Mike Welham's page

Hi Aeglos! I'm glad to hear Sabine is doing well.

captain yesterday wrote:

I'm almost done building a wall. Not to brag but it's a pretty nice wall, and exceptionally sturdy to boot!

At some point, probably next spring, I'll be installing a 3-D pattern patio on top of it. And then someone else will be installing a swimming pool a few feet in front of it (right now there's a big pile of dirt where the pool will go).

I'm no expert, but isn't a big pile of dirt the opposite of a swimming pool?

It depends on what you like to swim in. Don't judge me!

taig wrote:

NobodysHome wrote:

Drejk wrote:

And there is the RL issue with the first and second arcs of fourth season being compressed to fit into the fourth season, when the filming the fifth season was still in question. Originally, the second arc was supposed to take fifth season and could have been better.

Sadly, the fifth season being greenlit later and having to be created afterwards with new content suffered in quality (though it still has some excellent stories).

I've always wondered about that. Season 4 is amazingly dense, and seems to wrap up all the pertinent plot points...

...then suddenly there's a Season 5 and everyone asks, "Why?"

Especially since Season 5 was very...uneven.

By the time the Season 5 was confirmed, JMS already used up the storyline he had for the Babylon 5 and had to use much less developed ideas that he intended for future stories, and improvise some others. I guess that fifth season had the most number of episodes being written by guest writers (such as Gaiman and Harlan Ellison who otherwise acted as consultant on the whole series).

I get why it happened. Season 5 should have been the second half of a decompressed Season 4, and the resulting Season 5 smacked of scrambling to come up with something.

Drejk wrote:

And there is the RL issue with the first and second arcs of fourth season being compressed to fit into the fourth season, when the filming the fifth season was still in question. Originally, the second arc was supposed to take fifth season and could have been better.

Sadly, the fifth season being greenlit later and having to be created afterwards with new content suffered in quality (though it still has some excellent stories).

I've always wondered about that. Season 4 is amazingly dense, and seems to wrap up all the pertinent plot points...

...then suddenly there's a Season 5 and everyone asks, "Why?"

Especially since Season 5 was very...uneven.

That mud may come in handy.

taig wrote:

Totally Not Gorbacz wrote:

YawarFiesta wrote:

Let me tell you something, I was one of those people "grasping at scraps" a few years back. I was sharing an 800 square feet apartment with three other people. You build experience, you rise and fall, you improve your CV, and it gets better.

Humbly,
Yawar

That's a touching story, but I lived with my wife for 9 years in a 400 sqm/38 m2 apartment and here I am, having a very different view on things than you do.

You're coming dangerously close to admitting you have empathy. Thank goodness you're not actually Gorbacz.

Of course. I am merely a usurper, a false idol. The original would likely land some snarky hot spicy take that would get them banned and leave them none the wiser. Poor soul.

We could take comfort in the fact that your, er, Gorbacz's hot take would at least be interesting and unique.

I have a vague recollection of watching an episode of Space 1999 when I was seven or so. I was much more entertained at the time by the episode of the Muppet Show that followed.

YawarFiesta wrote:

Let me tell you something, I was one of those people "grasping at scraps" a few years back. I was sharing an 800 square feet apartment with three other people. You build experience, you rise and fall, you improve your CV, and it gets better.

Humbly,
Yawar

That's a touching story, but I lived with my wife for 9 years in a 400 sqm/38 m2 apartment and here I am, having a very different view on things than you do.

You're coming dangerously close to admitting you have empathy. Thank goodness you're not actually Gorbacz.

I quoted the whole thing from Liz Courts because it's beautiful, but I wonder how often Liz wanted to say the bolded part during her stint at Paizo. :)

A lot of folks have said a lot on this topic, but I wanted to add my own two coppers to this particular topic.

I haven't been around in a while, so let me do a quick recap for those that might not know:

* I have been around in the Paizo community since 2005, and watched it grow from "just" magazine publishers to where it is now.
* I saw the shift from 3.5 to Pathfinder and beyond. (My name is in the "Special Thanks" section of the 1E Core Rulebook.)
* I have seen every angle of this business from ideation to creation to development to production to logistics to community to distribution. I know how all of the sausage gets made.
* I helped create PaizoCon, when it was just an unofficial gathering with 40 people in the basement of a hotel.
* I helped start the Wayfinder fanzine (still going strong)
* I was at the ground floor of Pathfinder Society's Season 0, and saw it grow to the enormous community that it is today.

I saw all of this *before* I got hired to work at Paizo in 2010, so when I tell you how heartbreaking the last 11 years has been, I mean it.

The most common thing I've heard from my fellow former Paizo employees is "I don't drink as much as I used to when I worked there." I want you to consider why that is. The other thing I see is how melancholy folks are. Working in games is f!@!ing awesome, I love seeing the unbridled creativity that people bring to bear, and their skills in getting a product into a customer's hands, from every department of a company. Yeah, it's a lot of work, and some days, any job is just that: a job. But the *passion* that people brought made a world of difference. Watching that passion die, watching it slowly get ground down under the working conditions and lack of improvement, still hurts.

For those that might say "That's just how it is": shut up. That doesn't make it right, or acceptable, or any form of apathetic acceptance of the status quo.

It has been said that Paizo's success has been in spite of the poor decisions that have been made. It hurts,...

I have all my fingers and thumbs, still. The only thing I've broken is my collarbone. I have also taken many many non-combat blows to the head.

Storm Dragon wrote:

Link?

Sorry, it's above in Owen KC Stephens' post.

Afraid I'm not enough of a computer guru to copy the link.

Link

Wow. I was on page two of the OG thread. :)

Is it a reunion?

Maaaaybe?

Really how bout that update from Jeff Alvarez?

Am I right?
Whew.

It certainly was informative.

Allowing a very sad little troll to hoover up attention that would be better paid to the actual problems at hand...

taig wrote:

Sebastian wrote:

I guess as long as I'm here, I should swing by and say hi.

Oh wait, I hate you all.

Never mind.

What *was* that smell?

SKITTLES, B~*#$!

More like SHITTLES, to be honest.

I guess as long as I'm here, I should swing by and say hi.

Oh wait, I hate you all.

Never mind.

What *was* that smell?

Speaking of old FAWTLies and the crap that is social media, one of the former posters here shared a post comparing mask mandate to rise of Nazis complete with a picture of a victim a freaking Auschwitz...

I just gave him a effing piece of my effing mind... Which might or might not end in my Facebook suspension. We'll see.

For the record, I have never been suspended or banned from Facebook.

I haven't taken an extracurricular in high school that involved a trip to Auschwitz camp and a weekly series of seminars in its museum covering Nazi rise to power to see such s#%*.

One of the reasons I left Facebook was disgust at former FAWTLies and their conspiracy theories. That, and Facebook is terrible in general. I owe Freehold an apology or something.

Best scene from the latest Child's Play reboot

Prepping these encounters was new territory for me. I tend to stick with published stat boxes, but all the creatures I wanted to use in the toyshop were too easy for a 6th level party. I had to stack templates on every creature in this place, and I have to say it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I don't know why I was so intimidated by it.

I'd be happy to work up some monsters for you if you can trust me to keep player knowledge to myself. :)

Congratulations on being named Guest of Honor, Kate! Now I really need to figure out some way to get out to this PaizoCon.

taig wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

Readerbreeder wins the roll off by 3, and APOPHIS1989 joins the repeat tiebreaker club with Uncle Teddy and Hellder (sorry about that, everyone!).

I'll be in touch with Readerbreeder soon.

Viva la losers! Readerbreeder gets a PDF of... roll...

Fort Scurvy!

Yo ho ho, email me and get yer piratey swag!

That would be bhampton, yes?

What a festive idea! If it’s not too late, I’d like to join in the fun.

I’d like to be entered into the draw AND contribute a prize (winner’s choice of a title from Endzeitgeist’s Top 10 of 2017 list).

This is my way of thanking Endzeitgeist for the tremendous amount of time, effort, passion, and excellence that he puts into reviewing and celebrating the efforts of 3rd party publishers. Without his work, I would never have discovered the vast majority of 3pp material I now own. Kudos and Happy Holidays to you, Thilo!

The winner will be whoever’s roll is closest to the average of all rolls on the Dec. 24 draw. In case of a tie, the winner will be determined by a roll-off, highest roll wins.

You're just in time. I have one more rolling to do, so you're in that one. :)

Thank you very much for the offer too!

Readerbreeder wins the roll off by 3, and APOPHIS1989 joins the repeat tiebreaker club with Uncle Teddy and Hellder (sorry about that, everyone!).

I'll be in touch with Readerbreeder soon.

Let's see what luck holds for everyone on

Bhampton gets the sole 1 today, which is good for a PDF from Jason. The dice roller is becoming shy about 20s now, but we've got a tie at 18.

Drumroll

We're getting near the end, as it is now

** spoiler omitted **

Uncle Teddy's luck with 1s pays off this time, netting a book from Legendary Games. Nedreow is disqualified from J4RH3D's "luckiest unluckiest" prize with the only 20. I'll be in touch soon.

Oops. I won't be in touch, because I can't PM you, Nedreow. :(

Let me know which PDF(s) you'd like, and I'll make sure to get them to you.

We're getting near the end, as it is now

Uncle Teddy's luck with 1s pays off this time, netting a book from Legendary Games. Nedreow is disqualified from J4RH3D's "luckiest unluckiest" prize with the only 20. I'll be in touch soon.

The odds are getting better for those remaining on

The dice roller barfed up a lot of really low rolls, but there was one 19, belonging to Jelloarm! I'll be in touch shortly.

Taig, I really love to see this during the holiday time. Kudos to you!

Thanks! Mikaze's giveaways sparked my own goofy spin on the idea.

Well, I’m late again (though not as late as last year).

So, without further ado:

1) I do not wish to be entered into the draw.

2) I am reprising my Early Bird and Late to the Party awards, for the first and last people who opt into the draw but do not otherwise receive a prize. For these two people, I will purchase any 3PP supplements requested to a total value of $20 for each (purchase only through Paizo.com at this time).

Thank you!

I won't make any predictions about

Nothing wacky there, except maybe all the 2s and 5s.

Bardess wins today's rolling! I'll be in touch soon.

My second 20 followed by a roll off loss too, this time a 1.

It seems Uncle Teddy and me are in need of a Desna cleric ;)

I missed that one. Wow.

What's eventually going to happen is there will be a roll off just between you and Uncle Teddy.

Another nat 20? At least the crit confirm failed...

Wait...
Did I want the crit to confirm?

:D

The dice roller can be cruel sometimes (many times?). That's two roll offs you've been involved in now.

Talonhawke gets the roll off with an 11! I shall be in touch soon.

Let's see how many 20s we can get on

How about 3? Three is a nice number.

Also, Orthos got last place to himself again. Yay!

Congrats to all the winners.

Taig, you might want to check that dice roller. All these 20's seems like something is off. ;-)

I've convinced the dice roller that I'm a GM rolling for monsters attacking the PCs. The strategy seems to have worked. :)

There we go. Superjedi224 wins the second roll off. I'll be in touch soon.

That means it's time for a

Um...

We're now at the midway mark. Let's see who wins on

More ties from the dice roller. We've got two 1s (DungeonmasterCal and Readerbreeder), so those get entered into Jason's drawing.

Plus, we've got two 20s (Superjedi224 and 137ben).

I thought for sure the dice roller was going to make me do another roll-off, but that was not the case, as Fabius Maximus is the clear winner. I shall contact you shortly.

I'm ready to see more dice rolls for

There were quite a few 20s! Also, we have a couple of 1s (Uncle Teddy and 137ben), so those go into the Jason's last day drawing.

Hey all, I am a bit under the weather, so I apologize for the lateness of today's rolling.

No ties this time! SilvercatMoonpaw wins with an 18(!), and Necromental has the sole 1 (which earns a prize from Jason Nelson and an entry in Jason's drawing at the end).

I'll be in touch with SilvercatMoonpaw soon.

Today's roll-off repeated the high roll rather than the low roll (but a 2 isn't too far off). In the end, John Napier 698 wins on day 3!

I'll be in touch shortly.

Onward to

We've got a couple of 1s (Sliverik and Readerbreeder), so those get dropped into Jason's random selection at the end of this.

We also have another two-way tie. The dice roller is mysterious and goofy.

And, dwilhelmi wins the roll-off by an overwhelming margin. I will be contacting you soon!

Woohoo! Back to normal scheduling for

We have a pair of 20s (Uncle Teddy and dwilhelmi) and a pair of 1s (Rednal and J4RH34D).

Oh, so close! Good job avr! I certainly wouldn't have been so fast at chosing a price for myself!

(Also, my name has nothing to do with silver, but with slivers, you know these parasitic creatures from MtG. I can't blame anyone, I also read them as "Silvers" when I discovered them...)

Ack! Sorry about that. I don't play MtG any more, but I liked slivers when they were introduced.

I have fixed your name for future rolls. :)

Excellent. I'm not normally this lucky, Paizo's dice roller must like me just now. Or maybe it's an effect of having someone else rolling for me? Many thanks Taig.

One book on rules and a few random villages I think:
Mythic Kingdoms
Apia
Longbridge
Vulcanbridge

Done! Let me know if you have any problems receiving any of these.

Also, if you have time, please leave a review for these. They're really helpful for the publishers. Thanks!

(oops, I meant to tag the roll-off die roll with "Silverik" and not "Sethvir")