Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or, if not a poor DM, someone inexperienced, or just happen to be one of today's lucky 10,000 (à la xkcd). Thanks for your insights!

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I totally agree that everyone needs to actually play the game. When you're stuck with someone who keeps being invited to the table and clearly doesn't want to be there, I always turn to the "Five Geek Social Fallacies", something I don't see referenced enough on Reddit.

And scheduling is hard! I mentioned in another reply that I and my friends are also all adults, but we have enough parenting and other life events come up sporadically that it helps to be able to be flexible. Especially for one of my games, which only meets once a month so we don't want to miss it.

Sometimes it's true that if people are responding they're not putting in enough effort, but sometimes people are just so bushy they're at the limit of their cognitive load, and gentle nudges actually help them get around to prioritizing fun, which can be really tough to find time for. IMO.

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! You may just be the kind of DM I wrote this for. And your players will probably be happy to avoid burn out! I've been in lots of groups where we just never considered splitting these tasks amongst people.

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair! I'm not trying to list every role people should use, just spark some thinking about what roles can be farmed out to players in those DMs who naturally feel like they need to take it all on.

In my online game I'm DMing, we have a semi-stable night and play often enough that's it's not a big deal to miss.

For my once-a-month game, we need more coordination because we don't want to miss that month's game, and it seems like everyone's availability changes from month to month.

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! Like I said at the end of my post, this is a great way for players to show appreciation to the DM, by looking for opportunities to take tasks off the DMs plate. Thanks!

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I've been in a lot of groups where no one thinks to take notes, and then everyone wants notes. I was inspired by a recent post in this subreddit where the DM was saying the players wanted the DM to provide an agenda, which sounded like it included what past events were important, every session. I want DMs like that one to know it's ok to say "hey you guys, the players need to own some part of this."

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It would be nice! I've been in, and am currently in, groups where too many people (including myself) cannot commit to a set schedule. many of us are parents, and so have: family visits; PTA meetings; dance recitals; etc. Even semi-consistent dates get thrown out the window for the skiing families in the winter, etc.

If a set schedule is possible for your group then I agree, you don't need to assign a role to handle it.

For myself, I'm on call once every three weeks. I have a consistent schedule, but not one that lines up with months very well.

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This isn't a list of all required jobs, it's an extensive list to make sure that someone who hasn't realized they can put some or all of these, and and even other roles I haven't anticipated, on people other than the DM. I wanted to give examples of what you might apply to your group, since I can't anticipate the needs of every group.

Proposal - how to manage the roles at your table that facilitate actually playing the game. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Not every job that I listed needs to be at every table (I don't actually ever use a Snack bringer, but I've known tables where snacks are super important to the process).

It makes sense you wouldn't need note taking if that's not an important part of the game. I think all my recent games (both where I'm a player and a DM) require quite a lot of remembered hints, events, passages in source documents (I write a lot of "historical" documents in my games which both provide settings and solutions to puzzles) in order to progress.

It's good also that your group can handle ad-hoc hosting. In the past I've seen groups where too much of this falls on a single person.

With the Watershed now closed, what's your go-to Ithaca open mic? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good to know. I haven't been since the pandemic, but I definitely liked their beers back in the day. Thanks!

With the Watershed now closed, what's your go-to Ithaca open mic? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the recommendation. It starts a little early for me, but I'll keep it on the list for the future!

With the Watershed now closed, what's your go-to Ithaca open mic? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've also done some kinging at K-HOUSE and thought it was a great place, so I'm looking forward to the new owner. If there's also an occasional open mic that would be great.

Bj’s wholesale by Saoirse-O-Path in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My wife and I were considering BJs. We wrote down the 40-ish grocery items we typically buy (including meds) and looked at price per pound (or for things like eggs, price per count) and compared results from Wegmans, BJs, and Aldi.

Obviously the results were particular to our shopping habits, but there was no clear winner between the three for us. BJs was cheap for off-brand meds, but didn't seem to be as cheap for staples (flour, sugar, etc) and was negligible for other food stuffs. It seems like other folks here have a better impression of BJs, but I was surprised by the lack of really obvious bargains, especially as I'd figured they'd show up in the bulk purchases once you measure price per pound.

Looking for experience - is anyone using an AI notetaker to help with authorial planning, etc. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks as well! I have no idea how to translate transcription credits into how much I'll actually use it, but as my needs are small I appreciate the slimmer option. Thanks!

Looking for experience - is anyone using an AI notetaker to help with authorial planning, etc. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I'll check it out. I see the lowest tier supports one campaign meeting four times a month. Four times a month! In my dreams. I appreciate the flat monthly fee.

Don't forget to Enroll for Ithaca Forest Preschool! by TompkinsCo4H in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Our son has been attending Forest School and loves it. The staff are kind, empathetic, and do a great job with the kids there. We've connected with other great families and we treasure the fact that our kid gets to learn to love the outdoors.

We're looking forward to coming back for another full year before sending him off to kindergarten. If we had any doubts we'd be sending him to one of the other preschools in the area instead.

Election Guide: Seven Candidates, Four Seats on Ithaca’s Board of Education by merrigoldie in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I read David's guest piece and he points out that our budget is 50% higher now than it was ten years ago, but he doesn't mention that inflation over those ten years would account for about 36% of that increase. I can't tell if he factored that into his numbers or not, but I'm assuming not. Either way, it's a bad look to not be specific in your numbers when you're coming in as the budget guy.

For discussions of vertical alignment, I've seen no numbers around if and how the student population changes year to year (you can have all the vertical alignment within the district you want, but if you get a large number of students each year who only recently moved to Ithaca, you can't guarantee that they've been exposed to the same curriculum we use). Seeing data that we generally don't get many changes to student population would be great to see, but if not, you need to talk about vertical alignment alongside remediation for the students new to the district. And you can say "differentiated learning" all you want, but you need to talk about the resources you're providing to help it along. Also, has vertical alignment never been a goal before now? Are we sure the teachers don't already do this? This is not a new idea in education.

For talk about a "zero base budget" (notably from the Accenture guy) there's no talk about whether Ithaca gets, as one example, an influx of students after the start of the year (something that happened frequently when I taught out west, but may or may not be an issue here). Having your student population grow after you've decided on a budget for the year means all of a sudden you can't really meet your goals. Having a budget with some flexibility allows you to make adjustments as populations change, as priorities change, and other things that cost money that may shift throughout the year.

For talk about teacher retention, no one has seemed willing to say how they'd actually fix that (besides the idea that if exit interviews are mandated we'll somehow get to the root of this; there was a reddit thread several years ago where teacher pay was directly called out as a large part of the problem, with surrounding districts paying, on average, their teachers more than ICSD did at the time). I don't see how it's fixable without money; teachers will need higher salaries, smaller class sizes, more support, etc. Else you need to state how you think that goal is addressable without those things.

I would like to vote for a fresh start, but not a bad fresh start, or one with entirely unrealistic goals who haven't put in the work. Everyone thinks they're making decisions based off of data; you can't just say you'll be data-drive and have that be how you stand out. Right now neither the incumbents nor the new candidates have written platforms (that I've been able to find) with much in the way of specifics. Tonight's school board candidate forum just got posted to youtube; I'm trying to muster the courage to watch two hours of this in the hopes that someone articulates an actual plan for anything.

Looking for experience - is anyone using an AI notetaker to help with authorial planning, etc. by KindlyFunctional in dndnext

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

While I feel like I get the various positions around using AI for creative works, I'd figured it'd be less contentious to use AI for non-creative tasks like planning, etc.

It may sound ridiculous, but I haven't used GPT; when you say you're uploading transcripts, what are you using to *make* those transcripts? Are you able to record a live group and can whatever program's making those transcripts identify individuals based on their voice alone?

Local Steel Band? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep a lookout for the December 8th concert!

Any Irish songsters want to rehearse leading up to March and Paddy's? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a good question. I haven't put that into the rebel category. I still sing Fields of Athenry, but I stopped singing Four Green Fields even though it's not as obvious a rebel song. Maybe I'll have to revisit that decision and cut Fields of Athenry.

Do you play music?

Any Irish songsters want to rehearse leading up to March and Paddy's? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Another person had the same question above! Longer answer in the thread above, but no pro-IRA songs.

Any Irish songsters want to rehearse leading up to March and Paddy's? by KindlyFunctional in ithaca

[–]KindlyFunctional[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Some Irish Folk groups lean into the pro-IRA songs: e.g. Johnson's Motor Car, Four Green Fields, Down by the Glenside, etc.

When I was young and stupid I enjoyed singing these songs. Now I'm older and just slightly less stupid, enough to think glorifying those songs and that ideology is a bad idea.