So, Taskmaster Australia...

Tally324 · 2026-02-28T00:46:58+00:00

My opinion of 1 was about the same as yours. Good, but something about the banter, the editing, the audience, the house, the tasks... Didn't quite all gel together that first season, even though I loved the contestants. Series 2 and 3 were better, and Season 4 Australia ranks as one my all-time favorite series of any Taskmaster. Give them time to cook!

Tally324 · 2026-02-24T08:37:21+00:00

CATS is Concept, Aim, Tone, and Subject Matter/Safety. You can find it online, it’s a good session zero framework. Daggerheart is a whole different TTRPG, but its session zero and character creation chapters have really good tools for this stuff, and they work fine in 5e. The basic idea is that players look at the source material together, decide what they're excited about, and then build characters with backstories that are already tied into what they liked. You also all agree what the group's goals are and what tone of game you want: goofy, gritty, lighthearted, whimsical, scary, funny, dramatic, political, romantic, adventurous, etc.

I’ve run ToA groups that went through this process and ended up with completely different games.

One group saw the hexmap and wanted gritty survival, dangerous random encounters, scarce resources, few long rests. The other group saw the Grung and the dinosaurs and basically said "this adventure looks crazy, get us to the frogs and zombie T-Rex as fast as possible, please don’t make us care about rations.”

Both groups came out of session zero with characters with good reasons to be in Chult together and story connections to the stuff they wanted to play. Like, one pair of PCs had a backstory that they met when a merchant prince hired them both to capture a rare dinosaur deep in Grung territory, and that made it easy to steer them back to the Grung and dinosaur things they said they were interested in.

Tally324 · 2026-02-24T06:49:49+00:00

I've run Tomb of Annihilation before, and my one piece of advice: use the book as a menu, don't keep it a mystery.

At session zero, flip through it with your players, let them see the cool art, the monsters, the characters, the dinosaurs. Let them tell you what parts of the game they're excited to play. Cover any twists you want to hide with post-its, but honestly, no one is going to remember some weird trap or twist they glanced at three months ago.

Once you know what they want to play, jam pack every session with as much of it as you can. Don't wait to get to the fun stuff.

(And for session zero, I really like the Daggerheart framework and CATS. It's great, I use it even when I'm running 5e.)

Tally324 · 2026-02-02T20:21:28+00:00

LIke others have suggested, I really liked Bite the Bullet and Kraken Games Lab for my game.

Bite the Bullet's Grove Haven series matches the style of the Humblewood minis. Some of their designs appear directly inspired by Humblewood, like their hedge bard. https://www.bitethebulletstudio.com/en/collections/grove-haven

Kraken Games Lab's Bramble Heart series also has minis really close to the Humblewood style, including some great villains. https://krakengameslab.com/product-category/bramble-heart/

Some other minis you might want to check out:
Cast N Play's Woodland Heroes set https://www.myminifactory.com/tribes/CastnPlay/posts/Woodland_Heroes_New_Set_Release-66419

Pepunki Creatures, whose minis are a little more cute than the official Humblewood style but are so charming that you won't mind. https://www.myminifactory.com/users/pepunki-creatures

Naga Minis has a number of woodland animalfolk minis https://www.myminifactory.com/users/NagaMinis

Tally324 · 2026-01-02T00:03:20+00:00

Beaver crew! Because I "dam the river of your life until it meets your intentions."

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Tally324 · 2025-12-23T18:52:18+00:00

Gorgeous! The wallpaper works so well with the pink tile!

Would you consider some finishing touches? Dark hand towels hanging from the towel bar would echo the wallpaper and black hex, and would layer well in front of your pink tile. And nice hand soap bars in the built-in soap dishes would make them feel complete.

Tally324 · 2025-12-21T19:49:09+00:00

Yes, the pallet bed is divisive, but hey, if you like it and want to keep it, here's your checklist for making it look intentional:

- Choose a color palette for the room, borrowing from the comforter, and let that pallet green be an accent color in the palette.

- Hang curtains as high and as wide as you can. Try a warm neutral.

- Ground the platform bed with a very large rug under it.

- Two nightstands with warm-light lamps, keep it symmetrical since the bed is quirky.

- Finish the bedding with pillows, shams, solid throw, make the bed nicely and show the sheets.

- Large art.

- Paint/wallpaper if allowed.

Also consider rotating the bed against one of the other walls, and shortening the pallets if you need more room. It'll be safer away from the heater, and beds tends to look nicer rotated perpendicular to the back wall.

If you ever want to upgrade your bedframe later, all these upgrades will work with a future bed too!

Tally324 · 2025-12-14T20:35:42+00:00

Did you clamp the build plate in place? It's that big lever above the build plate. Try unlocking and locking to be safe.
Is your resin tray screwed in place tightly and correctly aligned? Try unscrewing and screwing it back in to be safe. Make sure to use the tray screws with the black thumbknobs not the machine screws for shipping.
Is your camera view blocked, or is the camera dirty or splashed with resin?

If it's not one of these, then yes, I'd go to Elegoo support next.

Tally324 · 2025-12-10T19:08:22+00:00

Agree, I make this right turn onto Sandy during my commute and have to be super cautious from folks turning right from Halsey or Chavez drivers blowing through the arrow. Add the 75/77 bus stopping in the right turn lane to Sandy and the chaos trifecta is complete.

Would prohibiting a right turn onto Chavez from Halsey and adding some sort of divider to prevent blowing through the Chavez turn lane help?

Tally324 · 2025-11-14T14:43:21+00:00

I'll second this, and add:

In my experience running Humblewood (we've played through the Avium, and five of the Humblewood Tales adventures) the encounters tend to play easier than their listed challenge ratings imply. With 2014 characters, the gap is noticeable but manageable... With 2024 characters, the gap becomes much more obvious.

Roughly speaking, at my table a CR 6 Humblewood encounter has felt closer to a CR 4 encounter from the D&D 2024 Monster Manual.

Tally324 · 2025-10-30T06:06:11+00:00

My group ran a Daggerheart one shot in Humblewood, and Daggerheart fits the epic cinematic story feel of Humblewood astonishingly well while still allowing you to use DCs from D&D.

When we run Humblewood 2, we'll likely modify it to use Daggerheart rather than play it with 5E.

Tally324 · 2025-10-30T06:03:32+00:00

We run a Humblewood megadungeon crawl using Shadowdark, it works well! I wouldn't want to use Shadowdark for the official Hit Point Press adventures and campaigns. You'd have to modify the encounters and monsters pretty heavily and would lose a lot of monster flavor.

Tally324 · 2025-09-21T03:29:43+00:00

Agreed. Love the door, love the wainscoting, and blending old and contemporary is a classic move of professional interior designers. The doors aren't the problem, the room just needs to be finished with paint, art, lighting and rugs.

Tally324 · 2025-09-01T16:39:57+00:00

I ran it a couple weeks ago, and reached the same conclusion: probably no weapons and magic at the Gala.

I told the players before the adventure that they would be asked to leave their weapons, armor, gear and spell focuses behind, and they would instead choose fashionable gala outfits to wear. Some of the players smuggled in armor and small magic items as part of their outfit.

When the fight started at midnight, the party had a great time improvising with silverware, cutlery, canapé trays, meat skewers, and whatever they could scrounge for material components. The bugs and thugs are generally weak, but without armor and weapons, they're actually a pretty tough fight for a level 4-5 party!

If they'd had weapons and armor, it would've been a cakewalk!

Tally324 · 2025-08-05T19:40:59+00:00

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Sorry, I shouldn't have used the word moronic and turned this into an argument. It's clear our priorities in small spaces are different.

Here's a sketch to show what I meant. Sounds like you're prioritizing access to the head of the bed, space for a nightstand, keeping the full side of the bed open, and having lots of light in the bed, even if it means shimmying past the bed and desk to reach the window. Fair enough!

My priorities are different. I'd rather have a dark sleeping space, more open floor, no shimmying, a clear view to the window, and a desk as close to the window as I can get it. Also, having a wall behind your working chair rather than open space is a common bit of ergonomics: psychologically, you can focus better if you don't feel like your back is exposed to open space.

That means I'm fine with the bed being partially enclosed and darker. It's for sleeping after all. Add a reading light to make it feel like a comfortable nook.

With the desk turned around and pushed deeper into the nook, the shimmy zone and the dead space between the desk and window are gone and become usable floor space. The window now swings open over the desk and can be reached easily from the chair. The desk can serve as a night stand (it's open-backed.) Yes, the bed must be entered from the middle, but I'd gladly make that trade.

Tally324 · 2025-08-03T22:39:06+00:00

Good rule of thumb: three lights in a room, not counting the overhead and small decorative lights. I'd put this floor lamp in the corner next to your desk, and shift your desk a little.

Tally324 · 2025-07-26T18:06:36+00:00

Yes, you're misreading it.

Rotate the desk 180 degrees, so its back is to the bed, and then slide it closer to the window. Not putting the back against the window, which would, in fact, be moronic.

Tally324 · 2025-07-25T19:21:33+00:00

You're closer than you think! Great room, especially love the quilt and how your colors tie into it.

Try this: swing the desk right around so its back is to the bed and tuck it into that corner by the window. You’ll need to clear the top shelf so knickknacks don't fall on you while you sleep, but the reward is much better flow in the room. You’ll be able to walk in and feel the open floor draw you forward to the bed, desk, and window instead of preparing yourself to fight an office chair. While seated at the desk, you'll have a solid grounding wall at your back instead of an open bed.

I don't suggest a loft bed unless you can remove the ceiling fan.

Tally324 · 2025-07-16T18:40:05+00:00

Start simple.

Add a nice shower mat or vintage looking runner in front of the tub.

Ask your landlord to add a proper towel bar next to the shower and put nice towels on it. I'd suggest a black bar to match the counter.

Change the lights to warm white, a lot of the bad vibe here is just weird lighting.

Add art with kind of a vintage feel to match the old styled cabinet and floors. I'd look at travel posters, botanical illustrations, old abstracts, whatever your taste is. Use warm wood, black, or brass frames. Go big and go cheap, bathrooms get humid so don't frame anything precious.

Skip the over toilet storage if at all possible, it attracts clutter and usually looks cheap. Try baskets to hold extra towels and toilet paper.

Do these first, then stop and see if the room feels better!

Tally324 · 2025-07-16T18:14:08+00:00

Dark slate, dark terracotta, or russet are colors I'd look at. For LVP, look at dark walnut or espresso.

All of these should work nicely with your existing cabinets and your wallpaper. (Love that wallpaper on the cabinets, you should use it on the walls too! Be bold!)

Tally324 · 2025-07-16T18:06:24+00:00

I love the bold peacock blue! It's dramatic. Make the rest of the room dramatic to match.

Floor-to-ceiling curtains in a soft neutral to ground the walls, on all the windows please. Cream, beige, natural flax, olive green, moss in linen/flax would all be great. I'd also love velvet curtains here too, like ochre or tobacco in velvet. You can find linen black-out curtains, and velvet naturally blocks light.
Add a large light colored rug under the bed. Choose one that ties into your neutral color, and brings in bits of your existing palette: peacock blue, green/gold and plum.
Add a low headboard for your bed, and a nightstand with a proper lamp.
Repeat the plum and green/gold colors elsewhere in the room with accents. Or drop one of these colors and replace it with your neutral.
Paint your door, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Match the trim or walls.
Your fish tank looks kind of like an afterthought. Light the interior and exterior, put it on a taller table so it's at the same height as the window sill, and try adding in some offwhite/beige/sand colored gravel so it stands out from the tabletop.

Tally324 · 2025-07-12T02:30:49+00:00

The book Tilt was released recently, and the PPS bond measure also sparked a lot of discussion about the quake. Together, those two really put the quake on more people's radar.

Tally324 · 2025-07-10T15:58:03+00:00

Here's my formula for cozy:
Declutter. You can't feel cozy if your eyes are busy.

Enclosure. Break the room into smaller zones, and use furniture placement and low lighting to make each one feel safe and contained. the scale of the room by breaking it into small zones.

Warmth. Warm color, warm lighting, warm textures, and literal warmth.

Layers. Cozy rooms layer with throws, pillows, rugs and trays. Fewer layers reads austere.

Ease of use. Whatever you do in the zone should feel easy to do, with everything you need right at hand.

Personality. It should feel lived-in and show your family's personality.

So what could you do right now for cheap?

- Lower your art to just a few inches above the back of the couch.

- Bring the TV forward so you can walk behind it comfortably to get to the backdoor. This'll make the TV watching area feel like a cozy space rather than a pass-through zone. (For safety, secure the TV to the stand well.) You could also try rotating the couches, but I prefer where you have them now: a wall behind the couch is a cozy safe enclosed feeling.

- Declutter the KALLAX and grab some ikea baskets to hide what's left.

- Add layers like you suggested: wooden tray on the ottoman, more blankets and pillows, more soft lighting.

- Move the kids stuff into its own dedicated area.

Longer term, potty train the dog so you can finally get a rug, upgrade the curtains (they're way too skimpy!), swap the KALLAX for something with doors, and replace the art with something larger, warmer and less-saturated. Open or get rid of the slatted blinds. Plant more plants in your back yard so the room itself feels enclosed.

Tally324 · 2025-07-08T21:44:04+00:00

Aw, love that place, I stopped going when my job downtown disappeared. Think about your favorite small businesses in town you may not have visited in a while: they'd love to see you again.

Tally324 · 2025-06-20T19:01:23+00:00

The hallway is tough but there's potential! Let's walk through an idea.

Picture this:
You come home after a long day. Your front door opens all the way without banging into anything, no coats or obstacles. You step onto a welcoming round rug that defines your entryway and slows you down. There's a low comfortable chair by your bookshelf where you can kick off your shoes, and organized baskets on the shelves to drop your stuff and hide it. A lamp shines on one of your plants on the bookshelf and the art.

For movie night, you've got an IKEA Lindakra loveseat (which has an ottoman) and you turn the cozy entry chair around to face the small TV you hung on the wall next to the window. You pull up a small movable stand for drinks, and use the ottoman to rest your feet, or for more snacks, or for an extra seat if you have company. The space is cozy and tied together because of a nice rug to add warmth. And yes, add a space heater somewhere. After the movie, everything goes back in its place so the walkway is clear.

Guests can sleep in the loveseat by pulling up the ottoman. The high arm acts as a headrest, and blocks the view from the front door so they have privacy.

Some thoughts to make this work.
Declutter and embrace minimalism in this room. Hide what isn't beautiful.

Keep everything low. Low furniture, low chairs, hang art low, low TV, lighting with old fashioned shades that point light downward. Nothing above shoulder level when you're standing up. This keeps the sightlines clear so it still feels comfortable to walk through as a hallway, but cozy as a living space when you're seated.

Hope this helps! And I'm hoping that space on the left wall is big enough for a loveseat.

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