tangentandhyperbole's recent activity

  1. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~games

    tangentandhyperbole
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    I've been a GM of a Numenera game for almost a year now, here's my experience. The game world is super hard for people to wrap their heads around, including myself, because it is just so weird and...

    I've been a GM of a Numenera game for almost a year now, here's my experience.

    The game world is super hard for people to wrap their heads around, including myself, because it is just so weird and fresh. This can make it difficult to write for, because the game intentionally challenges a lot of tropes. Tropes are usually the basis for DnD campaigns, so its a bit harder to write for. I don't agree with MCG that a GM only needs 10-15 minutes of prep, the game is so narrative based, you need to have a pretty fleshed out story.

    Descriptions make and break Numenera, be that the GM describing the environment, effects, monsters, artifacts, etc. That means you need a lot of material to pull from, which generally means more prep work. It also comes in in a big way in combat. Combat in Numenera is pretty damn bland, but, very open ended. This means its meant to be a more narrative based combat, rather than a tactical one like DnD, Pathfinder, Shadowrun, etc. Having players that will describe their actions and come up with things other than just "I stick it with my sword" is kind of crucial to making combat interesting.

    Cyphers also generally have more complex descriptions than something that facilitates a fast fly by the seat of the pants style. I like to make little cards with the cypher name, level, what the object is, and its full description, so when they find some ciphers, I can just toss out a few cards, and bam, looting done. Rather than reading a paragraph long description of each cypher, and explaining it to the players so they understand, they can just look at the card. This is especially important given the lack of space on the character sheet and if your players actually put in the effort to log things.

    All in all, there's a lot more talking and a lot less doing in Numenera as opposed to other game systems. Its a game about discovery and figuring out the world that surrounds the players. Discovery and Destiny remove a lot of the annoying rules, and expand the game in good ways, like the Jack being reworked entirely to be its own unique thing instead of "we need a third class other than technowizard and fighter," "Uhhhhh what if we just took half the abilities from each and gave them to a class that is basically a do anything." Thats basically the first edition Jack. And its not like the Glaive abilities in first edition are very inspiring either, bash, pierce, whatever the third one was, are just basic attacks that add some damage. The game as a whole felt like combat was an after thought to the crazy pipe dream of MC's world building.

    So, you really need to have "active" players more than any other game system. You can't really just sit there and stack dice until its time for barbarian clubbing time and expect to get much out of the game.

    Good luck!

    2 votes

  2. Comment on Bingeable book series - light reads for summer. in ~books

    tangentandhyperbole
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    Haha, I came to the comments to recommend the Wayfarers series. Its super enjoyable, reminds me a lot of Farscape, in that its focused on "slice of life" style plot as opposed to hard sci-fi or...

    Haha, I came to the comments to recommend the Wayfarers series. Its super enjoyable, reminds me a lot of Farscape, in that its focused on "slice of life" style plot as opposed to hard sci-fi or super dramatic plots.

    I really enjoy them.

    1 vote

  3. Comment on Why should everyone try your hobby at least once? in ~hobbies

    tangentandhyperbole
    (edited )
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    Sure it does, but its a calculated risk. 90% of accidents involving motorcycles happen because of other drivers, so you learn to "ride like you're invisible." I don't take a lot of risks on the...

    Sure it does, but its a calculated risk. 90% of accidents involving motorcycles happen because of other drivers, so you learn to "ride like you're invisible." I don't take a lot of risks on the bike, ride pretty conservatively, and always assume that other vehicles will do the worst possible thing they possibly can for me, so have plan a, b, c in my head. I can't speak to how others ride, just myself, but generally if I assume everyone is a dumbass and give them a wide berth, I don't have a lot to worry about.

    I also ride mostly for recreation, on back country roads. My biggest worry is a deer jumping out or sand on the pavement.

    Is it more dangerous than driving a car? Yeah, but its not exactly like driving a car is perfectly safe, or really any of the fun stuff. You can get hit by walking across the street, or I think people who ride bicycles in the city are nuts, every friend I've ever had that biked in cities, even the super bike-friendly ones like Portland, were covered in injuries from people doing everything from opening car doors to straight up turning into bike lanes.

    For me, the risk is worth the reward. Maybe one day it won't be, but I'm a bipolar single 33 year old with little family, and motorcycles are one of the few things in life that give me just pure joy. Is a life where you constantly avoid danger, locked up in a house in suburbia really worth living? Not really for me.

    Just like any statistic, there's plenty of people that ride their entire lives and don't have an accident. There's others that get in an accident their first week. If you live your life afraid of what ifs, you don't end up doing much. But that's just my view, and I totally get its not for everyone, but, taking a motorcycle safety course for a weekend, nothing bad is going to happen, and it will give you a glimpse into a feeling I haven't found anywhere else.

    1 vote

  4. Comment on Those with mood disorders; how do you cope? in ~health.mental

    tangentandhyperbole
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    So I don't use any apps or anything digital to track habits/to-do lists or journaling. There's a different reaction in the brain when you actually put pen to paper and write things down. You...

    So I don't use any apps or anything digital to track habits/to-do lists or journaling. There's a different reaction in the brain when you actually put pen to paper and write things down. You remember it, its a physical act so its easier to give weight to, things like that. That's why taking notes by hand will always be better than writing them on a computer. So I use rhodia softcover a5 notebooks and fountain pens. Fountain pens for me are really enjoyable because its a whole, tactile experience, but I also draw in sketchbooks a lot. There's also no having to open a program, wait for it to load, fill out things perfectly, save the file, close the program, every time I need to log something. You just grab your notebook, and jot it down.

    But, I get that's not everyone's cup of tea. The important thing is that you find what works for you and what sticks. I tried going super digital when I was first diagnosed, got a smart watch, tracked mood, sleep, eating, and habits all with my phone, and I just didn't keep up with it. My solution was to use a formal system of hand journaling. Yours might be a digital solution, like I said, whatever works, works.

    I totally get the whole, "volume gets too loud" thing. I struggle with that a lot myself. Just remember you're not alone, there's millions of people with bipolar trying to figure out the puzzle of their own brains, and there's even more people, friends, loved ones, therapists, psychiatrists that are there trying to help. I'm glad you found some value in my rambling, and I wish you the best of luck!

    2 votes

  5. Comment on Reddit is adding native video ads starting next week in ~tech

    tangentandhyperbole
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    The people vote for what they want. Probably 5-10% of the 400+ gifs I've made were meta, yet, those were usually the most successful. There's people doing OC animations, nature gifs, video game...

    The people vote for what they want. Probably 5-10% of the 400+ gifs I've made were meta, yet, those were usually the most successful. There's people doing OC animations, nature gifs, video game gifs, music video gifs, I've done a few motorcycle gifs, there's a ton of variety that a lot of people never see because they only see 1 gif a day out of the 10-20 or so that get submitted practically everyday. And its all OC.

    That is a lot of creative content being made, solely for the entertainment of that community. So its always a bit frustrating when people complain about meta jokes, because that's all they've seen, because that's what gets upvoted ya know?

    3 votes

  6. Comment on Reddit is adding native video ads starting next week in ~tech

  7. Comment on Why should everyone try your hobby at least once? in ~hobbies

    tangentandhyperbole
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    Because riding a motorcycle is a wonderful experience that can't be translated to someone no matter how much you talk about it. When you hit a corner lean just right and throttle out, there's...

    Because riding a motorcycle is a wonderful experience that can't be translated to someone no matter how much you talk about it. When you hit a corner lean just right and throttle out, there's something primal there that is so satisfying, and joyful. Or when you give a twist of the wrist from a stoplight and a flawless gear change up to speed, its just... sublime.

    That doesn't even take into account that the motorcycle community is super friendly and accepting, or the fun of modding out your bike to be your own unique thing. Or when you pass another rider and they always wave or point to the road as a "Keep the rubber side down" gesture.

    Its truly something you only understand once you have ridden a motorcycle. Even just around a parking lot at a motorcycle safety course.

    8 votes

  8. Comment on Those with mood disorders; how do you cope? in ~health.mental

    tangentandhyperbole
    Link
    I was diagnosed Bipolar II a couple years ago after a 5 year misdiagnosis of clinical depression. I was ignoring this whole other mostly productive side of my life where I felt really good....

    I was diagnosed Bipolar II a couple years ago after a 5 year misdiagnosis of clinical depression. I was ignoring this whole other mostly productive side of my life where I felt really good.

    Biggest thing for me has been regulating sleep patterns. Using a sleep tracker to find out your sleep cycle is a handy thing, me personally I go to bed at 11 and wake up at 7:30 everyday. That means missing out on late nights sometimes, but, its better in the long run for my mental health.

    Second would be like you said, journaling, except I'm partial to using a Bullet Journal the most. Here's a 4 minute video that goes over all the stuff you need to know. In addition to the basics, I use a habit tracker to track things like flossing, brushing my teeth, sleep, showering, meds, all the boring self care stuff that comes with having a mood disorder. In the 4 months I've been doing it, I've developed some healthy habits, like flossing daily, that I failed to develop for 33 or so years. It also keeps your goals constantly in mind, and has you re-evaluate where you're going pretty regularly. In addition, it gets rid of the many to-do lists, in favor of keeping everything in one spot. Its great because its low maintenance and requires about 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes at night.

    Exercise is always helpful, because it forces your mind to shut up, I personally like working out on a heavy bag, because that helps with the anger and frustration of daily life as someone with mood disorders.

    As others have mentioned, therapy is helpful to get out of your own head, dump it all out on the ground and have someone else outside of your inner critic say "no, you're not a terrible person." It seems simple, but just having someone to talk to can be invaluable.

    I have had a bad experience with medications, none of them worked, I am skiddish of trying some of the heavy hitters like Lithium, and because of my misdiagnosis, spent a lot of time ramping up and tapering down from drugs that just gave bad side effects. The biggest thing that helped me was marijuana, but that is not a very good long term solution. It gave relief but I also abused the fuck out of it for 3 years, because it was the only thing that gave relief. If you can, stay away from any kind of drug or alcohol, because your mania fucking loves it. Listen to your body, when you're feeling that euphoria and overwhelming joy, you probably should take a minute, figure out when the last time you ate/slept was, and take care of your body, rather than having that extra 5 shots of tequila or whatever.

    Most of all, go easy on yourself. Your brain chemicals are funky and that's not your fault, be kind to yourself and realize, its gonna take a bit to learn how to surf the waves of mania/depression as I say. You're gonna have some failures, but any progress, is still progress. I personally found a lot of helpful stuff in Stephen Fry's The Secret Life of The Manic Depressive which he's done a follow up to, 10 years on. Hearing other people's experiences made me relate and understand my illness? Is that the word we use? Anyway, it made me understand it better, and therefore, come to some peace with it.

    I hope some of that was helpful! You can do this.

    4 votes

  9. Comment on Reddit is adding native video ads starting next week in ~tech

    tangentandhyperbole
    Link Parent
    Oh hey Earl! I was wondering when we could get a gifs group going. :D Theres a few of us that came over with @aphoenix.

    Oh hey Earl! I was wondering when we could get a gifs group going. :D

    Theres a few of us that came over with @aphoenix.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~talk

    tangentandhyperbole
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    I use journaling for a few different things. First would be a bullet journal that I use to track habits, appointments, make notes about the day, pretty much use it to keep track of life, tasks and...

    I use journaling for a few different things.

    First would be a bullet journal that I use to track habits, appointments, make notes about the day, pretty much use it to keep track of life, tasks and what not that I need to do. This 4 minute video gives you everything you need to start. I'm a spacey person and forget a lot of things, I'm also bipolar so keeping track of things like personal care is super helpful.

    Second would be "morning pages." This is where when you first wake up, your brain is still switching over from alpha waves for about 10 minutes, so your conscious mind can still talk to your subconscious. Or at least, thats the theory I've heard. Anyway, it helps because when I wake up my mind is a flurry of dreams, things I need to do, and all sorts of anxiety, so just freewriting, mind dumping, whatever you want to call it until I run out of things to say is super helpful to clear my head. Then I do my 5 minutes or so of bullet journaling once I've gotten all the noise out. The physical act of writing things down has a weird effect on your brain.

    I also try to write in a journal about the day. Even if its just 3 things that happened during the day. This helps build memory, and helps to remember your life, instead of looking back and being like, do I even remember a single day of that month? I'm super bad at keeping up with it, but habits are like muscles, ya gotta build them.

  11. Comment on The thing I want most atm is a dark theme. in ~tildes

  12. Comment on Does anyone have advice for getting a D&D game going for beginners that includes people who aren't familiar with RPG mechanics? in ~games

    tangentandhyperbole
    Link Parent
    You might check out Roll20.net as its a pretty healthy community of online tabletop roleplayers.

    You might check out Roll20.net as its a pretty healthy community of online tabletop roleplayers.

    3 votes

  13. Comment on Does anyone have advice for getting a D&D game going for beginners that includes people who aren't familiar with RPG mechanics? in ~games

    tangentandhyperbole
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    I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but I would recommend Numenera/Cypher System as a better choice for new players than DnD. Its a very flexible game system, with light tactical combat, that really...

    I haven't seen it mentioned yet, but I would recommend Numenera/Cypher System as a better choice for new players than DnD. Its a very flexible game system, with light tactical combat, that really focuses on roleplaying. It was created by Monte Cook, who was one of the lead designers for DnD 3rd edition and creator of the Planescape setting. Some interesting things about the system.

    The GM doesn't roll any dice usually, its always the player rolling against a target number. The GM picks a number between 1-10, multiply that x3, thats the number they need to roll on a d20 to succeed. The players get various abilities/skills/effort they can apply to reduce the difficulty of the original 1-10 number.

    Cyphers are one time use "magical items" that do some effect. This can be anything you mind can imagine from a device that lets you search the "Datasphere" (the internet basically) to something that boils water, to something that creates an object out of light, to a "moist tongue" that you touch to yours and record a message it repeats, to an object that creates a singularity and basically rips everything in an area from reality. The creative uses for these I've seen are so fun!

    It uses a GM intrusions as a way for you to make situations more interesting, in exchange for XP given to your players. They also happen on natural 1s.

    The entire game is set up to be a narrative game, so no need for miniatures or a battle mat.

    It really focuses on the roleplay and discovery, with less focus on tactical combat and looking up spells/abilities.

    Here is a link to the "How to Play" youtube of Numenera but, Cypher System is more than just that, the core book for Cypher provides rules for everything from horror games to westerns to super heroes, and of course, your standard fantasy stuff. Numenera is a setting that is a billion years in the future, 8 great civilizations have risen to their peak and fallen, and have done everything from reshaping the earth, to building bases in the sun, to intergalactic/interdimensional travel, pretty much anything you can imagine. The current civilization has been around about 1000 years, and lives in the ruins of these great fallen civilizations, utilizing and scavenging the technology, which they don't understand, but make use of. Its super interesting and I personally love the setting.

    Hope something in there helps! They are getting ready to launch Numenera 2, which is an updated version of the game, so I would wait to buy the core book until then, but there should be a quick play guide on the Monte Cook games site.

    Good luck!

    Also, there's always Lasers and Feelings for a first introduction to tabletop RPGs. Its a one page PDF here that gives you the premise and all the rules you need. It can be a lot of fun, and is a good gateway to the more complex systems.

    1 vote

  14. The thing I want most atm is a dark theme.

    ~tildes Text 190 words
    New user here, just got invited and started poking around the site, and the thing that most stands out to me is the bright white theme of the site. Its a big trend that most sites seem to not be...

    New user here, just got invited and started poking around the site, and the thing that most stands out to me is the bright white theme of the site.

    Its a big trend that most sites seem to not be catching onto, users want a dark theme at least as an option, because the blinding white webpages at this point almost seem dated, and if you're browsing at night/in a not very well lit room, they come off as harsh, sometimes almost blinding. You can see the demand for this being fulfilled with plugins on most sites, as the websites themselves seem to be slow to act. YouTube for instance is terrible with its default white scheme, but pretty nice if you do the "secret" dark theme. Slack too, although I use a plugin for that, same with Reddit and using RES to turn on a dark theme.

    So while I know the list of things to do is probably a mile long, a dark theme would go a long way to making the site more appealing I think, and give it an edge as a more "modern" website.

    8 votes