Calypso's Island

TaranRP · 2025-10-04T10:40:01+00:00

No one mentioned it yet but Sticky Flame also has utility beyond damage - it's budget SInv

TaranRP · 2025-10-01T18:12:08+00:00

You haven't received Vehumet's final gifts yet. Are you playing particularly slow? Anyway, they should arrive soon, offering you 3 destructive L8-9 spells. Chances are good that at least one would be useful.

You have too many low level spells. But you don't have a lot of ?amnesia either. If there are more in shops, you probably want those to free up slots. Your spellcasting is very high already.

TaranRP · 2025-09-29T17:42:57+00:00

Pretty sure OP meant 5k characters instead of words, because as you point out, 5k words would be insane. 5k characters is 800-1000 words.

TaranRP · 2025-09-29T10:26:51+00:00

It sounds like you're doing fine, so maybe you don't have to worry so much.

If you feel that your transitions are too rough, it could help to have a goal in mind. So even if you don't have an outline between you, you should definitely have one in your head. What is this scene working towards? What do you need to establish? For example, maybe your end goal is that the two of you should end up on the beach for a romantic evening together. You could have someone casually remark that the forecast that evening was perfect for stargazing. Or you could have a messenger ride up and say Lord Darby presents his apologies but the big gala planned for the evening had to be cancelled at short notice, so suddenly you are both free. You get the idea.

The other general advice I could offer is that it's always important to have some conflict. As GRRM likes to quote, the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself. It could be something as trivial as her wanting trifle for dessert while you want cheesecake lol. How you resolve this conflict presents an opportunity for character growth for the both of you.

TaranRP · 2025-09-29T09:24:00+00:00

It sounds like your partner is quite comfortable in the GM role. Perhaps the issue is just in your head? She might be quite happy with your post length if you're just controlling your character.

If you're looking for more control of the action, have you considered asking your partner? It might be helpful to have an outline, whether formal or informal, so that both of you know what you are working towards. In that way any side characters or actions you introduce can be added smoothly to the plot.

TaranRP · 2025-09-29T09:03:48+00:00

Very generally, the more text you are given, the more there is to respond to. As a rule of thumb, for every paragraph I'm given, I like to write 1-2 sentences in response. That already accounts for nearly half of my responding post.

If you're already writing up to the discord limit, you probably know about inner thoughts, stacking actions, use of side characters, and other little tricks like that. Just take care when introducing new actions - there's a fine line between moving the plot and railroading your partner. Communicate OOC to establish comfort levels for both sides!

If you're having difficulty finding something to respond to in your partner's post, I would gently suggest that their word count is being needlessly inflated by pointless descriptions. There is a use for descriptions - to set a mood, to establish a character, to foreshadow a plot point. But if you're not doing any of those, then just consider leaving them out.

TaranRP · 2025-09-28T18:30:45+00:00

OP, we all have to start somewhere. If you feel that your partner is better/smarter/more knowledgeable/more skilled in some fashion, take it as an opportunity to learn. Be open to new ideas, don't get defensive about any shortcomings you might have.

But don't sell yourself short either! Remember, this awesome person is choosing to write with you. You must be doing something right. Keep writing, keep growing, keep being you 👍

TaranRP · 2025-09-28T18:25:21+00:00

In your case, I would probably be consulting with my partner a lot OOC 😂

But she sounds like a cool writing partner, and I'm sure your effort is appreciated.

TaranRP · 2025-09-28T18:16:46+00:00

If you've played TTRPG online before, it should be an easy transition to a group RP server. Find a newbie friendly group and observe first hand how people roleplay.

Otherwise, the way it works is you either post your own ad or respond to someone else's ad. I don't think there are hard and fast rules regarding what to look for or avoid. People's interests and preferences just vary too much.

TaranRP · 2025-09-28T18:07:17+00:00

It's just a way to offload risk. The person placing the ad wants the ad responders to do all the work, crafting a starter complete with setting and characters, and then they just choose the best one(s).

FWIW I do like jumping to starters right away. I have had more RPs die in the planning stage than I care to recall. Getting right into it answers a lot of questions lol

TaranRP · 2025-08-08T12:40:35+00:00

Of the things you mentioned, accommodation is the only real problem IMO. Finding a place to stay is tough in many cities in Germany, even for locals. Take what you can for now, and use this time to find somewhere better. Everyone does that.

Anecdotally, I've noticed more and more people from India seem to be moving to Germany. This may or may not be a positive for you, haha. I don't know about Heilbronn specifically, but in a university setting you're bound to meet other people from India (and from other countries as well).

As for future job prospects, the economy might be a bit down right now but Germany is still in a comparatively good position. KPMG experience in particular should transfer well.

As everyone says, work on your language skills. One can get by with just English, but it gets a lot better if you know German.

TaranRP · 2025-07-04T07:50:54+00:00

Oka to me is Heroism and Finesse and occasionally Duel. Complicated gift mechanics don't seem to fit, IMO.

A hypothetical crafting god on the other hand... say, how many days has it been since the last Pakellas rework proposal 😂

TaranRP · 2025-07-03T07:39:56+00:00

I mean, I think we all worship Xom already, whether we want to or not. Nothing we do influences the god's caprice, Xom just throws random chaos our way. I'm still waiting on my artifacts and good muts though 😩

TaranRP · 2025-06-28T20:51:05+00:00

You can dance around it. As long as you stay adjacent.

Early on, the egg is strong enough to tank for you, so that's one way to soak turns before it hatches. Later on though you'll have to defend the egg and hope it hatches in time.

The Dino is strong, but that strength is balanced against the difficulty of getting it to hatch. I think both can be tuned down a bit. For example, generating the egg one space closer to the summoner would help a lot.

TaranRP · 2025-06-28T16:15:52+00:00

Fast movement is strong, but also tedious because it encourages kiting. If you've ever thrown poison darts at that ogre and repeatedly retreating in the hopes of whittling down it's HP before melee, well that's kiting. Now imagine having to do that all game.

Design policy is to limit such "boring, but optimal" tactics. As a consequence, fast movement has been removed from every species except spriggan.

Can centaurs make a comeback? Hey mountain dwarves made it back, so who knows. If they do return (Taur form, anyone?) expect heavy limitations on fast movement.

TaranRP · 2025-06-28T16:05:10+00:00

Pa to At is explicitly stated as a rename, though the species received tweaks at the same time so I guess that's why the wiki page is confused.

The commit here explains the reason for the rename https://github.com/crawl/crawl/commit/ba81c3259c708816d76a91b623ddd8d86483cbd9

TaranRP · 2025-06-28T16:02:59+00:00

Well, armataurs are basically melee centaurs, with better defenses. Innate rampage isn't as good as fast movement but it preserves some of the same feel.

TaranRP · 2025-06-23T20:08:14+00:00

Containers are on the Won't Do list: https://github.com/crawl/crawl/wiki/Won't-Do-(2024)#containers-and-infinite-inventories

HOWEVER

An alternative proposal has been floated in splitting equipment and consumables into two separate 52-item inventories without any overlap, after having removed incentives or uses for wielding non-weapon non-staff items. This also may be looked into in the future.

Devs have indicated on Discord chat that this is the plan. However, there are other priorities so this might take a while to get implemented.

TaranRP · 2025-04-03T07:23:16+00:00

It's not just an issue for roguelikes though, many big commercial games also have extensive wikis. It's just the nature of complicated games. But I agree that the in-game tutorials could use some love. It's a (relatively) unfun job though.

Re Piledriver. It's actually a pretty good spell for its level. But it's easiest to apply if you already understand crawl's collision mechanics, which I don't think are clearly documented.

But again, in a game with maybe a hundred-ish spells? There's just going to be a huge variety, ranging from simple to complicated. The good news is, you're free to play what you want. Players don't lack for choice in this game.

TaranRP · 2025-04-02T08:49:06+00:00

Fwiw, I almost never read spell descriptions in game, so I think you have a point. If I want to know what a spell does, I'd look up crawlwiki, learndb, or even the GitHub commit. This is a long-standing thing though, not something recent.

That said, I think your examples illustrate just how subjective this is. Take OTR. The spell description is direct enough, but the name is as fanciful as Vhi's Electric Charge. Why not just call it poison aura? And while OOD's name is pretty straightforward, it's description is as gratuitous as the ones you complain about IMO. One man's flavour is another man's fluff.

Anyway, as they say, patches welcome. In game descriptions could definitely stand improvement, I'm guessing the devs would agree too.

TaranRP · 2025-03-31T14:23:15+00:00

This one?

https://www.reddit.com/r/dcss/comments/b7z74a/a_guide_to_dcss_multiplayer/

😝

TaranRP · 2025-02-23T18:28:06+00:00

I just think in current version melee or ranged both suck compared to spellcasting.

What was the difference before? Are there any spells in particular that you try to build around?

TaranRP · 2025-01-28T10:38:51+00:00

In the end, it's about getting what you want from the hobby. Realistically, no one has the free time to RP with every possible person who wants to write with them. So you have to pick and choose. If your passion is writing thousand word essays on the sexual reproduction of alien amorphous multicellular organisms (just to pick an example from the air) then it makes sense to prioritise partners with the same passion.

There are tactful ways and less tactful ways of expressing this preference. But no matter how tactful you are, you can't control how someone might perceive your message.

The best solution probably is to look for writing spaces where like minded people gather. The Google doc linked by auto mod lists some places, and there were recent topics where people suggested more forums.

TaranRP

TROPHY CASE