madbaker | Reading

I've posted the birdwatching report from my New Zealand trip on my Alpennia blog (https://alpennia.com/blog/new-zealand-birding). The non-bird parts to come.

Today's rhythm was thrown off by the need to check in at 11:30 on my potential jury duty service. Which also meant that when I went online to set up an optometry appointment, I didn't think I could commit to the "earliest possible" slot next Tuesday, with the next options starting in late October. And then when I checked in and found I was excused from jury duty, that next Tuesday slot had been snapped up.

It became clear to me on the NZ trip that I really needed to update my vision prescriptions, though in part this was because I was doing a lot more close-distance reading than usual and it became clear that one of my eyes has drifted more than the other. Then coincidentally, yesterday I got a note from Kaiser saying that my current glasses prescription was about to expire (it's been two years) and I should make an appointment.

But anyway, since I didn't want to go off on the bike this morning because of the check-in, I wrote up my birding notes. And now I'm thinking that since my routine is already off, I could just go off script entirely for the rest of the day. (Yes, yes, I have a fixed routine in retirement. What can I say?) Maybe I'll do something wild and crazy like pick rose hips. I have three or four bushes that have a lot of hips--enough to do something interesting with, anyway--and it might be fun to try some comparisons.

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2676.html

Episode 2676: Emit Nidal Lad In Time

Really, can you go wrong with time shenanigans?

Yes. Yes, you definitely can.

Which is what makes them great for story telling!

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Wow. Now that is some convoluted planning by the GM. Or great improvisation from previous plot threads; the GM has gotten very good at that over the years.

And wait, does this mean that Boba Fett was that maybe-Guavian? I'd figured it was just another rathtar. Also curious now is that the rathtar is meant to be The Rathtar, which would also mean that there can't be two in the later attack. I mean higher numbered comic page. Man, talking about things when something's got Merlin Sickness can be confusing.

Frankly, at this point with all the time related shenanigans, I wouldn't be surprised if Force Timestop shows up again somehow and causes related problems, even if it's only done by comic panel manipulation.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2676.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2675.html

Episode 2675: Ombrage à Trois

Bearers of bad news often get a bad rap. In reality they seldom deserve it, but in fiction or gaming...

Go ahead and take out your frustration on them! Especially if you're the bad guy.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Chewbacca hardly counts as the third. That was just Han Solo pushing Chewie under the space bus. The Wookiee is such a chew toy sometimes.

And hey! We got those panel cracks again! Or maybe panel stabs? Either way, those were a neat edit to the comic. I wonder if we'll get another edit like that next comic.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2675.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2674.html

Episode 2674: Once Upon a Crime

You know how fictional villains often act in completely over-the-top ways, yet none of their goons seem to take this as a red flag and get the heck out of there before it all falls to pieces? You can bring some semblance of reality back to proceedings by having some of their subordinates actually call them out on it. Or threaten to leave. Or actually leave.

Or give them a plausible reason why they might stay even though they know they work for a lunatic. Family ties can be one of those reasons.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

This is also about the fourth time we've had this flashback? That's how bad it is. Zorii seems to be the sane one here, but I don't think she'll be of much help in talking Boba down. It's hard to come back from five exclamation points, you know. How Threepio gets back to normal is going to be interesting as I can't see why Boba would want to put them back to normal at the moment.

And since this is Boba's last chance at an appearance such as it is (since it's Episode IX and all), I hope we get more flashback panels in the next week. I'd thought we'd had a great conclusion to his story back in Episode VI, so seeing it embellished more here will be very enjoyable.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2674.html

hrj

I deliberately left my laptop at home during my 2-week trip to New Zealand to ensure I wouldn't slip into "working," but that means I'll never catch up on dreamwidth posts. I hope to do a "trip report" on my Alpennia.com blog (since that's the easiest place to post pictures), but given that I never posted a trip report for last year's post-Worldcon travels, we'll see what actually happens.

TLDR: I had marvellous fun, spent two weeks hanging with my BFF, enjoyed seeing a part of the world I'd never been before, had amazingly good weather for all but the last day, and fell in love with tree ferns. (Alas, no way I could grow them at my house even if I had the space.)

oots_feed

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1333.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2673.html

Episode 2673: Bomb Fact

Aliases are fine, but often stories use really bad ones. The classic is the Sdrawkcab Alias (especially looking at you, Alucard), but there are other lazy aliases, and themed aliases such as always using the same initials. The whole point of an alias is to make it hard to figure out who you are, yet so many characters in fiction choose obvious ones.

Of course this means in a game you can go either way, depending on your sense of drama or realism.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Okay..... everyone's still not panicking or otherwise acting excited..... Not a betrayal by Babu then? I still can't think of any reason for Evil Threepio though, so there's probably something in the movie dialogue that I'm missing that would explain things. Or at least make some sort of sense for the movie. That could just be wishful thinking though; we've already had a number of seemingly nonsensical things show up already. Neat that the character managed to come back from the Sarlacc though!

Hang on. Why would Boba Fett care about any of the PCs here? None of them have met Boba Fett before, or had anything to do with Obi-Wan. Maybe that's how the comic scene is going to play out? Perhaps one of the players realizes that same thing, questions the GM/Boba on it, some more discussion happens, and then Threepio goes back to normal. Mind you, that still wouldn't explain the currently evil eyes or the droid surgery, but that wouldn't be anywhere close to the largest unexplained thing in the last 20 comics.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2673.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2672.html

Episode 2672: Open Our Eyes, That We May See

An interesting trick is to not reveal something important to all of the players at once. Rather reveal it to one player, and let them inform the others. This works especially well if the characters are actually in places where some of them might not get the (bad) news at the same time as others. Or if the discovery is something made by one of them because of skills they have that the others don't.

For example, is a scout is exploring ahead of the main party, you can let the scout's player know what they discover, and let them decide whether or not to return to the party and pass on the information. Or if they are searching a room, one of the party will find the significant treasure (or cursed item) before the others, so let that player know what they find and let them tell the others. Or if one person has particular perception, such as a keen-eyed elf able to spot enemies at far greater the distance than anyone else, give them the info and see how they relate it to their comrades.

This saves you some descriptive work as the GM and gives the player with the info a chance to roleplay and put their own spin on things.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

Oh, well, that's not a good sign. I can't think of anything where "suddenly red eyes" means something good is going to happen. All the other characters besides Poe seem unconcerned so far, so Babu betraying them does seem most likely here. That would also fit the theme of the writers not having any idea where the plot goes as the whole point of this detour would be to make an evil C-3P0. Who is, out of all of the characters, probably the most harmless to make evil in the end, so this won't even be that effective a betrayal by Babu. And even if Threepio knows a language that sounds horrible, the droid's body is still awkward and slow, and also not that loud. Disappointment all around!

At least the player instrument band seems to be going well. I don't know if a self-respecting drummer being the only one with face paint would go well, but if everyone else does it too? There might be some interest in that, even if they're not animal faces.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2672.html

darths_and_droids_feed

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2671.html

Episode 2671: You Got My Future in Your Hands

There's endless value in recycling typical experiences from everyday life, exporting them to a campaign world context.

Before casting a spell from a magical scroll, you have to scan through and agree to multiple pages of terms and conditions.
Your neural skill-chip implant reboots mid-way through a karate fight to install a required security patch.
Attempting to scry on someone using a crystal ball, only to get a "no signal" message.
You're trying to sneak past guards in the dark when your infrared stealth helmet interrupts live feed for a couple of unskippable ads.
A wizard's dungeon puzzle where you have to identify which squares contain horse-drawn wagons.

aurilee writes:

Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)

A quest item? Proof of being a related Resistance group? Actually a personal momento? A surveillance chip? Okay, probably not that last one; I don't think Star Wars has had anything that compact and flat for spying with. And maybe not the memento either since there's no chain for it to be a necklace or a place to put a hand or finger through.

Interesting that the visor vanished. A sign that Zorii is trying to impress on Poe that the disc is important? Or maybe just the writers trying to humanize the otherwise faceless person. Honestly though, my first thought was really "did that zoop up into the top or the bottom of the helmet?" Because that'd be just the unnecessary neat detail a Daft Punk helmet in Star Wars would have.

Corey obviously doesn't know about dramatic cuts. Maybe that only counts if Poe finds out more about that dagger in the next page though? Or it could be a sign that Zorii already knows about the factory being a setup, and the GM wants to see what kind of mess Jim makes by (not) sharing that info to the rest of the players.

Transcript

https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2671.html

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A seething mass of turgid drama.

Reading

Birds and Bits

Episode 2676: Emit Nidal Lad In Time

Transcript

Episode 2675: Ombrage à Trois

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Episode 2674: Once Upon a Crime

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Back from New Zealand

1333: Well That Sucks

Episode 2673: Bomb Fact

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Episode 2672: Open Our Eyes, That We May See

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Episode 2671: You Got My Future in Your Hands

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September 2025

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