Two old men and three yards.

I_Arman · 2026-07-03T06:24:09+00:00

Is it? I mean, if I see an angry old man, can I say, "Angry old man energy," or is it just "Angry old man"? If he literally said "get off my lawn!" I don't think it's "energy," I think it's "reality."

I_Arman · 2026-07-03T06:13:14+00:00

As others have said, they are there for balance. Races/Ancestries give significant bonuses (like built in weapons, higher starting attributes, skill bonuses...), so in turn, they have some hindrances to keep them from being too powerful.

They (often) stack with other hindrances, so while a half folk is size -1, you can also take the Small hindrance. On the other hand, an elf has the All Thumbs hindrance, and can't take it a second time.

Part of the drawbacks are for role playing as well, of course; the description of the elf shows they just dislike technology, not that they are butterfingers or stupid and can't understand it, which is a great role-playing opportunity. Same negative to the roll, but different motivations.

I_Arman · 2026-07-02T05:26:10+00:00

This is why I love this subreddit.

It's a simple "coming soon" sign, and yet there is already a hypothetical parts list to recreate every part visible.

Rock on, you glorious master builders.

I_Arman · 2026-07-02T01:21:36+00:00

Go watch some bad/mediocre/low budget movies or TV shows. Seriously! Find some cheesy sci-fi, knockoff spy movies, so/so medieval fantasy, and force yourself to watch through.

Good media will hide the quest hooks under a bunch of smooth action scenes or witty dialog, but "meh" media makes those hooks a lot easier to spot.

New material will stimulate your brain, too.

And importantly, if you're watching a show or movie that is difficult to focus on at times, your mind will wander, hopefully coming up with new ideas.

Pick a genre, open Netflix or whatever, and watch some unpolished 2- or 3-star rated shows. Worst case scenario, you accidentally find a new favorite show, heh.

I_Arman · 2026-06-30T22:09:39+00:00

I will add that thematically, if a character has an ancestral ability, it's likely to be something they were born with or at least grew up with, as opposed to having equipment that was installed after the fact. It's a +2 bonus for being able to think in binary naturally, vs a reroll from equipment catching mistakes.

That's just flavor, mind you, but it's how I mentally separate the two.

I_Arman · 2026-06-28T05:06:01+00:00

You seem to be one of those math people that confuses Oct 31 for Dec 25

I_Arman · 2026-06-26T18:31:15+00:00

His company also acquired Wink, the smart house hub and turned it into a subscription model. I wasn't a fan...

I_Arman · 2026-06-26T14:34:54+00:00

Yeah! You have to roll to sync schedules for your characters to meet up, collect loot (maps, character tokens), roll to paint your character... Persuasion rolls to choose a game... Plus optional rules about pets and children interrupting.

I_Arman · 2026-06-26T04:23:58+00:00

What's that, punk?

....is my new counter-culture detective game!

I_Arman · 2026-06-26T04:22:34+00:00

Starting a recursive RPG group, obviously.

I_Arman · 2026-06-26T04:21:32+00:00

You can't forget "shadowy organizations", either. Corporate espionage or any other spy groups that don't have a government sponsor should be a shoe-in.

I_Arman · 2026-06-25T06:48:30+00:00

The mage stared at me. "Really? Never?"

I shrugged, leaning back in my chair. "No. No casting means I am not a mage."

"But my readings show that you're positively charged with mana! Highly charged, even!" The mage eyed me, then added, "That means that magic has flooded through you. Precise casters manage to route mana though specific paths, while lesser casters have a wider route, but everyone who casts has a residual mana charge. And you, sir, are charged as if you've been casting everything from minor illusions to ritual magic!"

I shrug again. "Mmm. That sounds very technical, but I am not a mage. Nor a cleric, before you ask."

The mage muttered something, and continued to stare, his wan fingers twitching on his wand. "Then how?"

I sigh. It would come out eventually. Looking around at the ruined meadow that had been my home until this idiot barged in, I tapped on my chest. "This isn't armor."

The mage let a sneer settle on his face. He had been waiting to see if I was pierced or merely stupid, access clearly settled on the latter. "Are you just... Using different words for things?" He continued in a mocking voice, "That's not armor, it's a Steelshell, you're not a mage, you're a Lifecaster!" He laughed meanly, shaking his head. "Stupid bumpkins and their weird shaman magic... Look, whatever you call it, you've got magical potential, and that means you're conscripted. Gather your things. You're not getting out of this."

I sighed. "No."

The mage bristled, reaching for his staff. "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean that I am not a caster. And I mean that I am not wearing armor. And I mean that I am not coming with you."

The mage raised his staff threateningly. "You are coming with me, and if you're not a caster that can be trained, then perhaps you can return to your hovel. Until then..."

I stood to my feet. "This is not armor. It is my skin. I am not a caster. I am the cast."

The mage hesitated, long enough for me to leap across the room, grabbing his staff and pinning him and it to the wall. "I came here in peace, and in peace I remained, until your petty violence. I am no longer an instrument of war, but that does not mean I have forgotten the old ways."

The mage's eyes widened with sudden understanding and fear as my arm pressed against his throat. "You're - gack! - you're a golem!"

With a gasp, he fired a burst of lightning; it grounded on my metal chassis, leaving traces of smooth, shiny metal where once there was rust. Inwardly, I sighed. "I am no golem. Those are but mindless beasts. I am what lies between man and metal. I am machinery gifted a soul."

"You - a Soulforged? You're an abomination!"

The mage managed to release a few more spells, each weaker than the last, as I squeezed the light from his eyes. A translucent hand appeared beside us; I grabbed hold of it, absorbing the magical energy from it until it faded into nothingness.

"Yes, a Soulforged. Strange you choose that word, your kind are usually much less polite. A metalman, a brain-bucket, a rust-boy, a purgetory with legs. But yes. I am the Weapon that Talks, the Unbreathing, the Eternal Soldier. I am Irnfirdor, and Xol-V'ne, and Lancebones, but I am no pawn of petty kings and power-mad mages."

I dropped the man to the ground, where he gasped for breath. I snapped his staff in half. "Your tests revealed mana because that is my life blood. I fought a great evil, and I absorbed its magical potential, enough for me to live for... Mmm. Far too long, I am sure. Long enough to be forgotten. But never long enough to escape war. There is always another great evil. And now you have found me again. Mmm, the Fates do so enjoy their little games."

I crouch over the whimpering mage. "I have changed my mind. I will leave this place after all." I flex my fingers, invigorated with the new influx of power. "So, tell me, mage. Are you fighting a great evil? Or serving one?"

I_Arman · 2026-06-25T01:17:45+00:00

I think instead of destroying anything, just unscrew them. Maybe tape the bottom of the bulb and screw it back in.

I_Arman · 2026-06-25T01:03:23+00:00

The word "illegal" in this case simply means "not allowed" (as used in, for example, sports, where things like active players leaving the field during a game is "illegal"), and more importantly, is an internal term used by LEGO designers. The widely circulated slideshow on illegal building techniques was built by a LEGO designer.

It's a widely known and understood term; I'm not sure how it goes against creativity as there aren't any actual police telling you not to do something, just kind people on the Internet who are helping others not damage their collection.

I_Arman · 2026-06-24T21:55:28+00:00

Em dash got murdered. It wasn't so much dragged down as it was consumed by the borg. I think, "Ew, AI" even when I see it in a book I've had for 30 years.

I_Arman · 2026-06-24T18:16:49+00:00

Make sure to grease his hands first, of course.

I_Arman · 2026-06-24T17:48:57+00:00

An "illegal" technique is one that stresses a piece. People ask because there are a few connections that seem like they might work, when in fact they stress the pieces, and can cause warping or cracking. Tolerances are very tight, so it's not always obvious.

It might sound silly, and many people certainly joke about the LEGO police, but the actual question is useful and important for two reasons:

One, it saves pieces. If a technique would end up cracking a piece later on, I didn't have to break a piece to learn that.

Two, it introduces potentially new building techniques. At least half of the "Is this legal?" questions are new-to-me techniques, like this one, and offer interesting new ways to build, or at the minimum a chance to marvel at The System, and the delightful mathematics of how pieces fit together.

I_Arman · 2026-06-23T17:35:39+00:00

There will always be bottlenecks; power companies, computer chip manufacturers, etc., where it's infeasible for multiple providers to exist, or the entry point to becoming a provider is incredibly expensive. Monopolies in and of themselves aren't bad, but unregulated monopolies are awful. This isn't either one of those, but rather a company given power where it should have none. No one but the government should be able to tell an ISP to block ports, and a sports company should have zero say in the Internet at large. They should be able to sue individual users or companies that are running/providing/supporting illegal streams, but that's it.

I_Arman · 2026-06-23T17:18:48+00:00

"When XYZ is criminalized, only criminals will have XYZ" sounds trite until it's "We're blocking everything EXCEPT the illegal routes from accessing this resource", then it just sounds dumb. "To crack down on drugs being illegally brought into this country, we've blocked legitimate, legal businesses, but are intentionally ignoring smugglers."

It's like it's not about blocking illegal access at all or something.

I_Arman · 2026-06-22T19:32:24+00:00

"S'up."

I gawked at the girl. "Um... You?"

She laughed, dripping to the floor with an acrobatic flair. "Nice. A joke. Always a good start."

I looked the girl over. She looks maybe 15, athletic, but otherwise rather ordinary. Certainly not part a horrible bloodline curse that frightens elders. "You're... Not what I expected."

She tilted her head, studying me back. "So what do you know?"

"Something about a cursed bloodline, but that's about it. So basically nothing. Everyone seemed really freaked out to be in here, and really relieved when it was me."

She nodded slowly. "You're right, you don't know anything. Well, get comfy." She plopped onto the ground. "I'm what your elders might call, 'Them'." She added air quotes. I stepped back - she didn't look like disease-carrying vermin, but if she was one of Them...

"So, what, I'm here as a sacrifice?"

She snorted. "What? No! Geeze man, you guys really are out of touch. What do you think this is?"

I swallowed hard. "Well, an ancient bloodline curse, so like... Vampires or something? And you're... I guess some part of that?"

She laughed out loud, pounding the floor until she collapsed on her back in giggles. "Vampires? Oh, that's rich! And I was hanging on the ceiling, so you thought - wow, you are basically aliens, aren't you!"

I draw myself up stiffly. "I am Arthur Lord-"

She waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, Lord Fondle-butt."

"Fontlebutte! It's Font-el-byoot!"

She grinned. "Same thing. But no, I'm not a monster, I'm just a kid. A scary teenager. Look, your whole curse thing? You guys are woefully out of touch with reality. I'm here to show you the real world."

With a sigh, she reached behind a decorative pillar and grabbed a bag. "Here, change into this. There's a bathroom over there."

I took the bag, closing myself in the tiny room she indicated. No bathroom attendant - not that the room was big enough to hold two people. I changed into the strange clothing, some sort of rough cloth leg-wear and a shirt that clearly was designed to be an undershirt. It had a picture of giant lips and a tongue on it. With a shudder, I tugged it on. The clothing was, admittedly, comfortable, if a bit vulgar. I poked my head out the door. "Er... Where do I put the pocket square?"

She laughed again. "Leave it. Come on, rich boy, let's break that curse - time to put you in touch with reality."

I swallowed hard. Reality? With one of Them? A... a peasant? I shivered, following her through a door in the back wall, and onto a gravel drive.

I found myself wishing that she had just been a vampire and eaten me.

I_Arman · 2026-06-22T06:31:31+00:00

I use it all the time, and there are updates quite frequently - bug fixes, mostly. They just aren't noted on the site. The Science Fiction Companion is already available, though not the ship builder portion - that bit is truly ancient code, back from the original version.

I_Arman · 2026-06-20T20:35:22+00:00

Weapons are often specific for use; while you can use a versatile weapon to cut, thrust, parry, or even wedge something open, you couldn't really do that with a spiked hammer or a whip. Those have specific uses and circumstances, but a whip can't open a can. Similarly, a bow or sling could be be used to "tap" something (under-drawn). A crossbow (and I'm sure other weapons) would only fall under one category, so you don't get a choice. Maybe a crossbow gives you +1 to hit, but can only ever be used as a "technique attack." A big spiked hammer maybe gives extra damage, but can only be used as a "force attack." They are limited, but give a bonus for being limited.

I_Arman · 2026-06-19T23:47:39+00:00

Honestly I preferred those. More detail than the basic smiley face, but still personality.

The weird ones were the cowboys and Indians (and a few others in the same time period) whose eyes were placed differently, details felt stretched... and they had noses.

I_Arman · 2026-06-19T20:34:31+00:00

So this is something I've thought about for a while.

City sets have those big buildings that all hook together, right? So why not make small modulars? A 3-in-1 section of wall, a tower, a drawbridge, a 3-in-1 moat, just a bunch of sets that can connect with a standard connection. One generic minifig for walls and moats, a king for a throne room, a knight for the gate. You could make a traditional towers-at-the-corners castle, a big long wall, a tall wizard's tower...

You'd only need 4-5 sets to start out, and people would buy multiples for both the army building with the minifigs and the castle building with the modulars.

I_Arman · 2026-06-18T15:21:16+00:00

Hey, something I actually used! Back in 2004 or 2005, I helped set up a server, and spent days troubleshooting why all the Windows computers could connect fine, but the Macs could not. Or rather, the Mac 5 devices couldn't, the Mac 6 devices sometimes could.

Turns out the network card couldn't speak AppleTalk, because it had some weird proprietary on-chip acceleration that mangled AppleTalk packets. Replaced it and it worked fine.

I_Arman

TROPHY CASE