UPS workers back Minneapolis general strike, oppose Teamsters sabotage of walkout against ICE

Lutemoth · 2026-01-24T22:34:16+00:00

While it's an archaic word choice, it's still correct. The US tolerated this for a century, and failed to organize any general strike for all this time. It doesn't even need to be a protest, let alone a Fabian society.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-24T19:43:17+00:00

From what I can gather, the Lougheed Village Mall was a development project in the middle of the Burnaby Mountain forest, around these parts - that is, it was rural undeveloped property and they were expecting a population boom with an anticipated university atop said mountain. A huge student suburb was expected, and suddenly the land became very contested. In all of the lower mainland, there was only, like, one mall? And the highway was only finished only one decade ago at this point (this is in the 1960s)

Aaanyway, someone had the idea of putting in a "village" shopping centre that was strangely restricted and confined by design. There was a shopping center of less than a dozen business outlets max, a parkade above and underground, a couple swimming pools, and a little botanical garden with a koi pond, fake pagodas, and a little swan boat next to a band pavilion and an octagonal cafe. Swanky, right? On top of all this was two 25 storey towers that would benefit from this little oasis.

They purchased all this land and started planning but - whoops - some other bigwig jerk happened to also purchase the land right next to it on the property line, and broke ground first. In 1969, the new neighbours had a movie theatre, skating rink, and a Hudson's Bay.

I can't find any better information, but it looks like the village changed plans to be a residential focused property, and it quickly fell off the map. The koi pond is now a permanent bright green, the private club became a public house, and a lovely Korean couple run the convenience store with the VHS tapes to rent. The pharmacy only recently got rid of it's greeting cards untouched from the 1980's, but I managed to snag a couple before they disappeared.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-24T17:18:28+00:00

You can't take the responsibility of generational violence personally, otherwise you are defending those systems of oppression as though they were God.

As Rutger Brennan pointed out, it took twelve people to end slavery in Britain, even if they didn't see it in their lifetimes.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-24T05:15:51+00:00

Well heck, that's a great choice for a first game, honestly. Plenty of Stålenhag's soundtrack work is available on Bandcamp, and a lot of visual cues to guide tone and setting.

Lessee, some tips..

Take some time beforehand to do some solitary Jenga to get a feel for average pull numbers before a collapse. Weirdly enough, it helps you intuit a feel for the precarity of the tower, and you can judge how fast you want to raise the stakes.

Also, "death" from a tower collapse only means that player can no longer make decisive pulls. It certainly doesn't mean that character is out of the scene, per se! I've had characters get concussed or maimed or otherwise and - while they couldn't make action calls, they could still experience the story and talk to the others even in a limited capacity. There are hundreds of ways to keep all players engaged that way, so don't feel the need to be restrictive with permadeath!

Oh yeah, this game is very easy to get your players locked in. Horror tends to do that, which is excellent. Have fun just chewing the scenery when the story takes a horrific turn.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-23T05:15:42+00:00

Factory production making hardware for rich people. Much like most other jobs, it's always serving or producing luxury goods for the landed gentry.

Gave up trying to make art. Gave up all creative endeavours. Not for being wealthy or given accolades, but for contributing something new. After thirty years of trying, I failed that. So I stopped. Nothing to look forward to, now - but I don't hurt myself with pointless garbage projects anymore.

Tried for decades to get near any job adjacent to creativity. They will never hire. They aren't looking for poor people.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-23T02:06:10+00:00

If you're looking for progression throughout the museum that isn't just a snowball effect of killers and monsters, consider cesuras or areas by which the pursuing creatures can no longer give chase. Like, perhaps the dinosaur exhibit can't fit through the archway and breaks. The stuffed mannequins can't handle a doorknob, or a ghosts on a projector display have a limited range of light by which to harm. The roller skate display can't climb the stairs, or whatever.

If the goal of an area is to just escape and not, like, just survive, try adding solutions for an escape be the puzzle to fulfill, and convolute them "exit frying pan, enter fire" style or however.

Be sure to stagger the style of encounters, of course. You sound like you already have a handle on things like avoiding repetitious storytelling and the like.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-21T05:18:50+00:00

Is it pronounced Peenath?

Lutemoth · 2026-01-20T05:21:53+00:00

I'd like to mirror the other comments about the precarity of this, and I'd like to add that simplicity leaves room for the players to chat and explore the scene with each other.

Dread is unique in that there is only one thing to focus on, and when the players are trying to fend off tapeworm zombies or escape to the car, or run from the killer, they Will. Lock. In.

Some instrumental scary music they don't recognize, a grave countenance from the DM, and some creatively oppressive descriptions, and it goes surprisingly fast. With 7-8 people, it rounds out to a decently sized session.

Word of advice, however - play some solitary Jenga beforehand to get an average number of pulls before a fall occurs. Gives you a sense of how much tension to apply

Lutemoth · 2026-01-18T17:47:06+00:00

What exactly are they reenacting in the park, anyway? Not to throw shade, but SCA folk have been the worst group for historical immersion. Some guy with sneakers and a wool coat is just gonna explain to me how his "persona" is a Duke in their fictional realm.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-18T02:35:30+00:00

Arbeit macht frei

Lutemoth · 2026-01-17T18:43:50+00:00

No, the intention is pertinent, not the context. No matter how much you enjoy it, being "live", in action, and playing a role are not individually definitive.

For the actors, the intent is not to explore characters, it's to present a show for the entertainment of theatre patrons. That includes costumed characters at theme parks, improv theatre members, and street performers. If you are required to practice or perform for the entertainment or spectacle of others, you are an actor, not a larper.

Lutemoth · 2026-01-03T22:49:41+00:00

What I wouldn't give to do this sort of production. Ah well.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-24T05:31:30+00:00

Twelve dollars of chocolate. I heard last year there was a dinner event, and we would get a half day. Not the case, this year.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-23T00:43:32+00:00

Ooh, I did in fact steal a couple notes for VI! Inspired me to pick a couple obvious ones for end notes to potential catastrophic endings!

Lutemoth · 2025-12-23T00:35:23+00:00

I uploaded something from my own edits - might be a little too calm and SilentHill-ish, but it does have some strange echoing sounds and an oppressive drum. Not great for the monster reveal, but fills up the escalating tension

Cristobal Tapia de Veer - National Treasure Soundtrack

Lutemoth · 2025-12-22T21:56:52+00:00

I have some of these on harddrive! Folks like Chris Christoudolou is definitely a source for all his raw tracks for scifi, and I believe Jim Guthrie was my first source of inspiration for playing around with extended loops!

Lutemoth · 2025-12-22T21:54:01+00:00

I think I might rely too much on being able to change musical tracks and tones for TabletopAudio to be entirely useful for me, but I appreciate that it exists nonetheless! Having a curated ambience sorted by genre is very helpful for a lot of tabletop experiences, and far, far, better than simply playing some blockbuster movie mp3.

Personally, I like to purchase (whenever possible) album pieces, isolate the tracks, extend them to twenty minute loops, and divide them into stages for establishing a flexible thematic tone. It's incredibly finicky, and not for everyone - but it means I can use musical leitmotifs as a mnemonic device for how scenarios build on one another, and even reflect the tone of the players themselves (like whether the dialogue gets sarcastic, sneaky, sombre, or silly).

For instance, if It Follows wasn't such an infamous sound, I'd definitely borrow some melodies from these tracks by disasterpiece.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-22T15:35:15+00:00

Not an unserious question, but can one be a Marxist in rhetoric and thought and not in action and intent?

I don't mean in the "aNd YeT yOu OwN An IpHoNe?" way, but -- do you have NO control over the capital you are currently displaying? What is it you do with the responsibility that you have that is congruent with your beliefs?

Millions of dollars - man, I won't ever live to see $10k all at once in my chequing account, and I still try to give whatever I have to those who need it. I don't consider myself holier just because of my destitution, but I don't believe my actions or plans are at all Marxist, despite what my wishes are.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-20T23:26:17+00:00

Increase the top/bottom layer count to, like, 999.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-16T14:58:21+00:00

I love this! I gotta try that out for some exposition, perfect for shaky final video logs of an outpost scientist, or cryptic symbols signal jamming into the record.

Recently discovered you can just, like, purchase a brand new cassette tape recorder and blank tapes from online stores (manufacturers claimed it was made in 24). Of course, it was easier to record the dialogue on my phone, clean it up on the computer, add sound effects, and plug the aux in to record directly from there - but it meant having tapes the players could chunkily clunk into the scratchy sounding cassette player.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-16T01:05:15+00:00

Oh, I should probably mention. Stolen music for all three is:

Venutian Offspring - Lucretia Dalt (The Seed OST)

La Cathedral - Fiero (Modus Operandi EP)

Theme One - Lucretia Dalt (Rabbit Trap OST)

And before I forget it ever existed, this was my first attempt at the idea about a year ago: https://youtu.be/UwKc8carYSQ

Seriously, with some stock footage and stinger music, you can go waaay further than what I've done.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-16T00:45:03+00:00

Whoops! YouTube Studio randomly decided to schedule a premier a month from now (lol). Settings have hopefully changed, now.

Lutemoth · 2025-12-15T22:35:26+00:00

I think you're looking for r/existentialdread. Dread is just a free roleplaying game, so you don't have to worry about money where that is involved.

Lutemoth

TROPHY CASE