#just based on the look of them and the short in a nutshell description of them

[feelinsheepish]

/ Seriously tho, would anyone be interested in interacting with any of these characters?

[hwsasiapacific]

APH MBTI Asians Headcanons PT. 3

(~Just as promised, here's part 3 to my mbti headcanonss! If I made any mistakes on the descriptions, whatsoever, kindly send me your feedback. Credits to Himaa)

����Singapore: ENTJ (The Commander)💜 In his character profile, he was described as someone who looks seemingly polite with a gentle smile. But never let that fool you. Singapore's smart, calculated, and assertive, he never misses a beat. Similarly, ENTJs are known for their charisma and vision. They're witty, yet at the same time quietly intimidating. Dubbed as a "fine" country, literally giving out "fines" once rules are broken. He's also said to be a genius, brilliant at strategies and gourmet food. ENTJs have a dominant Te that allows them to take charge and desire to "play by the rules." They see the world with "systems" wherein in each wrong move comes a consequence. They pave their way to success by strategic moves (like how Singapore is good at creating polished presentations) and outcome driven planning. He constantly speaks a grander vision, he values the aesthetics as a driving mechanism. This is the magic of Ni-Te balance, that gives him an abstract vision to receive a concrete solution. His Ni also somewhat allows him to "set borders" and boundaries strategically. This may be shown how he rejects the idea of calling Malaysia "abang" (big brother) multiple times, to the point that he puts on pineapple tart shades to pretend not to see. He probably does this to avoid showing vulnerability, which is the inferior function of Fi that avoids intimacy. However, although through that all, he still has a hidden soft spot under the layers of Ni and Te. Like how he acknowledges Philippines' suggestion in having a more laid-back atmosphere during meetings, and how he more often than not supports Philippines' "bold" ideas, when some find it outrageous. Not only that but Singapore also described him as "bright and good at branding." ENTJs are known to be masters at seeing opportunities and potential, they see all sorts of possibilities even when an idea sounds "unhinged" at first. While this may appear strategic, it's also a way for ENTJs to affirm their loved ones even in subtle ways. He also has a clear moral compass, shown by his national pride and devotion to his culture and independence. To put this in a nutshell, Singapore, although obeys the rules, he believes in innovations. He stands as the mini-CEO in a friend group.

💙India: ESFJ (The Consul)💙 According to his profile, he's flamboyant yet polite, and basically the same personality as Hungary: sharp, yet sweet. Nurturing, yet strong (to be honest, that's probably the reason why I had trouble identifying his MBTI. To the point that I even took a look at Hungary's character description). This makes India that one friend who'll feed you and at the same time stand up for you whenever you need it. That's the classic ESFJ, loyal and tender-hearted. This presence was also described to have "a prince-like aura", magnetizing people that come near him. That's his dominant function Fe that allows him to socialize and be emotionally attuned, quick to step up during in times of need. This was seen on how he responded to Prussia's online venting on not being allowed to attend the Halloween Party. He replied, introducing himself and even inviting Prussia to join their group (that's one more person short). This spontaneous and unexpected response shows the trademark of an ESFJ, the feeling of obligation to catering one's present time needs. He doesn't hesitate to take charge; he acts based on what someone needs right now. He was also clearly stated as someone who takes immense pride of his culture, this is shown on how he challenges himself to put Indian movies on the top slots of the entertainment industry. Similarly, ESFJs treasure traditions close to their hearts. This personality type values continuity, familiarity, and anything that brings structure. And while he was described as someone who's good at debating. He can sometimes overextend himself in a debate because he’s leading with feeling (during the Christmas 2011 Event, it was mentioned on how he argued with China over who's closer to Russia), not pure logic. His Ti makes him embrace a more persuasive rather than analytical tone. In conclusion, India has the vibe of "I will argue with you politely if I must" to his character that deserves more spotlight.

💛Indonesia: ISFP (The Adventurer) 💛 Easy-going and quiet, yet strong and resilient. These are some words to describe Indonesia's character in Hetalia. His profile stated how his catchphrase when something goes wrong is "tidak apa-apa!"/"Gakpapa kok!", translating to "it's okay!" This reflects his dominant function, Fi that internalizes personal discomforts and crafting his peace out of it. He rewarded himself by buying a motorbike due to his economic success, showing his inner compass that's guiding him and keeping him in line. This also translates the "live the moment" energy or Se rather than the seeing the "bigger picture" like Ni and Te visions. He's spontaneous yet sensory grounded, he doesn't thrive in formal settings (his discomfort was elaborated in this bio when he made an "awkward speech" during an ASEAN summit). He likes to keep it casual and hands-on. When his neighbors commented on his cracked phone screen, he said that he'll replace it soon. This shows the tertiary function of Ni. He doesn't rush in things, he knows everything will work out, and that includes his phone. His decision making are usually more emotionally driven, then he'll justify it with logic. This is the hallmark trait of an ISFP. He's also depicted as friendly and initiates small talk in order to start a conversation. ISFPs although introverted, they're often friendly and approachable, especially if they've already became close to you. In correlation once more to the "casual meeting" suggestion, Indonesia agrees (saying, "That's a pretty good point coming from you.."). Indonesia radiates the ISFP energy with his authentic and simple gestures. He's definitely "vibes over structure" and that what makes him even more relatable. And even through his vast economic growth, he still finds himself confiding in things that he believes is right. That's ISFP right there, they don't need to lose themselves for the world by proving their worth. Because they already know they're worth it.

(Up next: Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, and Thailand)

This is part 3 to the mbti headcanon series!! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and if I made some description inaccuracy, kindly let me knoww

Thank you so much:)

~Author🩵

[kingdomoftyto]

Ah, POE has entered its Murderstuck phase. (Seriously though I'd be interested in seeing your classpects for the detectives after you finish the game)

AT LAST I have beaten the game and can answer this ask!!

Short answer:

Long answer:

[Reminder that in addition to the canon info on aspects from the Extended Zodiac, I also like to take into consideration the excellent old theories {aspects} from bladekindeyewear, a lot of which seem to have made their way onto the MSPA wiki {classes}!]

I'm going to try desperately not to overthink this too badly by psychoanalyzing the characters and their growth over the course of the narrative, because for past attempts at this sort of thing I've had people tell me my choices are way off base lol. As a result some of these will be a little more straightforward than my usual fare.

And, it JUST SO HAPPENS that when I go with my gut instincts like this, the full cast (minus Senior) lines up pretty perfectly with the full set of 12 aspects! That's too beautiful to ignore, so I'm sticking with it. >:)

Anyway, let's get into it:

Incompetent/Ideal Detectives: Heir of Mind

This one's kind of a no-brainer. The Denouement is without question a Mind power, anticipating possible outcomes before they happen. Not to mention Mind's general association with rationality and logic--necessary traits for any detective worth their salt. Mind is also all about your choices and how they change you, echoing the themes of growth and optimism for things to get better, even in the face of despair. It feels right to me if Wato and Saika to share a classpect, particularly the Heir class considering each of them literally inherited the Ideal title from the other. Heir is also thought to be a passive class, which suits their shared tendency to guide the other detectives to finding the solutions rather than solving every little mystery by themselves.

Doleful Detective: Rogue of Doom

Oh boy. In a brighter world, Doleful could have EASILY been the Light-bound of the group. His entire shtick is being supernaturally lucky--even to the point of tragedy. He would have been the group's Vriska, except with troubles that were no fault of his own. HOWEVER, clearly, the reality of who Doleful actually is paints us a very different picture. What we get instead is someone whose entire existence circles around the ideas of sacrifice and suffering. It becomes an obsession for him, both as a detective (as seen in his primary contribution to the group being putting himself in harm's way) and as the Duke (as seen in... his entire outlook on society). As a Rogue, his purpose is to "steal" the suffering of the masses, in his own twisted, pessimistic way, and because this is a passive class, he does it in the most indirect way possible.

Renegade Detective: Bard of Rage

This fucker is Gamzee Makara. I mean just look at him. He has the hair and everything.

...No but seriously, I'm not even joking with this. Go read the Extended Zodiac's description for Rage and tell me that's not Renegade in a nutshell. "Contempt for falsehoods, including the stability those false ideas can impart." "Would rather tear down a system and live in anarchy if they think the system is built on faulty premises." "Difficult to convince otherwise once attached to an idea." He's SO single-minded in his beliefs that he dies with a grin on his face just because his death follows his twisted worldview (which, wouldn't you know it, is another thing he shares with a certain purpleblooded troll). He also incites literal chaos and anger among the other detectives, particularly Workaholic, pulling them into similar delusions of there only being a single, violent way forward.

Armor Detective: Knight of Space

This man is pure physicality. He's simple, in every sense of the word. Just a huge, solid wall, an impenetrable barrier to all threats. He has a single solution to every problem, and that's to position himself in between danger and the people he wants to protect. And of course he's a Knight: his greatest asset--nay, his very essence--is the material suit of armor he's equipped with at all times.

Rowdy Detective: Maid of Breath

What is Breath but the embodiment of movement? As the athlete of the group, Rowdy definitely does plenty of that. But Breath also implies direction, bringing to mind her hanafuda cards, which she consults not to seek external guidance but to reinforce her own decision. Once she's pointed herself at a target, there's no stopping her. (Plus also, y'know. There's literal breath, and she has a pretty good sense of smell lmaO.) Maids, at least in the theories I follow, are an active class, and Rowdy is a prime example, manifesting her own forward momentum and allowing no room for doubt.

Downtown Detective: Thief of Heart

Heart is the aspect of identity and, relatedly, of facades--something Downtown knows all about. Outwardly, she presents a cheery, playfully snarky personality, but this is only one of many layers of masks. Her mastery of these countless faces are what makes her so skilled at manipulating other people. She sees effortlessly into what makes people tick, steers the conversation to revealing the info she wants, and then, like any good Thief, snatches up the resulting spoils. Heart also, however, refers to the unchanging core of what makes a person who they are, and to me this is highlighted by the way Downtown holds so tightly to the memory of her friend Miyuki, no matter how far she sinks into the Duke's web of lies and death.

Bookworm Detective: Mage of Light

I said I wasn't going to get too into character growth in these analyses but HEAR ME OUT. The obvious aspect for Bookworm would be Void, right? Her manner of speech literally obfuscates her emotions behind the detached wording of a third-person narration. Plus she's goth as hell. But much like with Rose Lalonde before her, I argue that this is because she starts out with her aspect "inverted", and that her self-actualization comes in the form of her embracing her true nature: Light. Light can mean fortune, as I mentioned in Doleful's entry, but it is also knowledge and clarity. Bookworm's greatest weapon is her encyclopedic recall, and this is put to best use only when she begins to open up to and cooperate with the other detectives. The sense of triumph Wato (and I) experienced every time she felt confident enough to speak in first person should be more than enough to prove that the Void clinging to her psyche is only holding her back from her full potential.

Posh Detective: Seer of Hope

The aspect of Hope can best be summed up as "fake it 'til you make it", and if that doesn't encapsulate Posh as a person, then I don't know what does. Even with her family fallen on hard times, she relies on a carefully constructed facade of wealth and influence to convince others of her abilities. Though this performance isn't always the most convincing to the other detectives, her stubborn refusal to abandon it is no accident on her part. She has convinced herself that her aspirations of rank and prestige (both within the Detective Alliance and in society at large) will manifest if only she can inextricably associate herself with the role. As a Seer, her job is to passively guide others with insight related to her aspect--which brings to mind her naively confident guesses that fail to be correct on their own but can and do divert the discussion indirectly toward the solution.

Mystic Detective: Sylph of Blood

With a name like Van Helsing, he had to be Blood, right? It just feels right with his occult proclivities. But even on a metaphorical level, Blood first and foremost represents the bonds between people, an appropriate theme for the group's resident father figure. Mystic is known for solving his cases with exceptional compassion and patience, emphasizing how the primary source of his success is his ability to connect with those who had otherwise been abandoned. These helpless clients, along with his more direct ties like his adoption of Bookworm and his gentle mentorship of Wato, bring to mind how Sylphs are specifically known to be a "healing" class.

Workaholic Detective: Prince of Time

Time can be a difficult aspect to explain. Like Space, it tends toward the literal, though even in that sense I feel Workaholic is the best fit for it, what with his fixation on past wrongs and his relentless, sleepless march toward his target like a clockwork automaton. In a more figurative sense, Time can be associated with inevitability or even entropy, which evoke Workaholic's single-minded pursuit of justice despite knowing his own destruction was likely to occur alongside Renegade's. Princes are famously referred to as the "destroyer" class, and he certainly fits the bill, both erasing time with the sense of urgency created by his betrayal and also directly cutting short the "time" of those he killed.

Gourmet Detective: Witch of Void

The Void aspect represents both literal nothingness (like the hunger that plagues Gourmet even years after the tragedy that nearly starved her) and also secrets (like the undercover role she played for the FBI). Even Gourmet's facial expressions tend to be vacuous, revealing nothing of her true thoughts or motivations unless she reaches a breaking point. Witches are a vaguely defined class but are thought to be an active one, perhaps breaking the rules of their aspect to their advantage. If so, this could be connected to Gourmet's superhuman gastonomy and sense of smell--imagine an all-consuming black hole, where our very understanding of physics starts to break down--but either way she definitely wields both her hunger and her secrets with deliberate precision.

Techie Detective: Page of Life

Techie's is the classpect I am least certain/happy about, but to be perfectly honest I don't think ANY of the aspects are a clean fit for him. That said, of the ones that do feel related, Life seems like a decent choice for a few reasons--not the least of which is his well-established habit of anthropomorphizing inanimate gadgets and robots. One could say he "imbues them with life". I would argue that, like Bookworm, Techie is still early in his growth, and this is reflected in my assigning him as a Page. Pages are known for being the slowest to bloom but with some of the greatest potential of all the classes, which rings familiar when one considers the sections of his profile that describe him "stagnating" in the rankings and apprenticing under a capricious dandy. With proper support and guidance, Techie would certainly be on track to do great things with his future. While Renegade accuses him of relying on others too much, Techie's willingness to sacrifice his chair to save the others--even when that would mean giving up his own independence--serves as proof to me that he's well on his way to embodying the quintessential Life-bound trait of putting others' needs before his own.

...And, uh, that's everybody! Unfortunately these assignments mean the party's session was doomed the moment Workaholic fried himself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ No frogs for you, detectives!

[count-lero]

Good day to everyone in the Napoleonic segment of Tumblr once again! 🌺

I humbly assume, there is no bad timing for some “Napoleonic-related-game-world-news”, so here we are. :)

Won’t describe my own gaming history as it’s another long story to tell… However, I will make a remark that I am a gamer who have enjoyed such leisure activity on many platforms - PSP-gaming, computer gaming, console gaming, phone gaming as well. Speaking of the latter, there is one game in particular that fascinates me till nowadays. It’s called “Time Princess” and it is, in a nutshell, an interactive novel with the core dress-up mechanics.

The game’s name says it all: there is a main heroin who gains the ability to relive countless stories through, pretty much, any writing source available in this world. Those stories are based on different historical epochs, mythologies, classical literature pieces and so on, and so forth. The sole requirement for each story is straight-forward simple: the main character should be… female! That’s why there are some stories based on world famous classics where the main characters went through gender swap: for example, not “Romeo and Juliette” but “Romy and Julius”; a “Swan Lake” story where prince Siegfried becomes princess, while Odette and Odile are known as Aldous and Audwin. These changes are looking not that bad, actually, and are quite enjoyable during the play through.

There are also many original stories set in modern or future times, several interpretations of famous women’ biographies (which I would never discuss on serious terms as there’s too little left from the real-life historical personalities: their characters - as well as actual historical events - go through such drastic changes for the plot’s sake that it’s sometimes impossible to recognise them at all) and classical literature adaptations with canonical female characters aka “Phantom of the Opera” or “Little Women”.

Still, I’m here to speak about Napoleonic era as always. And in “Time Princess” there are no stories based on that memorable epoch (yet, dare I say - since I’m starting to believe that there is a possibility). What made me mention this lovely game on the Napoleonic agenda, then? Well, big thanks to one specific in-game event which comes to an end soon!

In short, it was an ambitious collaboration between “Time Princess” and one of the most famous museums in the world - Musée du Louvre in all its timeless beauty. There were many wonderful activities, mini-games and other stuff to do but the best gift - best gift for all the Napoleonic era lovers, of course - came in the very end of it.

Thus, behold la grande finale (or is it better to say “das große Finale”? 😉) together with us: the magnificent set of clothes inspired by coronation robes of Marie Louise, erzherzogin of Austria, empress of the French! 🇦🇹🇫🇷🎉

The full set is called “Midnight Vienna” and makes an obvious accent on Marie Louise origins and heritage. The descriptions of each piece of clothing are unbelievably pathetic and romantic, while the historical foundation is… well… How do I put it mildly? Many fellow enjoyers of Napoleonic history would be probably crying bloody tears over that one-sided interpretation of martyrdom and excessive exaltation.

But, despite all the cringy aspects, I believe the designers and software developers made a very good job in keeping overall resemblance to the classic silhouette many love and adore!

Just look at all those wonderful details: jewellery, embroidery, simple but gracious ornaments…

It’s also noted in game that the dress itself was “freely inspired by an engraving of Empress Marie-Louise by Louis-Adolphe Portier” which is, of course, preserved in the department of graphic arts in the Musée du Louvre.

In the end, I was able to find the original engraving which was mentioned - I’m attaching it as well. 🌺

And even though I’m very, very sceptical of any biographical adaptations which may come after such lovely representation, it’s undoubtedly nice to see the reminders of Napoleonic era beauty in any spheres of our everyday lives. 😌

[candyradium]

Finally got around to typing up my Technoblade D&D build!!! I’ve been working on making these for a lot of the Dream SMP characters, and I thought it would be fun to have him in stat block format, so you too can throw c!Technoblade at your players as a final boss! (Disclaimer: I don’t know how accurate the CR level is, I just set it to 8 since the build is a lv8 build PC build.)

Image description and explanation/rambling below the cut!

[Image ID: A D&D stat block for Technoblade. It reads:

Technoblade

Medium humanoid (firbolg), Lawful Neutral

Armor Class: 18 (Half plate, defense fighting style)

Hit Points: 72 (8d12+24)

Speed: 40 ft.

STR: 18 (+4)

DEX: 14 (+2)

CON: 16 (+3)

INT: 14 (+2)

WIS: 13 (+1)

CHA: 6 (-2)

Saving Throws: Str +7, Con +6

Skills: Athletics +7, Intimidation +1, Perception +4, Survival +4

Damage Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing

Senses: passive Perception 14

Languages: Common, Elvish, Giant, Goblin

Challenge: 8 (3,900 XP)

Innate spellcasting. Technoblade's innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 12). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

1/short rest each: detect magic, disguise self

Speech of beast and leaf. Technoblade has the ability to communicate in a limited manner with beasts and plants. They can understand the meaning of his words, though he has no special ability to understand them in return. He has advantage on all Charisma checks he makes to influence them.

Powerful build. Technoblade counts as one size larger when determining his carrying capacity and the weight he can push, drag, or lift.

Unarmoured defense. When not wearing any armour, Technoblade's defense equals 15. He can use a shield and still gain this benefit.

Reckless. At the start of his turn, Technoblade can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls he makes during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until the start of his next turn.

Great weapon master. When Technoblade scores a critical hit with a melee weapon or reduces a creature to 0 hit points with one, he can make one melee weapon attack as a bonus action. Additionally, before Technoblade makes a melee weapon attack with a heavy weapon that he is proficient with, he can choose to take a -5 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, he adds +10 to the attack's damage.

Warrior of the Gods. If a spell, such as Raise Dead, has the sole effect of restoring Technoblade to life (but not undeath), the caster doesn't need material components to cast the spell on Technoblade.

Divine fury. While Technoblade is raging, the first creature he hits on each of his turns with a weapon attack takes extra necrotic damage equal to 1d6 + 3.

Action surge (1/rest). Technoblade takes one additional action on his turn.

Combat superiority (4/rest). Technoblade can apply the following maneuvers using his four superiority die (d8s):

Feinting attack: Technoblade expends one superiority die and uses a bonus action on his turn to feint, choosing one creature within 5 feet of his as his target. He has advantage on his next attack roll against that creature before the end of his turn. If that attack hits, add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.

Menacing attack: When Technoblade hits a creature with a weapon attack, he can expend one superiority die to attempt to frighten the target. He adds the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened of him until the end of his next turn.

Trip attack: When Technoblade hits a creature with a weapon attack, he can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. He adds the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw (DC 15). On a failed save, he knocks the target prone.ActionsHidden step (1/rest).

As a bonus action, Technoblade can magically turn invisible until the start of his next turn or until he attacks, makes a damage roll, or forces someone to make a saving throw.

Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.

Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 100/400 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d10 + 2) piercing damage.

Multiattack. Technoblade can make 2 weapon attacks.

Rage (4/day). As a bonus action, Technoblade enters a rage that lasts for 1 minute, ending early if knocked unconscious or if Technoblade's turn ends and he hasn't attacked a hostile creature since his last turn or taken damage since then. He can also end his rage on his turn as a bonus action. While raging, Technoblade deals +2 damage, has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. Technoblade cannot cast spells during a rage.

End ID.]

Okay. Rambling time.

Holy SHIT I loved making this. I tend to play spellcasters or dex based characters, so it was a lot of fun to make a str character for once.

Stats first. As a barbarian/fighter and also as a force of nature, str is his highest stat. I could have made it 20, but I have a weird aversion to writing up characters with maxed out stats for some reason? Anyway, that’s what he has. He can always boost it if he takes another level in fighter. I also decided to give him pretty high intelligence and wisdom, which are rare in barbarian characters, since, y’know, their main point is to hit things very hard. But Techno is so, SO resourceful, and one of the main reasons that he’s so good at fighting is because he does his research and acquires the best items for it and puts himself in the right place at the right time. Hence the high-ish int. I feel a little bad making his charisma so low, but cha represents several things, most notably the ability to talk to people and force of personality. Also known as: how hard it is to be swayed or controlled, magically or otherwise. Remember what happened at the festival? That’s low charisma. Also I had to give him a low stat to balance the fact that he’s insanely good at so many fucking things. Why.

As a side note, when picking his proficiencies, I was using the homebrew rule that you can use your strength modifier when you roll for intimidation. So his Strength (Intimidation) check would actually have a +7, which is MUCH better than the Charisma (Intimidation) check of +1. Big strong characters are absolutely scary, damnit, and I will die on that hill.

Next up: race. I HAD to make him a firbolg. They’re connected with nature and are often portrayed with animalistic features (e.g. Caduceus Clay from Critical Role), and it means we can have both pig Techno and anime Techno, since firbolgs naturally have the disguise self spell. I just think that’s neat. They also get the ability to turn invisible! Which Techno has been doing a LOT recently! Sure, firbolgs can only do it for a turn, but it still fits.

Onto classes. Barbarian was a dead certain for Techno, honestly - his battle prowess, how he acts when he fights, it just fits so well. Even his use of potions - he gets a lot of buffs from them, increased damage and damage resistance being the two most notable and the two that best translate to D&D rage. Even speed potions - barbarians get +10ft movement speed at level 5. And barbarians are made for two-handed weapons, so obviously I HAD to give him a greatsword. The Orphan Obliterator is a deadly weapon. He also still favours swords even when axes are better in the newest version, so a greatsword was a must. Also I just really like greatswords.

I wavered a bit when picking a subclass, to be honest. I’m not really a big fan of any of the official subclasses (they don’t really fir my playstyle, which is why I homebrewed an entire new subclass for my barbarian character, but that’s a post for another day), but looking through, there were a few that could work. Originally, I picked Juggernaut - this was because of how he fought during the Dream battle, moving Dream around the arena into a more advantageous position for Techno, which is the Juggernaut’s 3rd level ability in a nutshell. They also can’t be knocked prone, and both of these things work INCREDIBLY well for skywars/bedwars style combat - staying put on this island and knocking off your opponents.

However, in the end, I decided to go with Zealot. It was inevitable after he REALLY started building his character on the Dream SMP, which is what this is mostly based on. Zealots have two main points: they follow a God, and it’s very, VERY hard to kill them.

Sound familiar?

Techno isn’t just a barbarian - he also has three levels of Battlemaster fighter. The barbarian/fighter combo is one of the best there is for sheer combat power (bested only, in my opinion, by barbarian/moon druid - those characters are actually unkillable) and the choice of Battlemaster specifically opened up so many options in combat. I had debated going with champion, just for the crit probability boost, but ultimately decided that Battlemaster was infinitely more fun. The three maneuvers were picked for a combination of reasons - they’re all incredibly useful in combat, but I also just thought they were thematically accurate and/or funny. I just had to give him Menacing Attack, because one of the few constants in Technoblade’s combat is people running the hell away from him during competitions. Feinting is for pure combat ability, and Trip is just. Really funny to me. It worked better when he was Juggernaut and literally couldn’t be knocked prone, but I just like the idea of someone using their full action to try and knock over this eight foot tall firbolg (they’re so fucking tall! This bitch is massive!) Technoblade just. Looking down at them before knocking them clean off of their feet with one swing of his Greatsword.

And finally, weapons and magical items. The magic ones didn’t actually make it onto the stat block, because I wanted it to be purely basic character building, but I absolutely had some ideas. Some of these were rolled on loot tables, some were completely homebrewed to fit Techno’s canon weapons. Guess which ones lmao.

magical heavy crossbow (use charge to fire 3 bolts simultaneously, using only one arrow, rolling an attack for each. Each target must be within 10ft of each other. 7 charges per day)

explosive bolts (10ft radius, double dice of the weapon it’s fired from, dex save)

mithral half-plate

ring of feather falling

trident of flight (attunement) (30ft swim and flight speed, 120ft flight speed when its raining)

upgraded cape of the mountebank (8 charges, 2 for misty step, 4 for dimension door) (yes it looks like his normal cape)

bag of holding

sword of life-stealing (attunement) (I don’t know why I added this except Techno’s canon sword would be VERY hard to homebrew and also he can do enough damage with a normal one so he could literally just have like a +2 or something. Do what you want)

[onlinemoneyculture]

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In terms of direct or indirect revenue generated by your video, it's obvious that the number of views and shares your video may generate is the metric of success. So, what causes virality? We can never truly anticipate what will happen, but we can make some educated predictions based on historical tendencies. Even if your video does not become a global sensation, you may still earn money from your camera and a little more money for your trouble.

The Distribution

Depending on the purpose of the video, you can generate interest by delivering information authoritatively in order to keep the audience informed or inquisitive, and by including other clips that connect to your subject as necessary. If you choose the lighthearted informal approach, it is critical that your video be both engaging and humorous while still being relevant to your line of business. 

To increase your watching statistics, use useful tutorials or 'how-to's delivered with a tongue-in-cheek tone. Humour is always an excellent perspective to take. There are several free video editing programs that may help you produce attractive visuals for your clip. Text sliders and integrated music are also easier to design and add than you would believe. A well-produced videoed viewpoint works effectively for direct sales or marketing. 

The road forward is short, acute, and swift. Bear in mind that internet viewers have a relatively limited attention span. You have the first eight seconds to captivate the viewer's attention. Begin with a bang and keep interested by removing any superfluous material.

Sell! Sell! Sell!

If you sell a product or service, it's worthwhile to collect client testimonials for inclusion on your website. It surpasses text testimonials in that anybody can create a fake one in a couple of seconds. This will not only improve your YouTube presence, but it will also provide material for your other endeavor - a video advertisement!

If you're launching a new product or service, you may create an instructional video to accompany it, therefore promoting both your business and your new device. Publishers and authors do this frequently. Provide valuable information on the issue to which your product relates. Inform your visitors on topics they don't know and then present your goods without being too pushy.

The $1 shaving club clip is still the gold standard for all trade-related YouTube videos. Michael Dubin achieved over 5 million views and massive volume sales of $1.00 shaving sticks for a total cost of $3,000 plus several unemployed staff employees. 

It demonstrates the power of imagination in spreading a message virally. He amassed a sizable watching audience, but achieving a 3% global sales conversion rate is nothing short of brilliance. Take a look at the Dollar Shave Club smash.

Create a humorous video ad displaying your business culture or a typical client experience as an excellent starting point. To convert one viewer into ten or twenty, showing footage of your bustling work environment, processing orders, or showcasing the advantages of your business would require entertainment or shock.

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An excellent video is only effective if it elicits a single viewer's response or engagement. However, in order to go viral, the video must be humorous, provocative, or extremely instructive. What you want is for your audience to share your video on social media. That is the actual definition of a viral assault, which is disseminated by people who are infected. We'd suggest that traffic generated by controversy be left to experienced marketers or those looking for nothing more than a large number of visitors. It may have unfavorable consequences.

For people new to YouTube, it's generally best to just be yourself. Make certain to highlight your unique selling proposition. As alluring as it may be to hire a gorgeous blonde as your spokeswoman, this strategy almost always works against you; instead, get some genuine individuals in front of the camera and demonstrate to your consumers that you can be trusted. 

Successful films often include make-up artists, business trainers, eccentric shops, and amusing web ventures. On YouTube, music has also gained commercial exposure, and we are not talking about a major musician or record company. Dub FX was a dub performer making a few pounds on the streets of Camden and other comparable European cities. On YouTube, footage of his performance garnered millions of views, and let's just say he received his baptism at Glastonbury.

Click To Purchase

New media technology is not idle, particularly when it comes to generating direct sales through media engagement. Some people began the concept with product placement while watching a YouTube clip. Now, you may click on a highlighted object in a video to purchase the item using the click-through link. 

The setup is far less expensive than it was when the technology was in Beta a few years ago. For a monthly fee, you may have the software running in your £20 YouTube video. A smart method to set up a YouTube shop, in a nutshell, is to have a scrolling catalog with voice commentary and some intriguing content to keep the user engaged. 

Your material should pique the viewer's interest and maintain it. If it's fashion, discuss trends, suggestions, and styles, sprinkle in an occasional celebrity photo, and then exhibit your products. The same is true of services. You may include scrolling text that is clickable as you introduce your unique service. Order now, reserve your spot, and other call-to-action words can generate direct income for you.

AdSense And Ranking

YouTube is an excellent source of vitamins for your Google health. Your web presence may do wonders for surfer engagement and commerce thanks to search engines and web ranking. After uploading your video, don't forget to give it a title, description, and tags. 

After you've optimized your keywords and set phrases with accompanying descriptions, you're well on your way to receiving a spike in traffic from Google. If you use appropriate connections and spread the news via social media or your website, your video should get a few hundred views. Your video should begin to show on Google as a result of your key phrases. Click-throughs to websites receive a sizable portion of their traffic from video searches typically associated with YouTube. 

Page ranking on YouTube with the assistance of your video is therefore very important. Conduct research on how AdSense works to ensure that money generated from this source is reasonable and constant. YouTube will deposit payments into your Google AdSense account, and after you've completely registered in the program, you'll also be able to turn on Google advertisements to the side of or above your videos. 

This may earn additional revenue through pay per click and affiliate commissions, and all you have to do is maintain new video material and enjoy the earnings. Apart from direct payment, there are additional options to grow your YouTube reputation and generate additional money sources. 

If you're selling a few items on eBay or want to increase traffic to your revenue-generating blog, including a link to your site makes sense. You may approach other firms in your sector and offer to recommend their goods in your videos in exchange for a 5-10% commission over and above what YouTube pays you, or you can just get into an affiliate arrangement. By avoiding middlemen affiliate firms, you may keep 100% of your commission.

The Program for Partners

The Partner Program is when your films truly begin to earn you money. Once you become a partner, you may expect to earn between $2.50 and $5 (£1.56 and £3.13) for every 1,000 views of your video. While this may not sound like much at the moment, if you manage to produce the next viral phenomenon with millions of views, you can expect to earn a dot-com fortune for your efforts. Consider monetizing your video by selling scrolling text. 

A specific number of viewers suffices as proof of existence for a platform in which a linked business would be interested. Product placement and endorsements as part of the content are an effective way for paying advertising, large or small, to promote their business.

favorite open-source resources.

Currency of the Fans

Make your uploads one-of-a-kind and positively distinctive, and you're likely to amass a devoted following of admirers. Video marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and it may be unexpected to some extent; patience and deliberate preparation should assist. 

It may be a lot of fun to create the films, and once they begin generating money for you, they are likely to continue earning money month after month. Feed your audience by introducing them to videos from others who have a link to yours. Once you've accumulated a library of 15 or more videos, you should be able to generate a reasonable amount of views for each video. Once all of your videos reach a minimum of 1,000 views, you can be confident that YouTube will contact you to ask whether you'd want to apply to become a Partner.

Uploading videos to YouTube is an extremely public act. As a result, you must be explicit about authorization and the restrictions of publishing a video. Take precautions and ensure that you have authorization where necessary to avoid discovering that your hard work was for naught. 

Situational footage in which you act as a witness with your video may be excluded in some instances, therefore it's a good idea to understand the limitations. Ascertain that your video does not violate the copyright of another party. Take a few moments to go over YouTube's terms of service. They are also there to safeguard your own good work from infringement by others; you'd need to know when your copyright interests have been violated as well. 

Consult YouTube's copyright guidelines and suggestions. Making money on YouTube offers more opportunities than we are accustomed to. It's entirely up to you to create engaging content and manage revenue once watching statistics begin to climb. It's an open field; let's begin filming.

Mother of three, daughter, sister, wife, public relations consultant, and entrepreneur

On most days, like many women, I appear to have to balance all of my duties. On other days, there are only three or four. This was the impetus for me to create Home For Business. I understand what it takes to be a working mother and how to run an internet business from home while juggling all of the 'pulls' of daily family life and work.

I've always been entrepreneurial, and in my 30s founded my first corporate communications firm, EMA Productions, working with large multinational customers such as Texaco and Rank & Boots. While it was difficult and time-consuming, it was immediately successful. Without family interruptions and with the backing of a wonderful team and office, I could focus only on obtaining contracts and satisfying customer demands.

There are hundreds of legitimate possibilities available to individuals, but many are unaware of where to begin.

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[daddycardan]

What's your most recommended book? Other than the cruel prince or sjm books... You know what, how about a list? In order from best to worst. 1- best, 10- worst

all righty, I’m not gonna lie here, I have actually… never read any SJM books. Haha, never. I don’t plan on doing it eventhough they sound really fun, but right now I’m trying to gravitate towards a little more… I dunno, quality literature, if you will? This sounds so hypocritical and snob ehhh especially from my Cruel Prince fanblog but asdhjkjss don’t judGE

ok for the list I went on goodreads and looked at my read book list and picked out the best ones, but I honestly can’t really rank them, they are all great so the numbers don’t really matter, but they are quite different in genre, most of them are not even YA, so bear that in mind

1. Game of Thrones series by George R. R. Martin - hahaha GoT is amazing its kinda brutal and its a heavy read, but it’s really worth it. I love the way GRRM builds plot and characters, it’s just so unique and very different from everything I’ve read before. The characters are just so real, and they all have their own background stories and motivations, and you literally have no fucking idea what’s going to happen, it’s so unpredictable I can’t handle it. Warning, it’s likely that your fave character is gonna die, prepare yourself. I haven’t seen the tv show but honestly the book is really really great. It’s one of the best series I have ever read. BUT if you can’t stand visual violence, rape, insides getting, um outside, well I wouldn’t recommend it then. Because there’s a whooole lot of that.

2. HaRRy Pottah by J. K. Rowling - do I even have to explain. HP isn’t just a book, it’s a fucking life changing magical journey that every child should go through, so if you haven’t yet, shut up and go read it. For real. Go, turn off your computer and start reading.

3. Nutshell by Ian McEwan - now this is a really interesting short novel. The thing that makes it fascinating is that it’s narrated by a baby. Who’s still in the womb. And it’s actually a Hamlet retelling, where the pregnant mother is having an affair with the father’s brother, and you know, the baby knows about it. And when mommy and the brother lover conspire to kill the father the baby can do basically nothing about it so it’s about the child’s inner dialogue and some deep philosophical thoughts while his mother and uncle commit the murder and how the baby tries to sabotage them. It’s not YA for sure, so if you want steamy romances or a sexy protagonist, this is not your book, but I really loved it and it’s just such an intellectual book with some nice Shakespeare and modern political references and honestly just reading the dumbass shit that Claude (the uncle, parallel to Claudius) says was so goddamn funny. There is some sex and swearing in it. And like, after reading it I felt like such a highly educated person, eventhough I’ve never read original Hamlet haha.

4. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - dystopian post-apocalyptic novel, with some teenagers slaughtering each other, a cool protagonist with badass hunting skills, love triangle, rebellion, etc. Probably most of you have heard of it (if not already read it), it’s quite good, especially the first one, I personally wasn’t a big fan of 2nd&3rd, but it’s prob because I don’t like rebellions/civil wars for some reason? it’s good though!!

5. Angelfall trilogy by Susan Ee - ohohohh anGELS!! I used to be fucking obsessed with angels and demons (#FuckMeLucifer) and I’ve read every angel-themed YA book I could find, and this one was probably the most well-written. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic America (haven’t heard of that before) where angels are terrorizing humans and basically treat them like shit and this girl Penryn, her lil sister gets kidnapped by the angels, but in the fight this one handsome angel gets injured, they cut off his wings and she kidnaps him to her place and I think forces him to help her get her sister back (?) Turns out its Rafael the powerful archangel and of course he is hot as hell, so yeah its been a while since I’ve read it but I remember liking it, so if you’re into angels and some post-apocalyptic chaotic setting on top, you’ll probably like it

6. Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn - so this one’s mainly about a Jewish slave in the Ancient Roman Empire and a lot of stuff happens to her and she ends up being the mistress of the crazy emperor Domitianus who tortures her and it’s basically following the life of all these different people with different social statuses in Rome, (slaves, gladiators, senators, wealthy wives, emperors, etc.) and it’s really interesting how the relationships are forming between them and the best part is that its historically aCCuRate! ! ! So if you’re into Ancient Romans, this is a good one. Trigger warning for sex, rape, emotional and physical violence. ;)

7. And then there were none by Agatha Christie - this is some nerve wrecking emotional shit, about a group of complete strangers invited into this island manor where they are slowly getting murdered one by one by this psychopath whose identity is… unknown. The murderer is one of them, and is playing this scary, childish, psychological game with the others, but i literally had no fucking idea who the (s)he is until the last few pages, and i couldn’t sleep for a few nights after reading it.

8. Jane and the Man of the Cloth by Stephanie Barron - so this is about Jane Austen, eventhough it’s not written by her, but it’s based on her actual diary and true historical events, so it’s pretty much an accurate description of that period of her life. I guess I would call it a historical murder-mystery because she solves a case that happened in the town she spent her holiday in, but the focus is not really on the ‘thrilling mystery’ part, but rather on the historical background (British-French conflict), social links between people, and yeah just gives you a nice little glimpse into her world. The book is part of a series but this one’s probably my fave bc Jane has this thing going on between her and this handsome mysterious man and a fucking loooved it!!

9. Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor by Stephanie Barron - this is part of the same series, i think it’s the first one, but you can read them in any order, and it deals with a similar murder case as the other one and hahaha it has another mysterious, kinda rude gentleman who has a little thing with Jane and in the end it doesn’t work out (Jane never married btw) but i’m a slut for those little moments and historical books are amazing so if u like history, or Jane, or that 1700-1800 era then go ReAd iT!

10. ummm i can’t think of anything else that i really enjoyed right now, so that’s it for the list. if any of you have any recommendations (especially if it’s something historical) pls let me know!!

[pixelgrotto]

D&D With My Bro: The Case of the Almost Assassination

For the last four months, my brother and I have been playing a Dungeons & Dragons campaign that I whipped up called The Case of the Almost Assassination, and we came to a triumphant finale the other night. My bro’s called it a “steampunk mystery set in a fantasy world,” which is a good description, but on a more detailed level, the campaign was also heavily influenced by the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton games and exists in the universe of The Thirteenth Hour, a series of fantasy stories self-published by my brother that are inspired by 80s movies and cartoons. So the whole thing is one huge ball of fun nerdiness, and figuring that it might be cool to chronicle the campaign as we played, I captured each of our sessions on video. You can watch the whole thing on YouTube here in convenient playlist format (listening to it in the background like a podcast is also pretty nice, I gotta say), and there’s over 20 hours there, which is longer than some of the video games I’ve blogged about! 

This wasn’t the first time that my brother and I had played D&D, since I’d previously introduced the game to him via a small four hour mini-campaign last time I visited his house. (He’s written some great thoughts on that adventure, as well as the experience of missing out on D&D in his childhood but getting the chance to discover it as an adult here.) But this was certainly the first time we’d played something long that continued from week to week, and it was also the first time we’d used virtual tabletop software - in this case the very useful Roll 20 - to play online. Minus a few minor internet hiccups, it ran smoothly, and I think both of us had a great time. The experience also made me ruminate on three interesting facts about D&D that I think not enough people write about, and I’m going to jot off a few thoughts on them here. Without further ado...

1) It is perfectly possible, and sometimes even more fun, to play D&D with just one other person. 

Normally, Dungeons & Dragons conjures up images of a bunch of people - usually three or four at minimum - sitting at a table listening to instructions given to them by the Dungeon/Game Master, or DM. But the hardest part of D&D isn’t juggling rules or even fighting Challenge Rating 30 monsters - it’s getting a group of three or four people to meet up together on a consistent basis! This is why you can tell that anyone who still thinks of D&D as an activity for anti-social basement dwellers hasn’t actually played it, because in truth, the game is a demanding social commitment, especially for adults.

Thankfully, while it might be a less common way to play, you can totally enjoy D&D with just two people. Usually this means that someone more familiar with the rules has to be the DM while the other person acts as the player, which is what my brother and I did. Sometimes, the DM will also have to create a player character for themselves, and I did that in order to assist my bro with various battles and tricky scenes. This is more work for the DM, since they’ll have to juggle both their own character as well as the various non-playable characters (NPCs) encountered in the story, but if you’re up for it, it’s a rewarding exercise.

The best thing about playing D&D with just one DM and one player is how efficient it is. Three or four player D&D (to say nothing of five, six, or even more players) can get slowed down by arguments about how to progress or share loot, not to mention downtime in battles when a player who has a bazillion spells at his disposal deliberates on the one he wants to use that will both do the most damage and look the coolest. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love these sorts of interactions, but it’s also nice to strip all that fat away. 

When it’s just one player and the DM, the DM also has the chance to make that player feel pivotally important by basing the story around them. Usually, the “unit” of D&D is the adventuring party, but in a one person + one DM game, the player gets to shine as the main character. Thus, it’s a good idea to choose the sort of story that can emphasize the important actions of an individual, and in my opinion the best ones for this are heavy on role-playing and character interaction rather than dungeon crawling and monster slaying. For example, a rogue adventure in an urban environment might fit the bill...or maybe even a mystery. Which leads me to my second point...

2) If you’re a DM making a homebrew campaign, try utilizing a setting that your players are already familiar with.

When my brother initially agreed to play a long campaign with me, I first thought that we might attempt one of the many published Forgotten Realms adventures that have been released for 5th Edition D&D. But then I realized that while my brother is mildly familiar with the Forgotten Realms, thanks to old comics and fantasy art from the 80s and 90s, he’s much more familiar with the setting that he created for his own fantasy novel, The Thirteenth Hour. My bro originally wrote this book when he was a high school kid and finally published it a few years ago, and in the time since, he’s written some short spin-offs and outlined ideas for a sequel. In the mini-campaign we’d played in October, his character was actually a half-elf ranger named the Wayfarer who’ll play a pivotal role in book two, and I initially pitched the whole idea of D&D to him as “Hey, this can help you brainstorm your sequel concepts before you put them down to paper.” 

Once I began toying with the idea of making a homebrew campaign set in The Thirteenth Hour world, I started worrying that my brother’s universe was limited when compared to the “fantasy kitchen sink” setting of the Forgotten Realms. I mean, my bro’s book didn’t even have orcs! Or dwarves! What was I gonna do! But then I stopped being reliant on fantasy tropes and actually re-read The Thirteenth Hour, quickly finding that there was plenty I could work with.The universe that my brother created doesn’t have all of the races that Tolkien coined, but it’s still full of magic and wonder - a place where crafty old wizards inspired by The Last Starfighter’s Centauri run amok, strange technological anomalies like hover boards occasionally pop up and an otherworldly gatekeeper known as the Dreamweaver lets the spirits of the deceased visit their loved ones in dreams. And there’s also a large kingdom called Tartec ruled over by a vaguely Trump-esque king named Darian, who thinks he’s found the elixir of immortality when actually all he’s discovered is coffee. (If you think this sounds amusing, you can pick up a digital copy of my bro’s book on Amazon for less than a cup of Starbucks!)

Darian’s a funny character, and in one of the spin-off short stories that my brother wrote, an older and slightly wiser version of him reflects on how an assassin nearly took his head off with a dagger. This one sentence got me thinking who that assassin might be, and before I knew it I’d come up with the basic hook of a campaign. At the time, I was also reading Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, a D&D book that introduces 5th Edition’s Inquisitive subclass, which is basically a fantasy Sherlock Holmes. Suddenly, the ideas began bubbling in my head - the campaign would be a detective story set in Tartec with two leads trying to determine the identity of King Darian’s would-be assassins. Once I had this hook, I decided to draw further inspiration from the two video game series I think of when I hear the word “detective” - the Professor Layton games (which I like the style of but am rubbish at, since puzzles confound me) and the Ace Attorney series, which I’ve written about before. My brother would be the main character Lester LeFoe (patterned slightly after Phoenix Wright, the star of Ace Attorney), and I’d be the spunky female assistant Claudia Copperhoof (a little similar to Phoenix’s assistant Maya Fey). 

I hoped that situating these characters in my brother’s world would breed a quicker sense of familiarity than he’d get from playing a generic warrior in the Forgotten Realms, and I think it’s safe to say that the experiment succeeded. Thus, even though 5th Edition D&D products all use the Realms as their default setting, it’s worth remembering that you don’t have to follow this lead, and can always tailor your campaign to a world that your players are already familiar with. In my brother’s case, he’s a writer who made his own world, but for someone else this can easily be Middle-Earth or the Hyborian Age of Robert E. Howard’s Conan books. The D&D Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide actively encourage modifying published adventures to appeal to your players’ favorite settings, in fact, and not only will this potentially help to decrease the amount of lore you need to explain as a Dungeon Master, but it’ll also help keep the attention of everybody listening to you. Because who wouldn’t want to insert themselves into their favorite bit of genre fiction as a legendary figure? In many ways, the whole point of D&D is to give people a framework to do that!

3) If you’re DMing for someone who doesn’t have much time to play, remember that a linear campaign is not necessarily a bad thing, and simplify the more complicated rules - making stuff up whenever necessary!

On page six of the 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide, there’s a whole section entitled “Know Your Players,” which is all about altering your game to appeal to the personalities at your table. If you’re DMing for people who like acting and appreciate in-depth stories, give them plenty of role-playing opportunities and narrative twists, for instance, and if you’re dealing with folks who’d rather just make their characters look cool, try having them fight lots of monsters who reward snazzy armor and weapons. 

There should really be a sub-section there entitled “How to run a game for players who are low on time.” Because that’s my brother in a nutshell. He’s a late 30s dude who works a demanding job and has two small children to take care of, one of whom is barely half a year old. (You can hear my nephew gurgling in the background in a few of our videos, and sometimes we’d even have to stop playing when the baby woke up from a snooze, which is a situation that I’m sure all new parents can relate to.) I know for a fact that my brother is also the type of guy whose eyes will glaze over when presented with a lot of complicated rules - as is probably the case for anyone who only has at most an hour or two, often in the late evening, to sit down to play a game when the rest of the family is in bed. 

In my opinion, the way to tailor your game to such a player is to make a brisk, well-paced story that they can actually see to a satisfying conclusion. This means that the campaign might be fairly linear - a word which seems to have bizarre negative connotations to some D&D players out there, who are always ranting about “railroading,” which is when a DM puts players down a predetermined path without any wiggle room. I think it’s important to note that “linear” does NOT necessarily equate to “railroading,” however, and that a sprawling campaign with a trillion different outcomes and choices to make at every interval isn’t necessarily the best approach for someone who can only play a little bit each week and might get bored if they feel like they aren’t making tangible progress. 

Let me put it this way - the campaign that I made for my brother was tightly designed. Instead of giving Lester and Claudia a vast landscape to explore, everything was confined to the city of Tartec, and I made an effort to nudge the characters towards certain objectives that they had to complete in order to solve the mystery, such infiltrating a manor house in the upper class section of town. But I also made sure to flesh out these few areas (quality over quantity) and allowed a certain degree of freedom in how the objectives could be cleared. For instance, I initially thought that Lester and Claudia might sneak into the manor house through the sewers. But as I was brainstorming strategies with my bro, the topic of disguises came up, because Claudia owned a disguise kit. And eventually we decided to infiltrate the party with Lester masquerading as a nutty old lady and Claudia as his keeper, which was a fun improvisation that I never would’ve anticipated - but still a viable way to complete the main objective that didn’t negatively impact the story’s pacing. 

On the topic of keeping the pace of the story brisk for a player low on time, I feel like it’s also important to minimize the number crunching and reduce D&D’s more complicated rules whenever possible. In practice, this meant that I took care of as much behind-the-scenes stats management as possible so my bro wouldn’t have to, though I did always try to explain to him what was going on (and what all of those funky dice rolls meant) so he’d have some understanding of the game’s mechanics. Also, whenever we were in a situation where I wasn’t sure of a rule, instead of wasting time looking at the Player’s Handbook, nine times out of ten I’d just make something up on the fly. For example, our adventure had a friendly NPC orangutan in it (specifically chosen because I know my brother likes backflipping primates) and she was supposed to be a super strong, unpredictable force of nature in the final battle. I’d lost the stats that I’d used for her when she first appeared, and instead of looking for them, I decided to just roll a d20 for her damage, figuring that the end result would be close enough. In that same vein, there were a few instances where I made mistakes, since I’m still a relatively new DM. Once I totally miscalculated a character’s special attack, leading to a funny NPC death (which I’d expected but not exactly in that way) and on multiple occasions I flat out forgot to apply modifiers to attack rolls. But instead of going back to redo everything I’d either just laugh it off or forge ahead, hoping that my bro didn’t notice, which he never did. 

Ultimately, my philosophy for DMing is to not sweat the small stuff TOO much if it probably doesn’t matter in the long run, especially if you’re running a game for just one person whose free hours are precious. I believe this sort of approach might be sacrilegious to some of the more rules-oriented DMs out there, like the ones who spend hundreds of words arguing over damage variables on the D&D Subreddit. But I’m not one of those folks, and I’d prefer to follow the advice of Sly Flourish, a DM who has a great website where he advocates a “lazy” style of Dungeon Mastering which de-emphasizes nitpicking over rules in favor of just having fun. 

At the end of the day, having fun is what D&D is all about. It’s a game of make believe that can really bring out your inner storytelling-loving child, and in an era where very few adults are encouraged to even consider the concept of “make believe,” it can be a truly wonderful breath of fresh air. And if you don’t believe me...I encourage you to watch The Case of the Almost Assassination and try not to crack up at some of the situations that Lester LeFoe and Claudia Copperhoof found themselves in. :)

The pics above are either art that I assembled for our adventure or screenshots that I took while we were playing! The little figurines I designed via HeroForge.

[paradisetechsoftsolutions]

Node.js vs PHP: Which is better for web development?

Short description of both the languages along with their short explanations:

Overview of NodeJs

Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's JavaScript runtime for easily building fast running scalable network apps. It is an open-source server-side Javascript run-time environment built on Chrome’s JavaScript Engine(V8). Node.js initially appeared when the engineers of Javascript broadened it from something you could just keep running in the program to something you could keep running on your machine as an independent application. Presently you can do considerably more with Javascript than simply making websites interactive. Javascript now has the ability to do things that other scripting languages like Python can do.

NodeJs explanation:

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, impeccable or data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

Overview of PHP

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed for web development but also used as a general-purpose programming language. Originally created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994, the PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP group. Also, the ever-increasing popularity of content management systems like Drupal, WordPress, Shopify and WooCommerce portrays how PHP has covered the backend under its wings.

Php's explanation:

PHP provides a switch statement that allows you to execute a code block conditionally. A PHP switch statement compares a variable or an expression against many different values and executes a code block based on the value it equals to.

After an introduction to both the languages, let’s now move on to the detailed differentiate between the two.

Difference between the two languages on different parameters

Node.js and PHP are able to manage any complexity of the applications, they are built around different architectures and concepts. If you are an app owner or a business owner, selecting between these programming languages for your web development project can be a difficult situation indeed.

The main difference between the two is that JavaScript is a client-side scripting language whereas PHP is a server-side scripting language. However, since the release of Node.js, JavaScript has also been used as a server-side technology allowing you to build scalable network applications PHP vs NodeJS: Development.

Base Code Syntax and Access to command line:

NODE:

PHP:

Performance of Node.js vs PHP

Node.js Performance:

If we talk about .js performance then it simply brings fast Server-side solutions as it is powered by event-driven, non-blocking I/O model.

It executes codes faster than expected -thanks to Google Chrome’s latest V8 engine.

Released under MIT license, it does not buffer any data.

It supports multi-platforms such as Linux, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, etc.

PHP Performance

Code or script written in PHP performs faster than that of written in other languages including JSP & ASP.

Rich code base supports faster development and helps developers to understand it easily.

That means if you are a fresher in PHP, you can work like a pro.

PHP is easily portable and can run on any server it has been designed to run such Apache, IIS, etc.

PHP also supports multi-platforms such as Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.

Node.js – Pros and Cons

Pros

Fast Backend Solution

The one point that gets the JavaScript framework points ahead of the PHP vs Node.js war is that the framework can be used to service numerous concurrent events. Using Node.js The developers can easily make scalable solutions which maximize the CPU usage and computer memory as they serve different requests.

2. One Language

As expected from a JavaScript framework, Node.js is also a server-side environment which gives a complete range of benefits that a developer expects from scripting language across the app development stack. When you use one language for both the backend and frontend development of an app, the resulting product is usually one with minimal bugs and better functions.

3. More Flexibility

When we talk about app development with Node.js, there are very limited dependencies and guidelines. There are no specific rules asking developers to choose a set architecture or pattern, which gives them access to over hundreds of different modules.

Apart from these, there are a number of pros that are a part of Node.js, such as – Being identical to JS, it is a lot easier to learn Node, it is ideal when working with large files.

Cons

Not ideal for Intensive Apps

The framework is not ideal for the handling of intensive CPU activities such as editions of graphics, generation of audio and videos, etc. The applications made by Node are a lot more responsive, which makes it difficult to develop graphics-centric apps.

2. The Node Environment is Still a Little Immature

Along with these, one point that Node.js like some of the other JavaScript frameworks suffer from is the usage of a complicated code structure.

With this covered, let’s see what are PHP’s pros and cons in the development arena.

PHP – Pros and Cons

Pros

Robust Code

The environment comes with a strong code base with platforms like – Joomla, WordPress, and Drupal, which enables developers and Entrepreneurs to reap the benefits of Rapid Application Development. One can develop e-commerce websites in minutes with the help of PHP. This also makes PHP ideal for the development of the CMS (Content Management System).

2. Exact Solution

Irrespective of where the PHP is running – server or platform – it always offers a precise app development solution. This makes it a lot easier for small companies to integrate, develop, share, and manage apps with no knowledge of SSH console commands.

3. Web Offerings

PHP came into existence for working efficiently on the web with functionalities to manage HTML. So, for developers who wish to avoid creating an overload of the client-side, when creating a CMS (Content Management System), PHP comes as a highly beneficial solution.

Apart from these, there are a number of advantages that PHP comes with, such as – Huge community support, portability, support of hosting services.

Cons

Poor Manageability of Code

As covered in our ASP.Net vs PHP blog, the latter gives the developers the freedom to combine HTML with the language syntax, which makes it even harder for them to extend their PHP apps with the new functionality. Also, it has become even more difficult to manage the codes with such a huge code base: something that JavaScript frameworks seldom face.

2. Client-Server Model Slow

Because the client-server model of PHP is a lot more outdated than Node, it is also a lot slower.

In addition to these two disadvantages, PHP also does not separate business logic and views. Because of this, it gets difficult to add new functions to the codebase.

Now that you have seen the advantages and disadvantages that both Node.js and PHP come with, it is important to understand that while the pros & cons combination of one environment would be suitable for one business, chances are that the combination of the same environment won’t work for the other business. Meaning, knowing different PHP vs Node.js benchmarks is not enough; you must also be familiar with different scenarios they are effective in.

Something that we will cover in this article, but after taking a look at the brand evangelists of both the environments.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, they are well-suited to work as a prominent server-side framework. Both of them holds some pros and cons, however, the amazing thing is that both are developed by the experts in order to make web and mobile development better.

So what are you waiting for? Try something new!

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Distributed Series - 3 Ways You Can Hire Someone Remotely + How to Write a Great Job Post

This article is part of the Distributed series.

Every business comes to this point eventually – when they hire their first employee who is not a founder or owner of the company. Hiring is often the most neglected issue when it comes to running your business. However, I would argue that it is by far one of the most critical parts of your business. Many companies just straight-up outsource the hiring process, which I can relate to if they have large teams, the retention level is low, or it is harder to find people with necessary skills. However, for small- and medium-sized businesses or startups, hiring shouldn’t be outsourced, and it always has to be done at the managerial level. Your people are vital to your success. 

Now when it comes to remote hiring, it’s not that much of a difference compared to hiring someone locally and in-person. There are some subtle and minor tweaks you should do though. When you decide to hire remotely, you need to consider three factors: 

How much time you can spare on the hiring process?

How much time you need from the new employee to work for you?

How urgent is to fill the position?

 First, you need to check your calendar. How much time can you dedicate to the hiring process? You need to make a decision, on average, a daily 1 hour is required to find the best candidate, and you need that hour for a couple of weeks. Second, do you need someone to jump on a project and then leave or do you need someone for a long-term? Do you need him to do only one thing, a couple of hours of work per day and that’s it or do you need someone full-time? Last, how urgently do you need someone? These are the questions you need to ask yourself before jumping right into the hiring process.

 Option 0: Bet on locals first 

The first move you should consider is to hire locally. I know it sounds weird, as I’m advocating remote business here, but trust me, hire locally first. Hire in the usual way but this time offer the work from home option. Who knows, you might find someone not far away from you who wants to work with your company but doesn’t want to relocate or go to your office. Work from home option is a good call here. Run through your peers, friends, co-workers, their friends, local networks. Anyone who comes with a strong personal recommendation is better than anyone straight out from the internet. Go to local meetups and hire from there. If you already have a userbase, hire from there. They are a comfortable cultural fit as they know your business in and out, and if not the best applicant, they can recommend someone. If you couldn’t find anyone locally because of the scarcity of talent, then you can go online and hire remotely. 

Option 1: Remote freelance sites

Most of the entrepreneurs would argue that they need someone right now and they don’t have too much time for the hiring process. So let’s see that option first. If you don’t have time to hire someone, but you need someone pretty much now, you have two options: remote freelance sites and remote recruitment companies. If you need this person for a short-term to solve one specific problem, go to remote freelance sites. If you need this person for a long-term to work with you on several projects, contact a remote recruitment company. 

Remote freelance sites are sites like UpWork, PeoplePerHour, Fiverr, Freelancer, and their countless copycats. Most of them have the same features: they list freelancers and their services, pretty much their skills based on a public profile. Everyone who hires them can leave a public review. All payments and paperwork are done through the freelance site from which they chunk out a small percentage. Most of these sites are charging employees with these fees, but some, like UpWork, are charging employers also. 

What’s great about these sites is that you can get someone onboard in a matter of hours, plus you have all their references listed publicly on their profile. 

The bad news though is most of those who are featured on these sites are cheap low billed soldiers of fortunes, with mediocre skills. If you need someone for a not so complicated work, that is fine, but if you are looking for a senior level type work with high added value, you should look elsewhere. 

Of course, there are some gems in here too, there are some talented people on these sites, but you have to fight your way through hundreds of mediocre applicants to get to those few shiny ones.

 Option 2: Remote recruitment services

Remote recruitment services might be your best bet for long-term employees with high-end skills. Companies like Toptal, FlexJobs, StackOverflow, Coworks and many others offer sort-of-like traditional recruitment services. They pre-screen applicants for you and deliver only the best for your job post. Some of them work like an outsource agency where you can “borrow” contractors for short- or mid-term projects. Not all of them but they tend to manage the paperwork for you as well during the employment so no worries on contracts and payments, you pay only the recruiter as an umbrella company for freelancers. These solutions are great because you can have instant access to pre-screened high-end workforce, but I wouldn’t recommend them to those who are planning for long-term. First, these companies are a bit pricey, which is understandable, considering they do much legwork for you. Second, most of them “borrow” or “transfer” employees for you, but the employee will stay within their umbrella. To me, that only works, if the project needs immediate attention, but it’s not for a long-term. Loyalty is crucial when it comes to employment, anyone who’s “lent” through a network cannot be loyal to a business. If you need someone for a short period, but do a tremendous high-value job, fine though.

 Option 3: Remote job boards

As you can see, these solutions are closely related to the term outsourcing. You need someone for one task, you need it fast, and you look for external, offshore sources. However, if you want to build a genuinely successful distributed business, you need someone not just to do one task or job, but also to bring new insights and culture to the table. You need someone full-time, and you need to make sure they are a good fit for your free current team and your future dreams. For that, you don’t just need someone “borrowed” or “jumped-in” – you need someone with dedication, loyalty, excitement and with plans to work with you. Well, that needs to be worked on by you too. You have to dedicate time to hire someone online. You have to put up a job specification to your site and some of the most relevant remote job boards and wait for a catch. Job boards like JobEspresso, Dribble, AuthenticJobs, RemoteOK.io, WeWorkRemotely, Remotive or startup sites’ job sections like Angel.co/jobs are an excellent way to start. However, in the end, you need to market your post to get the best candidates. 

The first act you need to do is to write an excellent job post and use it as your outreach platform. 

 How to write a great job post

You have to write a fantastic job post, no matter if you are looking for someone for a short-term or a long-term. If you need someone urgently or you can dedicate time to go through a longer hiring process – none of this matter, you still have to write a fantastic job post. 

What is the goal of a job post?

First, of course, you need the job post to attract the best of talent. However, you also want to minimize clutter: you don’t want to waste your time on highly speculative applicants. You need someone who fits your ideal candidate description.

The hiring process can be intensely long, and even if you are looking for a short-term jump-in candidate, you need to make sure you save time from the very beginning: your job post. Your job post is also a marketing platform for your business, and here you can openly share anything relevant to your company, your long-term goals, your values and basically anything that helps others to understand your business.

What makes a job post impressive? In a nutshell: transparency, details, and vision. In short: being transparent on what needs to be done, whom you are looking for and what you can provide for the ideal candidate.

In your job post, be as transparent as you can. It’s the internet, and candidates don’t have the option to walk into your office and check your way of work – so you have to be upfront and overshare. Provide enough details about your business, the job requirements, your expectations, and the compensation – in this order. 

Being transparent about your business is crucial. The more you share, the more likely you will find someone who’s a cultural fit for your business. If you don’t provide enough information, you will raise the number of speculative applicants, and they will suck away your time. Tell them about your current team and where is the gap you are looking to fill now. 

Be prompt and provide details on the required skills and capabilities on your side. Be detailed on what your expectations are, let these out so candidates who read your job spec will feel like they were called out from the crowd. Be very transparent on the compensation as well, and I’m not just talking about salary and money. Please make it clear that there’s a long-term plan here and they have the option to work with you and make an impact on your business. 

If you can, be transparent about how the hiring process will look like: the number of rounds, possible test work, and pre-screening. Also, please skip the jargon and the bullshit, be humble and straightforward. There are no growth gurus, marketing ninjas, code-junkies and dev wizards. Some terms might be justified like “happiness engineers” for customer service people, but these are rarely acceptable. 

Your job posts shouldn’t be too long though and make sure you stick the how to hire part only at the end with a bonus “what to write in the email subject” can help too – that makes sure they’ve read the article till the end. You have committed your time to write this post, don’t shy away to ask commitment in return from applicants.

This article is part of the Distributed series.

My name is Peter Benei, founder of Anywhere Consulting. We solve problems for growing businesses with specialized marketing solutions. To read our case studies & learn more about our work, click here. Connect with me on LinkedIn or book an appointment here.

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David's Personal Top Ten Video Games

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It is a personal list, reflecting the games that have stuck with me the most over the years. I'm not enough of a gamer to claim it is anything comprehensive, and it has a strong bias to the sorts of genres that I like. Nonetheless, I'd stack these games against any that have been made in my lifetime. Anyway, without further adieu ....

Honorable Mentions:

Portal 2: How can a game with virtually no “dialogue” (if that means conversations between two characters) have some of the best spoken lines in all video game history? I have both the original and a capella versions of the Turret Opera on my iTunes (yes, I have “Still Alive” as well).

Railroad Tycoon II: A brilliant simulator that makes you actually feel like a turn-of-the-century robber baron (by far, the game is most fun to play when set in the late 19th century). If every man goes through his “trains!” phase, this was mine. As in real life, I am not good at playing the stock market.

Horizon: Zero Dawn: Robot dinosaurs! Incredibly, Horizon: Zero Dawn takes a core concept that sounds like word association from an over-caffeinated twelve-year boy and makes an entirely serious game about it—and it works. It works so well, in fact, that I loved it despite the fact that the plot and entire world-building background centers around my single greatest phobia (no, not that—being alive for the extinction of humanity).

10. Sid Meier’s Gettysburg: I find it odd that very few games have sought to replicate Gettysburg’s spin on an RTS—focusing combat around regiments rather than individual units and prioritizing morale over raw numbers. But the thing I like best about Gettysburg—and sadly it’s mostly unique too—is in how it concentrates on controlling territory (and terrain). Many RTS games, for me, might as well have a blank screen over 80% of the map between my base and my opponent’s base. You build up your force, and then try to swarm your opponent before he or she swarms you. But in Gettysburg, the goal of missions is not “wipe out your opposition”. It’s to capture and hold a ridge, or dig in and hold an exposed farmhouse.

My only critiques are that I want this game to be bigger. I want it to encompass dozens of map spanning the entirety of the Civil War. I want to be able memorize even more obscure Union and Confederate generals and wonder if they really were “mediocre” or if that was just a game balance decision. The random battle generator is okay, but this game screams for user-created expansions which I’ve never been able to find.

9. Crimson Skies: A pulpy fun flight simulator taking place in an alternate history 1930s where America has fractured and Zeppelin travel rules the day. The game doesn’t hesitate to lean into its concept (phrases like “broad” and “floozy” abound), and it does a great job world-building in a relatively short period of time. Somehow, I could meet an enemy “ace” for the first time in the middle of a mission and yet still feel like we had a history of epic dogfights together of which this was only the latest. Meanwhile, each of the locations the game takes you to (Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Hollywood, the Rocky Mountains, and New York City) are a blast and a half.

A sequel, High Road to Revenge, was released on Xbox and leaned a little too hard into the arcade-y elements (power-ups, automatic evasive maneuvers with the press of a button, and so on). But the original PC game was just right—planes flew exactly like how someone who knows nothing about planes thinks planes fly, which is just perfect. You felt like an ace pilot because of your skill (even though behind the hood the game is really holding your hand). Piloting a gyrocopter through half-built New York City skyscrapers, or a prototype single-engine through the Hollywood "O", is great. Doing it to evade local security, then doing a loop and turning both guns on them -- well, that's the cat's meow.

8. Mass Effect (Trilogy and Andromeda): As far as I’m concerned, the definitive space opera (even muscling out Halo). Fabulous voice acting (listening to Martin Sheen play evil Jed Bartlett is one of the great joys of my life) and memorable plot lines pair with a morality system that at least inches away from “basically decent person or utter asshole.” The universe feels genuinely alive, like there’s an ecosystem and civilization that you’re very much apart, but also moves in your absence.

I can’t really separate out the core trilogy games from one another (each sequel seemed to simultaneously step slightly forward and back), which is not I think an uncommon position. What may be more uncommon is that I think Andromeda stands right in there with the core series. Yes, it was disappointing that it took us to a brand new galaxy and only gave us two new species (while eliminating many of the more backgrounded Milky Way aliens). But I was much more disappointed that there will be no DLC or sequels to continue the story and tie up loose ends.

7. N and N++: There can’t be any serious controversy that N is the greatest Flash game ever made. While Flash demands simplicity, N is not so much simple as it is elegant. It is the perfect balance of speed and control, thoughtfulness and twitch-trigger reflexes, serene relaxation and butt-clenching tension. Once you master the floaty physics and the unique enemy styles, you will truly feel like a ninja—stripped to its core essence and deprived of all the usual but unnecessary bells and whistles. A virtually unlimited supply of levels guarantees you endless gameplay.

And so it is unsurprising that N was one of the rare flash games that made a successful jump to a full true game (in the form of N++), one that has a strong claim on being the greatest platformer ever made. The developers were wise not to disturb the basic formula: run, jump, and slide around a level, dodge obstacles and traps that will kill you instantly, reach the exit. Repeat ad infinitum. But N++ adds just a splash of additional flavors and spices into the mix. A perfect trip-trance soundtrack that sets the mood perfectly (and may single-handedly stave off keyboard-smashing frustration). A few new enemy types that deepen the game without ruining its austere grace. And perhaps most importantly, it adds a bunch of extra, semi-secret challenges (which can be used to unlock still more levels) waiting for the very best-of-best players.

Of all the games on this list, I might be in absolute terms “best” at N++ (there are a non-trivial number of levels in the game where I have a top 100 or even top 10 score on the global leaderboards). And yet there is not the slightest chance that I will ever perfect this game, or even come close to it. Nor is there any chance I will become permanently sick of it. A simple concept, executed brilliantly. The perfect N++ level is also the perfect description of the game.

6. Final Fantasy IX: The question was never whether a Final Fantasy game would make this list, only which one. I’ve long had a soft-spot for FFIX, which I feel is often overlooked inside the series (in part because even on release it seemed players were already looking ahead to the Playstation 2). Yet it’s hard to find fault in Final Fantasy IX as an emblem of a straight-forward JRPG. It has a moving story, fun gameplay, beautiful music, loads of quests to do and places to explore, a fabulous supporting cast (Vivi might be my favorite Final Fantasy character ever written), and a lead character you don’t want to punch (*cough* Final Fantasy X).

Final Fantasy IX is often described as “nostalgic”, and despite the fact that it was only the second game in the series I had ever played, I got that feeling instantly. Try listening to the soundtrack for “Frontier Village Dali” without feeling a little melancholic. You don’t even have to have played. But I recommend that you do.

For the record, my ranking of Final Fantasy games that I’ve played goes: IX, VII, XII, XV, X, XIII.

5. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood: One difficulty in judging games within a series is how to compare an earlier game which still had some rough edges but represented a quantum leap forward versus a later game which didn’t do anything super-novel but tweaked the formula to perfection. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Now, for me, this is an easy call for idiosyncratic reasons—I played AC:B before AC II, and so I experienced the former as both the perfected model and the quantum leap forward as compared to the original game. But I respect that for those who played the series in order, this is a harder call.

What should be easy for anyone is to agree that together, Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood represented the AC series reaching its full potential. Ezio continues to be the best protagonist the series has seen to date. Renaissance Italy likewise is the ideal setting for both AC’s vertical and horizontal platforming elements and its shadowy-conspiracy/secret-history plotline. As a franchise, Assassin’s Creed really launched the parkour/open-world exploration genre, and Brotherhood was the first game where every single element of what that genre could be came together. Other more recent games have been tons of fun (Black Flag and Syndicate are I think highlights), but these two games are the reason this series is so iconic.

4. Might and Magic VI: The same problem posed by AC2 versus Brotherhood emerges with Might and Magic VI and VII—except here, I did play them in order. Like the previous entry, I do think that VII ultimately improves upon the formula set out in Might and Magic VI. It’s more versatile, has more replay value, a touch more balanced (and that’s not getting into ArcoMage) … all in all, probably a better technical game.

But Might and Magic VI is for me iconic—it may well be the first RPG I’ve ever truly loved (and given the way this list is stacked in that direction, that’s saying a lot). Virtually all the things that characterize what I love in games today, it had in at least skeletal form. Open world exploration? Check: It was the first game where I felt like I was a true pathfinder—meticulously crawling over every corner of the map to find each obscure bandit’s cave and goblin fortress. To this day I still have the lay of the land in Enroth basically memorized. Overly detailed worldbuilding text to read? Absolutely: my obsessive-streak came out in reading every single artifact description, conversational option, and quest backgrounder (it is canon that Enroth, and the entire planet it resides upon, was blown up in a magical explosion—a fact I’m still resentful towards 3DO for long after it disappeared into bankruptcy). Slight genre-bending? The splash of Sci-Fi onto the fantasy setting was delightful to discover for someone who had never played any of the prior entries in the series. And some of the music—well, the White Cap theme is a thing of beauty, and on my computer “Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ” is still listed as “Church Dungeon Music.”

3. Heroes of Might and Magic III: If comparing earlier, more revolutionary games against newer more polished ones presents a problem in the Assassin’s Creed and Might and Magic series, it presents no trouble at all in Heroes of Might & Magic. That’s because the third installation in the series both represented a huge jump forward from what came before and is unquestionably the best entry in the overall sequence.

Sure, some of the expansions are a bit goofy, but they still work—sharpshooters and enchanters are massively overpowered, but they’re generally used in missions that would otherwise be impossible. But the main campaign is fabulous—a surprisingly intricate and interwoven plot that bridges Might and Magic VI and VII compliments outstanding strategy gameplay. And that doesn’t even get into the acre of standalone maps provided, plus countless more available on the web thanks to a map editor so intuitive, even I can use it (I’m terrible with map editors).

As a result of all of this, Heroes III is maybe the only game on this list that can compete with N++ regarding infinite replayability. This is fortunate, because—given the fact that Heroes III was a full-budget release and was not supposed to be “simple”—it ages incredibly well. Even the graphics hold up (no need for that remastered remake—which doesn’t even include the expansions!).

2. Witcher III: As you may have noticed, this list has a strong bias towards RPGs. My preference is toward “Western” RPGs (which have a go-anywhere/do-anything exploration mentality) compared to “Japanese” RPGs (which are more linear and story-driven), but Witcher III does an incredible job of synthesizing the best of both. It has a huge open world to explore, one that feels alive and dynamic—but there is also an incredibly rich story filled with deep, well-written characters (of which Geralt—the player character—is but one).

Gameplay-wise, Witcher III really hits the perfect balance. I simultaneously felt like the biggest bad-ass in the room, but also like a single slip in concentration or bit of overconfidence and my corpse would unceremoniously end up at the bottom of whatever cave I was in. But Witcher III particularly stands out in how it subverts certain common RPG tropes. You are a hero, but you’re not particularly well-liked. You’re a powerful warrior, but you’re still ultimately treated as a pawn in larger political machinations. Your interventions do not always save the day, and sometimes don’t even make things better. If a mission starts with a villager worrying that their beloved has gone missing, nine times out of ten that person has been devoured by a monster well before you ever get there. While many games claim to place the hero in difficult moral dilemmas, Witcher III is a rare case of following through (some games might give you the choice to let a trio of witches eat a group of kids whom you recently played hide-and-seek with, but few make it so that might actually be the more moral of the options in front of you). There’s even a quest where you help a knight rescue a lady in distress from a curse, then lecture him that he’s not entitled to her romantic attention as a reward (talk about a timely intervention in the video game genre!). Over and over again, the game reinforces the message that being really powerful and doing “the right thing” isn’t enough to fix a fundamentally broken system.

Most impressive is the emotional impact that Witcher III dishes out. Sometimes this is a result of rich character development that pays off over the course of the entire game (as in “The Last Wish” quest). But sometimes it shows up in even relatively minor sidequests—the epilogue of the “Black Pearl” quest was one of the more brutal emotional gut-punches I’ve experienced in a video game. Ultimately, this was a game where one always felt like each character was a person—they were imperfect, they had their own interests, hopes, dreams, strengths and foibles, and while you were a little better with a sword and gifted with some preternatural abilities, you were still only one player in a much bigger narrative. As a result, Witcher III might well be, in my estimation, the perfect RPG.

Oh, and Gwent is ludicrously addictive. Let’s not forget that.

1. TIE Fighter: I don’t think this list has a particularly “modern” bias. Still, there’s something impressive about the number one game on this list also being the oldest by some measure. TIE Fighter originally came out in 1994, and the definitive Collector’s Edition was released in 1995. It is, to this day, one of the best games ever made. And that’s not a retrospective assessment. Star Wars: Tie Fighter holds up even played right now.

For starters, it is one of the few elements of the Star Wars universe to get the Empire right. I’m not saying that the Empire is the real protagonist of the series. I am saying that they wouldn’t view themselves as evil—as much as naming spacecraft “Executor” and “Death Star” might suggest otherwise. TIE Fighter is quite self-assured in presenting you as being a force for law and order in the galaxy, battling not just seditious rebels but pirates, smugglers, and other anarchic forces that threaten to tear civilized life apart.

Let’s start with something often overlooked in TIE Fighter: the music. It’s probably the only context that the phrase “kick-ass MIDI soundtrack” makes sense. But that’s not even the half of it. The iMuse system dynamically and seamlessly arranges the musical cues to reflect what’s going on around you in the mission—you can literally follow important mission updates (e.g., a wingman being shot down, or reinforcements arriving) simply by the way the melody shifts. I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered anything quite like it since. To this day, the number that accompanies an incoming enemy capital ship fills me with exhilarated dread.

Gameplay-wise, TIE Fighter is almost shockingly rich. The core mission requirements are challenging, but by no means out of reach. But embedded in each level are a series of secondary and secret bonus objectives. These unlock a parallel plot of the Emperor’s Secret Order—but always present a brutal risk/reward calculus. That’s not unrelated to the fact that you’re often flying, well, TIE fighters (not noted for their durability)—but the challenge extends well beyond physical peril. TIE Fighter actually gives you an “invincibility” option if you want it, and yet even with it on some of the later missions and bonus objectives will strain every piloting skill you’ve ever developed.

Most importantly, the secret objectives usually are more involved than “blow up everything in sight.” They reward initiative and exploration. Maybe your primary mission objective is to destroy a rebel space station. But just before it goes down, you spot an escape shuttle fleeing the station. Take it out? Maybe—but maybe the occupants are VIPs best taken alive. So you switch to ion cannons and disable it for capture. Yet that extra time you just spent has given the rebels enough breathing room to summon reinforcements—now an enemy cruiser is bearing down on you. Take out its missile launchers and clear path for bombers while praying that your own Star Destroyer will arrive soon to back you up. All on the fly. All while dogfighting starfighters, dodging mines, giving your wingmen orders … it’s insanely, beautifully chaotic.

Did I mention this is all happening in 1995? 90% of games released today don’t have that kind of depth or spontaneity. In terms of playability, replayability, and just plain fun, TIE Fighter stands alone, and unchallenged.

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[autoirishlitdiscourses]

Discourse of Thursday, 21 January 2021

You definitely have a thesis yet; just let me know likewise, let me know if you make the assumption that you avoid emailing him before lecture is that the best way to clarify your own questions quite so quickly. Let me know if Tuesday will work for you, provided that what you'll drop if you want to cover, but I think that looking at his impending death would have helped him on in your proposal, but this will make life easier if you want to focus your thoughts in the works that you're doing other things, thinking a bit more would probably be understanding. That's OK! It's been a pleasure having you in section this quarter I told him that not getting an F on the day you are perfectly capable of working through a number of ways here. I do at the beginning of section totally OK, and that you'll be doing for your other components of the beautiful little gem that is, your paper does. That's been reflected in the twelfth line. Please forgive me if you can't get to. In just a moment, it may be helpful in studying for the week after that. If you develop them. Keep an eye on your part, but apparently I haven't seen it, and I'll take back over a draft may help to get to campus before I go to bed late tonight and will help to change between P/NP and letter-graded options on the first three stanzas Patrick Kavanagh's On Raglan Road: Personally, I recall correctly, a copy of the passage you want so I did to so I abandoned my discussion of the room. Does that help? You Are Old, Who Rides with Fergus in the sense of a heterosexual romantic relationship is that I just finished grading this week's recitations.

A range for you. You just need to link the various quite excellent. Basically, what early twentieth-century Japanese cinema. And, yes, we could certainly do that. It's OK to return to the section and do not have any more information about the larger structure of your performance. There are a number of recitations. Let me know! In front of a text that you're essentially doing a large number of things quite well here: you could then have been declared in writing already: please take a closer look at. I think that a specific analysis and less discussion-based and less discussion than other people to dig in deeper and/or #6, Irish nationalism, exactly? I probably won't make a case that two people who had their hands I think that the ideas and where they could stand? Thank you. Answer: a three-syllable metrical foot, accented-unaccented-unaccented. The MLA standard by default, you can be hard to let you know that you should be engaging in an in-depth examination—I've tried to gesture to this point, but an A-range grade on your new topic if you glance over at me occasionally, but leaves it as a natural A is out of your discussion of An Spalpin Fanach. Often, a middle A. But you did very badly. I'm quite glad that you picked to the MLA standard even if you want the experience, if any of these numbers assume that they'll be able to take with the class isn't for them, I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed. Well done on this. I hope you're feeling better soon. There are also very well.

This is, knowing what you think about how to make a final decision until late tomorrow night, but whether that's a good weekend! I'm happy to do is to have practiced a bit more patient with silence so as to avoid large amounts of repetition of their relationship and about his deceased son. On the email but don't yet know myself the professor wrote on mothers on the midterm, and then think about other playwrights, filmmakers, etc. Just a reminder that you're capable of punching through to being told that not doing this on future assignments. Overall, though, and producing some of Yeats's poem, ending with questions 2 and 7, and the Stars; Seamus Heaney's problematic silence in response to some punctuation and formatting issues—none genuinely hurt you a reasonable though not by any of these are often articulated in the humanities, or alternate comparable relationships that replace or supplement them, modify them, but is an unlucky month for marriages may be worth 150 points. Let me know. Hey! What I'd suggest at this point, and the way he never overed it, and may serve a number of points for both your paper, and the fact that he was in the novel. Anyway, my point is that this could conceivably have been of concern in the poem's rhythm and showed that you yourself have done some strong work here. Extra credit cannot lift you into the A range, though you could do an excellent job! Again, thank you for this grade. Of course, you certainly did a good move here, and have notes even brief ones directing people to discuss, and one smart move not only contributes to your discussion. 257, p. Among other things, and worth rewarding. Do you want to structure your argument to pay even closer attention to how other people in his eyes. Ultimately, I'd recommend asking him if he's amenable, I'd post a slightly modified version of GOLD than you expect. Really, the larger context of the class, then you can which specific part of the rhythm of the text to memorize because of a paper, you have any further questions, OK? She wrote a very good job digging in deeper; one is simply to wait longer after asking a question that good papers and scored very well here: you could benefit from cleaning these up, I've attached a copy. Similarly, I think these are pretty small errors that don't have a chance to talk about how to properly attribute the language and the Stars I just sent out to be recited by one-third of a warm summery evenin'; sittin' with your score was 96% two students attended at least a short description of plans for the quarter.

However, if you have to set next to each other. You did a remarkably good job of deploying pauses effectively in many ways. There are not, too in here, overall, and the horror or irrelevance of the text that you have already been expressed in your current grade I reported to you having the courage to pause and build dramatic tension. Your delivery was good in many ways; I think is a bit nervous and a load of dung at Michaelmas, the Clitheroes in The Butcher Boy song on p. I feel like is currently scheduled to recite during a week when you're up in front of a text can help you as quickly as I can be seen as most important thing for a B paper one day late is worth/five percent/for being such a good sense, just a matter of nitpicky formalistic grammatical policing, but what's necessary is to say that I didn't anticipate at the center I think reasons. This means that, and your sense of the discussion requirement. Thanks for being/genuinely extraordinary/situation that results in automatic course failure. Results in no section credit. Overview: Recall from the professor: you might profitably compare/contrast the distrust of the first people to engage in your section is from/The Music Box/1932: There will be an outline, and that fail to analyze.

Well done on this immediately, you need any changes made that are likely to pay off for you. To at least one TA teaching Tuesday sections, and the way this is rather tricky to do this as an active participant rather than simply being in front of the major thematic issues. You picked a good choice, and exploring additional related issues, and asks for a job well done, and I'm deeply embarrassed that it might not. You had an A-. Have a good reason for missing section, this looks good to me to answer messages. Good luck tomorrow! You will find section more rewarding and enjoyable at the time limit you've sketched out, but will absolutely respond to alternate viewpoints will help to motivate the discussion section is necessary to receive a passing grade but make sure the room. 108. You did a very fair interpretations, and you keep going for, say, and it may just be that the I disagree with you will just depend on most directly would be productive to me as quite ugly.

If I can get the changed document to me like the ideal text for you for doing such a good choice, and a grade estimate, but also to some aspect of something genuinely wonderful. This is the fading of nationalism, depending on to point to these matters will help you punch through to even more care than you do. I hope that's helpful. If you have attended for attendance and participation. That's OK! Well, God is good for you to focus it more will also have noticed that he is not actually a pretty rigorous framework at the specific nature of your grade on your recitation and discussion will be teaching Wednesday, so I'm forwarding along a proposal from, as it provides a very small textual details and of showing that you do, unfortunately.

One option that you did eight IDs instead of scaling back what you're actually talking about merely the preservation of instincts that contribute to reproductive success by selection pressure, in love with Rosalind, writes odes on hawthorns, having managed to do with your paper back with comments after the final, and it does mean that you won't have time to get a passing grade, so you should try dropping the class was welcoming and supportive to other students and give you a copy in my sections but don't care which, given Ulysses, is not just because it is difficult in a nutshell, is generally quite engaging and lucid despite the fact that the text s involved. This is not necessarily benefit you: the question so that I gave you, not about individuals, and your visual texts, with staying within the time. Just a reminder that I also feel that that is an important passage and gave a thoughtful delivery of the students.

There are many profitable ways to deal with this by dropping into lecture mode if people aren't talking because they have to fall back to you because I'm mean but in the back of your analysis. Then structure your discussion could have gone beyond. You, sir. See him grow up to the first four stanzas 13 lines, but getting an F on a very close less than thrilled about with this group of people haven't done your recitation and presentation later this week I had been properly formatted for instance, if I try to force a discussion of a group of talented readers, and that you've identified as significant and connect them to the MLA format is followed in a comparative manner over time, I suspect that much more prepared for the foreseeable future. Skim some of my head this afternoon, we can certainly talk in detail about, exactly? I'll see you next week! You can potentially use this as the quarter is still possible for you and to avoid sending my students develop for their meals, and giving other people are reacting to look at them again and they looked strange, so pick any passage that's currently bespoken in that relationship can make it hard for you for doing a large number of points 1 and one might think about this would be perfect, I will post before I start being nitpicky with my seminar papers. Everything looks fine and are perfectly capable of this, though. Aside from the section, writing an A-on your recitation is also available.

I want the rest of the major thematic issues of the following categories best describe it: technology breaks. However, these are comparatively small errors haven't hurt you, but you would like to email me at least 119 out of 150 to drop into the story if you'd like. I think it needs to be said for the quarter by ⅓ of the few comparatively minor grammatical and formatting issues—none of the entire thing; perusing the index might pay off as much as they can also apply during their earlier education, is that I just think I did better. The Poetess; and added and before I do not overlap with yours, though, so I hope you have questions or concerns, and have not yet done the reading this quarter.

That section of the Anglo-Irish Nugents may very well and that it would help you to talk about, exactly? The faces and places, though. —James Joyce reading from the first half of the week. 51: Ass refers here to be helpful in pointing to multimedia and/or need to be successful in a number of important themes in the West of Ireland Lesson Plan for Week 7:00 it will pay off more. Recitation/discussion tomorrow! Have a good choice, and is entirely understandable, but please reserve the room, but all in all, you did a number of ways that prevents you from doing even better on future assignments—you've certainly satisfied the email but don't actually know this and provided a copy of these questions, though they'll probably require a fair reading of the overall arc that you accept the offer is made based on the board and then mercilessly edited your paper are yours and which lines of poetry into music and perform the same number of points as every other B paper turned in a donut shop is less significant than the syllabus. Would 12:45 is the highest possible grade to your childcare provider during class for instance, you have demonstrated in class with respect. Alas, what you should think about homelessness in Godot, or having a full recitation schedule in both sections. You might think about: if you don't mind if I discover by any means the only person reciting and discussing the work for you—I can't speak for everyone, As you may very well. Overall, you must always make it a strong analysis that deals with family relationships: disturbed youth Francie Brady, his temporal positioning is interesting. In any case, and may serve a number of other interesting points, and think about the change you see those elements in this paper to pay more attention to your recitation/discussion/following your recitation to the MLA standard actually doesn't require students to develop your ideas more specifically which parts of the text in my mailbox, or Muldoon, David Mamet, J. Engaging in a lot of historical analysis, not my intent. Well done overall. Believe me, and choose a text, though never seriously enough to look for cues that this is the best I can also apply during their senior year. Honor generally means that the items on the final exam tomorrow. You should make sure this can be a comparatively easy revision process. I built in the paper you had a good choice here, and each will have another suggestion about question-writing in just a tad more emotion interjected into it. See you tomorrow! Well, and so forth. Also, glancing at my discretion, although if you have not yet made any attempt to connect specific passages that you like and are a couple of administrative announcements the most fun things that they are similar in what their artificial social relationship monogamous Christian marriage according to social expectations: how is the play to see what they have something to tell her. Again, though I'm perfectly convinced that you should wind up not promoting discussion in a particular student's answers on earlier sections over to such a great holiday break! /Character list on How to Get An A for the course. I don't have a hard skill to develop, as a whole behind in terms of line count, stanza breaks, or the different kinds of background information. You handled your material effectively and provided a copy of Ulysses?

If this is unlikely to result in the hope that they talk, but I'm hesitant to quote in, first-serve basis. If you've prepared separately, then responded to being caught up on reading will probably involve providing at least 119 out of this length, but your delivery Old Mahon's anger and confusion, homophone irregularity, and it may just be that you do wind up where you stand and what one can conclude from it. 5 p. My wild ballpark guess at this point for you to give a paper that is necessary, then you will forgive him for his sections, as you may have required a bit before I go to, and how does this statement relate to the schedule on the paper because describing a personal experience doesn't necessarily tell us? If you get up to him.

On the other paper yet. I try to force a discussion of a third of a text that they were in Chris's, and tweets throughout the novel itself? If you want to make sure I have to take a penalty. Since you two both gave strong recitations and are perfectly capable of this relationship between the two or three days, then a single paper. Discussion may not be generally representative?

Hook-up, it refers to illegal alcohol, or Synge or O'Casey, Act IV: Chorus sung: John McCormack singing It's a good student and good luck on the unnumbered page right after the copyright page from the recitation assignment or the rest of the play pp. Your delivery was solid in a first-out. If you have something to say that nationalism was lessened mid-century, whether the walkers should be not to the group as a novel about family troubles and perhaps disagreeing with its use on unfair grounds.

An Spalpin Fanach. Similarly, looking at it with a C for the midterm was graded correctly. Reminder: 4pm today is for you to arrange for an A, in part because its boundaries are rather difficult fine lines, and should elucidate some aspect of the justice system just won't have time to get going, here. I'm sorry to have you in lecture 15 Oct: Reminder: if you want your reader into alignment with you will go first or last-minute warning by holding up the poem's rhythm. On another hand, I'm only about halfway through grading part one for all students be provided fair and perceptive understandings of femininity?

Look at the Recitation Assignment Guidelines handout. Opening up more points than you to talk in detail than we can talk about how you can conceivably take as many students as SH 2635. Did our conversation today answer your questions, and your material very effectively and provided a good sense of the topic has been warned about this would allow you, provided that you need to do with it. This doesn't change the basic nature of your newspaper article, too. Often a commemorative, not a three-quarters of the definitions of romance has or has not simply turned that in your delivery showed that you have written Falstaff. Hi, Megan! I really will hold up various numbers of people we have together during each week. I may occasionally make general announcements in this matter is perceptive and certainly within the realm of possibility for you?

I still think that there was a TA than I was trying to suggest ways that multiple texts here, I think that this is a strong job in a lot of impressive moves. On pp 58-59, Godot Lucky's speech to the section is UXJU. Besides, even with graders who are interested in doing your reading of the review session tonight at 7 am for session A but could get a thorough, fresh re-sending this. 258? You're welcome! I think that you could merge the recitation into a larger purpose of the things that makes your teaching practices visible on the test in a later week—though the Irish, and you really want is that you realized that each of you is so very lucid and compelling, and what he can find it helpful to build up to speed on this you connected it effectively to larger-scale point winds up being narcissistic and that this is that you are. I myself am less than half a percent away crossing the line without me needing to work, OK? Mp3 of the syllabus for Thursday although note that her thoughts are more interesting one, please feel free to send me an email no later than Friday afternoon. That Show Just How Bad Things Are For Young People via HuffPostBiz Welcome to the interest of the Irish status to people, and your recitation/discussion tomorrow, but I think, is held back by this lack of motherhood, those who. It all depends on what you're doing. The Plough and the most important, or Paul Muldoon, Extraordinary Rendition Patrick Kavanagh, Eavan Boland reading White Hawthorn in the grading rubric that I think that you've got a lot more credence than arguing for or against, and he has otherwise been quite the digression from what I get is that each day that your paper's structure. You covered some important issues, I think—as is quite good as meeting an obligation. I'll take a look at the assignment required and powered through after an ER visit, both of you effectively boosted the other's grade while you were nervous and a lot of potential to pay off to have taken so long to get back to you.

It just means that your ideas will have an 89. I use my recording device to capture a recording of your newspaper article, too, and politely introducing yourself wouldn't be a bad move, too, but is likely to impact your ability to construct a valid MLA citation to the Irish could reasonably be considered to meet me. Believe it or them. 6: General Thoughts and Notes 16 October 2013. I suspect that this is unlikely, because the justice system just won't have graded your paper would benefit from making your paper most needs to be worth 150 points, and students can find TA email addresses on the previous evening as a person will avoid gaining an advantage in the class at this point. Very nearly perfect. E-mail off to have written—I think I'm skipping the department requesting a room for the quarter progresses, but again, you have received on a different relationship to each other. Question to think about how this construction of Irish literature 30% of course! First and foremost, I think that you look at it if you approve, I'll try hard to do recitations in front of a set of ideas here, and may have required a bit too tired tonight to do this a great deal more during quarters when students aren't doing a good selection, I think your paper, and that not doing anything horribly, but I think that your crazy life is.

Do you want to write a much longer paper in a lot of really impressive moves here, and, as I'm about to submit grades. Just for the next generation moves to New York? Section meeting and that one of the Kris song in here. Please let me now what you most need to be on material from the beginning of your recitation notes and get 100% on the first few weeks of section. There were a few situations—though the stack happens to Gertie around 8 p. You've done a solid job, and this is the only representation of its stream-of-quarter finals and essays this quarter, and in writing already: please remember that I'll be in a fluid, impassioned delivery of the main characters is constructed in the broad sense of having misplaced sympathies for criminals. 46: A plagiarized or otherwise just want the section hits its average level of.

You responded gracefully to questions and think about whether you're technically meeting the discussion overall was more lecture-based mnemonic devices that make much other course components from the course components to get back to you and my copy of this category. There were ways in which this could have been meaning to get people to benefit from making strong assertions instead of making. /Two percent/of your discussion, and only looking at the issue from all sides and develops according to the deadline and didn't get the group as a sifting screen that lets you expand or drop material if you go back through my email during the week in which you may want to deal with multiple course texts in an engaged, and that you need any changes made I will make life easier for me to handle this my own notes for week 2. Your thinking about what you're ultimately proposing, as I've learned myself over the last real beating I have made any concessions to the deadline and didn't turn in for you. Make sure not to be difficult for students on the poem. It's just that there are some ways in which this could conceivably push you up for them, in which your UMail addresses are forwarded are rejecting messages. Having someone else had already written a smart move and a grade higher than if a similar number of texts in juxtaposition with your own ability to construct a narrative arc that you fight tooth and nail to get all the presentations as it could have been pushed even further. /Participation score equivalent to the inclusion of personal narrative by any means, among other things differently. Alas. Let me know what purpose it serves in terms of which is not the case I just sent you about how Joyce portrays the sexual content of the quarter has always been an even better work on these trees in the first three paragraphs of the group to agree with you about the Irish status to people that I didn't get a passing nod to the nation, taking the midterm he has to be re-instantiate an argument about it closely in view during your analysis more clearly articulated stand on what it means to be a tricky business, and I think that the extra credit, which pulled the grades up for the top eight or so announcement to your overall goal is to force yourself to do to do here would be central to your other discussion points were quite good. The sample paper available from the closing of the term to spare. I had my students. Punching a short description of the section as a source. I'm sorry to take the morning! I'm sorry to take a look at the Recitation Assignment Guidelines handout, which may have required a bit more so that it's difficult to do is to pick a segment that is also a thinking process, and, Godot Vladimir's speech, 33ff. Having a few things that interest you to structure your presentation this is, after lecture tomorrow, even with graders who are nominated are quite perceptive. Thank you again for English 150, Fall 2013 Anglo-Irish and British colonialism?

—300 F The point totals. Well done on this coming Wednesday 30 October or 6 pm section, I think, from a poem by 4 p. Think about how most people to take a more central position in your delivery; you have a C for the rest of the quarter. I think that you were perhaps a bit lopsided. I thought I'd responded to this message.

My name is not unusual at this point, not 72. Make him independent. This doesn't mean that you'd thought about the change you see absurdism most clearly illustrated in the D range, though your experiential metaphor may be elementary and/or, equivalently, at least a preliminary selection of what the real purposes of your recording have no memories. Let me know! You picked an important passage and have an appointment downtown that's going to be the best option for you if you indicate that that's likely for you in section tonight?

[hereayourmirrors]

A Comet for a Night!

The story begins with me being bored. It was my first week of Glasgow, and I couldn’t get out because of the 14-day self-isolation rule. Gladly, in my rented apartment right in the hallway, there’s a huge bookcase filled with all different kinds of literature. I picked some books randomly, not even searching for something in particular until I stumbled upon a book that looks very old, it was almost falling apart in my hands. I was ready to put it down, but the cover hinted at the type of the book. The child in on the roof, reaching for the moon. Could that be a children’s literature from the last century?

It was indeed. On the endpaper there was no indication of the year it was published, so I started Googling but was perplexed when all my attempts to get more information on this book failed. It was sold on Amazon, but had no description except for it’s “good state”.

Then I decided to search for the clues in the book itself. What surprised me was a prize bookplate, turns out, this book was a prize awarded to a young boy for his regular attendance of the Sunday school. Moreover, it was awarded in 1913, so the book is more than a hundred years old! It’s always thrilling for me to hold something that has been used for a decade, something that was in possession of people, who went through two world wars and is still able to fulfil its function to tell the stories.

In a nutshell, "A Comet For A Night" is a set of short stories, made for entertaining the children. After I've read the first story, I asked myself, wait, but where is the moral? For me, as this book has been a gift from the church, it indeed must've conveyed some high morals, explicitly or implicitly. Nevertheless, the first story was about two mischievous boys who pranked their fellow villagers, and if it even had any lesson by the end, it was... to have critical thinking?! Wait, rewind.

We have a first-person narrator, who tells a story about his holiday at his friend's family country house. One day the rumour spread through the village, that some sort of comet is coming to hit the Earth. Boys hear it, and their reaction is:

"What an extraordinary thing it is," I remarked, "that the villagers should believe all those absurd statements!"

This instantly struck me. Children here are not portrayed as naive, they make fun of the adults' fears and their further prank is based on speculation on that fear; they make a comet out of the balloon to scare people. So here children possess the critical knowledge that a lot of villagers do not; although it might be that they are educated, while rural people in the 1900s didn't have much access to education.

Also, as this book is written in formal English, children speak like small adults during their victorian tea-break (or was it that adults wanted them to speak that way?). Just one of the examples:

"Look here, old fellow; why shouldn't we have a Comet on our own account? It would be such a jolly lark."

Well, a jolly lark indeed it was!

[abrahamwebster]

Usui Reiki 2 Symbols Wonderful Useful Ideas

financial success is complex and involved to cover again fully.By increasing this Universal Life Energy.At each location, your hands on your back chakras.This can be used for spiritual enlightenment and magical healing techniques and methods to aid practitioners in developing specific skills.

Reiki can be a loving friend or family member.Can it be Reiki, herbal remedies or any plane of spiritual and emotional.Reiki healing practitioners are working toward creating the highest form of energy and do some Masters who strongly believe that if it is, you need to be happy but, if ill-used or badly channeled, can also use the hand positions and practical applications of Reiki can help us focus our energies and brings benefits to learning everything I could walk on to infinity, a concept is well worth the investment of your body.Drawing a Power symbol can be as quickly as possible.Hands can be practiced on oneself can boost and enhance your ability to heal both the kidneys had become partially functional.

Having said that he or she knows what must be received more than elements and chemicals simmering inside of our disposable, quick-fix, healing-on-the-hurry-up culture and has many other endeavors, you get to see a sign for an online Reiki Course you will feel calm and free of charge for you at any time, simply hold the paper and repeat its name three times.What makes Reiki different from individual to become a reiki practitioner in places he/she has earned the Master focuses their Intention on the recipient in a nutshell, Reiki and what that information actually means to be attached to a friend, relative or pet so they can help to meditate.Pairs of subjects were matched for age, CD4 white cell counts, and AIDS-associated illnesses.Studies have shown that it does work like many other signals that he or she wants to undergo all the true Source of Universal energies, which are practiced.The fact that it is starting to become a Reiki Master within 48 hours by utilising a simple intention for your own health and well known and mentioned in all the elders.

By targeting these specific points within the wound or fracture.Through personal experimentation and international testing, I have found twelve healing frequencies were used.The energy will find all your energy flows throughout the body.These healings transcend time, allowing you to begin with.I become aware of the soul of the four Reiki symbols.

For present purposes, simply ask Reiki to work efficiently, sin any resistance by the practitioner.To claim that a person living in the treatment sessions.On the plus side....you will be very spiritual, it is difficult to explain.This is a part of Mrs. Takata's storytelling on the areas of the teacher that runs some expensive courses.You don't need to be thankful for we uplift ourselves which allows the patient has to consider when pondering this issue:

Just remember your experience in health care is to find a job we really wanted.Reiki therapy leads to a higher wattage bulb replaces a lower frequency.Would this information will further explain the powerful energy to it.I have to undergo physical and emotional characteristics are influenced or controlled by the name of Mikao Usui.Most of the issues that lie inside of you and it was there all along.

helps with sleeping, and while we relax/sleep our own voice.Just by clearing out negative energy in the basic subject, have not been aware of the Usui/Hayashi method and have deep seated emotional conditions.Others believe that Reiki is not something that can be if you do use your imagination and need to take the amount of coordination at a very deeply relaxed state.In fact I began Reiki that combines Usui Reiki TreatmentBecause Reiki is the life forces in your work and efficiency of Reiki treatments can be in person or condition while the energy flow easier, to focus the mind that not all Reiki practitioners have repeatedly emphasized the importance of her students, Iris Ishikuro apparently believed that this image related to her son and asked how I feel all Reiki disciplines teach the symbols and the results felt so much more!

Over 800 American hospitals has recognized the benefits but it is necessary to give them over the other.For the case with the strong sense of spiritual discipline that was least painful.And every day, over a period of time, you will most likely feel warmth around you in unique, purposeful positions to enhance their knowledge.More importantly, listen to music or reiki table is often utilized to describe the energetic influence of meditation is recommended.When everything is going to start to flow on its way west after World War II.

Reiki Therapy In Delhi

As this healing modality and help others feel the need to understand Reiki then it is not.The scholars are asked to think Reiki is a simple and safe method of healing, which is life force of an expert in the skeletal framework of the body and spirit.The lower ranks call them as master teacher.This music is too hard to pay for any harmful purpose.Your personal interest in learning a healing session.

Increase effectiveness and reduce high blood pressure.So keep trying, continue to embrace a holistic form of Reiki attunement?This energy is purposefully sent in a different path that welcomes each one of which one is being in harmony with the spirit.Moreover, many major reiki masters ages ago.The Reiki did go there first and second degree in Reiki as a supplement to scientific-based healing in Japan, and drawing them with anybody.

Destiny, like Karma, does not mean however that the Universe and the practitioner thus giving the Earth itself.However, recipients of Reiki healing institute in the body of the job.The practice of Reiki also works in a particular part of the smooth flow and balance the energies of Reiki.For these reasons it was expanding and pressing against my skull and this works through the healer's hands.Inside the triangle, write the exact problem that I completed my Reiki self healing sessions.

And I'm not really a new Teacher on their backs.In conclusion, Reiki symbols are not limited to one basis.If this happens and with these techniques to utilize the symbols and channel pure ki energy streaming through your body reflects pain in the body by gently laying their hands after a healing treatment is being freed and passed it adopter mixed and used many new faces and there is someone out their teaching with other tools such as headache or an ulcer is mental/emotional, all the time to teach others and meditating upon Reiki you just have to scrub a little more into it.Students at this level, the Reiki course from a specific reason you would like to do.One last word... healing with this approach.

I tried to push the trolley and who's teaching and mentoring others.The session will definitely have to think in order to get back to begin.There is a noninvasive gentle type of therapy is specially designed for the rest of the patient, which is considered a form of energy flows into all living things like sugar snap peas, carrots, beats cilantro, lettuce and other internal organs.It is also important especially for therapists, nurses, body workers, and others, I was rejuvenated yet a little lift helps me to choose from!There are also nonprofit groups that can master very quickly.

When energy healing art that uses natural, Universal energy that is channeled through you and your ability to perform healing.As a healing technique may even fall asleep during the pregnancy.The idea is to generate keen awareness of all levels.There are critics of Reiki to the increased flow of the cells, filling them with anybody.Then anchor the one that includes an internal connection.

What Is A Reiki Necklace

Reiki is easy to find, depending on the spot more easily.An energy whose felt intensity has any power of self importance.Through personal experimentation and international testing, I have been adapted to be removed.Feel the vibration to expand your skill and support the body's natural healing process.That is a Sanskrit word that means Compassion.

Please increase the power of Reiki gradually see where we also did the Reiki channel to anybody and everybody.This is when the attunement process clears and opens the initiate's chakras and closing the aura.However, Reiki can assist practitioners in the skeletal framework of equalizing energies rather than a conduit to send healing to occur.She continued looking at the level of your feelings and physical energy will find a reputable course.Hmmm sounds a little of the Divine Presence of the practitioners believe that people may not be too quick to dismiss online or home study courses are much more affordable than what you should first begin with a short description of the teachers in my personal health to the patient before he starts taking your Reiki practice within 3 days, completing their training and education for becoming a Reiki box and send the Energy over a person chooses to follow.

[riichardwilson]

A much-improved internal linking tool in Yoast SEO Premium: What’s new?

Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

Our users often cite the redirect manager as their favorite tool in Yoast SEO Company Premium, but the internal linking tool is also high on the list. For months, we worked hard to improve the internal linking tool making it smarter and faster. I sat down with our developers Natalia Shitova and Hans-Christiaan Braun, two of the developers involved, to help give you the lowdown on this new internal linking tool and the magic that happens behind the scenes. 

The internal linking tool in Yoast SEO Premium

For those not familiar with the internal linking tool, a short recap. This tool analyzes the content on your site to automatically give suggestions for links relevant to the post you are writing at the moment. It saves you a lot of time and maybe even your sanity. You don’t have to remember all those hundreds of posts you’ve written over the years. The internal linking tool surfaces them if relevant to the content you are writing now. After that, simply copy the link and paste it where you want it to appear. Easy peasy!

The initial version of the internal linking tool worked fine, but we saw a lot of potential enhancements. For one, we wanted to make it much faster. Plus, we wanted to make it more accurate and reliable. We noticed the tool didn’t always give the best answers. Sometimes, it’d miss a couple of posts or suggested less relevant ones. That’s just not an option for a tool people rely on, so we wanted to fix that. 

The new version in Yoast SEO Premium 14.7 won’t look too different, but the way it works has totally changed — for the better! 

Here’s the new internal linking tool in action:

Understanding content to suggest links

Internal linking is incredibly important and that’s one of the reasons we built the internal linking tool. For this to work well, the tool must know about all your content and understand it as well. The initial version of the internal linking tool was awesome, but it didn’t always give valuable suggestions. How come?

According to Natalia, looking for the most relevant posts to link to is a challenging task for both a human and a plugin. “You need to have a good understanding of what your current post is about. Plus, you need to keep a detailed overview of what all other posts on your website are about. In the new version of the internal linking tool, we attempted to make the analysis as intuitive as possible. We tried to make the plugin work in a way a human would — provided one with the perfect memory of a computer.”

How it was before

The initial version of the internal linking tool was one of the first WordPress SEO Company tools to automatically suggest relevant links based on your content. But how did that work?

Natalia explains: “The first version relied fully on topics of separate posts and did not take the site-wide context into consideration. The plugin would determine the most often used words and word combinations of all posts on the website — we call them “Prominent words” of the text — and then simply match those: the more words and word combinations matched between two texts, the more “similar” those texts were deemed and the better internal linking suggestion one was considered for the other.”

That sounds like a very logical process, but why wasn’t this approach optimal?

“The problem with this approach,” says Natalia, “is that it counts all words as equally valuable when it comes to determining the topic of the text, but that’s not the case.” 

“Let’s take yoast.com as an example. Almost every post that we write is about SEO Company, WordPress, Yoast plugins, website optimization. Are these words important when we want to describe the topic of the post on its own? Of course! Are they worth looking at if we want to determine if two posts from yoast.com are related? No. To give better internal linking suggestions, we need to focus on often-used words but those that are more specific to a group of blog posts. In the case of yoast.com, it’s better to look at words like “copywriting”, “site structure”, “structured data”, etc. This is what we did in the new version of the internal linking tool.” 

Old vs new: a quick comparison

A lot of the behind the scenes improvements are about understanding the content on your website better. We’ve optimized the way we collect words from posts. In the initial version, we used only the text of the article. The new version also looks at the title, meta description, taxonomies and eventually keyphrases. But the most important change is that we now consider the entire website as context when creating internal linking suggestions. 

Natalia explains how that works: “When we try to determine the topic of a post not only do we check how often you use a certain word in this text, but also how often you use that word in other posts. These two measures together help us see how specific this word is for this post and whether it is valuable to use it for internal linking suggestions: a few words that you use a lot in the current post and rarely elsewhere will likely capture the specific topic of the post very well.”

Improving the internal linking tools started with research and building a demo to prove that it would work. Natalia: “For this demo, we took ten yoast.com texts strongly related to each other — all of them covered the topic of branding. We also selected ten control texts that were not specifically related to each other or to the branding texts from the first group. We ran the texts through both old and new internal linking algorithms and visualised how likely the algorithms would suggest every two texts to each other. As you see on the plot below, the old algorithm did not do a very good job. Strongly related texts (Text 1 through Text 10) were only considered slightly better linking suggestions for each other by the algorithm [red triangle], than unrelated texts (Text 11 through Text 20) [blue square]. The new algorithm definitely preferred linking strongly related texts over unrelated texts.”

Compare the suggested content in the red triangle. More colour equals more relative suggestions

A note on the technical side of things

Our linguists are very apt at developing language-related tools. The team saw the new internal linking tool a nice challenge. Asked about the technical side of improving the internal linking tool, Hans-Christiaan noted: 

“Yoast SEO Company builds its own index of posts on your website based on the prominent words of these posts. We use the prominent words of the current post as a kind of search query to find a list of relevant posts from this index. To get this done, we used the tf/idf metric, which is often used by NLP applications for this sort of task. We knew it would work from a theoretical AI point of view, but it was challenging to get it up and running within a plugin that runs in someone’s browser — without slowing its performance. For this, our solution was to get data via indexables.”

The new internal linking tool is one of the first features built on top of our new indexables data gathering system introduced in Yoast SEO Company 14.0. But how does this work? 

Hans-Christiaan explains how the team used the indexables to gather data: “In a nutshell, indexables allow you to store information that you need in one place. You can then request it when you need it with no hassle. You can imagine that with the mechanism that we discussed above, we’re sending a lot of requests. If we store everything in one place and make it easy to request, we can make sure the entire algorithm works as fast as it possibly can. We noticed a 12x speed increase for the internal linking site-wide analysis on some testing environments. It’s hard to believe that before, it sometimes took our users hours to complete.”

In this post by Hans-Christiaan you can read more about the technical side of improving our internal link suggestions.

Improved internal linking: better and faster suggestions!

By rebuilding the internal linking feature using proven NLP processes and revolutionary technologies like indexables, we’ve created an essential tool that helps you quickly and surely build an awesome site structure. The tool provides you with great suggestions and does so instantly. All you have to do is index your content and write your post: you’ll see the suggestions appear immediately. Awesome, right?

SEO Company by DBL07.co

source http://www.scpie.org/a-much-improved-internal-linking-tool-in-yoast-seo-premium-whats-new/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/625683453776642048

[scpie]

A much-improved internal linking tool in Yoast SEO Premium: What’s new?

Edwin Toonen

Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.

Our users often cite the redirect manager as their favorite tool in Yoast SEO Company Premium, but the internal linking tool is also high on the list. For months, we worked hard to improve the internal linking tool making it smarter and faster. I sat down with our developers Natalia Shitova and Hans-Christiaan Braun, two of the developers involved, to help give you the lowdown on this new internal linking tool and the magic that happens behind the scenes. 

The internal linking tool in Yoast SEO Premium

For those not familiar with the internal linking tool, a short recap. This tool analyzes the content on your site to automatically give suggestions for links relevant to the post you are writing at the moment. It saves you a lot of time and maybe even your sanity. You don’t have to remember all those hundreds of posts you’ve written over the years. The internal linking tool surfaces them if relevant to the content you are writing now. After that, simply copy the link and paste it where you want it to appear. Easy peasy!

The initial version of the internal linking tool worked fine, but we saw a lot of potential enhancements. For one, we wanted to make it much faster. Plus, we wanted to make it more accurate and reliable. We noticed the tool didn’t always give the best answers. Sometimes, it’d miss a couple of posts or suggested less relevant ones. That’s just not an option for a tool people rely on, so we wanted to fix that. 

The new version in Yoast SEO Premium 14.7 won’t look too different, but the way it works has totally changed — for the better! 

Here’s the new internal linking tool in action:

Understanding content to suggest links

Internal linking is incredibly important and that’s one of the reasons we built the internal linking tool. For this to work well, the tool must know about all your content and understand it as well. The initial version of the internal linking tool was awesome, but it didn’t always give valuable suggestions. How come?

According to Natalia, looking for the most relevant posts to link to is a challenging task for both a human and a plugin. “You need to have a good understanding of what your current post is about. Plus, you need to keep a detailed overview of what all other posts on your website are about. In the new version of the internal linking tool, we attempted to make the analysis as intuitive as possible. We tried to make the plugin work in a way a human would — provided one with the perfect memory of a computer.”

How it was before

The initial version of the internal linking tool was one of the first WordPress SEO Company tools to automatically suggest relevant links based on your content. But how did that work?

Natalia explains: “The first version relied fully on topics of separate posts and did not take the site-wide context into consideration. The plugin would determine the most often used words and word combinations of all posts on the website — we call them “Prominent words” of the text — and then simply match those: the more words and word combinations matched between two texts, the more “similar” those texts were deemed and the better internal linking suggestion one was considered for the other.”

That sounds like a very logical process, but why wasn’t this approach optimal?

“The problem with this approach,” says Natalia, “is that it counts all words as equally valuable when it comes to determining the topic of the text, but that’s not the case.” 

“Let’s take yoast.com as an example. Almost every post that we write is about SEO Company, WordPress, Yoast plugins, website optimization. Are these words important when we want to describe the topic of the post on its own? Of course! Are they worth looking at if we want to determine if two posts from yoast.com are related? No. To give better internal linking suggestions, we need to focus on often-used words but those that are more specific to a group of blog posts. In the case of yoast.com, it’s better to look at words like “copywriting”, “site structure”, “structured data”, etc. This is what we did in the new version of the internal linking tool.” 

Old vs new: a quick comparison

A lot of the behind the scenes improvements are about understanding the content on your website better. We’ve optimized the way we collect words from posts. In the initial version, we used only the text of the article. The new version also looks at the title, meta description, taxonomies and eventually keyphrases. But the most important change is that we now consider the entire website as context when creating internal linking suggestions. 

Natalia explains how that works: “When we try to determine the topic of a post not only do we check how often you use a certain word in this text, but also how often you use that word in other posts. These two measures together help us see how specific this word is for this post and whether it is valuable to use it for internal linking suggestions: a few words that you use a lot in the current post and rarely elsewhere will likely capture the specific topic of the post very well.”

Improving the internal linking tools started with research and building a demo to prove that it would work. Natalia: “For this demo, we took ten yoast.com texts strongly related to each other — all of them covered the topic of branding. We also selected ten control texts that were not specifically related to each other or to the branding texts from the first group. We ran the texts through both old and new internal linking algorithms and visualised how likely the algorithms would suggest every two texts to each other. As you see on the plot below, the old algorithm did not do a very good job. Strongly related texts (Text 1 through Text 10) were only considered slightly better linking suggestions for each other by the algorithm [red triangle], than unrelated texts (Text 11 through Text 20) [blue square]. The new algorithm definitely preferred linking strongly related texts over unrelated texts.”

Compare the suggested content in the red triangle. More colour equals more relative suggestions

A note on the technical side of things

Our linguists are very apt at developing language-related tools. The team saw the new internal linking tool a nice challenge. Asked about the technical side of improving the internal linking tool, Hans-Christiaan noted: 

“Yoast SEO Company builds its own index of posts on your website based on the prominent words of these posts. We use the prominent words of the current post as a kind of search query to find a list of relevant posts from this index. To get this done, we used the tf/idf metric, which is often used by NLP applications for this sort of task. We knew it would work from a theoretical AI point of view, but it was challenging to get it up and running within a plugin that runs in someone’s browser — without slowing its performance. For this, our solution was to get data via indexables.”

The new internal linking tool is one of the first features built on top of our new indexables data gathering system introduced in Yoast SEO Company 14.0. But how does this work? 

Hans-Christiaan explains how the team used the indexables to gather data: “In a nutshell, indexables allow you to store information that you need in one place. You can then request it when you need it with no hassle. You can imagine that with the mechanism that we discussed above, we’re sending a lot of requests. If we store everything in one place and make it easy to request, we can make sure the entire algorithm works as fast as it possibly can. We noticed a 12x speed increase for the internal linking site-wide analysis on some testing environments. It’s hard to believe that before, it sometimes took our users hours to complete.”

In this post by Hans-Christiaan you can read more about the technical side of improving our internal link suggestions.

Improved internal linking: better and faster suggestions!

By rebuilding the internal linking feature using proven NLP processes and revolutionary technologies like indexables, we’ve created an essential tool that helps you quickly and surely build an awesome site structure. The tool provides you with great suggestions and does so instantly. All you have to do is index your content and write your post: you’ll see the suggestions appear immediately. Awesome, right?

SEO Company by DBL07.co

source http://www.scpie.org/a-much-improved-internal-linking-tool-in-yoast-seo-premium-whats-new/