Cyclopedia of Common Faeries POD Version

There is now a Print-on-Demand option!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/581050/cyclopdia-of-common-faeries

POD discounted to the end of the month. You're welcome!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?discountId=918ac364c5

Hey, Thief!

If you operate, or know who operates, DCCDungeon.com, this is uncool. I am not a bigtime operator or company. Please stop stealing from me and take that shit down.

I notice of copyright violation has been filed. I am disabled and live hand-to-mouth. I would rather not sue, but I will. And be certain that once a lawsuit has been filed, the hosting company will have to supply your name and contact details.

Socialism

If you want to understand socialism, read this.

If you want to have an argument about why socialism is bad, using some other definition, sure...what you are arguing is bad might well be bad.

But if you want to discuss socialism with me, this is a fairly good primer.

An Open Letter to Discord

I have been using a Discord server for years, going back to well before the pandemic. I have been using the camera background feature on the average of twice a week for over a year, with the last time it worked having been the evening of 31 July 2026.

Camera background failed the first time I tried it on August 7th of this year. I put in a service support request (67574519) the following day. After a bit of discussion with Nelly, who was helpful, the ticket went on to higher support.

This began the worst customer service experience I have ever had.

First I got Fernanda (sometimes Ferdinand J; code names are fine for privacy, but you should be consistent), who had clearly not read the ticket as they told me how to turn the feature on, rather than address that it was not working.  

Then I got Izaro, who determined that it was a hardware issue, despite the feature running without issue on the same hardware for years and similar features in other programs (such as Teams) running without issue. Izaro demonstrated an unwavering faith that it was the hardware, and wouldn’t respond to any evidence to the contrary.

The feature was working up to 31 July 2026, and I was using it twice weekly without issue. I did not subscribe to premium Nitro because the feature was not working. On the contrary, I subscribed because it was working well and I was happy with it. I am not subscribed any longer.

Any response that claims the feature cannot run on the existing hardware - unless Discord requirements changed - is a non-starter. Because I have at least two data points per week over years showing that the hardware is not the issue.

That the feature ran for years is part of the ticket. That it ran the Friday before I made the ticket (which is July 31st) is part of the ticket. It really seems like they have not read the ticket, and cannot be bothered to take the ticket seriously.

I am therefore looking at alternatives to migrate my games to. I am making this public in the hopes that either they will actually try to fix the issue, or that someone else will not make the mistake of paying for features that, if they stop working, Discord support cannot be bothered to take seriously.

The Cyclopedia of Common Faeries is Live!

I am pleased to announce that the Cyclopedia of Common Faeries has been approved by Goodman Games and is now available in pdf. 

Over 300 statblocks are included, plus a ton of advice as well as pages of faerie elements. In addition to three already-published classes (Faerie Animal, Goblin Warrior, and Goblin Witch Doctor), you get a full 10-level Changeling class.

The Faerie Faith is presented in a manner consistent with Deities & Powers of the Middle World, but allies and foes include information related to the gods in the core rulebook for your convenience.

I have included rules for totem spirits, vision, quests, and sacred bundles.

I have included numerous example encounters, including Heart's Ease and the Weight of the World, which I am particularly fond of.

There is a lot of stuff in here, and some generous usage terms for other publishers, similar to those from the Cyclopedia of Common Animals.

I am working on print, but that may take a bit as I have to reformat the files and then order proofs.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/581050/cyclopdia-of-common-faeries

While you may not be aware of this, I was writing fiction and poetry long before I was publishing RPG material. If you are interested: https://www.patreon.com/RavenCrowking/posts/ivy-sorrow-city-164285661

Christmas in July!

If you are interested in anything from Crowking Press, now is a good time to turn interest into ownership! If you are not, it is still Christmas in July at DriveThruRPG, so now is a great time to loot the dungeon!

Fact Checking Some Claims

 

Mass surveillance deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court:

https://www.justiceinitiative.org/voices/case-watch-step-forward-constitutional-challenge-nsa-surveillance

https://www.aclu.org/news/national-security/five-things-to-know-about-nsa-mass-surveillance-and-the-coming-fight-in-congress

Articles are not up-to-date, and the claim is slightly off, as a federal judge only found it “likely” to be unconstitutional. That mass surveillance remains and is still expanding is, I hope, not something I need to prove.

Obama used war powers to charge and imprison journalists and whistle blowers:

https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/cjp_report_on_us_press_freedom.php

https://apnews.com/general-news-dbba6eaf984a4be08cc235f66fd36a8d

https://freedom.press/issues/obama/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Whistleblowers:_Free_Press_and_the_National_Security_State

https://freedom.press/issues/obama-used-espionage-act-put-record-number-reporters-sources-jail-and-trump-could-be-even-worse/

https://aguayonews.com/obama-effectively-silenced-journalists-jailed-whistleblowers-increased-wars-during-his-presidency-but-is-now-warning-against-authoritarianism/#google_vignette

Obama bailed out the banks rather than their victims, leading directly into the housing crisis:

The best source for this is Joseph Stiglitz’s excellent book, The Price of Inequality. I recommend it to all.

https://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2009/12/13/obamas-big-sellout-president-has-packed-his-economic-team-wall-street-insiders

People lost their homes, which were then bought up by Blackrock and others, who have since pushed up rental costs, creating a housing crisis in a nation with empty homes.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/obamas-failure-to-mitigate-americas-foreclosure-crisis/510485/

htt https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/business/economy/slow-response-to-housing-crisis-now-weighs-on-obama.htmlps://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/fingerprints-of-obama-on-subprime-foreclosure-crisis/

Obama failed to prosecute criminal actions of the prior administration or the banking executives who caused the collapse.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/how-wall-streets-bankers-stayed-out-of-jail/399368/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/23/untouchables-wall-street-prosecutions-obama

https://features.marketplace.org/why-no-ceo-went-jail-after-financial-crisis/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/31/obama-justice-department-immunity-bush-cia-torturer

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aide-obama-wont-prosecute-bush-officials/

https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/factsheet-accountability-and-prosecutions

Obama was also well paid afterwards, in what other parts of the world would prosecute as accepting a bribe:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39710529

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/09/18/after-failing-prosecute-bankers-obama-cashes-wall-street-speeches

Obama’s ICE was described by the ACLU as monstrous:

https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/border-patrol-was-monstrous-under-obama-imagine

https://nonprofitquarterly.org/aclu-report-cites-mistreatment-minors-border-patrols-obama-years/

Obama campaigned on codifying Roe vs. Wade when running for office. He said - on camera - that it was not a priority when he had a supermajority.

https://moguldom.com/406482/fact-check-obama-had-chance-to-codify-roe-v-wade-but-chose-not-to-prioritize-it/

https://www.newsweek.com/barack-obama-blasted-not-codifying-roe-v-wade-democrat-failure-1719156

Likewise, thanks to Wikileaks, we know that Obama had already negotiated away a public option with the insurance companies before starting his "transparent" negotiations with the same.

This one is harder to find, so either not knowing about it or denying it is a bit understandable. I confess that, while I could find a source for the claim that the public option had been negotiated away early on, I didn’t feel like going through Wikileaks to substantiate the claim that they are the source of the original reveal.

https://www.salon.com/2010/10/05/public_option_24/

This was interesting, though:

https://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-email-shows-clinton-discussing-unraveling-of-the-aca-2016-10?op=1

https://publicintegrity.org/health/elimination-of-public-option-threw-consumers-to-the-insurance-wolves/

Glenn Greenwald has broken down how Democrats kept changing their stance on a public option to ensure that they didn't have enough votes to pass it.

https://www.salon.com/2010/02/23/democrats_34/

The early photos of "Trump's ICE" detention centers were taken under Obama, when Obama was president.

https://qz.com/1291470/photos-immigrant-children-detained-at-the-placement-center-in-2014

This stuff is all well documented. Google is a thing.

https://www.google.com/

Personally, I believe that Obama's rhetoric when running the first time was his actual position then. But once he got in power, he clearly saw which way the wind was blowing. Political Compass tracks his early centrism to the upper Right/Authoritarian corner during his two terms.

The last decent person to be president was Carter, whether or not you think that he was a good president. If you think Obama was a good president, then you should go to Libya to make that case.

Denying reality to defend political operators is no different when the politician is Trump or Obama. It isn't worth doing.

Sickle & Torch

For many of us, 0-level play was our first experience with DCC RPG. Throw a bunch of nobodies into an awful situation, and see which ones come out alive. You have created a compelling backstory along the way and answered the age-old question, “Why are these particular people adventuring together?” You know about their bonding experience. You were there.

Funnels are one flavor of DCC fun. The flip side is that there is a certain joy in playing leveled-up characters, with their added abilities and history.

Mihailo Tešić dared to ask the question, What if you could have both at the same time? What if, instead of leveling the PC, you leveled their torch? And, while that may sound like all kinds of bonkers, he made it work. You can have complete campaigns with peasant mobs, with all the blood and carnage that implies, and still keep the continuity and added fun of leveled play.

As a bonus, if you choose not to go this route, the adventures work the same as normal DCC adventures. Which, of course means that if you do decide to go this route, you can still use your existing materials. At least, that is how I read it.

You can learn more about Sickle & Torch here.

The kickstarter prelaunch page is here.