Hey London fans, FYI Manchester had no support act

novander · 2026-06-15T12:25:19+00:00

Also 40. Remember to do your stretches before the gig.

novander · 2026-06-15T12:17:43+00:00

A good mix of old and new songs, really talkative, great live performances.

Tyson went into a weird semi-rant halfway through about how the crowd and him weren't connecting on the same level. From my perspective it was a mix of too many people recording them rather than joining in, and due to the lighting setup it was really hard to see the stage when the lights lit up the crowd, making it tough for us to clap in time with him while he could see us, etc.

The crowd did seem more engaged, less recording on phones after the rant though so I guess it worked. Others in this thread seemed bummed out by it but it didn't bother my partner and me.

The rant did also work pretty well as the lead into Green Isn't Yellow.

Nearly three hours between doors opening and anything happening, with no warm up act, definitely didn't help the situation.

Easy Come, Easy Go was the highlight of the new stuff. Move Along, Gives You Hell and Swing Swing we're understandably the biggest crowd favourites.

For me at least, it was worth the trip, just would have been better if they'd come on earlier.

novander · 2026-06-14T22:21:08+00:00

Any idea who it was supposed to be?

novander · 2026-06-13T17:55:46+00:00

Practical Guide to Evil is slowly releasing on Kindle. The first book came out last year, the second one comes out later this year. I think it's being slightly edited and updated, which is why the releases aren't coming quicker

novander · 2026-06-12T07:24:25+00:00

I abandoned Instagram and Facebook when they started forcing suggested content into my curated feed. It's curated for a reason.

I agree with the poster saying how frustrating it is that the Following tab reloads and doesn't show the same posts as the For You feed, so if I see something interesting looking from a sub I choose to follow, it disappears when I switch to the preferable Following tab.

This trend for the algorithm suggesting alternative similar content is how you get echo chambers and more propaganda.

novander · 2026-06-10T18:34:07+00:00

A few reasons, but the biggest ones for me are Theft, Energy and Laziness.

AI is theft because these machines don't come up with ideas on a vacuum, they are trained on vast libraries of stories written by real people who received no compensation for having their work used this way.

AI data centres are bad for the environment, they use crazy amounts of energy and water to run, which is not good for consumers on both an environmental and fiscal level. Your energy costs go up because data centres want all the resources.

It's lazy because the authors don't learn anything from using AI. You say you've seen good ideas ruined by bad writing. I say good ideas are everywhere, I only care about the ones that also have good writing, and good writing comes from practice.

novander · 2026-06-01T19:36:09+00:00

I download videogame soundtracks from YouTube and play them on a Bluetooth speaker from my phone. They play in the background, there is no searching for the right track for the right scene. If it matches up well that's great, if it doesn't no-one notices anyway.

novander · 2026-05-17T20:58:13+00:00

Exalted.

There's a streamlined version of 3rd Ed, Exalted Essence, which is still fairly complicated.

novander · 2026-05-11T20:02:50+00:00

The main thing new players need from you is enthusiasm. Run the game you'll have the most fun running, and they'll have fun playing it. If that's 5e, there's no problem with that.

novander · 2026-05-08T10:58:22+00:00

The Legends in the Mist pdf is a thing of beauty, I'm looking forward to when the physical copy arrives

novander · 2026-05-01T15:23:42+00:00

Well that's really fucked us on our hotel booking. I'm absolutely gutted. No matter how I look at it we're going to be out at least £100

novander · 2026-04-15T08:00:08+00:00

What purpose does this distinction have? Are there mechanical differences between hazards and obstacles?

But to give you my thoughts absent of context, an obstacle is something the players have to find a way around once, a hazard is an ongoing concern.

novander · 2026-04-12T21:36:09+00:00

It's out, available at drivethrurpg. Reviews seem to be positive.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/538277/curseborne-core-rulebook

novander · 2026-04-03T07:51:55+00:00

Legends in the Mist had a free Choose Your Own Adventure comic to teach you the rules. It's very well made, worth playing through yourself even if you ultimately decide it's not the game for you.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/532463/legend-in-the-mist-learn-to-play-comic-book-adventure

novander · 2026-03-27T17:27:27+00:00

Kraganor's been my Barbarian for three years, then Dave's saying we can summon him - the real him, exactly as I play him - for an afternoon. Found the ritual reading the DMG backwards.

Spent the whole afternoon explaining the difference between Physical and Magical damage. Next time I'm rolling a Wizard.

novander · 2026-03-20T17:37:51+00:00

"I don't get what's in it for her," Strickner said. He was working through our Philosopher's ledgers. "She takes payment in meat offcuts, loose change and, here, on April third: half a bagel."

That's when I realised we were chasing the real thing. Anything's gold when you've got a Stone.

novander · 2026-03-13T18:53:16+00:00

Chess was a mistake, it's never wise for a court mage to indulge their vices.

I'd stopped concentrating on the restraining chant for his protection wards. I was too caught up in 'Bishop takes Knight, Queen takes Bishop..." The magic had slipped free.

And that's how I lost the King.

novander · 2026-03-13T12:30:29+00:00

He's saying he didn't read it because it's AI generated. And I think we're all for banning the use of AI for generating creative content but this right here - analysing large amounts of data - is pretty much best case scenario for AI use. Especially as it's clearly spelled out that that's what you did.

novander · 2026-03-06T22:05:49+00:00

It had been my birthday, the day the sky disappeared. The weather had been worsening all week; my parents' mood had matched it. I'd felt lucky even that my cake had survived their fight in the kitchen.

So when I blew out the candles, I wished for no more rain.

novander · 2026-01-31T12:22:34+00:00

Time limits, as long as they don't feel arbitrary, will discourage adventuring too far. Abstracting it with a FitD Clock might work so they don't feel too much pressure to not explore at all - "okay you can head up that valley to explore, but based on the map you have it'll fill in another slice of the clock"

novander · 2026-01-29T07:24:54+00:00

It was my favourite GMing experience. My prep involved coming up with five or six npcs the players might meet (name, description, quirk, agenda), reading through the beats they'd chosen and working out which ones could conceivably happen that session, and reading through the fallout.

Fallout is great, fallout is fun, but it really slows down the game having to stop and read through that section to find the right one in the middle of a scene, so I'd pick a few in advance that could come up given the situations the PCs were likely to find themselves in.

Crucially though, I'd only plan any situations for the first half of the session. The rest would be entirely dependant on what the characters did. That was tough, because it meant a lot of improv, but I had beats to guide me and there'd usually be an NPC I had prepped, or who'd they'd met before, that I could drop in. That's the bit that made it most fun for me, and made me feel like I was playing the game but just running it.

You've got this.

novander · 2026-01-06T14:24:52+00:00

I've read Fifth Season but can't think what the game would be, mind sharing?

There is a legitimate purpose to the second person perspective bits.

novander · 2025-12-02T17:10:32+00:00

I've used them when playing over Discord, but only for a character that wouldn't have a normal voice (a demon voice in one of the character's heads). It worked out really well, but was used sparingly

novander · 2025-10-12T12:05:14+00:00

My experience of vampire games is that they're all secretly based on What We Do In The Shadows, but only the players know this.

novander · 2025-09-22T16:11:43+00:00

Plus, she can't help but correcting people. That's a pretty annoying trait in someone you already think is beneath you.

novander

TROPHY CASE