Posts by packbat@dragon.style
(DIR) Post #9mtULLOfF5O3EoTn4C by packbat@dragon.style
2019-09-13T16:00:37Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Something that's shockingly easy to miss if you grew up in a context where the term for "tabletop roleplaying game" was "D&D":Dungeons and Dragons is actually a fairly specific system aiming to create a particular kind of game.Yes, DMs and players have a titanic amount of influence over what the game feels like - the campaigns I've been in have included "travel from adventure to adventure", "periodically get the team together to solve a problem through puzzle-solving and moxie", "fantasy XCOM in Greyhawk-esque colonialist Appalachians", "fantasy post-apoc Earth with pop culture jokes" (my character in that one is a sorcerer who channels her power through the ancient picture-characters known as Emoji)......but D&D assumes:- Combat is a big part of the story and character builds.- The capabilities of characters ramps up from "similarly competent to mundane humans" to, at /minimum/, "kick 80-foot-tall giants in the knee and trip them".- Commoners are almost powerless against any adventurers above a very low level.- The DM has full control over the diegetic universe and the limits of what players are allowed to attempt to do.- Challenges should be frequently resolved by random chance.- The pivotal events of the world happen at the scale of a dozen people or so at a time.- The game follows the characters from past into future.- The progression of the characters' arcs should definitely include gaining wealth, both in specie and in rare items.- There are cosmic forces acting on ideological motives trying to change the world to conform specifically to their image of it.And yes, there are ways to work around those things ... but the game assumes these things.It's not a generic system. I haven't even touched on all the ways it's not a generic system. It's something specific with advantages and disadvantages.And so it doesn't need to be anyone's default. It can just be an option. And people can prefer other options.
(DIR) Post #9nQ8VofnUki3FlqWUC by packbat@dragon.style
2019-09-29T16:40:54Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
I think I've finished this to my satisfaction: a PICO-8 Flappy-Bird-like with some nifty lighting shenanigans and a modicum of extra gameplay. Full details in a post on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/30333552
(DIR) Post #9nWSsQMu9LqnVVqrAG by packbat@dragon.style
2019-10-02T15:40:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Here is a sequence of events:0. All of this occurred with me using Firefox on a Windows laptop.1. I read the top of a Twitter thread.2. I scroll down reading replies. (Fortunately, in this particular thread, it happened not to be a painful process.)3. Some ways down (12 [Page Down] keypresses, approximately), I see an interesting reply.4. I decide to reread the original post to give the reply some more context.5. Using the [Home] button, I go to the top of the page and reread the original post.6. Using the [/] (forward slash) key, I open the "Quick find" box and type in a word from the interesting reply.7. Firefox turns up no search results. Manually scrolling confirms that this occurs with words that are definitely in the reply.I have two questions here:a. How?b. /Why?/
(DIR) Post #9oLiRPdVW3ido1g5FA by packbat@dragon.style
2019-10-26T20:52:40Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
a disability communications technique care of the tumblrs https://findingfeather.tumblr.com/post/188594514422/of-course-like-any-social-tip-this-doesnt-alwaystl;dr: phrasing required accommodations as a statement of fact and not a request - e.g. going from "I cannot make phone calls for disability reasons, could we continue via email?" to "I cannot make phone calls for disability reasons, but I can answer your questions via email." - reduces the odds that abled people try to argue with the accommodationsnot to zero, of course, but reduces.
(DIR) Post #9oOIR1UrFeXrbXfKNs by packbat@dragon.style
2019-10-28T16:28:25Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
A very good PSA on some very misleading (but very widespread) tech advertising: Tom Scott, "This Video Is Sponsored By ███ VPN" https://youtu.be/WVDQEoe6ZWY
(DIR) Post #9olONUMBXbqoRfi3m4 by packbat@dragon.style
2019-10-29T15:11:47Z
0 likes, 3 repeats
The fediverse hates marketing, hates brands, and hates corporations, and is pretty hypersensitive to anything that feels like any of those things. Posting pre-composed #marketing #messages with #All #The #PotentiallyRelevant #Hashtags is probably going to get your account deleted as spam rather than achieve what you want.Marketing your brand is not the same as promoting your work, however. Businesses advertise. People self-promote. And you'll have to be careful about not /looking/ like advertising - see "hypersensitive" - but if you are an individual posting about what you do, that is /night and day/ different.People behave differently than businesses. People follow accounts based on interest, not based on rewarding engagement with more engagement in order to increase the organic reach of their posts. People interact with others based on their thoughts and feelings and priorities, not based on rewarding engagement with &c. People talk about stuff that has nothing to do with their income because it interests them, not because it draws traffic to their feed.And people self-promote. People say, "I posted a song to my Patreon" and attach a link. People say, "I'm a freelance technical writer looking for gigs" and attach their contact info. People say, "My video game releases on Friday, so if you do streams or let's plays, DM me for a free promotional copy." People say, "I'm doing a podcast on hardware hacking and I'd like to get someone from outside the US to talk about their experience." People talk about what they're doing with the hope that others will care, and people talk about what they do for income in hopes that those interested can hear about it and help sustain that income, and people ask for help from anyone willing to give it. People self-promote.So that's rule 0. The fediverse hates marketing and loves people. Be a people.
(DIR) Post #9rNWf6DSLgCwk2Y6wC by packbat@dragon.style
2020-01-25T11:03:40Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
🛌🏽🛌🏽 💬 🛌🏽 💢So, opinions on sleeping:
(DIR) Post #9sXGDdRRw3a4y5TjE0 by packbat@dragon.style
2020-02-29T16:28:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Sitting on our back stoop selfie! 🦊✨(Hidden for eye contact, clutter, and beverage.)
(DIR) Post #9sZJaEME3JcQ0fQ9ZY by packbat@dragon.style
2020-03-01T15:55:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
...so apparently Fedilab has a feature now where people can use it to subscribe to other instances' local timelines: https://fosstodon.org/@TheFuzzStone/103747206700078478This feels counter to fediverse culture as we understand it. I don't know if other people have opinions on this. #mastodev - 🐲💧
(DIR) Post #9soQDgNCyocx6SQzXU by packbat@dragon.style
2020-03-08T23:12:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
How many times have y'all seen someone in the US write MST or CST or EST or PST instead of whatever-DT because they don't realize that the "S" stands for "Standard"?There are a lot better reasons to hate daylight saving time systems - they almost certainly have a body count, being as they jet-lag almost everybody at once - but fuck this, we want people to be able to say what time zone they're in and not accidentally be a solid hour off.- 🦊 💢 (P.S. did you know that in Britain, the "S" in BST stands for "Summer"? This whole thing is a communications disaster.)
(DIR) Post #9tHba7YGzrOrzputns by packbat@dragon.style
2020-03-22T23:36:24Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
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(DIR) Post #9uAz6qSV9Np5VUh46K by packbat@dragon.style
2020-04-18T17:56:39Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Gender?
(DIR) Post #9uNiRSvYf62oRQ0i6S by packbat@dragon.style
2020-04-24T19:47:30Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Got an idea for a change to make to our PICO-8 rain gif cart and it turned into something a little bigger than I anticipated - I like it!- 🐍 ✨
(DIR) Post #9udqbVhNK2mUtLkRP6 by packbat@dragon.style
2020-05-02T16:20:45Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
If y'all could freely choose at any time whether y'all's physical bodies had horns/antlers/&c. and what form they took, how would that play out?(Assume that it's of no more social consequence than choice of clothes.)( 🔁 ☑️ )
(DIR) Post #9uytR2gtS0UATJiDbc by packbat@dragon.style
2020-05-12T19:47:45Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
...no, seriously, "all men are oppressors" is a TERF talking point. They use it pretty regularly against trans men to pressure them not to transition. One of the obstacles to transitioning that we've heard trans men bring up is feeling like, if man = horrible, then being a man = /choosing/ to be horrible.I /entirely/ fucking understand why people are furious about the ubiquity of "not all men" as an argument but, like, saying, "the good ones know they aren't included in my blanket generalizations" isn't how emotions work.Some people aren't affected. A lot of people are.- 🔥💧
(DIR) Post #9w73JlqYVbW5DETzA8 by packbat@dragon.style
2020-06-15T14:48:10Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-06-15/supreme-court-sex-discrimination-gay-and-transgender-workersThe US Supreme Court just ruled (in deciding the case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia - for some reason, few of the articles about the decision mention that?) that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 covers homosexual and transgender individuals because punishing a trait or behavior that would go unpunished in someone of a different sex is discrimination by sex.And it's a 6-3 decision.It's more limited than we'd like but that seems like a good thing, and however limited it is, it pushes the norm pretty hard in a good direction.
(DIR) Post #9wX4kteLppPWEgPQfI by packbat@dragon.style
2020-06-28T00:58:18Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
___ -- ___ - ___~~~~~~~~~~ >><> >><> >><> >><> >><> >><>
(DIR) Post #A1hq30pGAFDPFruZGa by packbat@dragon.style
2020-11-29T23:42:21Z
1 likes, 3 repeats
Wondering how many folks in our slice of the fediverse are queer. 🏳️🌈(Boosts fine but no worries.)(Redrafted to fix a wording, sry!)
(DIR) Post #A38eAlaKDxWG311OnQ by packbat@dragon.style
2021-01-11T19:12:08Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
I think people have asked this or something similar before, but: how well do you think the instance admin of the account you're voting on this poll with knows you?( 🔁 ✅ )
(DIR) Post #A46RYQXxmxd726BxGi by packbat@dragon.style
2021-02-09T16:18:31Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
We've been mulling for a while about how to word this, but:Identity is not a logic puzzle.It's a storyor a poem.There is no excluded middleno law of noncontradictionthere are landmarks, memories, friendships,resonant frequencies that sound in unison with selvesand victories won in the struggle for self-understanding.They should be celebrated.