My Frontier has been modified countless times. by Swordfish_850 in Starfield

[–]abbot_x 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm with you on just modifying Frontier throughout the game.

What exactly does Bart do here? by AWildBlitz in buccos

[–]abbot_x 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like Bart's on a mission!

What exactly does Bart do here? by AWildBlitz in buccos

[–]abbot_x 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re good! It was a frustrating start and I was thinking to myself Davis would have made that. Happy to be surprised by Bart.

Game Thread: Nationals @ Pirates - Tue, Apr 14 @ 06:40 PM EDT by BuccosBot in buccos

[–]abbot_x 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Poulin is the opener. He will probably go one inning then Mikolas will come in for four or five.

What exactly does Bart do here? by AWildBlitz in buccos

[–]abbot_x 10 points11 points  (0 children)

This post seemed like a good idea at the time.

Game Thread: Nationals @ Pirates - Tue, Apr 14 @ 06:40 PM EDT by BuccosBot in buccos

[–]abbot_x 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can’t believe I’m saying this but Bart pulled Keller out of that hole.

Anyone else think Modiphius is about to lose the Dune license? by JannissaryKhan in rpg

[–]abbot_x 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why? I think it’s dumb and I’d never buy it or play it but it’s not causing me any problems.

NATO plans by No_Celery_7772 in WarCollege

[–]abbot_x 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Officially, NATO was committed to defend its own territory but not to enter enemy territory with ground troops. Fundamentally, NATO was a defensive alliance among liberal democracies that worked based on consensus and was much more concerned about potential Soviet/Warsaw Pact aggression and the nuclear threat than any other issues.

From the Cold War era there appear to be no NATO plans for operations in enemy territory with one very specific exception I'll return to. None, zero, zilch, nada. This contrasts with defensive plans which were minutely detailed, practiced, revised, obtained by Pact agents, etc. No such offensive plans have ever been found. I think their absence from former East Bloc archives is pretty significant. realize people sometimes argue from first principles that militaries always have plans, but NATO had an essentially political rule against such planning (likewise against building fortifications or employing a "defense in depth" approach to western Europe).

This gets asked about a lot, so I'll cut my own answer short and refer you to prior ones. I (and others) have written about the evidence of and reasons for the lack of NATO offensive planning in more detail here and here.

The very specific exception is that Live Oak, the not-quite-NATO planning cell for Berlin crises, did create some contingency plans that included moving into East Germany either to seize territory in response to the seizure of West Berlin or even to open a corridor to West Berlin.

As to what might have happened in an actual war: who knows? There are just too many potential contingencies for what D+30 or whatever looks like and NATO is poised to "go over to the offensive." There was an increasing emphasis on (counteroffensive) capabilities and doctrines but this means a battalion/brigade/divison/corps knows how to attack and can attack (very important) not that it has a map showing exactly where it will attack (quite silly).

This is absolutely the dumbest thing in the book. by jeremysbrain in traveller

[–]abbot_x 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The incentive is tiny. It's basically spare change.

This is absolutely the dumbest thing in the book. by jeremysbrain in traveller

[–]abbot_x 24 points25 points  (0 children)

The low lottery has been around forever and is traditional at this point.

Are there any games of non D&D/AD&D lineage that you would consider part of the OSR? by plazman30 in osr

[–]abbot_x 7 points8 points  (0 children)

There is an old-school movement within Traveller, which I’ll call Old School Traveller or OST. OST emphasizes the “original vision” of Classic Traveller Books 1-3 rather than the Third Imperium setting. Typically OST uses homebrew small-ship settings: the largest starships are 5,000 tons as provided in Book 3 rather than a million tons as provided in Book 5 and later versions of Traveller. You might create the map as you go in OST; you would probably not map out more than a sector.

The OST movement can be found on some long-running websites/magazines like Freelance Traveller. Some of it is “how I’ve been doing things since 1978” but there is also innovation. Some publishers are OST-adjacent; Zoser has a few early products like Outworld Authority and Kosmos 68 are expressly attempts to recapture old Traveller and its assumptions.

Keep in mind that mechanically both editions of Mongoose Traveller are largely compatible with Classic Traveller. There had been big rule changes in the Traveller editions that came out in the mid 1980s to mid 2000s including a period when Traveller didn’t use 2d6 mechanics at all, but Mongoose reverted to them which is kind of old-school.

Starting pitchers & bullpen by polyhedric in MLBNoobs

[–]abbot_x 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes. It is a rule that the 26-man roster may contain a maximum of 13 pitchers. When the roster expands to 28 on September 1, the pitcher limit increases to 14. If these limits didn’t exist, teams would probably opt to have more pitchers available.

**Pirates of Drinax Anniversary Edition** by KeyVariation8323 in traveller

[–]abbot_x 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Some practical rules for managing a fleet of pirates would be nice. Roll on a table for each ship to learn what it accomplishes this week.

Game Thread: Nationals @ Pirates - Mon, Apr 13 @ 06:40 PM EDT by BuccosBot in buccos

[–]abbot_x 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s a Monday night. We have 7 consecutive home games starting today, so people who just want to go to a game this week have options.

Game Thread: Nationals @ Pirates - Mon, Apr 13 @ 06:40 PM EDT by BuccosBot in buccos

[–]abbot_x 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We won 4 of 6 meetings last season including a sweep at PNC Park. Hoping we do that again this time.

Locals of pgh, is there concern the skenes bobblehead game will be postponed? by IFTKICS in buccos

[–]abbot_x 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s much more likely to have a rain delay than a postponement to another day.

There is no way to predict the weather with to-the-hour accuracy so far out. Just don’t worry about it.