osteoptimist

[osteoptimist]

watch pendant in the shape of a skull, designed by isaac penard. switzerland, c. 1640-50.

[osteoptimist]

So there are a variety of sci Fi settings (Pantheon, Greg Egan books, Iain M Banks books, etc.) where characters can have almost any body they want, either through cybernetics and genetic modification or by virtue of existing in a virtual reality.

Reblog and put in the tags what is the first non-human shape you'd want to take on for an extended period

[osteoptimist]

[osteoptimist]

So I've talked about the Draw Steel resource economy and the tension between Victories and Recoveries.

There's the obvious scenario where at the end of the adventure you're ready to face the boss, and you're high on Victories and low on Recoveries. If you go fight the boss you'll be really strong, but you might run out of the ability to heal and risk dying. You can go take a Respite, which restores your Recoveries but also converts your Victories to XP so they won't give you that boost anymore. The fight will be safer, but less cool, and you might not have the strength to stop the boss's plan.

But I'm also thinking about another situation. The side quest.

Say your party is on their way to stop the lich queen rom raising her immortal army. If she succeeds, bad news for everyone.

But along the way, you pass a town being preyed upon by a pack of vampires.

You could stop and fight the vampires, you'd probably win, and you'd pick up an extra Victory or two. But you'd also take some damage and lose some Recoveries, and then you might not have enough gas left in the tank to face the lich queen.

Again, you could take a Respite, but that's 24 hours. In that time, she probably raises her army and you'll have effectively failed in your mission.

So now the party has an important strategic question AND an important moral question.

How tough are these vampires? What are the risks? What do we stand to gain from facing them? Is it worth the cost?

But also...

Is it right to pursue only the greatest threats, leaving some people defenseless? Is it right to ignore someone in need?

What's the right thing to do? What's the sane thing to do? What's the heroic thing to do?

And maybe it's part of the lich queen's plan! Maybe she sent those vampires, knowing the heroes would be tempted to stop them. If you help, are you playing right into her hand?

Now the players need to have this discussion. What would their characters do?

What happens if they face the vampires, but they're left too weak to stop the lich queen? They'd be heroes to that village, but at what cost?

Maybe, you say, the lich queen's army is the biggest threat. She needs to be dealt with first and foremost. So you walk on by, you confront the greater evil, and you triumph. You are heroes.

But then, on your journey back, you pass that town again. You see people dead in the streets, drained of blood, their throats ripped out.

Do you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that you couldn't have saved them too?

Do you still feel like a hero?

[osteoptimist]

As a GM, one of the biggest selling points of Draw Steel over D&D for me personally is that it's not at all draining to run.

A few months ago I finished up a 42-session campaign in 5e. It was really fun! But after EVERY session, I was completely exhausted. The living room table would still be messy until the next day, because I never even had the energy to clean up after the game and had to go lie down.

I ran Draw Steel today, and afterwards I felt ENERGIZED! A little tired, yes, I'd been standing and talking and thinking for 5 hours straight, but not drained. I had plenty of energy left to clean everything up and have another few productive hours.

What elements of Draw Steel are responsible for this? Not a damn clue. But it's real, and lots of other people I've talked to who run DS have said the same.

Rather than feeling beat and needing to take a break from even thinking about the game, I'm excited about what I'm going to run next.

I'm looking forward to running DS regularly even more now!

[osteoptimist]

I can’t stop thinking about crocodiles for some reason so here’s some cool pictures I found of probably the second largest one in captivity, his name is Utan:

isn’t he beautiful

listen to the SOUND when he bites

and that’s not even a real power bite, that’s mostly just heavy bone falling on heavy bone from his jaws and the air rushing out from between them

[osteoptimist]

What is your favorite D&D 4e class to play? And on the flip side, as a DM is there a particular combo of different monsters or a combo of monsters and hazards you enjoy throwing at adventurers?

My absolutely favourite D&D 4e class on its own is the druid. The druid builds have so many interesting possible interactions, and it's a transforming shapeshifter, which I love doing in games. Hot boy into monster, I love playing that.

I probably would also play a hot girl into monster, if I could - but I don't get to play druids very often, as I'm the forever DM type of player.

Despite this, I actually really love playing leaders. Every leader has something mechanically about it that excites me and I love being able to look at a party and say 'okay, what leader can make each of these other pieces sing?' and that's a fun puzzle for me. It also lets me take on a character role that can range from the 'RUB SOME DIRT ON IT, SOLDIER,' grumpy healer to a withered old veteran who can't move as fast as he used to but knows how to help you react faster and both of those characters are Warlords.

My favourite thing to do with monster combos is what I think of as the remix package. I work out the character budget for a group of enemies once, and then I throw them at the players three times; the first in a straightforwards brawl, the second time in a tiered system with cover, and the third time as an ambush. It's always interesting seeing how those mechanical response changes transform how players feel about things, to the point where they don't notice they're fighting the same enemies.

[osteoptimist]

Bird designs (2020-2021).

[osteoptimist]

As an American, a manual driver, and a bottom, I approve this message.

the real reason to drive a manual car is so you can ride the gear stick like a fat cock. americans drive automatic because their deeply ingrained puritanism suppresses their desire to ride the gear stick like a fat cock

[osteoptimist]

it is interesting how hard the D&D podcast took off when its honestly the worst podcasting system imaginable

[osteoptimist]

the good news: I’ve been in therapy and started Medecines, so my mental health should be perfect shortly, no more problems ever again

the bad news: it’s summer, much of the US is under the 🔥 heat dome🔥, and when they say SSRIs make a bitch more heat-sensitive THEY AREN’T LYING

[osteoptimist]

I'm just glad to be part of something (the problem)

[osteoptimist]

once i master my adhd and stop believing that i’m waiting for my life to begin and accept what i cannot change and finish cleaning my room and stick to a productive schedule and drink enough water and meditate and organize all the important papers in the paper pile and start being consistent and say the nice things to myself and gain confidence its OVER for you bitches

[osteoptimist]

I was talking to a friend about this recently, whose brother had fallen down the incel pipeline. About whether I as a cis man had any insight on how to help him.

And ultimately what I realized is that there isn't really anything you can do for someone who doesn't want to get better. It doesn't matter how much you love and support them if they have no interest in trying to become a better version of themselves.

For some men, they might benefit from talking to someone they respect. That can be valuable, but it's difficult and not an option in all cases.

But for some men, the ones who have really gone deep down the rabbit hole, that isn't an option because there is nobody left they consider worthy of respecting. They don't respect women (obviously), they don't respect normal men (chads and sexhavers and normies and betas), they don't respect other incels (those guys are losers, even if they're the only option for company). Some of them might respect the toxic manosphere influencers they follow and/or their favorite far right politician, but only because those are the people feeding them this rhetoric.

Any self improvement in the toxic masculinity culture is either about going to the gym and getting jacked (buy our supplements and steroids), becoming a pickup artist (take our online class on how to get any woman to fuck you), or becoming rich (invest in our crypto currency which is going to the moon). Becoming a nicer, more pleasant person to be around is completely off the table.

I'm not really sure how to help anyone come back from that point. Maybe if you separated them from that culture for a prolonged period? But again that isn't an option for most people.

It's very sad. Depending on which strain you look at, a lot of them reject even the notion of "happiness". I'm not going to go watch Andrew Tate videos to find out, but my guess is that if you asked guys like that if they want to be happy, at least some of them would say no. They'd say they want to be successful, and happiness is for betas, a weak emotion for weak people.

If you want to help, best I can offer is try to make sure they know you're there for them if they want to change? But you don't owe them that, and a lot of them will react really negatively to that suggestion.

This is coming from a man who has been struggling with mental illness for most of his life and comes from a long line of severely mentally ill men, the problem around discussions about ‘men’s mental health’ is that everyone is dancing around the fact that a lot of mentally ill men don’t want to get better.

I don’t mean they enjoy being severely depressed and unhealthy. I mean they have zero desire to try to get better. Not just a fear of seeking treatment due to ‘stigma’, men are less likely to be compliant with medication and treatment and therapeutic methods. This is what gives rise to things like the incel movement, choosing to do anything but attempt introspection and try to improve. And so many mentally ill men develop the crab in a bucket mentality where they try to drag people down with them, where they’re hurting so they hurt others and put the burden of their mental health on them.

You hear stories of 45 year old men who blew their brains out alone in their apartment and weren’t found for four months and you think ‘oh my god, no one was there for him’ but in all likelihood that man pushed everyone out of his life long ago. They cut ties with him for their own health and wellbeing. He felt deeply unpleasant so he behaved deeply unpleasantly.

I’ve seen this spiral in the men in my family and it is part of the reason I keep trying and I refuse to give up. I try different medications. I try different therapy and thought techniques. I try to recognize when I’m in a bad headspace and choose my words more carefully. It is my responsibility. Sure, I can ask for help and love and guidance from my loved ones but it is ultimately my job to keep trying. And many mentally ill men, especially cishet men, simply will not take on that responsibility.

[osteoptimist]

Add realism to your fantasy stories by having characters from different backgrounds struggle to pronounce each others' names.

"My name is [low guttural sound] but I don't want to hear you butcher it. So you may call me She Who Arises With The Cold Mountain Sun."

"...Is that what your name really means? All that in just one word?"

"Yes. If you stress the wrong syllable it comes out as 'She Who Coldly Wakes Up The Mountain Sun', or 'The Cold Woman Who Wakes The Mountain Sun', and you will not call me that."

"Oh, huh. Could we just call you Mountain Sun, for short?"

"Hmh. It's boastful, almost bordering on blasphemy, but it is flattering. I accept it."

[osteoptimist]

big fan of stories that, while undoubtedly being about the power of friendship, acknowledge that the power of incredible violence is just as important

the love was there. the love changed everything. the crowbar helped also

[osteoptimist]

ykw i'm obsessed with this meme i'm posting the full set here + my own addition and a half to match the limbus canon