Hitdice's page

I CARRY MY FISTS IN MY HEART!!

I really, honestly, truly don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Arnold also had a smaller rifle. Still heavy, but he's the strongest man alive. He lifted a truck!

Also, it's hilarious two of the actors became governors!

"Governators" is the correct title in their cases. :P

Time to reach page 100: 7 years

Comics this month: 2

And one of them was two pages.

What if it's something that just happens, like when you take a strip of paper, put a twist in it and glue the two ends together, and BANG, mobius strip! But with hyperspatial/interplanar travel as a means of function.

Also, not to be patronizing, but plane doesn't mean infinite flat space with First World at the bottom and sky at the top in this context, it means pristine, natural, verdant ideal of whichever planet you happen to be on. Probably a lot more noticeable on Akiton than Castrovel. Just don't ask me about the Diaspora, I got no guesses on that one.

If you guys get the chance you should see the Syfy miniseries version of Dune. Stilgar, leader of the Fremen, is gloriously not at all hot.

And yes, like Hama, I was really only ever watching the series to see Poppy Drayton wiggle around in tight leather pants. Haven't watched a single episode of season two.

John Adams never had the opportunity to watch The Orville in his life, but I'd like to return the conversation to the most recent episode.

I really liked it. My only issue was I felt that making the planet so similar to 21st century US was a bit heavy handed. "A Taste of Armageddon" from TOS was broadcast before lottery numbers were an issue with Vietnam enlistment, but no one watching was confused about its relevancy, no matter how futuristic the set design was.

I really liked that John's idiotic grind on the state was a plot point rather than just played for bro-laughs.

I really really liked how lysella assimilated the existence of an alien spaceship so quickly, and liked even more that she turned off the feed at the end of the episode, rather than mindlessly up-voting, in contrast to her inattentive down-vote at the beginning.

[i]The Orville[/] can stand shoulder to shoulder with name brand Star Trek; I thought this week was better than that TNG episode where Riker has illicit UFO sex with the nurse.

Wait, are you guys saying that Drow are the space elves and I'm a planetary elf? *Gracefully sips his elf-wine (from a glass, not a zero-g beverage pouch) as a single elf-tear slides down his elf-cheek.

As drawn by Sienkiewicz, the demon bear was much, much bigger than your average bear. Kaiju big? Okay, but I doubt Godzilla or a Jaeger is going to show up to fight it in a New Mutants movie.

TOS. And James Doohan's son plays fricken' Scotty!

The script was servicable, although some of the lines were pretty clunky, especially all the exposition in the beginning.

You know what you'll never hear anyone say in any Star Trek series, ever?

"I know, I read the mission brief." :P

Jersey Burke wrote:

(which was defined by biologicals).

And one does not argue with the motives of gods.

Then the Gods underestimate PCs :D

Eh, Androids are androids and a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

But will note Bioroids from Appleseed are actually clones because they use human genomes to be created. They are essentially human despite how they were created.

The source of Android evolution can't have biological origin? Is that a deal breaker?

Android is way better.

Cause when an Android gets mad, we can call it 'roid rage.

'Roid rage works just as well with bioroids from Appleseed, just sayin'. ;)

Cyrad wrote:

This has been discussed to death already.

Is this dead android horse we're beating named Andromeda or Oberon? And can Starfinder androids get similar horsey-taur attachments?

By the Enigma force! if you keep asking questions like that, you'll earn yourself a one way trip to Baron Karza's body banks!!

Say, have you ever read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro? Nothing to do with Micronauts at all, but very, very emotional-experience-reportage-from-within-the-body-banks. Y'know, genre-wise.

What, the thread topic was androids? Starfinder? Sorry, I got nothing.

My condolences. :(

Hitdice wrote:

Anyone who watches GoT and takes it as an endorsement of incest is getting it wrong. As wrong as taking Thorne's speech from season one, the Thenns attack on the farmstead and Arya's Frey pie as endorsement of cannibalism. It's just weird that you would think that.

You're allowed to your interpretation too. It's the neat thing about subjective opinions, none of them are truly right or wrong.

So, you're admitting that the show-runner's/author's pro-incest agenda that you were blathering about is your subjective interpretation, not something they're actually writing into the books or script?

'Cause that's what I'm saying.

Anyone who watches GoT and takes it as an endorsement of incest is getting it wrong. As wrong as taking Thorne's speech from season one, the Thenns attack on the farmstead and Arya's Frey pie as endorsement of cannibalism. It's just weird that you would think that.

The Oracle said Belkar will stop breathing permanently, not that he'd die, exactly. My pet theory is, he'll get vamped and stay the exact same character because he was evil all along.

I want to know one thing from last nights show.

** spoiler omitted **

I want to know:

Bronn was ice cold though. Made his morale check. Jamie needed to learn how to run away.

Sure, but have we ever seen Bronn be anything but ice cold? I mean, he looked a little emotional when all his gold spilled, but he kept on going.

archmagi1 wrote:

Wow Nym is a lot bigger than Ghost last time we saw him in s6e1.

Didn't she say "it isn't you" as the wolf turned and walked away?

I heard it as, "That isn't you," as in not in your character. Maybe Arya ended the episode with a moment of ecce lupus and decided that as glad as she is to hear that the Starks are once again in Winterfell, there's still a queen who needs to be assassinated in King's landing.

I mean, my pet theory is that Arya's going to show up in Winterfell and say, "Wait, Littlefinger's here? I'm totally murdering that guy! Relax sis, I can just wear his face around afterwards, the Knights of the Vale won't be a problem." I've been wrong before, though.

Hitdice wrote:

Fergie, I don't mean to put you on the spot, but why do you feel that Clinton couldn't credibly claim to serve the people? I don't think she was a strong candidate but when her term as senator included 9/11 and dealing with the short and long term after effects, equating her level of apathy if not outright contempt to Donald Trump's is just ridiculous. I don't mean to scold you for not liking her, or say that you're required to like her, just . . . I don't know, I guess I'm asking you for a more specific definition of serve the people.

That is a good question. I think serving the people implies that the decisions she makes are in the best interests of the vast majority of the people, as opposed to the .01%/donor class.

The Clinton's have raised BILLIONS over their long political careers, and Wall Street has made record profits. However, the middle and lower classes have been almost completely left out of economic growth for decades. The Clinton's have pushed outsourcing, deregulation, and a variety of policies (welfare reform, tough on crime stuff, three strikes, etc.) that have left the vast majority of the country behind, while rewarding the wealthy. They have also pushed some highly militant and anti-democratic foreign policies that have harmed a great many people around the world, and made the world a worse place.

I think Wal-Mart is a great symbol of the Clinton's legacy. The Clinton's are tightly wrapped up in Wal-Mart's history and rise to power. Wal-Mart made the Walton family some of the richest people on the planet, while destroying and degrading small towns and jobs. At the same time, it helped China rise to almost superpower status, in the wake of the human rights atrocities surrounding the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

Now, before anyone gets the wrong idea, the Clinton's are just two of many politicians that push similar policies. Reagan, HW Bush, W Bush, and Obama have pushed many of the same policies. I would say that the Republicans are...

Thanks for the reply. I always appreciate an honest answer. :)

All I will say is this: If the investigation of the Trump campaign does at long last result in impeachment proceedings, it won't be because Democrats don't like him. It'll be for other reasons.

Hitdice wrote:

What in God's name are you talking about? How is a Presidential Pardon remotely connected to the investigation of the Trump campaign?

The presidential pardon is a major power of the executive branch and can be used to end an investigation, stop a trial, or release a prisoner. Ordering an investigation to be stopped is a lesser power of the executive branch.

You're incorrect. Your misunderstanding of the function of the President's power to grant pardons for federal crimes is so great that I can only assume you're trolling the thread.

What in God's name are you talking about? How is a Presidential Pardon remotely connected to the investigation of the Trump campaign?

Guys, you should definitely take this thing to a private channel. Doodles, you have a tendency to be passive aggressive during political discussions and plead communism when called on it. Irontruth, you seem to have a problem with getting adversarial when anyone has the temerity to disagree with you.

. . .

Me? No, I'm absolutely perfect, why can't you just be as cool as I am?

I'm on a huge OSR kick at the moment, alternating playing/GMing a Swords & Wizardry White Box/White Star mash up campaign. I guess I'm saying I go old school for my ideal fantasy system, but an ascending AC option is a must.

Honestly though, if you've got a high fantasy homebrew world that you've spent time creating and want to give everyone a great play experience of it at the table (been there, still there) I'd worry less about finding an ideal RPG system than adapting your personal table play style to favorite system of the players at your table. (Hope that made sense, feel free to ask for clarifications.)

I don't know what to say. I want to offer comfort to everyone affected by this bombing, but posting on an internet message board seems insufficient at best and patronizing at worst.

Listen, the only elected office I ever held was Vice President of the Student Body my senior year of high school, but are we sure it isn't rocket science? 'Cause governing a nation actually seems pretty complex to me.

Knight who says Meh wrote:

Trump Told Russians That Firing ‘Nut Job’ Comey Eased Pressure From Investigation

That's another brick weighing down the 'intent' side of the scales.

At this point, pretty much the only thing team Trump hasn't (that we know of) provided prosecutors is evidence of secret collusion... though a case could be made for OPEN collusion.

I have no legal training whatsoever, and I'm well aware that things that look simple to the layman are often actually very complex. I'm not naive enough to think that I'm smarter than the entire US justice system. That said, every time I've heard various media outlets mention proving collusion, I've thought of the footage you linked and wondered what's left to prove.

Fox's new series, "Orville", looks more interesting to me than this. And I'm not a Seth McFarlane fan.

The other day I happened to tune into Galaxyquest right as it started, and I ended up watching the whole movie while I was supposed to be mowing the lawn or whatever. Galaxyquest is a strange, strange movie: it's a parody and a pastiche, which somehow manages to respect the fans while portraying fans as hyper-emotional squid aliens or high school nerds who take a cancelled TV show way too seriously. It's also maybe the most emotionally genuine "Star Trek" movie I've even seen in my entire life. Orville seems like it's going to capture the same spirit. Parody but not exploitation, I guess?

I love Star Trek Continues. There are only 3 episodes left before they shut it down, and that makes me sad. They've done such an excellent job of recreating the original show, even getting writers and actors from TOS to make appearances, as well as cameos by other modern actors who wanted to be a part of it.

This is the first I'd heard that they're shutting it down; now I'm upset, and a vulcan lecture about logic won't calm my nerves, Mr. Spock!

@ Charles Scholz: It's not that everything must be as close to the original series as possible. Its just that I know what the Starfleet uniforms from that period look like, and the costume design team working on Star Trek Discovery either doesn't know or doesn't care. That's not necessarily a deal breaker for me, but it's no deal maker either.

Wasted a free NYT article on this, so I might as well link it:

Ghosts, Warring Gods and the Apocalypse: The Best of New Science Fiction and Fantasy

"Unimaginatively named 'MegaCorps'?"

Given the long history of MegaCorps as a concept in science fiction, isn't that a lot like complaining about an author calling robots "Robots" at this point?

Like Davia D, I'm working on Convergence. Mospheira isn't really economically developed enough to sport any MegaCorps, but there are robots in the series, and Cherryh just calls them robots. I don't know, the other morning I was making myself an omelet and, after slicing a mushroom into 6 pieces, I cut one of the slices in half because 7 is kaibu and 6 is a very tricky number. Look, whatever, it's not like I'm over on the Shejidan forum posting about Atevi pizza. Those people are nerds; I just like to keep my numbers in good order.

I apologize for not making an exhaustive list of Obama's worst actions.

That said, I'm never going to bother making that list, because someone will always complain that something was left off, or claim that a good thing was actually a bad thing, so it would really just be a list of all the things he's done. If you want to be annoyed in the future, I will bookmark this post and link it for you.

Definitionally, you can't make a list of his worst actions. Worst is a superlative, so he can only have committed one worst action. I think it was the time he confused the Jedi mind trick with the Vulcan mind meld, but then I've always been a stickler about the Star Wars/Star Trek division.

Have you guys even seen the Star Trek Discovery trailer? I took one look at those two cloaked figures walking across the desert landscape and was all, "OMG, I think I saw this trailer back when it was for The Force Awakens; ONLY IN DONALD F**KING TRUMP'S AMERICA!!!11!'

Different or alternative... Does it matter? If we only engage in conversation with those who are of the same political mindset as us it is effectively self-imposed intellectual segregation.

If you only know your side of an argument you don't even know that.

We value diversity in everything but thought. I welcome you to my world anytime. Please wipe off your shoes before entry (i.e be respectful).

As a guest in your world, can ask what Trump has done to make you believe that he is in any way going to lessen the debts passed on to our children? That's a laudable goal, but I can't think of one thing he's done to bring it about.

For that matter, are we talking natural life spans or after for accounting in common anti-aging drugs available in the far future? Elf derived gene therapy can add centuries these days you know...

And everyone wonders why we're so insular; go derive gene therapy from your own genes!

I feel like we need a more specific definition of "drain the swamp" at this point. The way Trump praised Comey, I never conceived of Comey as a swamp-dweller. I mean, I was pretty sure Trump would fire Comey eventually, I just thought using Clinton's name as an excuse would,like, feel too obvious; oh well, live and learn . . .

Dominar Rygel XVI wrote:

thecursor wrote:

Mine all mine...don't touch wrote:

My problem is with the fact that presumably space combat would take place in three dimensions. There appears to be no consideration for attacking from above or below. Space combat in two dimensions feels like it loses something important.

They apparently do have rules for that.

Also..."If you're wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts, just repeat to yourself it's just a show, I should really just relax."

As a counterpoint: "He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."

Which is rubbish. Moving "up and down" is still two dimensional relative to only one other vessal.

Wouldn't two dimensional thinking be be as simple as not understanding that a two dimensional plane can shift its position in three dimensional space?

bookrat wrote:

Teaching them THAC0 was a challenge all on its own. There was a lot of "Dear God why would someone design it like this?!" :)

I know, right... You roll like a 12 on a d20 and then subtract that from a THAC0 of say 15, it makes it really hard to comprehend that when you take 15 and subtract 12 it means a character hits AC 3 (and above).

Man grade-school math is hard! :-P

To be fair, there were negative ACs, and I wasn't taught about negative numbers until junior high. Actually, I understood negative numbers very easily because of all the D&D I'd played. Waste of time, Dad? Waste of time?!

Off the top of my head:

Warhammer 40,000 (literally so)
Marvel Universe / Guardians of the Galaxy
Wa... Starcraft
Star Wars
Star Trek (yes really. There isn't a drop of hard science to be found)
Farscape ('Delvian Pa'u of the ninth level' for instance is a perfect mystic)
Mass Effect

Some might choke on the casters, but theme them just a little and restrict spell choices to the universe and it isn't a problem. The magic weapon attachments certainly aren't. Just <technobabble the magictech> and its fine.

There was the time that the fans pointed out that the force of inertia would liquify the crew of a starship moving as fast as the Enterprise and Gene Roddenberry was like, "Good point, the starships all have inertial dampeners." I'm not saying we'll ever invent inertial dampeners, but I think admitting inertia exists qualifies as a drop. ;P

Shisumo wrote:

I was just running over here to make a post myself. Love them! Can't wait for the intro blogs to start!

Please note that the lashunta technomancer is sporting a complete set of clothes.

EDIT: I wish we could see Keskodai better...

Is she though? Is the green on her legs skin or leggings?

I'm pretty sure those are tights under the booty shorts, but so long as an exposed belly button is included in a complete set of clothes, I'll die a happy nerd.

Speaking seriously, I think Navasi's outfit is more sci-fi functional than Raia's. It looks like Navasi's wearing an unsealed vacc suit, which can be sealed and helmeted at a moment's notice in case of hull breach. That screams sic-fi realism at me.

I was responding to the specific allegation that Kirth is "someone who thinks things will get better if everyone just stopped voting." He's not, and I know that because of all the stupid posts we've both made on these very boards.

Of course, when I get called out like this to explain myself, I feel like we're going down a rabbit hole where the value of honesty is wasted against the value of accusation.

Baron, after your following link, I just spent the better part of an hour doing google searches trying to affirm my hazy, prepubescent memories of Don-Wan Kihotay. May the Force be with you.

Fardragon wrote:

The Guardians of the Galaxy comics, especially the Dan Abnett run...

SAGA by Brian K. Vaughan is another stellar (hue hue hue) Space Fantasy comic series. (note that it's very adult-oriented in some of its themes and artwork)

I couldn't stand that series. I certainly didn't spend an entire weekend reading the first three collections after I happened to stumble across them, and I haven't been experiencing withdrawal symptoms during the hiatus between issues 42 and 43.

LYING.

Hi

Over here we have a different system - free at point of need.

Our system isn't perfect - rising healthcare costs and an ever ageing population costs. But it doesn't bankrupt you if you have a major accident or disease.

Over here we check for a pulse first, not if the patient has a credit card.

Our perception here is that your president wants to limit healthcare to the richest of society, leaving the poor out of it.

Thanks
Paul H

Speaking as a US citizen, my perception here is that our president wants to limit everything to the richest of society, leaving the poor out of it. I'm not joking when I say that.

Can I ask where you're posting from, Paul?

Now wait for the republicans to wait for the democrats to celebrate, get drunk, then run back home and pass it.

Already working on step two here.

Knight who says Meh wrote:

Yeah but how is any of that helping Kirth?

That's exactly where the modern Democratic Party keeps falling down.

Dems: "We're helping the working class!"
Local People: "How, exactly? None of us are seeing it."
Dems: "Well, you're all bad people anyway, so we don't need to talk to you except by making snide remarks."

Trump: "I'll Make America Great Again (TM)!"
Local Pepple: "How, exactly? You people never do."
Trump: "No earthly idea! I've never been able to fix anything, and run all my companies into the ground! But I'm listening to you, and I understand your concerns."

I can't decide whether to favorite this or cry; guess I'll do both.

Guy Humual wrote:

Vo Giap, Ambassador of Bachuan wrote:

What I saw on the news today suggested that the next likely president of South Korea will be Moon Jae-in, the chief of staff under the previous president at the end of the Sunshine Policy years.

That being said, I'm only posting because the removal of the South Korean president reminds me that it's been a while since I made a witch post.

Choi Soon-sil - Shaman or con artist?

It's kind of a right wing thing in the US to claim to be guided by supernatural powers, most of the candidates in these past primaries claimed god told them to run for president, which can only be embarrassing for god as that many people being wrong about their wishes can only lead some to doubt there's actually any supreme being and, in fact, that it's opportunistic sociopaths exploiting people's beliefs for personal gain. I'll try to avoid saying which side of the debate I fall under.

Or astrologers. Don't forget the astrologers.

But to pretend to take it more seriously for a moment, just because God wants you to run doesn't mean he wants you to win.

To quote Stephen King: “When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, "Why god? Why me?" and the thundering voice of God answered, There's just something about you that pisses me off.”

All that talk earlier about the importance of identity politics and no one did anything for International Women's Day except me and the other red?!?

F!++in' Democrats...

Maybe. Or maybe you're the only ones who're so insecure about your political affiliation that you're pathologically unable to go without mentioning how active you are. :P

You have to start at 20C = 68F. Every 5C up or down is 9F.

You can't just start at -40? :P