The day the Stormtroopers come knocking at your door, you'll wish you had emigrated.
Fixed that for you.
I live in the Washington, D.C. area and went to an soiree at the New Zealand embassy earlier this week, meant to introduce the country to Americans potentially interested in moving there. They're crying out for IT people, and they certainly made it seem nice there. I thought it was interesting that the room was full of smart, capable people who found NZ's ideas intriguing and wanted to subscribe to their newsletter. Food for thought.
Until they come out with an ebook reader that has a full color, 200+dpi (reflective, not emmissive) display that itself is letter-size or larger (or perhaps a tabloid-sized dual screen display that folds in half a little like opening a book), I'm just not interested.
That's okay; you weren't the target market anyway.
No, it's not about food -- it's about compassion. I won't eat gummi bears or wear leather because of the unspeakable cruelty that happens to the animals used to make them. If you think that makes me a "wack-job", I truly hope that says more about you than it does about me.
I can't recall the comedian, but someone once noted "Why do vegetarians need to make their food (tofu pups, veggieburgers) look like meat they simply wont eat? You don't see monks keeping blow-up dolls just hanging around."
Like many vegans, I'm in it for ethical reasons, not because meat doesn't taste good. I've very happy that there are fake meats that are getting ever closer to tasting like (and more importantly, having the texture of) the real thing. Some of them are awful, but some of them are spookily good. Either way, I find that compassion is the best sauce.
The real problem isn't that all this corrupting money is chasing political power, the real problem is that there's all that political power available in the first place for it to chase. If the federal government were truly limited, then there'd be a lot less reason to try to buy it.
I've always thought that about SimCity, Civilization, Birth of the Federation, and all those other micromanagement games. Thing is, it may be realistic for the city/empire/whatever to prosper more the less you do, but it's also a pretty boring game.
For those hearkening for the good old days of first edition AD&D, check out OSRIC, a free PDF that uses the same rules as 1e but puts them into new words. (Evidently, you can copyright words but not the math behind a gaming system.) They did a good job.
I actually went out and bought Races and Classes, and the explanation for why they weren't including gnomes in the initial PHB is that they couldn't find an iconic fantasy archetype for them. This struck me as a serious failure of imagination. Gnomes do have an archetypal quality, because whether we're talking about Tinker Gnomes or the more garden variety (ha ha), the attribute that defines them is that they are inquisitive and interested in aspects of the mind. That's why they worked so well as illusionists, and why they would interested in adventuring despite their small size and physical vulnerability.
This is also what made them so interesting to roleplay. That's what it used to be about. You wouldn't just select powers, feats, and the like, you'd come up with a clever backstory. This is an aspect to the game about which I've so far seen no emphasis whatsoever in what commentary we've seen from Wizards' people about the upcoming edition.
I do appreciate the effort you all are doing to balance things in terms of combat ability, and I realize that this is an important part of the game even for those of us more into storytelling than hack 'n' slash. I'm perfectly okay with the demise of the Vancian spell system and in the work you're doing to give fighters more choices in combat. But I'm concerned that so far everything I've seen is designed to equalize characters from a combat perspective, even if it means watering down those aspects that made them unique and interesting. I mean, dwarves don't live in underground halls? Halflings cruise around on riverboats? You found room for two kinds of elves, tieflings, and the Dragonboring, but not gnomes? Because they're not iconic enough?
I have no reason to doubt that math behind the system will be better than it was in 3e. But Dungeons & Dragons is more than science, it's also art. Please don't leave storytelling behind.
Slashdot Mirror
Wouldn't that mean it would eventually dissipate into the larger uberverse via Hawking radiation?
Our ass? I don't share my ass with anyone, pal.
The irony lump didn't actually hit me, because it saw that I was going for funny, not informative.
Um, dude, it's a walkie-talkie.
It's from Wayne's World 2. Doesn't anyone watch the classics anymore?
Satire is covered by free speech.
No, parody is covered by fair use, and that's not the same thing.
The day the Stormtroopers come knocking at your door, you'll wish you had emigrated.
Fixed that for you.
I live in the Washington, D.C. area and went to an soiree at the New Zealand embassy earlier this week, meant to introduce the country to Americans potentially interested in moving there. They're crying out for IT people, and they certainly made it seem nice there. I thought it was interesting that the room was full of smart, capable people who found NZ's ideas intriguing and wanted to subscribe to their newsletter. Food for thought.
Hey, who let the RIAA guy in?
I've walked through with a substantial amount of dinitrotoluene in my pockets before and never been stopped.
So, is that a substantial amount of dinitrotoluene in your pocket or are you happy to see me?
Until they come out with an ebook reader that has a full color, 200+dpi (reflective, not emmissive) display that itself is letter-size or larger (or perhaps a tabloid-sized dual screen display that folds in half a little like opening a book), I'm just not interested.
That's okay; you weren't the target market anyway.
So long as they're entertaining, I say the more the merrier.
This was modded funny? If OP had called them a derogatory term would it have been modded insightful? What a disgrace.
No, it's not about food -- it's about compassion. I won't eat gummi bears or wear leather because of the unspeakable cruelty that happens to the animals used to make them. If you think that makes me a "wack-job", I truly hope that says more about you than it does about me.
However, we have to remember that most animals don't have compassion for us or for each other.
No, nor do I expect them to. But the point isn't what they are and what they do, it's what we are and what we do.
I can't recall the comedian, but someone once noted "Why do vegetarians need to make their food (tofu pups, veggieburgers) look like meat they simply wont eat? You don't see monks keeping blow-up dolls just hanging around."
Like many vegans, I'm in it for ethical reasons, not because meat doesn't taste good. I've very happy that there are fake meats that are getting ever closer to tasting like (and more importantly, having the texture of) the real thing. Some of them are awful, but some of them are spookily good. Either way, I find that compassion is the best sauce.
There's nothing to worry about here. Everyone knows that SG-1 will save the Earth from Apophis.
I find it sad that those of religious pursuasion are prepared to make definitive statements without the facts to back them up.
Um, doesn't "definitive statements without the facts to back them up" pretty much define what a religion is?
And what was the truth doing with its pants off that gave the lie such a big head start, hmm?
I did this once. Your mod points are undone and lost.
The real problem isn't that all this corrupting money is chasing political power, the real problem is that there's all that political power available in the first place for it to chase. If the federal government were truly limited, then there'd be a lot less reason to try to buy it.
Or just download OSRIC for free, since it's specifically designed to consist of all the same rules as first edition.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=29401&it=1&filters=0_0_10094
It's one of the few places you'll find roleplayers willing to try just about anything.
Actually, you can find that sort of thing just about everywhere.
I've always thought that about SimCity, Civilization, Birth of the Federation, and all those other micromanagement games. Thing is, it may be realistic for the city/empire/whatever to prosper more the less you do, but it's also a pretty boring game.
For those hearkening for the good old days of first edition AD&D, check out OSRIC, a free PDF that uses the same rules as 1e but puts them into new words. (Evidently, you can copyright words but not the math behind a gaming system.) They did a good job.
I actually went out and bought Races and Classes, and the explanation for why they weren't including gnomes in the initial PHB is that they couldn't find an iconic fantasy archetype for them. This struck me as a serious failure of imagination. Gnomes do have an archetypal quality, because whether we're talking about Tinker Gnomes or the more garden variety (ha ha), the attribute that defines them is that they are inquisitive and interested in aspects of the mind. That's why they worked so well as illusionists, and why they would interested in adventuring despite their small size and physical vulnerability.
This is also what made them so interesting to roleplay. That's what it used to be about. You wouldn't just select powers, feats, and the like, you'd come up with a clever backstory. This is an aspect to the game about which I've so far seen no emphasis whatsoever in what commentary we've seen from Wizards' people about the upcoming edition.
I do appreciate the effort you all are doing to balance things in terms of combat ability, and I realize that this is an important part of the game even for those of us more into storytelling than hack 'n' slash. I'm perfectly okay with the demise of the Vancian spell system and in the work you're doing to give fighters more choices in combat. But I'm concerned that so far everything I've seen is designed to equalize characters from a combat perspective, even if it means watering down those aspects that made them unique and interesting. I mean, dwarves don't live in underground halls? Halflings cruise around on riverboats? You found room for two kinds of elves, tieflings, and the Dragonboring, but not gnomes? Because they're not iconic enough?
I have no reason to doubt that math behind the system will be better than it was in 3e. But Dungeons & Dragons is more than science, it's also art. Please don't leave storytelling behind.