#but this actually solves a problem so maybe?

[imsobadatnicknames2]

Regarding your post(s) about investigation checks and the like, there's something that's bothering me, and it bothered me for a while. Not in regard to investigation, but charisma (and similar checks, diplomacy, negotiation, persuasion, whatever the game calls it).

In a TTRPG with skills, those skills are an abstraction meant to simulate a characters actual capabilities. If I want to make a character who can effortlessly jump from rooftop to rooftop, I'll give them high Athletics, Agility, Endurance, whatever. Maybe some feats, abilities, perks, advantages etc that pertain to jumping. Now, if I want my character to jump from rooftop to rooftop, I just roll the dice, and the skills, attributes, perks etc will make sure I have a high likelihood of success. I don't need to prove to the GM or the group that I myself could make that jump.

But now let's talk about Charisma checks. I've often heard stories of groups who say they don't make those checks, they just let the player make the argument, and if the GM is convinced, they "pass." But like... that means the character will always be as persuasive as the player. If the player isn't good at formulating an argument, the character won't be, either. Same with perception, investigation, etc. Sometimes, players just aren't good at picking up on hints and clues and/or they're not good at drawing conclusions from the clues they have. So that means that they can't play as a character who is?

Don't get me wrong, I get your point, I just find this is an issue worth thinking about. Why are things like athleticism, stealth, and combat prowess, or even things like lockpicking, hacking, or repairing stuff okay to abstract away as dice rolls, but deduction, perception, and maybe also persuasion and rhetoric aren't? Or, maybe the better, more constructive question: How would you propose handling a player playing a character whose skills exceed the player's?

I also think it's an issue worth thinking about, but I think "thinking about it" also has to involve asking the questions "why is this a problem?" and "is this ACTUALLY a problem?"

Like this discussion comes with the prepackaged assumption that allowing you to play a character whose abilities exceed yours as a player is both a) a universally desirable thing, and b) something that must be treated as a game design priority. And, with that assumption, it's logical to conclude that a TTRPG has an *obligation* to allow you to play a character whose abilities are not limited by yours as a player in any way, and not allowing you to do so constitutes a failure on the game's part.

But let's question that assumption a little bit. Because, the way I see it "allowing you to play a character who is good at X even if that's something that you, personally, are not good at" is not an inherently desirable design goal. It's a value-neutral feature, and it becomes a good or bad design goal to pursue depending on what X is and whether abstracting X so that the player doesn't have to engage with it benefits or detracts from the desired gameplay experience.

Let's for example, imagine a TTRPG with wargame elements, where, among other things to do, there are situations where your character can assume command of an army to engage in large-scale battles. It's pretty clear that, in such a game, you simply can't play as a character who is a better tactician than you, the player, are. If I'm not a good tactician, I don't get to play a character who's supposed to be the most brilliant tactician in all the land. That's simply not a character concept I get to play unless I am also skilled at tactical decision-making.

Is that inherently a problem to be solved? If we got rid of tactical decision-making as an activity that the players have to engage in, and instead gave the characters a "Tactics" skill and we used a Tactics skill check to determine whether they win or lose a battle, that would certainly allow a player who's bad at tactics the freedom to play a character who's the best tactician ever. But would this be an objectively good change? I'd say no, because it would skip past the entire point of the wargame elements, which is engaging as a player with the process of tactical decision-making, and that's not something that I'd consider worth sacrificing in pursuit of allowing the player to play a character whose skills exceed theirs in this particular aspect.

To name a more concrete example that someone else mentioned in the notes of that post: Mothership has no equivalent of a stealth skill, despite being a game where a lot of your playtime is spent hiding from some flavor of Scary Space Monster, because if the game abstracted stealth that way the resolution to any situation where you're trying to hide from a Scary Space Monster would be saying "I roll stealth" and hoping you roll high enough. Without a stealth skill, you're forced to participate in the narrative conversation of paying attention to the GM's description of the environment, ask clarifying questions if needed, and describe how you try to hide in the space presented to you.

This, once again, presents a situation where your character's skills are limited by your own. It's pretty clear that your character can only be as good at hiding as you are at thinking of places to hide and describing how they hide in them, and that if the game took the "i roll stealth" approach instead, it would solve the "problem" of your character's skills being limited by your own in this particular way. But is solving this "problem" worth sacrificing the tension that the game seeks to create by deliberately refusing to abstract stealth in this way?

So yeah... I think lacking skill checks for stuff such as perception or investigation makes a dungeon-crawling game better because it forces the players to narratively engage with the environment as a real place when they're looking for something, and it's also true that the lack of such mechanics kinda does mean that a player who just isn't good at picking up hints and clues from environmental details simply doesn't get to play a character who is supposed to be good at picking up hints and clues from environmental details. But I think that ensuring a player's ability to play such a character regardless of their real-life skill level is not a design goal that a game has any inherent obligation to pursue, especially not at the cost of skipping over the actions that, to me, are the meat and potatoes of a dungeon crawl.

My answer to "why is it okay to abstract certain skills as dice rolls and not others" is that games are allowed to make decisions about which actions they want to skip over with a dice roll and which actions they want the players to have to exercise direct narrative control and mastery of, and sometimes that's gonna interfere with their freedom to play a character whose skills exceed theirs, and that's okay because sometimes other game design goals are going to have priority over the goal of ensuring the character's skills aren't limited by the player's real-life skills in any conceivable way.

[idiopath-fic-smile]

I was also going to prompt for IDOAG 😂 Maybe adult E/C/R and a holiday?

ooh, after writing such a bummer piece, i'm happy to bring in a more positive note!

(to review, this ficlet is out of gratitude for my pilot of a musical audio drama about a rock band that secretly solves monster-related problems reaching 40% of its funding goal. we're actually at over 50% right now and I currently have one additional prompt in the wings, but hold onto any additional prompts and with luck, we'll get to 60% soon!)

On Saturday, March first, Enjolras wakes up to find the bed empty on both sides, but the smell of vanilla and cinnamon are wafting through the air, so he pushes down his disappointment and heads for the kitchen. Combeferre is scrambling eggs and Grantaire is standing at the griddle, intent with what looks to be a squeeze bottle of pancake batter.

“Happy Casimir Pulaski Day!” Grantaire sing-songs.

“What,” says Enjolras, his voice creaky with sleep. He delivers a kiss on the cheek to each of his boyfriends and takes a second to smile at their cooking aprons. Bahorel had them printed up special last year; instead of “His” and “Hers,” they read “His” and “Also His.” (Hanging on the hook by the closet door is a third apron: “Also Also His.”)

“Casimir Pulaski,” says Combeferre, trailing the spatula through the pan. Of the three of them, Combeferre makes the best scrambled eggs, in that he has the most patience for cooking them at a low temperature and applying slow but comprehensive stirring. “He was a Polish general in the Revolutionary War?”

Enjolras pours himself a cup of coffee. “I know who Casimir Pulaski is,” he says. “He’s the one who got involved in a failed plot to kidnap the pro-Russian king, which made the French army so uneasy, they wouldn’t let him serve with them, and then he met Ben Franklin and decided to fight for the revolution instead.”

Grantaire laughs. “Congratulations, you officially have way more info about him than I do. I just knew he was a cavalry guy in the war.”

“He’s an interesting figure,” says Enjolras with a shrug. “He showed up before he had permission from Congress to actually join the army, and then when George Washington realized one flank of his forces was collapsing, Pulaski offered to lead the countercharge. Some historians think he saved George Washington’s life.”

“Well, I hope Congress gave him permission after that,” says Grantaire, most of his attention still on the griddle.

“They did,” Combeferre confirms. He pulls the pan off the stove and onto a waiting hot pad.

“And today is Casimir Pulaski Day,” says Enjolras. “Which is a holiday now?”

“Oh, Enjolras, it’s almost like you didn’t grow up in Illinois or Wisconsin,” says Grantaire.

Enjolras takes a long sip of coffee, puzzles this out. “States with a high Polish population,” he says at last.

“Yep!” Grantaire carefully flips the pancakes, which are clearly a deliberate, non-circular shape, featuring some sort of design piped in with batter.

“Admittedly, I mostly know him from the title of a very sad Sufjan Stevens song,” Combeferre adds, “and the subsequent Wikipedia crawl.”

“The Polish population in this room is zero,” says Enjolras. “Why are we sanctifying—?”

“Things are so bleak,” says Combeferre, “they’re so bleak, all the time, and we were thinking we should do more to enjoy the things we can.”

Enjolras nods. The political situation is worsening seemingly every day, but it’s still a privilege to have spent two decades with his incredible partners.

“And if that means making horse-shaped pancakes to honor a guy who tried to kidnap a king, even better,” Grantaire finishes. Enjolras peers around Grantaire’s shoulder, and sure enough, the pancakes each form the image of a horse’s head turned three-quarters towards the viewer. They’re absurdly detailed. The horses have eyelashes. “Even if it means we have to put up with Combeferre’s puns.”

Combeferre reaches past Enjolras for his own coffee. “As if wordplay is my mane attribute,” he says. “You can accuse me ‘til you’re horse, I would never deliberately stirrup that kind of trouble.”

Grantaire holds up a third coffee cup, and they clink their mugs in a toast.

“To Casimir Pulaski Day,” says Enjolras.

[dr1zzleboy]

Hi, Can I request a Dante (DMC 5) x husband!reader who is calm, melodramatic, sensitive and gentle, and wears feminine kimonos ? The others think he can't defend himself against demons, but he actually knows how to fight and if you don’t mind, I’d love it if he fought using a fan. Sorry for asking so many things, I hope it’s not a problem. Buenas noches 🌸🌷

Hi Anon! Thank you for making this request, I love it! (The more detail, the better the story!). Anyway, I hope you like it!

Advertisement! My first language is not English, so there may be grammatical errors! Maybe a little bit ooc(?)

Dante DMC 5x Husband!reader

Dante and you met at a pizzeria at night, very romantic, he had gone to recharge his batteries and clear his mind after hard work, and you, you just wanted to eat something and the only thing that was open was that pizzeria.

You had caught the half-demon's attention; your calm and gentle way of interacting with others had mesmerized him. You were like him, but much more serene and not as sarcastic. So obviously he was going to try to get your attention, in his own way obviously.

"Hey, I think I put too much sauce on my pizza because it's too hot, just like you." The silver hair said followed by a wink.

And you could only laugh and cover your mouth as you felt your face blush. And at that moment Dante knew he had to take your hand in marriage.

Something that happened after a lot of jokes, silly flirting, and spontaneous but romantic dates. The two of you got to know each other better, and it seemed like Sparda's son had won the lottery when he discovered that you also enjoyed hunting demons, with a style as unique and graceful as yours. Winning your heart and soon proposing to you when he invite you on a "routine" mission, it would actually be a surprise.

You thought you were done with the mission until a horde of demons appeared. Dante eliminating the horde with the Stylish Rank SSS, not wanting to arruin his surprise, and of course not wanting you to get hurt. Until he stopped in the middle of the fight to take out a ring (hidden among the Ebony & Ivory bullets), and say:

"Hey, killing demons is fun, but doing it with you is on another level.... Wanna be my hunting partner... forever?" When he finished a demon interrupted, but you killed the demon without hesitation with one of your fans and you looked at him only to nod and repeat yes over and over again and then he put the ring on your finger.

And from that night on, you began to work more together, spending more time together, although sometimes it got complicated when he had very risky hunts and didn't want his husband to get hurt. Sometimes you argued and it was complicated because you were... Melodramatic, although he liked it and he tease you afterwards.

"But then if you leave I'll be left alone and I don't know what I'll do and I'll probably die of sadness and loneliness!" The older mocked again as he wrapped his arms around your waist and tried to make you laugh.

"Even though I care about you and you make fun of me... What would have happened if I had really died? Huh? I'm quite capable of defeating demons, but I still have a soft heart." You said offended and crossed your arms, turning your face away from him.

"Then I would do everything possible to get you back with me and apologize for doubting you." He whispered into your shoulder and nuzzling your neck with his nose, his beard tickling you.

Sometimes his flattery and flirting worked, but other times not so much and it could only be solved by going out together, letting you teasing him too, letting you hunt by yourself (Although sometimes he would stay at the entrance of the office to greet you instantly and totally concerned.) or in a long stress-relieving session. (If you know what I mean ;D)

Dante always loved it when you showed others that you were not only a lovely person and had a pretty face, but also a hunter and expert with a fan. Always with graceful movements, showing it as a simple and flirtatious thing if you wanted to.

I'm sorry if it's not what you wanted, I can change it or modify it, also make it more like a story although it would have to be a series, but I would gladly do it! ^^

[wearyweasel]

How the fuck is PHP a serious language? "Yeah I'm going to make a scripting language with no experience as a fun personal project. It's going to have zero consistency and half the features feel incomplete. It'll be used on 75% of websites in 2024."

I'm casting arrays as objects and then using variables to access the object properties. A serious language would never allow this to happen.

[iamfuckingsorry]

So I've recently realized that murderbot's been translated into my native language and it's apparently a he in the translation (which admittedly makes sense, because it's a heavily gendered language and 1. gender-neutral language doesn't really exist in general and 2. "bot" and all the related words - I believe they use "droid" for mb in the translation - are grammatically masculine).

It made me curious how it's been handled in other translations though!

*e.g. being referred to by multiple gendered nouns/pronouns depending on the context, like both "bot" (masculine) and "machine" (feminine).

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

DPxDC Prompt

Thinking back on it, Danny probably should have been more wary of being given the title ‘Ender Of Timelines’.

[unionizedwizard]

backing up my files & just stumbled upon a very old journal entry (september 4th 2015) that is literally the biggest egg-in-denial copium ive ever seen. godbless

[chiarrara]

who up happying they new year rn

[aflawedfashion]

Ghost Agatha, Death, and Billy getting pulled into some random witchy/halloween themed adventure has so much October potential, that if I was Marvel, I'd fast track another largely stand alone series (or even a Disney+ movie) featuring these three. Billy and Agatha can get temporarily sidetracked from finding Tommy to deal with some October threat. It would be a lot of fun.

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[annalyticall]

I still can't forgive Horikoshi for setting up Hawks to be in the perfect position to change the system and then have him... not do that

[touteytout]

i know spite is not a. sustaining thing to be motivated by But anytime i see a ""real"" artist (someone who actually knows how to draw and knows what goes into making a drawing) use genAI for inspiration/reference/at any other point in their process, it motivates me like nothing else to just draw. not anything in particular, just drawing for the sake of it. like i dont understand how, as an artist, you dont enjoy the basic things about drawing. just do something else at that point

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

I need to go to sleep but i dont wanna go to sleep i want to think about sashannarcy

[b-rainlet]

Not to make a post about a horror movie that was never really popular on here, but I am pretty sure that Danny was killed because they were about to cheat

[cat-in-outerspace]

I don't understand

Why won't they destroy the log for the steak???

You can have steak AND log!!!

[thelonely-journalkeeper]

it is a truth universally acknowledged that a ttrpg party in want of an excuse to get into a location will somehow reinvent osha