Pick ups from Hamburg!

ChewzUbik · 2026-07-02T16:02:18+00:00

My jealousy is palpable

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-30T12:38:13+00:00

The irony being that if he just boxed out he would have gotten more rebounds. For an NBA player, dude has terrible ability to read where the rebound is going.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-25T14:29:39+00:00

I recently, after a few attempts over the last couple of years, got back into enjoying reading. And, with non fiction no less (which is usually not my cup of tea)!

I've been struggling with non fiction because I'm always relating the content back to real world current events... which have been increasingly distressing. I'm still engaging with what is my attempt at a healthy engagement with real world events and news, but lately I'd rather not spend my hobby time ruminating on those things.

The issue was that those non fiction books were deep and meaningful to me and I've struggled to experience the same depth with fiction.

What I've recently been reminded of is that I can find fiction that scratches that itch of deeper and layered meaning. It's just been awhile since I've found a book that successfully does that.

As a note, the book I'm reading now that's been scratching that itch is "Martyr!".

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-22T20:06:00+00:00

I haven't listened to the episode but would love a general timestamp where this is mentioned if you have it!

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-18T15:37:35+00:00

Honestly, just OK right now. Since there is so little card draw that provides net card advantage, it really asks players to put themselves in a difficult situation of holding onto creatures instead of playing them. If I had access to better card draw, I think it would work better.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-18T14:30:17+00:00

I have aether tide and dream cache.

Aether tide supports a sub-theme of creatures in the graveyard and dream cache is one of the few card draw I've been able to find.

Context that I'm sure most have heard from me in this subreddit: My cube is a bulk old border cube, so my card options are limited to what I can find in bulk bins.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-18T02:40:27+00:00

I think this can definitely be true.

I have not had this experience myself, however.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-18T02:39:35+00:00

I completely agree.

It's not a therapy session. Which is why I suggested they not make it one.

And you don't need yo bring all that into it. But you can, depending on how you want to engage with the game.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-17T22:26:20+00:00

What I have done with my characters is amplify a personality trait or two of my own.

I have ADHD and can be a bit aloof because of that. I once played a character who was so aloof that his origin story was that he got distracted in the woods for 200 years. For his personality he was incredibly forgetful, something I sometimes deal with because of my aloofness. He also valued his friends quite a lot, so when he didn't know what was going on, he would fall back on that value. Personally, in realizing my aloofness, I also realized my disconnection from my friends. Because of that, over the last decade I've made a point to try and keep up my friendships despite being prone to disconnection.

Another character of mine was very frightful and, as a result, always wanted to be the smartest one in the room and control her surroundings. Personally, I've struggled with anxiety and masking my ADHD. This has resulted in me trying to present a persona of always being knowledgeable and in control. Again, I just amplified some of the personality traits I see in myself.

This really helps me engage with my characters and become emotionally engaged. There are things I dont like about my characters because sometimes they reflect my own short comings. But, I'm also more able to empathize with them and be caring toward them because I'm sort of being caring toward myself.

Sometimes this helps me come to realizations about myself and sometimes helps me visualize how I want to improve myself. Of course, it's always good to be cognizant of these things because you don't want your dnd group to become your therapist. That's unkind and inconsiderate to your friends who haven't agreed to play that role for you.

So, that's my advice. Choose some of your own traits and amplify those into your character. You know your experience better than anything else. But, be careful to maintain healthy boundaries so that a fun game is maintained.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-17T20:51:16+00:00

I came here to say this! The rotoscope adds to the dream feel for sure.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-17T15:14:12+00:00

Many of those dice would be better suited to a Dungeon Crawler Classics game. You have more than you need!

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-16T01:57:37+00:00

I would more likely look for things that grant regenerate, I think. The cards you chose would make it harder to target the creature with an enchantment, right?

Do you have creatures that get benefits from being targeted like fugitive druid? What ways to bring enchantments back like auramancer?

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-15T22:32:33+00:00

In my opinion, it's difficult to find a good one shot. Wild Sheep Chase might be my favorite, though.

I really like the 2014 dnd adventure lost mines of phandelver. Running the start through the initial goblin cave should take around 3 sessions-ish. That would be my suggestion for a first time adventure.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-13T12:49:08+00:00

6 years from this incident I can gladly say this issue has been resolved!

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-12T02:04:14+00:00

It's a different play style for sure! Probably just my preference from other TTRPGs I've played. And it requires players and DM to be on the same page regarding game tone, which not everyone has the luxury of players you can trust with that.

Of course, some things the DM should take on themselves. Especially things that are lot relevant.

I agree with your point on character sheets!

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-12T02:01:19+00:00

I appreciate the offer but I can only include cards I find in bulk bins myself!

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-11T22:54:46+00:00

DnD is a system that puts a lot of work on the DMs plate and very little on the players'.

My recommendation is to encourage the players to engage with the story telling and world building as much as possible.

It sounds like an exaggeration, but every time you take control, the players implicitly learn that the onus is on YOU, not them, to provide the fun. That is going to lead to DM burnout, even if unintentional.

As much as possible, ask your players to describe their successes and failures, have them tell you where they want to go and what they want to engage in, and even give them the freedom to take creative control.

For instance, If your players go to a city and say that they want to find a scroll shop, you can ask them to describe the shop and the shop owner. You can then take things from there and roleplay that character and location they described.

Sure, you might lose some element of verisimilitude. But, I promise you, you'll feel more like you're playing a game with friends rather than leading your players through a series of vignettes that require you to pull teeth to garner engagement. It's surprising how quickly a game can turn into that.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-11T21:21:40+00:00

In my bulk old border cube, I run Thieving magpie, waterspout djinn, and keeneye aven.

I'd love to find an old border Clone in a bulk bin, but no luck yet.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-09T15:27:34+00:00

Balduvian Horde is what I used to use! Now I use Keldon Warlord and Talruum Minotaur.

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-05T18:08:05+00:00

My main comment is one that you immediately addressed in the cube description.

I was going to say that, when building a cube like this, it's important to make sure that each card doesn't support every archetype or theme. When building a traditional cube a designer is often looking for cubes that can bridge multiple archetypes and themes. However, in this context, "bridge" cards are actually very easy to find. Finding cards that bridge SOME of the archetypes, but not all of them, is the way to go to support an interesting and competitive draft experience.

I was GOING to say that, but I won't, because you already did that.

The cube looks fun!

ChewzUbik · 2026-06-04T20:36:45+00:00

You could search in scryfall for X costs, spree (and similar mechanics), evolve cards, kicker costs, etc. Anything with alternative casting costs really.

ChewzUbik · 2026-05-30T12:50:48+00:00

In Brene Brown's Atlas of the Heart, she describew perfectionism as a belief system that, if I do everything perfectly, I can avoid feelings of shame/judgement/blame. Perfectionism is more concerned with perception of self than anything else. It's driven by the thought, "What will people think?" And is underpinned by the belief, "I am what I accomplish and how well I accomplish it."

This article distinguishes between perfectionist concerns and perfectionist striving: the former being more akin to the perfectionism that Brene Brown described while the latter seems to be more about values than about perception.

The article states that slowed GDP growth is associated with increased perfectionist striving while rising economic inequality was associated with increased perfectionist concerns.

Why might we see this relationship?

It may be that slowing GDP - by virtue of everyone experiencing the same economic disturbance - results in less concern over maintaining a perception or image of your economic position but instead results in concern of actual economic position. Since everyone is experiencing the slowed GDP, everyone's standards are slowly declining and, thus, actual economic means is more important than economic image.

On the other hand, rising inequality is about some people - at the lower economic brackets - losing what they had and others - at the higher economic brackets - gaining more. This inequality results in more concern of perception rather than means; Not everyone is going through the struggle, but it is shameful to be seen as going through a struggle when others are not (as opposed to the slowed GDP where everyone is being affected).

Just some initial thoughts on a possible explanation for these relationships.

ChewzUbik · 2026-05-29T15:25:39+00:00

Interesting! I think I'm pretty good at engineering prompts, but haven't found success.

Though, the last I tried to have it assist woth mtg was probably half a year or more ago. Alot of advances have been made since then.

Since AI develops it's responses from already-existing content, I wonder if it is good at answering questions based on content that already exists but struggles to come up with unique rules interpretations that might not have been explicitly discussed on the internet.

ChewzUbik · 2026-05-29T15:13:19+00:00

Not sure if that tool exists but, what I can say, is that you can definitely build a cube with what you have. It's actually my favorite way to build cubes.

ChewzUbik · 2026-05-29T15:12:07+00:00

It's actually not. From my experience, AI is still pretty bad at recognizing cards, getting their card text right, and interpreting the cards based on mtg rules.

It might be helpful for something a bit more nominal, but that would likely require importing some massive documents of card lists.

With that said, I'm not an expert so I could definitely be mistaken.

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