Kai Tave posted:

Hamburgers

Kai Tave posted:

Ratoslov posted:

So what's the state-of-the-art with bad D&D Next design decisions?


And also, I've got this bottle of black rum. I like it- it's like rum-flavored rum- but it's a little strong. What's a good cocktail that uses black rum?

Darwinism posted:

Have they said why they're going back to martial competency = roll more dice?

palecur posted:

The two best things to do with rum are a Cuba Libre with real has-sugar Coke (from Mexico or kosher) or a Dark & Stormy (1:3 rum:ginger beer over ice, lime slice, do not use ginger ale or you are a horrible person).

Winson_Paine posted:

I make my own ginger ale. It will make you weep with joy.

Kai Tave posted:

How do you guys cook hamburgers on a stove? Do you prep the meat in any special way? Temperature settings, cook times, I'm all ears. Hit me with your best stovetop hamburger techniques please.

Winson_Paine posted:

I make my own ginger ale. It will make you weep with joy.

Ratoslov posted:

And also, I've got this bottle of black rum. I like it- it's like rum-flavored rum- but it's a little strong. What's a good cocktail that uses black rum?

Winson_Paine posted:

I think it is because rolling more dice is fun. Like, that is the actual reason. Having a lot of dice to throw around is a visceral appeal, and having a little pile of dice you can spend is fun as a whole mess of indie games have shown. I am pretty sure at the heart of things that really is the deal.

Winson_Paine posted:

I think it is because rolling more dice is fun. Like, that is the actual reason. Having a lot of dice to throw around is a visceral appeal, and having a little pile of dice you can spend is fun as a whole mess of indie games have shown. I am pretty sure at the heart of things that really is the deal.

Barudak posted:

DnD Next's theater of the mind is a poor decision to try and use as a base for a modular system. It requires too much rules overlay and interlocking if you want to make the game's combat more meaty and meaningful in your tactical choices to the point where you might as well go play something that isn't actively working against you.

Kai Tave posted:

So instead I'll ask about hamburgers. I don't have a grill or anything, just some skillets (one cast iron, one not) and an electric stove, but I love me some hamburgers. The problem I have is that my efforts at cooking hamburgers always wind up being kind of lousy. Either they end up overcooking and turning dry and tough or they end up cooking too quickly on the outsides and getting burnt and blackened.

How do you guys cook hamburgers on a stove? Do you prep the meat in any special way? Temperature settings, cook times, I'm all ears. Hit me with your best stovetop hamburger techniques please.

MadRhetoric posted:

Unless you're a wizard: "Do more damage" is never the right tactical choice when your X is "end the encounter".

quote:

Both sides of this axiom are still true in 4e to certain extents: if you are a Striker, "Do more damage" is always the right decision. Unless you're a Warlock, then "Do X" is better than your damage until Paragon. Or you have something like the Rogue's Knockout.

Gr3y posted:

I keep at least one bottle of this in my trunk at all times for when I have to go to somewhere where I must interact with people. If they're not the type of people I can share a bottle of trunk bourbon with I find that telling them that I have to take a break from listening to them them talk to go drink some of the bourbon that I keep in my trunk is a good way to un-break that ice.

Kai Tave posted:

To be fair we haven't seen much of their vaunted "tactical rules module" yet, facing rules and all, assuming that's even still a thing. But I largely agree that for a year into development even the core, basic structure of the game seems incredibly lackluster. I never thought that I would actually say this, but given what we've seen so far I honestly wonder what things would look like now if Monte Cook hadn't left. Like, I'm doubtful that I would think it was a vast improvement or anything, but I don't know.

Mendrian posted:

If I've just started drinking whiskey, what's a good way to go without breaking my wallet or my throat?

moths posted:

I used to mix a half can of beer, some seasoning, and diced onions in with the meat before forming patties. That will keep them from setting out.

Start off at a medium-high setting, flipping frequently, until brown, then turn it down to a lower heat and cook until the middle is how you'd like it. You won't need to flip as frequently at three lower temp, and you can cover it now if you'd like.

fatherdog posted:

If Fighters got the same "Save or gently caress You" maneuvers as Wizards got spells, I would be entirely content.

Lord Frisk posted:

You lie! How is this possible?

Splicer posted:

It's true, throwing lots of dice around is a lot of fun. It should be noted that using some of a Fighter's special abilities result in rolling less dice.

Winson_Paine posted:

One of the things I liked about the Mongoose Conan d20 game is they actually gave fighters save or die and save or suck maneuvers, so they could kabong a guy in the head and daze him or just cut his goddamned head off if they were a cool enough dude.

Winson_Paine posted:

Well, gently caress those special abilities. I think one of the reasons I like the new Cortex+ Marvel game is generating whacky dice pools for every roll.

Kai Tave posted:

How do you guys cook hamburgers on a stove? Do you prep the meat in any special way? Temperature settings, cook times, I'm all ears. Hit me with your best stovetop hamburger techniques please.

Splicer posted:

Play WFRP3 and/or Danger Patrol. In both of these the player and GM response to pretty much everything is "roll some more dice".

Winson_Paine posted:

What is Danger Patrol? I know it is a tangent and a derail, but I checked with the mod and he said it was OK.

Kai Tave posted:

How do you guys cook hamburgers on a stove? Do you prep the meat in any special way? Temperature settings, cook times, I'm all ears. Hit me with your best stovetop hamburger techniques please.

Mendrian posted:

If I've just started drinking whiskey, what's a good way to go without breaking my wallet or my throat?

Barudak posted:

Have they made a clarification of what prestige classes are? Because if leveling is anything like 3e where I should basically never stick to my class unless I'm a wizard I'm going to be more mad than when I see Whiskey Connoisseurs talk down to Wine Connoisseurs in some sort of smugularity.

Kai Tave posted:

It's like a retro-pulp sci-fi game by the guy who did Lady Blackbird and GhostEcho/Ghost Lines. Still in beta, I don't know whether he's continuing to work on it or not.

Winson_Paine posted:

A very simple recipe is take a cup of water and a cup of sugar and boil them until the sugar is dissolved. While that is getting up to temp shred up a SHITLOAD of ginger from a fresh ginger root, once the sugar is dissolved and you have a clear simple syrup throw your ginger in and let that poo poo steep for an hour or so, basically until the poo poo is cold. Strain the resultant liquid into a clean two liter (you can save the shavings because they are basically ginger candy) and then fill the two liter up the rest of the way with water. Add like, 1/8 of a teaspoon of yeast to this, screw the cap on, and then put this under a sink or somewhere dark and cool for about 36-48 hours. After that it should go in the fridge, to stop it from exploding. Fuckin' delicious. Once you get the hang of that, you can start messing with the basic recipe, I have added lemon zest with good results ferinstance.

Kai Tave posted:

BECMI had that sort of thing too, as I recall. It was part of the Weapon Mastery rules whereby Fighters could learn all sorts of crazy poo poo with weapons, so you could do things like specialize in using torches as weapons or throw bolas at people and force them to save versus strangulation or die in a few rounds, stuff like that. "Fighter as basic attacking meat robot only" is one of those weird things that people seem to have retro-engineered into an immutable part of D&D's legacy even when it demonstrably hasn't always been the case.

Slimnoid posted:

Well I know what I'm going to try tomorrow.

Slimnoid posted:

Honestly if Next was going that far in appeasing the old-schools and started aping BECMI stuff, I'd be on board 100%. Basic is boss as hell.

Kai Tave posted:

Of course, the problem they'd run into there is that if you've got a hankering to play BECMI then all you really need to do is go and grab the Dark Dungeons BECMI retroclone which is completely free and pretty much comprehensive for all your B, E, C, M, and I-ing needs.

Mike Mearls posted:

It might be strange for the guy in charge of D&D R&D to say this, but here it goes: After the core rules for the game are done, we really want to stop adding so much stuff to the mechanics of the game and shift our emphasis to story.

D&D is a shared language. The rules serve to make it easier to talk about the game and make stuff happen. They take abstract concepts and give them clear meaning. When we say "5th-level wizard," we know what you can do and how you do it. We know that because we play D&D. Someone who never played the game would be utterly lost.

A language works best when everyone who uses it can communicate efficiently. If I described my character as a "prime tier ensign," that doesn't mean anything to you. Could you guess what my character wears, what sort of weapon he might wield, and what special abilities he uses? Any answer you give is a pure guess.

For that reason, in building classes, character options, and everything else in the game, we need to stick to things that make sense and resonate with you. That's why we've adopted things like specialties and backgrounds as tools to organize game rules. Rapid Shot and Precise Shot are abstract things that aren't really clear. You can only understand them by knowing what they are. They don't stand on their own in a meaningful way. Describing your fighter as an archer, though, makes sense to anyone. Your character uses a bow. That's self-evident from the word archer. There are still details to study, but the general idea evokes a key fantasy archetype.

The trick is that the list of things that resonate is shorter than an unbound list. It's a challenge, but it's one worth tackling. Realistically, I'm willing to bet that most people didn't start playing D&D because they wanted to take Rapid Shot. You probably wanted to play an archer, or a sneaky thief, and so on. The most resonant elements arise from outside the game, in the myths and stories that we're all exposed to.

The other side to this coin is that with a much-reduced emphasis on turning out new rules mechanics, the material we make receives more playtesting, development, and care. If you want to make an archer option, it has to be a good option. You don't get a second chance at it.

So, that's the general philosophy on expanding the rules of the game.

Barudak posted:

DnD Next is a lot like making an Old Kentucky Shark whiskey, You mix Old Grandad, Landshark Beer, and Gummy candies to create an unpalatable mess that nobody likes even if they like the individual ingredients.

Winson_Paine posted:

You know, I have tried a lot of these sorts of things and the result always tastes more like a meatloaf sandwich than a hamburger. I am a fan of a well packed patty with salt and pepper on the outside.

Gr3y posted:

My favorite Rum cocktail is called a "Tropical Storm". Pour three finger of your selected rum into a rocks glass. Add a paper umbrella. Enjoy.

Kai Tave posted:

New Legends & Lore is up a bit early looks like: