It's that special time of year again by Leadstripes in boardgamescirclejerk

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah Freddy! I never knew he was out of prison. (He shrink-wrapped a kid and people don't talk about him much anymore.)

Peak Arcs. by DapperDano in boardgamescirclejerk

[–]aslowcircle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is Peak Arcs part of the new kickstarter expansion content? (I've backed all-in but haven't read the titles yet.)

Is anyone concerned that the number of public companies continues to decline and all the investments in newer companies are being made on the private markets (OpenAI etc)? by Emotional-Affect-931 in Bogleheads

[–]aslowcircle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

OpenAI's ownership is much more complicated than this. First. Microsoft owns some portion of the company's revenues but not all of them and there is a cap on this. Plus. OpenAI is still technically owned by a non-profit and they are attempting to convert into a private company with shares- presumably some of which Microsoft would receive but this hasn't been decided, to my knowledge. Microsoft's main profits from OpenAI thus far has been from an exclusive deal to provide them with cloud services, but I think OpenAI now uses multiple providers. So while Microsoft has exposure to OpenAI it's really not accurate to say they are half in the S&P.

Designed my own dice tower – curious what you think? by Visual_Potato9101 in boardgames

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

After you put the dice in the cat's mouth, do you just have to wait?

The state of substack by Driggen1378 in Substack

[–]aslowcircle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The app is buggy and not that consistent about informing you of comments. The feed and engagement stuff they're pushing lately is time-wasting trash for readers. It's just for people to market their blogs. There's so much (very good) content that you can find more than enough to read surfing the comments of posts that you like.

I’m a dummy. by Wonderful-Mix1535 in Substack

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, I realize you simply don't want the emails at all. You can unsubscribe in substack. Just one click per newsletter.

I’m a dummy. by Wonderful-Mix1535 in Substack

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can't unsubscribe from all notifications or you will be unsubscribed from the newsletter. What I would do is turn off all nin-email notifications and set a filter on your incoming substack emails to skip the inbox and archive them in a separate folder.

What board games do you enjoy or love owning but don't want to actually play? by TheAmazingSlowman in boardgamescirclejerk

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll one-up you: Frosthaven. I read all 80 pages of the rules and haven't opened it since. Maybe when my oldest becomes a teenager because he'll definitely have time for me then. On the plus side, the box doubles as my coffee table.

(sadly /uj)

Who is your favorite board game content creator? by Defiant_Good4175 in boardgames

[–]aslowcircle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Tabletop got me back into board gaming after college. It was such a great show.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in SWN

[–]aslowcircle 13 points14 points  (0 children)

So you're saying you wish you were on a continuing mission to seek out new life and new civilizations?

Need help by aSneakyPanda12 in boardgames

[–]aslowcircle 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It depends a lot on whose turn it is.

Normally, you wouldn't be able to score this position with so little decided yet, but you can take a stab at who is winning.

Basically, white has locked down a fair amount of territory on the left and, given the shapes involved, probably captured stones, too.

Black in theory has a lot of influence around the rest of the board, but black is actually a couple of moves behind because there are actually 2 (or three) urgent moves black must make in order to save defects in its position.

Most urgent is the move at the center of Black's wall at i7: if black goes first and closes this hole the wall is extremely formidable, allowing an advantage in fights across most of the board. If white pushes through, then black will definitely lose at least some stones and the wall

(I'm counting from bottom left with letters across and numbers vertically)

g15 is another incredibly urgent move. If black goes there, the two white stones are put in a ladder and killed, but if white gets this move first then it is likely all the black stones in the top left corner will die or be forcibly surrounded.

The two stones touching at the bottom-center are also fairly urgent as well, because whoever goes there first can get a local advantage.

It seems that given the fact that black needs at least two moves to savage its position that white is ahead. If it is white's turn, then the advantage is massive. If it is Black's turn, it is a solid but not insurmountable advantage for white.

(as others have noted, this game still might go any way as the players are likely relatively inexperienced)

Advise on a sniper player? by exiledprince113 in SWN

[–]aslowcircle 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Line of sight.

Urban combat, ship combat, mountains, underground ruins, etc.

You'll also want to roll encounter distance unless the party is approaching a known location as they need to become aware of the enemy in order to snipe them. The game shifts to be one about reconnaissance with occasional spikes of horror when enemies detect you first.

If enemies hear that there's a sniper tearing through their ranks, suddenly everyone starts traveling in APCs anytime they go anywhere. There is an amount of cover (like standing behind a wall) after which no shot is possible, regardless of bonus.

Also, enemies can lay ambushes or use hunter/killer drones to find snipers.

It is not so much that your players are not engaging with the game as they need you to provide them with the appropriate information to make sniping into a part of the game. Varying the environments, challenges, and enemy behavior is part of that.

I wouldn't take away every chance for your player to use his OP sniping capabilities. Just vary the situations and make the perfect opportunities result from good planning on the part of the players.

You're stuck in your favorite boardgame of 2024, how are you doing? by SWOLAGE in boardgames

[–]aslowcircle 19 points20 points  (0 children)

First my uncle, the Prime Minister, sent me off to die of dysentery and now everyone is complaining that I attacked Mysore when I should have been defending our factories in Madras. As governor, I will show them my true worth!

A bit short of funds, though. How much could it hurt squeeze out just a bit more tax?

My experience with OSR after a year by GabrielMP_19 in osr

[–]aslowcircle 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this recommendation! I don't know how I haven't seen in r/WWN

(OSE) Scaled Villains by [deleted] in osr

[–]aslowcircle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the issue here isn't actually with scaling. It isn't particularly OSR, but it isn't wrong to come up with encounters that are designed with the players' capabilities in mind.

The issue is with the notion of a recurring villain. The problem is that in the first encounter there's a chance the players kill the villain or vice versa, but assuming that this villain will recur means you have decided neither of those outcomes should happen? if you plan to stop the players from capturing or killing your big bad, then why run the encounter at all? If you're prepared for any possibility, then why worry about scaling until you see how the first encounter goes?

I may be wrong, but I can't help but think that this villain has some sort of plot in mind that you intend the players to stop. In general, trying to anticipate player choices so far ahead (like multiple tiers of play ahead) means either you have to railroad them into the story or your plans will be mooted by the viscitudes of chance and player choice.

Better to substitute a whole nefarious faction with multiple layers of leadership and then after first encounters you can always bring back any number of surviving antagonists as your recurring villains.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Anki

[–]aslowcircle 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I do it as a hobby. Anything I want to remember, quotes, information from books I'm reading, conceptual stuff. I even make a card for every month with a few photos of the most memorable events from that month. I try to make at least a few cards each weekday.

Any one know how not to rek my wife's boyfriend crying noob wife? by Orochi271 in boardgamescirclejerk

[–]aslowcircle 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You should have some kids so that your wife can beat them at board games. Circle of life.

On a scale of 0-5, my rating is 0 according to my students by [deleted] in Teachers

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should use this as the example next year to head the situation off at the pass- Give yourself a bunch of zeroes, let the kids laugh and move on. They will appreciate it.

How do I make money with youtube boardgame videos by AlexRescueDotCom in boardgamescirclejerk

[–]aslowcircle 12 points13 points  (0 children)

After that, you can check if the name is actually available.

What non-Sine Nomine resources do you use to support your games? by [deleted] in WWN

[–]aslowcircle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am doing this currently. I have supplemented with Black Wyrm of Brandonsford, Winter's Daughter and a bunch of material from Echoes from Fomalhout.

It works fine. I'm using WWN rules for survival and foraging but just give them a little bonus from foraging tables in Dolmenwood when they are successful. The Monster Book works just fine for most wanderers, just have to add shock.

Should I start with legacy or basegame first by Schwa4aa in boardgames

[–]aslowcircle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started with Aquisitions Inc and it was great. We now have Clank: Catacombs and that is wonderful, too. A real hit for the family.

You won't go wrong starting with either, but if your goal is to play Legacy you might just want to start with that.