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“I had a room to myself as a kid, but my mother was always quick to point out that it wasn’t my room, it was her room and I was merely permitted to occupy it. Her point, of course, was that my parents had earned everything and I was merely borrowing the space, and while this is technically true I cannot help but marvel at the singular damage of this dark idea: That my existence as a child was a kind of debt and nothing, no matter how small, was mine. That no space was truly private; anything of mine could be forfeited at someone else’s whim.”  ― Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

This is a meteorite that has fallen from a clearly superior part of the galaxy.

This but also gimme a scandalous gossip column about papers with dubious methodology, suspect datasets, or retracted results written in the style of Lady Whistledown.

we should start making zines about cool research papers

Rings of Power: “Hey bro, can I copy your homework?”

Dark Souls 3: “Alright, but don’t make it obvious…”

Oof, hell of a way to learn about TLoU’s politics.

100% this, and you can look at it the other way ‘round too: oppressing classes get real loud about nonviolence because it’s a principle that preserves the status quo and thus their power, and they don’t tend to actually practice those beliefs themselves.

the creator and executive producer of the last of us is a zionist

'revenge is bad' is an outlook that benefits the oppressor

Laziness Does Not Exist Devon Price

if it sucks hit da bricks <- litany against sunk cost

take it easy but take it <- litany against burnout/apathy cycle

fuck it we ball <- litany against perfectionism

now say something beautiful and true <- litany against irony poisoning

Since I've had a few people asking about megadungeon stuff recently, and I am an avowed megadungeon megafan, I thought it might be fun to walk through an actual example of megadungeon play that exemplifies what I like best about it.

This post is going to be the first in a series talking about a room from a megadungeon that I ran over 20 years ago (brushing past that fact quickly lest the horrors set in.) It was a major room, probably the most complex and important in the dungeon, and the players passed through it frequently throughout the campaign. In this post I'll introduce you to the room, and then in later posts I'll talk about what it does well and how to use that lesson more generally. Below the cut is a reproduction of the map as I remember it.

Without getting into The Lore too deeply, some dwarves accidentally dug into hell, as one does. Classic trope, nothing wrong with using them. They quite sensibly shut the mine down and sealed if off, but word got out. A human king heard about this, and took over the mine, expanding it into a temple complex to curry favour / barter with hell. It went badly, as such things do.

This concourse connects several wings of the dungeon, spanning several floors. An enormous devil face statue emerges from the northern wall, above the second floor balcony and below the fourth, and a column of light shines through a hole in the ceiling onto the center of the floor. Several floors of balconies overlook the chamber, though the stairs to the fourth floor balcony have long since collapsed.

This chamber was not too far from the main entrance, with the party first encountering it on their second delve into the dungeon, though it would take two more delves for them to gather the courage to enter it. At the time they first encountered it, it was swarming with imps and other little devils worshipping the big face.

I'll summarize the key:

A. Hallway from the Entry Chambers, the first and easiest section of the dungeon.

B. Doorway to the Pilgrim's City.

C. Doorway to the Unholiest of Unholies. Sealed and warded against simple spells.

D. Doorway to the Old Dwarven Quarters.

E. Doorway to the Nobles' Section. Barred from the far side.

F. Portcullis to the Pilgrim's City. The mechanism has rusted out and no longer functions.

G. Doorway to the Halls of the Clergy.

H. Doorway from the King's Inner Sanctum.

I. Doorway to the Archive.

J. Doorway to the King's Inner Sanctum, locked.

K. Doorway to The Indulgences.

Stairway from floor 1 to floor 2.

Light from the hole in the ceiling.

Broken stairs from floor 2 to floor 4.

Big ole devil face. Its eyes are a one-way illusion, allowing anyone within the face to view the room below.

Okay that's a lot, thanks for sticking it out. While I don't want to wander too far off topic into the rest of the dungeon, I'll just briefly note that the Pilgrim's City and Old Dwarven Quarters are easier sections of the dungeon, the Nobles Section and Halls of the Clergy are slightly more difficult, the King's Inner Sanctum, Archive, and Indulgences are very dangerous, and the Unholiest of Unholies is, as one might expect, where the worst things (and best loot) in the dungeon are. This was 2nd edition AD&D, so there was not a presumption of fights being balanced, and traipsing through more dangerous sections of the dungeon at lower levels wasn't uncommon. The players also understood the varying levels of danger fairly implicitly, since the custom at the time was that any time you went a level further away from whatever the ground floor was, things got more dangerous. The only exception to this is the Unholiest of Unholies and I think we can agree that when it's beyond a magically sealed door under a giant devil head the danger is telegraphed.

Next post I'll start talking about what made this room work so well in practice.

Favourite songs too short? Turn your favourite song into a 2-hour album with just one simple trick! Passengers in the car are gonna love it!

I dunno how it is anywhere else in the world, but the USA has a bizarre, perpetual, and systemic hatred of children. It’s quiet, but omnipresent. And it drives me up a wall. It’s just not difficult to treat children with decency, to engage with them as developing people instead of property or pets, and to give them space to exist and live their lives. Doesn’t even matter if they’re our kids or someone else’s.

Too many adults in a kid’s family teach them that everything from their interests to their energy is inconvenient and needs to be curtailed. Too many adults involved in schools teach kids foremost how to survive an indifferent or even ill-meaning authority with unchecked power.

I want a world that’s more for kids, and I’ll fight for it with a thousand small kindnesses.

The conflict between children and adults in kids media works an allegory for class struggle. The controlling adults with all the power do not understand the needs of the children, and their class interests do not align, fomenting a rebellion within the child class. In this essay I will

There’s like… a kernel of legitimacy here that part of good writing, editing, and book design is intentionally limiting paragraph length to let your reader’s brain breathe…

…but that really doesn’t seem like what this is. Why… read books… if you don’t wanna… read books?

Try graphic novels, maybe?

Do they know that reading is not mandatory? Nobody is forcing them to read?

Feels like something @theresattrpgforthat would love, if they haven’t heard of it already!

Tabletop Book Club, a podcast for tabletop enthusiasts with no time to play tabletop games. TTRPG Book Club is a new podcast where Barclay Travis (@barcstravis), Finch Edmund (@finchmund), and Bee Alexander (@beealexander) read (or reread) a TTRPG each month and discuss everything they love about it.

🎵 B-I-G-O-T-R-Y

No one cares your reasons why-yyyyy! 🎵

In seriousness, you cannot practice gender essentialism or misandry without hurting (well, everyone, but especially) AMAB queers. It’s always transphobia, it’s often biphobia and homophobia, and even when it IS targeting cis men it’s still bigotry and still hurts absolutely everyone.

Forgiveness and redemption are necessary for the public good. Especially for vulnerable populations to ever be truly safe. Branding someone or their behavior as unforgivable forces them to ensure they are never vulnerable to you, for their own safety. It’s why, for example, you cannot change or defeat the patriarchy with misandry, only drive it to dig its heels in harder.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow that being unkind to people who have hurt you or people you like will only make them double down—at best quietly within their own comfort zone and at worst very publicly—but it’s the truth. It’s why cancel culture is both morally repugnant AND ineffective as a tool of social safety: branding someone as a pariah will always be othering and will always be the praxis of white supremacists and conservatives even when it’s leveraged against a target the left feels is acceptable, and it radicalizes its targets. It’s not allyship or helpful activism, it just makes everything worse for everyone. We know this! A lot of us on this site were probably treated like The Weird Kid growing up, hated it, finally found our people, and in resenting that cycle we all too often fail to deconstruct why it was wrong and try to just do the same thing in reverse now that we have a community and this a power base, convincing ourselves that our targets deserve it because reasons. Among other things it’s why leftist spaces, especially nerd communities and the queer community, fail hard at being safe spaces and eat themselves alive.

The quest for self improvement SHOULD be never-ending. We are all works in progress and we always will be, and we always should be! But embracing that truth and committing to always listening and doing better necessitates accepting that you’ll never “get there,” that there will never be a time where you can decide to stop improving… which IS accepting that you aren’t and never will be perfect and loving yourself anyway. That is literally the foundation of self forgiveness and for anyone who finds themselves bristling at that concept… please find a therapist, it’s the healthiest and most socially responsible thing you could do.

the thing is, if your younger self was a bigot or an abuser, u can't make people forgive you. but you still gotta forgive yourself, like that's non-negotiable, dude. that happens before u can even ask the question of earning forgiveness from anyone lese

Yes please! Hell, I still have a functioning walkman somewhere. Gib to me more tech that doesn’t rely on an internet connection and can’t charge me a subscription fee!

i think we should all go back to carrying cheap little plastic mp3 players that look strangely edible and only hold like 200 songs

Daily drawing practice day 890 (9/5/24)

Tried to redesign Dread's Metroid Suit to make it look more like an adult metroid, accidentally made Dark Samus.

Fuck it. Locked tombs your miku

Tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) are popular hobbies that may offer specific social benefits for autistic people. This study investigated the ability of TTRPGs to provide a safe space where autistic adults could develop relationships with other autistic adults while engaging in character and world-building. A group of eight autistic adults were split into two groups and taken through a short-form online Dungeons and Dragons campaign over 6 weeks run by one of the researchers. The researcher then led a series of individual semi-structured interviews discussing how participants felt interacting in and out of the TTRPG. Several key themes were identified as important aspects of why autistic people could benefit from such an environment. Analysis showed that while real-life interactions could be challenging, in TTRPG play, they felt they experienced significantly fewer struggles. Results suggested that TTRPGs can provide a safe space environment where autistic adults can engage in productive social interactions with like-minded individuals. It also may allow autistic participants to experience ‘bleed’ or the ability to take on a new character that changes the way they feel about themselves outside of the game. Future directions for this work are discussed.

—Atherton, Sage, Cross. “A critical hit: Dungeons and Dragons as a buff for autistic people”, Autism (2024)

So you want to write about swords…

I’ve been reading Tamora Pierce books with my boyfriend, and it’s got me in my trap card again about what different swords are.

Despite what some sword nerds will say there really is no absolute / concrete taxonomy of swords. Especially in history, different styles of swords were highly contextual to different cultures and didn’t often need to be described super specifically or told apart. But when we’re writing, especially writing western fantasy, and we have a wealth of cool swords that we want to describe to an audience so that they sound distinct… then we need to have a ballpark idea what we’re talking about at least with the more commonly appearing ones. So.

Arming Sword / Shortsword

What the overwhelming majority of white people think of when you say “sword.” Also, unfortunately, what most white people (and tabletop systems) think of when you say “longsword,” which is just not correct.

These are one handed double edged blades with a cruciform guard, what an archetypical knight wields alongside a shield. Good for thrusts and cuts, very versatile. A good length for them is one where you can swing the sword straight down without hitting the ground.

For more specific swords that basically also fit in this category see: gladius, spatha, viking swords.

Bastard Sword

What most people who don’t think an arming sword is a longsword think is a longsword… and they’re still mostly wrong. Some people will even use this to mean something bigger than a longsword… which is even less correct.

Think of these as the shortstop between arming swords and actual longswords. They’re often also called hand-and-a-half swords, the idea being that they’re meant to be a flexible weapon that can be wielded effectively in one hand or two. The funny thing is, while most people use these to signify that a character is big and strong and edgy they are specifically a smaller and lighter cousin of the longsword.

Longsword / Claymore

Yes these are basically the same thing. This is by far the most flexible category of sword, though, so nailing down what one is can honestly be kinda tricky.

The crux is this: longswords are generally meant to be two handed weapons. Don’t listen to D&D, it lies to you. If you want the best picture look up “German longsword” or “Italian longsword” or “HEMA.” You’ll get the idea of how they were fought with. Disambiguate them from arming swords in your mind. If it’s paired with a shield (or really anything) it’s an arming sword. Longswords are bigger than you think and every guard I’ve learned with them has needed both hands.

And seriously if you remember nothing else here remember that a Claymore is just a longsword in Scottish font.

Greatsword / Zweihander

Get the image of Cloud Strife out of your head. These were not, and I can’t stress this enough, meant for dueling. They’re what you come at a pike formation with. They were handled more like polearms than swords. Generally speaking they just exist much harder in fiction than they ever did in history… but also the concept is really cool so who cares. Beeg chonk sword. Yaaaaay.

For the wacky wavy version, see “flamberge.”

Broadsword

These. Are not. Longswords. Or bastard swords. Literally they’re “rapier but thicc.” They have a basket hilt, they’re made for fencing, they’re just chonkier than other fencing swords. This one is easily the one I see misused the most because people use it to mean “lorge sword” when in actuality they are relatively small. They’re just heavyweights for a fighting style which is still geared around being light, fast, and virtually unarmored.

Rapier

We all pretty much know this one. Skinny double edged blade with a fancy hilt meant to be wielded in one hand. Good for cutting, better for stabbing. While almost no one gets confused on what it is though, there’s one common misconception about what it does.

I’ll put it this way: if seeing someone with a longsword is like seeing someone with a hunting rifle slung over their shoulder, seeing someone with a rapier is like seeing someone with a beretta tucked into their waistband.

Too many stories have big chunky dumb dumbs seeing a rapier and going “haw haw look at that little toad sticker.” No. A rapier means you definitely have money and most likely a lot of training. There is no chance you are a working stiff like a soldier, a mercenary, or a guard. Rapiers are for killing people in the street or on a dueling ground. This is one of the most intimidating weapons someone can be carrying.

Saber / Cutlass

Basically everyone knows sabers: curved fencing swords, occasionally with a fancy hilt. Mostly these were for soldiers, especially cavalry where their cutting capability has a great advantage.

The cutlass is pretty much that moved down a tax bracket. They’re relatively cheap, single edged, useful for things like cutting rope and thus often seen on ships. Often these were self defense weapons.

Falchion

An elegant weapon for elves and stuff, right?

Well… no. Try a self defense weapon for the lower class, not unlike a cutlass. Single edged, not usually curved or especially interesting, really. Though fantasy authors love handing these to graceful fighters and the name sounds rad as heck they’re basically just a big cleaver. See also the messer and the seax / langseax.

Very, very often confused with the falcata or the falx to the point that all three sort of get mixed together when they’re actually very distinct. (Personally, I think the falcata is the coolest.)

For writing purposes… think hard about how you want to use these. Curved swords that don’t mean “pirates” or “elves” are often handed off to non-white people when in fact all of these three are weapons from western civ, ranging from Rome to middle Europe. They’re not fancy, they’re not that far off from a machete except that their primary use is as a weapon rather than a tool, and if anything they curve forward not back.

Scimitar

Did you mean: Shamshir?

A curved sword that odds are you are too white to be writing about. See also the kilij, the talwar, the saif.

If you don’t immediately know what these swords are then odds are the best thing they can do by popping up in your story is alert you that you need to do more research to write the culture you’re trying to write without being accidentally racist.

Katana

A single edged Japanese sword that was neither folded a thousand times nor was it made of special super awesome steel. The optional groove in the back is called a fuller and it has nothing to do with blood, it just makes the blade lighter and sturdier. It’s not inherently master crafted, just historically the forging technique was unique and interesting and involved differential hardening. It’s great at cutting. If one shows up in your story and you aren’t Asian, you’re probably a weeb. Take it from someone who was a teenage weeb, and see my previous note about cultural research.

Bonus Round: Weight

If you made it this far I have one last gripe and I want you to spread the word: swords are not heavy. Every time I read about a noodle-armed protag struggling to lift a sword I want to scream. The average weight of a historical zweihander—the swords so big they’re used as polearms—is about 5lbs. There are books heavier than that. Unless the sword in your story is made of tungsten for some reason there is no reason it should be hard to heft. Tiring to fight with? Sure. But swords aren’t made to be cumbersome and acting like one can’t wield them at all without doing a whole montage about it first looks really silly to anyone with even a passing familiarity with fencing… which will be a sizable chunk of your audience.

Combat log: The effect Ibuprofen has ended.

Me: *instantly ragdolls*