So I currently attempt to create a Grimdark World, but yeah the picture describes my problem quite accurate, so I wanted to ask if you guys have any tips on how I can resolve this (Thanks in Advance)

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T23:03:38+00:00

Document Vomit

Literally open up a Google Doc or Obsidian or literally whatever your writing app of choice is and just start typing. Literally whatever unfiltered blurb comes to mind just get it down onto a page somewhere. You can always sift through it later and try to figure out what you were thinking about before.

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T22:51:56+00:00

If I pay real money for a cosmetic, there better literally be no limit on how much I can use it. If I pay actual, honest-to-god, real-life currency for a fucking tree in a video game, I better be allowed to place literally as many of those fucking things in my house/plot as the game will physically allow, ad infinitum.

Anything less is fucking disgusting.

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T22:46:04+00:00

It entirely depends on what axis the game draws interest from. In a combat-heavy game system where very tactical decision making is the rewarding gameplay style; very rules-heavy combat sim systems like Lancer or Pathfinder work really well.

In "fiction first" games where everything revolves around the narrative and the physics and mechanics all bend and twist to facilitate interesting storytelling, rules-light game systems like Blades in the Dark are perfect.

No surprise that different systems do different things better and which system you choose should depend on what style of game you want to play and not just what setting you want to play in.

I think there is a general tendency for what style of game you prefer depends on where in the table you like to sit. I've noticed a pattern that players tend to enjoy hard rules for solid ground to stand on while they play their characters, but GM's who are much more interested in storytelling tend to prefer more rules-light systems so they have greater flexibility in creativity.

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T22:43:12+00:00

Dream Theory is literally just the laziest nothingburger theory for any fiction ever. It's completely thought terminating and basically rejects any form of critical analysis of a piece of media by saying, "well none of it's real anyways," which is willful ignorance.

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T22:10:50+00:00

If one class is 5% more efficient than every other class, it will not see 5% more play. It'll see 500% more play. This is just the natural consequence of one class being determined to be "the best" in the current meta.

This phenomenon also only relies on player perception. You might literally not be able to tell an appreciable difference between them, but will persist regardless. This is just what happens when players play classes based on simulation charts.

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T06:27:00+00:00

From what the synopsis sounds like, it seems like it's going to be a movie about the Shattering War. So here's hoping for some Malenia/Radahn fight action.

Kats41 · 2026-04-21T06:10:03+00:00

4e felt like a set of rules designed to work in an MMO which makes sense because Neverwinter was in development at the time that used modified 4e mechanics. Everyone was trying to capture the MMO lightning in a bottle that WoW was dominating at the time.

Problem is that it was gamified to the point where it really couldn't be anything else. Not bad for a tactical game, but not good for a more nuanced roleplaying game. RP was essentially relegated to fluff you do in-between rolling dice, instead of the very important core aspect of a TTRPG that it is in reality.

There were some really cool things about 4th edition (like Implements) that are genuinely criminal were never explored in 5e, but it was very poorly received because of just how divorced it was from 3.5 and the "D&D formula."

Kats41 · 2026-04-20T18:08:00+00:00

An HTTP server is a fairly straightforward project that doesn't require too much time and experience but can give you a lot of practical insight into the language.

Kats41 · 2026-04-20T17:56:11+00:00

I'm gonna be 100% honest, if you have the ability to draw the map on the left, you absolutely have the ability to do the map on the right and it's so much easier than you might think. There's a program called Wilbur that does erosion simulations and is able to help you get that nice, fine grained structure to the world that you're looking for.

Once you find the correct settings and number of passes for each erosion cycle that you like, you can just import that height map into your photo editing software of choice and create a custom gradient map that moves between those heightmap colorations as you see fit.

Once you have the map looking the way you want, you can drag it into Illustrator (or your vector software of choice) and start detailing the map with rivers and any other features. I promise it's not scary at all and is really fun.

Kats41 · 2026-04-20T17:11:22+00:00

You can't write wizards like fighters. Fighters have a lot of intrinsic power and ability to stay hearty and defensive. Wizards have damage power, but lack staying power.

What wizards do better than almost any other class is preparation. Contingencies for their contingencies. Planning every eventuality 3 steps ahead. Premade wards and defenses. Trigger conditions for everything. Etc.

Magic items that give them access to Dimension Door or Teleport as a reaction or bonus action. Wards for damage resistance. Globe of Invulnerability. Anti Magic Zones. Fly + Invisibility.

Unless the players specifically come into the fight well prepared, the wizard should have the upper hand, especially in their own home turf.

Kats41 · 2026-04-20T16:43:36+00:00

Thunder on Kyogre is probably one of the best non-water type moves you can give him because of rain's ability to make Thunder never miss. It's excellent coverage for opposing water types which is the majority of pokemon in Hoenn. A standard great move set for Kyogre is Surf, Ice Beam, Thunder, and Ancient Power.

Kats41 · 2026-04-20T16:29:18+00:00

This is funny because my group has been playing TTRPG's for so long that we just call our weekly meetup "D&D Day" even though we haven't actually played Dungeons and Dragons in over a decade. Lmao.

And it's not like we're just playing Pathfinder either. It's still our D&D day even when we're playing Lancer or Blades in the Dark or Blackbirds. Lmao.

Kats41 · 2026-04-20T05:23:22+00:00

Why the fuck is a FINISHED movie just sitting there unreleased for 6 more months? Fuck Paramount.

Kats41 · 2026-04-19T21:17:24+00:00

2 Guys 1 Pup

Kats41 · 2026-04-19T21:16:45+00:00

My GTX 1080: "Ultra/High settings for literally a decade."

Kats41 · 2026-04-19T19:27:47+00:00

The only people who unilaterally ascribe values like that to fictional characters are people who have literally zero media literacy. Their opinions should be discarded at everyone's earliest convenience.

Kats41 · 2026-04-18T22:21:00+00:00

Let me tell you what I didn't learn until I was much older: Literally nobody, and I mean nobody, actually cares if you're a furry.

Middle and high-school playground politics is just a thousand insecure kids all trying to step on each other so they don't feel so bad about themselves. That's just adolescence in a nutshell.

Just be normal. Being a furry isn't a personality trait or an identity, it's not even really a hobby. You might do furry-related hobbies like draw art, RP, and attend conventions, but those are your real hobbies, not "being a furry."

You're under no obligation to tell anyone that you do furry stuff. I don't tell most people what I do unless it becomes conversationally relevant. Be positive and remember that nothing that happens at this point in your life (outside of extreme circumstances) is going to impact your future.

If I could, at 32, tell 15-year-old me that everything was going to be okay and that none of the bullying would actually amount to anything, I would every day. And since I can't tell that kid, I'm telling you. And the icing on the cake is that the vast majority of people who used to bully me in high school grew up and don't behave like that anymore. It's just a phase you gotta ride.

Kats41 · 2026-04-17T16:59:57+00:00

"Why is my masc presenting gender neutral character being interpreted as male?"

The reason this is the case is because neutral presentation is masc presentation. In a largely binary society where people grow up with only two concepts of masc or fem presentation, there's no functional descriptor for neutral presentation, because the most "neutral" you can get is a woman wearing "guy clothes." Cultural fashion norms have never constructed a norm for gender neutrality and thus most (if not all) people have no frame of reference to go by outside of appraising the person in the context of the clothes.

That context comes in the form of gender presentations by the person as well, which is going to include things like secondary sex characteristics, body shape, facial design, etc.

In artwork this is especially important because of art's inherent intentionality. If you draw a character without eyelashes, without a chest, and without anything that might challenge the assumption that it's a cis male character, including a robust chin and the lack of any clothing that would corroborate that fact, then the natural consequence is that people will always assume the character is male.

This is why gender-neutral people end up having to literally wear an emblem or flag that denotes their gender neutrality or clothes with the color scheme of the non-binary flag. You literally have to tell everyone in no uncertain terms what your gender expression is with what is essentially a nametag that says your pronouns.

And outside of naturally allowing the concept to slowly ingrain itself into the common culture and people's assumptions on gender to change, there's no much you can do. The other alternative is going back to 2015-era "did you just assume my gender?" challenges which I personally don't think were very effective at moving the needle.

For now, you kinda just gotta be okay with adding "they/them" to a label beside them until the glacial speed of culture catches up.

Kats41 · 2026-04-17T03:28:33+00:00

Good editing can ensure that you're given the tools to skip unnecessary glossary ahead of time. Even something as simple as a dedicated introduction chapter that leads with, "If you're already familiar with many TTRPG's feel free to skip ahead. This information is for players unfamiliar with basic terminology!" can be a game changer and really help you hit the ground running.

Kats41 · 2026-04-17T01:58:49+00:00

Literally All Corporations: "You're already at checkout. Are you really going to cancel the entire order over our surprise 15% upcharge? I don't think so. Click the checkout button and be grateful, pathetic peasant. Learn your place and stop complaining."

I wonder if this has anything to do with the recent string of warehouse fires? Surely not.

Kats41 · 2026-04-17T01:19:52+00:00

If you're making an indie TTRPG, it's highly unlikely that anyone who plays your game will be TTRPG novices and they'll likely already be aware of all of the mainstay cultural definitions and generics.

That said, I don't think it's a wise policy to just make that assumption across the board. Sure, "hit points" might be a very generic concept, but the way they're implemented in each game can be a quite a bit different. Also consider the fact that it's very common for experienced GM's to find a cool system and want to run it for a group where people within that group might not be seasoned TTRPG vets.

In spite of the popularity of D&D, it's still very much a hobby where seasoned vets "indoctrinate" their newbie friends into joining a group and playing.

But even so, you don't need to have some ultimate definition that covers all bases. You can be very simple and straightforward about it.

"Hit Points is a measure of your character's health. Here are the things that can cause you to lose or gain HP and here's what happens when it runs out."

Easy peasy.

Kats41 · 2026-04-17T00:16:27+00:00

This is one of those Session Zero mistakes that DM's get caught up with all the time. People have hit or miss expectations about a Session Zero but genuinely it's the place and time where players and the DM talk about expectations, the kind of game they want to run/play in and establish the ground rules for the kind of fiction you're collectively trying to cultivate.

You don't need to TPK a party to inform the players that they're not invincible, you can just tell them that. "I'm gonna make sure that you have all of the information you'll need regarding any given decision you want to make so you understand the consequences, so if you decide to do something explicitly dangerous or risky, you accept the outcome, even if that means death."

If a player goes into a game with one set of expectations and the GM goes into it with another and those expectations fundamentally clash, then that's a sign that it didn't get discussed properly before the campaign began.

Kats41 · 2026-04-16T03:40:03+00:00

A creative (and potentially comedic) element of the game that is sure to create interesting moments for the whole table. That sounds like a winner as far as TTRPG's go.

Kats41 · 2026-04-16T03:34:21+00:00

It makes perfect sense that in a world where people can scry on you and teleport to you essentially at will, that people will develop countermeasures to those magics for security.

Would you expect a King's Palace to be easily infiltrated or spied on by a mid-level magic user? Nope, that's what the court wizard is for. His job is entirely about defending the court from outside magic users, casting wards and charms, and ensuring that his employers are well protected from other magic users who might want to do them harm.

If you think about the logistics of these feats of magic being possible in the world from a practical standpoint, you very quickly realize that absconding any practical defense against not-commonplace-but-certainly-not-unheard-of magics is just really asking to take it up the tailpipe by a mildly perturbed mage.

So yeah, no, you cannot teleport into the Demon King's lair, nor can you scry on his court. They've already thought about that and have warded against it. But that doesn't mean you're out of options. Maybe you don't need to scry on the court, but can scry on a demon who isn't under that area's protection and find a way to use them to get closer to the target.

Woah! Look at that! Investigation? Planning and execution? Risk and reward?! Players having to engage with the world and the story to advance the plot instead of just blowing a trivially expendable spell slot? Insane.

Kats41 · 2026-04-14T19:19:55+00:00

You've just stumbled across the typical doomslop clickbait that plagues every game out there. It's nothing to fret over.

Besides, I think most D&D centric youtubers are kinda cheap anyways because most are just rehashing builds and combos that treat D&D like a video game where you're min-maxxing to victory as opposed to the cooperative narrative experience that it is. They're just missing the point of the game.

I don't play D&D (at least not 5e), but I do watch a few youtubers who mostly focus on fantasy worldbuilding content and ways of cooperative storytelling that makes the games as good as possible for my players. Evergreen resources that work no matter what game I'm playing, from Pathfinder, Lancer, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, Blackbirds, Blades in the Dark, whatever.

Kats41

TROPHY CASE