I have the pleasure of playing in a Star Wars game, where I'm playing the Captain of a Correllian Corvette.

I have the pleasure of playing in a Star Wars game, where I'm playing the Captain of a Correllian Corvette. This is Star Wars World, by Andrew Medeiros. I've done some hacking -- and am continuing to do so! -- but this post is really about what you can do with the Officer playbook.

Running a large space should would be impossible in standard RPGs, and the closest in AW is the hard holder. Which is pretty close, except these people are employees rather than just residents.

That is, the character is like 60 years old and wealthy; owns a flying castle with dozens of employees, starfighters, and hundreds of droids. If that's not wealth, I don't know what is.

The Family
Its him and his wife (also a PC), they've been in the ship for over 40 years. They have 5 kids, and have adopted another 10 over the years. They consider every spacer to be like family.

This isn't my ideal future, but it is nice to play. Its very different from my normal characters; I'm not driving the character like a stolen car, nor is there a mechanical striving for power. Instead, there's a quiet enjoyment of the intimacy and life.

The Ship
We stole a CC 40 years ago, when the trade federation started turning Corellia into a fascist shit show.We've been pirates ever sense, raiding from the insured rich and keeping ourselves in the black.

Outfitted to have starfighters, because that makes it more awesome. A crew of about three dozen, ten troopers, and a dozen fighter pilots. Call it 60 people onboard.

On Wealth
Not only do these characters own a space ship, not only do they have like 60 employees, but they also help their crew and kids setup new lives for themselves. One runs a restaurant, one was the administrator of cloud city, and one we just setup as a pirate after a big score.

So, its like a less douchtacular version of Downton Abbey, but also with hyperdrive and guns.

I realized something recently: I have come full circle, and can now unironically enjoy things.

I realized something recently: I have come full circle, and can now unironically enjoy things.

In particular, TFA. I enjoy enjoying it. 

The first time, I whelped and cheered along with the crowd. The second time, the crowd didn't -- and I was muted, but still did so.

Because I enjoy doing so. It brings me happiness.

This is my unironic Star Wars enjoyment thread.

Comments on how great Star Wars is are ideal ("Han was all "never tell me the odds" then hyperspace jumped ONTO A PLANET! wow!") informed criticism are OK ("how could they hyperspace jump right into a planet?"), shitting on is not ("Its so STUPID that they hyperspace jumped right onto a planet!"). 

I'll mod as necessary.

Concept art by Jeff Carlisle for a YT-1300 freight pusher, something that's the ship's cargo mandibles might be...

Originally shared by Khairul Hisham

Concept art by Jeff Carlisle for a YT-1300 freight pusher, something that's the ship's cargo mandibles might be designed to do. (This concept - albeit text only - is now canon in The Force Awakens Incredible Cross Section book, btw.) Jeff posted this on his FB page.

Title

Originally shared by Rylee Blade

Dear Interwebs

Dear Interwebs,

Please convince me to go to Dearmation. I play a bunch of indie games and Larps. I've never been to New Jersey, and am slightly anxious about new crowds. A bunch of people I know go to Dreamation.

Get me past this hump, interwebs. You're my only hope.

Force Awakens: Things I need to say.

Force Awakens: Things I need to say.
Spoiler space.
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Don't get me wrong with the below: I enjoyed it. It did for me what the first nuTrek movie did; let me watch something in a universe I care deeply about, with a lot of wizardry. And, like that movie, was lacking something that I can't quite put my finger on.

I've been away from a keyboard for the last few days, and want to write up a few things I felt during the movie. These are the things that took me out of it:
1. The stormtrooper armor looks off somehow. Too shiney, maybe? 
2. Phasma does nothing except bow to death threats and be bureaucratic. Come on.
3. The only thing Han ever did well, he claims, is to be a smuggler. But, he's shitty at it. He's a fantastic commando. Is he lying to Leia, or to us?
4. How LONG have chewie and Han been together, and just now Han  tries out the crossbow?
5. Chewie seemed MUCH more lively than ever before. More feelings and deeper thoughts.
6. The initial TIE fighter escape sequence shows us more about the location of guns on a star destroyer than six movies put together. Given ISD2's have like 50 heavy ion cannons and 72 tie fighters why didn't they launch those?
7. When a stormtrooper escapes with the plans to the death star, I mean with the prisoner, USE THE POWELL DOCTRINE (overwhelming force). Don't send a couple of tie fighters, send a squadron. Don't send 10 stormtroopers, send 4,000.
8. Where did the star destroyer go when our heroes finally left tatooine I mean this new desert planet, and how come Han and Chewie were here? In all the outer rim, they were right HERE?
9. Going to hyperspace while parked? Yeah, right.
10. Han was all "Isn't there always a mcguffin? Hey, new Han, where's the mcguffin on this thing?", and new Han was all "the mcguffin is right here, but ."
11. I didn't care one lick about the X-wing attack on the super death star. I never got emotionally invested in those characters. Oh, what, the fighter pilot is still alive? that's nice, I guess. I'd forgotten he existed, as the REAL PCs were bonding. This seemed like a video game (there's nothing wrong with video games).
12. Perhaps most glaring, I was not emotionally invested in the super death star. Nor the billions of lives silenced. And I should have been. 
12a, really, we can see the hyperspace torpedo things from EVERYWHERE AT ONCE?
13. R2, really? Why'd you wake up, buddy? What impetus was there for that? Did you know BB8 had the map, or did you just want a stretch?

Those things interrupted my viewing pleasure. I'm sure there is explanation for them all, and they can all be explained away. The point is not that these are or are not objectively wrong, it is that they struck me DURING THE MOVIE as weird and brought me out of the fiction.

I have this idea. It might be shit, but I've got an hour in an airport.

I have this idea. It might be shit, but I've got an hour in an airport.

A star wars game, using apocalypse world. That's been done, and really well, in star wars world.

But, here's where I am: being strong or deep or whatever isn't what really matters in star wars. That is, conventional aw stats are not what push plot.

Instead, it's the feels. It's your relationships. So, what about a game where:
1. There are large scale organizations, similar to, but different from, factions in urban shadows. Playbooks are NOT directly affiliated with these, but they have starting stats and define your place in the world. At game start, decide on these as a table, and these become the major organizations that matter. Examples include the empire, jabbas gang, rebel alliance, etc. Shoot for one that's mostly political, one military, one thief, and one the force.
2. Have bonds with PCs&npcs. When these get high enough, reset and raise bonds with an organisation with which they affiliate.
3. For all rolls, roll +bond.
4. Use a corruption mechanic, with corruption for each playbook based on treating people like objects. When you would take a corruption advance and have more corruption advances than bonds, retire as a threat.
5. Make a let it out style move ala urban shadows.
6. The only stats are bonds.

These ideas are loose; I'm not sure if this would bring it the gameplay I want, which is to encourage love and connection. That is, Luke doesn't blast the death star because it's his job or because he's the ace; he attacks the death star because of love.

All of this.

All of this.

Originally shared by Heinz Kreienbaum

This sums it up pretty good. Thanks, Dirk Timm
http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20151221/#.VnfKzm563HQ.facebook

This may be spoiler:

This may be spoiler:
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I counted not less than three video games in force awakens.
There's the xwing game, the first person shooter and, my favorite, the fallout style rpg with light sabers.

And those were just the ones that took me out if the movie: the ones I realized during the film.

I don't know if this is good or ill. I don't play a lot of video games, so it's weird to me that I saw these so obviously.

Was I the only one? What did I miss?

That was very enjoyable, in part due to dressing like a Jedi and my six year old nephew dressed as Vader.

That was very enjoyable, in part due to dressing like a Jedi and my six year old nephew dressed as Vader.

Probably the best in theatre star wars experience I've had.

This use intended to be spoiler free. Please let me know if I messed up.

My reaction towards anything even maybe about The Force Awakens is to scroll it off the screen, then let my brain...

My reaction towards anything even maybe about The Force Awakens is to scroll it off the screen, then let my brain decide if it was real or not.

Part of this is me: I am becoming hyper conscious of spoilers and how much I want an unspoiled experience.

Luckily, I will be offline most of tomorrow. And then with family.

This is very peculiar to notice, as even a week ago I would have claimed not to care.

Like, I just considered blocking Tim Franzke . Because I am crazy.

So, tomorrow, no G+ for me. Notifications only.

There's a new Princess Bride movie premiering soon, yeah?

Originally shared by The Maaurovingian

There's a new Princess Bride movie premiering soon, yeah?

Via Kristin Moran​
#TPB

#WhyINeedFeminism

#WhyINeedFeminism

I've been told about this, I'm sure, for weeks. I'm friends with some of the women who work on it. I am lucky enough to game with Misha B in two different pbp games.

And yet, I didn't really consider putting money at it until a dude recommended it. Because, apparently, misogyny is in my head.

That's why we need feminist games: unconscious attitudes. Gaming can change our attitudes and make us more aware.

Give this thing your money, but don't do it because I posted about it. Do it because it's going to be awesome.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/feminism-a-nano-game-anthology#/
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/feminism-a-nano-game-anthology

This post is spoiler free. This post is about love.

This post is spoiler free. This post is about love.

I have always loved Star Wars. And, sometimes, I realize why.

Its not about laser swords or exploding planets. That's all distraction.

No, my love of Star Wars is of a series where love triumphs; where treating people as people, rather than commodities, wins.

I could tell you there are 37,085 crew onboard an ISD-2, or that it is 1.6 kilometers long and carries 60 heavy turoblasers and 72 TIE starcraft. And those numbers illustrate something: those people aren't important. The system (the Empire) treats them as nothing more than disposable cogs, and they become so.

And, sure, its neat that there's always a bigger ship: The Tantive IV with its 11 engines is dwarfed by Vader's ISD, and Vader's ISD is dwarfed by the Death Star.

And, well, who flies to the Death Star? A bunch of professionals, and three kids -- Luke, Wedge and Biggs., These three come the closest to destroying it, because they trust and love each other. Gold Leader falls and dies early; he was following the rules and made himself a part of the system.

Systems, Star Wars teaches, chews up people.

Meanwhile, Wedge, Biggs, and Luke take a run at the Death Star. Not because its their job, not because they are forced to. They do it because they love each other, and will support each other. When Biggs falls and Wedge is out of position, Luke is alone.

For a moment, it looks like Luke will die. The Empire will win, the system will destroy more planets. Leia and Nadine will fall to the Death Star.

And in that moment, love shows its head again: Han and Chewie fly in at the last moment, and blast Vader's TIE. The unconditional love showed to them is returned, and they are redeemed.

Love not only triumphs, it redeems. That is why my love of Star Wars is so long lasting.

You guys, I am a dork

You guys, I am a dork

For reasons of an RPG where such things do not matter, I wanted to find the interior space of a Correllian Corvetter. This is Leia's starship in the opening of Star Wars.

My initial attempt was knowing silly: Length times width times depth, assuming the ship is a solid object. That's 150 meters by 45 meters, by 32 meters. Or 216,000 cubic meters.

But, you guys, we're in the golden age of models. Fantasy Flight has both Armada and X-wing, and both have a Correllian Corvette.

Because this is a $10 project and not a $60 project, I get the one from Armada. It arrived tonight.

The model is so small I have difficulty measuring it. It is just 55 mm long! I think its displacement is 2.5 mL, but I'm really not sure. The resolution on my tools is too small to have a really accurate measurement.

If both those two things are right, then Leia's ship has an interior space of approx 50,000 cubic meters. I can say with some reasonable degree of belief that it is between 40,000 and 60,000 cubic meters.

This has been your math nerdery for the day.

#PostYourFavoriteStarWarsCharacters

#PostYourFavoriteStarWarsCharacters

In a fiction-first Star Wars RPG, a Correllian Corvette is a major plot point.

In a fiction-first Star Wars RPG, a Correllian Corvette is a major plot point. It is owned by my PC and his PC wife, and they use it for piracy. Because corvettes are cool.

And because obsession is built in to my brain, I've been trying to figure out the interior space. I've read woookipedia about a million times (seriously, google now says "you have visited this page many times"), and I haven't yet figured out a good answer for the interior space.

And I want one. This isn't important to anything in-system, but my brain wants to know.

I've got a friend who plays both Armada and X-wing. He's about done with Armada, and has three corvettes.

If I know the length and displacement of the model, I can scale up. That should (if i can math, and math pretty hard) give me the displacement of the CC, based on its length.

The naive way to do this sounds impressively wrong: find the ratio between length and displacement in the model, and multiple that by the length of the CC.

That sounds wrong, as displacement scales with the cube of length of the model.

Time to math up the right way to do this. Hooray math!

Today on the street, I saw a dude using his girlfriend's dress to clean his glasses. Her dress, his glasses.

Today on the street, I saw a dude using his girlfriend's dress to clean his glasses. Her dress, his glasses.

As we passed, I pulled out a microfiber cloth. I always have these in my pocket., and have dozens thanks to Dianne Harris.

I hand it to him, and keep walking. He's surprised and happy and, at her insistence, asks if I need it back. The "Its yours" is met rather well.

So, morale of the story? Buy microfiber glasses cleaners, and many times many of them. Always useful.

Thins?

Thins?

It is amazing how the effects of acetaminophen are consistently downplayed, while the risks with ibuprofen are...

It is amazing how the effects of acetaminophen are consistently downplayed, while the risks with ibuprofen are consistently exaggerated.

That's some good marketing, and it kills a lot of people. Especially kids.

I am apparently hacking together Star Wars World, Worlds in Peril, and now bits of Urban Shadows.

I am apparently hacking together Star Wars World, Worlds in Peril, and now bits of Urban Shadows. Is there something wrong with me?

In Star Wars world last night: The Guardian was nearly seduced by the dark side.

In Star Wars world last night: The Guardian was nearly seduced by the dark side. She was having a force vision where she thought her friend the Sentinel was a Sith apprentice, and the mirage only faded after she severed the Sentinel's arm and leg.

I got to say: She knows what you've done. They will punish you. Strike her down and there will be no witnesses. You will remain victorious.

I was a little proud of that.

Today's cocktail to fake functionality: 2 ibuprofen, 1 pseudoephed, 1 mucinex DM.

Today's cocktail to fake functionality: 2 ibuprofen, 1 pseudoephed, 1 mucinex DM.
Last night's cocktail to allow sleep: 3 ibuprofen, 2 bennadryl, 1 mucinex DM.

I think of the first as DayQuill that actually works, and the second as NyQuill that won't kill you.

Yo, is this racist?

Yo, is this racist?
http://www.amazon.com/Chia-Obama-Handmade-Decorative-Determined/dp/B001PKU28E

That moment when you realize the Indian genius in Short Circuit was played by a white guy in brown face.

That moment when you realize the Indian genius in Short Circuit was played by a white guy in brown face.

Whelp, that leaves my list.

In Star Wars, Hutts are like Dragons; they control unreasonable swaths, people bow to them, and they smell funny.

I'm flying to visit family on December 18, the day star wars is released.

I'm flying to visit family on December 18, the day star wars is released.

Let me repeat that: I'm going through TSA security on Star Wars release day.

Do I wear a full jedi robe?

play by post roleplaying games ...

play by post roleplaying games ... 

are hard from a lack of tone of voice,
are exciting for the same reasons books are,
are rewarding because you can sculpt exactly what you want to say,
are long lived when you can wait to respond,
are short lived as we all want to respond at the same time.

I'm running my first one -- ever -- and it keeps almost falling apart.

With the new G+, when posting to a community -- if you tab away after clicking post but BEFORE the selection screen...

With the new G+, when posting to a community -- if you tab away after clicking post but BEFORE the selection screen comes up for where in the community?

The tab freezes, and the content is unrecoverable.

The thing I expect google to do best -- and which G+ has never done well -- is to remember everything i type.

Anyone else notice this, or other problems?

Its the reader death over again.

Its the reader death over again.

Originally shared by ****

For everyone saying:

"But, so-and-so-complaining-about-the-new-interface, you can still go back to the old version!"

Or...

"But, so-and-so-complaining-about-the-new-hangouts, you can still follow this funky link to get to the old, full-featured hangouts!"

--

The new UI is in preview mode. That's why you can switch back and forth. Chances are, some of the things that are bugging us will be fixed while we're in this preview stage, but don't expect large changes. Certain tasks have been made more difficult for a reason.

It won't always be in preview mode. It'll eventually be rolled out, and you'll no longer have the ability to go back. See virtually everything Google has ever rolled out for an example as to that.

While full-featured hangouts are currently available 'as-is', Google hasn't indicated they'll be doing any maintenance or updating it at all. In Googlespeak, that tends to mean they won't. They'll just quietly let it die until one day the tech debt is so high it no longer works, and has to be gotten rid of. This isn't a pot shot at Google, this is a pot shot at the entire software industry that does the exact same thing.

What's most distressing to me is that no one's addressed how this will affect hangouts on air, which at the moment use the old full-featured hangouts... and no one's talking about that, either.

It might be months or it might be years before full-featured hangouts stop working entirely and are completely unusable... but unless something changes, and Google actually addresses the problem, it's a pretty safe bet to assume full-featured hangouts are becoming unsupported dinosaurs.

So, just remember that before you try to make someone feel better about the new interface basically destroying everything they've ever used Google+ for.

Nov 18, 2015: The day google did to plus what they did to Reader.

Nov 18, 2015: The day google did to plus what they did to Reader. The day google proved that what I want from plus is not what they want from it.

New G+ just posted. I am ... not impressed.

New G+ just posted. I am ... not impressed.

Why is this in a window inside the screen?

Why do i have to scroll to the bottom to comments?

Star Wars Technical Dorkery:

Star Wars Technical Dorkery:

I'm currently running a pbp Star Wars game using Star Wars World. Among other things, this means I'm reading up -- once again! -- on the ridiculous sizes of star wars ships.

an Imperial Star Destroyer II (ISD, throughout) is 1.6 kilometers long, carries 50 heavy turbolasers, 50 turbolasers, 50 heavy ion cannons, 50 ion cannons, and 72 star fighters. It has a crew of 37,000+, and a battalion of troops. The star fighters are all TIE class, of various specialties.

A Mon Cal Cruiser (like Home One -- Admiral "its a trap!" Ackbar's ship) is 700 meters long, carries 36 turbolasers, 36 ion cannons, and 120 star fighters. It has a crew of 5,000, and about a thousand troops. The star fighters are all "wing" class, such as x-wing, y-wing, and the b-wing.

The Star Destroyer, with its weak carrier ability and massive gun batteries, is effectively a battleship (or, really, a destroyer): a well armed and armored ship that emphasizes direct weaponry.

The Mon Cal Cruise, with its massive carrier ability and lesser guns, is effective a carrier: a less armored and armored ship that emphasizes projection of force.

And that's a really important cultural distinction between the rebel alliance and the empire: The Empire wants direct C&C from a heavily defended base, with minimal room for either exceptionalism or failure. With 37,000 crew, you have redundancies -- no one is really important.

The Mon Cal ship is the opposite -- stressing the individual capabilities of its starfighters. The rebel starfighters are superior in nearly every respect to the imperial ones. While the ISD uses starfighters as a point defense system, the rebel X-wing, A-wing, and B-wing are craft capable of challenging capital ships.

And that's the difference, isn't it? The rebellion is focused on individuals and the rights and capabilities thereof, while the Empire is a system that continues to churn out more and more powerful individual super weapons.

This post brought to you by thinking too much about star wars.

This must be what jetlag feels like.

This must be what jetlag feels like. Slept until 11 -- until an alarm went off -- and could sleep for another several hours. My head aches.

Dianne  has escaped the heacache. Good for her.

Worth it.

How was metatopia? My responses will be minimal, but i would dig knowing.

On pbta games:

On pbta games:

I have this view that i could simplify to this:
-- Every problem requires a certain number of 10+ results..
-- A 7-9 results changes the narration, doesn't modify the number of 10+ required.
-- A 6- results ADDS to the required number, changes the narration

That might be crazy. Thoughts?

Andrew Medeiros

Andrew Medeiros 

Hey! So, we did a really intense first session for Star Wars World play by post over the last week. I'm doing some final work with David, but for the most part, we've got it in the bag.

Paging Robert Bohl , Tony Lower-Basch , Whitney Delaglio , David Rothfeder , Misha B 

Since you are working on the next version, I figure you may want feedback:
1. On my, this worked well. How much time passed between you writing this and doing US? It is much closer to AW, and I don't know how much that is intentional and how much is changing confidence.
2. The list of threats I found limitating. For example, there's an NPC in the Officer's squad who wants to kick him out. There's no obvious threat type for that.
3. I'm never sure how intense to make things. For this adventure, there were as many points of entry as the PCs made groups of themselves -- because that seemed to work. But, there's very little GM advice.
4. The moment of intimacy moves work really well.
5. It isn't totally clear when to make them buy. The playtests of AW2 show everyone with a start of session move related to barter and lifestyle -- something like that might be good.

Those are the five that come to my mind. 
tl;dr - really good, threat list is limiting, GM advice would be good, moment of intimacy moves are perfect, making them buy is problematic.

Happy to answer any questions, and I bet the crew has thoughts, too. Half of them are at metatopia -- and I'm headed on a trip tomorrow -- but this'll be here if you want to talk about.

This is a very similar type of sampling problem to asking those in a popular how many siblings they have and trying...

This is a very similar type of sampling problem to asking those in a popular how many siblings they have and trying to determine average family size.

If you do it wrong -- as this does -- then you wind up with much larger average family sizes then is real.

Originally shared by Andreas Schou

Oh. Delightful. It turns out we used cohort samples to determine the recidivism rate. Which means that we're overestimating the rate of recidivism by a tremendous amount. Why is this bad? I guess I'll quote myself, from two days ago: 

Let's say that you live in a society with two possible crimes: one with a year-long sentence, and one with a twenty-year sentence. Of criminals in your society, 95% are convicted of the crime with a year-long sentence, and 5% are convicted of the crime with a twenty-year sentence.

So, to determine what people in your society are incarcerated for, you dip into the prison population at a single point and see what people have been convicted of. You'll find that your prison population is divided straight down the middle: 50% of the population consists of people who committed the one-year crime, and 50% consists of people who committed the twenty-year crime.

This happens because the distribution of prisoners currently incarcerated is controlled by two factors: the base rate of crime in the underlying society, and the duration of prisoners' sentences. Each twenty-year inmate will appear in 20 different yearly samples. Each one-year inmate will only appear in the sample from the year he's incarcerated.

For similar reasons, prisoners with multiple nonconsecutive incarcerations in the study period will be vastly overrepresented in the population. Which means that, by studying people who are in prison at any single point in time, we're getting a view not of the typical person who has been in prison, but the person who is most likely to be in prison.

It's hard to overstate how awful this is: we've been making public policy based on studies like this for a very, very long time.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/10/why_do_so_many_prisoners_end_up_back_in_prison_a_new_study_says_maybe_they.html

Last night on ... WORLDS IN PERIL ...

Last night on ... WORLDS IN PERIL ...

Tagging in Robert Bohl to talk about prep in AW games.

Our protagonists, the Catalysts ... are changing the world.

Last week: They built a moon base. That is, the scientist of the group used the create move to build a moon base. They have matter teleportation, which made it a lot easier: they needed either to harness and destroy the AI they had, or to build a next generation space suit. ("Yeah, no problem, but ... "). They decided to build it using next-gen space suits, so found scientists to help.

That is, most of last session was spent at Carnegie Mellon University recruiting a post doc in robotics to work for them.

This week: They got a message from the UN, as building a base on the moon makes them pirates. On the moon.

They met with Neil Degras Tyson, a UN subcommitte chaired by a racist Aussie, and -- later that day -- Obama. They offered everyone the same thing: unlimited food. And they'd like to be recognized as a sovereign country. On the moon.

Our most common move is Fit-in -- and yet, the players have so few bonds. There was also a take-down against The Corrupt Status Quo -- my PCs are fighting the change the world, and are fighting against monied interests.

So, Robert Bohl -- prep? Two months ago, I figured out some fronts. That is, when i had high energy, I thought about direction and what would happen if the PCs do nothing. Some of that has changed, but its mostly the same. I've created a front or two in the last few months, but mostly this game runs on improv and no prep.

Ask questions, and I'll try to answer them. And maybe someone will come along and tell me I'm doing it wrong. And maybe I am. :-)

I'm reading Ancillary Justice, which is remarkably good.

I'm reading Ancillary Justice, which is remarkably good.

One nitpick: there are two characters whose names have the same starting and ending character. That is, they both start with "s" and end with "n".

Don't do that.

Dear lazy webs

Dear lazy webs,

I need help thinking up a name of a playbook.

Its like the Maestro D', but in space. It could be Inara (firefly) or Quark (DS9). I want something broad enough to grab both those, and evocative enough to be interesting.

Tavener?
Steward?
Victualer?

Right now, I'm leaning towards Victualer. And I'm open to other ideas.

Tonight on World Wide Wrestling ....

Tonight on World Wide Wrestling ....

we introduced one new character: The Ravager, and anti-hero heel. The last match sent us INTO SPACE.

This is my ongoing WWW game, which is the Intercontinental International Wrestling Confederation of the World, the moon, and sometimes the oceans.

On today's docket:
Muerte Cabellero, the high flyer from parts unknown who once interrupted a title fight on an oil derrick by being torpedoed from a submarine -- along with his ninja fans.
Outback Jack, who is awesome and from Australia.
"Claymore" McDuff, now a Legend and MP from Scotland, who -- while retired -- worked on the movement to leave the UK.

Segments:
Muerte Cabellero vs Claymore -- this went off the rails in the most delightful way. The fight was in Red Square, and Muerte came out as a communist -- including using a tank. As such, Claymore had to rebut -- with an RPG.

Then they started wresling, and as Muerte botched on a wrestling move, she killed the actual announcer. Despite that Muerte was scheduled to win, Claymore arrested her and we called it a DQ.

Second: Muerte and Outback Jack "backstage" -- IN PRISON. Outback says he'll get Muerte out, but is rebuffed. Muerte is enjoying being a celebrity in prison.

Third: Mangler versus Outbackjack. They have a good knife match. Outback is hit in the kidneys -- which are important because he's Australian! --- and knocked out of the ring for a DQ. A perfect match by the Mangler.

Fourth: Talk show with Claymore & Outback. Claymore -- doing as creative wishes -- convinced Outback to turn to babyface.

... Which brings us to the main attraction: a Fatal Fourway. For an additional $5.99, HEELS vs BABYFACES.

That is: The heels Muerte The Communist and Mangler the Knifeassasin fight against babtfaces Claymore the paragon of democracy and Outback, the paragon of rugged individualism.

They do this on top of a launch pad. Because why wouldn't you?

As Mangler comes out, knives a raring for Outback, she misses .... 
We cut to Claymore, who has cut threw a door and pressed a big red button. The launch pad opens to reveal a rocket, about to blast off.

Mangler uses her knives to cut it open -- its a herculean task. She manages, but it is obvious to the audience how hard it was. They begin to question kayfabe. Oh no!

Babyface Mcduff takes out the Mangler, hoistering her by her own petard.

In an act of desperation, Muerte invades the control room, revealing a larger, even redder button. She quickly presses it, and the entire facility begins to blast off.

Together, baby faces Outback and Mcduff manage to force Muerte out the airlock. She'll be back!

... and folks, that's wrestling for the night. We're now the intercontinental wrestling confederation of the earth, the ocean, and low earth orbit. That's right, baby: we made orbit.

This game went off the rails really early. I've very proud of the ridiculousness.

Oh no: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NEZC2uH-Q

Oh no: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NEZC2uH-Q

Marty McFly changed history, right? He invented Rock and Roll, and got the mayor to run for mayor, right?

That is -- in 1955 --- a white kid invented rock and roll and started the civil rights movement.

Oh no.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-NEZC2uH-Q

No one has mentioned this -- but I am pretty sure I saw Wedge Antilles in the trailer.

No one has mentioned this -- but I am pretty sure I saw Wedge Antilles in the trailer.

That is -- the true hero of the rebellion is still alive!

I just actually, serious said: I'm hungry, so I'll go running.

I just actually, serious said: I'm hungry, so I'll go running.

What am I?

"Get off my plane"

"Get off my plane"

Originally shared by Christopher Ruthenbeck

I heard this in Han's voice. #justSaying

Capitalism is great, not so much corporatism.

Capitalism is great, not so much corporatism.

Competition is great, hierarchies not so much. 

These are things I think may be true.

Doctor Who: Season 8: Episode 12.

Doctor Who: Season 8: Episode 12.

--- spoilers - 

Doctor: She has been recruiting the dead for a long time.
Unit Chief: How long? How LONG, doctor?
Doctor: How long has the human race had the concept of an afterlife?

bored:

bored:

tell me what fictional character reminds you of me.

you don't need to say why.

(also feel free to do this on your own feeds.)

Played Uncharted Worlds -- the PbtA hack to do space opera -- on Thursday night.

Played Uncharted Worlds -- the PbtA hack to do space opera -- on Thursday night. Thursday nights are an open gaming night, at a gaming store. There's a crowd of regulars, and we get new people, too.

I managed to have fun on Thursday, but there were challenges. I've spent some time trying to figure out what parts of that were caused by a Problem Player, and which parts may've been the system.

Without further weasel words, here's my thoughts:
-- The origin + 2 career + equipment + workspace takes too damn long. Chargen is part of the game, so is done in person. I've done some lonely fun building putting together playbooks for this game since Thursday, and wouldn't ever want to do this at the table. 

-- The game suffers from a lack of Hx/strings/SOMETHING that binds the characters together.

-- While a space opera hack, there's no obvious support for magical characters: second foundationers, jedis, even Troi and Spock!

-- I really like that the table decides what size ship to have. 

-- Given that I want fewer, and more meaningful, decisions during chargen, I'd probably be happier with Star Wars World. Add a playbook or two to cover magic types who aren't space wizards, maybe another type of shipboard officer, and we could be in business.

-- Playbooks would also have made it easier for us to know what was up with the problem player: he wanted to be an asskicker, and that wasn't apparent to us until he flame throwered a prisoner. In SWW, he could have picked up the Trooper and it would be clear what he wants. In Dungeon World, the fighter. In Apocalypse World, the gunlugger.

-- We spent an hour and a half on chargen -- of our 3 hour game time -- and weren't finished. We didn't get to Factions basically at all.

Basically, all other children of the apocalypse have virtues that I'm not seeing here. I think the attempt to be broad in scope is a noble one, but this isn't the game for me.

And, let me be clear, this may be the game for you. Its a bit more complicated than most PbtA, and while for me that's a bug, for you it may be a feature.

Reading a science fiction book, which takes place on a colony on Venus.

Reading a science fiction book, which takes place on a colony on Venus. The book is called Containment. I do not recommend it.

--- spoilers to follow ---
First thought: Nah. They aren't on Venus. They are on Earth. Venus is a crazy place to build a colony.

40 pages in: They are on earth! You can't do EVAs on Venus!

60 pages in: Earth! Building on Venus continues to not make any sense. This is probably some sort of mad max future with better technology.

200 pages in: the Big reveal! They are ON EARTH. Earth is all messed up, with radiation and high temperatures. There's no oil, and there are warlords battling over land. You never saw that coming, did you audience? I pulled one over on you!

250 pages: Why did I finish this?

Does anyone really believe Jon Snow is Eddard's son?

Does anyone really believe Jon Snow is Eddard's son?

I probably shouldn't just leave this here, but I'm going to.

It was pointed out -- by my wife -- that the reason we want government services isn't so that they'll be better --...

It was pointed out -- by my wife -- that the reason we want government services isn't so that they'll be better -- they often aren't -- but so we don't have to use our limited human time and attention on it.

My limited ability to make decisions is absolutely something I value.

This is fantastic, and goes to about everything I care about.

This is fantastic, and goes to about everything I care about.

Originally shared by T. Franzke

The top answer here perfectly explains how DW works. How not making a GM move when needed is breaking the rules.

I love it.
http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/65809/how-to-ask-nicely-in-dungeon-world

That realization that Star Wars, in its many incarnations, is old white men scrabbling for power, with PoC fighting...

That realization that Star Wars, in its many incarnations, is old white men scrabbling for power, with PoC fighting amongst themselves over which of two bad options to choose.

I hate that realization. Give me some more sword fights in space so I can forget it for the next month.

asking for a friend: In DnD (choose your variant, but say which) do the rules have a such thing as a hard move on a...

asking for a friend: In DnD (choose your variant, but say which) do the rules have a such thing as a hard move on a failure?

Breakfast today: eggs and Watneys.

We saw The Martian yesterday.

We saw The Martian yesterday. I think this is the second movie I've seen in a first-run theater this year. The first was Mad Max.

I got to see this one with my wife! That makes everything better. It was great fun: Matt Damon does a good Mark Watney. We saw it in 3d, for scheduling sake. This was our first 3d movie: I thought it was a distracting gimmick, my wife liked it.

I had a headache afterwards, almost assuredly caused by wearing 3d glasses over my glasses; the pupilary distance had to be messed up.

The bad science that annoyed me the most? Don't EVA without latching on! Do that and you're dead.

What annoyed her the most? He doesn't use square foot gardening, and grows in a field. That's just silly.

Star Wars Clone Wars Season 3: Episode 14 - Witches of the mist

Star Wars Clone Wars Season 3: Episode 14 - Witches of the mist,

Holy crap -- Dooku uses force lightning as a pedagogical tool. That's ridiculously evil.

This is the highest praise from the best person to grant such praise.

This is the highest praise from the best person to grant such praise.

Originally shared by Nathan Paoletta

The most amazing email I've ever received.

(posted with permission)

from Who, Series 8, Episode 2:

from Who, Series 8, Episode 2:
"You don't like soldiers much, do you, doctor" - a soldier.
"You don't need to be liked, you've got all the guns" - The Doctor.

Not bad Moffet, not bad. Keep it up and maybe I'll stay interested.

I think I want personal taxes based on profitability, not income.

Am I doing this right? I'm pretty sure.

Am I doing this right? I'm pretty sure.

Last night, I ran Worlds In Peril with Davey Cruz , Jonathan Davis and George Austin . As per usual, let me stress: I have fantastic players.

For this session, I did a bunch more prep than normal. Probably more prep than I've done for any PbtA game. And, here's the kicker: it was still a bunch of fun.

I used Focal Point (http://www.enginepublishing.com/focal-point-the-complete-game-masters-guide-to-running-extraordinary-sessions). This book is fantastic. It has challenges for the GM.

You should buy it and everything they produce. I ... got the book from a friend and now feel bad. Is that stealing? That's probably stealing, and i should buy it.

Anyway, maybe more on my moral repugnance later. For now, here's what I puilled out of this book that made my game better:
1. We started very differently (violent corrupt cops kicked down the door for a midnight raid while serving a no-knock warrant on behalf of a mega corp.)

2. Theme music for the PCs, and some major NPCs. The cops had "Cops!", the villainous Crash Override had "Welcome To Our World", and the gym had "Eye of the Tiger". To inform everyone we were coming to the end, I turned on "The Final Countdown".
 
3. NPC hand out sheets for the players -- a more coherent version of my notes, with less information. Just there to jog memory. There have been several, and the cast continues to expand.

4, The 3/2 rule for NPCs. I didn't do this as much as I wanted to but, hey, there's always room for improvement.

5. I walked around much. While I've used this to great effect in years past, this space doesn't lend itself to it quite the way I want. The table is loooong.

6. "tweeted" recaps -- went around for short "last time on" bits. I've done this before, but the emphasis on it being short is brilliant.

Note: Buy this book.

Even with all this prep, quite a bit was on the spot and indicated I should have had a bit more prep.

For example: Crash Override was leading the cops -- from the rear. He has no super powers, is just a sellout hacker. We discover he can somehow teleport! We don't really know how.

We learn it is through his suit, which is made of computronium, and has a bit of a personality.  This was totally in the moment, and worked really well. He's also really bad at physical violence: our mentalist PC hit him with fists. Twice.

Some really great changes, thanks in part to this book.

My players want even more: a more complicated world, with them being pulled in more directions. There are children starving in Kenya, why are they focusing on Philly?

And we'll get to that. Hopefully next session.
http://www.enginepublishing.com/focal-point-the-complete-game-masters-guide-to-running-extraordinary-sessions

I seem to be doing a Wednesday G+ discussion. Today's topic: Fury Road.

I seem to be doing a Wednesday G+ discussion. Today's topic: Fury Road.

I had the pleasure of watching it for a second time last night, with the amazing Todd Sprang and Stan Smith. We'd all watched it before, and this was pretty great.

Armed with thoughts from Kelley Vanda 's recent G+ post on the subject, I had a very different experience than the first time. Still great, but with additional context floating around my head.

The tl;dr of Kelley's post is that Fury Road fails as a feminist movie because beauty is linked to agency; Mad, Furiosa, and the Wives are all beautiful. Even actor who plays Nux is beautiful. (google it, he really is. Jeebs.)

So, thoughts:
1. Guitar guy is fantastic. Still. He has no agency (very little), and when we see under the mask he is hideous.

2. The mother's that are hooked up the milking machines? They don't get much screen time, but they are the ones who turn the water on at the end. They are not beautiful, but as soon as Joe is out of the way, use their position to free everyone else.

3. I don't normally enjoy action movies. I usually can't follow them, and it just looks like a bunch of blackness. I don't know what happened in the Borne movies. I find it really hard to follow action, but not Mad Max. Maybe because it is so over the top, maybe because things are so telegraphed to the audience, I actually know who is fighting who, what they are doing, and often why. That's a big deal for me, and may color a lot of my view.

4. The use of beauty to differentiate good from bad and what I'll call PC-ness from not is, of course, not optimal. In a movie where so many normal ways to differentiate -- skin tone, gender, capability with a gun, age -- are spread out between the good and the evil, between the PCs and the NPCs, it remains the one differential.

Its true: we never do see a beautiful person lacking moral worth, and we rarely see an ugly person with it. Joe's physical problems are used to help us know he has moral problems. That is, his inability to breathe -- and his crotch guard -- both tell us that he's an asshole. The rotting feet of the leader of Gas Town are a sign that he is failing inside, too.

And I think that's key. And intentional. It isn't ideal, but is a shortcut to inform the audience. In a movie with so few other touchstones to our world, keeping one is probably worth while.

On the ride home, we were talking about how the three strongholds keep themselves in power: bullet farm and gas town are pretty obvious. But The Citadel?

They control the water and everything green. They grow all the crops. This puts them as a evil mirror to the Keepers. 

The Keepers of Seeds had a green space with many mothers; Joe has a defended high citadel with one father. The Keepers practice radical equality; Joe owns people.

Joe's source of power is a positive one; water and growing things. That is, beauty. And yet, this is spoiled under Joe's reign; the beautiful things are kept locked away and used to maintain power.

Which, maybe, brings us back full circle: Joe uses beautiful things to perpetuate his reign. The wives, the mother's milk, the water. Everything that forms the basis of his power is beautiful, and he uses it to create horrors.

There's about where I am. I realize this isn't quite setup for discussion, but hopefully one will break out.

Yesterday, I did a 5k on a treadmill in the morning before going white water rafting.

Yesterday, I did a 5k on a treadmill in the morning before going white water rafting.

Today, I woke up feeling like a truck hit me.

From The End of All Things, by John Scalzi:

From The End of All Things, by John Scalzi:

Aliens with multiple identified sexes discussing humans:
"Humans generally prefer to not be called 'it' whenever possible."
"The things you learn about people while you're on the job!"

An Alien thinking about earth:
"... from the United Nations, a diplomatic corporation that was not actually the government of the Earth, but which pretended to be for situations like this."

That's some fine stuff, from a dude who gets it.

I've attempted to say this in a couple other threads, and I'm not sure if I've said it well.

I've attempted to say this in a couple other threads, and I'm not sure if I've said it well. I'm gonna put this down here to see if it makes sense.  This goes to a lot of how my mind words, the powerful proof by absurdity.

Recently, a tiny little publishing house that has a tiny little industry corner (more or less) pulled a repugnant title from its shelves. There were cries of "Right on!", and ridiculous cries of "censorship".

In discussion with anyone calling it censorship, I would do the following:
1. Grant the premise. -- that is, that DTRPG censored some asshole
2. Ask what activities are under this definition. -- which amounts to choosing what books to put on the shelf.
3. Change domains with an analogy -- if Amazon or B&N does the same thing, is it censorship?

At that point, the asshole has to either bite the bullet (Yes! B&N cannot curate!), have a definition of censorship that has no particular bite, or withdraw the claim.

All three are fine. Which is to say: Go ahead and grant the ridiculous premise. Then follow to where it leads.

So, here's a question. It is ... inspired ... by recent events.

So, here's a question. It is ... inspired ... by recent events.

To what extent, if any, can a private corporation have responsibilities similar to a government?

I'll put my first thoughts in the comments, and will be hoping for disagreement!

The DTRPG fiasco is valuable* at least to the degree that it has made people think about the role of private...

The DTRPG fiasco is valuable* at least to the degree that it has made people think about the role of private corporations in public life.

*Sure, it is also shitty. No question there.

From the incentives are powerful department: xp and advancement.

From the incentives are powerful department: xp and advancement.

I doubt this will be particularly new. Gamers, like everyone else, respond to incentives. In the games of RPGs, we respond to XP and advancement. How you get xp has a powerful effect on how we act.

Notice:
Dungeon and Dragons: Xp for "defeating" foes, usually be murdering them. Hence, murder hoboes.

Apocalypse World: XP for using highlighted stats, and for resetting xp. Hence, relationships become super important. And, yeah, a few moves.

Dungeon World: XP for looting meaningful treasure, following alignment, and rolling 6-. And that's exactly the gameplay we see: low dex characters doing DD dex for the xp.

Wrestling: Advancement from maxing out audience. You increase audience by increasing heat. So, you get characters who seek the limelight.

Urban Shadows: Mark all 4 factions and advance. So, the characters seek out the moves (and, i guess, sexy times) that lead to marking those factions. The game becomes one of politics.

Fate: Doesn't really have xp, and so there's not the driver of improvement. There's not the same sort of response to incentives driving gameplay.

I saw a discussion on upcoming changes to Star Wars World, and the idea was to give each playbook different triggers for advancement. I think this would create a situation similar to alignment in DW, such that each character will be rewarded for different behaviors based on playbook.

This is absolutely brilliant: Han Solo improves as a scoundrel differently than how Leia improves as a Noble. And a Fighter improves according to different reasons than a Wizard. And shouldn't a Hardholder advance on different triggers than a Gunlugger?

What other games use incentives to promote specific types of gameplay? when have you seen this done well? When poorly? Is this completely obvious?

tl;dr - What to do / bring when showing a six year old Force Awakens?

tl;dr - What to do / bring when showing a six year old Force Awakens?

A question for the more experienced uncles (and, OK, Dads can help, too. Even the mom's. This isn't really gendered.): My nephew is six. He lives 1,000 miles away. I'll be visiting for Christmas to show him Star Wars. His mother has graciously given me the exclusive Right of Star Wars.

His dad is a dickbag who is out of the picture, though the glorious state of Oklahoma mandates that he gets to see the kiddo from time to time. But, that's a different matter.

A year and change ago, I showed him A New Hope and brought lightsabers. It was glorious; he loved star fighters and light sabers and the force. We dueled, and he won every damn time. Because four year old cheat.

Due to timing constraints, he's not seen Empire or Jedi. I know -- I know! -- this is a failing on my part as an uncle. Still, plan is for me to fly in around Christmas and take him to the movies to see The Force Awakens. He knows this is going to happen, and is excited.

What should i bring? What should i be ready for? What should i be prepped for that is non-obvious?

I'm going to go ahead and ping in Jason Morningstar , who knows the ways of the good uncle.

Regarding the county clerk's refusing to give out marriage licenses: Why do they still have a job?

Regarding the county clerk's refusing to give out marriage licenses: Why do they still have a job?

That is,  in this article:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/27/435185521/kentucky-clerks-office-continues-to-refuse-marriage-licenses

How on earth does the Kentucky Clerk still have the position? And isn't, ya know, fired for not doing the job?
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/08/27/435185521/kentucky-clerks-office-continues-to-refuse-marriage-licenses

This is fun: http://programs.clearerthinking.org/how_rational_are_you_really_take_the_test.html#.Vd4NUSgViko

This is fun: http://programs.clearerthinking.org/how_rational_are_you_really_take_the_test.html#.Vd4NUSgViko

Predictably, I scored as "rationalist". I am strong in 3 areas, and OK in the rest. With no weak spots. And I strongly disagree with one of their assessments.

This, folks, is what happens when you have a rationalist education: tests of rationality become transparent. And that's about it.

Mad Max: Move of the Year, Decade, or Century?

stocks are on sale! Buy, buy, buy.

For the second part in my apparent series on GMing: failure.

For the second part in my apparent series on GMing: failure.

I had a pretty major failure as a GM on Thursday.  I had a player rage quit World Wide Wrestling (the fantastic AW hack) after the first match.

Some relevant information: This is at an opening gaming event at a FLGS. We do mostly indie stuff. There's a core group who shows, and we've done a lot of world hacks over the time I've been there. Some fate, and a plethora of things I don't remember the names to. This particular player is very much in that core group, and has never liked AW hacks.

Also: I've frozen up as a player before. I'm no stranger to that. And it sucks. A good GM will notice what's going on, and direct attention somewhere else while the player recovers. This can be done with minimal drama. I thought I was good enough to handle that.

I was wrong.

I pitched wrestling, another player pitched Monster Hearts. We divide up.

At my table, I have three regulars and a newbie. The newbie doesn't know the PbtA systems, but does know wrestling. I do char gen for the two players who don't have them. This is the newbie and the core member who doesn't care for PbtA. I figure with some facilitation on my part, we can get everyone involved and happy.

I was wrong.

We wind up with some alright characters, and get some good heat. I'm not really feeling the chemistry yet in the group, but figure it'll gel once we do a match.

I was wrong.

I call for a break and collect the character sheets to do the bit as creative. I start booking matches, thinking about what'll be on camera and off. I've got some cool things that may come up, and know that the players will mess with this entirely. Its not the most inspired moment as creative director, but i think it'll all work out.

I was wrong.

The first match is between a PC jobber and the hard-core as played by the player who doesn't care for AW hacks. Creative tells them beforehand that the jobber is supposed to lose -- and he's supposed to make it look good.

I stick a mic in the jobber's face (soft move) to make him cut a promo; he says he's going to win and that its going to be great. He gets a 6- on his cut a promo, and I dock him a audience. The jobber starts at 0, so he's now at -1. Fictionally, I say this is folks turning off the TV they dislike him so much.

I shove a mic in the hard-core players face. I get some answers, and he seems to be warming up. He also rolls a 6-! Shit. I make some lame hard move, not wanting to come off too strong too early. 

They wrestle; there's not much to tell here. The match doesnt' last for long, and there's not much back and forth. At no point does the jobber have narrative control, and the hardcore player doesn't seem interested in getting momentum or audience. Like he wants it to be over.

I ask him what he does next, and get an "I win the match?". I know -- I know! -- at this point that the player has hit a creative wall, and I need to move focus away. I start asking the jobber how he makes the hardcore look good. He gives some helpful descriptions.

Then, the newbie player -- who we've not met before but who likes wrestling -- asks the hardcore what he does. I see the walls fall. Its like Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. The player says he doesn't know, and its clear he's not having it.

I direct attention back to the jobber, who describes how the Hard Core throws him out of the ring, getting the victory. I have them both roll; both 10+. It looks good to the audience.

That's when the hardcore player leaves; says the game isn't for him, and something about it being too aggressive and confrontational. Maybe it was; maybe I didn't sufficiently explain that its about playing wrestlers who are friends and are making a product together.

I have failures before, of course. This is the biggest failure in years. 

What do you think I could have done differently? What are some of your failures? What strikes you from this description?

I'm really interested in a conversation on this. I'll respond and moderate if necessary; disagree without being disagreeable.

I'll say it again: What amuses me about Ashley Madison is not that cheaters are getting doxxed.

I'll say it again: What amuses me about Ashley Madison is not that cheaters are getting doxxed. Doxxing is bad, end of story.

No, what amuses me is the sheer number of people willing to give blackmail material to a website whose entire purpose is to collect blackmail material.

Didn't they watch clue? Don't they know that communism (or, rather, having an affair) is just a red herring?

pet peeve: words put into my mouth, positions supposed to me that i do not hold.

Something I wonder about: Back in the 00s, my favorite GM (the one who taught me to ask questions) was on The Forge...

Something I wonder about: Back in the 00s, my favorite GM (the one who taught me to ask questions) was on The Forge and spoke rather unfavorably of it. He and I have lost touch -- he's basically left the internet -- so i give this question:

Can anyone help me solve this puzzle? Why would a self-described narrativist GM loath the Forge? What went on there that would cause such distaste?

Here's the secret to GMing: its not instinctive. No more so than writing good code

Here's the secret to GMing: its not instinctive. No more so than writing good code, 

A friend was at Gencon, and saw some really great GMing behaviors. Just this morning, he asked what about some behaviors I have. Namely, how to ask players the questions that spur them to greater creativity.

And well, it is a pleasure and honor to be asked. I have a lot of impostor syndrome, and that sort of question helps push it away and makes me feel pretty awesome.

My own GMing style is from a conglomeration of games, advice, and thought over the years. And a lot of watching and thinking about how other people GM, to bring what they do into my own style.

First, some really fantastic early role playing. This GM was on the forge (and spoke very poorly of it), and ran games where he asked questions. I picked up on that. He also pushed hard for particular themes, and knew the direction he needed things to go.

Some of this I picked up for my own style, other of it I dropped. I was half-assing it for a while, with no real coherent thought. I knew I wanted my games to be less about any plot I came up with, and to bring in the players own creativity more. I struggled with that, but didn't have the vocabulary to describe what I wanted. I knew I didn't want hours of prep and plots and rails. I knew I didn't want laptops at the table, and I didn't want games that required that sort of math.

And then, two things happened. At a wedding, Ted Cabeen  introduced me to Fiasco. Not to put to fine a point on it, but Fiasco changed my relationship to role playing games in a fundamental way. I played a lot of Fiasco. For anyone reading who doesn't know, Fiasco is a GM-less 2-3 hour game that plays like a Cohen movie. This game is written by Jason Morningstar, and published by Bully Pulpit Games.

Things Fiasco does that changed my gaming: distributed decision making, facilitation and GMing separated, GMing is distributed (mostly), and -- perhaps most importantly! -- the situation the characters are in is developed on the fly in about 30 minutes before gameplay begins. Imagine that: the creative power at the table, directed by the game (and playset!) creates an interesting web of characters in a shorter time period than it takes to make a first-level 4e wizard.

Then play it through and absolutely wreck the characters. I've seen characters die from an unexpected shotgun blast, bleed from all the coke, or just do some dope with the hot girl in high school. And all of this emerged in play -- the plots and stories mattered, and the characters were vehicles for that. The characters are a disposable play piece, to be used and used hard. Like a dwarf's hit points.

I could talk for a long-ass time about Fiasco. If you've not played it, do so. Key thing is you setup relationships in motion, which will fall apart.

But, Fiasco was just one of the two games that changed my relationship to gaming. Fiasco has no prep, no GM, and (generally) no ongoing setup from one session to another. What about campaigns? What about the role of GM? What about world building? I was still struggling with this, trying to incorporate the lessons from Fiasco into traditional RPGs. Like Fate -- I ran a Diaspora game, which was delightful. I didn't know what would happen, and found out through play. Fate sets up relationships between the characters, and I tried to push towards that. It didn't quite do what I wanted.

Well, my friends, that's about the time I discovered Apocalypse World, by Vincent Baker. I don't remember how or why -- possibly through Dungeon World -- but AW games are the second great inspiration. AW takes the role of GM and treats it like another player at the table. That is, even the GM is playing a game -- and has rules! -- even if it is a bit less obvious. The players don't need to know this. At all.

Apocalypse World sets up a world in motion. It sets up -- during character creation! -- a set of PC relationships that are unstable and will fall apart. There are questions on the sheet that the players must answer. That is, in about 30 minutes, you've done some initial world building, have a set of player characters who have relationships to each other, and the characters have the tools to make lasting changes in the world. I think that's the key difference between AW and Fiasco -- in Fiasco, the characters don't really have the tools to make lasting changes. (I mean, sort of, but not really.)

Anyway, this is supposed to be about GMing. And it is: my GMing is a distillation of what I've found in these games. My initial GM taught me to ask questions, Fiasco taught me to setup unstable relationships, and AW taught me that the GM is a player, too.

What do i mean? What, the hell, do I mean by the GM is a player? Well, in Aw and its many derivatives, the GM does not have true ultimate power. Sort of. The GM has a few things that bind them:
1. Agenda.
2. Principles.
3. Moves.

I've taken the notion of GM Agenda and Principles and would use it in any damn game I run. Ever. The Agenda for Dungeon World (one of AW's more famous children) is:

1. Portray a fantastic world
2. Fill the characters’ lives with adventure
3. Play to find out what happens

That's it. That's the core of what the GM does during play. By the rules, every damn thing done by the GM flows back to one of these. 

Notice that last one -- play to find out what happens -- which means you, the GM, do NOT know what is going to happen. You don't come to the table with scenes in mind, or knowing who is going to beat up on whom. Once you do that, goes the reasoning, you're no longer playing a game and the players could just go read a book for as much agency as they have.

This is probably the most important principle in an RPG. This is what makes both Fiasco and AW (and derivatives) so good. This is the magic of RPGs -- the conglomeration of emotion and creativity from multiple minds. The convergence of pull from people that aren't me.

One of the GM principles is "Sometimes, disclaim decision making". And another is "ask questions like crazy". I find myself combining these. 

Here's an example: I've got a player at Thursday Night who comes at things from a very different perspective than my own. He always pushes the genre line, as we've started calling it. He seeks out the weird, and all his answers are towards that. In a WWW game (another AW hack!), the championship match was held on an oil derrick. He joins it by coming in on a submarine, with a dozen fans dressed as him.

It was amazing. It was so close to being out of genre, while exalting in how weird it was.

When I first met him, I got pretty frustrated with him. Then I stopped trying to control everything and asked him the questions where I wanted truly bizarre answers. Now, he is one of my favorite players. 

This goes to a meta principle of my own: push your players to be the best themselves they can. Accept who they are, and enjoy the hell out of it.

When I want an answer that's emotional, I know which player to turn to. When I need one that's about strategy, I know who to ask. Basically, know your players strengths and push towards them. I wind up not making a lot of decisions --- instead, I ask the player who will provide the category of answer that I want. Or, sometimes, just the player I'm looking at. I provide a framework, and let them know what questions to answer when. I try to get the best out of each of them, based on where they truly excel.

What sorts of questions? provocative ones. Reading straight out of Apocalypse World, start simple and, as time goes on, ask for immediate and intimate details of the lived experiences of the characters. Then add your own details, and bring it back into the game later. And use it to inform your own developing sense of the game world.

Things like "What do her lips smell like?", or "Where does it hurt when you open your mind to the psychic maelstrom?" Or, for wrestling, maybe "The crowd goes crazy. What do they chant when they see you?"

Whatever the questions are, they should be directed and targeted to engage a player. Use a bit of psychology here -- and know it is trial and error. I've asked questions that don't work, where I've misjudged the players or the scene. Move on.

I can write more about this, if there's interest. I can also recommend some books -- Fiasco and Apocalypse World are the most obvious. The GMing section of AW is written in an intentionally dense style, and some of its children have easier to read -- and very good! -- GM sections. Dungeon World, World Wide Wrestling, and Urban Shadows all have really great GM advice.

I guess that's it for now.

Movie review: Take Shelter.

Movie review: Take Shelter.

This is a fantastic psychological thriller centering around the effects of mental illness on a family. We were worried it would be ableist or not give the appropriate sensitivity; it does well.

Spoilers to follow. Really ridiculous ones.

While the male character (Curtis) is male, the movie passes the Bechdel test easily and early. Our protagonist is married to Sam, and they have a daughter, Hannah. Hannah is deaf; she and Sam have signed conversations. Sam also talks to Hannah's teacher, and an insurance employee trying to get Hannah a cochlear implant. All of these characters are women.

Hannah's needs are secondary to the main plot, which centers around Curtis developing signs of mental illness. He begins to hear and see things that no one else does. These are always signs of a coming super storm; oily rain, crows flying strangely, thunder and lightning. He begins to build out the storm shelter.

Curtis has dreams; in one the family dog attacks him as the storm arrives. In another, he and Hannah are attacked. In a third one, his employee attacks him. After trying to hide it from Sam, he eventually talks to his wife.

The change is instant and dramatic; his stress goes down and he starts to get slightly better. Up until this moment, we were shouting for him to tell his wife. Tell. your. wife. Come on man, talk to your wife.

After a public breakdown, the family sees a psychiatrist. Curtis will need long-term care, but they can go on a trip beforehand.

At the beach, the movie hits a surprising and glorious moment. Curtis and Hannah are on the beach, building sandcastles. She stops and locks out, signing the symbol for storm.

The storm Curtis has been seeing in his dreams is coming in. He and Hannah are suddenly inside the house, with Sam standing outside as the oily rain starts to fall on her.

The movie ends right there. Sam outside, oily rain on her as we saw it on Curtis, with a ridiculously large storm incoming.

We immediately saw four interpretations:
1. Curtis was dealing with oracular ability, not with mental illness.
2. All along, it was Sam who was dealing with mental illness. The movie had set Curtis up as the unreliable narrator, but maybe it was Sam. The whole movie gets upended.
3. Hysteria; the family has taken on his mental illness and view of the world.
4. His mental illness has grown; the last scene isn't happening.

That's what makes this movie so brilliant. The ending cuts to the quick; how do we know that we can trust our senses? From moment to moment, what keeps us aligned to the world around us? As we accept the view of the world of those around us, how does that affect us?

Brilliant. Watch it.

Want to lose weight while saving money?

Want to lose weight while saving money?

Get the stomach flu. You'll have no choice!

I've lost like 8 pounds in 3 days from not eating. This is weight that needed to be gone, but that's a little ridiculous.

and then, despite all my rationalizations, Star Wars Clone Wars brings tears to my eyes.

and then, despite all my rationalizations, Star Wars Clone Wars brings tears to my eyes.

Season 3, Episode 2: Arc Troopers.

No spoilers, as i know Whitney Delaglio is on season 1. But, Josh Mannon , do you know what I'm talking about?

Star Wars: The clone Wars, season 2, ep 18 & 19: The zillo beast

Star Wars: The clone Wars, season 2, ep 18 & 19: The zillo beast

Basic plot: A monster threatens a negotiation. The Jedi don't want to kill it, so Palpatine convinces them to tase it and bring it to a secret science camp .. on coruscant. The capital. Predictably, the beast escapes and seeks out Palpatine, who was trying to kill it. R2D2 has insanely powerful rockets.

The themes here are fantastic: The jedis pass another moral event horizon without noticing it. Amidala is the only one with any morality. At all.

And, of course, Palpatine is so arrogant and foolhardy and unconcerned with life that he brought an unstoppable beast to the capital of the republic.

Why doesn't Palpatine have a science base in the outer rim? Where's the Maw when you need it? 

Is Palpatine really so arrogant ... yes, of course he is. He's Palpatine, and his over-confidence is his weakness.

And for now, he's protected by the jedis. Not for long, is it?

R2D2 can fly ... while carrying a human being.

R2D2 can fly ... while carrying a human being.

What?

Why does an astromech droid have sufficient upward thrust to carry an extra couple of hundred pounds, seemingly without a problem?

So odd.

Star Wars, Clone Wars, the animated series.

Star Wars, Clone Wars, the animated series.

(Whitney Delaglio , who has seemingly enjoy the other meditations on this. Also, I have a stomach bug today. It is terrible.)

I find this show hard to watch. I'm in the 2nd season, and an episode centered around helping farmers defend themselves from pirates.

Which is to say: the central conceit of the episode was the republic either cannot or will not defend its citizens from murdering assholes. This is the first and primary purpose of government.

Which is the biggest problem: the republic is a failed government throughout the show. There are heroes (Yoda), but most of the jedi exhault in their position in the patriarchy, rather than viewing that s a means to an end.

And that's really hard to watch, because it strikes to close to home.

In related politic news, a veteran in Alexandria, VA was raided by police -- guns drawn -- because his asshole neighbors thought he was squatting. The cops responded in the standard way we see the jedi react -- with violence and the threat of violence.

Sometimes, the jedi do a lot better than this -- but, ultimately, their power is derived from the blade of a lightsaber.

This is all related, and the brilliance of Clone Wars is exactly what makes it so hard to watch -- it tells us the story of failed power structures.

Or, maybe, I'm just projecting into a cartoon?

Not your father's root beer -- which is fantastic and hilarious -- is 5.

Not your father's root beer -- which is fantastic and hilarious -- is 5.9%. I'd recently read it packed a larger punch: standard is around 5%, so maybe that's a bit on the high end.

But its certainly not the strongest beer: 6% for a double is about right.

level up: In my last 10 minutes at work, solved a problem in SQL that would have taken hours or days to solve in...

level up: In my last 10 minutes at work, solved a problem in SQL that would have taken hours or days to solve in Excel.

A year ago, my tool of choice would have been Excel. This component was being done in Excel -- and Access -- by other analysts, who asked me for help at the last minute.

In SQL, it took longer to load the data than to do the required operations -- basically a join. Sent it back out, and spent more time explaining how I got there than I spent thinking about the query.

And I'm home in time for Jeopardy.

I am so filled with energy at that accomplishment. I'm not certain I'm getting that across -- this was glorious!

Late to the party: Does contessa not have an RSS feed?

Late to the party: Does contessa not have an RSS feed?

If it does, its not coming up in Newsblur. I keep getting rockstar programming, and that ain't right.

Any suggestions?

What a weird day!

What a weird day!
-- had a delicious breakfast with eggs, avocado, and english muffins!
-- Hit the farmers market, for 10 peaches!
-- did PT (hooray!)
-- my wife, Dianne Harris , came down with something. She's now wearing a "cold jacket" -- a rag soaked in water. She's not feeling well.
-- During this sickness, watched about a dozen simpsons, because its the most she can reasonably handle.
-- Got involved in 3 or 4 threads, including discussion on whether it is OK to shoot drones (probably not, though I'm in a minority on a thread), harass women online (not even a little OK), and -- yes! -- some RPG discussions.
-- Heard of terrible things that happen on the interweb, and considered my own privilege to not have to deal with it. Still dealing with that.

What else will happen today? This is a weird day!

Dearest internet: I am sick. Take this poll, help me figure out what minimal activity to do:

Clone Wars: Season 2, episode 13: Voyager of the Damned.

Clone Wars: Season 2, episode 13: Voyager of the Damned.

Spoiler alert

At the climax, a terrorist is threatening to blow up a ship full of civilians. Obi-won Kenobi has him at lightsaber point, and a pacifist duchess has him at blaster point. She got the blaster from the terrorist.

As said terrorist points out: She can shoot him and prove she's no pacifist, or Kenobi can light saber him and prove he doesn't care about her wishes.

At that point, Anakin Skywalker shows up and lightsabers the guy through the heart.

That is: Anakin Skywalker removes the need to make hard moral decisions from his master (and best friend) and the appointed leader of millions of people by being rash.

And if that's not the moral the prequels tried to get across, I don't know what is.

Your Gaming Style : Calm, Analytical, Relaxed, Independent, Deeply Immersed, and Creative

Your Gaming Style : Calm, Analytical, Relaxed, Independent, Deeply Immersed, and Creative

In my video games: I don't like people. I do like challenges of mind. I don't like twitch games. I want to figure things out.

Like, Master of Orion and Rebuild. I play the games I like, hooray.

Hey -- do you like movies where the only interesting character is killed 20 minutes in and replaced with a robot?

Hey -- do you like movies where the only interesting character is killed 20 minutes in and replaced with a robot?

How about movies where there's more robot women than real women? Where every character is one note? How about where violence solves violence?

Then you'd love The Machine.

Otherwise, maybe give it a pass.

wave; reader; G+?

wave; reader; G+?

Do i only really like the unpopular new google things?

Fronts. What fantastic RPG technology.

Fronts. What fantastic RPG technology.

While eating pizza during lunch, I can sit and think about what problems will arise in my game if the players don't act. And what positive things may come back if they are awesome, too.

Wheels in motion. Wheels in fucking motion.

Will the PCs resolve the problems I can forsee, destroy existing power structure, save their friends, and generally be awesome?

Or, will the world become a darker and worse place due to their failure or lack of attention?

Time will tell. They stand between the dark and the light. They determine if the world changes for the better or the worse.

Its gorgeous.

Yes, I attempt to only believe statements that are:

Yes, I attempt to only believe statements that are:
a. Verified by empirical evidence (science facts)
b. Logical tautologies (logic facts)
c. True in general (statistical generalities)
d. Propositions that make my life easier. (convenient beliefs)
E. Essential to my happiness. (happy lies)
F. Push me to be a better person (eudaimonia beliefs)

When I find a belief -- or take an action  that necessitates a belief -- that is out of line with these, I try to fix it.

During my twenties,I had pretty good reasons for most of my beliefs. As of now, I have largely forgotten the reason for a lot of those. Yet, I believe that I had good reason before and could figure it out in the future.

#vaguepost

Last night on The Catalysts -- a quieter, more emotional game.

Last night on The Catalysts -- a quieter, more emotional game. Deja Vu tells Adam the truth; Ectype has an unsettling discussion with his estranged wife. The gang learns about a church.

Davey Cruz couldn't make it, so Sinon sequestered himself to work on his Science Project. 

Cast in this episode:
Deja Vu, who edits memories.
Ectype, who copies objects by touch.

Adam M. Prometheus, the made man and general manager for the heroes at their gym.
Rebecca, Ectype's estranged wife. She's a lawyer, and now dating a Comcast corporate lawyer.

Deja Vu took Adam to the hospital and explained that he was copied from a John Doe; Adam reacted as best as could be hoped for. Especially given he knows Ectype can erase his existence with a thought.

Meanwhile, Ectype went to the food pantry, where he makes sure they never run out of food. Not. Ever. The food pantry is run by the local UU church. Ectype learns demand is up, while Sunday services are down. Apparently, many church goers have found a new sunday event at the church of the Redeemed Redeemer.

Adam and Deja Vu have a discussion on the source of powers. Adam expresses interest in his own, and says he's started going to a church. The Church of the redeemed redeemer, to which he has been tithing. Maybe more than tithing.

Meanwhile, Ectype had a discussion with his wife and the ethics and legality of cloning dying people to save them, while discarding the original. He asks her to be the corporate lawyer and counselor. She's not sure.

Ectype learns Deja Vu gave valuable information to Adam, and summons him back after his shift. The guys explain to Adam that a church that requests all of your money to make you feel good isn't a good thing; Deja Vu suspects a pill popper may be involved.

Will the gang go to church with Adam? Is the Church of the Redeemed Redeemer centered around a person with powers, or just a charismatic? Will Rebecca become the gang's lawyer? Will she ditch her corporate lawyer boyfriend? What is Sinon making in his lab?

Found out in two weeks on ... THE CATALYSTS.

Davey Cruz , Jonathan Davis , George Austin , Em Winfield
Participated in last thread: David Hawkins

I am amused immensely by the Ashley Madison hack.

I am amused immensely by the Ashley Madison hack.

Not because I'm against cheating. Not for any moral reason at all, really. I'm not judging the people on the site, and this probably results in a worse world.

But, what amuses me is the folks there amalgamated blackmail material and thought it'd be fine. That is, the site basically collects blackmail material on its users -- that's the whole model.

And who'd sign up for that? That's why I am amused -- the ridiculous lack of awareness that must go in to giving a stranger blackmail material.

Schadenfreude. I've been laughing about it for days.

Excel: Best Microsoft program, or only program keeping the company afloat?

Excel: Best Microsoft program, or only program keeping the company afloat?

The ridiculously wide range of functionality makes this thing super useful. There's everything from using it as a grid with color-coding, data reporting, and even insert into SQL tables.

Outlook is awful. MS Word makes me furious. I guess SQL Server, but there are alternatives to the MS version. Just about everything else can be replaced with free version, cloud services, or *nix instances.

But not excel. Not quite. Because Google Sheets is intolerably slow, and can't do what Excel can do. 

Love to hear other view points. What am i missing?

After action report from the 2nd squad, 1st platoon, "Baker Company", of the 508th airborne division.

After action report from the 2nd squad, 1st platoon, "Baker Company", of the 508th airborne division. I always wanted a tank.

(We played The Region, an apolcapse world hack.)

I'm Private Presley. Before the war, I played guitar in Arkansas. My brothers in arms included a criminal from alcatraz, a lawyer turned doctor, my piano playing good friend, and Sarge. The crook managed to bring 10 ounces of dope. For those listening, that's two grunts, a sniper, a doctor, and our Sarge. I had a guitar, and a bazooka.

We were trained, and are ultimate badasses. But, this is our first real live combat dropped. And I just got dear john'd.

Sarge gave us our orders: harass the enemy, find targets of opportunity. Primary target is two bridges. Rules of engagement do not include taking prisoners. I hoped we could steal a tank. Those things are great.

Our plane was hit by AA fire, and we jumped -- DIABLO! -- way off course. We were somewhere in France, and no idea if there were even any nazis here to harass. We found them soon enough -- signal flares after we were a bit loud in searching for additional soldiers.

Luckily, most of the 2nd squad was able to stay together. We even found a few troopers from other Companies. Sarge had a full roster of us grunts.

We were taking fire, so high tailed it to a barn. Our sniper was able to setup a position, and buy us some time. In the barn, we found two trucks, and were able to mount heavy guns to the rear. Us grunts went out and attacked the enemy head on while the snip took 'em from the read. They didn't know what hit 'em -- and I got a bullet.

Luckily, our medic was able to patch me right up.I was in and out for a few minutes, but by then we'd cleaned up.

Once we got our bearings, we were we were up shit creek. 20 miles from the drop site, with no armor and no mobility. The same AA gun that took down our plane was operational in less than a mile away. Sarge gave the order, and we headed to take it out.

Just as we were massing, the germans sent a counter attack. A half-track, loaded with soldiers. And a heavy machine gun, mounted. We were fucked -- or woudl have been, if not for the quick action of our medic. He tossed his anti-tank mine, and the damn thing blew! 

There was one german with enough gumption left to fire off a shot, and it was a lucky one. Took our medics head clean off. That man saved my life, and he deserved better.

We found a phone stations and the headquarters, and took both out. That C-2 is good stuff. 

We kept at it, and managed to take out the few guards around the AA tower. And -- sad to say -- a tank. I blew up a tank with the bazooka.

There was another couple of tanks left, so we managed to add those to our supply. Now we just got to figure out how to drive 'em. And they are french tanks, not the good panzer ones.

It was a terrible night. I lost a good friend in the ole' doc. We've harried the enemy but good, I just don't know if it'll matter to the war. We're so far from any operational concerns.

George Austin , Jeffrey Hosmer Paul Edson Marc Forbes and Charles King played in this band of brothers. They were all fantastic.

I was so bored with Anathem, I can't even skim its wikipedia page.

I was so bored with Anathem, I can't even skim its wikipedia page.

If there's anything there not covered in, say, a 3000-level metaphysics class of interest, please let me know.

tl;dr - Does distance affect bandwidth?

tl;dr - Does distance affect bandwidth?


Read this article: http://gizmodo.com/why-itll-take-new-horizons-16-months-to-send-us-this-we-1717769317

... which reads as if the literal distance is part of why it'll take so long to get New Horizon's data. That doesn't seem right.

I get there's latency -- but, in this case, that should just mean it takes forever for New Horizons to get started. Once the stream is started, the distance shouldn't matter. That is, I don't see how the distance affects the bandwidth.

Am i missing something? Does distance affect bandwidth?
http://gizmodo.com/why-itll-take-new-horizons-16-months-to-send-us-this-we-1717769317

On my spend-xp-for-everything-DW-hack here you start off with a single move "Do something uncommon", perhaps...

On my spend-xp-for-everything-DW-hack here you start off with a single move "Do something uncommon", perhaps...

-- As you can use xp to either succeed right now, or to gain a bonus later (ie, you can use xp to increase Strength for all strength rolls, or to increase a result right now), two characters who have faces similar problems may be very different after the dungeon -- one now with Str+3, Con+3, the other with stats of zero.

This is the thing i like most. You decide if your experiences make you a badass, or get you out of a situation right now.

Last night, I ran the second issue of Worlds in Peril with Davey Cruz , Jonathan Davis , and George Austin.

Last night, I ran the second issue of Worlds in Peril with Davey Cruz  , Jonathan Davis  , and George Austin.

Short version: This system is fantastic. And my players are the best.

Longer version:

I'm a lucky GM to have these guys as players: they think narratively, know the PbtA system better than I do, and enjoy playing to fail. While in this game we want them to succeed, these guys can get behind a hard move.

What're the characters like? What're the powers like? What's the world like?

They call themselves The Catalysts, looking to change the world.

We're doing a single power source for powers; pills chosen by the characters that grant super powers. We have:
Deja vu, with the power to edit memories.
Sinon, with the power to control devices.
Ectype, with the power to make perfect copies by touch.

My players don't want to status quo, and neither do their characters. They've decided to pursue different projects, alternating for each player. Last night, they pursuit stopping crime.

Turns out, stopping guys with guns is no fun even if you have super powers. Especially if they work for a super villain who took the "fire pill", and is constantly covered in heat and fire and whose skin is firey coals.  Burning Man, they called him.

Sinon used gangsters as a weapon through misinformation passed into their phones, but was badly wounded. Deja Vu "adjusted" the villanious Burning Man, letting BM come to terms with loss, while Ectype ... saved the life of a mortally wounded bystander by stretching his powers and making an altered copy.

After a few fitting in moves, they decided stopping crime isn't quite for them. Instead, Sinon is going to change the world through SCIENCE, planning to make a teleporter. Ectype will copy it -- and food and medicine -- and Deja Vu will make sure everyone is cool with it.

Or so goes the theory.
Next time: Will the gang complete the science plans? Will they lose their humanity in a sea of erased memories? Will they remember their assistant -- and made man -- Adam M. Prometheus exists and is confused?

Pandora is playing on my chromecast. That's normal.

Pandora is playing on my chromecast. That's normal. 

There is no computer or phone sending pandora to the chromecast. There is a cast with no caster. A movement with no mover. A design with no designer. (pardon that last, i was on a role).

I've accomplished this two times today. I think, to do it, I've got to close pandora while it is in an ad.

Oh -- and yes, the chromecast continues going from one song to another.

Ghosts, man. Ghosts.

Immigration and Jobs

Originally shared by Barry Deutsch

Immigration and Jobs

Please support this cartoon by sharing it - or you can support my cartoons more directly at www.patreon.com/barry

More information about this cartoon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/2882904

More cartoons to read: https://www.patreon.com/barry?ty=c
https://www.patreon.com/posts/2882904

Just did a very little bit of wiki research on Blenheim.

Just did a very little bit of wiki research on Blenheim. I knew it was from the Carolinas, turns out it is South Carolina. And has nothing to do with the American Civil War. Just ... the American Revolutionary War.

Hooray for things I like not being so problematic as needing to avoid giving them money!

... And this is the post where I talk about Mad Max as an RPG.

... And this is the post where I talk about Mad Max as an RPG.

The obvious choice for Mad Max is Apocalypse World. There's been a lot said about this already, so I'll just point to the authors patreon campaign: https://www.patreon.com/lumpley (which I just backed on the grounds that I spent what, $20 to see a 2 hour movie? And that's like 6 installments of the the patreon, and I'll probably get SO MUCH MORE than 2 hours of enjoyment ... )

There's a few traits that, for me, make a movie seem like it'd make a good RPG. Those are character agency, threats that the main characters are uniquely suited to deal with, and -- this is the hard one -- a world where other characters could be dropped in and be awesome.

Star Wars, much as I have a certain fondness for it, fails on the last one -- its all about the Skywalkers. Star Trek fails on the second one -- one redshirt is as good as another (this is fuzzy, and I'm thinking of rewriting how i word this, as Sisko isn't just any captain -- but then, maybe that's why DS9 seems like the closest to an RPG). And Bond often fails on the first one -- it is too often quest driven. And some other regressive nonesense.

But, who are the PCs in mad max? a driver who rebels against the warlord, a wandered who joins her, a soldier who finds humanity, and -- yes --- the wives.

There's nothing truly special about them -- and I mean this in the best way imaginable. They aren't the scions of a fallen empire, nor chosen by a mysical energy field to wield supernatural powers. They aren't even trained and backed by a quasi-military organization that spreads root beer.

Just people, picked up from the void and given the reigns. People who are empowed to change the world not through badassery (which they have!), but through willful decision to exist outside of the civilization.

And that's what makes a player character.

There's a hell of a lot more I could say on this, but I'm still getting these thoughts together.  I'm curious if this sounds right, or like crazy talk.

This is the post where I gush about Mad Max.

This is the post where I gush about Mad Max.

George Austin

Mad Max. What's it about? The notion that people are people, and not objects. And that to treat them as such may create immense power structures and FLAMING GUITARS, but is ultimately self-defeating.

How's it tell this? With 2 hours of awesome, so that the message can be totally under the radar and still infect you.

For me to really be into a movie it needs to be about something. Car chases don't interest me (I have never seen a Transporter movie, and think the opening Bond chase scenes are the worst parts of the movies) -- and what I adore in my movies is ideas to be taken seriously and taken to their logical conclusions.

We get that in spades in Mad Max. Every moment -- from Max being branded as property, to Furiosa despair in the salt, to max leaving the utopia he just helped create, never saying but implying that he'd fuck it up -- speaks truth into the void.

I don't watch many movies in the theatre. Maybe 1 or 2 a year. Usually, they seem like expensive time sucks, and I'll wait for the local drafthouse or Netflix.

But not Mad Max. This was everything I'd hoped for and more.

Comments are open. Spoilers are acceptable, as is polite dissent. And I get to define polite, and will delete comments that threaten to bring down my mood.

On Liberty: I have a cousin who has made some mistakes.

On Liberty: I have a cousin who has made some mistakes. The state has removed his liberty -- or, maybe has granted him liberty.

I am accustomed to the philosophical notion of liberty, which is free will as contrasted to determinism. This sort of liberty cannot be taken away -- if it exists at all.

The liberty that the state has removed is the social and political freedoms enjoyed by citizens. The right to go where you want, when you want. The right to pay rent. And the right to starve.

There is another notion of liberty, one I use less often. This is the freedom from the bondage of sin, as used in theology.

In this sense, the state is granting him liberty. He cannot commit the crimes that put him where he is, and does not have access to the substances that impact his liberty.

(And yes, I realize this isn't factually true. It should be theoretically true. Right now, I'm not ready to think about the crimes that may be committed against him -- or by him -- in prison. Please respect that boundary for this conversation.)

And, in many uses, I have that liberty by default. I don't commit crimes, I don't have any particularly harmful addictions.Instead, I live a life that I view as meaningful: connected to a real group of people I care about and who care about me,  I get to play board games to wile away the time, and RPGs to punch myself in the gut.  And yes, to engage in philosophy on the internet on the nature of liberty.

Effectively, by having the liberty from sin, the state continues to grant me the liberty of person.

Having those freedoms removed may do him some good -- being given structure might let him become the man he wants to be.

So -- can having your liberty of person removed possibly grant you the liberty from sin? Does that even make sense?

BAM!

BAM! 

Originally shared by Victor Garrison

Right-fucking-on, Fuller!

Another thread is discussing the problems of getting to Alpha Centauri.

Another thread is discussing the problems of getting to Alpha Centauri. This was really close to some disordered thoughts I was having from Netflix's Ascension. Namely, what acceleration do you need to maintain to get to alpha centauri in 100 years?

Turns out, something like 0.004 m /(s^2). One G is 10 m/(s^2), so that's almost nothing.

Somebody tell me if I got my math wrong. Can an acceleration of 0.004 meters per second per second, with a turn around at the mid point, get you to Alpha Centauri (call it 4 light years) in 100 years?

I've had an idea for a dungeon world hack dinging around in my head.

I've had an idea for a dungeon world hack dinging around in my head.

In this hack, the only currency is xp. It costs xp to get a weapon, a magic weapon, lodging, food, dungeon gear, horses, spells, etc.

You start with access to just a DD move, and need to buy access to other moves through XP.

Is this too much just a funnel? Would anyone be interested in such a thing?