sbv

@sbv@sh.itjust.works

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sbv ,

What's the info you would be looking for when running published adventures?

Include multiple paths through the module with multiple resolutions.

Cyberpunk RED has a neat way of structuring adventures that does this well: there are a series of scenes described, that branch to other scenes. They're categorized as 'Dev' for plot development, 'Cliff' for items that increase tension, and 'Climax' for scenes that resolve arcs.

"Agents of Desire" in the Street Stories sourcebook is an excellent example.

sbv ,

Props for talking to your players about what they're comfortable with.

I play with a bunch of middle aged white dudes. We haven't experienced problematic discrimination, so we're comfortable including it in my campaigns. I wouldn't if I had a player from a group who has suffered discrimination at our table.

I thought about using aspects of the 'Zersetzung' ('disruption'/'decomposition') in a game as part of the BBEG's tactics.

According to Wikipedia, that involved framing dissidents (or potential dissidents) with crimes that "were non-political, such as drug possession, trafficking, theft, financial fraud, and rape."

I think that would be acceptable at my table, and it would fit with my style of campaign.

If used, should discrimination/terror always serve to emphasize someone's evil nature, or could it sometimes be 'rightfully' presented as morally ambiguous as well?

I've made characters racist (between D&D races) for comedy value, or to indicate that they're jerks of some sort of Not Very Smart. Generally my BBEG won't be, because they're too pragmatic.

sbv ,

My first fireball felt so good. All the little math rocks bringing their 30 hp of damage.

sbv ,

Hell yeah. I'm so much better at basic addition and subtraction now.

So there's a story with this one (in description) ( lemmy.world )

The DM's pitch was to roll characters that were the local problem-solvers. Level 5, been adventuring in the same rural area for years, handled bandits/goblins/unruly wildlife. It was an opportunity to play odd/misfit characters for a while if we wanted to....

sbv ,

That sounds like a great start to a campaign. Props to the DM.

sbv ,

Plot twist: the blaster caster had sculpt spells all along but just wants the handsy rogue to die in a fire.

sbv ,

We'll have to drink our urine or we'll never make it out of this cafe

sbv ,

I don't think so. Unless you want it to be. Then it's totally a JoJo reference.

sbv ,

That's a campaign right there.

sbv ,

I'm trying to prep scenes, not plots, but it's hard.

sbv ,

no no everything the government does is bad and malware and spyware and not foss and you should install graphene

sbv ,
  • Android 15 could revamp the lock screen and notifications panel to look better in landscape mode on phones.
  • The lock screen can’t even be rotated into landscape mode on phones right now.
  • Meanwhile, the notifications panel can be rotated into landscape mode, but the layout sacrifices a lot of space.
sbv ,
  • Android 15 allows watch companion apps to control the media output of other apps.
  • This could let users change the device their phone is outputting audio to right from their watch.
  • Google could introduce this feature to the Pixel Watch in a future update, but we don’t know if or when that’ll happen.
sbv ,

Android 15 may be able to make your phone’s screen go even dimmer than usual.

If I were them I'd call the feature Dimmerer.

sbv ,

Dimmererest

sbv ,

Did the DM get to eat the player's minis?

sbv ,

I think ShareDrop does that.

sbv ,

Is it lasers? I really hope it's lasers!

Google is working to add support for NFC Wireless Charging into Android 15.

Boo.

But it sounds like NFC charging would allow earbuds, styluses, and tracker tags to be charged by the phone.

sbv ,

According to the article they're looking at expanding beyond Qi charging (which is currently supported) to NFC charging, which is not. I don't know anything about your phone, but I'm guessing it does the former, and not the latter.

No word on lasers tho.

sbv ,

using a VPN ultimately consists in trusting the company providing the VPN service that it won't be fucking around with your privacy. Considering that all your traffic goes through it, that's a lot of trust to place in one company.

Is that any different than the trust we place in our ISPs?

I agree with you. I fully expect my ISP/VPN provider to sell my traffic data, but I don't see the value in paying a VPN do to it.

sbv ,

Now you're starting where the players have some agency instead of possibly wasting hours doing stuff where you don't want the characters to change things.

I really appreciate this. When I DM, I hate pushing my players down a path where they basically just say "okay, I'll keep going." When I play, I hate saying "okay, I'll keep going."

sbv ,

The price tag is pretty important.

For my fellow maple syrup gatherers, it's $219.12 Canadian.

sbv ,

I was pretty pissed about having my $400 earbuds die after a couple of years. If these things last for six or eight, I'd be happy.

sbv ,

You'd be a great addition to our spring fertility festival. Would you be able to bless the virgins as they leap over a bonfire?

sbv ,

I've always loved Shadowrun's lore. I'd love to play it, but I don't think I'd enjoy the crunch.

I borrowed Blades in the Dark flashback mechanic for a 5e heist. It worked out well, so I'd like to try the full game.

Ten Candles also sounds pretty cool. But I play exclusively online, so that won't work for now.

sbv ,

That covers a lot of small consumer electronics. Basically anything rechargeable: wireless headphones, earbuds, phones, fitness trackers, razors, etc.

I really wish replaceable rechargeable batteries were a thing.

sbv ,

no tpk?

sbv ,

This is a great summary.

Quests from the Infinite Staircase will cause such a shitstorm ( ttrpg.network )

B4: The Lost City is a classic module for D&D. At one point it (in)famously stops giving full description of the rooms but instead lists monsters in each area and tells the DM to figure out why they're here themselves. Once the reprint will show up in new anthology, I'm sure people who complain online whenever WotC uses "ruling...

sbv ,

I think it's mostly cowardice, personally. People don't want to risk putting their own choices into a game based entirely on choices, just in case they aren't as good.

It's work and effort. D&D seems to have evolved from a game of random tables and strategy that required constant improvisation from the DM, to a game of (open ended) story telling. Character death seems to be less of an option.

So now DMs think they need to build a complex story, while allowing players to make choices. They need to prepare challenging encounters that aren't too challenging. And D&D combat tends to repetition, so they need to find ways to spice it up.

The handful of WotC modules that I've seen don't support that. The module has a single path and a bunch of dull combat encounters.

A lot of people don't know how to fill the gaps, and WotC has never bothered teaching them how.

This. I'm reading the Cyberpunk RED sourcebook now. I really appreciate the GM hints and suggestions. I don't remember anything like that in the 5e DMG.

Any rules they did get are rules of thumb and aren't something to use without thought (like CR), so people complain for reason 1 again.

Worse, some rules/features are holdovers from previous versions that don't make sense in the current game.

sbv ,

To have a Pixel 7, and get almost none of the new software-based features leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Yes. Google is weirdly bad at this.

The thing I find even stranger is that many of the new features are pretty weak. Magic Eraser leaves noticeable smears on images. The Best Face thing often looks weird. They talk this crap up but it feels more like a tech demo than an actual feature.

sbv ,

4xl is good, but you'd need a new battery at this point.

sbv ,

That's awesome! My 4xl was having a hard time making it through a day with minimal SoT.

sbv ,

That's what I found with my 4xl. I upgraded to a 8, because the battery was crappy, but my experience is the same on the new device. If the 4 was still getting software updates, I would have just gotten a new battery.

sbv ,

Didn't old school D&D have the DM roll on the player's behalf?

sbv ,

I blame WotC for adding the Oath of Horny in an Unearthed Arcana.

sbv ,

The "more power efficient" part is what catches my interest. I'm really hoping for 5+ days between charges, and Google Assistant by hotword. But that's probably a bit optimistic.

Lock Screen Shortcuts Too Sensitive

When I got my Pixel 8 Pro, which I generally love, and Lock Screen Shortcuts were a new thing, I configured on for flashlight and one for DND. At first, I felt like the buttons weren't sensitive enough and they were difficult to activate unless I got my finger JUST right, didn't move, and held it the perfect amount of time....

sbv ,

I haven't had that problem.

I have face unlock enabled, so the shortcuts typically disappear before I can touch them.

sbv ,

This one makes the most sense, and has the fewest failure modes.

sbv ,

What's broken with third party launchers? I've been using Square Home since December and it seems fine.

sbv ,

Ugh. That's lousy. The Android devs aren't known for being responsive.

I hope they sort stuff out.

sbv ,

Thanks for all your work on this. I really appreciate the improvements and fixes.

sbv ,

Y E S

sbv ,

yeah. The crash is a little too toxic rn.

Hopefully once the problematic content is a little further down my feed I'll be able to go back to Sync, but until then Voyager is good enough.

sbv ,

The article is a bit of a roller coaster:

a vigil for the former Hooters restaurant in Kanawha City started as a joke.

Ok. Tracks.

"I started out coming in to get a job and it became so much more because I met so many life long friends and my co-workers," former Hooters employee Danielle Hughart said.

Oh. Ok. That's nice.

The vigil began as a joke between friends gained traction on social media and attention from international news outlets.

It's a joke again.

"One of our close friend's daughters, she was just diagnosed with a very, very rare disease and it's very serious. If she don't get help then she's not going to be with us much longer," Browning said.

WHAT?

People from South Carolina drove through the night, because they said they didn't want to miss this 'one-in-a-lifetime event.'

No, wait, what about the girl who needs help?

sbv ,

That was a really interesting explanation. Thanks for typing it up.

sbv ,

It's been good. Battery life is great. The screen is good. The face unlock is an equivalent experience to my Pixel 4XL.

My only complaint is a weird one. I feel like the colour temperature on the cameras is a little cooler than my P4XL. Pictures under the same lighting seem a little too blue.

I really appreciate getting more screen real estate from the hole punch. And I like that the bezels are symmetric (or close enough that I can't tell the difference).

sbv ,

I wish there was a setting where I could tweak it. I guess I'll just have to use filters on individual photos.

sbv OP , (edited )

This is not a game about resource management. Don't view combat as "we should do X combats of such and such difficulty between rests". Focus on obstacles like "if they get inside with guns blazing, the elevators might be blocked" and leave to the players to decide how to approach them

That's a big difference from D&D. Thanksb for pointing that out.

Don't plan how will the gameplay progress, focus on who (meaning NPCS) does what, why. what are their obstacles

That's really good advice.

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