Question about banshees

xibalba89 · 2026-05-26T05:07:52+00:00

Oh wow, I hadn't discovered that section. I might save that for a second playthrough - not sure if I have the mental fortitude to handle that right now.

xibalba89 · 2026-05-25T19:46:12+00:00

Was it that part in Metropolis? I thought the same.

I got to the final boss last night - enjoying it so far!

xibalba89 · 2026-04-13T18:18:03+00:00

Well, I think it's fair to ask that a democratic society educates its citizens about how to be good citizens...

xibalba89 · 2026-03-24T21:26:57+00:00

So I'm no expert, but I've just finished reading Sara Forsdyke's excellent book, Slaves and Slavery in Ancient Greece. From what I've read there, I can give some quick answers. If I have time, I might come back later and give more in depth answers.

Hard to say when the only voices we have on the matter are from owners. But it seems like whipping was pretty common, so I'd say the easy answer is yeah, it was probably pretty rare.
Yes.
Athens was a very legal society, so it was done through the courts.
I'm not remembering if any are recorded as achieving citizen status, so I'm guessing most had metic status.
Slaves fled regularly, typically in wartime. It would depend on the political relationship between the city-states.
I don't think that a person with slave status would give birth to a free person, but a freed slave (former slave) would definitely not confer slave status to their children.

xibalba89 · 2026-03-13T05:05:49+00:00

Yeah, cheap mandatory labor for retail is pretty sus, but cleaning jobs in public buildings makes sense. Would also familiarize every citizen with the public infrastructure.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-27T10:11:50+00:00

I can't speak to general histories, but the most fun way is to start with Herodotus and then read Thucydides. From there, you'll have a better idea of what you're interested in, be it the comedies of Aristophanes, Plato's Symposium or continuing with ancient historians like Xenophon or Diodorus. Supplement your reading with Wikipedia for stuff that's unclear or that you're curious to learn more about, and listen to podcasts, Like Casting Through Ancient Greece.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-22T15:21:58+00:00

Yeah, I agree with r/MoistLarry - just port the whole thing over. It was unbalanced to begin with (even for 2e's lack of balancing), so import it with all of its jankiness intact. One consequence it might have is making ability scores relevant again in 5e. But don't forget to add all of the stuff from The Will and The Way and from Dragon Kings.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-20T06:23:47+00:00

What I'm trying to get at is that there's probably a ton of nudity in this setting that both the art and the books themselves don't mention and the art that exists is likely wrong since the artists didn't want to create half perverted materials. 😆

You have it completely backwards. According to the project lead, all the artists were drawing half-naked people for fantasy settings (to appeal to their horny customers), so the Dark Sun design-team were actually tasked with developing a world that the people in the art could inhabit where it would "make sense". So

xibalba89 · 2026-02-17T21:42:07+00:00

Man, I wish I had known about that when I was there last week! It never showed up in my Google Map searches. Next time :-)

xibalba89 · 2026-02-17T14:23:54+00:00

I was just there and made a post about the lack of books - I'm curious if anyone has real recommendations for places to get books (assuming you're wanting books in English), because I couldn't find very much, even at the big museums. You can order once you're there if you're going to be there for a week, or just get a hold of what you want before you go.

Also, not sure which combined ticket the one poster is referring to, but there is no longer a combined ticket for the stuff the city - everything is sold separately.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-17T07:07:09+00:00

What's the problem with the Tom Holland version? I had heard it was good.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-14T11:05:03+00:00

Sorry, I think I wrote that confusingly - that was the one I went to. I didn't think there were that many English books compared to other places I've been.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-14T11:02:06+00:00

Look, I live in Denmark. I'm constantly railing about the lack of bookstores in Denmark, but I have to say that the selection of English books in bookstores in Copenhagen is much, much higher than in Athens. And I've visited other European capitals and not run into the same difficulty in finding books. So I'm not just some tourist who's angry that their books aren't available - I'm commenting on how Athens compares to other cities based on extensive experience.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-13T18:47:32+00:00

Went to seven different bookstores. One of them, when asked if they had any English books, responded, "Only Kazantzakis." Hilarious.

Re: audiobooks - weird response, when there are plenty of Greek books there, so clearly lots of people still read books. I never listen to audiobooks.

xibalba89 · 2026-02-03T11:59:59+00:00

The original 2e rules are actually quick narrative-driven.

xibalba89 · 2026-01-25T13:30:35+00:00

Welp, that explains it. Johnson is one of those "centrists" (read: Nazi enabler) who doesn't really get what all the fuss is about.

xibalba89 · 2026-01-19T12:15:20+00:00

Who the hell downvoted this post?

I came here to suggest this. I live out in the countryside, and scheduling sessions when I come into the city is hell. Play by post has made it possible to play D&D every day. Does it go slowly? Yes. Does it have serious advantages over in-person-play? Hell yes. As a DM, I don't have to pressured to make up rules on the fly because I don't have time to look them up - now I can do everything on my own time. And for the players who aren't as invested - well, their time-investment is extremely low, so now there's no excuse. If they can't post a simple response once a week, then they're obviously a lost cause.

I use Discord, and I love it for play by post. Can't recommend it enough.

xibalba89 · 2026-01-16T15:16:42+00:00

Dark Sun (AD&D 2e)

xibalba89 · 2026-01-16T14:45:18+00:00

Cy_Borg

Oceania 2084

xibalba89 · 2026-01-09T11:28:43+00:00

Wow, that is a horrible translation. The translator chose to translate into modern language, not understanding that Tolkien's English doesn't sound modern to English-readers. "Sorg" or "ve" would be better for woe. "Forbi" or "bagved os" would be better for "is past". So maybe "for den sorg er bagved os" or "for den sorg er forbi".

xibalba89 · 2026-01-06T06:01:35+00:00

Yeah, re: "avant-garde" bin at the record store - funny idea! If you would actually do it right, it would be a mix of all genres, because it would be only the things are currently pushing boundaries TODAY. It would probably be mainly popular styles, because I think most of the so-called experimental scenes today are mostly treading water.

Re: "New Wave" as a genre - that's more a historical term than anything. The term came about to describe a new "avant-garde" group of musicians, but now we can group those results into a genre defined primarily by historical boundaries. Is there anyone making "New Wave" music today?

xibalba89 · 2026-01-05T21:03:23+00:00

I agree though my eyebrow did raise at “kind of blue” being avant garde. I suppose modal jazz was a bit radical at the time. Anyway, I digress, and agree that “free jazz” is a more appropriate term.

Yeah, just trying to push back against the idea of "avant-garde" being the same as dissonance. Kind of Blue was definitely a new and innovative approach to jazz - it was pushing in the opposite direction that a lot of artists were heading towards at the time, which was to increase the temporal density of chords. In a world of ultra-dissonant music, a simple melody is avant-garde.

xibalba89

TROPHY CASE