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MedicineDan

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Everything posted by MedicineDan

  1. Be definition, I can't do most of my work at home, but I chart there and it sucks. I miss the hospital. Pay and hours are better now, though. EDIT: Work can be a real pain, but sadly I can't talk about the funniest/weirdest things for privacy reasons. However, I just now uploaded an audio flie about a dream one of my players had. To think of the cool things I could have done if I had this stuff available back in the day! I wish I had more time!
  2. I have a friend, kind of an adopted nephew I've known for many years. He went off to the Naval Academy and graduated recently. We have spectacular political arguments come from diametrically opposed sides (he's a Bernie Bro, but I love him anyway). Since he's out at Charleston, he thought he'd swing by my virtual 5th edition campaign I'm running. He was hooked line and sinker! By the end of the first hour he was already downloading Fantasy Grounds. He created a bard and provided significant help to the party in the last major encounter of the night and also contributed to some of the exploration. I like puzzles in my games, so I truly value people who are willing to tinker with things and figure out new approaches. Modern technology is truly great. While I'd like to get back to in person gaming, I'll undoubtedly sitll use some of the tools I have now. I keep track of party character, npcs they've met, clues they've found, and my wife keeps a party journal. Then I put all these documents in my OneDrive D&D dedicated folder. Today, when they got started, one of the players mentioned one of the things I'd thought they'd overlooked. It was truly gratifying that someone had taken a gander at it beforehand. Players never find all the fun stuff you put into a campaign. It is, after all, their story as much as mine, but it's always fun when they get invested enough to think about things between gamedays. It's even better when one of my old friends can join my campaign from 3,000 miles away! Huzzah!
  3. Too time consuming to make a larger post, but it's quite dismaying that Ginsberg died. I swear, who in the hell broke a mirror this year? I personally disagreed with her philosophy, especially in disparaging the US constitution as a document of negative rights. Of course, it *is,* but that's good! It's really too bad that her death comes at virtually precisely the right time to cause increased chaos within the electorate. I never wish death on people unlike the folks around here who crow about the deaths of conservatives. Another thing that's really too bad is that the death of this human being is distressing primarily for political reasons. I feel guilty, but my first thought was about the political situation when I heard she'd died, and she was certainly a massive figure in US history. Anyhow, don't have much time to climb over the walls of text, but remember to vote for Trump in November. Don't buy the nonsense that our 'erudite' members peddle. Yeah, Biden will probably win, but you never know, so go vote!
  4. Let's be honest. You can beat the game at any difficulty with any of the NPCs. I'm with Hurlshot. Imoen is a must have *just* because she's your childhood friend.
  5. 0130 post, so take it as it is. I think Bruce, a few pages back, kind of poked fun at me for saying this is the most important election of our lifetimes. I think that was it. I don't mind the poke. I'm not the bear some folks are around here. I won't provide a mountain of foolish text to 'refute' you, Bruce. However, if anyone truly believes that these times in which we live are anything like what we've seen in our lifetimes... well... I don't want to be rude and so I'll simply stand in stunned silence. I know the erudite crowds, and here I'll cite Mal and Hurlshot (and I'm fond of both of them) for questioning the 'evidence' that these anarchists in our society are Biden supporters, will rush to dispute me, but does anyone truly believe that the problems with rampant lawlessness comes from Trump voters? Seriously? You can probably score points off me by claiming the parity game here in the Obsidz fun zone, but I think the increasing number of actual voters in the Unites States believe their lyin' eyes more than they believe the partisans. To be clear and fair, I am a partisan. I am absolutely a partisan and I wish to push my agenda, but I've also been willing to own my biases. Too bad the hypocrites who run this particular asylum won't own to the same. To get to the less banal and more interesting point, I think Biden still has the edge. Not as much as the faithless and feckless left would have us believe (apart from the segment who is clearly panicking right now), but still a discernable edge. This falls partly on Florida and partly on any of the three "blue wall" states that abandoned Hillary in the last election. I think the pollsters have tightened their models for state by state ballots over the past two cycles. I simply won't drink the "polls are off" Kool aide of the more staunch supporters. Still, the polls *have* been off by a small but significant and decisive margin in the previous two or three cycles. We manifestly don't have a Democrat governor and senatord inFlorida. Trump can lose 2 out of 3 of the blue wall states and keep all else and still win this election. If you support our flawed POTUS, take heart. You don't need to draw attention. You don't need to get the grief. Until these anarchists take over, your vote is still anonymous. Vote your conscience. You are not alone.
  6. Doofus! lol :good natured grin: Anyhow, Tristan is considerably better than Minsc. He's a devs teen wet-dream. Whatever. At least I don't hate Boo.
  7. I have virtually never seen such overt trawling in my time on the boards, and that's considerable. However, I'll bite. I didn't like Minsc. I mean, I don't hate the idea of him. I just hate the over the top, on the nose, and beat you over the head execution of Minsc. You can beat the game on every difficulty level without Minsc, and so he's not vital. To be fair, think that goes for every NPC, but why take an annoying one if not needed? I think more people venerate Boo than Minsc and, moreover, I believe the duo is more of an Easter egg/vanity project by the devs. Still, I don't begrudge the Minsc/Boo fandom. I'm just a hack who can't act, write, or convince anyone of anything. Who am I to say what's good or not other than to voice support for the OP. Nevertheless, before someone makes idiotic accusations, Seal ain't Eldar. He should take that as a compliment.
  8. I have to admit that I haven't had time to read up on all the goings on in this thread. This election is weird in that, unlike the previous two cycles, I don't have a good enough feel to make a bet. I guess I've already said that I would bet on Biden, and that means I'll stick with it unless some crazy crap goes on. Still, while I'm willing to be called on it, I honestly don't think anyone knows. Even if someone makes a great prediction, it amounts to guessing. You can be right without actually knowing what you're talking about. Reminds me of Yeats. "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." Funny. At least I'm self-aware enough to question whether or not I'm the worst. I suspect plenty of people here probably are the worst. They're just too passionate to realize it. I believe this is literally the most important election of our times. There are no good choices. There are only choices and it falls on us to make them. I might not be as eloquent or erudite as some of the more vocal members here, but if you're sitting on the fence or thinking of making a 'protest' vote, remember that it falls on you to make a choice. Not that any of us matter, right? ...But, just in case, do the work. You don't have to say anything. Just do the work.
  9. Sad to hear, melkathi. I'll keep reading. So, since I was forced to edit the save in order to get my portrait right, I did something I never did the first run in Kingmaker. I gave myself a little extra gold and bumped my stats. Also, in the first run, I never used a mercenary, but now my honest to goodness not sucking at the job rogue is rocking the game. Just brutal damage. Can finally sneak up on a character without getting caught and backstabbing the way God and Gary Gygax intended! Got to the point where I rescued Reg and Octavia. I decided that I'd keep doing things differently and romance Octavia. I find Valerie more attractive, but that's mostly because she's more damaged goods and that's the kind of guy I am. lol Still, Octavia I truly suspect Octavia is a lot less work to bed. I mean, I hate RPG romances. Talk about reducing a real relationship to the most pedestrian elements. Meh. Didn't beat 'em. Might as well join 'em.
  10. I was in Riverside for work yesterday and it was 117 after I got out after the appointment. Then there's the mask. Ugh.
  11. Probably can't say much on a message board, but if your symptoms persist or worsen, get yourself to your PCP, young man! Kudos to the wife for thinking quickly about the ring!
  12. Too funny. I have had a lot of conversations with Socrates. I mean, mostly through people like Plato and Xenophon, but still! I don't doubt that Socrates, as we know him from the sources at hand, would have hated lil' ol' me, MedDan. He would have hated Demosthenes even more. GuardDog mentioned how Trump supporters care about Trump but he doesn't care about them. Sure. Okay. Is the converse that Biden supporters believe Biden cares about his constituency? Politicians use people, and that leads to a cycle that perhaps we live today. Socrates, through Plato, observed this cycle. Once again, fair enough. As someone who has taken a liking to those ancient white Greek dudes, I sympathize with the notion. However, you gotta be careful of ol' Socrates. As much as I admire him, there's no evidence that the 'enlightened few' would steer the ship of state better for the common folk. In fact, quite the contrary. There is no philosopher king to save the day. Only the beginnings of tyranny. I've always been willing to go down with the ship of state when the ridiculously foolish, the agitators, the Demosthenes of our society lead them down a crooked path by way of impassioned speeches and half-truth lies. I'm not much of an impassioned speech kind of guy. Just don't fool yourself that Socrates would have hated any of the 'enlightened' people in this thread less than any other. Nope. I would contend, quite the contrary. For one thing, Socrates thought that anyone who thought themselves wise, or used too many videos to punctuate walls of text, was a fool. Fact, is, ol' Socrates didn't believe anyone was truly wise and spent his life trying to prove himself wrong. He never managed to do that to his satisfaction. Also, while he was charged with not believing in the gods of the city and advocating against them, the real thought in many of the jurors' minds at his trial was that he was an atheist. To be fair, as it seems from my conversations with him, Socrates wasn't an atheist. He was just struggling with his own daimons. EDIT: "r" became "f."
  13. Finally broke down and edited the save and got my portraits fixed. Geez! Just now getting close to 3rd level. Cleared the fangberry cave and going to the old sycamore.
  14. Whatever. So, in other news, I was thinking of something about Klacik running Maryland 7. First of all, I don't believe she'll win. This is pie in the sky territory for Republicans. Yeah, I think she's doing a good job of it, but some districts are just plain off limits to one side or the other. They can be switched, but that's a lightning strike. Stupid to bet on it. If I'm wrong and it *does* turn Republican, it's going to be early, and that will be a devastating sign for the Democrats. We're talking wave election territory. Anyhow, along those lines, I think the Democrats might want to throw extra money at the race. Not because I think they're in danger, but because it *is* an early race. I'd run up the score as high as possible. Don't just beat her, but have another blowout at ~75 to 25%. I think that's about how badly she got beat last time. That could actually serve to discourage voters who hear the results from Maryland in other states where voting isn't closed. Is it enough to make a huge dent? Of course not, but if this is anything like last election, fractions of a percent will make the difference. This is a high profile race and you can count on the media hitting the story hard if Klacik loses, which they consider preordained. On the other hand, I think she's been a net benefit to the ticket, but not because she'll win. She provides outreach to minority voters and helps encourage white voters to get off their assess and head to the polls.
  15. yeah, cards count as games. The forums count as a game. I even created a game on the BIS forums with all sorts of goofy stuff. Nameless moderators and other irritating personalities had cards. <.< So, I created a new Pathfinder game in order to import better portaits than the terrible ones in Kingmaker. I created my character with a portrait and it worked fine. Then I created a mercenary NPC and put in a new portrait. Apparently, even though you can import new portraits, you can only add one custom at a time. So I have to use the same portrait for both my mercenary and main, which is just asinine. There also seems to be no way to change portraits midgame. I can change the portrait to one or the other, but I can't have custom portraits for each. Big design flaw, Owlcat! Rat bastards!
  16. Actually, I agree with the idea. I *am* afraid of Trump. I think he's petty, small-minded, and dangerous. I just fear him less than the alternative. Virtually all my life, I have voted for the thing I believe. I have voted *for* something. Over the past several years, I've started voting *against* politicians. On the other hand, having the leftists accuse me of being a hypocrite, a charge so rich with irony, only makes me sure my path is righteous. :huge grin:
  17. Taking a break from political angst to post a couple things about the day. First, glad you're still among the land of the living and not abducted and sold into bondage, Hurlshot. Okay, so I bought Fantasy Grounds and the DMG, PHB, and MM modules to load into it for my niece. She's excited. I find playing with her kind of a pain, but I'll do it if she really wants. My 5th edition campaign with my main group is going very well and FG is wonderful. Second, I thought I lost my green folder I use for all my patient info. Home health pays a lot more and it's a lot more flexible than the hospital, but it's extremely nerve wracking to have patient info in my house. I'm very careful with the folder, but I have to chart at home and I was kind of sweating bullets for a few minutes. I can hardly wait until I take my boards and start being an NP. I'll work urgent care or some such. Less strenuous and stressful, I think. Being a provider means dealing with things like liability and getting a DEA number and whatnot, so maybe it will still be stressful, but I have high hopes.
  18. Yeah, Mal, but I dispute the claim that "white supremacists" as quoted, are either a solitary or significant source of danger to the country. Frankly, I don't think Islamic extremists are either. BLM? Antifa? Moreso than white supremacists, but they're only a symptom of a problem. We're overlooking the real issues statistically. I don't have time to shadow box the issue. I'll yield the floor and let my words stand as is. Fair enough. Oh, I know! "Bwahahaha, dis guy is pretending we're in a debate club." Nope. No pretending there's any fair exchange but, then again, it's a message board. :rueful grin:
  19. "'We judge that ideologically-motivated lone offenders and small groups will pose the greatest terrorist threat to the Homeland through 2021, with white supremacist extremists presenting the most lethal threat.' "Not BLM and Antifa? Someone's about to lose their job." In the words of Biden, "Come on, maaan!" Okay, small groups of "white supremacist extremists" isn't a reference to right wing militias? I could go web surfing and come up with prominent voices within the Democrat party and media making that association, but I'm not going to. It's easy enough to find if you look. There is this idea that white males are a danger to society, and it's partially pushed by these assessments. Look, I don't feel put out. My personal privilege isn't in danger, should I have it. I'm a relatively not ugly tall white guy who kills people with kindness. If I'm a class or a group of people, I tend to find trust with them. I think this craziness is bad for society, but I win people over pretty well anyway. ...and I have had considerably more minority patients than I have white. Even moreso if we count some of my white patients as Hispanic, as I am so counted depending on the convenience of the interested party.
  20. This place never fails to entertain. BLM isn't the problem. BLM is a symptom of the problem. That goes for Trump also. We're simply at a crossroads. Biden represents the forces of chaos. To be fair, I don't believe Biden himself advocates or desires chaos. Biden desires power. A politician of... what? almost fifty years? Third presidential run? I've always heard, from pundits and politicians speaking and writing in the media, that Biden is an affable guy. A real glad hander. I don't personally have anything against him, but he's going to do and say whatever it takes to get elected. Trump is kind of chaotic, but his brand of chaos isn't as far reaching. I also appreciate the red herring of right wing militia being the source of crime and murder in our country. Sure. I mean, I have no doubt the folks here are certain of that fact. Statistically, it's silly. I've been seeing that assessment for years and it transcends ridiculous, shoots right past sublime, to an almost religious experience in its surreal glory. Murder and mayhem in any great measure does not stem from right wing militia. It doesn't stem from the police. I would think people who want to find real solutions would focus on the real problems. Anyhow, getting away from the partisan hackery that is this place... echo... echo... echoooooo. I'm truly curious as to what's going to happen this cycle. As folks know, I'm not frightened to make predictions and stand by them. This election is different. I think it's foolish for Trump supporters to discount the polls. Generally, they're pretty good. However, he did manage to outperform his polls last time. it wasn't as much as people claimed after the fact, but he did. The thing is, I know the pollsters are trying to adjust in order to be more accurate. On the other hand, there's reason to believe the polls are even more screwy this time. I don't know. My gut tells me that it's still Biden's to lose. He's a dotard and an unscrupulous, but I think the Trump hating inertia is actually quite strong. Look at this place where people I once thought were at least intellectually honest have thrown all pretense away and are now hackneyed partisan. That hate has burned both ways for a long time, but it's strong and it could carry the day. Having said that I think it's Biden's race right now, I will say this: if you lose, if the American people refuse the forces of chaos and destruction, it will be after you've thrown *everything* at our side. This is it. We have not had an election like this in our lifetimes. That's not hyperbole. That's life in 2020. EDIT: Freudian slip. He must first get elected.
  21. After all these years, I still find it weird that my throw away posts end up like this. ...But you're right, uuuhhii. We can't properly nail down Tristan into a such a small space by labeling him.
  22. In all seriousness, apart from my lame joke, Tristan is my favorite character. I guess I could continue the schtick and call him the best female character and Amiri my favorite male? I don't mind the switcheroo with the stereotypes and whatnot. It's probably a bit ham fisted, but it's cool. ...And it's funny to see Amiri kvetch at Tristan for wearing his heart on his sleeve. The one choice the devs did with Tristan that I disliked was that, at the end of his quest, I think the 'optimal' ending is for the PC to speak to antagonist instead of Tristan, but Tristan's plea is simply the best writing in the game. No, that's an insult. It's great writing. I've known people going down a dark path in real life and I can hear my own voice when Tristan exhorts the bad guy to mend his ways. I guess I'm a wimpy heart on the sleeve kind of guy like Tristan... only not handsome and I can't cast spells. Anyhow, I think I can finally carve out a good 2 to 3 hours to play the game today. Still tempted to buy WL3, but I'm digging in to Pathfinder at the moment. If I were seriously going to go for an all female party, which is to say my A-team other than side quests, it would have to be Linzi. She's a bard, so kind of jack of all trades master of none, but spell selection and performances can either mitigate or heal a lot of damage. I think my actual go-to party will probably be Valerie (not an ideal build, but she'll work), Amiri, Ekundayo, Ferret (a rogue I hired), Catherine (my main), and Tristan.
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