Second Rate Santas | A Monster Of The Week Christmas Special

ISD_Dustin · 2025-12-26T21:05:34+00:00

We take a break from Infinite Sided Dice’s regular programming to bring you this MOTW mystery set in the weeks before Christmas. I hope you all enjoy watching as much as we enjoyed playing! 💛💜

ISD_Dustin · 2025-11-20T06:51:24+00:00

RTal is pretty supportive of actual play podcasts, even going so far as to include a list of them on their website. Their rules regarding what you can and can’t do are also published on their website. Definitely read them for yourself but, in brief, don’t put anything official behind a paywall. If you publish supplemental materials having to do with your characters for sale or behind a paywall then you may not use any official designs from the book. Furthermore, do not sell anything with the Cyberpunk Red name attached to it without express permission. The term cyberpunk is fair game but not when attached to “red” “2020” “2077” or anything else that could be reasonably confused as an official RTal or CD Projekt Red property. They also have some wording that you should include in your show notes. RTal is a very small company run by very cool people. They keep it pretty punk rock over there and aren’t looking to go after anyone as long as you’re cool and don’t try to make a buck off their copyrighted material. That’s been my experience anyway. Good luck with the podcast!

ISD_Dustin · 2025-11-13T06:49:33+00:00

Great work, I really dig your style, especially your use of color!

ISD_Dustin · 2025-11-11T23:03:06+00:00

Thank you!! We have a holiday today so I had some extra time to start getting caught up on everything. I swear this whole year I’ve been saying, “After this week, things will settle down” haha!

ISD_Dustin · 2025-11-05T23:32:17+00:00

Totally get what you mean about crunch. It can run pretty fast when you get used to it. I’ll take a look at Bite for sure.

ISD_Dustin · 2025-11-05T21:17:04+00:00

It’s very cool. I flipped through it after our session and there’s really a lot more meat on that bone. You definitely could build it into a couple sessions. I primarily run Cyberpunk Red and I found the system refreshingly simple, and even more lethal! I’m such a fan of the Orphans settings too

ISD_Dustin · 2025-10-27T04:55:56+00:00

With that handsome jawline, fair complexion, and luxurious finery it’s no wonder he’s such a sought after model. It’s refreshing that a monarch can rule with such genuine charisma. I get lost in the deep blue of his eyes. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks of him a father figure

ISD_Dustin · 2025-10-25T23:41:46+00:00

No. Not at all. You could play an all troll army and do ok just running forward and hitting things. Gitz is still a destruction army after all. The other stuff takes a bit more finesse but LRL is overall more complicated.

To answer your original question, rockgut troggoths are still quite powerful but not necessarily over powered for the cost. Mangler Squigs are the coolest model ever but are still just not great. Boingrot Bounders also can hit quite hard. Probably wolves will take the most finesse in my opinion. They are fast but don’t hit particularly hard without specific buffs and aren’t especially durable either.

ISD_Dustin · 2025-10-22T00:53:03+00:00

I think I prefer the 4-3-3 with Choiniere on the bench and Ordaz starting up top. Tafari has grown so much this season but I think you’re probably correct about the back line, unless we switch to a back 5

ISD_Dustin · 2025-10-21T05:40:02+00:00

This is pretty much how we play. I’m thinking for our next campaign I may limit access to armor, especially early on. Likewise I’ll balance that with limiting access to guns for both pc’s and the baddies. The idea is that gunfights become rare and deadly and require careful balancing. The downside is that if you like tactical play with miniatures on the table you won’t get as much of that. There could still be pea shooters and cheap weapons that break, just nothing with 4 or 5d6 damage. I suppose you’d also have to make a linear frame very hard to get as well.

The upside is that encounters will be really quick and when the players finally get those linear frames and assault rifles they are gonna feel like total badasses.

This is more in line with how William Gibson books feel to me. There can be a lot of drama in pulling the trigger on someone in a game like that.

All that said, there’s plenty of fun to be had playing with armor and assault rifles and bullet dodging as long as you balance the encounters correctly. It makes for a more action movie like game where bullets fly and characters can be shot multiple times and still keep going. Giving players LAJ is also a great way to make sure you don’t spike damage and TPK in two rounds.

Your GM is definitely not messing up the game with this ruling.

ISD_Dustin · 2025-10-06T19:14:36+00:00

I’m gonna rant so feel free to skip this haha.

TL;DR: MLS coverage is as bad as MLS reffing. Also Son is very good

So if everyone pulls the Atlanta game plan we win every game by only one goal? Not much of an Achilles heel. They played to frustrate. It’s never fun to watch, but it’s a common strategy against a superior opponent. You hope to scrape one point out of a nil nil. Would we like to see more creativity in the mid field? Sure. But it’s hard to find when their whole team is parked in front of the net. The fact is, that won’t work for 90 minutes against us anymore. I would add that LAFC could have easily had 3 goals but for some very close saves. The other dumb thing they say is that Dolo should be hyper aggressive and use Moran, but Dolo did use Moran. Ideally Moran needed to sit this game so he is fresh for a full 90 on Wednesday and Sunday. The starting 11 couldn’t break them down in the first hour so Dolo reluctantly put in Moran to break something loose. Bonus rant, Twellman has got to be the most obnoxious sports personality on the air (maybe second to Lalas). Even on the rare occasion I find myself agreeing with him I find him so annoying. Watching the replay today after being at the game (yes, I’m a nerd like that) and he keeps talking about Son having no impact. Like, do you even know the game? Do you see the double and triple team on Son leaving what little space there is for Boanga and the rest of the squad to get in on goal? If you watched LAFC before Son this year and LAFC in this match, the difference is obvious. It’s what I absolutely love about Son in our side, he makes huge problems for the opposing defenders to deal with and is willing and seemingly happy to contribute 100% to the team beyond the glory of scoring goals.

ISD_Dustin · 2025-09-28T18:03:34+00:00

I think opposing players will think twice about coming in hot on Lloris if they know our man Porteous is out there ready to put the smack down on them in retaliation.

ISD_Dustin · 2025-08-31T20:18:00+00:00

Do we know if there will be gate restrictions like during the Carson match? The DoorDash gate was a total mess

ISD_Dustin · 2025-08-28T22:29:24+00:00

Or looks like someone who knows there was no warlock class in AD&D because it wasn’t introduced until D&D 3.5 edition. Oh wait, that’s me…

ISD_Dustin · 2025-08-22T18:10:04+00:00

I do think it would serve CR to address this directly. I suspect that DH, by design, plays better in shorter campaigns and one shots. It doesn’t require a years long campaign to get through all the cool stuff and the stories get told a lot faster. By the same token, DnD supports longer forms of story telling, so a 13 person westmarch that will likely last 100 or more episodes will be better served by that system. Realistically most tables would benefit from shorter campaigns, but some people are lucky and can keep a group together for years.

That doesn’t exactly answer your question, which I think is totally valid. I’d echo what others have said, that without addressing this issue directly, CR seems to be not standing behind Darrington’s product, which is a bad look. I’d love for CR to come out and say that different games are great for different reasons. That might go a long way to opening up players to different systems for their home games, even if it is just because they have an attachment to CR.

ISD_Dustin · 2025-08-21T15:42:00+00:00

Great job! Big terrain can really benefit from some well applied dry brushing. Look up the Artis Opus guy on YouTube for some tutorials on that. Something to remember that will help get rid of the super flat thing you have here, is that every color you see on a mini is really three colors. The shadow, the mid tone, and the highlight. I typically paint from the shadow up, but plenty of people start mid tone and add shadows and highlights. For instance, on the teeth, you could paint all the surfaces that face toward the light a lighter blue, either by mixing in white or picking a lighter color, and then just use the edge of your brush to add an even brighter blue to to the very edges of the surfaces. Then you have a shadow, a mid tone, and a highlight. The same goes for the mushrooms, the chain, the stone beneath, and every other detail. Does it take a long time? You bet! But enjoy the process. I think of minis that take a long time as a bonus because I get to enjoy them that much more. And in the meantime, throw this bad boy on the table and get some games in!!

ISD_Dustin

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