The Wayang philosophy isn't that different from some human ones.
And they have children because everyone does, it's a biological compulsion.
I wasn't complaining. Not at all. I was saying that I like what's going on right now. This is the stuff I do RP for.
I'm in plenty of free form games, and I feel like this one does have a little more focus on RP. We might have all these crazy things people can optimize with, but I feel like at the core of it, Cavey is looking for a more character driven story than looking for killing machines with big strings of numbers attached to a d20. :)
If he wanted us to just make characters and kill stuff, we'd just be grouped up and sent into "The 1,000 Floor Dungeon of Generic Evil." :)
We might be a lot closer on this issues than we realize, just coming at it from different angles. I am not saying I want to do dice rolling in every post or even every tenth post for that matter. However I do want the ability to affect what is going on as well as whether we succeed or fail through the choices and abilties of my character.
As for "CaveToad wanting something." I believe it's much more up to the players of the various groups rather than just the DM how much dicerolling compared to roleplay there will be. If the players post to RP there will be RP. If the players only post in encounters, there will be mostly dice rolling. Some members of our party haven't posted since the last encounter while others (you and me) have made dozens of posts. Some players might enjoy more rollplaying and less roleplaying and be annoyed at the people wanting to talk about things while others might be frustrated that their party members rarely respond to them or only respond to some of the things. I belive that the more similar expectations players have from the game, the more fun it will be for everyone.
Considering that wayang's are dervived from indonesian and chinese puppets, that were used to portray people, the whole concept of what wayangs are is up for grabs.
I like the core idea of a people that were native to another plane, in this case the shadow plane. What's missing is why they left. Were they rebels leaving an overly restrictive society? Rebels escaping, or evicted? The last of their kind chased out by a greater evil?
The reason seems lost in history and time, maybe on purpose. Coming form the shadows, there may be a genetic desire to stay in the background, in the shadows. Stay hidden, avoid attention, lest X find us.
On top of all that, add in that characters in this story were "rescued" from some situation and may have limited knowledge of their racial social norms.
And it would seem that we don't want the same thing. I'm fine with watching a ceremony going on because that's what interests me, but you'd rather be doing something with an impact on what's going on because that's what interests you.
I've always appreciated a nice circumstance bonus to any die rolls based on the quality of the roleplay.
"I hit him." [dice roll] no bonus
"Hefting my sword, I swing, putting all my strength into driving the blade through the sob that killed my dog. [dice roll] with nice bonus from GM
Err... Wayangs are written and statted almost exactly like gnomes, whose journey forth from the First World is a bit better document. I like to think of them as "shadow gnomes."
Wayang theater in its modern form is particularly a Javanese art, one that's still practiced today, an which has only existed in its modern form (the one that the race's art is based on) for a few hundred years.
Personally, as a GM, I prefer to stack things *against* people who *don't* roleplay their characters possibly. Then again, while I like to describe some things, after the first time I swing my sword in battle I'm not going to describe it again; but I prefer to mostly only describe things when I think others would appreciate it.
poor example, maybe. Though even in combat, pbp does lend itself to artistic license with descriptive text.
Diplomacy is the best example.
I was in a game where you could have Cha 7, but if you could talk people into stuff as a player, you were golden. So, I did rather well in that one. ;)
Well, Bluff and Diplomacy specifically list bonuses or penalties depending on how reasonable your words are. So with charisma-bases skills, that's definitely how it's supposed to work—but if you have a Cha of 7, you probably shouldn't be *trying* to talk well to begin with.
I personally was playing a character of 14 or so Cha, but being able to talk myself definitely helped. :)
I do know how to play different stats, as I've had characters with Cha 7 to 30 something. :)
Just had my wisdom teeth removed so i'll be on pain meds pretty constantly for the next 3-4 days or so maybe more, it shouldnt effect my posting much but I still thought i should tell all my groups.
You guys know a lot of things. I was wondering about something for the PoW warlord. The brave gambit says that the warlord and allies get to add cha to damage if successful. Does that apply to the attack that just hit or to the next one (if one is made before the warlord's next turn)? I am wondering what gambits to pick for my CHEESE dip...
'Next attack' not 'current attack'. :)
Since brave triggers on a successful charge, you've already attacked.
It is really confusing that some are just posting in their own table, especially speaking out loud, when we are all right there (unless they are posting both places of course). I understand that people want to split up and not process so much information, but most of us are in the same place and time now...
At our table, at least, we're using our own thread for telepathic/within-the-group conversations. Since the turtle isn't speaking out loud, this seems more reasonable to not get over-cluttered.
In my case, mine was a 'doing it later' thing.
i'm not even reading the massive host of posts in the master thread gameplay since our table is nowhere near there.
Lucina also speaks draconic so would she know anything it says aloud?
I do as well and a lot of us probably speak Draconic ... LOL
It's only ever responding in telepathy, so you'd be able to understand Xanya, but not the response, or even that there was a response.
It can speak in mass telepathy I belive. When it is not spoilers it's directed to everyone I believe.
It can speak in mass telepathy I belive. When it is not spoilers it's directed to everyone I believe.
Yes ... yes.
This reminds me of chapter 2 of BG2 in a way. Ah, how I loved that. I wonder if there will come alternate ways to complete this just as there... I've played through that so many times. Sometimes completing the bare minimum before proceeding, other times rushing along after the shortest time possible.
And apparently it's really good at holding multiple conversations.
I imagine everyone humorously standing on the beach in complete silence as the water laps against the shore. No one speaking as the telepathic conversation carries on.
Not accurate as I am sure others are talking, and as you point out it takes some effort to reply to everyone linearly not simultaneously, but it's not as bad as some meetings I have sat in with a dozen people all talking at once.
I'm guessing it's also easier when you can get exactly their meaning in your head, regardless of languages, cultural differences, etc. without having to listen to actual sounds that can get jumbled up.
Oh boy! Everyone give the mysterious turtle huge piles of gold, so he can cast spells we've never heard of! Let's buy a bridge! All glory to the hypnotoad!
EDIT: Actually, hmm, with Xanya's 6 wisdom, that's probably the right direction to respond in.
Oh boy! Everyone give the mysterious turtle huge piles of gold, so he can cast spells we've never heard of! Let's buy a bridge! All glory to the hypnotoad!
EDIT: Actually, hmm, with Xanya's 6 wisdom, that's probably the right direction to respond in.
Show me your sense motive check ;). Xanya has a -2 wis modifier... And she believes she can do this.
Honestly though, I doubt the GM will spring a dragon turtle conman on us at this point in time...
Yeah. Aside from Maks (who will make a point of speaking out loud, both what she says and what is said to her; so feel free to hop over to my page and read what's said), I don't think there's very much for someone to just listen to.
Also, the third NPC of my face to face game was a beholder with the body of an elf (and its ears) glued to it, that called itself the master of disguise. No one was willing to suggest it was bad at what it did.
Not saying it *is* a scam, just, like... fact check the turtle's credentials.
And Makoto has experience with a character of mine who has -3 to Bluff (which has certainly not led to any unfortunate NPC interactions...)
Tavros, out of curiosity, what did I say wrong? Or was it just sad about the goaties?
Love the name, by the way. Tavros was always my favorite with Terezi as a close second. I had to give up on the dream of catching up with it, though. My phone couldn't keep up with the high end stuff they started doing with navigating games and such. :/
Already asked: It has nothing to do with Homestuck. He just went with the Greek word for Bull. :)
Definitely more a fan of the Striders, personally. As for Trolls, I'm binary between Aradia and Nepeta. :3
I didn't even like Aradia until the song Temporal Shenanigans.
I was very confused for a minute
I was afraid of that. XD
Greek is cool too, though. I was into mythology before Homestuck.
Dirk is my total favorite over all. I made his shirt so I could Cosplay him in Animal Crossing. XD
It's one of my ultimate Con quests to acquire a pair of pointy anime shades...
I just wish I was tall and thin or blonde enough to cosplay him. I'm more of a Prof. Birch from Pokémon type and I am kinda perfectionist when I come so costumes, so I don't want to go outside my body type. I'm cool if others want to, more power to them. Just not for me personally.
I'm cool with all of them save for Vriska and Gamzees. Honestly can't stand Evil Bozo, but my theory is that, as the "Bard" (class to inspire) of "Rage" (to make people angry), he was always intended to be hated.
Nonetheless, I have an app called "Miracle Modus" on my phone. It makes flashy lights and colors...
Tangent powers activate!
Dave (All of them) is my favorite. Dirk comes second. Jade and Rose are tied for third.
Vriska becomes a lot cooler, and Gamzee goes a lot darker. It's actually a little worse than what you think for Gamzee. :|
And I won't be shut down because it's tangential. This is a huge group of people and there have got to be more than two homestuck fans here!
There was a cool cosplay of Dave I saw a brief glimpse of in an episode of Heroes of Cosplay. He had the turn tables that stayed on his hands and looked like they floated. Pretty sweet.
There's always lots of Homestucks at the conventions I go to, so I always get a couple pictures. :)
Dave is in my upper tier favorites. It's been quite a while, so character names are a bit fuzzy. Dirk is number one, but I have to say John is 2nd. Then Dave and Jade tied. For whatever reason, I never like Rose all that much.
For future reference the last thing I remember is all of the dead multiverse people getting together in one place. That's where the flash got too heavy for my phone. I missed most of the music, unfortunately. :(
I didn't get to any of the trickster stuff with the candy or whatever. But I know about it because cosplayers.
Oh, it's just that Tavros has very little to no interest in helping the goats/is a lot more concerned with finding Goodwin. And it sounded to him like you basically just volunteered everybody into helping them. But he also has anger management issues and is prone to rage, which he tries very hard to suppress. So it's mostly just that. :-P
And Teniel's a bit more eager to find things like blankets and soap...
Blankets: Maks, Pamburu, Tavros, Mlinzi.
Soap: Prestidigitation.
Bad Teniel Priorities!
I've just been assuming Maks didn't even hear the offer to set things right. She's been painting quite a lot, and now fairly distant from Golden Ram.
Good idea on the languages, though not sure to what extent we will need it.
If I was to pick a language with the least drift, it would be draconic. Considering the speakers are rather long-lived, and pretty much all arcane writings are in that language.
Celestial, Elven, Dwarven are some others that are likely to have stayed pretty close to what we know. Possibly Infernal as well as Terran.
I'd say any sort of planar language would have the least drift, barring colloquialisms. I don't think older races would see less change, though. New words come and go based on contact. Draconic is used by many nondragon species, so it's likely to have changed a lot. Celestial, on the other hand, is spoken by truly eternal creatures, though they're more likely to adopt speech patterns of more modern folk, maybe. Who knows. :)
Yeah, planar languages are probably the least changed, but might still be 'olden times' sounding from us.
We already saw that draconic has changed enough that you can't even really speak to each other, from Akluzzar.
Technically speaking, Draconic wouldn't change much because;
A) Why would you change a perfect language?
B) It is Ancient and perfected, refer to A.
C) Think like a Dragon and not a human ... ;-)
D) Exception to above, it's Cave Toad's world.
And dragons have always had a word for automobile, so there's no reason for it to have evolved (exaggerated, but still :p)
And dragons have always had a word for automobile, so there's no reason for it to have evolved (exaggerated, but still :p)
korshim harfak = Machine Carriage.
As I said, it is already perfected ... lol
Languages always change, that is their nature if left to evolve organically. Now, think of modern Iceland though. Geographically separated and they make a pointed effort to not add new words, in fact they recycle and add together older words to mean new ones. So there is a concerted effort to keep it from getting diluted. I took Old Norse/Icelandic in college. The idea is the language should be close enough to how it was spoken in viking times. Whether this is true or not I can't tell, I only had one semester reading sagas, and when I went to Iceland I couldn't understand crap, and everyone spoke English anyhow (wahwah fail for me).
In my mind Celestial would stay very much the same. Many of the particularly lawful outer planes languages may have a very codified grammar structure and accepted word dictionary. I sort of see it as people using this old archaic tongue with thees and thous, but only worse.
Infernal might some similar. Abyssal and other chaotic languages I see as changing a lot actually. No on cares, and there may be even a flavor of the day for different areas of the Abyss, although I wouldn't want to get too finicky unless I was a super language geek.
Oh neat tidbit of information if we're talking about languages, apparently the old timey version of the (as in "Ye Old Shoppe") was never actually pronounced 'ye' like some people say outloud.
It's supposed to be spelled 'Þe' and pronounced 'the', but medieval printing presses didn't have the 'Þ' character, and replaced it with 'y'.
The more you know
I think even Draconic would change. Many languages suffer from dilution from other languages as well as change over time due to geographical differences ( Think of Brazilian Portuguese vs Portugal, or new world Spanish vs Spain ). A few hundred years, and still understandable, but now think thousands.
Try reading Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in Middle English. Its a little rough, much less trying to read stuff in Old English. I also took Latin in college so sometimes I can puzzle out written Italian or other romance languages but its very difficult, and trying to understand spoken, forget it. Again, only centuries to a millenia or two ( depending how you want to look at it) have passed and these are in pretty close areas geographically. I always see things as progressing a little slower in Pathfinder the idea being there isn't as much technological innovation, and more magical innovation, and thus things sort of roll along as they have always been. Though I have always found this troubling, and it seems like a lot of suspension of disbelief goes into why electricity and internal combustion, mass production and other innovation has never evolved. I know that some worlds take innovation all the to steampunkish levels, which seems a good step. I guess we just enjoy the pseudo medieval sword and sorcery world too much to muddy it with agricultural innovations ( bye bye feudal peasants ), printing presses, steam locomotives and six shooters. Instead we keep things in a weird mash stuff from Egyptian antiquity all the way through Renaissance without much issue. Throw in some dwarven steam stuff and some gnome clockwork stuff and you push it a bit.
I digress though, but these cultural/anthropological discussions are fascinating, and one reason I like world building so much.
I always ran my worlds as progressing very slowly because everyone is studying arcane research instead of mechanical, physical and electrical.
Because when you look at it, magic in pathfinder can accomplish pretty much everything we can in our world, and more.
But unfortunately, arcana is much much harder to learn, and passed on research is only useful to those who have mastered the arcane arts. Bob might find some amazing discovery, but essentially no one can take advantage of it unless someone gets to the same skill level as him.
Normal technology on the other hand is much easier to take someone else's research, and build upon it or modify it to your own needs. You can make easily replicable experiments and re-creatable materials and situations. So normal technology is advancing, but at a fraction of the rate (because it would normally be a pretty much exponential growth) because so few people dedicate their lives to it. And thus, not many become interested in it, because arcana is much more prevalent.
To me it makes a lot of sense, and explains why cultures can stay in the same technological 'era' for much longer.