Life beyond the textbook...

[holyunrepentantheathen-deactiva]

Critical Role cast singing Ruby of The Sea.

I knew Matt Mercer has pipes, but damn!

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

These people are so disgustingly talented! they give me cute aggression that borders on Grog style "I would like to RAGE"!

[accessibleposts]

could you explain the post about shoelaces and presidents? it would be greatly appreciated thank you

Sure! Do you mean this post?

So, it started in a post in 2012 (or earlier, I don’t know the exact date). As the Urban Dictionary entry explains, you would say “I like your shoelaces” in public as a sort of secret code if you suspect there’s another Tumblr user there. And if there is another Tumblr user, they would reply “Thanks, I stole them from the president” to let you know they understood the message and are, in fact, a Tumblr user. 

I don’t think people do this anymore, and if they ever did, it probably wasn’t a very common thing to do. Maybe they did back in 2012 when the post was recent and Tumblr wasn’t as popular as it is now. 

I also don’t think there’s any deeper meaning to the phrases. “I like your shoelaces” seems like a pretty common and nice thing to say, and if it turns out the person you thought was a Tumblr user doesn’t recognise the ‘secret message’, nothing would happen. But then “Thanks, I stole them from the president” seems weird and specific enough that you would know they understood the ‘secret message’, unlike if they just replied “Thank you”. 

Then other posts appeared making references to the shoelaces and president posts:

[neil-gaiman]

Whoa. I’d missed that one. Then again, late 2012 was when I arrived here…

[important-animal-images]

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

On the plus side the insulation in that house must be AMAZING!

[mantisliberationfront]

I think venus flytraps should be intelligent and ambulatory. I think they should get into the cupboards. I think they should purr when you pet them.

[prismatic-bell]

OP there is an entire Broadway musical explaining why you don’t want that

[bbcwhereareyou]

There’s a Broadway musical about them, too.

[littlebosslady7]

Trigger warning: Cancer

But congrats to Sam on kicking cancer’s ass one year ago today.

Fuck it.

Sending love and virtual hugs for those who are and/or have been affected by cancer. (x)

[ashstfu]

i don’t think people understand how much of life is grief. not just people dying, but losing the version of yourself you thought you’d become. grieving the city you had to leave. the friends you lost not in argument, but in silence. the summer that will never come back. the feeling that maybe you peaked at 12 when you were reading books under the covers and believing in forever

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

Fuck my biorhythms.... I have been in a new country with an 8 hour time difference for over a WEEK!! Ive been religiously keeping an eating and sleeping schedule that matches the current time zone, for over a WEEK!! Jetlag is gone, I feel pretty good! i assume my body has reset and Im adjusted to the new day-night cycle... I drop my guard for a SECOND and BOOM!! a random nap turns into over 8 hours of perfect sleep and Im completely reverted to my old sleep schedule and 8 hours out of whack and jetlagged all over again!!!!

FUUUUUUUUUUCK!

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

I found the sacred instructions in the ancient manuscripts!

Commencing at the 180th second of the 162nd text of the great annuls of 'Binge'! I summon thee oh great Seymore of the PM! POG!

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

Hi...

Dont know how blog, am I doing it? is this blog?

[miss-americanbi]

how the absolute FUCK am i supposed to live long and prosper in these conditions

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

I feel called out in this post!

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

As a novice DM this is my first attempt at homebrewing a magical item! any feedback would be appreciated!

[animentality]

[oysters-aint-for-me]

i love adhd. i have a lot to do at work today. i take my meds. i open the word document. i immediately misspell “benzodiazepines.” i go on tumblr to post “benzodiazepenis….” for the mutualés. and then it’s 45 minutes later and ive caught up on tumblr and checked the weather and read a fic and texted an ex and ordered new pens and looked up a recipe for chicken pot pie and posted about adhd and done zero work.

[nyansense-the-nyanbinary]

you CANNOT leave this in the tags that's so perfect and accurate

Yeagh for fuckin real...

[sensiblereblogifposts]

Reblog you are stuck under the couch

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

I might be stuck under the couch...

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

Brainless Tumblr Post 😌

[swordshapedleaves]

This is I think, my best prep tip as a DM:

When the players are about to visit a new town, pre-generate several NPCs who fit the demographics of the town, but don't give them jobs. Your town is Mostly human, with a number of halflings and gnomes? Make a list that's mostly humans with some halflings and gnomes mixed in, with names that match the vibe you're going for and maybe the barest description + a quirk of some sort.

So the list would look something like this:

Ophelia Bracegurdle, older Halfling woman who laughs a lot

Norabecka Johnson, a young human woman who seems tired

Geraldofinio Babblecock Nimsy, gnome gentleman who takes pains to maintain a fabulous mustache

Etc.

Then, when the players are like, "Can I go to the blacksmith?" You look at your list of NPCs and the one at the top is Ophelia Bracegurdle. She's your blacksmith now. Then they want to go to the tavern, where Norabecka is the innkeeper and Geraldofinio is a patron having a drink at the bar. He's using a straw so he doesn't mess up his mustache.

If they had gone to the inn first, Ophelia would have been the innkeeper with Norabecka as the patron, and then Geraldofinio should have been a blacksmith with some sort of mustache guard to keep the sparks off.

Making the list ahead of time doesn't take much time, and you can often re-use the people you never got to at the next town.

Your world will seem vibrant and interesting and like you have everything planned out.

Have fun!

[swordshapedleaves]

Since this post has been getting a lot of notes, I would like to clarify a couple of points. This method has a few different benefits I would like people to note:

This prep is fairly simple and easy. You could use a random name generator and find lists of character quirks online or you could just make your own shit up. Because no one has any jobs or stats, you have very little you have to decide ahead of time.

It removes in-the-moment decision making from your game. Because you assign NPCs to roles as the players meet them, you don't have to pick who is gonna be the blacksmith or make up a blacksmith ahead of time.

This third point is the heart of this method for me: Randomization thwarts stereotyping. Some DMs struggle with this more than others, but I know I have made my fair share of gruff burly man blacksmiths! How many of us would really pick Ophelia Bracegurdle, older halfling woman who likes to laugh, to be the blacksmith? Honestly I probably wouldn't. But since in the example the players wanted to go to the blacksmith first, there she is. And now we have the option but not the requirement to think about why and how old Ophelia got her job. Maybe she's a widow who took over for her dead husband. Maybe she just always wanted to be a blacksmith or this town just has always had halfling ladies be their blacksmiths. Or maybe you don't think about it at all, and she's just the blacksmith because she is.

I've been in games where literally every NPC except the pretty barmaid is a man, and pretty much everyone is a light skinned dwarf, elf, or human. I've also been in games with awesome diverse characters who bring the game to life. I know I want to be a DM who creates the latter, and this system helps push back against our unconscious biases. When you have the list of everyone in the town, you can see ahead of time if you have a good gender ratio, whether your descriptions include any people with disabilities or people from different points of view.

[swordshapedleaves]

Hey! Welcome! Since my silly garbage truck anglerfish post is getting me a bunch of attention right now, check out a post I'm actually proud of while you're here

[japanne]

I've used this method to great ridiculous effect. I think the shining star of the pre-made list was the time the party was going to talk to the person in charge of the docks because they needed to know when a ship was coming in. Next on the list was . . . Hillary Codswallop, an extremely precocious 6 year old elven girl who acts well above her age. I could have skipped over her to the next one, but immediately decided, no. Hillary Codswallop is the daughter of the dock masters (married). They are no where to be found at this moment, and She. Is. Running. The. Docks.

[beauregardlionett]

update: i've reconnected the dots. i've connected them.

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

How have I not seen this before!!??

[artistic-cocoon]

Saw someone on twt say they wanted to see Percy drawn like Yusuf Dikec and I couldn't help myself

[pleasefeedtheteachers]

Thats my boy!