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Precisely that ^ It also will provide a constantly-present point of comparison that any future alteration to the OGL will be instantly weighed against.
My main takeaway is that even people who are vociferous about the behaviour of WotC are all too ready to forgive given enough concessions are made and “go back to playing beloved DnD” because this is all too stressful. This is definitely the impression I got with some of the conversations I had about this on the D&D Reddit. There are a lot of people who are already to say this "doesn't matter", this "doesn't affect players/customers", that any opposition like the ORC "won't go anywhere", and that WOTC is "perfectly within their rights", this is "all going to fly", and "the complainers will get bored in a month and everything will go back to normal".
I'm actually curious as well. Paizo has never stopped offering PDFs of their PF1 material, both rules and APs, so I think unless they intend to shelve those after all these years there'll need to be some way to cover them under the ORC going forward. Ditto to any publisher that's still selling PF1 content, be it older publications or new releases.
I certainly hope paizo is playing a long strategy. I would enjoy if starfinder 2e would be a OGL free game. This is likely to be just the beginning of the legal wrangling that will come out of Hasbro. Paizo will likely want to keep some kind of OGL system, if only because they work so well with 3rd-party publishers and they need some kind of OGL to publish PF/SF-related works. Even if they move away from the WOTC OGL, they'll still want to have some kind of system in place to coordinate such works.
...Orthos and I had a team up? FFVI is basically the thing we agree on.
You are absolutely most welcome, and I'm glad you found a story you could enjoy. Now try Chrono Trigger if you haven't. =D
I didn't learn how to drive until I was 26 >.> From 18-25 I lived in the Phoenix, Arizona metro-complex which has a fairly robust, if not all-encompassing, public transit system. I couldn't have afforded a car at the time anyway. At 26 I had to move back in with my family due to the economy dying in the early 2010s and employment drying up, and Tennessee doesn't have public transit easily available (except maybe in Nashville and Memphis, but I was on the other end of the state) so it was impossible to work and thus survive without it. I bought my first car for stupidly cheap from my parents, and drove it essentially until it died. At 16 I was a nerdy, video-game-playing, book-reading loner who was stuck on the edge of a rural south-Texas town with less than 3000 people living there, where everything was literally within an hour or two walking distance, half that by bike. I didn't like football, I didn't like rodeo or other rural pasttimes, and I could count my friends on one hand including my brother. I had nowhere to drive and no desire to learn how as a result.
Savage Tide cancelled today due to surprise family visit for one of the players. Oh well.
Getting close to the Chapter 1 Finale events for my server plot!I don't know what this means, but hooray! (I can actually figure out the basics, but acting like I'm dense is funnier.) I actually haven't elaborated much on my current NWN plot here IIRC. TLDR: our NWN server is set in Forgotten Realms and the plot is about the dead god Moander (possibly) returning to life. Chapter 1 focused on two sub-plots being controlled/directed by the dead god's current champion - one a forest blight of fiendishly-hybridized Yellow Musk Creepers created by a Blight Druid of Talona the goddess of poison and plague, and the other a trade city plunged into a pandemic by the influence and machinations of a gibrileth Cancer Mage/Fiend of Possession. The chapter is going to come to a head in a couple of weeks with the Druid leading his army of demons, corrupted plants, poisonous animals and magical beasts, vile insects, and villainous druids and rangers to attack one of the primary goodly druidic shrines on the server, and the gibrileth being forced out into the open by the groups investigating the plague in the city having determined if not its full identity at least that of the influential local militia's paper-pusher it was possessing to get access to everything it needed. Actual Spoiler if by some random chance one of CD's players happens to be on this forum!: The truth is that said champion is being manipulated by a Fungus Queen in service to Zuggtmoy, the Demon Queen of Fungi and Rot, who also has stolen Moander's corpse from the Astral Plane and is working on seizing control of its layer of the Abyss, which is neighbor to hers. The last thing she needs is the final remaining spark of Moander's divinity - which is sealed within an ancient elven ruin that's now swarming with demons. The Fungus Queen and Moander's champion are going to spend Chapter 2 getting that seal open, then the champion and a bunch of fiends and corrupt creatures and evil plants will hold off the attacking adventurers while the Fungus Queen enters the sealed city, finds and absconds with the divine shard, and returns to the Abyss to give it to Zuggtmoy - who, as a fungus, can consume/fuse with Moander's rotten remains (where most other kinds of beings would be overwhelmed with the corruption and decay inherent to the dead god) and ascend to godhood.
Then the players have to deal with the ensuing fallout, including the eventual resurrection of the champion as a Treerazer-like demon.
Apologies for my near-complete absence except for the occasional C&C update, I've been busy on an array of projects for my NWN server as well as burying myself in playing Xenoblade 3.
(1) Yes, we got a discount code. HelloFresh is marketing themselves HUGELY, so if you watch YouTube at all you get a code. We used the one from Legal Eagle, because it's fun to watch a lawyer talk about the law. Ours was from Binging with Babish. Probably unsurprising. (2) My experience with Blue Apron was so bad that I didn't want to try another service. You get a firehose of food so you HAVE to cook, Blue Apron's recipes were remarkably difficult (taking 60-90 minutes each), and the packaging was overwhelming. HelloFresh has easier meals and less packaging, so we'll see how it proceeds. And GothBard was the one who insisted on switching to a service, because now that I'm training for the backpacking trip and teaching Impus Minor to drive I'm losing another 2.5 hours a day, so I simply don't have time to cook. I've only found one incident with the numbers being off... and that turned out to be me doing something wrong. So not much to complain about there.
We're not big on cucumbers so I haven't run into that bad of packaging yet, but yes they're pretty bad about "everything is individually wrapped/bagged". Except, for some reason, potatoes and onions - which are just left rolling around unpackaged in the bag - and mushrooms - which tend to come in those cling-wrapped styrofoam cubes that they're sold in at most grocery stores.
...That said I go through about a pot of iced tea a day, so I'm definitely in the "likes my sweets" category...If you *EVER* end up on the West Coast for any reason, be sure to ask for sweetened iced tea. On the West Coast "iced tea" isn't sweetened. It's plain cold tea. Oh it's that way here in Kansas too. And even when I do ask for sweet, it's a 50/50 chance if they remember to or not.
Savage Tide returns! We finally had a successful full session this past Saturday. We've begun City of Broken Idols in earnest and broken the curse that has brought this campaign to an end at the beginning of this chapter (or end of the last) every time I've attempted to run it. Savage Tide - City of Broken Idols spoilers: The group got enough info from Lavinia and Jakara to find their way to the central plateau of the Isle of Dread and wind walked their way there in a day and a half, then spent that day walking around the fog-riddled plateau looking for signs of activity. They found an old, highly-degraded but still clearly made by intelligent creatures road and followed that, had an encounter with a couple of nesting Rocs that they ended up running from rather than killing, and met with the lizardfolk that dwell in the swamp adjacent to the cursed city of Mantru and the lake that surrounds it.
The lizardfolk leader Rissashtak described how anyone who goes into the city against their warnings becomes "empty" and returns, then spreads that "emptiness" through the tribe in a way that had the two divine casters in my three-person party going "Vampire"; they spent the night making holy water and stakes. The swashbuckler just really doesn't want to be here at all, but helped with the stakes because what else is she going to do.
After telling Shiro that story, he wants to try Domino's just to see whether they've improved, but for us the issue is sugar: They put a LOT of sugar in their tomato sauce, to the point that their pizza tastes more like a dessert than a dinner. It's been many years since I've tried them, but both of my kids would rather go hungry than eat Domino's, so they're still doing something wrong. Many Americans have a much higher tolerance for sugar than we do (southern sweet tea being a fantastic example), so it might be our aversion to oversweetened things. None of us even drink sodas. I wouldn't be surprised if this is part of it, but I honestly don't know the difference. That said I go through about a pot of iced tea a day, so I'm definitely in the "likes my sweets" category.
It's actually the same here. Which is annoying, as the pizza places actually within delivery range of us are Pizza Hut and Papa John's, which both Scint and I don't particularly mind but aren't particularly fond of, also Papa John is a [REDACTED] so any reason to avoid giving his company money is okay by me. Meanwhile Domino's is in the bigger town/small city 20 minutes away, which is close enough to visit on a semi-regular basis (we used to take Sophie there almost daily to visit the dog park, but with the gas prices as they are we've cut back to only once or twice a week) but too far to get delivery. And it's immensely better than the alternatives here in town. There used to be a mom-n-pop pizza place in town that was amazing and relatively price-friendly, but they almost went under during the pandemic and their response to that unfortunate circumstance was to disregard all safety policies, completely reopen their business "as normal" well before pandemic safety restriction recommendations were lifted, and also for some reason completely shut down their delivery options. So we don't buy from them anymore.
Re: tattoo discussion from a few pages ago: I want to get my first tattoo and I know exactly what I want it to be. But tattoos are expensive and we're trying to save money for our move. Also if I get the tattoo fully as I want it, it might not be safe to show around here for Political Reasons. So it's something I plan to get done after we move, hopefully.
Yep. I'm a convert to masking and shunning to avoid illness. It's not for COVID. It's for general quality of life.This, this, this, this, this. And probably for the rest of my life, until the point that businesses start banning masks in stores - so the CCTV can see your face - in greater volumes than I can say "I'll just go to a different store then" to. Nah, I'm still cool with socializing and going out in limited amounts. I'm just masking up and keeping my distance while I do it.
Yep. I'm a convert to masking and shunning to avoid illness. It's not for COVID. It's for general quality of life. This, this, this, this, this. And probably for the rest of my life, until the point that businesses start banning masks in stores - so the CCTV can see your face - in greater volumes than I can say "I'll just go to a different store then" to.
I do those pretty regularly and the ones in my back even more.
Well, look at all these ninjas.
Game did not happen this weekend, unsurprisingly. Scint and I decided to put up an ad at our FLGS for 2-4 people looking for online play. Since unfortunately to be blunt one of our players is just notoriously unreliable and we'd like to be able to play again.
Hopefully a mild case. :-)Thanks! My first time with it was just five weeks of nonstop fever and general icky feeling. Hopefully this will be about the same. Rest well and hopefully get well soon!
If Drejk doesn't want this one, I could take a crack at it >.>
*things*It's dps fault. It's always dps fault. This concurs with my experience tanking in WoW. If something goes wrong, it's always because the DPS either attacked when they weren't supposed to, didn't attack when they were supposed to, didn't kill things fast enough (so many bosses with rage timers), or pulled an enemy that wasn't properly aggro'd because they got impatient and ran ahead/threw spells ahead of the tank(s). The only exception I've run into is "Tank was too low-level to hold aggro off the healers or too undergeared to not be crit and the healers couldn't keep up". Admittedly, that's WoW. I don't know how the mechanics differ in FF.
We did a whole lot of nothing. This past week has been hell on wheels for Scint and I.
We know. It's useful information to have.
As I've mentioned, GothBard is at the point that if we could emigrate today with no repercussions we'd be gone. Family and finances keep us here for the moment. And let's be blunt: California's legislature does an amazing job of stupid, but when it comes to personal decisions it bends over backwards to let you make those decisions, for better or for worse. Scint and I are already in the process. A kind gaming friend from Australia happens to be involved in emigration work, and is giving us a hand.
I love crafting systems in games (when they're done well) and this gives me happy emotions. I plan on getting into FFXIV once I'm done with my current all-consuming NWN project.
We should be restarting Savage Tide at long last tomorrow. NWN thing on Sunday, hunting down some cultists.
Pretty much everything written by Brandon Sanderson. Start with the Mistborn series - starting with The Final Empire - if you're new to his stuff, then work your way through his other stuff; once you're sure you enjoy his style, his Stormlight Archive series - begins with The Way of Kings - is his current magnum opus, though it's still in the works. Everything with Terry Pratchett's name on it. I personally prefer starting his Discworld books with the Witches or City Watch series - Equal Rites or Guards! Guards! first respectively - but pretty much any book is good.
Yesterday was the first official day of summer vacation. I say this because yesterday was the first day I didn't get the school district's automated covid screening email. We're trying, but the qualifications you have to have to get in are high as heck. Canada just wants us to have a ton of money squirreled away, which is just as bad, if a little less frustrating.
Hummus and pita chips has become my go-to snack the past year. Helps me cut down on less-healthy stuff like chocolate and candy and such.
"38 with no kids is so much younger than 26 with 3 kids." I just turned 37 yesterday, I'm feeling this :D
One that works. Most people will just ignore the emails - myself included, I check my email maybe once every other week, if that - and carry on using the product uninhibited. Most people don't consider the irritation of constant spam to be enough to drive them away from the product.
Get well soon >.<
No PnP today, but 2/3 NWN events for the weekend done. TLDR, I'm running a major server plot for the community, with the aid of Scint and a few other DMs as helpers. The crux of the plot involves the dead god of rot and decay apparently coming back to life, but it's actually a scheme by the demon lord of fungi to seize its former divine portfolio by absorbing its last remaining divine spark which is sealed away in a lost elven city. However, phase 1 of the plot just involves a pair of plagues going on in the two opposite ends of the community server, so the various different groups of PCs have been working on investigating those, trying to find treatments/cures, and tracking down the sources of the plagues - one is a variant Yellow Musk Creeper hybrid that spreads by spores, the other is dealing with a filth demon hiding in the city by possession as its viral agent makes its way through the population. Friday's group was a team of elves sent to find a Warforged Druid, who can study the plague without being affected by it, and present him with a potent healing artifact that had been recovered in another plot I ran yeeeeeears ago. They'll be assisting him going forward in trying to find a cure. Tonight's group was hired by the local Lord of the Dale to make their way along a major river and cull the monster populations in the area, to make the area safer for the various investigative crews. Simple hack and slash event, but the group enjoyed it. Tomorrow's group is set in the city on the other end of the server. There's a cult to the dead god beneath the city, and they'll be sent to investigate its activity and see if there are any clues as to what precisely they're doing or any hints as to their involvement with the plague.
No idea what our plans are here as far as PnP. Have NWN stuff tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday night though. So those should be interesting.
[Redacted for politics] FHTAGN I need to get out of this country.
yeah that's fair
I somewhat envy people who have the self-confidence to ramble about politics or social subjects in public with strangers. I can't imagine being able to just talk about stuff like that with someone you don't know at all. Heck I barely do it with people I know well, not unless I know them well enough to know exactly what kind of response I'm going to get.
That sounds like a fun concert, for those who enjoy concerts. Hope y'all have a blast.
We've been collecting the recipe sheets in our cookbooks, so if we ever need/want to cancel, we have all the recipes to pull from going forward. Orthos! {waves excitedly} Heyah =) Long time no see.
Scint and I have been trying out HelloFresh for the past few months and it's been pretty good about getting us to eat something other than grilled cheese sandwiches and fast food. It helps I enjoy cooking and the meals rarely take longer than an hour to make.
NWN finale for Bearquest on Sunday. Tracking down and dealing with a Shemhazian demon! The demon has been vanquished, at last. That quest is set and wrapped up. Next Sunday is the finale of the Dreamlands quest I've been running as well. Feels good getting all these plots wrapped up. Just in time to get started on the much bigger server plot....
No game tomorrow here either, so going to take some puppy time before spending a few hours doing recording for Crit & Crit. NWN finale for Bearquest on Sunday. Tracking down and dealing with a Shemhazian demon!
1) One of the kids was begging his parents to let him go to bed, but they apparently don't trust him to be in the room alone, so they made him stay out here in the lobby until they were done drinking. He had fallen asleep in a chair, and the dad kicked the kid's feet to wake him up and called him names for "not being strong enough to stay awake for a little while". It is taking everything in my power to not go on a murderous rant about people like this.
Either finishing character building or doing the first session of new game, then NWN on Sunday.
They're confused but they've got the spirit.
** spoiler omitted ** Yep, sounds about right. ANY deviation from the norm is a potential threat. No, that's not right. Let me rephrase. ANY potential for deviation from the norm is a threat.
Yeah that sounds about right.
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