Old Man

Re: What is Your Favorite Item?

Going further back, there was also the Deck of Many Things that got turned into a weapon. After a few lucky draws we realized that we'd pulled most of the good results, leaving a deck with an 80% chance of something really bad happening to whoever pulled the next card. So there were a few instances of the cleric trying to convince certain people to "pick a card, any card." GM let us get away with it a couple of times.

Re: What is Your Favorite Item?

Had a character once that got hold of "the Strongsword". It was essentially unbreakable but otherwise unremarkable as a weapon. However, its wielder gained like +10 STR, CON, and BODY, and several defenses as well. The character in question was a total loser rogue/mage, who upon learning just what he'd picked up, had the thing tethered to his wrist (and often bound his hand to the hilt with leather straps as well). Many amusing situations ensued, like only ever having one hand free, trying to use its abilities in places where swords were frowned upon, and not being able to drop the sword lest he die instantly.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

The second rule of Fight Like A Girl Club is...

"Not the hair!!"

Re: Rail gun damage?

How hard would it be to employ disposable one-shot rails? Not very sexy, but might be more feasible than using magic superconducting unobtainium that doesn't exist.

Re: Do any of you still play 4th edition and FH Circa 1990?

The magic system discussion on that second link is extremely interesting.

Re: Tac-nukes vs. Nuclear Warheads

And then they broke the plausibility by having the Cylons hack into Galactica while her onboard systems were networked to more quickly calculate an FTL jump. I'm sorry' date=' but just because you network a bunch of systems doesn't make them vulnerable to outside attacks (unless the Cylons can inject signals into the interconnecting cables of the system).[/quote']

 

Unless one of the networked systems has sensors attached to it, which seems likely given the task at hand.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

No, he meant tribblers.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

And the sheep dip.

But do they double dip? No salsa for them!

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

We should have company over more often. It forces the wife to clean up, and the house actually looks nice when it's clean.

Re: Buy Fantasy Hero Now

Is it the same cover art or is it leather bound with gilded edges?

Re: Bandages and such

I've always thought RPGs fostered an amusing attitude toward wounds. Your character gets nicked for 1 body and you blow it off--but in real life, if you got cut so bad it brought you 1/10 of the way to death, you might not be so blasé.

Re: Greater difficulty for intricate spells

I've thought about that, but I actually prefer players to design spells with at least a couple of advantages. Nothing bores me more than an artillery piece mage who slings a vanilla RKA.

Re: FRPG Ideas from Hero that ain't necessarily so

- The difficulty of a spell has only to do with its overall power, not its intricacy.

- The requirements for casting a given spell are set--you can't take extra time or use additional materials to make it any easier, for example.

- Fire hurts exactly the same as cold.

- Flight is the easiest spell to learn.

Re: FRPG Ideas from Hero that ain't necessarily so

Yeah, but is it better than a lightsaber? Because a lightsaber's blade glows in the presence of orcs too!

Re: The cranky thread

Lady, I like you a lot--otherwise I wouldn't have married you--but do you think you could shut up for like five minutes? Especially since you know I have a lot of work to do tonight.

Re: The cranky thread

Christmas "music" by George Harrison, may he rest in peace.

Re: FRPG Ideas from Hero that ain't necessarily so

Don't forget that it warned you if orcs were coming.

IIRC, more often than not it only warned you if orcs were here, i.e. too late.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Lateral isn't gonna happen in this company. I'd have to "lateral" to a different org. I dunno, maybe I can make some positive changes here and improve the situation; I've gotten like three hours of sleep every night this week so I'm just down. If I can just get through the end of the month--but then I find myself saying that every month.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

I've seen some guys still riding their Harleys in the recent 40+ MPH gusts and driving rain. I'm like, dude, give up and admit that it's not fun any more.

Re: FRPG Ideas from Hero that ain't necessarily so

Anyway...

- A normal can quadruple his strength, becoming a Schwarzeneggerian freak of nature, after a few months of adventuring.

- A slight speed advantage translates into a huge advantage in combat.

- Higher agility generally means you can run faster.

- You are most likely to hit your opponent in the chest, even in melee, regardless of what weapon you're using.

- Shields are totally awesome. Wait, that is so. Never mind.

- Hammers and axes suck when compared to spears (in 5th) or swords (in 4th).

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Wouldn't be so bad except for the power outages. Why they can't bury the damn power lines in a state that routinely gets windstorms and hurricanes, and never freezes, is beyond me. But then again we can't keep the roads paved either. Anyway, the wind did cost me a couple of bushed in the front yard, and if the rain ever stops I have to climb up and check the shingles on the play fort.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

This is one of the major problems with the modern business model. It was a huge problem when I worked at Kinko's. We used to half jokingly tell people "Well' date=' this is the price... unless you'd like to yell at us. Then we'll be glad to cut you a deal." Then there are all of those stories you hear abour customer service and insurance companies whose official policy is "Don't help them the first time they ask." It is sad and pathetic. And we wonder where simple courtesy and civility have gone. [/quote']

 

This is customer service policy at Tiffany & Co., also. Ran your diamond pendant over with your car? Yell loudly enough at the customer service rep and you'll get a free replacement. I kid you not.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

We've had a strange cold front come in and sit on the island for about five days now. Rain, wind, temps clear down in the high 60s at night. Biggest problem is the gusts of wind coming out of the south, opposite form the way the wind blows 95% of the year, so everything that grew expecting winds out of the northwest is getting knocked over.

Re: The cranky thread

I did that with a coworker once. Offered him an altoid, he said "No thanks", I said, "No, have a breath mint"

 

But I could be pretty blunt as well.

Well, he broke one of the cardinal rules. You do not, ever, refuse a breath mint.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

Over the past, I don't know, six months, I've tried all sorts of things to improve my productivity. I seriously don't have enough time for all the things that need to get done, and I thought that by tracking and prioritizing it all I could do better at blocking off my time and knocking things off the list. Since the part of my life where I have the most balls in the air is work, that's where I started.

So, I've tried creating to-do lists and tracking them in iCal. I've tried various methods of task tracking methods using flat text files or paper. I've tried various software organization tools like iGTD. (iGTD is really good, by the way.) And none of it has made me more efficient or faster at anything, although I suppose I don't forget stuff as often as I used to.

What it has done is made me realize what the real problem is: I hate my job. All I do is read and write email, talk on the phone, and occasionally write some marketing crap. I deal with the same peoples' same problems every god damned day. I know what needs to be done to improve the overall situation in my department, but that requires more staff, which I don't have leave to hire. I don't make anything. I don't create anything. When I go home and the wife asks me what I did at work today, the answer is usually that I fought some fire, talked some employee into (figuratively) putting down the gun, or on a really productive day I might have met with a vendor or customer and left a good impression.

Now I knew that I might not like the job when I took it, but of course it came with such a significant pay increase that I couldn't turn it down, and now I've gone and rearranged my life, mortgagewise, such that I need an income of about the same level if I want to remain homeful. So I'm stuck, and I knew it might happen. It's just tough when I'm confronted with actual hard evidence that I don't like the core functions of my job.