Having fun in a PRP run by someone who can both pepper a few surprises, and also keep things flowing. Bonus if you don't know the people in the scene, but everybody is super chill and engaging, and you get new hooks for RP through the shared experience.
Star Trek was always way too campy for me, and not in the good way. I never really understood the fandom, but I respect that we all have different tastes. I liked the Discovery one, though, and I did enjoy the new movies. Probably for all the reasons why they're not high on real trekkies' lists.
@Jaded I think its ending works pretty well as a final conclusion, so I can't say it bothers me too much.
@Ganymede said in Separating Art From Artist:
power of internet hatred, which is often fueled by ignorance
That tends to be the way of mobs, on the internet or not. The underlying reason for the passion might be justified, or it might not be, but by the time the frenzy gets going, facts and reason go out of the way and there's just passion left and the damage gets done regardless.
@marsmrsmars said in The Savage Skies:
Japanese characters who were part of their mass-murdering military, praising their murderous Emperor, arguing against democracy in favor for that Emperor? Yes. Again, there's an obvious restriction against ex-nazi characters in the character generation section. Imperial Japan was nearly synonymous with Nazi Germany.
I don't think that it is accurate. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan might both have committed horrible acts as expansionist empires, but they were entirely separate entities, with entirely separate forms of government, ideologies, goals, etc.
Furthermore, clearly while the character worships the Emperor, she blames the higher ups in the military for the actions of Imperial Japan at present. We can argue how much blame Hirohito deserves (seems a decent amount), but that's really besides the point. From the character's perspective the Emperor can do no wrong, while its the outsized influence of the military in running Imperial Japan that's the problem. (Or perhaps just exactly which military personnel). That's a significant nuance that you're ignoring.
Personally, I find nuances like that, and the shades of grey in the world to be where you get some of the more interesting clashes in roleplay.
Also, the rule is not against establishment Germans in general, its specifically nazi members.
My nerdiness shows through. Recently I've been watching a ton of Tabletop Tactics. Warhammer 45k. I used to play when I was younger, and I found this, and if it's not quite as fun as doing it myself, at least I get some taste of it.
@Coin said in The Savage Skies:
@lordbelh said in The Savage Skies:
@Coin said in The Savage Skies:
@lordbelh said in The Savage Skies:
Made a character, and looking forward to getting into the thick of it!
Ugh, still can't believe they let you in.
What can I say? There's just no accounting for taste.
They could at least be decent and keep their guilty pleasures private.
I was talking about yours. Theirs is obviously excellent!
@Coin said in The Savage Skies:
@lordbelh said in The Savage Skies:
Made a character, and looking forward to getting into the thick of it!
Ugh, still can't believe they let you in.
What can I say? There's just no accounting for taste.
Made a character, and looking forward to getting into the thick of it!
@Scissors said in The Savage Skies:
Once in a long while a game comes along with a unique theme that makes me sit up and pay attention, and looks awesome enough to pull me out of retirement. Something that genuinely excites me to play, rather than merely "I'll make something and try it out".
This is what this game feels to me.
Yeah, I was thinking the same. Might just make a character.
@Jaded I've only ever heard good things about Anya Charlotra's portrayal of Yennefer. Personally I think she's the best part of the whole show.
there's also the Polish fandom, which in general wasn't positive toward any race bending
This I've caught. While part of that is surely a touch of old fashioned racism; the Eastern Block isn't exactly short on it, it also seems a bit more complex. Something along the lines of not wanting to get caught up in the American race and diversity politics, when in Europe its Poles who have gotten shit on for centuries, and this being their time to shine and be seen. As opposed to being portrayed in ways to suit American sensibilities. Anyone following Brexit'll have caught on the general 'shitty polaks coming to steal our jobs' sentiment simmering, and that's common enough across the board. From the Polish perspective, there's little conception of white privilege, or guilt, having had no slaves, no colonies, no empire, mostly just being victim to them. The places they're likely to go, they're the second class citizens from the second class culture (though its changing, at least where I live - white Slavs doesn't quite get the usual suspects' blood boiling like it use to, not when there's Syrians and Afghans - anything muslim really - and Africans to panic about). Its one of the most homogeneous countries in Europe, too, with the vast majority of migrants being from Ukraine (especially the Ukraine that used to be Poland) or other Slavic countries. So when its their fantasy culture on display, they're like to expect it to be pretty darn white.
Is that naive? Sure. Is there a bit of racism there? Yeah. Is adding a bit of diversity a sign of American Cultural Imperialism, or Cultural Appropriation? Heh. Though reading this one guy going on a bout it made me chuckle, and I've been searching for that article (or blog post, or whatever), to link, but to no avail. But there are some complex currents working through the responses that I've found interesting to read and ponder a bit on.
I thought the witcher was a missed opportunity. There's a really good show in there somewhere, but it doesn't really come out the way it aught to. Also some (much) of the dialogue was atrocious writing. Could've used some more post-production as well.
That said, I did watch all of it, and I still enjoyed it for all its numerous flaws. I'm looking forward to what they can do with a second season.
Edit: I just started watching Mr Robot's season 4 atm. Plot-wise, I don't know. But its still damn thrilling, whatever it is I'm watching.
@Auspice said in The Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo:
I've been swapping between it and the second Expanse novel and I've all but forgotten about the Expanse book for the moment.
I'm the opposite. I started reading Ninth House, while also reading a bit of the Expanse, and I ended up dropping Ninth House for the time being. Not that it was bad, it's just that I got totally engrossed with the Expanse. I'm almost done with the series, tho, so I'll soon be returning to Ninth House. 
@tragedyjones I was thinking about it, but the lack of information they have in their wiki/in-game, made me wonder if it was worth trying. Its difficult to get a grasp of what kind of game they're making, when the themes it offers are so bare bones.
My grandpa died recently (which is a bummer), and he had a sailboat that I've been doing all the maintenance work for the last decade and a half. Its a real beauty, this glorious teak deck and interior, and it sails like nothing. These days it's a bit small compared to the others around (33' when everywhere they're rocking 40' and 50's these days), but its built like they don't quite do anymore (unless you're paying in the millions) so its fairly roomy anyway. Its stable, designed for ocean sailing.
Anyway, while I just don't have the time to use it enough to justify keeping it, I took a 'farewell' trip, a week long sail down the coast of Norway with a friend, picking up my cousin on the way. It was just so freaking glorious. First day they promised lots of wind in our back and sunshine. Got out on the water? No wind. But we were bobbing along, and then in front of us we see this big black wall. A massive thunderstorm coming in. But we got the wind, suddenly! Even if was a headwind, but that's fine, the lady sails really well even close against it. And the storm just blew right next to us, so we got 15 minutes of downpour, then it was bright and sunny again. Off the the rainclothes, back to shorts and no t-shirts. Behind us it was this gorgeous display of awesome lightning, shooting down like an orbital bombardment. The rest of the week, all kinds of weather, all kinds of winds. When you sail along a broken coast like Norway, the wind is really unpredictable like that, but that just added to the fun of it. We had sunshine, we had downpour, but it always broke up so it didn't become a drag.
We sailed the whole week, barely using the engine when we had to get into some tricky ports. One beer for lunch (don't drink and drive, kids, even on the sea), but every evening we had a few. The food was great (friend's a great cook, even in the tiny galley he did wonders), and thankfully my cousin became the cabin boy, so he did the dishes. As captain, I could just have my beer outside and grin!
It was just a wonderful farewell with my gramps, and to the boat that I am now debating if I'm going to keep anyway. Though between it, and the dingy, and the boathouse, and helping keep grandma's house in order, my own place, I just.. bah! We'll see.
The trip took us past glaciers, inbetween fjords, and across a couple of really rough ocean stretches. The latter became our bane on the way back. The weather was nice, and we thought we'd be good.. but the massive swells and the headwind.. and then knowing 30 minutes behind us lay a safe port and all the beer we wanted, sort of killed our adventuring spirit. We took it the next day instead. 
Anyway, life can be great.
I always liked to read. I started out with classics, like Verne, Dumas, Scott's. At some point - I think I was 13 or so - a friend of mine lent me Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time. Only the first 2 books were translated into my native language, and that just wasn't nearly good enough, so I picked up the english version. It was pretty tough at first, but by the time I got to the third book I didn't even notice I was reading in english. After that I started devouring all the fantasy and science fiction literature I could get my hands on.
I didn't live much of a nerd life at the time, though. I kept my bookishness to my self, reading in private and not discussing any of it with many people. Liking to read meant being a nerd, and fuck that. I was all about athletics (handball; big where I'm from, soccer, martial arts, skiing and snowboarding in the winter; which meant from october to april basically.) My parents encouraged me to be outdoorsy. I hanged out with my friends doing stupid things, and trying to get with the pretty girls, petty crimes. I also spent a lot of time fishing, which I still love to do.
Anyway, we moved when I was 17. Soon after, when I didn't know anyone where I was at, I got ill. Was stuck to my bed for a year, wasting away into little more than a skeleton, and getting pretty depressed about it all. I was chatting on msn with a friend from back home, and then she had to go, and I noticed there were lots of chat rooms to troll through. What was weirder was that some of them were called Inns, or Kingdom this or Kingdom that, and people were pretending to be this character or that character. Its not that I didn't know what RP was; I'd heard about DnD; some of the kids at my old school had talked about it from time to time. But I'd been pretty dismissive of the whole thing.
Anyway, I was pretty desperate to get out of my present life, so I gave it a try. It stuck. When MSN's RP scene died, I moved on to IRC games, then finally someone suggested MUs. While sometimes it goes years between my RPing, I always come back to it. Its no longer a coping mechanism of a lonely kid, though. Its just a nice hobby.
Anyway, I'm proudly nerdish these days.
I mostly play straight guys. Well, except for my vampires, who are usually either asexuals who might fake it solely for power/blood, or they're open for anything with anyone (as long as there's blood involved). I do play the occasional female character, and they've usually been bi.
I don't really notice much difference in how I've been treated OOCly or ICly over the gender or sexuality of my characters. Or, that's not entirely true. My female bits will get more blunt solicitations OOC, while my male ones will get more round-a-bout kinds, but it pretty much amounts to the same thing. If anything, I prefer being able to shut down the blunt approaches. The long-con where you're chatting along only to realize belatedly that the other person is a crazy quasi-stalker type is more of a headache honestly.
Edit: Belatedly one experience did come to mind: It was playing one of the aforementioned vampires, who was known to have gone both ways (his only inclination was attaching himself to powerful people he could use.). Anyhow, both my character and myself oocly was told by the player of a really aggressive gay character that you were either straight or gay, 'dabbling' just meant you just weren't brave enough to come out of the closet. And the right way to play my character was to play him on a journey of self discovery and ultimate acceptance of his homosexuality (obviously with this person).
@Ghost Let's fight.
I love Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It's one of the best shows on television, and the only comedy show I think is equal to it right now is The Good Place. They're both friggin' fantastic.
But best cop show since The Wire? Just off the top of my head I'd rank both Justified and Southland (tragically cut short) ahead of it, and if I spent a little time thinking about it, I'd find more!
But it's still amazing.
