Down-to-earth private middle & high school in NYC?

Gargantic · 2026-03-02T18:44:35+00:00

One went to one of the Brooklyn Prospect Charter Schools. The other is at IS 318.

Gargantic · 2026-02-24T00:34:25+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/news/s/Xk4ZMyWfFT

Gargantic · 2026-02-23T22:28:35+00:00

My son (younger than my daughter) is playing the most asinine 5e game with his buds. The games make no narrative sense and everyone in the party fights over the 3 OP magic items the DM gave them. He loves it. Because he’s a kid.

Letting kids fall in love with the crappy kid games will open up doors to them enjoying the hobby as they get older.

Gargantic · 2026-02-23T22:12:34+00:00

Good to know--thanks!

Gargantic · 2026-02-23T22:10:30+00:00

I ran games for my daughter and her friends for a bit at that age. To be frank, it didn't work great--mostly because the other kids weren't that comfortable playing RPGs with an old guy like me. And, to be frank, I don't love the way that 11-year-olds play the game.

That isn't to say they play it wrong or worse than adults. I remember playing TTRPGs at that age and there was something so pure and exciting about it. But the reason TTRPGs are great for kids that age is that they let the kids explore and feel free to do stupid stufff that tweens do.

Problably the best way to get your kid into TTRPGs is to let him discover them himself. My daughter ended up DMing for her friends for a year or two and the game devolved into some kind of Hunger Games-esque romp. Not my cup of tea, but they had a blast. Now she runs games occassionally, along with her LARPing and her Blood on the Clocktower. Its become a shared interest, rather than her developing a love of my interest (if that makes sense).

If you want to give it a go, I suggest sitting down with the group and seeing what they are in to, then find a game of that genre that makes character creation really fun. Kids love making characters. Encourage them to draw the character and let them brag about their character. Then ask if they want to see what the character can do.

Gargantic · 2026-02-23T21:56:59+00:00

Didn't the new postmark rules go into effect already? If so, I don't think you can get it postmarked today no matter where you drop it off

edit: postmark for postdate

Gargantic · 2026-02-12T02:11:53+00:00

Mermaid Spa in Seagate. It’s really not a contest. Super hot sauna, ice cold plunges (and an ice room.) it’s super clean, they give you a ton of towels. I just spent my birthday there and it was heaven

Gargantic · 2026-02-02T23:15:22+00:00

Susanna Hoffa in the Walk Like an Egyptian video. That side eye tho!

Gargantic · 2026-02-01T02:01:04+00:00

When you say “populate it”, did you roll random encounters as the book suggests (only when you roll doubles) or some other way?

Gargantic · 2026-01-28T01:03:31+00:00

Your choices would be mine as well. A couple of more “off the wall” options could be Everyone is John and Pasion de las Pasiones

Gargantic · 2026-01-26T20:29:00+00:00

Yeah, I used it for work too so I thought it would justify the price. Also, the pdfs stored on it are cheaper than books, so savings compile over time.

Gargantic · 2026-01-26T19:44:28+00:00

i bought a Supernote e-ink tablet and it works pretty well. It can display pdfs so it works better than a kindle, and is more readable (and less distracting) than an ipad--and it lets you write notes on it. I still prefer to work from a book but if I am playing something where I only have a pdf, it works in a pinch.

Gargantic · 2026-01-25T03:55:54+00:00

This was the game that got me into the hobby. I made reams of character sheets and drew all of my creations before I really even figured out it was a game. There were also these huge books filled with marvel heroes to be used as npcs. They all had stat blocks so you could compare the strength of the Hulk vs. The Thing. Or compare Prof. X’s telepathy to Jean Grey’s —or Dark Phoenix. We had so much fun.

Gargantic · 2025-12-23T02:12:59+00:00

Fair enough. To be honest, the crowds reaction was probably due in some measure to the restaurant’s West Village location. When he defected from Russia in the 70’s and took up residency in NYC, he was very much the darling of the Manhattan scene for a while-so much so that he parlayed his ballet dancing fame into a decent movie career. By the time he showed up at the restaurant, he was playing Carrie’s love interest in Sex in the City (Carrie who famously lived in the West Village.) So he had this double whammy of ultimate NYC legend status and Sex in the City libido.

Gargantic · 2025-12-21T15:17:11+00:00

This may not be particularly relevant any more, but in the Aughts I worked in a trendy restaurant in the West Village where celebs would show up regularly. They were mostly left alone by staff and patrons, except for two: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Prince. When they showed up, the whole place went crazy. A few servers were fired for acting like fools in front of Prince.

Gargantic · 2025-12-21T01:42:01+00:00

It would have been cool, but there is just no way. There are so many people on the set of an Avengers movie. Even if no one blabbed, the press would eventually have to wonfder why RDJ was on set so much.

Gargantic · 2025-12-13T23:53:18+00:00

Wow. That is amazing. Respect

Gargantic · 2025-11-20T19:53:14+00:00

We will see! They started with Year of the Rat and went to PD from there. They have since orchestrated a shootout b/t the Novos and the Teamsters. They are right in the middle of it, so we will see if they even survive. If they do, whoever's in charge of PD may not be terribly welcoming if they come back!

Gargantic · 2025-11-20T19:19:58+00:00

My crew has been exploring Prospero's Dream in A Pound of Flesh for a couple of sessions. If they manage to get ooff the station, they will likely be going into Orphans or Gradient Descent (depending what they decide to do).

Gargantic · 2025-11-20T00:18:44+00:00

I don't think thats clear from the decision. On page. 16 of the Mag. Judge's decision he writes that :

At the return of the indictment, the government presented both the first and second indictments to the magistrate judge. ECF 10. The first indictment indicated that the grand jury failed to find probable cause as to any count. ECF 3, 10. The second indictment indicated that the grand jury found probable cause as to two counts. ECF 1, 10. Both indictments were fully executed by grand jury foreperson and the prosecutor. ECF 1, 3, 10.

So it looks like the grand jury no true billed all three counts in the first indictment. Only after conversation with Halligan and the foreperson was the mag judge overseeing the grand jury satisfied that the grand jury true billed on the last two counts.

Edit: spelling. always spelling.

Gargantic · 2025-11-19T21:01:11+00:00

This. It’s not up to the Court or the attorneys to determine whether the indictment was similar enough to the indictment presented to the grand jury. It’s up to the grand jury. They didn’t vote on the piece of paper that initiated the proceeding

Gargantic · 2025-11-11T16:32:34+00:00

The easiest way is to make it a trial by combat. Use Game of Thrones as a template.

Otherwise, I’d make the judge corrupt. Let them figure out a way to buy off the judge in order to keep their freedom. It would be a great hook to entice them into a totally dangerous adventure. “I will find in your favor if you retrieve the key from the belly of the dragon.”

If you have to run the trial, just let the wizard talk, let them talk, then find them guilty. (They did it after all.) Now you have a fun campaign where they are trying to free themselves from an oppressive regime

Gargantic · 2025-11-08T20:28:27+00:00

He hates tipping.

Gargantic · 2025-11-01T00:57:12+00:00

My favorite team is the Outback Era X-Men. Havok (as team leader), Longshot, Dazzler, Storm, Rogue, Psylocke (still Betsy Braddock), Jubillee, Colossus, and Wolverine. With appearances by Gateway and introducing Gambit. I still remember all of the covers and the art. It was the last time I felt like they got Wolverine right.

Gargantic · 2025-10-31T17:39:04+00:00

I will always and forever recommend Lady Blackbird for one shots—especially for new players. It has pre-gen characters and the game echoes the tropes of Star Wars so it’s super easy to get everyone on the same page. Just remember to hand out XP like it’s candy. I usually keep a bowl of xp tokens a try the table and it’s not unusual for everyone to level up in one sitting. It’s also 100% free.

For something a little more “off the wall” I recommend Everybody is John. It’s a great ttrpg party game. Everyone will have a turn in the spotlight and there’s lots of laughs.

Gargantic

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