What would you do with a windfall?

[mythusmage]

Here, here. I totally agree with you Turanil, I like 3.5 and don't want it to change (at least not for another ten years)!

Don't worry, it would take at least 5 years to bring the typical American up to speed on how reality works.

 

[Umbran]

Don't worry, it would take at least 5 years to bring the typical American up to speed on how reality works.

Typical rich man's approach. Get wrapped up in the fact that you can do a thing, without so much concern with whether you should. If we want how the real world works, we can go outside and experience it. There's no pressing need to make swords work exactly like the real thing when some folks throw fireballs.

 

[Hida Bukkorosu]

one other thing... i'd fund research into using explosives on an undersea faultline to create a new island (like how Cobra Island was created) so i can use the island to start my own country.

 

[mythusmage]

Typical rich man's approach. Get wrapped up in the fact that you can do a thing, without so much concern with whether you should. If we want how the real world works, we can go outside and experience it. There's no pressing need to make swords work exactly like the real thing when some folks throw fireballs.

Umbran, have you ever been in the wilderness? For even a weekend? Not in a camper or RV, but 'roughing it'. Backpack and sleeping bag and food cooked over an open fire. No contact with the outside world, none at all.

As currently written the D&D rules give a criminally erroneous picture of how things work. In my considered opinion better knowledge of the real world would result in a vastly improved roleplaying experience. Even in munchkin or hack 'n slash games.

Let me put it this way. You don't need a feat to wear armor, all you need is some time to get used to it. Used to the weight, the way it 'hangs', how it moves as you move.

No need to accurately model swords with fireballs around? On the contrary, when you know how swords really work it makes it easier to present them more effectively in the game, and so give the sword weilder a better tool to use against fireball flingers.

(Hint #1: Throwing your sword is a dramatic way of disarming yourself.)

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

As currently written the D&D rules give a criminally erroneous picture of how things work. In my considered opinion better knowledge of the real world would result in a vastly improved roleplaying experience. Even in munchkin or hack 'n slash games.

Keep it in Dangerous Journeys, then. Or buy Chivalry & Sorcery, and use that. If I wanted realism, I'd go out and do stuff. Besides, I like D&D as is.

Now, as for the Gigabucks win...

Well, the Houdini Foundation would've been opened once I got around $12M or so post-tax. It'd get a lot bigger, and operate on a national scale.

And then I'd build my fortress-bunker somewhere in Montana...no, Canada, and slowly but surely buy up land in a bid to declare independence.

Brad

 

[Uzumaki]

Never heard of it, what is it exactly?

It's an archipelago (a group of small islands) that's for sale last I heard. Twenty-three islands for $25 million.

 

[Umbran]

Umbran, have you ever been in the wilderness? For even a weekend? Not in a camper or RV, but 'roughing it'. Backpack and sleeping bag and food cooked over an open fire. No contact with the outside world, none at all.

Yep. Spent from age 11 to age 18 in the Boy Scouts (and a fewyears in the Cubs before that). Went camping almost every month, even in winter, with only what I could carry on my back. Even did one memorable weekend where I went in with the clothes on my back, a stout blanket, some rope, some string, my pocket knife, and a hatchet, and nothing else.

As currently written the D&D rules give a criminally erroneous picture of how things work.

I certainly agree that the D&D rules don't model things accurately. I disagree that it is criminal, bascially because I feel that the inaccuracy makes the game more fun.

The real world is complex and detailed. An accurate model would have to reflect those traits. And complex, detailed models run slooowly. Slow games aren't fun.

Even if it isn't slow, the real world is not heroic. It is dirty, and difficult, and full of infectious disease and general uncomfortableness. I don't want an accurate description of how swords work, because real swords generally end each person's battle in the first swipe, usually either killing or crippling the victim for life. That's simply not fun to play.

In the real world, if a single man armed anything short of modern firearms were faced with a dragon-sized carniverous reptile, the reptile would win. Period. End of discussion. But I want my players to have a chance to face down a dragon and live to tell the tale if they are smart.

In the end, D&D isn't about being accurate. It never has been. It is about telling a neat story where people do really cool stuff that can't happen in real life. Being really accurate is antithetical to that purpose.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Say, oh, $50k dropped in your lap. Free & clear, no strings. What would you do?

Free and clear, as in no taxes due (or it was really 150K and this is what's left over after taxes)?

Then it all goes into educational trust funds for my children + nephews. With that looming financial burden gone (or greatly reduced), I can relax and enjoy life a little more.


If it's the gajillions mega-lotto-super-powerball millions? Same as above, plus I quit my job, sell my house, and buy a new house or two (in different states). Then lots of travel (both inside and outside the U.S.--there's lots of places I want to see).

Oh, and an ENWorld Gameday at some really cool place--transportation provided.

 

[tarchon]

I would use it to buy a 2-bedroom town-home on the HUD program. Spend 25k to 45k to buy the house and then another 10k to renovate it, hold on to it for about 3 to 5 years while it appreciates in value and then sell it hopefully for at least twice what I bought it for.

My ex-wife did this she bought a HUD home for 30K, renovated it and now 4 years later its worth 65k. The property values in DFW just keep going up and up as more of the Metroplex gets developed.

Real-estate is always your best investment.

Yeah, you always hear about the ones who doubled their money in 5 years, but the people who lose their shirts don't speak loudly. In the long term, I tihnk residential real estate in the US typically appreciates at about 6% year. Sometimes you get lucky and you hit a patch where the price goes up by 20-30% in a year , and sometimes you buy into the top of an overheated market and have to wait 6-7 years before you can get out what you put into it. :\ It's also very illiquid and the transaction costs are nasty. It can be the best investment, but it depends on a lot of things.

 

[The Sigil]

$50K - Buy a minivan, then throw the rest at my mortgage.

$25M - Buy two minivans and three custom homes (one west coast, one east coast, one central european). Throw the rest into savings and live off the interest, spending my days randomly travelling the country/world committing random acts of kindness.

$1B - As $25M, purchase the rights to every RPG I could get my hands on (starting with D&D) - and dumping the OGL. The "new and improved" OGL would release every bit of RPG material I owned the rights to for use by anyone, with one string attached - they have to do the same thing (including retroactively opening completely past works) - i.e., everything you do must be 100% OGC if you want to use "my toys."

$1T (I'm totally pipe dreaming here, I know) - Buy up Disney, Sony Records, and any other "Intellectual Property" company I can find and release all THEIR stuff into the public domain.