yes, yes, we know you're a self-professed paladin of Civilization, but *must you* be so . . . so . . . "high-self-standards, lower-than-normal-expectations" all the time?? really??! joke aside, though, the fact that they *were* that exactingly thorough with the process simply points to exactly that sort of thing: high standards. enjoy your coffee!!
weird sidebar news:
after decades of piecemeal worldbuilding, adventure design, homebrew game development, and great times slinging dice and spell slots, it has happened:
the raison d'etre of my personal fantasy roleplaying homebrew world has finally, fully crystallized. it's not truly novel, in most ways, but the 'moment of clarity' has arrived. I understand what I've been muddling through since about the time I was 14 or so. the facets of the gemstone have been shaped, and a little more time and polishing will bring it all to life. i can look back at everything i've put together (what of it i remember) and see how it all fits into a complete whole -- from the humblest woodcutter in the forests of the Gladden Vale to the fallen legends who decided the fates of millions. i know that's all overblown and grandiose, but it just . . . . it just feels good to be in this moment. thanks for reading this. thanks for your input and feedback over the years. thank you for being you, FaWtLies -- you've helped me more than any of us know. just wanted to share
well, at least one part of that can be regarded as somewhat mitigated. cool. i'm still givin' it side-eye, though.
Spoiler:
bad policy generated for humanitarian reasons. it's unsurprising that it would become so frustrating.
it's been almost 30 years since i had my wisdom teeth removed, and i don't recall what was prescribed for the pain. there's a serious remove here, for me . . . . . . but the part that irks me the most in this thought experiment is: . . . being treated like an attempted criminal from the jump in every single interaction with the very people who make their living by providing the service you are enlisting. i'll stop now before i get even more inflammatory; besides, it's time for me to go to work. good night, FaWtLies.
Fate, thy name is Celica?
OK. I've finally experienced shrinkflation first hand, and I must say, am not a fan. we'll all be billionaires, ere long, and not a one of us able to buy a 4-pack of eggs for breakfast.
i have just completed the first post-mole-hunting-spree "trench run" of the year. analysis: less Death Star, more Verdun 1916. NOTE: yes, it's terrible humor. there's no comparison. BACKGROUND: the dog i fostered from Aug - Dec of last year needed outdoor activity on a regular basis, so i let him play in the yard as long as he liked. he didn't hit his stride, so to speak, until October. the result? about 40% of a 1-acre lot has been terraformed into an aerial-view map of the mole and armadillo holes/tunnels created during the residence of my late grandfather, who left the gates open, always. i can only hope that Jed, *my* dog, who served as understudy to the aforementioned mole-hunter during that devastating two weeks, has "forgotten" those old lessons. i'll probably be two inches shorter by the end of mowing season.
in other words, something very close to "yes". gotcha. i definitely appreciate the deeper contextual illumination. thanks, NH.
hurray for spring. :/ fully half of my lawn has been invaded by purple deadnettle. it appears that my brother's girlfriend's interest in greenhousing her own medicinals has had . . . unintended consequences. this promises to be quite a taxing weekend.
Starship Troopers? Read it, if you haven't already. it was the cover art that sold me on it, WAY back in the day.
in completely irrelevant news, i am loving the current state of my homebrew playtest campaign. the last few sessions have all been very solid in terms of narrative, character development, and player engagement. we're just having a blast, and it's a good thing. DISCLAIMER: big honkin' wall-o'-text perhaps off-topic of off-topic, but y'all are the only people i talk with on the forums anymore, so . . . . for anyone interested:
my group was at five for a short time, but a bad breakup dropped us to four, and then the other player had a whole lotta real life come at him all at once, and he's been away for a time, but said last week he wants to come back as soon as he can. but even with just my three regular players, we've been moving things along.
i think the biggest step that i've made as a GM is to implement more of what is called "four-corner opposition" into the backdrop in which my players drive their characters. i'm getting better at having my enemies and NPCs make better, more believable decisions in the pursuit of their various motives, and to provide conflicting interests both within and without the party to keep things dynamic. i continue to pursue better stories, even as i find a way (or TRY) to reconstitute familiar mechanics into something a bit more accessible for newbies while still giving more experienced gamers the options they enjoy. the party consists of, effectively, a warpriest, a magus, and an undead hunter. they have saved a marshland village from the dual threat of a zombie uprising and an infestation of demon-bugs, journeyed to an insular society atop a desert plateau governed by a seemingly benevolent ancient blue dragon, purged a long-abandoned keep of a band of goblin marauders, offered to escort a very young brass dragon to a safe location away from said blue dragon, and done all that while escorting a trade caravan along a relatively new route through wild territory. most recently, though, the caravan ran afoul of the machinations of a hobgoblin warlock, and he sent his minions to destroy the caravan and PCs, to retrieve the magic tomes they took from one of his disciples. the caravan has been scattered to the winds, and the characters have decided to assault the warlock's mountain fortress in an act of "righteous vengeance", so to speak. we've reached the point where they have just breached the mystic gate that secures the warlock's inner sanctum, and so next week promises to supply a series of epic combats, and perhaps a few surprises, as well. since my system is an amalgamation of ICRPG and PF1 at its heart, one of the interesting mechanics i'm using is what i call the 'recovery die'. this die value allows for health to be recovered after a rest period, but it also indicates just how long a character has in which to be revived before dying if they drop to 0 health. in the course of the campaign, the magus has dropped to 0 health often, but has rolled a natural 20 on his 'recovery check' to stabilize no less than three times -- so he's occasionally been left for dead in the middle of combat and yet come back to consciousness with 1 HP, and picked right back up with the fight. this recurring event has attracted the attention of powerful extraplanar beings, and he is currently being accompanied by a 'lantern archon' conducting an investigation of the magus' possible "crimes against mortality". the aura of menace ability has led to some hilarious moments, especially since the archon is so uptight about being addressed by name, and responds negatively to blatant disrespect. the warpriest has learned that this hobgoblin faction have become followers of a deity of toil and oppression (his deity's mortal enemy), and he intends to crush their reign of terror and liberate their victims. i'm going to set the stage for him to have an honor duel with the priest, but to present him with a dilemma at the same time: keep to the duel, or aid his allies? it won't be about making the right choice, but about demonstrating what's more important to him as a follower of a god of chaos and war -- his battle-brothers? or his own glory? our vampire hunter's character arc is at a bit of a standstill -- his own personal quest is on the backburner due to geographic constraints. however, he's been playing as close to LG as anyone could ask, i think. the player is pretty paladin-y in his own life; he's doing the self-insert justice without making it cumbersome and awkward. - - - - - - - - - - i have finally gotten about 75% of the way through my first full iteration of the magic system. i've got a gamer friend that i don't get to see too often who is going to do some freelance R&D work for me to see how badly he can break the framework i have in place. if there are glaring issues, he'll find them; if there are subtle problems, he'll find those, too. i expect to be finished with the full beta test of the magic system by the middle of this year, at the latest. fun times. i LOVE getting to play fantasy ttrpgs. it helps make all the other nonsense more tolerable.
indeed -- as though Fatty Bolger sounded the Horn of Buckland ("Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!") because Gaffer Gamgee sneezed one morning. i can only say that i am delighted that i have completely ignored all email for the last four or five years, and have blocked nearly all notifications on my devices. i have all the madness i need in the workplace; home is the one place in the world where i both can and do tell EVERYONE ELSE to shut the f#*# up.
what's a 'bonus'? and where does one originate?
let's just say that i work in a 'target-rich environment'.
speaking of all the maddening events in the workplace: 'cause humor so dark it HAS to be lighthearted, . . . . right??!!: i'm running out of anti-homicidals that are strong enough. i may soon experience a flareup of my medical condition, stupidstabodosis.
" . . . and sometimes 'y'." but i'm pretty 'old-school' in my English usage.
FIFY. Only Lawful people suffer under California law. fair enough. i think the first two components i mentioned suffice, generally speaking. lol
i certainly hope that GothBard gets the good word today, NH! --------------------- spoilered for reflection and politically-adjacent: i watched V for Vendetta again for the first time in many months. though it contrasts with the original graphic novel in some striking ways, it is, frankly, one of my favorite films of all time. the premise is gripping, the dialogue is efficient, and the score . . . i absolutely love the music, even the snippets of the Golden Oldies and the great classics. its message is one of those that will always be relevant, i believe.
i'll not belabor the plot or the poignant moments, nor will i harp on the inflammatory components -- i'm going to proceed with the notion that those of you who read this know its content at least as well as i do, if not moreso. liberty is the antithesis of tyranny, whether that oppression originates from the left or the right. it's "somewhere out there" in that paradoxical middle, as my old college professor might say. i may be an irascible sort with relatively unpopular convictions in this part of the interwebz, but . . . . . . . i love y'all, FaWtLies. have a good day, people. make the best of it.
it was painful to read your recounting of this intellectual disaster . . . . but i find myself laughing in the face of the despair this prompts. we're doomed.
. . . stable of writers were uniformly awful, all coming from the, "Hey, this fad is popular right now! We need to put it into the show!" school of thought that was so execrably predominant . . . because originality was dead. . . . .there are libraries' worth of truth in that statement. spoilered for wall-o-text: one of my old college instructors used to often quip "the greatest truths lie in paradox". while he may have been specifically referring to the difficulties of understanding various portions of the Judeo-Christian tradition(s) at those times, i supply that i can see the merit of his pithy comment within what NH posted. and i'm certainly not calling it for one side or the other, particularly here.
when you get right down to it, there aren't very many new stories to tell, in a way. the closest one can get, from my point of view, to "original" or "novel" narratives is by shuffling sundry dramatic structures together and aiming for variations of the classics. the other component of "newness" usually has very much to do with the quality of the 'window dressing' in the story. i think part of the reason why we so readily invest in stories is because we can recognize themes and ideas from within our own memories, and we can be challenged to expand our perspectives by finding where our familiarity ends and those new variations in structure or flavor are encountered. take, for instance, our two views of that old show Firefly. while i haven't watched/experienced the Outlaw Star (iirc, that's the name) that you declare as an earlier and better version of Joss Whedon's "hack job" (i do hope i'm not too far off the mark there, or none at all) seen in Firefly, based upon my recall of your earlier statements they're essentially the same tale, told in differing ways. one came before the other, and you saw the copy (or, at best, parallel) in the one that was late to the party. since i was late to the Firefly part of the show but it was my first encounter with that narrative structure, i enjoyed it and still hold it in fine regard; perhaps someday i'll experience Outlaw Star and decide which i prefer. i also think it's fair to say that there will always be some form of social commentary in any tale told. sometimes it's veiled or subdued in its presentation, and other times it's quite "on the nose" -- the bursts of inspiration writers gain for weaving a story have to come from somewhere, of course. and there isn't anything inherently bad about either means of presentation or treatment. sometimes it's disliked because of the message, other times because of the aforementioned 'window dressing', or any other host of reasons. a fad isn't bad because it's a fad; neither is it good just because it's popular at a given time. crafting a truly original tale is damned near impossible, i think. crafting a good story or telling a story well (two very different things) is easier, but definitely challenging. if you can tell a good story (or even a new story), and tell it well, . . . that's golden -- for the artist and the fans alike. i think NH's original quoted comment is an excellent summation of the complexity of storytelling, no matter how new or old, good or bad, graceless or sophisticated. i liked and faved it simply because of how deep a dive we (or one) can make in analyzing and reflecting upon its myriad iterations. that's all.
. . . stable of writers were uniformly awful, all coming from the, "Hey, this fad is popular right now! We need to put it into the show!" school of thought that was so execrably predominant . . . because originality was dead. . . . . there are libraries' worth of truth in that statement.
regardless of his business acumen or lack thereof, Musk's message to Iger was the single best pop culture moment of 2023. but, then, last year's bar was horrendously low. . . . and that's a strange juxtaposition of tanks, now that i think about it. hmmmm.
i typed up another workplace rant, and then deleted it. suffice to say: i made the mistake of not taking a snow day last night, and now i intend to rectify that error by taking ALL OF THEM for the rest of the week. why am i so angry?: 'cause "F%*&ing Stupid" always seems to be running the show. everywhere.
this. half-a$$ery needs to be killed with ALL the fire.
My Dad passed away last night. Fortunately, he was doing fine until last Friday, when everything nose dived. I'm just grateful that he didn't suffer much and was comfortable when he went. my sympathies to you and yours, Feros.
may your CON checks be successful, your Bluff skill maxed, and your love for her as strong as ever!! Godspeed, NH. :)
the best Christmas gift this year (apart from good times with friends and family): not one, not two, but THREE shiny new dumpster fire t-shirts!! "It's Fine. I'm Fine. Everything is Fine." I'm laundering them now, and will serialize them on the back collar with some fabric paint (or something) so that i can wear them every day to work this week. EDIT: and, of course, a belated Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to the FaWtLies! much love, folks.
sounds like a crummy excuse for social media, just 'ported into the workplace for the sake of another dopamine hit. gonna be so many "congratulations" going around that they'll eventually have nothing to congratulate. but i'm just a grumpy realist -- the "glass of water got holed by a .50" kind of guy.
why does math suck, generally speaking? -- because most instructors are bad at it. (the instructing part, more than the math. perhaps. but i can't math enough to tell. none of it made sense past geometry.)
because necessary: we live in a society wrestling with the concept that words constitute violence. how can we not have full-fledged impetus to disarm everyone?
i've been on the wrong end of a gun before, and it wasn't fun. some of that was due to foul intent, and some of it was because I wasn't prepared. none of it, though, was "because gun". and against the passive, unprepared, and/or fearful, even a tiny lock-blade or boxcutter will be a massive force multiplier. i'll make one last inflammatory callback before i go: track down Jordan B. Peterson's commentary about "the meek shall inherit" from Matthew 5. next thing you know, we'll have to go back to paper instead of plastic at the grocery because some enterprising bad-actor takes down a small town with a "Thank You" bag.
workplace counterpoint: the phrase "deliberate, disciplined stupidity" ought to be an oxymoron, a contradiction, . . . an impossibility. but this past week is proof positive that my employer is taking a screaming, joyous, headlong dive off the cliffs of "dumb as f~@*" into the raging inferno of "we duz ignunt" as a corporate methodology. a way of life. an aim to be achieved -- sought after, even.
i have no idea who's calling the shots in my work area anymore, but *somebody* in line of sight needs to have pity and pull that idiot's brain back out of the blender.
oh, pigs? fair point. and the chickens, too.
what? you smell somethin'??
My kids are still in the "romance is gross and weird" stage....Isn't it, though? only the faux version of it we see so much of, these days. but i'm an idealistic idiot, so . . . .
been out of the loop for a few days. DISCLAIMER: i wrote a lot of words. a LOT. Quake Commentary: i've remarked a few times before concerning the prospect of the NMSZ "doin' its thang" again, but i'll do a brief recap:
i was in the 6th grade (or thereabouts) when some climatologist predicted we'd experience a massive quake within the year; i actually felt a little 2.3 that jolted the area in close proximity to those prognostications. i remember fully expecting more temblors to follow, to climax in a massive disaster, . . . but that's exactly what didn't happen. San Andreas, Cascadia, and Yellowstone get more buzz due to greater activity and more "top-end potential" than New Madrid; that's more than fair, considering how long it's been since NMSZ ruined anyone's day. but -- but -- if and when we get another quake like the one that formed Reelfoot Lake, and made the Mississippi River flow backward for an extended period, and was felt as far away as Boston, NYC, and D.C., . . . . some estimates of the 1906 quake that destroyed San Francisco put it at 7.9 on the Richter scale; some models, by comparison, put the peak of the 1811 - 1812 series of quakes that hit NMSZ in the neighborhood of 8.5 on the same scale. since it's logarithmic, an 8.5 is ten times stronger than a 7.5, as i'm understanding it. I-40 is the busiest east-west trade route in the lower 48. and you've got -70, -80, -20, and -10 also that have crossings of the Mississippi. if those bridges go down . . . . then consider the possible impact on river shipping. the Mississippi-Missouri river network is arguably the largest component in the lower costs of goods and services here in the US relative to the rest of the world. even a limited seismic event resulting in the obstruction or even constriction of the nearest major tributaries would quite literally have a global impact -- but we here in the States wouldn't really notice its reach just because of what it would do to us. and then we can talk about air transport . . . . oh-boy. no matter how sturdy an airframe is, it has a specific range of tolerances for weight distribution, whether in the air, at the gate, or taxiing in between. there's a reason why damaging airfields/airstrips was such a big deal during WWII -- you can have a thousand aircraft ready to go, but if you've got one busted runway and you didn't pack a spare . . . . you've got a metric ton of useless tech. and that works in the other direction, as well -- if you've got a ton of planes with one destination, but nowhere to land . . . . hydroelectric power. flood control. agriculture. . . . . just a few more things to throw into one's deliberations. when it happens, if in our lifetimes, just count:
--------------------- if San Andreas or Cascadia 'go st00puhd', we've got some hellacious problems to address. if Yellowstone really goes up, then this discussion largely becomes a trivial matter -- too few people will survive to care. but if the Mississippi River basin takes a gut-punch from the New Madrid Seismic Zone, . . . . Memphis. St. Louis. New Orleans.
the mind boggles. we can look back at the hideous results of the pandemic and all agree "that was bad" -- but we lost almost no infrastructure. we can examine the massive storms that have hit the Gulf and the East Coast over the past 20 years and see how powerful those crises have been -- and then recognize just how much our meteorological advances have helped us. a big enough quake centered near where TN, MO, AR, KY, and IL all meet geographically has the potential to effectively hit 'ctrl + alt + del' on about a third of the country, and the whole world would feel it, even if only in economic terms.
well, here's a question: if you have three strawmen working on a fourth, does that reduce the timescale needed to construct the new one? by the way -- i'm *totally* stealing this, just like i did with the bone gremlins.
Two days before elections... Not sure if that's a good, or a bad sign.Smart enough to survive a horror movie should be a requirement for politicians so good sign. what, throw taxpayer money and taxpayers at the problem till they can get away?? lol
well, my vacation request was confirmed. i only had to chase down my level-skipped member of management after waiting almost a month after submitting the relevant paperwork in triplicate to get him to review it. but he's had quite a lot of stuff happening lately, so i'm not too disturbed, overall; it just would have been nice if i could have had it confirmed somewhat more than a day and a half before the requested timeframe began . . . . but on with the adventure of homeownership and gamestorming! the plan is to spend the days finishing the ongoing process of making the place as easy-maintenance as possible, and the evenings in collaboration with my primary fellow homebrewer on refining our respective gaming Frankensystems. my current campaign has been serving as a "gamma test" of the material, and we're still having a great deal of fun seeing what the RNGs bring to our ongoing narrative. we just wrapped up the slightly anticlimactic finale of the first 'book' of our adventurers' tale, and only lack a brief bit of denouement to finish kicking off the training wheels and let the players more fully determine their own fates. i'm really looking forward to seeing what they choose to do with having a wider world to explore (i did, without truly intending it, manage to serve them up with a fairly hefty "STOP" sign at the outset, and it went more railroady than i liked). but now i'm close to having a 'beta test document' in place with most of the critical revisions ready for implementation. the last two weeks have served for me to dig more deeply into the mathematical implications of my chosen "chassis", and to arrive at something i believe could be easily understood by experienced gamers and rookies alike. there's nothing truly revolutionary about it, i admit, but it has been a joy to work at paring down the bloat, hoop-jumping, and extraneous 'cheez' of the games with which i'm familiar. i'm stealing from everywhere, bold-faced and plainly. that might mean that i'm making something too humdrum to be appealing, generally, but even the exercise alone has been rewarding for me. i might not ever publish what i'm developing, but i'll have something that i can run at a moment's notice with almost zero prep time for the rest of my life. i think that's going to be awesome.
is the message of "pipe down, 'citizen', officals are official-ing" not quite loud enough yet, NH? i hate that you don't have the time to lawyer up, though traveling in a rezzed ride is always a good thing. congrats!!
Well, we got engaged earlier in the month, and are to be married in February '24. huzzah!! congrats, limey!!
They stopped trying to teach me when I went from 2nd to reverse.If you've never accidentally dropped from 4th or 5th to reverse while on the freeway, you haven't lived. i knew my life was incomplete . . . .
they could always cut costs by not calling people . . . . that would be a win-win-win . . . . with maybe another layer or two of "win" wrapped up in there somewhere.
and thank you for taking the time, NH. as always.
the work is fine. good, even. and essential, according to many. but being penalized for showing up to do it?? that's the very reason for my utter loathing for an organization that shares a name in common with a prominent South American river . . . . ---------------- that said, though, i've always been glad to see how fulfilling you find your work, cap. it seems like it's a good positive feedback loop for you, and those of us who have seen the pictures are able to appreciate what you do.
i have no issue with discourse, NH. you should know that. feel free to wax locquacious in a PM, if you wish it. :)
speaking of post-COVID anti-worker trends: they're crushing our hours at work. just launched this new campaign this week, as our night-time team just had a new XVP put in place, and this individual is WAY too "extra". majoring in minors, enforcing all the wrong policies, and is notorious for simply being difficult "because". it's starting to look more and more like my brother got away from all this at exactly the right time. this is not good.
who needs plastic surgery for aging when you can just ingest them?
new things: 1) moved into a new place a few weeks ago. it needs a lot of work to "get to good", but the hounds and i have plenty of room, good well water, and a decent fence around the yard. by this time next year, at worst, i'll have it the way i want it -- that "sweat equity" is a real thing, and a real joy.
2) i fell off the no-smoking bandwagon pretty hard. trying to relapse my relapse. sorta. 3) i've been on a ketovore diet for just about a month, and it has been amazing. i haven't felt this good, physically, since i was in my early 20s. i haven't branched out to poultry or fish, yet, but i can already tell that beef is king for me -- i just feel fantastic. one of the wildest fringe benefits? --> i don't sunburn anymore. and i'm "pretty [white] for a white guy"; i've still got scars on my shoulders from a sunburn when i was 13 or 15. i'm losing weight, losing waistline, building muscle mass, focusing more effectively, . . . . i can tell that i'm stronger, that my bones are more durable, that my vision is sharper . . . . if i were to hazard a guesstimate, i'm taking in less than 150 grams of carbohydrates in a week, and the returns are nothing short of satisfying. if you're contemplating making a change in your lifestyle, i heartily supply my anecdotal testimony that investigating carnivore/ketovore is worth your while. 4) my youngest brother moved to PA a little while back. it's just plain weird not seeing him at work anymore, or hanging out on the weekends. but he's trying to make a career change with HUGE upside, and i'm all for that. he might even mess around and finally marry his girlfriend -- and she's so good for him it's almost disturbingly freakish. lol 5) i've had another 'position change' with my employer (with which i just passed the 5-year mark a few days ago). i've stepped back down to a role that is more "operations" oriented than "leadership" oriented. took a little bit of a pay cut to do it, but i've stepped away from yet another "the patients are running the asylum" environment into one where i can be effective at my job, receive suitable appreciation for the same, and endure less stress. so it's been good; i'll be more thorough with my research the next time i "bid up". SIDEBAR: if you recall some of my posts related to work from just over a year ago, all i can say is that i made the transition to a much less stressful environment, but quickly figured out that my peers were, in the main, a pack of lazy good-for-nothings, and that my manager was . . . well, "lazy" might be too generous a descriptor for him. he sold me a bridge to nowhere, so i went back to the team i used to be on, though now there are only three "repeat offenders" on the roster, including myself. we three form the core of the unit now, and we get $#!7 done, so i'm good with it. 6) i continue to work on my ttrpg frankensystem, and it's coming together steadily. the main thing, though, is that my table is having fun, and so am i -- the crux of the matter. - - - - - - - - anyway, that pretty much sums up my world. just wanted to share, and see what, if anything, y'all had to say to it.
They've been in town. We just finished book 5 of Carrion Crown, which basically takes place in Caliphas. All they had to do was sell the stuff from the last part of the book (which could have been priced out over the last two weeks, but wasn't), and come up with a list of things that they might want. One of them sent me a list of ~20 scrolls, while another asked for diamond dust. No one else did anything. Then they spent 2/3rds of the night going "Oh! Is this available? It is? Naw, changed my mind." And the real kicker was when I was almost out the door and one of them said: "I wanted to buy these 2 things, but there wasn't time, so I feel ripped off." This is the same guy who kept derailing all conversations with random crap, and said-multiple times!-that he "Has so much money because there's nothing I want to buy."Oy. Reminded the group last night to have lists of items they wanted to buy ready so we could roll for them and get through all that pretty quickly. Still took 2 hours. thieves' guild target
I see why san fransisco residents are confused by the concept of a weather channel. ah, meteorology . . . . never before have so many been paid so well, so often, to be so wrong, so regularly. except in politics.
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