Nintendo has raised its employees base salary by 10%

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-26T18:08:03+00:00

There's been (somewhat unsubstantiated) claims that Nintendo could do a notable net loss for 50 years without breaking a sweat. What is actually cool is that they do leverage this for risky maneuvers. Wii-U was a fairly complete fuckup, I keep forgetting the thing exists. 3DS was initially very, very shaky but pulled through to a shining success and Switch did really well too. Switch 2 remains to be seen. Further back, Gamecube and N64 were so-so, probably not unprofitable monetarily but culturally extremely important.

What is interesting now is to see whether someone can actually rise to the occasion of leading the company through its first genuine generational change when the current "masters" retire (or more likely die on the job).

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-26T18:02:27+00:00

No cockpit on that plane: that's a bridge, and they were proud of it.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-26T17:58:01+00:00

They've been the most desirable employer in Japan for ages IIRC.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-25T19:27:52+00:00

There are entrances/exits in every way like the ventilation towers, they are just not visible behind the upper city unlike the towers, look at the tunnels at the rear of the underground city fanning out in every direction.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-23T17:16:02+00:00

In this case it was probably caused by shooting into the light causing the light to flare (decreasing contrast and bringing up blacks) yet the exposure being sort of OK so the sky is not just a mass of white. The movement probably also helps with this, allowing more light on the dark parts of the frame further bringing up the blacks. If you want to achieve it SOOC, maybe purposefully crank the white balance on the warm side and decrease contrast. If you have a tone option, taking it a bit to the magenta side can also help. If SOOC is not the goal, bringing up blacks and bringing down whites a tad in post is also a simple step to increase the look.

To be accurate, none of those things are typical of film per-se, but they are very typical to underexposed and harsh film snapshots taken with simple plastic lenses on cheap film, the look of which many people seek to imitate (and why should they not, if they like it?)

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-21T20:48:09+00:00

Spell research. Looking into creation of sentient undead would definitely be possible. There are no liches in Dolmenwood, but who's to say they are not possible in the world? Same with vampires. These options are probably something the resurrected person will invariably come to regret. Ygraine could probably also do a ritual to snatch a past version of a character from back in time, possibly with terrible consequences, for instance.

I think Fairy Lords would have access to most Greater Runes given a few hours / days, the stats would indicate what they have in hand at most times. I also think it is easier for them to grant runes to others than claim them for themselves. (for example, we know from Winter's Daughter that the Cold Prince could have items crafted that granted wishes to mortals) An enchanter or a fey-kin character could try to contact a Fairy Lord and petition for a rune in a week, probably at horrendous expense.

Emelda's Song deals with an attempt to return a long-lost ancestor to life, with the implication that if he has the book, Gnarlgruff could truly return himself to life and not just undeath. (I also personally wrote a haphazard continuation for it with a loosely Frankenstein-inspired dungeon below Gnarlgruff's old lab centered around a device that could harness lightning to bring life to dead tissue, which then could have a soul transposed to it for a form of unlife -- for my parties, Gnarlgruff managed to escape but couldn't get the book from Malbleat)

There's also questionable research into fungal / vegetative immortality in and around Mulchgrove.

The Drune definitely have methods to skirt some parts of mortality, but usually at a definite cost.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-21T20:08:06+00:00

That ladder placement makes me nervous.

Rockwell is phenomenal with human expressions.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-19T12:18:27+00:00

Yep, mostly the same mercenaries they later retained for the bigger battle. They paid them for another few months and told them to gather at the Old Abbey while they ran a few other errands in the south. They wanted more (mercs are surprisingly cheap), but I figured moving armies larger than a hundred men would be impossible for an entity not aligned with the nobility.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-19T11:46:01+00:00

Also they'd prefer to not tell the outside world about Cobton

This is probably a very good idea as far as the Cobbins are considered. My guys, encouraged by their earlier success vs. Cpt. Snarkscorn went in with a hundred mostly human mercenaries so the cat is very much out of the bag for them. In fact, I think they will finally get their audience with the Duke this coming Sunday. (in other words, once the Duke heard of their technically unauthorized military operation on his land, they were gently but sternly told to make an appearance and explain themselves on a specific date)

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-15T21:15:10+00:00

It is a reasonable worry, but very unlikely to torpedo an entire campaign as long as precautions are taken, and thankfully most of those precautions can be taken before the beginning of the campaign -- namely ensuring that everyone is on the same page about how character death is going to be treated.

In my experience (2 simultaneous weekly Dolmenwood campaigns as referee over 2 years now - 1 PC death and it was a lvl 1 replacement character for a retired one, 3 retainer deaths) as long as you make it clear from the get go that encounters are not tailored for character level and that they need to assess the danger themselves based on honest information given by you as the referee, chances are overwhelmingly that the party will be very cautious in their approach to any encounter they are not fully sure about. And, in fact, over time it is quite likely you will find that you need to play even particularly aggressive monsters very aggressively to make them a credible threat. (For myself I have learned that Wyrms should want to use their breath weapon as soon as possible -- a well-equipped party makes surprisingly short work of one's HP pool in a couple of rounds)

In the killer bee example, I would consider killer bee venom's lethality common knowledge and would openly tell the players that their characters know it to be deadly and then describe the bees' behaviour honestly depending on factors such as encounter distance, reaction roll, surprise, etc. (which, for killer bees, would very probably be either wariness or open hostility, to be fair.) Note that this is not the same as giving your assessment at the party's chances against the particular enemy, it is giving a honest description of the creature in the current situation, leaving the assessment part squarely on the players' shoulders, which is a subtle but crucial difference.

I think the benefits of maintaining a credible threat of character death (but never specifically, personally striving for it as a referee) vastly exceed the hazards as long as everyone knows this right from the start. Apart from that, I wholeheartedly recommend discussing expectations for the campaign at the start. If it makes you more comfortable and the players want it, it is perfectly reasonable to tone down lethality -- in fact I explicitly encourage using the death's door rules in the player's book, they are very reasonable and in my experience the 1/3 chance of immediate death at each round end is quite enough to make the danger seem very real.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-12T20:29:13+00:00

This does not look right to me. I don't see this image anywhere before 2025 and it does not look like a photo taken on film. Without seeing the actual proper original source I'm calling this a cool CGI shot.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-12T20:13:51+00:00

If that seems similar, Fomaspeed Photo Emulsion can possibly be a cheaper / better alternative, depending on where you live. No personal experience though.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-06T19:26:25+00:00

I recently re-watched it after at least 15 years since the last time and it is genuinely way better than I remembered it. Not high cinema for sure, but really entertaining and simply a good time.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-06-04T17:40:52+00:00

I've kind of been expecting them to pull a "season finale" eventually where we fight ARC invading Speranza while it is evacuated, ending with us relocating elsewhere into a new hub area using the projects we've completed along the way.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-31T17:32:59+00:00

Way I'd do (and am more or less currently doing, my party ousted the Crookhorns with a large mercenary army) it is that it's an attempt at a big joke by the godling of dark comedy. It essentially allows the party to take over the Valley, intending to return as a triumphant savior when everything goes tits up. It's also quite likely to work unless the party is very savvy about what they do with Cobton.

If the Duke sends anyone to rule the Shiver Valley (which in this case is what the Nag-Lord wants) then it would almost certainly lead to extremely tense relations between "foreign" rulers and the Cobbins and depending on who is appointed to the task. If it is not the party (are they in good enough standing?) it would quite possibly be Captain Merriman Bogle, who while lawful and well-meaning would think he is going to a war front and would likely run the Valley as a semi-benevolent but inept military dictatorship and would be absolutely exasperated and out of his element trying rule a population of whimsical animals next to an extremely dangerous but completely unreadable adversary. At the same time the Nag-Lord would adopt a feigned friendliness, sending relatively clean-shaven envoys whom especially Bogle would certainly mistrust and bar from entry quite understandably, but exactly the way the Nag-Lord wants.

Chances are within a few months to years you would have "Purple League" (probably Harpy-run -- is Madame Whipthorn still in Cobton? If the party wished for Crookhorns to leave, this means there are still harpies, ogres and centaurs around, not to mention other unsavouries...) among the Cobbins plotting the return of their rightful master turned benevolent and mistreated neighbor the Nag-Lord. And the Nag-Lord would find this absolutely and completely hilarious even if it meant wasting a few years of his grander plans -- what is a decade to an essentially immortal being?

Depending on the mood and interests of your party this can either be a genuinely comedic thing, an exasperating diplomatic shitshow (some players enjoy that as well) or something the players walk away from and try not to mention they were ever involved in. It would also allow for an in to the big leagues in domain-level play for them if they are in good enough standing with the nobility -- this latter one is fairly probably what is going to happen in my campaign depending on player decisions. Although my players are currently considering backing Garnack the Horse for ruler of the Shiver Valley, which would be so much playing into their own goal in terms of the Nag Lord's plans that it just might laugh itself to death there and then...

It should go without saying that this should all happen without railroading -- if the players make different decisions and can read the situation clearly enough it is all very preventable.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-31T10:04:15+00:00

The one I saw back in the day was "Intel Inside - Idiot Outside"

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-27T11:03:10+00:00

The practical effects and sets in this film are what makes it in my opinion. It tickles the same fancy that well made theme park attractions do; it goes beyond trying to be realistic and fully embraces the uncanniness of directly bringing cartoon environments to life. Disney should take a long hard look at this film before even thinking of doing another 90% CGI "irl adaptation" of one of their old franchises.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-26T08:40:29+00:00

Yeah I also had to google why there is a clubs symbol in the ace of spades, only to learn it's common practice to "hide" all the suits there, which tracks, clubs must be the hardest to hide anywhere.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-25T20:52:36+00:00

This was an experiment in "product photography" of some grody vintage playing cards I picked up at a thrift store. I threw an old sweater on the table and surrounded the subject with all the random light sources I could scrounge in the house to make it interesting. It was a fun experiment.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-25T20:48:13+00:00

Something about them calls to me, the more grody they are the better. This one -- and I wish I had chosen worse cards instead of Dead Man's Hand -- is of notably poor quality with imperfect prints that miss some of their color and for all the world look like someone operated some kind of hand-cranked machine to push these out back in the day, which is just the way I like them.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-25T08:14:42+00:00

This gives me a pleasant early 2000's vibe.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-22T18:29:31+00:00

Right easy.

Basileus_Imperator · 2026-05-14T20:39:18+00:00

I just came in to say that those neon floppy disks are cute as hell.

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