Resi's Pathfinder Adventures

I’ve been working a lot.  I do (mostly) full time public education stuff and basically get paid to fuck around with a 20 inch telescope, so that eats up my time.

Oracle:  Wait, what was the weather again?

DM: (Looks through preplanned weather calendar)  Oh.  Sunny and warm.  Okay, you see 6 hooded figures looking kind of sweaty before you.  One speaks.  “The clouds are red today.”

Oracle:  I’m just going to roll with it.  *Rolls bluff*  The clouds ARE red today.

Hooded Figure: *nat 1 to sense motive*.  Uh.  Did you bring your umbrella?

Oracle: I always bring my umbrella.

As the title suggests, I am back!  My last semester got pretty insane: 19 credit hours (12 is full time), and two jobs.  But I graduated, and am ready to get back into the world.

I think it’s important to note, since I am posting today, that I am struggling with grief over Orlando.  Tonight I will be going to my local LGBT safe space just to grieve with my community.  I recommend doing something similar if you are also feeling overwhelmed.  Remember we are all in this together: There is no one in this world who is immune to hate and hate crimes.  It is our responsibility to respond to violence with love, support, and forgiveness.  I am an atheist, but I know that life is exceedingly rare in this vast universe, and so we must treat it as sacred.  I urge my followers to grieve, but not to retaliate, especially against the Muslim American community.  They mourn alongside the queer community, and they also condemn violence.

“When it is said...”Do not disturb the peace of the land”, they say “We are simply setting things right.”  Beware!  They alone are the peace breakers, but they do not perceive (its evil consequences)”- Chapter 1, part 2 of The Holy Qur’an.

In regards to Pathfindering, despite my busy schedule I did continue to DM throughout the semester, working on my The Turning Years campaign.  My players have leveled all the way up to 8, since January, and I am so proud of them!  I have all kinds of fun stories to share, and all kinds of lessons to muse about, but those will be coming out as stand alone posts.

I’ve done Gillman inquisitor before!

So, Gillman has an alternative racial trait called “Riverfolk”.  You are able to survive without daily contact with water, but gain fire vulnerability (which honestly, is barely a problem).

When I went inquisitor, I built for strength and charisma.  So I could talk well, and I could punch things real good (I was an inquisitor of Lamashtu, which gave me access to falchions, which are AWESOME for high damage but usually inquisitors cannot use them).  This was at the cost of health, which was distressingly low.

My new work project is editing and rearranging Ancient Aliens episodes to make them scientifically accurate.

I think most people already get the escapism involved in Roleplaying.  It’s basically an interactive book with more options and freedom than a video game, since the story evolves with you.  People cite escapism and whatnot all the time when they talk about Roleplaying.

But what I especially love about tabletop roleplaying is, oddly enough, the structure of it.  And not just the rules and the mechanics, which flesh out the world and create challenges.

I have an anxiety disorder.  I literally have to schedule everything when my anxiety gets to be too much.  And I’m a college student, taking 7 classes in a single semester WHILE working AND maintaining my own apartment.  Fun doesn’t end up on my schedule often, because a trip down to the local bars or coffee shops to talk will be the first thing to be rearranged if I need to get work done.

But Pathfinder is always scheduled.  It’s consistent, it’s steady, I can rely on my group to be there.  Fridays from 5 pm onward are not a flexible time.  They are as solidified in my schedule as class.

I put my latest campaign into a binder.  I’m calling it my Pathbinder.

I really hate asking for anything, but school is so important to me that’s it’s worth getting over it.  

I am so close to being able to afford to graduate from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor’s in English and Astronomy.  This is my last semester, but I need to pay off medical fees, books, and outstanding tuition before I can graduate.

I’m studying English and Astronomy because I believe science education should be accessible to the general public, and I want to help work towards a better, more informed, and more tolerant world.  Already, I have helped teach middle school special education, and I produce educational videos on astronomy open to the general public.

Ie’a, volcano druid!

She’s a level 20 that my players may or may not run into in my upcoming campaign, The Turning Year.

I really like the idea of people over level 15 basically being gods, so, she is worshipped as a goddess!  And, being so incredibly old (but a druid, so she no longer ages), she doesn’t really remember mortality anyway.

I used my body as a reference in this, as part of my ongoing project of tracking my own weight loss (50 pounds thus far) through art.