Codicier

I must argue in favour of a good bit of Jarvis instead

Actually, I need to correct myself.

You know, I can't wait for this game to be over so it can be properly discussed.

I completely forgot those graphs existed Here's the companion to that star chart, i like how you can actually see the big engagements on it.

If you have a big group regularly and want a really small and simple game there's Werewolves of Miller's Hollow which is basically beermat size, and is good if perhaps a bit to close to being 'role playing for the way you describe your group (perhaps better for playing at someone's house where no one feels self concious)', or similarly sized there's Skull and Roses which I haven't personally played but which got a reasonable review on eurogamer.

Out of curiosity what games have you had the most/least success with your non-board gaming friends? My own experience seems to be for that audience the perfect combo is strong theme, short playtime, and little down time between turns. Of which King of Tokyo is the example that has hands down been embraced by my group (& which even gets a fair amount of play when only the core of the group is around as a nice warm up/filler game).

These basically sum today in Neptune's Pride for me

Just tried to grab Sid Meier's Ace Patrol on iOS and was told its incompatible with phones without a front facing camera Seems a damn strange requirement for a strategy game.

This is already happening in game 3 and we are few days behind you guys. So far this is my NP2 experience 1. Early game: People expect betrayal and don't care when it happens. After all its all a game, right? 2. Mid game: People have built up alliances and foolishly have begun to trust. I mean if that guys been in a alliance with you from day one, he's not gonna betray you now? is he?(he is) 3. Late game: People have been betrayed, and have themselves betrayed others. What I did was totally justified, totally.

I didn't read brkl's post as referring to that scene as titillation, but making a reference towards what he see's as a general trend in the show, and implying that might be part of the directors intent. As for the scene composition and lighting of course there is room for them to have a effect on any scene of violence. Imagine the difference in impact between shooting a scene where a camera lingers on a clearly lit body, and another composition where we see a character react to something then get a partial reveal of a body in the shadows, followed by a quick cut away.

I think saying "HBO likes to do X" doesn't really sit right with me, the network itself probably deliberately would be very hands off with choices GoT's production staff might have to make. Perhaps closer in my mind would be "HBO hands off management attracts the types of writer who like to do X" Specifically I feel it's something that must come from one of the shows two main writers/producers (David Benioff & D.B. Weiss) but we really don't know because of the way TVseries are made, but in the end i think the buck stops with those two. Even if in their script the scene was described differently, and then was filmed in a different way, they still would have had the power as producers to ask for a Re-shoot if they felt it didn't say what they wanted it too.

Thinking about it a bit more, does anyone remember if there is any sections in the books where the story is told from Joffery's PoV?

Ok, sorry if I gave that impressions, I was trying to say in my own roundabout way why I basically agree that Erkki fixing that spoiler's accuracy was important. A process undoubtedly not helped by trying to play Neptune's Pride and browse twitter at the same time. As for Revenge of the Sith, well defending it's a dirty job but someone has to do it!

I was trying to clarify the creation of character being discussed, let me attempt to clarify further! hope that's a bit clearer sometimes my hands forgets to add the context my mind sees for comments (that and it's 1:00 at night and its not firing at 100% efficiently).

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Really? They did that >_< FFS That's more than fully rant worthy in oh so many ways.

Just out of curiosity Argobot do you know the name of the character killed off by the series? I'm wondering if the book's treat her the same way or if they handle it better. (feel free to put it under a spoiler for those who haven't read the books or aren't up to date with the series)

Does anyone know if there's a way of taking a picture of a galaxy without revealing which planets you are controlling? I'd love to see the evolution of the various thumbs galaxys but this is a obvious sticking point

First, His work is "low" fantasy with the magic etc. kept to a minimum, a genre that to extent deliberately keeps a grounding in this world as much as it does in the authors imagination. I'm not saying martin 'can/must' portray a world one way because of historical inspiration, I'm saying he has made a choice to pick inspiration from setting with clear bias's in one direction, but this does not mean he approves of that bias. Second, as you say all authors working from historical inspiration have the same problem, just because fantasy like GoT is further from it source than a novel like Wolf Hall it doesn't mean that any incidents of sexism that occur in either are better or worse than the other. What interest me is the fact that Cromwell's attitude is at times a recognisably modern one, despite having even someone as skilful as Mantel behind the help, that even she can't stop a dissonance forming with the rest of her portrayal of that era when she brings in more modern sensibilities to a character's thought process. Basically what I'm saying is that authors shouldn't avoid making their worlds brutal, just because the process of creating sympathetic characters in those worlds is a tough one, because when they succeed in showing us why those worlds are so wrong, those characters are all the more powerful. Both the books I mention and the one you mention author's have decided that the world their characters inhabit works a certain way, but it's how characters react to the world that is for me the most interesting thing about most fiction. Daenerys' constant conflict with the "Way the world works" is notable in the later books, and to a extent that reaction would be impossible without the horrors of the world that inspired it.

It's worth bearing in mind that Robert Baratheon is commonly thought to be based at least partly on Henry VIII, and that GoT takes a certain amount influence from the whole period of history surrounding the Tudors. Sometimes I've even though myself that Robert is a good analogy for the Young Henry, and that Joffery (despite his age) shares a lot with Old Henry. Now idk how many of you have read either Wolf Hall or Bringing up the Bodies, but the world of the Tudors certainly doesn't seem to treat women kindly even in those books. With a few exceptions (Cromwell in particular) many of the male characters in the book are sexist by today's standards. Some even cruelly so. So there's a argument to be made that if your drawing on a time period where sexism was rife as inspiration for your fiction, a author will struggle to maintain the flavour of that period without some of its less wholesome ingredients. It's notable that the most common criticism I've heard of Wolf Hall is that Cromwell attitudes occasionally seem too modern in comparison to historical accounts (a point that has value for both sides of the argument here). However even with all that considered I'm still not comfortable saying that the GoT TV series isn't sexist, in fact I think it might well be. But if it is I don't think the SoIaF books necessarily are, because the books unlike the TV series take the time to give the context to character's actions, and do (as zues put it) ask "why did that person do that?".

Every freelancer i know career has basically lived or died on the strength of their professional network.Your 100% right to think seriously about how much you trust the strength of yours. The other thing is obviously don't assume the grass is always greener working for yourself. In a weird bit of coincidence I showed Hobo Lobo to a freelance illustrator friend of mine just a couple of days ago. He loved it, but it got him talking about how he find he struggles to put energy into his work anymore because his agent keeps getting him work that he doesn't find inspiring.

I do occasionally wish there was some basic artificial intelligence to the fleets, or just the ability to set their movements on a time delay. I've just got back from a BBQ and I'm fully expecting to find my empire in utter ruins. Sportsmanship? in Neptune's Pride? Who are you kidding

I get the feeling this will end slower than the original NP. Also I think a lot of games are lost before anyone realises it, but the time investment can make it very easy to slip into denial over how bad a decision has turned out.

This lunch break needs more leaderboards So here is Game 3's day 3.

I'm about to open Neptune's Pride while I have my breakfast and I feel terrible. Like waking to find a mail from an ex in the post, that unrealistic desire for forgiveness of past sin's by both sides, accompanied by the more realistic realisation it will probably just end in both of us hurting each other even more. That said, I'm still going to open the damn thing. Fuck this game