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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Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
yvanspijk.bsky.social
‘Black’ isn’t the original main English word for this colour.

In Old English, that was ‘sweart’. It’s the ancestor of ‘swart’, the now archaic cognate of German ‘schwarz’, Dutch ‘zwart’, and Swedish ‘svart’.

‘Black’ gradually displaced ‘swart’ during the late Middle Ages.

Zoom in for more:

1/
November 30, 2025 at 6:44 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
The true and final neural atrophy of the neural atrophy machine.
kennedytcooper.bsky.social Themperor Kennedy🐸🏳️‍🌈 @kennedytcooper.bsky.social · 1d
When your brain is so cooked it has turned to ash and blown away in the wind
from r/SunoAI title: "Sick of having to come up with prompts" Hey y'all, looking for some tips here. I like what I've made so far with Suno but now I'm kind of hitting a wall with ideas for prompts. Why doesn't Suno also have a feature to write prompts for you? Like just hit a button that says "new prompt" and then hit make song when it comes up with something that sounds interesting! Thoughts?
November 30, 2025 at 4:48 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Without checking my Steam account, I think World of Warcraft is my only serious contender.
sophianyx.bsky.social Sophia_Nyx 🏳️‍⚧️ @sophianyx.bsky.social · 8d
Name a videogame you've played for 1250+ hours.
November 29, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
cypheroftyr.bsky.social
Instead of doing a consumerism on "Black" Friday, consider supporting small businesses, dropping a few coins in someone's ko-fi or go fund me, sign up for their patreon instead.

Life is expensive, things are hard. Drop coins to humans, not AI, or big corporations today.

QRP with your links!
November 28, 2025 at 1:07 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen live.

REM
Sarah McLachlan
They Might Be Giants
The National
Dave Matthews Band

(Also The Chieftains)
clarkvalentine.bsky.social Clark Valentine @clarkvalentine.bsky.social · 3d
Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen.

Crooked Still
Toad the Wet Sprocket
The Cranberries
Natalie Merchant
Better Than Ezra

I’m mostly a 90s guy I guess
tezrak.bsky.social Craig aka Tezrak ➡️ Con Zero @tezrak.bsky.social · 3d
Billy Joel
Chicago/Hall & Oates
Journey/Foreigner
Huey Lewis & the News
Great Big Sea
November 28, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
drgonzo123.bsky.social
Psst. #TheBlackCompanyRPG ... the playtest opens December 1.

Sign up to be alerted:
forms.gle/MbrHP53tSCeQ...

Share and like!
November 27, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
starfinderfacts2e.bsky.social
Science has yet to properly explain why two goblins are measurably stupider than one goblin
November 26, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
worldsbeyondnumber.bsky.social
In the spirit of giving, we're SO happy to announce the official glossary and reference guide for Umora will be out next Monday, December 1st!

Read more: www.patreon.com/posts/144489...
The front cover of the Umora reference guide and glossary. The Worlds Beyond Number cosmic swirl is the background image. in the upper left corner is the Worlds Beyond Number logo. In the center of the image is large white text that reads 'The Wizard, The Witch, and The WIld One.' Below that is slightly smaller white text that reads 'Glossary & Reference Document.'
November 27, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
justkeepskeeting.pro
this is mesmerizing
November 25, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
chrismclaren.com
Good old ocean, making up crazy monsters faster than any ttrpg bestiary.

Scale up that death sponge and put it on land and that's totally a #Numenera monster.
adapalmer.bsky.social Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 6d
A 35-day deep-sea expedition in the Southern Ocean has uncovered 30 new species: from a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge to iridescent armoured worms, black corals and even the first-ever live footage of a colossal squid in its natural habitat. buff.ly/9uVWJvN
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Armored worms and death-ball sponges among array of life newly documented from the deep sea
In the darkness of the deep ocean, where pressure crushes and light fails, an expedition has found an astonishing array of life, including a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge (from the genus…
buff.ly
November 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
seankreynolds.bsky.social
A great story about Pete Seeger (an American folk singer, songwriter, and social activist) cleverly outwitting fascists.
Image: photo of Pete Seeger playing guitar Caption text: In the 1970s, Pete Seeger was invited to sing in Barcelona, Spain. Francisco Franco's fascist government, the last of the dictatorships that started World War II, was still in power but declining. A pro-democracy movement was gaining strength and to prove it, they invited America's best-known freedom singer to Spain. More than a hundred thousand people were in the stadium, where rock bands had played all day. But the crowd had come for Seeger. As Pete prepared to go on, government officials handed him a list of songs he was not allowed to sing. Pete studied it mournfully, saying it looked an awful lot like his set list. But they insisted: he must not sing any of these songs. (Description continues on second image) Caption text, continued from previous image: Pete took the government's list of banned songs and strolled on stage. He held up the paper and said, "I've been told that I'm not allowed to sing these songs." He grinned at the crowd and said, "So I'll just play the chords; maybe you know the words. They didn't say anything about you singing them." He strummed his banjo to one song after another, and they all sang. A hundred thousand defiant freedom singers breaking the law with Pete Seeger, filling the stadium with words their government did not want them to hear, words they all knew and had sung together, in secret circles, for years.
November 24, 2023 at 7:51 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
I was there, Charlie Brown. I was there three thousand years ago, when the strength of Men failed!
lochinvar.bsky.social Rabbit @lochinvar.bsky.social · 7d
You came in that? You’re braver than I thought, Charlie Brown.
rderekp.bsky.social Holly Jolly Derek @rderekp.bsky.social · 7d
Forget about it Jake, it’s Chinatown, Charlie Brown.
November 24, 2025 at 4:14 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Atlanta folks, the Alliance Theater staging of A Christmas Carol is really, really wonderful. Do recommend.
November 23, 2025 at 8:26 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
@sayyadina.bsky.social, my darling wife instructs me that you need to see this.
adamweinstein.bsky.social Adam Weinstein @adamweinstein.bsky.social · 8d
Brandy you're a fine girl
What a good wife you would be
But my life my love and my lady
Is the See
Chicago pope sings
November 23, 2025 at 4:01 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
The ranger that leveled to 15th is now the highest-level character in any D&D game I have ever run, in 32 years of DMing.

I’ve had several games make it to 14th, then have to end for one reason or another. Feels great to break that record while launching into a new major villain.
brandesstoddard.bsky.social Harbinger of Doom @brandesstoddard.bsky.social · 8d
Today's roster:

14th-level Fey Wanderer ranger*
3rd-level Forge cleric/10th-level Diviner wizard*
10th-level Vengeance paladin
9th-level Evoker wizard
8th-level Arcana cleric*
8th-level Champion fighter
7th-level Claw witch*

* gained a level
November 23, 2025 at 12:56 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
Aurikesh Session 170: Where Four Dragons Meet

The session starts with the witch still among her own people, up in the mountains (from session 168). She knows that a truly vast black dragon has woken nearby, but not what to do about that or what the dragon might want.
brandesstoddard.bsky.social Harbinger of Doom @brandesstoddard.bsky.social · Oct 13
Aurikesh Session 169: A Fallen Tower

In this online session the PCs used their fast travel artifact, Gravestone, to travel from their home city to a graveyard that is a week or two away, in the hinterlands.

48 sessions ago, they had freed a storm giant king, who had once ruled an empire.
brandesstoddard.bsky.social Harbinger of Doom @brandesstoddard.bsky.social · Oct 5
Aurikesh Session 168: The Valley of Dry Pines

In this session the PCs handled some personal magic item crafting; I'm negotiating a variant Figurine of Wondrous Power with one of them, and another finished making a reskinned Mizzium Apparatus called the Coffer of Cacophonies. (This will come up.)
November 23, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
ernie.tedium.co
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.

www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Update November 22. We’ve updated this article after realising we contributed to a perfect storm of misunderstanding around a recent change in the wording and placement of Gmail’s smart features. The settings themselves aren’t new, but the way Google recently rewrote and surfaced them led a lot of people (including us) to believe Gmail content might be used to train Google’s AI models, and that users were being opted in automatically. After taking a closer look at Google’s documentation and reviewing other reporting, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Gmail does scan email content to power its own “smart features,” such as spam filtering, categorisation, and writing suggestions. But this is part of how Gmail normally works and isn’t the same as training Google’s generative AI models. Google also maintains that these feature settings are opt-in rather than opt-out, although users’ experiences seem to vary depending on when and how the new wording appeared. It’s easy to see where the confusion came from. Google’s updated language around “smart features” is vague, and the term “smart” often implies AI—especially at a time when Gemini is being integrated into other parts of Google’s products. When the new wording started appearing for some users without much explanation, many assumed it signalled a broader shift. We’ve revised this article to reflect what we can confirm from Google’s documentation, as it’s always been our aim to give readers accurate, helpful guidance.
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
kateross.bsky.social
Friends, this is a low hanging boycott action.

Similar to Hulu and Disney+ actions.

You can help turn the tide and it will make other platforms think twice.

The working class has much more power than they think.
handle.invalid Indivisible ❌👑 @handle.invalid · 9d
Spotify is helping ICE recruit more agents to infringe our rights and terrorize our communities. Stop paying for or using the app until Spotify stops running ads for ICE: indivisible.org/cancel-spotify?source=bluesky
November 21, 2025 at 6:06 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
astrokatie.com
It’s widely known (and, I think, pretty uncontroversial) that learning requires effort — specifically, if you don’t have to work at getting the knowledge, it won’t stick.

Even if an LLM could be trusted to give you correct information 100% of the time, it would be an inferior method of learning it.
us.theconversation.com The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 9d
Relying on ChatGPT to teach you about a topic leaves you with shallower knowledge than Googling and reading about it, according to new research that compared what more than 10,000 people knew after using one method or the other.

Shared by @gizmodo.com: buff.ly/yAAHtHq
November 21, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
antimattr359.bsky.social
It's important to donate for big, important things. I do that. I also have to donate for the little things sometimes, because it's big and important to them.

What a fucking world, huh.
teafaerie.bsky.social Lucy M. @teafaerie.bsky.social · 10d
@catsofyore.bsky.social

Can you give this a boost to help some poorly kitties? The Society for Abandoned Animals is where I adopted my cats Merlin & Juno from many years ago.

www.justgiving.com/campaign/whi...
🚨 URGENT HELP NEEDED TONIGHT 🚨 Today, two tiny babies were signed over into our care—and it became clear almost immediately that they were extremely unwell. They arrived absolutely crawling with fleas, suffering from severe flea-bite anaemia. The infestation is so overwhelming that the fleas are literally killing them. Both little ones have been rushed to the emergency vets and are now receiving critical care. Their PCV levels are just 3.5 and 8—dangerously low. They are fighting for their lives and will likely need blood transfusions to even have a chance of survival. Their treatment will be very costly, and we urgently need your support to give them every possible chance. 💛 If you can, please donate towards their emeegency care. Every share, every pound, every bit of help truly matters tonight. Thank you for standing with us. 💛🐾
November 20, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
susankayequinn.bsky.social
My new favorite kind of meme is "here are detailed instructions on how to turn off AI". 🔨
ABI Bouhmaida @forgoodcode Every Windows 11 PC is now an Al PC with Copilot at the center of it all. Here's how to get rid of Copilot completely from your computer (1/3) ABI Bouhmaida @forgoodcode 1/ Settings App > Personalization > Taskbar > Other System Tray Icons > Switch "Microsoft 365 Copilot App" Off This hides Copilot from your taskbar (9) ABI Bouhmaida @forgoodcode 2/ Press Win + R > Type in ‘regedit’ > Navigate to "HKEY _CURRENT_USER\ Software \ Policie s\Microsoft\ Windows" > Right-click on the "Windows" Key > New > Key > Name the new key "WindowsCopilot’ > Right-click on the new key EY > DWORD (32-bit) Value @forgoodcode 3/ > Name the value "TurnOffWindowsCopilot’ > Double-click the name of the value > Set the "Value Data" to 1 > Restart your computer Congrats! Copilot is now completely gone from your computer. Hope this helps
November 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
LARP prep for our Season 1 closer meant I didn’t play much over the last two weeks, but today I beat the Unravelled!

Not sure if I want to tackle High Halls or Bilewater next.
brandesstoddard.bsky.social Harbinger of Doom @brandesstoddard.bsky.social · 26d
Father of Flame down. I liked that fight for being really different. Also it made me feel super fucking cool about my clawline technique!
brandesstoddard.bsky.social Harbinger of Doom @brandesstoddard.bsky.social · Oct 29
It's been a long time since my last Silksong boss kill! I've been playing and making progress, but it was only this morning that I finally took down the First Sinner.

Next up: Raging Conchfly? Or maybe doing the Trail's End quest?
November 20, 2025 at 4:59 AM
brandesstoddard.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
clairewillett.bsky.social
I’ve been a FreeTaxUSA proselytizer for years and years and I strongly encourage everyone to make the switch. same kind of step by step “for dummies” interface, even for my complicated freelancer taxes, and you don’t have to give your money to one of our most evil lobbyists
moreperfectunion.bsky.social More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 12d
TurboTax is about to be integrated into ChatGPT, where customers will be guided through tasks tied to their tax filings or financial profile by the AI chatbot.

TurboTax owner Intuit is also paying OpenAI more than $100 million a year to power AI agents.
November 19, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Reposted by Harbinger of Doom
lochinvar.bsky.social
LARPing is fun and good actually, and immediately after an event is the time I feel best about being a LARP runner.
November 16, 2025 at 5:05 PM