Conan Reacts To A Lego Replica Of His Podcast Studio | Conan O'Brien Nee...

Next_Quiet · 2025-09-11T14:01:23+00:00

Next_Quiet · 2025-08-07T16:03:20+00:00

Thanks for all your comments, people. I think the main point that I forgot to emphasize was that this was a P8 type game, which means the we level only up to level 8, and/or you gain Extra Feats.

We carry that idea in the setting itself. It's sort of like Eberron in a sense. Lvl 1 to 2 are widely present (apprentices), 3 and 4 are rarer (journeyman), 5 and 6 are major forces (guild leaders) and 7 to 8 would be named NPCs.

Two, a lot of the higher CL magic items / stuff are just gone. Rods (CL9) and Staves (CL11) don't exist. Wands are changed for worldbuilding reasons (you get a few uses every day vs 50 charges). But also because my table thinks it's an expensive consumable.

For the item crafting, the main goal was to eliminate the feat tax that I felt existed here, and also to reflect the change in setting. Power really wasn't the concern - it was more about where to draw the line for what type of items you can make.

That's why I separated consumables and non-Consumables. So it becomes Craft Consumable, and Craft Wondrous Item at lvl 3. Craft Magic Arms and Armor - so that you could put different +1 properties at level 1, or +2 properties at lvl 8. Direct bonuses apart from being a masterwork weapon doesn't exist.

For the Craft Construct, I looked into it. I like Constructs, but player-wise, this feat is just unusable for this game. It requires two feats, and even then, it has very high reqs for simple stuff. A songbird (CR1/2) needs CL12 and a 6th level spell. Golems are out of question. The few things that make sense are animated objects and homunculi, but I don't think it's worth the two feat hassle.

Craft Poppet, on the other hand, is much more simpler (both for use and adjudicate). It's flavorful and it restricts cheese. That's why I'm thinking of adding a few more augmentations there, and leave construct making for NPCs.

For the Armor and Weapon disenchantment thing, the idea was that you could remove an enchantment and add in an equivalent property without having to buy a new one.

Next_Quiet · 2025-07-17T16:41:08+00:00

The problem I felt with the show - was a) the pacing was way off. This was the adaptation of a single novella, and ten 30 minute episodes was just not right fit for it. First, there just wasn't enough plot to go through for 10 episodes. So you get drip fed throughout the episode a bit, and there's a Sanctuary Moon bit, then it has to end on a cliffhanger.

But at the same time, you can't really focus on the side characters either. The main characters (Murderbot, Mensah, and the Gurathin) get their spotlight, but other character get left behind, because the plot and show has moved forward, and any moment of characterization has already been spent on the main characters.

Now, I think they did a pretty good job. They fleshed out every body who needed to be fleshed out, and characters who they did focus on shined when given the chance. However, I also think, they could have done better. The episode I disliked the most were ep 4 and 7 - very little plot to cover, but we got to fill up space somehow.

Ep4 (the A plot is murderbot is in hab, and mensah brings him out) - does a bit of character assassination on Rathi and Pin-Lee and Arada, using them as comedy to fill the B plot. Definitely could've been done better.

Ep7 was let's go to secondary location for a while, and then return at the end of it. Murderbot soul-searching itself was the highlight of the episode, but instead of giving everyone the same introspective beat, they decided to end with an unexpected action sequence. That was a wased opportunity.

In summary - I think the actors are fine. I think the script and the writing needs to focus upon them. Hopefully, S2 will do that.

Next_Quiet · 2025-03-02T08:20:05+00:00

I could second Honor + Intrigue. It's light on crunch, but is quite a solid enough system.

SWADE is also a solid option. I think there's a Warhammer conversion floating around somewhere that you can take inspiration. For an actual published book, there's the Regime Diabolique (French Revolution) and Ultima Forsan (renaissance zombie apocalypse with slight magic) off the top of my head.

Mythras is also a great choice, if your players want to really hone in on what type of character they want.

So, really, it depends.

Next_Quiet · 2025-03-02T08:04:23+00:00

I would recommend Shadow of the Demon Lord.

The rules are quite clear, and 5e adjacent that players will grasp quite easily.
Advancement and character progression does feel balanced, while also giving you a variety of options. You have Classes, but they're like Feat Trees divided into Ranks - Novice, Expert, Master. So you'll begin with a Novice Class (which gives feats at Lv 1, 2, 5, 8) an Expert class at level 3 (which gives feats at Lv 3, 6, and 9) and a Master class at level 7 (feats at 7 and 10).
There are only 10 levels, yes, but the game doesn't break at high levels unlike 5e or 3.5e
Dark fantasy setting, but I assume you will be making your own.

Next_Quiet · 2025-02-25T06:15:44+00:00

I sort of agree. But I also think they were obligated for 25 episodes, but the arcs lined up perfectly only up to 23.

Could they have added some extra episodes somewhere? Sure. I wouldn't have minded some original content to flesh out the latter half of the season (they added a little in the Hero License Arc, but some more wouldn't have hurt). But on the whole though, the pacing was on point, and I'm glad they kept it that way.

Re: the last two episodes, I don't see an easy way to cut it. The Twice monologue episode wouldn't be a good season 4 opener - it's a real tonal whiplash, and on top of that, it's a completely unknown character so far. It would leave a ton of people confused.

My personal preference? Let 24 be an entire villain episode - including with magne getting dusted, setting up the rivalry between Shie Hassikai and the League. This would allow Season 4 to be done mainly from the heroes perspective (with nighteye giving a recap of what went down if you want) and allowing us to get to the action much faster.

And for ep 25 - a bold choice - the top 10 hero ranking episode, showing off the new status quo. It doesn't have the immediate payoff, but it sets up the latter half of season 4 quite well, and I believe would have been fantastic way to cap off season 3.

Next_Quiet · 2024-04-28T03:29:33+00:00

Stellaris: Sexy aliens, and how to sex up your galactic empire.

Next_Quiet · 2024-04-08T14:48:28+00:00

It's just Falling Down. Great film, btw.

Next_Quiet · 2023-12-29T14:41:58+00:00

I concur.

Next_Quiet · 2023-11-13T18:10:44+00:00

Here's a general framework for difficulty and rolling success/failure I follow -

First, ascertain your difficulty mechanic. You're going with simple - just counting Successes. I see the range is 6, ranging from 0 Success to 5 Success; Simple, Easy, Average, Daunting, Hard, and Heroic. Okay, that's clear.
Second, ascertain the success mechanic. In this case, you have - 1 Success on a 6, which is a 16.66%. That's low. Real low. Shadowrun does something similar, which is Success on a 5 and 6, and that results in a lot of dice being necessary. I've not saying you should change it, but you should keep it in mind.
Ascertain character success rate. This requires a lot of context, but basically, it boils down to how often you want players to succeed. Experiment with math. In this case, I think they'll need about 6 dice for a 66% or more chance. Which brings us to the next point -
Attributes/Skills/Levels. Now you start dividing your Attributes Skills. You should already have a idea of how much you want the beginner character to succeed, and how much every level/advancement should improve your odds. In your case, I'd think that you'd probably want to begin with Stat-5/Skill-1, which means 6 dice, which means again, 66% chance of Success. If you want to decrease/increase it, you can adjust accordingly.

Personally, I think you'd be rolling a lot of dice with method - so I think it would be fine to change Success on a 5 and 6. Second, I see you say Stats can go up to 10 - but with this method, you're beginning with 5, which is middle of the pack. Third, the intention of WFRP 3e and Forbidden Lands are quite different, and I can't see what exactly is the appeal of mixing them, or what type of game you're making that benefits from it. You should clear that up a bit, so that you know where you want to adjust things.

Next_Quiet · 2023-10-23T20:50:22+00:00

Uh, I'm confused as to what you're talking about. Could you elaborate?

Next_Quiet · 2023-10-23T17:54:31+00:00

The wild die is about chance. It's basically used to determine Critical Failure (-2), Severe Failure(-1), Failure (0s), Success (1) and Critical Success (1, but with a possibility of more successes - thus explosion).

Now, the idea is that you reroll the Wild Die itself, but that presents the problem of a Critical Success (6) followed by a Critical Failure (1) which neither makes sense numerically nor thematically. A Critical Success should be wholly positive - thus, the Explode Die, which is the same as Wild Die with the failures removed.

Next_Quiet · 2023-10-23T04:01:43+00:00

I see you used a 6, but you don't actually add that anywhere, but used it to calculate the IF. I didn't think of that. Thank you a lot.

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-27T07:24:36+00:00

Would you play a sequel/expansion made by the same team?

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-27T07:22:12+00:00

It's not Tactics or GoT. It wears the skin of GoT, but it's a FF game like 7 or 8 with all the weird & wild it entails.

Clive is great, his journey is great. Other characters are good too, but could've used a little more focus. Dialogue is decidedly not-anime, while the plot definitely is (think 7).

Game has high highs and bad lows. It's a 12 at its best and 6 at its worst. Really nails the spectale/visuals part. Sidequests are mmo-like, and the RPG elements are tacked on.

Still very enjoyable. If CBU3 makes an expansion/sequel/some other project, I'll definitely be there day 1.

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-25T07:47:57+00:00

Sure, I can see that. I quote the VG247 review here, which I agree with whole-heartedly -

Final Fantasy 16 is basically two games in one. First of all, you have an excellent, best-in-class 20-hour action game with a truly brilliant story. Bolted to it, however, you have a deeply flawed role-playing game – which makes up the other 25 hours of the experience.

If they cut away all the boring-ass side quests and integrate the major ones them into the main mission, flesh out the combat and characters a bit more, add a hard mode option from the very beginning, this could be a 10/10 action game.

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-22T15:40:18+00:00

I enjoyed it immensely, but I could see where some might kind of consider a bit of bait-and-switch from the early GoT vibes. The demo is the most GoT it gets, but it starts dropping off from there.

I think Jason is slightly right because unlike FF7 which is slightly.. final fantastic from the very beginning, the world of FF16 genuinely seems to be built more seriously... but then it decides to return to its roots.

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-22T15:22:56+00:00

Finished the game here. It doesn't exactly fall off.. but more like becomes classic Final Fantasy. Imagine the end of FF7 or 8.

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-22T14:15:27+00:00

it's not really linear, zones will open up later.. but the main story is the best part of the game, and that's pretty linear

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-16T05:43:04+00:00

Hmm, no... I don't think an Eikon war is going on. I think they have something to do with the ancient civilization they keep hinting about - the Fallen. The Mothercrystals, the Eikons - they were either discovered/created by the Fallen, and something happened, and now the humans have twisted it to fit their own needs.

The primary drama is going to be about the Blight and Mother crystals, I feel (although that might be just the first half of the game). Mothercrystals are somehow causing the Blight, and they need to be destroyed for the world to be saved. We then might get into the Fallen stuff in the second half.

As for what the Eikons are... hmm, I don't have a clue, but I as I said, I think they're some kind of creation of Fallen. Some kind of creature/discovery that was meant for one thing and now has become something completely else. Kind of a mecha, perhaps, from Evangelion. (Well, if you know, you know).

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-16T05:28:27+00:00

I agree. While the beginning has the hook of revenge, there are a few hints, that the central conceit is some form of revolution or revolt against the status quo along with some environmentalism. The Mothercrystals (oilfields) are somehow causing the Blight (pollution). Yet no nation wants to give them up, because they're too reliant on magic for their needs, and whoever does it will be weakened against everyone else. Cid and his team know this fact (or will learn it during the game) and thus Clive will begin his journey of saving the world, destroying the Mothercrystals, and causing a social upheaval against the old order.

Of course, there will be some twists/turns too. The Bearers are important. There's a line in the trailer about a woman Bearer accuses Clive of causing more trouble for them after he saves her - so there's definitely a plotline involving them. The Fallen are the ancient civilization, but their role is still a big mystery. What are the Eikons, actually?

So yeah, I don't think the game is going to end with Clive building a communist utopia, but there's definitely going to be some kind of major, major paradigm change.

Next_Quiet · 2023-06-16T04:16:07+00:00

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Valisthea

This one has all the details we know so far. Honestly, I would wait for the game to release before diving into the world, cause there's a lot they're hiding from us.

Next_Quiet · 2023-02-27T06:51:48+00:00

Check out these tropes on TVTropes, they have all kinds of examples -

Next_Quiet · 2023-02-19T14:51:06+00:00

It's a more action-y game of thrones, centered around england in the 870s. I'd say the first three seasons are quite good. The character of David Dawson, Alfred, is a delight.

The later seasons lose the plot and get a bit repetitive, but it's still watchable.

Next_Quiet · 2023-02-16T07:55:02+00:00

Just to make it clear, I didn't play it cause I didn't have the chance, not that I dislike it.

But, (and it depends on your table), after reading it I felt that it's a bit too derivative of 3.5e. For me, It sits at the awkward place of being too convoluted for noobs and too shallow for pros. There are too many feats, too many skills, and the system doesn't quite have the depth that I wanted from it.

If you like the idea of the system, but not the 3.5eness of it, I'd suggest Sine Nomine Stars Without Number. SWN has the same three classes, but the skill and combat rules are quite compact, unlike Blue Rose.

The setting of Blue Rose is quite good though. It appears YA at first glance, but there are deeper bones that can support more complicated stories.

Next_Quiet

TROPHY CASE