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AmadanNaBriona

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  4. Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

     

    Here's an anecdote for y'all, possibly apropos of nothing...

    At this point anyone in this thread knows I weigh in heavy on the Feminist team. Adamantly and vocally.

    I also, however, once ran one of the most historically accurate Renaissance Faire Actor's Guilds in California.

    Which put me on the horns of a dilemma... how to make playing a historically accurate woman at Faire NOT suck.

    I ended up giving the direction for the "Proper" women over to my costume director, and the Camp Followers (Dubh Challie "Black Wives") over to my co-guildmistress, but getting past the "But we want to really FIGHT" point was always heartbreaking. And never stopped participation at guild events, after hours, or at what I used to call out "Pagan Summer camp". Actually, designing cool looking, practical leather-wear for running around in the woods and whacking each other with wooden swords is how my business got started, because period-accurate women's clothes aren't great for such, and I was trying to find good looking, but practical outfits. Amusingly enough, a lot of my designs are compared to the costumes from Xena, because we worked up from essentially the same core principles. Eventually, we sat down and figured out good period appropriate ways to integrate the women into choreographed fights (Camp raids, for instance, rather than pitched battles), which led to some of our most gruesome effects... like the cauldron of "Boiling" soup in the face (dry ice supplied the bubbles... cold supplied the shock... the poor guy would'a done better with boiling water I think, after fighting in a full mail coat in Fresno heat...), or the lass driving off the assailant who tore her bodice-laces with sweeps from a full sized, dual sned scythe. And Brush-hooks are no joke either....

     

    Honestly, playing historically accurate games may have helped us come up with ways around the social rules of the day we were portraying, rather than just ignoring them as inconvenient, as so many do.

     

    Just felt like sharing that. Rum, eh?

  5. Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Interesting article about Sexism in Geek Communities

     

    When I was in high school, I met a girl at a convention who was there in a rabbit-fur bikini and boots (not cosplaying a particular character, just running arund in a costume cause it was OK to do at a con in the 80s), and she was GORGEOUS. I mean really, really beautiful, and in phenominal shape. I was stunned. And yet somehow I got her to go out with me, and I dated her for several years (until my own stupidity caught up with me when I went away to college).

     

    When I met her, she was a gamer. And a painter. And liked to bop people with training weapons in melee combat. And played Killer. And watched the same shows I did. And it was AWESOME.

     

    I dont remember anyone giving Melissa any guff about not being "a real gamer girl". But man, Id sure feel sorry for anyone who did, because Im a damn good gamer, and she taught me a thing or two about the subject.

     

    So no, beauty is not a reverse metric for who is or is not a "real" gamer, or a "real" geek/nerd/whatever. And this one guy does not get to decide for the rest of us who is and is not "in the club". And sometimes really, truly, exceptionally smart, funny, silly, awesome, and attractive women think gamers are COOL. Otherwise they wouldnt be friends with so many of them.

     

    Some of these people even post here. ;)

     

    Yeah, I managed to attract the attention and later affections of the hot gamer girl of our circle of acquaintances, the one who went to Dundracon every year with her SCA group to give fight demos. Being a fellow theater geek helped. Part of why I tend to scoff at a lot of the generalizations that get thrown out in some of these inane statements

  7. The cranky thread

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: The cranky thread

     

    Yes' date=' I do. I just haven't been able to fully harness it yet.[/quote']

     

    Come with me.

    Seriously, I've been getting my Sith Lord on hard lately.

    What day is it anyway? They're beginning to blur together, what with the 24 hour cycle of making skimpy things for women, then having women come try on said skimpy things on, then adjustments, then pictures, and music...

    And rum, always rum....

     

    Anyway.. Cranky... I'm emotionally disconnected and more'n half convinced that this recent turn of luck is a sign that the Mayan's were right, and the end is nigh. My front teeth have crumbled, and I'm fighting multiple abscesses there. I'm on low dose synthetic opiates and antibiotics and I hurt a LOT. Pain is an amazing motivator...

    But... women taking pictures with my stuff. I'll post some later. Redhead in 30's era vampire hunting gear posing with my cap-n-ball Remington and a kukri... woof!

    I'll be in my bunk...

  9. Zeppelins

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Zeppelins

     

     

    Same here' date=' especially since I could see it flying in the distance from my back yard at times. I wish someone had been able to sponsor the company. The website still has its photos up. I posted some new ones here.

     

    It'll all work out in the end. I fully intend to build my own airship, damnit.

     

    You can be part of the crew

  13. Zeppelins

    in Pulp Hero

    Posted

    Re: Zeppelins

     

    *sigh* I saw you'd posted to this thread and was hoping you'd have some good news about Airship Ventures, damnit!

     

    I'm gonna miss looking up and seeing the local airship cruising around

  14. The cranky thread

    in Non-Gaming Discussion

    Posted

    Re: The cranky thread

     

    I think the Holiday Blues are coming on. I tried playing the Trans Siberian Orchestra's CD and didn't like it. I tried my Dad and Mom's Christmas music, listened to Bing sing "White Christmas" and just felt worse. I want to play my Very Special Christmas CD, but the first song on that is "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" and I hate that. They have it on the other VSC CD too. Really, that song stinks.

    Maybe the Grinch ?

    Maybe I'll just play my Necronomicon CD. It's about how I'm feeling right now.

    There are a host of Cthulhu Mythos carols on Youtube that have been getting it done for me.

     

    Edit: Here, to get you started...

  15. How do you feel about House Rules?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: How do you feel about House Rules?

     

    If the pedigree of CON-Stunned has been sufficiently sleuthed, perhaps we could return to House Rule discussion? ;)

     

    I'll even try for a segue... I've seen folks on the forums discuss a rule in which a character who takes more than a particular amount of Stun damage past Defenses in one attack also takes Body damage automatically. That might even have been in a Hero book at one point, although I can't remember for sure. Anyone use a rule like that in your games? What was the effect?

    Not in any books I know of... I think Susano might be the origin of that one. I tend to think of it as "Bruising" rules, and 1 BOD per 20 Stun past defenses seems to be the usual level folk set it at. I have yet to actually use it in play, but I'll probably do so if I ever run another Supers campaign.

  16. How do you feel about House Rules?

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: How do you feel about House Rules?

     

    I've used a small number of house rules over the years, but most of them have really involved rules from earlier versions of HERO System which were once official, and which either suit my and my group's play style preferences better, "feel" more appropriate, or seem simpler or more logical to us, than the current relevant rules. The rest of my house rules are basically extrapolations from existing rules, like my use of the Real Weapon and Real Armor Limitations to distinguish between normal and "super" damage attacks and defenses, which I've described here before.

     

    I feel most comfortable when a house rule is grounded in HERO precedents, so that IMO it follows the spirit of the rules, if not their letter.

     

    This is pretty much my take on it as well.

    Some examples I can think of right off the top of my head include the old -1 OCV if you move and attack, I've got some rules around for Long Term Stun (Shock, essentially), I decoupled Control and Pool costs in VPP's before it was cool (6th Edition change), & made rules for Pushing your Luck for my JI campaign, back in the day.

  20. Wish List: Other Licensed Content

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

     

    OK, I can understand that. TDAR looked very "gonzo" to me, very fantastical. That's not bad, but if you're in the market for a grim, gritty, technological PA setting I can see how TDAR might not do the trick.

     

    Gesalt Bennie and Michael Surbrook (Kazei 5) need to get together and write that book.

     

    Seriously.

    Heck I've thought about writing a gritty hard S/F PA setting. If I decide to get more serious about writing it might just happen.

  21. Wish List: Other Licensed Content

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

     

    Basically' date=' I'm curious again, so same question: how does 5th ed. Apocalyptic Hero and The Day After Ragnarok not meet your Post Apoc gaming needs here?[/quote']

     

    PA Hero 5th was fine for what it was, although for my tastes it was exceedingly short... I would rather have seen PA Hero a full genre book on par with Star Hero or Pulp Hero, rather than the condensed version we got, with over half the book as short campaign examples.

    I haven't looked at Day After Ragnarok except in passing, but I expect like the other licensed settings it's almost exactly what I'd want to see more of: A full campaign setting book. PA settings can be very specific, depending on the nature of the apocalypse, and in a lot of cases "generic" material doesn't transfer across setting lines terribly smoothly. I'd rather see a series of in depth setting books like DAR, The Widening Gyre, Terracide and the like than more generic products. Fallout HERO has been done before. I was holding it up because it's a rich setting, originally designed with a point buy RPG engine in mind, that has yet to see a good tabletop crossover, and has proven itself very workable with HERO.

     

    Edit: Besides, we've got one of the original design staff here on the boards with us. GestaltBenny IIRC)

  24. Wish List: Other Licensed Content

    in HERO System Discussion

    Posted

    Re: Wish List: Other Licensed Content

     

    That's funne, cause as I understand it fallout's mechanics were based on a broken contract with SJ Games.

     

    I wonder if there is a way to validate how much of those rumors were true?

     

    AFAIK, the rumors are 100% correct. Fallout was originally designed to use GURPS under the hood, but after the deal broke down they designed their own system. I don't mind SPECIAL, and put it in the same rank of game system as... oh, Morrow Project after they'd adapted the BRP skills system (3rd edition IIRC). It does what it was designed to do, but lacks internal balance

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