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  • 3 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 7th, 2023

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  • SNW’s scientific accuracy and technobabble are so bad, it often pulls me right out of the story. I feel like Next Gen era at least tried a little bit. Yeah, it was awful, but it was watchable. I’ve gone back and watched some to verify it’s not just in my head. It’s not. Does SNW have science and technology consultants? If so, if the problem is them they should be fired, but I suspect the problem is the writers / directors not giving two fucks what the consultants have to say. Be better guys.


  • Fighters acted like they were poor little victims vulnerable to mean old spellcasters

    About 14-15 years ago, I was playing in a 16th level game where the DM did NOT know how to challenge us. He put us against an astral behemoth with double hit points and our fighter soloed it in one round, dealing out a whopping 2,500ish points of damage in 7 attacks. One of the toughest monsters in the game, with double hit points, and the rest of the party didn’t even get to act.

    Later in that game, we abused gate spells to crash rocks into the Abyss at 80% the speed of light.

    3.5 is ridiculous.



  • We’re also using Forgejo for a small consulting team working on lots of different projects for a lot of different clients.

    A couple of our team members who came from a more complex and scaled environment (particularly our DevOps / SRE guy who’s worked at such places as LinkedIn and Snowflake) want to move us to Gitlab because it’s “more powerful” but I like Forgejo because it’s just super simple. Just does exactly what I need, doesn’t give me to many more options.

    We have

    • Projects segregated into teams, organized by client (so only those working on a specific client’s projects have access to their repos).
    • Able to invite clients and put them into the team for their project (we’ve had a couple clients that want that).
    • Able to automate deployments with webhooks (this was pretty easy to get working).

    One of our devs wanted to use Actions. It’s hard to get that working and (at least a month ago) there were warnings that Actons aren’t mature yet and are probably insecure (looks like that may have changed with the recent jump to Forgejo 8.0). I think it’s now a non issue for us though because we were like “Dude, stop trying to role your own CI/CD, that’s why we have two infrastructure people!”




  • This exact thing happened to one of my clients. And it sucked because they didn’t even register the domains with Ionos, they registered them with some other company that then got bought by Ionos. They were not technically savvy and didn’t understand what was happening until it was way too late. They lost about 8 domains closely associated with their business and with their CEO’s research.






  • U.S.S. Making Shit Up by Voltaire, definitely my favorite.

    I also once wrote a version of Short Skirt, Long Jacket about being in love with a Klingon woman.

    I want a girl with a forehead like a washboard.

    I want a girl who knows what’s right.

    I want a girl with blades that cut who’s… not afraid to start a fight.

    I want a girl with a strong sense of honor, who’s fast and brave and hard as a rock.

    She’s playing with her cutlery, she’s putting on her armor, she’s got a Bird of Prey down in number 4 dock…

    I want a girl with a short temper and a loooong memory.

    Nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah nah Qapla’ Nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah nah nah, Nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah nah nah Qapla’ Nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah nah nah naaah.

    I want a girl who fights with bravery.

    I want a girl who bites my cheek.

    I want a girl with unbridled ferocity, who uses a Bat’leth with stunning technique.

    Disruptor pistols that that burn out justice, and a voice that is harsh like a good blood wine.

    She’s fast, and brave and hard as rock and she tosses Gem’hadar right out the air lock…

    I want a girl with a short temper and a loooooong… long memory.






  • Felipe’s Pizza Grotto

    6th Level Conjuration

    Casting Time: 1 action

    Range: touch

    Target: An empty dead end corridor in a dungeon or cave.

    Components: V

    Duration: Four hours or until everyone in the party is stuffed and can’t possibly eat another bite, or until it’s clear they aren’t going to order and the maitre d looses patience with them, or until the maitre d is destroyed or dispelled. Whichever comes first.

    Classes: Wizard, Sorcerer

    Carrying all those rations around in the dungeon is hard, plus good luck finding a safe, peaceful place to sit and eat them. Felipe’s Pizza Grotto can only be cast in an underground environment, in a “dead end”.

    The stone walls in a 40ft by 40ft area shift and morph, becoming a pleasant dining establishment. The tantalizing smells of garlic, cheese, spiced meats and baking bread waft through the space. Small marble fountains, statues and potted plants appear, along with tasteful oil paintings on the walls. A counter appears, behind which is a fully stocked kitchen with a wood fired pizza oven, and a wine cabinet. A number of tables will appear, scattered around the space and stools will pop into existence in front of the counter. The whole space is lit with small glass oil lamps and candles. A stone wall with a stout wooden door appears, blocking off the passageway. A maitre d appears blocking the door, asking all who approach if they have a reservation. Any the caster designates will be allowed to enter, all others will be turned away (the maitre d has the stats of a Spectral Guardian).

    If the caster and anyone accompanying them do not sit at a table on their own, the maitre d will attempt to show them to a table and will become agitated if they don’t cooperate. They will become hostile and berate any characters who have not taken a seat within 5 minutes of entering the grotto.

    Once the characters sit down, a waiter will appear with menus, listing every delicacy you would expect to find in a high class restaurant of the sort that serves dishes involving bread, cheese, pasta and garlicky tomato sauce. However, the menu primarily features specialty and build your own pizzas and the waiter will look down their nose and act snooty toward anyone who orders anything else (appetizers, wine, dinner salad and desserts are all acceptable, I recommend the garlic knots and the minestrone soup personally). The waiter will not engage in combat and will disappear if attacked (however, this draws the ire of the maitre d, as does any other interference with the grotto’s operations).

    Once all characters have placed orders, the various utensils behind the counter spring to life, acting as if wielded by invisible chefs. The pizza ovens flair to life, ingredients appear and are chopped by levitating knives. Dry pasta flies into pots of magically boiling water. Pizza dough hurls itself into the air and spins around, coming down in a classic, flat round shape, before levitating spoons begin ladling tomato sauce onto it and hovering cheese graters cover it in fresh mozzarella, Parmesan and provolone.

    When the food is ready, the waiter will supervise a group of levitating delivery trays and serve it to the characters in the grotto. Each character will receive exactly what they ordered and the execution, preparation and presentation will be flawless, the finest chefs in all the land would find no fault with it.

    As the characters are eating, both the waiter and the maitre d will repeatedly stop by their table to ask how their food is tasting and if they need anything else. The waiter will refill water and wine glasses and bread baskets. When everyone seems to be slowing down, the waiter will ask if anyone saved room for dessert and will recommend the cheese cake. Any complaints will be handled with a mix of professionalism and haughtiness worthy of food service professionals who KNOW their food is top notch, but also want their customers to leave satisfied.

    If any character is lingering over their food or failing to eat it, the maitre d and the waiter will become agitated and start pestering them, asking if their meal is to their liking or they can get them anything else. If this goes on for too long, they will glare at the whole party impatiently, while unoccupied chairs levitate up and stack themselves on tables and hovering brooms start sweeping the floor. The fire in the pizza oven will go out, and the waiter will begin pointedly snuffing the candles and asking anyone lingering over their meal if they need a to-go box. Once the spell ends, the grotto vanishes and the cavern returns to normal. Food in to-go boxes persists, but is cold, disappointing and somehow less nourishing than when eaten in the grotto.

    At the GMs option, characters leaving the grotto may be fatigued from the sheer amount of food they have consumed, and may be required to make constitution saves in order continue their exploration of the dungeon prior to resting.