Recent content by Umbran

A discussion of all that would break forum rules. It would be great if you were correct. So, there are two different things we could try to ban: 1) Discussion of AI. 2) Actual use of AI-generated content in posts on these boards. The former is relatively easy - there's already subjects we...

Um, no. The alpha of the pack... is Dad. I mean the whole "alpha" thing is a huge misreading of social structures of a mixed bag of wolves thrown together in captivity. The observed behavior, our picture of "alphas", is entirely unnatural behavior for wolves. It is what wolves did when taken...

Alas, a hug might give a temporary respite, but will not fix what ails us.

"Technically correct is the best kind of correct." - Futurama I think you would do well to reconsider what "hyperbolic" means. Billions of dollars of content were taken without permission, in an attempt to make trillions in revenue, for which the content creators are apt to receive precisely...

And then there's the matter of considering it separately as a matter of game design, table execution, and individual player action. As in, the perfect scenario is that the game is designed for it, the table is executing it in that mode, and all players are equally engaged. But there's also a...

Look, I already know it isn't up for actual discussion. Just allow my commentary to pass, and let's move on.

Right. Moldvay Basic. Published in 1981. But this feature is "modern". Sure. That makes sense. (Narrator: No, it did not make sense.)

Well, they didn't take a standard Barbie, and just slap the word "autistic" on the box. There are some design bits on this Barbie that are to support the distinction. She is holding a fidget spinner, for one (admittedly small) thing. For another, she has articulated wrists and elbows, that...

Unfortunately, that's not entirely true. You see, there's this society around you. No one is an island. You are not a rugged individual, separate from society. You are intimately linked to it. And there's value, or lack of value, or even detriment, to that society to consider. Yeah, but...

So, the point of comparing to TV is merely to give you an idea of energy scale. It should not be the basis upon which we choose if the activity is worth the cost - that's the fallacy of whataboutism. We ought to look at the energy use for the value it gets us, not for the value some other...

Sure. Be remember that we aren't really talking about one use. A million text prompts become like 104 days of TV viewing. And when there's more than a million people using it, and each person is using it over and over and over in a day, the aggregate isn't great.

I'm not digging our my 1e DMG for this, but my guess is that the real difference for modern design isn't that principles exist, but that the statement is made clearly. Gygax went on about how a GM should do things and why - but that advice is scattered about, and sometimes seemingly...

Or, more simply - what it comes up with as a "most probable answer" is not checked to be factually correct.

The species and politics have changed with every series, so that's not telling. So long as the ethos is the same, yes, there's value to it.

Hit points are pretty meta - they are more about playing a game than being in the setting- so, yeah, I am okay with that.