metadigital

I can see the whiteboard, at the beginning of the design cycle, with a big "allow puppet mode for party members" after KotOR:TSL.

I think having a minimum score is a good idea. A Paladin, for example, usually has a negative "To Hide" score, so it is quite reasonable to not check if a Paladin is hiding. If you are worried about low level characters failing a difficult roll, then another option is to have more opportunities to succeed.

Yeah, I was going to suggest something similar: instead of a "Quest" plot, to go and get rare item Q from some far-off and hard to get to place, or have the other D&D staple "Overcoming the Monster" plot with a big end-boss using it for a back-scratcher, you could just use a lot more politics. Multiple mutually-hostile groups who need to be dealt with, maybe get some to work together against a third, or bribe one group, or sneak in, rather than just kill 'em all.

It's a bit drafty in there, I hear ... )

That's not your fault; fed-ex tends to be kinda difficult to win favour with the players ...

Yeah, they win games of sport there. ^_^

Just finished disc four of Firefly and then watched Good Night and Good Luck. It's not that remarkable, except in that someone (Clooney) felt it was necessary in the current environment to make it. If the defenders of a free society throw out the rules that make the society free, then the society isn't free and therefore not worth defending. I think Bruce Willis (well, the writer, Lawrence Wright) tried to say this in The Siege back in 1998. Possibly the plot was a little too close to the bone for people to think fondly about it, though: Governments of free countries don't like to advertise their last option of martial law ...

SoU has its own PrC, like the Harper, which you can't get if you don't buy that expansion; ditto for HotU and its PrC, like the Red Dragon Disciple. I found most of SoU pretty fun, but the end (almost the last chapter) has been roundly criticized (I think fairly). HotU is definitely a great expansion, though; I played that a few times as it has a lot of plot-end variations, as well as some neat fun playing an epic character. IIRC you can import your PC from SoU into HotU, but not from the OC to SoU. You might as well play all of them, and in order, as if you ever go off playing the CEP modules they will invariably want both expansions (though not always).

I'm in Act III just up a mountain.

Alan Wake

Just as a further ramble to my previous post, using the data for cannabis sativa:

So did you win me a free 8800GTX, or what?

Yeah! What's wrong with us Obisidianiteses'?

Even in the Netherlands, though: and the results (sorry, no citations):

Perhaps you should look at the definition of persecution that metadigital provided again. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Exposure to prolonged hostility and ill-treatment. And, not or. If anything the government was antipathetic, not overtly hostile. The word "persecution" implies intent. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> The Irish famine was only one example. I tend to think dispossessing the indigenous peoples and supplanting them English landlords qualifies. Basically England annexed her neighbours, going to war with them should they dare to revolt, and taking what she wanted from them, when she wanted. I'd call that "prolonged hostility and ill-treatment".

Same thing that happens when a drunk hits a busload of schoolchildren: he gets the electric chair.

I had problems there because I wasn't stealthy: the rig was blown. Maybe there's a super-secret "you're so unstealthy we're going to crash to desktop!" function?

Pc Format seems to make a good job of reviewing games; I know it's technically not a review site, but they do have a forum there.

Where did you hear this?

Except that the PS3 doesn't have Gears of War. " <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's exactly what is implied by his statement.

It's perfectly acceptable to take a second quote from the person, say, after pointing out that the statement will be directly quoted in the article that will be published for an international (PG) audience. :D

That sound you can hear in the background is Hildegard sharpening his axe on a stonewheel ...

Actually the police are well known to be drowning in paperwork: they only get out on the street about 2 days a wek (the rest is behind a desk writing everything up). Sorry for the guestimates, but I haven't kept up with the stats. If you are interested, there is an anonymous policeman who has been writing a blog about the trials and tribulations of being a copper in the UK.

Give the clown an exploding cigar! Just makes the ratio more alarming, though.