#3E-Concern

[jade-curtiss]

Do you ever see a post so stupid yet it explains so many things?

[thydungeongal]

Okay I did take one sideways glance at One D&D and while I think it's objectively good that the Sorcerer subclasses are no longer as concerned with BREEDING as before (they've renamed the ones like "Draconic Bloodline" to just "Draconic Sorcery") probably because like idk maybe talk of bloodlines and stuff like that gives off wrong vibes in the year of our Lord 2024,

But I also can't help but be reminded of @prokopetz's post about how the text of D&D is increasingly trying to dance around the idea of "your peepaw fucked a dragon" which became surprisingly common in D&D 3e,

[nagisasstuff]

Sleepover Time! -3E

*Hall time*

Kurahashi: "Karasuma-Sensei can we please have a sleepover! Plus it helps us interact with each other more and we can discuss assasination plans!"

Karasuma: "Fine, but you'll be under supervision, Isogai and Kataoka I'll leave you in charge of them."

Isogai/Kataoka: "Yes sir."

Fuwa: "WOO FINALLY!! WE SHOULD WATCH ANIME I KNOW A GOOD ANIME TO WATCH!!!"

Karasuma: "Remember your aim, and please behave."

Kurahashi: "You guys can stay at my place! My parents are in a vacation tomorrow!"

Kataoka: "Alright, Thank you Kurahashi."

Kurahashi: "No problemo! >:D"

the next day *insert Spongebob*

Kayano: "Eeeee!! I'm so excited this is the first time ive had a sleepover!!"

Kurahashi: "Hey when are you guys coming?!"

Nagisa: "I'm with Hara and Muramatsu were getting baking supplies for the sleepover. :)"

Okajima: "WAIT YOU GUYS ARE GONNA BAKE?!! HARA'S CAKE MURAMATSU'S RAMEN AND NAGISA'S CUPCAKES ARE THE BEST!! DUDE I'M GONNA HOG ALL OF THE FOOD!!"

Kayano: "Especially nagisa's cupcakes!! There the best!"

Nagisa: "Thank you Kayano! 💗"

Kayano: "brb gonna cry an angel just sent me a heart"

Nagisa: "???"

Kataoka: "You better not. There needs to be enough food for everyone."

Sugino: "Hey Nagisa look to your right!"

Nagisa: "Oh Sugino! Your there! Let's walk together. :)"

Isogai: "Kurahashi I'm at the door with Maehara!"

*When everybody's there*

Kurahashi: "Hi welcome!!"

Maehara: "Woah this place is huge!!"

Okajima: "Can we sleep together in the same rooms? ;)"

The Girls: "NO!!"

Nagisa: "Kurahashi-Chan me Hara and Muramatsu will be using the kitchen were gonna start baking now!"

Kurahashi: "Oh alright! Make sure to add a lot of sugar!!"

Fuwa: "I CALL MIDDLE!!"

Okajima: "HEY NO FAIR THAT'S THE WARMEST PART OF THE CARPET!!!"

Terasaka: "GOD WHEN WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP!!"

Fuwa: "What did you just say to me? :)"

Terasaka: "Tch, You don't scare me!"

Fuwa: *pulls out sword*

Terasaka: "HOW THE HELL DID THAT EVEN FIT THERE!!"

Kataoka: "NO FIGHTING!! AND CERTAINLY NO WEAPONS!!"

Fuwa: "Awe.. boring!! *whispers to Terasaka* your lucky or else you'd be dead meat."

Takebayashi: "Okuda, have you brought your chemical equipment?"

Okuda: "A-ah! Y-yes!!"

Takebayashi: "Alright let's start at the table."

Okuda: "R-right!!"

Kayano: "YOU BROUGHT YOUR CHEMICALS?!?"

Okuda: "I-I never leave home without some!"

Kayano: "😨"

Kayano: "Should I be concerned??"

Karma: "Nagii did you know theres a new Sonic Ninja movie released?? Let's watch it in Wednesday!"

Nagisa: "Oh, sure! I'll make room for schedule!" *grins*

Hara: "Okano please stop eating the dough we still need it and it's uncooked!!"

Maehara: "Ooh let me try!"

Hara: "PLEASE NO!!"

Muramatsu: "Isogai a little help here??"

Isogai: "Maehara and Okano please stop eating the dough they need it and it's uncooked!"

Maehara+Okano: "Awh.. okay.. *murmurs* party pooper.."

Isogai: "What. was. that? :)"

Maehara+Okano: "N-NOTHING SIR!!!"

Isogai: "Good. :)"

Maehara+Okano: "😨"

A few hours later.. *insert Spongebob*

Kurahashi: "Alright! Time to watch a movie!!"

Kimura: "But what movie will we watch?"

Hazama: "Horror movies."

Kimura: "AHH WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!!!"

Hazama: "A few minutes ago."

Karma: "Great idea Hazama! Let's watch Jigsaw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre!!"

3-E: "NO!!!"

Kayano: "A Disney movie??"

Kurahashi: "Oh yeah I definitely could settle for that one!!"

3-E: "Meh."

Nagisa: "Here's the snacks! :)" *walks over to the living room with a tray of the food*

Okajima: "BARK BARK BARK!!!"

Kataoka: "What the.."

Takebayashi: "We're back." *walking over with Okuda*

Kurahashi: "Alright! Everyone pick your places!!"

Sugino: "DIBS TO SEAT BESIDE NAGISA!!!"

Karma: "NO FAIR!!"

Kayano: "HEY CHEATER!!!"

Nagisa: "•-•"

*after everyone picks there seats*

Mimura: "Alright can we please pick a movie to watch?!"

Kayano+Kurahashi: "Disney Movies!!"

Karma+Hazama: "Horror Movies!"

Maehara+Terasaka: "Action Movies!!"

Kayano: "WHAT?! DISNEY MOVIES ARE BETTER!!"

Kurahashi: "YEAHH!!"

Nakamura: "LET'S CROSSDRESS NAGISA INSTEAD!!"

Nagisa: "NO WAY!!"

Karma: "HORROR MOVIES ARE EXQUISITE AND MOST HIGH QUALITY GORY!!"

Hazama: "I shall curse this TV to play horror movies."

Terasaka: "FIGHTING MOVIES ARE WAY MORE ENTERTAINING THAN YOUR TRASHY PICKS!"

Fuwa: "ANIME IS MORE BETTER HOW DARE YOU!!"

Isogai: "Alright Stop!!

Kataoka: "STOP!"

Nagisa: "EVERYBODY STOP!!"

*silence*

Nagisa: *sighs* "How about we pick a movie by majority rules?"

Kataoka+Isogai: "Great Idea Nagisa!"

Kimura: "I'll get a bowl.."

Mimura: "I'll get paper.."

Nagisa: *sighs* "Finally.."

Sugaya: "CAN WE PLEASE HAVE ONE NORMAL DAY?!?"

Sugino: "Sorry bro but I don't think that's possible here!"

Sugaya: "True true.. Just have to face reality.. 😔"

Okajima: "There there buddy.." *pats sugayas back*

Kimura+Mimura: "We're back!"

Muramatsu: "Thanks you guys!" *grabs bowl and papers from them*

Hara: "I'll write down the genres! Anybody say there genre now!"

Karma: "Horror!"

Hara: "Alright"

Kayano: "Disney!!"

Hara: "Sure!"

Maehara: "Action or Fighting!!"

Hara: "Nice!"

Fuwa: "ANIME!!"

Hara: "Was expecting it!"

*a moment of silence*

Hara: "Oki-Dokies is that all?"

Okano: "Action!"

Hara: "That's already there"

Okano: "Oh, okay!"

Hara: "Okay time to mix the papers!!"

*shuffling noises can be heard*

Kataoka: "Alright Everybody one by one line up!"

*everybody lines up*

.

.

.

*a few minutes later..*

Nagisa: "Alright is everybody done?"

3-E: *nods in agreement*

Nagisa: "Alrighty! Everyone show there papers in 3.. 2... 1..!"

3-E: *flips the paper and raises it*

Nagisa: "Alright that's one.. two.."

*a few minutes later*

Nagisa: "Alright it seems that.. Horror won! Wait.. God were doomed.." *nagisa grimaces*

3-E: *sighs defeatedly*

Kataoka: "Hey Nagisa thanks for helping out."

Isogai: "Yeah you did an amazing job!"

Nagisa: "Oh, thanks but I really didn't do much!"

Nakamura: "Gisa' accept a compliment will you?" *ruffles his hair*

Nagisa: "H-hey!" *blushes in embarrassment*

Karma: "Awe look who's red!"

Nagisa: "S-shut up Karma-kun!"

Karma: "Haha!"

Kimura: "Alright let's pick the movie!!"

Mimura: *opens Netflix's and moves to horror category*

Karma: "Eh.. Em... Seen that one.. Boring..."

Hazama: "That one."

Karma: "Oh hey! Didn't see that but heard it's creepy!"

3-E: *shivers in despair*

Terasaka: "Cmon just play it will you!"

Mimura: "Alright! alright! Ritsu can you play that movie with speaker volume up to 50?"

Ritsu: "Aye Aye captain!"

Itona: "Terasaka move your squishing me."

Yoshida: "Move buff guy your squishing all of us!"

Terasaka: "HEY WATCH YOUR WORDS!"

Nagisa: *brings blanket up to shoulders*

Karma: "Aww is little Nagi scared?"

Nagisa: "No you big idiot! I'm just cold!"

Sugino+Kayano: "I AM HERE!!! WE'LL HELP YOU!!"

Nagisa: "Oh- uh okay!"

Nakamura: *whispers to karma then giggles*

Karma: *chuckles and whisper backs*

*both put there iconic grin and devil horns and tails start visibly showing*

Nagisa: "H-hey what are you two whispering about!"

Nakamura: "Ohh nothing... Hehe.." *smirks*

Nagisa: "Your acting really suspicious.."

Nakamura: *giggles*

*the movie starts*

*the intro shows a jump scare*

Most of the girls: "GAHH!!"

Nagisa: "AHHH!" *embraces sugino and kayano for support*

Sugino+Kayano: *clenches their shirt/dress tightly where there heart is and melts in the embrace while a tear drop glistens and falls*

Karma+Nakamura: "HEY NO FAIR!!" *embraces nagisa*

Okajima+Half of the class: *hogs the food hara,muramatsu and nagisa made*

Hayami: *tenses up a bit and is visibly a bit scared*

Chiba: *hugs hayami*

Hayami: *blushes out of embarrassment and melts in the embrace*

*a few hours later because I'm lazy to write their reactions*

Nagisa: *asleep in suginos shoulder*

3-E: *asleep*

*visible crumbs on trays and plates where the food was formerly shown*

*tv visibly off and ritsu also sleeping*

Time-skip to tomorrow because I'm lazy! 😍

Kurahashi: "That was tons of fun!! We should do it some time!!"

Kataoka: "Yeah I agree it was nice hanging out with the class."

Nagisa: "It was a lot of fun I enjoy everyone's company!" *flashes his adorable smile*

3E -itona: *clenches their shirts/dresses and a tear drop glistens as it falls and they murmur* thank you..

Nagisa: "Eh?"

First mini fanfic :D

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Ivana Boritsi

Domain: Borca Domain Formation: 684 BC Power Level: 3/5 skulls Sources: Ravenloft (3e), Domains of Dread (2e), Secrets of the Dread Realms (3e), Domains and Denizens (2e), Realm of Terror (2e), Gazetteer 4 (3e), van Ricthen’s Guide to Ravenloft

Ivana Boritsi is the second Darklord of Borca, usurping her mother, Camille Boritsi when she committed matricide via the traditional Borcan means – poison.  In 740 BC the Grand Conjunction caused Borca to absorb Dorvinia, her cousin Ivan’s Domain. Currently, Borca is ruled by these poisonous noble cousins, but today I am only going to address Ivana’s descent into Darklordom.

Camille wanted nothing more for her daughter to mirror her in every possible way. An admirable goal. What parent would not want to see their legacies carried forward in their heirs? Installing hatred in one of the Bortisi bloodline should not be a difficult task, yet Camille failed to mold Ivana into the man hating daughter she desired.

The young, influential Ivana desired the experience of ‘true love’. Bah. Overrated dribble best left in fairytales. In her search, she found Pieter – a poetic and musician. He, however, showed no interest in Ivana, so naturally she took to pursuing him like a relentless zealot.  He, like the gloriously vain artist he was, only took interest in Ivana when she expressed interest in his art. And so, Ivana became one of the first groupies in Ravenloft…

Camille, seeing her daughter find ‘true love’ in this musical hack, decided to demonstrate to Ivana just how horrible all men truly were. She pretended to be Ivana and came into Pieter’s bed under the cloak of darkness. When Ivana discovered them together, she was devastated. Camille quickly convinced Ivana that Pieter had seduced her and Ivana should kill him for it in the Boritsi fashion.

Ivana saturated her body in a powerful poison that did no harm to her, but allowed her to kill Pieter with a single kiss. Camille had finally obtained the man-hating, poisonous daughter she always dreamed of. Ivana, however, did not see her revenge complete until she mother suffered the same fate as her lover and with Camille’s last breath, Ivana became the Darklord of Borca.

Now, her body is permanently seeped in poison. Ivana is in her 60s, yet appears no older than 18. A gift bestowed upon her by our tormentors, allowing her to stay young and beautiful without the curse of undeath. There is, naturally, always a price for their gifts and though Ivana may give all appearances of the innocent and beautiful young woman, part of her true nature is revealed by the unnaturally and sickly shade of blue that stains her lips and fingernails. Though Ivana hides these blemishes beneath lairs of makeup, I would not be surprised if she was able to convince the Borcans that blue lips and nails are the latest fashion craze.

When she succumbs to mortal slumber, Ivana’s horror is revealed – she appears as if she died from poison – swelled face, protruding and blackened tongue, and the pallor of a blotted corpse. Perhaps this is why she ensures the death of any lover she takes for fear they may see her as she truly is.

As a ruler, Ivana is more interested in funding her lavish lifestyle and manipulating countless courtiers for her to seduce and destroy. When Borca absorbed Dorvinia, Ivana was more than happy to let Ivan take over the political concerns of their realm.

5e Version

In van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, Ivana’s story has changed in some ways and remained the same in others. In this version, both of her parents earned her scorn. Her father for favoring male heirs over herself and her mother for successfully seducing Pieter from her. After Camille’s betrayal, Ivana created aromatic toxins and killed all of her brothers for the crime of being favored by her father and her mother for seducing Pieter.

When her father lay on his death bed, he named Ivan Dilisnya as his heir. Now, of course, Ivana assumed this was because he was a petty man…but perhaps killing everyone with poison in a rather unsubtle means clued your father into your true nature, Ivana. Though, Ivan is a rather poor choice as an heir as well. With his final word, Ivana released another toxic gas and killed her already dying father and their countless servants. A rather pointless act, but it earned her a Domain and the taint of poison beneath her skin.   

[thehomelybrewster]

Ability Scores in 5e & Other RPGs

This little rant is inspired by a post by a blog named The Angry GM, titled "Your Ability Scores Suck" as well as a post titled "8 Abilities - 6, 3, or 4 Ability scores?" by DIY & dragons, because those two articles and my past few months of looking at various TTPRGs have led me to some insights into my own philosophy in how I like TTRPGs and how I feel about 5e's Ability Scores.

So let's look at how a couple of RPGs handle ability scores or their equivalents. Namely I'll look at D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, The Dark Eye (4th Edition Revised), CAIRN, and Pokémon. Yes, Pokémon is relevant to this. And it'll actually be the second game we'll discuss, but the first obviously has to be...

D&D 5th Edition

D&D famously has six ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. In most situations the exact ability score no longer is that important, however, since from 3e onwards d20-based checks have become the near-universal input you play D&D with. This means that instead the ability score modifier is key, which ranges from -4 to +5 for most player characters.

Now while these six scores might seem pretty equal, players have quickly figured out that certain ability scores are more desirable than others, unless you play specific classes.

Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom are for example the three most common saving throws. 109 out of the 361 spells in the Player's Handbook force a saving throw using one of these three ability scores, while Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma only have 24 spells. Thankfully every D&D class gives proficiency with two saving throws, one of the three major ones, and one of the lesser ones (and certain subclasses as well as the monk get more saving throw proficiencies, but that's besides the point).

Additionally, when it comes to skills, and thus out-of-combat usefulness, Strength only has one skill tied to it by default (Athletics), while Constitution has none. Charisma has four skills to its name, Dexterity three, and both Intelligence and Wisdom have five.

Now the DIY & dragons article mentions that there are effectively three axes you have to cover with your ability scores: physical vs mental, force vs grace, and attack vs defense. That leads to eight abilities total. In 5e, using what we know about the game, we can make some great deductions.

For one, Strength is almost exclusively concerned with physical force attack, while Constitution nearly exclusively covers physical force defense. Dexterity meanwhile fully covers physical grace attack, as well as physical grace defense, since it affects AC and is used for Stealth, as well covering evasion-type saving throws. Dexterity is incredibly powerful in 5e, arguably the most powerful ability score.

On the mental stat side, the lines are less clear. All three ability scores can be used for offence, though Intelligence, being the casting ability score of only wizards and the generally utility-based artificers is the least offensive of the three. Still, its association with wizards means it probably is best associated with force, because fireball. Charisma easily can be sorted into grace and is mostly offensive, and Wisdom straddles the line between force and grace, but is also both clearly offensive and defensive.

As you can see, Intelligence & Wisdom & Charisma are rather ill-defined, a point also made by the The Angry GM article, but mechanically Wisdom is universally useful, while Charisma is either super important (because you're playing either a Charisma caster or a face-type non-caster, such as a rogue), or can easily be sidelined/dumped. In fact a lot of tables seem to disregard or minimize Charisma when it comes to roleplay, my tables have definitely done that. Mostly because you don't want to have players not participating in roleplay encounters because they don't have at least a +2 in Charisma and several skill proficiencies in that area.

Speaking of proficiencies, for skills the maximum you can add is +6 or +12 if you have expertise, while with saving throws the maximum proficiency bonus is +6, so with saving throws in particular, a +5 for a saving throw from that relevant abilty score is a massive defensive boon, though it's often less relevant for skill checks.

This knowledge, as well as the known issues with Intelligence-based skill checks often being seen as gate-keeping plot relevant information, leads to the realization that Strength, Intelligence, and Charisma are the three most frequent "dump stats", with the latter two in particular often having implications in out-of-combat situations, while Strength is a "safe" choice for full spellcasters.

Now let's think about how other games handle this... Let's begin, as I threatened in the beginning, with...

Pokémon

Pokémon famously uses six so-called base stats for its collectible creatures: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed. Using the system described by DIY & dragons, Attack and Defense clearly map onto the physical, and Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense clearly onto the mental. There is no distinction made between grace and force. HP is a universally defensive stat, and Speed is both offensive and defensive.

Naturally, Pokémon doesn't involve dice rolls. These stats are used for formulas and comparisons. But you can already see that Pokémon, at least since Special got split into Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense starting in Gold & Silver, has a clear division of these stats, with it being clear what they do.

Now due to the mechanics and the goals of Pokémon, an individual character (read: the actual Pokémon) doesn't need to have balanced stats. Largely also because these stats only affect combat, the main mechanic of these games. Any out-of-combat activity present in Pokémon games in fact uses distinct stats, completely distinct from the base stats of the Pokémon. These can then be discarded/put into the background when that out-of-combat activity, such as Pokémon Contests, is removed from subsequent releases.

Now let's look at a D&D-related game that has a different approach to ability scores, because it provides a stepping stone to look at different RPGs...

Pathfinder 2nd Edition (Pre-2023 Revision)

Pathfinder, being a game spun out off the 3rd Edition of D&D, also uses the six ability scores that D&D uses: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

Just like with 5e, Pathfinder associates certain skills with certain ability scores, and just like 5e, Strength and Constitution are connected to only one and no skills respectively.

Still, that's just part of the bigger picture. Pathfinder 2e, just like D&D 3e, doesn't use ability scores as saving throws. Rather it uses three distinct saving throws that are tied to ability scores. Those saving throws are Fortitude (Constitution), Reflex (Dexterity), and Will (Wisdom). These are, for the keen-eyed, the same ability scores that are the primary saving throws in 5e. This means that defenses are covered exclusively by these three ability scores, and of these Constitution remains purely defensive, while Dexterity and Wisdom also have offensive capabilities. Still, the offensive power of Dexterity is lowered because in general it cannot be used to increase your weapon damage, contrary to how 5e does it.

It should also be noted that both when it comes to skills and saving throws, the calculations for rolls are very different than in 5e! If you are proficient with a skill or saving throw, you add both a bonus equal to your degree of proficiency (from +2 to +8), as well as your character's level, to the roll, in addition to your ability score modifier. This leads to massive bonuses, especially since magical effects can be added to that, too. Of course Pathfinder uses a sliding scale to determine difficulty classes and has a degrees of success system, but with that knowledge, the -4 to +5 you add to your rolls will matter less than 5e's ability score modifiers do. In general, as long as the modifier is at least a +1, it's fine.

This has actually led to Wisdom being considered a dump stat for many Pathfinder players, and that especially applies when playing with one alternate rule that I want to highlight.

In the Gamemastery Guide, the Alternative Scores variant rule splits Dexterity into Dexterity and Agility, merges Strength and Constitution, and makes Charisma rather than Wisdom the relevant ability for Will saving throws. That variant rule acknowledges the power of Dexterity and the relative weaknesses of Strength and Constitution, but somehow strengthens Charisma further. I don't have any numbers or insight on how popular this alternate rule is, but given what I know about Pathfinder 2e character optimizers, I wouldn't adopt the change to Will saves if I were to run this variant rule myself.

Still, the knowledge of these three saving throws puts us nicely into the realm of indie RPGs, which have really run with this. So let's look at one as an example.

Cairn

This lovely little game written by Yochai Gal has been a well-supported indie darling and is currently in a playtest for a 2nd edition.

Cairn uses three ability scores: Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower. It also uses a d20 roll under system, contrary to 5e and Pathfinder. This means that you aim to roll below your ability score, rather than adding a number to a d20 roll and seeing if you can meet the difficulty class threshold.

They are also, in combat, mostly defensive. Strength in combat mostly concerns surviving blows. Dexterity is used to determine if you move before the enemies and for escaping combat. Both Strength and Dexterity can be used for saving throws against certain spells. In combat Willpower is necessary to cast spells without suffering penalties.

Offensively none of the three ability scores are that important. They don't add to damage, they aren't important for making attacks, or anything of the sorts. Spellcasting outside of dangerous situations usually doesn't involve die rolls either.

This makes the three ability scores very balanced, but it also gives them comparatively little meaning. They are your protection from harm. Including out of combat. But Cairn doesn't know skill checks whose failure state isn't "nothing happens". If player characters have no pressure, they succeed. Especially if they have useful equipment for it.

Using the DIY & dragons blog post as reference, Strength only represents physical force defense, Dexterity only represents physical grace defense, and Willpower represents mental grace and force defense.

So, let's look at a different roll-under system, one that might provide additional inspiration for game designers...

The Dark Eye (4th Edition, revised)

The German TTRPG The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) is old, almost as old as D&D, and in its design its often as an antithesis for D&D. It's incredibly math-y, has a generally less heroic (but also categorically "good") playstyle, and is a class-less (kinda), level-less system. To ensure I know what I'm talking about, I'll focus on the 4th edition, which has by now been superceded by its own 5th edition, because that's the one edition of it I actually played.

DSA (its German acronym which I will use for brevity's sake) uses eight attribute (!) scores:

Courage, Cleverness, Intuition, Charisma, Dexterity, Agility, Constitution, and Strength.

Each of these eight attribute scores affects the character directly. Heroes have base values (melee attack, ranged attack, parry, initiative) that are calculated by adding together set combinations of attribute scores and dividing the sum, most often by 5, to determine those base values. For brevity's sake, let's look at two of these base values: attack and parry. Attack is calculated with Courage + Agility + Strength, while parry is calculated using Intuition + Dexterity + Strength. Both use two "physical" attributes and one "mental" attribute.

Similar rules also apply to calculating how much your character can withstand, be it through their general vitality (which is equivalent to hit points), their endurance (mostly used as a resource for athletic feats), and their wound limit, all of which can be used to defeat characters. Even the amount of astral points, the spellcasting resource, is calculated using your attribute scores. Every attribute is used at least once when calculating these eight values, with only Cleverness, Charisma, and Dexterity being used only for one of these eight fundamental character traits, with Charisma being the least important, because it is only used to calculate astral energy points, which are irrelevant for characters that don't know spells.

Furthermore skill checks in DSA are made by rolling three attribute checks in a row and then using skill points to modify the results if necessary. Skills use either three distinct attribute scores (e.g. Cooking, which requires Cleverness & Intuition & Dexterity), or two attribute scores (with one being used twice, e.g. Perception requires one Cleverness check and two Intuition checks). Simple attribute checks where you use only one attribute are rare, with heavy lifting often being the key example for it. There are also loads of skills in DSA, with the character sheet per default having twenty four skills, with more being common on most characters.

As you can hopefully see, all eight ability scores are used very often and impact your character greatly. They are furthermore more clearly delineated than the D&D standard, however they also don't map onto the DIY & dragons parameters for ability scores, despite having eight of them!

Conclusion

What can we learn from this? Well, honestly, draw your own conclusions. The six ability scores of D&D and Pathfinder are not the "be-all and end-all", that's for sure. You really need to think about what your game wants to do.

Is it just combat-focused? Then all ability scores should matter in combat and to (roughly) the same degree!

Does your game consist of multiple gameplay elements? If yes, then they should all be accessible and fun for players even if their base stats are "bad" in one aspect, while still allowing for specialization of player characters.

Generally, there is no "one size fits all" solution, and this rant hasn't even gone into ambiguity between different terms, the implications of specific terms and associated thresholds, or the exact history of ability scores in D&D before 3rd Edition!

Anyway, I hope this was legible, fun and informative.

[no-more-tales-tavern]

Follows this post.

Smut Snippet Beach 3E: If anyone deserved a vacation, it was Glynda. Though it was Thundove who convinced her to take one, and to use money from the Royal treasury and one of the royal boats for their personal vacation. All things she would not have done before at all. But before she could really think or consider that at all, Thundove was making sure they enjoyed their time at see.

Let's Go to the Beach! Beach!: 3E

Glynda wasn't sure which she felt more—flattered that her lover had gone to such great lengths to give her a long overdue vacation that she'd desperately needed, or concerned that he had done so by tricking the royal treasury into gifting him the coin to secure the trip, as well as one of the royal navy's ships. As the leader of the city's civilian affairs, she felt almost insulted by the lack of care he showed the rest of the government.

But as his sexy and loving plaything, all she could think of was thanking him as soon as they set sail from Vale's port.

"Ohhh Thundove~" the elven woman groaned with pleasure, biting at her lip as she bounced steadily up and down on his lap. Her clothes long forgotten by now—though she'd packed an entire trunk full for their trip, it had been obvious by every touch and squeeze of her master's hand that the two of them would be wearing very little for the next two weeks. A thought that only excited her more, and made her hips come down even harder.

Beneath her, her fellow elven lover chuckled and smirked back up at her—a hand on her waist to keep her close to him, while the other reached up around her arching figure to teasingly grope and smack at one of her erotically bouncing breasts. "Enjoying yourself, my pet~?" the crime lord asked with an amused chuckle, his gaze hungrily dragging up her sensual form to land on her face again.

The gorgeous blonde let out a deep and desperate moan of reply, her hips rolling down, gyrating around his impressive length as she bounced steadily on his lap. The feeling of his hand on her breast made her whine with pleasure—oh, the things he could do to make her come completely undone. "Gods, yes~ gods, its been so long since I could just relax~ mmm, and since we could be alone together~"

Thundove smirked at her replies, and his hand gripped her breast firmly, making her gasp— "Then we'd best make up for all that lost time, Glyn~" the crime boss murmured, slowly pulling her down to rest her back against his chest, his lips finding her neck and peppering it with soft kisses as he began to roughly buck and thrust his hips up into hers. The roughness earning him a chorus of moans and cries from his lusty slut that were pure music to his ears.

Two weeks out at sea, and they'd only just begun—he could only imagine what sort of woman she'd be when they finally returned~

[strelles-universe]

Codes of the Clans - The Escort's Code

Though Escorts are considered the lowest rank in WindClan - often whispered to be the least connected to the rest of clan politics given that they don’t usually stay within the confines of the camp - they are among the most important to ensure that WindClan retains control over their territory. Especially to the world outside of the clans, Escorts are the face of WindClan - the first to encounter trespassers and visitors, to calm them and speak. They are near constantly on the move, patrolling their clan’s territory or stationed at specific Border Posts around their entire territory.

The Border Posts are decently protected - though some of them are out in the open, several have dens that were dug out and expanded by the tunnelers with small entrances that look more like rabbit runs than a cat’s entrance around them. These internal dens allow for Escorts to be on watch for long hours at a time during the sweltering heat and frigid cold preventing both heat-stroke and frostbite. 

Sometimes, even retired Escorts don’t return to the camp for lecturing; finding even sleeping outside on the camp’s clearing to be more smothering than the various border posts. 

1. An Escort’s first duty is to secure the territory

1a. An Escort will be stationed to a minimum of two posts every day

1b. An Escort is expected to mark weakened borderlines if they’re noticed

1c. Even before guards, an escort is WindClan’s first defense against invasion

2. An Escort is expected to have the skills to survive without a patrol

2a. An Escort is expected to teach their apprentice the basics of survival, failure to do so is interpreted as apprentice neglect

2b. The Basics are identified as: solo-hunting, basic herb identification, conflict de-escalation, territory orientation and how to find water in the warm seasons

3. An Escort is to report any and all trespassers to the clan

3a. There is a specific way to report trespassers and all escorts are expected to know the format

3b. The format is species - estimated age - affiliation - intention - longevity

3c. An Escort is to bring regular Visitors to the clan’s camp and assist any pregnant, nursing or injured individuals

3d. An Escort is expected to accompany another clan’s diplomat to the camp and back to the border

3e. Escorts are expected to accompany located cats on the path to the Mother Maw

4. An escort is the clan’s ears - if unusual or concerning rumors reach them, they are to report immediately

[jiubilant]

from the yellow book of great house hlaalu, a house record dating from 3E 426:

King Hlaalu Athyn Llethan, High Councilor and Lord of Morrowind, grants relief to merchants complaining of high tariffs on imported alcoholic beverages.

The council is pleased to report a reduction in the incidence of theft and violent crime in the Hlaalu House Districts, thanks to the vigilance of the Legions and stern sentences by the magistrates. The council laments the unfortunate disturbances of the public peace resulting from the increasingly aggressive competition between the Thieves Guild and the Camonna Tong for control of the black markets.

A minor tax revolt in Balmora was suppressed without undue harm to life and property. The council sent deputations to the Duke to express their concerns over the high tax rates and the injurious effect of high tariffs on trade.

from the red book of great house redoran, a house record from the same year, commenting on the same circumstances:

King Hlaalu Athyn Llethan, High Councilor and Lord of Morrowind, imposes favorable tariffs on flin [an imported fortified Imperial alcoholic beverage]. The council protests the continuing burdensome tariffs on the native beverages sujamma, greef, and shein.

Smuggling and organized crime have become increasingly aggressive and violent in the Redoran House Districts. The councilors blame local corruption, weakened enforcement, and aggressive competition between the Thieves Guild and the Camonna Tong.

An unfortunate tax revolt in Balmora was put down after significant property damage and loss of life. The council warned that such disturbances might spread to Ald'ruhn if the heavy burden of Imperial taxes were not alleviated.

neatly characterizes both houses and their interests in a few short paragraphs

[melancholia-ennui]

Finally got around to reading Paizo's statement on the OGL fiasco (available here). I have Thoughts™, mostly good ones.

Before we begin, let me just say this opening is absolutely balling:

We believe that any interpretation that the OGL 1.0 or 1.0(a) were intended to be revocable or able to be deauthorized is incorrect, and with good reason.

We were there.

Power moves aside, the announcement of the Open RPG Creative License (ORC) is very encouraging. Two particular points stand out to me in the discussion.

The Good

First, a quote from the statement (emphasis in original):

the release of a new open, perpetual, and irrevocable [license]

The emphasis on 'irrevocable' suggests that Paizo are very aware of the major flaw in the original OGL, namely that while the text of the license started it was perpetual and that any version of the license could be used, it did not include the word 'irrevocable' anywhere in the text, which allowed the legal loophole that WotC are using to abuse that very license.

Second, the statement tells us that the ORC License will be 'system agnostic'. This is a very good sign - the original OGL was very much designed around D&D (originally 3e), and it was never intended to carry the burden of being the single license by which almost all TTRPGs that want to cultivate third party content are released.

Thirdly - and this is the bit I find most exciting - we get the following little tidbit:

The ORC will not be owned by Paizo, nor will it be owned by any company who makes money publishing RPGs. Azora Law’s ownership of the process and stewardship should provide a safe harbor against any company being bought, sold, or changing management in the future and attempting to rescind rights or nullify sections of the license. Ultimately, we plan to find a nonprofit with a history of open source values to own this license (such as the Linux Foundation).

This is excellent news - when I heard Paizo are spearheading the attempts to develop an alternative open license for TTRPGs outside of the scope of WotC monopoly, my immediate worry was: what's to stop Hasbro performing an aggressive buy-out of Paizo, and then we'll all be back in the same soup?

By guaranteeing that they do not own the license, Paizo hedge against this possibility - and if they do get it into the hands of a committed non-profit like the Linux Foundation, that would work as a fairly robust buffer against any attempts by Hasbro or any other would-be monopoly to get their hands on the license and pull the kind of BS that WotC/Hasbro are trying with the OGL.

The Bad?

That said, I still have some concerns, and I will definitely be waiting to see the final details of the ORC license.

My greatest worry at this point revolves around how whether the ORC license will follow the structure and scope of the OGL, particularly when it comes to the delineation of Open Game Content vs. Product Identity in the context of non-copyrightable material.

One of the major problems with the old OGL - discussed at length in this EFF article - is that it claims to be giving you the right to use 'the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines' of the d20 system, but as a matter of fact, game mechanics are non-copyrightable. As such, all the license really gives you is the right to reproduce the exact wording used but WotC in the SRD to describe the game system, and in return you sign away any rights you may have had to using the content delineated as Product Identity. As the EFF article puts it (emphasis added),

For most users, accepting this license almost certainly means you have fewer rights to use elements of Dungeons and Dragons than you would otherwise. For example, absent this agreement, you have a legal right to create a work using noncopyrightable elements of D&D or making fair use of copyrightable elements and to say that that work is compatible with Dungeons and Dragons. In many contexts you also have the right to use the logo to name the game (something called “nominative fair use” in trademark law). You can certainly use some of the language, concepts, themes, descriptions, and so forth. Accepting this license almost certainly means signing away rights to use these elements. Like Sauron’s rings of power, the gift of the OGL came with strings attached.

In short, the original OGL is kind of a lie - it makes it seem like you need a license for content that is non-copyrightable, and then offers you the opportunity to sign away your rights to use other content in return for the right to use content you already had the right to use. All you gain from signing the OGL is the ability to use some exact wording used by WotC in the SRD, plus the reassurance that you know some of the terms on which WotC will not sue you. It's as much a threat as it is an offer.

Now the one thing that does give me a bit of hope for the ORC license in this regard is that Paizo's statement does seem to suggest that they are aware that the main value of the OGL is in being able to exactly reproduce the original language - see the following quote (my emphasis):

When we needed to quickly bring out Pathfinder First Edition to continue publishing our popular monthly adventures back in 2008, using Wizards’ language was important and expeditious. But in our non-RPG products, including our Pathfinder Tales novels, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and others, we shifted our focus away from D&D tropes to lean harder into ideas from our own writers. By the time we went to work on Pathfinder Second Edition, Wizards of the Coast’s Open Game Content was significantly less important to us, and so our designers and developers wrote the new edition without using Wizards’ copyrighted expressions of any game mechanics. While we still published it under the OGL, the reason was no longer to allow Paizo to use Wizards’ expressions, but to allow other companies to use our expressions.

If this mindfulness of the actual value of the OGL translates over to the final wording of the ORC license, then we can hope that this license will be more explicit about what it covers and what it cannot cover, about what rights you already have and what rights you would be giving up by signing the license.

However, until I see the actual wording on the license, I will still be worried that it'll end up reproducing this basic problem of the OGL - i.e. obscuring the rights third party creators already have without any license, re non-copyrightable content, in order to coerce third party creators into signing on to the license even if they don't need to "just to be safe".

While I'm sure this will not be Paizo's intent, I still won't be entirely satisfied until I see the final license in all its glory.

Summary

All told, I would still rather see TTRPGs move onto Creative Commons or other well-established open licenses, but I do understand the desire to create a license that's particular to the needs of the TTRPG community, and from everything I've seen of it, the ORC license seems well situated to satisfy this niche. I will need to see the final license before all my concerns are laid to rest, however, and a number of further concerns remain - in particular, given Hasbro will never let D&D fall under the ORC license, will the brand identity of D&D and the financial power of Hasbro be able to win out over the good of the community? Or will enough new content growing out of the ORC license be able to swing the scales back away from Hasbro and lead to a diversification and return to the community of TTRPG content?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[dwellordream]

BATHING IN BLOOD: THE MEDICINAL CURES OF ANCHORITIC DEVOTION

“...A conflation between physician and mother, however, also emerges in Ancrene Wisse, and the centrality of blood-loss within this conflation is one which I argue had a marked influence upon Julian as she tried to grapple with the full meaning of the Passion sequence she envisioned in 1373. 

Indeed, within the physical and metaphysical frameworks of Ancrene Wisse, it is the shedding of blood that is most closely associated with anchoritic cleansing and healing, both bodily and spiritual – and it is a blood-loss, moreover, which is always already feminine because of the author’s relentless insistence throughout the work upon the fallen female bodies of his audience. 

For example, in Part 8, the author exhorts his female audience to undertake quarterly blood-lettings, a common enough medieval practice, particularly amongst religious, and a practice which, like the menses, was deemed to maintain the correct humoral balance and eliminate physical ailments from the body. 

Indeed, as Cathy McClive has demonstrated, within certain cultural contexts, phlebotomy was actively considered to be a form of induced menstrual bleeding. In the case of the female anchorites of Ancrene Wisse, moreover, this becomes an explicitly homosocial event, during which their normal restrictions and disciplines are to be suspended in favour of more recuperative and leisurely woman-to-woman interaction: 

Hwen 3e beoð ilete blod, 3e ne schule don na þing þe þreo dahes þet ow greueð, ah talkið to ower meidnes ant wið þeawfule talen schurteð ow togederes. 3e mahen swa don ofte hwen ow þuncheð heuie, oðer beoð for sum worltlich þing sare oðer seke. [When you have been bled, you should not do anything for those three days that taxes your strength, but talk to your maids and entertain each other with improving conversation. You may do this often, when you are feeling low, or are upset about some worldly concern, or ill.]

Here, the healing of the female body is depicted as dependent on an elective blood-loss, perhaps associated also with menstruation, but most clearly leading to an increased feminisation of the anchoritic space as the women converse, entertain each other and share each other’s concerns. 

According to medieval medical lore, as mentioned above, the menses provided a natural means for the female body to purge itself of impurities by eliminating regularly those bodily contaminants which accumulated within the womb as a result of the Fall, and in this sense there are again clear correlations between both types of female blood-loss and that of Christ’s salvific bleeding on the cross, which was also necessary to redeem that Fall. 

Indeed, in Part 2 of the text, the author actualises this connection via a specific configuration of the phlebotomised body in terms of Christ’s own blood-loss. In so doing he transforms elective blood shedding from physical therapy into spiritually salvific entity: 

A mon for uuel þet he haueđ ne let him nawt blod o þe seke halue, ah deđ o þe hale, to heale þe seke. Ah in al þe world þe ewes o þe feure, nes bimong al moncun an hal dale ifunden þe mahte beon ilete blod bute Godes bodi ane, þe lette him bold o rode. Nawt o þe earm ane, ah dude o fif halue, forte healen moncun of þe secnesse þet te fif wittes hefden awakenet. Þus, lo, þe hale half ant te cwike dale droh þet uuele blod ut frommard te unhale, ant healde swa þe seke. Þurh blod is in Hali Writ sunne bitacnet. 

[A man who has something wrong with him does not have blood let from the part that is unhealthy, but from one that is healthy, to heal the unhealthy one. But in all the world that was suffering from fever, not one healthy part was found among the whole of humanity that could be bled other than the body of God, who had his blood let on the cross. He had this done not only from the arm, but from five parts of the body, to heal humanity of the sickness that the five senses had caused. And in this way, you see, the healthy and living part drew out that bad blood from the unhealthy one and so healed the sick part. In Holy Scripture, sin is signified by blood.’].

Here God as the ultimate physician causes his son to be phlebotomised for the health of the body of humanity and, in her own regular acts of phlebotomy within the anchorhold, both elective and non-elective, the anchoritic woman is able to unite conceptually with that of the phlebotomist-Christ. Indeed, as Ziegler has demonstrated, such a configuration of a Christus Minutor [bloodletting Christ], whose passion was an act of altruistic phlebotomy, surfaces particularly frequently amongst the Dominican preachers of the period with whom, as Bella Millett has argued, the origins of Ancrene Wisse are associated.

Moreover, according to Thomas Aquinas, debating the Virgin’s menstrual status, Mary had to furnish ‘materia … sanguis mulieris’ [‘the matter which is menstrual blood’] in order to conceive and, later, feed Christ with her own breast-milk. Thus, like Gregory, even Aquinas offers a model which implicates female blood-loss as both Christic and Marian within the salvific schema. Ancrene Wisse’s Dominican connections are further evidenced in the associations drawn by its author between blood-letting and bathing. 

In Part 8, for example, just at the point where the author expounds the aforementioned need for quarterly blood-letting, he later inserts an addition to the text which emphasises the woman’s need to wash regularly since, as the author adds: ‘Nes neauer fulðe Godd leof ’ [‘filth was never dear to God’]. Used within this context, the term fulðe is clearly freighted with both the blood shed from her phlebotomised body and that of her monthly menstrual flow. 

As Caroline Walker Bynum has demonstrated, shed blood, particularly that emanating from a woman’s body, was deemed a powerful contaminant and needed to be instantly cleansed away by washing or bathing. Blood loss and bathing, therefore, were frequently closely associated, both physically and metaphorically, something expressed in the writing of the thirteenth-century Parisian bishop, Ranulphe de la Houblonnière (d. 1288), who explicitly depicts the crucified Christ as undergoing phlebotomy, being washed clean by his own blood and thereby washing clean the whole of humanity.

The messy business of blood-letting, therefore, was redolent with possibility when it came to articulating – and re-enacting – the complexities of sin and salvation. Indeed, in Part 7 of Ancrene Wisse, a section focusing on divine love, the author fully exploits this potential in his depiction of God as a mother-physician whose maternal love is so strong that she is willing to prepare for her own child a bath of blood – clearly her own – in order to save its life: 

Child þet hefde swuch uuel þet him bihofde beað of blod ear hit were ihealet, muchel þe moder luuede hit þe walde þis beað him makien. Þis dude ure Lauerd us þe weren se seke of sunne, ant swa isulet þer-wið, þet na þing ne mahte healen us ne cleansin us bute his blod ane, for swa he hit walde. [If a child had such an illness that it needed a bath of blood before it could be healed, the mother who was willing to provide this bath for it would love it very much. Our Lord did this for us – who were so infected with sin, and so polluted with it, that nothing could heal or cleanse us except for his blood … His love makes a bath of his blood – because that is what he wished.]

Here, of course we have a God who is depicted in terms of the ultimate maternal sacrifice, drawing not only upon that of the Virgin Mother who gave up her own child for human redemption, but also that of the worldly parturient mother whose life was frequently endangered by postpartum haemorrhage and other such complications. 

Indeed, such a reading of this episode is supported medically by the cure promoted for excessive post-partum blood flow in the so-called ‘Trotula text’, the popular De Curis Mulierum [On Treatments for Women], which prescribes that the bleeding woman be placed ‘frequenter in balnis … ad restringendum sanguinem’ [‘frequently in baths … in order to restrain the blood’].

No doubt such a ‘cure’ would produce bath after bath of bloodied water in the attempts to staunch the flow and wash her clean of her own blood – certainly enough to rival the copious blood and water shed from the side-wound of Christ at the crucifixion. It is clear, therefore, that both Ancrene Wisse and De Curis Mulierum associate the curative properties of the blood-bath with a maternal blood sacrifice, offering nuance to Augustine’s notion of caritas est sanitas and recasting it most emphatically within the feminine frame of maternal love. 

The image of the divine blood-bath is rare before Ancrene Wisse, although it provides a dramatic episode within contemporary traditions of the Grail romance, within which it is very much associated with the feminine. For example, in one thirteenth-century tradition, Perceval’s sister, Dindrane, offers her virginal blood for a leprous lady to bathe in as a cure for her affliction. In so doing, she also prevents Galahad, Perceval and Bors from having to sacrifice their own lives in an unequal battle in order to cure the same lady by means of their own male blood-shed.

The religious undercurrents of these episodes are clear and it is likely that the authors shared with the Ancrene Wisse author in drawing on the popular Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder as a source. Dating from the first century, Pliny’s widely circulated work at one point expresses deep anxieties regarding Egyptian beliefs in the prophylactic properties of the human blood-bath against leprosy, writing that ‘cum in reges incidisset, populis funebre, quippe in balineis solia temperabantur humano sanguine ad medicinam eam’ [‘When kings were attacked [by leprosy], it was a deadly thing for the inhabitants, because the tubs in the baths used to be prepared with warm human blood for its treatment.’]

Clearly part of an anti pagan propagandist enterprise, Pliny’s depiction also found its way into the vitae of the Emperor Constantine, as recorded in the Legenda Aurea [Golden Legend] written by the Dominican Jacobus de Voragine in the mid thirteenth century (again a work which certainly drew on some of the same sources as Ancrene Wisse). Here Voragine recounts how, in an attempt to cure his own leprosy, the emperor was discouraged from sacrificing hundreds of small infants and bathing in their blood by the cries of three thousand distraught mothers, again allying the blood sacrifice with the maternal feminine.

Folkloric though these tales may be, they do, however, posit what Peggy McCracken has termed ‘the gendered value of blood in medieval texts’. They also play most neatly into the development of a devotional hermeneutic which brings together the poetics of maternal sacrifice and the pragmatics of medicinal cure.”

-  Liz Herbert McAvoy, Medicine, Religion and Gender in Medieval Culture

[gaboninfoslive]

Événements entre gangs de Port-Gentil : Des pistes de solutions en vue

A l’occasion de cette rencontre une forte délégation de la société civile a échangé les points de vue concernant les voies et moyens permettant de résoudre les problèmes et les causes profondes qui engendre la délinquance et les comportements maffieux chez les jeunes de Port Gentil, plus précisément dans le 3e et 4e arrondissement. Des propositions concrètes visant entre autres la création des…

[jogallice]

Aujourd’hui, mercredi 24/07/24, Journée internationale des cousins et cousines 👌Au niveau de vos déplacements, avec ou sans vos cousin·es, privilégiez vélo, trottinette, marche à pied, etc. 🌬️

Trois marchés le mercredi à Annecy : marché (alimentaire) de Meythet (rue François Vernex), marché (alimentaire et produits divers) du quartier des Pommaries et marché (alimentaire et produits divers) de Seynod (avenue de Champ Fleuri, place du Marché) ➡️ De 8h à midi 🧺

Troisième Brunch du mercredi (sur cinq programmés) ce 24/07/24 de 10h à 14h au Petit Vernay (23 avenue Germain Perréard) : partagez un moment convivial seul, en famille ou entre amis ➡️ Tarif : 3 € par personne 🍴

Troisième et dernier atelier enfants Crée ta carte postale animée❗️Destiné aux enfants de 5 à 11 ans accompagnés d’un adulte. Gratuit sur inscription : 04 85 46 75 60. ➡️ Ce mercredi 24 juillet 2024 de 14h30 à 15h30 aux Archives municipales (3 rue du 27e-BCA, quartier Galbert) 📮

3e Mercredi animé de l’été (sur 8) ce 24 juillet 2024 de 16h30 à 18h au square Jean Chamey : jeux d’eau. Partagez un moment convivial en famille ou entre amis. Activité gratuite proposée par la MJC Centre Social Victor Hugo 🔫

Robin Maxime, guitariste virtuose doté d'une profonde sensibilité, donne des concerts de guitare classique et espagnole à travers toute la France. Billetterie sur place : 15 & 10 €, gratuit pour les - de 11 ans. ➡️ Église Notre Dame de Liesse ce mercredi 24/07/24 à 17h et 20h 🎸

Dans le cadre du festival Ancimômes 2024 (11e édition) : Hors contrôle avec Thierry Nadalini (spectacle de magie, jonglerie) ➡️ Ce mercredi 24 juillet de 20h à 21h sur le podium de la plage d’Albigny 🪄

Point Break (film américano-japonais réalisé par Kathryn Bigelow) : ciné gratuit en plein air ce soir (mercredi 24/07/24) de 22h à minuit place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville de Seynod 📽️ Pour votre confort, pensez à apporter vos chaises, plaids et pique nique ℹ️ Site accessible 30 mn avant la projection 🎬

L’opération Vital’été a repris du service dans la cité lacustre le lundi 8 juillet (jusqu’au samedi 24/08/24) : aujourd’hui (mercredi 24 juillet), aïkido, karaté full contact, tennis de table et “Savoir rouler à vélo en sécurité” 👌 Activités gratuites et ouvertes aux adultes, profitez-en 🤩

Qualité de l’air à Annecy (indices ATMO) : les conditions météorologiques resteront assez propices à la production d’ozone mais un vent de nord et quelques passages nuageux limiteront la hausse des niveaux d’ozone ☁️ La qualité de l’air devrait rester majoritairement moyenne sur la région à localement dégradée 💨

L’indice de risque pollinique dans la cité lacustre est moyen, au niveau 2 en ce qui concerne les graminées (indice communal valable du 20 au vendredi 26/07/2024 inclus) 🤧 Personnes allergiques : portez des lunettes et un chapeau pour vous protéger des pollens 😷

Quatre dictons du jour pour le prix de trois : « À la sainte Christine, coupe le blé, plie l'échine. » 🌾 « À la sainte Christine, les blés perdent leurs racines. » 🌱 « À la sainte Christine, mûrit l'aubépine. » 🤩 « Le jour de la sainte Christine a toujours bonne mine. » 🌞

Je vous souhaite une très bonne journée annécienne et un très bel été à Annecy, dans les 33 autres communes du Grand Annecy ou ailleurs 🏖️

Bon troisième jour de la semaine à tous et à toutes 🌟

Bonne fête aux Christine et demain aux Jacques 😘

📷 JamesO PhotO à Annecy le vendredi 19/07/24 📸

[thydungeongal]

When you talk about games like Odnd 'not balancing encounters' - could you elaborate more on what you mean by balancing? I've seen you mention that not all encounters were meant to be won by the players but to me that doesn't preclude balance. For example even if the players might not win a fight, choosing to not give a room enemies that can trap and insta kill players is still 'balancing'. You're just balancing for 'they may very well need to just run from the fight' rather than strictly 'they will win this fight and expend somewhere in the range of X and Y% of their resources'

I mean old D&D very rarely balanced for either to be fair. Played as written it was entirely possible to run into a room full of instant death bees that theoretically could one-shot a player character.

But what I mean generally speaking when I talk about this difference between older and newer editions is that older editions of D&D don't take party level or party size into account when generating content. Whether you've got a party of four level 1 characters or a party of twelve characters of levels 5-10 your characters might still end up running into 40-400 goblins in the wilderness.

Meanwhile D&Ds 3e to 5e all ask you to take character level and party size into account when generating content for the game. This isn't inherently bad in my opinion, but it represents a shift in playstyle.

Of course in practice what the old D&D approach often means is that starter level characters stick to starter level dungeons until they can take on higher level threats, but even those starter level dungeons are less concerned with the idea of presenting a fair and balanced challenge for the characters that players can expect them to be able to overcome and more just. Random generative bullshit. And players can't ever go in expecting to have a fighting chance against everything. Those instant death bees appear 1d6 at a time in dungeons, 5d6 in their lair.

But yeah the game is kind of balanced with regard to the idea that characters don't ever really need to engage unless they choose to or unless they get unlucky. Whereas modern D&D often builds a bunch of safety nets into combat (not dying immediately at 0 hp, more hit points per character, ready access to healing, etc.) older editions build that balance through having procedures for detecting encounters beforehand, and even if that fails combat isn't always necessary (catching monsters by surprise means automatically being able to evade them, running away is always an option, sometimes the monsters simply don't react with hostility). I guess it's a certain kind of balance, but it's a very different kind of balance from what I mean when I say "balanced encounters," which I broadly use to refer to encounters that are custom built to take into account party size and level with the assumption that under normal circumstances the party should emerge victorious.

[xpoken]

Le nom de Taylor n'a pas été choisi pour la fille par hasard

La mère du chanteur, ancienne spécialiste du marketing, souhaitait que sa fille marche dans les pas de son père et fasse une carrière vertigineuse à Wall Street.  Un nom trop "girly" pourrait empêcher cela, alors l'option Taylor est apparue, ce qui fait réfléchir : est-ce un homme ou une femme ?  La deuxième partie du nom - Alison - la fille a hérité de sa tante.

 La célèbre Américaine n'aime pas parler de sa vie personnelle.  A chaque question concernant l'autre moitié, elle répond de la même manière : « J'exprime toutes mes expériences en chansons.  Un secret excessif est associé à la réticence à voir des articles sur leurs relations bouleversés dans la presse.

 Dès l'âge de 9 ans, Taylor se passionne pour le théâtre et participe à diverses productions.

 Le visage choqué et surpris du chanteur lors des récompenses devient périodiquement un motif de rire et de moquerie.  Les collègues sur scène ne craignent pas de ronfler à la joie du public, dépeignant la surprise de Swift.

 Taylor s'appelle à juste titre Nai Nai.  Elle a de nombreuses récompenses dans sa collection, ses albums se vendent à des millions d'exemplaires, et le magazine Forbes a classé en 2017 la chanteuse au 3e rang du classement des stars de moins de 30 ans les mieux payées.

[aforcedelire]

If he had been with me, Laura Nowlin

Autumn et Finn se connaissent depuis leur naissance. Leurs mères sont amies, ils ont grandi ensemble et étaient inséparables. Mais quelque chose entre eux a changé, et maintenant ils s’appliquent surtout à s’éviter. Autumn sort avec son petit ami Jamie, traîne avec sa bande, et Finn est devenu le mec populaire que tout le monde veut fréquenter. Et pourtant, Autumn a un pincement au cœur chaque fois qu’elle le croise. Les choses auraient pu être différentes…

Je pense que If he had been with me est livre qui aurait fait un carton en 2013, et je l’aurais adoré à mes 14 ans. Il m’a fait penser à Ma raison de vivre de Rebecca Donovan et The way I used to be de Amber Smith, un peu aussi aux séries Les Menteuses et The Lying Game de Sara Shepard ; bref, si je l’avais lu entre ma 3e et ma 2nde, je l’aurais saigné. Je suis contente malgré tout d’avoir lu, mais il ne m’a pas vraiment emballée. En plus, on m’a offert un paquet de mouchoirs avec le SP reçu à la librairie, on me promettait des larmes et des émotions, mais je suis passée complètement à travers…

J’ai trouvé l’écriture un peu plan-plan, ça m’a un peu saoulée par moments (mais est-ce dû au style de l’autrice, ou à la traduction ?). Concernant les personnages, je n’ai pas réussi à m’attacher à Autumn (en plus j’avais envie de la secouer parce qu’elle ne voit pas les redflag de Jamie), je me suis attachée un peu plus à Finny mais c’est tout. Par contre, la relation des mères est belle comme tout. J’ai bien aimé que la fin soit annoncée dès le premier chapitre, ça m’a donné envie de continuer et d’en savoir plus. Le gros point positif, c’est qu’il lit très très vite, mais pour moi, même si j’avais tout de même envie de savoir la suite dès que je m’arrêtais, il sera clairement oubliable. Je résumerais ma lecture par « mouais ». Surtout parce que je ne suis pas/plus le bon public. Et même si c’est dégoulinant de bons sentiments et de pathos, la fin ne m’a rien fait du tout. À la limite une légère horreur… (Par contre : la grossesse et le mariage adolescent, on en parle ? L’autrice est elle (catho) de droite ?)

22/05/2024 - 23/05/2024