Dr.Device

I, for one, would be sad to see social justice removed from D&D products. I happen to think social justice is a good thing.

If the pose holds for more than four hours, please consult a physician.

If the pose holds for more than four hours, please consult a physician.

I think I have a working distinction between Optimizers and Power Gamers. Both can Min-Maxers but that in itself isn’t very telling. The distinction is an Optimizer optimizes so as to play a concept however he is willing to not use a legal build if said build is found to be Over powered or in a Hero game not really fun. A Power gamer will stand on the ground, well that’s a legal build therefore I should be able to take it even though that can really mess with game play. 

Note also that none of the previous people barred from office due to Section 3 were charged with, or stood trial for, insurrection.

I'm going to talk about my writing in this thread, but anyone should feel free to throw in their own anecdotes.

I managed to flip a switch in my head recently, and I'm writing again. I'm writing a lot. On my main project, I've written over 40k words this month, with a few thousand more that I've ditched or set aside for possible future use. This makes me very happy.
 
Quite a while back, I posted a link to the one novel I've completed. anyone who remembers that would be unsurprised to learn that my current project is about teens with super powers. The protagonist, Frank,  is a character who was the antagonist in a bunch of stories I used to tell my kids at bedtime (but aged up a little, and with the G rated filter removed). Her worst enemy is the protagonist from most of those stories, Emily. I'd tried to write stories with Emily in the past, but she's just too good. She's based on my second Champions character, altered to be what my kids wanted in a superhero (e.g. she always won). That image of her is too stuck in my head for me to tone her down, much, so she wasn't really workable as a protagonist. As an antagonist, or even supporting character, though, she's fine. So her nemesis Frank became the protagonist, and Emily is the thorn in her side.
 
Since I'm essentially writing fanfic (even if it is for a world that's only in my head), it's probably inevitable that Frank and Emily would get thrown together, and get, if not an enemies-to-lovers arc, at least an enemies-to-girlfriends arc. It turns out that that's a lot of fun to write. Of course, that requires a redemption arc for Frank, which is fine, because I'm a fan of redemption arcs.
 
If Emily had been the protagonist, these would have been flat out superhero stories. With Frank as protagonist, though, they're not so much that, at least not at first. She isn't looking to save anyone. They're more slice-of-life or adventure stories.
 
The story I'm currently working on has Emily and Frank thrown into a parallel universe where the event that led to superpowers in their universe never happened (essentially our world). I wanted a fight scene while they're stuck there, partially because I just wanted a fight scene, and partially to advance Frank's redemption arc. 
 
So I started this scene. Getting them to it was no problem; Emily is drawn toward places and times where someone will need protection. Truck crashes through a window, Emily deals with that while Frank teleports around being a bad-ass and dealing with the armed men charging in. It sucked.
 
Sure, Emily's been doing this crap since she was thirteen, but Frank hasn't been in any fight more serious that a high school tussle or a sparring match in her life. She's very competent at [martial art tbd], but that doesn't mean that she'd have any idea how to handle herself in fire fight. Plus, she could just teleport away and leave Emily to deal with things. Facing a bunch of nazis with rifles and handguns, Emily's biggest worry would be not killing them (and keeping innocents safe, of course). I scrapped those 700 words and started again.
 
Now Emily gets taken down by a sniper rifle* as the start to the combat, and Frank needs to deal with the sniper on her own, or a bunch of people are going to die. She chooses to fight, and it's a really hard fight for her. It was so much more satisfying to write than if she'd just been kicking ass and taking names.
 
* I'm open to suggestions as to an appropriate real world weapon to use for this. Emily is a flying brick, with an emphasis on the brick. Small arms fire is basically a minor nuisance to her, and even normal assault rifles can't usually do more than cause a bit of pain or minor bruising. Military grade is fine, as long as it's something that could be lugged by one person up fourteen flights of stairs.
 
 
 
 

I'm going to talk about my writing in this thread, but anyone should feel free to throw in their own anecdotes.

I managed to flip a switch in my head recently, and I'm writing again. I'm writing a lot. On my main project, I've written over 40k words this month, with a few thousand more that I've ditched or set aside for possible future use. This makes me very happy.
 
Quite a while back, I posted a link to the one novel I've completed. anyone who remembers that would be unsurprised to learn that my current project is about teens with super powers. The protagonist, Frank,  is a character who was the antagonist in a bunch of stories I used to tell my kids at bedtime (but aged up a little, and with the G rated filter removed). Her worst enemy is the protagonist from most of those stories, Emily. I'd tried to write stories with Emily in the past, but she's just too good. She's based on my second Champions character, altered to be what my kids wanted in a superhero (e.g. she always won). That image of her is too stuck in my head for me to tone her down, much, so she wasn't really workable as a protagonist. As an antagonist, or even supporting character, though, she's fine. So her nemesis Frank became the protagonist, and Emily is the thorn in her side.
 
Since I'm essentially writing fanfic (even if it is for a world that's only in my head), it's probably inevitable that Frank and Emily would get thrown together, and get, if not an enemies-to-lovers arc, at least an enemies-to-girlfriends arc. It turns out that that's a lot of fun to write. Of course, that requires a redemption arc for Frank, which is fine, because I'm a fan of redemption arcs.
 
If Emily had been the protagonist, these would have been flat out superhero stories. With Frank as protagonist, though, they're not so much that, at least not at first. She isn't looking to save anyone. They're more slice-of-life or adventure stories.
 
The story I'm currently working on has Emily and Frank thrown into a parallel universe where the event that led to superpowers in their universe never happened (essentially our world). I wanted a fight scene while they're stuck there, partially because I just wanted a fight scene, and partially to advance Frank's redemption arc. 
 
So I started this scene. Getting them to it was no problem; Emily is drawn toward places and times where someone will need protection. Truck crashes through a window, Emily deals with that while Frank teleports around being a bad-ass and dealing with the armed men charging in. It sucked.
 
Sure, Emily's been doing this crap since she was thirteen, but Frank hasn't been in any fight more serious that a high school tussle or a sparring match in her life. She's very competent at [martial art tbd], but that doesn't mean that she'd have any idea how to handle herself in fire fight. Plus, she could just teleport away and leave Emily to deal with things. Facing a bunch of nazis with rifles and handguns, Emily's biggest worry would be not killing them (and keeping innocents safe, of course). I scrapped those 700 words and started again.
 
Now Emily gets taken down by a sniper rifle* as the start to the combat, and Frank needs to deal with the sniper on her own, or a bunch of people are going to die. She chooses to fight, and it's a really hard fight for her. It was so much more satisfying to write than if she'd just been kicking ass and taking names.
 
* I'm open to suggestions as to an appropriate real world weapon to use for this. Emily is a flying brick, with an emphasis on the brick. Small arms fire is basically a minor nuisance to her, and even normal assault rifles can't usually do more than cause a bit of pain or minor bruising. Military grade is fine, as long as it's something that could be lugged by one person up fourteen flights of stairs.
 
 
 
 

I'm going to talk about my writing in this thread, but anyone should feel free to throw in their own anecdotes.

I managed to flip a switch in my head recently, and I'm writing again. I'm writing a lot. On my main project, I've written over 40k words this month, with a few thousand more that I've ditched or set aside for possible future use. This makes me very happy.
 
Quite a while back, I posted a link to the one novel I've completed. anyone who remembers that would be unsurprised to learn that my current project is about teens with super powers. The protagonist, Frank,  is a character who was the antagonist in a bunch of stories I used to tell my kids at bedtime (but aged up a little, and with the G rated filter removed). Her worst enemy is the protagonist from most of those stories, Emily. I'd tried to write stories with Emily in the past, but she's just too good. She's based on my second Champions character, altered to be what my kids wanted in a superhero (e.g. she always won). That image of her is too stuck in my head for me to tone her down, much, so she wasn't really workable as a protagonist. As an antagonist, or even supporting character, though, she's fine. So her nemesis Frank became the protagonist, and Emily is the thorn in her side.
 
Since I'm essentially writing fanfic (even if it is for a world that's only in my head), it's probably inevitable that Frank and Emily would get thrown together, and get, if not an enemies-to-lovers arc, at least an enemies-to-girlfriends arc. It turns out that that's a lot of fun to write. Of course, that requires a redemption arc for Frank, which is fine, because I'm a fan of redemption arcs.
 
If Emily had been the protagonist, these would have been flat out superhero stories. With Frank as protagonist, though, they're not so much that, at least not at first. She isn't looking to save anyone. They're more slice-of-life or adventure stories.
 
The story I'm currently working on has Emily and Frank thrown into a parallel universe where the event that led to superpowers in their universe never happened (essentially our world). I wanted a fight scene while they're stuck there, partially because I just wanted a fight scene, and partially to advance Frank's redemption arc. 
 
So I started this scene. Getting them to it was no problem; Emily is drawn toward places and times where someone will need protection. Truck crashes through a window, Emily deals with that while Frank teleports around being a bad-ass and dealing with the armed men charging in. It sucked.
 
Sure, Emily's been doing this crap since she was thirteen, but Frank hasn't been in any fight more serious that a high school tussle or a sparring match in her life. She's very competent at [martial art tbd], but that doesn't mean that she'd have any idea how to handle herself in fire fight. Plus, she could just teleport away and leave Emily to deal with things. Facing a bunch of nazis with rifles and handguns, Emily's biggest worry would be not killing them (and keeping innocents safe, of course). I scrapped those 700 words and started again.
 
Now Emily gets taken down by a sniper rifle* as the start to the combat, and Frank needs to deal with the sniper on her own, or a bunch of people are going to die. She chooses to fight, and it's a really hard fight for her. It was so much more satisfying to write than if she'd just been kicking ass and taking names.
 
* I'm open to suggestions as to an appropriate real world weapon to use for this. Emily is a flying brick, with an emphasis on the brick. Small arms fire is basically a minor nuisance to her, and even normal assault rifles can't usually do more than cause a bit of pain or minor bruising. Military grade is fine, as long as it's something that could be lugged by one person up fourteen flights of stairs.
 
 
 
 

I'm going to talk about my writing in this thread, but anyone should feel free to throw in their own anecdotes.

I managed to flip a switch in my head recently, and I'm writing again. I'm writing a lot. On my main project, I've written over 40k words this month, with a few thousand more that I've ditched or set aside for possible future use. This makes me very happy.
 
Quite a while back, I posted a link to the one novel I've completed. anyone who remembers that would be unsurprised to learn that my current project is about teens with super powers. The protagonist, Frank,  is a character who was the antagonist in a bunch of stories I used to tell my kids at bedtime (but aged up a little, and with the G rated filter removed). Her worst enemy is the protagonist from most of those stories, Emily. I'd tried to write stories with Emily in the past, but she's just too good. She's based on my second Champions character, altered to be what my kids wanted in a superhero (e.g. she always won). That image of her is too stuck in my head for me to tone her down, much, so she wasn't really workable as a protagonist. As an antagonist, or even supporting character, though, she's fine. So her nemesis Frank became the protagonist, and Emily is the thorn in her side.
 
Since I'm essentially writing fanfic (even if it is for a world that's only in my head), it's probably inevitable that Frank and Emily would get thrown together, and get, if not an enemies-to-lovers arc, at least an enemies-to-girlfriends arc. It turns out that that's a lot of fun to write. Of course, that requires a redemption arc for Frank, which is fine, because I'm a fan of redemption arcs.
 
If Emily had been the protagonist, these would have been flat out superhero stories. With Frank as protagonist, though, they're not so much that, at least not at first. She isn't looking to save anyone. They're more slice-of-life or adventure stories.
 
The story I'm currently working on has Emily and Frank thrown into a parallel universe where the event that led to superpowers in their universe never happened (essentially our world). I wanted a fight scene while they're stuck there, partially because I just wanted a fight scene, and partially to advance Frank's redemption arc. 
 
So I started this scene. Getting them to it was no problem; Emily is drawn toward places and times where someone will need protection. Truck crashes through a window, Emily deals with that while Frank teleports around being a bad-ass and dealing with the armed men charging in. It sucked.
 
Sure, Emily's been doing this crap since she was thirteen, but Frank hasn't been in any fight more serious that a high school tussle or a sparring match in her life. She's very competent at [martial art tbd], but that doesn't mean that she'd have any idea how to handle herself in fire fight. Plus, she could just teleport away and leave Emily to deal with things. Facing a bunch of nazis with rifles and handguns, Emily's biggest worry would be not killing them (and keeping innocents safe, of course). I scrapped those 700 words and started again.
 
Now Emily gets taken down by a sniper rifle* as the start to the combat, and Frank needs to deal with the sniper on her own, or a bunch of people are going to die. She chooses to fight, and it's a really hard fight for her. It was so much more satisfying to write than if she'd just been kicking ass and taking names.
 
* I'm open to suggestions as to an appropriate real world weapon to use for this. Emily is a flying brick, with an emphasis on the brick. Small arms fire is basically a minor nuisance to her, and even normal assault rifles can't usually do more than cause a bit of pain or minor bruising. Military grade is fine, as long as it's something that could be lugged by one person up fourteen flights of stairs.
 
 
 
 

I'm going to talk about my writing in this thread, but anyone should feel free to throw in their own anecdotes.

I managed to flip a switch in my head recently, and I'm writing again. I'm writing a lot. On my main project, I've written over 40k words this month, with a few thousand more that I've ditched or set aside for possible future use. This makes me very happy.
 
Quite a while back, I posted a link to the one novel I've completed. anyone who remembers that would be unsurprised to learn that my current project is about teens with super powers. The protagonist, Frank,  is a character who was the antagonist in a bunch of stories I used to tell my kids at bedtime (but aged up a little, and with the G rated filter removed). Her worst enemy is the protagonist from most of those stories, Emily. I'd tried to write stories with Emily in the past, but she's just too good. She's based on my second Champions character, altered to be what my kids wanted in a superhero (e.g. she always won). That image of her is too stuck in my head for me to tone her down, much, so she wasn't really workable as a protagonist. As an antagonist, or even supporting character, though, she's fine. So her nemesis Frank became the protagonist, and Emily is the thorn in her side.
 
Since I'm essentially writing fanfic (even if it is for a world that's only in my head), it's probably inevitable that Frank and Emily would get thrown together, and get, if not an enemies-to-lovers arc, at least an enemies-to-girlfriends arc. It turns out that that's a lot of fun to write. Of course, that requires a redemption arc for Frank, which is fine, because I'm a fan of redemption arcs.
 
If Emily had been the protagonist, these would have been flat out superhero stories. With Frank as protagonist, though, they're not so much that, at least not at first. She isn't looking to save anyone. They're more slice-of-life or adventure stories.
 
The story I'm currently working on has Emily and Frank thrown into a parallel universe where the event that led to superpowers in their universe never happened (essentially our world). I wanted a fight scene while they're stuck there, partially because I just wanted a fight scene, and partially to advance Frank's redemption arc. 
 
So I started this scene. Getting them to it was no problem; Emily is drawn toward places and times where someone will need protection. Truck crashes through a window, Emily deals with that while Frank teleports around being a bad-ass and dealing with the armed men charging in. It sucked.
 
Sure, Emily's been doing this crap since she was thirteen, but Frank hasn't been in any fight more serious that a high school tussle or a sparring match in her life. She's very competent at [martial art tbd], but that doesn't mean that she'd have any idea how to handle herself in fire fight. Plus, she could just teleport away and leave Emily to deal with things. Facing a bunch of nazis with rifles and handguns, Emily's biggest worry would be not killing them (and keeping innocents safe, of course). I scrapped those 700 words and started again.
 
Now Emily gets taken down by a sniper rifle* as the start to the combat, and Frank needs to deal with the sniper on her own, or a bunch of people are going to die. She chooses to fight, and it's a really hard fight for her. It was so much more satisfying to write than if she'd just been kicking ass and taking names.
 
* I'm open to suggestions as to an appropriate real world weapon to use for this. Emily is a flying brick, with an emphasis on the brick. Small arms fire is basically a minor nuisance to her, and even normal assault rifles can't usually do more than cause a bit of pain or minor bruising. Military grade is fine, as long as it's something that could be lugged by one person up fourteen flights of stairs.
 
 
 
 

I tend to min-max the combat/actual-game-play part of my characters so that they can have whatever off-the-wall or irrelevant  abilities/traits [1]  I want, but still be viable. For example, I like playing smart characters. In most of the Hero  games I've played in, a high Int is not worth as much as the sam points spent in strength or dex. I also like to play attractive characters, is I'll tend to pay those points, but I've never used any mechanical benefits from that in the game. Then there are the skills that will never be game-relevant that I need to buy to match my concept. So, then, when I get to the game relevant stuff, I do my best to squeeze the remaining points to get a character who can actually be an asset to the team.

[1] Take Emily. She has autokinesis, which means, logically as I envision her, she effectively has prehensile hair. So I pay for the extra limb, despite the fact that she keeps her hair shoulder length and it never, in the years of playing, came up except for her lowering her sunglasses to glare at someone while her hands were full.

I tend to min-max the combat/actual-game-play part of my characters so that they can have whatever off-the-wall or irrelevant  abilities/traits [1]  I want, but still be viable. For example, I like playing smart characters. In most of the Hero  games I've played in, a high Int is not worth as much as the sam points spent in strength or dex. I also like to play attractive characters, is I'll tend to pay those points, but I've never used any mechanical benefits from that in the game. Then there are the skills that will never be game-relevant that I need to buy to match my concept. So, then, when I get to the game relevant stuff, I do my best to squeeze the remaining points to get a character who can actually be an asset to the team.

[1] Take Emily. She has autokinesis, which means, logically as I envision her, she effectively has prehensile hair. So I pay for the extra limb, despite the fact that she keeps her hair shoulder length and it never, in the years of playing, came up except for her lowering her sunglasses to glare at someone while her hands were full.

Might want to correct that - they voted to authorize an impeachment inquiry.

I didn't do nano this year, but I started writing some non-novel stuff in late November. Over the weekend, I wrote over 10000 words on it. This is the most fun I've ever had writing.

I didn't do nano this year, but I started writing some non-novel stuff in late November. Over the weekend, I wrote over 10000 words on it. This is the most fun I've ever had writing.

I didn't do nano this year, but I started writing some non-novel stuff in late November. Over the weekend, I wrote over 10000 words on it. This is the most fun I've ever had writing.

Again, I won't deny that a notion of ideological purity is a factor. I used to think that this tactic was a deliberate ploy to appeal to a certain portion of the voting population, but some of these politicians have been doubling down so hard on it, when the majority of Americans are against it, that I can only conclude it's what they really want.
 
But IMO another major component of their motivation is control. The sense of power that comes from taking control of people's lives away from them, making them do what you tell them. We've seen that manifested in how the Right has been so aggressive to enforce coercive measures on immigration, education, employment, gender roles, even dress codes. The travel restrictions and prosecutions you mention are another manifestation of that. (How DARE these women try to escape our laws?!) On the abortion issue I believe there's considerable misogyny as well. While women are part of the anti-abortion movement, the legislative measures have been spearheaded by men.
 
I think it's a variation on the sense of power a rapist feels, taking control of a woman's body. God knows men have found numerous ways to do that throughout history. And religion is perhaps the most frequent rationalization for it.

Your take is very reasonable. But I notice a distinct relish, almost glee, expressed among Republican supporters, when one of "those others" suffers. This movement seems to appeal to the vindictive streak in humanity, as a way to both distract and motivate them.
 
So, while I don't deny any of your attributions to their motives, I maintain that cruelty is in there too.

Trump doesn’t have presidential immunity from lawsuits over January 6, appeals court rules

Henry Kissinger, American diplomat and Nobel winner, dead at 100

Admittedly far right Nikki Haley would be a better outcome than the orange guy who openly plans to invoke the Insurrection Act and impose martial law as soon as his hand leaves the Bible.  Some posters here would be in real danger of being forced into a concentration camp, summarily executed, or both.

The Marvels (no spoilers).  Verdict: Flawed but worth seeing in the theater, unless female leads bother you.  Better than Quantumania, actually a bit better than the first Captain Marvel.  Relatively short at 1:45.  One mid-credits scene.
 
Once again I watched a movie so you don't have to!  I went into this with probably the lowest expectations of any MCU film, just based on its disastrous financial performance and the knowledge that it needed at least one rewrite.  And it is by no means among the best of the MCU, but it wasn't bad.  It had some character development, even some vulnerability out of Carol Danvers.  It did veer hard into the silly a couple of times, but that was a welcome change from the grimness of the first CM.  And like so many MCU films the villain is forgettable--even in the comics this particular villain had like a six issue run. 
 
Still the biggest flaw of the film is that while the personal challenges are there, we don't get to see them until halfway through the movie.  And the marketing campaigns completely failed to pick up on them at all, which in my opinion is why the movie isn't doing so hot.  But the relationships developing between the Marvels, though imperfectly executed, are the main reason to see this movie.

I don't understand them but I know what the reasons are.  Sadly.

Harmon got it totally, utterly wrong if he thought Marvels needed less Ms. Marvel.  I shall elaborate within this spoiler tag:
 
 
IMO of course.

The movie takes place over a short time period and in that time, she gets teleported at random across the universe, meets aliens for the first time and has to save the world. She goes from not doing anything more serious than the events of Ms. Marvel to having to make hard choices with the lives of thousands of people and face off against a villain with the power to break reality. In the aftermath, she begins to form her own super team. So, no, her basic personality doesn't change, but she goes through plenty of growth. The movie isn't flawless but the characters are on point.