This goes back to one of Crawford's SA rulings about dragon breath. A dragon is a magical creature, but dragon breath isn't "magic" per se, apparently, which means that the damage type is what it is: fire, acid, lightning ...
I try not to mix evolution with fantastical beasts ... sometimes, it's better to let it be fantastical and magical. :)
@Shalvenay I am reaching back a few editions, but there were some really unusual dragons in either dragon mag, or in 2e, that had features something like that.
I need to look up the gem based dragons, one of them would be a good fit for a laser I think.
Some laser based effects are sensitive to atmospheric conditions ... hmmm, I am getting into projects I don't feel comfortable discussing in public.
@Shalvenay Did you read the original Pern books? Dragonflight, etc? McCaffrey did a neat job in trying to make the dragons "realistic" in her SF/Fantasy fusion.
@Shalvenay I don't know if they are dated, at this point, but I liked the way she built the world of Pern in the first three books. I'd recommend those books highly.
@nitsua60 Menolly of pern, or her busty sister Mellony?
I think I came across the harper hall trilogy first, and only years later discovered the first trilogy. I think it was even cooler to "go back" and learn about the earlier stuff after already being enchanted with the world.
The Harper stuff was pretty good, but I only recall reading the first one while I was at sea. Oddly, I never followed up and got the rest of the books. Hmmm, second hand books may get a visit from me this weekend. I hear Pern has aged pretty well ...
@nitsua60 Not sure if Hal is that clever, but that's a hell of a good idea of we find a magic item that allows Hal to be better at deception.
@nitsua60 That said, I think our current questing ought to be to either try to figure out the curse, or I introduce the leads I have/had at the harbor from the harbor master once we (hopefully) deal with the FF.
Heck, that's tomorrow night!
Hmm, looks like bed time for me. Early rise in the AM. Visit with you all soon.
McCaffrey's novels have interesting worldbuilding, but the characters tend to be flat, their plots repetitive, and the sex/gender portrayals... uncomfortable, especially with regards to consent.
Overall I got the impression she tends to stretch each series idea over about three times too many novels.
(I have a soft spot for Decision at Doona though.)
@KorvinStarmast @BESW Commonly held beliefs and behaviour of corporations. But the EU also really has a literal chartered human right to privacy that expresses it in no uncertain terms (which other laws implement or get tested against), but USA doesn't have that expressed as a fundamental right.
It sounds like the USA has a right to privacy similar to how Australia has a right to free speech: it doesn't exist except that it is recognised as existing in the space created by other laws and rights. That can be an issue though, since then there's only principles staking out the matter in very specific avenues.
Usually it just gets respected by lawyers, but the lack of a fallback fundamental principle and right on the matter can leave things in grey areas where privacy or free speech may have been perceived to be violated, but it was not violated in any specific avenue.
That impacted situations like various revelations through the years with regards to Facebook and how rapidly and omnidirectionally it was hoovering up and sharing all the personal data it could with minimal or no checks, including most recently the Cambridge Analytica discovery. In the USA that gets fixed by social pressure; in the EU some of those revelations were dealt with by Facebook being sued against that privacy right & instructed on data it couldn't collect.
(the most recent EU vs Facebook lawsuit I recall is from a couple of years ago, where Facebook was told it simply was not allowed to track or collect any data on EU citizens who weren't a member of its platform.)
@NautArch @KorvinStarmast @trogdor @Shalvenay something's come up and I need to be a little late tonight. Alright if we start 1 hour behind usual, 10pm EST? Unfortunately I won't be able to run any later, so it'll be a slightly shorter session.
@nitsua60 @trogdor @Shalvenay @NautArch That's 9 CST, I am good to go. Nadarr, Rrauj, Blud, what say we meet a bit earlier and discuss details, maybe a bit more In Character background sharing as Shal had mentioned a few weeks ago. What say you all?
@BESW The first three were decent. Agree that her worldbuilding is her strong suit. You might want to check publishing dates for context in re roles/gender tropes. As to the follow on series, yeah, probably milked that cow for all it was worth, as Martin is doing with GoT prequels. Won't any author tend to do that at least a little bit? Feed the fans as long as they have a hunger for more?
Author anounces spinoff series and/or new sequels. Most onlookers: "They're milking it." Super fans: "Rejoice! More stories!" Some super fans: "They're milking it."
@Shalvenay I'll be on about 8 to 8:15 PM Central Time. We can all fall in as needed, but I'd like to have (if life permits) all four of us on before DM arrives so we can be "ready" and have "game on" happen when DM is able to make it.
Some people have two modes: when they describe the work they like to non-fans, it's all praise. When they describe it to other fans, it can get quite salty :)
@kviiri as long as we're careful to separate "fans who understand and enjoy the show but can critique it effectively" from "fans who are hunting down the author on social media to harass them over the latest character development ruining the show and/or being inconsistent with said fan's internal model for the character"
@kviiri As Zach Braff (JD from Scrubs) once said: "A picture of me screwing one of my fans" - Followed by a picture of him being surprised while tightnening some screws on an electric fan.
I'm thinking at @Shalvenay because I know them to be good with this sort of things, but anybody with enough D&D 3.5e experience might help. I have a battle plan and I need to check it for blatant flaws. Possibly, in a place that's not available to the public, in order to avoid spoilers. Who's in?
(You're still the one who gets into problems because their solutions are too effective, right? XD)
