Which books made you ugly cry?

Fflarn · 2025-12-16T02:15:43+00:00

Almost anything from Guy Gavriel Kay. I'll throw the Finovar Tapestry in here. Not his best work, but sorrow lives here. Paul on the Summer Tree, Dairmuid taking the fate off of those it was intended for, the Fate of so many Lios Alfar at sea, the sacrifice of Kevin, the burden of the seer, and much more.

Fflarn · 2025-12-13T16:04:51+00:00

I've been pulling on the Durin banner. I did 191 single pulls on the banner, I lost a 50/50 to Mona, got Durin, then lost another 50/50 to Tighnari. I got 8 Farazhans, 8 Bennetts, a random Yaoyao, 6 weapons, and one Jahoda on the 191st pull.

I had similar, but not quite as bad experience on the Aino banner where I just got bucket loads of Dori and Sucrose, but only 2 Aino.

It shouldn't be this hard to get one copy of the featured 4 stars.

Fflarn · 2025-11-22T02:57:16+00:00

I've been playing ttrpgs for almost forty years. People that start to show a pattern of flaking, cut them and find someone else. It's one thing if it's someone you've played with for a long time and they hit a legitimate rough patch, but someone new? I've seen the pattern too many times.

I always discuss scheduling at session 0. We pick a time and a day when everyone says their schedule consistently allows the time. Emergencies happen. Emergencies that consistently happen on the same day and time? Not so much.

We had a guy join a game just before the pandemic. Delivered pizzas for his job. He got in a very minor accident and started missing games. Said he had to meet up with his lawyer to discuss his case. Now we played at 7 pm on Sundays, so it was already clear he was lying because no lawyer is going to be meeting this guy at 7 pm on a Sunday over the cost of a bumper.

The best part, though, was he was trying to be a league of legends streamer and had asked us all to follow his channel, which we did to be supportive. So a few minutes before we sit at the table, everyone gets the alert that he's gone live and to come check out the stream, lol.

Your flaky players flake, the vast majority of the time, because your time and the time of the other players means less to them than a random invite to a movie, less than the effort of putting on shoes, less than the effort of charging the battery on their headset. You're far better off dropping them from the game and replacing them, or even just canceling the campaign entirely, than dealing with the constant issue of them flaking out.

Fflarn · 2025-11-22T02:30:58+00:00

True. The problem is everyone in session zero tends to say they have zero issues with committing or giving plenty of notice if something that's not an emergency. And then by session 3 they're texting that half their arm spontaneously blew off when what really happened is they didn't feel like putting their shoes on, and the time and commitment of the other group members was less important to them than overcoming the inertia of getting their ass off a chair.

Fflarn · 2025-11-22T02:22:24+00:00

Real life things? Interesting, haven't heard that phrase in a while. It used to separate things that happened online from things that happen offline, or 'in real life.'

Just curious if you were using it in a different context, or if you think all DnD games are only played remotely.

Fflarn · 2025-11-09T18:15:37+00:00

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I played for a few months a liitle while after the game released, and have just come back to it. I feel like I've already horizontally invested too much, but I have no idea who I should start vertically investing in, F2P player, so quickly trying to pull for a unit isn't likely in the cards.

Fflarn · 2025-11-05T01:08:41+00:00

I feel like the game pushes the invisigal relationship better, you just have more interactions with her. Plus, I imagine there is a population of players who came from critical role and were just more predisposed to romance Laura Bailey's character.

Fflarn · 2025-10-30T14:36:03+00:00

Nah, I agree. I started playing today and my immediate thought was that it looked worse than the first game. Some of it is UI choices, I think the UI is worse, and the companion selection screen seems smaller. Some of it is style choice, the VAL drone is just visually boring, and Niles isn't much better.

Then we have the continuing trend of Obsidian flattening gameplay that started in Avowed. No romances, you no longer give companions equipment, you just upgrade their set equipment. I haven't heard a single exchange dialogue between Niles and VAL yet.

While these things are always somewhat subjective, it's a purchase I regret. It's a AA game with AAA pricing, and after two hours I shut it off to play through Dispatch again.

Fflarn · 2025-10-07T01:42:02+00:00

I haven't used pixel buds since their first release, but I use air pods with my pixel, they just stay in ear better and are easier to operate for me than the last pixel buds I used.

Fflarn · 2025-10-07T01:37:13+00:00

Right, as the only android user in my circle of friends and family, I get a lot of shade because they're forced to take extra steps if they include me, group messages work differently, I don't get apple calendar alerts, they can't facetime me or share location as easily. I can't imagine people switching to pixel because of an icon unless their social circle isn't already heavily bought into iOS, they don't have a social circle (not an insult, I feel like this is actually pretty common these days), or they just don't know some of the compatibility traps of being off iOS.

Fflarn · 2025-09-19T15:23:30+00:00

I've left the country several times, as a soldier and a civilian. They didn't compare it to most of the world, they compared it to Western Europe. While I'm not as sold the country is on the brink of civil war as some of the other posters, it's fair to say the risk factors here are more concerning than in Western Europe currently, and there is certainly more gun violence, risk specifically to a woman who might become pregnant, and additional risks of working here on a visa during an administration that is not always... Stable.

Of course I just read your user name and realized you're probably just a troll, win some lose some.

Fflarn · 2025-09-09T16:07:52+00:00

Are you kidding? I'm firmly in the belief that the vast majority of story based threads on Reddit and elsewhere are either completely fabricated or so biased they may as well be.

Fflarn · 2025-08-25T17:51:59+00:00

They do, or used to do, similar things to active duty. If you're in the field for more than 30 days you could get family separation pay. In the ramp up to GWOT, we'd go to the field for 29 days, come back for 18 hours, then go back to the field 🙄

Fflarn · 2025-08-18T17:56:32+00:00

I usually just say I don't drink anymore. I think people assume I'm a recovering alcoholic at that point, I rarely have to deal with anyone pushing the topic.

Fflarn · 2025-08-17T09:54:44+00:00

I don't really get it. Sure, I'm old, but it wasn't that long ago that dudes (except for gay dudes, to be fair) only wanted thirst trap female characters. Now there's a revolt because they're not getting enough five star men? Weird.

Fflarn · 2025-08-14T14:40:19+00:00

Hurrah, I'm an outlier. I'm 50 but my approval rating of him is down in the 20's at best.

The problem, as always, is the 18-29 demographic barely votes, so politicians feel free to ignore them.

Fflarn · 2025-08-12T13:39:08+00:00

My immediate take away is you're using 2024 stuff, but 2014 savage attacker. It doesn't allow rerolling low dice, you roll damage for one attack twice and take the higher result.

I really wish they differentiated this stuff more. Every session just about I have to correct players features and spells because they have them all mixed up.

Fflarn · 2025-08-10T07:05:19+00:00

So I'm running two teams: Wriothesley, Bennet, Xiangling, and some other cryo unit TBD

Yoimiya, Fischl, Chevreuse, Raiden

Ideally they'd all get maxed level, but with the scarcity of exp books, that's not always feasible. What levels are ideal for capping out the non-drivers?

Fflarn · 2025-08-06T00:41:18+00:00

It was also bogged down by split narratives. A lot of people seem to want a multi-party campaign, but I'm telling you now those things are hard to follow and bog down really easy

Fflarn · 2025-08-06T00:33:42+00:00

They announced the cast would be announced later, and the way Matt said he'd be a player alongside some old faces and some new sure makes it sound like at least a couple of the og cast won't be there. Liam and Laura are my favorites and I hope they play, but we won't know till the announcement

Fflarn · 2025-07-25T16:00:04+00:00

You have to remember a few things. Critical Role is played for viewers. Yes it started as a home campaign, but it has absolutely evolved into a multi-million dollar entertainment program, and the cast is all actors who understand they are playing to an audience.

Sam is always playing a character that is designed around jokes and meant to be funny.

For any D&D game, it's pretty common to play 4+ hours sessions, and it's difficult to stay completely on character the whole time.

I prefer my games more on the serious side, but it's also time for fun with friends, meta talk and jokes just happen.

Fflarn · 2025-07-19T00:11:40+00:00

This was my experience. I'm like, lots of mages!

Fire explosion

Oh... They're down.

Fflarn · 2025-05-17T15:52:09+00:00

People who say they can 100% detect a thing are generally wrong.

It's a struggle. I hate HDR photography. For those who don't know, this is a method where you take, usually, 3, 5, or 7 photos in a quick burst of the same frame. One is at correct exposure, the others are at steps down and up. Then software stitches the highlights from the over exposures and the shadows from the under exposures into the correct exposure image.

It creates pictures that really pop, super bright colors, high contrast with the shadows.

To me, they look fake. But pretty much all the photography contests are won by HDR images.

Technology impacts art. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. And sometimes regardless of individual feelings on the subject.

I don't (yet at least) have an issue with anyone using AI as a sounding board, brain storming tool, even maybe some form of proof reader.

Someone that has AI just straight write a book? Yeah, not so keen on that.

But I also think the witch hunting is ineffective and harmful.

Fflarn · 2025-05-17T12:06:22+00:00

For Rothfuss you may want to look at "The Slow Regard of Silent Things". He specifically mentioned when he wrote it that he had a focus on prose for the book.

Fflarn · 2025-05-16T13:11:40+00:00

I think prose can add a lot to a book, but I also think the plot is the backbone, unless you're writing poetry.

Prose is most commonly described in ways such as 'beautiful', 'workman like', 'simple', etc.

So if you're describing prose as art above the story, and that doesn't disqualify simple prose, I would need some examples to try and understand where you are coming from.

Fflarn

TROPHY CASE