It's August, the time of year lots of people go on vacation, take some time off to spend it with family, go somewhere warm, travel. It is also the Month when specific vegetables and fruits are more common than other months, and I knew you were eagerly going to learn about the Netherlands and their August-specific foods ;-)
Quote:
Potatoes (only the new harvest ones), celery, cauliflower, spring onions, broccoli, (Chinese) cabbage, lettuce, kohlrabi, another kind of lettuce, corn, bok choy, snow peas, pumpkin, purslane, leak, turnips, reddish, red beets/ beetroot, red cabbage, arugula, haricots, green beans, spinach, another kind of cabbage, beans, onions, fennel, cabbage (red, and white, and pointy), carrots.
August fruits are strawberries, apples, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, goose berries, pears, plums, red berries.
In case this wasn't interesting (enough) for you, there is actually FAR MORE interesting stuff for you to read . In the posts under this one you will find something that deserves your attention, time and energy. Players have written something so cool, so special and unique, so very well written that it caught the attention of the one nominating this post, for all to read. The ones who nominated these posts are convinced these posts deserve to be the best post of this August month.
So forget about those Dutch August vegetables and fruit, and start reading something more interesting:
__________________ ***Please nominate!!! The Post of the Month September thread is over here!!! ***
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Admin Choc, thanks for the informative primer in Dutch produce!
Probably every PBP DM has been in the situation of wanting to move the pacing along, in the face of lots of player questions, actions and game elements. This post is an example of knitting various skill checks, inquiries, NPC confrontations and story devices into what I think is a pretty decent scene change post. There's also a few nice world-building nuggets like the need to pour salt around you when you sleep to keep away the wee spirits, and the lingo about appointed ones meaning people who adventure professionally -- all baked in. Maybe even some humor in there too.
Background is that the party has been on the road for weeks and has finally reached civilization in the form of this wilderness outpost in a haunted valley. Based on RP, the guards are somewhat suspicious of them, but the group's bard is going to remedy that, and the DM is poised to magically perform a scene change before everyone's eyes.
I know self-nomination is bad form but it's been a long time since I tossed anything in here so I thought I'd say hello. Hope at least it's an enjoyable read for whoever takes the time.
Ligita's Charge Player: Hellella Game: Reluctant Heroes (The Winter War Threads) GM: Horseman System: Homebrew D&D
Background: Ligita, A Baltic warrior, leads the charge of a party of free tribespeople against Teutonic knights. The mounted spear warrior races across a bridge into the thick of enemy troops, avoiding axes and keeping her eye out for a shape-changing party member whose battle frenzy has been known to disrupt plans.
Why this post? Hellella's vivid, colorful and succinct writing captures the exhilaration and danger of battle. But in the same post where she delights readers with her descriptions, she is also setting up clear indications to her fellow players and GM as to how she intends to direct her PC in the next round depending on what direction her fellow players and the GM will take. It's a model 3-paragraph combat post which can stand on its own merit but also reaches out with collaborative gameplay mechanics.
Player: Dylan Scott Game: Village Survival GM: Ysolde System: D&D 5e
Background: The party had just survived a classic battle of Good vs Evil deep within caves underground. A new goddess was born; one of the night and of hope, and spiders. Cara, a student of magic and new to the party, had been trapped underground for too long of a time. She, too, entered the battle of the Spider Queen fearlessly. This scene takes place in two areas - the first is when we set up camp to eat and rest following the goddess' ascension and one of our companions being brought back to life by her. The second is when we find out we need to return to the village down the road to join-up with the rest of the group after receiving news from a soldier. The world Ysolde has crafted is one where we all started off as normal Human villagers. It's a 'normal' world - no Elves, no Dragonborn, no Magic except for the feared Blood Mages. Then part of a mountain fell nearby, and ….everything changed overnight. Some Humans transformed into demi-Humans and strange beings like Centaurs, Satyrs, Elves and Dwarves (you get the picture). Old gods started to make their presences known, as did ancient evils vying for power again. This is our story.
Why this post? Dylan Scott is an incredible storyteller with not only a fantastic sense of Cara's environment, but also of the PC's emotions. Everything that is written is so vibrant, realistic, and simply…tangible in the mind's eye through the details that are expertly crafted. PC interactions are all taken into consideration; nothing is ignored - and instead is brightly woven into Cara's perspective and the writing thereof. This is really nice to see as another player. Please enjoy!
Player: 97mg Game: Ebonclad GM: Oakie System: DnD 5e
Background: Ebonclad is a thieves guild campaign wherein a team of young thieves of varied skill sets (and classes) work their way up the ranks. The potential adventures range from burglary to long cons. The PCs just concluded their first adventure milestone and advanced to 2nd level. The first adventure concluded with a meeting with their Keeper (boss) in a private meeting room with a swanky buffet where the PCs were debriefed and rewarded for successfully completing their mission. I invited the players to write an interlude post about their PC's doings between the first adventure and the second some weeks later in the campaign world. 97mg rose to the occasion with exceptional writing!
Why This Post?: Seesa (alias "Garnet") is a shy, good-natured girl from the slums, a druidess, and a taxidermist by trade with an obsessive interest in creepy, crawly creatures. She's possibly "on the spectrum," in today's parlance. How does a lass like this fit into a gang of thieves? How would she react to newfound wealth? What does being a druid in a cosmopolitan city of more than 1 million look like, especially in a girl with such peculiar interests? 97mg shows – not tells – in her delightful, two-part post, "The Thickness of Ham" and "Choice of Species."
Post link (Private. I can change permissions if the judges require it.)
Context: The adventurer's finding themselves without work, are passing the time by delivering a large lunch order to the Little Lamb Eatery. At the same time, they are following up on rumors of a wizard deep in his cups after a failed quest.
Reason: briar puts so much work into her setting, which pays off in the richly detailed scene-setting (there's even musical accompaniment hiding behind that icon in the upper right corner!). They're not just showing off with a set piece, however. Everything here is there for the PCs to interact with and responding to their own details, from the culinary discussion, to the adorable miniature fey, to the rambling wizard who can be subtly urged to get to the point, already.
Even if that all sounds a bit twee to you, you owe it to yourself to look at that post just to see how much briar accomplishes in the way of visual presentation despite the limitations of BBcode.
Prelude: How the Cookie Crumbles
Date: 11th Day of The second month in the Summer season.Aiou, 334 After UnificationA.U.
Elem absently flicks her ear as she listens to the enthusiastic Khrysa explain their purpose, and the additional introduction of Merris. She also casts a curious, if a bit wary, glance towards Rahat as she moves away towards 'Gundhevir', but makes no effort to interrupt or stop anyone.
Taking the catering list, she unfolds it and takes out a pair of large, round spectacles, holding them up before her eyes, which appear even smaller through the lenses. Oddly enough, they don't seem to sit on her face, and she has to hold them the whole time she is reading.
"Aye-aye, a ta-a-all order, but doable, methinks," she says in a low, but energetic voice, nodding and mouthing words as she goes.
Though at first glance they may look like
tiny insects, the truth is that they're
actually miniature fey creatures!
After a moment, she nods and lets out a shrill whistle, which is followed by a low rumbling from the backroom. Suddenly, a veritable cloud of fluff and fuzziness errupts from the same door that Miss Elem herself had once come from. This floating mass turns out to be a number of tiny creatures, all with a similar form: a teensie, humanoid figure no bigger than a human-sized finger each, enveloped almost entirely in wool-like fluff and sprouting tiny, leaf-like antennae. They chatter in a cacophony of tiny voices as they race up to the sheep-lady.
"Miss Elem, Miss Elem, we're here! We're here! What is it, what is it?! Is it a new order? A new order?"
Elem grins, passing the note towards them. Several of them work together to grasp the paper, and though even something so light is much to heavy for one of them, working together, they heft it with as much ease as any other might. "Start ove-e-en number three, if'n you all don't mind; we've got our work cut out for us this marnin'~"
"Yes ma'am, yes ma'am! We're on! On it!" they proclaim and swirl around again, drifting once again towards the back room door once again.
Elem turns back to the group, "Those are the-e-e Kerfluffleas, by the by, and they're the whole reason I'm able to fill an order this big."
After the clatter of activity dies down in the back room, she continues,"I was just beginning to wonder if the-e-ey were gonna place an order, though I was expe-e-ecting little Clancey to deliver it." She piques a brow at Khrysa's question, "Mm? The porter? Ca-a-an't speak for the-e-em myself. The Critique employs 'e-e-em, not I. An yup! Its as you say, but not just any milk! Honey-milk is something of our specialty, made from all natural goatsmilk! And b'fore ya ask, no, it isn't my own milk, neither!"
She seems a little confused at the other question, "You fry South-Sea Cod, of course. How e-e-else? Although I suppose you could do a fi-i-ish stew..."
The little lamb squished the fluff next her face with one of her clawed fingers, drawing her eyes towards her surroundings with an affectionate gaze as went went to answer the rest of the questions. Meanwhile, the Kerfluffleas are seen now and again, bringing out orders or retrieving left-over dishes before racing to the back again.
"Aye-aye! This place is my pride 'n joy, opened her up all by me lonesome a long spell's past, though it were-e-en't nearly so popular till all the hubbub with the Adventurers and their Critique. They're my be-e-est customers, so I try to treat the-e-em right."
At Merris' question, she shrugs, "Nah, the Kerfluffleas and I have everything covered here, and I have a rollin' agreement with the folks over at Tatter's House who do my deliveries fer me." Once again, it seems the group has come up empty for work, though Miss Elem gives an assuring smiles, "Y'must be new adventurers, ne-eh? Don't worry yerse-e-elves too much, I'm sure something with come along. How's about you have a seat, I'll ge-e-et ya all a nice pitcher of milktea to share. My treat, since you bro-o-ought the Critique's order all the way over here~" She motions to an empty booth, which happens to be within eavesdropping range of Rahat and Gundhevir.
"Ugh...." Rahat hears the gentlemen in question groaning as she approaches, and seems to be oblivious to her until the centaur is practically right on top of him, at which point he starts a little. "Goodness gracious!" he shrieks, quickly clutching--of all things--his long, thin beard as he looks straight into the black jackal mask that she is wearing
A moment passes before the jumpy individual realizes that Rahat is, in fact, not a specter, but flesh and hooves, and seems to be inquiring about his well being.
"A-ah...my apologies, I did not mean to offend, truly" she says, bowing his head a little so that the point of his hat flops over. It straightens up again when he does. "I have certainly been in better spirits, I must say, though at present I can't tell the difference between the lingering affects of that drink I had, or those of my own folley."
And without any provocation whatsoever, he continues. And boy does he have a lot to say. "Y'see, I'm an adventurer, a wizard, if you can believe that. Can you imagine, at my age? If my wife were still around, she... Insert a windy tangent where Gundhevir talks about his wife, an overbearing woman who obviously only got with him because he had money, then left him when he ran out... ... ... ...so then joined up with the Critique, however... Insert a second, similarly lengthy tangent about his struggles with learning magic, a callous master that obviously really did not want an apprentice, and several long months of not being able to get a job for much the same reason that Rahat and her companions are experiencing.... ... ... ...and then I met them!"
At this point in his story, Gundhevir actually smiles, obviously remembering Since Rahat chose to allow the man to talk about his adventuring companions, I've added a few examples, however since this is supposed to take ten minutes of in-game time, I've only added a few for the sake of brevity. Assume that he tells you more than just those. fond memories, "Those energetic youngsters didn't even think twice about bringing an old man like me with them, and oh the times we had... Why, I remember a time or two just after we started adventuring together. The young ones and I were working out of a river town in northern Rouge when the ferry that we were on ran aground near the nest of a wyvern! Back then, we were all very inexperienced, and the creature proved too much for us to best in combat, so we had to lead the creature into a swamp and cover ourselves in mud until it lost our scent! Hah! Ah, and then there was the time that we discovered a ruined city in Maer and managed to get ourselves trapped inside one of the sunken buildings. We ended up having to spring half the temple's traps in order to bust a hole in the side and swim to the surface! But no matter what happened, everything always seemed to work out in the end ...That is, until our last quest. I still don't really know what happened."
The smile fades, and his eyes drift over to a dusty, purple tome that sits on the seat beside him, "I was trying to cast a spell, but in the midst of the incantation, the words on the page suddenly became very blurry, and instead of granting me a blessing of wisdom, it...ugh...I am almost too embarrassed to recount it..." The anguish on his face doesn't reveal the conclusion to the long, winding story, but it does speak volumes of his mental state.
"By my old, gray beard, I hope they're all okay..." he says, slumping a little in his seat again.
[fieldset=GM's Notes]The gaps in the dialogue above represent points wherein Gundhevir will be prone to going on tangents. Rahat can listen to them in their entirety if she so wishes, or she can make an Insight (WIS) or Negotiation (CHA) check (DC 10) to subtly get him to summarize or skip the tangent.
Each tangent takes about ten minutes of extra time that the story takes to tell, so you could be waiting up to thirty minutes extra for him to finish, though it isn't like you have any other pressing concerns, right? So realistically, its up to you if you let him talk or cut his story shorter.
Meanwhile, the group is welcome to chat amongst themselves, evesdrop on the conversation, or continue interacting with Elem, though the sheep-lady seems eager to set to work, so she likely won't remain out of the kitchen long.
You can also attempt to address the Kerfluffleas if you like, as they regularly come out of the back to check on customers, clean up dishes, and bring out plates.
__________________
"There is no general doctrine which is not capable of eating out our morality if unchecked by the deep-seated habit of direct fellow-feeling with individual fellow-men." —George Eliot, Middlemarch
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Aug 6th, 2023, 04:02 AM
. In the posts under this one you will find something that deserves your attention, time and energy. Players have written something so cool, so special and unique, so very well written that it caught the attention of the one nominating this post, for all to read. The ones who nominated these posts are convinced these posts deserve to be the best post of this August month.
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