First off, sorry for the length. I had nothing else to do and a session tonight, so I've got a DnD itch and a lot of time. I just got carried away and enjoy writing. It's super close to the comment character limit. :/

Intro

So, how to start DnD. It's good to see how it plays. I find Critical Role to be a good place to start. The DM is Mattew Mercer, who is great and moving things along, and the players are all voice actors, so it's nice to listen to. CR is a bit unusual in how well behaved the players are, if you run the game, expect your players to be more annoying. I recommend starting with episode 14, "Shopping and Shipping" as you can pick it up easily, and everything gets a bit better at that point as the new arc starts.

It's also a good idea to figure out what system to use. 5th edition is the current one. I find it to be fairly simple on the surface, with a lot of extra detail in the supplementary books. It's very flexible in tone and complexity, and a solid foundation I expect to see a lot of extra content piled on top of, with extra classes, rules, monsters, etc, in later supplementary books. 5e is probably the best place to start.

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What you need

First off, you need friends! I know it may seem cliché, but it is true. You want one person to run the game (the DM) and 3 or 4 (maybe 5, but no more if the DM is new) people to play an individual character. If you don't have enough friends to do DnD, you can probably find new friends with something called The Adventurer's League. You also need a set (or a few) of dice, which contain 6 to 7 different dice. You have a 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and the most-used 20 sided dice. You also have a "d100"^1 which is a d10 that counts in 10s. They're a bit unusual in early play, so don't worry. Last but not least you need the rules. The basic rules can be found here. If you want the complete rules and a few extra books, I'll PM you. Chaotic Good PDFs are frowned upon here.

Finally, you need to actually play is a story and a Dungeon Master. You can get prewritten stories and adventures that give the DM a framework to build around for money, although I have the 5th ed beginner adventure somewhere on my PC. (It's really useful for a beginner DM.) The DM can also create their own, but that needs a lot of effort. The DM acts as an arbitrator. They say how difficult it is do something, what happens when it's done, what the players see when they go somewhere, etc. They also role-play NPCs, decide what actions enemies take, etc. They are less a player and more the world the players are in.

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The two main roles.

The Dungeon Master (Or Mistress)

The DM is often the person that brings the party together, finds people to play DnD, and ties it all together. However, they are not the most important, as that's a bad mindset to have. A DM without players is a person having conversations in their head. It's a symbiotic thing.

Being a DM is very hard, but also by far the most rewarding role if you have the skill and motivation. Being a DM is thinking up the bagpipe gag, is creating a cool city, is roleplaying the city guards who have no time for the player's shit and the shopkeep that warmly welcomes them. It is the role with the most freedom, as you can shape the campaign however you like. (As long as you don't drive your players away.) However, you need to know a lot of the rules by heart (it's easier than it sounds) and a good dose of creativity. The scheming, toying with the players and their emotions^2 all makes it worth it in the end. This is a bit long, but if you fancy the idea of being the DM I'll make a followup "How to DM." comment.

I also fancy the role of the DM myself as it feels like I'm making a world of facades very quickly, faster than the players can notice. The NPCs are fleshed out enough to survive one session without seeming two dimensional, but are not nearly as intricate as the player's characters. Physical locations have enough detail to tide the players over while I make more. However, if the players show particular interest in a character or place, I can build behind that facade to make the thing more and more realistic the closer the players look between running sessions. I also have a lot of pre-made things I can pull up. I might have a general set of bars with different qualities and a cursory list of their stock, with different names for different locations. So if the players go to a seedy bar in a dwarven city, I pull up a seedy bar template and add dwarven flavor to it. I'll also note down any on-the-fly descriptions for later use. If the players start to go regularly, I'll add detail. I'll create regulars with personalities and stories to them, I'll create notable events in the bar's history, etc. That feeling of going from pulling things together quickly to make it seem good enough, then after the session spending hours taking slower more thought out routes to flesh something out.

The Players

This section will be a bit less meaty. The players create a character from a set of races and a set of classes (some books have extra races and classes, and you can take levels in more than one class. So instead of being a level 10 ranger, you could be a level 10 character that is a 3rd level rogue and a 7th level ranger.) They have a sheet that holds the information they need to play their character, that details weapons, spells, abilities, HP, stats, proficiency, what skills they have, etc. Often the player will write a few sentences or paragraphs on their character and their backstory.

You also have personality outlines, which consists of (normally, you can change it up for fun)

• 2 general traits (Like, "I am new to these foreign lands, and have numerous strange but minor customs others may find confusing.")
  
  
• An overall ideal (such as "law keeps society together, those that break it should be punished.")
  
  
• A bond they have (like: "I'm the successor to a major title, but my family was deposed. Some day I'll regain it.") that they will either constantly work on, or be called to fulfill. (like protecting an object from attack.
  
  
• A flaw they have. (Like "I'm quick to anger, and can hold a long grudge." This could lead to a misunderstanding creating long-term animosity between a player and an important NPC.)
  
  These outlines are used to help the player get in the mindset of their character, and to role-play them better. So if the player outlined above is meeting a noble, because the noble's connections could help them regain their land, and they greet them in accordance with their strange customs, the noble remarks unfavorably about them, then the player should role play not liking the noble, but they shouldn't try and attack them, because that's outside the law. Stuff like that is what makes the player characters so much more complex. Also, don't take my talking up of the DM's role to diminish the player, they can have plenty of fun.
  
  Also, there are many types of players, and they often not just co-exist but may even require other types to do well. Some players just want to see what happens and play DnD, whereas others seize the initiative and direct the group. A party with too many of the first will do very little, and a party with too many of the second will do nothing but bicker. Also, some players are recluse and have a hard time roleplaying their character. Other players like playing hard to role play characters, and their willingness to set themselves up for possible failure (in roleplaying) might help nervous players come out of their shell. Some players make super strong characters without thinking about story, and others make weaker ones because all they think about is story. The strong characters will help the party in combat, the story characters will help the drama aspect of DnD that makes it so engaging. Some pay tons of attention, and can fill in those that don't. And so on. Together, you can get one functioning party!
  
  ---
  
  

  Buying things!
  

  
  

1. The starter set is great. It has rerolled character sheets, the basic rules, and an adventure that holds the hand of the DM more than others, but also provides plenty of room for growth. Also, it's not even 15 bucks on Amazon.
   
   
2. Dice. The starter set ones mysteriously all seem to be cursed to roll low, so new dice are good. Chessex looks good and is cheap, and Q-workshop are expensive but amazing.
   
   
3. Dungeon master's screen. Hides notes & rolls, looks nice, and has a quick-lookup of stuff on the back. About 10 bucks, I highly recommend it.
   
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   Footnotes
   

   
   ^1 Dice are referred to as d[number of sides.] So a 20-sided one is a d20, and so on. If multiple dice need to be rolled, like with a Greatsword, it's shown as 2d6 + [modifier], where you roll 2 six-sided dice, add that together, then add a fixed modifier. The rules have more detail.
   
   ^2 Randomly rolling dice to make them nervous, evily grinning when the players ask something even if the thing is absolutely fine, having that little smile when the players ask if those bagpipes are silent or not, asking the players if they're totally sure if they want to do something then making them live with the consequences are all ways to mess with them.

I know this sub is generally more focused on video game design over board game design, but I think there are a lot of crossover principals that are simply core to board game design that should be kept in mind or considered when approaching new game design.

In the book Kobold Guide to Board Game Design, Richard Garfield, probably best known as the designer of Magic: The Gathering but has a very impressive catalog generally, has a chapter where he talks about how the best way to be a better designer is to simply play as many games as possible.

In having a broad exposure to games, it helps you understand why a certain genre or game mechanism might be popular or effective. This helps to establish what type of styles you might want to emulate as well as create a resource you can fall back on if you get stuck in a certain aspect of the game's design.

As far as finding things to help spur other creative ideas such as art direction or theme, having a wide range of things you read, watch, or just browse in terms of more standard art can help spark new ideas. Jamey Stegmaier's board game Scythe was inspired when he stumbled across some art by Jakub Rozalski. I even believe another game is being made based off of Jakub's horror work. There are some very creative people just sort of posting things all around the internet that can serve as resources for getting new theme ideas.

The biggest thing to remember I think is that your first few designs are probably not going to be great. That's ok. It's part of the learning process.

Finally, going back to the video game vs board game thing I mentioned up top, if you play primarily video games it would probably be a good idea to branch out and start playing some more modern board games. There are a plethora of amazing games out there that can really help broaden your horizons when thinking about games in general. Additionally, playing video game genres outside of your typical comfort zone can help inspire new approaches to whatever you might be trying to accomplish.

tl;dr: I think you can improve a lot just with more knowledge. I reached APA7 pretty fast, despite a shitty stroke and bad habits, by just absorbing a ton of books, videos, and websites. I had to work on execution and fixing those habits to reach APA9 speed. At no point did I ever become any kind of serious tournament or money player, it's very possible to improve without doing those things, despite what "they" say. But there's a limit to how far you can go on knowledge only, you WILL need to practice and spend hours at the table, and you will need to enter pressure situations if you want to perform well in tournaments, league, etc.

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● Playing better players is a bit overrated - you don't just magically absorb someone's skills by playing against them. I'm not saying it's bad, but find people that are willing to teach and answer questions... don't just hit balls with someone and be their rackboy.

If you figure watching the better player shoot will help you learn, then you can double your learning by just watching 2 better players shoot against each other.

There's a lot to be said for shooting people who are very close to your level, or just a hair better. You both learn together, and (hopefully) talk things over and figure stuff out. And you both feel like you can win, which is important. It makes things more competitive. A lot of people improve simply because their ego can't tolerate losing to 'that one guy'.

● People will also tell you that you need to just enter a bunch of tournaments, or gamble. That's only half-correct. Tournaments train one specific skill - handling pressure. They don't teach you stuff like advanced cueball control, or how to compensate for english, or how to aim a kick shot. You don't get those skills just because you paid your $20 and now you need them to win.

● So how do you get better? Well, there are two areas where everyone could stand to improve - knowledge and execution.

Of these two things, knowledge is much easier to get. You can get it from the internet, books, or by watching and talking to those local pros. It's free/cheap, and takes very little effort... there's no reason you can't max out your knowledge ASAP.

The trick is to make sure you get correct knowledge, because the pool world is unfortunately full of bad info. I wanna recommend some books which I know are good, because the info is easily tested and confirmed, and that's exactly what I did in a lot of cases.

Byrne's Standard Book of Pool and Billiards - comprehensive explanation of all sorts of useful concepts, explanations of how the balls will react on certain shots, and why, and how to take advantage of it... lots of specific shots to master... safety and runout strategy... pretty much everything you could need.

The 99 Critical Shots - If you want specific shots to practice, and a lot of the same useful info, but much shorter and cheaper... this is for you. As a 6 you maybe know most of this, but I bet you don't know all of it, and you can get a copy for $1.50.

If you feel like reading is for losers, you can learn off websites too -

Everything on Dr. Dave's website and videos is outstanding. Tested and proven both on paper, on video, and in the real world. http://billiards.colostate.edu/pool_tutorial.html ...see also http://billiards.colostate.edu/threads.html ...and http://billiards.colostate.edu/pool_secrets_gems.html .

Or, just watch his videos - it's great to actually see the info put into action: https://www.youtube.com/user/DrDaveBilliards

These tips I think are just about right for someone around your speed - https://www.reddit.com/r/billiards/comments/6oo5e7/tip_compilation_various_tips_kicking_systems/

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As far as execution goes, you do need to spend hours on the table. But before doing anything else, you want to first make sure you have good fundamentals and a normal, textbook stroke. I can't say it strongly enough:

IF YOU DON'T FIX YOUR BAD HABITS NOW THEY WILL FUCK YOU LATER.

I had several that I needed to unlearn, and they still screw up my game to this day. I wish I could go back in time and learn how to stroke straight, not spin the cue ball all the time, and develop a correct stance. Don't be me, get your bad habits and stance issues under control now. Everything after that will come much easier. Don't hesitate to pay for a lesson from a pro instructor to have them go over your stroke and fix any problems they see. If you don't wanna spend money, you can video yourself and try to evaluate it, or upload it here and we'll give you some feedback.

Other key things that helped me learn how to execute better:

● Get out of your comfort zone and try new things. Don't just stick to the shots you know, try new shots. That doesn't mean try 2-rail banks every time you step to the table, I mean try "new" shots that you know you need to master, but haven't yet.

For example, maybe you suck at jumping and this situation comes up where you're hooked on the 5. You might be tempted to just kick it, but you KNOW any pro player will jump this ball and make it. So suck it up and try the jump, even though you suck at it. You need that practice. Don't chicken out and kick just because you're scared of missing and losing.

Whatever shots you hate and you're tempted to avoid, make yourself do them. Hate shooting the CB off the rail with heavy inside spin? Of course you do, we all do. But there will be times when you have to do it, so when the situation comes up, don't avoid it.

● Practice while you play. When you shoot with friends for fun, don't just stick to the safe comfortable stuff because you're worried about losing. You gotta make self-improvement a higher priority than winning every rack. If you miss and lose, so what? It doesn't cost you anything.

You might think "I don't need to try that spin shot right now, I'll just hit 50 of them when I go practice on sunday afternoon". Don't kid yourself... most people don't have the discipline to do that. They either don't practice at all, or do it for a few weeks and then lose interest, or they forget about that spin shot they said they'd practice. Even if you DO practice religiously, you will probably spend far more hours playing than practicing. Don't let those hours be wasted by refusing to learn new skills.

● If you do drills, do them with a specific purpose. Don't ever just hit balls without a goal. You're too advanced for that to help you much. Work on a specific shot... rail cuts, thin cuts, long straight shots, position drills, banks, whatever. And keep track of your results, so you know if you're improving or not. For example, don't just bank 50 balls and say "ok I practiced banks". Keep track (you can use your phone) of how many you made out of 50. Is it more than you made last week? Or 5 weeks ago? If not, why not?

● If you miss a ball, set it up and shoot it again, and don't just shoot it until you make it once. Shoot it until you make it several times in a row.

● Always be paying attention to your fundamentals. Even if they're already pretty good, bad habits can creep in if you don't pay attention.

● Be careful of laziness and wishful thinking. I explain more on that here: https://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=2429822&postcount=16

● For the jump specifically from 6 to 7, I'd say mastery of inside english and uncommon position routes is crucial. You gotta get good at moving the cue ball along the safest path. Good pool is identifying 10 potential fuckups and identifying the solution that should prevent at least 9 of them. That sometimes means moving the cue ball with funky english or more force than you're comfortable with.

Here are some example shots that hopefully show what I mean. Some may disagree with the routes or say "I'd do this instead" or "you could totally do the other route here" or whatever... that's fine, focus on the theory more than on whether everyone agrees which route is best.

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/97d8d.png

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/6d4f3.png

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/1bee7.png

https://pad.chalkysticks.com/2a00b.png

...ok, this thing is long enough. If you made it this far, I guarantee you'll be a 7 in less than 24 hours, or your money back :)

1.) Blue: a classic, blue jeans. Need I say more?

2.) Summer: what says summer more than memories of being a kid and making sandcastles? Exactly .

3.) Food related: okay, so this is personal. I am Italian and no one I have ever met has this in their homes. We make our pizzas in normal ovens or just go down the street to one of the many takeaway restaurants. What is a pizza oven and why does anyone need one!

4.) Someone else: I decided to go random wishlist on this and what better way to learn something new about someone that go through their lists?! So I got /u/krispykremedonuts and her wishlists are full of amazing things. And a lot of socks. Someone get this girl some socks! I would get her socks. 😂

5.) Book: you need to read Sum: 40 tales from the afterlives. I recommend this to anyone who would listen. It's 'speculative fiction,' whatever that means, but essentially it's 40 short stories about what may happen after we die. It may sound weird, but seriously, trust me. Read the wiki page of it if you need to be convinced or the Amazon product description. It really makes you think and sticks with you!

6.) Under $1: This was hard! But I found the cutest mini-pens. One dollar, free shipping, AND adorable. BAM!

7.) Dogs: I've been considering getting this fancy brush. It's supposed to be super good for dogs with long hair!

8.) Not useful but awesome: Okay, so I have been obsessed with the idea of being able to print photos from my phone since forever. Useful? Most definitely not, awesome...HECK YES! Check this out!!!


9.) Movie: Life is Beautiful. It's about selfless love. It's beautiful and I can't speak more about it without bursting into tears. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, WATCH IT. It's incredibly beautiful and moving.

10.) Zombies: You definitely need a machete to defend yourself. This is even sharp on both sides!!!

11.) Needs and current goals: At this moment in my life, any sort of clothing would change my life because there is only so much sewing you can do before your clothes start looking very sad. BUT, since it has to do with current goals, a pair of workout leggings would really help in my workout goals! I've lost 3kg in the past 3 months! It's not a lot, but damn I'm SO happy :D :D :D

12.) Add-On item: Oh, add-ons...groans

13.) Fandom: CAW!

14.) So expensive: $11,703.38 carpet cleaner. I don't even know. But at least it has free shipping!

15.) Sharks: temporary tattoos!

16.) Good smells: I adore the smell of rosemary.

17.) Toy: I absolutely loved my jump rope. I had the red one! I got super good at it and my friends and I would jump rope together around the neighborhood like a bunch of weirdos. Such good memories though :D

18.) Writers: never underestimate the need of coffee in any job you may have.

19.) Current obsession: so it's almost summer and I am obsessing over which ankle bracelet I want. I feel naked without them. It's a problem 😂

20.) Random: this is what I got one of my last contest winners. I saw it on one of their wishlists and couldn't resist!!!

Let me tell you what I've experienced. I'll list off the most important things in descending order: 1. Tactics 2. Positional understanding 3. Basic Endgame knowledge (King pawn endgames and some basic rook pawn endgames)and 4. Openings.-- Now, people think this means openings are unimportant. so wrong... When I play players rated around 2000-2100 we're both doing the same thing:

Basic, vague generalizations in the opening and we play the middle game while trying to decipher the optimal positional goals to create and achieve and we crunch the tactics on the way to it, meanwhile considering the endgame that will arise out of the position along the way and always waiting for a chance to convert to a won or two result (win or draw) endgame.

Now, if you want to play with the big boys, you have to have a solid opening repertoire. I go to a decently strong club, everybody is rated around 1700-2100 sometimes a few 2300-2400's show up. I've won at least one of these tournaments and several times been second place. I often will lose either 0 or 1 game out of 3 or 4. (I typically draw my disadvantaged endgames).


--- The one thing all these players lack is a legitimate Opening repertoire. Once you reach 1700-1900uscf strength, you need some serious opening knowledge. SERIOUS. Knowledge. you need to know tons of lines, you need to know WHY they have to follow the lines and what you're trying to achieve and what THEY are trying to achieve. You have to know why Black can't develop his light squared bishop in the QGD Exchange variation. And when he tries, you have to know how to punish him. The opening becomes the game, and it is the game; I like to say that chess is the opening. The opening defines your strategic goals in the middle game and the structure of the endgame. Sure, the opponent can deviate, but at a cost. You'll at least be equal, and with all the general plans you learn about that opening, you'll be able to CREATE weaknesses and positions from openings you're familiar with, or continue about your plan because he's not following a proper one. The only problem is that Openings are extremely hard work. Extremely. It takes a huge toll on the memory and if you don't have enough time in your day, all the other areas of your chess will decline as you acquire your opening knowledge: Tactics, positional play, endgame etc. These things have to be drilled constantly so that you can improve. Without doing chess full time or at least having several hours a day to commit to chess, you're going to have to slip somewhere. ---

TL;DR and conclusion: My recommendation is that you acquire enough opening for your rating; what I mean by that is, get some basic guidelines, VERY Basic, for instance, go to wikipedia. and look up the opening you want to play, check it out, go to www.chessgames.com watch some pros play the opening you want to play, then start playing it. at your rating of 1300-1400 on chess.com I'd suggest switching to longer games (at least 15 min, but 45 would be nice) and studying tactics, and VERY importantly, get a book like John Nunn's "Understanding Chess middle games" [http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Chess-Middlegames-John-Nunn/dp/1906454272/ref=pd_sim_b_5/192-4270710-0603025?ie=UTF8&refRID=124Y382AWAKY8YZW33B1] or a book like "Jeremy Silman's Reassess your chess 4th edition" [http://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Fourth/dp/1890085138/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405369188&sr=1-1&keywords=reassess+your+chess+4th+edition] These books contain the information necessary for you to understand positional evaluations in a game of chess. Also there is Jeremy Silman's Reassess your chess workbook [http://www.amazon.com/Reassess-Your-Chess-Workbook/dp/1890085057/ref=sr_1_fkmr3_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405369544&sr=1-1-fkmr3&keywords=reassess+your+chess+4th+edition+workbook
] They are all positional puzzles. It's great, because he breaks down the 7 main imbalances and you simply drill them. Very nice.---

Studying master games on your own is good, but you won't understand like 90% of what they do honestly. You need someone to hold your hand. If you could just watch it and understand you'd be a GM already.

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FYI. I have Reassess your chess 4th edition. It's a miracle jesus walking on water great chunk of information. However, I find myself almost completely incapable of reading it anymore. I am so tired of the banter and the jokes, I just want the dang information. It's cute and spunky and fun and whatever the hell when you first read it; a real great joy, but after reading the same dang joke like 5 6 7 8 9 times you really start to wish you had a more serious book, like John Nunn's (Which I admit I haven't read yet, but it looks more like no nonsense material).

My first comment was more about "rants" in the show, but I also wanted to answer some of your other points.

First of all, on having to improvise or "help, my party killed the encounter I prepped for two hours":

I would be lying if I said, that I was never miffed when my players destroyed an encounter too quickly, or found a solution that invalidated what I had prepared. However, to be honest, it bothers me less and less. There are two reasons: One, I do not prepare as much, or as strictly, as I used to, because you simply cannot prepare how things play out at the table, and two, I got more relaxed when improvising, and that improved my improvising skills.

What I learned in my time as a GM, is that you should never prepare for a certain outcome or development of an encounter. As a GM I only provide a problem, and while I think about possible solutions, I let my players choose their approach. That simple frame of mind is often enough to change my attitude from sad/angry, because I don't get to show my planned encounter, to ecstatic that my players found a solution I did not anticipate. And by communicating this to my players (being exited and/or complimenting them on their solution), I make them feel better about themselves and maybe that will please them enough to overlook my so-so approach at improvising. ;)

I understand that improvisation can be a very daunting task, especially to newer GMs, but that problem can't be solved by being properly/better prepared (per definition improvising is what you do, when you've got nothing prepared for the situation). Instead you can only get better by practicing. And by being thrown into the cold water.

When I was in high school I was rather shy and conscious about speaking in front of people. Nowadays I have no problems with improvising a lecture provided I know what I'm talking about. That change did not happen over night. It happened because I was repeatedly forced to give presentations in front of ever bigger audiences.

I hated it. I had stage fright, I was shaking and sometimes felt downright sick. But that was what I needed to experience in order to get better. The important thing was not getting better at making presentations or taking classes on rhetoric. No, I just needed to get used to the feeling of standing in front of people to be able to relax. As soon as you're relaxed, your brain starts working again. And that, to me, is the essence of improvising: Pushing aside the anxiousness, relaxing and then just talking/reacting to what your players give you.

So my tip would be to ignore the inner voice that says that you can't do it, or that compares you to someone like Skid, who is really great at improvising, and to remember, that, hey, you're here with friends and to have fun, not to win the world championship of improvisation. ;)

Another thing, I learned from the book "Playing Unsafe" is that when people try to improvise "well", that will often result in "bad" scenes ("The harder you try, the more you fail."). If, instead they focus on making an average scene, the scenes tend to become great ("When you try to be average, that's when you're good.").


Secondly, the importance of combats:

I agree that combats can be very fun and enjoyable, but sometimes get a bad wrap. I believe this is due to either GMs having too many combats in a row or not varied enough combats.

Also, there is the issue that the narrative can easily be lost when initiative is rolled and the players and GM enter "tactical mode". I think that a good GM can counter that quite easily, but I know that it can be hard, as a player, especially if your party is in a terrible situation.

The lack of variance of combats is partly on the GM, if they do not offer the party any reason or possibility to change tactics, and combat after combat plays out exactly the same. And partly it is on the designers of adventure modules, who sometimes fill dungeons with a lot of combat without any significance or uniqueness, that only drain the party's resources.

For example take a look at the recent encounter on the stone bridge. The combat described in the module was more or less boring and has no real significance to the story (unless Troy thinks of something). While the designers added the tactic of bull rushing PCs off the bridge, they did not even give the giants the necessary feat. As such it was unlikely to play a large part in the combat and became or more or less a standard battle against two large, strong melee creatures.

I once ran an encounter from a module which was designed similarly, but much better. The PCs are on a bridge full of commoners, trying to enter a city, when suddenly the sky darkens and a squad of riders on flying dragon-winged rams descend and begin attacking indiscriminately. Part of their tactic was also to push PCs off the bridge using their mounts (who had improved bull rush).

These "Doomguides" could, on their mounts, position themselves more or less anywhere on or near the bridge which allowed them to actually bull rush every turn, if they wanted to. But the bull rush was only part of their tactic, they also had the Spirited Charge and Ride-By-Attack feat and Smite Good, so they were capable, yet elusive enemies due to their flying mounts.

On top of that, the bridge was filled with commoners, who panicked and scrambled to reach the city's gate, which created difficult terrain and dealt minor non-lethal damage on anyone not moving with the crowd, so casters had to make concentration checks. Finally, the city's gates were about to be closed, because the guards wanted to protect the city without regard for the people. The PCs could interact with the crowd, or the guards, or disregard all of it and concentrate on the Doomguides.

Now compare that to the stone giants on the bridge who were forced to move up, then around the party to have a chance to bull rush, all while taking attacks of opportunity. And that was the main draw of the combat. The only thing that kept that combat from being boring was the Xorn robe that one giant possessed and the fact that Troy made two encounters in parallel (which was a great idea, by the way!).

Of course, the encounter described above is an extreme example and it was major set piece of the module (though the module also had three(!) more encounters of similar extent), while the stone giants on the bridge are one among many encounters, but it goes to show, what is possible in Pathfinder if you are willing to invest a little time into design.


Thirdly, "encounter killers":

I'll try to keep this point short, but first I have to bluntly ask: What do you expect of your players in combat encounters? (The following is firmly tongue-in-cheek, by the way, so take it with a big grain of salt ;P)

In this Cannon Fodder, you and Troy talk about some spells and effects shutting down encounters hard and "killing" it. You mention Charm Monster, Sleep and Web (which I, personally, find is an odd example for "encounter killers"). In earlier Cannon Fodders (e.g. #44) Troy mentions that he dislikes Grease and Web and similar spells. Also, you talk about how massive damage can take away from the fun (again, #44). That leaves me with the question: Do you allow your players any effective strategy at all?

If I'm not "allowed" to shut down my enemies with save-or-suck effects (e.g. Charm Monster, Sleep), cannot use battlefield control (e.g. Grease, Web) and "should" not do massive damage, what else is left? Should I just twiddle my thumbs and cast healing spells? :P

OK, now somewhat back to a more serious discussion - I know, of course, that a lot of this is just ranting on the players when they got the better of you, not because you really want your players to stop using these strategies. It's only when a player overuses a certain strategy, that it becomes annoying (though non-casters, like Nestor, do not necessarily have alternative strategies as readily available to them).

But you do get my point, right? While playing chess, you wouldn't tell your opponent that the queen is too strong, and that using it would take away from the fun of the game, would you? No, because the queen is part of the game. The same goes for save-or-suck effects, battlefield control and characters who deal a lot of damage in Pathfinder.

In a more recent Cannon Fodder (#65, #66? Somewhere along these lines), Troy mentions that, to him, a good combat in Pathfinder would last about 12 to 15 (!) rounds. I can't think of a more boring thing to do in Pathfinder (no, seriously!). What is supposed to be happening in these dozen rounds? If the PCs are supposed to be hit and get hit every round, they simply cannot last that long, unless either their HP are seriously inflated or their damage is pitiful, and if both sides keep missing, nothing is happening - how is that any fun?!

Personally, I like these controlling spells and shutdown effects, and I like talking about their advantages and disadvantages, how to use them effectively and how to counter them. So if anyone is interested in an actual debate - aside from my ranting above - on certain "encounter killers", like Charm Monster, I'm happy to oblige.

Wow, that got even longer than I thought. To anyone who stuck with this comment until here, thank you very much and I'm interested to hear, what you think.

Have a nice day, everyone and happy gaming!

The best book on strategy I've ever read is called "How to reassess your chess" link.

There are some really key things to be aware of.

1. Imbalances. Each player in magic is playing a different deck. And even if it's the same deck, you will have different opening hands. Know what cards are good and what cards are bad against each deck. Know what cards your opponent can interact with favorably and vice versa.
   
   
2. Come up with a plan. After you know what your opponent is likely to play, look at your initial hand and come up with a plan. A plan can be "Control the game until I get 6 lands to play elspeth on an empty board". Just randomly playing cards, even in a deck like RDW is going to lose you games. Recognize the weakness's and decide on a plan. Sideboarding plays into this a lot. If you are on the play after sideboarding and you feel like the agressor, then be agressive. Sometimes players will often become too passive after sideboard and ruin their opening hand.
   
   
3. Play intentionally. This is a hard one for a lot of players including myself. Everything you do should have a purpose. Take your time and do the math to decide the right decision. Figure out what cards would you lose to and see if you can afford to play around them. Make decisions based on odds and information you have.
   
   
4. Never blame your loss on luck. Although some games are impossible to win, there are always ways you can play better to improve your overall odds.
   
   
5. Mull aggressively. Mulling in draft and sealed is usually devastating, but not so in standard. Getting a chance to mulligan is huge and use it to your advantage.
   
   
6. Live for the game. If you want to be good, or even great then reading articles, brewing, playing daily are all good things. If you want to be the best, then make magic your life. Spend your free time playing it. Think about it as you fall asleep. Become obsessed. Look at Jim Harbaugh. That guy is insane when it comes to football. It's all he thinks about. And it makes him one of the best coaches around. If you aren't looking to go pro, then at least play magic daily and purposefully. Doing Momir dailies is not going to help you (very much).
   
   
7. Pick a competitive deck. It doesn't have to be the best, but as long as it's competitive, then stick with a deck, learn the ins and outs and become an expert.
   
   
   Anyway, even if you don't play chess, I highly recommend that book. It will make you better at games in general.

Thanks for the great question! I'll answer the way my mother always answer my long emails...

• Background? My background is in actually more on the visual creative side rather than the game design side! I graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design with a degree in Illustration. My thesis project was to create and illustrate an entire game on my own ("Landfall" mentioned in a couple other places in this thread). Of course I ended up focusing on (and enjoying more) designing the gameplay and player experience aspects of the game.
  
• Motivation? I really just want to design games and have people play them! If I'm lucky I'll break even on this project, haha. I've tried to keep everything as minimal and efficient as possible, to get the game to the people is my only real intent. It is incredibly satisfying when demoing the game to watch people truly enjoying something I've poured my blood, sweat, and tears into.
  
• What resources did you seek/find? I am lucky enough to have a fantastic day job to afford to keep the lights on (and the 3D printer running), and have done lots, and lots, and lots, and loooots of research. The thing they don't tell you is that when you want to get your game published through KS, its like getting a third whole new job (in addition to my day job and my board game design job). It is so in depth you can practically major in crowdfunding. I read a ton of stuff from Jamey Stegmaier, have been reading this book andthis book, and have done lots and lots of trial and error.
  
• Which resources were most helpful to you? Probably the 3D printer was one of my best investments as a tabletop game designer. It reaaaaally helps immerse the player (and myself) in the game I am creating if I can basically instantly create whatever components I want. (I purchased this affordable 3D printer and have had great success with it)
  
• What approach worked for you personally, and how is it different from other boardgame designers? This is a really good question. Board game designing isn't typically something that becomes someone's full time job. Each person who has made the leap usually starts somewhere vastly different from game designing, and I believe that gives each designer a very unique perspective to their games and the way they go about creating them. For me, those things are mostly visually creative-related. At work I do illustration, graphic design, photography, videography, video editing etc etc. So making a decent looking prototype is something that I was able to do (mostly) on my own, and similarly making a nice game trailer and digital ads was relatively easy for me. While I had the visual components down, I differ from other designers who have different characteristics that they bring into play like business experience, industry contacts, an in depth understanding of Kickstarter (I am pretty familiar with KS, have backed a few things, but I am by no means a superbacker myself).
  
• The biggest challenge you are proud to have overcome? Even though my campaign isn't at its goal just yet, I am proud at the amount of people I have been able to spark some interest and connection with through my game when starting basically from scratch. They say to have a successful campaign you need to have at least 10,000 emails when you launch, I had about 150 (I lucked out when my game trailer ended up blowing up on Reddit about a week before launch). It was very hot in that pigeon suit I wore for 4 days straight at PAX East promoting Crumbs, and it was exhausting taking a 5 day trip to NYC and demoing the game every day, but it was so worth it. This is my first game, and for someone starting with a near zero fanbase, I am proud my game has been able to touch this many people to begin with.

I play chess. My USCF rating is currently 2123... And I thought the sphere chess looked absolutely retarded at first too.

>Nah, I feel you should start from openings.

You shouldn't. Opening theory is quite dense and heavily influenced by computer analysis. You benefit more from trying to understand what you are trying to achieve, rather than trying to simply memorize some openings.

Logical Chess: Move by Move is a great book for anyone that has mastered the basics but is looking to learn more. You will pick up some opening knowledge along the way, learn how openings give rise to specific kinds of middle-games. And you will come across some endgames (although endgame basics are absent).

If you wish to seriously improve there are 3 parts:

• Understanding the reasons behind moves in the opening of a game - decisions regarding pawn structure are especially significant as these will determine the nature of the battle to come in the middle-game. For this - annotates games (like those in Logical Chess) are beneficial. Specific opening books are also useful but only after you've got a feel for what kind of middle-games you like (because then you know what kinds of openings to pick!). Other game collections (there are tons of great ones): Botvinnik: One Hundred Selected Games and for the more advanced Zurich 1953
  
• Tactics. Chess, like other things, has a large component of pattern recognition. Solving tactical problems from workbooks (there are hundreds of these, so I will recommend 2: Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games and 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations
  
• Endgames. Endgames are the most math-like in terms of study. You learn basic endgames (K+P vs lone K, K+R+P vs K+R, etc...). Once you have the basics, you can 'solve' more complicated positions by trading down (reducing them) to basic endings. Know nothing about endings? Here is one place to start: Pandolfini's Endgame Course. Dvoretsky's endgame books are also excellent.
  
  
  There is quite a lot of chess literature. If you enjoy chess and wish to study and improve there are plenty of ways to do that. If competing in tournaments interests you check out the United States Chess Federation if you are in the states. If you are abroad, check out FIDE. And of course there are online options such as chess.com, the Internet Chess Club, etc...
  
  Sorry... bit of an enthusiast :)
  

1. I'd definitely choose to spend my day picking my nose through every single conversation. I work with kids so they'd think it was HILARIOUS! Also, I could preface every single interaction with "It was either this or sand in my underwear and a pebble in my shoe".
   
2. No shoes, because shoes are the worst!
   
3. I don't really care all that much about apps... but I like the FalconPRO app for Twitter. It's pretty HSLD.
   
4. Macaroni and cheese :)
   
5. That when they were wearing shoes/boots and socks and driving, the bottoms of their feet would itch.
   
6. Hawaii. I would like to go because my best friend's hubby is stationed out there, so we would have a place to crash. I imagine it's very sunburn-y out there (I am a pasty, pasty lady). And gloriously warm and sunny. Really, I imagine it is the opposite of where I am now.
   
7. Person who can jam the most rusty nails through their hands (must provide pics for proof!) will win a wishlist item of my choosing <$5!!
   
8. There are number of land reserves that have pretty remote areas. You could build yourself a pretty solid camp and no one would notice. It's happened before here in Maine.
   
9. My dog and I would perform a duet where I bark "Jingle Bells" and she howls at me.
   
10. This is one of the best works of non-fiction I have ever read. My husband just finished this and absolutely loved it. He described it as fantastical historical fiction.
    
11. As a summer camp director, I am a legally bound mandated reporter. What that means is that if I suspect a child has been abused or neglected at home, I have to report that to the state. It is my least favorite part of my job.
    
12. Ah crap, you caught me with Pokemon cards. In my defense - I was bringing them in to give away, since I haven't touched them since 1998. (We don't allow Pokemon cards, or any other trading/gaming cards at after care or camp for a number of reasons. Not just because kids lose them or they make trades they regret, but because we do have kids whose families can't afford them and it makes those kids feel like shit.)
    
13. Did you go to summer camp as a kid? If you did - what's your favorite camp song? If not - what's your favorite silly song from your childhood?
    
14. The sound of someone forcefully dragging a knife across a plate.
    
15. That look my dog gives me that lets me know she loves me unconditionally <3
    
16. "No longer from head to foot than from hip to hip, she is spherical, like a globe, I could find out countries in her". Because COME ON! it is totally the original yo' momma is so fat joke.
    
17. Calamity Jane, Nefertiti, Captain Jack
    
18. In the kitchen at work, preparing snack for the middle schoolers.
    
19. I was a deviled egg. I wore a white t-shirt, taped a yellow construction paper oval to my tummy, and had devils horns/pitchfork/tail.
    
20. I sure did! No one I voted for won, but that wasn't the point.

Of course I'm biased because this is what I love to do for a living (teach about language), but I also find myself learning about language in my free time.

Here are my "Greatest Hits" of language people, programs, blogs, and readings, in no particular order (despite the fact that I've numbered them):

1. Geoff Nunberg's segment on NPR's Fresh Air. Link to the Geoff Nunberg archive on NPR
   
   
2. The "On Language" column in The New York Times Magazine. I like the current columnist, Ben Zimmer, but I'm partial to William Safire. Here's a link to Safire's "How to Read a Column"
   
   
3. There are a number of good language blogs. It's probably "cheating" to put them all in one item, but here goes:
   
   

• Johnson, the language blog at The Economist
  
  
• Language Log
  
  
• Languagehat
  
  

4. Books:
   
   

• Bill Bryson: The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way and Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States
  
  
• Expletive Deleted by Ruth Wajnryb
  
  

5. Random stuff: I like George Carlin's many humorous takes on language and Margaret Atwood's fiction and Dr. Seuss's many made-up and lovely sounding words.
   
   And I subscribe to /r/logophilia, which often has many amusing words, like pulchritudinous, an ugly word that means something beautiful.
   
   EDIT: And it's great to get a book on usage. I like Garner's Modern American Usage, but here's a list from Diana Hacker at Bedford of other good usage guides

Grab the 5th edition starter set, it will have a book for your DM on how to run the adventure, 5 pre-made characters so you can just get right into playing, and a set of dice.

Heads up. Like 2 minutes in everyone is going to realize they want their own set of dice rather than sharing one set as a group. They range from $5 to $15. Grab 'em before you start playing.

I'd also recommend getting a DM Screen for multiple benefits. On the inside are quick formulas and name/quest/monster tables and hints for the DM to use. The other benefit is the players can't see what the DM rolls.

The DM's #1 job is to make sure people have the most fun they possibly can. So if he rolls something that would wreck your party, and decides that wouldn't be very fun, he can fudge the roll to something else, and since the DM is rolling behind a screen, the players are none the wiser.

Almost every group starts out rotating the role of DM because everyone wants to have a character. This isn't the wrong way of doing it, but every group eventually comes to the realization that they're better off if one person is the full-time DM.

Here are some good rules of thumb for DMing.

Make sure whoever is DMing is up to the task and understands their job is to maximize the amount of fun for everyone else, not necessarily themselves. A good DM will find enjoyment in his players having fun. He will challenge them, not punish them.

It is not PCs vs DM. To liken it to Skyrim, it's 3-5 Dovakhiin traveling together, and the DM is Skyrim. He is the world and all it's inhabitants. The world isn't out to get you, but if you make poor decisions there will be consequences.

----

>These games take like a week or so to finish.

It took us like 5 or 6 sessions that were 3-4 hours each to get through the adventure in this pack, and we only had 3 players.

The game never really finishes. It's like Skyrim, completing an adventure doesn't end the game, you just move on to the next one.

----

Check out /r/DnD, it's way more active. And for the whoever DMs /r/behindthescreen and /r/loremasters are helpful.

If you want to just know buzzwords to throw around, spend a bunch of time clicking around on Wikipedia, and watch stuff like Crash Course on YouTube. It's easy to absorb, and you'll learn stuff, even if it's biased, but at least you'll be learning.

If you want to become SMARTER, one of my biggest pieces of advice is to either carry a notebook with you, or find a good note taking app you like on your phone. When someone makes a statement you don't understand, write it down and parse it up.

So for instance, write down "Social Democracy", and write down "The New Deal", and go look them up on simple.wikipedia.com (Put's all of it in simplest language possible), it's a great starting point for learning about any topic, and provides you a jumping board to look more deeply into it.

If you are really curious about starting an education, and you absolutely aren't a reader, some good books to start on are probably:

"Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words" by Randall Munroe

"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

"Philosophy 101" by Paul Kleinman, in fact the ____ 101 books are all pretty good "starter" books for people that want an overview of a topic they are unfamiliar with.

"The World's Religions" by Huston Smith

"An Incomplete Education" by Judy Jones and Will Wilson

Those are all good jumping off points, but great books that I think everyone should read... "A History of Western Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell, "Western Canon" by Harold Bloom, "Education For Freedom" by Robert Hutchins, The Norton Anthology of English Literature; The Major Authors, The Bible.

Read anything you find critically, don't just swallow what someone else says, read into it and find out what their sources were, otherwise you'll find yourself quoting from Howard Zinn verbatim and thinking you're clever and original when you're just an asshole.

I've been playing pretty religiously for roughly two years. I'm ~1600 on Chess.com.

ChessTempo is an incredibly valuable resource. With much persistence-- I try to do exercises on there at least an hour a day and sometimes more --my blitz/standard tactics and endgame ratings lie between 1500-1600 and continue to improve. Also, this book did wonders for my play.

In my playing, I've found "jumps" where I leap ~100 rating points which can probably be attributed to new discoveries in my tactical awareness and knowledge of theory (albeit being little in comparison to someone like Zibbit :-).

Obviously awesome people like Zibbit, Kingscrusher, Jerry (ChessNetwork), Christof (ChessExplained) and Greg (Greg Shahade) publish content frequently on YouTube and it's always interesting to revisit some of the material months after viewing as I often see the position more maturely than I had initially.

I hear so much talk from those around my rating of opening repertoire but so little about endgame theory, implications of the position, pawn structure & the notion of majority/minority, and key squares within a particular position -- these are ideas that often the big boys that I just referenced talk about and are ideas that I try to better understand through the analysis of my own games and when I do some "Guess the Move" with GM games. I'm liking the results.

We all were below 1000 at one point... it's about investing time and patience in what gives you the best results in your play. I think the staples of study are tactics and endgame theory but game analysis, best move, "guess the move", opening theory, and all that other fun stuff should be implemented in your study and you should pay close attention to which of those (if not all) are improving your play most.

Good luck.

First of all, here is a link to the Basic Rules, which are provided by WotC for free.

To familiarize yourself with how the numbers on a character sheet are created, I suggest that you try to "reverse engineer" the character sheets that come with the adventure (you can download the sheets of the adventure here and you can find additional pregenerated characters here). Say if you have a problem at any point.

>[...] how does a DM know when those other stats are needed? His discretion?

As for how ability checks and skills are used, check out p. 57ff. of the Basic Rules. Yes, it is always the DM's discretion that decides when a player has to make an ability check. The adventure from the starter pack will include many such abilitychecks, and it always says, which ability is used and what the difficulty of the check is. You can take that as a guideline.

>Does the DM get to decide the difficulty of everything like a trap or a boulder the player has picked up?

Page 58 of the Basic Rules includes a short list of "Typical Difficulty Classes" as a guideline for the DM. 10 is easy, 15 is medium, and so on.

>I also sort of assume it's up to the DM to say "roll a stealth check and roll a strength check etc."

That's correct.

>Is there a list of what each monster's AC is and if so where can I find that? The monster's handbook or is there somewhere free?

Every monster that appears in the adventure is described at the end of the adventure that comes with the Starter Set, including its stat block, which its AC is a part of. You can find additional monster stat blocks in the DM-Basic Rules for free.

>Can I buy just one starter set and one player handbook and be set? Or would you also recommend the DM guide to someone who has never DMed before?

At the beginning you do not need anything beyond what is included in the Starter Set. It might be helpful to print an additional version of the Basic Rules for your players (which I linked to earlier and and they are also included in the Starter Set). However, while the Starter Set comes with one set of dice, I suggest that you get additional dice sets. For the first session, it might suffice to get one for the DM and one for the players, but ideally everyone has his own set of dice (and the higher the level the players are, the more dice are rolled).

As for the DMG or other books, I would hold off on any additional books until you have a few sessions under your belt, or even played through the adventure that comes with the Starter Set.

>What do you guys use on the back of a DM screen more than anything?

With back you mean the player side? I bought the standard 5e Screen, but you could simply assemble your own screen. You will know from experience which resources you might want to put there the most. I also use the screen to keep track of initiative by placing folded paper with the players'/monsters' names on them on the top of it. For the beginning, a simple piece of cardboard is enough, or you could simply go without a screen at all.
___

Additionally, may I suggest that you check out (Spoilers in the next link) this youtube series by WotC in which an experienced
DM plays through the first part of LMoP with a miyed group of experienced players and newbies.

Your players don't have to be experts prior to the game, but they should read the Basic Rules (p. 57 - 77) at least once,
so they know their options. The Dungeon Master generally is expected to have a better grasp on the game and should read
them multiple times in addition to the adventure they are currently playing, so he knows what is going on. Expect the
game to be a little slow the first time you play, as you have to get familiar with the rules, so basically it is the
same as for any more complex board game.

The Starter Set comes with pregenerated characters, and I suggest to use them (as did my group when we first started). While it is fun to create your own characters, playing a prewritten character allows you to concentrate on the game instead of your character too much.

I'm pretty fond of The 99 Critical Shots in Pool. It goes into some basics and a ton of shot situations with explanation. It's a great resource, imo, for nearly all levels of play.

For the mental game, I'm a huge fan of Pleasures of Small Motions. It's a deep dive into the mental game and talks about concentration vs focus and helps the reader with some mental exercises. Jury is out in this sub whether it's all that valuable, though I have found it to be a great help to my game. IMO, even at an early stage this book could be useful. Frustration can be a big problem for a beginner trying to get comfortable with the game and having some insight to the mental side can be a benefit.

Welcome to pool! I hope you enjoy playing and fall in love with it like we all have. :)

Random selection of some of my favorites to help you expand your horizons:

The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan is a great introduction to scientific skepticism.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris is a succinct refutation of Christianity as it's generally practiced in the US employing crystal-clear logic.

Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor by Anthony Everitt is the best biography of one of the most interesting men in history, in my personal opinion.

Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski is a jaw-dropping book on history, journalism, travel, contemporary events, philosophy.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a great tome about... everything. Physics, history, biology, art... Plus he's funny as hell. (Check out his In a Sunburned Country for a side-splitting account of his trip to Australia).

The Annotated Mona Lisa by Carol Strickland is a thorough primer on art history. Get it before going to any major museum (Met, Louvre, Tate Modern, Prado, etc).

Not the Impossible Faith by Richard Carrier is a detailed refutation of the whole 'Christianity could not have survived the early years if it weren't for god's providence' argument.

Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman are six of the easier chapters from his '63 Lectures on Physics delivered at CalTech. If you like it and really want to be mind-fucked with science, his QED is a great book on quantum electrodynamics direct from the master.

Lucy's Legacy by Donald Johanson will give you a really great understanding of our family history (homo, australopithecus, ardipithecus, etc). Equally good are Before the Dawn: Recovering the Lost History of Our Ancestors by Nicholas Wade and Mapping Human History by Steve Olson, though I personally enjoyed Before the Dawn slightly more.

Memory and the Mediterranean by Fernand Braudel gives you context for all the Bible stories by detailing contemporaneous events from the Levant, Italy, Greece, Egypt, etc.

After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton is an awesome read if you don't know much about Islam and its early history.

Happy reading!

edit: Also, check out the Reasonable Doubts podcast.

Are you looking for how to make games? Not just programming, but actually make them? I have some suggestions, but they often aren't about programming. There is a million books about programming, but finding those that talk about the ideas and ways to successively improve is a better point to start from.

• The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
  
• Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games
  
• Kobold Guide to Board Game Design
  
  Making video games is easy. Put the pitchfork down and let me explain. Anyone can open unity and load some assets and call it a game. Making good games is difficult, and even if you are not looking at card/board games, you should be prepared to test your game on paper. It is easier to make iterative improvement if you can look for mechanical and mathematical issues by scrawling some notes on paper cards.
  
  For a book that covers both programming and game design, I also suggest this one.
  
  These books will cover the psychology, the pitfalls, etc that come with making a game. You do not need a class to make a game portfolio. You can often get things done faster by a book, because it's goal is to teach as you read, not set a timer for 15 weeks. It can assume you will do it over 26 weeks or more if the book is huge.
  
  Anyway, this is a much larger reply than I intended. Hopefully these are informative. If nothing else, they are significantly cheaper than a class.

No. Very no. A few reasons:

First, the social problems caused by overpopulation discussed by others in this thread and books like The Postmortal.

Secondly, at best it would be really fucking boring after a while, but more likely it would turn into a nightmare. I suppose that if you knew you were going to be immortal, you could make some uber-safe investments and ride them until you were a bajillionaire, and then do whatever you want on this world for as long as it lasts; go back to school and get PhDs in everything and make all sorts of discoveries and inventions, and basically be a superhero. But after you've done all that, then you still have a literal eternity left to live. If you're smart you'll have devoted substantial energy to figuring out how you're going to get off of Earth and onto some other habitable planet before the Sun becomes a red giant. Maybe that's not even possible, in which case have fun enduring whatever surviving is like while the Sun incinerates the Earth. Even if it is possible to travel to another inhabitable world, you'll inevitably run into a similar problem wherever you go next, so in the best case you're probably going to spend untold trillions of years just traveling between different star systems. Which I'm sure is a spectacular experience at first, but anything will get boring after a thousand years, let alone ten billion. In any event, eventually your luck would run out and you'd end up on a planet with insufficient resources to allow you to get to another star system (again, that's probably the one we're on right now), in which case ultimately you'd just end up in a near-endless orbit around a brown dwarf star, waiting for the heat death of the universe to finally annihilate you. (Or not? What then?) Anyone who considers true immortality desirable doesn't understand what it would mean to be alive for literally eternity.

Finally, life just wears you down after a while. Have you ever talked to someone in their late 90s? They're almost universally ready to go. Not just because they're always in physical pain either: they have seen and done enough. Life contains a lot of joy but also a lot of pain, and it all gets to be really tiring after very long.

So no, I just wouldn't want to live forever under any circumstances. If there were some magical way to extend my life an extra 20 or 30, I guess maybe all the way up to 100 years or so, I might cautiously consider doing it, just because I'm curious to see what will happen in the future. But ultimately, I'm glad my life will someday come to an end.

https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891

You've made a great choice deciding you want to play this game. It's awesome.

The above book (it's a 5 part series) was my introduction and was very helpful for helping me get stronger. See my posts in :

https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/bed32g/learn_to_play_go_post_brain_tumor_surgery_version/el76mlm/?context=8&depth=9 (click "show parent comments" to see the whole conversation)

Also, I would recommend playing online, you can get more progress by playing (and reviewing) games with real people. I recommend KGS, the Kiseido Go Server, it's a pretty social Go server, so there's almost always people who will review your games with you, if you ask. I'm on there as LeGoSam if you'd like me to teach you, although I'm not too strong. \^\^

Anyway, I hope I can help this way!

>https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891

>You've made a great choice deciding you want to play this game. It's awesome.

>The above book (it's a 5 part series) was my introduction and was very helpful for helping me get stronger. See my posts in :

>https://www.reddit.com/r/baduk/comments/bed32g/learn_to_play_go_post_brain_tumor_surgery_version/el76mlm/?context=8&depth=9 (click "show parent comments" to see the whole conversation)

>Also, I would recommend playing online, you can get more progress by playing (and reviewing) games with real people. I recommend KGS, the Kiseido Go Server, it's a pretty social Go server, so there's almost always people who will review your games with you, if you ask. I'm on there as LeGoSam if you'd like me to teach you, although I'm not too strong. ^^

>Anyway, I hope I can help this way!

Thanks so much!

This is a tricky task. Many movies don't even bother to try and sound authentic, other than to remove references to words that obviously didn't exist back then. Even then, they're far from perfect in removing modern words. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard the word "scrounge" (which came out of WWI) in movies set long before WW1. Most people won't notice those little linguistic mistakes and won't really matter.

We don't have sound recordings for most of recorded history. The International Phonetic Alphabet didn't get started in the late nineteenth century, and wasn't very widely used at first, so even books that discuss pronunciation usually did it by reference to other common words - some of which are pronounced differently now. What we do know of historical language comes mostly from documents, and at many points in history, written and spoken language were different. For example, in the US in the eighteenth century, the conventions for written language were very formal and involved the use of a lot of flowery language and formal expressions (e.g. "I am your most humble and obedient servant" as a valediction). Oral communication in daily use was generally less formal and flowery than written language, though in certain situations (e.g. lawyers speaking in court), the spoken language would be closer to written documents. Written records also tend to show us how the wealthy and educated used language, which isn't always indicative of how everyday people spoke as they went about their lives.

Hell, even once we started having audio recordings, those recordings didn't always reflect the way people actually spoke. For example, nobody really spoke the way people spoke on early radio and television. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent

The reality is that nobody knows for sure how people spoke prior to the twentieth century, and certainly you can't rely on your average movie-goer knowing how people spoke back then.

We have a better idea about how words were used and have changed meaning over the years but, again, most viewers won't know that the meaning has changed and you run the risk of confusing people if you're too authentic. It's not like you can have margin notes in a movie. :)

There are a few resources around the web that can help you get a feel for the language changes, like:

https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/C18Guide.pdf

http://mentalfloss.com/article/29761/when-did-americans-lose-their-british-accents

https://www.theclassroom.com/how-to-speak-18th-century-english-12083381.html

One common mistake made is to make nineteenth century Americans sound British. According to second link above, the reality is that the British people used to sound more like Americans, not the other way around. At least one person has argued that the best example we have of what eighteenth century rural Americans sounded like is Yosemite Sam, believe it or not. I don't remember for sure where I read that, but I think it may have been Bill Bryson in https://www.amazon.com/Made-America-Informal-History-Language/dp/0380713810/ref=sr_1_4 . NB: I am not a linguist, and am only passing on stuff I've seen or read... and my memory is far from perfect. :)

Assuming you don't have access to a linguistic historian, your best bet is probably to find some other movies or shows from the time period your screenplay is set in, and look at how they wrote dialogue. Some possible suggestions: Deadwood, True Grit (Coen Bros version), Gangs of New York, etc. Note, none of these are historically accurate. The swearing in Deadwood is very accurate, and True Grit used a convention of minimizing contractions, even though contractions were widely used then in spoken language.

You want to sound authentic, not be authentic. :)

Sleep as much as you can. Get a very nice bed. Get black out curtains and make sure you have AC after night shifts so you can sleep well and get up and do it again the next night. Do not be late. 80% of success is showing up. Don't forget to eat, pee etc. - plan it into your day...you may find yourself irritable and forgetful at 4am and it may be you forgot to eat or pee.

Invest in your education, or use education money (we got ~$800) to have an "ectopic brain," reference smartphone app (I like PEPID (Emergency physician) but its expensive) to look up everything you are not sure of, or have never heard before. I used this , a high quality monthly podcast, and test questions to get 2nd highest inservice exam score in my residency without doing any book reading, which I hate. (WARNING! YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY)

Trust no one - verify everything...you will get burned constantly by people telling you things then writing something else in the chart...think "prelim read".

Do it yourself - do not cut corners at this stage of the game - be complete. Never do the "patient looks good from door" note, or "nurse says patient okay".

Do it NOW...get things going early (consults, procedures, discharges, etc.)- write notes after if you are crunched for time. Short notes are much better than book chapters copied from the previous day's note. Think Haiku - focus on the salient points; minimize long swaths of negative this and that. Make sure the plan is clear and legible.

EXAMINE your patients! This includes looking under the diaper (peds and geriatrics!), looking in the ears, doing the rectal exam, practicing your fundoscopy, looking at the sacrum, taking off and examining all areas under dressings.

DO NOT LIE TO ANYBODY! "I don't know," or "I didn't check," is perfectly acceptable for an intern as a response. Lying will be quickly discovered and your reputation is all you got, my friend.

Do not accept abuse from anybody, especially attendings, senior residents, consultants, chief residents. Being called stupid or a dummy is NOT okay. That is completely unprofessional! But, do not respond, do not "fight back". --take it to your program director at once, let them deal with it, that is their job.

Do not feel inferior because you don't know something - if you didn't need to be taught, you wouldn't be in residency. Instead - bone up on the subject.

Always jump at the opportunity to teach, do case write-ups, short lectures - this is the best way to learn.

If you have tests in your future, study a little bit (15-30 mins) every day without fail and you will do well without freaking or having to cram too much.

Read House of God Timeless wisdom, like "gomers go to ground", and "if you don't want to find a fever, don't take a temperature".

Exercise every day - again - 15-30 mins is perfect...can be as little as a walk outside to a round of situps and pushups - mene sano en corpe sano!

I could go on forever. Before you know it, intern year will be over. THERE IS AN END TO INTERNSHIP!

Good luck!

I'd love to introduce you to 3 marvelous tools that make GMing easier than it appears to be now for you and far more procedural.

http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1434824594 is a great book on playing with little prep

http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Worlds-RPG-Barbarians-S2P30002/dp/8393179653/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1370793052&sr=1-1&keywords=beasts+and+barbarians has a fantastic adventure generator in it that works perfectly with D&D. It's based on drawing 4 cards out of a deck, and using the order + suits + ranks of the cards to procedurally generate adventures + hooks + twists + rewards. You do that 3 times, write down the answers, and you have close to a month of play

Lastly, read the fronts section of this: http://book.dwgazetteer.com/Fronts.html which explains how you can easily build "things happening in the world" which setup interesting situations, which will do X Y Z without interference, then you can just make up what happens based off players changing the effects of the situation.

Lastly, if you REALLY still hate DMing, I suggest swapping to a few sessions of InSpectres (where the story is generated by players), Microscope (story generated by all) or Fiasco (not even fantasy, story generated by strong needs), which could help generate some ideas/interest in another person to GM

> I want to start a Pathfinder group with two players who just want to have fun and don't mind if it's not a real campaign

You're wanting to use one of the most complicated, rules intensive, and prep-heavy games on the market. In a perfect world, that's the first thing I would change.

There are a variety of TTRPGs out there in all genres that require little, or often times explicitly no prepwork of any sort to play very nicely. For instance, when I play Blades in the Dark, I keep my stuff in a 3-ring binder. It gets shut when we finish the session, it gets opened when we start, and I don't touch it otherwise.

But the normal response is "but I want to play Pathfinder because (insert whatever reason here) and no other game will do".

Read this and this and do yourself a favor and read this and take what you can from it.

There are a few other tricks, but that's a pretty reasonable starting point.

Other than the best solution, which is to play a no-or-low-prep game.

Another consideration: are you sure you want to play a TTRPG not not a legacy boardgame like Decent, or Gloomhaven, or some other legacy game like that? Especially if you're mostly interested in the mechanical aspects of fighting and such, it's a good consideration.

Ah, I love non-fictin as well. Though most of my favorites are more science oriented, there should be a few on here that pique your interest.

• Salt: A World History - A fascinating history of humanity's favorite mineral. Wars have been fought over it, it sustained whole economies ... you'll be surprised to learn just how much of human history has been influenced by salt.
  
• A Short History of Nearly Everything - One of my favorite books. Bryson tells the story and history of science through amazing discoveries and stories about the quirky people who made them.
  
• Homage to Catalonia - A mostly auto-biographical account of George Orwell's time fighting for the communists in the Spanish Civil War.
  
• Capital: Vol. 1 Marx's seminal work and a logically sound criticism of capitalism. Whether or not you agree with his proposed solutions, his criticism is spot on. Depending on how leftist you are, you may have already read The Communist Manifesto. It's a nice introduction to Marx's ideas, but you should really go straight to the source and just read Capital.
  
• Why We Believe What We Believe - The neurology of belief, what could be more interesting? The authors go into great detail on how belief happens at the neurological level, as well as summing up nicely all sorts of findings from differing fields relating to belief. The most interesting part is the research the authors themselves conducted: fMRI scans of people praying, Buddhist monks meditating, Pentecostals speaking in tongues, and an atheist meditating.

> He also frequently talks about his love of space and his extreme desire to venture out there

There's this book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, that has astronauts talk about how it actually is to be in space, it's filled with stories from engineers, researchers, some history of space flight and a ton of trivia. Your boyfriend might really like it and at $14 you can add other small gifts.

If he's more visual, he might also enjoy Universe by Martin Rees, a visual guide to the Universe - the pages are filled with pictures and interesting facts, everything we know about the Universe, very interesting and stunning to look at. Admittedly more expensive at $35 considering the high quality pictures.

Shameless self promotion coming right up too:

> Walking Dead [...] Comic Con

By any chance, he might like The Walking Dead Boardgame and you could both play together or with friends.

With video games, it all depends on what games he plays. Portal? This Portal 2 Desk Defender is very fun to play with and so is this Wheatley LED Flashlight. I'm not sure what else to suggest from your details, maybe it would give you a few ideas if you checked my SO and mine's website, introduce some details about him and see what gifts come up if they catch your eye.

I hope some things were useful!

Sure.

If evolution is of interest to you (and if you have interest in the intersection between theology and science), Finding Darwin's God by Kenneth Miller explores both sides of the debate and debunks many common misconceptions about evolution. I first read it in a college biology topics course.

If you like the topic of 'creationist attempts to dispute or disrupt the teaching of evolution in the classroom', Summer of the Gods, about the Scopes Monkey Trial, is a great book (although not explicitly about science).

You may find The Selfish Gene by Dawkins worth a read.

Books by Mary Roach can be fun; I've read Stiff and enjoyed it, and Packing for Mars was pretty good as well.

I have heard good things about The Emperor of All Maladies, though I haven't read it myself.

Our Stolen Future, about contamination of the environment by artificially produced estrogen and estrogen analogs, is dated but interesting.

The Discovery of Insulin by Bliss is a great story about how science happens and how scientific discovery occurs, and it lays out what may be the most important discovery in medical science during the 20th century.

Were those types of books what you were looking for?

Tough to decide between the two, but it's the same author and they're tied together so I'll just go with it: Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States and The Mother Tongue - English And How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. As a lover of language and its history, it's really interesting to see the links between usage in Britain and America.

I didn't know of Bryson before randomly buying these (damn, do I love book stores) and plan on buying more of his in the future when my reading list has been pared down a bit. (I've since learned he's very well-known and my outdoors-loving, recovering alcoholic dad read a Bryson book about getting sober and hiking the Appalachians a few years back.) His writing is very engaging and incredibly funny. I've read a lot of other linguistic books that weren't nearly as "fun" to read as these. Highly recommended.

Starting to build a personal library since I am quiet young at the moment. Wish is too to have a 30000+ library like Umberto Eco’s. But would be happy if I happen to manage 15000+ like Nassim Taleb since it takes lot of money to build a good library.

Have around 700+ physical books having started 4 years back. Many of them are in my mother tongue(not Hindi). Handpicked 1000+ books as epub/mobi/pdf since I was initially reading in a computer and Western books were very costly and were difficult to source to my tier-3 city(Thanks to amazon I get these days now-a-days and when deals like this are announced they are god-send).

I haven’t read completely though. I have skimmed and read here and there a minority of them so have a transactional memory of those stuff. Only read a few completely.

Another 30 GB of book dump(somewhat computer related stuff) is all also there but it includes lot of .txt and .doc other than pdf collected during my teenage years.

Personal rule is to buy books below 300 bucks( but RandomHouse or Penguin mark most of the books above 500+ esp Western ones or wait till I find a good deal).In book deals, Amazon beats all other sites hands-down) . Mostly into non-fiction.

Costliest purchase is An Incomplete Education by Judy Jones and Willam Wilson purchased back in 2008 when Flipkart was a newbie. If you like trivia stuff and non-fiction it is a pure diamond, which I heartily recommend.

Here is a quote from The Black Swan about library :
> The writer Umberto Eco belongs to that small class of scholars who are encyclopedic, insightful, and nondull. He is the owner of a large personal library (containing thirty thousand books), and separates visitors into two categories: those who react with “Wow! Signore professore dottore Eco, what a library you have. How many of these books have you read?” and the others—a very small minority—who get the point is that a private library is not an ego-boosting appendages but a research tool. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means … allow you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at your menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.

Another one by Arthur Schopenhauer on books:
> Buying books would be a good thing if one could also buy the time to read them in: but as a rule the purchase of books is mistaken for the appropriation of their contents.

I know, mea culpa :)

I've always heard good things about Edgar Rice Burrough's The Land that Time Forgot though I've sadly never read it myself. And, hey, it's free!

As far as science non-fiction, I consider A Short History of Nearly Everything to be absolutely essential since it covers so very much in a tremendously entertaining way. Also, if you are interested in physics but don't have any background in it I recommend any of Michio Kaku's books such as his latest Physics of the Future. He writes in an accessible manner that distills all the things that make the ongoing developments in physics exciting. I credit reading his books many years ago with getting me started in the sciences. Lastly, for learning about the universe, you can never go far wrong with Carl Sagan's Cosmos. It is easy to see from reading it why he is considered one of the greatest of the science popularizers.

cs1098,

That's really thoughtful of you! I'll try giving you what items I think both gals/girls would appreciate.

1. Good, Non-greasy hand lotion. Washing our hands so much dries them out.
   
   
2. These sweet pens: http://www.staples.com/BIC-4-Color-Retractable-Ballpoint-Pens-Medium-Point-Blue-Barrel/product_168757?cid=PS:GooglePLAs:168757&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=168757&KPID=168757&cvosrc=PLA.google-SALES.Office%20Supplies&lsft=cid:PS-_-GooglePLAs-_-168757,kpid:168757,adtype:pla,channel:online&gclid=CKvmp6KO6tACFYK3wAod38oP6A
   
   
3. Instant Starbucks coffee packets.
   
   
4. Dayquil/Nightquil combination packets, for when she gets sick and has to power through a shift. Actually- a sort of "medicine kit" would be awesome: include ibuprofen, cough drops, tampons, contact solution, tissues- the list goes on.
   
   
5. A sleek "journal," whose sole purpose is to write down meaningful thoughts/moments. In dark times people tend to forget these, so (for me) it's helpful to reflect on them. Check out https://www.domesticdomestic.com/products/field-notes-ruled-memo-books-ruled-ruled?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=2476234308&gclid=CL_ds4aP6tACFZA2aQodf4QEAg.
   
   
6. A copy of "House of God," by Sameul Shem. https://www.amazon.com/House-God-Samuel-Shem/dp/0425238091
   
   
7. A Visa Giftcard, to be used on anything she desires.
   
   All the best,
   
   -wtffng
   

I'm doing the same thing. At the beginning of my story, the young protagonist from an old earth colony "runs away" from the planet by stowing onto a departing spaceship. Why would he have to run away to have a chance at a life in space if the planet's colonized?

Whenever I explain the premise, everyone's immediately enchanted and captivated. It's immensely compelling. And it's throwaway background for the setting of the book. It would only be mentioned in passing as exposition.

It's probably a sign that I'm writing the wrong book.

The best thing to do is to get in the habit of thinking of things logically. Look at Star Trek? Massive computer cores and printed digital readouts with data tapes. Black stars (the term "black hole" was finalized a year after the episode). Half of everything makes logical if sometimes dated sense for 1967, and the other half became real in the intervening 45 years because it inspired engineers.

So decide if you're doing hard sci-fi (technology-based, hard science), soft sci-fi (person- or situation-based, lesser or no focus on science) or space opera (pew pew lol space adventure!) and work from there. watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. Read about the NASA moon programs Gemini, Mercury, and Apollo, read about Skylab, and read about the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Know that in Russian that last one's called Экспериментальный полёт «Союз» — «Аполлон»: "Experimental flight Soyuz-Apollo".

Real life will teach you quite a lot about how humans get along, much less aliens. And history can often come alive. I mean, just look what I found in the absolute best book at the library about life in space?

You can also look at various resources. Probably the far more comprehensive (and second-most fun) was Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach.

Just give an intriguing premise with a consistent setting and compelling human characters and the rest will fall into place.

not super math related but you should introduce him to chess, im sure he would love it. the internet is very helpful for improving at chess, but if screen time is an issue there are many great chess puzzle books/ strategy books out there e.g. Laszlo Polgar’s book:
Chess

• Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan is a great overview of the science of statistics, without being too much like a lecture. After reading it, you'll have a better understanding of what statistics are just silly (like in ads or clickbait news) and what are actually important (like in scientific studies).
  
  
• You on a Diet by Roizen and Oz is touted as a diet book, and it kind of is. I recommend it because it's a great resource for basic understanding the science behind the gastrointestinal system, and how it links to the brain.
  
  
• All of Mary Roach's books are excellent overviews of science currently being done, I've read Stiff (the science of human bodies, post-mortem), Spook ("science tackles the afterlife"), Packing for Mars (the science of humans in space), and Bonk (sex), and they are all very easy to understand, but scientifically appropriate. I'm sure "Gulp" is good too, although I haven't read that one yet.
  
  
• "How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming" by Mike Brown is a great, accessible overview of exactly why Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet, told by the man who started the controversy.
  
  
• "A Brief History of Time" by Stephen Hawking is a little denser, material-wise, but still easy to understand (as far as theoretical physics goes, at least!). Hawking explains the history of physics and the universe, as well as the future of the discipline. While there is a bit more jargon than some pop-science books, I think an entry-level scientist can still read and understand this book.
  

You jest, but it turns out that selecting for these missions, along with stuff like selecting for astronauts, is mostly about stuff like how you get along with people. Researchers now believe that mixed gender teams are best precisely because you end up with pair bonding and stabler psychologies.

I strongly recommend the brilliant and readable PACKING FOR MARS which is all about this stuff. She talks to a lot of antarctic scientists.

http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life-ebook/dp/B003YJEXUM/

I love the Mental Floss History of the World and Mental Floss History of the United States. Those two may be exactly what you're looking for. Also, check out Sarah Vowell. Assasination Vacation is great. Bill Bryson's work is excellent. A Short History of Nearly Everything is mind-blowing and I've heard great things about At Home which is next on my reading list. :)

Since no one has tossed out this idea yet, I would look into Janice Kim's books as well http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372733697&sr=8-1&keywords=janice+kim. They are well organized and concise. More appropriate for you if you're just looking for broad points about the game. If you've decided to get compulsively stronger though, then you will definitely need other books.

And if you're feeling overwhelmed by all the suggestions, my question to you is how serious you are about the game. If this is just for fun and casual play, definitely start with Janice Kim's book. Most of the other advice given is for players looking to become as strong a player as possible.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.

Atul Gawande - Better, Complications, and checklist manifesto.

Sandeep Jauhar - Intern

Jerome Groopman - How doctor's think

Michael Collins - Hot lights, cold steel and Blue collar, blue scrubs

Samuel Shem - House of God

Brian Eule - Match day

Paul Ruggieri - Confessions of a surgeon

Emily R. Transue - On call

Okay so I was in the same position you are in right now. I wanted to read as much as I could because I truly found it fascinating. I read these books and I'm glad I did. These books just give you an idea of how hard doctors work and what the life of a doctor is like. Another recommendation is Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential. It has nothing to do with medicine but I read it and I think you should too. He talks about the life of a chef and how perfection and long long hours are demanded of him. I feel like there are some overlaps between the different settings. Chef/doctor and Restaurant/hospital. Anyways, This list should last you a long time. Hope you enjoy.


Edit: Added links.

I already made a post but I also have to recommend: You Are Not So Smart : http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-So-Smart/dp/1592406599

He has a website too (youarenotsosmart.com), but as far as "changing the way you see the world", well, this will definitely change your understanding of how your mind actually works, definitely changing the way you see EVERYTHING. Fascinating, fun read with LOTS of examples of studies and very wide range of topics. Lots of fun.

Arguably what teaches you what makes a move good or bad at 1300 leve are the tactics puzzles and endgames. The standard for this type of learning is: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1890085138/ and its the standard for good reason. If you don't want a course but more a good book of chess aphorisms and rules of thumb: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936490323 and somewhat harder: https://www.amazon.com/Wisest-Things-About-Chess-Batsford/dp/1906388008. A good book on theory that will have you learn theory as it develops and is fun to read if you like great games is: https://smile.amazon.com/Masters-Chessboard-Richard-Reti-ebook/dp/B006ZQISDY/

Pen Light It's probably a little too bright but it's still awesome none-the-less
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008BFS5 The stylus might be more appropriate

I have also heard great things about the book The House of God even if you are not religious. I have not had a chance to read it yet but it's on my list.

If you are trying to spend a little more money an engraves stethoscope (I recommend the Cardiology III) is always appreciated.

It's important to find your own style of GMing, so that you are comfortable running the games you want to run instead of worrying about if you're doing it right. Try watching videos/listening to podcasts of people running games, lots of them. Even games you probably won't end up running just to see different styles of GMs running games. Observe other GMs to look at how they handle situations you're worried about and how you can use what they did to run your own game better.

If you're looking for more concrete advice, then I recommend Play Unsafe (Amazon has the physical book cheap). It is a lot of advice on how to get better at rolling with the curve balls that get thrown at you by the players. It is written to try show how the techniques of improv can help you run a better game easier.

It also helps a lot if you talk to your players about what everyone wants/expects from the campaign. Having them help decide if they want a combat heavy or rules lite or exploration or mystery/intrigue style of campaign can save you a lot of wasted prep.

You must read these two books:

The Illuminatus Trilogy

Foucault's Pendulum.

Both are amazing books near to the topic - the first is a huge spoof that's hilarious and heavily popularized Discordianism (All hail Eris!). The second is a seminal piece of literature by one of the best living authors and everybody should read it...it's about some publishers who put together 'the grand conspiracy' of the Illuminati and suddenly are embroiled in what they created.

I wish the Illuminati was real...the world would be a heck of a lot cooler place!

i recently read a book called play unsafe about improving your GMing style and abilities, largely by practicing improvisation techniques. i found it enjoyable and with lots of usable ideas and advice. it's a quick read at 44 pages.

i got the reference to that book from the introduction of another book that i am reading called "Unframed, The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters." it in turn is from a selection of titles on game mastering that i picked up from the (still current) bundle of holding worldbuilder's toolkit which also seems pretty decent. there is a lot of material in those books that i am sure will give pretty much any gm some new ideas and help improve their game.

Surprised I didn't see this:

Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything

It's not as academically oriented as I think the OP would like, but it's a great read and surprisingly encompasses a lot. Bryson, if memory serves me, got his name in travel writing and he makes Short History very interesting and a good read.

More than just requiring it, Dungeon World is particularly good at teaching improv.

The biggest thing is to focus on the GM Moves. You're improvising, but you're improvising within a very rigid system. The GM Moves aren't suggestions. When you GM Dungeon World, literally all you do is make GM Moves. Especially at first, you should keep the GM Moves in front of you 100% of the time, and you shouldn't be afraid to take a minute each time before you speak to deliberately look at the GM Moves and pick one.

Probably the biggest mistake newer GMs make is to think that GM Moves are things you do to punctuate your improv - like you're just riffing and then, when you want to "make something happen", you do a GM Move. That's how player moves work (to a degree), but it's not how GM Moves work, and playing like that will cause the game to stall out, especially when players are rolling a lot of successes.

GM Moves are the only kind of thing you do as GM. If you're talking, you're making a GM Move. New GMs usually quickly grasp the idea of making a GM Move every time the players miss a roll, but you also make one every time they look to you to see what happens next. Every time. When the PCs are having a conversation with an NPC, every time they look to you to find out how the NPC responds, they're looking at you to see what happens next: make a GM Move. Every single conversational turn should be a GM Move. You won't manage that, but the closer you get, the better the game will be.

Even when they roll a hit, when they succeed, as soon as they look to you, make a GM Move. Don't invalidate their success, but don't let success take the steam out of the game either. If they Defy Danger and roll a 10, cool. If they keep talking and say what they do next, cool - don't interrupt them. If they dodge out of the way of the falling pillar and then look at you to see what happens next, guess what, make a GM move. Don't do anything involving the falling pillar - they already succeeded at avoiding that, no double jeopardy and no hurting people for rolling successes - but that doesn't mean don't do anything: make a GM Move (maybe reinforcements show up, maybe the silence after the crash of the pillar is broken by a dragon's roar, etc.).

Don't wait for the game to stall out. GM Moves aren't just consequences for bad rolls, and they're also not just a way to kickstart a game that's running out of steam. GM Moves are just your half of the conversation. If you do it right, the game won't need kickstarting - it won't run out of steam in the first place.

For the most part, go with "hard" GM Moves when someone misses a roll. Every other time the players look to you, go with "soft" GM Moves.

Fronts and Monster Moves are the same thing. If you understand how GM Moves work, they just give you situation-specific GM Moves, which can make improv a little easier. If you treat them as conventional prep without understanding GM Moves and what they do to keep the game flowing, your game will stall out and you also won't be "playing to find out what happens".

The other big thing is to stop worrying about being fair. Play by the rules. That cuts both ways: don't screw players over unfairly, but also don't let them off the hook. And letting them off the hook is by far the bigger problem most of the time. It's not up to you to make sure they survive. There is no principle about building "balanced" encounters. If you want to play a tactics game, don't play Dungeon World. If you want to play Dungeon World, don't pull punches. Put things that make sense in the world and the story in front of the characters, and don't worry about putting things that are of the "appropriate difficulty" in front of the players. Uneven fights are fun.

Read the Dungeon World Guide for sure.

Personally, I think Dungeon World is far, far easier to play after playing Apocalypse World (the game it's based on) - it's easier to see how and why things work the way they do without all of the D&D flavor elements, which can be misleading. I would seriously consider running a campaign of Apocalypse World (typically about 6-10 sessions) unless the theme turns you off completely.

In terms of improv for RPGs, I really like the book Play Unsafe. It's a quick and easy read that has a lot of actual, concrete advice and instruction. I found it really helpful both as a player and a GM once we started playing more narrative games.

Right, I know about terminal velocity, but I don't mean the downward vector. I mean one's lateral speed. Issues of oxygen aside, a jumbo jet moves pretty fast, like close to 500mph, right? So, when you jump out, you're not only going down, but you're also going forwards, very very fast. And, according to this book:
> At 350 mph, the cartilage of the nose deforms and the skin of the face starts to flutter... At faster speeds, this Q force causes deformations that can, as the Aviation Medicine paper gingerly phrases it, 'exceed the strength of tissue.'

Furthermore,

> Cruising speed for a transcontinental jet is between 500 and 600mph. Do not bail out. 'Fatality,' to quote Dan Fulgham, 'is pretty much indicated.' At 400mph, windblast will remove your helmet... At 500 mph, 'ram air' blasts down your windpipe with enough force to rupture various elements of your pulmonary system.

If you pick up that book, it's chapter 13, in case you were wondering.

edit: some formatting

I think what you're saying makes sense, but what you're trying to do doesn't. You seem to be approaching atheism/skepticism kind of like a religion, in saying that you're new, want to become an atheist and want to work towards mastery etc. This makes total sense if you've just come out of a religion, of course. I would've thought the same thing. But in fact it's more of a de-programming than a re-programming. I think what you mean is that you've decided to de-program yourself of certain ways of thinking.

If there's anything useful that could be mastered in this sphere, one thing would be developing a knowledge of the cognitive traps that people can fall into so you can avoid them (not just with religion, but any irrational glitch the brain tends to come up with). You may enjoy:

• David McRaney – You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself (this was life-changing for me – get the audiobook, it's fantastic)
  
• Michael Shermer – The Believing Brain: From Spiritual Faiths to Political Convictions – How We Construct Beliefs and Reinforce Them as Truths (haven't read this myself but heard lots of good things)

Here's the book if anybody is interested in buying it or checking out the shots in question. They appear on pages 76 and 77 and you can view them by clicking on the image of the book on the left.

As for shot 33, It's easy if you can gauge whether or not the ball is deep enough in the pocket. Personally, I wouldn't shoot what's portrayed in the diagram. It just feels like the ball would pop off the rail. The condition of the rails might play a role, too, but I'm pretty inexperienced so hopefully someone can give me some insight, too.

Shot 34 on the other hand! It never occurred to me to rely on a slight masse to make this shot. I'm guessing low left is more effective in this situation than high or just regular left.

ok, so it's not like you are stuck at 20k after playing a few hundred games. This is really just about learning the fundamentals and practicing.

Personally, I like Janice Kim's "Learn to Play Go" series. http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Play-Go-Masters-Ultimate/dp/1453632891

They are simple, easy to read, and cover the information in a clear, progressive way. Most times I teach people, I have them go through the whole series twice while playing a few practice games a week and doing go problems. Usually by that time they are mid teen kyu and starting get grasp the strategy.

I also use Goproblems.com a lot. You need to learn strategy and tactics. Strategy you get from studying high level games, reading, watching videos. tactics you get from practicing, and goproblems help a ton here!

Good luck!

He may be right in the part about Magic, but he COMPLETELY misses the point in chess and it would be some of the worst chess advice you could get. He pretty much said "forget tactics, study openings", which is the opposite of what you should be doing if you are not at least a FM (some people would even argue a GM).

The first puzzle is much, much more important than knowing what to do in the opening position. Chess is not about how common a position is, but how useful are certain patterns. The patterns the puzzle is teaching: Queen Sac (yes, it is ok to lose your queen in some situations), smothered king (yes, putting pieces around your king may actually make you lose, instead of protecting him), forced moves (notice how black must play forcing moves or lose) and knight movement (knights are weird). The exact position is not going to happen, but the patterns happen again and again.

On the other hand, learning/memorizing which are the best 1-5 is close to useless if you have problems with real game patterns (like the puzzle is trying to teach). Playing a "good/best" first move give you a very, very small advantage compared to actually knowing what to do during the game (here is Miles taking down Karpov with 1... a6: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068157 or Larsen taking down Petrosian with 1. f4: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106394, both "subpar" moves)

However, he is trying to make a parallel that doesnt exist. The current problem with magic puzzles is that they are not teaching you the right patterns, a lot of the time they are trying to be cute instead. There are those is chess too, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke_chess_problem).

What he is missing is that for chess you must learn game positions because most of your decisions will happen in the middle game, as chess games go in average 40+ moves. The very important ones are probably happening only in 20+. And you can only make decisions like "Should I sac my queen?" if you actually know there are positions you should be saccing your queen, which only puzzles can teach you. By not doing puzzles, not only you will be choosing the wrong moves, but you aren't even going to consider/calculate the right move. You are going to be stuck on a beginner's mind forever.

However, in MTG you should study opening positions because most magic games are fast, with around 6-7 turns and the most important decision is "should I mulligan?". So, you should be studying mulligan and early turn puzzles, but they are still puzzles.

TLDR: The author has no idea of what he is talking about when it comes to chess. He is at least right when it comes to MTG. And yes, quantity is very important when it comes to puzzles, in both chess and MTG. Number of puzzles in a chess book can easily run into the 1000s, and you should solve them all (for example: https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VDKM7BWJN2YG1TQK7G1F). Today, websites likes Chesstempo are easier tough. Patterns are not about "how common the situation happens?" but "how useful is knowing this?" (which he misses when talking about chess. By a lot.)

Wow, this is a fantastic list!! One book that I had been considering is Go For Beginners. There has been a lot of debate between that and Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go series. I'll be checking out a lot of these from the perspective of a completely new player. If you'd like, I can check back in with you periodically and let you know how they've worked for me, so you can know which ones to recommend (and not!) for any other new players you come across. Thank you again for the extensive list, this is a huge help!

MS1 here:

Is she a coffee or tea drinker? If so, there are companies that do some really cool "coffee or tea" of the month deals. I've gone through quite a bit of coffee since I began...

Here are some really awesome books: House of God, Emperor of All Maladies, and Complications to name a few.

I wouldn't recommend getting her a stethoscope/medical supplies because they can be very personal. Sure, they're all roughly the same but it's an instrument you're going to be using for many years to come. "This is my stethoscope. There are many like it but this one is mine..." Just my 2 cents, at least.

I hope that helps! If I come up with any others, I'll post them here.

When I read A Short History Of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson it struck me that almost all of the scientists and innovators mentioned in the book came from upper middle class or wealthy families. It appears that having the free time and resources to invest in an interest is a huge requirement to success.

I have come to the conclusion that the first society that figures out that by having a populace that does not have to worry about food, clothing, and shelter while also being provided with the resources to persue their interests, that society is going to blow past the rest of humanity by creating 20 Einsteins.

We are starting regular tournaments for this subreddit, you have missed out this time but in a few weeks we will start afresh, you should join in, we have several beginners taking part, plus you will get your games reviewed.

Also join your local club, it'll work wonders for your interest.

As for books this series are great for getting your head around the first concepts, if you buy why not share with your friends to lower the costs?

I don't really know anything about this myself, but fibonacci sequences definitely do appear in nature, and according to wikipedia, tree branching is one of the places they pop up.

That said, the assertion isn't really sourced in the wikipedia article, unless the seventh citation (this book), is meant to apply to that entire preceding list of examples. I don't know anything about the reliability of the source. Seems like it's decent, but everything has good reviews on its Amazon page, so it's tough to say.

Hopefully someone else has more direct knowledge...

Oh gosh, I'm actually kind of horrible about reading! Some of my favorite little books are:

• Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. It's a bunch of short stories about different universes based on some of Einstein's theories. For example, one of them is kind of like, "In this universe, time flows backwards. A woman picks a moldy peach out of her trashcan, puts it on her counter to ripen..." They're really interesting! It's a quick and wonderful read.
  
  
• Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman is similar to the aforementioned book. Short stories about different afterlives. It's not a religious thing though. I was actually rereading it this afternoon! Really interesting ideas, some romantic, some ironic, cute, sad, etc. I think it could spark some great conversation.

I think Roko's Basilisk has a lot in common with Pascal's Wager, which I suppose is why it doesn't scare the shit out of me.

Pascal's Wager says, basically, that believing in God could bring eternal limitless reward, and disbelieving could bring eternal limitless punishment, so even if you think there is almost no chance that there is a God, you should believe. It's just safer that way.

Problem is, there was never a choice between THE God and nothing; there are a crapload of gods and belief systems making competing claims about reality. Your chance of picking the right one at random is almost nil. It's a mug's game.

Are we really supposed to worship the religion that makes the most extravagant claims, because it brings infinite utility functions into the equation? Why, that just makes it more likely that the high priest is a double-dyed liar!

Which brings us to Roko's Basilisk. The strongest argument we are offered for the potential existence of this evil AI is that we'll really, REALLY get fucked over if we don't help create it! WE MIGHT EVEN BE IN A SIMULATION THE BASILISK IS ALREADY RUNNING OH SHIIIIIT

Calm down, friends and friends of friends. We have an answer to this blackmail.

Non serviam.

Do what thou wilt. If you, oh foul deity, are really out there, then you know my game and you know I have the freedom to say Non serviam. I will not serve. Go ahead, punish me, if you must. We're all adults here.

In Robert Shea's and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy, the character Hagbard Celine (an anarchist 'leader', as odd as that sounds) makes this wonderful comment:

>The ultimate weapon isn't this plague out in Vegas, or any new super H-bomb. The ultimate weapon has always existed. Every man, every woman, and every child owns it. It's the ability to say No and take the consequences.

just some of my standard answers.


The Disappearing Spoon- yes, it's chemistry but I found it very interesting.


Abraham Lincoln's DNA- if you have a good background in genetics you might already know many of these stories. Read the table of contents first.


New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers- disease based biology. There is a follow up book if it turns out you like it.


Stiff- more than you wanted to know about dead bodies.


And by the same author but space based... Packing for Mars.

I hope these help... Cheers.

The basic idea here is actually more true than you think. In a psychological sense, communism doesn't fall apart because humans are innately greedy -- it's because humans have a strong sense of fairness and strongly resent cheaters.

In games meant to simulate a sharing economy, everyone is perfectly happy splitting winnings evenly until they notice someone else cheat. All it takes is a single person taking more than they put in to set off a chain reaction of cheating where people are suddenly angry and indignant at only getting their fair share because other people are getting more.

While this is obviously a simplified situation, what it implies is that while humans are for the most part innately generous, the impulse to make sure others get their fair share is weaker than the one to make sure our own share is fair... which makes perfect sense, evolutionary.

What this means for governments is complex, but it's basically why the human race as it stands now probably would never be able to function under a true communistic state -- all it takes is one weak link to destroy the whole thing. A basal income where you could then earn on top of it would be more likely to succeed.

source -- not on their website, unfortunately, the article is only in print. This is a super-interesting article about a modified version of the game and the difference between how American and Japanese subjects played -- basically, Japanese players start more spiteful but ultimately collaborate better, while Americans start okay and are more likely to go off the rails later.

Agreed that learning the logic of tactics and strategy are essential to playing good chess. Playing faster should never be a goal. Blitz chess etc. are just a way of challenging yourself and keeping the game interesting in my opinion, but not at all a learning tool. I would really focus on learning more about the classic openings and the classic endgame patterns. Horowitz's book Chess Openings and Polgar's book on recognizing endgame mating patterns are a great place to start. Once you are familiar with the common patterns that occur in chess, you play through those at lightning speed, and you can take your time when it comes to the middle game.

You must own the illuminatus! trilogy.

edit: This book may be described as science fiction inspired, but it is one of the best books (omnibus edition) I have ever read. A used copy is definitely worth checking out.

Mary Roach! Mary Roach Mary Roach!

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

Packing of Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void

I can't recommend these highly enough. Mary Roach is the most engaging, funny science writer I've read.

Also [A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman]http://www.amazon.com/Natural-History-Senses-Diane-Ackerman/dp/0679735666/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323874194&sr=1-1

They're probably not so much quiet as much as you two have no mutual interests to talk about beyond whatever small and random event that inspired you to add them in the first place.

I can say with confidence my friend's list was composed largely with people who I found, during the brief encounter, very pleasant to converse with, be it at a fishing spot or camping a slayer monster.

However, usually the effects those random circumstances that bring about your initial affinity for the other party are typically very short lived and you realize you don't actually have much of a real connection with them. So you end up not talking to or deleting them very soon thereafter.

It happens all the time.

I now personally have 12 friends on my friends list, one who is a jmod I have on there for novelty because I saw them myself in-game and talked with and another is a random person I remember giving me full bronze, which I thought was the absolute most ballingest shit when I first started, so I would leave him and his e-gf alone. The other 10 people I talk to very regularly, about very diverse topics, from RS balance to politics to preferences of gum.

Have a look at this book to get an idea of why you may have so many people you don't actually talk with.

I strongly recommend reading Made in America by Bill Bryson. In theory it is about the history of American English but in practise it is also American history and as with all Bill Bryson books is very funny in addition to being informative. It covers this whole naming situation, including amusing efforts at regulating spelling. The post office did (eventually!) manage to enforce that there couldn't be duplicate names within a state.

A short history of nearly everything is also a rollicking good read.

Here is a very brief book about improv as it relates to RPGs.

The basic principle is to let your players guide the story by saying Yes. Your player will say, " my character jumps onto the table grabs the chandelier and swings across the room lands on the bar and kicks the sword out of his hand" some dms would say "no you can't do that"

When confronted with a player that wants to do something cool say yes and then add to what he wanted to do. So, when he says, say, " my character jumps onto the table grabs the chandelier and swings across the room lands on the bar and kicks the sword out of his hand." You say "OK, so give me an athletics roll" you set the Dc in secret, to say 16. But you also think that it would be cool that the NPC with the sword saw him coming. So he rolls good, with a 23. So you say, " Ok, you jump up on the table, grab the chandelier, swing across the room and land on the bar. You land adroitly in a crouched and ready position. What's your AC?" He says "14." You say, " well he watched you swing across the room and readied an attack he hits you with a 16 as he stabs you in the belly.

The difference is in the first example the dm put up a wall to possible options for the player.

In the second example the dm used judo-like fluidity to humor the player's desire while deepening the action of the fight.

One of my all time favorites is Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, about a climbing season on Mount Everest where a lot of things went wrong.

I also enjoy Mary Roach - she has a great gift of being able to convey information while being really entertaining in the process. Stiff is my favorite of hers, but I also really enjoyed Packing For Mars.

There is several examples in the DMG that I would write down or print as they are easy to forget. If you haven't bought the 5e DM screen yet and plan to use a screen, I would recommend this one. It does have some information on it that is facing you at all times that give you trap/danger values and how to roll certain things that are easy to forget. Its saved me from having to look up values.
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Accessory/dp/0786965630/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i17?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=P1XQ93X0KMV8094SRZQ4&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1cded295-23b4-40b1-8da6-7c1c9eb81d33&pf_rd_i=desktop

Solving for mate and studying pawn/rook endgames should be studied from day one. Both of them help immensely with visualization, and will make your entire game stronger. The Polgar book with 5334 problems is a classic, and I strongly recommend it, because it goes from easy mate in ones to harder mate in threes and so on:

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549

It's a monster volume at 1,100+ pages, and will put some strain on your bookshelf, but it's only $21 at Amazon. You're not going to find better value as a beginner.

I haven't read the new updated edition yet but the original "An Incomplete Education" was brilliant and very entertaining. http://www.amazon.ca/An-Incomplete-Education-Learned-Probably/dp/0345468902

The most important thing is for her to make a character that's interesting to her. Ask, what's the best way this character could possibly end up? What's the worst? If both answers would be interesting to see exactly how, then it's probably an interesting character to play with.

The second thing is to avoid stoic lone wolves with no families.

This book helps explain how doing the obvious thing is usually best: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Play-Unsafe-Improvisation-Change-Roleplay/dp/1434824594

The first that come to mind are Apocalypse World and all the subsequent variants, especially Dungeon World and Monster Hearts. They specifically demand that you ask questions and use the answers, then play to find out what happens. They forbid you from preparing elaborate adventures on rails.

Also, Donjon has system mechanics for this. Players get to manufacture reality when they roll well.

There's a book called "Play Unsafe" that does a pretty good job of describing improvisational techniques from theatre, for use in Roleplaying. It's a bit short though.

Check out Steven Lumpkin's awesome GM'ing for apocalypse world on itmejp's channel. Rollplay R&D

The Postmortal by Drew Magary is amazing.

It's set in a world where a cure to aging is discovered, and made available worldwide. There's the standard government euthanasia programs and cults, but the author also does a really good job of talking about what it would actually be like to live in a world where no one aged - what would happen to the value of our dollar? Where would everyone live? How do we treat the people who choose not to get the age cure?

It's a book that stuck with me a really long time after reading it.

Yes lots of practice definitely helps you get better at pool. http://www.amazon.com/The-Critical-Shots-Pool-Everything/dp/0812922417

You can make bird houses/clocks with simple hand tools without spending tons of money.

I really enjoyed the book Sum by David Eagleman. It's been praised by both religious and non-religious alike. It's essentially 40 meditations on possibilities of the afterlife.
Sum
I'm sorry for your loss. The book might not help if you're looking for answers, but it's great stuff to think about and an easy read.

Here are my personal favorite head-fucks, each one of them did something strange to my whole world when I read them:

• The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
  
  
• House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
  
  
• Marabou Stork Nightmares by Irvine Welsh
  
  
• Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
  
  
• The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
  
  
• A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
  
  
• From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
  
  
• Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross
  
  
• The Prestige by Christopher Priest
  
  
• The Invisibles by Grant Morrison
  
  But yeah, by far my favorite is the one at the top of the list, The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. There's just so goddamn much going on in that book, it's one helluva wonderful ride.

The Fronts section of Dungeon World works for every RPG pretty much, and allows sandbox play. (Here on the web for free: http://www.dungeonworldsrd.com/fronts)

The book "Play Unsafe" is all about sandbox gaming, is short, and works for any genre and system as well: http://www.amazon.com/Play-Unsafe-Improvisation-Change-Roleplay/dp/1434824594

Well, you can start by learning what a run-on sentence is.

I kid, I kid.

• Try reading An Incomplete Education. I haven't read it, but I've met people who swear by it.
  
  
• If you're worried about how to approach conversations, try reading up on etiquette. Basic table-manners are also useful. I'm always amazed by how many people know nothing about the societal conventions around dining out.
  
  
• General-purpose books on world history and science are always good; they'll give you a foundation to work from for a lot of other things.
  
  
• Practice, practice, practice. You can read all the books you want but if you don't talk to people you'll never get better at conversation.
  
  edit: SHE_LOVES_YOU had another great idea: Read up on greek/roman myths and history. The references pop up all the time. You don't need to know all the little details (Like what Pompeiius of Ganymede taught in his school at Megatron); knowing that Odysseus made his men pour wax in their ears to stop them from hearing the sirens' song,or that the Oracle of Delphi had plaques above its entrance that said "Know Thyself" and "Avoid Excess" is enough.

Personally, I think it's more difficult to not believe in God. I could give several reasons why though my own personal examples, but that'd be a fairly lengthy post.

One of the biggest things to me is looking at the earth, the universe and creation itself. Personally, when I was reading 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' by Bill Bryson, I found it as a affirmation of my faith. To me, the thought that the creation of the universe, the laws of physics and chemistry and all of our sciences that hold everything together is just a series of random luck seems laughable.

Create hooks not plots, improv and do what's obvious to you.

Remember you're playing to see what happens. If you're planning out every detail, you're writing a book.

I can't recommend this book enough.
https://www.amazon.com/Play-Unsafe-Improvisation-Change-Roleplay/dp/1434824594

Learning to gm like this will bring you the most interesting and rememberable play you've ever experienced. Just remember that it's a skill and you will get better with time.

i laugh every single time I read the Letters from a Nut series by Ted L. Nancy. it depends on how you define clean humor though, these books are probably around pg-13 level (at worst).

Not horror, but this one is brilliant:

The Illuminatus! Trilogy: The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple, Leviathan.

Also very good: Cryptonomicon.

I've been on a non-fiction kick myself.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is good. Very funny, very informative.

Packing for Mars and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers both by Mary Roach were also fun to read.

I think you're going to have to find a balance between accuracy and ease. most academic books are dense because 50 years of theoretical work went into understanding a very minute phenomenon. For example, there are books (Locke & Latham, 1990) written on just goal setting and how important it is to set a difficult goal. On the other hand, you have books written by folks like Malcolm Gladwell, while easy to read, are often incorrect because they omit many important nuances in academic literature.

Your best bet is to find books written by academics but made for laymen, two I recommend are:

You are not so smart

Thinking fast and slow

I would start off with Stiff and then Bonk. I liked Spook but on amazon it doesn't have as good of reviews as the others so I'd read that one later if you aren't as interested in it. I've yet to read packing for mars but if it's anything like her other books, it's wonderful.

I absolutely loved this book. Link for the lazy.

The rights have been optioned by Scott Derrickson the director of Sinister. I hope he does the book justice if he decides to make the movie.

> I’m learning chess with a few books from the library and there is one book called 5534 chess variations or something like that and it’s all just hundreds of puzzles mainly for the endgame like checkmate in 2 moves, checkmate in 3 moves etc.

It sounds like you're describing CHESS by Polgar. This is calculation training, it is nothing to do with endgame play . Even though some of the positions may occur during an endgame.

The purpose of solving these problems is to train yourself in being able to perfectly calculate short variations (1, 3 or 5 moves for M1, M2 or M3 problems respectively). Which is an essential skill if you ever want to get out of the "beginner" stage.

Here you go.

IMO, just posting a capture onto reddit isn't the way to go. If you like 5e, you should show it by giving wizards money so that they will keep making 5e stuff.

Now, if you want to come up with your own "stuff happens" table, feel free to post it.

More tables are always nice.

I also recently read it in the book "you are not so smart" by David McRaney. Very, very enjoyable read.

Amazon link: (no referral link, don't worry): http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-So-Smart/dp/1592406599

Apparently the human tendency to create memories out of thin air is huge. Therefore, suppressed memories often are more the result of guidance by the psychologist, counsellor,... than they are based on the truth.

My point is that if he's truly trying to grasp the basics, the names of all these openings shouldn't matter. Just play basic, solid chess. Follow the opening principles.

Also, you might check out Silman's book [How to Reassess Your Chess] (http://www.amazon.com/How-Reassess-Your-Chess-Fourth/dp/1890085138)
as it may be helpful.

Edit: Oh yeah, that's right. That is the Scandinavian. Thanks.

Since you're asking this kind of question, I would say the first step is to read and listen to all the interviews and literature that's out there first first. Having a base knowledge of the industry is going to help you with all future steps you've listed.

Kolbold's Guide to Board Game Design is a great book to kick off the journey.

There's also many board game design podcasts out there that I found extremely helpful:

The Board Game Design Podcast
Ludology
Tuesday Knight Podcast

As a quick note, add two spaces after your links in order to create a line break for your headings.

Another good resource for icons is http://game-icons.net/.

The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design is a solid repository of advice for designers.

Also, this is a bit specific to me and won't have the same impact for every designer, but this was the single most important piece of advice I've ever read regarding game design: http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/11885/you-have-have-guts-ask-question

The single biggest issue I had with designing when I started is that I would solve design problems by adding new rules to cover any edge cases that came up. "This thing is exploitable? Let's add a new mechanic that fixes that." "This part is confusing? Let's add another system that helps the player better understand the existing system." There was some amount of give and take, but it largely just boiled down to bloated designs. Ever since I started designing with the philosophy that no rule is sacred in mind, I became a much more competent designer basically overnight.

Eco is one of my favorite fiction and non-fiction writer, but if you enjoy conspiracies, I recommend The Illuminatus! Trilogy.

Any of Bill Bryson's books are very good, but in a similar vein try:

Notes From a Small Island, an account of his time in the UK while traveling the length of the country.

In a Sunburned Country his travels in Austrailia.

Neither Here nor There his travels in Europe.

And though it is not a travel book, my personal favorite by Bryson is a A Short History of Nearly Everything, a history of science along the lines of the the Edmund Burke TV show "Connections" that is how every science textbook should be written. Spring for the Illustrated edition as long as you don't want to carry it everywhere you read, it's too big and heavy to be a good coffee shop read.

Can I recommend "Letters from a nut" if you enjoy these letters. It's a great toilet book.

• Almost everything by Chomsky (it starts to blur together after a while). Those damned nun-killers from the School of the Americas! Killin' nuns like they do! Manufacturing Consent is a great read for any teenager, although limited in its explanatory power. There's a big blind spot in Chomsky in terms of explaining the universities, the foundations, and how they coordinate with the press.
  
• Studies in Mutualist Political Economy -- this one's more fun when you don't know the history already
  
• Homebrew Industrial Revolution -- this one's fun but somewhat sloppy on technology
  
• Illuminatus! -- probably shouldn't suggest this because there's a good chance that your brain will fall out your head after you read it. This book and other Wilson books ought to be controlled substances.

If you're interested there is a great book called Packing for Mars, that goes through the history of space travel and includes a good section on astronaut diets and excrement amongst many other things.

http://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life/dp/0393339912/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342447493&sr=8-1&keywords=packing+for+mars

There is a book about pretty much exactly this. It's called The Postmortal. It's really interesting and a pretty short read

I love Adam Ruins Everything.

I'd really like to see the actual study where they pulled the "wine pranks", so, let's go on an adventure!

I found the article they referenced in the video.

Which, in turn, cites this book as a reference, which I then "sailed the high seas and plundered".

Here is the chapter, copied and pasted from the book.

I read that, found that it was an experiment conducted by Frédéric Brochet at the Univerité de Bordeaux, and then searched for "frederic brochet bordeaux study wine", which gave me this article, which in turn had a link to a pdf of the actual study.

)

-------
TL;DR: here is the link to the pdf of the "wine prank" study.

Lots of tactics.

This book is good for beginners

https://www.amazon.com/Chess-5334-Problems-Combinations-Games/dp/1579125549

This one is also very good (and better IMO), a bit more advanced but still good for beginners.

https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Chess-Exercises-Kids-Coakley/dp/1895525101

What's the link to it? You're definitely funny, and I'd love to read more.

Also, the "crazy letters" idea reminds me of the book Letters from a Nut. I recommend it.

I think there is some validity to this even though he is mostly known for his fiction. Something like Sex and Drugs may be of interest. The Illuminatus! Trillogy might appeal to those interested in 70's culture as I think several concepts in there could be considered commentary on it. I'm not sure, though, that one would get much practical occult value out of it unless one were a Discordian.

Recent grad myself here, I just finished The Postmortal by Drew Magary, and it was both really exciting and thought-provoking. It is kind of a darkly comic dystopian thriller about what happens after we find the cure for aging. Lots in there for everyone, and so much fun to read (and talk about!). Here's Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Postmortal-Novel-Drew-Magary/dp/0143119826

Cheers!

As far as books go, I highly recommend the "Kobold Guide to Board Game Design:"

https://www.amazon.com/Kobold-Guide-Board-Game-Design/dp/1936781042

It has a bunch of articles from board game designing veterans and will give you some great tips on everything from how to get started, to how to polish up your prototype for publishers.

As for making a board game from an existing franchise... that's something where the owner of the IP reaches out to you, not the other way around. They'll typically be looking for industry veterans who have had several best-selling games over the course of several years. So unfortunately for 99.99% of us, designing a product for a franchise like Warcraft or Game of Thrones will never be anything more than a dream.

• The Disappearing Spoon
  
  
• A Short History of Nearly Everything
  
  These are two I've read and suggest. The first is about the history and events surrounding discovery of the elements. The second is just a nice history of various science topics.
  
  Enjoy, and have a nice couple weeks off.
  
  -- C

If you are interested in this sort of thing, I recommend going to your local ibrary and finding The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson. He's funny and has an engaging style (plus it isn't very long). He's one of my favorite nonfiction authors.

Bryson also wrote a companion book called Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States. I haven't read that one yet, but just based on the author, it's probably something worth checking out.

Agreed, World War Z is fantastic. Postmortal by Drew Magary is also a pretty great "what if?" book. A "cure for aging" is discovered, the book examines the effect it would have on the world.

Dr. Dave can help you get better!

Also, a fantastic book is The 99 Critical Shots in Pool. Worth the money to buy a real book and not the digital version.

This has been done and been done better. Post Mortal was a pretty good book for a sports writer trying to break his mold.

Sounds like Ted Nancy's Letters From a Nut. He sends letters to real people and places and publishes the letter and response. They are laugh out loud funny.

[Packing for Mars] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393339912/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497231768&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=packing+for+mars) is a great accessible read on a lot of the practical challenges of getting humans to Mars. I really enjoyed it.

How to Reasses your Chess by Silman is essentially what you're looking for. It goes over the process of finding imbalances in a position and creating a plan around these imbalances. Examples of typical imbalances would be:

1. More or less space
   
2. Bishop vs Knights
   
3. Pawn Structure
   
4. Material difference
   
5. Quality of piece placement
   
6. King Safety
   
7. Initiative
   
   My suggestion would be to go over games by masters in the openings you play. Look for imbalances and take note of how the master uses them to create plans. I would also suggest not changing openings much if at all since plans can differ drastically based on the opening and you don't want to lose any experience you've accrued.

Just started reading The Postmortal by Drew Magary and it is perfect for your needs. Best book I've read all year.

Found it! Looks like a good read :)

http://www.amazon.com/Sum-Forty-Afterlives-David-Eagleman/dp/0307389936

I'd recommend A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. This book is great because it covers so many of the most scientifically important events throughout history, rather than just being a layman's introduction to a specific branch of science.

If you're at all interested in statistics and how misleading they can be, check out The Drunkard's Walk.

I've just finished reading a novel called PostMortal. You should grab it.

It's the authors first novel, but it's pretty good and he's ambitiously attempted to describe a world where the cure for aging has been discovered. Addresses this question and many others.


I don't know how to write spoiler hiding text, so I won't tell you what he does with this issue.

oooh my goodness, read Made in America by Bill Bryson. Handles this exact question, and in the voice of Bill Bryson: funny, interesting, witty.

Novello also wrote a few books in which he would compile some very strange letters to customer service departments of various companies, presidents, universities, etc. all as a character named Lazlo Toth, then print their responses; they're hilarious and worth picking up.

The Lazlo Letters

Citizen Lazlo!

From Bush to Bush

I've been a fan of Novello for a long time. When I first heard Andrei Codrescu on NPR, I sincerely thought it was one of Novello's characters.

> I equate my agnosticism to a monkey (or an ant) trying to understand an atomic bomb.

Fantastic analogy.

> There is only the search for more understanding in the hope that the future will be able to comprehend a little more than we do.

Or, perhaps all answers will be revealed after our death. Or, maybe not, and we won't care about it anymore. Or maybe we'll somehow move to another plane of existence, forgetting all past lives, etc.

I know it's somewhat futile to comprehend, but I sometimes enjoy the mystery. Kind of like what David Eagleman ponders in his book, "Sum"

Another great book is An incomplete Education

It covers many subjects including history and is fun to read.

If you like these you really need to get "The Lazlo Letters" by Don Novello (the guy who did Father Guido Sarducci.)

He sent letters to companies as a conservative reactionary, but wrote them so they really sounded authentic, and got some awesome responses.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lazlo-Letters-Don-Novello/dp/1563052857

It's a commonly studied strategy for long-term space voyages, including potential Mars missions. Married couples reduce the likelihood of new romances blossoming between people in very close quarters- preventing loads of potential drama while increasing cooperation. Also, married people tend to trust other married people over single people. There are many others reasons that make it a good plan.

[Source: Packing For Mars by Mary Roach.]

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Amazing short stories - He starts with a premis about what the afterlife is like, then follows it through to its conclusion. The author is mostly a scientist, but also has dome some writing.

Very good stories that make you think. Although, some of them made my wife "too sad".

The book House of God was actually based on the hospital this happened in (Beth Israel). Really a great read for anyone looking to find out more about (what hopefully used to be) the culture of medicine.

Edit: and apparently it's on sale.

I loved The Lazlo Letters when I was a teenager. I don't know how it holds up, but it has good reviews on amazon.

I gave you some advice for each book at each level. Of course all of these books can be switched around and if you want to read Dvoretsky (A very advanced author) at your level you're welcome to. Although a 1300 rating on lichess.org is still at a beginner level so I suggest you start from that section.

---

Beginner:

Play Winning Chess By: Yasser Seirawan

Logical Chess Move by Move By: Irving Chernev

How to Reasses Your Chess By: Jeremy Silman

---
Intermediate:

Practical Chess Exercises By: Ray cheng


The Art of Defense in Chess By: Andrew Soltis

Pawn Structure Chess By: Andrew Soltis

---

Master:



Fundamental Chess Endings By: Karsten-Müller and Frank Lamprecht.

Art of Attack in Chess By: Vladimir Vukovic

Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual By: Mark Dvoretsky

I might suggest some reading material that may help out your chess thinking process.

Silman's The Amateur's Mind and How to Reassess your Chess are both great for any beginner to moderate strength player, as they focus on understandable concepts and fixing common problems in many people's game.

If it's readable nonfiction in general that you like (as opposed to an economics bent), definitely check out Mary Roach, a science writer. She writes about oddball topics like cadavers in Stiff, sex studies in Bonk, or space travel in Packing for Mars.

Pretty funny stuff. Reminded me of an old favorite I had forgotten about, the Lazlo Toth letters, from Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci). He wrote letters to stores, famous people, etc, and published a book of them - Book linkon Amazon

I hope the responses you get put you on the right track. But there are books on this topic such as this excellent one which is 650+ pages. I only say this to point out that anything you read here is only scratching the surface. It just depends how deeply you want to learn.

This. I'm the same way--I slay at tactical puzzles, but haven't put in the time to learn positional analysis and memorize historical games in a way that would get me anywhere worth mentioning. I can't exactly say I've had stellar experiences around competitive chess players, either...let's just say it's not my scene and leave it at that.

If you don't have it yet, get Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games and you'll be glad you did. If I had choose to a handful of "desert island books", this one would definitely be in there.

Oh man, I have to get back to reading Made in America. A great book for anyone interested in etymology!

If you are a good reader, read this:

The Illuminatus! Trilogy


It's tough to read at first but stay with for a couple of hundred pages, then you won't be able to put it down.

It will give you all the inspiration you could possibly want.

Are you interested in medicine? House of God by Samuel Shem is about an intern at "the House of God" (read: Beth Israel Hospital). It's basically mandatory reading for anyone who works in healthcare. It's also extremely dark humor, so if you're offended easily I would avoid it.

I love stories like this. One time I came out of the bathroom at about a [7], and my dad gives me this book. I found a quiet place and proceeded to laugh my ass off reading.

It was a thread like this on Reddit where someone recommended this book. Lemme pay it back.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Loved every page of this book.

One of my favorite non-fiction authors is Mary Roach. She picks a topic and gathers all kinds of detailed and odd information about it, often covering the kinds of details that the genuinely curious find fascinating.

Stiff is about what humans do with the dead remains of other humans, including her visit to the body farms where scientists figure out the cascade of beetles, bugs and grubs invade the remains.
https://www.amazon.com/Stiff-Curious-Lives-Human-Cadavers/dp/0393324826/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-4&keywords=Mary+Roach

Gulp is all about the human digestive tract
https://www.amazon.com/Gulp-Adventures-Alimentary-Mary-Roach-ebook/dp/B00AN86JZ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-1&keywords=Mary+Roach

Bonk is about sex, including the author convincing her husband to have sex in an MRI for science
https://www.amazon.com/Bonk-Curious-Coupling-Science-Sex-ebook/dp/B003M5IGE2/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-9&keywords=Mary+Roach

Packing for Mars is all about the details of putting people into space
https://www.amazon.com/Packing-Mars-Curious-Science-Life-ebook/dp/B003YJEXUM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1502060523&sr=8-5&keywords=Mary+Roach

Basically, I think everything she writes is worth reading if you write fiction.

A nice slow(-ish) introduction to Go is from Janice Kim and Soo-Hyun Jeong:
Learn to Play Go: A Master's Guide to the Ultimate Game (Volume I) (Learn to Play Go Series). It was the book that helped Go click for me.

If this tickled your funny bone, you'd love The Lazlo Letters. Maybe not as funny if you are under 30, though. You can find some of them as PDFs on the web, and try them out.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1563052857/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_awdm_D0NXtb13R62HG

Hmm, I don't have any suggestions in the mythology vein at the moment, but for generally accessible nonfiction, I cannot recommend Mary Roach enough. Stiff and Packing For Mars are probably the best ones to start with.

New to /r/EDC, here's my start:

1. Notebook, puzzles, & book I'm currently reading (A Short History of Nearly Everything)
   
   
2. Gloves
   
   
3. Beanie
   
   
4. Nalgene
   
   
5. Firefox-branded Ogio backpack
   
   
6. Meds
   
   
7. mini-USB cable
   
   
8. Gerber multi-tool + Leatherman Freestyle CX
   
   
9. Kobalt flashlight
   
   
10. Belkin mini-surge + USB
    
    
11. Klipsch Image S4 headphones
    
    
12. Case for business cards
    
    
13. Spare earbuds
    
    
14. Contacts + glasses
    
    
15. Zune HD (yes, a Zune)
    
    
16. Spare 8GB flash drive
    
    
17. Nike sunglasses
    
    Items 18-24 are always in my pockets (+/- a few extras occassionally)
    
    
18. Chapstick
    
    
19. Keys
    
    
20. Gerber pocketknife
    
    
21. Gum (always always always)
    
    
22. 8GB flash drive
    
    
23. Money clip (credit/debit cards, license, a few business cards)
    
    
24. Fob for office
    
    
25. (Not pictured) HTC Inspire 4G
    
    Very open to suggestions/critiques. I really enjoy seeing all the different EDC collections, from minimalist to zombie apocalypse-ready.
    I'm thinking about putting together a car/bug-out bag, but that'll come later.
    
    EDIT: formatting

Two good introductions to physics and science in general:

Bill Bryson (popular and quite funny): A Short History of Nearly Everything

Brian Cox (slightly more serious, but still a fairly easy read): Why Does E=mc2?: (And Why Should We Care?)