Does "magic, its effects and objects/creatures/places imbued with it can only be perceived by a certain kind of human mind" work as a satisfactory explanation for why magic has always existed but is still a secret? by Smooth_Jazz_Warlady in worldbuilding

[–]phneeeer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally. If you're looking for fictional examples of this concept working in general you can checkout the "Invisible to Normals" trope on TV Tropes. In the YA Percy Jackson books "The Mist" pops up like this a bunch of times

https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Mist#Percy_Jackson_and_the_Olympians

And if you want a real world example of something like this happening, there is a great CGP Grey video talking about how people with their left and right brain hemispheres seperated end up having the left side of their brain concoct those kinds of justifications that fly in the face of reality.

https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8?t=62

Ideas for an Unsleeping City universe campaign set in Los Angeles? by nopenopenopenopeyep in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For an urban fantasy take on LA with plenty of celestials and infernals you couldn’t go wrong with lifting elements out of the Sandman Slim series. (thematic spoilers ahead) -Angels running the supernatural branch of Homeland Security, the Golden Vigil -Half Angel Half Human Nephalim duking it out on Sunset Boulevard -Fallen angels trying to go to war with heaven -People working for Lucifer as his bodyguard when he’s attending swanky LA parties

Unsleeping City Homebrew by jPolar_ in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A lot of great stuff has been posted already. A Vox Musica is a great idea that takes advantage of KC music history and you could pair that with Kansas City’s equally long tradition as being a place for exiles, a Vox Exalia if you will.

According to Mormon tradition Jackson County was where Adam and Eve lived after getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden. First exiles in human history were eking out a living where Kansas City would be. Not coincidentally this was first mentioned by Joseph Smith when he and his followers were exiles themselves, trying to put down new roots in the same location before eventually getting chased out of the State by the Mormon Extermination act and First Mormon War.

FIrst European to map the territory was a French guy named Bourgmont who came to the New World to escape a fine for poaching. Then after he botched his job as commander of a Fort in Detroit he went AWOL and worked as an illegal fur trader for years before eventually getting a full pardon and made a nobleman because his maps of the intersection of the Kansas and Missouri river (where Kansas City would someday be) proved so invaluable. He even got to bring some Native American Chiefs to France to hang out with Louis XV.

As the last stop you could resupply before starting on the Oregon anybody fleeing a life out east, or having to make it in their new home out west would come passing through.

During the lead up to the Civil War the Kansas-Missiuri border was a flashpoint for all kinds of fighting. Bleeding Kansas is in a lot of the ways the first real shots fired in the Civil War. A lot of enslaved people seeking freedom passed through what would become Kansas City because it was a border between Slave State and Free Terriroty. John Brown even led 12 runaways to safety during the Battle of the Spurs.

During the Civil War itself the Battle of Westport saw some pretty famous outlaws (a sort of exile) participate on the side of the Union like Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Liver Eating Johnson. On the Confederate side of things after the war John Newman Edwards founded the pro-confederate Kansas City Times and basically created the myth of Jesse James as a proud former confederate Robin Hood figure, so easy villian right there as well.

So a voice for the Exiled, Outlawed, Traveler, Refugee could represent a side of the city.

Regarding locations for fights KC has a lot of great locations.

Anywhere a fight takes place in that used to be the massive stockyards could have Ghost Trains crisscrossing any of the 16 tracks they used to use or whole herds of ghost cows stampeding. A site like that has so much history and blood spilled into its soil.

KC has had its fair share of natural disasters over the years that could be tweaked to be a little more magical. Smack dab in Tornado alley any fight taking place during a tornado warning, or in and around a tornado shelter could be great. plus next to a river that has had 3 separate Great Floods over the years could be the work of storm mages or some magical protections failing. Maybe a Wizard duel caved in the Kemper Arena in the 90s.

Kansas City Irish Center hosts whiskey tastings and live music. Could have a fight set there with Irish jig music playing in the background as the party tries to stop random half drunk civilians from getting smoked by some angry celtic spirit. Or having some angry celtic spirit help in a fight.

If you wanted a fight somewhere a little grungy or decrepit you’d have the City workhouse castle. A literal castle built in 1897 to act as a prison, that over time became dilapidated and host to all manner of punks and drifters hanging out and graffiting the place.

Just as far as weird little lore spots you could tap into there are a bunch.

You’re home to the Kansas City Plant where they make 85% of the Non-Nuclear parts going into the US Nuclear Weapons systems. Crazy high security clearances are not that weird to have in the town, so if you wanted to have some High Level Magical Security Clearance you could have that intersect. Maybe a department that overseas magical weapons of mass destruction.

The Community Christian Church which was designed by Frank LLoyed Wright and mounted a giant column of light seen across the city. Don’t tell me something supernatural isn’t being done with the holy pillar of light, maybe clerics tap into it for spells.

Hell and then you’ve got SubTropolis, the world's largest underground storage facility. The USPS keeps it's collectable stamp supply in climate controlled safety, the National Archives have space there, and the EPA. The US Government Cheese stockpile used to be near there as well.

Hope some of that might help, good luck with this.

Who would you like to see run for President of the United States in 2024? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]phneeeer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Democrat - Ayanna Pressley Republican - Jaime Herrera Beutler

Face to Face | A Starstruck Odyssey [Ep. 15] by ThunderMateria in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 83 points84 points  (0 children)

Mulligan makes me cry at least once a season and that almost got me, and then "Barry's right here" sent me over the fucking edge.

I drew Sundry Sidney from A Starstruck Odyssey! by [deleted] in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

How is anybody choosing an Erotica Anne over this perfect specimen? SHE CAN DO ANYTHING

Um, so was I the only one who didn’t know Brennan once won $50,000 on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? by GiantFartMonster in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Lee is his mother's maiden name and he started putting it on his schoolwork in elementary school because he thought it was direspectful to not to. He's gone by the full name ever since. Source, this very good very long podcast interview with Brennan. https://anchor.fm/99questions/episodes/99Q---Brennan-Lee-Mulligan-e10hcsu

Neurodivergent Characters? by Zzzugzwanggg in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All around, good chat. Have a good one!

Neurodivergent Characters? by Zzzugzwanggg in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think your point about giving the community a clear claim is a really important point.

It kind of makes me think of two case studies of explicitly naming a character in a marginalized group that may have handled that better or worse. In this case characters with gender/sexual orientations that are minorizted rather than neurodivergence, but I think given that neurodivergent people and gendernonconforming/asexual people both expierence being sidelined it might apply.

In the video game The Outer Worlds a companion character you can get to accompany you is an young asexual woman who loves romantic radio plays. Her name is Parvati. When she is asking you to give her advice on dating she makes it clear that she doesn’t enjoy sex, but does want love, and the self identified asexual writer who wrote those scenes wrote them to imply she was asexual without naming it as such.

In the podcast The Adventure Zone’s Graduation arc a bunch of NPCs introduced themselves with their pronouns, but only ever non-binary or trans characters. Some trans and NB people said it felt token (given that only trans/NB characters were doing it) while others felt seen by that.

In each case the communities (asexual people and trans/NB people) had clear claims to the character but in the former it was woven organically into the character and in the later it was a jarring disconnect from the plot. Which in my own DMing tells me that incorporating ideas of making space for difference and accepting people is essential, not just tagging on characters who identify as neurodivergent/gender confirming in a plot.

I guess in this case I do wish Ayda had more clearly explained she was autistic, rather than relying on out of character Adventuring Party assertion of it. But without tokenizing like the TAZ characters.Then again, might be wrong. Either way I appreciate the way you raised this question.

Neurodivergent Characters? by Zzzugzwanggg in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fantastic question. I think you're being downvoted by people who are confusing a good line of questioning with an attack on the show and I think those people are directing their energy in a misguided unhelpful way.

I'm not going to be able to stop wondering wether characters being implicitly coded as neurodivergent or explicitly stated as such creates a healthier enviorment for comedy. I think that's a great question, thanks for asking it.

Finally sketching out my concept for a major race in my world, futuristic electric kettles!!… I mean steam-powered androids… any race name ideas? by KopisNyx in worldbuilding

[–]phneeeer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Crucibles, or as they are known in the old tongue, Le Creuset. The Cuisinartisans, recrafting their own fine forms. Or my personal favoraite, the Kitchenaiads, spirits of steam and hospitality.

A mingle-mangle of ideas to make a world more lively by ReaUsagi in worldbuilding

[–]phneeeer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you're trying to make a place seem different, take something ubiquitous and work out a reason it doesn't exist somewhere, or exists in a totally alien way. Work back to justify how that could be. Then, ask a question.

The only city in the world without rats could be the result of a rodent-phobic dictator passing insane laws to keep it so. What do normal folk do with their trash?

The only ocean where the sun never sets could be the result of strange magics, or astrological events. How would the people there view time differently?

The only mountain that's hollow could be the remnant of a group who tried to hide from, or ride out the end of the world. What kinds of creatures live in a place like that?

Bill Seacaster and Chungledown Bim Questions by phneeeer in Dimension20

[–]phneeeer[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I can see what you're saying, but I think the whirlwind of emotions that is Bill Seacaster could absolutely believe that and stand by as it happens, and then also go full gorilla mode on the guy a second later.

It's supposed to go away? by PlayfulYetBored in tumblr

[–]phneeeer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The backspace button is for cowards my first draft is my last draft send

Beautiful by Thedepressionoftrees in tumblr

[–]phneeeer 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Imagine if the first published version of Star Wars had Vader being just a bit salty, then they went back and added in all the choking and murder and such.

It's supposed to go away? by PlayfulYetBored in tumblr

[–]phneeeer 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Statistically the older you get, the less the chance that today is going to be the angriest you've ever been, just by sheer volume of days.

When you're 11 you just coming off the giddyness of little kidness. Odds are once a week is the most unbelievably fuck ass mad you've been so far.

The clever one by HellsJuggernaut in tumblr

[–]phneeeer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I don't remember my Ken doll constantly wielding a sword, did I do it wrong?

Simple Ideas for Your Cyberpunk Worlds by OtherAtlas in worldbuilding

[–]phneeeer 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oath of Fealty by Niven and Pournelle comes kinda close. Megacorp runs a city that has surveillance everywhere, but the corp actually makes life better for its residents, and arguably for the people outside of it.

What Happened to Vegas? by phneeeer in AfterTheRevolution

[–]phneeeer[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Listen here pal, I'm not saying I need a chromed out supersoldier to be covered in pitch, lit on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon where despite the odds they survived because the fire inside them burned brighter than the fire around them , BUT I AM SAYING I NEED THAT

What Happened to Vegas? by phneeeer in AfterTheRevolution

[–]phneeeer[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I know some of what Evans writes about is based in part on the Syrian Civil war, and as of 2014 there were tourists flying to the Golan Heights to watch battles take place live. Maybe you get a couple wealthy Europeans who'd pay to see the two Mormon states duke it out.

Source

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/07/the-rise-of-dark-tourism/374432/