tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.comments2024-03-19T15:22:48.093+08:00Monsters and ManualsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27037125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-71923349336069109472024-03-19T09:12:16.972+08:002024-03-19T09:12:16.972+08:00Have you read The Matter With Things? That's e...Have you read The Matter With Things? That's essentially (as I understand it) the thesis of that book. I started reading it just over 2 years ago... and am currently about 2/3rds of the way through. It has massively upended my thinking about the fundamentals of EVERYTHING, and the ideas sparking from it are the main reason why I started my Substack, but at the same time I am developing a real dislike of McGilchrist and of his writing.dansumptionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06403248887250857638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-91239794156074008132024-03-19T07:18:40.255+08:002024-03-19T07:18:40.255+08:00What’s the first painting with the river and tower...What’s the first painting with the river and towers? Is that Tol Sirion?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-2702683083801185932024-03-19T06:42:43.852+08:002024-03-19T06:42:43.852+08:00Definitely - the interesting question is whether t...Definitely - the interesting question is whether that can be systematised.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-63502557396289333672024-03-19T06:42:13.471+08:002024-03-19T06:42:13.471+08:00Might be true about the abstract nouns in Japanese...Might be true about the abstract nouns in Japanese - most of the ones in the modern language are Chinese loanwards/calques. I can't say I've ever thought about that in any depth but will go away and do so.<br /><br />I love the idea that we can identify all our problems in an overreliance on nouns.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-78191248784797459802024-03-19T06:40:04.329+08:002024-03-19T06:40:04.329+08:00Yeah, love it.Yeah, love it.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-83916874204226754862024-03-19T06:39:50.456+08:002024-03-19T06:39:50.456+08:00Ha, yes, there might be something to this. Or even...Ha, yes, there might be something to this. Or even just having enough fantastic geography to make it interesting - it's a normal sized mountain but it has a glacier on it that is made of red ice, etc.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-85091369007316952062024-03-19T06:39:09.097+08:002024-03-19T06:39:09.097+08:00Yeah, just put 'John Howe Tolkien' into go...Yeah, just put 'John Howe Tolkien' into google image search and watch the hours disappear....noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-55433716310367154462024-03-19T05:28:01.224+08:002024-03-19T05:28:01.224+08:00I love these paintings and it took me down quite a...I love these paintings and it took me down quite a rabbit hole of great tolkien covers Zoranuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06882627610940099042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-27403954213921703272024-03-19T05:27:37.381+08:002024-03-19T05:27:37.381+08:00I think the reason hex crawls generally don't ...I think the reason hex crawls generally don't inspire this is because there is not enough fantastic geography<br />- great mountains that dominate your setting should be really big<br />- river should be the Anduin not a normal river<br /><br />every time you make realistic geography you are playing hiking<br /><br />you can add great description but when your players ask you "how tall is it" and you say "its a normal sized mountain" well you've lostZoranuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06882627610940099042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-46426360068779589882024-03-18T21:04:21.736+08:002024-03-18T21:04:21.736+08:00Some of these feelings of awe are reproduced when ...Some of these feelings of awe are reproduced when you get to a high or open space in travel and you can add more hexes to your map. Of course, it's not just the mechanics of adding the hexes; the GM must do their part with fully-featured atmospherics incorporating weather, seasons, vegetation, and great looming things in the vista.Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-66502501300947512682024-03-18T18:27:38.587+08:002024-03-18T18:27:38.587+08:00I worded it very poorly. I apologise.
EnzoI worded it very poorly. I apologise. <br />EnzoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-17181323177720437712024-03-18T15:35:45.706+08:002024-03-18T15:35:45.706+08:00That Elmore cover for Savage Frontier is just fant...That Elmore cover for Savage Frontier is just fantastic and I don’t think I’ve seen a better piece by him. Really awe inspiring, very American (in the best possible way) landscape, very D&D bunch of antagonists coming down out of the mountains. All highly detailed and not rushed and lazy like some of his later work. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-74799624095779992282024-03-18T11:34:52.167+08:002024-03-18T11:34:52.167+08:00Also: universities suck. But then, I'm sure yo...Also: universities suck. But then, I'm sure you know this better than most. (I had a long chat with a lecturer friend at the weekend, about the current crisis in English former-Polytechnics WRT foreign students and, fuck me, I didn't have that on my checklist of things to get deeply depressed about in 2024. Life comes at you. As does the vicious infant egregore of Brexit and modern "Conservatism").dansumptionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06403248887250857638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-63155758166272298022024-03-18T11:29:44.070+08:002024-03-18T11:29:44.070+08:00I don't think I've ever really engaged wit...I don't think I've ever really engaged with the concept enough even to pick up that level of reading of it. My issue more generally is that I struggle enormously with abstract nouns - It often takes me about 20-30 years between first encountering an abstract noun and being able to form any sort of vaguely coherent, stable understanding of what it is supposed to represent. I guess what this blog post did is add some data-points to my cluster of instances of things I've heard called "romantic" and... a balance tipped. Romanticism just means the same thing as "saudade", right? Simplez. 🙃<br /><br />I read in McGilchrist that the Japanese language has very few (non-imported) abstract nouns, and that this has profound implications for the way they construe the world as opposed to the way a Westerner would. I mentioned this in a Substack post a year ago - https://peakrill.substack.com/p/in-an-ideal-world - and I remember at the time wondering what you would make of this. Reading McGilchrist has validated my lifelong suspicion of abstract nouns (and made me increasingly wary of nouns in general). That's one reason (although far from the main one) why, although I've started attending Quaker Meetings, I will never call myself a "Quaker" (or, God forbid, a "Christian").dansumptionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06403248887250857638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-52066263310348258092024-03-18T07:50:08.318+08:002024-03-18T07:50:08.318+08:00yes, but that is good :Dyes, but that is good :Dopossum101https://www.blogger.com/profile/14918781180223282882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-37811751049192734732024-03-18T07:13:20.347+08:002024-03-18T07:13:20.347+08:00Most abolitionists were white?
Think about that s...Most abolitionists were white?<br /><br />Think about that statement for a second. If that were true, that would mean that the majority of slaves were against abolition. Is that what you are saying?<br /><br />Or, i suppose you could be saying that the majority of the country, white and black, were abolitionists, it’s just that there were so many more whites than blacks. <br /><br />But if that were the case, why did slavery persist so long when it was universally popular across the board?<br /><br />(A quick google search shows that abolitionists made up about ~2% of the white population, and blacks 14-22% of the total population depending on hear)Allanhttp://www.heartofdarknessrpg.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-39469227934198498792024-03-18T06:11:16.579+08:002024-03-18T06:11:16.579+08:00Nicely put, both.Nicely put, both.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-39605402925423878492024-03-18T06:09:41.273+08:002024-03-18T06:09:41.273+08:00Yeah - some thought as to how far it is actually p...Yeah - some thought as to how far it is actually possible to see, in real life, is helpful here. On top of a decent hill overlooking flat terrain you can see for bloody miles. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-72464755882607471522024-03-18T06:07:43.750+08:002024-03-18T06:07:43.750+08:00I know what you mean - I'm not against hexmaps...I know what you mean - I'm not against hexmaps.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-8255594419808659262024-03-18T06:07:11.555+08:002024-03-18T06:07:11.555+08:00It took me a long time to figure out that Romantic...It took me a long time to figure out that Romanticism wasn't code for proto-fascism, which is basically what I learned at university. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-82287491591581706332024-03-18T06:05:54.912+08:002024-03-18T06:05:54.912+08:00Nothing new under the sun... Nothing new under the sun... noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-43632175964007549552024-03-18T06:01:23.677+08:002024-03-18T06:01:23.677+08:00Difficult to say - in a sense there has never been...Difficult to say - in a sense there has never been a bigger market for esoteric/experimental games, thanks to the internet. It's important not to be dimissive of that.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-16370325023698211462024-03-18T05:59:24.176+08:002024-03-18T05:59:24.176+08:00'Adolescent fantasy' captures something of...'Adolescent fantasy' captures something of the mood for sure.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-31765249151634436342024-03-18T05:58:47.469+08:002024-03-18T05:58:47.469+08:00I will give them a listen. I will give them a listen. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-62220696102237272752024-03-18T05:58:28.384+08:002024-03-18T05:58:28.384+08:00Thanks for the free diagnosis!Thanks for the free diagnosis!noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.com