@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

pteryx

@pteryx@dice.camp

A roleplayer frustrated at the structure of our society. She/her.

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Tim_Eagon, to random
@Tim_Eagon@dice.camp avatar

Though I've been drifting away from for a while now, it's still feels really weird to be completely uninterested in the latest releases. I mean, not even a twinge of FOMO.

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@Da_Gut @bedirthan @Tim_Eagon @dragoncrown This is why I think overemphasis on prestige classes was one of the big mistakes of D&D 3.x, and why I like lots of base classes and and alternate class abilities and/or archetypes better. Most prestige classes demand a strict build plan for entry that must not be deviated from, while with other forms of customization you can more easily make choices on the fly — which is to say, choices that actually reflect the events of the campaign — more easily.

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@libraryogre @bedirthan @Tim_Eagon @Da_Gut @dragoncrown The complex sets of prereqs were specific to two things: feats and prestige classes.

Feats were both new and a victim of fear that Fighters would be as strong as they were in 2e. I consider the "feat taxes" to be a bigger sin than most so-called "trap" feats.

Prestige classes as a major emphasis of the game were, IMO, a mistake. The fact that such shiny-looking mechanics had such strict entry requirements frankly distorted the game.

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@Da_Gut @libraryogre @bedirthan @Tim_Eagon @dragoncrown Yeah, PrCs were definitely very popular in 3.5's heyday, and I remember being in groups that tended to focus on them. But I can't say I was a huge fan of "you only get to be the kind of character you imagined once you're halfway through the game", which was why I ended up liking 3.5's (and eventually PF1's) large numbers of base classes, and those games' means of customizing those base classes, better.

Faintdreams, to random
@Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

Thinking about the 1900's coin.

Don't think anything else I currently own - aside from perhaps books (if kept correctly) - can feasibly last 120+ years into the future.

This is a sobering thought.

Do you own anything that you think will will still be functional in 120 years? *

[* Assuming Human Society still exists somewhat intact]

https://dice.camp/@Faintdreams/112417845477172691

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@Faintdreams I figure my Legos could be passed down to some kids in my roommate's family when I'm old without issue.

thebrand, to random
@thebrand@dice.camp avatar

I'm seeing a lot of my fellow Gen-Xers saying "When did we start thinking the police were the bad guys?"

Did you not come up on Fuck the Police? On Killing in the Name?

Or is this only because now that you have your little bit of shit and feel entitled that you want to remake it? To be safe for you, instead of strong for them? To become the generation we hated for not protecting us?

These kids are doing what we did. Being who we wanted to be. Help them, don't shit on them. Fucking cowards.

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@LeviKornelsen @thebrand Xennial here. For my own part, that time came in the early 2010s, when the evidence that the cops are the bad guys really started piling up where it couldn't be ignored as merely anecdotal or flukes.

Aleenaa, to books
@Aleenaa@india.goonj.xyz avatar

Found this cutiee sleeping on top of books.Books do provide comfort to everyone 📖

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@Aleenaa @mastodonindians Of course, on the other hand, cats get jealous when humans read books. "Don't pay attention to squiggles, pay attention to ME!"

btravern, to DnD
@btravern@dice.camp avatar

Credit where it's due, it's a relief that DnDBeyond has confirmed 's 5.5 edition will be included in the Creative Commons SRD. This will be a net gain for the hobby, whatever WotC/Hasbro have planned to leverage profits from their famous brand.

We're still waiting on the promised 3.5 rules CC SRD as well, though.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1717-2024-core-rulebooks-to-expand-the-srd

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@bedirthan @btravern Notably, the article seems to imply that they haven't even started the review they said they needed to do as a prerequisite to such a release.

Also of note: no mention of the OGL at all.

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

So, the reason I was looking at Star Wars - and other games - was because I'm questioning the whole point of "Character Advancement" in games that aren't power fantasies.

There are many games where you're just a "normal" person or "Normal+" 😉

Why do so many of those games have "advancement" or "levels" or whatever? Is it just because it's become expected? If you're not playing a Power Fantasy then why do characters just gaining power and capability at an impossible rate?

pteryx,
@pteryx@dice.camp avatar

@masukomi That partly depends on the rate of leveling. It is definitely true that it's possible to level far too fast to swallow. (Even the campaign I'm in has been pushing it, with us gaining about one level per IC week...)

LeviKornelsen, to random
@LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

deleted_by_author

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    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen This frustrated me when I tried to research cermet, too. Chemistry doesn't tell me how actual people make actual kinds of cermet...

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen I'm not thrilled about the idea of intentionally making the Web worse...

    Faintdreams, to random
    @Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

    I miss Maplins.

    Maplins was a UK electrical store chain that sold consumer electronics, and was pretty much the only high street chain for any hobbiest

    You could walk into a store with something, take it to back desk - say "what is this and how do I connect it to this and not blow myself up / start a fire" and they could tell you AND sell you the required kit - at a reasonable price!

    Nowhere does this any more outside of Maker clubs/groups.

    [current Maplins online is a zombie brand]

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @Faintdreams That definitely sounds exactly like what Radio Shack was like when I was a kid, yes!

    Sears was once legendary too. For example, Craftsman tools had a literal, REAL lifetime guarantee, meaning the lifetime of Sears itself. If one broke, you could trade it in for a new one, no hassle, no questions asked.

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @bradorsomething @copacetic WotC still owns the vast majority of D&D. The CC-BY release of the 5.1 SRD isn't even all the core books of one edition... and we had to shout at them in order to make them release even that much, and not just the bits they didn't think they could defend in court as a PR stunt.

    In our current socioeconomic climate, I'm not sure anyone who'd buy D&D off of WotC's corpse would want to save D&D like WotC did two decades ago, as opposed to copyright trolling.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    "A mount other chess pieces can ride on" is not the silliest thing I've designed, but it's close.

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen On the topic of piece concepts, shortly after having heard about the concept of fairy chess pieces I wrote up an archer piece:

    https://pteryx.dreamwidth.org/1064.html

    nukehavoc, to random
    @nukehavoc@dice.camp avatar

    shadow dragons are sad and depressing, and not in a cool, goth-like way like Winona Ryder in Beetlejuice.

    Unlike , there's no shadow blend (total concealment in shadows), its breath weapon doesn't drain levels, and it can't summon shadows 3x per day.

    And it doesn't have the spell-like abilities of the of mirror image, dimension door, non-detection, and shadow walk.

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @nukehavoc Yeah, just generally it's seemed like official 5e material is more interested in having monsters be "playable" than cool.

    Faintdreams, to linguistics
    @Faintdreams@dice.camp avatar

    According to Merriam Webster'

    Aesthetic
    adjective
    aes·thet·ic es-ˈthe-tik
    is-,
    British usually ēs- variants also US esthetic

    Esthetic as an alternative spelling?

    To which I say HELL NO.

    :: tut ::

    Utter Lunacy that is.

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @Faintdreams ...yeah, as an American myself I've never seen it spelled without the a, and it seems like the only reason one would would be out of xenophobia.

    pteryx, to random
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    Things I did not expect to need to do yesterday: explain to a player on a fantasy MMO what D&D is on a basic level.

    They still assumed "boardgame" while they were still replying. No idea if they even read the rest.

    bedirthan, to random
    @bedirthan@dice.camp avatar

    I need to make a new background

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @bedirthan I know you were considering royal advisor at one point...

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    Heroes solve problems for local areas, and then become leaders of those they've saved. That's how the stories go!

    So when the heroes show up having solved a horrifying problem... The local people might say to each other "They probably want to be in charge now, right? That's how it works?".

    And some of them will want to make that happen! And some of them won't! And the ones in charge currently will have especially strong feelings on the matter.

    Clearing the dungeon as political debut.

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen I get the sense that the expectation outlined here is almost literally what the idea was behind original D&D, back when domain play at name level was just taken for granted. I've heard the implied sociopolitical system of OD&D described as a "levelocracy".

    Your take on it definitely strikes me as more reasonable and nuanced than what was originally between the lines, simply by thinking it through a couple extra steps.

    masukomi, (edited ) to random
    @masukomi@dice.camp avatar

    The other day, I commented that Fate of Dungeons was uninterest to me because it was just a port of D&D, & how “D&D but different rules” wasn't something compelling.

    as I am walking the dogs I thought about Mazes from 9th Level Games.

    It is 100% “ let’s do a dungeon crawl” but it is 0% D&D. It is its own unique and deliciously flavored going into a dungeon with monsters.

    It doesn’t look feel, or play like D&D, and I love it.

    🧵1/?

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @masukomi For my own part, I suspect if I made a fantasy heartbreaker, it'd be what happens if you impose a Star Trek ethos on a D&Desque fantasy world. So "dungeon of the week" centered on meeting new species and cultures instead of killing and/or looting, Sufficiently Analyzed Magic instead of the popular "magic should be magical (meaning dangerous, chaotic, and rarely a useful tool)!" cries, and so on.

    pteryx, to random
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    Ever just... draft some homebrew in nine hours in a fit of pique?

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen In my case, a 3.x caster class along the same lines as Warmage, Dread Necromancer, or Beguiler, but for the summoning subschool of conjuration.

    You?

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen @MikeFerdinando /sticks into Dark Sun inspiration file

    Access to water would of course be the limiting factor in that case.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen Abuse of systems of education (propagandistic standards, forcing the children of the marginalized into boarding schools to be raised in the priviliged culture, etc.)

    PaulCzege, to random
    @PaulCzege@dice.camp avatar

    Social media platforms become dead to me when I'm forced to accept I won't find conversations on them. Instagram has been basically dead to me for as long as I've used it. Cohost, Bluesky, Twitter nowadays, and the dice.camp local feed are almost wholly devoid of actual conversations. Sounding off on stuff and hoping for engagement isn't conversational behavior. If it keeps up like this people are going to turn back to in-person socializing. 😱

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen @christo @PaulCzege I can't say I've had the best luck getting serious conversation on forums either. People often seem to respond to only my first sentence, my first paragraph, or something they imagine I said based on a skim.

    I miss IRC being active, as far as conversations go.

    zozo, to random
    @zozo@dice.camp avatar

    i feel like most of my posts fall into greater context when it's pointed out that i am literally gen z

    pteryx,
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    @zozo That's honestly surprising. I'd gotten the impression that the Fediverse was mostly full of people nostalgic for how the Internet used to be.

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