madbaker | Reading

I finally tackled cleaning up the smallish patio. ("Patio" by virtue of having a concrete floor and a roof, though otherwise it's just a space behind the garage.) Standard distribution patterns of yard debris mean that winter deposits a layer of dead leaves, and my inattention to the calendar means that I never remember to put a winter dust-cover on the grill and smoker, so they need to get a thorough wash-down, as do the shelves and the patio furniture.

But a couple of work sessions took care of all those factors and earlier this week a fired up the grill just for the heck of it. (Corn on the cob, grilled eggplant from the garden, grilled lamb chops marinated in lemon juice.) It's one of those pieces of equipment where my desire to own it seriously overwhelms the actual amount I use it. (I own it for the fantasy life in which I have friends over regularly.)

Next job is cleaning out the fuel feed of the smoker (which I made the mistake of not emptying at the end of the season). Maybe it's baked enough that the pellets have un-concreted. I previously made a stab at disassembling it to clean out the stuck pellets, but balked at how much disassembly that seemed to require.

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2640.html

Episode 2640: Mundus Inversus

Where does one search for secret doors? Everywhere? That'd take too long when you are trying to avoid wandering monsters, find the treasure, and get out alive before your torches run out.

Dead ends are the dead giveaway. Why would there be a dead end, unless it's not really a dead end? They're almost a signal to the players to search for secret doors here.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Hah, of course Pete would pull a lightsaber out for light. While there's half-dead flashlights that would provide better light, a lightsaber would also be useful for attack and defence. I guess nobody else has a decent light though as I'd thought Poe's light was the lightsaber for a few moments. Though perhaps that's unfair to the characters; there's plenty of other non-Star Wars movies that have problems with flashlights and lighting as well.

I guess space-time goo causing problems here is as good an explanation as any if the GM goes along with it. It's definitely a lot more interesting than "The Force did this", which is what I bet the movie has as its explanation. But even if that is the official cause, there'd have to be something else that originally made this place. It's not like the Force is a cloud of radiation that randomly builds or destroys things; Force users make it do those things. And then at some point, that kind of explanation is just "a wizard did it" which is so unsatisfying outside of comedy scenes, and it would have been better to not explain things at all.

Anyone else want to hope an unexplained Grue shows up just to keep things weird and interesting?

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2640.html

hrj

As you may know, a year ago I invested in a fancy (expensive) recumbent tricycle to support my bicycling habit in the face of the awkwardness sometimes falling over at stops due to the mild nerve damage in my right leg. So yesterday I'd made an appointment to get it an annual tune-up (plus replacing a part that needed fixing) and since the specialty bike shop is in Sacramento, this meant dropping it off in the morning then finding something to do while they worked on it.

I had no idea how long this might take (since it would depend on whether they got walk-in customers) but I figured I'd start with a romance bookstore in downtown Sac that I'd found on a list of such things, and then see where things went from there.

I also took the opportunity to contact some friends in town that I usually only see at conventions and arrange to meet for dinner.

The day started earlier than usual, having volunteered to drop Denise off at her colonoscopy appointment, but that was balanced by my refusal to take the suggestion of my map app of what appeared to be a ridiculous diversion off I-80...and ending up in about 30 miles of slow traffic due to construction. Dropped off the bike, then had to kill half an hour before the bookstore opened and found a cute litle patisserie nearby which served for breakfast.

The bookstore was a perfectly nice indie shop in a space they could easily fill more fully. It's divided into three "shops" on different floors, thought it's all the same establishment, with the romance shop being one floor. (Three narrow stories, but lots of open space.) It was the sort of place that works well if you want to buy books but don't have specific titles you're looking for: a combination of new releases and the sorts of older classics that can be guaranteed to sell regularly.

As usual, the romance section--though plentiful--was extremely thin on the sorts of titles I'm interested in, and I didn't find anything to buy, though I did pick up a newish Malinda Lo from the YA shelves elsewhere in the store. I chatted a bit with the proprietor and he noted that they get their biggest boost from author events.

While shopping, the bike folks called to say they were already done, so I picked it up and then had several hours to fill before dinner. So I found a park with shade and grass and I relaxed and read. Yes, people, I *can* just laze around doing nothing when I choose.

Dinner was a fairly standard (but delicious) Greek place. We chatted about books and publishing and careers and whatnot. Then back home and falling into bed.

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2639.html

Episode 2639: Tunnel Revision

This is a great GM line. "Mmm. I wonder why that is?"

Use it whenever a player questions something in the game as being unrealistic or weird. Whether or not you actually have a pre-planned explanation for it, or if it was just an oversight or something that you didn't bother researching to make it realistic.

Instead of arguing with your players, you acknowledge that they're right to think something is strange, and you establish that there must be some plausible explanation for it. If only they could be clever enough to figure it out.

And if you have any players anything like Jim, they can help you figure out what the explanation is. And then you run with it like a thief.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Or not. No rescuing here. I guess we're not done with the movie writer confusion as it's time for a cave adventure!

I'd actually guess that BB and Poe are similar in density. BB might be made of metal, but it's not like droids are solid objects and he wasn't that difficult to move in Episode VII. Plus, a large sphere isn't going to have a lot of different moving surfaces for the ground to be moved by. Humanoid shapes, on the other hand, would have that "advantage" which would be how metal-man Threepio gets to already be standing on the floor while Poe is still picking himself up.

I do like the set-up the last comic had, even if Pete's roleplaying rule doesn't seem like it'd save him if he tries pushing it too hard. Goopy quantum soup aside.... I guess this could be another wacky Dark Side slime pit? Rey had that fall into one last Episode, and since that was on an island, it was full of slime and water. Here on probably Tatooine, we've got sand and gravel everywhere, so this is just gonna be rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Up until we find another funhouse mirror and get to see everyone have fun trying to figure that one out.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2639.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2638.html

Episode 2638: Foodies in the Space-Time Continuum

When running a game, try to engage all of the senses of the PCs. GMs often describe what the heroes can see, and sometimes they describe sounds.

Smell is severely underrated as a mood-setter and action prompt. It's one of our most evocative senses. If you're running an adventure, make a very brief note in each location or room: What does it smell like? Take one or more of the significant features of the room and extrapolate to imagine what the place smells like. Write a tiny note to remind you, and describe the place with the smell when first encountered.

Touch is more difficult, as it require tactile approaching and voluntary actions from the PCs. But it can still be used to provide atmosphere or clues. If people are searching things, you can assume they are probably touching stuff, so describing the feeling of rich silks, or rough stone, or whatever can add to the experience.

Taste is the hardest. Unless players say their characters are putting things in their mouths, mostly it won't be sensible. But there are occasions such as describing the deliciousness (or otherwise) of the food in an inn. And some things can produce a taste in the mouth despite not sampling them that way, such as the tang of ozone carried in the air in a palce rippling with electrical energy.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Oh come on, we don't even get to see what happens next? No daring rescue or heroic second wind? ..... Or maybe the Irregulars are just teasing us; it's not like this particular scene has to happen right after the quickgravel landing in the movie.

Rey's got some of the space-time juice? That sounds like a bad idea. A droid like Artoo can probably handle any leakages; even differently aged circuitry could be probably fixed with a quick power cycle. I don't think that would work on a spleen that's suddenly 10 years older when it's got to also be with a stomach that's 5 years younger. And forget about the soupy mess that'd come with accelerated or reverse digestion!

I wonder what this scene was originally a part of. Thinking about it a bit more, maybe it's part of the evening scene before the players headed back to Tatooine. The lighting is kinda right, though that could just be what the base looks like all the time. Some of Leia's faces are close to this comic but then again, BB definitely couldn't be mistaken for Rose.

It's almost a shame we get to go see the gravel pond rescue in the next comic; some more panels here would be nice to try and get a fix on if it's happening earlier in the movie or not.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2638.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2637.html

Episode 2637: Everything but the Bitchin’ Sink

People love quicksand.

Well, movie writers, anyway. Not so much players whose characters get caught in unrealistic fictional style quicksand.

But if you're the GM, you're the writer of the world, so go for it! It is actually a cool hazard that PCs will need to be clever to get out of, so it's actually perfect for gaming.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

I'm sorry, what? This is gravel-like quicksand? Why? Seriously, what's the point of this? I know they're not all gonna die here, so is this just a way to introduce a new character who's gonna pull them all out somehow? Or maybe it's a way to have Rey show off using the Force. ..... I guess that could be where we go next, but sinking everyone including Rey just means we don't get to see the immediate reaction they have to being lifted out.

This must have been a heck of a confusing scene for movie watchers too. The main characters got to see a celebration of some kind and meet an old character, get noticed by the First Order leader (no way would Kylo want to follow yet another old guy and Palpaclone's off who knows where), have an exciting chase scene....... and then everyone falls, only rocks are left? The ice asteroid escape had neat visuals to go with its confusing thing at least.

Hey, maybe that's the main theme for this movie! Episode VII was nostalgia but now everything's even bigger, and Episode VIII was everyone good or bad is making poor decisions. Episode IX's theme could be that nobody knows what's going on, even the writers! That would definitely be a reason to dislike the movie.

At least everyone, including Threepio way in the back, looks to still be right-side up while sinking so they won't be buried too far down.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2637.html

hrj

I'm still in the phase of "settling into a retirement rhythm" and working on good habits, but it's feeling more settled now. Less of the background radiation of anxiety now that the money stuff is in place. I even looked at my "special expenditures" projection and decided to get a hotel room for BayCon after all. (Commuting is cheaper than a room, but more exhausting, and it was going to make participating in the first online WSFS business meeting very complicated.) It's probably too late to try to pick up a roommate, though.

The "activity category tracking" spreadsheet is being useful, not only as a gamified incentive to Get Things Done, but as a reminder not to get too focused on any one topic. I'm up to 13 categories and generally do something in 5-9 of them on any given day. But it's ok to take days off when I'm down to 2 or 3, and it's fun (but not required) to hit all 13, which I've done twice. The most regular activities are exercise, working on the Lesbian Historic Motif Project (overlaps 3 categories: reading, writing, and promotion), reading for fun, housework, yardwork, and somewhat surprisingly, socializing (though having a calendar full of conferences and conventions has helped with that). The categories I've hit least are "do art" (which is primarily being checked off when I do embroidery during zoom meetings) and "do music" (which should be easier to check off since currently it's limited to "play through one etude on the flute and stop when my chin cramps up").

To the extent that I have a template for the day (for days when I have nothing else on the calendar), it ideally goes something like this:
* work on fiction over breakfast
* post the current LHMP blog and publicize it
* bike ride
* mid-ride, stop at a coffee shop and do some reading/note-taking for the LHMP
* on returning home, before showering, do yard work
* relax a bit with some fun reading (lunch optional)
* do some Medieval Welsh translation
* housework/household-organization
* write up the day's LHMP notes (alternately, work on the next podcast script)
* play music
* dinner & tv
* work on some sort of data organization project with tv in the background
If I hit all those, that only leaves "do art" and "socialize". Socializing is largely dependent on things outside the formal structure.

Mind you, I rarely actually do all of the above on a given day. But having a default template makes it more likely that I'll come close.

I'm making good progress on the current fiction project: the Skinsingers collection. I have one more specialized proofreading pass to do, then I need to decide whether I think it needs an outside proofreader as well. After that, I'll start working on learning the D2D system. I should search around to see if someone has come up with some handy templates for "this is the standard front/back matter for different types of books." Mostly I'm looking at books I have on my shelves. But then there are e-book specific questions like "in a print book, the publication history of the stories in the collection generally come next to the copyright page, but in an e-book the practice seems to be to put most extraneous matter at the end." Can I format the two differently? Do I want to, or do I want consistency?

The plan is to launch at Worldcon, but have it ready enough in advance to get some pre-publicity out. Though I'm not planning a significant publicity campaign for this "test book," just a chance to limber up the muscles.

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2636.html

Episode 2636: Everyone Falls, Die Rocks

Random numbers can be fickle.

That's the point. Use randomness in your games when you're okay with the story being told by either outcome. There may be a "good" result and a "bad" result, but you have to be prepared to accept the bad with the good.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

And that's why it's good to get confirmation on whether enemies still exist or not. The players are lucky the speeders weren't directly hit, or they could have been seriously injured! Though 13 damage could still be somewhat significant for mid-level characters. And I guess that gravel is somewhat packed in place as well since there aren't any plumes of the rocks being thrown in the air.

Chewie looks really funny upside down. People in general look silly flying through the air, but most people in Star Wars tend to be human. Here, it's like he's got no feet! Just a pair of furry stumps to walk around on. Or kneel on, as the last panel seems to show.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2636.html

oots_feed

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1328.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2635.html

Episode 2635: Same Ship, Different Day

Things that look familiar to adventurers can be great hooks to the past and provide intriguing clues to the present and future.

One trick is to tell the players that something looks familiar, but don't tell them why.

"You feel like you've seen the vizier before somewhere."
"Where? Do we know him?"
"You're not sure... His face just looks familiar, but you can't quite place it."

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Ah hey! Confirmation that we've had a time skip! I knew there had to be some sort of time skip between Episodes! That's practically a tradition at this point. I wonder just how many times Pete's rewatched that clip over the years? It's definitely something that's been on his mind if he can recognize the setup and pull the clip out again this fast.

And I guess that ship is where we'll end up going next now that the troopers are gone. Maybe? Having that many attempts in a row for the one from Chewie would make for a reasonable way to handwave them as finished, especially since we thankfully don't need to see all of Chewie's separate dice rolls. Not to mention any dice rolls for shots by the other PCs at them.

I don't think I commented on it back when it first showed up, what with all of the other things going on in the visions, but that ship really looks like a giant droid head. Or maybe a giant pair of giant binoculars when the engines are off. I think it'd be neat if that's where the movie designers got inspiration for it.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2635.html

loup_noir

I was pleasantly surprised this week by a couple of emails that let me know that my Durmstrang series had been moved to an Archive of Our Own as part of the Open Door project (Thank you, Heidi!

heidi8 ) Someone had already claimed my author name from FA, so in a fit of no imagination whatsoever, I'm now LoupNoirDurmstrang over there. There's one story that never made it to Schnoogle that should get uploaded to the site. I've got FAQs open to help me figure the steps out.

This whole week has been an exercise in careful movement, because tomorrow is a pelagic birding day. I've been on a boat when my back's been unhappy, and it isn't a pleasant experience. Someday, I'll take another trip out to the Farallons, preferably without back spasms.

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A seething mass of turgid drama.

Reading

Grilling Time

Episode 2640: Mundus Inversus

Transcript

A Nice Day Out

Episode 2639: Tunnel Revision

Transcript

Episode 2638: Foodies in the Space-Time Continuum

Transcript

Episode 2637: Everything but the Bitchin’ Sink

Transcript

All Projects Go

Episode 2636: Everyone Falls, Die Rocks

Transcript

1328: Facing Rules

Episode 2635: Same Ship, Different Day

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June 2025

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