The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[CleverNickName]

I mean, this has always been the case. Going with "whatever has the most plusses!" has always been a thing in D&D...

"The numbers go up until I win" is a very old D&D-ism.

Nowadays, we like to say stuff like "action economy" and "bounded accuracy" instead...but we're still saying "the numbers go up until I win."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

my mom has discovered shifter romance lol, I think the Kindle unlimited/self-publishing has really opened the door.

It seems like half of the girls I went to high school with now write self-published romance novels featuring vampires or werewolves.

 

[CleverNickName]

It seems like half of the girls I went to high school with now write self-published romance novels featuring vampires or werewolves.

 

[Deset Gled]

A few years ago, a friend of mine and I went to a Barnes & Noble, and she had a chuckle at my expense. I hadn't been to a bookstore in a few years (mostly because I was getting my fix buying pulp book lots on eBay) and hadn't realized just how much of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi section had become supernatural romance literature. The walls have already come down, and if you still see them it's because the light hasn't reached you yet...

Fun historical note. Here's a thread from 2002 where ENWorlders used info from romance forums to aid in world building for their D&D games: https://www.enworld.org/threads/my-lord-earl-and-his-wife-the.29472/

The walls may have never really existed.

 

[payn]

I can't imagine playing D&D with a whole table full of optimization-focused people.

Me: Okay everyone, let's roll up characters. Bob, what sort of character do you want to play?
Bob: THE BEST ONE!
Me: Well, that's a bit...subjective. What kind of weapon does your character pref--
Bob: THE BEST ONE!!!!
Me: Again, that's pretty subj--
Bob: AND I WANT THE BEST STATS! JIM ROLLED BETTER THAN ME SO CAN I REROLL?
Me: (swallowing two Excedrin, with a Maalox chaser)

Actually, I like when all the playstyles match, but I get what you are sayin.

 

[payn]

It seems like half of the girls I went to high school with now write self-published romance novels featuring vampires or werewolves.

True Crud.

 

[Mad_Jack]

my mom has discovered shifter romance lol, I think the Kindle unlimited/self-publishing has really opened the door.

The one problem I have with the boom in paranormal romance writing is that so much of it simply just isn't good writing...
For every Kim Harrison, you get ten Christine Feehans who, at best, are just formulaic and boring because they read 50 Shades of Gray and decided that their personal Twilight/Harry Potter/50 Shades fan fiction mashup was so unique and awesome that everyone else should read it.

I can't imagine playing D&D with a whole table full of optimization-focused people.

Me: Okay everyone, let's roll up characters. Bob, what sort of character do you want to play?
Bob: THE BEST ONE!
Me: Well, that's a bit...subjective. What kind of weapon does your character pref--
Bob: THE BEST ONE!!!!
Me: Again, that's pretty subj--
Bob: AND I WANT THE BEST STATS! JIM ROLLED BETTER THAN ME SO CAN I REROLL?
Me: (swallowing two Excedrin, with a Maalox chaser)

Those aren't optimizers. Those are idiots.

A true optimizer would focus on being really good at one or two related things, while making sure that they don't have any glaring weaknesses in other areas that they don't have a workaround for.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Ack. Double post.

 

[Hussar]

View attachment 285750

I learned a new word today.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The one problem I have with the boom in paranormal romance writing is that so much of it simply just isn't good writing...
For every Kim Harrison, you get ten Christine Feehans who, at best, are just formulaic and boring because they read 50 Shades of Gray and decided that their personal Twilight/Harry Potter/50 Shades fan fiction mashup was so unique and awesome that everyone else should read it.

Sturgeon's Law and all of that. I know several people whose sex-with-monsters stuff brings in real money, so they must be doing something right.

In any case, high school me would never have believed what the pop culture landscape of 2023 would look like, including former cheerleaders talking about which monster is the most f-able.