TRPG General Chat

12:36 AM

@bobble it's a good tactic

We had a sort of teaching chain when I studied physics, where knowledge ended up being spread downs few layers at a time

TheDragonOfFlame

Favourite world building resources / techniques?

Ben

@TheDragonOfFlame rice

Works for map building too :P

I had one friend that would pick 3 keywords: a location, a time, and a theme, then base it off that

TheDragonOfFlame

1:02 AM

@Ben rice?

Also idk if any of you know of Azgaar’s fantasy map generator, but it’s really cool.. makes randomly generated world maps and all of the cities in the maps and whatnot.. you can zoom in to see minute detail etc., but it’s all random.

I want a site with the same level of detail but more customization.

Adeptus

@TheDragonOfFlame Yes, I've played around with it a bit. I like that it ties in with Watabou's town map generator.

Ben

Lol. It's more a of a map building technique. reddit.com/r/mapmaking/comments/hgrlf8/…

I was making a bit of a joke about it being a worldbuilding technique, but it could be interesting... maybe they use rice as some kind of currency, or rice is the sole food source... you could make an interesting plot out of that

TheDragonOfFlame

lol

@Adeptus I like it too, but for example I have been trying to make a world, with two continents. Continent one has just reached the age of sail. Continent two is primitive, but with powerful magic. I've got maps with two continents, but they all have a bunch of cities and towns and empires.

Adeptus

@TheDragonOfFlame Yeah, it definitely has its limits

TheDragonOfFlame

@Adeptus I think I’ll just go with the good ol’ paper and pencil method

Hot RPG Questions

1:45 AM

2

Q: Balancing around Eldritch Cannon's use as a bonus action

I am fairly new to DM'ing and I am going to be running a simple one shot soon. I intend to start the players at level 3 so they can enjoy the more entertaining class features and not be so squishy that the chance of a PC kill is likely while still presenting a minor challenge. One of my equally n...

Hot RPG Questions

2:35 AM

5

Q: What to do as a DM if my players are in constant disagreement with each other?

I've facing an interesting issue as a DM and don't know what can I do from my position to solve the problem. My players always argue with each other and are always disappointed by the other side, up to the point that they don't want to play any more. It seems like a social skills problem, but I s...

dnd-5e group-dynamics social social-contract

BESW

4:07 AM

@Kangarule My very first experience with TRPGs was being given the core D&D 3e books to take home over winter break, and expected to DM an original campaign (I didn't even know pre-made adventures existed) when I got back.

We all got lots of things "wrong" but we had a ton of fun playing a game with friends. What I learned from this, and how it turned out (quite well!), is that effective communication among the friends at the table is much MUCH more important than anyone's proficiency with the system.

2

The better I understand the system we're using, the smoother things can go, but it's secondary to having a table where people are comfortable sharing what we want and need, and working together to make it happen.

user521200

@BESW Thanks I'll keep that in mind, it'll be my first time as a DM and then really second time playing (only played one session with a fairly inexperienced DM and party) but I'm going to try and do a simple oneshot for my younger siblings on Friday. Just need to finish up one more battle map. I'm defiently realising how much more important it is that everyone is having fun and is comfortable than playing exactly by the rules though so thank you :)

BESW

It sounds like you're putting a lot of thought into making it a good time for your group, and they'll be able to tell that and appreciate it.

user521200

Thanks :D

Bardic Wizard

5:09 AM

@AncientSwordRage thanks!! It came recommended from a book club friend so I knew I’d like it

It’s called A Phoenix First Must Burn, and it’s an anthology of sci-fi/fantasy stories about Black girls and women and gender non-conforming folk, all written by Black gender-minority writers

2

It’s part of my goal to make American lit less homogeneous by reading things by writers that aren’t just dead cishet white guys

Because that’s American lit at my school and it’s stupid and I don’t like it

BESW

Ooh nice

Adeptus

5:56 AM

@BardicWizard There are quite a few female fantasy authors that I like. Mostly white, but NK Jemisin is black.

BESW

7:17 AM

Nnedi Okorafor recently announced the third Akata Witch book will be published next year, I'm pumped for that.

AncientSwordRage

@BardicWizard sounds excellent

@BardicWizard oof, yeah I can see that. It's not too far off of what Sci-Fi and Fantasy SE can be like. I wouldn't mind mixing things up over there once in a while

BESW

7:50 AM

@AncientSwordRage Yeah, how many of them are reading Black Sun or Fireheart Tiger.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I'll be honest I don't recognize those

BESW

They're fantasy novels published within the last year by relatively big-name authors. Black Sun is a pre-Columbian fantasy by Rebecca Roanhorse, a Black First Nations woman who won a Hugo and a Locus within the last four years; Fireheart Tiger is one of the latest romantic fantasy novels (this one set in a fantasy world inspired by pre-colonial Vietnam) by Aliette de Bodard, a French-Vietnamese woman who won a BFSA and has been a multi-time finalist for Hugos and Nebulas.

I chose them specifically because they're very recent novels by visible and award-winning authors (Roanhorse wrote a Star Wars novel!), and indisputably topical for sff.se.

Or I could've just mentioned the novel being produced for an HBO prestige series by George R. R. Martin.

Or if you're more into music, there's The Deep, a 2019 novel by Rivers Solomon which won the Lamba, and was inspired by a set of Black 90s hiphop speculative fiction concept albums as re-interpreted through a song of the same name by .clipping that won a Hugo.

This stuff isn't sectioned off into a separate corner of speculative fiction. If sff.se users read the nominees for the three biggest specfic awards in the world, they'll know these names.

AncientSwordRage

8:28 AM

Oh! At least I recognize the authors... I'll have to mention those names and see if anything sticks

BESW

[grin] I could've been less generous and mentioned Claire G. Coleman or Lani Wendt Young, both excellent authors who haven't gotten much international (read: American and European) attention yet.

Several of those authors, including Roanhorse, have multiple short stories read on the "LeVar Burton Reads" podcast.

BESW

9:13 AM

@AncientSwordRage Black Sun in particular was on my mind today because Luna_Plath wrote a twitter thread about how it's the only book by a sighted person she's ever read, which felt right about depicting blindness.

BESW

9:27 AM

To Teach Their Own by Mousewife Games. One-Shot Magical Classroom Forged in the Dark!

Bundle: NBiTTRPG Month: Designers of Color by Ell and 9 others. This bundle includes 9 games by 9 designers who are nonbinary and people of color, plus a PDF with creator bios.

Slayers by Gila RPGs. Monster hunting in a cursed city.

Spencer Campbell wrote a twitter thread about Slayers "as a DnD killer."

"Fantasy Feng Shui in Shou Lung | Asians Read - Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms | Ep. 9" on the Asians Represent Podcast. the crew discussed the Shou Lung "Way of Work" and fantasy depictions of feudal Japan and Feng Shui.

will jobst wrote a twitter thread compiling the details and purchase links for all of the Indie Groundbreaker Nominees.

AncientSwordRage

@BESW I actually started reading that

@BESW I am so far behind on that podcast

I just listened to an Olivia Butler short story about mindreaders though that was excellent

BESW

11:25 AM

Stiltbeast Studios used the phrase "monsters don't make themselves" as a tagline for their Patron (they're a company that makes and hosts haunted house style attractions), and I like that, but it also reminded me of this essay:

Aug 23 '20 at 12:19, by BESW

"D&D Doesn't Understand What Monsters Are" by Dan on Throne of Salt. CW examples of monstrosity & its causes incl. colonialism. "A monster is a symptom that somewhere, somehow, the world has gotten [snip]ed up."

AncientSwordRage

11:46 AM

> Tear it up by the roots. Do not attempt to fix the rotting house, pull it down and rebuild.

I like this approach

doppelgreener

@BESW that was a very good read

AncientSwordRage

Yeah it was excellent

doppelgreener

thinking about Cucumber Quest again, a story in which the villains have actual concrete motives for their villainy and the narrative and its characters characters actually engage directly with those motives.

bobble

2:22 PM

If we're talking about queer SF&F fiction, two excellent books I read recently were Stealing Thunder and Gifting Fire, which I picked up at the local library because... rummages

in The Grove, Jul 30 at 18:21, by bobble

book: "trans lady born to be a prince ran from home to be herself..."
me: sold
book: "...living as a dancer by day and thief at night..."
me: double sold
book: "...falls in love with a prince and gets drawn into politics again"
me: TRIPLE SOLD

also there are dragons <3

AncientSwordRage

2:36 PM

@bobble that would placate Shad then (youtuber who has a perchant to shout "But what about DRAGONS?")

@bobble it sounds excellent

bobble

2:49 PM

@AncientSwordRage I must ask you: dragons, or airships?

There is of course a correct answer

Thomas Markov

gotta love randomly receiving populist badges

AncientSwordRage

@bobble Ferrets?

thats always an option

bobble

But is it?

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage what if they're dirty ferrets?

NautArch

@Shalvenay No joy. Turned off every circuit except garage door. Removed all lights on that circuit as well as the light in the garage door opener.

Hot RPG Questions

3:03 PM

4

Q: How do the Soulknife's psychic blades function in underwater combat?

Psychic Blades The Soulknife from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything gains the Psychic Blades feature at level 3. These are described as "shimmering blades of psychic energy . . . that you can manifest . . . from your free hand." Their description goes on to say [TCoE, pg. 64-65]: This magic blade...

dnd-5e class-feature rogue throwing-things underwater

AncientSwordRage

@ThomasMarkov and?

@bobble as far as I'm concerned :D

G. Moylan

4:02 PM

I learned recently that ferrets need rabies shots, too

It makes sense, I'd just never thought about it before

AncientSwordRage

@G.Moylan it does make sense

G. Moylan

we took in a doggo off the street recently and I've been getting up-to-date on dog care. A lot has changed in the last 10+ years since I had dogs.

And our city ordinances mentioned rabies vaccines for cats, dogs, and ferrets, spcifically

Thomas Markov

@AncientSwordRage Are you up to date on your rabies shot?

AncientSwordRage

👀

no comment

Thomas Markov

@Someone_Evil If I flag a comment for something else, and it gets autodeleted/marked helpful, do you still get an alert?

Someone_Evil

4:16 PM

@ThomasMarkov Sure don't

Thomas Markov

Good to know. I had flagged a comment earlier so you could clean up the whole thread, but the particular comment was autodeleted, so I flagged a different one.

Someone_Evil

I think there is a feature req somewhere that custom flags shouldn't autodelete comments

AncientSwordRage

@Trish I thought your last SR question was spam... you got me

I'm fully expecting spam answers trying to sell you pain relief though

Someone_Evil

I had the same thought when I saw it in the ticker feed :)

Trish

@AncientSwordRage XD heh. Yea, the power is called like some pain meds :P

Thomas Markov

4:30 PM

@Trish Maybe there is a more descriptive title that is lss likely to attract the bots?

Trish

@ThomasMarkov that is the name of the power according to the books.

Thomas Markov

4:48 PM

@Someone_Evil When you get a moment, can I get a private chat with you?

Feeds

9:09 PM

Needles & Nilbogs: Back home and somehow still functioning

posted on August 12, 2021 by Bardic Wizard

I’m kinda tired. We got back from our road trip on Saturday, then we unpacked, then it was my birthday just a couple days ago, and I’m exhausted from everything. So I’m just going to dump a bunch of random photos here from our trip, roughly in chronological order, and see if there’s anything I want to say about them. Featured within: the Regal Cardigan I started and finished (link to the Rave…

Thomas Markov

10:10 PM

The new staff/mod labels are so much less offensive to my soul

Ben

11:47 PM

Morning all

bobble

Have we reached the optimal amount of caffeine yet?

Ben

Well, I just had a bit of a philosophical rant about the legitimacy of "classifying" a religion as a religion, so I think that answers that question :P

Using Pastafarianism, Cthuluism and Scientology as the basis for the argument of course.

How are you today?\

bobble

about a half step below "functioning"

Ben

Ahhh I See what's happened. Someone's mixed up our energy levels

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