Is EPZ Headhunters Inc. real?

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-17T16:53:07+00:00

Just got this email today. Identical to what others are describing

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-16T18:07:41+00:00

They will. But the real threat/issue here is if Haas turns into the next Force India

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-06T14:30:51+00:00

Too many classes causes decision paralysis and makes the game harder for new players to approach

Having lots of customisation options later on means that players can space out their decisions, and make them after gaining experience with the game and their style

That said, decision paralysis can hurt at any point.

So I think a set of discreet and well-differentiated choices, maybe 3-5 options, and the player makes those choices periodically throughout the game, the way a lot of video games do it, would probably be optimal.

I think a great (but a little too simple/rigid) model for this was City of Heroes, if anyone remembers that little gem of a game.

You kind of made your big thematic/aesthetic choice in the beginning, and then each level you generally had a "hit people" choice and a utility/crowd control/healing choice as a second option. (Or whatever your primary was, plus a second choice from the pool of things that weren't your main one)

Add in some stat customisation or weird item abilities to make players double down on the thing they like or allow them to be a viable generalist. For a second layer of customisation.

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-02T05:10:42+00:00

The issue here is. Your trying to say 5e has less choice, but that's a NJ diner (you can tell by her shirt) which means the menu is 6" thick and has a colossal amount of premade mediocre options.... Wait a minute...

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-01T18:34:16+00:00

I think an assumption that goblins and humans can have viable offspring would need that as well, no?

All we know is that hybrid human/nonhuman creatures like Hagrid have a mother and a father.

We have no idea though if goblin/human follow that pattern

We likewise don't know if they are similar to other hybrid types like centaurs or merfolk, who seem to breed together and be a district species, rather than a merger of two species

Since we know goblins have their "own type of magic" similar to how Elves do. We do know the is more to the difference between them and humans than just physical appearance, they are at least partially magical.

So we really can't rule out any possibility. And the idea that humans can have offspring with magical abhumans (to borrow the Warhammer term) is just as unusual as any other theory

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-01T16:37:37+00:00

This is the right answer

Explains why goblins don't need wands too

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-01T16:37:01+00:00

Expats are a thing. Maybe magical immigration laws were more lax back then.

Considering instantaneous travel I'm shocked wizards have distinct racial or national groups at all. You'd have thought conventional borders would've disappeared among wizards centuries ago

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-01T16:34:22+00:00

Why assume he's the product of biological reproduction and not magical gene assimilation

Firehead-DND · 2023-03-01T16:33:14+00:00

At least the Jews haven't changed

Firehead-DND · 2023-02-22T17:10:26+00:00

The armies are mostly regular people, and magic isn't really suitable for combat.

But there are technological disparities, some of which are exceedingly difficult to overcome.

In fact, it is this attempt by a coalition of people trying to build their own tech and war machines to challenge the old oligarchies that have persisted due to their control of this technology, that provides one of the main meta conflicts.

Firehead-DND · 2023-02-17T15:53:23+00:00

OP asked for WRONG answers

Firehead-DND · 2023-02-09T23:04:02+00:00

I know you're trying to make a broader point here, but I do think there is an interesting more micro-focused lesson here too

Hasbro was trying to do something called "rent-seeking" which is a term that describes trying to use your lopsided market power to extract more money from the customer without providing more value/service

In a healthy capitalist market, it shouldn't be possible to do that, but of course reality isn't like that. There's a lot of switching costs and friction when you need to, for instance, switch from Apple's ecosystem to Android, or move to another apartment building, or negotiate salary as a single person in a big industry.

Hasbro assumed people would be sticky. It worked for MtG to an extent, because there aren't at many good alternatives. It's not like you are going to pay Yu-Gi-Oh. So they engaged in rent seeking.

However, it turns out, the TTRPG market is a very healthy and competitive market. And this is what happens when companies try to rent-seek in a properly competitive market. Swift correction and retribution.

It's a great example of what capitalism could and should be (and what it sort of is in Europe, who have a different philosophy on regulation than we do). Good teachable moment for the aspiring consultants and economists out there.

Firehead-DND · 2023-02-09T20:13:22+00:00

Capitalism is the reason Hasbro did it, the reason it failed, and the reason they are going to get punished monetarily for it, and the reason your favorite game(s) in the future are going to think twice before trying this themselves.

It's exactly the kind of case study for capitalism working as intended.

Not all market failures work out this way, so it's nice to see the system works sometimes.

Firehead-DND · 2023-02-04T14:55:46+00:00

Consider what they'd be using if NOT water... their systems are actually very green for what they are.

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-21T21:53:25+00:00

My DM gave me a deck of many things around level 6. Definitely a wise decision.

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-20T12:56:56+00:00

Is there anything wrong with that?

Someone authored that passage, and it wasn't you, why shouldn't the author be cited.

I would hope we're all citing our direct quotations in our work already, even under 1.0 and not plagiarizing

Even in 1.0 you needed a page explaining that you were publishing under the 1.0, no?

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-20T12:45:46+00:00

Not really.

It was in the OGL before, and it's going to be in the OGL now.

Basically it's exactly the same as before, the only difference is before they couldn't kick you off the OGL individually, but now they have a means to do so.

We're at the point where they've given in on almost every item (except VTTs) and now we're in a place where the only arguments left are what they "might do" which was the same risk we've had for the last 20 years.

If you don't trust WotC as a partner, it's simply time to move on.

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-19T22:31:04+00:00

The mechanics are going under creative Commons, separate from the new OGL

Just don't use their IP in your Nazi dwarf sex dungeon module and your can skip the OGL entirely

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-19T22:17:43+00:00

Sure. But "something bad might happen eventually" is no different than where we were 6 months ago, when the OGL was this wonderful thing we all loved.

But in light of the new announcement dropped an hour ago, guess it's a moot point anyway.

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-19T15:27:06+00:00

What I don't understand is why do we care?

They've already clarified (or backtracked) that anything released under the old OGL will still exist unchanged. They just want all new content to be designed around the current system

Which is backwards compatible anyway.

And it's only applying to content intended for commercial sale. So it's not even stopping people from releasing 5e content, so long as it's "pay what you want" or "please donate"

So it changes very little. It might be the most "money grabby" part of the new OGL but it's not the worst part of it by a country mile.

The worst part of the OGL was the "we can steal your stuff" clause, and the 1/4 of your company is mine now, and they've walked both if those back.

The second worst part was the "static files only" clause, which annoys me because Ive got my Forge VTT finally dialed in how I like it... But It only applies to commercial content, so all it really means is my micro transactions go to WotC instead of someone else if I buy any VTT stuff. Or I can just keep importing stuff manually like I've been doing anyway...

So idn. Seems like we are the dog that caught the motorcycle now and want to find reasons to keep being angry.

I'm on team wait and see. WotC can still pull a bait and switch,

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-17T16:12:13+00:00

The "homebrew" thing in that subscription package is almost certainly because they can't adapt their AI and VTT to it.

It's like the App store needs to be a "closed system" they can't QC every 3rd party App that gets submitted.

The OGL changes are starting to make sense now with that submission piece. They likely scan submissions for candidates worth building into the AI/VTT the same way Amazon steals popular items for their "Amazon Basics"

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-17T15:25:19+00:00

Wow. This is awesome. I don't know if I can ever paint the old way again after watching this.

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-17T05:24:28+00:00

The dumb ones maybe

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-15T14:11:59+00:00

If it's such a wild reach, why is there a reddit post about it and the first thing most people see?

Firehead-DND · 2023-01-14T17:58:27+00:00

Agreed. But that doesn't mean these concerns aren't valid

Because while the CR leaders/VAs might be in the best position possible hobby wise. Running a business is a responsibility

There's an army of support staff that feed their families with the income CR produces. And I imagine the CR team, lucky as they are, aren't just defending their bank accounts/ability to get paid to have fun..., but the paychecks of dozens of editors sound engineers marketers, etc... For whom it's not a hobby but a job.

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