Yes, I am reminded of the end of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, where Shukhov ironically concludes that it had been âalmost a happy day.â And I once met an inspirational speaker born without legs and with stumps for arms, saved from infanticide by the protection of his mother. Now he travels the country, changing lives for the better through his uplifting message.
Yes, I had higher expectations. I thought it would be an opportunity to joke around with friends while in character, but all the fighting takes away much of the fun. Besides, if you try to play freely you still have to follow a specific storyline which has already been decided. And I like chaotic charactersâŠ
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Quite so 
At least according to us. Did you see that old footage of him in the 80ies? He is lucky they didnât run him out of town or something. The newspapers were wild against the game back then and some rural places are dangerous for people that donât fit in.
At the end of the day though, the crux of the matter is that you can bet good money that there are dozens of people like him which we donât know of - and will probably never find out about - doing similar things for D&D and for other hobbies and activities.
(look at this beauty: https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/214624738483182328/ - just 50 followers, but he made that! )
After 40 years âhe made the newsâ, but he had fun for 40 years, without making it to the news. That is, for me, the real âbig achievementâ of this man 
If you want a different example, think of how many thousands of people own a telescope and stargaze. Some do incredible astrophotography which can be viewed and shared and admired, most of them do not. Yet they still do it and have fun
Look at us. None of us ainât turning pro in Go, yet here we are, still enjoying the game.
And letâs not even mention Minecraft and what some people build there, eh?
It is mostly a matter of who is the DM. The players need to have a modicum of âyeah, letâs try thisâ (see end of post), but it is the story, the delivery, the theatrics and the balance of the DM that makes or breaks the game.
I mean we played with a friend who did the DM. He is good at it. I am very mediocre. Then he went to university he got into a group and he was like âthis DM is AWESOME, you have to come and playâ and I went to visit one day and got to play as a guest.
The DM incorporated my characterâs appearance in his campaign seamlessly, I got into my role and he rolled with my decisions and how I handled the situations. At the end of the night (or I should say, around dawn next morning 
⊠we played for 10+ hours ), he had found a way for my character to vanish (in case I ever returned as a guest) or be disposed of in case he never saw me again around his table.
His main trick was that he used to take a particular player out of the room and play scenes outside of the partyâs earshot, if the character was not among the group (and heâd let the rest of the crew âstewâ in the dark - literally, because he was very keen on candles while playing).
The players were not allowed to meta-game -obviously- and reveal what happened âbehind closed doorsâ, just like we would do as normal people, unless a time came where such information was pertinent to a situation or discussion.
Just that tactic created layers upon layers of intrigue, even in simplistic encounters, as well as good natured competition and intrigue between the characters.
What do they now know that we do not, eh? hmm hmm 
And then where his hand-written notes ⊠the dude was an artist.
Specific storyline? Thatâs horrible!
My characters have eradicated more DM scenarios than actual opponents.
A good DM rolls with it, a bad one makes you roll back your decisions.
When the DM rolls with it, you usually eventually roll a new character, but at least youâve died happy 
A good story always has consequenses.
end of post
We once had a player that wanted to play a Lawful Good Paladin, but his actual real-life character was a money-grabbing penny-pincher so he kept saying "when do I get to steal money and loot treasure. We know who you are thatâs why we told you to play a rogue, dude, but you wouldnât listen. Anyway, the DM killed his character very soon and he was never seen around that game.
Some days I just wish there were smartphones back then ⊠it would have made a very funny video. 
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As a lifelong hiking enthusiast, I suppose I should comment. Hiking certainly isnât for everyone, and people may enjoy it for a variety of reasons. I can only speak for myself. I love the mountains for their interesting rock formations and beautiful waterfalls, and the desert for its awesome austerity, There is nothing quite like hiking 5 or 10 miles from the last dirt road, through a rolling bone-dry landscape, to a remote Indian ruin.
But the best may be to hike our Southern forests in summer. (Yes, my late, winter-hiking partner, who hailed from Minnesota, thought I was crazy.) Despite the ticks, snakes, and poison ivy, hiking in the summer forests brings endless surprises: a pine tree that exploded from a lightning strike, ant mounds four feet high, a smoldering mountaintop, and the rare sighting of an albino otter, among others. More routine wonders also abound, such as luminescent plants lighting up the night, a profusion of wild flowers, and wood fungus in an amazing variety of colors and shapes. Depending on the time of year, one can also âharvestâ wild blueberries, blackberries, or strawberries (which grew in a recent clear-cut, but are now gone because the trees grew back), which make a nice snack or dessert at supper.
And in a deep snow, one can experience the unearthly âWhite Silenceâ that Jack London wrote about.
Of course, I concede that one must care about these things to appreciate them.
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On topic:
That is a very interesting idea and it can be done with AirBnB on countries that have a lower cost of living than the one you started from. It definitely sounds more exciting than staying home if you do not have any obligations left.
Well, I like to think that I am not as tedious as this fellow. He took ages to get to the point. I usually say my point and explain it afterwards. This way if it is obvious or someone gets bored, they can skip my explanations or at least skim it using the bolded phrases.
Interesting videos never-the-less. Thanks for sharing
It is very rare that those subjects are gripping the attention of the reader, but the general idea - at least as I understand it - is not for someone to âlearnâ about philosophy, but to gain/grow through it.
Philosophy means âfriend of wisdomâ and wisdom is not something boring, nor something you remember or recite. You usually acquire it and incorporate it in your thoughts and life, without memory or the ability to recite when and why that wisdom came about.
Think of it a little like speaking a second language.
A learning approach is more or less what we can see in the âlanguage learnerâs libraryâ where people have astounding and impressive and, sometimes, obscure knowledge on their subjects of study. That is knowledge.
A philosophical approach is akin to what most of us are doing while writing or reading here. After some point you do not remember the rules or the vocabulary or the syntax or the spelling ⊠the language just âexistsâ in your mind and operates on its own. That is philosophy/wisdom.
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These politicians didnât learn to use virtual backgrounds?
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Whereâs that from?
Also, do the guys on the right deliberately have different color laces for each side?
Found it
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Remember we talked about Russian and other classical literature?
Thereâs this woman on 1:57, gives very good answer
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in three two one minutes ⊠Iâm excited!
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While âbody seems unclearâ⊠
(not a native speaker, but this seems like a very terse and depends-on-context-to-make-sense combination of words)
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Oh wait ⊠Ponnuki in the centre of the Milky Way âŠ
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