Messages

Happy Birthday Prog! Three years younger than me and much better looking, damn you!

Here's an up-FPS'd descent video, wonderful stuff. (The audio is fake, BTW.)

Someone was interested in a pic of my online D&D setup.

p.s. can't remember if it was one of the youtubers mentioned previously but there is a good vid about the difference between real rolelplaying sessions for 'normal' people and the ones you get on youtube - basically normal people play the game while the online ones perform the game for an audience - so don't get intimidated by all the acting, accents and the like (the most famous channel consists of a bunch of voice actors, for instance).

A few years ago I thought this was going to be a big problem. The Critical Role bunch were always excellent roleplayers, but as the sets got more elaborate, as more cameras were added, as the DM's battlemats turned into full-fledged 3D dioramas with resin terrain provided by sponsors, I got nervous that anyone tuning into to see what D&D was all about would find something fun and aspirational, but not particularly helpful in demonstrating what their own game might look like. I could just imagine the first tentative session run by a nervous DM, head full of rules, and his brand new players asking him why he didn't have 20 voices at his disposal and a table full of professionally painted mini's.

As it turns out, I was wrong. D&D is more popular than ever in no small part to CritRole, and there are hundreds of streams representing every kind of game imaginable. I learned a lesson about the value of aspirational goals, probably. I mean, how often did Top Gear talk about anything except supercars?

I can't reconcile the popular image of Rowling the Hater with her books, or her charity work, or even the interviews I've seen. I don't agree with her views on trans women, and using her platform to spread those views was stupid.

I hate to end with "one of my friends is trans"...but one of my best buds from school transitioned during a period when we were completely out of touch. It took me a looong time to come to terms with who she is now, the same person I hung out with, but presenting entirely differently. It didn't just click into place. My brain needed time to reorganise, and I kept my distance while that happened. What did that make me?

It's been an interesting challenge adapting to running online. Some cool stuf has come out of it, but I can't wait to revert back.

OMG that glorious, glorious day. The time is fast approaching when it will have been a year since our last face-to-face session. I'm very proud of our group that we've stuck to a weekly schedule, and I have to say it's been the shining light of our lockdown experience.

Wedgeski, that is a seriously good setup. I'm not a huge fan of Roll20: it's a bit clunky, but I find it invaluable for displaying maps and running combat when PCs need to know about flanking or how many of them are getting fireballed etc. I've thought about using a battlemap & streaming it but I feel like I'm unsure on the investment for setting it up vs the time we'll be using it for. Any chance you could share a pic of your table setup? I'm really interested especially with regard my second game where I'll never be able to play a face to face session with the guys involved, so it'd potentially be worth stepping it up.

One thing I used to use a lot in the before-times was Syrinscape for sound effects - sadly I've just cancelled that as it didn't work with our online setup.

I'll take a snap after Thursday night's game, np.

About Syrinscape, I also cannot get that to work down an audio stream. I fear the only way to achieve it would be to add a hardware mixer into the setup, but I can't justify that money right now; plus I have to ask myself how complicated I want to make things.

We considered streaming to Twitch but some of our players aren't happy with the idea, so it got shelved. Probably for the best. However good we think our game is, it would just be one more amateur stream amongst thousands these days.

I'll grab Audible for a month to listen as these come out, but if they're good (and I suspect they will be), I'll be looking for more permanent ownership.

You can see some writers missing the point when they have Dredd summarily execute people just to prove a point. This happens rarely, but it's like a sudden irregular heart rhythm for the character, because it breaks the rules of why it's okay to be a fan of Judge Dredd the comic.

Nicely put!

[Babylon 5]

Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.

It's diminished for you, because of this? That's interesting to me.

I'm not sure what you are asking me here.

"In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems."

I read this as a complaint, but that might not have been your intent.

[Greenland]

Greenland on Prime. Better than you might think, with a pleasantly tense first half before sliding into predictability for the second hour. Looks good (for the most part), well-written, and Gerard Butler puts in a more sophisticated turn than usual.

I run a weekly online 5E game with 4 players using the following tools:

* A big table
* Battlemat with offset camera and ring light
* Discord for voice and video
* OBS studio for mixing between battlemat and DM face

DND Beyond serves to automate skill checks, combat rolls, resource tracking, and so-on. We used to rely on AVRAE for dice rolling and other features, but DND Beyond now has shared dice rolling in the browser so it's the one-stop shop for that.

For yourself as a new DM, FG or Roll20 might be an essential tool when the fighting starts. It does everything DNDB does, with the advantage that you can share maps and have your players and opponents appear as tokens.

You *can* play a lot of 5E combat in the mind--and we do, where terrain isn't relevant or the quarters are tight; ultimately, as the players grow in power and the spells start flying, miniatures combat, or its digital equivalent, becomes useful and then IMO mandatory to get the most out of the combat rules.

We avoid digital tools in that area and instead set up a battlemat with actual mini's and an overhead camera. For us, the battlemat and camera are essential to that tabletop feeling. I have run online games in FantasyGrounds and Roll20, and for me, there's just something missing that I can't live without.

Have fun and good luck!

[Babylon 5]

Babylon 5 Season Four

This season is the first that hasn't exceeded it's predecessor.  I must be more used to long form storytelling tv shows, because the pacing in the season is way too fast.  Wasn't expecting to say that!  There's still good stuff here but I think it is not a well crafted season.  I wonder what it would have been like if they knew they had a fifth season to work with when making this one.

Surprisingly, the President Clark stuff didn't have much parallel with what we've seen recently in US politics.  I think something the real life events have demonstrated is there are severe foundational problems with the US system of governance.  In contrast, Babylon 5 presents it as an issue of individuals and not systems.

It's diminished for you, because of this? That's interesting to me.

I agree S3 is superior. S4 does suffer heavily because of its forced pace--such a huge shame. I never really enjoyed the culmination of the Shadows vs. Vorlons arc, either, which didn't live up to the promise of the earlier seasons. All that being said, when it's good, it's as good as ever.

How are people like Carano empowered to post this shit? Why does hiding under the scabrous veneer of "political views" even WORK? What the fuck is happening?

Eraserhead- complete shit.

District 9- it's actually pretty good.

Flip those around and you might have the right of it.

Your unbridled edge has been noted.

Appreciate that, ty.

Not trying to be edgy. Eraserhead is a film over which I bonded with a long-term friend and thus has significant meaning for me. District 9...all right, it isn't complete shit, but I do remember being disappointed for reasons that now escape me.