intentional.

Thomas Markov

obama_shrug.gif

AncientSwordRage

Flags be like that sometimes 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage I wanted to check cuz s_e accidentally declined one of my flags and then actioned as requested right after like three days ago.

Someone_Evil

20:39

Given what that UI looks like, it's frankly surprisingly few comment flags that get misclicked on

Also, while I see it can be frustrating, please consider that moderating meta is quite awkward, and it's something we want to coordinate on and fully consider. That may mean flag handing times are a fair bit longer than on main

NautArch

@Someone_Evil That's a sticky wicket. Wanting/needing to coordinate response, but delaying response in an area where delayed responses can create problematic situations.

Howdy @DForck42!

DForck42

@NautArch \0

V2Blast

@DForck42 Hello! How is your day going?

DForck42

@V2Blast not too bad, getting towards the end of my work day. you?

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil I don’t mean to seem like I’m demanding an explanation, but having the flag intentionally declined and then the flag actioned as requested seem quite irregular, So I just don’t really know what I’m supposed to take away from this. As far as improving my flagging behavior in the future, what’s the message here?

V2Blast

20:47

@DForck42 Likewise. Had the last meeting for my YouTube Moderator contract job for Rooster Teeth (I chose not to continue since I'm starting a full-time job in 2 weeks). Otherwise I'm just chilling

DForck42

@ThomasMarkov actions in regards to flags are fickle, i'm not a huge fan of it but it's not just on rpg.se

V2Blast

I need to start packing soon

NautArch

@V2Blast Where you heading?

V2Blast

@NautArch Flying to Austin, TX on August 11, then driving up that Saturday (August 14) with my SO to move in to our new apartment

NautArch

@V2Blast Ooooh! I do miss Austin.

Are you moving there or someplace further north?

bobble

20:53

@NautArch I propose giving moderators the power to stop the flow of time. Good solution, eh?

NautArch

@bobble The moderators are the TVA?

Someone_Evil

@ThomasMarkov I'm not sure if there's too much generalized to take away, but declining and deleting would be because we disagree with the flag reason, but agree that the comment can go away

bobble

@NautArch of course! It all makes sense

NautArch

@bobble That 100% came across as Luke Wilson.

bobble

Googles "Luke Wilson"

I don't remember any of these roles

NautArch

20:57

Argh, owen wilson. I get them mixed up.

MikeQ

Mnemonic device: "Wow" ends in "ow", as in "owen".

Someone_Evil

"Owen, I am your father?"

NautArch

@MikeQ that's amazing

THe other I guess could be Owen...as Broken...as in broken nose.

MikeQ

His name is an anagram for "Nil nose. Wow." if that helps

DForck42

@Someone_Evil yeah, it's frustrating for those gaminifying and trying to get that badge cause you still brought attention to the comment and it got taken care of, but you just might nto have the exact right reason

NautArch

21:07

I think I'm both a clubs and spades player and GM.

V2Blast

21:59

@MikeQ Hahaha

Cooper

22:22

@NautArch That's a really interesting framework, and I have...no idea where I fall in it. I think I'm a hearts GM because that's what my players like, but as a player? I'm just happy to be there!

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer, mostly punctuation marks in answer, repeating characters in answer (204): Are there any overpowered race/class combinations for the 5e campaign Curse of Strahd? by Hulligan on rpg.SE (@Rubiksmoose @ThomasMarkov)

NautArch

@Cooper I'd like to lean into hearts a bit more, but haven't really had much luck.

Cooper

@NautArch I tend to do it by way of clubs, actually! Granted, my players are VERY storytelling focused, so they'll jump on any opportunities to roleplay, but I find that getting a good story requires the same things as getting a chemical reaction to start-- turn up the heat and turn on the pressure!

I'm also planning on sitting down and using some modified Dungeon World-esque bonds to establish relationships between everyone from the getgo, so there's less "Okay, so you're all strangers, and you're in a tavern, and you're getting a job.."

NautArch

@Cooper Roleplaying during combat is about as close as we get to roleplaying.

Cooper

22:43

@NautArch Oof, that's a bummer. I definitely do a lot of asking if any players want to talk to each other any time they rest, because some of mine have a weird thing about not wanting to do stuff when they aren't "allowed".

I did have great luck getting hesitant roleplayers out of their shells with permanent madness traits. I think it gave them a bit of a "mom says I have to go home right now" excuse to fall back on-- if anyone gave them guff for getting too into it, they could point to the fact that I gave them the trait they had to act out.

NautArch

And you do have to be a bit mad to be an adventurer!

MikeQ

Speaking of strangers in taverns, has anyone tried/experienced starting a campaign in the middle of an action scene? How much setup would be needed in advance, vs having players retroactively decide/discover any preceding events?

NautArch

@MikeQ I have not tried that. We've rolled initiative fairly quickly at times, but not immediately upon starting.

That'd sure set a tone :)

Cooper

@MikeQ Ooh, that sounds very intriguing! I'd be really tempted to use the action scene to facilitate one of the Q&A ways of setting up backstory, like Monster of the Week-- sort of going into a "freezeframe" and asking players to work out something between their characters in the moment

Someone_Evil

I was a player in an amnesia (ie. starting with blank character sheets and the DM having the full one) oneshot which ramped very quickly into an action scene IIRC

MikeQ

22:54

I've noticed many adventures that begin with a short "normal life" sequence, maybe with some exposition and low-risk challenges, which are then interrupted by a dramatic event (usually combat) that triggers the adventure. So I'm curious about starting with the dramatic action, and then filling in the blanks later. Feasible?

Someone_Evil

As someone prone to freezing up when put too much on the spot: starting with more normalcy and low stakes helps ease players into their characters

MikeQ

@Cooper That sounds promising, I'll check out how Monster of the Week handles it.

NautArch

@MikeQ That also gives an immediate flashpoint to develop a character.

Tribute to the Dragon

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