It is genuinely incomprehensible to me how people who have devoted their lives & careers to education can decide it no longer matters whether high school graduates are capable of reading an entire book.
I decided a quickhack for D&D - I won't name any NPCs, I just have a general attitude and mien sketched out, and I prompt my players to name them.
No lists to maintain. The players have some ownership of the name so they remember them better.
Had my players raid a transport ship in D&D last night.
They adopted a toothless, mute dwarf who blew himself up in a workplace accident, & declared him to be the team mascot.
All in all, a huge success 😅
2 days of Dungeons and Dragons this weekend?
Awww yiss.
*puts on sunglasses*
*presses play button*
This might be one of my fave movies I watched with my kiddos.
Lursa Duras from star trek has her face photoshopped on top of Sharon Stone's face. It's the leg crossing scene from Basic Instinct. Gowron is asking, "Is that a tribble?"
Hades 2 artwork featuring Melinoe casting a spell with her spectral arm.
The writing in Hades 2 is so good.
The voice acting is SO good.
Earning each new interaction and chapter feels like a treat rather than an abysmal grind.
Every time you speak to Narcissus or Dionysis is comedic.
I thought Rogue could just beat the shit out of Cannonball?
but I haven't been following closely for a while.
Friday D&D hot take: Counter spell is the fuckin wooooooorst.
It's anti-fun. I want my players flinging magic around and getting crazy with it.
It's the worst to wait 5-10 mins for your turn in a big combat and the GM just kicks you in the dick with counter spell.
Finished the storyline for Hades 2 last night. Gorgeous art. Great story. So good.
5/5, highly recommend.
simpsons meme, "900 Dollarydoos?!"
me when my kid just asked me for the new Switch and a couple games:
Lives of Bitter Rain book cover
After DNFing 4 separate books by varying authors, I despaired.
I thought something was wrong with me. I was stuck in a joyless reading funk.
Then I ripped through @aptshadow.bsky.social's Lives of Bitter Rain and felt renewed. Just had to find some writing to lift me over that hurdle.
Me to my D&D players: "Pick any magic item you want from the published books. Any item. I reserve the right to veto, so, select your top 2-3 items."
Player: "What about this?"
Me: "Yes. Also, add to your sheet the feat: Dragonrider."
www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/...
2/
Ranger: "That's no unicorn, that's a Kelpie!"
Needless to say, my Paladin player, she was very cross with me for playing such a dirty trick.
1/
Last night my D&D players were investigating rumours of a witch in a forest.
Our paladin found a unicorn, fed it apples & asked for a ride. She persuaded the skittish unicorn w/ a 16 on her animal handling check.
Then the unicorn took off running, jumped in a lake & tried to drown the paladin.
2/2
They picked "in the middle"
They were dialed in but super suspicious, spent too much time worried about a dead horse they thought was going to turn into a zombie 🧟
I had them narrate their crits & killing blows - "Tell me how the monster dies!" (always silly fun)
1/2
We had a great Adventure Academy session with the kids this weekend. I volunteer DM for our Dinner and Dragons group, and the kids games are so much fun.
I ran a "scary" module, Horror at Havel's Crossing.
I asked the kids how scary they wanted it, ranging from Goosebumps to Freddy Krueger.
I did a haunted house episode in VtM with my players, & one of them brilliantly kept quoting this skit - I had forgotten about it - was trying to play it seriously, while he kept getting more deranged and weird with it.
I was so fuckin' mad when I realized, but it was pure gold on his part.
When I went to uni, we shot everything on beta tape and then digitized it on huge tape decks.
The year after I graduated, they were doing full, non-destructive digital editing with on board HDD.
A year later, my first job in broadcast media was reel to reel beta tape.
I will soon be dust.
After we finished the dungeon, he leveled up & said he found it interesting how the kids interacted with the world, jumped into role playing as their characters and most of all, loved the math challenges I threw at my youngest.
(We have been doing math puzzles for sneaky learning moments)
Last week 3 of my players called out sick and only one showed up at all 😤
So I asked him if he'd be willing to run a dungeon with my kids that I wrote for them (same world, same setting, XP not milestone).
He agreed & my kids were so geeked to play with him.
It was a successful pivot
🤘😎🤘
I've been busy working on an entirely niche #dnd resource for the Ravenloft 3e/3.5 campaign setting.
A lot of character options have been lost due to Ravenloft being out of print, on older pdfs and scattered all over.
So I did something about it.😆 #ttrpgs
abolethworkshop.blogspot.com/2026/02/ttrp...
My kids, confronting the new player at the D&D table:
K1: "Who the hell are you and where did you come from?"
K2: "You seem pretty suspicious."
K1: "Very suspicious."
New guy: "Uhh... I was sent on a mission to help you collect a magic book."
Kids: "Oh, that makes sense!"
A few weeks ago I wrapped up my Five year long Vampire the Masquerade campaign.
My players just surprised me with a gift 🤘😎🤘
Weed sodas!
Needless to say, our next campaign is starting in a few weeks.
Definitely taking the kids
To help me conceptualize the world of our new D&D campaign, my kids and I drew out a world map, adding cities, forests and other geological features like mountains, volcanoes and islands.
They know the dragons reside in the northern mountains, while humans inhabit the southern coast.
Next campaign, next one-short, next story.
I had one friend beg me for a year to play Cyberpunk, we delayed it 3 months just for him, and he still cancelled the week he agreed to play, so we just played without him.
Some people can't manage their time. It's not malice. We've got stories to tell!
"Oh, everyone else is available in two weeks and you aren't available for 3 months? Sorry, we can't wait that long. Maybe next time."
//In mid Feb, I decided to put together a one shot. Aimed for end of March game date.
Scheduling complications has pushed it into May.....and still havent settled on a date.
