Do you want a possible cure? I have 3 I can offer.

"the USPS is a miracle. it's in the constitution. for the price of a single stamp you can send a letter across the country, from Hawaii to Maine. Trump is trying to take that away from you. He's attacking Christmas cards and wedding invitations. It's un-American and it has to stop."

I mean, they're still part of ASMODEE; I'm not sure that making money is actually part of the over all plan.

The Genesys dice are out of print - finding them will be a quest.

I thought I remembered something about that, yeah. Animated? Did it run into issues with Harmony Gold?

I've played it, but not run it - can concur!

Hmmm.

Blades in the Dark - it turns the whole D&D planning and massive inventory system inside out.

Mouse Guard - the character advancement system makes more sense than XP

Quest - super fast and not at all crunchy

Something universal - HERO or Fate or such - open the whole system up

Canada has the same system. One of the possible signers is a current or former government employee. My Dad worked for the Coast Guard - but I couldn't use him to sign my photos until after I moved out. "Yup, that's my kid, give him a passport!"

I use Quest when I'm running for kids - I've run a series of highly successful campaigns for 4th and 5th graders. It's a brilliant system, super fast, and easy to explain. I can, in an hour and a half, help a class of 10 students make fully playable characters. + I can give them their own d20 each.

That last bit - please bring my daddy home - is a key aspect of my dissertation!

Oh, for sure - as is often the case, the weird (derogatory) outliers get most of the attention.

And, I gather, often not actually that good at being prepared for an actual emergency instead of the imagined emergency that lives in their head.

For sure! From a VERY cursory glance at the topic, the experience of bicycles in WWI isn't a solid endorsement of them as post-apocalypse equipment - they didn't handle the mud very well. But technology has improved, and roads are more widespread, perhaps.

I'm posting this by way of accountability, but also I'm open to suggestions! 🗃️6/6

Topic 2 - because the concept fascinates me! - the use of bicycles during WWI. That could be a general study of the devices (that might be a book) or a specific look at one country (probably the US, because I'm an Americanist). Or, 2a) a look at the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps. 🗃️5/6

I've long felt that the US curriculum, and the broader historical narrative, largely ignores World War One. And my dissertation was on demobilization in WWII, and includes some preliminary research on WWI. So, topic 1 - Demobilization of US forces in 1918-1919. 🗃️4/6

But, I haven't done the exercise myself! And so, in an effort to reconnect with the research side of my history degree *, I've decided to write something. Maybe a paper. Maybe a chapter. Maybe a book? And I have a couple of topics in mind. 🗃️3/6

*Community College adjuncts don't, so much.

I've had some good responses, and I've had some great responses, and I've had some mediocre responses, because students will always be students, and I'm mostly not teaching history majors, so in the end, they don't 100% care about the process, and that's fine. 🗃️2/6