zylphryx's page

zylphryx wrote:

First in with the request for reviews. It is the only payment any of us get, after all. So show your support for fans producing free content by giving that content a review.

You didn't get paid? Man, you gotta get a new agent!

We’re just waiting on payment from our clients. (That would be the folks who have downloaded and read the issue ;) ). Soooo …

Have you read it? Then why not submit a product review? ;)

First in with the request for reviews. It is the only payment any of us get, after all. So show your support for fans producing free content by giving that content a review.

And I will get this out of the way now, so I don’t forget:

If you download this publication, whether you like it or not, please take a few minutes and post up a review. No one involved in its creation is paid; this is put together entirely by volunteers. Authors, artists, editors, layout, proofreaders, publisher ... all of us would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. It’s the only payment we get for putting all this together for your enjoyment.

Also...please do leave a review.

Beat you to the draw on that request, mister! ;)

dragonhunterq wrote:

Abilities type should carry forward to all of the abilities it grants unless stated otherwise. Otherwise you are just guessing.

Do you have any proof or evidence for this stance?

The evidence of my argument is that Fast healing is labeled as an EX ability, and nothing in the rules state that a magical sources causes all effects of that effect to be magical as well.

So infernal healing grants the [Ex] fast healing and therefore is not magical? As such it cannot be dispelled via dispel magic even though it has a duration?

The baseline for PF (and D&D) has always been specific trumps general. If a specific ability states something other than the general ability then the specific takes precedent.

Hey GarnathFrostmantle, thanks for the review. We did strive to make the layout as close to what one would expect in a Paizo Bestiary. Glad you like it. :)

And thanks also to Rysky for the review, and the running reviews in the comments. Love seeing this kind of stuff. :)

I picture a devil armed with a yardstick who thwacks those who use poor grammar or mumble ... but maybe that's just me ... mumble mumble <THWACK>

<cough>reviews when folks get a chance<cough>

I think this is the earliest review request I have done yet.

And for folks at PaizoCon, have fun! And see how many of the folks on the cover you can find (alas, you will not find me there this year).

Never underestimate the importance of ethnobotany!!! or that part of my degree

Well I was going to pop in to begin asking for folks to review, but there already is one, so I will dig deeper.

First thanks for the review! All the folks who have put this together would love to know what exactly you enjoyed, and what we may have dropped the ball on. Details, we live for details! That said, seriously, thanks for the quick review. :)

Ok, I'm done. That feels better. ;)

zylphryx wrote:

so what generation would immortals go in? Just curious, not that I am, or am claiming to be, but you know, if someone actually were immortal ...

Generation Highlander.

And they are only immortal... so far...

Ha! Gen Highlander! Good one!

[note to self - sharpen the blade when i get home ...]

@BNW: Oh, yeah. I mean, quite frankly, there are a lot of places that seem to see workers as a liability to be tolerated only out of necessity. Companies do not want to pay workers, as evidenced by the flat actual wages for the last, oh, four decades or so. Meanwhile, Millennials also see things like CEO pay rates rising far faster than everyone else's, from I think it was... ~20x the average worker a few decades ago to over 300x today. Workers are more productive, but they're not seeing an increase in benefits to go with that - rather, in many cases, all their hard work seems to be going straight to the pockets of the company executives while many of them are struggling just to make ends meet because of rising costs.

So, are Millennials cynical about business? Yeah, I think they are. Honestly, I think that's one of the driving forces behind their desire for a better work-life balance - they don't want to work quite so hard for people who don't seem to care about them. Especially when executives' pay is broadly tied to the stock market, so they can get paid better when the company as a whole is successful, a fact that is not true for most workers.

oh it's not just millennials who are cynical on this front. i'm gen x and have been cynical about the entire corporate/business mindset for 25+ years.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRCCCCCSSSS!!!!

What? Oh. Ahem.

First world.

orcs

In terms of my reasons to dislike the show at this point: that's mainly the nerd in me I guess. I usually like to see the behind the scenes backstory from a BBEG point of view, kinda like how X-Files finally explained FEMA and cigarette-smoking man. For every bad guy, there's an event or circumstance that led to him being a bad guy. X-files would have gotten boring real fast for me if they would have kept cigarette-smoking man unexplained and just as an out-of-context bad guy.

In terms of Sense8, there's a bunch of bad guys, led by a main bad guy with powers. He seems to want to destroy all the other Sense8. Why? Every episode that I watched I sat hoping they would start making connections, but then BAM fight fight orgy fight. Ok, I said, that's cool (the first few times). But in the end... ok... what's next?

Soooo ... you do realize that "the Smoking Man" back story did not even start to be picked at until season 2, and you really never got full backstory for him (though you got several variants and speculations). At this point, Whispers is ahead of the game as "the Smoking Man" only had 4 words in season 1 of X Files (yep, looked that up ;) ).

The paladin fell because paladins were not meant to fly and by attempting it she was disrespecting the deities' will. And gravity, mainly gravity.

The paladin debated religion with the street preacher.

Since the WF16 layout is done for the moment (off to the proofreaders), I may try to put together a weal or woe I came up with a little too late for the Osirion issue ...

Loved the book as a kid and the animated film as well. He will be missed.

2016 please stop. Just stop.

And on topic, Highlander is a fun movie to add to the list.

After having watched Highlander 30 some odd times over a week in order to do a film analysis paper (lighting, shot type, camera angle, etc. etc. and the intended effect of such to be imparted to the viewer) I really can't watch the movie any more ... and I used to love it.

Back on topic.

More comedies (did I mention I kinda like comedies?) ... and I can't believe no one has mentioned any John Cusack comedies yet, so here you go ...

Better Off Dead - John Cusack as a teen with issues who meets a French exchange student Diane Franklin. Quirky comedy from Savage Steve Holland.

One Crazy Summer - John Cusack as a teen with issues who meets a guitar-playing hippiesque Demi Moore. Quirky comedy from Savage Steve Holland.

Hot Pursuit - John Cusack as a teen who tries to catch up with girlfriend's family on a Caribbean vacation. Kind of a comedy of errors comedy in a lot of ways.

Tape Heads - John Cusack and Tim Robbins as two security guard, high school graduates turned video producers. Quirky comedy and the Swanky Modes! Actually Sam Moore and Junior Walker, but still, the Swanky Modes!!

Gross Pointe Blank - John Cusack as a hit man who goes to his 10 year high school reunion. Great comedy with a great 80's soundtrack.

The Mummy 2 makes its prequel look like a deep, intellectual masterpiece.

Mummy 3 makes both of the previous movies seem Oscar worthy ...

More comedy vein (I kinda like comedies, what can I say ... they tend to lend themselves to light entertainment) ...

The Man with One Red Shoe - musician mistaken for spy, with humorous results.

The Man Who Knew Too Little - brother visits his successful brother in London, gets signed up for "Theater of Life" and things go horribly astray in a spy filled comedy

Arsenic and Old Lace - classic Cary Grant, if you have not seen it you really should. Freaking hilarious.

The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest - comedy in a psuedo tech vein, marketing guy quits to take a creative job at a tech firm and takes on the "$100 computer" project which is basically the "never gonna happen, low budget" project.

Real Genius - more psuedo tech comedy. Another classic.

The Jerk - classic Steve Martin ... "Oh no! He hates these cans too!" hehehehe

In the comedy vein ...

Quick Change - comedy of errors involving a bank robbery

Let It Ride - a cabbie has a good day at the track ... a VERY good day.

Roxanne - a retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac ... the bar insult bet scene is truly classic

Groundhog Day - time loop comedy that I can watch again, and again, and again ...

The Hangover - a prime example of comedy that requires no brain cells, but will make you laugh your butt off.

In the surreal vein (not necessarily good flicks but can be entertaining)...

Repo! The Genetic Opera - dark future where widespread organ failure allows a genetic firm to roll out organs at a premium, and repossess them if payments are late ... and it's a musical!

Patch Town - factory where kids are turned into dolls and sold as toys ... and it's a musical!

How many grogs would a grognard nard if a grognard could nard grogs?

Oh that's an easy one, a grogillion. Though back in my day we would nard a grogilliion grogs easily in an hour. You whippersnappers have it easy with your "messaging boards" and "Facks" (whatever those are); cuts down on the amount of grogs you have to nard. I even heard tell some don't even know how to grog a nard! It's all just a ... a ... what are you doing here? Who let you in? Gitoffamylawn!!!

See I don't view grognardism as being anything more that an indicator that one has a depth of previous experience to draw from. This does not mean that the person knows what they are talking about, mind you, just that they are pulling from a wider range of experiences than someone who has just started playing.

As to when someone can claim to be a grognard, that's really up to the individual. You may have been playing for 40 years and not claim to be a grognard, or you could have been playing for 10 and claim to be. really, it's more of a mindset of how one perceives their level of experience (and with RPGs, it's really cross system experience ... after all, as far as I am concerned, if you have pulled content from one system to incorporate into another system that kinda puts you into Grognardland).

The 80s were also rife with D&D protests by misguided church groups, along with book burnings (usually if your movement requires the burning of books, your movement is moving in the wrong direction). The purchases of the books for the book burnings I'm sure helped the sales figures a little bit.

But yes, the hobby has always been niche. In the 80s, it was very niche (D&D was played by all of us "weird kids" ... I did not see a jock playing the game until I got to college in '88). But I do see a mix of age ranges at the cons I attend. Granted there are a bunch of grognards, but there is a significant 20-something and millennial crowd at most of the cons I've been to over the last several years.

Forget using it to travel anywhere. I want to slap two of these on opposite sides of a flywheel in space and let it slowly spin up until a few decades later it explodes. (It'll need some solar panels for power.)

Actually, if the results are valid, it produces significantly more thrust than light sails (talking ~1.2 millinewtons/kW vs ~4.5-5 micronewtons/kW). Granted it is a far cry from an ion drive (~60 millinewtons/kW), but it does not require the massive amount of fuel an ion drive requires. With in the inner system, it could feasibly utilize solar power as a ready energy source; the further out you go though, the less efficient that becomes, so you would be looking at nuclear more than likely.

It could also indicate an interference on the quantum level with the Law of conservation of motion, or it could also indicate that the law is still 100% valid but we are simply unable to measure all aspects of the process which would balance out the math.

It's still far, far more likely that we're seeing experimental error here.

NASA has said as much, citing (IIRC) 9 possible sources for errors in their paper. However, space based testing, if successful should eliminate most if not all of those possibilities.

Really hoping the space based tests prove the EM Drive to be a valid propulsion system.

Do you have any more insight about how you know what i'm thinking more than i do?

Oh, I do! I do! I know what you are thinking!

...

And shame on you BNW. Those thoughts made my tentacles blush.

...

What do you mean by that?

...

Yes, of course I am reading your mind.

...

<sigh> OK, go ahead ...

...

The number you are thinking of is 1493.234501954753 ... did you really think the decimals would throw me off?

...

We now return you to your relatively circular debate already in progress.

You can read about it here.

So it's not huge output compared to propellant based drives (we're talking several orders of magnitude less ... which is somewhat mitigated by not needing to haul tons of fuel), but the results ranked it a couple of orders of magnitude more powerful than light sails.

If it is actually working. It violates Newton's third law (equal and opposite reactions). I'm pretty hopeful, though. Things get weird when you delve into quantum physics...

Next testing should be space based, so if it succeeds there, that should eliminate a good number of the sources of possible errors.

my height would become halved, my feet would become furry, I would be forever speaking in a bad Scottish brogue. The appreciation for good beer and rum, however, would not be a change. ;)

This thread makes me feel old and tired, like I've had too many days. :(

No, no, it just means you have many more experience points. Unless you've been crafting magic items, because, you know, back in my day you used XP to create items ... ;)

I will not shed a tear for the passing of a purveyor of religious intolerance of other religions,lifestyles, etc. Nor will I celebrate it. Some are best allowed to simply fade in the shadows of the past.

Puppies. It is always puppies. Precocious puppies tumbling and playing with various puppy toys. And cat video montages. Causes their villainous minds to snap.

Defoliant. In one campaign, I mentioned that we should pick up defoliant around 3rd level after having encountered several plant creatures. The other folks agreed ... and no one bought any. Fast forward 10 levels, numerous plant creature encounters, numerous mentions about buying defoliant, numerous failures to actually b any, and I finally bought several vials ... which remained unused through the rest of the campaign as we did not encounter any other plant critters.

... we didn't have any of these fancy "Adventure Paths" or "modules". Our "adventure paths" and "modules" came straight out of our own brains! and they were usually pretty bad in retrospect

... dwarf and elf were classes ... No, we're not sure why.

If you're one of them and of a certain mindset, it's a badge of honor, distinguished them from the whippersnappers of today.

If you're not and of a certain different mindset, it's a dismissive and ageist term, painting the target as a hopeless old fogey, dreaming of his lost youth and shouting "get off my lawn".

I view it as my badge of honor that reads "gitoffamylawnyawhippersnappers" encircling a d20 that has obviously had the number filled in with crayon.

been playing since the original ODD, small box set ... still have most of the books from then still as well. for home games most of the folks I play with are grognards, though I also play PFS and have run several kids games over the last decade to bring the new generation of gamers to the tables.

Thanks KC! Working on the page design for the upcoming Wayfinder right now. :)

<sad illithid>

Liz, good luck in the wilds of Freelanceland. May your pens never dry, you paper never crease, your computer never fry, your offers never cease.

Hope to see you at whichever PaizoCon for which I manage to get back to Seattle.

<looks around>
Where'd the kobold go? Is he hiding? Waiting to ambush all who enter the thread and assault them with a rain of compliments?

Sneaky kobolds ...

Hm... or maybe give it to someone who's goal is the eradication of SPC 682 with no other casualties... it should only take 100 or so indoctrinated volunteers/attempts...

... what could go wrong? >;)

SCP 682 can't die ... and good gods it leads to a massive tangle of SCP entries with all the ways they have tried to destroy it. I spent two hours of down time at work digging through it and did not get to the end. ;)

"Red Sea Object" was a good read. Liked having to dig through multiple layers to get the full story (or as full as it gets). On to "Star Signals".

And agreed that it is a great source for inspiration, especially for a modern horror themed campaign.

Not creepypasta ... or I don't think it is. I dug around in it for several days when I heard about it, had kind of a X-Files like feel to it, but with more of a horror theme.

Anyone have any ideas?

I absolutely LOVE the dwarf as a PC race. I love everything about them, from their scritchy beards to their love of axes and gold. Why, if I could not play a dwarf paladin in armor spike covered plate mail, my life would be incomplete.

Blah Blah...fairies...blah blah...the giant...blah blah....the midget......blah blah....everybody dies.

So concise ... It's like poetry.

Yeah, I would really like to see more in this storyline.

Great show. Just finished the binge. ;) And yes, I agree Shinhakkaider's description is pretty well spot on. :)

I am really hoping this is not a "one season and done" thing. I can see one of two routes for the series.

Either would be good with me. This really was a top notch production (not to mention being able to relate to kids playing D&D in 1983 ... I was just a year or two older than the kids portrayed in the show then and had been playing for almost 6 years at that point).

The main lesson you should pull from this debacle of a game is just because you can do something does not mean you should do something. Flooding the table with summons (and let's not quibble over semantics, summon, call, etc are still the same basic thing with variation on what the critter can do), to the point your controlled units out number the entire party falls squarely in the should not do category.

You cannot win the game. And even if it were possible to "win", you sure as hell would not be able to do so by pissing off the rest of the players.

Besides, is "witch" even considered a slur? It's an offense, of course, but I don't think it's "heavy" enough to be considered a slur... It's not like the OP called them "the C word".

Crone? ;)