Gregory Oppedisano's page

Or, perhaps, just perhaps, the government could bust the chops of the Canadian Medical Association to speed up the licensing and recertification of all the Middle Eastern doctors driving taxi cabs. Seriously, I'd have had better luck getting treated at the taxi ranks than inside the emergency room.

Expansion of enrollment at medical schools is necessary as well, to account for the fact that ON AVERAGE female doctors remain in the profession for a shorter period of time and work fewer hours than male doctors. Pay for nurses could be increased and, with some retraining, the system could recognize that a lot of these jobs are being done by nurses anyhow with doctors simply having to pop their heads in and sign off.

True! The medical association has worked to restrict the number of doctors - because they understand the power of supply and demand.

The government of Canada also worked to limit the number of chairs available in university for doctor training - in an effort to limit costs on the system - this was poor policy and has back fired because it has placed undue stress on the medical profession and increased costs by diverting patient care into hospitals instead of clinics.

This has been exacerbated by the increased prevalence of female doctors (now over 50% in university) - who work less hours, take more sick time, access maternity leave, are more inclined to work part time etc.

I think the roll of all health care providers needs to be retooled - especially pharmacists who should be able to write prescriptions for most medications.

You can't seriously be suggesting that state-sponsored healthcase will lead to sanctioned mass murder? The doctors are the ones that make the decisions as to a persons care, then they bill the government. Not the other way around.

Personally I don't think Canada's system goes far enough. Everybody should have free access to eye and dental care - both of those can lead to serious health issues or an inability to function in regular society.

Agreed and agreed!

Optometry and dentistry are rackets in Canada - they are the highest paid fields in medicine because they are the most privatized.

One way that socialized health care systems keep their costs down is to avoid using radical treatments and new advances. Take Oregan for example, it will not pay for chemotherapy with it's medicare program, but will pay for physician assisted suicide. Why? Because chemo is a long expensive process that might not work. Killing the patient only requires the one visit and works every time. I fear that if the government takes over all healthcare, that is the direction we will be headed in.

I have no idea what is going on in Oregon.

But that is simply not true in Canada. Doctors recommend treatment based on the advice of their professional associations, which are based on research.

Training is also a factor - not all doctors can do all procedures.

The government does not decide my treatment - my doctor does - the government just pays for it.

Your fear is misdirected you should be terrified of your present system - american health care ranks 47th in performance while costing more than twice as much as the Canadian system.

not to mention that the american government has proven its complete inability to properly manage health care, look at VA clinics and the Walter Reed debacle. I'm not saying it's impossible just when I see what my government has done in the past with the very people it says are the most important, our military personel, how does that bode well for letting them try to take care of everyone elses health care?

Actually VA hospitals are some of the best hospitals in the USA. You have to look past the corporate propaganda.

Walter Reed is a perfect example of the problems with privatization of helath care.

The battle between the private contractor and the government employees on who provided the best services was eventually settled in favor of the government employees in 2002. Unfortunately for them, the Army Audit Agency then under the leadership of the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, overturned that decision. Because the cost proposal from the private contractor was substantially less than that of the government employees, the decision to overturn was also supported by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Please note however, the final decision was not based on providing equal or current service levels, it was only based on the lower cost comparison. What was not understood was that the Walter Reed Medical Center had previously been serviced by 350 government employee service providers. And this was the number of service employees prior to the beginning of the War in Iraq. The new private contractor replaced those 350 government employees with only 100 private contractors. From the beginning of that decision, the services offered and maintenance of the facility began to head down hill. When the war in Iraq began increasing the needs and numbers of wounded at the medical center, the situation quickly became critical.

Prior to that VA hospitals - when run by government - are models of efficiency and care:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0501.longman.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1376238-3,00.html

My wife, baby, and I got him by a car in February. We waited 9 hours to see a doctor in the emergency room. That same week in our city, a woman died because she was too exhausted to wait in the emergency room any longer? Where's the friggin' health care I paid for. It's enough to turn a liberal off universal health care.

First off, I hope everyone is alright.

I have gone to the hospital emergency for health care (my town did not start drop in clinics until about 5 years ago) - I have waited minutes, I have waited hours.

Triage determines when you see a doctor... every patient that enters a hospital is assessed and seen in order of need.

When I was waiting hours to see a doctor it was because of car accidents and heart attacks were being taken care of before my less urgent care. (trust me you never want to go to a hospital when the bars let out where i live).

Emperor7 wrote:

Uninsured Americans/foreigners do get health care in urgent situations already. That's what general hospitals have to provide by law.

And the urgency is part of the problem. Routine health maintenance is out the window for the uninsured which tends to make those urgent cases more severe and expensive. In indigent areas, hospitals may be unable to make ends meet. And hospitals all over will raise rates on the insured to make up the losses caring for the uninsured.

There's some viciousness in that cycle.

I agree that this is part of the problem with comparing systems - in the US, because health care is not available/affordable people delay treatment - this increases cost and decreases efficacy.

Wow that was fun... I really needed that!

I am gonna call that a win for democratic socialism and go to bed.

And yet profit is what drives the economy.

If you think Canada's economy is not driven by a desire for profit, you are sorely mistaken.

Of course and what the Canadian - and western European models have shown is that you can have both universal health care and capitalism.

Lower Infant mortality
Longer Lifespan
Less Years Lost to Preventable Disease
For everyone
AT HALF THE COST

Some one is getting your redistributed wealth - wouldn't you rather give them 50 cents instead of a dollar?

As for worlds worth living in, I would not want to live in one where people were forcibly assigned professions and specialties because some government office decided more of a particular profession was needed.

And I do not want to live in a world where jack booted stormtroopers named Smith and Friedman allow corporations to kick in my door and take all my money and give it to corporations...

Hey look I can make a strawman too!

If you have a heart surgeon do a knee replacement or an orthopedist do heart surgery, you are going to have significantly worse problems than people "jumping the lines".

That is the first major failure in your logic of universal health care, treating all of the providers as interchangeable.

What are you talking about? Universal systems have specialists.

If all of those people, or even a substantial number, were "on line" for knee replacements, we would have a significantly worse problem than you "jumping the line".That is the second major failure in your logic of universal health care, treating all of the seekers as interchangeable.

You do have that problem. By keeping 47 million people uninsured and millions more under insured - YOU DON"T LET THEM GET IN THE LINE.

Except money does inevitably determine your care.

Money is required to train the doctors.
Money is required to build the hospitals.
Money is required to research the treatments.
Money is required to manufacture the medicines.
And, inevitably, money is required to pay for each and every instance of illness.
Should you also be entitled to more care simply because you are sicker than everyone else?

Of course it is - and the Canadian system provided better care - for everyone AT HALF THE COST.

And yes I will wait for my neighbor who is in urgent need of care so that I can receive my less urgent care latter.

And do you know who decided that... our doctors - not some bureaucrat - as you have been lied to about so many times by shareholders who want to steal your hard earned money using fear of force (denial of treatment) to redistribute the money from your wallet.

I would call it an indictment of a national character caused by the very health care system that is being defended.

It causes a confusion of responsibility of government with dependency on government, and makes out any sense or expression of individuality as "deviant".
Obviously anyone able to pay for such has not been properly taxed enough. This is most likely because of some subversion of the tax system. That is more than enough to establish a lack of integrity at the least.
Just think, such a moral enhancement comes free with such a universal health care system. Sign up today!

I choose to try and live a moral and just life. I will not apologize for that.

The market fundamentalism you are espousing is amoral - and so you are choosing to live an amoral life under the pretext of worshiping money, markets, and invisible hands.

I want to live in a society that is a great place for people to live.

You prefer a society that is a great place for money to live.

funny, the problem in america isn't that we have too little capacity for care, tis that we have too many specialists. and, frankly, no one with a serious, immediate problem (e.g. heart attack victims, cancer victims) gets "bumped" here. MD Anderson cancer center provides a LOT of free (to the patient) care, they receive federal and state grants and a ton of charity money every year specifically to care for indigent and low income patients.

and most of the 15% of the population who are uninsured are young people who wont buy insurance, even though they can afford it. POOR people have medicare, and in the state of texas, access to a "gold card" that covers most medical expenses. most states have similar programs. so, before believing the hype put forth by politicians trying to win an election, try looking at the reality here.

No the problem is how your resources are distributed. For example cosmetic surgeons have open spots on their surgical calendars - while 40 million women go without prenatal care.

Your system puts value on cosmetic procedures because they are profitable.

I do not want to live in a world where my wife has easy access to a boob job - while my neighbors wife cannot afford prenatal care and loses her baby.

see, this is where the term "rights" gets my blood a boil. there are no "rights", period. and the "right" you refer to entails the taking of wealth someone has earned to give to someone who has NOT earned it. so where do the earner's "rights" come in?

this isn't a discussion about "rights". this is a discussion about the redistribution of wealth because someone thinks life is supposed to be "fair". because, franky, i don't think anyone has the "right" to what I have earned. period. when an individual "redistributes" wealth, its called "theft". when a government does it, its called "taxes".

people have a "right" to help themselves to the contents of my wallet? i don't think so...

You see there are a lot of variables in regards to how the contents of your wallet got to be what they are.

I don't want to take what is in your wallet - but I am willing to give you what is in mine if it means that you are healthy, educated and able to contribute to the betterment of our society by participating in our culture, economy, and communities.

By the way wealth is constantly redistributed - it is called an economy - and it rarely has anything to do with fairness - capitalism is amoral - that is why "people" make decisions not "money".

The government redistributes wealth because it is as much a part of the economy as consumer is or a corporation is - but a government is accountable to people not shareholders.

By the way you might be interested to know that when an economy redistributes wealth efficiently - everyone benefits... for example did you know that as of 2005, the median family in Canada was worth US$122,600, according to Statistics Canada, while the U.S. Federal Reserve pegged the median American family at US$93,100. Those figures, the most recent available, already include an adjustment for our higher prices, and thanks to the rising loonie, and the American mortgage collapse Canadians are likely even further ahead today.

We're ahead mainly because Americans carry far more debt than we do, and it means that the median Canadian family is a full 30 per cent wealthier than the median American family.

Do you know what the number one cause of American bankruptcy is... that's right Health care expenses.

Why are you more willing to let a health care corporation redistribute your wealth to their share holders by denying you health care, than let the government redistribute everyone's wealth so you can go to the doctor?

One last thing to consider. Defenders of the American system will always point to the millions of uninsured, millions of under insured, millions of illegal immigrants etc. who drag down the system performance averages... consider that the United states is a world leader in health care, pharma, surgery, medical education, and provides some of the best health care in the world a percentage of its population - the Americans who can afford private care.

How bad is the care for the average american - that it drags the system performance down to 47th in the world?

wow, so waiting for treatment if you can afford not to is a "moral" choice? if you can afford to go elsewhere, and pay YOUR OWN MONEY instead of taking someone else's money (taxes), you're a bad person?

what a strange outlook.

In Canada your doctor determines your treatment. You receive treatment based on need. If you are having a heart attack you get to see the doctor before I get my knee replacement. My knee replacement wait time is determined by need - a person who cannot walk goes in front of a person who cannot run, goes in front of a person who cannot ski...

If I decide I do not want to wait 3 months for a knee replacement I can go to the USA and pay cash to have it done right now - I can do that because the USA allows me to "jump in line" ahead of the 47 million people without insurance. I can also jump in front of all the people who are in managed care in the USA (people who are insured) because I am willing to pay.

Money should not determine my care. I should not be able to get my surgery before someone in more pain or more need simply because I have more money.

Medical resources are fixed - a system only has so much ability to provide care.

It is immoral to seek care - in effect denying others more urgent care - becasue I have more money than they do.

canadians also have a much lower population

Stats are compared per capita.

They don't have millions of illegal aliens who don't receive prenatal care (and, yes, they are a large percentage of our infant mortality rate in the US)

40 million American women do not receive prenatal care. Latest statistic will tell you that there are about 37 million illegals in the USA of which less than half of them are women. SO it is ok to have 20+ million american women not receiving prenatal care?

QUOTE="houstonderek"]and they spend nothing on national defense compared to the U.S. (a benefit of being one of the few nations to share its only land border with a completely benign neighbor). canada has a fairly special circumstance when it comes to its ability to spend the percentage of its gdp on domestic programs without overly harming the private economy.

I will give you the argument that Americans would rather spend money on bombs that health care.

But we are not so special in the amount we spend on healthcare:
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_spe_per_per-health-spending-per-perso n

#1 United States: 4,271
#2 Switzerland: 3,857
#3 Norway: 3,182
#4 Denmark: 2,785
#5 Luxembourg: 2,731
#6 Iceland: 2,701
#7 Germany: 2,697
#8 France: 2,288
#9 Japan: 2,243
#10 Netherlands: 2,173
#11 Sweden: 2,145
#12 Belgium: 2,137
#13 Austria: 2,121
#14 Canada: 1,939

also, i wasn't citing problems at individual hospitals, i was pointing out how many canadians (tens of thousands, btw) come to houston every year for medical care (not check ups, but the stuff they'd have to wait for in canada, or procedures and treatments we are just much better at performing).

Canadians in Houston seeking healthcare are snow birds - on vacation. There are hundreds of hospitals within an hours driving distance to the american border - that is where the line jumpers go - not houston.

Also when Canadians seek health care in the USA - we pay for it. Unlike Americans who come to Canada for health care and defraud the system...

The fact that the Canadian system out performs the american system is not the point... the point is that in a modern society - health care is a right.

which is why there are so many canadians in hermann memorial and md anderson right now (source: my neighbor - memorial-hermann nurse - and sister in law - md anderson nurse). Canadian health care is universal, NOT better.

This is corporate propaganda - and also the reason why americans are the only nation in the developed world who think it is alright to leave 1/6th of their population without health care.

Canadians live longer than Americans, Canadians have lower infant mortality rates than Americans, Canadians lose less years to preventable disease than Americans.

An examination of system performance on a micro level will reveal that the Canadian system deals with cancer, heart disease, diabetes, trauma, etc. with higher treatment success rates and less years lost to preventable disease. The American system has a decided neurosurgery advantage compared to the Canadian system (and this can be attributed to small population centers (30 million) people spread over the the worlds second largest nation.

These are the three macro level statistics that are used by the OECD and academics to measure system performance.

Canadians spend 50 cents (per capita) for every dollar americans spend on health care and we have a universal single payer system (we insure everyone) imagine what it would cost in the US to insure the 47 MILLION Americans without coverage...

The Canadian system will PAY to send patients to the USA for treatment if the wait list is too long for some procedures. So some of those patients are there on the Canadian governments dime.

The fact that some Canadians with money prefer to "jump the line" and
seek treatment in the USA is an indictment on their character not the system.

And thar ya bee, Arrrrrrrgh!

Thanks for buying the first episode of our arc and for committing to buy

future episodes we appreciate that you are giving our new project a
chance. Thank you for taking the time to write a review of our book - we
love to have feedback from our readers!

Greg Oppedisano

Hey Greg it's a little off topic but just wanted to say that The Jackal's Redemption was very cool. Hope to see more from you.

As for my cabbage e ness...I'm still on the fence.

Thanks - I hope to see more of me too! My wife not so much - so it is off to the Gym for this sedentary cabbage!

I'm a cabbage, second sprouting, but don't worry i am on full spectrum anti biotics and the docs says its gonna clear up soon...

Greetings from the worlds most sedentary writers guild.

and Hitch - it would have been nice to know about the gas attack before agreeing to share accomodations at GENCON...

http://paizo.com/people/GregoryOppedisano

I've toyed with the idea of creating a NPC generator, but the sheer amount of options available is just headache-inducing. I went for option 3 and made a website to upload stat blocks to.

I love you...

Gregory Oppedisano wrote:

...Both responded like i had asked them to come to an amway meeting....

...If you can't find one new person to show the game to you are not trying...

Amway, multilevel marketing, evil cults, politics... Did D&D become some sort of devil worshipping "take over the world" cult when I wasn't looking? What's with the push to recruit?

^_-

Nothing - i wondered if peoples experience introducing newbies to the game was the same as mine. I also hear a lot of people say their present group is small or losing players or lack of people to play with (here and on other boards) and think teaching D&D is fun and wanted to encourage people to try and teach someone new.

I hate people that don't teach others to play the game - see my "when was the last time you taught someone the game" thread - ITS A CHALLENGE.

Also i hate people that play paladins but make no effort to be noble, do the right thing... talk. The f*(&^ing paladin in my group told the new guys charisma was FOR SMITING!!!! The paladin is gonna die!

I also hate people who tell other players what they should do. Or stop them from doing it - i always encourage the character to do what they origionally intended and will change the entire module if i have to so that the person who tried to get them to do something different is wrong and the origional idea is the best solution to the problem.

D&D is a game of action - don't like something take ACTION. I hate it when player complain about the direction of the campaign - you do't like the direction - GO ANOTHER WAY YOU F!#@Ktard...

I hate DMs who can't handle ACTION. When i play a Chaotic character - they are CHAOTIC - unpredictable, when they are bored they TAKE ACTION - the DM can kill me or roll with it i don't care - JUST DON'T WHINE CAUSE I DID SOMETHING CHAOTIC i am playing a f!@king CHAOTIC character.

I hate TPK's cause the party is to stupid to know when they are in over their heads - but i TPK them anyway - hell they gotta learn sometime.

I have taught dozens of people the game. I have moved alot. I am challanging every one here to teach one new person the game and write about it here.

The last two saturdays i taught two newbies how to play D&D. One was a 31 year old computer tech, married no kids, the other a 29 year old elementary teacher married no kids. Both responded like i had asked them to come to an amway meeting.

Trent (the teacher) asked about 25 questions before coming, made sure i knew he had to leave early (by 8 or 9 pm), stayed till 1:30 am, left, woke his wife up and told her all about his character and the minutia of the evenings game while she tried to remmember why she let him go.

Evan (the tech) made fun of one of my other players for 5 years because he spent his weekends "slaying the dragon", came for an hour, stayed for 6, bought the phb the next day, was heard defending D&D to a hot chic over lunch and blew off his wifes birthday the next week to attend...

If you can't find one new person to show the game to you are not trying. Millions of people languish in terrible MMORPG games waiting patiently for someone to show them a real game - D&D. Anyone you know that plays computer RPG's or MMOPRGS will LOVE D&D - gets some balls and invite them.

Showing the game is fun - it invigorates your old game, everyone likes to meet new people. Tell your successes and failure (failures are more fun to read anyway) here:

We have a doom sayer in my group too... out note taker started tracking the number of times he predicted TPK in a session and started adding it to the end of the next weeks summary reports!

Then we started tracking the hit miss ratio of the party monk and lets just say that nobody in our group will ever play a monk again!

Coup de Grace is evil, eating sentient beings is evil.

The problem with all of the arguments above is that they apply "imaginary constructed relativism" (i made this term up).

The extention of the reasons that these acts aren't evil creates the "logical" conclusion that any act that can be explained by cutural or racial predisposition is NOT evil. Also if all actions are relative there is no reason to define evil in the game.

In the real world "evil" is a moral constant - at least for those people who belive in evil... Cutting the head off of a helpless bank robber is evil, eating him in front of the bank patrons is evil and insane...

You may make the argument that CDGing a vile enemy promotes the greater good - this may be acceptable in extreme circumstances (mass murder, serial killer, sociopath etc) certainly killing off fallen warriors and eating them is not this circumstance...

Killing a sentient creature for the purpose if eating them is always evil.

The lizard men comitted evil acts - does this make them evil? Certainly it wouold shift their alignment temporarily (or permanently) - Should the paladin avenge the deaths of the fallen and partially eaten - he most certainly should!

whenever i teach the game to kids at my school i ask another teacher who knows how to play to come and help the kids manage their sheets, this is the most overwhelming part of the game for 12-14 yearolds and having an adult who does nothing but help them find stuff on their sheets and point out what dice to roll is very helpful - also don't force decision making on new characters - give them a range of choices and let them pick one until they get the hang of it (choose your own adventure like)

Miniatures are a must, premade iconic characters are good also(first timers do not care to make characters and cannot really make "choices" when creating a character anyway), first level, have drinks and snacks ready, play at table, music (lotr soundtrack is good)...

Start with combat - combat is fun and exciting - roleplaying requires more comfort level than rollplaying - don't kill anyone - fudge the numbers like a madman if you must. Complicated "frustration" traps etc. should be avoided. Descriptive DM language to describe the characters actions in cinematic flare will have the players doing the same and giggling at each other real quick.

My son is 3 years old and he already loves to play D&D with daddy and his friends. By play D&D i mean he lines up all my miniatures and harassess them with a beholder, rolls dice and brings injured "guys" over for boo boo kisses, and expalinations like "what's this guy got" and "what's this guy called".

my initial impression of eberron was negative. but i bought it anyway after reading several of the adventures in dungeon and we are presently playing in eberron. we play in several settings over the course of the year. this last two years we played in realms, greyhawk, kalamar and midnight and now in eberron.

what is good about eberron:
1) complex relationships between factions as motivation for adventuring
2) small dungeons - we are tired of long dungeon crawls at this point in our 3rd edition "back to the dungeon" experience.
3) site based, movie scene "like" encounters - the plot moves quickly
4) travel is quick and easy

also i was converting eberron modules on the fly to use in my midnight campaign and they were quick and easy to do.

I would like to apologise to GVD for my sarcasm, i should not write after midnight...

Eric stated "Sure, Dungeon readers (and D&D fans in general) can be prickly fussbuckets at times, but I happen to think that's part of gaming "culture" in general, and is a pretty accurate representation of the way most hard-core D&D fans tend to approach life, if not simply the rules or the setting or the magazines for their favorite game."

Of course you disagree with me Erik. This is my point exacty. It is sad. D&D is a social game. Unfortunately the game is over run with people who lack social skills. Critical thinking is not the same as being critical. Leadership is required to realize what is a major impediment to the growth of your organization and adressing it. Supporting a negative culture because it exists is not leadership. (Neither is preaching, which is what i am doing right now, but this is a limited form of communication - sorry...). You are in a precious position to have influence over the tone, direction, and culture of D&D. And i would say that there have been vast improvmets in how the marketing/promotion of the game is changing. In the ads for CONs you never see two angry geeks fighting over what sucks about the CON... Dungeon and Dragon are still two main instruments of communication in our hobby. The message that is consistantly reinforced in prison mail is that there is something wrong with Dungeon. The boards are less of an issue because they have a reduce readership.

Presently our group is a very positive group. We all have families, play every saturday and celebrate many of lifes important moments together. I am not saying your D&D has to be this way, nor am i saying that complaining is always negative and never to be done.

Over the last 25 years every D&D group i left was filled with negative/critical people - constantly arguing about who was smarter or worse why you or something you liked was stupid. This of course spilled over into political, relegious and current events opinions as well. Every person who i have introduced to D&D over the last 25 years who liked the game didn't like the negative/argumentative mentality of some of the people who played it quit for social reasons. Also hygene was an issue...

It is difficult to expalin in this limited forum what i am saying but i would ask you to listen to your stomach the next time you are reading/hearing negative criticism/opinion for criticisms/opinions sake - there is a tightness there, and uncomfortable feeling, a weakness.

As a school administrator and coach I know one of the major limiting factors in athlete performance and staff functioning is the impact of voiced negative thought. I have coached equally physically talented teams with dramatically different mental/social skill - to dramatically different results. In the face on an overly biased negative and anti social team i spend an increased amount of time on positive team building social skills developing drills and activities in practice. Don't even get me started on the negative burnt out teacher - but you could be assured i would do everything in my power to limit that teachers ability to negatively influence other staff, especially new enthusiasticc staff!

My last point - the next time you are about to embark on one of lifes many challenges and adventures - start by writing a list of the three things that are marginal about you, the five reasons you can't do it and the seven reasons that doing it is not worth it. Prepare for success (ok, that was a bit sarcastic...)

Thanks for listening.

I think my first character died in 1984 (red box basic set) and i have no idea how. I usually DM our group and the only time i get to play is after a TPK - i usually pick the person most angry at my insensitive "the dice did it" answer to why they are all dead be the new DM. I then spend a week creeating the perfect unique character, back story, hand drawn art to go with the character sheet, a freshly painted miniature featuring the armour and weapon on the equipment list... This character never out lives the first session - certainly does not make it to 2nd level and i end up in the chair of shame making a generic fighter to last the rest of the night. I find letting the new DM take out their frustration from dying the week before on 15 hours of my hard work a good way to stay friends.

I just TPK'd the party on saturday and am resolved to bring two characters to the next session - the first is a commoner with max cooking skill called Hotpie. Once he is dead i'm gonna take out the artwork and the freshly painted miniature. The new Dm is so mad no sarifice i make is gonna make him feel any better. Sorry hotpie...

GVDammerung wrote:

Your "simple solution," Gregory, is too simple and that is not just me saying that.

Similarly, you err when you opine that "4 bucks you spent on Dungeon entitles you to have all your D&D problems anticipated and solved!" No one has said that except you. It is your characterization and it belied by the actual posts here.

Fascinating.

Yeah, and you can call a troll a troll, the guys not even worth responding to.

Funny Craig, i feel responded to... and i see myself as a beautiful unicorn. plus i can agrue with out resorting to the two most commonly used, flawed argument strategies: You don't understand... and i'm not talking to you! Also i am telling the teacher you called me a troll - yup my hand is up right now and i'm gonna tell him even if you apologise.

GVD - come on what i wrote was pretty funny - go read it again but this time consider having a few drinks first to lighten up! "secret map - you no look" even a gully dwarf would laugh at that and "rollerderby mecha manga" - those three words completely sum up the entire mini game experience... even if you loved the mini game experience! (p.s. please don't drink - or write me about drinking because that was sarcasm... just lighten up - D&D should be fun)

Hey i know complaigning about dungeon is a full time job and very serious business, so I'll try and stay out of your way...

Ok probably not and here is why.
Have you ever played on a losing team or worked with a bunch of losers? Losers always complain, and pine for the way things were before or the way they could be in the future. They nit pick every decision and result, and wish for this or that. They can never just enjoy something - there must be a problem and they are going to use every ounce of their vocabulary to flesh it out. They go on and on about what they would do if they were in charge... Funny thing is they never step up to the plate but boy can they tell you what the batter is doing wrong! Maybe if they practiced batting instead...

Or how about walked into your local gaming store to listen to the loud mouth know it all bellowing about what is wrong with everything - they always use big words where small ones would do and glare about daring someone to challenge their negativity. These guys are the bane of our hobby and they drive new gamers away.

I have been reading Dungeon for years and by far the most common theme in letters to the magazine is what is wrong with it. Followed closely by an editorial explaination/apology/promise to do better next time. I find it demoralizing to read constantly about what people dislike about something. This is purely a Dungeon magazine thing by the way - i dare you to find me another example of a magazine that constantly published negative comments in its letters. Month after month of: i like this page and i don't like this page and more of this and less of that and on and on and on...

Yes, its brave to do it, yes "we appreciate your feedback and it helps us make a better magazine..." yes the platitudes are all there...

If i was introducing a new person to D&D the last thing i would let them do is read the readers opinions from dungeon - they are too frequently negative, whining, and self absorbingly self serving. Plus the negative gamer is one of the main impediments to growing our hobby - people are turned off by constant unproductive unending complaining - it makes them feel like helpless losers too. I am not kidding if you are a generally positive person i challange you to be negatively critical about everything for a week and see what it is like to have no social skills.

If i was coaching the dungeon staff i would insulate them from all of this negative crap - there are legitimate ways to seek feedback and reading and attempting to respond to every negative thing that is said about your organization is not one of them.

Plus the most convincing losers are the ones who dress their whining up in big words and actually believe what they are saying - "Marginal purchase", "err when you opine", "characterization and it belied" etc. Trying to sound smart does not make your opinion more valid. Give me a break! (i accept the fact that you are probably a very smart person GVD - so don't be offended that i am offended by your over the top writing style - or more likely go ahead and be offended...)

I take strong exception to the term marginal purchase- and attempted to adress it light heartedly.

I take stronger exception the the negative gamer stereo type that is all to prevalent in our hobby and am tired of the amount of press they get in Dungeon (and everywhere else for that matter).

Rant will end in 3...2...1

craig wrote "I think some people misunderstand the point of a Map of Mystery:"

yes if someone disagrees with you or provides simple solutions to simple problems clearly they are too stoooopid to under stand what you are saying. I am sorry i do not understand your nuanced positions on maps of mystery.

Here is my marginal understanding of maps of mystery:
1) they are maps
2) they are mysterious
3) they have the title "map of mystery" on them
4) they have another title on them like "old dwarven mine" or "temple of frogs" or "secret map - you no look"
5) people like them really lots
6) dungeon readers like to complain
7) Dungeon is full of maps, so is paizo's web site, so is wizards website, for that matter type the word "map" in your favorite browser and you can go on your own map of mystery tour...
8) ...as soon as you are done come here and complain about how the 4 bucks you spent on Dungeon entitles you to have all your D&D problems anticipated and solved!

Hey and don't forget GVD also loved the mini games - those were great weren't they?
Did anyone ever play one of the mini games?
and if you did for how long?
and while you were playing "Rollerderby Mecha Manga" were there any other people playing with you or were you alone in Weezers garage playing with a d12 and talking to Ace Freely?

Mini games - worst...idea...ever... (say it with me slowly)

The magazine is full of maps of mystery - just take the maps and ignore the entries for them - or better yet print out the online maps (awesome addition btw)and write the phrase "map of mystery" on the top of it in bold black ink and magico prestico you have your map of mystery... and now it even says map of mystery on it so you can stop using your imagination completely.
As for critical threats - the magazine is full of critical threats - they appear in stat boxes in the encounter description for each area location on the map. (as an aside they are also frequently 1/3 dragon 1/3 demon 1/3 drow/troll assasin/black guards/sorcerors with undead traits - but this is another thread altogether) Near as i can tell the complaints about this have centered around:
1) "I like it when it has the title critical threat on it"
2) "I like it when it has its own page so i can read it while i crap"
and 3)"I like it when it has a back story for the character"

solutions:
1) cut, paste, write "critical threat" in bold black ink put in binder next to your new "maps of mystery" and relax!
2) read the stat box while you crap
3) The back story for the major villain is almost always in the part of the module called "adventure background" and "Adventure syhopsis" - these are usually crapper lenght reading as well for the toilet obsessed...

Wow... a marginal purchase? i wait longingly each month for my dungeon magazine. I would pay double for them. I would subscribe to 24 issues a year. I liked it even when it was full of things i didn't like, use, read... I would pay paizo the measly subscription rate they charge me if they sent me an editorial and some ads each month... (ok maybe i would need a cartoon or an adventure)
I subscribe to many magazines (news, parenting, computer, gaming). I cannot think of a single magazine i own that i enjoyed/found value in every single article or issue. When i read the nit picking complaints on these boards and in the letters column i wonder at the patience the people who edit this magazine have for the hobby they must love (they ain't gettin' rich).
I have a challenge for the guys out there (and the two girls as well). Before your next complaint letter to Dungeon try and find an equally minor fault with your partners cooking, cleaning, body, hair, or a gift they gave you. I wonder if they would respond by stating that "your feed back is important to help them do a better job in the future..." - no really try it, and let us know how it goes here.

Yes, i adapt eberron material to my campaign. I am running a Midnight Campaign (Fantasy Flight Games) and i used the fallen angel adventure by Baker as the main plot/motivation for the first 12 levels of my campaign. The characters are attempting to turn the angel to flesh as a powerful ally agaist the over whelming forces of evil in the midnight campaign world. The other module i adapted was The Grey Citadel (necromancer).
I like to convert modules on the fly and adapt them to fit the decisions of the PC's. The great thing about having a hundred issues of Dungeon on your shelf is you can always find a map/adventure/idea that you can easily adapt to fit the demands of your campaign.

I have played D&D since 1984 (red box set for christmas...) and i like Wil save... in fact the magazine should have more features like Wil save. D&D is a game but it is also a culture... that is why i love "order of the stick", and "full frontal nerdery" etc. They are about the culture of D&D, and the types of people who play. I read Wil, then Editorial, then letters, then advertisements - especially the full pages at the back, then adventure synopsis - it helps me feel up to date and connected to the larger gaming comunity. Hey sometimes i even read the adventures if i think i will use them. The point is, when you make a great magazine like dungeon, you have to include a variety of components in order to create a rounded reading experience.
I think Wil should do an article about the dreaded disagreeable gamer. Every game has one. You know the smarter than average guy who has to prove how smart he is by talking about how stooopid everything else is. The guy who is never happy unless he is ranting about someone else's failures. The guy who tends to dominate forums...err games with their negative opinions on everything... I love those guys they make forums ...er life interesting too! Usually their complaining is just mental bubble gum and shouldn't be too closely regarded.
I love the magazine, keep up the great work and if at all possible could we have 24 issues a year? I'd ask for weekly but that would probably be pushing it...