Nexus

9 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

How many of those tins are still full when the calendar flips to December?

One, if she hides it.

My wife (without me knowing) has just had a delivery of another 4 tins. Fucking hell we're eating good this xmas. 

Have you had the trail mix that Marks has done?

It's actually like crack. They did a Hallowe'en version that was sold out and not replaced by mid-October, but the Xmas one is also out now - there's this version and a version with gummy sweets in and it's brilliant.  

I liked playing Vampyr but I really didn't enjoy the combat, so I ended up dropping it. The systems within it were interesting, though. 

I've been binging Taskmaster and the first five seasons have given me an appreciation of the funny women on there - always had a thing for Aisling Bea, and Sarah Pascoe was also a delight, but I absolutely fell for Sally Phillips in Season 5. 

26 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

Did that to a boss without even triggering the battle which was funny. 

Problem is battles that take place in smaller, inclosed areas. Isn't a deal breaker and I'm probably doing something wrong, anyway.

You could always quicksave before you enter an area, try and set traps and stuff. 

AoE is your friend as well (cloud of daggers, the explosive runes, alchemists fire etc.) 

1 hour ago, The King Of Swing said:

As much as I'm enjoying Balder's Gate 3 battles can really be a slog, at times. 

Make sure you're using the environment - yeeting people off high things often ends battles quicker...

3 hours ago, The King Of Swing said:

Same here. I know about D&D but that's it. 

My advice to D&D novices, playing it for the first time is to play on the easiest setting, feels closer to a 'normal' game experience to me, than 'balanced' which was kicking the shit out of me. 

Also seen people recommend turning off karmic dice, in the settings which I've done. Not really sure what the effect is though.

Also don't be afraid/too proud to save scum. 

Absolutely required. 

My GOTY so far this year, really enjoyed it. Keep seeing bits I've missed on TikTok but everytime I try and restart it, I get distracted and close it off. 

19 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Finished this at the weekend and it was absolutely fantastic. 

It's not a very original story (young boy and young girl meet and are friends and love each other dearly) but it's so well written and so well told, that it was just a really easy read.

I don't tend to read nearly 500 page novels in around 2 weeks so that shows how much I enjoyed it.

The main characters are also gamers, and become programmers, and there is just the right balance in terms of references (even as an incredibly casual gamer I got most of them) but it's done in a very natural way that I don't think would lose anyone.

That's not to say its similar to Ready Player One (which I'll be honest I have never read or seen, but can imagine that's very much a "gamer" book where you need to get the references) so don't expect the same if you are to read this. Its quite a conventional novel, just set in that world, but that sounds like a disservice. 

Well impressed and gutted when it finished. Can see why it's sold so many copies.

Bought Bob Mortimers The Satsuma Complex so am going to start that next. 

The way I described Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was "Ready Player One but not shit." One of the best books I've read recently.

Forest's first away win since January 4th, and it couldn't come against a better team now that Leeds have been relegated. 

Platinumed Elden Ring today - excellent game that I'm never going to pick up again (until the DLC). 

Finished BG3 yesterday - I absolutely loved the end mission. 

Absolutely gutting. I was a fan of all the Wyatt stuff, even the mental Fiend stuff, because it was different. 

36 is no age, and it's horrible for his wife and kids, and also probably awful for the Huber family, who I think knew him quite well and it's going to bring up horrific memories of John's death as well. 

Fixed it, apologies. 

7 hours ago, Dai said:

Finished Hijack. Can thoroughly recommend it. Seven episodes and done, so could easily be binged in a few days. Idris Elba is fantastic, and the story doesn't degenerate into a 24 tribute, which is a huge positive. 

Didn't think the

The Bear

Just an absolute masterpiece. It's so beautifully shot and scored, and it is the only show that gives me a panic attack. I have rarely felt euphoria and emotion like I did when Ritchie was singing Taylor Swift in the Forks episode. 

So the NEU have accepted the pay offer. I rejected it, but I knew that inevitably it would get accepted. 

I worked out I'd lost about £1k this academic year from going out on strike, and I don't think that the pay offer is anywhere near fair. However, the cowardice of the other unions has meant that the NEU has been on its own, and has done all of the hard work, and now everyone else gets the benefit - good for them but it fucking sucks. 

10 hours ago, Thunderplex said:

I’ve got the Universal Monsters version and love it.  Fancy getting the American Monsters version as well.  I know it’s the same games, but Mothman looks cracking.

Yeah we played the Universal Monsters one in a board game cafe in Norwich which is why we decided to get it (I didn't actually realise it was the American Monsters one when I bought it). 

I like how easy it is to set up and play, despite having a lot of pieces. 

Bought Horrified (American Monsters) on Prime Day and so had fun with that last weekend - a cooperative monster hunting game. 

Received Barenpark as a present from one of my colleagues so we'll crack that out tomorrow. 

40 minutes ago, The King Of Swing said:

I might be mistaken but isn't character level less important than your junction setup? 

yeah, in fact it's harder if you level up excessively. 

Fuckity bye

Not sure how much of my input would be appreciated, but I'm a Head of History at a school in Oxfordshire. 

I'm looking at redoing our KS3 Schemes of Learning (again), but we are still straitjacketed by the National Curriculum and OFSTED; whilst the only thing we legally have to cover is the Holocaust, we still have to cover a lot of different things - nice and vague:

the development of Church and State in Medieval Britain

Church, state and society in the Renaissance

ideas, politics, power, industry and empire in Britain

Britain, Europe and the wider world in the 20th century

something outside of Europe.

We only get an hour a week at Y7/8, and two at Y9, so it's very difficult to miss stuff out - instead of cutting stuff, I've tried to include more awareness of racism etc. throughout the SoL - talking about the Black Tudors (from Miranda Kaufman's book) when analysing Elizabethan England, talking about the Empire's impact on indigenous people etc. I'd love to teach about the Troubles, but it's really difficult to find an even keel of stuff that are on both sides - same as when I tried to come up with lessons on the Israel/Palestine conflict. 

I try my best, though! 

In Steve Cooper we trust.

Had a slight concern that Marianakis was going to snap his neck when they embraced at the end of the game, though. He's a unit. 

Absolutely heroic performance from Forest, confirming them staying in the League. 

The signing of Felipe in January really did help. What a man. 

Not sure if they count, but I enjoyed both the Monk & Robot duology and the Litenverse novellas as well - both very short novellas, rather than short stories though.