Talk to Ashiel About Anything Mark II

[Zilrax]

You're talking about the keto diet. My sisters been doing that off and on. It does work pretty well, I lost 20 pounds quick but well I lose weight rather easily evidently and now I just keep an eye on it and I generally just constantly gain and lose the same 2 lbs despite leaving it alone now. There are some questions about it still on the subjects of long term potential issues because ketogenisis is the bodies fat burning mechanism for reserves, particularly in the realms of disease, but as far as weight loss goes it works. I wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to build muscle though, different priorities there.

Also I mean similar body shapes to my sister. And hair style and facial structure. though she dyed her hair two colors recently but default colors the same too.

Can confirm Lodoss is based of a dnd campaign. I'm not a big anime watcher generally. Mostly just watched dragonball series as grew up, though I have a fondness for My Hero Academia as I am a sucker for interesting powersets, and ones used creatively.

Yeah I've mostly been working mapless if only cus getting everyone onto a map platform would be like herding cats, it's trouble enough having them all on discord at once.

[Ashiel]

You're talking about the keto diet. My sisters been doing that off and on. It does work pretty well, I lost 20 pounds quick but well I lose weight rather easily evidently and now I just keep an eye on it and I generally just constantly gain and lose the same 2 lbs despite leaving it alone now. There are some questions about it still on the subjects of long term potential issues because ketogenisis is the bodies fat burning mechanism for reserves, particularly in the realms of disease, but as far as weight loss goes it works. I wouldn't recommend it if you're trying to build muscle though, different priorities there.

I've actually built more muscle, amusingly. Increase in human growth hormone helps a lot in that, and when you keep insulin from spiking (keto is good for this, fasting is also good for this) your body does two major things from a health spurring standpoint. The first is that your human growth hormone level increases (which is suppressed by insulin in the blood), and the second is an effect called autophagy, where your body begins to break down bad or damaged cells and reproduce new healthier ones.

There's even a lot of evidence that this outright cures most forms of cancer, because of an amusing defect common to cancer cells which makes them ultra-poor at using fat as an energy source which means they need sugars to thrive. It effectively can starve the cells, and then when the autophagy kicks in the body will dismantle the cancer cells, which is pretty neat.

Most people in western societies have become insulin resistant, especially if they've eaten lots of carbs over their lives (and as I mentioned before, I have a weakness for things like pizza, bread, pasta, etc). Doesn't help that most things are sweetened with fructose, because fructose which naturally occurs in fruit isn't something we should be getting often or in large quantities of. The body absorbs fructose differently than it does other sugars in a way that fast tracks it to your liver (why many people today have very bad fatty liver disease which causes damage like being an alcoholic). It's my understanding there are teenagers that are now on liver transplant lists because of how much damage was caused to their livers from high fructose sodas.

It's really quite amazing.

EDIT:

Also I mean similar body shapes to my sister. And hair style and facial structure. though she dyed her hair two colors recently but default colors the same too.

I hope she's cute.

Can confirm Lodoss is based of a dnd campaign. I'm not a big anime watcher generally. Mostly just watched dragonball series as grew up, though I have a fondness for My Hero Academia as I am a sucker for interesting powersets, and ones used creatively.

Yeah I've mostly been working mapless if only cus getting everyone onto a map platform would be like herding cats, it's trouble enough having them all on discord at once.

I've just recently started RPing a bunch on Discord, though I'm trying to integrate MapTools into that as a supplementary thing. It's hard to get tactically robust encounters and such from Discord since there's no map or easy visual representation of a thing (which can complicate many things), so I've been trying to get my players to use Discord for general RP and stuff, and MapTool for the big adventures.

[Bartmanhomer]

Nope, I sure haven't. What's it like?

The object of the game is that players become the villains and having heroes enter their Dungeons and and Villains try to kill the heroes to gains Souls to win the game. There's are six Boss Monster sets already.

[Tels]

So, full stop, I'm going to spoil some of the first episode of Goblin Slayer because it's necessary in order to talk about Goblin Slayer.

The reason why Goblin Slayer is so controversial is largely due to the first episode and the nature of Goblins in the GS universe. I don't recall if it's mentioned in the anime yet or at all, but it's all over Reddit that all Goblins are male, and the species can only exist by impregnating females of other species. Now because the Goblins are Chatoic Evil as Chaotic Evil can get, they kidnap and rape females and use them as broodmares until they die. The first episode has a party of first level adventurers composed of a male fight, female Monk, female wizard and female cleric going into a Goblin den thinking the Goblins are so weak it will be easy.

One them experiences Goblin breeding for herself, and aspects of this are shown on screen.

Lots of people were upset because there were no trigger warnings, or because they felt it was unnecessary, or because they thought the show was being esgy for the sake of being edgy. I know the YouTuber Geoff of Mother's Basement was initially turned off from the show and decried it as trash because of the scene, until he read the Manga and watched more episodes. He still says the scene was bad because of how it was animated as the way the scene was framed seemed to draw more focus to the girl being sexually attractive rather than to the fact she was being assaulted.

So if that kind of thing upsets you, don't watch the show. I will say Goblin Slayer himself highly reminds me of your playstyle, Ash, and the way you've described you and your firends make use of gear in the past. As in, Goblin Slayer is highly efficient, as in, if something gives him an edge he will find a way to weaponize it.

Also, fun fact, apparently the author of Goblin Slayer hates coming up with character names so much, that he decided not to. All characters are referred to by their class, title, or their race. So the cast of the show is Goblin Slayer, Priestess, Elf Ranger, and so on.

Basically, the show is all about Ashiel's Adventure Guide vs Tucker's Kobolds Goblins and the main hero is singularly focused on killing Goblins regardless of what else is going on. Sauron has invaded his city and is laying waste to the landscape? Not goblins, so not his problem.

[Zilrax]

He's basically the Doom Marine, but for goblins.

[Ashiel]

So, full stop, I'm going to spoil some of the first episode of Goblin Slayer because it's necessary in order to talk about Goblin Slayer.

The reason why Goblin Slayer is so controversial is largely due to the first episode and the nature of Goblins in the GS universe. I don't recall if it's mentioned in the anime yet or at all, but it's all over Reddit that all Goblins are male, and the species can only exist by impregnating females of other species. Now because the Goblins are Chatoic Evil as Chaotic Evil can get, they kidnap and rape females and use them as broodmares until they die. The first episode has a party of first level adventurers composed of a male fight, female Monk, female wizard and female cleric going into a Goblin den thinking the Goblins are so weak it will be easy.

One them experiences Goblin breeding for herself, and aspects of this are shown on screen.

Lots of people were upset because there were no trigger warnings, or because they felt it was unnecessary, or because they thought the show was being esgy for the sake of being edgy. I know the YouTuber Geoff of Mother's Basement was initially turned off from the show and decried it as trash because of the scene, until he read the Manga and watched more episodes. He still says the scene was bad because of how it was animated as the way the scene was framed seemed to draw more focus to the girl being sexually attractive rather than to the fact she was being assaulted.

Yeah, honestly that sort of "controversy" is old hat for me. I actually saw the scene and it wasn't pleasant but I mean it wasn't even as bad as I was led to believe it was from the hearsay. I definitely had more emotional reaction when I saw Last House on the Left, but then again I grew up watching 80s anime and it's a bit more intense than the watered down stuff we have today.

Still, people love clutching their pearls.

Actually, when I was talking about hearing mixed things about it, I was indeed talking primarily about the world building aspect. For example, I've heard that the goblins are simultaneously presented as such a minor threat that only low level adventurers can be bothered to deal with them, yet at the same time they're presented as this horrible menace that's a threat to all. To quote d4chan's goblin slayer page...

Spoiler: d4-Chan Quote

Show

"To say it's controversial and debated on /tg/ is an understatement and ironically, it's not even for the rape. The setting has some confusing worldbuilding with many calling it contradictory or outright nonsensical. Describing the complaints /tg/ has with the state of the world, the behaviour of the characters and the many criticisms for the in-universe justifications (many which /tg/ found unsatisfactory) for everything can take up a page on its own..."

So if that kind of thing upsets you, don't watch the show. I will say Goblin Slayer himself highly reminds me of your playstyle, Ash, and the way you've described you and your firends make use of gear in the past. As in, Goblin Slayer is highly efficient, as in, if something gives him an edge he will find a way to weaponize it.

Also, fun fact, apparently the author of Goblin Slayer hates coming up with character names so much, that he decided not to. All characters are referred to by their class, title, or their race. So the cast of the show is Goblin Slayer, Priestess, Elf Ranger, and so on.

Basically, the show is all about Ashiel's Adventure Guide vs Tucker's Kobolds Goblins and the main hero is singularly focused on killing Goblins regardless of what else is going on. Sauron has invaded his city and is laying waste to the landscape? Not goblins, so not his problem.

When you put it like that, I've gotta get around to watching it just in principle.

[Ashiel]

He's basically the Doom Marine, but for goblins.

Well that's pretty high praise. Doom Guy from the new doom trailer's the manliest video game character of the century. I'd vote for him in 2024.

[Tels]

Well... I do know of a spoiler (thanks Reddit!) that can explain a lot of issues with the world building...

Spoiler: Goblin Slayer spoiler from reddit

Show

See, the world of Goblin Slayer is actually a D&D game, except Goblin Slayer keeps ignoring the DMs railroad plot in favor of hunting Goblins due to the characters traumatic backstory. So the DM is trying to force the player into advancing his plot by making the Goblins more and more dangerous and ****ed up in an effort to get the Goblin Slayer to investigate. As I said, GS couldn't give two ****s about the Demon Lord's growing strength and the world's need for a hero, because he is singularly focused on wiping out the stain that is Goblins.

However, ignoring the above, Goblins are very dangerous, but only in large numbers really, and mostly inside their dens. In addition, there are much bigger threats out there, like Demon Lords and stuff that makes Goblins non-entities. They are still dangerous to the inexperienced, or in places they've taken over because they prepare it with all kinds of traps, tricks, and ambush spots for them to have the advantage. One on one, even peasants boys can take them out without too much effort, so more experienced adventurers don't think anything of them. Doesn't mean they aren't a menace though.

[Ashiel]

Well... I do know of a spoiler (thanks Reddit!) that can explain a lot of issues with the world building...

Spoiler: Goblin Slayer spoiler from reddit

Show

See, the world of Goblin Slayer is actually a D&D game, except Goblin Slayer keeps ignoring the DMs railroad plot in favor of hunting Goblins due to the characters traumatic backstory. So the DM is trying to force the player into advancing his plot by making the Goblins more and more dangerous and ****ed up in an effort to get the Goblin Slayer to investigate. As I said, GS couldn't give two ****s about the Demon Lord's growing strength and the world's need for a hero, because he is singularly focused on wiping out the stain that is Goblins.

However, ignoring the above, Goblins are very dangerous, but only in large numbers really, and mostly inside their dens. In addition, there are much bigger threats out there, like Demon Lords and stuff that makes Goblins non-entities. They are still dangerous to the inexperienced, or in places they've taken over because they prepare it with all kinds of traps, tricks, and ambush spots for them to have the advantage. One on one, even peasants boys can take them out without too much effort, so more experienced adventurers don't think anything of them. Doesn't mean they aren't a menace though.

It's all just 1d4 damage until it's 3d4+3 with a surprise crit and point blank shot.

[Zilrax]

This is why you always bring a herd of sheep to use as cover.

It worked in the Odyssey.

[Ashiel]

This is why you always bring a herd of sheep to use as cover.

It worked in the Odyssey.

All kidding aside, my brother really enjoyed playing "NPC games" when he was a kid, where the players play relatively "normal" people, such as warriors, experts, and adepts. His expert was surprisingly good at handling most adventuring things because of how silly good Handle Animal is when combined with a little downtime. He was a little goblin that rode around on a little dinosaur, and kept a back of dogs and some oxen that were trained for things like guarding, hunting, and war, and would spend money on things like decking them out in armor.

He would then "tank" hits with a combination of some armor and the Ride skill to spontaneously get cover, and his pets of course provided soft cover and annoyances to anyone trying to wreck stuff. He even managed to kill a wyvern at expert level 5, by narrowly managing to survive the wyvern's dive, hitting it with a tanglefoot bag (or maybe it was a net, I don't remember exactly) and then having his oxen gore it to death as the dogs aided like a pack of hunting dogs.

[Agrippa]

Hi there Ashiel. I hear that you're taking a break from working d20 Legends system of yours. Don't feel the need to rush anything, take whatever time you need to do a good job and not burn out. Nothing meant to be a hobby should be a source of stress. At the same time I feel I should mention that I'm working a personal RPG project of my own. It's mostly a kit bash of different game elements, but I'm working at it bit by bit.

[Lemmy]

After working 12 hours a day, for 3 days straight (including Saturday)... I gotta say... If I couldn't create/update homebrew material and character builds during my few free moments at work, I'd probably have gone insane by now... (well... At least I got overtime pay and a day off today, so there's that).

So, tell me, Ashiel and everyone else... What do you guys do to keep yourselves motivated (or sane) during work hours?

[Ashiel]

Hi there Ashiel. I hear that you're taking a break from working d20 Legends system of yours. Don't feel the need to rush anything, take whatever time you need to do a good job and not burn out. Nothing meant to be a hobby should be a source of stress. At the same time I feel I should mention that I'm working a personal RPG project of my own. It's mostly a kit bash of different game elements, but I'm working at it bit by bit.

Thanks, I appreciate the encouragement. I hope you have a lot of success with yours as well.

Though this does remind me that I need to get off my butt and get back to work on it.

@Lemmy
I took a look at your shifter revision and I like it. I left some comments pasted to the document at different places with my concerns and/or suggestions. I only left criticisms, but please take that as meaning anything I didn't comment on already seemed nice.

[Ashiel]

After working 12 hours a day, for 3 days straight (including Saturday)... I gotta say... If I couldn't create/update homebrew material and character builds during my few free moments at work, I'd probably have gone insane by now... (well... At least I got overtime pay and a day off today, so there's that).

So, tell me, Ashiel and everyone else... What do you guys do to keep yourselves motivated (or sane) during work hours?

Depends on what I'm doing. I was a manager at a store but that store got a new higher tier manager that was making everyone miserable, so I took a pay cut and now deliver pizzas because the stress is less. As for staying motivated, smiling a lot and approaching difficulties as obstacles to be overcome is a general purpose attitude.

My previous job was 12 hour shifts though so I know how it goes. I do a fair amount of day dreaming when I'm not busy, and on my current job I tend to listen to youtube videos on my phone while I'm driving (I keep it sped up to x1.25 to get through content faster).

I make no claims to sanity however.

[Lemmy]

@Lemmy
I took a look at your shifter revision and I like it. I left some comments pasted to the document at different places with my concerns and/or suggestions. I only left criticisms, but please take that as meaning anything I didn't comment on already seemed nice.

Thanks! I really appreciate it. I actually addressed all the points you made...
The "Second Nature" ability is the thorn on my foot so far, as I'm really not sure what to do with it... I did fix it a bit to make the wording clearer.

EDIT: You know what's the best part of creating a Revised Shifter homebrew? I can use it to create half the cast of Darkstalkers! I already have Felicia and Jon Talbain as sample builds! And I'm pretty sure I can wrench out Q-Bee, Rikuo and Sasquatch!

Depends on what I'm doing. I was a manager at a store but that store got a new higher tier manager that was making everyone miserable, so I took a pay cut and now deliver pizzas because the stress is less. As for staying motivated, smiling a lot and approaching difficulties as obstacles to be overcome is a general purpose attitude.

My previous job was 12 hour shifts though so I know how it goes. I do a fair amount of day dreaming when I'm not busy, and on my current job I tend to listen to youtube videos on my phone while I'm driving (I keep it sped up to x1.25 to get through content faster).

I make no claims to sanity however.

I use to have a 12x36 schedule on a couple previous jobs (i.e.: Work 12 hours, rest for the following 36. Doesn't matter what day of the week it is). I actually really liked it, as having a day off every other day was awesome, even if I had to work on weekends and holidays... Nowadays, my work hours are a lot more orthodox, but sometimes (like this week), problems and/or emergencies occur, and I end up spending A LOT of extra time at work (I spent so much time and energy at work this Saturday, that when I got home, I couldn't do much more than just lie down on the couch and fall asleep before even choosing something to watch on Netflix ).

[Tels]

Personally, my methods won't work for everyone as I'm in a lull for work. See, during the summer I've been working as an operator for heavy equipment at a landscaping company. Digging foundations, septic systems, gas/electric lines, clearing land etc. So I mostly stay inside of a cab of a piece of equipment and I have a headphone in one ear and listen to audiobooks or music. Not exactly applicable to everyone.

Currently, the ground is too frozen to work, so a lot people like myself take up jobs plowing, either domestically or for the Department of Transportation to keep the roads and parking lots clear. Problem is, there is no snow where I live in Alaska. When I was a kid, we would just be dumped on around the middle of Spetember or the beginning of October at the latest, but not so much recently. Starting in the mid-to-late 2,000s, there was a sharp decrease.in snow fall, almost St as if someone had flipped a switch. Ever since then, we've been lucky to any appreciable amount of snow by Christmas. So for people like me, you have to make a choice for the months of September - December: be "hired" and on-call but not be paid due to not working until snow comes, but be guaranteed lots of eazy work once it does happen, or be unemployed and collect unemployment, and go back to work once it does snow, but risk not getting one of the cushier jobs and end up plowing civilian or small business driveways, which is a constant competition.

So yeah, my methods don't really work for everyone.

[TOZ]

That'd be neat. I haven't used Hero Lab, but I've heard nice things. It's a commercial product, right?

Yep, and it's about the only thing that makes PF character creation bearable when not playing Core/limited books. The fact I get it all comped to me by being on the PDF- I mean, Venture Officer corps is a pretty great deal.

[Tels]

There is a free alternative App to Hero Labs for Android users called Pathbuilder. It's not quite as polished, and is missing a few things, nor can you customize it like Hero Labs but it's pretty damned good for on the fly character building. I've been using it a lot since I discovered it to quickly follow up a character idea when the fancy strikes me.

Pathbuilder could be something that knocks Hero Labs out of the market, if the owner allowed others to help him. He works on it entirely on his own, and he's pointed out that it's be very difficult, borderline impossible, to let others assist him because Pathbuilder is such a Frankenstein code that he's probably the only one who can work on it without going insane. Like every developer, he wants to rebuild it from scratch to .ake it easier to update and make it possible for others to help, but also like every developer, there is just never enough time to do that.

On a side note, does anyone here watch Critical Role?

[Ashiel]

There is a free alternative App to Hero Labs for Android users called Pathbuilder. It's not quite as polished, and is missing a few things, nor can you customize it like Hero Labs but it's pretty damned good for on the fly character building. I've been using it a lot since I discovered it to quickly follow up a character idea when the fancy strikes me.

Pathbuilder could be something that knocks Hero Labs out of the market, if the owner allowed others to help him. He works on it entirely on his own, and he's pointed out that it's be very difficult, borderline impossible, to let others assist him because Pathbuilder is such a Frankenstein code that he's probably the only one who can work on it without going insane. Like every developer, he wants to rebuild it from scratch to .ake it easier to update and make it possible for others to help, but also like every developer, there is just never enough time to do that.

I greatly sympathize with his plight.

On a side note, does anyone here watch Critical Role?

I think I've seen a couple episodes. I really need to get to watching stuff like that more often, especially since I've had half a mind to do some youtube videos about RPG stuff.

[Zilrax]

As an aside this is how I feel about everyone who argues with me about putting points into perception.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q71MtUslv6g

Also for Ashiel's necromancer, the Necromancer Handbook comes out on 12/12 on the site. I bought it early and well defiently lots of ways to improve doom goat. And to revive it even if you aren't using bloody skeletons.

[TOZ]

Yep, sounds about right.

[Lemmy]

I got a day off today... Because I somehow manages to get a really bad cold in the middle of tropical summer...

Now I'll spend the day fighting a headqche and sore throar... Ugh...

Ugh... I can't sleep. I can't concentrate... Headaches suck!

What do you guys do on your sick days?

[Zilrax]

Sleep, usually. Or try to anyways. Usually take ibuprofen with headaches.

[TOZ]

I can only sleep on my days off if I'm really and truly not feeling well. Otherwise I'm stuck awake. So mostly I browse forums and play browser/mobile games.

[Ashiel]

Wow, sorry for the silence. I've been buried under life for the past week or so (family in and out of the hospital and stuff). However, I got a day off today so I decided to check in.

I got a day off today... Because I somehow manages to get a really bad cold in the middle of tropical summer...

Now I'll spend the day fighting a headqche and sore throar... Ugh...

Ugh... I can't sleep. I can't concentrate... Headaches suck!

What do you guys do on your sick days?

Depends on what I'm sick with.

If...

• I'm sinus congested, I'll usually eat some peppers on my food which typically makes my sinuses run.
• My throat hurts, I'll usually use a mixture of honey and lemon juice and hold it in my throat for a while. Some cold heavy cream can feel soothing, temporarily.
• Chest congested, I'll usually take a hot shower and use the steam to loosen and try to cough up as much of the gunk as I can. Generic robatussin if it's bad.
• Headaches, varies based on what sort of headache it is. If it's a pressure headache, usually steam/heat. If it's eye-based, usually dark locations and get some sleep if I can. If it's due to sinus congestion, eat peppers as described above (peppers can trigger migranes for some people so your mileage may vary). If it is a migraine, dark quiet places tend to be the nicest, though you might still desire treating the symptoms with a bullet.

Though avoiding getting sick at all is probably my strongest remedy, which generally means trying to make sure I get enough sleep. I've noticed I always get sick if I don't sleep enough. Eating well (lots of meat and stuff) seems to help as well, and keeps me feeling good if I do get sick, helping to power through it.

If you do get sick, take a rest but try to stay active. The staying active part sucks, but being up and moving around generally means the difference between being over it in a day, or over it in a week.

[Ashiel]

Not super sure how much interest this will have, but I recently started work on a sort of simplified settlement building system that is intended to plug-in with the Pathfinder downtime mechanics. Mostly because one of my players has had a desire to do some king-sim, but we're a little iffy on some aspects of the existing downtime stuff (we're looking for something a little more index-card paced).

As a result, I'm fashioning a modified townmaking system that is built around downtime buildings (with some modification). Each type of building provides a bonus to some sort of resource (the exception being Storage which allows you to bank certain resources), and I added a "food" resource (things like gardens, farms, animal pens, and so forth can produce food).

The core of the system is balancing resource acquisition with costs (nothing fancy). Looks a bit like this.

Hamsdale
Labor +10; Food +16; Goods +0; Influence +0; Magic +0; Storage 0/48
Upkeep 4 labor, 10 food
Buildings lodging, garden (2), storage
Description Nestled alongside the edge of a forest near a small creek with clean water, Hamsdale is little more than a frontier community where people have come together to work together to survive. Far from industrious, its citizens at least produce enough food to avoid starving in the lean months.

General idea is that population supporting buildings (such as lodging, houses, etc) provide labor. Labor is then required to maintain pretty much everything else, which then generates other sorts of resources (such as gold, food, goods, influence, or magic). So if you add a smithy to produce goods or gold, you have to put people in it to work which costs labor. Building new buildings also costs labor. Stuff like that.

The above is the baseline thorpe (the quintessential "minimum" for a settlement). It's pretty useless at doing anything by itself except simply surviving. However, it has 6 units of labor each turn that aren't being used, so the lord could build some more town features to start producing stuff besides enough food to live. So they might build a smithy to start producing gold or goods, which would then increase their labor upkeep each turn.

[Lemmy]

I just finished watching "The Orville", and it's pretty cool... Now that I think about it, it's both funny and sad that the parody show does Star Trek better than modern Star Trek.

[Ashiel]

I just finished watching "The Orville", and it's pretty cool... Now that I think about it, it's both funny and sad that the parody show does Star Trek better than modern Star Trek.

I hadn't even heard of it. I must be living under a heavier rock than usual.

[Zilrax]

Looks neat.

Makes me remember our kingmaker campaign, when graveyards produced money for some reason. And since two of us were necromantic based, we built a giant graveyard that made us tons of money before it got errata'd. It annoyed the GM to no end of course who always had people whining about it.

But then a giant owlbear killed lots of people and I was like and now you have a place for everyone to be buried, checkmate.