archer

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).

Part of me (okay, mainly the contrarian part) would really like to see the Democrats nominate and vote for her, if for no other reason than to watch all the MAGAT heads explode.  Think they could get a half dozen or so Republicans to vote for her?

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).

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).

There are trade-offs to everything since there are only so many hours in a day.
 
If you're a highly-skilled magician, you need to know ancient languages and have a ton of knowledge skills. If you want to be the guy who actually makes magic items, you're going to need crafting skills and maybe metallurgy skills. And that's in addition to years spent in magical apprenticeship and actually practicing your magic.
 
You aren't going to be practicing your Running. Or building up your Endurance. Or even learning how to properly defend yourself on a physical level. If you ever go adventuring, half of the magical goodies you find aren't going to do you much good because you can't wield a magic sword or shuffle around in magic armor.
 
It's entirely possible that by the time a person learns enough magic to be any good at it that he isn't a young man anymore.
 
And that he's had to pour every cent he's ever made into buying materials, spellbooks, and tomes and for all purposes is practically penniless. The reason all those wizards hang out in abandoned towers and forgotten dungeons is that they can't afford to pay rent anywhere. Magic is a money pit. And no one would be willing to rent to him even if by some miracle he could afford it. 
 
And once a wizard finds a place to live, how is he supposed to leave it? His tomes are old and brittle. His spellbooks are fragile. His materials are bulky. Even if he pares down everything to an absolute minimum for travel, someone is going to come along and steal everything he leaves behind...there's always some other wizard who is willing to pay for old tomes, spellbooks, and spell-casting materials.
 
Barbarians aren't flashy but what they have is simple, effective, and versatile. Barbarians have their enemies to be sure. But if you rent a room to one, you aren't going to have to worry about burglars at all hours of the night trying to steal his valuables. And he isn't going to accidentally blow it up or let loose the demons of Hell. Try saying the same thing about a wizard!

Ammo shell casings for reloading. It's very difficult to make those on your own.
 
Raw lead for muzzle-loading bullets - most often found "in the wild" as tire weights on old cars.
 
Salt - you need it for health but also for flavoring and for tanning hides
 
Spices - because people crave flavor. Garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, cocoa, honey, bullion, baking supplies. Canning supplies (jars, lids, wax).
 
Brewing yeast, baking yeast
 
Candy
 
Pre-war liquor, tea, coffee, cigarettes
 
Medicine - antibiotics, aspirin, Tylenol, Motrin, multi-vitamin, soap, cough medicine, sunscreen, Chapstick, feminine hygiene products, diabetic supplies if the apocalypse just happened and there's still diabetic people around.
 
Dental floss - also works for cordage/thread.
 
Heirloom vegetable and grain seeds
 
Hand pump and/or siphon to move water or fuel out of inaccessible places.
 
Wool clothing if you're in a cold climate.
 
Matches, fire starters, flint, lighters, lighter fluid, lamps, wicks, candles
 
Decent camping stuff because there'll be more people on the road than available supplies. Pup tent, sleeping bag, space blanket, backpack, crank flashlight, waterproof windbreaker, tarp. The smaller and more lightweight, the better because people will quickly figure out they can't carry a crapload of gear while not eating well.
 
Lockpick gun - for getting into other people's stash quietly or getting into abandoned buildings quietly.
 
Bolt cutters - for when you get into a place a bit more obviously. A lot of the good salvage will be behind padlocks and/or chains.
 
Fishing line, weights, and hooks
 
Books on herb uses.
Books on how to survive.
Books on how to grow food.
Books on how to repair things.
Books on recognizing plants.
 
Paper maps (of other areas, you don't want other people foraging the good stuff within easy riding distance). Yellow pages of other towns.
 
Cheap knives and whetstones. Hand tools will be popular but most people won't be willing to trade an irreplaceable tool.
 
Portable preserved food, particularly meats.
 
Needle and thread. Heavier needles for mending tarps, sails, and such. Duct tape, silicone, scissors, pins, safety pins, super glue
 
Mousetraps and fly swatters, ant & roach killer
 
Chickens/eggs
 
Rechargeable batteries
 
Cloth and mesh bags

Slovotsky's Laws (not a comprehensive list, for that I recommend reading the Guardians of the Flame series)
 
A hero's work is never done. Which is one of the minor reasons I don't recommend the profession.
 
Boldness is like a condom. If you depend on it all the time, no matter how good it is, and no matter how good you are, eventually it will break.
 
I always have a fallback position whenever I take a risk. If all else fails, I'll die horribly, at great length, and in great pain. Mind you, it's not a good fallback position...
 
When it comes to dealing with the law of averages, it's best to be a habitual offender.
 
Relax, the universe is out to get you.
 
Doing the best thing right away is much better than doing the second-best thing after much hesitation. I didn't say it's easier, mind, just better.
 
The difference between being a trusted friend and a devoted vassal is non-trivial. Me, I'd rather be the first; vassals tend to go the well too often.
 
Not getting cut up into bloody little slices is the key to a sound plan.
 
The old saw says that the first time is an accident, the second time a coincidence, and the third time enemy action. As a matter of policy, I'm suspicious of accidents, and I don't believe in coincidences.
 
It takes a lot of time to make things go right, but they can all go to hell in a heartbeat.
 
While it doesn't get the good press that hard work and industry get, laziness is a talent to be cultivated, like any other.
 
Wanting it doesn't make it so. If it did, we'd all learn to want harder. I can already want quite vigorously, thank you very much.
 
When it comes to throwing a fit, it's better to give than to receive -- and much better to avoid the whole thing entirely.
 
I'm a simple man. All I want is enough sleep for two normal men, enough whiskey for three, and enough women for four.
 
Travel, it seems to me, has always done more for flattening the arches, callusing the feet, and irritating the hemorrhoids than broadening the mind.
 
Arguing is one of life's great pleasures, even if you have to argue with yourself. Course, I could enjoy the other side of that argument, too.
 
The first ninety percent of the job takes the first ninety percent of the time. The last ten percent takes the other ninety percent of the time.
 
There isn't any pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying.
 
I'd always liked Robert Thompson's idea of avoiding compromise, of letting the person with the strong convictions have his own way... and then I realized that encouraged people to have strong convictions when they don't have enough data.
 
 

Any science which is distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.

When I was a kid, I could see someone who was a quarter of a mile away at the back of the field which was behind our house. And that was long before I got glasses.
 
I couldn't tell who it was, but I could see that someone was there.
 
If the treeline had been further away than a quarter of a mile, I could have seen someone at a further distance and without any particular effort on my part other than turning my head in that direction and looking. And I wouldn't have had any minuses on my PER roll because the person was standing there in plain sight: I could see the person every time a person was there and I bothered to look.
 
I don't know what the RAW intend for mental powers, but I've always taken "line of sight" to be literal: you can attack if it is in the character's line of sight.
 
Now whether you can accurately identify who or what your target might be is another matter.
 
If someone was setting up a line of mannequins within your line of sight, you can spend a phase trying to Mind Control one of them. It won't work well because the targeted mannequin has no INT or EGO and it would have worked much better if you'd picked the person who was setting up the mannequins. But you could use the power because the target is within LOS and there's no range modifiers applied in the rules to the term "Line of Sight".
 
If you could see a black speck against the white snow, regardless of distance, you could use mental powers on it during your phase without range modifiers because it is within LOS. Yeah you might be guessing as to whether the speck is a person, a dog, a dead person, a dead dog, or a rock...but you can try use up your phase trying out your mental powers on it. 
 
2 cents, YMMV

With this draught, I gain the intelligence of five men! (-12 INT)

Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif. bitten by FOX operative on Monday evening.
 
https://apnews.com/article/ami-bera-f0519de7337cc7ab37f1e11d858d1a58

If they want a successful comic book universe for the movies, there's just one secret: quit telling origin stories (over and over) and instead start in the middle of a universe about superheroes having adventures. 
 
I'd recommend the new head of DC projects to watch the TV cartoon series "The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" from 2010-2012, particularly the first two episodes.
 
The world has 3 or 4 prisons for superpowered people. There's been a simultaneous escape engineered at all of them.
 
Heroes respond to all the sites, resulting in some teamups, some cases of mistaken identity, some villains immediately recaptured, and 75 superpowered villains being released back into the world.
 
Most villains are just seen as teased glimpses as they escape. Sometimes their powers are seen, sometimes not.
 
The first 2 episodes wrap with the heroes coming together to face one of the most powerful villains.
 
After, they realize that going it alone was okay while the threats were scattered. But some of the escapees have obviously joined together and there's just too many bad guys concentrated in a few areas for it to be safe to chase them solo. So the Avengers are born.
 
That's not a bad start when you don't have a $300 million theatrical budget plus five years of audience investment into the stories.
 
It teased fan favorite villains and left the viewer guessing as to which villains would be a major part of that part of the story. And it left unresolved who engineered the breakout, why, and how he found the prisons which were hidden. There was obvious sequels which the audience was invested in seeing.
 
Obviously you might not want to do exactly that. But if you did you could introduce a Justice League, the Teen Titans, and maybe another group like the Doom Patrol or the Freedom Fighters in a linked release of movies. 
 
And in the background of those movies, you could tease in TV reporting scenes that solo heroes (who are scheduled for upcoming movies) have responded to the emergency. Then when their movie comes up, do a flashback scene showing what they were doing on The Big Day.
 
Yeah, Marvel Comics had a big success with a multi-year slow rollout. But there's no reason you HAVE to do it like that if you make good movies which draw people into the situation. 
 
WWII movies rarely went into the socio-political underpinnings of the war in order to justify people fighting for one side over the other. They just showed people fighting the good fight and gave enough background for the characters to create some sympathy and to provide a viewpoint.
 
People know the origin stories for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman already. But a Booster Gold origin story, for example, could be told in a couple of seconds by Skeets telling the crowd, "Booster's the hero from the future, come to save the day!" and a bit of chit-chat with other heroes who ask him if it's true.

As interesting as this has become, I think it has become clear that we need to know just how far after "the event" the gsme is set- perhaps even what the event was- how society is currently organized (or not), and how stable that organization is.
 
I can see a point-  a time after the knee-jerk rioting and mindless raids to get what the other guy has-  when people are soendiing so much time finding food and material that there is no tine or energy (for most people) to keep fighting for what just isnt there any longer.  A time,when it makes more sense to cooperate than to fight.  Certainly there will always be raiders and warlords (you need adventure, after all),  but as ammo and resources are wasted in war early on, they become more scarce, more valuable, and their value begins to grow as a means to more easily hunt larger game more effectively.  Certainly they will have a place to defend against attackers or provide a facade of being a well-defended community, but at the point I am thinking, only warlords and the like will waste them in assault-  they are too valuable for day-to-day survival: they are tools, and difficult to create from scratch-  at least, the machine brass is difficult to create.  We may have no trouble makinf funpowder or primers, and we may resort to melting any soft metal for projectiles, but the machined she'll is beyond our reach in most places.
 
At that point, I think ammunition will make an excellent bartering tender.
 
 

Oh, and if you're close enough timewise to the nuclear event, potassium iodide pills (to block some of the radiation) and water purification tablets (because people won't have had time to set up their own charcoal, sand, and gravel filtration systems).

Firearms and ammo are good as currency in theory. But once a person sells someone firearms and ammo, they can use that to take everything else that the seller owns unless the seller has an army to back him up. Or has easy access to law enforcement.
 
Yeah, everyone is going to want to purchase guns and ammo. 
 
But are sellers going to be stupid enough to sell guns and ammo to people they don't know? Or even to people they do know unless the person is very trustworthy?
 
I've talked to self-described survivalists and preppers who've claimed to have 30,000-50,000 rounds of ammunition stored up for their various guns. None of them thought they had nearly enough if the world as we know it were to end. And all of them would laugh at the idea of using guns and ammo as currency (and have laughed at the idea during conversations on internet forums).
 
I mean, sure we're talking about "for game purposes" rather than for real life. But if you're wanting to model the game on something that's realistic, the people who have guns and ammo when other people don't either were 1) paranoid enough to store it up before the apocalypse or 2) were ruthless enough to go in and seize guns and ammo from all the other people who were looting Wal-Mart, pawn shops, and gun shops.
 
Because the first thing in conversations with most people about what they'd do at the end of the world is that they'd tell you, "I'm going to get...."
 
And by that they mean that they're going to go "shopping", with or without money, along with the tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, or millions of other people who have exactly the same idea. And they're going to be fighting hoards of other people over the limited amount of food, guns, ammo, medicine, valuables, and everything else that's in the stores. Or looting their way through occupied and unoccupied homes as "the excrement hits the air redistribution device".
 
I wouldn't be shocked if most of the ammo supplies are used up while people who grabbed it are trying to make their way out of the store. And that only the most ruthless, heartless, uncaring, and organized people will make their way out of the store with a significant amount of gums plus ammo. 
 
Those people won't be particularly inclined to provide arms and ammo to potential enemies. 
 
They'd be more likely to gun down someone who brought something valuable enough to try to trade for guns and ammo.
 
(Sorry for the bleak estimation of the human condition as the apocalypse happens but I think that's likely how it'd play out unless the bombs land everywhere at once without anyone having any clue that it's happening until the bombs actually go off.)

YES!  ABSOLUTELY!
 
First:  IMO, it's often nothing more than the pitcher or batter jerking around the other.  There's no pressure involved, per se.
Second:  catchers don't call the games anyway, quite often.  Plus, MLB is working on sign-stealing tech;  it's strictly optional.  It should reduce the time the catcher needs.
Third:  it's less about the overall elapsed time, and more about pace of play.  Some pitchers are HORRIBLY slow;  same with some hitters.  Jeter would step out, tug the gloves, knock on the spikes...make the pitcher wait and wait and wait.  It was CLEARLY a head game.  Some pitchers are notorious for doing the same...25 seconds on an 0-2 count, 1 out, no one on, in a 5 run game.  Get real.  
 
And last:  everyone will get used to it.  They may need to clarify when the clock should start;  that's sometimes an issue in tennis, which has had a serve clock for a few years.  (And some players abuse it;  Djokovic is often at the line WELL in advance, and IMO deliberately stalls as long as he can.)
 
I've got NO sympathy towards the argument that the pitchers and catchers would feel "pressure" because of this.  

Good news!  According to his Twitter, which I don't have a link for right this second, he's gone into remission!
 
Edit to add:  https://mobile.twitter.com/nyrath/status/1509944269796171782
 

They can say what they want, but I dont think a moratorium on "stores smaller than Wal Mart" is ever going to be a great thing.
 
And I am not proud of this, but id it wasnt for rhe Dollar General in Lyons, we would have had to five up wheat bread and produce.  God know we cant afford it anywhere else in this county.

I can advise, but I am usually paid for contributions. Art, is time consuming, and I need to pay my rent.

I feel for you. And maybe I'm looking at my own future, considering I'm 52 myself, and only 15 years from retirement, and prime candidate to be murdered or killed because in films you don't talk about how far you have to go to retirement before dying. 

My Russian History professor said the Mongol conquest was the single most important event in shaping the Russian worldview, especially in foreign relations. As he put it, more or less: Deep in the Russian imagination, the Horde is always coming. The face and flag changes -- Teutonic Knights, Mongols, Germans (repeatedly), Napoleon's French; Americans (among others) in the Russian Civil War; now NATO (in Putin's telling); but it is always the Horde. The Horde has no mercy, so neither can you.
 
And the "Tatar Yoke" lasted more than 200 years! Those centuries of brutal absolutism shaped Russian ideas of what power looks like. See: Ivan the Terrible. Yes, Ivan the Terrible was a maniac prone to outbursts of homicidal rage, to the point of killing his own son, but he beat the Mongols and freed Russia. Which is why Western folk err in translating Ivan's epithet as "the Terrible." Russians mean "the Awesome." Of course he's frightening! That shows how great he is! Or Stalin: Yes, he killed millions of his subjects in his purges and forced collectivization, but he beat the Horde when it came in the guise of Nazis. So for many Ruddians, he's still a great leader.
 
So I do not expect Putin to scruple at, well, anything.
 
Dean Shomshak

Well, he screwed up and half the living beings of the universe disappeared for five years because he didn't cut off Thanos's arm. His dad, brother, and sister died. Asgard was destroyed with his assistance. Most of the Asgardians who survived the destruction of Asgard died on the rescue boat that he was captaining.
 
For all we know, a 5000 year old being goes through the stages of grief very slowly. In any case, even though he's 2000 years old, what he's gone through is still unprecedented in his lifetime.
 
I mean, look at an adult human who's gone through 40% of his lifespan: he participates in the annihilation of the Earth, has his family die, tries to rescue a few people from Earth but they mostly all die on the rescue boat he's captaining. So how many years would he be going to therapy to get over that?  
 
That's not how I would have written Thor but it's an understandable(though not entertaining) reaction on the "My-Life-Is-Crap-O-Meter". 

Well, he screwed up and half the living beings of the universe disappeared for five years because he didn't cut off Thanos's arm. His dad, brother, and sister died. Asgard was destroyed with his assistance. Most of the Asgardians who survived the destruction of Asgard died on the rescue boat that he was captaining.
 
For all we know, a 5000 year old being goes through the stages of grief very slowly. In any case, even though he's 2000 years old, what he's gone through is still unprecedented in his lifetime.
 
I mean, look at an adult human who's gone through 40% of his lifespan: he participates in the annihilation of the Earth, has his family die, tries to rescue a few people from Earth but they mostly all die on the rescue boat he's captaining. So how many years would he be going to therapy to get over that?  
 
That's not how I would have written Thor but it's an understandable(though not entertaining) reaction on the "My-Life-Is-Crap-O-Meter". 

Oh, and if you're close enough timewise to the nuclear event, potassium iodide pills (to block some of the radiation) and water purification tablets (because people won't have had time to set up their own charcoal, sand, and gravel filtration systems).