Search results

This, in a nutshell. It is very crummy to ask for help under false pretenses, of course. But, if you need it, there shouldn't be a problem with asking for, or giving, help.

I am speaking it aloud before any play begins, but then probably not in the moment. For example, I generally reserve the right to occasionally fudge dice rolls. I do not generally announce when I am doing so in play. Occasionally, but most often not. They allow me my judgement. I have...

The word "appropriate" did some lifting in my statement. For example, there are social sciences that are not appropriate for use as the basis for generalizations to be applied to current, living people, or used as the basis for current social policy, and the like.

For example, by setting expectations in something like a Session Zero. For every campaign, even with my regular group who have been playing with me variously for a decade or two, I first poll the players for their preferences, and then inform them of what deviations from strict adherence to...

And the player would have continued to argue. Because - and let us remember the real point - players don't always take the GM's word as gospel. While they might usually do so, it cannot be assumed, and our thoughts on GMing and games need to include the less-than-optimal situations.

Enlightenment. Yep. Go to University. Get a doctorate in an appropriate social science.

With respect, social science folks are very clever, and can extract data from what looks like anecdotes. But, also, yes - social sciences in the past have gotten it very wrong, to the harm of peoples in the past. So, being aware of the limitations of your information, and how far you should...

Sometimes. But, in this case, the player was trying to use their own knowledge to get information their character shouldn't have had. And in other times... ...look, I'm a physicist. You ask me how things really work, and it will kill your scifi game faster than you can say "Schwartzchild...

Garbage in, garbage out. If all you have to work with is bad, then you admit you don't have the information you need, rather than come to erroneous conclusions. Folks are way, waaay, too reluctant to say, "I don't know." But saying that is fundamental to actual progress.

You can't assume, that, though. You might be playing in the setting of Larry Niven's The Integral Trees, in which folks aren't living on a planetary surface at all. There can be Type-1 facts, but you have to elucidate which ones they are.

Oh, no they aint! Look, there's a whole lot that a credible researcher does to support the integrity of data that regular people just don't do with anecdotes. Like, record them individually and separately, with accompanying metadata.

Excellent. I want to be a prophet about as much as Kirk wanted to be an Admiral.

I dunno. I once had a player take up 5 to 10 minutes of game time arguing with me about what a piece of particular technology should look like. Never mind that this was under a different technology base than we currently work. Never mind that the character was not proficient with the...

When I look around, I see advice that typical "small business" is looking for a profit margin of 10% to 20%. Steve Jackson Games - in 2023, they had a gross revenue of about $3.5 million... and were taking a loss for the year. No profits...

Hasn't EN World done funding drives to support server upgrades? I am not entirely sure how this is different.

Mod Note: If you want to criticize how folks post, how about you criticize how you are arguing against the person of the poster, rather than the content of the argument. Glass house. Stones. And such. Don't make it personal. Thanks.

I am only a prophet by way of everyone else - I spew forth some amount of stuff, and some tiny faction of might turn out to be true, at which point I will be declared a genius and revered for generations, without consideration of all the crap I said that didn't come to pass.

But, the question is whether the company actually needs assistance covering the unexpected expense of trying to claw back their property. The gross revenue doesn't give you that. The gross revenue + vague hand-waving about products and probably being profitable for a while doesn't give you that.

Social contracts are where we establish that people can't do whatever they want. The game rules are merely an appendix to the agreement between people about what we are doing. And yes, enforcement of social contracts is awkward as heck. I am sorry, but being human is awkward as heck. Until...

I wouldn't expect to see such yet. Broadly, diagnosis calls for information that cannot be gained by talking to you. Until we have a telehealth system that can do blood and urine analysis and do medical imaging, you won't see much telehealth diagnosis. Telehealth is useful for continuing care...