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I think I may never be sad ever again. There is a statue entitled "Farewell to Orpheus" on my college campus. It's been there since 1968, created by a Prof. Frederic Littman that use to work at the university. It sits in the middle of a fountain, and the fountain is often full of litter. I have taken it upon myself to clean the litter out when I see it (the skimmers only come by once a week at max). But because of my style of dress, this means that bystanders see a twenty-something on their hands and knees at the edge of the fountain, sleeves rolled up, trying not to splash dirty water on their slacks while their briefcase and suit coat sit nearby. This is fine, usually. But today was Saturday Market, which means the twenty or so people in the area suddenly became hundreds. So, obviously, somebody stopped to ask what I was doing. "This," I gestured at the statue, "is Eurydice. She was the wife of Orpheus, the greatest storyteller in Greece. And this litter is disrespectful." Then, on a whim, I squinted up at them. "Do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice?" "No," they replied, shifting slightly to sit.

"Would you like to?"

"Sure!"

So I told them. I told them the story as I know it- and I've had a bit of practice. Orpheus, child of a wishing star, favorite of the messenger god, who had a hard-working, wonderful wife, Eurydice; his harp that could lull beasts to passivity, coax song from nymphs, and move mountains before him; and the men who, while he dreamed and composed, came to steal Eurydice away. I told of how she ran, and the water splashed up on my clothes. But I didn't care. I told of how the adder in the field bit her heel, and she died. I told of the Underworld- how Orpheus charmed the riverman, pacified Cerberus with a lullaby, and melted the hearts of the wise judges. I laughed as I remarked how lucky he was that it was winter- for Persephone was moved by his song where Hades was not. She convinced Hades to let Orpheus prove he was worthy of taking Eurydice. I tugged my coat back on, and said how Orpheus had to play and sing all the way out of the Underworld, without ever looking back to see if his beloved wife followed. And I told how, when he stopped for breath, he thought he heard her stumble and fall, and turned to help her up- but it was too late. I told the story four times after that, to four different groups, each larger than the last. And I must have cast a glance at the statue, something that said "I'm sorry, I miss you--" because when I finished my second to last retelling, a young boy piped up, perhaps seven or eight, and asked me a question that has made my day, and potentially my life: "Are you Orpheus?" I told the tale of the grieving bard so well, so convincingly, that in the eyes of a child I was telling not a story, but a memory. And while I laughed in the moment, with everyone else, I wept with gratitude and joy when I came home. This is more than I deserve, and I think I may never be sad again.

Here is the aforementioned statue, by the way.

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The reading comprehension and overall common sense on this website is piss poor.

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i can tell i’m sleep deprived bc i just made myself cry about tutankhamun and i have, like, negative interest in the kid

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Silk & Dagger: A Sensible Drow RPG and Drow Gender

There’s a lot going on in Silk & Dagger: A Sensible Drow RPG that I haven’t talked about yet, so I’m taking the opportunity to make this a pride month post about gender in Silk & Dagger’s society.

For men, there’s of course “men” and “wo-men” (strange customs from the surface, not worth talking about or examining closely), for dark elves, they’ll tell you there’s dark elves, and dark he-elves. They’re a self-admitted matriarchal society, and so dark elves hold much more social capital be default than dark he-elves. That’s it. But it might not be so simple..

This unfortunately means I might have to explain almost the entire lore of the game but I’ll try to keep it need-to-know.

In this dark and cramped subterranean society, “Drow” is a title, one attainable only by a dark elf(or in very rare cases, a wo-man) who has proven herself to other Drow, passed a series of trials, and continues to uphold a series of behavioral ideals thereon. In this matriarchal society, these ideals of a superior class are feminine ideals.

Drow control just about everything in this society, anything a Drow says goes, provided she has the reputation to put behind it, with only a minuscule number of actual written laws constraining their behavior. The society is divided up into “palaces,” which are just that, “large” ornate living spaces carved out of the stone itself, in close proximity to farming caverns and natural resources. Each palace is typically owned and ruled by a single Drow, with anyone else allowed to live there so long as she likes them and/or they make themselves useful, mostly the latter.

There exist dynasties, families of Drow which look out for each others’ interests, and other types of alliances based on friendship or mutual interest, but each palace is supposed to be fully independent. There is no money, war, enslavement, or government in this society, each Drow is her palace’s one-elf army, and is entitled to all that she can take by force. Actually killing another Drow is deeply shameful, but fighting is expected. When conflict arises over the rights to certain resources, duels or small group skirmishes are held, which are as much a performance as a contest of martial arts. It is rarely enough just to win, a Drow has to win impressively enough that it doesn’t look like a mere fluke, for her reputation. If it looks like she barely scraped by, she’s easy pickings. All this resulting in Drow regional politics looking something like if pro wrestling was real and they sometimes used swords.

(art by team artist @chaospyromancy, a Drow may wear this to battle, because it looks good. This is also featured in her own artbook, A Squad of Drow.)

You should see now how that reputation is key. Even though it’s a granted title, a Drow is only a “real Drow” as long as she looks and acts like one, and can inspire the kind of reverence a Drow is supposed to be afforded. There is a very complex code of conduct for how a non-Drow is to address and interact with a Drow, and how a Drow is to carry herself and interact with those in her domain. It’s so complex, strict, and high-stakes that it forms the foundation of the gameplay itself.

A non-Drow failing to show a Drow adequate respect reflects badly on them, and can even lead to severe physical punishment, but most importantly (according to the Drow), it can severely impact the Drow’s reputation. If a Drow isn’t Drow enough to make lowly servants treat her like one, she’s going to be eaten alive out there by the real Drow.

Nominally, there are two elf genders, but elves who have failed to live up to the pinacle of feminine gender roles are nevertheless relegated to a class below those who succeeded. This may sound familiar.

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(Sound on.) Bonus clip today: Penguins navigating stairs.

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Have you played EUREKA : Investigative Urban Fantasy ?

By A.N.I.M @anim-ttrpgs

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is a neo-noir investigation-focused RPG with (as you can probably guess from the title) a paranormal twist. Eureka fills several voids we have noticed in the TTRPG space. Leave behind the days of "We walk into the room and roll Investigate." Eureka supports investigation to a degree we haven’t seen before, ensuring that searching for clues is a granular and player-driven process, but also ensuring that the whole story doesn’t grind to a halt after one single failed investigation check, without the GM having to drop any extra hints.

Though most PCs will be mundane humans—or perhaps because most PCs will be mundane humans—Eureka also supports playing monstrous PCs, such as a vampire, in a way we have never seen before. This isn’t just a watered-down stat bonus, it’s like playing an almost entirely different game, with all the monster’s strengths and weaknesses to account for while solving the mystery, plus the added incentive to keep it a secret from the other PCs as well as their players.

If you like or are interested in Call of Cthulhu, Monster of the Week, Dresden Files, Delta Green, X-Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Apocalypse Keys, or Gumshoe, you’ll probably find something in Eureka to really enjoy.

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The Hottest Way to Get Got: FINAL ROUND

Click here or here for a full explanation but in short which of these is the hotter way for somebody to kill or get someone? To clarify, "you" can be on any end of any of these for finding it hot. Done to you, you doing it, or just being a bystander.

51 Enveloped by a thing from beyond (click here for an explanation of what that is) and being smothered and chewed to death before being slowly digested.

21 Stuffed down a busty fairy's shirt. (forever, never seen again)

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Jerry suspects the oracle might be flirting with him. Elaine attempts to break up with a chariot racer by joining the vestal virgins. Kramer makes raunchy pottery. George refuses to believe that he has been cursed.

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THE ENTIRE WEST IS BEING PUT UP FOR SALE AND I AM BEGGING YOU TO CALL YOUR SENATORS

Trump’s budget bill has many, many things in it, but buried amongst it is the MILLIONS OF ACRES OF PUBLIC LAND FOR SALE.

This is the entirety of the Arizona state forests, the entire Cascades mountain range. Swathes of pristine desert around the national parks in Utah. On the doorstep of Jackson Hole.

THIS BILL IS BIG, BUT IT CAN BE AMENDED AND ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT PASS AS IS please.

If you have ever enjoyed the wilderness, we stand to lose it all forever.

CALLING your senators - NOT JUST IN THE WEST. ALL SENATORS, is CRUCIAL.

Outdoor alliance has a great resource for reaching out.

I don’t have a huge following but please, everywhere I have ever loved, the forests I grew up playing in, the land I got married on, is all at risk and I am begging.

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gen z has to reckon with its radicalization problem. you are not a morally pure and superior generation of youth come to save the world, your men and boys are radicalized at an unprecedented level and you ignore it because it’s too hard to address but you have to. these boys are in your classes, they date your friends, you know them and you cannot continue to pretend this is an “old white guy” problem

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John Fitzgerald Kennedy and GlaDOS but it's toxic yuri

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I'm a little out of the loop, what happens if anim doesn't reach it's monthly goals? I could only afford to back the kickstarter, does eureka get cancelled?

Eureka and almost all of the various Kickstarter promises are currently available on itchio in a playable state, so Eureka isn’t at risk of getting canceled.

However, as for what the deal is with our finances, without going into unnecessary detail, one of our team members only has a confirmed place to live so long as they can prove that A.N.I.M. is making roughly 15% more in income each month, until it hits a threshold of regularly making at least $4,000 per month.

If we fail to hit these quotas too many times, that team member’s financial and living situation are at risk of becoming very unstable, which is not only very bad for them obviously, but will cripple the whole team’s ability to continue to do what we do.

That’s why it’s so urgent that we hit these quotas. If anyone wants to see A.N.I.M. succeed, or just wants to keep a disabled person financially stable, please consider the links below.

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on it boss 🫡

make adventure modules

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The more I think on it, and I know this greatly differs from what people have come to expect in recent years, but to me a TTRPG with no adventure modules is like booting up a video game and finding out the devs didn’t make any levels. Like I wanted to play this but I guess we’ll have to wait until someone in the group, who may have never played the game before, spends a not-insignificant amount of their free time in the level-editor throwing something together for us to play.

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(Art by team artist @chaospyromancy)

Ever wanted to play a vampire who solves crimes, and probably also does crimes(drink blood)? Download Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy on itchio!