DanJW

Lego are releasing a modular dungeon crawling series in their Lego Games range. It's called Heroica. I especially like what appears to be the stats bar/bench. Which reminded me: Lego could be an excellent (and cheaper) way of representing stuff in D&D, if it just had a wide enough range of phenotypes for all the monsters and enemies. I hope this will make it possible. Hmm I wonder if my old Lego is still in my parents loft?

Huh, for some reason I got it into my head that Niko and Roman are Serbian.

But what if he needs a hash/pound sign?!

See, this is why, on the whole, I don't like Star Trek all that much. It has this focus on technology but none of it is even slightly based on real science, or even basic scientific approach. the writers flick through textbooks until they find a word they like the sound of. even internally the consistency is horrible. Massive plot holes, contradictions and false logic. It tries to be all about the science and technology but it has zero respect for either. In most cases the writing would be improved threefold by 20 minutes spent doing research into whatever they choose the waffle about. For me Star Trek is sci-fantasy just as much as Star Wars is, so divorced from reality is it. Sorry, pet peeve. It's something I really wish they had fixed in the movie reboot. It's just lazy-ness.

For me the funniest bits were the reaction shots.

I good lovecraft film could have no gore and almost no violence and still get an R for psychological horror alone. (although kids would probably just find it boring - you can't be scared of cosmic horror if you can't understand the implications). In fact a large portion of cosmic horror comes from the utter amorality of the universe. Submitting to a ratings system implies a morality, which negates that.

Ugh, see to me that isn't 'anti-scifi'; it is either social scifi or very hard sci-fi, depending. It kind of pisses me off that on screen at least, scifi has become synonymous with space opera and sci-fantasy. Viewers don't even know what real science fiction encompasses (CSI for starters). (but yes Firefly was noted for being 'harder' science than most space opera) I like Weadon in general; mostly the dialogue that doesn't take itself too seriously. Having said that Serenity failed to live up to Firefly for me. Waif-fu River was one reason for that. I totally agree with Chris on superheroes though. I like comics and graphic novels, but I find superhero comics abominable (with rare exceptions like 1602.)

It's the play, not the film (I'm kind of surprised they didn't try to tone it down for the film). It has always been a major criticism of the play, and it has even itself set several anti-semitic cultural touchstones (I have heard 'shylock' used as a perjorative term for Jewish people a few times). It's a case of changing moral attitudes though. In Shakespeare's day, as in most of history sadly, anti-semitism was just taken for granted. Mostly for the same reasons as you set out, Merchant of Venice has always been my least favourite of Shakespeare's plays. Although I do like the 'pound of flesh' twist in itself - at the time of writing it must have been a Sixth Sense level of 'whoah!'*. *or rather, "I dost proclaim; Woe! Woe for my mine sanity!"

Gotta love his style. jWFq-v7TKdQ

Worst line from a trailer I have seen recently: "we were given these powers for a reason!". (From I Am Number Four) Anything that uses that line or a simialr sentiment is a total write-off for me. It's been so over-used as a cheap and meaningless way to give a situation gravitas. Not that afforementioned movie looks any good anyway.

Turn based things are excellent for this - Total War series for instance. Settlers offers a more relaxed alternative. X-com games too, the first two of which are prennially excellent and one day I will beat those bastard aqualiens in Terror from the Deep. I listened to The Idle Thumbs Podcast while playing Torchlight.

If you have a lot of people, you could consider co-DMs. In some ways it might even be better for online play.

I've sent a PM to SSD, but here's my advice in general: call the Samaritans or another suicide hotline. They help people in Superdouce's position as well as people in his ex's. They really will have all the best advice and contacts for your area. Depression and suicidal thoughts are really serious, they need professional medical aid.

I think I had this problem. Have you tried going to the torrent client, 'add torrent' and browsing to the torrent file? edit: oh it seems you did try that. My bad.

Christ their forced laughs are incredibly menacing.

Looks nice alright. Oh, it's out on Nigel Tufnel day. Hmmm.

The one that gets on my nerves: They utterly failed to note Adam's Law: Space is big, really big etc. Look, I know it's not really sci-fi, it's sci-fantasy, it's hokum etc. Part of me just hoped that one of the things they would improve upon would be the scientific base. Could they not get a cosmology consultant for the writers? But if you focus on the characters and ignore everything else it's a really good movie.

I don't know if you are taking the piss, but that post was terrifying for someone who has not played the game and doesn't want to uncover the spoilers.

found a link might be useful to you: https://power2ool.com/login/ demo at http://vimeo.com/19991666 EDIT: another useful thing: http://www.obsidianportal.com/

It's not terrible. Not great, but not bad either. It's a fantasy FPS in the Source engine and is pretty much exactly how you would imagine that to be. The most fun to be had is in dismantling the environments and using them to kill guys.

In D&D 4E you could field a whole party of arcane spellcasters. A wizard, a bard, a sorceror and a swordmage. And a warlock too. But if you want a whole game of wizards then you'll be wanting Ars Magicka or it's descendents Mage: The Ascension/Awakening. They're White Wolf, so a different kettle of magcially altered fish. Or there's indie game Sorceror, which is so popular as to not be indie any more. It's got some seriously dark stuff going on in there, but it's hidden deep down. If you want to play D&D free and legally, I recommend OSRIC or one of the other classic D&D clones that are popular at the moment under the umbrella of Old School Renaissance. Being OD&D they're bloody lethal though, especially for 1st level wizards. Erkki; Baldur's Gate is actually a pretty good primer for 3E D&D, if you payed attention to the underlying mechanics.

Oh man I just saw this. I would love to be involved (I've DMed a little bit and have a campaign setting written up). Unfortunately I don't have internet at home at the moment. With luck I will do in a couple of weeks once I have moved house. Either way I will keep an eye on you guys, wish you luck with your dice and hope to join in future.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was a fun diversion for the most part. Mainly due to the 'gravity gun' telekinesis spell.

Point.

Hmm idea for new thread: what game has the best wizaaaaards?