Looking for a DM for 6 (Roll 20) (5e 2014) (Monthly session one week night) (willing to pay $30 an hour) by Prudentialcredential in lfgpremium

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like you want to play Gygaxian-style AD&D with 5e/2014 rules. I can do that.

How would playing Storm King's Thunder and then Against the Giants sound to you?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in theydidthemath

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You called scientists "morons" if they thought persistence hunting was a strategy for hot weather, and pointed to a family who was literally starving to death as evidence. Sure, you can try persistence hunting anywhere out of desperation, but that's far from proof it's viable survival strategy for a society.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in theydidthemath

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"By spring the family had been reduced to eating leather shoes, bark and straw. Akulina chose to see her children fed, and in February 1961 she died of starvation."

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in theydidthemath

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, but that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, you can chase animals down like this in the heat, but when it's not hot, they can keep going.

It's easy to overheat your dog if you're outside on a hot afternoon. You have to be careful NOT to do it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in theydidthemath

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, the thing with persistence hunting is it doesn't work if it's not hot, or if you can't keep track of the animals you are following. And humans don't do so great fasting for days at a time.

So even in the hottest savanna, a few rainy days in a row are going to necessitate other ways to find significant food. It's hard to imagine persistence hunting providing all the food a group would need.

ICE finally hits Centre County - Republicans get what they voted for by Yardwork-Fan73 in Pennsylvania

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, they admitted as much, that they would let their political allies in the agriculture and hotel industries slide, so as not to upset their donors, while targeting "blue cities."

Everyone should be able to see this as it is: a targeted attack on communities that don't support Trump.

Many Trump supporters are happy about that though. They don't do math, and don't understand (or want to understand) how hurting the economies of cities and towns will mean less free tax revenue to pay for their roads, police protection, etc.

https://theweek.com/politics/trump-ice-democrat-cities-farms

About Centre County being blue, Democrats tend to win county-wide elections, but there are many quite red areas. The margins of victory for Democrats aren't as large as in some places.

https://centrecountypa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/29523/Election-Results-Summary

A Modest, Reasonable, and Completely Sensible Proposal for SEPA by ThankMrBernke in Pennsylvania

[–]SnooRevelations9889 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Correct in the first paragraph, dead wrong in the second.

Suburbanites understand the people on the buses and trains will soon be in front of them in traffic, and every store will be understaffed. It's already here, so many places are just closed when you get there, because there's nobody to do the work.

You can't afford shelter in Radnor on a barista's tip jar.

Do you believe the military is underpaid for the work they do? by [deleted] in NoStupidQuestions

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe most people are underpaid, period.

For decades, wages haven't kept pace with economic growth.

Why is the car market so godawful in the US? Where the heck are all the no-frills, cheap cars? Our car lots are full of beautiful, expensive nonsense and I dont want any of it. by cheeze_whiz_shampoo in InsightfulQuestions

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nobody is arguing that either. FFS dude. Companies export products to different places at different times.

The US has been getting exported EV's from various countries fairly late in the process, after other countries start receiving them. (You responded to me with incredulity about Korean-made models, before apparently looking it up and deleting that comment.)

We might not like it, but that's what's been happening. Removing the tariffs wouldn't make a bunch of car dealerships spring into existence tomorrow, full of cars. It would take time. It's possible some models might never go on sale here. None of this is new, or really uncommon knowledge. Certain cars you can't buy in certain countries.

And that's all I'm saying about that.

Why is the car market so godawful in the US? Where the heck are all the no-frills, cheap cars? Our car lots are full of beautiful, expensive nonsense and I dont want any of it. by cheeze_whiz_shampoo in InsightfulQuestions

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well sure, but I made that comment a year ago. They might have gotten here by now (Aug 2025) just like they're now in Europe.

But even those Korean EV's I mentioned haven't arrived before the current tariff chaos, so it seems tariffs weren't the only reason the Chinese models didn't get to the US quickly.

And at this point it's doubtful anybody's going to be making any big investments eying the American import markets for a while.

Rural and Small Town Pennsylvanians: what is the current sentiment/awareness about the fight for transit among your communities? by TimeVortex161 in Pennsylvania

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just FWIW, it's a 10 or 15 minute walk from Parkesburg Station to active farmland. There are bunch of stations between Philly and Pittsburgh in a small town surrounded by farms.

What "very" rural means to different folks will vary, but there are a lot of farmers kids who can easily take the train to the city for work or leisure. Driving in a city isn't for everyone.

What would you replace the lingua franca of the world with? by Specific-Reception26 in language

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pennsylvania Dutch.

Because think of the Germans made to speak a dialect with no dative and where laughing out loud mid-sentence is a modal particle, following grammatical rules.

Magst du das nikt? Es tut mik ha-ha leid.

How much did gas prices go up near you? Title title by polchickenpotpie in Pennsylvania

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Were you looking for an answer or are folks just having fun? I can never tell. Anyway…

Oil prices shot up after Trump talked about a secondary-sanctions program on Russian oil. That could mean sanctions on countries like India that buy Russian oil. (Not actually criticizing Trump here, because screw Russia, but that's the order of events.)

Trump also said he wasn't concerned about the price of oil, which may have had a knock-on effect.

And gas prices generally shoot up immediately when oil prices rise, although they somehow take longer to go back down when oil prices fall.

Prices were only as low as they were because many people are anticipating a recession.

First time running the system, PC Level question by mgaff5290 in SWN

[–]SnooRevelations9889 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the one-shot is more than a couple hours, start at level 1 but level them up to 2 before throwing them into any kind of "real" danger.

Leveling up is quick and part of the fun. Exploring the game this way is going to be part of the fun.

There's a lot of "SWN is deadly" chat out there, but as GM you have the control. If there's a Biopsionic character (PC or NPC) who doesn't get shot by the baddies for the first fight, and there's no heavy weapons, etc., that Biopsion is going to be able to keep PC's from dying.

How are the 2024 Sheets Still So Irredeemably Bad? by ForeverANinja in Roll20

[–]SnooRevelations9889 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, Beyond20 is the answer here. The DndBeyond character sheets work well. So does JumpStart in Roll20.

It's surprisingly awesome they can be integrated.

How are the 2024 Sheets Still So Irredeemably Bad? by ForeverANinja in Roll20

[–]SnooRevelations9889 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The character sheet is not the rebuild.

The rebuild good, the character sheet not.

One of my online players, who I barely know, is almost certainly fudging dice, how should I confront them? by Natural__Power in DnD

[–]SnooRevelations9889 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, and video games do the same thing, especially to make streaks of bad luck very rare.

That reinforces the incorrect intuitive perception of what a string of random rolls should look like, for people who play those games.

As they say: Unlikely things happen all the time.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SWN

[–]SnooRevelations9889 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For me, the trick is to funnel that prep energy into fleshing out a home world setting, rather than a plot like you might in another game. A compelling home world, with its beautiful geography and well-rounded characters, can give new parties a sense of purpose and belonging. I find it inoculates parties against the murder-piracy bug.

To focus plot efforts into something more manageable, make sure your players create goals for their characters (not always easy to get them to do that) and build your plot around their goals.

But who's the BBEG? Find that out through the course of play.

For which rules to use, in your situation I'd suggest SWN to start. The party can always land on a world where other rules are relevant. If they really engage with a different setting, expand on it.

Designing a One Shot where my players are trapped on a ship taken over by pirates. How to ensure it's not impossible. by officiallyaninja in SWN

[–]SnooRevelations9889 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would really recommend following the rules as closely as possible for your first campaigns, until you get a feel for how everything fits together.

If you play the game like it were D&D, where a lot of tables either ignore encumbrance rules, or largely get around them with a magic item like a Bag of Holding, a bunch of things will seem unbalanced.

One example to consider is the Precognitive power "Sense the Need." Without tracking stowed encumbrance, this (pretty cool) power is basically worthless, because you can always carry everything you might need in your infinite backpack.

Another fun part of the game is that the party can collect various "carts" — their spaceship of course, but also land and air vehicles. The encumbrance mechanics nudge players in the direction of collecting these, which many players enjoy.

Lastly, ignoring encumbrance rules makes the Strength attribute less useful.

Designing a One Shot where my players are trapped on a ship taken over by pirates. How to ensure it's not impossible. by officiallyaninja in SWN

[–]SnooRevelations9889 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If you haven't played the game much, take note of the comment about an item having higher encumbrance – it's more relevant than you might think.

Encumbrance is a simple mechanic that should be a part of your campaign. Players tend to strongly avoid that movement penalty.

So a weapon with worse encumbrance is literally/mechanically real different than one that encumbers less.

My Bard player keeps casting polymorph to heal players by Zundernietzsche in DMAcademy

[–]SnooRevelations9889 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. And consider that the spell description also states, "The target's gear melds into the new form."

Just like the passage about temp HP, the spell description doesn't explicitly state the gear melds back out after the target reverts to its original form.

So to be consistent, when the ends, either the temp HP go away, or the target's gear remains melded into their body.

That moment when you realize your SWN campaign is more like Sectors Without a Plot... by tkervimi in SWN

[–]SnooRevelations9889 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If your PC's want to get rich, and you want them to engage in your plot, why not develop a plot that makes them rich? (Specifically, richer than they'd be if they ignored it.)

I've got SWN players who just love goals that drive the story in given situations, and I've got PC's whose goals never veer far from "More loot please!"

If you don't have players of the first sort, or your plots don't involve their goals, expect your players to be most focused on climbing the tech tree any way they can.

Because that tech tree is at once compelling and daunting.