Living like introverts: a [COVID-19 lockdown] survival resources thread

Dee Kae

Docshifty wrote: »

Any of ya'll old Mtg players that gave up on the cardboard scene because of poor local support or just feeling priced out, Arena is goddamn fun. I've got multiple decks that would cost literal hundreds in paper magic, entirely free (I haven't spent money since rotation so most of the cards I 'bought' aren't included in that).

For every good game I have in MTG: Arena, there's always a game with someone takin' the maximum amount of turn time for every single phase.

Figgy

WACriminal wrote: »

With March Madness cancelled, a lot of folks in my circle are going through bracket withdrawal. I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to create some sort of pop culture Superfight bracket for people to bet on, the "matches" determined by votes, with the votes being open to the public so it's not just the people betting on the bracket who are voting.

Iron Man vs. Pikachu. Betty White vs. Darth Vader. Mario vs. Gollum. Who is the ultimate fighter?

Yes, but to determine the winner you cut out a face of each combatant and glue them onto an M&M, then smush them together in your fingers. Whichever M&M breaks is the loser.

Docshifty

Dee Kae wrote: »

Docshifty wrote: »

Any of ya'll old Mtg players that gave up on the cardboard scene because of poor local support or just feeling priced out, Arena is goddamn fun. I've got multiple decks that would cost literal hundreds in paper magic, entirely free (I haven't spent money since rotation so most of the cards I 'bought' aren't included in that).

For every good game I have in MTG: Arena, there's always a game with someone takin' the maximum amount of turn time for every single phase.

I've only seen people rope consistently when I'm playing Izzet control and

Yeah, I understand that.



Some mofos go slow as hell though, yeah

Hevach

While some people are talking about using this to develop cooking techniques, my wife and I have seen ours decay rapidly.

Day 1: New steak recipe
Day 2: Old meatloaf recipe
Day 3: Fish stick sandwitches
Day 5: Whole fucking box of microwave popcorn

WACriminal wrote: »

With March Madness cancelled, a lot of folks in my circle are going through bracket withdrawal. I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to create some sort of pop culture Superfight bracket for people to bet on, the "matches" determined by votes, with the votes being open to the public so it's not just the people betting on the bracket who are voting.

Iron Man vs. Pikachu. Betty White vs. Darth Vader. Mario vs. Gollum. Who is the ultimate fighter?

AI vs. AI tournaments in any available strategy game that makes it feasible.

Need a way to create a game with no human player, or for the human player to remove themselves without ending the game (like a cheat code to disable defeat conditions), need a way to see what the AI is doing (usually cheat code to lift fog of war). Enough factions to make it meaningful is a plus, but nothing stopping you from using StarCraft or Warcraft and just having duplicates - if you give them different names on the bracket they're different players, right?

Polaritie

I've been cooking mainly my standbys, but I've definitely had more time to cook the involved ones. But at the same time my mood hasn't been there for putting in effort... so it's been a mix of very lazy food and proper cooking this week...

Carpy

Bandcamp is waiving all their fees today so if yo make a purchase the full price goes to the artist.


Also crossposting from the G&T Xbox thread but Children of Morta is a fun local coop rogue-like that I think is available on all the major platforms and is good for progressing in small chunks of time

Carpy wrote:

On non speculative news I've been playing a lot of Children of Morta on Game Pass and really enjoying it. It's a rogue-like but instead of starting at the beginning of a big dungeon every time it's broken up into a successive series of mini dungeons that are all about 3 floors deep with a boss at the end. Being able to beat a boss and unlock the next dungeon really helps with sense of progression.

There's 6 characters (I've only unlocked 5 so far but they all feel really distinct) each with their own skill tree and abilities. Every 4 points or so in a skill tree unlocks a unique trait that applies to every character. There's also a more standard set of upgrades like damage, health, move speed, etc that you can purchase with gold found in the dungeons and apply to all the characters.

Combat is tight and I love the art style. It's also got local coop, no online yet but they say it's coming. If you're looking for something that you can sit down for 15-30 minute chunks and still feel like you're progressing you should check it out.

Heffling

Hevach wrote: »

While some people are talking about using this to develop cooking techniques, my wife and I have seen ours decay rapidly.

Day 1: New steak recipe
Day 2: Old meatloaf recipe
Day 3: Fish stick sandwitches
Day 5: Whole fucking box of microwave popcorn

WACriminal wrote: »

With March Madness cancelled, a lot of folks in my circle are going through bracket withdrawal. I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to create some sort of pop culture Superfight bracket for people to bet on, the "matches" determined by votes, with the votes being open to the public so it's not just the people betting on the bracket who are voting.

Iron Man vs. Pikachu. Betty White vs. Darth Vader. Mario vs. Gollum. Who is the ultimate fighter?

AI vs. AI tournaments in any available strategy game that makes it feasible.

Need a way to create a game with no human player, or for the human player to remove themselves without ending the game (like a cheat code to disable defeat conditions), need a way to see what the AI is doing (usually cheat code to lift fog of war). Enough factions to make it meaningful is a plus, but nothing stopping you from using StarCraft or Warcraft and just having duplicates - if you give them different names on the bracket they're different players, right?

Dare I ask what happened on Day 4? Or is it something so horrific that only a whole fucking box of microwave popcorn was the only way to redeem yourselves?

Docshifty

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/FNM_at_Home?fbclid=IwAR2UHwZgxXZqAqzC8_U6ns_dXPeMsGWryjtLmbR2wOjzc-_kKY05zyARTt0

WotC is working with local stores to set up FNM on Arena.

Doodmann

For those of you trying to flex your cooking muscle, join the SE++ cooking club:
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/233282/the-first-rule-of-cook-club-cook-along-week-10-root-vegetables/p1

Hevach

Heffling wrote: »

Hevach wrote: »

While some people are talking about using this to develop cooking techniques, my wife and I have seen ours decay rapidly.

Day 1: New steak recipe
Day 2: Old meatloaf recipe
Day 3: Fish stick sandwitches
Day 5: Whole fucking box of microwave popcorn

WACriminal wrote: »

With March Madness cancelled, a lot of folks in my circle are going through bracket withdrawal. I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to create some sort of pop culture Superfight bracket for people to bet on, the "matches" determined by votes, with the votes being open to the public so it's not just the people betting on the bracket who are voting.

Iron Man vs. Pikachu. Betty White vs. Darth Vader. Mario vs. Gollum. Who is the ultimate fighter?

AI vs. AI tournaments in any available strategy game that makes it feasible.

Need a way to create a game with no human player, or for the human player to remove themselves without ending the game (like a cheat code to disable defeat conditions), need a way to see what the AI is doing (usually cheat code to lift fog of war). Enough factions to make it meaningful is a plus, but nothing stopping you from using StarCraft or Warcraft and just having duplicates - if you give them different names on the bracket they're different players, right?

Dare I ask what happened on Day 4? Or is it something so horrific that only a whole fucking box of microwave popcorn was the only way to redeem yourselves?

Day 4 was microwavable Mexican food and fast food drive thru.

Corvus

I get emails from Lee Valley, I'm not particularly handy but they have some project guides here for wood work things you can do with kids of an appropriate age.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/discover

HappylilElf

Carpy wrote: »

Bandcamp is waiving all their fees today so if yo make a purchase the full price goes to the artist.

*stares at text*

*reaches out and snatches wallet that was fleeing in terror*

discrider

Docshifty wrote: »

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/FNM_at_Home?fbclid=IwAR2UHwZgxXZqAqzC8_U6ns_dXPeMsGWryjtLmbR2wOjzc-_kKY05zyARTt0

WotC is working with local stores to set up FNM on Arena.

@Aegeri

themightypuck

Just ordered DoorDash to see if that is still a thing. Based on predicted times, better than ever. On the bad side, my internet has suddenly become sketchy so I can't play online games I've played for years.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

MNC Dover

I've been thinking about ways I can help out others trapped at home during the quarantine. Like, I've seen people do art streams, play games, teach music, and so forth. Maybe I could do something voice acting or gaming related? Perhaps just answer questions or do something silly?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

So It Goes

MNC Dover wrote: »

I've been thinking about ways I can help out others trapped at home during the quarantine. Like, I've seen people do art streams, play games, teach music, and so forth. Maybe I could do something voice acting or gaming related? Perhaps just answer questions or do something silly?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Host Quiplash !

Hahnsoo1

Drawful 2 is currently free on Steam, and it's a fantastic game to play on a stream (it has extended timers like the more recent Jackbox games).

I play Codenames using https://codenames.plus

https://skribbl.io is a fun drawing/Pictionary type game.

HappylilElf

Things I failed to consider: It's been months since I've been on Bandcamp.

I could literally sit here for days just listening to music trying to figure out if I want to buy it :P

Gyral

If you're on Smashwords, they just whipped up a month-long Authors Give Back Sale on eBooks in their catalog. Bunch of stuff is on sale or free if you can find something worth reading.

Carpy

Anyone got good recs for asynchronous multiplayer mobile games to play with someone? Need to be cross platform as one of us is on Android and the other iOS

Edit: I've googled some lists but it's hard to tell if they are actually asynchronous or just turnbased

MNC Dover

So It Goes wrote: »

MNC Dover wrote: »

I've been thinking about ways I can help out others trapped at home during the quarantine. Like, I've seen people do art streams, play games, teach music, and so forth. Maybe I could do something voice acting or gaming related? Perhaps just answer questions or do something silly?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Host Quiplash !

I’ve never heard of Quiplash. I’ll have to look into it. I’ve been thinking of reading books or kids stories. Any other suggestions?

Figgy

MNC Dover wrote: »

So It Goes wrote: »

MNC Dover wrote: »

I've been thinking about ways I can help out others trapped at home during the quarantine. Like, I've seen people do art streams, play games, teach music, and so forth. Maybe I could do something voice acting or gaming related? Perhaps just answer questions or do something silly?

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Host Quiplash !

I’ve never heard of Quiplash. I’ll have to look into it. I’ve been thinking of reading books or kids stories. Any other suggestions?

What about a classic novel read aloud, chapter or few every day. Parents play to their kids at bedtime

Something like The Hobbit or similar, nail all the voices, etc.

Quid

If you've got a good voice, uplifting short stories is a good option too. Kurzgesagt did one a while ago that's pleasant to listen to though a bit high level for younger children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6fcK_fRYaI

Becky Chambers writes really optimistic, low stakes sci fi too.

Kana

The Ringer has a pretty nice comprehensive list of quality stuff on streaming services, if you're trying to remember what prestige shows you've been meaning to stream and never got around to

https://www.theringer.com/pop-culture/2020/3/17/21182505/what-to-stream-on-netflix-hulu-amazon-disney-plus-recommendations

WACriminal

Free audiobooks sound like a good thing during this:

https://www.radiotimes.com/news/radio/2020-03-20/audible-just-made-hundreds-of-titles-completely-free-to-help-during-coronavirus-crisis/

Hevach

Steam has Tomb Raider 2013 free in case you've managed to dodge all the bundles and giveaways its been in for the last seven years.

Looks like Eidos has 70% discounts on a ton of stuff, a fair few things are under $2.

Can... can society collapse more often?

Docshifty

So https://mtgarena.pro/ Is a great app that gives you bunch of information about your deck, your collection, your chances on a draw and your record against other color combos

BUT

it also allows people to join sealed and draft pools and will construct packs based on everyone's shared collection. I haven't tried it yet cause nobody I know really plays, but I thought others might want to know if they had a group of people that played.

Mayabird

A megagame just started in SE++ for people who are going to have a lot of time to be on the boards for the next while.

https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/235528/megagame-aegons-conquest-write-a-better-ending-than-d-d-sign-ups-open

Dark_Side

Dee Kae wrote: »

Docshifty wrote: »

Any of ya'll old Mtg players that gave up on the cardboard scene because of poor local support or just feeling priced out, Arena is goddamn fun. I've got multiple decks that would cost literal hundreds in paper magic, entirely free (I haven't spent money since rotation so most of the cards I 'bought' aren't included in that).

For every good game I have in MTG: Arena, there's always a game with someone takin' the maximum amount of turn time for every single phase.

Is that a thing? I was a bit worried about it when I started playing this weekend, but so far it hasn't happened yet. In fact people seem more than willing to just bail on games -I stumbled into a draft tonight with a mediocre at best white deck and got gifted two wins by concede after making all in aggressive plays with a deck that was out of gas.

Ketar

Dark_Side wrote: »

Dee Kae wrote: »

Docshifty wrote: »

Any of ya'll old Mtg players that gave up on the cardboard scene because of poor local support or just feeling priced out, Arena is goddamn fun. I've got multiple decks that would cost literal hundreds in paper magic, entirely free (I haven't spent money since rotation so most of the cards I 'bought' aren't included in that).

For every good game I have in MTG: Arena, there's always a game with someone takin' the maximum amount of turn time for every single phase.

Is that a thing? I was a bit worried about it when I started playing this weekend, but so far it hasn't happened yet. In fact people seem more than willing to just bail on games -I stumbled into a draft tonight with a mediocre at best white deck and got gifted two wins by concede after making all in aggressive plays with a deck that was out of gas.

It happens, but very rarely in my experience. Most people are all about the quick play.

ahava

The mobile edition of Tokaido board game is currently free on Googleplay store and Apple. Until the 27th I think.

Cheers to @Anzekay for mentioning this earlier

Quid

Tomb Raider is free to download and keep on Steam right now. It's a gorgeous, great game if anyone's been curious to try it.

Steev

Hevach wrote: »

Steam has Tomb Raider 2013 free in case you've managed to dodge all the bundles and giveaways its been in for the last seven years.

Looks like Eidos has 70% discounts on a ton of stuff, a fair few things are under $2.

Can... can society collapse more often?

Also, Lara Croft and the Tomb of Osiris is free. I really liked Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light which actually changed up the puzzles if you played with a second player; this one has 4-player co-op, although based on the reviews, it doesn't work well. But hey, free is free.

Dark_Side

Ketar wrote: »

Dark_Side wrote: »

Dee Kae wrote: »

Docshifty wrote: »

Any of ya'll old Mtg players that gave up on the cardboard scene because of poor local support or just feeling priced out, Arena is goddamn fun. I've got multiple decks that would cost literal hundreds in paper magic, entirely free (I haven't spent money since rotation so most of the cards I 'bought' aren't included in that).

For every good game I have in MTG: Arena, there's always a game with someone takin' the maximum amount of turn time for every single phase.

Is that a thing? I was a bit worried about it when I started playing this weekend, but so far it hasn't happened yet. In fact people seem more than willing to just bail on games -I stumbled into a draft tonight with a mediocre at best white deck and got gifted two wins by concede after making all in aggressive plays with a deck that was out of gas.

It happens, but very rarely in my experience. Most people are all about the quick play.

Ah good, cause that's part of what makes the game so nice.

Hevach

I changed my brake pads today.

They didn't need to be changed. But there are five people in this house and nothing to do and between buying a new tool and parts and figuring it out and then changing all the wheels on both cars I didn't have to look at ANY of them for six hours.

No-Quarter

I picked up Gloomhaven on steam because I'm a sadist (And because my rig can't run Doom:Eternal).

I also have Warhammer Underworlds.

themightypuck

No-Quarter wrote: »

I picked up Gloomhaven on steam because I'm a sadist (And because my rig can't run Doom:Eternal).

I also have Warhammer Underworlds.

Gloomhaven IRL is like infinity times better than Gloomhaven on Steam (at least last time I checked it out which is probably half a year or so). Can you now play the campaign?

Rhesus Positive

Alex Horne has organised a play-at-home Taskmaster series, where he will give a specific activity to be completed in a set time

First one below:

https://twitter.com/AlexHorne/status/1242015636659765249?s=19

halkun

Rhesus Positive wrote: »

Alex Horne has organised a play-at-home Taskmaster series, where he will give a specific activity to be completed in a set time

First one below:

https://twitter.com/AlexHorne/status/1242015636659765249?s=19

Is Letter OK? We don't actually used metric paper sizes in the U.S.