Eldritch Mlems

Bowie isn't afraid to play with puppies

How to get out of an uncomfortable egg culture situation with this one simple trick.

Real talk: Calling people eggs is a violation of the egg prime directive, and is considered invalidating as you are trying to say that a person is not the gender they identify as, that their identity is invalid. Don't call people eggs, like ever, it's extremely uncool.

Today, The New York Times Editorial Board published an opinion piece decrying the state of transgender rights under the Trump administration.

...

What the piece conveniently omits, however, is the Times’ own complicity. No other major paper has done more to legitimize the very arguments fueling these attacks than The New York Times itself.

some criticism from trans journalist Katelyn Burns along the same lines: The NYT Editorial Board's Shameless Pro-Trans Stance

There's just one problem. The Times itself, through both the news and opinion sections, have been advocating for these policies for years. The Times' negative coverage of gender-affirming care for trans youths has been well documented. NYT lead health reporter Azeen Ghorayshi was accused in 2023 of "betraying" parents of St. Louis area trans kids after she wrote a glowing profile of debunked "whistleblower"-turned anti-trans social media personality Jamie Reed.

and an archive link to the NYT op-ed, if you want to read the piece they're criticizing without boosting their ad revenue or readership metrics.

HRT day 17.

I always wanted to be more social. I cared about people, wanted to know them more deeply, and wanted them to know me. I just never enjoyed the experience because I felt that the time people spent on me was an arduous act of charity that they endured for my sake, out of politeness and perhaps pity. I therefore kept to myself, unintentionally presented a pretty hard exterior that made me seem abrasive and antisocial, and spent nights wishing I could be closer to people around me. I was ashamed of who I was, and ultimately faded out of the lives of everyone I met sooner or later, once I felt I'd revealed too much of myself to put them through any more. It was lonely, and worst of all, many of these people continued trying to reach out while I sequestered myself and waited for the guilt to subside.

Short of growing breasts and marked shifts in fat distribution that I likely won't see for many months, I can never be sure what's an estrogen thing, what's a placebo thing, and what's just a good mood, but the last few days have been an unprecedented shift in my overall outlook. I talk honestly with people. I opened up to my mother about deeply personal things that I've kept guarded for decades. I message people just to ask if they're doing okay and if they want to catch up over coffee some time, and without even cringing at myself for doing so.

Today I've been thinking a lot about how remarkable it is to simply feel like I'm allowed to exist in the world, and allowed to be part of other people's lives. This isn't me. Except it is, and I hope it stays this way forever.

Perhaps obvious to everyone else, but I've hit upon a little trick for better coordinating game time. Instead of announcing "Game will be at 1 o'clock" I've been doing something like "Doors open at Noon, Game starts at 1." This way, the people that want to hang out, level their characters, decide what they like on their pizza, etc all show up at noon, and the people that are running late or decide to come at 1 arrive with the expectation that they're going to walk in the door and immediately start playing. It also provides a natural transition point from the arriving/hanging out mode to game time, which otherwise makes me feel kind of uncomfortably teacher-y, calling the whole class together and whatnot. Try it out, maybe it will help you too.

trigger warning obvs

Death in Bangor: Report from Boston in 1984 about the death of Charlie Howard and a look at anti gay politics

It's wild how much today's anti trans hate and politics mirrors this. :(

He also indicated that he would be dictating programming at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions, specifically declaring that he would end events featuring performers in drag.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25218698

As much for myself as for anyone else, I'm keeping a game design blog for my project Crime Drama. While I've done this before, this is the first time I'm also posting it publicly. In the past, it was really nice for me to be able to review ideas and concepts weeks later. But also, if I'm really lucky, this scribbling might help someone else in the future. So, without further ado, What is Crime Drama?

Crime Drama is a tabletop role-playing game designed to capture the tension, emotion, and complexity of your favorite crime stories. It draws inspiration from TV shows and films like Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, The Godfather, Training Day or even Dexter and Fargo. Crime Drama is about dramatic, character-driven narratives where every decision carries weight, consequences are impossible to predict, and the stakes are always high.

The game will use a mixed-dice pool system, meaning players roll everything from d6s to d20s depending on their character’s abilities, resources, and the cinematic tone of the scene. Once dice get rolled, all of them over a certain number count as successes, while all those under that number are failures.

Characters are built with layers: their outward Facade (how the world and their loved ones see them), their real (criminal) self, their skills and traits, and their relationships. A few of these include a Social Circle (family, friends, coworkers, and others) and Contacts (criminal acquaintances and other shady connections).

To establish the same cinematic feel these shows and movies have, Crime Drama incorporates mechanics inspired by filmmaking, such as Lighting and Camera Angles. These will immerse the players in the drama by shaping the mood and focus of each scene, making the game at least as much about storytelling as it is about strategy. This blog will come out weekly or bi-weekly during development, as new mechanics get developed, tested, and refined.

Blogs posted to here are several weeks behind the most current. If you're interested in keeping up with it in real time, leave a comment or DM and I'll send you a link to the Grumpy Corn Games discord server where we post it fresh.