KapteinB's recent activity

  1. Comment on Come 2027, this whale-inspired visitor centre, designed by Dorte Mandrup in Norway, will be the perfect place to observe the majestic animals as they migrate in ~design

    KapteinB
    Link
    No doubt a cool design, especially seen from the sea. The town has a thriving whale safari industry, and I assume they'll all sail past this to give tourists a view of it from its best angle.

    No doubt a cool design, especially seen from the sea. The town has a thriving whale safari industry, and I assume they'll all sail past this to give tourists a view of it from its best angle.

    1 vote

  2. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of August 10 in ~society

    KapteinB
    Link
    Lindell alleges voting irregularities, refuses to concede (The Hill)

    Lindell alleges voting irregularities, refuses to concede (The Hill)

    MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is refusing to concede in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary, alleging irregularities in the vote totals.

    The businessman, who is backed by President Trump, lost to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R) by roughly 11 percentage points, according to Decision Desk HQ.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on D6 TTRPG suggestions in ~games.tabletop

    KapteinB
    Link
    I'm partial to Fantasy AGE. For people who have played D&D, the transition should be easy, but you can put away all the polyhedric dice and instead roll 3D6 vs target numbers. It adds a cool...

    I'm partial to Fantasy AGE. For people who have played D&D, the transition should be easy, but you can put away all the polyhedric dice and instead roll 3D6 vs target numbers. It adds a cool stunts system, which replaces the critical hit system of D&D, but is more versatile and flavourful, and also applies in non-combat situations. It has reduced complexity compared to D&D, which makes combat less of a slog. And it has an improved (in my opinion) XP system compared to D&D (especially 5e).

    There are also licensed versions of the game for Dragon Age and the Expanse, in case you or your players happen to be fans of those franchises.

    I'd like to give honorable mention to a system that uses D100 instead of D6: Call of Cthulu. It's a very intuitive roll-under system, and percentages are more relatable than the abstract numbers most systems use. The combat rules are a bit too crunchy for my tastes, but most published adventures are very combat light and instead focus on investigation and storytelling.

    2 votes

  4. Comment on D6 TTRPG suggestions in ~games.tabletop

    KapteinB
    Link Parent
    My previous TTRPG group used Monster of the Week as a backup game for when one or more players couldn't make it to a session. It's very low prep; the GM basically just needs to pick a monster and...

    My previous TTRPG group used Monster of the Week as a backup game for when one or more players couldn't make it to a session. It's very low prep; the GM basically just needs to pick a monster and cook up a quick story and it's good to go. Even introducing a new player is smooth sailing, as it only takes 10 minutes or so to create a character, even for players not familiar with the system.

    2 votes

  5. Comment on D6 TTRPG suggestions in ~games.tabletop

    KapteinB
    Link Parent
    I've played Scum and Villainy a bit, which is basically Blades in the Dark in space. It's got all of the sci-fi tropes (from Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, etc), so if your players...

    I've played Scum and Villainy a bit, which is basically Blades in the Dark in space. It's got all of the sci-fi tropes (from Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, etc), so if your players are sci-fi fans, it might be a good choice. With the right GM, it can be a very cinematic experience.

    1 vote

  6. Comment on Ukrainian aircraft in Leipzig near which drone was found was loaded with ammunition in ~society

    KapteinB
    Link Parent
    This surprised me a bit, but Wikipedia says the M270 was introduced in 1983, and as the article says the M39 is the older 165 km range ATACMS. The headline doesn't mention the 2,524 M26 unguided...

    The documents state that Turkey intends to reduce its stocks of obsolete weapons in order to redirect financial resources toward the modernization and maintenance of systems currently in service.

    This surprised me a bit, but Wikipedia says the M270 was introduced in 1983, and as the article says the M39 is the older 165 km range ATACMS.

    The headline doesn't mention the 2,524 M26 unguided 227 mm rockets included in the deal, which can also be launched from the M270, with a range of up to 32 km.

    1 vote

  7. Comment on Ukrainian aircraft in Leipzig near which drone was found was loaded with ammunition in ~society

  8. Comment on Greenland issues ‘strong warning’ as Donald Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill in ~society

    KapteinB
    Link Parent
    They do need to be delicate though, so they don't give Trump any excuse at all to send in the military. The big fish who deserve jail time are safe back in the USA in any case.

    They do need to be delicate though, so they don't give Trump any excuse at all to send in the military. The big fish who deserve jail time are safe back in the USA in any case.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on What have you been listening to this week? in ~music

    KapteinB
    Link
    Haken's new EP came out two weeks ago, so it's one of the things I'm listening to these days. It's controversial in the fandom, and I don't think it's their best work, but I like it enough. Haken...

    Haken's new EP came out two weeks ago, so it's one of the things I'm listening to these days. It's controversial in the fandom, and I don't think it's their best work, but I like it enough.

    Haken - in a fever dream

    Stumbled across a pretty obscure prog metal band from Lebanon, and I've been listening quite a bit to their last two albums.

    Turbulence - Madness Unforeseen

    Still giving the most playtime to Moron Police; their album Pachinko in particular, but also A Boat on the Sea and to a lesser degree The Stranger and the Hightide.

    Moron Police - Pachinko Pt. 1

  14. Comment on Why does Opera GX rarely come up in browser discussions? in ~tech

    KapteinB
    Link Parent
    Speed Dial and keyword search were killer features. As were tab stacking and mouse gestures. I also liked the fast forward and fast backwards buttons at the time, but like mouse gestures, they...

    Speed Dial and keyword search were killer features. As were tab stacking and mouse gestures. I also liked the fast forward and fast backwards buttons at the time, but like mouse gestures, they became largely useless as web sites started relying more on Javascript and such for navigation.

    It's also worth mentioning that the Firefox UI at the time looked absolutely hideous on Windows. That was important to some of us.

    1 vote

  15. Comment on Why does Opera GX rarely come up in browser discussions? in ~tech

    KapteinB
    Link
    I can't see it mentioned on their web site, but if I recall correctly they used to advertise the ability to limit how much CPU/memory/bandwith the browser consumes, freeing up resources for...

    I didn't find that it performed noticeably better than other browsers.

    I can't see it mentioned on their web site, but if I recall correctly they used to advertise the ability to limit how much CPU/memory/bandwith the browser consumes, freeing up resources for gaming. This would if anything make the browser perform worse, but might be worth it for gamers on low-end hardware.

    2 votes

  16. Comment on As Reddit stock falls, CEO questions value of Google’s AI Overviews in ~tech

    KapteinB
    Link Parent
    What's sh.reddit? At first glance it looks pretty similar to regular Reddit.

    What's sh.reddit? At first glance it looks pretty similar to regular Reddit.

    7 votes

  17. Comment on How Mexico became a surprise cornerstone of America’s AI boom in ~society

    KapteinB
    Link
    Anyone here familiar enough with Mexican justice reforms to expand on this?

    Alongside the trade uncertainty, changes implemented by Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, such as electing the country’s judges, have also held back investment.

    Anyone here familiar enough with Mexican justice reforms to expand on this?

    2 votes

  18. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of July 27 in ~society

  19. Comment on Ukrainian drones hit more sites of Russian online retailer Wildberries in ~society

  20. Comment on Ukrainian drones hit more sites of Russian online retailer Wildberries in ~society

    KapteinB
    Link
    Military factory in Russia's Kirov in flames after reported Flamingo attack, local authorities report casualties (Kyiv Independent)

    Military factory in Russia's Kirov in flames after reported Flamingo attack, local authorities report casualties (Kyiv Independent)

    A major factory producing missile and aviation parts in the Russian city of Kirov was damaged in a Ukrainian Flamingo cruise missile strike that left six dead and dozens more injured, Russian and Ukrainian authorities as well as local media reported on July 24.

    6 votes