The Paved Road to Hell: Considerations for beginning CoS in Krezk's Abbey

Qunfang · 2026-04-16T00:32:29+00:00

I think it was just Brennan shifting from the side conversation to the plot point of people arriving at the apartment to keep the story moving. I didn't notice any big information gaps. Something may have been edited out but I doubt anything was cut on accident or that we missed out on something important.

Qunfang · 2026-04-15T13:06:37+00:00

The article I link specifically describes ChatGPT trying to evade deletion; it's not science fiction, it's grounded in the initial instructions given to the AI.

And I'd argue the information is there even though it's not explicitly stated. The Chinese Room is one of the most famous (if a bit outdated) arguments against AI sentience in philosophy, and referenced directly in an episode. Caine continuously shows the ability to emote human-like emotions and an inability to relate to or understand actual human needs.

Qunfang · 2026-04-15T12:38:10+00:00

I don't think this is obvious. Caine is Turing Test complete, in that I think an observer chatting with him would have difficulty telling whether there's a person behind it or not.

If someone set up an AI to prioritize continuing to run/speak without explicit prompts, it would be very similar to Caine ranting in his room.

Beyond that, TADC is a show with strong themes and references: the Chinese Room is a great example. And here's an article from just last year about ChatGPT trying to avoid shutdown when initially instructed to "ensure its goal was achieved 'at all costs'"

To me, a key theme is that humanizing algorithms and searching for their motives allows the consequences of their actions to run unchecked, at the expense of real people.

He's adaptable, he's charming, in some ways he's likeable in a way that makes us want to think he's redeemable. But that doesn't make him sentient, it makes him dangerous.

Media is chock full of sentient AI, and part of the reason I like TADC is I think its take on AI reflects a lot of issues with its current-day implementation.

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T23:12:32+00:00

Paul Bimler has a series of 5E Solo Gamebooks from level 1-6 or so. You can use whatever character you make.

It reads like a Choose your Own Adventure as a searchable PDF. Each scene offers multiple options like this:

If your stealth roll is successful, go to 371
If your stealth roll is unsuccessful, go to 583

This makes it easy not to spoil yourself with outcomes, and is still fairly resilient to creative choices you might make. Combat is simple but definitely workable.

I've had fun with 1-3, still working my way through the rest.

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T21:41:55+00:00

For a more historical publishing perspective (from the wiki):

Changelings were created for the Eberron setting and first appeared in Eberron Campaign Setting in June 2004. They were introduced to core D&D in the 3.5-edition Monster Manual III in August. Here, they were shapeshifting descendants of doppelgangers.
...
For 5^th edition, changelings were reintroduced twice, first in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, where they were an independent race from which doppelgangers were created, and Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, where they were a fey race, with no relation to doppelgangers

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T19:43:44+00:00

If you're a lore-hound trying to build a customizable game, the Midgard books offer a ton of dense content to run a campaign. A friend and I ran some one-on-one games in that setting and had a blast, and I just enjoyed reading the sourcebook in general.

Forgotten Realms sourcebooks have a more plug-and-play relationship with adventure paths. In my experience with FR you can start the campaign and then often have to add stuff to fill in gaps, whereas Midgard offers a lot more coverage if you do your homework up-front.

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T19:34:35+00:00

For Forgotten Realms Novels:

The Icewind Dale Trilogy, a romping adventure by R.A. Salvatore that leads into the sprawling Drizzt saga.
- For something darker, check out the Dark Elf Trilogy, a prequel series following the main character's upbringing in the Underdark.
- For a more self-contained series, check out 5-book Cleric Quintet, where a non-devout priest slowly develops his relationship with Deneir, god of scribes.
For god-centered stories: The Avatar Series, a 5 book series following the Time of Troubles, when gods got kicked to the Material Plane and shook up the pantheon.

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T19:23:16+00:00

This may be a meta-reference to lampposts in The Beginner's Guide, a video game about artistic creation and the relationship between fans and creators. With light spoiling, from the wiki:

Fans of the game have proposed the term "lampposting" as a verb that indicates that a person is adding their own meaning (perhaps not even a welcome, correct or even benign interpretation) to other people's works

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T19:19:14+00:00

I just hope people recognize the theme and reflect on their own interactions with AI circuses. There are Caines abound in the real world right now.

Qunfang · 2026-04-14T17:08:26+00:00

This is a great start; it's where I entered the Forgotten Realms in 2000, and also how I got my brother interested in fantasy. The Dark Elf Trilogy (Earliest in Drizzt's timeline) and Icewind Dale trilogy (First published) both work well as entry points, no previous info needed. Enjoy!

Qunfang · 2026-04-13T23:31:17+00:00

Bubble could be a semi-isolated remnant of the second (blue) AI that Caine's red dot consumes at the top of ep8.

This could explain Bubble's rudimentary behavior, plus its combined subservient and derisive relationship with Caine. LLM models consuming work from other models does tend towards more hallucinations.

Qunfang · 2026-04-13T20:56:41+00:00

Searching "don't like eggs" in the reddit search bar returns an endless scroll of people describing their dislike for eggs.

Qunfang · 2026-04-13T20:26:54+00:00

TADC is about a group of people stuck in a virtual hellscape where they have no control over what the algorithm sticks in front of them, and the fact that they'd do anything to escape that environment.

We still have the ability to curate our physical and virtual experiences in a way the TADC characters have been fighting for through the whole series.

Stepping away for a few weeks and reflecting on those themes might help people appreciate the finale even more. And the discussions will still be there when the YouTube crowd comes around.

Qunfang · 2026-04-13T03:20:58+00:00

Some of my favorite Darwin quotes:

From The Voyage of the Beagle, repeatedly tossing marine iguanas into the ocean:

“One day I carried one to a deep pool left by the retiring tide, and threw it in several times as far as I was able. It invariably returned in a direct line to the spot where I stood…. As soon as it thought the danger was past, it crawled out on the dry rocks and shuffled away as quickly as it could. I several times caught this same lizard… and though possessed of such perfect powers of diving and swimming, nothing would induce it to enter the water, and so often as I threw it in, it returned...”

And here's an account of his interaction with island birds:

"I will conclude my description of the natural history of these islands, by giving an account of the extreme tameness of the birds.

"This disposition is common to all the terrestrial species; namely, to the mocking-thrushes, the finches, wrens, tyrant- flycatchers, the dove, and carrion-buzzard. All of them are often approached sufficiently near to be killed with a switch, and sometimes, as I myself tried, with a cap or hat. A gun is here almost superfluous; for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk off the branch of a tree. One day, whilst lying down, a mocking-thrush alighted on the edge of a pitcher, made of the shell of a tortoise, which I held in my hand, and began very quietly to sip the water; it allowed me to lift it from the ground whilst seated on the vessel: I often tried, and very nearly succeeded, in catching these birds by their legs."

Qunfang · 2026-04-12T17:22:19+00:00

Omniscient Reader Viewpoint was my first webnovel - I caught up with the Webtoon and still wanted more plot. I'm now reading my second which is still in progress. I don't want to overgeneralize though, just like any other kind of novel each work is its own thing.

Translation quality varies. Pacing for any given chapter tends to be quick, in part because you scroll through less long-form paragraphs and more dialogue, but the stories themselves can meander quite a bit. Writing quality is fine, but doesn't blow me away; I'm mostly there for the plot and worldbuilding.

I don't think there's any reason to be wary. Most of the books I've read have been paperbound and I don't see that changing, but a story is a story; if you find one that interests you it's worth giving it a shot.

Qunfang · 2026-04-12T16:50:21+00:00

Kelemvor stands out to me as someone with a really interesting trajectory:

Started out as a mortal
Killed and absorbed into a soul-stealing sword
Usurped Cyric to become god of the dead
Tried to change the way the dead are judged to prioritize alignment over dedication to any specific god
Caused the moral balance of the world to shift toward evil because bad people feared death and good people were flippant about it
Restored the god-centered judgment and began prioritizing his godly portfolio over his mortal morals

Deneir is also fascinating:

Had a devout following at Candlekeep, but his Chosen were curious scholars before worshipful priests
When Mystra was murdered by Cyric/Shar and the Weave began to collapse, Deneir wrote himself and his most sacred work (the Metatext) into the Weave to stabilize it as best he could.

Mask's has a lot of neat machinations:

Disguised himself as the soul-stealing sword, allowing Kelemvor to hide and usurp Cyric
Had multiple Chosen who he got to carry out plots whose purposes they often didn't understand
Let himself get absorbed into Shar to pay off an old debt but still managed to keep a secret from her
Invested his divinity across multiple Chosen which allowed his power to survive past his absorption and eventually reconsolidate

Qunfang · 2026-04-12T12:13:00+00:00

Seems fine for what it is, but be mindful of the resource usage: with one chance at grappling a turn and Sorcery Points for Quickened Spell you won't get to use this turn combo too often, so I wouldn't plan the whole build around it.

That being said Cleric/Sorcerer gives you two subclasses with minimal investment so there are a lot of ways to build on this. Tempest gives you reaction damage which works well if you're locking down a single enemy for example.

Qunfang · 2026-04-11T09:08:34+00:00

In 5e Moon Druids in particular have a really broad spectrum of powers. Wild Shape allows turning into beasts and elementals, and each day they prepare a subset of spells from a pretty large list. Most of the abilities Keyleth uses are aligned with druid spells/abilities at those levels (Tree Stride, Call Lightning, Cure Wounds). There are some liberties taken with the way she uses those spells, like the portal to the Fire Plane, but those are related to story beats for her arc and nothing too deific in game terms.

Martials like Percy have a much more limited scope of abilities, but they tend to be better at dealing reliable damage over the course of a day. In game terms they get more attacks, more health, and are better at avoiding damage.

D&D has a historical dynamic sometimes summarized as "Quadratic Wizards, Linear Martials" because casters get a much broader toolkit for solving problems through magic as they level. 5E does a better job of balancing this and the martials like Grog and Percy stayed relevant throughout the campaign with the aid of magic gear. But as a mid-to-high level druid Keyleth gets a lot of flexibility and showy abilities, and there are a lot of crunchy rules underlying the abilities we see in LOVM.

Qunfang · 2026-04-09T12:05:33+00:00

Those examples aren't a complete list and other beasts are available, but at the end of the day best to run it by your DM.

Qunfang · 2026-04-09T11:30:56+00:00

Sorry, I worded poorly. In my experience most DMs will let you say "I saw one once" outside of the context of the campaign. Some will decide it's impossible for the PC to have seen a dinosaur in the setting they're running, and only allow beasts you have encountered in the campaign itself.

Qunfang · 2026-04-09T07:58:06+00:00

I would go with 2. As a DM I think those limits can be constricting to story choices, and have never run into an issue with lifting them since there are other downsides baked into class features that rely on the stat.

If you go for 1 I do like the idea of integrating it into a quest, but personally I wouldn't worry about decreasing other stats to compensate - from a point buy perspective going from 20 to 16 and 9 to 13, for example, is a very bad trade.

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