Greg Sanders

Happy Thanksgiving

I try to be consistently thankful for the privileges of the middle class, early 21st century, developed world lifestyle. But even that context, most aspects of my life have been consistently improving for the past few decades and I'd like to thank my family, friend, and colleagues for making that possible. Unsurprisingly, the biggest sometime exception to that rule has been health, but even in that department I think I've hit an equilibrium that's the best shape I've been in my life, and I'm quite grateful for that.

However, even in the 21st century, health doesn't last forever. My father had passed away earlier this year and I dearly miss him. Along with my mother he'd introduced me to a love of travel and technology. If I manage to bring both strongly held views and civility to policy discussions and encourage groups to work together, it's probably thanks to the example he set. I'm still trying to learn how to translate debate into action and how best to pursue change and favored ideas without going off unproductively on my own, but he's given me a great place to start from. Thanks Dad.

Gaming: Doing more with skills in 4th edition D&D

The main tabletop RPG I play is Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition, in large part because it dominates the market but also because of the perks it offers because of its size. Notably electronic tools and the level of product testing and support that comes with a high market share. In any event, this edition is fairly tactical combat-oriented, which makes for interesting game play but also results in a focuses the story end on combat, in sometimes problematic ways, which isn't particularly my thing. The system also has skills, which allow for a broader range of options when interacting with the world, and structured skill challenges which attempt to aid game masters in requiring their players to use their wits and their character's abilities in settings other than the battle mat.

Unfortunately, I don't think skill challenges really achieve this goal even as the math underlying them is refined. After speaking with friends and reading a mix of RP design blogs and listening to a lot of Paul Tevis's  Have Games, Will Travel I think I know why. Skills are a sub-system that as Ryven Cedrylle explains doesn't quite mathematically match up with the rest of the game. Thus skills are most often used against easy, medium, and hard DCs rather than the defenses of monsters or other player characters. Making skill challenges substantially more sophisticated would thus set up more of an alternate system that some characters would excel at but may simply bore the rest. If I want the rest of the game to be as robust as the combat, I either need to switch over to other games or find ways to integrate the core math of combat and of skill challenges.

So, for those who actually know 4e, here's my shot at the latter. I think the core problem is that the ability to rapidly raise skills is critical to allow player characters to be at all effective with skills that their stats don't naturally support. It also means that there's not really a reason to chase flat bonuses for skills a character is naturally good at which would hopefully redirect attention towards feats that allow use of the skill in more interesting ways. Once the systems actually align, I think a logical next step would be to introduce skill attack powers, which could be substituted in like skill utility powers but that would make sense outside of combat. Here's how I'd do it:

Congrats to Speaker Pelosi

For once, despite the urging of some, the House Democrats have avoided a circular firing squad and wisely re-elected Nancy Pelosi as their leader. She managed to pass all the key Democratic party priorities through the House: universal healthcare, cap and trade, financial reform, and the stimulus package (via Ezra Klein). This isn't to say they were all the best bills they could be, they weren't, but the greater failure was on the Senate side and I, like Yglesias, think "no regrets" is the right attitude for her to have.

The job of a sports team manager is to win games. The job of a legislative leader is to pass legislation. It's important not to confuse the first with the second. Speaker Pelosi got the job done and I think she'll also do a good job as the focal point of resistance to a Republican House.

Caprica update: Notable improvements, but it's still cancelled

I'm now caught up on Caprica. First off, thank you writers for finally giving Amanda Graystone interesting things to do. Rather than simply being manipulated and worrying about her sanity, she's now standing up in a variety of ways to those that have wronged her. Her actress, Kassandra Kingsborough, also does a good job of portraying an AI alter-ego that doesn't yet rise to being a true individual.

Second, I'll actually retract my prior critique of its use of suicide terrorism without an occupation spurring it on. Subsequent episodes had members of the terroristic STO not showing a particular eagerness for self-sacrifice. I'm also generally pleased with its portrayal of gangsters. Our low-level protaganists may have some romantic notions but their boss is ultimately about making money and happy to ignore any values that get in the way. Sam's realistic relationship with his husband and his support for revolutionaries back home add nicely to his character. That said, it would be nice if not every Tauron was involved with or at least complicit in organized crime.

The series isn't yet so good that I'd actively recommend it. But if I'd say it reaches its previous highs again in episodes 11 and 12. Unfortunately, the sympathetic character count is still quite low and I'm not really a fan of soap opera style serial dramas as a general rule. That said, the series does have a great sci-fi conceit: AI sentient personalities created to emulate specific living people, offering the possibility of heaven or a copy of a dead loved one. Also, I still enjoy the crazy antics of Daniel Graystone even though he's doing a pretty bad job of trying to redeem himself.

Go vote, Americans!

First off, if you're considering not voting because you don't think it makes a difference, keep in mind that when it does make a difference, it makes a very  big one. Second, if you need to double check your polling place, here's an app from Google. Finally, if you want more candidate info from a nonpartisan source, the local branches of the League of Women Voters typically survey the candidates on key questions and report the results. Andrew Gelman also recommends VoteSmart which compares your views with the views of candidates in your district. It might be useful, but I'm not that familiar with it so I'm just mentioning it, not endorsing it.

 

Endorsement: Vote Transit, Vote O’Malley for Governor of Maryland

Tomorrow, I’ll do a post encouraging all to vote, including evidence as to why it’s a rational thing to do. But for tonight, I wanted to emphasize one key race, Maryland’s governor. Both candidates say they support a form of the Purple line, but former Gov. Ehrlich is lying. As the Cavan Wilk’s endorsement at Greater Greater Washington notes:

The 2010 Maryland gubernatorial election is different from most elections where an incumbent with a voting record is opposing a challenger who only has promises and ideas. Bob Ehrlich, the challenger, served as governor between 2003 and 2007. He has a clear record and it is very different than Governor O'Malley's.

Governor O'Malley has been a consistent champion of the Purple Line and the Baltimore Red Line. Both projects would provide acres and acres of smart-growth formatted economic development opportunities. Those opportunities will include places that are currently economically vibrant and ones that are desperately in need of new investment.

Governor O'Malley has consistently budgeted funding for planning and engineering both the Purple and Red Lines throughout his first term. During Mr. Ehrlich's time serving as governor, he pursued a strategy to obfuscate, alter, study and delay the Purple Line.

During the current 2010 election, Mr. Ehrlich has gone on record opposing the Purple Line. During debates in Baltimore, he expressed similar opposition to the Baltimore Red Line.

At this point, the rail alignment of the Purple Line is Maryland’s locally preferred option and any changes would jeopardize our chances at getting federal funding. See the Action Committee for Transit for more. But if you don’t believe me, you can just ask his aides like John Wagner of the Post did:

Ehrlich aides said stopping the Purple Line and a proposed rail project in Baltimore could save the state $300 million in engineering costs that could be spent instead on local road projects.

Oddly enough, former Gov. Ehrlich seems to think that budgetary concerns only apply to transit projects and not road ones. Of course, highways can be expensive too, which is why there’s going to be up to a $5.60 toll on taking the road all the way from I-270 to I-95. I don’t object to reasonable use of tolls or congestion pricing, but the ICC will ultimately encourage more development in less dense areas while the Purple Line focuses on enhancing infrastructure where lots of people already live and where workers travel from P.G. to Montgomery. Gov. Ehrlich claims to be a voice of fiscal responsibility but his sprawl based policies will hurt our balance sheets in the long term to keep his backers from having to see trolleys during their golf games. His last term is a big part of why we don’t already have the Purple Line today, let’s not give him the chance to keep us from having it tomorrow.

Standard caveat, I’m making this endorsement as an individual and not speaking for my place of employments or any groups of which I am a member.