Walsingham

I had a skorponok toy, but I had a some kind of weird tropical fever and shot him with incendiaries. moral: don't do mosquitos.

I got confused there with Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" "TURNING and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity." Good for muttering when you want your subordinates to get worried. I just looked up The Hollow Men. Might have to memorise that one.

I'm really pleased to see people still enjoying wfrp. I teethed on it, and really enjoyed the darker edge to standard hobbits-and-elves-and-unicorns(half)-and-mighty-wizards-doing-julie-andrews-impersonations-among-the-tree-lined-hilltops. And by darker edge, I don't mean white wolf 'oh isn't life hollow' gothboy dark. Can't think how to describe it. Maybe some of the other players can help me out. So my vote goes for wfrp. But I'd have an honourable mention for G.A. Effinger's Trinity game. The game is lousy, but G.A. Effinger was a great writer so I reckon he should be allowed.

We completely topped the m79 with the full auto grenade launcher at the beginning of this thread. Except, that is, for the purpose of glaring out into the darkness, listening for the sound of the enemy and lofting a single grenade into them a la Apocalypse Now. Thought: why the hell is it called 'Apocalypse Now'?

I think it should have Kevin Spacey and Bill Murray playing the Decepticon and autobot leaders in an almost whimsical tale about ageing, disillusionment, and the masculine challenges of being a giant flying space gun.

I agree that it is remarkable how suh communities spring up and are maintained. Not sure how many normals would find it interesting though.

I'd kinda like to point out the fortune these eedjits have spent on polyphonic ringtones. I think UNICEF should sell the sound of a famine orphan crying for 2.50, make some money.

I still chuckle when I remember Guybrush Threepwood waggling his eyebrows before stuffing an entire dog down his pants. And go easy on Tommy. In GTA3 he couldn't swim, and could only run about fifty metres. Which was at least some concession to him carrying more than ten thousand rounds of ammo, plus 10 or 20 LAWs... *singing* Oh there's a... Monkey in my pocket, And he's stealing all my change. His stare is blank and glassy, I suspect that he's deranged.

I agree with Archbishop Desmond Tutu's assessment of Bob, when he said that he was once one of Africa's rising stars, offering much hope for the future, but seemed to have since "...gone bonkers in a big way". I personally think he has tertiary stage syphillis, like Hitler had. Hence all the hand rubbing, and the general persecution complex/insanity. This brings up an important question "What can change the nature of a man?" i.e. what hope do we ever have of altering our nature, and what can cause it to happen? Which, shockingly actually relates to role-playing.

In Iain M. Banks' Culture novels their society is run by AIs. Very entertaining, and often darker than you might think. Use of Weapons, in particular creeped me out, while being very funny.

The only good thing about the fight in RotJ was that it squared the downfall of the entire Empire with me. I mean, if his best regiment can bve beaten by those guys, well then he munted any way you cut it. I still say there are two kinds of people: those who cry when that ewok gets blown up by the AT-ST, and those get on their seats and cheer.

I used to really like Clancy. But I think at some point the same brain eating goblins got to him as to the current administration and he became a) a born again Christian b) totally uninterested in balanced writing c) one of the most boring writers in the world. I know that The Bear and the Dragon is only still on my bookshelf because I am waiting to have a barbecue. I got bought 'The Prophet' but didn't like it. Too many simplistic wordy answers to complex questions. I guess its true that you hate in others what you hate in yourself!

With the exception of the .303 Lee Enfield, the British Empire had a long and illustrious history of issuing crappy rifles to the troops. I'd suggest the guys who tendered the blaster carbine were simply the lowest bidder, or the focussing lenses were made under contract in the Galactic Chinese Republic. <_< And never mind the carbine. What about the bloody armour? I mean we have issues with our body armour in the UK, but at least it can stop a stone spear weilded by a two foot tall bear!* I always feel sorry for the stormtroopers... EDIT: * Don't quote me on that if it turns out those damn ewoks are backing Bin Laden.

I met one of their leaders a few years ago. And yes, if a little corrupts a little, a TINY amount of power corrupts absolutely.

I don't know what my favourite would be. But I recently bought a copy of Homeworld on special offer, and the opening sequences, with the music are just fantastic. Particularly the initial fly-by on the mothership, and the surprise return to discover your homeplanet is destroyed and burning. Note: if you choose the wrong livery colours for your ships in set-up the impact is dramatically reduced

The trick is to have several books on the go. "Monty" by Nigel Hamilton "Men Against Fire; The problem of battle command in future war", S.L.A. Marshal "The Big Sleep", Raymond Chandler (re-reading actually, but it's fantastic) "The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam" by Yusuf al-Qaradawi (strictly for masochists and the bloody minded) "Unfinished tales" j.R.R. Tolkein (also strictly for masochists and the bloody minded)

If they were guilty of genocide, yes, if not then no more than any allied fighting unit. As for the escaped war criminals, well there's a flip side to that coin, there's some famous allied warcrimes that has gone unpunished to this day, including the firebombing of Dresden ordered by "Bomber Harris" , and the dual nuking of Japan. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My understanding of Skorzeny's escape from "justice" is that British OSS officers pointed out that he had nothing during the war that they had not done, except perhaps done it more succesfully and on higher profile targets. I thought he was acquitted fair and square. As for the Allied war crimes, I'd disagree, except on the Dresden bombing which was utterly pointless. The dual nuking of Japan is very popular, and important so we don't nuke anything else if possible, but compared with the alternative I think it was pretty much the best of bad set of options. But we could argue about that forever. So, my least favourite gun - strategic bombing offensives.

If the last couple of years have taught us anything it is that people believe what they want to believe. They don't even ASK historians. *mutter mutter*

I think it's a damn shame they relocated, and have done such a bad job. I have bought twice from Dell with no problems ...until they moved their tech support. As if they weren't making enough money as it was. Am due to buy another PC to do some proper gaming on, and was thinking of buying Alienware. Are they always that bad?

If any of you UK dwellers are interested in what would happen here after a limited nuclear exchange, or a biological attack, chase up references to Operation Brave Defender. Some details can be found in the book 'War Plan UK'. Now that's scary.

1) If there is a clearer signal for all sane people to leave the UK I can't think of one. 2) If Fionavar is trying to be scary with a dragon avatar, they shouldn't have made thhe dragons so easy to kill in NWN. *eaten by dragon*

If anyone is playing Gangrel, may I suggest using tracks from The Tigerlillies? http://www.tigerlillies.com/brothel.html The first hundred times you hear their stuff you hate it. After that, they're great.

Righto. No reading anything to do with Japan. Check.

Ivan the Terrible began as Ivan the Good. He was an incredibly nice guy for the first part of his reign (by local standards). Then, around the time he married his second wife he went batshot crazy. Began poking people, including his son, to death with his sceptre and generally being unbelievably unpleasant. Founded a 'dark monastic order' or secret police-****-special forces who went about making certain that everyone feared him. If you have trouble believing people can be evil, I suggest you start with him.

The Battle of the Bulge thing caused incredible problems in the US lines. A truly incredible flair for causing mayhem, and an inspired talent for bluff. Incidentally, don't let the SS uniform fool you. He was completely exonerated of any of that sort of stuff. The SS just happened to be the best vehicle for his commando troupe.