DShomshak

I saw that!  
 
Hey guys, I've let this thread really stagnate over the last few years.  But I am back to full time art after 8 years of being at a 9-5 energy company doing marketing and forklift duties (wore a lot of hats).  I have been playing supers.  It has been our own system...but I've done a lot of art for our playtest and I thought I would drop some on y'all.  And that is just scratching the surface... I've got a lot more..  But let's see if folks enjoy this before completely saturating the thread.  

More info
 
 

Scientists have found a mineral stronger than diamond

The story of an Evangelical pastor who found his church subverted by Trumpism.
 
The Pastors Being Driven Out by Trumpism - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
 
Dean Shomshak

IIRC, "Strike Force: Morituri." Latin for "We who are about to die," from the salutation Roman gladiators gave the Emperor before the games.
 
Dean Shomshak
 

If I were a Russian general given this guy, and, y'know, Evil, I would give this guy a machete and a motorcycle with a full tank of gas, point him at free Ukrainian territory, and say, "Here's your buffet. Indulge yourself." He's off my hands, and makes more trouble for Ukraine.
 
I suspect this is more or less the plan in the Wagner Group recruiting from prisons. They aren't seeking soldiers. They're seeking brigands to commit atrocities. Even the ones who desert are useful if they desert in Ukraine and prey on that populace. And even if they head back to Russia, eh, they aren't likely to rob and kill anyone who matters.
 
Dean Shomshak

Once again, Putin threatened nuclear escalation against NATO. How seriously should we take his saber-rattling? Russia and Ukraine military expert Alexander Vindman offers his opinion. tl;dr: Putin is not suicidally insane. His goal is to live to fight another day. US and NATO aide to Ukraine will not push him to the Big Hot One. But it is deeply not useful for national security people to be fretting about whether the US can restore peaceful and productive relations with Russia. Putin burned that bridge himself. It's Cold War II; deal with it.
 
A former national security official explores what could be next in the Ukraine war | NPR Illinois
 
Dean Shomshak

Once again, Putin threatened nuclear escalation against NATO. How seriously should we take his saber-rattling? Russia and Ukraine military expert Alexander Vindman offers his opinion. tl;dr: Putin is not suicidally insane. His goal is to live to fight another day. US and NATO aide to Ukraine will not push him to the Big Hot One. But it is deeply not useful for national security people to be fretting about whether the US can restore peaceful and productive relations with Russia. Putin burned that bridge himself. It's Cold War II; deal with it.
 
A former national security official explores what could be next in the Ukraine war | NPR Illinois
 
Dean Shomshak

Once again, Putin threatened nuclear escalation against NATO. How seriously should we take his saber-rattling? Russia and Ukraine military expert Alexander Vindman offers his opinion. tl;dr: Putin is not suicidally insane. His goal is to live to fight another day. US and NATO aide to Ukraine will not push him to the Big Hot One. But it is deeply not useful for national security people to be fretting about whether the US can restore peaceful and productive relations with Russia. Putin burned that bridge himself. It's Cold War II; deal with it.
 
A former national security official explores what could be next in the Ukraine war | NPR Illinois
 
Dean Shomshak

If I were a Russian general given this guy, and, y'know, Evil, I would give this guy a machete and a motorcycle with a full tank of gas, point him at free Ukrainian territory, and say, "Here's your buffet. Indulge yourself." He's off my hands, and makes more trouble for Ukraine.
 
I suspect this is more or less the plan in the Wagner Group recruiting from prisons. They aren't seeking soldiers. They're seeking brigands to commit atrocities. Even the ones who desert are useful if they desert in Ukraine and prey on that populace. And even if they head back to Russia, eh, they aren't likely to rob and kill anyone who matters.
 
Dean Shomshak

Maybe I spoke too soon when I said this thread had run its course. My top 3 picks still hold, however.
 
 

Mechanics: OK, whatever.
 
As a player, though, I'd want more information on what sort of things this magic can and cannot do, beyond "no Holy effects." And what is the nature of magic? Quasi-psychic power? Spirit invocations? A quasi-Hermetic system of supernatural forces, channeled through a system or symbolic correspondences? Elemental? True Names? This is what makes magic vivid and distinctive.
 
Though I may be unusual in this interest.
 
Dean Shomshak

I admit, I'm suspicious of any radical, utopian change, even the ones I would cheer. People are self-interested, self-deluding, and cunning at finding ways around rules: any political proposal that does not accept that as a given is folly.
 
So about the most utopian proposals I can come up with are:
-- Abolish the Electoral College and institute direct election of Presidents.
-- Politically independent districting for state houses and Congress. Maybe even an element of randomness. I've heard some interesting proposals for multiple representatives from larger districts, to reflect a range of voter viewpoints instead of 50% + 1 and the other 50% - 1 is shut out, but the most inportant thing is that politicians can't pick their voters.
-- Random selection of judges (from appropriate levels of the court system) to make up a new Supreme Court for some limited term. Make it harder to stack the SCOTUS with ideologues.
 
Dean Shomshak

I admit, I'm suspicious of any radical, utopian change, even the ones I would cheer. People are self-interested, self-deluding, and cunning at finding ways around rules: any political proposal that does not accept that as a given is folly.
 
So about the most utopian proposals I can come up with are:
-- Abolish the Electoral College and institute direct election of Presidents.
-- Politically independent districting for state houses and Congress. Maybe even an element of randomness. I've heard some interesting proposals for multiple representatives from larger districts, to reflect a range of voter viewpoints instead of 50% + 1 and the other 50% - 1 is shut out, but the most inportant thing is that politicians can't pick their voters.
-- Random selection of judges (from appropriate levels of the court system) to make up a new Supreme Court for some limited term. Make it harder to stack the SCOTUS with ideologues.
 
Dean Shomshak

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. First of a series. A jolly romp about acqyiring rare books for an interdimensional library. Alternate histories, faeries, a Great Detective, steampunk London, vampires, dragons, and more fun. Not a serious bone in it, unless you count the suggestions of poisonous office politics among senior librarians, which suggests to me that Ms. Cogman once worked in the Tacoma Library System. (As my sister did for many years and I did... briefly.) The style is arch to just the right degree, in that way Brits do so well.
 
Possibly of interest to some readers that Ms. Cogman once wrote a fair bit of material for the Exalted RPG and ported a fair bit into the series. Her Fae, as creatures of primal Chaos, are ported directly from Exalted (OK by me since it's a view of Fae she had a large role in creating in the first place). I shall see if her version of dragons intersects with Exalted as well. Could be: In Exalted, dragons are powerful elemental spirits, and at one point a dragon wields elemental power.
 
We game writers are all frustrated novelists. It's nice to see that one of our crew made the transition so well.
 
Dean Shomshak

In a friend's adaptation of the Rise of the Runelords adventure path, he said the gods are bound by a law of balance in raising the dead. If one side raises a dead person, any opposing factions get an opening to raise someone on their side. So, one must be quite valuable for a god to grant the resurrection. I don't know all the details, but as a player I didn't need to. One of the confirmations that our PCs were involved in something very important was that gods were waiving the "You get one, we get one" treaty. Whatever it was, they all wanted us to succeed.
 
In my own campaign, there just aren't that many people powerful enough to raise the dead. They are of course swamped with requests, but they can pick who they choose. When it comes up, I'm going to adopt my friend's rule: The gods raise the dead for their purposes, not those of mortals. Yes, some people might squyeal that this deprotagonizes clerics and druids. Tough patooties. You wanted to play a character who serves the divine, don't complain when you are expected to serve the divine.
 
In D&D, resurrection magic also does not rejuvenate. (Resurrection and true resurrection specifically say they don't work on people who died of old age.) So even the most generous availability of such magic could let a monarch live a long life... but their reign still must end in time. If you really want to be the Eternal King or whatever, look into becoming a vampire. Hey, it works for Strahd.
 
Dean Shomshak

I admit, I'm suspicious of any radical, utopian change, even the ones I would cheer. People are self-interested, self-deluding, and cunning at finding ways around rules: any political proposal that does not accept that as a given is folly.
 
So about the most utopian proposals I can come up with are:
-- Abolish the Electoral College and institute direct election of Presidents.
-- Politically independent districting for state houses and Congress. Maybe even an element of randomness. I've heard some interesting proposals for multiple representatives from larger districts, to reflect a range of voter viewpoints instead of 50% + 1 and the other 50% - 1 is shut out, but the most inportant thing is that politicians can't pick their voters.
-- Random selection of judges (from appropriate levels of the court system) to make up a new Supreme Court for some limited term. Make it harder to stack the SCOTUS with ideologues.
 
Dean Shomshak

I admit, I'm suspicious of any radical, utopian change, even the ones I would cheer. People are self-interested, self-deluding, and cunning at finding ways around rules: any political proposal that does not accept that as a given is folly.
 
So about the most utopian proposals I can come up with are:
-- Abolish the Electoral College and institute direct election of Presidents.
-- Politically independent districting for state houses and Congress. Maybe even an element of randomness. I've heard some interesting proposals for multiple representatives from larger districts, to reflect a range of voter viewpoints instead of 50% + 1 and the other 50% - 1 is shut out, but the most inportant thing is that politicians can't pick their voters.
-- Random selection of judges (from appropriate levels of the court system) to make up a new Supreme Court for some limited term. Make it harder to stack the SCOTUS with ideologues.
 
Dean Shomshak