OOTS #955 - The Discussion Thread

[Jay R]

I was hoping there was something cheaper than having to pay for shipping from the UK.

Then do your own search. I stopped on the first hit, since I already have two weather dice (bought in the US, at conventions.)

Good luck!

[Amphiox]

That said, anyone who survives long enough to get modern medical care wouldn't be killed in D&D terms

I'm thinking that being sent into negative hit points is not that far off a simulation from receiving a critical injury that would lead to death without emergent medical care instituted within a short time period.

An unconscious person who doesn't get attention within minutes may get airway obstruction and suffocate, after all.

[Quixef]

Anyone have any idea re: when #956 will come?

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Anyone have any idea re: when #956 will come?

Exactly when it means to.

[NihhusHuotAliro]

It will come on a day of the week with the letter "d" in it, in a month without an "r" in it, and it will come when nobody is looking.

[Emperordaniel]

Anyone have any idea re: when #956 will come?

A new comic is never late, Quixef; it arrives precisely when it means to.

[Kish]

Anyone have any idea re: when #956 will come?

As you may have gathered, this is a touchy subject around here due to past instances of people ranting at length about how lazy the author is because the next comic isn't up yet.

There's no formal update schedule; the next comic will be up when it's done, depending on a number of factors, prominent among them the author's health.

[Nilehus]

Yeah, it's against the rules to ask about it, talk about it, etc. When the update happens, it happens. It's nothing personal, but it's gotten really ugly in the past.

There's an RSS feed that will let you know when the comic updates, if you don't want to keep checking.

[Stella]

Those sound like a nice tool to have. How did you come by them?

If I remember correctly I bought them from a vendor at Cold Wars one year. I attend that every other year or so and couldn't begin to guess which year it was, but I've had them for many years so they should be available.

Here is a vendor a quick Google search for "weather dice" showed: [Same vendor already seen]*
Cold Wars is held in Pennsylvania, USA, so this probably isn't the vendor I bought them from since they list prices in what looks to be British pounds, but they can't be the sole vendor. Cold Wars has a huge vendor room which is the size of a college basketball stadium, so who knows? There are always several vendors with piles of interesting and unique dice. It is easy to spend hours wandering around looking for specific miniatures or games or whatever.

I have three of these dice, and for situations where the weather is just for fluff and isn't important for the story I'll pitch all three and take the first one I see which makes sense. For situations where the weather isn't just for fluff I have Rule 0. :) I'll also frequently Rule 0 weather for places where I know what the typical weather will be. So there will be dense fog in the morning and evenings along temperate coastal regions, frequent rainfall in jungles, etc. Weather is one of those things which tends to be like the description of a room. You can just say "It's a 10 by 20 room with a table in the middle", or you can employ a bit more prose (without venturing into the purple) to make the description more interesting.

The only time it hurts game play is if you only use more descriptive text when describing important areas, which tends to train your players into spending a lot of time examining an area just because you described it more completely.


* Ok, I should catch up before responding. The short answer is "I bought them at a gaming convention." And I'm pretty sure they were cheap, as in less than the ~$2 each the vendor price of £1.00 each would indicate. Or I probably wouldn't own three of them. But again it's been years, so memory may not serve despite my tendency towards frugality.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

All right, thanks for responding. I guess I would either have to get them from the UK, or search around my local area.

[Rogar Demonblud]

GenCon's coming, if you can afford the commute from your galaxy to ours.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

GenCon's coming, if you can afford the commute from your galaxy to ours.

Probably not, sadly enough. 5 billion light-years is a long way to travel.

[Peelee]

Probably not, sadly enough. 5 billion light-years is a long way to travel.

Good internet, though.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Good internet, though.

We have FTL communication, but not FTL transportation, apparently.

[Stella]

Ansible has a lot of advantages. And disadvantages.