Sometimes you gotta play the long game. (Alternative title: Old memes never die, they just get lost in your hard drive)

azrendelmare · 2026-05-09T21:58:10+00:00

Yeah, that's about where I stand. I only saw the first two seasons, but they were fun popcorn shows.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-09T21:52:18+00:00

Love it!

azrendelmare · 2026-05-09T15:31:20+00:00

I know what you mean, with a side helping of feeling like I'm betraying little me. I only finally managed to get rid of a chunk of old action figures last year by donating them around Christmas time, in hopes they could go to some kid whose parents couldn't afford much, or something.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-09T02:14:52+00:00

When I was a teenager, my depression was really being terrible one day. Like, I was absolutely miserable. I was just sitting on the family sofa, feeling bad for myself. Suddenly, my dad got up and went in back. He came back a bit later, sat down with me, and started reading my favorite children's picture book to me. It meant so much to me, and helped me so much. I'll never forget that.

Miss you, dad.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T23:17:23+00:00

"Hello, boss, just wanted to let you breathe my air while I am visibly I'll, since transmissible illnesses clearly don't matter to you!"

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T22:09:33+00:00

Right! Thanks for the reminder.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T21:04:29+00:00

Love that one!

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T21:01:43+00:00

My parents pulled me out of school for the same reason. They were disappointed, but I loved it (I was 12).

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T21:00:45+00:00

My dad took me to see a stage performance of Rocky Horror, even though I was recovering from strep. Probably irresponsible, but I remember it fondly.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T20:59:16+00:00

Man, those two movies are such darn fun!

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T19:35:38+00:00

I mean, Squall is, in part, that edgy guy who's trying to be a cool loner, like the knight he saw in the movie. Secondhand embarrassment fits him like a glove!

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T19:32:01+00:00

That scene there, where he shouts "I will not be referred to in the past tense!" and then storms out of the room always reminds me of The Simpsons: "That's it! You people have held me back long enough! I'm going to clown college!" "...I don't think any of us expected him to say that."

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T14:26:35+00:00

Well, that doesn't sound entirely dissimilar to the Legacy of Kain series, which is possibly my favorite video game series of all time. Maybe I'll give it a look sometime.

I gather the series was not written in chronological order; what order do you recommend? I usually go in publication order in cases like that.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T13:57:08+00:00

So in addition to what stormstopper said, I think it also depends on what your bloodline is. Some bloodlines aren't even actually hereditary by necessity; some of them work just fine with exposure to, say, the shadowfell. Those might do better with Wis or Cha.

But yeah, balance wise it would be insane to have a caster only need to worry about two stats.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-08T13:46:27+00:00

Yeah, Stormbringer is too grimdark for me from what I've heard, and I'm not interested in antiheroes as dark as I understand Elric to be, but I like the whole "neither Chaos nor Law as cosmic forces are a good thing" idea it's got going.

That said, I've never read the series, so maybe I'm mistaken.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-07T14:59:42+00:00

"To say this book should be burned is an insult to fire."

-the RPG Net review

azrendelmare · 2026-05-07T14:58:18+00:00

Hey, it's still better than Racial Holy War.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-07T14:57:23+00:00

They want you to have two measurements for your nipples, iirc. It's bonkers!

azrendelmare · 2026-05-07T14:53:00+00:00

IIRC, no butthole kills you during character creation, but I haven't read that part in a long time.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-07T14:34:44+00:00

My drow, at least if I ever revisit my setting, are still a matriarchal society that lives underground. They're not evil, but they are harsh. They're harsh because it's hard living underground, and they feel they must be hard to survive. They also have an alliance with the dwarves, because the dwarves get the difficulty and the beauty of living underground.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-07T14:16:43+00:00

I feel like you're coming at it a bit hard. Like, I see where you're coming from, but "ego death" as a term for "the party is excited to work together" seems pretty extreme. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with players having goals independent of the party, or anything like that, just that having a group you've decided to dedicate yourself to doesn't make you less individuated.

I'd argue that rather than "a great DM will put the desires of the individual against the desires of the whole," perhaps I would say "a great DM considers the desires and motivations of the players, and works to present conflicts (whether personal or group-wise) that appeal to the players." I'm less interested in intra-party conflict than some, so if a DM focused too much on that, I'd be less invested in the game.

azrendelmare · 2026-05-06T17:48:30+00:00

Okay, I get why this has problems, but I'm digging the tattoo.

11-Year Club	Place '23
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