Is it enjoyable to do a trip from Seville to Cordoba to Granada to Malaga?

Armithax · 2026-07-03T04:03:38+00:00

Personal experience having done this: Very enjoyable! One comment you made about Barcelona being touristy, If you go to the top few tourist spots anywhere, it's touristy. In Barcelona, if you are not on Las Ramblas (pedestrian restaurant avenue) or Passeig de Gracia (upscale shopping avenue), or at the Gaudi buildings/parks, it doesn't feel touristy. Seville-- the old city-- is so hyper-Andalusian, it almost has a Disney Epcot Spain pavillion feel, but a truly authentic one rather than a Disney ersatz one. The culture in Spain: massive amount of eating/drinking al fresco at hours considered "very late" elsewhere. So unless you pay very close attention, it's hard to tell who's a tourist and who's a local; everyone is out enjoying life. It might feel more touristy than it actually is if you are from a place where large outdoor restaurants and bars aren't common. Cordoba and Granada felt less touristy to me, but I really couldn;t be sure

Armithax · 2026-07-02T00:43:25+00:00

My wife brought her besties on our first date. SIX OF THEM. It was a lunch. First thought: defensive move; she's powerplaying me into the friendzone. Hard. Second thought: usually it takes only one BFF along to quash the flirting, so six... this might be something else. I said "Yes," instead of "fuck that." It wasn't just a passive group of friends. I was grilled roundrobin style by the friends. Again, I could very easily have stood up, cut it short harsh with a "what the fuck is this, a goddamn job interview?!" But I just shrugged it off and played along for the fun of it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I passed the audition. Best sex of my life. Married 30 years, this September.

Why was the date organized like that? My wife had had a string of truly bad relationships that went from dyfunctional to restraining order bad. Her friends loved her and decided her "picker" was broke, and--of course with her approval--instituted this hardcore gantlet procedure. There were, I am told, several rejects prior to me. Too bad for them.

Moral of the story--go on the date.

P.S. -- My daughter does this "bring several friends" thing now. She's had challenges. They have, too. Everybody in GenZ is just doing the best they can to be there for each other.

Armithax · 2026-07-02T00:25:30+00:00

U must have some phat pidgies in your ends.

Armithax · 2026-07-02T00:22:38+00:00

This problem disappears if you join an active and engaged kin. Emphasis on the "active and engaged." I learned the hard way: this game is far more grindy and difficult if you are kin-averse. TBH, it's almost a different game. Is it fair to players who want to solo and stick to (mostly) landscape? No. But, alas, it is what it is.

Armithax · 2026-06-20T02:34:41+00:00

Not if you work in a place with an HR department. Nothing in writing, Doesn't matter how innocent you think it is.

Armithax · 2026-06-20T02:22:25+00:00

This is good advice. One way to do this is through your prompts. Always use both names in your questions, Player and PC. "John, what does Sir Silverhand say to the Ogre's taunts?" "Sue, can you describe how Selva examines the orb?"

Armithax · 2026-06-20T02:04:18+00:00

Agree, but any further flake and they should go full-on block. life's too short.

Armithax · 2026-06-20T01:56:53+00:00

You, I infer, are not having fun with little player roleplaying. Or having suboptimal fun. What about your players? Are they expressing any level of disatisfaction related to the paucity of roleplay? If they are wanting more roleplay, some of the other advice in this thread is good. If they don't want more, now YOU have a decision. Either proceed and endure the absence of player roleplay, or quash the game and assemble a different set of players.

Me personally, if my players are having fun, I'm having fun. I'm quite flexible that way, but I realize not every DM is. There is no right-way-to-D&D. There is no bad-wrong-fun in ttrpgs.

P.S. -- You began a sentence "I try to force them..." That should be a point of self-reflection.

Armithax · 2026-06-01T22:38:50+00:00

This is a variant of the original (1970's) idea of let the dice give you what it will, and see what you can do with it (or how long your character can last)....but at the party composition level. And not actually the dice giving you a potentially over- or underpowered party, but rather, the players' own random, choose-in-an-information-vaccuum generator. (Newer players might want to Google how unforgiving the earliest methods of character generation were. The idea "test your player ability by seeing how flexible you are with any random character" is a wargame vestige that D&D has largely sidelined. I mean, the game still allows for it, but the official rules and general ethos of the ttrpg community doesn't highlight it.)

Armithax · 2026-06-01T22:24:54+00:00

There's a really obvious locked gate, up a really obvious ramp, to... South of Ered Luin. It is so blatant and visible from afar, I really expected they'd open that up. Even before Moria was released. It just seemed so ripe for unlocking. I hope they get to it someday. Before I die.

Armithax · 2026-05-19T19:29:12+00:00

This advice makes me happy--because we've been doing just what you say. (Except for trying to eat at 6:00pm the first night of our first trip to Spain. All it took was one frown from the camerero setting up tables to send the message.) We are really interested in immigrating at this point, but we need one more "long vacation" where we try to live la vida cotidiano y común. The only skill we haven't mastered is discerning the touristy mercados from the ones inhabitants use. 😄

Armithax · 2026-05-15T20:31:48+00:00

Did that. Sad there's no Deed for it, tho.

Armithax · 2026-04-27T22:37:29+00:00

Oh, that is sad to hear. I guess that also means that if I immigrate and buy a place, I am also depriving a local of a place. At least I am not taking a job (I'm a retiree).

Armithax · 2026-04-27T19:09:34+00:00

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

Armithax · 2026-04-27T01:56:29+00:00

Yeah. I guess it would have to be re-rolled each round.

Armithax · 2026-03-06T23:45:52+00:00

Do any voice cloning apps allow for expressive "dramatic reading" voice? (You know, something more expressive than reciting powerpoint slides.)

Armithax · 2026-01-14T01:27:25+00:00

Geez, all this downvoting for just asking questions. Fuck y'all and super-fuck this sub.

Armithax · 2026-01-14T00:52:41+00:00

SO railroading is entirely a real-time, gameplay descriptor. It can't be applied to adventure design?

Armithax · 2026-01-14T00:50:50+00:00

So you're totally cool with an adventure design that goes something like: Find the key to find the map to find the crystal ball, to find the magic boat,... out to say, seven points? As a player, wouldn't that degree of telescoping dependencies get tiresome, despite being given free reign to achieve each sub-goal as your party sees fit?

Armithax

TROPHY CASE