TRPG General Chat

Though now that I think about it... the monks AC is way higher than my fighter. He's still only got (mastercrafted) Leather gear, which gives him an AC of 12

Sandwich

Ouch

Ben

@Sandwich Yarp. Second Wind and a hefty HP count makes up for it though :P

Second Wind: recover d10 + (CON?) hp in a bonus action

I have two of those now :P

Sandwich

7:09 AM

Thats a pretty cool ability

BESW

@Miniman ...wow, I'd forgotten completely about wax catting.

Sandwich

Sounds like Lay on hands

@BESW Sounds a lot safer than Cat waxing

BESW

7:32 AM

Wax Cats (unintentional red herrings)

Nov 16 '13 at 23:54, 29 minutes total – 42 messages, 4 users, 4 stars

Bookmarked 11 secs ago by BESW

Sandwich

Ohhhh

Wasn't there a similar puzzle in Zork?

BESW

[shrug] Never played Zork.

Nyoze

Uhh...

@Sandwich I don't think so?

@Sandwich That being said, Zork had plenty of items which would kill you if you used them wrong.

Sandwich

Like lighting a match after you rye'd up that guy in return to zork

Nyoze

Yes... Exactly.

BESW

7:44 AM

@DinaAwad Hi! You'll need at least 20 rep on any one Stack Exchange site before you can type in chat rooms, but you're welcome to hang out until then.

trogdor

11:13 AM

@BESW was that unintentional? it seemed like it was kinda on purpose from the way you first described it to me

BESW

It's hard to say what they meant, but I'm pretty sure they didn't intend for the player to be able to carry the wax cat around for so long.

trogdor

probably true

trogdor

11:54 AM

welp, scorpellican is a thing

not that too many people in here should be too surprised

still, I did not expect this one

Aaron

12:11 PM

Good morning

BESW

Hey.

trogdor

hello

eimyr

12:31 PM

Hello

Oh sweet cheesus.

What the hell is that thing?

trogdor

yeah, sorry about that XD

doppelgreener

A scorpelican. It says so!

eimyr

I hope it's a playable race.

trogdor

not that I know of

eimyr

Can it fly?

It doesn't seem to have visible wings

doppelgreener

12:33 PM

i notice it has only three legs and one claw

trogdor

it was spawned by a joke idea from Hank Green

eimyr

who's Hank Green?

trogdor

he was playing this character in that setting under her

he was joking that a monster would show up, and he more or less randomly came up with that creature above

the scorpellican

XD

BESW

Looks like it should team up with the crocoduck.

eimyr

Haha, Crocoduck would fit nicely.

And the owlbear.

BESW

12:38 PM

And, you know, everything from the Avatar setting.

doppelgreener

@eimyr He is one of the Vlog Brothers (and also has his own channel) and they talk about a lot of cool stuff.

He may have other claims to fame I'm not aware of.

eimyr

@doppelgreener that's probably why I don't know him.

doppelgreener

Hank Green's brother, John Green, with whom he does vlogbrothers, is the one who wrote The Fault In Our Stars, that tear-jerker of a book that recently also became a movie.

eimyr

I am very ignorant about blog/vlog/social media scene.

trogdor

@doppelgreener thank you, I know nothing about him other than that he is in what I am watching, which is the thing this creature sprang from

Finding the Portal | Chapter 8 | TITANSGRAVE

►

this should be just a bit before he says it

eimyr

12:41 PM

Alright :)

doppelgreener

Is there a place that just has all of the Titans Grave art? All of it is so wonderful.

trogdor

I dunno

I just googled scorpellican XD

I was intrigued to see if maybe there already was some art of it

Sandwich

It will be called Scrambles

Scrambles, the death dealer.

trogdor

I found 2 things almost immediately and that was enough

eimyr

And now for something completely different - How do you guys deal with the pre-game anxiety when you are about to have a 1st session in a new group?

trogdor

12:44 PM

uh, I have never had a completely new group

I have had new people in an old group, but it isn't entirely the same

Miniman

@trogdor Logically, you have to have at least once.

trogdor

true, in its own way

eimyr

Well, I'm starting a group with one "oldish" member and three more new ones.

trogdor

but that was a while ago

eimyr

Cue some anxiety.

Miniman

12:47 PM

@eimyr Do you know them at all?

eimyr

I know one dude (work mate), spoken to one a couple of times, rest are strangers.

trogdor

does everyone you actually know know everyone you don't?

Miniman

@eimyr I've had new groups of complete strangers 3 times in the past year or so.

BESW

@eimyr Deep breaths, hot tea, re-visiting my standard pre-game "This is how I approach RPGs, let's talk about playstyles and expectations at the table" talk...

Miniman

I've been nervous each time, and each time it's gone perfectly.

BESW

12:50 PM

If I'm especially concerned about a group where most everyone is a stranger, I might pick an appropriate icebreaker for bonding.

eimyr

I've had mixed track record of stranger groups

appropriate icebreaker like?

BESW

I haven't used this for RPG groups, but with other groups I've used a set of index cards with simple questions that can be answered at whatever level the person feels comfortable.

eimyr

Can you give an example perhaps?

BESW

"If you could talk to anyone in the world, who would it be?"
"If you could have any kind of pet, what would it be?"
"If you could have any question answered, what would it be?"
"If you could live in any period of history, when would it be?"

Easy get-to-know-you questions that people can be flippant or serious about.

eimyr

Nice idea. I usually had some freeform discussion about... stuff.

The game is going to be Fate and I wonder if I should bring Same Page Tool before we go to game creation bit...

BESW

12:55 PM

Same Page Tool is more about identifying a system.

eimyr

So you are discouraging that?

BESW

It's a tool that can create more dissonance than unity if used out of context.

Sandwich

Shigeru Miyamoto, some type of bird or cat, When's SEGA Going to make a good sonic game?, and right now is good for me.

Magician

Same Page Tool's utility is kinda overemphasized around these parts, imo. Happens sometimes, a community picks up an idea and runs with it. Even happened to one of my blog posts a while back.

eimyr

Share, what post caused such a stir?

BESW

1:04 PM

I assume he's talking about Goblin Dice.

Magician

Indeed.

BESW

But yeah, you just wanna talk with your players, ask some basic questions, and listen carefully.

One thing I like to start almost any new group with --students, Ruhi participants, RPG players, whatever-- is the "Who are you? Why are you here? When is lunch?" trio.

"Who are you," in this case, means asking about their experience with gaming and what they like about it.

"Why are you here" is about expectations: what motivated them to come and what are they hoping to get out of it?

"When is lunch" can be almost any light-hearted third topic, but food IS super important. Eating together bonds a group and hungry people don't perform well.

eimyr

I like your approach.

BESW

Listen carefully: they'll tell you a lot without meaning to, about their likes and dislikes, prejudices and desires. Pop culture references they make can give clues to the sorts of genres and stories they'll enjoy, for instance.

eimyr

It's a shame we can't have anything while playing (store policy)

I've been peering my ears to hear their preferrences already.

BESW

1:10 PM

I've got some training and experience in crafting environment for small groups to feel united and empowered.

eimyr

And I'm thinking that maybe this should have been a question on the rpg.se main page

Would you care to write this up as an answer if I ask a question?

BESW

Sure. (one of the reasons I like RPG is that they provide a low-pressure microcosm for experimenting with and learning about group dynamics.)

eimyr

1:25 PM

0

Q: How to transform a bunch of strangers into a friendly group?

I am about to start a game with a bunch of strangers. I posted a flyer in a FLGS and some folks responded enthusiastically. I talked a little bit to them about what sort of characters they would like to play and we're starting soon. We know what we want to play and what the game is going to be ab...

I pledge myself to your teachings.

BESW

1:46 PM

1

A: How to transform a bunch of strangers into a friendly group?

When I'm in this situation, I just wanna talk with my players, ask some basic questions, and listen carefully. First, I gotta make sure I schedule time for this. The orientation discussion should never feel rushed because it's eating into gameplay time. I have great success with pre-game rituals...

I hope that's helpful!

Lots of copypasta from the chat, but I tried to add a little more.

eimyr

it's great

what is Ruhi though?

In my mother's tongue it seems reminiscent of a swingers party.

BESW

Heheh.

It's a Bahá'í-inspired community building program that helps give people the support and training for improving their own neighbourhoods.

eimyr

mhm

And for an inexperienced person - one who didn't really do much "group bonding" stuff, how would I know if the group is "gelling"?

BESW

A lot of my experience and training in group dynamics comes from facilitating Ruhi study circles.

eimyr

I know it might sound stupid...

BESW

1:52 PM

Hmm.

doppelgreener

@eimyr you may want to put that in the question

BESW

Yeah.

doppelgreener

if part of the question is "when do i know i've done my job" or something like that, that's important to include

eimyr

It could very well be a whole another question, what do you think?

doppelgreener

It is almost meaningless on its own.

"How can I tell if a bunch of people are gelling?" is, alone, going to be closed with a lot of people going "????? why are you asking us", but as part of your question about transforming a bunch of strangers into a friendly group, it's about learning how to know when you have accomplished doing that, which is very meaningful.

Airatome

1:55 PM

Hello folks

BESW

[wave]

eimyr

"what are the common signs of group cohesion in a group of strangers"?

Hiya

Airatome

Oh gods....

BESW

What's new?

Airatome

Group cohesion makes me shudder

I joined a weekly session without listening to prior warnings from my DM about the make up of our group.

I wanted to be a Paladin.... I'm a Vengeance Paladin so eh, my moral code isn't TOO restricting....but the cohesion between our group is almost non existent

doppelgreener

1:58 PM

@eimyr just add something like"when am I done?" to your question

if you want to know when you're done, in this particular process, ask that, in your question about that process

Airatome

it's SO hard to try and get my military trained Paladin.... or anyone else in the group..... to inspire cooperation

doppelgreener

if you want to recognise arbitrary group cohesion... that is not going to go as smoothly, at the very least because people are missing the very crucial bit that you're really just interested in when you're done with this particular process.

Miniman

@Airatome In character, OOC, or both?

Airatome

nah just in character lol

we get the job done

one way or another....

few of us get along at the moment, character wise

eimyr

@BESW I amended the question with the sings.

Airatome

2:00 PM

We have a second campaign going where our characters get along increasingly better than the former campaign

eimyr

Ok, @doppelgreener, I take your point.

Miniman

@Airatome As long as you're not having problems OOC, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

eimyr

@Airatome there's nothing worng with roleplaying a bunch of characters who don't like each other as long as you're happy with the game in general.

Airatome

it's just a pain in the ass to try and develop cohesion lol.... I also see my Lawful Neutral Vengeance Paladin slipping into evil .....that's going to go well.....

my DM tried to warn me....

BESW

I've had games where the players were delighted to work together to make their characters squabble and fall out.

Airatome

2:02 PM

lmao

BESW

Players collaborating against their own characters is a riot.

Airatome

We're a group of 6 or so tightly knitted friends. I've swiftly become friends with all of them. We don't have any OOC issues, and the few we do are often resolved quickly.

doppelgreener

@BESW And conspiring :D

BESW

Mmm, conspiring.

Airatome

Oh yes....they are a bunch of plotting bastards

My Paladin hates it..... secretly.....because he's not even aware of most of it

we do well to try and not meta game

I don't see Draykhen staying neutral for much longer......

BESW

2:06 PM

Okay, sleep now, if I can. ttfn

Airatome

Which is fine, his Vengeance Tenets work no matter what alignment he is

eimyr

3:00 PM

theonyxpath.com/a-warning-about-mage20th-monday-meeting-notes

Onyx Path really went overboard with the amount of content they crammed into M20 reincarnation. And that is only the core rulebook.

Sandwich

3:54 PM

imgur.com/gallery/sdCZC :O

The Oracle

5:04 PM

0

Q: The URL / link for the one answer among many answers to a question

I spent some time looking for and mousing over some answers in multi-answer questions, hoping to arrive at a "properties" tab that give me a link to the answer, which is mid to lower page, not the link to the question at the top. (Which is in the URL bar for may browser, and is easily C&P'd from ...

support

Zachiel

7:07 PM

@SevenSidedDie now you make me wonder if there are Tiny humanoids.

SevenSidedDie

@Zachiel Yeah, I don't know; it's good to be specific though, to avoid answers that aren't practically useful.

Zachiel

Well, thanks for the edit anyway.

wax eagle

7:22 PM

@Zachiel is a pixie a humanoid?

Zachiel

7:35 PM

@waxeagle fey

Basically, humanoids are pretty much human in shape and medium or smaller - I know some large humanoids exist, but by WotC's definition they should be giants instead.

Then again, I don't think very tiny humanoids have ever been published. Smaller than an halfling and still human in shape is probably due to being somehow magical (fey, monstrous humanoids... heck, I don't know why kobolds are humanoids and not monstrous humanoids after all)

Wax Cats (unintentional red herrings)

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