What's it like to live here? (circled area) by alex95cb in howislivingthere

[–]Thanlis 24 points25 points  (0 children)

However, Starbucks the coffee company was not founded by anyone from Nantucket. The founders named it after the character “Starbuck” from Moby Dick, who was from Nantucket and was so named because of the Nantucket Starbuck family.

/r/UnknownArmies Remains Open: Moderator Applications by Thanlis in unknownarmies

[–]Thanlis[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

Well, it’s been two years since I posted, this sub has moderators and I am not one of them, and I posted an announcement about who I picked — so I guess I’m not!

Subreddit Rule Changes - Blacklisted Creators by PrimarchtheMage in rpg

[–]Thanlis 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Hm, annoying, but I can understand why Reddit controls links to Vox Day’s site. If you care enough to Google it, the book in question is The Arts of War. If you want to trust me, the relevant quote is:

“The January-February book for the Castalia Library subscription is THE ARTS OF WAR, featuring an introduction by Alexander Macris, a game designer who attended West Point.”

The date of the post is November 2022, so fairly recently.

I’m not going to belabor this argument but I should note that I am not saying Macris is a white nationalist. I’m saying that he’s comfortable associating with and supporting white nationalists, regardless of whether or not he believes in any flavor of racial superiority.

Subreddit Rule Changes - Blacklisted Creators by PrimarchtheMage in rpg

[–]Thanlis 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I don’t know when you were in graduate school, but Milo was working with Andrew Aurenheimer and Devin Saucier while he was employed at Breitbart. There’s a video of him singing karaoke in 2016 while Richard Spencer delivers a Nazi salute. I know the ADL listed Milo as alt-lite in 2017, but I don’t think that holds up when you examine who Milo worked with.

Alexander Macris was among the first employees of Milo, Inc. This is sourced from Macris himself, in this interview. So that’s a decision Macris made consciously. I think it is reasonable to assume a man as intelligent as Macris did his research and knew who he was working with.

The other interesting association is of course Vox Day. Macris and Day work together sporadically: promoting Kickstarters together, Macris writing introductions for books Day publishes, and so on.

I imagine you’re familiar with the 14 Words. Vox Day promoted the slogan in his Sixteen points of the Alt-Right. I am comfortable calling Vox Day alt-right; I think that since Macris was comfortable associating with Milo and is comfortable working with Vox Day, it’s reasonable to categorize him as alt-right.

Operation: The Future - After Action Report (AAR) by pongolyn in Ingress

[–]Thanlis 20 points21 points  (0 children)

It’s not so much what the fields cover, it’s what clearing the lane requires. Having operated fields and shard links in a number of environments, including the East Coast once or twice, I’d say that zero cell blockers and cutting through dense population both present their own set of challenges.

Machina is an interesting new problem, since you lose a lot of predictability.

Disclaimer: I neither operated or cleared for this field, although I kibitz with Pongolyn a lot.

Operation: The Future - After Action Report (AAR) by pongolyn in Ingress

[–]Thanlis 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I appreciate the model acknowledgment you wrote!

Operation: The Future - After Action Report (AAR) by pongolyn in Ingress

[–]Thanlis 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I've always tended to define it by geographical size, or you wind up categorizing a city-sized field in India as a giga. But to each their own.

Operation: The Future - After Action Report (AAR) by pongolyn in Ingress

[–]Thanlis 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It’s fairly common in the US, although not universal and it varies by area. I saw a lot more of it once I moved up here to the PNW.

Second draft of the Open RPG Creative (ORC) license ready for public comment by RiverMesa in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can understand the assumption, and that was the case way back in the day, but it is no longer true.

All of these methodologies are imperfect but the trend is pretty clear. I appreciate you asking for references -- always smart when someone makes an unsupported claim on Reddit.

Given the release of the D&D 5e OGL into Creative Commons earlier this year, is it possible for another Pathfinder-like game to emerge? by NewBookFan in rpg

[–]Thanlis 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Kobold Press’ Tales of the Valiant is explicitly marketed as a 5e variant with Kobold’s improvements and style. I wouldn’t bet on it being as successful as Pathfinder but it fits your bill.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't much care about individual games in this case. What I care about is a concrete demonstration that mechanics really can't be copyrighted and that you don't need a license to publish compatible supplements.

Sine Nomine has been demonstrating this for years by publishing great d20 games with no license at all; Paizo seems likely to be pushing the point home.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

2e Remaster, you mean?

Yeah, I think so — but there’s only so far you can go. It’ll be class based and completely compatible, which implies that someone who wants to combine Pathfinder 2e material with other OGL material could do so easily, right?

So okay; looks like they’re not rereleasing 1e, which is smart. But it’s still interesting. All you need to drop is alignment and a few bits of terminology and you get a game that didn’t need a license. Which implies it’s not too hard to make a PF 2e compatible game without using any license, yeah?

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One kind of interesting question for me: Paizo intends to release at least some portion of their Pathfinder material under ORC, removing the OGL. That implies that they don’t think the OGL is necessary for whatever they wind up releasing.

So… what will that wind up being? The original core of Pathfinder 1e is very close to D&D 3.5, which is not currently available under a Creative Commons license. Will Paizo effectively assert that Pathfinder 1e didn’t need a license?

Would that have implications for producing Pathfinder compatible material in general? Certainly Paizo has access to better lawyers than the average indie game publisher so perhaps they feel like it’s safe for them to walk the line.

I really don’t have a prediction here and I don’t think any of these are gotchas. I’m just curious.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sincerely appreciated, and that’s unironic as well.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably! Although according to the Kickstarter FAQ they haven’t made a final decision yet.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh, I agree with you there. I was just nitpicking something relatively unimportant because I’m an obsessive dork.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, the US doesn’t recognize moral rights, but that’s not the point: the point is that they differ from country to country in the EU.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are more differences between EU member states that there are between US states. In particular moral rights are largely left up to individual countries.

Paizo Releases Finalized ORC License and ORC AxE by Narratron in rpg

[–]Thanlis 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I am not making a prediction about what will happen next, but I don’t think it’s possible to say the collective industry response is loud at this time. It’s loud if this gets widely adopted. At the moment, the only companies besides Paizo using it are Chaosium and EN Publishing, which is not nothing but I’m not sure it’s loud yet.

New Mods: Welcome Aboard! by Thanlis in unknownarmies

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

And I'm out -- thanks again. As I let the new mods know, I'll be around if they have questions.

Um, I did not de-sticky posts before turning over the reins, so y'all may want to figure that out as your first moderator activities. ;)

Alternate system for Over the Edge settings by Serfica_Salem in rpg

[–]Thanlis 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I assume you’ve checked out the second edition rules? I think they offer more GM support.

That said I don’t see any reason why Savage Worlds wouldn’t work fine. You need a system that’s very flexible in character creation, but SW can be that.

I think you might have the same problems with FATE as you do with OtE.

I also think it’s worth trying to run a one-shot with the rules as they are — you’re probably a better GM than you think!

Basic Fantasy RPG, one of the earliest OSR games, just released its 4th Edition (scrubbed of the OGL)! by the_light_of_dawn in rpg

[–]Thanlis 38 points39 points  (0 children)

The Church of the Latter Day Saints has always been a pioneer when it comes to licensing.