blastedheath's recent activity
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Comment on A lukewarm defense of LLMs in ~tech
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
blastedheath LinkI'm just about to finish King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green. This was a very popular retelling of the Arthurian Legends published in 1953, attempting to package...I'm just about to finish King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green. This was a very popular retelling of the Arthurian Legends published in 1953, attempting to package the legends together into a more cohesive legendarium with a beginning, middle and end.
I love all things Western fantasy and its been great fun getting to see where so many of the tropes we take for granted came from. Heroic knights questing for the sake of questing! Morgana the evil sorceress! Jousting! Damsels in distress! Enchanted barges! Terrible dungeons! Sir Gareth has to succeed at 5 boss fights against the Black, Green, Red, Blue and Red knight to rescue the Lady Lyonesse and prove himself to her sister Lynette.
One of my favorite things that Green does is to mention in the middle of a story - "and then Sir [X] got up to many other things, but we don't have time to talk about them all here. Anyway, what happened next was...". It really helps to make the fantasy world feel rich and full. Its also fascinating to see the artfulness of the storytelling (or lack thereof) across stories. Sir Gareth is an example of a pretty goofy, straightforward story. Did there really need to be 5 colored nights and did each fight need to be described? But then on the flip side, Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is almost a postmodern morality tale that feels almost eldrich and Lovecraftian at points. Its been a great read.
Before that I read Shattering Illusions by Jamy Ian Swiss. This is a book about the theory of magic (pick a card, not Black Lotus). Jamy Ian Swiss is a renowned but controversial sleight of hand master who's infamous among magicians for being a harsh critic. If you're a millenail like I am, you might remember him from the PBS documentary The Art of Magic.
The first essay in the book is titled "Why Magic Sucks". I think he's great fun to read. Half of the time I'm nodding along, the other half I'm cursing him out disagreeing with his rude opinions. Its great. Most non-magic folks don't realize there's two kinds of magic books: (1) books of tricks, where the secrets are revealed, and (2) books of theory, that talk about how to present tricks in a way that goes beyond just "here's a coin, now its gone, now its back, you're an idiot." The theory of magic is a fascinating study, even if you're someone who has no intention to perform yourself. Why are we entertained by people we KNOW are tricking us? Its a challenging question.
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Comment on Manifestos, fear, and ‘loser thinking’: inside Proton’s AI reckoning in ~tech
blastedheath LinkI'm now 100% confident that all those people trying to argue against critics of his pro-Trump tweet were put up to it by him. There was a huge reverse backlash towards the people who criticized...He then told a member of the team that made it to “go on Reddit.”
“So go on there with your personal account and comment to set the record straight,” he wrote. “Perception is more important than truth, the truth doesn’t matter if you don’t win on perception.”
I'm now 100% confident that all those people trying to argue against critics of his pro-Trump tweet were put up to it by him. There was a huge reverse backlash towards the people who criticized Yen saying that we were "falling for propaganda" or "being tricked".
What propaganda? I read the fucking Tweet myself and made my own decision about it. Dude is a loser. I cancelled immediately and my instincts were clearly right.
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Comment on How is your current TTRPG campaign going? in ~games.tabletop
blastedheath Link ParentI have a complex relationship with Forbidden Lands. I would say yes, it can fulfill the promise of requiring no more than 15 mins prep ahead of a session. It will 100% never make you prep maps and...I have a complex relationship with Forbidden Lands.
I would say yes, it can fulfill the promise of requiring no more than 15 mins prep ahead of a session. It will 100% never make you prep maps and encouters like 5E requires. Not only that, it also doesn't even require you to read the current "chapter" of some hardback campaign to prep yourself (if you don't want to).
There is a catch - the way it solves those problems is with (1) complex rules and (2) a lot of random encounters and (3) a list of "adventure sites", each of which IS like a location/quest from a 5E campaign hardback.
Your players may spend 1-2 sessions literally just going through the generative storytelling process created by the overland travel rules. They're rolling not to get lost, they're rolling to make camp, they're rolling to hunt and forage and gather water. They'll come across a crevasse they have to cross, or a dangerous animal they have to fight, or an ancient gravesite and that one encounter can take up half a session. But these rules are complex to administer, so you WILL have to put the work in ahead of time to learn them all. You'll also need to spend time upfront reading all those random encounters so that when you roll one, you don't have to stop the game for 5 mins to read 2 paragraphs and figure out how you're going to play that out at the table.
The adventure sites technically are optional - you can run the game just with travel and random encounters. But you'll want at least 2-3 adventure sites in your back pocket to give the players payoff. A village with some interesting politics, an abandoned castle, a Rust Brothers outpost. These are written to encourage improv, but you will have to sit and read 5-8 pages to prep each one. And since its a sandbox game, you'll want 2-3 ready to go because you never know which way your players will turn.
So tl;dr its more work upfront to get proficient at running FBL than running 5E. But once you know the rules and random encounters well, all you have to do to prep is keep ~2 adventure sites prepped and ready to go to drop into the sandbox as the player characters wander.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
blastedheath Link ParentJack Vance's writing is crazy. Such evocative worldbuilding. The sexism is so weird and painful though! The Dying Earth is definitely my favorite, and Eyes of the Overworld is also worth reading....Jack Vance's writing is crazy. Such evocative worldbuilding. The sexism is so weird and painful though! The Dying Earth is definitely my favorite, and Eyes of the Overworld is also worth reading. You can really see the murderhobo D&D character trope's genesis in the main character of Cugel.
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Comment on How is your current TTRPG campaign going? in ~games.tabletop
blastedheath Link ParentScheduling's tough. I approve of the "make the players do it" approach. The best way I've found over the years is the "we play every week / every other week on Thursday" approach. If everyone...Scheduling's tough. I approve of the "make the players do it" approach. The best way I've found over the years is the "we play every week / every other week on Thursday" approach. If everyone knows Thursday night is always game night, they're more likely to build the habit into their routine. I know that's not always possible for people though. I wish you luck!
I'm sure your combat feels more fluid to the players than it does to you :) Being behind the screen, we notice every time we stumble but the players are just there having a good time. How are you liking Daggerheart's Hope & Fear system?
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Comment on How is your current TTRPG campaign going? in ~games.tabletop
blastedheath LinkI'll start! I'm now 9 sessions into running Forbidden Lands for my in person group. Overall, the campaign has been a great experience. The players have really taken to the ethos of the game -...I'll start!
I'm now 9 sessions into running Forbidden Lands for my in person group. Overall, the campaign has been a great experience. The players have really taken to the ethos of the game - creating their own story through their choices and what they value in the absence of the traditional "quest" structure that most fantasy games center around.
Most notably, one of the players lost their character in the second session, and so the next 5-6 sessions became a story about an epic quest the others undertook to try and find the ancient elven conclave they thought might have the power to restore the character back to life. That story had so much more emotional resonance than I could have ever created with an NPC-given quest.
This is my second time running Forbidden Lands and I'm having much more success this time simply sitting back and letting the players run the game for me. When they come across things their characters are familiar with, I let the players narrate and describe the world, its peoples and its customs. I'll come in with the occasional exposition, but otherwise its up to them and the random tables to determine where the game goes. It takes a bit of faith to run a game that way but I've really found joy in the art of keeping those plates in the air.
I'm really pleased. Its likely we won't go past another 2-3 sessions since my group likes to switch between game systems regularly and take turns GMing. Plus I like to end on a high note with the players wanting more. I'm just so thrilled I finally made this game really sing with a group!
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How is your current TTRPG campaign going?
In the spirit of "what are you reading?", "what are you playing?" etc. threads I see regularly posted in other groups, come tell us about your campaign! Whether you're a GM or a player, share with...
In the spirit of "what are you reading?", "what are you playing?" etc. threads I see regularly posted in other groups, come tell us about your campaign! Whether you're a GM or a player, share with us what you're playing and how its going.
What game system are you using and what do you think of it? How many sessions has your current game been running? How's your group doing? Did something cool or funny happen in the last session? What are you looking forward to in the next session?
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Comment on Proposal: For sensitive topics, if a thread is intended for a particular demographic, there needs another thread open for everyone to discuss without having to join the targeted thread in ~tildes
blastedheath Link ParentI would love to not see any more incendiary posts about this stuff. I don't care about the original thread, or the response thread, or the other response threads. Could you folks who do want to...I would love to not see any more incendiary posts about this stuff.
I don't care about the original thread, or the response thread, or the other response threads. Could you folks who do want to argue about this stuff please just keep it in those topics instead of bringing the fight to ~tildes? This is just inviting more of the exact commentary you say you don't want, and from my perspective its spreading toxicity I don't want to see when I come on here.
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Comment on How have you improved your living spaces? in ~life.home_improvement
blastedheath Link ParentShh don't tell them about the socks secret!Shh don't tell them about the socks secret!
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Comment on How have you improved your living spaces? in ~life.home_improvement
blastedheath LinkNot sure if this makes me sound weird, but here goes... In my kitchen all my pieces of tableware are identical and come from a restaurant supply company. My mugs are all the exact same thick white...Not sure if this makes me sound weird, but here goes...
In my kitchen all my pieces of tableware are identical and come from a restaurant supply company. My mugs are all the exact same thick white ceramic diner mug. My glasses are all standard bar pint glasses. My silverware all matches.
I hate the cognitive overhead of having to worry about whether my "favorite bowl" is clean or not. If something breaks, I have identical backups from the restaurant supply company. I find it liberating.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
blastedheath Link ParentI love your method and hope to do that when I have more free time to read in the future. What do you do when you've read partway through and think you've got a stinker? Do you stick it out or put...I love your method and hope to do that when I have more free time to read in the future. What do you do when you've read partway through and think you've got a stinker? Do you stick it out or put it aside?
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Comment on The fine dining flip in ~food
blastedheath Link ParentThis is what came to mind for me as well when reading this. All restaurants have massively inflated their prices, and consumers seem to have accepted them, so business incentives have changed....This is what came to mind for me as well when reading this. All restaurants have massively inflated their prices, and consumers seem to have accepted them, so business incentives have changed. Margins are much better charging $25 for a plate of pasta and vodka sauce than charging $50 for a fine dining entree that takes expensive ingredients and labor to prepare.
I have just stopped eating out altogether, unless its a social obligation. Seeing that I've spent $50 on a sandwich and a drink and then being handed a terminal with a default 25% tip option just completely destroys any enjoyment I might have otherwise gotten from the experience. If I'm busy or want a treat, I'd much rather just grab something premade from the grocery store these days.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
blastedheath Link ParentIts a shame how high school tends to ruin Shakespeare for the majority of the population. He's a great storyteller. King Lear is worth a revisit, that one is my favorite of all his works. Its a...Its a shame how high school tends to ruin Shakespeare for the majority of the population. He's a great storyteller. King Lear is worth a revisit, that one is my favorite of all his works. Its a true post-modern existential story. If you liked the pseudo-"fantasy" aspect of Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest is another one that does that really well.
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
blastedheath LinkI just finished the first omnibus volume of The Department of Truth by James Tynion IV. Its a comic / graphic novel that explores the question "what if collective belief had the power to alter...I just finished the first omnibus volume of The Department of Truth by James Tynion IV. Its a comic / graphic novel that explores the question "what if collective belief had the power to alter reality?" The story follows a man who is drafted into a secret US government agency whose job is to control and manipulate conspiracy theories so that they don't gain enough believers to actually become real.
The author uses this concept to explore real life conspiracy culture and mysticism, from bigfoot to flat-earth to lizard-men and to some very salient modern topics like the Satanic panic and QAnon. Its definitely a very dark story with some difficult content. I really enjoy conspiracy theories and the occult as a fiction topic, so I love this take on the subject matter. For anyone who is familiar with the roleplaying game Delta Green, this series shares a lot of the same DNA.
I own the second omnibus as well and am looking forward to reading it, although I'm taking a short break to read a couple non-fiction books in between.
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Comment on When do you know that you've found "the one"? in ~life
blastedheath LinkI wish I knew. I thought I felt it twice, and both relationships ended up failing. After those experiences I've given up looking for a life partner. I guess you just throw your hat in and hope for...I wish I knew. I thought I felt it twice, and both relationships ended up failing. After those experiences I've given up looking for a life partner.
I guess you just throw your hat in and hope for the best. On a long enough relationship timeline, you either grow together or you grow apart.
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Comment on Do you think you're special? in ~talk
blastedheath Link ParentI often joke that Mr. Rogers was the worst thing that ever happend to me as a child. He convinced me that I was special and that I should behave morally and expect others around me to do the same....I often joke that Mr. Rogers was the worst thing that ever happend to me as a child. He convinced me that I was special and that I should behave morally and expect others around me to do the same. I've been struggling to cope with reality ever since.
I'm being tongue in cheek of course... Sort of.
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Comment on What's a show you love that's from before your time? in ~tv
blastedheath Link Parent"Vandelay Industries. Kel Varnsen speaking. How may I help you?" Seinfeld is mine too. Sounds like I'm a little older than you, because I was a little kid when the show was still airing. But its..."Vandelay Industries. Kel Varnsen speaking. How may I help you?"
Seinfeld is mine too. Sounds like I'm a little older than you, because I was a little kid when the show was still airing. But its an early TV memory of mine. I watched the syndication religiously as a teenager, but by the time I "got the jokes" beyond laughing at Kramer it had already ended.
Its funny to say but Seinfeld massively influenced my expectations about what adulthood would be like. I moved to NYC at 18 years old for many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons was Seinfeld. Around that time one of my close friends was really into it, and we became experts at Seinfeld trivia, and won many free drinks competing in Seinfeld bar trivia nights all around NYC.
I still watch the show all the time. Its my comfort show, the way "The Office" is a comfort show for a lot of folks. I can recite most of it from memory. I'm going to stop rambling now but the last thing I'd like to say is: I love the idea of your dad immigrating to the US and when people ask why, he just says "well you know, my home country had its positives and negatives, but... yada yada yada, now I'm here!"
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Comment on What's your line? in ~life
blastedheath Link ParentGood for you. I'm constantly shouting out the danger of Sinclair to friends and family who genuinely don't know they're watching propaganda. Its very cool that you walked.Good for you. I'm constantly shouting out the danger of Sinclair to friends and family who genuinely don't know they're watching propaganda. Its very cool that you walked.
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Comment on What are your "how on earth did I not learn this sooner" tech moments? in ~tech
blastedheath LinkI learned this decades ago, but I still regularly marvel at how useful this feature is to me: To switch between running applications, hold alt and tap tab to open a quick switcher. Keep holding...I learned this decades ago, but I still regularly marvel at how useful this feature is to me:
To switch between running applications, hold
altand taptabto open a quick switcher. Keep holdingaltand tappingtabuntil the application you want is hilighted, then release.Works everywhere on every computer: Windows, Mac OS and Linux. I must have learned it when I was 16? So I wasted the first 15 years of my life.
Did you write this?
I enjoyed it quite a bit and the points all resonate with my own lived experience. I've sadly become the "AI guy" in most of my social circles since I work at a tech company and have heavily embraced LLMs because I have to in order to survive in my career field. Plus I'll be honest, its a new technology, and the reason I got into this field is because I like learning about and using new technology. I'm far from a fanboy of the dominant players in the space or the way these things are created & run. But also - that doesn't mean they're not an incredibly useful tool when applied correctly.
It seems impossible to have a nuanced conversation about this topic since the (objectively bad) side effects and ownership model of LLMs make people so emotional. I like how you laid out each emotional reaction and then responded to it in a thoughtful and pragmatic way.
Your Photoshop example resonates with me. We've seen these immorally created tools used to immoral ends, but they don't have to be. Hopefully going forward we'll start to see the pendulum swing towards these tools empowering people to throw off the power structures that led to their immoral creation in the first place.