Doesn't seem to be much love here for the CBS lineup. I can't stand sitcoms and reality shows, but CSI (the original), Numbers (or Numb3rs to be correct), Close to Home, Without a Trace, and Cold Case are all great shows. CSI: New York isn't bad, but Miami sucks.So, basically you watch the same show with a different title 5 days a week. ;-)
Police procedurals aren't my cup of tea. It's not a fair complaint, but the liberties taken with the law drive me batty.
Hmm ... I personally liked all the Trek incarnations (Enterprise less than the rest, but I still liked it) The CSI and Law and Order Franchises, as well as Criminal Minds are ones I enjoy. Now I know that Sebastian, F2K and others in legal related professions probably don't like them all that much because of the liberties they take with their professions (believe me I'm well aware of the liberties) but the concept is putting together a team of protagonists, who have to go out and foil the actions of criminals and interact with one another to be most effective and work through the conflicts that arise and the drama takes considerable liberties with reality. Now why does all this sound familiar? Oh yeah in some ways its analogous to creating a party of characters in D&D and taking liberties with reality to make it work within the imposed limits is like the game that brings us all here, since D&D takes liberties with how combat actually works to make it playable. So chill a little. If you enjoy nitpicking, watch the shows and nitpick, but if you are with others do so mentally otherwise you could be kicked out. If you don't like nitpicking there are always books, newspapers and magazines to read.
SP
As an addendum to 1804, watch whatever you enjoy. There are plenty of possibilities out there. \\//. Live long and prosper
I've been asked which police show most reflects how my job actually is--my answer--Barney Miller. Without a doubt.
Cop shows I liked and watched, even though they weren't realistic: Hill Street Blues and TJ Hooker (for comedy...and Heather Locklear when she was young, I never quite perfected the PR-24 throw at the back of the leg to knock the bad guy down).
Best police movie ever made: The Choirboys
Best police book I ever read: The New Centurions
After my life settles down a bit (hopefully soon) I'm going to make a dedicated effort to watch more TV, find a show I like, and stick with it. I miss TV a little.
Ah yes, more spectacular classics, just like the ones I already named. And lest I forget, there's also the Jetsons, Captain Caveman, Scooby Doo, Underdog, and the old black and white Popeye the Sailor cartoons.I hate some of the crappy-ass cartoons they play for kids these days. What ever happened to the old classics like Loony Toons, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Speed Racer, and Johnny Quest. Hell, I'd even settle for Robotech.What kind of gamer are you to leave out Voltron, Thundercats, Starblazers, Thundar the Barbarian, G.I.Joe, and Transformers?!?! Least you got Speed Racer in there.
FH (Racer X, who is secretly Speed's older brother Rex Racer)
the new justice league is pretty cool; not as cutsie as the old ones; and the new Batman cartoons are good also; also, I heard they are doing a Underdog movie that will be similar to the live action type thing they did for Scooby Doo. For me the whole Robotech series was just totally awesome; really like to see a new series like that though I did enjoy transformers and most of those mentioned.
Donde es Trixie?
Anyway, I have a new rant. Bear with me here, cause this might piss some folks off.
I hate the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica. In the original series, the humans were being mercilessly hounded by a bunch of cybernetic lizards. The main reason cylons were trying to kill humans is because they were evil bastards.
Now as I understand it, in the new series the cylons were former robotic servants and soldiers of the humans. They eventually rebelled, there was a big fight, and the cylons were defeated. Now they are back with a vengeance and trying to conquer the human race. The basic message seems to be that humanity brought the problem on itself. In my opinion, this is no different from a lot of other mindless drivel coming out of Hollywood these days. And come on, AI running rogue (see, I spelled it right) and turning against humanity is a topic that has been beaten nearly to death in the last few years. Come up with something new.
That said, I've also come to understand that a lot of people consider the show to be extremely well written and have some great acting. Hoorah!
I just prefer the original.
yeah, maybe that is what bothers me about the show; it was easy to want to destroy the old cylons; these cylons though might be the good guys; heck, they might be right and all this religious stuff just confuses the issue; this show is kinda like the middle east of TV.
hey now, noone's talking about Heroes...
does that mean it's not being watched? or is it simply assumed that we are all as glued to it as Lost? (not that im watching anything but Heroes and UFC lately...just got a new job as 911 dispatcher, so its been "gettin kinda hectic, just gettin kinda hectic")
OT: i hate that we have to bill lots of moneys to relatively poor people to bring them to necessary Dr.'s appts, because the insurance wont cover it!
and here in CT, insurance is making moneys hand over freaking fist!
-the hamster
well, not to be a finger pointer or anything; but most of this talk about tv shows belongs on the tv show thread and there is talk there about Heroes; kinda hard to rant about what you like about a tv show or comic. Been a while since any hot rants full of fire and brimstone have popped up; which is good; nice that peeps lives are going well.
I thought PulpCrucifiction's rant was pretty good.
|
I thought PulpCrucifiction's rant was pretty good.
I did too, although I'd be one of the guilty one trick ponies--human fighter with max to STR, wpn focus-bastard sword, cleave, whatnot...but I make it mine, man!!! I make it mine!
Like Liam Neeson on Tim Roth in Rob Roy...yeah bring your little rapier, cos I'll open ye up with the claymore!Dunmaglas!
I wasn't gonna argue with him or nothin, though.
|
I thought PulpCrucifiction's rant was pretty good.I did too, although I'd be one of the guilty one trick ponies--human fighter with max to STR, wpn focus-bastard sword, cleave, whatnot...but I make it mine, man!!! I make it mine!
Like Liam Neeson on Tim Roth in Rob Roy...yeah bring your little rapier, cos I'll open ye up with the claymore!
Dunmaglas!
I wasn't gonna argue with him or nothin, though.
Thanks for the kind words Heath and f2k. I don't really have a problem with people having favorite types of characters, though. Just when those characters are pretty much designed to limit the fun of everyone else involved.
|
Thanks for the kind words Heath and f2k. I don't really have a problem with people having favorite types of characters, though. Just when those characters are pretty much designed to limit the fun of everyone else involved.
Gaming group dynamics can be odd. In my Group, two members (unknown to me as a relative latecomer) had a history of aggro dating back two decades, and sparks flew at regular intervals to considerable irritation and embarrassment of all onlookers. Eventually, one flounced off from the Group and everything calmed down tremendously and the Group became quite harmonious after that (and that was when I found out about the problems).
You particular issues seems a bit different, but there may be an underlying cause. Is there a sort of "alpha-munchkin" (not a term I like, but hey) in the Group who acts as a sort of focus and ringleader for the silliness you encounter? You may want to see if there are specific personality issues which need to be dealt with. A discussion of the problems as you see them might be appropriate
And some of it seems downright rude - putting on a DVD DURING a gaming session for background? Do your Group suffer from ADHD or something? That is surely very distracting, detracts from immersion in the game and general ability to concentrate, and a bit disrespectful. I know some people get the withdrawal symptoms if the TV isn't on in the background ALL the time, but you should put your foot down on that one and tell them to turn the f%~&ing thing off and concentrate on the game.
When all is said and done, if you are DM-ing, what you say goes. If they don't like it, they can find a new gaming group. Or you can - while it can be tricky to find a game, the internet is a wonderful thing.
You know what sucks? People that take the game too seriously...
What sucks beyond that? People that love to take advantage of people that take the game too seriously...
Why? Why argue? Why get so upset? Why don't just let it go?
Why try and get the party killed, yourself killed, and specifically, this character killed. Why not just play? If you just want to get others killed why tortue us? Why bring that BS to the table? Just get yourself killed and roll up something new.
Why be unreasonable? Why be furious? Why can't you just calm down? Why can't we just play and have fun? Why can't it be fun?
No matter what it is, no matter what I do, no matter how laid back I am, no matter how hard I try, there is always drama. Why is that? I always thought it was others that brought it, do I bring it? Is being so laid back what brings others to drama? What is everyone's problem? What is my problem?
For christs sake I just want do something fun to relax!
|
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
You are a legal professional, are you not? Just out of pure curiosity, could that be the cause of some of your aversion to such shows? Just wondering. The one thing that gets me a little bit is the overlap. It wasn't so bad when they did CSI and Without a Trace; one is local PD and one is FBI. Numb3rs kept this tradition, as they're FBI, as well. But then you get Close to Home, and now Shark. They end up solving the crime in the courtroom. As far as I know, one is supposed to have the entire case built and the crime more or less solved before going to trial. And why is it the lab guys do all the detective work in CSI? And why is it that part is glossed over in the others?
It's absolutely due to my being an attorney. That's why I say it's not a fair criticism. On the Battlestar Star Galactica thread, there was a post about how the show is not accurate in its portrayal of the military, to which I responded, good, it'd be a pretty boring show if it were. The same applies to legal dramas/cop shows/medical dramas. If they were to strive to portray their subject accurately, the story would suffer. I generally watch dramas to see a story and be entertained; if I want to know the way a profession actually operates, I'll watch a documentary or do some other research. So, even though I can't watch police procedurals because I nitpick them to death, I don't think that makes them a bad genre nor do I think it's a fair criticism to say they aren't sufficiently real.
They're actually good practice for those in law school. I used to watch an episode of CSI and try and pick out all the crimes committed, all the evidence that would be admissible, and all the violations of criminal procedure that occurred. The show moves quickly and gives you a good opportunity to practice legal reasoning and issue spotting. I would probably suck at it now though - I haven't touched criminal law or litigation since law school.
I nitpick cop shows too. A friend of mine is an attorney in Arizona and started doing criminal defense work for the public defender's office a few years ago. He had some trouble at first helping guilty people get off, but he felt better after talking to me. I told him that he's basically doing training for the prosecutor and police, because if a client who is truly guilty was found not guilty because of poor prosecution or police work, he was doing them a favor, because they hopefully won't repeat those mistakes next time.
They're actually good practice for those in law school. I used to watch an episode of CSI and try and pick out all the crimes committed, all the evidence that would be admissible, and all the violations of criminal procedure that occurred. The show moves quickly and gives you a good opportunity to practice legal reasoning and issue spotting. I would probably suck at it now though - I haven't touched criminal law or litigation since law school.
I actually still enjoy them, even with the obvious discrepancies. I do find myself talking to the TV about the various problems with their procedure, though. The original CSI is better than the others about at least making an effort, and is the one that I usually watch. And you are right, it is pretty good for issue spoting practice. Some of the charging decisions they make are a little questionable as well.
I have been ranting for a while now about the sad state of affairs as far as a gaming store is concerned in my home town. This weekend, I decided to walk down to my hubby's work so we could wander around town and stroll and well, spend time together. ('Cause you need to do that, you know!) We figured what the hell, let's go into the FLGS and see if there's anything interesting.
One of the staff, a very nice lady, tells us that the store owner has been trying to sell the store.
Insert me, and my hubby, in shock. Full on, jaw drop, "What?"
Turns out his other business, which is basically a "casino catering" business - blackjack, roulette, poker dealers for your private parties and functions, is doing really well. That's the official reason. I'm pretty sure it has a heck of a lot more to deal with the fact that the wife is not a gamer and has no interest in it. My opinion, anyway, about the wife.
My rant:
*cries*
No dinero! No chance of a business loan! None!
*insert long string of blistering blue expletives*
*cries, beats fist against the desk*
I nitpick cop shows too. A friend of mine is an attorney in Arizona and started doing criminal defense work for the public defender's office a few years ago. He had some trouble at first helping guilty people get off, but he felt better after talking to me. I told him that he's basically doing training for the prosecutor and police, because if a client who is truly guilty was found not guilty because of poor prosecution or police work, he was doing them a favor, because they hopefully won't repeat those mistakes next time.
A good portion of my work is criminal defense, and over time you can actually attain a professional relationship with some of the officers that you see regularly. Don't know if that has been your experience or not. For me, one of the guys that I play golf on and off with is a detective and head of the DUI task force for our local police force, and a great guy. I also play with a prosecutor, and have played games of Axis and Allies with another group of prosecutors. Over all, the prosecutors I deal with, and the majority of police officers understand that we each have our role to play in the justice system, and are just doing our respective jobs. Personally, I think the officers have the toughest of all of ours.
By the way, I've always been a bit curious ... why do you guys use the term munchkin to describe someone who abuses/breaks the rules to produce an uber-powerful character. The only place where I can recall the term munchkin being used was in the Wizard of Oz; the little people that Dorothy meets upon first landing in Oz. Edit I thought of another context where I have heard the term munchkin: the card game of the same name that is sort of like D&D lite. Oh and another acronym question: what does FWIW stand for? It has appeared a few times on these boards in the last little while.
By the way, I've always been a bit curious ... why do you guys use the term munchkin to describe someone who abuses/breaks the rules to produce an uber-powerful character. The only place where I can recall the term munchkin being used was in the Wizard of Oz; the little people that Dorothy meets upon first landing in Oz.
Maybe it refers to a shrunken sense of self that leads to a need to overcompensate. Like when they say that a man's:
a) Expensive entertainment theatre
b) Corvette
c) Rottweiler
--are compensations for his ineffectively small Doogie Trouser.
I don't agree with the list... but that might be what the term is getting at. That some folks don't feel powerful or confident in their lives and so build all 18's type characters with feat trees designed for max kill/survival efficiency over aspects of living within and enjoying their character. It's less about escaping into fantasy for escapism's sake and more about finally being good enough, tough enough, sexy enough.
By this logic, munchkins are like unnattractive people who take their cats to cat shows, they just want to be associated with the beauty. I can get that. I have no problem with munchkins and I don't mind playing their fantasies out.
Like I said to a friend the other day, "I'm all for someone enjoying player a gnome fighter with a 3 strength. How bravely roleplayish of them. I bow in awe. Now, ahem... hand me my chitkillin' dice and give a man some room."
Oh and another acronym question: what does FWIW stand for? It has appeared a few times on these boards in the last little while.
Formian Warrior's Insurance Waiver. They're quite common on Mechanus.
(Really, it means "For What It's Worth," I think)
EDIT- Crap, I was beaten to it! :)
Ok time for me to rant a bit...
Ok the players i have in my area are just that "Players" good group of guys we have been friends for years.... but none of them are GM's i am the only one willing to put the work foward to get a game going... and the whole time all i hear is "can we game? whens the next game?" and i work a fulltime job ( i am a plumber ) and go to collage... i have VERY little time to get stuff ready so i hear that and tell them to run and i allways hear the same thing "i dont know the rules well enough to run"
*head desk*
ARRGGHH like i wouldn't help you? or hey here is an idea READ THE FREAKING BOOK~~~~~~~ and on top of that i allways get that one guy who HAS to play the odd character like a half dragon witch is fine... but why does he have to be such a #@%#$ about it? i mean come on... if you enter a dragon fearing town and you are a half dragon someone is gonna KILL YOU!!!! der? sorry you are the weakest link goodbye? uggh anyway i guess thats allmost it but i had to limit the classes to the main book so i dont get outstripped by these new base classes that are so grossly overpowered that not even god can understand who thought it was a good idea... also....
whats with the ECL system?..... anyone else think it is the stupidest thing you have ever seen? it is so messed up i wanted to cry when i started to try and figure out some of the "half-blank" templates ECL i mean i understand game balance but jeez... could you say nerf the strong any louder? i personaly dont understand the idea anyway ( other then to keep people from never playing a human again ) but it seems to me that if you wanted to keep the game in balance you could never have magic after level 9 cuz they could beat allmost anyone with the right amount of prep but hey i dont know i just make the dungens write the adventure... as well as rewrite about the whole book full of house rules to allow my players to have more fun.... yeah... anyway i am gonna go back to homework and makeing a dungen...
For what it's worth ... yeah that makes sense. I guess I just keep thinking these acronyms have a D&D connotation, rather than being used in RL.
Honestly, what is up with glorifying serial killers? It has gotten to the point that making a sympathetic serial killer "antihero" character in a show or book is the easy way to make your hackneyed crap more "edgy" for the younger audiences. And if I see one more mediocre hardcore band named after a serial killer or using quotes from a serial killer's interview in a song, I will become that jerk that kicks people in the head at shows just to ruin it for everyone else. They're good as villains, in, say, a D&D adventure or police series. But that's really it for me. There's nothing interesting to me about collecting trivia about deranged individuals that ruined a lot of peoples' lives. It's just a really sick way of getting a visceral thrill out of the grotesque. The stuff is like pornography, literally. Collecting or looking at their artwork doesn't interest me, either. Piggybacking on someone else's perversity is a really disgusting way to get your kicks and using it for marketing purposes is just further proof that mass media culture is perched on the edge of decline. We just need one more crass "taboo shattering" show or movie to just finally "shock" consumers into being just completely bored with the pervasive emptiness of our programmming and mass marketing.
And I do like horror movies. I just think there's something really pathetic about using an amoral one dimensional character as some sort of faux ironic take on American culture. It stopped being clever after the fourth time it was done. And I'm sure that allocating the necessary money to make that kind of junk deprived someone that had a better idea with the chance to bring something new to the viewers.
Necrophilia + Smarmy Know-It-All Voiceover = Ratings = Ad Revenue
Honestly, what is up with glorifying serial killers?
Guilty admission... Dexter is the first SHO show I think I've ever liked enough to continue watching and that does involve a hero serial killer who kills serial killers (suspect zero anyone?). That said, I hate the whole serial killer glam scene. I can't add any more to your well conceived rant except to capitalize: HATE.
I guess death was cooler when I was a teenager, because I didn't think it could happen to me.
A good portion of my work is criminal defense, and over time you can actually attain a professional relationship with some of the officers that you see regularly. Don't know if that has been your experience or not. For me, one of the guys that I play golf on and off with is a detective and head of the DUI task force for our local police force, and a great guy. I also play with a prosecutor, and have played games of Axis and Allies with another group of prosecutors. Over all, the prosecutors I deal with, and the majority of police officers understand that we each have our role to play in the justice system, and are just doing our respective jobs. Personally, I think the officers have the toughest of all of ours.
I think good cops don't take anything personal. I've joked about lawyers and such, but they're just jokes...like the cops and donuts thing. The system is what it is and if the prosecutors and cops didn't do their job well enough to convince a jury/judge that the beyond a reasonable doubt standard has been met, then the system set the person free, not the lawyer.
Some officers get really pissed off when defense lawyers try to make them look like idiots in court. They're usually pissed off because they didn't prepare for the trial well enough and ended up being embarassed because of their own lack of preparation and stupidity.
The only lawyers I've really gotten mad at were the prosecutors who weren't sharp enough to object when they could have or get me to qualify my answers during rebuttal and leave me hanging when the defense lawyer has cornered me with a yes/no question that deserves to be explained, but can't be unless the prosecutor opens the door for me. Oh well....I guess that last paragraph was kind of a rant....
On a side note--it's rare to find another gamer who also plays golf. They don't seem to be closely related. I play golf and love it, but I don't get to play enough and don't have time to practice, so I usually shoot in the low 90's. Fortunately, I play fast and have a good time, so I usually get re-invited out even by the single digit handicap crowd. I also play Axis & Allies.....hmmm.....any wonder why the folks on these boards tend to get along so well?
On a side note--it's rare to find another gamer who also plays golf. They don't seem to be closely related. I play golf and love it, but I don't get to play enough and don't have time to practice, so I usually shoot in the low 90's....
I've played the occasional hole, never keeping score, but that last line reminded me of an old joke "I play in the mid 80's. If it gets any hotter, I don't play" The joke works better in the US. Here in Canada, with Celsius temps, well, if you can get in the twenties or teens in golf score you'd be PGA level material, if teens/twenties are even possible in golf (not sure; if not, the joke only works with Fahrenheit.
Okay it's been a while since I posted on this thread, but a recent discussion about paladins over on Enworld got me seething. So without further ado:
Why have gamers always and still do consider paladins to be somehow spiritually different than clerics?! Namely, why do so many people still think that paladins should have a higher ethical standard to live up to? It's insane.
A paladin is basically just a fighter crossed with cleric with an outdated alignment restriction. But even considering the alignment restriction, folks repeatedly make references like "well, such-and-such an action would be acceptable for most LG characters, but not for a paladin..."
WTF?! Yes, the paladin is the most defined in PHB in terms of code of conduct and all, but really all characters of any extreme alignment should be paying close attention to their actions...even creating their own Code! The reason that the paladin has so much text devoted to codes and behaviors is because it's easy to do so for a class with one acceptable alignment! When druids were restricted to being true neutral in 2nd edition, there was a whole lot more text on their code of conduct than in 3rd.
Okay, I'm open to the idea that there's a difference between a LG fighter and a paladin in terms of keeping to the 'straight and narrow path', but there is no such difference between a LG cleric and a paladin! What, the ability to call on one's god for a divine miracle somehow requires less dedication than the divine inspiration to decapitate demon after demon?!
DOWN WITH PALADIN ELITISM!!!
|
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
A paladin is basically just a fighter crossed with cleric with an outdated alignment restriction. But even considering the alignment restriction, folks repeatedly make references like "well, such-and-such an action would be acceptable for most LG characters, but not for a paladin..."
Okay, I'm open to the idea that there's a difference between a LG fighter and a paladin in terms of keeping to the 'straight and narrow path', but there is no such difference between a LG cleric and a paladin! What, the ability to call on one's god for a divine miracle somehow requires less dedication than the divine inspiration to decapitate demon after demon?!
According to the rules, there is a difference. Paladins lose their abilities when they stray from the straight and narrow, even if the action by itself is not sufficient to cause a change in alignment. Clerics on the other hand only lose their abilities if they manage to stray more than one step away from their diety's alignment. That usually requires either a really bad act (torturing puppies) or prolonged bad acts (posting mean things on message boards).
Feel free to impose a more stringent morale code on your clerics, but the rules differentiate between the two classes, and thus so do most players and DM's.
My rant.....im sick of AOW!!
My group and i though in the towel the other night after another tpk against another STUPID monster(ROPE GOLEM...COME ON!)
We spent 2 weeks trying to get into this Ball so we can talk to this chick and another night roleplaying through the stupid thing and final she said....come see me in a couple of nights!!ARGGHHH.....God dam i hate this adventure, why couldn't have she just said that 3 weeks ago!??
Well thank god our DM has seen the light, so after a friggen tree killed us we said FUDGE THIS lets go and play low levels again.
And it doesn't help that i can't stand dungeon hacks which this adventure seems to put you in everytime the writers don't know what they should do next, so now we have started a low level game in the Warhammer world and im loving it!
No stupid spells, no bloody hitpoints, no friggen hits of 150 damage this is what roleplaying SHOULD be!
According to the rules, there is a difference. Paladins lose their abilities when they stray from the straight and narrow, even if the action by itself is not sufficient to cause a change in alignment. Clerics on the other hand only lose their abilities if they manage to stray more than one step away from their diety's alignment. That usually requires either a really bad act (torturing puppies) or prolonged bad acts (posting mean things on message boards).
The fact that RAW supports PE (Paladin Elitism) is what has me so steamed. But there's d&d for you, common sense goes right and RAW goes left.
My rant.....im sick of AOW!!
My group and i though in the towel the other night after another tpk against another STUPID monster(ROPE GOLEM...COME ON!)
We spent 2 weeks trying to get into this Ball so we can talk to this chick and another night roleplaying through the stupid thing and final she said....come see me in a couple of nights!!ARGGHHH.....g!% d&~ i hate this adventure, why couldn't have she just said that 3 weeks ago!??
Well thank god our DM has seen the light, so after a friggen tree killed us we said FUDGE THIS lets go and play low levels again.
And it doesn't help that i can't stand dungeon hacks which this adventure seems to put you in everytime the writers don't know what they should do next, so now we have started a low level game in the Warhammer world and im loving it!
No stupid spells, no bloody hitpoints, no friggen hits of 150 damage this is what roleplaying SHOULD be!
I feel your pain. My players and I got tired of AOW around Champion's Belt. Everything takes place in a dungeon covered in green worms. Despite this, I think there are a lot of cool features to the path, but the dungeon centered elements of it bring it down. I could list all of the awesome things about the path: The Whispering Cairn adventure was just plain excellent, the Champion's Games were really fun for the session where the PCs actually competed, the big team fight with Darl Quethos' guys on Tilagos Island is something I really wanted to do, the dinner party in Alhaster, running through a fortress of giants under siege by dragons, the list goes on. But it's stifled by too much 1E nostalgia dungeon crawling. A room with four mimics that serve no purpose other than to slow down the session bugs me to no end. I didn't enjoy DMing the encounter and my players didn't enjoy playing through it and that was the bottom line.
Not a rant really, but...
Why is it that, when I check the number of posts a particular thread has gotten on the General Discussion page versus the number in the actual thread, the post count on the General Discussion page is almost always short posts after a thread exceeds about twenty posts or so? It isn't annoying or anything, just odd.
I feel your pain. My players and I got tired of AOW around Champion's Belt. Everything takes place in a dungeon covered in green worms. Despite this, I think there are a lot of cool features to the path, but the dungeon centered elements of it bring it down. I could list all of the awesome things about the path: The Whispering Cairn adventure was just plain excellent, the Champion's Games were really fun for the session where the PCs actually competed, the big team fight with Darl Quethos' guys on Tilagos Island is something I really wanted to do, the dinner party in Alhaster, running through a fortress of giants under siege by dragons, the list goes on. But it's stifled by too much 1E nostalgia dungeon crawling. A room with four mimics that serve no purpose other than to slow down the session bugs me to no end. I didn't enjoy DMing the encounter and my players didn't enjoy playing through it and that was the bottom line.My rant.....im sick of AOW!!
My group and i though in the towel the other night after another tpk against another STUPID monster(ROPE GOLEM...COME ON!)
We spent 2 weeks trying to get into this Ball so we can talk to this chick and another night roleplaying through the stupid thing and final she said....come see me in a couple of nights!!ARGGHHH.....g!% d&~ i hate this adventure, why couldn't have she just said that 3 weeks ago!??
Well thank god our DM has seen the light, so after a friggen tree killed us we said FUDGE THIS lets go and play low levels again.
And it doesn't help that i can't stand dungeon hacks which this adventure seems to put you in everytime the writers don't know what they should do next, so now we have started a low level game in the Warhammer world and im loving it!
No stupid spells, no bloody hitpoints, no friggen hits of 150 damage this is what roleplaying SHOULD be!
Yup it was the same with us, my DM was, as he put it, 'going through the motions' with this adventure.
Im sorry but i don't agree with the dinner party aye - that was crap. Maybe it was our group im not sure, there was a funny bit though when my LE Half Dragon/Dwarf Rogue pushed a halfling woman off the cliff to get her prezzy for the Prince but that was it, you just had to sit on this boring rollercoster and wait till the end....We gave up around 10th level a while ago but came back to it because we thought it should be finshed but we got to around 15th and tpkd again and had enough.
But as a player i know what you mean with the slow down thing, it bugs the crap outta me aswell.
|
|
Here's what pisses me off today.
Cars the dvd doesn't come out til Nov 7th.
But the advertisements have been on for 2 weeks.
My son wants it real bad. He doesn't understand that I can't get it for him yet; he's only three.
I want to not buy it at all--I'm no Pavlov Dog!
Rot in hell, Disney Scum, with your smarmy little goody goody pablum; you're a bunch of bastiches!!!
|
|
Here is the background for my rant:
Rainy friday night. On the way home after a church-sponsered costume party that mother-in-law invited us to. Speed limit 50. It was stormy so actual speed about 35. Car in fornt of me hits the left turn signal to turn into a parking area. The road expands into a turn lane and a passing lane to bypass the turning ones. I slow down to go around. Dude is stopped and getting ready to turn. I see his blinker shut off in mid blink as I am preparing to pass (20ft away maybe). He (as an immediate action) cuts out of his lane and into mine at least halfway. I tried to ride the road-edge around him (no time to stop)and get dragged into a 3' deep ditch on the side of the road. I avoided impacting his car because I am leery of 2 vehicles getting entangled with my son on that side of the vehicle. Dude's explaination: "I was lost and decided instead of turning left that I would pull over to the side of the road.". All involved are fine, I need to replace a wheel and tire (hoping no other unseen damage). As I sat there with this idiot waiting for the cop to come, he starts trying to spin this into my fault with lame made-up crap excuses.
My Rant.
I hate people who refuse to acknowledge any wrong-doing even when there are witnesses, and all facts support the witnesses. I hate that Cronic Stupidity is usually fatal to innocent people in addition to the "Common-sense challenged". Dude, the only reason you still are walking is because my kids and wife weren't hurt. The attitude that you gave me after being too-stupid-to-live would have had you beaten severely if one of mine was hurt.
I understand that accidents happen. I do what I can to eliminate dangerous situations. I do not drive on Friday or Saturday nights so as to avoid the drunks (I made an exception this one time in the last 1-1/2 years).
I could barely drive my family to church today because I am terrified of having something beyond my control hurt my kids. Thanks dude. I feel like a victim and I hate it. I hate you for doing this to me. I hate that my daughter (3-1/2) is acting hysterical when she sees ditches now. Thanks. You didn't even get a ticket because I managed to avoid slamming into you. You get to go about your life scot-free @ss*%le. I have me and my wife both jumping at every brake light and turn signal we see. Thanks. Cop told me he was amazed that I kept the mini-van on all 4's and didn't and fly back out of the ditch and into you.
Thanks for victimizing my family d*ckhe@d. I can't believe I restained myself enough to avoid punching you in the throat. You didn't deserve that restraint from me.
FH (what doesn't kill us makes nasty emotional scars)
|
|
And in addition to the above. Thank you to the nice couple who gave my wife and kids a ride home and didn't hack them up, rob them, etc. all the bad stuff that sounded like it could be a headline. Thank you to the Volunteer Fireman who stopped by to lend a hand, and all the civil servants out there. Your work is much appreciated. Thank you to the Officer who responded for understanding that I just had to shed a few and for helping me get my limping vehicle out of the ditch and a spare on.
I have the names of all involved and I will be responding with my profound thanks all around.
Thank you god for helping keep my family safe during a difficult situation and giving me the strength to keep my head.
FH
|
|
Dude, same deal sorta...
Three years ago this chick pulls a left hand turn in front of me, in the rain; the left lane had a line of cars in it. I was going 25 m.p.h. So she pulls in front of me and I can't brake fast enough......BAM!
And you know what she says?
"Well, the guy in the left lane waved me on, so that meant your lane was clear, so you must have been speeding."
WHAT? YOU STUPID IMBECILE!!! How does that make sense? Dummy.
Wait...if I just shut up, that's the same story she'll tell the sheriff when he gets here, and he'll write her up.
So she does, and I get my car fixed free. I thought comparative negligence would mess me up somehow, but I was 100% innocent.
And then, her husband shows up, and starts running his whiney mouth about this and that, and I don't punch him in the neck or anything. I still wish, to this day, I coulda punched him in the neck. B#!@@+@% dummy.
It's too bad they give just any dummy a driver's license in this country.
I'm glad you're physically okay though. Hope your kid feels better, man.
I hate people who don't seem to understand the function of blinkers in the first place. "I can turn whenever and wherever I want, without informing anyone, and it'll be fine because the world revolves around me!"
As i mentioned several months ago, it's always a good idea to self-assess, reflect, and identify perspective. Point of Perspective is a concept that seems lost on some folks in society today. Don't confuse exploring Perspective with a laissez-faire attitude. The phrase: "To each his/her own" is dismissive; it does not encourage one to seek out and explore other's ideas nor will it help with the ability to empathize with others. So, with this preface in mind, I pretty much feel the same as i did almost a year ago - you can find this rant on page 1 of this thread or HERE:
I'm not sure if i've ever hated anything in my entire life. Hate is a very strong word and i think has been hijacked by some of the other feelings that you all have described here. I'll do a quick find/replace for hate and replace it with dislike and other such verbiage. In the vein of being malcontent, here goes:
I dislike a general lack of education for players and DMs.
I am not fond of pride or selfishness, both of which contribute to ignorance.
I distain using laziness as a justification for anything. Laziness breeds stupidity.
I take exception to any other system of tabletop governance other than Democracy. A DM is not a dictator and the sum of players is not greater than the DM...Unawares DMs or players will consistantly encounter problems in their games.
I abhor generalizing (in general -lol), unilatarilizing, typing, grouping, or "body of working" for answering any rules-related question (stat-block related). This is otherwise recognized as narrow-mindedness.
And finally, I can't stomach refusing to or failure recognize one's own faults. Placing blame for anything that you can control yourself (by whatever means necessary), suggests any one (or more) of the following: ignorance, pride, selfishness, laziness, poor governance, and narrow-mindedness.
Happy Halloween
As ever,
ACE
|
|
I distain using laziness as a justification for anything. Laziness breeds stupidity.
Who are you calling stupid?!
Actually, I disagree anyway. I'm lazy but I'm not stupid. Laziness coupled with intelligence breeds efficiency. Why do things the hard way? And half the time, if you wait long enough, the reason for why you needed to do the thing you aren't doing because you are too lazy goes away anyway. Which means, of course, it didn't need to be done in the first place.
While laziness is not to be celebrated above industriousness, it is underrated. It certainly isn't the same thing as stupidity. To assume otherwise, if I might be so bold, is a lazy generalisation.
...I'm lazy but I'm not stupid. Laziness coupled with intelligence breeds efficiency. Why do things the hard way?...
To use your noodle to do a task using the least amount of effort is not lazy. That's being smart. I think if you're lazy, things just don't get done. Periode. That's my take on it, anyway...
Ultradan
Allright, a few ranty bits...
If a player is going to show up tired and/or in an emotional morass...don't show up at all...
If a player is going to distract everyone by constantly mentioning TV shows and going on long diatribes about the government...stay home and watch TV and cable news...
If you feel the need to discuss the "real life" science behind Zombies, you are playing the wrong game...Zombies in D&D have nothing to do with pufferfish toxins or government experiments gone wrong, last time I checked.
Don't try to squeeze in an extra action after your turn is over by hollering things at the DM in rapid succession. It makes me want to ban you from the table. Last night, during a scene when something in the STAP (no spoilers) was going to happen, regardless of what the players said to an NPC, a player refused to stop yelling at me so that I could have a moment to describe the event, which would have nicely set the mood for the rest of the players.
I guess that's the kernel of my rant. If you are going to disrupt the game and the mood of the adventure... don't bother coming... Now, how do you say that to a friend without hurting your friendship?
Its not just because its inconsiderate to me (the DM) but its inconsiderate to other players, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
And P.S: If you are going to eat a full share of Pizza, drink soda and beer etc... please contribute a few bucks (as previously agreed). I spend an average of $50-$75 on gaming (good beer, pizza, soda, water, chips, snacks, dessert- I Live in NY so its all more expensive) at my house per week, and a few bucks goes a long way towards making me feel like I am not a sucker for doing it.
Thanks for listening to my yammering, folks...
Most assuredly so. My 3 lady players love nothing more than hack and slash. Role-playing is nice, but they want to KILL, KILL, KILL!!
I've noticed that those stereotypes about female gamers being more plot and roleplaying intense than male gamers are just that: stereotypes. I've never seen someone more enthused to bash in a goblin skull with a dwarven waraxe. And engage in in-character idiocy with the other crazed, sword waving jerks.
That's been my experience as well. It isn't always that they're failing to assert role playing skills because of a feminine lack of confidence around strong dynamic men... often it's an actual bloodlust. Women hunger to brutalize, man. Don't be fooled.
Sure they would, but it has to be proportional, and it has to make sense. To give away something for nothing the something needs to be pretty small, and the nothing has to have a good sounding story (which need not be true).
Folks real-life give homeless people $0.25, $1, or even $5 for nothing. (or at least for a good story, or for a chance to feel like they are helping someone).
Folks (real-life again) give students money for football programs, or school trips which is "nothing" for them.
So in-game I would expect a PC to be able to convince a wealthy merchant to donate money to an orphanage, or to a city defense fund, or something else that sounds worthy. If the PC just pockets the money, well that's the PC's problem. Because sooner or later someone will discover that the city defense fund is empty, the orphanage doesn't exist, or whatever. Then the wealthy merchant might well decide to get his honor back, maybe with the help of some mercenaries, or the kings guard, or poison. Or a curse on the next donation.
You also won't be able to convince a wealthy merchant to donate so much that they have nothing left to fund revenge with. If you could, well some other con man would have made away with it all by now.
A PC could convince a not so wealthy NPC to give up a tiny bit of copper, or some of the summer harvest (er, fall harvest?). That won't be nearly so dangerous because the not so wealthy can seldom call anyone in to help...but once in a while they might no someone that can twist a curse. Plus the PC isn't so likely to spend half an hour role playing bilking someone out of a piglet or two eggs.
The above listed con-man argument doesn't play out as well for a poor NPC. They might have once...
I think it would also depend on the general comunity alignment. A chaotic evil town would have people hanging out in gangs and probably laugh at the PC asking for some copper. On the other hand a Neutral Good town might have people with a genuine will to help others who need it... If not by giving them money, they could offer free shelter and some food.
Ultradan
I have one rant. And to most people I know who play D&D, it seems like a big one.
Magic.
In my next campaign, I'm eliminating it. Or restricting it, as it were.
The only thing magical is going to be a single PC playing a restricted sorceress. Her char will lv. up slower, learn far fewer and less powerful spells, and actually grow physically weaker when she does use her magic.
I do this only because she had already put alot of work into her char's background, and we worked out a reasonable plot to base the campaign around.
Now then, to the ranting.
Magic.
I love to play D&D. Nothing wrong with the game, save for the sheer and undeniable dependence on magic later in the game...
When a PC charges full-bore at a beholder and thinks to him/herself, "I wonder how much Exp I'm going to get?" something is wrong.
Or, put more simply, "Eh, who cares? The cleric will heal me right?"
I've grown sick and tired of the "I'm going to forgo my personal safety and attack that Great Wyrm Black Dragon because I have a +5 _____ing _____ sword of _____ing _____." Or, "I just reached lv. X, now I can cast Q amount of lv. H spells and do Zd20 +157 points of damage for Fd6 rounds. Oh, and I can quicken it too."
Yeah...
I mean, I know that not all players are like that... but it doesn't matter how well thought out the encounter was, or how clever the NPCs were supposed to be, every campaign that I've played in, even ones I've heard stories about, has broken down to "Who has the best magical item/spell?"
By removing the magic aspect from the game, the players now have to care about what their PCs do. They have to put thought into what items/weapons they carry, they have to think about what they say to NPCs...
Most note-worthy and game influencing of all, the players will now have to treat each and every encounter, every danger for what it really is. Deadly. Be it 50 gnolls raiding a village, or a single, one-armed runt kobold with a stick...
I didn't do this to take away from the fantasy of the game. I did it to enhance the suspence, the character development, and the feeling of accomplishment from knowing that YOU were victorious, not some wizard's spell-book...
-Kurocyn
Are you complaining because you feel like the magic is doing the work for the characters? I ask mainly because of the last sentance (stating that the character is victorious, not the spellbook). Well, the whole thing has really gotten me confused, but that last sentance seemed to shed a bit of light.
Again, you feel like the magic is doing the work for the characters? Well, so is a fighter's sword. I don't see a complaint there. Following that route, no one is allowed to wear any armor. In fact, the only armor bonuses that should be allowed are Dodge, Dexterity, and Natural, so that YOU are defeating the attack, not your armor. Everyone should have to fight unarmmed, so that YOU are defeating the foe, not your weapon.
See the problem?
The game is designed to incorporate magic. Of course it's about having good magic items at higher levels! It's part of the rewards system of the game, and one of the things that players strive for as they level up.
Magic doesn't sound like its the root of your problem. If you players don't care about the beholder as anything more than XP, that's either because they're just that detatched, over-confident, or come from an MMO culture where enemies are viewed as nothing more than that. OR, dare I say, perhaps they aren't being challenged enough.
I recently ran a game where all the characters were ECL 10. They died after two fights, total TPK, despite having magical mithril full plate and a magical speed greatsword and a sorcerer and a cleric/wizard/mystic theurge and a druid who summoned creatures like crazy. Totally decked out with magical gear. Didn't help them. And they were fully healed and taking on an encounter that was only an EL or so higher than the party level.
There are plenty of ways to keep the game challenging despite the abundance of magic. In fact, it's hard not to. Players become monster fodder if they don't have the right gear. If you want to reduce the amount of magic available, that's fine, but it requires serious tinkering to get it all right and balanced, and for that amount of effort, you'd be just as well off getting a whole new game system, because D&D is built upon the basis that magic is very available to parties.
That comment is so antethetical to what the basis of D&D is that its hard to come up with an appropriate response.
Unless you were being completely sarcastic in that whole post, in which case I apologize.
EDIT- Of course no one in their right minds is going to attack a great wyrm black dragon, but this is a game, and the players are meant to be heroes that do amazing things! They want their fighters and mages to tackle such an impossible challenge and win. It's one of the driving reasons for playing. It's fantasy; that means things are supposed to be fantastic, and I don't mean that in the interior-designer sense of the word.