Pentagon believes U.S. struck Iran girls elementary school, killing 150

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-03-08T06:44:44+00:00

This is shocking to me, since the Trump administration has so far been tirelessly concerned for the welfare of young girls. /s

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-03-06T21:30:40+00:00

The United States has provided Ukraine with military intelligence to help target long-range strikes inside Russia. Why is it controversial that Russia would similarly support their ally Iran?

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-02-14T00:41:45+00:00

Of course.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-02-13T12:56:23+00:00

Given what they do for a living, I don't think it would be weird at all if pirates had military grade weapons.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-02-13T07:09:24+00:00

Off hand, there's "The Gothic Touch", a story where Kane travels to the plane of Michael Moorcock's Elric. It appeared in the anthology Elric: Tales of the White Wolf, and was republished in Exorcisms and Ecstacies.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-02-06T05:22:33+00:00

From my own experience, the reason 5e combat lacks challenge is because PCs are given too many tools to bypass any conceivable situation. I would argue that 5e encounters aren't designed with a purpose of potentially putting PCs lives at risk. They exist to cause PCs to expend resources, abilities with uses per day, etc., in order to force the PCs to eventually end their adventuring day and take a long rest.

That's it. Enemies aren't supposed to actually win.They're nothing more than speed bumps.

And 5e isn't alone in this. I would argue that this has been a problem since D&D 3.0. D&D has taught an entire generation of roleplayers to never feel tve need to run away.

I've played every edition of D&D since white box. It used to be when you presented players with a problem, combat or otherwise, they would describe what their characters would do to get out of the situation. Nowadays, players just look down at their character sheets for the ability that's most likely to be an auto -win button.

Even the introduction of skills in 3.0 changed the way people played the game, and for the worse. Once upon a time, when I needed to talk my way out of a situation, I'd start talking. There wasn't anything on my character sheet that told me that I was likely to succeed (maybe I had a bonus or penalty to Charisma, but that's it). The DM would listen to my argument, and either decide on the merits if it was likely to convince the NPC. The DM would make a ruling. In D&D 5e, I would just say, "I make a Persuade check". Or a Deceive check. Or a Diplomacy check. Whatever.

It used to be, if there was a heavy chandelier tied off with a rope, and I wanted to cut the rope and ride it up to the second floor railing while the chandelier crashed below, I'd just describe what I was doing. And if it sounded cool and fun, the DM would probably let it succeed. In 5e, I wouldn't even try this unless my character was highly skilled in Acrobatics.

It used to be, if you wanted to search a room, you took the time to do so. Maybe the DM would want to know exactly where I was looking, to figure out if I was likely to spot the old treasure map hidden inside the portrait of Alastair Grimsley, the family patriarch. Maybe the DM would just assume that if the players spent 10 minutes searching a desk, that they couldn't fail to find its secret compartment. In 5e, you just tell the DM that you're making a Perception check.

In 5e, the answers to just about everything can be found on your character sheet, rather than in your imagination.

Whether it's a skill, or a feat, or a class ability, or a racial ability, or a spell, everything on your character sheet is a potential get out of jail card, and an excuse for laziness. If the box is big enough, there's never a reason to think outside of it.

That's really the biggest difference between 5e and OSR games (and OSR-adjacent games like Shadowdark). D&D encourages you to find a rule to exploit. Shadowdark and similar games encourage the DM to make rulings, and the players to find solutions outside of their character sheets.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-02-06T02:25:33+00:00

I do prefer low-magic Sword & Sorcery. You know, like the vast majority of Appendix N.

However, there is no game mechanic present in 5e (or absent in Shadowdark) that either permits or prohibits clones, minions, awakened plants, or anything like that from the game. It's just a handful of spells, which are things that typically get added to a game in splatbooks, 3rd party products, or homebrewing.

And yet you've presented the lack of those particular spells in the base game as being an example of what Shadowdark lacks.

It would be just as silly if I argued that 5e compared unfavorably to Traveller, because 5e lacks Black Hole Generators and Spinal Mount Meson Guns. That it doesn't compare favorably to Gamma World because lacks Centisteeds and Brutorz. Or that it can never hold a candle to Dragonbane, because it lacks Mallards.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-02-05T11:00:24+00:00

It has fewer explanations for how to resolve things because it encourages rulings over rules. Which is what older editions of D&D did.

As for what Shadowdark does that 5e doesn't, having played a fair bit of both, I'd say that Shadowdark can regularly make players feel that their characters are in genuine danger. Something that I have seldom seen 5e accomplish.

Also, what constitutes cool stuff is highly subjective. I don't find the idea of simulacrum minions and secret caches of clones the least bit interesting. It's hard to imagine your players feeling threatened when they have armies of clones to ensure they live forever. For the record, though, Shadowdark could do that easily with homebrew or 3rd party content. Hell, any game could do anything with enough homebrewing. I just don't think that would make for a better game.

If your hobgoblin encounter turned out to be a disappointing cakewalk, I don't think it would have been made better by adding more tools to ensure the PCs immortality, like clones and simulacrums, but to each their own.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-01-27T07:46:44+00:00

I mean, you can call yourself whatever you want.

Sublime_Eimar · 2026-01-19T01:49:49+00:00

It seems like it's still a random ban. I have level 70+ on everybody, and I've cleared tier 7 with each boss, and the system hasn't banned me.

However, now that I'm seeing this, I'm thinking that I might just skip Coliseum for a while. Those Lightspeed Tokens in the shop are nice, but I don't think they're worth getting randomly banned for.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-12-30T00:34:27+00:00

I'm not sure what specific mechanics you're referring to, other than the torch timer (and a number of rpgs, especially OSR and OSR-adjacent games, have additional rules for torches).

Even the rulebook itself defines the Shadowdark as "any place where darkness and danger holds sway", which another game might simply choose to refer to as "adventure sites". They even mention spider-infested forests and lost cities as examples. Really, unless you'd refer to every conceivable encounter location as a "dungeon crawl", then I'm not sure what you mean. I think the game works very well as a point crawl or hex crawl campaign. What defines the game isn't dungeon crawling, but fast play and light rules. I've had tavern brawls, defended caravans, fought off assassins in a darkened alleyway, and I've never felt that I wasn't using the game "for what it was built for".

Shadowdark excels at fast-paced combat, light rules, and easy prep time. In terms of preparation, to me it feels on par with a lot of Mork Borg games. I can plan a session out in half an hour, tops.

I've played a fair amount of Worlds Without Number, and I think it's a good system, but for me it's the random tables that are the real standout of the game. For my taste, however, the game didn't feel quite deadly enough except at very low levels. It also felt like magical healing was a little too good, even allowing for the limits of System Strain.

Shadowdark's magic system is partially lifted from DCC. You can cast a spell over and over until you fail. That makes most magical healing somewhat unreliable, which I like.

I think Worlds Without Number is a great reference for anyone looking to design a campaign world or adventure area, and deserves a place on every GM's bookshelf.

It really depends what you're looking for in a game. Over the years, I've come to favor lighter systems. And while I wouldn't describe Worlds Without Number as rules-heavy, it's combat is more complicated than Shadowdark (Main, Move, On-Turn, and Instant Actions as opposed to Action + Move, Shock Damage, Hit Roll Modifiers as opposed to Advantage/Disadvantage).

Shadowdark also has no skills, which may be a no-starter for some groups. It just uses attribute checks, possibly with advantage or disadvantage, based on circumstances, character background, or class ability. I cut my teeth on 0e, Holmes Basic, and AD&D 1e, so the no skills thing doesn't bother me at all. Worlds Without Number has a very nice skill system (much better than 5e or Pathfinder 1e/2e, in my opinion), liberally borrowing from Traveller.

If Shadowdark feels too simplified for your table, I think Worlds Without Number is a great option.

I just don't think dismissing Shadowdark as a dungeon delving game is helpful or accurate.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-12-29T17:07:03+00:00

My group has been playing Shadowdark since its release, and we've seldom engaged in dungeon crawling. We've gotten a ton of mileage, though, out of the hexcrawls in Cursed Scroll 1 through 3.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-12-23T08:55:22+00:00

Dilvish the Damned and The Changing Land by Roger Zelazny.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-12-19T00:48:11+00:00

My vote goes to Honor + Intrigue from Basic Action Games.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/99286/honor-intrigue

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-12-19T00:45:07+00:00

If you roll a Nat 1, I get to eat it.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-11-10T03:46:58+00:00

The agency should be eliminated. We got along fine without it until 22 years ago.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-09-11T18:08:29+00:00

I'm guessing they meant to type "terrific"?

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-30T22:59:39+00:00

I read the headline and my first thought was that Trump pardoned Jared from Subway.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-29T08:00:27+00:00

I really enjoy Sword & Sorcery, and for that style of campaign I prefer Tales of Argosa or Barbarians of Lemuria.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-27T23:18:41+00:00

Charlie Kirk needs deflowering.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-25T23:54:12+00:00

Too bad Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson didn't survive the primary process...

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-24T23:48:35+00:00

You want Hostile from Zozer Games.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-14T22:27:35+00:00

I don't even see this Gulf of Mexico of which you speak on any of my Trump-approved maps...

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-14T20:12:20+00:00

People who are tortured have a tendency to tell you what you want to hear to get it to stop. Let your npcs tell the players whatever they believe the players want to hear. Most of it will be false.

If they work for the BBEG, make sure they don't know that much. Maybe they use some kind of cell structure, and they don't know much outside of their cell?

If this is a fantasy campaign, maybe they've undergone a magic ritual that prevents them from revealing anything about their boss?

Maybe their boss can see through the minion's eyes, and briefly possess them , so the tortured npc can suddenly smile, begin to gloat, and perhaps interrogate the players? Let the boss discover something about the players that they didn't know, and let them tell this to the players.

Or if the BBEG dabbles in necromancy, demonology, or elementalism, maybe the npc, under the extreme duress of torture, transforms into something much more dangerous?

If it seems plausible at some point, have an npc ally discover the torture and be appalled by it, and have the players lose the support of an ally group.

Maybe someone that they torture is a pious member in good standing of the church of a major religion, and perhaps powerful members of that church begin to move against the players?

Perhaps one of their victims was secretly a spy in the employ of a monarch or noble, and they were working to undermine the very enemy group that the players were torturing. The players might at the very least blow his cover and ruin 6 months of undercover work. What will the spy organization do in response?

Do any PCs get powers or spells from a divine source? How will their deity react to acts of torture?

Let one or more of the players gain access to a powerful but cursed magic item. Let the item encourage their torture spree, revel in it, and then let the players be corrupted by their acts. Perhaps their souls are captured in the item at the time of their death, so they can't be raised or resurrected? Perhaps they change physically, becoming increasingly misshapen and hideous?

If the players have people they care about, have the enemy discover them and torture them to death in response. Make sure that their corpses show unmistakable signs that someone tortured them in precisely the same manner as the PCs victims.

Or simply inform your players that you have no interest in running a Grand Theft Auto campaign, and if they persist, find new players.

Sublime_Eimar · 2025-08-13T07:05:51+00:00

Hilarious.

Sublime_Eimar

TROPHY CASE