Gromnir

Gromnir sure seems to have some negative feelings toward Europeans. quite the contrary. we loved our time teaching in europe. we were however, surprised by certain... trends. europeans we knew were typically academics and University students, so perhaps that explains their inexplicable "expertise" regarding the US and Americans. were kinda funny listening to our euro friends talk 'bout how Americans is this or that. we would point out that we Gromnir were American and they would almost seem startled. "well, we don't mean you." *shrug* those conversations never went anywhere useful. europeans spend considerably more o' their time worrying about Americans than the other way around. HA! Good Fun!

btw, am not certain how "locals" got benefit our spell-check auto-correction above... "locales"? really? needs be more careful. HA! Good Fun! ps Gromnir is not much different than the hypothetical guy from oklahoma we described earlier. sure, we stays current with world affairs n' such, but if somebody told us that Lithuania had a democratically elected king-for-life and that the current king were a dancing pig from Vilnius, we would need to check first to make certain that the claim were incorrect.

... silly europeans and their parliamentary inspired preconceptions. had a professor at Cal, a brusque German woman, who repeated over and over that europeans saw US government as alien and seemed doomed to framing any issue o' government organization in a context more familiar to them. the thing is, Gromnir attended University in late 80s ... were a time when the internet were used by the govt./military and by some small segments of academia to send glorified email messages. our exposure to european provincialism did not occur til we went to spain and england. people in the US may be ignorant o' european politics... is disturbing how little the average guy from oklahoma cares 'bout greece or the ukraine. the thing is, unlike eropeans, the guy in oklahoma don't pretend to be knowledgeable 'bout european government. take the most liberal democrat representative you can imagine. now, have her represent some congressional district that has an air force base or a boeing factory. nobody in the US is shocked by how she votes on defense spending bills, but europeans is. HA! Good Fun!

speaking of rush jobs and recycling and Brian Tyler did soundtrack for children o' dune in one month. kinda a funny aside, Tyler claimed that lyrics for inama nushif is in freman, which he compiled through studious examinations o' Herbert's books. 'course Herbert only ever included about 5 words in imaginary freman into his books. turns out that Tyler stole from some kinda dune encyclopedia... didn't give credit. the freman language he actually were using were from an excerpt that a contributor, an expert on arabic languages, made to the dune encyclopedia. anywho, tyler lifts a block o' imagined freman text, added some gibberish where he felt necessary, and then took credit for self. ... nice song though. oh, as to recycling, portions o' the children o' dune soundtrack has been used in a number o' big budget hollywood movies, and at least 1 video game. not bad for 1 month o' work. HA! Good Fun! ps we edited the post so you could see actual context in which inama nushif were utilized in children of dune. is illustrative of our point about danger o' recycling as now if we hear tyler's work used as some kinda generic sad love song, it doesn't work for us.

most fans has a knee-jerk when dealing with obsidian... all flaws is result o' rush by publisher. probably doesn't help with tim cain in house neither... get troika fans jumping on-board. am suspecting that what he means is that original composer were dumped at some point during development. Morgan were brought in late to cobble something together after the initial fail. HA! Good Fun!

am not doubting that ps:t were rushed. listen to ambient music in sigil and then compare to similar music in fallout 2, in particular. is same, or so close as not to make much difference. have a distinct sound is ok, but not so much when very different games is given feel o' sameness. HA! Good Fun!

from a vantage point in 2014, it is easy for Gromnir to look at Korematsu v. United States and observe with sadness that both the executive and judiciary ignored the Constitution. Scalia has opined that Korematsu were wrong, "but you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again." not only does wartime panic make otherwise reasonable peoples paranoid, war itself makes seemingly ridiculous scenarios plausible. the LA Times, a rather liberal newspaper as any Californian can attest, had editorials demanding that something be done about the Japanese situation and were helping to build a mob mentality regarding residents, and LA Times weren't the only such media outlet doing so. furthermore, the incident on Niihau had been reported in newspapers such as the NY Times and the Chicago Tribune. never heard of Niihau? a downed Japanese pilot named Nishikaichi, following the Pearl Harbor attack were "captured" on the smallest of the inhabited Hawaiian islands. the locales weren't initially aware o' the events o' December 6, so although the pilot were forcibly relieved of his weapon, he were treated to a luau for chrissakes. eventually folks get suspicious, at which point the pilot is viewed as a prisoner and is guarded. the locales had a translator, an American by birth but having Japanese parents and family-- fellow named Harada. the treacherous Harada helped the pilot escape custody, destroy the downed pilot's zero, and attack his American neighbors with machine guns removed from the pilot's downed and now burned plane. Harada were aided in his efforts to assist the pilot by his wife (also Japanese but American-born) and an older Japanese fellow who ran off shortly after Nishikaichi were initially freed. after a couple o' days o' seeming pointless terrorizing o' the Niihau villagers by the pilot and Harada, a locale Hawaiian farmer, in spite being shot multiple times, manages to kill the Japanese pilot by hurling the pilot headfirst into a stone wall. Harada then commits suicide. ​internment of Japanese (some Italians, Germans and others too btw) were not only illegal, but it were wrong. nevertheless, am thinking that Scalia is correct that we is kidding self if we believe it won't happen again. paranoia fueled by the insane reality o' war is making such wrongs almost inevitable. in Nishikaichi's hometown in Japan there is supposed a granite column erected in his honor... memorializing his brave deeds. HA! Good Fun!

couple quibbles on our part. music w/o gameplay is little different than movie soundtrack w/o movie. sure, you lose some context, but not take too much imagination to fill in the blanks. example: icewind dale theme music for kuldahar or targos. the gameplay would be walking 'round map o' kuldahar an targos. yup, kuldahar music woulda' been less appropriate if we were't dealing with a fey environment, but am thinking even w/o wandering around giant tree, one could be impressed by the soule's efforts. *shrug* and as for planescape... planescape music always annoyed us. is not that music were bad, but the first time we played ps:t, we couldn't help but instantly recognize that the composer for ps:t were obviously also the guy who did music for fallouts... and either he were recycling a great deal, or he had an extreme distinct sound. as a person who played fallout games first, we found planescape music to be... jarring. the music didn't fit perfect for us, 'cause we associated so much o' what we were hearing with the fallouts. no doubt you has seen hollywood movies wherein the music is recycled. annoying. HA! Good Fun! ps if Torment: Tides of Numenera sounds exact like fallout 2, we is gonna be disappointed... not that such is an obsidian issue. just sayin'

Our weapons' enchantments are balanced around their handedness and speed. handedness. handedness? taken literal, we find this amusing. weapons themselves can't have handedness, so... The Southpaw Spear of Destiny: when wielded by a lefty, the weapon may deliver an invariably fatal coup de grâce to any prone, immobilized or otherwise defenseless humanoid creature. a right-handed wielder suffers progressively debilitating nightmares. the dreams vary, but always end with the wielder drowning in blood. from a practical standpoint, the wielder receives a cumulative 1 point penalty following each nightmare to all ability scores until he rids himself of the spear. etc. handedness. *snort* HA! Good Fun! duh. he means one- or two-handed. A one-hander would mean that you can carry a shield in your other hand, reducing your deflection rating, whereas a two-hander would mean that you cannot. you have to make a decision as to whether you are willing to sacrifice deflection for increases in DPS. Enchantments are balanced around this decision as well. am quite aware o' what he "means." duh. nevertheless, we noted that literal meaning o' handedness leads to ridiculous outcome. ... so, how does it feel to be the one guy who doesn't "get it?" kinda embarrassed? no? well, that is kinda funny too. HA! Good Fun!

well, to be fair, a 9th level cleric in 2e were not an every-town kinda personage. rogue's gallery stats for rigby list him as level 9 and serten gets all the way to 15. rogue's gallery were, admittedly, 1st edition, but leveling didn't become faster in second, so am thinking it is fair to use such well-known iconic characters as a guide. also, rez fail were based 'pon constitution and average con o' 9 is gonna result in a fail rate of 30%. if you died originally 'cause o' age or general poor health (constitution) those fail chances is gonna be even less forgiving. furthermore, any dm is gonna have the cleric beholden to tenants of faith such that random or your example spam resurrections of the aristocracy would be seeming unlikely. HA! Good Fun! ack. needs correct this. serten, the famous cleric for whom numerous spells is named, were a 10th level cleric, not 15. our rogue's gallery got a printing error so we we realized something were up when we took another peek and it appeared as if serten had 10 hps at level 15. that struck us improbable. actual scores were charisma 15, level 10 and 53 hps. better. ... not that any here were genuine curious, but these were the most iconic player characters in the d&d world at the time, and they barely had eclipsed the level 9 threshold. HA! Good Fun!

steel? concrete? *shrug* US market share of world manufacturing has been +/- 20% for three decades. similarly, other than some blip years during the recent recession, steel production for US has been relative steady for the same 3 decades. conversely, US share o' hi-tech production (not just manufacture) is 35%. the world's top 4 capital goods producers is US, Germany, Japan and UK... three other than US has seen their relative share drop in the past 3 decades. US has increased. china... not worth mentioning. bad news. us tort costs and health care costs for manufactures is rising at rates greater than increase in gdp... and far greater than other major manufacturing nations. even more serious, over 50% o' physical science and engineering degrees is going to foreign students, and an increasing % of those graduates is returning to their native countries to earn a living. am not the least bit concerned by relative steel production, but the loss of capable science and engineering grads is disturbing... as is the fact that 'tween taxes, torts and health care, the US is becoming even less attractive for manufacturers. we all know what a bang-up job US high schools is doing at producing a future generation o' scientists and engineers, so am less than optimistic 'bout the near future. is somewhat surprising, but small manufacturers has been shouldering an increasing share o' the total US manufacturing load for many years. some more cynical economists hypothesize that this is 'cause small manufacturers were able to offer fewer benefits to employees. recent changes to healthcare laws may have a chilling effect on small manufacturers, though hopefully only a temporary one. is lots o' positives and negatives for the US, but china? steel? no way. not yet. not for awhile and not unless they makes complete change to innovative//tech/capital... which is unlikely to occur with methods they used to become a manufacturing power. HA! Good Fun!

am thinking that unlike european nations that invariably look for an internal threat against which it can direct efforts and blame for evils, the US typically looks outwards. if a threat doesn't genuine exist, the US will make one. war with mexico 1846-48 seems like an early example. more recent, American public were all scared into a panic when we learned that the USSR were spending 15% of its GDP on defense (some recent estimates suggest that % should be approaching 25, but only 'cause GDP o' the ussr were even more pathetic than we thought.) 'course it is arguable that the soviet were never a genuine threat... save for all those nukes... which IS hard to dismiss. saddam were a credible threat for 15 minutes or so. if muslim terrorists weren't a threat after 9-11, one wonders what new threat woulda' been created... probably woulda jumped at china that much sooner. china has ownership o' huge amount of US debt... PANIC. the debt they own is in the form of US treasury bonds. oh. china is taking over the world in manufacturing... PANIC. of rubber dog poop and office chairs and other stuff that don't fit within the definition of Capital Goods. oh. etc. personally, Gromnir is not a fan when any significant portion o' defense hardware or components o' defense hardware is manufactured beyond US boarders. is not as if Gromnir is some great military strategist, but that feels wrong to us. even so, as far as credible economic threats is concerned, we thought the panic about Japanese manufacturing in the early 90s were far more realistic than current nightmare scenarios 'bout china... and the Japanese fears were never all that worrisome to us. the United States has some serious debt issues and there is infrastructure problems that needs be addressed sooner rather than later... and by "sooner," we mean a couple decades ago. that being said, china? nope. sorry, we don't see it. HA! Good Fun! ps comments above should not make it sound as if we is dismissive of china economic metamorphosis of last 30 years. but much o' what were done by china to reach their current state is likely to impede further growth. gonna take wholesale changes that do not appear to be forthcoming.

am gonna balk at "great," but that is a quibble. in any event, our issue is with using as a citation. HA! Good Fun!

Well, yes, if the only acceptable outcome to in this discussion for you is that I accept everything you say without question, and that if I do not accept this then it must be because I am either indoctrinated or ignorant and cannot be taught "the truth", then I do suppose there is no point in this discussion. is in your best interest not to believe anything without checking for yourself. that were our suggestion btw. HA! Good Fun!

It isn't reliable enough in general level so that it could be used as source for scientific papers, as most of it's articles can be edited by anybody and more often than not validity of sources that people post in articles aren't checked, which can and have lead in circle references, where Wikipedia article references article that references Wikipedia article. And its article writers have often bad habit to forget to give credit for original writers and studies. is essentially what we said already. however, am gonna disagree with you that wikipedia is an ok source to cite, under any circumstances. recall our statement, "anybody who cites wikipedia..." that were how we phrased our condemnation. if you is complete oblivious and need a starting point from which to start, we don't begrudge the use of wiki. that being said, to cite wiki is... laughable. "some guy on the bio social forum" "i read it while on craigslist" "it was on a flier i was handed outside a starbucks" if the above were your citations, folks would laugh, but wiki somehow gets a pass even though it is no more valid. HA! Good Fun! ps am thinking folks is getting lost on liberty more than democracy, but if they can't find it themselves, there won't be no learning.

is many reasons. first, do you know how wiki entries is created? takes very little effort to create an intentionally fraudulent wiki entry. is even less surprising when an accidental incorrect wiki entry appears. to trust any wiki entry is naive bordering on moronic. second, is the most half-arsed and lazy scholarship possible. you don't read any primary or even secondary sources. some unknown author presents you with... snippets (?) either pulled out o' the air or their arse, or with no thought to context. is a breeding ground for plagiarism. is sloppy, unsophisticated. is cliff's notes o' cliff's notes. and while it has been a Long time since Gromnir were teaching, such nonsense is getting an automatic fail if we discovered one is using wiki as a source. and to jade, your definition should not change anything. am suspecting that the almost inevitable indoctrination o' folks raised in Democratic nations is creating a near insurmountable block. as we said earlier, is axiomatic, but difficult for people to grasp that Democracy is adversarial to Liberty. perhaps we shoulda' put "tyranny of the majority" in quotes, but it is such oft used that we found no need. if you cannot understand how a Democracy necessarily places limits on citizens and their liberty rights, am thinking we is at a place Gromnir will have much difficulty in helping you move forward. am recognizing that we needs must explains what is "law" and "liberty" and "democracy." this is perhaps getting too... rudimentary. perhaps you is confused 'cause you think we is suggesting that Democracy is specially adversarial or antagonistic... more so than say theocracy. we never made such a claim. again, maybe 'cause it would help if you got basics from toqueville, john stuart mill, john adams, james madison or nietzsche, perhaps it would be better to search "tyranny of the majority." but this shouldn't be a new concept. HA! Good Fun!

to elerond 1) anybody who cites wikipedia as a source deserves to be kicked in the head with a steel-toed boot. really 2) your post doesn't seem to have a point *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

am saying what we said. Democracy is adversarial towards notions o free speech and other liberties. the First Amendment free speech protections ensures that no simple majority decision by the people will infringe 'pon your fundamental Liberty rights. furthermore, a Judiciary (Supreme Court numbers has fluctuated between 6 and 10 over the years) that can stymie the will of the people is also not particularly democratic, is it? this is why we noted that the organization o' our government is an intended limitation on Democracy. the whim of the majority IS Democracy, and the founding fathers recognized that Individuals needed protection from the Democratic process. this is an axiomatic but difficult concept for many to grasp. many folks is taught to thinks that an inherent quality of Democracy is Liberty. the truth is that Democracy protects the Liberties of the current majority, nothing more. whatever enduring liberty protections you enjoy is due to the fact that the government of these United States is organized, in part, to combat the tyranny of the majority. as for appointing of Justices, that process is also meant to be adversarial. independent judiciary? independent from whom? the President appoints with the consent of the Senate. and once confirmed, a Justice sits for life (or until retirement.) is not surprising how many Justices act against the prognostications of Senators and Presidents once they become members of The Court. HA! Good Fun! ps perhaps an Extreme simplification is required to clarify Democracy: government of, by and for the people. Liberty: the ability to do as one chooses, in spite of the government.

*insert eye-roll here* is not that Democracy is incompatible with financial oligarchy, 'cause you know, there ain't no such ubiquitous and monstrous example in the United States. the "problem" is that Democracy is not compatible with Liberty. "citizens of the U.S. "do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association and a widespread (if still contested) franchise..." am not sure how reputable scholars get away with such fallacious nonsense. Democracy is antagonistic towards "freedom of speech and association"... to point out just one glaring inaccuracy. free speech protections insure that unpopular speech will not be limited regardless o' whim o' the majority. the majority, Democracy, is fickle and stupid. the majority can look at nutters in florida burning the koran or nazis in skokie illinois marching down mainstreet and be shocked an appalled. the thing is, the majority were shocked an appalled by civil rights speakers, vietnam war protesters and proponents o' gay and lesbian rights too. the Bill of Rights is NOT a tool of Democracy, it is a shield against Democracy. the founding fathers were very much aware o' the potential tyranny of the majority. furthermore, more than specific Constitutional protections, our government is designed to be inefficient and internally adversarial. the goal were to be making a government that would be fighting itself most o' the time. these protections weren't believed necessary to protect the majority so much as to protect Liberty, 'cause frequently Democracy is anathema to Liberty. now, we get that some folks, particularly first year college students and european socialists, is thinking it is foolish to give same/similar weight to a rich guy's liberty rights to spend his money how he will and and average joe who wants to protest unfair voting practices. to a certain degree, the Supreme Court agrees. strictly commercial speech and endeavors gots less Constitutional gravitas than fundamental rights. nevertheless, we here in the United States take Liberty very serious. many Liberty rights is functionally off-limits to the whim o' Democracy. even seemingly insignificant Liberties gets protected by the process. regardless, it is that Democracy is incompatible with Liberty that leads to the "problems" identified in the paper. HA! Good Fun! ps please note that Gromnir never suggested that all Liberty rights does/should get special protections. quite the contrary.

Our weapons' enchantments are balanced around their handedness and speed. handedness. handedness? taken literal, we find this amusing. weapons themselves can't have handedness, so... The Southpaw Spear of Destiny: when wielded by a lefty, the weapon may deliver an invariably fatal coup de grâce to any prone, immobilized or otherwise defenseless humanoid creature. a right-handed wielder suffers progressively debilitating nightmares. the dreams vary, but always end with the wielder drowning in blood. from a practical standpoint, the wielder receives a cumulative 1 point penalty following each nightmare to all ability scores until he rids himself of the spear. etc. handedness. *snort* HA! Good Fun!

well, to be fair, a 9th level cleric in 2e were not an every-town kinda personage. rogue's gallery stats for rigby list him as level 9 and serten gets all the way to 15. rogue's gallery were, admittedly, 1st edition, but leveling didn't become faster in second, so am thinking it is fair to use such well-known iconic characters as a guide. also, rez fail were based 'pon constitution and average con o' 9 is gonna result in a fail rate of 30%. if you died originally 'cause o' age or general poor health (constitution) those fail chances is gonna be even less forgiving. furthermore, any dm is gonna have the cleric beholden to tenants of faith such that random or your example spam resurrections of the aristocracy would be seeming unlikely. HA! Good Fun!

turn a corner in some random dungeon and get hit by a bus? splat. dead. game over. stupid? sure, but that is what we is talking 'bout. these unpredictable encounters that has a high probability o' causing a party wipe is not enhancing game fun. being entertaining is the goal... not to be "challenging," though only the most obtuse would see the aforementioned bus mauling as a challenge. is funny (well, is funny assuming you are English... or high,) but stoopid. HA! Good Fun!

In PnP terms first mistake: is not pnp. am recalling when josh had to point that seeming obvious fact out to tim cain. in pnp, you sit around a table with a handful o' other folks and got a dm, all of whom is reactive. gotta let go o' the notion that playing a single-player crpg is playing a pnp game in a computer environment. HA! Good Fun!

*eye roll* http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26786213 even if the masked men outside the synagogue were part o' some elaborate ruse (russians do love conspiracy theories after all) to make Donestk look bad (*snort*) such a ploy only works 'cause it is believable. HA! Good Fun!

got a good example o' such a single-player crpg? you know, with no storytelling save for what you interpret from killing goblins and opening chests? HA! Good Fun! Nethack *eye roll* sorry, but nethack has story same way does pong. HA! Good Fun! ps say that you don't need, care or want story elements. is fine. is honest. nevertheless, you mighta' noticed that pillars claims to be using the IE games as role-models, so... you is perhaps barking up the wrong tree if you want text based adventure game from the 80s.