Scott Ruggels

Welcome to the club. Don’t let it get worse ..  ...like I did. 

Will you please knock it off with the Trump bashing?  Take it to the political thread, not here, Okay?

Will you please knock it off with the Trump bashing?  Take it to the political thread, not here, Okay?

I think the base problem is summed up by “I can’t imagine someone....::”.  A GM will be handed a character such as the base character of this discussion, and they immediately imagine themselves in that situation. They are now missing an arm, holy cheese!  How are the going to go to (fill in the blank)?  The answer, is that they are going to adapt. Having come out of a serious, near fatal health situation for the past few months, I saw people adapt to all sorts of situations around me, often with the help of Physical therapists, and other health professionals, but over time they adapted. “I’m getting used to it”, “I’ve added another ten reps to my set”, or”I don’t need to use the walker any more, thanks”, are all examples of someone adapting. Doc’s Example of his handless friend is a good example of adaptation. I would argue that someone having a Physical Disadvantage “no arm”, could buy it down to Distinctive Features, “No left arm, concealable in a heavy, padded, coat”, is justified that the character adapted to his situation. To me, the argument seems like a failure of imagination rather than a lack of realism. 

I think the base problem is summed up by “I can’t imagine someone....::”.  A GM will be handed a character such as the base character of this discussion, and they immediately imagine themselves in that situation. They are now missing an arm, holy cheese!  How are the going to go to (fill in the blank)?  The answer, is that they are going to adapt. Having come out of a serious, near fatal health situation for the past few months, I saw people adapt to all sorts of situations around me, often with the help of Physical therapists, and other health professionals, but over time they adapted. “I’m getting used to it”, “I’ve added another ten reps to my set”, or”I don’t need to use the walker any more, thanks”, are all examples of someone adapting. Doc’s Example of his handless friend is a good example of adaptation. I would argue that someone having a Physical Disadvantage “no arm”, could buy it down to Distinctive Features, “No left arm, concealable in a heavy, padded, coat”, is justified that the character adapted to his situation. To me, the argument seems like a failure of imagination rather than a lack of realism. 

Zack Snyder?

Hmmm this may be why I want to stick with 4th Ed.. I worked in video games, and the  analogy for me is that the size of the game books is like the increasing graphics requirements for games. Champions was originally like Quake, then came Champions 2e like Quake2, 3rd edition was like Unreal. 4th was like Unreal Tournament, etc. The work needed for the increased requirement grows exponentially. I am not convinced the increased specificity of modifiers, was a good thing. 

Hmmm this may be why I want to stick with 4th Ed.. I worked in video games, and the  analogy for me is that the size of the game books is like the increasing graphics requirements for games. Champions was originally like Quake, then came Champions 2e like Quake2, 3rd edition was like Unreal. 4th was like Unreal Tournament, etc. The work needed for the increased requirement grows exponentially. I am not convinced the increased specificity of modifiers, was a good thing. 

Country music legend, picker, and TV host Roy Clark has died at age 85.
 
Now, some of you probably only know him as that corny guy that co hosted Hee Haw (more on that in a moment) but Roy Clark was one of the greatest guitarists of all time.  He had faster hands than anyone on earth and could flat out play.  Here's an episode of The Odd Couple (cut to just the musical bits and setup) to help you catch up to speed.  Watch it all the way to end, for the most amazing display of musical talent ever.
 
 
Now, about Hee Haw.  Roy Clark wasn't the only legend there.  His co-host Buck Owens was also one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever to grace the country stage.  It was the equivalent of a show hosted by, I dunno, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.  Liszt and Mozart.  Except it wasn't about them at all, they were just there to have fun and entertain people rather than show off (although once in a while they did).
 
If you didn't know he could play... you're in for a treat.

I kinda feel that both of the above observations are a by-product of contemporary RPG designs having to cater to a new generation of players whose ideas of what a "roleplaying game" ought to be is shaped more by video games than wargames. Today's players expect D&D to have most of the trappings of MMORPGs, and they expect their characters to start out highly competent and become superheroic after about 20 hours of play.

Will you please knock it off with the Trump bashing?  Take it to the political thread, not here, Okay?

Will you please knock it off with the Trump bashing?  Take it to the political thread, not here, Okay?

Ninja Batman. A Anime about batman and some villains travelling to feudal japan.
The whole animation styles was wierd. Nothing I remember ever seeing in any anime before. It took some getting used too.
The characters were spot on with the originals. Very faithfull, despite having to translate them for a Japanese Audience.
 
And there were many turns where I thought both:
a) Okay, I did not see that comming!
b) However it still makes total sense given the circumstances!
And it is rare that a movie surprises me like that.

Several World War 1 documentaries.
 
100 Days to Victory. This looks at the partnership of generals Monash and Currie and how that brought about the victory of Amiens by hitting the Germans in ways that they had not expected. The breakthrough was not immediately followed up as the Germans had a way of recovering and then adapting to tactics used against them. That was the focus of the first programme whilst the second looked at the follow up where the British, French and American forces broke through the Hindenburg line and brought the war to an end.
 
WW1: The Last Tommies. This was a three part documentary culled from 25 years of interviews with British servicemen who survived the war and also families who lost family members in the war. It also included an interview with the last British soldier who fought in the trenches. I believe all the people who took part are now deceased and certainly all the surviving servicemen are. Quite poignant as these old people recall events from the war both at the font and at home. One of the women interviewed volunteered as a nurse and was underage which the recruiter thought was likely but they still employed her. Some of the men were also underage 15 being one example, 19 was the official age. Hearing that the soldiers were close to places were the dead were and that rats made nests in the chest cavity of corpses just boggles the mind.
 
They Shall Not Grow Old. Peter Jackson did this and it is footage of the war with has been colourised. The track underneath is of servicemen who were interviewed and it relates their experience. These are not the same people as in the Last Tommies but included several medal winning soldiers. It covered up to the Armistice and the immediate aftermath which was a big let down for some of the soldiers who felt that they were adrift in the world.
 
All of these are worth seeing but the latter two particularly as they have actual participants in the war.

What he paid for or didn't on the sheet is  what happens, however, as a GM I would ask that he describe how he gets out of certain situations.

A testament (I think) to the range of ages he's touched:
 
--My 85 year old grandmother, who is about as familiar with these things as your average Amish.

Stan gave all us nerdy guys hope that we could end up winning a girl like this.
 

My sentiments exactly.  Doggone it---this wasn't supposed to happen.

It's been a long time.  A full century since the declaration of the end of hostilities.  The repercussions are still with us today. 

It's been a long time.  A full century since the declaration of the end of hostilities.  The repercussions are still with us today. 

It's been a long time.  A full century since the declaration of the end of hostilities.  The repercussions are still with us today. 

Precisely my thoughts. I was playing a Traveller GURPS game for a while, for the first time in my life, when this CD became available. I jumped on it as soon as I heard so I could take a look at things in HERO terms. Everything gets translated through HERO for me, even the way I watch movies. 

Thank you!