u/TheExtraPeel

So, I ordered the Core Rules and the Monster Codex, figured those would be a good starting point for me. I’m the kind of GM who uses the setting as a starting point/foundation before building my own thing (it’s why I like pre-made settings but don’t like pre-constructed adventures). The setting of this world feels like a super interesting vibe, lots for me to springboard off of.

So, thought I’d put the questions to you guys:

1. Favourite part of the system?

2. Least favourite part of the system?

3. Advice for a new GM running it? Have run other games but never really even heard of Symbaroum until recently - and it really intrigued me. What rules/lore bits should I be most wary/aware of?

Thanks! I can’t wait to get started!

Hi, guys. Currently 8 months into guitar and learning Wonderwall. Can do all the strumming for verses and chorus, with vocals too. Issue is the prechorus. I learned the song from Justin Guitar, who unfortunately omitted to mention the strumming pattern for the prechorus. Also checked the video from Dan Jones Guitar specifically about the Wonderwall prechorus - but he also omitted to break down the strumming pattern. Atm, I have just been using the strumming pattern of the verses matched onto a Cadd9-Dsus4-Em7 progression, which I am almost dead certain is incorrect.

Please help. I don't understand why it is so difficult to learn what is supposedly an easy song. I have also seen a strumming pattern saying to do the first part of the main strumming pattern, up until the upstrums of the second part. If this is the case, why do so many gutiar YouTubers omit this basic (but critical) information? Really annoying, as a guy who doesn't ahve access to a guitar teacher so is reliant on these YouTube teachers.

The novel follows Benned Cotau, the newly promoted Captain of Mirror Squadron, as he struggles with the responsibilities of command and the weight of his father’s legacy during a pivotal military campaign. Stone Winds combines space opera action with a focus on characters and their relationships.

See below for the blurb:

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Benned Cotau has been promoted to Captain of Mirror Squadron, a decision he believes he owes more to his father’s legacy than to his own ability. Believing himself unworthy, his doubts are reinforced by his predecessor’s lack of faith and resentment from within his squadron. His worst fears are realised when a young pilot dies under his command during his first engagement as Captain.
Despite this setback, his superiors see potential and entrust him with further responsibility. With pressure mounting, both from inside and outside the squadron, he must choose whether to retreat from the responsibilities of command or embrace them.
The stony planet of Bythe will be the battlefield on which he must prove he has what it takes. But there are whispers of a formidable force on the enemy’s side: a unit known only as the Bythe Demons. They will test Benned’s skills both as a pilot and a leader, forcing him to confront the truth of his father’s legacy.

--

If anyone is interested, please let me know and DM me. I am happy to do swaps of a similar length (max. 95,000 words). My preferred method is Word or PDF, but if necessary, just lmk if you would rather do Google Docs.

All I’m trying to do at the moment is make my pacing brisk and readable. The moment the story gets boring - that means I need to change something. So any feedback relating to that would be incredibly helpful.

Yeah, basically my comment on this post. I’ll leave a copy here on this post so you can read it easily.

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Why is staying home such a bad thing? I’m autistic and deaf - going out takes a lot of effort and energy. I would rather stay home and enjoy my hobbies.

That isn’t to say I don’t socialise, though my socialising tends to be online or one-to-one. I trust my mates with my life and my family’s lives - but they don’t need to be around me constantly.

Let’s try moving away from the idea that if someone isn’t socially visible then they’re “missing out.” It’s that kind of pressure that autistic people and introverts can really struggle with, as it makes their own lives seem “wrong” or “not enough” just because they are not socially visible.

I, myself, have placed a massive pressure on my shoulders trying to force myself to be socially visible at uni. I was out drinking with a new group of people every night, got myself involved in every sport, went to a bunch of uni social events…and I had an awful time. I didn’t enjoy not a one of these experiences. I was forcing myself to be someone I wasn’t. The result was I got suspended for alcoholism and depression.

Now I’m actually happy, but according to you I’m “missing out”? Trust me, I’m missing out on nothing but performative social nonsense.

I was reading Grant Morrison’s Flex Mentallo miniseries, when I came up with the idea for Withdrawal. Someone told me “show me your idea of love.” So I did that, combining it with some trademark Morrison metatextual postmodernism.

It follows an author writing an author. Meanwhile both analyse their experiences with love and romance. Definitely the rawest thing I’ve ever written, enough that I consider it a semi-autobiographical piece. Be warned: it is a little confusing. Would be really interested in what people thought of the end.

Here’s an excerpt:

Bottles clink against the back of the door, as I push it open and head inside. The damp smell doesn’t rankle me the same way it did when I first moved in, but it is far from pleasant. 
Beads of sweat prickle my forehead. A couple of runaways dribble down my cheeks, down my chin, dripping onto the floor. 
My legs burn, almost as much as my chest. It’s so tight I can almost feel my heart suffocating. I just had to get out of there. 
Those dead eyes. That lifeless smile. I just had to get away from her. 
How can you love me? I gasp raggedly. How…How can you say that? My hair, long, dark and sweat-soaked, hangs limply over my face as I bow my head. You love me and you kiss me. And I kiss you. What more is there?

#

I don’t write many romance stories. Though my romance stories tend to be my most popular with beta readers. Ummm, yeah. If you guys are interested let me know in my DMs.

So, I(20M), am in a relationship with this girl (20F). I am having doubts over staying with her because I don’t think I find her as attractive as I should and I think she bores me. She’s safe and stress-free, which is far and away much better than other girls I have dated, but she doesn’t excite me. Like I feel tempted to cheat on her. I don’t want to, bcos cheating is a cardinal sin (couldn’t do that to a person), but I still feel if I have the option, I would leap at it. My sex life has been fucking awful, and she’s the only person I’ve met who makes me feel good about sex and doesn’t give me a mental breakdown over it.

But I am stuck with her bcos I don’t have any other options. I feel inherently undesirable. And I don’t know why. Bcos I genuinely wouldn’t want to be another person than who I am right now. I really do love myself and enjoy spending time with myself. But how I see myself doesn’t seem to reflect into dating opportunities, and it hurts me. That leads me into the second half of this post.

I’m a smart guy, very nerdy about all sorts of things, very introspective - and I love that about myself. I’m willing to try new things and experiment. My instinct is always to be kind even when, as is atm, every fibre of my consciousness is telling me to be unkind. Like I write books in my free time, read fiction and non-fiction. I want to be a historian when I graduate (just gotta get the MD and PhD first haha). I wouldn’t say I’m especially a smooth-talker, nor do I want to be. Feels a little close to manipulation for my liking. I also have very strong morals and beliefs derived from Buddhist, anarchism, and communism. I’m a funny guy, like I can make people laugh.

Appearance-wise, I think I look fairly attractive. Nothing to make you notice if you saw me, but enough that I’m not ugly I suppose. I love my long hair, but I did it for me, not anyone else. I have some very very mild acne, and get rashes when I shave (annoying asf). But I shower, keep myself clean, try and wear nice clothes that I like. Like, I’m not trying to impress anyone, if that makes sense?

Only things I dislike about myself are my disabilities (I’m deaf and autistic, diagnosed; I suspect ADHD, but that’s undiagnosed). I dislike my face as well, sometimes. Sometimes I think I look hot; sometimes I think I look like I’m inbred. I’m also a little overweight. Like, not enough to impede me (I can still play a full game of basketball or have full training sessions while still playing well, or as well as I can haha). I also have anxiety and depression, though that’s less about me and more about how people respond to me.

Like I said, I am treated with indifference at best, scorn at worst. The girls that excite me, that really click with me, more often than not turn out to be very rude, arrogant, or unable to deal with conflict in a way that is mature. I’m talking quick to anger, always complaining at my efforts, or just not reciprocating my efforts. I’ve been led on, I’ve been used, I’ve been rejected constantly, I’ve had nothing but short flings…

“I’m tired, boss.”

It feels like all my romantic spark has been just punched out of me. Everything I do just goes unappreciated. Everything I am is just background noise bcos I’m a man and I’m born horrible (Why has misandry suddenly become so prominent???).

This girl has none of that. None of the stress, the pointless arguing, the misandry, the mistreatment…She appreciates me for me and who I am. The problem is, I feel that is the bare minimum. I’m not excited by her at all, only that she is the only girl I’ve met who comes close to my minimum standards. And she also makes me feel good about sex, which is basically the root of my depression.

I dunno. This isn’t meant as an “all women are evil!” kinda post. It’s just alarming how many women I’ve encountered who have been god-awful partners, so demanding and arrogant, and that’s really fucked up my perception of romance and relationships. I genuinely believe there are no good women out there. That’s not a pleasant or healthy belief, but I couldn’t tell you how I’m supposed to break it.

A discussion of the philosophy of writing themes.

In particular with this question, I’m asking about themes, including questions of morality, politics, and philosophy. The question came from seeing a quote from a successful writer (I can’t remember exactly, but I believe it was Nolan). The writer said that it is up to the audience to draw their own answers from a piece of work, obviously drawing from the idea of the “death of the author.” It is also an obvious challenge to movies and media that come across as quite preachy in their morals.

I remember agreeing very strongly with this at the time. However, I have also been reading some stories, from Frank Herbert, LeGuin, and Asimov, each of which could be considered “preachy” by some people’s standards. Yet those stories worked.

Instead, I’ve drafted my own hypothesis. That agrees with the original conclusion, but with a caveat. You have to ask questions, but the way you write those questions will naturally align more with certain types of answers, provided enough of your soul is in your writing (apologies, I am quite a spiritual person 😅).

For instance, in Dune, one of the (many) questions Frank Herbert asks, “Does the Hero’s Journey only create heroes?” The way he writes it implies an answer (“no”), though there is arguably some ambiguity over whether Paul is an antihero, a villain, or even by some, a hero.

What do you guys think? Both of my hypothesis and the title question?

I have never read an Ursula LeGuin book or story before I picked up this novella. I have to say, it was fantastic.

Davidson is one of my favourite villains: he is evil and sadistic, but even more frighteningly, he feels like a real possibility, a real consequence of the Terran military machine. He felt like a complicated and real soldier, one who has fully convinced himself of his own superior authority. Selver and Lyubov did not hold my attention quite as easily as Davidson did, though their chapters were highly important thematically and in expanding the Athsheans. I did really enjoy the ansible chapter, though that was probably more carried by Davidson and the underlying themes than Lyubov’s character. This isn’t to say either character was bad, but they felt more like they were serving a specific element of the story.

Thematically, where do I start? LeGuin managed to meld what feels like a thousand different themes and philosophies into one tiny story. The Vietnam allegory is very blatant, but that works well for the story. .9The critique of empires and human nature also works very well, including the themes of racism and xenophobia. Very powerful stuff. I am going to put another post up on here shortly outlining my thoughts on the ending and the thematic threads of anarchism that LeGuin has written.

LeGuin also has a very strong writing style that I enjoy. Every sentence is well-constructed and has a lot of hidden meaning. Aside from some tense mistakes, too, the SPAG was flawless (which is a big win in my book). I thought her storytelling and plotting were terrific. My only gripe was that there weren’t actually all that many scenes. The book felt like it should have been longer. “Scenes” were often characters just recalling past scenes. I prefer more immediacy and immersion in my reading; thankfully, the themes and the intelligence in which they were written really gripped me, even if the prose was not entirely to my taste.

Yeah, I really enjoyed this story. It was fantastic. I’m still thinking about it, hours after reading it. Definitely will be one of those that sticks with me.

What were your thoughts on the book? Like I said, I am going to make a second post discussing the ending (which I will link below once I’ve done it).

I (20M) love reading. Like, I have read five or six books this year so far. Not huge, but it’s something. Trying to read more, but I’m hitting a roadblock.

I’m autistic, so struggle to read in any sorts of conditions. Even in perfect conditions, reading books is a chore. It just drains me and feels like something I have to force rather than something I actively enjoy. Which is why I have ended up drifting to comics. I suspect I may have ADHD as well, which also doesn’t help the focus.

I am also just tired asf all the time. I wake up with a random amount of sleep from 4-10 hours and whatever amount of sleep I get I am still just tired and drained.

Finally, I do a lot of writing, having written like six books and working on a bunch more. My books just seem to excite me a lot more than reading does. Idk. Just can’t find any stories that immerse me like I used to. Like I’m just always so conscious I am just reading words on a page. It’s almost lost the magic for me. Whereas my own stuff I can much more clearly visualise in my head.

But yeah, what am I doing wrong? I have Ursula LeGuin’s \*The Word For World Is Forest\* that I am really eager to read, but I just…can’t. Every time I open the book and see the first page, my stomach drops, and I have to shut the book again. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.

I feel I missed out on a lot of Lumet’s work, simply because the common discourse was about Coppola, or Scorsese, or Tarantino, or Spielberg. However, in the last year since I first discovered him, Sidney Lumet has emerged as one of my favourites.

I’ve only watched a handful of his movies, but they are all bangers:

- Twelve Angry Men
- Serpico
- Dog Day Afternoon
- Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead

I really want to continue to explore some more of his films, because I feel Im only scratching the surface. What are your favourite Lumet flicks?

Hiya, guys. I read Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing and became absolutely obsessed with the character of John Constantine. Genuinely the best comics run I have read so far. Since then, I have started reading Hellblazer Volume 1: Original Sin (collects Delano’s first set of issues), along with Rick Veitch’s Swamp Thing, because the two cross over a lot. Loving it. Both Swamp Thing and John Constantine are fast becoming my favourite DC characters (sorry Bruce and Ollie 😭). Please, no spoilers, I beg! I also watched and thoroughly love Keanu Reaves’ Constantine movie, though appreciate it as a different interpretation of the character. I also need to watch the one-season television show, bcos I loved the character when he briefly appeared in Arrow.

I am really attracted to the philosophical and realistic/gritty aspects of both characters. As in, the stuff that goes on is wildly fantastical, but it feels grounded in real life and in real human emotions. Which is why Delano and Veitch are still holding my attention quite nicely. I am also very, very picky with comics, especially superhero stuff - it’s not much my thing, though I do enjoy certain runs and certain characters/stories.

Basically, my questions are,

1. which runs of these characters are worth reading? Including the team-up books like Justice League Dark. Once I’ve finished Delano and Veitch, should I just read from there and continue both series? Comic Book Herald has some fantastic reading orders for the characters, but I’m not sure if I want to read it all (or even if it is all necessarily good).

2. Do Constantine and Swamp Thing team up more after the Moore and Veitch eras?

3. Are there any other of those dark, broody (emo, I guess?) characters I should check out? Like I like the darkness of these two characters, wondered if it was a thing special to the Vertigo imprint. I have been recommended to get into the Zatanna comics. I have no idea much of anything about her besides sparing cameos in other books and never watched the old DCAU.

Hope you guys can help. And if nothing else, this post is another opportunity to geek about the characters you love :)

So, I’ve been playing around with the idea of writing fantasy (irp) historiography about the world I’ve been creating for years. I’ve written six novels so far, none of them set in this universe, and that has quite annoyed me icl. Like this world combines the two things I love most: history and politics. But I’ve never successfully written a novel set in the world (I have tried so, so, so many times).

But I was thinking of using this world as maybe a thought experiment, a look at how history is analysed and interpreted through different perspectives and different political lenses. I would write fictional works written by fictional academics about the histories of their world. I feel there would be a lot of opportunity for nuance, and I would enjoy putting my own little easter eggs here and there. I am particularly interested in how the author’s present influences their views of the past (such as how perceptions of the French Revolution have changed so drastically over the years, depending on the author’s context).

Idk. Just thought it might be a fun project to do. Obviously, I would do it small at first. Most of the world is fairly well established, but I have particularly in-depth lore about one specific Elven culture. So I at least have more stuff to draw on, in terms of historical facts and potential historical sources for academics to draw from.

Kind of a thinking post, just seeing what people think of a project like this. As if I don’t need anymore writing projects (🤣), but it would be nice to do something extremely pretentious/litfic, as I largely stick to genre fiction. I also see opportunities for collaboration etc. What would you guys think of a project of this sort? I’m not necessarily bothered about getting this published (my genre fiction hopefully, but even then, not a necessity). Yep, to cut a long post short, what do you guys think?

I (20M) have acute sexual anxiety due to my inexperience. Like, I view myself as defective etc etc bcos of my autism and deafness. I am also considering I may be asexual, which may be why I have never chased sex super strongly. I am also unattractive physically, though have made efforts to ensure I have a strong personality.

I just wanted to ask how important sex actually is to your life? Bcos Im at uni, so all around me, sex is given a heightened importance, which just makes the comparison loop so much worse. So I wonder how, in the “real” adult world, do men treat sex?