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I thought you hated math. Or is it only math that can't be applied to snow, Winter, or Money?Snow!!!^5
Or the confusing mathematics that describe the curvature and natural(or artificial) gifts of the female form.
Or tabletop gaming.
Or video games.
...
That's about it.
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I used to like mvping, but it doesn't work well with friends.
Sneak Attack!!!
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...
Of course.
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Just remember, with friends like this, who needs enemas.
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Good grief. Is this a random group for PFS or something or is this s table of theoretically friends? If the former it at least makes some sense that they're being overly expectant idiots, if the latter I can't see any logical excuse.Speaking of hopeless situations, it sucks to be the healer.
DPS purists scoff at the notion of healing in combat at all. "If you can't one-round it so it doesn't have a chance to do damage, you're not playing right."
Party members act as if your time and resources are infinite. "Oh, if I go there I'll be flanked by three dual-wielding NPCs who do precision damage? No worries! It's a tactically-advantageous position, and my healer can get me through it?"
If you do something offensive, people get offended.
Yeah, today we faced an undead BBEG. I had a high initiative, walked up, hit his touch AC with an 18 on the die, blew through his SR with a 19 on the die, and then his 6 on the die failed his Will save. 130 points later, BBEG never got an action in the round, nor did the low-initiative fighter of Gorum.Nuked the BBEG, got yelled at by everybody.
Sucks to be the healer.
Surprisingly, this is my good group -- heavy on the roleplay, building PCs based on the story, etc.
They're usually really good, and they didn't overtly complain. There was just a great deal of obvious disappointment around the table when the BBEG dropped, and a lot of in-game RP about how selfish I was to not have let anyone else had a shot at it.
But yeah, there's also a lot of, "Why did you swing at the enemy? You should have been healing!" that's pretty frustrating.
And in spite of having Blade Barrier, Holy Smite, and Flame Strike I pretty much never use 'em any more because of the, "What are you doing? You should be buffing the fighter!" reactions.
They're nice. They're good to game with. But they have expectations as to what a divine caster should be doing that can be annoying.
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...given how weird our group's healers tend to end up, I think we'd give them an aneurysm.
We had the wild magic diplomancer. Now we have Happy Cthulhu Girl and Mister Stare-You-To-Death. Oracles, man. They'll patch you up just fine, but they'll weird you out in the process.
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Erudite. Oww.
The reason why I started GMing was because I got pissed off with GMs. Felt I'd do a better job. After reading that story + various others online, I'd still say I do a better job then most.
Sure I may be anal about rules, snarky and a lot of other things, including not a super RP and rule of cool GM, but at the end of the day, you will get a "fair hearing" so to speak. And I'm dependable and post like an automation.
In fact one of the reasons why I'm not in the rule of cool thing is that what is cool by one person may not be cool by the other.
*sprains paw trying to pet self on the back*
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Ah, Global Megacorporation, how I loathe thee sometimes (and I know Orthos will feel this one):
It's utter anarchy, and it leads to our product, documentation, and training being disjoint, buggy, and frequently unusable.
Why spend hundreds of hours a year developing and publishing standards that everyone ignores!
(Can you tell NobodysHome has 2 hours of meetings this morning to ask his co-workers why they didn't adhere to the standards during last week's lab testing?)
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Tequila sunrise:
Priest has an option for dragon deck, which I did not take because I was aiming for spell deck.
I'm a Spike in magic the gathering terms. But because I copy stuff from online and never actually create my own deck(well I did an inspire pally once for the lulz), when I actually have to do it for dungeon runs, I don't know how to start.
If you want to talk about subsets, I'd probably be a Tuner.
So we cobble along and make do, like a proverbial fish out of water.
Though I must say I always wanted to play around with battle cries and permanently stealth especially with all those delicious, delicious buffs, like grimestreet outfitters and grimestreet enforcers..
Plan: spend morning world building for a game I'm hype to run for my wife
Result: favorite things, skim the forums, and feed my Youngest soup
Hm.
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I play with my wife and kids.
If I kill the kid's characters then I'm an a*#&+*$, and I don't get laid.
If I kill my wife's character, then I'm an a+*~@~@, and I don't get laid.
But, if I kill my own character...
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I'm going to want this time back later. Kids are on workdays for their final big projects for most of my day, so I'm mostly here to field questions on requirements.
Next week will come... The Grading.
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I don't criticize my coworkers, that might draw attention to me.
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One of the things I stick to is if you think the person is doing a bad job, see if you can do better. If you can't, then just s*ck it and don't complain.
It's easy to criticize, not so easy to do.
And there's the rub. I do do things better, every day.
My reward? "Oh, xxx screwed this up again, so we need you to re-do the whole thing and fix it all. And now we're under a time crunch so we need you to do it in half the time it took them."
And yes, I do it, so I'm always the top-ranked member of my team, have job security, and the respect of my peers and all the higher-ups. Even the VP of our division says, "Oh? There's an issue there? Have NobodysHome fix it and clean it up."
It's rewarding, but when the same co-worker makes the same mistake the sixth or seventh time, you start wondering whether they're doing it on purpose just to foist more work on you. Because if there aren't any consequences, then why not?
EDIT: But seriously, when the instructions are, "Stop if you encounter an error," there's no, "Doing it better". You either followed the instructions or you didn't. How is it that half my department can't follow even THAT instruction?
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The Lake of Tears, or Lake of Storms is a rather accurately-named and poorly-labeled inland salt-water sea (or bay) in a region wracked with storms and other dangerous phenomena.
Few today know the origins of the dangers, but all are aware of them. Though if you pay the proper homage, one has little to fear beyond a rough outing, so long as you avoid the "storm cliffs" on the far side.
Although one coast is safe enough, the other three tend to get ever-more dangerous. Further, thanks to the ancient interference of long-passed Druids ages ago, the sea is half-infested with rapidly growing and hardy coral, as well as teeming with hordes of life of all kinds. The cliff-faces that border 3/4 of the sea (albeit "low" for nearly 75% of those) means it is hard to dock and exit from. Of course the desert ridges and mountain ranges and deep gorges and myriads of rivers that flank the place stretching far to the distance means it's still the only passable (word used lightly) point for miles on end. And thus, against all odds, Tzasis (and its Five-Villages) was born.
Tzasis: the gateway to trade. A thorp on an island in control of five villages and 20 some-odd trading caravans makes the only safe passage from one side to the other. Profit is divine.
Picture fantasy Arabic-style Prophets of Kalistrade, but chaotic and debauched. Multiple layers of silk (each layer diaphanous, but the whole effect not... probably) for the clothing.
More later.
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I think you need to lecture the sorry saps who are giving you more work.
Yep. Those are this morning's meetings. Including one in 5 minutes to "talk to" the worst offender.
Taaaaaaa!
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EDIT: But seriously, when the instructions are, "Stop if you encounter an error," there's no, "Doing it better". You either followed the instructions or you didn't. How is it that half my department can't follow even THAT instruction?
But but I'm special! Can't you tell? I don't have to follow basic instructions because they stifle my creativity.
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But yeah...the reward for a job well done is always another job. Talk about a Pavlovian backfire.
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...I have a bunch of kids in my current events class next semester who I think are going to have a rude awakening when they remember I'm not the guy who taught it last year.
They're gonna work.
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I'm at work now, brewing my first pot of tea.Be doing the same myself in about an hour.
Just a few minutes ago, my tea pot imploded.
When I was washing it.
And my hand was inside...
Owie.
Now I have a few cuts, and can't make myself a pot of tea, having to make it one glass at a time, like an animal...
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MVP?
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Who drinks tea in a glass? Surely a mug is a better idea?I'm at work now, brewing my first pot of tea.Be doing the same myself in about an hour.Just a few minutes ago, my tea pot imploded.
When I was washing it.
And my hand was inside...
Owie.
Now I have a few cuts, and can't make myself a pot of tea, having to make it one glass at a time, like an animal...
I have a 400 mL (I think) glass. I don't like drinking tea from cups, glass has much more neutral flavor and thinner wall (thicker wall of typical cup disrupts my enjoyment of tea). Well, at least at home. Everywhere I go, I am surrounded by savages who use cups.
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Ah, Global Megacorporation, how I loathe thee sometimes (and I know Orthos will feel this one):
Oooof.
We aren't global megacorp, but in some ways we're worse: we're "individually owned private corp without shareholders". In some ways this is good, as it means no corporate fatcats declaring random changes on whim.
In other ways it's bad, as Single Entrepreneur Boss can declare random changes on whim.
Today's a great example. Someone hung up the phone after talking to him, but did it by setting the phone back in the cradle rather than by pushing the lever inside the cradle until the call cut. He apparently dislikes the sound a cradle hangup makes. So he pulled a woman off her normal workday and sent her to stop at every office in the building and instruct people on the "proper" method of ending a call.
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Seriously, the sound of people drinking when talking to them over the phone. Ewwwww. And for some bloody obscure reason, people never learn not to do this.
"Would you please not drink when talking to me again? I asked you eight times already."
"Oh, sorry."
*takes another swig*
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Is a glass not rather hot to hold when filled with tea? Surely the advantage of a mug is the handle. Also, the fact that pint mugs exist. No point drinking out of any mug smaller than a pintI have a 400 mL (I think) glass. I don't like drinking tea from cups, glass has much more neutral flavor and thinner wall (thicker wall of typical cup disrupts my enjoyment of tea). Well, at least at home. Everywhere I go, I am surrounded by savages who use cups.Who drinks tea in a glass? Surely a mug is a better idea?I'm at work now, brewing my first pot of tea.Be doing the same myself in about an hour.Just a few minutes ago, my tea pot imploded.
When I was washing it.
And my hand was inside...
Owie.
Now I have a few cuts, and can't make myself a pot of tea, having to make it one glass at a time, like an animal...
I have at least two glasses that have handles.
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Two more days to me seeing new Star Wars...
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Looks like it's "public apology week" for NobodysHome.
Dear Pandora, I apologize for maligning you, even if your account deletion procedures are completely screwed up.
So, as I mentioned, Pandora did not allow me to delete my Pandora Plus account, in spite of the fact that it didn't seem to be doing what I wanted.
Since I'm a debugger, I decided to keep testing. Each day, I'd play Pandora on my laptop until it hit a song I didn't like, then hit "skip".
On Thursday the 8th, a week after I signed up, the skip finally started working. It still didn't work on the "Swagbox 3000" (a Bose Soundtouch Impus Major received last Christmas and promptly renamed). So I removed Pandora from the Swagbox and re-installed it. Success!
So Pandora plus is working as advertised. You just have to:
- Wait a full week after your trial period begins before it starts working
- De-install and re-install Pandora onto all your devices.
No problemo!
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And oh my goodness! Me, my manager, and the other senior team member started stepping on each other's toes this morning in terms of testing, and...
...we STOPPED WHAT WE WERE DOING AND TALKED TO EACH OTHER!!!
Is that even allowed?
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Who drinks tea in a glass? Surely a mug is a better idea?I'm at work now, brewing my first pot of tea.Be doing the same myself in about an hour.Just a few minutes ago, my tea pot imploded.
When I was washing it.
And my hand was inside...
Owie.
Now I have a few cuts, and can't make myself a pot of tea, having to make it one glass at a time, like an animal...
Drejk knows what he's about. Tea in a glass (toughened, ideally, then it doesn't get too hot and you don't have to stick a spoon in it to stop it shattering) is superior.
(Hope you're OK, Drejk, btw)
Plan: spend morning world building for a game I'm hype to run for my wife
Result: favorite things, skim the forums, and feed my Youngest soup
Hm.
A shame to not use the paper and pencil I had, too.
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Tequila sunrise:
Priest has an option for dragon deck, which I did not take because I was aiming for spell deck.
I'm a Spike in magic the gathering terms. But because I copy stuff from online and never actually create my own deck(well I did an inspire pally once for the lulz), when I actually have to do it for dungeon runs, I don't know how to start.
If you want to talk about subsets, I'd probably be a Tuner.
So we cobble along and make do, like a proverbial fish out of water.
I didn't know there were subsets!
From what you're saying you maybe could be making better deckbuilding and/or piloting decisions. Or the 8th boss could just be really tough -- I'm not there yet. Without seeing you in action to get a sense of your situation, all I can suggest with the dungeon runs is: pick a synergy theme and go with it! Spells, dragons, mechs, whatever. The options seem to all be pretty solid, though there is the issue of picking the passives that go best with your chosen theme. (I've gotten a LOT of mileage out of the shaman's improved hero-power passive!)
We should play sometime. :) Or I can spectate a dungeon run and give you suggestions if you want. Do you have a Hearthpwn account, or another site where you can post decklists for suggestions/comment?
Though I must say I always wanted to play around with battle cries and permanently stealth especially with all those delicious, delicious buffs, like grimestreet outfitters and grimestreet enforcers..
I've tried once or twice to make a stealth deck, but there just isn't enough synergy support to make it work. :(
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
And oh my goodness! Me, my manager, and the other senior team member started stepping on each other's toes this morning in terms of testing, and...
...we STOPPED WHAT WE WERE DOING AND TALKED TO EACH OTHER!!!
Is that even allowed?
Check for gas leaks.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
You know you have too many pets when you say "good girl." to the boy dog.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Fortunately I had my phone!
The Lake of Tears, or Lake of Storms is a rather accurately-named and poorly-labeled inland salt-water sea (or bay) in a region wracked with storms and other dangerous phenomena.
Few today know the origins of the dangers, but all are aware of them. Though if you pay the proper homage, one has little to fear beyond a rough outing, so long as you avoid the "storm cliffs" on the far side.
Although one coast is safe enough, the other three tend to get ever-more dangerous. Further, thanks to the ancient interference of long-passed Druids ages ago, the sea is half-infested with rapidly growing and hardy coral, as well as teeming with hordes of life of all kinds. The cliff-faces that border 3/4 of the sea (albeit "low" for nearly 75% of those) means it is hard to dock and exit from. Of course the desert ridges and mountain ranges and deep gorges and myriads of rivers that flank the place stretching far to the distance means it's still the only passable (word used lightly) point for miles on end. And thus, against all odds, Tzasis (and its Five-Villages) was born.
Tzasis: the gateway to trade. A thorp on an island in control of five villages and 20 some-odd trading caravans makes the only safe passage from one side to the other. Profit is divine.
Picture fantasy Arabic-style Prophets of Kalistrade, but chaotic and debauched. Multiple layers of silk (each layer diaphanous, but the whole effect not... probably) for the clothing.
More later.
The backwater (but exceptionally pleasant) lashunta who lived along the (relatively) peaceful coast was one of the least important stops in the midst of an exceptionally long and exceedingly grueling trade route. The elves that took it were, inevitably, only those who were already wealthy and were both interested in a change of scenery, and more exotic goods from across the "barrier rift." Needing places to stop, they would rest at the various small villages along the way.
Their stories and the shockingly vast difference between the exceedingly obvious wealth (and equally obvious exhaustion) of the visitors and eventually gave rise to several different groups of very ambitious lashunta.
Originally considered a fool's quest, several early attempts by groups of villagers failed to establish a secure route. Eventually, a powerful association of the hardiest lashunta from numerous villages made several failed attempts, before the three-dozen or so remaining survivors shipwrecked onto more or less the perfect site. Of the eighty-six adventurers who began the trip, fifteen men managed to find the island and dig enough wells survive the desert island long enough to huddle through the winter. During the spring time, a few of the men - on fishing duty - eventually noticed that this island was in the midst of a set of harsh reefs that created its own little sound: a safe passage to the mainland. They'd settled the other side of the sea, and had found a (relatively) safe place to make landfall. With effort, they learned the safest method of getting to the mainland, and they located a series of five mostly-safe land passages away from the sea and onto the mainland.
With this realization came the slow establishment and colonization of the thorpe, the discovery of the "safe routes" among the reefs, and the eventual establishment of servant-communities - one at the terminus of each of the five known paths through the inhospitable rocky cliffs. With the servant communities established, land-based trade routes via caravans were established from and to each, and more wells were dug to allow life amidst the desert communities.
And so Tzasis prospered far in excesses of its station.
Now, three generations later, Tzasis is still tiny - forty-seven adult individuals live and work and prosper there. But it is powerful, the master of five villages and almost thirty traveling caravans with over one thousand four hundred people to its name - and, perhaps more importantly to its citizens, the world passes through Tzasis on its way from one side of the scare to the other. And so they pay taxes, dues, trade goods, and money flows like water.
... and money is god - especially since Tzasis has none. Though religion is the dominant force in the community, it is a fundamentally atheistic religion that focuses on wealth and the acquisition thereof. The only true law is gaining money and allowing your neighbors to do the same. Nothing else matters.
To that end, the wealthiest five (as accounted by special rituals and an extremely devoted sect of religious servitors) are made the leading council for three months out of the year - this council is called the "Pentarchy" or "Prophecy's Finger" and their rule is nearly absolute. The only laws they may not pass are those that explicitly prohibit others from making money (which, incidentally, includes murdering a man - the penalty for murder is the same as the penalty for anything else: a fine from the actor equal to the projected value of that which was taken; the money either goes to the accused, or to the priesthood (curiously, there is a 100% conviction rate) and anything against the prophecies or religious institutions - such acts are grounds for immediate impoverishment (a sentence eager to be carried out by their money-hungry fellows). Anything else is allowed. Each member of the Pentarchy is given mastery over one of the five villages of Five-Villages, depending on their standing in the Pentarchy. Though wealth and privilege come from such status, the gifts of the villages don't count toward their maintenance of their status as a Finger'.
Money is sacred - whether it's the local gold coin, the elven rupee gems, or the lashunta trade bars matters not: material wealth (and the conspicuous display) is all-consuming. The acquisition and display of such are so important, so divine (in lieu of an actual deity) that almost nothing is verboten, almost nothing prohibited in their acquisition - save only the eradication of that same ability for others. Money is the standard of morality, wealth the sign of good character, and righteousness. It is power, both spiritual, and physical. And the Fingers are the High Priests of the religion, if only for three months.
The Wrist of the Prophecy are the sect of secondary priests that meticulously calculate and recalculate the wealth of every citizen of Tzasis, and are those in charge of selecting the wealthiest and most powerful and enforcing the tenets of the Prophecy. And they do check to ensure all are following the tenets of the Prophecy - most notably the clothing restrictions, though the arcane and twisting working, sexual, interpersonal, and dietary mandates are investigated as well. The clothing mandates are simple: diaphanous silk clothing (usually in layers, though that is not strictly necessary) with half-or-more arm-length gloves, a veil, and a head-covering of some sort (and, of course, jewelry) in order to prevent accidental contact with any of the uninitiated to the prophecies (often called the "unwashed masses"); all must be white or gold, save for the personal family crests (which may be of other colors, and may be displayed on one's person no more than five times, and must be less than one-fifth the space on your over-all outer garb).
The Teeth of the Prophecy are the specialists hired by the priests that no one ever talks about - these are the enforcers who live scattered among the Five-Villages and caravans who wait on the call of the Wrists.
One is not obligated to follow the tenets, but if one does not, they are generally poor and thus socially ostracized. Similarly, charity is allowed, but it accrues debt at 4 times what is given, and if enough charity is accepted, one becomes a slave - no longer a citizen, but an owned piece of chattel.
And with that I'm out of time. More later when I can.
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How have none of them ever written a thesis statement before. It's 11th grade.
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I love how it takes over half the day for me to catch up on Mondays. 339 posts and counting to catch up on from the time I left the office on Friday.
And this is possibly why I don't post that often. I can't keep up with the current conversations.
Don't worry about catching up, if you can't. We are mostly just happy to have you talk about whatever.
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One of the things I stick to is if you think the person is doing a bad job, see if you can do better. If you can't, then just s*ck it and don't complain.
It's easy to criticize, not so easy to do.
And there's the rub. I do do things better, every day.
My reward? "Oh, xxx screwed this up again, so we need you to re-do the whole thing and fix it all. And now we're under a time crunch so we need you to do it in half the time it took them."
And yes, I do it, so I'm always the top-ranked member of my team, have job security, and the respect of my peers and all the higher-ups. Even the VP of our division says, "Oh? There's an issue there? Have NobodysHome fix it and clean it up."
It's rewarding, but when the same co-worker makes the same mistake the sixth or seventh time, you start wondering whether they're doing it on purpose just to foist more work on you. Because if there aren't any consequences, then why not?
EDIT: But seriously, when the instructions are, "Stop if you encounter an error," there's no, "Doing it better". You either followed the instructions or you didn't. How is it that half my department can't follow even THAT instruction?
it sucks when you are the solution to every problem.
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The magic of TL;DR in a random thread like FAWTL.
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You're supposed to keep up on current conversations?
They told me I was supposed to hide in the closet with headphones on unless they needed to ask me something!
You bastards!!