7 ms·
This reminds me of the time my party argued about how much modern information theory we were allowed to use in D&D. We wanted to maximize the amount of informat
by bburky 10y ago
This reminds me of the time my party argued about how much modern information theory we were allowed to use in D&D. We wanted to maximize the amount of information to communicate using Sending which states that it sends "twenty-five words or less". Can I use a form of encoding and a compression algorithm? Or can we make up words and can they be arbitrarily long?
- pavel_lishin 10y agoCodes have been around since forever; isn't the problem that you have to make sure the receiving party knows the algorithm, too?
- johncolanduoni 10y agoEncryption yes, but compression encodings haven't.
- my_first_acct 10y agoCompression schemes (in the form of code books) to save on telegraphy costs have existed almost as long as the telegraph itself. From [1]: "Elaborate commercial codes which encoded complete phrases into single words were developed and published as codebooks of thousands of phrases and sentences with corresponding codewords... Cable tolls were charged by the word, and telegraph companies counted codewords like any other words, so a carefully constructed code could reduce message lengths enormously." [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_code_(communications) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_code_(communication...
- johncolanduoni 10y agoIs D&D set in a world where the telegraph exists? I've always gotten the impression that insofar as it's linked to our history of technological progression it is set well before that invention, while after the times of e.g. the Caesar cipher.
- my_first_acct 10y agoGood point. So here is a compression scheme from about 350 BC, describing how to pass messages from one mountain peak to another, using a torch and a water clock [1][2]: "The water-clocks are an early long-distance-communication-system. Every communicating party had exactly the same jar, with a same-size-hole that was closed and the same amount of water in it. In the jar was a stick with different messages written on. When one party wanted to tell something to the other it made a fire-sign. When the other answered, both of them opened the hole at the same time. And with the help of another fire-sign closed it again at the same time, too. In the end the water covered the stick until the point of the wanted message." [1] http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Communication.htm http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Communication.htm [2] http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Technology/AncientGreekTechnology028.html http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Technology/AncientGreekTechnol...
- pavel_lishin 10y agoThat's incredibly clever.
- kakarot 10y agoThat is AWESOME. What an incredible feat of engineering.
- Thiez 10y agoWell if players want to get pedantic, in typing, a word in "words per minute" in considered 4 or 5 characters, so as the DM, clearly it's your prerogative to use that definition.
- JulianMorrison 10y agoSpeak in German?
- darklajid 10y agoAs a German: I feel that while this would potentially increase the average length of the words you "send", it probably will keep or even decrease the amount of information transferred..
- oconnor0 10y agoOf course, since it's magic, you could easily rule that total data transferred is equivalent to 25 words or less regardless of compression or not.