Another Tooth on the Ratchet

Via MOTW: Censorship, and why it matters [https://www.menofthewest.net/censorship-why-it-matters/]. > Facebook has ended a private group. They have decided that the ideas discussed, shared and questions asked by the Right are so dangerous, that they must be ended. According to some others in the comments of that, and other posts, Facebook has ended numerous Private Groups today. So, what does social media censorship have to do with a book about Germany from 1933-45? Well at the risk of being o…

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The Origins of Divine Right

The Origins of Divine Right

A while back I was invited to a group that was playing Divine Right on VASSAL several times a month - and we went out of our way to not only play the game, but over time, to figure out the ways to break the rules, and to find the edge cases. It is a game worthy of repeated play and attention, with every faction needing a different playstyle to win - and every faction having a chance. As a result, I enjoyed this interview over at Dev Game on the origins of the game and how it was built…

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Art and Craft

Art and Craft

Brian Neimeier discusses how actual art lasts [https://www.brianniemeier.com/2020/10/art-lasts.html] - and that craft, such as carpentry and plumbing, is, indeed, art. > The ancient Romans had a saying, Ars longa, vita brevis. Moderns take it to mean that life is short, but works of art last. We post-Renaissance types get the, "Life is short," part right. But ancients and Medievals didn't restrict the meaning of ars to "fine art". For them, it could apply to any craft. The equivalent Greek wo…

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Lore and RPGs

Lore and RPGs

Bradford Walker recently penned an article titled "You Suck at Using Lore in Your Games. [https://bradfordcwalker.blogspot.com/2020/10/my-life-as-gamer-you-suck-at-using-lore.html] " In it, he excoriates infodumps and dwelling on the background the GM created: > Let me tell a truth born of 36 years in gaming: common gamers don't give a fuck about lore. They don't care because those responsible for communicating relevant information to the player(s) routinely fail to do so, and then get surpris…

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Richard's Worth

Richard's Worth

I'd posted before about Ethan Nicolle's Bearmageddon [https://thelastredoubt.com/bearmageddon/], and how he'd stepped away from a lot of his attitudes towards country people, and that he got in the city in general. If you continue thruogh the series, it shows. In one page, he neatly wraps up several moral questions, including one that Spider Man spent far too much time and angst over [http://bearmageddon.com/bearmo/page-103-richards-worth/]. In one page he covers valuing life and living it w…

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