Hullo!

I have no clue how small business shit works or if people will actually be interested, but I make these Gelatinous Cube inspired candles, so if you’re also a huge nerd and might be interested in buying one, let me know!

Meanwhile Ariel with legs;

Ariel already loved the human world long before meeting Eric (you don’t get a collection like hers overnight) and when she finally got a chance to explore it, she took it.

Ursula made it about Eric. She didn’t have to. Ariel had to get out from under Triton’s thumb, it could have been literally anything. Ursula took advantage of a desperate victim for her own agenda. Realistic predatory behavior toward a vulnerable person.

And also

There’s always the ‘Eric didn’t want her until she was silent and meek’ criticism - FIRST OF ALL he started out looking for a woman who wasn’t silent, and second of all what part of the carriage driving bit (or any of her other actions on land) is meek, exactly?

The man does not know from cheese. The man "ain't never seen no cheese but orange before" and "I showed ya list to the cheese lady so if it's wrong it's her fault ok?"

I am 80% sure she sent him there for a really specific bleu cheese, 40% sure he does not have the very specific bleu cheese, and 100% sure he's done with her shit.

Our flight is delayed.

Cheese man has been demanding payment because apparently he went like six hours out of his way and paid with his own money and between the cheese and price of gas, he is pretty sure he does not have enough money in his account for an Uber home.

The lady is FLABBERGASTED that he is demanding payment at all, as she was under the impression he was doing this for her out of the goodness of his heart.

"OR ELSE WHAT?"

"I'm gonna-? THE BABY SHOWER? MONICA CAN'T EVEN HAVE THIS CHEESE SHE'S PREGNANT!"

"The cheese lady asked if it was for someone because the mushrooms or whatever in the cheese are dangerous for the baby or something?? You wanna poison Monica?"

"WHY WOULD I LIE ABOUT THAT?"

"YEAH OF COURSE I GOT THE CHEESE, THATS WHY I DON'T GOT MONEY FOR UBER!"

"YEAH, GO TELL! GO TELL MOMMA I STOPPED YOUR STUPID ASS FROM KILLING MONICA OR THE BABY! FUCK!"

*hangs up phone*

*head in hands, borderline hyperventilating*

The man in the three piece suit is in the chair next to him. He waits a moment, then reaches into his carryon and pulls out an entire bottle of wine with the TSA pre check sticker on it, and taps cheese guy on the shoulder.

2. Cheese guy is crying a little about the cash and opening up about his problems. The cheese lady is his younger sister. Suit guy is being very generous with his Pinot Blanc. We are having a picnic/improv family therapy session.

3. This is apparently the latest in a long string of his sister asking for something and then flaking when he asks to be paid back. Started with paying him back only some of what he was owed, then claiming something she paid for him was of equal value when it was not, then recently telling him his memory is wrong and he said it was a gift or that he'd do it for free.

"Yeah, the specific thing of trying to convince you your memory is unreliable is called gaslighting and it's really fucked up." I say

"yeeeeah. The other stuff I forgave because she's never really had a good job so she can't pay me back all the time but at least she was making an effort y'know? But that was. That was over the line."

"If you haven't already, check on the rest of your family's finances. My brother started trying to gaslight everyone when he started stealing from our parents." Says Pinot Blanc.

4. Shiba Inu Lady has purchased a cheddar. Apparently, the dog's name is Donut, and he's her service dog because she's severely visually impaired.

"Oh, he's a guide dog?" Asks cheese guy.

"oh, no." She laughs. "He's too short, and the way my eyes are, it's easier for me to navigate with a cane. No, the problem I have is that some morally impaired people see the cane and think they can get away with stealing my bag or assaulting me because I wouldn't be able to give a description- which is wrong, but rather than deal with that I got Donut, and he helps me by howling at anyone who gets in my personal space and biting anyone who grabs me!"

"Uh." Says Kirigumi. "He's been staring at me do I need to back up or..?"

"Ohdear! No, no- He wasn't looking at you! He loves cheese but he knows he's not supposed to beg so he decided the way to deal with something he wants but can't have is to stare in the other direction."

"OKAY!" Says Kirigumi. "I'm wearing fox pajamas and thought like. He thought I was another dog or something."

"No, no- he doesn't care about dogs, and you get a warning before he goes for the calves. Very helpful, when I was living in Italy!"

"Oh what part? I have family in Tuscany." Says Pinot.

2. I know they're planning to continue because Pinot talked to the gate agent so he and cheese guy can sit together and talk about family drama and cheese.

3. Pinot has been teaching him about different types of cheese and how to enjoy them.

4. Cheese guy apparently repairs computers and other technology devices for a living and is currently doing the software version of scraping barnacles and other crap off Pinot'macbook.

Now that I've heard the word aloud, and they are an astrophysicist. Who correctly believes in being comfy as fuck on planes. They are also familar with the concept of a meet-cute and is rooting for them too.

Got to walk the nice lady and her Tactical Assault Shiba to her next gate because it was on the way out and talk for a bit. Donut is called that not because he is the color of a Donut (which he is) but because he likes to sleep curled up in a perfect circle. He has a sister who does the same thing named Bagel.

Lost track of Pinot and Cheeseguy for a bit but when I saw them again at Baggage claim, Cheeseguy was holding both their jackets, and Pinot was on the phone to his hotel about "Well do you have any rooms with TWO beds?". The rest of the call indicated that yes, there were rooms with two beds, but Readers, I Had A Moment.

:)

The World Of Becca Blake

The World Of Becca Blake

a. they don’t realise that there is a puzzle;

b. you didn’t clearly or completely communicate the information required to solve the puzzle; or

c. they came up with a perfectly valid solution and you rejected it because it wasn’t the specific solution given by the source you stole the puzzle from.

These aren’t unsolvable problems, but their solutions require you to really think about what you’re doing.

First, you have to make it obvious that a puzzle is present. Engaging with the game’s fictional world as a puzzle-box to be solved is not many players’ default mode of engagement; they may be more inclined to approach it as a simulated reality, or an improvisational theatre exercise, or as an opportunity to Talk About Their Feelings.

You need to explicitly signpost that it’s time to go into puzzle mode. Sometimes this means breaking the fourth wall and just telling your group “okay, it’s puzzle time now”; if that’s what it takes, do it.

Second, you need to be absolutely rigorous in identifying the minimal set of information that’s needed to arrive at a solution.

Don’t assume that what’s obvious to you will be obvious to everybody, especially if it’s unstated. In particular, be wary of clues that rely on catching pop culture references, as your players definitely don’t have the exact same set of referents that you do.

Don’t assume that your players are going to perfectly recall information that came up hours ago (or, heaven forfend, in previous sessions!) – they don’t have your notes to refer to.

Write shit down, make a checklist, and actually, physically check each clue off as you provide it to make sure you haven’t missed one. You’d be amazed how many puzzle-based adventures come to a crashing halt because the GM misremembered which clues they’d already provided and ended up entirely omitting one or more critical pieces of information.

Take a hard look at your phrasing, and ask yourself whether the way you’ve phrased any of your clues admits multiple equally plausible interpretations, particularly ones you didn’t intend.

(Incidentally, that last point is why it isn’t safe to assume that players can rely on their own notes to keep the clues in order. Even if you phrased the clue perfectly to avoid ambiguity or multiple interpretations, the player responsible for note-taking may have written it down wrong! If a puzzle’s solution must rely on note-taking, write the notes yourself and make them into player handouts.)

Thirdly, recognise that a tabletop RPG isn’t a puzzle book or a video game. Puzzles whose intended solutions arbitrarily rule out certain approaches aren’t going to fly. In video games these arbitrary limits often take the form of the proverbial waist-high fence, but at the tabletop, waist-high fences can be less obvious.

For example, you might present a puzzle that can trivially be bypassed by using an ability that you just plain forgot the party has. When that happens, don’t resort to evil genie logic to explain why it doesn’t work – accept your failure and move on.

On no account should you reject a perfectly reasonable proposed solution just because you didn’t think of it first; as the saying goes, that’s pride fucking with you.

Finally, accept that you can do everything right on paper and still end up with a puzzle that won’t work for your particular group because they just don’t have the skills or the temperament for it.

Sometimes it’ll be obvious, like “don’t give a party with a dyslexic leader a word problem”.

Other times it’ll be more subtle. For example, some players are so constitutionally risk-averse that, when presented with a course of action whose potential outcomes are unknown, they’ll prefer to do nothing at all, even when inaction will definitely get them killed – and when it does, they’ll blame you for putting them in that position in the first place. If you’ve got a group like that, you should probably avoid puzzles whose solutions depend on trial and error.

The game was Exalted, and there was a tower that was on fire. I gave some information about how big the building was, potential people stuck inside, and the like. I expected them to do external firefighting things. The party, being the heroic Solars they were, dove in to get directly to rescuing. They realized rapidly that the damage they were taking was MUCH higher than expected and they would not be able to complete their planned mission, nor even a quarter of it.

We spent 35 minutes discussing how to decode the clearly nonsense phrase of ELEVEN = NINE, absolutely CERTAIN it had to be a code or maybe a lateral thinking mathematics thing.

Holidays can help make your world feel more alive. Here are some examples from my setting:

New Year: Everyone stays up until sunrise, celebrates, and gives gifts to those they are looking forward to spending the next year with. Also, everyone offically turns one year older (this replaces birthday celebrations)

Riot Day: On the anniversary of the riots against the government that had been infiltrated by an infernal cult, the people honor those who lost their lives fighting for justice

Full Moon: When the moon of Ne is fully visible, worshippers of Ne burn some incense and thank the goddess for all the good that has happened recently

Fullest Moon: When both moons are fully visible, worshippers of Ne have a feast and thank the goddess for all the good that has happened throughout their life.

Day of Lovers: On the anniversary of Hildegard and Bonifatia falling in love, people spend time with their partner(s), or confess their love

Ra’Va’Que: Every 6th day, people go to the temple and partake in mass. Originally it was only the Raven Queen that was worshipped on this day, but nowadays it is a day for all gods.

Iridus: To celebrate Iri leading the Gnomes out of the Underdark, they fast during the first week of mechanus, and then have one big celebratory feast on the last day.

Slaughter Day: One day each year, worshippers of demons and other chaotic evil gods are especially bloodthirsty and often kill people just for the fun of it

Day of Drow: On the anniversary of Queen Drow embracing Lolth, the Matriarchs give out small gifts to the daughters of the house

Feyday: Once a year, worshippers of the fey come together in large gatherings and dance until they can’t anymore. The fey often disguise themselves and partake in these festivities.

Day of Rebirth: On the day that the goddess Maxtra was reborn to be cleanes of her sins, her worshippers take baths with the entire worshipping community during which they confess their sins to be metaphorically reborn too

I had expected…. Oh…  the usual things. Clouds of smoke, maniacal laughter, some monstrous being… they were always monstrous, whether fair or foul of face.

Not this. Not an egg.

It is already hatching, a jagged opening showing in the greyish, mottled shell. Even as I watch, small pale hands show, gripping the edge and breaking another piece of it away.

When I approach the egg and look down into it, I see a child. I would have guessed her at eight or nine, if I wasn’t seeing her hatching before my eyes. If I didn’t know she was Rek’na reborn.

When she sees me she lifts her little arms to me, like a toddler wanting to be picked up. “Help… pl’s…” she says pitifully, her voice wavering and uncertain. Are they her first words? They must be. Even though I know what she is, they pull at my heart. This is a child. I have never harmed a child, even one that might grow to be the darkest of goddesses. When she looks up at me, I know I can’t do it now.

I open the egg a little further, so the sharp edges won’t scrape her soft skin. When I lift her out with gauntleted hands, I try to be gentle. There were preparations made for her hatching, I can see… lengths of silk cloth to wrap her in, dishes of raw meat and bowls of what might be wine or blood. The priests and priestesses had their plans.

But they are dead or fled, and I wrap the child in my cloak and cradle her against one shoulder. She wraps her small arms around my neck trustingly, and I carry her out of the hidden temple to where I hid my horses. There I dress her in a spare shirt – four of her would fit inside it, for I am big and she is very small – and feed her her first meal. I don’t have fresh meat, and am not sure it would be wise to give it to her if I did, but I feed her bean porridge with salted meat, and a round of dry journey-bread, and she eats it eagerly.

I know I should destroy her. But she is a child.

Here is a free pdf of xanathars guide to everything

Here is a free pdf to monsters manual

Here is a free pdf to tashas cauldron of everything

Here is a free pdf to dungeon master’s guide

Here is a free pdf to volo’s guide to monsters

Here is a free pdf of mordenkainen’s tomb of foes

including the books and campaigns