Notices by mcv (mcv@nerdica.net), page 2

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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 23:40:18 JST mcv
in reply to
- hypolite
- silverwizard
@silverwizard @hypolite I saw it mostly as an internet joke. Sure, it made some points about atheism that I (as Christian) obviously disagreed with, but I wasn't offended by it.
Of course the point about pirates was wrong, because there's actually a lot of pirates today. See the Somalian pirate scare from a decade ago or so.
You make some good points though. Especially about the anti-hijab stuff. Though I don't object to fighting overly strict ID photo rules.

In conversation Tuesday, 25-Apr-2023 23:40:18 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 02:10:29 JST mcv
in reply to
- silverwizard
@silverwizard Is the Fly spell faster than a dragon? According to dndbeyond the spell makes you fly at speed 60, whereas a dragon (adult black at least) flies at 80.

In conversation Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 02:10:29 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 01:31:34 JST mcv
in reply to
- silverwizard
@silverwizard Hard isn't bad. But D&D does offer a lot of the tools of what I want. Plenty of systems don't have half of this stuff.

mobility is pretty bad in D&D - the Dragon can move real fast
Also an issue I've been thinking about. If he's losing, can't the dragon just fly away?

There's a lot of like, web, dimensional anchor, and other tools to make it slow down.
Web is an interesting idea. Though wouldn't the Web be too small to capture an entire dragon? And wouldn't the dragon be too strong and easily break loose? But it's exactly the sort of thing that, if they try it at the right time, will probably work.

In conversation Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 01:31:34 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 00:50:17 JST mcv
in reply to
- silverwizard
@silverwizard
They need to be 14 because that's their age! (I wasn't talking about level)
Good point. Still, could be a reason to let them play at level 14.

D&D's core Combat Thing is the Action Economy.
That's true. Well, if I understand correctly, a dragon has a couple of attacks: I think they can claw/claw/bite in melee, or do a big breath weapon attack, possibly on multiple targets. It also gets the free tail slap as a legendary action.

But my goal here is not to have everybody hack away at the dragon while the dragon just sits there and attacks them back; I want something more dynamic than that. I want at the start, to have most of their attacks be useless against the dragon, until they figure out how to hurt it.

Of course that also means they need to survive until they figure that out; they may need plenty of access to healing. I'm also seeing this as a fight with multiple rounds, where either they or the dragon breaks off and regroups to figure out a better way to fight.

And - yeah - listening in is hard - but I recommend trying.
Well, my son, who already knows about my dragon idea, seems to want to climb on top of the dragon. First he was planning to do it as a monk and then grapple it to the ground, now he's thinking teleporting to the back of the dragon as a wizard.

So having someone on the dragon's back is certainly something I'm going to take into account.

In conversation Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 00:50:17 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 00:29:36 JST mcv
in reply to
- silverwizard
@silverwizard
single enemies work badly in D&D and often lead to anticlimaxes
In what way? Too easy to defeat, even if by the book their threat rating is too high?

My idea for this fight (as it's in my head right now at least) is that it won't be simply be a matter of hitting each other and grinding down the hit points. At first, the dragon should be way too powerful for them, and they need to figure out how to even fight it. Once they figure that out, it shouldn't be too hard to kill it.

I think the dragon will have a ton of protective magic that will make it hard to hurt, so they will have to figure out a way around that. Or to dispel it. And for that, I'm thinking about an anti-magic orb, perhaps with a slightly larger radius than normal, that covers some of the tunnels into his lair that the dragon has trouble entering, so anyone entering through there will have all their magic deactivated. This will initially be a problem to the PCs, but one they find the orb, they can use it against the dragon.

use your legendary and lair actions to spice up the fight more than hurt
Yes! Look at the stats for 5e dragons, I was mostly disappointed because they're kinda boring compared to the Shadowrun dragons I'm used to, but those legendary and lair actions are cool, and I will definitely use them.

let them be 14 and do some Hit Thing With Axe, it's fun!
Considering the CR of the dragon, I'm definitely considering letting them be a bit higher level. But why level 14 specifically?

Also, once they've employed the anti-magic orb, I guess hitting it with their axe will be the only way to hurt it.

Of course they also still need a way to tie it to the ground, or it will just fly off. I've been thinking of making the lair a crater and dropping a big ship in there. To show off how big and strong the dragon is, but also to give them access to plenty of ropes and chains.

Listen to them make characters and see which subsystems they like, be familiar and make them have cool things hidden inside (someone likes hiding and sneakattacking, clump of stalagmites that they can hide in, someone likes fireball, group of like 10 kobolds doing a ritual that will become a big problem if not for a fireball)
I'm not entirely sure yet how they're going to make characters, but I think they'll make them in advance. Otherwise it will cut into play time. I do know they love abusing sneak attacks; one player plays a bugbear with ridiculous amounts of sneak attack damage in one of their campaigns.

In conversation Tuesday, 18-Apr-2023 00:29:36 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Monday, 17-Apr-2023 21:39:05 JST mcv
- Dʏsᴏɴ Lᴏɢᴏs
My son turns 14 next week, and although he seemed to want to completely ignore his birthday, he suddenly decided he wants me to run a level 12 D&D session for him and his friends. His D&D friends who've been starting half a dozen D&D campaigns over the past few months since they discovered D&D.

I'm not that big of a D&D fan though, so I first proposed Call of Cthulhu, WFRP, or maybe something in space, but he says he doesn't want to learn a new system (well, what about me?) and he wants something with spells. Spells in space might be okay.

So I guess it's going to be D&D. So I need to familiarise myself with it enough to blow them all our of the water, because I don't want to do something average for a birthday one-shot. But what?

My idea so far: A dragon is terrorising the land. The land is in panic and sends its biggest and most legendary heroes to kill it, but they don't return, and the dragon continues. So they send the B Team: the PCs. Approaching the lair, they have to go through a bunch of tunnels or caves, where they find the remains of the previous expedition. Some dead, some trapped, some enslaved perhaps? And they should give some clues about what they can expect. Clues that they absolutely need to take on the dragon.

So I need ideas for that! What makes this dragon too hard for a 12th level party, and what weaknesses does it have that might help them overcome it? I also feel inspired by The Hobbit with the arrow shot at Smaug's one vulnerable spot; how do they find out? I'm also inspired by the 16HP dragon idea from OSR: once they've figured out how to hurt it, it shouldn't take too long to kill it. Of course I have no idea how to balance an encounter in D&D5...

Of course it still has to fit in a single session. It has to be short but awesome.

And I suppose I need a map. Does anyone know if @dysonlogos has a suitable map for a dragon lair that's accessed through some tunnels? (His map style would contribute a lot more to the awesomeness than if I made it myself, I'm afraid.)

If anyone has helpful advice for me, I could really use some.

#rpg #ttrpg #oneshot #dnd

In conversation Monday, 17-Apr-2023 21:39:05 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Friday, 07-Apr-2023 02:10:24 JST mcv
in reply to
- fu
- silverwizard
@silverwizard @fu The trick to estimations is not to estimate time correctly, but to estimate abstract points that have no relation to time, and then learn over time how much time those points roughly tend to take.

There's no guarantee that it's ever going to be accurate, but maybe calculating with those points will keep management off your back for a while.

In conversation Friday, 07-Apr-2023 02:10:24 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Thursday, 30-Mar-2023 05:30:20 JST mcv
in reply to
- hypolite
- silverwizard
@silverwizard @hypolite I used to sign up with a custom email address per service, so I'd know who leaked my email address to spammers. Stuff like mcv=adobe@mydomain.nl. But a lot of email forms don't allow that sort of email address, which is stupid.

In conversation Thursday, 30-Mar-2023 05:30:20 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Feb-2023 08:45:56 JST mcv
in reply to
- silverwizard
@silverwizard I always want to check what they post before I follow them. This works when doing it from a post or comment, though you need to skip the first tow options. But from a contact request, the option isn't there as far as I can tell. I keep trying to loop for them and I only run into all the wrong options there.

In conversation Wednesday, 08-Feb-2023 08:45:56 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Feb-2023 01:21:42 JST mcv
in reply to

It's also an issue with Friendica. When I click on someone, The first couple of options send me to their instance, where I can't follow them. When I get a follow/friend request, I have no option to see what they posted without going to their instance. Clicking "network" or "timeline" shows my own, not theirs.

There's a lot that can still be improved about the UI.

In conversation Wednesday, 08-Feb-2023 01:21:42 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Saturday, 21-Jan-2023 01:17:54 JST mcv
in reply to

Stupid behaviour around quotes keeps surprising me. If it's smart enough to analyse the code, surely it should be smart enough to see that the quotes are meant to go around the bit that's not valid code?

I do use IDEs, and they're often very helpful, but sometimes they're trying to be a bit too smart for their own good, and failing badly at it.

In conversation Saturday, 21-Jan-2023 01:17:54 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Friday, 13-Jan-2023 09:05:19 JST mcv
in reply to

@utzer I'm afraid it's already past my bedtime in Europe.

(I'm only awake because I had to write my interpretation of Ryan Dancey's interview about the OGL issue.)

In conversation Friday, 13-Jan-2023 09:05:19 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Friday, 13-Jan-2023 08:30:46 JST mcv
in reply to

Hammer time!

In conversation Friday, 13-Jan-2023 08:30:46 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 08:26:11 JST mcv
in reply to

Building these lego sets can be very therapeutic.

My wife was never a big lego fan until she discovered these. Now she insists we buy as many as possible. Even the ones that aren't made any more and cost twice what they used to. And though she used to complain about all the crap I always bought, now she doesn't care any more. I feel a bit guilty for having created a lego addict.

In conversation Thursday, 12-Jan-2023 08:26:11 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Sunday, 01-Jan-2023 23:17:00 JST mcv
in reply to

JSON is great when you're messing about and you're in control of both sides of the exchange. But when types and validation start to matter, SOAP does have a point. But it's still too verbose.

There's actually a thing called JSON schema. Never used it, but maybe that could fix the problem.

In conversation Sunday, 01-Jan-2023 23:17:00 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Monday, 26-Dec-2022 04:38:51 JST mcv
in reply to

"Quiet quitting" should be renamed "healthy working", because that's what it is: you do what you're paid to do, and you go home on time.

(I'm terrible at it; I was still mailing a coworker yesterday at 23:45 because I suddenly knew the solution to the problem we were stuck on, and I'm away for the next two weeks while he keeps working during the Christmas break.)

In conversation Monday, 26-Dec-2022 04:38:51 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Dec-2022 08:11:15 JST mcv
in reply to
- mike
- silverwizard
@mike @silverwizard Is there anyone who follows him and for whom this way of posting works well? Because it would be a shame if he posts all these long threads and nobody reads it.

In conversation Wednesday, 21-Dec-2022 08:11:15 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Dec-2022 08:08:17 JST mcv
in reply to
- hypolite
- silverwizard
@hypolite @silverwizard I do follow him because I like his work, but he's sharing it in a way that's hard to read.

I'm not mad at him, but if he wants people to read it, I think there are more effective ways he could post.

On the other hand, I'm also wondering if maybe Friendica could show those kind of threads in a different way.

In conversation Wednesday, 21-Dec-2022 08:08:17 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Wednesday, 21-Dec-2022 02:57:04 JST mcv
in reply to

And what do the instance tokens and federation counters do?

Or is that the point: it adds a lot of stuff that leads to nothing?

In conversation Wednesday, 21-Dec-2022 02:57:04 JST from nerdica.net permalink
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mcv (mcv@nerdica.net)'s status on Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 08:20:16 JST mcv
in reply to
- silverwizard
@silverwizard Then take your time, wrestle your way through Boba Fett and Kenobi, in the knowledge that the light of Andor shines at the end of the tunnel.

In conversation Sunday, 18-Dec-2022 08:20:16 JST from nerdica.net permalink

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