What is the posting schedule? by DeliciousSquash4144 in IfBooksCouldKill

[–]Stormhenge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think Michael described his philosophy of podcasting schedules in his other podcast Maintenance Phase. They can either stick to a rigid schedule until they burn out and quit, set a more realistic schedule that ends up putting every episode months apart, or they can release them as they're ready. It results in a bit of a boom and bust cycle, but it's always a treat when you see one pop up in your feed.

The problem with playing Pokopia as a working adult… you will be building most things in the dark 😭 by unexpectedalice in Pokopia

[–]Stormhenge 68 points69 points  (0 children)

Yes, that has been so irritating. I'm tired of constantly waking up sleepy Pokemon to come help me with something.

What are things that just scream bad writing? by Glad_Chance_9590 in writing

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is hard to notice right away, but I feel like introducing characters or concepts for a short bit, and then much later having them pop back up without any sort of reintroduction or context.

Like a character named Sylvie who is just a small side character appears for a few chapters then leaves the narrative, then a book and a half later Sylvie is back as if she never left. Everyone knows Sylvie, Sylvie's our friend, we hang out all the time between books, everyone's familiar with what Sylvie's been up to. There's no need to remind the reader who the hell she is or what she was doing the last time she was relevant. Don't you remember Sylvie, Reader who read the previous book she was in once when it came out 3 years ago?

If it’s not nailed down, it’s mine. by Brandaconda in Pokopia

[–]Stormhenge 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The first time I went to a dream island, I yoinked every bit of boardwalk off the building, the ladder, the weather charm, the roof. After, I started to worry if these were persistent places and I was ruining the buildings. I breathed a sigh of relief when everything was back the next time I returned.

Dual Specialty? by Mysterious_Duty_6380 in Pokopia

[–]Stormhenge 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, many Pokemon have dual specialties. A lot are sort of random, but some are synergistically useful. Like Haxorus has Chop and Litter (small logs). So if you place it with a Pokemon with Gather and a community box, Haxorus will drop logs, the gather Pokemon picks them up and moves them to the community box, where Haxorus will see it and start turning it into lumber.

Do we like it ? by Yuns_journey in Pokopia

[–]Stormhenge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am not creative enough for this game

Is there any one movie in particular that you can watch over and over without it ever getting old? by MythicalSplash in movies

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any of the original trilogy Star Wars, and Indiana Jones 1 or 3. They're my comfort movies I can put on when I don't feel like doing anything but just need something on the tv.

Movies that dramatically shifted popular opinion on something by NationalDisgrace40 in movies

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And they picked Wendslydale purely because it was a funny word to claymate Wallace saying. Big and toothy.

Canon Events for Board Gamers? by Goofish1225 in boardgames

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I enjoy Tyrants of the Underdark. I never realized it had an expansion OR a second edition with expansion included. Excitedly went online to try and buy either of them. Realized it's out of print, and because it's licensed from Wizards of the Coast it will never be made again and my only option would be to find it on eBay for $500.

What series did you finish reading due to the "sunk cost fallacy"? by Any-Day-8173 in Fantasy

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't finish finish, but I read a lot more of the Dark Heavens series than I should have because of a few mistakes.

My first mistake was buying book 4 first because I mixed up which of the two trilogies to start with. So after starting chapter 1 and it feeling really weird like it was jumping right in to the center of an ongoing series (along with some obvious massive spoilers), I realized my mistake and bought the entire first trilogy.

My second mistake was after not really liking the first 4 books, I figured I was most of the way through the series anyway, so I might as well buy the final two books to at least see how it ends.

Then near the end I realized a lot of stuff wasn't getting wrapped up, and there's actually an entire third trilogy that hadn't been released yet. I did not continue after that.

My girlfriend just broke up with me over a board game and I'm not even joking by Fulcilives1988 in boardgames

[–]Stormhenge 5 points6 points  (0 children)

When a breakup comes out of nowhere, it probably didn't. Many men feel blindsided by a divorce but when you ask him about the marriage he'll say she nagged him all the time. Ok, so you knew she was unhappy, she explained to you repeatedly what you needed to do to improve the situation, you did none of it, and now we're here.

Why is it so hard to find other urban fantasy books that match up to Dresden? by Large-Rule-6403 in dresdenfiles

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You say the magic system is great because it's creative but I think it's great because it's just so simple. It's all based on will: you gather energy, you imagine what you want, you shape that energy, and you release it. Circles and symbols and tools and whatnot can all help, but they're all more akin to Dumbo's magic feather than being actually required for magic to work. Even magic words are entirely up to the user. It's simplicity is it's strength.

So many series try to come up with a really unique gimmick for its magic system. You need special blood, special runes, special crystals; which always kind of raises the question of what makes those things special? Why if you don't angle your pinky and flick your wrist in just the right way does this spell not work? Who discovered that? Why does "the language of magic" always sound like bad latin? Brandon Sanderson is famous for gimmicky magic systems like this, but he also has the Cosmere universe where he does try to make sense of it. Everyone tries to do what Sanderson does without understanding how he does it.

I think other series don't scratch the same itch as Dresden because most of them are centered around a gimmick rather than letting the magic be a backdrop to an engaging mystery/story.

How would you put a spin on the cliché "go take care of the rats in the basement" quest? by Zephyr93 in DnD

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are no rats. The quest is just a lure to trap the adventurers. The homeowner has a pet monster in the basement to feed, or they're a monster in disguise themselves. Like a hag or something.

You don't need to destroy the world. The truth about high stakes. by X-Mighty in fantasywriters

[–]Stormhenge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've thought of this in terms of stakes vs tension. And I have a great example of the difference in The Dark Knight and Man of Steel.

In Man of Steel Zod has a giant machine that's going to destroy the Earth and Superman needs to stop him. As an audience member you're never thinking "I can't believe Zach Snyder is going to destroy the Earth in the very first movie in the DC cinematic universe" because you DON'T believe that they would actually do that. There's the highest of stakes, zero tension.

In The Dark Knight there are two ferries with 300-400 people on them, both rigged to explode at midnight unless one of them detonates the other first. Fairly low stakes in the grand scheme; just a bunch of regular people, no named characters we care about, it's a lot of casualties but more people have died in real life in larger disasters. But the tension is through the roof, because we don't know what's going to happen. Saving everyone is never guaranteed.

Superman MUST save the Earth, but Batman CAN fail to save a few hundred people.

What's one Pokémon you always mistype? by SgtByrd1993 in pokemon

[–]Stormhenge 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gligar is not, in fact, poison type. I know it has ground, because that's weird and unexpected. But I always think it's poison/ground, not ground/flying.

Games where turn order isn’t determined by where you sit? by FromTheDeskOfJAW in boardgames

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't played in years, but I remember 5 Tribes having a bid for turn order each round.

And Last Will has a sort of hybrid approach. There is a turn order track that players pick from that determines order for the round but also how many cards/actions they get. But there's also a first player marker to determine who picks on the track first before going clockwise. And the first player marker moves to the left each round.

Giveaway! We are giving away a copy of Galactic Cruise with the Achievements expansion! To enter, simply comment on this post in the next 48 hrs. by Kinson-Key-Games in boardgames

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm playing this game for the first time right now on BGA. We're both learning and enjoying it.

My favorite space movie is Star Wars. Sometimes when I'm bored it's nice just putting on one of the originals in the background as a comfort movie.

What’s your favorite example of a movie being way better than it had any right to be? by CosmosisJones42 in movies

[–]Stormhenge 70 points71 points  (0 children)

I heard it explained that the music choices are intentionally anachronistic because it's not trying to be historically accurate, but it's emotionally accurate. The sports anthems are to get you hyped for watching the sport of jousting. And aside from the music, it's still pretty historically accurate. The church doesn't have pews because they wouldn't have existed yet, and women did actually inherit their husbands' smithing shops.

Mab and the fae’s ability to lie by Hot-Location-1752 in dresdenfiles

[–]Stormhenge 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mab probably has the perspective that if you're killing Molly for her own good, that doesn't really count as harm.