Random conversations, discussions, links to pictures & videos, philosophical debates and bad jokes live here.

Character Ideas moved to Character Creation thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:46, Thu 17 Jan 2019.

Purely for shits and giggles, I decided to play some Oregon Trail tonight.  One day one of my dudes had a broken leg.  The next day, he got lost and we lost 5 days of travel looking for him.  Either he got over that broken leg REALLY quick or he got around really well with that broken leg.

In reply to Mike (msg # 5):

I read this and immediately imagined that this random dude with a broken leg just accidentally rolls down a hill away from the wagons. While trying to get back, a snake startles him, and he falls into a small river. When he finally manages to get out a few hundred yards downstream, he gets cornered by a coyote pack, loses his balance, and falls into a ravine. Basically, every time he tries to get back to the wagons, he ends up farther away, and finally just quits and sits in one place until someone finds him.

Spoiler warning: Political video, but really funny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcZ0t15vV9k

Has anyone else seen this yet? Because it is awesome!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWjC_mrucY4

I finally started watching The Expanse.  It took me a few tries to get into it.  I’ve figured out that I can’t watch something for the first time with a bunch of other people unless I’m in a movie theater, especially if anyone is talkative.  I think that’s why I couldn’t get into Dark Crystal or Abrams’s Star Trek.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Sun 17 Feb 2019.

In reply to James Urquhart (msg # 9):

I enjoy the show. One way I feel it improves on the book is the character of Avasarala. You get to see her political machinations and movings, rather than just a glimpse here and there.

My internet is down at my house and my laptop just took a crap.  Looks like it was the big one, won’t boot up.  I know 9-10 years is a long time for a laptop but it could have had the decency to wait until I’m working again to die.

Nevermind, I guess I just had to get pissed off enough at it and it would start working (the laptop).  Internet is still down.  So far, the experience I've had with New Wave hasn't been all that great.  They're not very quick at getting outages taken care of or communicating when they're going to be performing upgrades and such.  And their website is useless as a screen door on a submarine.  You can pay your bill but you can't get tech support.  At least AT&T has a call center, I haven't found anyone on New Wave's tech support that wasn't automated.

Anyway, right now I have my hotspot turned on on my phone to be able to have internet.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDGr..._as_we_all_agree_on/

I'm dying over here!!! "Town guards unsure of what to do..."

Does anybody know how to write a cover letter?  I've updated my resume and I'm trying to write a cover letter that either doesn't make me sound like a total idiot or at least mitigates how much my resume makes me look like a moron.  Talk about hindsight getting to you.  If I'd have known I was going to be in this position 18 years ago when I started college I wouldn't have screwed around and cut class and all that crap.

Not sure how much help I'll be (since I was never hired for any of the jobs I applied for that I actually used a cover letter) but, here is what I remember being told:

Don't just write a generalized letter. Modify the letter for each application sent out. You want to appear you are looking for a job with them specifically not just in general.

If you know specifically who the resume is going to, address them by name.

It doesn't need to reiterate everything in the resume, but it does need to explain why you are qualified for the position.

Explain why you are a good fit for the company - not just for the job.

It's a good place to list other experiences that could be useful but aren't in the formal resume.

There are several sites that have pretty good guides - I used several back in the day (sadly, those bookmarks appear to have been lost - I checked).
Though after a cursory search, these seem pretty decent:
https://resumegenius.com/how-to-write-a-cover-letter
https://zety.com/blog/how-to-write-a-cover-letter

Finally, I saw this a few days ago - It's actually not a bad way to break it down:
Luke Skywalker's Cover Letter

That's kind of cool.

Missy helped me out.  And by helped me out I mean basically wrote the rest of it for me.  We'll see if it pans out.  I did know that I needed to customize it for each job I apply for and not just use a generic cover letter.


Let me add, thank you.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:05, Mon 25 Feb 2019.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/c...lurs_for_you_to_use/

The Personnel Committee met last night. My understanding is the point of the meeting was two-fold: Get a VBS Director, and make a final decision about me. Assuming they vote yes on me, it will come up at the next Business Meeting, which is currently scheduled for 3/13.

I don't foresee too many problems now we've made it this far. I may not get the raise I was hoping for, but I'll swap that for job security right now. So here's praying. Of course, if they do start paying me what the position use to pay, I won't be complaining.

Set my desktop up over the weekend and now I'm trying to get it connected to the wireless network.  Is it possible that its distance from the router is the reason that it won't assign a valid IP or is that likely something else?  The signal strength fluctuates between fair and excellent but when it will connect to the network it won't connect to the internet.  I'm thinking that at some point I'm just going to run some CAT5 through the attic to the bedrooms anyway but I don't want to have to do that at present just to get this thing on the internet.  I mean, otherwise I can just connect through my phone hotspot but even though we have unlimited data it still slows down after so much is downloaded.

"Wireless Network Adapter does not have a valid IP configuration."

How do I fix that?


Never mind, I finally ended up copying the network profile from Thor and copying it to Odin.  Odin is now connected.  And the peasants rejoiced...
This message was last edited by the player at 02:32, Tue 26 Feb 2019.

F me with a stolen paenis.

I thought I had it working, I turned my back for 5 minutes to go walk the dog, I come back to try to play some Skyrim and it's down again.  Laptop connects fine, Missy's laptop is connected, my desktop just hates me apparently.

There are so many variables that can effect network config that this is hard to diagnose form here.  Have you uninstalled and reinstalled the driver for the network card? And by that I mean Uninstall, Cold Boot, then install the newest driver for the card from the manufacture's website?

I think that's the one thing I haven't tried.  Crap, I can't believe I didn't try that.

Tried it, still not connecting.  It can connect to my phone’s hotspot but not to the WiFi.  I’m tempted to just say screw it and get in the attic.  I have 2 50ft LAN cables and a wired 4 port switch as well as another wireless router (though it’s slower), I’m tempted to just run 50ft through the attic, wire in a plug up there, plug in the switch and other router, and drop the other 50ft into this bedroom to plugthe LAN cable into the back of the computer.  Problem with that is I bet I’d have 2 different wireless networks sharing the same internet connection but on different frequencies.  Why’s this stuff have to be so complicated?

I guess, if it were easy, they couldn't charge us obscene amounts of money to do it for us.

Also, good to hear about your job situation, Mark! I'm praying for a good result on the 13th.

I need a .gif of someone beating their head against the wall because that's how I feel right now.  I've been messaging back and forth with a tech support guy for the last hour or so and I'm no closer to getting this stupid computer to connect.

I've tried reinstalling wireless network adapter after a cold boot.

I've tried ipconfig /release.

I've tried netsh winsock reset
I've tried netsh int ip reset c:\resetlog.txt

I've tried renaming the network and changing the password and all that succeeded in doing was knocking my laptop off the network until I changed it back.

Trying uninstalling antivirus and clean boot.

I'm beginning to think the attic is an easier idea...

Announcement was made tonight at church: Special Business Meeting called for Sunday, March 10 to vote on me. Looks like the personnel committee did decide to suggest me to the church, and the vote is now scheduled. I'm generally optimistic now. I don't know of any opposition, and frankly don't know what their alternative is.

So it looks good I think, nothing really to do now but leave it in God's hands and try not to do anything so abysmally stupid the general church would vote no.


On a different note (no pun intended) I had three good conversations while shopping today. All three with church pianists. (alright, not intended, but it certainly fits)

The first was the piano player when I was 10 and talked into helping out with the music, she also taught me to sing specials. The last few years have been hard on her, she lost a lot of people. I encouraged her to find a good active church to join. I of course invited her to join my choir, but I think she's probably going to opt for First Crowville, a good choice for her, and close by.

The second was my current church pianist. I like her a lot and now call her my "Piano Momma".

The third was a crazy lady with her children.  ;)

Tomorrow I will look at the calendar and try to find a good weekend in April to suggest we  get together socially, with maybe discussion about the next game, and what to do about Bekah's game.

I resent being called a crazy lady!

...Even though it's accurate....

That was insensitive of me. We prefer to be called "normality challenged".

https://youtu.be/1ZiMwE2TZYk

I got an email from Amazon that someone was asking a question about the French press coffee pot I bought a while back.  It was such a stupid question that I couldn't help myself.

Q:  "What happens if you add regular store bought coffee grounds?"

A:  "Well, assuming you add hot water, in about 4 minutes you have coffee.  All I ever use in mine is store bought grounds and it works fine."

I couldn't figure out why Nexus Mod Manager wouldn't update.  Looks like they're using something called Vortex now.  I'm not sure how I feel about it so far.

https://youtu.be/mMesEO5_lWA  Scott Brown Incident

https://youtu.be/epM1GJN4kog  The Bonesaw

https://youtu.be/dJxHZITIc2g  For Thor!
This message was last updated by the player at 21:38, Thu 14 Mar 2019.

If you feel like getting extra into character:
63 differences between American and British English

https://writerswrite.co.za/bri...vs-american-english/

I always heard that one reason that America dropped the "u" from words like "colour" and "armour" was because of newspapers charging by the letter for ads and such.

These guys are starting up a new RPG related podcast and their first episode is going to be about the "Satanic Panic," so they were on Reddit asking for people's stories about it.  So I shared my story about the first game I played in.  I think they're supposed to have it ready in a week or 2, I'm sure they interviewed more people than just me.  But they were asking about how my faith has affected my gameplay and vice versa.  It was some stuff I'd never really thought about before.

https://i.redd.it/uw24rwlz36m21.png

Yes, it's a cantrip but it's arguably one of the most useful spells in the book.

-You create an instantaneous, harmless sensory effect,
such as a shower of sparks, a puff of wind, faint musi­cal
notes, or an odd odor.

If you need to signal someone on the other side of a courtyard or something, just throw a shower of sparks around yourself as a signal.

-You instantaneously light or snuff out a candle, a
torch, or a small campfire.

Useful if you need to start a fire in damp conditions.  Nothing says you can't add more wood to the small fire to make a bigger one after it's lit.

-You instantaneously clean or soil an object no larger
than 1 cubic foot.

Laundry?  What laundry?  Or the opposite, if you need to make someone's clothes dirty to sell a disguise.

-You chill, warm, or flavor up to 1 cubic foot of nonliv­ing material for 1 hour.

For the record, that's 7 1/2 GALLONS.  So if you want cold beer, make friends with the wizard.  Is the elf cooking supper again and he doesn't know how to season food?  Prestidigitate it up a notch!  BAM!

-You make a color, a small mark, or a symbol appear
on an object or a surface for 1 hour.

Okay, this one's maybe a bit more limited because of the spell's range (10 feet) but I can see using it to pass messages back and forth secretly at a dinner table or something maybe.

-You create a nonmagical trinket or an illusory image
that can fit in your hand and that lasts until the end of
your next turn.

Again, I don't see this one being overly useful because of its duration, though I can see it being used basically like making a holographic image of something to show the rest of the party what they're looking for or something of that nature.

In reply to James Urquhart (msg # 35):

So I went down the Skorkowsky rabbit hole...

Let me preface by saying that I generally only watch Youtube videos from people I already know because I find so many "Youtube hosts" unbearable - they are convinced their opinion is right, they know everything, and if you don't agree you are the devil. I can only take so much smugness before wanting to inflict pain...

So that is my mindset going in.  Which makes it more meaningful when I say..

I'm all in on the Skorkowsky bandwagon!

After watching the war stories I dug into the gmtoolbox and rpg philosophy videos and while I did not always agree with every conclusion, (though I probably did more often than not) the presentation of his arguments was fantastic. He is careful to make sure most of his arguments are presented as his opinion, not absolutes. He does not berate opposing opinions. For each point he provides a clear thesis with examples.

Frankly, these were a joy to watch.

In reply to The Storyteller (msg # 41):

I agree! I love him and his philosophy of roleplaying in general. His "RPG Social Contract" video should be, I think, required viewing for anyone new entering the hobby. If more people played like this, there would be a whole lot fewer dysfunctional games.

https://www.irishpost.com/news...ound-hard-ons-142488

Apparently there is a way to tell what an individual die will roll most often over time. This is for plastic dice with symmetrical edges.

Put them in salt water with enough salt the dice float. If there is a weight imbalance in the die, that spot will consistently move to the bottom, the number showing being the result you will get most often.

Or that's what they tell me, I have a sneaking suspicion I may try it.

In reply to Sebastiano Elia Romani (msg # 44):

I tried it, my dice wouldn’t float, no matter how much I salted the water.

In reply to James Urquhart (msg # 45):

oops, looks like I've got to edit my post.

In reply to Sebastiano Elia Romani (msg # 46):

Heh, sorry if I cut you off mid writing. My US history students were taking LEAP practice tests today, so I've had extra time to muck about on RPOL.

Not so good at patience when I'm bored!

Here’s the podcast I was interviewed for.

https://open.spotify.com/show/...6d_gOBQgORousE5ggo_w

So...I think we can all say this introduction has had some issues.  Everyone came in with a different idea of what the game was. That is on me.  I take full responsibility for not providing more guidance during the character creation process. For not pushing harder for everyone to discuss everything about their character in the creation thread so we were all on the same page.  That is on me.  I have a tendency to be extremely hands off, let everyone play whatever, and try to wrap my story around it assuming everyone will easily adapt.

Then I made things worse by rapid-fire posting because my schedule allowed it.  That was also wrong, and unfair to those who did not have the ability to post as quickly as I did.

So, My Apologies. Seriously, this is on me, and I’m sorry.  I have been working on a version of this game for close to six years now and wanted so badly to run it, I allowed myself to make several crucial mistakes.

So here is the Game’s full premise – in case there is still any more confusion. The supernatural exists.  How much? You don’t know. The gods are real, though not all of them are active. Magic exists. All of this is a carefully guarded secret.  So secret that it is not spoken of by anyone outside of the taskforce. So secret that most major world governments signed a Treaty to make sure it stays secret. One of the taskforce’s jobs will be to make sure it stays a secret.  The other will be to stop evil magic users, monsters, unexplained phenomenon, whatever, from hurting people.

Does anyone have any questions/issues/confusion about the games premise? Or the game in general? Or anything really?


Next GM story post comes tomorrow morning, that should have provided plenty of time for the characters to air out any remaining issues. If there is a problem with my waiting until then, or you need more time, let me know.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:46, Thu 04 Apr 2019.

I'll take a share of this rough start, too. I should have figured out which way everyone else was leaning with the party, and taken that into account. I really wanted to basically riff on Shawn Spencer from Psych, and I'm realizing how that isn't gonna work for this game. I'm gonna go ahead and fix that; I'm still trying to make him the comic relief, but he'll be (hopefully) less irritating than I was originally intending him to be.

I'll take that as a kindness, that's the main reason I never watched Psych was because that character annoyed ten kinds of crap out of me.

Yeah, he's a bit of an... acquired taste? I personally love the show, but I'll ease up on the irritation factor.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBe...p;utm_medium=ios_app

This approaches the idea from the perspective of film.  What stood out to me was that Patton, a 3 1/2 hour movie only had about 33 minutes of score written for it.

Yeah, so I’m going to pimp Seth Skorkowsky’s fiction.  I started on his first book in the Valducan  series, Damören.  It’s urban fantasy, seems inspired by Supernatural but better.

So, I have to backtrack; my wife informed me that we do actually have plans on the 27th: family get-together for my Mom's, my brother's, and Shaun's birthdays all at once. We won't be able to do that day at all. Could we do the 26th, Friday evening? If not, we'll be more than happy to come another time.

I know we prefer Saturdays to Fridays, but either are open for me.

Did a little looking on Chuck's Tranq guns.  First, they are airguns, which makes them good for covert missions, they aren't as loud as gunpowder.

As to the tranqs, they are frequently used in the wild to tag/rescue/subdue animals. Military and law enforcement rarely use them, especially not in the field, because there is no way to control the dosage. With humans, we vary so much you don't know what is an effective dose on one, and an overdose on the next, and not enough to stop the third.

For that matter, a drug addict might have sufficient tolerance that even if it works, and might not completely, it could take long enough he still has time to do bad things.


On the other hand, we don't have to be that realistic, the Chuck guns really are good tv weapons.

In reply to Sebastiano Elia Romani (msg # 57):

I was half meaning it as a joke, and expected Vadim and Ruth to give him this blank look and give him a big shotgun. I'm all for incorporating them, though!

Only issue I potentially see with the 26th is that we're supposed to go watch Endgame with Chris and Theresa on opening night.  I can't remember if that's that night or the night before though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7cwz7DJ4N8

This is for Josh. Don't watch around kids, there is some bad language. The audio of this one isn't great, there are other versions, but this is the only one I know with Paul & Storm, it is worth it. It is also longer than other versions, which makes me pretty sure he doesn't have the background music.

This is Wil Wheaton telling the story of meeting William Shatner on set. Star Trek V was filming next door to TNG.

Endgame comes out this month? I still haven't seen Infinity War.

Opening night for Endgame is Thursday 25th; the first full day of showings is Friday the 26th. Again, though, if y'all do have plans, no sweat. We can make it another night.

Okay, just confirmed with Chris, we're going to the 7pm showing on the 25th, so the 26th should be good for us.

So Cable's out at the house, has been all weekend. So not only can I not login into rpol from home, I can't get any school work done either.  That means I've got to set all available internet time at work, for work, until my connection is fixed.

In other words, I'm going to be away for a couple more days.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:01, Mon 15 Apr 2019.

Guys, I cannot recommend the movie Shazam enough! If you haven't seen it, it is worth the watch! It's fun, funny, and the perfect cure to the Zach Snyder "grim/dark/grittiness" that has pervaded DC so far. It is awesome!

http://truthwatchers.com/710-2/

This is mostly for Mike, although if you need a sermon idea, James, go ahead and take a peek ;)

I found it interesting, and wish I'd seen it twenty years ago.

I've got cable back, but the loss of those days has left me behind in school work - and we are not to far out from senior grades being due.  So this game remains on "pause" until this weekend at the earliest.

GM is back - updates today are short, but I should be able to post semi-regularly again.

Sorry it took me so long to respond, I was about to post the day RPOL went down.

If anyone is interested.

So the good news - internet has been restored at my apartment.
The bad news - It didn't happen until Sunday night, so I lost another weekend of grading.

That means I won't be around much to post until I catch up again - so I may be scarce for the next couple of days

What’s our status?  DM still behind on work or what?

"Hell week" is over.  Senior grades, Dual enrollment grades, Graduation slideshow, Term papers, and homework's and essays for seniors and college students missed during the many and varied days without internet are all posted/graded/complete.  That even includes one day where the school's internet went down due to a network loop caused by a faulty battery backup (oh yeah, that was a fun day).  Also - babysitting sophomores state testing for 4 1/2 hour a day - mind-numbing.

This week is the much milder "Purgatory week" - award ceremonies, graduation, and any other grades (including a test in one class) that were all delayed because of Hell week.  I should be able to post at least a couple of times this week.

To continue the theme, next week is Paradise week - the only students around are taking makeup tests.  Plenty of quiet time to finalize any remaining grades, handle end of year checklists, and post regularly on the game!
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:50, Mon 13 May 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqMs9WsJg2k

In reply to Sebastiano Elia Romani (msg # 73):

There’s only one reply for that:  “Helllllloooo nurse!”

Postmodern Jukebox definitely worth checking out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUlRavyDP6o

This one is fun, but not for Missy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VrjneFdZFI

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/c...s_in_a_trenchcoat_a/

https://responsive.rpol.net/

A version of Rpol that works better on Mobile devices

Cracked video: If Smartphone ads were honest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75gwlQlMLbk

My new diet plan: Whenever I'm going to snack on something, watch this video first.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8lgZxYxpC8

In one of my trips down the rabbit hole that is YouTube, I came across this channel.  She's a vocal coach and part of her schtick is reacting to different artists.  This one is her reaction to the current lead singer for Nightwish (Floor Jansen, formerly of After Forever).  Holy hallucinating heifers, Batman.  I have an album by After Forever and it's okay, she sounds good but not especially great on that one, but daaaayyyyyyuuuuuummmmn, she brings the pain with Nightwish.  I feel like a bit of a heretic saying this, but I think she outdoes Tarja Turunen (original Nightwish lead singer).  A large part of it is in how she sings in both rock/pop and opera styles and how quickly she's able to switch between them.  Not just in the same song, in the same VERSE!  Personally, I am not a trained singer of any kind, so I don't really know how difficult that is, but judging by how excited this vocal coach was when she heard Floor doing this, it's a pretty big freaking deal.  Also, she said that most singers she knows that sing in both styles don't even attempt to do both in the same day, so it's a HUGE deal that she's doing it in not only the same song but in the same verse.

TL;DR:  Mike finally heard Nightwish with their new lead singer and got REALLY excited because she outsings the original lead singer on the original material.

https://youtu.be/8iI2UFN3gSU

We have a household account to share Prime benefits.  Except that it would seem that when we set that up almost 2 years ago, we were both getting charged for separate Prime accounts.  We didn't notice until now.  I want to make sure Missy can still use all her stuff while we are only paying for 1 account.

https://babylonbee.com/news/mi...j-retires-from-music

I figure if anyone in this group is aware of this, it's Jockman but just in case, here's the link.

This is a project to update the ORIGINAL Star Wars trilogy to look good at 1080p and 4k resolutions.  It sounds pretty interesting and it also sounds like it's the only way to get the original theatrical versions of the films now since Lucas has wanted to do nothing but crap all over his own work for the last 20 years.

https://www.thestarwarstrilogy...&utm_name=iossmf

I remember a version of this from a while back, don't know if it was the same group or not.  It was far enough back that I think the one I saw was only working on a 1080p version.  I think this is the first I've heard of a 4k one.

If the Mandalorian adopts The Child, does that make it a Yodalorian?

In reply to Sebastiano Elia Romani (msg # 86):

No but if he writes electronic jingles for Clorox he'll be a MIDIchlorian.  I’ll see myself out.

Shortly into season 2 of The Magicians. I am enjoying this show far and away better than the book. I refuse to read more than the one book in the series, reviews have agreed with me to watch the show instead. Shocking, I know, but it does happen.

Yes, Josh, The Expanse, it's on my list.

They seek out the Knight of Crowns, so one of them can be crowned High King of Fillory. Yes, it manages to rip off Last Crusade and Chronicles of Narnia simultaneously.

And possibly Monty Python. The Knight has questions only the true High King could know, this is because the High King must be a child of Earth. Obviously.

All of his trivia is from the 90s. Such as the song made famous by children of famous singers. The hint is Beach Boys, and the two girls both answer Hold On by Wilson Phillips.

So the supposed High King hasn't gotten any right, and he says, "90s huh? Ask me about Patrick Swayze."

Eyes widening, "You know of the Swayze?"

The guy strips his jacket off, pulls one of the girls closer, and proceeds with the monologue from Dirty Dancing right before the big dance scene at the end.

The knight whispers recerentially, "Your Majesty! The crowns are yours."

I laughed til I nearly choked. I happen to have loved the 90s. They were good to me.

Not so sure what 2020s are shaping up to look like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

Video for Weird Al's White and Nerdy. If you haven't watched the video, I recommend it. I only watched it the first time a few minutes ago.

Just saw his video for Perform This Way, which is mostly his head over Lady Gaga's body. Mostly.

And I'm done with that for tonight, time to watch something a little less disturbing.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:04, Wed 22 Apr 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HS4O0mxl3A

I finally got a new chair to use at my computer.  I can't tell you how much better it feels to actually be sitting in a computer chair now instead of that old rocking chair.  And it came with a USB powered massaging lumbar cushion too.  Sweet Christmas...

I can see where that would be nice. Last couple days I've been having back trouble. One thing, I'm not use to sitting this long at a time, and so little getting up to move around.

Does that mean it is DOOM time?

Well, I beat DOOM already.  I'm waiting for the price of DOOM Eternal to come down before I buy it.  I've actually been playing Pathfinder:  Kingmaker lately.  It's pretty fun, isometric RPG in the same vein as Baldur's Gate.

In reply to James Urquhart (msg # 93):

I quite liked Kingmaker - though I never quite finished it.  There is a bit of a difficulty curve right at the end (I can't say particularly where because...spoilers).  I went from doing fairly well to getting fracked up real quick in a later fight. Combo that with other games I wanted to play that I bought at the same time, and I haven't quite gotten back to it just yet.

Don't let that sound like a bad review though, I really enjoyed what I played (which was the majority of the game), but then I'm a sucker for isometric rpgs as long as I like the characters & Story.  I actually liked the Kingdom management as well - though that part is probably not for everyone.

I'll eventually go back and finish (though It might mean turning down the difficulty, I don't have the patience to replay something more than 2-3 times before lowering the difficulty anymore.)

I started step 1 of getting prosthetic.

Stump is healed. Called O&P folks, they said come on, I'm wearing the shrinker now.

Go back in a week.

Yay!

I've rather enjoyed Kingmaker, much more so than that awful Neverwinter Nights module by the same name that I'm still convinced was written by a 4 year old who received the Monster Manual and a butt load of crystal meth for his birthday.  Or maybe Joe Exotic, same difference.

As for the difficulty spike, the part during the Womb of Lamashtu quest when the party has to split was one of the worst difficulty spikes I've ever dealt with.  I had to drop the difficulty all the way down and reduce the damage the PCs took to like half to be able to keep them alive long enough to finish that.  Owlbears are freaking nasty in that game!

I got hooked on Cities:  Skylines again.  I was watching dumb YouTube videos of a guy building weird stuff in the game (sewage volcanoes, "spaghetti junctions," etc.) and it gave me the itch again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMKODu2e230

Rob Paulsen on TEDx Talks.

Rob Paulsen voiced such characters as Raphael, Yakko, Pinky, Carl from Jimmy Neutron, and Donatello in a later version of TMNT.

Josh, I highly recommend for you.

Nate (the bald guy that has the channel WASD20) recommends this site.  It's actually free free, I don't know what a paid subscription adds but it seems like a pretty neat tool for keeping track of stuff instead of having 50 notebooks or Word documents floating around 4 different computers.

https://www.worldanvil.com/

This guy builds custom AKs and other Russian weapons.  His subscribers asked him to review/react to both the original and 2012 remakes of Red Dawn.  Some hilarity ensued along with a bit of foul language.

Original:  https://youtu.be/AfK4H2v585s

2012:    https://youtu.be/oHQ7Bw5G7mM

I'm not sure why but I decided to load Just Cause 2 up again the other day.  Where Mercenaries and Mercenaries 2 were basically Grand Theft Auto in Korea and Venezuela, Just Cause is basically GTA in a fictional 3rd World country that can't decide if it's spoofing North Korea, Pakistan, or Thailand.  In Mercenaries you got to pick from 3 different people to play as (and you were an absolute fool if you didn't pick the Swede because he was hysterically funny because of his accent and the crazy lines he spouted).  In Just Cause, you play as a totally-not-CIA operative named Rico.  And while he has some kind of funny one-liners, he's not Matthias Nielsen (the Swede).  On the other hand, the physics in Mercenaries kind of sucked.  That's the main thing JC has going for it is the Havok physics engine and the weird gimmick that he has (a grappling hook).  And damn is that grappling hook fun.  Grapple an enemy and pull them off a cliff, grapple them and attach the other end to a truck and drag them around, grapple them to another dude and watch them smack into each other, or (my personal favorite) grapple them and attach them to a gas cylinder then shoot the cylinder and watch them fly around randomly.

Pitch meeting for Star Wars Holiday Special

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9YQn8j--xs