Tom Cowan

Take the negatives down to the store and get a 2nd set of photos for grandma

People are missing the point.
The bear is not up there for food or hijinks.
The reason is FEAR.
Now what scared the bear so much that it got up there in the first place ?

Studies from the Starlord Research Institute (SRI) show that stupid people have remarkably strong immune systems.  Our scientists theorize that 'stupid people' immune response has adapted to keep the stupid gene alive.

One of my brother-in-laws and one of his kids came down with COVID this weekend -- and he still has no issue with his kid participating in sports, potentially infecting others.  He also has some bug up his butt against Fauci.

I think corporate America has been looking for an excuse to run like a bunny from the Trumpists. There's not a much more pure cause in our society than "one person, one vote" so trying to legislate that away is not something which is easily ignored because it doesn't go away before the next election.
 
Yeah corporations want to be able to play the political game where they give to each side so that they aren't legislatively locked out no matter which party comes into power. But it's more important that they have customers from virtually all minority groups...and latching onto a party which is almost reaching the point of posting neon signs saying "Only Whites Need Apply" is damaging their base of potential customers.
 
Yeah, Republicans can point to individual Democrats doing shenanigans like snowbirds who are registered to vote in NY and Florida and who vote in both or who pick whichever state to vote in which has the hottest races this time around. Or Indian reservations which don't have universal street addresses so that individuals can claim in each election to live on whichever side of the border that has the most important races. But there's no longer advantages which the Democrats as an organized party are writing into law like there were 80-100 years ago.

Perhaps they can solve it all by...Reversing the polarity!

Zebra mussels found in pet stores
 
 

I was being quite literal. Teddy in particular was not shy about personally thrashing scalawags.

...until someone nominates him to the Supreme Court.
 
Sorry. I'll be on my way now.

A friend on The Book Of Face posted something like "I'm happy I was able to make it through work today. This COVID vaccine is kicking my butt!"
 
Someone responded with, "Why didn't you get it in the arm like everyone else?"
 
(No, it wasn't me.)

I really hope you mean the vaccine and not the virus.

In other words, a typical American teenager....?


So I GOT SHOT!!!
Didn't feel a thing.  Didn't even bleed, the RN didn't even give me a band-aid....or a sucker.......
 
REALLY nice, tho.  The local hospital had it nicely arranged, about 4 people administering shots, less than 10 minutes to get through the line, probably more like 5.  The longest part was, they had everyone wait for 15 minutes before leaving, just to ensure there were no Particularly Bad reactions.  I had my Kindle with me.

Oh, yes. Sometimes even on purpose. Other times the players made it so through their choices. And sometimes it was just the dice.
 
There's a reason my Supermage playtest campaigns ended up dubbed "The Keystone Konjurors." One PC reducing Power cost with Actiovation and Side Effects is, hm, risky. Three of them doing so practically guarantees adventures going off the rails. Frequently. Well, it helped me develop my skills at improvisation. "Oops, I rolled another 18 on my Control Roll to EDM the group. Where did we end up this time?"
 
Dean Shomshak

Or maybe high levels of hydroxychloroquine.

(added emphasis mine)
 
In your examples, the mage is also using "gadgets;" they're just gadgets with magical SFX instead of technological. I agree with LL that I don't necessarily buy the premise that GMs generally don't like Power Frameworks; I think it depends on the GM, and maybe even more so on the player using the Power Framework and the speed and ease with which the VPP can changed.
 
However, in my experience, when I have seen what you describe, it's typically because a gadget-based VPP is a bit easier for the GM to plan around, often because it takes at least a bit of time to change. The VPPs that give some GMs heartburn are the ones that can be whatever whenever, as LL notes. Those tend to magic spells, not gadgets. I've never encountered a GM who would frown on a VPP of a wizard's magic items, but be fine with a VPP of technological gadgets, for example.