Screw Monkey

*shows up with a half gallon of vodka and a dirty thirty*
"oh shit I'm like a week late'

I saw it in theaters months ago it is most excellent. "Who had money on redneck torture zombies?"

Joss Wheedon (Firefly, Buffy, Avengers) directed and put a really good spin on it.

attn: chimpy

there's a tumblr related to our mutual interest of okcupid freaks: http://www.okcenemies.com/ it is fantastic

So since you play it over skype and whatnot, how do you do combat without miniatures in 4.0?

Yeah that's a fuck lot better than Campaign Cartographer. You need to take a class to understand that wackness.

I try to balance it out between the hack and slash and the political stuff, but we mostly focus on RPing and I tend to reward people who can roleplay well with mad EXP. If I do a dungeon crawl then they start complaining. That's a big thing about being the GM--keeping your players happy and engaged. As a player, I tend to run Wizards and just want to lightning bolt the shit out of some people one way or another.

I think the only hope we have for healing the racial divide IS spicy chicken

You can have the option to have spicy chicken and it is glorious.

also I'm unemployed because I have a history degree so I have more than enough time on my hands

Are you using campaign cartographer 3? I hear that it's dope but I don't really have the desire to spend weeks learning how to use it. I just make most of my shit up while it goes along.

I started out on 1st edition original D&D 15 years ago, so I guess I have a "been there done that" feeling when it comes to the "here's some people let's kill them and take their stuff" hack 'n slash campaigns. Most of the people I play with have been playing for at least ten years (other than my friend's brother who is a HS freshman) so they're tired of the whole thing and have more of an interest in doing something along the lines of playing the political game and leaving it open for them to do what they want. Though they've clashed with the Emerald Order after stumbling upon a slaughter of clandestine wizards, I'm open on them joining them if I feel like it. I just let them do their thing while giving individual characters motives and stuff like that.

How do you justify clerics and palidans with no religion?

KFC is disgusting. The local one is a greasy horror show and the last time I got chicken from it there were feathers on my meat. Do you have Popeyes over there? It's way better.

oy, here's the religious background that the designer of the world made up:

THE GODS OF ALASTAIRE
It has been told throughout the ages that Alastaire had been formed by the Old Ones, Gods who shaped the very world of Alastaire and though they have been lost to time, the awakening of the Godspeakers as only confirmed that they will rise again. However the actual story is far complex than any mortal in Alastaire could ever know.

CYRAN AND VERANUS
In the beginning of time, their were two brothers quarreling over control of the cosmos– Cyran, a being composed of pure positive energy and Veranus, a being composed of pure negative energy. To decide who would rule over the cosmos, the two decided to stage a competition – the first one to create a perfect world would be given the cosmos. Cyran tried first – he created a world of perfect positive energy and declared it Alaire.
Veranus looked down upon Alaire and declared, “Not bad, my brother, you have indeed created the perfect world, free of sickness, death and despair! However brother, look how easily your world crumbles when I touch it!” With that said, Veranus swept his finger across the land and watched as Alaire fell apart to the spread of corruption, greed and death, eventually destroying itself.
“Well if I cannot create the perfect world, perhaps you can.” Cyran spoke as he swept Alaire into nothingness. With that, Veranus created a world of pure negative energy and named it Starr. Cyran looked down at his world and declared “Brother, you have created a world of cut-throats, murderers, and powerful warriors. However, see what happens when I touch it!” Cyran swept his finger across Starr and watched as hope and goodness turned Starr into a world consumed by the flames of war. Veranus angerly swept the world back into nothingness.
“Neither of us could make a perfect world by ourselves, perhaps if we made a world together it would become perfect,” Cyran stated.
“Brother of Light, have you gone mad?! You watched as our worlds both consumed themselves when we interjected!” Veranus cackled.
“We are the brothers opposite, for without you I would not be. Let us touch a world together and let them decide their fate, for all shall come around in time.” Cyran declared and Veranus agreed.
The brothers touched fingers and a huge explosion consumed the blackness of the cosmos and a world was born. The two looked over it's beauty of the energy they created and called it Alastaire.

ORDER OF 12
The wise brothers knew, with all their infinite knowledge, that a single touch from either would consume the beautiful world they created. For eons, the land sat as a blank slate – all the pieces were there but the two brothers were afraid to corrupt the world. It was not until Veranus declared;
“We are forever and forever we shall be. We shall both create an order of Six with but a fraction of our power to shape the world we created.” and with that, the brothers created six Gods each to inject Alastaire with a piece of their power. Twelve Gods and Goddesses to balance one another and breath life into the world we know. One by one, the brothers took turns creating their disciples and watched as their world evolved.
Derran (Cyran) – God of the Sun and keeper of the light. Derran formed the Sun let it's light shine throughout the cosmos and declared “Whatever shall come close enough to my Sun will forever be bathed in it's warm light.” Domain – Fire, Sun, Good
Brom (Veranus) – God of the Earth and keeper of the stone. Brom smashed his stoney hands together and the planets were born and he declared “Let my body be the foundation for all the world.” Domains – Earth, Lawful, Artifice
Aelear (Cyran) – Goddess of the seas and keeper of the waters of life. Aelear declared “Let this world be washed in my tears, for it's beauty shall be forever.” She then wept tears onto the world and the oceans were formed. Domain – Good, Water, Travel
Kalia (Veranus) – Goddess of nature and queen of the wood. Kalia looked upon the world and swept her fingers across the land and declared “From my creative chaos, my eternal beauty shall live on.” and with that, rolling plains, great forests, and vast deserts washed over the land of Alastaire. Domain – Animal, Plant, Lawful,
Methalicar (Cyran) – God of life and keeper of souls. Methalicar saw a beautiful but empty world and declared “For such a beautiful land is worthless without a breath of life and people to inhabit it.” and crafted the animals and races of Alastaire. He then drew a deep breath and blew it over the land and watched as life was given to them. Domain – Healing, Good, Air
Aurora (Veranus) – Goddess of the weather and keeper of the seasons. Aurora looked onto the world and laughed “Let my seasons and weather also remind all life who is in true control.” With that, Aurora created the seasons and weather. Domain – Weather, Chaos, Luck,
Celes (Cyran) – Goddess of the stars and keeper of knowledge. Celes looked down on the world and sighed “With such odds against these creatures, they must know how to use what we have given them.” She then taught the creatures of Alastaire how to live off the land and gifted them with the knowledge and logical thinking. Domains – Knowledge, Good, Protection
Cilyn (Veranus) – Goddess of magic and mistress of abstract. Cilyn saw the creatures of Alastaire become single-minded logical machines, void of emotion and said “Celes has trusted you with the laws of the stars, I shall trust you with the chaos of the Void.” With that, Cilyn gave the races power of abstract thought and creativity and unlocked their minds to the powers of the Void. She also gifted them with the written word of the arcane to tap into the void and make the possible, possible. Domain – Magic, Rune, Chaos
Balengore (Cyran) – God of law and keeper of the order. Balengore looked down at the world and said “With so much power, there should be laws that encompass all life. Lesser and greater order that will always be adhered to.” And with that, Balengore gifted the world with the laws of physics and purpose of order in all aspects of life. He also created the basic rights and principles all life should live by and dubbed them Balengore's Laws. Domain – Law, Glory, Nobility
Tyrann (Veranus) – God of war and change and giver of free will. Tyrann looked upon Alastaire and said “All races with such knowledge and power should have the right to chose what to do with it, for good or bad.” and buried his sword deep into the hearts of all races of Alastaire, giving them free will and the ability to choose for themeselves. Domains – War, Liberation, Chaos, Destruction
Arden (Cyran) – God of Elysia and Keeper of the Pure. Arden smiled upon the completed world and created Elysia, the Eternal Bliss, and spoke “For in the end of their time, anyone that have proven themselves worthy will pass through my gates, and serenity shall be theirs until rebirth.” With that, Elysia was created for all the souls of the departed who live honest lives and adhere to Balengore's Law. Domains – Good, Repose, Nobility
Nerzul (Veranus) – God of Abyss and Keeper of the Unclean. Nerzul saw Elysia and said “It is unfair for only those who follow Balengore's Law to get into Elysia. Those who choose not to shall pass through my gates, and serenity shall be theirs until rebirth.” With that, Abyss was created for those who chose to not follow Balengore's Laws. Domain – Evil, Death, Madness

What edition are you running? The game I'm the GM for is Pathfinder, which is a modified version of 3.5. We've played three games so far and it's been going pretty good for my first time running a game. I used a world that my friend designed for a previous campaign, ramped it up 100 years in the future, and made according changes.

The backstory is that there were two brother Gods. One represents "positive" energy and the other "negative" energy. They had a contest to see who could make the best world. They destroyed both worlds when they discovered that you cannot have solely positive and negative energy. In the end, they made the world together and 12 Gods to govern various things. blah blah blah. Eventually the Dwarves discovered stones that were the remnants of the "negative" world deep in the mountains and discovered you could extract a sort of fuel from them and used it to ramp up technology and make weapons out of them. It has been rumored that there's a way to make you live for hundreds of years from the stones. But people who held the stones for a long time were corrupted and take alignment hits. Parts of the world became highly industrialized but a massive war over the stones did severe damage to the world. A malevolent being came forth as a result of a summoning by one of the Lords of the regions and it laid waste to a bunch of people until an unassuming woman with a powerful sword (a remnant of the "positive" world) and was able to seal the being away at the expense of her own life. The previous campaign took place 1,000 years after this and tech had gotten back to around Civil War era. In that time, the old Gods were forgotten and a Church rose up that worshipped "Salynia" the Goddess of the stones. The Church's mission was to collect the all the stones and "worship" them, but there seems to be an ulterior motive to doing so. The continent is controlled by the Kalemdreth Union, which in the south is a highly centralized government. In the north more power is given to the regional lords. In the campaign, the regional lords split off from the corrupt Union and the Church of Salynia, which had amassed significant political influence. The party was led by a nobleman from the northern kingdoms who was sent off to the "end of the world" to find a rod that controlled a golem army. We did so, returned, and the campaign ended because of drama and schedule differences.

Specific things:
Magic: Is considered witchcraft in the Union and anybody suspected of doing so is burned by the Church as it was blamed for the "great disaster" 1,000 years ago. I usually run Wizards, so I skirted this by making up a remote island of Wizards who snuck away after magic was outlawed and formed an Island community that was obscured by the rest of the world by magic. My character was part of an envoy that was sent to observe the current situation, but they were waylaid by pirates and my character was the only one who escaped. There are two independent Kingdoms in the continent where the church doesn't exist and people instead worship the "Sword Saint"--the aforementioned woman who sealed away the demon and they are more tolerant of magic. As a result, Kalemdreth Union soldiers have to make a saving throw whenever they see magic for the first time or they shit theirselves and run away. Sorcerers are not allowed.

Clerics/Palidans/Druids: A recent phenomenon occurred during the rise of the church as normal people began having intense dreams at night of the Gods speaking to them about the evil behind the stones. They soon began to develop powers according to which God spoke to them, and are called "Godspeakers" who work to bring back the teachings of the old Gods. They are considered witches by the Church and often burned.

Elves: Slavery is legal in the Kalemdreth Union and considered a right for the more affluent citizens to own. Elves make the finest slaves because of their longevity and are the most valuable. Humans, Orcs, Dwarves etc can also be enslaved but people prefer Elves and half-elves. As a result, Elves are very distrustful of humans and the free ones keep themselves in Elendaar, land of the elves.

Dwarves: Live in the mountain. They formed a mighty Kingdom called the Vanguard in the northern region and were hella powerful, developing weaponry, airships, reactors, and stuff that. They're dicks.

Other stuff is pretty normal going with pathfinder rules.

So MY campaign takes place 100 years after the initial one detailed there. Things that I changed include the Northern Kingdoms gaining independence not from victory, but from exhaustion of both armies fighting a war of attrition. The Union has conditions similar to Germany after WWI, where massive food shortages and unemployed veterans rioting in various regions. Conditions are similar in the Northern Kingdom, but the new-found civil liberties have placated the people. The Northern Kingdoms operate as a loose alliance of independent City-States run by the regional Lords and laws vary depending on where characters are. 50 years before the campaign begins, the Vanguard blew up. Many attributed it to a reactor explosion. I haven't revealed this to anybody but the Godspeaker in the party that it was the God's punishment to the Dwarves for their greed and misuse of the stones. There's another region, The Wurmacht, where Dwarves also live so they weren't exactly wiped out. There's also these guys who are led by one of the players from the first campaign who was a Godspeaker for the God of War. They discovered a portal that transports them to another land. They show up sometimes to "acquire" artifacts by force but are rarely seen.

In the campaign so far, I have established that the Church has ramped up their fanaticism, burning Witches willy-nilly. The most recent game had a Godspeaker rescuing the "witches" to find out that they had no powers and were picked arbitrarily. The held the witchburning as usual, and the guards that the Godspeaker knocked out were the new witches. One of the characters, a Dwarven bomb making Alchemist, was hired to blow up the Church and disrupt this. There's also an NPC Godspeaker who has been charged by the Gods to slay various individuals who have become near immortal from consumption of the stone. He's popped in sometimes to guide the campaign along or provide information. I also created a terror cell, called the Emerald Order, which wishes to "purify" the church and take over the continent. The party is split up right now as some killed a High Priest in the Church for burning non-witches and are on the run. Another is a Wizard who took an airship north to meet with his homies. Another is training an Owlbear to be a pet b/c she had to work the day of the campaign. But that's pretty much what's going on right now in my game. We're taking a week off because everybody's out of town and I'm figuring out some major plot twist. There's gonna be a revolution in the Union fer sure. They've also acquired an amulet that the Emerald Order desires. They don't know the nature of it, but it will come into play when they defeat the Emerald Order and get sent off to a different plane where the Sword Saint lives. They're going to be invaded by the Followers of the God of War who seek to "kidnap" the Sword Saint.

So that's what I'm working with, thoughts?

My roommates and I decided to start dancing whenever we encounter somebody fapping on chatroulette.

They usually switch away immediately, but one guy gave us the thumbs up and kept going.

I should also note that the building they occupied was unused and set for demolition until the recession happened... although they did install brand new state of the art waterless urinals in them recently, so I guess they had to protect the urinals

The NYU protest was a fustercluck, I was just there to cause trouble. The free palestine + quit raising our tuition so we can go to Aspen for Spring Break thing undermined their cause



22 were arrested during the occupation (19 inside 3 outside) and later in the night (when that photo was taken) at least three people were arrested, hence the plus since I wasn't quite sure of the total.

Yeah, our President is an incompetent oaf named Bob Kerrey, a former US Presidential candidate in '92 who got hired as our President in '01 despite having only a BA in Pharmacy. We're currently on Provost number six, when the last one was fired for wanting two weeks off to work on Obama's transition team, he appointed himself as Provost which is not only a severe conflict of interest, but a slap in the face of academia. The faculty has a 97% vote of no confidence in his ability to lead the school, and he told them to fuck off because he only answers to the trustees. Students took over the building and made some demands, Kerrey came in and made some concessions but never followed through on them (he formed committees to form committees and other bureaucratic garbage), so they took over another building. Five of them happened to be some of my closest friends. Instead of negotiating with them, Kerrey called the NYPD on a "Code Cobra" which is a terrorist threat. Four NYPD units (over 100 officers) and helicopters showed up to kick 19 nerds out of a building. Some brutality happened (a vegan pacifist wound up looking like Harvey Dent for shaming a cop for manhandling a woman) and people got pissed, including me.

a month late but I spent New Years Eve channeling my 18 year old self and blacked out courtesy of eating Jello shots like they were Jelly Beans. ugh. hungover until 10PM on Jan 1 = a personal record

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/17/chimpanze...tack/index.html

Interestingly enough, Stamford is also the home to World Wrestling Entertainment. Vince McMahon had a contract waiting to be signed until news of the Chimp's demise.

NYC has a smoking ban

smoking bans suck

argh

this won't end well

Kucinich was a better option, and he ran in '04. Unfortunately he's too liberal for mainstream America. The media blatantly ignores him after he called them out for not giving him and the other fringe candidates a chance in 2004. They have manipulated various polls and often reset them

http://whazgoinon.wordpress.com/2008/01/08...as-kucnich-won/

I was talking about it with my Political Science teacher, he thinks Kucinich should go back to banging his amazing wife who is thirty years younger than him and quit being so divisive. This would have been a good move if it weren't an election year and it's pretty important that we get the young black liberal in the office instead of the old whacky war pig. Impeachment is a very divisive issue. While I support Kucinich and voted for him in the primaries... it's important to get Obama in office. American politics are wacky and the general public is overtly sensitive. The main thing is, if McCain gets into office it won't matter if Bush is charged with crimes or not, his lapdog will acquit him of anything. Obama? Less likely

Hey guess what! Dennis Kucinich presented 35 articles on impeachment minutes ago on Capital Hill:

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june092...nich_6-9-08.php

The party itself dropped the ball on it, Dennis Kucinich, who I voted for in the primaries, has tried impeaching Dick Cheney before.

This is what happened:

http://www.newsoxy.com/tech/house_committe...article9981.htm

"Democratic leaders long ago rejected any consideration of impeaching Cheney and President Bush as an irresponsible move supported only by the far left, so they tried today to table Kucinich's impeachment resolution. After initially having more than enough votes to kill the resolution - the "yea" tally to table impeachment topped out at 291 - Republicans decided, they had a chance to politically shame Democrats into a full debate on the sensitive issue. Republicans gleefully said they needed the debate to show the expected public how many Democrats would in truth support impeaching Cheney.

More than 120 members, predominantly Republicans, then switched their votes in favor of holding a formal debate on the predominant issue, with a final vote of 251-162 supporting a debate on impeachment. "

I think a partial lobotomy is necessary to be a cable news anchor.

In other news, a former White House Press Secretary (the poor sod responsible with talking to the media about Bush's blunders) came out with a book that pretty much said that Bush knowingly declassified information which included the name of an undercover Central Intelligence Agent. This is an act of Treason, but NOBODY CARES. It's fucked.

It's important to note that Mike gave it to two people, one was his cousin already in college and the other was a fellow high school student. It was that student who brought it to school