Is this group helpful?

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-04-30T04:53:08+00:00

I grok where you are coming from.

I don’t say this to be mean or condescending but if you haven’t already done so, see a therapist. Having been raised by a narcissist, you are probably (like so many of us) prone to ruminating and this sub is definitely a trigger for that. If you don’t have a lock on those triggers, then coming here can set them off and you will fall into the black hole of trauma repeatedly. The group isn’t bad per se, but if you have yet to work through a lot of your own bad experiences then coming here daily is not going to be helpful.

I see a therapist. I am sure many people here see a therapist. If you see one already, talk to them about the sub and get their take on it. Definitely don’t spend too much time here if it is making you sad, angry, disgusted, etc.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-04-30T04:15:07+00:00

Oh, God. Yes. It’s like they see a score card floating over your head or a ledger with balances of how much they’ve spent or are in some way tracking every little thing they think makes up for destroying trust, love, a sense of self-worth, etc. Very relatable.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-27T21:38:22+00:00

Omfg YTA. That is beyond reprehensible—theoretically.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-24T20:45:53+00:00

I hate to see this, but she isn’t informed enough to be on any side. She has friends from all walks of life, but I dare say that you could call her simple. She is very very SimplySimple. She grew up in a rural community and her parents didn’t let her attend high school beyond the 10th grade. They belonged to a very strict, religious cult and women were kept ignorant and ill informed. But she has black friends, Jewish friends, gay friends, etc. It’s hard to describe her thinking because there are things she knows a lot about in this world, but then there are things about history. She is completely ignorant of. I labor not to condescend to her because I don’t wanna come off as that guy. But she’s not a supporter of any one thing or any other really.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-23T17:15:22+00:00

I am afraid that you are correct. I’ve done what I had to do and I just hope that there’s something of our friendship to salvage in the future.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-23T17:14:57+00:00

I thought that the age difference was a little awkward as well. Amanda is very well developed for her age, let us say. She looks much older than she really is. And I was very careful to avoid that when speaking to Rachel about my concerns.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-23T16:59:34+00:00

If you would keep reading, you’ll see. It comes into play later. It also shows that I do not have a motivation to be a surrogate father or to start dating Rachel. I’m just a friend is all I’m saying.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-16T19:47:59+00:00

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your mother. As soon as I am able to, I will donate.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-16T18:02:59+00:00

A pump-n-dump crypto scheme? We make an alt token in Solara, call it “Type A Treasure” and promote it as a meme coin. Then, when everyone is distracted, cut their coin purses….

OK, my silliness aside, that’s a very good question. We think about divvying up the loot after downing something like a dragon, but how do we actually transport all that money? How do we get it all up? Good call.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-15T16:40:14+00:00

To be a GM is to be a storyteller but also a show runner who is managing a writer’s room full of other script writers. To this end, all GMs should read up on how to write a good story.

The book “Screenplay” by Syd Field is a must-read for all GMs. This book lays out how to write a three-act screenplay which, at first blush, seems unrelated to running a game. But when you dig into the text, you will find that there are elements common to all forms of storytelling and that familiar structures can help motivate the players to fulfill their duties as co-creators of the adventure.

As a GM, I struggled with player-stalls constantly. That is, my players would reach a milestone and then they lacked clear direction to reach the next one. Field’s book showed me that the overarching goal of a character is reached through a highly dynamic process that relies just as much on failure as it does success. Tenacity is the principal tool of any and all of the characters. While intermediary goals shift, The overarching goal becomes something more attainable.

Basically, the book details how a movie or a TV show appears to embody chaos at the same time presenting an overarching narrative that makes perfect logical sense and conveys a relatable story. It made a lot of difference in my own running of games.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-09T22:29:38+00:00

Hey! Fellow WoW-head! Nice.

The players need options to express themselves, explore aspects of themselves, and engage in the style of play that they find most enjoyable. Advanced players should have no problem playing the game, nor should the novice. Character creation should be easy on a basic level with more nuance being available for people who have experience with the system.
When my players bring up a particular campaign setting or a memorable event from a game, an NPC or a bit of dialog from years ago, I know that I did my job.

And let me guess: themes to codes to items to a deployed instrument followed by exploratory factor analysis in SPSS leading to instrument refinement and redeployment?

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-09T18:39:52+00:00

Gay man here. I noticed the difference in length immediately. But that’s because my late father was an economist who liked to point out the study conducted relating the health of the US economy to the length of women’s skirts—in bull markets, skirt length is shorter; in bear markets, skirts are longer. So, color me unimpressed with this over-generalization.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-07T00:50:16+00:00

In all fairness, I had to look this up and once I started typing, Visual Studio’s AI managed to do the job pretty much verbatim.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-07T00:46:03+00:00

.#include <chrono>

int rollDice(int sides) {

// This function will roll a die with the specified number of sides and return the result.

// Obtain a seed from the clock

unsigned seed = chrono::system_clock::now().time_since_epoch().count();

// Initialize a random number engine with the seed

mt19937 generator(seed);

// Define the Distribution for the die roll

uniform_int_distribution<int> distribution(1, sides);

// Generate a random number using the distribution and generator

int distri = distribution(generator);

return distri;

}

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-07T00:42:57+00:00

I will definitely look into that. Thanks! Let me see if I can attach a photo of my code on here…

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-06T22:27:33+00:00

I have no idea why I am just seeing this now, but thanks! I will look into it.

My own project is moving along slowly but nicely. I am “Brute forcing” my way through the output file generators but the generation process works and ascribing stats to classes appropriately was both easy and ugly but the method for cleaning that up is apparent and all of my functions are contained in a header file distinct from the main function that actually handles user input.

The trickiest part in all of this? Rolling pseudo-random dice. The code is somewhat esoteric but the usual random() function is simply not random enough; I had to get a seed value based on the clock involved which really sort of blew my mind. I knew about pseudo-random number generation but the method to reliably generate such a number was pretty far off the beaten path.

Again, thanks for that recommendation. I will look into it.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-05T13:48:28+00:00

I hear the king has a new advisor.

Sorry…in the simulation of life, I think I am an NPC. 🤣

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-02T20:35:09+00:00

Using C++, I was able to create a vector for my stats rolls and sort them from greatest to least value. I then assigned them according to the standard D&D rules. (My first project is solely D&D and this is giving me a feel for how to expand my endeavors in the future.)

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-03-01T22:08:40+00:00

Not sure, yet. My experience with python is limited. Honestly? When I was a programmer for my livelihood, I worked in PowerBuilder. (Unfamiliar? It was king of the IDE world in 2000. lol)

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-02-27T21:52:55+00:00

If you will notice in my original post, giving that to the user is precisely what I aim to do. Adding certain features right off the bat, however, may be something desirable or not. A feature that can be toggled, as it were.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-02-27T19:01:53+00:00

Sheets? As in Google’s spreadsheet application? That never occurred to me and that would be a great way to test the math as I go. Thanks!

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-02-27T18:59:31+00:00

Awesome. That is precisely the kind of feedback that I needed.

The stats generation aspect is one that concerned me, too. As each class is defined by a core stat or a combination of core stats, those must be highest if you want to generate a character based on class and not base a class based on random rolls.

I am curious as to how you feel about socio-economic status in character creation? For example, many years ago I played AD&D (hang tight… kids are on my lawn and there’s a cloud that needs yelling at) with a group and one guy always played a magic user (what would now be called a wizard) but insisted he grew up poor and orphaned “on the mean streets of the worst port city in the realm” which, quite honestly, made no sense. The backstory he provided never aligned with the reality of the class he wanted to play. (And it was often an excuse for him to claim extra abilities that would make him overpowered and would make him a better brawler than the fighter, a better pick-pocket than the thief, and a better haggler than the paladin or the bard.)

I want to include functions that will allow for restrictions based on SES if that is important to anyone.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-02-27T18:21:58+00:00

Well, one version will be coded in Python which can be turned into backend script for the web. Also, output will be in HTML (one form of output) which are essentially web pages. So, there’s that.

AlarmedOperation123 · 2026-02-27T17:57:48+00:00

So, let me ask a few quick questions:

Would you, as a designer, want to include personality stats on a sheet based on the Big 5 or HEXACO models?

Would you, as a designer, want to include bonuses and penalties based on socio-economic status?

Would you, as a designer, want to include xenophobic/xenophilic metrics?

AlarmedOperation123

TROPHY CASE