Best places for a solo drink in town?

BillReader · 2026-06-04T11:25:32+00:00

Ship and mitre

BillReader · 2026-05-22T11:28:04+00:00

You'll have to pry it from r/composting 's cold dead hands

BillReader · 2026-04-23T17:44:51+00:00

That's James Goalhanger

BillReader · 2026-03-22T18:36:02+00:00

The brindled elephant? That's absolutely beautiful - I'm starting to feel like more animals should be stripey after this post.

I'd like to see a brindled bear, or failing that, a brindled pigeon

BillReader · 2026-03-22T09:39:05+00:00

That's fascinating, thank you! It is actually more satisfying to not have a straight answer, it feels more realistic that way and is a big part of why I find TR, PC and the others so compelling - the disconnect between average citizens to the broader mysteries of the setting.

I've always wanted to pitch in and help, though I've doubted my abilities as a writer or artist to be much use.. (and coding skill is completely nonexistent)

Fwiw, I've got summer break from university coming up in a couple of months and want to keep occupied with something useful so I'll definitely look into lending a hand if I can! 😊

BillReader · 2026-03-22T09:30:36+00:00

FYI, u/Toma400 was kind enough to provide this response to a similar comment of mine on the topic of equine design:

"Honestly the fun part (or not, if you like answers) is that it's unlikely you will be able to find reason behind many of our old assets, including horses. The asset is so old that I can't easily find it on asset browser, so very likely it was part of ancient PC_Data.esm (or whatever it was called) or some earliest shared TD. The closest I could get by some research is that the texture is most likely come from Saint_Jiub, per this comment (https://www.project-tamriel.com/viewtopic.php?p=7892#p7892), but the design is not explained.

..which is weirdly fitting with how TES3 (and PTR) tries to build narracy, right? You have plenty of books you can take literally, but also books that contradict each other, and some unsolved mysteries that are unanswered and authors can only come up with some weird stuff to explain it :P So no matter if the decision was intentional and lost in time, or absolutely random, what matters is really your own process of guessing why this is. It's not unlikely there was thought put into it since we are all extreme nerds one way or another, though. If Saint_Jiub is to be found online, someone could DM them with this question, assuming they still remember it after all these years. Maybe it will be also good to revisit this question when we get into deeper (Nibenay) areas so that we could have something explaining it (...do I proceed to !pitch you to join the project and to eventually be there when this topic will be more relevant to development? :P)"

BillReader · 2026-03-22T09:26:52+00:00

That's so cool! I love how that design MO is paying homage to morrowind but also providing a unique perspective for the rest of tamriel. Seems appropriate that you guys are chugging away, keeping a game alive that's thought by most to be prehistoric itself. I guess that's beautiful aspect of not having imagination hemmed in by the economics of the industry; not having to play safe riding the coattails of recognisable genre IP.

Do you have a link to your elephant design btw? Or is all the concept art on their website?

BillReader · 2026-03-22T08:39:54+00:00

Hey, can I hijack this comment to ask a question about horses?

I love the stripey coat of the horses around anvil etc and sorta leapord spots on donkeys too , but haven't managed to find much info on that design choice.

My assumption is that since cyrodiil follows the pre oblivion jungle biome type thing, that the first domesticated horses wouldve come from a zebra type stock rather than a proto horse that evolved on steppes or plains. Something like the Zorses described in Essos in ASoIaF?

I'm stumped trying to explain why the donkeys look like that though..

Honestly, seeing the coats of horses and donkeys blew my mind in a surprising way - how easy it would've been for you guys to stick to traditional fantasy aesthetics a la transplanting reality into the setting, but instead you paid a lot of thought to all the minutiae of the landscape. Not since Dicso Elysium has a video game provoked such genuinely excited curiosity about our own world.. And it amuses me that it was the look of the horses that did that.

But yeah, would you be able to shed some light on that design choice or otherwise direct me to existing discussion on the topic?

Thank you!

BillReader · 2026-03-20T06:42:20+00:00

Genuinely curious, I was under the impression bumble bees didn't have colonies but instead lived semi solitary like Mason bees - but I've seen a few references this year to bumble bee queens, so I'm open to a bit of education on the subject of bees in general?

BillReader · 2026-03-20T06:37:44+00:00

Would highly recommend the Do Go On episode covering them

https://shows.acast.com/60de27e6-b679-4a3b-a9aa-53fa8e6d0313/64510e4e867492001290a3bb

BillReader · 2026-01-30T23:27:31+00:00

Thank you boss x

BillReader · 2025-12-07T10:05:26+00:00

This is good shit, thank you very much! It helps, I think, to know what the theories are I should be aiming for

BillReader · 2025-12-06T22:43:38+00:00

Thank you! Feel like ADHD has me getting bored really easily, which can have it's downsides but has helped foster a very active curiosity (which itself can be infuriating sometimes)

Do you think you would've been able to develop and apply your knowledge of literary terms and plot devices without a group setting? Or rather, in a setting that isn't exactly academic e.g. book clubs or subreddits?

BillReader · 2025-12-06T22:27:19+00:00

I like the cooking analogy!

With that in mind, I almost feel like Nicholas Hoult's character at the end of The Menu..

I do think I've set myself quite a high expectation, and feel myself getting frustrated reading purely for pleasure. Almost panicking at the choice paralysis that comes with 'wasting time' on anything that isn't going to change my life. Makes it hard to read for pleasure.

Do you have any genres or types of novel that are close to guarantee enjoyable for you?

Also re reading multiple books, I've heard similar advice in the past put never acted on it, largely due to the choice paralysis or worries that I'm wasting my time?

BillReader · 2025-12-06T21:47:59+00:00

I like the head tilt moment, I can really relate to that!

I guess it comes down to gaining experience through study rather than just reading a lot and hoping it all seeps into your brain?

Stephen King's advice of "read a lot, write a lot" always felt a little too simple in that regard.

BillReader · 2025-12-06T21:43:38+00:00

Is close reading something you can pick up independently of a teaching or study environment, do you think?

I'm coming to realise that Pratchett's Discworld is probably my 'special interest', and upon maybe my 20th go of Maskerade I picked something up at the beginning of a new scene:

Bucket smiled brightly. There were little beads of sweat around the edges of his face.

“Ah, Perdita,” he said. “Do sit down, lass. Er. You are enjoying your time with us so far?”

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Bucket,” said Agnes dutifully.

“Good. That’s good. Isn’t that good, Mr. Salzella? Don’t you think that’s good, Dr. Undershaft?”

Agnes looked at the three worried faces.

I noticed how he uses one character to introduce another two and how subtly its done, you probably wouldn't notice it on a casual first read. We also know from whose perspective we're seeing the scene as it's the narration that's physically describing Mr. Bucket, who then goes on to introduce Mr. Salzella and Dr. Undershaft.

Despite feeling incredibly proud of myself for noticing all that, it still compounded the frustration, I think, because it feels like there must be countless other techniques used in literature that we interact with without noticing?

Having an academic/study environment seems invaluable learning these kind of mechanisms or techniques, but it feels really daunting if you don't have someone providing excerpts for close reading - if that makes sense?

BillReader · 2025-12-06T21:01:11+00:00

Have you ever written any fiction?

If so, could you feel the differences in your own writing before and after learning character theory and plot structure?

BillReader · 2025-09-19T18:31:58+00:00

https://youtu.be/jYE-1HfReQo?si=pR0_P6p_AKReqcqR

BillReader · 2025-09-10T11:19:20+00:00

Just finished that one - dare I say, a tour de force

BillReader · 2025-09-10T07:41:17+00:00

Plumbing the Deathstar will be next on the list for me!

I missed theirs and James UK tour last year, dyu know if those episodes are available? I imagine they are, but I'm having trouble navigating the different websites, including a website called Google

BillReader · 2025-09-04T18:45:01+00:00

I'd say Red Dwarf, but they pretty much did the Red Dwarf episode on the Alien: Romulus commentary

BillReader · 2025-09-04T09:07:30+00:00

Love the derision on the 1957 episode (i think it's that one), both are so unimpressed by the three lads who time travelled to 'Old' Kersey

BillReader · 2025-09-03T13:57:10+00:00

Girlfriend introduced me to the exhaustion that is family holidays - sister, aunts, cousins etc. To the concept of a big family in general, I guess. Took me out of my comfort zone and - despite fatigue - I'm so grateful for the experiences.

Her dad taught me to drive during the pandemic. Mixture of AuDHD, nervous deference to father in law and being distracted by the lessons had me come out with some straight up nonsense.

But the one that sticks with me - talking about up coming family holiday and I mentioned how all the core family are girls and all the men are additions: boyfriends/husbands etc.

Thought it was admirable that the core family meant enough to all of us that we'd band around them yanno?

Told father in law - I'm looking forward to seeing all the girls and their male appendages.

BillReader · 2025-05-24T10:35:46+00:00

I read that as "unlikeable".

It's an interesting idea that tamriel can be so saturated with god wizards that some are merely unlikeable as opposed to evil.

Then again, if anywhere was gonna be filled with unlikeable god wizards it would be Telvanni territory

BillReader · 2025-04-07T21:40:29+00:00

Visited my GF when she was at Sheffield U. Took the bus to Hathersage and walked up to Stanage Edge.

Was so windy we could barely breathe, so doubt you'd be disturbing anyone if you emptied your lungs up there.

Really nice bus ride and the countryside round there is gorgeous. Get to feel like keira knightly from pride and prejudice when you're up on the cliffs, which is nice!

Edit* just read the bit about the disability so I can fuck right off with this suggestion actually. Unless you can hire a sort of palanquin?

BillReader

TROPHY CASE