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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 17, 2014 6:47:19 GMT -8
You mean what does it feel like to be.... BOWIE!! Oh, god, someone please run a game with both Ziggy Stardust and Miss Piggy as pre-gens. She's kinda a scro, right?
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 16, 2014 9:27:33 GMT -8
I would play in a Spelljammer game so fast.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 15, 2014 17:11:14 GMT -8
At least half-orcs, half-elves, half-demons,half-jizz puppets or whatever aren't motherfucking DragonBorn . . . Aaron As a card carrying member of the Society To Uplift, Protect, & Inculcate Disenchanters... I love both ya'll bitches. That made my night.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 12, 2014 3:25:28 GMT -8
I'm thinking about doing a short series, on a different RSS feed, about DnD5e. Probably not a long running show, and I'll cross post them on the happy jacks feed, along with the actual play. This might be a good format to accommodate those who want review shows. A "mini series" of shorter casts, or one long one, discussing the system and then an AP. Honestly the APs for a system do a lot more of me than a book review.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 11, 2014 8:56:18 GMT -8
When I get burnt-out on my game, we take a break. I don't run the game for usually 2-3 months - like a break in a TV show season. I try to leave it on a cliffhanger and just back away from the game completely for at least 1-2 months of the break. Then I gradually get back into it leading up to a scheduled date.
I usually find that as I read over my notes and start pulling things together, I get excited about the game all over again. I'm actually in the process of doing that now. Our first game in 3 months is this weekend. Woooo!!! ... Obviously I'm excited again.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 11, 2014 4:58:57 GMT -8
Based on my limited past experience, I feel that the female Thor and black Captain America are going to be temporary things. ... If there was more assurance that these changes would be permanent, I'd be less critical. I couldn't agree more. That would be crappy. I dont know if they did, but I hope WotC consulted with people in the non-binary gender community to write that clause. As a cis, hetero, (mostly) white male, I don't feel I have any right to say what is or isn't acceptable or offensive to groups that I'm not a part of. My big issue is with people who do. Other cis, hetero, white males don't get to say whether the wording goes too far or isn't good enough. From the many responses I've read, it would seem Wizards had a "two steps forward, one step back" situation with this inclusion. That's still a step forward in my book and I'm sure they've learned a lot from the feed back they've received.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 10, 2014 9:57:14 GMT -8
Your message here is basically "Play with women to get the emotions and relationships in your game!" And hearing that her contribution to the table is providing the love and emotions is a really good way to make a female player feel belittled. Some (a lot of?) women are really tired and frustrated about being pigeonholed in that way and may be turning to gaming as a way of exploring other areas, or in the hope that they can be recognized as valuable contributors in other ways than that. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that women do bring more emotions and relationships to a game. These things are important to a majority of women. I'm not saying all women bring this and that no men bring this or that this is the only contribution women make. I've been in groups of all women and groups of all dudes plus me and there is definitely a difference in the level of NPC interaction on a social level and the amount of talking about how a character's feelings and inner thoughts affect the actions they take in the game. Specifically in the examples D.T. Pints used, he's stating that a female player noticed an emotional connection between characters that he completely overlooked and that female players instigated deeper connections with NPCs (if I'm reading him right: please confirm). He wasn't reducing women to "those things that talk about love interests." And honestly, is it really offensive to say that female players want emotional connections in their games? Afterall, humans are creatures of emotion, not logic.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 10, 2014 5:44:07 GMT -8
I'm surprised that you didn't enjoy Snow Geisha, heavymetaljess. Everyone that I've served it to has liked it. I thought it was tasty, even though I generally prefer darker teas. I didn't pick up a heavy cherry flavor though, so maybe your batch was iffy? I am also of the opinion that I got a bad batch. I'm sure it had to do with the mix of not-tea-stuff you get in each cup, and the ultra quick brew method the manager told me about did help. I would be willing to try it again. Some teas are temperamental, and I don't mind that, I just like to know up front.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 9, 2014 6:56:29 GMT -8
jazzisblues: I'd actually be interested to hear what guys think about gaming with ladies. Also gaming with couples. I try REALLY hard not to show favoritism at the table (I wrote into the cast about this forever ago). I've gotten to a good place, but I love hearing people talk about their opinions of gaming with couples and/or women. It really gives me candid insight into what I should watch out for and ways to make people more comfortable at the table. I appreciate that you guys get people in to talk about diversity issues who represent the minority in question. Stu Venable is right, a bunch of white guys talking about any minority group without a perspective from that minority is kind of a circle jerk. It would be cool to have someone come on and the 'cast address both the minority perspective and the hetero-normative, white male perspective.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 8, 2014 13:14:36 GMT -8
Truth. I will admit that most of my Adagio orders are a mix of their samplers plus a 16 oz of Ti Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess Oolong) which I can't really get anywhere else in good quality. Full disclosure: I got burned on a tea from Teavana recently so I've been avoiding them... but it's getting hard with their new Blood Orange Sorbet Oolong. Sooo good as iced tea. Burned from a tea? Like what you wanted is what not they gave you? Yep, I was told, "Mild Cherry Flavor" and instead I got horrible medicine levels of fake cherry flavor. I went back to return it and the lady says, "You're not brewing it right. You brew 1 tsp for 15 seconds with boiling water." The label said 1.5 tsp for 2 minutes at 175. Long story short, they wouldn't take it back and I was stuck with a gross tea. As with all bad teas, it was then used to stain props for our AD&D game. The smell was so strong everyone complained. So I tried to trade it on r/TeaExchange, but everyone else also hated it. So, I ended up regifting it during a work White Elephant party. Snow Geisha White Tea, bleh.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 8, 2014 13:01:46 GMT -8
heavymetaljess kudos for the Tea Knowledge. I might get that temp setting Kettle for my wife, we just have a cheap basic one that stops after boiling. My wife is more of a tea drinker than I am and likes all of them white, green, rooibos, etc. I got it as a birthday gift and I use it at least once every day. All of my tea just tastes that much better because it's at the perfect temperature. 10/10 would recommend.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 8, 2014 13:00:22 GMT -8
Teavana vs Adagio: She's right. If you are buying in bulk. I personally don't. I prefer to keep a little bit of a wide variety around, rather than a lot of a couple of teas. At that point, you really aren't saving as much (as an example, the Jasmine Dragon Pearls from Teavana is $12.98 for 2 oz. vs Adagio at $19.00 for 3 oz. Whereas at the 16 oz mark, Teavana clocks in at something like $128, vs. Adagio's $64). Truth. I will admit that most of my Adagio orders are a mix of their samplers plus a 16 oz of Ti Kuan Yin (Iron Goddess Oolong) which I can't really get anywhere else in good quality. Full disclosure: I got burned on a tea from Teavana recently so I've been avoiding them... but it's getting hard with their new Blood Orange Sorbet Oolong. Sooo good as iced tea.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 8, 2014 7:43:05 GMT -8
*crackle knuckles* If we're going to talk about tea I feel I should weigh in. I'm going to steal malifer's layout: Caffeine
The caffeine level for each cup of tea is different and depends on a LOT of factors. You can read about it in this really good article. If you want lots of caffeine, you need a tea you can brew a long time at a high temperature without ruining the taste. For that, I'd recommend India Black teas. I have straight Darjeeling with milk and sugar in the morning instead of coffee. Of especial note from the article, "L-theanine, an amino acid found only in tea, has a relaxing effect that counteracts the jitteriness of caffeine without reducing the increase in alertness. " This is why I prefer tea in the morning, and coffee later in the day. I am no morning person and can not focus at work without something to wake my brain up. Republic of Tea has a list of teas by caffeine content. SteepingYou can be as simple or as complicated with tea as you want to be. At home, I brew my tea in a strainer for maximum leaf opening with water from my electric kettle that heats water to exact temps based on tea type. At work, I brew my tea in a coffee strainer twisted at the top or I'll just use a bagged tea. Loose Leaf vs. Tea BagMost of the time, you get better flavor from loose leaf tea as long as it has proper space to open. For that, I would 100% recommend a strainer. Teavana and Adagio make practically the same product, but you get a $5 coupon on your first Adagio order which makes it only $14 dollars for the small one. Totally worth it if you're going to go whole hog into full leaf teas. The nice thing about Teavana is that they have stores. You can go in and someone will help you pick teas. Hopefully, it won't be high pressure, but they are known for that. You pay for their help with higher prices. If you find something you like, I would recommend looking for a similar tea from Adagio because their prices are much better. Also, users of Adagio make custom blends you can buy (like Dungeon Master) which is pretty fun. If not, there are some really fantastic bagged tea that loose-leafers miss out on. I've never had a bad tea from Republic of Tea. You can order it online or get it at World Market. If you like chai, the best I've had comes from Zhena's in tea bags. They're all good and you can buy them online. My local grocer also carries them, but I don't know if that will apply everywhere. On the flip side, don't waste your money on their glass jar teas. Twinings makes excellent teas and they are really cheap. When I'm going to try some crazy new flavor, I always start with them. Also, they make tea in K-Cups if you do end up buying a Keurig. StorageDark, cool, and dry. Air tight if you can. For coffee and tea this is the same. This is why Zhena's glass jar teas taste terrible. Cold Brew
Do not buy tea bags that let you cold brew in the fridge. None of the ones I've tried have worked. The only proper way to make iced tea is the brew it, let it cool, and then put it in the fridge in a container and consume within a week. Tazo's concentrated chai is good, but the only other flavor they make is "green tea latte" which is Matcha and doesn't have that much caffeine. If you're going to brew iced tea, use a strong tea to start with. Of course, if you're making Southern Sweet Tea, be sure to use a LOT of sugar, Luzianne tea bags, and tons of lemon. Yum, yum. I'll never be too snobby to enjoy my Southern roots.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 5, 2014 12:46:37 GMT -8
So everyone is pissed off about the wrong things here...
Beer talk being removed from the show makes me a sad panda. I can't remember, but I might have brought it up in the survey. I liked the seasonal recommendations that showed up occasionally. It doesn't need to be every episode, but it was one of the fun things that drew me to the show way back. That and the fun-natured raunchiness, which I'm sure no one else liked either, but dammit, I did because the show is for adults and it made me laugh.
I think it was season 12, episode 11 where someone wrote in about beer and I almost came to the forum just to say, "YES! BEER IS BACK! My favorite summer beer is Porch Rocker." BTW, drink it - it's fabulous.
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Post by heavymetaljess on Sept 5, 2014 7:34:17 GMT -8
I have all the Player Option books and I think this is the one I reference the least. Mostly I've used it to get a better hold on how they envisioned the use of proficiencies and I like the idea of split up attributes. No one in my group wanted to use the broken down attributes, though, so it mostly sits on my shelf. I definitely use the other two more often, especially Combat & Tactics. I don't use the rules for miniatures, but everything else is really helpful. I actually just recommended the Critical Hit table yesterday to someone. To Kainguru's point, you can really see how they were playing with ideas that made it into later editions by reading over the Player Option books. You can usually find them very cheap on Amazon or Craig's List.
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