Cantousent

I would not vote for KotOR 2. I liked it overall, but the parts I didn't like made me cringe. I would have to go with Bloodlines. It is a truly inspired game. Too bad Troika only managed to get out one title that lived up to their so-called "pedigree."

I used to run in combat dress five miles up and down the beach all of the time. That was on top of the normal work out regimine. I don't think you should worry about bulking up as it's almost certainly going to happen to you eventually anyhow. I've been this height, 6'2", and ranged in weight from 168 to 275 pounds. 200 is a good balance for me. I like having some muscle, but I don't much care for the spare tire I currently have. At 275, I even looked fat, which isn't true at 240. After all, clothes are great for hiding the pounds. The beginning of the 30s killed me, but I've been retaking control over my physique of late. My doctors tell me my life depends on it. ...Bunch of dramatic bastards if you ask me.

I inherited genes from a fellow who beat his wife and children daily and died of Cirrhosis of the liver before he turned 50. Two of his six children turned out to be an alcoholic. None of his children abuse his or her spouse. Folks telling me that our fates lie not in our hearts but in our genes just don't make sense. Sure, he passed on a lot of terrible genes to me, but I take after my dad, my real, adoptive dad much more than I do the fellow who passed on a few strands of DNA. I might look like my biological father, but I act like my real dad. Maybe other folks just weren't that lucky.

Think Dante's Inferno mixed with Laugh-in.

Tom foolery! At any rate, I have two DnD groups. One group consists of three people. In that group, I am joined by two friends, one of ten years and one of 20 some odd years. The other group consists of six people. In that group, I am joined by some family and long standing friends. I have plans on trying to subvert... uh, I mean, invite, one of my former classmates who watches our house for us while we're out of town. If she joins, then my wife might actually play again. If that happens, I'll be quite happy.

How about this for being "three sheets to the wind:" I've been on Vicodin for the past three days because of a rather ugly infection. Unfortunately, the pain prevents me from feeling particularly witty. Hell, I'm still suffering even having been taking the medicine regularly. I can't even sleep at night. Did I mention that I have a low constitution? I suspect, however, that some of you sick bastards will probably get a kick out of my suffering. Anything to spread cheer. What about luck? How would we assess our luck characteristic?

Good God, man, you needed to lose that weight. Keep up the good work. I need to lose some weight myself. I'd be ecstatic to lose 40 pounds. I'm a big fellow, so 200 pounds isn't considered overweight. 240 sure as hell is, though.

I hate to bring up a practical point in what I perceive as a theoretical discussion, but here goes: it doesn't matter whether or not we have free will, we must act as if we do. Regardless of other factors, the law will always assume that the majority of people have control over their actions and are accountable for them. How can it be otherwise?

He was a man desperately in need of both Zen and thought.

Otherwise branch davidian would be the norm. That was a society of sorts.

...But the self-contained man will need no outside source of entertainment. He will be aware of himself, as meta said, and therefore will need no outside validation. He will work his land, sleep with his wife, rear his children, and, if he interacts with society, it will only be to use it for his own ends. There really aren't a lot of self-contained men. The ancients looked upon the idea itself with scorn. Men hunger for community, even outside other concerns. ...Or put it this way, if man requires community to help him remain entertained, why? Why can't he find entertainment all by his own, lonely self? The answer is simple, man is inherently community oriented. Aristotle says that man is by his nature an animal of the city. Folks have, understandably, chosen to understand that quote to mean that man is a "political" animal. It means more than that. It means that man is, by his very nature, an animal of society, in more ways than one. So, men place themselves in communities for the purposes of safety and security, so much is true. Men also place themselves in communities to advance their own power or to protect what power they already possess, as much and as little as that may be. Men seek entertainment in a form provided by other men. Of course, men also seek entertainment both internally (daydreaming, auto-eroticism, etc.) and in the natural world (swimming, travelling, etc.). So, entertainment does not come exclusively from the community. You did not claim as much and I only state the obvious lest it be hidden in plain sight. Now, to come back to the idea of society for the purposes of entertainment, it is clear that men can be entertained passively by other men. Nevertheless, that still doesn't account for things like this message board. It sure as hell doesn't account for the fact that you "used to" write a newsletter.* It doesn't explain why folks who never intend to publish write stories or compose music. Sure, both meta and Player have great points regarding innate human needs regarding reward and validation, but why do we have these needs in the first place? The interaction is the point, not the reward. The interaction is the reward. Someone used the term "belong" earlier. It's a great term, because, regardless of all other considerations, man must belong. He doesn't find security and therefore look for entertainment and, upon finding entertainment, look to find acceptance. Man seeks interaction by which he finds all three. Even as he looks for security, he's looking for entertainment and acceptance because, for man, all of these things stem from human interaction. *I'd be interested to see your newsletter also, by the way. I agree with Mr. Playah, you're an interesting fellow.

I can see what you're saying, but I haven't played a system where I didn't, at some point, tinker with the rules. Nevertheless, I agree that I should not have been compelled to make changes to the rules. In fact, some of the things that I thought needed changing from third edition did not receive treatment in 3.5. In many ways, 3.5 is just an optional ruleset as someone mentioned earlier in this thread. Still, I just can't get enough people to stick with something other than DnD. If I could, I'd have an entire Call of Cthulu campaign.

society entails more than the government. We have a society of sorts here on these fora. Society, however, seems like a narrow term. Why are we part of a community? Indeed, why are most of us part of several different communities? We're not here in order to survive. We might have a sort of social prestige or status, but only in a virtual world. Why do people come here? Why do they abide by the rules, by and large? Community isn't something for which we strive out of sheer necessity or immediate gain.

There is no spoon. ...But is there freedom?

Here you go, Shryke, you need purchase the plays no longer! http://www.perseus.org/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html Each work is available in either Greek/Latin or English. This isn't the best way to read the plays, so you might want to buy some of your favorites anyhow. It is great for looking through the plays to see which ones you like best. If you're a student of Classical Studies, then you can also use the site for tough to translate passages, although you don't want to become dependent on Perseus. There are mirror sites, so if one is down, then go to another. Enjoy! I'm reading Harry Potter translated into Attic Greek, which is not available on Perseus. Nothing's perfect, I guess.

Greek Comedy is vulgar and often funny. Aristophanes wrote The Frogs, but Euripides is a character in the play.

The last great hope of mankind. May I not live to see the last day of the United States. I beg no forgiveness for my love of country. Happy birthday, indeed.

Good God, the spamsters have taken over this thread! Wait, this thread was nothing more than spam from the very beginning.

Of course, that solves the mystery. Threads can either be outright deleted or moved area from the public area. If they named that area "Obsidian Moderation" then it makes sense that it would be the most active location for some folks.

1.7

Actually, I find the discussion interesting. I don't follow Mystara myself, but I like to take good aspects of different settings and find ways to incoporate them into my own campaigns. I'll admit, however, that I will incorporate some of these ideas into a d20 campaign.

I find it kind of interesting.

hahahaha Well, I've allowed others to take home some laughs at least. That should score me some points, shouldn't it?

That made me laugh out loud. :D Maybe my online role isn't to be goofy. Maybe I'm more of the introspective type online. I think each of us carves out a place for himself in every place he considers important. I spend a lot of time here reading and writing about a variety of subjects, so I've already created my online persona. I could change it, I know. I even want to change it sometimes. ...But it has become the most dreadful of things -- comfortable. So, I imagine I'll remain as I am. Nevertheless, I'll participate in the errant "three sheets to the wind" threads I happen to see. As for Charisma, I think of it as the element of a person's personality that exerts influence over other people. A charismatic person need not issue orders, although being obeyed based solely on your personality would definitely make you charismatic. Rather, a person might be the "conscience" of the group, providing a moral baseline by which others see their actions. He might be the impetus for actions, making suggestion without actually issuing orders. He might merely be the focal point for a group of people. A selfish person will undoubtedly use influence for his own purposes. Most folks look upon their friends with more benevolence, and so they'll not really use their influence fpr a cause so much as exert naturally. Some folks try to use influence in ways that they believe will help individual members grow and improve. If intelligence is difficult to define, then wisdom and charisma are damned near impossible. I've given some examples but not an actual definition. I'll wait for someone else to do so. Please, though, no dictionary definitions!

It's not even that complicated, Walsingham. In real life, I think I am able to use body language to convey information. I also read body language quite well. I don't want to be more serious in real life. I want to be less serious online. The problem, I suspect, is that I view all writing as somewhat formal. ...And I promise not to play psychiatrist to you if you promise the same to me.