Question: I know this is a hot topic, but when do you think it is okay to start playing Christmas music?
Whenever I damn well feel like it. Historically, that has often been for a day, maybe two in june or july, and then a day or so sometime in december, usually before the the 25th, but sometimes after.
if you mean, when should businesses play -- like restaurant's, malls, grocery stores, major market retailers, and the like, well, the same time they start to play other religious celebratory music for other all faiths, and that includes things like gospel and church hymns, islamic and hindu and shinto and...
If you mean anything that relies on a federal license (such as TV stations and radio stations) or as part of the government, then never.
IF you mean during a d&D game, well, any time it maximizes the thematic qualities of the particular scene and provides an effective vibe.
As you can likely imagine, I am deeply displeased that the world does not function according to my preferences.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Question: I know this is a hot topic, but when do you think it is okay to start playing Christmas music?
I grew up with a Dad who would play Christmas music all year if my Mom would allow it. She is the Grinch of our family.
Because of this upbringing, I am okay with playing Christmas in early October, though I understand why others wouldn’t. In fact, we jammed to some today while we prepared the house for a new roommate. Personally, I will take any excuse to celebrate the birth of Jesus, even if it is out of season.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays some of my favorite Christmas songs, though I also enjoy other artists like Sleeping At Last.
I will state that I am completely against any Christmas lights or trees before Thanksgiving.
Question: I know this is a hot topic, but when do you think it is okay to start playing Christmas music?
Whenever I damn well feel like it. Historically, that has often been for a day, maybe two in june or july, and then a day or so sometime in december, usually before the the 25th, but sometimes after.
if you mean, when should businesses play -- like restaurant's, malls, grocery stores, major market retailers, and the like, well, the same time they start to play other religious celebratory music for other all faiths, and that includes things like gospel and church hymns, islamic and hindu and shinto and...
If you mean anything that relies on a federal license (such as TV stations and radio stations) or as part of the government, then never.
IF you mean during a d&D game, well, any time it maximizes the thematic qualities of the particular scene and provides an effective vibe.
As you can likely imagine, I am deeply displeased that the world does not function according to my preferences.
You and me both, sister. I resonate with all of that.
I'm making an effort to be less of a buzzkill in general, and one of the ways is to foster a genuine appreciation for Christmas music. Some of it ain't easy to love. In particular, songs that use that one crappy jingle bell sample, and ones that go significantly below the tempo of other songs on the radio, really do have powerful Grinchifying effects. But they're not all bad.
I do understand that there is a heaping ton of horrible Christmas songs that are not fun to listen to. However, there are some Christmas songs that are really good.
Question: I know this is a hot topic, but when do you think it is okay to start playing Christmas music?
Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays some of my favorite Christmas songs, though I also enjoy other artists like Sleeping At Last.
... Well, you said it. TSO is everything.
And what so little people know is that at the core, TSO is composed from my favorite band, Savatage - as a matter of fact some of their biggest songs were Savatage songs before they were TSO songs.
Some shorts I took of some TSO shows... back in 2009, or 2010... TSO, sadly hasn't come back around to San Diego in like the last 5 to 10 years, which sucks. Because it was the one concert my wife and I always looked forward to. A wonderful time to spend together. Sadly we're not able to fly or drive if it's beyond an hour or two, due to the wife's health. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_L8eyZPHTA&list=PLCC2UwLOFVCEdF3oAG6CHfTcVdKYbjNdJ&ab_channel=TawmisGreybeard
I do understand that there is a heaping ton of horrible Christmas songs that are not fun to listen to. However, there are some Christmas songs that are really good.
Well, I mean, there has to be to get me to suddenly have a hankerin for them in mid-summer.
You mentioned TSO, and I can be said to like pretty much all instrumental takes on Carol of Bells. Non-verbal Vocal ones are a hit with me as well -- but I happen to like the style.
I was raised with a mix of Episcopalian and variant West African faiths with a lot of Lakota and Dakota influence (and now you know why I studied religion), and then I went to Seminary during College (SB) because I thought is would help with my roles in my tribes.And then my Wife was a lapsed Witness and then late still my late Husband was agnostic leaning towards atheist (and raised methodist).
So my relationship to Christmas is, um, what's that thing all the kids say on the social medias? Complex? COmlte? COmplacent? no! Complicated, yeah, that's it, lol.
But, I like the little drummer boy. I watched all the Rankin Bass cartoons, but not a huge fan of Rudolph, lol, even though I still sing it whenever I need to remember the reindeer (and it did lead me to find out how the writers figured those names out and where they all came from). I love "Linus and Lucy".
Some folks can sing silent night, but mostly it is a wash.
beyond that, it is the secular stuff -- jingle bell rock, which I have to hear every year anyway because of die hard or lethal weapon. I generally do my best to avoid both the Wham and the Carey tunes. I am on a new 3 year streak after breaking a 12 year streak.
However, most of the music is not something I own (I own exactly five christmas songs, lol), but after several years of actual caroling (going out and visiting places) I pretty much know all the traditionals by heart, and with the whole "priest of three nations" bullpuckey, I have a fair amount of tribal song knowledge and stories.
I have not, however, celebrated Christmas since Dave died, and am unlikely to do so -- for me it is a thing about family, and my kids were raised without it, and my larger family is mostly dead or hates trans people. So I have no place for it at this time.
But now I am going to listen to mannheim steamroller's Carol of the bells.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Well, shit, Tawmis, lol. I'm in Palm Springs/DHS, lol.
My last job I was in SD like three days every month.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Well, shit, Tawmis, lol. I'm in Palm Springs/DHS, lol.
My last job I was in SD like three days every month.
Back before 2020 when everything changed for me (not related to the pandemic, but the wife's health) - we used to go to Palm Springs pretty regularly in the summer (we'd spend like a week there with our friends, lol). These days, however, with our finances what we are, wife no longer working due to health, there isn't anything we really do anymore. Even going somewhere is too expensive because gas being - what? - $6.19 a gallon these days? Went shopping for food this weekend and had to put stuff back because there wasn't enough money in the bank. Life is a kick in the pants.
EDIT: This is why I enjoy D&D. It's essentially free entertainment. And it allows me to unleash my creativity as a DM.
If UCSD calls me up for a lecture series for Spring, and I recall, I'll drop ya a note.
I have a lot of folks I try to visit when down there, lol.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Question: I know this is a hot topic, but when do you think it is okay to start playing Christmas music?
Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays some of my favorite Christmas songs, though I also enjoy other artists like Sleeping At Last.
... Well, you said it. TSO is everything.
And what so little people know is that at the core, TSO is composed from my favorite band, Savatage - as a matter of fact some of their biggest songs were Savatage songs before they were TSO songs.
Some shorts I took of some TSO shows... back in 2009, or 2010... TSO, sadly hasn't come back around to San Diego in like the last 5 to 10 years, which sucks. Because it was the one concert my wife and I always looked forward to. A wonderful time to spend together. Sadly we're not able to fly or drive if it's beyond an hour or two, due to the wife's health. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_L8eyZPHTA&list=PLCC2UwLOFVCEdF3oAG6CHfTcVdKYbjNdJ&ab_channel=TawmisGreybeard
TSO comes to Philly every year around Christmas, I’ve seen them twice. They put on one hell of a good show.
Some shorts I took of some TSO shows... back in 2009, or 2010... TSO, sadly hasn't come back around to San Diego in like the last 5 to 10 years, which sucks. Because it was the one concert my wife and I always looked forward to. A wonderful time to spend together. Sadly we're not able to fly or drive if it's beyond an hour or two, due to the wife's health. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_L8eyZPHTA&list=PLCC2UwLOFVCEdF3oAG6CHfTcVdKYbjNdJ&ab_channel=TawmisGreybeard
TSO comes to Philly every year around Christmas, I’ve seen them twice. They put on one hell of a good show.
I would scrape money to go see TSO if I could every year. I think we've seen them three times now (I think 2009, 2010 then 2012).
Is it just me or did the date for getting phandelvers change from the 6th to the 10th back to the 6th?
And now it’s back to the 10th
Official explanation is goblins snatched Devs.
Unofficial says that they all went to a conference/convention.
Back Channel says they are having a retreat (which for programmers, means working overtime, lol)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Is it just me or did the date for getting phandelvers change from the 6th to the 10th back to the 6th?
And now it’s back to the 10th
It never truly changed. You've just experience a glitch in the Matrix.
If you split that video up into a 3x3 table and focus on/near the vertex between the squares that are one down, three to the right, and two down, two to the right, you eventually see a heart.
The matrix does care!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
*holds tight to her green and purple pills, lest anyone realize she has them...*
QOTD: What makes a game world seem "foreign" or "alien" to you; what are things you have encountered that have made you think "we aren't in kansas anymore, toto!"
With one of my group DMs resurrecting a 25 year old world I created for his own new campaign, the phrase "strangely familiar" has been making its rounds among us again. The phrase is used to describe a place that is "mostly" what we expect it to be (it relies on our own inherent expectations and biases of what a basic fantasy world is going to be like), but then has something about it that is common to encounter and treated as ordinary, but is very much NOT ordinary to us, and so feels just a bit "off".
For me, it is two things: unusual foods and strange mounts.
s can be expected of someone who loves to cook, weird foods are always something that catches my fancy. Mostly because I will get side tracked and want to know flavor profile, preparation, texture, blah blah , lol.
Weird mounts are another one -- horses are often the default, with Ponies for "short peoples", but stuff like dinos, dogs, ostriches, and the like are other things.
How about you?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
QOTD: What makes a game world seem "foreign" or "alien" to you; what are things you have encountered that have made you think "we aren't in kansas anymore, toto!"
Creepy and super different than not just the real world, but the regular high fantasy and heroic fantasy and whatever stuff that is very common in fiction and is the core genre of D&D. I agree that having something be the norm with a couple big, unusual twists is a way of accomplishing this effect also.
QOTD: What makes a game world seem "foreign" or "alien" to you; what are things you have encountered that have made you think "we aren't in kansas anymore, toto!"
Strange customs. If the people act in a manner that the PCs (and players) consider strange, but everyone around them is reacting in a way that indicates they think that behavior is completely normal, that tends to come across as eerie to the players and their PCs.
Strange flora & fauna. Mushrooms the size of trees, lavender foliage, strangely colored mammals with antennae, large fish being devoured by schools of little fish… stuff like that definitely comes across as alien.
Odd environments. Pools of water underground that glow like daylight, communities built spiraling around massive stalactites, trees capable of growing underground, a strange mist that clings to surfaces and obscures the ground, tunnels that lead to different places than they did before…. All of that definitely conveys an atmosphere of the unusual.
I don't like the music, honestly. So never I guess.
Whenever is right for you if we're being serious, just don't bother other people with it.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Whenever I damn well feel like it. Historically, that has often been for a day, maybe two in june or july, and then a day or so sometime in december, usually before the the 25th, but sometimes after.
if you mean, when should businesses play -- like restaurant's, malls, grocery stores, major market retailers, and the like, well, the same time they start to play other religious celebratory music for other all faiths, and that includes things like gospel and church hymns, islamic and hindu and shinto and...
If you mean anything that relies on a federal license (such as TV stations and radio stations) or as part of the government, then never.
IF you mean during a d&D game, well, any time it maximizes the thematic qualities of the particular scene and provides an effective vibe.
As you can likely imagine, I am deeply displeased that the world does not function according to my preferences.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I grew up with a Dad who would play Christmas music all year if my Mom would allow it. She is the Grinch of our family.
Because of this upbringing, I am okay with playing Christmas in early October, though I understand why others wouldn’t. In fact, we jammed to some today while we prepared the house for a new roommate. Personally, I will take any excuse to celebrate the birth of Jesus, even if it is out of season.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra plays some of my favorite Christmas songs, though I also enjoy other artists like Sleeping At Last.
I will state that I am completely against any Christmas lights or trees before Thanksgiving.
You and me both, sister. I resonate with all of that.
I'm making an effort to be less of a buzzkill in general, and one of the ways is to foster a genuine appreciation for Christmas music. Some of it ain't easy to love. In particular, songs that use that one crappy jingle bell sample, and ones that go significantly below the tempo of other songs on the radio, really do have powerful Grinchifying effects. But they're not all bad.
Some time after Thanksgiving feels the most fair.
I do understand that there is a heaping ton of horrible Christmas songs that are not fun to listen to. However, there are some Christmas songs that are really good.
While, I don't mind Christmas music I am not one to be like, "Oh let me play some!" unless it's....
... Well, you said it. TSO is everything.
And what so little people know is that at the core, TSO is composed from my favorite band, Savatage - as a matter of fact some of their biggest songs were Savatage songs before they were TSO songs.
Some shorts I took of some TSO shows... back in 2009, or 2010... TSO, sadly hasn't come back around to San Diego in like the last 5 to 10 years, which sucks. Because it was the one concert my wife and I always looked forward to. A wonderful time to spend together. Sadly we're not able to fly or drive if it's beyond an hour or two, due to the wife's health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_L8eyZPHTA&list=PLCC2UwLOFVCEdF3oAG6CHfTcVdKYbjNdJ&ab_channel=TawmisGreybeard
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
Well, I mean, there has to be to get me to suddenly have a hankerin for them in mid-summer.
You mentioned TSO, and I can be said to like pretty much all instrumental takes on Carol of Bells. Non-verbal Vocal ones are a hit with me as well -- but I happen to like the style.
I was raised with a mix of Episcopalian and variant West African faiths with a lot of Lakota and Dakota influence (and now you know why I studied religion), and then I went to Seminary during College (SB) because I thought is would help with my roles in my tribes.And then my Wife was a lapsed Witness and then late still my late Husband was agnostic leaning towards atheist (and raised methodist).
So my relationship to Christmas is, um, what's that thing all the kids say on the social medias? Complex? COmlte? COmplacent? no! Complicated, yeah, that's it, lol.
But, I like the little drummer boy. I watched all the Rankin Bass cartoons, but not a huge fan of Rudolph, lol, even though I still sing it whenever I need to remember the reindeer (and it did lead me to find out how the writers figured those names out and where they all came from). I love "Linus and Lucy".
Some folks can sing silent night, but mostly it is a wash.
beyond that, it is the secular stuff -- jingle bell rock, which I have to hear every year anyway because of die hard or lethal weapon. I generally do my best to avoid both the Wham and the Carey tunes. I am on a new 3 year streak after breaking a 12 year streak.
However, most of the music is not something I own (I own exactly five christmas songs, lol), but after several years of actual caroling (going out and visiting places) I pretty much know all the traditionals by heart, and with the whole "priest of three nations" bullpuckey, I have a fair amount of tribal song knowledge and stories.
I have not, however, celebrated Christmas since Dave died, and am unlikely to do so -- for me it is a thing about family, and my kids were raised without it, and my larger family is mostly dead or hates trans people. So I have no place for it at this time.
But now I am going to listen to mannheim steamroller's Carol of the bells.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Well, shit, Tawmis, lol. I'm in Palm Springs/DHS, lol.
My last job I was in SD like three days every month.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Back before 2020 when everything changed for me (not related to the pandemic, but the wife's health) - we used to go to Palm Springs pretty regularly in the summer (we'd spend like a week there with our friends, lol). These days, however, with our finances what we are, wife no longer working due to health, there isn't anything we really do anymore. Even going somewhere is too expensive because gas being - what? - $6.19 a gallon these days? Went shopping for food this weekend and had to put stuff back because there wasn't enough money in the bank. Life is a kick in the pants.
EDIT: This is why I enjoy D&D. It's essentially free entertainment. And it allows me to unleash my creativity as a DM.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
If UCSD calls me up for a lecture series for Spring, and I recall, I'll drop ya a note.
I have a lot of folks I try to visit when down there, lol.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
TSO comes to Philly every year around Christmas, I’ve seen them twice. They put on one hell of a good show.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I would scrape money to go see TSO if I could every year. I think we've seen them three times now (I think 2009, 2010 then 2012).
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
And now it’s back to the 10th
Characters (Links!):
Faelin Nighthollow - 7th Sojourn
Official explanation is goblins snatched Devs.
Unofficial says that they all went to a conference/convention.
Back Channel says they are having a retreat (which for programmers, means working overtime, lol)
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Here you go!
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
It never truly changed. You've just experience a glitch in the Matrix.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
If you split that video up into a 3x3 table and focus on/near the vertex between the squares that are one down, three to the right, and two down, two to the right, you eventually see a heart.
The matrix does care!
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
*holds tight to her green and purple pills, lest anyone realize she has them...*
QOTD: What makes a game world seem "foreign" or "alien" to you; what are things you have encountered that have made you think "we aren't in kansas anymore, toto!"
With one of my group DMs resurrecting a 25 year old world I created for his own new campaign, the phrase "strangely familiar" has been making its rounds among us again. The phrase is used to describe a place that is "mostly" what we expect it to be (it relies on our own inherent expectations and biases of what a basic fantasy world is going to be like), but then has something about it that is common to encounter and treated as ordinary, but is very much NOT ordinary to us, and so feels just a bit "off".
For me, it is two things: unusual foods and strange mounts.
s can be expected of someone who loves to cook, weird foods are always something that catches my fancy. Mostly because I will get side tracked and want to know flavor profile, preparation, texture, blah blah , lol.
Weird mounts are another one -- horses are often the default, with Ponies for "short peoples", but stuff like dinos, dogs, ostriches, and the like are other things.
How about you?
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
Creepy and super different than not just the real world, but the regular high fantasy and heroic fantasy and whatever stuff that is very common in fiction and is the core genre of D&D. I agree that having something be the norm with a couple big, unusual twists is a way of accomplishing this effect also.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Strange customs. If the people act in a manner that the PCs (and players) consider strange, but everyone around them is reacting in a way that indicates they think that behavior is completely normal, that tends to come across as eerie to the players and their PCs.
Strange flora & fauna. Mushrooms the size of trees, lavender foliage, strangely colored mammals with antennae, large fish being devoured by schools of little fish… stuff like that definitely comes across as alien.
Odd environments. Pools of water underground that glow like daylight, communities built spiraling around massive stalactites, trees capable of growing underground, a strange mist that clings to surfaces and obscures the ground, tunnels that lead to different places than they did before…. All of that definitely conveys an atmosphere of the unusual.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting