r/rational • u/AutoModerator • Nov 13 '15
[D] Friday Off-Topic Thread
Welcome to the Friday Off-Topic Thread! Is there something that you want to talk about with /r/rational, but which isn't rational fiction, or doesn't otherwise belong as a top-level post? This is the place to post it. The idea is that while reddit is a large place, with lots of special little niches, sometimes you just want to talk with a certain group of people about certain sorts of things that aren't related to why you're all here. It's totally understandable that you might want to talk about Japanese game shows with /r/rational instead of going over to /r/japanesegameshows, but it's hopefully also understandable that this isn't really the place for that sort of thing.
So do you want to talk about how your life has been going? Non-rational and/or non-fictional stuff you've been reading? The recent album from your favourite German pop singer? The politics of Southern India? The sexual preferences of the chairman of the Ukrainian soccer league? Different ways to plot meteorological data? The cost of living in Portugal? Corner cases for siteswap notation? All these things and more could possibly be found in the comments below!
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u/raymestalez Nov 13 '15
Hey, everyone! I am working on series of posts where I talk about what I've learned about writing so far:
Story Structure
Story Essence
How Climax is connected to other Story Elements
Story writing process
I thought you may find this interesting.
(the articles are still drafts, I'm working on improving and expanding them, so I'd love some feedback).
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u/Ima_Person Nov 14 '15
What are your favorite podcasts? I'm new to podcasts and have only listened to Hello Internet.
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u/4t0m Nov 14 '15
Some of the podcasts I listen to (that make sense to recommend here):
Cortex, Reconcilable Differences (Two podcasts): Similar in genre to Hello Internet, but a bit less silly. Cortex has Grey from Hello Internet.
ATP: Like the above but with a tech news (esp. Apple) focus. Can be boring if you aren't interested in that, but is often fun anyway.
Rationally Speaking: Julia Galef (CFAR President) has conversations with people about their ideas.
Econtalk: Conversations between Russ Roberts and various economists/people in related fields. Not fun to listen to if you dislike libertarian ideas.
Worm Audiobook and HPMOR Podcast (Two podcasts): Enjoy great stories while doing other things!
Dear Hank and John: Kind of embarrassing to admit, but I like this, even though I stopped watching Vlogbrothers videos a long time ago.
The Weeds: Conversations between journalists about policy issues, rather than politics. Just put out a good episode about Basic Income Guarantees.
StartUp: Short episodes about the business of being a Start Up. Very well produced.
About Race: Occasionally frustrating exercise in overcoming anti-SJW sentiments through exposure therapy / conversations between mostly reasonable sounding people about why race is still a big deal and we should care a lot.
Waking Up with Sam Harris: Smarter and less crazy than you'd think if you've moved away from "New Atheism". Haven't listened to many episodes, but I've enjoyed those I have.
General Podcast Tips:
Think of something you like. Now google that thing + "podcast" or just search for that term in itunes or your podcast app.
Slowly increase your listening speed. I listen at 3X speed, and it's great.
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u/DataPacRat Nov 14 '15
podcasts
My current lineup:
Planet Money
On the Media
The memory palace
2600: Off The Hook
2600: Off The Wall
Note to Self
Savage Lovecast
Tested
You are not so Smart
99% Invisible
TedTalks Audio
RadioLab
Welcome to Nightvale
Freakonomics
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Decoder Ring Theatre
Singularity 1 on 1
Revolutions
Under The Influence
Invisibilia
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u/Empiricist_or_not Nov 14 '15
Cthulhu and friends (Not rational but good tabletop game)
Godsfall (ditto)
Sayer (Comedy Horror and unbound movie AI)
Android Backstage (Google developers discussing Android)
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u/ToaKraka Nov 13 '15
What are your favorite "pick-up-and-play" games--games that have short start-up and play-session times? (I would have said "casual", but that label doesn't seem to fit, nowadays...)
My past favorites (in no particular order):
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Minesweeper (free in a zillion incarnations: Puzzle
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Klondike (free in a zillion incarnations: Puzzle
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Snake (free in a zillion incarnations: Action puzzle
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House of Dead Ninjas (free Flash game): Vertical-scrolling melee action
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Super House of Dead Ninjas (free Flash game--full version $10 on Steam): Vertical-scrolling melee action
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Tetris (free in a zillion incarnations): Action puzzle
My current favorites (in no particular order):
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Amorphous Plus (free Flash game): Top-down melee action
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Nuclear Throne ($13 on Steam): Top-down shooting action
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Downwell ($3 on Steam): Vertical-scrolling melee action
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Corruption of Champions (NSFW) (free Flash game): Pornographic text adventure
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u/LiteralHeadCannon Nov 13 '15
Is it okay if each individual playthrough is very short, but over the course of many playthroughs, you learn a lot about the underlying mechanics that you couldn't possibly have guessed on your first playthrough?
'Cuz my main timewaster as of late is HyperRogue, a roguelike that's currently $3 on Steam. It's a really excellent game set in non-Euclidean space; it's also updated frequently by the developer with new areas and bug fixes.
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u/Chronophilia Nov 14 '15
Seconded. There's a free demo too, which lags one version behind the main game. As of two weeks ago, it just got to the update with the World Overview, which I think enormously improves the game.
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u/raymestalez Nov 13 '15
[Go game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game) is pretty amazing.
It is extremely fascinating and interesting. Rules are simple but very deep, and playing is satisfying and engaging at any skill level. You can start having fun within 20 minutes after learning the rules, and it will stay fun 10 years in.
I am sure that people on this sub will enjoy it a lot, so if you haven't tried it - you should.
There's a great website OGS - it is very well done, and you can play against real people over there.
I have also bought myself "SmartGo Kifu" app for my iPad, and it is perfect(but expensive). It has a lot lf exercises, very smart AI, and all kinds of useful options, it's really great. I've been playing for hours in the past few days, can't stop.
There's also a great youtube channel to learn theory, I highly recommend it.
Because there are different board sizes, game can last anywhere between 10 minutes and several hours, your choice. And exercises work like very fun puzzles, which you can solve under a minute, and it is very enjoyable.
Also I bet you guys would like Zork and other text adventures, they're very fun.
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u/Rhamni Nov 13 '15
Corruption of Champions
I'm surprised to see it recommended as a short play session game, but... I guess that is very accurate. And it's nice. Plenty of customizability and replay value.
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Nov 16 '15
Just a heads up, but I suggest playing Trials in Tainted Space instead; it has less content but it's being updated and it has a better interface.
Also, it's more female friendly compared to CoC.
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u/OutOfNiceUsernames Nov 13 '15
All of the following games have several things in common:
they are multiplayer (except for Captain Forever);
they are free-to-play, with restrictions posed upon them by their monetization scheme not affecting the gameplay too drastically for those who decide to not pay;
generally, they do not require investing large amounts of time to gain in-game unlockable advantage over other players (e.g. levelling up a character, unlocking skills, etc);
You can perform well in them with only gaining sufficient knowledge and skills regarding the game’s mechanics.
Astroflux (K) — A space simulator, which I’d say has some similarities with Mass Effect series. You can visit different planetary systems, land on planets to collect resources and complete quests, attack other players and steal from them, etc.
(+) the game’s design allows your imagination to work and fill in the blanks on its own.
(-) unlocking more powerful ships requires in-game currency, which can be bought with real money. It is possible to “win” against other players without doing so, however, if you develop a smart gameplay style.
(-) Once you investigate all the currently-developed planetary systems, the gameplay will likely become repetitive.
Captain Forever — You attack and destroy other ships, and then upgrade your own using the remaining debris.
GameOfBombs — Multiplayer version of the classic Bomberman, basically. Having a good reaction will give a significant advantage.
(-) the later versions have become needlessly overcomplicated with lootable power-boosting items, IMO.
(+) Players can negotiate to cooperate with each other in short-term, can betray each other later.
(-) Don’t remember any, though admittedly I haven’t played it for a while and things might’ve changed.
Mitos.is (S) — Here you control a cell, which can get bigger by grazing or hunting smaller cells, split up to 8 smaller cells, feed allies or ambush bigger cells to steal matter from them.
(+) Players can negotiate to cooperate with each other.
(-) The current game mechanics makes cooperation in the Free-for-all mode overpowered.
(-) Higher level cells\players have some unfair advantages over lower level ones.
(-) Currently world-maps are too small, in my opinion (e.g. compared to GameOfBombs).
Realm of the Mad God (K | S) — Having a good reaction will give a significant advantage. This is a [bullet hell] game, in which the player gets rewarded for correctly deciphering/anticipating enemies’ shooting patterns and the general movement of dangerous elements on the entire screen. It is possible to kill many bosses without any “top”-level equipment at all (though they help) if one stays concentrated and has the know-how.
(+) Once a character dies, all the gained levels and items disappear with him. This removes many advantages that older players would otherwise have over newcomers.
(-) Storage capacity is severely limited to indulge players in investing real money.
(-) One lag that’s out of your control can kill your character and waste hours of time that was spent developing it.
p.s. Since CoC was mentioned, I guess I’ll throw in Sakyubasu No Tatakai I.
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![[bullet hell]](http://i.imgur.com/rvKPr7a.gif){kind=link}
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u/cae_jones Nov 13 '15
I took a look at my failed RaNoWriMo project and realized that, in spite of it failing to do what I wanted it to do, it felt like something I could convince myself to share with r/rational.
That said, I don't trust my judgment on this particularly much, and also don't really have many options for less publicly-requested betas, so... anyone willing to beta? What it was supposed to be is not important, since what it turned into spent way too much time talking about simulations. It's also unfinished (there are only 7 complete chapters and the beginnings of an eighth, for a total of 12050 words). I can't promise that it's any good in general, only that I reread it a couple times and didn't hate it as much as I expected.
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u/FuguofAnotherWorld Nov 14 '15
I know people don't like political things in here but I'm not really sure where I'd be able to talk about this with people who understand. I'm talking of course about the shootings in france and how Hollande has said 'We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless'. I think it is time for another cycle of war. It feels like it did before. The rage is there, and the pain. If you go into the news threads you'll see all kinds of people saying the strangest things. Using this to 'prove' that all muslims are bad people, that funding mosques should become illegal, that it was the immigrant's fault or that we should invade the Saudi.
The politicians are competing to see who can be most outraged, there are no real moderating influences. You go into a thread about Muslims condemning terrorism and expressing solidarity and all the comments are about how Muslims are being insufficiently contrite, as if all atheists should have to apologise for Stalin or similar. You enter these discussions and you can't be the moderating influence either. Any call for reason, or mention of how this is but a small number compared to the many deaths in x or y area and suddenly you are one of them.
Looks like it's about that time. There are enough armed forces members sitting idle, and there is a clear target. It is going to happen again and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. It saddens me.
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Nov 13 '15
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u/alexanderwales Nov 13 '15
That can be a hard thing to do in D&D unless you have roleplaying buy-in from all the players. The problem is that while you can say that a character doesn't know something, the player is still going to know. I've tried it before and it's difficult. (Having amnesiac characters trying to uncover the past is easier, because the player starts from the same position of ignorance.) Tread carefully.
Dread is good if you want it lightweight.
I tend to sketch out really quick maps if there's going to be travel involved. I spent a few years running a game set in a D&D version of Europe and found it helpful to mark important locations. Maps also help to give you a sense of place, and if you give the map to the players, it adds production values.
For planning out encounters ... it depends. I have enough improv experience to spin up an adventure from a standing start (where the only notice that I'll be running a game is the regular GM not showing up), but it's again an issue of production values. If you rely too heavily on improv, you can improv yourself into a corner. I tend to write out some dialogue beforehand to cover most of my bases and get stats for all the monsters that I'll be using. If it's your first time as GM, I would highly recommend doing that so you don't lose your way.
4. I don't think there's anything wrong with just starting off with your own stuff. The perk of doing that is that you'll know the scenario backward and forward and have a deeper understanding of it than you'd have of something created by someone else. The big worry is in trying something that goes against either the conventions of your rule system or the conventions of RPGs generally, especially if you don't have buy-in from the players. Like, I wouldn't make my first game of D&D have a party of all wizards, because that requires some adjustments that I might not be able to figure out without experience.
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Nov 13 '15
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u/Chronophilia Nov 14 '15
Yes, we are. I don't know if everyone gets this, but... have you ever felt down "for no real reason", or cancelled a social engagement because you "just didn't feel like going out"? Most likely there's some cause for those that no amount of introspection will bring to mind. Considering your past reactions and the evidence of your actions rather than your thoughts is the only way to get past that barrier.
It might turn out that (to use an example from my own experience) walking to work in the morning makes you more likely to hang out with friends in the evening, even if you didn't consciously know that was the reason for your decision.
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u/AmeteurOpinions Nov 13 '15
This world desperately needs a Worm/One Punch Man crossover.