TRPG General Chat

Shalvenay

12:28 AM

hey there @KRyan

KRyan

12:43 AM

@Shalvenay hiyo; was at dinner

Shalvenay

@KRyan how're things going?

all right

[wave]

hiyo

OK here, shaking my fist at the latest EVE Online patch for being...grumpy, but that may very well be my computer being the grump, not the patch

KRyan

12:50 AM

thanks for stickying that

Shalvenay

also, wondering if it'd be a valuable component of playtesting to ask someone else to DM my dungeon while I play through it?

Miniman

@Shalvenay Playing through your own dungeon doesn't really achieve much, but having someone else DM something you've designed is one of the most important tests. (IMO)

Shalvenay

@Miniman yeah -- I was thinking it'd be valuable from the perspective of getting to see how someone else adjudicates it more than playing through it myself

BESW

Sounds reasonable.

Miniman

@Shalvenay I guess what I meant is that with you as the player it significantly changes the dynamic, potentially contaminating the results of getting someone else to DM. Not a big deal, just something to consider.

Shalvenay

12:54 AM

@Miniman yeah, being a "fly on the wall" for someone DMing it to a party you're not in would also be a valuable test

but I think the "have someone DM it to you" test would be a logical first step, with the "fly on the wall" test following it up?

Miniman

shrug

SevenSidedDie

@KRyan I know! But wait... it can't (couldn't have been) in 26h, even accounting for time zone weirdness, until the 14th. Looks like their wandering-people 7 and their wandering-people 1 are hard to tell apart.

Shalvenay

...the reason why I asked is because I haven't found someone who's willing to DM my 3.5e dungeon (yet)

and was going to ask @KRyan if he'd be willing to volunteer sometime (perhaps with a playthrough with him as a player first, if you folks think that'd be better than having him jump straight into DMing it) as he's one of our resident 3.5e experts

KRyan

1:11 AM

@Shalvenay ah, I am flattered, but unfortunately real life these days has me quite harried. I'm behind on the things I have promised to Dreamscarred Press as it is, and we're heading into the holidays which are only going to make things worse

Shalvenay

@KRyan darn :) try again post-holiday-rush, perhaps?

nitsua60

[wave]

Shalvenay

also, do you think it'd be better for the DM who does this if he or she has experience playing through the dungeon first, or is starting from "ground zero", with no prior introduction to it?

@nitsua60 hey there

nitsua60

@Shalvenay hey. putting kids to bed momentarily, but I'll be back after that

KRyan

@Shalvenay you're definitely going to want someone with no primers, to see if they can run it without any

Shalvenay

1:14 AM

@KRyan alrighty then, sounds like a plan to me :)

KRyan

you can also find a lot of 3.5-interested types on GiantITP.com, and on the #giantitp IRC channel (on the gamesurge.net network)

Shalvenay

@KRyan yeah. figured it'd be better to pull from the denizens of this Stack first, as most of you folks know me somewhat already, and aren't going to flip out upon seeing an oddball dungeon at work -- I have no idea what to expect from those folks, although I may poke my head in their IRC channel...

doppelgreener

1:45 AM

@Shalvenay for what purpose are you making this dungeon? your own private enjoyment or distribution?

If it is for distribution then finding out how people actually react to seeing your oddball dungeon at work will be valuable

Shalvenay

@doppelgreener it started off as a private experiment, but distributing it at some point would be nice

@doppelgreener you do have a point, though

nitsua60

@Miniman in your Compulsion answer, can I suggest you change "affect" to "target," since it's not until after the saving throw that we'll know if a target is affected.

@Miniman whoop--now you've changed it. Now that's in the last sentence.

Miniman

@nitsua60 Good call, anyway.

nitsua60

(it was either that or keep "affect" but add a third restriction: those you can see, that can hear you, and those that fail the save)

Miniman

@nitsua60 Yeah, which would be confusing the issue - the question is definitely about targets.

BESW

1:58 AM

"Confusing the Issue" would be a good name for the next Tool album.

nitsua60

Is that the same band that released "Salvaging the Night"?

how about "Questionable Targets"?

BESW

No, that should be a song by Dave Barry's garage band.

(Dave Barry, for those who don't know, is the inspiration for the meme.)

nitsua60

just throwing it out there: how are any of these useful answers?

BESW

The only one even vaguely good is the most upvoted one, because it shows some kind of effort to support why pure speculation is necessary.

...are there any Dark Sun audiobooks that could be tapped for this?

nitsua60

I have zero DS exposure.

BESW

2:05 AM

That's how I found out the pronunciation of Anaander Mianaai from the Imperial Radch series.

Miniman

Yeah, I was looking at that question. I think it's partly the fault of the querent for the unfortunate phrasing "Anyone have any ideas" - really it should probably have been changed to ask for official sources way back when it was first created.

nitsua60

You didn't just default to this pronunciation?

(caution: youtube link)

Forrestfire

Looks like Dark Sun doesn't have a pronunciation guide. So... There probably isn't an answer.

BESW

@nitsua60 It was tempting.

nitsua60

@Miniman think it's worth editing/closing?

BESW

2:08 AM

I've edited it.

Shalvenay

also, hey again @nitsua60

BESW

(The actual pronunciation is annuh-ANDUH mee YAT-NYUH eye. Because reasons.)

nitsua60

hey @Shalvenay

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 btw, do you have any more feedback you wish to share from our earlier dungeon run?

nitsua60

2:24 AM

@Shalvenay would have loved to get through some of those doors. Perhaps we missed an opportunity/necessity to have a conversation about our philosophies on checks--perhaps you were expecting me to continue trying?

(also, should we mosey over to the bar to discuss, rather than clutter up these airwaves?)

random question, all: was San Dimas, CA the location of Bill and Ted's high school?

(got a piece of mail from there and it's pinging something in my brain)

BESW

That's right.

nitsua60

@BESW San Dimas, you mean?

BESW

Yup.

(Most of it was shot in Arizona though.)

nitsua60

any particular reason?

BESW

Cheaper.

nitsua60

2:58 AM

@Miniman I feel like that's one of those questions that many will think is "read to me"; I, however, have no problem with the thought that it's hard to make all the proper linkages spread across hundreds of pages

(and badly indexed)

Miniman

@nitsua60 Yeah, it's a perfectly reasonable question. I'd just finished typing up an answer when yours popped up :P

nitsua60

@Miniman Will you think less of me if I told you that I've set my profile to track "Epic"? I'm a quarter of the way there... =)

Miniman

@nitsua60 I didn't even know that was a thing you could do!

BESW

It's a New Profile Thing.

Miniman

I also didn't know that I had the Epic badge!

(Exciting day)

nitsua60

3:10 AM

@Miniman (cause you've got it...) [a la Eeyore]

Miniman

Ooh, and I'm almost halfway to Legendary!

nitsua60

which one's that?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Like Epic, except 150 times instead of 50.

And gold instead of silver.

nitsua60

I'm constantly amazed by the Stack's ability to socially-engineer me

2

I only created this account as an experiment: choose one social platform and allow myself to get sucked in, as a way to get a little understanding into my students' lives

BESW

Gooble gobble, gooble gobble.

nitsua60

3:13 AM

don't exercise any self-control, just let it grab you, was my exact thought

Shalvenay

I'm just struggling to get my votes-on-questions percent up for the Electorate badge on DIY...at 23% now, need to get to 25% -- but sadly, DIY.SE is not the province of high-quality questions

nitsua60

now I've got a collection of snapshots of the times I've hit #1 on the rep-chart

Escoce

@nitsua60 what do you do?

nitsua60

and my wife, after hearing about the "Strunk & White" badge, keeps asking "have you fixed enough internet today?"

BESW

One of the things that really attracted me to the Stack--and to this Stack in particular--was seeing it as an experiment in social environment.

nitsua60

3:15 AM

@Escoce math teacher, husband/dad, musician, slip further into a black hole called the stack....

@BESW what sorts of things catch your eye?

BESW

maaaaaaths.

nitsua60

@BESW and were you around at the beginning?

Escoce

So how does SE fit into your students' lives?

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 interestingly enough, one of my HS math teachers actually asked "could I teach?"

BESW

@nitsua60 No, I only came in a few years ago.

Some of the first things I noticed were the fine-tuning of the gamification by separating reputation from badgers.

nitsua60

3:17 AM

@Shalvenay asked you to teach, or asked you if s/he could teach?

@BESW not sure I'm following...

BESW

Reputation grants privilege. Badgers grant prestige.

Escoce

As it turns out, I was around when Jeff converted his blog into this site, but I didn't like the idea at the time and so I fell away, I just re-discovered SE a year ago I think.

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 asked the question "could teaching be in my future?"

BESW

By keeping those rewards separate, the Stack can distinguish between kinds of activity it wants to incentivise.

nitsua60

@BESW I don't know, a couple-dozen K of rep I find prestigious, too

BESW

3:19 AM

@nitsua60 Well, yes, but that's not its primary function the way it is with badgers.

nitsua60

@BESW but you're right--there are lots of little dials for fine-tuning incentives

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 heh. RPG.SE is actually the highest rep I have on any stack

(although DIY and Aviation aren't that far behind)

BESW

For example: downvoting for the first time takes away 1 point of rep AND gives you a badger.

nitsua60

@Escoce can I ask what you didn't like, and what's changed (in you or the site)?

@BESW great example

BESW

Downvotes should cost rep. Experience shows that.

Escoce

3:20 AM

I just didn't like the concept when it was proposed

nitsua60

@BESW deleting a good answer...

Yuuki

@BESW I'm not sure I would appreciate a pet badger.

BESW

But downvoting is also good behaviour.

Escoce

Downvotes do cost rep in some communities I think

nitsua60

@Escoce all, right?

Escoce

3:21 AM

Anyway I like it now, couldn't say why...maybe just resistant to change

BESW

> Downvotes on answers remove 1 reputation from you, the voter. (source)

nitsua60

@BESW right, and they've got the ratio of cost-per-downvote to gain-per-received-upvote nicely figured out

Escoce

I used to use his blog for some code references when I was kernel hacking

BESW

And then there's things like having an expanded profile card as a rep privilege.

And stepping away from mechanics, look at the culture: like calling Stack members "citizens." That vocabulary choice speaks volumes about the ethos of the site.

nitsua60

by the time you don't really notice the cost of a downvote, you're probably seasoned enough to use them well and enough

@BESW it's funny, though, the 2k to 10k rep priveleges feel like a bit of a desert to cross

Escoce

3:24 AM

My highest reps are Seasoned advice, gardening and landscaping and the great outdoors

doppelgreener

@BESW Gold badge users getting the dupehammer blurs that line slightly, but it's on the basis that if you have a gold badge in a tag, you've probably seen a squillion questions in it and you understand the subject matter, so you probably recognise dupes when you see them.

BESW

@nitsua60 Honestly, tag wiki privileges need to be considered more glamorous. They're super important.

nitsua60

I'm interested in seeing what comes if I ever hit 10K, and feel like I'm experienced enough to realize that whatever it is will mean I've got a few more tools to help with the light maintenance

Miniman

@BESW Wait, what?

BESW

And close votes are the lifeblood of the site's health.

Shalvenay

3:25 AM

@BESW yeah, DIY's tags need cleanup badly

nitsua60

@BESW amen

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 and yes, 2k to 3k was kinda bad, and 3k to 10k was even worse

BESW

@Miniman Expanded usercard. Scroll down.

nitsua60

@BESW I do feel weird sometimes looking at the frontpage and seeing half (or more) of the questions being [on hold] or [closed]

BESW

Anyway, I gotta dash. The vegan lunch counter closes in half an hour.

ttfn

Miniman

3:26 AM

@BESW Huh. I think I noticed that back when I started, but I must've forgotten.

@BESW Cya!

nitsua60

@BESW thanks for the chat

Shalvenay

@BESW one problem is that when you have a proliferation of Stack newbies, they tend to run away from [on hold] or [closed] questions as if they were locked threads on a traditional forum

Escoce

Lunch? Australia?

Shalvenay

@Escoce Guam, in BESW's case

Escoce

Cheers

doppelgreener

3:26 AM

@Miniman Anyone you see with a shadow underneath their avatar has an expanded usercard you can see. :)

Escoce

Close :-)

nitsua60

@BESW I love trying to think of alternatives to the obvious, like "maybe @BESW's a lobbyist for big-mutton and is going down there to trip lots of vegans."

Escoce

What is an expanded user card?

Miniman

3 mins ago, by BESW

@Miniman Expanded usercard. Scroll down.

doppelgreener

@Escoce Same timezone as the east coast of Australia, so close enough.

@nitsua60 that's wonderful XD

nitsua60

3:30 AM

@doppelgreener then let's hear some more =P

Miniman

@doppelgreener There's one slightly squicky side effect, though: You'll often (generally?) be casting dupehammer votes linking to posts you had something to do with.

doppelgreener

@Miniman probably, though if it were me that'd be from having edited something in them ;)

nitsua60

"BESW's fallen victim to Guam's version of Vince Kasuga and has an unthinkable amount of eggplant to unload"

thinks, "Ahh... the VEGANS!"

@Miniman you mean the possibly-perverse incentive of closing someone else's question while driving up traffic to one of your own?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Exactly. It can feel very self-promotional.

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 that sounds like a suggestion i offer more thoughts on the matter and i'll oblige: that "fixed enough internet" turn of phrase is cute, I think it's brilliant your wife's into it enough to be supportive and interested in things you're interested in, and I wish you the best of luck in that.

Miniman

3:35 AM

I sometimes wish I could choose to cast a vote that was a vote and not a hammer.

nitsua60

@Miniman but by the time you're casting close votes I think we can all trust you're just linking the dupe because you remember it, because you were involved in it, and therefore it's easy for you to find the link...

Miniman

@nitsua60 Well, that's the idea (I assume). But sometimes it's not clear-cut enough for me to be ok with being the sole decider.

nitsua60

@doppelgreener sorry-I think I mis-read your reply. I thought you were sating my ludicrous idea about BESW's vegan-plans was wonderful, and was suggesting others join in.

But I've just been continuing the effort with no one else interested...

Miniman

@nitsua60 My mind went to "BESW is actually a member of the Vegan Police, and he's going there to watch for any Vegan Violations."

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 oh goodness no. BESW just has to renew the enchantments there daily or else [REDACTED] and lunch time is as good a reminder to do it as any.

Miniman

3:39 AM

"Chicken isn't Vegan?!?"

nitsua60

@doppelgreener but thank you for more thoughts--my wife is, indeed, wonderful and supportive. She even plays D&D with me just as a way to spend time together. (She plays well and is engaged, but has no independent interest in it. But now that the boy's getting into it, we may see her change her stripes...)

@doppelgreener BESW thinks "Vegan" is an eponymous adjective and that the "Vegan Lunch Counter" is the real-life Tom's Diner. Mopes away, dejected, every day, when Suzanne doesn't come out from the back.

doppelgreener

@Miniman I like this one XD

nitsua60

@Miniman I think we can punch it up a little, though perhaps it's a little US-centric: BESW's a Vegan Police watcher and is there to grab cell-video of Vegan Police abuse. "I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO TAPE THIS, OFFICER. I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE STANDING HERE! AM I BEING DETAINED!?"

(caution, youtube link)

Miniman

@nitsua60 I dunno, I think Vegan Police have a fairly high degree of latitude in the execution of their duties.

nitsua60

@Miniman by the way, "dupehammer"?

Hey-ohhh!

crap, mis-click

joke was "@Miniman not in Guam: equatorial."

but it suffers in the re-telling

@Miniman what's "dupehammer" mean?

Shalvenay

3:49 AM

@nitsua60 being able to unilaterally close a question as a duplicate

doppelgreener

175

A: Increase close vote weight for gold tag badge holders

Update: this is now enabled everywhere! The rules are: You can instantly close as a duplicate any question that was originally asked with a tag you have a gold badge for. You can instantly reopen any question closed as a duplicate that was originally asked with a tag you have a gold badge for....

nitsua60

can't those with that power choose whether or not to exercise it?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Nope.

doppelgreener

Gold tag badge holders can unilaterally close questions within the associated tags as duplicates. (And not for other reasons.)

nitsua60

@doppelgreener but can't choose to cast a regular-weight vote?

Miniman

3:51 AM

@doppelgreener Thanks, I was having trouble finding a reference.

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 Correct. Shog9 explains the attitude behind that in the first paragraph here.

(not counting the paragraph that is just a line, if you would.)

nitsua60

@doppelgreener interesting

doppelgreener

@KRyan Do you have anything to offer on what this favored soul question needs for improvement?

nitsua60

I suppose if I ever get there I might develop an informed opinion on the subject

Miniman

@doppelgreener Obviously I don't have his expertise, but it still seems really broad to me.

doppelgreener

3:56 AM

@Miniman Probably, but I'm not sure what a D&D 3.5e favoured soul build needs in terms of input from the author in order to become not-broad.

Miniman

@nitsua60 From experience I can tell you that the rep really isn't a limitation - you just need 200 answers.

Shalvenay

@Miniman I'd say that's true on RPG and likely on some other Stacks, but not universal -- I'm actually rep limited on my silver tag badge for Electrical on DIY because the voting populace is so small

nitsua60

I think I need to build a macro of some sort to produce this comment. (Whose cousins, I think, are what earned me "Pundit")

@Miniman yeah, I guess I hadn't noticed, but I'm just a few answers away from a 5e silver; from there not such a big jump to gold

though if WoTC keeps putting out books that I don't feel like buying (like SCAG) I may become increasingly unknowledgable

relegated to just quoting my old 1e and 2e stuff once a month

Miniman

@nitsua60 I know BESW has a bunch of new user stock comments; I think he stores them in Greasemonkey scripts.

@doppelgreener It got the mxy reopen, anyway.

doppelgreener

301

Q: AutoReviewComments - Pro-forma comments for SE

No more re-typing the same comments over and over! This script adds a little 'auto' link next to all comments boxes. When you click the link, you see a popup with 6 configurable auto-comments (canned responses), which you can easily click to insert. This script was inspired by answers to thi...

Miniman

4:00 AM

@nitsua60 I'm curious, any particular reason you're uninterested in SCAG?

nitsua60

@doppelgreener whoa, cool

Miniman

I know the low ratio of new player options to DM lore content was a turn-off for a lot of people.

nitsua60

@Miniman no particular antipathy, just general "meh" about more Realms

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 yeah, FR has some serious downsides as a setting

nitsua60

and about more archetypes/paths/oaths/&c.

4:03 AM

@nitsua60 Ah, fair enough.

nitsua60

I'm, frankly, perfectly happy with "sparkle-guy" and "stick-guy" for mechanics

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 I roll to find out if I'm stick guy.

d6

Dice Service

•

nitsua60

yea or nay?

doppelgreener

4:05 AM

that's a probable yes, I need a 1 or 2 d6 opposition since this is roll-for-shoes

nitsua60

ok, opposition

d6

Dice Service

•

nitsua60

BOOM!

(I think--I'm twelve seconds into my first play, having only read the first three bullet points)

doppelgreener

!!

I am not stick guy! What am I!? [existential crisis]

(at least I have 1xp)

nitsua60

sparkle guy

Shalvenay

4:07 AM

@nitsua60 I personally don't like the concept of a strongly held magic/mundane split b/c it tends to promote Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards problems

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 That is a sparkly guy.

I roll to be extra sparkly guy.

d6

•

d6

•

!!

4:08 AM

does that mean you have a sparkley henchman?

(an extra sparkle guy?)

doppelgreener

I guess it must!

I spend my 1xp and take Sparkly Henchman 2.

Eeeexcellent.

nitsua60

side note: I have a player in my current AL group, character named "Spark LeGai"

Another player, character named "Sti'kye"

'cause there were only the two of them to start

Miniman

@nitsua60 I invoke the Law of Fantasy Name Pronunciation.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay I tend not to run into linear/quadratic so much because I roll 3d6 down the line, after declaring class

(and race)

doppelgreener

Shalvenay

4:12 AM

@nitsua60 the problem is more progression than stats I find -- Vancian casters tend to have a combinatorial explosion of problem-solving options as they progress, while fighters, well, are still stuck whacking things with sticks

nitsua60

mid- to high-level play is about wizards casting earth-rending spells and fighters managing armies of followers

fighters have lots of options when they've got a stronghold and a retinue of a few hundred to draw on

(including wizards)

(though, obviously, lower-level wizards than the hypothetical quadratic one in this thought-comparison)

@Shalvenay what are the FR downsides you see?

(@Shalvenay or should that be its own room?)

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 it's something of an interplay between D&D 3.x and the Realms, but race/class/alignment interlocking is the big deal for me, combined with the pidgeonholing of some races as monstrous

I have a fullblood orc cleric of Ilmater I want to play some time, but I doubt that'd get a warm reception anywhere people are being sticklers about FR lore

Miniman

@Shalvenay None of that is really a FR thing so much as a D&D thing.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay what do you mean by "interlocking"?

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 races or classes that impose alignment requirements -- they simply place more work on everyone involved. (Warlocks are a fairly classic example of this.)

nitsua60

4:22 AM

restricted combinations... druid=neutral, &c.?

Miniman

@Shalvenay That's still not a FR thing though.

nitsua60

@Miniman true that

Shalvenay

@Miniman true, but it limits the options other settings have :/

@Miniman the FR part is more the monstrous races notion, I find

nitsua60

@Shalvenay like you can't have Orcworld where the orcs are just folk and the dwarves are the baddies, 'cause rulebook?

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 pretty much.

nitsua60

4:28 AM

@Shalvenay did you ever play under the old level-caps?

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 ...old as in?

nitsua60

I think they were still around in 2e--definitely 1e, and before that things got even wierder

(brb--2 min)

Shalvenay

@nitsua60 then yes

nitsua60

so what was your reaction to "sure, you can be an X, but you'll never go past level..."?

@Miniman any good way to preserve the BESW-conjectures so's they can be seen later?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Sort of? You can bookmark a conversation, but in this case there'll be a lot of other stuff mixed in with it.

nitsua60

4:36 AM

@Miniman worth doing? I feel bad not letting them in on the joke(s)

doppelgreener

@nitsua60 Sure, why not?

Miniman

@nitsua60 Done.

BESW's Vegan Lunchtime

1 hour ago, 19 minutes total – 27 messages, 4 users, 0 stars

Bookmarked 12 secs ago by Miniman

nitsua60

can I ask (a) how it's done and (b) how to let BESW know?

doppelgreener

@BESW Hey BESW! ^

nitsua60

simple enough

doppelgreener

4:38 AM

@nitsua60 as for (a), click "room▼" up in the top right and see create new bookmark.

The bookmarks you've created are saved in your chat profile under the Conversations tab.

Miniman

@doppelgreener Thanks, I was flailing trying to work out how to describe.

nitsua60

@doppelgreener thanks

Miniman

@doppelgreener @nitsua60 Also you can see all bookmarked conversations for a room here.

nitsua60

@Miniman cool. more internet to catch up on =)

Miniman

@nitsua60 They're not all interesting, of course. There's lots of different reasons to bookmark.

Shalvenay

4:48 AM

@nitsua60 I haven't run into that -- my 2e char is notoriously slow to level

(and is a half-elf wizard anyway)

Miniman

@KRyan It probably won't fly, but anyone who says "My favorite spells are Summon Monsters" really needs to at least know about the Malconvoker.

DuckTapeAl

5:19 AM

Does anyone know of any good places to get recommendations for board games? My wife and I are filling out our Christmas list, and I'm looking for games that are fun for 2 people. My Googling isn't coming up with much that's useful.

Miniman

@DuckTapeAl I'd probably ask here in this chat, personally :P

nitsua60

@DuckTapeAl you're not going to go badly looking at the rankings on boardgamegeek

but if you've got parameters, miniman's right

DuckTapeAl

Is there a way to sort boardgamegeek by number of players? I couldn't find one.

My problem is that I really don't have a good set of parameters, which is why I'm looking for a list more than a specific suggestion.

nitsua60

their advanced search lets you specify player numbers

DuckTapeAl

Aha! Thanks.

nitsua60

5:39 AM

@DuckTapeAl I can't resist: if you can get your hands on a copy to give it a test-run, I can't rave enough about Kingdom Death: Monster.

@Escoce would you mind if I posted an answer in the vein of "sand as attack" to rpg.stackexchange.com/q/71888/23970? In our back-and-forths I've come to see that there are some good (I think) arguments for that interpretation that I'd like to see made.

BESW

8:14 AM

@nitsua60 I... what.

BESW

8:31 AM

@Pixie [wave] Long time no yawp.

Pixie

@BESW [counter-wave] True! How have you been?

BESW

Hanging in there. RPG campaign's going swimmingly, with intrigue and drama.

What's new with you?

Pixie

Not too much. Doppel's summary of work and sleep a while back was pretty spot on. :P Enjoying Exalted a lot lately.

I still struggle with the system, but the setting, characters, and GM are nice.

BESW

8:47 AM

Cool.

Most of my understanding of Exalted was filtered through a philosophy major, which probably coloured it a lot.

Pixie

I can see how that would influence it.

I usually avoid White Wolf games because I just don't get along with the rules, and I don't think I ever will. But there's some neat stuff in Exalted, and the GM is good at highlighting them. Also patient. Very patient.

BESW

I think patience is a necessary virtue for White Wolf gaming.

Pixie

That sounds about right.

BESW

I did like the character mechanic in Mage where your PC has a Thing You Do and How You Do It.

I can't remember the technical terms, but for example my mage's Thing You Are was Protector, and her How You Do It was Teacher.

Pixie

Ahh. Mage is one I haven't played.

Derpy

8:59 AM

Morning

Pixie

Hello.

Kingmaker is also moving right along. We just rescued a kobold, and they are cute, and we are probably going to befriend their people, assuming they don't offend the grumpy LE cavalier somehow. It's kind of refreshing to have a selfish, temperamental character in the group, given our normal propensity for goody-goodies. xD

user61230

11:04 AM

Man, scenes like this are why I love freeform roleplaying over anything else.

user61230

I just spent an hour in a scene with a couple other people discussing the weapons they were carrying, the ways they worked, and what they knew about them.

user61230

Three characters and an automaton, sitting around, doing nothing but character development.

user61230

These characters feel so much like people, just for the fact that they respond to each other in a conversational way that goes beyond goal-oriented roleplaying in developing their humanity.

nitsua60

11:52 AM

@BESW I think one line before the bookmarks would be relevant, too: it said something like "I like trying to think of the non-obvious interpretations"

(in response to your "gotta go--vegan lunch counter closes in half an hour")

Anaphory

12:54 PM

Does someone know cool resouces that I should look at while constructing a Dwarven mountain hostel/wizard's tower/caravanserai buried under a landslide as a Torchbearer dungeon for a single session?

doppelgreener

@Anaphory dark souls

@SevenSidedDie seems like ~6420 minutes, or 4½ days

Anaphory

@doppelgreener As in, the general atmosphere, or something specific?

doppelgreener

@Anaphory Well um. The environments in it really. Also there's a wizard's tower - or The Duke's Archives (spoiler). Fair warning, if you ever plan on playing Dark Souls, probably don't look it up - figuring out anything about the game at all is part of the challenge and fun of it. (Like roguelikes. Not necessarily like Binding of Isaac.)

Anaphory

It's not my cup of tea, from seeing a house mate play it.

(Very few video games are.)

trogdor

1:14 PM

@doppelgreener yeah Issac is pretty much all game play not much story to it

doppelgreener

@trogdor yeah. :) but also... looking up the wiki sometimes isn't necessarily ruining the challenge and fun. (in dark souls, it trivialises a lot of things sometimes!) BOI can swing toward run ruined or guaranteed to win depending on what items you get, and there's not really enough feedback to figure out what's doing what in the first place sometimes, so... playing wikiless is not all that fun.

trogdor

yeah

I used to play a lot of Issac, and I eventually just had to wiki up

BESW

@Anaphory I like using Imperial Russian and Russian Orthodox aesthetics for my dwarves...

trogdor

because some items would ruin my whole run, some would just do it and some would only do it in combination with other items

doppelgreener

@trogdor yarp. there's now an item tracker someone's made that tells you what you picked up.

trogdor

1:20 PM

finding out that 30 minutes or so of my time has just been wasted because I rolled the wrong item and ignorantly picked it up was not part of the "fun" for me

some people have also said not to wiki Teraria, but I did

and the reason being, I would have spent at least 3 times the amount of time on it trying to figure out the often relatively obscure item recipes if I had not done so

yes, there may have been more fun in finding out through play, but that kind of expenditure of time was not worth it for me

and it was still fun

so sometimes, yes, using a wiki is more than rewarding

and of course, sometimes you probably should not do so

doppelgreener

@trogdor mmhm. one of my friends has a policy i'm trying out: reroll until there is immediately an item room available, reroll if it doesn't grant +damage somehow.

actually saves a lot of time, considering how big a difference that first +damage item can make.

trogdor

yeah

doppelgreener

(holding R is a reroll shortcut)

trogdor

I also like some very specific items

do you play like, the newest version of it with bigger rooms and stuff? cause I still only have the sort of oldschool version

not that it is such a big deal because I don't even play it much anymore anyway

but at least some items might do slightly different stuff depending

doppelgreener

i'm playing the latest version with the new DLC, and it's a huge improvement

trogdor

1:27 PM

I imagine it is

Anaphory

@BESW Mine are usually inspired by orthodox Ashkenazi Judaism and alpine transhumance, probably because I liked those elements in the (German) Midgard RPG. Adding some Russian Orthodox elements sounds nice.

trogdor

@doppelgreener I have looked it up a bit and watched some clips of it, I just mention this because there are definitely some differences I don't want you to be confused by

doppelgreener

the best one being that rebirth had a lot more items, but a lot more items also cancelled each other out. which sucked. the new DLC has a lot more synergy going on, almost every item has an effect which is still useful when its core feature gets replaced.

like now, if you get double shot and then you get triple shot, you have 5 shots.

you don't just have triple shot.

BESW

@Anaphory When the party meets more than one group of dwarves, I pull in Soviet and post-Soviet themes.

trogdor

like, I would play Eve a lot after I unlocked her, and getting anything that got you a bunch of blue hearts was gold with her

@doppelgreener nice

because I would then proceed to stick her at half a heart left and stockpile blue hearts and keep the damage and speed bonus

while still not being dead in one hit

Anaphory

1:32 PM

@BESW I've never played much with many dwarven groups.

So I haven't had to think about it yet.

BESW

I generally try not to lump all of one race together as a single homogenous group for the entire world.

It's more interesting to have multiplicity and diversity.

Anaphory

It is, once it starts to matter because you travel enough to meet different groups of them.

Aaron

Morning

Anaphory

When I was last running long-term trad fantasy in a game, I had no idea what I was doing. I haven't run much more than one-shots since.

BESW

Eh, folks don't stick to just one part of the world. Traders, diplomats, refugees, immigrants; art and textiles, cooking styles and fashions.

Anaphory

1:36 PM

@Aaron Hi

BESW

I once ran a campaign set on an island of refugees and traders from all around the world, trying to escape their situations but mostly instead bringing their situations with them.

Anaphory

… I need to find people to play Dog eat Dog …

Aaron

Hey did anyone else notice that favorite tags don't do anything anymore?

Like I have Pathfinder as a favorite tag and those questions are not highlighted anymore. They used to have a slightly darker background

BESW

10

Q: Questions with favorite tags are not being highlighted

Cross-posting from Updates to the site, since it was a bug with that update that appears to have gotten missed. Comments on that answer haven’t seemed to get noticed, so giving this a little more visibility: Questions with favorited tags are no longer being highlighted. It's diffic...

bug css site-design

Aaron

1:52 PM

Thanks

I just answered this question but then it was edited and the section they updated just seems opinion based. Should I leave my answer or change it?

BESW

Leave a comment asking for clarification, maybe?

Joshua Aslan Smith

2:42 PM

close votes folks

0

Q: Is the Warlock's Pact of the Chain overpowered?

Pact of the Chain You learn the find familiar spell and can cast it as a ritual. The spell oesn’t count against your number of spells known. When you cast the spell, you can choose one of the normal forms for your familiar or one of the following special forms: imp, pseudodragon...

dnd-5e warlock familiars

Joshua Aslan Smith

2:58 PM

game recs are off topic now right?

basically all recommendation questions (since tool recommendations seem also to have gone off topic during my haitus)

the meta is really bad for getting a current state of what is and is not okay lol

BESW's Vegan Lunchtime

Transcript for