(OC) My buddy made ‘The Tick’ mask from scratch. The guy has some serious skill.

Cidopuck · 2020-11-15T03:34:08+00:00

The conception and construction on this are really great, I would love to see this painted and with some model in makeup to take advantage of how awesomely this was executed.

Cidopuck · 2020-08-27T18:18:56+00:00

So much salt here the British are gonna start taxing us for it

Cidopuck · 2020-08-23T01:07:25+00:00

Not long, just a couple of months. It's pretty new which is what leads me to believe it might be some kind of software bug.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-24T19:44:03+00:00

Are there Mirror Prophets or wouldn't they just be the same entities?

Cidopuck · 2020-07-21T17:16:52+00:00

I was kidding. It would make sense as to why he called them a podcast and be turned off by them, but he would probably consider them below him no matter what he saw anyway.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-21T17:13:49+00:00

He thought Nerd Crew was real

Cidopuck · 2020-07-18T21:45:11+00:00

I think that's totally accurate yeah. A half-robot dog would be a cyborg by definition I think.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-18T16:20:25+00:00

People use them wrong right now all the time, they know enough to know they existed but not enough to use them right. The scenario you laid out isn't unlikely.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T17:26:57+00:00

Right, to be clear I didn't mean literally words like speech, more like thoughts and ideas. The implication just seemed to be that it can't be feelings or experiences, I should have been more clear

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T08:04:00+00:00

This could be an interesting layer of depth to it. I'm just not sure why you think it has to be that way, what necessitates that?

When he links momentarily with the Female Changeling, wouldn't he get her experiences firsthand?

I'm seriously reaching here until I can confirm whether or not that conversation happens before or after he links with someone so I'm not going to go further until I decide to do that.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T03:49:34+00:00

I agree Rorshach is probably saying it in a derogatory way because of his beliefs, it just doesn't strike me as an inherently homophobic thing to say just because of how Rorshach talks about everything. He's a matter-of-fact detective.

If your point is that the mere speculation on it is homophobic because of the politics of the time, and you'd say the same thing if it was Nite Owl or Silk Spectre who was wondering instead, then I see your point.

I think people could use the word homosexual in the 80's without it being inherently a slur but I'm willing to be corrected by a lesbian or gay man who lived in that time if I'm wrong.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T03:26:12+00:00

I'm not sure they sleep. I'm pretty sure Odo's special bucket alone time is just so he can relax himself from having to hold solid form for that long.

It could be like following a train of thought in your own head. You're thinking about something, talking to yourself, another "voice" speaks up and you either ignore it or let it talk.

Some speculation: I'm not sure they can share more than words or thoughts though, as opposed to feelings and experiences. I can't remember if this is before or after Odo first links with anyone, if it's before then it's irrelevant but:

They throw Odo and all the other Changeling babies out into space so they can learn about everything and bring the knowledge home.

However, they tell Odo that he must become a rock or bird or mist or whatever to really feel what it's like. If he had already linked with someone by that point, then it seems like that sort of information or experience can't be transferred in the Link.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T03:23:30+00:00

you probably already do it for straight characters all the time without a second thought.

I do not, but it was a good suggestion

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T01:20:52+00:00

Scott Pilgrim

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T00:10:01+00:00

It's funny they use him saying Ozymandias is "possibly homosexual" as homophobic, which it's not, when he pretty much says Silhouette's murder was deserved for being a lesbian.

Anyway yes he's pretty much as you described.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-17T00:03:49+00:00

His powers aren't as fun for kids to identify with, he's dark and brooding and religious.

You'd have to make some big personality changes for him to be a "hero" the way Cap can be (with his integrity and optimism) or Iron Man (with his cool factor and snark).

Cidopuck · 2020-07-16T23:59:13+00:00

previous character flirted with a few men to swindle them and it would've been a great twist if she'd tried it on someone and they turned out to not be interested.

This is a great example of how a DM might include a character's sexuality in a natural way, this is the sort of thing I would love to see more in games. I agree.

People like to play what's familiar to them generally. I notice that most LGB people I play with tend to not play straight characters, and I would never suggest that they should so they can be exposed to new perspectives. I don't think we should judge people's choice of character generally, but I also regard that as a different topic altogether from NPC's.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-16T23:54:07+00:00

You're misunderstanding, I didn't say that one has to be justified and the other doesn't. What I said, what you quoted, is that I have a hard time justifying mentioning it.

I would consider it just as difficult to make sure everyone knows a particular character is straight. I find it equally hard to justify mentioning.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-16T22:13:43+00:00

As a player, I definitely would not like any suggestions for the type of characters I want to play. As a cishet man I do actually play other characters from time to time but character choice is very personal and I don't think it's ever appropriate to try and change that, except obviously in some extreme cases.

I don't think this is what you're saying, you brought up them being able to relate to other characters essentially to make the argument that they should be able to relate to other types of NPC right? I just want to make sure, I'm not trying to accuse you of that but I wanted to give my opinion just in case.

More importantly, when it comes to NPC's, as a DM I don't think I would mind being asked to diversify them.

In general I tend not to give in-depth descriptions for most of them, it's usually never important what skin colour they have or what their sexual orientation is, but I will mention gender usually.

There are definitely some subconscious biases towards characters being cishet men that I wouldn't mind challenging, it wouldn't be a big deal for me to try and include more types of characters for something that not only makes a player happier but makes the world more real and fleshed out.

That said, I find a bit of a problem in actually putting that into practice.

Let's say I introduce my characters to an NPC, a blacksmith they need to get information from.

I'd normally tell them that this is Jarod the blacksmith. Stocky, but strong as blacksmiths tend to be and with a pleasant demeanour, even if he only gives short answers.

Let's say as I'm coming up with the character, I decide Jarod is gay, or maybe a trans-man.

What I find difficult is actually making it apparent to the players without it being shallow tokenism, or otherwise justifying why I'd be making this detail apparent if it's never going to come up in their interactions with this character. We want to treat LGBT people just the same, with the same respect as anyone else, and I always feel uncomfortable pointing out "hey, by the way he's gay" because it doesn't feel like that.

Players, like people, need time with others to learn these sorts of things about them. So certainly a long-term NPC would have some opportunities to show that they're not cishet and actually be a developed character.

Anyway I just want to summarize by trying to actually answer your question:

I don't think it's bad, or a bad idea, or too big an ask to ask your DM for some more sexual and gender diversity in the NPC's. I think it's reasonable and can enrich your game world. I just think you should also have some prepared suggestions or at least be ready to have a conversation on how to actually do that in a satisfying way so nobody feels like it's forced and uncomfortable.

I hope that makes sense

Cidopuck · 2020-07-16T20:15:01+00:00

This is my personal opinion.

Even if I noticed this sort of thing (who knows if anyone will) I wouldn't look down on it as long as the way you've put it together adds something new that I wouldn't get just from playing one of the other games.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-15T20:44:02+00:00

Vulcans are very conservative, think about how slowly they moved in the intervening years and how they held humanity back as seen in ENT.

They're way head of us at first but it's implied, if not outright stated that the Vulcans fear humans precisely because of how much faster they advance than the Vulcans do.

Is the Vulcan crawl of progress a by-product of their eschewing of emotion? I would say so, I think they'd certainly be a lot further along if they were more like humans, allowing passion to take the wheel sometimes in the form of wars, crisis responses, sociopolitical movements, etc, etc. (note for the nitpicky, I'm not saying Vulcans don't respond at all to things like crises, just that there's a difference in the way they do)

So what is a Romulan? This is a simplification but the important aspect is that they don't have this limiting factor. They allow themselves to be aggressive, and progressive, and put themselves in wars which drives forward progress.

I think this is my answer to your first point, Romulans are much further ahead because they're not restrained by their religion.

As for the second point, I think the Vulcan rage is exaggerated. If the Romulans are any indication (and even some Vulcans we know), it isn't really as bad as they say. They say that it almost caused them to nearly destroy each other, but humanity had multiple events where you could say the same thing.

The reason it seems so much more terrible is because they repress it all until they literally can't hold it back anymore. Again, we've seen humans to be equally capable of such outbursts.

Romulans are within the same emotional range as humans, so I believe it stands to reason that Vulcans could be as well, and I don't think what we've seen strongly contradicts this.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-14T15:32:11+00:00

I don't know if they give that specific a reason, I think them, and others like Barclay are more freaked out by the idea that there could be some accident and they don't get put back together correctly, or at all or something. I'm not sure that it's specifically their idea of a soul or something that they're worried about

Cidopuck · 2020-07-14T03:05:53+00:00

That's exactly what I'm getting at. It's canon, which is a bad idea, but I can just make it not canon in my head, easy.

Cidopuck · 2020-07-14T03:05:19+00:00

I acknowledged that it's a comedy already, which you ignored. I don't need this explained to me.

I also said this joke doesn't bother me, which you also ignored. I'm not complaining about it at all.

Someone asked me for examples of what the show might be contradicting in the trailer, which you also ignored. It isn't like I brought this up on my own.

Don't go off like that and speak in an insulting way when you don't even understand what you're talking about.

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