A bit of preface. The games I run, the games I play in and the groups I enjoy all are very open with discussing meta. From story beats to encounter critiques and where we the players want to see the game go.

what do you do when the players go off-script?

We are honest and appreciate the time the GMs put into running the games. Several times either I or another GM have stated “that direction is not prepared” and the group have a chat from there. Perhaps calling it early or we zoom in on character daily life (or their projects). The amount of times a “forgotten” villain have reappeared for revenge in these situation is kinda high.

on railroading

Why play a game about characters, their decisions and their reaction to adversary when their decisions won’t matter? When the roads they travel all lead to Rome? This is very much also something that is part of the game’s setup. How directed the game will be. A wide open sandbox will strain much more against being directed than a more tightly focused narrative. Heck, I don’t actually mind being directed in a game with a focused narrative or having the GM drawing the game back to it’s story.

It’s a complex topic where advice will differ depending on the specifics of each game.

Love the addition of “again”.

I mean if you don’t want your yacht sunk then don’t sail it where orcas sink yachts. Sorry but actually not sorry for the casual victimblaming.

Fil (fermented/soured milk) and musli in my opinion cannot be beaten. Get bowl, open fridge to get fil, pour fil into bowl, get muesli, add that and you are done. Pretty unprocessed, plenty of fiber and (depending on variety) lots of good bacteria. Cleaning up is also quick, water and a few swirls with the brush. Making coffee takes longer than chomping down on a bowl of fil and muesli.

Do you by ransom you mean restrict our civil liberties and bow to tyranny? Because that is part of it.

Waiting on the bus.

It’s the internet. I assume everyone, until it being proven otherwise, is either a sentient amorphous blob or a bot.

But it will run quiter. And I can attack KOMs harder. Et cetera.

But yes for working out a watt is a watt is a watt

Marginal gains. Expensive marginal gains. I’m glad I’m not into that. When it comes to saving weight it is far better for me to shave it of me rather than the bike. And cheaper too!

The Craigslist hybrid? Riding the beater is often so much fun because you feel like you are allowed to ride it hard. Or it couldbe the older geometry making it more lively.

Bicycling for me. Started off with a cheap old bike that I tried keeping in as goid condition as possible without spending too much on it. Problem with old bikes is wear and tear so things break and new old parts are hard to cheaply. So it became a hackjob. Then got me a new one and realised riding on roads only got boring so I started experimenting with gravel and singletrack.

Guess what? Time for a new bike. And a more expensive one. Carbon. And to maintain it I needed more tools. Also new tubes as the spare ones I had didn’t fit that big of tyres. Also moved to a new place and now I got a MTB arena within a few km from home. So of course I had to get me one of those. And to maintain the suspension I needed new stuff, oils and tools.

Clothing. Bags. Events. It becomes a lot after a while.

Also planning for bike nr4, a steel fatbike. Promised myself not to buy anything this year, but the year is soon over…

Did I mention bikepacking? Yeah that is another big black hole of expenses. But a fair bit of overlap with backpacking so costs are split.