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00:00 - 12:0012:00 - 17:00

00:23
@BESW also fate point exchange
 
1 hour later…
01:34
man
that was some long session
 
1 hour later…
02:36
@BESW comoncomoncomon... dragon
[blilnk]
@trogdor If i might say it was also a great session to spectate
@BESW dragondragondragon
@BrianBallsun-Stanton Are you asking for another session?
02:49
I might be able to do something for you late tonight, but today's pretty busy.
Glad you liked it, though.
Get a scale from the dragon to cook in
It's like the best-seasoned cast iron skillet ever
lol
I am wondering if I can think of reasons to actually stick with the group
@trogdor don't force it
That's one of the beauties of the Forest.
let plot throw us together
02:55
lol
mk
If the Forest thinks two people should meet, they will.
@BrianBallsun-Stanton I would like to get your impressions of the session. Comments/thoughts/compliments/complaints.
@BrianBallsun-Stanton scone-induced indigestion?
brain not in that mode. Let's see..
We need to be better about actually narrating what happens after we drop fate
given how slow chat is, we need to observe the narrative gambit, the mechanical exchange, then the narrative description
cause the 12/9 thing we had never... resolved.
which is why I was sometimes in the air or not
We need better turn-tokens
And esepcially in chat, we need to use marvelous initiative.
I'm a bit confused about how aid another works, too.
Our working doc really sohuld have had all public aspects on it.
And you and I were getting lazy with our approaches.
It would have been nice if I hadn't been trying to learn a significantly altered version of the system mid-combat.
03:04
@BESW yes, that.
03:58
@Problematic, @JonathanHobbs, You've both mentioned designing some kind of web application to help track FATE games.
C. Ross has asked if TableTopForge might not be sufficient. I don't have any experience with it, so I can't say.
@BESW I don't either, and it requires me to install junk on my PC and use Google Hangouts, whereas I was envisaging just a page you can visit that does junk
Sounds good to me.
Using modern JavaScript / HTML / CSS stuff, too, so you won't have to have Flash like power2ool needs
Also, tailored specifically to FATE
That's similar to what I was picturing.
04:29
I'm going to dump my mental image into words: A card, like power2ool's cards. On a work area, with multiple work areas available, like power2ools. You can fill out various details like the high concept and aspects and so on.
Unlike power2ools it can also be used to track characters in mid-combat (well, power2ools does this, but not easily): you have stress pips you can click on or adjust, you can add in mention of your Consequences, and doing so doesn't necessarily involve diving into the giant card editor.
In addition, I understand FATE lets you place aspects on other people, and there might be other stuff like that (I think FATE has the concept of tags too)
Based on the Bronze Rule, it would be not only good but responsible for each card to have slots for all of the PC features (aspects, stress, stunts, skills/approaches). If a slot isn't filled in, it might fade when the card is in use.
So in this editor you can also add in an aspect and add a little tab to show who owns it, or show whoever gets a free Compel on it, or whatever
@JonathanHobbs Yes. An aspect that is placed mid-conflict should be able to be put on any card, and it should have a way to track who placed it, attach a numerical value to it, and increment tags up and down.
This may also call for being able to have a collaborative view, where people in a game can dump their cards in the open? That way Ms Rosso can see right there - or possibly remember/realise - that Mr McGuire still has an aspect on him that she has a free compel of.
Yes.
Aspects (and possibly little else) should have a show/hide option.
04:49
@BESW Would you want cards for anything else? Are there any other things that mechanically exist other than People (or Characters)? I don't know if Items need a card or a presence other than a thing you can write in a box.
The Bronze Rule, or the Fate Fractal, is thus:
I would imagine that cards can contain cards, and anything can be a card
> In Fate, you can treat anything in the game world like it’s a character. Anything can have aspects, skills, stunts, stress tracks, and consequences if you need it to.
If Items can flow between people, it might be more useful to be able to write them into your character sheet, but not so simply: it would resemble adding tags to a SO question. Once you type your item in, it gets its own little box. You can then click & drag it out of your character, dump it on another character, or dump it in the middle of the collaboration area.
If an item is best represented as an aspect, or a stunt, then it is so.
But the more narratively important and complex something is --whether it's an item, a place, an animal, or even a concept-- the more PC-like it should become.
If you're running a game where "Every Action Has A Consequence" is such a powerful theme that it influences every moment of the story, then it should be a character able to influence the world with fate points and skills and stunts.
In a Firefly game, the ship itself should have stress, aspects, and so forth.
04:53
@BESW I would play that so hard
Trouble: Crappy Compression Coil
Shot In The Lung
I invoke I Won't Get Et to get away from the reavers
Gorrammit, now you got me thinkin' about Firefly
So, I think that the Bronze Rule actually makes this webapp easier.
Because you just have to make PC cards.
@BESW oh yeah, loads. There's pretty much just one data model
If you want to get fancy, have the play-mode version hide unfilled sections.
05:01
If you didn't care about data ownership and whomever was in the room could modify anything, it gets even simpler
I think that's actually very much in keeping with the FATE concept.
Passing tags, altering or removing aspects...
I would want baked-in chat and a list of actions taken
That would be nice, for it to all be self-contained.
Oooh.
05:07
@BESW Yeah, and everything is a part of a PC card. But how is Wil's staff handled for instance?
Mechanically speaking, or in terms of what would go on such a card or sit inside such a workspace, is that A Thing?
@JonathanHobbs Wil's staff has no mechanical existence at the moment; it is a not-thing.
Also ding @Problematic
If/when he finds it, the manner of finding would determine its role.
He might be able to Create Advantage to give himself an aspect like "Got My Staff!" and then at the end of the session he alters his core aspects accordingly.
If you mean his intelligent stick...
Oh, no, the one he would've had before he stumbled out into a clearing nekkid.
@Problematic Well, BESW mentioned that Aspects should have a show/hide option, which probably implies someone should be able to see the hidden aspects, and nobody else should. I think. That would create some sense of ownership over cards.
@JonathanHobbs That's true.
05:12
Well, I suppose there's a room owner/ GM
@Problematic That should be sufficient.
@Problematic Do regular player characters get to hide aspects?
Show/hide is necessary to accomodate the "discover aspect" action.
I vote yes until it becomes a problem. Keep it simple
05:13
it doesn't seem like something that exists in the normal rules
@Problematic Actually, that complicates things because it means each character has ownership within a room, whereas it would be simpler to say the GM owns everything in the room.
I think?
hidden aspects are normally the GM"S purview
Freedom of information is the default state.
Maybe not
Brb! I need brain food
@trogdor simple enough to enforce from the front-end. Won't stop really snoopy players, but will suffice in a pinch
Anyway, I really need to go to bed. I'm hacking on it, though, I'll see what I can come up with tomorrow.
05:16
@Problematic I know nothing about the logistics, but Hobbs' assertion that it would be simpler to give ownership to a single person (GM) seems reasonable.
@BESW requires authentication, or at least some knowledge about a user beyond "what's my nickname?"... I'm trying to avoid that if I can.
But I'll play around with it.
Ah.
I was thinking a registered account might be involved to track info between sessions.
I guess auth should probably be baked in from the start, actually. Kind of irritating to... yeah, that.
05:18
(Instead of having to re-enter everyone's PC every time.)
However...
Exporting a .txt file of the info or something like that might substitute.
Nah, I can do "sign in with your Google account" simple enough.
Okay, now go to bed.
I really do think that ownership should be the GM's alone, but that it should be fairly limited in terms of what it keeps others from doing.
Agreed.
That is, universal ability to manipulate, with minor limitations like "The GM can show/hide."
At some point past the MVP, there could be a "permission matrix" that could let GMs throttle control if they wanted
05:32
Yeah, but not a super-high priority.
Right.
Oh! One thing that could be high or low complexity is the transfer of FP.
MVP, obviously, will just have counters on each card.
What's MVP?
But later iterations might want to track the flow.
@JonathanHobbs Minimum Viable Product
05:33
In product development, the Minimum Viable Product or MVP is a strategy used for fast and quantitative market testing of a product or product feature, popularized by Eric Ries for web applications. Description A Minimum Viable Product has just those features that allow the product to be deployed, and no more. The product is typically deployed to a subset of possible customers, such as early adopters that are thought to be more forgiving, more likely to give feedback, and able to grasp a product vision from an early prototype or marketing information. It is a strategy targeted at avoiding...
@BESW showoff
(I didn't know either.)
However, I do think that the simpler and less finicky the product is, the better suited to FATE it will be.
So maybe tracking the flow of FP is actually bad, because it could make it hard for the Silver Rule to come into play.
Right. A step above that would be, say, having a circle on your card with, say, an 8 in it. That's your fate point pile. You click and drag off that to pluck a fate point token off your pile and can dump it on the field or on someone else's card.
Interactions like that are probably nicer than clicking here and reducing the number, and clicking here and upping the number. It means you also cannot possibly do one but forget to do the other.
...I want a pile of poker chips. [grin]
The GM would have their own unlimited fate point pile which works the same way, except it doesn't have a number on top since it's unlimited.
05:35
Aye.
I think that'd be good, so long as there's an easy+fast way to just add/subtract FP anywhere without worrying about where it comes from or goes to also.
What else do you do with Fate points? You receive them from the GM and other characters, and pass them to the GM and other characters, right?
Pretty much.
So I guess dragging a point back into the GM's unlimited pile would work.
You don't need to rig an NPC Pool option if the GM wants to do that, because he can just make a card for it.
Do players (including the GM) own fate points or do characters own fate points?
FP are associated with characters.
(Aside from the bottomless GM Pool.)
@Problematic it... works better to have anyone hide? I don't think auth is necessary here.
05:40
Well, I can imagine one circumstance where FP aren't constrained to merely swapping between piles: setting up your character initially. Or your GM suddenly saying "I want you all to have more fate points." I guess it'd be handy to be able to just arbitrarily edit your FP without having to go through click & drag.
@BrianBallsun-Stanton not necessary, but convenient
@Problematic mmm, true. Just not neccessary to the MVP
@BrianBallsun-Stanton I'm having trouble imagining a scenario where it would be desirable for a player to hide something from a GM.
Or even where it would be "not bad."
When we say "hide" do we mean "get this out of the way because it's not important right now" or actually "conceal"?
The GM will need to actually conceal information.
05:43
Like hiding that the man who runs the candy shop is a goddamn vampire
(maybe)
I'm sending Hobbs the most recent Core and FAE docs so he can be more informed.
... I keep seeing those Kickstarter emails on my work laptop, then marking them as unread so I'll get them when I'm back on my regular PC, then not doing so
@JonathanHobbs Right. A clever GM can give him aspects that imply it to those in the know but don't give it away to those in the dark, but we don't want to expect GMs to reach that level of cunning in order to use this application.
I'm calling the model that a card will represent a Fractal, because it makes me smile
Fair enough.
05:48
Needs: FP, aspects, stress (potentially multiple tracks), skills, stunts
What am I missing
@Problematic liveish?
@BrianBallsun-Stanton ?
@Problematic live editing, to some degree
# of tags on an aspect and who owns them, whether aspects are boosts, temporary, consequences, or permanent?
@BrianBallsun-Stanton planning websockets. Haven't delved into gevent-socketio, but it looks promising
05:50
@Problematic ::nod::
@BESW can you define tags for me again?
@Problematic Free (FP-less) invocations granted to the creator/discoverer of an aspect, usable on that aspect.
What's the difference between tag and boost?
@Problematic "Boost" is a kind of aspect.
Oh, boost fades when you invoke it, yes?
05:51
It means that the aspect will vanish after the tag on it is used.
And a temporary aspect is less transient than that?
"Temporary" describes any aspect that isn't a permanent part of the character.
Ah, yes.
Your High Concept, Trouble, and Other Aspect are permanent. Anything else is temporary.
Most temporary aspects are boosts, or fade at the end of the scene. But consequences are temporary aspects with custom durations.
(I thought you were going to bed.)
I got distracted by code
Can multiple players have tags on a single aspect?
05:56
Usually (can't think of any exceptions right now) tags are only granted when an aspect is discovered or created, so... no? Because only one person will discover or create a given aspect?
I guess you could create a hidden aspect that someone else then discovers, though?
"In other Fate games, free invo- cations were called “tagging”. We thought this was one bit of jargon too many. You can still call it that if you want—what- ever helps you and your table understand the rule." This is why the term was confusing me.
Ah, sorry.
"tag" is faster to type and I learned FATE from DFRPG, which tags.
Aye
Now I'm clear.
06:09
The combat... someone else wanna put that one together? I don't have time until tomorrow at the earliest.
06:31
Okay, nodding off in the code. See you tomorrow.
And slash or later today.
 
2 hours later…
lol
Questions are always a bad idea
The next part of the session will be a lot harder to put together.
09:11
I'm heading out. Back in ~3 hours?
mmmm
maybe something short then, g'luck
 
2 hours later…
10:51
okay, we have got to make sure we actually narrate what we do after every exchange
huh?
how do you mean?
okay, when construcitng a narrative, it's... nice to just be able to pull sentences.
instead, that huge exchange that @BESW and I did? There's no formal resolutoin.
there's no paragraph of text explaining how each aspect was invoked and contributing to the narrative
so I'm writing that.
Also! Can we start including stuff like "Want a cookie?" Sanguine said?
It makes the narrative flow better.
as in
I'm currently editing line 43 of... 500
Thank you.
10:59
so, for example
the last line you wrote... I turned into
"Ok, I definitely smell smoke" again grumbles Kirby, "Who is the wise guy who set the forest on fire? Some wizard in the trees?" He concentrates, and sees a path through the fire, quickly shouted to the insane girl.
adding in "character x said" when we are saying something in character?
cause you never narrated your successful aid another
(I wish we could do this in wave or something, but... it's coming along.
I was lacking sleep
11:00
oh, hey, you're back an hour early
no worries. Mine isn't any better :)
lol
yeah
Mmm. Took about as long as I expected, but much less time than I budgeted and much more time than the NSA had hoped.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Mariana Islands.
so that whole 12/9 thing is now condensed into
As Sanguine runs pass the princess, she drops a small scone onto the princess's hands. Zemenar twitches the staff and the fire springs up more fiercely, but guided by the Oracle's mutterings, she outruns it up the side of a tree. She's studied his grip, and knows its weakness, which does nothing for the shimmering wall of energy protecting it.
Sanguine falters, but then realizes that she's, for the first time in her life, fighting for something, for a princess, and grips the staff through the crackling engery field. The shock is enough for her to lose her footing, banging into the dense canopy of the forest. Her training saves her, and she leans into her fall, keeping her grip on the staff in the process. She falls and rolls, letting the forest floor soak up the momentum. Panting, her eyes shine as she hefts the wizard's staff!
11:06
Very nice.
thanks. Trying to turn it into a narrative cause... why not?
so, can do stuffs now.
(By the way, I was glad to see you caught on to my intent in applying the "Mossy Ground" aspect to the clearing, in that it could be both soft and slippery.)
@BESW :)
so yeah, tell me when.
Okay, let me settle and reference my source...
Yeah, we don't get to invoke a fate point unless it gets its own clause (at the very least) in the narrative.
11:13
Bah. I've got some hot water heater stuff going on.
If we start now, I may have to vanish suddenly for an unknown but hopefully short amount of time.
Soo. Shall we skip over the interminably tedious process of shepherding an overly dramatic princess, and cut straight to when Sanguine and the princess arrive back on the hill?
no
lol
yeah that sounds good
honestly
Is Kirby going to be part of this session too?
11:16
I wouldn't mind joining
especially since I can just go to bed immediately when we are done, if we go anywhere as long as lat time
we cannot go that long
Sanguine leads Kirby and the Princess Keredwel of the Kingdom of Raxwel back to the dragon's sunlit hill.
I've got 2 hours, max.
Apparently the dragon has slaughtered some animal while Sanguine was gone, and is rubbing the blood into its scales.
lol
this will certainly not entice the Princess to run the hell away
11:19
@BESW She eeps, "Need a washcloth? I think we're out of scones. ... " pauses, "Oh, and meet Princess..."
This seems to be part of its beauty regimen.
Sanguine pauses, never having a good memory for names.
The princess faints dead away.
"what now?"
Sanguine shrugs and drags her over to "Jenny"
"Here you are."
11:20
"we are just meeting,... a smelly person"
"My friend. Please don't insult... her..."
"She helped me make scones."
"My, you do work fast! She's certainly beautiful, but is she enchanted? Spells make things so complicated."
Sanguine blinks. "That's no fair. You said princess, I found princess. I don't know anything about spells."
"what praytell"
"do you need her for?"
The dragon turns to Kirby. "That wasn't very nice. I don't usually smell like this. I'm in the middle of my scale regimen!"
11:21
"well I can't help it if I can't see what you mean when you say that"
And yes, Sanguine has never mentioned the dragon bit of her friend. It's just not important to her.
"it the only descriptive term I have for people I have just met, who happen to smell at the time"
Sanguine grumbles, makes sure the princess is next to the dragon, and asks "Fine, shall we discuss this over... cake?"
"you must have killed something and bathed in it, I can't think why you think I wouldn't notice that"
@BrianBallsun-Stanton The dragon whips its head back to Sanguine to say, "Then what's wrong with her? I assumed you'd find me a normal princess," before turning back to Kirby. "She's a princess. I'm a dragon. What do you think I need her for, rude person who asks personal questions before introducing himself?"
brb
11:24
"I get to be rude. I have earned it by now"
@BESW "What's wrong with her? I think she's fine... maybe she's fainted? Normally people go unconscious when you apply the three finger grip to their neck, but... maybe she did it accidentally? She's very annoying."
",... if your friend here is really a dragon,.... you are a clueless sap"
@trogdor "And why are you insulting us both now?" retorts Sanguine.
"she is most likely a very normal princess, fainting at the sight of a dragon that has just murdered some animal"
"well, maybe because you dragged a helpless princess off to a dragon"
"not to mention a blind man"
@trogdor "Dragged? You did nothing but whine at me the whole way here. I didn't force you to come." A certain whine is coming out in Sanguine's voice.
11:27
"what am I supposed to do? you must have seen how lost I was here"
"you may not have noticed yet, but I assure you, I am quite blind"
@trogdor "And that's my fault? You're blind. You've lived with it all your life. And you decide to come out to the forest to 'Be Alone'. What did you expect would happen, some silent seeing eye fairy to pop up and grant you sight without talking?" Sanguine pauses. "Look, just make some tea."
"no......"
"of course not, who do you think I am? a lucky person?"
@trogdor "Fine. Like, whatever. After Jenny here helps me, what will it take to get you to shut up? Find you some sort of house?"
...okay, this isn't working. I can't keep up the conversation.
"that would work, as long as it was actually relatively close to other houses"
mk
11:30
By the time I've typed out a response, you guys are far too far ahead for the things you're saying now to make sense with what I was trying to say.
@BESW say pause
and we'll stop.
we should slow down a little anyway though
as a rule
Then edit that pause into whatever you'd say.
@trogdor eeh :)
it doen't have to be by too much
brb again
11:31
@trogdor "right, we'll find you a hut or something. Just stop complaining."
I shouldn't have agreed to start this, I'm sorry, I'm not done with household distractions yet. afk for a bit.
lol
that's ok
(so, in reading over the log, the trio of 1 aspect generator, 1 ranged person, 1 main... works really well)
the aspect generator generally pops an aspect a turn, the ranged... either uses with style and attacks or supports, and the main uses the other two to land real blows.
Okay, I think I'm able to pay attention now. If we're going to do a conversation-heavy, turnless session with me trying to run a dragon having two conversations at once, I need some kind of structure to be in place.
I'm entirely new to chat-based RPGs, so I don't know what to do.
@BESW when you're typing, say Pause.
No one else can continue with actual narrative when there's a pause on the screen.
11:43
Sigh. Okay, let me get back into this.
We'll see how it goes.
lol
that's so wrong
"You're both being rather rude!" The dragon is appalled. It looks at the princess on the ground. "Are you sure she's a princess?"
@BESW "Yes! That's how she introduced herself to me!"
11:46
It bends its head down to inspect her more closely, and the princess opens her eyes. She gives a small scream, and the dragon frowns.
"is that not normal?"
"You don't have to be frightened," it says.
(Also, cue me when you want me to respond)
"well that depends"
"Really. You're my princess now, and I'm going to take proper care of you, and you can clean my scales and cook for me. I believe that's the standard arrangement."
11:47
"what do you need a princess for? what do you dragons do with them?"
@BrianBallsun-Stanton Go ahead.
Sanguine is satisfied, and continues working on a cake batter. Mr. Grumby is bothering the dragon, and the princess and the dragon are talking.
The princess bursts into tears, and the dragon pulls its head back suddenly. "Did I say something wrong?"
"yes you did"
"she was looking for someone before you 2 interrupted"
The princess cries harder. "Alas! Oh, woe is me! So recently was I happy, awaiting the coming of my love to rescue me from this dismal forest!"
11:49
"see?"
Sanguine frowns, trying to figure out what the problem is.
"And now am I a prisoner of a monster! And when my love arrives he will be eaten by this awful beast, and I abandoned to my fate! Alas, that I should come to this!"
"You know, if we were ever that whiny, we were beaten. But still, one princess."
"heh"
"so was I"
The dragon looks at Sanguine, taken aback. "This is a princess?"
11:50
"but she was born to a higher station"
"or at least apparently"
"as far as I can tell"
The princess sobs even louder, but raises her head.
@trogdor (Point of order, can you try to edit your lines so that they're all one line? instead of ...multiple lines? Stitching them together is annoying.)
mk
sorry
"Indeed, I am a princess, and the daughter of a king, and see to what MISERY I have been brought! Alas, the day I left my father's house!"
@trogdor no worries, it also slows us down.
@BESW "Look, I'm trying my best. Soon you'll have a cake and be friends with Jenny." Responds Sanguine, annoyed at everyone. "I fought to get you away from that Evil Wizard, and now you're safe here with my friend."
11:52
"friends" means something different from "slave" you know"
"Yet would I flee again, and endure with patience all the trials and woes which have come upon me, only to be with my love once more!" The princess blinks and pauses mid-cry.
"Cake? I am rather famished, for my dismal plight has left me unnourished!"
@trogdor Sanguine looks at the oracle, honestly confused. "What? I don't understand."
The dragon looks at the princess, and back at Sanguine. "If this is a princess, I'm not sure I want one anymore. Maybe I could eat her instead."
@BESW "Sorry Princess, it's only going to be a simple one. I didn't bring enough stuff for the icing. You'll want to stand behind the dragon as he lights the oven."
@BESW "Well, light the oven, we'll eat cake, then you'll bring her to king whatsits, and then... stuff happens, and then you help me." Sanguine turns her head to talk to the Dragon.
The princess begins wailing about being cooked and eaten, but by now it's mostly background noise.
11:54
"eating her will not fix your problems"
"Hey, blind man, get us some firewood?"
"Nobody told me princesses were like this," the dragon confesses to Sanguine. "And who is this love she keeps talking about?"
"are you serious? get you some firewood?"
@BESW "Me either. She's a horrible person." She responds, quietly to the dragon, before turning her head and shouting at the blind man.
"Look, oracle. Foresee where wood is, or you don't get cake."
"I don't want your murder cake"
11:56
Sanguine's head is spinning of all the conversations. "Oooh, murder cake. I wonder how blood... no wait, that's not allowed. Blood is for the goddess, not for us."
"you are obviously insane, being friends with something that talks so idly about eating people"
"My love is mighty among men!" the princess exclaims, having heard someone mention her second-favorite topic. "Most brave and fearsome in battle, and of a fair and pleasing appearance in all things, and he would not leave me thus, did he but know my fate!" Which brings her back to her favorite topic, and more histrionic lamentation.
Turning her head to the Dragon. "Well? We had a deal. You take her to the king, then we get on with things. Maybe give her to the king? Oh... and since Mr useless is useless, watch all of them while I get us some wood?"
"I think King Kazul would eat me if I did that." The dragon shudders. "Okay, I can do that. Your baking is very good!"
Sanguine beams, sets her bowl down, and looks for some fallen wood to put under the oven that's still there.
00:00 - 12:0012:00 - 17:00

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