/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

I wrote more than 1400 words about why Posey putting on the tiara pisses me off. I'm not sure I should post it, but it was definitely necessary for me to write it.

>>180968
Okay, so I haven' commented on the nightclub, but first off:

"Neighpone" is not a place in Equestria at war. You could probably insert it... somewhere, but I have idea where that is.

In Occupied Equestria, much like real life, organized criminal syndicates form mostly under ethnic lines by groups of immigrants. Baltimare's "Waterfront Gang" is actually kind of unique within the setting for being comparatively multicultural, and even then, it's lead by a native and has a clear relationship with Diamond Dogs as the main assistants. A random immigrant just walking in and taking over in a location where she is alien just seems... Unnatural.

Baltimare has a very firmly established monopoly on organized crime: The Waterfront Gang, lead by The Lady, and enabled by the Social Democrat Party. Any other operators of illegal gambling or whatever within Baltimare are going to be automatically at war with both The Waterfront Gang, and the Police.

Also, as I said to Posey:

Bat Ponies are not indigenous to "Neighpone." They are specifcally indigenous to the Equestrian Southeast. Whatever "neighpone" is, bat ponies don't come from there.

>>180970
>how, kirins?
This is where my ignorance of EaW starts to shine through,... I sorta always thought of bat ponies as asians or stand-ins, like how ziggers and griffons,....
>>180971
Again, I'm increasingly appreciative about how the idea needs work,.... But uh, you see the direction I'm TRYING to go with it,....

>>180964
>New Baltimare is the former Equestrian colony in Griffonia and is the seat of the Blackhooves's power.
I'm pretty certain she's there from what I remember from the first session with this character years ago. It also makes the sense for her character to be looking for her lost friend who presumably joined the Blackhooves at their seat of power, know that I think about it.

Thank you for your lore insights.

>>180959
>why I think what he is doing (and why) is so cool. :3
^^
You mean like that others need proper setup to get the payoff? Yeah, it is a bit hard to know how to implement such story telling ideas into a game like this. Hopefully, our characters can entertain us.

>>180968
If you're interested in opening a business and not being an adventurer, consider the dragonlance Master class:
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseDragonlance/master.html
The Master class is basically a better version of the Expert NPC class. It lets you optimize certain downtime skills. It absolutely sucks in combat, but you won't care when you're making fat stacks of cash using the Profession skill.
Then check the DMG2 rules for running a business, which involves a specialized profession check. This basically turns it into a business management minigame (pic related).
Your lvl 5 starting gold is about everything you need to buy moderately sized building, as well as the supplies you need for your business.
After you've established your franchise, you could even turn your establishment into a guild, using Favored In Guild, Leadership and GuildMaster.

>>180974
>>180976
There are a couple options for a Japanese-influenced character's origins. You have the kirin cultures, obviously, but there is a pony option out there, however odd it may be. Lake City, also known as Jezeragrad, is a pony country in the Riverlands (Eastern Griffonia) based loosely on Serbia judging from its language, but it also has a lot of Japanese flavor to it at the same time. A couple specific examples are a focus in its Princely Restoration path granting planes the ability to suicide attack (kamikaze), and the various manufacturing Guilds within the nation, including one guild named "Maresubishi". It wouldn't be too hard to develop other varied Japanese-inspired elements such as the Yakuza coming out of Lake City, or from Lakeish immigrants.

>>180971
GM, after a night of rest, I want to say that I apologize for my actions last night. What I did was stupid, inconsiderate, disruptive, broke character, and didn't even make sense in the context at the moment.
I should have considered your feelings when I did what I did. As a DM myself, I should have known that DMs do a lot more work behind the screen than is obvious to the players, and that it can be really demoralizing when a player suddenly decides to do something profoundly stupid, especially when concerning a powerful artifact. A DM is a player too and deserves to have fun with the game, and to have their efforts validated. I'm sorry to cause you so much unnecessary stress.

I could explain the logic of what I did in a way that makes me look better, but it wouldn't change the fact that I was in the wrong.

I hope we can work out a way to resolve what happened (or didn't happen, because technically me neglecting to roll opposed disarm checks amounts to choosing to fail them), in a way that makes things better.

If you want to dump your angry rant, that's fine with me. I won't take it personally or get depressed like I did last week (I was dealing with real life trouble at the time and I was at a breaking point).

>>180974
None of the EaW races are completely 1-to-1 equivalents with real-life races. The closest we get to that is zebras = Africans and kirins = Asians. Other than that we get:
Ponies = Americans and Europeans including British and French (Equestria), Russians (Severyanans), Sami (snowponies), Mesoamericans (southeast tribals), and Czechs + Ancient Greeks + Balkan Slavs (River Ponies)
Changelings = German but Imperial Griffons are also German (don't ask why)
Griffons are also a slew of other European nationalities
Deer = Finns, Gypsies and Indians
Hippogriffs = Americans
Buffalo = Injuns
Minotaur = Greeks
Saddle Arabians = Arabs
Oh, and batponies are some sort of stand-in for Afro-Americans because they are discriminated against and stay up at night, but otherwise have nothing in common.

Confused yet? You should be. The easiest way to learn the basics is to open the EaW map and tag switch to learn which country has which race and which culture.

>>180979
>>180981
Tbh, I'm really not fond of EaW world building in some ways. It's a good pony adaptation for HoI, but it's world-building leaves a lot to be desired. Imperial Japan was a major player in WWII, but EaW doesn't really represent Asia well at all, despite having equivalencies for other countries. When they added Kirin they made them part of the Zebra continent.
As for languages, maybe we could consolidate languages into language groups? 3.5e doesn't account for humanoids if the same race having hundreds of different languages. D20 modern, which is based on real life, makes it much easier for PCs to learn new languages.

>>180981
Herzland Griffons are like this weird mix of Austrians and Byzantines, while Equus Changelings (not Greneclyf Changelings) are German Germans.

>>180975 →
Unfortunately, I loathe HOI4. It took me 170 hours to realize I just don't enjoy it (with at least 100 of those hours being EaW). My autism is simply not alligned with map simulators. Strange, cause I fucking love Risk but I can't get into games like HOI4, Stellaris, or CKII.

>>180978
I'm not interested in ACTUAL values of money, I want the established pretense. I hate accountant shit IRL, I don't want to do it in game. Lacey WILL have an established character sheet, in anticipation of the possibility that GM someday decides "Ha ha, she's getting kidnapped and has to escape", or even something as mundane as her wee sexy frame deciding to give the bouncers a break and fuck up somepony causing a scene. She will not be INTENDED for combat, but she will be well suited to it.
Though, I will admit to having bookmarked this one page that describes how to have absurd money at level 1, and then building her up to level 6 by comparison advancement in the DMG (which I found recently ^_^), so maybe I will get autistic and do that. Idk
>>180979
Well, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to modify what I have to fit in as her family being tied to an existing Kirin dynastic family. Like, historically this family of bats could have been private ninjas or something, who in 'present day' have come to be involved/significant in some area of criminal underground? I want to keep the japanese style/motif, as well as the underlying theme of Brie having stumbled into a specific area of the criminal world that is normally reserved for elite families. Its tropey as shit, I know, but it makes me smile and it is exactly the sort of context that would motivate Brie to seek money and power. NGL, unless inspired I'm not big on the specific details; I don't have any specifics about her appearance yet other than "Looks like Lucky, and has a weird sclera effect for her family's eyes". Eventually I will be inspired to include details, and those details will always have been so.
>>180981
Very confused. I've been pouring through one of the many, surprisingly many EaW wikis.

>>180980
I wasn't affected since I wasn't playing at the time but
pat pat
>>180982
>Tbh, I'm really not fond of EaW world building in some ways.
It comes from a bunch of disparate headcanons being reconciled with each other and with an increasingly disjointed canon world. It could certainly be improved upon.
>As for languages, maybe we could consolidate languages into language groups? 3.5e doesn't account for humanoids if the same race having hundreds of different languages. D20 modern, which is based on real life, makes it much easier for PCs to learn new languages.
I'm totally in favor of this, but it's not something that's easily done on the fly. We really could use an official OE handbook to help with all this. A lot of good stuff from DnD Modern and other systems could be ported over.

>>180985
>I've been pouring through one of the many, surprisingly many EaW wikis.
All of them are probably out of date
>weird sclera effect
If you really want it, go for it, but changeling infiltrators are singled out for having weird eyes so keep that in mind.

>>180985
It's not really all that complicated. It's just a few d20 rolls using your skill mod. If you can handle playing a rogue, you can handle running a fictional business.

>>180987
There's fun tables you can roll for story events related to your business.
The DMGII is full of these fun rules. It's a good book.

>>180987
>>180988
While I can appreciate that that's all appreciable, for me that is the OPPOSITE of what I want to do. I just want the pretense of a modest business that covers for a very profitable and very illegal series of ciminal enterprise, under the auspices of a well established family of japanese-esque origins. Actual in-game money and valuables are of little interest to me as a player, just as long as my players have the "fine things" that their background and story would afford.

I've got plans for a business for my character(s), though that's more just for a little bit of passive income to help support my NPC collection addiction and to provide the facilities for crafting all kinds of equipment for all of the characters.

>>180929
Oh, I can definitely think of ideas for the character I hope I can do her justice.

>>180930
Hmmm... Well, for now, you control her, so I can see more of what your vision for her is. I suppose that if you want longer, interactive flashbacks, then we can do that, if perhaps a little later.

>>180989
Imo, the real draw of it is having rules for running your business and story events related to your business. Profit checks once a month are just icing on the cake.
Suit yourself though. I just wanted to inform you that 3.5e has rules to accommodate all that stuff.
I had intended to pursue that with Posey after she bought some land, it being a Criminal enterprise, with a Research lab (University) as it's front, with the University of Arcane Sciences as it's associated guild.
>>180990
Passive income to support NPCs is probably the best use of it, aside from flavor.
You only make a profit check once per in-game month.
>>180929
Sounds like a Warmage:
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/classes/baseCarc/warmage.html
Warmage is a class that is easy to play, and even easier to build: all of the spells are already chosen for you. I recommend it for new players who just want to blow things up.
In my games, I typically use it for enemy spellcasters, since it saves me the trouble of having to build a complex character sheet every time.
It's much weaker than Wizard or Sorcerer due to fixed spell access, but it gets all the good SRD evocation damaging spells, and more.
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/magic/spells/classSpellLists/warmageSpells.html

>>180993
I can see the merit for the structure and rules, especially as something of an element for a base of operations or a recurring campaign setting, et al. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, though I'm not sure I want to engage that level of detail. Better first to fix the freakin' backstory.
That's another thing, I like to play fast and loose with the parts of backstories that will never get presented; dead relatives, being an easy example

>>180980
Well this makes me feel much better. You have no idea how pissed off I was. Seriously, for like 14 hours (including sleeping) I was fuming.

>I could explain the logic of what I did in a way that makes me look better, but it wouldn't change the fact that I was in the wrong.
You know what, I would like to hear that.

From where I sit, I am aware that what the tiara actually does is immediately mind control whomever puts it on, makes them more powerful than they were before, and then makes them hostile to whomever is around them. Posey deliberately putting it on comes off as outright malicious, and in a self-destructive way that is impossible for me to understand except extreme dickishness.

I get that the tiara having that effect isn't immediately obvious, but it's definitely telegraphed multiple times. In the notes its described as "possessing" its wearer, the red griffin wearing it is described as "not acting on his own volition" when it's asked why he is immune to Posey's fear effects, the unseen servant is described as "repulsed" by it, when Posey picks it up it is described as feeling like it has a static electrical charge, and then when Posey attempts to put it on, all of the griffins who have experience with it become hostile, and two of them describe it as "cursed" in English and Norwiegen. I get that that's not quite the same thing as explicitly stating that it is the instrument of TPK that it is, but I think that that states pretty clearly that putting it on is not only inadvisable, but inadvised; that is to say, I'm telling you don't do it. Then posts like >>180853 → imply to me that you actually expected the result you got. Combined with the fact that there was no effort to try to identify what it did with Arcana, it's hard for me to interpret this situation as anything other than you explicitly hoping to derail the entire quest line for shits and giggles.

>>180944
What did you think that the situation was?

>>180864 →
Where did this idea come from? Seriously, why would you believe this, and more importantly, why would you not attempt to confirm it in any way at all?

>>180843 →
It's not even actually a crown. It's just a tiara

>>180995
>a tiara
Ha, a dude was wearing a tiara! GAY!

>>180997
You should have seen what Brie was doing with a griffin

oooooo...oowooo?

>>180995
>You have no idea how pissed off I was. Seriously, for like 14 hours (including sleeping) I was fuming.
That makes me feel kind of bad... I'm sorry.
>You know what, I would like to hear that.
Well, here goes nothing.
I'll start by saying that what I did came from a bad place, and nothing I say is to justify my actions. I was tired and trying a new ADD medication, and the result was me acting like an inconsiderate fuck-up.
Anyway
>why would you not attempt to confirm it in any way at all?
>no effort to try to identify what it did with Arcana
Well, for starters, in my experience of playing 3.5e, rolling arcana doesn't usually reveal the effects of an item. I thought it was same for this game, as my arcana checks didn't really reveal the functions of the hyena totem or mask I found last year. I figured the only real way to learn the effects of an item is to try to use it.
>I am aware that what the tiara actually does is immediately mind control whomever puts it on, makes them more powerful than they were before, and then makes them hostile to whomever is around them.
Well, I thought that since it was capable of mind-controlling it's target, it must have a mind of its own, be it and intelligent item, a demon possessing it, or an undead spirit possessing it. I believed it was an intelligent item, as any hostile intelligent item can be considered to be cursed. Because I believed amit was an intelligent item, I treated it as an NPC that could potentially give us information or be negotiated with, and that the best way to know what its deal was was to listen to it by trying it on.
I actually thought of the crown to be something like a character foil for Posey: a evil item cursed by the nature of its making, trying to control others through power and fear, because deep down it's a lonely item that just wants to be treasured, adored and worn in all it's golden glory, since intelligent items universally wqnt to be used. I had typed out lines for what I would have said to it if it tried to communicate with Posey.
I also believed that the item would have a passable saving throw, so I decided to take the risk.
>unseen servant is described as "repulsed" by it, when Posey picks it up it is described as feeling like it has a static electrical charge
>describe it as "cursed"
See, in the moment, I was thinking reverse psychology here, and saw that as a challenge to experience the curse first hand, believing that there would be a detailed description awaiting me for the experience of the crown attempting to corrupt its wearer, kind of like the dream sequences in earlier threads. The description of it being cursed and evil only made it more attractive to Posey in character, and me out of character (I was curious). I know it's self-centered now, but since last week I believed that crown was an item made for Posey to try, even if doing so came with risks. Posey, in-character, believes in destiny, so she thought this was her moment.
>I get that that's not quite the same thing as explicitly stating that it is the instrument of TPK that it is
Well, the item didn't kill us when the griffon used it, so I didn't believe it was powerful enough to TPK us if Posey had it.
Of course, Posey becoming a hostile NPC is a danger to the party, but Silver had a readied action to knock it off her head if she became possessed after I announced my plan to do it, so I thought we would be able to handle it easily while gaining information about the item.
>I think that that states pretty clearly that putting it on is not only inadvisable, but inadvised; that is to say, I'm telling you don't do it.
Yeah... That makes sense in hindsight, but my communication skills irl aren't great, and even worse through text.
Instead of "don't do it" I read it as "Are you BRAVE enough to do it?" Pics related.
>Then posts like >>180853 → → imply to me that you actually expected the result you got.
I fully expected the item to try to dominate Posey (although I didn't expect it was so powerful that only a Nat 20 could pass it; that sounds like a deity-level major artifact), and I was prepared to face the consequences if it succeeded. I was also prepared to rely on Silver's readied action to knock it off of Posey's head as well.
Silver rolled a Nat 20 to knock it off, and Posey would have been flat-footed and unable to oppose the check.
>What did you think that the situation was?
I thought they were attack rolls meant to be resolved after Posey's action, to help Silver disarm the crown if Posey became possessed. This actually made me consider the situation to be even safer, because several characters where there to intervene if Posey lost control.
>Where did this idea come from?
Books, lore, similar items I've seen in d&d.
>why would you not attempt to confirm it in any way at all?
Poor decision making on my part, combined with the above explaination, and foolish impatience to see what the item did to Posey.
>It's not even actually a crown. It's just a tiara
Well, a tiara is like a crown, only for a princess, which made me think even more that this would be Posey's princess moment.

But overall, it was just me being an impatient, foolish, inconsiderate idiot. I am in the wrong. I apologize.

For the tiara situation, there are two basic routes:

Continue more or less with how things happened, with Posey putting on the tiara, Silver knocking it off, the griffins becoming either hostile or at least panicked, and then the tiara being shot by mala thrice, then carried out and dumped in the ocean by Cavaliere or one of the griffins or... something

Or, a retcon. Either to never attempt to put it on, or to Posey having the tiara slapped out of her hoof by the yellow griffin.

>>181002
Well... That's much better than what I though

>>181007
>destroyed
Granted
>discarded
Let's not get hasty,....

>>181007
I would really strongly prefer a path where the Tiara is still intact (also, RAW, a major artifact can only be destroyed in a single, specific way, so bullets really shouldn't hurt it), because I'm really interested in it and I believe it could be a source of amazing story or character development, but I also know that because I recklessly tried it on my opinion probably doesn't matter...
>Either to never attempt to put it on
Well, we could roll those Arcana/Religion checks.

>>181007
>retcon
A lot of the involved posts were deleted already, so maybe retcon is the best path.

>>181009
Ngl, Brie also wants to keep the tiara intact, even if it means voiding the badass rifle disarm Brie pulled. He doesnt want to use it, he wants to appraise it (hes good at that too). He sees potential value to,... well somepony like Rosie, and he would like a share in that value.

>>181009
>Noooo you can't destroy it with 12 gauge buck shot!
Who said it was a major artifact? And in any case, you don't need to destroy it. Just throw it into the sea and it's gone forever.

>>181011
I wasn't sure how to handle it in the moment. My first instinct was to just say out of character "Are you sure about that?" Then I figured I could have the characters do it in game in character. When that was ignored, I figured any out of character "Are you sure?" would be equally ignored, so I went into just describing the "find out" portion of "fuck around." I guess the players were into it, but I wasn't, because at that point the whole session and probably more had been thoroughly derailed and I was just sick of it.

>>181013
I should have been more considerate, sorry to derail your session.

Well, on the one hoof, I know Brie's player wants to use this event as an opportunity for Brie's character development. On the other, retconning would let us find ways to safely make use of the crown such that we can profit off of it, such as dismantling it to sell.

>>181009
pet pet pet
No, it matters, it's just...conflicted with GM pone's current feelings.

>>181013
What if it falls on the head of a whale? Or worse.... A whale pony?

>>181013
I assumed that Rosey wouldn't be permitted to cause any irreparable damage, except to themselves, by putting on the crown. It is expressly what I would have done in your case (lit "Drop to 0 health"), but I'm not happy about your experience of it all

In any case, I can work with it whichever way we decide to go, but retcon seems the easiest for everyone so I vote that.
The actual specifics of the retcon will only determine whether Brie has a rifle in his hooves, so I abstain on that

>>181041 →
Posey also appreciates amoebas. Some of them are her friends.

>>181042
^^
Well, sorry to tell you this. I ate them.

>>181021
One of Posey's few downsides is that, being undead, if she drops to 0 health she instantly disintegrates. There is no way to render her unconscious or incapacitated, which makes balancing danger more difficult. With a regular character, losing a fight isn't the end of the world but Posey tends to go ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK and there's no way to stop her without permanently ending her.

Okay, two options:

After Posey has tried on the tiara, with it knocked off on the ground, the griffins riled up, Brie holding the rifle, Mala attempting (failing?) to shoot it.

Before Posey decides to put it on.

Take your pick

Anyone have the 3.5e Dungeon Master's handbook?

>>181056
I don't have physical copy but I have this:
https://archive.org/details/dungeon-masters-guide-v-3.5/page/n15/mode/2up

>>181057
Thank you!

>>181052
I suppose in the former you can try to keep the tiara, but the griffins become hostile again.

Here is my proposed resolution of this whole tiara debacle.

Lots of rolls to insist on, but the one I WANNA focus on was Silver's ready-action to slap the taste/crown out/off Rosey's face/head, nat 20.

I say we go with that, the crown is off and on the ground.

Idk where initiative is, but I would HOPE that being connected to and unconnected to phenomenally ebil magics would produce a 1 round stun effect, kind of like an ill timed sun grenade (sorry Dust, thats gonna be a thing).

Going from memory, that would allow 2 of the griffons to react to the crown being on the ground

If not moved before his turn, Brie would kick the tiara away, and if this could be said to be a free-action interim, then Brie would kick the tiara away from everyone and then return the disarmed rifle to the gay griffon

For sake of brevity:

We can argue about where/what, or we can continue on and try not to nerf this whole game. ^,_,^

>>181052
>>181066
In the latter case, Posey would just immediately put the Tiara in her purse after snatching it off the griffon.
This would delay having to deal with the Tiara until later.

Ill ammend my previous to offer a choice:
1. Posey puts the crown away - saying something about how "These types of magics must be studied in a carefully controlled environment, the captain is lucky to be alive." - and Posey can collaborate with GM on what will.occur with it later.

Or

2. The tiara is on the ground and Rosey is stunned.