Nolgroth

Some mockumentary series on Netflix about unsealed UFO files. Mining data for a "dark conspiracy" idea. Was actually interested in the Los Angeles episode. Silly stuff really, but fun for my intended purpose.

I don't think any of the SCOTUS justices want to deprive their parties of the ability to rid themselves of a problematic POTUS.

Was this an actual quote, or something you made up yourself?

Just a spur of the moment thing. Felt like something Cap would say, hence Cap(tain America) on (the topic of) Luck. My first thought when I saw the thread title. I failed my Ego check and my natural snark took over.

My level of surprise about all that the video discussed is in the slight blip between 0 and 0.1. 

 

Spock's previously unmentioned step-sister? I never thought it was possible to jump the shark before the first episode even airs. I think STD just managed to do it.

 

But to be positive, that space suit armor thing looks pretty neat. And....yeah, that's all I got.

"Hey kids, Cap here, and I want to talk to you a bit about luck. You see luck isn't something you have, it is something you make. Study hard, help with your parents by doing your chores, and encourage all the adults in your life to buy war bonds. Pretty soon, you'll understand how lucky you are to be helping out with the effort to defeat of the Nazi's and free the good people of the world."   -Captain America

...I think that it's the artwork and presentation that gets people to buy stuff, in all honesty. HERO stuff looks so amateurish that I'm sure people look right over it. I remember looking at the original Champions and thinking it looked like someone printed it in their basement (which is actually pretty accurate). But every edition afterwards has suffered the same problem, even as they got big and flashy in 5e and 6e. The full color stuff is catchy, but the quality is more important than the color. I love the new Strike Force book, for example, and it's big and colorful, but it looks like drawings I did in high school, and people will be turned off by that. Bad artwork is worse than no artwork, as far as I'm concerned. And yes, people do judge a book by its cover. If I ever do my project, I'm going to shell out some money for some good artwork! After I win the lottery . . .

 

This. I know artwork is expensive. I know finding good artists is difficult. It is a sad fact that Hero is not a brand that the gaming community at large loves so much that they will accept a "amateurish" (to borrow your phrase) presentation just to get the rules. It is rather the opposite. That's why Champions: The New Millennium was such a memorable product to me. It still had issues with typesetting and editing, but it immediately drew the audience into the world with a combination of a comic book story and a near montage of the world's history presented by newspaper clippings and such. It was brilliant.  You can hate on the Fuzion* rules all you want to or dislike the Image-esque setting presented but Champions the New Millennium was just plain more interesting to read. It's a lesson that Hero Games could have taken from to create their own books.

 

*And the splitting of character creation rules over three books didn't help.

Oh don't get me wrong, he's a joke but a very sick, cruel joke.

... the man himself will be treated as a joke.

 

Too late. 

Nothing disturbing about that. I mean, it is just the great big circle of life thing going on.

 

<shudders>

Champions: the New Millennium setting with much more detail. I guess, tonally, that is covered by the Image Universe. If there ever was a product that would get me into Superhero roleplaying, it was C: TNM. I mean, the intro started out as a full-color comic book! Talk about a comfortable transition. I also wasn't afraid of the 90's style comic art and dark tones. I would say the setting was tailor made for me. Too bad it only ever got two supplements on top of the main book. If I were really dedicated, I might go tweak Fuzion a little and run a game in that setting. I'm not that dedicated though.

I always liked the Dralasites from Star Frontiers.

Do we have to wait for the next election? Can't we just relieve them all now?

I don't think anyone wants to set that precedence.

Never underestimate the power of a strong movie scene. A generation earlier, Alfred Hitchcock and Janet Leigh's screams changed America's bathing habits forever.

When I'm in the shower

I'm afraid to wash my hair

I might open my eyes

And find someone standing there

I didn't say one side should be free from criticism.  I said, it's entirely possible that while both sides do it, one side might in fact be significantly worse.  In fact, it not only seems possible, it seems likely.  And not being "pure" does not mean that one side may not criticize the other from a position of relatively higher ground.  I reject that in its entirety.  Voters making such a call about the relative misconduct of the two parties is in fact one of the few ways to check such misconduct.  

 

Really, because I never mentioned anybody as pure. I was condemning the whole argument that one side is purer than the other. They are not. Specifically, I was ridiculing the whole concept that a whack job shooter inspired by political rhetoric on one side is somehow less bad than one spawned from the other side. Whack job killers are bad no matter which side you are on. Further, both sides employ the same tactics of filibustering, rushed voting and so on. I am not, nor will I ever, give either side a free pass when it comes to that.

 

Ultimately, I think you and I arguing the same point, but I also think we are coming at it from different angles. We may just be talking past each other as well. I'll just shrug and go back to reading Dresden Files Accelerated. Far more entertaining than the clown show going on in Washington anyway. I mean seriously, could the Republicans (of which I am registered as) be any more like the Keystone Cops? How many times have they ran around in circles, crashing into each other, in failed attempt after failed attempt to repeal Obamacare? As much as I am against the thought, maybe they all need to be relieved of duty at the next election. Perhaps that will give them time to learn organization, bargaining, and good governing skills. Sheesh. It's embarrassing. 

Condemning both sides empowers the side willing to be worse. Because no matter what they do, "both sides do it".

 

I disagree. Refusing to look critically at whatever side you choose, empowers it to be the one willing to be worse.

I suspect that such an exercise would be counter-argued and ultimately be way more subjective than objective. Everybody wants to claim high ground because it is human nature to want to be the "good" side or the "reasonable" side or whatever label you want to attribute a positive self image to. I am often just as guilty of being that way. As to the political parties of 1860, we are not in that time frame. We are in the now and so much has changed since the 1860's and on so many levels. Ultimately, the point of my post wasn't to exonerate either side, but to condemn both. It was also meant to point out that, as individuals, we can often see past party ideology in the process of becoming, if not friends, at least friendly acquaintances. 

 

However, belief and ideology being what it is, I can only offer an opinion of how I perceive the world. I will not try to force it down your throat.

To pretend that either side has some sort of moral superiority is flat out disingenuous. Both sides are responsible for where we are now. People from both sides have done reprehensible things. There is a distinct climate of "Us vs. Them" on both sides. The only difference as to who the bad guy is lies solely where you decide to define your allegiance.  It is so hard to pick a side when I see ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD GUYS in American politics. I see no good guys from the activists on either side. There may be some out there, but I'll be damned if I can name a single political entity that I consider morally good. Near as I can tell, the only good comes accidentally. The same goes for the media. I have watched bastions of Liberal thought and die hard Conservative media. Again, the only difference is who claims victory in an exchange and who has the fingers of self-entitled indignation pointed at them.

 

I can say a lot more but the simple truth of the matter is that people are looking for somebody to blame and hate for all the ills (real and imagined) that have been visited upon them. The dehumanization of the other side is so damn easy right this moment because of that. Just remember that the average Liberal and the average Conservative could likely meet up a restaurant, have dinner, talk about whatever recent sporting event they attended and then go home without ever realizing how different their political views are. I like to think that, without this thread, all of us would see the better parts of each other rather than the parts we decide to alienate. Yeah...I'll leave it there.

I really wish I could get in on the Top Secret KS. That looks great.

That should change with the present incumbant

That depends on who the incumbent is. Trump is pretty hale at this point but I put even odds on him having a serious medical condition before his term is up. Then Pence gets his chance in the Batters Box. If that happens, the Democrats will have to run on a different platform than "Our Guy isn't Trump."

 

It's a mess.

This is what we used when I served; https://www.armysurplusworld.com/product/u-s-m16-ammo-pouch-w-grenade-carrier-6256

It'll be on Netflix outside the US. If you're in the US, you're stuck with the CBS streaming service. I plan to wait until the CBS service fails, then watch it when it finally makes it to US Netflix.

 

If I remember to, that is my take on it. On the other hand, I have watched the recent Comic-Con trailers for the Defenders and for Stranger Things season two. In the first 25 seconds of each of those trailers, I was indescribably more interested than I was at the Star Trek Discovery trailer. Heck, for that matter, there is a new show coming to Netflix (I believe) that could not be more Shadowrun if it tried. Looks kind of cheesy but even with that qualification, it was more interesting than STD.

It jumped on my son Monday, my wife on Wednesday, and it jumped on me about 45 minutes ago: one of those stomach and intestinal bugs where you don't dare go more than 15 feet from a toilet. Assuming the same pattern, ... I know where I'll be for the next 48 hours.

 

Wait! Lemme guess....Atlanta International Airport? Am I close?  

I haven't run a Champions game before but all of my campaigns sort of follow the same general lack of structure. You touched upon having a Rogue's Gallery. I've heard tales of a random character generator for Champions somewhere. Might be good to build up a few personalities that can be built with those random characters.

 

Beyond that, I have some sort of meta-plot idea that I can work into the ongoing adventures. From there, I wing a huge amount of the game. On your 1-10 scale, I fall around 3 or maybe 4. I am nowhere near to 10. Player decisions, speculations, and expressed interests drive my campaigns a lot.  

 

Other people dropped in some good ideas about understanding your world and how the characters fit into it. 

You do realize that it was just a stupid question a reporter was asking to voice actresses, who said, "sure, that'd be great!"? So, it really stems from someone's desire to write a click bait headline. It's not an actual idea Disney has floated.

 

Yeah, well internet outrage and lack of fully understanding the context pretty well go hand in hand. It's almost like a tradition these days. I try to participate at least semi-monthly. Good for the soul.

I have seldom wanted to punch an actor as badly as I wanted to punch Gary Cole. Not sure what it was, but everything about his performance rubbed me the wrong way.

 

Part of it, for me, was the same reason I want to punch Chris Pine in most of the stuff he does. Wonder Woman was okay but I have not seen him elsewhere that doesn't "rub me wrong."