Monte Carlo

slam dunk

There's a December release date.

So we now have to shoulder responsibility for every troll who harassed any woman? Quite. This whole episode has turned into a massive axe-grinding session by vested interests on the internet. However, nothing, absolutely nothing excuses the behaviour and language directed at Zoe Quinn. She's not Joan of Arc, she's not some sort of online Nelson Mandela. She is a typical Generation 'Y' person who seems unable to live her life outside of the internet. Nonetheless, were she my sister or indeed friend (and why wouldn't she be) I'd be the online version of Charles Bronson right now.

There is a grassroots movement here. I can feel it, like distant thunder. Or acid indigestion.

Barothmuk, please. Markets. I can give you plenty of examples of free-flowing capital making wages rise. It's a central tenet of markets. The problem with capital is simply how do you control it? Can you? Hayek or Keynes? Mind you, there is only one type of socialism, really, and that's the one that makes everyone broke except the party apparatchiks and the secret policemen. I think it was Jean Cretien who said, "the only problem with Capitalism are Capitalists. They can never be rich enough."

That's capitalism. No, it's a type of capitalism. I'd describe it as a sort of nu-Corporatism, actually, especially the Russian and Chinese iterations. Capitalism is by it's very nature plastic. It constantly mutates and evolves, like quicksilver in a maze. At it's best, it is liberating. At it's worst, it's as bad as any other political / economic model. I'd argue that history shows us it's the least worst. I hate utopias and utopians. Their plans always lead to camps, central committees and early morning knocks on the door. Capitalist utopians are as bad as socialist utopians or ISIL utopians (they think they're building one, you know).

^ I'm inclined to agree. Globalisation seems to be succeeding where Socialism failed - an attempt to make all of us equally poor in a non-stop race to the bottom in terms of wages and living conditions while a supra-national socio-political elite wonder what all the fuss is about. Until, of course, they find themselves watching an old lady knitting while they are dragged to the square outside the Hôtel de Ville...

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/fraser-nelson/2014/09/shock-election-in-sweden-as-far-right-sweden-democrats-become-no3-party/ A view from an English political magazine, comparing the Swedish Democrats with UKIP in Britain and the Front National in France. They agree that a lazy liberal elite, centrist parties with a near-identical agenda, have stifled debate on perfectly reasonable topics like immigration and welfare spending for years. As I say, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. I'm deeply suspicious of the FN, much more so than Alternative for Germany (who by any reasonable set of political metrics are not 'far-right') or UKIP. But I see why the average French person might be tempted to vote for Madam Le Pen. Ditto these other parties. Those of you on the centre-Left share the blame for this. You've used the word Racism as a weapon to the point where the blade is blunted with over-use. Now people realise it's become a moron's chant - the trees of genuine racism have been lost in the vast, deep woodlands of leftist hyperbole. Worrying about a boatload of third world strangers with foreign values and religions moving into your tiny village isn't racist. It's logical. The leaders of the groups currently taking a battering have disregarded those concerns. On the left, politicians (a) see client voters and (b) conflate concerns about Islam with race. On the right, corporatist new-conservatives see immigrants as part of the warp and wend of global capital, cheap labour. Of course, it is also very easy for each side to swap clothes with the other, as they sit on a very broad, flabby centre-ground of contemporary political discourse. So these insurgent, populist groups prosper. I'm not going to make lazy comparisons with Weimar, but unless the balance is restored in European politics, unsavoury firebrands like Le Pen (especially) will flourish.

Did you get rescued by Burt Reynolds with a compound bow?

No. The woman should have been reported to the nearest Sexual Harassment Officer. She was clearly angling at an attempt to cut off that dude's mangina.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Scandies choosing xenophobic parties is a symptom of overly-libtard governments not listening to the people. * shrug * I'm also considering joining the Manly Militia Rescue Squad forming to rescue Hurlshot. I think his wife has a einsatzgruppen of menstrually-synchronised attack moms surrounding his RV, armed with baked goods, rolling pins and cushions. Don't laugh at cushions. Me and KaineParker are going to try and infiltrate in drag. I have reasonably good legs and Kaine's moobs look awesome in a wonderbra. From there we'll wing it and hope the rest of the MMRS arrives in time to rescue us all. Then we take Hurlie for decompression in our smoke-haus in the woods. We'll oil him up and read him Cowboy Poetry. It's gonna be awesome. Edit - man if we all lived in America we could LARP this and post photos on the internet. It would be a triumphant moment in my life.

I for one feel like a new man since this safe-space was established. In fact, I almost feel like two new men.

The idea that you can't access your employer's web forum from your home internet account is risible and I don't believe it. Edit - if his argument is "I don't post on work accounts off-duty" then fine, I respect that with a cherry on-top. But the excuse, as-is, sucks.

^ Nail hit squarely on head.

Ha ha ha ToEE nailed it - they displayed how many times you re-clicked on the character sheet. I've gotta be honest, as far as nudge philosophy goes it worked - I couldn't bear the ignominy of having double re-click attempts.

Our Japanese brothers lead the way! Banzai!

There should be no vaginas in this thread. They are a matriarchal weapon of oppression, the Tommy Gun of mysandry. Only by rebuking vaginas can we be free. Besides, soon they'll be able to make virtual ones.

Thanks to everyone who took time to explain stuff to me, it's beginning to make more sense. I am grateful. Hormalakh nails it, he said it better than I did. It's not intuitive imo. But I've got lots of muscle-memory to work against, I suppose.

I've played the beta and looked at the stats. I think I'm halfway there, but tbh I'm struggling to understand the synergies behind the stats. Does a high int fighter perform better than a high might one? If so, how? And why? 'Gamism' for me seems to be about sacrificing verisimilitude in favour of maths. Nothing I've seen dissuades me from atm. I've spent thirty-odd years playing games with stats that boost fairly easy-to-understand metrics (STR = damage, DEX = agility and defence and so on) to... this. Add in deflection and interrupts and grazes and stamina and I'm quite simply baffled. Then there are these predefined character roles (heavy-hitter, support, crowd control). How do I build a light fighter? How do I build a tank with an emphasis on soaking-up damage? How... I need to have at least an understanding of the numbers and systems. And rather than a transparent and elegant system, we have this abortion only Rainman and a few of you guys understand. Srsly. Now I'm being patient. Lots of other RPG fans, otoh, are going to take one look at this, marry it with the fact that the combat system isn't much fun, and walk away. That troubles me. I'm prepared to take the brickbats and sneering, but my point has validity. It's too confusing and it's not fun. Edit - I don't mean Matt and 'Sukis work, I mean the overall design as is.

Out.

Good to see Sawyer explaining stuff, er, somewhere else. This answer is disingenuous, to say the least. How can you build the character you want to build if the underlying systems are too opaque? Just trust in Josh that everything will be awesome whatever you choose?

Don't do it.

I think a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate games would be a brilliant idea.

Sigh. If people who can be bothered to comment on this forum find this system too unfathomable then what hope does a common or garden RPG fan have? Can anyone explain how this system works in a couple of paragraphs? I'd be genuinely grateful.