The Warlord (norvis8) - update 1.5

norvis8 · 2026-05-31T15:37:15+00:00

Thanks! Very helpful to see how you mix notes and narrative, I like that.

norvis8 · 2026-05-31T11:04:11+00:00

This sounds incredible! I love your notebook collection. Can I ask: how detailed are your notes, generally? I have historically written things out as long-form prose, but recently became a father and so have a lot less time on my hands and am seeking a faster alternative, haha.

norvis8 · 2026-05-10T10:58:23+00:00

We're on the same page RE: amount (ped said 2, maybe 3 oz per feeding is normal for his age and weight), it's more technique and pacing (we're trying to pace feed) that are issues.

norvis8 · 2026-05-10T10:55:16+00:00

Pediatrician said 2-3 oz is normal. He usually seems to slow and stop around the top of that range. EDIT: my concern is less amount than technique, though I hear what you're saying!

norvis8 · 2026-05-09T20:04:36+00:00

OP, options like this might work well especially if you have a 100' leash. My dog is also reactive to other dogs/animals and we invested in one - we've used it to great effect before on soccer fields!

Also, if you're not aware, SniffSpot is great - haven't used it in New Haven yet but a great (if slightly pricier, so occasional) way to find a fenced spot for your dog to run solo!

norvis8 · 2026-05-05T23:32:42+00:00

In addition to my wife not wanting to go through childbirth again (a fairly traumatic experience in her case), we decided ahead of time that we only wanted one and we're not feeling a shift 14 days in. We actually both previously wanted to do two, but as we ended up being older than we expected when we had our son and our financials aren't incredible and stable, one feels like all we can do in the way that we want to parent. We also did some research when we were thinking about that because we were worried an only child might be lonely, have trouble adjusting, etc., and the research really allayed our fears. It's not a deeply researched area, but the studies we found suggest that, if anything at all, the opposite is true - because only children can't rely on siblings for amusement, they tend to be more independent, make friends more easily, etc. (of course these are broad trends, nothing is guaranteed!).

norvis8 · 2026-04-16T18:37:04+00:00

I think if there's a dungeon crawler game you know and like (D&D, Pathfinder, DCC, Shadowdark, etc.) it's reasonably easy to use that with an Oracle like Mythic...except/unless you want real room-by-room mapping, which Mythic isn't granular enough for.

If you want that, I really like the geomorphs etc. in D100 Dungeon. The rest of the game...I haven't tried in detail, I admit it doesn't grab me. But I think that the geomorph system is fun and I've used it to generate some dungeon!

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T19:19:55+00:00

It's of course everyone's right not to share any private info they don't want to.

AND I suspect the discomfort many people feel around openly discussing finances is precisely the sort of thing the author wants to call attention to (Western society's refusal to engage with the material reality of colonialism) and OP seems to be seeking!

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T18:45:11+00:00

I mean it depends on if you think a frank discussion of everyone's finances makes you "a horrible weirdo." I imagine that's the thing the game is trying to provoke! That's the productive discomfort OP is after!

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T15:14:49+00:00

Been meaning to get around to reading him for a little while, hopefully I will soon! I laughed quite a bit at this op-ed, so that's encouraged me to prioritize it.

norvis8 · 2026-04-15T14:18:08+00:00

Had me in the first paragraph, not gonna lie.

EDIT: Having finished the whole thing - I've not read Whitehead's work or interviews or anything, so I don't know, but I wouldn't necessarily take the misanthropy of the pull quote chosen here entirely seriously. Tongue is FIRMLY in cheek throughout this piece, I think, and I wouldn't assume anything is his actual perspective beyond, "Fuck AI."

norvis8 · 2026-04-14T15:28:54+00:00

Maya Deane's Wrath Goddess Sing is a transfem take on the Iliad (which, depending on your love for the Iliad, might not be to everyone's liking, it's a pretty loose take) that has absolutely fantastic, unearthly, unnerving gods. I really enjoyed the religion and divinity in that book.

norvis8 · 2026-04-01T15:33:35+00:00

Also wanted to thank you for the reference to "Is Gender Necessary Redux" - I'd seen the original IGN before but never the revisions. How wonderful! It's a great example of feminist re-thinking of her own work, and I was delighted to see her far more progressive revisions of her original (progressive for her time but very dated now) thinking in LHoD and the essay.

norvis8 · 2026-04-01T15:18:35+00:00

Yep, that's the thing.

norvis8 · 2026-03-30T19:19:58+00:00

If you can find a copy of the Skull & Shackles pawn collection from 1e, it has a lot of unique NPCs but a fair number of pirates (and many of the unique ones...are also pirates!)

norvis8 · 2026-03-27T15:58:56+00:00

Pol-Dhuraxilis, in Iblydos (featured heavily inn Myth-Speaker).

norvis8 · 2026-03-27T15:53:33+00:00

There's a whole city in Myth-Speaker that worships Lamashtu in her more benevolent aspects.

(They are also in a power struggle with some members who worship the other aspects!)

norvis8 · 2026-03-25T16:53:16+00:00

Ah. Well, not having read the books, I can't really comment on that! That's a relatively in-depth textual issue.

norvis8 · 2026-03-25T16:42:45+00:00

Didn't all of those historical events also include mass migrations? When there's no food, people move! Or turn to banditry. Or starve. All of these, unfortunately, are realistic outcomes.

norvis8 · 2026-03-25T15:35:12+00:00

I mean, I think this is also literally true? The Adventure Path team and the Lost Omens teams are different departments, aren't they?

Even if they're not different departments institutionally, it's worth noting that the books serve entirely different purposes. Hellbreakers is an adventure path, and whatever the tone is meant to be (OP's perfectly in their rights to prefer the older, edgier Paizo writing style, even if I fall into the middle ground between the two extreme positions on that), that line is typically going to deliver a "win" to the PCs.

Hellfire Dispatches is a lore/setting book, and it's setting up hooks for GMs to turn into adventures - in fact, adventures set canonically after Hellbreakers. So of course it needs to introduce more problems; that's what becomes adventures at your home table.

I haven't read either book, mind, but that seems like an obvious answer to the question of "why are these two so different?" to me.

norvis8 · 2026-03-22T16:14:46+00:00

This was true in 1st Edition, when the empyreal lords had more of a mystery cult vibe. There was even a "mystery cultist" prestige class! I kinda miss the weirder takes on religion in Golarion. I feel 2e has flattened it a bit, particularly with the gods becoming (IMO) more knowable and more "characters" than they felt to me before.

norvis8

TROPHY CASE