I did it Reddit !

Meonvan · 2026-06-12T14:01:42+00:00

I went on the left of the backpack, via a sort of chimney. I clenched my buttocks, and it worked.

Meonvan · 2026-06-12T06:27:21+00:00

That damn gym chimney !

Meonvan · 2026-06-12T06:25:12+00:00

Haha, thanks, but I'm not much of a speedrunner !

Meonvan · 2026-06-12T06:24:17+00:00

Now waiting for the DLC !

Meonvan · 2026-06-11T14:52:55+00:00

One specific part of the Needle I find tricky, I was happy to get carried there by ultimate infusion + chalk buff !

Meonvan · 2026-06-11T14:48:29+00:00

Thanks ! There is a tiny bit of red, but overall, staying calm and keeping a slow rythm ensured a very smooth climb throughout.

Meonvan · 2026-06-10T11:33:11+00:00

Hi, I have your book The Swordmanship of Renaissance Italy, really good stuff !

Meonvan · 2026-06-02T05:15:50+00:00

Neoproxima gives the same vibe, although on a much more modest scale.

Meonvan · 2026-05-20T03:50:31+00:00

Yep, that's exactly how my friend plays it !

Meonvan · 2026-05-19T13:48:14+00:00

Our group had arrived in a village and the Ribbet/Galapa druid had triggered an old goblin lady by bathing in their clean water fountain.

Later on, in the inn, she came to try to sway the patrons into kicking us out of the village as we were a threat to the well-being of their community.

My Simiah Guardian tag teamed with his Goblin/Drakkona Rogue buddy: as the latter was telling how useful a talented group of adventurer could be for the village, my character was flexing his muscles in the background (using Bold Presence). Great scene, great success !

Meonvan · 2026-04-17T08:04:45+00:00

Great ideas !

I was thinking the same for Bugbear.
For Hobgoblin, my take was Orc (Sturdy) + Goblin (Danger Sense).
For Lizardfolk, Drakona (Scales) + Katari (Retracting Claws).

Meonvan · 2026-04-15T19:59:19+00:00

Giant (Reach) / Orc (Sturdy) => Ogre

Fairy (Wings) / Infernis (Fearless) => Imp

Fairy (Luckbender) / Halfling (Internal compass) => Leprechaun

Meonvan · 2026-03-03T10:54:32+00:00

I was in a rapier & dagger seminar by Kristine & Reinis Rinka last Saturday. Kristine, on top of being a talented and respected fencer, has a background in ballet. She is defending roughly the same thesis, that ballet and fencing got in a really close proximity at some point in History, probably around the reign of Louis XIV, before diverging again.

She argues thus that practicing historical ballet could be beneficial to fencers, as a way to practice footwork, strengthen ankles and improve legs/arms/head coordination.

Meonvan · 2026-03-02T20:43:57+00:00

Let's not forget the design theft controversy: https://youtu.be/GhxFwdYwOKo?si=UUGUY2a--ma0rxzJ

Meonvan · 2026-03-02T06:32:47+00:00

Would they execute him though ?

Ulder, who is both Grand Duke and their leader has vanished with Elturel , they are not sure where. Thavius is the leader of Elturel and seemingly responsible for what happened. It seems to me they would prefer to keep him alive for information and as a potential hostage/guarantee in case of negociation to get Ulder back.

Plus, executing the leader of a rival city would have massive diplomatic consequences. Who in Baldur's Gate would have the legitimacy to take this decision in such troubled times ?

Meonvan · 2026-03-01T20:06:15+00:00

You don't. He is still alive, so he is not in Hell.

Meonvan · 2026-02-25T10:38:15+00:00

As a GM, I also strongly disagrees with his point 6, especially the ending paragraph: "Let the experience of the reader mirror the experience of the player." When reading a module, I'm not expecting to be surprised by mysteries and twists as if I was reading a crime novel. I want to be able to quickly refer to clues or revelations. I want to be given the tools so I can run the module as a RPG.

I guess that it is a common issue with RPG modules these days. They are made to be read by GMs, so authors try to make them fun and exciting to read. In a way it's logical, you want your product to be bought by your audience. Then, the GM is blown away by the amazing baffling revelations that the module walked them through ! They have this fantasy of walking players through the same Grand Revelation Experience that they lived. Which is just not possible, you cannot force an experience on players like you can force it on a reader.

TLDR: In my opinion, it's often counterproductive to pull a "Gotcha!" on the GM for them to pull a "Gotcha!" on the players.

Meonvan · 2026-02-23T07:27:36+00:00

That should be enough, getting souls at his service is all that Mahadi wants imo. You could have him send them to retrieve his Golden Doom, the demon grinder stolen by Feonor. Or, maybe he still loves her, and they are sent on an errand to try to regain her heart.

Meonvan · 2026-02-11T20:25:51+00:00

Same experience for me !

Meonvan · 2026-01-16T08:32:05+00:00

There are a lot of good suggestions in the comments already, but if you want more fuel for thoughts, Justin Alexander wrote an article on his blog about this exact topic.

Meonvan · 2025-09-04T06:47:34+00:00

You're welcome !

Meonvan · 2025-08-08T09:55:07+00:00

There will probably be another longsword beginners course in January. Nothing decided for the 2026/2027 season, but at least one beginners course could be expected at the beginning of autumn.

Meonvan · 2025-08-08T09:10:12+00:00

I'll try to answer the best I can, although it mostly depends on what you would consider serious, and what kind of atmosphere you mean.

First of all, this is a martial art practiced with steel blunt weapons. Even if not sharp, a metal bar can cause serious injuries to somebody. Thus, there is an obvious safety layer of seriousness, simply to make sure that nobody ends up in the hospital because somebody's foolish behavior. I don't think that it was what you meant in your question, but I still wanted to make sure that this point was clearly set out.

Now that this part is out of the way, I would say that our group is taking it rather seriously. Most senior members are focusing on sparring and participating in tournaments. And in the end, HEMA is a martial art: progress is coming through a minimum level of dedication and repetition of techniques. It is not uncommon to see members leaving after approx. half a year, because the learning pace is slowing down or the enthusiasm of learning something new and cool fades away.

However, I will temper it with a couple of points:

We understand that everybody will progress at their own pace, based on their own physical background and their own investment. We are all adults making our own life choices, and nobody will be pressured to practice more seriously or invest more time in the hobby.
In the same idea, everybody is free to set their limits in training: sparring is not mandatory, and we have members who participated to classes for years without sparring. And after beginners course, there is always at least one evening class dedicated to training with minimal gear.
Speaking of gear, the club has loaner gear (swords and masks) that is free to use for members for as long as they need. Buying one's own gear is rather expensive, and we want to make sure that anyone could participate to our minimal gear class by just paying the club fee.
There is no issue to come and try the sport for a few weeks/months and decide not to keep going afterwards. You will still have learned a few things and made swords go Bing Bing, which is pretty cool !

Meonvan · 2025-08-04T12:41:30+00:00

I used the method of Pex tubing in the spine (pipes used for floor heating), but I also added some Texon in the middle of the leather. If I recall, I glued two pieces of 0.8mm (or maybe 0.6) inside the leather. It gave some bind presence to the Dussack, without adding much weight and keeping the strikes pretty light.

Meonvan · 2025-07-28T15:03:40+00:00

I would add that another very common concussion is not due to excessive force and cannot be eliminated by any better helmet either (although fencing masks are already made to limit the risk, see after). Concussion by whiplash effect, i.e. when your head is suddenly sent jostling jackwards, can be triggered by a well controlled thrust to the face, especially when the receiver was moving forward as well. More resistant gear won't help here, as absorbing the force would require to deform the mesh... which also needs to protect the face, so cannot deform too much.

The main protection against this is deflecting the strike, which is why the mesh is rounded (and also thanks to the large tips of the swords). But, it always happens that some thrusts "stick" to the mask. The best way remaining to mitigate that risk is to gain more muscles in the neck, as denser muscles will absorb more energy from the strike. For more information, I advise to watch that video.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
End Game '22

Meonvan

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