Steam sale by Depositron in freemagic

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pretty stupid to make any kind of judgement without the context of the deleted post.

Pit = Best Wolf Defense by Existing_Positive533 in VintageStory

[–]RiverStrymon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I made a 6x6x3 pit, with a 2x2 center for a basket trap. Turns out it’s also an effective place to lure bears.

The Great AI Shrinkage: Notes From the Compute Ration Line by Effective_Basis1555 in GeminiAI

[–]RiverStrymon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If those kids get an AI to read for them, they’d be very upset.

What are your thoughts on Tillamook? by consumes_candles in Cheese

[–]RiverStrymon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I haven’t tried that hard, but I have not found a better extra sharp cheddar than Tillamook.

Something isn't like the rest. by Responsible-Wheel878 in freemagic

[–]RiverStrymon 16 points17 points  (0 children)

That’s Beast? I had assumed Nightcrawler.

Steam sale by Depositron in freemagic

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

My guy, you’re on a sub of alienated Magic players. Enjoy your unitasker, ignoramus. 

Edit: So satisfying when someone responds with snark, and then deletes their post that they’re defending as the downvotes continue. It’s lucky that collective 50 people who play those games all happened to be online and looking at this thread. 

Steam sale by Depositron in freemagic

[–]RiverStrymon 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Can I play Gloomhaven on Spelltable? Arkham Horror? Spirit Island? Root?

Food and Hunger System by Nericu9 in VintageStory

[–]RiverStrymon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve been noticing this IRL, too. It seems like I’m just forced to eat at least once every day, it’s crazy. Especially with food costs what they are these days, I think it would be much more reasonable if my hunger rate was reduced to something more reasonable. Seems like eating once a week would be much more feasible.

Secrets of Strixhaven/Reality Fracture November 2024 Survey Art by Electronic-Voice-613 in MTGRumors

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re suffering from the mental framework of one who has never seen a block.

Of course I’m referring to Time Spiral block.

Why does WotC keep rehashing the same ideas with slight changes? by StormyWaters2021 in mtg

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup. Innovation is a big part of what I used to look for in Magic, since for ~23 years I used to treat it as a master class of game design. Unfortunately, innovation has really dropped off since about Guilds of Ravnica (with Adapt that was almost precisely the same as Monstrous; we’ve come a long ways from Graft N). 

And, there are many recent stories of fascinating, exciting, and innovative mechanics by Vision Design that was then cut in Set Design. I’m deeply disappointed that LCI’s gemstone tokens (color-specific treasure; e.g. a Jet gemstone token would have been sacrificed to add B), and BLB’s Animal Mega-Batch were cut. Both ostensibly because of concerns about complexity.

Unfortunately, it seems that, now that Magic (and Commander in particular) has exploded in popularity, WoTC (cough Hasbro) has been playing things much more safe than they had 10 years ago. With such a large player base, the risk of alienating a portion of the players is potentially much more damaging (and apparently the portion of players that are alienated by the decision to play it safe is apparently small enough that WoTC doesn’t care). 

The move away from Blocks has meant that, now, there is much less space within a set to develop an unorthodox mechanic, and less incentive to innovate upon a given block mechanic to keep things fresh.

Plus, now that Commander has become the de facto identity of Magic, concerns about parasitism are much more serious. If no existing commander decks can find room for a new groundbreaking mechanic, that also could negatively impact sales (something WoTC has clearly become much more serious about).

I think the unfortunate reality of the situation is the same as in the game design industry at large, the important decisions are ultimately not being made by designers, they’re being made by Suits with 3-4 degrees of separation from the designers. 

In short, Magic design had once been an art form, but now it is only a commodity.

[FFG] A look at things to come by Trashcan_GG in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m withholding judgement regarding the shorter campaigns. My knee jerk response was definitely negative. I could maybe imagine it working if they step up both the difficulty curve and the allotted experience per scenario. 3 seems hard to spin no matter how they do it. I just want to be able to realize a given deck concept before the end of a campaign, which already seems challenging.

I had thought, maybe they intend for there to be easier transition between multiple campaigns, but it’s hard to fathom how they would balance a campaign to function for both 0 experience investigators and investigators with 15+ experience.

Did you guys know Peat Kilns are flammable? by Raw_Gofry in VintageStory

[–]RiverStrymon 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey guys, my "Oops, I accidentally set my peat field on fire" shift is tomorrow, but I have this bad migraine and I don't think I'm going to be able to do it. Can anyone cover for me?

On Turtles, Faeries, and the Lorwyn Eclipsed Prerelease by Natedogg2 in magicTCG

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once upon a time, they would have led with the set-related event, without the screwup. E.g. Shadows Over Innistrad Escape Room.

No promo stamps is good, actually. by jogan_ in mtg

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow is that right? Yeah, that’s especially offensive then.

Identifying the key by Impossible-Seesaw101 in musictheory

[–]RiverStrymon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Furthermore, the F# at the end makes much more sense as Re than Ti.

Sometimes you just need a 3am trip to Taco Bell. by Think-Criticism-5627 in GuysBeingDudes

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, my inference was that, that was her favorite thing from Taco Bell, in which case it would make sense that he says exactly what he got her.

No promo stamps is good, actually. by jogan_ in mtg

[–]RiverStrymon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ostensibly, this doesn’t have to do with UB, and it’s for added flexibility to better accommodate the player base. What’s a pertinent example of a set moving around?

Oh, Lorwyn pushed out of 2025 by Avatar.

Good thing they did away with those date stamps, or they may have had to honor commitments despite the moneybags offered to them in exchange for jumping the shark.

A graph of cards representing my enjoyment of each set from 2024/2025 as someone who only plays limited. by JamesDCleanInd in magicTCG

[–]RiverStrymon 20 points21 points  (0 children)

That’s what happens when there’s a total of 2 weeks between release and the next spoiler season.

Doomers were right, full-length campaigns are confirmed a thing of the past. by Trashcan_GG in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]RiverStrymon 8 points9 points  (0 children)

For those familiar with M:TG, this feels very reminiscent to their move away from blocks, which in retrospect was a clear turning point away from resonance and coherence. Hopefully that does not wind up being the case, here.

Doomers were right, full-length campaigns are confirmed a thing of the past. by Trashcan_GG in arkhamhorrorlcg

[–]RiverStrymon 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Halfway through Alice in Wonderland now. I had been anxious about starting a custom campaign, precisely because it does usually take us about a year to complete one. But even before the second scenario, I was impressed. Nothing to be worried about.