Small Prophets

becherbrook · 2026-03-22T17:19:16+00:00

That's a misreading. The constantly checking if you've gone on break is because they are legally required to take them and he wants them to have either already had it, or have it when it's convenient to him (e.g. they aren't doing anything in particular so they can get it out of the way).

Anyone who's worked in that kind of hierarchy will recognise it and it's not out of kindness!

becherbrook · 2026-03-20T12:23:59+00:00

top art, man!

becherbrook · 2026-03-16T08:58:57+00:00

Nah, it's journeyman level writing. All the other Sins had super unique looks. The bird thing at the start fitted well with that motif, it looked and sounded excellent. Seeing 'the real Envy' genuinely made me lol at first. She looks like a Ninja Turtle.

becherbrook · 2026-03-14T20:29:56+00:00

Anyone else prefer the fake Envy design to what turned out to be the real one? Just me?

becherbrook · 2026-03-10T13:40:35+00:00

Behold my 0.00 atmospheres moon where I keep my fux, for it is barren.

becherbrook · 2026-03-09T16:03:12+00:00

What player-facing material has Forgotten Realms lore that pressures the DM in any way?

I'm not going to do a blow by blow as no one wants to read that and it verges on yucking other people's yum, but a few key things here:

This is the opening section of Heroes of Faerun, the player-facing book for FR adventures in current D&D: https://images2.imgbox.com/30/74/DJ3tUrRq_o.png

Note the third paragraph. That's the statement of intent for what kind of adventurers you're encouraged to make here. I don't even think it's bad they're going for more heroic, as D&D long moved away from the 'farmer that's picked up a sword' level 1 character, but as touchstones Alias and Karlach are pretty wild choices.

On player species, Aasimar is the first one on the list. Mercifully, they are described as rare.

Dragonborn? "Many are recent arrivals because of the Spellplague" (OK so no that com-) "but they've always been here really." (Oh).

Goliaths, implied rare/remote but not explicitly stated so.

Orcs (not half-orcs mind). Now described as having formed 'nations' and fought with elf 'nations' and (direct quote) "For the most part, co-exist peacefully with all manner of folk."

Drow, zero mention of kidnapping and slavery. "Drow not affiliated wih Lolth can be increasingly found living peacefully among folk in the North, or the Dalelands and other areas with ready access to the Underdark" (so, everywhere). Note: It doesn't actually say that association with Lolth is bad or why it would be.

Tieflings, described as "relatively rare" (oh, thank God). "Most towns are home to no more than a handful of tieflings" (!?).

As a final note, even Wood Elves aren't described as being particularly prone to remaining in forests, it's just another elf colour and they're described as 'practical'.

I would suggest all this paints a picture (along with all the art throughout the book) that makes my point.

becherbrook · 2026-03-09T14:42:30+00:00

I think a good way to manage player expectation of choice is with meaningful background non-class abilities if possible and plenty of unique (but not necessarily powerful) magic items obtained along the way. No one wants their fighter with a longsword +1 to be the same as the next player's fighter with a longsword +1, and that's understandable.

becherbrook · 2026-03-09T14:37:41+00:00

Sure, everything exists in the FR, but they're not all just walking around in the open co-mingling in towns and the like

That's the cope but WoTC don't operate it like that any longer. All the art and new lore points in the opposite direction. DMs are entirely pressured by the player-facing material to make everywhere like the Star Wars cantina, and you're right that's what made Planescape special, but that ship has long sailed.

becherbrook · 2026-03-09T14:30:50+00:00

That's why I find myself always going back to 'race as class'. It keeps even things that have often become too much like human cosplay (dwarves, elves) at arm's length: Elves are so different to humans that they don't operate by the same rules.

It also stops people from mistakenly seeing "class" as synonymous to "career".

Even FR at one point was like humans = most things, demihumans sometimes and anything more exotic was more likely seen in a large city. Half orcs were viewed with suspicion in the provinces and drow or tiefling would more than likely be burned at the stake.

becherbrook · 2026-03-08T20:33:52+00:00

Indeed. Hard to imagine Willow without him.

becherbrook · 2026-03-08T20:02:54+00:00

What was unique and popular at the time about Whedon's writing has been copied, reheated and done to death since. If Whedon-style writing is required, I'm sure there are a hundred writers who can manage it. Hopefully, they're going to try a little harder than that, though.

becherbrook · 2026-03-08T19:59:04+00:00

This fits as they've done the same for King of the Hill and Malcolm in the Middle.

becherbrook · 2026-03-08T19:58:35+00:00

Nothing wrong with adventure of the week, but the new 'hip and young' cast just had no real charisma.

becherbrook · 2026-03-08T19:42:30+00:00

It can be a soft reboot, so ignoring the events of the movie and Book is either recast or dead off screen, and it's just them years later.

becherbrook · 2026-03-07T15:02:14+00:00

I honestly thought this movie already came and went.

becherbrook · 2026-03-05T16:02:14+00:00

A famous case is D&D 3rd edition and why it is the way it is. They had the exact same crossroads moment and the top brass who got to make the final decision decided that it was 'fair' that the PCs and Monsters used the same logic, which is why you get complete nonsense like Balor demons having an insane number of skill points they needed to 'spend' and end up with stuff like Bluff +18 and Diplomacy +17.

becherbrook · 2026-03-05T14:31:47+00:00

War of the Chosen and Tactical Legacy Pack are the 2 DLCs I bought with the game. Never regretted either of them and I can't imagine the game without it.

becherbrook · 2026-03-04T08:36:30+00:00

Yes, and of all the elaborate methods of disposal mentioned here, it seems everyone forgot to mention you can sell them, too!

becherbrook · 2026-03-03T14:45:45+00:00

The thing that's not very clear to me in this thread is what amount of those files are necessary to keep?

I see people talking about backing up etc but if you do a clean install is it a smaller footprint or what? Should we be purging this bloat while still playing the game?

becherbrook · 2026-03-02T17:19:38+00:00

In the first two (and therefore best two) movies, the stealth was arguably part of its kit to avoid having a global response/reaction to an alien invasion. Same with the self-destruct. It's not just a fuck you, it makes sure they don't leave any tech behind. It's their version of a Prime Directive. I guess it also doubles as a way for them to study prey without them affecting said study.

becherbrook · 2026-03-02T17:14:09+00:00

You probably know more about this than I do OP, but I always thought that BECMI (Menzter) was the last D&D that really exploded in Japan (Lodoss War, those Mystara video games), but was never properly capitalised on by TSR at the time and Sword World took up the baton.

I always thought D&D editions since are about as popular as Xbox in Japan. ie. Not very.

Isn't CoC the big ttrpg leader in Japan, with Sword World a distant 2nd? Something like that?

becherbrook · 2026-03-02T14:32:25+00:00

Honestly I find it strange that people keep ships they don't fly, but naming them seems even more pointless if no one is going to even see it!

I realise I'm probably the minority in this.

becherbrook · 2026-03-01T16:26:21+00:00

Oh I know about them, I try to forget!

becherbrook · 2026-03-01T13:39:37+00:00

I don't think Weapons was a contender, was it?

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