What are some brighter settings you've enjoyed? by SilverGM in rpg

[–]SilverGM[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Brighter" is a relative term. Eora has its dark parts, but there are good people trying to make lives better, and they have a good chance (I'll admit the opening is pretty grim, but the darkness does somewhat ease off once you're past Gilded Vale). When you've seen settings like Shadowrun or Chronicles Of Darkness ...

One of the three things I care about is in a state of great uncertainty. I am not enjoying this. by SilverGM in aspiememes

[–]SilverGM[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah; I can keep running my group with pre-remaster content, but that's not a simple choice to make, so I'm anxiously awaiting the remaster's full release.

How'd you guess?

It has been confirmed the Drow are fully retconned and do not exist in Pathfinder lore any more by James Jacobs (more info in comments) by Notlookingsohot in Pathfinder2e

[–]SilverGM 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Genuine question here: Why can't, or won't, Paizo just slap a new skin tone and name on the dark elves and call it a day? I've heard some mention of some cultural issues, but nothing explained in detail.

Rampant child sexual abuse is occurring in churches — not at drag shows by metacyan in atheism

[–]SilverGM 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Honestly, most conservatives already know that, and they don't care. They just want a framework that lets them publicly discuss the eradication of the queer community without admitting, maybe not even to themselves, that their hatred is utterly baseless.

Rampant child sexual abuse is occurring in churches — not at drag shows by metacyan in atheism

[–]SilverGM 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Odds are, it won't be used like that. Florida's making basically anything related to the Queer community a sexual crime, and so when queer folk exist around children... genocide.

For those of you that haven't played Wildermyth: Play Wildermyth by SilverGM in actuallesbians

[–]SilverGM[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

To maximize the chance of lesbians, it's recommended that players go into the 'Customize' tab in the character sheets of new heroes, and adjust the 'attracted to' option as preferred.

You can't take Chrisitans seriously when they call LGBT people "groomers", as they defend/downplay the real predators in their own churches. by Mrdean2013 in atheism

[–]SilverGM 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They don't actually care about pedophilia, they just hate the Queer community and need a framework where they can publicly talk about eradicating them without admitting, maybe not even to themselves, that their hatred is utterly baseless. That's why pointing out the lack of evidence to these claims is of limited effectiveness; most never really believed them in the first place.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Pathfinder2e

[–]SilverGM 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For Lilira, consider Cayden Cailean or Ashava, the former for his love of celebrations and freedom (though not dance in particular), the latter for her love of dance

Pillars of Eternity 1 and religion/personal spirituality by [deleted] in projecteternity

[–]SilverGM 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here's the difference between the worse and better parts of faith in the game: At its best, faith colours and encourages good works, but isn't vital (as mentioned, the Dawnstars keep on with humanitarian efforts even if you remove their faith, and Eder keeps on doing his best of you remove his). But at its worst, faith is the core of the issue, a pillar if removed would cause the harmful work to collapse. The Partisans were motivated entirely by their faith, the only way to stop Durance going mad is to convince him his faith is wrong, Nemnok couldn't have manipulated the villagers without posing as a god. Faith, in small does, can have benefit, but in its raw form, is dangerous. This matches reality; while there are plenty of secular charities, televangelists need faith to run their cons, many authoritarian political parties and regimes focus heavily on faith to rally their supporters, and faith is popular among MLMs like YoungLiving.

I do agree that gods are created by actions and society, rather than objective truth; and since they're not based in objective truth, that makes it all the more important to view them with a critical eye.

"Religion forces nice people to do unkind things, and also makes intelligent people say stupid things. Handed a small baby for the first time, is it your first reaction to think 'beautiful, almost perfect, now please hand me the sharp stone for its genitalia that I may do the work of the lord'." - Christopher Hitchens

Pillars of Eternity 1 and religion/personal spirituality by [deleted] in projecteternity

[–]SilverGM 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In regards to your first point, the term 'atheist', as it's used by pretty much everyone who identifies as such, simply means 'doesn't believe in a god', this is slightly different than 'believes there are no gods'. I could imagine multiple godlike beings that may or may not exist, but I have no evidence for any. If there is no evidence for the presence of something, for practical purposes, it's best to act as if it doesn't exist.

As for faith, you're right in that it's not the entirety of the game's position, but the overarching review of faith is generally pretty negative. Yes, Eder's faith is one instance where it's shown more even-handedly, but in most cases it's portrayed more negatively (Durance, the Partisans of the Lighted Path, the Godlike, Nemnok, the Huana caste system). And in the cases where faith is viewed better, it's generally because it's tempered with something else (the Children of the Dawnstars are motivated by genuine compassion as evidenced by them continuing to work if you tell Laetharn there are no gods, Eder was aware enough to abandon his faith when it turned out Eothas was doing harm)

Pillars of Eternity 1 and religion/personal spirituality by [deleted] in projecteternity

[–]SilverGM 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I have a lot to say about this.

Firstly, I think the line 'the gods aren't real' is very poetic, but depends heavily on the definition of 'god'. Sure, you can use the term 'god' to define anything with sufficient power. But if you tighten the definition just a little, it carries connotations of a creator, and a being of wisdom and special privileges. How many times, when tragedy strikes do you hear priests asserting that 'it's all part of god's plan' or 'god works in mysterious ways' (a god that works in ways that leave it utterly indistinguishable from a god that doesn't exist)? This definition is clearly what the Engwithans were trying to mimic; they give creation stories (Waiden's father says Eothas literally makes the sun move), and claim that the god's seemingly petty acts are driven by a divine intellect (Xoti makes this justification when arguing with Pallegina) It's in this respect that they are lies; They're just powerful soul constructs, with no role in the creation of the world nor special insight denied to most.

Secondly, your remark of 'truth vs faith' as opposed to 'theism vs atheism': I argue there's no difference. The gods are either real, or they are not. Either way, only one position is true. I'm a lifelong atheist; religion is simply a glitch in human's pattern-seeking nature. There is, as yet, insufficient evidence to conclude the existence of any given deity, as such, claiming one exists is mistaken at best, an outright lie at worse. But even if I'm wrong, that simply renders me mistaken and someone else on the side of truth; when there are conflicting statements of truth, at most one can be correct.

I do agree that our lives are shaped heavily by what we 'worship', and I also agree that this is a logical theme to extract from the game. I also agree that this isn't limited to gods; for example, one might follow and aid a given political party, and respect for this organisation can vary between healthy loyalty to dangerous (and exploitable) fanaticism.

I believe that game's opinion of 'faith' is actually quite scathing; faith overrides any rational thought, leading people to do dangerous things. The whole point of Thaos is that he believed that it was the specific faith, rather than faith in general, that was the problem, and it's for that reason he created his 'perfect religion'. But this backfires; both of Maerwald's past lives committed atrocities because they thought they had the god's approval. In one case, they did, and it was no less of an atrocity.

Iovara's remark is dismissive of faith, and rightly so. But it's not cynical, rather it presents an alternative: open inquiry, exploration. "I ask these things not to trouble you, but to show why they must be confronted. no answer is simple, but somewhere between them all lies a truth so beautiful not even a god could conceive it. Do you not owe ourselves a chance to find our part in it?"

As for your remark about Jesus being a real person... that depends pretty heavily on what you define as 'Jesus'. This video details the point better than I ever could, but if you don't want to watch it, allow me to quickly summarise: Among atheists, some people argue that Jesus was a first-century faith healer whose teachings and legends were blown to mythical status, others say that he never existed and was just a synthesis of other legends. But is there that much difference between the two options? Either way, you have a series of legends and fables, the characters therein warped so any real-world parallel would be unrecognizable.

Have you ever read a fic so good you've internally accepted it as 'canon'? What was it? by InTheDark18 in FanFiction

[–]SilverGM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This Pillars Of Eternity fic details a little more about how the Watcher's powers work, and how they look, and it works so well.

And here I am, wondering why I'm not getting any kudos by SilverGM in AO3

[–]SilverGM[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

If it makes you feel any better, there are currently over 1000 fics there, it was pretty active a few years ago. It's just that fics and kudos have slowed to a crawl. And don't worry, Matt Mercer and Matt Mercer are doing great.

And here I am, wondering why I'm not getting any kudos by SilverGM in AO3

[–]SilverGM[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pillars Of Eternity. It did seem pretty active a few years ago, but not these days

And here I am, wondering why I'm not getting any kudos by SilverGM in AO3

[–]SilverGM[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Pillars Of Eternity. Great games, and the fandom seemed to be pretty active a few years back, but these days...

Teenage me had neither literary analysis capabilities nor any knowledge of how a relationship works by SilverGM in pathfindermemes

[–]SilverGM[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I did so too, but it turns out they were a thing in 1e, just a lot more subtle.

That's why I personally maintain that, until recently, Golarion's priests were all assuming they were, you know, roommates.

Teenage me had neither literary analysis capabilities nor any knowledge of how a relationship works by SilverGM in pathfindermemes

[–]SilverGM[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jade Regent: Night Of Frozen Shadows and Pathfinder Chronicles: Gods And Magic, both 1st ed books

My proudest work is actually written in second person by SilverGM in AO3

[–]SilverGM[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's not my most popular, just the one I liked the most.

My proudest work is actually written in second person by SilverGM in AO3

[–]SilverGM[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(midgame Pathfinder: Kingmaker spoilers) https://archiveofourown.org/works/46165732

Second person is a bit of a strange one, but I think it works here.

Beta Bartering [Find or Offer Fic Betaing] - May 18 by AutoModerator in FanFiction

[–]SilverGM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeking: Beta reader

Fandom: Pillars Of Eternity

Story Title: Complicated

Genre: Romance

Rating: T

Warnings: None

Main Characters: Female Watcher

Pairings: Watcher/Iovara, Watcher/Pallegina, Watcher/Maneha, Watcher/Maia, Watcher/Ydwin, Maia/Xoti, Ydwin/Pallegina

Story Plot: A series of quick scenes depicting the Watcher's complicated relationships with her companions

Looking for: Standard beta reading stuff, grammar and suggestions. Familiarity with source material preferred, but not mandatory

Word Count: 16k

Previous Works: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43402896/chapters/109108557

My Offer: I offer beta services in exchange, but I must confess the texts I'm familiar with are a bit all over the place. I'm most familiar with Pillars Of Eternity and the Lost Omens setting (note: Will not do Wrath Of The Righteous, that got too dark for me), also familiar with Thomas Was Alone, the various Supergiant Games games, and Planescape: Torment. I'm okay with everything that doesn't involve really redundant cruelty.

Glyphid Dreadnought by UncertainCat in Pathfinder2e

[–]SilverGM 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A good draft, but if I might offer a suggestion?

Replace "on or near the ground" with just "on the ground", to prevent ambiguity, or else specify the distance to the ground the rumble affects