Quotulatiousness

October 20, 2018

Don’t waste your time coming up with something original … use this map for your next RPG campaign

Filed under: Gaming, Humour — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

The Only Fantasy World Map You’ll Ever Need
by EotBeholder

Thrown together on a whim, yet meeting the needs of busy (or lazy) Dungeon Masters to this day, EotBeholder’s epic “Only Fantasy World Map” has all your role-playing game geography requirements covered.

Here’s something I threw together for the game I’m running with some coworkers. I plotted out where everything was going to go on a world map then decided, yknowwhat, let’s just keep the serial numbers filed off, so now it’s a map good for every RPG setting ever. Starting in the Tiny Bickering Fiefdoms is traditional but anywhere works. (My players are mostly from Tortuga.)

EDIT: Wow, almost four years later and this thing just exploded. The internet is a thing of mysteries. Thank you all! A lot (well, a number) of people have requested a blank version so they can add their own names… yeah, sure thing. To anyone asking for permission to use this for their own campaigns… I mean it hardly qualifies as “original”, so as long as you’re comfortable stealing from someone who steals from the people who only steal from the best, knock yourselves out 🙂

If I could make some additions (which I suppose I could, but, nah) I’d call out the Boring/Doomed Pastoral Village somewhere in the Tiny Bickering Fiefdoms or the Land of Poncy Knights, and also add a Giant Wall to Keep the Monsters Out. Giant walls are so hot right now.

H/T to Rob Beschizza for the link.

October 14, 2018

NPCs belong in video games or Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, not in the real world

Filed under: Gaming, Humour, Politics — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Brandon Morse on a term that’s migrated out of its original gaming context and being used as a label for social justice warriors:

If you’ve ever picked up a video game that features other characters that are controlled by the computer, then you’ve run into non-player characters or NPC’s.

NPC’s serve a host of different functions depending on what the program you’re playing with needs them for. They’re the villagers in Skyrim, Toad from Super Mario Brothers, and the ghosts in Pac-Man. NPC’s may have dialogue, patterns, and personality, but at the end of the day, they’re just a program with pre-set behavioral patterns decided for them by a developer.

Now let’s pretend we’re taking this article from the top…

If you’ve ever stepped onto a college campus or a protest demonstration that features people with neon colored hair screaming at the top of their lungs about identity politics or a social concern then you’ve run into a social justice warrior or SJW.

SJWs serve a host of different functions depending on what activists, politicians and the media need them for. They’re the crazed people trying to beat down the Supreme Court door, the Antifa members threatening motorists, or the male-feminist roundhousing a woman for expressing pro-life views. SJW’s may have dialogue, patterns, and personality, but at the end of the day, they’re just a program with pre-set behavioral patterns decided for them by professors, activist groups, or the media.

The comparison between NPC’s and SJW’s is pretty striking and simultaneously hilarious.

H/T to David Thompson for the link.

September 30, 2018

Model buildings

Filed under: Gaming, Randomness — Tags: — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published on 3 Oct 2014

I tell you a bit about how I made my model buildings – the ruins, the card buildings, the vacuum-formed stuff,

Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

â–¼ Follow me…

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lindybeige I may have some drivel to contribute to the Twittersphere, plus you get notice of uploads.

website: www.LloydianAspects.co.uk

September 27, 2018

Mind Your Business #4: Free the Unikrn

Filed under: Gaming, Sports, Technology — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Foundation for Economic Education
Published on 25 Sep 2018

Forget about slot machines, the future of gaming is virtual reality! In this episode of Mind Your Business, Andrew Heaton is teaming up with entrepreneur Rahul Sood to learn all about esports, safe and legal online betting, and the global community that is surging behind organized competitive video gaming.

September 2, 2018

World of Warships – Public Test 0.7.9 – The Queen, God Bless Her!

Filed under: Britain, Gaming — Tags: — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Mighty Jingles
Published on 31 Aug 2018

The Public Test Server is currently experiencing large doses of tea, Union Jacks and digestive biscuits that don’t look like much but are in fact strangely tasty. I hear the song of my people, I came as fast as I could.

July 5, 2018

World of Warships – HMCS Haida

Filed under: Cancon, Gaming, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

The Mighty Jingles
Published on 3 Jul 2018

Oh Canada! Your ship finally made it into World of Warships even if your flag didn’t. I could just tell you what I think of her right now but that would spoil the video, so go on, watch it!

Little White Mouse Haida Review: https://forum.worldofwarships.com/top…

All music licensed from www.epidemicsound.com and www.machinimasound.com Really, I’m not kidding. Stop trying to claim license-free music you record company scumbags!

June 27, 2018

Remy: Violent Video Games

Filed under: Gaming, Law, Liberty, Media — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 04:00

ReasonTV
Published on 26 Jun 2018

In prison for life, Remy looks back on his violent past and contemplates where it all went wrong and who’s to blame.

Written and Performed by Remy
Shot and Edited by Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg
Mastering by Ben Karlstrom
Music tracks by Grind Time Production Squad

Reason is the planet’s leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won’t get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

—————-

LYRICS:

In the clink
In the slammer
Yeah I’m doing hard time
For a crime that I committed
Back in 2009

See violent games lead to crimes
Wish I knew from the start
Before I ever got involved
In playing Mario Kart

I was hugging the turns
Heaving items for thrills
Ain’t seen a toad so damaged by shell
Since that last oil spill

But something happens to your brain
Doing virtual wrongs
Woke up the next morning
And it wasn’t too long before I was

Dropping bananas Upon every street
Hurling turtles
Hurting every single person I see

Then I was road-raging at plumbers
Nobody could stop me
I’d run princesses off the road so much
I joined the paparazzi

Now I’m in prison doing 20 to life
How could such a game be legal man
The danger is rife

Well my fate is sealed
Won’t be doing right
Because I’m playing violent video games tonight
And the things I do I then do in life
It’s a tragedy
I’m gonna be in jail for life

Reminds me of another time
My life went astray
Playing a World War 2 game
Back in 2008

I was only playing a minute
Then I felt an unease
Next thing I did right after playing
I interred the Japanese

Years later I would pay the judges
To win every race
It’s just what happens when you play
Too many games by EA

Now I’m doing life
With no chance of parole
Why didn’t anybody ban these games
How was I to know

CHORUS

Expert here
And forgive me for stalling
But violent video games
The stats are appalling

Just look at this graph
And as you can tell
As gameplay’s increased
Youth crime has as well

Uh – It’s gone down
Well who needs a chart?
I took 400 grand in loans
So you know that I’m smart

Like a guy leaving the mohel
You’re missing the point
Freedom’s when you only get to play
The games we anoint

June 24, 2018

Proper Model Making – a rant against the decline of good model shops

Filed under: Business, Gaming, Military, Railways — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Lindybeige
Published on 1 Jun 2018

A bit of a rant about how youngsters these days are making fewer models. The setting is Helsinki’s Mallikauppa.
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Lindybeige

My source for the information about Charles Lutman were a newspaper article and word of mouth from his grandson.

Many thanks to the shop for letting me shoot this. Here is its website: https://www.mallikauppa.fi

Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.

June 20, 2018

Kids might interact more with the real world if parents weren’t so afraid to let them engage with it

Filed under: Gaming, Health, Liberty, Technology — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

Frank Furedi on the unintended consequences of too much parental protection from the real world:

Every summer, parents are confronted with new threats to their children to obsess about. We used to worry about our children being outdoors and being abducted. This year, we’re told that keeping them indoors will mean they become addicted to the internet.

In recent months, children’s digital activities have become a key focus of adult anxiety. Last month a Pew survey on the ‘silent addiction’ found that 45 per cent of American teenagers admit to using the internet ‘almost constantly’. In the UK, the idea of internet addiction has also become mainstream. Stories of kids becoming addicted to videogames, especially to a hugely popular online shoot-em-up called Fortnite, are everywhere.

[…]

My research has led me to the conclusion that the compulsive attachment of children to their online worlds is down to the fact that adult society has made it very difficult for them to engage with the offline world. Risk-averse child-rearing has created a climate in which children are constantly discouraged from experiencing life outdoors. During the past three decades, a culture of fear has enveloped childhood. Alarmist accounts of stranger danger, bullying or the likelihood of traffic accidents have made parents reluctant to allow their children to go out and explore.

Today, parents frequently accompany children on their way to school. They hover over them when they play in the park. Many children are actively discouraged from playing on their own outdoors. Schools forbid pupils from playing conkers or having snowball fights. No wonder that the simple delights of climbing trees and building dens have been replaced by hours spent in front of screens.

Surveys indicate that young children would rather be playing with their mates outdoors than cooped up in their digital bedrooms. But children are inventive creatures, who will take any opportunity to create their own world and try to establish a measure of independence from parental control. Young people are highly motivated to construct their own space where they can engage with their peers and develop their personality. Indeed, one of the reasons Fortnite has become so popular is that it allows children to join groups and talk live to one another, thus offering the illusion of forging relationships with other gamers – a sense of community.

May 15, 2018

Larry Correia gets the instant “unperson” treatment from Origins

Filed under: Books, Gaming, Liberty, Media — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 05:00

Science fiction writer Larry Correia was (briefly) the guest of honour at Origins. People threw tantrums and made unfounded accusations and the con chair melted:

So I’m no longer the writer guest of honor at Origins. My invitation has been revoked. It was the usual nonsense. Right after I was announced as a guest some people started throwing a temper tantrum about my alleged racist/sexist/homophobic/whatever (of course, with zero proof or actual examples), and the guy in charge (John Ward) immediately folded. He didn’t even talk to me first. He just accepted the slander and gave me the boot in an email that talked about how “inclusive” they are. I actually heard about it on facebook before I even saw the email.

Oh well.

They did this to John Ringo at ConCarolinas a little while ago, and took a lesson from it. This is just another new way for bullies to target people who disagree with them. Throw a fit, make up some accusations, and cry about how you feel unsafe. Now that they know it works, it is just another tool in their tool box.

For the record, I’m not any of the things they accuse me of. Despite writing a whole bunch of books, and a ton of political articles, and all of my many personal interactions with fans (I’ve done up to 15 cons and events in one year), none of these people can ever find any actual examples of me being sexist, racist, or homophobic (and the Guardian looked hard and still came up with nothing).

That’s because in reality, I’m a libertarian who does not give a shit who you are, or what you do, and it is none of my business, as long as you stay off my lawn. 🙂

This time they kept calling me a “rape apologist”. They dug up that classic that John Scalzi created about me several years ago. It’s total nonsense. I spent many years teaching self defense to women, and I’m all in favor of every rape attempt ending with the rapist receiving a couple hollow points to the chest. But that just goes to show the power of lies, rumor, and narrative.

So years later, complete strangers come out of the woodwork to talk about how evil I am. Yeah… That does get tiresome. It is wearying.

I’m really sorry for any fans who were planning on seeing me at Origins. Hopefully I’ll get to meet you at some other event.

For me personally, meh. I go to enough events. I’ll just do something else fun that weekend.

The saddest person in all of this is my son, who was my plus one. He was looking forward to playing a bunch of games, and then we were going to go to the zoo on Sunday. (They have manatees there!).

March 14, 2018

The History of Sci Fi – H.G. Wells – Extra Sci Fi – #2

Filed under: Books, Britain, Gaming, History — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Extra Credits
Published on 13 Mar 2018

H.G. Wells brought his socialist perspective to science fiction, creating great works that really ask us to look at where the human condition will take us hundreds of years from now.

February 25, 2018

Assassin’s Creed: Games with a Libertarian View of the World

Filed under: Gaming, Liberty — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 04:00

ReasonTV
Published on 23 Feb 2018

A look into the philosophy of Ubisoft’s long-running franchise.

—————-

Video games have become one of our most influential, popular, and creative forms of media. Last year, the industry generated almost $150 billion in revenue worldwide, rivaling books and films and dwarfing music.

Gamers spend over three billion hours a week in the virtual worlds of their choosing. And more so than other contemporary forms of media, video games explore the themes of freedom and personal agency, allowing players to go where they want and do what they please — as long as they’re prepared to bear the consequences. Two of the three best selling video games of all time are Grand Theft Auto 5 and Minecraft. They’re polar opposites in terms of violence and target audience, but both were designed to offer players the opportunity to make their own destinies.

But it’s the Assassin’s Creed series, published by Ubisoft, that puts the conflict between liberty and authority at the center of its plots, its characters, and the alternate history in which the games are set. Reason takes a look at the series’ narrative merits, and at the titular creed.

Written and edited by Ian Keyser. Read by Andrew Heaton. Gameplay footage by Sean Keyser.

“Plague” by Kai Engel is used under CC BY 4.0.

February 16, 2018

Games Should Not Cost $60 Anymore – Inflation, Microtransactions, and Publishing – Extra Credits

Filed under: Business, Economics, Gaming — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Extra Credits
Published on 24 Jan 2018

You would think that paying $60 for a game would be enough, but so many games these days ask for money with DLC, microtransactions, and yes, lootboxes. There’s a reason for that.

January 17, 2018

JourneyQuest S03E10 – “Gods & Heroes”

Filed under: Gaming, Humour — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment
Published on 16 Jan 2018

A note from the creators:

First, by the gods, watch the scene after the credits! Second, Matt Vancil (as of 01/16/2018) is in the middle of writing Seasons 4 & 5. There’s much more story to tell with all of these characters. Except for the Woodcutter. He’s dead af. Sucks to be him.

January 10, 2018

JourneyQuest S03E09 – “Black Robe Stuff”

Filed under: Gaming, Humour — Tags: , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment
Published on 9 Jan 2018

Watch the complete, uncut season on Amazon Prime or ZOE Premium (http://www.zombieorpheus.com) and be sure to follow us on Facebook for the latest updates (http://www.facebook.com/zombieorpheus)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress