The Stochastic Game

Ramblings of General Geekery

Why, yes, I’m writing some #TTRPG material, and I have to lookup some farming information to figure out how much pasture you need for a given number of cows. Things I didn’t know I’d learn today…

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After much hesitation I have finally come to a decision for my upcoming RuneQuest Glorantha game: the players will start in the Far Place, as members of a Bachad clan! #RQG

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I’m finally going back to playing Delta Green! The poor players are in for a treat with this awesome haunted house adventure… let’s see if I can get one of them to shoot the others! #TTRPG

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1Password partnerns with venture capital Accel

This is making me somewhat suspicious and nervous about 1Password’s future:

I’m incredibly proud to announce that we’ve partnered with Accel to help 1Password continue the amazing growth and success we’ve seen over the past 14 years. Accel will be investing USD$200 million for a minority stake in 1Password. Along with the investment – their largest initial investment in their 35-year history – Accel brings the experience and expertise we need to grow further and faster.

First, VC money is never good news in my books. It always comes with oversight, agendas, and other types of strings. The silver lining is that it’s a minority stake in this case, so supposedly the 1Password people might still be in charge.

Second, you have to wonder why 1Password would need help growing. It seems like it’s doing all right. Better than alright, actually. It’s definitely my preferred password manager1, and is routinely in the top 2 best password managers for most people. Why does it need growth? Why can’t it just be a, you know, sustainable business that makes enough money to pay every employee fairly and stay afloat?2

  1. Despite their rather badly handled transition to subscription-based cloud hosting a couple years ago. ↩︎

  2. Because capitalism, yeah, I know. ↩︎

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If you see me in a parked car, drumming energetically on the wheel, it’s probably because Goodbye Stranger started playing when I parked and I just can’t turn it off mid-song and walk away.

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Zelda, dying forever in the castle: “You’re ready to defeat Ganon! My life is in your hands!"
Hyrule people, under the thumb of Ganon’s creatures: “You’re ready to defeat Ganon! Go save us!”
Me: “Nah, I like running around and cooking mushrooms, lol”

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There’s no such thing

I once watched my (teenage) niece playing Magic Tiles 3 on her tablet. It’s a free musical game that’s pretty fun, but it has lots of marketing videos interrupting gameplay all the time. Since one of my kids wanted to play it, I ask her if there’s a purchasable version, or another similar game that I can buy and that wouldn’t have the annoying ads.

She looks at me, slightly confused. “I don’t know about any game that doesn’t have ads. There’s no such thing, I think”.

So yeah, that’s what you’re up against, game developers.

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