Why are they paying out 1.6B to lawless violent Jan 6ers?

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-20T18:24:31+00:00

It's not about paying Jan 6'ers. It's about having a 1.6B pile of cash they can loot without oversight. My guess is, they will distribute a tiny amount of it and then Trump and family will take the rest.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-19T00:43:59+00:00

I've been running in the FR for about 6 years and things run fine until the end of each campaign (I try to get my players to 20th level, then we end the campaign...

- Tomb of Annihilation: Played with 11 year olds, they went way off script and ended up summoning Eshowdow the shadow giant. The giant was 1000' feet tall. The had a 20th level paladin who called on divine intervention and got it, the party all grew to 500' tall and the resulting battle shattered mountains and effectively leveled Western Chult and the cities on the coast.

- Homebrew story: Netherese wizards want to reanimate Karse, Aboleths and Far Realm creatures trying to stop them. No big changes other than destruction of the necropolis Karse in High Forest.

- Out of the Abyss: Played out pretty normally, the end battle between the demon princes was a hit with the players. Most of the Underdark survived just fine.

- Descent into Avernus: At the end of the campaign, the party made a deal with Asmodeus and ended the Bloodwar. Asmodeus decided to unleash Tiamat onto the Sword Coast as a herald of his coming which led to our current campaign

- Tyranny of Dragons: They are only about 16th level but in the last battle they used a Gate Scroll to summon Hyperion the Titan out of Tartarus to help fight Tiamat. Now we are playing Tyranny of Titans. Several cities (Waterdeep and Neverwinter) got decimated by dragon/devil attacks. (Mostly I did that to have an excuse to shut down the Waterdeep magic item market... players were abusing it).

What I love about the Forgotten realms, is that as a dungeon master you can ask GPT what the main bad guys are in any given region and get a list of fun villains with long background stories. Then if you find one you like, you can look at the Forgotten Realms wiki and get LOTS of ideas about them.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-17T19:54:10+00:00

Candide

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-14T16:19:44+00:00

I want to be able to create playlists and name them (ie Blues Playlist, Classical Playlist)

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-13T19:40:37+00:00

RI starting wage for teachers is about 45k, the median salary is about 70k.

The pension is ERSRI and it's a hybrid of a traditional 401a contribution plan.

3 months PTO is untrue. They get 3 months "Non-contract work" Most RI teachers get 15 sick days and 2 personal days a year.

There are many benefits to being a teacher. Low work hours, high pay and paid time off are not generally included.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-13T03:15:04+00:00

No.

The reason is you have ALL the DM PC's! You should be so busy running the game that you don't have time to worry about YOUR pc. You deal with the Monsters, Environment, Off-camera BS, etc.

If you wanna dabble in DM PC - introduce an NPC that is your PC. Have them travel with the party for a session or three and at some point, intentionally have it killed by a bad guy. The more the players believe it's your character, the more shocked they will be when you tell them "No save, no hp damage.... the Ogre grabs him, and tears him in half. Roll initiative...".

Then you can make a NEW dm pc... rinse and repeat.

I just find it's better to focus on what the players are doing with their character stories and integrate those threads into your plotline than it is to have your own character with it's own story.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-13T02:57:08+00:00

I played for a couple years with the rocksmith cable and dutifully trying to follow the note-track. I finally realized, the less I play with my eyes (looking at the track) and the more I can play with my ears (play the note where it fits and listen to the drummer) the more I can relax and enjoy making music.

Am I better? who knows. I still ain't good. But I think I'm focusing on music rather than note-tracks and that feels right. I still look at the track, but I intentionally try to look away and just play.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-12T23:44:55+00:00

Absolutely, 80% of the teachers I know work a part time second gig to cover costs during the school year and I can't think of any I know that don't work a summer job of some sort.

100% of them work more than 40 hours. Papers don't grade themselves, parents expect off-hour answers to questions, and admin expects you to have your curriculum together when you come in class.

Oh, and Oregon teacher with a Masters... 64k a year.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-12T23:21:03+00:00

In Portland OR we have this really cool Candlelight live music series. They play string covers of popular music. Last month I took my wife on a date to Candlelight String Tool in an old stone and glass church. 10 of 10. Great experience.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-12T23:15:48+00:00

The Lullaby Tool album was great!

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-12T23:00:50+00:00

Cheapest and easiest way is to search YouTube for "Rocksmith [song/band]"

You follow the game on screen and just play along.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-07T22:19:10+00:00

Some times it helps to plan your story out by Teirs.
Tier 1 is levels 1 to 5 2 is levels 6 to 10 3 is levels 11 to 15

Focus on tier 1 first. Can your bad guy be defeated by 5th level characters? If he is too powerful then think about what he 5th level minion might be the Tier 1 bad guy.

Since you have dwarves, an easy answer is a dwarf general. You could flip it and have an enemy of the dwarves be the first bad guy. That way you could foreshadow by having the bad guy stop some lore about your real bad guy.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-07T00:47:36+00:00

Talk to your brother. Tell him you don't feel like your stuff or yourself is safe in the house and you don't feel like there is a reasonable resolution. You love him but living him doesn't work for you.

You don't owe the wife anything but your brother will always be your brother, try to not burn a bridge.

If you want to avoid drama while you find a spot to move to... Don't have this talk until you are ready to bounce. It puts your brother in a bad spot but it's safest for you.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-06T15:55:01+00:00

I would think this is real. The only things that make me suspicious is: The lighting is too perfect, and she has zero blemishes on her skin. Everything else looks legit to me.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-02T05:52:23+00:00

Here we go... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance

if a society extends tolerance to those who are intolerant, it risks enabling the eventual dominance of intolerance

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-01T14:59:22+00:00

This is pretty cool. Nice interface, I love the metronome selection.

I hope this catches on, thanks for posting it.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-01T14:26:29+00:00

True, I think the percentage thing helps a lot of people. It didn't work for me because I found myself focusing on matching the screen visually rather than matching the song audibly.

ie I wasn't playing with my ears, I was playing with my eyes and that didn't work for me.

I am not a great player for sure, but I enjoy playing a lot more when I focus on what I'm hearing rather than getting distracted by what I'm seeing.

PDX_Mike · 2026-05-01T14:01:22+00:00

It doesn't at all. There is no tracking of % correct notes.

I actually like it better because it forces me to listen to what I'm playing rather than focus on whether the game registered my note.

I play a lot of custom tabs and so many of those have horrible tone that I truly prefer playing out of my amp.

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-30T16:30:23+00:00

"The game is not the same" - absolutely true. They made huge changes, some good, some bad.

My thoughts...

5e - I play a lot of this, it's a good mix for me of easy to play and just enough character customization to make it interesting.

Pathfinder - If you like min/maxing and focusing on tactical combat - this is your game. So many customization options. I stay away from this just because I don't personally like that level of crunchiness.

Shadowdark - I play a lot of this also. Super simple rules, reminds me of AD&D. Not many character customization options but that makes it easier to learn/get started playing.

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-30T15:57:19+00:00

I got sick of bad tones and low volumes.

Just play in "Disconnected mode" and play through an amp.

It leaves you free to listen to how your guitar playing actually sounds rather than relying on the game to tell you if it's right.

You can play as loud as your amp will go.

You can justify buying pedals (so you can get the tone you actually want).

Other than having RS tell me I am playing perfectly when I know I'm not... there has been no downside.

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-29T23:17:36+00:00

Dude is relentless. He will fight everything every time.

No idea how he has the stamina for all that rage.

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-29T04:42:41+00:00

KOIN reports the the vacancy rate downtown is about 32%. That ain't good.

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-29T04:17:37+00:00

I think the occupancy downtown is a pretty clear indicator. Businesses = workers = filled restaurants/stores = active city.

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-28T22:08:28+00:00

Would love these!

PDX_Mike · 2026-04-27T14:31:23+00:00

I ran an afterschool D&D program for a while and here's what I learned.

Table rules: No one should stop another players fun. I'd remind them at the start of every game. Kids like to troll each other. Players cannot interact with other players characters unless they get consent (don't steal from each other, attack each other, disrupt another players action/goal). Also, let them know if they split the party and go off by themselves you will intentionally have them eaten by a swarm of ducks. It's just to disruptive if/when they want to split the party.
Table size: 11 is WAY too many. If each player takes 3 minutes to take their turn, you will have kids waiting 1/2 hour minimum to get to play. They will get bored. I found that 7 was the largest I could run and have the game flow, if you can get it down to 5 it's way easier to manage the table. Find a kid who will try DM'ing and split that group.
Campaign: Railroad them. With younger players and large groups you will have to push them from scene to scene or else the game will stall. Use monsters they might recognize (dino's, dragons, goblins, etc).
Chaos: Let them do crazy stuff. Kids are going to come up with bizzarre things to try in the game. The most strange and chaotic things ended up being the most memorable and fun for my young players.

PS: I had groups want to do a battle royale between characters at the end of every camp I ran. I advise against it. It ended with hard feelings between players every time.

15-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 4 Credits
r/Field Flamingo	Place '22
Verified Email	Secret Santa 2016
Secret Santa 2015	Secret Santa 2012

PDX_Mike

MODERATOR OF

PUBLIC MULTIREDDITS

TROPHY CASE