Samantha Patri's Blog

At the tables we run, we've got a diverse crowd. We've people with autism, PTSD, dyscalculia, ADHD, DID, and many other issues that they need to deal with. We've had players like this for most of our life; enough so that we've picked up a number of skills to help keep the games going. Not always, not always well , but we've got a lot more successes than failures under our belt. Running tables for those with special needs is a bit more work than normal, but we also feel it's a lot more rewarding -- gaming should be for everyone, and we make it a point to try to keep our tables open for everyone , including those players who would be seen as 'problem players' because people don't know how to deal with, say, an autistic player.   Don't Lie The unfortunate thing is some players on the autism spectrum just don't take lying well -- like us, for instance. It causes stress, frustration, and anger if we feel we've been lied to -- even if the lie w...

Renegade Studios  is releasing the Cobra supplement to their GI Joe setting, and the Cobra pitch is ... pretty spot on. It points out society is corrupt, the lazy and greedy hoard all the wealth, while the working class effectively slaves under them. And Cobra wants to change things! The thing I enjoy doing when I run games is have the villains be perfectly honest about things - it makes them sound reasonable, and makes the hero's job harder. But this means GI Joe isn't 'fighting for what's right', they're fighting to keep the status quo - they aren't effecting positive change. At the end of the day, the world is as it was, with little changed. And this is a problem with most super heroes - they're pushing to keep the status quo against anyone who would change it. There's this fascinating little story I saw on Tumblr, showing what happens when you have a superhero who tries to enact positive change. That story doesn't miss the mark, either. Imagi...

Alright. If you've been paying attention, you know who Mr. Beast is. If you're in the loop, you know that recently, he helped  restore the eyesight  of one thousand people, then dropped a whack of cash more to cover the lost income of some of these people, then a whack load more to cover even more surgeries to help restore more people's eyesight. He's known for doing huge, charitable events, and making YouTube videos of it. He has an entire channel dedicated to philanthropy . He's also known for doing games and contests to give out money, too. And there's people who aren't happy with any of this. They complain he's using the disabled and poor as a commodity. They're saying that if he's going to help people, he should shut up and not make videos of his work. And we're saying these people are missing the point, or don't understand the reality of the situation.  If he didn't do video, he'd not get money.  No money, no means to help...