A Lot Of People Ask Me What My Biggest Fear Is, Or What Scares Me Most. And I Know They Expect An Answer

tag yourself. inspired by @blackboard-monitor

2023

COLLECT PHYSICAL MEDIA

SAVE RECEIPTS AS ROOM DECOR

READ AND REREAD AND REREAD AND REREAD

LOSE YOUR PHONE

ORANGE

LOSE AMBITION

KILL THE SHAME MAN

DANCE IN THE KITCHEN

WINE AND ESSAYS

BUSES ARE ALIVE

regarding the röttgen pietà, elle emerson

one of my favourite things about tumblr is how it's all lovingly handpicked. there's no algorithm forcing things onto your feed, but instead long chains of mutuals and followers passing posts around simply because they liked it and ooh, maybe you might like it too. the entire website runs on people's sheer love of other people's posts and it's probably the best thing about this website. at least it's definitely the reason that this place feels more like a community than any other social media.

Do you have any advice for someone about to dm for the first time? I'm less worried about running the session than how the hell do you plan one?

Btw Iove your art and it's inspired me to try out line work again

Thanks! And hey, that's a good question.

Here's the thing I've learned as a DM - you don't have to plan EVERYTHING.

In fact, the less you plan, the more prepared you'll be!*

*Some restrictions apply

How I like to think of when I DM is that me and my players sit in the middle of a WHEEL of possibilities. It looks something like this:

Every session you start with, you have a set amount of possible go-to points. These are limited. Usually, your party won't go from sipping drinks at a tavern to walking out the door and fighting cult members in ONE session.

The possibilities are endless, so what you need to prepare is just the next few steps. In the above image, what I mean is that they first two darker shades are representative of what you need to have prepared immediately, and the lighter shades are plans you can have on the back burner, but don't need to flesh out.

As your party makes choices and travels outside of the Starting Spot, you can prepare the NEXT steps based on the ones they chose.

So, say your party is in your tavern, and they decide to go to the Adventuring Guild to look for a job. You don't HAVE to prepare the Heist Mission in the Wizard's tower for that - you can know it's a possibility, but once they've made their first choice, you have a direction.

You can then kind of visualize what their next steps are.

Of course, this wheel isn't one way! Your players could always just... hop over to an adjacent topic! If they're solving a mystery, that could link up to a Cult involvement. And from there, they can discover a Secret Hideout for the Cult, which you already know was a possibility if they were to go into the forest.

And once that sort of adventure has started, you can go ahead and think about what other things you had planned out might link up to or evolve from where they are.

At that point, it's like playing a giant board-game. Which involves laying down track in front of an oncoming train.

My recommendation is that you keep a few things on hand which can be used anywhere:

a few maps that somewhat relate to multiple things on your map (for example, a dungeon-looking map that could be a Secret Hideout OR the Wizard's tower)

Some named NPCs - at least one per location that you can throw up immediately when they arrive

a few puzzles/plotpoints which can act as a placeholder while you think of details (for example, a Mystery can be hard to think of on the spot. Give them some random clues, such as a missing person, a few discarded items, etc and then take your time before the next session to link those items together!)

The rest is.. well... just making it up as you go along!

Of course, that's just MY personal way of doing things. Some people prepare way less, and some prepare way more. It's just all up to how quickly your players move/how comfortable you are with details.

For the sake of updating this?? I did. A postage stamp with a peach on it :) Postage stamp because of the postcards, peach for obvious reasons, little 11¢, and then put it on my ribs... Most English major thing I've ever done ngl

And if I get a peach tattoo because Jeans pure happiness at having a peach (and him hiding it for later) brought me to tears, then what??

paracetamol by declan mckenna // richard siken // song of achilles // sofia by clairo // maurice // black iris by leah raeder // sweet mother by sappho

Beautiful Latin phrases ~ part 2

• veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.

• vivamus, moriendum est - let us live, for we must die.

• ergo dum me diligis - so long as you love me.

• alis volat propriis - she flies with her own wings.

• sic mundus creatus est - thus the world was created.

• aut inveniam viam aut faciam - I shall either find a way or make one.

• mors certa, hora incerta - death is certain, its hour is uncertain

• mors mihi lucrum - death to me is reward

• aeternum vale - farewell forever

• mors ultima linea rerum est - death is everything’s final limit

• nascentes morimur - from when we are born, we begin to die

• mors vincit omnia - death conquers all

• omnia mors aequat - everything is equal in death

• tempus edax rerum - time, devourer of everything

Friendly reminder to include POC in the dark academia community more <3