Harbinger of Doom
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brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Harbinger of Doom
@brandesstoddard.bsky.social
1.6K followers 710 following 3.1K posts
Early 21st century game designer, freelancer writer, stay-at-home dad. I talk about #DnD and other games. He/him.
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brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Today in Simulationist D&D:

Finally someone has Done The Science on how much extra damage a barbarian rage should realistically give you!
Today's random science thing: next time you need to open a jar, yell "f*ck" for 10 seconds ahead of time; it'll increase your grip strength by 8-9%! What follows is a table of different studies measuring grip strength, chair push-up hold durations, and similar strength measurements following using a swear word repeatedly for several seconds before the attempt. Each primary finding is in the range of 4.5% to 22% increase in grip strength or activity duration.
December 5, 2025 at 4:28 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
@worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social shirt selfie!
Me, mostly bald and with a face made for podcasting, wearing the extremely cool and comfortable Worlds Beyond Number T-shirt.
November 14, 2025 at 4:51 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Final Fantasy Legend. My first Final Fantasy game, and kiiiinda distorting my idea of what the whole franchise was about.

Never finished the game - the mid-late game got insanely hard, a lot like FF1 on the NES.
November 3, 2025 at 1:54 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
My review copy of Welcome to the Hellfire Club just arrived!
Front cover of the Welcome to the Hellfire Club boxed set. Back cover of the Welcome to the Hellfire Club boxed set.
October 17, 2025 at 8:10 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
I had an incredible weekend running Citadel LARP. It was everything I wanted from the weekend and more!

I built another puzzle box for this event, with help from another staffer. It was our most ambitious puzzle box to date, with rich story clues woven into the puzzles.
Puzzle box, closed, from the top looking down. It is a wooden toy castle from Michael’s, painted fairly intricately. Interior view of puzzle box. Each chamber is decorated completely differently. Interior view of puzzle box. Each chamber is decorated completely differently.
September 22, 2025 at 3:15 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Oh and also it's SO much scummier than that.
Subscription Terms: At the end of your introductory period on 2025-09-13, you will be automatically charged $34.99 each month until you cancel. Context: $1.99 != $34.99
August 13, 2025 at 4:05 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
The perfect quote on this comes from your man Edward James Olmos, as Adama in BSG.
Edward James Olmos as Bill Adama in BSG. "There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state. The other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people."
August 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
But here are some pics, to grab your interest or just show you my cat!
A black cat with huge yellow eyes stands on a box. She is much more significant than the box or anything else in the photographer's life, surely. The interior of a box. A black cat performs quality assurance on the work. A small box painted gold hangs from chains attached to the edges of the inside of the box. Locks and skulls are attached to the chains as well. Domino bones are scattered around the bottom of the box. The inner lid has text (alt text for that is in the next image), and two dominoes are painted in silver on the inner lid next to the paper. The text in the image is crypt text interlineated with plaintext. It uses a simple substitution cipher. The plaintext reads: Just know, Rakjoa, my master has not forgotten you. He bid me fashion this box as a reminder that until the Work is done, we are all in suspense. Pay close attention. I am showing you the way. What is concealed in one place is revealed in another. The skulls that depend answer the emptiness. Master says, Count every link in your binding. Know it in every detail. If your chains are different one day, then it must matter. Demands upon us take many forms. I carved these bones myself. None know the total of their cost and counting so well as I. Or are you stuck on the last of them? You'd have to know the whole count of the stars that wander, (yes, including that one), the number of astrological signs in each Aspect, and the difference betwixt those two. Else the counting of all the numbers shall weigh on your mind, five kennings and six marks.
July 22, 2025 at 3:52 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
This is how I'm taking a mental break from the horrors. How about you?
Screenshot from Hades 2 shows the final stats of my first win over Chronos - boons, time, damage taken, weapons, the whole deal.
July 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
A piece of a puzzle. It looks like broken glass. -he w-o knows — doors Our misery sits on the —gs of crows Who flock upon the heathered moors
July 1, 2025 at 2:40 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Saw this, thought of Ame. @worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social
Two images. Top: What you THINK it's like to have an animal familiar. A woman in armor holds a fox that says "I sense danger, m'lady" Bottom: What it's ACTUALLY like to have an animal familiar. The woman has lost control of the fox, and it is shouting, "I see a fieldmouse! I wanna eat it!" She replies, "MMMFFF!"
June 6, 2025 at 12:45 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Brass lantern with a candle inside Box with glowing lights glued inside the lid and seven smaller boxes inside. The boxes have locks rubber-banded to them. A paper with some text is a out of focus in the foreground. Two men and a woman in fantasy costuming examine an open box, looking interested. The inside of the box's lid has glowing lights glued to it. The box rests on a display stand with four wooden posts sticking up.
May 14, 2025 at 4:27 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
"Set"
The word with the most meanings in English is the verb 'set', with 430 senses listed in the Second Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published in 1989. The word commands the longest entry in the dictionary at 60,000 words, or 326,000 characters.
April 9, 2025 at 3:53 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
This CNN section header is giving a real different vibe than what I think they're *probably* going for. Eh, I don't know their lives.
Section headline within a CNN article: Flirting with a bear Article continues: At the open, the S&P 500 tumbled into bear market territory -- a decline of 20% from a recent peak -- before pulling back. The decline in US stocks came after a historic rout in Asia and massive losses in Europe.
April 7, 2025 at 4:53 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
The paladin landed two incredible crits in ambushes against the salamanders, dealing just eye-watering amounts of damage.

They're now overlooking the Assembly Hall, where Duke Zalto is inspecting the Vonindod. The PCs are debating their next move - stealth or a lightning-fast assault.
Magic: the Gathering card art for Zalto, Fire Giant Duke. 3 colorless, 2 red mana. Legendary Creature - Giant Barbarian. Trample. Whenever Zalto, Fire Giant Duke is dealt damage, venture into the dungeon. 7/3. Art credit Justine Jones.
March 15, 2025 at 6:09 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Post-Dragon Heist Session 88

My Dragon Heist PCs, now level 10, are in the Ironslag portion of Storm King's Thunder, with only the lightest modification. In tonight's session, they entered Ironslag through the mines rather than the elevator, slew several salamander overseers, and freed captives.
A fire giant (Duke Zalto) equipped with an incredibly oversized hammer and with two hell hounds on chain leashes fights a team of heroes. Art from Storm King's Thunder.
March 15, 2025 at 6:09 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Thank you, NYC, for one of the most amazing and joyful weekends of my life. I hope it’s not another eight years before I can visit again!
A shot of the big screens at Madison Square Garden, the Gauntlet in the Garden event. Brennan Lee Mulligan, Zac Oyama, Emily Axford, Lou Wilson, Siobhan Thompson, Brian Murphy, and Ally Beardsley are mostly-visible on the screens. Below the screens, the seats are PACKED, y’all.
January 27, 2025 at 5:32 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
* For those who are unfamiliar, Sturgeon's Law:
It is in this vein that I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of S.F. is crud. The Revelation Ninety percent of everything is crud. Corollary 1 The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and it is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere. Corollary 2 The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.
January 11, 2025 at 1:48 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Post-Dragon Heist, Session 85

In tonight's game, the PCs fought a firegaunt (CR 11) and two salamanders (CR 5). A substantial portion of the damage they took was from a cold-substituted Fireball that the Scribe wizard cast in a way that hit all three NPCs... and the fighter and paladin.
Firegaunt: a D&D creature that is an undead fire giant, wearing ruined plate armor and wielding a colossal, blocky hammer. Eyes, mouth, and wounds are all spewing fire.
January 4, 2025 at 7:01 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Also, for your entertainment, here’s the map of Gallmonte I drew on the whiteboard.
Map, drawn on a whiteboard with red and black dry erase markers.
December 29, 2024 at 2:09 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
New Christmas present combo: cloak and pin!

I am delighted with this look.
Me, reflected in a mirror, wearing a cloak held together with a pin.
December 25, 2024 at 5:54 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
I usually get two haircuts a year. Today was one of those days.
Me, with a haircut. I am noticeably balding. Also my eyebrows are outlandishly unkempt.
December 2, 2024 at 11:42 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Me, now. Well, a month ago, before the election, when happiness still seemed reasonable.
Me, smiling slightly, wearing microchain armor, a leather pauldron with metal decorations, and a black shirt. My hair and beard could use a trim. There's a whole lot more gray in both than in the earlier pictures. Behind me is a stone hearth, from Pickett's Mill state park.
November 20, 2024 at 6:34 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Post a pic of you from a different era of your life. These are two pictures of me as the same LARP character, somewhere around ten years apart.
Me, at about 21-22 years old, dressed in loose black shirt and pants. I'm holding a black leather hat with a red band and a red feather and a metal shield with a foam-padded edge. You can just see my red sash and the hilt of a boffer sword. Behind me is the interior of a cabin, almost certainly AH Stephens State Park in Crawfordville, GA. I have a goatee in this one that no one has yet told me I ought to shave. Also me, now in my early 30s. I'm seated at the Sandlar & Sons booth of the Georgia Renaissance Festival, wearing tall black boots, loose black pants, a loose red silk shirt, and the same black leather hat with red band and feather as the other picture. I'm clean-shaven in this one.
November 20, 2024 at 4:23 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
(I am kidding of course, that's a good solid shelfie.)
You gotta pump those numbers up Those are rookie numbers
November 12, 2024 at 10:25 PM