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But, is that a copyright issue or a trademark issue? See Trademark Fun - McDonald's v. McDowell's | Widerman Malek, PL As a trademark issue, its a gimme. Thx! TomB

I probably misspoke. I thought that "Illithid" was off limits. Maybe that's a trademark issue? Or the protection was something special to the OGL? But, I dont buy his argument. He might be correct, and I'll allow that he is practically speaking, but his argument is dubious. He argues that...

Having read through the first blog post, I'm finding that I tend to agree with his conclusion, but find his reasoning to be terribly muddled. Not to mention, makes a couple of dubious claims. I find his arguments that stat blocks serve a functional purpose works in his favor. That fits with...

I looked through the images which were presented, and both the format and the text are modified. Tor example, CR and Exp are relocated, and the layout uses simple lines of varying widths, while the WotC layout uses tapering lines. Certain text elements are the same -- "Poor Depth Perception"...

Here's a thing: The stat blocks aren't an exact reproduction, nor is the ability text or attack text exact text copies. I thought that game rules weren't copyrightable, just their expression. Then, if its a game rule that cyclops has 22HP, that is not copyrightable. However, the particular...

Is the slow-down that occurs from iterative attacks the result of players pausing between attacks to decide what to do next? I can imagine having the extra decision points could cause a considerable slow-down. (And, the decision time is stacked on top of any steps to result a successful or...

The use of color blocks, and the various symbols, and the erasure of certain details, are what add a 4E tinge to me. (I have a critique of the elements that I'm working on, but that doesn't pertain to possible 4E similarities.)

Then, are you optimistic, with AI and Fusion power bringing a new age of leisure for all, or are you pessimistic, with AI displacing most folks, and with the riches brought by fusion power held by a few, and used to keep the masses subjugated? Do the masses migrate into enormous Arcologies...

Can you provide more details as to what technology defines each age, and the posited social, economic, and environmental impact of each? For example, what are the results of large scale data collection, plus the increasing dominance of relatively few corporations, plus the growing emergence of...

There is violence in gaming, but only up to a point. Hit points hide the sense of realistic damage: In few games do we deal with lingering injuries (cut nerves or tendons, badly healed bones) or issues of infection, or of malnutrition or insanity. For most games, the violence is of a sanitized...

Which fits. Although, Mocking Words is in PHB II, and seems to have generated some controversy. And, it has a keyword psychic, which would seem to make it at least partially magical. Is the keyword necessary? Thx! TomB

Shadows cause damage supernaturally, with inverted similarity to a paladin laying on hands. A Marshall bolstering a companion doesn’t have the same feel. Purely psychological effects have been modeled as fear, or as bonuses to checks, but not as adding or removing hit points — until 4E. I...

Some points about minions: I think the "1 HP" notion is an attempt to model a more general feature: Minions are intended to model creatures which die after one solid hit. A more accurate model would give minions about 1/2 the HP value of an average attack. As a simplification, that is changed...

Star Trek TOS episode The Mark of Gideon takes a direct look at overpopulation as a result of near immortality. You could view 40K’s Eldar Paths philosophy as a commentary on having potentially thousands of years of life. Haldeman’s Old Twentieth has immortality as causing key events in the...

This seems to be on point: https://web.stanford.edu/~oas/SI/SRGR/notes/SRGRLect10_2007.pdf Some main points are this, from page 3, regarding a non-rotating case: That "IRF" in "ever shrinking IRF" is short for "Inertial Reference Frame". Close to the infalling observer, spacetime is still...

This particular question has bugged me for a while. I don't have a clear answer, just what seems to be necessary for consistency. Very definitely, there would be perceivable effects of the curvature; that would be tidal effects, and red and blue shifting of light. What seems necessary is that...

Is this correct? If one were held still, perhaps, but an infalling observer should still see objects which fell ahead of them. In the infalling frame, the light proceeds outwards. From the perspective of a still frame of reference, the observer would seem to catch up to light emitted by the...

If they are inside the black hole, then either they are using their faster-than-light drive to keep from falling inwards, or they are falling inwards along with light any any other unlucky matter in their vicinity. (Light would be moving along a geodesic which terminates at the singularity; any...

Yes. Then: How old should he appear after 107 chronological years? Does his appearance in the movie match 107 "Cap" years? Could he be much older than 107? Thx! TomB

Re: Whether Cap is the original. My sense is that we don't know, but in the absence of a direct statement from the movie, to have him be from a different timeline feels unfair to the viewer. I'd prefer that he be the original Cap. What are Cap years to normal human years anyway? How old is...