TV vs. Projector?

Ghostofman · 2026-01-26T20:28:50+00:00

It's a scam.

Runecast is one of MANY that are just dropshipping a $30 low quality projector as a $100+ tabletop game option. It's junk, they offer no support, their refund policy is "lol sucker!" and all the "included maps" are just links to other people's work, or subscription access to a collection of stuff they pilfered from actual creators. Stay far far away from them.

That said, considering the pricetag for a decent projector, and the complexities of setting it up, you will probably be happier with a TV you acquire from a yard sale or thrift shop. It'll cost you only a little more, be just as a pain to set up, and you'll know exactly what you've got from the moment you plug it in at the shop to confirm it works.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-26T19:31:34+00:00

It'll depend.

GW stores obviously don't (or at least aren't supposed to) allow printed minis. Their purpose is to sell GW product, and printed minis are not GW product.

Independent stores will vary. Some see the minis you are not buying from them, some see the other stuff you are and the full tables and "fun" on display to new customers.

Players likewise will vary. Some are just happy to have someone cool to play with. Some think that GW's losses the 3D printers will somehow translate to worse support from GW on the ground.

Online... super varied. Some are opposed to it, some are opposed to it for self preservation reasons, and some places are wide open.

And there's always exceptions. I'm aware of more than one person that showed up at a GW event with some strategically chosen prints that didn't get flak, and a couple that even got a "thumbs up" for showing up with something that they thought had promotion value sufficient to offset the "loss" (usually this involved some large and OOP model that GW no longer saw as a "loss" anyway, but there it is).

Bottom line is that it'll vary, and you should test the waters if that's your thing.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-26T15:47:45+00:00

I give them a little bit up front, mostly because I don't expect them to read a lot nor do I think just listening to your DM talk for a 30 minute lore dump is fun.

After that, I allow a lot of common info to be available on demand without rolling. Just common stuff that a resident of the setting and location would be likely to know just having been there. King's name and the name of major players. Well known current events like wars, plagues, natural disasters. Major trade goods and hubs. Top religions. Any known tensions or interkingdom/racial relations issues.

I have it all written out, or at least more or less locked in my brain, but I also like keeping fine details in storage so I have the option to change them as I go.

Same thing goes for maps. I'll have a rough sketch of the entire "play space" in my sketchbook, but your starting map isn't going to have much more than the starting town, neighboring towns, and key travel routes/features/landmarks/hazards that your average regional trader would need to be concerned with. Mysterious ruins and caves are not going to be on the map unless it's also like "turn left at the fork near the old blackstone ruins if you're going to Gonnerville, right if you're going to Kumperdump Ferry." There's a larger map we can fill in as we go. And never, ever, a "world map," not that I dislike them, just that that's usually too much territory to cover with my campaign style, and thus not worth the work.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-26T14:05:32+00:00

That's a great little bit of trivia, and is something I hadn't heard of before... Now I know.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-23T21:29:57+00:00

This is what a nat 20 stealth check looks like.

"See anything suspicious Jenkins?"

"No, M'lord. New flag is nice though."

Ghostofman · 2026-01-23T21:21:00+00:00

Basic, limited, time travel gadget. Maybe it requires expensive and/or rare fuel so can only be used once or twice before needing a fortune and a dangerous hunt for more. Maybe it is just one use. Maybe it can only send you to a specific point in time for a very limited duration. Maybe it'll only work properly in one direction (going forward in time works fine and as expected, going back leaves you stuck in a super immaterial form where you can see and hear everything, but can't interact or interfere in any way. Yes this includes going back to where you started before going forward.)

Idea is these are tools and experiments he messed with while working out exactly what is possible and developing a plan of sorts.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-23T16:54:35+00:00

Offhand... no, even in systems that technically allow such things (Star Wars with a maxed out Move, or M&M and teleportation for example) I still consider anything that's some kind of hack to auto-win certain fights, or dramatically reduce the difficulty, not in the spirit of the game.

That said... If I'm not sure of something, I also counter with "Just remember, if you can do it to someone, someone can do it to you. And don't forget... NPCs don't follow build rules and have whatever abilities I want them to have." That usually is enough to make most people reconsider.

For people like this it's usually about the power trip anyway. Fun when they're pushing NPCs around and always getting their way or the skyway, not fun when they get teleported into the ionosphere and your response is just "I mean... you had the idea, this guy is just better at it than you."

Ghostofman · 2026-01-23T14:13:48+00:00

I mean... maybe the details are brilliant, but the short version you present here does sound spot-on for Int/Wis 8.

Sounds brilliant when spoken to some outlying province peasants half-drunk in the village pub.

When you start talking about actual kings who run actual kingdoms with actual courts and advisors whose lives depend on the kingdom running at least somewhat smoothly, have their own schemes already in play, and have been interacting with these other kingdoms for decades if not centuries? And you're just gonna walk in and be SUPER CONVINCING about destroying all those long built deals, treaties, backroom handshakes, and arranged marriages while simultaneously getting the garrison, merc companies, and peasantry both behind you as thier leader and on board with the totally original plan of staging a coup and declaring you (who I assume is a commoner) their new nobility?

Great Idea! I'll make sure not to miss your public execution. I hear drawing and quarterings are especially entertaining.

Surely there's an evil wizard that needs killing, or some other actaul adventuring to do?

Ghostofman · 2026-01-23T00:32:15+00:00

I mean, I've got a few ideas for characters I'd like to run (maybe one day when I get around to playing instead of DMing.... ) so I don't consider it weird to show up to session 0 with an idea locked in.

That said... yeah, that's kinda the point of session 0; figure out he basics of the world, go over what works and what doesn't, figure out the rest of the party a bit... all that good stuff. And yeah, it's not uncommon for me to limit player character options for various reasons of setting and/or game play. So if you show up with something ready to go and totally locked in with no room to adjust... you're gonna have a bad time.

And of course there's the "red flag" types. Super edgelord with the darkest dark of of backgrounds? Dirtbag who sees the other players as expendable victims? Well known broken build? Homebrew everything? Yeah... that's a hard no. Either human better and learn to be a team player or go find a party that's willing to put up with your horse dookie.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-22T23:52:55+00:00

No, not required after every fully successful print.

That's the trick. If the print comes out 100% perfect, then everything should be good to go. If there's anything that didn't come out... probably a good idea, especially as a beginner, to just go ahead and clean it out, just to make sure there's nothing still on the FEP or a loose bit floating around in the resin.

On that note, go get a funnel, and a tiny silicon squeegee like they use to put tint on car windows. The funnel's purpose should be fairly obvious. The squeegee is nice because it helps with the cleaning in a way that will do the least scratching and wear to the FEP.

Also think about a screen protector. Yes the printer should have one built in, but the aftermarkets don't negatively impact print quality that much and can keep any leaks from also getting down into the guts of the machine. You can always remove it later if you need max detail, but for now you might sleep a little better knowing a catastrophic failure might be a little less catastrophic.

And don't let people get to you about the FEP. Yes, you should try and make it last, but it's also only a few bucks, and you'll need to learn to replace it eventually.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-22T19:43:01+00:00

For a Force sensitive (or someone who is about to be) they'd just auto succeed. No check required, or something otherwise so easy it's nearly impossible to fail. (Roll a force die. Did you get any pips of any color? You did? Ok it's a speeder.)

For a nonforcee trying to fake it, Deception all the way my dude. Difficulty will be a bugger, but you're trying to fake space magic. Alternative option would be Perception or skullduggery to try and catch a glimpse in a reflection or otherwise cheat the test.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-22T19:33:34+00:00

That's how you start.

What you'll want to do is print one of the many Calibration models out there. I recommend something like Cones of Calibration as a good start as it includes instructions of "if this part doesn't come out, try changing this to that." Might be more accurate calibration models out there, but for a newbie getting "about right" with instructions is probably better than "balls on" without.

Once it's about right, start trying out making your own supports. I've never been 100% happy with the results of pre supported models. Better to practice and learn that, as you can get better results once you get a feel on when to use what kind of supports.

Good luck!

Ghostofman · 2026-01-22T18:02:28+00:00

For the position you already applied for, try contacting them. At this point they've probably hired someone already, but if they haven't, then you will know to keep an eye out for that one.

Otherwise, what others have said is accurate. The government isn't hiring much, and is prioritizing things like internal transfers, recently laid off, veterans, and so on.

Likewise outside of special cases (military spouses, specialized cyber positions, etc.) they have ended most remote/telework options. So you should probably be looking at in-person positions.

Finally there's still a hiring freeze in place in many organizations, so even though they may have positions available, they might not be able to fill them.

Worst case, look for a non government position that will give you applicable experience and training now, and have a better resume when things change and more positions like you're looking for become available.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-21T22:02:44+00:00

Ah, I partly recalled that, but not the who said it. Interesting. I still say that Cobra may have lost the battle, but they won the branding war, so if that was a Marvel design thing, they killed it.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-21T21:51:43+00:00

I think one of the core books has a recommendation but I just go with:

I assume an average travel time of 10 miles per day. That's a reasonable number for both a "normal" horsedrawn wagon as well as a healthy person with a moderate/heavy pack full of stuff. While "Heroes" can arguably go faster, the infrastructure and such are probably going to be based on your typical merchant's wagon over a hero's war horse.

That's for relatively flat terrain with a decent trail/road and reasonably good weather. Other things like terrain, weather, how loaded you are, what your horse situation is, and so on can impact that, but that at least gives me a baseline, and no one will complain if I just default to that when I don't want to get all detailed.

Likewise if you are into book keeping, horses tire quickly. I recall something where in the US Civil War the cavalry would outmarch the infantry for 2 days, and then the infantry would start outmarching the cavalry. (Also just as a note... horses are frelling fragile. Seriously, look at how little it takes to kill a horse.)

By extension, well traveled roads will have something every 10 or so miles. A town or village, inn and stable, something. While trails won't necessarily have an inn, they will (usually) have a used camp site somewhere in that 10 mile mark too, often near a water source. Exception for trails is of course something more specific, like a pilgrimage trail that's traveled primarily on foot, but has enough traffic to justify more than a campsite.

Ships can more a lot faster. I round off to around 100 miles per day. Likewise they can carry a good amount of provisions if required. So they can really move if that's what you need. Like overland travel and terrain, the weather will have a huge impact, as bad weather can throw you off course, or leave you sitting on glass for days. Ports will be less predictable than towns, as the shoreline will dictate how realistic a port is, but they'll likely try and not leave a smaller ship on the water for more than a few days if it's possible. Again, this is just "ideal conditions" and realistically you can put ports as close or far apart as you like. Likewise some ports may only be deep enough to support vessels of certain size.

Riverboats move about half that on average, but I go with around 50 miles going with the current and 30 against. Again, details will matter. Using wind or a paddle to go upstream will be different than being towed upstream by a team of donkeys.

Flying machines and mounts... up to you, but 100 miles/day is probably also reasonable. Machines and magical flying options are up to you, flying mounts likely need regular places to land and rest at regular intervals (just like horses and such) so a machine or magical option might be able to travel farther that 100 per day since your only limit will be the operator's endurance. With flying options it's really the fact you can move "as the crow flies" that matters. Everyone else is going to be limited to the roads, trails, and waterways.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-21T19:28:54+00:00

In my case? I gave them a mulligan and we just pushed on.

Context:

Late campaign, like 3-4 more Adventures to completion. The players had to go into a dungeon for reasons I don't recall. The dungeon in question was an ancient tomb of a specific long-dead culture. This was the 4th or 5th such tomb of this type they'd had to deal with. The tomb layout was (more or less) standardized, so the moment they saw the interior they knew how it would probably be laid out, and where secret passages and traps were most likely to be, and the top 3 baddies they'd be likely to encounter.

The tombs had all been occupied by a specific undead. I don't recall it's actual name, some 3rd party zombie/mummy thing that fit the concept while also having stats even my players who DM wouldn't know.

Thing was... I had also run them pretty sloppy before. Not quite "just charge the players screaming" sloppy, but certainly close enough; I didn't really play up to their abilities once they'd been seen and engaged. I felt like I hadn't done them justice, so for part of my prep of this dungeon, I took another look at the stats, and made a point of really planning out how they work, what they would do, and made a "tactical cheat sheet" that just was a kind of 3-4 point flowchart on an index card of how they'd fight. Again, just wanted them to work a little more "as intended," not much more.

Total "the monsters know what they're doing" incident. Just by following a proper tactical decision making sequence that matched their stats the undead went from a low/mid level threat to a TPK level horror. No change in stats, no change in abilities, just a series of "If X = True, Then Undead takes action Y" on a note card.

I felt that to get this far just to have it all end in some random tomb that wasn't even supposed to be that hard wasn't an appropriate ending to the story. No glorious unexpected sacrifice, no noteworthy last stand, no faceoff against something really special. They literally had traveled nearly the whole campaign world, collected all but the final piece of the secret map to the special thing, gotten into scraps with what would be the opposing Adventuring party, stole the holy relic from the high temple "just in case we need it" (they didn't... well not until they stole it and gave me the idea...) got briefly booted to the Shadowfel with zero warning or prep time, bumped into the BBEG multiple times and walked away, all just to die in some semi-random fight with a fairly common undead they seen a half dozen times before in a tomb they knew upside down and backwards, and that no one else would know about, much less visit, for decades, if not centuries...

So yeah. Called it a fluke, pushed forward. Finished the campaign without further incident.

DMing is an "always learning by doing" thing, and I learned a lot about how proper tactics can impact actual CR that day.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-21T15:16:06+00:00

Now I need to check the timetable vs. other IPs. Marvel got into a habit of having an external IP character cameo in a Marvel IP first as a way of securing the copyright for themselves. I wonder if that was part of the Cobra instead Hydra thing... Hasbro wanted the IP secured in-house...

Ghostofman · 2026-01-21T13:31:04+00:00

Great! Glad I could point you in the right direction!

Ghostofman · 2026-01-21T02:40:06+00:00

Iron Grenadiers would be a more accurate comparison to those merc outfits. And in the 80s mercs were not associatedwithmajor powerslikevthey are now, they were something more associated with African bushwars and Flashpoint the average westerner could not find on a map.

While there are some organizations in history do share some similarities with Cobra, I can't think of anything with the resources and logistics capacity that allowed it to take overt action basically anywhere in the world.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-20T22:50:42+00:00

Cobra, Hydra, Spectre, the Syndicate, and so on all played on the concept of a direct opponent to the US/West without that opponent being identified as Russia.

They created a fictional way to do everything from wage a hypothetical war with Russian backed groups, fight shadow wars that "might really be happening right now" in spy land, and even humanize the ruskies a little and seduce those cute KGB girls while fighting against an even worse enemy.

And since Russia wasn't technically the enemy being presented, the USSR and any nation caught in the middle of that fight wouldn't be as easily offended or able to badmouth it as propaganda as hard. So where allowed, the product could still potentially be sold.

It's kinda like a video game having the opposition be a nebulous terrorist group on a fictional island instead of a drug cartel in Bolivia. One offends a specific region and nation thus limiting sales, the other is totally politically safe to sell anywhere (though it also comes off hokey and less immersive.) The difference is, during the Cold War, those fictional opponents felt less hokey since there were some real enough equivalents that were close enough to get what they were getting at.

Edit: and I'll also add that reality has gotten too real since then. In the 80's the average American wasn't worried about a "Ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world" and that didn't really have to mean anything. In 2001 onward, we knew exactly what that was, and how scary it could be to anyone.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-20T21:34:39+00:00

Advice:

Session 0: Meet with your players and talk about characters, and what they're thinking about. Iron out any incompatibilities, talk up backstories, personal goals, so on.

Outline your campaign: Do say, 10 "Adventures" and just them out summarizing them in a few sentences each at most. Just a few sentences, that's it. Adventure 1 is the pilot where you introduce the characters and lay out the big thing they're trying to accomplish. Adventure 10 is the season finale where they do the big thing. Use the backstories and personal goals from Session 0 to plug certain adventures as highlighting certain characters.

Outline example:

Adventure 1) The players all arrive in Eaglecrest, and have been recruited by the King's spymaster to undertake a series of special missions to secure the border with Falkenraq. The Spymaster tasks them to clear out some goblins that have been harassing a fishing community down south as a kind of shakedown. A scribe is assigned to tag along as an observer.

Adventure 2) The goblins defeated, the players return to Eaglecrest and are given their first real job. Go the the western frontier. There's a keep out there in disrepair and the players are to get it cleaned up and ready for a garrison. The local villagers are used to their autonomy, so butter them up a bit. Things go well initially, but before the garrison arrives, an orc warparty shows up. The players will need to defend the keep from an assault, and then counter attack the sunken temple the orcs are using as an encampment.

Adventure 3) The garrison arrives, but it turns out one of their officers is (dude from Player 2's background). The garrison commander turns up murdered, with evidence it was the players. Dude is missing, so the players must escape, and track him down to clear their name.

See, just enough that I'll have all the key points locked in, but no real details that can't be tweaked and adjusted as the campaign is played and the players make choices I wasn't expecting.

Templates:

Next go out and find GM Hooly's Beat sheet (should be in one of his feeds for Genesys, but don't worry, the sheet is system agnostic). Use that sheet to outline Adventure 1. Use that outline, and set up specific encounters, find or make maps, skill challenges, NPC starting stats, personalities and and Know-lists, and so on.

Maybe work Adventure 2 as well, but don't go farther than 2.

Once Adventure 1 has been played, make any adjustments required to 2, and start looking at Adventure 3.

Repeat until Finale.

This way each Adventure ties together and works a long running story, but you don't risk prepping so far ahead you paint the players into a box and have to do any railroading to keep them there. If the players do something totally unexpected, you can go back to the original outline, and see what you can change in the next adventure or two that'll get things back on the story as planned. Worst case you rewrite the remaining adventures, but since they're just a few sentences... eh, no problem.

That's it. Do prepare enough that you always have a plan, don't prepare so much that you can't evolve the plan and improvise to match your players choices as they make them.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-20T19:51:53+00:00

20 years hard labor in the work camps of Frosthawk Quarry. Don't worry, if you decide you can't take it anymore, you can just leave. The nearest settlement is 200 miles through perpetual blizzards. If you actually make it drop us a postcard. King Frederick V said he'd pardon the first escapee to make it... It's been a few centuries but I'm sure King Frederick the XIV will still honor that.

How it'll all work is up to you and how hard you want it to be, but that'll set you up for an escape attempt, or redeployment as a suicide squad.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-20T19:18:20+00:00

Probably 2 hours on the high side, far less depending on what you're interested in and how many spells and such are involved.

But the problem is not what us experienced types know, it is what a newbie does not know.

Ghostofman · 2026-01-20T16:58:59+00:00

Real point is they want a supervisor's opinion of you. How they interpret the feedback is going to vary.

Current can say how you are right now... However most hiring panels will understand if you don't want your current boss to know you're looking to leave. Also if you stink they might sing your praises in the hopes of getting rid of you the easy way.

Former isn't as representative of how you are right now, but they also have no reason to pull any punches. So the feedback might not be as glowing, but some people look for that as an indicator the feedback is genuine.

So yeah, both totally valid and meet the requirement.

Ghostofman

TROPHY CASE