I think one of the biggest problems with the sequel trilogy is that there really wasn't someone specific at the helm.  They seem to have said, "So...here's these characters, and this is the basic setting...AAAAAnd GO."  Abrams did what he does.  Johnson got a very dissatisfactory set of conclusions to build off of and decided to try and do something different, without completely departing from the track Abrams had started, and then Abrams came back and Abrams-ed it all up like he did with ST: Into Darkness...I enjoyed them both, but I felt like he was so busy trying to paint the biggest, baddest threat to existence possible at the expense of plausibility, in both cases.  But I don't feel like Abrams even paid particular attention to what continuity he himself had established...there wasn't a cohesive throughline to the entire story.  I enjoyed them...more than the prequels, not as much as the original series...but I definitely recognize that there could have been MORE.

But Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau aren't trying to build a continuation to the Skywalker Saga...they're spinning a tale that's completely tangential to it.  I think they would have run into a lot of the same problems if they'd been given the sequels...I'm sure they would have handled them better, but there would still have been issues, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if reports came out that they'd been offered the option to work on the sequels and said, "No thanks."  Favreau did his bit for the MCU early on, when there wasn't an overabundance of continuity to fight with and expectations were reasonable...but he got out, as a writer, after a few movies and hasn't gone back, despite having established the flagship movie for the MCU and basically establishing the tone for much of the first three phases.

I could go on and on about this, though...I love the work that they've done (I haven't had a chance to see anything from Season 2 yet, so I can't speak to current status outside of some extremely broad strokes that have flashed through social media).  They're definitely doing a better job of incorporating the full breadth of the Star Wars Universe...but they've also got a lot more freedom to operate because they don't have the burden of finishing out someone else's storyline.

I think that pretty much covers it!  :D  I love the Mandelorian also, and can't wait to watch Season II.  Haven't done that yet, am working on other stuff.  ^_^ And I'm not even a Warsie.

Regarding the planning and such, that's pretty much how I view GMing.  :)  Get a generial idea of 'how will things play out if there were no players?', throw the players in to the mix, and watch it go where it does.  Can't plan for everything, because it's guaranteed the players will think of something else/do something else, and I detest railroading.  Which is something Ron NEVER does.

I don't think Haarmon will ever get the hang of talking like an Imperial.

I'm not sure Haarmon will ever get the hang of not talking...*grin*

In reply to Rhijans Thanus (msg # 253):

Also true.

Happy New Year!  Hope 2021 is kind to all of us.  :)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year's gang!

Happy new year, all!  I'll see about posting tomorrow! :D

...or not!  Not my turn!  I'll check out the D&D game, then.  :D

...am feeling very badly for Haarmon who, in truth, is one of the big inspirations when it comes to making our plans.  :(

There's a lot to be said for someone who says whatever idea comes to mind.  That's the whole basis of brainstorming.

The thing that makes me feel bad is that I know Haarmon would never bring up how he feels in character for Rhijans to clarify his own feelings on the situation.

I feel a little bad for Haarmon the character, but as for me the player, I'm delighted at the way that exchange turned out. I'm always happy to find places to plausibly maintain the sort of tension between Haarmon-the-valuable-member-of-the-team and Haarmon-the-punk-kid-with-more-enthusiasm-than-savvy. This was great. He thought he had good read on things, he spoke up, and got smacked down.

No smacking!  Shard needed to stay in character as ISB Horror-Officer.  :(

Why yes, despite being a pessimist Shard is a positive reinforcement kind of person.  For other people, anyway.

Haarmon - looks like someone at CBC actually managed some kind of spinal reinforcement and is (tentatively) asking the right questions of the right people.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health...wn-failure-1.5866948

Sounds reminiscent of the situation here in Utah, late summer.  Our governor hadn't opted for much more than concerned words and heavy hand-wringing, as far as a state-wide policy, and left measures up to the various county health departments.  The county I'm in had some fairly stringent restrictions, and as a result, in spite of being the third most populated county, it had (and still has) a remarkably low infection rate.

Then, mid-August, the governor finally decided to step into the fray and impose some state-wide policies...which were less restrictive than the ones we were already using here, but since it was a state-wide mandate, we changed to the looser policy.  Like I said before, we still have some pretty good statistics...but our infection rate definitely jumped when we shifted to the state standards instead of sticking with the county health board's...

(And the governor held off on a mask mandate until after the election...he wasn't up for re-election, but the lt. Governor was, and I'm quite certain the timing was entirely to prevent the arch-Conservatives in the state from jumping ship and voting for someone else out of spite.)

California is a train wreck right now, gang, I can tell ya that. :(

Had to move my daughter 450 miles down to San Diego on 12/29 and, while the drive went smooth, and we just did a turn-and-burn, I don't much like her being an 8 hour drive away during this mess.

Fortunately my best buddy is literally stationed 10 minutes from where she lives so there's that.

Crazy times we living in.

Hope you're all well.

This whole thing has been...interesting, I'll say.  I have a chronic sinus condition, so the first time I had to answer a questionnaire about Covid symptoms, about half the answers were, "Yes, but I've had that for a couple of years, now..."  Each cough triggers an analysis..."Have my sinuses been draining extra?  Is this just my usual morning clear-out?  Do I feel any worse than I did before either of my Covid tests over the summer?"

I think my physical health is probably a little more robust than my mental health, right now...but I'm getting by.

In reply to Shard (msg # 266):

Oh man, yes. That's exactly my experience and my opinion. My work is taking seriously, my wife and I are taking it seriously. But it doesn't seem like most people are taking it very seriously. Walmart is still an insane jungle every day (albeit a masked one). The roads are still full.

I think the news of the vaccine plus general fatigue has a lot people not being very careful.

In this house we're in voluntary lockdown and are only leaving the house for work (and even then we're WFH as much as we can).

Well, all through it Sweden has been avoiding lockdowns and heavy-handed measures for controlling the situation, and it was all working well.  Not too many cases, hospitals were coping, few deaths...

Then, in November the graphs went crazy.  Large increase in the number of cases, with a rise in deaths too, and it has continued at the higher level since.  Personally, I suspect it was the sudden drop in temperature that did it.  People maybe got the normal winter colds and flu, and the corona took advantage of their weakened condition.

Now most people are wearing masks in public, and the government is muttering about closing non-essential businesses for a while.

November was also when I got the darned thing.

I think the colder weather also means more people spending all their time indoors.  Probably also an increase in people with sniffles and stuffy noses, which made them less inclined to try and breathe through their masks...

I'd say we had the same thing here, but our case numbers have pretty much always been increasing at an escalating pace, so it's hard to say if the arrival of cold weather really increased the rate of infection significantly.  The park closed for the season, so my odds of exposure have dropped way off.

Stories are bad all around.  I'm glad to hear everyone here is trying to stay safe. Sorry to hear about your daughter, Juragga.

I've been in for two tests, myself - mandatory if I get any symptoms and want to continue working in my lab - but so far negative.

I'm really disappointed with the 'leadership' we've seen through this, though New Zealand's PM has really done an excellent job.