The Outhouse of my Mind Palace

Dumping ground for the random thoughts I have about things I do. Also accounability Blogging. Go "Team do things."

[thed20isbad]

Standing Goals

Daily Maintenance:

Write 1 page.

Walk 6k steps.

Dish Patrol

Clean Desktop

Don't be late to work.

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Bi-Weekly Upkeep:

Work long enough to make money for basic survival and paying bills.

Meal prep ALL work meals.

Clean Car

Do Laundry

Read a REAL book. (Seriously, how many are on that shelf you haven't read?)

Keep up / catch up with your follows on Royal Road.

Write at least three pages for TTRPG.

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Quarterly Investments:

Lose at least 20 pounds

Save at least 300$

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LONG TERM GOALS:

Finish a Book then write another.

Increase Credit Score

Get under 300lbs

Get under 250lbs

Girlfriend

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

the soft animal of my body wants to fucking bite someone

[thed20isbad]

That's normal, it's called Cute Agression or Zombism, whichever.

[thydungeongal]

I have talked about this before, but the effect that D&D 3e had on RPGs as a whole cannot be overstated. The structure of D&D 3e is of course alive in D&D 5e but also Pathfinder 2e, but so many games to this day owe so much to D&D 3e. Fantasy AGE has levels, a separation between "skills" and "talents" as meaningful categories with separate pools of resources being used to buy those things, and it's a game concerned with providing players with balanced combat encounters. It's a D&D 3e ass game. Even WFRP and the Fantasy Flight Star Wars games (and thus Genesys as a whole) have not survived untouched by 3e.

And that's important when looking at games because a lot of the time when you look under the hood of a new game that is supposedly about kissing elves you find that it's actually D&D 3e with an elf-kissing minigame. Sure, it's fun that there's an elf-kissing minigame, but the core gameplay is still very much about killing monsters in balanced combat encounters in order to grow mainly in combat power.

[thed20isbad]

Elf kissing minigame sounds like a great RP sidequest, though! There's an event going on that the PCs arrive in the elven city in time for, and to do their goal they need to participate. Then, at the end, there are prizes for the most kissed participants. Usually babies win, and one very charismatic Cooshee won recently. The PCs need at least one of those prizes! Go!

[technofeudalism]

not really sure what else to say at this point. these opinions being platformed in the mainstream media is just so catastrophic for the way that people view minorities in this already extremely racist-by-nature country. gasoline on a bonfire.

[racistspiderman]

[thed20isbad]

did you know that no one on tumblr welcomes you?

A brave question by a masked person.

Also, wrong. There are plenty that welcome me on this hellsite.

[thed20isbad]

Mini-rant the second.

There are too many intelligent things with their own societies in modern fantasy settings. And far too many of those can be PCs.

82 are playable.

And that doesn't even include the subraces they've been slowly killing off. Sorry, Gully Dwarves, maybe next decade.

But still... 82 playable races, and there are still monsters? There are still intellectual equal or superior monsters? How? Why? Well, there'd be no adventure without baddies to fight! But when every ecological niche from the sky to the core of the earth and the space between the stars is filled with possible PCs it doesn't seem feasible. More importantly, it continues to stretch the fragile nature of the suspension of disbelief.

So as a bit of free advice, limit player choices in race/species and limit the amount of "sentient badguy/non playable races/Species" (ideally with a power creep) like goblins, drow, mind flayers. And maybe drop a neutral/3rd party faction in like gnolls or furbolgs.

But like a total of 6-8 intelligent humanoid/playable cultures and 2-4 non playable.

More mythical beasts, more mindless creatures, one off intelligent monsters that are incharge of areas. (The old fashioned Dragon leads a big tribe of kobolds or simple like A Moon Beast has mind controlled a city)

Try thematic campaigns! A few of the more anthropomorphic races vs the robots and undead, or just humans, or small vs large(the kneecapper rebelion), goblinoids vs reptilians with neutral plant people. Bloodgulch pistols only. Two races in a box canyon fighting for ownership of a shitty shitty place.

[literaryvein-references]

Writing Notes & References

Alchemy ⚜ Antidote to Anxiety ⚜ Attachment ⚜ Autopsy

Art: Elements ⚜ Principles ⚜ Photographs ⚜ Watercolour

Children ⚜ Children's Dialogue ⚜ Childhood Bilingualism

Character Quirks ⚜ Cruise Ships ⚜ Dystopian World

Culture ⚜ Culture Shock ⚜ Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism

Emotions: Anger ⚜ Fear ⚜ Happiness ⚜ Sadness

Emotional Intelligence ⚜ Genius (Giftedness)

Facial Expressions ⚜ Laughter & Humour ⚜ Swearing & Taboo

Fantasy Creatures ⚜ Literary & Character Tropes

Fight Scenes Part 1 2 ⚜ Kill Adverbs

Food: Cooking Basics ⚜ Herbs & Spices ⚜ Sauces ⚜ Wine-tasting ⚜ Aphrodisiacs ⚜ List of Aphrodisiacs ⚜ Food History

Genre: Crime ⚜ Horror ⚜ Fantasy ⚜ Speculative Biology

Hate ⚜ Love ⚜ Kinds of Love ⚜ The Physiology of Love

How to Write: Food ⚜ Colours ⚜ Drunkenness

Jargon ⚜ Logical Fallacies ⚜ Memory

Magic: Magic System ⚜ 10 Uncommon ⚜ How to Choose

Moon: Part 1 2 ⚜ Related Words

Mystical Items & Objects ⚜ Talisman ⚜ Relics ⚜ Poison

Realistic Injuries ⚜ Rejection ⚜ Structural Issues ⚜ Villains

Symbolism: Colors ⚜ Food ⚜ Numbers ⚜ Storms

Thinking ⚜ Thinking Styles ⚜ Thought Distortions

Compilations: Plot ⚜ Character ⚜ Worldbuilding ⚜ For Poets

all posts are queued. will update this every few weeks/months. send questions or requests here.

[prokopetz]

"Which spices go with which foods" lists are of limited value to me because, like, I have functioning taste buds. What I really need is a "spices that need to be added at the start of the cooking time in order to properly develop versus spices that need to be added in the last five minutes because extended heating fucks up the flavour profile" list – that shit is not intuitive.

[thed20isbad]

#realstruggles

[thed20isbad]

TTRPG creation go!

Ive been noodling with the idea for a TTRPG for a while now and while i have a bit worked up making a full fledged RPG from scratch is fairly insane, even by nerd standards. Further, I hate the d20 for anything that is supposed to represent skill(see previous mini rant).

There are many RPGs to possibly steal from that have various dice schemes. But I want to make my own and not simply copy an existing system. So the decision is obvious the base roll is a few of my favorite dice.

3d12, with the goal of hitting multiples of a set number, usually 12.

Secondly, I want to make character creation insanely easy. The first few characters should largely be randomly created in seconds. More optimized/focused characters can be made as the players get more familiar with the system. To this end I'm creating what I call the Generic 4X4 System.

The system involves four aspects of a character:

Race/Species

Class/Job

Background

Association/Guild/Organization

Each aspect gives four abilities:

Offensive, usually direct combat effects or agressive social effects.

Defensive, some way to avoid, mitigate or prevent the result of an attack.

Utility, should be a "non combat" ability that is a part of the out of combat use of the class.

Specialty, usually a keystone ability that the aspect is known for being able to do.

‐--‐-----------

So fast example ripped from D&D...

Human

Bard

Entertainer

Agent of the Harpers

While a horror themed setting might have...

Skeleton(minotaur)

Gourd Warden

Birthed by Shadow

Employee of the Triskull Plantation

Or a game set in the Candy Land board game setting could have.

Gingerbread Man

Chocolate Chip Miner

Organic

Gumdrop Mountain Mining Corps

And a free for all game could be made with a shuffle and you might end up with...

Badger(honey)

Goddess of wine

Former Villian

Food Court Staffer

The end goal is to make the aspects all upgradeable, but that's less important at the moment and worrying about how to changes abilities smoothy from one teir to another is for future me to deal with.

[writing-prompt-s]

"You have been kind to this child of ours, though she is nothing more than a monster to you. For that, you have our endless gratitude. Kindness is often missed by our kind. For you to give her such a priceless gift… we won't forget it, Friend Of The Abyss. This, we promise."

[thed20isbad]

I bowed as deep as I was able, the blood loss and head injuries making even the slight tilt I managed, dangerous. I swallowed the mouthful of blood and saliva in my mouth before responding. "Og coursh loord, layfy, wes haad ashreat time."(Of course Lord,Lady, we had a great time.) My head pounded like an orcish drum. The Shadow Elementals presence was like a hot iron to the back of my skull. The ritual was nearly complete, I must complete it, or I would bleed out in the dirt. I swallowed again and looked down at the one holding my hand. It was not even to my hip, and looking at it only felt like a needle in my neck. The hand holding my little finger was my own. The right one sacrificed to the elemnyal so it could feel for a day. The poorly cautorized stump still dripped blood but was only obviously painful when I concentrated its existence.

The young Shadow elemental gestured wildly with its other appendage. The smokey psuedopod gesturing and presenting a small doll of leather and cloth shaped like a turtle. After a moment, it pulled the doll to what I would generously call a head. It had what I used to have in my head. My right eye, just off center and less than a finger's breadth from my missing teeth. The right half as well, luckily, it knew nothing of human anatomy, or it may have ripped out the jaw along with the teeth. The young Shadow Elemental had not been gentle, likely due to inexperience and exloration. I could see it had formed a small lump next to my eye, a grim facsimile of the swelling my face underwent when it took my eye.

I bowed again, and nearly fell again. "Hi shill ahwaysh sherve."(I shall always serve.) I couldn't keep the blood from pouring out of my mouth. I dropped to one knee, unrestrained by tension, I slammed to the ground. It seems I was lucky, and that was close enough to the correct solemn kneel that i had completed the ritual as I lost consciousness.

I woke later. Pain free, aside from the rock I seemed to be laying on when I woke. I was alive, that would be listed as at least a partial success by the cult. My hand was gone, but the stump was coated in fresh pink skin, and I could feel it. The exchange had been successful. My hand past the wrist for a sheaf of shadowy pseudopods. They were invisible in the light, but I could feel them, existing. I raised my hand to my mouth. My teeth were still gone. I would have to check later if that exchange had been successful, an all devouring blackness for my teeth. Lastly, my eye, also still gone. The wound was gone and the socket too. Flesh covered bone where once dwelt my eye. This exchange was also successful, my eye that sees light, for one that sees only darkness.

It was the least known of the exchanges. All reports said that one could see the in the shadows and dark places like it was noon on the solstice. It was true, I could see in and through the dark. That wasn't the end of the sight though. I could see through the sky, into the darkness of night. I couldn't describe what it was like to see forever expanding beyond the edge of the sky. To know there is more beyond the realm is one thing, to seek to touch the moon was another, but to know there are things and places higher than the moon in the sky and beyond the stars is another. I learned quickly not to spend much time looking up. There is a reason why the masters with this exchange are often mad.

[luna-azzurra]

MASTERLIST ✍🏻

Hi! This post is a huge collection of all my writing tips in one place. I will update this list daily and add new posts. And if you have any questions or feedback on writing materials, please send me an email at [email protected] ✍🏻

Writing Tips

How do i Plot a Book?

Childhood Friends to Lovers Gestures

Showing 'Fear' in Writing

examples of body language and action tags

Writing Trust Issues Tension

Quick Tips for Writing Emotional Tension

How to Write a Ruthless Character

Showing 'Anger' in Writing

12 Emotional Wounds in Fiction Storys

Gestures for Shared Moments

Symbolism in Writing

Instead of "Looked", consider

Words to Use Instead of "Said"

Showing 'Determination' in Writing

Showing 'Confusion' in Writing

Showing 'Anticipation' in Writing

Introduce characters

Showing 'Exhaustion' in Writing

Showing 'Excitement' in Writing

Writing a Morally gray character

Showing 'Jealousy' in Writing

Showing 'Love' in Writing

OC Developement

Eye Color to Define Your OC,

Describe your Main Character sheet

Body type and shape

Good Traits Gone Bad

Dialogues

Dialogue Prompts that Hurts

Jealousy Starters

Dialogue Prompts for Friendship

Dialogue Prompts for Unrequited Love

Gestures of Loss

When A Character Is dealing with anxiety they…

When A Character Is hilariously confused they…

Isolation Starters

Regretful gestures

Undermining Confidence Starters

When a character is Babysitting for the first time

Control Starters

Guilt-Tripping Starters

Soft angers Dialogue

Gaslightning Starters

Emotional Blackmail Starters

When A Character Is stuck in a never-ending traffic jam they…

Dialogue Prompts for Mystery/Thriller

When A Character Is dealing with an overenthusiastic fitness trainer they…

Confidence Starters

Prompts

Physical Intimacy Prompts

forced proximity prompts

When A Character Is feeling nostalgic they…

When A Character Is excited about something they…

Prompts for self-Doubt

When A Character Is excited about something they…

Grumpy & Sunshine Affection Prompts

Moral Dilemmas Prompts

when a Character us stressed they…

Supernatural Elements Prompts

Family Secrets Prompts

When A Character Is in a state of panic they…

Inner Conflict Prompts

Twist Prompts

Conflict Prompts

Signs of ….

Signs of Embarrassment

If You’re Writing a…

How to Create a Villain

If You’re Writing a Female Character, Avoid these Bad Writing Mistakes

Emotionally reserved characters

If you’re writing a character who is Naive

Writing Love

How to Write a Confession of Love

forbidden love prompts

When A Character Is in love they…

Signs of Falling in Love

Gestures for Expressing Love

Love Triangle Gestures

Writers Block

Ideas to Get Rid of Writer's Block Inspo

[thed20isbad]

A fine addition to my collection.

[thed20isbad]

Mini-Rant

The d20 is bad. It is terrible for anything that shouldn't be random. I've spent a decade of my life training my skills for harsh survival in dangerous situations... but still fail the simplest tasks 5% of the time. I've never attempted this skill or ability before, but i have a 5% chance of wildly succeeding to the point of legend.

Utter trash.

Bell curves. Multiple dice. You are supposedly playing a skilled character. Why is your output so random? Because the d20 is random, it doesn't represent the output of a skilled character.

3d6. Replace a d20 with 3d6. Reliable numbers more often, the spread is mort consistent, but you can still fail and succeed greatly. But at less than a percent chance.

Scaling is also capable of being done several ways. The different ways affect the outcome differently. More dice slightly flattens and extends the bellcurve, different sized dice raise and extend the curve, while raw numerical increases simply shift the curve on the scale. These three are representative of, depth of skill, potential and enhancement(quality tools or magic.)

[writing-prompt-s]

a princess who was cursed to be a monster and her servants who were transformed into living statures are shocked to find the youngest son of the neighboring noble standing at their gate sporting some nasty bruises.

[thed20isbad]

"How did he get this far?" The princess wondered aloud. The only replies were the grating of stone on stone as the servants worked their way through a complicated series of hand signs. But the princess already knew the consensus. No armor and no weapons, he must be a martial artist or wizard. They were wrong, though. She knew the young mans face even from this distance. Erik Greendoor, priest of Noon the sun goddess. "Escort him to the alter room. It's not Noonite, but surely he will find some sanctuary there." The silence was broken again by the grating sound of the servants stoney digits, followed by their thudding exit.

The princess turned to inspect her current wardrobe, and spotted her handmaiden waiting by the door. "Fetch some water and choose something tasteful for me to wear, I need to freshen up before this meeting." The maid bowed then left. A few minutes later, the princess was as ready, freshly scrubbed of what little sweat and dirt could possibly get to her in the mansion, and wearing a very conservative blue dress appropriate for religious services.

The princess entered the small alter room. Several short pews nearly filled the private temple of the royal family. On one sat Erik shaking and bruised, but hunched over a golden sundisc in prayer. "Apologies for the delay." Erik jerked in surprise as the princess spoke. Taking a seat in the pew behind the priest, the princess continued. "I'm actually here to praise and reward you." Erik stiffened again in the pew. "I've always preferred men like you. The tenacious, hard working types." The princess gently careessed the bruised shoulder of the priest, her hand glowed slightly and the bruising slowly started to clear. Erik relaxed a bit as the tension of injury was releaved. "Please, princess just release me." The princess leaned in to wisper in the priest's ear. "Then a trade it is. Yours for mine. A sweet release traded." The priest swallowed then nodded his head. "Yes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, the princess slumped over onto Erik's chest, heaving for breath. Slowly, she caught her breath and sat up. She picked up his hand and held it to her breast, nothing. Not a twitch from his nethers nor a feeble squeeze. Not dead, at least, she could still feel his blood pulsing through him. "Now that I've had mine, it's time for yours." She said, leaning in for a last kiss. The bite wasn't even painful on his neck. His head filled with the overwhelming mix of terror and pleasure, exhaustion and pain had overwhelmed Erik. The blood loss will be surprisingly gentle.

"Send word to our agent at the Greendoor estate, we need another male. We must fulfill the prophecy." She said, handing back a now bloody towel to the maid. "Also, have his body delivered to the lab. He may be of use still."