DShomshak

I sometimes chide people for ragging on D&D in ways I think are unfair. Nevertheless...

For me, magic in D&D feels utterly un-magical. One reason is that despite multiple sources and modes of magic, it all works exactly the same way. Another is that while great effort is made to describe the tactical effects of every spell, the game remains sketchy and incoherent about what magic is and why it works. (Maybe setting books go into this. I've only read the Forgotten Realms Gazetteer, which has some blither about a "Weave" that left me unimpressed.) Maybe I'm unusual, but I don't find resource management enhancing my sense of wonder. Well, what do you expect. D&D began as a wargame, and that remains written into thre game's DNA.

I hope I have at times achieved sense of wonder in my own D&D games, but it came from my work, not that of the game designers.

For me, at least, part of what makes magic feel magical is the context. Like, let's take Incantations. Fine: It's a -1/4 Limitation, because if something prevents you from talking you can't use the Power. But what are the incantations? For an example, let's say the mage is conjuring that stereotypical fireball.

The Hermetic or Kabbalistic magus uses secret names of God to invokes Gabriel, angel of fire, and Phaleg, angel of the fiery planet Mars, to burn his enemies.

The Satanic sorcerer calls on Xaphan, who fans the flames of Hell, commanding him by Lucifer and Beelzebub as well as divine names such as Elohim Sabaoth and the Tetragrammaton -- blasphemously treating names of God as arbitrary tokens of power that don't actually mean anything. Or he just uses "barbarous words" -- pure gibberish, void of meaning, but you have to speak it all letter-perfect anyway because you're embracing pure superstition.

The Hindu sadhu chants a short mantra that distills both a prayer to Agni,m god of fire, down to a few sacred syllables. He has told the prayer 100,000 times, and the force of his ascetic meditation and ritual is such that even a god cannot deny his will.

The shaman has met a spirit of fire in his visionary journeys and made a treaty with it. Tapping his drum, he chants an appeal to the spirit and reminds it of their bargain.

The Taoist mystic writes the name of Yan Di, the Blazing Lord and Minister of Fire, on a spip of paper and stamps it with his seal of authority. As he holds it up, he demands that a lesser spirit of fire work his will: "By imperial order, in accordance with the statutes and the protocols!"

The Finnish sorcerer sings the story of how fire came to be. Knowing its origin asserts his power to command it.

In Earthsea, the graduate of Roke knows the true name of fire. In fact, he knows the specific true name for an explosive ball of fire, and by saying that name he calls it into existence.

And so on. Whatever the system of magic, the magic words mean something. Not that the player and GM have to come up with anything. It's enough to extablish that that the mage character is indeed calling on some special knowledge to access something deep and powerful in the world.

Dean Shomshak

Snopes.com checks more eclipse nuttiness, this time indubitably from the kookier fringes of Christianity. (Though I was surprised to find how many places named Nineveh are in the US.)

Fact Check: About the Rumor 2024 Solar Eclipse Will Pass Over Every US City Named Nineveh (msn.com)

Dean Shomshak

I assume everyone here has sufficient scientific literacy to find this funny.

April 8 solar eclipse totality will last for minutes, not cause 'days of darkness' | Fact check (msn.com)

Dean Shomshak

Just a note that I am still working on this as time and energy permit. I recently finished the revised version of Razor Girl. I'm working on a magical martial artist lackey for Shadowfire and his cult, which is now an independent group with no connection to the Devil's Advocates. (Though I mention he could join them.) His daughter Nightstar already has a full writeup.

"Darkhand" was the top cult enforcer before Albert Nomus usurped leadership. He serves the new master while assessing how Shadowfire uses the cult and his new power. He does not yet tell everything he knows, such as how to find the Black Bodhisattva -- leader of the Black School overall, of which the cult of the Greater Dark was just a local branch.

Dean Shomshak

Actually, I'm a bit impressed by that tipped-over building -- because it didn't crumble and collapse. I dare say the residents lived. It could be better built (other buildings didn't tip over), but it could have been much worse.

Dean Shomshak

I prefer to write up ghosts in a way that is... possibly not that useful to other GMs. I treat them as usually existing on the Astral Plane. From the POV of creatures on Earth, that makes their default state invisible and desolid; they can see and hear things on Earth, but need Powers to affect anything. Intangible manifestation is a Transdimensional Image. Any ghostly attacks require Transdimensional as well (and don't forget the Indirect to enable the Transdimensional, except for TK "poltergeist" effects since TK is Indirect already). Extra PRE for ghost;ly terror doesn't need XDim because PRE attacks only require that targets perceive you in some way. EDM to materialize on Earth, which might enable stronger attacks but also makes it possible for other people to hit you.

I used this method for a Generic Minor Ghost that will see publication eventually, I hope, if Jason ever gets back to me with test reader feedback to The Sylvestri Family Reunion.

GMs might not want this writeup because it's kind of hacky. It also means making the Astral Plane part of the campaign. Other things dwell on the Astral Plane, not just other ghosts. It can pull a campaign in a more mystical direction than a Street HERO GM may want to go. So you and your GM may prefer Chris Taylor's approach.

Dean Shomshak

Taking a vacation from the intensely depressing state of American politics, here's a speculation about countries that might not exist by the end of the 21st century. Three that could break up through ethnic separatism, and one -- the Maldives -- doomed by climate change. But that does include a hopeful note, as the Maldive government is determined not to go underwater without a fight.

Dean Shomshak

Not mutants, but I might do so for aliens if any became common enough to warrant it. Like, I've already decided that the super-powered Coronans will just use the Empyrean packages (from Hidden Lands, IIRC) if I ever need to write up more than a few of them. Not likely, though, sainxce I've only thought of three Coronan characters who might appear (one NPC hero, two somewhat high-wend villains). Not enough to justify a template.

Dean Shomshak

Trae Crowder mentions the right-wing nuttosphere is already spinning conspiracy theories about the Key Bridge disaster. Baltimore's mayor also mentioned this on All Things Considered. I expected this, but... I really don't want to know what the theories are. It would raise my blood pressure to no good purpose.

As far as laughing at American politics, I'll add Stephen Colbert's recent take on the Trump Bible and R

onna McDaniels' extremely brief employment by NBC. Nice to see that the established anchors were outraged, and the Powers That Be at NBC listened. Some people still have a sense of shame, or at least a sense of corporate self-preservation.

Dean Shomshak

On 3/25/2024 at 10:42 AM, LoneWolf said:

When you have super science that can manipulate the molecular structure of an object at range there is no reason you cannot have something capable of doing a genetic analysis without having a sample.  I had a character with telekinesis that could alter things on an atomic level.  He was able to perceive and even alter molecules including the cells of a living being.   His molecular Analysis was 68 active points for a single enhanced sense.   

 

A lot of science fiction has medical scanners that can do this.  The Tricorders of Star Trek from Star Trek can easily do this.  The ships senses of the enterprise can do this from orbit.   
 

A very good point -- and it also leads to your "Decide what mutants really are" point. And also one of my Star Trek rants that what tricorders (and even ship's sensors) can detect seems to vary arbitrarily based on needs of the current story. "There's bogonic interference in the atmosphere that's blocking out sensors, captain..."

We can accept a lot of rubber science, especially in comic books, but internal consistency helps.

I will actually give Marvel some credit that in at least one story, a Sentinel (maybe the Master Mold, maybe Nimrod) cranked up its Mutant Scanner and found that everyone has at least a few "mutant" cells. It was a genetic potential in everyone. The robot, of course, freaked. But the point is, at least one writer seemed to be trying to think these things through.

Dean Shomshak

2 hours ago, Asperion said:

I have always disliked those "magic wand" detectors, like I described in the original post.  Instead,  I used a method similar to what Dean described where someone needs to obtain a DNA sample for a lab test. The suspect can refuse to give the sample,  there is no way to generally scan a room, along with more problems. The rationale used was that mutants possess a marker in their genes,  but to detect it one needed to obtain that sample and pull it out to find. No remote detection system can locate them. 

The "magic wand" mutant detector exists for story reasons to cover gaps in the "anti-mutant prejudice" theme. If you're going to have giant robots hunting mutants, they need some way of telling who's a mutant. It would, after all, be politically awkward if they attacked people known to have powers for socially acceptable reasons, or people who just look a little odd. And mutants probably won't politely sit still for a DNA test. So to have that scene where the Sentinel robots tear open the shopping mall to get at the X-Men while they're in civvies, you need to give the robots mutant detection.

Or y'know, one could postulate that a lot of people with powers who *aren't* mutants suffer prejudice because people think they are. Because prejudice is irrational and bigots don't demand precise definition and testing of the people they fear and hate. Marvel did at least one scene of such "false positive" bigotry back when I still read Marvel, but on the whole ordinary people seemed to have quite good "mutant detector sense" innately. Like gaydar, but accurate. <eyeroll>

As I have said before, repeatedly, perhaps even tiresomely, I am not a fan of that particular storyline. At least not as Marvel did it back in the '80s and '90s, and I haven't looked since.

Dean Shomshak

I deal with questions of mutant detection technology by having it not exist. Even the existence of "mutant power genes" was debated in science until some aliens who are really good at genetics confirmed their existence (and would you mind if we enslaved you so we can exploit them? We promise you'll still get a higher standard of living, so rationally it's a good deal...) Mutant power genes still require slow, finicky lab tests to identify. Very often, saying someone has "mutant powers" really means, "We don't know why they have powers."

But then, I also don't do the whole "anti-mutant prejudice" thing in my campaign, either. Most people think being a mutant is the ultimate in dumb luck. (Not so much for the occasional defective mutants, such as the guy who gets super-strong muscles but not super-strong bones, or the pyrokinetic who isn't immune to fire. But there are now treatments for Obstructed Mutation Syndrome, from biotech captured from the aforementioned aliens.)

I don't feel obligated to copy Marvel in everything.

Dean Shomshak

Anyway, pfft, it's only the Constitution. The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments explicitly ban slavery and guarantee civil and voting rights, and yet Jim Crow was the law of the land -- or at least large sections of it -- for decades. Like all laws, the Constitution has only as much power as the people charged with implementing it choose to grant.

(Plus there's the old argument that Constitutional phrases that seem to demand religious neutrality only mean neutrality among Christian denominations. Also, early in the Republic's history states established specific denominations, on the grounds the Constitution spoke only to the Federal government. Two views the SCOTUS have never endorsed, but hey, a sufficiently radical and zealous SCOTUS could throw out 200+ years of precedent.)

In other news, I am not sure this bit of wackiness from Tennessee is going anywhere, or is even real. Considering other Republican lunacy, though, a state bill to ban imaginary "chemtrails" does not seem implausible. At least there'll be no problem enforcing it.

Tennessee is trying to ban 'chemtrails' from planes based on a wild conspiracy theory (msn.com)

Dean Shomshak

18 hours ago, Cancer said:

Eh, sort of. I told my kin to buy the cheapest cremation possible for my corpse, then send the ashes out with the trash. I won't be in a position to care. My niece who gardens can then use the urn as a planter.

Dean Shomshak

Two other points from the above article I'd like to comment upon:

Quote

Dismissing criticism of Christian nationalism as a sneaky liberal ploy to attack all right-of-center Christians is profoundly disingenuous. But I suppose when you’re combatting Beelzebub in the name of Jesus, the Ninth Commandment is not operative.

Well, of course not. For comparison, God also commanded, "Thou shalt not kill" -- then promptly commanded the Israelites to exterminate entire cities in their conquest of Canaan. The commandments of morality are for within the sectarian tribe. They do not apply to the infidel.

Quote

Last year, the far-right Heritage Foundation published an article declaring that Christian nationalism is a term “mostly used as a smear against conservative Christians who defend the role of religion in American public life” and that the “lack of standard definition allows critics to bundle evils like white supremacy and racism with standard conservative views on marriage, family, and politics.”

Conservatives don't use a standard definition of Critical Race Theory, either; it seems to be anything that might make conservative white people uncomfortable. So, hey, turnabout is fair play. This isn't an academic debate; it's raw political conflict against people who speak openly about jailing or even murdering their opponents. I'm not going to worry much about hairsplitting definitions.

Dean Shomshak

1 hour ago, death tribble said:

Setting the East Ablaze: on Secret Service in Bolshevik Asia by Peter Hopkirk

How the Soviets tried to forment revolution in Asia and how it failed. There is the Civil War between White and Red Russians; how Russia tried to turn India communist; how a number of British agents took on the Russians and how several people became warlords. There is dashing and derring do on both sides but it shines a light on a neglected piece of history, Britain vs Soviet Russia for control of India. A fascinating read

I remember at least one Fantasy novel that was basically the French Revolution with the serial numbers filed off. Just this brief description makes me think it could be turned into a whole Fantasy series. And a kick-ass one at that.

Dean Shomshak

Classic Enemies showed how Enemies books should be written. The addition of Plot Seeds in Conquerors, Killers and Crooks was the most useful innovation in format since then -- and for writers as well as GMs. Coming up with three stories for every group and character forces one to think harder about how characters can be used in play. That makes characters more useful to GMs, so the product gives better value for money.

Dean Shomshak

A rare recurring nova may be preparing to blast again:

Explosive star event will create once-in-a-lifetime sight in the sky. Here’s how to see it (msn.com)

Dean Shomshak

This weekend's episode of On the Media discussed the bill to ban TikTok: why it's ridiculous, and how it could backfire. More relevant to my interests, though, was the second segment on the surge in book ban attempts and how Moms for Liberty fits into a long history of attacks on public education. In brief, some conservatives hate public education on first principles, because it's public and therefore socialistic. Other conservatives simply want to control it as a tool of social engineering, to instill the particular forms of patriotism and piety they believe in. (As usual, conservatives accuse liberals of doing what they want to do -- just not in the direction they approve of.) Either way, the goal is to foster suspicion of public education so that it may eventually be abolished. And polls show it's working, at least for the suspicion part.

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

Dean Shomshak

16 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Found an amusing poll over on Awful Announcing.

 

"Would you vote for a presidential candidate whose VP candidate is Aaron Rodgers?"

 

90% NO...and over 1500 votes.

Who is Aaron Rodgers?

<goes to Wikipedia>

Egad. Actually rather frightening that 10% *would* support a ticket with Aaron Rodgers. Though the article did point me to the "Tartarian Architecture" conspiracy theory, which I'd never heard of before. And wow, it's a doozy. Positively baroque. Or maybe Gothic Revival <snerk>.

To be fair, I wouldn't automatically discount a retired pro athlete for federal office. IIRC Sen. Bill Bradley also had a distinguished career with the NY Knicks. A friend told me that a local fellow called Marshawn Lynch has mad skills at money management, which the federal government could probably use, and I gather he also played football pretty wall.

Dean Shomshak

I'm sure the outlined plot can work, and probably work well. The only advice I'd offer, based on my experience and the other (and better) GMs in my group, is: Don't overplan. Develop the characters, locations, Bases, and other resources you think you'll need, but keep the actual storylines loose so the players can change them through the PCs' actions.

Possibly have DEMON, Nimue, or other Big Bad attempting some other villainous plot that the PCs can thwart, but the villains accidentally set something bigger in motion that leads to the Progenitor-related endgame. It's as much a surprising plot twist to the bad guys as to the heroes.

Players often miss the plot cues you dangle in front of them, especially when you think you've made them especially obvious. If the players won't proactively follow the leads you've given, or can't decide which villain to pursue first, prep a few villainous plans for the PCs to react to, and hope you can tie them in later.

Dean Shomshak

Gods being fickle is a prime reason to build temples.

The article's mention of hundreds of miles of pipes reminds me of the NOVA episode about the ruined city of Petra in Jordan, perhaps best known to movie audiences as the setting for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. A poet called it the "rose-red city, half as old as time." Petra was a rich trading city on the frankincense trail from Yemen to the Mediterranean. Its greatest marvel, though, might have been its reservoir and urban pool, fed by an immense system of channels and cisterns built to catch every drop of rain that fell anywhere near the city. IIRC the city fell when a massive earthquake broke the dam of the main reservoir. Hm. More grim foreshadowings for Californians to consider. But it was a wonderful city while it lasted.

...And the dry stone no sound of water. Only

There is shadow under this red rock,

(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),

And I will show you something different from either

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

--T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land

Though for a contrary view:

On their own feet they came, or on shipboard,

Camelback, horseback, ass-back, mule-back,

Old civilizations put to the sword.

They and their wisdom went to rack.

No handiwork of Callimichaus,

Who handled marble as if it were bronze,

Made draperies that seemed to rise

When sea-wind swept the corner, stands;

His long lamp-chimney shaped like the stem

Of a slender palm, stood but a day;

All things fall and are built again,

And those that build them again are gay.

--William Butler Yeats, "Lapis Lazuli"

(I drew on the water system of Petra when writing the revised and explanded description of the desert city of Gem, for White Wolf's game Exalted. It was a running gag through the game that Gem was always on the verge of being destroyed.)

Dean Shomshak

Indeed, Biden didn't actually say, "You want a piece of the old man? Come at me, punks," but that's sort of the impression I got. And past time.

Dean Shomshak

15 hours ago, Old Man said:

I spend time wondering how to fix capitalism.  How hard could it be?  The current system does nothing to discourage infinite accretion of wealth, and it places no value on truth, or health, or education, or the environment. 

 

"Infinite accumulation of wealth" is not a problem unique to capitalism. As Acemoglu and Robinson note in How Nations Fail, there's evidence that from the moment human societies began generating surpluses, there've been ruling classes to expropriate that surplus and use it to entrench their position. Brutal extraction of wealth from the many for the benefit of a few has been the rule across ages and continents. The only exceptions are hunter/gatherer societies so small and/or poor as to have no significant division of labor.

A contrary process is possible: Enough of the population has enough wealth (and therefore power) to resist the rulers' desire to extract ever-larger shares of the society's total wealth and power, and indeed share out more wealth and power more broadly, is possible. It's happened in modern centuries. At every step, though, the ruling class resists -- and sometimes succeeds in reversing the outward division of wealth and power, and restores the vicious cycle of wealth concentration, leading to greater concentration of power, which is used to extract and concentrate wealth still further.

I'll argue that capitalism is in many ways a social and moral improvement on what came before, in that it requires a large population of customers. The ruling class of the super-rich need to grant the masses at least enough wealth to buy the products of their own labor, or the money machine stops spinning. It's possible that the super-rich decide they don't care, and they'd rather get bigger shares of a smaller pie, which is why the rest of us have to keep pushing for a more distributive, less extractive, ecponomy and political system.

It may be that some other system can be devised that generates even more wealth than capitalism and spreads it more equitably. We don't have it yet.

Dean Shomshak

9 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

Unfortunately, not losing isn't the same as winning.  Here, the ground for objecting to the decision is self-interest...which is unreliable.

Self-interest is a lot more reliabole than altruism, or at least it's more reliable at motivating people. Anyone who wants to change public policy should certainly work on crafting arguments on how the change will benefit you, yes, you, right now or very soon. Any talk of the common good is to help people feel good about their self-interest. (The common good can still be valid, but it isn't what clinches the deal.)

The Alabama SC applied the principle of human life starting at conception. They correctly recognized that it was not relevant whether sperm meets egg in a womb or in a lab. To that extent, I laud their rationality. I can only hope that the Alabama legislature's carvingf out an exception for in vitro highlights the irrationality of the core assumption. But I am often disappointed in people's rationality.

Dean Shomshak