I'm still pissed at my parents for not letting me do social things/go to social events when I was a teen and in my 20's. As a teen -if was half and half sometimes mom was reasonable and let me go to one friends home-and let me spend the night but other times my other friends never allowed. Went ballistic when she saw me wearing my friends cute pants-because me and her exchange clothes. No big deal right? She punished me and forbid me to go to her party. Always, gave me the spiel that boys are perverts. I went to an 8th grade dance-kept saying watch out for boys they like to touch girls. I tried on this cute dress accused me of being a whore this was back in the 90's, nothing compared to what teens are wearing today. At 20- I wanted to go out with a guy-told me "not to doing anything dirty with him." Didn't want me to have relations with anyone. Wanted his phone number and full name. I was still living at home in my 20's and didn't move out until 29-my 20's were ALOT worse. I was alot at collections job I HATED, I was looking for another jobs in the meantime, told her I wanted to quit. But forced me to stay at least another year. This resulted in me getting fired for going off at a customer one day and I ended up hiding the truth from them. They found out after 2 months-I was punished, I was 25 years old. It wouldn't have happened if I could have quit when I wanted to. Went out with friends from work, didn't call her back or pick up the phone-she went ballistic and accused me of being a prostitute. When I told her I wanted to hang out with a guy from high school-she got all pissed and told me why, what could I possibly have in common with him. Since I moved out at 30 -I've hooked up with 15 guys, went out to bars/clubs stayed out until 3am, has no clue about it. Everytime I dress sexy or even wearing g strings it makes me feel like a whore. Even though I don't live with them anymore-she still calls to check up on me-sometimes its hard b/c I could be hanging out with someone, and if I dont pick up she might drive by my place to see if my car is parked there or even knock on my door. I want to go on a vacation but will never tell them because she will likely yell at me for taking PTO time and not having a hard work ethnic. Also, everything still tells me I'm too quiet and don't talk alot. Gee, maybe if they let me have social skills I could have been outgoing. Now at 41, she is telling me to "find a male friend" and why haven't I found one yet. I'm like wtf? Oh now she tells me I can be around guys? If I tell her I went out with a guy she won't approve of it.
Sad, but I can't wait till they are no longer living.

I wanted to share a post and my experience. I shared a post a few months ago talking about my trauma and ptsd which recently I've found has been I bigger part of my life than I ever realized.
I was diagnosed with ptsd at age 24 (33now)after a particularly bad incident. I experienced alot of trauma between age 20-28 as a firefighter, wide range of fatalities and tragic calls... up until 24 I was naive and kinda just went with the "suck it up, get over it attitude" that was prevalent, still probably is.
I'll keep the incident that led to my diagnosis short as I have a previous post about it on this sub. Basically I responded to an motor vehicle collision, car vs a dump truck with 2 patients pinned In the car and on fire upon arrival. Both were fatalities and dead before arrival. It was pretty horrific. Alot of bad things were absorbed mentally but keeping it short the main parts were: fearing for my life as the dumptruck was hauling a flammable material, being on the hoseline and feeling I was hurting the ppl inside and the goriness of everything including noticing body parts in the roadway after the fire was out. I did have anger afterwards as well after being let down by my crew in some ways on scene.
This was one of many traumas in my 20s but this one seemed not only worse than others but happened probably at a breaking point of already dealing with many previous. I was urged into therapy some time after. By this time in my life I've experienced serious substance abuse and bi polar issues. I gave up on therapy eventually being frustrated on my therapist insisting on started with childhood and spending what was my opinion too much time on it
By age 28 I ended up with my mental health and everything deteriorating. Ended up in a full blown psychosis losing everything, job, family, friends etc.
I eventually made good headway in recovery atleast in regards to addiction and bipolar but still suffering with ptsd and honestly avoiding therapy.
Fast forward to this past February something happened in regards to trauma I never saw coming:
I started a new job and it was located very close in vicinity to where I was a firefighter. Quickly I noticed there was no way to work without passing previous accident scenes. It started with being conscious of it to worried and eventually it got to a point of having constant flashbacks for several days. I experience flashbacks at times but never like this. It got to a point where I was pretty much just having them on and off all day. It was mostly flashbacks to trauma but also I was remembering things from that period I haven't thought about or really remember, some memories not necessarily good or bad. It got to a point I couldn't concentrate at work.
I was in a bad place and reached out to a friend my ex because I new I could trust her. We dated a long time and most of the period of my trauma and a while afterwards. We talked a few times and she said if it helped I could write or type anything I wanted to get out if we couldn't talk on the phone. I started getting stuff out typing and it got to the point where it truly felt like memories were flooding out of me.
Eventually repressed memories came out from trauma I wasnt at this point unaware of. A flood of childhood trauma memories came out. I typed these to myself but shared that they were present with my ex. It was alot that came out and honestly when they first flooded out I didn't feel much. They kind of flooded out and I typed them out but eventually alot of pain and distress came from them.
By this point it kinda went from flashbacks to bi polar mania and probably psychosis. This is when my life turned trainwreck pretty quick. It was a really bad month or so but I stayed sober and somehow pulled out of it and am getting back on my feet now. This is the first time I've had a mental health crisis and not completely self destructed.
I wanted to share this because it's something I never saw coming. I finally started seeking out therapy which has been long over due, I'm working closely with my psychiatrist and working on a referral for a therapist.
I also wanted to share this because in my previous post I kinda bashed that therapist from years ago for spending time trying to work on childhood in therapy. I realize after all this she probably knew what she was doing and probably even saw something.
I'm eager for therapy and ready. I'm going to trust the process and see what happens but I'm kinda curious/unsure how they go about two different types of trauma at very different stages of life?

Selling TI 8/9/10 Immortals and cache sets:
Add me on steam and PM me to start the 30 day process.
Buyer goes first. I accept marketable Dota2 / CSGO items
Send me a message here or on steam to discuss.
Profile: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198076398460/
Steam Rep: https://steamrep.com/profiles/76561198076398460
​
Collectors Cache 2018 and 2019:
​

Set Name	Hero	Price(USD)	Qty
Cinder Sensei	Ember Spirit	60$	1
Automation Antiquity	Brood	5$	2
Prized Acquisitions	Batrider	5$	2
Distinguished Expedetionary	Tusk	10$	1
Fury Of the Bloodforge	Bloodseeker	7.5$	1
Sight of the Kha-Ren	Drow	7.5$	1
Tribal Pathways	Warlock	5$	1
Raiments of the Obsidian Forge	Underlord	20$	1
Shackles of enduring conscript(Axe)	Axe	5$	2
Pitmouse Fraternity(Meepo)	Meepo	10$	1
Dread Ascendance(Doom)	Doom	20$	1
Shimmer of the anointed(Nyx)	Nyx	5$	1
Fires of the volcanic guard(Ember)	Ember	10$	1
Pattern of the silken queen(Brood)	Brood	5$	2
Cruelties of the spiral bore(Magnus)	Magnus	20$	2
Third awakening(DK)	Dragon Knight	20$	2
Primer of the sapper's guile(Techies)	Techies	7.5$	1
Forlorn Descent(Undying)	Undying	10$	1
Stonemarch Soverign(WK)	Wraith King	15$	1
Molokalu Stalker(Veno)	Venomancer	7.5$	1
Trail of the sanguine Spectrum(BS)	Bloodseeker	7.5$	1

Collector's Cache 2020:
​

Set Name	Hero	Price(In USD)	Qty
Claszureme Incursion(Void)	Faceless Void	60$	1
Wrath of the fallen(Doom)	Doom	20$	1
Steward of the forbidden chamber(TA)	Templar Assassin	15$	2
Master of the searing path(Ember)	Ember Spirit	20$	2
Beast of the crimson Ring(Bristle)	Bristleback	15$	2
Crown of Calaphas(SD)	Shadow Demon	10$	2
Secrets of the celestial(Skywrath)	Skywrath Mage	10$	1
Horror from the deep(Tide)	Tidehunter	20$	1
Blaze of oblivion(Phoenix)	Phoenix	7.5$	1
Blacksail cannoneer(Sniper)	Sniper	7.5$	1
Talons of endless storm(CK)	Choas Knight	10$	1
Clearcut cavalier(Timber)	Timbersaw	5$	1
Ire of the ancient gaoler(Arc)	Arc Warden	25$	1
Caraousal of the Mystic masquerade(Rubick)	Rubick	7.5$	1
Evolution of the infinite(Enigma)	Enigma	5$	1
The king of thieves(Kotl)	Keeper of the Light	7.5$	1
Forsworn legacy(Mars)	Mars	30$	2
Beholden of the banished ones(warlock)	Warlock	7.5$	3
Ancient Inheritance(Tiny)	Tiny	25$	3
Origin of dark oath(NS)	Night Stalker	20$	2
Silent slayer(Silencer)	Silencer	20$	21
Apocalypse Unbound(AA)	Ancient Apparation	10$	1
Spirit of the sacred grove(Mirana)	Mirana	60$	1
Heartless hunt(Bounty)	Bounty Hunter	10$	1
Herald of the ember eye(Grimstroke)	Grimstroke	10$	21
Mindless slaughter(pudge)	Pudge	10$	32
Lineage of the stormlords(Jugg)	Juggernaut	40$	31
Fury of the righteous storm(Disruptor)	Disruptor	5$	21
Signs of the allfather(Furion)	Furion	10$	21
Glory of the elderflame(Lina)	Lina	25$	3
Fissured Flight(Jakiro)	Jakiro	7.5$	1
Flashpoint Proselyte(Huskar)	Huskar	10$	21

Round 27 Voting Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf827Zrn1U2ZjMltmPbj6mlGdyfCHRVyvCLM-ilnQBcEaWyWg/viewform?usp=sf_link
Email Sign In now required due to Ballot Stuffers. I am not collecting your email address, just your vote.
Round 26 Results
(20.) Wherever I May Roam (21.) All Nightmare Long (22.) The Day That Never Comes
Previous Rounds Results
(23.) The Call of Ktulu (24.) Seek and Destroy (25.) Frayed Ends of Sanity (26.) Leper Messiah (27.) Fight Fire with Fire (28.) King Nothing (29.) The Shortest Straw (30.) Until It Sleeps (31.) Fuel (32.) Moth Into Flame (33.) Bleeding Me (34.) Nothing Else Matters (35.) Enter Sandman (36.) The Outlaw Torn (37.) Whiplash (38.) Inamorata (39.) Eye of the Beholder (40.) No Leaf Clover (41.) To Live is to Die (42.) The God That Failed (43.) That Was Just Your Life (44.) 72 Seasons (45.) Halo On Fire (46.) Room of Mirrors (47.) The Thing That Should Not Be (48.) My Friend of Misery (49.) Trapped Under Ice (50.) Atlas, Rise! (51.) Hit the Lights (52.) Hardwired (53.) Shadows Follow (54.) The Memory Remains (55.) Unforgiven III (56.) Lux Aeterna (57.) Holier Than Thou (58.) Too Far Gone? (59.) Unforgiven II (60.) Judas Kiss (61.) Motorbreath (62.) No Remorse (63.) Chasing Light (64.) Dream No More (65.) Through The Never (66.) You Must Burn! (67.) Screaming Suicide (68.) The End of the Line (69.) Suicide and Redemption (70.) Phantom Lord (71.) My Apocalypse (72.) St. Anger (73.) Fixxxer (74.) Now That We’re Dead (75.) Frantic (76.) The Unnamed Feeling (77.) Of Wolf and Man (78.) Sleepwalk My Life Away (79.) Crown of Barbed Wire (80.) The Struggle Within (81.) Hero of the Day (82.) Broken, Beat and Scarred (83.) Cyanide (84.) Metal Militia (85.) If Darkness Had a Son (86.) Escape (87.) Aint My Bitch (88.) Lords of Summer (89.) I Disappear (90.) Rebel of Babylon (91.) Devil’s Dance (92.) Confusion (93.) Hate Train (94.) Here Comes Revenge (95.) Mama Said (96.) To Hell and Back (97.) Wasting My Hate (98.) Just a Bullet Away (99.) - Human (100.) Thorn Within (101.) Don’t Tread on Me (102.) Jump in the Fire (103.) Prince Charming (104.) Sweet Amber (105.) Carpe Diem Baby (106.) The House Jack Built (107.) 2x4 (108.) Better Than You (109.) ManUNkind (110.) Low Man's Lyric (111.) Where the Wild Things Are (112.) Some Kind of Monster (113.) Am I Savage? (114.) Murder One (115.) Bad Seed (116.) Cure (117.) Attitude (118.) Ronnie (119.) All Within My Hands (120.) Dirty Window (121.) My World (122.) Slither (123.) Shoot Me Again (124.) Poor Twisted Me (125.) Invisible Kid (126.) Purify
Vote for the next 3 songs to be eliminated in the link above. I flipped the order presentation since I felt it looked a little better.
We will pause the poll during the Metallica protest on Jun 12th and 13th and keep the poll going as normal once the sub reopens. For those of you that are protesting for longer, I commend you, and I apologize that you can’t participate in the last few rounds unless you want to DM me your email address and I will email the poll to you. To have this wrapped up by the 12th, I would have had to rush the final few rounds, and that would very much ruin the flow of the final rounds as they should be some of the most entertaining. I will be protesting reddit completely those 2 days, and hope some changes come!

In TWOIAF, we found out that Septon Barth wrote a book on how Valyria acquired it's dragons

In Septon Barth’s Dragons, Wyrms, and Wyverns , he speculated that the bloodmages of Valyria used wyvern stock to create dragons. Though the bloodmages were alleged to have experimented mightily with their unnatural arts, this claim is considered far-fetched by most maesters, among them Maester Vanyon’s Against the Unnatural contains certain proofs of dragons having existed in Westeros even in the earliest of days, before Valyria rose to be a power.
The World of Ice & Fire, Beyond the Free Cities: Sothoryos.

In his book, Barth makes the bold claim that Old Valyria made their dragons from bloodmagic. I do believe his claim to be the truth. Why?

Most of what Septon Barth claims, turns out to be the truth.

Septon Barth made another bold claim that the Children of the Forest taught the men of the Night's Watch how to speak through ravens, that using ravens to as a means to transport letters is a degraded form.
This claim turns out to be the truth, despite the Maesters disagreeing with this notion.

"Do all the birds have singers in them?" "All," Lord Brynden said. "It was the singers who taught the First Men to send messages by raven … but in those days, the birds would speak the words. The trees remember, but men forget, and so now they write the messages on parchment and tie them round the feet of birds who have never shared their skin." A Dance with Dragons- Bran III

He also claims that the seasons are a result of the higher mysteries and magic rather than natural causes, a notion that is again scoffed at by the Citadel. A notion that our author GRRM has confirmed to be the truth.

It’s not another planet. It’s Earth. But it’s not our Earth. If you wanted to do a science fiction approach, you could call it an alternate world, but that sounds too science fictional. Tolkien really pioneered that with Middle Earth. He put in some vague things about tying it to our past, but that doesn’t really hold up. I have people constantly writing me with science fiction theories about the seasons — “It’s a double star system with a black dwarf and that would explain–” It’s fantasy, man, it’s magic.

By looking at those two examples, it's reasonable then to establish Barth as a reliable source of information.

Blood magic seems to be capable to do what Barth claims.

According to TWOIAF, blood magic is capable of breeding two distinct creatures to create an entirely different one.

In the dungeons of Gogossos, torturers devised new torments. In the flesh pits, blood sorcery of the darkest sort was practiced, as beasts were mated to slave women to bring forth twisted half-human children.

Whatever Aerea encountered during her flight to Old Valyria seems to be a result of blood magic.

“The things…Mother have mercy, I do not know how to speak of them… they were…worms with faces…snakes with hands…twisting, slimy, unspeakable things that seemed to writhe and pulse and squirm as they came bursting from her flesh. Some were no bigger than my little finger, but one at least was as long as my arm…oh, Warrior protect me, the sounds they made…
Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys & Alysanne, Their Triumphs and Tragedies.

Dragons do resemble wyverns and firewyrms

After the Battle of Rook's Rest, Sunfyre is too injured to take flight and instead remained at the Rook's Rest. During this time, it's likened to wyrm by those that witness it crawling throughout the place.

The king’s dragon, Sunfyre, too huge and heavy to be moved, and unable to fly with his injured wing, remained in the fields beyond Rook’s Rest, crawling through the ashes like some great golden wyrm.
Fire & Blood, the Dying of the Dragons, the Red Dragon and the Gold.

When Daenerys takes Quentyn to see her chained dragons, she wonders whether her dragons can dig tunnels similar to firewyrms. They could, to a certain degree.

He's made himself a cave, the prince realized. A burrow in the brick. The foundations of the Great Pyramid of Meereen were massive and thick to support the weight of the huge structure overhead; even the interior walls were three times thicker than any castle's curtain walls. But Viserion had dug himself a hole in them with flame and claw, a hole big enough to sleep in.
A Dance with Dragons - The Dragontamer

The strongest evidence of all, we find in Fire & Blood. Laena Targaryen, the daughter of Baela and Alyn, has an egg that hatches a creature that is for all intents and purposes, a wyrm.

“Her parents' pride and pleasure quickly turned to ash, however; the dragon that wriggled from the egg was a monstrosity, a wingless wyrm, maggot-white and blind. Within moments of hatching, the creature turned upon the babe in her cradle and tore a bloody chunk from her arm. As Laena shrieked, Lord Oakenfist ripped the "dragon" off her, flung it to the floor, and hacked it to pieces.” Fire & Blood

​
When you look at all these points, the most logical conclusion one can come to, is that yes. Targaryen dragons, or dragons from Old Valyria are a result of sorcerery and magic done by the Valyrians.

God is a trinity
God the father God the son God the holy spirit
God the father:
Genesis 1:26 / Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
John 14:28 / You have heard Me say to you, ‘I (Jesus) am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.
Matthew 24:36 / But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.
God the holy spirit:
Genesis 1:2 / The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
John 14:26 / But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
John 16:13 / However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
God the Son:
John 1:2-5 / In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John 1:14 / And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth
John 8:58 / Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
Revelation 1:18 / I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.
God is good:
1 Chronicles 16:34 / Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
God is holy:
Psalm 97:12 / Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.
God's love:
John 3:16 / For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God's justice:
2 Corinthians 5:10 / For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
God is righteous:
Psalm 119:137 / Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.
How to enter heaven:

1. Believe in the trinity
2. Believe Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross
3. Believe Jesus Christ was raised from the dead 3 days later
4. Do not follow your own desires
5. Put on the armour of God
6. Resist the devil and he will flee
7. Follow God's commandments
8. Repent of your sins
9. Pray to God
10. Ask for forgiveness from God

1 John 2:3-6 / When we obey God, we are sure we know him. But if we claim to know him and don't obey him, we are lying and the truth isn't in our hearts. We truly love God only when we obey him as we should, and then we know we belong to him. If we say we are his, we must follow the example of Christ.
We are all sinners but through Jesus we can find everlasting life.
Repent and turn from your old ways. Sin escalates and gets worse without regret.
Sin is not allowed in heaven so bind and resist sin on earth.
Matthew 18:18 / I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whatever you bind [forbid, declare to be improper and unlawful] on earth shall have [already] been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose [permit, declare lawful] on earth shall have [already] been loosed in heaven.
We can receive forgiveness and mercy for our sins through God the son, Jesus Christ our lord and saviour.
Forgiveness is available to everyone, even those who have made the same mistakes many times. However repentance is needed from you. Jesus will show you the right way but you still have a choice to follow or not.
How to resist the devil:
The armor of God represents the defense we must take in our spiritual lives. The Bible tells us that we are fighting a war against Satan, who seeks to destroy us. Therefore, we must take action and put on God's armor. As Christians, it is important for us to understand the severity of this battle.
Armor of God

1. the belt of truth - honesty
2. the breastplate of righteousness - do the right thing
3. the shoes of the gospel of peace - remain calm and collected
4. the shield of faith - trust God
5. the helmet of salvation - accept Jesus Christ is my lord and savior.
6. The sword of the Spirit - use and know the word of God

GOOD FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT:
Galatians 5:22-23 / But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Matthew 6:14 / For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Luke 6:36-38 / Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
Matthew 22:37-39 / Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
1 Peter 4:8 / And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins
John 14:21 / Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
SINS:
The 10 Commandments:

1. You shall have no other God's before me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shall not bear false witness.
10. You shall not covet.

The seven deadly sins are:

1. lust
2. gluttony
3. greed
4. laziness
5. wrath
6. envy
7. pride

Proverbs 6:16-19 / These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Matthew 5:27-28 / You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
James 4:17 / So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin
Colossians 3:5-6 / Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
Galatians 5:19-21 / Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity (hostility), strife (conflict), jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions (disagreement), divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21 / Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (sexual pleasure), idolatry, sorcery, enmity (hostility), strife (conflict), jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions (disagreements), divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Any miracles done that is not from God is from the devil. The devil is deceitful and will hide his sorcery in false doctrines. Do not be deceived and be led astray because this is done by the devil to hide the truth.
1 John 3:15 / Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
CONSEQUENCES OF SIN:
James 1:12-16 / Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and SIN WHEN IT IS FULLY GROWN BRINGS FORTH DEATH. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers
Hebrews 3:12-14 / Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an EVIL, unbelieving heart, LEADING YOU TO FALL AWAY FROM THE LIVING GOD. But exhort (strongly encourage) one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be HARDENED BY THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
1 Peter 3:12 / For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
Matthew 5:30 / And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Proverbs 9:10 - The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
SAVED BY FAITH:
Matthew 7:21-23 / Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Ephesians 2:8 -10 = For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand SO WE MAY DO THEM.
James 2:17 = So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead
James 2:21-22 / Was not our father Abraham justified by what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith was working with his actions, and his faith was perfected by what he did.
My conclusion on faith:
We are saved by faith in the trinity. Works are there to strengthen your faith. Sin weakens your faith until it dies.
Reasons for evil:
Isaiah 45:7 / I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things
You have free will to choose to be good or evil. God allows you to choose even if he knows what you will choose. If he doesn't allow evil people to exist he cannot give free will to man or he cannot let man be created. If man has no free will then we can no longer call ourselves human being as we would be something else. If we are not created by God he cannot save his lost sheep born into a world of good and evil where the ground is cured and weeds grow amongst the wheat.
Hell was created for the fallen angels but also because evil people exist. Evil people cannot escape justice so God created a place of torment for them. This place is for people who disobey God and refuse to serve him.
Matthew 13: 37-39 / He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
God needs cursed ground to sow the seeds of sinners. God has rules which he also follows, he does not just do as he wants. The devil can sow his own seeds as well. The devil's seeds/children can also be saved.
Zechariah 3 1-4 = Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."
The devil is making mistakes as you can see from the verse above. Weeds can also be saved.
These sinners can be saved by faith in God the son. We are all black sheep which God is coming to find.
The reason for life:
You have free will but God also told you not to sin. Therefore you can ignore God's will and do as you please or you can obey God and do his will.
When you die or come to the end of your life on earth God will tell you who you are. Only God can define you. God loves you and wants to bless you too. Your blessings depends on what you did during your life on earth.
The bible is God's word.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 / All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I'm watching things all out of order but I finished Neverafter (which I loved) and then wanted to go back to Crown of Candy which I couldn't get into when I first tried. I'm enjoying it now but I have to say I'm pretty sure there is a direct line between BLM's Swifty and Lou's Pinocchio.
There's a point where you can see the players come round on "this is super annoying" to "this is hilarious and amazing"
It's the exact reaction I had to Lou's Pinocchio where I at first didn't even want to watch the season from the promos but quickly fell in love with the amazing ridiculous commitment to the voice and the bit.

Source: Growing Up in the Lord: A Study for Teenage Boys (Ch. 7, 1994)
If you haven’t done so already, you will soon decide to take a girl out on a date. Dating a girl is a good time to enjoy the companionship of someone else. Women have a different perspective on life.
When you take different girls out on a date, you have a chance to see who is available. You also have a chance to firm up in your own mind what you will be looking for in a wife. Most boys go through a phase where they cannot stand any girl, except mothers who are tolerated within limits. When these boys reach adolescence, they quickly realize that girls can be interesting.
Taking a girl out on a date gives you a chance to practice getting along with women. Girls do not enjoy being treated the same way you treat other boys. The time you spend dating gives you a chance to learn how to act around a girl.
You need to be choosy about whom you will be going out with. Some girls will understand that, because you are a Christian, there are certain things that you will not do. Many girls will enjoy the fact that they don’t have to be constantly on their guard while they are with you. However, there are girls who will use every opportunity they can find to try to get you to do things that are sinful. It is a challenge for them to see how far they can get you to go. For your own soul’s sake, you are better off not dating such a girl. David warns us, in Psalms 1:1, not to associate with sinners. By continually exposing yourself to sin, you are tempted to commit a sin. That is why Paul said evil companions will corrupt your good morals (I Corinthians 15:33).
Group dates are a good way to start out dating when you are young. If you pick your companions wisely, there will be fewer temptations in your way. A group gives you a chance to get acquainted with several people at once. You can also observe how the other guys treat their dates. Perhaps your first date won’t be so awkward when it is shared with others. Some good outings with a group may be to go bowling, play a few rounds of putt-putt golf, go canoeing, have a picnic and play softball or volleyball, or gather a group of young people together after church to eat ice cream.
Before you head out, spend some time thinking about what you will talk about during your date. In our society, boys tend to think and talk in terms of actions. Girls tend to think and talk about feelings. For example, if a boy and a girl were talking about an Olympic event, the boy would be interested in the score and the types of moves the athlete made. The girl would be interested in how the athlete was handling the stress and the athlete’s reaction to the scoring. Neither viewpoint is good or bad. They are just different. It is those differences that make conversation on your first date so difficult. Spend some time thinking about what you would like to know about this girl you are dating.
One day, all too soon, you will begin dating to find someone suitable to be your lifetime companion. If you want a companion, you must learn to be companionable. Talk about your interests and find out about hers. Do you enjoy similar things? If the two of you don’t have anything to talk about, what would marriage to such a person be like?
Make plans for the evening in advance and let your parents know where you expect to be. I know that many of you would rather keep your plans between you and your girlfriend, but you never know when an emergency may come up. Telling your parents also gives you a chance to see if your plans are respectable and appropriate. If you are too embarrassed to tell your folks, then perhaps you are planning something that a Christian ought not to do. Continue to carefully examine your motives.
Once you are out on your date, avoid changing your plans at the last minute. Don’t let your emotions lead you to making a little detour to a quiet place where you can be alone with your girlfriend. It is a great temptation to go too far when there is no one around to see what you are doing. Don’t go parking in the dark. Even if the first few times you don’t do anything shameful, it is continually tempting to go a little farther and to get a little closer. If you want time to talk, find a well-lighted place with other people around. It will encourage you to act respectfully. Finally, don’t spend time at your house or hers when no one else is around. Many boys and girls find their own home comfortable and safe, so they relax their guard and do things they would not do in public. Most teenage pregnancies come about because a boy and a girl had sex at home. Somehow, people convince themselves there is no harm done if no one will see them. Don’t let Satan fool you!
In a few years, one person that you have dated will stand out among the others. You will find yourself going out with her more often than anyone else. You may even decide to stop dating anyone else. Dating only one person is called “going steady.” Going steady with a girl for a while is a logical step before asking her the big question. It gives you a little more time to finally decide if this is really the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Just don’t rush into it too soon. You can’t make a good decision if you only dated one person your whole life. There are plenty of years ahead of you, so don’t limit yourself to one person too soon.
You know you are ready to go steady with a girl when you have dated other girls but you prefer this person’s company over everyone else. When you want to spend more time with this person and dating someone else will interfere with your time, then perhaps it is time to go steady.
However, if you feel pressure to date one person exclusively because everyone else is doing it, then you should reconsider. Some boys rush into going steady because they fear there won’t be anyone else. This is another poor reason to go steady with a girl. There are hundreds of girls in the world with whom you could happily live. Don’t get the idea that there is just one right person for you. Take your time. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, so don’t rush the preliminary stages. Another bad reason for going steady is to hold on to a “good catch.” Some people pride themselves on having the prettiest or smartest girl in school as their exclusive girlfriend. Remember our discussion about the pride of life. Date a girl because you like her and not because you like the admiration of the other boys.
As you get comfortable with that special girl, keep in mind that there is a real temptation to take liberties with her that you would not take with other girls. Now is not the time to break God’s law because you allow your emotions get the better of you. Far too many teenagers allow their emotions to flare and find themselves tempted to have sex during their date.
A common excuse given for having sex on a date is that you need to find out before hand if you are compatible or not. You could have sex with any girl. How familiar you are with having sex has nothing to do with compatibility. You should not be looking for a bed partner while you are dating. You should be looking for someone to share the rest of your life with. Once you and your girlfriend are married, you will have plenty of opportunity to learn how to have sex. There is no benefit gained by breaking God’s law and having sex before you are married.
What is Love?
I’ve often told you in this book that various feelings and reactions are not love. Having an erection doesn’t mean you are in love. Wanting to have sex with someone doesn’t mean you are in love. The actual act of sex is not love, although it is called “making love” in today’s slang. To understand what love really is, we need to turn over to I Corinthians 13:1-7.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophesy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. I Corinthians 13:1-7

Paul is explaining what true love between Christians is like. The description also beautifully describes what the love between a husband and wife should be like.
When you love someone, you are willing to put up with their faults. You understand that people make mistakes and that changes take time, if they come at all. Even when she says something mean to you, you will only return kindness back. Love involves trusting the other person with all your heart. You don’t envy her when she gets a big promotion at work or is honored for the things she has done in the community. Instead, you rejoice with her. A loving husband doesn’t boast about how good he is and ignores his wife’s accomplishments. What you do is much less important to you than what she does. If you truly love someone, you won’t say things that will hurt her feelings. She is much more important to you than your own concerns. As a result, you will keep a tight reign on your anger and not lash out when things don’t go your way.
Loving couples don’t accuse each other of wickedness. Too many marriages are broken because the husband saw a man leave the house or found some note and immediately leaped to the conclusion that his wife is having an affair. However, sometimes it is obvious that sin is taking place. When this happens, a loving husband will stand firm with the Lord. He will do everything possible to bring his wife back to the way of righteousness.
Being in love means you are optimistic. You are always hoping that things will get better. That hope helps you to get over the many rough times that you and your wife will face together.
Most of all, love doesn’t fail. Planning to marry someone for a time to see if it will work out means you are not in love. You don’t fall in and out of true love. Love holds on through good times and through bad times.

The Difference Between Love and Infatuation

Many people confuse being infatuated with someone for being in love with someone. Each of us has a mental picture of the ideal companion. That mental picture is usually based on various physical attributes. She should be so tall, with a pretty nose, brown eyes, etc. Occasionally you meet someone who closely matches your mental ideal. You get excited and believe you have fallen in love at first sight.
This is not really love, but infatuation. You can tell the difference, because infatuation dies over time. I guarantee that while you are moonstruck with a girl you won’t believe that it will ever end, but it usually does. As you get to know the girl and find out about her likes and dislikes, you realize that she is not as perfect as you imagined her to be. The word “imagined” is the key word. You have no idea what a person is like when you first meet them. Getting to know a person takes time.
Over time an infatuation will either die off or be replaced by true love. When you are truly in love, you will be aware of a person’s flaws, but you have made a rational decision that you can live with them. A person who is infatuated with someone will either be totally unaware of the flaws in that person, pretend that those flaws are not there, pretend that those flaws don’t matter, or believe that they can change that person over time. The last attitude can be disastrous for a relationship. People do change at times, but it is not very often and it is rarely because someone caused them to change. People change themselves because they want to make the change. When you choose a woman to be your wife, you should look at who she is and not who you think you can make her into. If you do not like who she is today, you are taking a big risk thinking she will be different tomorrow. In other words, if she doesn’t change before marriage, then she certainly won’t change after marriage.
Talk freely with your intended companion. Some men are afraid to tell their girlfriend everything they are thinking for fear of driving them away. If your true thoughts would drive your girlfriend away, then the two of you were probably not cut out for each other. Both of you would be better off looking for someone else. Nothing could be worst than to find out you have made a lifetime commitment to someone who can’t stand you.
In summary, true love is based on reality. Infatuation is based on fantasy. Before committing yourself to someone, make sure you both have a firm grip on reality.

A Small Exercise

Take a sheet of paper and write down the things that you hope to find in the woman you will one day marry. Is it important that she be good looking? Does it matter to you if she is taller than you? Do you hope she is a good cook? Should she like children? How many children do you hope to raise? Give it serious consideration and don’t base your answers on someone you are dating at the moment. It would be better to work on this when there is no one in particular competing for your heart. Talk to your dad or an elder or the preacher about it, but make sure that it is your list showing what is important to you.
Try ranking your points. What is the most important? Which things would be nice, but really don’t matter that much?
It may seem a little early to start thinking about whom you plan to marry. After all, marriage is still several years off. However, if you know what you are looking for, then when you finally meet the girl of your dreams, you can be confident that you are making a sound decision that you will never regret.
Have a rough list done before you start chapter 8. Through the years, continue to revise your list. The things that are important to you at 13 may seem childish at 18, so continue to think about these things.

I normally get paid on Wednesdays from a weekly job, boy I got another paycheck today, seemingly for no reason. And like... I could always use the extra money as part of the lower class, bit I don't want to lose my job.
Basically should I report it? I'm sorry if this is the wrong sub to ask, if it is, please point me in the right direction.

hi. young adult female here. i normally type like this, but to make it easier for everyone to read, i’ll be proper about it.
I’ve undergone a lot of change over the years. I’ve been through a lot which has helped me develop into who I am today. But who I am today is lowkey a sociopath.
I have many of the traits. I’ll add examples for some of these to make them more clear.
• I lack empathy. Although I can put myself in someone else’s shoes, it’s not something I’ll do right away, if ever; not to mention it can be difficult
• I understand. as in, I understand how I’m supposed to react in a given situation; how something I say or do might affect someone and why; how someone may respond or feel if I say/do something, and why they might respond that way.
• Remorse is rare for me; And I’ll often place blame on the other person for how they feel.
I hardly ever feel bad about things.
Example: I Facetimed my boyfriend one time while he was at dinner with his parents.
His mom spoke to him the next morning, expressing her feelings about how I interrupted their family time (she was upset & didn’t like me doing that). She values family and family time.
My immediate reaction when he told me about this? Annoyed. I thought it was dumb that his mom got upset over that, that it was something she should just get over. I didn’t feel bad/guilty at all. I didn’t view what I had done as being inherently wrong.
Thing is, part of me can understand why she felt that way. Family is important to her, so of course she wouldn’t be too happy about me Facetiming her son during their dinner out. (I did end up apologizing to her soon after learning she felt this way, and said I would respect her family values)
But I apologized because I knew I should. Because that’s the right thing to do. Part of me feels somewhat sorry—a very tiny part—and my apology was genuine. Nonetheless, I still don’t feel like I’m necessarily wrong for doing what I did. I’m not bothered by it upsetting her.
• I’m impulsive, but I can plan ahead.
I’m young, so I’m evidently going to be on the impulsive side of things. I often act out of however I feel in the moment. But that doesn’t mean I can’t think and plan ahead.
I have big plans for my future. I have a brief but simple plan laid out in my head for what I’m going to do each day. I know exactly what I need to do each week, such as calling to appointments, calling the pharmacy to make sure I’ll get my meds on time, etc. So, I don’t struggle with planning like some sociopaths do. I also consider myself responsible and will get any work done—schoolwork/job/chores, etc.
• I’m inherently manipulative
although I don’t really go out of my way to manipulate anyone, I have a manipulative nature. My mom will point it out sometimes.
Here’s some things I’ll do: - wording things in such a way that I can’t be directly blamed/ blamed for any misinterpretation on the other person’s side - planning ahead.
Wording: “I realized a little late that I’d been gathering information irrelevant to the essay, but I’ve gotten on the right track and can definitely get it done today.” (I did get it done btw)
Here, I present myself as less blamable, and don’t directly disclose that I haven’t actually finished the paper yet. My mom (who asked me about this) got upset that I hadn’t finished the paper the previous day (I procrastinated/got lazy). I respond back with “I never said I had it all done, though” or something like that.
planning ahead: I feel like this one needs a more specific example. Say I want to hang out with a friend. I’ve already asked them/they’ve already asked me. I have already come up with a plan (time, place, date, etc) within minutes. I won’t immediately inform/ask my parents about it, though. They always end up being told, but the fact is that I never check with them first before coming up with all the plan details. This will upset them at times. (Yes, I’m an adult, but my parents just like to know what I’m doing and when I’ll be back, etc)
•I’m aggressive/easily annoyed.
I often respond with aggression if something makes me mad or annoyed.
I know this was long but I felt like I needed to say it. Should I get evaluated?

Happy Friday, everyone! :) Welcome to my weekly thread of mobile gaming recommendations based on some of the most interesting games I played and that were covered on MiniReview this week. I hope you'll enjoy the read.
Support these posts (and YouTube content + development of MiniReview) on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NimbleThor <3
This episode includes an awesome old-school RPG NetHack variant, a beautiful arcade bullet-hell shooter, a relaxing puzzle game, a popular chess app, and a casual tower defense game.
New to these posts? Check out the first one from 179 weeks ago here.

Let's get to the games:

GnollHack [Game Size: 1.1 GB] (Free)

Genre: RPG / Roguelike - Offline
Orientation: Landscape + Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by JBMessin:
Gnollhack is a fun variant of the famous roguelike “Nethack” designed specifically for mobile. In comparison to the original game, it features numerous quality-of-life changes, both ASCII and graphical tiles for the dungeon floors, and even voice acting.
A major advantage over other Nethack variants is Gnollhack’s large and intuitive UI. The most used commands are available on our main screen, and everything else is just a tap away and presented with clear and noticeable icons. The UI may look more cluttered than most modern mobile games, but it’s a big step up in comparison to many Nethack-based games.
What's also great about Gnollhack is that it's easier in the beginning than it is towards the end, which is completely different from Nethack and its other mobile variants. This makes it perfect for those that aren't familiar with the genre’s unforgiving gameplay and crazy learning curve.
The graphical ground tiles are impressive for a game genre where the archaic ASCII art style is typically preferred. The character and enemy sprites are also well-made and even presented according to creature size, which means larger enemies actually have larger sprites. Lastly, it’s much easier to navigate our inventory in Gnollhack than in most similar games since our weapons, armor, wands, etc. are actually presented visually.
The biggest downside to Gnollhack is its 1+ GB size, which isn’t massive by AAA standards but is ridiculously large for a Nethack variant. It's also heavy on battery usage, although that is to be expected with gameplay where so much is going on at all times.
Gnollhack is completely free without ads or iAPs. Overall, despite its few flaws, it’s a fantastic introduction to the brutality that is Nethack.
App Store Beta (TestFlight): Here

Wavecade [Total Game Size: 221 MB] ($2.99)

Genre: Arcade / Bullet-Hell - Online + Offline
Orientation: Landscape + Portrait
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by Solitalker:
Wavecade is a beautiful retro-styled roguelike arcade space shooter where we control the speed of time and destroy waves of incoming space blocks to score as many points as possible.
As we dodge and swerve our way through the 80's retro-inspired neon space, our ship automatically fires at any blocks in sight.
But this is where it gets interesting, because if we pull our ship toward the bottom of the screen, time slows down, allowing us to precisely maneuver away from projectiles and environmental space hazards. Pushing forward toward the top of the screen speeds up time beyond 100%, with greater points and rewards the faster we’re traveling.
After each run, experience gained unlocks new ranks that let us customize our ship. Cosmetics and new abilities can be configured and equipped before starting a new run, and even the appearance of the blocks we're facing can be customized to our liking.
A wide variety of powerups and weapons can be found throughout each run, leading to some wonderfully overpowered moments of total destruction. But some buffs and abilities are so effective that blocks don’t even make it on screen before they're destroyed, which is a little disappointing since we don't get to see the vibrant neon particle-filled explosions.
The touch controls can be frustrating at times. By default, we tap and drag our ship around manually, but this leaves our ship and the area directly around it hidden by our finger during play. Thankfully, the ship can be offset in the settings, or a virtual joystick can be enabled.
The visual and audio experience of Wavecade is incredibly satisfying, and its fantastic soundtrack perfectly fits the aesthetics.
For $2.99 on iOS with no additional monetization, it’s a very enjoyable arcade shoot ‘em up with relatively quick runs and a rewarding high-score system.
App Store: Here

Down in Bermuda [Game Size: 513 MB] ($5.99)

Genre: Puzzle / Casual - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Some
tl;dr review by AlexSem:
Down in Bermuda is a cute isometric puzzle adventure from the creators of “Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise”, where we explore the mysteries of a secluded island by participating in a series of brain-testing puzzle activities.
Each level consists of a large 3D island that we can freely observe from all sides in search of interactive objects, mini-games, and puzzle clues. We need to click, swipe, and drag said objects in a specific sequence to complete each puzzle, and the key to success lies in attentiveness, a bit of luck, and sometimes clicking all the suspicious spots in the hope that something meaningful happens.
We also get to meet local inhabitants and help them with their problems – all while searching for a way to escape the island. The puzzles in each scene can be solved in any order, but we still need to finish certain scenarios to proceed in the game.
A huge portion of the gameplay revolves around finding and gathering all the glowing stars hidden in each level. While we can use a handy star map to easily locate them, there is a special achievement if we manage to succeed without its help.
We may also find special keys used to open advanced parts of the puzzles on previous islands, so a bit of backtracking is required to complete the game 100%. Other than that, the game progresses in a linear fashion, which can be disappointing for hardcore puzzle fans, but is perfect for casual play.
Down in Bermuda is a premium game without ads or iAPs that costs $5.99 on iOS. Despite being rather short, it provides an engaging puzzle-solving experience that I’m sure anyone fond of high-quality mobile adventure games will appreciate.
App Store: Here

lichess [Game Size: 137 MB] (Free)

Genre: Board / Casual / Chess - Online + Offline
Orientation: Portrait + Landscape
Required Attention: Full
tl;dr review by jurij:
lichess is a free open-source chess app with zero ads and nothing hidden behind a paywall.
The app is fast and simple. We can start a game in seconds, and since there are very few options and menus, everything is centered around actually playing. It features several online and offline chess variations, but in comparison to the Chess.com app or the website version of lichess, it still lacks several advanced features.
We also have access to puzzles, game lessons, and some game analysis options, but all of this works much better in the website version.
lichess is the second most popular chess platform after Chess.com, and if you love chess, you probably already have both installed. lichess is just a tad more outdated overall, but at least we don’t have to live with any paywalled features.
The lichess mobile app is a few years behind the website version in terms of usability – in large part because the mostly volunteer team managing the game is just not focused on the mobile version for some reason. A great example of how rudimentary some parts of the app are is the extremely clunky board editor that looks like it was made in a day and then never updated.
Ultimately, it’s a simple but fully free chess app for serious players that is amazing for starting fast bullet and blitz games. It lacks functionality and varied bots but has everything else you need for a great chess experience.
App Store: Here

Arrow War (Game Size: 130 MB] (Free)

Genre: Tower Defense / Casual - Offline
Orientation: Landscape
Required Attention: Little (semi-idle)
tl;dr review by NimbleThor:
Arrow War is a casual and silly castle defense game where we manage a group of archers firing arrows at the waves of incoming enemies that try to seize our tower.
Starting with just a single archer, we must equip it with new bows, upgrade existing ones, enhance the skills of the bow, and much more to grow stronger. As we progress, we unlock more archers, each of which we need to manage in the same way.
Every wave takes a few minutes to complete, after which we’re taken back to our base, where we can upgrade our team in different ways, start the next wave, or play other game modes.
During combat, our archers automatically aim at the nearest enemies, while we strategically trigger their skills. So the combat isn’t idle, but it’s an ideal game to play while watching TV or doing something else.
There are a ton of ways to upgrade our archers and castle wall, lots of fun bows to unlock, quests to complete, and areas around our castle to capture so they automatically produce resources for us. Unfortunately, the combat is always the same across all the game modes.
The game features a premium currency, but we earn plenty of it for free, allowing us to buy things such as auto-aim for our main archer. There is technically also an energy system, but we gain so much of it that it’s rarely ever felt. Overall, the progression is nicely balanced for free players, and I haven’t experienced any paywalls.
Unfortunately, the game doesn’t utilize the wide screens of modern smartphones.
Arrow War monetizes via incentivized ads, a few forced ads, and iAPs to grow stronger faster. The iAPs aren’t necessary to progress, but the 5-second forced ads may become annoying. Some of the iAPs remove these ads.
App Store: Here
Special thanks to the Patreon Producers "marquisdan", "Lost Vault", "Farm RPG", and "Mohaimen" who help make these posts possible through their Patreon support <3
Google Sheet of all games I've played so far (searchable and filter-able): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bf0OxtVxrboZqyEh01AxJYUUqHm8tEfh-Lx-SugcrzY/edit?usp=sharing
TL;DR Video Summary (with gameplay) of last week's games: https://youtu.be/Q3eX2WiUHHU
Episode 161 Episode 162 Episode 163 Episode 164 Episode 165 Episode 166 Episode 167 Episode 168 Episode 169 Episode 170 Episode 171 Episode 172 Episode 173 Episode 174 Episode 175 Episode 176 Episode 177 Episode 178

My wife is an only child, both of my in-laws are in their early 60s, but are just criminally lazy. They guilt trip my wife into doing their grocery shopping, cleaning, and errands. They once called her and had her order them Subway online while they were sitting in Subway, so they wouldn’t have to wait in line.
My FIL’s most defining characteristic is that he never, ever, EVER stops talking. There is zero filter from his brain to his mouth, and it never quits . I can’t exaggerate this point enough. I don’t think he could keep his mouth shut if his life actually depended on it.
Because of his lack of filter, my FIL’s constant yammering is usually either just pointless empty advice or stray observations about god knows what. He might ask questions or pretend to want input, but he is never actually listening to you. He’s just waiting to talk. He does not care about what anyone but himself thinks. He does respect ANY personal boundaries.
I lost it on him today. A few weeks ago, he mentioned that our 2yo daughter’s hair was in her face. It’s admittedly at an awkward length, and she’s a bit ornery and won’t keep clips in her hair. He mentioned that he could take scissors and cut it out of her eyes. I told him absolutely not.
Today, while my wife was doing their shopping I get a photo from MIL of our 2yo and she now has shitty, sloppy, choppy bangs. I immediately call and lose my shit. Rather than admit fault, his reaction was mostly annoyance that my MIL spilled the beans. He then tried to tell me it was only a few strands of hair. I told him it was a lot more than that and now we have to take her to a professional to try and salvage her hair.
I texted him after, reiterating how far over the line this was and he told me that he had no idea I’d ever be this upset. That obviously he wouldn’t have done it if he’d known. I reminded him of our previous conversation, and told him he knew exactly what he was doing.
The icing on the cake is that I found out later in the evening that my 5yo was in the room when it happened, but he coached her to keep it a secret from us.
No, I don’t know why he assumed we could possibly not notice what he’d done.
It’s been 24 hours now and I am still seething. I hate this man. I hate him so much.

EpPeashooter was in the closet about to take his own life when two people broke the closet open. These two people were named Ok-manufacturer and TurkeyFTW. Peashooter, was surprised. These two worked at L.E.A.F and they were bio-engineered plant enthusiasts. Fighting the zombies since 2009. They knew the pain he was going through and they said they’d do anything to live his life. Peashooter was even more surprised. They had “borrowed” a body-switcher from Z-Tech. Manufacturer and Turkey pointed the switcher at peashooter and fired, they both turned into two peashooters and peashooter turned into a human. Peashooter was so happy to not have to live his painful life of rape anymore and thanked him for their sacrifice. “Good luck” said peashooter. “Luck?” Said TurkeyFTW “where we’re going… we don’t need luck…”
To be continued!

Post originally from user JTT on RWI. Very good summary on why users why many of us choose to buy Gens or Reps (quite often discussed here):

"What reps do not offer:

1. High end, high complication watches / independents: You can't yet get (unless there is a whole segment I don't know about) high end complications and independents. If you want a Moser Perpetual Calendar, a Lange Triple split or Zeitwerk, FPJ resonance, a PP double split or minute repeater, MB&F double chrono or Perpetual Evo, Rollie Annual calendar... you just aren't getting them in the rep world. This is not something many are concerned about admittedly, but it is still a gap which won't be closed.
2. Sufficient Design variety: There isn't the range available to a purchaser in the rep world across price points. From low to medium to high end, mens, women's and children's watches. In the gen world there is just far more variety which fits all tastes, size and price-points. This is not the case in the rep world - majority (not all, of course) is Rolex, PP, AP. Which is fine, that satisfies most tastes I think but maybe not for a collector over the long term.
3. Material variety: Money no object you could wear a carbon-fibre 70g Hublot on the wrist one day (please don't - save yourself), followed by a platinum Daytona or white gold FPJ the next. You could wander around London, or NYC and Singapore on a weekend and have solid gold, silver, titanium, carbon, tantalum etc. on the wrist to enjoy. At high and low budgets you can have an enviable range of materials on your wrist.
4. Quality: Ish - if it is a mass produced Rolex etc. frankly a good stainless steel copy of a 116500, 124060, 126610LN etc. will get you 85-90% of the gen quality but that is for a few models and even with those there is always that 10-15% which is off - that extra accuracy, the likely longevity, that extra polish with finishing. That being said frankly AP and PP have been sitting on their hands with their entry-level models and the movements have not evolved for years, and years, and years. Go into an AP boutique and try on a 39 and change the date, ask about WR and note the power reserve and be very very confused.

That PP introduced the 6700G range as the 'modern' base Calatrava with an upgraded movement but it still has only 35-45 hours power reserve is comical when compared to the H.Moser & Cie base 3-hander movement or any Tudor BB ( I know its dress not sports, but its still 3-hander / 3 hander with date comp).

1. Niche, watches with history: Want a watch that has a story, that was on the wrist of a soldier, sailer or candlestick maker for thirty years. Want a watch only issued to military unit because it was your family unit, a dive school that your aunt and uncle attended, a graduating class of jet pilots that your best mate graduated from who since bought it, a certain employer. Nope. Not only do those not see the light of day for the most part - there isn't the financial incentive to reproduce.
   
2. Asset / Investment: There is more potential of upside if you buy right with gens but reps are as liquid when compared to a varied gen collection, just the values more likely lower. The most liquid gens will take approx 5 days from the point you would like to sell to having £ in the bank if you use a scale watch dealer (exceptions apply). Factor in insurance, servicing, buying the models you thought you wanted but don't, locking up cash and it's a more interesting story as a scale watch collector when you work across brands. Parking cash in a small physical asset that isn't going to materially depreciate is also valuable to some which is an often overlooked benefit too.
   

What reps do offer:

1. Accessibility (£ $): No two ways about it, medium-end watches are generally speaking overpriced, high-end almost always are, ultra-high end are crippling. A lot of the 'goal/grail/hype/cool' watches are far out of the range of most financially. Make no bones about it, in this authors opinion people should get a replica rather than put themselves in a precarious financial position and load themselves up with debt or financing. An 18 year old who buys a replica today, could buy a PP grand complication in 15 years having got that first foothold on this forum - buying when they can afford but enjoying the hobby for years before.

Look at JLC and the comical increase in pricing multiple times in the past 18 months, Lange and the 20-30% increase across the board the other month, Tudor (an accessible brand) and the 10% + increases staring to compound and raise eyebrows. Not great.
2. Accessibility (access): Can't get the damn things when you want, usually. Self explanatory - people know the Rolex challenges. Which to be honest, like others have mentioned vary across regions and stores and it's almost (is) unfair how easy these actually are for people connected properly who aren't always genuine collectors. For PP, Lange you will have to snake your purchases through the collection categories rather than go for what you want when you want if you want several (even if you are a noted collector). For MB&F, FPJ - better make your way into the F&F to get what you want, the lists go on. Even when you drop to the more accessible but hype like some from Baltic, Studio UnderDog, Christopher Ward, Tissot you can wait months. I've personally waited longer for some entry-level hype watches than 'in-demand' professionals / sports.

1. Try before you buy: Not too much more to say - try before you buy and I do this a lot. Not sure if you want a Submariner or Submariner Date then try them both delivered to your house in days. Don't like, sell them. Yes you can go into stores but that doesn't always work well for everyone - i) stores don't always have stock and when they do you won't spent much time with these watches ii) many are intimidated in these high end watch stores and are treated badly - 'don't have an appointment, bugger off please', iii) plenty of people aren't located close to watch stores. People getting pied off in stores is something I see so often and I don't like it, everyone has to start somewhere and not all people are as comfortable, have large spends and know the people who work in stores. Go to watch clubs you say... well some of these and the people in them - that's a whole different post.
   
2. Insurance, Servicing, Ancillary costs: These go up or down with scale but it is not nothing. Insurance can be low - often sitting at c.1% of watch value for something like a Sub is good, but this adds up. Independent servicing (not all - some are VERY good in this regard) or complication servicing takes time, £/$ and pain sometimes. Paying for safe deposit boxes, serviced or monitored alarms costs £ too.
   

Pay to play: Even top tier collectors for the v. high end brands will be required to buy watches you don't really want on the journey - or watches you want but too frequently (ironically). It's the price of entry and doesn't matter who you are. Can you get rid yes, but for the v.high end it's a small world and whilst you might get a shot across the bow on the first one you dump v.v. quickly as everyone knows it was a. stepping stone, twice and they will sink your battleship.

1. Loss: Lose a replica. Ok, don't care .. what's for dinner. Lose a gen, oh this is going to be fun - police, insurance, watch shops and registers etc.

6. Security: If we are talking well-known watches like sports PP, sports Rolex etc. then one has less concern in many locations and times with a replica. Obviously you don't want to flash either around in certain locations or at certain times but this is somewhat self explanatory. Also with reps you don't need to make sure you strictly adhering to insurance conditions / expectations ('oh did I put it in the safe' etc.). Side point, with reps your most frequent trip isn't to the bank and WAITING FOREVER every time for the box opening procedures."

I just recently joined a new gym. My 4th day in this gym, I was working out , Leg day, and some lady approached me during my set. She works there, and teaches classes like swimming and group classes for middle aged woman lol.
My gym doesn't have any calf machine, so I was doing seated calf raises with a 45lb plate on my knees. Then this person started saying :"What are you doing?? Why don't you use the machine for that?" . As I mentioned this gym has no calf machine, so I thought she meant the leg press and doing calf raises, which the machine was already taken anyway so I told her that. Then she says" why don't you do those standing still?" I was like whatever I don't even remember what I said back this time I was with my earphones on and MID SET so I just wanted her to let me finish my set.
I keep doing my workout, and she is no longer there. Then after finishing legs , I decided to do some abs. So I started doing cable crunches with a rope, which is an exercise I really like .
Then this happens: I am mid set yet again, with my head tucked in my legs, doing the freaking crunch, then some random women working out there touches me, and points to that same girl who interrupted my set before.(the gym has a pool as I said and it's visible from the gym, separated by a glass) Guess what: this worker from my gym not only interrupted me but two people workouts, by telling this other woman who was on the treadmill to call me, which she must've felt awkward as well.
I stopped my set and went to see what she wanted, and she was screaming through the glass:"WHAT are you doing??" And I wasn't sure she could hear me through the glass so I pointed to my abs and said it was an ab exercise. Then she looks at me like I'm some fucking dumb beginner(no offence to beginners lol) who has no clue wtf he is doing in the gym, and puts her hand on her forehead in sign of disbelief of what she's seeing, and then she lays down and starts doing fucking normal bodyweight ab crunches. Then she says "See?? Now go" nodding her head. NO SHIT I didn't know what an ab crunch was... Anyway I went back to finish my set of rope crunches.
This was some fucking embarrassing and awkward experience... everyone on the gym looking at me, that b screaming at me trough a fucking glass...
I can't lie that kinda ruined my workout and made me cringe, so that I was hesitant going to the gym the next day.
Anyway, I go there next day, I say good morning to the people at the reception desk, and guess who was there... The ab rope villain. Then she says to me:" See if you don't make so many mistakes in the gym today".
And I was like wtf.
I truly don't know how to feel, I just joined this gym and already wanna leave lol. Today I was planning on doing T-Bar rows with barbell, but I might just not because it's such a bad back exercise right, thank god I have someone there to correct me.

I’m gonna try and keep this short, no promises. with some context ofc.
So I (19m) have been friends with this girl (20f) for about 4 years now, it’s really like we are siblings, and recently I’ve felt a change.
I work a lot, overtime too, retail manager. my Saturday and Sunday is sometimes Wednesday and Friday, so I’m really tired on my days off, I work a really stressful job. My friend works 12 hour days every two days sitting in a tanning salon basically doing nothing.
She and I both keep our circle small, but her friends are really problematic. One in particular, they always block each other, so it’s on and off, and when they are off, oh boy, that’s all I hear, talking behind each others back. I’ve suggested to her multiple times to just drop her it’s a pointless friendship. I guess I’m just better off talking to the wall.
Recently we haven’t been talking or seeing each other as much, we live close to each other, about 10 miles. A lot of her free time is spent going to that other girls house, mostly because of her baby.
For two days straight I’ve been at home, and as tired as I am, I suggested we go out to eat lunch for two days in a row, my treat, and she wouldn’t need to get on a bus, because I told her I’ll pick her up. Well she said she isn’t in the mood to go out today, or the day before. I said okay no problem, and then I see her Snapchat, she’s at the girls house.
So I texted her saying, you said were not in the mood to go out when I offered twice in two days but you’re in the mood to go out with her. She replied with, I just came over. I left her on read.
Knowing her, she is basically a passenger Princess, she would rather die, then sit on a bus, which she did today for an hour straight. She would never get on a bus to come over to mine. The only time we basically meet up is when she’s working and she’s bored because all she does is sit in a chair and then work the cash register.
Other than that any other time I suggest we go out I just get blown off because she’s not in the mood or she’s tired. She expects me to drive over to her workplace just so that she wouldn’t be bored, and then when I’m over there, she gives me money get her some food, and then Can you go over here or get me this get me that.
Three weeks ago when I went over there on a Saturday I was starving plus I didn’t have any money on me because I left it at home and she wouldn’t order any food because she didn’t have any money but the next day she was telling me how she ordered a mcDonald’s and they left out the fries. This was after I ordered her a few lunches. And she has a good wage.
So right now I feel like I’m wasting effort on this. I’m being blown off, we don’t speak, I just think this friendship has run it’s course, I’m not going to continue putting a 100% into it when the only thing she does is use me, and it feels like shit saying it out loud but I’m only good for her when she’s in need of a driver or food, or when she’s bored.
It hurts to say but there really isn’t any point to this anymore. It honestly puts me down the way she has changed, a year ago she was someone I could always rely on, now I don’t think I can.

TLDR;
- If you're entering this field, eCPPTv2 is not for you. Try eJPT. With the exception of the exam, the course is still free.
- If you have some experience, e.g., you know what HTB is, you regularly practice on the platform, you have some knowledge of web application/network security, but don't have much real-world experience, then go for it. You'll get a grasp of what kind of different areas are generally covered when performing a penetration test in various areas, and it will force you to write an actual report. But it won't, and I emphasise *won't*, make you a professional, highly-skilled hacker. The course is basically an introduction to the real world.
- If you're already working as a pentester for some years, it is tough to recommend. You might expand your general knowledge in areas you don't often encounter, and discover some tips for your cheat-sheets. If you're looking for a challenge to step-up your skills, this is not the way.
​
Non-TLDR;
Hello there! I'd like to summarise my experience with eCPPTv2 course and exam and hopefully provide you with an idea if this certification is worth your time and money.
​
Who
I have been a full-time pentester for about four years. As for the technical side of my day-to-day job, I have experience with web/mobile/infra testing, code reviews, redteam engagements etc. etc. Before that, I was a full-time programmer (developer if you want) for about the same time.
​
Why
I decided for eCPPTv2 for several reasons:
- I needed some certification anyway due to some customer requirements and future legislation.
- From the experience of my colleagues, the materials were decent.
- I went through some of the eJPT materials as they are free, and I liked the labs.
​
Materials & Labs
I only got through some of the materials. I went primary for what I thought was necessary for the exam. Therefore, I skipped the wifi stuff, metasploit, partially powershell, and maybe some other minor areas.
I think that the slides do a decent job at explaining the given topics. Sometimes the amount of information can get pretty overwhelming, though. It sucks that you can't (officially) download the slides. Especially for someone who takes the course as a part of his/hewhatever career and knowledge development, the slides might provide a good reference in the future.
I'm not a fan of video-based materials in general but I watched them anyway. The topics were nicely explained, and one can see how the various tools and techniques work before trying them on your own.
On the flipside...
Materials should be reviewed and updated. You will find a few broken links, tools not available for download anymore, or demos presenting really old tools. Not a big issue in the end, but still, I wouldn't expect something like this in a course you pay over 700 bucks (for a year).
Sometimes I found the order of the modules confusing. Something like this happen several times:
- Topic A is explained.
- Lab is followed. You exercise topic A (and topic B).
- Topic B is explained.
No idea if this is by design, but I don't like it. If you want to do labs on your own and get stuck, you can end up thinking, "What the hell am I missing? I tried everything I just learned". Well...Maybe you didn't try something that wasn't explained yet.
As for the labs...
I liked them anyway. Labs are mostly narrowly focused, with well-written walkthroughs if you get stuck. Don't blindly follow walkthroughs, though. Always think about different approaches, what would you do if X or Y wasn't working, or what tool would you use if tool Z wasn't available.
Labs are the place where you should take notes and make cheatsheets. Full stop. Do it.
If there is something I didn't like, then the fucking VPN connections. Countless times I encountered connection drops, which made me pull my hair when I had to execute some kill-chain for the third, fourth time. Moreover, the target machines got a different IP address on every restart, forcing me to edit all my noted commands and payloads every time.
Also, there are small tests (quizzes?) you can take after completing a set of modules. Fuck them. Really. There is no point in bothering with them at all.
Reporting is discussed very briefly, in my opinion. It gives you an idea of how to structure it, a general idea of its content, and some references. Nothing more, really. I think they should go deeper. The exam requires you to write an executive summary and provide a description, recommendations and details for each finding. I can imagine that people who have never written such a document may struggle with this. Everyone has their own style when writing reports. It needs time, practice, and feedback before you brush it. But maybe they should provide you at least some idea on how to think when writing reports and provide some proper feedback after you submit it at the end of the exam.
Why I have such a problem with this is the fact that the course is named "Penetration Tester *Professional*". As I learned very soon, the report you provide to your customer is the most important part of your work. Your customer won't sit next to you to admire how cool, smart mega-turbo-hacker you are. You are helping your customer to find security issues and provide guidance on how to remediate them. This is basically what you do as a professional penetration tester. I feel like this fact should be emphasised more in the course.
I realise the points above might be just the result of my frustration, but sometimes I couldn't help myself to stop thinking, "Guys, people are fucking paying you for this course. Why can't you fix this and that".
​
Exam - Testing
It took me about six months to go through the materials (please note that not all of them as mentioned). I mostly studied for about two hours in the evenings after work and during the weekends. If you don't have a full-time job and a girlfriend, you can probably go through all of the materials in about half a year. My (not-really) educated guess is that the exam covers about 60-65 % of the materials.
My two cents:
- Don't overthink. The problems you will face when exploiting the targets and gaining root privileges are very CTF-like. Everything is simple and straightforward.
- Enumerate. Make some cheat-sheet for proper enumeration and follow it. As mentioned, the problems on the exam are not that difficult, just take your time to look for stuff.
- In the end, I felt like the exam is all about pivoting. Practice it in the labs. Understand how to route networks and how to forward ports. I used metasploit throughout the exam, and it was sufficient for it.
- Don't stress about buffer overflows. Take your time to understand it, do labs and take notes you can follow. If you do it properly, the actual exploitation will be a matter of copy-paste. I guess I won't spoil anything when I tell you that you don't have to worry about the advanced topic (very briefly talked about in materials) like beating ASLR, SEH-based overflows and others. It's a buffer overflow in its simplest form.
- Luckily, in comparison with labs, I had no issues with VPN connection or stability during the exam.
​
Exam - Reporting
I finished the report in about two days, but I had two major advantages:
- I've already written a dozen of reports before.
- I have a collection of findings I could re-use in the report with minor changes.
In cases when I needed some inspiration, I usually looked at findings in Nessus database (https://www.tenable.com/plugins/search) and expanded on it.
You might find https://github.com/juliocesarfort/public-pentesting-reports repository useful if you need to see how reports are generally structured and written.
Today, we have the privilege of using ChatGPT. Be careful here. Don't blindly copy/paste its output! Always verify its results, get inspired, and put together your own version.
The report was reviewed in about three days. Got a response that I'm missing some details in the description of buffer-overflow exploitation. After submitting the report again, it took another three to four days to review it. A friend of mine was waiting almost a month, so I was pretty lucky.
I spent about 60 hours doing the exam, including reporting. From my point of view, the two weeks you have in total is plenty of time to finish the exam.
​
That's it. Have a nice day.

PART [1/2]
The fresh oxygen-filled air bristled through the green canopy above. Gn’ylaum did appreciate Earth’s aesthetic to some degree, although he would never feel truly at home in these things they called forests. Yet, today he would experience it in a different way, for he was finally invited to go hunting with the human hunting group he had associated with a while ago, for the purpose.
“Do you mind if we take notes?” asked one of the four humans he was accompanying.
“Notes about what?” Gn’ylaum asked.
“Just, we’re unfamiliar with your kind and hunting, just for future reference,” answered another man, that had introduced himself as Joseph to Gn’ylaum. “I imagine you’ll also be marking some observations about us.”
That hadn’t occurred to Gn’ylaum. He wasn’t exactly looking to making a habit out of human-style hunting. He more or less did it, because hunting humans had been outlawed. This was the closest thing he would ever get, although he wouldn’t tell his companions the truth about that, he supposed.
“Sure,” nodded Gn’ylaum.
Packed with primitive weapons that humans called shotguns, and backpacks filled with miscellaneous supplies, the hunting group set off into the thick overgrown woods. On the search for a life form called deer, or boar, and some other denominations that didn’t say much to Gn’ylaum. He would follow and shoot when pointed where. He figured it wouldn’t be to difficult, since human society seemed to be at least several centuries behind on development to the civilization Gn’ylaum called home.
They had been walking for over an hour in a stiff pace. Gn’ylaum could keep up, but he wondered why humans bothered traveling in such an exhausting way. Joseph had halted the group at the edge of a clearing in between the trees. It was covered in long sharp grass and dotted by patches of bracken. Gn’ylaum had familiarized himself with Earth’s flora in preparation of the trip. It seemed so much more diverse and complex than the low grade coverage on his home planet. It was about the only thing he appreciated about this place. Even though the compactness of it sparked a hint of claustrophobia within him. Joseph gestured everyone to crouch and so they did, then he whispered Gn’ylaum over to him, so he could observe from close how they were going to shoot the deer that was apparently grazing within the clearing. Gn’ylaum hadn't seen the deer, which he credited towards the survival instinct of the animal.
“You check where the wind is coming from,” Joseph whispered. “You try to approach the with headwind, so that it cannot smell you coming and any noise that you make gets carried away from the animal.”
This made sense to Gn’ylaum. Even though he couldn’t remember animals of prey at home that would be this complicated to hunt. Most of the species on his home planet reproduced at such a rate that it would be near impossible to make a dent in their populations, when hunting them for food. Although he had understood that humans do not always hunt to provide, but also for something they call sport. Where they go about wastefully killing things to see if they can. It was a strange concept, but Gn’ylaum would be open minded about it and try before judging.
“If you’re close enough, you line the barrel of your gun along your arm, and aim it using this small indent up front,” Joseph whispered. “You need to get the head or chest, depending on what you’re hunting, right in between it.”
Thus far Gn’ylaum could follow the instructions. The weapon had seemed crude to him, but it turned out he had underestimated the sophistication of the human hunting process somewhat. There was a clear aim behind everything. Though no efficient, it had a certain elegance Gn’ylaum couldn’t deny.
“If you’ve steadied your aim, you hold your breath,” Joseph proceeded. “You guys do breath, right?” he asked, as if suddenly unsure.
Gn’ylaum nodded. His species did breath, although they didn’t need the oxygen, but their bodies processed the nitrogen in the air. Something of which Earth had plenty, so that Gn’ylaum could go about his way, without the need of aiding equipment.
“BOOM!” yelled one of the other men out of nowhere.
Both the deer and Gn’ylaum startled at the sudden loud exclamation. The deer sped off in the forest and Gn’ylaum dropped backwards on the ground. The men – bar Joseph – laughed loudly as if they were amused and proud by scaring their guest to death.
“Very funny guys,” said Joseph, as he stretched his arm out towards Gn’ylaum, to give him a hold to get back on his feet. ”Anyway, that was all, except for pulling the trigger. You shoot the next one Gn’ylaum.”
Gn’ylaum simply rubbed his backside, and cleaned his coat. As he picked up his gun from the ground, he saw the men that had laughed earlier, making notes about his movements. Which seemed odd to Gn’ylaum, as he hadn’t done anything of particular use to the goal of this trip, but he choose not to question it and strapped the weapon over his shoulder.

✨ 'Calling all potential wyldnauts! Tired of adventuring on your boring home world? Wish you could take to the stars and forge a new destiny out in wildspace? Want your own flying ship? That's right, I said FLYING ship. All this and more could be yours as we travel across the Twixt to explore it's exotic locales, pillage it's dangerous dungeons, and meet it's diverse denizens! Sign up today!'
'Rise of the Wyldnaut' is a Spelljammer campaign like no other. Set in a homebrew universe known as the Twixt plane, players will get to commandeer their own spelljammer and travel the stars searching for adventure. Meet the factions of the Cosmo Consortium, travel to strange and unique worlds, and hopefully retire before being eaten by a stellar dragon! This planet-spanning odyssey will take characters from levels 3-10+.
Check out more details over on my DM page at my StartPlaying Profile
Hey everyone! My name is Jaso & I'm trying to find interested players to join my homebrew Spelljammer D&D games over on StartPlaying. I’m running a Thursday evening game @ 8pm EST. We're only a handful of sessions in and have room for 2 more interested players!
More about your DM
I'm Jason/Gawd Mode and I've been a successful DM for over 8 years now. Expect great care in terms of session prep from my end, along with various visual usage via the Roll20 platform. I care deeply about my players experience and story in the worlds we play in and do my best to weave them into the narrative. To this end expect some customization for each adventure with stories and plots that aren't found in the officially published material. I'm happy to assist players in developing backstories and plot seeds for their characters over the course of a campaign. My approach is to ensure a truly unique experience for everyone involved! A lot of my content can be found over at my Twitch page if you're looking to see the type of DM style I run.
I work to ensure that every session you play with me is something fun and memorable, a story that can be shared years down the road with laughter and fondness. I would love to one day turn this into my professional career with your help. Lets create epic tales together!
Game Details and Extras
Expect a fairly laid back wacky Spelljammer D&D experience set in a homebrew plane. We will be using a few homebrew mechanics on top of the standard D&D 5e rules system. I love to bring player actions to life, even during combat to help weave imagery in our minds. I tend to be pretty laid back in terms of allowing players to engage with the world however they wish, provided it does not impede on the fun of others at the virtual table. Will try to stick to the Rules as Written when possible, but plenty of opportunities to use the Rule of Cool.
PC romance between NPC's is allowed with a fade-to-black principle for any hard romance scenes. PC romance between PC's is typically not encouraged unless discussed beforehand and both parties consent. Evil characters are not encouraged but allowed provided they do not directly hinder the party.
Expect brief post session chats to discuss player feelings and iron out any issues during the session. If I notice a player issue I will speak with them privately to work it out, but will not hesitate in removing that person if they continue to be a problem for the table. Ensuring a welcoming, fun and positive atmosphere is an absolute must for my players.
Content warnings
Blood
Violence
Alcohol use
Fire
Guns
Safety tools used
Session 0
Open Door
Breaks
Stars and Wishes
How Character Creation Will Work
Character creation will be discussed via Discord. Players will be creating a character starting at level 3 using any of the official material available from places such as D&DBeyond. Homebrew options potentially allowed. Expect your characters to grow to level 10-12, with potential to go further provided everyone is on board. Once created I will ask for either a link or pdf to your character sheet before our first official game session.
If interested, please reply here or DM me on any of my socials or reply here w/ any questions/interest, happy to share more details or answer any questions! Looking forward to exploring the stars with you ~