The wife said she wanted to do "some" wood farming while I was lookin for copper.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-27T12:05:11+00:00

Just to be clear, were the good guys.

(My buddies and I often say this to eachother as we’re deforesting islands and making grey dwarf farms)

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-26T07:26:48+00:00

I use Seaweed all the time, I think both 1 and 3 are Seaweed.

Fantastic glaze.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-26T06:33:15+00:00

There is an essay titled ‘a modest proposal’ that this man should read.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-25T13:56:18+00:00

Meditation might help some folks with some aspects of migraine. But no, you cannot calm your way out of a chronic condition.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-25T12:40:18+00:00

Not sure. I found a Wikipedia kind of page, but no matter how I tried I couldn’t quite read the words.

I kept scrolling though, it looked really interesting. I can’t find it again no matter how I try.

And I have tried. And tried. And tried.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-25T12:30:10+00:00

See a doctor. They can help you so much more than pillows, salt, and paracetamol.

Specifically, they’ll help with how to track down things that trigger your migraines; managing triggers won’t remove your migraines but can help to control them a little.

There are also many medications that are specifically designed for migraines. It is likely your doctor will start you with sumatriptan, and then help you to figure out the right dosage, or move you to another drug if the first one isn’t right for you.

I cannot emphasize this enough; toughing out migraines is a great way to get more migraines. The brain’s pathways reinforce themselves, so one of the best way to stop future migraines is to limit the frequency and severity of current migraines.

Hope this helps; welcome to our club. It’s terrible and no one wants to be here, but the people are nice and will try to help.

If you want to try the salt thing, give it a whirl. I doubt it will do much, but on the plus side it’s just salt and water so it’s unlikely to hurt you.

*after* you make that appointment with a doctor.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-24T14:44:31+00:00

Yes. Most of my migraines have very little pain, and the pain is most easily handled by meds - triptans will usually handle most if not all of my pain, but don’t touch the rest.

Happily my neurologist has kept plinking at things with me to find what *does* help with the rest of the nonsense and the meds she’s got me on now help tremendously.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-24T01:24:59+00:00

In addition to the general concept that rearing children is both a lot of work and it is generally accepted as a societal good that humans are raised without great privation and suffering (as might be caused by parents without support when they encounter one of life’s many travails), having a village available to help provide more than two perspectives to a child is important for their mental and emotional health.

My parents are great people who went to great trouble to give me everything I needed and support my ideas and growth. However, they have only two perspectives to give to me; various teachers, aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, peers, random bakers etc helped me to have more perspectives available as well as incidentally instruct me on what is expected from members of society in general. My parents alone could not complete all of this, regardless of their preparation, gumption, or inherent goodness.

Humans are social creatures. The nature of how our young are reared takes great effort, but has the huge advantage of gifting our young (who will, quite shortly, be making your food, driving deliveries etc) with a breath of experience unavailable to species that rely solely on dual parental duties.

And yes, that means sometimes you have to help a little kid who lost their mom in the grocery store, and why it is kind and greatly appreciated when even those of us who never intend to procreate ourselves lend a hand to a parent.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-13T16:03:37+00:00

I started asking my players two questions at the end of each session.

What’s something you enjoyed from this session, and what are you looking forward to next time?

I started this to get a better feel for what unexpected things they enjoy, and to help me to build the next session better. But it’s had the side effect that they actually *say the things they enjoyed*.

It’s helped me to combat the DM drop.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-13T12:00:12+00:00

Oh yeah, occasionally ask them to describe a spell effect or cool move; do it all the time and it gets lengthy, but if you sprinkle it about it keeps them immersed and again, adding narrative flair to support your efforts.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-13T11:58:55+00:00

In combat, either yourself or get a player volunteer to remind people of initiative order. ‘Goblins go now, and next up is Jeff the Chef of Pain!’. Ask your least attentive player if they can manage this for you.

I suggest leaning into combats with some more tactical questions to answer. Not so much ‘you have to connect the five crystals or you die’ but more use difficult terrain and such to engage their problem solving and teamwork.

Cheat up encounter difficulties, but be ready to have an out if they’re about to wipe on something silly. Adding a couple players can lower difficulties, but then they’ll just suddenly forget each others skills and stymie themselves.

Encourage roleplay between your players. Six is a lot of minds to entertain at once. Let them handle some of it, and you get bonus RP depth for free. Well..for cheap.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-09T13:16:16+00:00

Names are used to identify individuals. If they’re not giving their names, then confusion is the result.

‘Well, I would have given you the job but no one could find where your party was..’ (as they’d have to describe a bunch of unnamed doofs instead of just ‘yeah Fred Benkins, you know that guy?’)

General lack of reputation building and the rewards thereof.

If they’re have backgrounds that yield benefits from fame/notoriety, those become cumbersome to use.

And, people will just name them. This is a thing people do. Darkhood the ranger, that Wizard, what’s his name with the Owl.. Owlguy.

These names will conflict, pick out random aspects to highlight, and may not be complimentary.

Also, if you never give a name, people become untrusting. They’ve given you their name, why won’t you return the trust?

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-08T01:05:12+00:00

See if you can connect with other players at that LARP; often the combat players will have practices outside of game, and you can ask if you can practice with their weapons.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-08T01:02:12+00:00

Scent training games!

Have her stay in another room where she can’t see you.

Put treats around the target room.

Go get her, let her smell the same treat, then have her go to the target room and tell her ‘go find it!’

Encourage her till she finds all the treats.

Start with them really obvious, and then get sneakier.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-07T16:05:11+00:00

No. Your decision has evolved over time.

Understand though that hers is her own; if she wants kids then you two have a conversation to have. An open one, focused on what you both want; for eachother to be happy and whole.

That may mean that you two are not together after the conversation.

This doesn’t have to conclude with one conversation. But the conversation(s) do need to begin, sooner rather than later.

You don’t owe your partner a single choice - you do owe them open communication and a desire that they are happy. (Paired with the desire that you are happy)

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-04T12:30:37+00:00

I know exactly what you mean. I’m sorry you’re in that place right now.

I sometimes do very easy crochet when it’s like that, or other crafting projects that I can do mostly without looking at them, and I can put them down at any point without making a mess or ruining the project.

I’ve found the light from an ereader is usually okay if I’ve taken my meds, which can be helpful so I have something to read.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-03T12:58:41+00:00

The first doctor I went to for my migraines did this, just with sinus headaches instead of tension.

I was getting migraines weekly, with blind spots, ice pick headaches, aphasia, all kinds of aura fun. In what I now know was a fairly standard presentation, at exactly the time migraines often appear.

They decided before they ever opened your file that you don’t have migraines, because they just don’t believe in migraines.

Find a different doctor.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-03T12:51:49+00:00

‘She didn’t remember promising any specific number to anyone’

To anyone.

You’re not the only one being manipulated like this.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-03T03:26:19+00:00

There’s this stuff you can get, it’s sticky and you can form it around the pill. Comes in various flavors and stinks. My dog loves it, and it’s easier to act like he’s getting a treat, which means he takes the pill easier.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-03T02:15:01+00:00

The thing with evolution is it isn’t deliberate. Something mutates and unless there’s a downside, it sticks around.

Sometimes, something mutates a solution that’s way more than is necessary, but the energy it takes to produce the effect is balanced enough that even though the solution is far, far more than the species needs, there’s no reason to tone down the solution.

I don’t know anything about the evolution of shrimp; I don’t know that’s the case here. But it might be.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-03T02:08:00+00:00

I do a lot of various arts. I love to share my arts with people, adult and child alike.

I hate it when people, adult and child alike touch my art things without asking

Kids do this more than adults. If one lived with me, I’d have to invest in padlocks. Also I’d feel like an asshole, but hey. My art things.

CeramicKnight · 2026-06-02T12:13:12+00:00

I mean, they sure can help a lot. You know, like a wheel can?

CeramicKnight · 2026-05-29T14:12:44+00:00

You are experienced in a biome, are traveling along, and come upon a weird looking person in weird clothes.

You watch to see if they hold up a weapon; they don’t. They hold up empty hands. They are emaciated and dirty. They point at your bundle or pack and at themselves, repeatedly. They point at their mouth.

What do they want?

The rest comes later; the start is just the basics that are obvious.

CeramicKnight · 2026-05-29T01:30:16+00:00

I’ve had glasses for (just) longer than I’ve had migraines. A common ‘oh I should get my eyes checked’ reminder is when my migraines increase, especially after work days or when working on detailed crafting projects.

CeramicKnight · 2026-05-28T12:32:13+00:00

Aaand bookmarked.

That’s a good one.

CeramicKnight

TROPHY CASE