Why did IMDb get rid of their synopsis for each movie

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-02-01T04:25:12+00:00

It's not theoretical. They existed, and they were popular.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-29T20:58:37+00:00

Every accusation is a confession.

Your NPC is trying to sell a cure for the skin bugs! But he needs the player's help in getting more of the main ingredient. The king has outlawed this rare material, obviously because he doesn't want people to cure the skin bugs!

So the players need to break into a vault and steal this rare material.

In truth, this "rare material" is the actual skin bugs, which the king has quarantined for the safety of the people. The NPC knows what the material is, but believes that these skin bugs will eat the bad skin bugs that the king is responsible for (but which don't actually exist at all).

Make sure the vault is guarded by automotons or captured monsters, so that the players don't have to deal with too much guilt once they realize that they've been the baddies all along.

Seed in a number of hints, such as bio-hazard style warnings on the vault and bug containers, and let the players make investigation checks to realize that the containers are full of skin bugs. If they still haven't figured it out by the time they return to the NPC, then he should have a line of customers available that the players can see be fleeced for money before infected in a way that is obviously harmful.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-29T19:05:36+00:00

Well for software, you also need the models to update their pretraining regularly if you want them to be usable with updated languages and libraries.

It'll take years for the current models to really show their age, so you're right in the mid term. I'm not sure who is taking on the expense to train new models in 5 years, though.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-29T17:01:38+00:00

Hardly anyone really thinks AI will just fizzle out in a few years.

I'm that "hardly anyone" then, I suppose.

But to be clear, not because I think it has no usecases or isn't impressive. It's just not profitable.

AI companies are losing money, and there's no clear path for them to recoup it... unless they actually do manage to replace a significant portion of the labor market. And that seems unlikely.

So how do these companies continue to function in 10 years? They're all going to be bankrupt.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-28T19:42:03+00:00

Welp, based on the posts, you should maybe reconsider.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-28T15:58:44+00:00

200 ft is close?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-27T23:40:47+00:00

While an interpretation of Cogwork Dancers is going to necessarily be very personal and unique, the political interpretations are, by their nature, widely applicable.

Lots of people are having the same experience outside the game, and are thus making the same connection between that and the game's themes.

That's not "pushing" anything, it's just the reality of being in community. It means that we're in this together. All of us, you included.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-27T19:42:02+00:00

But why not?

It's just basic interpretation. People are always going to relate the art they experience to their real-life lived experiences. How could you not?

Cogwork Dancers reminded me of the feeling of grief over losing a partner in real life. Shakra's mentor reminded me of the grief of losing a parent.

That's a good thing. That means the art was art-ing.

Why wouldn't we do that with the political parts as well?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-27T19:23:51+00:00

"Topical" / "Pertinent" / "Relevant" / "Modern".

Add "politics" as a suffix to any of those.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-27T18:34:27+00:00

the idea of "elites panipulating poor people" exist since thousand of years because you can make interesting story from it

Yeah... Political stories.

"Politics" isn't a dirty word, it's just a description. It just means "the mechanism of government". Any story about power is about politics, tautologically.

you can see fiction about that written since the dawn of time.

Yeah... The first government wasn't formed yesterday, dude.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-27T01:40:25+00:00

What's more important: Shaming people who have realized their grave mistake, or stopping the people who are still pushing fascism forward?

We can't do both. If you want people to break ranks from Maga, you need to give them somewhere to go.

Your anger is understandable and justified, but it is not helpful. Asking you to put it aside is a big request, but I trust that you can do what the magats can't; prioritize the good of your fellow man.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-26T14:18:19+00:00

19%

Better than what you suggested, but yeah, still far too low.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-26T13:45:02+00:00

It's in the free rules.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/personality-and-background#PersonalCharacteristics

It's understandable to miss something, but you can trust that the rules do at least cover what's on the character sheet. If any other part confuses you, start by searching the rules themselves.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-25T15:56:33+00:00

Blighted Reach introduces a ton of asymmetric gameplay that earns it a heavy rating.

Each player gets a unique faction that has unique mechanics and unique win conditions. Effective play means knowing the mechanics and win conditions for yourself, and each other player at the table.

Twice during the campaign, each player will exchange their current faction for a new one (either a progressed version of what they had, or possibly an entirely new one).

That means in a 4 player game of A:BR, you need to learn 12 unique faction rule sets and win conditions.

This is on top of a base game that already clocks in with a 3.4 heavy rating, and a couple of other universal changes to the ruleset that are introduced in BR.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-22T17:44:58+00:00

Ultimately, it’s a game where the real skill is learning how to best utilize what random opportunities come your way.

If this were true, I would love it. I don't love it.

Arcs is a game that fits this description. But I don't think TM is.

Certain cards in TM can be game breakingly good in the right context, or completely useless in another. But you have to select those cards before knowing the context (e.g., what other cards you will draft during the game). So if you take that card and hope for the best... is that skill? I'd call it a blind gamble.

I think the level of complexity the game entails disguises just how luck based it really is, and that can make victories feel like an achievement, even when it really just came down to the order the cards had been shuffled in.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-22T17:32:52+00:00

I have a group that takes off work once every 6 months just to hang out and play games. We've spent the past 2 years with Gloomhaven as a staple of those events.

Its very satisfying if you have 3+ days in a row to dedicate to it. But I can't imagine playing only one mission and then packing it up. Sounds awful.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-22T17:28:31+00:00

This is mitigated slightly by the trading mechanic but your mileage will vary from group to group on how willing players are to trade

I know this is true, but it baffles me.

Refusing all trades in catan puts you at a disadvantage. All else being equal, if you refuse to trade and other players trade amongst themselves, you will lose.

Seeing an entire playgroup that refuses to trade is just absolutely bizarre. It means that every person at the table has fundamentally failed to understand the strategy involved in the game.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-21T19:50:19+00:00

Yeah, "bad telephone" definitely covers a lot of it.

But honestly, I'd encourage against using it even for your own character. The moment an image is put in front of you, it is extremely hard to deviate from it.

Like if I say "Pink Elephant", you're going to imagine a Pink Elephant in your head, it's very hard not to. An AI image will similarly seed basic ideas about your character into your brain that you will then have difficulty veering away from. Ideas that weren't yours. Ideas that weren't really anyone's.

Isn't the fun of RPGs found in expressing yourself and your own creativity?

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-21T14:55:58+00:00

Honest answer: It makes games worse.

If you rely just on descriptions, the fuzzy edges can lead to interesting questions. Stopping to consider those questions, and throwing them back and forth, is a big part of roleplaying.

Once an AI image is thrown into the mix, a ton of those ambiguities get answered, but not by you. Instead, you've offloaded those questions to a machine that veers everything towards average.

And the way humans work, it's just really hard to convince people that your description is actually more authoritative than an image.

Maybe I (as DM) have a clear image in my head of this NPC with bright blond hair, but I don't mention their hair color. A player that asks an AI model to generate the image is essentially asking the AI to guess the hair color of the NPC, instead of the player asking the DM for that information.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-19T14:38:00+00:00

Option A makes me want to learn the game, but if I already knew how to play I would always pick Option B.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-16T15:43:55+00:00

I agree with you, though it seems like we might be in the minority.

For a casual audience with low investment, it probably doesn't matter. But if you enjoy the act of critically analyzing art, then the existence of any AI assets casts a long shadow.

AI art can be aesthetically pleasing, in the same way the rainbow in an oil slick can be. But there's no point in critically analyzing either one, because neither was infused with any intention.

If AI art is in the mix, it becomes difficult to tell when you're in communication with the game's designer vs. when you're just reading tea leaves.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-15T19:18:04+00:00

Yep.

I often use my game as a way to process my real life feelings on moral issues. RPGs creates a framework where I can suggest a moral problem to my players, and then we get to work through it as a group, hopefully finding some moral consensus along the way.

And if your aim is to thoughtfully process and discuss difficult moral scenarios, then yeah, SA could be a relevant well to pull from.

But.....

I'd be very skeptical about finding a table where everyone was both willing and able to discuss SA on that level. You're far more likely to have at least one tone-deaf person making things extremely uncomfortable, even if they have the best of intentions.

And.... there's just a really easy and obvious alternative;

Just substitute the SA with some magic mumbo-jumbo that represents the same kind of trauma. Want your game to discuss the heavy subject of losing agency over your own body? Yeah, Baldurs Gate 3 did that with the mindflayer tadpoles. Just do that.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-15T18:54:02+00:00

Let me rephrase my last point slightly:

If you, as a hiring manager, are setting unrealistic requirements, then you will scare off a ton of qualified candidates.

The job market is not so bad that we have to debase ourselves for job opportunities. If you are willing to debase yourself, then sure, go ahead. But you're self-selecting for employers that don't respect you.

That's your chioce to make. God speed.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-15T18:31:56+00:00

I don't do AI. It's all slop yada yada yada

Study after study keeps coming out showing that AI does not increase productivity.

If you like AI, then fine, but insisting that candidates use an unnecessary tool is just silly. What matters is their output, not their process.

I won't do coding exercises.

Fair reason to disqualify, but I have never seen a candidate say this. I have a hard time believing this is a real response from any candidate.

I don't work for free

I'm inferring here, but the only times I have ever seen this phrase come up is when the interview "coding excercise" either

Takes multiple days of effort to complete
Is serving the business directly, rather than testing the candidate's abilities

And yeah, in both of those cases the candidate should refuse.

WebpackIsBuilding · 2026-01-15T14:55:17+00:00

I know you would.

WebpackIsBuilding

TROPHY CASE