The Good News Thread: I'm So Excited! And I Just Can't Hide It!

[Arraenae]

22 minutes ago, Queen Elsa Steelheart said:

I just finished finished my last exam of the year! I'm officially on summer break!!

Yay for freedom!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Worldbuilding is going well...even if I get snagged on questions like "would this be a plausible last name for this character."

[Kaymyth she/her]

My creative writing juices have finally kicked back in!

...you know, now that NaNo is almost over.  I have zero chance of hitting 50k, but at least I have momentum now.  This means that once I finish the zero draft of Riding the Storm, I will go back and finish the final revision of Swift as Steel.  Then I can start putting it up while I dive into the zero drafts for the rest of Eva's story, then rewrite Riding the Storm and send it off to alpha and beta readers.

Some of this order may be subject to change; there's the possibility that I may push through and write the zero drafts of the short story bridge between books 2 and 3, and then book 3 as well, so that I have all of the big events sitting in front of me.  My timeline needs a serious standardizing, so I might need to have the full story in zero draft form before that final tightening draft of the first book.

[skaa he/him]

I'm going to Japan next week! Woohoo!

This will be the first time I'll be outside of my country (though not my first plane ride). This was my sister's idea. Me, her, and our parents will be flying to Tokyo on a four day vacation. I'm still not sure it's wise to go there during winter (us tropical country folks are not used to really cold climate), but perhaps seeing snow for the first time will be worth it.

So, how do you four-season people survive winter, anyway? I already have a couple of really warm jackets and I plan to buy some "HeatTech" clothing and some gloves this weekend. How many layers of clothing should I wear?

Do I need to know how to make fire? Just kidding... though I hear Japanese houses have plenty of burnable materials.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Ookla the Insipid

[Sunbird she/her]

19 minutes ago, Ookla the Insipid said:

I'm going to Japan next week! Woohoo!

This will be the first time I'll be outside of my country (though not my first plane ride). This was my sister's idea. Me, her, and our parents will be flying to Tokyo on a four day vacation. I'm still not sure it's wise to go there during winter (us tropical country folks are not used to really cold climate), but perhaps seeing snow for the first time will be worth it.

So, how do you four-season people survive winter, anyway? I already have a couple of really warm jackets and I plan to buy some "HeatTech" clothing and some gloves this weekend. How many layers of clothing should I wear?

Do I need to know how to make fire? Just kidding... though I hear Japanese houses have plenty of burnable materials.

I've heard that winters in Japan and surrounding areas can be really brutal, even by the standards of someone who lives in Utah--an area that deals with a lot of snow in winter and rarely cancels anything for snow. My advice: make sure you have some boots or tall-ish shoes that won't let snow leak in the tops if you're walking through snow several inches deep. If it's icy, don't go outside in shoes without good grippy tread on the bottom, or it'll be much harder to avoid slipping and falling. The total number of layers you'll want to wear will probably depend on just how cold it gets, but I'd recommend bringing a somewhat lighter jacket for moderately chilly temps and so you can use different combinations of layers with your heavier jackets/coats for flexibility to deal with different temps on different days.

You'll most likely want a scarf, and something to keep your head and ears warm as well--a knit beanie or some earmuffs or a fuzzy hat with earflaps.

Edit: oh, I just thought of something else! Cold air doesn't hold moisture as well as warm air, so your hands or lips may get dry and chapped, especially if there's a lot of wind. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) will help your skin not dry out so fast--it works for both your hands and your lips, or chapstick/lip balm can also help your lips.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Ookla the Flighty

[skaa he/him]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Flighty said:

I've heard that winters in Japan and surrounding areas can be really brutal, even by the standards of someone who lives in Utah--an area that deals with a lot of snow in winter and rarely cancels anything for snow. My advice: make sure you have some boots or tall-ish shoes that won't let snow leak in the tops if you're walking through snow several inches deep. If it's icy, don't go outside in shoes without good grippy tread on the bottom, or it'll be much harder to avoid slipping and falling. The total number of layers you'll want to wear will probably depend on just how cold it gets, but I'd recommend bringing a somewhat lighter jacket for moderately chilly temps and so you can use different combinations of layers with your heavier jackets/coats for flexibility to deal with different temps on different days.

You'll most likely want a scarf, and something to keep your head and ears warm as well--a knit beanie or some earmuffs or a fuzzy hat with earflaps.

Thanks! I should probably make a new thread for winter suggestions. Anyway, I can't wait to eat Japanese street food and visit Akihabara, Odaiba, and the Pokemon Center Mega Tokyo. Even if Japanese winter kills me, I shall die happy amongst Pokemon plushies, authentic takoyaki, anime figures, and Gundam RG 1/1 RX-78-2 Ver. GFT.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Ookla the Insipid

[Delightful]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Flighty said:

I've heard that winters in Japan and surrounding areas can be really brutal, even by the standards of someone who lives in Utah--an area that deals with a lot of snow in winter and rarely cancels anything for snow. My advice: make sure you have some boots or tall-ish shoes that won't let snow leak in the tops if you're walking through snow several inches deep. If it's icy, don't go outside in shoes without good grippy tread on the bottom, or it'll be much harder to avoid slipping and falling. The total number of layers you'll want to wear will probably depend on just how cold it gets, but I'd recommend bringing a somewhat lighter jacket for moderately chilly temps and so you can use different combinations of layers with your heavier jackets/coats for flexibility to deal with different temps on different days.

You'll most likely want a scarf, and something to keep your head and ears warm as well--a knit beanie or some earmuffs or a fuzzy hat with earflaps.

Edit: oh, I just thought of something else! Cold air doesn't hold moisture as well as warm air, so your hands or lips may get dry and chapped, especially if there's a lot of wind. Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) will help your skin not dry out so fast--it works for both your hands and your lips, or chapstick/lip balm can also help your lips.

Is that why the air is dry during winter?  

[Jondesu he/him]

@Ookla the Insipid, if you're primarily in Tokyo, the winter will be cold, but you might not see any snow. I was there from Jan-Mar one year and we just got a light dusting one time.  It's only really bad up north more.

Edited December 1, 2016 by Jondesu

[skaa he/him]

Just now, Jondesu said:

@Ookla the Insipid, if you're primarily in Tokyo, the winter will be cold, but you might not see any snow. I was there from Jan-Mar one year and we just got a light dusting one time.  It's only really bad up north more.

Just last week I saw news about November snow in Tokyo. That was supposed to be a big deal because it hasn't happened in like half a century. I hope it would still be snowing next week.

[Kaymyth she/her]

9 hours ago, Ookla the Chibi said:

Is that why the air is dry during winter?  

Yep.

Also, dry air tends to create more static electricity, which I why I refer to the advent of late fall as The Time of the Zapping.

(ThinkGeek sells these great little keychain things that allow you to discharge static without pain.  They're wonderful.)

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

If thats u @Cognizantastic, I will forevermore call you twelvie 

[Left he/him]

So I'm subbing at work for one of the other lifeguards, which means I get bonus pay, and for the past two hours there hasn't been a single person in the pool area. So I've been getting sub pay to catch up on my reading basically. I love my job. 

[Briar King]

Gumbo....nuff said

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Today Whole Foods had fresh cookies for 25 cents each. Limit three per customer, but hey, I got three nicely sized delicious cookies for 75 cents, so I'm not complaining.  

[Kaymyth she/her]

3 hours ago, Cognizantastic said:

Because I'm young-looking? I'm 16 and it annoys me.

I just tell myself that I'll appreciate it when I'm 40.  

Speaking as a 39-year-old who is routinely mistaken for being a decade younger than that - yes.  Yes, you will.  Unfortunately, it's going to be a couple of decades before you hit that point.

[Sunbird she/her]

My Eye of Agomotto arrived in the mail today!

Large photo:

Spoiler

 

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

3 hours ago, Ookla the Flighty said:

My Eye of Agomotto arrived in the mail today!

Large photo:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

No storming way. Get me one yeah?

And whoever downvoted me b4 it was a joke.

right @Cognizantastic??

??

??

I really hate how I have to continually say that nowadays lol

Edited December 3, 2016 by Mesa the Ookla

[Sunbird she/her]

2 minutes ago, Mesa the Ookla said:

No storming way. Get me one yeah?

 

I ordered mine from eBay. Had to do a bit of digging before I found one that was as big as the Eye in the movie, but it was totally worth it.

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

Just now, Ookla the Flighty said:

I ordered mine from eBay. Had to do a bit of digging before I found one that was as big as the Eye in the movie, but it was totally worth it.

How much >_>

[Sunbird she/her]

5 minutes ago, Mesa the Ookla said:

How much >_>

I paid $20 (US dollars) for the Eye, plus $5 for shipping from China.

Edit: Here is the listing on eBay.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Ookla the Flighty

[Darkness Ascendant he/him]

32 minutes ago, Ookla the Flighty said:

I paid $20 (US dollars) for the Eye, plus $5 for shipping from China.

Edit: Here is the listing on eBay.

THANKS!!!

[Claincy he/him]

Today I ran a 1-shot for the tabletop roleplaying system I've been developing. This is the first time I've tested the system practically and it worked.

I definitely found things to improve on, of course, but that's a good thing. The system does a number of things very differently to other rpgs I've played and I wasn't sure if some of them would actually work in practice. I thought they would but I couldn't be sure without actually running them. It did take a bit for the players to adjust to them, but once they did they quite liked them 

[Zathoth]

3 hours ago, Claincy said:

Today I ran a 1-shot for the tabletop roleplaying system I've been developing. This is the first time I've tested the system practically and it worked.

I definitely found things to improve on, of course, but that's a good thing. The system does a number of things very differently to other rpgs I've played and I wasn't sure if some of them would actually work in practice. I thought they would but I couldn't be sure without actually running them. It did take a bit for the players to adjust to them, but once they did they quite liked them 

I'm curious, how does it work and what are you doing differently?

[Claincy he/him]

1 hour ago, Ooklasaurus said:

I'm curious, how does it work and what are you doing differently?

I don't want to post the exact rules, in part simply because they still need significant modification and are missing core components, partly because I have some notions towards publishing them eventually and I don't want to post the details online before I have decided if/how I want to go about that. With that said, I'm happy to talk about some of the main concepts  

In place of the more common +x from abilities or something like the Mistborn Adventure Game's system where you roll a number of dice based on your stats this system treats your stats as a pool of dice that you can expend on related rolls. Trying to lift something heavy? Use a physique die or two to improve your chances. Of course if you use too many dice too quickly you may run out before you have a chance to rest ...

The system uses a dual health system. Stamina represents your ability to dodge, block and in general avoid getting injured. Once you run out of stamina you start taking hits to your health instead and every time you lose health you have to roll on a critical injuries table. It uses summed 3d6s so the extremes of 3 and 18 are far less likely than the middle numbers, and have far worse consequences. So instead of going directly from up and fighting perfectly to unconscious and dying there is an intermediate phase where you can still fight (or flee) but every hit you take has the potential for severe consequences.

The other key thing is a sort of wheel of moments that replaces a more standard turn order. Instead of taking turns following an initiative order you choose the next action you want to take and place your marker a number of segments (moments) along the wheel based on how long that action will take. The combat progresses moment by moment and every character who completes an action in that moment makes whatever rolls may be necessary and resolves their actions, then declares a new action and moves their marker forward again. When declaring an action characters can choose to rush it to complete it faster (but it will be harder), or to take their time so as to improve their chances of success. This was by far the hardest part of the system for the players to grok but once they got the hang of it they apparently started to like it quite a bit.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Claincy

[Zathoth]

14 minutes ago, Claincy said:

I don't want to post the exact rules, in part simply because they still need significant modification and are missing core components, partly because I have some notions towards publishing them eventually and I don't want to post the details online before I have decided if/how I want to go about that. With that said, I'm happy to talk about some of the main concepts  

In place of the more common +x from abilities or something like the Mistborn Adventure Game's system where you roll a number of dice based on your stats this system treats your stats as a pool of dice that you can expend on related rolls. Trying to lift something heavy? Use a physique die or two to improve your chances. Of course if you use too many dice too quickly you may run out before you have a chance to rest ...

The system uses a dual health system. Stamina represents your ability to dodge, block and in general avoid getting injured. Once you run out of stamina you start taking hits to your health instead and every time you lose health you have to roll on a critical injuries table. It uses summed 3d6s so the extremes of 3 and 18 are far less likely than the middle numbers, and have far worse consequences. So instead of going directly from up and fighting perfectly to unconscious and dying there is an intermediate phase where you can still fight (or flee) but every hit you take has the potential for severe consequences.

The other key thing is a sort of wheel of moments that replaces a more standard turn order. Instead of taking turns following an initiative order you choose the next action you want to take and place your marker a number of segments (moments) along the wheel based on how long that action will take. The combat progresses moment by moment and every character who completes an action in that moment makes whatever rolls may be necessary and resolves their actions, then declares a new action and moves their marker forward again. When declaring an action characters can choose to rush it to complete it faster (but it will be harder), or to take their time so as to improve their chances of success. This was by far the hardest part of the system for the players to grok but once they got the hang of it they apparently started to like it quite a bit.

That sounds very interesting. I like the wheel of moments. So you can actually block or dodge in a fight, I like that.