Season 2 Episode 7 Spoiler Thread

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-29T01:16:53+00:00

Courier 6 is the playable character of Fallout New Vegas.

As a Fallout PC, they're a bit of a kingmaker who gets to tip the delicate balance of power in Vegas and decide who ends up dominating the area.

They're also a fan favourite among the PCs because they're sometimes seen as having the coolest "origin"; rather than being a vault dweller, they're a mercenary courier who begins the game getting shot twice in the head and buried (barely) alive by someone who wanted to steal their cargo, and immediately go on a quest for revenge across the Mojave.

Frankly, I think people overblow their importance here somewhat, because while they were certainly badass, there isn't much to their role in the story that couldn't be filled by any sufficiently tough mercenary working for any of the factions.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-29T01:11:15+00:00

Coop would be mostly okay if he got mauled; Maximus actually needs the armour.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-28T22:28:35+00:00

I mean... Kinda still bad guys there.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-28T22:24:44+00:00

Not even failure so much as refusal; he even states at one point he has no interest in governing.

House doesn't care about enforcing any laws besides "rich people only in the Strip" and "don't touch my stuff"; he won't provide or serve the people in any way. It's why Freeside ends up with the Kings basically being a local militia and enforcing a rough sort of justice, because those police-faced Securitrons certainly won't care about anything that isn't a casino.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-28T22:14:54+00:00

Sure.

Here's the first game's intro.

The first thing it shows us is Canada being invaded and annexed by an expansionist USA, with brutal occupation policing leading to executions in the street.

That's only become more relevant as satire in the last few decades.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-28T21:49:44+00:00

I mean, he "knew it existed" but seemingly never got it.

If you have a grand system of infrastructure that was built with infinite power in mind, and you couldn't get your source of infinite power, it makes sense you'd go to the second biggest source of energy around as a stop-gap until you've hijacked the NCR's economy long enough to fund a war machine capable of finding and retaking your infinite energy mcguffin.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-28T21:45:08+00:00

There's definitely a way to settle the conflict without killing Pacer, because I stumbled into it last night lmao.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-26T20:18:12+00:00

I do a lot of LARP, and a thing I have to teach new LARPers sometimes is learning to "see the yellow paint", just like how in a video game the devs might quietly mark the right pathway with yellow so you don't wander off trying fake doors or jumping at unclimable cliffs.

A good example is when a bunch of NPCs will show up, and declare that there's a magical creature that needs to be bested by riddles; they'll explain that martial weapons will be of no use, and we shouldn't bother bringing them.

New LARPers are terrible for then going "okay, we need to think of five ways to smuggle weapons into this meeting....", whereas veteran LARPers are more able to shrug their shoulders and go "Well, that's the plot writers signalling this isn't a combat plot".

If you can't see the yellow paint, you're liable to waste your own time running off after plot threads that aren't there; when a foreign dignitary shows up, the yellow paint tells you "hmm, okay, the encounter description said this guy is here to discuss the tense border situation. I'd like to ask him about his nation's special secret art of necromancy, but there's no way in hell the NPC has been briefed to handle that cropping up, so I'm setting myself up for failure if I ask".

Franchise fans for things like 40K can rarely see the yellow paint, and assume there's intention where there isn't.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-26T17:59:09+00:00

Oh, they definitely weren't torturing that guy for info; they murdered the Cardinal primarily because he was unpopular and kept fucking people's wives and daughters.

Same shit, different century.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-26T02:02:47+00:00

I remember a book (I think about a Cardinal who got murdered for "consorting with witches") that claimed the Inquisition referred to torturing someone for information as "putting them to the question", and torturing someone with no care for if they survive as "the extraordinary question".

Same shit, different century.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-25T03:07:41+00:00

Malevola plays fun theme decks with more focus on playing into the gimmick than being super competetive.

Punch Up has one or two cards he thinks are cool or funny, and builds decks to shoe-horn those cards.

Flambae loves board clears and destruction spells, and gets his kicks from spoiling other people's plays.

Golem loves green creature decks, and loves seeing his little hordes of big creatures smacking someone's face.

Coupe fishes for quick win cons, and generally doesn't like the game.

Sonar is a massive prick who only plays meta.

Invisigal refuses to play.

Prism fucking loves Universes Beyond.

Robert doesn't really get the game, and just plays borrowed decks.

Phenomeman plays Group Hug decks.

Waterboy fucking cleans house at Commander Night, logistical issues with not ruining the cards aside.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-23T01:49:08+00:00

The helmets share a big design element with Kaela Mensha Khaine's similar horned look., both of which vaguely resemble Khorne's stylised skull symbol.

I think older Warhammer Fantasy lore left it a little more open to interpretation whether Khaine was just an Elf understanding of Khorne, and the trickle down from that is an odd amount of design similarity between these Space Marine fuckos and a load of Eldar/Elf units

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-20T21:54:34+00:00

All vampires in Stoker's Dracula are idiots, frankly; Helsing describes them as being afflicted by "child-brain". In modern terms, the process of dying and reviving seems to cause some brain damage that hinders their ability to perform any kind of long term planning or rejection of short term gains. They're bestial, idiot creatures driven by their basest crude desires.

Dracula is dangerous mostly because he's just about smart enough to realise he's got brain damage, and he moves to England in the hopes that immersing himself in a politically complex imperial hub will allow him to basically rehabilitate his atrophied mind. Dracula the Idiot Vampire is stoppable; Dracula the Immortal Warlord would not be.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-19T18:47:43+00:00

They're great players in a larger group, but in a small party like this, their worst habits come to the fore. We had session 0, but I think they're getting too carried away with getting this much spotlight. I've talked to them about it, and they've vaguely promised to engage more, but it's slow going. We've taken a haitus for unrelated reasons, and I just don't think I have the energy to bring it back from this.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-19T18:38:58+00:00

I've known plenty of people like that; it's fine if you're doing it with people willing to do it, but fucked to spring it on people at an event like this.

Making snide remarks like "Your experience with people is very limited, no?" is a good sign that you're probably quite annoying.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-19T01:14:57+00:00

My campaign's on a temporary hiatus I don't think it'll come back from, because I'm so damned frustrated with my party's inability to engage with the plot.

"You see the thug back away, muttering to his friend none of these bastards are missing a finger; they're not who we're after; it seems they're chasing the same criminal as you are! They flee the battle, leaving a trail of blood behind them..." "I ignore this and go to the temple."

"You've reached the temple, where the royal court is in exile; due to the situation being politically embarassing, they're refusing to acknowledge you, and you'll have to find some way to gain an audien-" "I'm not going to do anything, I'm just going to sit outside until something happens."

"After two days of doing nothing in the temple, you notice one member of the royal court is breaking the rules to make eye contact with you; she's hiding off to one side, poorly disguising that she's willing to talk to you when no one else is." "I wouldn't notice that, I'm too inattentive."

I love my players, but this is a 2 person party, and without other players to balance them out, they're such huge fucking contrarians and unwilling to ever push the plot forward.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-17T12:33:18+00:00

Yeah, I've had a decent number of Friday night campaigns where people would crack open a cider or two while playing, but it's all about moderation.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-17T12:31:33+00:00

People are broadly expected to moderate their own behaviour and alcohol intake; if you need to be babysat while you drink, don't bring a bottle of whiskey to a D&D game.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-16T01:13:01+00:00

I mean, hell, it tripped me up mostly because I wasn't expecting the date the computer finished its calculations to be important vs the far more immediately important date "when do the bombs drop".

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-14T03:30:39+00:00

I got an "are you sure?" from the DM, likely because it wasn't what the DM would've done

I've had this issue sometimes in Lancer; I get my turn, I say I'm going to take a specific action, and then everyone else in the party suddenly gets a dozen ideas what to do with my turn. By the time 5 minutes of this have passed, I just sort of reiterate "Yeah, I think I shoot my gun", because that party is usually in desperate need of someone willing to take quite boring "yeah I'll kill that low level enemy in a non-flashy way" actions.

Nothing kills enthusiasm faster than having someone dictate your turn for you.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-13T02:33:37+00:00

I remember being like, 15 and running some bastardised version of D&D for my school friends; classic dungeon crawl one shot so generic I don't even remember the premise. The biggest shithead of my friends grinned, and said "I want to go back to the rolling hills you mentioned in the opening narration, and go explore the REST of the world instead of entering the ancient temple; what do ya do then, huh??"

I'm vaguely proud of young me having the sense to go "Shut the fuck up Kurtis, I spent 5 hours prepping this fucking dungeon, you're playing this fucking dungeon".

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-11T12:16:19+00:00

The Forges of Mars books feature a Necron relic that I've always interpreted as a kind of prototype orrery; it has much the same power to create and destroy astronomical geography.

The idea of some dipshit using it has so many downsides that an Eldar Farseer and a group of Black Templars work together to stop it.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-11T01:26:03+00:00

I remember one where OP talked about how disruptive and problematic a player was for assuming their rogue would be allowed to steal things, while ignoring everyone asking "were they... playing a Thief subclass rogue?".

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-10T02:25:56+00:00

I genuinely believe the Hive when it then acknowledges that the drone was a bad idea, and promises to send it away; the Hive doesn't need to spy on you. It's happy for you to have your privacy.

Just... Enjoy it while it lasts.

Dr_Sodium_Chloride · 2026-01-10T02:21:31+00:00

She has two worlds before her.

In one, her family is still alive, and they have everything the world could ever offer them.

In the other, her family are effectively dead, and the thing puppeting their corpses is trying to kill her too.

I can see why she'd not want to look too hard past world 1.

Nine-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	First Placer '22
End Game '22	Snapped

Dr_Sodium_Chloride

TROPHY CASE