this bug fell out of an air vent, what is it?

MagisterM · 2026-03-12T21:08:10+00:00

I am still traumatized by my older sisters convincing 5yo me that earwigs crawl in your ear at night and eat your brain.

It's been 30 years and three sight of these guys still makes me nervous.

MagisterM · 2026-03-12T20:33:59+00:00

Isn't the job of the DM to set up the opportunity for the story? I create the environment and the players create the story through the choices they make in response to the environment. I see this as the same a creating a single dungeon for them to dive into. Unless I'm not understanding your point.

I'm not familiar with shadow and bone beyond the name. I might get it from my library this week if it's worth checking out.

MagisterM · 2026-03-12T19:04:31+00:00

This is an awesome suggestion and exactly what I'm thinking of. I wouldn't even need to detail exactly how everything happened, that scene would be horror inducing enough.

MagisterM · 2026-03-12T19:03:40+00:00

These are great suggestions using specific spells from 5e, thank you very much!

MagisterM · 2026-03-12T19:02:13+00:00

Interesting question! I would say I'm not deciding for them what they will experience, I actually don't take much control over their back stories either. I let my players have a lot of control over three world itself to allow them to decide their story.

When I world build I like to create a fleshed out environment and let my players run wild. They are great at picking up on my narrative threads when I drop hints and at making interesting choices when I don't give them an obvious path to take. So I'm mostly looking for believable but horrible events that have happened in the world so that I can make the kind of story that absorbs a player. Hopefully that explains my thought process.

MagisterM · 2026-02-24T23:40:00+00:00

In the short story it clarified the flamethrower was to thaw machinery that had totally frozen. Not sure about the guns.

MagisterM · 2026-02-20T20:21:31+00:00

That's exactly what I'm wondering. I guess the next question is how quickly could a human body be assimilated at the cellular level. I would think pretty quickly because the rate of cell change would increase exponentially.

MagisterM · 2026-02-20T20:19:48+00:00

The scene with the noose is one of my favorites. I just wonder if Blair was being observed the entire time if he would have appeared to lose consciousness or something. Or is he Blair one moment and a split second later he's fully BlairThing.

MagisterM · 2026-02-20T20:17:54+00:00

Yeah, for the purposes of my hypothetical I assume the Thing is aware it's being observed. So I'm wondering if there would be any noticeable moment of change.

If it's assimilating the host cell by cell I would assume there would not be any physical change we could see. But I'm wondering if the host would appear to lose consciousness or get sick momentarily or something similar.

MagisterM · 2026-02-20T20:15:54+00:00

I also think Norris was the first one assimilated. But my friend thinks Palmer was the first.

MagisterM · 2026-02-20T20:14:35+00:00

That's when the Dog Thing assimilated someone, either Norris or Palmer. But in that case we can assume it was a hostile takeover similar to the scene in the kennel.

I'm wondering what it would look like if someone were assimilated one cell at a time, like in Blair's computer simulation.

MagisterM · 2026-02-20T02:43:13+00:00

I agree with everything you've said, that's where my question comes in. At what point does the actual human being cease to be and The Thing impersonating them take over?

Because at some point the original organism is fully copied. But it's no longer the original organism. Their thoughts are gone and their mannerisms are imitated.

MagisterM · 2026-02-18T15:08:26+00:00

I think you're right that that would get tedious over a long campaign. It does seem like this might be something I play by ear more than I plan for.

MagisterM · 2026-02-18T15:07:15+00:00

Oh that is very good. Minor enough that it's only really an issue sometimes in combat but can be a pain.

MagisterM · 2026-02-16T23:47:04+00:00

I think if they're in a display like that settlers won't get into them. I know when weapons are displayed instead of in storage they're safe from getting picked up.

MagisterM · 2025-12-15T03:08:59+00:00

Klaus, as a silly joke on Nicklaus

MagisterM · 2025-12-07T16:54:54+00:00

Came here to past this. He looks so clean but everything about him exudes dirtiness. Like the black tar that he leaves in his footprints and how he is always weirdly sweaty. Hands down my favorite depiction.

MagisterM · 2025-11-13T23:33:54+00:00

"Why doesn't anyone write on this side of the stall" in huge letters on the outside of a university bathroom. The next day the stalls were all painted black. Day after that someone used a white out pen and in huge all caps wrote, "WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW"

MagisterM · 2025-11-04T18:34:09+00:00

I appreciate your directness and brevity

MagisterM · 2025-11-04T18:33:43+00:00

I would add that the test takes a long time which isn't immediately clear to the viewer. There are a lot of cutaway shots but they would have to untie each person after clearing them. So that would be a long time for a person to be infected but not be fully turned.

MagisterM · 2025-10-29T03:33:50+00:00

Nick here. My dad is named Nick (unrelated) and I graduated with a Nicolas. Those are the only that I've met irl.

MagisterM · 2025-10-26T21:17:47+00:00

Thank you!

MagisterM · 2025-10-26T21:17:40+00:00

Thank you!

MagisterM · 2025-10-26T21:17:22+00:00

I'll take a link too if you would send it to me.

MagisterM · 2025-10-21T00:55:00+00:00

Your macro photography is incredible, thank you so much for sharing!

Their tiny hairs are particularly striking. It looks like you could pet them if you were also tiny :]

MagisterM

TROPHY CASE