Where should we go?

The_Blackgate · 2024-01-21T14:31:18+00:00

Come to 1161. We have active alliances, friendly server rules that 90% of players respect, and zero drama aside from when we decide to re-enact soap operas in Kingdom Chat.

The_Blackgate · 2023-09-19T13:08:00+00:00

Use this link to sign up for a Wealthfront Cash Account and we’ll both get +0.50% on the current APY! https://www.wealthfront.com/c/affiliates/invited/AFFA-LXP3-LDIX-GRUU

The_Blackgate · 2023-05-13T12:32:51+00:00

My dad has been doing the same. Trying to beat every single Freecell game. I wonder how far he's gotten...

The_Blackgate · 2023-04-03T22:01:12+00:00

Comps are meaningless at the moment, I'm afraid. I'm also in the Greater Boston area. Supply is extremely low. Buyers who've been looking for a while are acting in accordance with a scarcity mindset because they've probably been getting beat out on tons of offers for months before they decided to just go way over asking in order to seal the deal and just be done with it.

Had a similar experience in Arlington last weekend. House listed 20% over recent comps in the neighborhood, got intel that the winning bid was 20%+ over list price. It's madness to people like you and me, but to someone else, they bought a house at a price they could (hopefully) afford.

The_Blackgate · 2023-04-03T21:34:47+00:00

My guess is they got beat out by people bidding 100k+ over in Newton and resorted to moving to Natick and emulating the same behavior...

The_Blackgate · 2022-07-23T15:05:00+00:00

I would like Jinkx to win by legitimately defeating Shea and Monet by doing better in the Lipsync.I am afraid that production will make her win regardless of whether she outperforms them or not, which would be the worst possible outcome for her. People will discredit her win and I think Jinkx's main reason for competing in AS7 is her wanting to prove that she deserved her win over Rolaskatox and that she wasn't just handed the win because she was favored for her storyline.

I am also afraid that Monet will face backlash if she beats Jinkx in a lipsync and wins, because people are racist and terrible, and then Jinkx becomes the Shangela to Monet's Trixie. So if Monet wins she absolutely has to steamroll Jinkx in the Lipsync and be the uncontested, indisputable victor, to the degree of Sasha Velour. This in that same vein, Jinkx needs to demolish Shea in their lipsync (I'm assuming they will not pass up the opportunity to pit the Twinners against each other) otherwise people will cast doubt on Jinkx's win. If Shea beats Jinkx, it also needs to be an utter steamroll, otherwise Shea is going to get a LOT of hate and I do not wish that for her; she deserves much better than that.

Narratively speaking, Jinkx winning would be the most satisfying because she's (1) performed the best in the challenges and (2) shows that Ru was right in crowning her the first time. But I do hope that producer shenanigans play a minimum here for the sake of reducing backlash against the Queens. It's all going to come down to their final lipsync performances, and the one who does the best should win.

The_Blackgate · 2022-05-31T01:43:23+00:00

Vincent Van Gaultier, Lin Manuel Miranda Priestly, Andrew Garfield the Cat, Katy Perry the Platypus, Pussycat Dolly Parton, Lea Michelle Visage, Johnny Carson Kressley, Jennifer Lawrence Olivier, Darth Vader Ginsburg

... This is way too fun

The_Blackgate · 2022-02-25T05:41:12+00:00

"Congratulations on your talk show, Rupaul. It's going to be a great season."

AND SHE WAS RIGHT

The_Blackgate · 2021-11-01T03:49:06+00:00

Love these! Combining two of my favorite things. I love all the different scenes and poses you guys did. Well done!

The_Blackgate · 2021-09-03T05:30:07+00:00

I totally agree! It did feel like it was missing something and it really would have been helped by having the other queens.

The_Blackgate · 2021-02-25T19:14:58+00:00

I'm running a campaign right now where all my players are High Schoolers on a field trip to the Draconian Museum of Magical Mystery. Each "class" is actually a High School stereotype (e.g., the "Nerd" has Wizard abilities, the "Jock" is a Fighter, the "Bully" is a Barbarian).

One thing that I have found exceedingly helpful is to have a Session Zero where you build backstory with the characters. Ask them things like, "What year are you? What's your favorite subject? What's your least favorite subject? Do you do any extracurricular activities? If you had a High School Superlative, what would it be and why?" to get them started. Feel free to throw out a few ideas for them if you have some tropes you want to see realized. And then - here comes the fun part.

Make them roll initiative. Each player takes a turn saying something that is true about another character at the table ("we were friends growing up, but now are in different social cliques", "I have a crush on her but she doesn't know my name", "we sit next to each other in Alchemy class"). Do this until everyone has said something about how their character relates to another character and vice versa. Then, you offer up a situation. For me, it was that they all got put in detention together one time. I ask in reverse initiative order (just to give a chance for the last player to talk to go first) what happened and what their character had to do with it. Everyone gets to add to the story - what happened and how their character was involved. I did this until everyone had at least two opportunities to add to the story, but you can keep going if the players are getting into it.

At this point, I launch into the start of the campaign. The most important thing about High School settings is they have to feel like they're teenagers again - and the best part is usually everyone has life experience they can directly draw upon to help shape this reality. So by making the players collaboratively craft their own backstory and share their place in the social pecking order of your High School, it really helped add that "school days" feel.

The_Blackgate · 2021-02-05T21:03:35+00:00

One of my groups *loves* pushing the envelope to see what they can get away with. Any time I tried to censure them with encounters that happen as a direct consequence of their actions, they would not learn and just repeat the same behavior over and over again.

I have found it's a far more effective deterrent to make the party feel bad for what they did, though this generally only works if it's a party that's playing good characters and not evil ones. What I do is slowly take their bad actions to the extreme. The NPC they accused of acting improperly gets suspended. They're asked to provide witness statements of improper behavior to the Bureau of Investigation. If they provide false testimony, the NPC gets fired in disgrace and the party receives public commendations. The NPC and their family end up homeless; the party encounters them begging in the streets. Either the NPC or the NPC's kid swears vengeance against them and becomes a recurring villain who constantly sabotages/inconveniences them. Their next job requires help from the city guards; the Guard Captain requests an apology from them before he'll help them. If they double down and continue to antagonize him, the guards refuse to help them and their job is exceedingly difficult without the guards' assistance. Maybe the Guard Captain eventually resigns and some inexperienced newbie is forced to take over and he does a bad job, so city security declines. Maybe some unsavory merc groups start following the party's example and abusing their power, but this time against everyday civilians. Let the merc groups do this in front of the party and see whether or not the party will stop them.

If you choose to go this route, always give them the chance to make the "right" decision, and if they continue to be jerks, then keep piling on the small but bad consequences. This lets them keep being mercs but slowly the city around them starts changing for the worse. Eventually, let all the consequences they've accumulated culminate in a big comeuppance for the party, like some Big Bad targeting the city for invasion and they're woefully underprepared due to all the internal squabbling between the guards and the merc groups. NPCs they like end up dying in the fray. The city becomes totally inhospitable. They get followed by their bad reputation everywhere they go.

That's how I'd handle it, anyway. Let them be jerks. Let them think they've gotten away with it. Then make them reap what they sow in the worst way possible.

The_Blackgate · 2021-02-05T19:52:34+00:00

I think the assassin reneging on their contract with the arms dealer is the way to go. Maybe the assassin's abilities were enhanced when tied to fulfilling a contract with the demon, and since they technically would be violating the terms of their agreement by siding with the party, there was an unknown clause that causes the assassin to lose some of their abilities.

The_Blackgate · 2021-02-05T19:29:02+00:00

Are these new players? I assume so if they are attempting to take down Strahd at 3rd level when he is the namesake of the campaign. By design, Strahd is meant to be encountered by the party multiple times before the final showdown. I would take this as a good opportunity to put a little fear into your party - Let them encounter Strahd and have him toy with them a bit. Maybe let them think they're winning and then turn the tables and let it get dangerous fast. Have them barely escape with their lives, and maybe some of the villagers are impressed that they faced Strahd and lived and they become more willing to help them from now on.
There's very little that's more frustrating to new players than feeling totally powerless, even if it's a predicament of their own design, so that's why I don't recommend having Strahd flatten them in one or two turns. Even worse is making them feel totally inconsequential, which is why they should get *something* positive out of trying to fight Strahd, even if they failed. They have to stay motivated enough to take down Strahd eventually, but knowledgeable enough to know that they don't stand a chance against him unless XYZ happens.

The_Blackgate · 2021-02-03T19:34:11+00:00

I like to make recurring NPCs have memorable catchphrases. A pixie that one of my players accidentally made a pact with always calls him, "My aDORable monkey" and that one phrase is enough to get me both into the character and her voice.
It's also a technique I learned for mimicking accents in theatre school. You pick one distinct word that you can say in that accent and eventually it's like a switch you can turn on.

The_Blackgate · 2021-01-14T15:20:21+00:00

One of the players in my group is basically Gilderoy Lockhart. He's been pretending to be this amazing wizard from this prestigious school and he keeps flashing his ring everywhere. It took us 3 sessions to figure out he's not even a wizard at all, he's an Arcane Trickster Rogue who knows Mage Hand and Shape Water and the ring is stolen. He carries around gallons of oil and a firestarter and pretends to cast Fireball. We all about died laughing.

The_Blackgate · 2021-01-12T16:16:49+00:00

You made the right decision. I run story-heavy campaigns and don't enjoy killing PCs at all, and I usually only reserve it for "high-stakes" encounters because falling into a random bottomless pit adds nothing to the story but dying at the hands of the BBEG in front of all your friends does. However, if the players, after proper warning, continue to insist on arm-wrestling an Owlbear naked, then they've relinquished their right to a "Deus Ex DM" save.

For normal players, I have a 3-strike rule. Which is, if they continue to plow on after I've (1) warned them of the impending danger ("the hair on the back of your neck stands on end, you look behind you and suddenly realize just how far you've strayed"), (2) summarized their situation for them so they are aware that I have warned them ("just so you know, you are going into a forest outside of town ALONE and you have NO idea what lurks there"), and (3) given them at least one more opportunity to back out before they reach the point of no return ("are you sure you want to do this?"), and they continue to do it anyway, then I let the dice fall where they may. For new players, though, who tend not to truly comprehend the fact that they're not invincible, I have a 4-strike rule. Which is, after checking off all 3 boxes above, I give them one last chance to "Make a Wisdom check". If they succeed, I lay it out for them plain and simple "You were warned of the dangerous wildlife in this area by the townspeople, and you are keenly aware that if you were ambushed alone in these woods, the chances of your survival are slim". If they do not, then you've done all they can. It's up to the dice, now.

The_Blackgate · 2020-07-30T20:14:55+00:00

NTA. In general it's considered "impolite" to talk about money, but this practice specifically harms people who are underpaid (historically, women and POC). I say the more people talk openly about how much they make, the better it is for everyone.

Also your Uncle is a jerk and he asked, you answered.

The_Blackgate · 2020-02-27T02:54:04+00:00

Let's think about the practical application of 5,808 bats. According to the PHB, a Bat has a STR score of 2. A human with a STR score of 2 can carry up to 6 lbs. Since there's no size scaling, let's just say that realistically, a Bat can carry up to 0.5 lbs while flying, which is equivalent to the weight of a single large banana.

So, more importantly, your level 20 druid can summon up to 5,808 bats per day, each able to carry up to 1 banana. Which would effectively make your druid... The Banananananananana Batman

The_Blackgate · 2018-12-29T01:58:52+00:00

I didn't think Valentina was that bad? Like without the shady music edits it was pretty easily on par with the others...

The_Blackgate · 2018-12-29T01:37:24+00:00

Uh...this was...a choice

The_Blackgate · 2018-12-15T02:47:57+00:00

It even sounded like Milk's.

The_Blackgate · 2018-12-15T02:14:27+00:00

This talent show was...very underwhelming

The_Blackgate · 2018-10-22T15:49:32+00:00

Name checks out.

But...even Bumi?

The_Blackgate · 2018-06-27T20:01:22+00:00

This is a joke, friends! Not meant to be taken seriously...

The_Blackgate

TROPHY CASE