why does this whole scene look & sound like a YTP
This is one of the funniest things Iâve ever seen.
âWhy is he staring at me like that? I donât like itâ
Cosmic Funnies

JVL
occasionally subtle
I'd rather be in outer space đ¸
NASA
macklin celebrini has autism
Game of Thrones Daily
Stranger Things

ellievsbear
sheepfilms
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

Love Begins
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH

⣠Chile in a Photography âŁ
Monterey Bay Aquarium
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

Origami Around

PR's Tumblrdome

Kiana Khansmith
No title available
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@cdr255
why does this whole scene look & sound like a YTP
This is one of the funniest things Iâve ever seen.
âWhy is he staring at me like that? I donât like itâ
Kidding (2018)
This is called
Shaynas Sequence
a lot of people are tagging this with âfilmâ and âmoviesâ or talking about the magic of moviemaking but i really want to point out that Kidding is a TV show.
i feel itâs important to make this distinction because thereâs a common (sometimes subconscious) thought that TV is a lesser form of digital art compared to film, but television, especially recently, has been phenomenal and it deserves proper credit as a storytelling medium, as well as a craft just as capable of amazing work like this
im the dj screaming w laughter
I think about this at least once a day.
working in customer service be like
Iâm between 1 and 2 ATM
A breakdown of medieval armor, since a lot of pieces are required to create a full suit.
Ref
Wait, you've only killed off 5PCs in 15 years of DMing?? How have you managed that? I need to know! One of the big things I really want as a DM is to set up encounters that are tough and acting like they're high stakes, but working to make sure that players get to enjoy their characters for as long as they put effort into and care about them..! Any sources or advice you have to make a campaign engaging and long-lasting would be accepted with utmost gratitude~!
For one thing, I donât have a lot of very deadly encounters. Many of my random encounters, for example, are fairly easy. They exist mainly to give the players a chance to show off. It would be boring if I did it that way all the time, but things donât always have to be challenging to be fun. Â
When I do have a deadly encounter, I balance it with the goal of knocking at least one of my PCs unconscious. Itâs a fine line to tread, but Iâve gotten good at it over the years. It helps that Iâm perfectly shameless about balancing encounters on the fly.
I generally avoid putting things in my campaigns that can kill players with just one failed save or skill check. Like insta-kill traps and whatnot. Thatâs a lame way to go, and I feel like PCs deserve a more memorable end.
Sometimes, you can substitute another heavy penalty for death. For example, if someone falls off a cliff, you can roll a bunch of dice behind your DM screen, act concerned while youâre âcounting up the damageâ and then tell the player they lost a bunch of hitpoints and broke their leg. Itâs still a pretty serious thing to occur (especially if they donât have the ability to heal it right away) but it doesnât end the story. Sometimes the complications can make things more interesting!
The one biggest thing you can do to make your campaigns engaging to your players is to make sure they get personally invested. Utilize their personal backstories in your plot, plan encounters that let them use their special abilities, let them have a hand in worldbuilding. The more invested they are, the more they have to lose, the higher the stakes feel.
Finally, let players choose how far they want to go. Youâd be surprised by how many will willingly go for the higher stakes and the bigger risks. Sometimes players will voluntarily let you give them complications for the sake of the story. For example, Iâve happily let a DM have my character kidnapped so the others could save them. Iâve had a player let me put their character in a coma. Hell, 2 out of 5 of those deaths I mentioned were pre-negotiated (in both cases, the players had to leave the game, and they were happy to have appropriately dramatic send offs). I once wrote an encounter where each player had to describe their own worst nightmare and sacrifice something important to them in order to escape it. It ended up being one of my most memorable sessions.
Like you said, I donât really want to end someoneâs story as long as they care and are trying. So make them care, and give them plenty of opportunities to try their best! Â
You are LGBT if..
You are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Thatâs it. Aces arenât LGBT.
I mean for one your forgetting a bit of that. Like the Q+.
Mod Bethany
The full acronym is LGBT.
I love me some ahistorical bullshit
The âfullâ acronym at one point was âGLâ, after lesbians fought against male homosexuality being the âfaceâ of the movement (i.e., the Alliance for Gay Artists (AGA), founded in 1982, was renamed the Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Artists shortly thereafter; and the Gay Activists Alliance never included âLesbianâ in their title).
The âfullâ acronym at another point was âLGBâ, only after bisexual activists campaigned fiercely to be included, and is often still not even included in acronyms
The âfullâ acronym at yet another point was âLGBTâ, only after trans activists campaigned fiercely to be included
Queer was added to the acronym after it was reclaimed and re-politicized by ACT UP off-shoot Queer Nation in the early 1990s. LGBTQ has been a thing since the 90s.
ONE Archives, which is the largest repository of LGBTQIA+ materials in the world and was founded by some of the principle members of the early (1950s-60s) homophile movement, which led to the gay rights movement post-Stonewall, uses the full acronym LGBTQ on their website and also freely uses the word âQueerâ interchangeably.
As of 2014, NOW (National Organization for Women) agreed to switch to use of the full LGBTQIA acronym, and it likely isnât the only large social rights organization to have done so
Many LGBTQ+ magazines use LGBTQ, including One (which has existed in some form since the 1950s) and The Advocate, use LGBTQ or LGBTQIA as the full acronym and regularly use âqueerâ as a phrase (and, in fact, some articles have welcomed asexual people and their narratives as part of the queer experience).
The acronym is constantly evolving. Itâs not static. To claim otherwise is blatant ignorance. The modern-day LGBTQ+ community is a result of decades of political activism, social inclusion, and community outreach. Itâs not a rigid structure that operates by a strict set of rules about who can and cannot join.
The full acronym is LGBT. Cishets donât belong in the community. Aces arenât inherently lgbt. We donât want our oppressors in our community.
âwe donât want our oppressors in our communityâÂ
as if trans people donât already have to deal with their oppressors (cis people) being in their community
as if LGBTQIA+ people of color donât have to deal with LGBTQIA+ white people in the community
as if LBTQIA+ women donât have to deal with GBTQIA+ men in the community
as if disabled LGBTQIA+ people donât have to deal with able-bodied LGBTQIA+ people in the community
the LGBTQIA+ community is huge and consists of people with multiply-overlapping identities and privileges. we all (unless youâre a cis, able-bodied, wealthy, white gay man) have to deal with a member of our oppressing class in the LGBTQIA+ community
ETA: âStraightnessâ is a position of power. Ace people, even if they are in heterosexual relationships, do not necessarily perform âstraightnessâ in ways that are acceptable to the Straight class.Â
Reblogging because osirisjones is completely hitting the nail on the head.
ONE MORE TIME FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK
wait, what does the âiâ stand for? iâve never seen it in the acronym before?
Intersex.
This post is amazing and @osirisjones is fucking rad as shit. Look at all them damn citations.
At long last, The Chosen One has been discovered. Working as a cashier. With no interest in doing anything even slightly more difficult.
yeah because there is nothing more difficult than retail
tbh anyone who works/has worked retail would see the chance to go around saving the world in ways that could potentially kill them as a welcome vacation
âDoes the position of Chosen One offer health benefits of any kind?âÂ
âWell, our ragtag gang of world-saving underdogs has a doctor on-team.â
âDo I have to pay her out of pocket, is what Iâm asking.â
âGosh no! Sheâs an idealist, you donât pay her at all!â
âOh! Thatâs nice. But then I guess thereâs no paycheck.â
âI mean, the secret cabal that dispenses our orders does make sure we have enough money to feed ourselves and keep a roof over our secret lair and such.â
âHourly?â
âHourly what?â
âLike have you guys ever had to punch a time clock?â
âWe once had to dismantle a sinister time-freezing device in the shape of a clockâŚ.otherwise no.â
âSold. Off we go.âÂ
âdo i have to be nice to people who are yelling at me?â
âweâre the good guys, you canât kill random civilians just because theyâre mean!â
âkill?? no, i mean, can i tell them off.â
âwell, sure, of course.â
*rips name tag off shirt and tosses it over shoulder* âiâm your huckleberry.â
This resonates on a spiritual level
This is Odd ThomasâŚ
Like seriously I wish we had a more comprehensive sex education program in the U.S. You know how many guys I know who had no idea an unaroused vagina is only 2-3 inches deep? Or that the cervix raises up when aroused to accommodate dick? Or that if a girl is âtightâ that generally means sheâs not turned on and youâre shitty in bed? Or that the cervix has an entire cycle it goes through throughout the month where is changes hardness, placement in the vagina, wetness? Like, when youâre ovulating your cervix gets soft and raises high up into the vagina and your hormones get you really horny. Itâs like natures way of moving the furniture around and fluffing the pillow for dick because it wants to get pregnant. And before menstruation, it gets really hard and low in the vagina. Itâs basically inactivating itâs Facebook and saying âI just need some alone time for a few daysâ
Ladies and gentlemen, take a moment to learn about vaginas. Men, take an interest into your womanâs menstrual cycle!
U.S. Needs better sex Ed because Iâm a 23 year old woman and didnât even know all of this
Hi I had no idea about the cervical cycle.
God bless this post pls share it far & wide
Wow didnât know any of th that
Some Warden classics
Out of curiosity, how do my fellow DMs prepare their campaigns?Â
Do you open up a word doc at type out your story hook and make little bullet points from there?Â
Do you wing it completely?Â
Whatâs your notes system like?Â
Iâm simply looking for new ways to plan for my d&d games!Â
The Over-Prepared GM
I canât help myself. I love all the work that goes into prepping for a campaign, and I keep all of my crazy notes and papers, so today Iâm gonna try and share with you my process for the latest DnD session I prepped for/ran!Â
Rough Notes
I always start by hand writing a full page or two of just random thoughts/story bits. Iâm gonna give examples from the latest session I ran (BACKSTORY - this setting has frequent time travel moments and so every location I make also needs a past version and present version)
Writing Stonevale began with me rambling on about any vague ideas I had for the scene setting. I also find itâs useful to get the secrets and mysteries all clear and laid out straight away, and work backwards from them to slot in clues for players. âStonevale Pastâ begins with me deciding that the ancestors of an important NPC live here - maybe the players never get far enough to discover that, but having the secrets and info at the heart of my process helps me keep things focussed, and itâs easy/fun to build walls around the secrets this way :)
I also generally get a feel for any creatures/NPCs that populate the area, and give them vague roles. And I try to note down key details/props/locations/events that will help the players navigate and investigate.
Session Summary
Nowâs the time to check what happened last session just to make sure you know how the party characters will likely be feeling/acting at the start of the session, and to remind yourself of any items they picked up, or active statuses going on. Also a good moment to check what the party planned to do next, what their expectations could be and so on.
Itâs hard to make myself fill this in at the end of every session, but the session summary page in this kit really helps me note down whatâs most important.
Maps
Making a map is always an exciting prospect for me! I thought this time I wanted to give a more illustrative style of map, as Iâve been super inspired by the very cool maps made by @anywhichwayatlas ! I got onto pinterest and collected some ideas of the type of map style I was going for:
Above are the images I used to inspire me, and below is the finished Stonevale map! Itâs come out a bit rough/childlike but was definitely a fun way to explore more ways of making maps!
Later on, I realised Iâd got too into making this and forgotten about some sort of depiction of the INSIDE of the manor⌠Since I didnât have any time to make more maps by this point, I went to where I always go when I need a DnD map in a pinch - @2minutetabletop ! I picked up Castle Keep, which is free (like so many of his maps are!) and faffed with some colours and levels in photoshop until I was happy. Printed them out on A3 card and they were good to go! I canât recommend this resource enough, itâs saved my GM butt a lot when I run out of time to make a map of my own!
Adding in Detail
So next I need to flesh out those vague ideas to make sure Iâve covered whatâs likely to be important for the party. I love using the town builder here as it gives me a bit of mental breathing room and asks the questions for me. I find having questions ready means the answers come a lot easier than if I was trying to pluck this out of my head, if that makes sense?Â
It was at this point I realised Iâd likely need a family tree, even just so I could keep track of the time travel/ancestral stuff. I roughed one out, then made a slightly bigger, still very rough, version that I thought might be a handy clue for players. If they make it inside the castle, theyâll notice a framed family tree on the wall, and this will be it!
NPCS
Our story involved one of the players having worked at Stonevale before the adventure, so I made a staff list for that playerâs reference. This way they had some basic information on their old co-workers and the residents of the manor. I also filled in an NPC list from the people & society kit to make sure I had enough NPCs to generate about the property.
Then I used the map to mark some likely locations of the important NPCs. I made sure to spread them out so that no matter how the party approached the grounds, theyâd likely hit a plot hook somehow.
Quest Hooks
Time to shove as many clues as possible in here! My experience has been that players need a lot more help picking up clues and reaching conclusions than you expect (myself included!) so I make a point of writing a bunch of quest hooks to inspire both the players and myself during play. I use the quest hooks page from the session kit to note down basically little story bites and clues that I can drop in as and when I need to. Itâs a useful sheet to glance at real quick during the game!
Loot
Gotta make sure thereâs some loot somewhere! Thereâs always at least one player who ransacks every location they visit :) I hadnât set up Stonevale to be a particularly loot-filled place but knew the manor in the centre could do with holding some of the residentâs belongings that could be steal-able. Again, I realised this quite late in my planning, and so dashed off to the @rpgtoons Patreon to grab all the free item cards I could find! Then I picked out which ones could be appropriate for certain family members and residents, and stashed âem in the pile ready to hand out.
Ambience
This is one of the last things I come to, as itâs fairly easy to set up, but so important if you want your players to be focussed and engaged. Every time I use music or scents its palpable how much more invested in events players are. For ambient backgrounds, youtube is a gold mine. I like to have two playing simultaneously - one for music and one for background noise. For example:
Fantasy Adventure Music + Forest Sounds Peaceful Travelling Music + Winter Storm Horror Music + Swamp Sounds
Check out Sword Coast Soundscapes or Guild of Ambience for some very cool RPG ambient soundtracks too!
As for scents, I use these a little more sparingly, but @cantripcandles does some exceptionally convincing aromas that really work for setting the mood, and taking your prep that lil extra step. My favourite is Goldwheat Bakery - the only way to get a more accurate smell would be to visit a bakery!
Finishing Up
At this point Iâm almost good to go. I take one last look over everything Iâve prepped to see if there are any gaping plot holes or parts Iâve missed. For this particular session, it occurred to me there could be an opportunity for eavesdropping on an important conversation, so I wrote out a one page script for what the players might overhear should they choose to snoop.Â
Play!
I guess you wanna know how the session went down after all this prep? Did the players enjoy it, did they find what Iâd laid out for them?Â
OF COURSE NOT! They made their very best effort to skirt the entire property, clinging to the edges of the map and hiding any time an NPC interaction looked likely. Predictably, I didnât anticipate that they would attempt to avoid everything, but the Quest Hooks page kept things flexible. That, and the fact that one playerâs rat companion decided to jump down a hole and became âirretrievable until further noticeââŚ. ahem.
Hope you find this useful, Iâve tried to link to as many resources as possible because there are just so many good ones out there right now! Thanks to all DnD creators! I think itâs really cool everyoneâs helping each othersâ games become even more fun to play! :)
Beautiful world maps by @anywhichwayatlasâÂ
Location maps by @2minutetabletopâ
Item cards from @rpgtoonsâ Patreon
Background Music -Â Sword Coast Soundscapes
Background Music -Â Guild of Ambience
Ambient scented candles by @cantripcandlesâ
Session Kit (includes session summary page, campaign brief, encounter manager, quest hooks, world overview page)
World Building Packs (npc makers/lists, land builders, society/org creators, history packs, etc)
Game Master Kits (fillable rolling tables, cheat sheets, loot makers, paper minis, etc)
SoâŚ. wow. I would never put this much work into a session! It would drive me crazy! (hereâs my own answer to this prompt) But I have incredible admiration for the dedication to craft displayed here.
There are also some really good DMing resources in this post - definitely worth a read!
One of the great things about DMing is you can get as into as you want. Elaborate preparations, or mostly winging it⌠either way can make for a really good time. :)
Fun fact: Gender and Sex are both human made constructs designed to describe natural phenomenon but are not actually based in any biological reality. Much like the concept of âspeciesâ, itâs a model, and no model is an actuality - then it would not be a model, it would be a fact.Â
In truth sexual characteristics are diverse and varied and do not always match up with sex chromosomes; also, a sexual âbinaryâ of sorts is not constant amongst all living things, and most organisms have other systems of reproduction.Â
Furthermore, gender is the suite of societally-defined social roles and behavioral characteristics that is typically assigned based on the externally perceived sex of a child; and does not actually have anything to do with biology - even less so than sex. Even though it is assigned based on this externally perceived sex, a personâs gender does not have to remain with the one assigned; much as we donât determine peopleâs careers based on who their parents were anymore, your birth has no limitation on who you are and what gender identity you construct for yourself. Since it is a societally defined construct, people can and do construct more than the two traditional ones, and all are valid.Â
Just because you cannot handle your societally constructed worldview surrounding sex, gender, and genetics being dismantled by sociology & biology itself doesnât mean, additionally, that you have the right to make other people feel unsafe and uncomfortable - in short, that you have the right to remove people from moral consideration - simply because you donât like having your world view being dismantled. Believe it or not, the complexities of human behavior & the diversity of sex and reproduction in life cannot all be covered in a simple high school biology class.Â
So next time you want to say âdidnât you pass biologyâ remember: a biology PhD student, who graduated from the University of Notre Dame with an actual degree in Biological Sciences, has reminded you that youâre wrong.Â
There are more than two genders.Â
The end.Â
Sex is biological tough⌠Itâs not a social construct⌠Itâs not time, racism etc. Itâs a physics attribute.
Why are you trying to argue with someone who said species is a constructed model and not a fact? Youâre not going to change someoneâs mind when theyâre that far down the rabbit hole
Me: Spends 6 years intensely studying biological science and evolution at two major universities with widespread academic acclaim, earning honors and high GPAs and am currently working on a PhD in the subject of biodiversity and evolutionÂ
You: Somehow thinks they know more because you took a couple of classes
Lol
âŚBuddy. Buddy. Dude. I really donât think you want to open this can of worms.
I mean, I know that in school they teach you a very clean, concise, definitive way of doing things and youâve probably learnt something like the definition of a species is a population of organisms that are able to reproduce and produce viable offspring, or something. But I mean literally anyone who has done even undergrad biology can tell you that that statement is incredibly reductive and incredibly controversial in the scientific community [1][2]. In fact, you probably donât even need a background in biology to spot the obvious flaw in the logic there, which is the fact that organisms classified as different species do reproduce and produce viable offspring. Quite a lot, actually. Lions and tigers (Panthera leo and P. tigris), coyotes and grey wolves (Canis latrans and C. lupus)âŚÂ In fact, thereâs even a word for new species arising through hybridisation between existing species - hybrid speciation [3]. The great skua (Stercorarius skua) is believed to be an example of this in animals [4], and another interesting one that may be pretty much hybrid speciation in action (though not nearly anything that can be called a new distinct species yet) is the so-called âEastern coyoteâ, a population of wild coyotes in the eastern US that are mixed with grey wolf and domestic dog, and can contain as much as 40% non-coyote DNA [5].Â
And, in fact, the ability of two organisms to reproduce and produce viable offspring actually has very little with how we choose to classify them, because evolutionary and genetic relationships are rarely that simple. For example, some species that are the same genus - e.g. horses (Equus ferus) and donkeys (Equus africanus) can interbreed, but their offspring are usually sterile [6], while other species that are different genera to each other can interbreed to produce intergeneric hybrids, some of which are even fertile (for example crosses between false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) [7], or between king snakes (genus Lampropeltis) and corn snakes (genus Pantherophis) [8]). Most âexoticâ domestic cat breeds (e.g. Bengals and Savannahs) also fall into this category - for some reason felids are genetically Weird in that a wide variety of species in the family Felidae seem able to interbreed with each other, no matter how different or distantly related they are. I meanâŚ
Look at this shit. Now bear in mind that the domestic cat (Felis catus) is known to be able to interbreed with species in the caracal, ocelot, lynx and leopard cat lineages in addition to those in its own lineage, and if that wasnât bad enough puma/leopard hybrids are a thing that exist. Those species arenât even in the same subfamily, let alone genus or genetic lineage - the leopard is classed as subfamily Pantherinae, genus Panthera (P. pardus) while the puma is classed as subfamily Felinae, genus Puma (P. concolor).Â
[9]
Although these arenât even the most distantly related species that are able to interbreed - domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) are known to hybridise with guineafowl [10], and the offspring of these crosses are interfamilial hybrids since chickens and guineafowl are classified in different families (chickens belong to family Phasianidae, guineafowl to family Numididae).
And of course another place where the âable to interbreed and produce viable offspringâ definition falls apart is with organisms that reproduce asexually or without the need for a sexual partner, which is even more complicated when you consider that some species (for example, some species in the paraphyletic whiptail lizard genus Cnemidophorus) are dioecious, meaning they have separate sexes, and reproduce by producing gametes via meiosis, but have actually lost the ability to reproduce sexually somewhere along the evolutionary line - these species reproduce predominantly or entirely by parthenogenesis (essentially a form of self-cloning) and the Y chromosome has been entirely lost in the population. This also ties into hybrid speciation because it is believed that these parthenogenic species arose from hybridisation between two or three sexual species [11][12], leading to polyploid individuals (i.e. those with âextraâ sets of chromosomes) - for example, the all-female parthenogenic species Cnemidophorus neomexicanus is actually a hybrid of two sexual species, Cnemidophorus inornatus and C. marmoratus (or C. tigris, according to Wikipedia), and thus new individuals of this species can be formed either by parthenogenesis in a single C. neomexicanus parent, or sexual reproduction between a male and female C. inornatus and C. marmoratus/C. tigris [13]. Some female parthenogenic species are also able to interbreed sexually with males from sexual species, resulting in hybrids which may or may not also be parthenogenic [14].
So you can ask, well what the fuck is a genus, or a species for that matter, if it doesnât necessarily indicate whether two animals are genetically similar enough to interbreed or not? And, more to the point, is there a strict set of quantitative criteria that defines whether two populations of organisms are classified as the same or different species? And I mentioned speciation, which brings up the question, when exactly in the process of evolution does one species actually become another?
The thing is, there arenât actually definitive answers to these questions - if you ask a bunch of biologists what a species is, itâs likely youâll get different answers. âSpeciesâ also has a number of definitions [15][16], mainly depending on the type of organism being studied and the angle it is being studied from. For bacteria, for instance - where âsimilar enough to reproduceâ really isnât applicable - I think the general consensus is that individuals are grouped together if their genetic similarity to one another is 97-98% or higher, while a similar definition of âorganisms that are highly genetically similar to one anotherâ tends to be used for asexually reproducing organisms such as some plants, and parthenogenic animals like whiptail lizards or Bdelloid rotifers (which does of course raise the question of what exactly âhighly similarâ means - any decided-upon cutoff point will necessarily be somewhat arbitrary). Such groupings of organisms may be referred to as phylotypes to distinguish them from the reproductive definition of a âspeciesâ [17]. Likewise, a lot of ecological writing will define species and speciation according to reproductive isolation, which isnât necessarily synonymous with reproductive compatibility - reproductively isolated populations may be genetically able to reproduce, but be prevented from doing so or unlikely to do naturally so due to differences in geographical location, habitat or behaviour (think lions and tigers). These are some of the many different âtypesâ of species, with either competing or overlapping definitions of what exactly constitutes a species in each case:
Morphological or typological species (morphospecies)
Phylogenetic species
Evolutionary species
Genetic species
Genalogical concordance species
Reproductive species
Autapomorphic species
Ecological species
Recognition species
Phenetic species
Isolation species
Cohesion species
âŚYou get the idea.
For vertebrates, I think generally the two most used definitions are the biological species concept (BSC) and phylogenetic or cladistic species concept (PSC), which differ in their criteria for what they consider a species [18][19]. PSC, for example, doesnât include a subspecies category while BSC does - and thus, some organisms that are classified as subspecies of the same species under BSC are either classified as different species or are lumped together as the same species under PSC. For example, grey wolves and domestic dogs. The domestic dog is/was often considered a separate species to the grey wolf, for obvious (morphological/behavioural) reasons - the wolf was Canis lupus, the dog C. familiaris - but since dogs are descended from wolves (a now-extinct lineage of wolves, not modern grey wolves [20], but Canis lupus nonetheless) they are more properly classified as a subspecies, C. l. familiaris. Likewise, having also ultimately descended from wolves, the dingo is officially classified as C. l. dingo, although there is some debate about that - at one stage I remember it being classified as a âsubspeciesâ of domestic dog, Canis lupus familiaris dingo (and itâs still, to my knowledge, widely considered to be descended from domestic dogs [21][22], in which case the second name would be more correct), while still other people classify it as a completely separate species, Canis dingo [23]. You can see why species boundaries and definitions can get murky, especially when the exact evolutionary origins of a particular animal are unknown or hotly contested.
In fact, canids as a whole are kind of a mess when it comes to phylogeny. How many species of wolf there are really depends on who you ask - some populations traditionally classified as subspecies of the grey wolf, for example the Indian wolf (traditionally C. l. pallipes), the Himalayan or Tibetan wolf (traditionally C. l. chanco) and the Eastern wolf (traditionally C. l. lycaon) have been suggested instead to be classified as separate species - Canis indica, Canis himalayensis and Canis lycaon, respectively [24][25]. Likewise, just last year it was discovered that what was thought to be an African subspecies of the golden jackal (Canis aureus) had in fact been misidentified and was instead an undiscovered species of wolf, now the African golden wolf (Canis anthus) [26]. And then thereâs also the fact that, despite being called âjackalsâ, the black-backed and side-striped jackals actually arenât very closely related to the golden jackal, or indeed to any of the rest of the genus Canis [27]. In fact, going by the cladogram below, you can see that the African wild dog and dhole - both of which are classed in their own, unique genera (Lycaon and Cuon, respectively) - are actually placed closer to wolves, golden jackals and coyotes than black-backed and side-striped jackals are, even though both of the latter species are considered part of genus Canis (the black-backed jackal is C. mesomelas and the side-striped is C. adustus). Many sources also say that these two species differ from the rest of the group in that they have only 74 chromosomes, while wolves, coyotes, golden jackals, African wild dogs and dholes all have 78. This makes the moniker of genus Canis somewhat useless when trying to determine exactly how genetically similar these animals actually are to one another.
[28]
And this isnât even touching the issue of the âred wolfâ (Canis rufus), a critically endangered so-called âspeciesâ of wolf closely related to the grey wolf, eastern wolf and coyote, which more recent molecular and genetic analysis has revealed may simply be a wolf/coyote hybrid [29]. Of course these classifications arenât set in stone, either - new studies and discoveries are constantly uprooting and rewriting our knowledge of phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships among species. Sometimes itâs also pretty much impossible to accurately represent the relationships between similar-but-distinct populations using only the terms âgenusâ and âspeciesâ, which is where alternate concepts like species complex, subgenus and superspecies come in.
Another feature of evolution and speciation that makes classification difficult is what are known as ring species, in which a series of neighbouring populations of organisms may evolve divergently (i.e. undergo allopatric speciation) in such a way that each geographically adjacent or overlapping population can interbreed with the next, but the last population in the âringâ has diverged to the point that it can no longer interbreed with the first (basically, population A can interbreed with population B, B with C and C with D, but D can no longer interbreed with A).Â
[30][31]
When does the actual split occur, and at what point in the ring can we consider the populations to be different species? We just donât know. (And in some cases this is considerably more messy and complicated than even the ring species model makes it seem [32]). The point is, though, that there is no definitive, universally agreed-upon cutoff point at which we can say with certainty that two organisms have evolved sufficiently as to become different species, any more than you can definitively say where along a rainbow spectrum of colours red becomes orange or orange becomes yellow. The decision whether to lump or split taxa becomes even more arbitrary in paleontology than it is with extant species [33][34] - when youâre working with an incomplete fossil record and pretty much going entirely on morphological similarities since genetic or molecular analysis often isnât possible, there isnât really a way to conclusively determine whether that specimen you found represents a new species, a new genus, or is simply a larger/smaller/juvenile/unfortunate-looking version of an already-described animal. Many specimens now believed to be juveniles of previously-described species were originally believed to be completely new ones - for example, Nanotyrannus is now often (but not universally) agreed to be a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex [35], and Dracorex and Stygimoloch are considered immature specimens of Pachycephalosaurus [36]. And then there was the whole deal where Brontosaurus didnât exist for a while and then it did again and it was all very confusing [37].
Obviously, at the end of the day, a zebra is materially different from a dog in the same way that, to get back to the original topic, a penis is materially different from a vagina (actually a bad analogy since homologous reproductive organs are much more similar to each other than taxa that have been separated for millions of years, but anyway). The biological differences and similarities themselves exist, but any attempt to categorise and quantify them will necessarily rely on socially constructed and frequently arbitrary models, definitions and assumptions. Thatâs basically what science is - a continuous (and frequently wildly inaccurate) attempt to try to make sense of reality. We often attempt to understand or make predictions about reality using mathematical or quantitative models of the situation or by sorting things into sets and categories, which is useful and necessary in many cases but is also often far too simplistic to be taken as any kind of gospel truth regarding the actual nature of reality, because simply put reality doesnât care for or abide by human-made rules and categories. Essentially, weâre trying to find quantitative ways to represent things that are by nature qualitative, and thatâs always going to be arbitrary to some extent. Obviously biological characteristics (whether genetic, sexual/reproductive, etc.) objectively exist and would continue to exist if humans and human culture were to suddenly disappear, and in that sense, things like sex, gender and taxonomic classification can be said to be based in biological reality. But human attempts to define or categorise these characteristics - for example species concepts, the binary model of sex, etc. - are not in themselves biological realities, and are subject to change based on new information. For example, evolutionarily speaking, âreptilesâ (as we traditionally understand them) donât exist [38]. Obviously this doesnât mean that lizards, tortoises, snakes, crocodiles, non-avian dinosaurs etc. donât exist or never existed. It simply means that the socially constructed classification of animals into two distinct, mutually exclusive groups called âreptilesâ and âbirdsâ is completely arbitrary and not actually the result of any inherent biological reality (in fact the opposite).
I mean I know how crappy the highschool biology syllabus can be @valarie-lynn so Iâll also link you to the Wikipedia page on species and the species problem, and also to some more on sex and how itâs just as complicated and arbitrary as the concept of species (from Actual Biologistsâ˘) if youâre interested. Iâll also leave you with a quote from Charles Darwin:
âFrom these remarks it will be seen that I look at the term species as one arbitrarily given for the sake of convenience to a set of individuals closely resembling each other, and that it does not essentially differ from the word variety, which is given to less distinct and more fluctuating forms. The term variety, again, in comparison with mere individual differences, is also applied arbitrarily, and for convenience sake .â [39]
âŚBut you know, what would us simple SJWs know about our own fields of study ¯\_(ă)_/ÂŻ  Thank god we have the Pro-Science, Pro-Logic crowd to save us from the liberal Tumblr ârabbit holeâ.
Holy fucking shit
Thank you, my friend, for doing what I was admittedly too lazy to do
Same.
Of course valarie-lynn is right, there is no point arguing with someone who recognizes the complexity of reality when youâre stuck in simplistic binaries. Youâll just get pwned, but it wonât matter because it doesnât fit into your simplistic binaries and will therefore fall into the open space between them where your capacity for critical thought ought to be.
Fun game: read this lengthy and brilliant dismantling of the idea of species being a clear-cut concept, then remember that there are people who believe in the objective genetic reality of race.Â
Step outside and smell the flowers | brrch_floral
Random joke magic items
Hereâs a list of random joke items to use for fun in your campaign. Iâd recommend adding them to treasure hoards rather than subbing normal items for them. Anyway here they are:
1. Ace of Spades - An ace of spades from a standard card deck. No matter where you store it on your body, you will always be able to find it in your right sleeve afterwards.
2. Amulet of Extra Amulet Slot - This amulet allows you to gain the benefit from two magical amulets rather than one. It cannot be further enchanted.
3. Amulet of Feather Fall - When worn, this amulet turns into a feather and falls to the ground.
4. Amulet of Unbreaking Bones - Con-man says you canât break any bones. Really, he means otherâs bones. -100% damage against skeletons.
5. Amulet of weather detection - yells that it is or is not raining.
6. Anti-Matches - A box of matches. Striking one will make it begin to drip water from the tip while the match shrivels away. The amount of water a match releases is about enough to fill a tablespoon.
7. Arrow of Euarere - A silver arrow, suspended on a string. It always points to the person holding the string.
8. Arrow of Slaying, The - This magical arrow is capable of killing a creature.
9. Artistâs Bludgeon, The - Inanimate objects hit with this bludgeon will receive no damage; they will however change color.
10. Attentive Guardsmanâs Pike - These ornate and deadly-looking ceremonial pikes are reach weapons and appear to weigh at least 20 lbs, not counting the weight of the fluttering banners that can be unfurled for parade use. Constructed of shadowstuff, they weigh one pound, and inflict only a single point of damage on an attack, being almost entirely for show, although they also have the unique property of remaining in place when set (although unable to support more than 20 lbs), allowing a âresting his eyesâ guardsman to prop it up and leave it standing under its own power, while his hand sags off of it.
11. Attentive Guardsmanâs Tabard - A dozen of these tabards were fashioned for palace guardsmen in the Empire of Sard, 250 miles from the nearest enemy. The bearer is placed under a glamour that causes him to appear alert and awake, even if his eyes are closed and he is snoring lightly.
12. Axe of Big Numbers - This axe shouts âBig numbers baby, come on!â whenever it is swung, but always deals 1 damage or less.
13. Axe of Empathy - Every time you hit something with this +5 greataxe, you get dealt an equal amount of damage. Both you and the thing you hit are then healed the amount of damage dealt by the axe, even if either are dead. The Axe hopes you have learned your lesson.
14. Axe of Pain - The axe is always moaning and groaning with pain.
15. Bag of Faerie Gold - This sack appears to be full of gold coins and jewels. When one attempts to spend them, however, the glamour on them soon vanishes, revealing them to be nothing but leaves and pebbles. Obviously, most shopkeepers will not be happy about this, and no amount of âwe didnât know, I swear!â will change their mind.
16. Bag of Holding - This item functions as a normal backpack, however when attempting to retrieve an item, a calm female voice tells them there is a wait time of 4d10 minutes before they can retrieve their item (actual time is stated time plus 6d6 additional minutes). During this wait, the bag plays either annoying muzak or advertisements for the bagâs creatorâs other products/services. Upon attempting to retrieve an item, there is a chance that the wrong item is retrieved, or that the intended item is simply missing. Obtaining the original item requires an additional 4d10+6d6 minutes and has only a 5% chance of success.
17. Bag of Trading - You can take one thing out of the bag for each object you put in the bag. However, you have no control over what you get, and there are no trade-backs. Past research seems to imply thereâs some sort of correlation to what gets you what, but itâs extremely convoluted and far from understood.
18. Bag of Trick - This bag operates like a Bag of Tricks, except it only works once a week and produces a rat each time it is used.
19. Bag of Unholding - Quite a large backpack but even the smallest item doesnât fit.
20. Bagpipe of Stealth - Grants the user invisibility as long as it is being played.
21. Ball of Eyes - A snow-globe filled with miniature eyeballs. When shaken, it grants the user a blurry, jittery vision of some future event.
22. Banana Walkie-Talkies - There exist two, and only two, of these items in the world. One of which is possessed by a cranky and lonely half-orc. It appears to be an innocuous wooden banana with a coat of faded yellow paint. When an end (doesnât matter which one) is placed against your ear, you can hear a ringing followed by a click and a half-orc yelling at you for waking him up at this ungodly hour. If you drop the banana or âhang up,â the call ends. If you stay and listen, the half-orc will yell at you, call out obscenities, and start going on about his daily problems and mishaps in his love life. Every so often (2% chance/day), the banana will ring while you are sleeping and the half-orc will want to talk to you about his problems.
23. Barrel of Holding - This large wooden barrel measuring â(12/Ď) feet in diameter and 5 feet in height can hold up to 15 cubic feet of matter.
24. Beam Sword of Severed Nerves - A beam sword. It cannot cut anything but nerve strings. Will pass through any other material leaving no harm.
25. Belt of Pants - This belt creates illusory pants on the wearer. The wearer can suppress the illusion at will
26. Belt of Tightening - Every time you put this belt on, all of your clothes permanently shrink a fraction of a millimeter. The effect is compound.
27. Belt of Unbathed Breath - When worn around the waist, allows the user to breathe underwater. Does not function when wet.
28. Boogie Skeleton - This pile of bones is small, such as one that might be obtained from a bird or a toad, though it can look as though it came from any creature. When a song is sung or played in the vicinity of the skeleton, it begins to dance appropriately. As soon as the music stops, it collapses into the pile of bones again. The skeleton, when dancing, can be no larger than Diminutive.
29. Book of Canon - A book that automatically transforms into a copy of the sacred text of any religion, translated into the language the user is most familiar with.
30. Book of Confusion - The letters in this book always appear to be upside down, even if viewed from different directions at the same time. The book is a bad novel about zombies.
31. Book of Curses - When opened, the book verbally berates anyone in the immediate vicinity, calling into question their combat ability, intellect, personal hygiene, lineage and profession of their mothers, and other delightful insults. Once closed the book continues shouting (although it is muffled) until placed inside a bag or some other similar container for 1d4+1 minutes and ignored. Replying to the book in any other way causes the insults to get louder and more childish the more time you spend replying to it.
32. Book of Exalted Deeds - Contains a listing of some of the finest houses ever sold and the specifics of the titles to the properties.
33. Boots of Blinding Speed - The wearerâs speed is doubled, and they are blinded.
34. Boots of Levitation - These boots levitate a few inches off the ground when not worn.
35. Boots of Stylishness - Knee high black boots that are always clean and shiny. They never take in water, thus feet are always dry.
36. Boots of Teleportation - Allows the player to teleport wherever they like, but donât carry the wearer with them when activated; the boots teleport just fine, though.
37. Boots of Walking - The wearer of the boots cannot run, nor can he take a double move action, and takes a -5 to Tumble checks. These boots are made for walkinâ, and thatâs just what theyâll do.
38. Bottle of Air - Itâs a bottle. Full of air. Congratulations.
39. Bottomless Beer Mug - Any liquid poured into this mug treats the bottom as incorporeal, but solid objects donât.
40. Bowl of Comfortable Warmth - Any liquid in the bowl will feel comfortably warm, so icy cold water will feel like itâs a bit over room temperature. Do note, however, that itâs still icy cold water, it just feels warmer.
50. Breastplate of Secret Detection - If the wearer of this breastplate gains a piece of information that is somehow connected to the concealment of a hidden conspiracy or plot, a live and still wet red herring forms on the inside of the armor.
51. Bullying Gloves - At random intervals, these gloves instil the wearer with a near-irresistible urge to hit themselves.
52. Bunyanâs Belt - When worn, causes an enormous, bushy black beard to appear on the wearerâs face.
53. Cape of Resistance - When this item is placed on any living thing it somehow manages to fall off, untie itself, slip past the ownerâs neck entirely, or otherwise avoid being worn.
54. Case of the Litigator - Translates any document placed in the case into legal jargon; non-reversible. Does not confer the ability to understand legal jargon.
55. Cat of Schrodinger - When this cat is not being observed in any way it is both dead and alive. When something observes it, it suddenly becomes either dead or alive with a 50% chance of either.
56. Chair of Steadiness - This chair can be moved but cannot be tipped over by anything less than a DC 35 Strength check.
57. Charles - This small, unremarkable figurine of a gnome refuses to be called anything but Charles. No other name will leave the lips of the speaker. It has no other powers.
58. Chime of Interruption - This instrument can be struck once every round, which takes a standard action. On any round the chime is activated the user may ready one action without spending an action to do so.
59. Chime of Opening - Commonly affixed to or near doors, when pressed it emits a sound on the interior of the ownerâs home to let them know guests have arrived.
60. Chime of Opening (Alternate) - When struck against a solid surface, this chime emits a loud click, and opens along its length, to reveal a tiny compartment adequate to conceal a single 'smokeâ worth of pipeweed or a blowgun needle. When the compartment is closed, it is seamless and can be detected only with a DC 20 Search check. If hit with an instrument such as a small mallet, it chimes.
61. Cloak of Billowing - This black and silver cloak will always billow dramatically behind the wearer, it has no other effects.
62. Cloak of Displacement, Minor - This item appears to be a normal cloak, but when worn by a character its magical properties distort and warp reality. When any attack is made against the wearer the cloak has a 20% chance of falling off, no matter how it is secured.
63. Compacting hammer - The force imparted by it is multiplied, but is spread around the surface of a struck object facing inward.
64. Cymbal of Symbols - This musical instrument enables the user to comprehend dead languages, but only while they are deafened by noise.
65. Dagger of Told Secrets - A simple-looking dagger. If used to backstab someone to death, it will whisper your most embarrassing secret to that person.
66. Dagger of unnatural sharpness - The blade is exceptionally sharp to your touch. It confers no combat bonuses but can be used as a normal dagger for fighting or crafting, but the user seems to always cut himself in minor ways when using it.
67. Dagger of Untold Secrets - A simple looking dagger. If used to backstab someone to death, it will whisper the most embarrassing secret of that person to you.
68. Decanter of Endless Sorrow - A pewter flask that produces limitless alcohol when held to their lips by someone who is troubled. It gets them drunk but they never feel any better.
69. Diadem of Brothaurity - When wearing this headpiece, you are as elegant and well-spoken as a famous diplomat or regent, but you canât stop calling everyone bro.
70. Enchanted Book of Collected Stories - Opening this will cause miniature creatures/people to pour out and perform a chapter from the book much like a theater.
71. Focusing Ring - The digit on which this ring is worn can be viewed in extremely high definition from a great distance.
72. Gloves of Tinkering - Wearing the gloves will make you able to almost repair any broken item. However, you will always end up with pieces from the item that donât seem to fit anywhere.
73. Glowing sword of orc detection - When it gets orc blood on it the sword glows.
74. Good Luck ring - Gives your enemies good luck!
75. Greater Staff of Random Summoning - Summons a random creature at a random place. You could be summoning a giant Ogre on the other side of the globe for all you know.
76. Helm of Awareness, The - The wearer is acutely aware of the fact that they are wearing this helmet and that it has a magical effect. - All you need to do to make this work as a DM is frequently remind the player that the helm is magical while they are wearing it but be evasive about exactly what it does.
77. Hoarderâs Wand - Does nothing but for some reason you think it might be important later in your quest.
78. Hood of Offensive Facades - This hood will change your identity in the eyes of others to the appearance of the person they most personally dislike.
79. Hood Of Worrisome Facades - This hood will change your identity in the eyes of others, however the identity used will be random.
80. Indestructible Notebook of Memories - This otherwise normal notepad of normal notepad size cannot be damaged or destroyed, and anything written in it cannot be obscured or defaced. It also has unlimited pages despite its finite size. However, the data it holds only lasts as long as the writer independently remembers it, and decays in exact proportion to the relevant memories. Remember who and when, but not where? Then the words describing the location in that particular entry are the only ones gone.
81. Intransigent Rod - When the button on this artifact is pressed in, the holderâs opinions solidify and they become impossible to convince.
82. Key to anywhere - opens any door into a closet with a water bucket that falls and hits the playerâs head. Inside this closet is the treasure of true adventurers. If opened with a key, it opens a closetâŚ
83. Lunch Box of Delicious Unfulfillment - This lunch box will hold whatever food you desire. However you will never get full and the food will deliver no nourishment.
84. Mask of Concealment - Hides the wearerâs face and conceals everything from them by blocking their eyes! Bonus points for requiring a strength check or a time limit to expire to be removed.
85. Mattress of Poverty, The - No matter how you fluff this gorgeous, thick, mattress, you will always sleep on the thin part of it.
86. Mug Oâ Dissatisfaction - A mug that always produces a steaming hot cup of coffee or tea when tapped on the bottom. It conjures the opposite of what the tapper prefers, so if you like tea you get coffee and vice versa. Handing the full mug to another person will make the drink in it transform to the opposite of that personâs preferences.
87. Murder Dagger - All damage it would deal is instead replaced by the target being harassed by crows for that many hours.
88. Needle Of Learned Compromise - This needle will create beautiful tattoos of any design, however they hurt a tiny bit more. When used to sew it is entirely normal.
89. Portable Dark Tavern Corner - Consisting of two wooden boards connected by a hinge, this artifact draws those nearby into assuming it is a perfect spot to conduct seedy business.
90. Potion of fire breathing - For the length of time that the potion is in effect, every breath out is on fire, whether you want it to be or not.
91. Potion of Quelchment - Cures thirst when consumed
92. Ring of Fire Detection - becomes warm when placed into Fire.
93. Ring of First Impression - Wearing the ring will make you able to perform a perfect handshake with the hand wearing it.
94. Ring of Stoneskin - Turns your skin, muscles, and organs into stone! Character is now a stationary statue. Canât be reversed until someone takes the ring off.
95. Rope of Entanglement - Becomes entangled when left in a pack
96. Sack of Hive Eggs - Crushing one of the numerous tiny eggs will cause the thoughts of everybody in the proximity to merge. Everybody can hear what you think and you can hear everybody.
97. Shirt of fire protection - this shirt is sopping wet.
98. Shoes of the Restless Traveler - These shoes allow their user to run for miles without feeling fatigue, but if they try to do anything else with it (walk, sit down, jump), they will instantly trip
99. Sword of Parrying - Parries every attack, swinging it yourself will force it to âparryâ your opponentâs weapon/attack even though he/she/it is defenseless.
100. Torch of Night Vision - grants bearer Night Vision while lit.
101. Vorpal Grindstone - It can âsharpenâ any object to become vorpal. Any object.
102. Wand of command - Lets your character be controlled after saying the command word!
103. Wand of Create Wand of Create Wand - Creates a Wand of Create Wand. Consumes original Wand.
104. Wand of Pigeon Summoning - summons 1d20 pigeons everyday. On a 20 it breaks and summons a giant pigeon god (can be the size of Godzilla or like 5 pigeons.) Giant pigeon god should be in the mid 20s for CR, but is uninterested in attacking, and will simply fly away when summoned.
105. Water Hat, The - A small red hat, when worn, causes water to pour from the wearerâs fingers at the speed and pressure of a kitchen faucet at half power.
106. Wineskin of the Eternal Primary - This wineskin never runs out of water, but even the tiniest sip makes you have to go potty, like, super bad. Right now.
hey guys friendly reminder from your fave Canadian that esk*mo is a slur so please donât use it!
I see it usually in the context of âesk*mo kissesâ which may pop up when people talk about their ships and their headcanon, but it means âsnow eatersâ in cree and is a slur against Inuit people so please just donât use it!
and I would appreciate if u reblogged this because people outside Canada donât seem to know this for the most part
Also if you want to refer to ââeskimo kissesââ and not use that term the Inuit term for it is ââkunikââ. Itâs a traditional greeting usually between relatives or a child and an adult, although itâs a little different from nose kisses so most Canadians call it ââInuit kissââ and Iâve heard other people call it ââbunny kissesââ. Either way thereâs no excuse to use ââeskimoââ in this context or another.