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  1. Umbran

    Time travel doesn't exist because time travel wiped out the timelines where it did

    If we are taking that view, your statement is kind of like saying that left-right is not navigable separate from forward-back, which is clearly wrong. I can walk forward without walking right. That's not the quantum world angle. In the Many Worlds interpretation, all possibilities exist and...
  2. Umbran

    Time travel doesn't exist because time travel wiped out the timelines where it did

    Bingo! You've got it! Now, you can discuss pure fantasy in terms of its internal logic and consistency just fine. But arguments of the form, "That's not how magic would really work," are generally bogus.
  3. Umbran

    The Invincible (amazon prime series)

    It is good. But, I am told, if you were on from the beginning, the waits between seasons were kind of interminable. I jumped on late, so I could watch more of the story in a more regular fashion, and was happy for that. ... because now the waits between seasons seem soooo loooooonnnnnngggggg.
  4. Umbran

    Time travel doesn't exist because time travel wiped out the timelines where it did

    Yes, but everything we know about how time travel might possibly work also involves materials that don't exist, and/or that we cannot manipulate, in configurations that should not be physically stable. Like, infinitely long, rapidly rotating cylinders of neutronium. How we think it "might...
  5. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    Having not been there, I of course cannot say with any certainty. But... connotations matter. If you point out to them that they just asked a question, that's one thing. If you point out to them that they've been disrupting play with several picayune questions, that's another. And, with...
  6. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    Well, humans literally (and this is literally-literally, not figuratively-literally) process judgements about others with different parts of the brain than they judge themselves. So, folks can very much have a different opinion of their own behavior than they would have of someone else doing...
  7. Umbran

    Time travel doesn't exist because time travel wiped out the timelines where it did

    Well, that's the thing, isn't it? Since we don't know how to do it, we first have to posit how complex and power-hungry it is. So, you are rejecting a posit, based on another posit. Not exactly the most stable of bases for an argument.
  8. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    Correction - people who actually show up consistently AND ARE FREE TO PLAY IN YOUR GAME may be unicorns. It is like asking, "Where are all the truly awesome people who want to be in long-term relationships? I want one of them!" Well, sorry, but they are mostly in long-term relationships...
  9. Umbran

    Anticipatory Grief

    Always welcome! Celebrate your pets!
  10. Umbran

    Anticipatory Grief

    My wife is a veterinarian that does hospice, end of life, and palliative care exclusively. She is, as I type this, at a house call helping a client say goodbye to their pet. And what you say above is not her recommendation to her clients. (Edit to add: When she got home from the house call, I...
  11. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    My understanding is that there's a shortage of games. Period. The number of folks who are willing to run games is small compared to the number of folks who want to play games. I don't think there is an identifiable set of "best practices" for this. The people and situations vary too much...
  12. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    Eh, no. If there's a problem it is in the mismatch - that you and the player want different things. But that doesn't mean that what either of you want, in and of itself, is a problem.
  13. Umbran

    Anticipatory Grief

    So, on the medical front... Meds are holding up, for now. The cat's not hiding, and is staying social, feels good enough to get on the bed herself, and so on, which is great. We've spoken with an oncologist, and have a game plan. We will be going with chemotherapy. Rather than speak in...
  14. Umbran

    Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

    No, man. Making an Oreo taste like meat is the crime against humanity.
  15. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    So, any hook is a great hook if everyone puts in a little work. Even the tavern one. While it has since been clarified, the original statement didn't speak to that work. If the original statement had been, "I prefer a fully fleshed out central origin for all the characters," we could have...
  16. Umbran

    D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

    I find it the opposite. "You're all part of a Thieves' Guild" is right up there with "you all meet in a tavern" unless you put some solid work into the guild and its role in the world and its relationship to the PCs. Heck, even if everyone does start in the same guild, I'd want them to each...
  17. Umbran

    D&D General Highest level PC you've achieved.

    One of my original 1e characters made it to lvl 18 (Elven Magic-User).
  18. Umbran

    Having problems with editing tools while posting

    The "toggle BB code" switch is local to your browser, so the problem with not follow you between various devices if you hit it on one of them.
  19. Umbran

    3I/ATLAS

    Yeah, but we took a picture... of an interstellar object... from orbit around Mars! That's just wild!
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