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Help/Advice Needed to Design a One Shot for Party Familiar (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by jazzbox@lemmy.world to c/dm_academy@lemmy.world
2 comments fedilink

I'm a beginner DM running Lost Mines of Phandelver for a group of 4 newbies, and they have a party "familiar" who is really just one of those goober characters that the party thought was funny and convinced them to join.

His name is Goblin Jr, appropriately named that because he's about half of the average height of a goblin. He poofed into existence as a joke to be a referee in a wrestling match against Klarg, the bugbear from Chapter 1 of LMOP.

The party had to leave him in Phandalin when going to Cragmaw Castle, and didn't have time to pass through the town again on their way to Wave Echo Cave so he is still there. Sildar and Gundren departed at the beginning of the dungeon (to make my life easier), and the party requested Sildar to convince Goblin Jr to make a journey from Phandalin to Wave Echo Cave and reunite with the party. I thought this would be a great idea for a one-shot, and it would help my players explore other classes/characters since most have only ever played their current one.

I was hoping for some general advice for designing and DMing one-shots, and was hoping we could brainstorm some ideas. Alternatively pointing me in the direction of any resources for this would be helpful too!

I'm also wondering if a certain party member should play Goblin Jr? I feel like they should have their own unique characters, but then I don't really know what to do with him. Him being a DMPC makes the most sense but I like to avoid those if there are better alternatives.

Any ideas?

Mozilla opposes Web Integrity API proposal by jazzbox in c/firefox@lemmy.ml
[-] jazzbox@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Anyone care to ELI5 this for me? This seems like a big deal but I have no idea what it means lol.

[Rapoport] The #Giants and star RB Saquon Barkley agreed to terms on a new 1-year deal worth up to $11M, sources say, as Barkley gives himself a chance to beat the franchise tag. by jazzbox in c/nfl@lemmy.world
[-] jazzbox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Hmm. Any insights as to why this is different than a franchise tag? This feels a bit underwhelming

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What are some great songs from "unassuming places"? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by jazzbox@lemmy.world to c/music@lemmy.ml
4 comments fedilink

Me and my buddy are trying to put a set-list together with the theme mentioned in the title.

"Unassuming places" is intentionally a little vague, but the idea is that feeling of "damn, I did not expect a song from this [insert piece of media] to be that good," or when you sit down and really listen to something you are surprised at well-composed it is, or songs that sound simple and reach a wide audience, but are actually a lot more complicated under the hood.

Some examples of the sounds we're going for are:

You might also be able to call this list "songs geared towards children but are actually good" but I feel like that has more of a nursery rhyme-ish connotation and I'm hoping to branch out of that.

We're a guitar duo with a jazz background, so songs that could potentially fit that mold are preferred, but I don't want that to hinder anyone from giving suggestions! I'd love to see what anyone can come up with.

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What are some great songs from "unassuming places"? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by jazzbox@lemmy.world to c/music@lemmy.world
4 comments fedilink

Me and my buddy are trying to put a set-list together with the theme mentioned in the title.

"Unassuming places" is intentionally a little vague, but the idea is that feeling of "damn, I did not expect a song from this [insert piece of media] to be that good," or when you sit down and really listen to something you are surprised at well-composed it is, or songs that sound simple and reach a wide audience, but are actually a lot more complicated under the hood.

Some examples of the sounds we're going for are:

You might also be able to call this list "songs geared towards children but are actually good" but I feel like that has more of a nursery rhyme-ish connotation and I'm hoping to branch out of that.

We're a guitar duo with a jazz background, so songs that could potentially fit that mold are preferred, but I don't want that to hinder anyone from giving suggestions! I'd love to see what anyone can come up with.

How do you write the music you actually want to write in regards to styles/genres? by jazzbox in c/guitars@lemmy.world
[-] jazzbox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

I don't listen to those bands much so I can't give you specific answers, but I'll try to give some general advice -

The slow but steady way is to learn as much music in that genre as possible. Eventually you'll start to naturally sound like what you're learning/playing. If you're goal oriented, do your best to learn an entire album inside and out. Be able to play the entire thing by heart. The real goal here though is the journey, not the destination. When it's not fun anymore, quit and move on to a different one. Maybe come back to it later.

If you want to accelerate the learning process, transcription and analysis will take you a long way. For example, what are the chords? How are they voicing them? How do they change and move from one another? What is the key? Are all the chords actually in the key? How is the melody structured? Is it busy or sparse? Outlining chord tones? What is the tone/timbre of the guitar? Of the other instruments? Of the song as a whole? How does that affect the song? Would the feeling of the song change with they changed? What is the rhythm of the guitar/melody/drums/bass. What is the instrumentation? The tempo? The arrangement? What emotion does this song make you feel like and why? What is the songs identity? For most of these questions, if not all of then, there are no wrong answers. Right answers only require a good faith argument and evidence to back it up.

When you've found answers to some of those questions for a handful of songs, what are the similarities and differences? How significant are they and how do they affect the song?

With all that being said, remember -

  • This is not a quick process at all
  • No matter how hard you try your songs will sound different. That's not only completely fine and expected, but its encouraged! Take ideas from your fav songs and mash them up. Do random shit on top of it. Experiment! Be different!
  • Again, not a quick process at all
  • These things should be fun, and don't do them if it feels like a chore. Music is fun! That's why we play! Don't lose sight of that with some arbitrary goal like this in mind.

I know that's a bunch of word vomit so if you'd like me to expand on any of this I'd be happy to.

TLDR; learn more songs and try to articulate why you like them :)

Into which pocket do you place your phone? by jazzbox in c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
[-] jazzbox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Same, except I’ll clip my keys onto my belt loop like a janitor lol. Keeping them in my pocket with my wallet gets too bulky and they feel safer clipped in.

Thoughts on BattleBit Remastered? by jazzbox in c/games@lemmy.world
[-] jazzbox@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Like others have said, it’s influenced heavily by both Battlefield and Squad and I think it’s the best of both worlds.

I love that, in Squad, you need to be so tactical and team oriented and communicative; but it can get overwhelming if you just want to relax and/or have no military experience. Battlefield is fun if you want to shut your brain off; but nobody really works together, sometimes for the worse. I think Battlebit scratches both of those itches really well.

Plus the art style makes it so even with 254 players all in one server it still runs smoothly on my midrange-for-2018 rig lol

“I Will Remember Apollo” by jazzbox in c/apple_enthusiast@lemmy.world
[-] jazzbox@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Yeah I’m using it as I type this and it is incredibly similar, almost eerily. I’m kind of hoping the developer gives it it’s own unique character and soul in the future. Or since it’s open source (I’m pretty sure?) someone else can.

But with that being said I still strongly recommend so far

jazzbox

joined 1 year ago