dejected_warp_core

That makes sense. The specific heat of water is a real bastard to overcome.

Ah, you're describing Moral licensing, and that's entirely plausible.

In this case it's "Littering is bad, but there's no trash cans here and I'm a generally good person so, just this once."

Except I suspect that "once" is really "every so often."

Agreed. It's at this point I just hand the players the sheet-music for Yakkity Sax.

I won't assert that things are the same as they were decades ago, but in my experience, the teachers/staff are complicit. Either actively or passively (usually passively).

It is my sincere hope that school faculty is (generally) more proactive in involving parents when bullying is apparent. Something tells me that's not the case though. And I can't even fathom what hell social media brings to the table; it must be like Lord of the Flies on there. I recall classrooms and busses when parents/drivers/subs/chaperones weren't present and it was bad.

I haven't even seen the show and that "Homelander is not the good-guy" is literally all I know about it!

Another lemming pointed out a hypothesis that explains all this:

To some, good and evil are something you inherently are, not just something you do.

Barring some very, very specific circumstances (e.g. baptism), the die is cast. From that vantage point, it's easy to have shorthand for good/bad guys, regardless of what deeds they commit. This is where corrupt leadership and propaganda slot-in by inventing new and exciting ways to judge people.

Shatire.

You just know that was tossed around Colbert's writer's room, before they decided that might wind up with them off the air sooner.

NGL, as a DM, multiple players with backstabbing abilities are a big problem to overcome. The odds begin to stack up in favor of the party. You start looking for monsters with the awareness of a beholder, but just a tad less lethal.

Then the mage starts hurling fireballs to remind you that you also need more fireproof options.

I agree. And it goes the other way too. All the posturing by ICE and the AI-generated ragebait from the whitehouse, all just screams "what would I hate." They're making really bad moves, unable to understand how others think, feel, or make decisions. We could double-reverse-uno this situation and ask ourselves "what would they think we think?" It could change everything.

and a lot less afraid of engaging with people we’ve been taught to fear and hate.

I think we're all in more trouble with that than we may realize.

I encountered an instigator on Saturday. I found myself catapulted into a cyclone of rage all because of what he chose to wear: all pro-trump gear. Not because of what he was doing, which was next to nothing, nor what he was saying which was honestly not all that rage-inducing. I couldn't think, I couldn't engage creatively, I couldn't demonstrate effectively, my empathy went right out the window. I just stood there, fuming and stun-locked. And that was one guy. It's not like me, and I didn't used to be like this.

Ixion had me at the trailer. Not many games or movies hold that kind of sway over me, and I was so richly rewarded for giving it a shot.

My only frustration with the game is how low replay-ability is, and how the overall plot is fixed. You can make some different decisions along the way, but you're not going to impact the story all that much.

Thank you for posting this. I'll have to check this out - I slept on this for all this time. You don't see many scenario-style games... ever? The fixed timer and resources sound like quite the challenge.

Thanks. I was gonna say that this look is very 1992.