The thing about Jake and Amyâs relationship is that there are no annoying tropes such as âchasing obsessively after each otherâ because they are both using up all of their Stalker EnergyTM to pursue Ray Holtâs Dad Approval and I think itâs beautifulÂ
I had a surprisingly coherent dream during that accident-nap, that contained an interesting idea for a campaign.Â
I say interesting because Iâm not sure if itâs a good idea or a bad one, honestly. It would definitely require some careful handling and at least one player whoâs 300% on the same page narratively as the DM, but it was definitely interesting.
There was a D&D campaign in this dream where one of the players knew their schedule would make them miss a lot of sessions. So instead of playing one of the main party, they played a recurring villain.
When the
villain
player was free theyâd show up to taunt or bother or try to win over the main party. If the session ended with them still involved in the action, the DM just narrated them slipping away at the start of the next one. The DM would talk with the villain player between sessions about what their character was doing, and brief them on things they might know.Â
This particular villain was the âgain ultimate power and become a godâ type. The climax of the campaign involved them seeking out some artifact of ultimate power. When it was clear the party would fail to stop them from acquiring it, the DM and the villain player gave each other a look. Both of them seemed to get really excited.
The DM narrated the villain reaching for the artifact, up to the point where their fingers actually touched it, then went suddenly quiet. The villain player grinned and said, âyou sense a great and terrible shift in the structure of the universe. Someone new is in charge. Roll initiative.â
This is 100% in-character for my GM style, I love it
For context we had just spent 2 hours of real time debating a plan for rescuing childen captured by gnolls.
Halfling rogue: we need to discreetly disappear with the captives and then show back up afterward and introduce ourselves as worthy of the gnolls respect.
A few of the rest of us: what if they attack us?
Human rogue: what do we do about the cave?
Me: you guys do dialogue, iâm bout ready to just say me and the half dragon leroy jenkins the cave.
Half dragon(ooc): omg yes. I tell them that Iâm going to the cave and whoever wants can follow and i walk out.
2 hours of planning just for me, the half dragon, and the cat person to get bored and derail everything in search of a fight
My boyfriend is triggered by Christmas and Christmas music. We were in a restaurant, and Christmas music was playing, and he started panicking so he went outside for a cigarette. The manager of the restaurant overheard him saying he had to get out, and changed the music over for the rest of the time we were there. There are safe spaces in the real world. People are nicer than you think. And bullshit people who try to tell you to get over your triggers, ainât shit.
Honestly âthe world is cruel get over itâ is pretty easily translated to âIâm a complete asshole who doesnât want to be held responsible for my sh*tty behaviorâ
Tausigâs crossword is a so-called Schrödinger puzzle, named for the physicistâs hypothetical cat that is at once both alive and dead. In a Schrödinger puzzle, select squares have more than one correct letter answer: They exist in two states at once. âBlack Halloween animal,â for example, could be both BAT or CAT, yielding two different but perfectly correct puzzles. Only 10 such puzzles have now been published in Times history.
Itâs the theme of Tausigâs puzzle, though, that makes it special. Four entries in Thursdayâs crossword can include either an âFâ or an âM.â Both are correct; neither is wrong. For example, âPart of a houseâ can be either ROOF or ROOM. The long ârevealerâ answer, tying those select entries together and spanning 11 squares smack-dab in the middle of the puzzle, is GENDER FLUID.
This puzzle, with âMâs and âFâs that arenât fixed, is a masterful blend of subject and structure. âIt potentially really evokes what gender fluidity is, which is not moving back and forth between two poles, but actually not being committed to either pole, and potentially existing in many states at different times,â Tausig said.
This is ⊠really cool.
i never really thought of crossword puzzles as an art form, but like⊠this is art.
so you all know busbus is mostly blind, or something. Weâre not entirely sure but he seems to have very little response to visual stimulus unless itâs something like a lit up screen in a dark room or a laser pointer. Weâve noticed he hunts with his ears for moths because once they stop flying he canât find them. which means he catches it, kills it, then gets sad.
Anyway when we first brought him home our cats were like, cat body language at him and he would be completely nonresponsive. They got really upset and diva bit him a lot and had huge tantrums about it. He sat too close to her, he was on her stuff, he wouldnât move out of her way. She hated it. And for him he was just suddenly getting bitten and hit so he was very confused.
within days both dorian and diva began vocalising constantly, little brrrts and mmmms, very softly speaking all the time. Sometimes they would up the volume, but only when bus wasnât right there. Within a week they had developed a vocal substitute for every one of their body languages, and no more problems.
Dorian has a specific type of sound that he makes when he wants bus to come to him for grooming. Bus has a specific sound he makes when he is lost and both other cats have their own version of the response. Like marco polo except you say your own name.
They have words now for âhey look a thing to play withâ so bus can come over and join in on the gecko hunt, or âi am playing with a toy and i want companyâ.
they started making lots of noise sometimes when they run, by hitting the ground hard and also digging their claws into the carpet so bus can hear them and chase them. If Diva is just running somewhere and not playing, she doesnât make any noise when she does. She also uses this to sneak up on bus which i think is decidedly not fair.
Bus also knows human words too. He knows âcheeseâ and âbreadâ and if you mention ham he appears with his nose bright pink licking his lips waiting for his share because he fucking LOVES ham.
anywya, cat language is so versatile and im always just so impressed at how my cats who were already 4 and 6 changed their whole communications system when it turned out that bus couldnât understadn them. â€