Not even the mighty google has my real deets.

Granted Amazon, Paypal, and any website that I've processed payments through does... I mean there's cautious, and then there's paranoid.

And Yahoo, as that was the second email addy I ever set up and wasn't as cautious as I grew to become by the time google showed up.

I've been on the Internet since "forever September" was a current gripe (1989-ish, for those of you who got on board after Al Gore "invented" the thing -- the complaint was about AOL users gaining access to the non-Web internet that existed then).

I've never been all that worried about trying to keep secrets.

And I've been proven right, repeatedly, in that it's not possible to keep them unless you go to extreme lengths.  Do you customize your Windows install in any way?  Run any OS other than the two most recent versions of Windows?  Use a browser other than IE/Edge (or Tor, for the opposite reason)?

Any individuality in your system is accessible to web sites you connect to, via browser queries.  It's been demonstrated years ago that just asking your browser what fonts it has available is about as sure in identifying you as getting a clear partial fingerprint.  Combine that with your IP address, (in some cases) time zone setting, system language, and any web site that cares can probably find your real name, home address, employer, and both landline (if you still have one) and cell numbers, plus your Skype address.

If you can't win the game, there's no sense putting a lot of effort into it.  Just enjoy the ride.

No, but I can keep my real name from showing up with a casual websearch of my email address.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 731):

Much of what you say is correct, but not absolutely. Further, I don't have to make it easy for them.
Even the mail is now tracking us ...  Magazines in particular  provide a great deal of information to others.

Magazine labels have had various kinds of tracking information on them for decades.  Even in the 1980s they had information about where your subscription originated, what price class you were in, and when it would expire.

Anyone who isn't afraid to spend some effort or money could find whoever they wanted in the 1970s, and can find them now.  It's cheaper and faster now.

Oh, and unrelated to the above, but I found this on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0_qMoX0rUw

Seems like richer folks might have one or two of these in their houses in Northport.  It's 15th century technology, and doesn't seem to require gunpowder (though there's another video demonstrating using powder to, um, "boost" the ignition).

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 735):

Nifty idea, although we are more TL3(4)+2 due to magic, more people have a
Mage descended servant with ignight fire who goes around lighting candles and fireplaces until they nearly pass out. Better homes have apprentices with two or three spells at 15, like clean, ignight fire, and purify water, that cast those spells all day long.

Why cast until you drop?  Light one candle, then walk around the house using that to light the other lamps, candles, stoves, and so forth.

Also largely eliminates the need to cast Ignite Fire at higher effort levels, since a candle that's been burned a bit will light easily with the lowest cost casting, and then light even damp wood without problems.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 737):

True, although wealth is best displayed through excess, and by showing you can make other people do things for you.

I will be back on tomorrow, had to key a map in a way I often don't (a lot of what goes on in the Undercity is knida vornheimed/Kabuki Kaisered I know what the major things are, and what can be found on each level, but there are a lot of random "what is behind the door" -suitable encouters, furnishings, trick/trap/setpiece encouter

is there gunpowder for use in crude grenades, mines, and traps?

Last I heard, only in certain nageteppo (the ones that go "bang").

In reply to Chou-Zhen Mou (msg # 740):


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sc...ades-sea-Israel.html

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 741):

And those are for the Spring Festival. Happy Lunar New Year!
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Tue 05 Feb 2019.

In reply to boar (msg # 742):

Be back tomorrow

I just got around to looking at the youtube of the fire starter.  Pretty cool.  I never knew those things existed, but it makes perfect sense that they would.

For the candle lighting question you were talking about at the time, I have an alternative suggestion.  Any *loyal* house servant might be tattooed with a few useful spells, even if they have no magical aptitude themselves.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=11054

I don't see it in 4th Edition, but the link mentions Fantasy pp. 166-167, so it was in 3rd edition.

I would expect it would cost a lot of cash to retain someone of sufficient skill to do this.  They would have to have appropriate skills at high levels (calligraphy, tattooing...), plus all the spells required to perform the enchantment.  I would imagine a normal adventurer would have to spend a bunch of points on the cash overhead, plus the ability it grants.

Frankly, I see a lot of uses for this sort of thing in a stable campaign like this.

- The rich families would have the money.  A servant who could ignite fire would be very useful.  Plus, how better to brag about your money than to spend it on such opulent uses.

- The captain of the guard might have Shield or Armor as a tattoo.

- Maybe that legendary thief that has never been caught was rich enough to get an invisibility tattoo.

I'm sure all the min/max players in the game have suddenly discovered a whole new toy.  Enjoy.  :)

In reply to Balir Ironhide (msg # 744):

Why not just enchant a small wand? Like a magical matchstick that always lights!

That would work, but a wand could be taken away, or used by anyone (unless you use a limit enchantment).  A tattoo would be limited to the person, presumably someone you trust, and it can't easily be taken away unless you destroy the tattoo.

In reply to Balir Ironhide (msg # 746):

But servants are more expendable than magic items!

magic servants, what? what? magic magic servants, what?

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 748):

Indentured apprentices easily

and the more valuable too.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 750):

And the snipe walked straight into the bag!

It was a set up! my spell lied to me! iwas framed! i was fraaaamed!! xD

"Aoife feels her right eye start to dim."
what is the significance of that?...
that's what i saw happening to connard, in my vision of him...

In reply to Grimaldi (msg # 753):

There has been a reduction in supply of paut from the imperial mage guild, due to a shortage of a particular ingredient, the blood of a scarlet ibis. This has resulted in local, non guild manufacture using alternative ingredients. See a sage or roll really well on alchemy to understand what and why there is this particular  side effect.