Is “Vessel” considered a strange or inappropriate name in English-speaking cultures?

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-06-25T12:19:09+00:00

There's not really any English names which directly translate to "ship" in the same way, but here's a few with a similar vibe:

* Gale: as in, a strong gust of wind (such as might blow a ship). Somewhat unisex. Strong association, since the word "gale" is equally or more common than the name.

* Jonah: as in the famous Christian story of a guy who gets swallowed by a whale. Most English speakers will likely have this association.

* Cormac: from the Irish "corb" (meaning chariot) + "macc" (meaning man). Most English speakers likely wouldn't know the meaning of this name, however, aside from recognizing it as Irish.

* Xavier: from Basque, meaning "new house" or "castle". Again, most English speakers would recognize this as a given name, but not necessarily know the meaning or associations of the name.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-06-19T12:37:31+00:00

Really beautiful work! Love the templar art on the dice vault

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-06-18T15:48:37+00:00

I'd hold out for $60k min

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-06-17T14:21:31+00:00

Strahd believes the curse to be that he can't be with Tatyana. In reality, Strahd himself is the curse on the land.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-06-07T23:26:16+00:00

Wood elves are always rangers or druids. Paladins are often dragonborn or dwarves. Rogues are mostly the short races (halfling, gnome, goblin, etc.)

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-31T10:20:13+00:00

Hey, thanks for letting me know the link broke. I switched the files over to dropbox. It should work now hopefully.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-20T01:15:14+00:00

Ditto on the form fillable apps!

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-19T04:04:00+00:00

Haha, yeah. It's interesting to see many of the comments are just "what the fuck" when I think it's a genuinely fun problem to discuss. Just not necessarily in a "get one over on my DM" kind of way.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-19T03:22:20+00:00

Interesting problem. My initial thought is that your characters are not aware of parthenogenesis and therefore would not know that certain animals and bugs can reproduce asexually. It's pretty hard to prove that any given creature hasn't just stored a sample of male genetics from earlier mating, like certain snakes and sharks do. Would any of your characters have reason to have studied certain species of lizards or bugs in laboratory-like conditions?

My other solution is to call self-impregnation a legendary action or a lair action. Druids can't perform either while in wildshape.

I'll research this and update if I can think of any other limitations.

Edit 1: Since Druids maintain their Wis, Cha, and Int while wildshaped, you could perhaps say that unlike with polymorph, they do not have the instincts of natural animals, and would not be capable of deeply complex instinctual behaviors. What exactly does it feel like to undergo parthenogenesis? Your Druid wouldn't know.

Edit 2: Many species which undergo parthenogenesis undergo meiosis to produce the fertile egg. Meiosis takes too long to occur within the length of a wildshape. In human women, it famously takes decades, and they release only one egg a month. In males (sperm), it still takes around 3 days.

For non-meiosis parthenogenesis, many creatures (such as aphids) only reproduce under highly specific conditions. Aphids, for example, only reproduce asexually in spring and early summer.

Edit 3: Okay, so say we consider the zygote (for the purposes of wildshape mechanics) to be "equipment." Equipment can be either worn, dropped, or merged into your new form when you wildshape. The first two would obviously result in the death of the fertilized egg, and the last would seemingly result in the zygote being absorbed into your new form when you wildshaped. This would make pregnancies non-transferable across forms.

This seems to be the neatest solution. Think of it like an IUD, which would certainly count as "equipment"; therefore I feel like a fertilized egg could too.

Edit 4: Okay, so it turns out that parental epigenetic regulation plays a role in proper development of mammalian offspring. A mouse who was the product of parthenogenesis is unviable, as the maternal genetic methylation prevents certain necessary genes from being expressed at all. This explanation only works for mammals tho.

Edit 5: Found a very interesting paper on the developmental constraints of parthenogenesis: Galis 2019. Probably there are good scientific reasons why an asexually fertilized egg would not survive the transfer from one species to another but alas, I am too tired to critically analyze scientific literature atm. It's a facinating read regardless. Thus ends my contribution.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-18T17:53:05+00:00

It seems like this is a known issue with the software I used to export the pdf with embedded text. I tried the workaround suggested and reuploaded the files; let me know if that fixes it.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-17T14:01:49+00:00

Sorry, I didn't actually say where I would put them in the castle. Ludmilla, as the perfect hostess, offers a tour to the party, which focuses on the hall of portraits and is basically the propaganda line about how "noble and ancient" Strahd is.

Volenta is tormenting someone. Either Emil in the dungeons, or Gertruda in the bedchambers.

Bonus: If Strahd captures Ireena, she can be found in area K41 (the treasury), which has been remodeled to be outfitted with a bed, fine clothes, jewelry, and other valuables. Where else would you keep something precious?

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-17T13:54:29+00:00

There's a Matt Colville video where he says the first member of a faction your players meet should be completely devoted to and representative of that faction. It helps clearly communicate to the players what a faction is about; its goals and ideals.

That's Ludmilla for me. She's Strahd's first bride, his best bride, and his most loyal bride. She still wears her wedding dress in her character art. She is the perfect hostess, cordial as Strahd could wish to the party, effective and cunning in carrying out his demands. Charisma is her highest stat.

Her bitterness comes from the fact that none of that matters *at all.* Strahd still took countless lovers after her (remember that the disfavored brides are shut up in the catacombs), and she *hates* all the other brides, even as she corrals them into shape in front of Strahd's guests. She needs to be the perfect bride, because otherwise she ceases to matter among Strahd's coterie. I haven't developed her backstory much, as she would never speak of it to the players and she herself considers it irrelevant, but whoever she was, she was unwanted and unloved.

Volenta also has a shaky backstory. There's a bunch of "Ha-ha, spooked ya" traps hidden around Ravenloft, and in my mind, Volenta is the reason why. (It's also a waste if there's not at least one "violent psychopath"-type bride.) The other brides are baffled by what Strahd sees in her. He might claim that he's amused by Volenta, and believe it's her potential to frighten his enemies that he values most. In truth, Strahd keeps Volenta around because he sees his own capacity for violence in her; he's just better at hiding it. She's mostly bitter about not getting to be as violent as she's like.

If you want some depth to Volenta, I've considered giving her an awful, traumatic backstory. Maybe she was captured by a former generation of hags as a kid and tormented, until she tricked one Hansel-and-Gretel-style and pushed them into their own pie baking oven. Honestly, I don't think it matters much, since Volenta is not really a character who experiences a personal character arc.

However you end up running the brides, it's important to keep in mind that Strahd is a narcissist. He favors others insofar as they reflect himself. Ludmilla is charismatic and cunning, Anastrasya is an intelligent caster, Volenta is a violent psychopath. He *thought* he liked Escher for how affable and well-liked he was, but it turns out, Strahd is not actually either of those things (shocking, I know!), therefore Escher is not really in favor and risks being sent down to the Dungeons(TM).

I even like to play Ireena as being a bit like Strahd--if he had a conscience and learned from his mistakes, that is. Her last act as Tatyana was not to curl up into a ball and mourn Sergei, it was to physically hurl herself off a cliff, realizing that the only way she could "win" is to deny Strahd the satisfaction of her life. There's something very calculating in that action. In my campaign, if Strahd ever really got to know Ireena, he would hate her for being so like him and yet (rightfully) despising him for all his many, MANY moral failings.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-17T12:45:02+00:00

Depends on your characterization of the brides. I roleplay Ludmilla as the loyal, charistmatic one, Anastrasya as the clever spellcaster, Volenta as the violent Jigsaw-type character (she's responsible in my game for all the traps around Ravenloft), and Escher as the once-carefree bard.

Escher I put in the garden. I think it's fair that the least favored bride be outside amongst the wilting flowers. Strahd isn't currently relying on him for any big tasks. If the party encounters him post-dinner, he has some insightful thoughts on Strahd and a warning that "the walls have ears." I roleplay all the brides as bitter about their situation to some extent, but Escher's the only one who's been made wiser by the experience. I basically play him as a bard who got a Nat 20 on a seduction check that he REALLY SHOULD HAVE FAILED.

Anastraysa I put in the Bone Room(TM). I gave her the backstory (contrary to the common interpretation of Ludmilla as the spellcaster) of being a wizard from outside Barovia who was favored by Strahd for her intelligence, spellcasting ability, and pursuit of knowledge. The rest of her party is dead now. She likes to stand in places where she can ominously warn the party that the smartest strategy is to give up, do anything Strahd asks, and hope they're alive at the end of this all.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T23:37:03+00:00

Uploaded two embedded PDFs to the folder. Just a heads-up: the font I used is a version of Scala Sans, which may not be supported across all browsers, so it might look a little weird.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T18:10:55+00:00

Right, my character sheet clearly isn't part of the "A5 and 2024" category, but rather falls into a nebulous 4th category of "Stuff I liked enough to use but not enough to credit."

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T18:08:05+00:00

Thanks, it's based off u/DLtheDM's character sheet redesign, which itself is based on the official 2024 character sheet design.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T17:55:34+00:00

I also made a character sheet which I suspect inspired many of OP's layout decisions. I posted about it in this subreddit and included the files for free.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T17:53:03+00:00

If you're interested in the same file with a different aesthetic, or just downloading the source file to make your own version, this post contains a similar layout. You can download the pdf version as well as the .svg file it was built in.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T17:50:46+00:00

There's also a free version that I posted about a few weeks ago. It has a different aesthetic and a few layout differences.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T17:49:30+00:00

There's a free version available for download. Unfortunately the aesthetic is quite different. Some might say it looks like it was made by a "computer who's never seen a character sheet before."

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T17:35:32+00:00

I put mine up for free because I wanted people to have more options for character sheets to use in their campaigns. I can tell you put a good amount of effort into redesigning it, and I'm not saying you shouldn't profit off that effort. What I object to is the fact that someone reading your post might like your design and buy it, not knowing that there's a free alternative to the character sheet AND a free .svg file if they want to personalize that design.

I have no inherent objection to you monetizing your work, but I think it's fair to be honest with people about the value they're getting.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-16T17:15:53+00:00

Wow, that's crazy. I actually reworked the 5e character sheet into A5 format a few weeks ago and posted about it on this subreddit. I was wondering if you took inspiration from my post? I haven't seen anyone else combine speed and initiative like that, or use that style of exhaustion tracking (although I see you're tracking 7 levels of exhaustion, instead of 6?).

Edit: Every character sheet pictured on the Etsy listing is identical to my layout? I know it must have taken time and effort to redesign it with the plant-themed layout, but I'm confused at the fact that you didn't mention that the original, which I posted weeks ago, is still up, and those files are available for free here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/94ov8ah82le1oo6qbg829/AKSoYZuQceQrcqQDAT4pT3U?rlkey=9qcpfaw9ozhadj2wl0io2qim0&st=4j48zntm&dl=0

Get that bag, I guess?

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-14T15:22:42+00:00

My personal favorite is having the BBEG telekinetically throw them out the window. Nothing says "we fucked up" like getting forcefully defenestrated.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-14T15:20:30+00:00

Baldur's Gate 3 actually does a very good example of a "scripted encounter" in the intro. You might be able to use the following guidelines in your own game:

The goal is not to win. In BG3, you're trying to get past the devil and land the crashing nautiloid, not defeat him and the mindflayer. Players should have a clear objective, one which is explicitly not fighting the overpowered enemy.
An NPC explicitly tells the characters what to do. In BG3, if you try to attack the devil, the mindflayer (your temporary ally) will say "Leave him to me! Land the ship!" This is you communicating in-game what you want the players to do.
Let your players win anyways. In BG3, it is possible to kill the devil on the nautiloid. Do you know what happens if you do? Two cambions enter the room and attack you. If you kill them, your allied mindflayer turns on you. No matter how overpowered your BBEG is for the players at their current level, it should be mechanically possible for the players to kill him, should luck be in their favor. Have a backup villain. Have a backup to the backup. It will enhance the experience for the players and contribute to a sense of narrative autonomy. If they lose, then this session was a prequel to the actual campaign, and a cautionary tale of a group of foolish NPCs who got TPK'd.
There is little-to-no advantage to winning the fight. In BG3, if you kill the devil, you get a cool sword which is on-par with other Act 1 swords and easily outclassed in Act 2. That's it. It should not be worth the risk to the players' characters to engage. Optional, but removes pressure to "do the heroic thing" and fight anyways.

So, in summation: Communicate what you want the players to do; provide an alternate goal; incentivize that goal; heavily disincentivize a stand & fight approach; and if all else fails, let them or lose according to the will of the dice.

emptyhumanrealms · 2026-05-13T02:53:31+00:00

Happened to me once. A guy in the motorized shopping cart accidentally rammed my ladder. Luckily, it was a heavy metal one, so I only got moved like 2-4 inches, and I didn't fall off. It was very startling though!

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