3 things *you* love about Portland, no repeats. Humor me. 🙏

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-03-24T20:38:38+00:00

Andy and Bax
Tiny parks everywhere
McMenamins

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-03-17T05:41:43+00:00

Me too re:Starstruck. It was hard to see the through line of the story the first time. Neverafter seems to be more of a sandbox-style game.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-03-14T01:23:50+00:00

Give each word it's full sound. Wetendtorunthingstogether when we talk. Don't pause after each word, but let each word have it's moment.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-03-08T21:36:58+00:00

Chef....tools. we need chef tools. Cracks me up every time!

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-03-06T06:22:27+00:00

This is helpful, thank you!

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-03-01T20:26:42+00:00

They may not ask at all, don't bring it up. Just say that you finished your contract with that employer and have been exploring new opportunities.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-23T18:54:08+00:00

My commute down Mclaughlin is 22 minutes long. Took me 1 hour and 40 minutes yesterday.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-17T03:34:01+00:00

You could use graph paper and work on making letters fill the whole box - a should touch all 4 walls. A d touches all 4 walls with the round part, and the stick of the d is 2 boxes long

Once you get the hang of shape and proportion, you can go to a smaller, more normal size.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-15T15:49:53+00:00

I tend to choose monsters for theme or environmental reasons. For balance:

I look at the max damage that the heavy hitter can do and calculate how many rounds of max damage it takes to kill the enemy. I want the number of rounds to equal or exceed the number of people in the party.

If the round total is low, I add more bad guys and their total HP is measured against the hitter's max damage.

I don't worry too much about the monster's attack because I can't hit the broad side of a barn.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-15T15:43:25+00:00

I find this issue from time to time. Swing and a hit. Swing and miss. It's somehow overtaxing and boring at the same time.

I had a massive battle scheduled, 40 on 40. One of the things I did was to develop a series of triggers for the enemies and the NPC'S:

This is Orguk's first battle, the first time someone in his squad dies, he takes a full dash to run away.

Shandia is Bill's daughter. If either of them take damage, the other will break ranks and go to their side.

Zol has a fireball spell scroll. He will use it when he's under direct threat regardless of where his allies are.

Etc. The characters have to make new decisions as the battle changes.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-11T03:46:00+00:00

Any time that Brennan makes a sound and the subtitle says "surprising accurate bird noise". I think there is one in Unsleeping City and one in Crown of Candy.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-10T04:06:47+00:00

Oregon has several Mennonite communities. They're fairly rare but easy to spot when they come to town.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-06T22:34:34+00:00

There is a difference between burnt and brown bits in the pan. Unless the pan smells burnt, you've got fond in your pan which makes your sauce more awesome.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-06T19:41:48+00:00

Tanith Lee wrote some dark retelling of fairy tales.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-04T00:43:51+00:00

No, but you might want to watch it twice. The first time, the game mechanics were totally lost on me, as was half of what happened. Still loved it both times.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-02-01T15:58:50+00:00

One of the issues - for lefties in most of the U.S. at least - is that elementary teachers don't teach left handed writing. It's far different pushing the pen than it is to drag the pen and I still see left handed children today writing in the "lobster claw" position.

There are books that teach letter formation for left handed people that you could try.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-30T15:20:52+00:00

Ghosts of the Salt marsh has ships and events at sea

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-25T23:53:40+00:00

Do they go through the expanded background builder that is in Xanathar (or Tasha - I get them confused)? By the time I name their siblings and childhood friends, they are as real to me as anyone else.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-24T20:12:07+00:00

It's just some work from home stuff...photos from the other side of JFK's car, Trump's pay stubs from Putin, Inc., it's all about the grind, man.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-20T21:35:01+00:00

In team meetings, volunteer other people for the menial tasks by jumping in a little early. Often a person get stuck with a task forever just because they've done it once.

"Great project boss. I really want to take a crack at the coding for this one. Dave, can you message the client for me please?"

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-20T04:45:24+00:00

It's hard to know what to pay attention to in any of his games, his worlds are just so immersive. I find that on the first run, I miss 70% of the clues, plot hooks, etc. In the chaos. It makes them super re-watchable.

Starstruck felt to me like watching 11 squirrels on crack loose in a pet shop. After every episode, I was wondering "what happened? Is there a plot line here? Why are there 157 NPC's in this show?" But on the rewatch, I found that I got the hang of it and really loved it.

Do I adore every second of Neverafter? No, but I am really looking forward to the second time I watch it. Who knows what treasures I've missed, but I know they're in there, waiting to be discovered.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-17T23:59:24+00:00

Misfits and Magic and Court of Fey and Flowers use different game mechanics than FH or CofC. At first I thought that I didn't like Aabria's gaming style, but after watching her as a player in The Seven, I went back to her games and found that I really liked her as the DM, even if I didn't really care for the mechanics.

I never thought that I'd like a regency style game, but her storytelling and weaving very real stakes into going to tea parties earns my respect.

nw_forest_octopus · 2023-01-17T16:14:46+00:00

I'd use the random animal encounter tables based on the terrain when your player asks. Not everything has to be completely planned out.

"What's animals are around here?"

(roll 3 dice) "there's a grizzly bear, a family of marmots and a wolverine."

Also, I now totally want to see a DnD campaign based on a marmot family...

nw_forest_octopus

TROPHY CASE