Just what it says on the tin. If you don't have these two games yet and you wanted them, NOW is the time to get them! I just picked up both for slightly under $13.00! 

...f2p only, of course, so I've created and deleted several characters trying to find a class I like - basically the norm for starting an MMO.

Which really makes me feel sick, because if there's one strength of the PnP Champions, it's that it is blessedly free of classes and levels. On the other hand, most casual internet gamers would consider working through the Hero build system a significant barrier to entry, and having levels you go up by is familiar, as is a level cap vs. a point limit. Still annoys me that I'd have to pay real money to get anything but the seven or eight most basic archetypes, particularly since none of them are quite what I want to play. The ice blaster/tank (Glacier) and mage (Grimoire) aren't too far off overall, though I'd prefer beam FX for their attack powers. Anyway...

I was going to include the (dinky) images the character creator saves of my favorite two iterations, which look like they'll be what I choose between for a main, but ImageShack is being a bitch and I can't log in, so you'll have to make do with descriptions. Due to a marginal computer to run the game on, I usually pick the least populated instance when there's a choice, but perhaps one of you will see me.

Czyyk'thzz is, well, Cthulhu basically. Pale mint green with darker teal membranes on various fins and the dragon wings, the Beehive Hairdo part colored to blend in with the skin for that classic huge oblong octopoid head, and the "tentacles" face accessory, hands and feet. She's (I generally do all-female video game characters, even if they're eldritch horrors from beyond I still preferr staring at a woman's ass for hours on end rather than a man's) the ice tank, and wears arms and leg nands plus a belt/swim briefs and shoulder mantle with the Arcane patterns in sanity destroying orange, purple, and lime. Her name is pronounced as if you were saying "check this" at the same time as "shake the ice," though with limited human vocal equipment the closest you're likely to get is "chayk thee-iz" or thereabouts.

Steamhex is much easier to vocalize (well, her hero name anyway... her civilian name pre-conversion is Czlyydwr, "sell ya a door." She's originally welsh, though neither of those names actually mean anything as far as I know in any language.) and is all done up in brass and steel with copper bits or bright purple gems here and there (the Robotic head, arms and legs on a Circuitry patten torso with the half-armor chest layer part, none of the cash-shop Steampunk Cyborg bits) plus a shiny black top hat and a black half-cape with purple lining, sometimes switched for the Tech Stealth jetpack and an equally shiny black skullcap. Obviously, she's the Grimoire, since I already covered the Glacier character.

A distant third possibility is Crimson Crescent, a twin-lightsaber using melee-type (can't remember the actual class name - Unbound? I thought it was something with a D - obviously a Jedi ripoff, though, or more accurately Sith given the whole black default costume and combat orientation) with a maroon and medium grey half-armored suit, which has a bright red visor and trim stripes to match the sabers. I prefer to keep enemies a bit beyond arm's length, though, and it's a pretty generic looking costume, so this is unlikely.

Any n00b advice or tips to hand out?
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Anybody else having occasional MASSIVE lag trying to reach these boards? Or timing out without loading? I'm noticing a lot of that the last few days. 

Why the hell was chapter 11 of DW2 the fifth most-viewed page on my website in May?  554 hits -- almost the same as the site's top page.  And none of the other chapters come even close.
There must have been something people were looking for last month that pulled up that page on search results by mistake.  That's the only thing I can think of.
Apropos of nothing, looking at the rest of the list of most-viewed pages is amusing for the large number of obviously automated attempts made to find files and directories  that could be hacked but which simply don't exist on the site.  Stuff like "signup.php", "registration_rules.asp", "/member/reg.php", "/user/password" and "wp-login.php".  Keep tryin', boys, maybe one of them will spontaneously evolve out of random electrons and you'll be rewarded for all your honest effort. 
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Took a few photographs while wandering around Trim Castle. Some of them look pretty good

It's an Anglo-Normal building, dating back to the 12th century, with some renovations in the 13th century. It was occupied until the 17th.

Walking around it, you really have to feel sorry for the poor sods who were annoyed with the occupier.

Gatehouse

Curtain wall

Moat, near River Gate

Castle grounds

Strange coloured sky over Meath countryside

Barbican Gate

The Keep

Again

________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

...that my muse would focus on the task at hand rather than stuff 9 chapters out.  Yes, Miss Abbott, you now have your moment in the spotlight.  As do you, panicky unnamed Death Eater.  Neville, I'm still deciding if I want to let you do that, but don't worry, you'll get to shine, too, one way or another.
And I must email Heather and make sure she's okay with the cameo I just wrote for her.
Now can I please go back to chapter 3?  Thank you.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-29179-4/ ... +Witch.htm Has 2 new chapters
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

alright i finally got it typed up and ready, thoughts.
F-SOG
Fenspace Special Operations Group
Affiliation: Operation Great Justice
Purpose: Undercover Intelligence and direct action operations, planning and liaison work
In the wake of the debacle that was the battle for “Jusenkyou” and as the Panzer Kunst were recovering from their injuries James “Wolfboy” Bostwick took a page from his own country’s history and put together a proposal for a special operations and liaison group for use by OGJ. Like the Joint Special Operations Command was born from the disaster at “Desert One” during the 144 day Iranian Hostage Situation, James wanted a group that would pick from available OGJ forces and be tasked with coordinating and planning the operations. Furthermore, James wanted to keep a pair of “up” teams for operational immediate situations where limited intelligence was available. The persons used in the two up teams would have two requirements;
1-Military experience. - The persons on the up teams would require verifiable non-fen military or police SWAT experience or (in later years) military grade training in special operations, military police, intelligence and guerilla operations.
2-Volunteers. – The up teams would be all volunteer with current security clearances, (post boskone war these teams would count toward their faction’s reserve requirement to OGJ)
Along with planning future operations and immediate scramble situations the teams would also be the conduits to their respective factions for the flow of intelligence as well as analysis of planned and scramble operations for use in training for future situations.
“In short ladies and gentlemen, the proposed unit would be able to provide combined training to all factions as well as a flexible unit similar to F-SWAT for Operation Great Justice. This is in addition to spreading information to all factions without flooding them with data. It would also provide a backup for F-SWAT should they need it, and a heavier hammer than F-SWAT should that be deemed necessary.” This was the argument of James Bostwick before the Fenspace Convention and the head of OGJ Haruhi Suzumiya not long before the assault on Boskone Prime.
James personally feels that the lack of a unit like this is, or more accurately a group with this kind of training is what caused all the losses, (and not the fact that the boskones were waiting for a group to come in after the Panzer Kunst) to his two platoons of colonial marines and Jet Jaguar’s Panzer Kunst group in Jusenkyou.  
 

I was sure the story I'm thinking of was by Jules Verne, but couldn't find it in a list of his works... Anyway, it's about a chemical that is discovered to make tihngs grow to enourmous size, children dosed with it are twice as tall as a normal man before they can even properly walk, and hills of giant ants become a problem at one point. The kids are also super-intelligent, due to having much larger brains, and make all sorts of scientific advancements as the story progresses. I thought to read it via Gutenberg Project or something similar, becasue a Mass Effect crossover would have some serious potential, but now I can't find what it was. I know what the binding of the book I read it in looked like, I know which shelf it was on three moves ago, and I know it was in the house that burned down, but that's all I know, blast it.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

http://www.pinoyanime.tv/space-battlesh ... -2199-ova/

Quick thumbnail sketch thoughts - 

Ep 15:  

 -- OMG... you might respect and fear the regular green Gamilas ships, but the BLUE fleet will inhabit your NIGHTMARES.  Is THAT what happened to Earth, at least in part? And - it seems even the other Gamilas officers may think this guy went too far...

-- "You've reached the life model decoy of Misaki, please leave a message at the sound of the incredibly brilliant wave motion theory..." 

-- Sandor - for such a "schmott guy", you really are BLIND sometimes in some of the most basic ways... 

-- Desslok go boom? Say WHAT? 

-- Domel (Lysis) Yikes... this guy really is GOOD... This is the first time in this current version of the series that the Yamato has really been SERIOUSLY outmatched... 

Ep 16: 

-- Internal conflict with factions on the Yamato crew. Mr. Squinty Eyes is REALLY getting on my nerves. 

-- Niimi - right reasons, but wrong choice. 

-- Yamato behind schedule by a month? But revelations on Beemala below might make that a moot point. And - interesting re-do of the original episode as well.

-- That appears to clear up THAT particular love triangle... Someone's not happy... 

-- Plants within Plants within plants... And squinty-eyes gets his come-uppance! Woot! 

Ep 17: 

-- Mostly a flashback episode - showing events in the past of some characters lives. A lot of interesting revelations. Good character stuff. The framing plot moves the story - and the Yamato - forward - through a space gate toward a confrontation at Planet Balan...

-- Meanwhile... Domel may be a great General, but he SUCKS at politics. His wife and he are both accused (falsely) of being in on the plot to assassinate Desslar, and Domel is sentenced to death...

-- A naval review of a large portion of the Gamilas fleet is being orchestrated at Balun. Over 10,000 ships... 

-- And we FINALLY find out who the real Iscandarian member of the crew is for real!

Ep 18: 

I only have one major comment to make about this episode... 

Captain Okita...

You...

...Insane!

...MAD!!

...UTTERLY MAGNIFICENT SON OF A -BITCH-!!!

No wonder they had to give the Yamato to you! Only a battleship that
size could -carry- your PURE TITANIUM COJONES!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!