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Vanguard00

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Posts posted by Vanguard00

  2. The cranky thread

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: The cranky thread

     

    I don't like having to give rep to 19 more people to get around to the one guy I wanna give rep to. I doubt I've handed rep out to 20 people total at all. Perhaps something like "can't give to the same person within 30 days" would be more appropriate.

  6. What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

     

    I just finished two books in rapid succession, both recommended by a friend of mine.

     

    "Other People's Heroes" by Blake Petit is a humorous look at superheroes. The tag per Amazon:

     

    Imagine, for a moment, that you live in a world full of superheroes. Imagine a world where people bend steel in their bare hands, where champions dart across the sky, where avengers step out of the shadows to protect the innocent. Imagine a man larger than life protecting the innocent, imagine a family of heroes, imagine warriors dedicated to the safety of mankind. Imagine you've worshiped them your entire life. Then imagine it's all a hoax. Imagine that your champions are actors, the fights choreographed... imagine the real heroes vanished a decade ago. Imagine you're the only one who knows the truth. And imagine what you would do to put things right...

     

    I highly recommend this book. Petit writes with a very light touch, using lots of humor and satire without giving up action or believability (in the context of the genre, anyway). It's a quick read, too, but very enjoyable.

     

    The other book is "Those Who Walk In Darkness" by John Ridley. The tag per Publisher's Weekly:

     

    When a supervillain wastes San Francisco in this high-octane futuristic thriller from screenwriter Ridley (The Drift), the U.S. decides to expel all "metanormals" within its borders. Those who choose to remain are hunted down by MTacs, police units who only have one job-kill the freaks. It isn't a terribly original premise-Batman fans will recognize the influence of Frank Miller's seminal graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns-but that's fine, because a premise is all it is, and Ridley knows it. Soledad O'Roark, a 26-year-old MTac and an engineering genius, has a virulent hatred of metanormals. Her tale is one of unremitting darkness, and from early on it's easy to tell it won't have a happy ending. For all the bleakness, though, Ridley makes it hard not to pull for Soledad. Readers will find themselves torn between sympathy, empathy, pity and disgust, often on the same page. With its lavish fight scenes, the book was clearly written with an eye on film adaptation. Yet Ridley, whose Hollywood credits include work on Three Kings and Undercover Brother, knows how to make his story work both as a novel and as a proto-screenplay. And as a novel, it works very well indeed.

     

    Much darker with the first one, the morality is very gray in this story, but still quite enjoyable. I found myself hating a lot of what the protagonist represented while still wanting to read more about her. It's a very cool take on the world of metahumans, and not one I've seen done in games. Again, highly recommended.

  7. The cranky thread

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: The cranky thread

     

    ::wry chuckle:: There's nothing like seeing the suffering of others to put all of your own problems into perspective.

     

     

    Depending on the person I'm talking to, after hearing about their troubles (and some have been pretty harsh), I sometimes give the sympathetic "Sorry to hear that, man," followed by "But it could be worse..."

     

    "It could be me."

  13. Whattya call it?

    in Other Genres

    Posted

    Re: Whattya call it?

     

    Thanks for the replies thus far, folks. I'm forwarding 'em on to the GM as they come in. I think "188x" and "Weird Wild West" are frontrunners, but "Briscoe County Hero" got a chuckle.

     

    Keep 'em comin' if you can.

  18. Longest Running Thread EVER

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

     

    Nice to see the family shots D-Man! Did you pick the stern look specially for us?

     

     

    If he's at all like me then it's probably natural. I get the "geez, you look pissed" comment a lot (or some variation thereof), when deep inside I'm thinkin', "Gee, I really like vanilla".

  19. from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share you ideas!

     

    Kirby feels I'm a hypocrit for judging him for judging steriaca, and then not letting him reply on the boards (my invitation to take our discussion private). I don't have any idea how to respond to his two-page PM, so I'm tossing in the towel.

     

    My apologies, Kirby, for ever saying anything. You're obviously more heated about this issue than I am, and I am posting here so that everyone knows I concede. I apparently shouldn't have said anything at all. Again, my apologies.

  21. Is "evil race" an intrinsically rascist concept?

    in Fantasy Hero

    Posted

    Re: Is "evil race" an intrinsically rascist concept?

     

    Vanguard00,

     

    Of all the people who've posted disagreements with my positions on these boards, you're the first and only one to explicitly say that I do not have the right to do so.

     

    Whoa there, Sally. I never said any such thing. I would never say any such thing. You ought to look up the word "explicitly", cuz I don't think it means what you think it means. I didn't even disagree with your position. You, like another, need to not put words in my mouth and just read the words on the page.

     

    What I said was, I don't believe that you contribute to roleplaying or gaming in general in any appreciable fashion with these questions, and that I don't appreciate your presence on the genre threads. I also suggested going to NGD and posting your questions there without the veneer of "as it relates to gaming".

     

    Go back and check my post. That's what I said. Honest. I'll wait...

     

    My opinion is as good as any other on this board and I expressed it after watching you continually direct the thread into (potentially) increasingly inflammatory areas. I maintain that belief. Being my belief, it is never wrong. It can be misguided, based on a false premise, changed at a later date, but never wrong. It's what I believe right now, and it's perfectly valid.

     

    If my opinions are truly noxious to you, might I suggest that in the future you ignore all threads bearing my name?

     

    I'm a curious sort so I had to check at least a couple of 'em out. This is one I followed all the way through, just to see if my theory bore up under scrutiny. It does. I might not ever say anything again, having spoken my piece here. Ignoring you is certainly an option, of course, but I don't think it's come to that yet.

     

    It's my belief that in the common usage on discussion boards, and based upon what I've seen so far, that you're a troll. A well-spoken and seemingly well-educated troll, and perhaps untintentionally so, but your questions are all geared towards inciting heated debate, something which usually quickly disolves into flaming as buttons are pushed. Your questions about women, race, etc, seem highly inflammatory, and in the context in which you present them they seem to have only the thinnest relationship to gaming, and virtually none at all the Hero System genre boards in which you post them.

     

    I can't do anything about your presence here but come right out and say that I don't appreciate it. That's it. That's what I came to say. I can't do anything more than that. It's not my place to, nor would I have it any other way. I do, however, have the right to say such, and I felt it appropriate, so I did.

  22. from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share your ideas!

    in Champions

    Posted

    Re: from little plot seeds, mighty games do grow: Share you ideas!

     

    He proposed it and I thought it lacked sufficient information to be useable as-is. Harsh by asking questions?

     

    Following your dismantling of his post from a grammer/syntax point of view, I thought so. There was certainly enough information to run with. It wasn't necessary for him to post a campaign novel. I understand that you didn't have a malicious intent, but I'm letting you know it came across as harsh to my eyes.

     

     

    Try this analogy and see if it makes sense to you. If you see a man about to walk off a cliff, you have four basic responses: 1) Ignore him. 2) Try and help him or warn him. 3) Insult him because of what he's doing. 4) After he walks off the cliff, peer over and look at the aftermath.

     

     

    Well, using your analogy, what I saw you do was shoot him before he got to the cliff and then explain why you felt you had to do it. I thought you could have come across in a much more helpful and less caustic manner.

     

     

    One of the aspects of making posts is to be critiqued; it is delusional to think otherwise. I have yet to notice anyone who has made a post that hasn't been critiqued. You live and learn.

     

    But they're not all critiqued. I'd be willing to bet that fully 80% or more of the posts made to this list aren't critiqued. Of the ideas posted here, I'd say that percentage goes up above 90%. It wasn't necessary to dismantle his post AND his style.

     

     

    This is floccinaucinihilipilification.

     

    It is indeed, since I judged your post to be worthless in terms of constructive criticism. I maintain you were overly harsh. [As an aside, I should give you rep for making me look up a word. How on earth did you know that word?]

     

    To summarize, I corrected Steriaca's grammar and spelling and asked questions about what seemed to be an unplausible write-up as was given. I also put down that I had previewed my post five times. It wasn't to do a "I am so great" Bart Simpson impersonation, it was to show that a first-run post will have errors in it. I not only found some errors, but oversights as there were pieces I wished to add, change, and remove as well.

     

     

    So post a more complete version, as I did. Contribute, don't detract. He posted a good skeleton of an idea. Fill in the details yourself. That's the idea anyway. There was no need to call him to task for not coming up with every detail.

     

    There are plenty of ideas on this list you've completely ignored that have missing details. Some simply end in a question and leave it up to the GM to decide what the deal is. I doubt you're any smarter or dumber than I am, so I'm sure you could've used his idea to come up with one of your own. It's better to use positive reinforcement and show how to better post an idea than it is to use negative reinforcement and show how NOT to. It's my believe you used the latter method.

     

    You initially wrote: "...I won't pass judgement," though this is what you did to me. And that's fine. Free will gives us the ability to judge what we do and do not like. It would have been more appreciated if you had been on-target with what you were referring to.

     

    I believe I was on target. I was less judgmental of you than you were of steriaca. I judged your post, though, and I found it wanting in terms of simple courtesy.

     

    All I'm saying is that there are better ways to say what you said. Perhaps there was a better way to say what I wanted to say. There usually is. However, the point is that it seemed to me that you were so concerned with spelling and syntax that you neglected courtesy and empathy. That's all I was trying to say, and, oddly enough, that's pretty much what I said.

     

    Feel free to continue this privately, if you wish. I see no reason to clutter up the boards further.

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