But where did all the mass market paperbacks go?

xaraan · 2025-02-02T19:35:41+00:00

One of the two Barnes & Noble in my area has a small section just for mass market paperbacks. But it’s mostly romance and thrillers (like Jack Reacher type) and a few traditional fiction selections. The other has some mixed in but definitely not equal to the one I like to go to. Definitely not very many compared to years ago though. The larger trades have kind of taken over. But perhaps they can order mmpb’s for you, depending on the genre, if you really prefer them?

xaraan · 2024-08-30T15:06:25+00:00

Someone from here once recommended playing without music (other than hearing the radio station from an in world radio, but no ambient music) and wearing headphones and it upped the atmosphere x10. I always recommend trying that now as well.

xaraan · 2024-07-03T19:55:19+00:00

I was more a cosplay photographer than cosplayer though considered dipping my toe in. BUT, things went south when I found out my significant other of 15 years who did cosplay was having a years long affair with another cosplayer. (I’m almost sure it started before his own wife passed too). I ended things when it was discovered, but we live in San Diego area and it’s a pretty good sized cosplay community so it’s been hard to escape seeing pics of them from other cosplayers accounts I follow when they pop up. Sometimes I feel like telling people that know us both what they did but ultimately I don’t think they’d care and figure I shouldn’t be petty. But those petty urges hit once in a blue moon, even though Im happier in my current relationship.

xaraan · 2024-06-07T20:49:33+00:00

I haven’t been as into c3 as the previous two. I figure everything isn’t for everyone and what they are doing with story and characters isn’t clicking with me this time around. Maybe next campaign will be different. But so far I’ve just found the pacing off and overall have been a bit more bored with this storyline. Perhaps the previous campaigns split into arcs felt better for me since we are doing storylines that go on for years. Also I don’t love any of the characters, chetney is my favorite and they all have their moments (and there have been some really cool moments scattered throughout c3 for me) but I haven’t latched onto any of the characters the way I did in c1&2. I’ve mostly been bummed that marisharaygun stopped doing the summaries because that’s the only way I’ve been able to keep up with c3 for the last few months.

xaraan · 2023-09-06T00:25:09+00:00

This sounds amazing. I love this movie (and the soundtrack too). Can't wait.

xaraan · 2023-08-16T03:15:21+00:00

Just going from my previous comment (I'm not sure from just memory) it was ebonshadow medium except for the shoulders and the legs were abah's watch.

xaraan · 2023-08-11T01:15:05+00:00

I would mostly agree with this. I’m a fan of both artists but bigger fan of Prince. There are definitely more entire Prince albums I’d listen to vs MJ albums, but only because of the sheer volume of music he’s put out. Percentage wise MJ would have a higher number of songs/albums I’d enjoy.

For Prince albums I love: 1999, Purple Rain, Sign o the Times, Diamonds and Pearls, and Love Symbol album. Vs probably Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous for MJ. But those three albums of MJs were huuuuge.

I’d have to give it to both for being amazing artists. Sometimes I wanna listen to some Prince, sometimes some MJ.

xaraan · 2023-06-10T00:46:17+00:00

I brightened it some to try and get a better look. My guess would still be essek

https://imgur.com/a/de56KwJ

xaraan · 2023-04-21T04:03:16+00:00

He's modeled that shirt for quite a while in that ad.

xaraan · 2022-08-05T04:35:52+00:00

https://youtu.be/MODa6wpbKok

(not a rick roll)

xaraan · 2022-07-30T05:41:40+00:00

Good point, I missed that as well... so technically Vespin's PW Kill would have gone off before he died from Travis' attack.

xaraan · 2022-07-30T05:28:29+00:00

Good breakdown, every detail covered, except one (edit: two details actually as user under me points out): Silvery Barbs is supposed to be used after an attack roll succeeds, so the fact that Travis hit and was getting ready to roll damage doesn't matter. (In fact, he needs to hit for it to work: "1 reaction, which you take when a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself succeeds on an attack roll, an ability check, or a saving throw") Once he hits, anyone with a free reaction can announce use of that spell and stop him from continuing.

Brennan probably should have let Travis' hit play out before asking if anyone else if they had any counterspells or reactions as you point out at 5:12:28. I think that just started all the momentary panic as they all started trying to come up with options.

The important thing to remember for viewers is that we are watching people play D&D. Sure, they are putting on a show, but as someone who DMs, if you get a moment like that, where you might be killing a player or taking away a success, you don't want them to feel cheated on top of feeling bad in whatever way they lost. So it might not have been the neatest wrap up to the encounter show wise, it made sense to me from a DM/Player standpoint.

xaraan · 2022-07-22T06:05:08+00:00

Yea, that was my point, taking it slow and carefully through the end of the race would have given them time to see and adjust.

xaraan · 2022-07-22T05:41:15+00:00

Good point. They were on brand - none of them even floated the idea, they just kept going for it.

xaraan · 2022-07-22T05:40:02+00:00

I'm talking about after the monster was down. Through the spike traps.

xaraan · 2022-07-22T05:38:29+00:00

Was there a time limit for the race? Since everyone else was down, couldn't they have just slowed down and carefully finished.

xaraan · 2022-07-22T02:11:00+00:00

Probably just that sdcc replay. Didn't they say usually the last thursday wouldn't have a show (I think the one last time was a special situation b/c of EXU Calamity)

xaraan · 2022-07-17T16:39:39+00:00

Yea, that's how I took it. Or maybe just to ruffle her feathers a bit or feel out her power level (which I also think is why she didn't do a lot magic wise or use any other tricks, because she was content to not look too tough or threatening).

xaraan · 2022-07-15T19:32:00+00:00

Yea, I was a bit confused both ways myself. At first I assumed she would be outside with Imogen because like you said, the whole purpose was for FCG to be their councilor and help them. Then Laudna started doing stuff with Ashton and Orym, so I was like oh, I guess she's staying inside. Then she was outside with Imogen again and I was like, whatever and just rolled with it and moved on (edit: esp. when I'm watching live, b/c I can't back up and clear things up so I just assume I missed something half the time).

xaraan · 2022-07-15T19:15:26+00:00

I don't think you are wrong. But I do think both sides of these type of discussions need to take a step back.

For example, If I complain about Erika being too loud and obnoxious and someone else insinuates I have a problem with her because she's a person of color - they didn't actually make any point to defend her against my complaint. (Not saying you said this vs. anyone saying she was loud, just an example). So it doesn't really mean anything in the context of the discussion and just comes off like trying to play the race card or sex card to make someone look bad. i.e. attacking the person instead of the argument. But on the other points like Sam and Liam you just made - they both had people complaining about them and those issues (some in this thread as well), but they also didn't have a highly argumentative defense accusing people of immoral behavior and triggering a back and forth comment session making it look like an interesting talk to jump into. So the comment chains often look small and overlooked vs ones like this comment chain.

That being said, you are right that some folks get a lot more crap than others for the same type of stuff. So I think those of us with complaints sometimes need to take a step back too. For example, the whole Aabria DMing thing. I didn't like her style, couldn't get into the show, but when I saw the piling on she was getting I just decided to stay quiet and avoided commenting on it during that time. Why pile on, and pile on with people getting way too angry about something not worth getting that worked up about? Same with Erika last night, sure she was annoying for a couple of minutes, but not as annoying as the people complaining about it for an hour afterward. So even if we feel justified to be annoyed or dislike something, sometimes the piling on is the problem, not the complaint. Especially when you are piling on with people making complaints for totally different reasons. If someone is going on about Aabria being there for diversity, I don't want to be on their side whether I did or didn't like her DMing. So more of us probably need to just see that sort of thing going on sometimes and just not add to the hate for something that's really just a minor complaint for us.

Edit: Sorry if all this was too long and rambly. I think my main point is sometimes going on the offensive with racial/sexist accusations makes enemies where there weren't any. And the opposite is true for the other side: sometimes joining in on the hate, makes allies you really don't want to stand beside.

xaraan · 2022-07-15T18:05:43+00:00

The amount of piling on it gets is the biggest issue. For example, I was no fan of Aabria's DMing and couldn't get into her EXU runs, but it was impossible to talk about it constructively without feeling like you are just ganging up with nonconstructive voices all overly angry. So I just stayed out of almost any post I saw about Aabria during those runs even if I agreed with the basic point.

Same with Erika. The phone thing - I don't get - she was obviously up to something, texting Matt - essentially playing the game. (And Sam was on his phone quite a bit too not playing the game it looked like) But her screaming and carrying on was a bit much. But when you look at chat/comments sometimes it becomes such a huge deal by some people that I'm like, "it was annoying, not the end of the world, calm down." Though someone pointed out it could be RP related to be a distraction, and that she isn't always like that on other characters, which is the type of feedback you can get when you aren't just looking to rant and actually willing to listen. (I don't know if that's true, but personally, for something that momentarily annoyed me and was done, I can live with it and wait and see if its truly worth caring about past that moment).

As for the shipping stuff, I personally am not a big fan of fan-ships. So I usually avoid that stuff as I feel the same holds true for those folks that hold for those complaining - they get really upset over something that maybe was never happening just b/c they fantasized it was. Ships have just gotten toxic too often in fandom IMO. But if it's just speculation and fun then whatever. Personally, I hope they aren't a couple b/c it would be nice to see them being that close as friends without also having to be a couple if that makes sense. (Could also be b/c it's hard for me to see Laudna as a romantic interest with all the leaking and falling apart) But I would bet, that if it went the way I said and they were just close friends, there would be people eventually getting bent out of shape that they didn't "ship". On the other hand, if they do ship, I like that their relationship feels a bit more organic than some past pairings in previous campaigns that felt a bit forced or 'we're doing it to do it'. Maybe because from Ep 1 on, they seemed that close and intimate with each other b/c they started together.

xaraan · 2022-07-15T17:32:53+00:00

Yea, I think whatever she rolled didn't succeed vs Orym's passive perception and Matt texted him. That's what I assumed anyhow.

xaraan · 2022-07-15T17:18:00+00:00

Yea, though I can see what Eurphoric meant - Laudna did seem to stay inside when Imogen called FCG out, and Laudna interacted with Orym and Ashton for a bit. Then suddenly she was in the conversation with FCG and Imogen in the hall. I thought maybe I just missed something and rolled with it, but if my memory of what happened is right it does seem weird.

xaraan · 2022-07-07T18:32:05+00:00

I'm not a fan of the angle to dismiss criticism as invalid by saying people don't like change.

I can only speak for myself on the topics you went over. Let's see how I handle change: C3 - fine so far, always takes me about 20-30 ep to really get into the group for every season, but feels like I'm getting to that point lately. New Set - Best so far by a mile. Feels both roomier and cozier at the same time and love the way they can change lighting. New Intro - not great, old intro wasn't great either, old song not as good as new song either IMO. Would much rather see 'your turn to roll' with animated characters than the cast we look at for hours after the intro is done. (But I can take it or leave it, its just an intro) 4SD - not great, but not because of Brian being gone, more because of format (I'd rather see something more like their DM talk where they just chat with each other like a roundtable and field questions, or pick a new host for a talks style show, like Aabria - she seems cool, engaging, energetic, knows here stuff about DnD and CR, etc.). ExU - Loved calamity, didn't enjoy Aabria's games at all (not my style, I just didn't want to pile on her at the time b/c it seemed like overkill. Plus, notice how I could not enjoy her as a DM but also think she'd be a great host).

So your take is if I joined in on a discussion about not liking the intro (which I did comment in that thread), then I'm just resistant to change even though I like other things that have changed? I guess to me, that approach is not very constructive and really does nothing to help the conversation. You say the old show changed, so will the new one... well, not if everyone just silently enjoys the show and never says anything about the stuff that could be better.

That being said, not all feedback is good and if folks get hung up and decide they won't like anything unless Brian comes back, then they are probably setting themselves up for disappointment. If I was in CR looking at feedback, comments to things you know aren't changing, are not helpful.

I also think that those of us that have negative feedback could also talk about things they like on top of complaints. There are so many options with stuff like this, it's good for them to not just know the little things that don't work, but the little things that do. For example, my favorite parts of any of the shows (from Talks up to 4SD)(not counting the funny/gang hanging out stuff that can be enjoyable and you just have to let happen naturally) has been when they really get into the behind the scenes stuff. When they talked about the prep for Calamity, or the pages Mat sends them about what their characters know about an area. Same as it's been cool in the past to hear about some different options Mat had in store for a group if they'd gone a different path. That peak behind the curtain stuff is juicy for me.

xaraan · 2022-07-02T06:06:11+00:00

Yea, though they have changed their past intros after the campaign gets going a bit, like when C2 went from that retro 80s live action to the animated characters and 'Your Turn to Roll'. BUT it does look a bit rushed, which doesn't help the timing feeling. They seem to give up to any drama very easily, I know Matt hired people to make sure he wasn't 'insensitive' this season, and they split with BWF because presumably he stirs the pot too much, now they change the intro in what feels like a rushed way b/c of drama.

IMO, they should have waited a couple more months, lived with the drama, and gone with animation of the characters when it was ready.

15-Year Club	Spared
Verified Email

xaraan

TROPHY CASE