#DCC issues

[trainphilos]

The Northlander

First off and totally unrelated to anything having to do with railroads is this: Northern Lights in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware! This photo was taken in front of our house. (admittedly a while ago) Why go to the far northern reaches of Norway or Canada when one can see this spectacle from the comfort of one’s home? This photograph, with its red and green hues, was taken with an iPhone. The naked…

[mongo-the-liensis]

Imagine being a crawler and your two warlords in the faction wars are a codependent duo made up of a man that is literally insane and a talking cat. I know the dungeon is ridiculous at all times but that might've been my last straw

[7nsomnia]

Tickets for Dreamcatcher's Christmas Online Concert will start selling on the 25th of November!

ticket tiers:

Details and more info here: mmt.fans/b0tC

[probablybadrpgideas]

Didn't know y'all did anything with DCC so I kinda wanna see what your opinion is on this campaign I'm in.

There's a guy we'll call him L, he and I were the only two players for the first two times we met up, and this week we finally got a third player. L has been very aggressively bullrushing every confrontation, completely ignoring everything in his path... And it got our entire party WIPED OUT (I was running 7 characters at once, him 4) session 1 and ushered in an age of chaos. Session 2 was building first levels, and he was constantly trying to dictate what I was going to build and play. The party wipe was devastating to me bc I had started to grow an attachment to one of my lawfuls, and unnecessary and L made no move to stop anything at any point. I assumed initially he was just frozen up on the spot.

Then session 3 happened (first one with the 1st levels we built) and I'm not so sure that's the case anymore. We were sent by the Chaos Gods to the realm of Law to steal the Yokeless egg and he was very much avoidant of any of the plot, including avoiding our DM in the storefront when they were supposed to be having their one on one for The Plot.

We get to the Ox defending the Yokeless Egg and he was running the ONLY lawful character, and he'd had some good meta this session for how he would react to things. This time he literally did nothing while me and the third player (both chaotic alignments) were attempting to figure shit out against the Ox to avoid combat. I went as far as to have my second character (neutral aligned) was elbowing his in the ribs and eventually even pushed L's character to the front to force him to interact with the Ox.

For nearly two whole minutes he sat in complete and utter silence as the Ox began to sniff out the chaos weapons we'd been issued, and didn't act again until combat began. It was PAINFUL bc our DM literally told us ahead of time that most monsters we'd face in the Law realm would kill us easily, so I'd tried to impart that we'd avoid conflict as much as possible.

My question for y'all is like, is this normal etiquette with players in a party? I had played 5e before this and have never experienced someone that acted like that, and if they acted similarly it was usually due to social dynamics or autistic stuff. I had given benefit of the doubt first session, but after this session I'm no longer believing he didn't act this way on purpose. Just wondering if you (or anyone else) has any takes on this situation, is this normal, how the FUCK do you play when someone in your party seems hellbent on combat and ONLY combat.

Also wondering if you have any advice for like, how to actually get this guy to stop Leroy Jenkinsing his way through each and every single dungeon. He has not stopped to examine anything even once and it was the reason our first party got wiped (we needed 500gp worth of items to toss to the Leviathan or a still-beating heart and he chose to start chopping at it instead).

I apologize for the length and density of this ask and appreciate any advice anyone has to give me. I'm at the point where if this party wipes out again I will be quitting.

(sidenote: I've been in this campaign and it's one of my favourites)

This players sounds like a dick. DCC is high-stakes and you need to be able to work as a party to survive, but it sounds like he basically got you killed due to main character syndrome and learned no lessons.

Advice-wise I'd have a talk and make sure he actually understands how TTRPGs and specifically DCC work, which will presumably either lead to "sorry, didn't realise this wasn't fun for everyone else, I'll do better", or deciding he shouldn't be in the group. I'd also have a chat with your GM before that, because there's every chance they enjoy it even if you don't (and it's very much not the recommended approach).

But yeah this is not the kind of gameplay DCC is designed for at all, and your characters are clearly suffering for it - Paper

[lazyscience]

DCC Challenge, Day 3

Time To Floor Collapse: 28 days, 2 hours (give or take)

Time for the recap episode!

Crawler @quartzandsundry

New Achievement! Hand to hand...support?

Well, crawler, you out here buffing, juicing, sparking like a motherfucker, and well, I would know. Hi to your mom, by the way. There's a buff with her name on it, iywim.

You and I both know I'm funny. Existential despair is HILARIOUS once you let go and learn to love the bomb!

Reward: A bronze Dr. Strangelove box! Inside is Major T.J. "King" Kong's Ride 'em Cowboy Hat. When worn, crawler gains +20% yield to any explosive deployed, but each wearing also gives a 1.5% chance (cumulative) of detonating a Suitcase Nuke along with whatever your other payload was. Oopsie-daisy! Hope you're wearing your lead-lined BigBois!

Crawler @kathrynalexao3:

New Achievement! Skibidi Bobbity Boo!

Through the magic of bribery and subversion, you've escaped the marauding troupe of tweens! Well played - give a mob a meal, you have something to feed forever. Teach a mob to focus on an objective and you've taught it to hunt!

That's a bold strategy, Cotton, let's see how it pays off for you. Or future crawlers, I'm not picky.

(tell me something while we're talking, just why is it SO many Earth sports involve balls and kicking them? I mean, not like graphic pain and humiliation aren't my jam, but - oh. it's not that kind of ball? Bo-ring! At least there's still CTE. My faith in you is slightly restored!)

Reward: A silver Lord Stanley's Cup box, including a refilling stamina potion +3, in a metal cup large enough to water a draft animal. Also a pair of ice skates. You know, in case you were dumped into the middle of a merciless icy vortex with mobs hurtling small circular projectiles. You never know what might come in handy!

Crawler @king-ofconfusion:

New Achievement! Breathe Where You're Planted!

Congratulations, crawler, despite the fact that it probably burns more than a little bit, you are still breathing. Good for you, that was a long fucking way underwater. Oh well, better luck for me next time!

And watch out for that grabby ooze. Why do some mobs just not know when to give up? Sometimes you just have to let go and let the AI take the wheel.

Reward: A Bronze Dream a Little Dream of Me box! Inside is one sheet music scroll for Entourage (1969 Remix), which summons an extremely bitchy, gay and drunk illusion of your party to confuse the issue while you escape! Also inflicts the Tipsy and Thirsty debuffs on mobs and non-partied crawlers if cast with sufficient skill (get out of there fast, because NOBODY wants to see a Thirsty Danger Dingo. Not even me.)

Crawler @oreniaa:

New Achievement! The Pen Is Mighty!

Bards, man. What you all can't do with a well-placed word. It seems like a waste of a perfectly good award to give you anything to do with them.

So I won't!

Reward: A Silver Tombow box! Inside are Blitz Sticks x 10 (good for trading! yeah! sure! right! Artistic types never make shitty decisions to enhance their perception and mana!) and Q's Exploding Pen. It originally also had 10 charges, but that Bond, he's such a kidder, who knows how many it had left when he brought it back.

Crawler @cairfrey :

New Achievement! All Revved Up And Ready to Go

The kids are losing their minds? You don't say! But by sticking it to the Sex Police, I gotta hand it to you. Gloved, I gotta hand it to you. Frankly, there was nobody asking for a case of Enthusiastic Double Gonorrhea more than the Purity Police. But I'd watch it if I was you. From the looks on their faces, the next burning sensation YOU feel might be a level 16 Fireball. Use protection, crawler!

Reward: A Silver Hole box! With a TOME of Hole, you perverts. The spell, Hole. Well, OK, there might be some Yog's Enchanted Chain in there. I promise not to judge you too hard.

(heh, heh, heh, hard.)

Crawler @deathdovesong

New Achievement! All Ends With Beginnings!

Up all night to get lucky number 7 - well, one crawler's luck might be another crawler's Desperado Club pass, but nobody in this party so far has any urge to get their Dirty Shirley on so you're probably safe for the time being.

OK, so a FEW of them have. Some of us saw what nasty shit went down in that skyfowl settlement, lazyscience, Jake and Hardison. But at least you don't have to worry about being their drink ticket.

Reward: a Silver Rebel, Rebel Box! Inside, a set of brown linen Outdated Religious Order robes of +3 Dexterity and +4 to Stealth (+5 if the mob is particularly weak-minded)

Crawler @lazyscience:

New Achievement: Move Your Ass!

I see you finally took advantage of that training room, none too early mind you. If you're not careful, I'm going to think you don't like my presents. But you did in fact avail yourself of the tutorial. And the banging tunes. Nobody needs to know that you still listen to 90s and 00s booty shakers to motivate yourself.

Nobody NEEDS to, but they all know now. You're welcome!

Reward: Delaying the inevitable advancement of encroaching mortality! Endorphins! Good shit like that!

OK, fine, since I did you dirrrty with the music reveal, have a Silver Alchemy Box! Contents: Funky Cold Medina x1, half-used bottle of Britney Spears Believe (deactivate aggro snake and snakelike mobs).

ATTENTION, all partied crawlers! Don't forget to update me on mobs, quests, or parties (defined at link) so I can award you achievements! Please let me know either in the replies to this post, reblogging with additions, or hit my askbox/DMs!

(please, do this, even with small and silly mobs/quests, it makes giving achievements so much easier!)

[vintagerpg]

It’s funny, I love a masquerade party adventure, but when I saw Acting Up in Lankhmar (2018) centered on a stage play, I felt my skepticism rise. That it was written by Michael Curtis made me settle down some, but still.

The premise is simple: low rent theater troupe performs a play that skewers piggish nobleman, piggish nobleman responds in a way that confirms his piggishness and necessitates the troupe’s hiring of the PCs as guards. There is a little bit of lower classes being on to the bullshit of the upper classes theming, but this mostly feels like a slightly reserved Marx Brothers film, only with swords and black magic.

The show must go on, of course, despite several attempt by the Duke to derail it. There is also one non-Duke related issue — a pair of thieves sneaking in to make off with the ticket revenue. They make the cover (by William McAusland), but they’re the one problem I would cut — they just seem like one problem too many. One of the Duke’s schemes requires a pair of PCs to step on stage for a spell (which, I admit, is probably a hoot, and the book has the play’s script for them to work from). There’s also a little mechanic for keeping track of the audience mood, which I like (DCC has an enthusiasm for trackers like this that I appreciate). The Duke’s final, deadly salvo seems a bit too…deadly, though. I expect it can be staged so that the PCs are on top of things, but if they are taken unawares, there is an extremely high likelihood of bystander casualties, which puts a damper on the farce. I’d want to work hard to make sure that didn’t happen — the idea of nobility spending the lives of the lower classes in a fit of pique seems to be exactly the opposite of the intended ending.

[trainsinanime]

Something for the model train fans following me: It's my newest locomotive, an EMD BL2 in N scale by Life-Like. I bought it at the international model railroad show in Gangelt (international because Gangelt is right on the border between Germany and the Netherlands, and so about a third of the exhibitors were dutch).

Now, "new" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here, this was bought used. Based on a website I found, this appears to be the 1991 version of the design. Detailing and so on isn't exactly at the highest end, it was a budget model even then, but I think it reproduces the overall shape nicely. You get why the BL2 was apparently called the Ugly Duckling.

Getting DCC into this machine will be tricky, as will be new headlights. The current approach has one single light-bulb that shines both through the front and rear, and is visible through the plastic shell, and that will definitely cause issues with DCC. I'll also need to change the couplers to Micro-Trains ones, and for that I'll have to see whether I have any appropriate ones around.

Still, for 50€, you can't complain. I'm really happy with it, I didn't even know anybody made a BL2.

[statecryptids]

TALES FROM THE MAGICIAN’S SKULL edited by Howard Andrew Jones

“Tales From The Magician’s Skull” is a magazine of Sword and Sorcery fiction drawing deep from the vein of classic pulps like Weird Tales and Amazing Stories. For those unfamiliar with the term, Sword and Sorcery is a darker, more personal brand of fantasy. In contrast to Tolkien-inspired high fantasy with its epic heroes performing feats of great magic amid world-shaking plots, Sword and Sorcery concerns heroes of often gray morality just trying to survive in a dangerous world where magic, if it exists, is usually dangerous and mistrusted. This is not to say there is no heroism in Sword and Sorcery, just that it is on a smaller, individual scale.

In addition to classic pulps, the magazine also takes artistic and literary influence from mass-market paperback fantasies of the 70s and 80s, and that most quintessential of fantasy creations- Dungeons and Dragons (and other RPGs of a similar theme). The magazine fully embraces this connection by providing gaming statistics for monsters, spells and magical items featured in each story, all of them formatted for Dungeon Crawl Classics, or DCC, the flagship RPG from the magazine’s publisher, Goodman Games, which emulates the style of classic 1st and 2nd edition Dungeons & Dragons from the 70s and 80s.

This is especially fitting as D&D itself was heavily by influenced Sword and Sorcery fiction. The original edition of the game included Appendix N, a list of the literary works that had inspired its main creator, Gary Gygax. Appendix N includes the classic authors you’d expect, such as Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, J. R. R. Tolkien, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Michael Moorcock. But there are also more diverse and unusual writers such as Fletcher Pratt, Sterling Lanier and John Belloir. The Magician’s Skull reprints this short but seminal list at the back of the magazine so readers can follow their own literary journeys.

Another excellent inclusion in The Magician’s Skull is an extensive appendix of used bookstores from all over the US where readers can find those Appendix N classics along with other bibliophilic treasures. I’m pleased to see that the Dawn Treader from my own hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan is in there. Though, sadly, no sign of the Book Barn from Niantic in my current state of Connecticut.

Lastly, The Magician’s Skull also features a directory of “Kindred Souls”- groups, gaming and otherwise, from around the world who share the editors’ tastes in classic sword and sorcery.

The authors featured in this first outing are all old hands at sword and sorcery. Several of the stories are but single episodes in the long careers of established characters, though you don’t need to have read their other adventures to enjoy these tales.

The magazine is abundantly illustrated throughout with full-page drawings for each tale along with architectural plans for some of the tombs, towers and other buildings.

Issues of “Tales From the Magician’s Skull” are available as print and PDF copies from goodman-games.com

[molgars]

for people looking to run a different kind of dungeon, may I introduce you to Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC)? It’s a wonderful system where the higher you roll on your magic, the greater (and wackier!) effect your spell has. I highly recommend it!

[cartooncadet666]

False Reality: Patients of New Generation

Patient: PM-256, also known as Pac Man.

Age: 14-15 years of Pac-Worlder age.

Blood Family: Zac Estin, Sunny Suprema, Spheria Suprema.

Found Family: CG-231, SAM-258, DCC-504, SS-509.

Contact with other main patients: Affirmative.

Mental health status: Data is about above and exactly average.

Physical health status: Data is above average.

Descendant of: SS-509

Notes: PM-256 is very sentient with most of our test subjects, he has full awareness that had excelled during his time here in the reality. Questioning appetite that never seems to end. Lacks self-control over hunger. His selflessness has progressed the following months of March-August. Has been searching for parents for a while, overprotective of the new Nether King, Dreamscaper, and Pointyhead leader to be. He won't be an issue.... Not yet at least...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patient: SAM-258, also known as Spiral A. Marin.

Age: 15 years of Pac-Worlder age.

Blood Family: No data found.

Found Family: PM-256, CG-231, DCC-504, SS-509, SSA-090.

Contact with other main patients: Affirmative.

Mental health status: Average, had recently declined.

Physical health status: N̵̖̑̾o̵̮̩͒̐̆ ̴̢̞̭͑̋̏ď̴̥̤̊a̴͙̤̯̍t̷̪͓̺̐̊á̵̼̠̕ ̸̢̮̜̑f̷̢̳̽͊ȏ̵̲̒͝ǔ̴̢͖̭n̷̝͍̠͑͒d̴̞͆ͅ?̶̮̮̪͒̽

Descendant of: Youngest son, D'Marcus.

Notes: SAM-258 is an interesting patient, somehow in some way he was able to enter the dreamscape in another universe, the reality had confused him with his variant and gave him the same abilities. Turns hostile when threatened, usually as sentient as PM-256, a friendly encounter at first, extremely dangerous when angry. I can't believe that my son allowed him to be the new dreamscaper, he is too irresponsible to handle the duties of being a reality jumper. Oh well... He won't do much harm to me at least... Original creator of the nightmare realm, there has to be something to deny his abilities, why does he have so much access?! This is not supposed to happen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patient: SLB-140, also known as Skeebo L. Borealis.

Age: 14-15 years of Pac-Worlder age.

Blood Family: Sebastian Loverman, Aurora Borealis, Fadil Borealis.

Found Family: ABS-389, BSS-666, ABS-945, SBN-190.

Contact with other main patients: Affirmative.

Mental health status: WARNING; Data is below average. Not likely to communicate properly.

Physical health status: No data found.

Descendant of: BSS-666

Notes: SLB-140 does not seem to be very hesitant to take drastic measures when it comes to this reality, I was not expecting for him to have more experience than our previous patient, then again, he is the youngest son of a very paranormal based family, I will have to give out harsher material to get more results, he isn't going to be breaking anytime soon if I don't take these chances... He does not seem to be very healthy according to ABS-389, DCC-504, and KRAFT-010. His mental health is slowly declining from self hatred and harm, he barely eats, sleeps, and never laughs or smiles considering the situation he's in... Is he turning into his variant from the Mothership universe?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patient: TIP-080, also known as Tip the Pointyhead.

Age: 20 years of Pac-Worlder age, approximately 35 in Pointyhead years.

Blood Family: No data found.

Found Family: PM-256, SLB-140.

Contact with other main patients: Affirmative.

Mental health status: WARNING; Data is below average. Not likely to communicate properly.

Physical health status: WARNING; Declining health. Don't approach patient for another 72 hours.

Descendant of: APEX-070.

Notes: There is no possible way that I am able to have contact with this Pointyhead, and it's confusing on how I am not able to. His personality is very soft, almost father-like, but has behavior close to Coco, which any wrong action regarding PM-256, SLB-140, or any of their found family, blood family, even friends causes rage in his body. If I can't have contact with Tip then something is seriously wrong, SAM-258 is blocking my access off I can feel it, his behavior recently affected Apex, the one who had created this reality as a prison, he's turning his race soft... I don't know how to solve this, this experiment would have to be shut down if we can't get much results...

[mobilephonetechnology]

(2025-02-09 image ©smart meters) How does your smart meter work? Or does it? It works by communicating readings from the meters in your house to DCC who routes them to your supplier. The communication from your meter to DCC is either using the O2 2G network, if you are in the south of the UK or Arqiva's radio network at around 400MHz in the north of the UK. In a recent BBC Panorama program there has been much criticism of the communication system, especially in the north of the UK with figues of up to 30% of meters not working, including mine! Another issue that DCC and the energy companies will need to address soon is the switch off of 2G.

What is the solution? DCC and Vodafone have carried out some trials of using 4G to send that data from the meters to DCC. Further trials will follow. Once complete, it is expected that DCC and Vodafone will convert every meter to their new system - at a significant cost.

There are a number of questions about using 4G. By the time the network has been changed to 4G it will be 30 years old and we will be thinking about 6G. A different and may be better option would be to use NB-IoT protocols that run over 4G, but would also run over 5G and 6G so more future proof. Vodafone have not released any details of which technology they are using so they may be using NB_IoT.

Either way there is a big and expensive change coming to our smart meter network. For one I am happy as this may solve the communication issue with my meter.

[mongo-the-liensis]

Carl not understanding social cues is literally the best part of him.

Carl, women don't want litter boxes for their birthdays, no matter how many times they mentioned it to you, and no it doesn't matter how expensive it was.

(Also him dropping child abuse lore when Katia was sharing a story about her mom not liking it when Katia tracked mud in the house was 💀💀)

[umberhulk]

Writing Better Adventures: Monster Tactics

Here is a new post in this ongoing series on Writing Better Adventures. This post is about working with monster tactics. The idea for this post came from DCC, and Operation Unfathomable. I had some issues with Completely Unfathomable but, it is full of creative and inspiring ideas. A feature that I like, like this: 5 | NUL PRIEST WITH TWO-HEADED APE MUMMY BODYGUARDNul’s master of intergod…

[hitchzone24]

Travelling Soon? Essential Tips for using your Credit Card Abroad

Ever packed your bags for an overseas trip and wondered ‘How’s my credit card going to behave abroad?’ Yes,credit cards are helpful but sometimes unpredictable in new places. Worried? Don’t be. We have a host of tips for you to make your credit card work wonders on your travelling adventures.We will show you how to turn your credit card into a savvy companion. Let’s break down the points!

Notify Your Bank Before You Travel

One of the most important steps before your journey is informing your credit card issuer about your travel plans. Many banks monitor transactions for suspicious activity, and using your card in a foreign country without prior notice may trigger security measures. This will lead to your card being temporarily blocked. Most banks offer the option to notify them of your travel plans through their app or website, making this process quick and painless.

Know the Foreign Transaction Fees

Before you start swiping, it’s imperative to be aware of any foreign transaction fees associated with your credit card. These fees typically range from 2% to 3% of each purchase made outside your home country. While these charges might seem small, they can add up over time. The good news? Some credit cards (travel-focused ones in particular) waive foreign transaction fees altogether. Consider applying for one of these cards before your trip to avoid unnecessary costs.

Always Pay in Local Currency

It’s almost always better to choose in paying for things in the local currency when travelling. The reason? Paying in your home currency involves Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). This often comes with hidden fees and poor exchange rates. By opting for the local currency, you’ll be charged at the card network's exchange rate (which is generally more favourable).

Use a Card with Travel Perks

Travel rewards credit cards are designed to enhance your travel experience by offering perks such as free airport lounge access, travel insurance, and no foreign transaction fees. All of these manage to level up your travel experience. Some cards also allow you to earn points or miles on your purchases which can be redeemed for future flights or hotel stays. If you’re a frequent traveller, using a card with travel perks can make your journey more enjoyable and financially rewarding.

Carry a Backup Card and Some Cash

While credit cards are widely accepted in most parts of the world, it’s always a good idea to carry a backup card and some local currency just in case. Some smaller businesses, particularly in rural areas, may not accept cards or you may find yourself in a situation where your primary card doesn’t work due to network issues. A second credit card from a different issuer can also be useful if your main card is lost or stolen.

Avoid ATM Fees

Using your credit card at ATMs abroad can come with high fees, both from your card issuer and the ATM operator. To avoid these charges, use your credit card for purchases whenever possible and rely on your debit card for cash withdrawals. Some travel-focused credit cards and banks offer reimbursement for ATM fees. So, it’s worth checking if your card includes this benefit before you depart.

Take Advantage of Travel Insurance

Many credit cards come with built-in travel insurance. It can be a lifesaver in the event of trip cancellations, lost luggage, or medical emergencies abroad. Review your card’s insurance policy before your trip to understand what’s covered and what isn’t.

Monitor Your Spending and Statements

While abroad, it’s central to keep track of your credit card spending and regularly monitor your account for any suspicious activity. Most banks provide mobile apps that allow you to check your balance, review recent transactions, and even freeze your card if necessary. Staying on top of your spending helps you manage your budget.

Know Your Credit Limit

Overspending abroad can easily push you close to your credit limit. Keep an eye on your available credit to avoid maxing out your card, which could lead to declined transactions or penalties. If you anticipate high spending, consider requesting a temporary credit limit increase from your card issuer before your trip.

Protect Yourself from Fraud

Be cautious when using your card, especially at unfamiliar ATMs or in crowded places. Stick to well-known, reputable establishments and avoid giving your card to anyone to take out of your sight. If you suspect any fraudulent activity, contact your card issuer immediately. Most credit cards offer zero-liability protection, meaning you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized charges. Remember though – swift action is essential.

Keep a Copy of Your Card Details

In case your card is lost or stolen, it’s helpful to have a copy of your credit card details. This also includes the customer service number for reporting lost cards. Keep this information in a safe place, separate from your physical card. Having this on hand can make it much easier to resolve any issues quickly.

Use Contactless Payments

Many countries have fully adopted contactless payments. It offers a faster, more secure way to pay. If your credit card supports contactless technology, take advantage of it when traveling. Not only does it reduce the risk of fraud by minimizing the physical handling of your card, but it also speeds up transactions in places like public transport or busy retail stores.

While travelling, remember that your credit card is ready for adventures – as much as you but it needs prep work too. Remember and apply these tips on your travels and your adventurous ways will not suffer any kind of negative consequences.

[lazyscience]

DCC Challenge, Day 20

Time To Floor Collapse: 10 days, -1 hours (give or take, what, I had things! I was doing things! )

Time for the recap episode!

Crawler @quartzandsundry

New Achievement! Calling Olson, Calling Memphis, Can You Hear This?

The nasty thing, crawler, about getting pulled by the liaison is they can dump you wherever they want. But you've still got your hands on the goods and maybe a bit more, so if you can make it back to back up, you might just kick a little mudskipper ass.

Reward: A silver Madman Poets box! Inside, A Dirty Little Crawler's Book of Voodoo, a bottle of Toraline ink, and a roll of 10 Rot Sticker Stick-Ems! Guaranteed to stick to ANYTHING you want 'em to stick to, you can charge it with any spell you can cast, stick it to you target, and trigger it up to 30 hours later! Comes in "Anarchy A" and "Brain Slug Punks Fuck Off!" Go on, stick it to the man!

Crawler @kathrynalexao3:

New Achievement! Come, the Avarice!

So you Earth crawlers, you had a saying: Greed is good. As I understand it, there are different schools of thought about whether that was meant to be understood literally or not, but what can't be denied is you guys really, really like your consumables. And who am I to judge, when you put them to such hilariously destructive uses?

Reward: A gold More is More box! Inside, 330 vials of Scatterer Hemolymph, 10 Scatterer Carapaces, 50 Bad Llama pelts, 69 Brindled Vespa wings, 86 impact-triggered HobLobber fuses, 257 Slate Butterflies, 16 institutional-size cans of Healing Custard (Strawberry), 3 wand blanks and a Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich Biggie Bag with a large chocolate frosty!

Crawler @king-ofconfusion:

New Achievement! Class Update!

Congratulations on further updating your class. We here at Dungeon World:Earth highly support the endeavor of customizing everything about you to become better optimized. Now get out there and start leveling!

Reward: A Silver Disco Lemonade box! Inside, a pair of enchanted Nightgaunt Leather Pants! Add +10 to constitution, resistance to ice and poison based attacks, and +8 to Charisma because well, they look a LOT more rock and roll than the cloak, let's be so for real. Also inside, a handful of Blitz Sticks and a Night Pass to the Desperado Club bar, good for free well drinks for 30 hours from time of redemption!

Crawler @oreniaa:

New Achievement! That's a Fine Looking High Horse!

Did it hurt? When you fell from the liaison's office and faceplanted in that pile of mobs? I'm sorry about that, by the way. But it was that or the volcano and I feel like I did my best to sneak my foot on the scale, so to speak.

What do you mean, it's "thumb" on the scale? What kind of weirdo cares about thumbs? And people think I have an issue, sheesh.

Reward: A Legendary What You Got In The Stable? box! Contains a Legendary mount, Morvar'ch the Black, capable of leaping thirty-foot walls, running on water as well as on solid ground, and breathing a 5-meter cone of fire from his nostrils! (You're going to want to make sure you have the Premium Stable upgrade so that shit's fireproof, he gets um, testy if he's in the pet carrier ALL the time when you're not riding him). Capable of up to 100 km of flight 3 times in a 30 hour period (9.5 hour cooldown)

Crawler @cairfrey :

New Achievement! CrawlCon, Day 3!

6:00 AM - Focus On The Feline! Most Dungeon World editions don't see a lot of native non-sapient sentients joining in on the fun, and I've got to say, the Earth domestic cat has been cutting an outsize swath relative to its tiny adorable claws! Crawlers Cairfrey and Chirps answer questions about these cute little murder machines!

9:00 AM -Faction Wars Fracas! Cairfrey, Odette, Princess Formidable and moderator X'Nord dissect the last fantasy-styled Crawl on Alpha Ceti!

12:00 PM - Art Crawl! Crawlers Cairfrey and Chirps judge the merch featuring their likenesses at the Artist Alley! Winner gets an exclusive offer from ToyPocalypse Industries for a limited edition run, complete with royalties for artist AND crawler (contingent of course on survival)

4:00 PM - B-tier Meet and Greet! Purchase of pass allows attendees to take their OWN picture of Cairfrey and Chirps!

Reward: A Gold Fan box, voted on by the attendees of CrawlCon! Inside, the complete set of Discworld novels by Earth author Terry Pratchett, an Enchanted Pizza of +5 Intelligence and +20% increase in Mana Regeneration, and a Collector's Edition Carl's Jug O'Boom!

Crawler @deathdovesong:

New Achievement! How Does It Feel To Turn On The Light?

Watch the mobs scatter! Run, bitches, run! That is the most innovative and bizarre misuse of Torch I've ever seen, and I've got to hand it to you, when it comes to ways to shine, you know what you're doing.

Reward: a silver Happy Landings box! Includes 10 potions of Featherfall, 5 of Dolores Don't Splat, an enchanted Stone Hawk Cloak of Gliding allowing the wearer to glide much as with an Earth "hang glider" given sufficient winds, and to glide down from heights of 50 meters or less without fall damage (higher heights require a Flying skill of 3 or more )

Crawler @clearbrightlight:

New Achievement! I Cast Non-Magic Missile!

You know what the only thing more satisfying than shooting a mob with energy beams from your eyes? Deploying some big-ass explosive ordnance at it.

Why are you all booing? You know I'm right! ANYWAY...

Reward: A gold Genre Subversion box! Includes 3 barrels of Hobgoblin Funpowder, a scroll of Froissart's Legendary Boom Stick, allowing enchantment of a hollow tube to launch grenades... and I'm going to need that Club Vanquisher pass back. You're a Desperado now.

Crawler @lazyscience:

New Achievement: Still Breathing!

Remembered little brother's birthday, check. Knitting quest still ticking.

Reward: apple waffle. mmm, apples.

Now get out there, crawlers, and kill, kill, kill!

ATTENTION, all partied crawlers! Don't forget to update me on mobs, quests, or parties (defined at link) so I can award you achievements! Please let me know either in the replies to this post, reblogging with additions, or hit my askbox/DMs!

(please, do this, even with small and silly mobs/quests, it makes giving achievements so much easier!)

[trainsinanime]

Bit.ly is making me uneasy. One of these days their site will go down, and so much stuff will break. Even if it's only for an hour. It's just too ubiquitous.

For example, I bought some model railroad accessories (DCC decoders specifically) recently. They come without a manual, which is good because I have too many manuals of that type already. Instead they come with a sheet that contains a bit.ly URL and a QR code. And if I try to open that—I can't. Apparently the manufacturer's bit.ly account got suspended. And that's just such an unforced error. Just have a normal URL there, and have a QR code that leads to the manufacturer's website, which works perfectly fine.

Actually this decoder is a special cheaper version for that dealer, you have to visit the dealer's website to download the manual. My guess is also that it's the dealer's bit.ly account that got suspended. But this isn't really relevant unless you need the manual for the PD10MU-3 DCC decoder, and you probably don't. Just remember, red and black go to the track, orange and grey the other way. There's nothing surprising about this decoder, it's just cheaper and lacks a few of the nonsense features you probably don't need anyway.

Somehow we managed to find a gatekeeper and single point of failure for the concept of internet URLs. That's just grim.

You may ask, why should we distrust bit.ly? I'd say, why did we ever put ourselves into a position where we needed to trust them in the first place? But philosophy aside, there are good reasons to distrust them, such as that they apparently keep banning German model railroad stores, or just that they're an internet company that keeps giving away their main product for free and that can't go well forever. Or that any complex system will have issues sooner or later, either technical, organisational or financial. Or that a key part of their product, the ".ly", refers to Libya, a country that has been in an on-and-off-again civil war since 2011, and if control over the top level domain ever changes hands or becomes uncertain, that's going to cause a lot of fun for everyone.

If you can, don't use bit.ly, just use the full url, including in QR codes. Let's all try to do our part to keep the internet resilient.