#line fractal

[lesbianslovebts]

My next bead project will be the fifth iteration of the Hilbert curve! ☺️

[linddzz]

Viktor's pitch to recruit Jayce into his cult

[imm0rtalobject]

Серия фотографий «Паутина»

Present Day..Present Time!

Как часто ты думаешь о проводах? Какое количество их протянуто по нашей планете? Теперь их прокладывают даже по дну океанов. Чем-то пугает.. Но в этом и что-то есть? Город опутан проводами - интернет, электричество, телевидение, радио - все это стало неотъемлемой частью жизни, связь везде. По проводам и без них, все наши дома , квартиры, гаджеты и мы сами так или иначе подключены к одной сети - к паутине. https://t.me/aoomis

[cr0ws-cha0t1c-c0llect10n]

this is what my teacher is gonna see after i turn in my work

chat am i cooked /ref

[knotty-et-al]

"Artificial roots"

The lines split in a fibonacci-like manner.

[2023/08/10]

[mrvelocipede]

Art vs. Artist, 2023

[theseatree0]

💟 true youth returns

[emh-photos-art]

[100-art]

Baby Bird Art Print

[fractal-voidling]

MAG178 - ########-18 │ The Processing Line

police violence, wow

YES, BASIRA

[throwawaytabs]

WHY am i basing my fictional world on math/science theories and code, i know NONE of this & it gives me a headache when i try to understand them

[guitarbomb]

Best Amp Modelers 2023- Top 5 Virtual Guitar Rigs

The Best Amp Modellers 2023 is our Top 5 modelers that you need to know about. These compact and portable units offer a level of versatility and convenience that was unimaginable for guitar players just a few decades ago.  Best Amp Modelers 2023 While early versions of amp modelers faced skepticism from tone purists, today’s models are narrowing the gap between their digital counterparts and…

[boycritter]

it’s fucked up that the constellations don’t know they’re constellations. we draw lines between the stars so they can tell our stories so we can make some sense of it all so they have been imbued with fragments of us. we have made the stars an anthology and they have no damn idea. i wonder what the stars see. the concept of local 2 dimensionality makes my throat close up. it makes me fractal. what can the stars see that i cannot? do they see me, half-stardust? do they see me, formed from fragments of themselves? i wish i could see myself from the outside. i wonder if it’s blinding.

[misanthropicgardener]

listening to suburban war, lifeline and viator omw to work not even fucking trying to have a good day i see

[aaronsrpgs]

The Tight 90

(This is a continuation or a fractal reviewing of what I've written about in The Worksheet Manifesto and The Quickstart, The Home Game.)

THE TIGHT 90 is a 90-minute RPG session. It riffs on the perfect length/density of a movie, and I think it's a term I learned/stole from will jobst.

WHY RUN SHORT GAMES?

Short games are easier to fit in a schedule. (We're all so fucking busy.)

Short games are easier to pay attention to. (We're all so fucking mentally ill.)

Short games focus on the good stuff and discard the bad stuff. (We're all so fucking tired.)

HOW RUN SHORT GAMES?

Tell everyone, "We're only going to play for 90 minutes. Because of that, I'm going to focus on the things that are most interesting and exciting for everyone at table, and I'm going to skip over everything else. I would appreciate it if you would do the same. If there's something you're really excited to do, tell the table! And if things are dragging, offer an alternative that moves the game along."

But then we actually have to do that. :( How?

SET SCENES AND STAKES

Don't start in a place where nothing is happening and ask your players "What do you?" Give them something to latch onto! Give them an immediate problem! Here are the first four pages of an issue of Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, et al:

In four pages we get a fatal problem, introductions, flashbacks on how they got here, and spotlights on everyone's powers. Awesome!

And while you don't have to have your players' characters falling out of the sky, at least start them at the dungeon entrance with a couple clear things to DO.

(For more on setting scenes and stakes, check out Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson, which Sam Dunnewold was kind enough to run for me.)

Of course, if they're falling out of the sky or standing at a foreboding dungeon entrance, some player is bound to ask, "What do I have with me?" To which I say:

CUT THE BORING SHIT

Shopping? Don't do it! If someone would logically have something, they can have it. And if they try to exploit that, they're no fun to play with! Tell them no. (More on that later.)

Conversations on meandering horseback? Don't do it! Comic writer Chuck Dixon said that if Batman and Robin needed to have a heart-to-heart, they should never just stand around talking. They should have a heart-to-heart while training on top of a speeding train.

(The example was actually Nightwing and Robin, but I didn't want people to click away and look up who Nightwing was. Also, Dixon is a shitty guy! But at least in this, he was right.)

Basically, almost anything you can get out of a shopping scene or a campfire chat, you can get from everyone falling out of the sky or trying to escape a wildfire. ALL SCENES SHOULD PULL DOUBLE DUTY AS PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

BE GENEROUS WITH INFORMATION

Imagine a scene at a gaming table. The characters walk into a house in an empty town and ask what they see. The GM tells them to roll perception. The highest result is middling at best. The GM says, "You think you can see some blood." Someone else asks if they can roll investigation. They get a middle high result. The GM says, "There are some bullet casings on the floor and claw marks on the walls." Are the claw marks big? Roll perception again. Do they look like any local animals? Roll nature.

THIS SHIT SUCKS. It's a way to take 30 minutes to poorly tell the players that something interesting happened, and it doesn't give them anything to do after.

Instead, try this: the walls are splattered with blood and empty shell casings lie cold on the floor. The blood doesn't line up with what you know about bullet wounds, though; it lines up with the huge claw marks that tear the walls and floor. And blood drops continue in a line outside...

AND THEN if a player has a cool ability or is an investigator or druid or whatever, you get to write them a cool note that says, "These claw marks are bigger than any animal from around here. Maybe bigger than any animal you've ever seen."

Other examples:

The prince says he doesn't feel threatened by the king. He's clearly lying.

Moving stealthily, you make it to the general's bedroom, but it's clear that he has some sort of sensors or security system set up there.

As a wizard, you know they're casting some sort of summoning spell, and if at least half of the cultists aren't hurt or incapacitated in five minutes, the spell will succeed.

GIVE THE SESSION AN ENDING

It could be an exciting cliffhanger if you think everyone will be there next session to pick it up. But if you're not sure, end with a calm moment where the players have a clear next step. That way you can start next session with, "Last time you'd promised the Cult of Mirrors that you would lead them in war against the Skeleton Army. They're ready to go and ask you what your plan is."

FURTHER HOMEWORK

"How To End Things" by Jason Morningstar. On cutting scenes. Don't be fooled by the Patron link; it's free.

"Grand Experiments: West Marches" by Ben Robbins. The ur-text of running player-motivated sessions that don't require everyone to be there.

BUT WHAT IF!!!

What if rolling investigation rolls are vital to building tension in my mystery game? What if knowing the exact inventory and distance are vital to my high-stress dungeon game? What if campfire stories are my favorite part of our cozy travel game?

COOL! There are lots of resources out there for you, so this isn't for you. But maybe I could tempt you into considering a different style of game sometimes?

(Special thanks to @ladytabletop for supporting my Tight 90 obsession.)

[lavenderprose]

I see we're talking about Emmrich and substances again. I am thoroughly entertained by the idea of Emmrich surviving through Mourn Watch Grad School on a carefully balanced diet of Fantasy Adderall and rarebit. Emmrich also definitely had a cocaine phase, which Johanna witnessed in excruciating detail, and it's why they're Like That about each other. Emmrich became the main character in Johanna's life right around the time that she saw him snort a line off the blade of his own staff, flinch violently, scream, and then do an about-face and corpse-whisper a sixty years dead Mortalitasi to ask his advice on focusing fractal energies in the fade.

That being said, Emmrich hasn't touched any of that stuff in about thirty years by the time he walks into Neve's office the day after Rook disappears into the Fade and asks her where, exactly, one can find an unwise amount of Something That Will Keep Him Awake. Neve sighs and decides, based on the manic look on Emmrich's face and the posture of devastated determination he's holding, that it's not a notion worth dissuading him of.

Weirdly, as she's standing at Emmrich's back in a dark Dock Town alley and watching him carefully sample the wares of the most reliable dealer she's aware of--and oh, the way he dips his pinky finger in and rubs it into his gums? Like riding a fucking bicycle, apparently--she can only think that Rook was absolutely correct. The man is sexy and utterly deranged. Through the sadness and the panic, in some way, she gets it.

"This is good," he says, dropping gold into the dealer's hand and disappearing immediately. Neve's lost him by the time she reaches the Eluvian. It's a week before she sees him next, and when she does, he's got bruise-purple shadows under his eyes, most of a perfect replica of Solas' lyrium dagger in his hand, and the kind of insane plan that only substance can possibly fuel: Recreate original sin. Break into the Fade. Get Rook Back.

"Not on your own, you won't," Neve replies, and goes to find Bellara.

Davrin, Lucanis and Taash finally realize that the mages have holed themselves up in Emmrich's laboratory keeping Ski Chalet Hours only once the hole into the Fade has already been yanked open.