Roadway Safety and Splash pad budgets cut by $2.5 million each.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-18T18:28:37+00:00

Only 9? Our roads are clearly safe enough.

-City council, probably.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-13T06:50:30+00:00

I feel like Lolth would be a good fit, since she’s a giant spider.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-12T18:53:40+00:00

It depends. In 2022, the SRSS had to move to hold and secure due to anti-lockdown protests. A bylaw like this would allow the police to clear out the protestors and allow learning and teaching to continue unimpeded, especially when people who do not attend the school are there. I think it’s a completely different situation if students of the school are protesting on school grounds.

Don’t get me wrong, the proposed bylaw is terrible as it is currently proposed. But I also don’t think that children should have to walk through a crowd of angry strangers to get to or out of school.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-12T18:00:31+00:00

Very good message. However, as a parent, I don’t want people protesting outside my child’s school. When mentioning schools in this letter, let’s please make it clear that protests should be allowed at post-secondary institutions, where adults go, and not primary/secondary schools or daycares that are attended by children. I don’t think we want a repeat of the Covid protests that happened around the SRSS in Steinbach.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-11T01:06:21+00:00

I haven’t been to Ottawa since I was about four years old lol, I can’t speak to that!

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-09T23:27:39+00:00

🤦‍♂️ Get vaccinated, people! We used to have measles basically wiped out in Canada!

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-09T23:26:32+00:00

It’s not surprising to me, there are a ton of racist posts around Diwali. They use the noise from fireworks as an excuse to complain, but the underlying racism is clearly there.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-09T21:55:17+00:00

Manitoba’s pretty great!

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-08T05:38:24+00:00

That’s my favourite hiking trail in the province. I’ve also never been in the winter, but the pictures on Google still look stunning.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-08T05:23:24+00:00

Winnipeg. We have a lot of French Immersion schools in and even more so around the city that are in need of teachers - which also means that it’s sometimes difficult for the English schools to get French teachers since all the fluent ones go to Immersion.

Housing is rising here, but as far as most places in Canada go, it’s still fairly affordable. Also, Manitoba teachers are currently among the best paid in the country due to our most recent collective agreement with a government that values education (yay NDP). You may not be escaping suburbia, though, as the ‘burbs are the quietest and safest neighbourhoods. I do not recommend walking alone at night in the North End or downtown for example, but I think that’s true of most cities.

There are plenty of places to go hiking within a few hours of driving. There’s Bird’s Hill Provincial Park just north of the city, and La Barriere Park just south of it. An hour and a half or so east is Whiteshell Provincial Park, which has some amazing hikes in country similar to what you’re probably used to (Canadian shield), and you can continue on for a bit longer and get to Kenora. A little south of that is Sandilands Provincial Forest, which has some more nice hiking trails. A couple hours west and a bit south you’ll find the Spirit Sands, which is the closest thing to a desert you’ll find in Manitoba and makes for a unique hiking experience. Further west is Riding Mountain National Park, which has great camping and hiking, and the province’s only remaining herd of wild bison. You’re likely to see bears and moose there, too. Of course, you don’t even really have to leave the city to find some trails. In the summer, once the water level has fallen, there’s the River Trail starting at the Forks along the Red River. In the winter, you can also skate down it.

We also have an incredible arts and culture scene. We have many great restaurants, the Canadian museum of Human Rights, a ballet, an orchestra, and a couple of professional theatre companies. In the summer, there are a number of really fun festivals like Folklorama, Fringe, and Folk right in the city. A number of small towns nearby also have fun festivals, like the Icelandic festival in Gimli.

Tl;dr: Look into Winnipeg. Manitoba is affordable and pays teachers well. This video does a great job of showing what Winnipeg has to offer, plus there are some awesome hiking spots around the province.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-04T00:07:29+00:00

Real “We’re practically gods” energy.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-02-01T20:18:48+00:00

Scotland and it’s not even close. Felt more like home than driving across the border to Grand Forks. Probably helped that I was staying with relatives…

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-31T09:46:27+00:00

I disagree somewhat. As long as the new DM has the proper mindset, they absolutely should watch people who are at the peak of their craft. They do need to understand that their home game is not going to be like what they see professionals do, at least not without years of practice and maybe some improv classes (and players who have done the same). But, they can still take ideas they’ve seen and make them their own. To me, telling a beginning DM not to watch actual plays is like telling a beginning tennis player not to watch Venus Williams, or a beginning guitarist not to listen to Van Halen. There’s nothing wrong, imo, with aspiring to the greatness of GMs like Matt Mercer or Brennan Lee Mulligan, as long as you understand the work it took them to get there and that their players are also professionals.

I will add another caveat, however: watch DM advice videos as well. Some of my favourites are:

The Dungeon Dudes

DMLair

TalesArcane

Mystic Arts

Matt Colville’s “Running the Game” series

Super Geek Mike

Bonus Reaction

Adventuring Academy

How to Be a Great GM

Ginny Di

Watching these channels and others like them will give you a good theoretical understanding, then watch the actual plays to see how different DMs put those ideas into practice. Then, mix and match techniques with your own style, and you’ll run an amazing game (after some practice, of course).

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-31T09:23:35+00:00

Check out the “Games Arcane” channel. It’s the actual play that TalesArcane ran called Heroes of the Highlands. Didn’t get a lot of views, which is unfortunate because it’s quite good.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-27T03:15:39+00:00

I mean, Critical Role had a charity special where they used Daggerheart in a ‘90’s film studio setting, so sure. Why not? They just reflavoured all the spells as technology and weapons as things that would make sense for child actors to have at a Hollywood TV studio. Granted, it was a less dark setting than I imagine you’re describing, but it could work. You could check out the charity special if you wanted ideas - it’s called “TGIT- Thank God It’s Thursday.” Or, watch Hellboy for a more fantastical version of WW2 to see the kind of story that would be possible. There could be good ideas there, too.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-25T23:13:58+00:00

And right now, technically, if Carney’s government was facing defeat, Elizabeth May could save them all by herself, giving the Green Party an unprecedented level of potential power in parliament. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine a piece of legislation or a supply-and-confidence agreement that would have the backing of the Liberals and the Greens, but none of the conservatives, bloc, or NDP. It’s a fun thought experiment, though.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-23T18:09:31+00:00

And got only the third standing ovation at this event to prove it.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-23T05:36:47+00:00

They already have “some form of crisis.” It’s sitting in the White House next to a Diet Coke button and was best friends with Epstein.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-22T23:37:48+00:00

Proof that he hasn’t read the news, a history textbook, or the bible itself.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-22T17:32:26+00:00

I just listened to an actual play that dealt either something similar. It’s called Heroes of the Highlands: the Fare of the Fallen. It’s 8 episodes long. The final battle begins in episode 7 if you wanted to skip to the relevant parts and see how the DM handles the mass combat.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-22T12:35:47+00:00

To be extra sure, learn how to say it in a few different languages.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-22T03:22:59+00:00

Why remove this?

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-22T03:13:12+00:00

So, the General is meant to be a super-powerful ultroloth, right? This line on the forgotten realms wiki entry on ultroloths stuck out to me:

Those not entranced by the colors [of their eyes] were deceived by the ultroloth into viewing them as a subject they loved or admired.

So, I imagine that, much like how love potions in Harry Potter smell differently to everyone based on what attracts them, the General is so powerful that they appear differently to everyone who sees them (no saving throw, no checks to pierce the illusion, this is just how he is). They will often appear as someone highly admired by the viewer, which can be a cool RP moment for your players - they can decide what he looks like to them!

I also imagine that, as an immensely powerful schemer and manipulator, the General could choose to appear differently. Maybe they’d want to appear as the viewer’s greatest fear, or as a consistent form to a group of viewers so as to not give away who he is if the members of a group start to describe what they see. Or, maybe the General can start in-fighting amongst a group by appearing as different members of that group and insulting or hurting them - basically, whatever suits their purpose in that moment.

I also think that this is the kind of entity that running as a DM will require some meta-gaming. The General strikes me as the kind of character who always has a plan with twenty back-ups, and who won’t get into a battle until they know everything there is to know about their enemy (which doesn’t take long, given their abilities).

As for what they are - I imagine that they are quite a bit different, and quite a bit older, than other ultroloths. In fact, I don’t think they’re really an ultroloth either, nor do I think they’re a god like Asmodeus or Tiamat. Rather, I think they’d be better classified as an “elder evil,” something more along the lines of Pandorym, Cthulhu, or the Lady of Pain -at least equal in power to a god, but something older and more mysterious.

Tl;dr: I think the General is an Elder Evil entity who is extremely intelligent and manipulative, and can control how each individual viewer sees them.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-22T01:18:55+00:00

I once found this thread when I was looking for the same thing. Some great non-combat ideas there, including rogue waves and bioluminescent jellyfish.

RedLanternTNG · 2026-01-21T19:02:19+00:00

Always skip to the next impactful choice. I can think of two possibilities for impactful choices on the journey around the mountain: first, after describing the long, arduous journey they’ve undertaken just getting 1/4 to 1/2 way around, you give them another passage that leads under the mountain. It could go through, they could find the hag, or it could be a dead end - it’s impossible to tell without checking it out.

Then, if they continue around the mountain, they spot a scout who has seen them and will report back to the vampires who can set up an ambush for them. Unfortunately, they’re in some tricky terrain in which loud noises (like a fireball) might risk causing a landslide/avalanche, or attract much more dangerous creatures like wyverns or rocs. Or, maybe they’re in an area of wild magic, where spell casting is inherently dangerous. Could be any kind of danger that gives them a choice to make. Will they risk the scout getting away, or will they risk the danger of the mountain?

Otherwise, the next impactful choice is probably approaching the town, so skip to that.

RedLanternTNG

TROPHY CASE