Jump to content

Off Topic Playground


Recommended Posts

RPG groups can be tough. Good luck!

I'm currently playing in a game of Fate Core set just after the end of the Great War, as a mysterious new threat has cut communications with the US. In response, the League of Nations has recovered a secret German war engine project - the Kriegszeppelin Valkyrie, basically a flying aircraft carrier - and assembled a crew of military engineers and elite fighter pilots to cross the Atlantic and investigate.

I'm playing a reporter assigned to the mission to send back stories for the media. I can't fly a plane, can't fight, have no military function whatsoever, all I do is sneak around and mess with people by finding out their dirty secrets and shady pasts. I'm having so much fun.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a European, I find this more funny than I probably should:

 

a7bDxKm_700b.jpg

 

Donald Trump is something 95% of Americans can agree on- we all think he's a huge douchebag. Even the Onion ran a headline with his picture a day or two ago: "Be honest- you just want to see how far this goes, don't you?" :D

 

Costco is a wholesale store - everything is bought in bulk quantities. Need a gallon of mayonnaise? Fifty rolls of toilet paper? Eight liters of soda? You go to Costco. 

 

Kirkland is the "store brand" name

 

Costco is outstanding for buying less perishable/daily consumption goods. Stuff like trash bags, chewing gum, anti-persperant, frozen vegetables, vitamins, and so on are much cheaper than if you bought them in smaller quantities elsewhere. Unless I'm hosting a party or can freeze it, I almost never buy fresh food there. The food court food won't win any gourmet awards but for the price it's really good (an 18 inch pizza for $10 or $2 per slice is hard to beat value-wise).

 

I kinda miss role-playing sometimes. The problem is finding a good group. The last one I was in turned the girlfriend off to RPGs almost entirely (thankfully, Tiny Epic helped keep her open to the possibility down the road). We had a bossy min-maxer, two guys clueless about how the rules really worked (I was one of them), the GM, and the GM's wife who has the attention span of a gnat (we love her, but getting her to focus on a board game, much less an RPG, is a hefty task). Only one of the players was clued in without being annoying about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's because they charge for "membership" - you are essentially paying an annual fee per family at a minimum of $100 to be able to purchase things. Where Benshin lives, there's a Costco that serves an area of at least 7-8 different towns. Figure if 1,000 families per town pay $100 per year, that location just made $7-800,000. Of course they can charge dirt cheap prices for household goods - they already made operating costs and salaries, plus whatever profit on fees alone. 

 

Honestly, it is one of the best examples of capitalism done right in this country.

 

It's cheaper to just have a single card at $40 a year. If you buy stuff for a business regularly, the $100-something membership with the AmEx Card with 2% cash back pays for itself easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's because they charge for "membership" - you are essentially paying an annual fee per family at a minimum of $100 to be able to purchase things. Where Benshin lives, there's a Costco that serves an area of at least 7-8 different towns. Figure if 1,000 families per town pay $100 per year, that location just made $7-800,000. Of course they can charge dirt cheap prices for household goods - they already made operating costs and salaries, plus whatever profit on fees alone. 

 

Honestly, it is one of the best examples of capitalism done right in this country.

I should keep track of how much I spend on milk, eggs, and bread alone just to see if that's worth the savings. I wouldn't be surprised if I did, considering how much of that I consume.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I should keep track of how much I spend on milk, eggs, and bread alone just to see if that's worth the savings. I wouldn't be surprised if I did, considering how much of that I consume.

 

I do that. Keeping track of my grocery expenditures. At the beginning, my wife and I split the check each month, now we just like to keep track of things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information