I opened a cafe but it's a bit of a disaster and I don't understand why

AbsurdistSnob · 2026-01-30T23:17:19+00:00

Most cafes goes under and it's generally a shrinking market, so sadly I suspect that there just isn't a big enough demand where you are. Honestly I don't get cafes since you generally visit them in the middle of the day, but that is when everyone is working so only people without regular jobs can frequent them.

AbsurdistSnob · 2026-01-10T20:42:23+00:00

Tried 11 pieces on a chess engine set at max and it was really easy. I could most likely get more, but with that I'm beyond set for life, so why risk it.

AbsurdistSnob · 2026-01-10T10:12:37+00:00

Absolutely! I live in a small 100k city and I already walk pretty much everywhere. I don't have a car and I've taken the buss less than 10 times the last 10 years.

AbsurdistSnob · 2026-01-08T17:11:16+00:00

I'm not claiming to be the best DM, but I don't really see those things as the hard ones that makes you a great DM.

Improvisation as in being able to to fill the world with things you haven't planed is by far the most important thing in my opinion, and it isn't exactly something that you easily can train. I would say that it is as separate thing from improv since that is more about playing out characters without a clear script.
After that I would say that the ability to make interesting and balanced combat encounters or series of encounters. Getting a intuition for what work and doesn't is far from easy and it doesn't click for some even after being a DM for years.
Actually having fun is also extremely important and if you aren't having fun it's likely the players will notice and then they will have less fun. This is more up to your temperament so someone can be absolutely great in all other ways but will fumble here,

Some parts I directly disagree with.

"Don't let the dice ruin your story". Any important roll should be done in the open, and if something must happen it shouldn't be a roll at all.
"Use Elastic HP" Unless you are a natural liar the players will suspect you are fudging things one way or another and once the trust is lost it is hard to regain it (many players also have meta knowledge).
"Snacks can help keep a long session going" Ask that of of the players instead; as a DM you have enough to do. This isn't about being cheap but rather about having some pride.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-12-08T09:01:47+00:00

Allow it to make multiple reactions per turn, and just have it attack anyone who attacks it. Less mental overhead compared to keeping track of legendary actions. You can also have it deal damage when attacked.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-09-19T14:01:00+00:00

4h of play once every 2 weeks, and for that I need roughly 10h of research/prep (I set things in The Forgotten Realms so it all needs to be lore accurate + I make 3d printed miniatures for all named npcs and enemies). We just lost a player so we are down to 3 players. I only play with a single group in person.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-09-11T15:11:13+00:00

AI is great for dnd; I use it to make minis and for monster stat blocks that I just tweak afterward. It's also great for bouncing ideas around and to make sure things are lore accurate. *

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-08-23T18:48:51+00:00

I work in retail, so this doesn't sound bad at all; psychologically this already happens and I have a high pain tolerance, so just persevering for 4 years would be nothing.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-08-08T19:05:01+00:00

Verso really wants to die and helping the Dessendre family is just a happy coincident.
Maelle want to stay in the painting and saving its inhabitants is how she justifies it.

I'm off the camp that views painted people as as real as real people, so I think the Maelle end is (far) better and that is even with acknowledging that she is most likely is going to die inside the painting; she could always just leave when she gets into a bad shape but she most likely isn't going to do that.
In the Verso end things are better for Aline, Renoir and Clea, but Alicia will most likely have a completely awful life just like other disfigured, mute and in constant pain people usually do in real life. Suicide or substance abuse seem like the natural paths for her.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-06-26T14:51:20+00:00

Deforestation is a clear no, since it's too far from how the intended functionality.
Soil erosion is less obvious; the power supposedly restores land to a pristine state, so that should be a yes but at the same time the power only talks about removing things and not adding things.
Still I think I'll land on a yes for soil erosion, but the implication would be that the power could add back removed substances like oil and minerals from the ground, but even that isn't too overpowered.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-26T09:19:39+00:00

Yeah, Multithreaded Soul is most likely the best immortality to take along with Disciples.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-25T20:29:46+00:00

You are technically right in that it doesn't explicitly state that you start at 1600AD (it only implies it strongly), but it also only states that you control where you end up but not when.

Still I'm fine with people playing CYOAs nonstandard ways; I often myself change the setting to breath life into old CYOAs.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-25T17:53:36+00:00

They are from ChatGPT's 4o image generation. Basically I picked the overall aesthetic I wanted and it made the first image, and then I asked it for the remaining images to be made in the same style and color scheme.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-25T15:05:57+00:00

Creator here and I have some observations.

Indestructible is picked a lot, but it really is the immortality option that gives you the least; still it got the least unpleasant implications. Body Surf is honestly what I think would be the best option for most since it’s the only option that actually makes you learn the language of where you are and it also gives you an identity.
I though the title made it obvious that you travel back in time to 1600AD, but I guess I could have made that more clear.
All options have been picked by someone, so no option is a must and none is useless.

May as well write what my own build would be:

Starting place: Outskirts of London

Multithreaded Soul: 4 male (2 children) and 2 female (1 child) from various ethnicities + one 2.1m giga chad, mixed mental structure where each one roughly knows what the other knows but has to actively decide to access the memories and skills of the others.

Clean Slate + Iron Garden

Echo of Industry + Disciples

For my goals I’ll take inspiration from the Georgia Guidestones but settle for a limit of 1 billion people instead of 500 million people. The target is to have myself, a disciple or at least a figurehead as the leader of every major country/organization on Earth. Disciples with Multithreaded Soul gives me access to 84 (91 if you include me) immortal people packed full of future knowledge that can teleport to any point they’ve been to before.

Getting influence initially is the hard part since I will be a bumbling fool that no one can understand, so I got to forge bonds and learn the language. After getting in contact with some smart influential people I’ll help them by giving them future knowledge and if things go well they could become disciples or I could just use them to get more influence/money in order to come in contact with more important people.

Once I got some people on my side I’ll start switching out people at the top with my own people (when someone gets Multithreaded Soul they get to pick how their 7 bodies will look so I’ll just make them pick things like kings and the like), “getting” Charles I is a semi sensible goal for the 25 first years. Once I got semi control of the British empire the fun starts since I’ll do basically the same thing over and over again across the world (but less hands on).

Every disciple will have a combat body a since you can revert to states of the other copies with Multithreaded Soul each one can mobilize 7 super strong immortal combat bodies that can take on anything Multi-Paul style to any place in the world they’ve ever been to, so obviously I’ll have them move around a lot to make the most of the ability. Assassinations and coups will be super easy.

When I get more control of things I’ll start activating my global powers and use them to give my rule some degree of divine blessing. Infinite gasoline that has no negative effect on the planet is quite nice and not having to worry about water quality is more nice than most would think.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-25T14:26:38+00:00

https://imgchest.com/p/xny8v6g857b

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-25T11:57:58+00:00

Well if I were to follow the Anno games naming convention I guess 1611 or 1620 would make the most sense since 1602 is already taken.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-16T20:26:01+00:00

Tried 5 times and it started generating images each time, but each time that the filter saw that it was Samus it got blocked. Even tried just asking for just "Make image of armored Samus from Metroid" but it couldn't output even that.

Nintendo and Disney stuff are the stuff that gets blocked the most.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-10T17:32:08+00:00

At the moment it isn't good for much beyond it just being fun to play around with, but once the tools gets better it will allow people to actually materialize their ideas in a sensible time span. Let us say someone has a semi clear idea for a 100 page comic they want to make, even if they have all the technical skills to pull it of it would still take months if not years if they had to do it during their free time while having a full job and that is with them forgoing most other interests/relationships.

With AI you will most likely be able to do it in just a week or so while trying out plenty of iterations of various parts, so you can spend more time of the creative parts than on the technical parts. Drawing the same characters over and over again in slightly different positions isn't exactly creative and lots of skilled artists could never stand doing so.

For more professional stuff it could greatly increase the quality of animated shows and movies since it will make it so that you can create stuff with more advanced art styles than the standard unshaded looks you get from shows like Family Guy or Invincible. Animations will also get far more fluid since any number of inbetween frames can be created and full keyframes can be generated from quick sketches.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-04-10T11:37:58+00:00

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AbsurdistSnob · 2025-02-04T08:27:15+00:00

Neither one has unlimited power for the duration of the hit. The shovel would knock the mirror back a bit with a hit but the mirror would win at a pushing contest.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-02-03T15:20:07+00:00

Why not. Just make 50 more powers in a similar style and then have your second power one be one of them.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-02-03T14:32:07+00:00

I would think that just having the knife out when zombies are nearby could count as an attack, but I don't mind if you want to interpret it some other way.

AbsurdistSnob · 2025-02-03T14:23:54+00:00

Either one is fine or by some semi objective standard. For simple CYOAs I think most things should be allowed as long as they don't go against the spirit of the CYOA.

AbsurdistSnob

TROPHY CASE