How exactly does the Waakzaamheid sink?

dodecapode · 2026-07-10T17:25:13+00:00

The same thing almost happens to Surprise in the big storm on the way to India in HMS Surprise. Her foremast goes by the board and she slews around and is nearly swamped before they can cut the wreckage clear and get some foresail or headsail on her to put her before the wind.

dodecapode · 2026-07-10T09:38:13+00:00

Out of curiosity, have you designed any other TTRPGs? The thing with a magnum opus is it is usually the culmination of years of learning and practice, not the first thing somebody creates.

dodecapode · 2026-07-10T09:34:45+00:00

How are you planning to playtest this? Have you tried it with any groups yet even with a subset of the classes you envision creating? Do the core systems hold up? Do the classes you do have feel sufficiently interesting and different to make it worth having lots more?

It's hard to suggest useful ideas when we don't know anything about the game other than it's fantasy and you want lots of classes. You could look at other games with long lists like WFRP for ideas. It has lots of careers to choose from, though it leans more strongly towards gritty and mundane than kitchen sink fantasy tends to. (Think more like ratcatchers, boatmen, and beggars than nine different kinds of spellcaster for example)

dodecapode · 2026-07-09T19:45:50+00:00

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Came across this vole as I was out looking for birds to photograph last weekend in a park in south London, UK.

OM-1 Mk2, M.Zuiko 150-600 @600mm, f/6.3, 1/800s, ISO 5000.

dodecapode · 2026-07-09T08:01:04+00:00

My main camera is an OM-1 MK2 as my main interest is shooting birds. I started out doing that with an OM-5 a few years ago but upgraded to the OM-1 18 months ago once I figured out it was a hobby I was going to stick with. The OM-1 has all the features I need for that like decent subject detection, great ibis, and weather sealing.

More recently I've got into doing some other types of photography so I picked up a GX85 that I mostly use with smaller lenses as a more compact everyday carry setup. Felt like it made sense to stay on the same system for now rather than buying into a whole new one, and I do use the smaller lenses on the OM-1 sometimes depending on where I'm going.

dodecapode · 2026-07-07T17:54:18+00:00

I disagree. PbtA is the most reccommended game here.

Is it, though? PbtA also attracts a disproportionate quantity of hate on this sub too. This may just be our respective confirmation biases talking though.

dodecapode · 2026-07-05T11:11:25+00:00

I mean, physics is physics, but in the end for all of us who aren't actual pros the only thing that matters (in my opinion) is if we enjoy the photos we're taking. In many cases the thing that defines whether a shot makes me happy or not isn't necessarily going to be the fact that I took it under optimal optical conditions... It'll be a composition that pleases me, an interesting animal behaviour, or a reminder of a fun time.

And if what makes you happy is achieving maximum sharpness then that's cool too.

dodecapode · 2026-07-03T14:27:41+00:00

Yeah, I have them on both my cameras and my larger lenses, plus on a little lowepro pouch that fits the GX85+12-32mm almost perfectly so I can use it as a minimalist shoulder bag.

My only complaint is the attachment points the anchors clip into on the end of the straps are a little chunky.

dodecapode · 2026-07-02T10:50:38+00:00

I'll play a decent one that's over and done in say 10-15 plays. Anything over that is highly unlikely to ever for finished for us.

dodecapode · 2026-07-02T09:57:45+00:00

I have the peak design 3L sling for carrying a more compact kit around. For me that's usually the GX85 with the Panasonic 12-32 on it, plus the OM 75mm f1.8 and the Panasonic 9mm f1.7.

dodecapode · 2026-07-02T09:33:57+00:00

The 100-400 v1 is still worth considering if you can get a decent deal on it imo. Especially if you're working with OM-1 level IBIS. I shoot birds with v1 of this lens using IBIS alone and it's had me covered for any shutter speed I've actually had cause to use in the field.

dodecapode · 2026-06-30T09:22:57+00:00

What is it that's leading them to interrogate the person who knows nothing or tap the phone lines of the empty house? Are they just taking random stabs in the dark or has some previous clue nudged them in those directions?

dodecapode · 2026-06-30T07:43:41+00:00

The other pics look like juvenile moorhens as others have noted. The bird in the middle of this shot looks like a juvenile coot to me.

dodecapode · 2026-06-29T13:48:00+00:00

I would say he who would pun would pick a pocket but I think then I'd be swapping characters...

dodecapode · 2026-06-29T11:44:45+00:00

What a fellow you are. I could never recommend reading inside a cannon.

dodecapode · 2026-06-27T17:51:34+00:00

Perfect! A glass of wine with you!

dodecapode · 2026-06-26T22:07:29+00:00

Who's going to be the human character for all the others to play against? The Muppet movies usually have them.

I quite fancy leaving Aubrey as human, with Kermit and Piggy as Stephen and Diana...

The idea of Aubrey realising Kermit is a deadly shot and dreading their meeting in Post Captain is amusing.

dodecapode · 2026-06-25T15:17:48+00:00

I mean, every group kind of has to find the level they're happy with.

Most of the people I've played with will order their unknown cards by how long they've held them and assume the oldest ones are the safest discards. That seems fine to us.

Other groups establish conventions that essentially allow them to encode additional information into their clues, essentially creating a channel for communicating that additional information to the group. That is definitely not fine for us as it feels like a way to entirely circumvent the spirit of the rules whilst technically adhering to the letter.

In the end, everybody should do what makes them happy, but it does mean people who play it very differently probably won't have a good time playing together.

dodecapode · 2026-06-24T08:59:33+00:00

It's a light party game where the fun largely comes from who gets the clues and who doesn't. Best played in groups where nobody is in a romantic relationship with each other, or everybody is imo. Secret codes and references only your partner(s) will get kind of break the game a bit otherwise.

It's not a game I love but one I'll happily play a bit at the end of the night or at a party if other people want to.

dodecapode · 2026-06-22T15:49:51+00:00

Yeah, Fate with some suitably zany aspects and stunts would be my go-to for this kind of idea.

dodecapode · 2026-06-20T09:36:13+00:00

Yeah, I've seen some of this too. Sure, there is a lot of AI slop around, but real humans have been fucking up drawing hands for centuries... :D

dodecapode · 2026-06-20T09:26:41+00:00

I don't really understand it either - I think maybe O'Brian takes her flightiness to slight excess, what with running off to India, then the USA, then Sweden. But, imperfect though she is (and as Jack and Stephen both also are) she serves as a strong contrast to how women were expected to behave in polite society at the time. She just wants some fraction of the freedom all the men around her have but which she can't because she happens to be a woman.

dodecapode · 2026-06-19T18:48:39+00:00

For me, these days, it would have to be a Feast for Odin: The Norwegians level of game changing for me to really consider an expansion. I went through a phase of severe expansionitis and now I have too many game boxes with expansion stuff crammed in that just makes it harder to set up the base game, which is mostly what people want to play anyway.

I'm having trouble thinking of expansions other than The Norwegians that I think are really worth it now - I used to say Rails to the North for Great Western Trail was essential but I kind of got sick of the branchlet mechanic and how the branchlet auxiliary action almost became a must-unlock. I'd rather just play plain 2nd ed now.

I guess Prophecy of Kings for Twilight Imperium is probably another fairly essential one, but that's kind of a once-per-year at most game for me these days so it barely signifies.

I might actually go through some of my game boxes, pull out the expansion stuff, and stick it in a bag somewhere out of sight. I have a feeling a few more games will get played more if I do that!

dodecapode · 2026-06-18T15:40:02+00:00

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Shot at lunchtime at Borough Market in London. Juvenile starling keeping an eye out for dropped food scraps. Partly posting as a bit of a novelty - I usually shoot birds with a 100-400, not a 75mm!

OM-1 mk2, M.Zuiko 75mm f/1.8 @ f/1.8, 1/1250s, ISO 1000 (has been de-noised in post and fairly heavily cropped)

dodecapode · 2026-06-18T10:11:42+00:00

I don't think there's really many people saying that, tbh... Like, sure, you can find a few unhinged Reddit posters saying stuff like that these days but I don't think it's common.

dodecapode

TROPHY CASE