It's Personal...

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 4:15 pm

http://www.sacredandsequential.org/2016 ... vidence-2/

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:11 am

You know, it still amazes me how everything is easier when you have money. I had the idea that having more money would improve my life but I lacked the perspective to understand the sheer magnitude of how much easier it makes every aspect of your life. In a way my health being bad is not a bad thing because it's a challenge to fight against so I don't get completely disconnected from reality. It's surreal...

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 8:36 pm

The realization that I've been a part of this board long enough to actually have the title of King makes me borderline giddy.

The other realization is a bit more sobering...I've been into gaming for a plurality of decades, and I've been thinking about RPG design for at least half of it. Easily enough that one could argue that I have a doctorate in gaming, for as much time and effort I've put into it. But, I've yet to produce anything worth a damn in the field.

Occluded Sun · Post by **Occluded Sun** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 11:51 pm

It sometimes really is the case that we study something instead of doing it.

Why don't you try your hand at designing something? Or many somethings, if game design is like other artistic / technical skills and it takes making many poor things to get one good thing.

Put your beliefs to the test!

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 1:56 pm

virgil wrote: The other realization is a bit more sobering...I've been into gaming for a plurality of decades, and I've been thinking about RPG design for at least half of it. Easily enough that one could argue that I have a doctorate in gaming, for as much time and effort I've put into it. But, I've yet to produce anything worth a damn in the field.

I'm the same way. I look back on ideas I had eight years ago when I decided I was going to "fix 3E". I've had and rejected many such ideas over those eight years, and have done little more than half-ass it and make patch houserules. Also, none of this counts all of the really shitty attempts at games and houserules I did when I used to play 2E...

Eikre · Post by **Eikre** » Fri Feb 12, 2016 3:11 pm

virgil wrote:Easily enough that one could argue that I have a doctorate in gaming [...] But, I've yet to produce anything

When that's the case, you actually have a master's

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Feb 13, 2016 10:09 pm

i just got another reminder that i was born approximately 10 years too late . .
Seriously, i prefer 80's and earlier cars, music, TV shows and movies, anime and cartoons, books . . graaah x.x

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 5:02 pm

Gotta love giving feedback.

Me: "Whoa, this game is awesome."
A wild dev appears!
Dev: "You're just saying it to be friends with me."
Me: "Dude, I don't even know who you are. I really liked the game, is all. Congratulations on making something great, I guess."
Dev: "Ah! I'm so touched! Honest criticism is so rare these days... Sometimes I feel like a fraud. I may think a joke is funny and it falls flat, I think a scene is dramatic and it rings cheap and hollow. When my friends and family praise me, I never know if they're saying the truth or just being nice. How's this?" (shows a design doc for another game)
Me: "...Man, sorry, but this is terrible."
Dev: "Screw you, we're no longer friends! Baww~!"

Kaelik · Post by **Kaelik** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:13 pm

Starmaker wrote:Gotta love giving feedback.

Me: "Whoa, this game is awesome."
A wild dev appears!
Dev: "You're just saying it to be friends with me."
Me: "Dude, I don't even know who you are. I really liked the game, is all. Congratulations on making something great, I guess."
Dev: "Ah! I'm so touched! Honest criticism is so rare these days... Sometimes I feel like a fraud. I may think a joke is funny and it falls flat, I think a scene is dramatic and it rings cheap and hollow. When my friends and family praise me, I never know if they're saying the truth or just being nice. How's this?" (shows a design doc for another game)
Me: "...Man, sorry, but this is terrible."
Dev: "Screw you, we're no longer friends! Baww~!"

Wow... that's... Weird.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 7:42 pm

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 9:13 pm

http://imgur.com/a/x9nTp

Occluded Sun · Post by **Occluded Sun** » Wed Feb 17, 2016 11:33 pm

Those are really rather interesting, AH. They remind me of the woodcut-style illustrations for Le Guin's Earthsea books.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 12:00 am

Yeah. Reminds me of Lind Ward and Sime.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:05 pm

Help.
Have watched Deadpool.
My Nerd-On has not gone done once in over 3 hours by now x.x

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:39 pm

Stahlseele wrote:Help.
Have watched Deadpool.
My Nerd-On has not gone done once in over 3 hours by now x.x

That movie was a ton better than I thought it would be. But I played the video game, and that was...well, retarded in places. A little too "OH HO HO WE'RE SO FUNNY".

So my expectations were irrationally skewed

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:49 pm

Yeah, the game was . . not very good . .
Funny sometimes, but generally bad <.<

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:33 pm

I've been invited to have an informal tea with Political Science Professor, Dr Christopher Clark on Thursday at 2pm. If there some questions you would like me to ask him please message me an I will try to see if I could get them answered. Here is some information about him:

http://politicalscience.unc.edu/staff/c ... her-clark/

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:39 pm

I have never heard of the guy. Ask if he plays D&D.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 8:21 pm

"What would it take to abolish the electoral college, and what would be the benefits and costs of doing so?"

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:28 pm

Prak wrote:"What would it take to abolish the electoral college, and what would be the benefits and costs of doing so?"

I am not Christopher Clark, but so long as we're waiting: A constitutional amendment would be required to change the actual law and literally abolish the electoral college. That would require 34 states to vote in favor of it, which means if 17 or more states oppose, it's not happening. Republicans firmly control about 25 states, depending on how you count it, and the reason they keep losing popular elections is because most of these states are very sparsely populated, which means they as a party benefit from blocking electoral college reform. On top of that, swing states receive disproportionate attention from presidential candidates because most states' electoral votes are winner-take-all, so that gives states like Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania additional incentive to vote against an amendment that would abolish it. Since all states are counted equally, regardless of population, when determining constitutional amendments, the fact that California and their population of nearly 40,000,000 oppose the electoral college counts exactly as much as the opposition of Wyoming's just over 600,000. This makes getting an amendment through nearly impossible.

But there's a way to cheat the system. There is a state pact to give all pact members' electoral votes to whoever wins the popular vote, which will go into effect as soon as the pact controls at least 50.1% the electoral college. Now, big states like California and New York have fewer electoral votes than they should if electoral votes were distributed purely by population, but they still have an enormous amount in absolute terms, so just those two states (two of the three harmed most by the electoral college) gives the pact fully half of its current electoral power of 30% (ish). And to their credit, a lot of smaller states like Rhode Island and Vermont have hopped on as well, though this likely has more to do with their being Democratic states who still end up getting bit by the increased electoral power of Wyoming and Nebraska more than they get helped out by their own increased voting power. Likewise, Texas, who is second only to California in losing voting power, has not signed on because it would be to the disadvantage of their favored party. So while this pact has significantly fewer stumbling blocks than an amendment, both because of the lower threshold needed for victory and because more populous states (which tend to be Democratic) get a bigger say, they'd still be 22 votes shy even if every single one of the bills currently being considered by Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania all got passed.

The consequences of this pact going through would be that #1 running third party would be slightly more destructive to whichever party you most agree with than it already is, because while previously someone voting, say, Libertarian instead of Republican in Texas had changed nothing because all their state's electoral votes would go to the Republican candidate anyway, now the Republicans would actually have one less vote in the election because that person didn't vote for them. And #2, since Republicans control nearly all of the least densely populated states, their odds of winning an election would be slightly lower. Since it's a pact and not an amendment, that also means the pact could disintegrate as soon as less than half the electoral college supports it if, for example, Georgia joins because FREEDOM but then backs out when they realize it will help Democrats get elected, whereas an amendment can only be repealed by another amendment, which would again require 34 states.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:38 am

Honestly, I'm pretty dubious of any plan to negate or eliminate the Electoral College. Either plan will require the cooperation of people who benefit from the current system. The big stumbling block I see for the state pact plan is the battleground states; the current system makes them important and that translates into candidates playing to their interests. Between them and the solidly Republican states, I don't think they can get enough electoral votes.

Removing the Electoral College will obviously mean that the President is selected by pure popular vote, which has complicated effects. Candidates will want to campaign to maximize the sheer number of votes they get rather than targeting strategically important states. I'm thinking that's good for people in densely populated states and in states that solidly support one party, because now everyone is in play and California republicans suddenly matter because they might be the minority but there's still a lot of them. On the other hand, kind of sucks for small states because it's no longer efficient to care what they think. But I think the real losers are basically swing voters or unreliable voters in battleground states; they're the people who the campaigns actually fight over. It's basically impossible for a Democrat to fuck up badly enough to lose California and their margin is unimportant, so candidates don't specifically play to the interests of its residents even though they're a big chunk of votes.

Count Arioch the 28th · Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:10 pm

I'm a week into a 600 calorie a day diet plan. So far I seem to be doing well. Let's hope this works because dying of being a fatass is not so much fun.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 10:14 pm

Wooooooo.....

AcidBlades · Post by **AcidBlades** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 8:10 am

Even if you are overweight. I honestly wouldn't recommend a 600 calorie diet. Maybe 1200-1500 or so. With a couple days dedicated towards fasting.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Tue Feb 23, 2016 8:54 am

As long as you're well hydrated and get proper nutrition, controlled and planned fasting can work. Most of it is cutting out junkfood.

I've been eating a lot of muslim burgers and fries lately.