Do not go gentle into that good night

Kristy. Nerd. Gamer. Geek. Writer. Historian. I like nerdy things. Florida transplant living in SoCal. Snapchat/Instagram/Twitter: Sherlock329

[feebledungeons]

PSA TO PLAYER CHARACTERS

You’re allowed to run away some times

[acrid-heartwood]

PSA TO GMs

If you ever build an encounter solely built around being too much for the players, forcing them to retreat, always keep in mind the following:

1: Retreating isn’t fun. Winning against overwhelming odds, is very much fun however. Retreat in DnD is also very jank, disincentivizing players even more from even considering that option.

2: It’s very hard for players to gauge what would be too dangerous to engage (be it physically or social). If Steve the Figher gets hit by that superzombie there, and it does 15 damage, the players have no way of knowing if that was a critical hit, a really good damage roll, or the lowest possible damage the superzombie can do, **unless you are open about your rolls**. If your players don’t see the dice and the numbers, there’s no indication how strong a foe is, no matter how big and intimidating you describe them.

Some solutions:

1: Tell your players up front “In this campaign, i’ll occasionally drop in encounters where you are completely justified, and expected, to run away.” That way, players will be aware that your campaign has fights that they can’t fight.

2: Do your best to showcase the enemy’s power before it becomes too dangerous to turn tail. Let the ogre kick a fortification down. Give them an managable fight against a weaker version that they barely manage, to unveil a whole group. Kill a character that’s established to be on the same level as the group, or even stronger. Be obvious that these are really, really dangerous.

3: When your players say “Ok, we’re running away”, just agree and say “You ran away.” Or describe what happens during their attempt to escape. Trying to solve it via grid is just clunky, slow, and unreliable.

4: Don’t. Just running away just makes your players feel small and weak, for no good reason. Instead, give them goals they can achieve without directly engaging the overwhelming threat. Make the quest about saving the princess rather than killing the dragon. Evacuate civilians instead of fighting the entire enemy army. Give them something fun to do where “getting away with it” is part of a whole operation, not just a sad interruption of the adventure. ___________________________________________________________

Now, I’m writing this mainly about DnD, because in DnD, retreat is //jank//. If you’re using your own system, or a game where retreat is part of the main conceit of the game, like Call of Cthulhu, things might look different.

[feebledungeons]

I was originally writing this about a Curse of Strahd encounter where the player ignored my heavy handed attempts to dissuade him from (at level 4) running through an easily avoided lightning field that had destroyed a stone sculpture with one lightening hit and, having been resurrected once already on his previous turn, flipping off Strahd instead of hiding but…

This is actually fabulous advice for GMs in general. Communication is key to let your players know that retreat is valid and expected if you want to run a consequence heavy game. Especially if you’ve not already established a horror-like tone.

[gluttonousgoddess]

You don’t get exp for running. More reason for players to not run.

Easy way around this: Treat running away as “accepting you’re not strong enough”, giving them roleplay exp.

[feebledungeons]

100%

If you are running a story-driven game, you should award XP for story/role playing actions!

[dnd-apothecary]

I saw your tags about how you like milestone leveling

And this is why I agree with that: milestone xp can be given for running away and kind of takes the pressure off of the “lost xp opportunity” of running from a fight

But also as a gamer in general: I rarely run away from anything in games and I know that bleeds over to dnd as well.

Running away in DnD can definitely be a tactical choice and not just a “we suck we can’t do this” kind of thing.

[ru-debega]

a friend in a FB cat group has this cat named pigeon

i think you can see where he gets his name

[ossaluna]

@bunjywunjy i thought you might like this :)

[bunjywunjy]

this lil dude needs his battery replaced his engine won’t turn over

[kasaneteto]

HAUHGUHAUHSUHGUDISHGGHUDHSG

[kasaneteto]

[s3tok41b4]

When you need to use royalty free music but can’t find any you like so you make your own but then you remember you don’t know how to compose music but you spent all this time making it and you’re not turning back now

[tarynel]

If you ask someone to get tested before yall engage in sexual activities and they give you a rough time… fucking run. They can keep whatever they have to themselves.

[caterpillaremoji]

this post is SOOOO ugly. the only thing i’m running away from is ur HIV stigma honestly

[laurdlannister-kingslayer]

good stay away

[michigander514]

Wanting to avoid a disease that will ruin all future chances of having a healthy, physical relationship with someone or producing healthy children is stigma?

[enoughtohold]

hi! i know this post is a bit old, but i have good news! people with HIV can absolutely have happy, healthy lives including sexual relationships with HIV-negative people.

people with HIV who are receiving successful treatment can keep their immune systems strong, and reduce the level of the virus in their blood so low it’s undetectable, which means they can’t transmit the virus! also, PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a medicine HIV-negative people can take to protect themselves from HIV, kind of like the birth control pill.

this way, it’s possible for someone with HIV to conceive a child through sex without transmitting HIV to either partner or baby! and we’ve known how to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child through treatment for decades. in many places, like new york, it is now actually rare for babies to be born with HIV.

but all of these good things are harder to achieve when we let stigma and lack of information get in the way of prevention, testing, and treatment.

now you know!

[fuckyeahasexual]

The stigma of STDs must be challenged!

- Fae

[prismatic-bell]

Okay, here’s the thing, and I think y’all missed it:

Let me use myself as an example.

I have herpes simplex 2. That’s the one that gives you cold sores, and up to 80% of the global population has it. But, even though it’s not genital herpes, if you go down on somebody during an outbreak, they can get herpes 2 in their junk. And it’s nasty. The usual problem is “just” a cold sore, but during severe outbreaks–which can occur if, for example, you’re on antibiotics during an outbreak–you can develop sores on your lips, inside of your mouth, even in your throat. They break, they bleed, they ooze, it sucks. During my last major outbreak (so far my only major outbreak, thankfully) I ate nothing but lukewarm soup for a week.

So now let’s say I have a new partner, and I’m in what I think might be the starting stages of an outbreak. Because I am an honest person, and feel they have the right to informed consent, I’m going to ask if they get cold sores (if the answer is yes, they’re fine, because you can’t get herpes twice). If the answer is no, I’m going to tell them I have herpes 2, explain what that is, and suggest we cool it with the kissing and/or sexytimes until I’m not virus-shedding. And nobody has given me shit for this, ever. I’ve had a couple of people thank me for my honesty. That’s it.

But now let’s say I’m a total shitstain. I know I’m in an outbreak. And I do not tell my partner, and I go down on her. I have decided, for her, that for the rest of her life she should deal with occasional bouts of weeping sores, raw skin, and thick mucous crusts on/in/around her genitals and possibly on and in her mouth.

I’ve given her a lifelong disease. She had no chance to consent or even say “I am willing to take this risk.” Isn’t that basically a form of rape?

So if you ask someone for an STD test and they refuse, they are hiding something and you should run. If you ask for an STD test and they say okay, or just straight-up say “I can get tested to check my viral load but you should know I have HIV,” that person is a keeper. They will be honest with you about their health and yours. They probably have information on how to reduce your transmission risk even further, and will inform you and use that information. (Which doesn’t take the onus off you to do your own research, by the way, it just means you have a starting point.) And as noted above, if their viral load is undetectable, they can’t transmit! I wouldn’t start having regular condomless sex without guidance from a sexual health expert, but you really have very little to fear.

Don’t be afraid of the STD, or the honest person who has it. Be afraid of the person who refuses to disclose.

[sandersstudies]

I don’t want to be rich, I just want to be comfy.

Want to have one really nice set of plates and silverware for company and Thanksgiving.

Want to be able to buy a new outfit and a good bra at least a couple times a year.

Want to be able to give “just because” gifts.

Want to burn incense and candles in my home daily, and have nice soaps.

Want to be able to donate to charity frequently and without worry.

Want to buy hardcover books to read and put on a shelf for my kids to read someday.

Want to have candies in bowls for people who visit.

Want to be able to take my young siblings and cousins to a movie and let them get the big popcorn they won’t finish, because there’s magic in just having it.

Want to have a linen closet or at least a linen shelf.

Want to go see live local theater several times a year.

Want to have a bottle of wine or champagne in the house for when I suddenly need to celebrate.

Want to have a kitchen with basic baking supplies so I can bake bread on the weekend, and pies for special occasions.

I just want to be comfy.

[pepperstrawberry]

this.

[thepuppyclub]

IT IS TEMPTING TO FORGET

2006. Twenty-five years of AIDS.

It is tempting to forget the morning rituals, when you inspected your body for lesions that might have appeared during the night and signal that it had started.

It is tempting to forget that when you asked, “Does this spot look purple to you?” you didn’t need to say anything else for everyone around you to know just what was on your mind, if not on your skin, and how fast your heart was racing as you uttered the words as casually as you could because sounding casual seemed to increase the chances of a reassuring response.

It is tempting to forget that there was a time when gay men were hoping not to lose weight, that plump meant healthy and healthy reassuring. And reassuring, in a turnabout so shocking for us then, meant sexy.

It is tempting to forget that people were dropping like flies, that many gay men in cities like New York or San Francisco were crossing out name after name from their address books, and it is tempting to forget that many gay men who had long left their families behind in favor of friendships were now left only with mere acquaintances, no one close still living.

It is tempting to forget how parents who had once expelled their faggot son now rushed to his bedside to keep te lovers and friends away, to contest the will, and to snatch the spoils of a life lived far from the tender bosom of the family.

It is tempting to forget that women never “got” AIDS but somehow died of it by the thousands.

It is tempting to forget that the truth could only be whispered or screamed but seldom simply told.

It is tempting to forget that kids were chased out of schools by their friends’ parents and by their friends and that their houses were burned to the ground.

It is tempting to forget that Ryan White was once described as a “homophiliac” in a newspaper.

It is tempting to forget the frightened medics and undertakers and the cop’s face masks and latex gloves, as they arrested dying young men and women fighting for their lives.

It is tempting to forget ACT UP’s unforgettable chant, “They’ll see you on the news; your gloves don’t match your shoes!”

It is tempting to forget angry queers screaming bloody murder and spitting out hosts in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York.

It is tempting to forget the pictures of Dorian Gray on TV and on the pages of magazines, the emaciated faces covered with lesions, the hollow stares, and the feeling that one might as well have been looking at a charred and contorted body hanging from a tree, like Billie Holiday’s strange fruit, as the crowd cheered.

It is tempting to forget gay-related immune deficiency and the gay cancer and the 4-H club — homosexual, heroin addict, hemophiliac, Haitian — and all the conspiracy theories and miracle cures that we knew were bullshit yet couldn’t help but consider just in case, because madness could make sense.

It is tempting to forget the promise of a vaccine in about five years and that it felt like such an eternity that researchers sounded almost apologetic when explaining that retroviruses are particularly treacherous foes.

It is tempting to forget the calls for quarantine camps and tattoos and mass expulsions, “solutions” whose pros and cons were discussed with the sort of equanimity now applied to the debate on torture.

It is tempting to forget that nobody gave a shit.

It is tempting to forget that all this is still happening far, far away from here.

It is tempting to forget and it is easy.

pp. 9-10, The Nearness of Others: Searching for Tact and Contact in the Age of HIV, David Caron. 

[catsuggest]

some happy cat for all whom need them

[kazam90]

[thepeoplesmanifesto]

Eugenics

Government is organised crime

[chuck-e-cheese-anime-faces]

$10 Million From FEMA Diverted to Pay for Immigration Detention Centers, Document Shows

Trump administration took nearly $10 million from FEMA's budget to support ICE, documents show

Nearly $10 million was transferred from Federal Emergency Management Agency to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In case anybody doubts this claim

[theycallhimcake]

it’s time

[lotstradamus]

#peter pan is one of the most sinister characters in children's literature and you will never convince me otherwise can you explain why?

sneaks into people’s bedrooms in the middle of the night

literally steals children and spirits them away

supposedly all of these children are ”lost” and fell out of their prams and whatnot but he also happily absconded with wendy, michael and john who were not even a little bit lost 

chopped a man’s hand off and fed it to a crocodile nbd

(peter is supposed to be a child can we bear this in mind) 

at the end when he rescues the lost boys et al he sneaks onto the jolly roger and slaughters ten pirates before they even realise he’s there

boy is a stone cold killer yo

and slightly just keeps a running verbal tally through all of it like those children are so unfazed by Peter Pan, Killing Machine

and a couple of quotes from the text to top it all off: 

and when [the lost boys] seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out;

peter thins them out

okay

and my personal favourite: 

He often went out alone, and when he came back you were never absolutely certain whether he had had an adventure or not. He might have forgotten it so completely that he said nothing about it; and then when you went out you found the body;

THEN WHEN YOU WENT OUT YOU FOUND THE BODY

?????????????????????????

[fleete]

I wrote my undergrad thesis on that little fucker!! Protip: read the original novelization of Peter Pan. It will weird you the fuck out. My favorite part is when he scares Hook by mimicking the croc’s ticking noise. Except, in the book, he doesn’t do this on purpose. Instead he’s swimming along to the ship, hears the ticking, and starts ticking along, compulsively. For a few minutes, he sort of FORGETS that he’s human and his mind goes animal-blank, and he’s just rolling along ticking like the crocodile because HE THINKS HE’S A CROCODILE. Fun times. My thesis was about how he’s a fundamentally amoral character. He does what he likes, and whenever anything happens that could result in character growth, he just FORGETS it. Peter Pan is seriously like the scary child monster in a horror movie.

[zlot]

If you read the first appearance of Peter in Barrie’s The Little White Bird (later published alone as Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens), it is fairly apparent that Barrie originally conceived of Peter as a ghost of a child who died of exposure in the park overnight, and who now buries other children who get lost in the park after the gates are shut. It ends: “But how strange for parents, when they hurry into the Gardens at the opening of the gates looking for their lost one, to find the sweetest little tombstone instead. I do hope that Peter is not too ready with his spade.”

Peter Pan: sort of a kid, but mostly some kind of child-shaped GOBLIN OR SOMETHING idk

[moderntrickster-deactivated2021]

That is 100% where Peter came from, but the story is even more complicated and bizarre than that. Barrie spent twenty some odd years writing and revising Peter Pan, in various incarnations, and the true story behind how LWB, Kensington Gardens, Peter & Wendy, and Peter Pan came to be is  just… it’s quite unsettling, really. More or less so, depending on which rumors you believe about Barrie and how much stock you want to put into various biographies. But I do recommend you read the Lost Boys biography (Andrew Birkin) if you want to know the truly uncomfortable history behind it.

And yes, Peter was meant to be demonic and amoral, in Barrie’s own words. In fact, Barrie loudly complained about the statue of Peter in Kensington Gardens, because it didn’t “convey the devil in Peter”. Although, I reckon he was more pissed off by the fact that the sculptor, who Barrie paid out of his own pocket to erect the statue, used another boy as the model rather than the images that Barrie gave him to use and, frankly, if I was paying for something like that, I’d be pissed off too.

[6stronghands]

We need to talk about Peter

[spriteofwinter-deactivated20190]

no one mentioned that he is twelve years old and has never lost his baby teeth and is described as having tiny tiny teeth with wide wide gaps, which is when i stopped reading the book, and liking peter pan, forever

[americachavez]

thor and gamora in their weekly “villainous blue adopted sibling” support group

thor: loki keeps stabbing me :(

gamora: so stab him back???? what’s the big deal that’s his way of saying hello

[princesshamlet-deactivated20210]

loki and nebula in their weekly “heroic older sibling who’s part of a superhero squad and gets all the attention” support group

loki: thor never stabs me back when i stab him :(

nebula: so stab him harder???? 

[myjetpack]

for @newscientist https://www.instagram.com/p/BnjlE3GATlp/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=gclsbvdr1f4o

[missharpersworld]

[oreoswirl25-deactivated20181218]

Is it too much to ask for to allow people to live and enjoy their lives?

[thegleampt2fromtheglowpt22001]

I really cannot get over this cats fucking face it’s so round and conveying an emotion that I simply am not equipped to understand

[fuzzycricket]

I WAS AT THIS MEETING, I MET THIS CAT. I forget his name but he was soooo sweet, I think it was Councilman Clark who brought him in! This was at the very first meeting in Denver to decide whether to ban declawing (the ban succeeded!)

Update: I emailed this post to councilman Clark, subject line “your kitty is famous”

Update 2: Councilman Clark responded, he thinks this is awesome and his cat’s name is Kit Kat

[world-cat-deactivated20181204]

Thank you Kit Kat for protecting the cats of Denver!

[airyairyquitecontrary-deactivat]

I think the emotion on Kit Kat’s face is democratic engagement.

[blackqueerblog]

I'm sick of seeing that cartoon. Serena Williams is better than that. Reblog if you agree!

[diekingdomcome]

Her in that second red dress is everything

[theaologies]

Alright alright alright back at it again with Hurricane info since Florence is gonna be bearing down on the Carolinas in a few days

Know your local shelters, just in case! IF YOU HAVE PETS BE AWARE OF THE ONES THAT ACCEPT PETS! Unfortunately not all of them do

Beware of price gouging! Especially on gas!

BE PREPARED FOR GAS STATIONS TO RUN OUT OF GAS!

SOMETHING TO ADD:

DO NOT ASSUME YOU’LL BE ABLE TO GET THINGS VIA PRIME RIGHT BEFORE THE STORM

I could not stress this more. It was a HUGE issue last year! Amazon can and WILL run out of things in their warehouses- INCLUDING FANS, BATTERIES, AND PORTABLE CHARGERS. And shipping will be delayed due to the storm! If there’s anything AT ALL you need from amazon via Prime order it ASAP. 3rd party sellers were gouging the shit out of stuff like fans just before Irma last year on amazon so if you want stuff and don’t want to pay and arm and a leg for it, GET IT NOW

Don’t bother with buying things like flour and eggs and milk! Don’t buy perishables! If you lose power they will do nothing for you!

Fill gallon freezer bags with water, seal them tightly with duct tape, and freeze them before the storm! If you lose power you’ll be able to toss them in your fridge to keep it cooler longer! You’ll also have extra emergency water if you need it

[st-pam]