Lianodel

@Lianodel@ttrpg.network

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨[Tom Warren] The PS5 Pro still hasn’t sold out in the US or UK. Looks like the $700 price point will mean this console will be readily available this holiday⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is a bit off topic, but it made me nostalgic. My first argument on reddit over a decade ago was with someone, either a scalper or a contrarian, trying to argue that scalpers provided a useful service that made things more fair, rather than assholes creating scarcity so they could profit selling a solution to a problem they themselves create.

  So yeah, I hope they all get fucked on this one, too.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Black Myth: Wukong studio requests influencers not include "feminist propaganda" or Covid-19 references in coverage⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Somewhat off topic, but the names of both the publisher and the developer are also used by unrelated tabletop game companies. Hero Games makes the Hero System tabletop RPG, and GameScience (no space, so there’s a difference) make dice. It threw me for a loop.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Never Forget⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Just for context for those who haven’t heard the podcast: the Christmas episodes often center around non-bastards. This is one of those. :P

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Please Stop⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  First thing I found when I searched for “Maersk IBM blockchain”:

  A.P. Moller - Maersk and IBM to discontinue TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled global trade platform

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The four houses dads belong to.⁩ ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  IIRC, that might be because their quality & reputation took a dip for a while. They were, after all, a Sears brand, and Sears got run into the ground by some blood-sucking leadership.

  That said, they used to have a great reputation, and were sold to Black & Decker in 2017, who seem to be handling the line up much, much better.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'There's almost nobody left': CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team he initially worked with is gone, due to Hasbro layoffs⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, it’s definitely in the same wheelhouse as modern D&D, so if you like that general experience but want to try something new, it’s worth checking out. It’s my pick when I want high adventure, superheroic fantasy, with engaging set piece encounters, which is the vibe both games are going for.

  @machinaeZERO@lemm.ee is also right on the money. There’s going to be a revision coming up, but the old stuff is still compatible and in Humble Bundle right now. (Pathfinder does that periodically, and they’re pretty sweet deals!) One more thing is that all the rules are free, legitimately. There’s a wiki called The Archives of Nethys, which has ALL the rules content from ALL the books. Paizo allows it, and explicitly gave the site the green light to do that. The books are still nice to have, and you still need them if you want adventures or lore, but you never have to buy a book just to get some rules in it, like a class or feat or whatever.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'There's almost nobody left': CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team he initially worked with is gone, due to Hasbro layoffs⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Exactly. It’s just goosing the numbers. The company made this much in profit, and the cost-cutting from firing people will save money immediately, so it looks great… on paper… for a little while. It doesn’t matter if the company is gutted, because the CEO and most of the investors will dip before things get too bad, and go onto the next thing. The employees will suffer and the customers will be upset, but CEOs don’t answer to them, they answer to shareholders, and shareholders just want the line to go up this quarter.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'There's almost nobody left': CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team he initially worked with is gone, due to Hasbro layoffs⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Ah, the Jack Welch method.

  (Seriously, fuck that guy. He was a pioneer among bloodsucking CEOS.)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'There's almost nobody left': CEO of Baldur's Gate 3 dev Swen Vincke says the D&D team he initially worked with is gone, due to Hasbro layoffs⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Eh, yes and no.

  Pathfinder 1e was pretty much just straight-up continuing D&D 3.5e, but with some tweaks. Pathfinder 2e overhauled a lot of stuff, often simplifying things, but still pretty complex.

  Compared to D&D 5e, Pathfinder has more rules, but those rules often make things easier, or (IMO) get you more return for the effort. So, for example: The feat list is bigger and more complicated, but in practice, it means you only need to look at a handful of them when you level up, which is easier (and the rules give you guidelines for swapping things out if you don’t like them). The monk has more decisions to make with stances and attack types, but that’s… kind of what you want with a monk to make combat interesting. There are rules for boats, and holy shit how does 5e not have rules for boats.

  The last example might sound silly, but it’s part of what convinced me to switch. It’s an annoying omission in and of itself, but also speaks to a broader pattern of 5e just not supporting Dungeon Masters, letting them fix the either broken or incomplete rules, or else take the blame for them. Pathfinder actually supports Dungeon Game Masters, as though their time, effort, and fun were just as valuable as anyone else’s. /rant

  Pathfinder 2e is what I’d play if I wanted something like 5e, but runs differently. If I wanted something similar, I’d pick something else, but that’s a longer, even more off topic discussion to go into unprompted. :P

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Circle of life⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Thank you. The grieving has actually been both smooth & intense, with ups & downs, but I’m gradually doing better, as is my mom.

  But anyway, the meme is accurate. :P I just have a more sensitive feeling about it given recent events.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Circle of life⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  My dad died recently.

  He was definitely a flawed man, and there were tons of problems between the two of us over the years. But I also heard plenty of stories about how he grew up, and about his parents—both from my dad and from other family members. Without a doubt, he managed to be a better person than his parents, and a better parent to me than his parents were to him. They were straight-up cruel to him, whether physically or simply using him for the family’s gain.

  That doesn’t absolve everything, and I’ve still got plenty of my own issues. But what I respect most of him, in hindsight, is that he played the hand he was dealt and managed to be a better man. Not perfect, but better. I want to do the same.

  Sorry for being sappy, it’s only been a couple of weeks. I also know that this doesn’t apply to everyone, since some parents are indefensibly cruel and abusive. In general, though, I hope people can be easy on each other, easy on themselves, and stop letting “perfect” be the enemy of “good.”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Watch: Billionaire CEO says unemployment 'has to jump' to put 'arrogant' workers in their place⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  “We need to see unemployment rise,” he argued. “Unemployment has to jump 40 to 50 percent, in my view. We need to see some pain in the economy. We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around… There’s been a systemic change where the employees feel that the employer is extremely lucky to have them, as opposed to the other way around.”

  You love to see it.

  Also, lots of comments about guillotines here. We might get some concern trolls about that, but at the very least, it sure is a problem when a billionaire like Tim feels like he can say something so outrageous without any consequences.