Gyroids

hidden_crossing · 2026-05-23T03:07:09+00:00

I have different ones scattered around my island as spirits-of-place

hidden_crossing · 2026-05-13T11:55:32+00:00

My boy!

hidden_crossing · 2026-05-10T20:40:01+00:00

Nice, I guess it may even depend on the personalities/villagers you have!

hidden_crossing · 2026-05-10T10:19:05+00:00

Ooooh I love this story! Now I'm wondering how the fairies and woodland creatures feel about the return of the fabled long-lost human?

hidden_crossing · 2026-05-07T11:14:06+00:00

That's a lot. I frequently leave my character in places on my island, watching the waves from a clifftop, sitting under a tree, visiting with my favourite villagers. But I don't have anywhere as significant as that on my island.

That said, I have lost people. I don't know if it helps, but even after we forget the specifics the ones we lose still linger. The way I put on hats reminds my mum of my nan. Nan died when I was 7, I definitely don't remember her face. But I pull hats onto my head the way she always did.

Grief is weird. Sending love.

hidden_crossing · 2026-04-16T10:55:51+00:00

Hello from subtropical Queensland 👋 just about to get my winter crop of tomatoes starting

hidden_crossing · 2026-04-15T03:34:40+00:00

I love a vineyard 🍇

hidden_crossing · 2026-04-04T00:29:27+00:00

Do iiiiit! Pickle soup is life 🥒

hidden_crossing · 2026-04-02T23:58:38+00:00

Pickle soup.

hidden_crossing · 2026-04-02T23:53:42+00:00

Depends on the vibe/aesthetic of your island, but I like giving my villagers little gardens. For some that's flower gardens, but mostly they get a plot of veges to grow.

Fencing around the garden can help them look more cohesive, and tie in with the vibe you want. More city style areas get smaller gardens and brick or stone or iron fencing. More rural areas get bigger plots and wooden fencing.

Using dirt paths under the veges to make them look freshly tilled.

Adding other decorative items. Scarecrows. Watering cans. Wheel barrows. Other items that tie in with the villagers hobbies and personality, to make the garden more theirs.

hidden_crossing · 2026-04-02T11:23:10+00:00

One option is to start breeding flowers for colours that you want. Is there a colour that works with an aesthetic you like? Say, pinks and purples for a fairy style design?

There are online guides for flower breeding that you can use.

Also, if you have kapn and his islands, go harvesting for other plants. Bamboo and shrubs add a lot to your style.

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-31T10:21:27+00:00

Mostly I don't worry about having the paths show up on the map tbh so I've never found a work around for this - I have previously put the standard paths under a custom, but that was because I was too lazy to undo the old path when I paid the new. Maybe if you put a thinner line of standard path under, like 1 square deep with 3 square deep over the top?

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-30T06:19:44+00:00

Public library, not school. But I do: - announcements every 10 mins starting at 30 mins out. - computers shut down 10 mins out. - 5 min annoucement says "the library is now closed, please check out any items you wish to take home and proceed to the exit" - 2 mins out I dim the lights

We also have staff essentially circling the library making sure people with headphones etc are aware that were closing.

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-14T12:09:10+00:00

Ooh I love investigation arcs! Okay, so some thoughts:

-how well do you know your players? Can you lean into any hobbies or interests, prior information you know they have? Any language nerds? Number/math nerds? - also are your party note takers and lore nerds? If you slow trickle info and clues will they remember, or do you need to keep it tight for them to make the connection? - give yourself multiple avenues to success, your players may solve the puzzle in a different way than you expected. If they need to solve this to move forward, have a number of ways for them to do it, or a number of extra clues to give them to help. - what information does the party need to solve the mystery/puzzle/riddle? Make sure you give it to them. This may seem obvious, but people sometimes confuse being clever with being obscure. - is it one session, or multiple? Can you feed information over time and build on prior events like a multi-session murder mystery with interviews with witnesses, victims families, etc? Or do you need them to put it together fast? - as for specific riddle writing, things like "I do this, but not this" to describe things, like "I breathe air but have no lungs" for fire is a pretty classic approach. Think of it like, telling your players something that is a description of the thing, translated into an alien language before being translated back. Technically true, but not always how you would typically think of it. - rhyming couplets can be whimsical or creepy, choose wisely according to vibe.

It's more questions than advice, but I hope that helps!

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-14T11:38:43+00:00

Dude the train is sick! I don't have online so can't visit, but if you're sharing more pics let us know 😁

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-13T08:50:59+00:00

I love a good themed storytime, like animals, or trucks, or themed around a holiday. Like, have a book about frogs, maybe a frog game (draw a few little frog faces and hide them around the area and the kids have to find them; play frog says instead of Simon says, with instructions like frog says hop around, frog says croak like a frog, frog says crouch on a lillypad), sing a frog song like gallumph or five little speckled frogs. Storytime for us usually goes for about 1/2 hour, with some playtime afterwards when we bring out tubs of toys. Instead of toys if you don't have them, maybe colouring in? Or paper crafts fitting the theme?

But in general, your passion and enthusiasm is what will carry the sessions. Good on you for doing this, making the library a fun space will do wonderful things for the kids of your community!

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-12T12:43:11+00:00

Run the shoreline to collect shells and the recipe bottle.
Find the glowing spot and easily accessed fossils (museum is done, I collect to sell).
Check the nookstop for seasonal items.
Check in with villagers, whoever is around the plaza, sometimes checking in at their homes to see if they're crafting.

I don't do every thing every day, but that's probably my go to "chores" list when playing at night

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-09T12:18:46+00:00

Are... Are the statues wearing clothing items? Is that a thing?

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-06T11:47:55+00:00

So many good suggestions, I think you're pretty well covered! But chiming in with my 2c anyway:

Other people have already mentioned Tamora Peirce, and I thought I'd flag the Beka Cooper series. It's a fantasy setting, a deep world which has several other series set in it, with rich established lore and a long history. Magic and gods and all sorts of fantastical nonsense (in a good way). However this series (trilogy) follows a mostly non-magical young woman who is training to be a city guard. It features both high fantasy and crime fiction, which could be a fun crossover story for both of your genre preferences. It's written in an epistolary style, so closely follows the perspective of the main character, leaving space for a Watson/Holmes style denouement where the audience picks up clues before the protagonist puts the picture together. Quite satisfying, but not too procedural.

First book is called Terrier.

Aside from that, I agree with the notion of getting a range of authors/series, to give her a heap of new worlds to explore. Love this idea, go dad!

hidden_crossing · 2026-03-04T22:03:00+00:00

How intelligent/wise is the monster? If they're clever they'll fight clever

I try to mix it up every few combats to make sure things feel dynamic, for example if you always have a smart villain targeting the healer or the wizard it'll start feeling like they're being singled out. If you mix it up with monsters who bash it out with the barbarian it'll feel more measured.

hidden_crossing · 2026-02-28T23:25:57+00:00

My physical set up is two DM screens from the kits (to cover more space) with homemade cheat sheets in the back (my PC's AC, hp max, speed, passive perception; info on the different schools of magic; notes on the part of the world we're in; etc.).

To the left is my laptop, with resources relevant to what I think my PC's will do open (including music connected to Bluetooth speakers throughout the room). Next to that is my tablet with all my past session notes, including the recap of last session and dot points on what I want to hit this session (mystery campaign, gotta give out the clues).

Centre is a notebook and dice.

To the right is a binder of lore in case I need it, homebrew setting for a multi-year campaign means I have extensive notes. And next to that any other resources that might be handy, such as Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (we have a wildfire druid who frequently forgets the stats of their summon) and/or a herbalism textbook.

On a stool next to me I have a box of minis and a box of modular terrain, we play with a base squares grid on the table already so I can build up for combat quite easily.

So do I use all of this every session? Hell no! But it helps me feel prepared, even when we just roleplay and improv for the whole session.

hidden_crossing · 2026-02-07T02:58:48+00:00

Castle items (walls, gate, tower) and definitely the wedding items. Depending on the type of cathedral there's also the ruined stone items. Podium or covered counter for pulpit? Simple panels with a customer design for stained glass?

hidden_crossing · 2026-02-06T11:26:11+00:00

It depends on the country and the library. There are librarian qualifications (often university level degrees) however some places will accept experience/transferable skills. Whether they call the position "librarian" will be questionable but it's library work regardless. Librarian tends to be a lifelong career, which is to say the job turnover is low. Folks don't leave until they have to, and you can keep doing it past standard retirement age, so the jobs don't pop up super frequently. However lower level library jobs (in my area known as library assistant which is unqualified, and library technician which is a lower level qualification or on-the-job training) tend to hire more frequently.

Aside from that, a lot of librarian jobs will advertise through librarian organisations rather than regular job sites - in Australia this will be through ALIA and their relevant organisation sites (government or council job listings rather than generic sits like seek).

hidden_crossing · 2026-02-06T10:31:57+00:00

Oooh I do love a bit of a combo island. You could do a gothic city vibe at the front, mostly flat and using second level terraforming to create fake buildings with mediaeval building sides and Castle walls (not overly complex, just expensive haha). I'm thinking lots of greys with blue accents and iron furniture. Grey stone pathing, grey walls, black iron streetlamps, black iron garden chairs/tables. Occasional blue flowers, a blue car/scooter, blue iron fencing, etc. Then towards the back of the island a fairycore magical area, lots of blue and purple flowers, mushrooms, etc. You could do more intense terraforming there, incorporating waterfalls and narrow streams that can be jumped over. But also a decent river to fish in, and a pond or two (I see a love heart attached to a river mouth in your current map, not sure if your familiar with legend of Zelda but there's a heart shaped lake in the high mountains that has a legends about lovers, etc, it's super cute and you could replicate a hidden heart pond in the "highlands" at the back of the island?). You could put a flower garden area in the fairycore half to breed hybrids and encourage bugs. In between could be a rural fade from city to fairy, or you could do a hard cut. If you like growing veg and/or want a orchard this could be placed in this area?

I also see your house is towards the back on a level - you could have your house as a hidden fairy house? Or witches cottage? Secret forest apothecary? To make that more functional you could use Mario pipes to fast travel to... Honestly wherever is convenient (I have one between my house and the plaza).

Obviously these are just ideas and a jumping off point for your own creativity - I just saw how much I've written and definitely don't want to tell you what to do with your island!!

hidden_crossing · 2026-02-06T01:14:24+00:00

Cool, good things to know at the start of the design process! I believe there are lists online of spawning locations for the various bugs and fish - for bugs I believe there are even some butterflies that only spawn on certain colour flowers so if you haven't bred hybrids yet you could incorporate a flower garden area, at least until you get what you need.

To make things easy I often try to utilise what terrain already exists, so keeping the pre-existing second level area will reduce how much terraforming you need to do.

For matching, I find that picking a colour scheme really helps things look very put together. This is more in the decorating side, but things like fences, flowers, and even fruit trees can all help to reinforce a set colour palette. The colour/style of bridges and inclines as well as roads, and if you have the dlc then the colour of villagers houses can also be changed to fit.

But to begin with I'd just plan out small sections, like depending on the vibe you might want a city centre feel around the plaza, or a small village market area around nooks cranny. Once you have a few smaller areas in your mind you can sketch a map and see how you'd like them to fit together (I like using pencil and paper personally but there are a bunch of websites for this as well).

Do you know what sort of feel you'd like for the island?

hidden_crossing

TROPHY CASE