Thoughts for ships

[Sableagle]

I'd have joined in.

I worry with RP that I'm writing too much, forcing the story to go the way I imagine it, or that everyone's waiting for me to join in and pull my weight, and that I'm making too godlike a character or that I'm breaking world-lore or that I'm making too mundane a character and everyone's having to invent reasons I haven't been squished or nommed yet.

What was the other ... ? Oh yeah. Dancing. That's something else where I would have joined in but ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwO8smpOM7Q

I'm pretty sure I'm not that good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8NGzrTQa1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv6As_XLo44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-L1QZF5zG8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHckIPv1VII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjjM3N1sKX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8C8frqCKKg

If I can't be in the top 99% I'm not going to bother, okay?

[Ginger]

I'd have joined in.

I worry with RP that I'm writing too much, forcing the story to go the way I imagine it, or that everyone's waiting for me to join in and pull my weight, and that I'm making too godlike a character or that I'm breaking world-lore or that I'm making too mundane a character and everyone's having to invent reasons I haven't been squished or nommed yet.

Well, I'd try to write around all that, and really I'm used to orcs and elves that can resurrect by slamming their pretty-pretty staves on the ground, live for thousands of years and fight legions of soldiers without dying. Plus I'd just say that nobody killed you yet for Emotional Reasons: Maybe they're untested on the field of battle and don't want nightmares of murder, maybe they have orders from Suki to spare you or maybe you Escape Just in Time? There are so much ways to write around somebody's character or lore mistakes. Plus we allowed fucking Immortal God Felines. Literal God Mode Cats. Ha-ha. ;P

As well: I agree that if I can't be in the top ninety-nine percent I'm not even playing. I'm looking you right in the eyes Hearthstone.

[You, sir, name?]

I've gotten really into dancing this year. Dancing slowly kills your old social life and replaces it with another social life where everyone is really into dancing. I think this is what joining the brain slug party is like.

The Time Brain Slugs are addition only.
No subtraction required.

Of course, there are only so many hours in a day.
What kind of Dancing are you talking about?

Well, lately West Coast Swing and Kizomba. But also, and mainly, a dance I don't know if it has a name in English. It's a Swedish variant of foxtrot that's a real mutt of influences from similar dances, like argentinian tango, kizomba, etc.

What was the other ... ? Oh yeah. Dancing. That's something else where I would have joined in but ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwO8smpOM7Q

I'm pretty sure I'm not that good.

Spoiler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8NGzrTQa1M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv6As_XLo44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-L1QZF5zG8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHckIPv1VII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjjM3N1sKX4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8C8frqCKKg

If I can't be in the top 99% I'm not going to bother, okay?

You can totally learn. I went in at age 30 with zero dancing background (apart from getting drunk and flailing my arms like that David Boreanaz video you linked). The main requirement is a bit of tenacity and not knowing when it's time to give up. There's actually quite a lot of nerds in the dance scene, especially in WCS there's a lot of engineers and IT-people all around. But I guess that makes sense. It's an incredible compliment to working in an office, you get to work different parts of your brain (and your body), and there's gratuitous hugging.

[Kewangji]

I took two lessons in uh, cosy foxtrot, but had to stop as those muscle memories interfered a little with my swing dancing, which I'm intermediate-ish at. It wasn't really my thing either though, so it doesn't matter.

[JudeMorrigan]

You can totally learn. I went in at age 30 with zero dancing background (apart from getting drunk and flailing my arms like that David Boreanaz video you linked). The main requirement is a bit of tenacity and not knowing when it's time to give up. There's actually quite a lot of nerds in the dance scene, especially in WCS there's a lot of engineers and IT-people all around. But I guess that makes sense. It's an incredible compliment to working in an office, you get to work different parts of your brain (and your body), and there's gratuitous hugging.

This is all very true of ballroom as well. I don't think it's just that it's a complement to the office environment. At least for ballroom, I think that having at least *some* structure to the dance has a strong appeal. That is, I certainly don't need fully choreographed dances, but there is a certain vocabulary to, say, a foxtrot that makes it so I'm not just *completely* winging it. Even when dancing socially.

And yes, I started dancing in my 30s with less experience than you had had. As in, I *literally* hadn't set foot on a dance floor since my sister pulled me off of one at a school dance when I was 8-ish, hissing at me that I was embarrassing her. And now, well:

Spoiler:

[You, sir, name?]

You can totally learn. I went in at age 30 with zero dancing background (apart from getting drunk and flailing my arms like that David Boreanaz video you linked). The main requirement is a bit of tenacity and not knowing when it's time to give up. There's actually quite a lot of nerds in the dance scene, especially in WCS there's a lot of engineers and IT-people all around. But I guess that makes sense. It's an incredible compliment to working in an office, you get to work different parts of your brain (and your body), and there's gratuitous hugging.

This is all very true of ballroom as well. I don't think it's just that it's a complement to the office environment. At least for ballroom, I think that having at least *some* structure to the dance has a strong appeal. That is, I certainly don't need fully choreographed dances, but there is a certain vocabulary to, say, a foxtrot that makes it so I'm not just *completely* winging it. Even when dancing socially.

And yes, I started dancing in my 30s with less experience than you had had. As in, I *literally* hadn't set foot on a dance floor since my sister pulled me off of one at a school dance when I was 8-ish, hissing at me that I was embarrassing her. And now, well:

Spoiler:

I think it's strange, the more I dance, the fewer rules and less structure there seems to be. At least rules inherent to the dance. It seems like it's mostly mechanical and physical boundaries that limit what you can do (at least in non-competitive dancing). It's like everything can be broken down and taken apart into even smaller components, to the point where even a simple step has half a dozen nuances that can be played with. When I started dancing, I mostly stuck around because it was so completely alien to anything I'd done before, and I sort of wanted to see where the rabbit hole went. The sense of weirdness has passed, but the discoveries just keep on coming.

[poxic]

Art in general is like that (and come to think of it, so is science). It's a deep, deep game that can keep you fascinated for a lifetime.

[Ginger]

Fleeting Thoughts about my game thing: Why-Why I always be stuck on the Dalaran loading screen? It's happened at least four times right meow.

[Sableagle]

If Deadshot never misses, where did the first bullet fired in this famous clip go? Did anyone ever check where that thing ended up?

[SecondTalon]

Deadshot misses all the time. You're thinking of Bullseye.

That said, both of them have to actually aim at something.

[Ginger]

LOL I saw a totes cutey-cutey stray cat silhouette stroll by like he or she owned the place when I was outside today. Fleeting thoughts about kitties. <3

[Peaceful Whale]

Plus we allowed [censored] king Immortal God Felines. Literal God Mode Cats. Ha-ha. ;P

Meow? Are you talking about me?

[Ginger]

Yes Yes. And that RP is now over. It didn't have a happy ending. And Suki still hates cats.

Sad fleeting thought: Even li'l child girls wanna police my gender. And I don't wanna talk about that so much... it was just sad because being around kids and being nice to them makes me feel good and she just Had to Go There With Me. And I wanna give her fifty cents for helping me find coffee cups like her father joked ha-ha-ha-ha. :)

[poxic]

Happy halfway-through-January day (local timezone permitting)!

May be of questionable value in southern hemisphere.

[Ginger]

Sending off the USS Fleeting Thoughts: I'm getting better at Hearthstone finally finally! I like Huntress and Rogue decks w/Valeera or Alleria. "Beware the might of the high elves!" Yes, my opponents: Beware the mighty mighty glowing blue-eyed high elves that live forever and ever and look 20 when they're actually thousands of years old. And have tiny-tiny waists and bodies and can somehow still fight w/the best of 'em. Who knew high elves were so energetic and beautiful for their ages? HA-HA-HA-HA-HA. <3

[Sableagle]

That's a thing with Elves generally, I think. This is as curvy as a LotRO Elf lady gets.



There's a slider at character creation that adjusts between skinny and curvy or whatever you call the extremes. In the case of Elves, that's as full a figure as you get. I call it as close to believable as you get.

City of Heroes had a lot more sliders to adjust things in more detail, and where LotRO has Dwarf, Hobbit, Man, Woman or Elf, CoH had male, female or huge.

[Ginger]

She looks like a pretty witch to me ha-ha. And yes elves never get very curvy. I'd like to see a chubby elf, like I dunno, whose good with computers or magic computers or communications or something? And the blood elves on my game... the women are so skinny it looks like any gnoll could just walk up and eat them to death.

[Deva]

Appears bad at communication, unfortunately.

[Ginger]

Yes, Ms. Elf. The Healer requires... moar cakes. Everyone does. You know who was a communications officer for Capt. James Kirk? Uhura. Now THERE'S a woman that can operate communications channels.

[Angua]

Our cat is so cute. She loves pouncing and ambushing our feet, but it's always so gentle. You start walking up the stairs (her favourite ambush spot) and you feel soft paws around your ankle.

[Ginger]

That sounds so, so cutey-cutey!

Fleeting ships about my kitty: She's so tiny, she has a kitten's meow and... same deal: She tries to play with you softly and femininely. I love... that kitty cat. <3

[Yablo]

I'd like to see a chubby elf, like I dunno, whose good with computers or magic computers or communications or something?

I rarely get to be a player since I'm usually running whatever tabletop game my group is doing, but my last Pathfinder character was a chubby elf. He was a Summoner who abused his magical powers to make other creatures do his chores for him so he could relax. Eventually, his parents booted him out (he was, like 175 years old), and he had no choice but to join an adventuring group.

[Ginger]

Ooh Ooh Mr. Yablo. I love, love, three loves, now four loves... that character idea. Like a lot. My only blood elf? She's a skinny girl yet: She makes up for it by having a lot of strange friends, some on the goblins' black markets, some warriors and knights, some warlocks and demoness lovers... some nice goody-goody girly priestesses... as her courts ordered therapists. The Alliance, and King Anduin, don't fully trust her yet... and she's 900 yet looks 29. Because elves in my li'l game don't ages thanks to their mystical, Holy Light infused Sunwell in Silvermoon City or Sunstrider Isles or something? Anyways that's my char Ravasha Witchhawk. Yet... she could get chubby if she ate her own fancy meals she makes for all her partners. <3 ;)

[Yablo]

Yes, Ms. Elf. The Healer requires... moar cakes. Everyone does. You know who was a communications officer for Capt. James Kirk? Uhura. Now THERE'S a woman that can operate communications channels.

I generally liked all the Original Series main characters, but while my Trekkie friends nearly always put Kirk and Spock at the top of their lists, My top 3 were Sulu, Scottie, and Uhura. It's kind of funny because I can definitely relate better to Spock than any of the others.

And here's something you might not hear a lot of Star Trek fans say (much less the conservative, white male ones): George Takei is probably the coolest person to emerge from the entire Original Series.

[Ginger]

I just lovely enjoy love a lot... George Takei. He is... an amazing actor, who cares if he's gay, and? My favs were: Uhura, the doctor guy that says 'Damn it Jim I'm a doctor not a (Insert thing here).' Scotty could be funny when you insults his precious USS Enterprise... Capt. Kirk wasn't bad despite his womanizing ways.

[Yablo]

Not to bounce back and forth between ideas and conversations (even though, I guess, that's kinda what this thread is for), but I was just thinking about dragons. Western-style dragons, specifically, and their breath. The way a dragon's breath is typically portrayed is a lot like a flamethrower, where the fuel is ignited as it comes out, and then it engulfs a target and sort of sticks to them.

That should be terrifying enough, but making things scarier than they need to be is kinda my thing (at least when it comes to fiction). So I was thinking about how to make a dragon's breath scarier.

Instead of a flammable fuel igniting as the dragon breathes, a dragon's breath should be a dense and caustic gas which would expand to fill whatever area is available. Then, the dragon could ignite the gas at will (unless the dragonslayer and friends are silly enough to carry torches).

With a typical dragon, you have a split second to react, and you can see what you're trying to dodge. With a vapor-style dragon, it breathes, then you get the creepy moment of "Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God! It's on me!" and then BOOM!

[doogly]

The gas breathing dragons are green, and all metallic dragons.

[Zohar]

Dragons in Robin Hobb's fantasy world breathe acid, basically. It is pretty terrifying. People kind of stumble and melt as they try to run away.

[Ginger]

Instead of a flammable fuel igniting as the dragon breathes, a dragon's breath should be a dense and caustic gas which would expand to fill whatever area is available. Then, the dragon could ignite the gas at will (unless the dragonslayer and friends are silly enough to carry torches).

With a typical dragon, you have a split second to react, and you can see what you're trying to dodge. With a vapor-style dragon, it breathes, then you get the creepy moment of "Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God! It's on me!" and then BOOM!

I love your ideas re: dragons' western styles breathing. A flammable gas that fills the room? And the dragons uses... pyrokinesis or magics or... its willpower or what? To activate.

And black dragons in D&D breathes acids. Red ones breathe fire. There's even like a bronze? One dragons thingies that... is semi-psychic and... tries to read creatures' minds and bribes them with foods rather than fighting them? How odd and strangeness?

Bronze dragons dislike killing animals and would rather bribe them (perhaps with food) or force them away magically. They use detect thoughts to learn intelligent creatures’ intentions.

Bronze dragons.

That one isn't a good one maybe maybe: That one about bronze dragons?

[Yablo]

Oh, there are dragons in D&D and other fantasy stuff that breathe poisonous gas, acid, lightning, etc ... but all of those still have the split-second dodge chance, and they avoid the creeping sense that you're covered in something bad that's about to get much worse. My goal with the thought experiment is really to terrify and psychologically torture the target before killing it.

That's not to say that a big lizard spitting acid on you isn't terrifying, of course. Just that the limits of terror might be pushed a little further.

[Ginger]

Yes, upping the terror factors by, changing the ways dragons breathes fires is pretty coolness. Pretty good, I'd say, to make it a noxious choking gasses that fills the room and then BOOM we all lit up right meow! Just: How the new style western dragons breathing noxious gasses actually Get those gasses lit up? Willpower, pyrokinesis... bad, bad naughty magical thinking/feels?

[pseudoidiot]

How about a dragon that just breathes out an immense amount of C0₂ blanketing a large area.

[doogly]

And black dragons in D&D breathes acids.

Yeah but that is cone shape, not cloud shape. This matters. Gotta get out that graph paper. That's the good shit.

How about a dragon that just breathes out an immense amount of C0₂ blanketing a large area.

Extremely unpleasant and jarring drowning feeling, followed by apocalyptic climate change! The perfect villain!

[pseudoidiot]

How about a dragon that vapes?

[Ginger]

How 'bout dragons that hot boxes Mary-Jane, or smokes lots of bad smelling, clove cigarettes like a Goth girls' stereotypes? How about a dragon that breathes ocean water? How about dragons that breathes... pretty, pretty, fresh smelling airs that dispels spells like Choking Gas or Confusion Mist or Cloud Kills or whatever? Just some ideas re: new style Western dragons breathing things... other than fiery breaths.

[Yablo]

How about a dragon that just breathes out an immense amount of C0₂ blanketing a large area.

Extremely unpleasant and jarring drowning feeling, followed by apocalyptic climate change! The perfect villain!

How about a dragon that vapes?

I wholeheartedly approve of the direction this has gone.

[poxic]

THE SIGN SAYS NO SMOKING
THIS ISN'T SMOKE
DUH

wyww58nLpL-3.png (37.54 KiB) Viewed 5724 times

[Ginger]

That beasty is so hipster/hipstress that it hurts owwie. And if the sign says, 'No Smoking,' then... even if you smoking e-cigarettes that give off harmless water vapors you got to go. Smoking e-cigarettes and vaping counts as smoking to the businesses establishments.

[poxic]

Totally does.

[Isaac Hill]

How about a dragon that vapes?

Hipster dragon's been trying to quit breathing fire ever since he accidentally melted all his vinyl. He's been doing pretty well, though some still comes out his nostrils when he snorts condescendingly.