Sorry I'm new... I'm not familiar with the switch case thingy yet🥲

Hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone knows if this ghoto bridge (GTC102) would be a direct fit for an Ibanez guitar with a F106 bridge? I know the hipshot ibby FP can just be dropped in without any extra drilling and was wondering if this would be the same?
https://guitartrade.co.nz/gotoh-string-thru-hardtail-fixed-bridge-black?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhvrNqfXBggMVQXh9Ch32wg5GEAQYASABEgKLKvD_BwE

Sorry for the ignorance but am totally new. I’ve played the guitar for a while, and as everyone knows, YouTube and the like are full of covers and examples. Not the case with the rubab, sadly.
My cousin gave me a rubab from Pakistan. Seems decent quality. I think it’s midrange. I already broke one of the drone strings - it just snapped like that.
I live in Brooklyn and don’t even know where to buy replacement strings let alone how to replace it.
Anyhow, I noticed that many rubab players usually just play the last three strings. F#, B, E. A few tutorials on YT show this at least so I’m in luck as those strings intact. Is this normally the case; other strings aren’t touched?

This is a fairly long post, so please grab a drink and some popcorn before undertaking this odyssey
As title, I just want to find my forever person and create our own unique and beautiful life together; I want the whole thing: our own home, a long-term monogamous relationship and kids one day, hopefully a few dogs and a turtle too haha. I got out of a relationship ~6 months ago, and I've decided I want to look for my soulmate again. I miss the feeling of waking up and immediately sending a good morning text, and sending & receiving random memes and texts throughout the day. I want to look at my phone and feel my heart race and a smile emerge across my face just because I've seen a message from you. I am well aware of the likelihood (or I should say unlikelihood) of my future soulmate living within a few miles; I do not want to restrict myself so I'm very happy to accept messages from all over the world! As long as we can see each other on a somewhat regular basis (every few months at the very least) and we both have compatible future life plans, an LDR is absolutely okay with me.
About me:
I'd consider myself to be an endearing and nurturing person, and I just love to see the people around me, and hopefully you, happy. I love to make people smile and laugh, and this is something I want our relationship to be full of. I'm an avid, and shameless, appreciator of dad jokes and darker comedy, so I really hope you also like this. My love languages are definitely physical affection, quality time and words of affirmation, with the affection being the most important to me. I love the idea of sleeping in each others' arms all night long, holding hands whilst in public and more. I wouldn't say I have an ideal date, but I do love the idea of cuddling together under a blanket/duvet on the sofa, watching a silly movie while its snowing or raining outside. I'm also very mental health positive.
I'm quite nerdy, I am a STEM student (studying biology and hoping to progress into molecular genetics in postgrad, and hoping to complete a PhD some day) and I love the humanities, with a specific focus on history, psychology and philosophy. I have an insatiable curiosity for the world around us, and love to read and watch lectures & documentaries to better understand it. I could chew your ear off for hours talking about ancient history, the Enlightenment and why Raphael is the best Renaissance artist, and ninja mutant turtle :). I love to travel, which is definitely fueled by my love of history, and I've been to ~15 countries so far, and hoping to see Iceland, Rome, Egypt and Jordan this year too. My ideal relationship would have us travelling often together and creating a little scrapbook for us to annoy our neighbours, friends and family with haha. I love to try, emphasis on 'try', and touch my creative side every now and again - I play guitar and am in the process of writing an album (though procrastination is bettering me in this department), I like to paint with acrylics and oils, and I enjoy going to the theatre occasionally. I'm also trying to get more into movies, so please feel free to recommend any 'hidden gems' out there! I've never been to a festival, but it’s been on my bucket list for a very long time; hopefully we could go together?
I absolutely love travelling and I just want to explore everything the world has to offer; I’m even going to Iceland, Italy, Morocco and hopefully Egypt this year. I have literally a million trips planned (US/Canada roadtrip, Jordan & Egypt, Scandinavia, etc), I just want to share those experiences with someone important to me. I also love everything outdoorsy including hiking, swimming, kayaking (I did this for the first time last summer and I instantly fell in love), climbing, etc and enjoy most sports though I am terrible at all of them haha.
I also love music and painting, and I will likely play guitar whilst we are chatting. It’s not because I’m bored, it’s actually the opposite - I only really play guitar infront of/to people when I am in a really good mood, so hopefully you enjoy it. I have tried expanding my musical horizons by making myself listen to a new album every day, and let me give you a secret, Blur are goddamn terrible.
Physically, I am 191cm tall (6’3 I think?), I have blue eyes & brown hair that lightens in the sun, Caucasian & tans well in summer. I have very broad shoulders and strong legs from a lifetime of boxing & running. I don’t have any tattoos currently, but do have a few design ideas.
About You:
I’m looking for someone who also shares an insatiable curiosity for the world around us, and wants to explore it and experience everything it has to offer us. For a few years now, I’ve wanted to take a year or two out just travelling the world and seeing/experiencing as much of it as I can, and I have already planned the route for this. Ideally, I’d like to bring someone I really cared for with me. IMO, there's something strangely appealing and wonderful about the idea of living life in a different place each day with whole new experiences and people to meet. Where everything would be different in daily life, the only thing I want to keep the same would be you. I want your smile to be the last thing I see at night, and the first thing I wake up to. I also hope you’re in touch with your creative side. I absolutely don’t care if you’re good at art, but my ideal day would end with the both of us painting something stupid or gently playing music to each other.
I'd like for you to be family oriented; I've spent over half my life looking after children (I have 4 niblings, and they're exhausting haha, but I love them) and one of the many things I've learned is that I 100% want kids myself. I've spent an almost embarrassing amount of time (probably over a month in real time) daydreaming about my ideal future - our own home, that we've possibly built ourselves, filled with love and happiness. I want our kids to always feel safe and comfortable there, I want our home to be the centre of the community where all our friends and neighbours can come to if they need somewhere to stay or just want a chat. I want us to spend our entire lives together, through all the good and bad, but it'll all be okay because no matter what, it'll still be us falling asleep together with you in my arms. I want to wake up everyday with my first sight being your smile, for the rest of my life. I want to build this beautiful life with someone that also shares this dream.
I wouldn’t say appearance is important to me as I am looking for love and I don’t care what shape nor size that love comes in. I only want someone that has a complimentary personality to my own, and will tolerate my nerdiness haha. I don’t have any preference for location, age, weight, skin & hair colour, etc, though I listened to Van Morrison a lot as a kid, so you’re instantly at the front of the queue if you have brown eyes (I love the idea of my very own 'brown-eyed girl'). Also contradictory to this paragraph haha, tattoos and dyed hair (really anything considered slightly ‘alt), absolutely makes me weak at the knees. Also, I am a complete bum-man, where a simple flash of the skirt or a seductive sway whilst walking is enough to make me ravenous; I just thought that was useful to know.
I feel I should mention some potential dealbreakers as these have been important to others in the past - I am bisexual and have dated both men & women in the past; however, I am only looking for a woman right now. Also, I am strictly monogamous, and this is extremely unlikely to ever change, so please do not reply if you would like an open relationship or something similar in the future. Lastly, I don't think I'd like to live in the UK for the rest of my life, so hopefully you'd be happy to move to a country in Europe (maybe Germany, Scandinavia or Belgium) or the Anglosphere (I'd love to live in Australia or NZ at some point in my life - they both look just breathtaking).
Congratulations! You’ve made it through this absolute unit of an essay. If you’re interested in me/what you’ve read, or just want to ask some questions, or even looking for a new Minecraft mate, please reach out. I’m very much an open book, so I will answer any and all questions, thank you!

If another version of Acoustified comes out, what what would you like to see as a tracklist? Deron has mentioned wanting to do one at some point in the future with drums (assuming the Camp Pain bonus tracks are a good example of this).I know there are some strongly differing options on this album so let's keep it civil and fun haha. 12 track limit.
For me:

1. Attached at the hip (always seemed like potential for a solid acoustic track and was surprised not to see it on the original)
2. Rio Bravo (can't help but imagine a 12 string version with that slow creepy piano part from the reprise)
3. Frenetic Amnesic (I always imagine a version of this with a violin replacing the keys)
4. Under the autumn low 5.Rats in the infirmary
5. Don't ask
6. Shippensburg
7. Megadextria
8. Destination undefined
9. Familiar realm
10. Tunnel
11. Halfway house

Well this is embarrassing.
I play a Squier Strat that’s always been good to me and I’ve never paid much attention to strong gauge. I guess maybe I had mediums on it? I recently read that lighter gauges are easier to play, so I got a set of 08-38s and tried to put them on this evening.
Now I typically change strings one at a time, but this time I took all of the strings off because I wanted to fiddle with my setup, and the guide I was following said I needed to know the radius of the fretboard. With it measured, I put the new XL gauge strings on but got the octave of the 6th string mixed up and broke it while tuning. 😅
That made me feel awfully silly, but I had a pack of 10-46s kicking around, so I took all the strings off again, put the new new ones on, and started tuning up, this time using a piano as reference so as not to get the octave wrong again. It didn’t help, because I broke both the 1st and 2nd strings. 🤬
This has never been a problem for me - again, I think I was playing mediums (although I’m not sure of the gauge), so these new strings are far lighter than what I typically use, but didn’t expect them to be made of tinfoil!
Is there any chance that this has to do with the setup of the guitar? Do I need to loosen the truss rod or adjust the intonation to accommodate the lighter gauge?
I’m confused, frustrated, and panicky because band practice is tomorrow night, all the guitar shops are closed on Mondays, and I’m out of strings. Here’s hoping the Amazon man gets here on time🤞

First Previous Wiki
Admiral Tenrah returned to the battle map, looking at all the various icons and routes to and from star systems. So far, the Sennes Armada was keeping its pace mostly on track. The delay due to the diplomats from the Misan Li Heptarchies no longer would matter.
King Siran had pulled back from the battlefront against the High Federation in an attempt to pivot to the Hive Union. He had won the battle, but the stragglers included the remaining leadership of the High Federation anyway, so they could continue to remain somewhat organized. The massive civil war would soon spill into a more international affair, due to the King's rhetoric. But that was entirely his fault when he so strongly advocated for the deaths of Cawlarians who had lived on planets for generations that he happened to desire.
And he would not let his name be stained with even the suggestion of a loss. The Battle Planner and Fleet Commander Annabelle Weber were also now on their way to the front, and the diplomats from the Heptarchies were tagging along. Phoebe was in discussions with them now, and supposedly there'd been a few breakthroughs on that front. Whatever she'd promised them or get them to agree to, the fleet buildup along the Hive Union's border with the Heptarchies was slowing.
The Interstellar Gathering seemed to have realized no amount of bluffing would get the High King out of war. Even if he was a proxy force aligned with them, King Siran was not valuable enough for them to risk a wider war. It was just as Tenrah had expected and had told Eyahtni, Kawtyahtnakal, and the Patriarchs when he'd met with them several days ago. Just as a young hatchling couldn't be allowed to stray too far from the nest, there was simply no sense for the Heptarchies to risk economic ruin.
Orith and those who ruled over him would shift their tone while pretending it was a natural decision, not one they'd been forced to make to align with reality.
"I must commend your tactics in the latest training exercise," Tenrah said, ruffling his feathers slightly before respectfully nodding to Annabelle.
"I am pleased to hear such high praise from you, Admiral," the woman said. She was fully dressed in her regulation spacesuit, meaning most of her face was obscured. But Tenrah wouldn't complain since it was more than prudent to be ready for anything. The next unknown ships might not be friendly.
He had also looked into the parties responsible for the lack of communication or warning of the Misan's arrival. As it turned out, general incompetence was to blame. A receiver hadn't been properly calibrated, so the transmission signal had just been noise. He'd given the officer in charge of that an earful before eventually letting up and telling him to do better. A personal visit with the Admiral was one thing. But a second personal visit was quite another.
Tenrah drew a vector toward some of the outer systems controlled by the High King. A few garrison forces were there, but they would be swept away almost instantly. What most concerned him was the shipyards in the region that received most of their metals from a select group of planets in those systems. They were rich in the metals required to forge the alloys needed in the High King's fleet.
The High Federation had been something of a dumping ground for either overthrown species or other alien species that had been deported from their homeworlds before the war broke out. This was reflected in the number of species inhabiting the worlds, each with unique names, traits, and temperaments.
"We plan on taking this path, and then splitting to conquer these systems and disable their metal exporting abilities," he explained. "Then we will move to this system."
He zoomed in more and drew a new vector from where the previous one ended. "We have intelligence that they have at least four planet crackers there. Brey will send FTL suppression satellites through portals on the outer edges, with her portals boosted by our psychic amplifier fields. we will be able to take over the system quickly, and begin the process of either disabling the planet crackers or moving them back to our territory."
"We will need to know the angles the superweapons are at before committing to the battle," Annabelle said. "Otherwise, judging by the trajectory cone you have, we can bypass them entirely and reach Siran within two weeks."
"And that is an interesting proposal. Can you lay out your plan, in that case?"
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Annabelle did so. She and Tenrah discussed the strategy's risks, and they eventually decided that such a tactic, while bold, wouldn't do what they set out to do: ensure the safety of the Cawlarians near the border. They were already trying to evacuate from the coming war front, but cities and planets were large things that took a lot of time to completely empty.
And more garrison forces, whether they were androids from Phoebe or specialized and highly trained defenders from the Union, were still moving in as the civilians evacuated. Kawtyahtnakal had established a fund for them, but many people were too stubborn to leave. Despite the looming threat of war and possible massacre, they still refused to board the passenger ships. Annabelle could respect their tenacity and courage, though she personally believed it was counterproductive.
A few encroaching splinters of Siran's fleet had already struck the evacuation forces. He'd sent around 2% of his ships away to harass all the border systems within reach in an attempt to get the Armada bogged down in defense. But with such small forces and the Union on such high alert, all of the important stations with weak shields were well within the protective layers of planetary shields in the area.
Larger garrisons than necessary were still required, of course, but Tenrah had managed to navigate the desperate concerns of the Feathers and those like them in charge of governing their planets with his natural political skill. He didn't need to ask them for favors because, as an Admiral, he alone held power over how his portion of the fleet would respond. Annabelle had witnessed that loyalty and control well within the organization of his fleet. Even at his advanced age, she continued to be impressed with his adaptability and skill at monitoring three-dimensional battle planes and fields.
She pointed to the cone of possible directions Siran was expected to take. They were generally adjacent to the border, though they would head around the left side of the territory he claimed from the Union. If he reached it, millions of lives would be lost every day. Once he broke the shields entirely, the planets would be utterly glassed down to their mantles.
She'd read up on his methods and had seen videos of them in action. Despite all her training, it still was haunting. The hivemind helped to soothe her when the unpleasant parts of command sizzled up to meet her in the middle of the night.
But they would not impede her on the field of battle. When she went to war, the hivemind suppressed all that wasn't necessary for the mission. It was their agreement, one which she'd asked of it. And being a node of the network meant that her stability was paramount, even more so than her title as Fleet Commander. For if she fell, others could take her place. Protocols ensured and demanded that.
But her place in the hivemind was what allowed it to have any strength this far out. It could form avatars and help with long-range communications, though the main mind back on Earth and Luna obviously remained disconnected from this distance.
"I would normally agree with you, Fleet Commander, but I am reminded of your tactic to use decoy hard light holograms."
"They will suspect that any ships heading right for the barrels, or close enough, are either not valued enough or are the decoys."
"Then all you have to do is make them impossible to ignore," Tenrah said. "I can lend you bombs capable of remaining armed and capable of being triggered inside of hard light holograms, even with jamming involved. Then, they will be unable to ignore them, and the explosions generated would destroy the shields in place around the planet crackers. If they fire the weapons, then the residual magnetic interference will allow us to destroy them, since the shields will be far weakened."
Annabelle could see the potential brilliance of the strategy. But it was just that- potential. In space, there were no obstacles. Without stealth fields, there was no hiding. And with hard light holograms, stealth was obviously off-limits.
They would be left approaching from angles that they would be unable to adapt to. She had her VI plot several routes but was unsatisfied, so she had Edu'frec link into the network to do it. Phoebe had been replaced after contacting a Sprilnav network to ensure she could scrub any programs that may have gotten through to her without distraction.
It would be a terrible thing for a Sprilnav AI to make it to her dreadnaught, for sure.
"We will likely need a threefold diversion at least," Annabelle said. "Maybe fourfold, if we can spare the forces, and brave any minefields that may exist."
"Well," Tenrah began. He pulled up a few schematics of the weapons her dreadnaught carried. "I believe you can solve the minefield issue from a distance, even with the lightspeed limit. After all, they can't move easily. As for the actual attack? I suggest a sixfold flower formation, with a twisting wings accent."
"You will have to show me a diagram of that," Annabelle said, grasping uselessly at the unfamiliar words. Before their integration had begun, there had been a limit to how much doctrine she could memorize.
Tenrah pulled up an image of an alien flower blooming with six petals. And then the image faded, overloading with a stylized ribbon of red shapes. The ribbons spun on their sides every thirty seconds, like corkscrews that were flatter.
"And in this case, the ribbons represent the drone formations. I can send a few carriers into the battle with fighter escorts, though we will need to keep them spread out to avoid any direct lines of sight from the planet crackers."
"I heavily doubt they will waste such shots on carriers," Annabelle said. "And if you commit more, you will overwhelm their defenses. I believe your drones are highly reflective, so only missiles and bullets can deal sufficient damage at the involved speeds and numbers we are working with here."
She tapped the diagram, shifting it by about 45 degrees.
"I believe I can fit a stealth force here, which will engage the back defenses of the planet crackers once they focus their shields frontward. I can likely get a full battlecruiser group in, and if you can press in as a wedge around 10 million kilometers above me from where I come in, and around 30 million kilometers below," Penny paused to draw the vectors with her hands, "Then it will aid in my ability to subdue them. It would likely shorten the battle time from a week down to four days."
"Assuming their detection satellites are not capable of seeing it."
"And we will target those too. I believe the first strike can fall on those, since the planet crackers will interfere with their ability to scan behind themselves, and such large power signatures can be noted."
"There is one more problem," Tenrah said. "We are generally working on the assumption of trying to capture these ships, yes?"
"Yes," Annabelle said.
"Then will we board them?"
"Yes, but no. Edu'frec and Phoebe's commando androids will open up the beach heads on the physical surfaces of the planet crackers, while our specialized mental warfare agents will take the fight to them in the mindscape. I assume you have your own plans in that regard?"
"It depends on how we will split the planet crackers. There are 12 in the system. Half and half?"
"That seems prudent," Annabelle replied. She selected the ones that would be most advantageous for her various gambits and strategies to work. They were closer together, which meant more capacity for coordination, mutual aid, and shielding. But it also meant a larger target, one which she could hit from many vectors without worrying about each enemy ship having a wide field of view. Some battlecruisers and cruiser groups were scattered around, but they were not enough to resist the Armada. And once Siran was robbed of a quick way to end the war, the Union would hold the upper hand, capable of committing devastating power to a fleet that remained in a system for a long time.
Yet the same was true for the Union and the Alliance. If the battle took too long, or their command positions were located, then the terrible might of the planet cracker beams would be turned upon them instead. Annabelle's dreadnaught was powerful. More so than all the ones before it. But that didn't mean she wanted to test her shields against alien planet crackers.
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Penny was talking to a group of freed slaves on Justicar. These were recent ones who still held quite a bit of trauma. They'd taken to calling her 'Liberator' despite her never identifying herself as such. It was oddly endearing and did make her feel quite a bit better. It was good to just be able to go out and help people.
She felt some perturbations in the mindscape but ignored them. Right now, she needed to ensure that the gangs couldn't continue their horrific industry. She'd taken out most of their heavy equipment and was now waiting for the Guides to finish searching.
Sirens and alarms echoed in the distance. Penny sent psychic energy into her eyes, but she was too far underground to see anything without using the energy itself instead of light to see. Justicar's mind seemed busy, so she couldn't connect with him. As time went on, Penny felt that something was wrong. It was a gut feeling that she couldn't place. But because of that, she was on edge. She made a large shield of psychic energy above them.
She held it for several minutes. Nothing happened, but Penny wouldn't let it down that quickly. Justicar still didn't respond. Her communicator rang. Kashaunta was calling.
"What's going on?" Penny asked.
"The Grand Fleet is-"
Light and heat smashed into her, easily breaking through her shields. She briefly saw tens of thousands of Sprilnav burning before the light overwhelmed her eyes. Her communicator was destroyed. The onslaught was accompanied by a monstrous level of sound. Shockwaves drilled Penny into the melting and fracturing ground, forcing her lower and lower into expanding pools of magma and liquid metal.
The city's upper layers fell upon her, crashing with great and terrible force. But Penny was now fully reinforced with psychic and conceptual energy. She erupted furiously from the rubble. The air around her burned with heat as she continued to accelerate. The armor plates now surrounding her glowed cherry red, but they were white by the time she'd reached space.
She reached the first planetary shield.
"Displace," Penny growled. She forced reality to move as she willed and to place herself where she saw fit. The Grand Fleets were high above, firing upon a small group of ships that had detached from Azeri's fleet. They seemed to be directly attacking the broken-off contingent and not Justicar itself.
So Penny increased her eyesight and analyzed the battle in both real space and the mindscape. Nilnacrawla helped her identify Justicar's targets. The massive Elder was angrier than she'd ever seen him, and his size, which was even larger than Tetelali, made that incarnation of him appear more like a god of wrath. She saw him brutally tear through groups of minds desperately running to avoid him.
She could faintly see spheres of psychic and conceptual energy area denial fields. From this distance, the flagships' strength was truly impressive. Both of them were at least ten times as powerful as Azeri's had been during their battle. It was clear both Kashaunta and Valisada had ordered upgrades.
Then, her attention came to the dreadnaught, which seemed to be at the head of the attack. Penny explored the ship with her psychic power, pushing aside all resistance. Several lasers struck her, but she ignored them, denying their impact in reality against her own.
It glowed with the fury of weapons firing. Missiles and fighters flowed out of its bays. Bullets, nukes, and lasers streamed from red-hot gun barrels. A nuke hit her but didn't explode. She ripped it apart, using the materials to add energy to her reserves.
Justicar continued to go in inside the mindscape. He tore at them like a shark at a school of minnows in a coral reef. His ravenous anger and hatred were frightening, but Penny rapidly got used to it. Calling up her own memories of the innocent people who'd been killed for no reason, Penny wrapped herself in energy and began to erase her signature from the area.
Fighters flew past her, no longer hitting her psychic shields with bullets. Lasers stopped firing at her since she'd moved from her last position, and there was no longer anything for them to track. Penny floated in the stars, with bright blooms of white fusion explosions blossoming around her. And so she moved forward. She reached a cruiser. She reached forward, teleporting past its shields, and shut down the ship's reactor by teleporting all of its fuel into the void.
Soon, a missile from Kashaunta's Grand Fleet found the vessel, and it vanished in another sphere of heat and light. Of course, it was all silent in space. Penny could only hear her heart beating and occasional warnings from Exile or Nilnacrawla at incoming attacks. Exile occupied the area in her ears, which felt weird, but it allowed him to speak without showing himself in the mindscape. Given his nature and the fact that the Grand Fleets likely had detections for speeding space entities, it would be a terrible idea for him to appear there. Nilnacrawla continued to help Penny with the mental aspects of the battle.
He processed the energy input and output that Penny was giving off in the hopes of keeping her off the sensors of the dreadnaught battlegroup. She didn't want to attract the full focus of one of those massive guns. The explosions on Justicar would have been capable of cracking apart a mountain range if not for the extensive dampening Justicar's shields had done. And she'd withstood them only because she could shunt off most of their impact into reality, leaning into her conceptual nature and the nature of Cardinality to escape certain death.
Even with her power, as high as it had ever been, the blow she was taking were the most powerful physical impacts she'd ever endured.
She also suspected Yasihaut's work in this, though she had nothing to prove. She also had to remain vigilant about the Judgment. She couldn't take overly hostile actions, so she didn't just teleport the Sprilnav in the area out of their ships. She tried it on a smaller scale, and a weak pressure from the dreadnaught made her power fail to affect them.
But those Sprilnav were still doomed to die by their commander. But Penny didn't wish to doom the Alliance and herself by taking their deaths into her own hands. And she was stained with enough blood, metaphorical and literal. The ashes of the people she'd freed had fallen away with her ascent into the atmosphere, but the gritty memory and feel of them never would.
Once again, she'd been powerless to save those who'd needed her. And if she'd had that power, what could she have really done? Would she have been forced to stand there and take it? Or could she have really fought back in a way that wouldn't be turned against her in the Judgment? And was she wrong for considering all of that during such a horrendous time, when she'd literally seen thousands of people turned to slag and ash before her very eyes just ten minutes ago?
Penny burned with shame and grief. She hated this. She hated that things always turned to this. Why couldn't the galaxy just leave people alone? Why did there have to be so much suffering? Her anger threatened to overwhelm her, but with a herculean effort from her, Nilnacrawla, and Cardi, it was beaten back.
Penny felt Justicar getting close to breaking through the shield. She sent a small jolt of power to its underside. A thick bolt of psychic lightning infused with rage leaped from her arms, shattering the shield completely and taking roughly half her power. In the dreadnaught, the antimatter reactor she could sense radiating its energy suddenly lost all coolant access.
She pushed her psychic energy into herself and her conceptual energy into words that she harmonized into existence with the force and might of her will.
"Cardinality: One to zero. Reversal."
A heap of her energy left her instantly, stopping a budding explosion from ripping the dreadnaught apart. Justicar absolutely ravaged whoever was inside that ship, including what appeared to be a leader figure in the mindscape. Penny watched Justicar smash the Elder's corpse in his jaws and tear his soul from his body before shredding it violently with a contraption that looked straight out of a horror movie.
She let the explosion go, and so it went. The dreadnaught cracked in half. The Grand Fleets, which had never stopped firing, finally broke through the shields as the circuits failed to supply them with power. Hundreds of thousands of lives winked out instantly, torn to subatomic particles by beams coming from two different flagships. Penny went straight to Kashaunta, appearing on the ship's bridge still in stealth. To their credit, her guards noticed immediately and bared their weapons at her.
The guns that were powerful enough to blast holes in skyscrapers and sturdy enough to withstand a fall from orbit with hardly a scratch unloaded their payloads into her. Penny opened her mouth, and strings of psychic energy writhed outward, wrapping themselves around the guns and wrenching them out of the claws of Kashaunta's guards while the impacts' explosions were contained by thick shields.
Kashaunta herself had already drawn her sword but hadn't moved an inch.
"Penny," she said dryly. "Welcome to my ship. I apologize for your reception."
A new shield came down on both of them, preventing their words from reaching the ears of Kashaunta's subordinates.
"Think nothing of it, Elder Kashaunta. What punishments will be given to the Grand Fleet Commander?"
"Well, technically I am not the Grand Fleet Commander of this fleet," she said. "So that is not really something I can enforce. However, the Grand Fleet Commander of the 85th Grand Fleet does wish to talk with you, Justicar, and myself about what just occurred."
"And you believe him?" she exclaimed.
"He sent transcripts of the message he sent to one Elder Solei, asking him to cease his actions before it was too late."
"Even the Alliance can make deepfakes," Penny said.
"And do you think I would be ignorant of such things, child?" Kashaunta asked. "We have ways around those. That is why we still have a society after billions of years of time to screw it all up. Deepfakes are a problem of less advanced species and cultures, not those with the tools to handle them."
"Which are AIs, which you also ban throughout the galaxy."
"Yes."
"Isn't that hypocritical?"
"Yes, it is," Kashaunta said. "You can go and complain to the Judges who decided that if you wish, though asking them to think of the children instead of preserving the power of the entire Sprilnav species will get you laughed at by a billion mouths."
Penny felt something in her mind take offense to Kashaunta's wording. It didn't feel like it was part of her, but it also did. The shock of all the lives lost hit her again, making her scowl.
"So there will be nothing done?" Penny growled.
"No. Prepare for a neutral and level-headed discussion. If you wish to have any seat at a table such as this, you will conduct yourself with decorum. You will not accuse Elder Valisada of being responsible for whichever fool did this, and you most certainly will not baselessly claim that Yasihaut is at fault for this, even if it is likely that she or her backers are. It is time you learn the lesson that all Elders have: there are always more Sprilnav. Recognize that this was a strike against you without casting aside all of your goodwill among those that matter."
"Those that matter," Penny mused. "Sometimes I forget what you are."
Kashaunta stepped forward, eyes narrowing. She let out a hiss.
"You saw a few thousand people die, and now you're back to the racism again? Grow up. People die all the time in this galaxy. You complain about the status quo. I would respect that, if you could stomach what is required to change it. Death will continue to run rampant, and you will be the reason more die no matter what you do. 760 sextillion Sprilnav, Penny. And you cry over ten thousand?
During the Source war, we sent two years olds to war. You don't get to slide back into comfortable dumb hatred of our species because of a few stupid people. Rest assured, if you ever get this Alliance-based order, you or your successors will become tyrants. There will be a human who has the power and will to start wars, and enact genocides, for functionally no reason. Need I remind you of World War Two, and World War Three? If you multiply the population of Humanity by a trillion, that means you'll get a trillion Pol Pots, or Hitlers, or Genghis Khans.
And a hell of a lot more dumb idiots in power, which ascribes most of the history of nearly every species in the galaxy. Notice how Valisada and I both fired on Solei once he decided to be an adult daycare nominee? Notice how Valisada has not fired at us, or Justicar, and is trying his best to start a constructive dialogue? People die in war, Penny. This is reality. And you cast your disdain onto me, the only Sprilnav keeping you alive in this place, because I happened to be born an Elder. But no. I'm still some alien, right? Just another dirty animal for you to kill when the Judgment ends."
Kashaunta's fury caught Penny off-guard. The Elder truly meant her words. Penny had deeply offended her, cracking open the facade she usually maintained. The smug feeling at having made Kashaunta go on such a tirade faded when she considered the circumstances. Maybe she had acted like a child. But she hadn't said anything truly deserving of such a furious tirade, had she?
Not unless her proclamation that she remembered 'what Kashaunta was' had an implication that she didn't understand. Kashaunta was a mass murderer, one who was more than willing to justify it when necessary. And she downplayed the fact that this attack was on Penny herself and on thousands of innocents on a Sprilnav planet where she was meant to be safe. This wasn't a pair of assassins in the night, slipping poison into water or dropping snakes into a bed. This was a much more insidious and terrifying evil. Penny had been powerless to stop it.
Penny knew she was right, but Kashaunta did not. Could she truly weigh her scant decades against Kashaunta's billions of years of age? Perhaps. Age was not wisdom, though it certainly could be experience. Kashaunta turned around and started to walk away. Sadly, Penny still needed her.
"I'm sorry, Kashaunta. I am... incredibly charged. I am very pissed right now. I am not apologizing for how I feel about this attack. I have every right to be upset, and I will remain so. I will not be bullied or cowed into submission, even by a thousand more tirades. There comes a point where something must be done. But if you are upset over what I said, then I would at least like an honest clarification why."
"Because you had showed me you could think like a person should. That you didn't see people's species anymore. That you were becoming less racist. And yet, when you are cut raw, you still see me as a Sprilnav Elder alone, and therefore complicit in this massacre I literally did everything I could to do stop before it worsened. You said you knew 'what I am' as if you'd forgotten that. And it is clear that you meant that you'd forgotten your belief that I am some dirty criminal Sprilnav, who deserves to be slaughtered in the dark for the crime of being born in her species.
You care more for the ash on Justicar than you do for what I have given you. Your simplistic view of reality would mean that if you could push a button to kill us Elders, you'd do it, robbing countless families of their loved ones, because you now remember 'what we are,' and are again regressing away from your previous growth."
"I am one person, Kashaunta. I don't understand why you care this much about me. But I can recognize that the message you received is one of terrible bigotry. I am suffering, every day, every week, that I remain in this god-forsaken place. It hurts for you to dismiss the people I care about, even for a moment, dying just because there are many of them. But that does not excuse what I said to you despite the death toll you carry on your own head. It was a half-truth."
Kashaunta laughed. "Do you know why I care so much about what you think, Penny? It is because you are the other aliens. All at once. The Alliance is the face of all things 'alien' in many places. Remember what conceptual energy is? Lecalicus told you, I believe. You represent more than just your own views. And if you're able to forgive a speeding space entity, but not me, then it shows that we will never have peace. That no matter what, this cycle of hatred will continue, and I will need to either build a new galaxy with aliens that don't hate us for our ancient crimes, or just figure out another way. You are the face of the rest of the galaxy, Penny. And you have just told me that you still hate me for being an Elder. After I thought you had changed."
"And you believe you are undeserving of such hatred?"
"Penny," Kashaunta said. "The Alliance didn't exist when many of these events happened. Some of your grievances are older than the mountains on Earth. You say you hate us for genocides that happened so long ago that they no longer hold any meaning. There is no compensation we can give to dead species on dead worlds. What you want is an alien species to hate and blame for all the universe's problems. Because it is easier to hate us than to confront reality. And we are the ones you have been told to hate."
"They were not small things. It was the deaths of trillions of people, Kashaunta."
"Yes. And it was wrong. I can understand that. But what do you think will happen when your Alliance, filled with people who hate us, takes over? You will see humans bombing Sprilnav schools, and the hivemind will do nothing, for it will share that hate. Acuarfar will abduct and torture us. Knowers will devour our children. And in the face of that? You would turn a blind eye, because it is too hard to solve with a simple fix. You will only propagate generational hatred, just as all the Alliances and Galactic Republics and Peace Unions did before you.
Because underneath your message of equality for all species is oppression and genocide for us, the villains in your little story. That is what happens in reality, once the benevolent dictators die. And you, who have lived with us, eaten with us, and talked with us, will sit upon your golden throne, and when I am brought before you, naked, bleeding, and in need of support, you will throw me away, because all I am to you is an Elder. That mindset is exactly what stands in the way of peace. It is why I stopped giving you aliens chances for so long. And having to argue this with you at all makes me think you may no longer be worth my effort."
More manipulation. Penny was ready to shout at her, but Nilnacrawla pulled her thoughts away from blind anger. And it did feel unnatural for her. Alien.
"This is not peace," Penny said. "This is war. And we are circumstantial allies. I will not become what you claim."
"I have sown the seeds of a thousand despots," Kashaunta said. "I recognize them when I see them because I have reaped the heads of a million more."
Penny sighed. She wanted to resist and continue arguing, but it wouldn't get her anywhere. Now that she had thought about it, she was unlikely to overturn a viewpoint set in a billion years of experiences. Perhaps Penny could explore this later, when she had time to properly process it all.
"Very well. I will go to this meeting of yours, and I will conduct myself with decorum. However, while I refuse to belittle or forget thousands of deaths, I am sorry that you feel this way."
"But you are not sorry about making me feel so."
"No," Penny replied. She suppressed her emotions more, taking the time to carefully consider her words. Kashaunta was wrong and oddly sensitive right now. Saying the wrong thing could damage far more than their mutual feelings. As much as she wanted to win this argument, Kashaunta was who she was. She was the alien dictator keeping the Alliance alive.
"We are both right in some ways, and perhaps we might be both wrong, too. This only shows how tough the road will be. We at least are consciously trying to come to an understanding. But for the billions of Alliance citizens, quintillions of aliens, and sextillions of Sprilnav? It is a gargantuan task. And... right now, I don't think it is possible."
"It isn't," Kashaunta said. "And it won't be for thousands of years. But we don't get some neat little time skip to wait and solve all of our problems for us. Change will start only when we make it."
Kashaunta was throwing her a bone, then. They both knew the argument couldn't continue right now.
"So we have an understanding, then," Penny said. "Hatred will remain, but it must be minimised. That way, cultural and social pressure will eventually stamp it out, and we may have peace."
"No. We will have a truce, which will only become peace with much more work. The Alliance is a nation that is 24 years old. Only a single generation has grown up within it. Negotiations will be hard with so many who remember the hatred. But Valisada is not like other Sprilnav. He will seek to bring a hybrid war to you and the Alliance, unless you can convince him that you truly mean to bridge the divide. You are clearly misguided, but have a genuinely good heart. That will make life hard for you. Your words today would have spelled the death of you and the Alliance, had I not established this shield around us to hide them. Out of the spirit of our friendship, I will not request a favor in return for this boon."
"Thank you, Kashaunta. Though I'm not sure I can consider you a friend."
"The fact that you bothered to listen to my side of things, in this limited aspect, despite the hurt you must feel right now, proves otherwise. I am well aware of my past crimes, Penny. I know that my emotions today were a weakness I should have been able to seal, and that you will still see me for who I was, and not who I am. I know how it sounds for me, a killer and a ruler, to be upset at being confronted. But that is how I am. I still have my pride as an Elder, and there is only so far it can be pushed. Who I was certainly would qualify as beyond evil. But to remain at the top, there are limits to how far you can swing into benevolence.
I cannot atone. Do not try to make me repay debts that you don't own. If you are ever to have more Elders on your side, whether Progenitors or otherwise, you will need to learn to deal with this. There will be people with death tolls higher than the population of the Alliance, who were once the heart of evil and are now at least acceptable. The first step will be recognizing that, yes, we are in fact friends, despite my history. Because only from friendship and understanding can hope come."
"I will think about this more. My feelings about this, and about you, have not yet solidified."
"I was wrong for what I said to you, Penny. We are both on edge, and said things that we didn't properly express. We should get our heads in order before re-entering this argument with logic instead of emotions."
"I agree. I will go and see who I can save. And I will think more about this. I freed people from slavery, and watched them die today. Respectfully, I must spend some time away from you for now."
Penny left the ship. In something near her subconscious, anger remained. When she landed in the rubble once again, she missed a small but steady stream of conceptual energy wafting into her from below.

After using the Moonthlies for a full period, I wanted to write up a review in case others find it helpful.
MY BACKGROUND: I am a long-time cup user transitioning to using discs. I loved my Venus Large, which I used to be able to “set and forget” for 12 hours even on heavy days, but after the birth of my 3rd baby, my periods have been extremely heavy. My Venus was overflowing after just a couple hours, so I’ve been looking for new options.
OTHER DISCS I’VE TRIED: I’ve only tried the Lumma Large and Medium. Large was a much better fit, but I found that it scrunched up during insertion and blood would leak around it. Also, the string was irritating so I cut it in half. Unfortunately I could never find or reach the remainder of the string for removal, meaning I had to pluck at the rim. This worked OK, but I usually had to dig around trying to snag the rim for quite a while. Toward the end of my period my cervix rose higher and I had so much trouble reaching it that my husband had to remove it for me. This experience led me to search for a disc that could be more easily removed. I tried the Moonthlies Large with loop string removal.
ABOUT ME: Age 35. I have a medium-high cervix that moves even higher toward the end of my period. I have had 3 babies: One c-section and 2 vaginal deliveries.
INSERTION: The disc is easy to insert, but I usually have to use two hands. Unlike the Lumma, Moonthlies pops open fully and I never need to fuss with straightening it out. It also never rotates (it’s oval shaped). The loop removal string is easy to tuck in and lay flat against the basket of the disc so that it isn’t hanging into the vaginal canal. When it’s tucked away like this, I can’t feel it and it stays exactly where I want it to be.
AUTO-DUMPING: This disc worked amazingly well for me. It kept everything contained until I went to pee or poop and then it politely dumped its contents into the toilet where it belongs. This was a bit odd for me coming from being a cup user, where I was accustomed to everything being completely contained until removal. The toilet would look full of blood and there would be blood when I wiped. But since I wore light period undies with the disc that caught any residue, this worked fine for me. I only experienced a couple tiny leaks on my heaviest days, closer to the end of my disc’s 12-hour shift. I went straight to the toilet, auto-dumped a LOT, and went on with my day. Period undies were well up to containing the small leaks. Best of all: Moonthlies even kept me dry all night! I only got up to pee once (and auto-dumped a LOT).
REMOVAL: Now for the amazing part... removal was ridiculously easy! One finger can find a loop, pull it out, and remove the disc with it. EASY! I only ever removed it in the shower, once every 12 hours. But, I think it would be simple to do so over the toilet if needed. It was WAY easier to insert and remove than a cup!
OVERALL: I LOVE the Moonthlies! I might even go as far as to say it’s my Goldilocks disc. My only complaint is that it auto-dumps on moderate days when my Venus would go 12 hours and hold everything in. This means I’ll need to wear backup period undies in case of residue after wiping, when I wouldn’t need to do that using my Venus. I might switch back and forth between the Venus and my Moonthlies as needed, for example when I go to the pool and don’t want residual blood on my bathing suit. Beyond that, I just had THE most care-free period since having my baby! Woohoo!

I've noticed a gap forming in the neck joint of my acoustic guitar. I've played this guitar twice a day every day for almost 12 years now, and am finding the action has grown a bit high and struggle to get it lower with the truss rod alone (which was never the case before). Is this a typical (or atypical but plausible) issue on an acoustic? Is this something I can/should take it to a luthier to address proactively? I'd be grateful for any advice or opinions from the community, the guitar was a gift from a now deceased relative.

Hello I am a pianist that is enchanted by Ichika's sound, randomly stumbled upon him after listening to jujutsu kaisen's No Hesitation, I want to play piano on the guitar like him what guitar should I get?
My criteria is:

• Electric guitar so I can choose to not make alot of noise
• Probably steel strings they seem to have a more versatile sound (but will steel strings injure me so much that it will impede my piano progress even after my fingers get used to it? Because piano progress > guitar progress for me)
• A budget of around 200-500 bucks depending if the difference between low end and mid range is that noticeable and worth it
• Don't know anything about amps or picks

my favorites of him are awakening and "when you brush ur teeth too late"

Why run random encounters?

As D&D has evolved, an opinion I've often encountered is that random encounters have become synonymous with poor DMing and pointless sessions. I fully understand this sentiment and have felt it myself as a player. Why include a battle that will have no in-game narrative impact, isn't truly dangerous enough to matter, and just takes away from time where we could be progressing the plot? Some issues can be addressed with skillful, on-the-fly DMing. Encounter too easy? Adjust the monsters or hazards to make them more challenging. No narrative connection? Invent one. No plot progression? Reveal an important secret during the encounter. While these solutions aren’t bad, they aren't the best, in my opinion. What if this encounter kills the party? As a DM, is this really where you would want them to die? Wouldn’t you rather reveal that secret under more meaningful circumstances?
I had stopped running random encounters entirely in my games for some time. Then came "Out of the Abyss." The majority of this campaign is comprised of long travel times, navigation struggles, and random encounters. In the context of this campaign, I understood the value of random encounters. Travel needed to be unpredictable, the caves needed a sense of "random" danger, and overall survivability needed to be a factor for this campaign to succeed. So, I ran my first session in the tunnels as written. I hated it!
The caves, meant to be a sandbox for exploration, felt utterly one-directional. Failed navigation checks just meant longer travel times. Random encounters still felt pointless, if not downright frustrating. And getting anywhere felt like it would take forever. But I realized something while running this campaign: I didn’t want to run travel in the Underdark without the impact of random surprise danger, navigational mishaps, and the feeling of resource depletion. So, I turned to Reddit and looked for a solution. Of course, most people's answer to the problem was to eliminate all random encounters and use a travel exposé with a preplanned encounter if necessary—essentially, hand-waving it.
Unsatisfied, I developed a game system for travel and encounters that worked well for my campaign, which I have generalized and will describe below. I am now running "Curse of Strahd" and have adapted it to the scale of that game. It continues to make travel an impactful narrative experience that still holds true to what I believe are the benefits of random encounters. I think the purpose behind random encounters is sound. You never know what will happen when leaving a safe haven, and preparedness is key. A string of bad travel luck should remain a probability in the game. Unexpected encounters on the road keep the world interesting, dangerous, and unexpected, and give the sense that it is also always progressing around you. Travel also offers ample RP opportunities, chances for some classes to utilize their survival skills and really shine, as well as time for players to progress their own individual goals with the possibility of failure and interruptions.

Predetermine the Travel Day

I don’t consider myself highly skilled in improv. I handle the unexpected fairly well, and I recognize that improv is an important part of the game. However, when it comes to running encounters, assembling one on the fly is generally more than I can handle. Someone adept in improv might manage to run the random encounter tables on the fly with great success. However, in my session preparation, I include a travel day for each potential route the players may choose during the session. In my "Curse of Strahd" game, this typically involves deciding whether I think they'll traverse a path or venture into the wilds, and anticipating their choices at various forks in the road.
Setting up these travel day tables for your campaign will take some time, as they are very setting-dependent and need to be as relevant to your campaign and players as possible. Much of the material for these tables can be borrowed from the official source material, however, reorganized and flavored to better suit your campaign.
You need to prepare a travel day by doing the following:

Environmental Effects

Create a d20 table for different environmental effects which would impact (or for some rows) have little or no hindrance on your players’ trek. I create the following columns in my own table:

• Environmental Effect
• Narrative Description
• In-Game Effect

Each environmental effect on the list should have some sort of in-game effect which adds a variable to their travel and may later impact an encounter during the travel day. For example, here are the first two environmental effects on my "Curse of Strahd" table:
Ghostly Mist: A chilling mist rises, filled with faint whispers and fleeting shadows. Effect: Visibility reduced to 10 feet. Hearing-based Perception checks have Disadvantage unless moving slowly or actively navigating.
Ashfall: Volcanic ash begins to fall like snow, blanketing the area in gray. Effect: Reduces visibility and may cause coughing fits reducing travel speed (DC 12 Constitution save to resist). Slow pace or navigation helps avoid deeper ash deposits.
Depending on the setting, these environmental effects shouldn’t all be negative, and many of the rows could simply be different weather effects. Most campaign guides come with a ratio for how often a random encounter should occur. This is also a good ratio to use when deciding on the possibility of a negative in-game effect versus a positive or neutral effect.
With an environmental effect decided, it’s time to move onto the encounter.

Encounter Odds

The joy of a random encounter table is the sudden surprise of it. You never know when an encounter is going to occur. Both "Out of the Abyss" and "Curse of Strahd" came with instructions for rolling a d20 to determine if an encounter takes place. Since my intention is to always have an encounter take place during travel, I instead randomized the “when” during the travel sequence the encounter takes place, and how complex the encounter will be.
In a multi-day travel sequence, like in "Out of the Abyss", I rolled 2d4s to determine on which day of their long travel an encounter would be taking place. This is because travel in the Underdark often would span several days. In "Curse of Strahd", where traveling between locations only takes hours, I rolled 1d8 to decide on which hour of travel an encounter would take place. If my players chose to travel through the wilds in "Curse of Strahd", I changed the dice to 1d4 to increase the possible number of encounters. This seemed to be in line with the encounter frequency described in both campaign guides.

Roll for Hazards / Points of Interest

Create a d20 list (or longer for more variety) of hazards or small points of interest which would make sense in the setting of your campaign. These could include environmental hazards, such as a chasm that needs to be crossed, a drop-off that needs to be climbed, or a bridge that has collapsed. They could also include interesting landmarks, such as a gravesite, a monument/shrine, a magical grove, an abandoned campsite, etc. This could also include interesting objects, such as a magical trinket found in the dirt, a corpse caught in a trap, a carriage sunken into the mud, etc. I like to make about ¼ of the d20 dice rolls result in picking two of these at the same time.
The table for this includes the following columns:

• Hazard / POI
• Narrative Description
• Potential Outcome

For many of the hazards, I like to include a percentage chance (usually 50/50) that the outcome will be positive. For example, the trinket in the mud could be enchanted with a blessing or a curse. I also like to include a DC chance to generate a positive outcome or, consequently, a negative outcome from the hazard. For instance: digging up the grave, you find something valuable; dig a bit too far (failed Perception), and you awaken something.

Creatures

Create a d20 list (or longer for more variety) of creatures that the players will encounter at the location of the hazard(s) / POI(s). These creatures should also be curated to fit the setting of your campaign, and many could be pulled from a campaign guide. This list should include creatures both hostile and non-hostile, animals, and monsters. As with hazards, I usually leave a ¼ chance for two creatures to be included.
The columns on this table are:

• Creature
• Narrative Description
• Stat Highlights
• Potential Outcomes

Within stat highlights, I’ll write down just what I need to know to generally run the creature, i.e., HP, AC, unique abilities. I also sometimes just place a hyperlink to the stats of the creature. Within potential outcomes, I’ll include the goals of the creature, as well as some possible outcomes of conflict or friendly conversation, with a DC attached.

Craft an Encounter

With the environmental condition, hazard(s) / POI(s), and creature(s) decided, these details can then be combined into something really interesting that fits the landscape and narrative of the campaign. Here is the latest encounter I crafted for my "Curse of Strahd" campaign.
From my rolls, I ended up with ashfalls, a ruined shack, and a cursed effigy, and a banshee. Within a few minutes, I had an interesting encounter crafted involving the ashfalls burying the ruins of a shack where a cursed effigy hangs, holding the consciousness of an angry banshee. I had the effigy take the form of a scarecrow. A nearby villain attempted to recruit her as one of the witches in the cult who worships her. On refusal, she left her to burn in the shack and trapped her screaming, anguished soul within the scarecrow effigy. A faint scream is audible from the scarecrow effigy. When held to your ear, it performs the “wail” ability. The banshee suddenly comes screaming from the ashes, killable by destroying the doll. Within the shack, I plan to leave breadcrumbs hinting at the villain to come.
Once the work is done to set up the tables with correct adjustments made for dangerous vs. positive encounter outcomes, I believe you end up with something that largely captures the best of both the danger, unexpected outcomes, and resource cost of a random encounter table, while keeping the value of preplanning encounters that somehow add to the narrative or lore of the campaign.

The Rest of Travel

Firstly, the environmental effect should have an impact on the rest of the travel for that day. These effects may slow down travel, cause conditional effects, or impede their movement in some other way. This provides a great opportunity for outdoorsmen in the party to really shine as they perhaps are able to use their navigational rolls to circumvent these negative effects, or even for the cleric to attempt to counter the maddening whispers emanating from the dark woods. And with that, the party needs to choose a travel pace. I go straight from the DM guide with a bit added.

• Slow Pace: Allows for stealth, avoids fatigue, increases the chance to find resources, but doubles the travel time.
• Normal Pace: Standard travel time with moderate chances of encountering events or resources.
• Fast Pace: Causes disadvantage on most ability checks but reduces travel time.

Travel Activities

Each of my players will choose something to do during this travel period, similar to downtime during a long rest. I generalize their choices under different travel activities. However, this is supplemented nicely by Kibble’s crafting system, which I also use and highly recommend! Each travel activity includes dice rolls which are affected by their travel speed.

• Navigation: This player’s job is to take the lead and navigate for the party. They make any DC when circumventing environmental effects that involve route finding or avoiding hostile areas.
• Scouting: This player’s job is to watch for danger. They roll perception, which is compared to the stealth/perception of any encountered creatures, as well as may spot a hazard before they stumble into it automatically.
• Foraging: Players may forage for food/water, or they may forage for herbal/alchemical/crafting ingredients. If looking for a specific ingredient, I increase the DC of successfully finding it by 5. I use Kibble’s DCs for foraging, which already includes all the tables needed to run this.
• Crafting: A player may choose to do some crafting while they travel. Kibble’s crafting system has stages of crafting occurring in 2-hour increments. I have the entire travel day count as one of these 2-hour crafting stages as outlined in his crafting guide. If not using his guide, the general rules of crafting have been outlined in Xanathar’s Guide, and DM discretion can be used as to what could be accomplished while traveling.
• Entertaining: Characters may use their charisma to boost party morale.
• Other Personal Endeavors: Often, my players use this travel time to pursue personal or party endeavors. This could be studying a magical artifact to identify it, deciphering a text, or even pondering a bit of information they don’t yet understand and would like some help with.
• NPC Relationships: In general, NPCs traveling with the party might engage with a player by helping them with a task (if it is in their skill set) or just straight up chatting with a player. My players may choose to spend their travel time investing in their relationship with another NPC, perhaps sharing life experiences and uncovering secrets or information they didn’t yet know.

Rests

I generally don’t allow long rests during travel; however, resting is still a requirement to avoid exhaustion rolls. I do this to add to the stress of resource depletion and make it to a full encounter day. My players are forced to juggle resources and abilities. Do they expend spell slots during travel only to not have them when it comes time to deal with a bigger problem once they reach their destination?
Kibble nicely outlines a camping system which is fantastically supplemented by his crafting guide. Even if you aren’t including crafting in your game, I recommend you find his system for camping.

In Summary

Using this system, I am able to design a unique travel sequence easily narrated beginning with the environmental effect, NPC roles, and interrupted by a hazard/POI and creature encounter. Throw in a dash of narrative flavor, and you have travel that actually matters but still contains the random possibilities/unexpected surprises and resource management from a random encounter table. I see it operating similarly to a more flexible hex crawl style system without the prep work or long-windedness of a hex crawl.

The title
At least visually, I'm doing exactly the same as this man here, yet my guitar doesn't make any sound. As far as I know, the key is to press the strings right beside the metal things but, as you can see in the picture, the man's fingers aren't even close to it, but he can make the chord sound.
Also, I'd be very grateful if you could tell me about any good YouTube tutorials. I watched tutorials both in Spanish and English and 90% of them are a disaster. They are for beginners, yet they talk as if you knew everything from the start.

1.) Panthers- James Pearce Jr, ED
2.) Patriots- Will Campbell, OT
3.) Broncos- Travis Hunter, CB
4.) Titans- Kelvin Banks, OT
5.) Giants- Carson Beck, QB
6.) Commanders- Luther Burden III, WR
7.) Cardinals- Will Johnson, CB
8.) Vikings- Mason Graham, DT
9.) Raiders- Jalen Milroe, QB
10.) Seahawks- Malaki Starks, S
11.) Saints- Deone Walker, DT
12.) Buccaneers- Benjamin Morrison, CB
13.) Colts- Tetairoa McMillan, WR
14.) Steelers- Shedeur Sanders, QB
15.) Rams- Quinn Ewers, QB
16.) Jaguars- Tacario Davis, CB
17.) Browns- Harold Perkins, OLB
18.) Bears- Nic Scourton, ED
19.) Chargers- Jack Swayer, ED
20.) Texans- Ollie Gordon II, RB
21.) Jets- Jabbar Muhammed, CB
22.) Falcons- Abdul Carter, OLB
23.) Dolphins- Jonah Saviinaea, OT
24.) Packers- Kevin Winston Jr., S
25.) Cowboys- Emeka Egbuma, WR
26.) Eagles- Colson Loveland, TE
27.) Lions- JT Tuimoloau, ED
28.) Bengals- Princley Umanmielen, ED
29.) Bills- Denzel Burke, CB
30.) Ravens- Evan Stewart, WR
31.) 49ers- Emery Jones, OT
32.) Chiefs- Mitchell Evans, TE

Not that playing a 4-string is any less serious or anything. But, here's my story, I'm 43, working towards a commercial Music degree. This is basically all music excluding classical along with audio, pro tools, recording and mixing. I've been a bass player since I was 13 years old. Reading Music is new to me, I've been reading playing piano for a year and a half, and playing classical guitar for about 3 months. I'm really enjoying this!
I signed up for bass, to learn everything about it the right way, the musicians way I guess. I have a 4-string acoustic/electric someone gave me, which is awesome. I also got a 5-string Ernie Ball Stingray, because I want to play jazz as well as rock/blues and other styles, so a lower frequency range is good for this. I'm really liking this bass. Maybe I will start on the 4-string acoustic/electric in class. I dunno if it really matters. My bass teacher will probably help steer me in the right direction. I've been debating about trading the 5-string in for a 4-string electric, but I feel like it would be redundant. I told myself, why not take the challenge and learn how to play a 5-string and really expand my note range. I think I can do it.
Has anyone else had that conundrum? I feel like if I never played bass, I would probably get a 4-string, but playing so many years on a 4, even though there was no formal training or reading music, I can still handle learning on a 5, I think, and it seems like it has more interesting musical possibilities.

Shipping is $5 for one game.
Pictures of games: 1) https://imgur.com/a/HqCWJjA 2) https://imgur.com/a/mXtYmEO
NES
Mega Man 1 (w/ manual) - $110
Mega Man 2 - $35
Zelda II The Adventure of Link - $24
Golf - $4
Silent Service - $3
SNES
Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy's Kong Quest - $22
SFC
Space Invaders (JP) - $2
Dai-4-Ji Super Robot Taisen (JP) - $2
Seiken Densetsu 2 "Secret of Mana" (JP) - $5
N64
007 The World Is Not Enough - $15
007 Goldeneye - $23
Aero Gauge - $14
All-Star Baseball 2001 - $9
Automobili Lamborghini - $6
Banjo Kazooie (PC) - $24
Bio Freaks - $10
Blast Corps - $15
Body Harvest - $17
Buck Bumble - $26
California Speed - $12
Castlevania - $26
Cruis'n USA (PC) - $13
Diddy Kong Racing (wear) - $20
Donkey Kong 64 - $31
Excitebike 64 - $12
F-Zero X - $25
Fox Sports College Hoops '99 - $4
Kirby 64 The Crystal Shards - $35
Kobe Bryant in NBA Courtside (wear) - $3
Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask (gold holo cart) - $60
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (gray cart) - $35
Madden 64 - $2
Mario Tennis - $21
Mickey's Speedway USA - $16
Mission Impossible - $6
Nascar 99 - $3
NBA In the Zone '98 - $4
NBA Showtime - $15
NFL Blitz 2000 - $20
NFL Quarterback Club 98 - $2
NFL Quarterback Club 99 - $2
NHL Breakaway 98 - $5
Nightmare Creatures - $18
Perfect Dark (2 available) - $15 ea
Pokemon Snap - $17
Rugrats Scavenger Hunt - $8
Shadow Man - $14
South Park - $22
South Park Rally - $32
Star Fox 64 - $20
Star Wars Episode I Racer - $8
Star Wars Rogue Squadron - $10
Star Wars Shadows of the Empire (PC) - $12
Super Mario 64 (2 available) - $35 ea
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - $9
Toy Story 2 - $16
Turok Dinosaur Hunter (2 available) - $14
Turok 2 Seeds of Evil - $8
Wave Race 64 - $11
Wipeout 64 - $10
N64 JP
Wave Race 64 (JP) - $4
Excitebike 64 (JP) - $3
Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 5 (JP) - $2
GB
Tetris Flash (CIB, JP) - $10
Legend of Zelda Link's Awakening DX (wear) - $40
GBA
Cartoon Network Speedway (CIB) - $20
DS
Pokemon Black - $73
Wii
Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock (CIB) - $18
Guitar Hero 5 (CIB) - $25
Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock (CIB) - $28
Guitar Hero Metallica (display only variant, missing manual) - $40
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (disc, sleeve, and manual) - $24
Switch
Paper Mario: The Origami King (New, 3 available) - $35 ea
Super Mario 3D All Stars (CIB) - $80
Super Smash Bros Ultimate (CIB) - $35
Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (CIB) - $30
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond (CIB) - $33
PS2
Kingdom Hearts (CIB, GH) - $6
Xbox One
Kingdom Hearts III (CIB) - $5
Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (CIB) - $12
WANT
Zelle, Cashapp, Venmo