I mean, Christianity is where the word “canon” comes from. We use it for a reason!

Late last year Australia passed a ban for the use of social media of under-16s. In principle I think this is a really good idea.

Unfortunately they rushed it through without any thought as to how it would actually work in terms of age verification. It’s now been 6 months, which means we’re 6 months away from when it’s supposed to come into effect, and we still don’t have any idea how it’s actually supposed to work. But the principle behind it: the idea that social media is actually really not healthy for our brains, especially at a young and vulnerable age, is a sound one. And there’s only more and more research coming out to support that.

I’mma be honest, I’ve used disposable cameras, but not in a long time. I’d appreciate the reminder if I were handed one. Something about winding after (or before?) each photo?

Yes, I’m a day late in posting it. Sorry. Not much substance here to have missed though, thankfully.

Again, I love the slow creepy build with Renfield. Works so much better in real-time like this.

even with literally using the threat of death forcing the character to work with the party, there is ALWAYS that one dipshit who wants to bitch and moan about how I’m “railroading them/preventing them from roleplaying their character” by doing so

This is an out of character problem that should be addressed by talking to your players at session 0 (and at any other time it arises). The manner in which you create characters is irrelevant here because it’s an interpersonal issue, not a mechanical or narrative one.

either you have been incredibly lucky with groups or have let Critical Roll give you rosey glasses about the role-play capabilities of the average player

I don’t watch actual plays. Never have. Tried Critical Role for a few episodes and didn’t see the appeal. I don’t think it takes an awful lot of roleplay skill to accomplish. Because I’ve seen it work many times with very ordinary players. Ordinary, but participating in good faith, which is the bare minimum. If you don’t have good faith, you shouldn’t be playing.

But it’s pretty clear from a lot of your tone and actions here that you are not participating in this conversation in good faith. Unless that changes, I’m out.

Sometimes assembling the group in session 0 is what’s right for the story, and sometimes it really, really isn’t. Think about how many movies literally have “Assembling the team” as almost their entire plot. The Avengers hangs two hours of non-stop action on “We need to put a party together.”

Oh, that reminds me of a 4th way campaigns can start (in addition to the 3 I said in a different reply) that I’ve been in before and quite enjoyed—though wouldn’t want to be overused. The MCU method. Where each player individually gets a 1 session (maybe 2 at most) solo session introducing them and getting them to the right place to start the campaign.

it’s the same thing, effectively

I strongly disagree. The first two are substantively the same, I agree. But the third is a wholly separate category. I see 3 basic categories we’re talking about here: you choose to work together at the start; you know each other already; you’re forced into working together by circumstances. The key difference between the 1st and the 3rd is that choice. “We have the same patron” is still a choice to work for that patron, and gives room for someone to say “nah, I’m not working with these people”. When the circumstances themselves directly force you to work together, there’s no ability to turn around and say “I’m going my own way”. Being kidnapped and having brain slugs put in your head is one way. Everyone arriving in the same town at the time the town is unexpectedly invaded is another one I’ve been in as a player.

The other key thing about in media res is that you don’t have that “inevitable round of introductions that feels like that time at the start of school when everyone had to stand up to say their name and one interesting fact about them”. You’re thrown into doing things before there’s any chance for that. You get to know each other not beforehand, as in case 2, but as the adventure is going.

To be clear, I’m pointing to BG3 as an example that I’ve only very recently (the last two–four weeks) started, and which serves as a good well-known example of something that demonstrates a good example of something I already know works well. It’s not a game that made me realise I completely new way of doing things. In media res will require players be cooperative enough to care to act, but it doesn’t require they trust each other or know each other immediately. It definitely doesn’t require pre-written specifically-designed characters.

Oh yeah, quite an archaic usage, that. Logically it makes sense. It’s the opposite of “within”. But for one reason or another we don’t use it that way anymore.

The Nicene Creed says a few things, but the important bit is basically defining the Holy Trinity. The idea that God is the father, and is the son, and is the holy ghost. JWs and Mormons (among a few other fringe Christian groups) don’t believe this. It’s interesting theocratic theory, if you’re interested in the study of religions. But mainly it’s a convenient way to tie up the door knockers’ time so they’re bothering me and not someone else.

One of the things I was looking forward to after moving from an apartment to a house with a front door is door knockers. Weird, I know, but that’s me. Particularly religious door knockers, because I know they’re never gonna convert me, and I like the idea of just politely wasting their time.

Well, I’ve only been here for like 2 weeks now, but it’s already happened. Just got back from the door with a JW. I asked him his view on the Nicene Creed and why he thinks JWs reject it. Disappointingly, I’m not sure he even knew what the Nicene Creed was, as he just started going on about being peaceful and not doing harm and other entirely unrelated religious banalities. When I pressed the issue, he got a little closer to the mark, saying “oh, different people believe different things”, but still nothing that actually addressed the question itself.

I’m an atheist, but I find religion fascinating today in the same way I found Greek and Egyptian mythology fascinating when I was young. It’s an interesting part of human culture. My take on Christianity is that you should never take seriously any Christian preacher who cannot explain to you the basic tenets of the Nicene Creed. You don’t have to know it to be Christian, but you do if you want to preach it, and not knowing it shows to me that you clearly do not know enough about the theology behind your own religion to be preaching. It’d be like a high school maths teacher who can’t explain to you what Sohcahtoa is.

There are options besides “strangers meet in a tavern and awkwardly introduce themselves” and pre-made perfectly-tailored party. I’m a fan of starting in media res, with the characters all in a location for their own reasons, when shit happens that forces them to act as a group. I’ve just recently started the video game Baldur’s Gate 3, and it’s not a bad example of what I mean.

• Buildings are more resistant to hack damage with higher increases for some defensive buildings, such as Towers and Fortresses.

• Towers and Fortresses now deal significantly more damage to help players defend their bases.

Niiiiice. This is sorely needed!

Fixed cases where units could be produced from some angles on production buildings and end up stuck inside pockets in the treeline.

That’s really interesting. How effective will it be, in practice? I wonder if a fix like this might also be made to aoe2?

Sentry Tower: adjusted as follows

• • Damage increased from 5 → 8 pierce.

This, plus the fortress-type building 50% damage boost, seem interesting. I’m sceptical that it’s going to be enough of a damage boost to overcome the problem Magic noted in this video, but it’s a start. Fighting under a fortress with equal total resources should be a fairly overwhelming victory, IMO; maybe equivalent to if you had, like, 25%–33% more resources in a units-only fight.

Halo of the sun (Helios): adjusted as follows

• No longer affects Fire Ship range and damage.
• Now also increases Arcus range by +1.

I would love to see a dev note explaining this one. I think I like the change, I just want to know why.

Probably for the best. If you’d let him onboard it might have ended up like this story.

Might be interesting, but I’m not taking conspiracy theories (to be clear: this is a conspiracy theory. Even if it’s true, it’s a theory about a conspiracy.) from the Nazi blogging website seriously.

they should not meet in session 1.

Strongly disagree. Nothing wrong with doing that, but nothing wrong with having them meet in session 1 too, as long as you have built characters who will be willing to go along with the GM’s hooks.

And even that part is flexible, depending on the nature of the hook. If the hook is “you see an ad look for rat exterminators”, then you better have a character who wants to be an adventurer and will cooperate with other would-be adventurers. If the hook is “you’re prisoners being ordered to go explore this dungeon by order of the vizier”, there’s room for slightly less cooperative PCs, as long as you PC is cooperative enough to go along with that order, even if (at first) reluctantly.

This video raises some interesting theories, but unfortunately it doesn’t have any data to back up the more controversial ones. I’m inclined to agree with it, but I’d rather see actual evidence to back that up, if it’s possible for that kind of evidence to be collected. Did the Greens’ strategy during the campaign and during the last term of Parliament lose them a significant amount of votes? It’s hard to say.

The summary being that the Greens were always going to lose seats as soon as the LNP slipped backward into 3rd place and got eliminated, giving votes to Labor, and that nothing the Greens could have done or not done would have changed that, is the most important piece of it, though.

Oooh, Dracula has received a shipment of empty boxes. What ever could they be for, I wonder? 🤔

Omg thanks for linking that thread. The amount of removed and deleted content on Lemmy is so frustrating. I hate the fact that removed or deleted posts also completely nuke all the comments on it.

Reddit’s approach is so much better in this respect. A removed post removed the OP’s text, but if it’s a link post the link remains, and all the comments remain.

Happy cake day!

That was my exact response, too. Apparently he’s the NZ PM and leader of the conservative National Party, in coalition with the far-right libertarian ACT and the far-right populist NZ First.

I found a chapstick that had been lost for, I’m pretty sure, years a couple of weeks ago.

And promptly lost it again.

And then found my other chapstick, which was lost since last winter. Kept that one around for a few days. Lost it again.

slightly warmer for the rest of the week

It’s amazing! I actually had to take my socks off in bed last night for the first time in weeks.

Did anybody notice the wispy clouds all day yesterday

Yeah I did. Definitely not a fan of the full cloud cover today though. My solar panels are producing less than half of what they did yesterday. Which is still enough to cover my usage, but I dunno if my battery will be recharged by this evening.