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26

General Discussion / Crowd-sourcing: Bragging contest

« on: October 06, 2016, 03:48:46 pm »

I'm figuring out how to run a bragging contest at an upcoming convention, and I figure why do this by myself? I can tap the hive mind.

I'm thinking of written boasts. The nature is up to the participant, but it's a gaming convention, so boasts geared toward outrageous things done or not done as an RPG would be pretty cool. But you know, if you can pull off an epic boast about accounting, go for it, man.

The logistics I have in my head is that submissions are accepted on Thursday and Friday. I may even keep it open Saturday morning until noon so that late arrivals have a chance to submit a boast. The boast must be within X words (50 or 100, probably). If I do this using Google Forms, then maybe a character count instead.

You submit your boast electronically. If you do not have a phone/tablet, then a computer will be available at the registration desk.

When the submissions are done, the boasts are available online to read anonymously (mostly, may track and vote by badge number). Attendees vote for their favorite three boasts. This part may just be done with paper ballots unless I want to figure out a way to prevent digital ballot stuffing. In meatspace, ballot-stuffing is more awkward to pull off since you have to endure the judgmental eyes of con staff.

Winner is announced/posted Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Any thoughts on a better way to run this? Any challenges you see that could bite me in the butt?

27

General Discussion / GG EZ

« on: August 18, 2016, 08:58:15 am »

http://www.cnet.com/news/blizzard-trolls-overwatch-trolls-in-new-patch/

I’m reminded of earlier conversations on here about whether it was considered polite or condescending to say GG before the game is officially over.

Apparently, on Overwatch, people would flout their leet gaming skills by starting off with a polite “good game” but ending it with a condescending “you were easy.” As one may find online, it was shortened to GG EZ. I can see why facing these people would be frustrating.

So Blizzard is looking to do away with that. Typing in GG EZ in chat replaces it with something silly.

The nice thing is that this probably won’t affect GG at all. People can still be sincere in their congratulation. Of course, douchebaggery will evolve into something not involving GG EZ.

28

Other Games / London Dread

« on: August 17, 2016, 01:09:46 pm »

I recently discovered the existence of this:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/178134/london-dread

It sounds like it could be awesome. How come I’ve not heard of it before now? And has anyone here played it?

29

Other Games / Oregon Trail board game

« on: August 08, 2016, 11:55:26 am »

I finally got to play the Oregon Trail card game. It's not a good game.

I felt bad because a friend bought it, and she was really excited to play it. I wasn't much in the mood for a second game, but she wanted another one, it's not terribly long, and I didn't really experience that much in the first go. My first turn consisted of me getting a broken arm and skipping two turns. Then I died of dysentery soon after. The most impact I had in that game was what two items to will to the survivors. My second game was a little more eventful.

So let's start with the good: The theme is heavy with this game. The entire look is circa 1985. Even the die faces were pixilated. You can actually lay out the trail as you move, but you have to survive 50 trail cards placed end to end. Nobody has room for that, so players are instructed to create a stack when five cards are laid out. For that reason, you shouldn't need more than 3 feet of playing space for the trail. It tries hard to mirror the computer game.

And that leads to the negative of the card game. The capricious nature of the game was the charm in a single-player computer game. It kind of sucks for a tabletop card game. When someone dies (and someone will), that player sits out the rest of the game. Eventually it comes down to one person playing card after card (or drawing, drawing, drawing, then playing a card). If the game were more exciting, this little flaw could be worth it.

The cards are confusing. We had Inadequate Grass come up. If another copy of that card comes up, then two oxen die. What does that mean? We didn't know. We only knew that we had to play an Oxen card in the next round or we all die. Well, okay, but does that event go away then? Is it recurring? Does it only happen when both copies of the card are in play? We had to house-rule it, which is pretty sloppy. Another confusing card was crossing the river. In at least one of them, the card instructs you to roll the die. On an even number, you make it across safely. On a 1, you die. There's no indication on the card what happens if you roll a 3 or 5. The text about an even number hints that you don't make it across without incident. We had seen other river cards that say that even is good while odd means you make it across while losing a supply card. We extrapolated that's what they meant, but it's not clear.

This game is great at making you appreciate how well defined the cards are in Dominion. Sure, there are some interaction weirdness, but that's to be expect in a game with 34,284.6 kingdoms. A self-contained game with probably only a couple dozen unique cards really should have been designed better. Frankly, I suspect the designer is not a gamer. In fact, a quick look at boardgamegeek.com shows N/A for the designer name. I wouldn't put my name on this either.

The game also scales horribly. Each person gets a starting hand of five Supply cards if you have 2-4 players. Then four Supply cards for 5 and three Supply cards for 6. As you can see, the ideal number of players is 4-5 since you'll have 20 Supply cards total. I'd wager that 5 is better so that you lose fewer cards when someone dies.

This game is nothing more than a novelty hack. It's cute, and it can sit on your shelf looking all cute, but it's not all that engaging. The "Press Space Bar to continue" loses its charm after a while. If it comes out, I'll begrudgingly play it—the same I do when Cards Against Humanity comes out—but I won't devote much brain power to it. Counting cards is the most strategy you can use on it, and there are much better games to count cards with.

30

Other Games / BitBox Kickstarter

« on: August 07, 2016, 01:09:36 pm »

Has anyone here seen this?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/game-ovations/bitbox-space-saving-easy-traveling-board-game-stor

Anyone backed it?

It seems pretty pricey, but then again anything that's custom-made is going to be pricey. I guess I'm just used to the Wal-Mart culture.

I do love the idea of packing everything into convenient boxes. I don't like the idea of the board being separate from the bits. I suppose that's where the bigger box comes in useful; you pack the bits and boards of a few games into a bigger box and lug that around. Then they are not truly separate.

And since my storage at home is being pushed to the limit (yet I just had to order Flash Point when it was on sale), I'm starting to wonder if this is a good alternative. Again, kind of expensive. *sigh*

31

General Discussion / Portraying Schizophrenia

« on: May 27, 2016, 02:50:46 pm »

I am being considered for a play for an upcoming Fringe Festival. In this play I would be playing a veteran who was discharged due to schizophrenia. Through most of this play, Danny (the character's name) interacts with the other characters while he's medicated. Later he is shown having violent outbursts due to not having his medication. That part I'll worry about later.

What I'm most interested in is how to portray Danny in a way that indicates that he does have schizophrenia but not to the point where he's distracting from the rest of the cast. Basically, I want to present this character realistically and also theatrically.

After reading up on some of the many symptoms of schizophrenia, I've been pondering the following affectations. 

• When not part of a conversation, obsessively chew on my lips. This produces a kind of tic effect that should indicate that there is a disorder. Also, I may adopt a blank stare with very little blinking.
• When talking with other cast members, avoid eye contact. This will be tricky because the natural tendency while avoid eye contact is to speak softly, but I'll need to remember to project for the sake of the audience.
• There are a couple of scenes where Danny interjects when someone doesn't know or can't remember a musical artist. I may consider saying it out of the blue while never acknowledging they are there. Just keep looking at what I'm doing. Since these characters are familiar with each other, the others may acknowledge what I say and not take offense at the interruption. This may need to be hashed out once I meet the cast and we start blocking.

Other thoughts on how to portray schizophrenia that isn't outrageous? He is on medication, but he's also homeless, so he's still having difficulty adapting to society. Again, this is for theatre, so it should be obvious enough while not upstaging the rest of the cast (until it's my time in the script).

32

Dominion: Adventures Previews / Adventures card quality

« on: May 19, 2016, 11:51:10 am »

Hidey ho. I'm so out of touch here that it was a complete surprise to see Empires preview. I haven't even bought Adventures yet.

And that's why I'm posting. I should buy Adventures. Prior to that set, I bought each new expansion within the first 2 weeks of it coming out. I held off on Adventures because of what I heard about the card quality. When I played a couple of games with a friend's set, I could tell the difference. I decided to wait it out and buy a later printing when the card quality is brought in line with the rest of the game.

So has this happened? Are later printings indistinguishable from the other sets? If there is a difference, how can I tell which printing I am looking for?

I suspect that after this snafu, the Empires set will be of consistent quality. So, I'm looking forward to buying Dominion cards again. I really need to get some games going.

33

General Discussion / Costco and cars

« on: May 12, 2016, 01:12:43 pm »

I'm going to ask on a broader scale, but I trust most people here enough to ask this.

Has anyone bought a car using the Costco automotive program? Was wondering if it was worth it.

34

General Discussion / Alton Brown's "Eat Your Science"

« on: May 10, 2016, 12:14:52 am »

Has anyone here attended (or will attend) Alton Brown's tour, "Eat Your Science"? I have a question about the show I just saw.

35

Other Games / Pathfinder Adventures online

« on: May 02, 2016, 11:58:03 am »

I downloaded the Pathfinder Adventures app for my Android.

I played the physical card game a couple of times, but I didn't know what was going on. Those games had veteran players, and I didn't want to slow the game down, so I was told what my immediate options were without seeing the big picture. Downloading this app helped me figure out how the game flows.

I downloaded it for the tablet and the phone. The text can get really small. I wasn't even aware of the relevance of the location rules when viewed on my phone. When I played it on my tablet, I could read it, barely.

The monetization method is not what I expected. You can win coins by playing the game, and you can buy coins. You use these coins to unlock content. So if you're a free player, you have to "farm" a lot to unlock content. But if you're impatient (like me), then you can buy your sets. It looks like the exception so far is that Rise of the Runelords is cash-only, so it's not completely free to play.

It seems to work pretty well. I've not plunked down money for it yet. I want to ensure that I will play it more often, but it's pretty neat. I lost my first game but haven't lost the others in the limited quests I've done.

36

Other Games / Dresden Files Co-op card game

« on: April 20, 2016, 10:46:11 am »

Has anyone backed this yet?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/the-dresden-files-cooperative-card-game

I need to take some time to check out the rules. See if it's something that would interest me aside from just the fanboy squee of having a Dresden card game. I see that it has ties to the RPG since it uses FATE dice.

37

General Discussion / [Crowdsourcing] Need help Googling a song

« on: February 25, 2016, 11:07:02 am »

Okay, time to crowdsource. I am looking for a specific song. It comes up on Pandora for me sometimes, but I don't recall the artist's name. Believe it or not, but Google is failing me. I even tried Bing.

The song's title I believe is, "You Say[Said?] I Told You So." The lyrics go something a little like this:

I do not like going to the dentist.
I do not like his hands inside my mouth.
You told me [something, something]
And you said it again when all my teeth fell out.

I do not like going to the doctor
[something, something] I scream and pout
[something, something]
And I came down with the gout

Chorus with some additional variants
"You said I told you so"
Next time, dummy, just listen to me.

Sadly I cannot quite nail down the rest of the lyrics. The singer also goes out at all hours of the night, which annoys the partner.

So hell with it; I'm asking for help. I consider my Google Fu to be strong, but it's failing me here.

38

General Discussion / Existential riddles

« on: January 19, 2016, 02:16:20 pm »

I dunno. I might call these ennui riddles.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/12/14/existential-riddles

39

General Discussion / Thoughts on Audible?

« on: January 19, 2016, 09:39:21 am »

I signed up for a free trial of Audible yesterday. I figured it might help keep me from getting bored when working out. I'm curious what others think.

I'm pretty keen on the $15 a month with a free book per month. It sounds pricey compared to physical books, but you're really just paying for the convenience of having a book read to you when you are unable to hold a book. All right, that's reasonable.

As I was shopping for my one free book, I saw the price of the audio book without the credit. It was over $30 to purchase. Being a member of Audible lowered the price down to $22. So if I didn't have that credit, I would be paying over $20 for a new book. Of course, hardback books are that expensive, so how can I complain? I guess I'm just used to buy paperbacks all the time.

Anyone else use Audible? Any alternate services that work well with smartphones?

40

General Discussion / [Crowdsourcing] Assurances of anonymity with online forms

« on: January 08, 2016, 12:00:38 pm »

I've been asked to propose a method for increasing confidence in anonymous surveys at my company.

These surveys are taken by students who evaluate their trainers. Since they are online, there is a way to attach their login information to the survey. They're not done that way. I am on the back end of the surveys, and I know that the login information is completely scrubbed, so what I get is truly anonymous. But how do you convince people of that?

So if you were on a computer and submitting a survey, what could make you feel like your submission is truly anonymous? One idea that's been pitched is to have a laptop handy where people can log into a dummy account with a generic name and access the survey that way. I don't like it because that can cause a bottleneck and requires the student to fill it out right there rather than access the survey later (which is not often needed).

41

General Discussion / Random Stuff Part III

« on: January 07, 2016, 07:59:35 am »

As much fun as it is to keep a long topic going, I was trying to search for a video I posted in the Random Stuff II thread, but showing all 230 pages kept choking my browser. So it's clearly gone on too far.

My random observation: When I write the date range of this work week in American format, I write it as 1/4-1/8. My mind really wants to correct the range to 1/8-1/4. It kind of drives me nuts. It'll be better when this week is over. While 1/11-1/15 would also be mathematically improper to write as a range, I don't see those fractions as often, so my brain doesn't try to fix it.

42

Forum Games / Just played Mafia de Cuba

« on: December 11, 2015, 03:18:36 pm »

I played Mafia de Cuba with some Facebook friends (well one friend and his friends) yesterday.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176558/mafia-de-cuba

I found it much more enjoyable than the one game of regular Mafia I played. It didn't feel like the first accusation is baseless. The godfather asks questions and sorts things out trying to figure out who's lying.

I chose a getaway driver. I could tell the three people in front of me each took a token. The four missing tokens were one getaway driver, one loyal henchman, and both agents. So I knew no one stole the diamonds before me.

I won without saying a single word. This was really because the godfather was inexperienced and eager. He questioned the person in front of me who reported that she passed on 10 diamonds to me. Then he questioned the person after me who reported that she received 12 diamonds from me. Naturally, he was perplexed and knew one of those two was lying. He asked me for my opinion, and I was crafting a careful lie to support the person in front of me. I figured that if she's lying about the diamonds, she must be an agent, and I want her to get accused so we both win. Before I could answer, the godfather accused the person after me.

So the person after me turned out to be loyal. The godfather had two mulligans, and one was spent in that false accusation. I was still trying to figure out how to answer him. While the people who went after me suspected diamonds were taken early on, I knew better. I deduced that the godfather removed three diamonds since the three people in front of me each took a role. So how could I lie? He would know that nobody prior to the loyal henchman took diamonds since she reported 12. There was some table talk, and everyone knew the person before me was a liar.

Here's where the godfather's inexperience got him in trouble. He accused her. Sure enough, she was a federal agent, and I got to ride her coattails. Success! I guess. That was kind of weird. It goes to show that not everyone follows your logic. I thought for sure he would see past the lie, but he apparently forgot he removed three diamonds. Or maybe he got excited at uncovering a lie and went for the kill.  Oops.

But yeah, I liked it. We couldn't say anything until the Godfather asked his first question. Then the lies and accusations would fly. This game was far shorter than it really should have been. By unveiling the loyal henchman, he should have ignored the first five players. I expected him too, and he didn't wait for my answer. I'm sure I was obligated to answer, but I was wracking my brain trying to figure out how to cast doubt on the person before me. I could only hope she was loyal and win that way, but why would she lie?

The funny part we learned afterward is that she didn't mean to lie. She had fat fingers and typed 10 instead of 12. She did lie about the roles being passed, and I would have gladly supported her in that lie. That would have changed things greatly, and he wouldn't have jumped the gun in accusations.

We're starting a new one this weekend. The new godfather is less likely to be so impulsive, especially since there seems to be no rule on the number of questions asked. It would be interesting if the Godfather were allowed to ask n/2 questions before the first accusation. Then n/4 before the second. And then maybe make an accusation after every question. It seems to me that the Godfather can ask each person a question and then deduce the progression.

43

Other Games / Codenames: Loose theme; fun game

« on: November 30, 2015, 01:35:08 pm »

So after doing a few Codename games on the forum, I decided to pick it up for Thanksgiving. It proved to be a hit. After three games, I was ready to put it up, but people kept sitting at the head of the table to be spymasters. I think we played it a total of six times before Cards Against Humanity came out (which is always the last game of the night which is why I brought this out first).

So my teenaged nephews could use some practice in creative thinking. When they were spymasters, they usually only gave clues for one word. For some it worked well, such as when one nephew said Garden: 1 for OLIVE. But he also said Movie: 1 for HOLE. In his mind, it was obvious that there was a movie named Holes, and the clue of movie should have tipped us off. Lesson learned for him. Another nephew learned that it's also important to see what the other words were. He gave us the ambitious Transportation: 3 and then realized his error as we sat there figuring out which of HORSE, VAN, SUB, PLANE, and TRAIN he meant. Two of those words, as it turned out, belonged to the other team. Fortunately we only guessed one of those. His Science: 4 was much better in that it only included one word from the other team, and we were fortunate enough to miss that; the game also teaches the value of passing until you gain more information.

So great game. I knew that already thanks to the forums, but it was just as fun having a physical copy. I see this being a fun party game, though my wife initially questioned my decision  to have a game that required such deep thought. Just because I enjoy demanding board games doesn't mean the others do.

44

Other Games / Sorry! and the nature of suffering

« on: October 13, 2015, 08:19:02 am »

http://existentialcomics.com/comic/102

And there's a cheat sheet at the bottom if you aren't completely aware of the philosophers involved (or Sorry!).

45

General Discussion / Find me some awesome songs

« on: October 06, 2015, 06:22:28 pm »

I currently have a subscription to Spotify for the purpose of skipping through and finding tracks I like. I have a couple weeks left of my subscription so I’m trying to squeeze as much out of it by finding more tracks to add to my playlist.

The problem is that Spotify’s algorithm isn’t very satisfactory. I’ve found most everything within this little bubble, and I’m not being offered many songs outside that bubble. So I crowdsource you. Based on the songs below that I really like, what songs would you recommend? I’ll link them to YouTube so that you could give a listen and see if any songs pop in your head that’s close. They might not even be on Spotify, and that’s okay. I listen to Pandora too (better algorithm IMO).

PS, all of these might not be a Rickroll. Totally.

Bad for Good by Meat Loaf
Innuendo by Queen
The Man Who Sold the World by David Bowie
Rivolta Silenziosa by Humanwine
One of Them Tonight by Raygun Cowboys
Mr. Blue Sky by ELO
The Thing on the Bass Amp by the Aquabats
Hello to Hyde by Scarlet Room
Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons
Teenagers by My Chemical Romance
Nasty Habits by Oingo Boingo
Turpentine by This Way to the Egress
Supertheory of Supereverything by Gogol Bordello
If I Told You Once by the Circus Contraption Band
Cyclops Rock by They Might Be Giants
Pump It Up by Elvis Costello
You Don't Know Me by Ben Folds
Paint It, Black by the Rolling Stones
Road to Joy by Bright Eyes
Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes
The Diary of Horace Wimp by ELO
Mephistopheles's Return by Trans-Siberian Orchestra
One More Night with You by the Brian Setzer Orchestra

So based on some of the songs that I crank up when they show up (mostly involving geezer rock mixed with cabaret and orchestra), what would you suggest?

46

General Discussion / Fate RPG

« on: September 30, 2015, 02:38:58 pm »

I am seriously considering running an RPG using Fate. I've played it once before and never ran it. I'm in the process of reading the SRD (http://fate-srd.com)

When I'm done reading this, I will go seek out forums where people discuss Fate, but I'm wondering if anyone on here have used it. Thought I'd check with people I quasi-know in addition to complete strangers online.

47

General Discussion / Dramatic readings

« on: September 18, 2015, 01:23:27 pm »

I was contemplating doing some dramatic readings of King Missile songs, but now I wonder if I should do some dramatic readings of bad books and screenplays like 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight.

I'm sure both can be amusing.

Anybody else do dramatic readings for comedic effect?

48

General Discussion / Forum etiquette (in general)

« on: September 03, 2015, 08:06:34 am »

Just curious if there really is forum etiquette against posting in an old thread. I refer to a post on a different forum:
http://www.ratforum.com/showthread.php?282746-Closed-thread&p=1936978&viewfull=1#post1936978

I don't think you need to register to view that. If you do, I can post the contents. In short, a topic was closed by the forum admin because it was inactive for a while but someone else found the thread useful and poste their appreciation.

It seems to me to be unnecessarily draconic. So what if an old thread makes a comeback? Obviously somebody found the topic interesting.

Is this common among other forums?

49

General Discussion / Donating plasma

« on: August 25, 2015, 11:53:21 am »

So a conversation came up about selling plasma. Apparently it is a pretty handy way to make some money, and it only costs you some time and a prick in the arm (or several pricks).

My wife suggested that unless she was really in need of money, the idea of selling plasma is unappealing. Donating it would feel better. But since the plasma industry is handled by for-profit centers, what do you get from donating except to fatten someone else's wallet? I suppose there may be some nonprofit centers.

And after reading this article, I suspect that hitting a nonprofit center may be safer to the donor as well as producing a less risky pool.

Thoughts from anyone else on plasma?

50

General Discussion / Help me figure out this logic puzzle

« on: August 23, 2015, 07:52:15 pm »

I'm sure that I'll have a duh moment when I know the solution, but I honestly thought there wasn't enough information to solve this. I got this off a pay site that won't reveal the solution without shelling out a few bucks. Screw that; I know Dominion people. So there is a correct answer. I'm going to stare at this a bit longer.

In front of you are 3 chests:
Chest A has been labelled with "100 gold coins",
Chest B has been labelled with "50 gold and 50 silver coins",
Chest C has been labelled with "100 silver coins".

You are told that all of the labels are incorrectly placed, as they describe the contents of another chest. To help you determine which is the chest which contains "100 gold coins", you are allowed to randomly pick a coin from any chest.

Which chest should you pick a coin from?

The answer (according to that site): B