u/Salty-Subject9559

When I have something in mind I want to say, but people are talking, I wait until they are done so I can voice my thoughts. The problem is that either this moment never seems to come, or someone else immediately jumps in and takes my spot. I feel disconnected from the conversation because of this. I have no issue listening to what other people are actually talking about-that's oftentimes all I'll end up doing-but it's really hard to be engaged when I seem to be incapable of making myself be seen. How can I begin correcting this?

I recently finished Swords and Deviltry from the First Book of Lankhmar and started Swords Against Death. I had already finished all the REH Conan stories so I chose this as my next step, and those three stories that told the backstories of Mouse and Fafhrd and their meeting in Lankhmar really surprised me.

I had already heard that Leiber had very good prose and was heavy on the humor, and both were true. But when I later decided to look up more after finishing the first book, it really surprised me how those were the elements everyone seemed to highlight the most, when there is so much more evident right there from the start. Fafhrd and Mouse are complex and very troubled individuals. I empathized with Fafhrd's frustration towards the life in his tribe and his love for Vlana as a catalyst to escape that life, Mouse's rage at losing his master and Ivrian's self-hatred for being a weak-willed coward as a result of his father's rule of fear at their household. Yet when they escape their situations and meet together and each other's lovers in Ill Met In Lankhmar, you can truly see them for what they are: Young, naive and short-sighted.

Fafhrd escaped the ice women to help Vlana get her vengeance on the Thieves Guild, yet in doing so he just locked himself in another cell, because he secretly begins to resent Vlana's fanaticism in her objective and wishes they could just forget all about it. Ivrian proved she could be brave for the Mouser, yet in spoiling and isolating her the Mouser just keeps her as her old, weak-willed self without chance for growth. In all that they bond together as friends, and with the death of both their lovers that bond just strengthens when each become all the other has left.

It surprised me because Conan never had this level of depth at all. Conan is a complex and compelling character for sure, and he doesn't always do what is right and struggles often, but overall he feels like a very idealized human. His stoicism and expertice at everything he does is something hard to picture yourself as, ever. All troughout his life he seems very stable in all his convictions and almost never do we see him make stupid choices or be uncertain about what he wants to be or do at all. That's undoubtably part of the appeal for many readers, but Leiber's heroes feel really different because you can see how flawed they are, and they make very reprehensible choices and decisions. Conan also does, but almost never does the story treat them as such. Meanwhile Fafhrd is seen acting out of irrational passion, drunkenness, arrogance, and just straight up >!kills a young boy while getting his revenge on the Guild.!<

I've heard the later works aren't as good or are just straight up bad compared to the early ones, so I'll have to see for myself. I made this post in part to start discussion and in part to get me to read more because I've struggling a bit with reading lately, so I'd like to hear what you guys think about that.

I'm looking for books where the main character leads a military campaign to become ruler, either usurping the king of their own land or conquering/unifying. They can start from scratch and climb their way up or already start out as nobles or with a considerable advantage, it doesn't matter. I would enjoy the focus to be on the battles and alliances and politics and logistics. Multiple POVs are fine but I would prefer for it to focus mainly on one character's quest and not multiple POVs fighting for the throne, ASOIAF-style. Is there anything that comes to mind?

It seems so weird to me because at first glance, coming from an empire, it's such a massive abuse of power and prime example of tyranny that you have to wonder how the provinces haven't rebelled after having their folk murdered by foreign soldiers for not complying.

Look a bit deeper and it's not just the empire who does this, but the local authorities of the provinces as well. It's unlikely this custom of brutal enforcement had to be adopted by Morrowind by Imperial Law, considering they were the most free of the provinces in the Empire, yet house guards will gleefully cut you down all the same. All of them, from all the houses. Same applies to Skyrim 200 years later.

And even weirder is that it's not only widely accepted by nearly every citizen, but it seems to also work completely flawlessly. There's no controversies or investigations regarding if a guard's use of force was actually justified or just an excuse to murder someone and face no consequences. If you don't comply with the guards, even if what you did was steal a carrot and a loaf of bread, you're dead. That's how it is, and you should learn to be comfortable with it, just like everyone else.

The Empire has never been portrayed as an evil institution. How the hell can they get away with that abuse of power? Is that even considered an abuse of power? Why does everyone else do the same and seem to be fine with it?

I am trying to roleplay a former burglar/bandit who tries to get into what's profitable after getting released in Vvardenfell. My skillset leans more towards the Morag Tong but I can fit into the Guild just fine. I just want to do the questline that has you earn the most money and/or items at the end. I'll also be joining the Telvanni so of course it would have to be the one that conflicts the least with them, both lore and gameplay-wise. Which should I choose?

So the context here is that, despite always liking and having an affinity for reading, I've always been very inconsistent and undisciplined for reading. It took me 3 months to finish Hyperion, for example. This year I set up the objective of reading 50 books, no time limit but I have to read every day and journal my thoughts on every book. I've started out with a list of 20 books, and since I love fantasy, that's the main genre present there. The problem is that when I look for recommendations on stuff here on Reddit, most fantasy books are part of very long series of 10-15 books. I'm sure Malazan, Black Company and Wheel of Time are great, but when my objective is to read 50 books, having all those 50 books end up belonging to like 5-6 authors in total pretty much defeats the point.

I am looking for some standalone novels or short series, 3-7 books in range, that are not very dense but meaningful and well suited to a 50 book objective. I tend to enjoy sword and sorcery as well as swashbuckling novels, but I have no problems with epic fantasy. YA is also allowed but nothing that is super dense: I'm only gona be reading a single 800-1000 page book, not three, not five. If it's multiple books, they better be shorter than that.

Since part of the reason for beginning this journey is also that I'm trying to be a writer, I am aiming for some diversity and novels that are meaningful in themes and with great character progression and arcs. I am also interested in more tragic stuff.

What do you guys think is a must read in my situation?

So I've played the game a couple times, last time the past year, but never actually finished it. I want to create a dunmer wanderer who joins the Tribunal Temple as part of Caius' suggestion to look for stuff to do and begins some sort of spiritual awakening as he progresses through the main quest. I won't be used the preset pilgrim class as that's not what I'm looking for, I lean more towards unarmored, long blade, athletics, alchemy, maybe illusion or destruction, maybe some mercantile and/or speechcraft. I am using the Sun's Dusk mod for survival as well as Jule the Ashlander and probably Tamriel Rebuilt and Skyrim Home of the Nords too.

I just would like some suggestions on what factions should I join (other than the Tribunal Temple) , how could I approach the gameplay, what other skills should I pick or what should I pick instead of what I mentioned, what other mods should I install, just general suggestions and thoughts like that. Thanks guys.

Just a thought that slipped up on me today. After rescuing Anora, all the nobles chatting and drinking at the Gnawed Noble tavern insult you and send you away like a dog at a restaurant. Meanwhile Teagan in Redciffe is literally with a bunch of scared, hungry villagers in a Chantry, fighting against some unknown beasts, the castle locked away with no news of his brother or nephew, with almost no hopes of surviving the night, and he still take sthe time to politely greet you and your companions and thank Thomas for bringing you in. Even before recognizing Alistair he still politely greets you and humbly asks for your help.

Like I get your we're in a Blight and your lands are suffering and your sons are dead, but you are comfy drinking and chatting with your fellow aristocrats and treat me like a leprous beggar while this dude who has no idea he or the villagers will see the light of day still treats you like an actual person. Like there's no excuse for speaking to me like that dude.

Minor spoilers but even one of the ending slides say that he took over as Arl of Redcliffe when Eamon abdicated to focus fully on advising Alistair and Anora and everyone was glad of him ruling in Redcliffe. Like everyone adores this dude. Not to mention he was also one of the only ones with the balls to call out Loghain on his bullshit after Ostagar.

I recently watched the spaghetti western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". One of the things I loved about it was how quiet everything was; the scenes always spoke for themselves. The contrast between Blondie, who was laconic and mysterious, and Tuco, who was a loud man in a quiet world, was amazing. The movie was never carried by dialogue or acting, but instead by the lack of it.

I am looking for a book that feels like that. Where every moment is told through the enviroment, where we as the reader watch more than we listen, where we can picture and feel the world around us. We aren't constantly exposed to characters talking, we see before we listen to them. Everything is told in the present and the now, and the enviroment speaks more than the characters. What books come to mind?

I am a teenager who has had severe eczema since the first month of birth. Before I started Dupilumab, my skin was at it's absolute lowest point. It seems to have been first triggered by puberty after a long period of clear skin and it only got worse for years. July-August 2023 was the most horrendous point in the history of my eczema. Genuinely harrowing stuff that was highly improved when I started to receive injections every 2 weeks.

The improvement was incredible, but it was not total. The constant improvement eventually stagnated. My eczema was still present in parts of my body, even though it was far from limiting or even remarkable for me. But my dermatologist was not satisfied; it was supposed to be an absolute cure. We kept on, I was unable to receive it for about 2 months due to a misunderstanding regarding an increased dosis, but we still did it.

But the dermatologist now wanted to replace it with Montelukast, which after finding out had several side effects that included but were not limited to mood swings, seizures and suicidal thoughts, my mom absolutely denied. She pulled away from the dermatologist and I stopped receiving the injections I had been receiving until then.

I worsened a bit after that, but we wouldn't return. But now I have flared up terribly, possibly due to a cold, and I have been discussing with my mom about regaining the approval of dermatologists to restart Dupilumab. She is against the idea because she says they will all push her to try Montelukast, as they did before.

Is Montelukast truly as terrible as she makes it seem? Is the risk that high? Should we stick with trying again Dupilumab? I really need to understand these two, as my mom can be quite stubborn and arrogant in changing her mind, if that should be necessary.

Genuinely confused about this because everywhere where I see these terms being used, in like detailing the childhood and humor and personality and beliefs of every generation, it all seems so American to me. Here in Colombia, both my parents would be Gen X and even though they watched Hollywood movies and some American music, their whole life experience is very different to what people here, and everyone who classifies generations, assigns to people born in those times.

Now it is clear that cultural divides and values are steadily fading due to globalization but when people talk about "The values of Gen X" or "The childhood of Gen Alpha" or "Gen Z doesn't date anymore" or "Millenial humor" and all that, it all seems to describe American cultural phenomenona. Elsewhere in the world outside of the US and Canada maybe I don't think you'd find people fit as nicely in those classifications.

I know full well most people in this sub are not even close to being experts in this, but are these terms meant to be used on a global scale? because it seems they're not even close to being used on a global scale.

I've noticed in the RPGs that I've played that the playable character is very much protected by the plot and the game at all times, by virtue of being the main character: They exceed in talent others with more experience than them from the very start, They rarely struggle with solving problems at all, aren't forced to make any sacrifices, any danger is guaranteed to be solved by them with ease, they are always the best and most powerful in what they do. This all while they're probably not even 25 yet.

Of course, this is all natural of videogames in general, but I'm still interested on knowing if there's a game ot there where your character isn't the center of the universe.

If they are already strong and powerful from the start, there's a reasonable justification for it. Early in the game, there are foes that you can't face and win, and even if you can exceed them as the story progresses, there will always be someone who is better and more powerful than you. You can't simply rely on your strength all the time, sometimes you need to follow more creative solutions to problems that are not as straightforward and don't involve constant fighting, and there is a very real threat of failure if you aren't careful and/or don't take the time to know your enemy. You will need the help of others for your cause, and someone will probably save you from having your ass handed to you once or multiple times; you will also be forced to make difficult sacrifices to progress as well. You can very much fail at what you do, but there's the option to give up and fail a quest if it's too difficult, and possibly be able to take it back again at a later time, not just the cheap solution of reloading a save.

I don't know if this is simply too much to ask for a game, but I wanted to know if there's a game which could meet these gameplay elements or even just the most essential of them. I dislike constant combat encounters though, and please don't spoil any game you might recommend. Good day guys