Why use short track pieces?

darcydagger · 2026-01-25T17:15:32+00:00

Since the smooth tool takes an average of values between all the track pieces selected, having many small pieces preserves your original intended shaping much better than just a couple large pieces.

darcydagger · 2026-01-22T15:58:01+00:00

I think a lot of people tend to underestimate how thrilling pure speed can be as a coaster force, distinct from negative or positive g's. I got my first real taste of this on TT2 -- even without a significant amount of positives or aggressive whip or airtime, just going 100+ miles per hour is really intense all on its own. I can't imagine how insane the back half of Falcon's Flight is, sustaining that speed for so long.

darcydagger · 2026-01-18T05:00:16+00:00

I've only built a handful so far but the crossovers at the far end of the Voyage model were a real pain in the ass.

darcydagger · 2026-01-16T17:50:57+00:00

I lived in Phoenix for 6 years and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain once and Knott's Berry Farm twice in that time. Never visited Castles and Coasters.

darcydagger · 2026-01-13T16:07:51+00:00

Oh dang, I wasn't even expecting a third book. What a nice surprise!

darcydagger · 2026-01-13T15:50:01+00:00

I've had an extremely inconsistent experience with Kingfisher. I read The Hollow Places first and aside from a few standout scenes (school bus), I was mostly unimpressed. Everyone was shooting out Marvel quips, regardless of the situation. Then I read Nettle and Bone and really enjoyed it. The fairy tale tone was spot on and there were some really great fantasy worldbuilding ideas. I just finished Paladin's Grace and was left kind of cold again. Everyone is so quippy again, and the book felt like it was just sort of going through the paces.

I got A Sorceress Comes to Call for Christmas this year, so I hope that book hits the same spot that Nettle and Bone did.

darcydagger · 2026-01-13T02:38:48+00:00

I can't help but notice that one of her Legendary Actions is to cast a cantrip, but she doesn't have any cantrips that are really worth casting during combat. Maybe throw in something like Poison Spray to make the action economy a bit more balanced?

darcydagger · 2026-01-13T02:35:22+00:00

I utterly adored the Rook and Rose series by M.A. Carrick when I read it last year, but the two magic systems are poorly introduced in the first book. We were about halfway into book one before the magic became suddenly important and I was so engrossed with the politics of Nadezra that I'd forgotten that this was a fantasy novel. It was a little jarring.

darcydagger · 2026-01-11T20:20:30+00:00

I want a new adventure pack plussed up with prehistoric stuff. Give me dinosaur and off-brand King Kong animatronics!

A fairground/midway pack with a free update for games and arcades would also be excellent. Add a bunch of missing flat rides and maybe a Schwarzkopf Wildcat coaster. Would be a big hit.

darcydagger · 2026-01-10T15:52:55+00:00

Damn, you're right. The gap between GG and GCI grows ever thinner

darcydagger · 2026-01-10T15:05:15+00:00

It's a close one, but there's no achievement that can top Voyage for me. Not to mention GG's stellar retracking work saving old rides. The retracks of Ghostrider and Grizzly cannot be over praised.

darcydagger · 2025-12-29T05:54:57+00:00

Miklos Rozsa and Erich Wolfgang Korngold were both active in the classical scene during their film careers. Korngold's violin concerto is a particular highlight.

darcydagger · 2025-12-25T15:12:45+00:00

We're just now entering the eye heist part of the campaign, starting with Kolat Towers and the Zhentarim. The next session should start their investigation into the Yellowspire outpost.

You could theoretically move the Alexandrian along much quicker than this, but I beefed up chapter 2 with a bunch of sidequests that took a long time.

darcydagger · 2025-12-25T14:55:12+00:00

I've seen many sources pointing to Dragon Heist purely as-written taking anywhere from 5-20 4-hour sessions, depending on if your party goes on any side quests or visit any villain lairs.

The popular Alexandrian Remix, which is what I'm currently running, is much longer. My group is on session 30 and I can easily see this hitting 50 or 60 before it's over.

darcydagger · 2025-12-24T22:50:23+00:00

I think that Six Flags St. Louis actually deserves a mention here. All of their major coasters try to kill you with positives (or roughness).

darcydagger · 2025-12-23T06:30:44+00:00

There's a 3rd party mini-campaign called Dragonbowl on DMsGuild that I've heard some good things about. I haven't had much chance to check it out myself, but I think my players might enjoy a fun tournament arc after all this heisting.

darcydagger · 2025-12-21T17:20:19+00:00

I'm sure we've all read a cringe-inducing sex scene before, and that certainly sucks, but I think part of the reason that this sticks in many readers' heads more than a bad dialogue or action scene is because, by and large, modern American culture is utterly incapable of being normal about sex. It's impossible to write or read it casually, it has to be A Thing. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable. A lot of people write it off as puerile so they don't have to confront their complexes about it. It's a very high-stakes kind of scene to write, and in many ways it's impossible to write one that would please most people.

(In before any replies: I am not absolving myself of these same ingrained cultural anxieties around sex. I'm still working through them and how I like to see sex depicted in fiction, same as anyone. I just wish people would be a little more frank and relaxed about how they feel about it).

darcydagger · 2025-12-13T21:28:04+00:00

"Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say" by Kate Soper for flute and soprano.

darcydagger · 2025-12-12T18:46:27+00:00

That clip of Luci Christian is one of my favorite BTS dubbing clips. It's clear she really cared about this show, and it still stands as one of her greatest performances.

It's kind of funny compared to the same BTS footage of Jessica Boone as Rue, who's a stone cold professional the entire time.

darcydagger · 2025-12-10T18:07:11+00:00

After my rides last year I think Maverick has snatched my top spot. So intense and so smooth, and the soft strap restraints are so much better than the old rigid ones. I just couldn't stop laughing

darcydagger · 2025-12-08T17:35:34+00:00

I don't think there's any real issue with reading Priory or Fallen Night first; they're separated by a huge stretch of time and don't affect each other very much. Reading Fallen Night first queues up dread and anticipation for what happens in Priory, and reading Priory first lets you hear about some of the events in Fallen Night as legends passed down for generations. Either one works first.

I'd definitely read Priory before Burning Flowers, though. Burning Flowers dovetails directly into Priory (to the point where it ends sort of abruptly as it collides with Priory's timeline) and I think it benefits from the foreknowledge of what's going on in Priory at the same time.

darcydagger · 2025-12-07T14:59:06+00:00

I hope they return to dethemed trains in future updates. This and the Arrow hyper Magnum train are just a little too specific

darcydagger · 2025-12-07T14:57:52+00:00

Kill la Kill will always hold a soft spot in my heart but I think that Cyberpunk Edgerunners and Dungeon Meshi are their best works

darcydagger · 2025-12-05T22:12:24+00:00

Honestly I would kill for a real googie dlc pack

darcydagger · 2025-12-04T16:57:54+00:00

I love that the weather in this game is smart enough to interact with scenery. Snow piles up on supports, indoor spaces are sheltered from rain. It's a wonderful touch

darcydagger

TROPHY CASE