Gameplay Magazine

[Entendre Cordial]

Kshrlmnt: I love Allen Ginsburg's poetry!

Also Kshrlmnt: TEP's cleansing of undesirables is a good and cool thing!

[Salvarity]

I'm a herb?? D:

[Escade]

Kshrlmnt: I love Allen Ginsburg's poetry!

Also Kshrlmnt: TEP's cleansing of undesirables is a good and cool thing!

Actually a peasant would be far more interesting than a puppet so I'll have to think of another way to think about this type of riffraff.

Oh my, it's almost like a person might be able to like poetry and also mercilessly gun down enemies in Call Of Duty (or in this case support actions in a effing game) and still be a decent human being. Keep the shit logic in check especially when hiding behind a puppet.

I'm a herb?? D:

I'm saving a few cookies for the next edition of this. But also everyone has 1 and only 1 opportunity to change their cookie. You can also be this Sour Cookie. But after that, I will let the evil witch have you, you herb.

[The Sygian]

Nice magazine. Keep up the good work.

[Armaros]

Good article, especially enjoyed the interviews with Ksh and Cain.

[NationStates Today]

Fascinating and extremely well produced issue, as always, from GP magazine

[Salvarity]

quote="Salvarity";p="36064682"]I'm a herb?? D:

I'm saving a few cookies for the next edition of this. But also everyone has 1 and only 1 opportunity to change their cookie. You can also be this Sour Cookie. But after that, I will let the evil witch have you, you herb.

I will accept the herb.... for now.

[Lamoni]

Kyrusia and Reppy get cookies, but I don't?

[Escade]

Nice magazine. Keep up the good work.

Good article, especially enjoyed the interviews with Ksh and Cain.

Fascinating and extremely well produced issue, as always, from GP magazine

Thank you!

I will accept the herb.... for now.

That's what I thought, herb

Kyrusia and Reppy get cookies, but I don't?

(meaning umm, oops, check again )


~

I also want everyone to look at this Fox-kitten (yes, it's a real species) with a viking helmet (added by Davelands):


Also we can blame EM for not getting back to people over stuff for the next issue because he hooked me on this (ahh IU <3):
Hotel Del Luna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ3_1v8sB48

[Lamoni]

Thank you for the cookie, Escade.

[Japanese Schoolgirls]

I think I haven't mentioned it but what I appreciate about this edition is that it enriches the more passive players about members of the different communities that make up the entire game. It shows well in this edition with different people being interviewed coming from all walks of life or having been branched out from different paths in the game. The assortment of articles also help fill the desire to know more.

Also, I'm Soda Cookie, y'all.

Great edition!

[Escade]

Thank you for the cookie, Escade.

<3 Sometimes you have a vision in your head of the perfect "cookie" but they haven't released it so I gave you the one closest to Professor

I think I haven't mentioned it but what I appreciate about this edition is that it enriches the more passive players about members of the different communities that make up the entire game. It shows well in this edition with different people being interviewed coming from all walks of life or having been branched out from different paths in the game. The assortment of articles also help fill the desire to know more.

Also, I'm Soda Cookie, y'all.

Great edition!

Thank you, I think that's been one of the goals to showcase interesting players from different walks of NS GP. Often regional papers engage in navel gazing and this is less about the regions and more about the people who shape them. Suggestions for very cool interviewees that I might have missed can be sent via DM on Discord.

[Lamoni]

<3 Sometimes you have a vision in your head of the perfect "cookie" but they haven't released it so I gave you the one closest to Professor

A Professor cookie would have been cool, but I like the one that you found for me, all the same.

[Escade]

<3 Sometimes you have a vision in your head of the perfect "cookie" but they haven't released it so I gave you the one closest to Professor

A Professor cookie would have been cool, but I like the one that you found for me, all the same.

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

~

Issue 9
September 2, 2019

In this ninth issue of the monthly magazine, we sit down with five NationStates personalities. First we interviewed Bhang Bhang Duc, a former delegate of The West Pacific. Then, we met up with Davelands, a Magister in The East Pacific and potentially the next delegate! Next, we sat down with Jar Wattinree a well-known NPOer and roleplayer\writer. Afterwards we headed up to meet with Sylven Razedusk, a defender who hangs out in Lazrus and Solid Kingdom. Finally, we met up with Todd McCloud (a bonus interview) who recently published his second book that was inspired by and evolved from his roleplay in The East Pacific.

This month for arts and culture we looked at astrology, a tool for writers and roleplayers trying to flesh out their character, but also a "mystical entertainment" source. An accompanying piece looks at several different "Zodiac Signs as..." depictions from baby animals to Disney Princesses to Villains.

Then, we explored what exactly Dungeons and Dragons is, in addition to being a game many NSers really enjoy playing!

In lieu of a fourth light-hearted piece, I hope players who may have missed it will read this opinion piece from the last issue on how to protect our players and make NS a safer space for all players.

P.S. To all those back on campus and in school, good luck with the Fall semester. Remember real life is always more important than NS

Contents
Forum | Dispatch (Index of Issues)

Featured Personality: Bhang Bhang Duc
Dispatch

Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - A Brief Introduction to Astrology
Dispatch

Featured Personality: Davelands
Dispatch

Gameplay Magazine - Style - Baby Animals, Puppies, Food, Villains and other Marvelous Things as Zodiac Signs
Dispatch

Featured Personality: Jar Wattinree
Dispatch

Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - What is Dungeons and Dragons?
Dispatch

Featured Personality: Sylven Razedusk
Dispatch

Featured Personality: Todd McCloud
Dispatch

Special thanks to all my interviews and editors <3

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

~

Featured Personality: Bhang Bhang Duc

Our guest today, is Bhang Bhang Duc, a nation who is renowned in many circles and well-known for a long history in NationStates and in particular for playing a strong role in The West Pacific.

How did you learn about NationStates? How long have you been playing NS?

Read about it somewhere, can't remember where. Mind you can you remember what you read nearly 16 years ago? My nation was formed in December 2003 and I have been actively playing the game for, say, 12 of those 16 years. Some periods of inactivity, most recently from mid 2017 until the start of this year.

What is the significance or story behind your nation's name and flag?

The flag varies, but my nation's name comes from Discworld. I'm a huge Terry Pratchett fan and so when I was thinking of a name for my nation I took my inspiration from his books. Unfortunately I misremembered the name of the Discworld continent - my name should have been Bhangbhangduc.

Cool, you are the second major Discworld\Terry Pratchett fan I've met on NationStates (the other player being Imki). What do you enjoy most about this world? What is your favorite book or character in the series?

Sam Vimes is absolutely fine as the avatar. He's probably the character I most identify with. Not for the incipient alcoholism or the cigar smoking (it's 30 years since I last smoked one of those) but he, like me, met the love of his life later in life.

With regards to the Discworld I love it because of the way Pratchett holds up a funhouse mirror to humanity and parodies many of the tropes of poorly written fantasy, what the s-f writer Poul Anderson described as "thud and blunder." That the books are laugh out loud funny helps as well. If you can't at least snigger at "The Hedgehog Song" then your soul is dead!

Favourite characters are Sam Vines and Granny Weatherwax, while my favourite books are "Lords and Ladies" and "Guards! Guards!".

Terry Pratchett wrote a series of books that are humorous, introduced the memorable character Death and commentated on our society and our world in a funny and insightful way.

Tell us about your early career in NationStates and the significant things you did to lead you to where you are today?

Initially just played the game on the RMB, but eventually got involved in the off-site forum and government. Was around and involved for all the major happenings in the West Pacific - West Pacific Triumvirate, West Pacific Dominion, the various constitutional conferences. Was supportive of the move away from Delegate elections to the meritocratic system we have now. Became a Guardian under TAO when regional officers were introduced and served in that role for a number of different delegates.

What region are you currently a part of? What do you like best about this region?

Started in and still am a member of the West Pacific. Have spent a little time in TRR (damn you Wickedly evil people - joking). It's home to me, the people I care most about in the game reside there, don't really want to be anywhere else.

What are your thoughts on the various gameplay venues (forums, Discord, gameside\RMB)?

The forums unfortunately seem to suffer when Discord came along. Still think the off-site forums have a purpose, but for quick communication Discord seems pretty good, though it took a long while for me to sign up. And I'm still not a great user of it. I still enjoy the RMB, though others think ours (TWP's) is too slow or too restrictive. To which opinions I blow a giant raspberry.

What has been your favorite historical moment in NS?

The introduction of regional officers. I think they made a major change in the way the game was played, especially combined with influence. TAO showed the way with the TAO Manoeuvre, putting a regional officer in the delegate's chair for a couple of days and using up their influence to dispatch some undesirables from the region. Of course since then ROs can banject etc. without being Delegate, but those were the early days.

Do you think there are any other changes like that which could bring back some life into the game? (Or do you think it's chugging along fine?)

RO are good as far as I can see. Could have done with them when RMB recruitment was the only way a UCR could get itself noticed.

What do you do for fun when you're not on Nation States?

I'm an amateur astronomer with a huge interest in observing the Sun.

Oh wow, that's an interesting hobby! What is something that you've learned from or appreciated from your observations? And what top three tips would you give to someone interested in being an astronomer?

They say astronomy is the only science where amateurs can make a contribution and it's true. I'm a station for the organisation that determines the definitive measure of solar activity, the sunspot number. My observations are used as part of that determination.

Three tips for a budding amateur astronomer.
1. Learn the sky with the naked eye - more difficult these days with light pollution but still possible.
2. Get a pair of binoculars, so much more versatile than a small telescope
3. Be a casual observer until you know what aspects of astronomy you want to specialise in whether it's the Sun, planets, deep-sky or variable stars for example.

What is your favorite movie and\or TV and\or anime show(s)?

Favourite movie - 2001: A Space Odyssey, favourite TV show - for sheer longevity it has to be Dr Who. I can remember the very first episode in 1963. I wouldn't watch anime if you paid me, loathe it.

So are you a Whovian? Who is your favorite Doctor (and Companian?)?

The Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith (Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen). They were by far the best.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a exploration of science, humanity, technology and the conflict therein.

Favorite book(s)?

Science fiction from the Golden Age (Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke), to Le Guin, Niven to the modern space opera writers Hamilton, Reynolds and Morgan. If I'm not reading s-f then I usually have a history book on the go. Tom Holland, Mary Beard, Michael Wood and Max Adams are my favourite authors covering Ancient Rome to Anglo Saxon England.

Favorite music?

70's prog rock - Genesis, Yes, Pink Floyd etc.. Also love British folk rock - Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention. My favourite singer-songwriters are Richard Thompson and Kate Bush.

What is a game (outside of NS) that everyone should play?

Never, ever played any sort of video game for any longer than a couple of days. When you have books.....

So you wake up one morning and receive the delegacy of any region you choose. Which would you choose? And what would you do as delegate?

TWP and I would re-introduce marsupialism to the region. Being anti-marsupial has been a long running trope in TWP and it was never taken to the extremes that you currently see in TEP. I had so much fun the first time it's worth repeating.

How would describe the difference in masrupialism between TWP and TEP versions? Where or how did marsupialism originate?

Marsupialism was introduced into TWP by TAO the Watcher. It was used to describe any nation, region or organisation of dubious character. So spammers, trolls, RMB recruiters and the FRA were all marsupials for example. TEP labels non-WA, founding flag nations as marsupials and ejects them. TWP doesn't do that.

I do think that there are some changes coming to the way TEP institutes marsupialism. It's kind of an interesting question I've been thinking over more recently - the game and how to play it for fun in a way that's enjoyable. How do you differentiate between actions that are considered fine in most competitive games and this one and do you need to?

Thank you to Bhang Bhang Duc for the interview and the lovely Discord chat!

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

~

Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - A Brief Introduction to Astrology

Did you know that after the attempted assassination of U.S. president Ronald Reagan, the first lady employed an astrologer in the White House? Or that MI5, the British intelligence agency, also hired an astrologer when they believed that Hitler used one (he did not in fact)?

Polls show that about 1/4th of Americans and Canadians state that they believe in astrology. Some people may remember the "end of the world" conspiracy theories from 2010 which pinpointed 12/21/2012 as the date the world would end (allegedly because of an asteroid or other catastrophic event). However, this was based on misinterpreting Native American astrology and the Mayan date spoke to an end to a cycle rather than an end to the world as we know it.

In Japan, in 1966, a strong belief in astrology led to a 25% drop in babies born because of the belief that children born in that year would bring bad luck and have bad personalities. Particularly female Fire Horse children were believed to bring bad luck to their father or husband. In India, astrology is considered a science (and a 2011 court case to de-establish it as a science failed) and used for making major life choices such as marriage. In China, younger generations have eschewed the ancient and venerable Chinese zodiac for the "fresh and exotic" Western zodiac. Job applications list preferred zodiac signs for candidates with Virgo men being seen as the most difficult. A job posting may include a line such as, “Scorpios, Capricorns and Geminis preferred.”

Ironically a Forbes study of 613 of the worlds 793 billionaires (in 2006) resulted in Virgos being the most likely to be crazy rich. Of course, like all things astrology, the results from different studies point to different signs. A 2015 study of the top 100 richest people pointed to Leos as earning that money while a British study showed that Geminis had a slight advantage while Scorpios were the least likely to be exceptionally wealth. Many famous and rich people, such as J.P. Morgan, used astrologers or kept them on retainer much like a wealthy person might keep a lawyer on retainer.

For those who are like, "My name isn't fake..." well, your name is a collection of symbols that was formed together somewhat arbitrarily given the rules of the language it is from and given meanings that have no actual validity. Kind of like a zodiac sign

Whatever your personal beliefs may be, one thing is undeniable astrology, branded as the "mystical services market," is becoming a big multi-billion dollar business with apps and other social media platforms proliferating this subculture far and wide. Cai Yuedong, an artist who posted satirical astrology cartoons on WeChat has made $31 million US after selling Uncle Tongdao. The average annual salary of an astrologer is reported as $42,000 which makes me rethink my entire life.

Astrology was seen as a scholarly and scientific pursuit by ancient civilizations, dating as far back as the 3rd millennium BC. Alchemy, astrology, astronomy, and medicine were closely linked. It wasn't until the 17th century that astrology was downgraded from a science to a pseudoscience in Western society. Yet, it continues to dominate social interactions, social media, and "is at once a big business, a topic that unifies people online, a daily diversion and a balm for the anxieties of everyday life. ("Like a Virgo: How the Times Covers Astrology," New York Times). Indeed, therapists are starting to study astrology because of how often their patients bring it up in sessions.

Often, astrology and zodiac signs are a great way to bring people together as it inevitably leads to conversations about relationships, family, and life. There are those people who stringently believe in astrology (similar to the way some people literally believe in religious myths) while others may use it more metaphorically, for fun, and because it helps place an outline and structure to life. The Western astrology system is also influenced by Greek mythology which many people value.

The zodiac signs are associated with (but not congruent to) constellations and form a celestial coordinate system. Therefore Aries is considered the vernal equinox and 0 degrees longitude and therefore the first "House" in astrology. Each House has certain aspects (including mythological associations) and impacts the horoscope negatively or positively based on position and movement. Then there are moon signs (the zodiac signs signify the position of the sun, the moon signs the sun) and those who are really intensely into astrology will get the exact sun, moon and planet positions from their birth date and time.

Here is a quick introduction to all 12 zodiac signs along with some commonly associated symbolism:

1.
Aries the Ram
March 21 - April 20

2.
Taurus the Bull
April 21 - May 20

3.
Gemini the Twins
May 21 - June 20

4.
Cancer the Crab
June 21 - July 22

5.
Leo the Lion
July 23 - August 22

6.
Virgo the Maiden
August 23 - September 22

7.
Libra the Scales
September 23 - October 22

8.
Scorpio the Scorpion
October 23 - November 21

9.
Sagittarius the Archer (Centaur)
November 22 - December 21

10.
Capricorn the Goat
December 22 - January 19

11.
Aquarius the Water-Carrier
January 20 - February 18

12.
Pisces the Fish
February 19 - March 20

Check out the Baby Animals, Puppies, Pizza, Villains and other Marvelous Things as Zodiac Signs dispatch for more fun!


Born Today (September 2 in EST time) or wondering what the celestial world predicts about you? Check out these astrology resources to learn a little more about yourself or just enjoy some entertainment!:

See which celebrities were born on the same day as you at Famous Birthdays. For example, those born on September 2 share a birthday with the mysteriously cool Keanu Reeves! Check out your birth date on Wikipedia to see which famous people across the disciplines were born on the same day as you!

Check out your birthday astrology here. Put your birth date in the Search bar if you aren't a "practical, serene" and "quiet-natured" Virgo born on September 2.

Check out your Love, Self, or Success horoscopes here

Dabble in some Chinese astrology here

Check out these hilarious tumblr posts on astrology collated by Buzzfeed

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

~

Featured Personality: Davelands

Our guest today, is Davelands, a former delegate of the The West Pacific.

How did you learn about NationStates? How long have you been playing NS?
Honestly, it’s kind of faded over time. I think I saw a Digg article that referenced NationStates and started looking up stuff on the game. My founding date was Wed Jan 13, 2016 at 10:54 am (thank you NS Forum info).

What is the significance or story behind your nation's name and flag?

Oh, that’s a great story! You see, my real-life name is Dave and I was creating a new land. Daveland was taken so I threw an “s” in at the end. Very creative, right? The truth is that I was just putting in throwaway info because all I wanted to do was see what the game was like. I figured I’d play a couple of times and then move onto something else.

As for flags, my current flag is representative of my home region, TEP. I have a golden TEP lotus flower in the middle, with a checkerboard pattern using the TEP colors behind it. My first flag that I ever did had my pet poodle’s face in the middle of it. I used that the most of any of my flags. At one point I was getting creative and made a new flag every day. I think I got up to almost 100 before I stopped that craziness! But it was a lot of fun!

Can you share three of your favorite flags with us?

Tell us about your early career in NationStates and the significant things you did to lead you to where you are today?

I was born into TWP but I started out VERY slowly. I did immediately join the WA and forums just to see what they were about, but for the first 2 months I think all I did was answer issues and vote in the WA. I was all about being focused on my nation. After that, I tiptoed my way into the RMB and started chatting with people. I’m always thankful that the TWP RMB is so conversation focused. It gave me a chance to move at my admittedly slow pace. I honestly don’t know if I would have stuck with the game if I had been in a region that had an RMB that went through 1000 posts a day. The big change for me happened when I was in the hospital for a week. All I had was my phone and TV. I was using the Stately app and really getting to know people in the region for the first time while I was recuperating.

Stately is a NationStates app for Android users. It's coded by an NSer and has many features that make it easier to NS while on your phone.

It was there that I started talking to people like Badger, Yuno, Yy4u, and Neenee. After a while, Badger and Yuno got me to try out raiding. Turned out I had quite the knack for it and I was actually spending a lot of time helping out other raiders get up to speed, but being on the East Coast of the US and dealing with a midnight update time caught up with me so I had to stop, but it was through that that I got my first taste of the larger game.

Yuno also helped train me for raiding (but I do not have a knack for things requiring that skill set). What about raiding do you enjoy the most?

The thing I liked most about raiding was the adrenaline rush you get when you trigger and move into a region. It’s a lot of quiet, then a 5 second energy hit! That and the camaraderie among the people you are raiding with. Lots of great conversations between raids. It was a fantastic way to get to know people.

After that, I started being given more and more responsibility in the region, especially on my first z-day (more on that later). When Badger was named Delegate, the first thing he did was to ask me to be his Minister of Foreign Affairs. Setting up that department from scratch really gave me a crash course in Gameplay and what was going on between the other regions. It was really the only way I learned enough about the various personalities in the game, which helped me immensely when Badger named me as his replacement as Delegate.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my family; Rahl. To some people, they can’t get past the history of some of the members, but in my time in there, the only thing I have seen is a group of people who work really hard to help each other out and also to try to better the game as a whole. It’s also where I learned a lot about NationStates history by listening in as NK, Dali, and Neenee would talk about the old days of NationStates.

Taken together, all of this has made me the gameplayer that I am today.


The Rahls are often presented as the bogeyman of NationStates. Why do you think this trope still persists?

I’m not really sure why that has persisted. I just think that there are people in the game who refuse to let go of the history and refuse to believe that people and things change over time. I won’t say that we don’t work together to help each other out (that’s the same as any family) and we do have a number of powerful people in the game, but if you look at the history of what we have done in the past 3-5 years, there has been very little that would be characterized as aggressive. In the regions that we are in, we have worked hard to make them better places.


What region are you currently a part of? What do you like best about this region?

I’m currently in TEP, and I have been for about a year. I initially came in to help Fedele because he is a close friend and I didn’t really know much about the region other than basics that an ally like TWP would know. But when I got there, I found that there is an incredible amount of activity and diversity in the region. I had never gotten into Roleplay, but it was an eye-opening experience when I saw how much creativity and work went into what the region does with it. Combine that with an active government made up of great people and I saw that the region is much better and much nicer than outsiders may understand.

What are your thoughts on the various gameplay venues (forums, Discord, gameside\RMB)?

The triumvirate of Gameside / Forums / Discord is what really makes the game dynamic. If you as a player are not involved in all three then you are missing out on what makes NationStates so engrossing and great.

Of course, the NationStates site is the main hub where you can find out about the regions and use the NS forums to work within the game. And the RMB is really the place where you can see the character of a region. Are they a quiet and serious place like TWP? Are they a RP region like TEP? Are they just a fun place to hang with jokes? Are they a bad place to be? That can all be determined through the RMB.

The regional Forums to me is where the business of a region takes place. The government of the region uses the Forums to conduct their work, Roleplay uses it as their base of operations, and of course most every region has their share of spam games. It can be overlooked by new players, but to me it is one of the most important places to be if you want to get involved in a region’s life.

The biggest change I have seen is with Discord. When I started, most regions were still using Skype or IRC. They were good for private communication, but that was its limit. With Discord, you really have a chance to get around in the NS universe and interact with other people and regions in a meaningful way. The most interesting aspect of that is that Discord has resolved a lot of bad issues by allowing people in different regions to quickly share info. It has allowed the community to quickly mark and restrict troublemakers. Of course, it is a double-edged sword, where it can be used to hurt people for political gain, but overall, it has been a good tool.

What has been your favorite historical moment in NS?
My favorite historical moment in NS (for me) was my first z-day in 2016. At the time, I was still a relative newcomer who was still getting to know the people in charge of the region. But Badger had taken me under his wing and gave me Border Control and a major role in planning the operations for z-day. Interacting with all those people, both in the region and from other regions, at such a frenetic pace and not sleeping for almost all the event gave me my first taste of what it was like to get deeply involved in the game. I had been enjoying NationStates before that day, but afterwards I knew I was hooked for the long haul.

If you were Max Barry for a day, what would you do?

Well, since I FINALLY got around to writing another novel for release next year, I guess I’d be spending some time on the phone with my publicist arranging the book tour. Then I’d go on a walkabout.

What do you do for fun when you're not on Nation States?

Besides my work, I have a lot of hobbies. I love to travel and I go on about 2 cruises a year. Love to go to concerts when I can (mostly Country and Classic Rock) and I go to a lot of comedy clubs and shows. I paint with oils when I have a chance, and I play some old-school computer games like MS Flight Simulator and sports games. I am very into sports of all kinds and I try to see as many different games as possible throughout the year. And of course, last but definitely not least, is spending time with my Fiancée and my son (he’s 21 and single, ladies!).

Favorite comedian?

When I was younger, I got the chance to see Jeff Dunham before he was famous. He used to play a 100 seat club in my area every year. I got to see his now-famous characters as he tried them out. I also got to see George Carlin about a year before he passed away. That show had me in stitches the entire time. Other great shows I’ve seen were Gabriel Iglesias, Patton Aswalt, and Billy Gardell. I just saw Jim Norton last week too, which was a very good show.

What is your favorite movie and\or TV and\or anime show(s)?

Blazing Saddles is one of Davelands' favorite films.

My favorite movie is easy! That’s Blazing Saddles! I have a signed cell from the movie in my office. In my younger days I was large and freakishly strong so my friends used to call me Mongo. As for TV, nothing stands out, mostly because I watch so many different types of things. I mean really different things like SpongeBob and Victorious all the way to How It’s Made, Dr. Pol, Storage Wars, and Two and a Half Men.

Favorite book(s)?

As a child I was big into Sci-Fi and when I got older I read most of Stephen King’s and Tom Clancy’s works. I also like to spend time in the Amazon backwaters looking for new authors who are doing a series. I read most of the Jack Reacher series before the movies came out (the casting director who cast Tom Cruise as a 6’9” plain looking blonde former GI should be fired) and I read the Wool series before it was widely known too. But my favorite author (right now) is probably Harry Turtledove. He has written a number of alternate history series and most of them are really excellent.

Favorite music?
70s, 80s, and 90s music like Rock, New Wave, Grunge, and even Disco and a little Metal. I was a big country fan until about 2014 when it morphed into Country Hip-Hop. Instrumental Jazz during dinner.

What is a game (outside of NS) that everyone should play?
D&D is an excellent game to play. You learn how to work with (and sometimes screw over) friends and because of the level of detail in the game and the time involved to play, it requires a certain level of maturity. I was part of the group that set up TWP’s D&D games and I played for over a year (that game is still going on BTW) and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Is this real life or online? How does the real-life vs. online version of D&D matchup?

We played D&D using Discord for voice and texting and used the Roll 20 website for the adventure. Doing it online is a different experience since you can’t see your other players, but the environment that the Dungeon Masters create are immersive. It’s also nice to see things happen in real-time instead of relying on imagination, which can differ from person to person. In addition, the online realm allows for much easier keeping of your character.

So you wake up one morning and receive the delegacy of any region you choose. Which would you choose? And what would you do as delegate?

That’s easy! I’d love to be the Delegate of TEP! In fact, I’ll be running in the September elections. As Delegate, I would take the hard lessons I learned in my time as TWP’s Delegate and try not to repeat the same mistakes I made there. First of all, I would keep a great group of core advisors around me like Fedele currently has. People who are independent and aren’t afraid to disagree with me. And then I would train those people to surround themselves with good people too so that they never feel that they have too much on their plate and can concentrate on their roles as leaders and advisors. Second, I would try hard to get the Roleplayers and Government people to work together more and feel less like they are two competing camps. Lastly, it’s a game! I want to have fun as Delegate! I have enough real-life work to do, NationStates should be an enjoyable release from that.

What is one change you would make to NationStates to help improve the game experience?

The look and feel of the game really hasn’t changed since they made the RMBs infinite almost 10 years ago. Today’s players are used to a much more graphical ways of communicating, so I’d like to see a real text editor in the Forums and the RMBs. It shouldn’t be too much in today’s world to allow people to create posts that have font size changes, a selection of fonts, paragraph alignment, and an easier way to add graphics and emojis without having to resort to BBCode or hacks.

I completely agree about the need for better visuals\aesthetics! Thanks to Davelands for the interview!

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

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Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - Baby Animals, Puppies, Pizza, Villains and other Marvelous Things as Zodiac Signs

Check out the A Brief Introduction to Astrology dispatch for more light-hearted info on the mystical services of astrology!

Baby Animals

Eevee Evolutions

Dragons

Dogs

Harry Potter

Natural Disasters

Marvel Heroes

Pokemon

Disney Villains

Anime

Disney Princesses

My Little Pony

fairytale aesthetics

Kittens

Favorite Foods

Ok, ok, I'll stop now and totally won't post any of the rest from my collection but you can use Google!

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

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Featured Personality: Jar Wattinree

How did you learn about NationStates? How long have you been playing NS?

I stumbled across NationStates quite by accident in November/December of 2016. I was primarily a reddit user, decreasing my presence from Facebook at the time, and had gotten quite involved with the Destiny community (although the loss of my PS3 meant I could not play the game post-Rise of Iron in Destiny 1). I mostly hung out in /r/DestinyLore where I made a name for myself as a thorough loremaster, and with another user debunked and made silly a very prominent myth regarding some important characters in [the game]. Look up "Rasputin" and "Traveler" in the same search and it will pop up. Needless to say, when canon all but confirmed this, we were ecstatic. Anyway, I was searching for some related images when I came across The Vex Dominion, a CTE’d nation that pulled wholesale for its factbooks information from Destinypedia, which meant that it was horribly outdated.

A vectorized Titan Mark, a class-unique item worn by Titans, a class focused mostly on power and punching their enemies. It hangs from the waist on the right

What is the significance or story behind your nation's name and flag?

I wanted a cool name, but didn’t know where to look, so this FB friend suggested Xytan ‘Jar Wattinree, a Halo Sangheili Imperial Admiral. It has no relation to the lore in my nation. My original flag came from Jul ‘Mdama’s Covenant (image is located on the Halopedia article of the same name). I later replaced it with a vectorized image of some of my favorite Destiny armor, The Jovian Guard (pictured).

My current flag, made by The Solar System Scope, comes entirely from Star Fox, and there are two reasons for that. One, I started using Krystal as an avvie around the time a Star Fox Discord I administrate appeared; two, because of its appearance in the then NS NPO server, I decided to port it over to my nation because, why not?, and it became a fixture of my NS identity. Incidentally, this has made no small amount of people mistake my gender to be something else, and I have a good laugh (of disbelief) when they realize it. I like the character that much.

Krystal on an NPO flag. There's a game in the Discord where players align with the snake team or the fox team. I'd of course pick foxes

Tell us about your early career in NationStates and the significant things you did to lead you to where you are today?

I founded in The Pacific and spent approximately three months figuring things out. Once those three months were up, I signed up and applied for citizenship.

Most of my “early” career was spent in the Legio of the time, and developing the then nascent RMB RP of Arembia as one of the original founders, along with Emmalina and The Bible Baptist Republic (remembered affectionately as TBBR). New players joined the RMB RP, and one of them, Samasbhi, even formed a little set of rules that most of us immediately adopted. There was fun to be had for all.

I became a Praetorian sometime before October of 2017, largely because I attended the Praetorian Reporting Thread diligently, but was almost immediately demoted to the then new trainee rank of Munifex as part of protocol. I also became an Imperial Governor in November, which was bizarrely incongruent with the Discord perms, incidentally. As a Munifex, I had no power; as an IG, which was a mask above, I could kick/ban, mute, and mask people; and gameside, Governors had Border Control, so I was frequently tasked with removing 106s upon the conclusion of the courts.

Incidentally, it was exactly one year, down to the day, between my gaining Imperial Governorship and Senator. I was appointed Senator at the recommendation of Pergamon, and have remained in that office since.

Were these roleplay courts or?

Regional Courts. The Pacific has a court system for processing infractions against the Civil Code. It had been established way back and serves as an archival system for when we do mass ejections of objectionable nations, like those praising Nazism or just being plain juvenile like "smoke weed yo dawgs".

106 is the most common infraction, and is our label for those with offensive custom fields—this includes everything from flags down to even factbooks.

What region are you currently a part of? What do you like best about this region?

The Pacific, and have never left it since founding (December 2016) save for my first Legio op once.

I like it because the RP was diverse and the community was open and friendly. So many comrades, Pelagis and Riverpond, Shinganshina and Somewherica, Experentia and Rejaqym now gone. Some occasionally return for events or quietly lurk on the forums—but these were among those who inhabited the RMB back in the day. Now the RMB is filled with ever more diverse characters and nations, from The First German Order and Longweather to Haven & Sanctuary and Isilanka, plus honorable mentions Elyreia, Palm-islands, and Neuer Deutsches Reich.

I’m also involved with Forest,a good region disassociated from the politics and wars memes of GP, focusing mostly on the environment and with healthy discussion of politics.

What kind of Roleplay (tech, style, etc) does The Pacific favor or focus on?

The Pacific forums features an extensive Modern Tech community, well into its seventh iteration, with multiple nations, religions, and histories. Most of it appears to be number crunching from an outsider's perspective, like budgeting for healthcare, military, income level, and that's not going into the truly insane levels of detail some of them go into their nations. Best part many of them started out gung ho and casual and eventually evolved into serious-minded RPers that take pride in their collaborative work -- and, of course, the memes that have been spawned from their characters. I am nominally involved in MT RP, but would definitely participate if I had more time.

The other major feature is Modern Fantasy Tech -- take the MT world I described, remove all restrictions, a little less budgeting, and you get MFT. It's more relaxed than MT and has a lot of whacky magic systems in it. I'm not involved in it as much, so I wouldn't really know.

Future Tech is a struggling genre. Its first instance went well, but drama happened. The second instance is in its infancy. All its really done is show me that I overdesign my FT species and their civilization. I blame Stellaris.

Stellaris is a popular game for NSers as well! I'm still working out my roleplay but the level of detail that some players put into their nations, histories, and other factbooks is immense and both inspiring and sometimes a bit intimidating.

Stellaris is a 4X grand strategy video game where players build their space empire by engaging in space exploration, diplomacy, and space warfare. Image comes from Patch 2.3.3, Wolfe.

What are your thoughts on the various gameplay venues (forums, Discord, gameside\RMB)?

Forums are good for archives and for detailed things, like mega roleplay plots or extended discussions on weighty things that would get lost in a faster-paced avenue, like Discord. Discord, for these very same reasons, is best suited for highspeed conversation and forging friends and community.

Gameside, the RMB is best for forging community between the old and new. In fact, one of the reasons I was appointed as IG was to better moderate the RMB. Recruitment spam was never difficult, but occasionally we had a roleplayer flame out and post suppression was needed. Like Discord, the RMB is full of spontaneity, but unlike Discord this can be anything, from full-scale RP plots to discussions of cheese and “pineapples”. *wink wink*

A region with a fun and lively RMB is so lucky

Indeed. The best indicator of any region's activity is not Discord or the forums but the Regional Message Board. You meet new faces there, make new friends, and if something bad happens on the RMB you'd best be sure that everyone there will be highly annoyed with the person, be it a regional recruiter or someone posting the Bee Movie script.

One of the relatively recent "RP genres" to appear is the RMB RP group, called "Arembia", a semi-MT/pre-FT RP thingy. It started in mid 2017 when TBBR started posting "news snippets" of events happening in his nation, and other players spontaneously replied with their own nations' official stances on these happenings. Eventually Samasbhi created some guidelines so people could have a baseline for their NS stats, Aleisyr appointed him as "RMB RP Overseer", and it snowballed from there. Last I checked it has a tentative collaborative timeline, it has a map, (generic) names for continents, and room for more nations to appear if they want to join.

Currently everyone is either in one of three alliances, the Alexandria League, The CORPS (The COalition for Regional Prosperity and Security), and the somewhat inactive "Oblivion Concordat." The CORPS is the largest, with members from the other alliances, as it is not a military alliance, it's more of a fictional UN with actual power behind it. My nation is one of its twin founders.

The most major event on there is a semi-world war against Issues nation East Lebatuck, an obvious stand-in for the Soviet Union but different. It currently fights the local hippie nation across the sea but kickstarted the war when I had it nuke my nation's capital. So of all the nations to have grievance with it would be mine. lol

As with MT RP my attention span for it has slowed to a crawl but what little time I do spare is developing my nation's lore, and making sure I'm up to date with the latest plot advances. Because eventually I am going to RP again and I'll need to know where to begin. Thank [violet] for that RMB search feature, it is a godsend.

Posting the Bee Movie script The world building levels that RMBers engage in can be amazingly in-depth and span over years. [

What has been your favorite historical moment in NS?

The sequence of events that led to the rise of the Undead Dominion of Lazarus in 2017. It made me aware that the status quo can be changed, and dramatically so. My involvement was mostly in the sidelines, due to my lack of political knowledge back then. though my sympathies lay with the Celestial Union solely because an old friend had been part of it. Even hung out in “The Resistance” Discord for a good while. Such was the impact that Reppy [Reploid Productions] consolidated every single Lazarus-related thread—save for official embassies—into the first ever GCR Megathread of GP. For a short period of time, honorable mention goes to the Khanate, restarting the whole sequence of events.

What advice would you give to players who are tired of the "status quo?"

The advice or lesson I'd give is if you want something to change, you do it yourself. Moaning, whining, crying and complaining about how Gameplay is dead is not how you go about doing this. Nor does vilifying and smearing those who attempt change, either. It is difficult to separate the OOC from the IC, but Gameplay is largely an elaborate pseudo-RP that pretends to be RP. Which is to say, not at all. This is the status quo, and has been for a while—I cannot say exactly when this state of affairs came into being. It could have been for as long or longer than I had first joined the game.

And mostly this is why people avoid changing things. They fear the crowd, or just don't care about doing anything. This is fine. It takes someone with guts to pull off a coup, and those that have done so and are left have largely rendered it impossible now thanks to the "new GP" of social networking. Then again, that old saying applies to NS: "Art imitates life." Insofar as it is a "natural" thing, I think it is natural, that is to say, when people have become so entrenched in a community that they stagnant and don't care about doing anything except exist, that is the reason why a coup happens: someone with ambition steps in, quietly, and then lights off a firecracker.

Insofar as it is a "natural" thing, I think it is natural, that is to say, when people have become so entrenched in a community that they stagnant and don't care about doing anything except exist, that is the reason why a coup happens: someone with ambition steps in, quietly, and then lights off a firecracker.

Will we see it again? Yes, for as long as this game exists. This is a political game, and unlike the Real World, words are all that we use to fight or bicker with.

If you were Max Barry for a day, what would you do?

Run day to day business as usual and inform him upon the end of the day that I have little experience in raising his family. The NS moderators Discord server is definitely interesting, I’ll admit, but it is mostly a bunch of nerds pretending to be geeks roleplaying at being responsible adults.

What do you do for fun when you're not on Nation States?

Watch YouTube, play videogames, occasionally read a book, drive around town, go on reddit or Quora, and/or write fanfictions that never get completed on time.

Ooooh, what fandoms do you write for?
I started writing Star Wars fanfiction way back when The Clone Wars (2008) was at its peak. There were active RP communities on Facebook, in spite of FB's attempts to destroy them, that ran the whole gamut of history, though, understandingly, most of them focused on Clones vs Droids. Some of the great RPs of that time I helped craft.

Droids vs. Clones, Star Wars

The other major fanfiction (cough apart from Tolkien's legendarium cough) would be Star Fox. No, it is not what you're thinking of. It's the sandbox nature of the fandom that's the attraction. Don't like how screwy and wonky the games make out its lore to be? Throw it out the window and create your own version. One of the best fanfictions I've read in [the Fanfiction dot net archive] focuses not on the eponymous team but on their nemesis, Star Wolf, and makes them much more compelling.

I don't complete things because I am a perfectionist. Fortunately, I do shut up the critic from time to time and actually work on something.

Finishing things is probably the hardest thing especially if you have that inner voice that says, "Not quite done yet.." I do also agree that fan fiction that takes a new angle on things often can be better than the original sometimes.

What is your favorite movie and\or TV and\or anime show(s)?

Movies may be a difficult thing to answer. I suppose the classics would suffice—Star Wars, or otherwise known as Episode IV: A New Hope. One of the first movies I ever saw, and I’m serious, I have memories from when I was a little kid living in a cabin of Jawas and Sandtroopers.

TV would be The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Daniel Boone, Chaotic, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Star Trek TNG and VOY, and I forget if there’s anything else.

Favorite Star Wars character, event, and Jedi or Sith? Also your thoughts on the new series?

Han Solo, from the Original Trilogy. Jar Jar Binks from the Prequel Trilogy. A shame he was downplayed in later films. At least TCW made sure he shone.

Gotta say it has to be the entire climatic battle of Return of the Jedi. Best, most awesome sequence ever. Next best is The Phantom Menace.

Obi-Wan Kenobi. For all of his faults, he is a good guy.

I'm not holding my breath. Do not get me started on The Last Jedi. It has nothing redeemable about it.

Favorite book(s)?

Several. In no particular order, and owing in large part to my grandfather, who introduced them to me:

The Heralds of Valdemar, by Mercedes Lackey
The Dragonriders of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
The Saga of Recluse, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr
The Riftwar Cycle, by Raymond E. Feist
The Leviathan trilogy, by Scott Westerfield
Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling
Children of the Red King, by Jenny Nimmo
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Theodore Boone, by John Grisham
Any C.S. Lewis book
Enderverse, by Orson Scott Card
The Foundation Series, by Isaac Asimov

Favorite music?
Two Steps from Hell, Powerwolf, Dragonforce, Gloryhammer. A few others, but these are my tops.

What is a game (outside of NS) that everyone should play?
Little Nightmares. No further elaboration required. Also, Little Nightmares 2 was announced August 20, so keep an eye out for that.

Can you tell us a little more about Destiny, the game that brought you to NationStates?
A big white sphere called The Traveler came to the Solar System and kickstarted humanity's technological Golden Age. Then a nebulous evil called The Darkness came and destroyed everything. Traveler fought it somehow and pushed it back, but was mortally wounded in the processes. So it sent out a lot of little robots called Ghosts to bring back dead people and turn them into superpowered warriors called Guardians. You start the game as a newly resurrected Guardian, and you quickly become "The Guardian" throughout the course of the game. (But, of course, you are just another Guardian when you bring in the multiplayer aspect.)

The Warlock, The Hunter, and the Titan in Destiny

There are three Guardian classes, the wise and wizardly Warlocks, the elite and stealthy Hunters, and then my favorite the PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH Titans. I was always a Titan, mostly because I loved punching things. They have various mechanics related to them, that again, you can read more about on Destinypedia.

The game is part RPG part MMO, and the base Destiny game is so bad it is good (lack of story for one), but its DLCs are A W E S O M E. Destiny 2 started off in the exact opposite direction, it fixed the problems of the original game, but ran into the problem of running out of story, but once again DLCs saved the day.

I like Destiny a lot because its background lore is extremely well put together—half of the major lore articles on Destinypedia are in part due to me—and for a time I could just log in, fly to Mars, and spend my time punching time-traveling robots (the Vex) to death repeatedly while avoiding the occasional space turtle (The Cabal) legionary.

So you wake up one morning and receive the delegacy of any region you choose. Which would you choose? And what would you do as delegate?

Forest, and I would do nothing except vote on Resolutions.

What is one change you would make to NationStates to help improve the game experience?

A proper war aspect to the game, tied to your Issue stats and perhaps even Cards. Nations are placed into Tiers, for example, where newer nations fight other newer nations, and as you go up in your Issue stats you can fight or war against other similar nations, like how War Thunder or World of Tanks do it. But it would require a different sort of game infrastructure to support, and it would change NS into something extremely different.

How might this work on a technical level?

All I'm saying is it would requite the base game to be reworked entirely. Issues are king in what we see now. To make any sort of war system work, you must make it part and parcel of the Issue system, or at least find a way to tie the two together to keep both parties (both warmongers and Issue players) interested. Also the Cards system and bank can be incorporated—already an idea would be to have bank also be used to buy stuff off the global market to fuel your war machine.

Like I said, a different sort of game infrastructure. It has little relation to the Factions proposal in Technical.

Thanks to Jar Wattinree for the interview and for the editing\writing help and advice!

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

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Gameplay Magazine - Arts & Culture - What is Dungeons and Dragons?

Some people, like myself, may have only heard about Dungeons and Dragons from television depictions ranging from the popular Stranger Things. to two episodes of the show Community being devoted to the game. Most recently, Riverdale had an entire (uneven and overall terrible) season in which a game called "Griffins and Gargoyles," that is reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons,dominated the story lines.

Stranger Things brought D&D, along with retro vibes, into popular culture.

Stranger Things literally opens with mysterious and scary events happening while a group of kids play Dungeons and Dragons. The series progresses with some of the characters no longer being as interested in the fantasy world as if a fantasy roleplay game and going through puberty don't quite align. Most D&D depictions have associated stigmas or stereotypes attached to the game.

The cast of the cancelled but highly recommended TV show [i]Community.

In Community, an entire hilarious episode of the show titled "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" revolves around the study group playing a game of Dungeon and Dragons. The episode delves into tropes and stereotypes with the group playing the game to save the life of "Fat Neil," a character who has been bullied and implies that he might commit suicide. The series itself, highly recommended, features several actors who've gone on to do other interesting projects from Childish Gambino before his "This is America" fame as well as Allison Brie who is just perfect (and not in a cheesy way). The series also has an awesome TVTropes page which include hilarious moments like this:

TV Trope: Collective Groan

Abed: Six goblins are running toward you from the tree line drawing daggers.
Troy: I attack them using my… additional notes!
Abed: That has no effect. Britta?
Britta: I want to know why these goblins are attacking us. Maybe these woods are their rightful land and from their perspective…
[Everyone groans at her in annoyance]

The show has a subsequent episode (season 5.10) titled "Advanced Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" in which the group once again reprises their characters (changing things up) and try to use the game to heal a father\son relationship. Both episodes do a good job at emphasizing the power of story and roleplay for catharsis and healing. Having never played a game of D&D, as of yet, the mechanics might have been glossed over to some extent.

Griffins and Gargoyles is a version of the Dungeons and Dragons that leads to murder and mayhem.

Riverdale presented viewers with Griffins and Gargoyles, a sinister game designed to control impressionable minds. The game is a tool born out of fear and shaped to encourage delusion, paranoia and violence. Players are given characters and quests and the quests involve real world actions (from seemingly minor things to actual murder). The "vulnerable" in particular are targeted. A foster home, scary Sisters, and drugs are also involved along with drinking from a chalice that leads to "ascension" or death. Some of the main issues with this season (and the show in general) was how it crossed the line between being a "semi-realistic teen drama" to a "supernatural teen drama." The lack of consistency in choosing one and sticking to it lead to an overall disbelief generated by one plot hole after the other. Unlike Stranger Things and Community which have more positive messages associated with fantasy games, Riverdale's take on D&D full of stereotypes and was anachronistic at best.

In a marvelous flashback episode (Season 3.4), the cast of Riverdale play their parents playing Griffins and Gargoyles. While the depiction of the game tended to the maudlin, the acting and aesthetics of this episode were lovely.

So beyond these popular depictions, all of which have different takes on the game, what is Dungeons and Dragons?

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson designed this cooperative role-playing fantasy game in 1974. In this first iteration, the game had only three character classes (cleric, fighting-man, magic-user), four races (humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings), and three alignments (law, chaos, neutrality). Readers of high fantasy series such as The Lord of the Rings, and of writers like Michael Moorcock's Elric series would be familiar with the origins of the system. By 1997, when Wizards of the Coast bought the game and began marketing it, the game had evolved in complexity with several handbooks, rules, campaigns and systems. The game is now officially in it's 5th edition.

First step, you need a Dungeon Master or DM (not to be confused with direct message). The Dungeon Master facilitates the game by narrating the adventure as well as controlling the NPCs (non player characters whether characters that are helpful to the adventurers or monsters trying to harm them). Dungeon Master's do not roleplay as a character of the adventurers team but is the storyteller that designs (or adapts) the campaign. In addition, the Dungeon Master knows the rules and uses them to create a fun game and has that last word in any dispute. Some DM's also design miniatures or create Pinterest boards or Spotify playlists for their campaigns. Whenever a player engages in an action (attacking, using a skill, or using an ability without an associated skill) there is a chance of success or failure and the DM rolls the dice to determine the result. There are about 960 pages of rules to D&D 5th edition so the DM is both a master of lore and master of narrative.

Races and Classes from Wizards of the Coast

Okay so once you've got your Dungeon Master then players fill out a character sheet. This sheet (which used to be filled out on paper but can now be online as well) contains all the information about the character from race, class, stats, abilities, equipment, and other important information or notes. D&D is cooperative, which means you work with your team on quests and adventures. Each team has a mix of players (character class and race) which have particular strengths and weaknesses. As you are roleplaying, your choice in character and race impacts your abilities and scores as well as your story. Many players create backstories and histories for their character. The goal of course is to have fun (within the rules) and design the kind of character you want to play? Always wanted to play a charming scoundrel or a pretentious erudite or a whimsical doppelganger? Well, your imagination (and the rules) are the limit! Players of games like Dragon Age will be familiar with this system in which the choice of class or race impacts the storyline and plot options as well as how other characters view and interact with you. A fighter class character can wear heavier armor and can get into close combat without fearing as much damage whereas a magic user is better off targeting enemies from a distance.

Gamescience Polyhedral Dice Set were voted as the best D&D dice by Game + Leisure blog for, offering the "accuracy and fairness RPG adventureers look for." The designs for D&D dice can be quite beautiful.

Once the team is assembled and the Dungeon Master makes sure that the characters are legitimate (no overpowered stats for example, so very similar to roleplaying on NS) the adventure begins. What does it mean to "roll" stats? Well D&D requires dice to play and is a game that has many different types of dice. The dice have specific functions with the d20 dice determining how successful your action or use of skill or ability are.

Rolling a 1 for example, when trying to attack someone will result in a complete and abject failure while rolling a 20 is considered a critical hit and will result in the action\skill\ability being successful plus some sort of bonus. So if you're trying to cast a lightning bolt to attack a giant zombie unicorn that is attacking you a 1 means that your probably just electrocuted yourself. While rolling a 20 or a critical hit means that not only did you electrocute that zombie unicorn but you probably got it's uninfected horn which is worth a ton of gold. Or maybe in an ideal world you uninfected the zombie unicorn and now have a trusty stallion.

Historically, D&D was played on a tabletop. That means a group of people gathered together in one space and played together on a table in "real time." However, the game has evolved so that players can D&D online whether through the official game or myriad other options such as using a tabletop simulator, Skype, Discord, or other platforms that facilitate group gaming. Many NSers play through Discord for example (and some have been interviewed in Gameplay Magazine!). Most sites state that the ideal number of players in a campaign is 5-6 but this may vary depending on the DM and campaign.

Dungeons and Dragons isn't limited to fantasy anymore either. There are science fiction D&D campaigns, steampunk ones, and creative minds have created D&D versions of their favorite fandoms (yes, there is a Harry Potter version and yes it sounds really epic). If I had a better mind for logic and rules I'd probably try running a HP themed D&D campaign

So, want to take the leap into D&D yourself? Check out the following resources:

The official website has a New to D&D section
Giger's 5E D&D is an amazing compendium of information. It's also where I found that there is a merfolk like race known as Tritons!
Redditor Demogrue created this slightly tongue-in-cheek flowchart "What Race Should I Play?"
You can also take this intensive "What kind of D&D character would I be? quiz here

Ready to Design Your Character?
Then check out this guide to DnD classes ranked from best to Worst
This guide to DnD Fantasy Races Ranked from worst to best

Have other great resources or suggestions? Share them in the comments or start a discussion or a D&D campaign with your friends!

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

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Featured Personality: Sylven

Our guest today, is Sylven, also known as Your Imaginary Friend, someone who I always talked to but really got to admire when I attended her wedding with the awesome Kortexia. She can sing like an angel and play guitar and is pretty cool

How did you learn about NationStates? How long have you been playing NS?

My sister originally told me about NS in 2012! It was my first internet community experience, and I fell in love with the game immediately. My nation CTEd for a bit in 2013 I think, but other than that I’ve been playing ever since!

What is the significance or story behind your nation's name and flag?

What nation? Lol! =P

My first nation was named Wolfdon because wolves were my favorite kind of animal. I wanted to be Wolfdom… but that was taken so I went with the next best thing.

Later I decided to make a new nation; I wanted to name it Sylvia originally because I think it’s a really pretty name, but that was taken too! I finally went with Sylven. For a while I used pictures of wolves that I’d find by searching for “dark wolf wallpapers” in google images, but recently I moved on to “warrior anime girls”. I really like the one I have now. I’d like to be the kind of player who fights to create and maintain the kind of game they want to play in (and who’s cute).

Wolves are fascinating on many levels. We're all drawn to symbols that represent ourselves or who we wish to be...

While I go by the name Sylven most places, currently I’m mostly active on my nation in Lazarus, Your Imaginary Friend. I originally made Your Imaginary Friend to join a nonGPer friend’s new region. I thought it was an appropriate name since I didn’t plan on doing much in the region besides being a bit of a friend as he got started.

Right around that time I decided I wanted to go to Lazarus under a false identity in order to remove the Undead Dominion/Khanate from power. I didn’t want a completely new nation to be showing up randomly trying to get involved, so I decided to use Your Imaginary Friend since it had a tad bit of history to fall back on, yet wasn’t generally associated with my defender self!

I chose Assassin’s Creed as my nation’s theme (despite never playing the games before) because I love AC art and I wanted something unique about Imaginary that would never be associated with Sylven.

AC art is pretty cool (I don't play the game but I like the aesthetic). Tell us about your early career in NationStates and the significant things you did to lead you to where you are today?

ima make a little timeline!

1. Got my first job ever as a RMB Topic maker person in a region that died soon after because nation sharing+evil people…
2. Joined Project Soul where I joined my first off-site forum and also supported the NLO coup which was funnnn even though I had no idea what was really going on x)
3. In Werewolves of the Flame I found the most tight-knit and beloved group of people I’d ever known <3 I’m still close friends with many of them in Solid Kingdom.
4. I was an off-and-on noob raider/defender for much of this time and helped found WUTO/ORCA, an interregional defender org (ineffective)
5. Probably the MOST important thing to get me where I am today was becoming a Grey Warden. I joined Discord for the first time, met people from all over the NSverse in the TGW server, and got a much better understanding of gameplay
6. Being adopted into the Whitehall family was a big learning experience for me too. E.g. I learned that some people can be things that you don’t want to be near.
7. At the bequest of Halo I became the newspaper editor for The West Pacific (I had a fair amount of experience doing newspapers in former UCRs)
8. I heard about people getting kicked out of Lazarus unfairly and wanted to be a fancy defender and make that stop by being sneaky so became Imaginary!
9. Imki picked me to be Minister of Interregional Relations of Lazarus, a job that seemed crazy above my head at the time… but I survived and did things!

What region are you currently a part of? What do you like best about this region?

I’m part of a few regions, but the one I’ve pretty much always considered home is Solid Kingdom. I’ve played with people there for years. My favorite part is when old friends I’d loved and almost forgotten about return to the game and come back to SK to catch up on things with the rest of us skeletons. It’s really beautiful to me. There’s none of that spicy gameplay (those of us who are interested in messing around with such things go to other regions) but there’s something there that’s a lot more precious to me.

What are your thoughts on the various gameplay venues (forums, Discord, gameside\RMB)?

I like all of them. =P

Forums are wonderful for high quality debates. I think it’d be super cool if instead of people being mini-salties and getting nowhere on the NSGP Discord server they actually clearly wrote out what they were thinking on the forums. Gameplay discourse would be much more interesting and clean, not moment-by-moment sensational wordplay riddled with irrelevant OOC discussion like it is now.

That's some fine shade

That said, I love Discord because it has given me the opportunity to meet so many people I’d really hate to never get to know. It not only creates a platform for players to get to know one another better, it allows information to spread like a wildfire in a way that just doesn’t happen through other means, which can help one understand what’s going on more easily.

Unfortunately, what makes it such a powerful tool for creating communities and sharing news can also lead to dangerous OOC situations, and while I’d never give up Discord or the friends I’ve gotten to know through it, I think it’s really important to be mindful of what one should and should not be doing on the platform in the context of the game.

The RMB is my NS comfort food.

What has been your favorite historical moment in NS?

The NLO coup. I was supporting the NLO at the time, but I met a lot of the natives and despite being on different sides we had a lot of fun together. The RMB was going wild 24/7, a huge amount of power was in the balance, lots of crazed folks talking about things that sounded important… Really exciting time for a GP noob like me! Even when Kazmr turned on us I couldn’t be too sad because everyone else was sooooo happy. =)

If you were Max Barry for a day, what would you do?

I’d drink some orange juice… also I’d make an Ask Me Anything thread on the forums and make a News message about it so everyone saw and I’d answer all the good questions in a fun but informative way but everyone who was lame I’d just stare at and DOS (oke mebbe I’d just not answer). I’d also make Vinny and Viet (the coder dude from TSP) admins so they could mess around with stuff and maybe make things a lil interesting and see inside the sekrit mod house.

...I’d also transfer all my money to some random kid in the backwoods of Georgia and make their NS account that fancy level of inbox thing. =P

What do you do for fun when you're not on Nation States?

I used to play League a TON but stopped because my mother asked me to. Now I play Minecraft, doodle, listen to music, strum chords on my new electric guitar while singing Rihanna or Coldplay.. and try not to annoy my siblings too much. I went to the Montreux Jazz Festival and had a really good time! I’d like to go to more things like that because I want to be a DJ when I grow up!


Music is like the best passion <3 What kind of music career would you want?

Oh, I actually want to be like a DJ who mixes the music behind songs instead of choosing what to play on the radio or something! I've written some songs to mess around with and so far they tend to be kind of sad-leaning emotional, then I'm going for a modern dance pop sound to beat along with that but idk what I'll actually end up with because I'm not very good at putting everything together yet!


What is your favorite movie and\or TV and\or anime show(s)?

I watched Ready Player One recently with Liliarchy (the super fast raider dude) and the movie was kinda corny but also nice and I had a lot of fun so I guess that can be my favorite.

Favorite music?

I love like everything pop+dance electronica feeling and also some funky 80’s/whatever it is my sister listens to. I recently fell in love with this!


That song has such great vibes <3 What is a game (outside of NS) that everyone should play?

Dixit (pronounced DEEKS-EET). I think it’s an amazing game because you learn how other people perceive and think about creepy pictures. What could be better than that?

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words...

So you wake up one morning and receive the delegacy of any region you choose. Which would you choose? And what would you do as delegate?

Probably Balder. I’ve been the diplomat from Lazarus to Balder for almost two years and I really like the community, but I feel like there’s not much motivation for those in leadership positions to do things, so they understandably tend to not do so much. I’d focus on gameside outreach and creating a more engaging government structure.

And bringing Agardian aesthetics to the region of course What is one change you would make to NationStates to help improve the game experience?

I wish people would stop talking about fascism on NationStates as an OOC threat. It’s not. If you want to fight fascism as part of your gameplay the same way you might fight imperialists or be opposed to giant puppet storages or something. But yelling “bloody murder you’re an OOC terrible person and should be blacklisted and left to die” at someone because of their political beliefs is really rude, in my opinion. x)

Yeah, the blurry use of OOC as an attack on any and all fronts has become problematic. I'm not sure how to really fix the problem (well I think having clear, visible guidelines to what is an isn't acceptable for all would be a start but gameplay is heavily resistant to anyone breaking the bubble of bullshit.

It's really important to be mindful of what one should and should not be doing on the platform in the context of the game.Do you have any guidelines or top three Do\Don't tips for Discord and NSing?

I think the most important things are staying appropriate, keeping your real life info private and making sure OOC rumors don't spread:

1. Be aware that people around you may be underage (whether they say they are or not) so make sure that you're always acting appropriately for that age group.

2. As a general rule, don't send personal details like your full name or address to anyone. If you're going to share selfies or something, post them in a server or DM with only people you know and trust fairly well. This is both for your own safety and to set an example for new Discorders on how to comport themselves off-site.

3. Never accuse someone of OOC misconduct based on what someone else says without solid supporting evidence. This doesn't mean you need to be asking Discord moderators for evidence every time they say there's been an offence, but it does mean you shouldn't be assuring others that the offence happened; because you don't know.

I agree with and really appreciate these guidelines!

Thank you to Sylven for a lovely interview and I am so excited and so many prayers\best wishes for your music career <3

[Escade]

Forum | Discord | Dispatch

~

Featured Personality: Todd McCloud

Our guest today, is Todd McCloud, a long time NS roleplayer and member of the East Pacific. Todd is one of the NSers who has used his time in NationStates as inspiration for multiple books. Check out https://tinyurl.com/y63wxpt6his author page on Amazon where you can read more about his books!


How did you learn about NationStates? How long have you been playing NS?
I actually don’t remember how I learned about NS. I think I was goofing off during class and looked up strategy games that would allow me to speak to people from Poland, but I could be wrong. I’ve been playing this game for over thirteen years now.


What is the significance or story behind your nation's name and flag?
Way back when, when the lion rested with the lamb and the phones did not have large touch screens, I was a part of a Starfox fan site that unfortunately no longer exists. I had a few roleplay characters, and some friends were kind enough to draw one of them. I chose one image over the other and made it the flag to my second nation (first one is a founder nation now). I chose Todd McCloud since it felt right, and it was the name of the main character I had at the time. Ironically, the IC character of Todd has nothing to do with Starfox anymore. If he could change his name, he’d probably go by Todd McDork, or Todd McNormal, or Todd McRib.

Todd's iconic "fox" avatar, across platforms, was originally inspired by a Starfox character - Fox McCloud.

Tell us about your early career in NationStates and the significant things you did to lead you to where you are today?
I was actually just content answering issues and talking to other nations in the region. Then, there was some invasion we went through - I think it was the Blades of Conquest - and since my English was better than Koi’s (another nation in the region), I was elected Delegate. That went on for a while, but then I lost UN status to that nation when I asked someone to look over the nation when I was away and didn’t know they had a UN nation as well! We were both ejected from the UN, being the hardened criminals we were, but we were then taken over by a region named Zurich, which attempted to refound us. They didn’t really ask us to be refounded, they just did it, which kind of made me think they were there for nefarious purposes. Another region, Catlandatopia, recognized me as the former delegate and asked if I wanted to refound Poland. I… had no idea what was going on, so a few long nights talking to leaders in the raider community opened my world. I suddenly became aware of the world around me, which I guess is a sign of intelligence, but nevertheless I worked with them to refound Poland.

To this day, I have no idea what would have happened had Zurich refounded the region, but I assume they would’ve put one of their guys in charge. Anyway, I then went on to various raiding orgs before I tried my hand at leading one - Fox Rite. It was a modest raiding region that wasn’t really strong enough to lead big raids, but it would routinely tag along to help. See, back then, there were no feeds, and a founderless region’s update time was rather unpredictable. I mean, if you were good, you could move a puppet in and spend about 2-3 weeks monitoring the update time and get it down to about a ten minute window. Then came the coordination on MSN or IRC, or sometimes AIM, sneaking in nations, furiously F5’ing, and hoping you’d win the delegate seat. We lost several times. I think the losing made us work harder and made the game funner overall.

But I grew tired of raiding, because well, I just didn’t really feel like sitting on a community for a long time and damaging it. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes when a community is raided, it spurs to action and becomes very close-knit. But, sometimes it doesn’t. So, I retired from raiding. I hopped to TSP, then TRR, then TEP, where I was able to watch the region undergo a coup at the time. That was back when I did a lot of stuff on NS. Needless to say, TEP held its first delegate election, and they picked me. I had a few advisors helping me out with understanding how to manage a giant region as a delegate (Kandarin and TAO were particularly helpful), and I had a lot of fun. We weathered the double-cross of Jolt, the cancellation of NS2, the decline in population, and so on, only to come out strong.

I’ve done other things and participated in events here and there. I made some good friendships and watched with powerless, paralyzing frustration as good friends left the game. I’ve done things I’d love to relive in the game, and I’ve done things that I wish I could pay someone to take back and hand me a rewind/erase button. But, at the end of the day, it’s all lumped into one sum, referred to as “experience”, and from experience begets “knowledge”, and from knowledge begets “wisdom”. I’m still waiting on the knowledge step.


You’ve published two books as part of a five book series. How did roleplaying on NS influence or impact your writing? Can you tell us a little about your books?
Well, when I first joined roleplaying, it was in TEP around 2008. I thought I was so smart with my plots and characters and stuff. I was totally wrong. My characters were marysues, and my plots were cliches. Experienced roleplayers caught on and killed off many of my characters, bombed my nation, killed more, and so on. My desire to see through and “win” prevented me from quitting, and in the end, I realized that “winning” roleplaying isn’t the end result, but the journey there. Better to have twenty pages of solid writing where you lose a character or a war than five posts where a character wins and eye-rolling ensues. Characters come alive the more they do the wrong things.

My replies grew the more I roleplayed, so much so that multiple posts would be needed for me to get a point across. It’s not really a good trait, but people said if you want to write a book, write a book. So I did.

There are dispatches written on the subject, and yeah, there’s a second book, that just released, and there will be a dispatch on that along with a back-cover blurb, the likes. I’m writing a third right now, and an outline for books 4 and 5 are fleshed out for the most part, too. I guess if I had to summarize these stories, well, they deal with a lot of concepts common in NS: diplomacy, wars and rumors of wars, coups, dissention, executions, thought experiments, cabinets, and so on. But I think the main theme is that there is much power in the self, but that power isn’t necessarily innate - it’s organic and grows from our experiences, mostly bad ones, cause that’s how one becomes tenacious! There’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” character in terms of alignment - there can be mostly good, mostly bad, good then bad, and so on, but that will change as the character grows. I think they call that an arc. Anyway, the books are centered around a major event that span across different histories experienced by different people. This way, someone can read book 2 and then read book 1, or read book 3, then 1, then 2. And each one you read, the more you learn about what’s actually going on. A trivial event in book 1 can have large implications in book 2 and can be set into motion in book 3, for instance.

I always liked stories like that. It’s like a jazz track - yeah, you have the sax, the piano, the drums, the guitar, but when the chorus breaks, you hear the story from the sax, then chorus, then guitar, and so on. I was sitting in a cafe a long time ago when a guy who said he was a saxophone player in a mediocre jazz band pulled up a seat next to me so that he could “talk about life.” I have no idea if his story was true, but I didn’t have any reason to doubt him. Anyway, he said jazz is like driving in a city. The chorus is traveling on the highways, because it’s busy, it’s noisy, and you can easily lose the individual instruments. Then, you listen to the saxophone, and it’s like you took an exit ramp and you’re driving down the intersections - things are more clear, it’s more personal, and the city is more detailed. You hear a story from a little borough. Then, you hop on the highway, then off again, and so on. I don’t know why, but that analogy always stuck with me.

Check out more about Todd's book in the dispatch here.

What are your thoughts on the various gameplay venues (forums, Discord, gameside\RMB)?
In my opinion, forums are essential, RMB is where the majority of the region thinks things go down, and discord is a useful tool. RMB is connectivity to the new players, forums are permanent locales for various regional activities / facets, and discord is socialization. I have opinions on all three, some good, some bad, but as an older player, I tend to gravitate toward things I am most familiar with, which for me are the forums.

What has been your favorite historical moment in NS?
When I finished my first tenure up as delegate of TEP. The messages I got are something else. It made me realize that sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes things can be a bit bigger in this game than something to goof off on with walls of texts and portraying various world leaders and diplomats.

If you were Max Barry for a day, what would you do?
Implement factions, then totally advertise a few books written by a fox-guy thing.

What do you do for fun when you're not on Nation States?
I spend time with my family, work at my job, start and finish home projects, write, go to junk stores, and try to stop and listen.

What is your favorite movie and\or TV and\or anime show(s)?
Well, I always liked Leon the Professional, TopGun, and Big Trouble in Little China.

Favorite book?
Probably The Bible.

Todd's favorite book is the Bible! Also available as an app

Favorite music
Right now, it’s chillwave.

What is a game (outside of NS) that everyone should play?
I liked Undertale. So, Undertale?

So you wake up one morning and receive the delegacy of any region you choose. Which would you choose? And what would you do as delegate?
Do I get a choice in the matter, like I have to receive one? Ha, well, I couldn’t pick TEP. We have elections over there, and if I received the delegacy, I probably was pushed over the top or something dramatic happened, which means I would have to give it back and it’d probably cause a lot of headaches, especially for me. So, not TEP - I’d rather be elected for that one with people in the region picking me, assuming I believed I’d do a good job and put a strong effort in it. But still, without any implications… I wouldn’t know. I’d likely make a giant mess of the pots and pans and disrupt things. Plus I wouldn’t know their laws! But if I could say I was elected, knew the laws, and knew the people in the region, well, I did want to be a delegate in TSP a long time ago. And TP. Oh, and Osiris. Europeia? I really hope this answer doesn’t get me in trouble. As to what I’d do, well, I’d have to spend time in the region and assess things, see what works and what’s not working, then develop an action plan with the region to begin to fix some issues and discuss it publicly, because many ideas are better than just one.

[Davelands]

What a great set of interviews! It's an honor to be included with the others!

[Bhang Bhang Duc]

What a great set of interviews! It's an honor to be included with the others!

Agreed!