Video 85 of me liking and then commenting on every new upload to tell the viewers that the Man Alone Podcast is absolutely some of that sweet, unhinged audio/vocal-honey. Psssst. Anybody else write poetry of any form? Please share something!
I suppose I’ll lead by example THIS TIME… A quick note of context: I have two daughters, 10 and 2. I wrote this after my second daughter was born. I had just dropped my oldest daughter off with her mom (we are not together anymore so I see my oldest daughter on weekends and long breaks from school). This is titled “Juxtapose”: It’s been a while Since I ripped open the stitches Of my always-almost-healed Heart wound. So here I am Plucking each piece Of lace-tied flesh, One by one, To pull my heart out And re-examine it. I see everything. I see the highs and the lows Of both sides of my whole world. I see the bookends Of overflowing happiness And ever consuming sadness Wrestling their weight against each other. Juxtapose. The jubilee Of a “hello” to a new daughter, Dancing in tandem With the revolving door Of “goodbyes” to the other, All balanced by a standstill in time, A couple days at a time, When both ends of my world Are by my side, And then… Goodbye. An unopposed soul fracture Lurks on the sideline, Leeching away my lifeline. “That’s just life…” I suppose. Juxtapose. I have never been So okay, and so not okay All at the same time. I find myself searching Deep inside To chisel and extract, Subdue and enact, Muster up and face the facts Of what it is to be a man. A father. A husband. A friend. Selfless… Helpless. Regress. Reassess. Sometimes it’s easiest Just to lay here and ignore this. Some days life is sunshine and roses, Some days it’s a feast for crows. Juxtapose. For now, I will sew myself back up And begin to heal again. Only until I start to feel comfortable And I will repeat the process To remind myself that I’m human. I’m afraid To become numb to this pain That connects me to my reality. If it does not hurt, Will there be anything left to feel? Is it worth the chase To try to replace The pain? Can I find relief and make this deteriorating burn slow? Juxtapose.
35:57 I came here to have some fun TTRPG giggles. I wasn't expecting a heavy life lesson. I had to slap pause and reflect on this for a while. Thank you
Sometimes you’re introducing games I’m just not ready for and sometimes you are perfectly in sync with where I’m at. My copy of Runequest will be here in a few hours after also denying it for a lot of the same reasons for so long. Knowing what I know now, thats kind of crazy because it has so many things I want in a game. Looking forward to some solo thoughts on it!
I'm also new to the system, and I really want to sink my teeth into a more simulationist ruleset. So far so good, maybe I will be able to start actually playing soon! For strike rank it's best to think of it like the old Fallout CRPG AP system. There are 15 total strike ranks per round so your character has 15 ap essentially. So if your character has for example 3 strike ranks, anything they can do is +3. To swing your sword its 6 strike ranks so you go on strike rank 9. A lot of newer GMs seem to want to count down the strike ranks which makes the combat seem slow and clunky. In practice you don't really need to do a strike rank countdown, you can skip forward through most of the ranks once you get a good feel for the system. Like if you know your character has a strike rank of three and the troll has a strike rank of 4, and both characters are swinging their weapon we can just go straight to strike rank 9. I’m excited to see how the system feels in solo. I am planning on playing a Sun County Templar (basically a Spartan if they worshiped a Sun God whose temple funds itself through mercenary work) who has been exiled to Dragon Pass. I plan on discovering the setting together with my character and will have him join up with a local Sartarite clan. I plan to slowly build up the characters in the clan and will do my best to run the whole clan upkeep. By umm… not sure yet!
As a Jeff, I feel personally victimized by you, Man Alone. Not only do I own the BRP Gold Book AND the GM screen, but I neither have kids to not have this weekend, nor a second Jeff with which to play Chaosium’s wonderful products for post-married men. Hurts, bruh.
![[Unlocked] Giving 4 Against Darkness another shot w/ TTT - "Treacheries of the Troublesome Towns"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-9LMfPRcXF4/mqdefault.jpg)
Video 85 of me liking and then commenting on every new upload to tell the viewers that the Man Alone Podcast is absolutely some of that sweet, unhinged audio/vocal-honey.
Psssst. Anybody else write poetry of any form? Please share something!
I suppose I’ll lead by example THIS TIME…
A quick note of context: I have two daughters, 10 and 2. I wrote this after my second daughter was born. I had just dropped my oldest daughter off with her mom (we are not together anymore so I see my oldest daughter on weekends and long breaks from school).
This is titled “Juxtapose”:
It’s been a while
Since I ripped open the stitches
Of my always-almost-healed
Heart wound.
So here I am
Plucking each piece
Of lace-tied flesh,
One by one,
To pull my heart out
And re-examine it.
I see everything.
I see the highs and the lows
Of both sides of my whole world.
I see the bookends
Of overflowing happiness
And ever consuming sadness
Wrestling their weight against each other.
Juxtapose.
The jubilee
Of a “hello” to a new daughter,
Dancing in tandem
With the revolving door
Of “goodbyes” to the other,
All balanced by a standstill in time,
A couple days at a time,
When both ends of my world
Are by my side,
And then…
Goodbye.
An unopposed soul fracture
Lurks on the sideline,
Leeching away my lifeline.
“That’s just life…”
I suppose.
Juxtapose.
I have never been
So okay, and so not okay
All at the same time.
I find myself searching
Deep inside
To chisel and extract,
Subdue and enact,
Muster up and face the facts
Of what it is to be a man.
A father.
A husband.
A friend.
Selfless…
Helpless.
Regress.
Reassess.
Sometimes it’s easiest
Just to lay here and ignore this.
Some days life is sunshine and roses,
Some days it’s a feast for crows.
Juxtapose.
For now,
I will sew myself back up
And begin to heal again.
Only until I start to feel comfortable
And I will repeat the process
To remind myself that I’m human.
I’m afraid
To become numb to this pain
That connects me to my reality.
If it does not hurt,
Will there be anything left to feel?
Is it worth the chase
To try to replace
The pain?
Can I find relief and make this deteriorating burn slow?
Juxtapose.
35:57 I came here to have some fun TTRPG giggles. I wasn't expecting a heavy life lesson.
I had to slap pause and reflect on this for a while. Thank you
Aah Runequest, I love this game so much. Hope you have great fun with it.
Yes! Another Man Alone video!
Sometimes you’re introducing games I’m just not ready for and sometimes you are perfectly in sync with where I’m at. My copy of Runequest will be here in a few hours after also denying it for a lot of the same reasons for so long.
Knowing what I know now, thats kind of crazy because it has so many things I want in a game. Looking forward to some solo thoughts on it!
I think we have some real potential here!
Runequest is awesome. I've played it with a group for years now and also done solo playing. Runes will definitely work as an build in oracle. 👌
Thanks, dude
I'm also new to the system, and I really want to sink my teeth into a more simulationist ruleset. So far so good, maybe I will be able to start actually playing soon! For strike rank it's best to think of it like the old Fallout CRPG AP system. There are 15 total strike ranks per round so your character has 15 ap essentially. So if your character has for example 3 strike ranks, anything they can do is +3. To swing your sword its 6 strike ranks so you go on strike rank 9. A lot of newer GMs seem to want to count down the strike ranks which makes the combat seem slow and clunky. In practice you don't really need to do a strike rank countdown, you can skip forward through most of the ranks once you get a good feel for the system. Like if you know your character has a strike rank of three and the troll has a strike rank of 4, and both characters are swinging their weapon we can just go straight to strike rank 9.
I’m excited to see how the system feels in solo. I am planning on playing a Sun County Templar (basically a Spartan if they worshiped a Sun God whose temple funds itself through mercenary work) who has been exiled to Dragon Pass. I plan on discovering the setting together with my character and will have him join up with a local Sartarite clan. I plan to slowly build up the characters in the clan and will do my best to run the whole clan upkeep. By umm… not sure yet!
Nice
Saying like I like weird sci-fi fantasy after dismising Conan is kinda like... dude, do you even red Howards work? Its cthulhu with swords, man.
As a Jeff, I feel personally victimized by you, Man Alone. Not only do I own the BRP Gold Book AND the GM screen, but I neither have kids to not have this weekend, nor a second Jeff with which to play Chaosium’s wonderful products for post-married men. Hurts, bruh.
Jeff it didn't have to be this way. It's just that some days you can be such a "Jeff" about everything