Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[trappedslider]

I do and don't want to know the story behind this

 

[Ryujin]

I do and don't want to know the story behind this

You would think that stuff like the bottom centre would be common sense but we once had someone in our department, which almost all university educated, dispose of their mixed vegetables from lunch in a urinal. That stuff doesn't flush. Proof that education does not equal intelligence.

 

[Staffan]

I know you're just blowing off steam, but... No.

Antibiotics. Indoor/outdoor plumbing. Mass literacy. Readily available nutrition. Space travel.

Think positive. Dwelling on the negative will only help you dwell on the negative.

There was a Superior Spider-Man Team-up issue that dealt with this. The plot is that a young lady who romanticizes the past has just gone through Terrigenesis (the process by which Inhumans acquire their powers – this was during the period when Marvel was trying to sideline mutants in favor of Inhumans, because Fox had the movie rights to mutants) and turned into living electricity. This happens at the same time as Thanos is launching an attack on Earth. Spider-Man (who at this point is actually Otto Octavius wearing Peter Parker's body and having Peter's conscience foisted on him) tries to help her deal with her powers, and the lack of a physical body, but once he suggests she can enter the power grid things take a turn for the worse. See, the lady in question believes modern society is a scourge upon humanity, and things would be much better if we could just go back to the middle ages. Otto argues otherwise:

 

[MNblockhead]

You would think that stuff like the bottom centre would be common sense but we once had someone in our department, which almost all university educated, dispose of their mixed vegetables from lunch in a urinal. That stuff doesn't flush. Proof that education does not equal intelligence.

As a working class kid who ended up in white collar fields, I think it has more to do with just lack of conscientiousness. 30 years ago, I would say that I saw this more with those from higher income brackets. But not it seems to be more universal. Probably just an age thing. One you've spent 18 years trying to raise kids to be decent people, perhaps you kinda look at everyone through the lens of a parent.

 

[Scribe]

I didn't have this on my bingo card for "will lead to scribes suicide by mod" but damn if it's not tempting.

I will endeavor however to rise above, and discuss nothing but Shadowdark for a month.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Not relevant to anything anyone is talking about (... sorry) but for some years now I've been trying to track down a number of old RPG fanzines, and if you wanted to know the most futile possible pastime, I have to tell you, that may be it.

Like, even if you're a youngish gamer who grew up in this post-periodical world, you will have heard of Dragon magazine, and probably White Dwarf. If you delve a little into the hobby, you'll find references to slightly-less-well-known periodicals like Different Worlds or Gateways. If you try to track down really old gaming references, you might come across obscure but well-regarded APAzines like The Wild Hunt and Alarums & Excursions (still being published!). And even US-based gamers of my age will probably now know about the big magazines from overseas, like Casus Belli (France), or Mephisto (German), or Australian Realms (Austrian*).

I'm talking about even more obscure titles that no sane person has heard of. Things that might only have had a distribution of a few hundred issues to members of a specific RPG club. Some of them only lasted one to five issues. So, I'm talking rare stuff.

And, let me be clear, a lot of this stuff is, frankly, garbage compared to "the good stuff." Like, poorly-edited, inconsistently-formatted, massively-cliched stuff. For every forgotten gem of a scenario, you'll have six articles about why women don't belong in gaming, or how to make differences between polearms more pronounced, or a statblock for a totally-original monster with terrible scribbly art.

I absolutely love this stuff, man. I treasure the gems more, of course, but each terrible article or adventure was a labor of love from somebody just like me, with all of my biases, and prejudices, and limitations, and, just maybe, one or two good ideas.

But it's frustrating. For instance, I'm currently looking for French and German fanzines from the 80s and 90s, and I only speak one of those languages. Frustrating.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I will endeavor however to rise above, and discuss nothing but Shadowdark for a month.

So, there's a new Shadowdark project about pirates someone is teasing on the Facebook group and, while I love Shadowdark -- easily my current favorite system -- it feels so superfluous in a universe where Pirate Borg exists and is probably already played by a decent percentage (at least 10%, I'd bet) of Shadowdark players.

That said, this month, we start our every other month Shadowdark game (alternating with 5E Radiant Citadel months) in earnest, and I am pumped. I need to crank out the updated players guide this weekend so everyone can start picking what rumors they want to investigate, West Marches Style. So many cool things planned, including unlocking new playable races and classes, videogame style, when the players solve certain problems.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

And, let me be clear, a lot of this stuff is, frankly, garbage compared to "the good stuff." Like, poorly-edited, inconsistently-formatted, massively-cliched stuff. For every forgotten gem of a scenario, you'll have six articles about why women don't belong in gaming, or how to make differences between polearms more pronounced, or a statblock for a totally-original monster with terrible scribbly art.

I remember Space Gamer having an AD&D class for the houri, which is what everyone thinks it is and not the actual Muslim idea (which adds a whole separate level of problematic to it). My dudes, what were you thinking?

 

[overgeeked]

I didn't have this on my bingo card for "will lead to scribes suicide by mod" but damn if it's not tempting.

I will endeavor however to rise above, and discuss nothing but Shadowdark for a month.

Whatever it is it’s not worth it.

 

[MNblockhead]

Not relevant to anything anyone is talking about (... sorry) but for some years now I've been trying to track down a number of old RPG fanzines, and if you wanted to know the most futile possible pastime, I have to tell you, that may be it.

Like, even if you're a youngish gamer who grew up in this post-periodical world, you will have heard of Dragon magazine, and probably White Dwarf. If you delve a little into the hobby, you'll find references to slightly-less-well-known periodicals like Different Worlds or Gateways. If you try to track down really old gaming references, you might come across obscure but well-regarded APAzines like The Wild Hunt and Alarums & Excursions (still being published!). And even US-based gamers of my age will probably now know about the big magazines from overseas, like Casus Belli (France), or Mephisto (German), or Australian Realms (Austrian*).

I'm talking about even more obscure titles that no sane person has heard of. Things that might only have had a distribution of a few hundred issues to members of a specific RPG club. Some of them only lasted one to five issues. So, I'm talking rare stuff.

And, let me be clear, a lot of this stuff is, frankly, garbage compared to "the good stuff." Like, poorly-edited, inconsistently-formatted, massively-cliched stuff. For every forgotten gem of a scenario, you'll have six articles about why women don't belong in gaming, or how to make differences between polearms more pronounced, or a statblock for a totally-original monster with terrible scribbly art.

I absolutely love this stuff, man. I treasure the gems more, of course, but each terrible article or adventure was a labor of love from somebody just like me, with all of my biases, and prejudices, and limitations, and, just maybe, one or two good ideas.

But it's frustrating. For instance, I'm currently looking for French and German fanzines from the 80s and 90s, and I only speak one of those languages. Frustrating.

I wish you luck! I can relate in that I love to find old "coffee shop zines" from the slacker 80s. Those kinko-printed booklets that would be distributed at coffee shops around town in the days before the internet and mobile devices. A lot of junk, some amazing gems, and much nostalgia.