u/KeepYourSilenceUp

Faculty at Lakehead is in bargaining and has been working under an expired contract for a while now. The student body has grown but the employer keeps increasing class sizes and decreasing stability for faculty members. A strike could be called as early as October 17th.

The following poster is being circulated by LUFA. If you're an alumni, a member of another union at the university, a student, or just a member of the community, you should sign to show your support and help avoid a strike.

Edit to add url: https://lufa.org/negotiations-2026/

When you click "start writing" you will be directed to LUFA's prepared statement. You can sign as-is or make whatever edits you want.

https://preview.redd.it/xm478kvt52uh1.png?width=1545&format=png&auto=webp&s=11c0c29b1db1cdb12717eea6aff4bb0ab92119ed

I've played a few DC games with friends and won all three (ft. a real close against Joker w/ joker venom scheme, fun time) but I think the issue is with the limited number and highly aggressive ambush styles of the villain groups. There's not a lot of variance when each setup for a three-person game requires basically the same few villain groups that are constantly forcing discards or wounds, and slowing down your ability to build a good deck.

Legendary is imperfect and I think the difficulty bell curve is mostly balanced out by the IP, themes, and just how satisfying it can be to play. We've all won games that felt bad to win, and lost games that felt fun to lose. But so far it seems to me like the type of difficulty in DC is making it harder to reach that satisfying sweet spot where the game is challenging even while you get to DO lots of stuff. Definitely gonna start blending with Marvel just for the diversity of styles.

Any similar experiences?

Just something we randomly started joking about. Very small dogs say YIP. Then a bit bigger is ARF. Ours literally says BARK I think. All the way up to BOOF for the biggest ones I guess?

What's the full spectrum? Help us out.

Reva was the best part of the Kenobi show.

The show had a lot of flaws IMO that boiled down to the pacing and directing. And for years I've been hearing people say that the solution would have been to cut Reva. But this makes zero sense to me. Reva works so well as an antagonist. She's a perfect third side to the conflict between Obi-Wan and Anakin, and personifies their collective failures. I don't think there would have been a way to have the show involve Vader or Obi-Wan hunting each other in a way that didn't break the lore, so having Reva as a driving force who is seeking revenge against both is a great solution.

Honestly if the show had instead been a movie about Obi-Wan coming into conflict with a former youngling who blames him for the fall of the Jedi, that would have been amazing.

I've been putting a lot of effort into keeping combats varied. Defend the tower, capture the flag, king of the hill, changing terrain, etc. I've had enemies who will signal where their AOE is about to hit (videogame-style) to make movement more strategic. There was one great encounter where the players used the artificer's teleportation device to surprise attack a defended location on an island, but I made the artificer do a tools check earlier and used that to decide how many characters would end up off-target, so the fight was hectic and weird and very fun.

Despite all this, a lot of the time I still feel like combats are just not super interesting. Maybe this is in my head. I try to force my players to move around a lot but so often it just ends up with everyone standing still punching each other. Not always a bad thing, and in general I know the players are happy with combat, but I can still feel the energy level going down when it feels like we're just going through the motions.

So my question for everyone is: what are your favorite ways of keeping combat interesting? I'm talking mechanics here; the ways we keep things narratively engaging is a whole other topic.

University prof. I keep hearing this from the admin, and aside from the fact that obviously not all employers are asking for this and the ai landscape is changing and no one knows how it will look in 4 years, I also just don't know what they want us to DO about it in class.

AI systems are intuitive to use. You ask them a question or give them a prompt and they do it. It's literally not rocket science. The thing that determines whether a person can use them "well" is how much that person knows about the topic and whether they have the skill to assess and evaluate the ai output. There is no such thing as "teaching someone how to use ai" it's literally just a process of learning how to function WITHOUT ai and then using ai as a supplemental tool. I don't know what my admin expects me to do other than keep doing my job as normal, in order to ensure that graduates are able to successfully use these systems in the workplace later if they want to.

Introduced a friend to Legendary with the DC set. It was a fun game, won on the last possible turn, but it was also a "feels bad" kind of game. Lots of wounds, forced discards, etc. so every player really struggled to get their engine going.

He was intrigued and wants to play again, so I'm trying to think of heroes I can throw in a game that will allow everyone to really pop off and have the full deckbuilder experience. My favorite combos have always been Angle/Cyclops and Black Bolt/Proxima Midnight. Any other suggestions?

About to finish my rewatch of BCS, and something struck me about the penultimate episode. Saul is standing there with Marion, she's figured out his identity and is threatening to call the police. And ultimately, Saul just can't bring himself to hurt her, even if letting her make the call means his life is screwed.

Obviously, Walt would not have gone down that way. I'm 100% convinced that in that same situation, Walt would have killed Marion, gotten Jeff out of jail, and then figured out a way to kill Jeff and Buddy before skipping town. Who knows how far he would have gotten, but everyone one of Walt's moves was selfish from the beginning and he was too ruthless to have let himself be turned in.

And I really like this divergence between the two characters. Both are petty vindictive men who want to be big shots. Both are addicted to the game. Both are insanely competent in their own ways. But in the end, Saul's defeat came from the fact that deep down he's a good person, and Walt's defeat came from the fact that deep down he was not.

EDIT: names

Replaying all the souls games and while not literally speedrunning Sekiro I sure am blasting through it. This is I think my fourth playthrough. I remember posting here years ago to vent that Genichiro was driving me insane, and today I beat him on my first attempt after having gotten lost in the castle and finding the boss fight by accident during a run where I'd already spent one of my gourd seeds.

I am John Sekiro. No other game feels this good to master. God I love it so much.

To anyone playing for the first time and banging your head against the wall please hear me when I say that it is so god damn worth it.

Who is everyone else's favorite boss?

Lore-- campaign was set in a world where a ton of interplanar/wild magic stuff happened a decade ago. Magic users were now licensed on the authority of their region's lords, and people in general were very suspicious of certain kinds of magic.

\_\_\_\_

So we're late in the campaign and the realm is at war. We're sailing into enemy territory at night. Our boat is called "The Violet Boatregarde." Not important but gives you a sense of the kind of table it was.

Get stopped by a patrol. Waived down and boarded. State your business etc.

"Hello sirs we're envoys from \[lie\]. This here is Baron fake name and we're escorting him to \[city\] to deal with war things."

Soldiers are alright at first. "Ok if this guy is the baron what are the rest of your jobs."

Fighter: "I'm a fighter, as you can see from my sword."

Bloodhunter: "I'm also a fighter, as you can see from my sword."

Rogue: "I'm the captain, as you can see from how I'm captaining the boat."

Warlock: "..."

Soldiers: "hey you, what do you do here."

Warlock: "I'm just helping, don't even worry about it."

Soldiers: "k but what do you DO here?"

Warlock player: "I don't get it, why are they giving me a hard time."

DM (me): "they're trying to figure out if you have a character class/specialty, if you're a magic-ussr, or if you're a diplomatic person or whatever."

Warlock player: "well they didn't give the bloodhunter a hard time."

DM: "yeah but the bloodhunter is carrying a sword and looks like a fighter. And I rolled weak insight."

Warlock: "k guys don't worry about it I'm a fighter too."

Soldiers: "we don't believe you"

Warlock player: "what the hell, just because I'm a girl do they think I can't be a fighter?"

DM: "you don't LOOK like a fighter, you're not carrying any weapons or wearing armor. Do you want to roll deception?"

Warlock: rolls deception and fails

Soldiers: (suspicious) "are you a mage?"

Warlock: "k yeah you caught me I'm a mage. I'm just here to protect Baron fakename. No big deal."

Soldiers: "ok can we see your license?"

Warlock: (smug) "yes you sure can it's right here."

Soldiers: "your license says you're a subject of \[ally lord\] with whom we're at war, not of \[lie we told\]. You're under arrest."

Warlock: "oh fuck I um...cast flame strike on their boat"

...

DM: "k well their boat is gone but it's the middle of the night and you just lit the whole place up. So now this is gonna be a whole thing."

The Warlock is now my wife BTW. The story had gotten pretty complicated so there were plenty of moments where details slipped players' minds but this was the best one. Fuckin Violet Boatregarde

Lore-- campaign was set in a world where a ton of interplanar/wild magic stuff happened a decade ago. Magic users were now licensed on the authority of their region's lords, and people in general were very suspicious of certain kinds of magic.

____

So we're late in the campaign and the realm is at war. We're sailing into enemy territory at night. Our boat is called "The Violet Boatregarde." Not important but gives you a sense of the kind of table it was.

Get stopped by a patrol. Waived down and boarded. State your business etc.

"Hello sirs we're envoys from [lie]. This here is Baron fake name and we're escorting him to [city] to deal with war things."

Soldiers are alright at first. "Ok if this guy is the baron what are the rest of your jobs."

Fighter: "I'm a fighter, as you can see from my sword."

Bloodhunter: "I'm also a fighter, as you can see from my sword."

Rogue: "I'm the captain, as you can see from how I'm captaining the boat."

Warlock: "..."

Soldiers: "hey you, what do you do here."

Warlock: "I'm just helping, don't even worry about it."

Soldiers: "k but what do you DO here?"

Warlock player: "I don't get it, why are they giving me a hard time."

DM (me): "they're trying to figure out if you have a character class/specialty, if you're a magic-user, or if you're a diplomatic person or whatever."

Warlock player: "well they didn't give the bloodhunter a hard time."

DM: "yeah but the bloodhunter is carrying a sword and looks like a fighter. And I rolled weak insight."

Warlock: "k guys don't worry about it I'm a fighter too."

Soldiers: "we don't believe you"

Warlock player: "what the hell, just because I'm a girl do they think I can't be a fighter?"

DM: "you don't LOOK like a fighter, you're not carrying any weapons or wearing armor. Do you want to roll deception?"

Warlock: rolls deception and fails

Soldiers: (suspicious) "are you a mage?"

Warlock: "k yeah you caught me I'm a mage. I'm just here to protect Baron fakename. No big deal."

Soldiers: "ok can we see your license?"

Warlock: (smug) "yes you sure can it's right here."

Soldiers: "your license says you're a subject of [ally lord] with whom we're at war, not of [lie we told]. You're under arrest."

Warlock: "oh fuck I um...cast flame strike on their boat"

...

DM: "k well their boat is gone but it's the middle of the night and you just lit the whole place up. So now this is gonna be a whole thing."

The Warlock is now my wife BTW. The story had gotten pretty complicated so there were plenty of moments where details slipped players' minds but this was the best one. Fuckin Violet Boatregarde

Would love anyone's advice, insight, or experiences.

I work from home quite a bit. For this reason, I have always been the dog dad to my husky (8 years old now). Recently, it seems like she's avoiding me when it's just the two of us home together. Today I spent the first chunk of the day working upstairs and she sat in the basement (which she has been doing a bit more recently because it's cooler down there). Then I was downstairs for a couple hours, walked on the treadmill, gamed, answered emails, and she was upstairs the whole time. Just came back up to get some more work done and she stayed for pats for a couple minutes and then as soon as I stopped she immediately went back downstairs. Maybe she's protesting.

But like seriously wtf. And it seems like this has been a pattern recently.

She gets two walks a day and her bowl is always full (she eats when she feels like it and doesn't always go through two cups). Checkup at the vet last week and she's allegedly aging very well. She's always been pretty low-energy so while I know she would be excited to go for a walk right now if I asked her, she's also not bouncing off the walls and has always been perfectly content to just lie around. This new routine is also a bit weird because up until recently she would usually stick to the same room as me; if I'm walking on the treadmill she'll nap on the couch until I'm done, etc. When my wife and I are both home she'll generally also be in the same room as at least one of us, though now I'm trying to figure out if she's been keeping to herself more often in general.

Ideas? Is this just a product of her getting older, somehow? Maybe her energy levels are just going down in general and as a result she prefers being alone for longer stretches of the day? I don't think she's unwell and I know huskies can be sassy so I'm sincerely trying to figure out if she's mad at me about something lol.

Got my DC box yesterday. Mechanics aside, just for vibes and given that the games are all compatible, what setup would you run first if you were combining cards from DC and Marvel? Joker trying to assemble the Infinity Gauntlet? Secret Wars with Masterminds from both IPs? Give me some ideas.

I've been a fan of Ulf since the beginning, not necessarily because he's likeable but because he's complicated. I like that the reveal of his betrayal raised a lot of questions about whether Rhaenyra had fucked up in the way she had handled him, how strategic Ormund is, whether Ulf is a good or bad guy, etc.

But even more than that, I LOVE that the finale showed straight up that Ulf is just a useless and unreliable piece of shit. Like even when he's been offered everything he wants, he's just an egotistical self-centered alcoholic. Sure the end of the battle would likely have been different if Daemon or Ormund had treated him better, but he was obviously never going to be an effective part of any strategy.

In most cases every story things get better with character depth. But it's fun when things get better because the characters become more straightforward.

Currently replaying all the Soulsborne games and went for a straight strength build with Vordt's hammer on this run of DC3. And short of a couple tricky sections I gotta say I've seen the light. Bonk is so fun. I just dogwalked the Nameless King.

If anyone is on the fence about how to do their next playthrough, you have an endorsement for this one, from me a random guy on the internet.

What are your favorite builds?

Sorry if these exact ideas have already been articulated in a way that has blown up and people are sick of. I just saw the movie last night and excited to hear everyone's thoughts.

So by the end we learn that the movie is about the collapse of civilization as a sort-of-direct result of the ways that Guest Right was irrevocably damaged during the sacking of Troy. And I've mapped each stop on the journey home to a step along the descent from civilization into darkness.

Troy-- The social contract breaks

The first stop-- The world has become fearful and distrustful. Ordinary people will flee from you because they cannot distinguish between you and those who would harm them

The Cyclops-- the social contract is now is too easily disrespected. "Oh it's fine if we eat this food because Guest Right is a thing, so the owner will be cool about it when they get back." And because of this arrogance you continue to offend the very nature of the world.

The Laestrygonians-- you see how the world sees you; as unstoppable monsters of superior military strength, who kills indiscriminately.

Circe and the Pigs-- because the social contract is broken, no guest is safe. Circe is so afraid of being harmed that she is willing to mutilate her guests even when they are doing their best to appear safe and honorable.

Hades, and the Sirens-- you realize what you have lost and mourn for the world you can no longer go back to.

The Whirlpool and the Hydra-- there is no safe path forward; the best you can do is mitigate your losses in the new world.

The Isle of Apollo-- Fallen truly into desperation, you no longer care about maintaining the social contract. You will only continue to spiral downwards.

Calypso and the Lotus Flowers-- the new world is so bleak that you flee and try to forget it.

The Return Home--in your absence this darkness has spread. People cynically abuse the social contract to leverage power over others. You are the thing people fear. And while you may not be able to fix what has happened it is still your responsibility to salvage what you can.

Any other reads? Anything I'm missing or misunderstanding?

Late to the party. I thought the acting, directing, and editing were peak, damn.

For me the darkest moment was the sex scene. At this point Bear has acknowkedged that Nikki is obviously not well, and she has legitimately terrified him by acting like a possessed person. The fact that he's still having sex with her at all makes him the obvious bad guy in my view. Like at that point, even while keeping in mind that no rational person would think the wish had worked, I can't even wrap my head around the number of flags he's ignoring just to get his nut off. And I get that this is true to life for the kinds of crazy that some men will tolerate but damn that scene just looks like rape no matter which way you slice it.

The fact that Nikki wasn't even on top communicates so much. I appreciate that the director took the route NOT to overly sexualize Nikki throughout the movie and this staging was probably also the most conducive to that goal, (and obviously there's nothing wrong with missionary irl) but the fact that there's no indication that she initiated it, and that Bear is just pinning her there, says a lot. I can't remember if he was saying anything during the scene but Nikki's performance was so obviously hollow that it's obvious the moment is entirely about his pleasure. Like it's so passionless. The fact that we can see Nikki's face but Bear can't, maybe allows us to see how she's dissassociating in a way he doesn't understand, but also he's CHOOSING not to see her face in this moment so it's also clear that he doesn't care.

tl;dr the directing and context of the sex scene alone makes it unambiguous in my mind that Bear is the villain. Give everyone an Oscar.

After last week's episode I made a post in which I was very salty about how Ormund was being written as an unambiguous asshole and how it seemed like Rhaenyra was being further set up to receive blameless blowback from the gold cloaks' brutality.

And while the Ormund thing is something I still don't like, I DO like how Rhaenyra was written this episode. When she pulled the "I didn't ask the gold cloaks to be so rough" card as I anticipated, I love that Daemon immediately called her out. "You could have just left it alone like a strong ruler would have done." Yes, thank you. It seems like they really are going to lean into her unraveling and becoming paranoid, and I'm glad that the show isn't just being sympathetic to her. Like you made a bad decision and now we're suffering the consequences.

Very happy I was wrong and I hope they keep it up. Rhaenyra's character will be so much more interesting if she goes through an arc where she actually gets to just fuck everything up.

Each game in the franchise falls along a spectrum: in PM64, the fact that everything is made of paper is basically a non-factor outside of a few specific animations, and in Origami King Mario is literally doing battle with office supplies.

I've always personally felt like TTYD is in the sweet spot. The paper mechanics add to the puzzles and feel tongue-in-cheek funny in a fourth-wall breaking kind of way, but none of the characters act or treat each other as though they're made of paper. The game is able to have fun with the concept but the story still just works on a completely sincere level. (I feel like Super Paper Mario did a pretty solid job with this too). Once the story revolves around Mario having to survive a fight with a roll of tape, it completely loses me.

Really interested to know everyone's thoughts, since this is a discussion my buddy and I have quite often. What's your preference for the level of meta paper mechanics? What balance would you want to see from a future game?

In general I don't take satisfaction in movies being bad. If there is ever a movie you're looking forward to, I hope it's good. Everyone deserves to enjoy the media they consume, whether it's something with mass appeal or not.

But I am so happy that Disney's live-action remake machine is finally showing some cracks in the armor, with the flops of Moana 2026 and Snow White 2025. I am so sick of the biggest studios in Hollywood producing cynical slop, and even more sick of audiences helping to turn these movies billion-dollar successes. I guess it doesn't affect me one way or the other, but I really really hope that Disney can learn their lesson and change course to making stuff that actually requires risk and vision.

I'm not even opposed to the idea of remakes. But plenty of old movies were imperfect and could BENEFIT from a re-envisioning. I would not be the first person to suggest that a modern retelling of Treasure Planet could be incredible. Remake The Black Cauldron. Remake Atlantis. Do ANIMATED remakes of older live-action movies-- animation is more expressive and dynamic and diverse in its visuals and is a much more suitable medium for re-imagination. An animated Mary Poppins would do gangbusters.

Whatever. I know the issue is more complex than audiences just rejecting these two movies specifically, and the movie industry has historically never learned the right lesson from anything, ever. But one can hope.

EDIT: I don't understand why people are pointing to the successes of other live-action remakes as though this has any bearing on what I've said. Yes we all know that the Lion King and Aladdin remakes made a billion dollars. We know that Lilo and Stitch did well. Disney has enjoyed and continues to enjoy success from these products; that's why there are so many of them. My point is that we've also seen a couple big flops recently and I hope this is causing them to start rethinking their strategy. Live-action remakes were guaranteed hits for a long time, and now they're not. And that's a good thing. To anyone asking why I care, I think I explained that pretty clearly. I want studios putting their money and talent towards movies that are good and different. Disney could have made something new and interesting and unique but instead they remade Moana-- and that is a loss for the media landscape.