u/Metaphoricalsimile

https://preview.redd.it/1hnldmnoleih1.png?width=1884&format=png&auto=webp&s=3787c7d1409146366fe779aacb44dc74ee4fa0fa

I ran a Dungeon World one-shot last night with my partner and two people I've never played with before.

Everyone bought into the premise of the session immediately. They came up with short backstories that tied their characters together. They engaged with the fiction wonderfully. They solved problems creatively and without over-relying on their character sheets. We had a dramatic, heroic character death, moments where PCs were saved by clutch teamwork, and not to flatter myself but I did a great job adding complications to keep the tension high while also allowing PC successes to make a real impact on how everything unfolded. The session ended with a successful mission and an extremely satisfying ending to a one-shot adventure.

After we finished one of the players was saying how she was going to tell her partner about all the cool and exciting things her character pulled off and everyone said how good of a time they had. It's the sessions like these that make this hobby special. My heart is still full of joy today. Nothing else makes me feel like this.

He's not a world-ending threat, but he makes everything so fucking *personal* and leaving Jenny Calendar in Giles' bed was a master stroke of terror.

There simply was no better villain in Buffy.

Big Joel on youtube said this about live action Avatar in his newest video, but IMO it sums up the biggest problem with The Boys in general, but particularly in its last two seasons.

I honestly don't care about most of the nitpicks people had about the last season, but Homelander's power inconsistency has *always* been a problem with the show ever since the writers decided that fist fighting him was a strategy that could work back in S3.

Instead of being a show about a group of clever people trying to take down a tyrant with nigh unbeatable super powers, it became a show about fist fighting him until the macguffin was successfully applied, but Homelander at peak, displayed-on-screen power level should never be defeated in a fist fight. The writers, however, simply did not take his power scaling seriously, so he was invulnerable to fist fights when they wanted him to be portrayed as terrifyingly powerful, then vulnerable to fist fights when they wanted us to think the heroes had a chance.

All the other supes had similarly inconsistent power levels. They were simply turned up or down based on how the writers wanted the dramatic arc of the overarching conflict (i.e. "how do we beat homelander") to be at a high note or low note.

This was the biggest sin of the show, and is why it would have been much better overall if they had figured out a clever way to off him in S3 instead of prolonging it for two more seasons where beating him was just a matter of shrodinger's fist fight.

Like I may be stretching here, but when Joyce says "Are you sure you're ready buffy" in a flat voice with a dead eyed stare then turns and walks into the shadows, it just feels way more significant than how it's used in the episode.

The other characters in the dream sequence are much more "lively", so her flat affect was definitely a deliberate artistic choice.

I know Joss lost his own mother in 1992, so while he might not have had concrete plans yet I'd be willing to believe that he knew he wanted to have an arc around Joyce's death that early in the show.

Also was Willow and the monkey symbolic of anything?

https://preview.redd.it/8ec9cq9is1fh1.png?width=422&format=png&auto=webp&s=a7d1c28ddce66cb72eee4bba48ff06ad15b5a764

Someone on Owlcat's writing team is *very* well versed in not-very-ethical BDSM lol

https://preview.redd.it/8ix1we1n12eh1.png?width=1201&format=png&auto=webp&s=b814c7961059d622302dc94f4ba56d5dab2d5efb

I remember when I got out of the military in the early 2000s, I was used to having buzzed hair anyways so I just bought a cheap pair of Wahl clippers at K-mart and did my own hair. In my memory I maybe kept them oiled, but they were no-muss-no-fuss and just blazed through even relatively thick hair.

I've used two different Wahl clippers in more recent years (post-2020) and neither pair works worth a damn. I oil them before use and they will get the job done, but it feels like way more effort and they get jammed up on thick hair in a way that I just don't remember them doing. I adjusted the big screw thingy on the side and they do a *little* better, but they're still not as effortless as I remember them.

Am I just remembering wrong? Have they always been significant effort to use? Is there anything I can do to improve the performance of the clipper I have? Is there a different brand that's a better value (not cheaper, but better performance/price ratio) these days?

Thanks for any help or insight :)

I'm done with my first Unfair run, and basically 2/3 of the way through the game every battle just ended up being: Jae buffs Argenta, gives Argenta an extra turn, Argenta ults and deletes the entire encounter.

She took down the Lord of Change with a single burst from her bolter. She deletes every other boss similarly.

My RT is actually quite a strong build but unless I choose to give her an extra turn instead of Argenta she basically never even needs to go.

Is this pretty normal?

Basically my build is based on getting Iconic Sidearm buffs in both hands, weapon personalization talent from Hiveworld origin, and then all the mobility and action economy buffs that Soldier offers.

I'm currently using a Deadly Precision bolt pistol in my main hand and Procyon B plasma pistol in my off hand.

The load bearing item choices for the build are pair holster for AP0 attacks after a pistol crit, and portative manipulator so I can freely reload my bolt pistol.

The standard combo is to start every turn with a 6 shot bolt pistol burst, at least one shot of which usually crits, follow it up with either an area or extra damage charged shot from the plasma pistol that costs 0 AP, then use Wildfire for an extra bolt pistol burst, so each shot builds versatility.

The benefits of this build are that my off-hand getting 0 AP shots helps with the AP penalty from dual wielding and being able to use either charged attack option is very versatile. Plasma pistols feel like the best overall damage/armor pen for a non-burst-fire off hand weapon, but my main hand Bolt Pistol is really doing the heavy lifting tbh.

The major problem with the current build is that I feel pretty stuck with the Procyon B pistol because otherwise I build up overheat stacks so fast it's a real explosion risk, and even with Safety Training it's a big risk to surrounding allies. The plasma pistol is also a talent hungry option.

I wonder if going with a bolt pistol and foehammer is overall better? Maybe get rid of bolt pistols entirely and just stick with the high-rate-of-fire autopistols? I feel like this build doesn't get a lot of flat damage buffs so the low base damage of autopistols is a real limitation.

Has anyone else done a similar build? Where did you end up landing? What's the best pistol combo here? Is Drukhari or Aeldari weapon proficiency worthwhile?