Posts made by Arkandel

@Groth said in Good TV:

Star Trek Lower Decks is the best Star Trek show of the decade.

You misspelled Orville.

@Halicron Since your changes to the rules came four years later I expect the new version to be far superior. Let's read.

@Chet said in Vietnam War MUSH:

I don't know, none of my professors at UMass-Amherst or SNHU ever had a problem with me, besides a single history professor at a 300 level saying I wrote a biased paper by not explaining the German side of propaganda, in justification, in WW2, on a class in European childhood studies, as a history major.

Can we just... not, please?

@TiredEwok said in Vietnam War MUSH:

I personally am not sure how well received this would be. The war in Vietnam was fucking horrific

Although you're entitled to your opinions I'm not sure I follow. WW1 and WW2 were both pretty damn horrific as well, and true atrocities were committed, yet there are games based on those.

After several months gyms opened again in the GTA which was frankly the best thing that's happened to me lately.

I didn't know how much I needed that me time. Part of it is just getting under a bar and browsing reddit between sets to take my mind off work, but it's also the way it affects what I eat and how I spend my personal time; without having something to strive towards I let good other habits slide.

There was an issue with the redis service (our database) last night which caused downtime. I think I got the root cause, but I'll continue to monitor things.

Well, this was a bit more adventurous than I thought but we're back up and everything is upgraded to the newest and brightest.

Please let me know if anything is on fire.

At some point tonight or tomorrow morning (so 07-17 or 07-18) I will upgrade MSB to the newest version and update some packages on the server then restart it, which will require downtime of 10-20 minutes or so.

@faraday said in Water finds a crack:

Every system has its pros and cons. There is no universal "one true system" that's best for everyone.

Absolutely, otherwise we would all be using that one perfect system.

It comes down to preference. For example I like systems which reward "doing the right things" through modest XP caps on a weekly basis but then feature a catch-up mechanism for others.

So for example if "the right thing" for my game is to participate in PrPs then the game can reward up to <X> experience a week for doing that to players in the 10% highest experience bracket. However it will reward up to 2*<X> to those not in that bracket. This way they still need to play the game, but they can absolutely catch up to the dinos.

Is that the 'perfect' approach? Hell no, it's just what fits the kinds of games I like to play.

There's another factor here - an imbalanced demographic.

If the power range of characters in a game is wide enough then optimization can feel - or even become - mandatory.

For example The Reach had crazy XP inflation near its tail end. There were many people around whose dice pools were rather massive and who had mix-maxed their characters very carefully. If you were a ST running a plot including them then you had a dilemma; do you challenge them (but one-shot anyone who's not their near equal) or do you let them blast their way through?

In an unofficial arms race you keep up or you fall behind.

I quite enjoyed this read. Perhaps you will find it interesting, and if so, discuss how it affects roleplaying on MU*.

Water finds a crack.

@Coin said in What Types of Games Would People Like To See?:

If you can't buy in to the system you're playing, then why are you playing that game? Because there's nothing else around? Lame.

Yes.

Conversely that's also why people join a game then try to turn it into a different game. They want the audience so they go where players already are, but they want those to play what they think is right.

I had to read this thread.

Well, the last couple of days' worth of posts.

Not a movie but I'll stick it here.

Apple is making Isaac Asimov's Foundation into a TV show.

Look, the Foundation is in my top-three book series ever. Asimov is my all-time favorite author, hands down. I've read this cover to cover multiple times.

I really hope I'm wrong but there is no way the books are filmable. Not in a way that's respectful to them. Asimov thrives on logic, analysis and reason; those are not cinematic qualities.

Again though - I would love to be proven wrong.

@Auspice I hope you feel better soon, Auspie

@Auspice said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

Many of his characters are non-white and the protagonist is black. Another main character is Muslim. The author himself is a white man, but he reaches out to his readers often to ask questions, make sure he's getting things right, etc.

Something to perhaps consider here is weaponized complaints.

In other words you might play a black woman who's also an addict perfectly well, having done your research, spoken to people... all of that.

Then one day that gets thrown in your face on MSB because you're a racist.

@HelloProject said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

@Arkandel said in Diversity Representation in MU*ing:

I've always been hesitant since I tend to play flawed characters, and I wouldn't care for anyone taking my takes the wrong way.

Fun fact: I actually pretty much never play black characters with gang type backgrounds, or anything like that. Not because I don't want to, because I think it's worth exploring, but because I just feel weird about it due to not being from that kind of background myself.

It's like this: If I play a white dude with ties to gangs then I don't care what anyone thinks of it, as I'm a white dude. If I played a black dude then I'd care.

It's not that anyone would think it's wrong let alone say anything about it, mind you. It's most likely all in my head. But it's been enough.

I've always been hesitant since I tend to play flawed characters, and I wouldn't care for anyone taking my takes the wrong way.

@GreenFlashlight said in RL Sads:

Is it weird that the dying seems somehow less awful than the weeks spent undiscovered?

One of the things we lose in death is dignity. We can't ensure how we are seen by others or in what state we are found.

One of my friends can (now, years later) laugh about how his father passed away. It was in the spare bathroom where he had a stroke then fell forward, blocking the door, so their family couldn't get to him.

Death takes more than life.

@jetfire_158 said in Star Wars Republic d20 SAGA - (Prequel Era):

I could try to keep circumventing the blocks, but that would just make me look more suspicious and I sincerely just want to get this misunderstanding cleared up.

An excellent choice.

there must be some way I can prove to everyone that I am not that person.

I can't think of many things that are harder, sadly (not that I know who either you or the intended sitebanned person are). Hopefully the powers that be see this and have a chat with you to clear it up.