Look, if you just round it off, you'll see that you have 100% of your load.
Kinda creaky. I work at a desk under a garage. Fan of TTRPGs, science, Anthropology, speculative fiction, webcomics...too many interests.
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Look, if you just round it off, you'll see that you have 100% of your load.
Accidentally?
The thing is, Vance's magic system doesn't work the way people think it does. Mages always seem to memorize the right spells for the occasion, and they overpower the thing they are cast to deal with. So they are basically 2-6 "I win" buttons for scenes, allowing the plot to advance.
I became more tolerant of his idea when I realized that cell phones are a soft magic system.
I’ve heard from a couple of messaging strategists now that people shouldn’t post so much about COVID19 vaccines because it’s “divisive”. I am here to say that I do not give a damn what is popular. I will never ignore scientific evidence for the sake of expediency, and neither should anyone else.
That is what I've been saying: Trump won't die, he'll just switch to video only apppearences, "due to security concerns". Even long after he couldn't possibly be alive, he'll be speaking in "live" video, and no news media will comment on how bizarre his speech is... At least that's the nightmare.
Snowden is exactly the person all the shitlibs claimed he was and like every time the shitlibs turn out to be right about one of these guys all the cool kids have just memory holes their years of support for him and pretend they never defended the guy.
What, you weren't even going to take the raccoon's music suggestions?
This reminds me that Runequest doesn't have orcs or goblins, B but they DO have actual baboons. Talking, bad tempered baboons.
Donald Trump’s rumored death raises new questions about Joe Biden’s health
A lot of the tropes of SF simply don't hold up any more except as pure fantasy: FTL, Galactic Empires mimicking Rome, Women doing eugenics and manipulating empires through sex, mathematics proving political or social theories, old men giving pithy explanations of politics and women, and so on.
The subgenre of fantasy known as classic science fiction is one of very specific terminology and attitudes, and a culture of by and for men (yes I know about all the women writers, I'm talking culture). Men who wanted an open frontier like in the westerns, only with more empires, racism and sexism.
This reminds me of the people in the 80s complaing about how the Western Genre died. "Why aren't people doing stories about the opening of the West, brave settlers and noble cowboys bringing civilization to that wild land?" Sci Fi is dying for much the same reasons. It's assumptions are questioned.
It doesn't even hallucinate, because it has no consciousness. It just regurgitates data which matches the input, whether it's correct or not.
Meanwhile I'm just trying to find the name of ANY of the plain sheet metal cooking appliances that my favorite Korean camper-blogger uses.
And that's only worthwhile because we've been outdone by the Koreans and their Maxim instant coffee. I guess if the coffee has to REALLY compete with tea, they have to try harder.
Given the way the Internet is going, in five hundred years historians will be arguing which set of these stories is closest to the historical core. Others will argue they never existed, that they are mythical figures like King Arthur or Martin Luther King...
It's even less useful, btw, for writers to apply "rules" and metrics they've been given for fiction in advice books or critique to much older "classics." Thinking here of the writer at the beginning of the "actually selling things" part of their career who went back and
"I brought you three more severed heads." "Aww, how sweet!”
Authors, you know what to do.
If those people are not concerned about the crimes that do the most damage to society, then I would submit the actual issue is not really crime at all. Which brings us again to the question: what skin color are these people imagining when they think "crime"?
Rogue Nightcrawler Wolverine Aruba Jamaica Ooh I wanna take ya
Somehow I don't think you mean wage theft by employers, which of the most common crime in the US. Would you care to tell us the race of the people you think commit the most crimes?
I thought the whole idea was to eliminate the privacy of thought.
What, you mean there's Cheerios with actual flavor?
Based on what I commonly see on Bluesky, we might as well call ourselves New Yorkers.
I am REALLY curious what word he would use instead of LGBTQ or PoC. Though I get the strong feeling the right-wing "Democrats" would like for those populations to simply not be mentioned. Like ever.
I made this for you. And you. And your trans friend. And their cis friend’s trans kid. And your lawyer friend who does pro bono. And your mom who keeps saying we’re overreacting. And your attorney. And your partner. And your provider. And your representative. And your city councilor. But mostly you.
Let's make it clear- number one reason to loath Governor Haircut is his anti trans people position. But there's so many other reasons as well. As a union member CSU his lack of support or leadership is appalling.
www.humblebundle.com/books/martha... - Martha Wells bundle, benefitting World Central Kitchen.
Axy's cutting the panel in two is REALLY cool! If it were me, I might reduce Wiz's dialogue in the first three panels, unless he's the type that does talk way too much in combat. In that case, the Kobold interrupting his monologue might work.
You're trolling, aren't you.
Whoops! My bad. Of course I would emphasize this as "Most likely your next character after your group rolls badly on the reaction table when meeting the hobgoblin tribe..."
Chattel slavery was so bad that when we tell you how bad it in fact was most of y'all shut down and tell us we're making it up and pass laws against us ever telling you how bad it was again because your brains literally cannot handle how bad it in fact was.
You didn't mention one of the major advantages of henchmen- a ready source of replacement characters for when their employer gets squished by a trap or dragged off by ghouls. Since henchmen tend to advance rapidly at first, they are a better choice than bringing a new character in.
It's like getting a birthday card from your grandparents with $5.00 in it.
Well it's not like I'm going to stop anyway, so...
If you see this, post a witch
we have both computers and science fiction because Byron was so insufferable it inspired all the women around him to come up with elaborate reasons to get away
Since guns and blades are equally useless, I'd say it would be right on the X axis, way out into wet.
Twilight 2000 Morrow Project Millennium's End
Having worked for an upscale law firm, I know the nastiest comments are from lawyers about their own clients. There is a deep bitterness from lawyers working wealthy people divorces, though they weren't even as nasty as the driveway easement fights...
Make a band food: Latke Street Dive
This is literally the best thing I've seen on Bluesky this week. I'll get the ingredients next time I go to the store, and make them next weekend.
Well yeah, I did eventually turn in a term paper.
I know, right? It's like that time a few decades ago in college when I said I was going to do a term paper, and for the next three semesters the professor was all "So where's that term paper?" I should have told him "I am not your bitch."
I am honestly amazed it's still updating, or updating again. It's been ages since I've read it.
Pointing out how safe DC by showing the low crime rates isn’t going to convince conservatives because “people breaking the actual law” isn’t what they mean by “crime”. To them, “crime” includes merely seeing black people, unhoused people, and anyone else the bigots clutch pearls about as “crime”
“You cannot keep your soul intact while building the Torment Nexus. The Torment Nexus is, by definition, a machine that brings torment onto others. It destroys souls. And a soul cannot take a soul and remain whole.” [buttondown.com]
I think a lot of them regarded the dystopia stories as how-to manuals.
Nice job PLA, take a bow.
The most recent survey on the use of AI in programming showed a decrease in production speed by 19%, though the programmers thought it increased their speed by 20%. The success of AI is to make people think it helps when it just makes things worse. arxiv.org/abs/2507.09089
JET SET RADIOOOOOOOOO!
That definition of hard SF is both quotable and guaranteed to annoy hard SF fans. Nicely done!
Look, if the patient dies, then the pain will be numbed, right?
Back when I was running Champions games, the lesson learned repeatedly was to not make player characters that were completely dependant on a device that can be taken away. Well, I didn't learn it, but several players did.
A local ramen restaurant plays jazz versions of themes from Miyazaki movies. It works.
Phantasmal Force would be expensive to cast. It would probably be easier to just hire some nymphs or sprites. And a catgirl of course. Where did catgiels appear in D&D anyway? ... Maybe it's just a down on its luck Rakshasa.
I remember Nightlife-it had a fun collection of monsters one could be character from. I also remember that vampires were kinda screwed, since their nightly blood requirement caused a constant drain of humanity.
"Inappropriate relationship?" I guess Republicsns get the benefit of euphemisms.
"Well I've been off Bluesky a couple days, keys set what's going on with Kingfisher..."
Just pointing out that bubonic plague is still out there...
I think she's running for Congress.
Matt Howarth: what if you saw a cosmic horror and it was playing in an insect-rock band?
For diamond hard SF, I recommend the light novel Rocket Girls by Hōsuke Nojiri. No, seriously. Leaving the humor aside, the technology is all real-world feasible. As in the commercial satellite repair service could actually happen today. Strongly recommended.
Jet Set Radio Crazy Taxi Space Channel Number 5
Dreadnought is currently on sale for $1.99 on Kindle. Now is a great time to start the series, with the third book currently on the editor's desk: www.amazon.com/Dreadnought-...
One argument against it is it's too soon. If Trump is forced out before two years are up, Vance loses an extra term as president.
It basically started off as a parody of self-insert characters, and has gone downhill from there.
That basically contradicts the Forge belief that every RPG should be about one thing, and the mechanics should be focused on that thing.
Blade will have a leather trenchcoat. And TWO katanas!
The best illustration of gaze is this video in which someone swapped the video game character skins between Batman and Catwoman. Both characters are fully clothed but the camera treats one very differently from the other. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUWB...
Remember, the goal of AI and LLMs has NEVER been to do anything better than humans, or even increase human capability. It's to save money by firing people. As such, accuracy is not needed- just an output that looks good
Garbage In, Garbage Out. AI developers don't believe GiGo exists, which explains a lot of the stupidity of LLMs. The answer to this from the pro AI side is to move into a post- accuracy society, where it doesn't matter if results correspond to reality. If people die as a result? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
He isn't even radical right wing. He's radical nothing. He turns whichever way the popular media and big business turns.
You don't understand. You're the frog, and he's the scorpion. Give him the opportunity to do a heel turn and a backstab, and he'll do it. He's screwed over LGBTQ people, unions, farm laborers and educators...and you want to support him? That's idiotic.
*Double checks* Oh hell. It's NOT The Onion
Oh man, the gardening community? There's going to be bloody trowels and hand weeders over this. 😱
As a union number, I low-key loathe him, even outside of his throwing LGBTQ people under the train. Some people will just throw themselves at any white politician.
Governor Haircut screwed over my union for years. He had to be forced by Biden government to sign a bill helping farmworkers to unionize. We can do better.
* Korus wishes they could sometimes hold back the truth, when it forces its way past their lips into the world. Revealing the future rarely helps. * Jenny Black knows that magecraft and survival is all about will, and secrets: gathering, hoarding, trading, revealing them.
It depends on the character. * Dynadin has read about keeping secrets in a book somewhere. * Erinys has learned to her regret the cost of keeping secrets. * Kori, the interdimensional "diplomat" knows some details are best kept from those who wouldn't understand. For their own good. (1)
I'm pretty sure all AV writers are all failed scriptwriters who are incredibly bitter that their screenplay about an oh so serious serious and deep family drama set in a dying New England fishing village never sold.
Arguably anybody with the family name Takeshita. Especially among Americans who don't know how to pronounce Japanese. I remember back in the 80s when Takeshita was Japanese prime Minister, news anchors were visibly sweating when trying to pronounce his name.
I'm happy to state that my curse is still in effect- if I attend a game the hometown team loses.
Like eating other people.
I don't know why the systems always end up as 5000 words and multiple charts to describe... an elemental magic system. With mana. I dunno, my takeaway on how to write magic from "The Prodigal Mother" is: Make it Short. Make it Evocative. Make it Weird.
Select the pistol, and then, select your horsegirl.
It doesn't reflect poorly on the system, but it DOES point out that the system is narrowly focused to do one type of scenario. It is intended to do fantasy crime scenarios that burn through stress, with a recovery period between. Which was my point in the first place.
I have a game where they tried adapting BitD to a superhero setting. It is a gawdawful mess, and one of the worst applications of mechanics to scenario that I've seen in 45 years of gaming. So if system matters, that's a complete failure of the system.
The fact that V:tM could attenpt many types of genres meant it could have a much broader appeal than any narrowcast Forge darling. Lets face it, you don't have a lot of flexibility with Blades in the Dark, the way you do with V:tM.
But wait! I have more! The Forge fundamentally missed why Vampire was popular, because of their belief that a game should have a laser focus on ONE thing. But with V:tM you could do personal horror, politics, supers with fangs... maybe not well, but there was room for many types of games.
GNS isn't actually a description of game types or general play styles, but an advertisrment for a particular gaming style. The only useful description of gaming styles is the two-axis system based on the old WOTC survey. web.archive.org/web/20201107...
I want to play the oldster (at least age 30!) who doesn't quite get how this newfangled technology works. Has the ability to slow down or crash the entire node purely by accident.
They check by saying something in Lawful Good. If the other guy replies in Lawful Good, its all fine. Alignment Languages FTW.
I blame 3rd Edition. Every change: skils, feats, hit points, multiclassing, saves, movement... all served to weaken the fighter and make them less capable and interesting.
