Panda's Adventure Theater

Chatting about #animals and #ttrpgs, among other things https://linktr.ee/dynamicpanicstudios

[hjartasalt]

This dumbass just made everyone female

[lithepanda]

Let’s fucking go my females 🥳

[lithepanda]

Memorial to the Blades of Dynamis

Three years ago, I started my first paid game on StartPlaying - a custom 5e Call of the Netherdeep expansion I had hoped would run for many years, all the way to level 20 and possibly beyond. When it started, it was like magic - the group had some problems to work through but everyone was passionate and ready to fully devote themselves to the fiction and their characters. The talent they displayed was beautiful, their ingenuity was marvelous, and I found myself falling in love with the story we were creating together more and more with each session. The first few months saw me devoting somewhere over a thousand hours fleshing out the game world, different quests they could take on, and, what I saw as most importantly, deeply and intrinsically incorporating each character into the story and truly helping them be the Heroes of the Story. I studied the Exandria setting so much it feels like I have Betrayer Gods and CritRoleStats ready to come tumbling out of my ears at any given moment to this day. I bemoaned how overpowered the characters were becoming while fully acknowledging that it was in large part due to the lavish gifts I showered upon them every few sessions, whether it be a dark lance that augmented their class abilities and occasionally ate their horses (harmlessly shunting them to the Shadowfell, of course), a feat that imbued a paladin's smites in dragonflame and allowed them to revive the dead once a day, or a motherly, shapeshifting weapon that could morph into plate armor with wings. And my beloved players responded with more enthusiasm and creativity than I possibly have ever imagined. I often refer to my games as "my babies", but it was never more true than in regards to the party that would come to be known far and wide as the Blades of Dynamis - to the point where, out of affection, and to great personal loss, I eventually made the campaign free about a year and a half in. No regrets. Fast forward three years, and I've finally told my players it's time to say goodbye. One final encounter to depose a tyrant, and then we leave Exandria forever. I just thought I'd share our story here.

[lithepanda]

Benefits of the Owlbear Rodeo VTT

Went to bat for the Owlbear Rodeo VTT in response to somebody talking about the storage/room limits being too constricting today, and I thought I'd share what I said here:

"I've primarily used Owlbear as my VTT of choice for about five years now - occasionally dipping to others like Roll20, Foundry, etc. but always coming back. After running hundreds of games on the lowest paid tier, the room limit (which, at my tier, is 10, but can be upped to 25) has never been an issue - I just delete a room when I've finished the game, and I've personally never needed more than five at a time. Deleting a room doesn't delete any of the scenes therein, and the asset manager is very easy to maintain and organize so that you're not drowning in old maps and tokens. And to my shock, I've realized that I've only used a quarter of the allotted storage after all these years, which can be doubled by upgrading to the next tier - PNGs don't really take up that much space, all in all, and I even have some animated maps in there that are more sizable. Additionally, in response to everyone saying it's very simple/lacking in crunch - yes, and. They're constantly coming out with new, easy-to-use extensions that can add crunch in places if you find yourselves missing the complexity of other VTTs. My personal favorites include a stylish initiative tracker, a customizable in-game calendar that also helps you track time, a fully functional Fabula Ultima character sheet with GIF support (which can be hilarious to use), a weather overlay that makes my maps look incredible, and a chatbox that can also function as a dice roller and a X,N, O card-like safety tool. Tl;dr - room/storage limits aren't as limiting as you might imagine, and Owlbear has much more to offer than you might initially realize. It's cheap af, too!"

[wokefrogvirus]

elon musk did a nazi salute twice at the inauguration, and republicans are defending him.

trump revoked executive order 11246, which prohibited discrimination.

trump put all dei employees on leave to be fired.

trump banned all lgbtq+ flags from being hung in government buildings.

trump rolled back biden’s executive order to lower prescription drug costs for people using medicare and medicaid.

trump rescinded the $35 cap on insulin, and prices are expected to rise to $1500 a month.

trump ordered the national institutes of health to cancel their review panels on cancer research.

when sean hannity asked trump about the economy, he said “i don’t care”, after campaigning with the economy as his main talking point.

trump has withdrawn the us from the world health organization.

trump is ordering health agencies to stop reporting on bird flu and halt publications of scientific reports.

trump has pardoned over 1500 people who stormed the capitol on january 6th.

trump changed mount denali back to mount mckinley.

trump signed an executive order to rename the gulf of mexico to gulf of america.

trump shut down cbp one, an app which granted legal entry to 1 million+ immigrants.

trump is allowing ice raids at churches and elementary schools.

trump announced plans to declare a national emergency at the us-mexico border.

trump signed an executive order to expand the use of the death penalty.

trump withdrew from the paris climate act.

trump revoked all protections for transgender troops in the us military.

trump rescinded executive orders made by biden that benefited and protected women, lgbtq+ people, black americans, hispanic americans, asian americans, native hawaiians, and pacific islanders.

trump is attempting to make it legal to refuse to hire or fire pregnant women.

trump pardoned 23 individuals convicted under the freedom of access to clinic entrances (FACE) act for their anti-abortion activism, including oftentimes violent protests at abortion clinics.

trump announced that the us government will from here on out only recognize male and female as sexes. intersex is not legally recognized anymore.

andy ogles drafted a constitutional amendment to allow trump to be president for a third term.

georgia republican congressman mike collins called for the deportation of new jersey born mariann budde, the bishop who urged trump to “have mercy” on the lgbtq+ community and immigrants during a service at the national cathedral.

amazon revoked protections for lgbtq+ and black employees.

every single republican told us we were overreacting. trump swore he had nothing to do with project 2025 yet continues implementing details outlined in it. not a single person has the right to tell us we’re being dramatic anymore.

hope the possibility of cheaper eggs and gas was worth it.

[shed-some-light]

theoretically what would happen if you printed out trump x elon mpreg smut and mailed it page by page to the white house

[lithepanda]

Theoretically you’d be a goddamn hero on par with Luigi

[lithepanda]

Tonight my Cloudbreaker Alliance campaign finally has its s0, tomorrow I run a Fabula Ultima charity one shot, and every day my body cries out for forgiveness

[frontmansdefender]

fuck yeah !!!!!!!!!

[lithepanda]

[aceofpens]

When you delete TikTok after the ban only for it to go back up, but not on the App Store:

[lithepanda]

The day of the ban I decided to purge my asshole-owned social medias and accidentally deleted TikTok as well. While I have no intention of returning to something that’s treating Cheeto Dust like some sort of savior, it’s infuriating not to have the option lol

[nudityandnerdery]

I want you to remember:

The fascists hate you too and they just will pretend otherwise until after they've killed the rest of us, before they turn on you.

[nudityandnerdery]

Thanks to whoever tried, but I knew they'd never allow it.

[library-graffiti]

Let's do it the old fashioned way. Spread it far and wide.

[lithepanda]

I am new to old fashioned way, but god my back hurts

[lithepanda]

How do you make your accent more accenty

[mammalianmammals]

[cuteness--overload]

[lithepanda]

Running a Fabula Ultima one shot this weekend as a paid charity session in order to support the Wildfire Recovery Fund and help the folks affected by the disasters in LA. It’s heavily inspired by the old JRPG Skies of Arcadia - and may well be some of my best work yet! More details soon ✨

[lithepanda]

My special Fabula Ultima one shot is now up and ready to go, and will be on the 25th - that’s this Saturday! All proceeds go to the Wildfire Recovery Fund, AND you get to steal booty from a tyrannical Empire! What more could you want? The link is in my bio, can’t wait to play with you!

[lithepanda]

Running a Fabula Ultima one shot this weekend as a paid charity session in order to support the Wildfire Recovery Fund and help the folks affected by the disasters in LA. It’s heavily inspired by the old JRPG Skies of Arcadia - and may well be some of my best work yet! More details soon ✨

[lithepanda]

Cloudbreaker Alliance One Shot Thoughts

Ran a one shot for the new ttrpg Cloudbreaker Alliance recently, thought I’d share some thoughts:

Combat is exciting, engaging and fun right from the get go - level 1 adventures need not worry about being boring, which is great for folks wanting to hop in quickly

The encouragement to share as much info as possible with the game’s open-book policy ends up being a huge plus, especially using the Owlbear Rodeo VTT, where you can have all the information the players need up right next to the map

Using the resource tokens (Spirit, Barrier, Spellglyph, etc.) online can be clunky, but with the art packs available it is doable (especially on Owlbear) and, more so, is very rewarding, at least for me personally

The setting’s mission structure provides easy-to-use guidelines for making concise adventures that can manageably be accomplished in one sitting - something I’m bad at in general

They nail a blend of TTRPG grid-based movement with JRPG frontline/back row mechanics (prominent examples include Metaphor: ReFantazio, Etrian Odyssey, Unicorn Overlord) with their “zone”-based movement system, keeping the flexibility expected of tabletop adventures while still encouraging players to work in a JRPG mindset

Character classes are strong, engaging and each bring something new to the table - at least in my limited experience. In particular, I love how the Healer not only heals but protects with Barrier tokens, and the Brute is BUSTED with their zone-hopping counterattack that forces enemies to target them, generates Spirit Tokens, and deals a set amount of damage. (I use “busted” lovingly here).

Monsters are intriguing and deep, and their neutralization options ensure combat never goes stale - your players always have more than one way to fight.

Overall, we had an awesome time, and I look forward to running a full campaign!

[lithepanda]

Hi Tumblr, new person here. Do I just not understand Tumblr well enough or is Tumblr lying to me about every single post simultaneously having and not having any comments? I feel as though I may be going mad

[lithepanda]

I’m trying to ignore the reality of today and mfs are watching the thing at max volume