Phil. A. Ménard (AKA The Chatty DM)
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chattydm.bsky.social
Phil. A. Ménard (AKA The Chatty DM)
@chattydm.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.1K following 4.8K posts
Dynamically-priced Gen X Gamer Dad. 40 years as a GM, 2.8 years sober. Full-time narrative designer@VibrantStudios (D&D: The Immersive Quest, Transformers (in creation)). Retired award-winning freelance #TTRPG designer. He/Him. FR/EN
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chattydm.bsky.social
An Otyugh with big Pupper energy.

@soryane.bsky.social preparing stickers for an upcoming party-crafter's fair.
October 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Bought myself an IKEA rising desk this weekend. The amazing @soryane.bsky.social assisted me in lugging it to my 2nd floor duplex appartment and building it.

It's so amazing:
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.
October 27, 2025 at 6:43 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Wait till you experience battery-operated super powerful air dusters...
October 20, 2025 at 6:51 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
I saw that one and the artist (Larson) said "She loved it" so here is the tribute:
October 1, 2025 at 6:50 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Descriptive Text: The D&D Starter Set (Deroes of the Borderlands). The box 8.5"X11" box is easily 2.5" inches thick and heavy! It features a young red dragon fighting a classic "4 basic classes" party.
September 17, 2025 at 6:25 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
1000 days sober y'all.

I'm proud of this and I'm proud of all y'all's 24 hours.

Here's to 24 more hours! #sobriety.
Screenshot of my I am Sober app showing a 1000 days streak.
September 15, 2025 at 4:48 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
My bedsheet istrying to tell me they're a switch?
A set of grey-blue form fitting bedsheets with a label saying "Top or Bottom"
September 15, 2025 at 12:33 AM
chattydm.bsky.social
Yeah no, this boi needs to reset his brain with sleep (on a clean pillow)

Note: I've started writing Obsidian session logs for games I play.
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.
September 7, 2025 at 2:06 AM
chattydm.bsky.social
Here is my folder structure.

I've also snuck the Template for a NPC in the Alt Text:
--- 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) -
September 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Final upgrade! Screen extender that was delivered today!

Look at this beauty (or read about it in the alt)!
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.
August 25, 2025 at 3:52 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Back from my vacation week up north. It was restful, and I found my creative drive again and rediscovered the pleasures of writing for oneself again.

Once home, I organized this standing writer's desk.

I just need to add the "Screen Extender" I ordered and my setup will be complete.

#Writing
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.
August 25, 2025 at 1:46 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Finally, I was inspired and applied the material (Godmium) as a Starforged: Ironsworn Truth. (@shawntomkin.bsky.social)
### 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"
August 19, 2025 at 8:21 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
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.
August 19, 2025 at 8:21 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Like I did last time, I'll inject the result of my prompt in an image's Alt Text.

#WorldBuilding #MagiTech #ManaPunk
## 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.
August 19, 2025 at 8:21 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Adding a cool pic here to put my footnote in the Alt Text So the whole Footnote can fit in one Skeet.

This project, and the prompting tool gave me a renewed desire to write for myself. I LOVED every moment of it.
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.
August 19, 2025 at 3:12 AM
chattydm.bsky.social
This may be the worst fork ever!
A restaurant fork that is not only too flat, its head is bent to the right ...
August 15, 2025 at 4:40 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
A few days ago, my previous partner (and now among my best friends, yay!) brought back all the magic cards she had at her place. They're mostly prerelease boxes and some trash magic draft packs and her current partner does not play.

I looked into the bag and this stood out:
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!
July 23, 2025 at 7:50 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
This morning, a stressed-out @soryane.bsky.social showed up at my door to access her secondary work rig as the one she uses at home is temporarily unavailable because of some sort of fuckery she has no control over.

100% somewhat related, this also appeared on my fridge:
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"
July 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Me: This fork is giving me Uncanny Valley vibes.

Her: Argh, it triggers all my 'tisms!

The fork:
A restaurant fork that is just a tiny too flat to feel natural.
July 5, 2025 at 1:46 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Several cards!
July 4, 2025 at 9:50 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
Had 2 sets of acoustic tiles lying around and decided to create some artsy decor along my flats main corridor.
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.
June 9, 2025 at 2:36 AM
chattydm.bsky.social
D&D encounter:

Jungle Path with a river running through it.

2 giant apes, each ridden by a Hobgoblin Captain and a Goblin Boss.

Sneaking deeper in the jungle: A Goblin hexer riding an Ape!

(Using D&D Beyond's Map app and a battle map I bought from a huge Quarantine Pandemic bundle)
May 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
"Because I'm the DM, that's Why"

Ageing more gracefully than I ever expected. I guess these Faustian pacts aren't all that troublesome.
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.
April 22, 2025 at 5:47 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
A goblin caught in the wild!
(Meet @soryane.bsky.social ).
A smiling, grey-haired cutie goblin (re: woman) standing in her natural environment (her office-bedroom) wearing a gigantic crochet millipede.
April 18, 2025 at 11:00 PM
chattydm.bsky.social
I just got my new passport.

When you compare my old photo to the new one, I went from looking like a low level 42 year old Hells Angels to Heisenburg.
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. :)
April 14, 2025 at 2:21 PM