Galahad's recent activity
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Comment on As I get older, I get more and more disillusioned with "activism", and I'm fine with this in ~talk
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Comment on As I get older, I get more and more disillusioned with "activism", and I'm fine with this in ~talk
Galahad Link ParentOh man, forgot about Kiwanis. And I guess I'll also add the Shriners because those little cars and fezzes are dopeOh man, forgot about Kiwanis. And I guess I'll also add the Shriners because those little cars and fezzes are dope
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Comment on As I get older, I get more and more disillusioned with "activism", and I'm fine with this in ~talk
Galahad (edited )LinkI'm not sure if you're American or not, but out here we have a bunch of privately run organizations that exist essentially to make their communities better. Sounds like exactly what you're...I'm not sure if you're American or not, but out here we have a bunch of privately run organizations that exist essentially to make their communities better. Sounds like exactly what you're describing -- a group of people coming together to make changes, however big or small, to provide help and services to those who need it. If you want to get involved in your community, I guarantee these are some of the most effective ways to do so. A few examples:
Rotary Club
It's a big service organization which, admittedly, seems to be populated with people who are just there to grow connections and rub shoulders with shot-callers in the area. But that doesn't mean they don't do good things -- they built an accessible playground for kids with disabilities around here that everyone seems to rave about.
Freemasons
Everybody says these guys stole the Declaration of Independence from Nicolas Cage or some shit, but the reality is it's a fraternal organization that does a bunch of community work helping out, raising money, that kind of thing.
If you're already a master mason: Shriners International
The Elks
The Flintstones made jokes about these guys back in the 70s via the Benevolent Order of the Water Buffalo, but it's the same thing as the others, albeit maybe smaller. Groups of neighbors coming together to do community service, help feed hungry people, bring a little light into the world.
Honorable Mentions
Fraternal Order of Eagles
Independent Order of Odd Fellows
Kiwanis ClubDrawbacks
The reality is, most of these organizations are full of old retirees. They meet in the middle of the day during the week and they've got a bunch of really old school notions of how the world operates. To an extent, they're right, but the world's changing and a lot of them need to be dragged into the 21st century.
Silver Lining
But, to me, that means they need younger people there! People who can become leaders by bringing a few fresh ideas. And there is sooo much low-hanging fruit in a lot of these organizations. Even stuff like actually having a social media page to get people to show up to events -- really simple stuff that younger people are good at.
Anyway, I forget where I was going with this. These people have the tools and resources to help affect change. Get involved, don't be intimidated, and don't underestimate what you can bring to the table to a bunch of already-well-connected people in your community!
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Comment on The mysterious life and questionable claims of Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter in ~sports.baseball
Galahad LinkWeird fact about baseball players gambling: Paul Giamatti's dad was the guy who banned Pete Rose after the gambling scandal back in 89Weird fact about baseball players gambling: Paul Giamatti's dad was the guy who banned Pete Rose after the gambling scandal back in 89
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Comment on Google is killing Retro Dodo and other independent sites in ~tech
Galahad LinkFull disclosure, I ditched Google for Kagi on the recommendation of this forum and will likely never go back. So fundamentally, I'd say I agree with the premise. I read the article and, while it's...Full disclosure, I ditched Google for Kagi on the recommendation of this forum and will likely never go back. So fundamentally, I'd say I agree with the premise.
I read the article and, while it's lamentable that this website that I've never heard of is going under due to Google not prioritizing its results, this stood out to me:
I honestly hope that Google can eventually create a search engine that’s fair, one that supports small independent publishers who actually follow their guidelines instead of punishing them for “writing for search engines and not readers” and treating them differently to websites that have a higher “domain authority” than them.
Imagine running a website that makes money from ad revenue, it starts to go under because your results aren't getting prioritized, and your suggested solution is for the internet search monopoly to make its search algorithm more "fair."
Also, notably:
I am no SEO expert;l I have a million plates to spin as a content website operator, and I cannot get everything right.
I'm sympathetic, really, but maybe you need to shift your focus for a little while and become one, man. Flexibility and agility is what being a small business owner is.
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Comment on Tell me your Christmas ghost stories! in ~talk
Galahad LinkYou've heard of the legend of Zorro? The story about the Mexican swashbuckler who swore vengeance on a corrupt governor for killing his wife? Turns out, Zorro was based on a real dude. A dude by...You've heard of the legend of Zorro? The story about the Mexican swashbuckler who swore vengeance on a corrupt governor for killing his wife?
Turns out, Zorro was based on a real dude. A dude by the name of Joaquin Murietta. He hailed from a little pueblo that's now called Fresno, California. He became an outlaw when, you guessed it, the mayor unjustly executed his wife. He spent his days knocking over stagecoaches in the Pacheco Pass (that stretch of 152 that goes to the 5 from 101). The story goes they caught him, chopped his head off and the mayor had it pickled, sitting in a jar in his office.
But they say, to this day, on a quiet night in the Pacheco Pass, you can still hear the hoofbeats of Joaquin Murietta and his band of outlaws coming to knock over your stagecoach.
Now, I've never heard any hoofbeats, but I have heard gunfire. It's probably just the local ranchers blowing off some steam. Probably.
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Comment on In the face of mounting climate risks, the US insurance safety net is falling apart in ~enviro
Galahad LinkIt seems to me that, at least in the long term, this is a good thing. In the immediate term, you've got 2/3 of the country underinsured on homeowners insurance, which is definitely a bad thing,...It seems to me that, at least in the long term, this is a good thing.
In the immediate term, you've got 2/3 of the country underinsured on homeowners insurance, which is definitely a bad thing, but I took away a couple of key points:
- The global reinsurance market is pricing in climate issues and rates are rising as a result
- Reducing insurability is a key tool in reducing greenhouse emissions; when insurance companies stopped insuring coal plants, new coal plant creation plummeted
I've thought for years that the day we make fixing the climate profitable is the day we save the world. Properly pricing in the cost of climate change is a key step in doing that and it sounds like insurance companies are on the front lines figuring out what the proper cost actually is.
When people can't get insurance and their land values plummet, that's the type of squeeze that spurs a proper government response -- hopefully it's not just price fixing (which would double down on shortages) and actually results in some meaningful conversations about curbing emissions.
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Comment on PowersHell and graph - setting SharePoint folder permissions help in ~comp
Galahad Link ParentHappy to hear it -- like I was mentioning before, those cmdlets are probably automatically generated based on a Swagger doc or something from the REST endpoints. If you end up running into those...Happy to hear it -- like I was mentioning before, those cmdlets are probably automatically generated based on a Swagger doc or something from the REST endpoints. If you end up running into those module dependency issues again, the nice thing is you're already 70% of the way to integrating directly with those REST endpoints. The only major hurdle left would be to implement the authentication and token handling.
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Comment on PowersHell and graph - setting SharePoint folder permissions help in ~comp
Galahad Link ParentYou ought to do a write-up of it after you've figured it all out -- I'm curious to see how you solve itYou ought to do a write-up of it after you've figured it all out -- I'm curious to see how you solve it
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Comment on PowersHell and graph - setting SharePoint folder permissions help in ~comp
Galahad Link ParentYeah, that link in my comment says it sets permissions and optionally e-mails users about it, so I think that creating sharing links is definitely related, but maybe not quite the same thing?...Yeah, that link in my comment says it sets permissions and optionally e-mails users about it, so I think that creating sharing links is definitely related, but maybe not quite the same thing? Regardless, +1
You can do it, u/g33kphr33k. Be brave, suck it up, and integrate directly with REST. You'll learn a lot
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Comment on PowersHell and graph - setting SharePoint folder permissions help in ~comp
Galahad LinkJust spit-balling here, but it looks like there are a few REST endpoints for what they're calling DriveItems. These look like logical resources that include SharePoint document libraries and...Just spit-balling here, but it looks like there are a few REST endpoints for what they're calling DriveItems. These look like logical resources that include SharePoint document libraries and folders.
Within that, there is an Add Permissions endpoint. It looks like you gotta provide it a list of DriveRecipient objects, although the example seems to indicate you can just use an e-mail address?
You're gonna need to figure out the IDs of the folders you're creating -- they're probably returned as part of the creation -- and feed those into this permissions endpoint, then provide e-mails or aliases along with the permissions you want to provide.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I still recommend you leverage the REST endpoints directly over the out-of-the-box PSModules due to those dependency issues you were encountering last time (even though those examples do have a pwsh tab). It'll make your code more robust and it's good function-building practice.
EDIT: Don't think I didn't notice that your spelling only includes a single capital letter this time. You'll come around :P
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Comment on PowersHELL scripting in ~comp
Galahad (edited )LinkA couple of things to consider. Specifically to your issue, you may want to consider looking into the #Requires keyword. It should make fixing versions of modules easier and I'd recommend it...A couple of things to consider. Specifically to your issue, you may want to consider looking into the #Requires keyword. It should make fixing versions of modules easier and I'd recommend it particularly if you're consuming the Az modules (although to your point, it's a web of dozens of interconnected modules and it might take a couple hours to figure out which versions of what module you need to fix).
Alternatively, if you're used to bash, you're probably pretty familiar with curl. Most, if not all, of the use cases you're describing have REST endpoints you can integrate with using Invoke-RestMethod:
It has the added benefit of returning the calls in object format which, fan of pwsh or not, is way easier to work with than what curl returns.
Chances are those PSModules you're leveraging are just using the REST endpoints behind the scenes (many of the modules are auto-generated based on the REST endpoints), so leveraging them directly will both give you more control over the information returned and allow you to fix the backend REST endpoint in your code so you don't run into those version bump issues you're seeing now.
Edit: Additionally, you could also look into PSDepend. It's been around for a while and can help manage dependencies (once you figure out what you need exactly). If you're distributing this to the rest of your team, it'd be a handy tool to get their environment configured properly. Also added a few useful doc links.
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Comment on Anything of interest for you at GenCon? in ~games.tabletop
Galahad Link ParentI was there last year, it was mandatory masks, but attendance was still solid. This year the mask mandate is over and, while I still expect attendance to be below pre-COVID levels, it's looking...I was there last year, it was mandatory masks, but attendance was still solid. This year the mask mandate is over and, while I still expect attendance to be below pre-COVID levels, it's looking like it's shaping up to be big. True Dungeon makes the trip worthwhile no matter what, pretty much. Plus last year got me into DCC, which is great.
In no particular order:
Sky Team looks dope for a 2p game.
Weirdwood Manor: Saw this last year in the early alpha, talked with the designer. A round board game?! Could be cool.
Oh No, Volcano! looks super goofy but it's a plinko game, how can I resist? -
Comment on The argument for Dungeon Crawl Classics in ~games.tabletop
Galahad Link ParentThe official Goodman Games Discord has a lot of great discussion and resources. There's always groups looking to play. Coming from Shadowrun and D&D previously, I will say that DCC has one of the...The official Goodman Games Discord has a lot of great discussion and resources. There's always groups looking to play.
Coming from Shadowrun and D&D previously, I will say that DCC has one of the lowest barriers to entry I've seen in a TTRPG. And, I'm with you, the artwork across the board is awesome. Everything looks like it belongs on a t-shirt at a metal concert
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Comment on The argument for Dungeon Crawl Classics in ~games.tabletop
Galahad Link ParentNow there's something I don't get lol. I'm going to give it a shot at gencon this fall, maybe it'll change my mind. The road crew is really greatNow there's something I don't get lol. I'm going to give it a shot at gencon this fall, maybe it'll change my mind. The road crew is really great
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Comment on The argument for Dungeon Crawl Classics in ~games.tabletop
Galahad Link ParentVariety of monsters, multiple paths in the castle, epic boss battle at the end. Really I just think it's a great example of how, even at level 0 or 1, the stakes can be super high. You're supposed...Variety of monsters, multiple paths in the castle, epic boss battle at the end. Really I just think it's a great example of how, even at level 0 or 1, the stakes can be super high. You're supposed to take down a reborn chaos lord and you basically just have a pitchfork. But if not you, who? Anybody who survives gets to feel like a for-real grizzled hero.
Plus there's a table to roll on for what the beastmen look like, which I think is a great touch.
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Comment on The argument for Dungeon Crawl Classics in ~games.tabletop
Galahad Link ParentThe quickstart rules come in PDF and it contains rules up to level 3, I think, along with a stripped down spellbook. Great way to get your feet wet and any adventures you buy come with a digital...The quickstart rules come in PDF and it contains rules up to level 3, I think, along with a stripped down spellbook. Great way to get your feet wet and any adventures you buy come with a digital copy. But yeah, I get it, even the softcover rulebook is like 6 lbs :P
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Comment on The argument for Dungeon Crawl Classics in ~games.tabletop
Galahad Link ParentIt's tough not to recommend Sailors on the Starless Sea, it's a classic. But I also had a great session with Intrigue at the Court of Chaos - pitting the characters against one another resulted in...It's tough not to recommend Sailors on the Starless Sea, it's a classic. But I also had a great session with Intrigue at the Court of Chaos - pitting the characters against one another resulted in some really memorable moments.
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The argument for Dungeon Crawl Classics
Dungeon Crawl Classics I think this game is great and I was surprised to see nobody recommended it in their non-D&D game lists. At the system level, Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) is a rules-light...
Dungeon Crawl Classics
I think this game is great and I was surprised to see nobody recommended it in their non-D&D game lists. At the system level, Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) is a rules-light version of 3.5. You never need more than one sourcebook and there are quick-start rules to play for free on the website.
At its core, though, DCC is an old school sword and sorcery setting heavily inspired by the authors of Appendix N. For those not familiar, in the first edition of D&D, Gary Gygax published a list of authors that inspired D&D in an appendix in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide. It has some obvious ones that I think most RPGs pull from (Tolkien and Jack Vance {of the Vancian magic system}, for instance), but there are also some deeper cuts that I don't think are really leveraged in many tabletop RPGs (Robert Howard of Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane, and H.P. Lovecraft). Those last two in particular, pulp-y fantasy writers who defined a genre, heavily influence DCC in my experience.
Aside from this, though, there are a few very unique and fun mechanics that got me totally hooked on this game.
The 0-level funnel and death as a narrative device
Traditionally in D&D, you end up spending the majority of your first session designing and building a character. In my experience, it usually takes around 2-4 hours depending on complexity. This results in mechanically unique characters, but it also ups the stakes for the DM. When was the last time you played a game of D&D and the survival of your character was ever truly in question? Nobody wants to spend 4 hours on their character only to have it killed off in the first play session -- that's not fun. But, in the end, it's also not challenging.
In DCC, it takes about 5-10 minutes to create a character (and there are online tools like The Purple Sorcerer that will generate them by the dozen). Every character starts with a profession (and by extension, a tool of their trade), a random piece of gear, and a block of random stats (3d6 rolled in order, none of these "points" or "4d6 drop the lowest" business). In the first session, you roll 4 of them and you play all 4 in what is termed the 0-level funnel. Over the course of this adventure, 2-3 of your characters will die -- after all, adventuring is a treacherous business fraught with peril -- and your surviving character(s) become level 1. At this point, they get a class and a couple additional abilities.
The core interesting thing to me about this is the emergent gameplay that results. Oftentimes, the character that rolled the best stats aren't the ones that actually survive. A single unlucky roll or an undiscovered trap results in unceremoniously striking down another one of the PCs, whereby they pick up the gear leftover from them and continue on their grim quest. I've seen the character with the lowest luck somehow being the one that survived and it forging a bond with the person playing it unlike anything I've seen in D&D. What did they do to earn that? What is in store for the doomed character that somehow managed to outlast 3 of his fellow villagers? It gives you a ton of tools as a DM and as a player to craft interesting narratives. And it also reminds the players that this character probably won't last forever. That opens the door for dramatic moments involving death that you don't really get to explore with D&D. Magic that restores life is exceedingly rare and would require a quest of comparable bravery to discover.
Magic as a dangerous and unpredictable tool
I've heard some complaints about Vancian magic in other topics and DCC also does away with this, but it does it with two chaotic and, at times, hilarious mechanics: the mercurial magic table and the spell table.
The Mercurial Magic Table
Magic is, by nature, a chaotic tool for the desperate. No two casters cast the same spell in the same way and the mercurial magic table is a representation of that. The first time a character casts a spell, they have to roll on the table to determine how they invoke that spell. There's a big chunk of the table that's just 'as normal,' but there are also things like 'every time you cast this, a digit on your hand or foot disintegrates. Take a -1 to dex for every two digits that disappear.'
How badly do you need to cast that magic missile? Is it worth invoking the unpredictable elemental energies required to do so? Is it worth....your thumb?
The Spell Table
Once you invoke the spell, you roll your spellcasting check and consult the spell table. The quality of your roll (of which there are a couple mechanics to affect this) determines what the spell actually does -- and they can be wildly different! That magic missile might fire a single missile that does 1 damage or it might summon 1d4 that do 1d4 damage each. Your darkness spell might allow you to create a 20' sphere of darkness at a point of your choosing or it might center a 5' magical darkness sphere on you.
Magic is chaotic and difficult to control. But as a result, it is almost always very powerful. Your spell might not do exactly what you expected, but it makes for much more interesting combat and on-the-fly thinking.
Should I play it?
Emphatically, yes! The rules-light nature of the game allows you to focus more on story-telling and mood-setting than being buried in the books all the time (except for looking up spell effects, everyone at the table seems to get excited when we have to do that). The deadly nature of the game has resulted in both better and heavier storytelling than anything I've done before -- stakes without it getting personal, as it were. And the adventure content is awesome -- there are some great resources on Sample Adventure Paths, but even the starting 0-level adventure in the back of the sourcebook is strong. I swear I'm not a shill, I just want more DCC in the universe.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~games.tabletop
Galahad LinkDungeon Crawl Classics I think this game is great and I was surprised to see nobody recommended it in their non-D&D game lists. At the system level, Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) is a rules-light...Dungeon Crawl Classics
I think this game is great and I was surprised to see nobody recommended it in their non-D&D game lists. At the system level, Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) is a rules-light version of 3.5. You never need more than one sourcebook and there are quick-start rules to play for free on the website.
At its core, though, DCC is an old school sword and sorcery setting heavily inspired by the authors of Appendix N. For those not familiar, in the first edition of D&D, Gary Gygax published a list of authors that inspired D&D in an appendix in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide. It has some obvious ones that I think most RPGs pull from (Tolkien and Jack Vance {of the Vancian magic system}, for instance), but there are also some deeper cuts that I don't think are really leveraged in many tabletop RPGs (Robert Howard of Conan the Barbarian and Solomon Kane, and H.P. Lovecraft). Those last two in particular, pulp-y fantasy writers who defined a genre, heavily influence DCC in my experience.
Aside from this, though, there are a few very unique and fun mechanics that got me totally hooked on this game.
The 0-level funnel and death as a narrative device
Traditionally in D&D, you end up spending the majority of your first session designing and building a character. In my experience, it usually takes around 2-4 hours depending on complexity. This results in mechanically unique characters, but it also ups the stakes for the DM. When was the last time you played a game of D&D and the survival of your character was ever truly in question? Nobody wants to spend 4 hours on their character only to have it killed off in the first play session -- that's not fun. But, in the end, it's also not challenging.
In DCC, it takes about 5-10 minutes to create a character (and there are online tools like The Purple Sorcerer that will generate them by the dozen). Every character starts with a profession (and by extension, a tool of their trade), a random piece of gear, and a block of random stats (3d6 rolled in order, none of these "points" or "4d6 drop the lowest" business). In the first session, you roll 4 of them and you play all 4 in what is termed the 0-level funnel. Over the course of this adventure, 2-3 of your characters will die -- after all, adventuring is a treacherous business fraught with peril -- and your surviving character(s) become level 1. At this point, they get a class and a couple additional abilities.
The core interesting thing to me about this is the emergent gameplay that results. Oftentimes, the character that rolled the best stats aren't the ones that actually survive. A single unlucky roll or an undiscovered trap results in unceremoniously striking down another one of the PCs, whereby they pick up the gear leftover from them and continue on their grim quest. I've seen the character with the lowest luck somehow being the one that survived and it forging a bond with the person playing it unlike anything I've seen in D&D. What did they do to earn that? What is in store for the doomed character that somehow managed to outlast 3 of his fellow villagers? It gives you a ton of tools as a DM and as a player to craft interesting narratives. And it also reminds the players that this character probably won't last forever. That opens the door for dramatic moments involving death that you don't really get to explore with D&D. Magic that restores life is exceedingly rare and would require a quest of comparable bravery to discover.
Magic as a dangerous and unpredictable tool
I've heard some complaints about Vancian magic in other topics and DCC also does away with this, but it does it with two chaotic and, at times, hilarious mechanics: the mercurial magic table and the spell table.
The Mercurial Magic Table
Magic is, by nature, a chaotic tool for the desperate. No two casters cast the same spell in the same way and the mercurial magic table is a representation of that. The first time a character casts a spell, they have to roll on the table to determine how they invoke that spell. There's a big chunk of the table that's just 'as normal,' but there are also things like 'every time you cast this, a digit on your hand or foot disintegrates. Take a -1 to dex for every two digits that disappear.'
How badly do you need to cast that magic missile? Is it worth invoking the unpredictable elemental energies required to do so? Is it worth....your thumb?
The Spell Table
Once you invoke the spell, you roll your spellcasting check and consult the spell table. The quality of your roll (of which there are a couple mechanics to affect this) determines what the spell actually does -- and they can be wildly different! That magic missile might fire a single missile that does 1 damage or it might summon 1d4 that do 1d4 damage each. Your darkness spell might allow you to create a 20' sphere of darkness at a point of your choosing or it might center a 5' magical darkness sphere on you.
Magic is chaotic and difficult to control. But as a result, it is almost always very powerful. Your spell might not do exactly what you expected, but it makes for much more interesting combat and on-the-fly thinking.
Should I play it?
Emphatically, yes! The rules-light nature of the game allows you to focus more on story-telling and mood-setting than being buried in the books all the time (except for looking up spell effects, everyone at the table seems to get excited when we have to do that). The deadly nature of the game has resulted in both better and heavier storytelling than anything I've done before -- stakes without it getting personal, as it were. And the adventure content is awesome -- there are some great resources on Sample Adventure Paths, but even the starting 0-level adventure in the back of the sourcebook is strong. I swear I'm not a shill, I just want more DCC in the universe.
Thanks, updated