TRPG General Chat

trogdor

12:00 AM

@SPavel wat?

nitsua60

12:28 AM

Among what are presumably a bunch of good changes, it looks like we may see a downgrade in our theme.

doppelgreener

12:40 AM

@nitsua60 i'm hoping they preserve our current header's art as background imagery

nitsua60

@doppelgreener Yeah, it'd be a shame to throw it away. The badge icons, too.

doppelgreener

> The plan is to create designs for each of the sites that currently have themes and run those by the communities. We are starting that work this month (March 2018). Expect to see a meta post with details later in April. If you've been cleared for graduation but don't yet have a design, someone from the community team will be posting on your meta site in April to get some input so we can get your site themed based on your answers. We will start enabling the new design across the network in May.

so we'll find out what's going on next month

trogdor

I do kinda like our theme as is myself

That being said, everything else looks cool-ish just from skimming it

The Oracle

2:06 AM

2

Q: Conjuration (mostly) spirited away

So per the discussion about conjuration and necromancy, conjuration has been mostly removed from questions. It was removed from each of the following, and replaced with summoning: Does a dagger summoned by Minor Conjuration overcome resistances? Can I conjure a dagger or dart in my offhand and...

Shalvenay

2:33 AM

hey there @rpgstar

hey @Shalvenay

how're things going?

good

alright here

thats good

2:46 AM

ME: You’d have to be a special sort of person to do falconry with a whippoorwill. “What are you hunting?” “SOULS.”

Tweeted by UrsulaV on March 13, 2018 at 2:22 AM in reply to UrsulaV

Aaaand now I have a 4e shaman concept.

trogdor

Yeessssss give In to the character creation

nitsua60

3:08 AM

@Rubiksmoose so the answer on the DnDB forum was "it's mentioned in the shield guardian statblock, so we just went ahead and made up a hithertofore-unknown magical item (and its properties like AC and hp), put it in the database, and claimed it's from the Basic Rules"!?

trogdor

Oh wow what now?

Rubiksmoose

3:24 AM

@nitsua60 yeah, alarming no?

It's even worse because they didn't just move that text over, they actually added stuff (wondrous item and rarity). Where did that info come from? Heck if I know.

nitsua60

@trogdor There's a monster, the shield guardian, which is a construct directed by an amulet-holder. But there's no amulet what controls (any) shield guardians in the DMG.

So far no problem, to my thinking.

The times I'v ehad a shield guardian in play either the amulet hasn't come up or I've dealt with it improvisationally.

But someone associated with D&D Beyond (and/or perhaps WotC, but at least someone who can add things to the DnDB database), which WotC claims is its "official online compendium" went ahead and added a magic item, the master's amulet.

Also fine so far.

But then at the bottom of the master's amulet page it claims that the item is from the Basic Rules.

Which it isn't.

trogdor

I really don't like the idea that someone would pretend that an item like that was in a book as loot when it isn't

nitsua60

When Rubiksmoose asked them about it on the DnDB forums they said "well, it's mentioned in the shield guardian statblock, which is in the Basic Rules."

trogdor

If you want to Homebrew that it is go ahead

nitsua60

@trogdor absolutely.

trogdor

3:29 AM

But don't present it as official mater X(

nitsua60

Or errata it in saying "this should have been there and we goofed." Or say "we're not publishing stats on it, each GM can decide what the amulets act like."

Rubiksmoose

What really concerns me is how apparently easy this was to do to add an item and source it from material that it did not come from.

nitsua60

So yesterday I gained 140+ rep off of 11 different posts. I think someone just "discovered" me.

Rubiksmoose

In fact, it alarmed me early when I was digging deep into my answer. I was going to try to bring it up tonight but Parxiteles' keen eyes spotted my footnote and brought the issue up anyways.

@nitsua60 Part of that may have been me. I'm working my way through some old questions I want to improve answers to which inevitably leads to me looking at related questions. I actually ran out of votes today which doesn't often happen.

I do always find it a bit funny to think of someone seeing the rep and thinking why the heck is someone looking at that answer from x years ago?

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose There's usually an easy explanation when you take a look--somebody just added a new answer or made an edit or linked it from a new(er) question.

Joel Harmon

3:36 AM

@nitsua60 I recently got a bunch of points from a gnome-vs-goliath question, because there was a related question about gnomes lifting things.

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 Yeah I can always tell when a big question about mounts come up because I have a few answers out there that tend to get upvoted when they come around.

nitsua60

@JoelHarmon was that the "Gnome Ann can lift this immovable object" one?

Joel Harmon

@nitsua60 Sadly not, and even more sadly, I just realized I've missed a big opportunity.

Shalvenay

@JoelHarmon ah yeah, the gnome grappling a goliath

@nitsua60 -- I take it your aarakocra are instrument rated, btw? :D

nitsua60

=(

Rubiksmoose

3:39 AM

@nitsua60 that is amazing. Either I missed this one or forgot it, but either way I love reading it.

Joel Harmon

@Shalvenay Yep. The core problem there is that the average gnome is as strong as the average human or elf.

@Rubiksmoose I need to find time to go back and re-read the whole series.

nitsua60

@Shalvenay sure looks that way

Shalvenay

@JoelHarmon the way I see it, the bad assumption the OP of the gnome-grappling-a-goliath question makes is "grappling is a matter of pure strength"

(and my answer to that question speaks accordingly -- most wrestling/grappling as I understand it is about using biomechanics to one's advantage, whether it be based on European or Asian traditions)

Joel Harmon

@Shalvenay You're not wrong there, but this edition doesn't have an easy way to quantify skill at wrestling and/or applied knowledge of physics/biology

Rubiksmoose

@JoelHarmon me too :)

Joel Harmon

3:43 AM

Honestly, I mostly answered that question based on the insight that a str 20 character could, in fact, lift an average Goliath. That, and (iirc) the other answers weren't really using the rules much.

Shalvenay

@JoelHarmon heheh, I suppose you could call it a dip into Monk ;)

Rubiksmoose

4:08 AM

@nitsua60 you know what's weird. I can't even find the shield guardian in the basic rules. That whole thing might be a lie :-/

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose It's under the "Monsters" tab. I.e. the "Basic Rules" part of the Compendium tab is really "Such parts of the basic rules as aren't transcluded into character options, spells, monsters, or magical items."

Rubiksmoose

Are you talking about here: dnd.wizards.com/products/tabletop/dm-basic-rules?

nitsua60

I.e. it's the actual "rules" for monsters that is in the Compendium's Basic Rules -> Monsters chapter, but not any monster content.

@Rubiksmoose Oh, sorry, no. I was talking all about DnDB. I see what you're saying now...

Rubiksmoose

yeah I'm talking about the doc the WotC and DDAL both point to as THE official basic rules.

shield guardian is a CR 7. The only thing listed there is a giant ape.

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose Yeah... I think that DnDB uses "Basic Rules" to include all Basic Rules and SRD content. (!!!)

Rubiksmoose

4:12 AM

@nitsua60 It does indeed.

nitsua60

(And Shield Guardian's in the SRD.)

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 Ah ok. that explains it then.

I should have thought of that considering that I've had to make that exact distinction in several questions/answers before.

nitsua60

@Rubiksmoose Yeah, you really should have. You've forgotten what all those WotC-induced headdesks were meant to teach you.

=D

Rubiksmoose

@nitsua60 hahaha. The problem is all the brain cells those headdesks are costing me.

Soon I won't have any more brain or desk.

(They just don't make 'em like they used to)

BESW

There’s a Lisa Frank tarot deck and I need to go lay down with a cold cloth over my eyes. https://twitter.com/alexpenname/status/973309481160462336

Tweeted by UrsulaV on March 13, 2018 at 1:15 AM

Rubiksmoose

4:17 AM

@BESW Why?!

BESW

Why not!?

Rubiksmoose

@BESW My poor eyes can't handle all that 90's neon.

BESW

4:30 AM

Join @TheOtherCast a they begin an actual play of Dresden Files Accelerated! Listen/download here: http://www.theothertracy.com/podcast/dresden-files-columbus-episode-01-actually-kevin-jonas/

Tweeted by EvilHatOfficial on March 12, 2018 at 6:38 PM

BESW

4:53 AM

Ok, finally reading the MLP RPG, and it’s lovely, it wonderfully leverages the license, and it seems playable, but I am giving a little side-eye to everyone who extolled the novelty of the system.

Tweeted by rdonoghue on March 11, 2018 at 2:51 AM

@JacobSKellogg @rdonoghue I thought RPG stood for Rdungeons Pand Gdragons.

Tweeted by OregonPinkRose on March 11, 2018 at 3:57 AM in reply to JacobSKellogg

Sylviornis is an extinct bird from New Caledonia. It grew to 1.7 metres long & weighed 30 kilograms. (Credit: Roman Uchytel)

Tweeted by Extinct_AnimaIs on March 11, 2018 at 7:45 PM

Magician

I see your Sylviornis and raise you Demon Duck of Doom:

BESW

5:44 AM

Schlegel's asity is a bird native to the island of Madagascar. They have a green and turquoise caruncle (fleshy skin mask) covering the eyes. (Photo: Chien C Lee)

Tweeted by StrangeAnimaIs on March 11, 2018 at 6:26 PM

You can get your own printable DM Screen Dragon on Gumroad for $1+! https://gum.co/FBeeg (For personal use only. May or may not be magical.)

Tweeted by dndoggos on March 11, 2018 at 4:37 PM

BESW

5:55 AM

If I don't write these things up immediately, I tend to forget to do it at all, which is a problem for a Friday night game. Thus, behold the summary of last night's Blade's Game - The One Where Everything Blows Up. http://walkingmind.evilhat.com/2018/03/10/letter-of-the-law-the-one-where-everything-blows-up/

Tweeted by rdonoghue on March 10, 2018 at 6:13 PM

BESW

6:32 AM

@nitsua60, @doppelgreener, @SevenSidedDie I just bountied this question for an update due to link rot, but this question fulfills the same purpose and probably I should've just voted to close as dupe or something. I've no problem losing the 100 rep, but maybe the bounty can get dropped so users aren't wasting their time on a trivium?

Derpy

8:58 AM

@doppelgreener No problem, fell free to edit it as needed.

On an unrelated notice, I am somehow curios to see how that will turn out. "Unreliable narration" seems intriguing, we'll see how that gets implemented.

doppelgreener

9:59 AM

@BESW done 👍

BESW

Voting to close as dupe now.

trogdor

10:13 AM

are you not able to vote to close it if it has a bounty on it?

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer: If an artifact does not expressly limit spells like enlarge/reduce or levitate, are there any limits? by Expert Expertovich on rpg.SE

BESW

10:30 AM

@trogdor Right, because that'd be mean.

trogdor

mm

goodguy5

12:00 PM

morning nerds

Maiko Chikyu

Morning

Is FATE a good system to run a game based on airship combat?

doppelgreener

@MaikoChikyu If that's the totality of what the game is about, no

goodguy5

Fate is a good system for most things, imo. But it's harder to run.

@MaikoChikyu Also, is this a planned campaign or a one-shot?

doppelgreener

Fate as a system primarily exists to explore character drama. It's about proactive competent heroes leading dramatic lives -- which is to say, it's about all three of those things at once. It would be about "airship combat" the same way Star Wars or Firefly or Star Trek would be about "airship combat" -- which is to say, virtually not at all, and only as a vessel for character exploration ("Use the force, Luke" or "I'm going to pull a Crazy Ivan") or for resolving part of the plot.

Maiko Chikyu

Planned campaign

Also got it. Thanks

doppelgreener

12:11 PM

You can use "we are on an airship or otherwise regularly involved in airship battles" as part of the plot background and as a vessel for where or how some/all of the stories take place, but it won't be supportive if your focus is entirely on airship combat since there is not much drama in that. (There's tension, but not drama.)

You'd focus on the battles that are actually meaningful to developing a character arc, and skip the rest to explore the between-times, the results, etc. Like how MAS*H is about soldiers and medics who are on a battlefield, without being an action movie. Or like how Die Hard is ostensibly an action film, but is almost all about John McClane and his character arc.

BESW

Now, if the airship is a character in its own right, like the Milennium Falcon or Serenity can be, Fate can handle that very well!

doppelgreener

@BESW that's true

BESW

But that's different from tactical dogfighting.

doppelgreener

right, tactical dogfighting is what i have in mind for "focus is entirely on airship combat"

Like, Star Wars had tactical dogfighting. In The Force Awakens, we had that whole sequence above Maz's bar on Takodana. We focus on that only insofar as it affects the main characters and develops their stories.

The rest of the time it's in the background because it's not helping us do that, or it's already done its job.

Miniman

@doppelgreener I'd go so far as to say that we focus on it almost solely to show that "yes, Poe really is the best pilot around".

doppelgreener

12:22 PM

@Miniman Right. Also to bring in some welcome relief to the main characters trying to escape a disaster zone alive.

Miniman

@doppelgreener Yes! Which also makes it an interesting milestone in the series - it's the first time the Rebels have shown up with overwhelming force for a decisive victory over the Empire.

doppelgreener

Serenity, or the Milennium Falcon, get used a lot and have their own traits, complications and quirks. In a story featuring either of those it's useful having a Ship character to interact with and use.

@Miniman Ha, well, the first time they've done both at once. (Showing up with underwhelming force for a decisive victory over the empire was kinda the theme of the death star plots I think. :D)

Miniman

@doppelgreener Yeah, I phrased that badly. Not least because I said "Rebels" and "Empire", and one of the things that scene establishes is that that power balance really has changed.

Which, naturally, they immediately undermine, and then double down on undermining it in the next movie.

BESW

[sigh] Such potential, gone.

Still, we'll always have Bloodline.

kviiri

Sup!

doppelgreener

12:42 PM

o/

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