archer

Q: Why is gravity so cheap?
 
A: It's mass produced.

I always tell the bartender the brand I like: "I'll have Another."

I'm afraid you can count me in the "gonzo" camp. 😛  Raised on Marvel and DC comics, I love having the full range of origin options available. That said, I do like having the Age of Superheroes ushered in by some physics-altering event, like the CU's Walpurgisnacht Working or the Flux from the San Angelo world. But that's just an enabling device for all those origins, and an explanation for why there haven't always been superhumans throughout history. But if you want limited source or sources, you want to define the origin of that source, then work out the implications.
 
If you want technology, for example, to be the basis for powers, you can have multiple bleeding-edge geniuses at work on Earth during the same rough era. The CU has several such parties, both individuals and groups. OTOH perhaps the initial breakthrough(s) came from a very few, but as their inventions or discoveries filtered out into the wider world other inventors adapted them -- arc reactors, Pym particles, adamantium or vibrainium, and so on. Perhaps an alien ship crashed on Earth and its tech was reverse-engineered, even improved on.

Offer a man a plane ticket and he can fly for a day.
 
Push a man off a plane and he can fly for the rest of his life.

That's been precisely what's happened in the past. 
 
The problem they face at the moment is that they've been electing ignorant people from their base to become Congressmen.
 
So it's really an open question over when they'll reach the tipping point of not being ABLE to swerve at the last moment when playing chicken with the debt ceiling.

I've pulled muscles sneezing -- one day, it'll happen when I roll dice.

Unless they change 1.0a to simply read irrevocable the conversation with serious 3rd party creators is over. Unless they change the language so they can’t take your work (and somehow say they never thought of that) that conversation is over. Unless they remove language that they can change new OGL at any time with 30 days notice the conversation is over. 

He takes WoTC’s new “Apology” apart piece by piece and provides new info.   Remember surveys are to syphon off feedback and bury it so it doesn’t end up on Teddit or YouTube.  Tune in tomorrow. 

D&D Community Accuses WotC of Lying About the OGL Controversy

Great find!  I take issue with one part of his analysis though: in his timeline he marks the release of the WotC "corporate apology".  That was no apology, that was a stack of of obvious lies with a generous helping of contempt for their own customers.

Hero is my go to when I run something, especially supers. My GM style is to teach, that’s why I wrote Book of Templates I and II. I’m a firm believer once you unlock the Hero System with a bit of guidance and intellectual investment into character generation, playing the game is no harder than a d20 system. It is actually easier in some aspects. Every spell uses a formula in Hero System and not a different set of text with varied interpretations. Playing a cleric in D&D for example is daunting for a new player, here learn every spell, all work different. The bias against complexity is a little disingenuous. When I play, I play the system is excited for. 

At my college, it was said that a man-eating tiger once escaped there...but subsequently died of starvation.

I'm available for hire.
 
Whenever I sit down, cats come running for a chance to sit on my lap.

It's not uncommon for a country selling arms to stipulate that those arms can't be resold without express permission.
 
And Switzerland has refused permission for other countries to resell Swiss armaments to Ukraine earlier in the war. So this refusal sounds pretty legit.

This isn't the first time they've played chicken with the debt ceiling. I think it's political grandstanding for the ignorant among their base, and they'll cave in after they pushed it as far as the holders of their purse strings will allow.

Just set out a bunch of empty boxes. It’s not that hard. 

I'm available for hire.
 
Whenever I sit down, cats come running for a chance to sit on my lap.

My grading policy can basically be distilled to "You make your own luck." 

That guy again....
 
 
Subscription model?
 
 
Print screen.
Print screen.
Print screen.
Print screen.
 
 
Many years ago, I _bought_ a pdf of a repair manual for an old Royal Enfield; I had a buddy that owned one and was absolutely terrified of bending his own wrenches, so....
 
 
He'd need something done to the bike (because it was a Royal Enfield), and he'd swing by.  I'd pull up the site, the PDF, search a bit, and take notes (torque specs and the like), shut it a down and get to work.
About four years later, they adopted a subscription model, and suddenly I couldnt access the book I had _paid_ forty-eight buck for!
 
The message said that my subscription had run out, but for only eight bucks a month (yeah; do the math), I could access an entire library of repair manuals.
 
So I chipped in eight bucks for a "thirty-day trial," and spent the next Saturday night hitting "print to PDF" repeatedly,
 
 
Just sayin.
 
Now you know I actively work against piracy.  I had _bought and paid for_ that book.  That Extra eight bucks to access a book I paid for in full was, from where I sit, simple robbery.
 
 
 

Or he does understand the job, but doesn't want any of the responsibility. Wouldn't it be something if this farcical outcome is what McCarthy was after all along?

We did the same at two different points in time for two family members.

But those of us who prefer our humor dry....
 
 

Q: How many Kevin McCarthys does it take to change a light bulb?
 
 

Going out on a limb for a couple of potential candidates:
 
1) Paul Ryan - used to be a darling of the Freedom Caucus back before they were only a circus sideshow yet he also managed to appeal to the more moderate members of the House Republican caucus as well. I've always thought his leaving the House had a lot more to do with Trump dragging the party into the gutter and Ryan wanting no part of THAT than any other possible motive.
 
If they reach 30-40 rounds of voting with no significant changes, I wouldn't be shocked to start hearing rumors of a "Draft Ryan" movement. 
 
2) On the other hand, if the Democrats wanted to eventually stop the Republican sideshow for some reason (like raising the debt ceiling this summer to save the government from default), it'd be interesting for them to do a "Draft Liz Cheney" thing.
 
As speaker, she wouldn't be onboard with endless meaningless investigations of pretend "crimes" nor would she be onboard with any "Impeach Biden" movement for no crime at all.
 
She'd be spending all her time trying to keep the Republican crazies in line and likely not have any time left over to promote a real Republican agenda of any sort (whether Trumpism or a more conventional Republicanism). And at worst, if she did manage to reign in their crazies and prevent them from recruiting more crazies to run for office in the 2024 election cycle, that'd only be good for the country in the long run. 
 
If the Democrats block voted for Cheney, they'd only need a couple of disgruntled Republicans to cross over and vote with them. 
 
It'd tie the Republican caucus in knots for the next two years while providing, perhaps, the chance for a couple of pieces of bipartisan legislation to pass like raising the debt ceiling (or getting rid of the whole concept of "a debt ceiling" altogether).