There's a very clear before and after in my life and a very obvious and traumatic cause.
My GP said we should check my vitamins and do a pelvic scan and didn't listen when I pointed out the actual cause
Bruh what do I actually do??
About 5 years ago I had a very stressful year. Chronic stress, grief, loneliness, the works. I've recovered from my depression since then except for 1 thing, which is cognitive.
I struggle to retain information, focus, or generally attack any problem with my mind. A to do list with 2 or more things on it will send me into overwhelm. This is frustrating because before That Year, I was very good at this.
I went to a counsellor and they said "idk, try a GP for cognitive tests". I went to a GP and they said "are you SURE it's mental health related? It's not your diet or your uterus? Go do this blood work and a pelvic scan." So I don't know how much help they will be.
Is this the sort of thing neurology can help with? Should I ask my doctor for a referral?
At a certain point in my life I experienced extreme chronic stress plus intense grief. I went from a top performer to one of the "laziest" (don't know a non mean version of that word). Even several years later, emotionally I'm no longer depressed, but a to do list with two tasks on it can put me into overwhelm. Plus my ability to focus and remember and figure things out was decimated.
I went to a counsellor and they said, "idk try a GP, they do cognitive stuff"
So I went to a GP and they said "maybe it's nutrition? Or your uterus? Are you SURE this is mental health related?" And neither of those things were different before or after the chronic stress, so... I'm not hopeful they will help.
Are these the right professionals? Is this a neurology thing? Do I try a different doctor or just jump through the hoops until something works?
I want to be prepared in case the party picks a fight with Vasili specifically. It hasn't happened, so I have no context other than "just in case" and "players do be players".
Should Vasili reveal himself and I just play Strahd music? Or should I have some other music as Strahd limits himself to only what a human accountant with maybe a rapier should be able to accomplish? What would I play if Strahd tries to not blow his cover? My generic Barovia fight music?
VERY LONG, MEANDERING ANECDOTE OF PEOPLE EXPERIENCING A DISAGREEMENT. EVERY CLICHE IS USED.
VERY LONG, MEANDERING ANECDOTE OF ME (SEX, AGE) AND OTHER PERSON (SEX, AGE) EXPERIENCING A DISAGREEMENT. EVERY CLICHE IS USED.
I'm making a Barbarian with the Sailor background, giving her Tavern Brawler, and therefore Proficiency in Improvised Weapons. The rules for damage are: "On a hit, the weapon deals 1d4 damage of a type the DM thinks is appropriate for the object."
Does this mean:
a) Where a Greataxe's die is 1d12, an Improvised Weapon's die is 1d4. Other than that, follow the rules as normal, which means add your STR/DEX modifier. This is because the rules don't explicitly say to leave out the modifier.
OR
b) An Improvised Weapon does 1d4, but unlike other weapons, doesn't include any STR/DEX modifiers. This is because the rules say "it deals 1d4" and that's it.
I've tried to google it but all I got were forums of people arguing back and forth about it with no conclusive answer.
Thought experiment. I know how crucial the night of Strahd killing Sergei followed by Tatyana jumping to her death is to Strahd's backstory.
I also know in Session 0 it's often common to say "trigger warning: all of them" and ask for specific ones to avoid, and how much to avoid them. Maybe a player is arachnophobic, so you delete any spiders and reskin them to something else. Maybe a player is deeply triggered by violence against kids, so you age up or delete Arabelle, the Bonegrinder victims and Gertrude.
But what if a player says absolutely no mentions of suicide? Is that possible? Would you have Tatyana disappear or die another way (maybe she heroically tries to fight off Strahd on that fateful night, but the newly born vampire doesn't know his own strength and kills her, adding to the tragedy because It's His Own Fault?) or would you just call it quits and run something else?
Tell me the neat things you noticed or your favourite tracks. Here's mine.
In Time Go Fishing the main motif's first half is the Dies Irae.
Dies Irae (DEE- ess EAR- ay) is music short hand for Death and it's 4 notes long. It plays when Simba's dad is getting trampled, it's rearranged into the Darth Vader theme, it's played in various forms in Sweeney Todd when anyone does literally anything.
Time Go Fishing has its "ah ah ah ah ah" motif which is one half Dies Irae, but one half something else, something original. Death is looming very closely... but also maybe not. It's horrible odds, a hail mary if you will.
And this motif showed up much, much earlier... when Grace first gets a look at Astrophage. He is analysing the thing killing the world, despite it being alive he is analysing Death.
And here's the second thing, someone pointed out the music to "i give. Grace Go home" is like if you took the Dies Irae and moved it from minor (sad) to major (happy). It plays when Grace learns he won't die in space, when Taumoeba successfully eats Astrophage and they learn their stars won't die. And a similar thing plays when Rocky wakes up and Grace hugs him. So instead of Death... this motif is saying "you're going to live, you'll be ok"
Tell me the parts of the music you love
I love hamming up villains. Is it obvious for King Vampire to say blood related lines? Absolutely. Do I tire of it? Never. Here's some of mine.
- (respect/obey me)... as the honour of my blood deserves
- Fresh blood (new souls!)
- blood sport (fight for my entertainment!)
- waste of blood
- better blood/bloodlines
- bloodletting (done periodically for "health" lol, maybe your Strahd fights the players frequently?)
- bleeding - Barovia is bleeding souls (come up with a better use than me lol)
- my heart bleeds for you
- coursing through my veins (Tatyana my love for you is coursing through my veins)
- it's in my/your blood
Anyone have any more?
EDIT: You guys are right, it was absolutely something like "knee-either"
" 🎶I say neither, you say -🎶
"Neither."
"Nope. 🎶I say neither, you say -🎶"
"Nee-EYE-ther."
"Nope."
Rocky. That's not a word. How did you say a word that doesn't exist? Why did Grace program in a mangled pronunciation of neither?
Unless... Grace programmed in every sound in the alphabet? Which is insane, but.... with Rocky's memory, why not?
One Christian person I know says it means man-made systems, like taxes and bureaucracy and laws.
Another Christian I know says it means everything, man made or otherwise.
More context: The first Christian (some kind of Protestant probably, according to the second) was claiming these systems were Satanic, but even so, we should still pay our taxes and follow laws. The second Christian (some kind of Orthodox) said "this is silly, if man made stuff is satanic, does this mean you worship trees?"
EDIT: There's no context or specific passage. I suspect the idea is "in antiquity, when the Bible was written, this word was used slightly differently"
How do I turn the fantasy in my head of neighbors all banding together to withstand the economy and everybody claps, into something that's actually realistic that I can do right now?
Everything about him screams friend!
- The first thing he does is copy. Very friendly sign when you have no other communication
- the little sensors and dishes on the blip A look like they are reacting to grace's silliness catching blip b, like we are. We are in Rocky's shoes before we even meet him! It's him and us together looking at Grace's shenanigans
- his eridian singing is beautiful and has lovely tones to it! Us space blobs love music and nice sounds
- he is dog size and has dog number of legs. His design is a little bit dog. (His brain is not dog of course). At the end of that live stream watching him sleep, he wakes up and does a big stretch like a dog or cat, despite the fact i have no idea if that's even feasible considering his biology
- everything about the music associated with him is very friendly and I remember someone saying the music primes us to feel like he's a bit familiar and therefore not scary
- technically he has no face, but one surface of his is treated like the main face a lot! Which feels familiar to us
- his laugh when he mirrors grace's dance moves is more high pitched! It activates "just like me" neurons AND "omg cute" neurons simultaneously
- the shots showing what he "sees"! We are in his shoes and we know what it's like for him!
- even though his voice is coming from two laptops duct taped together (Ortiz' words I believe), and words are chosen from an algorithm... he still does inflection and emphasis and volume and all the other impossible very human parts of speaking. Not even a time delay between note and word, as if he IS saying these words with that tone.
- that shot when Grace doesn't want to take off his helmet and he walks away... and rocky looks so lonely 😭😭 and trusting him pays off! He shows hospitality with the air in the tunnel!
- he gives gifts and makes a little xenonite Grace! He likes puppets!
- he is scared of the same thing we are (the creepy voice) & has the same opinions on them we do! despite having no cultural context to work with
- the way he tumbles everywhere is very endearing
- WHERE MY BEDROOOOOOOM
I know where I want to put Volenta and Ludmilla. It'd be great if there was one place in the castle and one place in the world where you could encounter the brides, but I'm not sure where that would be for Escher and Anastrasya?
I have vague memories of learning to edit on Premiere Pro and being able to watch what you made in double speed.
Every time I google this, I get answers for how to make the actual video double speed, ie the final product will be half the length.
I don't want to shorten the video, I just want to press fast forward on it because I've seen it a hundred times and I'm impatient.
Am I dumb?? Is there a button I've missed?
Say someone goes through a stressful time where they have to remember lots of things and after that thing is over, their memory is mush.
How would you go about fixing that?