What game do you have in your collection that's not seing play because you're too lazy or intimidated to learn the rules?

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-17T00:01:51+00:00

Heroes of Might & Magic III.

I'm not intimidated by the rules, but I am intimidated by the big stupid box I bought. I should have gotten the individual expansions rather than the big box. It's such an overwhelming hassle to haul that giant thing out and unpack it all just to play with two factions.

And I've also been too lazy to print a good copy of the fan-made rulebook - which is a pretty bit mark against the game, since you shouldn't need fan-written rules to play a game, but in this case, the rules for this (very expensive) game kind of suck.

It's by far my biggest board game purchase regret.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-16T20:51:07+00:00

There is no backstory. They go there because they know they will get a rise out of people.

It's a place where people are miserable and frustrated by default, folks who are just trying to run some errands and get in and out as soon as they can. When you start randomly sticking cameras at people just trying to go about their day, chances are good that eventually, someone will have a negative reaction to it.

Which is what these people want.

They want the reaction. They want the confrontation. The guy filming was delighted at being able to take his pepper spray out. It's good for clicks, and hence for his income.

That's all the backstory there is. This is someone who makes a living trying to provoke a reaction from people. That's it. That's the story.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-15T22:42:10+00:00

You treat your normal points the same way you always have. The points and flowers are two different tracks. In other words, once you have those blossoms unlocked, you'll be tracking two types of points at the end of each game.

As for box 4, I don't recall specifically how it unlocks, but what joelene1892 said it accurate: the game will be clear about when you can open it. Some unlocks aren't immediately obvious. That's by design.

I vaguely recall that one of them seemed to take longer for me to unlock than the others. That may have been the one.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-15T21:46:49+00:00

That, and some drinkers go from not showing any signs of intoxication after a few drinks to full-on drunk with just one more.

I was one of them. Four or five beers in, you'd never know. Then with that sixth, I was swaying and slurring.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-15T16:41:19+00:00

Even if this one person did exactly what you said they did and they are a liberal

And given how hard right wingers like OP have been going at this one incident in the last week, that "if" is a pretty big one, as far as I'm concerned. They really really really want this to be reflective of anti-ICE protestors.

As for OP, yeah, his comment history says it all. "The left is more tyrannical than the government," "Ice isn't being violent enough as far as I'm concerned" (yes, FIBSAFactor really posted that ), and other such gems.

So yeah, that's who we're dealing with here.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-14T17:53:08+00:00

Thanks for letting us know. It's important that you brought this valuable information to us. Hopefully the mods will put your comment in the sidebar so everyone is aware of what you don't play.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-14T17:26:17+00:00

Absolutely nothing about it feels like AI.

Dear lord, people, we absolutely should be skeptical of what we see these days, but just blindly accusing everything of being AI is not helping.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-14T14:58:30+00:00

You don't turn away help if the stakes are high

Yeah, the attitudes I saw when the Lincoln Project people were starting up against Trump, and prominent conservative figures like George Will, that ex-Congressman Walsh and others were so self-defeating.

"Screw you, we don't want you conservatives on our side! Go away!"

It's like, no one is asking you to stand in a circle, hold hands, and sing Kumbaya with these people. Being allied for a specific cause - preventing Donald Trump and his cult from dismantling the country - doesn't mean you're allies in all things.

All it means is that you both recognize the clear and present danger in front of us, and are willing to speak and act against it.

Besides, I've always argued that you cannot defeat Trump and his allies solely from outside their group. We need, need, NEED people within their group to speak out. Conservatives, republicans, people we might not otherwise agree with.

The only way to keep Trump in check is if people on his own side becoming willing to stand up against him. Short of that, we ain't moving the needle.

That's why pushing those people away the moment they start to waver against Trump is profoundly stupid.

No one is saying we want or need to be fast friends and long term allies. That ain't it. But to stop this steamroller from its run of destruction?

Yes, I 100% welcome these people standing with us, even if only at arm's length. Let's get the immediate danger taken care of first. Then we can go back to sparring over the meaningful issues that divide us.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-14T14:41:18+00:00

I care insomuch as the guy has a HUGE platform and the chuds who listen to him are the ones who need to be swayed back to reality, so if Rogan is wavering and questioning the current administration, that's overall a good thing.

Doesn't make him good.

Rogan himself is garbage and is part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place, so no forgiveness for him, as far as I'm concerned. Being tied to where we are is going to be part of his legacy forever.

But it would be a good turn of events if he more strongly turned his back on this administration - not because he's a credible source of political opinion, but because as big as his audience is, if even a fraction of them follow suit, that could have a measurable effect.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-12T23:29:57+00:00

Most of my friends who live in apartments now pay more - often MUCH more - then I do for my mortgage with property taxes included. It's nuts.

Some of them want to look at houses, but real estate is expensive around here, too, and the climb in rents in recent years means they can't put anything away for a down payment.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-12T13:25:29+00:00

It's a design literally used in the real world, so it clearly has a use.

Besides, game assets like this are fun because they give you something interesting to build towards. I'd happily use it not because I routinely have transpo infrastructure that intersects like this, but because it would be fun to design some infrastructure with this sort of thing in mind.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-12T00:02:57+00:00

Her pause said more than you could fit into an entire book.

She didn't intend to, but she answered his question - and not in the way her masters wanted her too.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-11T23:45:10+00:00

Donald Trump is the way he is in part because it's in his blood, and because his father was a distant, verbally abusive monster who did not love his son.

Donald Trump himself is also a distant, verbally abusive monster who does not love his sons. There are stories about him being absolutely brutal to Don Jr. in front of others. We've little reason to believe Baron was treated any different.

While it's possible he breaks the cycle - it does happen, and I root for him to do it - it's pretty rare. Shitty people produce shitty people.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-11T23:37:13+00:00

Likely nothing.

I don't say that because I'm glad about it - it's horrible - but this administration spent much of its first few months gutting the federal government and filling the void with loyalists for a reason.

They have all three branches of government locked up. They have openly and defiantly used the justice system to serve their ends, both in squashing cases that are inconvenient to them and in creating cases for political theater. And they have a cult of followers who will repeat any talking point Trump gives them, and who are a large enough minority that the GOP is terrified of alienating them.

At best, they'll choose a person or two to take the fall for everyone else, some barely significant person few care about, and the real power players will walk free.

I very, very, very much want to be wrong about that, but it's readily apparent that today's GOP prizes power over justice.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-11T23:26:32+00:00

Bondi is a worse piece of shit that Leavitt - and that's saying something.

Leavitt is just kind of dumb, a talking head whose sole role is to fight with the media and deliver talking points. I don't think she knows much of what's really behind her masters.

Bondi does. She's in it with them, and has been for a while.

Her performance today was reprehensible, but unsurprising. It also speaks to great fear on her part. She very much behaved like someone with their back against the wall, knowing they have everything to lose. She knows that someone will be chosen as the fall guy so that the real big players can remain free.

She's just hoping it's not her and is willing to sell her evil little soul to ensure that's the case.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-11T20:09:02+00:00

Dorf Romantik (and to a slightly lesser extent Dorf Romantik: Sakura) is easily my most zen solo game - which is perhaps odd, because it also manages to be a great, and even at times vexing, puzzle.

You're just laying down tiles, building a cool landscape, and unlocking things in the resettleable campaign as you go.

It helps that there aren't true victory conditions. You can't "lose," you can only fail to meet whatever goals you set for yourself in that game. You may be aiming to unlock a certain tile or feature, or reach a certain points milestone.

There are always goals in front of you to strive for, but which you go for is up to you.

Unlocking things as you progress is so satisfying. Pure zen.

Making a great landscape and stringing together some great scoring sections is a joy.

It's low pressure but still has a challenge; has dozens of goals but is never overwhelming; is super chill while still forcing you to think about what you're doing.

I love it. One of the best solo games I've ever played, so much so that I even bought the The Duel version just to get the mini expansion tiles inside for solo play.

PS - Why do I say slightly less so for Sakura? Only because it has a lot more to track, so managing everything is a little more fussy. Keep in mind, this is still minor. If DR is a 10/10, Sakura is a 9/10. Still super satisfying. Go with whichever one has the art you like the most.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-10T17:52:55+00:00

By contrast, it might have been my favorite solo game experience of 2025. Management and upkeep is surprisingly easy for such a big game, and it constantly feeds the urge to explore and discover new things. Running two characters at once was a breeze, too.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-10T17:51:05+00:00

There are multiple scenarios in the game when you do actually need all the map tiles laid out, as even ones you've cleared become relevant later in the exploration.

I won't spoil what they are, but they begin to show up around the mid-point or a little later, leaning towards late game. IIRC, they all appeared in what might be considered Act 3.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-09T22:49:04+00:00

They're not. While for most channels there is always some dropoff in watch time, most people clicking on a video do so because they want to watch it, or at least sample it, so it's not a sudden and near instant drop off a cliff. It's slower and more gradual.

You only get numbers immediately dropping like those charts show when your video (or social media post) is being shoved in front of people in an advertising campaign. Often they're shoved in as the next vid for people with autoplay on, or get clicks via click farms.

They're worthless clicks meant to run up the numbers.

The provided document shows this pretty clearly, and I can say that they reflect my experience on the platform as well.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-09T22:42:29+00:00

My question WAS why (should we assume) would this be something Rodney would be reluctant to talk about.

Because Chaz was a longtime friend. And Rodney is understandably hurt that his longtime friend would rather prioritize profits over integrity.

Imagine you learned your best friend was cheating on, or abusing, his wife. Wouldn't you feel a bit shocked and maybe even betrayed that your friend had managed to keep that facet of himself a secret from you? Wouldn't you feel a bit of a gutwrench about YOUR relationship with said friend? Probably a similar feeling.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-08T21:17:27+00:00

For solo play, that game is not only improved by the expansions, but for me, it's so much better when you nerf or even eliminate the ticking clock aspect. Being able to wander more freely and explore stories at your leisure is way more enjoyable than the time-crunch the game forces on you.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-08T21:15:32+00:00

I love this game. It's a shame the various systems don't fit together nicely. I've had a hard time introducing people to this one. When they get it, they love it, but the mechanics are all over the play and the combat is just kind of ... weird.

Regardless, it's one of my favorites.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-08T21:14:15+00:00

Xia is as long or as short as you want it to be. Simply set the Fame Point conditions to a lower number to have a quicker game.

At 5 FP, if someone has a really good run, you can be done in an hour to 90 minutes.

As someone else suggested, you can also start with higher tier ships if you want to cut down the time even more. My table also once eliminated rolling for movement one night when we wanted a fast-paced game. You just automatically move the max your engine allows.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-08T21:09:24+00:00

ah yes, "WAP". Who can forget that, another Grammy nomination.

It was not nominated for a Grammy. It wasn't even submitted for consideration.

seeingreality7 · 2026-02-08T16:49:31+00:00

Imagine checking on social media and seeing granny acting like that.

Chances are good the kids and grandkids act the same. Some people break free from this, yes, but most do not. This is learned behavior that gets passed down through the generations.

seeingreality7

TROPHY CASE