Quote from: D-ko on April 12, 2025, 01:31:40 PM'Concepts of a plan.' At least Trump was upfront about not having a plan.

The real issue being overlooked is that the USA is nearly ready to default on the national debt. This is all really just theatrics while they scramble to figure out how to make payments by June (or raise the ceiling, but we're getting awful close and Trump isn't exactly in a bipartisan mood-- everyone seemingly ignoring this massive elephant in the room). If Trump's financial games don't pay off big time, there's a much bigger issue at hand than tariffs at that point. This is why Biden disappeared at the end of his term and wore a maga hat. This is why Musk was allowed into the White House with a chainsaw-- the US government is out of money and is running out of time.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-risks-default-soon-august-without-action-debt-ceiling-cbo-estimates-2025-03-26/

Both sides will likely try to extort concessions out of each other and then wind up raising the debt ceiling after much bitching and doomcasting.

That's usually what happens, but it doesn't change the fact that it's playing with gasoline. There's a very different precedent this time around for a couple reasons and it's not like Trump is afraid of bankruptcy. On defaulting:

QuoteNobody really knows. It means nothing, but psychologically, it may mean a lot, right? In other words, it doesn't have a real meaning other than you've violated something

Um... Shouldn't all these RPG companies, who constantly bleat on about modern 'morals' and 'ethics' be getting their stuff made in the US, anyway? I mean, isn't that the right thing to do, protect jobs in the USA?? While making sure the hobby thrives?

Seems a little 'à la carte' to me when picking morals.

Troll Lord Games, get their stuff printed in the USA afaik.

Quote from: D-ko on April 12, 2025, 01:31:40 PM'Concepts of a plan.' At least Trump was upfront about not having a plan.

The real issue being overlooked is that the USA is nearly ready to default on the national debt. This is all really just theatrics while they scramble to figure out how to make payments by June (or raise the ceiling, but we're getting awful close and Trump isn't exactly in a bipartisan mood-- everyone seemingly ignoring this massive elephant in the room). If Trump's financial games don't pay off big time, there's a much bigger issue at hand than tariffs at that point. This is why Biden disappeared at the end of his term and wore a maga hat. This is why Musk was allowed into the White House with a chainsaw-- the US government is out of money and is running out of time.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-risks-default-soon-august-without-action-debt-ceiling-cbo-estimates-2025-03-26/

That was actually Coin Bureau's conclusions, as well.

I think it's not that simple. I can think of 4 or 5 objectives which would potentially justify tariffs. It could renegotiate the federal debt. It could provide revenue. It could allow moving federal taxation away from income tax. It could be used to contain China. It could be used to encourage reshoring jobs and industry.

Realistically, you aren't going to get all of those and I don't think it's possible to know which ones are doable and which ones aren't before the policy lands. But you don't need to necessarily hit home runs on all five objectives I just spitballed for it to be successful. This is especially true if you're bearish on the economy's outlook with or without the tariffs.

And I am very bearish.

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 12, 2025, 06:58:35 PMUm... Shouldn't all these RPG companies, who constantly bleat on about modern 'morals' and 'ethics' be getting their stuff made in the US, anyway? I mean, isn't that the right thing to do, protect jobs in the USA?? While making sure the hobby thrives?

Seems a little 'à la carte' to me when picking morals.

Troll Lord Games, get their stuff printed in the USA afaik.

If I recall correctly, DriveThruRPG actually prints everything here in the US. I've had mixed results with their hardcovers but their softcovers are honestly well-made.

Quote from: D-ko on April 12, 2025, 10:47:30 PM

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 12, 2025, 06:58:35 PMUm... Shouldn't all these RPG companies, who constantly bleat on about modern 'morals' and 'ethics' be getting their stuff made in the US, anyway? I mean, isn't that the right thing to do, protect jobs in the USA?? While making sure the hobby thrives?

Seems a little 'à la carte' to me when picking morals.

Troll Lord Games, get their stuff printed in the USA afaik.

If I recall correctly, DriveThruRPG actually prints everything here in the US. I've had mixed results with their hardcovers but their softcovers are honestly well-made.

My Dark Sun hardcover was excellent, but I only have the one example. The rest I bought stoftcover.

Quote from: D-ko on April 12, 2025, 10:47:30 PM

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 12, 2025, 06:58:35 PMUm... Shouldn't all these RPG companies, who constantly bleat on about modern 'morals' and 'ethics' be getting their stuff made in the US, anyway? I mean, isn't that the right thing to do, protect jobs in the USA?? While making sure the hobby thrives?

Seems a little 'à la carte' to me when picking morals.

Troll Lord Games, get their stuff printed in the USA afaik.

If I recall correctly, DriveThruRPG actually prints everything here in the US. I've had mixed results with their hardcovers but their softcovers are honestly well-made.

That's pretty cool of DT at least.

So, why are SJG blubbing? Why can't they do the decent thing and make their stuff in the US? Or are they enjoying the profits cheapo China.
I just find the morals of these companies laughable when they can't even support their own US economy. I think it's a pretty sad state of affairs.

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 13, 2025, 06:25:20 AMSo, why are SJG blubbing? Why can't they do the decent thing and make their stuff in the US? Or are they enjoying the profits cheapo China.

I just find the morals of these companies laughable when they can't even support their own US economy. I think it's a pretty sad state of affairs.

Because that would require treating your workers like human beings. People may complain, Rightfully, about working for Palladium. But at least you got fucking payed for the work. SJG's gotten away with ripping off their workers for decades.

Quote from: D-ko on April 12, 2025, 10:47:30 PM

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 12, 2025, 06:58:35 PMUm... Shouldn't all these RPG companies, who constantly bleat on about modern 'morals' and 'ethics' be getting their stuff made in the US, anyway? I mean, isn't that the right thing to do, protect jobs in the USA?? While making sure the hobby thrives?

Seems a little 'à la carte' to me when picking morals.

Troll Lord Games, get their stuff printed in the USA afaik.

If I recall correctly, DriveThruRPG actually prints everything here in the US. I've had mixed results with their hardcovers but their softcovers are honestly well-made.

That's print on demand right? They aren't doing it out the goodness of their hearts, it's cheaper to print small quantities locally even without tarrifs. Amazon have been printing the GURPS books locally on demand in the local market for ages.

My latest GURPS books say "printed in Sydney Australia."

My current GURPS 3E basic set was printed in Las Vegas in 2021.

Of course as late as the '90s Australia used to have proper printing presses running off everything sold locally en masse. This was because of protectionist tarrifs. There's probably almost no one left working in Australia that knows how to run a large scale printing and binding process anymore thanks to Globalism.

I'm supposing a robot prints the fairly low quality PODs from Amazon. The binding is just glued. Sloppily too. The printing is clear. I guess they could feed it better paper if they wanted to, but they don't.

Fuck globalism.   

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 13, 2025, 06:25:20 AM

Quote from: D-ko on April 12, 2025, 10:47:30 PM

Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on April 12, 2025, 06:58:35 PMUm... Shouldn't all these RPG companies, who constantly bleat on about modern 'morals' and 'ethics' be getting their stuff made in the US, anyway? I mean, isn't that the right thing to do, protect jobs in the USA?? While making sure the hobby thrives?

Seems a little 'à la carte' to me when picking morals.

Troll Lord Games, get their stuff printed in the USA afaik.

If I recall correctly, DriveThruRPG actually prints everything here in the US. I've had mixed results with their hardcovers but their softcovers are honestly well-made.

That's pretty cool of DT at least.

So, why are SJG blubbing? Why can't they do the decent thing and make their stuff in the US? Or are they enjoying the profits cheapo China.
I just find the morals of these companies laughable when they can't even support their own US economy. I think it's a pretty sad state of affairs.

What's that phrase the extreme left always uses?
Oh yeah:
Windfall profits.

Dice. Nobody is saying books cannot be printed in the USA, but I suspect custom dice are a nightmare for a company with games like Zombie Dice. China can afford to prioritize entire factories for something custom they get a large order for, plus engineers/toolers who can quickly make a design into something real-- as it turns out, making counterfeits of products leads to workers who are really good at seeing something and mimicking it on the assembly line. America doesn't really have anything like that readily available, certainly not that cheap either. It reminds me of how Normal Rockwell actually used projection tracing and many Japanese manga authors openly promote tracing in order to learn how to draw extremely detailed objects at strange angles. The entire way of American thought toward work and creativity is going to need to change for this AI revolution we have coming.

Quote from: D-ko on April 14, 2025, 11:29:52 AMDice. Nobody is saying books cannot be printed in the USA, but I suspect custom dice are a nightmare for a company with games like Zombie Dice. China can afford to prioritize entire factories for something custom they get a large order for, plus engineers/toolers who can quickly make a design into something real-- as it turns out, making counterfeits of products leads to workers who are really good at seeing something and mimicking it on the assembly line. America doesn't really have anything like that readily available, certainly not that cheap either. It reminds me of how Normal Rockwell actually used projection tracing and many Japanese manga authors openly promote tracing in order to learn how to draw extremely detailed objects at strange angles. The entire way of American thought toward work and creativity is going to need to change for this AI revolution we have coming.

If you're willing to work with wooden six-siders (and 4-siders if you aren't married to the caltrop shape), I can engrave whatever you want. I could do acryllics and other polyhedrals too, but if you're already importing, I likely won't be saving you any money.

I'm sorta seeing the appeal of chit cups as an alternative though. Heck, the flexibility of being able to drop random (possibly non-numeric) effects into the chit cups could make a fun mechanic if you built a system around it. When you get a blessing you get one or more max-result chits dropped in the cup or the reverse for a curse... or when you take a wound you drop say, a dagger token in the cup and if you draw it, you draw again, but the wound also affects the outcome of the action in some way (ex. you pull the stitches and start bleeding again).

I like your optimistic view and it's funny-- I was just looking at wood engraving tools just yesterday.

Wood block engraving? If a 3D printer can make detailed miniatures, then it can also make custom dice. Now I'm not going to say that one way is better than another, but both do provide good commercial opportunities. The wood block engraved dice are good for fantasy games and would cost more (they are labor intensive in comparison), but are excellent higher priced gifts for special occasions. The 3D printed dice are better suited for mass production and inclusion in game sets.

This really isn't a problem that the doomsayers like Steve Jackson are claiming.

Quote from: Chris24601 on April 14, 2025, 12:20:03 PMI'm sorta seeing the appeal of chit cups as an alternative though. Heck, the flexibility of being able to drop random (possibly non-numeric) effects into the chit cups could make a fun mechanic if you built a system around it. When you get a blessing you get one or more max-result chits dropped in the cup or the reverse for a curse... or when you take a wound you drop say, a dagger token in the cup and if you draw it, you draw again, but the wound also affects the outcome of the action in some way (ex. you pull the stitches and start bleeding again).

This could also be done with a deck of cards to get the same effect. Either way, there are some complications. If different things require altering the contents of the cup/deck, then each character will likely need their own cup/deck or else things get weird with constantly having to readjust the contents between each draw. Also, if you just use a common draw source, then you could end up with subsequent draws having altered probabilities unless the drawn chit/card is replaced between each draw. No matter what, it sounds cumbersome for anything more than a solo game.