Nevelon

Re: Order of the Stick

Confirmed!

 

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0131.html

Has the guy who signed that letter showed up? The name does not ring a bell.

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster

They doing more construction at spaghetti junction?

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Megashark vs. Giant octopus: So bad, so very, very bad. And this from someone who recently watched all the Godzilla movies (including the truly crappy ones) The one beer I had while watching this was not nearly enough. I'm not sure if there are enough beers in the world to make this movie good.

Bangkok Dangerous: Meh. A friend told me I needed to watch this and handed it to me, but I don't recall why. Not a terrible movie, but --nothing-- stands out about it. Just a formulaic action movie. Reading the back of the DVD and seeing a trailer is probably all this movie needs.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

I agree. I generally prefer waffles' date=' although I haven't had freshly-made ones in a while.[/quote']

 

I finally got a waffle iron last year for Christmas, so we've been eating a lot this year. I could never justify buying one, as for the most part it's a uni-tasker (and not the fire extinguisher), but it made a fine gift. I never order pancakes or waffles while at a restaurant, Years living in New Hampshire taught me that the proper thing for waffles was real maple syrup, and time in Kentucky showed me what some people actually use . Now that I'm back in the north, I can sometimes get real maple while out, but I don't risk it. Plus, when I'm out, I like to get things I can't make at home. Unless I'm near http://www.pollyspancakeparlor.com/ Everyone should go there if they have a chance. Polly's is a NH maple farm that started a pancake house to help push their products. So yummy.

 

Back on the topics of "food for those who don't care..." and "waffle irons" I give you a recipe of my own creation-- Eggs St. Patrick. Every year for St. Patrick's day we have corned beef and boiled veggies, so leftover meat and potatoes end up in homemade hash on the following weekend. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cook a lot more then I needed to, just for the leftover hash. Now we are trying to keep out weight down here, so I was looking for a way to get nice, crispy hash without frying it up in a lot of oil. The answer: waffle iron. While not as good as a traditionally cooked hash, it was quite good. I would not try it without a good, non-stick iron though (which mine is) I spent more time cleaning the eggs out of the muffin tin I was using to bake a dozen at once (Hint: use a silicone muffin tin). So Eggs St' Patrick: Half an english muffin, wedge of corned beef hash waffle, baked egg (you could poach them, but I was cooking for a crowd) hollandaise sauce on top. It's a riff on eggs benedict, something I often get for breakfast when out, due to how irritating they are to make at home.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

I've never had a proble with them myself. It does help if you keep them covered while cooking with a microwave-safe bowl--paper towels don't quite do it.

 

But yes, freshly-made pancakes are best, provided you don't overcook them, and you eat them almost immediately off the griddle. Mmmmmmm.

Reheating is one area where waffles are better then pancakes (They are about the same in other ways IMHO). Make a big batch on the weekend, eat more then you should, then freeze the rest. Straight from the freezer to the toaster oven, and Voila! Instant yummy breakfast on a workday. Pancakes can never recapture that fresh-from-the-griddle aura, while waffles can make a pretty good show of it.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

The first 3 Resident Evil movies.

I liked the first one. It had a good twist of not knowing who was who with the amnesia thing, and lots of fun zombie killing action.

The second had a little too much deus-ex machina going on, and was basically one action sequence poorly stitched to the next.

The third was better put together, but was overall mediocre. It wasn't bad, but not great either

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

The Usual Suspects.

Re: The move to FTP

Yeah' date=' that's what I meant by Silver players not getting to customize their power sets. It does indeed limit options, though while the customizability is certainly one of the things I like most about CO I also know that there are people that will feel more comfortable with "classes" to play. And for people that feel it is necessary there is always the option to subscribe. As long as the game is playable for people playing the straight archetypes it seems like a pretty reasonable upsell opportunity to me.[/quote']

 

IMHO one of the main draws of CO (and CoH) is the ability to play -YOUR- hero. Fixed classes is kinda a dealbreaker. It's fine for a free trial, but I'm not sure how well it will do in the long term. It seems most games these days give you a lot of flex within your class. From what I know of LotRO, and what I've heard of WoW, you can take a base class and go different ways with traits and gear. So you can have 2 characters standing side by side, with the same class, but have them play completely differently. While you should still be able to swap gear around as a silver in CO, the impact on play is going to be minor. Not a whole lot of customization there.

Re: The move to FTP

From what I understand the only real gameplay impacting thing that silver players can't even purchase that gold players will be able to do is customize their power sets. Everything else looks cosmetic. Whether not being able to create custom power sets will put them at some kind of disadvantage remains to be seen.

My understanding is that silver players are choose a class, and then are locked into a path. So they choose "brute" and get smash at first level, tough at 3, haymaker at 5, etc... (names and levels totally made up for this example) Where a full gold member can choose any power he wants, as long as he follows the rules. Now, if they make the standard builds effective, this won't be much or a problem. The main problem I see is if you want to play a brute with say, fire breath (because you are a lava rock monster or the like) if it's not in the standard build, you can't. The flexibility of the character system is lost, and that's one of the main draws in the game. You can look however you want, but will play the same as every other brute out there (as silver).

(I am no expert, I just spent and hour or two combing the forums a little after the announcement, might be wrong or they may have changed things)

Re: The move to FTP

Depends how they handle it. I have a lifetime subscription, but don't play much these days. In theory, the FTP model raises more revenue then the subscription one. The "free" play is more like an extended trial, and they can nickel and dime you for more then you would normally pay if you buy things ala cart, or just subscribe. I know LotRO went FTP, and I think that went quite well (lifer there as well). Think of it as them offering more options, rather then them screwing paying customers.

One thing LotRO has, which CO does not look they are going to have, is a way to earn store points in game. This gives free players the ability to earn things (like more quest packs, character slots, etc.) so given enough time and work, they can be just as good as the paying customers. And by "time and work" I'm talking about grinding till your eyes bleed, but the option is there (particularly if you just want some of the perks, not all) With the CO plan it looks like the world will always be divided into haves and have-nots. Free players are always going to be at a disadvantage. This will make it hard to integrate them into the community.

From a business POV, this isn't a "sky is falling/ game is failing" event. Somewhere the bean-counters noticed that this strategy makes more cash. But it is something that needs to be done carefully. There is a lot of bad feelings that can come out of a change like this, so they risk pissing off large chunks of their player base if they flop the implementation.

Re: Political/Religious Space Colonies?

Another thing to consider about religious/cultural colonies is that many of them won't want to leave. This planet is where all the holy lands are, where was born, and happened. From a racial standpoint, -THIS- is -OURS-, where we have been since time began, and we don't want to leave. They would be more then happy to see everyone else ship off, and leave the only planet that matters -Earth- to them.

Re: And now, for your daily dose of cute...

Did someone post in this thread after midnight?

Just keep that thing away from water.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

For me, mushrooms are a must-have on a pizza. My favorite toppings are mushrooms and garlic. Goes great with beer or a light red wine.

 

While I'm no longer a vegetarian, I was one for 15-odd years, so I can eat veggie pizza. My friends won't even try. When we order pizza, we order one with pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom. Of course, I dubbed this combo "two pigs and a fungus."

 

Once I was heating a frozen pizza. It was a cheese pizza, and I wanted to add a few toppings. All I had at the time were onions and garlic. So I went with those and dubbed my pizza "The Bad Breath Special."

I eat what the Dice tell me to on my pizza.

But given my (non-random) choice, I prefer mushroom and sausage. Pepperoni can sub in for the sausage, depending on the quality/nature of the sausage involved.

At my sons's last birthday party we had make-your-own english muffin pizzas, and I made sure all the toppings listed on the dice were available. Quite a few people put their fate in the dice's hands, and none were disappointed!

Re: Template List for Space Opera Noir: what to include?

 

Most of these archetypes are rather uncommon as PC concepts in my experience -- not that I'd have a problem with them in my campaign. I'm just not sure if any of them rate including a template. At some point you've just got to say 'if it's not on the list, you can roll your own' and let players with unusual character concepts do their own thing.

What is uncommon in one group is everyday in another. One of the players in my group almost always gravitates towards the dilettante template, regardless of the system. And the other players will give it a go from time to time. If you are just building this for your group and know none of -your- players are going to make one, you can probably skip it. Of course, having templates for everything lets people know how the universe is built, so they can fit their builds in better and know what to expect from people they meet.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Just because your post started me thinking about it:

 

I'd love to know when "Hawaiian Pizza" stopped being "Ham/Can Bac and Pineapple" and became "Ham/Can Bac, Pineapple, onions, and bell peppers". Terribly annoying that...

When they realized they could charge for 2 more toppings?

I've also had black olives on a ham/pineapple pizza before, which worked out well.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Wanted

Not a bad action flick. Pushed the edge of what I could take for suspension of disbelief. Bending bullets, slowing personal time, those I can take. Sniper shots across the city, not so much. It was the "through the window, between the train, through the doughnut hole, nothing but net" bit that stretched it.

Re: Music to Kill Zombies By

Weapon: The Bluesmobile

Music: Can't Turn you loose

Partner: Elwood Blues

"Lots of room in this mall"

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Special agent Frodo

Destroying artifacts of fell power in 3 simple steps:

Step one: Get the ring from your uncle;

Step two: Walk to Mordor

Step three: Toss the ring into Mt. Doom!

(was watching LoTR:RtK last night, the wife commented that it was a bit dark. This started a conversation about what the saturday morning light-and-fluffy version would be like)

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

The Two Towers (the extended cut)

Of the 3 LoTR movies this is by far my least favorite. I understand that movies pace differently then books, and a lot of things need to be changed in order to make a good movie, rather then a good book. But this movie has two of the most glaring changes of the trilogy. Elves at Helm's Deep? I can understand the need to show that the elves hadn't just up and left for the west, but this was not the right time to show it. From a Hollywood perspective I can see why it was done here, it just rubs me the wrong way. The near-total butchering of Faramir's character. I might be a little biased (he is one of my favorite characters) but he is supposed to represent all the was good in humanity, hearkening back to the nobility of the men of numenor. Not be Boromir's whiny little brother who just wants a hug from daddy. From a movie standpoint, I understand the need to segue "meanwhile, back in Gondor..." but I wish there was a better way to do it.

Overall the movies are stunning visually, and do an excellent job bringing LoTR to life, but as with any book-to-movie translations there are going to be bits that make the fanatics twitch. We see the same thing every comic movie translation as well.

Also watched Kick Ass this weekend. Overall a fun movie. Only minimal teen angst/awkwardness (which I generally find painful to watch) and a whole lot of action.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

I liked the little shout-outs to Toho's non-kaiju tokusatsu films like Atragon and Gorath.

I loved the little thematic nods to Tsuburaya's other work' date=' especially Ultra Q / Ultraman and his Human Mutants stuff. Earth Final Wars would make a great campaign setting.[/quote']

 

As someone who only watches their Godzilla movies, I missed the references. I was not a fan of the human mutant aspect of the movie. Unless you are in some sort of giant robot thing, you should not be fighting giant monsters. The whole "M-base" thing struck me as wrong. I can deal with humans forming a defense force and making ships to fight off the monsters, but the mutant/chosen one subplot was unnecessary and detracted from the movie IMHO.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Godzilla: Final Wars

This finishes my tour of watching all the Godzilla movies Netflix has in order of release. While I had some thematic problems with the movie, it does make a nice capstone to the tour; Godzilla puts the atomic smackdown on pretty much every monster he fought in the past ~50 years.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

Re: Ok I'm confused....

So I'm new to the champions/heroes system. I've spend the last 2 weeks at work reading through the 5E book, and I've grasped most of it. It's a very cool system, very customizable. I've ran into a few confusing things however, and any help would be greatly appreciated. I've searched the forums for what I could and cleared up some issues but the following 2 elude me.

First off is with the Power Frameworks. I've finally grasped how the point costs of everything is added up(i'm not a math guy and I can be dense sometimes) My confusing regarding Frameworks is how persistent powers work... I'm trying to create a Shifter(Were Tiger) So out of his battle form, he's still got a high level of strength so i bought that as flat character points, however when he shifts into his battle form, he gains another chunk of strength... lets say 20 more strength for example. So if i have a multipower framework with a 60 point reserve, and i've purchased the 20 points of strength, does that mean that i'll always be limited to 40 points for other powers? Same with Damage Resistance or Damage Reduction, are these powers a constant drain on the Multipower point reserve? Or are they temporary, only to have when he decides to be more durable, or stronger (which does not make sense logically)

The other thing thats got me confused is Calculating advantages and limitations... I'm looking at the chart provided in the book and i'm confused. Adding 1/4 to 100 = 125. Makes sense, one fourth of one hundred being 25. however -1/4 of 100 = 80. As i mentioned before i'm not a real big math guy but ... what?

 

Again, any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

With Hero there is usually a few different ways of doing the same thing. Were-things are often done with multiform, where you basically make 2 characters, one for the human, and one for the beast form. This is good for when your two forms have vastly different powers/skills/stats/etc. Only in Heroic Identity (OIHID) is another way to build it. You put the 1/4 lim on all your beast-form powers, and can only use them when in that form. Animal forms generally don't need multipowers, as they have a set of fixed abilities.

Multipower (the framework) is good for when you want to be able to a bunch of things, but not all (at full strength) at once. Think of it like the starship Enterprise, you can have power going to the shields, movement, phasers, or some combination; but the engines can only put out so much juice. This would be done with a 3 slot multipower (Force Field, Flight, Energy Blast). While you could put things like life support in the framework (which one would assume you always have points allocated to) things like the armor on the hull would be bought separately.

As for the math, there are some programs out there to help build characters so you don't have to deal with the math. The numbers might look funny, but the formulas work, so just trust them and run with it.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Godzilla against Mechagodzilla

Re: Template List for Space Opera Noir: what to include?

As a varient of politician or lawyer, you might want to think about a bureaucrat. Either in government or a mega-corperation.