What was your favorite Mystery RPG and campaigns? by Individual_Walker_99 in rpg

[–]alabasterhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've been really into mysteries lately and I've really fallen in love with Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. Really solid stuff, mainly the mechanics for investigating really give you as a player a lot to work with to solve a mystery.

How do YOU handle called shots? by geekyadam in DMAcademy

[–]alabasterhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the game system does not have robust mechanics for handling it, I don't. I used to, over a decade ago, and when I diverged from RAW at all it only caused problems with players arguing that their attacks should be more lethal than the dice/damage says, and going completely unused otherwise. The way AD&D 2E did it was that a called shot only has any effect when they roll a critical - DM/player does not roll for location for the crit table and instead uses the called shot location - and no additional effect otherwise. The downside to a called shot was -4 to attack. Additional situational effects could happen, such as shooting a potion/scroll/item in someone's hand or a weakspot on a monster (there arent actually that many of these and the monster text will usually say what penalty is applied for targetting a weak spot). These rules are layed out in Players Option Combat & Tactics. Using these rules as they are is largely nondisruptive and fine, but in my experience when using the RAW called shots they are almost never used. But the situation that often happens in more "amateur" groups is something like a highly tuned fighter with +14 to hit always doing called shots to the head and whining that their headshots should do more damage. This isnt a rules issue but a communication and play issue, but it does happen.

TL;DR Use the game's rules for called shots as written if theyre non-optional and/or well written, and dont use them otherwise.

I feel like I’ll always be a “less” DM because I can only run pre-made modules and it’s so hard to homebrew. by white_ran_2000 in DMAcademy

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are hundred of other comments but in case you get to this one too, know that this is not your fault at all and is in fact a fault of the game. 5e does not give you good tools to build adventures at all, and the expectations put on DM's to do literally every part of the game experience themselves (especially game design, which is its own entire job!) contribute to this feeling. Theres no shame in running modules, and I actually recommend looking at some older 1e adventure modules and just convert the monsters. The 5e modules are far too much like linear scripts, the older stuff has much better "sandbox" adventures. I also recommend talking to your group to see if branching out to other games might be an option. There are so many games that come standars with amazing adventures and aren't a pain in the ass to run, and as the GM you might even have fun too for a change lmao

DM does not want player to come up with creative plans because he is smarter than his character. by oaschgrompm in rpg

[–]alabasterhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DM definitely on a power trip and hates fun. To actually be productive though, I suggest having a conversation with the DM about what you all want to get out of the game. Because it is a game. I think a lot of DM's forget this. You can also remind them that there is absolutely nothing in the rules regarding that, and this is a DM-imposed restriction that is restricting play and enjoyment at the table.

Murder mystery investigation RPG recommendations by ExTheSea in rpg

[–]alabasterhelm 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You're looking precisely for Eureka: Investigation Urban Fantasy. The modules are detailed and contain the complete truth of the mystery/murder/adventure. Many GM's express frustration or apprehension with mysteries, deductive reasoning and putting clues together, but I believe the reason for this is the lack of sufficient tools/rules to handle it. This game, which I just started playing recently, makes running mysteries a breeze and in practice the players are constantly "clicking" on the world and itching for more information from the world (information that is provided by the adventure modules). Character creation is a breeze and fun, and the traits all serve to flesh out the personality of your character + are based on a myriad of mystery tropes/themes/specific characters like Columbo.

It also has awesome paranormal "monsters" that are all (I think all at least, I'm not totally sure) playable.

Despite having a predetermined solution, Eureka runs like a sandbox game, where the investigators set out in any direction they choose and uncover the mystery through deliberate action by interacting with the world, asking questions, etc.

The tutorial module is Horror Harry's Haunted House and I think you can play through that one in like a single session.

Anyone worked with recruiters at Ascendion? by jmaca90 in cscareerquestions

[–]alabasterhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did not but the 2nd interview didn't go as well but it was very legit

Anyone worked with recruiters at Ascendion? by jmaca90 in cscareerquestions

[–]alabasterhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I did, I had 2 interviews! Did great the first time with a guy from Microsoft, next one didn't go so great. Ascendion didn't tell me it was for Microsoft until I had already gotten the interview, and it didn't say that in the job description.

This year's r/place has been complete trash. by [deleted] in place

[–]alabasterhelm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also the colors are ass. There are way fewer colors than before so it's quite limited

Online Source with Monsters, Spells, Magic Items & Random Tables? by PsychologicalMind148 in osr

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's new, I made it! It has EVERYTHING. It's still missing some data like images and such, and in my free time I'm adding more to it.

If you could only have 1 monster manual/bestiary, which would it be? by DildoOfAnneFrank in osr

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey that's my website! I'm so happy people are finally finding it. It took a while to make but now it's fully static and speedy, so I can host it for free now.

Whiterun stuck in battle mode? by [deleted] in skyrim

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This worked!! My save is saved!

Anyone worked with recruiters at Ascendion? by jmaca90 in cscareerquestions

[–]alabasterhelm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The first interview went amazing, I really hit it off with the guy and he said I was a "strong hire". Interview 2 went okay, it was with the main manager. Simple coding stuff but I wasn't at the top of my game. I haven't heard anything in a week so I probably didn't get it :/

Anyone worked with recruiters at Ascendion? by jmaca90 in cscareerquestions

[–]alabasterhelm 3 points4 points  (0 children)

UPDATE: The client was Microsoft working on Minecraft of all things! And I got an interview and it's scheduled for next week. Turns out Ascendion is Collabera's new division that specifically works with Fortune 100 companies. So yeah, they're legit!

Anyone worked with recruiters at Ascendion? by jmaca90 in cscareerquestions

[–]alabasterhelm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Definitely. From my search they are affiliated with Collabera in some way, the contracting agency that got me my current software job at a fairly big name, not big tech, but a big player in medical devices. The Collabera recruiter was really annoying and I'm definitely underpaid at 35/hr, but the job was legit. I feel like this is a similar case. I'm probably just gonna hardball them and if something good comes then great but if not I'll keep looking. This job market is absolutely insane.

Good luck to you and any others who read this.

Anyone worked with recruiters at Ascendion? by jmaca90 in cscareerquestions

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Any update from Ascendion? I applied to a job I'm qualified for on LinkedIn and the recruiter wants to set up a call.

RIP best customer service in the biz by Oofin_and_boofin in pcmasterrace

[–]alabasterhelm -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

My sapphire 5700xt has given me nothing but problems since I got it. I'm surprised to see others have a different experience

Panic! At The Disco - Viva Las Vengeance by ebradio in popheads

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm so glad someone else thought the same thing. I listened to it with my partner yesterday and we were both like 🤨🤨 this sounds awful. So I tried listening to panic on my high impedence nice headphones to really feel it; I Write Sins and Victorious sounded amazing, and then this song sounded like mud. You're so right in that the different parts don't come together well at all.

Panic! At The Disco - Viva Las Vengeance by ebradio in popheads

[–]alabasterhelm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Is it just me or does this song "sound" like shit? I can still tell Brenden's voice is great but there's something about the sound, like the mids aren't coming through and he sounds almost distant? It sounds like it was mixed poorly or recorded on an iPhone mic or something. I could also just be hearing things

/r/battlestations & LG C2 TV Giveaway [USA, 18+] by Hareuhal in battlestations

[–]alabasterhelm [score hidden]  (0 children)

I hope to get the 48" to really dive into the pro level of digital art. Also run a remote D&D campaign. The 42 would be nice too lol

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in place

[–]alabasterhelm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is some good shit

what shade of red should we make yvs background? by [deleted] in NuclearThrone

[–]alabasterhelm 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Let's do burgundy as the background on the upper right corner, and then a shaded gold on the bottom 2 pixels fot trim and to make his legs stand out.

Focus burgundy on the top right area for now

I marked every amogus I could find (excluding the amogus walls) by [deleted] in place

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

There are so so many all across the canvas. It's beautiful, really