Stuffed Crocodile
Stuffed Crocodile  ·  2 weeks ago

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ttrpg fortunes

fortune cookie with fortune slip that reads "The program 'fortune' us currently not installed. You can install it by typing" sudo apt-get install fortune-mod"

fortuneis one of those classic unix programs that are available on basically all unixoid systems. The only thing it does is “display a pseudorandom message from a database of quotations”, or as the man-page of fortune for debian says: “fortune – print a random, hopefully interesting, adage”.

To be fair, the fortune part of the name comes from fortune cookies. So whatever is printed is not meant to be taken too seriously.

You wouldn’t think this is a terribly interesting or even useful program, but people have found uses for it over the last few decades. It might just be used to provide a human element to an otherwise sterile work environment, but I also found it used at least once to provide a noticeable update to an otherwise static website (by printing adages about project management. So the updates were functionally useless, but the program did fulfill an important task).

What the program does is this: it takes a file of adages, or sayings, or other small text snippets, and when called prints one of them. You can chose which file you want to take those from, you can choose the length you want your printed text to be, and a few other smaller options. It will determine one and output it. It’s one of those programs that breathes the unix philosophy that a program should do just one thing, but do it well.

You might encounter it every time when you log on to a shell, where the admin has configured fortune to print a quote. Or some people have it in their signature for forums or emails. (sometimes connected with something like cowsay which prints a bit of crude ascii art cow (or whatever) saying whatever fortune spit out. 

 ________________________________________/ I could never be a druid, I just don’t \\ trust the trees. They’re too shady. / ---------------------------------------- \ ^__^ \ (oo)\_______ (__)\ )\/\ ||----w | || ||

There are a lot of different fortune files available, from the stock ones that are shipped with distributions, to other projects where you might, e.g. find Discworld quotes, or, I dunno, your favorite Chuck Norris facts.

Anyway, I was futzing around with our IRC network lately and while playing around with a bot that could use fortune, I realized that there was no actual file available for stuff about roleplaying (or wargaming, or boardgaming, or any gaming for that matter).

So I decided to make one.

Right now it’s only a small page on campaignwiki.org: https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/TTRPGFortuneFile/HomePage but the idea is to soon enough move that to github and do it on there.

If you want to add to the file: the page above is a wiki so you can just add what you want to add. (some people already did). I am looking for pithy sayings, jokes, DM advice, and everything else that might be interesting. Have a great quote about roleplaying games? Maybe even a more or less short story? Just add it on there.

Rate this:

#dnd #fortune #Linux #osr #rpg #ttrpg #unix #Wargames

randomwizard
randomwizard  ·  2 months ago

Content Warning

I bought Green Ronin's The Expanse RPG. You can get a FREE quick start rules version of it
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/247982/the-expanse-rpg-quickstart

I like the Dragon Age, Fantasy AGE systems. I do think they suffer a little bit from not having the vast trove of monsters, magic items and lore that D&D has.

Curious to see how the system works for a sci-fi rpg.

I have only skimmed the rules so far, but I applaud the writers for getting the first page of the GMs section right.

#rpg #theexpanse #scifi #greenronin

Chloe the cartographer
Chloe the cartographer  ·  2 months ago

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Far from finished, but this is the extended shape the improved land of Nicea. The new sections are to the far west and east. Seeing the ocean on both sides really frames the continent and aesthetically improves the map more than I would have guessed. Next I need to add forest details to the west, then colour and the border needs work. #shadows #mapping #dndmap #dndcartography #cartography #cartographer #rpg#dnd #roleplaying #fantasy #map #ttrpgart #largemap#gamesmaster #rpggame #dndcreatives
Chloe the cartographer
Chloe the cartographer  ·  2 months ago

Content Warning

Back to the magical land of Nicea, I’m working on the line work for the jungles to the East, an excuse to draw lots of dinosaurs in the dense rainforest. It’s for dungeons and dragons so the land need to invite exploration. The jungle is criss crossed by rivers, with tall rock formations and mysterious ziggurats. The jungle gives way to a desert region and a few settlements. Plenty of caves and ruins to explore. #mapping #cartography #rpg#dnd #fantasy #map #ttrpg #fantasymap #map #mapmaker
Chloe the cartographer
Chloe the cartographer  ·  2 months ago

Content Warning

I’m back once again to the magical land of Nicea. The client has been using the map in family games and now wants to extend the map to the east and west so it shows the whole continent which will look great. There is so much this map taught me, I love the spherical projection, I really want to draw a world map this way at some point. #shadows #mapping #dndmap #dndcartography #cartography #cartographer #rpg#dnd #roleplaying #fantasy #map #ttrpgart
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