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Topic: Are you ready for 5e? Do you care?
Subject: 5th edition
Well I called it. I called 4th, too. Both in front of witnesses. I'm good at this. 4th has lasted about as long as 3rd did, and even had its own 4.5 (Essentials). They still haven't delivered on the online playability they promised, and charged people for, during the 4e pre-release.
I haven't given one cent to the D&D franchise since AD&D, and I won't do it again unless they get their crap together. I put it in the same realm as Star Wars these days: A once-awesome idea that instead of living up to its potential has gotten so much worse and been so twisted by greed that it's now the opposite of almost everything I liked about it back then.
That said, I like 4th a ton more than I ever liked 3rd (still not enough to play when there were other options), but that's more because they were honestly pursuing a single design goal (be a tactical wargame with RPG elements) rather than the hybrid, barely-functional monstrosity that was 3e. I suspect that seeing MMOs plateau has made them rethink their whole concept, since 4e borrowed heavily from them (in fairness, they had borrowed heavily from D&D first). Hopefully, the success of retro-clones has shown them that a step back would actually be a step forward.
Finally, game makers are realizing what I said more than ten years ago: the OGL (and other, similar concepts), are a scam. Under U.S. laws, how to play a game cannot be someone's intellectual property. That means they can't put out a shoddy game and charge good designers to make good stuff for the game anymore - they have to make the good stuff themselves... unless they are just going to shovel out as much as they can as fast as they can with no regard to quality until the good name of D&D lies in ruins. That's not sustainable in the long-term, but how many corporations really think in the long-term anymore?
1st edition lasted 12 years, 2nd lasted 11, and it's been a steady, increasing decline since. The sustainability of the WOTC model was always doomed, though, so we shouldn't be surprised. 3e was about making money by driving out competition and conning people into paying for something they could have had for free. 4e was about trying to ape the subscription model that's been failing MMOs left and right (down to the same lies and false promises of improvements a fixes in the "next patch").
With luck, 5th will go back to the old model of "make a product people want, and they will give us money for it."
Posted on 2012-01-10 at 18:27:51.
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Topic: CALLING ALL INN MEMBERS!
Subject: Is this still on?
If this is still on, then I'm on board. I'm a bit of a transient around here, drifting in and out over the years, but I keep coming back. Would it be better to give a current image or one that the locals would recognize?
Posted on 2012-01-04 at 04:01:03.
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Topic: Chaotic evil game???
Subject: Alignment
Alignment isn't limiting if you play it the right way. The right way being "not limiting." If you play it as a descriptor and nothing more, then it's no more limiting than any other descriptor. Short of class restrictions, I let people play it however they want and give no penalties for alignment change... I mean, realistically, it's common for people's outlook to change through their lives, right?
It's hard for me to imagine alignment being restrictive unless you're trying to force people to play extremes of whatever they wrote on their character sheet. Most people are clustered towards the middle, leaning a bit towards good and a bit towards lawful, but people don't just act the same way all the time generally. A person who's normally lawful good will sometimes lash out for no good reason when they're having a bad day. A chaotic evil person could risk live and limb to save a stranger. People are complex that way.
Posted on 2011-09-16 at 00:53:30.
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Topic: Chaotic evil game???
Subject: CE who can't kill?
That would only drive them crazy if you'e playing a characiture rather than a real, believable, fleshed-out character. Yes, a person who randomly kills people left and right is CE, but there are plenty of ways to play CE that never kill and never feel a loss from it. There are also few D&D characters who aren't killers, and a prohibition against killing would be equally frustrating to pretty much any player in a D&D game, really. This is part of the reason why evil games never seem to work: people play evil as cartoon super-villains.
Evil people can have friendships and loyalties and families and fall in love just like anyone else. They have basically the same motivations as good characters, they're just more willing to do bad things to get what they want. In some cases, that means killing, but if you're playing D&D, you're already playing a mass-murderer who immediately resorts to "might-makes-right" in a conflict more than likely, no matter what your alignment is.
Posted on 2011-09-14 at 23:06:11.
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Topic: We will Always Remember
Subject: Protect?
There's not a single member of the U.S. military serving overseas right now that's protecting American freedoms. Our freedoms are not now, nor have they ever been, threatened by Iraq or Afghanistan. You can agree or disagree with their mission, that's a matter that can be discussed and debated, and there are valid points to be made by both sides, but the idea that someone is safer in Chicago because of the U.S. military in the middle east, or that they are there protecting our freedoms is just wrong.
To be clear, I'm not saying that remembering is handing over a victory. I'm saying that bringing it up and making a big deal about it is handing over victory. Allowing it to be used as an excuse to strip away our liberties is letting the terrorists win. Allowing it to be used as an excuse to invade an unrelated country and wage war with no end in sight is worse. Trying to turn the country into a fascist theocracy as a response is the worst of all.
Also, try to remember that the WTC housed UN offices, and the attack wasn't just an attack on the U.S. It was an atrocity, make no mistake, but it was an atrocity against humanity, not against America.
Posted on 2011-09-12 at 21:12:42.
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Topic: We will Always Remember
Subject: Sure
No compelling reason we should all think alike. That would be the opposite of freedom, however you slice it.
Posted on 2011-09-12 at 05:15:32.
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Topic: We will Always Remember
Subject: Service
As a native born American citizen and a combat veteran of the U.S. Army, I stand by what I said. The most powerful message you can send to a terrorist is "you don't matter." We are currently sending the opposite message.
Posted on 2011-09-12 at 05:05:38.
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Topic: The Return of the Original Palassassin
Subject: Applaud?
NOOOOOOooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooOOOOOoooo...
*dies*
Posted on 2011-09-12 at 02:55:29.
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Topic: We will Always Remember
Subject: I wish...
i wish people would spend less time focusing on this. It was a giant cry for attention, and every time you talk about what happened, you are sending the message that terrorism works.
Posted on 2011-09-12 at 02:54:04.
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Topic: Good morning Red Dragon Inn! Or is it Evening? I am never really sure!
Subject: Awesome!
I love the smell of pumpkin bread... that's a good idea. 
Posted on 2011-09-11 at 17:13:22.
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Topic: could you put guns in a classic dnd game?
Subject: Guns
Keep in mind that flintlock weapons are pretty modern, and didn't arrive until the 1600s. Gunpowder weapons in general, though, are much older than most people realize, and saw use in European warfare as long ago as 1346 at the siege of Calais.
Saying that guns need special training is kind of backwards, too, since one of the major reasons for their rise on the battlefield is that it is much easier to train soldiers in their use than it is to train them to use bows.
If you want to balance the power and ease of use of a firearm (which is pretty much essential), then I'd suggest focusing on the unreliability, inaccuracy, and slow rate of fire of the weapons. At a time before inventions like the rifled barrel and such, there's no such thing as accurate gunfire.
Just my thoughts.
Posted on 2011-09-11 at 01:58:30.
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Topic: The Return of the Original Palassassin
Subject: Smites
For a while there, I had more smites than anyone else had total Karma... I don't actually remember how it started. I want to say it was Drasia, but I wouldn't swear to it.
Also *is pounced and falls over* Hey, DA. Always good to see you. 
Posted on 2011-09-10 at 09:26:07.
Edited on 2011-09-10 at 09:27:27 by Rystefn K'ryll
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Topic: Who here has heard of the MMORPG Guild Wars?
Subject: GW2
Yeah, Mass Effect 3 is definitely high up on my list. Maybe they'll finally work out that not everyone in the universe is heterosexual, and that it's ok to portray that in a video game. Dragon Age should have beat that lesson home by now, I would think...
Posted on 2011-09-10 at 09:20:25.
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Topic: Who here has heard of the MMORPG Guild Wars?
Subject: GW2
Excited? I waited in line for panels for more than an hour more than once at PAX. I don't think I've been more excited about a video game since Neverwinter Nights... Although Skyrim is running pretty close behind it.
Seriously, though, given the announcement that you can be in more than one guild with the same character (they said so at PAX, even if I haven't seen it online yet), ewe should start a guild.
Posted on 2011-09-07 at 20:57:55.
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Topic: The Return of the Original Palassassin
Subject: The Return of the Original Palassassin
Hey all. Been a long time since I've wandered this way. Years, I think. Anyway, I've come back. Figured it was time. Met many good friends here back in the day, and I hope the tradition continues.
Posted on 2011-09-07 at 20:41:17.
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Topic: Well, look who the cat dragged in
Subject: Hey
Heya, Fan. Good to see you again.
Posted on 2009-08-09 at 23:43:02.
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Topic: Buncha Random Questions!
Subject: Answers
The answers to the first two I've already posted, if you care enough to look. The third, I dunno, and the fourth, I guess only you can really answer.
Posted on 2009-05-29 at 04:15:29.
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Topic: Real-life Tressym?
Subject: I dunno...
This is pretty similar to something that was floating around the net a few years back, and it turned out to be nothing more than matted hair. Cool as it would be to think otherwsie, somehow I doubt this will turn out to be anything more interesting, really.
Posted on 2009-05-29 at 04:13:22.
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Topic: 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon
Subject: fun game
...well, at least with the right crowd. Anyone tried to link themselves to Bacon? I can get there in four steps (breaking the "only movies count" rule, since I've never been in one).
Posted on 2009-05-29 at 04:11:02.
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Topic: Happy Birthday Veronica
Subject: Happy Birthday
Hope it's as happy as can be, and that it's followed by a hundred or more as well.
Posted on 2009-04-28 at 21:33:50.
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Topic: Apologies
Subject: No need for a new topic
Sorry for the sudden drop. I do that sometimes. I've been having pretty girl troubles again, and it soaked up rather a lot of my time. I think I'm back for a while, though, if I can avoid fits of depression or upsetting Sabrina. Time will tell.
Posted on 2009-02-20 at 10:00:44.
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Topic: Anniversary
Subject: Glad to hear it
Love is always a good thing. Me, I spent $10k on mine, but I regret nothing. How many times in your life do you have an excuse to throw that kind of money at a party, right?
Posted on 2009-02-20 at 09:51:56.
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Topic: Favorite Super Hero Movie
Subject: Movies
To enjoy Superman Returns, you have to understand what it was. As a movie on its own, yes, it sucks.... but that's not what it was meant to be. It was an homage to the old Christopher Reeves movie, and on that front, it succeeded spectacularly well. That said - Superman is utter crap. Least interesting character ever created. You know why he works better on a team? Because he's more of a prop than a character, and you need characters to make a story worth anything.
At first, I loved the idea of the Ghost Rider movie, then, partway through, I realized it was special effects, and Nick Cage's head didn't actually get lit on fire, and that ruiined it for me.
The X-Men movies had a lot of good points (Nightcrawler is awesome), but Wolverine annoys the piss out of me. Also, I prefer traditional X-Men... you know, where Juggernaut isn't a mutant, etc...
Spider-Man was great, the sequels significantly less so, but not so bad they weren't worth the price of admission.
Fantastic 4 I refuse to watch because there's no way to do it right as live-action, and Doom is the greatest villain ever, and they made him look like a reatrd.
Hulk I liked. The ending annoyed me, but I liked it.
I wait impatiently for Thor and Captain America, two of my top three favorites, and judging by Iron Man and Hulk, likely to be awesome.
My great hope is that this X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie will be successful enough to encourage more Origins movies, but not so successful as to encourage more Wolverine movies. The Nightcrawler origin story is awesome in all ways it is possible to rock, especially if they go with the version from the comics where [SPOILER AHEAD] Mystique turns out to be his mother. Rebecca Romaine needs more reason to get on a giant screen wearing nothing but blue latex.
Posted on 2009-01-14 at 22:26:42.
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Topic: What is Real?
Subject: I disagree completely
If it's disrespectful to point out when someone is wrong, then education is the most disrespectful enterprise ever. Sorry, but we can't both be right about this, and there's an easy way to find out which one it is.
In short, I'd bet a large sum of money that your confidence ends where my hammer begins.
Posted on 2009-01-14 at 09:04:21.
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Topic: What is Real?
Subject: Really?
Well, how's about you shape your reality while I shape your hand with a hammer, and we'll see which one worls better? Something tells me you're so confident in your conclusions as you might like us to believe.
Posted on 2009-01-14 at 07:52:20.
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