#3E-Civility

[3rdeyeinsights]

#INDUSTRIES #3E-Pharmaceutical #3E-Healthcare #3E-Public Opinion #3E-Polling #3E-Vaccination #3E-Journalism #3E-Communications. #VALUES #3E-Integrity #3E-Respect #3E-Compassion #3E-Accountability #3E-Fairness #3E-Authenticity #3E-Transparency #3E-Openness #3E-Civility #3E-Responsibility. #TRAITS #3E-Open-Mindedness #3E-Adaptability #3E-Commitment #3E-Resourcefulness #3E-Thoughtfulness #3E-Empathy #3E-Analytical Thinking #3E-Demonstrating Inclusivity #3E-Comprehension.

[uesp]

It is 3E 389, the Empire is in grave peril due to the Emperor being secretly replaced

It is 3E 405, the Empire is in grave peril due to a lost letter

It is 3E 427, the Empire is in grave peril due to a betrayal ~3,500 years ago

It is 3E 433, the Empire is in grave peril from the assassination of the royal family

It is 4E 201, the empire is in grave peril from a civil war

It is 4E...

#the elder scrolls #uesp #lore #skyrim #oblivion #morrowind #daggerfall #arena

[thydungeongal]

This is more a problem with RPG culture, but one problem that often becomes apparent in game discussions is that there isn't a cohesive culture of play and that often leads to a lot of talk about how to address differences in player expectations. D&D is of course the big elephant in the room here because it's such a massive game so it will of course draw in a lot of people, but as I keep harping on D&D's marketing in the recent years has really oversold how adaptable D&D is and while the idea of using D&D for "deeper" stories is as old as AD&D 2e the relatively recent influx of high profile actual play has also informed a lot of people's vision of what a game of D&D is supposed to be.

And this often leads to miscommunications between me and other D&D enjoyers: I enjoy D&D as a challenge game where a bunch of adventurers go into a place (not necessarily a dungeon but the rules and procedures of a dungeon crawl can be adapted to almost any hostile and unwelcoming location) where there's potentially hostile creatures and some environmental puzzles, then they return to civilization to lick their wounds, rinse and repeat. That's basically the gameplay loop D&D (regardless of edition) has the most systems for (D&D 3e is kind of an odd one out, since in spite of being sold as the Return to the Dungeon edition at the time, by sheer rules volume it's the most not-Dungeon edition of D&D). Sure it's nice to have little moments of quiet when the dungeoneers can explore the world outside of the dungeon (or the world outside of dangerous adventuring places to be more exact) and maybe do a bit of emotional exploration in addition to the dungeon exploration, but that sort of play to me should always be the spice, never the whole meal, because those quiet moments are time away from what the game actually has systems and procedures for.

A lot of D&D players are already shaking their dang heads at this idea where the dungeon is the main focus of the dungeon game, and I'm like yeah, but your way of playing where the action takes place mostly outside of the dungeon is valid too. I just personally don't enjoy that type of play within the scope of D&D either as a player or a GM, because it would feel like only half-utilizing the rules of the game. That also leads to the idea of the GM as an unpaid game designer: using D&D for a genre of play outside of its scope will pretty much mean that the GM needs to be thinking of ways to adapt the rules of the dungeon game to activities outside of the dungeon in a meaningful way or coming up with their own rules to make that part of the game more engaging.

Of course a lot of this mismatch between group desires can and should be addressed before the game, because I emphatically don't think that the GM, in addition to all the other roles they traditionally have, should also have the job of trying to cater to each and every one of the players' wildly divergent tastes, because it's not quite as simple as making sure that the Combat Enjoyer gets their combat and the Dungeon Fan gets to go into a dungeon and the Social Butterfly gets to socialize with the NPCs, because a lot of the time those expectations can be contradictory. Like, I know it's not usually this dramatic, but some players prefer the interaction part of the game to the point where they feel unengaged during the combat and exploration parts, while some players feel the interaction part works best either as part of the exploration (i.e. within da dungeon, talking to the creatures who dwell therein instead of automatically assuming they ought to be put to the sword) or as a bit of spice between trips to the dungeon.

So anyway, I think it shouldn't be the GM's job to try to balance the divergent tastes of like ten different types of players (and this is something that some DMGs of the past have even given guidance towards, sometimes with clever little names for player types), because it would be much better that there be a broad agreement before the game begins what type of game it's going to be, so there would preferably be no "boring parts" for anyone. The problem I feel is multifaceted: part of it lies in the very idea itself that role-playing systems are infinitely adaptable, which leads to mismatches between what type of game is expected and what type of game the text itself supports. Sometimes game texts themselves do a poor job communicating where the strengths of the game lie (I feel most "trad" role-playing games fall into this trap because they often try to provide as broad a framework of rules and then struggle to explain where those rules best be applied). And sometimes game texts and the cultures surrounding them sell the idea, against all reason, that the game should support multiple modes of play when it actually supports like one or two at most. (This is that thing about D&D's marketing and the culture surrounding it that I keep harping on about.)

So does this matter? Is real harm being done? Probably not. These problems are ones that can be resolved through communication. But I also feel there would be less need for communication about mismatched desires if one could join a group playing a game and have an approximate idea of what type of game to expect. A lot of this stems from the fact that I like to take game texts at face value: if someone tells me that a game is about more than combat and then shows me a game that is mostly rules for how to apply force violently I'll be like "yeah, but... it's mostly about combat." If a game is mostly rules for being in the dungeon and then the playerbase tells me that dungeons actually suck ass and people who enjoy the game for the dungeons actually don't know what the game is really about then I can't help but feel puzzled.

And I know I'm talking about this in the context of D&D because it is the big elephant in the room, but this is not unique to D&D: I have heard of groups that have played sessions of Rolemaster without barely rolling on the tables (and I have been guilty of running such a game too because of my poor time management skills smdh) who have been proud of the fact and I'm like my brother in I.C.E. why wouldn't you want to roll on those tables that kick so much ass!? But especially these days there are lots of indie games out there that simply through extremely clear rules texts manage to communicate exactly what the game is supposed to be about and those games are really good at setting expectations of what the game should look like purely through their game text.

#long post

[yarnlass]

Magister is a tough gig

Still going through this old DND 2E (or 3E) supplement, and I'm surprised just how much lore Ed is able to fit into this book via the vehicle of the Magister role. It doesn't really relate much to Gale, but as I read this book it's through that filter, and I have found a few interesting things.

The main thing that I didn't realize was how different Gale's life seems to be in relation to the wizards and sorcerers throughout Faerun over the ages -- in a nutshell, they mostly killed each other. The life Gale describes is one of scholarly accomplishment and civilized advancement among likeminded peers -- he attends a school dedicated to teaching novices to advance with supervision of their more advanced masters, he mentions colleagues that he has discussions and disagreements with, hell, the game even implies he has friendly relations with incredibly powerful wizards (that are evil/insane, even!) like Halaster Blackcloak of the Undermountain. It could be because he grew up and lives in Waterdeep, perhaps the most civilized locale in all of the Sword Coast, that shapes his life more than anything, but I have to imagine that since the early days of Faerun it's become safer and more civilized to live as a mage -- it's not the wild west anymore, so to speak.

There's an entire section dedicated to all previously known Magisters, and it's crazy how many of them were just power-hungry muderhobos. Mystra and Azuth favor and prefer those who were good natured and helped others, even doing them favors beyond the usual Magister, but it didn't stop them from choosing some real nasty pieces of work (or preventing the really nasty ones from obtaining the title of Magister after killing the last one). The average lifespan of a Magister in office is bleak -- no more than 4 years, and this is averaged out among some who were Magister for 60 years and some that were Magister for a day before someone killed them, on purpose or accidentally.

It just used to be incredibly common for mages (meaning any magic user) to just hunt down and kill any rival mage to steal their magic tools and spells, creating an environment where if you were studying magic you had to preemptively prepare for someone to come along and kill you, if you got any serious level of accomplishment. I'm not sure if that's slowed down now that the realm is in 1495 DR, but for sure in 164 DR? Mages be murdering each other, all the time, with no legal consequences because even if you're a king or a warlord or whatever, you're not going to get involved in a wizard fight. Mages largely lived in their own strata of society, by their own rules, and this made it incredibly likely that they were all inclined to kill each other in order to gain more power.

So enter the idea of a Magister, a super-charged spell user with game-breaking power if they were clever enough to utilize it, tasked with spreading magic and teaching it, being judged at their end on how well they did so. The weird thing is how hands off Mystra was -- she'd answer prayers for guidance if asked, but most of these weirdos were on their own, unsupervised, getting up to some wild shit. Some did nothing but try to murder their rivals; some did nothing but spread out spell scrolls and assist struggling students; some created new types of magic that still exist today. There was one guy who just liked to blow up castles. He invented spells just to target manmade stone structures to hurl them up into the sky like bizarre stone spewing fountain -- he didn't like killing anyone, he just tracked down old abandoned castles and pulverized them. Constantly.

Supposedly the office was vacant after the Spellplauge, and since only clerics of Mystra and Azuth are told the sigil of the spellcaster chosen for office at the moment of choosing, it's more than likely the Magister is out there walking around, subtly changing the way magic is found or used in the world, and we have no idea who it is.

In regards to Gale, this office seems tailor made for him at this point -- he loves sharing magic, discussing it, exploring it, understanding it. He wouldn't hate the power that came attached to it either. I'm 100% certain that if he hadn't gone after the orb, if he'd stayed in a favored position by Mystra, he would have been Magister in his lifetime.

And poor Tara would curse Mystra all the more, granting her proud little peacock more power than he knew how to manage, fretting constantly about him being murdered by some power-hungry maniac.

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 gale #mystra #magister #dnd lore #this is my life now #i've already spent way too much $ tracking down old out of print books

[fumiko-matsubara]

Puey stays AU: 3E Civil War Arc

There's a strong cultural trait amongst Filipinos called "Utang na loob", which simply means "being deeply indebted to someone's kindness to the point of obligation to return the favour".

Puey would have so much "utang na loob" towards Korosensei because the teacher was the one who saved his family, and essentially saving Puey himself as well since his family is his reason to keep living.

I don't think he has any more reason to genuinely want to kill the man who had changed his life for the better, especially after learning that he is just as human as any of them all are. I think Puey would take any chance to return the favour.

#i think he and Hara would make a great 'trap and ambush' combination in the civil war #Like he could make a good bait to lure Okano and Kimura towards Hara's traps since he's quick enough to not be caught by the two #then maybe regroup with Isogai when Hara got taken out by Hayami and he just narrowly dodged her shot #hmm idk as terrifying Puey's skills are in canon i feel like he'd become more passive post-korotan b since he did quit being a pro assassin #but I think he can give Hayami a big scare by easily spotting her and climbing to her position so quick #only to be held up by the itona drones #and while Puey's jumping between branches to avoid all the paintballs coming at him #Isogai's group approaches #something like that #assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #assclass #puey santiago #puey #puey stays au #my art #digital art #my design

[iamafanofcartoons]

Darth Kenobi RWBY MMD works

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/The-A-Team-869797027

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/Guilty-863567511

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/RWBY-Quarantine-863187245

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/Group-Pile-862902546

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/It-s-a-Trap-867794768

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/Class-3E-R-867891296

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/You-re-Finally-Awake-864302974

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/Ruby-is-Mine-862500586

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/Penny-s-Faction-862498688

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/Team-RWBPN-862214723

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/RWBY-CIVIL-WAR-2-0-857472516

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/RWBY-CIVIL-WAR-857276017

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/RWBY-Go-Force-849411102

https://www.deviantart.com/morgan1501/art/RWBY-Greetings-849210263

#rwby #rwby mmd #penny polendina #rubyxpenny #nuts and dolts #nuts n dolts #rwby nuts and dolts #rwby nuts n dolts #rwby ruby rose #rwby ruby #ruby rose #weiss schnee #rwby weiss #rwby blake #Blake Belladonna #emerald sustrai #yang xiao long #rwby yang #rwby frozensteel #rwby red refrigerator #rwby frozen steel #nora valkyrie #iamafanofcartoons

[ansu-gurleht]

I think from what I can gather of the original Dragonborn prophecy the only two other events needed in your 3E 634 series for Alduin to return is for a civil war in Skyrim and the Imperial City being sacked? In either case, I'm definitely interested in this series you have cooking! ^^

oh yeah you're right! i forgot exactly how it was worded. so yeah 1) there's no civil war and 2) the ultimate attack by dagon's forces on the white-gold tower never happened, he was defeated long before that could happen.

and thank you! i'm also very interested in seeing where this takes me

#3e634

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Wilfred Godefroy

Domain: Mordent Domain Formation: 579 BC Power Level:  💀💀 ⚫⚫⚫ Sources: Domains of Dread (2e), Realm of Terror Boxset (2e), I Strahd, The War Against Azalin (Novel) , Ravenloft Gazetteer Vol III (3e) Content Warning: Suicide, violence against women I’ve been to Lord Godefroy’s inconsequential Domain and did not find Mordent to be very memorable. Mordent is a coastal domain of thick, ancient forests, mist shrouded moors, unreliable maps, and uncared for roads. The state of disrepair in Mordent makes Barovia appear modern and civilized. Mordent is an old and haunted land; the perfect home for our ghostly Darklord, Lord Godefroy. The landscape itself is said to shift at the whims of the Mists, making any maps unreliable and travelers are forced to listen to nonsensical directions from the locals. Godefroy’s history is obscured and simple, much like Godefroy himself who’s personality is boiled down to the arrogant, conceited snob that dominates artrocrate society. He inherited the Gryphon Hill estate in Mordentshire and shortly after married Estelle Weathermay. The two had a child, Lilia. Godefroy, wanting a son did little to conceal his disappointment at obtaining a daughter. Little is known on what led to the events where he beat his own wife and daughter to death, but history indicates he was a violent man with a vile temper. Estelle and Lilia came back to haunt him. Each night they reminded him of his horrendous crime against them until he was driven into madness and sought escape by ending his own life. But he did not find the escape he sought and instead found himself brought back as a spirit still haunted by the ghosts of his wife and child. At this time, Mordent had not become an official Domain yet but Godefroy’s actions were noted by the Dark Powers, who just love sticking their nose in other people’s business…But I digress. It was, interestingly, the actions of a far powerful Darklord (myself, naturally) and his assistance (a vampire of no real consequence) who caused Mordent to become an official Demiplane. I had created a portal to Mordent, but when my assistant and I left, the Dark Powers clung to the “most powerful” thing left in the domain and went for Godefroy. In essence, he became a Darklord by default. As a Darklord, he can travel throughout his Domain, but tends to stick to the House of Gryphon Hill. The house is interesting, almost a sentient being with a mind of its own and an aura of evil that many can feel from miles away. Other than not being tied to one place and his immunity to “turn undead”, Godefroy is just like any other ghost except he’s still haunted by his wife and child. Every night they track him down and curse him for their murders. A ghost haunted by ghosts who became a Darklord by default and doesn’t even rule anything. How do I even rate this nonsense? The only interesting thing to come out of Mordent are the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins. van Richten’s latest guide changed some of Godefroy’s tale, which I will address next Thursday.

#wildred godefory #ravenloft #tumblrloft #dnd #darklordreviews #mordent #where the dead haunt the dead

[spyglassrealms]

The Midnight Sea

Look, more Spelljammer stuff! SJ5E is only a few weeks away now, and the collaborative setting my friends and I have been building up in anticipation of it is really taking shape. So I'd like to share some things about the Midnight Sea!

The planar cosmography of the Midnight Sea universe is a little different than prior 5e canon. As stated in the previews for Spelljammer 5e, all wildspace systems are pockets of material plane which exist within the greater astral plane, though our homebrewing efforts have resolved to address the Feywild and Shadowfell as parallels to these material planes. The celestial and infernal planes, meanwhile, border the astral plane directly and mark the outer bounds of the known universe (the galaxy shown here), arranged in a loop to form the collective outer planes. The outer planes are represented by prominent constellations that form a sixteen-part zodiac used to navigate the astral sea. By contrast, the elemental planes exist at a lower energy state than the rest of the planar system, while the ethereal plane exists in a higher energy state than the rest of the planar system. Both function, therefore, as a sort of hyperspace and subspace pairing with normal space. Being the source of magic, the ethereal plane lends its energy to the lower planes via the Weave, which is then harnessed to fulfill the extreme energy cost of interstellar travel: the technomagical process of spelljamming.

The Midnight Sea is a galaxy, specifically our galaxy: what we would call the Milky Way. Indeed, the inhabitants of Terraspace (the fantastical version of our solar system) do call it the Milky Way! However, unlike our galaxy, it is the only galaxy in this universe, and its constituent star systems -as pockets of the material plane gestalt- possess mildly varying physical principles based on their location relative to the outer planes. At the center of this galaxy lies a supermassive black hole, the Cataract, about which swirls a vast region of distorted spacetime called the Maelstrom where the planar boundaries are weaker, strengthening the influence of interplanar magic on the local systems. Four major systems bear notable influence from one of the four primordial elements, while a fifth has a strong manifestation of the Weave and an unusual connection to the outer plane of Arvandor, and a sixth is so deep within the Maelstrom that the Material, Feywild, and Shadowfell planes blur together. The outer edge of the Maelstrom is a hub of interstellar civilization, but venturing deeper is quite dangerous.

The systems seen on the map here are all major systems; there are thousands more unseen in this representation. Many of these major systems are original creations (like Terraspace) or pulled in some way from the depths of the Spelljammer 3e fan website (like Banesun), but in the spirit of WotC's recent trend of linking their MtG settings to the DnD settings, we have included a few prominent MtG "planes" as part of bespoke systems: Theros lies in Nyxspace, Amonkhet lies in Godspace, Ravnica lies in Guildspace, and of course Dominaria lies in Gatespace. Though the map may look rather bare now, we expect to fill out the map more in time, as we sail the stars of the Midnight Sea.

#spyglass’ realms #the midnight sea #worldbuilding #tabletop stuff #please don't mind the organizing tags here #spelljammer #Spelljammer 5e #scifi #science fiction #space fantasy #dnd homebrew #dnd #dnd5e #d&d homebrew #d&d #d&d 5e #dungeons and dragons

[bismuthwisdom]

Ahem

003 for all of the B5, please? 👀

@heyhellohihowareyou Yours too!

Oh boy, this is going to be a big one (heh)

How I feel about this character:

-Shuu is just EVERYTHING really. My fave, the orange gremlin, the sad boy, the one everybody projects their angst to lol.

But seriously, I never thought i'd love him as much as I do now. Maybe it's the character development that compels me. He is more of a minor character, so seeing a whole ass progress is nice.

-Ren, aka the most problematic one here. I had many thoughts about him and I am still unsure on many aspects of his personality. Still, I feel bad that many hate him, which I feel is also canon's fault for not letting him grow out of his habits (which still makes him more interesting to analyze)

-Araki is just some guy.

-Seo aka a guy I never thought I'd like. Sure the whole Kahi thing is all over the place, but besides that he isn't too hateable at least compared to how the other b5 treat 3E. I just love how unfiltered he is and just expresses his frustration openly instead of keeping it to himself. Sad we didn't get more of him.

-Koyama is someone I had thoughts about recently: Just imagine he wasn't approached by Shuu before and just kept being his self loathing self. Because of that I can see him dropping down to 3E. What a story that would be!

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:

-Shuu: Ren, Isogai, Ritsu, Lea

-Ren: Shuu, Hazama, Lea, Karma

-Araki: Kurahashi, Seo

-Seo: Shuu, Araki

-Koyama: Kurahashi

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I am going to combine the B5 as a group now:

I just hate how all of the main campus kids are villified to no end. Yes they were assholes and there were definitely some among them that were aware of that too. But they are just KIDS, damn it. They deserve better treatment than whatever Gakuhou got. They should learn from their mistakes.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

The process of them becoming better people. We saw this a little bit throughout s2, but I feel the jump from the finals to graduation to be too sudden.

A chapter or two between those two events could have been used to show how they think of their situation now and their plans to change themselves. Imagine after the Civil War arc, there are a few scenes of what happened during the time 3e was in an outright battle and how 3a started to change too.

Also, at least better character profiles than just focusing on Shuu. Maybe a bit about their families would be nice.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:

-Shuu: Ren, Isogai, Ritsu, Karma (as rivals/siblings), Itona, Gakuhou (as ???)

-Ren: Shuu, Hazama, Karma, Fuwa, Yada, Irina

-Araki: Kurahashi, Isogai (as rivals)

- Seo: Rio, Nagisa

-Koyama: Okuda (as rivals)

Thanks for the ask! Always happy to talk about the boys!

#💜 #💚 #assassination classroom #assclass #ansatsu kyoushitsu

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 22 of 2023

Title: The Ravens: The Men Who Flew in America's Secret War in Laos Authors: Christopher Robbins ISBN: 9780517566121 Tags: A-1 Skyraiders, AC-47 Spooky, Ambassador Leonard Unger, Antonov AN-2 Colt, Aviation, B-52 Stratofortress, C-130 Hercules, C-46 Commando, C-47 Skytrain, CH-34 Choctaw, CIA Allen Dulles, CIA Hugh Tovar, COD Democratic Republic of the Congo - Congo-Kinshasa, COD Kinshasa (Leopoldville), COD Lubumbashi (Elisabethville), COD MNC Congolese National Movement, COD Mobutu Sese Seko, COD Patrice Lumumba, COD Simba Rebellion (1963-1965), CSAR, EC-47 Electric Goon, F-105 Thunderchief, F-4 Phantom II, FAC, Fast-FAC, FRA ADT Colonel Roger Trinquier, FRA ADT French Ground Army (Armée de terre), FRA ADT General Henri Navarre, FRA ADT General Raoul Salan, FRA ADT Marshall Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, FRA France, FRA Madame Lulu, From LAPL, HH-3E Jolly Green Giant, HH-53 Super Jolly Green Giants, IRN Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, IRN Iran, KHM Cambodia, KHM Cambodian Civil War (1967-1975), KHM Khmer Rouge, KHM King & President Norodom Sihanouk, KHM Phnom Penh, KHM Tonle Sap (Great Lake), LAO Attopeu, LAO Ban Ban, LAO Ban Ban Valley, LAO Ban Son, LAO Bataillon Guerrier 403 (Laotian Civil War), LAO Blind Bonze Pho Satheu, LAO Bolovens Plateau, LAO Colonel Deuan Sunnalath, LAO Communist Neutralists, LAO Defense Minister Sisouk Na Champassak, LAO Hmong Meo Tribesmen, LAO Hotel Lima, LAO ICC Internationl Control Commission, LAO Ice House One and Two, LAO Jungle's Mouth, LAO Khang Khay, LAO Khang Khay - Chinese Cultural Center, LAO King Savang Vatthana, LAO King Sisavang Vong, LAO Klick 11, LAO Lam Son 719 (1971) (Vietnam War), LAO Lan Xiang 9 - Raven Hooch, LAO Laos, LAO Laotian Civil War (1959-1975), LAO Les Rendezvous des Amis, LAO Lhat Houang, LAO Lima 35 - Paksane (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 103 - Phu Da Pho (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 108 - Moung Soui (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 113 - Moung Cha (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 15 - Ba Na (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 15 - Phong Saly (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 20 - Sam Thong (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 204 - Khang Kho (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 20A - Long Tieng (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 262 - Ban Xon / Ban Houei Pamone (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 276 - Lat Sen (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 32 - Boung Lam (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 36 - Na Khang (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 46 - Seno (Laotian Civil War), LAO Lima Site 85 - Phu Pha Thi (Laotian Civil War), LAO Long Tieng, LAO Luang Prabang, LAO Moung Soui, LAO MR Military Region (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR1 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR2 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR3 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR4 (Laotian Civil War), LAO MR5 (Laotian Civil War), LAO Muong Mai, LAO Nong Het, LAO Operation About Face / Kou Kiet (1969) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Barrel Roll (1964-1973) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Bedrock (1971) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Black Lion IV (1972) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Blind Bat (1964-1970) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Glass A (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Goodlook (1970) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Leapfrog (1970) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Nighty-Night (1969) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Northwind (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Pig Fat (1968) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Rain Dance (1969) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation Shining Brass / Prairie Fire / Phu Dong (1965-1975) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Steel Tiger (1965-1968) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Tiger Hound (1965-1968) (Laotian Civil War) (Vietnam War), LAO Operation Westwind (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation White Star (1959-1961) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Operation X (1946-1954) (French Indochina War), LAO Operation Yankee Team (1964) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Padong, LAO Pakse, LAO Paksong, LAO Pathet Lao, LAO Phong Saly, LAO Phou Khean, LAO Phou Nok Kok (Black Lion), LAO Phou Tham, LAO Plain of Jars / Plaine des Jarres, LAO Prime Minister Phoui Sananikone, LAO Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, LAO Prince Souvanna Phouma, LAO Project Waterpump (1964-1973) (Laotian Civil War), LAO Purple Porpoise, LAO RLA Captain Kong Le, LAO RLA General Oudone Sananikone, LAO RLA General Phoumi Nosavan, LAO RLA General Vang Pao, LAO RLA Royal Laotian Army, LAO RLA SGU Special Guerrilla Units, LAO RLAF CPK Chao Pha Khao Hmong Pilots/Backseaters (Laotian Civil War), LAO RLAF Lt Colonel Lee Lue, LAO RLAF Royal Lao Air Force, LAO Roadrunner Lake, LAO Route 13, LAO Route 19, LAO Route 23, LAO Route 4, LAO Route 6, LAO Route 7, LAO Route 7/71 Junction, LAO Route 71, LAO Sam Nuea, LAO Sam Thong, LAO Saravane, LAO Se Kong River, LAO Skyline Ridge, LAO St. Valentine's Day Massacre (Laotian Civil War), LAO Tchepone, LAO US Programs Evaluation Office (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Butterfly FAC (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Project 404 (Laotian Civil War), LAO USAF Steve Canyon Program - Ravens FAC (Laotian Civil War), LAO Vientiane, LAO Vientiane - US Air Attache (Laotian Civil War), LAO Vientiane - US Embassy (Laotian Civil War), LAO Wattay Airport, LAO White Rose, LAO Xieng Khouang, LBY Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi, LBY Libya, O-1 Bird Dog, OV-10 Bronco, Pilatus Porter, PT-76 Amphibious Light Tank, SpecOps, T-28 Trojan, THA Ban Vinai, THA CIA 4802 Joint Liaison Detachment Logistics Office - Udorn (Laotian Civil War), THA Nam Phang, THA PARU Border Patrol Police Aerial Resupply Unit, THA RTAF Royal Thai Air Force, THA RTAFB Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, THA RTAFB Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, THA RTAFB Udorn Royal Thai Air Base, THA Thailand, THA USAF ISC Infiltration Surveillance Center - Nakhon Phanom (Igloo White) (Vietnam War), U-17 Skywagon, US Air America Eugene Hasenfus, US Albert Hakim, US Ambassador George McMurtrie Godley III, US Ambassador Llewellyn Thompson, US Ambassador William Sullivan, US Averrell Harriman (Governor of NY) (Ambassador at Large), US CIA Anthony Posepny (Tony Poe), US CIA Burr Smith, US CIA Central Intelligence Agency, US CIA Dave Morales, US CIA Douglas Blaufarb, US CIA Ed Wilson, US CIA Frank Snepp, US CIA Henry Hecksher, US CIA Jerry 'Hog' Daniels, US CIA John Stockwell, US CIA Kham Sing (Gold Lion), US CIA Lawrence Devlin, US CIA Pat Landry, US CIA Phillip Agee, US CIA Richard Helms, US CIA Ted Shackley, US CIA Tom Clines, US CIA Will Green (Black Lion), US CIA William Colby, US COA CASI Continental Air Services International, US COA Continental Airlines, US Dr. Henry Kissinger, US Edgar "Pop" Buell, US Father Lucien Bouchard (Catholic Priest), US Iran-Conta Affair, US John Gunther Dean (Diplomat), US President Dwight D. Eisenhower, US Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk, US Senator Edward Kennedy, US Senator J. William Fullbright, US Senator Stuart Symington, US State Department, US T.D. Allman (Journalist), US Tom Corcoran (Diplomat), US USA Biological Warfare Corps, US USA General Earle Wheeler, US USA General William Westmoreland, US USA Green Berets, US USA United States Army, US USA USSF Special Forces, US USAF 14th Air Commando Wing, US USAF 1st Air Commando Wing, US USAF 1st Air Commando Wing - Det 6 (Laotian Civil War), US USAF 20th Helicopter Squadron, US USAF 22nd Special Operations Sqd - Zorro, US USAF 23rd TASS - NAIL FAC, US USAF 23rd TASS - OL1 - Rustic FAC (Ubon) (Cambodian Civil War) (Vietnam War), US USAF 56th Air Commando Wing, US USAF 56th Special Operations Wing, US USAF 56th Special Operations Wing - Det 1, US USAF 7th ABCCC Airborne Command and Control Sqd - Cricket, US USAF 7th Air Force, US USAF 7th/13th Air Force, US USAF Colonel Mike Heenan, US USAF Fairchild Air Force Base WA, US USAF General Curtis LeMay, US USAF General George Brown, US USAF General John D. Lavelle, US USAF General Louis T. Seith, US USAF General Richard V. Secord, US USAF General William Momyer, US USAF Generl Robert L. Petit, US USAF Gus Sonnenberg, US USAF Hurlburt Field FL, US USAF JEST Jungle Environment Survival Training, US USAF Lt Colonel George Vogel, US USAF Lt Colonel Mark Berent, US USAF Major General Harry Heinie Aderholt, US USAF Major John Clark Pratt, US USAF United States Air Force, US USMC Lt Colonel Oliver North, US USMC United States Marine Corps, USAID, USSR 1st Secretary Nikita Khrushchev, USSR Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, VNM 1972 Easter Offensive (1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Bien Hoa, VNM Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnam War), VNM CIA Air America (1950-1976) (Vietnam War), VNM DRV Lao Dong Party, VNM DRV NVA 148th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 174th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA 312th Division, VNM DRV NVA 316th Division, VNM DRV NVA 766th Regiment, VNM DRV NVA General Vo Nguyen Giap, VNM DRV NVA Group 559, VNM DRV NVA North Vietnamese Army, VNM DRV NVAF North Vietnamese Air Force, VNM DRV VC Viet Cong, VNM DRV VM 304th Division, VNM DRV VM Regiment 98, VNM DRV VM Viet Minh, VNM FRA ADT Cap St Jacques Military School, VNM French Indochina War (1946-1954), VNM Green Beret Affair (Vietnam War), VNM Ho Chi Minh Trail (Vietnam War), VNM II Corps (Vietnam War), VNM Nha Trang, VNM Operation Arc Light (1965-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Igloo White (1968-1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Linebacker II (1972) (Vietnam War), VNM Operation Pony Express (1965-1969) (Laotian Civil War) (Cambodian Civil War) (Vietnam War), VNM Paris Peace Accords (1973) (Vietnam War), VNM Phan Rang Air Base, VNM RVN ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam, VNM RVN Nguyen Van Thieu, VNM RVN Vietnamization Policy (Vietnam War), VNM US MACV Military Assistance Command Vietnam (Vietnam War), VNM USAF TACC Tactical Air Control Center - BLUE CHIP (Vietnam War), VNM Vietnam, VNM Vietnam War (1955-1975) Rating: ★★★★★ (5 Stars) Subject: Books.Military.20th-21st Century.Asia.Vietnam War.Laotian Civil War.Aviation.FAC.Ravens

Description: Officially the war in Laos did not exist - both North Vietnam and the USA denied they had troops there. In fact, thousands of North Vietnamese were invading the country and pouring down the Ho Chi Minh Trail on their way to the south, and the Americans were fighting a vigorous war against them from the air.

The Ravens were the pilots, all volunteers, who flew through heavy groundfire to identify targets and call in air-strikes. Their mission was so secret that they were 'sold' their prop-driven planes for a dollar apiece so they could be struck from US Air Force records. They wore no uniform and carried no identification. Refugees from the bureaucracy of the war in Vietnam, they accepted the murderous casualty rates of what was known as the Steve Canyon Program in return for a life of unrestricted flying and fighting.

Devoted to the hill tribesmen they fought alongside, the Ravens did their job with extraordinary skill and crazy courage and with a humour that was all of its own. This is the story, brilliantly told for the first time, of these extraordinary men. Based on extensive interviews with the survivors, it is a tale of undeniable heroism, blending real-life romance, adventure and tragedy.

Review: This was a great book with a lot of problems. 

The #1 problem was that I was reading an ebook version from Apostrophe books that was, quite simply, poorly done. So many issues with the conversion... I’s became 1′s... places and names were spelled 3 different ways throughout the book... issues like that.

The #2 problem was that there were multiple stories being told in a book about one story. This book had some good info on the Raven FACs, but it also went deeply into the story of the Laotian Civil War, the French Indochina War, the Hmong people, Henry Kissinger and the Nixon Administration. All of these things are intertwined and important, but the author uses up a LOT of the books real estate for these topics which tends to take a lot of the focus away form the Ravens, which the book is supposed to be about. 

It’s still a 5 star book because it does go deeply into the stories of the who, the what, the when, and the where. You get a real good feel for the cast of characters that made up the Raven FACs, and you learn a lot about the Laotian Civil War, the CIA, the political issues and more. 

It’s really a good primer and a good way to get a feel for what happened in the region. 

#Books #Ebooks #Booklr #Bookblr #nonfiction #history #military history #laos #hmong #laotian civil war #vietnam war #forward air controller #Raven FAC

[thydungeongal]

What's the Finnish-original RPG scene like anyway?

I don't keep up with the Finnish RPG scene a lot, but what little I do hear is pretty cool and interesting.

So okay, English language games absolutely dominate the scene here in Finland. Even though I personally cut my teeth on a Finnish translation of Rolemaster in the late nineties, at least since the release of D&D 3e English has absolutely been the language of gaming here in Finland. Most people play in Finnish but rules terms are referred to in English, so that's fun.

That context I feel is important because at the moment the third best-selling RPG title if one goes by sales figures reported by Fantasiapelit, Finland's biggest RPG retailer, is the player's book for Legendoja & lohikäärmeitä (Legends & Dragons), a fantasy RPG that uses the OGL and SRD 5.1. As far as I know, it started out as a simple translation of the 5.1 SRD but with additional material, but during its development it also started taking more and more inspiration from Finnish folklore and mythology. Since English is the language of gaming here in Finland, even while playing in Finnish our games tend to be peppered with Anglisms, so the designers or L&L made a conscious effort to rely as little as possible on Anglisms and utilize terminology that seemed natural and idiomatic in Finnish.

Speaking of L&L, one of its codesigners, Miska Fredman, is a fantastic guy and has produced one of my favorite RPGs, which has also been translated into English (partly)! Astraterra is a cool as heck science fantasy RPG for all ages. I've actually run it and it's just so dang good. It's very much a traditional adventure RPG with a simple yet solid system and amazing presentation and world-building. The Explorer's Guide (consisting of the player-facing rules as well as a short introduction to the setting) has already been translated, with the GM's guide somewhere along the way (unfortunately the translation of the GM's guide has been delayed). Miska also draws maps and his cartography has been included in Cubicle 7's Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e among other games.

Another one of the big hitters is Praedor, a dark fantasy RPG made by Petri Hiltunen and Ville Vuorela, based on a series of comics of the same name by the former. Praedor is effectively a dark post-apocalyptic fantasy RPG where you play as scavengers going through the ruins of ancient civilizations. It is supposedly very grim and gritty. The game was first released in 2000, and it was apparently modestly popular in spite of D&D 3e's dominance at the time. Eventually, after sixteen years of no releases beyond some novels and short stories, the game came back in a big way in 2016 when four supplements for the book were suddenly announced and released over the course of three years. It's on my shortlist of games I definitely want to try at some point but have yet to have the chance to.

Honorable mentions:

Age of the Tempest by Mike Pohjola. A beginner friendly fantasy RPG, originally released in Finnish but translated into English. Sold as a boxed set, made its way into toy stores and mainstream book stores at the time of its release.

STALKER by Ville Vuorela. Based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which also served as the inspiration for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video game series. Diceless sci-fi RPG where you play the Stalkers (looters going into a bad sci-fi zone filled with alien tech) as seen in Roadside Picnic.

Pohjoismaisen roolipelaamisen seura (Society for Nordic Roleplaying) publishes a lot of small print stuff that is way too high concept for my Rolemaster-poisoned brain but it owns that someone's doing it.

And that's just scratching the surface. There are plenty of other Finnish RPGs out there, these are just the ones I am most intimately familiar with. A brief Google search for Finnish RPGs revealed a user-made itch.io list of Finnish RPGs, some of which I recognize and some of which I have no idea about. But yeah, there's a lot.

[vounoura]

I honestly think some of the most interesting Tong lore in MW is that the Tong, even in 3E, an organization heavily tied to Dunmer culture (esp. housemer culture) and mostly dedicated to murdering belligerents in lieu of civil war, not only freely distances itself from the Tribunal (Tong HQ freely reveres Mephala, not Vivec, even in 3E) but also freely accepts Ashlanders and non-Dunmer without any fanfare. I love that this is environmental storytelling vs smth that’s explicitly drawn attention to

#Bug Squad tag #like even beyond that it’s so interesting that 3E Tong is shown moderating Ashlander conflicts #and not just House vs House war. I wish the questline was expanded upon more bc the amount of power #the Tong has and how little fucks they give abt the status quo is genuinely super interesting #(another super cool thing is the fact the Tong in 3E has flat out clubhouses in the open that anyone can just walk into. #these have Mephala paraphernalia and nobody cares.) #like I said once. are you really going to be the ones to try and tell the weirdo bug murderhobos who live in your sewers #that they can’t revere their spider mom patron. are you. #saint.txt

[fumiko-matsubara]

Sensing vs Intuition: Explaining the stark differences in Chiba and Hayami's sniping methods using MBTI

I'm back at it again with another essay :D

To put it simply, these two cognitive functions basically determine how each person chooses to absorb and process information. And for Chiba and Hayami, out of all the countless differences that they have, this is by far their biggest.

Sensing is when a person heavily relies on their five senses to absorb as much information about their surroundings as they can. They are extremely observant, sensitive, and they tend to have a wide field of vision, noticing details around them that a lot of people tend to miss. They rely on solid facts and prefer to live in the moment, rather than anticipating the unseen future.

Chiba is a strong sensing type. He has superior spatial awareness, which he uses to accurately determine the distance between point A and point B based from what he could see. He uses his sense of touch to determine the direction and strength of the wind blowing, while taking the light weight of the BB pellets into account.

Hence, he was able to easily take out Kataoka during the 3E civil war even though she was hidden from view and was over 300 feet away. This makes his long distance sniping terrifying, as he almost never misses.

Intuition, on the contrary, is when a person see patterns everywhere and uses that to speculate (guess) what was going to happen next. They can easily make instant decisions because they tend to jump into conclusions immediately after connecting bits of information together.

And because they've been doing this for most of their lives that it comes naturally to them, they're pretty good at guessing what was to come, or at least they feel good about making that guess... even if they have a track record of being wrong.

Hayami is an intuitive type. It might not be most suitable for a sniper to perceive information that way, but it's her superior kinetic vision that makes her pattern recognition ability extremely reliable when it comes to hitting moving targets or hitting targets while in an unstable position, at a near perfect timing.

Basically, Hayami's entire thing is:

"It doesn't have to be extremely accurate like Chiba's. As long as I can shoot and hit at any given moment, it's should be good enough."

A little bit to the left, a little up here, around there, and etc. ー unlike Chiba who takes his sweet time making a bunch of detailed calculations in his head so he could accurately shoot, Hayami doesn't think much about these details. She only estimates where she thinks her bullet will hit and just shoots from there. If it hits, then that's that. If it doesn't, she can just find another opportunity to try again.

Like I said, not really a fitting method for a sniper. Her lack of range and accuracy has been pointed out by people. But it's her "shoot and go" method that allows her to move freely in a specific battlefield like the 3E civil war.

And that covers it!

I could honestly talk more about how Chiba and Hayami's Sensing vs Intuition way of absorbing information isn't just exclusive to their contrasting sniping method, but also extends to their daily lives, how they interact with people, and how they face their problems.

To put it simply, Chiba is a realist while Hayami is a visionary. But this one is a topic I could talk about in another time.

#the korosuu novel is basically about this #the distinct contrast in these two's ways of perceiving information #specifically chapter 4 where Chiba was all 'wtf are you talking about' with Hayami's preference to use her intuition when sniping #and chp 5 where Hayami just watches Chiba doing a bunch of maths and drafting a bunch of buildings so he'd know which angle he should shoot #then chp 6 where Hayami sets the timing for Chiba so he could accurately shoot at a nyooming Korosensei in a busy shopping street #assassination classroom #ansatsu kyoushitsu #assclass #chiba ryuunosuke #ryuunosuke chiba #hayami rinka #rinka hayami #character analysis #analysis #meta #long post

[dalamusrex]

14!!

14. Do they have a favorite period in history?

At the risk of sounding boring, Dalamus spent most of his life as a vampire hiding from civilization in Skyrim.

Born in 3E 404, he was born 1 year before the events of Daggerfall and so was too young to really know what was going on.

I... am having trouble remembering the exact date he ran from home, but I know it was before the events of Morrowind.

He is in Skyrim at the time of the Oblivion Crisis, and depending on when he is turned, he either misses news of it entirely by being holed away, or he is turned right after it ends.

At the beginning of Skyrim he is finally starting to enter civilization again.

Sadly, he is not much of a history buff and generally does not care about much that does not directly affect him :') Sorry, nonny! Thank you for the question, though!

#ask #Anonymous #ooc #info #im guessing this is from the most recent numbered meme :) #thank you for the ask!!

[chroniquescontemporaines]

Séance #09 - "Ah oui, j'ai vu ça sur TikTok"

Avec la présence des nouveaux médias, l’accès et la recherche d’information ont changé. Effectivement, des millions d’individus vont utiliser divers réseaux sociaux comme source principale d’information (Adgate, 2022: 3e par.). Avec ces nouveaux accès à l’information, il y a des avantages, mais également une panoplie d’inconvénients. Cette chronique observe cette nouvelle méthode d’accès à l’information, plus précisément sur la nouvelle plateforme populaire : TikTok.

TikTok, lancé en 2016, est un réseau social de production et de partage de courte vidéo. Depuis leurs débuts, la communauté de TikTok ne fait qu’augmenter chaque année. Actuellement, 20% des 18 à 20 ans utilisent le média afin d’obtenir des nouvelles (Jones, 2023 : 1e par.). Ceci représente une augmentation de 5% en comparaison à l’année dernière (Jones, 2023 : 1e par.). Le format d’information le plus populaire sur la plateforme est le journalisme civil (type de journalisme où un citoyen collecte des données d’un événement et les partages sur leurs plateformes). Un bon exemple du journalisme civil sur TikTok est lors du déclenchement de la guerre Russie-Ukraine où il était possible de voir plusieurs soldats mettre du contenu sur le terrain (Jones, 2023 : 5e par.).

Plus récemment, TikTok accepte d’ailleurs les publicités gouvernementales, notamment aux États-Unis, et ce depuis 2019. Ceci a permis à l’application de se politiser notamment auprès des jeunes adultes. Effectivement, lors de la dernière campagne électorale provinciale, de nombreux chef.fes de partis se sont rués sur TikTok afin d’aller chercher un électorat plus jeune. Plusieurs ont su capitaliser de l’opportunité de la plateforme, tandis que plusieurs ont maladroitement échoué. Par exemple, on peut penser à Dominique Anglade qui est devenue un meme à la suite de sa danse pré débat des chefs causant une perte de crédibilité envers le public cible.

Toutefois, bien que cette forme d’accès à l’information puisse détenir une approche plus humaine et rapide, elle comporte plusieurs failles telles la fiabilité et la véracité des informations ainsi que de nombreux biais. Effectivement, selon le New Guard investigation, plus de 20% des vidéos contenaient de la désinformation. Dans une ère de désinformation et de deepfake (Brewster et al., 2022), il est important de rester vigilant lorsqu’une information se présente à nous. Il ne faut donc pas toujours croire un être cher qui nous dit « Ah oui, j’ai vu ça sur TikTok ».