Nepenthe

Nepenthe , 6 months ago

Not that he isn't a dickhole, but...that'll...show them...? How did anyone else even notice this enough to care? Someone so poorly underpaying the cleaner guy that he opened a discarded parking lot pringles can in search of food?

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

It was my understanding that this is just how science people act

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

I'm not so sure. I've not played the first two to be able to measure between them, but I do recall thinking that if I hadn't been so into watching videos of other peoples' dnd campaigns, I would be so helplessly far out of my depth.

As it was, I was already struggling a little bit with which class was best for my likely playstyle. Who can use what armor, why, and what happens when they don't. What skills go with what stats. The general info they don't have a need to go over when you're not the one at the table.

Those aren't things OP would know enough about to even know they don't know, so I'm glad they have someone helping them. I don't consider myself anything remotely resembling intelligent and they're starting out with less. For being easily one of the best things I've played in years, it would feel impossibly daunting for a noob

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

It can be a little stressful even for me. And yes, the inventory management is atrocious btw, it's a common complaint.

Like someone else mentioned, you can always pay a little to respec if you find out a character doesn't have the stats to do what you're wanting/what they're built to do. That does require gold, and it is something that needs to be read up on and ultimately taken for a test ride to see if it's even fun for you. That many options can feel really daunting.

But I think with enough cleverness, the game can be won with almost anything. Just last night, I watched a playthrough of a guy who had challenged himself to beat the game without killing anyone or manipulating anyone else to kill them for him, and he did it.

Whole game. The only NPC he had no way around personally harming could still be knocked out and left alive. He tricked the end boss into murdering itself through careful use of explosive barrels and he himself never fired a shot — a super cheesy fighting tactic common enough that the term "barrelmancy" is a thing.

I'm not gonna say there won't be reloads, but there are a multitude of ways to handle most if not all altercations. Some things can be talked out of, or allies sought to help.

If not, it could be a huge, horrible fight taken head-on for the awful fun of it, or you could sneak up and thunderwave them into a hole and be done with it. Covertly poison the lot. Command them to drop their own weapon and then take it, and giggle while they flail their fists at you. Cast light on the guy with a sun sensitivity and laugh harder at their own personal hell.

You could sneak around back and take the high ground, triggering the battle by firing the first shot from a vantage point the enemy will take 4 rounds to reach through strategically placed magical spikes.

I passed one particularly worrying trial by just turning the most powerful opponent into a sheep until every other enemy was dead and I could gang up on them. Cleared another fight sitting entirely in the rafters where they had trouble hitting me, and shoved them to their death when one found a way up.

Going straight into a battle is the most expected way to do it, but there are usually shenanigans that can be played, is what I'm saying. Accept with grace the attempts that don't work. If the rules of engagement seem unfair, change the rules.

If it helps any, the game does also reward xp fairly generously. Just reaching new/hidden areas grants a little bit, to say nothing of side quests.

That guy I was talking about, the one that finished with zero kills, ended the game at level 10. The level cap is 12. That was all just wandering around, doing stuff that didn't require fighting.

Know which stat each class mainly uses and focus on that. Do not make the mages wear armor, it is not a happy fun experience. Beyond that, be clever and moderately lucky with your cleverness. You'll be fine.

It's a lot to get used to and does take time to be familiar with all your options, but I started out not very far above where you sound like you are. You do get used to it if you take your time, and I'm certain most people would be overjoyed to help.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

The thing is — not trying to sound snarky about this — do you honestly believe there is someone on the fediverse that hasn't heard of Firefox before.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago)

The post can, yeah. The predictability with which all posts or comments containing the word "Google" will have several responses underneath evangelizing Firefox almost certainly will not, after it exceeds a point it very clearly routinely exceeds.

Not because you guys are wrong, (you're not), but because you're annoying, which is almost as bad. There is something in psychology called reactance theory, and it's the reason why, when you're just about to do the dishes and then someone else tells you to do them, it's suddenly the last thing on earth you want to do.

It is a choice so small it isn't worth arguing over, but it's no longer your choice born out of your own free will, and now you feel cheated and resentful and you are not doing it, both out of spite and more truthfully to regain your sense of choice.

This is the same reason everyone hates vegans so much. They're not wrong. They're annoying. Firefox has vegan PR.

I held off listening to Hamilton for three years for no other reason than nobody else I met would shut the goddamn fuck up about Hamilton. Same with the TV version of Good Omens, whatever stupid cartoon jester thing has been in a third of the memes lately, and a hundred other things.

I am very likely to switch over to Firefox myself in the ever-nearing future. That ice is breaking. But it will not be because a bunch of strangers whined at me over my own choices for over a decade. It will be because the cons of whatever Google, Windows, etc. have done finally outweigh the pros of not having to exert effort to maintain my experience.

It bears consideration that in the meantime, Firefox users have a tendency not to even read the several duplicate comments before they start jacking off into them, not uncommonly in a way that's loudly judgemental towards their own target audience.

The resultant spam cements a mental association between Firefox, the brand and the feeling of being annoyed and insulted. Don't be those vegans. If I had to think, be like the art community treats Adobe. Fuck Adobe, but I'm not just gonna overload someone with aggressive pompousity who's only using the industry default.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

What if all the apostles were buried alive

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

8 and 9.

I figure I can either make bank lending the anthropologists/archeologists a hand with an extinct language, or at least have a bunch of fun bringing it back to life as a personal hobby.

And really? No one's picking nine? Have any of you seen Albert Einstein's calves? He biked regularly. If it turns out I can outrun him now, that won't always be the case as my sedentary ass ages.

No matter how crap my skeleton becomes, I'm giving myself an automatic default level of movement that isn't all that shabby

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Bedridden, trying not to attract the attention of the government as I slowly teleport my 99yr old fail body a couple inches at a time towards the bathroom instead of being able to get up and jog.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

I am uncomfortable to say that I failed 3 of the human ones. In my defense, the guy on the bottom right has pointed teeth like Sweet Tooth

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

In general, or just in red states? Cross-referencing LGBT politicians with their states' historical political leanings, an openly LGBT politician has been elected or reelected while their state was considered republican a total of 96 times. The lead is actually a three-way split between Florida, Georgia, and Arizona, each with a total of 9.

So. Less than it perhaps should. Way more than you'd think.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago)

When I get deeply emotionally attached to my data analyst, I might care if they're moonlighting on the side. Sex, work or not, is still an emotional topic for most of the human race and it's not new knowledge to anyone.

Enough that it would not naturally occur to me that "please do not engage in prostitution while we're together" needs to be said out loud. I will casually ask if you're monogamous and if you say yes, that's how monogamy works.

Even aside from that, yeah, tbh, I would consider it good form to let your partner know you're considering a new job regardless, just so they generally know what's going on. If you have to hide it, maybe something is wrong.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Well, that makes them like the edge of a freezie pop. Those are dangerous.

I don't think plastic would cut so well as it does in the article's video, but maybe it's not the only schematic.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

I warned my ex to be safe when the biology of it was just beginning to be understood back in March/April 2020, and his exact response was, "It's not like I'm going to die." He says, occupying every high risk category except "immunocompromised."

So yeah, apparently.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

I think we very much do understand it's a problem and there is not a whole lot women can do about it that we aren't already doing. The majority of feminists would love for men to see a fucking therapist. They keep fighting it tooth and nail, though.

They'll either not open up at all for fear of being judged, or they'll ONLY lean on the women in their life. The one or two women in their life, because in my anecdotal experience they don't seem to stick around women they can't sleep with.

You guys want and desperately need actual emotional support, but you seemingly refuse to support each other. When we tell you to so much as just give each other the compliments you're looking for, it's met with whining because the respondents want women to do it. Even though mainly the compliments we get are...also from women, and going along with this request puts us in harm's way.

A lot of men are so beat to shit from such an early age that they can't even put a name to a lot of emotions besides anger. Which causes them to be both unable to manage what they can barely explain, and to feel significantly uncomfortable (outmatched) in marriage counseling, watching their wife run circles around them.

But biting the bullet and improving on emotional literacy via counseling and/or self-study and deep reflection never seems to strike the fancy. Their date has to teach them. And they WILL be fighting every step of the way.

I would love to date someone who doesn't define their entire existence through their job. That's nearly the entire reason two out of my four relationships fell to pieces.

-I- didn't give a shit. I met one of them when we were both homeless and said yes anyway. But if I made more money or they got laid off at any point, both of them would have a months-long binge drinking breakdown regardless of what I said.

You know you could just stop, right? That's what's incredibly frustrating about this for me. A lot of problems that are specific to men seem to be an issue of self-image, and are thus self-imposed, and you could just. Stop.

I can't make anyone not pick me up by the throat, but any day you could just wake up and decide your paycheck doesn't actually fucking matter and never date someone who thinks it does.

You could be excruciatingly nice to people for no reason instead of demanding women do it, work out what's going on with you and tell people about it, and give them both barrels if they think a human being needing help is gay.

As much as I feel for men as a group, it's the empathetic part that makes me want to hold them upside down and shake them till the sense falls out. Take. Care of each other. Fix the thing.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Rewrite it for someone who doesn't drink.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Well, speaking as a chronically homeless person, it's been stupid for five years.

It barely even says anything different. It's like switching out "starving masses" with "unfed persons," and I hope it does something for someone because it's not doing it for me

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

The mystery cut in the middle of my forehead has healed. My left shoulder seems to be in working order again. Before that it was the right one, which lingered for 2 days and did so loudly enough to dampen my mood for both of them.

Before that, I was bewildered to find the uncomfortably visible marks of a random handprint halfway up my forearm, and even more confused to see that the whole thing lined up perfectly with the fingers of my other hand. I had been gripping my own arm in my sleep hard enough to leave bruises.

Kind of excited to see what the next sleep injury is going to be.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Can't really offer you a depiction of muscle pain, but I was so confused by the last one I had to share it around. If the vet appointment I'd had that day hadn't been forcibly canceled, people would have thought I was being beat.

Like the other commenter said, I assure you, you are definitely going to enjoy the rest of your 30s

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Perhaps hilariously, if I weren't going through it alone, I wouldn't be going through it at all.

But whoever wrote the original image gets points for trying, I guess. Even if the points don't buy anything.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago (edited 7 months ago)

The last video any guy shared with me was about a dude from the early 1900s who got trapped in a cave and died. It was unexpectedly riveting.

I haven't considered how I could turn that against them, but I do feel resourceful and I'm not as afraid of holes as I should be

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Nailed it. Feels weird to call him delightful, considering the subject of that one, but I totally needed three more channels to subscribe to last night

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Man in cave

Sorry I kinda ruined bits, though

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Oh goodness, I didn't know they were turning the book into a movie

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

It's not her bowl. She just turned into a bitch.

Ohhh man. This had me cackling. I mean, I feel bad for you, but it does speak to me in my soul.

The one I have now won't even eat off a plate unless it's wet food, where I'm guessing she's too excited to care about the peasant presentation.

I found out about the whisker thing and handed her fresh kibble that way just to see, and she wouldn't even touch it til I put it in her bowl for her.

It HAS to be in a bowl and it HAS to be full to overflowing, and she'd better not see any goddamn silver or she'll beat me with a coat hanger. And then the bottom goes stale because her whiskers.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

hasn’t talked to me since Monday.

I would normally interpret "we're not friends" to be joking, but not if it lasts more than a couple minutes. If real, it is the end of the 4th day for OP, going on into the 5th.

Whatever happened, it wasn't something good. Offering someone money to like you probably won't improve one's social standing. Not to say almost a week of the silent treatment bodes well for problem solving, either.

Without knowing the full story, @cRazi_man, maybe the two of you should at least think over seeing someone? A lot of couples see it as a last resort, so they end up waiting til there's basically nothing to save before trying to do something about it. This is...a concern.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Imagine half your backyard being in another country. Do you think they still mow it?

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Fair deal. Not everyone has the gas money to bother with a car. Measuring things is free.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Up til now, we've had:

• The sudden realization that you can bathe and don't have to crunch around in weeks of dried gore

• The further realization that at least one npc mentions you stink and should probably do something about that

• Standing relatively close to a waterfall for a few minutes if you can find one, or perhaps walking at a normal pace through a really deep puddle.

• Sophisticated method — stealing a water bottle, throwing it really hard at the floor, and hoping the splashback is enough

After months of steady work, we can use the soap now, but you're going to have to give your fellow gamers a minute to get used to things before you start making other suggestions

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

How did I forget about that cloak!? I got that before reloading because I kept failing my attempts to steal all my money back. I didn't expect all of those to be so addictive. I loved it.

My personal favorite was the boots that grant their wearer misty step for the tradeoff of leaving all your other clothes in a pile at your starting point. Still kinda sad I couldn't snag those again.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Indeed, this headline was way more exciting than the actual article.

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

If we make them out of little bits of plastic, the answer is shockingly yes

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Didn't see the rules, huh

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

I mean, sort of makes sense? I assume with the overkill in firepower, he expected to meet armed resistance. Way more than a security guard would actually pose irl. So that I can at least get my head around.

But if he wanted to sneak into the actual caves like the phrasing would suggest, why die in the bathroom?

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

Singing to my cat is one of the only reliable methods to make her get up and leave T_T

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

You know? I also quite enjoy your podcast. What can you tell me about kiwis

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

I'm not convinced I could take an octopus armed with guns, and regular hunting dogs kill their owners that way every year

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

What if we took all the words and we put them in a book, and just stuck that book in every classroom. You think people would go for it? It would be massive and the educational system already lacks funding

Nepenthe , 7 months ago

He's playing video games at work

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

As much as allowing them to own a bank account with which to purchase mifepristone, I'm sure...

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

Sorry you had to find out this way, but I never wanted kids

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

Because homonyms are the worst part of any language and Noah Webster agrees with me.

for the metric system they don’t even use.

British people will fund pirates to steal our measuring weights, only to convert themselves 200 years later and then act like the US doesn't have a single STEM field. And then drive by the mile for a pint of milk.

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

Defender of the basic is a video to live by

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

And is she a mom while still pregnant?

I would say so, yeah. "The mother of the fetus" sounds fine. "Mother's womb." It's not like men aren't the father until it's born.

Excepting the questionable case of surrogacy, the term "pregnant mom" feels wrong to me because it's redundant.

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

host

I don't even like kids, but what a gross thing to be called. Unless it's a bouncing baby cordyceps, I'm going to stick with expectant mother.

Logically, you are absolving men of fatherhood for a year? Or what are we calling them? Donor?

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

I used to have one that did that. He was aching to get on the counter and the first time he actually succeeded, I was terrified he was about to burn himself.

Nope. He just wanted to watch me cook. Sat very politely the whole time. It became a thing. Never even asked me for any of it. He just wanted to spend time with me. I miss him.

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

I've actually never had anyone in a monster truck tell me I should buy a monster truck. So...by unfortunate definition...

Nepenthe , 8 months ago

Pic broke for me, so I'm not sure if joke I'm missing out on or photo of horse, which was the best monopoly piece. But that's, uh.......not a spring.