Cantousent

I think we should try to find a solution that includes everyone who wants to play, from Mus to my numbered friend.

I actually liked Bloodlines. It was a fun game, even with the bugs. It had a richer, darker world than ToEE. It wasn't empty like Arcanum. In many ways, it was the game worthy of the reputation Troika had enjoyed undeserved lo these many years. Still, Troika shot themselves in the foot. They produced buggy games and blamed everyone except themselves for their failures. Anyone remember the interview where Troika said that the problem was their ideas were too complex for the programmers? nuts.

Why not join, then?

I've taken some of my favorites out of the set I'm shipping. There are still a bunch of rares in it, but I kept my Shivan Dragons and moxes and what not. I think I left in the demonic tutor and some other valuable cards. I am quite honest in that I'd rather give the cards to kids at an orphanage than sell the damned things. I consider most of the folks around here as the equivalent of an orphan. hahahahahaha. Dammit, no one understands my sense of humor.

How's this for you? I just had my cards weighed and I have almost 50lbs. Woo Hoo! I was looking through the cards last night and I have a couple of unopened booster packs. Good thing a lot of these were free, huh?

Folks suggest that "if they only took a few months longer, then the bugs would have been stomped flat." This is simply wrongminded. If a developer has four extra months, the publisher is probably demanding more content, which only means more opportunity to include bugs. I'm with Walsingham on this one. I don't mind minor bugs in a complex and entertaining game. I'm willing to put up with minor irritation for extra goodies. That means that I'm less irritated with bugs in my RPGs than I am with bugs in, say, an FPS. Another factor is support. I didn't ever have much of a problem with the bugs in Troika's games. What I hated, however, was the fact that they would trivialize bugs or claim they didn't exist. NWN, on the other hand had quite a few bugs. I didn't like NWN all that much, but one thing that I could not deny was the fact that Bioware supported the game. They didn't shirk their duties after the game hit the shelves. Some of that has to do with the publisher, so maybe Atari is at fault for some of Troika's problems. Sure. Nevertheless, the fate that befell Troika might await Atari or any other developer who fails in this regard.

That's how I run a lot of my DnD sessions anyhow. The characters don't ever make their own skill checks. The only rolls the characters make are combat rolls. Of course, it's DnD, so the characters make a lot of rolls during an average session.

That dancing ninja guy is total comedy. I don't know what that has to do with trips to Mexico, church groups, charity, homophobia, Christian baiting, or any of the other topics in this thread, but I get a kick out of your avatar.

I used to play a lot of mono-black. Considering how much I hate being the bad guy, that's remarkable. I've also played a lot of green. The Tournament I won was a draft and I played a red/green deck. Depending on which set was currently active, I smote all about me with a green/white deck. I've never been much for patient decks. I want something fast that will destroy others quickly. My emphasis on attack rather than defense is sometimes an advantage and sometimes a burden. I usually care a lot less about gainging life than I do about destroying others. For that reason, I only choose life gaining cards for other reasons, such as drain life. It's kind of funny, but white is actually quite a offensive color choice. At least much more than people seem to think. A fast green/black deck just tends to be pretty ugly news for your opponent. Blue has always been my weakest colors. I've done well against others with every color, but I lack the finesse and patience to use blue effectively against good players. I suppose my favorite is probably red/green, with emphasis on creature control and heavies. Anyhow, I've taken out some of the more valuable cards. I still have quite an assortment of rares, uncommons, commons, lands, and even some of those foil ones that came out around the time I stopped buying the cards. Many of these cards came to me free by way of a friend who worked for WotC corporate. At any rate, I would rather give them to someone who will use them, but I'm willing to send them to anyone who wants them. I have thousands of the damned things. Here's the deal: I offered them to Atreides first, and so he's got first dibs. I'll send them the cheapest way possible and the only thing I ask is that you reimburse me the shipping cost upon receipt of the cards. That's right, I'm trusting you to repay me. I warn you, though, the boxes are heavy. If you'd like me to take them to the post office to check the shipping price before making a decision, let me know. If you're a serious player, I think you'll like the price. This offer is for Atreides, but you can let me know if you want them just in case Atreides doesn't. It's a first come, first served sort of thing. So, Calax is next. I'm not trying to make money off of you, but I'd appreciate it if I could hear only from those folks who can and are determined to reimburse me the shipping price. I will include a copy of the shipping receipt, which should also be posted on the package at any rate, with the items in question.

It is truly horrible that a man was murdered over something like spam. The ugliness that exists on the internet has poured out into "real life" in unhealthy ways. I don't wish to trivialize murder, and I offer no excuse for killing a person because they spam the internet. However, if he hadn't been murdered, we would probably revile his practices. It is a sign that people felt powerless under the law that they decided, in a brutal and misguided way, to seek justice of a different kind. Let's face it, Vardan Kushnir engaged in activities as a result of which he received many death threats. He knew the risk and yet continued to act. He did not receive death threats because he was a champion of civil rights or because he stood up to the mob or the state. No, he was a champion of spam. He should never have been murdered, but he should not have engaged in something so odious as corporate spamming in the first place. He didn't spam a few fora. If folks were murdered for that sort of thing, Baley would be dead already. (a little levity in a heavy subject.) If I die for a cause, I would certainly want it to be something other than "FREE SPAMMERS!"

I'm really excited about this. I've never played VtM, so I look forward to the experience. I've never played on IRC before, so another experience. I wanted to play CoC, but my character has a lot of the same ideas behind him as a scholar. I'm stoked. I can hardly wait.

Ah, just shut it, Lucius! Oh well, maybe just shut it a little?

Okay, I gave it a test. The tertiary mode is kind of cool, although I find that I still prefer different weapon selections for different areas. It's funny, but I just realized that the nazis in the Leningrad map use cannisters for calling in air strikes. When you take the time to dance around and watch rather than just shooting them down, they look an aweful lot like the LTs from RtCW.

My name is Daniel Black.

I'm just glad some folks now have medical care. I agree with Steve in that I think it is better if the community helps in such projects. Nevertheless, that's not always how it works.

Well, you put me in my place. I stand corrected. You're not pushed and pulled at the whim of popular culture. You're just another message board cowboy flam FLAM FLAMING away at my innocuous comment. I no longer play Magic the Gathering, but that has more to do with the fact that it is, as you say, difficult to find mature players than the game itself. You say that the players and the game go hand in hand. That's fair enough. ...And I'll give you your preference when it comes to role-playing, although I often hear the same or similar comments when it comes to role-playing as you've made regarding MtG. The same comments, yes, and yet it is true for both RPGs and MtG that the younger players tend to underperform in the game. They make stupid character builds and lack discipline when creating decks. That's not to say that children are stupid, only that most games favor folks who spend the time to learn the rules and take advantage of them. As to my assessment of your personality... well, what can I say? You don't care what people think, so why be offended? After all, you're your own man. Here, let me make another observation: I think you protest too much, sir. I think you've made an observation about a game when you really meant to make an observation about the players. I could say your comment, "[t]hese high school graduates still play Magic cards! I weep for my ancestors since their offspring have degenerated into morons!" was offensive. I merely pointed out that your comment was misguided. ...And since you led your post with that particular quote, I'm assuming you were looking at others' opinion at least long enough to type out what they'd said. You don't like MtG because you've had bad experiences? Fair enough. Was my analysis of your character offensive? I'd hoped it would not be, but I beg forgiveness for causing offense. The fact that you then responded with a little touch of flame leads me to believe that I misunderstood your original comments, but that perhaps you took my answer too much to heart. After all, if you don't care what your real life peers think, you most certainly should not care what I think. I haven't played MtG for years, but that's kind of like the RPG dry spells I've had. If I could find a good group, I'd gladly play the game again. Hell, if Atreides didn't some thousands of miles away, I believe I could count on him not to accuse me of using tapped lands. As it stands, I'm getting rid of the cards because I don't have enough room for all of the junk in my house and they're not being used for anything.

I'm concerned more about their endings than their origins. :D Sorry, I have a strange sense of humor. Anyhow, interesting read. I normally don't read these terrorist threads, but I read "wasabi" rather than "Wahhabi." Heh.

Do you still play computer games? People often feel the same way about computer games as they do about MtG. In fact, most folks are so pedestrian that they look down on most intellectual games except those games that have been entrenched. Even so, how many jokes have you found in literature and cinema regarding the "chess club?" If you don't like playing MtG because you've found you don't have the time, or it just isn't fun anymore, or there are more important things to do, that fine. If you don't play Magic because you're afraid of what other people will think.... how sad. You simply must be careful when dealing with prejudices of the majority.

That's okay, mkreku... if it turns out to be that much more powerful than the 360, I'll buy one anyhow. I'd rather spend more and get a better machine in the bargain. I'll probably get at least one of these consoles, and right now it's too early to say which one it will be. One thing that's in it's favor is the fact that it is supposed to sport a hardrive. That's simply a must have for any consoles I purchase.

Congratulations, Servant. I hope you enjoyed your trip. You know, folks always look at the bad things and figure, because evil* is far more noteworthy, that the "bad guys" are winning. Who the bad guy might be, from "corparate America" to "damned terrorists," doesn't really matter. Folks look for evil things and find evil in every place they look. Your experience serves to highlight the underlying truth of our world, there is more good than bad. There are more people in the world doing good things than there are doing bad things. The good things people do are far grander than the bad things people do. Pride is a sin, I suppose, but I think you should sin a little and take some pride in doing something good. As long as it doesn't go straight to your head and take up residence, I think God will overlook the sin of pride every now and then. *yes, there are some things in this world for which "evil" is the only applicable term

I just talked to my wife. She wants me to sell them on Ebay. I might just keep some of the more valuable cards and then ship them to you. I've shipped stuff to online friends in the past, and I'm willing to do so again. Let me look into it. I'd really rather give them to somebody than scalp some poor bastard on ebay.

I'm probably not a fanboy of anyone, but I do admit that I find Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman beautiful. I tend to like faces with more character than outright beauty, such as Kate Planchet. Please forgive my spelling, but I don't really follow the actual actors, I've just seen their films. Jolie actually scared me a bit. I think her lips and mouth look strange.

I have no reservations about agreeing with you on this point. A great novel must find a way to compel the reader to invest his feelings in the main character. A player usually invests that feeling during character creation.

I agree with you in principle, Llyranor, but it's a mistake to take your point too far. It should be possible to have great gameplay with a solid story. Nevertheless, the design team should never sacrifice gameplay for story. If the two meet, it should be gameplay that prevails. After all, it's a game. I love a great story. Computer games are a valid vehicle for a great story. ...But a computer game is not a book and a book is not a computer game. I'd also rather see some sort of differentiation between the background story and the story as it unfolds in the game. The background story for many games is solid, even if the game does not really unfold much, or any, of the story during actual gameplay. That brings us to cut-scenes. I've never played a game, even Borringwind, where the player had little or no control over the the next course of action when driving towards the end of the story arc. I don't think we can give the player perfect freedom without destroying the story, at least with the computers we have today. Hell, even PnP games tend to have certain points where the characters are compelled to follow a certain course of action. For example, some fellow might want to play a barmaid in a tavern. That's a valid option, I guess, but it might make for boring sessions and the rest of the gaming group might be a tad resentful. The bottom line with cutscenes is that they actually preserve the all important story in the first place. After all, if the characters can do anything and everything they want, then where is the story anyhow? ...And, as I stated above, the characters can never do anything and everything they want. The barmaid class would make for boring Dungeons and Dragons.

I used to play quite a bit. I even managed to win a sanctioned tournament about five years ago. I haven't played for years, although I still have a collection of 11,000+ cards. It takes up a lot of space, but my wife won't let me give them to the young folks I know who play the game. She wouldn't even let me donate them to anyone. Dammit, she must think they'll be worth something some day, which could theoretically be true. I doubt if I even find someone to buy the damned things though. It's odd, because my wife is actually quite charitible. Why she acts so weird about my MtG cards is beyond me. Hey, anyone want to have ton of magic cards?