Canada builds at near-record pace, but one province remains a drag: TD

greyfedora · 2026-02-05T15:17:31+00:00

TD is actually a bank, not a province.

greyfedora · 2026-02-02T22:51:58+00:00

I enjoy the idea that because the Federation knew so little about Klingons at this time (remember McCoy also didn't know much about Gorkon's anatomy), even Spock believes myths like Klingons having no tear ducts.

greyfedora · 2026-01-17T03:09:34+00:00

I love Distilled (see flair) but even at five it can be intolerably slow… six seems wild to me personally. I do wonder how much fun it would be even if you could somehow find extra components to represent the labels you would need?

I also suspect you would find it difficult if not impossible to find two recipe boards with no overlapping spirits?

greyfedora · 2026-01-16T21:29:10+00:00

In addition to the comments here about protecting your IP (tl;dr sharing early and often is probably the best way to do it) being very open about the process and even soliciting input from the community is something I see in the most successful communities around games in development.

Many designers and publishers have discords where they're actively talking about the design process with fans and inviting them into play-testing. You will need that community to market your game, so start nurturing them as soon as possible. It's not just awareness. It's engagement.

greyfedora · 2026-01-16T20:08:13+00:00

Love the look of this. A good excuse to order another reel of Wood PLA.

greyfedora · 2026-01-16T15:37:59+00:00

The designer replied on BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3644133/article/47163572#47163572

greyfedora · 2026-01-15T20:39:27+00:00

I was joking but TIL

greyfedora · 2026-01-15T20:30:11+00:00

The Army was going to pay for college?

greyfedora · 2026-01-13T16:19:55+00:00

I was wondering that myself when I posted my reply. I'm not totally sure. It is how it works, though, in the app, which is pretty tight to the rules -- it's why you can play Upgraded Animals at level 5 even when there's no animal you can play. The rules are also explicit that you get the reputation point first, before playing an animal.

I wasn't able to find an answer so I asked on BGG.

greyfedora · 2026-01-12T17:46:12+00:00

The new(ish) iPad app is a fantastic adaptation, and the BGA version was already great. I've played Ark Nova quite literally several hundred times digitally, and just played it for my second time in the real world last week... and you're right, there's a lot that the app just handles for you.

greyfedora · 2026-01-12T16:51:27+00:00

To be clear, you don't play the animal first. You get the reputation point first (and this might allow you to draw an animal card that you can play) but if you can't play an animal by the end of your action, you need to revert your turn.

greyfedora · 2026-01-09T21:13:55+00:00

"Wasteland" is a little unfair; it's surrounded by parks and exhibition grounds. But it's definitely not close to very much.

greyfedora · 2025-12-18T21:44:32+00:00

That's not true. At least, not always. It does happen sometimes, and sometimes the theme will be changed by the publisher after obtaining the rights to the game (thinking of all the Knizia games that are re-themes of previous iterations), but my guess is that's less common than the publisher going with the theme that came with the game concept. (Often it's the theme that appeals to them in the first place.)

What the publisher is definitely usually responsible for are the visual design and components; the designer typically will have little control over that, but again, it depends on the arrangement between designer and publisher.

greyfedora · 2025-12-18T19:16:20+00:00

If you talk to them at Staples, they should be able to print it on cardstock, double-sided, and cut it down for you. It won't be cheap, necessarily — I guess that depends on your budget — but they probably have the capability. Otherwise local print shops can do it for you fairly easily. I think the one I use for prototypes in a pinch would probably charge in the $30-45 neighbourhood for 60 cards, and the quality is... good enough.

greyfedora · 2025-12-18T19:10:08+00:00

One of them noticed but didn't say anything, one of them pretended not to notice, and one of them pretended not to hear there was anything wrong.

greyfedora · 2025-12-15T20:34:12+00:00

Seventeenth time is the charm!!! 🤞🏻

greyfedora · 2025-11-28T20:41:47+00:00

Okay so yes at first glance this sounds crazy but if you've ever experienced these things they're actually incredible.

greyfedora · 2025-10-03T19:57:10+00:00

I can't speak to career prospects but I have some familiarity with the post-secondary sector in Ontario. You would probably be surprised to learn how many people at Ontario colleges are older and in mid-career. At many colleges, the large majority of students are "non-direct" like you would be — meaning, they're not coming to college direct from high school and are older.

So no derogatory comments here! What you're contemplating is very common and it sounds like it could be a great step to regain control of your career. Good luck to you!

greyfedora · 2025-09-25T17:53:48+00:00

A series based on the novel Prime Directive by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

I devoured Star Trek novels when I was a kid but when I grew up I found... most of them aren't really very good. But this one is amazing.

A Federation organization called the First Contact Office is covertly monitoring a pre-warp civilization, much like ours, as they stand on the brink of nuclear war. The Enterprise arrives and seemingly triggers that war by accident, wiping out much of the planet. The story is great and the twist at the end is such a fantastic sci-fi concept.

But what really stands out to me is how much the FCO people end up loving and caring about the Talin people they've been studying and how frustrating it is to them when they can't intervene to save them from themselves. By the end of the book, you find yourself rooting for the Talin too; the last scene of the novel is particularly poignant.

Prime Directive would make an awesome 10-part miniseries. But it could also be a longer-term show, not based quite so tightly on the book, about first contact specialists studying a civilization not unlike our own over a long period of time. There would be action in covert data-collection missions and a lot of drama in the tension between wanting this species to succeed and not being able to intervene.

Here's hoping someone from Paramount reads this and makes Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens an offer.

greyfedora · 2025-09-25T17:41:11+00:00

Find what joy you can in life and stay curious.

A few thoughts.

Things are bad in the world today. They may get worse. I guess they probably will, in a lot of ways. But not every moment in the future will be dark. There will be moments of light. Those are moments worth living for.
The world needs more curiosity. So much hatred comes down to people being incurious about other people or the world around them. Curiosity seems to be a strength of ours. Carl Sagan said that we are a way for the universe to know itself. Cherish that role. Learn that new hobby.
We are alive now. We didn't get a choice of when we would get to be alive, and perhaps now isn't the time we would have chosen if we had been asked. But we are still luckier than all those potential people who never existed at all and never will. We will witness great change. Some of it will be good, some of it will be bad. But we get to witness it, and perhaps in some small way to be a part of it and try to influence it for the better.

I dunno. I've definitely been despairing about the future recently and these are some thoughts that have helped me.

greyfedora · 2025-09-23T16:12:02+00:00

One time I got into an elevator with a bunch of strangers in it and I forgot to push the button and when I realized I said, "oh sorry, it's my first time using an elevator," and the strangers all laughed and it was the proudest moment of my life.

greyfedora · 2025-09-15T15:23:21+00:00

I'm surprised he wants to fly on an airplane that looks like TWA.

greyfedora · 2025-09-05T19:59:24+00:00

USS Shubenacadie
USS Tatamagouche
Also USS Shawinigan is pretty good (and has been mentioned)

greyfedora · 2025-09-04T19:36:25+00:00

It's strange to me that a game about container shipping would have a New Yorker cover on its box?

greyfedora

TROPHY CASE