Ethan Sower's page

This one hurts. Rush has been my favorite band since I was in my early teens.

I knew I would have to say goodbye to its members at some point, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

Sixty-seven isn't old by today's standards.

CANCER SUCKS.

Alright, I figured I go ahead and get things rolling. Post here, and we'll make sure everyone's characters are in order.

I don't recall ever reading a rule about this one way or the other.

I know that in order for a living creature to benefit from a potion, they have to drink it - you can't pour a healing potion on a wounded comrade and have it work.

Given that, I suppose that hurling or splashing a healing potion at an undead creature would have no effect (I could see an argument that splashing a non-corporeal undead creature with a healing potion would work, though).

What if one force-fed a healing potion to an undead creature? If so, would this only work if the creature had a reasonably intact gullet, or would pouring it between a skeleton's jawbone and skull be sufficient?

Thoughts?

Discussion Question:

There are some books where the dialogue sounds impressive in the silence of your mind, but when you read it aloud, it sounds ridiculous.

There are other books where the dialogue sounds simplistic and even childish in the silence of your mind, but when read aloud, it sounds natural and believable.

Which, in your opinion, is the better writing style? Why?

Roughly two weeks from now, I will be in the Greensboro Coliseum, watching my favorite band of all time in what is very likely to be their last tour. :-/

I'm going to miss the guys. They put on a heckuva show, and have made some of the most important, inspiring music of my lifetime.

The soccer ball droid bothered me far more than the new lightsaber design.

I'm hoping that what we saw in the trailer is all we see of it in the entire movie. That thing needs to be the target on a blaster firing range.

Let a new set of nerdrage rants begin!

I just picked up a copy of Distant Worlds, and the Diaspora seems to be the perfect location for such a campaign.

Has anyone else tried this? If so, was it successful?

I am currently in seven Play-by-Post campaigns on the Paizo boards.

I didn't intend to be in that many. I thougt two or three, tops.

I kept adding new campaigns for two reasons:

1.) OOO OOO OOO that sounds cool, I wanna play!

2.) My other play-by-post is moving pretty slow, so...it will give me something else to do between posts.

Here's the thing, though. Even with 7 campaigns, it's feast or famine. Either I wake up the next morning, check the boards and it seems like there are 2 or 3 new posts in every thread, or a wake up the next morning, check the boards and....nothing. Not a single post in any of the threads. Sometimes the post-famine can go on for days, or even a week.

Does anyone else have this problem?

I recently watched an obscure, low-budget, but very well-made horror film called Jug Face.

The plot line felt like the start of a Call of Cthulhu campaign.

It features a strange community of reclusive, backwoods moon-shiners, and an enigmatic, if nondescript hole in the ground called, The Pit.

Don't let the campy title fool you, it was pretty cool.

I'd give it a four out five.

Any other obscure films out there that one might recommend?

The GM of one of the PBPs I was playing in stopped posting without comment or explanation well over a month ago.

All of the players have resigned from the game.

Is there any way to request that the thread be removed, so that it no longer shows up in my Play-by-Post list? It's a bit irritating to see it just sitting there...taunting me.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

For the record, the thread is titled: "GM Rapscallion's Skulls and Shackles."

Just wondering.

Do you (whoever reads this and feels like responding) try to deliberately modify your character's decisions based on his or her stats?

For example: Og the Barbarian has a 7 Intelligence, therefore, he would never think to pull out the hinge pins on the door. He will just smash the door until it breaks.

Or...

Does Og do and think of anything you think of, and his low Intelligence score limits his access to valuable skills and the points needed to boost those skills?

Do you feel that players who do not roleplay low mental stats are somehow cheating, or does it not matter, because of the numerical penalties?

I starting thinking about this because I noticed that one of the BBEGs in a recently purchased AP has an 8 INT, yet his description gives no indication that he's dull-witted, ignorant, or even a "little slow."

It then occurred to me that I have two active characters, both with 10 INT scores that I roleplay very differently. One is an uneducated, peasant-class country bumpkin, who has little faith in his ability to think his way out of trouble. The other is clever and manipulative, and always looking for angles and opportunities.

So...any thoughts..opinions?

Rush has received a nomination for the 2013 inductions of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Even better, fans can vote for nominees this year at Rolling Stone magazine's website.

Go now! Vote them in!

I just recently watched seasons 1 and 2, and did a little follow-up research online and was surprised at the number of fans who were upset that Shane was killed.

Am I missing something? In my opinion, the only less sympathetic character introduced thus far was Merle.

Is it just pity?

The frickin' dice-roller! Oh how it loves to toy with me...

I am currently in 4 pbps, and in every one of them, I've had an extended period of crappy rolls at one point or another.

Examples:

In one campaign, my human fighter will often either miss completely, or hit, only to roll a 1 for damage. This has been dubbed the "rubber sword syndrome" by all the game's participants.

My inquisitor of Erastil missed 6 of 8 longbow shots against goblins in the Rise of the Runelords pbp.

My gillman sorcerer was nearly lost at sea during a storm due to several consecutive lousy rolls in the Skulls and Shackles campaign .

On the flip side, there seem to be those moments when the right roll comes at the.most improbable moment.

The last arrow my Inquisitor fired was into melee, it rolled a 20, then confirmed the crit, then proceeded to roll nearly maximum damage.

My human fighter once skewered and archer through an arrow slit with a similar set of unlikely rolls.

Anyone else have some amusing dice-roller results to share?

Ever have a situation where a character wanted to jump from a high location down onto an enemy while striking with a weapon?

Are there any rules specific to this situation (bonuses or penalties to hit and damage, damage to the attacker from impact, etc)?

Got it for Father's Day. I'm a huge Rush fan, but it always takes a few listens for a new album to settle into my mind.

This one was easy, because the entire album is a concept piece. It's essentially a steampunk rock opera.

My one gripe, as always, is that Rush's studio albums always sound overly precise and polished. They always sound better live. I'm certain that this tour will be no different.

A very good movie. Not action-filled, but by no means boring.

Ben Kingsley and Christopher Lee are tremendous.

If you like clockwork machines, old silent movies, and stories about loss of dreams and purpose, you will want to see it.

Maybe, it's just me, but a threatened attack on the NYSE, posted all over YouTube, might be cause for concern.

I truly hope it's just some punk kid who saw Fight Club and V is for Vendetta a few too many times.

All I Want to Do is Have Some Fun Sheryl Crow

You Got What I Need Bizmarky

One Headlight Jacob Dylan

I'm not the world's greatest prankster, but I'm sure some of you out there are in the running. Care to share any of your highlght reels?

I have a few stories to get things rolling:

1.) Waaaay back in high school, I convinced a girl that boneless chickens were actually bred boneless, and that farmers had to spend most of their work day stuffing food down the birds' throats. I was pleasantly surprised to find out later that Gary Larsen used the same joke in one of his Far Side strips.

2.) During my tenure with a major bank several years ago, I convinced some of my workers that I was creating a charity to buy helmets for baby harp seals. I obtained a dozen or so pledges for donations, but fessed up to the joke rather than actually collecting any money.

Where can a school system reasonably draw the line for a teacher's off-campus behavior? What is a teacher's responsibility to his or her students?

Seven year-old boy tries to buy decommissioned Harrier jet on Ebay.

Hello.

What, exactly, do you mean by that?

I hate that they made sequels to Highlander. The film resolves. It doesn't need a sequel. Furthermore, planet ZEIST?! WTF?!

I don't really care for the TV show, either. Granted, the concept fits for a TV series better than a movie, but once you've made a movie that resolves, you've closed that door.

There. I said it.

January 29, 1986 - The space shuttle Challenger exploded 74 seconds after lift-off, killing all 7 crew members, including Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher to be chosen as a member of a shuttle crew.

Wow. I feel old. I remember sitting in my school cafeteria, when the principle came in and made the announcement. I was in 7th grade.

We spent the whole rest of the school day discussing the tragedy. My teacher even turned on the television in the classroom and we watched the newsreel repeat the explosion over and over as the "experts" debated what exactly happened.

For years after, my parents had hanging on their wall a framed news clipping of a political cartoon showing a bald eagle staring up towards the stars and weeping.

What should the winning coach have done in this situation?

Just askin'.

Figured we could all argue about something other than religion and politics.

Some things are just sancrosact in the geek subculture, and I'm sure some of you out there have things that you just don't care for that your other fellow geeks rave on and on and on about.

For example:

For myself, I find Stanley Kubrik's 2001: Space Odyssey to be a long, boring movie. Every time I try to watch it, the same thing happens: I get through the monkey fight, and the part where things are floating around on the space shuttle, then I fall dead asleep. When I wake up, HAL has killed some of the crew, and Dave is trying to pull his plexiglass circuits. From there, I can watch it to the end. What happens in the middle, I have no idea, and I honestly don't feel like I'm missing anything important.

Even worse, I find that I am not the biggest fan of Tolkien's writing style. I love his stories and have ever since I first read them as a kid, but I find re-reading the old classics (LotR, and to a lesser extent, The Hobbit) to be a bit like wading through knee-deep mud. Maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I love this show. Maybe it has to do with watching old "Little Rascals" and "Three Stooges" episodes on Saturday mornings when I was a kid, I don't know.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to some stress-relief tonight as I sit on the couch with my wife and sons, and watch people voluntarily make fools of themselves.

YES!

Witches plan to curse the Romanian government over change in income tax law.

From what I have seen and heard on the news wires, snow or the preponderance of it has been an issue for many places this year.

Here in Charlotte, North Carolina, the weather forecast is for our first White Christmas in over 60 years. Usually we don't get snow (if at all) until mid-to-late January.

I am hoping that the forecast is correct. I think it would be awesome.

On the other hand, I know some of you would gladly ship a few thousand tons of snow to NC if you could. I heard this morning that some places in Colorado already have 17 FEET of snow. Holy Cr@p! How does one deal with that much accumulation?!

I work in a big corporate environment. I'm sure several of you here do, as well.

Do any of you feel you are literally trapped in a Dilbert strip?

I have been with this particular company for 13 years, and while I am indeed grateful for being employed in the current economy, I am frustrated with my career prospects.

I am tired of glowing performance reviews, and words of praise from my immediate managers, only to be turned down for promotions again, and again, and again - always with some platitude about "please post again for the next opening," or "there we so many quality candidates" blah, blah, blah.

I am tired of the suggestion that I accept a lateral position, as it will "broaden [my] skill-set" and make me a more appealing candidate. How many [bleepin'] times do I have to move [bleepin'] sideways before you give me the opportunity to move up?

Finally, I am tired of taking all this feedback at face value, only to find out that the person who was selected for the position has been with the company less than half the time I have and doesn't have nearly the equivalent of my education, experience, and skill-sets. But she has one thing I don't have, close friendships with the hiring managers.

Anyway, even if no one else posts. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

What is David Bowie's favorite Collectible Card Game?

A:

I'm guessing I've been hit by a virus, based the way it's acting. My system keeps loading a login page for Whitesmoke Translator, and it won't let me do anything else.

What's the best way to get ride of this garbage, and make sure it doesn't come back?

"I'm always serious. And don't call me Shirley."

Are there any currently active Play-By-Posts here on Paizo that you are reading/following just for enjoyment (i.e. you ARE NOT a player or GM in that game)?

If so, which ones, and why? Is there a particular character that stands out as interesting, or a GMs narrative style that holds you?

I'll try not to give away too much.

This is a visually BUSY movie, with lots of shaky-cam shots. It is more intense than the other HP films. If you have a timid, or easily frightened child, don't take them to the film.

If you have a severe fear of snakes, do not see the film!

Now, with that out of the way. I enjoyed the film. As an adaptation of the book, it was pretty good. There were some obvious, perhaps even necessary changes to the story to make it work cinematically.

Despite breaking it into two films, Part One still had a Cliff-notey feel to it. If you haven't read the books, some things will not make sense at all, some key exposition was left out, presumably for the sake of running time.

Funniest line of the movie:

I'd give it 2.95 stars out of 4.

I can't any rulebook ever addressing this, mostly (I'm guessing) because of a lack of an in-game bonus or penalty, but I figured a few folks on this board have strong opinions on the subject.

So here it goes:

When does a wound result in a scar? Does the wound have to heal naturally, or do cure light, moderate, serious, critical spells leave scars as well?

Do any DMs out there have houserules about this for the sake of consistency in roleplay? After all, a vain character might worry about unsightly scars on the face or body, while other characters might see them as a sign of strength.

Just warning you now, don't look, you'll be sorry!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show?! Blasphemy!!

Much of the time, RPGs tend to fall into the rut of the classic Good vs Evil archetype, but there are often situations when two good-guys (or two bad-guys) come into conflict with each other due to opposing goals or motivations:

For example:

Lawful Evil wizard (sorcerer), Venger vs. Chaotic Evil Dragon, Tiamat.

or

Neutral Good superhero, Tony Stark/Iron Man vs. Lawful Good superhero, Roady Rhodes/War Machine as potrayed in Iron Man 2.

Anymore anyone would care to share?

I thought this would be a good exercise, especially for DMs, to broaden out perspective on potential character adversaries in a campaign.

I KNEW there was a closer tie between metal-heads and nerds than either would care to admit.

Just caught a sneak preview of the 3-D version of the film.

It was very enjoyable, it has a lot of great action. The plot is not anything complicated or deeply philosophical, but I wasn't disappointed by it, either. I'll try not to give away a lot of details about it, but take the kids, and go see it.

Don't worry about spending the extra dough for the 3-D version, there are a few scenes where it is breathtaking, but I don't think it will ruin the experience watching it the old-fashioned way.

When it comes out on DVD, I'll be purchasing a copy.

This is my fighter character from a recently-defunct PBP. He's been a lot of fun to play, and I would like to keep him active.

Broccan just reached 2nd level, but I will happily roll him back to 1st, or level him up to match the needs of your group.

He is built on a 20-point buy, Pathfinder Core, with no traits. Again, I will happily make adjustments to fit your campaign, as needed.

Thanks for your consideration. If interested, please post here.

My sons are keenly aware of the sudden presence of Halloween stuff in all the stores, which has prompted them to start speculating on their costumes for this year.

Harrison, my nine-year old keeps alternating between a Republic Clone Trooper and Soul Reaper/Shinigami from the Bleach anime series. For the latter, he either wants to be Toshiro Hitsuguya, or just himself as a soul reaper.

Xander, my 4-year old announced tonight that he wanted to be Dungeon Master from the 1980's cartoon series. I laughed, he's the perfect size for the character. Unfortunately, there are no Dungeon Master costumes for sale ANYWHERE that I can find (online or store).

As for myself, I always dream big, but never manage to pull it together. For years I've wanted to make a Hamster-in-a-(Really BIG)-Ball costume, but I've never gotten around to building it.

Anyone else out there thinking about costumes?

I downloaded one today. The BIC Concert Lighter.

I creates a virtual lighter on your screen that you can "flick" on and snuff out. If you move your droid around, the flame reacts accordingly.

It's probably just a silly waste of battery power, true, but it's
neat-o.

Anyone else got some cool freebies to share?

Yep, I'm gonna start leaving big piles of "it" everywhere I go!

The next poster has a secret crush on Perry the Platypus.

I guess you could call this World of LEGO-craft. It looks like a lot of fun.

Having lived a stone's throw away from the Palmetto State most of my life (Charlotte NC), I have always found the news events from South Carolina to be entertaining, and somethimes bizarre. This story is no exception.

Disclaimer: Not that North Carolina hasn't had its share of weird stuff, too, but ya gotta admit...