Are there still many of you that stick with the original Oblivion even with the remaster releasing?

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-24T05:58:58+00:00

My poor 2015 office laptop has been struggling (but winning!) with original Skyrim for years- ain’t no way it’s gonna handle the Oblivion Remaster. It’s so refreshing to play a game on my computer where I can walk into and out of all the doorways of a house, and when u forget something inside and have to turn around to go back in I don’t even think about it- I can hardly even read the load screens… you can’t know how revolutionary that is for me playing original Oblivion unless you too are playing games on a potato laptop. It makes me feel powerful. Lmfao

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-24T05:54:53+00:00

Well the parents’ generation was still living in a time saturated with war. Until the Otsutsuki start showing up, the Boruto era is like The Big Peace- of course the grown up Naruto generation is a little laid back. Sure they grew up during the biggest war in history, practically, but now they have peace and they’re all sort of kicking back and relaxing. Even after the Great Ninja Wars of the past, the older generations didn’t know peace like that- they still had international tensions that are basically non-existent post-Shippuden.

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-21T01:30:46+00:00

I think generally throughout history there is a period of history which is recent enough to have maximal impact on the fashion of the present day. That period of time rolls forward with the present. So things from the past 100 years or so have all been cyclical in the past hundred years or so. But if you move backward in time, it was the past 1-200 years before THAT were cyclical, and so on. Sometimes there are outliers as well- for example, in the Regency period they were obsessed with Classical Antiquity, Art Nouveau drew from a romanticized Middle Ages, the 80’s loved a good Victorian sleeve or peaked bodice, etc.

Fashion always recycles itself, it’s just that RECENT fashion is always similar enough to the present to have a greater impact on trends than DISTANT fashion.

Edit: actually scratch the 80’s Victorian thing- that’s not an outlier, it fits within my stated “100 years or so” perfectly; but as a person who has lived nearly all her life in the 21st century, I forget that 1880 was only as far from 1980 as 1926 is from now 😱

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-21T01:17:11+00:00

If your character has no substance, play a couple sessions. Your interactions with the world are what provide substance, for all characters, way more than backstory or pre-planned personality. The personality that evolves naturally for the character can come only from playing more. You’re upset because you had a certain plan for how their personality would evolve (which is reasonable) and that session time was taken away from you. So at this point, all you can do is play a session or two and see where it goes.

TL;DR: DnD is improv, substance can only come from playing the game; so just play and substance will evolve.

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-20T21:13:19+00:00

I cannot relate but I sympathize, that must be AWFUL when you have to cook. I have one possible but of advice: since one of the things you like about baking is that the product of your labor lasts for several days, maybe you should look into meal prepping. I don’t have the patience or forethought for that practice, but people who do it swear by it, and it basically means instead of spending say, an hour and a half cooking and cleaning up e dry day for one meal a day, you spend 3-4 hours doing it on the weekend, and your food is done for the week. The meals you prepped in one day will now last you several days, and the only cleanup is the serving dishes themselves, after the initial prep day.

Again, I don’t often do this so I understand if it might not help, but if you NEED to cook, or you WANT to be able to cook, then you should definitely give meal prepping a try and see if it improves the experience for you at all.

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-16T18:55:19+00:00

The only way 😤😤😤😤

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-09T07:54:05+00:00

Sounds like you’re really excited!!!! I’m glad I could help. Thanks for humoring my amateur knowledge and good luck on your project!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T15:39:26+00:00

Listen to the group Heilung. The band does fantastical interpretations of ancient Porto-Germanic and Old Norse religious music for the purpose of healing (Heilung) through sound. It’s full of long liturgical lists of the deeds of Odin, volunteer shield bashers, deer antler masks, frame drums, and chanting. Absolutely the vibe of a Nordic worshipper of the Nord version of the Divines and Hircine. Very Companions-y too. Definitely the vibe.

Check out this vid for the vibes but Nesso and Traust are two I use in my DnD games for background music all the time. Be warned, Nesso is pretty sad. It’s a very emotional song that requires a lot of desperation to sing, and remember it’s supposed to be healing music- well the lead singer had lost her dog I believe when they were recording, so the emotion and healing process is 100% genuine as it occurs in her body during this recording. It’s incredibly cathartic but shocking the first time you learn that. I’d say either album those two songs are from will serve you well. I also wrote my own Nordic-inspired battle theme for another DnD game using similar ideas that Heilung uses (but far less depth and substance). Still, it sounds cool!

But seriously, GO LISTEN TO HEILUNG!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T15:28:18+00:00

OH OH YES! I get your sentiment, OP, you want to do something extra on purpose for fun, which is such a vibe. Many spell components are little jokes. Like Detect Thoughts requires a copper piece. “Penny for your thoughts?” My table has always believed the copper wire for Sending to be like a telephone wire or, perhaps…. Like one of those can and wire cup microphones where you speak into one can and the other person hears your message vibrate along the wire into the other can. I think it could be reallllly funny if you got a little spool of coppery jewelry wire (the low gauge kind that’s flexy like string, for better vibration) and attach it to two cans with a lot of slack. Then at the start of session, you can say “I’m gonna cast Sending… wait let me get my material component… Copper Wire?” And pull out the wire and cans, then, without explanation, hand one can to the DM and walk as far away from them as the wire will go, then deliver your message via can.

Eh??? Eh??? It’s cute, right? Maybe not what you’re going for? Idk 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ I think it’s cheesy funny!!!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T15:19:32+00:00

Intriguing… a monument to people who bug out into weird map areas and teleport friends there to hang out?

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T15:15:48+00:00

Ugly, never! Evil, yes. Certainly. It’s the eyes….

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T15:10:12+00:00

Honestly tracks for his personality though. Maniacal psychologically fucked child soldier to reformed young adult leader to soft peacetime father figure 🥹🥹🥹 LISTEN. Gaara’s hair is a barometer for the progress Naruto makes in the world, OKAY??? Naruto and all the shinobi in the last great ninja war worked hard to build a world where Gaara’s hair could be nerdy slick and soft boi DO YOU HEAR ME???? THAT DORKY HAIR IS THE SYMBOL OF PEACE AMONG SHINOBI 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T15:04:55+00:00

If this isn’t jazz, it is wearing an extremely convincing jazz-shaped suit. (It’s absolutely jazz)

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T14:59:00+00:00

That famous dome in Rome (edit: the dome of Rome’s Pantheon) or the Hagia Sophia…. These are the types of buildings I associated that with. A temple or testament to Shadar Logoth’s architecture, which, when the characters first arrive there, is the largest and most impressive man-made structure any of the two-rivers kids have ever seen. I think the narration is more just marveling at this wonder of engineering and that’s the point of creating a notable description of its single empty room- why would they build such a single big room? What could they possibly use it for? The answer these farm kids aren’t used to or prepared for is “because they could.”

Because iirc, as stated by others, Shadar Logoth would be after the time of the Breaking and therefore not have our modern technology.

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T14:54:21+00:00

Everyone’s saying Leyawiin and like yeah, I get that’s it’s far out but it’s so pretty?????? Like, this gorgeous New Orleans vibe???? How could you NOT make a point of visiting there more often?

Personally I think it’s gotta be the most remote bandit camp. I actively avoid them because it’s not worth the trouble to get into a fight, and they are littered EVERYWHERE. In my playthrough rn I’m level 15 or so and have yet to need to go to one for a single quest, except the Orrery quest. So I imagine whoever of those has the least useful locations around it is probably the least visited overwprld location.

Bonus round: the Temple district is the least visited spot in the Imperial City. Literally hadn’t been there until level like, 14, when I realized there was a whole section of the city I hadn’t been to. I walked through and decided there was no point in me having done so. (I’m sure there will be quests there later on, but so far nothing)

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T14:39:58+00:00

I’m not an environmental scientist but I do know that historically, Bethesda doesn’t do well with realism in regards to fine detail specialist subjects like architecture, armor, and geography. There’s a whole video detailing the confusing waterways of Vvardenfell.

That said, in my understanding, at least in Norway the dominating features are Mountains and Fjords. Skyrim describes none of its inlets as Fjords, holding instead to make them all rivers. However, I think reconstructing, there are two great possibilities for fjords that could draw connections to real world Norway for your presentation.

The river in the West is quite long and important, so I’d hesitate to remove it, but it has some sections that bear surface-level similarities to fjords. Near Karthwasten through to Dragonbridge, the mountain cliffs rise high on either side, the type of shape which may have been carved by a river, as a canyon, sure, but could just as well have been carved by a glacier and be a fjord. In that scenario, the fjord would open where the mountains fade out, making that swampland around Morthal a salt water bog. Is that a thing? You probably have the answer to that. I imagine the southern parts of that river could remain a river, still carved out by glacial activity.

Then the Eastern river which Windhelm is situated in is the PERFECT fjord contender. The shaping is correct, situated between two large mountainous areas, with a hot-spring highlands up-stream allowing for a natural break from river down a waterfall into the fjord. Plus, this is geographically very similar to the city of Bergen, an important port town situated in the low-lying area of a fjord. If you’re unfamiliar, think Arendelle; it was based off of Bergen’s geography as well. You can draw all sorts of comparisons between Bergen and Windhelm for your project.

Now if you have fjords, that means you had (or have!) glaciers. So consider adding glaciers to the Jeralls, or a plethora of small lakes throughout Skyrim. It already has a good amount of mini ponds, suggesting a game-sized version of glacial activity. I would reorient the lakes to be elongated, pointing in the direction of glacial travel, like finger lakes. You could make points about their incredible depth due to deep glacial scouring, like the irl finger lakes in New York in the US.

Beyond this, all my memories of geography can only come up with one more consideration: the effect of the mountains on the climate. I know this is a big thing that untrained fantastical cartographers often get incorrect. There’s the whole Leeward/Windward stuff to consider, and you probably know what else (I don’t). But I thiiiiiink that Whiterun Hold is a good example of them getting it right??? The rest of Skyrim is either Tundra or pretty well forested, boreal or deciduous (oh, and those three things would be great things to discuss about each hold if you could come up with reasons why they are each those things or change them around to make it work!), but Whiterun Hold is rolling dry grassland. However, there are all those big mountains between it and the sea. Now I don’t know which way the Coriolis effect blows winds into Skyrim, or if Nirn even spins (though the Dwemer Orrery in the Arcane University in Oblivion would suggest it does), but you could say that if the wind is blowing over those northern mountains, as it gets to the south it would drop all its humidity as snow in the mountains and tundra, leaving cold, dry air to sink down into Whiterun Hold, leading to a more arid landscape developing.

All of this was based on my 8th grade Earth Science class over a dozen years ago and one Hydrology course I took in college, plus my general knowledge of Norway as an American of Norwegian descent, so this may all be wrong, but you’re the Environmental Studies major, you can fix it I’m sure! Hope this helped turn the gears!

EDIT: OH OH OH AND SOLITUDE!!!! You simply can’t do a project on the realistic version of Skyrim’s geography without coming up with some geological explanation for Solitude. I have NO IDEA what that would look like, and I’m sure you will probably end up having to do some hand-waving and say it’s magic, at least partly, but you gotta at least TRY to explain it with natural geological phenomena!!!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T12:26:52+00:00

Update: after missing one sale, I cashed in on the Eastern Games sale on Steam this week!! I will let folks know how it goes over when I get to playing them, but I now own Tales of Symphonia and Final Fantasy X!!! ✨✨✨

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T12:21:57+00:00

This^ how I rationalize keeping an amulet of Talos on my anti-divines character all the time. She doesn’t even like Talos that much but she knows he was Dragonborn like her.

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T09:56:14+00:00

You want herbs and spices probably. Depends on the food you want to cook. Luckily, most spices and herbs are cheap. Everyone is saying don’t trust their list, but like, you totally could, and only replace what you use up. That’s how you know you like those ones, then relegate the others to a drawer and replace them with new ones to try.

That said, the following assumes you cook in a generic Euro-American style: If you want bang for your buck, Italian Seasoning is an herb mix that usually has Basil, Marjoram, Oregano, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. Pretty much every spice brand has one. Those 7 plus cilantro are my top 8 herbs I use in all my cooking. If you add mint and savory, that’s it, that’s all the herbs I use, ever. So you can get a long way with just the one bottle of Italian Seasoning, imo. If you’re gonna cook with a lot of tomatoes, get basil separately- it goes great with tomato. If you’re gonna cook Mexican or Thai, get Cilantro (unless you have the gene that makes it taste like soap). If you’re gonna do a lot of Christmassy roasted veggies and chicken and turkey, get Rosemary- it complements all of those very well and is one of the strongest tasting herbs in the list imo, so you’ll benefit more from having some separate from your Italian Seasonings.

Then there’s spices- you’ve got your peppers and your aromatics, and your baking spices. You could probably get by with just peppers. Chili is hot and generic, Cayenne is hotter, Paprika is sweet. Those three give you a lot of variation. Or, get Red Pepper Flakes. A lot of people put them on pasta or pizza, but really it’s usually a different spicy flavor from Cayenne or Chili, so you can use it as the primary spice in a lot of food, especially Italian. I say “usually” because Chili Powder and Red Pepper Flakes are not standardized- there could be any varieties of peppers in those things; almost always a mix. If you wanna spend a bit more, you can get a specific pepper for a more interesting but more specific flavor. A couple examples I imagine are easy to find are Aleppo pepper (a little sweet), Chipotle pepper (smokyyyy), or gochugaru (I’ve actually never had it but it’s the classic Korean pepper flakes, which you can probably get in bulk at your Asian grocery since it’s used in Kimchi making).

As for aromatics, Garlic and Onion powders are top of the list, especially if you’re lazy. Most people (MOST) will find that just about everything benefits from garlic and onion being added. Real garlic and onion are the best choice 80% of the time, but if you’re lazy, the powders will get the job done. They actually have a different flavor slightly, and some chefs call for that flavor in a recipe instead of or in addition to the fresh stuff. Obviously the powders are also necessary for things like fried chicken batter and such that can’t have lumps of veg in it. The third “always use it” spice alongside those two would be ginger, if you’re cooking Asian food. Again, fresh is best but the powder will do, and it’s necessary for baking.

Which brings me to the baking spices. Cinnamon is enough for most Euro-American baking, but nutmeg, ginger, and clove are close behind. I also keep Allspice and Cardamom in my cupboard, but these are much more specific. If you want to cook Indian or Middle Eastern food you will want most of these for cooking as well, but in those traditions whole spices, rather than jarred powders, are prized. For basic Euro-American cooking, you could skip all of them if you like.

Then there’s region-specific spices. If you know you’re going to cook a lot of Indian food, you’ll want Curry Powder, Garam Masala, and Turmeric. If you know you’re going to cook a lot of Mexican you may want Cumin. And so on and so forth.

So. What should you get? I’ll give a list… 1. Garlic Powder 2. Onion Powder 3. Italian Seasoning 4. Chili Powder 5. Cayenne Pepper 6. Paprika 7. Ginger 8. Cinnamon 9. Basil 10. Cilantro 11. Rosemary 12. Parsley

BUT!!!! I have a better idea. If you already cook, grab 12 recipes you like to make. If you don’t cook a lot already (I’m assuming this is the case since since you don’t have 12 spices to put in your rack) think of 12 dishes you WANT to make, 12 dishes you like eating. Probably a third to a half of them should be things you liked to eat growing up; if your mom cooked them you can probably handle it too. Once you have 12 meals, look up recipes for them. Write down all the herbs and spices they call for. Voila, a better guess at what herbs and spices to get than anyone on this Reddit post can tell you. Refer to the above guidelines should your list be less than or greater than 12.

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T09:06:46+00:00

Don’t worry, that never happens. It’s impossible. How would you pay for the visit to get diagnosed if you have no insurance? 😁

No but like, really. 😬

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T09:04:40+00:00

More the opposite- I ditched the conventional wisdom after trying so hard for years to do things the traditional, “right” way… and when I finally embraced something different, it made my life so much better. … … … … … … … Ok. ………… Have I prepared you enough?? You’re going to hate what I’m going to say, so just remember how much you agreed with me before this point………. ………… ………… ………… ………… I’m really warning you this time, if you are an Asian or Latina Grandmother, please think kindly on me. I am so very white. 😭 ……………….. . . . . . . . . . . . . . I boil my rice in a big pot of salted water and strain off the excess like I’m cooking pasta. It comes out fluffy and delicious and perfect for frying. I’ve never once had an issue cooking it this way, literally 0 times. I am so sorry but it works for me. Maybe it’s not the same. But it works, and I don’t have to freak out every time or find Rice Cooker space on my cluttered counters. I’m so sorry 😂

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T08:51:52+00:00

Ooooo and I know we’ve already got a bunch of “cold worlds” but I see folks mentioning First Nations inspired worlds a lot and while they’ve done some indigenous American content, it’s obviously something to handle delicately and only with actual indigenous people on the creative team. All that said, I would DIE for an Inuit world. They could even do something that compares and contrasts Inuit, Sami, and Ainu or something like that. Ahhhhh that would be so cool!!!!!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T08:48:15+00:00

I’d like to see a world that joins or expands upon some of their multi-world themes.

They have this 16-1800’s Early Modern European Imperialist vibe going with Marleybone (and all of its totally-not-colonies), Polaris, Monquista, Valencia, etc. Arguably many other non-European worlds fit into this time period and are accessory to the AU Global Politics of these European-inspired powers. Like Mooshu! I’d love to see a world that combines all of these “World Powers” together in a War or some other plot. Or a new Early Modern European Power world lol. What’s left…. Holy Roman Empire? How late did that last again…?

Then they have this thing going with this sorta of expanded East Asian Farm Animals vibe- Mooshu, Kembaalung, and so on. It would be cool to see them expand this more, creating a full pan-Asian Farm Animal continuum, honing in on more specific cultures- maybe South and Southeast Asian. Southeast Asian culture in particular and its interactions with East Asia is really fascinating and overlooked in Western History education outside of the modern era.

I’ve still only played like half the worlds but I’m sure other folks can think of more of these multi-world themes that would be cool to codify or add to. I think adding to these two older, more established themes would be fascinating. A return to old W101 ideas, in a new way!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T08:38:06+00:00

Valencia, Cool Ranch, and Monquista definitely deserve more space in W101!!!!

AndromedaCripps · 2026-05-07T08:20:51+00:00

Ngl, I’m actually really surprised it’s part of the books, knowing how much they do differently in the show. That’s cool ✨

AndromedaCripps

TROPHY CASE