#absolutehush

[ofgeography]

I hesitate to even ask this bc I fear the answer but my curiosity drives me forward. Do you make it WETTER or MUSHIER than it would typically be as part of your consumption?

something that i should have remembered, but somehow didn't, is that the internet is full of gumshoes

[lady-harrowhark]

I dont know if this is anything but i feel like re: twins as bad omens, there's also something about how jod essentially resurrected lyctors in "matched" cavalier/necromancer pairs, kind of like sets of 'twins', and one of whom would have to consume the other

this is an excellent point, and i need to go stare at the wall for a while to process

[pyrrhiccomedy]

hey i wasnt the original asker but i thought if it's not too much trouble for you i might be able to jump on the bandwagon of pestering you about D&D? i was thinking of dming a small group of people who may/not know each other, and running my own storyline in my own world (bc im a bit of a jealous storyteller). thing is, im not very experienced, and im not thaaat good at improv? is that gonna hold me back a lot?

DMing involves a lot of improv, but I’m gonna give you five magic words that’ll get you over those moments when the party does something apeshit bananas and suddenly the scene is going in a direction you didn’t anticipate at all:

“Let’s take a bathroom break!”

You just bought yourself ten minutes to think up something cool.

Now that you have an emergency brake for when things start sliding out of your control, set yourself up to not need to use it, by PREPARING. Don’t strand yourself in a situation where you need to start making stuff up off the cuff! Stress test your own scenarios. What if the party starts a fight during this delicate negotiation? That’s not how you WANT the scene to go, but it MIGHT, so be sure you’re ready if it does. What if they trust a character you set up to be obviously shady, and end up trying to recruit this minor villain into the party? What if they distrust a character who was giving them good, “the plot is this way, dummies” information, and start wandering wildly off trajectory? Have some encounters in your back pocket that you can whip out to put them back on the right trajectory.

The ultimate tool for covering your butt, when the party has done something SO disruptive to your plans that you’re going to need the whole week before the next session to adjust for it, is to have a B-plot ready to go. They did some wild shit? Amazing, incredible, love it. Cliffhanger that until next week, and now here’s a different thing, that is intriguing and exciting and mysterious, featuring that character you all liked. Go! Fly!

It’s like using a laser pointer to get your cats off the bed.

I think something that will be very important in your group is keeping an eye on everyone’s comfort levels? Just because they don’t all know each other. If any of them are playing a tabletop game for the first time, that’s going to compound the awkwardness, but you should expect things to be a little awkward at first, because this whole hobby is a bit ridiculous. Like. Grown-ups don’t usually pretend to be elves. If your group of friends is old enough to drink, definitely crack into a bottle of wine before you start. But either way, do what you can to put people at ease. They’ll take their cue from you.

I get a bit of a red flag from that “jealous storyteller” thing. When you’re DMing, you have to be generous! You have to be prepared for the party to want things you never planned to include in your story. It has to be okay if they reject something that you thought was really important to the story. They are the main characters, not you. They are the party; you are hosting the party. And like any good host, you have to put their comfort and wishes ahead of your own.

If you want to tell a specific story in the world you’ve made up, and you think you’d have a hard time making major changes if the characters or players just weren’t that into it…man, like…write a book. Don’t bring that kind of energy to the table, you’ll just get frustrated with your players. And your players will only resent you.  

I wouldn’t worry about being inexperienced. Just tell your players it’s your first time DMing, and I’m sure they will be patient and accept any mistakes you make in good faith. Tabletop gaming is hella fun, and DMing can be really rewarding, so I hope you give it a shot!

[hellotailor]

I saw your tweet about starting to watch enterprise, but I don't know how to use Twitter so i figured I'd ask on Tumblr- where would you recommend starting? I watched some enterprise when I was younger and never really got into it, but i rly want to learn more about the trekverse

don’t watch it! enterprise is famously bad, and i’m only watching the pilot episode for work purposes. it sucks!! however, i would highly recommend star trek’s original series, and DS9. (TNG is also good, but it’s not to my tastes.) u can basically watch TOS eps at random from “best of” lists, but DS9 should be watched sequentially.

[wizzard890]

Best of luck with your surgery!

thanks! I’m going under tomorrow morning at 8am sharp. it’s probably going to be fine and I am in no way taking a shower to avoid laying awake in my bed with nerves.

[ofgeography]

Public fine!! Oh man, its a. The Masters b. A Masters-related Job that payyyyys decently and my Relationship stuff comes together Just Perfectly and also I get really good at sewing and make historical costumes and shit. Also I figure out how to fix my hair problems??? This is going in a lot of directions

yesssss this is the best thing that could happen!!!! make me some historical costumes!!! i wanna walk around dressed like it’s 1305 and i am a horrible peasant!!!

[gablehood]

Not the anon you were responding to but I personally am agonized by the what-if question of Henry's divorce from Catherine, especially because there are so many little factors, permutations and questions (would another woman have been able to convince Henry like Anne did?). The Tudors story is so strange because it is this very personal individual tale of love, marriage, betrayal, exploitation etc between Henry and his wives but it's also like. Oh and this determined the religious layout of England and the future geopolitical divisions of Western Europe

Absolutely! It was such an era of very personal turmoil, relationship break downs and drama having a cataclysmic ripple effect across the kingdom, the continent and history. It really lends itself to speculation on what-if questions, when it seems like every very small incident and personal decision by the right person at the right time lead to things like changing the trajectory of religious life in England, or a whim or a fancy resulting in the complete rearrangement of the line of royal succession. One person dying earlier or later, one person being born or not born, a marriage never taking place, a court plot never succeeding, a meeting never taking place... It really feels like every little action that happened in the palaces of Henrician England had enormous and often deadly consequences.

[malglories]

Not a medical professional but worth mentioning the arm bar/implant lasts for 3yrs, can be just about as effective as the hormonal iud (and eliminates or highly reduces periods in about 1/3 of users i believe) and can be much easier/less painful to insert (quick shot like feel). Caveat to bar/implant AND hormonal iud: can have really negative effects on mental health so requires some consideration (if family members reacted badly to it, for ex, approach with caution)

true true

personally i’ve never considered the arm implant because the few people i’ve known who got it had horrible experiences but obviously it works for some people !!