fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Apr 7, 2018 1:59:50 GMT -8
Props to Adam (or Jason, I still struggle to work out which is which) for calling out American puritanism as a possible cause of your taint hilarity. Also AEG are not, and have never been, a UK company. Edit: But is the double meaning even as widespread as you think it is? We know it’s not widespread across the English speaking world. But does the t even reach across the US? Or California? Given there have been four editions of L5R under AEG, and a new much altered fifth one under a new company, with possible fewer emotional connections to the old lore, perhaps it’s only funny in SoCal? Or even Pasadena? Or even your social circle? Edit-edit: all that said, I am not against giggling and in-jokes. That’s part of the HJ charm. I can’t stand listening to over-produced “serious” APs. I guess I just sigh every time the giggles are about taint, because I’m not in on the joke. On the wider point about tone in Games. One of our players would prefer it if the rest of the table were more serious. He wants to run a serious horror game. But with that particular table, I think he should give up hoping. Edit, edit, edit: Just to proove I still do have a twelve year olds humour. I grew up in the land of Viz Comic, with Roger’s Profanisaurus and Finbarr Saunders (and his Double Entendres): viz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/018_viz161_finbarr1.jpg
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Post by EricaOdd on Apr 7, 2018 7:08:49 GMT -8
It was cool sitting in on a Twitch stream again for a change. With them starting earlier, I might do that more often on the Friday podcasts. I still can't stay up late for the weekday and Sunday 'casts, but Friday is doable for now. (I'm on the east coast... their 9 pm wrap-up is my midnight.)
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Post by ericfromnj on Apr 7, 2018 14:42:41 GMT -8
Taint is funny in New Jersey and Pennsylvania based on the reactions of my players
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Post by akavidar on Apr 7, 2018 16:34:28 GMT -8
Taint is also funny in New York - Upstate, can't say for NYC. So, at least coast to coast.
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Post by OFTHEHILLPEOPLE on Apr 9, 2018 5:54:20 GMT -8
And here we are Old World of Darkness Werewolf players having to worry about Wyrm Taint, let alone whether people can see our taint when we turn into a werewolf!
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willh
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 220
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Post by willh on Apr 9, 2018 9:10:47 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it.
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D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
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Post by D.T. Pints on Apr 9, 2018 12:05:56 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it. Tell that to Stu Venable 😄
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Post by RudeAlert on Apr 9, 2018 15:16:12 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it. See that's the bit that really baffles me! Eventually ALL jokes get old. Or at least they're supposed to! And I would know, I used to be that guy that killed every joke by milking them for way more than they were worth, but I eventually learned to stop (sometime in my early 20s I think). And even I now recognize that any given joke or humorous situation can only be funny for so long, or for so many repetitions, before it just gets beaten into the ground and becomes a tedious repetitive bore. So I am genuinely thrown for a loop on this one. I know children can laugh at the same joke over and over and over and over until the heat death of the universe (just try playing Peek-a-Boo with a baby and see which one of you loses interest first), but adults don't normally work like that. I can't think of any joke, funny term, or humorous situation, that I've found as hilarious as they seem to find "taint" for such a long time, and over so many repetitions, in my entire adult life. I know there were things that could make me laugh over and over when I was a child but that hasn't really been the case in decades. The closest thing that could set me off as an adult that kinda still works would be something along the lines of a big, unexpected burp or fart in a totally incongruous situation, but that would be very situational, and the incongruousness of it would be the main humorous factor there. Just some random burp or fart is not the least bit humorous to me. Now, when I was a kid, that would have been a totally different story, but like I said above, that was decades ago by now. So, I get that "taint" is a funny term for them and that's fine with me, but I admit that the sheer persistence of it sometimes gets, frankly kinda weird.
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nevvur
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 13
Currently Running: D&D 5e
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Post by nevvur on Apr 9, 2018 17:47:40 GMT -8
This is James, the crew read my story about the cleric, the bard, and the sea wyrm on this episode. I recently sent in a follow up e-mail with an update about the party, which I hope you'll find time to share, as well. In the interest of brevity, I glossed over some of the details about their latest adventure. Thought I'd post here to fill in the blanks. Buckle in, this is a long one.
To recap, the party is an all-human group of enforcers working for the church of a pseudo-Holy Roman Empire. They are Arion (devotion paladin), Andarin (lore bard), Nicolo (life cleric), and Victoria (thief rogue, spy background). We lost a player between the first and second session, unfortunately, but he was replaced on the fifth session, rounding out the party with Jaro (tome fiend warlock, refluffed to fiery angel patron.)
In sessions 2 and 3, they investigated a string of murders and disappearances that were interfering with the harvest of a medicinal herb. It's difficult to cultivate outside a geographically narrow region, but is critical in the treatment of an undead plague sweeping the empire, so stabilizing the region and getting the harvesters back to work was high priority. This quest put them on the trail of a werewolf, who they brought to justice at the end of session 3. Mission accomplished!
They aided a mage in the course of completing this quest. At the beginning of session 4, he awarded them a scroll of Dispel Magic. He also mentioned something to the effect of, "I have subconscious premonitions of the future, and I think you'll find this helpful." This will be important later.
While they were in the area, they were also expected to look into rumors of an unorthodox priest in a neighboring hamlet. Their preliminary investigation indicated a cult of the archdemon of lust, perversion, and obsession had infested the settlement, so they resolved to cleanse it. They were duly warned this cult utilized demons and magic focusing on seduction and espionage. During the proper investigation, Victoria came under the charm effect of a succubus, unbeknownst to the rest of the party.
It didn't take long for them to confront the leader of the cult, who was posing as the settlement's priest. They dispensed with pleasantries pretty fast, as Nicolo opened up with the Silence spell. The cultist escaped in the opening rounds while his servants delayed the party.
The first of three phases in this scenario was to feature a combat with some gargoyles. It bears mentioning the bard Andarin had ID'd them as creatures, not statues, during the earlier investigation, so this fight came as no surprise. What did come as a surprise was Victoria backstabbing the party, under orders from the succubus who charmed her before. It took 2 rounds before Andarin got the bright idea to use Suggestion on her. I ruled that his spell suppressed the attack order but did not dispel the succubus' charm.
After defeating the gargoyles, the party proceeds into the church basement, where the succubus lairs. She's got a nice little torture chamber set up, with overlapping zones of darkness and silence so her victims are sensory deprived; they are meant only to hear her telepathic voice in their minds. She currently has two hostages, both Persons of Interest to the party.
The party is taking waaaay too long just outside her lair, deliberating about how to proceed with the darkness and silence. Apparently they've forgotten about the scroll of Dispel Magic. To light a fire under their ass, I have the succubus telepathically remark, "I'm getting hungry. Which one of these souls shall I devour first?" and proceeds to identify the hostages.
At this point, the bard casts Faerie Fire into the darkness as a sort of experiment. The spell goes off but is immediately dispelled by the darkness effect. Even so, it's a concentration spell, meaning his concentration on the Suggestion ended. I secretly message Victoria to bide her time before resuming the attack.
Technically they still had a window of opportunity to save both hostages, but they return to deliberations among themselves. Having still failed to take decisive action, a body comes flying out of the darkness, one of the hostages, recently slain.
The party rushes in blind, literally. Complicating the environmental difficulty is the fact we agreed to forbid OOC tactical discussions during combat starting this session. Not only are they forbidden from communicating OOC, silence and darkness prevents them from doing it IC.
Through sheer luck, Arion stumbles across the other hostage, frees him, and makes it back to the lair exit. Meanwhile, Victoria and the succubus are tearing the rest of the party apart in utter silence and darkness. Everyone stumbles back out a few rounds later except Victoria, who the succubus has decided to retain.
Now Andarin finally remembers the scroll! The party takes a short rest, which I grant without repercussion because I'm feeling just a tiny bit guilty about the insane number of critical hits I've landed tonight. I do mention that the succubus does unspeakable things to Victoria without going into detail. I mean, what do you expect from a succubus with an hour to kill?
Andarin dispels the darkness and silence and the party has another go. Over the course of the next few rounds, the party splits its attention between trying to punch the charm off Victoria (taking damage grants her a Wisdom saving throw to end the effect) and squaring off with the succubus. Victoria keeps failing her saves, sustaining the charm, so the succubus and Victoria continue decimating the party.
Remember, this is only the 2nd phase of a planned 3-phase encounter.
Arion gets KOd (spoiler, he stabilizes), everyone else is below half HP, and Victoria has failed 6 consecutive Wisdom saving throws, still charmed. The party reduced the succubus to within 1 hit of 0 HP, but had they hit her again, she would have initiated phase 3 and the party would've wiped.
Phase 3 involved activating a single-use item that was difficult for her to come by, basically a temporary gate to Hell through which she could reveal her true form. I reasoned she had sufficient motivation to keep the item, simply leave, and link back up with the cultist. At this stage of the fight, her cover was entirely blown, as villagers had appeared to witness the fight.
But if I'm being honest, I just didn't feel like ending on a TPK. I wasn't going to let them off the hook completely, of course. The succubus gave Victoria a parting gift, used her Draining Kiss ability before vanishing into the ethereal. The damage killed her instantly, no death saves.
We ended the session on a bit of a downer, what with a dead PC and escaped baddies, but a couple hours later Victoria's player asked me for clarification on the Draining Kiss ability. Turns out I misread the rules on that one and she should still be alive, or making death saving throws at least. We hopped back into the game and she passed her saves. The baddies still got away, but Victoria lives!
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Post by chronovore on Apr 12, 2018 16:33:00 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it. So… you're saying they think it's endlessly funny, but you're saying it ain't?
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Post by RudeAlert on Apr 12, 2018 17:47:46 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it. So… you're saying they think it's endlessly funny, but you're saying it ain't? I see what you did there
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on Apr 12, 2018 19:25:22 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it. That's like... your opinion, man.
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Post by ericfromnj on Apr 14, 2018 15:52:56 GMT -8
I am still on Tappy's side of don't bring a gun into a fight that could kill the PCs if you don't want to kill them.
Same thing with a gigantic sea worm. If you know it can outright kill a PC, and you don't want to outright kill a PC, then don't use it.
That being said once you were at the table you adjudicated nicely, letting the bard know that his or her action could kill the PC was the right thing to do, especially with a group that probably didn't know each other very well (you did say you had some new people)
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nevvur
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 13
Currently Running: D&D 5e
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Post by nevvur on Apr 15, 2018 2:15:53 GMT -8
I didn't bring a gun, I brought a club which the bard magically transformed into a gun with his Dissonant Whispers spell. None of the players were new to the game, but some of them were new to me as a DM. Incidentally, the bard is one of my long time gaming buddies, and he really should've known better. That said, he's never played a bard before, so it was new to him in a sense. He's also the one in the scenario described above who failed to recall the scroll of Dispel Magic in his inventory, and how concentration spells work. He expressed embarrassment over the incidents, but lately I'm beginning to wonder if it's all part of a long con, like he's trolling the shit out of me. Which, frankly, I probably deserve after some silliness I pulled as a player in one of his campaigns.
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Post by Kimi on Apr 15, 2018 23:11:42 GMT -8
JFC you just have a laugh over taint, then you move on. It doesn't continue to be funny every time you encounter it. See that's the bit that really baffles me! Eventually ALL jokes get old. .... So, I get that "taint" is a funny term for them and that's fine with me, but I admit that the sheer persistence of it sometimes gets, frankly kinda weird. I think there are a few things contributing to this: 1) We are making a show so there is the added funny of saying taint with lots of people listening or going to listening. This incites the nervous giggle that tends to set off the laughing. 2) By the end of our first campaign we kind of got over the taint thing. This campaign is new and it's been years since we played, so the joke is kind of risen from the ashes to be funny again. 3) Never underestimate the power of alcohol and the childlike simplicity of our humor.
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