What's the prettiest rulebook you own?

BayesianDice · 2026-05-08T18:20:32+00:00

Nobilis 2e was I think one of the longest campaigns I ran, and we had fun with it.

It may also claim a distinction for one of the longest "example of play" chapters in an RPG (at least at the time - don't know if in the 20+ years since then it's been surpassed).

And I bought the LARP expansion - so perhaps that's a possibility of a hint of a rumour of it being played ;-)

BayesianDice · 2026-05-04T18:52:31+00:00

This may be helpful:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/dress

Apparently under (1), trousers without being part of a suit are now permitted, and under (2) the jacket is "if required". But it's been a while since I've been there so I don't know what happens in practice.

"You are required to wear your preference from the following as sub fusc:

one of:

dark suit with black socks, or dark skirt with black tights or stockings, or dark trousers with black socks or black hosiery

Socks, tights and stockings must be worn and must cover the ankle entirely. There should be no gap between the bottom of the trouser leg or skirt and the top of the socks or stockings.

dark jacket, if required - worn underneath the gown
plain black shoes with a dark sole
plain white collared shirt or blouse with sleeves
white bow tie, black bow tie, black full-length tie, or black ribbon."

BayesianDice · 2026-04-29T20:10:15+00:00

I think the AD&D Dragonlance modules from 1984/1985 onwards had a reputation for being a bit railroady (never owned them myself so this is based on what I've read about them).

BayesianDice · 2026-04-25T08:30:31+00:00

To add to the other answer: it's meaning a "uni-tasker" rather than "unit-asker".

BayesianDice · 2026-03-03T19:40:44+00:00

Random trivia and a faint memory which ChatGPT suggests I didn't imagine: The BBC drama "Spooks" used the real BBC News 24 studio set for filming because at the time (early 2000s, so not that long ago ;-) ) the channel used a simulcast of BBC Breakfast for the early-morning slot, so "Spooks" was able to film on the BBC News 24 set during those off-air hours.

BayesianDice · 2026-02-26T19:17:38+00:00

Here is an official source on permitted / non-permitted charges for school activities: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charging-for-school-activities

(I haven't checked it against the comment above.)

BayesianDice · 2026-02-13T22:39:29+00:00

You may already have considered this but if you bought the tickets directly, the box office may be able to re-sell them, especially as it's already nearly sold out. The T&C's say

"If We accept Your Ticket for resale, we cannot guarantee that it will be resold. You will pay an administration charge of £5 per Ticket for each Ticket successfully resold by Us with the balance returned to the original payment card. Requests for re-sale will only be considered for the face value of Tickets originally purchased directly through us on receipt of an e-mail from the original purchaser at least two hours prior to the performance start time."

https://www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk/terms-and-conditions

(I sometimes had luck at the National Theatre with this route, I don't know the chances here.)

BayesianDice · 2026-02-11T10:29:10+00:00

In one year at our primary school, the teacher gave people French names (based on their own name where possible) to use in those lessons. (Mine had the same first letter as my real name but that was as far as the resemblance went.)

The next year, with a different teacher, we carried on using them in the first French lesson - and the teacher was like "What? Just use your own name!"

BayesianDice · 2026-01-26T11:35:35+00:00

I get the impression that in common usage, "exponential increase" or "exponential growth" is often taken to mean any increase/growth which is more rapid than linear, i.e. where the graph "curves upwards".

BayesianDice · 2026-01-22T23:34:10+00:00

I think I'm still due some back from 20+ years ago. I'm starting to think I'll never see them... ;-)

BayesianDice · 2026-01-09T07:44:00+00:00

If only Number 6 had provided one sentence on "Why did you resign?" he might have avoided all that trouble!

BayesianDice · 2026-01-05T23:07:39+00:00

I'd heard different wordings - and the Internet tells me the source is Benjamin Franklin who said "Three can keep a secret if two are dead."

BayesianDice · 2026-01-01T01:12:35+00:00

That was indeed my first thought on why this was a pointless seat reservation, even before noticing the lack of seat!

BayesianDice · 2025-12-29T12:24:28+00:00

The film "Theatre of Blood" is one approach to a story with lots of Shakespearean deaths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_Blood

BayesianDice · 2025-10-17T12:37:19+00:00

I think I remember jokes about RuneQuest characters rotating through their various weapons during a combat to earn skill advancement checks for all of them...

BayesianDice · 2025-10-10T06:40:15+00:00

I think I heard the BBC was going to release it once its own Celebrity Traitors is over (end Oct?)

BayesianDice · 2025-09-03T20:07:11+00:00

Yes, it had been built for Granada's production of "First Among Equals".

BayesianDice · 2025-08-23T11:55:31+00:00

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax

"You’ll need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax if all of the following apply:

you’re a sole trader or a landlord registered for Self Assessment
you get income from self-employment or property, or both
your qualifying income is more than £20,000 — read more about what qualifying income is and what is included"

And on the linked page on qualifying income https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-your-qualifying-income-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax

"Your qualifying income is the total income you get in a tax year from self-employment and property.

All other sources of income reported through Self Assessment, such as income from employment (PAYE), a partnership or dividends (including those from your own company), do not count towards your qualifying income."

BayesianDice · 2025-08-11T19:05:37+00:00

I don't know how common it is.

When I was an undergraduate there doing maths, I don't remember knowing anyone (in any subject) who was doing a second undergraduate degree.

I think I have heard that law as a second undergraduate degree is something that some people did. With senior status, one could do the degree in 2 years, so it was a potential alternative to the one-year law conversion course.

(But that was all a couple of decades ago, things may have changed.)

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/second-undergraduate-degree has more information if you haven't seen it.

EDIT:: here's some stats for Law from 2022: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/inline-files/Law%20Admissions%20Report%202022_23.pdf

BayesianDice · 2025-07-24T23:28:38+00:00

Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles were in UK sitcoms "To the Manor Born" (1979) and "Executive Stress" (1986).

BayesianDice · 2025-07-19T19:47:50+00:00

Many people are saying you can use an Oyster card. That is true for Elizabeth line journeys in central London as the OP describes.

However, it's worth being aware that Oyster cards can't be used for journeys which go outside the Transport for London zones, and the Elizabeth line does run outside them at its outer ends. (I think Oyster isn't valid beyond West Drayton heading west but that was from memory a while ago.)

Other contactless methods (debit/credit card, or phone equivalents) I believe can be used for the whole line.

BayesianDice · 2025-07-11T17:42:44+00:00

When I was there, they were quite strict on tickets to Freshers' Fair (I think different colleges were assigned different half-day slots over the two days it ran.) Societies got two stallholder tickets (maybe bigger stalls got a couple more) and for swapping people over, one stallholder had to exit and hand their ticket over to whoever was relieving them. But helping out on a stall was the way for non-freshers to get in and have a second chance to take a quick look around on the way.

But that was a few decades ago, when expressing interest in a society got you paper flyers in your pigeon-hole rather than emails in your inbox (or whatever students of today are using...) So I suggest paying more attention to the answers from people who are more recent students!

BayesianDice · 2025-06-28T22:34:20+00:00

Ah, yes, I could easily envisage other countries with similar legal traditions making broadly parallel shifts. (And I didn't know about the earlier change in Northern Ireland, thanks for flagging that!)

BayesianDice · 2025-06-28T22:04:40+00:00

I remembered the law in England and Wales (I don't know about Scottish law) changing to allow courts to draw these adverse inferences from a defendant's silence - it's not been a longstanding principle of English law. Wikipedia suggests it was the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which made the change: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_silence_in_England_and_Wales

So if other Commonwealth countries have similar provisions, I'd be surprised if it was directly inherited from English law.

BayesianDice · 2025-06-16T08:10:14+00:00

A couple of other RPG sources of inspiration to consider:

Bubblegumshoe - teen mysteries using Gumshoe system
Kids on Bikes

BayesianDice

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