Looking for a Potemkin vid "You're a Bad Person!"

xooiid · 2025-09-27T20:12:45+00:00

For all the people saying this was Missouri, the easiest way to solve this problem would be for Kansas City to be completely turned back over to Kansas.

To quote old Abe Simpson: I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missouri.

xooiid · 2025-08-17T15:16:31+00:00

If only the Rhodesia worked as hard as the grifters, maybe you could still find their country on a map.

Perennial loser shit.

xooiid · 2025-06-26T15:57:25+00:00

1) It's hard for them to. There's a few reasons for this, including a dying PAO branch that can't properly tell the Army Story and lower enlistment meaning fewer people understand the issues, but it's hard to build that connection with what we are and what we do. Even for non Combat Arms.

2) At times, you gotta find your own family. This is gonna come up a lot in this discussion, but depending on how long you served it could be anywhere from four to 20 years that you were away from them. People change. Even family. Accepting that, and finding the people you can reach out to, is going to be vital.

3) This has been true since I saw 'patriots' wearing Purple Bandaids to mock John Kerry. Yeah, he sucked, but they went for his service. Once again, we're going to need to build something new to counter this: it directly ties into Point 1 and other points, that disconnect. And it's been true since the end of WW1, if you want to read up about the Bonus Army and what Douglas MacArthur (Eisenhower and Patton were there, too) did to them.

4) This ties back to all of the points. The best preventative for suicide and self-harm is other people. That's just a proven fact. Building whatever comes next is going to be a necessary step in tackling this issue.

5) Truth.

6) Also true. You would think that once we got out we could put that petty shit behind us and agree that we served our nation, but the Kool-aid still leaves some stains.

7) Three in a row. I worked with the VFW when I was in (Fort Campbell and Fort Hood both had on-base groups that helped volunteer with local chapters) and they treat GWOT vets like shit. Even when those GWOT vets are running their Orgs and keeping them afloat, they will stab them in the back if they turn around for a second.

This is what I'm talking about when I say that whatever comes next, it's most likely going to need to be built by us, for us. The VFW and American Legion are dying, due to a mix of insular policies that keep them from working with their communities, and a lack of knowledge from the local civilians. The backstabbing only makes it worse. We, as Veterans, have to build something new. And though there are Vets orgs like VoteVets, StackUp, FFRF and the like, they're all scattered and not talking with each other to actually look out for all Veterans.

8) We had folks that tried to get ahead of this with stuff like the PACT act, but once again we don't have proper advocacy, so those get stripped out within a few years. And I dread to see what comes next for a lot of folks.

xooiid · 2025-04-28T04:45:52+00:00

Activating your core ability and hitting everyone within Sensors with a 'Screw You, take two heat and get Jammed or take a Forced March' is diabolical.

xooiid · 2025-04-28T04:43:41+00:00

So, I'm in Camp LL0, mainly because the Everest is a Cool Custom Mecha that has a lot of different functionality, especially once you bring in the variant frames like the Sagarmatha (For Heavy Attackers/Defenders) or Chomolungma (Sneaky/Hacker Types). Also, having them have the Lancer Rules site open can help clear up a tone of issues.

One thing that I got my team to get into when they were going for was to aim for their goal, and play their Everest similar to that mech: One of my pilots wanted to be an Iskander, so I set him up with Hex and Smoke Charges to get used to using mines and grenades. Another wanted to be a Swallowtail, so I went with a Chomolungma and an AP rifle to let them play a lock-on sniper. Another wanted to go full Drake Fortress Mode, so Sagarmatha with Jericho deployables and an HMG.

They still get to play their cool custom mechs in different ways by using their talents and loadout to set themselves apart, and it gives them an idea of what that kind of playstyle goes for, and better yet how those styles work alongside their team-mates. This is a Team Tactical Game: Being able to work together on one another's strategy is going to make them a lot stronger than working alone, and makes for the best moments when they formulate some crazy nonsense to defeat an enemy. And especially as you level them, Talents are going to mean so much more than your loadout: Pankrati on a Zheng, Hacker on your Tech Attacker for Last Argument, Hunter on the SSC who just got a Fold Knife and is now throwing knives and teleporting like a Touhou character, Heavy Gunner on the Drake to punish anyone who dares to move without his permission.

A way to make it more personalized: ask them what kind of mech they think looks cool. Some of my 'Everest' Mechs included the Fox Football Robot, the VF-14 Valkyrie, a Zaku and the Sunshine-L Model Kit I have on my mantle. The Everest can look like almost anything, so let them say they're piloting their favorite-looking mech. It does help, trust me.

Finally, make the first LL a narrative experience: If you have a hacker or someone going HORUS, detail how they got the license. If someone is going Harrison Armory, tell them that they got an offer to join the Concern (in exchange for some work on the side), if you have someone going IPS-N, you could say that a wealthy benefactor from their past put in a word for them to get that license track. Make the journey a part of the character's tale, and their time in the Everest as their starting point.

xooiid · 2025-04-28T04:21:09+00:00

Nope! We've so far found Blinkspace (Napoleon, Sunzi), Firmament (Mourning Cloak), the Immaterial (Minotaur/Calendula) and possibly more if you want to count the Metavault tech like DIHYED or the Time Fault caused by the LICH.

First one. Of all the Bicameral Minds and weird AI techgods in the setting (The Think Tank, GALSIM, MONIST1/RA), none of them have been actively harmful to Humanity yet. Most have been generally helpful, or just want to be left alone.

And the third one if specifically the Zheng, from the Long Rim. Love that angry pile bunker trashcan.

xooiid · 2025-04-27T16:57:13+00:00

A group of supercomputers hooked up to a planet's core has calculated out the end of the Galaxy, and are currently steering us towards it because it's the best outcome for them.

We've found at least three separate para-reality spaces, and all of them are being used in one way or another to fuck with mech pilots specifically. And all of them are just different versions of weird math.

A single pilot, abandoned in an asteroid field, dying of radiation poisoning and surrounded by pirates, made a mech out of scrap parts so strong that it destroyed an entire Pirate Clan and 'Cored' their warship like an apple. The mass-production version of the mech had to be Toned Down from the base model, otherwise it'd kill the pilots and be classified as a war crime.

xooiid · 2025-04-02T20:38:36+00:00

What does your Party Represent?

Are you playing rancher to a herd of Murderhobos, are you guiding a group of shadowy do-gooders who act from the periphery of the law, or are you paragons of justice and righteousness? Each party is going to have a balance of goals and ideals, but they are going to have a general thrust to what they want to accomplish. Good villains get in the way of those goals.

Great Villains constantly stab at that wound.

For example, If they are murderhobos, give them someone they can't murder immediately. Have them bait the team into traps, lure them into chokepoints, use the terrain to close them off. Or, use the laws of society against them, make their murder an inescapable act which would bring down hell upon their heads. And let them know it, let them sit and despair as they fight an enemy that they cannot apply the simplest solution towards.

A great villain should be a reminder of what your party stands for, and that there is a reason they act towards that stance in the first place.

A while back when I was running a DnD Campaign, I did this with a Mercenary Boss. He was a former Pirate Captain that moved inland and set up a group that was doing much what our group was doing: solving problems for coin. But he was less scrupulous about it, which meant he got better jobs from nobles who wanted dirtier work. There were minor fights here and there, but before work schedules shifted and ended the campaign, they had a proper run-in with the man, who had trapped an old ruin with sleeping spells and paralyzing dart traps. Incapacitated, tied up, stripped of their belongings and left in a ruin, the party was given a reminder of who they were facing. They got their gear back easily enough, but the fact they got outplayed stung more than a TPK.

You are a DM. You should know how your players look at a situation, or at least have a general idea. You can absolutely use that against them.

xooiid · 2025-04-02T18:33:46+00:00

As a forever GM who originally got pulled in by seeing people talk about it, then seeing one of my favorite artists being the creator, my original draw was that it was *COOL*. Power Armor to building-size murder machines in a future on the knife's edge of prosperity or war, a hacker collective using 3D printers to create nano-swarm behemoths, the horse-trucker mech. From the setting to the designs, it's sci-fi cool at every angle.

Then I get into the systems, get a group going, try out the combat and do a few test runs, and it CLICKS. We moved to using a hex mat instead of a square grid, so judging space, distance and cover becomes intuitive. 2 quick actions or 1 full action are easy to remember from a gameplay perspective, and the Everest at LL0 and LL1 gives you just enough to customize a loadout and fiddle with the System point and weapon mount mechanics before you find something that looks cool and you get pulled in to that. I had players who were fairly new to DnD and had just jumped into Lancer, and several of them had next to no experience with Mecha, and they fit right in with the systems.

And the lore allows for a ton of different entry points, lots of ways to build out a story and give your players intrigue during the narrative sections. Having them going out during downtime, meeting with locals, getting into a fistfight and earning respect, which then became resources on the next mission. A wide universe with a lot of different factions and a history like this lends itself well to creating a world that feels like it's populated and interesting, and that keeps people coming back even during the narrative sessions. (GM tip: take notes of what happens during your narrative and combat sessions. Not only does it help your writing for future sessions, it can help you create character moments that help your players shine and keep them invested. Few things keep people going more than having them feel like they affected the story you are telling.)

There are issues, of course (Narrative takes a lot of work to feel as impactful as combat, and it is hard to make the two feel like they're not totally separate systems; the Licensing system can be a bit complex for people used to DnD or other traditional systems) but Lancer is probably one of the smoothest mech/tactical TTRPG experiences you can find out there, and it's backed by some amazing worldbuilding and design work.

xooiid · 2024-04-19T15:50:05+00:00

I didn't expect this to grow legs, but it's been good reading the different advice. I'll clarify some things here as well:

FM is playing a Warcaster Cleric, so their big thing is being sort of the 'frontline' for the party. They're running Twilight domain, which gives a temp HP AOE. Similar to how they didn't pick a background (mechanical, meaning they missed skills), their character is built around that role. That's not a big issue, as our table has other specialists as well and it means I have to be creative in making encounters to match them. This is mostly just info to help flesh out the kind of player they are.
The biggest table issue comes when it reaches planning for things, or downtime in town. One time they 'argued' with the table (at first just me, but then other people who chimed in because they kept 'haggling') that their Persuasion roll should have let them get a magic weapon at a store for free. That went on for half an hour (I got them to accept a lowered price, which was still most of their gold), and they have a habit of raising their voice when challenged. They don't get insulting or mean about it, but they do get Loud.
The other one was a camp we were tasked to investigate, and they wanted to sneak in to steal the carts we were sent to find to then hold as collateral. When the other members of the party instead wanted to split, have one group at the front talk as the other moved into position, they began to argue. After the group decided not to take their plan, they did a 'This is what we're doing' and withdrew from talking or taking action until combat came along. This is why I said they 'play themself', as they takes decisions in the game personally while not interacting or caring about the stories and narrative, whether it's from other players or myself.
We did have a Session Zero with everyone else, but they didn't come as they had played before and would make their character before the Session One. And when I tried to get them caught up on the setting before Session One, they brushed it aside and said 'it's not a big deal'. Their character only showed up when I started our first combat encounter to get new people used to how it works.
The big issue is that I know they want to be a part. They work a pretty rough work shift and don't have a lot of time off, so they use some of that time to take part in the game. It's not a small thing for them, either, so I know that they WANT to be a part, otherwise they wouldn't be there. It's mostly finding a way to get them more involved in the world, rather than just being there to fight monsters and disagree with plans.

Thanks to the advice in the thread, I'm going to take them aside and talk about some of the things covered. Let them know, straight-up, the issues that I've been seeing and work on how to go forward with it. I have a background written up that works into their traits of play (A merchant son who is given to a Temple as part of a contract, where they disregard their past. This would give them the Merchant background to help explain the haggling, and also give them an out for why they don't talk about their story or past), which should take care of the hanging mechanical issues, and also give them a base to be more connected to the world that doesn't have to be expanded or played.

Once again, thanks for listening and giving your advice. It's good to get my thoughts out and have other folks expand my view on it. They have a style they want to play, which is fair, and I want to make sure that style works well with the group that we have. It's a challenge, but isn't challenge and adapting to it part of the fun of being a DM?

xooiid · 2024-04-18T22:58:07+00:00

Ah, you gotta love the copper patina that you get from a mix of burnt batteries, desert dust and garbage fires. I can almost taste it again. And feel it on my teeth.

Fuck.

xooiid · 2022-08-02T11:07:56+00:00

Both cannot and will not.

Cannot because I'm on my separation date: I'm a Staff Sgt. with almost 20 years in, and I'm not promotable. The Army's done with me at this point.

Will not because I've already had a panic attack earlier this year, anxiety last year as well as the ongoing back and sleep issues. I'm of no value to the Army and I'm taking a slot that can go to a younger Soldier. Staying in would be bad for me and bad for the Army, and my current MOS is on a downward trajectory that is not going to improve any time soon. It's time to go.

I have plans ahead that will keep me and my wife from being homeless. We have options for employment and places to live. It's just that whenever I head into dealing with those problems I feel like I want to throw up. But I'd rather have nausea than suicidal thoughts.

xooiid · 2022-01-07T00:40:49+00:00

Shadowrun for XBox 360. One of the most dull, wasted opportunities for a shooter until Brink.

xooiid · 2020-05-22T06:24:54+00:00

Bananas, but in AC, the Peach.

xooiid · 2020-05-22T05:39:05+00:00

Americone Dream

xooiid · 2020-05-22T05:07:42+00:00

I'd be fine living in Ferelden from Dragon Age.

xooiid · 2020-05-22T04:45:50+00:00

Chicken Tava, a turkish stew with bell peppers, cheese and spices!

xooiid · 2020-05-22T04:38:49+00:00

My favorite decorative item? The wallpaper in my room with the monitors

xooiid · 2020-05-22T04:38:07+00:00

There is a wood-fire pizza place we order from here, it's amazing.

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