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Splicer posted:I was wrong, it's just not on their site anymore. I can't find the perception bit (or rather I stopped listening because I finished the dishes) but here's it timestamped to around the start of the hilarious ghoul fight where half the party just sits around paralysed while Mearls tries to avoid TPKing their first livestream while everyone TotM's themselves into utter confusion about how many ghouls there are. What's TotM?
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Dec 26, 2021 02:28
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Absurd Alhazred posted:What's TotM? Theater of the Mind, I assume.
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Dec 26, 2021 02:29
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senrath posted:Theater of the Mind, I assume.
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Dec 26, 2021 02:32
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Coolness Averted posted:I believe the characters got statted up/blocks along with illustrations in Dragon or Dungeon Magazine. I think they were available as samples in one of the character builders. Penny Arcade also did a 2009 April Fools' article with the Witchalok class.
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Dec 26, 2021 02:50
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senrath posted:Theater of the Mind, I assume. Which, for reference, generally refers to the D&D playstyle where the GM just describes the scene and where everyone is in it, and you get to use the richness of your imagination instead of being constrained by a 5-foot square grid map. Which just means you're imagining a 5-foot square grid because that's what everything in modern editions of D&D is measured in, but it's a slightly different grid than what everyone else is picturing and someone's inevitably going to get confused about what's going on.
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Dec 26, 2021 04:16
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I've played with Theater of the Mind, it just didn't pop out to me as the obvious source of this acronym. 
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Dec 26, 2021 04:22
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Yeah sorry during the D&D Next run up one of their buzz, er, phrases was how Next wasn't going to need maps like 4E did, it was going to be written for Theatre Of The Mind!!! 5e facilitates theatre of the mind by So anyway it was funny when their first big public playtest stream went like that.
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Dec 26, 2021 04:37
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Yeah, the 5E PHB and DMG talk about theater of the mind as an option while giving it zero support and having everything else assume a grid with miniatures.
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Dec 26, 2021 04:41
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GF bought me this dice https://q-workshop.com/en/glowna/1517/witcher-geralt-roachs-companion edit: and says the Ciri dice are coming in later: https://q-workshop.com/en/glowna/1610/witcher-ciri-law-surprise GreenBuckanneer fucked around with this message at 05:08 on Dec 26, 2021 |
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Dec 26, 2021 05:05
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Absurd Alhazred posted:Yeah, the 5E PHB and DMG talk about theater of the mind as an option while giving it zero support and having everything else assume a grid with miniatures. Which is exactly what 3x did. They also continue the tradition of giving martial classes abilities that are completely worthless without grid combat. Like I don't think my GM is ever going to actually make the extra barbarian move speed matter, or reach weapons. Also gently caress duration for manuevers and spells listed in minutes or hours instead of scene/turns/whatever. "Oh a round is about 15 seconds so a 1 minute duration is roughly 4 rounds." Then say 4 rounds.
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Dec 26, 2021 05:34
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3.5e very much assumed a grid and battlemap, I don't think Theater of the Mind was suggested as an option anywhere in the DMG. I don't think it was suggested in the UA either.
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Dec 26, 2021 05:42
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Tibalt posted:3.5e very much assumed a grid and battlemap, I don't think Theater of the Mind was suggested as an option anywhere in the DMG. I don't think it was suggested in the UA either. I think it was blipped out as a potential thing in the same way any house rules are allowed, but yeah I remember the 3.5 PHB is written from the assumption of grids and mats. Moving away from just bashing the Bad Game, I wonder what really is the best reaction to emergent gameplay stuff in a non digital game. Like do you errata in nerfs and buffs, write clarification posts, Or just roll with it? If the players want the game to be focused on X instead of Y let's write future materials with those updated assumptions? With older games the toothpaste was kind of out of the tube until a new edition, but with modern digital distribution for most RPGs and selling folks subscriptions to tools I think it would be easier to make adjustments.
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Dec 26, 2021 05:59
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Coolness Averted posted:I think it was blipped out as a potential thing in the same way any house rules are allowed, but yeah I remember the 3.5 PHB is written from the assumption of grids and mats. I just started reading Tasha's Cauldron for 5e and the opening section pretty much says "if you don't like the original rules, just swap them out. Or don't." With a ton of optional house rules. The solution is to make the DMs/player pay money for a new physical book that explains you can obviously house rule stuff, if the DM agrees.
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Dec 26, 2021 07:48
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3.5e was very specifically about the battle mat, with ranges given in squares and rules like the then-infamous “darkness isn’t dark” to avoid situations that minis couldn’t represent. 3.0, on the other hand, still used feet and only made using a map a suggestion.
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Dec 26, 2021 07:52
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5E also hides the map rules in the DMG, which sucks because I would actually like to know what the difference between a sphere and a cube is. I don't even know if the game has rules for lines of sight.
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Dec 26, 2021 07:55
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Siivola posted:5E also hides the map rules in the DMG, which sucks because I would actually like to know what the difference between a sphere and a cube is. I see it on page 204 of the PHB. Am I missing something?
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Dec 26, 2021 08:03
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Don’t forget to check if a cone actually means a frustrum (5e) or a teardrop (Pathfinder)
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Dec 26, 2021 08:07
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ninjoatse.cx posted:I see it on page 204 of the PHB. Am I missing something? Yes, there are general descriptions of the AOE shapes. The specific issue here is, there's no actual rules in the PHB translating an AOE onto the battle map. Sure, a sphere starts from a point and then affects everything within its radius – but is it enough to clip the corner of a square or do you have to get it entirely within to affect a creature? What if it's a large creature? Why does the book specify the cube's point of origin is on its side when so many spells explicitly put it in the center?  Pictured: A loving useless diagram. Edit: To be entirely honest I don't actually know if there are any more robust rules in the DMG. I'm just hoping!
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Dec 26, 2021 08:36
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Splicer posted:I was wrong, it's just not on their site anymore. I can't find the perception bit (or rather I stopped listening because I finished the dishes) but here's it timestamped to around the start of the hilarious ghoul fight where half the party just sits around paralysed while Mearls tries to avoid TPKing their first livestream while everyone TotM's themselves into utter confusion about how many ghouls there are. Major props, Splicer! Thank you for the links!
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Dec 26, 2021 09:37
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But look there is a funny gnome and he explains game concepts diegetically. IMMERSION
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Dec 26, 2021 09:40
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Coolness Averted posted:Moving away from just bashing the Bad Game, I wonder what really is the best reaction to emergent gameplay stuff in a non digital game. I think about this constantly. I think it's why a 6th Edition D&D is super far off. They'll release new PHBs, and they'll be backwards compatible, but they'll be backwards compatible with the current state of the game up through some book (like Tasha's or whatever). WotC wants games as a service.
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Dec 26, 2021 10:07
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My Lovely Horse posted:But look there is a funny gnome and he explains game concepts diegetically. Wizards know the shapes their spells effect, and new wizzies gotta learn somehow. Immersion maintained  CitizenKeen posted:I think about this constantly. I think it's why a 6th Edition D&D is super far off. They'll release new PHBs, and they'll be backwards compatible, but they'll be backwards compatible with the current state of the game up through some book (like Tasha's or whatever). WotC wants games as a service. They could print their own money by doing what they've been outsourcing and/or getting a VTT thingie going.
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Dec 26, 2021 10:11
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Lurks With Wolves posted:Which, for reference, generally refers to the D&D playstyle where the GM just describes the scene and where everyone is in it, and you get to use the richness of your imagination instead of being constrained by a 5-foot square grid map. Which just means you're imagining a 5-foot square grid because that's what everything in modern editions of D&D is measured in, but it's a slightly different grid than what everyone else is picturing and someone's inevitably going to get confused about what's going on. Don't forget the part where the distance between the fighter and the enemy is totally more than the fighter can move in a single round, sorry, but yeah, they're probably all in range of one fireball, sure.
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Dec 26, 2021 12:59
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Siivola posted:The specific issue here is, there's no actual rules in the PHB translating an AOE onto the battle map. You're looking for grid rules. The only thing the PHB has to say about grid rules is that it's a Variant and that there's some short bits about how to translate movement and ranges. Officially, it's a game designed to be run in Theater of the mind or with exact millimeter perfect maps, and Crawford's lovely tweets on the subject represent that. You are to argue inches with your DM when it comes to placing spell effects, or Attacks of Opportunity, or Moving. This is the soul of D&D according to Crawford. This is, to my speculation, not how most games are played in 2021, and probably not how most games were played in 2014, but I don't have concrete data for that. Siivola posted:Sure, a sphere starts from a point and then affects everything within its radius – but is it enough to clip the corner of a square or do you have to get it entirely within to affect a creature? What if it's a large creature? "A spell’s effect expands in straight lines from the point of origin. If no unblocked straight line extends from the point of origin to a location within the area of effect, that location isn’t included in the spell’s area. To block one of these imaginary lines, an obstruction must provide total cover, as explained in chapter 9" If you can draw a line from the Point of Origin that intersects with the target, it's a valid target. Siivola posted:
The diagram is not made to be used in a vacuum. It's a visual reference for the entire page of AoE shape rules that accompany it. Siivola posted:Why does the book specify the cube's point of origin is on its side when so many spells explicitly put it in the center? Only 1 spell in the PHB centers the cube on a point. All of the rest of them follow the standard cube rules of : "You select a cube’s point of origin, which lies anywhere on a face of the cubic effect. The cube’s size is expressed as the length of each side. A cube’s point of origin is not included in the cube’s area of effect, unless you decide otherwise." Right or wrong, 5Es core design also reflects the assumption that players will be playing "Mother May I" with the DM as a matter of course, at every turn. Players are not expected to have every rule available to them, and the DM is supposed to just sort of wing it and make a determination on the fly. AoE rules are a perfect example of this, with the following guidance in the DMG (among several pages of Grid/Hex rules): "Many spells and other game features create areas of effect, such as the cone and the sphere. If you're not using miniatures or another visual aid, it can sometimes be difficult to determine who's in an area of effect and who isn't. The easiest way to address such uncertainty is to go with your gut and make a call. If you would like more guidance, consider using the Targets in Areas of Effect table. To use the table, imagine which combatants are near one another, and let the table guide you in determining the number of those combatants that are caught in an area of effect. Add or subtract targets based on how bunched up the potential targets are. Consider rolling 1d3 to determine the amount to add or subtract." This is consistent with other things like the official "when anyone makes a roll, the results of the roll are not known until confirmed by the DM, so when, for instance, a player/NPC rolls to attack, while the players may know their relevant stat (hit bonus/AC) and they may see the die roll, they will not know the NPC's relevant statistic (hit bonus/AC), so there's a window for reactive abilities that take place `after a die is rolled but before the outcome is revealed` where they must guess whether that's a hit/miss, based on the die facing and any context clues they've picked up, and spend resources based on that hunch". They are largely consistent on sticking to this narrative throughout the early published works for 5E, and it's worked out, mechanically, about as well as you'd expect.
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Dec 26, 2021 13:20
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CitizenKeen posted:I think about this constantly. I think it's why a 6th Edition D&D is super far off. They'll release new PHBs, and they'll be backwards compatible, but they'll be backwards compatible with the current state of the game up through some book (like Tasha's or whatever). WotC wants games as a service. they are doing some sort of 5.5e in 2024. whether or not it will be good is yet to be seen, signs point to "not really, but they might slightly improve some things"
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Dec 26, 2021 17:13
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pog boyfriend posted:they are doing some sort of 5.5e in 2024. whether or not it will be good is yet to be seen, signs point to "not really, but they might slightly improve some things" Right, and that's kind of what I mean. I'll wager 5.5 is mostly 5, with all the new options folded in, and some small changes that don't invalidate any math or core rules. You'll need to buy the new books but you'll still be able to use the old ones.
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Dec 26, 2021 20:47
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Well. In using my gift cards up through online shopping it seems I accidentally purchased a book that's associated with the long-running failures of Witch Girls Adventures.
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Dec 26, 2021 22:23
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Hostile V posted:Well. In using my gift cards up through online shopping it seems I accidentally purchased a book that's associated with the long-running failures of Witch Girls Adventures. Ah, I remember the weird crossover book they did where they started turning characters into supers and representing witches as the baddies. Of course the characters includes an expy of the author who was a super strong guy, and a Mary Sue of Abby Soto whose powers are, no joke, "she can do anything a witch can do, and can shut down the powers of witches."
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Dec 26, 2021 23:05
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hyphz posted:Ah, I remember the weird crossover book they did where they started turning characters into supers and representing witches as the baddies. Of course the characters includes an expy of the author who was a super strong guy, and a Mary Sue of Abby Soto whose powers are, no joke, "she can do anything a witch can do, and can shut down the powers of witches."
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Dec 26, 2021 23:28
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"Superpunk?"
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Dec 27, 2021 00:06
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Why is it in the style of NES box art.
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Dec 27, 2021 03:14
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I don't know and I think the copy I bought actually has a hosed-up cover that looks better than it ought to.
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Dec 27, 2021 03:27
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Hostile V posted:I don't know and I think the copy I bought actually has a hosed-up cover that looks better than it ought to. Wait what the gently caress.
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Dec 27, 2021 03:36
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Offset offset printing.
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Dec 27, 2021 03:38
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Are the Witch Girls Adventures people still active? It's like the whole thing crawled into a hole and died after the Bellum Maga book failed to work as a soft reset of the fetish RP world.
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Dec 27, 2021 16:45
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Nuns with Guns posted:Are the Witch Girls Adventures people still active? It's like the whole thing crawled into a hole and died after the Bellum Maga book failed to work as a soft reset of the fetish RP world. Their last supplement was in 2020, since then they have just been selling rebundles of the old stuff. I doubt they ever hired an editor.
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Dec 27, 2021 18:26
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Any good post-Christmas sales anywhere?
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Dec 27, 2021 18:26
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hyphz posted:3.5e was very specifically about the battle mat, with ranges given in squares and rules like the then-infamous “darkness isn’t dark” to avoid situations that minis couldn’t represent. I think you might be confusing 4e and 3.5e. The 3rd edition rules and their revision are more or less identical, with minor exceptions aside, and give a speed of "30 feet" for humans, unlike 4e, which gives a speed of 6 squares. It has quirks like the spell called darkness setting the light level to dim light regardless of prior conditions (bright light or total darkness) to remain distinct from the higher-level deeper darkness spell, but the rules underlying light and dark mostly work intuitively. For that matter, 4e had something resembling 3e's light rules as well. Torches Upon Stars fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Dec 27, 2021 |
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Dec 27, 2021 20:48
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Honestly, 3.5e had plenty of stuff that just didn't work unless you were using board with a grid. Like, if you were going "theater of the mind," 50% of all Fighter feats were useless because they were all about zones of control and etc. that are hard to represent and keep track of without a grid.
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Dec 27, 2021 21:06
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MonsieurChoc posted:Any good post-Christmas sales anywhere? It's not quite a sale, but Stars Without Number just went up on the Bundle of Holding page.
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Dec 27, 2021 21:15
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