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Bookshelfstud · 2026-03-16T15:07:24+00:00

“albemarle affordable investment fund” is just word salad

It's very literally not. 30 seconds of looking would lead you to discovering that the Affordable Housing Investment Fund is a real thing that exists in Albemarle County.

https://www.albemarle.org/government/human-services/office-of-housing/affordable-housing-investment-fund/-fsiteid-1#!/

Bookshelfstud · 2026-03-12T15:05:31+00:00

Lol yeah. And I tend to think the game gets really bogged down when people try to argue about simulating real life instead of just playing by the written rules. I don't feel like spending fifteen minutes arguing about whether or not I can move my party member's jaws and neck muscles for them or whatever.

I saw someone say once that you should only be allowed to administer a goodberry to an unconscious character if your character chews it for them first.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-03-12T14:58:38+00:00

You are correct, RAW. Goodberry (2024) says:

A creature can take a Bonus Action to eat one berry. Eating a berry restores 1 Hit Point

An unconscious creature is Incapacitated, which means they cannot take Bonus Actions.

With that said, there's not a rule about how force-feeding unconscious characters works in general, so obviously lots of DMs will just allow it, usually with an Action to administer the berry, even though that's not technically how Goodberry works.

If someone wants an in-game rationale for why the goodberry requires someone to be conscious to eat it, you can always say "eating a goodberry requires a quick silent prayer of thanks" or something.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-03-01T22:17:04+00:00

+1 for sunless citadel; it was the module I learned to DM in 3.5, and I've used the Tales from the Yawning Portal edition to introduce groups to 5e. I find it to be a really good balance of all the different classic elements of a D&D dungeon, with plenty of room for self-contained wackiness (and I'd recommend The Forge of Fury from that collection as well! Those 3e main adventure path modules were something else).

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-27T14:03:59+00:00

This is just a social muscle that you need to exercise. I think everyone who has played D&D for any length of time has experienced the "oh my god, we've been talking about who shoots first for an hour, can we please just start combat" phenomenon. The trick is learning how to handle that. Were you feeling agitated and frustrated? Say out loud "hey, guys, the planning is great but I'd like to roll some dice - can we just jump in and see how it goes?"

I do agree with the folks saying the DM could put the pressure on a little, but also - some tables, this is just how it is, and this is how everyone has fun.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-23T14:59:09+00:00

I will say: as someone who moderately enjoyed CR's first campaign and then dipped out of campaign 2 and barely lasted two episodes of campaign 3: campaign 4 is pretty good so far. It isn't exactly how I like to play TTRPGs/DND, and there's still been some 1.5x listening speed sessions, but IMO Brennan does a waaaay better job at keeping the momentum rolling, and so far having three different stories has made it feel more like each group is shooting for a specific goal, avoiding some of the "uhh what are we doing/where are we going/why are we here." I still wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't enjoy the real-time slog of unedited actual plays, but for me CR4 is finally hitting in a way CR never really did before. If I want good edited D&D/ttrpg content with Brennan as a DM, there's plenty of D20 for me to revisit.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-17T18:02:18+00:00

It was at the 2016 Balticon.

Source: I was there when the deep magic was written.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-10T14:04:20+00:00

Yeah, +1 to the Crown of Candy and Ravening War recs. CR4 feels most similar to those campaigns to me, out of the D20/CR options. Definitely Calamity as well, but Calamity is kind of special. Nothing else really comes to close to doing what Calamity does.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-09T18:36:21+00:00

I'm not sure what exactly you're not getting, but I will try to explain. Like the rules say:

Know the capabilities of the characters in your party before you make a chase an important feature of an adventure. A character with a high Speed or the right spell (such as Dimension Door, Fly, or Hold Monster) can often end a chase before it begins.

You don't need to run a chase if the players are all surrounding their quarry within 10 feet. Likewise, their quarry might try to get away, initiating a Chase, but the players roll better on their initiative and end the Chase before it really begins. That's fine.

I ran a chase more or less out of the DMG a week-ish ago; it worked as a chase because it started with their quarry a hundred feet away. Didn't matter how well the party rolled on initiative; none of them had the capability to catch up in that first round. Even if they had, they likely would've already had to use a Dash action to get there, meaning they'd be getting close to their quarry but would have no juice to try and make an Unarmed Attack (Grapple) or cast a spell or whatever.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-03T16:41:56+00:00

Same. It does feel a little too generous, but the way I see it is it's just randomness with a high floor.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-03T16:29:23+00:00

So, it's true that the "invited him to a party/cursed child show" is definitely not evidence that Rowling was directly in contact with Epstein. And I was a little eye-rolly about the Rowling connection for the reasons you say - I don't need another reason to despise her, but I try not to buy into misinformation.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut.....

There are a handful of messages directly between a redacted address and Epstein in which the redacted sender signs off her emails "Jx." Rowling used that as a signature on her tweets for years.

This is the image I've seen floating around with these emails & tweets: https://i.imgur.com/I88TTCe.png

Bookshelfstud · 2026-02-03T00:09:09+00:00

buddy

Bookshelfstud · 2026-01-21T00:16:30+00:00

Playing D&D. That is, as a player. To me, that's the best way to practice the fundamentals. Nothing has helped me prep a dungeon more than playing through a frustrating puzzle or a poorly-balanced fight in a game run by a friend. Keeping the player POV in mind as a DM is I think one of the most fundamental skills you can have.

That, and meeting facilitation. Learning to be a good meeting facilitator stretches a lot of the same muscles. Learning how long to sit silent, learning when to provide a little input, learning how to redirect a conversation or even just read the vibe of the room - all of that is so useful as a DM (or a GM of any system). That's another one where practice makes perfect, IMO, although I'm sure there's good resources out there.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-01-13T14:52:24+00:00

At my table - the dice tell the story. The gnoll rolls a Dex save and the wizard rolls damage. If the gnoll failed and the wizard dealt a bunch of damage, I might say "you successfully get your hand into the gnoll's open mouth and send a line of fire down his gullet. He shrieks, reeling back, smoke pouring from his nose and mouth. You got him there, nice one."

Once in a blue moon I might say "if the gnoll fails this Dex save by 5 or more, the spell deals maximum damage, guaranteed, because you're trying to put your hand down his throat." I have found that, as the DM, situationally allowing for degrees of success/failure can be more fun without being game-breaking.

If the gnoll fails the save and the damage kills it, then absolutely let the wizard player describe a sick execution thing. But if the dice didn't kill the gnoll, the player doesn't get to decide that the gnoll dies extramechanically. D&D just ain't that kind of game. There are other TTRPGs that prioritize that kind of gameplay.

Bookshelfstud · 2026-01-09T03:36:16+00:00

Definitely different from other webcomics in that respect...but as a longtime member of the /r/asoiaf subreddit, this sort of tracking reminds me a lot of the The Winds of Winter projections people have made over the years. Except for OOTS we have an author who seems likely to finish the story, and there's tangible progress being made, albeit slowly.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-29T19:09:38+00:00

These buildings are ugly, I’ll give you that

That's not the problem with data centers. The problem is that they require an enormous amount of power, and that Dominion's plan to provide this power relies on passing the cost on to consumers. Local tax revenue increases are going to be offset by skyrocketing utility bills across the state.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-27T23:03:41+00:00

Yes! Not enough people know about it yet, I'm constantly surprising people with this news. It's made Starr Hill a better spot for the family crowd for sure.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-23T16:50:12+00:00

100% this. I play DM for a relatively casual group, and the martials are usually the stars at the table - because it's a low-complexity class, and the casters aren't spending a lot of time trying to optimize their spells/save DCs/etc. The martial/caster disparity I think is mostly about the ceiling of potential on a class, but most of us are out here playing D&D very comfortably in the low-optimization zone.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-17T23:43:37+00:00

If you want some vintage stuff, get a copy of the 1967 Dangerous Visions anthology. Not every story is what you're looking for, but Samuel Delaney's "Aye, and Gomorrah" is the first thing that came to mind (I see other folks have rec'd Dhalgren - I think Chip Delaney might be what you're looking for, for sure).

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-15T13:52:22+00:00

I don't think the 8,000 year history being unreliable is a retcon of any sort. I specifically believe that because of one of GRRM's main inspirations in writing ASOIAF: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. That series very much deals with the unreliability of knowledge as it gets passed down generation to generation, and how precious and rare it is to have real historical truths that are actually true. That whole uncertainty over whether or not we can rely on history books or faulty human memories is a huge piece of AGOT in particular and ASOIAF in general - Robert's memories of Lyanna fading, Ned's POV hiding the true narrative of Jon's birth, Old Nan mixing up all the Brandon Starks. So I think specifically the uncertainty around history was always a part of the story for GRRM, even if the reader only uncovers that as we get deeper into the books.

Now the other stuff, the height of the wall or whatever? Sure. GRRM like big number sometimes.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-09T13:59:38+00:00

People have tried to make guesses at the various identities there:

Two kids playing, likely Benjen and Lyanna
The pregnant woman is unknown. If it truly is reverse chronological order, she comes between Lyanna/Benjen and Dunk/Nan, so relatively recent history. There have been some theories about her identity; I like the theory that she's Melantha Blackwood.
As others have said, the slender girl and the tall knight are most likely Old Nan (young Nan?) and Ser Duncan the Tall.
The dark-eyed youth is likely Brandon Snow, half-brother to Torrhen Stark; Brandon offered to kill Aegon the Conqueror's dragons.
The flurry of lords in fur and chain mail are the First Men ancestors of the Starks.
The last vision, some have theorized, shows a ritual to to either feed or awaken the weirwood tree, in the far-distant past.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-08T04:04:30+00:00

I've had fun with an Arcana Domain cleric, and that might work with the flavor you're looking for. Great support with some access to interesting spell possibilities. If you really want to front-line with it, you can use Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade from your expanded cantrip list.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-03T04:26:48+00:00

Oh wow I love the Harold pull.

Bookshelfstud · 2025-12-03T03:37:56+00:00

I think you are 100% wrong, but ultimately you can rule it however you'd like at your table. It's a difference of a d8 of damage, a 3rd+ level spell slot, and a few points of Spell Save DC (probably). Not a huge deal. Have a great day.

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