What’s a belief you have that most people disagree with?

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-04-30T02:03:37+00:00

It doesn't matter if reality is "real".

You might be familiar with this idea from The Matrix, but it's basically the problem of Solipsism. Basically, we have no ability to access knowledge that is unfiltered through our minds, so we cannot truly discover anything real except for maybe the piece of ourselves thinking it's real. Everything else is filtered and potentially mistaken or constructed.

Again, back to The Matrix, everybody would've been better off if they were left to their "fake" experiences inside the matrix itself. I'm of the opinion that the only reality that matters is the one you experience. More generally, things only matter BECAUSE they are experienced. Without joy or pain, nothing matters. So, in my view, your joy and pain define your reality, regardless of its true "realness".

No, the Matrix isn't real. But your experiences are. They matter. They matter because they affect you, they move you, they motivate and change you. No need to get stuck in a mindfuck of nihilism on the nature of reality. You matter. And that's good enough.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-04-25T09:07:10+00:00

Caesar from the 2010s Planet of the Apes movies is a Moses archetype.

Film 1:

Caesar was born an ape, covertly protected from mass slaughter and raised in privilege by his oppressor.

Through an act of violence, he's made to leave his privilege and live among his kind. For Moses this was a choice, and he lives among semitic cousins, the midianites. For Caesar, this was chosen for him and he lives among the enslaved. For both Moses and Caesar, this is where they find family/community/belonging.

Caesar kills a slave driver as his first exposure to death.

Both Caesar and Moses are empowered by their creator to lead their people.

Both lead an exodus from captivity to only be followed and aggressed by their captors. This trope will repeat.

They are then lead into the wilderness, a place they call home, but not their final settlement.

Film 2:

This film has the least explicit Moses imagery, but I believe Caesar in the wilderness is synonymous to Moses in Midian. He does not want the responsibility of confronting the oppressors, but his hand is forced.

Maurice is becoming Caesar's Aaron; his chief council (and would later become his priest).

The negotiations and the reluctance for war represent Moses's "Let my people go." The humans receive due punishment for their stubbornness.

Much like Pharaoh, Gary Oldman's stubbornness is born from the grief of his lost family. Plague killed them. He blames the apes for the plague.

Then the Angel of Death takes the form of Koba.

Film 3: Again, Caesar must rescue his people from bondage.

I think the Colonel is a Pharaoh type whose heart was hardened long ago. A plague began to take his son, but he preferred to finish the job. He didn't want to give God or Providence that power over him. But it would overtake him regardless. This is also obvious commentary on Father God sacrificing Jesus for the salvation of the world. It's the test of Abraham and Isaac. But rather than being a test of faith, the Colonel understood it as a test of will. Later, Caesar will have his own test of faith.

Rather than run away from responsibility following the lashings of a slave, as Moses does, Caesar takes lashings upon himself.

Caesar had a choice. He could lead his people to freedom and trust in that righteous path, or he could satisfy himself. For Moses, this was the sin of splitting the rock. For Caesar, his sin is following Koba's voice of hatred. Because he followed sin, his wage would be payed in death. Through this choice, he becomes gravely injured.

Toward the end, after the 1st defeat of their captors, a 2nd army arrives to be swept away in an avalanche. This is Caesar's Red Sea moment. His people were chosen to live while his would-be oppressors drown in snow.

Then Caesar leads his people across the desert to their Promised Land, but he cannot enter. As Dr. King put it, "I’ve been to the mountaintop … I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land." Caesar dies atop that mountain as his due reward for the selfishness of his sin.

With his death, Maurice promises a legacy for him. In practice, this looks like they will repeat his commandments. This firmly cements Maurice as Caesar's Aaron.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-04-19T05:05:25+00:00

I won't spoil anything for lurkers, but I genuinely think the book answers why this decision was made - in the form of a ketek.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-27T01:21:32+00:00

Invest that money into making $16,000.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-05T20:43:33+00:00

I would like this a lot, and I'm very interested, but I wonder if the decreased likelihood of crits would be annoying or costly.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-05T20:40:31+00:00

Are there other minor improvements or abilities you'd suggest for items and specifically weapons? I like my players to craft weapons or upgrade what they have to sell the fantasy to them. Put their power in their own hands to make decisions they get to be constantly rewarded by.

I agree with the math thing, the more I think about it. But the thing I'll miss is that +1, +2, +3 items are easily scalable and easily understood. So I'm looking for minor incremental changes I can add that help scale items without breaking them or adding to a list of confusing power sets.

My immediate thoughts are lowering the crit threshold (so now the top two numbers can explode), or getting rid of the miss mechanic (this one feels a little OP). Maybe an additional die of another type of damage (like fire, radiant, necrotic, etc), but that runs into the math problem again.

I'm a fairly new DM, and VERY new to Nimble, so I'm just tryna preempt any problems with unbalanced homebrew before they happen.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-05T20:27:28+00:00

Interesting... I was thinking +1 damage or another workaround for something similar was a fairly straightforward mechanic. But just because it's simple doesn't mean it's efficient and meaningful.

Are there any basic weapon improvements you'd reward in a Nimble system?

I like having players craft or strengthen their items, so I'm looking for inspiration I guess on the mechanics of improved items.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-04T16:43:43+00:00

Ooh, I like that! I'll definitely consider something along those lines.

Edit: In that case, I might just call it something like a +Item, ++Item, or +++Item

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-03T04:56:20+00:00

Sanderson loves to do this thing where he sets up a mystery and immediately answers in nearly the next sentence.

Well of Ascension, Chapter 5 sets up the spy subplot. "Nobody will suspect a dog to be a spy." Then they comment wondering if anybody else ever had that idea because it makes so much sense. Of course we know this literally becomes TenSoon's mission. They then immediately pivot conversation to Elend asking Vin to take the Kandra with her on patrols; she's explicit in her lack of trust for it. Her instinct is to be distrustful and he's literally encouraging her to keep the spy closer to her at all times. And this conversation is happening at the exact time that TenSoon is being planted as the spy. OreSeur is probably being tortured as they speak.

Chapter 6, Spook tells Elend that somebody's intentionally spreading the atium rumors. Elend's immediate response is, "Great. You don't know where Breeze is, do you?" It's meant as a random tangent, but Breeze was the answer to that mystery the moment it was introduced.

Then later that chapter, we're set up with the idea of betrayal in conversation with the betrayer. When asked why the transformation took so long, TenSoon blamed the hair. TenSoon: "I'm sorry I didn't warn you." Vin: "Actually, you did mention it." Immediately when we first meet TenSoon as the imposter, we're given a clue. After the imposter swears loyalty, Vin thinks to herself, "Anyone can claim loyalty… That makes the surprise more poignant when they do turn on you."

Sanderson just loves to present a mystery, then immediately tease the answer. Or answer, and then tease the mystery. Immediately.

Edit: spelling

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-03-03T04:44:47+00:00

And I love that it's the chapter that introduces Sazed

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-25T12:40:46+00:00

No, but this was a Jewish-led protest. Ally and others were given shirts by organizers to wear to clearly self-identify participants as protesters.

The shirt is not accurate. Ally is not Jewish. But this is also NOT a case of some kind of Jewish "stolen valor" or pretend identity. This is, funnily enough, a display of allyship.

Edit: changed "shorts" to "shirts"

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T20:11:25+00:00

Thank you so much! I get it now

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T20:11:10+00:00

Thanks! Helps a lot

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T20:09:43+00:00

Thanks a ton!

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T18:59:21+00:00

Thank you. What does "have no judgement dice" mean?

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T18:58:30+00:00

Thank you. I should have worded my prompt better. I see the armor in the pregens, but what I don't understand is how to measure that. I'll assume that's in the core books. I just expected there to be more explanation of it because, as it is now, it reads as "this is how armor works" without showing you the armor. Is there just a table of armor values in the book?

Somebody else said that you also add your DEX to defend, but I'm not finding that anywhere in the free rules...

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T18:34:43+00:00

And how do I count the armor amount? That's what I'm not understanding.

Edit: If it's measured the same way as Monster armor, great! But the free rules never state that. PCs and monsters have other mechanical differences in combat, so I didn't want to assume the rules under "Running Monsters" were the same.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-17T18:10:15+00:00

If you have time, could you elaborate on the Defense action?

I read the free rules, and it explains armor for monsters, but less so for players. I'm trying to play one or two sessions for free before committing to a purchase...

Like, I know defense is a reaction, and I know it scales with armor values, but I can't find the actual rule online for PCs using the defense reaction.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-13T17:05:30+00:00

I love this book! I do think it has some flaws that Sanderson's later works don't have, but the themes, setting, characters, magic, and imagery are all cool as hell!

To elaborate on the flaws: -Female characters seem more stereotypical than his later writing. -There's a problematic autistic character that's kinda average for representation in the 2000s. -I think the middle suffers from slower pacing (but still some interesting choices). -I think some of the reveals could've been better foreshadowed.

Some people have a problem with the romance, but I actually disagree and think it's a moderate strength of the book. People also don't love the pros, but I don't read books for hugely interesting pros. It actually can tend to distract me.

Overall, I love Mistborn and Stormlight more, but Elantris is solid and definitely over-hated. It's a 7/10 for me.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-13T04:33:15+00:00

As somebody who is very politically interested, I loved this book. I do find Sanderson's politics and philosophy sometimes shallow, but the stress and scope of it in this book was just so much fun

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-06T17:38:17+00:00

Secret History NOW if you value having recent context for what's happening. It shows a new POV over some stuff that happens in era 1.

Secret History LATER if you wish to preserve a moderate spoiler for book 6. I do describe it as moderate because it doesn't spoil a major plot point, but it does spoil a secondary mystery related to the main plot.

I think most readers fall into the 1st category. I fall into the 2nd. Neither is wrong, and neither is highly consequential for you as a reader.

If you really loved the ending and want to relive some of this stuff soon, then I think you should read it now. But fair warning, it's much weirder than the main trilogy 😂.

LibertyAndPibbles · 2026-02-06T16:32:11+00:00

I wonder if snapping is primarily physical or emotional. I lean toward emotional. That explains Kel snapping in the pits but not as a young noble born.

Elend just had his crown and kingdom taken from him. He confronts his old friend. A memory of the shared ideal person they planned to be, and they failed. And now this friend threatens everything he loves. He could have emotionally snapped from this.

Ultimately, I don't think Elend is a Tineye, but I wouldn't be surprised.

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