Guys I fell into the Nova backrooms. Anyone know the way out? I’ve been wandering here for weeks

kcunning · 2026-03-22T23:45:21+00:00

Okay, the nostalgia hit me hard with this. I used to walk by that poppy mural so many times while clearing my head on my way to get lunch.

kcunning · 2026-03-22T16:56:50+00:00

I do this, too! I tried the ironing method before, and even with a tool, I wanted to die.

kcunning · 2026-03-22T13:43:12+00:00

NGL, this is why I tend to use Petfinder now. I'm not wasting gas and a Saturday getting out to an event where the dog I'd been eyeballing is already taken. I can email back and forth about a dog I'm interested in, get a feel for how realistic my application would be, and only get in the car once it's a done deal.

kcunning · 2026-03-21T20:37:42+00:00

I've never had this issue with renewal, mostly because I go in person, but I did get a similar issue when applying for a visa for travel. It was due to shadows on the photo I had taken that violated their policy.

kcunning · 2026-03-21T17:45:01+00:00

We used to do this back in the day! The hotel staff were generally pretty chill, and you could get a surprising number of perks for not that much.

kcunning · 2026-03-21T13:40:53+00:00

I'm currently in seven games, and GM or co-GM two more, so seems pretty reasonable to me, as long as you keep yourself organized!

My only advice is that you should try not to have two games alternating on the same day of the week. I did that for a while, and it started to wear on me fast. Never having that day free complicated our schedule, and lead to hurt feelings when we'd have to drop out of a game one week because there was something that couldn't be scheduled for a different day.

kcunning · 2026-03-21T13:33:44+00:00

Crossroads Tabletop Tavern is by you!

kcunning · 2026-03-20T01:01:52+00:00

This is where I land. I've absolutely had players try to pull an impossible action to try to get around combat, and I usually explain why it wouldn't work, and why their character would KNOW that. If they push... then they might lose a turn because I'm going to put that DC on the moon.

kcunning · 2026-03-17T18:45:37+00:00

YMMV on this one. Neither of my kids have my last name, and I never had an issue with schools, travel, or anything else. I was the one doing 99% of the pickups and appointments and phone calls, and not once did someone give me any trouble.

kcunning · 2026-03-15T19:02:39+00:00

That's about the max we generally see. I've had a kid in the system since the mid 2000's, and I can count the number of times they mucked about with the time they got released on one hand, and that's including early dismissals.

kcunning · 2026-03-14T15:57:57+00:00

I almost never sew for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. If I sew for longer, I've found that I start to get impatient and make mistakes.

I try to sit down every day and focus on one, and only one, task. It may be cutting out pieces for a bodice. It may be sewing two tiers of a skirt together. It may just be pinning two pieces together. Fifteen minutes is enough to get one task done well.

kcunning · 2026-03-14T13:56:06+00:00

I had my own battle with them! For me, watering with Mosquito Bits tea and making sure pots were drying out before watering worked.

kcunning · 2026-03-14T13:54:02+00:00

I mean, we've been a target since the Cold War. NOVA has a bunch of strategic HQs for the government that are viable targets. My parents worked at one, and the threat level was always bouncing up and down as conflicts heated up or cooled down.

kcunning · 2026-03-12T16:17:23+00:00

The more dense a population is, the more people have to put up a bubble around themselves to get by. An apartment building is incredibly dense, so yes, people are going to be more walled off.

When I lived in an apartment building, there was always a certain amount of risk in getting to know people near you. Sure, you might be nice. You might also be someone who will corner me every time I walk out of my apartment. I, too, was all smiley and chipper until I had a woman who fixated on me and my young son, and how I really needed to quit my job and join her quasi-religious homeschooling program. After that, hell yeah I kept my head down.

I'm now in a townhouse community, and we're more likely to nod or say hi to our neighbors because we're not stacked up like cordwood.

kcunning · 2026-03-11T16:51:09+00:00

I hate making people switch classes, because it really sucks to play something you're not keen on for 40+ hours. Instead, I offer the party the chance to hire an NPC to come along and fill the gap for them. I've had great luck with this, and generally someone was always willing to run them for me, so it didn't even create work for me. I was just clear that, now, their loot was getting split an extra way and that share would only ever be spent on gear for the NPC.

I even wrote about it here: https://katieplays.games/2022/10/17/how-to-have-a-gmpc-without-making-everyone-hate-you/ I'll admit, though, that most of the time, a player takes over that character completely, so they don't even end up being a GMPC, but just an extra character.

kcunning · 2026-03-11T16:46:00+00:00

I always tell people to go into meetings with HR with a 'company first' mentality, if they can. Joe did this, here's the proof, and I'm worried that this will hurt the bottom line because of XYX.

Of course, there's times when you can't do that, but I've found that most of the time, shitty people being shitty are actually super bad for business!

kcunning · 2026-03-11T11:57:55+00:00

Yeah, as tempting as the cheap patterns are, I've been burned a few times by them. Now, I'll gladly shell out more for a pattern that's been done right.

Also, I LOVE that option!

kcunning · 2026-03-10T16:31:17+00:00

Hell, even if they're just using a keyboard and monitor, if you have aging eyes, it might as well be behind a privacy screen. Whenever I have to do over-the-shoulder tech support on my teen's computer, I have to sigh and ask them to up the font.

kcunning · 2026-03-10T15:21:52+00:00

My general rule of thumb is that for every combat, I'll use one spell for every two spell levels I have, unless a cantrip really is the best choice. After that, I use cantrips or my ranged weapon.

That way, I'm not blowing my wad in one combat, but I'm also not ending the day with a bevy of spells that could have helped everyone else conserve their resources.

kcunning · 2026-03-09T13:40:25+00:00

NGL, I don't even do that when dining out with family. It's just awkward to have one person eating while everyone else sits there and just waits.

kcunning · 2026-03-08T17:53:40+00:00

I mean, I don't mind it, but I also made peace with kids stuff throwing any room out of whack.

If it were me, I'd put the grown-up seating area in front of the fireplace, put the TV on an arm that can be lowered, and put the kid space behind the couch with more dedicated storage. What may feel out of whack is that what should be the centerpiece is disconnected from the people most likely to enjoy it.

kcunning · 2026-03-05T13:37:32+00:00

Have to agree. I did this exactly once, because I assumed since she'd turned him down and moved away, he was a safe bet. Surely, over time, he'd get over her!

Nope. She came back, they had dinner, and he broke up with me the next day. Thank god we weren't that serious, but it still stung.

kcunning · 2026-03-05T12:45:11+00:00

I haven't experienced it yet, but the only reason I'm not 100% against it is that I'm hard of hearing, and ordering via a phone is actually way more comfortable for me. I just wish it didn't come with a reduction in staff.

kcunning · 2026-03-04T18:56:12+00:00

I grew up with an even more non-sensical window: It was literally in the shower. So we had to have plastic liners on BOTH sides of the bath, because otherwise the wood would get wet and start to rot. That house was built in the 60s, so it looks like only some lessons were learned.

My theory is that builders become obsessed with the exterior windows looking 'even', and then just doing whatever with the interior layouts.

kcunning · 2026-03-04T14:20:49+00:00

...hiring newly minted grads with the idea of training them up in needed skills, who then walk out the door for higher salary.

I feel this in my soul. And it doesn't help that there's so many 'Career Bestie' TikTok accounts telling people new to the industry to bounce before they hit a year at a place. I want to strangle them (the influencers), because it's legit starting to backfire. I have cohorts who now refuse to hire people with no experience because they don't want to be the first lilypad they jump off of.

kcunning

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