Phil. A. Ménard (AKA The Chatty DM)

@chattydm.bsky.social

1619 Followers 1231 Following

Dynamically-priced Gen X Gamer Dad. 42 years as a GM, sober 24 hours at a time. Ex narrative designer@VibrantStudios (D&D: The Immersive Quest. Looking for Work. Retired award-winning freelance #TTRPG designer. He/Him. FR/EN

Sauteed an onion, added 2% milk, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and grated marbled cheddar and mixed until smooth. Stirred in a 12 oz can of diced tomatoes and added cooked noodles. Italian herbs, Salt, Pepper, and powered Garlic added to taste. The picture shows a bowl of this with sprinkled cayenne pepper sitting on my kitchen table by a near empty glass of café latte.
A Caves of Qud object found in a legendary Lair. A bear shaped chair called a chairbear. "Historians of leisure divide all epochs into the following three ages: the span before ursine creatures evolve or civilizations rise to admire them, the span between ursine prominence and a civilization's capacity to fashion divans in their likeness, and thence the span until the civilization's fall." Condition: Perfect.
A wall-mounted 46" TV with Slay the Spire's Steam loading screen. Underneath it, a TV table with a plant, a wifi router, a Steam Machine, an orange HDD hub and a display of 1980's curios set on a hollow wooden cube. A Sonos Ray soundbar rests in a recess under the aforementioned.
An image of 2 side by side ads on Facebook for online courses. The left one shows stylized mainframe servers and is captioned "Learn COBOL" The right one shows a rendition of a stand up comedian with the caption "Learn Comedy" (both likely made by an AI)
A plate of fried dough balls covered in a honey sauce and pistachios. The spelling changes from country to country but I believe they are called loukoumedes.
A bowl of homemade Mac & Cheese made with marbled cheddar, mozzarella cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, butter, and Italian seasonings.
A green t-shiort by the Black Maple company. It features a yellow on green cartoony beaver wearing overalls with "Joe Beaver" written on his chest. They hold an old style wooden toolbox with that boomrang-shaped tool whose name I keep forgetting in it.
A scrunched up construction orange traffic cone placed on the middle of a sidewalk. A thin layer of clear snow covers both cone and sidewalk. A thumb-thick black electrical cord crosses the picture from left to right, about 20 cm in front of the cone, likely explaining the cone's presence. The cone looks strikingly like The Sorting Hat from that "magical boy" franchise headed by the TransHating author.
One dish meal: Skillet ground pork with onions, garlic, taco spices, salt and pepper spread at the bottom of a square glassware dish. A layer of halved mini potatoes, tossed in oil, taco spices, salt and pepper placed flat face down onto the meat. (The taters were microwaved 5 min while I was cooking the meat) Oven, 350F, 30 min.
A small transparent spice container with a translucid snap cap upon which "THYME" is written in black marker.
A commercial sign in Ohio or Pennsylvania. It says "Big Woodie's FIREWORKS" and a sliding letters marquee adds "PPERSPRAY &STUNGU" "SUGAR FREE (Reversed L)UDGE" Behind it: Quaker Steak and Lube (Which to this day, sounds like a Gay Steakhouse to me)
A scene from the Astroneer game where the pointer is "mousing over" an object called "Medium Debris Pack". The pop up window shows a small "debris" icon and the descriptive says "A Medium Receptacle of Rubbish"
A 10'+ tall horned humanoid demonic idol sitting cross legged holding a bowl with an orange light source illuminating the idol's torso and face. A "broken stone bridge" rests in front of the idol, fake lava flowing in between the remaining blocks.
A smiling young adult red-haired gal with both hands placed on the head of a live sized 3D printed owlbear. She's attempting to calm the beast down.
A GMC cube truck parked on a commercial street in winter. It is identified as ADHD Construction.
@soryane seated in a restaurant where servers place large sheets of kraft paper as "tablecloths". She is pointing at a bird she drew with crayons. The bird says "A" in a speech balloon, which seems to be what the artist is saying as she smiles and points the bird while looking at the camera.
Phil's left arm in a thick winter coat, naked hand holding a shrinked-wrapped bookcase box holding both 13th Age 2nd ED books (Heroe's Handbook, Gamemaster's Guide).
A partial portrait of Sony's Horizon Zero Dawn (Forbidden West)'s Aloy as my Commander in a deck I called "Horizon Zero Fucks"
The "Script Change" section of the Lady Blackbird TTTPG to encourage safe play by friend Beau Jàgr Sheldon.
Deep baked pasta dish filled with multiple kinds of cheeses, sour creme, butter, and 35% cream with a Nachos cheese and Italian breadcrumbs topping. Yes, you can marry me if you want, she won't mind.
The Lofree all aluminium mechanical keyboard, featured on a dark grey and black Hex-based mouse pad.
A keyboard display rack filled with a Lofree Salmon-shade Mini Mechanical keyboard, and Epomaker RGB-lit mini gamer keyboard, and a ProtoArc backlit mini keyboard.
A rising desk with hefty metal feet and a faux woodgrain panel. It holds a 14" Mac Book underneath a transparent Monitor stand upon which a 32" curved Dell monitor rests. To thier left, an aluminum Calldigit TB4+ hub connects everythign together. To its left, a 28" Alogi monitor. Everything rests on an ageing Ubiosoft desk mat. A logi Mini MX Mechanical keyboard, a Logi vertical mouse, and a wristrest complete the tableau.
Screenshot of my I am Sober app showing a 1000 days streak.
A set of grey-blue form fitting bedsheets with a label saying "Top or Bottom"
An Obsidian Session Log for a game I tried to play tonight. The top part of the note are data properties I use for tables and tabs. The log basically says: First impressions: The UX is Annoying (dialogues) Characters are too small for the screen Need to revisit when I'm less of a whiny git.
--- type: npc faction: "" status: "draft" created: {{date}} tags: - npc --- {{VALUE:title}} ## Summary > A one-sentence summary of who they are and what they want. ## SWOT Analysis - **Strengths:** (Skills, allies, knowledge, influence, powerful items) - **Weaknesses:** (Fears, dependencies, flaws, enemies, secrets) - **Opportunities:** (How can the PCs use this NPC? Quest giver, ally, trainer, information source) - **Threats:** (How can this NPC harm the PCs? Betrayal, rival, antagonist, misinformation) ## Appearance & Mannerisms - ## NPC Stats Bloc ``` HP: 10/10 | AC: 12 | Speed: 30ft STR: 10 (+0) | DEX: 12 (+1) | CON: 10 (+0) INT: 14 (+2) | WIS: 13 (+1) | CHA: 16 (+3) Skills: Persuasion +5, Deception +5 Actions: Dagger +3 to hit, 1d4+1 piercing damage. ``` ## Possessions - Dagger - Pouch with 15gp - A strange, unidentifiable silver key ## Backstory - ## Relationships - [[Other NPC or Faction]]: (Description of their relationship) ## GM Notes (Secrets & Hooks) -
A grey-green metallic 30" wide standing desk with a black "leather" desk mat covering part of its surface. On it, an older Dell XPS 13 9370 with a 14" black bezelled screen extender, a CalDigit TB3+ hub, a nameless vertical mouse, and a Logi MX Mini Mechanical keyboard. An HyperX wristguard completes the desk's surface.
A grey-green metallic 30" wide standing desk with a black "leather" desk mat covering part of its surface. On it, an older Dell XPS 13 9370, a CalDigit TB3+ hub, a nameless vertical mouse, and a Logi MX Mini Mechanical keyboard. An HyperX wristguard completes the desk's surface.
### Starforged: Ironsworn Truth (A mix of "The Cataclysm", and "The Exodus") A ragtag fleet of ships—propelled at tremendous speeds by experimental FTL drives powered by Godmium, a miraculous mineral-like substance harvested from a planet-sized progenitor world —carried our ancestors to the Forge. But when its energies were amplified by our own burgeoning psychic arts, the drives that carried us between worlds became gateways. They tore open rifts into a realm of incomprehensible, hostile consciousnesses—the specters we call Ghosts. Long they pursued us through interstellar space until we realized it was the drive themselves that acted as beacons to these Ghosts. Soon after we jettisoned our drives, we came into The Forge. Generations later, we hope these Ghosts never catch up with us. This would be an extra "Truth" to add at the start of the campaign: A "too good to be real"
This is the Cover of the FATE ACCELERATED Rules Book ###Fate Accelerated Godium use can lead to both character-based and situational aspects such as. Let's create one that can be used as both Mechanic A and B. [[Glimpses of the Unfathomable]] is a character-based compel that's part of the Arcano-Mecha pilot's character template : At key moments in the adventure, the GM can compel this Aspect by bringing forward disturbing but beautiful sites of alien vistas, flashes from unnerving alternate pasts, and glimpses of terrible futures. This Aspect serves in both situations of the TTRPG Prompt as it can assault the character's senses at the worst moment and, in other situations, show paths and possibilities that help them overcome a situation.
## Godmium ### Physical Properties Godmium is a crystaline, iridescent and translucent wafer-like magically-infused crystal. It is only found in the Xeron Alpha system, located on the lone, featureless planet situated at the very edge of its solar system. ### How it is Harvested or Created Godmium is mined directly from the planet; it is the sole material it is made of. It breaks into palm-sized identical hexagons during mining, which can be easily stacked for storage as some form of magnetic force holds them together once stacked. ### Primary Magical Application Godmium stacks can, with minimal transformation, serve as long-lasting power cells for a wide range of energy-hungry human techno-magical wonders, principally its planetary colony bases, space stations, and Arcano-Mechs: large elementally-infused robotic mecha. ### Significant Limitation or Cost Godmium has only been found one planetary system in the galaxy, at the edge of humanity's Hegemony. Getting to it requires the presence and upkeep of one the Hegemony's Central Council Wormholes, one of the most energy-hungry infrastructure that can't be powered by Godmium (all attempts have lead to failed transit and loss of material shipped through them). This has made Godmium a highly sought out commodity whose supply is solely in control of the biggest, and least trade-focused geopolitical galactic entity. Furthermore, unbeknownst to the Hegemony, Godmium is part of the planet's distributed sentience: a dormant techno-organic library of knowledge from a long vanished progenitor alien race. This, combined with humanity's keen sensitivity to magic as made the use of Godmium come with a rising number of Arcano-Mech pilots reporting strange visions of alien vistas, garbled messages spreading through a squadron's comm channels, and wide spread dread rising in far off outposts and space stations, creating a deep set superstitious belief that they're haunted.
Contrary to humanity's recurring belief that protectionism is the macro-economics equivalent of sliced toast, the plant and fungal kingdoms have understood that Free Trade is all where it's at. Take One Morning Sun, for instance, the Green Forest's tallest and oldest oak whom the casual, non-quantum whose cat is stuck in a box observer would believe needs no help having it all: Hogging all of their namesake's light, hoarding the majority of rainwater amongst its impressive roots, and getting first dibs on the earthly delicacies a tree of its stature needs to thrive. Yet unlike the philosophical silence One Morning Sun would make by being felled by a lone, deaf lumberjack, our proud tree hasn't become the sovereign of the woods by the sheer strength of the narrative promise of its name alone. Much like the extended caravan routes that linked the great cities of the Western and Eastern cities of antiquity, One Forest Morning is but one node, albeit a very large one, of an extended invisible interconnected highway of subterranean fungus: the Mycorrizhal Network. Giving no shade (pun intended) to One Morning Sun's immense ego, the fungal network brings additional nutrients and that extra bit of water to our oversized ligneous friend that even the extended reach of his roots can't capture. In return, our king of the woods trades these nutrient extras some of the excess sugars his expansive foliage creates which gets carried to other, less impressive trees. Because all thriving Kings, whether they know it or not, do so because they allow their kingdom to thrive too.
A restaurant fork that is not only too flat, its head is bent to the right ...
A stack of "Phyrexia: All Will be One" Jumpstart half-decks featuring the very pricey "Mondrak, Glory Dominus" white creature card. Non essential details of this picture: My thighs in jeans. My old Ubisoft desk mat, parts of a wrist rest, parts of a keyboard, parts of a headphone cable. That reminds me, we haven't spoken in a while, you and I, or maybe ever. I hope you're doing okay. Don't hesitate to reach out, I like gabbing with online peers. You know what I could go for right now? A bacon cheeseburger but whose buns are swapped for grilled cheeses. I know, it's unhealthy, but one's gotta live when it's all said and done. You're still here? My, I admire your stamina, I really do. And I'm not really going anywhere. I'm kinda exploring the meaning of meandering, which, oddly enough doesn't exist as a single word in French. At least I don't think so... Ah yes, you could say that 'Il est en train de s'épivarder" which is close enough I think. Holy fuck, I'm barely halfway through the character budget of that thing. How many amazing stories have I been missing by never bothering to click on alt text, basking in my privilege of being sighted. And now I'm starting to worry about inflicting my mediocre word salad onto those poor souls using screen reader. I apologize, I won't repeat that trick too often. All right, have a nice day all y'all. I'm done!
A fridge magnet placed on a rusting fridge. It features the head of Crow from the Crow Times cartoon saying "I'm Here to Eat Cheese"
A restaurant fork that is just a tiny too flat to feel natural.
A white appartement corridor featuring a mosaic of thin grey square and thick beige rectangular acoustic tiles giving the whole thing a certain artsy look I can't quite name.
My big, bespectacled,freshly trimmed face (and shaved head) giving you a slight smile from the barber shop. Wearing a dark blue t-shirt featuring a d20 and the top part of the "Because I'm the DM, that's why" sentence.
A smiling, grey-haired cutie goblin (re: woman) standing in her natural environment (her office-bedroom) wearing a gigantic crochet millipede.
Passport picture featuring an unsmilling, bald white man with a beard that slightly skews to the left. Wearing a dark t-shirt. My fingers hold my passport and a little Ubisoft Nautilus peeks from behind. :)
Fridge magnet showing a despondent cartoon raccoon holding a hot bowl of soup and a fork. Caption over it says "Life is soup & I'm a Fork"
A fully covered geodesic dome with a large "bay window" overlooking a "cliff". It is fully serviced like a luxury hotel room with small vignette pictures showing the amenities.
A Steam Deck running a RetroDeck scrapping script to recover the info of over 2000 recently ported games. Besides it rests a MiYoo Mini micro console (source of the 2000 games). Both rest on a Ubisoft Mouse Pad showing various Ubisoft games icons.
2 stickers stuck on the back of a street panel. Left: an upright squirrel wearing a red yarn ski hood. Right: @Soryane's cartoon duck saying "Duck you!"
A selfie of my slightly disheveled self walking home from work. Partly cloudy weather (17 Degrees Celsius). Wearing an Atari t-shirt, an orange and beige plaid scarf, glasses, and my trusty Magic: The Gathering cap.
My Portal themed bedroom complete with Displate Portal 2 posters, a teal and orange portal night table lights, and themed bedsheets.
Book quote that says "Just erotic. Nothing kinky. It's the difference between using a feather and using a chicken."