So that happened

Cosmic Irony, oh laughing gods, a good plot twist, what are the odds? 24 - any pronouns - genderfluid -Icon by CT-1994

[ruinedchildhood]

I wanted to make a gifset ... but nothing would do this scene justice.

[herssian]

mass effect 2's cold opening of having to float your way through the destroyed normandy after being attacked by a giant hyperintelligence squid with the coldness of outer space, minimal lighting, and your breathing as the only sounds. i think the kids call that popping off

[glamfellens]

i love how saren just zooms around on a hoverboard in mass effect 1 and then we never see anything like that again for the rest of the trilogy

[yellingaboutmasseffect]

[rock-n-roll-martian]

now including the award-winning expansion heavensward

[smoke-in-the-wind]

it’s fun that Mormonism is based off pseudo-archeology and Scientology is based off pseudo-psychiatry. By that logic the big American New Religious Movement of the 21st century is gonna be based on… pseudo-computer science?

[filthburger]

[sudorm-rfslash]

Hang on I need to look something up

[sudorm-rfslash]

[moniquill]

@aetherograph look it's that thing

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-spiritual-delusions-destroying-human-relationships-1235330175/

[lastoneout]

The Pope, desperate to avoid ever interacting with JD Vance again, went to the one place the Vice President couldn't follow: heaven.

[is-this-blasphemous]

No

[lastoneout]

[thydungeongal]

While I rail against the idea of GM prep being like "preparing a nice story for your players that their characters can be slotted into and also as a GM it's your duty to integrate the characters' backstories into your prep or else you're a bad GM" because it often results in linear narratives with very little room for player agency but also it's an unhealthy dynamic to expect a GM to weave together a coherent narrative out of the ideas provided by multiple people who might have completely different ideas about what the game should even look like. But there's also more to the practical angle than "it's hard to prep:"

If a player whose character is deeply integrated into the narrative of the campaign suddenly needs to leave the campaign you've left yourself with a narrative void and unlike in Hollywood you can't just go recasting that shit. No one's gonna buy into this new Goblin Steve, his new player can't even do his voice properly.

By prepping games like this you're really setting your whole campaign up for failure in most cases. How about: the story isn't something the players write for homework before the campaign, right? The NPCs that matter are not authored connections your players gave you as assigned reading before the game even started. The story is whatever happens during sessions and the connections that matter are those that characters build during play.

There is of course some nuance to this but like: we see so much talk about GMs being expected to integrate player character backstories into their prep (and then their players not being engaged anyway because they felt the GM did it "wrong") and about how GMs are burning out and it's a thankless job and like. Could there perhaps be a solution?

[no-i-know-her]

I've recently started running pre-written campaigns again, currently with Paizo's Triumph of the Tusk for Pathfinder 2e, so potential minor spoilers below. But not being able to integrate their backstories into the prep in a really deep way has left me kind of doing the opposite. Working with the players to make what's already written feel like personal plot hooks, often without them realizing it. 'Oh, you want to be wearing some kind of animal scale armor to reflect your background as a monster hunter to protect your hold? Why not Wyverns, they live in Belkzen, and are weak enough'. Cue many sessions later when the Wyvern Riders personally hate that PC, and they feel personally invested in the story as already written, since they need to protect their people from the Wyverns. But if you leave, they're still causing the problems as written in the campaign, your allies need them gone as much as you do, it's just less personal. 'Oh, you've reincarnated after 1,500 years and are just revisiting the lands you lived in back then for the first time? Well here's some holds who have likely been around that long.' Cue many sessions later when that PC is grappling with the fact this clan is very different to how they remember, with a leader who represents the worst of those changes. Now they're personally invested in overthrowing them to install a new leader (they actually ended up becoming chief themselves). But if they left before, that leader still needed dealing with, it was just a matter of survival not ideology for the rest of the party. Starting with writing a campaign around detailed and varied backstories the players write without you is a recipe for disaster. My approach has always been to some extent to write a story they'll engage with, that gives them room for agency and then add smaller elements to weave their characters to that story more specifically. But if your players are playing characters who can be tied to the story and world, and are willing to work with you, you don't need to start with a story that is about them, they can just become a natural feeling part of the story.

[despazito]

[junglejim4322]

What’s a food from your culture that u HATE #hatersonly

[junglejim4322]

I expected Americans without another discernible cultural background to answer this with regional American dishes im getting taken out by people just saying stuff like “burger” and “mcdonalds”

[xxdemonboixx]

No thoughts. Head empty. Only circles.

[takataapui]

I always say that pounamu comes and goes into your life when it needs to. I had this small piece of pounamu I used as a fidget for over a year, and a while ago I lost it. I knew it was in my room and turned it upside down to find it but it never showed up.

Well, what do you know, I just found it, the night before one of the biggest protests for Māori rights in the history of this country.

My tūpuna brought it back to me bc I need it right now, I am surrounded by community, I am surrounded by aroha, I will make this world safe for my people by force if I have to.

I was made to endure.

Ka whawhai tonu mātou. Ake ake ake. We will fight on. Forever, forever, forever. As long as it takes.

[cryptotheism]

[paper-mario-wiki]

the shit your parents do when you move out

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. I’ve received complaints from anonymous employees that our support of the “homosexual lifestyle” is “degenerate” and “irresponsible”. It really got me thinking and I think I found a solution. So good news! We now have 23 vacated positions reserved for members of the LGBT community. Additional good news, we began a new testing initiative on evolutionary degenration with 23 test subjects all ready to go.“

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. If you’re experiencing a time loop in which you’re repeating the month of June over and over, that’s totally intentional. We at Aperture Science felt that pride month was not long enough and so we created this loop to let employees experience as much pride as they feel like. To get out of this loop, simply use the pod labeled “Time Machine” in Shaft 6 and then either kill or save the baby on the other end depending on when in the loop you’re on. Don’t worry about the baby’s identity, he grows up to be an asshole.“

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here, happy to announce that our Rainbow Gel project was a massive success. We have developed distinct gels in every color of the rainbow pride flag. In fact, it was too much of a success, so we’ll be updating our pride flag accordingly to include 75 new colors corresponding to all of our new gels. Word of advice, though, don’t stare at the flag for too long, most of these colors haven’t been tested on human eyes yet.”

[charlesoberonn]

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here, Cave Johnson queer. Get used to it.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. Caroline just informed me that I am her “beard”. I checked, and I fail to see how I could possibly have grown out of her face. If anybody knows anything about human-to-facial hair transmogrification, please report to my office.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. Friendly reminder that Aperture employees living prior to the legalization of gay marriage are invited to use our Aperture Science Temporal Matrimony Pod in order to travel to the future with your same-sex partner and get married there. Employees from the future who wish to return to a time before gay people being able to marry are also welcome to use the pod and we’ll make sure to send you to an era well before gay marriage. I’m thinking maybe Late Cretacesous.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. I’m proud to announce that our plan to hire only female test subjects to prevent them from flirting with our female scientists has been a resounding failure.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. I’m afraid we’ll have to temporarily pause all experimentation with the Gender Affirmation Beam. The testing itself is going great, the beam is working. But we’re starting to run out of thigh high socks and khaki shorts.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johson here. Shafts 10 through 14 are currently under lockdown due to a meltdown in the Neopronoun Syntheizer. The transphobes up in DC might call that ‘a disaster in the making’ but I call it a win for diversity! That being said most of these pronouns are radioactive so do watch out.”

[charlesoberonn]

Cave Johnson here. If you feel a sudden sense of elation and contentness when putting on your new Aperture Science unisex uniform, that is not Gender Euphoria! That’s a hallucinogenic fungus taking over your brain. Take the uniform off immediately and throw it in the nearest incinerator.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. I won’t tolerate any misgendering of the interdimensional invaders swarming the facility! Their pronouns are they/them and we’re ought to respect that. We’re also ought to shoot them on sight since they’re extremely hostile and bent on enslaving our planet.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. To all of my suitors and secret admirers: Thank you, honestly I’m flattered. Unfortunately for you, I don’t swing that way. Or any way. I only swing where the wrecking ball of science takes me. Usually into a brick wall.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. I’ve been thinking. We have gay pride, and we have gender envy. What other deadly sins can we incorporate? Maybe bisexual sloth? Lesbian wrath? I’ll talk to the lab boys about it.”

“Cave Johnson here. Update: The Lesbian Wrath project is postponed indefinitely. My condolences to the families of the deceased. Though let’s be honest, they probably had it coming.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. For the last time! “I’m reclaiming the slur” is not a valid excuse to shout out loud the killer androids’ activation codes! We picked that word for a reason.“

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. I’d like to apologize to Floor 194 Safety Supervisor Doug Blakely for firing him after allegations that he was forcing employees back in the closet. I was not aware that said closet was a literal storage closet for zombified Aperture employees. To make it up to Doug, he’ll be allowed to feed Floor 194 HR Manager Lisa Briant to the closet zombies if he so chooses.”

[charlesoberonn]

”Cave Johnson here. A reminder that next year Transgender Day of Visibility falls on Extradimensional Day of Visibility. The lab boys are cautioning me to caution you to be prepared. Do not confuse transgender and transdimensional! Big mistake.“

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. To all cishet Aperture employees who volunteered for the ‘Get More Woke’ program, please report to your department’s OR at the nearest convenience to get the alarm clocks surgically removed from your spinal cord. Aperture Science apologizes for the misunderstanding.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. Dr. Barnaby from Cyborg Engineering is an attack helicopter. That’s not a transphobic joke, by the way, they literally transformed themselves into an amalgam of human and helicopter. Impressive. Unauthorized, of course, but still impressive. Anyway, we lost track of them, so everyone watch the sky for a mad scientist with blue rotors and machine guns.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. To the joker who added ‘make the sun gay’ to our quarterly agenda, I hope you’re pleased with yourself. The Astrophysics Department is tearing itself apart with half of them shouting that you can’t make the sun gay and the other half screaming that the sun is already gay. Either way, we’re not doing it.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. The congressional delegation of Senator Patrick Johnson (no relation) to inspect our facilities had to be cut short due to a mishap with the Gender Affirmation Beam. I’d like to apologize on behalf of Aperture Science to Senator Johnson and her staff.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. Just the other day, our sign guy asked me ‘Cave, don’t you think LGBTQIA2S+ is a tad too long?’ and I told him ‘First of all, that’s Mr. Johnson to you! And secondly, I actually think it’s not long enough!’ and that’s why I’m adding an ’&’ to the acronym. Don’t know what it stands for yet, but I’ll figure it out.”

[charlesoberonn]

“Cave Johnson here. You already know that here in Aperture Science we’re all about gender affirming care. We’ve been at the forefront of hormone replacement therapy since before we knew what these hormones do. You also know that here in Aperture Science we’re all about not getting sued. So everyone be quiet about our role in the Estrogen Cola disaster.”

[askrobouteguilliman40k]

Do you name everything “the ultra-X”? Like drinking recaf from the ULTRA-MUG!

No, that is stupid and you are stupid for suggesting it.

[no-i-know-her]

The Space Wolves looking away in shame

[spacelazarwolf]

I’m not voting. Harris is complicit in genocide.

“i am ok with allowing a fascist — who will do exponentially more harm to the ppl i am claiming to care abt — to win bc otherwise the other tumblr tankies will bully me for being a cringe liberal”

[xclowniex]

Something which was said a lot during the last election here in NZ which is very much applicable to the US election,

Not voting is still a vote, you're just voting for whoever got in.

If you don't vote and trump wins, you've voted for trump. If you don't vote and Kamala wins, you've voted for Kamala.

[edenfenixblogs]

“I have the luxury of not voting as someone privileged enough to not be directly affected by any of the harm that a Trump presidency would cause or someone directly affected enough by the Middle East conflict to make an informed decision about how that would will affect anyone. Please applaud me for this while feeling like a bad person”

[arandomshotinthedark]

Getting really sick of people placing their moral purity over those that will be adversely affected by Trump getting another fucking term.

Your supposed moral purity means jackshit.

[edenfenixblogs]

Yup

[captain-acab]

Small correction/addendum to @xclowniex's comment:

I don't know what voting laws and current political parties are like in New Zealand, but in the US,

there is a 2-party system where one party is literally fascists

there aren't really any national protections for voting, let alone requirements, so voter turnout is always pretty low, and crucially,

The fascist party stays in power PRIMARILY through voter suppression.

In other words, Republicans invest heavily in gerrymandering, deregistering voters, physically preventing voters from accessing polls on election day, and disrupting accurate vote counts. As well as, of course, disinformation campaigns to demoralize and demotivate potential voters.

If there were even 80% or 90% voter turnout in the US, the Republican party would never win another national election, and soon it would cease to exist.

So, not-voting isn't just a vote for whoever wins, it is specifically a vote for Republicans. They want you not to vote.

[no-i-know-her]

The main difference between Aotearoa/New Zealand's voting laws and America's (aside from how easy it is to vote here) is that America still (mostly ) uses first-past-the-post for everything. You get one vote in each race you can vote in, and whoever gets the most votes wins, the number of losing votes doesn't matter.

We used to be the same. However, since 1994, New Zealand now uses a mixed-member-proportional system, where you one vote for local candidate and one for a party. Candidate is first-past-the-post, but the total number of seats the party gets is based on the total number of party votes they get. If their candidates win a lot of local electorates, those candidates get electorate seats, but the party itself gets less 'list seats' that it can give to its other member to keep everything proportional to the party vote. If not many candidates win local electorate seats, the party gets list seats to bring their total up to their % of the party vote. This lets small New Zealand parties that more than 5% of the country support, (or who have a candidate with really strong local support even without national support for their party which is why Te Pāti Māori have seats now), still gets seats in parliament. In order to govern the country, parties have to make coalitions that total more than half of the seats, then the leader of that coalition becomes Prime Minister. This makes the smaller parties in coalitions essential for actually passing anything. We adopted this system in 1994, and it took until 2020 for a party to get enough party votes to have control without a coalition. Not voting here in Aotearoa/New Zealand, especially if you were going to vote for a party who didn't quite hit the 5% threshold to count without you, means the number of party votes are measured against a smaller number of total votes, increasing the proportion of the larger parties, especially the winner. In the US, you don't have that luxury. If a party doesn't get enough support to win a race, then none of the support matters. First-past-the-post, in a system that's good at gerrymandering and voter suppression, is a vote for those engaged in those tactics.

[nightpool]

I say a lot of stuff on this blog about "play another game" and I really want people to understand what I mean about that. monopolies are bad. DnD has, through marketing and business decisions and luck and capital, dominated the entire hobby in a way that no other creative genre has ever seen before.

[no-i-know-her]

I promise you, if you're out there right now, playing a heavily modified game of D&D for a specific premise, someone has made a ground up system for that premise. Or at least done all the hard work modifying and playtesting a better suited system for it. Nothing bothers me more than all the people who play Star Wars 5e, when you can play characters who feel so much more at home in the Star Wars universe with Force and Destiny, and Age of Rebellion, and Edge of the Empire. Or who play Avatar: The Last Airbender using modified 5e four elements monks, instead of just playing the Avatar: Legends RPG, which is built on an understanding of how Avatar's storytelling works. I know I'm guilty of sometimes not wanting to play the officially licensed RPG for something. I don't feel the Dragon Age RPG captures the feeling of playing Inquisition as well as it could, but I didn't spend months making a perfect 5e based ruleset, I looked around and decided Genesys had the best system for building the classes I wanted, and the tools for running your own settings, and just slightly tweaked the spellcasting system in that.

[thydungeongal]

Are there systems that make use of like... skill/tech trees for progression? It's one of the few things I truly go nuts for, but I feel like I've only seen them done well in video games.

The Star Wars RPGs by Fantasy Flight Games utilized talent trees! I'm not sure if that's made its way into the generic version of the system, called Genesys, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had! There's a talent tree compendium on this one cool website I found:

Talent Sheets

TaLent Tree Collections

The versions of Exalted I am most familiar with (1e and 2e) utilize charm trees. Basically, each Solar charm is associated with a specific ability, like War or Athletics, and the charms associated with specific abilities basically form little charm trees. I am not sure if this applies for 3e as well, but again, I wouldn't be surprised.

Paranoia 1e has this in a way. In Paranoia your character starts with a few extremely broad basic skills and you can then either buy new skills or specialize those broad basic skills. I don't have the book on me right now, but a made-up example: to develop a skill for a rocket launcher your character first needs a skill for heavy weaponry which is under the basic, universal combat skill. This is visualized on the character sheet by drawing a little skill tree of all the skills your character has developed, and their skill rating in a given skill is basically the depth the skill is at in the skill tree. Mothership also does this to an extent, but without quite so much branching.

[no-i-know-her]

Genesys has guidelines for GMs to make talent trees like FFG's Star Wars RPGs had, which I used for my Dragon Age Inquisition inspired campaign, but it's designed around a 'talent pyramid' which is slightly more free form than a skill tree. You build up your talents like a pyramid, always having more at the lower levels than the upper ones. For example you need two rank 1 talents to get a rank 2 talent, and then a third rank 1 talent to get a second rank 2 talent, which lets you get a rank 3 talent and so on). I prefer the way it's done in Star Wars, less freedom but significantly more theming and flavor, but either way as someone who also loves talent trees, I think it's the best I've seen it done in a tabletop system.