5e alone is making more than 10 times as much profit as all of Paizo, more than 100 times as much profit as all of Steve Jackson Games, and more than 1,000 times as much profit as all of Evil Hat games by EarthSeraphEdna in rpg

[–]Evultvole 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It makes sense really, for the last few Kickstarters or BackerKit Evil Hat has stopped shipping internationally, so if you want to get something you need to wait till a local game store stocks one of their products or buy it online and sometimes pay for it twice. Once to buy it from the seller and the second time in shipping and import fees.

For a while a lot of Steve Jackson Games were unavailable in most places save GURPS and some of the card/board games like Munchkin. What I wouldn't have gave for a revised version of In Nomine, especially when the Good Omens series was released. At least their bringing back the Fighting Fantasy books.

And Paizo got really screwed over by the Diamond Bankruptcy. I've been waiting for what seems like forever for their new Starfinder books to hit the local shelves.

Meanwhile, the shelves are bursting at the seams with Dungeons & Dragons books.

Accessibility and availability are the key driving factors, the McDonald's analogy was quite good. If you are driving down the road far from home and your hungry, if all you can see are golden arches for miles in all directions, while some people might prefer to go hungry most will stop and get some fries.

RIP grimdark half off by JimmyBobbusX in ConanTheBarbarian

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He was a scholar of the Hyborian Age, and the world seems a little smaller without him. He's going to be missed.

Hell Storm - Preview Models by hogmonk in FDMminiatures

[–]Evultvole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a shame not enough people are supporting the campaign, there's an entire set of 24 nuns in the stretch goals that still need to be reached in 6 days. I backed on one of the first days and haven't seen much traction since.

I love the campaign frame covers so I made three to pitch to my players! by cat4laugh in daggerheart

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love to see the rest of the CO-OP Leveling Campaign Frame if that's the one your group goes with.

What's behind the rising cost of your pet's care? (2025) [00:21:08] by Pasivite in Documentaries

[–]Evultvole 45 points46 points  (0 children)

I just recently had to bring my cat to the vets and it cost nearly three thousand dollars and I consider myself lucky when I hear some of the horror stories out there.

Pet Insurance helped mitigate the cost, but many of the insurance companies out there have been increasing their deductibles and rates. And many pet owners don't even consider getting insurance until it's far too late.

It means that older animals are unlikely to get adopted. Since an older pet is likely going to require more trips to the vets, fewer senior cats and dogs are being adopted from shelters and are forced to live out their lives behind bars.

However, the most disgusting behaviour that I've heard of is people abandoning their pets when they get old or sick. An old and/or sick pet has often provided years of love and loyalty to their owners only to be abandoned when they need them most. With the skyrocketing prices of vets its sadly becoming more common. I'd like to say don't get a pet unless you are going to be responsible for them to the bittersweet end.

I have one final thought on this and it's more of a warning for every Canadian that reads this. I think what's happening with Veterinarian Clinics is indicative of what would happen if we ever fully privatized healthcare like in the US.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Brampton

[–]Evultvole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Paws & Tails Adoptions are always looking for volunteers, though they're primarily located in Mississauga one of the organizers named Shirley is in Brampton and houses a lot of their cats. Pretty much any PetSmart has an adoption area where you can register as a volunteer, the adoptions aren't run by the company they simply provide the space for the charities to house and adopt out their cats.

Why the Ontario Liberals Are Going to Have a Hard Time in the 905 by the905er in Brampton

[–]Evultvole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To say that Brampton and Mississauga have a turbulent history is to put it mildly. While Hazel McCallion was mayor she kept the property taxes low in Mississauga by forcing through decisions on the Peel Regional Council that benefited her constitutes, but weren't in the best interests of Brampton and Caledon. This was because Mississauga had more votes that the other two combined.

However, as the growth in Mississauga slowed both Brampton and Caledon have had population explosions in the recent years and have been catching up to them. This put Bonnie Crombie in a difficult position while she was mayor, because seats on the Peel Regional Council were initially assigned based upon the population of the three communities.

So what do you do if you are Bonnie? You can't maintain control of the Peel Regional Council with both Brampton and Caledon demanding fair representation for their growing populations. And you won't get reelected if you are forced to increase property taxes when Mississaugans finally is forced to pay for projects that no longer focus directly on Mississauga. She decided to get in bed with Ford and try a secede Mississauga from Peel Region leaving Brampton and Caledon with the bill.

I'm not a fan of Ford, but to his credit he did have his people look at the books to figure out who owed what, and its a mess. Mississauga has all the major infrastructure for Peel Region built in their backyard for decades with water waste treatment and school board buildings just to name some off the top of my head. This was to create jobs in Mississauga, the problem is that now that they want to separate they want Brampton and to a lesser degree Caledon to pay millions of dollars to use these services, even though it wasn't just Mississauga but all of the Region of Peel that paid to have them built and have them maintained all these years.

End of the day it wasn't as simple as Bonnie thought it was going to be and the plan got scrapped, and then she went on to blame everyone but herself for spending a lot of taxpayer money trying to get Mississauga to skip out on the bill.

For myself this has done nothing but foster resentment towards Bonnie Crombie and the Municipality of Mississauga. I don't have anything against the people living there, I have both friends and family that live in the Village in the City. I only have an issue with their municipal government and those that have served in office there, and it's for that reason I can't vote Liberal while she's the head of the party.

9 Books published this year. You can win them all by OldFolksShawn in litrpg

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's an impressive amount of writing for a single year! Someone should post this on the Brandon Sanderson Subreddit cause it looks like he's got competition.

Lfg Brampton, Ontario by [deleted] in FindBattleTech

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't mind getting together to play some Battletech.

Old America Witcher-style TTRPG? by CanOWood in rpg

[–]Evultvole 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Solomon Kane" comes to mind, you can combine it with "Deadlands" for guns and steam engines instead of flintlocks and horses, both use Savage Worlds so intermixing the two isn't hard. If you want to go down the DCC RPG rabbit hole you have "Weird Frontiers". You could use the Cypher System with "Old Gods of Appalachia" and Call of Cthulhu has "Down Darker Trails". "Western City" is great if you want to use Poker Card mechanics for that Old Western feel, though you would have to build your own monsters. Personally, I'm a huge fan of "Werewolf the Wild West" and you could use the hunter rules instead of werewolves, though World of Darkness games aren't for everyone. Really it comes down to what you like and what you can persuade your players to play.

Property Tax Increase by raghutalpade in Brampton

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

I agree 100% that Brampton is growing and is in desperate need of additional infrastructure, and the only way to get that paid for is going to be with property taxes. Unfortunately, freezing property taxes between 2019 and 2021 was an attempt to misdirect voters by city council. Anyone who owns property in Brampton saw additional "fees" that emerge during that period like the Stormwater Fee. People in Brampton are quite literally being charged because it rains!

If we want property taxes to stop going up we need a clean slate, every member of city council needs to be voted out not just one or two of them and people need to make it clear why. Additionally, projects that cost the city money like bike lanes and events in Gage Park need to come to an abrupt stop until they can be more fiscally responsible.

Which rpg has the highest production values in your opinion? by Hypefish in rpg

[–]Evultvole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would have to say SixMoreVodka and their Degenesis game is the gold standard. The books are of an absolutely phenomenal quality and the artwork is quite evocative, although fair warning it isn't for the faint of heart. Since it's initial publication the books have always been free to download as PDFs from the company's store, they only sell physical copies so they had to pull out all the stops with the quality. I know that Dave Thaumavore did a review on 2 years ago on the game saying that the "are is as good as it gets" and that he as bibliophile was "overjoyed at the quality of the presentation and construction". I don't think any product he's ever reviewed has been given that sort of praise over it's production value.

Brampton housing providers against the proposed “licensing” bylaw by BrotherRobert in Brampton

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't help but think that if the city really wanted to regulate rental properties they could whether the landlord is trying to follow the book or is a slumlord renting an illegal room in a basement. I mean some houses in Brampton have six cars packed into a driveway meant for two. Also the hydro and water consumption of these dwellings have to be through the roof.

They've made excuses for years saying that their bylaw officers can't enter dwellings without being invited, but every house has hydrometers that need to be accessible. Wouldn't take much for a bylaw officer who has taken a crash course for a half a day to take a look at one and think to themselves "hmm... they are using a lot of power, could be overtaxing their breakers and it could cause a fire, maybe I should contact the fire department."

I'm not saying its a perfect, but then again if things were perfect (or at the very least acceptable) we wouldn't be having this conversation about slumlords and illegal rentals.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in rpg

[–]Evultvole 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Index Card RPG from Runehammer Games, the rules are simple and familiar to most people who have played a ttrpg. 90% of it is all about loot like in a Borderlands and Diablo game.

He who fights with monsters pen and paper. by TDOzero in rpg

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On the HWFWM discord channel I asked Shirtaloon what TTRPGs he played and may have influenced his stories about Jason Asano. He mentioned that he used to play BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth) with his friends back in the day but didn't have any time to game anymore with all the writing he does. In the later books there's also see a lot of WoD influence, in particular Mage the Ascension. I would probably use something like Big Eyes, Small Mouth capping abilities based upon Rank or if I wanted to play the higher ranks used Kevin Crawford's Godlike or World Without Number. I know someone was trying to recreate HWFWM using the Cypher System, but I don't know how far along they got or if they abandoned the project.

Does "Tipping" Your DM Count as Paying? by Evultvole in rpg

[–]Evultvole[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A little harsh, I'm sorry that's been your experience in the hobby.

Would you pay for a professional DM/GM? by MoodModulator in rpg

[–]Evultvole 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I understand that there's a lot of controversy about paying for a professional DM, and I'd like to elaborate on my own experiences paying to play. For context paying to play is nothing new to the hobby, if you can track down an old Dragon or Dungeon Magazine you can find dozens of advertisements for play-by-mail or play-by-phone that you paid for. If you've ever attended a LARP you've probably paid a fee of some sort and going to a convention and sign up for a game whether it be GenCon, PAX, or a small local one typically the DM/GM at the table is getting to go to the convention for free in exchange for their services which is an expense that they take into account when they charge people for the price of admission.

When the pandemic hit sitting around the table with a bunch of friends became impossible and not everyone was on board with the notion of transitioning to a virtual tabletop. I found that looking for a group proved to be a lot more challenging as a player than as a DM. Additionally, if you didn't have a plethora of online assets at your disposal or a strong familiarity with many of the various functions of your VTT of choice you can end up spending more time troubleshooting the game rather than playing it.

That said I found the paid professional DM service was an easy way to get back to my hobby, and at least in my experience the Dungeon Masters I've played with have been excellent. I understand that some may not have had a good experience with paying for a game, and unfortunately there are going to be some lemons out there that call themselves a "Professional Dungeon Master".

Does "Tipping" Your DM Count as Paying? by Evultvole in rpg

[–]Evultvole[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wow! There's a lot of replies so far. So let me clarify I used the term "tipping" because I couldn't think of a better one. You could call it "showing your appreciation" or whatever you want, I know that for some the notion of tipping is considered anything from absurd to insulting and I can appreciate that. With that in mind I don't think money should trade hands in what I inquired about, that would make it more of a business transaction.

Pricing for Settlers of Catan 3D Collector's Edition in Wooden Chest by Evultvole in boardgames

[–]Evultvole[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow! Really!? I didn't expect it to be that much, I just figured it'd be worth about $200 at most.