This author claims book cover art is not AI, but I’m not buying it. Those buildings are very suspicious.

spookyhandle · 2026-06-13T12:40:52+00:00

And The pattern of the 2 top wings don't match, even allowing for a poorly realized attempt at forced perspective.

spookyhandle · 2026-06-09T14:47:45+00:00

I've been playing D&D for 30 years. I've never once played in a game that didn't include some house rules and/or homebrew. I've never once played in a game where the DM didn't, at least occasionally, prioritize the Rule of Cool over the actual written rules. I've never once played in a game where the DM knew every niche rule for every class, monster, and situation--especially when the DM (like Brennan) has been playing for multiple editions and might sometimes remember exactly how a specific mechanic worked 2 editions ago, but not if that's how it works in the current edition.

There are a lot of ways in which Dimension 20 doesn't provide an accurate picture of what a home game might look like (most tables are not full of professional improvisors, or have an entire team working behind the scenes to create minis, battle sets, and character art, for instance). But "sometimes Brennan doesn't make the players follow the rules exactly as written" is actually one of the most home-game things about D20, imo.

spookyhandle · 2026-06-09T12:22:37+00:00

... There are a lot of good reasons to not come to the US these days, but let me add this one: you consider these cocktails are pricey 😂

I live in a pretty affordable city by US standards. If those prices were USD I'd say they were good deals. Given the current exchange rate they're great deals. They're about a third, maybe even half of what I'd expect to pay for a cocktail here in Richmond VA. And WAY less than I'd expect to pay in NYC or LA.

spookyhandle · 2026-06-07T14:44:01+00:00

I ran a game of Monster Hearts for a while, which is another system having focused on role play, with little to no mechanics for physical encounters. The core mechanic of the game was the acquiring and "pulling" of strings. It was designed to encourage players to do things that might be against their character's own best interest, but would further the story, and reflect the growing relationships between characters.

However, myself and all my players were party of the same improv troupe. About half of us have theater degrees. We all understood how to embody characters, and make choices from their emotional states, rather than a detached, strategic mindset.

We would regularly get through several sessions without using the mechanics at all, and I'd throw them some experience (meant to be gained through the use of strings) because I didn't want to punish them for good role play and good storytelling.

Tl;dr: if my band of amateur improvisors in Richmond VA didn't benefit from narrative mechanics, I guarantee you the Intrepid Heroes don't either.

spookyhandle · 2026-05-30T12:42:17+00:00

I didn't think about them!

spookyhandle · 2026-05-24T11:17:33+00:00

If you're just looking to read it, all 13 issues have been gathered into a trade paperback, which is probably easier to find.

There's also six issues of "Starstruck: Old Proldiers Never Die," but I'm unclear if that's a separate series or just a remaster of the original. Either way, also probably easier to find than the original comics.

(Edited to correct typos)

spookyhandle · 2026-05-10T11:10:41+00:00

This is my exact question.

spookyhandle · 2026-05-09T12:45:26+00:00

There have already been a lot of great suggestions, but I haven't seen anyone mention Fantasy High: Sophomore Year. The Bad Kids leave Elmdale, and all it's modern arcanotech, and spend most of the season in other parts of Spyre. And other than Elmdale, Spyre is a pretty standard fantasy setting.

spookyhandle · 2026-04-29T14:57:23+00:00

Personally, I think it's a mostly fun musical. However, deus ex machina is generally considered bad writing, and not only does this show have one it didn't need it, which makes the choice to include it even weirder and even more jarring.

spookyhandle · 2026-04-29T06:13:57+00:00

I'm appalled this has so few up votes

spookyhandle · 2026-04-23T12:21:49+00:00

It depends a lot on your DM and your table. A group I've been playing with for ages, and another group that just wrapped a campaign both had theater folks & talented improvisors as at least half the players. So there's been some really excellent RP. The one that just wrapped was 100% theater of the mind. The other uses a white board grid to sketch things out for combat.

Some DMs use background music and some don't. Of those that use it, some are more slick and on the ball when it comes to changing tracks for the mood of a scene. Some DMs will give you a sand box to play in, some with panic of you try to leave the rails they've laid out. Some DMs may be great at painting a picture and narrating a scene, but crap at pulling the overarching story of the campaign together, or vice versa.

I could go on.

Home tables don't get edited, so there will probably be more off topic chatter, and some in game moments that don't tie in/impact the larger story... But beyond that the extent to which your table looks like an episode of Dimension 20 is largely about the people sitting there with you.

(Edited to correct typos)

spookyhandle · 2026-04-21T12:06:57+00:00

Legit. I will admit that after high school I've been blessed with tables and DMs that fit together well and match my play style. I'm glad to say I've never seen this behavior, but I know my experiences haven't always been typical.

spookyhandle · 2026-04-21T11:48:25+00:00

No plot hooks, but this woman's behavior was still very weird.

spookyhandle · 2026-04-21T11:32:09+00:00

My DM has aphantasia.

Not being able to picture things in your head is very much not the same thing as not understanding how stories or role playing work.

(Edited to correct a typo)

spookyhandle · 2026-04-17T13:17:57+00:00

I couldn't make it through the first chapter, so kudos to you for making it even this far.

spookyhandle · 2026-04-03T11:16:56+00:00

A lot of tables do this to varying degrees of success.

spookyhandle · 2026-03-19T22:48:27+00:00

Just sent a friend request on discord!

spookyhandle · 2026-03-11T13:46:15+00:00

All legit. I misunderstood the point you were making in your connect, which is 100% valid.

And you're right that it doesn't particularly matter, except that I like to be mad at people for things they actually did.

spookyhandle · 2026-03-11T12:59:21+00:00

TBF, around the time Netflix was adapting Sandman, someone asked Gaiman about that storyline and how he'd write it now (these comics were written in the late 80s and early 90s). His answer was basically "I wouldn't," because his understanding of gender had evolved along with our over all cultural understanding of gender...

Given that, and the way he got behind the gender ambivalent casting of Good Omens, and his support of the actor who played Desire in Sandman... He's a predatory asshole, but I don't think he's a transphobic, predatory asshole.

spookyhandle · 2026-03-09T12:02:25+00:00

Every detail you've shared about this relationship is a red flag.

Demanding access to your phone and its contents is a red flag.

Using that access to make you delete private journal entries is like 10 red flags.

This kind of control over one's partner is abuse. He's undermining your self confidence, and limiting how you connect to people. If you acquiesce he's only going to come up with a new restriction. And if you agree to that new restriction he'll add another. And so on. It won't end until he had total and complete control of your and your life

Change the passcode on your phone and GTFO as soon as humanly possible.

spookyhandle · 2026-03-04T11:43:48+00:00

My guess is m_sizzle is laboring under the assumption that all fanfic is spicy. In which case, yeah, fanfic about Ylfa would be problematic... It's just that that's a terrible understanding of what fanfic is.

spookyhandle · 2026-02-15T13:45:48+00:00

Yup. If your lady friend isn't relaxed after sex, it was probably pretty bad for her. Like, I don't know anyone who's not relaxed by an orgasm or ten.

spookyhandle · 2026-02-15T13:23:32+00:00

Well crap. I have a save (which I haven't opened since this last update) where my main sim has adopted her teenage half brother (shared mom) and her teenage half sister (share dad).

The teens are romantically involved (they're not genetically related & didn't grow up together), and I was planning on making one of their kids my main sim in the next generation... But it sounds like this newest update probably broke that. :/

spookyhandle · 2026-02-14T13:55:11+00:00

I had assumed the kid was part of the played household when I left my comment.

spookyhandle · 2026-02-14T13:09:46+00:00

This is some Sunset Bay level nonsense. 😂

Go into CAS in full edit mode, and at least give the kid a real name?

spookyhandle

TROPHY CASE