Friendship is Dragons
Updates Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays
Page 363 - Alliterative Acronym Addict
Author Notes:
Newbiespud
14th Nov 2013, 5:00 AM
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59 Comments:
Pinkie Pie objecting to the common names for her job?! Gasp!
Not sure why I'm shocked, but I thought it should happen. Anyone have any good stories about role refusal?
Not sure why I'm shocked, but I thought it should happen. Anyone have any good stories about role refusal?
Can't think of any role refusal. My gaming group always used Game Master or GM for whoever was running the games, but "Dungeon Master" was something of a title I had in the group because I ran the most games and offered up the most interesting and challenging dungeons to them (Challenge in a good way, not challenge in a TPK kind of way).
Hmm... no to Pony Master, Dungeon Master, and Game Master... maybe she can be the Key Master? But wait, who would be the Gatekeeeper?
Will this lead to a joke at the swamp where in they have to... cross the streams? :D
I would think if someone asks you if you are a DM, you say you're a DM.
I think this'd be considered role refusal, not sure about it, though.
NPC woman runs into town yelling, "Help, my child's gone missing!" And the party (4 PCs, 1 Lawful good, 2 Neutral goods, and 1 Lawful neutral) spend five minutes arguing with the woman that to find her child they're gonna require some form of payment (the NPC didn't have anything to offer as a reward).
The woman begins to walk away until the barbarian finally says, "Okay, we'll help you."
NPC woman runs into town yelling, "Help, my child's gone missing!" And the party (4 PCs, 1 Lawful good, 2 Neutral goods, and 1 Lawful neutral) spend five minutes arguing with the woman that to find her child they're gonna require some form of payment (the NPC didn't have anything to offer as a reward).
The woman begins to walk away until the barbarian finally says, "Okay, we'll help you."
Not exactly role refusal, but my aunt always preferred to be called the Game Operation Director (G.O.D.) When she DM'ed
This would be when my parties say, "And from now on, we'll just call you '4 o'clock'!"
Okay, as you can tell from my last few polls, That I'm running out.
So for today's poll and help.
Which decade are you?
Me: the 90's
And for the help.
What would be a good poll to do in the future
All polls are accepted.
Just remember, I know more about MLP than D&D.
So for today's poll and help.
Which decade are you?
Me: the 90's
And for the help.
What would be a good poll to do in the future
All polls are accepted.
Just remember, I know more about MLP than D&D.
You could do polls to predict something on the current story arc?
Like, how much damage does Twi take when the vase/anvil/piano lands on her. How does the part react to Pinkie having a pet aligator? What's the land-speed velocity of an unlaiden hydra?
Like, how much damage does Twi take when the vase/anvil/piano lands on her. How does the part react to Pinkie having a pet aligator? What's the land-speed velocity of an unlaiden hydra?
Since I assume you are not talking about birth decade, I'm going to go with the 70s.
Might I suggest a slightly more comic related angle for this poll? Since Pinkie is front and centre today, how about if the poll question is: "What decade best represents the character Pinkie Pie?" You can make it a two part question by asking for answers for both this comic's character and the show's character. It could be entertaining to see where the answers diverge.
If the suggestion works for you (and you can get several polls out of it by asking the same question for a different character each day for a week or so), maybe it would be worth considering with the next poll, rather than changing this one.
Might I suggest a slightly more comic related angle for this poll? Since Pinkie is front and centre today, how about if the poll question is: "What decade best represents the character Pinkie Pie?" You can make it a two part question by asking for answers for both this comic's character and the show's character. It could be entertaining to see where the answers diverge.
If the suggestion works for you (and you can get several polls out of it by asking the same question for a different character each day for a week or so), maybe it would be worth considering with the next poll, rather than changing this one.
Gotta love being a 90's kid!
As for future polls, maybe what your favorite class is to be in D&D? Or if you did that, favorite kind of DM (the strict, the "it fits, so it works", the "suddenly the enemy is a whale", etc.). Oh! or maybe favorite page of the comic so far!
As for future polls, maybe what your favorite class is to be in D&D? Or if you did that, favorite kind of DM (the strict, the "it fits, so it works", the "suddenly the enemy is a whale", etc.). Oh! or maybe favorite page of the comic so far!
That one, the one about our favourite kind of DMs. I like that one. It's on topic, and extremely appropiate since we're in an arc that deals with a very special DM (PM, PPPM, whatever suits her mohawk).
Necessity isn't the issue. They help make ANW feel more comfortable about posting anything here. Good enough reason for me and Newbiespud hasn't found them disruptive (as was the case with some of the rp attempts).
Thanks. That sounds about right.
It also makes you think sometimes.
And if turns into a big discussion, then all the better.
As long as it doesn't turn into a flame war.
It also makes you think sometimes.
And if turns into a big discussion, then all the better.
As long as it doesn't turn into a flame war.
When I first saw the polls about shipping in the last couple of comic pages, I almost said something both times. But I decided to see what happened in them without my input. And lo and behold, they backfired. People didn't like those polls or didn't respond altogether.
If doing this poll gimmick REALLY makes you more comfortable than posting regular comments, that's more or less fine, but then I would suggest trying to keep the polls on the topic of D&D or the comic in the future.
You might not, but I apparently do. That was not my intent, so I apologize for the poor wording.
90's by birth, my friends say I've been living in a cave for 40 years, and I have no idea by what I act.
All my grandparents were born before World War I, so all my great-grandparents were born in the 19th century.
In one particularly rail-roading adventure, a friend of mine and I started nicknaming the Gm as "The Conductor". That annoyed him, but he'd only glare at us for a moment when it came up.
Then there was one point when the party was given a task and we had to be at the dungeon within a time frame. Not negotiable. We HAD to be there and were railroaded to be there. So my friend and I pointed up in a heroic pose and shouted "To the Train Station!"
This being a D&D adventure. And the train station comment should be obvious. Our GM got pissed about that part and stepped away from the game for 30 minutes. :3
Then there was one point when the party was given a task and we had to be at the dungeon within a time frame. Not negotiable. We HAD to be there and were railroaded to be there. So my friend and I pointed up in a heroic pose and shouted "To the Train Station!"
This being a D&D adventure. And the train station comment should be obvious. Our GM got pissed about that part and stepped away from the game for 30 minutes. :3
Haven't had a game he ran yet (Soon hopefully!), but there's a DM that I've taken to calling Jesus because a friend introduced him that way, and because of his beard.
How very... peculiar. I also know of a man known as Jesus. Does the phrase 'Earth 383' mean anything to you, Thar?
No... but like I said, haven't had a campaign with him yet. Is the guy you're thinking of in college?
Some of our group members prefer the DM to be Den Mother.
While I have no personally made ones, I find it amusing that the GM in Maid RPG is The Master. Well, their GMPC, but usually they are considered the master as well.
Bit of a story to this name, but I'll try and keep it simple. The GM of my L5R game was named Ted. At one point very early on in the game, we encountered tentacled fish monsters while in the taintlands. This lead to me and another player discussing other potential seamonsters we may meet, and we eventually thought up the Tedopus, Ted's head on with an octopus's tentacles. We used it as a nickname briefly, but we convinced Ted to make it a canon creature inside his game world. My favorite detail about it: the Tedopus says, in character, EVERYTHING Ted says, regardless of context. Imagine a giant, flying disembodied head with tentacles flailing at you while screaming "ROLL INITIATIVE. I GOT A 25!" at a bunch of feudal Japanese samurai. It's one of my proudest creations.
Chtulhutech uses a tern "storyguide" (or SG I guess). And the less is to say about Chtulhutech, the better.
I think it's amazing of many different words for the GM, there is throughout gaming.
Particularly when one considers that most titles aren't even really used anyway.
Particularly when one considers that most titles aren't even really used anyway.
For a really uncomfortable evening, try calling the game master "my enabler".
Boy, that hiss takes me back to the day I learned that the proper response to a Japanese person saying, "So so so..." is not, "Needle needle needle!"
Interesting reaction by best bard. I can see why she might object to the mention of "dungeon" in her title (seeing it as too adversarial), but I'm guessing that the aversion to "game" comes either from a perception of that making her a referee (boring!) or associating the role with that of a game show host (an assignment few performers seem to enjoy). The title she picked for herself is right up her character's alley, and suggests to me that she perceives the other players to be her guests. That sounds like it could work well, so I'll be inteested to see if and how it could also work poorly.
As much as I enjoy the progression of the panels, conversation, and characterisation, I'm most impressed with the final subpanel. The expression matches the comment quite well, with Twilight still appearing to be in good humour as she tries to steer her friends back into play.
"I thought you WERE being Pinkie Pie," sent my brain to an odd place.
"I'm Piecus!
"No, I'm Piecus!"
"...Did you just argue with yourself about which one of you is... you?"
Also,
Princess Pinkie needs our help,
This party cannot last forever...
Interesting reaction by best bard. I can see why she might object to the mention of "dungeon" in her title (seeing it as too adversarial), but I'm guessing that the aversion to "game" comes either from a perception of that making her a referee (boring!) or associating the role with that of a game show host (an assignment few performers seem to enjoy). The title she picked for herself is right up her character's alley, and suggests to me that she perceives the other players to be her guests. That sounds like it could work well, so I'll be inteested to see if and how it could also work poorly.
As much as I enjoy the progression of the panels, conversation, and characterisation, I'm most impressed with the final subpanel. The expression matches the comment quite well, with Twilight still appearing to be in good humour as she tries to steer her friends back into play.
"I thought you WERE being Pinkie Pie," sent my brain to an odd place.
"I'm Piecus!
"No, I'm Piecus!"
"...Did you just argue with yourself about which one of you is... you?"
Also,
Princess Pinkie needs our help,
This party cannot last forever...
What's Pinkie's prior gaming experience? Maybe she's had a rocky past under a killer DM/GM or something and that experience left a bad taste in her motuh whenever she hears DM/GM.
Oh, we have to get this right
Yes, we've got to take twenty
We can win this pony campaign playing D&D
Yes, we've got to take twenty
We can win this pony campaign playing D&D
We need to find a wizard
One that knows a lot of spells
One that knows a lot of spells
Maybe she takes offense that they aren't using her term for her position, and thinks they don't like it. Or maybe she dislikes them because they are not as Alliterative. (See comic title)
"I'm Piecus!
"No, I'm Piecus!"
"...Did you just argue with yourself about which one of you is... you?"
Wait until the Mirror Pool pops up...
"No, I'm Piecus!"
"...Did you just argue with yourself about which one of you is... you?"
Wait until the Mirror Pool pops up...
Well since I've been DMing I haven't had a nickname based off of D&D but one of my friends does use my nickname for the times I mess up: "Derpy" or "The Assistant" I got that nickname because I used to always derp up something in minecraft and one day me and one of my friends when we were playing it were talking about Doctor Who and the Cross betweens theye done of MLP with Doctor Whooves (Or TimeTurner whichever you prefer) and Derpy well I done goofed something up in there an hhe's like dagnabbit Derpy an I just responded "I'm sorry Doctor I just don't know what went wrong!".....needless to say it stuck with everyone after that.
I have been called THE GREAT AND POWERFUL NARRATOR before. I made a stipulation that when i used my ANNOUNCER VOICE all the PCs could hear me. This lead to the party asking THE GREAT AND POWERFUL NARRATOR for tips when they had no clue what to do. Of course if they didn't ask nicely THE GREAT AND POWERFUL NARRATOR either didn't respond or bad stuff started to happen.
I quite approve of that title. Well played.
Also, causing players to ask to be put back on the rails. This is something I can do. Sheesh, I introduce one minor character, and eveyone begs to go back on the rails.
Beholder proctologist/OB/GYN/ENT. It uses its paralysis eye to relax the patient, and then it extends its disintegrate eye into whatever orifice needs exploring. To destroy any obstructions, of course! The females in the group were not enthusiastic about having an eyeball exploring their intimate areas. One of them had a stab wound, but hey decided against mentioning it, for fear the beholder might stick its eye in the hole. Some species just should not be doctors.
FYI, he reason they had to endure all of this is that they decided to visit a prison, so I made the examination a bit more realistic.
Wonky by *Whose* standard? ;)
Seems perfectly Pinkie to me.
On odd species being doctors, I had a joke character once-- A mindflayer brain surgeon. He got to keep the leftover parts as an after operation snack. :3
Seems perfectly Pinkie to me.
On odd species being doctors, I had a joke character once-- A mindflayer brain surgeon. He got to keep the leftover parts as an after operation snack. :3
A nymph shampoo-commercial actress...
...
...So many lawsuits.
Also, red dragons make bad investment bankers. They game the system to make it so their clients go broke but they themselves make scads of money and leave the economy in ruins, then use the reputation as a really rich investment banker to get more clients. ("Sacks--of-Gold, Man", unaffiliated with "Gold-Man Zachk's", and both unrelated to similarly named real companies that do or do not do the same thing.)
...
...So many lawsuits.
Also, red dragons make bad investment bankers. They game the system to make it so their clients go broke but they themselves make scads of money and leave the economy in ruins, then use the reputation as a really rich investment banker to get more clients. ("Sacks--of-Gold, Man", unaffiliated with "Gold-Man Zachk's", and both unrelated to similarly named real companies that do or do not do the same thing.)
Lawsuits due to a nymph shampoo commercial?
I don't see it. ;)
I don't see it. ;)
Well, it looks good on screen, but then the actual product leaves your scalp covered in twigs and tree sap...
(Yes, I know you were going somewhere else with that, Digo. :p)
(Yes, I know you were going somewhere else with that, Digo. :p)
Wait, Twilight wants to be on the rails?
Who is she and what did she do with the real one?
Who is she and what did she do with the real one?
Not to mention that so far this isn't really railroading so much as players being deliberately obtuse about the plot hook.
Twilight: ...okay.
PP: ...okay?
Twilight: Yeah, okay. I can see that working like that. Works for me. So what's the plan for this session?
PP: But...but...it's totally absurd!
Twilight: Pinkie, this is a magical land of candy colored ponies. First session, we destroyed the Campaign boss with the power of Friendship. The second session, Fluttershy made a dragon - who's eyeball was bigger than her entire body - break into tears without laying a hoof on him!
FS: Eeep! (blushes and hides her face)
Twilight: You really think I'm going to question Pinkie having unrealized precognitive capabilities tied to her Earth Pony magic? I've already looked up the prerequisite feat and it's perfectly reasonable.
PP: But...twitchy tail?
AJ: Ya know, my granny's got an old leg injury that predicts thunderstorms. This don't seem that different.
Twilight: Exactly. And in a magic based world, it's Pinkie's magic that lets her anticipate various things that are about to happen, tied to a perception check. Perfectly reasonable.
PP: ...oh...
Twilight: So what next?
PP: Umm...I kinda figured you'd want to figure out how the Pinkie Sense worked, and we'd have lots of fun with wacky hijinks related to that. I even had this scene with an anvil, a piano, and a Pegasus moving company planned out.
Twilight: You mean...by trying to stay on the rails, I broke them?
PP: Yeppers.
Twilight: ...I just can't win.
FS: Well, maybe we should just improvise something. I mean, I'm at Froggy Bottom Bog. Maybe something happens there and your Pinkie Sense tells you about it?
PP: Right! Suddenly, a hydra rises out of the bog! So much for the amphibian population boom!
FS: Hey hydra! Don't you dare eat those poor frogs!
PP: <rolls> The hydra determines that you would make a much tastier and more filling meal than frogs, and easier to catch.
FS: Eeep!
Twilight: So an honest to goodness combat encounter?
AJ: Rainbow's gonna be soooo jealous she missed this!
Tatsurou, I hope your prediction is wrong only because it deserves to stand on its own. Well done, making it entertaining and appropriate to character.
He is a "Friendship Master." No other title befits one running a pony campaign.
Master is a masculine title. You want to use Mistress. Our current GameMistress/DungeonMistress (GM/DM) posts regularly in the comments of this comic.