Hey boys. Any plans to add more passenger movers? Specfically looking at Gondola and Chair Lifts. Would love to build one going up a mountain I've made with a plateau (village, etc) at the top. Would be extra awesome if we had the ability to do big spans across valleys (such as Whistler's Peak 2 Peak). Thanks!

https://preview.redd.it/eh7698jp56b81.png?width=1859&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f0cb09d51a8b3a00393904981bcecfb4e0e7420

Left Westminster at 5:30am, got to Keystone for first chair and parked in the free lot right next to gondola. No complaints there.

However I saw first hand why there's always a wreck before 6-6:30 that backs everyone else up for hours.

Surprising amount of traffic this early. Never stop and go but consistent 40mph in a 60mph zone.

1. It's pitch dark so you can't really see the road conditions, just the lights of the other cars

2. Saw a truck weaving in its lane for some bizarre reason. Literally looked like an F1 driver trying to warm their tyres during the parade lap.

3. Rightmost lane is empty since there's 18 wheelers up ahead going slow, lack of cars means the lane is clearly covered by a dusting of snow/ice. Several cars immediately move over into this lane and floor the accelerator, only to immediately slam the breaks when they reach the 18 wheeler and put their turn signal on to merge back over, I probably saw this 4 times.

4. At least 3 cars I saw just didn't have their lights on at all.

5. Another few just have their daytime running lights instead of their actual headlights.

6. Toll lane is closed and flagged as only stop for emergencies, a truck crossed the line to overtake a few cars before merging back across.

7. After the tunnel, big sign "ICY ROAD AHEAD". I back off another 2 cars lengths more than usual, I then proceed to get merged on 6-7 times.

I really don't understand the impatience. The entire time maps had me arriving an hour before the lifts start turning, everyone on that road was going to get to their chosen resort before it even opened, so what is the big rush? If everyone just drove more calmly we wouldn't have all these wrecks.

I’ve been reading and keeping up with the times, but I’m locked in. I’m an advanced skier (not expert) so can hold my own and work my way around a mountain. It will be my first time at Vail and Really just looking for advice as to how to make the best of it.

So yeah - good tips only please!

Has anyone heard anything about any plans Vail has in the coming years to upgrade/add more lifts, potentially opening up some new terrain?

I know they're upgrading the Creekside Gondola and replacing Big Red with a 6 seater. Personally I'm hoping they run the old Big Red chair up from the bottom of Franz's up to the top of the T Bar's, but I'm not sure if the age of the lift means they will just scrap it.

I'd love to see something else done with the Blackcomb Glacier too, but not sure if that's feasible due to the melting.

Hello guys, first time posting anything, really, and as such, The story might not be up to par with the awesome stories found here, and as well, English is not my first language. This story is my original idea. Still, I did take inspiration from BlueFishcake, the cool dude who created Sexy space Babes. And RegalLegalEagle, author of Billy-Bob Space Trucker, the first story that got me into HFY.

If you guys like the story, please let me know, and I will gladly take any help with the story but now onto the show.

Ohh boy, I’ve done and fuck up. How? you might be asking. Well, that started that fateful day. It was 0400 Earth time. I arrived at the Choi research and development center located on Mars. I was assigned to guard the “one thousand words,” the first ship of its kind. My vanilla folder only gave me “need to know bases about my mission,” it was going to be one of those missions again. Sighing, I close the folder. Looking out at the shuttle window, I can see my destination coming to view. Stepping out of the shuttle, I see General Robert Ironheart of the Marine Corp. coming to attention. I salute the General.

“Sir Lt Colonel Wulff reporting for duty!”

“At easy. Good to see you here, Lt colonel Wulff. I hope your flight to Mars was comfortable. Follow me. I take it you might have some question for me.”

Following the General, I can see people all around me. Countless scientists and researchers moving about. reaching the elevator, General Ironheart spoke.

“Lt Colonel Wulff, the lack of information on this mission was to ensure the safety of the ship and its FTL drive the Yamashita-Eastwood-Extraction-Teleporter. This new Drive is the first of its kind, covering the ship in a Quantum bubble. The bubble, along with the ship, is teleported to any location in space instantly. And before you ask, I have no idea how it works. The egghead in the research department tried to explain it to all military branches. That little mistake gave the Generals and the president migraines.”

So that is why I was giving so little information on this mission, I thought, thinking about the Drives name, something about it felt funny “the Yamashita-Eastwood-Extraction-Teleporter Drive.” wait, the Yeet Drive? I said out loud before even thinking. This got a small laugh out of the General.

“I see you were able to figure out the little joke the egghead came up with naming the Drive. Yes, the Drive’s name is “the Yeet Drive.” now, Lt Colonel Wulff, how about we move on wi

Looks like 8 out of Canyon (classic post-dump opener) and... 12 out of Main? Anyone have any insight on how soon to expect mid-mountain / Lincoln mtn lifts to open? Talking 22, 5, and 3.

Are we getting the top today?

Overview

What can I say about From Russia With Love that hasn't already been said? It's a genre classic, and is considered even today to be a high point of the Bond film series. With his second film, Bond smooths some rough edges, establishes some more tropes, and introduces some of the most memorable characters in the franchise. (Tatiana, Klebb, Kronsteen, Grant, and Kerim Bey are all perfectly cast.) Fresh off the success of Dr. No, this follow-up is bigger, bolder, and more elaborate, while still relatively grounded in a semi-realistic world of espionage.

Point-By-Point

• The pre-titles sequence is, of course, a classic, full of tension and suspense as we watch Donald Grant stalk and ultimately strangle what turns out to be a James Bond imposter. A fine introduction to a truly sinister and intimidating villain. As the first in a long line of physically formidable henchmen, Robert Shaw really inhabits the part, bringing an air of menace to the proceedings. Throughout the first half of the movie he stalks Bond from the shadows, always in step with him, always silent. When he finally speaks for the first time and introduces himself to Bond aboard the Orient Express as a fellow British agent, the tension rises and the stakes are heightened. More on that below.
• I enjoy the title theme as sung by Matt Monro. It's pretty in a lilting, haunting sort of way. It was the right decision, however, to use an instrumental arrangement during the titles sequence. It's more up-tempo, and carries the appropriate air of excitement. Projecting the credits onto the naked flesh of a belly dancer is also an inspired choice that plays off the reputation James Bond had already garnered for sex and exotica.
• The Blofeld scene is a fantastic introduction to the character. You can tell that Rosa Klebb is absolutely terrified of him, and this is a lady who, as former Head of Operations for SMERSH, must have some truly sick shit on her resume. Giving him a cat was an inspired idea, because, if you're not going to show his face, he's got to have something to do with his hands.
• The fight between the two gypsy girls is short-lived, but intense. Unfortunately, there's no given resolution to the conflict between them, despite Bond himself being tasked with finding a solution. Props to the producers, however, for enabling Bond to have an implied threesome in a 1963 mainstream movie.
• The battle between the gypsies and the Bulgars is complete and utter chaos, with Bond

Hello!

I originally posted this on r/criticalrole but someone send me a message asking me to share it here. So that I am doing. Now, if this is not on-topic, let me know and I'll remove the post.

--- BE WARNED: Spoilers for Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 1 ---

What you’re about to read is my attempt at dissecting Matthew Mercer’s DM style (AKA a damn long wall of text). I have been trying to analyse Matt's style for a while now in order to improve my own DMing and I find that writing it truly helps my thought process.

Important disclaimers:

1. I do not claim to be an expert at this, this is a personal exercise that I thought would interest others in this community
2. This is all PURE speculation in the and as I have never talked to Matt (feel free to DM me!) nor have I read his notes or peeked into his mind.
3. These are, obviously, my own opinions and they are as flawed as the individual writing them (so very much so).
4. I most definitely got 90% of the names wrong so feel free to correct them and I'll edit them.

With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

Overall this whole episode is a masterclass on DMing, particularly on DMing a Session 1. Not only because we get to watch a true craftsman doing what he does best, but also because we can draw and learn so much from it. Future posts might be shorter, more to the point and /or include clips (might edit later to add some) and have more structure but this is a first go.

Meta-analysis (Goals / Structure / Prep)

Matt, as every DM always (ehem!) has clear goals for this session:

Allowing players to introduce their characters in a memorable way

1. Getting the players together
2. Introducing the city (setting, tone, character)
3. Setting up the whole campaign / the first arc of the campaign.

He is able to expertly balance the fine line between exposition -describing the world as well as introducing details that flesh it out and make it feel alive- and letting the players have a sense of agency within the constraints of a Session 1.

*Important for the sandboxy DMs in the room (like myself): a Session 1 should generally be a lot more constraint than your other sessions as you need to tick off all or most of the goals above.

In order to do this, what does Matt do? In a single word: pacing. He relentlessly, yet almost without effort, pushes the players constantly towards his goals. The best part, is that he does this THROUGH exposition, fleshing o

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

I know it's silly but I've always had it, even on the small chairlifts. Whenever the lift stops, I clutch the safety bar as much as I can.

Gondolas aren't much better (even though the Italy accident was a one in a million event).

After a good day yesterday, today wasn’t great at Stowe. No new terrain but early runs were great, the groomers are doing a great job. Lines filled in much faster than yesterday. The lanes for the quad were full shortly after 9 and steadily got worse after that. It was too crowded to be enjoyable by 10a. We left before noon, thankful for those early runs.

Gondola line was well out of the barn all morning. They did open the lookout double to take some pressure off the quad and triple, but that just dumped more skiers onto the same trails. Typical holiday week behavior ensued on the trails and in lift lines.

Where mountain ops is doing a nice job, lift ops is not. When the lines were outside of the lanes, chairs were going up empty or with 2 people on the quad. Ropes were never extended back, so it was really a cluster in the late am.

Snowmaking on Gondolier and Main Street continues, but the weather forecast for the weekend isn’t looking so promising at this point.

Went this morning, and there was a little bit of soft snow early on. They were making snow everywhere, including under the North Quad. This led to ice on the bottom of my skis however, and I nearly destroyed my knee because it was like my skis were glued to the hill. A few other skiers reported the same thing.

Besides that, skiing was solid. A lot is open too. The line at the new Kancamagus 8 was really large (with no singles line) and they have absolutely NO clue how to load it.. can’t blame them but it was terrible. 15 min wait, and when I got to the front they put me on with just 1 other skier. It was also only like a 3 minute lift ride, so the lift is frankly a complete waste. Unless they get MUCH better at loading, the lift really is a waste. The chairs have to be spaced more because they’re so much larger, but they are not actually loading more people. Few, if any, of the 8 person chairs were actually full.

Overall, conditions were good, but between weird loading methods at both the Kanc 8 and the Gondola and the snowmaking fucking your skis up at the North Quad, the overall experience was average.

It’s clear the Kanc 8 is for the clout of the first 8 man bubble

Still got my turns in though, so it was worth it

Creekside Gondola will become an 8-person gondola and Big Red will become a high speed 6 pack similar to Emerald.

https://preview.redd.it/x62obm3uisa81.png?width=1651&format=png&auto=webp&s=3df8e9b9d24a7f03db4e0d3082553aa014e02914

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***

Chains. Chains into Pari’s soul. Sofie had been sure the worst of her nightmare was past her. She’d felt the geasa release from Pari’s soul when she’d said the magic words. It had been the strongest sensation she’d felt from any one person as well, there could have been no mistaking it. Pari was free of her terrible restraints, she’d been absolutely positive. She’d been wrong.

Chains. It wasn’t how she’d envisioned her powers before, but it was now. Chains binding little Pari down, wrapping around her, crushing her. Sofie couldn’t unsee it now that the image had implanted itself in her head.

Chains. Thousands of them, all leading to her.

There could only be one explanation: there was another side to her powers that she hadn’t known about. It probably wasn’t geasa, or so she hoped. If this side operated by spoken word, as the other side did, then it was something she didn’t say often, given that the number of chains leading to her sister was so low. That, or she was constantly clearing them without realizing it. But if she could feel it when she banished a geas, wouldn’t she have felt something when clearing one of these chains?

No, the most likely explanation was the first one: it only triggered on a seldom-spoken word, one she’d said to Pari a few times... and one she’d said to the children of Otharia during a class. That was the only explanation she could think of for what the dragon had described as countless chains leading south. She’d done something, likely something terrible, to thousands of innocent children all over the nation.

Sofie took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She told herself that it wasn’t a disaster, that it was actually good. She knew about this side of her powers now, which meant that she could fix things. Surprisingly, this worked. She found her despair dwindling, pushed out by mounting determination. Yes, she had managed to find a way to figure out and fix the first side of

Do your worst!

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

It really does, I swear!

Hi everyone!

What you’re about to read is my attempt at dissecting Matthew Mercer’s DM style (AKA a damn long wall of text). I have been trying to analyse Matt's style for a while now in order to improve my own DMing and I find that writing it truly helps my thought process. I was asked to share it here so that it can perhaps start a conversation about what makes Matt's style to compelling.

Important disclaimers:

1. I do not claim to be an expert at this, this is a personal exercise that I thought would interest others in this community
2. This is all PURE speculation as I have never talked to Matt (feel free to DM me!) nor have I read his notes or peeked into his mind.
3. These are, obviously, my own opinions and they are as flawed as the individual writing them (so very much so).
4. I most definitely got 90% of the names wrong so feel free to correct them and I'll edit them.

With that out of the way, let’s dive right in.

Overall this whole episode is a masterclass on DMing, particularly on DMing a Session 1. Not only because we get to watch a true craftsman doing what he does best, but also because we can draw and learn so much from it. Future posts might be shorter, more to the point and /or include clips (might edit later to add some) and have more structure but this is a first go.

Meta-analysis (Goals / Structure / Prep)

Matt, as every DM always (ehem!) has clear goals for this session:

1. Allowing players to introduce their characters in a memorable way
2. Getting the players together
3. Introducing the city (setting, tone, character)
4. Setting up the whole campaign / the first arc of the campaign.

He is able to expertly balance the fine line between exposition -describing the world as well as introducing details that flesh it out and make it feel alive- and letting the players have a sense of agency within the constraints of a Session 1.

*Important for the sandboxy DMs in the room (like myself): a Session 1 should generally be a lot more constraint than your other sessions as you need to tick off all or most of the goals above.

In order to do this, what does Matt do? In a single word: pacing. He relentlessly, yet almost without effort, pushes the players constantly towards his goals. The best part, is that he does this THROUGH exposition, fleshing out details and allowing the players to have some cool in character moments and interactions.

How much of a structure did Matt have in mind for the session? And if so, what was it?