@Lord_Gareth I dunno if we'll go past Blade, but I strongly recommend Blade.
If the others are as good, they're definitely worth watching. Blade is true to the feel and theme of the source material, but has totally re-cast the story into a different setting with familiar but original characters, exploring non-Western vampire mythology in a way that might seem gimmicky outside its anime medium.
So: it's doing something with Blade that it could only do in the chosen medium. I like that.
Action's good. Voice acting is... well, it's in Japanese with English subtitles so I can't say a lot, but it seems good.
Trogdor laughs every time Blade does one of his signature moves because the action stops and the name of the move is emblazoned on the screen.
(Ah, Blade apparently knows some kind of sword-based magic in addition to his vampire powers.)
Vampires explode when they ash, giving opportunity for lots of "firefly" shots of raining ash mid-combat. Lots of Matrix-y freeze-framing of the action and mid-fight posture poses.
Excellent character designs, especially on the monsters.
@BESW I laugh because it is a ridiculous thing to do, and Anime in general has a huge problem with figuring that out
that being said, I agree than anime is a good medium for how they have decided to make the show. anime just has some issues that are generally particular to it, just like other forms of media
I don't know if "issues" is the word here. It's a medium that has its own conventions and norms, some of which seem ridiculous at first. And sometimes at second, too. :)
well, it has more to do with my own personal opinion
some people like that kind of thing, I guess
but to me, as BESW mentioned, I see no point in stopping the action so you can tell me, especially for the second or third time, what move whatever character is using is called
I'm not saying I hate anime, in fact I do kinda like it to a degree, but some things that are often done in anime shows annoy me a little
A lot of anime has this thing where they switch from dark and serious to suddenly dancing and singing. I think there was a bit in the end of Spirited Away that really threw me off. It really felt like a drastic break.
Think of things that are common in western television, like musical montage scenes. Again, trying to disassociate myself from my familiarity with the tropes, I can see how those could be ridiculous.
Even really basic and probably universal tropes --like the idea that a shot of a person looking right, followed by a shot of a person looking left, means they're looking at each other-- are still just conventions without any objective meaning or significance.
Laugh tracks are interesting because they almost always break the fourth wall, but they're sometimes diegetic and sometimes non-diegetic.
@trogdor Not really. Originally, laugh tracks weren't tracks. And often they still aren't: they're actual live in-studio audiences watching the recording as it's being made.
if someone else found it funny and laughed at it, I would prefer to be let alone to experience it for myself rather than have to hear a studio full of people laugh at it for me
regardless of how real said laughter is, it is still artificially tacked on
> Alfred: Careful, Bruce, the higher one aims the further one has to fall. Icarus learned that the hard way. > Bruce Wayne: Icarus just needed better technology.
Beware the Bat isn't my favourite Batman vehicle, but it can do bat-banter.
I am wondering about the seemingly inescapable correlation between specializing and become knowledgeable about something, and becoming an insufferable ass. :(
(My Facebook feed is annoying me this morning)
And the noteworthy exceptions to this rule really help illuminate this trend.
The Baha'i community building processes around the world are working to cultivate what is being called a "humble posture of learning," which I think speaks nicely to that correlation.
Visiting the Holy Land isn't usually compatible with visiting other parts of Isreal; our visas are very short and specific. But a meet up for lunch or something in Haifa is possible.
@lisardggY I think each person reacts differently to knowledge display. I love learning things, so I rarely consider people insufferable, but some friends of mine have trouble to get along with another friend who is a passionate teacher
@Trajan The triggers to this particular rant is were someone who shared a link to a Board Game Finder site, which lets you find a good game based on a set of filters.
Immediately some board game aficionados started snarking at it, saying "How could it put Game X next to Game Y? Everyone knows they're completely different!".
And not realizing that for the 95% of people who aren't as deeply into board games as they are, it's an invaluable tool.
The second one was a thread in a group about "What' the most obscure/unknown RPG you've played". Some interesting responses there, and people saying "What, Game Z? It's really famous, how can you say it's obscure?", when they're just trying to show off their familiarity with obscure indie games.
@lisardggY If you ever find yourself in a group of literature/literary theory people, say "So, who do you think wrote the Shakespearean canon?" and then duck.
Something similar in the same group a while ago. I shared @mxyzplk blog post about how the XP system shapes how adventures are structured.
Which immediately sparked a slew of "Well, naturally, I outgrew XP systems back when I was still a toddler" responses, which totally missed the point, which was how game mechanics can affect narrative choices.
@lisardggY There's a tendency to polarise any debate, "for" and "against," which is poisonous to actually discussing the impact and application of a given thing.
This morning I observed to my dad that he was keeping his zoris in a particular spot lately, and he responded defensively because it was hard for him to imagine I'd bring it up unless I had a problem with it.
If you start with a statement, and then ask a question about it, like: "The mechanics present in games affects the narrative. Let's discuss how the Experience system affects this narrative"
@InbarRose That's pretty much a direct translation of what I wrote. :)
My mistake was probably opening with "This shows how some problems with hte XP system", and only then phasing to "The interesting part is how the mechanics affect the narrative", but by then, everybody reading was already thinking of "XP, good or bad".
@InbarRose Oh, right. I was running off and didn't want to cut off the conversation by circumstance.
It's unlikely I'll be back in Haifa until at least 2018; the Universal House of Justice is elected every five years, so if I'm on the National Spiritual Assembly again then, like I was last year, I'll be back for the International Convention.
Over 11 hundred people attended the Convention personally last year, with an addition 400 or so absentee ballots.
It's a duty and responsibility to vote, but attending the International Convention in person --while a great bounty and privilege-- is not mandatory for every member of every National Assembly.
Our Assembly has a long-standing policy that so long as national funds permit they will loan Assembly members the money if necessary because it's felt that having all nine attend is especially good for a number of reasons.
@BESW Hi BESW, sorry to be brief, I am running late for my study group, and currently when online pretty much occupied with getting a handle on my newly acquired mod powers. ;)
@Zachiel Not a bad person, just a different sort of gamer.
I lean very heavily toward the "story" side, and want as little mechanics as possible. Thus why my wife and I quit our Pathfinder group. The Pathfinder group we were with leaned very heavily toward mechanics, with very little roleplaying or regard for story. Different strokes.
@InbarRose I especially like the idea that they expect simply having a session will result in enough character development to justify swapping something around.
@BESW Although, as our recurring conversation over how rules encourage certain playstyles demonstrates, having mechanics for changing things after a session will subtly (or not so subtly) encourage you to do so.
This applies to Fate and character development just as much as it does to D&D and murderhobosity.
As a new player in anything (not even only RPGs), whenever I am given an option to do something, my assumption is that I'm supposed to do so. Knowing when not to take something offered to you is a sign of increased understanding and system mastery
@JonathanHobbs The reason your pilgrim is out answering letters and helping people is to help him decide if he wants to become a monk at the temple or settle down on one of the tiny worlds and make a life for himself there.
At the end of each session, you decide if he's ready to choose yet.
If he's not, then the colour of stone he's got the most of that session determines whether he changes how he helps people or how he gets in trouble on his next adventure.
If he's ready to decide, then the colour of stone he's got most of total over all sessions determines which destiny he chooses.
The per-turn mechanic is "Draw three stones, put back all the stones of one colour. The number of remaining stones, combined with whether you're in trouble, determines your action that turn."
I was hoping to run it for my group last week, but only one guy showed up so we went out for beer and BBQ instead. Not sure if people are going to show this week and if they will what we will play le sigh
He's been my D&D/Pathfinder DM for quite a few years, and a living proof that you can incorporate elements of Author-stance and Director-stance into D&D-style games if you want.
@Trajan How's what? How I play? Heavily into author stance. My last Pathfinder character, for instance, spent his first 3 levels casting spells subconsciously. I, the player, knew what spells I wanted to cast in combat. The character had the general motivation and all sorts of powers he couldn't consciously control.
My wife, in the same campaign, took it one step further, and would roll a die each round to select the spell to cast - even if it was inappropriate, tactically.
Around lv4 we both decided that this has been going on long enough for us to control out powers. She had some in-character development about her heritage, and I accepted that I was a conduit for nature's powers and could actually control them.
Reminds me of a setting I wrote once. Magic was passed through bloodlines, and all magic users were called Mages in the game, mechanically those with magic bloodlines were Wizards. Sorcerers were the Progenitors of their bloodlines, which was very rare, they could do magic without researching it - no limit to what spells they can manifest with each level... whereas the Wizards were limited to what spells were in the libraries etc... and I made it very limited since Magic was rather rare...
I've seen the case where people vote to close based on the format of the question, and suggest improvements. Then the person edits- but perhaps one more vote is needed to close, and someone votes after the edit closing it.
If there is an edit, can we notify the close voters, and remove their cl...
@Zachiel So is she promoting or asking how to promote? The title suggests one but the body suggests another. (I am aware the point is moot and soon to be closed I am just curious.)
It annoys me that there are no tags for specific prestige classes. I have recently added a tag for the dragon disciple class. I feel that we should add tags for all of the official prestige classes of every game, but I'm unsure if that is necessary or even a good idea. Should we add these tags?
Speaking of prestige classes. I my dm has been mentioning something about legendary prestige classes in pathfinder. Does anyone know what these might be?
I am asking about an edge case based on the three paragraphs under "Encounters with PC Mounts" on DMG 46. So far as I can tell these paragraphs are not reproduced anywhere else, and these paragraphs are why I am asking this question. Please bear this in mind when you answer; thank you.
When a PC...
When you are mounted and move at least 10 feet on your turn to reach the target of your melee attack, the damage of the attack is increased by 1 for every 10 feet you moved on your mount to reach the target this turn. • While mounted, you have advantage on melee attack rolls against Medium or smaller creatures that are not mounted.
also it gives you proficency with land mounts and lances if you didnt have it before
During character creation, are characters required to purchase multiple licenses for their restricted weapons, or does one license cover them all?
In the provided examples it looks as if one does but, like my related question, the examples aren't very clear, and the text doesn't seem to be clear...
One of the things that has come up during character creation and item purchasing for my group is if you need separate licenses for carrying guns and melee weapons, or if melee weapons are handled differently.
I looked through the book and couldn't find anything other than the book essentially sa...
@waxeagle You know, that's exactly the reason why I never liked ToH. Looking at the goblins and knowing - just knowing that they're forced to do their business in the corridors I'm walking through was simply too much.
So picture a system where there are 3 different kinds of initiative
also picture that there is a cascading series of rounds tied to your initiative
but the whole combat isnt decided by it
in those rounds the actions you take can negatively affect your initiative costing you your position in the initiative order and or losing a turn within a round
my first experience with the system I shot someone, failed to kill them, and then hit the ground to dodge their attack
hitting the ground cost me all other actions because of the hit to my initiative
meanwhile the table (6 other people) and the enemies (at least 6) all got to act 2 more times before a new initiative roll happened
The dice pool system with exploding successes mean you spend even more time rolling dice than in any other system Ive played
Also the system is extremely simulationist so theres always modifiers affecting your dice pool
Also almost every roll is a contested roll, aka me shooting someone isn't vs a static number like AC but against their dodge/athletics skill so the DM also has to be rolling dice all the time
@aaron @alexp yeah and you also get into all sorts of super broken and cheesy characters because the game attempts to have two kinds of magic, hacking, and physical abilities all exist but be different approaches. Except you can easily stack them to create super broken characters
Its also a system where i went out of my way to build the street samurai-est of street samurai and the magic conjurer was better at straight up combat than me
Do you like rolling, literally all the dice? Do you like having to convince a DM why you should get benefits X Y and Z to your dice pool because of the story and or arguing that negatives A B and C dont apply to you because story?
its that kind of a system
I detest that
I like systems like 4e where there is still compexity but the focus is on tactical choices in a very closed combat system
or systems like FATE where the system mechanics are about story.
> Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! > How I wonder what you're at! > Up above the world you fly, > Like a tea tray in the sky. > Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! > How I wonder what you're at!
I've seen the case where people vote to close based on the format of the question, and suggest improvements. Then the person edits- but perhaps one more vote is needed to close, and someone votes after the edit closing it.
If there is an edit, can we notify the close voters, and remove their cl...
It annoys me that there are no tags for specific prestige classes. I have recently added a tag for the dragon disciple class. I feel that we should add tags for all of the official prestige classes of every game, but I'm unsure if that is necessary or even a good idea. Should we add these tags?
