Merry Christmas to all us miscreants!

[Gregness]

This place has its ups and downs, but somehow manages to keep putting along. Happy holidays to all you beautiful motherfuckers!

My family opens most of our gifts tonight, so I'll pop in some time later to get the christmas haul posts started!

[MuMu]

Happy holidays to everyone.

The only thing I'm getting are Steam games but I stupidly locked myself out of my internet banking account and will only be able to buy anything on monday.

[shiney]

Merry Christmas, friends. :) Echoing what Greg said. <3

[mauve]

Merry Christmas, kiddos.

And I guess Merry Christmas to you old farts, too.

<3, Mauve




Wishing you all a wonderful holiday!

[Ryong]

Merry Christmas everyone.

I got nothin'.

[Seil]

bASvwP2U_m8

[Tev]

Christmas merryings all around!

[phil_]

So, anyone else going out to wait for the Great Pumpkin tonight?

[Tev]

I just tossed four squishy pumpkins in the backyard patch as a sacrifice.

[Gregness]

I pretty much knew everything I was getting this year, because my mom's health isn't what it once was unfortunately, and she never particularly enjoyed shopping in the first place, so I had her order me a couple of RPG sourcebooks from Amazon, and I accompanied her for all the rest of the shopping she ended up doing.

For those who follow the new Discord chat, you might remember me gushing about Exalted a few weeks back. The third edition was officially released this year, and it's by far the most mechanically sound version of the game (prior edition's systems, particularly combat, had huge problems in different ways). That said, it only has the one book so far, and many of the first edition books are lauded by the community for the quality of writing on the setting material, so the two books I had Mom order for me are basically what the consensus has said are the two most useful setting sourcebooks out of Exalted's first edition

Games of Divinity
http://i.imgur.com/PSGAwhz.jpg

Exalted is an animist setting, and Games of Divinity lays out how the various spirits of the setting interact with each other and the mortals of the setting. The book also lays out the groundwork for Malfeas, which is on the short list of 'coolest hells in fiction'. It's not a place of fire-and-brimstone sin and punishment, but rather a place where the creators of the universe were imprisoned after having lost their version of Zeus' rebellion against the Titans. Exalted's 'demons' aren't necessarily evil, they're alien.


Scavenger Sons
http://i.imgur.com/M2KGAkL.jpg

This gives a good bird's eye view of the various places in the setting with plot hooks and notes on shit like the cultural habits and economic activity of the various peoples inhabiting the setting.


Other than all that, I got a couple movie gift cards, an iTunes gift card, and a Steam gift card that'll probably go to picking up Trails in the Sky, The Ghostbusters game, Crypt of the NecroDancer, and I haven't quite decided what else.

[Flarecobra]

Got 2 books, 2 shirts, and some stuff that I use to make window clings... and 3 pounds of gummi bears. :D

[Nikose Tyris]

@Gregness: FUCK YEAH EXALTED! I'm loving the new combat system too. I'll miss the 140d10 attacks though. :p

You should check out Scion 2e which recently had a Kickstarter too. Very similar rules and setup, TONS of fun.

I got a copy of the Last Guardian, and Money towards getting my car repaired. Also a good stack of Disney movies and warm clothes!

[Daimo Mac, The Blue Light of Hope]

I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Tab some shirts and fracking nice winter coat. Also my grandma bequeathed to me $2500 dollars

[phil_]

Somehow, I got the same things as Mac, minus the money and accompanying sadness. Small, weird world.

[mauve]

I got a mini Codsworth funko figurine and a super awesome Vault-Tec asymmetrical hoodie from my sister (she packed it in a cereal box that she made to look like the Abraxo cleaner you find in-game), some socks that say "Kick this day in its sunshiney ass," some needle felting tools, paint brushes, a yoga mat and coupon for yoga or pilates classes, and a boatload of candy.

[Gregness]

@Gregness: FUCK YEAH EXALTED! I'm loving the new combat system too. I'll miss the 140d10 attacks though. :p

You should check out Scion 2e which recently had a Kickstarter too. Very similar rules and setup, TONS of fun.


Yeah, I discovered Exalted in the dead period between when they basically wrote off second edition, but third edition hadn't been released yet. There was a leak that had like 95% of the final raw text in it last year, so I was able to start running my game before the 'official' release, but I made my peace with it since I'd already decided to buy it once it came out. I just regret not having had the room in my budget for a physical copy of it so far.

Anyway, the dice pools haven't been de-powered that much. In prior editions you capped out at like 32 or 33 dice, and in third edition you cap at like 26. In exchange you get stuff like the melee omnislash build where you make an attack, trigger Agile Dragonfly Blade to get another attack, triggering One Weapon, Two Blows, getting another attack, after which you hit Peony Blossom Attack into Invincible Fury of the Dawn, which as long as your motes and willpower hold out you can take into another Peony Blossom and loop from there.

I hadn't checked out Scion 'cause I'd heard the first edition had bad mechanics, and I already have old edition exalted to scratch my 'flawed mechanics with cool fluff' itch.

[Solid Snake]

I kind of gave up on the notion of my family giving me anything nerdy that I'd actually enjoy for Christmases or Birthdays some time ago, every time in the past I'd try to confide things I actually wanted it'd result in lots of geek-shaming. Pretty bizarre to imagine that this stems from the same family who's head over heels for the far-more stereotypical cast of the Big Bang Theory, but people are strange, I suppose. At one point or another it just became easier to ask them for clothing and Starbucks gift cards than to subject myself to any further ridicule or the kinds of scathing looks that spoke volumes as to my father's perpetual disappointment.

At any rate, this year I got...ski equipment to fulfill my father's vacation fantasy.
A few shirts.
Screen protectors!!!
Aaaand...enough money to cover about two weeks' worth of end-of-the-year bills!

Eh, can't really blame my family for that. I mean, my parents could've given me five times the amount of money out of some deranged sense of generosity and it'd only be postponing a certain inevitable feeling of doom at this juncture. My present situation is dire enough that just about anything would have been underwhelming this year -- the trip of my dreams to a city like Rome and I'd have protested and stated that I needed the money instead. But even getting the money can't really solve my problems.

A part of me really does feel like this was the one year where I really needed some nerdy escapism kind of gift that just spoke to me personally on some subjective level, though.

I did get VA-11 Hall-A for myself in the Steam Sale recently, I'll have to check that out some time.

[shiney]

I didn't get any presents at all! But I bought myself a PS4 Pro and a 4K TV on black Friday so I guess it works out. Also my WoW private server was resurrected in early December and I got to hang out with my guild and friends so I am still calling it a success.

The kids were happy, anyway.

[Kibbard]

I'm merely a new member, but I did get a decent amount this year for Christmas. I obtained 3 new PS4 games : Final Fantasy 15, Dark Souls 3 and Until Dawn; I also scored 5 Star Wars novels (mostly Legends, damn you Disney), new coat and hat, shop vac and a pack of 50 shop towels (my dad as a humor at times, but they are a much needed item around my family), a new kindle since the last one our 5 year old son took over with his kid like games, (I just wanted a kindle for FunimationNOW and Comixology while I'm on break at work).

The best gift I honestly got though was from work, I got a promotion bringing a 5 dollar raise, and an extra day off so I work longer shifts but I'm home an extra day, I call that a win.

[shiney]

Hell yeah, that's nice. Welcome to the forum.

[batgirl]

I worked on Christmas, but hey, time and a half for 13 hours is pretty good. For Hanukah my husband got me a pair of boots and a nice Movado watch, and collectively we bought a new couch to replace our 10 year old falling apart one. My in-laws got me some Pop Games Batman and Batgirl figurines that now sit on my work desk. I do get 5 days off until Tuesday, which I am using to lounge around a bit and catch up on my leisure reading and video games.