TRPG General Chat

Akixkisu

00:14

@ThomasMarkov There we were, peacefully sharing 1st place on the leaderboard, and then you go ahead and strong-arm yourself further ahead, smh.

BESW

Gubat Banwa Early Access Devlog: "Early Access 2"

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I don't see the link, so here it is

AncientSwordRage

00:32

@BESW that looks beautiful

@ThomasMarkov somehow I have far more secret hats than non-secret hats

BESW

@AncientSwordRage It really is! There's some art in the EA2 twitter thread.

A couple months ago CBR had an article about "Indie TTRPG Designers To Watch In 2022" and while the writer had somehow identified some excellent creators, clearly they hadn't actually done any research because it said nonsense like "Gubat Banwa is currently in beta, fully playable but still lacking art" (bold is mine)

And yes, the game's front page says they're still funding for more illustrations but a cursory glance would show that Waks has already commissioned more art than many fully illustrated TRPGs.

"Save The World And Your Family Restaurant With This New RPG" article by Rob Wieland for Forbes. An interview with Banana Chan and Sen-Foong Lim, who created Jiangshi: Blood In The Banquet Hall to tell tales of the immigrant experience mixed with slaying supernatural bad guys.

Phoenices

01:16

@BESW Eh, that's not egregious. If a game is in beta, and says they're funding more illustrations, the claim "lacking art" isn't entirely untrue - they don't have all the art they want, so the game is in beta because it lacks art.

(your comment implies there's more nonsense, and I'm not making a claim about that.)

BESW

"Lacking art" is linguistically different from "don't have all the art they want yet," and implies a scarcity that doesn't exist here. The writer could just as easily say that it's got amazing art and they're commissioning even more.

And since the article doesn't link directly to the creators or their works but does link to other articles on the same site, I'm not inclined to give them a lot of good faith points when they're twisting positives into negatives.

Phoenices

I know it's linguistically different. It's not strictly true, and it gives both a false impression and a true-enough impression. There's a reason I didn't say it was true, but I think it wasn't egregious. Besides, saying that it has amazing art and is getting more is verbose and slightly unclear.

BESW

Ian Yusem posted "One last Hull Breach artist reveal before launch!" on twitter. HULL BREACH Vol. 1 is a sci-fi horror anthology digest for the Mothership RPG. A manifest of new, eclectic terrors from 20 independent authors. Follow the Kickstarter here.

Thomas Markov

01:33

@Akixkisu I’ll get another one if @AncientSwordRage settles on five answers to accept

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I've got at least 5, I had tabs open at work but then realised I'd over stayed.

BESW

@Phoenices In the context of indie TRPGs, I feel that it is egregious. Probably not deliberate, but it has a significant impact. It's well known in the industry that crowdfunding succeeds or fails in large part based on the quantity and quality of the art already commissioned before the crowdfunding. It's also true that art is one of the more expensive components of a TRPG product which doesn't directly provide playable quality.

Implying that an upcoming crowdfunding project is "lacking art" when in fact it has an abundance of amazing art, and then not even providing a link to the project so that readers can easily check for themselves, is actively discouraging support for the project in favor of the others on the list which the writer doesn't give the "lacking art" kiss of death.

While they didn't technically lie, they misled in a way that directly feeds problems TRPG campaigns (especially non-Western ones) already struggle with.

Timeskip by Aaronsxl. Timeskip: A collaborative character development tool for established tabletop campaigns

Hot RPG Questions

8

Q: Can a Bard's Superior Inspiration be used on the initative roll that generated it?

I'm curious of the timing around the bard's level 20 Superior Inspiration. Superior Inspiration simply states: At 20th level, when you roll initiative and have no uses of Bardic Inspiration left, you regain one use. Bardic inspiration has many uses and to a level 14 Lore Bard, the can use it wi...

Phoenices

01:57

@BESW Ah, okay. Thanks for explaining - this is a scene that I have no contact with, as you seem to have guessed. I could understand that being true - it really helps people visualize a new concept. I was being ignorant; you've taught me something new.

BESW

Yeah, I often forget that many people who play TRPGs have no contact with TRPG creators except sometimes through carefully curated company accounts.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov how many is that?

Thomas Markov

02:33

Ayyyy I got the hat

@AncientSwordRage Nine

Can’t wait to see the enlightened badge spam

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov feels like one too few 🤔

For the record, those were all answers I thought should be accepted, there were a few I didn't send your way (and one I deliberated on)

AncientSwordRage

02:53

There you go, #10

Thomas Markov

03:14

I wonder if you can trigger serial voting for accepts?

Joshua

Good one Thomas. I don't want to test it.

BESW

@doppelgreener And for that to be meaningful, "other games" can't just be D&D-likes such as Pathfinder, 13th Age, Dungeon World. We need diversity of experience and perspective. rpg.se won't change if its users only think of "other games" in terms of deviation from D&D, and have never heard of design spaces like SWORDDREAM, No Dice No Masters, Forged in the Dark, Belonging Outside Belonging, or Rooted in Trophy.

5

Thomas Markov

@Joshua we’ll find out next time the script runs lol

BESW

(And to be clear, I'm not saying any specific one of those design spaces is necessary or sufficient; they're simply a limited set of examples of the many TRPG spaces which aren't defining themselves in terms of how much like or unalike they are to D&D)

Joshua

03:30

Whoever wrote linear warriors, quadratic wizards has a serious underestimation of the max power level in 5e.

BESW

I thought "Linear warriors, quadratic wizards" was coined back in the AD&D days?

Joshua

I wouldn't know.

doppelgreener

@Joshua It's a concept that emerged in (or before) the D&D 3.5e community, so it's got nothing to do with 5e's constraints. It didn't exist for the author to consider.. But I expect we'd still find that to be the case even in 5e, since 5e's based on those exact editions and so embodies the same issues — perhaps just not on such a severe scale.

Joshua

I wonder how many more uncommon magic items turn out to be the key piece of a stupidly overpowerful bomb.

BESW

The Starblades of Su'ul are said to be the component parts of a superweapon, but in my campaign it was a terraforming machine.

Joshua

03:46

On the other hand there ought to be a bomb in illusory reality but I just haven't managed to come up with one yet, mainly because I'd rule you can't make any high tech with it you can't design yourself.

BESW

I think I don't know what context you're referring to.

Sounds like you're talking about something specific.

Joshua

It's like going through the rulebooks and coming up with the locate city nuke.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov yikes

@Joshua which rulebook?

Phoenices

@Joshua And I wonder how many uncommon magic items I can argue to be "bag of holding-like" enough to be the basic astral bomb :P

@AncientSwordRage aaaall the rulebooks

You've not heard of it?

Joshua

I wonder what would happen if you made a tuning fork attuned to the extradimensional space of rope trick, and plane-shifted there after rope trick times out.

Phoenices

03:57

What do you mean "times out"? "An invisible entrance opens to an extradimensional space that lasts until the spell ends." This probably means the entrance lasts that long, not the space.

Joshua

Yes, but it also says "Anything inside the extradimensional space drops out when the spell ends. "

Phoenices

But really, it depends on your DM's planar lore, if any. Is that extradimensional space attached to the Ethereal or Astral? If so, you may arrive "near the destination," or outside the rope trick with no way to get in, in the Ethereal/Astral.

Yeah, but that's a one-time effect when the spell ends.

Also, another planar lore thing: is an extradimensional space a "plane of existence"? Is it a demiplane, even?

Joshua

Well if you arrive near, you might have made a tuning fork to an otherwise unreachable location, which is really convenient for long term storage.

AncientSwordRage

@Phoenices even my New World of Darkness rulebooks?

Phoenices

Just the rulebooks with metamagic that alters frost spells, lightning spells, and aoe spells that deal damage, if I recall.
Yeah, looking it up, it's just 3.5 PHB 2, that frost rulebook, and complete arcana.
Pretty sure I'm stretching a joke too far somewhere in here.

BESW

04:02

@AncientSwordRage [flips through recently acquired rulebooks] The Sun's Ransom and External Containment Bureau don't even have magic items. [grin]

(Well, Field Operations issues you a Simple Binding Ritual but I'm not sure if that counts as an item except categorically.)

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage “Go home Jeremy, you’re drunk.”

Phoenices

But we're discussing an explosion that requires only metamagic and a spell right now.

Wait, how do you even make a Lunging Attack? You have to first make the melee weapon attack, which can only be made against targets in reach.

Joshua

There's a lot more antibombs than bombs. For example, ironwood spell (not the material). It's the perfect heatshield.

Phoenices

Not sure I can agree about that.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov henceforth, dnd-5e shall be known as Jeremy

Phoenices

04:06

Decanter of endless water/smoke. Pressure bomb.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW 😁

Phoenices

Anything that makes a kind of dust. Dust explosions.

AncientSwordRage

@Phoenices uh... Flour might, regular dust doesn't

Joshua

Yeah; decanter of endless water is really useful. It's an ingredient in multiple bombs I have devised including the worst one.

Phoenices

I've heard recently that ash can, so I'm assuming most vaguely flammable dusts can.

Joshua

04:07

Ash maybe, dust from dirt no.

It's gotta be combustable under some conditions or it won't explode.

Phoenices

Oh, yeah, sorry, not dirt dust.

AncientSwordRage

@Exempt-Medic good link. I liked your deleted answer on it as well... I'm to confused by "ranged attack with a weapon" vs. "ranged weapon attack" to know if it's accurate/correct

BESW

Feb 9 '16 at 22:35, by BESW

D&D has never been interested in being a self-consistent physics engine, much less one recognisably related to real-life physics.

Joshua

Decanter of endless water + cantrip create bonfire makes a mockery of of fly spells.

Phoenices

Hey Joshua, is one of the bombs a Bag of Tricks bomb of exploding meat?

(dropping bears on people is also acceptable)

AncientSwordRage

04:11

@BESW it's lost the ability to count as well

Phoenices

ah, but Create Bonfire doesn't do anything to water, since water isn't flammable.

AncientSwordRage

@Joshua huh.

Joshua

Create bonfire doesn't need a fuel source. The point is to turn all that water into steam.

Phoenices

Right, but it doesn't actually say it does anything to water :P

It ignites flammable objects and deals damage to creatures.

Also, the bonfire won't actually... move.

AncientSwordRage

156

A: What is the source of the "spells do only what they say they do" rules interpretation principle?

The rule is an extension of a precedent set by WoTC themselves The lead rules designer of 5e, Jeremy Crawford, has1 the power to make official rulings, and frequently does so on Twitter, and in the Sage Advice column on the official D&D site. It's common for him to answer questions with some vari...

Phoenices

04:18

Just pressurecrush enemies in a room with 6400 ft^3 of steam per round if it vaporizes steam instantly no matter what.

AncientSwordRage

@Phoenices create bonfire doesn't necessarily make steam

Joshua

Depends on how much steam you really get. I could run some calculations but I don't think a 5 foot cube bonfire could vaporize the entire guyser.

Phoenices

Yeah, I'm just saying that if it did, flying would be the least it could do.

Or steam cannon! A 1 square foot tube will fire the steam at around 600 mph, nearly mach 1; a 1 in^2 tube would fire at Mach 100, but I assume the tube would explode before that,

What do you mean? Assuming it has the properties of a normal bonfire, it would do way less, yes, but that would imply it can be extinguished.

Joshua

And that's why it's going to fly. What does an unanchored steam cannon resemble?

Phoenices

Yeah, I know. But my claim is that using it for flight implies things that are more gamebreaking, and should just be used for those things instead if possible.

Saying "Oh yeah, I'll restrict my instantly-lethal steam cannon to flight because I'm nice to my DM" is sort of silly on some level. If you've got a steam cannon, use it, but you don't.

Now, you can use it to instantly ignite anything flammable that passes through it, so it's clearly not useless...

You can even ignite underwater objects, actually!

(if you can find "ground" underwater to place the bonfire on - that's probably the ocean floor.)

Joshua

04:27

It's the only thing needed for star travel I couldn't construct from mage spells.

Phoenices

Hmmm. How do you live long enough to get to another star? How do you target well enough? Are you abusing Locate Object in some way?

If you say "liches" I will gargle.

Joshua

Depends. Do you simulate the solar wind or ignore it?

Phoenices

Explain with or without, then.

Joshua

The trouble never was getting from star to star, it was getting off the planet in the first place. Once at or above geosync, there are no self-consistent rulings involving wall of force that don't allow for a relativistic kick.

One of the following must work: either the wall tracks the surface of the earth/whatever body it's in SOI of, or it stays in its initial position relative to the caster.

Phoenices

Eww. I can see it, I guess. Still feels wrong.

Joshua

04:32

In either former case, stacking sphere of resiliance, feather fall, and wall of force can provide the impututus to get across the distance.

BESW

We just used a nuclear-powered goldfish, materials from a hell dimension, and the preserved brain of Charles Babbage. And that was in a setting much more beholden to representing a "real" universe than D&D.

Joshua

The only downside is the destination had better have an airless moon or you're dead.

Phoenices

Wait, really? Armor of Invulnerability, or whatever it's called?

Regeneration from turning into a troll? Being a werebeast?

Or is there another issue I haven't thought of, like not being able to breathe at terminal velocity?

Joshua

There's no good way to stop other than feather-fall slamming into a moon.

Phoenices

Besides, Word of Recall or hiding in a bag of holding.

But why not just hit the moon with invulnerability?

You can just Word of Recall back and forth once you have a temple on each planet.

Joshua

04:35

Because you'll just ricochet off.

Phoenices

Hmmmm

BESW

D&D 5e added bounce to its falling rules?

Phoenices

Just keep bouncing, it's fine. Unless you're past escape velocity.

Joshua

Also you have enough imputus to shatter the planet if you don't feather fall to get rid of it.

If you do it right, you're at several nines of c.

Phoenices

You're assuming you can pass c?

Joshua

04:37

No. But .999c is really fast.

Phoenices

ah, that's what you mean. Plausible.

BESW

In 3e falling never dealt more than 20d6 damage and there was no bounce. We once dropped a dwarven defender from a very great height, repeatedly, to break into an underground vault.

Phoenices

Nah, but the question here is how not to damage the planet itself.

Joshua

I missed word of recall because it was a cleric spell; looks more convenient than my source of getting across the second time, which was teleportation circle.

Phoenices

Also "When reentering, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the... okay, it's both."

Let me check if being a lycanthhrope is consistent with currently being a small beetle.

Surely you can fire a small beetle at a planet near c and not kill the planet?

Yeah, okay, you can use Armor of Invulnerability to "make yourself immune" for 10 minutes, which presumably doesn't require you to wear it.

BESW

04:41

In 3e anything under 1 pound neither took nor inflicted damage from falling.

Joshua

Only if you can spellcast in bettle form somehow. You need some kind of fly mechanic that doesn't depend on air to steer.

Phoenices

So you can go invulnerable, then shapechange.

no, don't steer, just smack the planet

Joshua

If you can't steer you probably won't hit it.

Phoenices

Ohh, that's a problem

How do you hit it when you can steer, though? That's what's been bothering me.

Also, your druid is the one to do the last step - you hide in the Bag of Holding, along with your cleric friend, the Druid wears the Armor, Wild Shapes into a beetle (gear melds into form), and survives reentry.

BESW

RADCrawl: Minimum Viable Product Release by Brandon Leon-Gambetta. Roguelike Arena Dungeons Crawl in a Post-Dungeon Fantasy World

Joshua

04:45

Need minor illusion; take 20 to set up the lines to cast wall of force on. A little geometry and you can hit the star. When you get close enough to see the planet, tune course with source of flight.

Interesting.

It's plausible you would get a favorable ruling on feather fall, it's just not absolutely guaranteed.

Phoenices

"a little geometry" not sure where you're getting that concept from. I don't believe that these wizards have that level of geometry. I insist on something that gives literally perfect targeting in some way; 20 doesn't mean perfect in 5e.

Ah, I'm just worrying about reentry here - we don't need to steer in the last stages if we had perfect targeting.

Hehehehehe, druid goes into Tardigrade form, holds breath when Shape runs out, and Shapes again.

Joshua

I wasn't willing to bet on it. I would want a hundredth of a degree of course correction or not attempt.

Phoenices

Right, that's why I'm asking for some feature that lets you literally target perfectly. Keen mind shenanigans?

Joshua

Which ruling do I get from wall of force in solar orbit?

If it locks to the star rather than the caster, you don't need to be very precise.

Phoenices

"The wall appears in any orientation you choose, as a horizontal or vertical barrier or at an angle" so you'd use that to say "I summon it at angle 1.3056895"?

Not sure what you mean by "locks to the star" - you can't summon it out of range, right?

Joshua

04:51

Well I want it 10 feet in front me but in the same frame of motion as the surface of the star rather than my frame of motion.

Phoenices

Your frame of motion makes no sense, of course. That way a flying wizard would have a flying WoF.

Joshua

Incidentally that's where I started at years ago and somebody insisted in deep space it would pick up the wizard instead because there's nothing else around.

Phoenices

Yeah, "it appears in solar orbit" kind of makes sense, but also not because that gives you a WoF in orbit.

Heh, I like the concept that that line in Wall of Force exists so Wizards can do complicated trig - but only the higher level wizards.

Joshua

So what you do is you cast feather fall, then cast the wall in front of you while the star is still in front of you (aligned with the star so that it's like a floor). This means impact with the wall is falling damage. Feather fall cancels out all the damage.

Now it's just a question of whether or not you can do orbital dynamics in your head to make the planet.

You've got plenty of attempts so feel free to take 20.

(repeat as needed)

Phoenices

Hey, can you use Feather Fall to paste someone on the wall of their magitech space station (we need a better name. It's not magitech, really. It's spelltech?)

I really don't know what to call "wielding spells and spells alone to mimic high tech."

Joshua

04:56

Probably not. The space station is big enough to have its own SOI.

Phoenices

What does SOI stand for? It sounds like a variation on "Frame of reference", and like it uses the words "standard of" and "inertia."

Joshua

Sphere of influence.

Phoenices

Hmm. So this is not a physics concept, it's an odd magic concept?

Joshua

It's a physics concept. Just a little tricky to define. But when you set up orbital dynamics, an object has a sphere of influence if other objects can orbit it.

Phoenices

waitwaitwait, can Guards and Wards actually let you breathe?

"Fog fills all the warded corridors"

Joshua

05:00

Do you want the non-lich solution for breathing?

Phoenices

I think I just made one, but give me a bit to see if I can make another.

Joshua

Necklace of adaptation will work; need any air pressure source or you won't be able to cast spells.

Phoenices

Ah, because you can't speak. I feel like I can disagree with some quote from the PHB like "you can talk," but whatever.

Joshua

I had been working mostly on a lich solution because it was the only way I found to survive the solar wind was to get all those damage immunities.

Phoenices

Lycanthropy probably only protects against B/P/S - would a lead shell work? Not very familiar with the properties of Solar Wind.

Food isn't a problem, of course. Fabricate to make a perfectly sealed object?

Joshua

05:04

After the relavisitic kick, no. The abrasion will reduce anything to a cloud of atoms before it makes it to the edge of the solar system.

Phoenices

Ooh, that's a problem. Yeah, damage immunities is a problem.

Joshua

Yes that was my plan. Fabricate a space helmet around neck. Since lich doesn't breathe it doesn't need to renew air.

Phoenices

eh, if there's a neck-helmet interface there's gonna be a tiny bit of leakage.

Not sure you can get it perfectly.

But.... we still need a cleric in a sack. How do we do that? Do we put the Cleric in the Secret Chest when it's time?

Joshua

What's the cleric for?

Phoenices

Word of recall.

Hmm, how can we abuse contingency to get a cleric?

Joshua

05:07

No problem. Scry + greater teleport on your ally.

How to become lich: roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Polymorph#content

We're not taking this form into battle so we don't have to worry about dispel magic.

Phoenices

"The new form can be any beast whose challenge rating is equal to..."

we don't have many shapechange slots, but that should last long enough to get out of the solar system

Joshua

Oops wrong link. Gaaa ninth level spell slot. Maybe you can buy scroll. roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/True_Polymorph#content

Phoenices

But is solar wind B/P/S?

And if so, why not just be a werebeast?

Joshua

I've always modeled it as P; each atom is independent.

Phoenices

oh noooo! That silver atom there! Now there's a missing arm! Better hope that doesn't happen ag

I should go to bed now. It was good talking to you! @ me if you ever want to nerble about this, though maybe we should take this to Here There Be Dragons.

Joshua

05:11

Ah; I missed a trick then. A werebeast might work. (A vampire doesn't.)

Phoenices

Because sunlight! Or other things.

Joshua

Yup sunlight.

Anyway about time for me to go to bed too. It was nice.

Phoenices

Also, there are more issues with this - when we shift back to normal form, the helmet breaks.

there goes all the air, except the stuff in the bag of holding

so we have to save that for a few years

nooo, am trying to suck both of us back into this. Bye again!

I return! Two stupid ideas: looks like cap of water breathing makes a bubble of air, actually, and water breathing itself will let us breathe a liquid, which has different properties.

Hot RPG Questions

05:53

7

Q: Are half-Hobgoblins canon or even possible?

Half-orcs, half-elves, and even half-ogres abound in nearly all editions of D&D. However, I cannot recall any instances of half-hobgoblins in the source books or even canon literature. They are humanoid, medium in size (although half-ogres and cambions show that size may not matter), they are fer...

dnd-5e dungeons-and-dragons lore races

Hot RPG Questions

07:56

13

Q: Who makes the charisma save when Scattering out of a Forcecage?

The spell Forcecage is pretty handy for blocking magical teleportation getting the caster out of the cage (except when it's not): If the creature tries to use teleportation or interplanar travel to leave the cage, it must first make a Charisma saving throw. But both Scatter and Vortex Warp targ...

dnd-5e spells saving-throw teleportation

Hot RPG Questions

09:10

5

Q: What happens when you try to teleport to somewhere you know that's out of range?

A spell caster wants to teleport to somewhere they know, that's outside their range, but they don't know they are too far away. Do they learn they're too far away if they try? Does the spell just fail? Do they end up at somewhere like it within range?

dnd-3.5e teleportation

Hot RPG Questions

12:04

3

Q: How does Whirlwind Attack work with Lunging Attack?

At 11th level the Ranger subclass Hunter can get Whirlwind Attack: You can use your action to make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target. When this is combined with Lunging Attack maneuver from the Battle Master: When y...

dnd-5e ranger battle-master

AncientSwordRage

12:40

@ThomasMarkov I literally got that you mean Crawford about 3 hours after you posted this while brushing my teeth

Also, I'm not making any promises, but I'm tempted to try and go D&D Neutral in 2022 - not post more D&D questions on a given day than non-D&D questions

Thomas Markov

13:08

I have far exceeded the necessary five accepts today.

BESW

13:23

@AncientSwordRage Oooh

AncientSwordRage

@BESW again no promises, and I'm not limiting my answers, but I'm going to try

BESW

I recommend throwing some solo games into your diet!

Thomas Markov

@BESW Got a list?

BESW

Dec 22 at 23:45, by BESW

"We Forest Three," a solo TTRPG by Rae Nedjadi. Create a Witch Seeker. Enter the Forest, a shadow of what once was, that threatens to kill your City. A story steeped in Filipino folklore and legends, see if you survive SISTERS THREE...or if the sisters decide your fate.

Dec 18 at 11:24, by BESW

I Know My God by Justin Joyce. A solo journaling rpg about finding yourself. In this game, you'll tell the story of THE KID, the protagonist of a 44-episode claymation christian educational children's series, as they discover the fact that they are queer.

Oct 12 at 9:18, by BESW

Run! by Cezar Capacle. A slasher horror card-based solo RPG

Sep 29 at 1:58, by BESW

Mud: A Golem Memoir by Turtlebun. A quiet, contemplative zine and solo roleplaying game

I've mentioned a lot of them, try a search for solo or journalling

This one's got a super fun premise:

Dec 3 '20 at 0:22, by BESW

this person should not exist by Speak the Sky is a solo artefact-making game of surveillance weird horror! You annotate and deface a Where's Wally book to create an archive of evidence from an occult conspiracy and identify people of interest from each case involving the dangerous supernatural entity, the Man Who Should Not Exist, and his companion Entites of Power. (The North American localization is 'Where's Waldo?')

Thomas Markov

@BESW This looks dope. Gonna do this.

BESW

13:33

And of course there's Alone Among the Stars and all its derivatives.

Relatedly:

IHeartFargo wrote a twitter thread about how "interactive fiction is the best thing created yet to teach RPGs and get more people both playing and buying the products."

This came across my feed today and is technically single-player-capable:

Form and Function by Jack Blair. A game for 1-6 players about relationships to bodies, the world, and each other

It was made for the

Super Secret No-Pressure Caltrop Core Jam! hosted by titanomachyRPG. You'll have 6 days to (ideally) start and finish a single TTRPG (or more if you choose) using Caltrop Core.

AncientSwordRage

14:00

@BESW I'm guessing those aren't strictly subsets (I'm thinking about tags again....)

BESW

Yes, well. Part of the reason rpg.se is systemically opposed to supporting the whole hobby is, it really likes its category labels.

One reason Greener says that it'd need a massive number of users to pivot to non-D&D games, is that only then would the necessary meta discussions be possible.

D&D doesn't really give insight into the 'process' by which the wider hobby and industry generate and apply categories.

We've already got the solo tag, but almost all of its entries are modifications of D&D or D&D-likes.

But then again, since rpg.se meta is apparently in the process of deciding it's better to tag systems with D&D terminology than the system's own terms, I'm not sure how much the actual use of terms like solo and journaling will matter to tagging practices here.

Hot RPG Questions

14:33

7

Q: How do players get a devil's talisman?

The spell Infernal Calling is all about summoning and controlling powerful devils. However, the description also provides a way to basically prevent a devil from getting a saving throw against the spell: If you possess an individual devil’s talisman, you can summon that devil if it is of the app...

dnd-5e spells summoning

BESW

14:44

@HotRPGQuestions Pay it a fair price and leave a good tip?

Hot RPG Questions

15:48

4

Q: In dnd-5e adventurers league, how can I cast blade ward and pick a pocket on my turn?

The "Quick-Fingered" feat from Unearthed Arcana adds +1 to dexterity, proficiecy in sleight of hand with a sleight of hand bonus action. This seems to do what I want to do, but I can not used this in adventurers league play. A 3rd level rogue-thief gaining "Fast Hands" offers a bonus action dexte...

dnd-5e dnd-adventurers-league action-economy

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I hope that doesn't happen D:

@HotRPGQuestions Campaign research?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Seems more like a lore question to me.

The Oracle

16:03

2

Q: Is there any way to be notified of tag synonym proposals?

As I am writing this, votes are being collected to synonym ancestry and ancestries to races, in response to this meta discussion: Should we have an [ancestry] tag? In my two years or so active here, this is the first time I have seen this: I found this by navigating to the synonyms page for the ...

support synonymization

AncientSwordRage

16:14

@ThomasMarkov could be!

Thomas Markov

16:57

One of those synonym proposals has been open for two years, so Im thinking maybe that system doesnt work.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov yup!

Akixkisu

19:23

@TheOracle Blowing up my secret hideout.

Thomas Markov

19:39

@Akixkisu what other secret pages do you know about

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov I think we talked about a few of them already ;)

Feeds

Needles & Nilbogs: Extreme minimalism

posted on December 30, 2021 by Bardic Wizard

I woke up this morning to a bunch of texts from one of my group chats buzzing. Two people had spent about half the night swapping drabbles (in case that’s a new term for you — they’re a term for stories, usually fanfics, that are exactly a hundred words long and a complete story) about any number of things (it started as d&d character drabbles, then switched to actual fanfics). Toward…

Akixkisu

Btw, the answer there isn't meant as a dig. I think it is genuinely low-priority until something happens and organically we converse - such as Laurel communicating it to you — let me know if that doesn't come across tonally.

Thomas Markov

Is wfrp and different edition of the game from wfrp-1e?

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov there are at least 4 editions

The second edition got a recent glow-up remake in Germany, and it sells reasonably well.

If you are curious, you can grab this remake for free drivethrurpg.com/product/259967/…

And the character starter set for 4e drivethrurpg.com/product/285748/…

Thomas Markov

20:12

But we have two tags, wfrp and wfrp-1e, and I cant tell that these are referring to different things, or is wfrp like our generic D&D tag?

I feel like this question could use some tag help:

5

Q: Why is a Bright Lore spell called "Fires of U'Zhul" when U'Zhul is the name of a legendary demon?

This bugs me as the name is more befitting to a chaos lore spell. Is it intentional or does "U'Zhul" mean something else for Bright Wizards?

wfrp-2e wfrp-4e wfrp-1e wfrp wfrp-3e

Akixkisu

20:28

@ThomasMarkov It seems like a lore question for wfrp, but it also carries the issue that we don't exactly know if it is about a particular edition/an edition comparisons etc. - there is a whole host of reasons as to why the user might have tagged it that way.

I suppose leaving a comment would be the best course of action.

Even when it might be unlikely that it will receive a reply.

Generally it is a very specific question, and chances are someone who is interested in it will be able to find it - if such a person travels the web.

Thomas Markov

21:15

Just saw this comment on meta.math.se and smirked a little:

@MartinR I personally find it egregious and maybe a little bit funny that a distinction is being made between the terms Banned and Suspended. — David P 2 days ago

AncientSwordRage

21:29

@AncientSwordRage alt text a scene from the Princess bride. Inigo Montoya tells Vincenzo, "You Keep Using That Word I Do Not Think It Means What You Think it means" after repeatedly using a word.

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Saucy

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu I mean it in jest and good humour, but 'organically' is not how I'd describe how things currently work

Hot RPG Questions

7

Q: Can a creature with Multiattack use Disarm with one of its attacks?

Noteably a creature with multiattack cannot Grapple or Shove instead of one of its attacks, because these are other types of attacks than those the creature can use multiattack for. However Disarm (from the optional rules from DMG) says that you use a weapon attack (which can be one of the normal...

dnd-5e optional-rules multiattack disarming

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage Maybe this is just me, but I think a synonym like spell for spells is great or rouge for rogue. And in any case - when you suggest a synonym, you should be the one who advertises it if you deem it important - and if you don't and someone else sees the same issue because they also stumbled upon it - then that is good enough.

Thomas Markov

"rouge -> rogue": The iconic Glorfindel edit.

Akixkisu

21:43

Take the items and objects thing - how many renames will that generate?

And how many dnd renames to the franchise when the querent is curious about 5e happen?

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Pretty sure it generated zero.

@Akixkisu thats quite the sentence

Akixkisu

Take my interaction with that page, I visit it whenever I have reason to do so.

That sounds trivial, maybe.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Oddly enough, not trivial. There are lots of pages on the site I visit for no reason at all, except possibly idle curiosity.

@Akixkisu I visited the site 648 days without knowing that page even existed.

Akixkisu

@ThomasMarkov Well, as a person that is driven by curiosity among other things - I get that.

@ThomasMarkov And, was that bad?

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu The worst.

Akixkisu

21:49

I think you missing out on that tab page was way worse.

Thomas Markov

@Akixkisu Which page?

Akixkisu

it eludes me, but somewhere I have a bookmark - let my brain rotate.

We talked about it either shortly prior to the election or shortly after it, it neatly orders reputation.

Thomas Markov

Well it must have terribly important cuz I forgot too >.<

Akixkisu

It is just very pleasant to look at, and fun data.

Thomas Markov

In my quest to get five accepted answers in one day, I have somewhat overachieved.

Akixkisu

21:55

This is just a good reminder that I should bookmark more conversations.

I think I will randomly remember, but I found this query while digging data.stackexchange.com/rpg/query/1423416/… which is also fun data.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu I don't agree that relying on stumbling upon things is good enough

Hot RPG Questions

9

Q: How do Challenge Winners Earn More Coins?

I think I'm having trouble understanding the way the coin economy works in Challenges, or maybe I'm missing something. COINS GENERATED ❍ Each losing Pool generates 1 Bonus Coin per die rolled regardless of Success. ❍ Each winning Pool generates a number of Bonus Coins equal to the total sum of a...

statistics universalis challenges

Akixkisu

(How do I not immediatly find a bookmark - well I have a few thousand of those, so unfortunately I organise them externally for the things where they matter and a random site is not among that)

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov how many?

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage It depends on what the subject is.

AncientSwordRage

22:01

@Akixkisu how does it depend on the subject?

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage 17?

@AncientSwordRage I should eleborate, it depends on when the subject matters.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu there's probably time to find ~~you~~ TM 3 more at least

@Akixkisu ok, when does the subject matter?

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage I wouldn't mind three ;)

AncientSwordRage

We need an SEDE query now, to line up questions to answerers

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage yes - that is the question. In the case of ancestries ESCE did three calls to action.

With one fewer, maybe I and a like-minded person would have silently rejected the synonym and let the tag flourish.

Also likely, a mod would have followed the suggestion on meta and applied the synoym

Maybe possible - before anything happens we have that other discussion.

The answer usually is, someone cares enough to voice and draw attention to it, or multiple people care at different times about the same application (and maybe someone finds the site out of idle curiosity - and voting is something that they can do, and maybe voting is fun).

Maybe I should add to that — by making such a call you tend to expose what concerns you to a wider audience, and likely several people of that audience have no to very little stake in what they decide on.

AncientSwordRage

22:21

@Akixkisu hmmm I don't think things going by silently is good practice

@ThomasMarkov I think these are all accepted by now: data.stackexchange.com/rpg/query/1536862/…

Akixkisu

@AncientSwordRage See what I added.

AncientSwordRage

@Akixkisu I see it

The proposal is that people with stake (i.e. uses of the tag) get notified

Akixkisu

And those are the people who have a score of 5+ in races?

The system itself functions rather poorly, and I don't think a notification improves that.

BESW

22:39

Data & Dragons (Draft Edition) by ehronlime. The data-driven, spreadsheet-required tabletop roleplaying game.

@Feeds @BardicWizard The word "drabble" got me super nostalgic for my mid 2000s LJ fanfic days.

Thomas Markov

22:54

@AncientSwordRage 18

I picked a bad day to start my “eat one Oreo for each accepted answer” game. But I will persevere.

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov I'm sure you can manage more than 18 Oreos in a a day

The more I think about it the less tags like race make sense.

BESW

Am I missing something? Why doesn't tag subscription meet the need for tag alerts?

AncientSwordRage

Because it can be overloaded, you could get a gold badge for answering dnd-5e questions with it on their, and then dupe hammer wfrp questions closed

@BESW the word does similarly for me

BESW

@AncientSwordRage That's kind of a flaw in the Stack's tagging system, but would definitely be mitigated by using a game's own terminology instead of imposing the most popular game's terminology on all games.

AncientSwordRage

23:22

@BESW a lot of other stacks do fine with it 🤷🏻‍♂️

BESW

@AncientSwordRage We "do fine" with it so far too, but places like scifi.se do have the potential for weird dupehammers like [books] and [telepathy].

AncientSwordRage

@BESW potential, but a lot less. The tag [novel] is just for story id questions

A better example might be getting a gold badge for [star-wars] despite not having watched some of the questions

But your point stands

Tag hierarchies when

Thomas Markov

23:50

@AncientSwordRage 19.

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