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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • Space Engine. It’s not quite a game, but rather an accurate simulation of the known universe. Anything beyond what we know is procedurally generated. The first time I played it it made me feel so small.

    I started at Earth and flew around the solar system, then picked a star and flew towards it. You have to increase your speed by multiples of the speed if light to get them to move. The stars started moving and then moving past, me, but the star I chose wasn’t moving. I realised it was actually different galaxy, so increased my speed by many many multiples of the speed of light until eventually it dwarves to move. I flee over to it, and then slowed and explored a few star systems there, I found a binary star system, that was really cool.

    Then I had a realisation. If I didn’t use the search function, and I just flew around trying to find my way back to Earth, I just never would. I could play it for the rest of my life and be certain that I wouldn’t find it. The odds are that small. That thought scared the shit our of me and I closed the game and couldn’t okay it again for a few days.

    Don’t know if that’s what you’re looking for but I do recommend the experience!






  • Yep, the pirate captain that helped them take their ship do so on the condition that they implement some version of The Pirate Code. All major decisions are decided by vote, with each crewman also getting a vote. In practice I would rarely have the crew vote against the party, just cos that’s no fun. But morale has been getting low, and if they don’t address it, they may decide they want a new Captain and try for a vote, giving the players a crisis to deal with.

    Loot is also shared out equally, except the captain/officers get two shares. The players decided that they all collectively share the position of captain, while also having other roles. So they all get twice what the crew gets. I believe this is pretty accurate historically.

    I just let the players decide the route though, I’ll only get the crew to protest if they haven’t taken a prize for a while, or if I think the crew would have an issue with the specific destination they choose. One of the players has the role of navigator so she does a check to see if she does a good job of that. If she doesn’t, I roll on my encounter table and something gets in their way, slows them down, or attacks.







  • Thank fuck for that. Now if we can only turn off all the other a.c. as well, we’d have made a start!

    Edit: this was a joke, but wow, you Americans are really defensive about your AC. I live in the UK and the rare times it gets very hot we are miserable because our building almost never have AC, and are built to retain heat. So I do see how much more comfortable it makes you.

    Someone, who was trying to argue in favour of AC, said it uses 10% of all electricity globally. Thats insane! I guess we actually do need to turn it all off.




  • Some slang from York, UK that was common in my childhood:

    Pushknacker - a bicycle, particularly a street bike. Best one on this list, tbh, it’s a great word.

    Lagin - pronounced la-jin. Means rubbish. Like, “your pushknacker is lagin!”

    Weeny - really, as in “that’s weeny lagin”

    Chava - pronounced char-va, a derogatory term, to be honest I never had any idea what the actual meaning was but it’s an insult, as in “ya fuckin chava!”. I was confused when the word “chav” suddenly became a thing years later and I’ve always wondered if they are related or if it’s a coincidence.

    Ding - what people would now call a chav, also used ad a general insult.

    Dingraff - either the full for of ding, or an extension of it, no idea. General insult.