T w e n t y S i d e d
– Shamus, Friday Oct 6, 2006
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings Remaster XIV: Boring Distractions”
DM of the Rings Remaster XIV: Boring Distractions
Sims 4 Overthinking: The Three Months
Lorretta is sinking her money into the house like a gambling habit. First, it was $5,000 for the original quote of fixing the back bedroom.
Then, she discovered rot in the second bedroom while taking out the paneling. Another $2500 for the repairs. Then, she had to put carpet in all the upstairs bedrooms. She wants to opt for at least mid-tier carpet, since it was how she rationalized continuing with the reno instead of just selling the place. She is out easily $14,000 by now, and she hasn’t even discovered the water heater yet.
At this point, she finally has to face the third bedroom, the former study, which she hasn’t been touching except for to install the carpets. The other rooms have been stripped of their paneling and painted, but the study she saved for last.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: The Three Months”
DM of the Rings Remaster XIII: Let’s Not go There
My own suggestion for the 4.0 edition rules: Anyone who quotes Holy Grail during a session should be made to eat their own character sheet.
– Shamus, Wednesday Oct 4, 2006
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings Remaster XIII: Let’s Not go There”
Sims 4 Overthinking: For me? You shouldn’t have! No! Really!
So, I have a Sims 4 Overthinking post written and ready for screenshots and posting, but EA has chosen now to force me to ‘upgrade’ to their new EA App (and politely uninstall Origin for me in the process.) I can’t help but picture the purchase screen for a new appliance, like a washing machine, where they offer to haul your old one away if you give them $80. But, instead of charging me $80, they’re just breaking into my house and taking it by force. Gee, thanks.
I’ve known this was coming for awhile, but I had bypassed it in the program files hoping I could put it off. It seems EA is onto this, however, because the bypass I did, and the one many other Sims players were using is no longer functional.
This would usually be a pretty quick thing. I’d be angry for half an hour and try to bypass it, then, once I realized I couldn’t, I’d just sigh and accept my fate, download it and move on. The problem is, my install is a bit special. Most of it is totally fine, but some of my files are a cracked version that it’s going to take me and my husband a week to figure out how to make work with the new launcher.
If I’m not very, very careful, and go slow, I could end up breaking my save games, including, you know, the one I’m working on for this funky thing I get to tell people I do for a ‘job’ now. Thank you guys for sticking around and reading this trash, it’s super cool to be able to tell people I do anything for work. So many years of doctors appointments and going to the bank where I just had to go ‘Uhhh…’ when asked what I do for work, but, no longer! Now I write for the internet! Ha! Huh. Maybe that’s more a ‘gotcha’ in my head.
Anyway, I guess I have a week of shaking my fist angrily at the corporate overlords to look forward to. Oh goody.
Money
So, it’s been nine months since Dad’s been gone, and about seven since I began writing here. This has offered a lot of time to mope and brood, or, you know, ‘think’, whatever you want to call it. In that time, I’ve had a lot of writing ideas. Everything from games I’ve had thoughts on, to projects I’ve been working on; D&D, commentary, Minecraft, you name it. I’ve had enough material that I could likely kick the site back into at least three or four posts a week, but…Houston, we have a problem.
See, there’s sort of an elephant-in-the-room issue that makes talking about, well, anything feel redundant and repetitive. I want to talk about my love-hate relationship with Stardew Valley, my reasoning for having a thousand ‘smart’ devices, my favorite children’s MMO, and every issue I have with Wizards of the Coast. But, at the end of the day, what I have to say about all those things has a common denominator which would get old to write about very, very fast.
Everything is a monopoly, and every creative decision I want to talk about boils down to money, not actual people. People are interesting, they make independent decisions and sometimes bonkers bad ones. Nuance and storytelling, ignorance and narrow world views, those are things we can talk about. Why CEO #34 made a piss-poor decision that will only really hurt employees and consumers and land him with a four week paid holiday isn’t fun and snappy conversation, it’s fucking depressing.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Money”
DM of the Rings Remaster XII: NPC Non Grata
Some notes about writing a campaign:
- It’s great that you took the time to come up with “Count Devron Masuvius Beldamor the III, High Magester of the Realms of Greeenwood”, but you need to realize that the players are just going to refer to him as “that wizard guy”, or simply, “Mister fancy-pants”.
- If you send along a high-level NPC of great majesty and power to accompany the party, you need to realize that the players will treat this character like a bazooka: The NPC will become a weapon used to solve a problem in the bloodiest and most expedient manner possible, and then discarded without ceremony.
- You may be a group of unsightly men sitting around a card table on a Friday night, but your players will still be looking for chances to meet girls.
– Shamus, Monday Oct 2, 2006
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings Remaster XII: NPC Non Grata”
Sims 4 Overthinking: The Sunk Cost
Alright, finally. The year is still 2001, where we’ve been stuck for the past three episodes. Why have we been sticking around a single year, you may ask? Well, mostly because of Kelly’s pregnancy. Not much really happens, in most cases, over a course of five years to a person. They might move, start a new job, get a dog, experience a breakup, but all of that can be explained and told very quickly. In our case, telling this particular story, the most important details are the things that happen to the house. If Kelly lived in the house, and had a plan for what to do when the baby was born, this would all fly by very quickly. Interpersonal drama is fun, but not the point of the series. The problem is, she and Michael don’t have a plan, not yet, anyway.
Their indecision has created a bottleneck of sorts. In a way, we have to zoom in. We need to see every little factor and decision along the way, because right now, the unknown is slowing us down. Babies change everything, and if Lorretta is honest with herself, that is exactly why she’s suddenly been working overtime on the house.
She would have been doing projects, sure, it’s her house and she needs to make it livable. We would have been looking at the alterations she’s making over the next three years while she slowly fixes it up. But, the looming possibility of a baby on the way has given her a time constraint. Kelly doesn’t want to stay with her because of the fumes, so Lorretta is doing everything in her power to get rid of them as quickly as possible, just in case. Kelly and her mom don’t have a good relationship, and Lorretta is trying not to kid herself about that, but, if they need somewhere…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Sims 4 Overthinking: The Sunk Cost”
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