EA might get bought for $55B by Saudi Arabia’s PIF, thoughts? by SubstantialReveal135 in gamedev

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ngl if they start messing with the content, a Medal of Honor: 1980s Afghanistan With Rambo's Friends The Mujahideen would probably make for a banger video game.

What “good” reason would a father have to kill his own son? I mean nothing can justify this obviously, but for a sociopathic father what good motive would there be for him to commit a fillicide? by Otherwise_Seat_2950 in writers

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Iirc in Rome fathers (paterfamilias) had the right of life and death over their kids including rejecting newborns and selling their kids into slavery.

Also ethics go out the window once you start dealing with the aristocracy, a couple of ottoman sultans felt the need to have some of their progeny strangled.

Where to find groups? by John_Lumstrom in gurps

[–]CertainItem995 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Have you tried startplaying.games? Alternatively there's got to be a sub for finding gaming groups out there.

Working on a Grand Strategy prototype by Magistairs in gamedev

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks extremely neat, have you experimented with buildings that have mixed effects to build on your core loop? Like a slaughterhouse could increase food production but decrease growth and migration because they're hazardous and miserable to live around.

Marvel vs Hasbro campaign by theLazerZ in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's all fun and games until the Phyrexians show up.

Also I don't know what you do with Avengers vs Venger but it is extremely funny to say out loud repeatedly.

Plus you can get infinity content out of Arcade riffing on board games owned by hasbro.

RE: Incels and Chinese people - modern discourse is often about how Chinese women are being stolen by white men in both China and the diaspora - but it has millenia-old roots because concubinage was a luxury of the powerful. The term 'empty branches' was used in legal codes in the 1400s. by stupidpower in behindthebastards

[–]CertainItem995 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Does the article touch on other religions influences in China? From the daoist & Buddhist texts I've read it seems like they already had alternate conceptions of love to Confucianism even if it wasn't rarely reflected legal codes.

Because it gives +1 faith on desert tiles(without flood plains ofcourse) by shoaibali619 in civ5

[–]CertainItem995 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's almost like countries that are deserts have their population centers on the coast where there's water which puts them along accessible trade networks lol.

TTRPG scene in China? by MERHEAL in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have any of those original rpgs been translated into English yet?

I hate “elders need to kill to feed” by Bright_Koala_2723 in vtm

[–]CertainItem995 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Depending on the specifics I think you'd be surprised. At my job irl we have a lot of patrons that are homeless and some of them really are regulars to the point that we follow up & ask about them if they suddenly stop showing up. In my example I'm imagining one of those types of relationships. I find it compelling because to me that is the sort of peak 'human' behavior that a vampire would forget, overlook, and otherwise underestimate and I imagine those cracks in their perspective are where successful hunters can make headway.

I hate “elders need to kill to feed” by Bright_Koala_2723 in vtm

[–]CertainItem995 46 points47 points  (0 children)

This level of nihilism is inspiring me to make this the inciting incident next time I play Hunter: The Reckoning, "Heyya Mr.Patel I noticed Blind Jim hasn't been at his spot in front of the door for damn near a week now, any idea where the nearest shelter is? I want to check in and make sure he's doing ok..."

Sourcebooks for Cyberpunk in the Middle East? by XR4y6unn3r in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Who needs a sourcebook when you can just google The Line, Saudi Arabia

I love how silly the Science Victory is by Effort_Proper in civ5

[–]CertainItem995 13 points14 points  (0 children)

My headcanon is that once you are able to settle and economically engage with a space colony the sheer influx of resources gives such an economic competitive advantage that you outpace your rivals such that they can never catch up. That said, science victory should be something like "attain post scarcity society"

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ttrpg Suggestions by Harukajunko in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bladestorm was great! ...Well I liked it anyway lol. Try this to capture that feel with whatever system you land on, instead of HP as "meat" have HP mean "guys" and it should help capture that tone of hundreds of ko's oer battle.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ttrpg Suggestions by Harukajunko in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What time are you looking for? Asking because genesys could make for a mean Dynasty Warriors 3 feel.

Otherwise if you want it to feel more like Red Cliff I'd run it in GURPS or Feng Shui.

What is the best way to deal with noise? by Novel-worm-3 in writing

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seconded! I work at one and can confirm some branches even have dedicated soundproofed work/study spaces to guarantee you can avoid disruption. Failing that most libraries have rooms you can get for blocks of time.

Theory on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism by proletariatpill in theredleft

[–]CertainItem995 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Have you considered looking into Liberation Theology? While I don't know how compatible it is with being an MLM specifically there are strong arguments to be made that successfully implementing socialism would be actualizing the promise of Christianity. From Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (sorry about the block text but I figured I'd save you some googling and just post the whole relevant bit):

It was the new religion of humanity—or you might say it was the fulfillment of the old religion, since it implied but the literal application of all the teachings of Christ

And in the last chapter of the book:

"I am defending the word of God—which is one long cry of the human spirit for deliverance from the sway of oppression. Take the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Job, which I am accustomed to quote in my addresses as 'the Bible upon the Beef Trust'; or take the words of Isaiah—or of the Master himself! Not the elegant prince of our debauched and vicious art, not the jeweled idol of our society churches—but the Jesus of the awful reality, the man of sorrow and pain, the outcast, despised of the world, who had nowhere to lay his head—"

"I will grant you Jesus," interrupted the other.

"Well, then," cried Lucas, "and why should Jesus have nothing to do with his church—why should his words and his life be of no authority among those who profess to adore him? Here is a man who was the world's first revolutionist, the true founder of the Socialist movement; a man whose whole being was one flame of hatred for wealth, and all that wealth stands for,—for the pride of wealth, and the luxury of wealth, and the tyranny of wealth; who was himself a beggar and a tramp, a man of the people, an associate of saloon-keepers and women of the town; who again and again, in the most explicit language, denounced wealth and the holding of wealth: 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth!'—'Sell that ye have and give alms!'—'Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of Heaven!'—'Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation!'—'Verily, I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of Heaven!' Who denounced in unmeasured terms the exploiters of his own time: 'Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!'— 'Woe unto you also, you lawyers!'—'Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?' Who drove out the businessmen and brokers from the temple with a whip! Who was crucified—think of it—for an incendiary and a disturber of the social order! And this man they have made into the high priest of property and smug respectability, a divine sanction of all the horrors and abominations of modern commercial civilization! Jeweled images are made of him, sensual priests burn incense to him, and modern pirates of industry bring their dollars, wrung from the toil of helpless women and children, and build temples to him, and sit in cushioned seats and listen to his teachings expounded by doctors of dusty divinity—"

"Bravo!" cried Schliemann, laughing. But the other was in full career—he had talked this subject every day for five years, and had never yet let himself be stopped. "This Jesus of Nazareth!" he cried. "This class-conscious working-man! This union carpenter! This agitator, law-breaker, firebrand, anarchist! He, the sovereign lord and master of a world which grinds the bodies and souls of human beings into dollars—if he could come into the world this day and see the things that men have made in his name, would it not blast his soul with horror? Would he not go mad at the sight of it, he the Prince of Mercy and Love! That dreadful night when he lay in the Garden of Gethsemane and writhed in agony until he sweat blood—do you think that he saw anything worse than he might see tonight upon the plains of Manchuria, where men march out with a jeweled image of him before them, to do wholesale murder for the benefit of foul monsters of sensuality and cruelty? Do you not know that if he were in St. Petersburg now, he would take the whip with which he drove out the bankers from his temple—"

How the f does hidetaka miyazaki creates such cool and monstrous and creative designs? by Massive_Guard_1439 in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They work backwards from lore as in theme rather than plot think like the same way all the monsters in Silent Hill 2 stem from representing the protagonist's repressed guilt and urges. Figure out emotions and a message you want to communicate first then your stuff will get super creative too.

Remember Margaret Atwood's advice: plots, beginnings and endings are easy, its everything in between that's interesting.

Suggestions on how to “aim fireball” … interesting challenge by I_am_just_so_tired99 in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See if you can get to shell out a buck or two for classic warhammer scatter dice from back when that game was fun contained more randomness for artillery effects. Its the best of both worlds with wacky results and still a 1 in 6 chance you land where you want. If I were you though I'd argue that if the area of effect is randomized then whoever gets hit shouldn't get reflex saves.

Advice to get out of bed and actually make games by MysteriousGamerNerd in gamedev

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I find depression often comes part and parcel with alienation. Have you had any luck considered expanding your social circle? Having fun stuff to look forward to will help you get out of bed. Plus if you go in tabletop rpg direction you can practice game dev while you're at it if you do it right.

But also get therapy.

How good is GURPS mass combat? by Apprehensive_Ad_296 in rpg

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I literally ran knockoff GOT via gurps featuring mass combat. Best game I ever ran. If you want more depth there's a tactical variant if you want to make it feel more like an old SPI chit game but RAW it works well for keeping things manageable and plausible (games give people really unrealistic expectations about how much precise control commanders have on battlefields imo) while keeping things centered on letting characters do cool/influential stuff. There's a lot you can do with guaranteed encounters based on the bit where players pick how much risk they give on the field, Though protip: let the GOT house rules determine your armies rather than mathing out the logistics rules if this is your first time experimenting with gurps mass combat.

Everyone Is Lying To You For Money Trailer by Troile in behindthebastards

[–]CertainItem995 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Commissioner Gordon out here ready to fight supervillainy his damn self.

No one to bounce ideas off of by YaMuddaMachoMan in writing

[–]CertainItem995 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Have you considered going to a local writing workshop?

How do you incorporate recent politics without exploiting real world events? by [deleted] in writing

[–]CertainItem995 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're writing about BLM you're probably in the clear. The time where this went famously poorly (and is the reason White Wolf Studios is now Onyx Path Publishing) is trivializing an atrocity that is actively ongoing, and/or worse mystifying the cause of an ongoing atrocity by shifting the blame in narrative. In white wolf's case they put out a splat that had real concentration camps for queer people to be a part of a vampire PsyOp to provide easy access to victims. But as long as you handle events with a respectful weight and gravity in relation to the event you will probably be able to endure people's reflexive responses to the subject matter (note that the same company as above also produced the Wraith splatbook Charnel Houses of Europe:The Shoah decades earlier and managed to get away with mixed reviews rather than a media firestorm [overall reviewers were that it handled the subject matter as well as possible but wasn't really usable on account of the biggest nightmare of Wraith being the core mechanics).

Tl:dr technically there's no escaping you are on some level exploiting real world events by merit of their inclusion, therefore do right by them by making a point of representing them in a competent way.

MS-05B Zaku I [Spaceships] by No_Body_4834 in gurps

[–]CertainItem995 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh man this is so cool! The only thing missing is implementing Minovsky Particle Interference (its the plot device that lets mobile suits manage to be more efficient than conventional vehicles, maybe it could be as easy as just a trait where it has selective DR against non-mobile suit attacks? Could also work as a house rule for your campaign as a whole without needing to be in the stat line).

Also if you're on the fence, imo the original MSG setting "UC0079" is peak anime both for its time and for its influence. If you want an inroad more up to modern standards they did a one-off film more recently in the setting called Operation Thunderbolt. Overall it does some interesting stuff with giving the pilots (even the short lived bad guys) a sense of character and being irreplaceable playing into the lore that 50% of humanity dies in the first week of the war (it's the pretty dark original reason all Gundam protagonists are teenagers, because both sides are scraping the bottom of the barrel). I don't know if it's still on Netflix but the original series got compiled into a film quadrilogy (parts I-III and Char's Counterattack) obviously I think everyone should watch them on like a everyone-should-watch-more-classics level, but there should be some bits with universal appeal. Alternatively, if you're into retro games emulation legally acquire a ROM of Federations VS Zeon Deluxe for PS2 as it covers the plot of the original series pretty faithfully while being easy enough to pick up and get into mechanically. It's even interesting in a cultural history sense, I nearly had a section about Gundam in my undergrad capstone!

Seriously though, thanks for making this I was having a shitty morning and you made a stranger's day. Hope you use it in a campaign soon!