The fact that we draw on stereotypes to speed and ease characterization is not racist.  Any more than it would be so to find a gorilla enamored with bananas, or a huge rooster talking with a Georgia/Alabama accent.

If there were an implication that all Sahudese wear coolee hats and queues, walk on elevated clogs, and are indistinguishable one from the other, that would be racist, but what I've seen in this game is no more racist than implying that New Yorkers are prone to take the subway.

In reply to Chou-Zhen Mou (msg # 538):

and shaw brother-esque dialogue. but, that's well established americana at this point.

I enjoy quickly penning the occasional parody song.


I predicate this will pass.  Alignments are a core pillar, a sacred cow, of D&D.  Alignments being stripped from "iconic" races won't last past this edition (though I suspect it'll be the other "progressive" nonsense they interject that will scupper this edition).


Aha!  Now I understand Sahud a bit better.  The great mish-mashing of the predominant asian cultures while not drawing too heavily from any one culture was something I always liked about OA.





Exactly

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 540):

Will try and catch up tomorrow,  this OT is killing me. I hsve a week to catch up with 200 plus items. I fluoro  scanned or xrayed fifty odd aprons and other lead garments tonight. Thank the nine million that the software for tracking is nowhere as laggy as it used to be.

I finally have no OT.  Instead I'm training for a new LoB this week (with a pay raise) that I've been trying to get into for a few months, then the next 2 weeks* training to transition to a different department (also a pay raise) that requires actual state licensing...


* And of course I'm supposed to be doing my pretraining for those classes in advance during my 'normal' job, which I'm not doing because I'm in training...  *le sigh*  So I'll be going in for like 6 hours this weekend off the clock just to be able to study in peace and quiet† in the empty department on Sunday (my new LoB is closed on Sundays) so I can catch up by start of new training on monday.

† I'm too tired and there is no peace and quiet at home after work.

Congratulations on the (promotion?) pay raise.  Anything like that at my job would mean jumping into management, and I WILL NOT do that.  I've turned down offers for it two or three times (depending what level of subtle you count) and now my boss has been sneaking the responsibilities onto me for the past couple years ("other duties as assigned" in every job description, anywhere, ever, means I can't just say "that's not my job").

It's the Peter Principle -- attempting to promote me to my level of incompetence, instead of just letting me do what I'm good at, fixing stuff.

And I can't afford to quit.

My partner keeps telling me I should do stock photography, but as far as I can tell, that's got the same problem as writing -- you have to do it to the exclusion of everything else for several years before it'll support you, and while I'm working full time with an hour-each-way commute, I can't do it enough to even recover my skills to the level they were 15 years ago, never mind build up a portfolio.

I see Gwythaint doing commission art work, and still going in and irradiating people and, periodically, protective gear, full time (plus OT).

I'm just (re)concluding that this world is all kinds of messed up, when you can't make a living as a creative unless your definition of "a living" is very different from the one usually used for a paycheck job or you're at a far narrower confluence of skill and luck than an NFL or NBA star.  We discourage youths to examine creative careers, and even the ones who buck that never get training in how to actually make a living as a creative (as opposed to "how to be a wage slave in a creative field").

And don't point to Ansel Adams as a counter-example.  Ansel (degreed as a concert pianist) did most of his important work on vacations while making his living as a commercial photographer, shooting things like furniture for magazine advertising (a job I'd have to buy $20,000 worth of equipment and have a killer portfolio to even get, today).  Henri Cartier-Bresson was a remittance man, more or less -- the Cartier in his name is the jewelry one -- and he never had to care about whether his photography earned a sou, never mind try to actually live on it.  One of the Westons (I forget which one) did most of his known work living in a literal shack in the desert, using the most primitive equipment you can imagine to make his prints -- his 8x10 camera and lenses were probably worth more than everything else he owned, for most of his working life.

Of photographers I can recall who've made their primary living as photographers, it's always been "work for hire", with the art we remember being side projects.  Annie Leibowitz (renowned portraitist to celebrities) has fallen to selling online courses, after retiring from magazine photography.

And I don't have it in me (nor can I afford the equipment) to become a YouTube star.

No promotions (which would be required for further pay bumps) it's lateral transfers... the first is from one LoB (Line of Business) within my department to another within my department, the second is into a different department...

I strongly suspect the first is occurring because I was approved for the second.  My boss has resisted for months allowing me to switch LoBs because "I can't lose one of my highly skilled agents form the bank lines"... but now that he's looking at losing me to a different department*, he caved (and did so without bothering to tell me in advance, it was late on a friday "Oh yeah, and next monday you're in training for the new LoB, your schedule should be adjusted before you head out tonight.  If not, just come in at 10 on monday and I'll get it fixed ASAP").  The suspicion runs two-fold:  Having me suddenly training all week before I start training for the other department means I have no time for pretraining for the other department (which I keep being told is really, really, really helpful† for state licensing test) and it means if I'm frustrated by the new department (I've heard rumors about managerial fuckery) instead of quitting, I'll transfer back to the higher paying new LoB.  And the new department has lull periods where agents temp "transfer" around and fill other positions, but still get their higher pay...  so if he has to pay me 'top tier' pay, may as well have me in the highest paying Lob he has.



* I work in a call center, doing credit card enrollment for a handful of banks.  The other department is health insurance, which has more way sway in the "we want these agents in our department, give them to us" to the extent that my boss cannot stop this transfer, while he actually runs both LoB I'm in and the one I want into.

†  Like, no duh.  Three weeks of study versus two?  No braino.



Ditto.  After the second transfer, if I want more pay I have to fly right‡ and get promoted.


‡ The only bene of my job is extreme flexibility in hours.  However to get into management you have to show a willingness to work a stable schedule and be available for odd shifts here and there.  I can't handle the weird shifts, my sleep schedule (insomnia) is bad enough without suddenly working till midnight one day a week.


Twenty years ago?  I could have done it.  These days?  I'm not in touch enough, not mentally flexible enough, and I don't have the capacity to work two full time jobs and get no sleep.

Annnnd hurt myself at work with a defective bed from Stryker.  Will probably catch up Monday

In reply to Narrator (msg # 545):

Damn! Nothing serious I hope?

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 546):

Possible back sprain. Pain faded by the time I went to sleep, whering a lidocaine patch now, trying to remember what I did with my heating pad.

I think I found the weapon my next HOgre barbarian has to wield.  Two of 'em, one strapped to each arm!

THE WREKTANGLE!  By michaelcthulhu.

Full making video:
watch

To skip straight to the Post=Apoc smashing stuff goodness....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...=youtu.be&t=4975

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 548):

definitely two-handed axe-mace skill.

And shield!

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 549):

It does swing +4 cut, but has -2 to hit, like the long blade chainsaw from horror. 14 minimum ST, and can be used to parry, but is not a shield.

And a significant reduction to Dx and a big unbalanced weapon issue as well...

In reply to Oly (msg # 552):

Definitely unbalanced, cannot be made balanced, absolutely becomes unready. Can be used to do Thrust crush +2 tho.

Going to try and catch up tomorrow.  Virtual md visits and such.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 553):

https://www.google.com/search?...;biw=412&bih=758

I swear by my ancestors, if you split into multiple hellbirbs when they cut off your head I will cut out the tongue of each and every one of you!

Anniversary over the weekend, which turned into family time and no computer time.  Then work went a bit crazy yesterday.  It was a nice weekend, but sorry for the unexpected absence.

In reply to Balir Ironhide (msg # 556):

no problem, I have barely been clearing the list over 3 days

In reply to Narrator (msg # 557):

Goint to try and catch up tomorrow

In reply to Narrator (msg # 558):

Got stuck working in an area with no signal...may not catch up until Monday,  although I will try.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 559):

Back when the Al Menir adventure began, and before the extended solo activity of Gareth, we had a number of specialist characters whose players left out of boredom/disgust; Gorgath, and Sorsha/Mischa. Between Gorgath 's strength and forced entry skill, and the magical/mundanr safecracking skills of the other two, there looked to be no door that could withstand the party. Unfortunately the composition of the group has changed. There are going to be some bits that  are a bit of a slog as a result, and the thread is a few years old already.
I have been reading over the sheets of some of you, and am again startled by the amount of Johnny Onespells that have slipped through screening.I am really going to have to force incomi g wizards to stick to template skills and even propose a base list of utility spells that allow for a fully functional generalist niche, like so many wizards I see played in campaigns like DF Whiterock or Dungeon Fantastic.

On the other hand, one character has a built in mode for recieving assistance that may do.

Happy to say Haveron is quite well balanced overall, especially when henchpeople are concerned.

Waiting on Gareth to Johnny OneSpell his way through the door.  Seeing as how he's holding a red dwarf, I expect him to shoo Haveron out of the way...

In reply to Haveron Stormwal (msg # 561):

Actually, it was in recognition of his onespell problem that  sought to learn more versatile spells back in Al-Amir, but dice rolls did not permit...and i was assured that t would not be a problem...

Spells such as create food, summon spirit and continual light all give some versatility, but it was the failure to learn the spells for opening locks that caused this gap. See message #280 in this thread...