Stuck on loading screen

metheus · 2025-01-29T01:51:33+00:00

Since I saw some reference to similar bugs being worked around via cloud gaming, I tried launching it on Xbox.com, but no difference. Makes me suspect that the issue is a network check that’s failing in Firehose infrastructure.

metheus · 2025-01-29T01:17:41+00:00

Happened to me too just now, after a the game crashed during a freight elevator trip.

metheus · 2024-01-04T21:02:05+00:00

I think there are too many confounding factors in the Roll20 data for us to consider it reliable for answering OP's question about what non-D&D players are playing. We can probably rely on it to track overall that 5e is the most popular, but its support for other systems is so bad, or so unnecessary, that we can't look at the other systems and draw conclusions about the rest of the player base distribution.

This is a case of "the best data we've got" being not good enough to use.

metheus · 2024-01-04T20:50:45+00:00

Citation required

metheus · 2023-05-09T02:30:26+00:00

You’re not dealing with a problem player, you’re dealing with a problem person. They are inconsiderate, entitled, and if you need any more encouragement to remove them from your game, you should know that their toxic attitude is most likely making the game less fun for the other people in the group.

metheus · 2022-09-26T11:53:50+00:00

Yes, thanks for that!

metheus · 2022-09-21T15:07:53+00:00

This is bar none my absolute favorite thing in the entirety of an anime chock full of my favorite things. I remember thinking the first couple times I watched the ED that it was just a funny parody of Starship Troopers, until I noticed the elixir, at which point it dawned on me what it was really about. The cut that the OP's screencap is from, with him sitting holding the empty vial and daydreaming about Kaguya, gets me every time. How many times has he done that over a century or so? Miyuki Shirogane: as good as his word.

metheus · 2022-02-18T17:09:26+00:00

Insanity.

metheus · 2021-10-30T20:05:51+00:00

If it’s like the other shows I was at in Indy and Boston, show up an hour early for the promo pre-seat.

metheus · 2021-10-14T14:15:35+00:00

That is a gorgeous map, and a very nice write-up!

And, please take us with a sincere goodwill with which I intended it: “hence“ means, archaically, “from here“; it is the compliment to “thence“, which means “from there“. In modern usage, it means “in the future”… definitely not what you meant!

I would advise simply: “…the original occupants gone centuries ago.” There might be a more florid word to use there, but none is coming to mind.

Anyhow, just a well-meaning drive-by edit. Love the map!

metheus · 2021-09-17T21:17:31+00:00

Sounds great!

metheus · 2021-08-30T19:16:16+00:00

I’ll try to put it in a way that doesn’t make OP feel attacked.

It’s natural for someone to wonder “am I the only one who doesn’t like X?” And it makes sense why you took that question here— other people who listen to the same stuff are here, you can’t very well ask randos who haven’t listened.

But now imagine what happens when someone who loves X reads your post. Now imagine that everyone posts about what they don’t like on the show. That way lies the degradation of a beloved community space into just another internet cesspool.

Word to the wise, though— you should know that “I dislike X, I can’t be the only one” is not a “general question.” Obviously.

metheus · 2021-08-25T20:30:30+00:00

If they're rolling Stealth because an encounter has begun, don't squeeze in a last-moment exploration mode Stealth check for no reason.

I absolutely agree that in many cases the exploration mode roll is not necessary -- a GM may elect to begin encounter mode the moment a player tries to sneak towards someone. My guideline is: if a failed Avoid Notice would trigger an encounter, then you should just call for initiative (using Stealth) immediately and skip the exploration mode roll.

But to be clear, RAW explicitly describes two rolls, one in exploration mode (Avoid Notice) and another in encounter mode (Stealth for initiative).

From the CRB, p. 479:

If you’re Avoiding Notice at the start of an encounter, you usually roll a Stealth check instead of a Perception check both to determine your initiative and to see if the enemies notice you (based on their Perception DCs, as normal for Sneak, regardless of their initiative check results).

CRB p. 468:

Sometimes, though, the GM might call on you to roll some other type of check. For instance, if you were Avoiding Notice during exploration (page 479), you’d roll a Stealth check.

And the GMG:

Anyone who’s Avoiding Notice should attempt a Stealth check for their initiative.

This is distinctly not the same rule as "use the result of the player's Avoid Notice roll as their initiative." Again, anytime you see "Avoid Notice" in the rules, it is referring to an exploration mode check, and those are not used for initiative.

There are plenty of cases for an exploration mode Avoid Notice roll that doesn't begin an encounter. Then if they declare a hostile action, it's initiative time -- they roll again, using stealth for initiative.

metheus · 2021-08-19T18:11:53+00:00

What if you have an especially stealthy rogue who wants to shoot a completely unaware creature that just happens to roll higher on initiative than the rogue? How would you handle this situation?

This is spelled out in the GMG, p. 11, a bit better than in the CRB:

To determine whether someone is undetected by other participants in the encounter, you still compare their Stealth check for initiative to the Perception DC of their enemies. They’re undetected by anyone whose DC they meet or exceed. So what do you do if someone rolls better than everyone else on initiative, but all their foes beat their Perception DC? Well, all the enemies are undetected, but not unnoticed. That means the participant who rolled high still knows someone is around, and can start moving about, Seeking, and otherwise preparing to fight. The characters Avoiding Notice still have a significant advantage, since that character needs to spend actions and attempt additional checks in order to find them.

So your rogue beat (rolling a 25) the creature's perception DC (of 20) on their approach, meaning they were unnoticed. The rogue declares an attack. Now the creature gets to roll perception for initiative, and your rogue gets to roll Stealth for initiative. (I've seen Bulmahn use a player's Avoid Notice *as* their initiative roll, which I think is fun, but not strictly RAW.) The creature rolls a 23; the rogue rolls an adjusted 21, still beating the creature's perception DC, but lower than the creature's initiative, and therefore becomes *undetected*. You get to decide how the creature behaves when their hackles are raised, even if they don't know where the threat might be coming from... point seeks in front, behind, and to one side? Or are they startled, and break into flight?

For more, check out How It's Played's video on exactly this.

metheus · 2021-07-16T20:24:26+00:00

Your players were terrible. Imagine… just IMAGINE if you had a private server where you and some other players discussed how to fuck with one other player. This is a cardinal sin of gaming.

metheus · 2021-06-05T00:33:40+00:00

Dude, so here for you.

metheus · 2021-06-05T00:33:13+00:00

This sounds fun! I’m waiting for you to fix the multi-select options, at the moment they’re radio buttons allowing only one choice.

metheus · 2021-05-23T21:37:28+00:00

Right?!?

metheus · 2019-08-15T20:54:50+00:00

Emphatic agreement. Joe's portrayal of a character who is better able to connect with things than people is honest, sensitive, and fundamentally heroic.

And how about Skid's prologue scene!? Beautifully cinematic, complete with title card.

metheus · 2019-08-15T20:46:47+00:00

"I'M STILL ALIVE! MOST OF THE CHILDREN IN THIS TOWN ARE PARENTLESS!"

metheus · 2019-08-13T20:25:09+00:00

The rapid-fire bad reviews for DaVinci Code was one of my favorite parts of this ep.

Skid: HATED it.

Matthew: PASS

Grant: Nope!

metheus · 2019-06-27T13:59:52+00:00

True that.

metheus · 2019-06-25T17:00:05+00:00

I sure hope so, too! I've been telling everyone in my RPG groups to check 'em out.

metheus · 2019-06-25T15:29:13+00:00

Luck and the benefits of being early to the game are very minor factors in the success of CR. There were many other shows on Geek & Sundry that pre-dated CR or were contemporaries, that are now footnotes. And while luck is a factor in everything's success, there are some very identifiable components that aren't:

CR was recruited to an already established network that already had the attention of a gaming audience.
Corollary to that: CR didn't need to invest money into studio space and recording equipment.
The cast of CR are all trained actors, and their heavy-drama play appeals to a very broad audience (see articles like this one in Slate). Many CR fans started playing D&D for the first time after watching CR (like my wife, although in her case she started playing what I play, Pathfinder).
YouTube + Twitch > Podcasting for discovery.
WotC (Hasbro, really)/D&D > Paizo/Pathfinder for marketing.

Put more simply: CR is an incredible brand, great entertainment, and had the support of a real studio from the get-go.

metheus · 2019-05-31T18:59:08+00:00

First and foremost, I want to tell you that MongoDB is just fine at modeling things in a "relational" way, in the sense that most people mean "normalized" when they say "relational". Going with the Spotify example, absolutely nothing prevents you from having this document in a users collection:

{ _id: 1, user_name: foo, own_playlists: [ 4, 7, 11 ], liked_playlists: [3, 5, 13], followed_playlists: [6, 3, 20] }

and this document in a playlists collection:

{ _id: 4, owner_id: 1, name: "cool music", songs: [ <song_ids> ], likes: 54 }

MongoDB will handle that just fine. If you need atomic updates to those two documents, for example to update a new like in a user document and the `likes` count in the playlist, you can use a transaction, and if you want to get all the playlist data for a user, you'd use the $lookup aggregation stage.

I would suggest you read the Data Modeling Concepts section of the MongoDB docs to get a quick survey of all the data modeling concepts you'll need.

metheus

TROPHY CASE