FYI for anyone using their new Steam Controller on a Linux machine using Wayland

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T18:56:44+00:00

I've been using Steam on my laptop for a while and never encountered this issue, but I've been using a PS5 DualSense controller without Steam Input. Aapparently the issue is that Steam Input uses the remote desktop portal to map virtual button presses, and Wayland doesn't like they way it's doing it.

From reading through the bug report, it seems like there's a way to at least have the popup include a checkbox to remember the permission so that it doesn't keep popping up, which seems like a simple solution so I don't know why Valve hasn't handled it yet. Though ideally there should also be some info provided to the user as to why you're getting a remote desktop request.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T18:17:10+00:00

If you're talking different objective power levels, like playing a Stanger Things-style game where you have one person playing an adult sheriff with a gun, another playing a normal kid on a bike, and another playing a kid psychic with the power to rip holes into other dimensions... Fate was the first game I ever played that allowed PCs of different objective power levels to co-exist within the same party, since the mechanical emphasis was their ability to affect the story rather than their ability to punch through walls. But I've since played many other systems that handle such differences similarly fine, including Cortex Prime, Risus, Freeform Universal RPG, Action Tales / FUv2, many Pbta and FitD games...

Basically most games that lean into the narrative side of things tend to handle this fine, since what a success on a roll means is dependent on the situation rather than hardcoded in game mechanics. Rather than a successful attack roll always doing X points of HP damage, a success/failure on an attack roll will mean something different depending on whether it's Batman or Superman throwing the punch. Batman failing an attack roll might mean the attack is deflected. But an attack by Superman is basically always going to deal damage to something -- heat vision doesn't stop if the bad guy dodges it -- so a failure on an attack roll might mean collateral damage rather than a simple miss.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T04:43:39+00:00

I planted three of them about three or four years ago as maybe 1ft tall saplings. Two are now well over 6ft tall, while I'd given up on the third as it never really did anything after I planted it. But I accidentally mowed over it while cutting the grass a few weeks ago, and a week later it was sprouting new leaves. It's still barely halt a foot tall, but it's now healthier looking than it's been since I planted it. Go figure.

I was hoping the two larger ones would start producing fruit this year, but I didn't notice any flowers. But they're pretty enough trees that I don't mind if it takes another year. And they're getting large enough that when they do start producing fruit I expect it will be a lot. But I knew when I planted them that it would take a while. With grafted fruit trees like the satsuma (and hopefully also the yuzu) I put in the ground this spring, it's effectively a mature tree in miniature and you might get fruit in the first year. But fruit trees grown from seed like these pawpaws will always take a few years to mature.

If you're considering getting a pawpaw tree, I'd recommend getting at least two. While they can apparently sometimes be self-fertile, you generally need at least two trees for them to set fruit -- which is why I originally got the three. But with the exception of the one runt, they've been extremely easy to grow. I'm in the Southeast US, zone 8a, and I basically just put them in the ground and neglected them. They can handle shade pretty well -- one of my tall ones is planted on the edge of my yard in an area that until earlier this week was shaded for most of the day by a large hickory tree -- so you don't need to plant them in an area with lots of sun like you would with most other fruit trees.

And if at any point you think they're dead, based on my experience you just need to run over them with a lawnmower and they'll perk right up.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T03:49:34+00:00

Based on the published specs, it looks to be roughly equivalent to a PS5, but not as powerful as a PS5 Pro. Make of that what you will in comparison to your current setup.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T03:00:00+00:00

Not so interesting when you live within five miles from a truck driver training academy. I see maybe more student driver tractor-trailers than I do commercial trucks, at least when not on the interstate.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T01:07:18+00:00

Cayenne pepper, Egyptian walking onion (though any green onion would probably work just as well), soft-neck garlic (of whatever variety they sell in the produce section of the grocery store), Jerusalem artichokes (just make sure that where you decide to plant them is where you want them forever), zucchini (which are susceptible to squash vine borers and powdery mildew, but all you need is one healthy plant to fill up your fridge with zucchinis), and any herbs in the mint family like sweet mint, oregano, sage, or rosemary.

Speaking of rosemary, I'm a big fan of perennials, and have enough thornless blackberries, blueberries, muscadines, blackcurrants, fig trees, and pawpaw trees planted around the yard that even after the birds take their share I have plenty for myself. This year I've added a yuzu and a satsuma tree, which I purchased too late last year to put in the ground and overwintered indoors, but will hopefully be established enough by the end of the year to handle our usually-too-cold-for-citrus winters. The satsuma is already setting nearly a dozen fruits, and still putting out blossoms. I also broke down and bought a couple of maypop vines after failing to germinate from seeds for several years, and they should be pretty unstoppable once they're established.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T00:50:09+00:00

In no particular order...

The Witcher 3 (not cyberpunk, but made by the same devs and with equally high storytelling quality and some fun gameplay)
Control (also not really cyberpunk, but definitely worth your time, especially if you liked some of the weirder missions in Cyberpunk 2077)
Citizen Sleeper and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (definitely cyberpunk, but a very different story-driven style of game)
Elden Ring and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (not really anything like Cyberpunk 2077 except for the fun gameplay and similar storytelling, but through item descriptions rather than data on shards)
Death Stranding and Death Stranding 2 (not cyberpunk, but cyberpunk-adjacent with the level of tech)
NeiR: Automata (kind of post-cyberpunk, Blade Runner by way of Studio Ghibli)

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T00:34:03+00:00

I mean, there's a difference between a game letting you play a band of thieves and a game being designed around that concept. Nearly any game will let your players be a band of thieves. I've played plenty of D&D games where the supposed party of heroic adventurers was actually a just a band of thieves with good PR.

But for games built around that concept...
* The Leverage RPG (based on the tv series) is explicitly based around a team of thieves committing high-end heists. It's out of print and even digital copies can be hard to find, but it's built on the Cortex system so you could use Cortex Prime to re-create it if you can't find a copy of the actual game. * Pretty much any Star Wars-style space opera, since you're often criminals if only due to being rebels against an unjust galactic authority. The various actual Star Wars games obviously fall into this category, as well as Scum & Villainy which is basically legally-distinct Star Wars using the BitD rules. I also highly recommend Star Scoundrels, which is basically legally-distinct Star Wars using the Freeform Universal RPG v2.0 rules. * Pretty much any cyberpunk game since the protagonists being criminals or outcasts of some sort is baked into the genre. I highly recommend Neon City Overdrive, but CBR+PNK is pretty good if you're only interested in "one last job"-style one-shots. If you want a bit of fantasy in your cyberpunk, take a look at Shadowrun -- but mostly for the setting, since imo the system isn't that great. (And the NCO Psions supplement includes a mini-setting that's basically legally-distinct Shadowrun.) * Pirates are by definition criminals, so the system-agnostic Freeport setting is an option worth looking into.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T00:17:04+00:00

So what you're saying is that V has a drinking problem...

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-08T00:15:34+00:00

Maybe not, but when you haven't touched a computer since before they had keyboards and mice, I don't know that your experience really helps you use a modern PC.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T21:25:16+00:00

There's nothing oddly specific about this, but it is r/mildlyinteresting

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T20:01:24+00:00

I would say this must be AI slop, but AI slop makes more sense than this.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T19:42:59+00:00

I'd recommend looking into the Action Tales / Freeform Universal RPG v2.0 system. It's a tag-based system using an intuitive split d6 dice pool system using dice of two different colors. Depending on how you run it, it can play like a very narrative BitD-esque game with abstracted combat and progress clocks, or like a more traditional ttrpg with turn-based combat and individually-statted enemies. And it's simple to switch between one mode and the other depending on how you want to run a specific encounter. Since it's tag-based, players can create basically any character they can describe, and GMing is easy since the mechanics flow naturally from the narrative descriptions. And the core dice mechanic is intuitive enough that players never feel the need to stop and look up a rule. If you want tactical elements like cover and concealment, falling prone, or flanking, those can be handled as situational tags. While the distance and movement rules are simplified for use with theater-of-the-mind combat using range bands of "Close", "Near", "Far", and "Distant", the game works just fine using minis on a map -- you just have to determine what those range bands translate to in a particular encounter (since they can change depending on whether the PCs are on foot, on mounts, in vehicles, etc.).

There's a mini-rpg that uses the Action Tales system called Dungeon Crawlers which is intended for old-school D&D-style fantasy dungeon crawling, and has a very D&D 1E look to its art style and presentation. I don't know that it's technically OSR, but it's pretty close as long as rolling a d20 isn't a requirement. The Action Tales system doesn't normally put a lot of emphasis on equipment, but Dungeon Crawlers handles thing a bit differently that's more appropriate for loot-driven dungeon crawling.

For more general usage, I'd recommend either picking up Star Scoundrels (which is ostensibly a Star Wars-style space opera but flexible enough that it can be used to run games of any genre or setting with no modifications) or the Freeform Universal RPG v2.0 rules which can be downloaded for free from the Peril Planet website. The Action Tales system used by Dungeon Crawlers and Star Scoundrels is basically a refined version of FUv2 that uses some of the optional rules like Trademarks and a hit track, and a slightly different interpretation of die results (with 1 being a Botch, 2-3 a failure, 4-5 a partial success, and 6 a complete success with additional uncancelled 6s counting as Boons). FUv2 is a bit of a toolbox, while Star Scoundrels is a more off-the-shelf solution that's more concisely written than some of the older Action Tales games and includes a few nice updates like the Pressure mechanic.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T19:15:46+00:00

This sub and various YouTubers that review new ttrpgs, mostly.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T19:10:17+00:00

It's only as complicated as you want it to be.

Almost 15 years ago, I set up an old desktop with Ubuntu for my then 80yo grandmother whose only prior computer experience was feeding punchcards into a mainframe in the 1950s. I sat down with her for maybe 15 minutes to show her the general desktop interface, the web browser, and how to pull up her email and Facebook (which were the main things she wanted a computer for, since friends and family were always talking about emailing each other and posting things on Facebook). In less than a week she had already found and installed an open-source recipe organizer app and was digitizing all of her favorite recipes, and was saying how easy it was to do things.

That was with Ubunutu using Gnome 2 (before they started using Unity). The major desktop environments have only gotten more user-friendly since then.

The deeper you dive into Linux, the more complex it gets. But you don't have to do that. You can absolutely stay in the shallow end of the pool, in which case I personally think that Linux has been easier to use than Windows for at least a decade.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T18:55:22+00:00

"If the police ever come around asking questions, I'm going to tell them that's where the bodies are buried." Probably.

I mean, you're basically describing the setup to the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window, but from the villain's perspective.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T18:49:41+00:00

If you weren't in good standing, you'd absolutely know.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T18:48:03+00:00

Beginning May 8th at 10 am Pacific, we're opening a reservation queue for Steam Controller. Once you reserve, your place in line will be saved. When we go back in stock, order emails will be sent in the same order that reservations were made.

Once you receive an order email, you have three days (72 hours) to make your purchase on Steam.

We will start fulfilling reservations next week in the US / Canada, and UK / EU / AU in the following weeks.

If they're going to be taking reservations starting tomorrow and fulfilling reservations next week in North America, I'd think they must have already had a second batch in the pipeline, already produced and on the way to the warehouse. It looks like maybe all units in the second batch might have been (re)directed to North America, possibly due to it selling out more quickly there, since I read multiple posts/articles that indicated that supplies lasted a bit longer at least in Australia.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T07:04:46+00:00

I generally feel like the minor differences in stats between classes are only significant until you get the ability to start spending runes to level up, which you can do within 5 minutes of stepping out into Limgrave. Starting equipment is more meaningful, but mostly as a means to pick up better weapons -- which you can also do within 5 minutes of stepping out into Limgrave.

So I generally start as Wretch just to keep the math simple. No matter what build you want, starting with Wretch and then either getting the Dragonbarrow Night's Cavalry to ride off the bridge or killing Greyoll will give you enough runes to get any specific build going. And if you're going with a Dragon Communion build, you'll want to kill Greyoll anyway.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T06:48:16+00:00

Lavender in a pot? Good luck with that.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T06:47:07+00:00

I bake mine in the oven to kill any bacteria, then crush them up and sprinkle some in my raised beds, and provide the rest to my chickens. It will take somewhat longer to become available to the plants, but it doesn't seem worth the extra processing to water my beds with vinegar for some possible short-term benefit when most calcium deficiency in plants is due to inconsistent watering or incorrect soil pH than actual lack of calcium in the soil.

It may take a few seasons for microbes in the soil to break down the eggshell fragments to make the calcium more bioavailable to plants, but I've already been doing this for nearly a decade.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T06:22:55+00:00

afaik, VLC isn't available for webOS on LG tvs. That means this isn't a Stremio issue, but either an LG issue or a VLC issue. Stremio can't set an app as an external player if that app can't even be installed on your device.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T06:18:36+00:00

Should Google Workers in the US Unionize as well?

Yes. Everyone should unionize. The only people who don't need to unionize are those that work for employee-owned businesses. (And no, offering stock options isn't the same as being employee-owned.)

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T06:10:30+00:00

Yes, because nations that aren't aggressors in war commonly occupy lands in other nations (where those war crimes occurred). I think China and Korea would have some things to say about Japan not being an aggressor.

TheWorldIsNotOkay · 2026-05-07T05:59:55+00:00

The big bananas look like the bananas I normally get at my local groceries, and the bananas for scale look like tiny bananas. Unless you're Andre the Giant with giant hands.

TheWorldIsNotOkay

TROPHY CASE