masukomi @masukomi@dice.camp

@kensanata @DanMaruschak

I see the AI stuff as an amazing tool to help those who _can't_ pay. No artist will be hurt, because they weren't getting that cash anyway.

BUT if poor game designers use good AI art / stock art / clip art etc, then it increases the value of their games to the consumer. The game designer makes more money, their next content sells more copies, and so on until eventually they can pay for custom art.

@kensanata @DanMaruschak thanks.

I think Dan's point is huge.

Within the context of indie TTRPGs it doesn't matter if we should or should not pay artists. Regardless of your answer, they're not getting paid, because there's no money to pay them, even if game designers are willing to stave to pay the visual artist instead of themselves.

Why should visual artists be paid at the cost of the wordsmiths starving? Why is one more valid than the other?

@DanMaruschak I wrote a related article debunking the whole AI stealing money from artists stuff from the perspective of someone who owes their childhood to the visual arts, and used to make their living as a freelance graphic designer.

https://weblog.masukomi.org/2022/09/03/on-the-problem-with-ai-generated-art/

I was trying to make a spikey dog thing for one of the players in our Monday night game.

I'm very happy with the result even though it's nothing like the character's companion.

@mhd well, that explains a few things. Was watching an actual play the other day going "i don't remember an exploding dice rule 🤔". I'll have to check out the 2nd ed. Thanks for the info. :D

@mhd i have the 30th anniversary edition, which, as I understand it is essentially just a reprint of the 1st edition with better quality.

I'm not expert on SWD6 I don't think it really matters which edition from a rules standpoint.

@ng76 yeah, i'm amazed to see how alive it is after all these years without official support.

Also, my brain is obsessed with the idea of a character sheet that has everything you need to play in 1/3 of a page (not counting backstory stuff).

I had a kinda 💩 day at work, so I’m rereading bits of the Star Wars D6 book. This game was so ridiculously far ahead of its time. Simple. Clear. Filled with tons of good advice.

Bonus: no disclaimers needed re the overt misogyny or homophobia of its contemporaries.

If you can find a copy that isn’t outrageously priced, get it. Even if you don’t care about Star Wars. I don’t, and I still think it’s great.

@ghost_bird @stolas_mk2 agreed. Gemstones

@Yello @ChrisHouhoulis

So, now I'm wondering what the implications are on a functionally medieval tech level that we'd be mostly thrown back to, BUT with pervasive long-distance communication?

and then, once i wrap my head around that, what happens when you throw magic into the mix?

@Yello @ChrisHouhoulis

the next problem would be powering a big transmitter but @ChrisHouhoulis already pointed to Dams, and storing power via the motion of heavy objects.

Given the value of radio communication, AND the number of Ham Radio geeks in the world, I think it's realistic to say that if humans continued to exist in any notable numbers, radio would probably never die before the next industrial revolution.

@Yello @ChrisHouhoulis

I think it depends on the level of devestation. with regards to Ben Franklin, he was already in an industrial world. So...

a little research has revealed that you can, in fact, create a capacitor and transistor out of stuff you'd easily be able to scrap so, if you had a group of people who preserved the knowledge you could keep computers alive.

also, you could build new radios. Think WWII foxhole radios

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxhole_radio

@ChrisHouhoulis @Yello and that brings us right back to the problem of needing complicated multi step processes involving chemical and mechanical … industry.

@ChrisHouhoulis @Yello I think, that this is probably one of the best options, but unfortunately I just realized there’s a secondary electrical problem with the keeping computers alive over the long term: capacitors. The problem with capacitors, is that they eventually explode just like batteries, although less impressively.

if you leave a computer sitting around long enough it will eventually quasi-self destruct as the capacitors eventually burst

@Yello Solar panels aren’t a long term option. They dramatically degrade in output on the after a few decades. They’re dramatically effected by weather and season, and… most importantly you need a battery to store the output.

So, given the discussion of creating replacement batteries, they’re a non-starter.

@ChrisHouhoulis @Yello how so? I mean the battery in those will eventually die meekly or dramatically.

If we assume there’s an apocalypse, what options do we have to keep computers running in 100yrs? Power cords run to bicycles or dams through a power regulator?

I think options like that are our only option and the bikes one is dangerous to the, now precious computer, if the power dips

random ponderings of post-apocalyptic worlds.

Am i right in thinking that there's no reasonable way that folks would be able to build replacement batteries powerful enough to run a laptop for any useful amount of time without first rebuilding industry?

@me huh. 🤔 I wonder if that's a translation issue or if it was there all the way back to the Aramaic.

@kingu_platypus_gidora 🤔 i seem to have forgotten that part, but sure. 😃