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Cake day: June 21st, 2023

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  • KurtDunniehue@ttrpg.networktoRPGMemes @ttrpg.networkMy brain hurts
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    1 year ago

    The secret is to not work from what you’d like to do, but to work backwards from what your players want to do.

    Seriously, throw out all the prep you have that isn’t landing, and just ask your players what kinds of things they want to do. Then, make stories inspired by the actions or accomplishments they want to undertake.

    … This does require that your players have some idea of what they want to do, though. If you have checked out or uninvested players, there’s essentially nothing you can do I’m afraid.

    So now I will soapbox to the players reading this: Your job is to be invested in the game. If you don’t put energy into being invested, you’re not fulfilling your side of the arrangement at the table.




  • A tale that is perpetually dark in tone becomes tiresome very quickly. It needs to feature the occasional ray of light for contrast and to create a sense of hope. Monsters and other terrors must be offset with creatures that are kind and lovable, giving the characters even more reasons to stand against the darkness. Here are a couple of ways to add glimmers of light to a tragic tale:

    • In a land as dreary as Barovia, take the time to describe the occasional scene of beauty, such as a pretty flower growing atop a grave.
    • Make sure that the heroes have contact with NPCs who are honest, friendly, and helpful, such as the Martikovs in Vallaki or the Krezkovs in Krezk.

    -Curse of Strahd, Introduction. Marks of Horror. 2016.








  • I’ve seen Sealioning used quite a bit in a particular Lemmy instance that would self describe themselves as Pro-Russia & Pro-China, as a way of shutting down discourse between people who disagree with them. There are people who disagree with a particular narrative, and they’re discounted immediately for wanting to know how someone would arrive at a pro-Russian & pro-China position.

    Also they’ll just “whatabout!” and change the subject whenever unassailable critiques of these regimes come up. As if its is only possible to hold outrage in a single direction at a time.

    I’ll have you know I’m capable of disliking EVERYONE mentioned in a given conversation.



  • Modern capitalism as we know it began forming in the Renaissance, particularly in colonial European powers who were getting to the Colonization of the rest of the world game earlier than their peers. This notably includes Portugal and the Netherlands, followed swiftly by most everyone else.

    There were promissory notes that were carried by travelers prior to this, in the form of Crusaders traveling from Europe to Jerusalem, in the relatively brief period of time that it was conquered. But this did not interact with market economies as we’d know it, and is directly analogous to traveler cheques, meant to make you less of an appealing robbery target on the road.

    No, these kinds of shenanigans were concocted rather recently, and are not reflective of baseline normal human behavior. It’s mostly a system that was created by accident, with conventions that were forming being purposeful altered during creation by the people with money, for their own benefit.








  • China doesn’t aim for global hegemony

    You are gliding over every single time that Xi Jinping said, out loud, that this is the long term goal? Why wouldn’t you believe him?

    Yeah, they couch it carefully, but it’s quite clear, from the China #1 propaganda, that China doesn’t want to uplift anyone else, they want to use their soft power to make neighboring countries dependent on them. They’re following the playbook laid out by Western companies in the 20th century, but organizing it with State controlled corporations.

    And as for Singapore, there’s a lot of propaganda from some right-wing Supply-Side economists that mischaracterize that country as being an ideal Capitalist state, while gliding over how the State controls most of the means of production. It isn’t an ideal system, it has many inequities. But it’s an example that serves as a surprising counterpoint to the argument that only free markets can thrive & survive in global capitalism, and components of it could be useful for looking for solutions to the issues with capitalism. Right wing economists do this, so they don’t have to confront how incorrect their argument that Capitalism cannot be reformed with the State taking a direct role in the economy without disaster.


  • You say that like Russia isn’t Capitalist as all get out.

    The only good counterpoint to Capitalism in the modern global landscape is Singapore, and possibly China if you’re feeling extra spicy and support their version of global hegemony.

    The modern Russian state is a Fascist Autocracy propped up by Oligarchs. Y’know, what Trump likes.

    Edit: Actually I’m going to add Slovenia to that as well, as I had a great time learning about that Jewel of a Country before the Delta Variant absolutely wrecked it.

    When I was there in 2018, it was a fantastically eye-opening example of a successful socialist state.

    But that’s where my knowledge end on counterpoints to Capitalism, in its varied forms. I’m sure more exist. I’m not an academic on this subject.



  • I didn’t hand curate them, I just went to google and copy/pasted in a demonstration of the lowest amount of effort I could do to find articles that dispute the narrative here.

    Most of these countries have free press, btw. And some articles blame Russia, others give credence to the possibility that Ukraine could have done this, but with the realistic perspective that it’s basically impossible to know.

    In fact, reading those stories makes me incredibly skeptical of anyone who doesn’t show uncertainty on this topic. Look at that, I just changed my own view by researching a bit more.