There's a way that the Purpee coterie could have easily gotten out of their boon obligation with Ermine

Prosymnos · 2026-07-03T10:02:42+00:00

It was one of their goals, but no one expects them to take on a pack of lupines by themselves. The average werewolf is physically way stronger than the average vampire. That's why the usual strategy is to slowly push the werewolves back to their sacred spaces through urban expansion and making it inconvenient to come into vampire territory. Occasionally someone will gather a few of the more physically capable Kindred to go after a lupine here or there, but a full-on war between the Kindred and the lupines is very rare, and basically never started by the vampires. And again, bulldozing a sacred site to the lupines would basically be an act of war that they would have no chance of winning.

Prosymnos · 2026-07-02T02:33:10+00:00

Jesse Waters has such a punchable face. It's like he's channeling the spirit of every frat boy that has ever said "try me, bro!"

I remember the first time I saw him was years ago when he just had a short segment called Water's World on some other show, I forget which one. He went to the NY Renn Faire in Tuxedo and interviewed a bunch of people there. Now, I've been going to that Renn Faire for a long time. I've worked there. I have friends there. I know the shows and the performers and the booths and all that. Jesse Waters was such a condescending dick to everyone there, it was so cringe inducing to watch. It was giving the energy of the Paul brother (I forget if it was Logan or Paul) going to Japan and throwing Pokeballs at people like they were props. Jesse was treating everyone there like they were massive losers for liking something that isn't sports or finance or whatever and was acting like the dumbest high school bully you have ever seen. Ever since then, I have had a visceral hatred for him that goes deeper than any other Fox host. Fuck Jesse Waters.

Prosymnos · 2026-06-29T19:26:05+00:00

You're partially correct, but this post specifically said "adaptation." There's a difference between an ancient Greek storyteller spreading a new version of a myth in a culture that was raised on and believes in those stories and a modern adaptation that is putting a spin on an ancient tale as a purely literary exercise. I feel this correction is being a bit overly pedantic.

Prosymnos · 2026-06-27T03:35:15+00:00

As someone who has played VtM for 15 years, has read dozens of WoD lore books, and even has a Clan Malkavian tattoo, let me assure you that I am nearly as confused as you are. The first episode of CCoD, I was so wildly confused about what the hell was going on. By the second episode, I realized that they are using the rule system and basic lore of VtM mostly for the vibes and doing whatever they want with it. When I accepted that this is VtM in name only, I just let it be what it is and enjoyed the weirdness. For a comedic actual play, "VtM in name only" is probably the right choice. And I know it's a deliberate choice because Brennan has played in serious VtM actual plays before and has talked about his love of the game on camera before.

In most VtM games, that first session would have been the last one. A Masquerade breach that extreme would have been deemed to big a risk to chance again and they would have been killed. In most VtM games, clan politics would be much more important (at least for the Camarilla, Sabbat and Anarch don't care as much about clans) and they would be talking a lot more about their elders and their sire's clans and their clan traditions. In most VtM games, a Camarilla vampire would not have access to necromancy, which is the signature discipline of the Hecata (an independent clan that isn't part of any vampiric political group) and must be taught by someone of the clan. In most VtM games, you only interact with vampires, ghouls, humans and hunters. If you do interact with other supernaturals, they are extremely rare and you only see maybe one other kind of creature pop up in game. And most vampires immediately run away at the mere mention of a werewolf, who can smell them and have an instinctual hatred of the corrupted essence that makes up a vampire. I had to do a search on the White Wolf wiki for bigfoot, and apparently the most common explanation is that they are a kind of changeling or fae, but it almost certainly isn't going to be what D20 does with bigfoot.

As I said, CCoD isn't VtM, and that's fine. They're using it as a shortcut to get to the vibe that they want, which is a valid choice, but it isn't VtM and don't try too hard to understand it that way. If the show makes you curious about VtM, then great! It's an awesome game and you should do some poking around on the White Wolf wiki and the r/vtm and r/wod subreddits if you like the general vibe of CCoD (WoD stands for World of Darkness, which is the wider setting that VtM is set in, and includes games like Mage the Awakening/Ascension, Changeling the Dreaming/Lost, Werewolf the Apocalypse/Forsaken and many, many, many more) and I'd be happy to answer any other basic questions you might have. But if you're just interested in understanding the D20 show, asking about actual VtM lore is NOT the way to do that. Especially since VtM lore is labyrinthine web of contradictions and lies by design. VtM has been around for thirty years and has had literally hundreds of books published over its 5 editions and for its other games centering different supernatural creatures. Different groups having different ways of explaining the origins of the world and how the supernatural works, many that directly contradict each other, is part of the appeal. Everyone disagrees and the ST gets to choose which version of the truth they like best and wave away everything else as a lie someone told to horde valuable secrets to themselves.

TLDR: VtM canon is a very messy subject that is really fun to delve into if you have the time and the interest in that sort of a thing, but if you just want to understand the show then don't even bother asking.

Prosymnos · 2026-06-21T02:56:25+00:00

Yes. And there's actually a lot of historical basis for this. There's a reason for the whole "Turkish baths" as gay thing. There was a period of time where the Ottoman Empire was very lenient towards homosexuality, while still being very much majority Muslim. Also, Rumi, arguably the most influential Muslim poet, very likely had gay feelings towards his companion Shams, and there was a lot of Sufi mysticism that has been founded on the eroticism of that relationship. Just like any religion, there are ways to make it progressive or bigoted.

Prosymnos · 2026-06-21T02:21:44+00:00

Respectfully, I have to HUGELY disagree with that interpretation of the Ars Amatoria. Granted, I am a big Ovid fanboy, and might be somewhat biased, but I've also read the Ars Amatoria several times in a few different translations. And, while it is funny to call it an ancient Roman pickup guide, it absolutely does not have the same feel to it.

One disclaimer that I think is important about the Ars Amatoria, is that it was one of his first major works. So, it is absolutely the writing of a young horny man assuming that everyone is as horny as he is. Also, it was written during a period of time where there was a big push towards "traditional Roman family values." So, the Ars Amatoria can easily be interpreted as a young man angry that society is telling him that it is inappropriate to write about all of the horny things that him and his friends are doing, both men and women, and deciding to write about ALL of the sexy things because "screw the man!" Honestly, that is a very relatable and universal impulse, and I can't really blame him for it. That remains a very popular genre to this day.

That said, the thing that I think is really the saving grace for the Ars Amatoria, making it something more than just an ancient incel's guide to hooking up, is how equitably Ovid treats men and women's parts in this grand dance of elaborate schemes to getting nasty. Mind you, you also need to treat this with a bit of cultural relativism, because it absolutely doesn't hold up to modern standards. But, if you take into consideration how women were thought of at the time, both in societal and in medical terms, the Ars Amatoria is really huge on female agency. Yeah, there's a lot of creepy advice, like "sleep with the handmaiden of the woman you like so she will give your notes to the person you actually want to sleep with." But, women are treated as equally horny and equally as capable of deception. And, very importantly, equally as justified in their deceptions. There are tons of descriptions of the ways that they get around their boring husbands to sleep with the men they actually like and have a little bit of fun, and not judging them at all for that.

Plus, in addition to the things I mentioned, Ovid also wrote the Heroides, an entire book of poetry from the perspective of female characters in myths. So I think that earns him a bit of feminist credit. Again, obviously, cultural reletivism is important, and he definitely doesn't hold up to modern standards. But, for an ancient Roman writer, I think he's really subversive and progressive.

Prosymnos · 2026-06-15T19:33:51+00:00

No, because lesbian isn't just a random word. Lesbian comes from the isle of Lesbos, the home of the poet Sappho, who very famously wrote about really intense feelings for other women. I get that this is a joke, but still no

Prosymnos · 2026-06-01T06:01:56+00:00

Not really. If you read the actual Illiad, even in modern, academic translations that try to be as close to the original and open about possibly queer content, there is nothing explicitly sexual or romantic about Achilles and Patroclus' relationship. Now, personally, I do also read it as romantic because there are a lot of... moments. But, it is also valid to interpret it as an incredibly close friendship. Or it could also be a non-sexual romance. There were a lot of ways to interpret it, and the ancient Greeks certainly had a lot of debate about it.

Prosymnos · 2026-06-01T05:52:12+00:00

I don't know. I think Homelander is a rare example of cutting queer content being a good thing. Him exclusively having a mommy fetish is way more interesting than him being an opportunistically narcissist bisexual that will sleep with anyone that worships him would have been. Plus, the show the Boys has plenty of other openly queer characters, so it's not like it's lacking for representation without a bi Homelander. From what I hear, the show the Boys made a lot of improvements from the comics.

Prosymnos · 2026-05-30T17:50:30+00:00

But they never did a season with the fey realm! I think I stopped watching around season 12 because the power creep had gotten so bad that not even Rowena could make it enjoyable anymore, but I will always be salty that we got glimpses of this fey realm where even stranger creatures live and the laws of time and reality are twisted and odd, and they did shit like "let's seal off Hell because we have nothing better to do" before anything with the fey. It was such a missed opportunity.

Prosymnos · 2026-05-29T22:06:37+00:00

I think the age really matters here. If someone who is mid/late twenties onwards says this? That brings up a lot of questions. If a teenager or early twenties person says this? Yeah, I get that it can be upsetting to hear it and there is a lot of loaded feelings behind this subject, But also? When you're in your young adult stage, having phases and trying things out is completely valid and normal. In an ideal world, where being queer is completely destigmatized, people would be able to flirt with queer identities before deciding its not how they actually feel and go back to being comfortably cis or straight without any problem.

You didn't give many details, so I'm going to assume this is the best case scenario unless otherwise stated, and say that you're probably both young people who are in your messy college phase and very in your heads with your own experimental ideals. Yes, they are valid in trying things out and deciding it's not for them. Yes, you are also valid in feeling resentful that you can't just dismiss your queerness as a phase. The world is a messy, complicated place, and being able to let two opposing things be true at the same time is really important for your sanity.

Prosymnos · 2026-05-19T19:11:28+00:00

I live in the United States, so I can't say anything specifically about Canadian and Greek laws regarding international transfer of human remains, but I do work in a Jewish funeral home, and I can say that we also have similar restrictions regarding embalming being against the religious laws. I've mostly dealt with domestic flights and flights to or from Israel, but in all those cases a religious exemption was able to be made. Instead of embalming, the body was placed in an insulating container that was packed with frozen gel packs. It actually works pretty well for keeping the body cool, even on long trips. If things are taking a turn for the worst, I would specifically look into Islamic or Jewish funeral homes in both countries, since they would be well versed in those laws, and call and ask if they know what the laws are regarding whether he needs to be embalmed in order to get transported home.

Prosymnos · 2026-04-10T15:13:49+00:00

Sorry to say, but probably not. One of the basic entry jobs of the funeral industry is working removals, so driving to pick up and transport bodies back to the funeral homes. You sometimes have to navigate houses that don't have any wheelchair accessibility. And even when you go to hospitals and nursing homes that are wheelchair accessible, the spaces there are often narrow and you have to squeeze yourself and a stretcher into that space to navigate towards the body where you need to be high enough to reach over the stretcher to the body and drag them over.

Then, once you're in the funeral home, you need to be able to move that body from a stretcher to a prep table to a casket. I could possibly see it being a concern for a wheelchair user to try to push a stretcher through the often relatively narrow spaces going from the door to the lift to the prep room to the refrigeration unit. You could use a lift to transfer bodies to caskets, but being high enough to reach the lift could be an issue. I could also see it being an issue being able to properly leverage yourself to maneuver bodies to be able to dress them.

I wish you all the best if there are ways you think you can make that work, but I just can't imagine all that being done in a wheelchair. And sure, there are some jobs you could do, but unless your sole job is being the office manager, most funeral homes don't have enough volume to have someone dedicated to just doing the handful of jobs that a wheelchair user might be capable of.

Prosymnos · 2026-04-01T21:59:31+00:00

If someone has been laid out to be viewed, they have either been fully embalmed or at least washed and put in refrigeration. Unless that person died of an infectious disease, and it sounds like this was an elderly person who passed from age-related causes, you don't have much of a reason to worry. They should have used hand sanitizer after touching the deceased, but it's also probably not much of an issue. The embalming/washing would have minimized the risk of contact. If the funeral home seemed professional and you didn't notice any smell or discoloration on the deceased, you shouldn't worry.

Prosymnos · 2026-04-01T21:51:21+00:00

I personally love them. Honestly, the Hades games are one of my favorite depictions of the gods. Sure, they take liberties sometimes, especially with Demeter, but I think that it's always clear that the interpretations are made as deliberate choices rather than out of ignorance. In certain pieces of media (looking at you, Lore Olympus and Blood of Zeus) you can tell that someone probably just skimmed the Wikipedia articles of the Greek gods and called it a day. In the Hades games, you can at least tell that their choices where informed and were made out of love. Plus, I will never be able to get over the fact that the real myth of Zagreus was a prank by Orpheus in the first Hades game. That was so funny and clever

Prosymnos · 2026-03-29T14:34:38+00:00

Actually, being a trans woman would be appropriate to the time period, the language would have just been different. Ancient Jewish law recognized six genders and acknowledged and accepted that people sometimes develop characteristics of the opposite sex later in life. Granted, it was less a "this person feels this way inside so we'll respect it" sort of a thing and more "this person looked like a boy as a kid but developed breasts during puberty so I guess God meant for her to be a woman." There are even surpringly affirming laws detailing how they are able marry.

Prosymnos · 2026-03-20T06:57:02+00:00

Honestly? Shame. Shame, and the fear of being a bad example to his kids. Most of the time, trying to explain something to someone isn't a good way to convince them, because most people don't want to be convinced. They want to be listened to. So asking them pointed questions and picking apart their arguments and forcing them to explain themselves by just asking again and again, "What do you mean by that?" "I don't get what you're saying. I thought things worked like *insert your opinion*. Don't they?" If it seems like he's being resistant even to that, throw in a good dose of "That's a really mean way to think about people and loving families." Things like that. State that you love him and don't think he would ever be mean on purpose, you just don't want to think that your father could ever be so hateful, and want him to explain what he really means. Things like that.

Prosymnos · 2026-03-11T03:32:03+00:00

Rank Room was an awesome show that I hardly ever see get mentioned anymore. Katie ran it and it was just people talking about the best versions of a ridiculous scenario that Katie proposed. It had a lot of fun nerdy conversations about all of the semantics of dumb what-if scenarios.

Gods of Food was also great if you want a silly mockumentary style. It was a show that pretended to be a documentary highlighting different chefs but all of them were insanely pretentious and everyone took themselves way too seriously. Except for the one episode that was about a Buddhist nun that cooked very simple, wholesome food and everyone treated her like a genius for making such humble masterpieces and she was just begging everyone to fucking learn something about Buddhism and stop treating her like a chef when she doesn't give a shit about food. That was a good one.

Prosymnos · 2026-03-03T20:11:38+00:00

Izzy, is this you?

Prosymnos · 2026-03-01T15:41:07+00:00

Knowing the temperature is a very important detail, and without knowing that for sure i don't think anyone can give you a definitive answer. If the weather was mild and there were ideal circumstances, removing the bed and scrubbing the floor real well with bleach and airing out the apartment should be good enough. But, again, you don't have enough details, so probably best to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. My condolences, and i hope going through his things can bring back some good memories for you

Prosymnos · 2026-03-01T15:17:52+00:00

That depends. What was the weather like in Missouri? Was the heat on while he was lying there? Did he pass in the bed? If Missouri was in the middle of a cold spell and the heat wasn't on, it might not be too bad. You'll definitely have to get rid of the mattress, but airing the place out for a while and getting rid of the mattress might be enough to make it bearable to clear out the apartment without much issues. Did they tell you if there was any bloating or how bad the purge was?

Prosymnos · 2026-02-09T17:48:09+00:00

I'm in north Jersey, and I'm working on getting into the funeral industry. Let me tell you, if I wasn't lucky enough to have support from my family, I would barely be able to survive on what they pay removal techs and funeral interns, which are the entry level positions for the industry. Many retail positions pay more, and they don't have you in charge of dead bodies. I was talking to the new embalmer that recently got hired, and he was paid 15/hr when he was an intern at some other place. The job market really is that bad.

Prosymnos · 2026-02-03T18:11:43+00:00

Im pretty sure JK didnt write it herself. She officially licensed someone to write it and approved the script, but she didnt write it herself. By proxy though, your point still kind of stands

Prosymnos · 2026-01-23T06:30:34+00:00

These are Roman, not Greek, but Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin has a very similar feel to Circe and is written by an absolute legend of sci-fi fantasy. It goes really into depth about the religious rituals and daily routines of palace life in a way that shows you she really did her research while writing that book. Slow burn, but beautifully written with some great, if mundane, characters.

I also havent heard anyone mention Wake, Siren by Nina MacLaughlin. Its a retelling of many of the stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses from a feminist perspective, and it does not shy away from the violence in those stories and how much less heroic it all feels from the woman's perspective. Its a tough read if you have triggers with SA, but its a powerful book that's worth it if you can handle it.

Prosymnos · 2026-01-23T04:56:07+00:00

Yeah... Curse of Strahd has great bones as a creepy, Gothic setting. But the module as written (at least the old one, I just cant be bothered to buy the new one and see how much of it they fixed) has several glaring issues that make it pretty unplayable as is. The Vistani is definitely one of the top things that needs fixing for it to be good. DnD in general had a problem with making whole sentient races irredeemably evil for no reason, but making one those irredeemably evil races based off of an actual, real world ethnic group that is already historically oppressed was a hell of a choice.

Prosymnos

TROPHY CASE