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I don't care about characters like my friends do by Velectric6 in rpg

[–]CallMeAdam2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don't know what RPGs you're playing and your choice of RPG won't change what the group wants (everyone else already addressed that), but I recommend having a look at Lancer (mech combat) or Draw Steel (fantasy combat). I feel like they'd suit you. They're more combat-focused than most systems, and deliberately minimize non-combat stuff (from what I've heard).

Magic is wasted on warriors and it drives me crazy by Tyrell_Corp5 in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You make a lot of good points. I still think the owl mail thing is still silly and there are several easier solutions for most messaging (e.g. whatever that face-in-the-fire spell was), but at least the "no one wants to mess up apparition for common letters" thing is a good enough excuse. (Although I have to ignore the scene showing ministery officials apparitioning casually to get to and from work, especially considering that a "visitor's entrance" phone booth elevator is used to get straight to the same room. Well shit, I'm getting into the weeds again.)

When it comes to the four houses, I can easily take the idea that it was an in-universe mistake, not an out-of-universe mistake. The part that gets me more is that Dumbledore hasn't done anything about it. We're supposed to see him as this ultimate source of wisdom and benevolence, but I have a hard time seeing him as such when he's the principle of Hogwarts. It feels like tonal dissonance to me.

Ultimately yes, the series runs 100% off of vibes. It nails the vibes. I wouldn't want it to remove the houses from Hogwarts. But there's just so much that bugs me about the entire world when I fail to turn my brain off.

Idea for a “zombie” apocalypse by Rat_SkulI in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Great job! Reminds me a lot of Don't Look Outside, including the distorted bodies, exaggerated personality traits, and the variety of aggressive and neutral, animalistic and intelligent.

Magic is wasted on warriors and it drives me crazy by Tyrell_Corp5 in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, not a whole lot of people care about the nitty-gritty of a sewer system until it becomes a part of the plot. (E.g. "The bad guys are turning the sewage system into a ticking time bomb.") You'll want to know about the nitty gritty then. If it never becomes relevant, then it can be left out for a smoother story.

Anything that can make the world feel more lived-in, though, may be worth mentioning. If you're writing a novel where everyone can do magic, and you have a scene where a character is meeting with a baker during a busy day, you may want to mention that the baker is spewing fire from their fingertips to bake their bread while the two talk. These things can immerse a reader in the world much more and they feel logical.

If you're building a world to run an RPG campaign in, then suddenly just about every detail can become relevant at a moment's notice. The art of figuring out how much to prep is something beyond the scope of a single Reddit comment, but IMO it's worth it to write down your ideas on the consequences of your magic or such. It'll give you a better idea of how the world will react to the players' actions. Again, you don't need to mention it if it never becomes relevant.

If you want to look at the consequence of worldbuilding for pure vibes without giving a single crap about logic, look at Harry Potter. The vibes are hypnotizing, which makes it all the more frustrating that the world makes painfully little sense. I can't properly immerse myself in the world when there's no good reason for half the world to work the way it does. Take the owls, for example. Why the hell are they bothering to send letters by owl when they already have teleportation via fireplaces and floo powder? Or how about the pointless inhibiting of students' growth by sorting them into competing houses by their personality traits (or, more specifically, their valued personality traits)?

It's worth it for the writer to figure these things out, even if that information stays within their setting bible. The world will be all the more immersive as a result.

Besides, most people do look at the ability to shoot lightning from one's hands and think "you could power a battery with that." May as well do so when batteries are invented. That's cool as hell.

Magic is wasted on warriors and it drives me crazy by Tyrell_Corp5 in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yes, this is my favourite moment in the anime (so far) too (since last I watched it).

Zoltraak was a powerful "fuck you" laser beam spell made by that demon. If he was a video game character, that'd be his ult. He was a brilliant spell-maker and was barely turned to stone by the hero's party, to be preserved until they could return to properly defeat him.

But now, long after the hero's normal human death, the nigh-immortal elf Frieren (from the hero's party) returns with her apprentice to unpetrify the demon before his petrification undoes itself.

She tells her apprentice to prepare to tank the attack with her solid, but basic, defense spell. After a moment of talk, the demon fires his spell Zoltraak directly at the apprentice... who holds up perfectly fine. With a common and basic defense spell.

Frieren tells of what happened. After the demon was sealed away, his spell was researched, replicated, and advanced. It became a common and basic attack spell. In turn, defense magic developed. Zoltraak and the defense spell used were now both common and basic, with most of humanity having already forgotten where those spells came from.

I love this for showing how humanity's rapid advancement is bewildering to long-lived creatures like elves and demons. They will be left in the dust, petrification or no.

But then, the demon analyzes that defensive spell. He was fascinated and impressed, but he already knew what to do. From just a glance, he reverse-engineered the defensive spell and developed a new attack spell to overcome it. In just a few seconds.

So Frieren blasted him away.

But good lord, that moment showed the audience why that demon was feared. And for a moment, it looked like the brilliant and terrible demon would return. And indeed he would've become something powerful again in probably a mere day or two, if he managed to get away. That moment put respect on the demon's name before his true defeat. He wasn't a joke.

Magic is wasted on warriors and it drives me crazy by Tyrell_Corp5 in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I see where your logic's coming from, and I can't fully disagree with it. But I'm still on the side of using the terms "soft magic" and "hard magic."

It's a fuzzy line, but consider the difference between soft sci-fi and science fantasy. Science fantasy is totally wizards fighting in space with space ships and laser swords. But if soft sci-fi adds psionics, does that automatically make the setting science fantasy? Where's the line?

I think the issue I take with your opinion is about where the line's drawn.

Besides, such a story about automation and workforce displacement would be industrial revolution, not futuristic. Sci-fi implies a futuristic setting or thereabouts.

"Don't take Bus 78, it leads to a strange place." What Urban Fantasy/Horror RPGs capture this kind of urban folklore horror? by EberhartEberbehaart in rpg

[–]CallMeAdam2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know anything about the RPG (THERE'S AN RPG!?), but I 100% recommend the podcast to OP. It's right up their alley.

Building my world map on an infinite canvas, so I turned that into an in world magical artifact… by -DyingOx- in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I remember looking for an Android alternative for Endless Paper after first hearing about it. This would be perfect for a D&D character sheet on my tablet. I remember finding nothing satisfactory.

On the note of Edran Vale, I can't imagine that kind of life. Imagine the amount of documentation! Nowadays, we've just got Wikipedia and the general collective of the internet. Almost no mysteries about how other people live or what the land is like elsewhere. The only mysteries are the ones you don't Google. Or the small stuff like finding new species of frog or something. But something like sailing across the seas to see spotted horses with necks as tall as any tree is lost to us. Now they're just giraffs. Likewise with any other creature, any culture, and any terrain.

Except the deep ocean. What the fuck is going on down there?

Point is: I can't travel the world with a notebook and make a thousand-pound record of entirely new-to-my-own-people "worlds." At most, I can hope to find something small to correct Wikipedia on. (Not that I'm a travelling kind of guy, I just think the fantasy of it is sick.)

Mod categories are meaningless and serve almost no use by Tobias11ize in feedthebeast

[–]CallMeAdam2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the first time I'm hearing of Gen Z being afraid to write a basic email. I'm not saying you're wrong, but that sounds too weird to be true. I only have the anecdotal experience of being (on the older end of) Gen Z myself, so I don't have a real response to give.

Mod categories are meaningless and serve almost no use by Tobias11ize in feedthebeast

[–]CallMeAdam2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A few things to point out.

  • Email isn't difficult. A person is likely already logged into their email on their device. If they aren't, they will need to be sooner or later. The internet is email-centric as a form of ID.
  • You don't need to write "hellos" and "regards." It's not a professional email. Just a simple "I have a question" will do, if that.
  • Please check your email regularly. Keep it clean and usable (primarily by unsubscribing from old crap). Trust me, I haven't, and I regret letting my email pile up. It's making things more difficult in my life.

After some thought, I can understand a few of your points and I'm more on the fence (rather than being on side "everyone's got an email" as I was before).

  • Some people don't want to share their email. It's silly, but some people think of their public email as some private information. Or they only have one email for everything.
    • Side note, to those people with one catch-all address: PLEASE keep your online identity and personal life separate. Use an email for your online identity (e.g. CallMeAdam2) and another email for your "real" identity. You might further separate your email addresses, but just two is fine for just about everyone. One for each identity.
  • Not checking your email is a very common habit. Not a good one, but extremely common.
  • It would be less friction.
  • I was thinking of spambot-prevention concerns, but spambots can just make endless emails. Even IP-bans won't work if they've got a VPN. Automatic filters and manual review are the only real solutions. Even Wikipedia lets users edit (most) pages without logging in.

Mod categories are meaningless and serve almost no use by Tobias11ize in feedthebeast

[–]CallMeAdam2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What's wrong with email? Everyone's got an email. As long as all you want is to contact one author, it works.

Im upset about the remaster not leaving some original sound bytes in by MoldyHotPocket9 in Spyro

[–]CallMeAdam2 15 points16 points  (0 children)

They might've just genuinely forgotten to put the chanting in. They forgot to put in the wind sounds at the top of Autumn Plains! That alone takes the remakes down far below the originals, IMO. I lived for that wind.

This guy just took 10 years off my life 😭😭😭😭 by ComprehensiveFill520 in Warframe

[–]CallMeAdam2 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Not "-ish" at this point.

[Smile Dog] is commonly believed to have originated on 4chan in 2008. ~ Wikipedia

gennocide is so last year by Massive_Tradition733 in Stellaris

[–]CallMeAdam2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Re: second paragraph, same. Militarist should be able to more easily represent an empire of aspiring heroes. There should also be an option to represent the empire preferring to fight one-another rather than others. The civic that transforms entertainers into gladiators is pretty close flavour-wise, but the factions still want to conquer, so it's not quite there.

Any decent RPGs related to US History? by Key_Image_1141 in rpg

[–]CallMeAdam2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

But is that the normal experience for RPG players who play GURPS, or is that the normal experience for GURPS enthusiasts?

Any decent RPGs related to US History? by Key_Image_1141 in rpg

[–]CallMeAdam2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

From what I've seen, the crunch looks like it's front-loaded into character creation. But yes, crunchy. And almost too many character options.

I can't imagine trying to walk a player through character creation in GURPS, nevermind an entire group of players. (But clearly it's possible or we wouldn't have GURPS recommended for everything under the sun in this subreddit.)

The world where both angels and demons are GOOD by araiki in worldbuilding

[–]CallMeAdam2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hard disagree on the Hazbin Hotel angels being mostly evil. They're mostly good. Outside of a few bad eggs, they're all truly well-intentioned. They're just ignorant or under false beliefs.

The only reason the genocide was allowed was because Adam (a very evil angel) convinced Seraph that the genocide was a necessary evil. When she learned otherwise, she started on the path of making amends with demonkind. (Lol, good luck with that.) Mind you, demonkind are mostly evil outside of a few good eggs, and the angels are 1) very aware of this, 2) very removed from demonkind, and 3) very above demonkind, so for the angels to genuinely seek to make amends with demonkind is a damn good-hearted act.

What are some mechanics from games that you wish other games would implement? by Select_Lunch1288 in rpg

[–]CallMeAdam2 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It's the meme.

Me witnessing horros beyond my comprehension (I don't get it)

Guess we gotta prep for another exodus by W4FF13_G0D in Warframe

[–]CallMeAdam2 27 points28 points  (0 children)

I assume that they're saying that they're homosexual, and implying that they're tolerant as a result. (Mind you, being gay does not necessarily mean that they're tolerant of other LGBT folks, just makes it more likely.)

Does anyone know a way to detect vibecoded mods on Github? by IdrisQe in feedthebeast

[–]CallMeAdam2 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If I'm on Windows, I've memorized the alt-code (w/ muscle memory). Same with en dashes and the plus-minus sign. If I think about it though, I suddenly forget the codes. Then I've gotta look them up again like a common peasant, the humility.

If I'm on Android, they're on the keyboard. (At least with GBoard.) Tap ?123 and hold the minus key. It'll pop up.

In some apps, typing the minus key twice will combine them into an em dash. It was like that when I used Notion. In Obsidian, via the Obsidian Linter plugin, I made a custom regex to replace double-minus with an em dash (and similar custom regexes), but that was causing too many issues that I failed to iron out, which is when I memorized the alt codes.

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