nihilism10's page

I spent some time in Ecuador this summer and ate cuy (guinea pig). I suppose that technically constitutes exotic, but it's not an insect or anything and I honestly didn't really think of it at all that way. Meat is meat, and guinea pig is tasty.

I didn't find it weird or anything to be eating guinea pig, but they.... left the adorable little clawed feet on, shiver....

There was something terrible about eating a tiny little haunch with... paws.

Really tasty though.

Hot dogs are utterly scary. You tube hotdog factory, there is a really disgusting video somewhere.

Hellboy of the books, or Hellboy of the abominable movies?

also, when its finished, would you be able to post it? i would love to have Hellboy stats.

Despite old news, "The Dungeon Master" was quite a good story, could have been better written but it was otherwise very good.

admittedly i am a rather inexperienced DM, but i would like to share my two cents (accounting for inflation since the probable first use of that expression, my $20, paypal ok?).

I think that it is often helpful to cooperate with the players on the subject of "cheating" and balancing the game. The players in my current campaign understand that munchkinery ruins the game for both sides. It is boring for them if there is no challenge, as well as frustrating for me not being able to run encounters properly. The alternative to this is far more work for me and a stressed out dm for them (stressed DMs are no fun). In fact, my previous game largely ended because the players optimized to much and i developed a far too combative attitude towards it.
Having changed my attitude, the players are less interested in optimization and i think, are roleplaying more because of it. They are also actively supportive of my powering up encounters which are too easy.

taking a cooperative attitude, instead of a punitive one has resulted in a far more balanced game and far more fun.

roleplaying games are not a contest between DM and player.

on the subject of whether the rules tolerate munchkin attitudes and restrict the dm, i would say that the worst offender is the concept of challenge rating, especially in published adventures. Wizards definitely, Paizo far less so. I think it is a business strategy aimed at players. By having insanely easy published adventures which the players breeze through, they create a favorable concept of the system and adventures with players, if the adventures were harder (and.... actually fun) there would be less interest among new players due to the possibility of frustration and/or risk, easy things are very attractive.

excuse this terribly written post, im really tired.

I have always thought that sports are far, far too overemphasized in our society compared to things like arts and academics. i also think that they are not the exclusive form of physical exercise, as is basically taught by the school systems. The concept that exercise of all types is exclusively for jocks is also problematic. The exercise room at my school would be very valuable for the nerdier students, unfortunately it is inhabited exclusively by the football team, all of the nerds who work out (myself included) go to private gyms.

ok, enough random, poorly written, crap about my dislike of sports and jocks, its time for a practical solution: Ritalin! all of this "secret herbal chinese weight loss tea" stuff, the real secret is Ritalin. Basically, it turns you into one of those people who looses weight under stress rather than gaining it! Oh, and it helps thousands of people to function normally in society.

ok, yeah thats not a solution.

a good private gym, with knowledgeable, motivating trainers is the way to start, many of them will also help with dieting etc.

What's annoying about when the vertically challenged inhabitants of oz break/invent/ignore/bend rules, is how little sense they have of how ridiculous it is, both from a logical and roleplaying standpoint.

I will never get over how sincerely the munchkin in my group defended his right to a 7th level spell slot at 5th (character) level. It opposed both sense, balance and the rules he was using to create such an abomination.

and then there was the time he desperately pestered me to accept his extremely shaky interpretation of physics and why the fireball spell should kill both enemies despite the 80 feet separating them. i never understood why he thought that 100 percent of the force of the explosion should be channelled upwards by 2 pillars. of course i also had to look up the spell to figure out if it was an explosion or just a big ball of fire.

that took up most of the evening (not including all that time i spent crying)