u/WrongJohnSilver

The discussion of names came up on the recent Pony post. The character names are, mostly, major puns in Japanese. But hey, so are lots of American comic book names! So, how would we name the characters in an American-style remake?

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: Aaron Irons

Mina Ashido: Mina Ackroyd

Denki Kaminari: Serge Storm

Ochako Uraraka: Blythe Bright

Katsuki Bakugo: Wynn Boomer

Izuku "Deku" Midoriya: Roman "Scrap" Green

Translating "Deku" is hard! I decided "Scrap" works best, though, because it can mean both garbage and relentlessness.

What are your thoughts? Any other names you'd make?

I've been thinking about how to understand trance. I've heard we enter trance regularly throughout the day, but in my experience, it might be better said that we're always in trance, but if that's true, that's essentially like saying we're never in trance.

After some brainstorming and paying attention to how I fall asleep, though, I get the sense that there are different "channels" of awareness, and that trance is one of these channels. Right now, I am aware of about four separate channels:

* Experience: This is our senses detecting the outside world. Our sight, hearing, etc. We don't have direct control over this, it's all the environment acting on us.

* Imagination: This is conscious, directed creation of sensations internally. Thinking of a lemon, and all that. It does not result in experiences, as we remain aware that it is internally generated.

* Limbic: This is emotions, how we feel about things. Experiences can lead to emotional ties to things, which leads to imagination that might not be conscious and directed. This is how things we particularly enjoy or worry about can keep cropping up, even if it's not experienced and not directly imagined. This is the first of the more subconscious forms of awareness.

* Trance: This is internal, not conscious, not directed, and not tied to emotion. Maybe it's related to the inherent imperfections in the senses, like visual snow. But it's like how you're in bed, trying to fall asleep, and your mind drift to interact with things and people that aren't there. This is where your dreams come from in sleep, and although it's often completely ignored during wakefulness, it's all still there. Once again, though, these don't appear like experiences. It would only be hallucination if you're having trouble identifying which channel is which.

From what I've read and experienced, hypnosis involves finding a way to blur the boundary between experience and imagination, perhaps through blurring that with trance. Is this what the experience is like for you? Perhaps it sounds like I've been going into too much detail and splitting hairs, but many inductions seem to involve blurring imagination and experience, even though they're distinct.

(I'm approaching this from being interested in learning more about hypnosis, but having no idea what's being attempted, because I've had no success in being a subject.)

Hello! I'm from New Jersey. When the Norway team played at the New York/New Jersey stadium (wonderful team and wonderful fans, by the way), the team stayed at a local hotel, and ordered a bunch of pizzas from a local pizzeria.

The pizzas were 20 pepperoni pizzas, and one with green peppers, onion, garlic, and jalapeños. That last pizza has since been added as a special, called the Norway Pizza.

Is this a typical pizza in Norway? Or is there a team member for which he's known for enjoying this style? I've ordered it myself and enjoyed it.

Our resident American robin lives in and around our backyard, and loves the birdbath we provide and clean for him. We've caught him singing while at the bath, marking his territory.

Yesterday, my wife noticed an interesting behavior: he was simultaneously bathing and singing. He'd stop to plunge, and immediately start singing again the instant his head was back above water. I wasn't there to record it, unfortunately.

Has anyone noticed this behavior before from a robin?

I've got a Hold-Scarred Orc Flame Oracle, and the RP behind it is that he's a chosen champion of Ragathiel--a big, hulking, bellowing orc of flaming righteous fury.

To that end, I'm considering the Champion Dedication. But I keep thinking I'm leaving something on the table that I'm just not aware of. Any thoughts or ideas?

I've played a lot of Over The Edge (1e-2e) and had a blast with it, but I haven't played anything with PbtA yet. I am, however, considering Stonetop (if I can figure out where to buy a copy).

What would I have to be aware of regarding a PbtA game, compared to WaRP? What skills would make for a better PbtA player vs. WaRP player?

Picture this: you're a band of adventurers with a home base, some small frontier village. You go out, explore the wilderness, bring back treasure.

But as your band gets better at exploring the wilderness, the village grows, too. All that treasure props up the economy, after all, attracting new talent, more influence, more politics, more corruption, etc. The band builds a castle toto look over the village, they get more well known in the kingdom, in all the lands.

What systems are out there to track that growth? Sure, it can all be just story handwaving, but can it be managed systematically? Can the village's fortunes be compared with the major port city? Can we measure what damage marauding barbarians might cause? What rare equipment might be available? What benevolent and nefarious factions might be attracted?

Can we give that band of adventurers a feeling of a sense of place, of belonging, a sign that their successes matter in the world around them? Or can we track what happens if the band moves on to the next village? Perhaps the barbarian camp has an economic value, itself, that can go up and down as it invades?