I posted that Maggie had stepped toward the array so I've moved her icon the the appropriate spot. Yes, the foldy paper thing is Maggie's Paper Beast, the quadrupedal paper familiar/golem.
"No sign of working for the Stag or anyone else, best as I can tell. Lone wolf with a bad eye for a mark, or maybe someone who got on a bandit lord's bad side who went out on her own to see if she could survive... or go out on her own terms ..." Dare trails off. Inferring over much perhaps? Who's story is she telling, here? Her yellow eyes flicker up toward the rest of the party. "Better off to try to find other people, I think. Even if it's hard to trust sometimes." Is there a trace of warmth in her eyes? Of gratitude? She turns back to the corpse and reaches out to be sure the girl's eyes are shut properly. Yes, she did just call the same girl "spineless filth" about 10 minutes ago. "I don't like bein' shot at, but still... a lonely way to die. Let's see her off properly." She stands up and nods at Adela, getting out of the priestess's way. Dare helps pile the girl's belonging's into the party's mutual stash and is ready to move on.
I am still sorting through some ... stuff. One disaster happened and then several more smaller but still concerning ones. I will be okay but I just do not have the wherewithal to post yet. Keep moving without me and I'll post IC as soon as I can. Seska will go along with the gobbo joining the party if the others agree with it.
Thanks for the kind notes, folks. I am still sorting through some ... stuff. One disaster happened and then several more smaller but still concerning ones. I will be okay but I just do not have the wherewithal to post yet. Keep moving without me and I'll post IC as soon as I can.
Forgive me if the RP is over much, Dare's just sulking (and thinks Bokken didn't warn them so they'd buy more healing potions). She'll get over it. In the meantime, some personal shit has hit the fan and I will be taking a break for a couple days. Please bot me if needed.
I was a big fan of her when I was a kid. In addition to WKRP, I remember she was in a very short lived show called "Partners in Crime" with Lynda Carter. It only lasted a season and I suspect it was probably not the height of good tv writing, but it was a dream team up to me. May she rest in peace.
When I was a kid, we used to visit friends of the family another state away periodically. My parents' friends had a son about 10 years older than me who was very into geeky stuff and is basically the brother I never had. I'd think most teenage boys would be extremely protective of their nerdy collections, but when we went to visit he was happy to let me sit in his room and read from his giant pile of comics, which I gleefully did. There I read, in particular, book after book of the Fantastic Four. It's weird because I never collected the book on my own (I did get Fraction's Future Foundation for awhile many years ago), because I loved it. Particularly the family dynamics and the distinctive personalities each character had, as well as just the sort of retrofuture feel. I lost hours in this world of the Fantastic Four. Seeing the movie today brought me back to being a little kid, reading those comics all over again. Something in the casting, the worldbuild, the performances... in a way that I never felt with the other F4 movies (which were fine). These folks felt to me like Reed, Sue, Jonny, and Ben lifted straight from the page. Obviously because these comics have been around a really long time, and we all have different takes on the comics, and my memory of what I read as a six/seven year old probably does not reflect some of y'all's memories, YMMV. But to me the key strength of the film was just creating this particular world and the family dynamic super well. Special points for how they did Reed, who sometimes is fine but sometimes I can't stand. I liked this version of Reed but he still felt true to the character and he definitely played a "genius leader and strategist" role despite earlier general fandom pearl clutching. I do think the pacing was off and at one point--NOT the fault of the film but because of some furniture moving/taking apart/rebuilding I was doing earlier in the day--I fell asleep so there was a part I missed. So I can't nitpick the plot too much because I probably missed certain details. But the second half is especially good and the characterization is good throughout. Galactus was realized really well and the Silver Surfer was really cool. I don't know why but I was especially fascinated by her silver plated hair. Not that that has anything to do with the plot (I liked the character as well), just stuck in my head. ETA: The powers are also visualized and used really well. I thought there'd be more buildup for the next films, and there wasn't that much, and that's a good thing. The story just really focused on the family dealing with Galactus. There's just enough to see where things might go, with requisite shiny cameo. Fun after credits thing that is non-plot relevant.
Agree with you on a lot of points, Aberzombie. Cast overall was great. Thing like the Fortress were well manifested. I didn't think of it this way, but yea, there were some cool silver age touches. I remember thinking on several points in the film I felt like I was reading the old JLA comics I used to read when I was a kid (which was technically past the silver age, but still much more old school). I also agree there were too many people in the film. Couple comments/mild disagreements: Spoiler: Re: Lara and Jor-El's message: you bring up an interesting point with Zod. If you take at face value that Lara/Jor-El want to use Superman to create a new race of Kryptonians, then how much worse is Zod? And also, again, I don't know if one ought to fully take the message at face value. The value in it is the narrative effect it has on Superman, and I like the use of it as a plot device to make Superman very clearly decide to be a hero because that is who he is, not what his parents want him to be. But the messenger is Lex, not to be trusted. And yeah, there could be other reasons as mentioned upthread as to why the message may have been tampered with (after all, why WAS there a corruption after that point?). Brainiac, Zod, etc. One way or the other, I'm certain the plot point will be explored further, in both Supergirl and in future movies. And note that he has clearly met Supergirl, who usually origin-wise was meant to guide Superman in the ways of the Kryptonians and just showed up too late to help raise him. Her issues aside, she never got in the way of his heroing nor asked him to start a secret harem, so that suggests the motivation of the El family may not be what it was presented to be. Re the Supergirl cameo itself: I was horrified too... at first. But I also thought about it a bit and realized that if they are going to do a take on Supergirl at all, it needs to be as different as possible from the version of Supergirl from the CW series several years back. That TV show was hella flawed, but Melissa Benoist nailed that role as a kind and mature Kara. If the Gunnverse's Supergirl is anything like that, she'd just look like a sad imitation of Benoist. So I like that she's a very different personality because it disinvites comparisons. I also have since seen interviews with the actress that suggest there's a lot more going on with Supergirl than it appeared--she's apparently suffered from a good deal of trauma. The flaw in the film--and I want to make clear, I agree that scene was problematic--was not reflecting that trauma and making her appearance entirely a joke. I think there was a mistake in presenting Superman as simply being irritated with her, when instead maybe he should have been worried about her. Emotions: I fully disagree that Superman and Lex were too emotional (though I am not shocked that we disagree on this). They were human--and notably, Superman is young and only three years into superheroing--in the sense of relatability. Lex is often portrayed as a very unstable genius and worked for this story. Moreover I think the sooner we stop portraying male heroes (or villains) as stoics who never show emotion, the better. It supports a much healthier social norm; men should feel free to have feelings and express them. It's better for their mental health and for their relationships with other people. Making a major superhero who many men of all ages look up to into someone who works through anger, grief, frustration, and love openly and honestly is not just delightfully refreshing, it is also direly necessary in today's world. Tessmacher: Eh, I loved her. But I agree she may not be for everyone. But I liked that she was actually secretly spying on Lex the whole time; I'm a big fan of the "Seems dumb but did a brilliant thing" trope. Also, Lois blatantly DID do the old fashioned journalism to nail Lex--remember the news team workshopping the article in Mr. Terrific's craft? She used the info Jimmy provided--and shared her byline with him because of it--but the reason he was ruined was because of her own research and writing as well. The pictures alone in this day and age where you can claim deepfakes wouldn't have done it. He was brought down because of her article, and it wouldn't have worked without her being the one to write it. Hawkgirl murdering someone: Clearly part of the plot arc they are setting up for the DCEU--unchecked superhero power and what to do about it. I think they were very intentional with that being a questionable act. "Truth Justice and the American Way": I believe DC has officially changed this to "Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow." I expect our younger Superman is still workshopping his catchphrase.
BD, good luck on the work situation! I'm noticing some errors/oversights I made in statting out Maggie's "familiars." If it's okay with you to make some adjustments, I'll work on fixing them this week.
Just saw this today. I went in expecting something... decent enough, but nothing that was likely to ignite me into excitement for the new DC Cinematic Universe. I loved it. It's the best movie I've seen with Superman in it since the Donner films starring Christopher Reeve. It is not perfection--but again, I wasn't expecting that, and my issues are more with some general balance of the narrative (there's a point where I feel like we lose track of Superman and the protagonists are actually two other characters... although it gets back on track) and some little characterization things (the balance of the relationship between Jimmy and his source of info was troubling on both sides, and while it's okay to have a troubling relationship, I feel like it required some better resolution or payoff than it got). But overall, there was so much I enjoyed: the overall plot was interesting; it was multifaceted but not so overwrought/complex that it was hard to track what was happening. The most important part to me they got right, and I'll use James Gunn's words: the movie emphasizes not just the "super" but the "man." There is a humanity to Clark/Kal that is really well done. He has his foibles--there were even moments where I was like, Dude, you can do better--but he is a believably decent person. He is the ultimate boy scout. And I also like how they set up the other superheroes to be a foil to him so you can see that he is the true *hero*, whereas the others are adventurers with superpowers. I also liked that they really knew how to write a story that presents real challenges to someone who is as powerful as Superman. Sure, there's the Kryptonite moment and the "is this bad guy really stronger than Superman?" moment (which will make perfect sense, trust me)... but it's the stuff like: yes, Superman can defeat the giant monster easily, but you can see what is challenging him is he's trying to mitigate all the collateral damage at the same time as fighting it. Or yes, Superman can survive the instant death pit, but he's got to protect the baby at the same time. The casting was 100% perfect. Superman was perfect. Lois was perfect (she is the first person to play Lois in a long time where I really believe she is Lois). Lex--oh my god, so good. Guy, Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, Ma, Pa, Jimmy Olson, Perry White, Cat Grant, even Eve f+!@ing Tessmacher... all beautifully well cast and played the roles just right. Also will someone explain to me why I was crying so hard at the talk between Pa Kent and Clark? It shouldn't have been something I directly related to but I was sobbing. They also set up the rest of the cinematic universe really well while at the same time and I'm really looking forward--for the first time in a long time--to seeing more of it.
Dare, standing near the trap door, picks up a stick with a small orb weaver crawling across it. "Take a breath, this thing can't hurt you."
Seska cries out an extraordinarily colorful curse involving certain gods and their unspeakable anatomy, as the spikes of the morning star bite past her pauldron and tear into her shoulder, opposite her shield arm. She nonetheless stays focused on the fight, saving her spells for a more opportune time, and simply steps downward (so she can either eventually get into a flanking position with Daniel, or so he can flank Green with her). Adrenaline sparing her the pain of her injury for the moment, she swings her mace in retort.
The following is to offer some perspective and perhaps a few takeaways for both fans and for Paizo, if any of the following is useful: I freelanced with Paizo 2015-2020 as an editor. I don't know what's changed in the last few years, but I do know there was some staff turnover. So, for example, I'm not sure who to reach out to anymore if I wanted to seek freelance work again, or if their recruiting process has changed. I say this because the lack of transparency of how to seek independent contracts with Paizo may affect how many people they are able to hire. On the other hand, they may not be transparent about it because they don't want a ton of unqualified people bothering them with unsolicited hiring inquiries, which can easily happen in this sort of industry. I can say that at the time I worked for them, I generally got decent notice and reasonable deadlines for the work I was hired to do. At the same time, I couldn't always take every contract because of the volume of content (the requests weren't unreasonable, just didn't fit with my own work schedule at the time). I didn't get the feeling the production schedule was unreasonable, but I was pretty far removed from the day to day production. One potential "issue" is lot of time, books were split between multiple editors so different sections could be edited simultaneously. This saves time on the production schedule, but it puts a lot on the lead in-house editor(s) to QA check the work of all the freelancers, which may vary widely in quality. For example, in addition to differing proofreading skills, different editors may provide different levels of feedback. I'm the kind of pain in the ass editor who will point out logic errors and also suggest things like "if I were GMing this, I'd want X information, which you are not providing." I occasionally pointed out if some language used might offend some readers (which, I should note, they always responded to and changed, and it was usually an issue not well known or subject to interpretation). Other editors may strictly proofread or just focus on correct formatting and statblock structure. This can lead to one section of a book having a different degree of attention paid to it than another. There's probably some additional challenges with new editions, errata, and remasterings. Game editing is challenging, because in addition to general proofreading, in house style, sustaining author voice, and ensuring consistency and coherence, you also have to pay attention to the rules of the game, very stringent statblock formatting, and gameplay coherence. In other words, you have to possess system mastery in addition to skill as an editor (which is a much harder job than one might think; yes I'm biased on that statement but I stand by it). With newer systems and revisions coming out (and I fully admit I've not been paying attention to the latest projects because my ancient gaming groups have stuck to PF1e), folks may just possess less system mastery than previously because stuff is newer. I should note, my primary area of editing expertise is editing peer review medical and public health research. This means reading text with complex vocabulary I am not a subject matter expert on, making sure articles meet stringent requirements for research papers, and assessing and anticipating how a peer reviewer might respond to text. It requires a lot of expertise and practice. I find game editing more challenging in many ways than medical peer review editing. In some ways, it is actually more technical, and there are more facets of the text to pay attention to at once. Key takeaway from this:
And, here's a problem I don't think Paizo can fix very easily: why am I a health research editor and not a game editor? Even though I think health research editing is easier, relatively speaking, than game editing? Because the former pays way better. (Well, until grants and contracts to fund research all "disappeared" recently.) Paizo is a small company and its resources to pay editors and QA/QI personnel is only so much. And this is true for nearly any game company except maybe WOTC (and I'm not sure how much Hasbro values editorial staff). This simply it is what it is. Publishing is expensive. RPGs, while more popular than ever, are still relatively speaking a niche industry. The money for staffing is limited. We (the U.S. and world overall) are in increasingly difficult times economically, so more editors may be seeking higher paying jobs elsewhere, even if they enjoy game editing (and to be clear, I had an absolute blast working on the projects I did here). This is entirely speculative, but the pool of available editors for this kind of work may be smaller than it used to be. You need to find folks who are willing to do the work more or less as a labor of love, because doing it for a living is not a realistic option for many. I'm sad to hear a lot of errors have shown up late and that sucks. Everyone I ever worked with was proud of their work and intent on making it the best it could possibly be. I know if I'd worked on a product and heard of such problems, I'd be both mortified and frustrated, because I know I probably did fix a lot of other issues no one will have ever known about. If there are issues with production scheduling and hiring, I hope Paizo can address them as soon as possible.
For the northern beans and ham, dried beans or canned? Sounds tasty. Awesome. I've been wanting to eat more grains and legumes and doing stuff like cooking a big(ish, relative to what I can eat in a few days without going crazy) pot of beans and another of rice (or whatnot) and then recycling them into different meals through the week. (So could be rice and beans alone, but could also put them in soups or chili or whatever.) I usually eat canned beans so I am never quite sure what to do with dried or what kind of dried to get. Speaking of I did make some canned black beans with onions, garlic, and adobo; rice seasoned with some sazon; and TJ's frozen chicken mole. Topped some of that with fresh chopped tomatoes. I underseasoned the rice but it balanced out with the salt in the frozen chicken. I used up the leftover beans tonight in nachos I made for dinner. What, I am too an adult and I can eat what I want for dinner.
Maggie nods calmly at Herakles. "We need to test the tech first. We need you to protect us if things go wrong." She's talking more than she usually does. As often happens, without Big Sis to take the lead. But she sees in Herakles the same impatience as her little sister, and wonders who would be offended more to be compared to the other, the 13 year old shrimp with a mean roundhouse kick or the giant demigod. So she responds as she would to Anita: a reminder of the mission. A need for patience. The fact that a giant can of whupass may indeed be necessary but won't be helpful if opened too early. Maggie nods at the others that she's ready whenever they lead the way. She can reflexively draw up a paper wall as the scan approaches. As they move, the paper can simply fly up to block them as they walk along. She advises staying at least five feet from the wall.
Well I appreciate the offer, and expect to see you both at the Zinda Blake Fan Club. ;) (In seriousness, should I start a "share your favorite b and c listers here!" thread?)
He's a great character with A LOT of potential, and that's what I think upsets fans of the character, myself included. *channels Olympia Dukakis in Moonstruck* Thank you! Thank you for answering my question!
I haven't played tabletop in person in years due to pandemic (I know it's been 5 years, but groups didn't get back together since) and adulting, and I haven't played Starfinder in ages... and I want these anyway.
Seska retaliates at Green with a most un-sister-like snarl.
I put the wand on my sheet.
So, just for funsies I decided to rev up ye old Fallout 4. Just tool around a bit, maybe finally complete all the quests on this one character, waste time building settlements. Ya know. Had a radiant quest to complete, wanted to just get that off my quest list before I did anything big. Kill the Rogue Robot. Fine. Far west. No big deal. At the level I was and with the equipment I had, no problem. As I head in the direction, Brotherhood are flying overhead. Ghoul attacks out of nowhere. Is that what they're after? Then BOOM! Legendary Junk Sentrybot (but not my target, oddly). I jump up onto a roof (using jet pack power armor) to take shots at it from a distance, but suddenly it explodes due to fire from the vertibird. Somehow Curie's okay just fine even though she was in the middle of the blast radius. Still Brotherhood are firing at something. Come around the corner: one Legendary Super Mutant Lord, coming up! While I'm killing that, I get notified that my Rogue Robot quest is complete: someone else killed it. Okay fine, but I'd like to find the body to loot. But it's dark. I'm struggling to see. (As it should be). I think we killed everything. Find a chair to sit in to wait. Nope, "you can't do that in combat." What is left to kill? So, Matriarch Deathclaw, Legendary Albino Deathclaw, two ordinary Deathclaws (EDIT: four, the fight wasn't quite over after all), a few high level stingwings for good measure, AND a Behemoth later... ALL of them in the same area, fighting with each other. And for once the vertibird didn't crash! I didn't get that hurt either because they all did enough damage to each other. Nuts. I've seen the RNG spin up some wild conflagrations but man! There is a story behind why everyone was in the ruins of Natick all at once like that and I will never know it...
I playtested Exalted 1e many moons ago. They didn't listen to most of our feedback. It was still a great game but... yeah, houserules help a lot.
Now I will forever have an image in my mind of Freehold busting through a door wearing both a Wisconsin Cheese hat and a red inquisition hat.
I think it depends on how you define "leader." If it's person who makes the final decisions or who is spokesperson, it's Reed. If the "leader" is the one that without whom they fall apart, I agree with their take that it's Sue. I may not have read as many FF comics as you, but I've read a fair few and I agree with their take. I might not have worded it exactly like that, and I suspect they're trying to generate a bit of buzz to get people talking about it. No publicity like controversy. As to what a leader is, I come from a subcultural background where servant leadership is our expected leadership model, and some of my communities don't even name a "leader" and we engage in group decision making. Even where I have worked, where people have leader-like titles and have to make some hard calls still see themselves as not the authority per se but only a final word after considerable consultation with others. Folks will hardcore rebel against someone who gives orders. Meanwhile, someone who comes from a more corporate or military culture would define leadership very differently (not that I am suggesting those are your background, per se, but I would not be shocked if you did not come from the same world of bleeding heart religious communities and nonprofits that I do :) ). Moreover, I can tell you that where I come from, I'd much rather be working for Sue than Reed, personally. All this is to say, I don't think the creators are being unfaithful to the comics more than they interpret things very differently from you and others. And at the same time, I think they're engaging in a bit of shit stirring (which they probably shouldn't do).
Freehold, you made me hungry for an egg sandwich so I just had one for lunch. (Over easy egg (yes, I like a mess), chicken sausage, TJ's Unexpected Cheddar, fresh tomato, mayo mixed with chili garlic paste on hamburger bun).
Re: cilantro: could have just been that bunch had a bit stronger flavor than most. Plus it tastes different eaten by itself versus in stuff. I had an internship many many moons ago at a place where we lived on site, and the chef put cilantro in everything. I noticed the soapyness only because of the quantity we were consuming. I don't always taste soapyness. Even though there's always talk of tasting it being genetic or not, I think it's more nuanced than that. Speaking of cilantro and things... Made sort of a lazy arroz con pollo, loosely based on this version from ATK/Cook's Country (which is sort of an ur-arroz con pollo rather than a specific version from a specific region). Bought a "grill pack" of chicken from Trader Joe's which was a reasonable price per pound (given it was organic) and used half of it, i.e., one breast and two drumsticks in the dish. Seared the chicken. Made a sofrito out of garlic, onion, cilantro, and cubanelle pepper. Sauted onion and half the sofrito and some tomato paste, then added medium grain rice to that mixture and got it all coated, and then stirred in some sazon (a spice blend of achiote, culantro, and MSG). Added chicken stock, rest of sofrito, and olives, and put chicken back into pan and simmered a half hour, then let sit 10 min to keep absorbing liquid. Was super flavorful and yummy.
"Oh! It was just being friendly! It's nice to see that down here." "The opposite. The noise we're making disturbed it, it just didn't have a good angle to strike," Jacq says quietly as she can, while still communicating effectively. "The longer we linger here, the more likely we are to be attacked. I'd say hurry up but that could just as much make noise, trying to clear the way. Just... be alert and careful, folks." Jacq stays on high alert and follows behind. When Nee suggests the floor collapsing, she shakes her head, not so much in disagreement, but frustration. "Whether we cause it or not, that'll definitely bring unwanted company. And then we also have the problem of how we get back out. I don't know... maybe we just abort?" Jacq's not much of a quitter but the chances of their own survival, let alone the people they seek, are falling fast.
Oddly, Chris Hemsworth is about the last person I care about in the MCU (no offense to him, I just really have never cared for Thor). But I doubt I am representative of the majority of fans.
Happy pride, Paizo! There's been struggles here and elsewhere--and we need to struggle to get to a better place sometime--over the years. But whether as a freelancer or a community member I've always felt safe to say I am here and queer, and I thank you very much for that.
It is probably too late to properly suggest anything, but applesauce to go with the pork?I learned quickly to always keep applesauce on hand for Dad. Often, two sides with a meal is too much for him, so a ready jar of applesauce in the fridge is his go to "plus 1" for meals. I stock up on the affordable 24 oz jars from Aldi, and he will usually finish off the entire jar by himself before it starts to turn. There's no preservatives in Aldi's applesauce brand, unlike most of the big name brands, so once it's opened you need to use it steady before it ferments (even while kept in the fridge). While we are discussing old men and applesauce, my dad keeps individual serving size applesauce cups to take his pills with. He finds it much easier to stir them into the applesauce and swallow than just take with liquid. He does use the preservativey kind though (he loves Mott's apple-mango). I keep Trader Joe's around for snacks. I wish an Aldi was closer to me. There is a new Lidl not too far away but I keep forgetting about it since it's not in my typical route of travel. I got some nice veggies from the farmer's market yesterday... asparagus, squash, radishes. Think I'll stir fry at least some of them with some tofu.That sounds tasty, though I've never developed a taste for tofu. Still, I bet your stir fry would be good over brown rice, mmmm. It turned out okay but got a little too liquidy. Still tasty though. Probably will have leftovers tonight. Would it be weird to "jacket potato" it, i.e., serve it over a baked potato? Tofu depends tremendously on preparation and seasonings. By itself, I find it inoffensive, but it is more or less paste-flavored protein. The "correct" way to prep tofu is slice it and put it between piles of plates and paper towels to press out the moisture. It will then saute pretty well and, cooked with a good sauce, will taste pretty good. I almost never remember to do this. I have found instead patting it as dry as possible and then slicing it into 1 inch by 1 inch sticks and tossing in soy sauce and seasonings and then baking at 400 for about a half an hour gives them a nice flavor and texture--they will crisp on the outside a bit but not be too rubbery on the in. (Limeylongears' seasoning combo above sounds great.) BUT: as I learned the other day, do not do this in the toaster oven. Needs to be in full on oven or not enough liquid will evaporate and it will stay mushy. The other amazing miracle way to eat tofu is buy silken tofu (the super soft, slippery kind) and then blend it together with melted chocolate (alternatively, mix together some cocoa powder, oil, and syrup or honey). It makes the most amazing chocolate pudding and you'd have no idea it's tofu.
*Baltimorean begins looking for torch and pitchfork* a just opened tin of Old Bay seasoning. Fine, you both may live. (A million winky faces and j/ks of course.)
I wish these children all the happiness in the world. I just wish it wasn't for a needless reboot that will further enrich the coffers of a terrible woman.
Dare straightens and glares down at Erik, her eyes glowing yellow "If you got a problem with me saying how magic works and asking an honest question, then you should have told me what was going on sooner."
Got this a couple weeks ago: this is Obsidian's new fantasy adventure-RPG. I really like it. The gist is you are the envoy to the local overly-lawful and colonialist Emperor, exploring a mysterious disease spreading in a colony set on a vibrant and dangerous wilderness. You're also a "godlike" (sort of like an aasimar, but directly imbued with your divine nature by a god) but don't know which god is actually your sponsor, and the source of your godlikeness is part of the mystery of the story (which I haven't, relatively speaking, gotten that far into). It's similar in style of play to the Elder Scrolls, but of course it being Obsidian is a little more story and quest-focused than "wander around and kill shit oh and also here's some quests." (Not that there is anything wrong with the latter). It is set in the same world as Pillars of Eternity I and II; it isn't a direct sequel but picks up I think about a generation or so later (and the events of those games are referenced). The system for choosing your class and leveling up your character is different from POE--it is much simpler and skill-tree based--but has consistent flavor. I just finished the first act, more or less, and there's a good balance between exploration and story and decent pacing overall. Writing is solid, with good dialogue and voice acting. The companions are... fine. Not up to what I expect from Obsidian but they're decently written enough, and I expect there may also be a bit of a slow burn there. I'm playing on SteamDeck (docked to the TV) and it is struggling with the graphics, even though I would say the graphics aren't as good as, say, Baldur's Gate III, which runs smoother. But it is a very pretty game and I would expect anyone playing on a better PC or XBox is going to enjoy the graphics of it more fully. Good soundtrack. There are of course, bugs--it's Obsidian--but the game is being well supported and a major update just dropped recently, with more to come in Summer and Fall. Highly recommended if RPGs are your thing (although if you want to wait until more patches drop, I support that).
As Astella mentions those who would be extremely distrustful, Seska flushes. She might not be who Astella meant, but she certainly, having healed many of a goblin-inflicted wound of late, has developed a prejudice. She looks at her feet. It's so easy to forget most folk do what they do because they are protecting their own. She holds the rest of the introspection for later. There were still those who were happy to fight her people and she, indeed, also felt a need to protect her own. "Freeing the brawler sounds like a good idea. All the help we can get... since it sounds like this leader's a nasty piece of work."
Hey all, I think my other games are using up enough of my time. With much regret, but I think I need to bow out of this one. Again feel free to use the character I rolled as an NPC. See y'all 'round the boards.
Agreed on both counts. Time travel can lead to such nonsense. Doctor Who used to do it right, where it was just about a way to travel to another place and see other points in history. Once you get into stuff with changing the past all kinds of continuity issues emerge and it becomes a massive headache. I'd rather cleaner jaunts into just alt universe stuff, which is where they are headed. At the same time, if they had plans to use him, recasting makes so much sense, but I also agree there was probably an issue with the contract. This said, I understand why they didn't recast T'Challa. Boseman put such a stamp on the role--he truly *was* Black Panther--and he died. I can understand leaving the role closed out of respect for Boseman. Moreover, the comics already had a precedent for others, including Shuri, taking the mantle (although I think it would have been better to give it to Nakia or the Dora Milaje leader I'm forgetting the name of at the moment). Anyway, them doing what they did with the plot of Black Panther 2 felt fine. Jonathan Majors didn't die, he just turned out to be a horrible human being. No reason to reserve the role out of respect for him, and Kang canonically is blue and purple, easy enough to make him look different.
My guess is if there's a grain of truth to the rumors, they had originally had Kang show up at the end and since they're now writing him out of the MCU for the most part, they probably altered it. (IIRC Kang is a relative of Reed Richards, hence why I think they may have originally planned for him to show up.)
I got distracted from my previous work and the edit window closed. So on we go. 65 would be Skills. Fine. Okay, I've got 4 Power allocations left at this point. Let's use one to upgrade my Magic to Magic 2 and another to upgrade to Skills 2. And let's roll for 2 Skills:
Pilot and Escapology. Interesting. But great for my magical shapeshifting security chief. As for Magic, grade 2 I get 4 spells and so many magic points:
Spell list:
Specialty Spell is Hypnosis. Awesome. I also have Astral Projection, Enhancement, and Restraint. Very useful, versatile set of abilities. There's two power slots left that I'll hold for Enhancement and wait until I better understand what those mean. So I'mma say we have someone who perhaps originally worked for military intelligence who, during a mission, came upon a magic amulet which imbued her with the power of a long-dead witch. She can transform into the witch form, which looks different from her normal human spy form. She's used her abilities to climb her way up in the government, and is now in a position of power to control a great deal. It could be even that she is the leader--or at least employer--of a government sanctioned group of superheroes. The only downside to the whole thing is again she has low Ego for actually using her magic, but perhaps this is reflective of the struggle between her and some sort of soul energy left in the witch's amulet? If I find I am unable to play, feel free to use this as a villain. She could be sort of the heinous love child of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and Agatha Harkness and wreak havoc.
Thanks for the compliments, BD. :) Let's at least see what the dice have for us:
This is the only time in my whole life I've ever rolled three sixes on 3d6. So we're very dexterous, reasonably strong, averagely tough, and slightly weak-willed.
Halved and rounded up, that is 5, then adding 4, which is... back to 9. So I get 9 rolls. I'll start by rolling 1 power and 1 advantageous background.
So I'm a shapechanger and I'm in a Position of Power. F%@! yes. I think I'm gonna roll 1 more power and 1 more background (I could use some brilliance or richness to go with my Position of Power), and use the other 5 for enhancements or upgrades.
So the other power is Magic, which isn't great because my Ego is so low. THe other background is Player's Choice! I'mma go with Government Contacts to go with my Position of Power. It's probably because I just saw Thunderbolts, and also I like spies, but I'm thinking is a head of a major intelligence agency. Looking further down, I need to determine what kind of shapechanger: odd is freeform, even is specific.
That's specific. So maybe she has two alter egos, a spellcaster and an ordinary mortal. This is less exciting than freeform, I'll admit, because I'm already playing in SuperT's game a spellcasting person who has an alternate form. Can I try for one more power? I know I said the rest for upgrades but I didn't realize you can't upgrade Shapeshifter and magic can be upgraded only 3 times. I still can also Enhance which involves getting something called DUPs but I don't really understand that yet (could I used those to boost my Ego so I am not a crappy magic user?)
Hmmm, I'm filling up with games to play, BD, but you're an awesome person, and this sounds interesting. I'm not sure yet if I can commit, but I'll at least throw my hat in for interest.
Maggie comments like a walking encyclopedia. "Themyscira was the capital of ancient Scythia on the Black Sea. Scythia was a matriarchal society, so scholars have speculated it was the source of the Ancient Greek myths about the Amazons." She pauses a moment and adds, "That's the historical Themyscira I know of. In the 1980s, comic writer and artist George Perez decided to rename the island home of the superhero Wonder Woman to that historic name. The original creator of Wonder Woman, William Moulton Marston, just called it 'Paradise Island.'"
Message received and replied to, Freehold. :) Pot roast turned out well. Dad really liked it. Braising liquid was Guinness, a little chicken broth (didn't have beef), a spoonful of maple syrup (to counterbalance the bitterness in the ale), and Worcestershire sauce. Finished it at the end with a beurre meuniere (flour and butter mixed together) and a little half and half to make it a little thicker and richer.
Just FYI I will be very busy the next couple days and may be a little slow, but I will check in when I can. I know I owe a reply to a couple folks; I will try to get them in soon but I am just too tired right now.
Finally got to see this. Loved it. Truly I think one of the best Marvel films to date (for me personally). I loved that basically friendship was the real superpower all along. I don't care how hokey that is. The best Marvel stories are about relationships and overcoming trauma together. This is what this film was. I was pleasantly surprised to see Yelena have such a big role. I mean, she should, but rarely do the characters I enjoy most take center stage. I strangely found Mel intriguing. For a side non superhero character, she actually was one of the main drivers of the plot. I like Val as a villain. Which is to say, I do not want to be her friend, but she plays the role she is supposed to play very well. I do agree Taskmaster was done dirty. I really thought the Black Widow film really intended to set her up for something more than what she got. Maybe plans changed. Bob was the character I was least interested in at the start and they did a good job at making me care about where he was going. Also loved the post credit scene for many reasons. Seeing Ghost/Ava again leads me to wonder what's up with her. Is she 'half-cured?' from Janet's quantum lay on hands? Does she still work with Bill Foster? There was some exposition that Janet helped her enough and her current suit does a better job of stabilizing her. I honestly think they forgot Ant-Man was supposed to be collecting quantum magic stuff for Ava when the Blip happened.
Last day of work is Monday. Have some job applications in but haven't heard anything yet. After the rush both to prep applications and professional credentials and to generally do stuff to wrap up work and take care of things, taking a short break before diving back in to more job applications. While I am relatively speaking financially stable for the moment, I nonetheless am trying to live more frugally. Soo.... with more time on my hands, now's the time to try some new recipes, albeit with lower cost ingredients. Looking at rice and beans type of stuff and other good pantry-ingredient concoctions. So if anyone has anything to recommend, send it my way. Meanwhile, my dad bought a chuck and asked me if I'd make him pot roast when I came over to visit him, so that'll be what's on the menu today.
Re a large player group... Who the players are and their posting rate can affect this tremendously, but in my personal experience, more than 6 tends to lead to less active players feeling overwhelmed by a massive influx posts from hyper-active players (those so excited to play they are well exceeding posting once a day, so that by the time a person who is busier and is showing up for their single post a day is stymied by dozens of new messages to get through). These people then drop out (or flake) because they can't keep up. I don't think it's a bad thing that people post very frequently --quite the opposite -- but a larger group widens the disparity between slightly less and more active posters.
Eh, it has a black Captain America. It's gonna get hate. Somehow Sam without the serum can't be as effective at hero-ing as Natasha or Daredevil (also without the serum), for... reasons. :/ Rereading this, I feel like this sounds like I'm minimizing the fact that bigots definitely HAVE tried to downplay this movie because it has a Black lead. And I did not intend to do so. That has definitely happened and Sam's gotten maligned and looked over a lot for no other reason than white comic fanboys who see a more diverse MCU and interpret it as seeing themselves disappearing rather than as the world getting bigger. And they need to get the f@*& over themselves and their insecurity. Just noting that flavor of fandom definitely have done that to other characters besides Sam who are either not white or male. That doesn't make it okay that it's happened for the umpteenth time.
Sorry for the delay. I have a lot of work to catch up on. Will post tomorrow. Congrats! I'm unfortunately on the other end of things... a nearly 22 year career at a local university ending because of funding cuts. I'm going to be slammed wrapping things up for the next couple weeks and then not be working (though I'll have plenty to do attending to personal matters and job hunting). Speaking of being slammed, I will be traveling tomorrow through Monday. I may be able to check in on my phone but if you need an immediate action from Maggie, please bot her. Her general MO is "protect people" and "read a book" so that should guide things.
Eh, it has a black Captain America. It's gonna get hate. Somehow Sam without the serum can't be as effective at hero-ing as Natasha or Daredevil (also without the serum), for... reasons. :/ Well, yes. Obviously there's a ton of noisy bigots who have nothing better to do than try to discredit a film because it has a black lead. I've just seen reactions to it where people are just meh about it and it doesn't seem to be coming from the same folks who are just bigots. And also Natasha (and Yelena) got plenty of flack for surviving big damage etc. A lot of people b+*+#ed about that in the Black Widow film particularly, even when the film went out of their way to show things like how Natasha is doing stuff to break a fall, etc. And I think it's for similar reasons: GIrLs CAn'T SuPErHeRO. Yes, while Daredevil is always allowed to survive major gunshot wounds etc without a single eyebrow raised. If he *did* take the serum, he'd still get stinkeye from the same sort of people who take every chance to crap on Captain Carter for... reasons. This is true. Although as one of Captain Carter's biggest fans, I do agree with some fan complaints that by the end of What If ?! she was getting overused. (But many specific complaints about Captain Carter are ridiculous.) Marvel should have just let the production team make the Captain Carter spinoff show they obviously wanted to make, and done more/different stuff with What If ?! and everyone would have won.
I have a ton of problems with Civil War and Endgame, so that puts me at odds with most MCU fans. It's always fine to just be like "Eh, not for me." Was just more disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm overall. I kinda still want to see more of some of the ancillary people. From Eternals, Dane Whitman/Black Knight. From She-Hulk, I could watch at least an episode devoted to the whacky antics of Nikki (her intern) and Pug (that one decent dude at her law office). From Black Panther, I think I'd rather watch a show about the Dora Milaje (specifically Akoye) more than Shuri (or hell, find a way to bring Erik Killmonger back, he was electric!). As someone who's always been a big fan of B and C listers, I agree with all of that. And I feel like that was a missed opportunity with Marvel TV. Put the big folks in the big films and do random spinoff stuff with the series. I mean, that was basically what they did with Agatha All Along and it was freakin' brilliant. From Hawkeye, I found myself weirdly intrigued by not just the new Widow, who, of course, was amazing, but by Jack Duquyne (sp?) / the Swordsman! I would totally be down for a swashbuckling hero(ish) dude in his 50s! Did you see the new Daredevil series? Jack Duquesne appears there... although he doesn't do much, he's clearly set up for a return in the next season and will likely do some heroing. Oh, and hey, as long as we're wishing, from Agent Carter, the even-more-OG-than-Natasha Widow, Dotty! As the president of the Dottie Underwood fan club, as always, I would kill for this. Possibly literally. *innocent smile* But seriously... she had such a great story and I wish we could have gotten some closure on her. Also, I want a scene with 95 year old Dottie and Yelena calling her "grandma." For this movie's new characters, the Serpent was interesting. That actor is always great, though! Since the Serpent Society has a bunch of 'just tech' folk, or cybernetically enhanced types, it wouldn't be a far stretch at all to have this 'Serpent' end up forming his own 'Serpent Solutions' with (mostly tech) enhanced individuals... There is definitely more potential there. I know there are folks at Marvel who have wanted to do Cap vs Serpent Society for years. I think the original Cap 3 was supposed to be that, not Civil War (and I think would have been better for it. Civil War if it had happened at all should have been an Avengers film). And a tiny waif as Ruth Bat-Seraph. Interesting to make her an (ex) widow! I think that was in part a choice to avoid real world political statements about Israel. But I agree, a loyal Black Widow as head of security is as good as you're going to get. Also cool to see more of Jaoquin Torres/the new Falcon. And he's from Miami, and I know it's a stereotype that every brown kid from Miami is Cuban-American, but I wonder if he's Cuban-American? :) Not a whole ton of Cubans in the superhero biz. I'd like to see more of him too. The comics version is Mexican-American but he is from Arizona. They indeed might be making him Cuban. No sign of Eli Bradley tho, Isaiah's grandson, seen ever so briefly in F&tWS, and part of the never-ever-EVER-to-be-seen Young Avengers, it seems. (Cassie and Kate are gonna be, like, *30* by the time they get around to introducing Teddy or teen Tommy?) I was surprised they didn't bring Eli. I suppose the movie was just too full of stuff happening I guess, but I wish they'd been able to make that happen. Especially with all that was happening to Isaiah. It would make sense for Eli to show up and try to do his own thing to help his grandfather and then get caught up in everything. With the mention of Ms Marvel in Daredevil, it seems like they are still planning to build up to Young Avengers, but I agree, it's taking them so long none of them are going to be "Young" anymore! To be honest, my problems with the movie are the same as my problems with the MCU in general: my favorite character is the Hulk, and all his classic stories get chopped apart and given to other heroes. It is an absolutely fair criticism that major parts of it feel like an Incredible Hulk plot handed to Sam Wilson. All the while Sam doesn't even call Bruce on the phone to ask for advice. I don't think that by itself makes it a *bad* movie in its entirety, however. People talk about the film like it was one of the worst things that came out of the MCU. I think it's still head and shoulders above a number of Marvel films (Thor 2 for example). Especially as there is a lot that makes still makes the movie an appropriate Captain America film: themes of fighting for ideals versus the reality of government corruption, etc. As someone who got into the MCU because of Black Widow, I certainly can feel sympathetic to those who feel like their favorite char didn't get a fair shake in many movies. |
