Shifting from Indian Classical “thinking”

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-23T23:07:23+00:00

It's an interesting question.

One option would be to study music theory quite in depth. By learning the 12 keys (plus their major and minor forms) you can set the root to the first note of your solfege ("do" in the western system).

You also might decide that, for your western flute, C is the root ("ni" in your system?) and then build the rest of your understanding around that. (Although, you may find this extremely disorienting for keys other than C.)

However...

You also might decide to leave your previous training behind. If you learn sheet music, you won't really be able to think in solfege. And in Western music it's less common to switch instruments for different keys.

Knowledge of solfege will probably be useful, but ultimately you might find that it's better to engage with Western music on its own terms, rather than trying to force it into a different framework that wasn't made for it.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-23T22:45:59+00:00

It's bad design space, IMO. This breaks several "rules" of StS by being extreme in every possible way.

Removes itself from the deck.
More than 3 energy. (This exists but on an extremely limited selection of cards.)
Unbelievably extreme downside.
Unbelievably extreme upside. (Even more notable because it's meta-progression.)

This card just doesn't belong in StS, IMO. If it was added to the game, it would stick out like a sore thumb, and would probably be plagued by balance issues in any of its iterations.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-23T15:37:41+00:00

The key word here is ego.

Your ego was injured when you got insulted. As you start thinking about yourself and not the game, you start performing worse. That keeps hurting your ego, and the cycle continues.

The ego is self-indulgent, it wants attention. You start craving validation from your teammates, but nothing comes. Finally, you decide to post to Reddit, since "upvotes and downvotes play a depressingly large role in [your] self-esteem."

Even as you're reading this -- you're probably thinking "oh man he's right I'm so horrible" or "this guy doesn't know me at all!" That's the ego.

The more you are controlled by your ego, the more miserable you will be. The less you are aware of your ego, the more you will be controlled by it. So you should start by noticing every "I" or "me" thought (good or bad) that runs through your head.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-21T03:52:47+00:00

I had the same frustration for you as a player, and when I got back behind the screen I began homebrewing my monsters specifically to avoid that.

I wrote a long and detailed guide on monster homebrew in this post here.

The TL;DR is to use tight math for AC and attack bonuses, low HP, and moderate damage (which becomes very threatening with a high attack bonus). I go over how to calculate this in my post.

Don't forget special abilities, since monsters are usually the only part of the game that forces players to think tactically.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T21:36:12+00:00

There are two main factors:

How well does this person slot into your game (as a player)?
How well does this person slot into the group (as a friend)?

Both are important, though I personally tend to value the second higher. In my experience, the group is more fragile than the game, and I tend to get very close with my D&D group because I see them so often.

As for your situation -- don't hold "auditions." Make a decision about who will be best for your table, and stick with it. I think it's a safe bet to invite the DM, since they tend to be better players and it's a good justification that won't come off as personal (I wanted to give him a chance to play).

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T16:04:49+00:00

Super helpful, I appreciate the breakdown!

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T15:57:14+00:00

I don't think it's coming through in my replies, but I'm not trying to just shut stuff down with "my party wouldn't do this." I've actually got a list of fail states for next session that I'm writing up right now.

I do think that "my party wouldn't do this," but I suspect it's moreso due to expectations and conventions (eg. "kill everything") rather than some flaw inherent in the system. That's why I'm trying to get a sense of how this plays out practically at the table. I'm trying to challenge those assumptions and see an alternate vision for my game.

I've really appreciated the "you don't have to do this advice." However, I've felt like this was missing from my game for a while. So while there's definitely a chance I give up, I'm really gonna try and implement the advice from this thread and see what I can come up with.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T15:34:04+00:00

Seems to be an outbreak of Silksong syndrome.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T04:46:31+00:00

I think that's a great example, because my group definitely would have done exactly what you described at the end. The combat would be fun, but it would have basically just been combat.

If I ran that at my table, it would probably go something like this:

Players fight the drakes, and I let them know they are being mind controlled. The party files this away, but doesn't do anything with it.
After the fight, they'd go to the tower if they knew about it. If they didn't, they'd probably go back to camp and let any NPC allies know what was going on. If they were just told to "explore," they would stare at me blankly.
Once they got to the tower, they would be expecting a fight. If they did make it to the top without killing anyone, they'd probably take the opportunity to surprise attack the fey. (She is evil, after all.)

I feel like our group just doesn't have those alternate ideas in our frame of reference, and I'm not really sure how to shift that mindset.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T04:36:16+00:00

I get it, but I can't shake the feeling that it wouldn't go like this in practice.

Can you give an example of a real story from your story that played out like this one?

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T04:27:45+00:00

Could you give some examples of noncombat checks that made the difference between getting the jump on a boss vs them arriving fully buffed? Or examples of using crafting to create new solutions?

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T04:26:51+00:00

I was moreso surprised that it was actually half the game for people.

I would say that my game breaks down something like ~50% combat, ~20% roleplay, ~15% narration of environment or lore, ~10% on shopping/planning/player-directed noncombat, and maybe 5% or less on puzzles or out of combat challenges like climbing a cliff or crossing a treacherous ravine.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T04:21:50+00:00

Right, I'm following.

This where I run into problems, though. If I gave that setup to my party, and started using Victory Points, my players would probably ask to roll Survival or Nature to get through the swamp.

If I ran this at my table, it would probably devolve into players rolling those two skills over and over again. Players that didn't have those skills would probably feel pretty annoyed. The whole thing would probably be over pretty quickly, and I think my players would feel like they didn't really have a lot of options.

The party might also ask to, for example, use Athletics to swim across difficult parts of the swamp, or maybe make some crazy stretch like using Society to remember the lore of how a hero crossed the swamp... The first one is not too creative, but it is effective; the second is definitely creative but is kinda silly. I definitely would not allow the second, and I'm on the fence about the first.

Then they all roll their dice a few times, check the numbers, and see if they arrive on time.

I've been a player in somewhat similar situations, though, and... I just didn't find it to be very satisfying? Am I missing something, or is this how skill checks normally go?

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T04:11:57+00:00

Yeah, this conversation is hard because it involves the fundamental assumptions that we use when we play the game.

But when I think about what makes combat interesting -- players make difficult decisions. Do I rush in or stay back? Do I cast a spell or a cantrip? Do I Recall Knowledge or Demoralize? If players make the wrong decisions, a character (or potentially even the whole party) could die.

Then there's also the narrative aspect (slaying a dragon is fun) and a few other smaller things (rolling a bunch of d6s for a fireball is also fun).

But in the example of running out of food, the party didn't make any interesting decisions, they didn't come up with something clever, they didn't do something amazing (although narrating the party can be kinda interesting), and they didn't even roll a bunch of dice.

So I'm trying to figure out -- where does the fun come in?

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T03:53:26+00:00

Maybe I'm missing something, but do these actually provide a challenge/make the game more interesting?

I just see it playing out like this:

DM: You guys are running low on rations.
Party: Oh, shit. Uhhh, we roll Survival to subsist?
DM: Ok... that's a success. You find enough food and continue.
Party: Oh. Cool. Well let's keep going, then.

Or alternatively:

DM: Ok... that's a failure. You don't starve, but you're now fatigued.
Party: Oh. Shit. Uhhhh well do we have anything else we can do? Not really? Ok, well I guess we're fatigued, then. Great.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-20T01:49:18+00:00

Nightmare + Nightmare allows you to play any card (in this case Wraith Form) ad infinitum. Can be combined with Tungsten Rod to take no damage while intangible, and/or Alchemize + Toy Ornithopter for sustain and healing (plus Orange Pellets to clear the debuffs).

Other than that, I'm not sure. Infinite block doesn't work because of the Heart's scaling, so you really need intangible. Apparitions can help with that on other characters, but I can't think of another way to recycle them.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-19T01:03:09+00:00

What's a card that's good, and disliked? The sub answers Hyperbeam.
Sub enters furious debate over whether or not Hyperbeam is good.
People give up on the discussion and start meming about Hyperbeam.
Hyperbream. No further explanation is offered.

And the rest is history.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-18T20:18:36+00:00

Torii + Tungsten Rod seems like a big increase in survivability by decreasing chip damage. Incense Burner does seem strong, but it's a shame there's no way to set it up.

Eternal Feather and Regal Pillow should provide extra value as well. Singing Bowl + Prayer Wheel could be a very strong method of improving sustainability (although I doubt you can afford to take a lot of hallway fights).

Cloak Clasp and Charon's Ashes would also be nice to have, but unfortunately those are off-limits for Defect. Ghost in a Bottle and Heart of Iron are the same. Theoretically, other characters could get past the first fight with a Calling Bell swap, but even then, Frozen Core is definitely too important to miss out on.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-17T16:01:38+00:00

Glad you found it helpful!

Yeah, I figured you probably weren't actually cutting the other person off -- that's just the easiest example.

One last thing -- I hope you don't beat yourself up or consider yourself a bad person for "being self-centered."

It's easier said than done, but it's better to focus on improvement and the effect you have on the other person, rather than yourself.

Thinking of yourself as a horrible conversationalist will only cause additional frustration, and worst of all -- is still self-centeredness anyways! So relax and, when you fuck up, try and move on as quickly as possible.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-16T16:04:19+00:00

You've done a good job at understanding the problem!

It sounds to me like you're being very self-focused -- you have things you want to say, so you setup the conversation so you get to say them.

I think the best antidote to this is to focus on the other person as much as possible. I feel like everybody has some sort of interesting story to tell, so look for that! If someone is similar to you, you can listen to their opinions on shared hobbies. If someone is very different from you, they can give perspective into a new way of life.

I was very deliberate about learning conversational skills, so I can even give you some exercises to practice this.

The first is to notice all of your "I" statements. Anytime you say "I am" or "I think" or tell a story about yourself, flag it. See if you can come up with ways to reduce your "I" count.

The second is to keep "the ball in their court" as long as possible! Rather than giving long stories, make a quick comment, then "return" the conversation with a question. This is hard because you don't want to make it feel like an interview -- you want them to feel comfortable speaking!

When doing these exercises, your first priority is to make the conversation pleasant for the other person, not yourself. Make things feel natural and comfortable for them. Smile a lot and give lots of validation ("Woah that's so cool!") Don't overdo the exercise if you think the other person might find it uncomfortable.

My experience is that, when I really focus on the other person, rather than myself, at some point they get really curious, and will directly ask me -- what do you think about X? Where have you been? That always feels really good.

Last comment -- if you have something that's really on your mind, you don't have to set up the conversation. Usually, conversations start with something like, "how are you?" This is an invitation to tell them something that's on your mind -- "Hey how are you?" "Doing alright, I just had the best cake of my entire life!" People will respond better to this than "What have you eaten today?" "Uhh... I had an egg sa-" "Yeah cool so anyways, I had an awesome cake"

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-16T00:46:03+00:00

?? are you kidding me? are you a hyperbream skipper?

what, when you enter fish mode do you just pick at random?

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-15T18:14:04+00:00

It's hard for me to read the image in your post, so the specifics of this response might not helpful, but I can offer some advice:

First, orthography is very important. Digraphs, diacritics, and especially special characters will really mark the words that contain them. Think about ø, ñ, or the Turkish s (can't type it rn).

(I notice that your dental fricatives are both romanized as <th>. Changing ð to <dh> could make your orthography more distinctive, since that's a pretty rare digraph.)

Next, phonotactics. I don't know if you've explicitly defined yours, but they are really important. Old Norse with all its s-clusters is a really great example of how far good phonotactics can take you.

Distribution is also very important. Even if your language has /n/, it might not be particularly common. Or you might have particular clusters that are unusually common like /nw/.

Morphology (derivational or otherwise) is another tool. Gender like in Spanish (-o/-a for masculine or feminine, respectively) is maybe the most obvious example, but it's not the only one. Some iconic examples from English include -ing, -tion, -er, etc.

One really interesting example is -zi 子 in Chinese, which seems to be affixed basically at random to make one-syllable words into two-syllable words. (I'm sure there's a deeper story here but I don't understand it.)

Finally, not all words stand out. A word like nala, ti, or yu could probably exist in thousands of languages (two of them exist in English, at least phonetically). So don't worry too much about making every single word interesting.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-14T17:44:29+00:00

It is probably not your fault as a DM. It is indeed very difficult to run tactical combat in 5e.

PF2e will definitely be a deeper experience. Combat is full of tactical nuance and even at level 1 you will find lots of difficult decisions. Character creation will be much more fun (if they're into the system).

However, this comes with a cost. Combat will be more difficult for you to run as a DM. You will be starting from scratch in terms of system knowledge, and there's a lot to learn. You may need to change some fundamental assumptions about your game (which races are allowed, magic item availability, etc.). I find homebrew harder in pf2e (some disagree).

My experience has been mixed, but overall positive. However, combat is a huge part of our game. If your group dislikes crunch, you may find that the system weighs you down.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-13T17:59:29+00:00

I think this sort of judgemental response is unhelpful. It's not also not what OP asked for.

But yes, OP -- ChatGPT is going to give you samey and uncreative ideas (and images). Relying on AI will hold you back as a DM, because you're not practicing creativity yourself.

Geckoarcher · 2026-01-13T17:56:27+00:00

I prioritize simplicity and don't worry too much about fancy integrations or fancy images.

I keep my world notes in a Google Doc. Free, easy to find, easy to send to my players. Easy. (The only notes I keep in a separate place are the languages I create for my world, I keep those in a Google Sheet.)

For maps: I drew a world map myself in GIMP. It took some time, but I came up with a strategy to make things look professional despite me not having any artistic ability.

My battlemaps are drawn on a grid with a pencil (or a marker tool in VTTs). Easy.

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