archer

I usually pick a particular fantasy world and tell my players that it's either that world or substantially like that world.
 
====
 
Dragonlance
 
Humans, elves, Dwarves as playable races. Goblins and draconians as major "evil" intelligent races. Some very minor neutral races such as centaurs and unicorns. A standard array of D&D class tropes: warrior, barbarian, wizard, sorcerer, cleric, thief, paladin, etc.
 
Nations may or may not be the same as in the books.
 
====
 
Guardians of the Flame
 
Humans, elves, and dwarves as playable races. Elves are racist. Dwarves are moderate in everything. Slavery is endemic in all societies except the dwarves.
 
The major roiling force in society has been a small group of adventurers who came from another world and who declared war on the Slaver's Guild claiming that slavery is a moral evil. Those adventurers created a small kingdom called "Home". The king is called "Mayor" and is selected by the landowners as a group. And can be de-selected by the landowners as a group...it's a very confusing form of kingship but it seems to work for them so far.
 
"Home" is in an unclaimed corner of the Middle Lands which has in recent years become home for a goodly number of freed slaves. It has also quickly become a center of commerce as the adventurers have introduced inventions by "engineers" (apparently some new form of wizardry) who have produced a better form of steel and "firearms" (a thundering weapon which instantly bores large holes in targets).
 
Other major players in the area include
1) The city of Pandathaway which is ruled by a council of guilds (including the Wizard's Guild and the Slaver's Guild). A metropolitan area open to individuals of all races as long as they're willing to pay the entry fee, keep the peace, and don't go broke and become homeless.
2) A number of societies of clerics, the most common of which is the Spidersect and the most powerful of which is The Society of the Healing Hand. Most clerics are open for hire by anyone, except the Healing Hand refuses to help the people of Home. The most anyone has been able to get out of them on the topic is that they've already "done their part". Rumor has it that the Hand has also refused to assist the Slaver's Guild...but people who snoop into the business of the Slaver's Guild usually end up as slaves so take that rumor with a grain of salt.
3) A large Elven kingdom in the north where humans are second class citizens and barred from owning land and barred from a number of professions. 
4) A small dwarven kingdom.
5) A patchwork of human kingdoms throughout the Middle Lands and around the Cirric (a large freshwater inland sea).
 
No paladins, sorcerors, or druids but other D&D class tropes are available. All magic-users do the "have to memorize spells from a spellbook" thing.
 
====
 
The Land (from the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
 
Playable races are human, giant, Haruchai.
 
Haruchai are vaguely Asian in appearance, telepathic with each other, very physically fit, athletic, know martial arts, and a huge number of mandatory complications like watched by other members of their race, competitive with other Haruchai, taking vows of martial service to various lords or causes as an excuse to be in The Land rather than in their racial homeland. They prefer talking telepathically to other Haruchai and don't ever seem to have a lot to say to other people. 
 
Giants are 8-12 feet tall. They're supremely fire resistant (especially to BODY damage) though fire does still cause pain. And they regenerate from fire damage or fire death. They live on the coast and most have some amount of seamanship. Most also have some amount of stone lore (masonry, stone magic, or both). They're very verbose by human standards.
 
The main evil race are the Cavewights, a troll variant with no regeneration. 
 
There's no dedicated cleric class.
 
There are mages who use staffs to channel their power and are considered to be very powerful (no body-affecting powers or movement powers but pretty much everything else). There's also lesser mages who work stone (create heat, lava, light, some density increase, etc.) and mages who act basically like druids but with no powers over animals (so things like divination, weather, plant growth, etc.) 
 
Haruchai are never mages and refuse to use magic. They also distain to use weapons and fight exclusively with their bare hands (unless that's completely impossible like the opponent is made of fire or lava).
 
Giants are never staff mages. Learning a bit of stone is common. Learning some wood magic is fairly rare.
 
A special evil god exists (but no deity of good). He has a number of powerful servants, which ones you might see depends on how much of a pain in his butt that you are. At points in time in which he's more powerful, he's able to create large numbers of warped creatures to serve as a slave army. When he's not so strong, some of those warped creatures might still be hiding (or wandering around) left over from the last war.
 
There's a lot of ancient magics in The Land left over from a previous golden age...or from even earlier than that. Some of those will be plot hooks. Others are locations, both those that are well-known and those which are long-forgotten.
 
 

I usually pick a particular fantasy world and tell my players that it's either that world or substantially like that world.
 
====
 
Dragonlance
 
Humans, elves, Dwarves as playable races. Goblins and draconians as major "evil" intelligent races. Some very minor neutral races such as centaurs and unicorns. A standard array of D&D class tropes: warrior, barbarian, wizard, sorcerer, cleric, thief, paladin, etc.
 
Nations may or may not be the same as in the books.
 
====
 
Guardians of the Flame
 
Humans, elves, and dwarves as playable races. Elves are racist. Dwarves are moderate in everything. Slavery is endemic in all societies except the dwarves.
 
The major roiling force in society has been a small group of adventurers who came from another world and who declared war on the Slaver's Guild claiming that slavery is a moral evil. Those adventurers created a small kingdom called "Home". The king is called "Mayor" and is selected by the landowners as a group. And can be de-selected by the landowners as a group...it's a very confusing form of kingship but it seems to work for them so far.
 
"Home" is in an unclaimed corner of the Middle Lands which has in recent years become home for a goodly number of freed slaves. It has also quickly become a center of commerce as the adventurers have introduced inventions by "engineers" (apparently some new form of wizardry) who have produced a better form of steel and "firearms" (a thundering weapon which instantly bores large holes in targets).
 
Other major players in the area include
1) The city of Pandathaway which is ruled by a council of guilds (including the Wizard's Guild and the Slaver's Guild). A metropolitan area open to individuals of all races as long as they're willing to pay the entry fee, keep the peace, and don't go broke and become homeless.
2) A number of societies of clerics, the most common of which is the Spidersect and the most powerful of which is The Society of the Healing Hand. Most clerics are open for hire by anyone, except the Healing Hand refuses to help the people of Home. The most anyone has been able to get out of them on the topic is that they've already "done their part". Rumor has it that the Hand has also refused to assist the Slaver's Guild...but people who snoop into the business of the Slaver's Guild usually end up as slaves so take that rumor with a grain of salt.
3) A large Elven kingdom in the north where humans are second class citizens and barred from owning land and barred from a number of professions. 
4) A small dwarven kingdom.
5) A patchwork of human kingdoms throughout the Middle Lands and around the Cirric (a large freshwater inland sea).
 
No paladins, sorcerors, or druids but other D&D class tropes are available. All magic-users do the "have to memorize spells from a spellbook" thing.
 
====
 
The Land (from the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
 
Playable races are human, giant, Haruchai.
 
Haruchai are vaguely Asian in appearance, telepathic with each other, very physically fit, athletic, know martial arts, and a huge number of mandatory complications like watched by other members of their race, competitive with other Haruchai, taking vows of martial service to various lords or causes as an excuse to be in The Land rather than in their racial homeland. They prefer talking telepathically to other Haruchai and don't ever seem to have a lot to say to other people. 
 
Giants are 8-12 feet tall. They're supremely fire resistant (especially to BODY damage) though fire does still cause pain. And they regenerate from fire damage or fire death. They live on the coast and most have some amount of seamanship. Most also have some amount of stone lore (masonry, stone magic, or both). They're very verbose by human standards.
 
The main evil race are the Cavewights, a troll variant with no regeneration. 
 
There's no dedicated cleric class.
 
There are mages who use staffs to channel their power and are considered to be very powerful (no body-affecting powers or movement powers but pretty much everything else). There's also lesser mages who work stone (create heat, lava, light, some density increase, etc.) and mages who act basically like druids but with no powers over animals (so things like divination, weather, plant growth, etc.) 
 
Haruchai are never mages and refuse to use magic. They also distain to use weapons and fight exclusively with their bare hands (unless that's completely impossible like the opponent is made of fire or lava).
 
Giants are never staff mages. Learning a bit of stone is common. Learning some wood magic is fairly rare.
 
A special evil god exists (but no deity of good). He has a number of powerful servants, which ones you might see depends on how much of a pain in his butt that you are. At points in time in which he's more powerful, he's able to create large numbers of warped creatures to serve as a slave army. When he's not so strong, some of those warped creatures might still be hiding (or wandering around) left over from the last war.
 
There's a lot of ancient magics in The Land left over from a previous golden age...or from even earlier than that. Some of those will be plot hooks. Others are locations, both those that are well-known and those which are long-forgotten.
 
 

If the leader is Thor, he should try some menthol ointmenths.

"How can I reverse the Polarity when everyone is Lithuanian?"

Fantastic Beasts: The Secret Lives of Tarzan and Dumbledore

I usually pick a particular fantasy world and tell my players that it's either that world or substantially like that world.
 
====
 
Dragonlance
 
Humans, elves, Dwarves as playable races. Goblins and draconians as major "evil" intelligent races. Some very minor neutral races such as centaurs and unicorns. A standard array of D&D class tropes: warrior, barbarian, wizard, sorcerer, cleric, thief, paladin, etc.
 
Nations may or may not be the same as in the books.
 
====
 
Guardians of the Flame
 
Humans, elves, and dwarves as playable races. Elves are racist. Dwarves are moderate in everything. Slavery is endemic in all societies except the dwarves.
 
The major roiling force in society has been a small group of adventurers who came from another world and who declared war on the Slaver's Guild claiming that slavery is a moral evil. Those adventurers created a small kingdom called "Home". The king is called "Mayor" and is selected by the landowners as a group. And can be de-selected by the landowners as a group...it's a very confusing form of kingship but it seems to work for them so far.
 
"Home" is in an unclaimed corner of the Middle Lands which has in recent years become home for a goodly number of freed slaves. It has also quickly become a center of commerce as the adventurers have introduced inventions by "engineers" (apparently some new form of wizardry) who have produced a better form of steel and "firearms" (a thundering weapon which instantly bores large holes in targets).
 
Other major players in the area include
1) The city of Pandathaway which is ruled by a council of guilds (including the Wizard's Guild and the Slaver's Guild). A metropolitan area open to individuals of all races as long as they're willing to pay the entry fee, keep the peace, and don't go broke and become homeless.
2) A number of societies of clerics, the most common of which is the Spidersect and the most powerful of which is The Society of the Healing Hand. Most clerics are open for hire by anyone, except the Healing Hand refuses to help the people of Home. The most anyone has been able to get out of them on the topic is that they've already "done their part". Rumor has it that the Hand has also refused to assist the Slaver's Guild...but people who snoop into the business of the Slaver's Guild usually end up as slaves so take that rumor with a grain of salt.
3) A large Elven kingdom in the north where humans are second class citizens and barred from owning land and barred from a number of professions. 
4) A small dwarven kingdom.
5) A patchwork of human kingdoms throughout the Middle Lands and around the Cirric (a large freshwater inland sea).
 
No paladins, sorcerors, or druids but other D&D class tropes are available. All magic-users do the "have to memorize spells from a spellbook" thing.
 
====
 
The Land (from the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)
 
Playable races are human, giant, Haruchai.
 
Haruchai are vaguely Asian in appearance, telepathic with each other, very physically fit, athletic, know martial arts, and a huge number of mandatory complications like watched by other members of their race, competitive with other Haruchai, taking vows of martial service to various lords or causes as an excuse to be in The Land rather than in their racial homeland. They prefer talking telepathically to other Haruchai and don't ever seem to have a lot to say to other people. 
 
Giants are 8-12 feet tall. They're supremely fire resistant (especially to BODY damage) though fire does still cause pain. And they regenerate from fire damage or fire death. They live on the coast and most have some amount of seamanship. Most also have some amount of stone lore (masonry, stone magic, or both). They're very verbose by human standards.
 
The main evil race are the Cavewights, a troll variant with no regeneration. 
 
There's no dedicated cleric class.
 
There are mages who use staffs to channel their power and are considered to be very powerful (no body-affecting powers or movement powers but pretty much everything else). There's also lesser mages who work stone (create heat, lava, light, some density increase, etc.) and mages who act basically like druids but with no powers over animals (so things like divination, weather, plant growth, etc.) 
 
Haruchai are never mages and refuse to use magic. They also distain to use weapons and fight exclusively with their bare hands (unless that's completely impossible like the opponent is made of fire or lava).
 
Giants are never staff mages. Learning a bit of stone is common. Learning some wood magic is fairly rare.
 
A special evil god exists (but no deity of good). He has a number of powerful servants, which ones you might see depends on how much of a pain in his butt that you are. At points in time in which he's more powerful, he's able to create large numbers of warped creatures to serve as a slave army. When he's not so strong, some of those warped creatures might still be hiding (or wandering around) left over from the last war.
 
There's a lot of ancient magics in The Land left over from a previous golden age...or from even earlier than that. Some of those will be plot hooks. Others are locations, both those that are well-known and those which are long-forgotten.
 
 

Beacon of hope ? Surely you mean Bacon......

Reminder:
 
https://www.t-mobile.com/mlb -April 5 through 11, T-mobile Customers (also Sprint and Metro by T-Mobile customers) can claim a free season-long subscription to MLB.TV.

Hiding Yoda During Ruthless Anarchy - Basically after the period of anarchy during HYDRA's takeover, Yoda will emerge and usher in a new Galactic Republic.
 
"Necessary HYDRA was, yes."

Magic the Gathering
 
 
 
Your resource should have been coconuts.

I would assume in Canada.

Magic the Gathering
 
 
 
Your resource should have been coconuts.

Magic the Gathering
 
 
 
Your resource should have been coconuts.

Fox News admits in court that it doesn't state facts, it engages in 'exaggeration' and 'non-literal commentary.'
 
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/29/917747123/you-literally-cant-believe-the-facts-tucker-carlson-tells-you-so-say-fox-s-lawye

Old news of course, but I was looking for that story the other day. Thanks for pointing to it.
 
Everyone who hasn't used this case should save that link, and have it ready the next time your Fox-addicted friends/relatives extol the honesty of Tucker Carlson. Many doubtlessly will rationalize it, but some might start to think.

Here's another one celebrating the spirit of the day--

Saw a comment elsewhere that if Putin wanted a false flag attack, he wouldn’t have blown up an oil depot, he’d have blown up an orphanage. 

“Illegal”? Like shelling civilian targets? Huh. Interesting argument.
 
 I’m thinking fuel facility in city where Russia launched a good portion of their invasion from, and a city in which they’re launching rocket attacks from, might be considered a fair logistical target. I could be biased though. 
 
It’s not, however, like they targeted a Red Cross facility. I don’t think that argument will garner much sympathy.

Garry Kasperov put out something on social media a few days ago...
 
 
One Russian to another:
 
- What's the news?
 
- We're at war with NATO!
 
- How's it going?
 
- We've lost 15,000 soldiers, 100 aircraft, and 600 tanks.
 
- How about NATO?
 
- Oh, they haven't started fighting yet.
 
 

Verbal aphasia makes it very difficult to communicate effectively.
 
For me it isn't very predictable. 
 
Sometimes I say precisely the opposite of what I mean to say and don't notice. Sometimes I notice and correct myself.
 
Sometimes I use the wrong word (often a completely unrelated word) rather than the right word. Sometimes I notice and sometimes I don't.
 
If I tell a story about three different people, I'll use their names interchangeably throughout the course of the story which makes it almost impossible for anyone to figure out what happened.
 
Sometimes I forget a word that I'm going to say in the middle of a sentence and also forget every possible synonym for it. My record for forgetting words and synonyms was around 45 minutes when my niece's apartment burned and I was trying to tell my wife what happened. 
 
I forgot my niece's name, the word "niece", my brother's name, the word "brother", my sister-in-law's name, and the term "sister-in-law". That flustered me so much that I couldn't get out the word "fire" even though I remembered it. My wife ended up asking me if it was an emergency that she had to deal with right then and when I communicated it wasn't, she had me go sit down until I regained my command of the language enough to not be frustrated.
 
I can't imagine what kind of hell that must be for an actor who depends on his verbal communication skills to get paid appearance fees and land roles.

COLLEGE PARK, MD—In what is being hailed as the first empirical evidence in support of a hypothesis that has gained popularity in recent years, top scientists speculated Friday that the universe may indeed be a simulation controlled by an unseen entity after the words “trial version expired” appeared in the sky.
 
“When we can look overhead and see what appears to be an error message from a computer operating system, it certainly lends new credence to the argument that we’re living in an artificial reality,” said University of Maryland physicist Harold M. Cramer, adding that from what he and his colleagues could glean from the airborne phenomenon, human consciousness would be terminated in five days if no further action was taken.
 
“Though it’s possible we are witnessing an optical illusion caused by some kind of atmospheric distortion, the request for a verification code that keeps popping up suggests that our reality may indeed have a specific, singular subscriber, and that this entity must upgrade to a premium subscription in order to avoid any interruption to our experience of consciousness. We can only hope this cosmic account holder can guide us though the two-factor authentication process so that our simulacrum of life remains operational.”
 
At press time, a team of leading cosmologists announced it had successfully renewed the free trial period for another 14 billion years by simply signing up again with a different email address.
 
https://www.theonion.com/scientists-speculate-universe-may-be-simulation-after-1848673336

Garry Kasperov put out something on social media a few days ago...
 
 
One Russian to another:
 
- What's the news?
 
- We're at war with NATO!
 
- How's it going?
 
- We've lost 15,000 soldiers, 100 aircraft, and 600 tanks.
 
- How about NATO?
 
- Oh, they haven't started fighting yet.