This industry has a lack of transparency so I'm more than happy to say I will provide lots of that throughout this post with screenshots. There are LOTS of imgur links to back what I say so it's not just words on a post expecting you to just believe what I'm typing.
This post I suppose is "Part 2" my post back in April, "After 2 years of Daytrading. 7 months full time. Here's my advice". I'm doing this to update everyone who came/comes across this in the future. Yes, it is possible. No, it won't be easy. You will pay homage to the rite of passage into this career. I'll also provide some examples of styles of trading so for the newer aspiring traders, there will be some things I rarely see discussed on forums. So here's to 1 year of Full Time Day Trading
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TL;DR - You'll become desensitized to trading. Stubborn to other strategies (There are biggebaddemore lucrative strategies. Don't chase them. Why fix what's not broken? I know what works for me and I'm content with it. No strategy is better than another. It's a personal choice. ). Losing individual trades won't faze you, they're inevitable. Profiting certainly feels better. After a while, you won't be as enthralled to trade every morning, it'll become just another part of your day). Trading is just managing your money through a statistic and the medium to execute it is trading on your platform. Think: "If. Then. Because". Your trading plan should be that black and white. Ask "Why" for everything you do and use. If you can't answer it with documented results, drop it.
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I get a bunch of messages all the time from people asking - . Out of those who follow me and chat me seeking further tips through my previous posts. I'll be answering the FAQ's and addressing things I see frequently in this sub as far as trading axioms
Disclaimer: I won't sugarcoat anything. I'll share my experiences and add pieces of advice I'd give to those who are currently experiencing the same thing becoming a full time day trader and what day to day life is like, the occasional distress, (DRAWDOWNS). Some of you follow my Twitter for the past few months where I post my daily watchlists with a snippet that reveals my DayTradingBuyingPower. I do this not to brag but to demonstrate that the account does yield growth, I pay myself, and there are days where the balance does not move because there was no edge. I also do this since nobody else shows their account performance. (Yes. You, Mr. YouTube gurus and wannabe gurus).
We do this for income, the numbers on our accounts are real. Treat it as such. Get your initial capital out of your account THEN try to "Scale your account" with your profits AKA The Market's Money.
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I'll go over:
•FAQ's that I get in my inbox (I'm still welcome to further questions if I don't answer here)
•Decision Fatigue (You will experience this)
•The previous year (2019-2020) of ups and downs
•How to use my watchlists that I post on Twitter in the morning to your advantage
•The pivotal moment that changed my trading career (NFLX 10-17-19)
•The road to becoming a full time trader. (It won't be fun unless you're handed the money)
•You'll have a better grasp of my strategy (Between ProTip 4 and 5. ProTip 8.)
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There are 10 "ProTips" throughout the post that I wish I could tell myself years back and I'll periodically throw them in here as the post goes on. I make posts long in order to segregate those serious about this business and those who will just become another statistic in the failure rate of this business.
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At the end of this post, I'll go over the frequent questions I receive such as: (Answers to FAQ at bottom of post.)

1. "How do you prepare for a trading day?"
2. "What would you go back to tell yourself?"
3. "Books?" (The most abused question, but I get it. I could start a public library with just trading books I bought over the years)
4. "What is your background?"
5. "What is a normal day for you?"
6. "How did you discover your strategy?"
7. "What did you do/How did you get started?"
8. "What is your % return?" (Not a fun question since a trading account is not an index or investment account. Intraday traders do not measure performance in %. Most are measured in "R".)
9. "Is enough to start trading?"
10. "Why do you need so many monitors"? (This one is rarely asked but I do see it discussed on platforms and people trading on mobile phones love giving flack to anybody who trades on multiple monitors. Hint: Everyone's different. Whatever works for the individual. There are no rules in trading. The only rule is that it works.)

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My story:

Background:
I heard about daytrading during the 2008 crash while in high school. We all want to make more while working less. I entertained day trading from time to time but always realized I never had enough money. Horrible mindset because I could have still researched WHILE saving money to put into my trading business.
2015 - I opened my first trading account with Scottrade while in the Marines. Apparently if you have a net worth of over $1,000,000 you can get out early (Biggest rumor ever).
I frivolously bought crap penny stocks. In short - I was a hair away from gambling. What made it NOT gambling was the fact that at least I owned something tangible (Securities of a company) and anything can happen. Buy low sell high was my strategy. Didn't work obviously. No idea what I was doing. I'd buy and hold hoping to wake up to the stock price being way higher and it never happened.
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•ProTip #1 : If you hold a trade overnight... It is not daytrading. Stop turning into an investor because you can't admit a minor defeat.
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2017 - I started taking this business seriously while working in the oilfield as a Logistics Planner (If you're wondering what company since I am asked this from time to time, Google: "World's largest oilfield services company").
No kids, girlfriend/wife or financial obligations. I worked 10AM - 7PM CST and would trade the open from home for roughly 1 hour. Later I was offered to be a Data Analyst... Only downside was... I couldn't trade since I had to be at work now at 8AM CST during the market open. In the moment of signing the offer letter, I was bummed thinking, "No more trading,"
That wasn't the case though. You can still build your trading business with a 9-5 and while never making one trade. The data is there.
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•ProTip #2 : We all see the same data. It's there forever. Many strategies show their edge both live and in hindsight the same. (Especially if you trade patterns). You CAN build your business as a trader without even taking a trade. You CAN build your strategy while working a 9-5. Just because you're not trading, does not mean you can't build your business through research. You won't know how you'll react to the losses but at least you can diagnose the raw data with a large enough sample size for assurance and confidence.
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If you have a 9-5 and want to go fulltime into this business. Stay for a bit, save, live so far beneath your means that it is almost miserable, (depending on your expenses, area you live, family etc) and get a few hundred sample sizes of your strategy! And for your PTO/days off... trade the open. I sacrificed my vacation days to trade.
After 2 years in corporate America, eating cheap food, never going out, saving relentlessly, I made the decision to just do it and resigned. I went straight into the ring of fire known as trading. That was on: September 23rd, 2019
"" ^{(Sound familiar?})
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When you hear these types of comments.. your response should be: "Nobody put the time I put into this. The 90%+ who fail, don't have it all written out, computerized backtests, manual backtests, statistics, SOP manuals, JUST like the job I have which is a business, I'm just another cog in their wheel. I'll just be wearing all the hats in my trading business. Instead of Oil&Gas, it's just for trading". One thing I see here a lot is people saying to trade X amount of months/years or make X.
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•ProTip #3 - Think in man hours, not calendar. Example:
Trader A puts in 1 hour of study/work/research everyday for 1 year. (365 Hours)
Trader B puts in 12 hours of work every day for 4 months. (~1,450 Hours)
Trader A lives in a major city while Trader B lives in the middle of nowhere. (Think cost of living)
2 totally different living expenses and 2 different calibers of dedication. I'd put my money on Trader B because he put in more man hours. (~1,000 more hours on the clock to be more exact).
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ProTip #4 - Have a cushion in your account AND your personal bank account. Having a strategy is great but you won't know entirely if you can fulfill and execute your plan until you experience the ups and downs both short and long term. A strategy is constant over long periods of time... there will be days, weeks, and perhaps a month here and there where you aren't making much money. We hear all the time, "Trade like a casino". Casinos don't make money day after day but the odds are in there favor over the long haul.
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Month 1 of full time trading was great:
Immediately after going full time, the first month (September 2019 to October 2019), I did super well. Business as usual. No stress. Everything going as planned. No turbulence. At least not like I had ever experienced...
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The 2 prerequisites I had before resigning was:

1. Show consistency in returns. Consistent Sharpe Ratio.
2. Make a 4 figure trade (I achieved this while short 100 shares on ROKU September 20th, 2019 and even made a victory post if you scroll down my profile's posts.)

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First life-changing trading lesson learned as a full time trader:
That money printing spree ended on NFLX October 17th, 2019. Less than 1 month of being a full time trader. Deviating and going against my plan I actually made $500 in a matter of 4 minutes. If you follow my watchlists on Twitter, I always trade with the direction of the gap. If I notate, "Long Watches" that means I will only trade it IF (and only IF) I see a long biased pattern. Likewise I will only be looking to short my "Short Watches". Plenty of times I'll call out a ticker and it immediately goes the other way. No harm no foul because there was no long biased pattern to confirm my thesis.
On 10-17-2019, I went against my plan and it worked.. NFLX gapped up to resistance and I went short when it tanked off of a short pattern.(This is known as fading). The market gave me a free lunch and then some. So now I'm walking on air in my mind:
"I'm an absolute unit"
"I'll do it again and clear another $500 to make it a 4 figure day before 9:30AM Central"
"Should have quit my job way earlier being this good."
Within 30 minutes of the open. I gave all $500 back. Yes I wanted to trade it back. Never have I had the desire to smash anything but I do understand those who do! Yes I stood there and felt like each passing second was wasted opportunity. The next 24 hours were long!
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ProTip #5: It's circumstances like that that help you in the long run. FunFact: I never once deviated from my plan since. Not ever again.
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"I could have paid for my groceries and electric for the month after 4 minutes of trading if I just took the free pass the market gave me" I felt dumb but in hindsight, I'm glad at what happened. It was this exact instance that married me to my strategy/business plan. The next day and the 7 trading days following. I didn't make 1 profiting trade. My longest ever drawdown - 11 straight trades. While researching I found out this was Decision Fatigue (I'll go over this shortly below)
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Put yourself in that situation...
You have bills and your income is strictly trading. I don't care how much a robot you think you are or how strongly you believe in probabilities, when you were in an office less than a month ago making almost 6 figures sitting in an air conditioned office knowing direct deposit is on its way every other Friday no matter how well or poorly you performed at work.. Now you're in the hot seat. Its a bottomless feeling. Now all of your friends and families words are ringing in your head.
But just like a boxing match.. you gotta take a hit to get a hit. Win some, lose some, shake hands and get back to normal life. Water under the bridge.
Mind you:
•No guaranteed direct deposit every 2 weeks.
•No more medical/dental insurance.
•401K retirement is no longer being matched.
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11 trades is nothing. You only require ~5.5 trades at 2:1RRR to make it back OR 3.5 trades at 3:1RRR. It's nothing especially in your research because you can easily just scroll a little more and see, "Oh that's just a drawdown. No big deal". How will you react in real time? Will you buckle or choke? But the thing is, I was skipping trades out of fear and JUST so happened to be picking all of the unsuccessful ones. (Decision Fatigue)
Think about those 2 weeks of being in a drawdown. Half of the month. You're not just stagnant, your account is bleeding slowly but surely. Next time you're looking at your spreadsheet/backtest/predictive model/research.. try to put yourself in those days of drawdown. It's not just 11 boxes of red with "-1R" or "Loss" in them. The screenshot above on Imgur is just a recent example.
Think about your daily routine, going to the gym, hanging with friends, grocery shopping, cooking, going to bed, waking up, doing a routine, then losing again.. and again.. and again. Try to think of life during those 300+ hours (Weekends too) of, "I haven't made money. I've lost money. And I still have bills. After paying them, I'll be closer to my set Risk of Ruin".
Here's a lesson you won't learn before going fulltime but I'll do my best to emphasize it here:
Pick a strategy. And stick with it. It can literally be anything. Don't spread yourself thin watching 20+ tickers and be a jack of all patterns/tickers. Be a master of 1 pattern and master of 1 circumstance. There's this real thing called "Decision Fatigue" which explains exactly why what happened.. happened. The article explains that the 2 outcomes of this mental strain known as "Decision Fatigue" is:

1. Risky Decision-Making
2. Decision Avoidance

Sound familiar? Does it kind of make sense now? As a new trader you have YouTube, Facebook, StockTwits, Twitter, "gurus", books recommended on Amazon, all throwing their ideas/strategies around, the market has opportunities littered all over.. Decision Fatigue is inevitable for the unprepared. Decision Fatigue happens in every profession. If you mess up at your 9-5, its just a blunder, your paycheck will remain the same. Just a slap on the wrist and move on. With trading, you make a mistake.. it's less food on your table, lights don't stay on, and/or water isn't running. That pressure adds up. No wonder so many fail...
The signs of Decision Fatigue:
•Procrastination.
•Impulsivity.
•Avoidance.
•Indecision.
When you find what clicks with you AND its either statistically or performance proven, have the courage to risk a healthy sum of your capital into it. There are strategies/patterns/styles of trading littered all over the internet:
Very broad example:
"IF circumstance happens THEN "Execution". Stoploss is XYZ. Target is XYZ. BECAUSE over a series of Y trades, I will make $X,XXX.xx".
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ProTip #6 : Strategies are all over the internet. It's your account/money, backtest it. People share their strategies here all the time and although I don't agree with them because I know what works for me, it's something to chew off of for you newer traders. YouTube is a harbor with people who give just enough info to figure their style out. You will lose trades. Sit for some screen-time and pay homage to the edge that you discover. All in due time.
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Insert key metrics and find correlations. This is how you create checks and balances to create/formulate a black and white trading plan. When I first started doing this, my spreadsheet(s) had so many columns it was annoying and would kill my desire to continue working. You'll find things that are imperative and some that are unimportant. For a lack of more colorful terms: "Throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks" Trim the fat. Rinse and repeat.
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Here's some things I used to remind myself of and perhaps it'll ring some bells for you:

•Surrender your capital to your edge. If you truly accept the risk and trust your proven edge, losses don't feel like anything nor do profits. Although we're not here to put on losing trades and yes it does feel nice to profit. I still from time to time will excited when I hit target after a series of multiple profiting trades depending on my mood.
•If you're nervous or your heart starts beating quicker when you hear the sound effect of a trade getting entered/filled. Be honest with yourself and ask yourself if you're truly accepting the risk.
•Things you can't take to the bank:

1. RRR.
2. Win-Rate
3. Number of trades.
4. "This one great trade that I hit target in less than 30 seconds and I got filled better than expected"

All of these are integral metrics. But you're trading to make money. It's up or down, green or red, profit or loss, TRUE or FALSE. So with that said, find what works flawlessly and is easy to follow. Checks and Balances. Then allocate a good sum of risk into it. I read it here all the time, "Don't risk too much" and that's great and true for new traders. But don't sell yourself short. Push yourself over the edge and admit that you know your stuff. Think of Trader A and Trader B. If you've put the time in.. don't sell yourself short. You've built enough courage to learn a business so many fail at. This business has such a negative connotation. But remember that not everybody can handle meritocracies and that's exactly what the market is. Don't try to be the best, just work harder than everyone else and the output of your input will be relative.
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ProTip #7: YouTube trading ads from gurus... they're subconsciously making you think you're a novice trader. It's in their marketing. They study marketing psychology. The EASIEST things to sell:

1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Happiness

People that are desperate for those things are the most vulnerable and these "Traders" marketers are fantastic at portraying all 3 of those things at once.
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•ProTip #8 (Broken record alert) : Write a business plan. Your strategy shouldn't take longer than 4 sentences to explain to another trader. When you have a plan that's proven through a statistic and WAIT for it to happen, you feel 100X better taking the trade. You don't even care too much when it results in a loss. Because that was your plan, you accept it much better, and you know it was just an expense for a winning trade.
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Want my strategy? "I scan for stocks with a market cap of over 250M, 10k shares premarket, gapping to support or resistance, priced over $10, and I look for a pattern biased to the direction of the overnight gap. It isn't rocket science. Check my Twitter, look at the dates I posted, and you'll notice the gist. Yes this is an edge but not the entire edge. How fast can you sift through 15 time frames? How long does it take you to fill out your order ticket? Your Fibonacci time extensions with 5 EMA's and Bollinger Bands aren't helping you. They're lagging. If they work for you, great. In my experience, they hindered my visibility.
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Pro Tip #9: Yes statistics are highly applicable to trading. Patterns do work. All patterns do is tell you WHEN to enteexit, and how many shares. Humans will never think differently of money. Be the frontrunner of the market's emotions. Nobody remembers the indecisive leader. Risk taking is a commonality amongst leaders. Trading requires courage and it's O.K. to show a bit of confidence as long as you also have the humility to admit when you're in a bad trade. (Notice how I didn't put, "wrong". You're only "wrong" when you deviate from a proven strategy.)
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ProTip #10: Risk management is 24/7. I've never heard anyone mention this but think about it a little bit. Having financial obligations can become stressful regardless of how you earn your income but its far more stressful while running a business. Not just any business, but a business where you can go to work on your A-game, do every single last thing right, trade without emotion etc... and still walk away with less money than what you came to work with. Meanwhile somebody who JUST started trading made a 4 figure profit not knowing what the heck the difference between ETB, HTB, or NTB. Think of it like this, a JV high school baseball player can hit a homerun off of an MLB pitcher once.. but how will he fare at the end of the season? Traders don't predict stock prices, traders predict the outcome over hundreds of trades. People chat me asking what TO do rather than what NOT to do. You don't learn labor intensive jobs or how to fly a plane by what to do.. you learn what NOT to do to stay alive.
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That's all I have. Once you have a trading plan underway and you're executing it, you don't have much time when your hobbies are cheap but I still do respond to chats/messages. I do get asked from a previous post when I'll build a website and to answer that: I'm learning how to build a site on rainy days. Can't put a definitive date on it. I will say that its coming, if you don't give up on this business in the next year or so, you'll see it. What I plan on putting on there:

1. RiskReward Calculators
2. Position size Calculators
3. EV Calculator
4. Dictionary with examples

I just don't want some generic WordPress site. I want my website to be stellar and a great resource for aspiring traders. Something I didn't have learning this business. I want it to be something I'd consider a staple in a trader's resources. Perhaps one day it will be referenced on this sub frequently.
FAQ:

1. "How do you prepare for a trading day?" I get behind the computer about 20 minutes before the bell. Reason being: "If you study long. You'll study wrong". If the chart isn't grabbing my attention and gets me excited, then I flick to the next ticker. I don't even know the companies I trade half the time nor do I care about a news report some journalist wrote. Also there is no magic news outlet that lets you know about "Major events that affect stock prices". If there was, I wouldn't be here because we're all subscribed to the same edge nor would I be trading my style.
2. "What would you go back to tell yourself?" Get more data. Save a little more, your hairline and sleep schedule will thank you. Take only perfect trades and don't feel forced to trade. There will be days you don't touch an order ticket. And days where you are busy and have tunnel vision. Next thing you know its time to shut it down for the day.
3. "Books?" - I try to humble myself when answering this but off the cuff, they're all mediocre. Andrew Aziz's was ok, definitely get it, it's only a few bucks on Kindle. Just don't expect it to give you strategies BUT it will give you ideas. If you're brand new, it is good as it will teach you the common vernacular of a day trader. Mark Douglas was interesting but his YouTube seminar recordings are much better. No book, Facebook group, YouTube channel is going to be the end all be all perfect strategy. Expect losses. Don't be a one hitter quitter after suffering a few tiny losses/paper cuts. Stick to it. Most books will help you familiarize yourself with the common vocabulary amongst traders and will hint ideas. It's your job to formulate the strategy and template for research.
4. "What is your background?" I was a logistics planner for a major oilfield services company. Later I then became a data/buyer analyst so yes, data analytics/research was a 2nd language for me entering trading. I did have that upper hand and did shave off months if not years for me.
5. "What is a normal day for you?" I'm always done trading after 10:30AM Central. I will hold onto a trade until right before the bell if it hasn't hit either target or StopLoss by the time I leave the house but it is absolutely closed in entirety by 2:55PM Central. After I trade, I enjoy the day. No I'm not riding around in my Lambos posting IG/Snapchat (I have neither) stories of my profits with my private jet waiting on a runway trying to sell an $7 eBook or a $100 membership (HINT HINT). I grill/cook, read, workout, ride my motorcycle, attack my other sources of income (small businesses I'm building), hit the driving range, shoot guns, etc. I live in Texas. Life is cheap and fun here.
6. "How did you discover your strategy?" I bought TradeIdeas premium, went through all of their computerized backtesting patterns, tested them. Then did what I mentioned earlier... Tried to find correlations in metrics. It distilled the trades to a strict criteria and here I am. I post on average 4-5 tickers on my watchlist. 7 max. I do not like spreading my attention thin across multiple tickers. I do not recommend buying TradeIdeas, it does have lots of bugs.
7. "What did you do/How did you get started?" Was a data analyst, was good at research and applied it to trading. My incentive was, "I could have made more money trading rather than sitting in 2+ hours of roundtrip traffic and 9 hours in an office. The data is there. Everybody sees the same charts all over the world. There are ways to make this possible"
8. "What is your % return?" (Not a fun question since a trading account is not an index or investment account. Intraday traders do not measure performance in %) I trade to make money AND pay myself, so my equity curve will look like a small loss or small gain after I pay myself. % return? I measure my account's performance in Sharpe Ratio and Risk Units. My Sharpe Ratio is ~1.85. While I yield roughly .8 - 1 R per trading day. Some weeks I make 10R. Some weeks I lose 2R. Yeah one week I might make $2,500. But the next week I might lose $300. The following week my strategy will yield $0 and the last week I might make $1,000. Some weeks suck. Some weeks are great. But overall. Just shy of 1R per trading day. Some days I'm super busy taking trade after trade. Some days I'll shut it down after 5 minutes without even filling out an order ticket. Some days I won't even see the open because there is no edge for me.. Keywords... "For me".
9. "Is enough to start trading?" Depends on where you live. Are you restricted to PDT? If not then how much are you obligated to expenses? I live in Texas. Things are cheap here. If you live in NYC or The Bay Area your expenses will be astronomical compared to mine. A $30,000 account is totally doable for a single Texan with low monthly expenses. Now if you're in California or New York? I'm sure you'll fall below 25k if you have 1 bad month. Also depends on if you have other sources of income or a full/part time job. I encourage every trader and aspiring trader to have multiple sources of income, don't rely solely on trading. Not just for the sake of mitigating pressure but also for sanity. If you have a family to provide for, I don't know what that's like, you never know when Little Johnny is going to randomly pick up Trombone lessons for a school program/play while little Suzie needs transmission work in her car because a simple solenoid went out. $1,700 later.
10. "Why do you need so many monitors?" I use 3 for trading. The 4th is for music. The other 2 are useless while trading. That's for trading though. When I made the decision to go full time, I knew I was about to go off the chain with research. And sifting between spreadsheets, a platform to see multiple timeframes for a pattern to backtest. My attention span is short, I'll lose my train of thought before I open the other tab to input data. But the main reason was for research. It's such a time saver and is a headache repellant when doing research while everything is laid out in front of you. Now that I have a system. I'll most likely be treating myself to 2 ultrawides for Christmas.

As always, thank you to everybody who takes time out to message me and letting me know some people read these and show appreciation. I would say, "Good luck" but there is no luck in trading. Just statistics. Remember that!
In conclusion: Yes. Full time trading is possible, depending where you live/monthly expenses and obligations. You're more likely to become a profitable trader than a professional athlete. There is a level of uncertainty each day, perhaps each week, doubtful each month, and definitely not each year. If I ever want a raise, I just consult my business plan and financials, then decide if I can handle it mentally. If you have medical issues, get a part time job for the benefits. If you're healthy, just be careful.
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All the best!
-CJT2013

Who doesn't have to wear a mask, and how to get an exemption card
You can download a card to show on your phone, or to print out
ByNeil ShawNetwork Content Editor08:33, 13 JAN 2021Updated11:21, 13 JAN 2021 Supermarkets across the UK are clamping down on mask rules after the beginning of a third national lockdown in England.
Aldi, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose are among those taking the rules more seriously than ever.
Many branches will now have security guards who will ban anyone from entering the store if they are not wearing a mask - unless they are exempt.
In England you must wear a face covering in the following indoor settings (examples are given in brackets):
public transport (aeroplanes, trains, trams and buses) taxis and private hire vehicles transport hubs (airports, rail and tram stations and terminals, maritime ports and terminals, bus and coach stations and terminals) shops and supermarkets (places which offer goods or services for retail sale or hire) shopping centres (malls and indoor markets) auction houses premises providing hospitality (bars, pubs, restaurants, cafes), except when seated at a table to eat or drink (see exemptions ) post offices, banks, building societies, high-street solicitors and accountants, credit unions, short-term loan providers, savings clubs and money service businesses estate and lettings agents theatres premises providing personal care and beauty treatments (hair salons, barbers, nail salons, massage centres, tattoo and piercing parlours) premises providing veterinary services visitor attractions and entertainment venues (museums, galleries, cinemas, theatres, concert halls, cultural and heritage sites, aquariums, indoor zoos and visitor farms, bingo halls, amusement arcades, adventure activity centres, indoor sports stadiums, funfairs, theme parks, casinos, skating rinks, bowling alleys, indoor play areas including soft-play areas) libraries and public reading rooms places of worship funeral service providers (funeral homes, crematoria and burial ground chapels) community centres, youth centres and social clubs exhibition halls and conference centres public areas in hotels and hostels storage and distribution facilities You are expected to wear a face covering before entering any of these settings and must keep it on until you leave unless there is a reasonable excuse for removing it.
You should also wear a face covering in indoor places not listed here where social distancing may be difficult and where you will come into contact with people you do not normally meet.
Face coverings are needed in NHS settings, including hospitals and primary or community care settings, such as GP surgeries. They are also advised to be worn in care homes.
In the context of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, a face covering is something which safely covers the nose and mouth. You can buy reusable or single-use face coverings. You may also use a scarf, bandana, religious garment or hand-made cloth covering but these must securely fit round the side of the face.
The police can take measures if members of the public do not comply with this law without a valid exemption and transport operators can deny access to their public transport services if a passenger is not wearing a face covering, or direct them to wear one or leave a service.
If necessary the police and Transport for London (TfL) officers have enforcement powers, including issuing fines of £200 (reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days) for the first offence.
Repeat offenders receiving fines on public transport or in an indoor setting will have their fines doubled at each offence.
After the first offence there will be no discount. For example, receiving a second fine will amount to £400 and a third fine will be £800, up to a maximum value of £6,400.
There are some circumstances where people may not be able to wear a face covering.
This includes (but is not limited to):
children under the age of 11 (Public Health England does not recommend face coverings for children under the age of 3 for health and safety reasons) people who cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability where putting on, wearing or removing a face covering will cause you severe distress if you are speaking to or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip reading, clear sound or facial expressions to communicate to avoid harm or injury, or the risk of harm or injury, to yourself or others ‒ including if it would negatively impact on your ability to exercise or participate in a strenuous activity police officers and other emergency workers, given that this may interfere with their ability to serve the public There are also scenarios when you are permitted to remove a face covering:
if asked to do so in a bank, building society, or post office for identification if asked to do so by shop staff or relevant employees for identification, for assessing health recommendations (for example by a pharmacist) or for age identification purposes, including when buying age restricted products such as alcohol if required in order to receive treatment or services, for example when getting a facial in order to take medication if you are delivering a sermon or prayer in a place of worship if you are the persons getting married in a relevant place if you are aged 11 to 18 attending a faith school and having lessons in a place of worship as part of your core curriculum if you are undertaking exercise or an activity and it would negatively impact your ability to do so if you are an elite sports person, professional dancer or referee acting in the course of your employment when seated to eat or drink in a hospitality premise such as a pub, bar, restaurant or cafe. You must put a face covering back on once you finish eating or drinking Exemption cards
If you have an age, health or disability reason for not wearing a face covering:
you do not routinely need to show any written evidence of this you do not need show an exemption card This means that you do not need to seek advice or request a letter from a medical professional about your reason for not wearing a face covering.
However, some people may feel more comfortable showing something that says they do not have to wear a face covering. This could be in the form of an exemption card, badge or even a home-made sign.
Carrying an exemption card or badge is a personal choice and is not required by law.
If you wish to use an exemption card or badge, you can download exemption card templates. You can then print these yourself or show them on a mobile device.

Hi! I have compiled a big list of challenges your players can encounter during the adventure.

• These challenges can be used as sub-goals the players will need to achieve on the path to their main goal, as obstacles they need to overcome to get what they want.
• Most of them can also be used as the primary goal, an idea for the whole adventure (just make the stakes higher, make it important/interesting/exciting to accomplish, make it more difficult, add sub-goals and obstacles players need to get through to achieve it).
• Challenges can be mixed and matched. In one adventure, challenge A can be the big primary goal, and challenge B can be a step towards accomplishing this big goal. In another adventure, it can be the other way around. In one adventure, the players need to obtain an item (a powerful weapon) to slay a monster, in another, they need to slay a monster to get their hands on the valuable item. In one adventure they need to rescue someone who has a clue to the mystery, in another they need to solve a mystery to be able to rescue someone.
• Use multiple challenges together to add more depth, make the adventure more difficult/interesting, get players to fight on several fronts. Combine challenges to make them complications for each other, or use conflicting challenges that are incompatible with each other to create difficult choices. Players need to protect a person while also being on the run from the law, they need to spy on someone while traveling through the dangerous environment, they need to fight for political power while pretending to be someone they're not, they need to slay a big monster in the middle of the city while protecting people and avoiding collateral damage.

If you find this list useful - please help me to improve and extend it!

• Share more challenge ideas, how can these challenge lists can be extended?
• What other big challenge categories could I add? Please share a few challenge examples in those categories.
• Share interesting examples for each kind of challenge.
• Share interesting complications and combinations of challenges.
• Share feedback/advice/ideas on improving this project.
• Share good resources (books, random tables, articles) I can use to extend this list.

Action/Adventure Challenges

• Defeat a villain and his minions.
• Defeat a monstecreature/horde.
• Obtain a McGuffin (item, vehicle, money, magic artifact, spell, your lost/stolen valuables, etc)
• Obtain Information (an ancient book, a piece of gossip, a clue, secret codes, a way to break the curse).
• Protect/Escort /Guard a person/creature (a rich merchant, a researcher, a young prince targeted for assassination, a last of its kind monster, tax collector, witness).
• Deliver a person (make sure they don't escape).
• Rescue a person/creature (rescue a hostage or a kidnapped person, break them out of captivity).
• Track, Find, Chase, and Capture/Catch a person/creature/vehicle (a criminal, a runaway, a ship, a lost pet, an escaped experiment, the infected).
• Find and save the missing person (lost kid, caravan, courier, spy.
• Deliver a valuable/fragile item/cargo and protect it from danger (artwork, cursed artifact, mysterious crate, a treasure map, a message).
• Destroy the target (an object, a cursed item, enemy weapon or infrastructure, the enemy base, a piece of blackmail on someone, a source of infection, close a portal).
• Sabotage a plan (disrupt a ritual, prevent a prophecy, undermine the invasion, stop villain from achieving their goals).
• Capture and secure the base/location (enemy city, friendly city under siege, a building, a military target).
• Defend a location (protect a village from monsters, a city from the enemy army, prevent enemies from passing a bridge or a tunnel, protect a crime scene, meeting site, warehouse, protect a ritual to ensure it will get completed).
• Your town/building/ship has been captured and overtaken by enemies. Survive under siege, liberate it.
• Robbery/Heist (rob a train or a blimp, abduct a person, commandeer a ship, steal diamonds from the casino, steal wand from the mage tower).
• Protect many innocent people (save people from a natural disaster for example, release the prisoners/slaves).
• Win a competition (Complications: your team is bad, the other side cheats, you can only win by cheating, the event is more deadly than it was supposed to be. You are competing for other purpose than victory, such as to keep another contestant safe, to spy on someone, or to get into the place where the event goes down, to prevent villain from winning, to prove yourself, to impress someone).
• Prepare for the mission. Get equipment/supplies/transportation/funding.
• Deal with the consequences of a botched/evil magic ritual.
• Distract the enemies. Act as bait for the ambush/trap.
• Train a novice, keep a noble person safe while they go on adventure.
• Build or repair an object (by collecting McGuffin ingredients).
• Perform a Ritual.
• Law Enforcement - act as a police for a town.
• Intercept a delivery, escort, communications.
• Prepare and execute an ambush.
• Act as an experimental subject for a crazy scientist/wizard (for dangerous potions).

Exploration Challenges

• Survive/avoid environmental dangers (think of the place itself as the “villain”, it is a monster without HP that "wants" to hurt players or drain their resources, and has certain powers to accomplish that. Traps, cave-ins, lava eruptions, rock-slides, avalanche, collapsing buildings, impenetrable mist, wild animals, dangerous/poisonous flora, falling into a pit, getting lost, etc).
• Overcome environmental obstacles (a river on your way, a closed gate, climbing a mountain, a swamp, quick sand, slipping hazard above the abyss, thin ice, wild magic area. Retrieve an item from the bottom of the lake.).
• Travel through multiple locations to reach the target.
• Explore the location (to learn about it, to map it, to figure out what happened here. To find bandit camps, enemy encampments, monster nest, a way through, resources).
• Find a lost location/person/item/treasure/clues.
• Scout for information, survey the location/region (ahead of group, enemy territory, monster infested territory, uncharted wilderness).
• Clear location of danger (creatures, traps, haunting ghosts, curses, infestation).
• Track something/someone, find a trail.
• Deal with a natural disaster (storm, earthquake, flood, meteor).
• Survival (without food/water, deal with harsh weather, diseases. Find shelter. Repair a ship or a radio. Find a way to get back home.)
• Enter a guarded area (overcome defenses, defeat security, sneak in unseen).
• Escape guarded location (break out of prison).
• Use environment to your advantage (start an avalanche to block a pass, assume the most optimal position for combat).

Social/Intrigue Challenges

• Convince/Persuade a person to do/say/give you what you want.
• Intimidate/Manipulate/Blackmail/Force someone to do what you want.
• Befriend/Seduce someone, make allies.
• Gain confidence or forgiveness of a person who doesn't like you.
• Find a non-combat resolution.
• Get caught lying/cheating/sneaking, and rectify the situation.
  
• Persuade a group of people (an organization, an angry mob, snobby nobles. Persuade the army to take a route that will slow them down/lead them into an ambush, convince the bandits to raid the enemy, convince farmers to donate food).
  
• Gain social status, power, political influence (prove your worth, gain respect, impress someone, get elected).
  
• Change someone's social status (make them look good/bad, get them elected, overthrow a ruler).
  
• Run a kingdom/village/team/organization/business, lead an army (build a new one, restore the failing one to former glory).
  
• Change the society/group/organization (raise morale, lower the crime, stop witch hunts, deal with corruption).
  
• Gain control over the territory (invade a country or repel the invasion).
  
• Put down or incite rebellion/mutiny/conspiracy.
  
• Negotiate a deal, bargain (political compromise, hostage negotiations, trade information, convince them to sign a document).
  
• Resolve conflict, broker peace, unite rivaling factions, settle dispute.
  
• Establish political/trade relationships .
  
• Navigate a strange culture/customs (without offending anyone).
  
• Cause conflict/rivalry/war, pit people/factions against each other (get enemy minions to mistrust each other).
  
• Deceive a person.
  
• Set someone up, shift the blame to someone else.
  
• Infiltrate a group, conceal your identity (cult, bandits, enemy citadel, thieves guild).
  
• Find the spy/traitomole.
  
• Deal with being blackmailed, spied on, threatened, manipulated.
  
• Deal with a nasty rumor or important information/secrets about yourself being out there.
  
• Defend someone (or yourself) in the court.
  
• Prosecute/judge someone in the court.
  
• Put on a show, entertain.
  
• Redeem or corrupt a person (teach someone a lesson, seduce someone to the dark/light side).
  
• Recruit people to your cause.
  
• Find a way to get someone to owe you a favor, find a way to repay the debt you owe to someone else.
  
• Enforcement - apply pressure to a person to get them to do something or behave in a specific manner, without killing. (Calm down the rowdy gang, collect the debts).
  
• Get enemy soldiers/minions to defect and switch sides.
  
• Create a disinformation/propaganda campaign (feed it to the enemy spy, destroy someone's reputation, saw fear in the hearts of the enemy soldiers).
  
• Perform a con.
  

Mystery/Investigation Challenges

• Investigate a crime (murder, assault, theft, threats, blackmail, destruction of “x”, disappearances, corrupt law enforcer).
• Spying/Surveillance, gather information on a person/creature/location without being noticed. (Are they up to something shady, are they who they claim to be, discover their secret techniques, how are they bypassing security, how do they create “x”, involvement in “x”, what secrets are they hiding, where are they hiding “x”, where do they keep disappearing to, enemy troops, ).
• Search for clues and put them together to reach a conclusion.
• Find and interview witnesses, interrogate suspects.
• Figure out what's going on, unravel a plot.
• Figure out what happened in this location.
• Find evidence (proof of innocence or guilt, expose a corrupt official).
• Find out if the person is lying or keeping secrets, and what they are.
• Figure out someone's plot/motives.
• Figure out who's behind the plot.
• Do research (find and read ancient texts, talk to old wise people).

Stealth/Heist Challenges

• Steal (or plant) an item/information (modify enemy maps, plant disinformation. Plant clues to frame a person).
• Escape from danger (overwhelming force, ambush, pursuit of the law or criminals).
• Hide, cover your tracks, lay low.
• Sneak through undetected (sneak past enemy lines to deliver a message to allied forces, sneak past the bouncers into a party).
• Assassinate stealthily (sneak into the king's chambers, lure them out, use poison, make it look like an accident).
• Deal with getting noticed / drawing an unwanted attention.
• Clean up evidence (yours, someone else's).
• Exchange a real item for a fake or vice versa.
• Return a (creature, item) before anyone notices it's missing.
• Sabotage (device, ritual) without being noticed.
• Smuggle (creature, person, item) into or out of a location.
• Security Testing - breach the clients security unnoticed.
• Frame a person/group/nation for a crime.
• Fake someone's death.

Villain's Moves

• Personally confront the players.
• Send minions after the players.
• Hire a rival team of adventurers or thugs to go after players..
• Send an assassin.
• Send a spy.
• Set a bounty on their heads.
• Set a trap.
• Setup an ambush.
• Take hostages.
• Threaten an NPC players like.
• Frame players for a crime, declare them traitors/outlaws.
• Reveal player's secrets, crimes they have committed.
• Bribe the authorities/police to act against players.
• Convince authorities/police that players are evil.
• Make the public dislike the heroes.
• Have a "dead man switch" that will hurt people or destroy something valuable if the villain is killed.
• Know some information valuable to the players (like where hostages are kept, where the treasure is hidden), so players can't kill them, and must negotiate.
• Set a time-bomb. Something horrible will happen unless players do what they're told.
• Possess/blackmail/threaten an innocent person into doing their bidding.
• Pretend to be someone else to deceive the players.
• Befriend players to use them and betray them later.
• Kidnap one of the players.
• Join forces with another enemy of the players.
• Plant false clues, create decoy trails.
• Frame someone else for their crimes.
• Kill hero's mentoally.
• Cause mistrust, disorder, confusion, infighting among players or general population.
• Hire people to commit crimes while pretending to be someone else to create mistrust/conflict among two parties. (Example: the bandits "from another country" attacks "local merchants", Start a plague in an uneducated city and have the "foreign merchant" sell snake oil cures, "native patriot" kills a "alien anarchist, etc.)
• Put difficult choices in front of the heroes (like forcing Batman to save one of the ferry boats, to save Harvey Dent or Rachel).
• Take away resources from the players (steal their items).
• Give people the wrong idea about his powers/weaknesses.
• Push player's buttons, play on heroes' flaws, temptations, fears.
• Develop a good public image, make friends in the government, be beloved by the public.
• Seduce player's allies to the dark side, convince/threaten them into betraying players.

Complications

• Do it under time pressure (before the ritual is complete, before people run out of air, before reinforcements arrive, before or during the event, in transit, while you still have the chance).
• Do it while competing with the rival team.
• Unrelated people are interfering with the objective.
• Do it stealthily (don't attract attention, don't leave clues, no witnesses).
• Do it while pretending to be someone else.
• Do it without revealing that your client is involved.
• Prevent collateral damage, protect the innocents who are around.
• Avoid violence. Defeat/capture the villain/creature without it being harmed.
• Mitigate the risk, there's a high probability of causing a lot of damage if you're not careful.
  
• Two challenges conflict with each other (you must break your stealth to help someone in trouble, capture criminal or save people who are currently in danger).
  
• Difficult choice. Choose lesser of two evils, choose which people to rescue. Requiring personal sacrifice, risk, compromise.
  
• Opportunities that come with a difficulty, cost or have negative consequences.
  
• Resolve moral dilemma (the creature is dangerous but doesn't deserve to die, you're working for a bad guy, both sides of the conflict have valid points, completing a quest will harm people/environment).
  
• Do it with incomplete information.
  
• Do it with limited resources or without preparation.
  
• Do it without access to powers you're used to having (while sick/injured/debilitated, in an area where magic is outlawed/disabled, having lost your equipment).
  
• Locals here are unhelpful/hostile to you. You have low social status.
  
• You can't trust anyone.
  
• Doing it is illegal, or against authorities best interests, or is threatening a powerful group.
  
• There are regulations/restrictions on what you can do hindering your progress.
  
• Do it while being supervised (the media is all over you, a brilliant detective is on your tail, you are under suspicion, the enemy knows you're coming, you have a spy/mole).
  
• Do it despite your flaws/temptations/fears.
  
• It causes conflict/infighting within the team (player characters will have opposite goals/reactions to it).
  
• Do it while working together with antagonist or someone else you don't like.
  
• The side you're working for turns out to be evil.
  
• The villain is someone you know/like/respect.
  
• The villain is a respected public figure, celebrity, is liked by people or has authority over you.
  
• Bad guy has a dead man switch, if he dies the others will suffer or treasure will be lost. Bad guy is the only one who knows the valuable information.
  
• The people you're helping don't want your help.
  
• Vital information turns out to be wrong.
  
• Deal with the betrayal.
  
• Mission has been rigged to fail from the start (PCs may be used as a scapegoat).
  
• Objective is stolen before the PCs arrive.
  
• Objective must be undamaged.
  
• The important item has been transmuted and needs to be changed back, locked in a safe and needs a code to unlock, is a mineral that needs to be refined by a specific process. A book or a message is written in a foreign language that requires a translator.
  
• Only a bad/unpleasant person can provide the item/information/favor you need.
  

Please leave a comment and contribute to this project!
Edit:
I've had a few pretty huge epiphanies while writing this post:

• Stories are fundamentally about problem solving. Roleplaying is fundamentally about problem solving. This is the fundamental "game loop" of RPGs - GM puts a problem in front of the players, and they find creative ways to solve it, that's what gives them fun stuff to do and feels satisfying to accomplish.
• Adventure Ideas are fundamentally problems. They create an exciting, challenging, important goal for the players to accomplish.
• Big problems are broken down into small challenges. But fundamentally, the big climactic adventure/campaign goals and the small challenges players encounter on their way are the same thing. Every scene the characters solve a small problem, and it drives them towards solving the big problem. That's what plot points are - players solving or failing to solve a problem, which moves them closer to or farther away from the goal. Which feels exciting/valuable/dramatic.
• Conflict, obstacles, social/exploration/combat encounters are fundamentally just sources of problems. There probably are other sources that can generate problems.
• It's all just nested challenges: Campaign Problem > Adventure Problem > Scene Problem. And any challenge can be used on any of these levels.
• Therefore, the list above is a list of adventure ideas and plot points at the same time. Make any challenge very important/difficult/exciting to accomplish - and it becomes an idea for the adventure or a campaign. Make any adventure idea relatively small and simple - and it becomes a scene challenge (encounter). Put a number of smaller challenges in front of the players - and you've got your basic story structure (a list of encounters, the gameplay). Because goals and challenges are fundamentally the same, just the nested problems, they can be combined in any order to create any number of unique adventures.
• Also, it means that you can take big story ideas from movies, TV episodes, published modules, and use them as ideas for small encounters. Shawshank Redemption, Alien, Jaws, Incredibles - they can be big campaign ideas, small adventure ideas, or just a thing characters do in a scene (escape from the prison, hide from a monster, defeat a big golem).
• Game mechanics are also challenges. If there's an RPG system that gets players to do something awesome (GM moves in Dungeon World, Favors/Debts and Social Status mechanics from the Undying, Weak Moves from Dream Askew) - you can use those as challenges too.
• Even a single challenge can create an unlimited number of unique stories - you just change the concrete details. McGuffins, NPCs, locations, etc.

Edit 2:
Wow, this is taking off. If you like this post, you will probably enjoy my posts on Adventure Writing Process, Adventure Template (a list of the most important questions to answer when designing an adventure), and Making Combat Awesome. If you want updates on my future posts - follow me here.
Edit 3:
Created a little "Story Generator App" that will pick the random challenges for you.

The 23rd season of the Big Brother: House of Temptation series is here!
This season on BBHOT, 16 brand-new and unique strangers entered the game looking to either win the money, make a name for themselves, or get some publicity. Using the BB21 template, this season was full of twists and turns that rocked the player's games. What will go down in the BBHOT books, find out now!
Also, I apologize to all the supporters of this series. I have been very busy with school and a lot of assignments and other things, so my free time is much more limited. I hope you understand and I'll pick up the pace moving forward if I can! My apologies and thank you for making this series so great!
View the season down below and give your thoughts!
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View the season here - SEASON 23 LINK
View this seasons voting chart - S23 VOTING CHART
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THE CAST:
Michael Hale, 37, Secondary Teacher - u/Nahuelfire39

• Despite being 37 years old, Michael is constantly controlled by his parents because of their overprotection of him since childhood and they think they are doing "the best" for him, which includes his personal life, his job, even his marriage was arranged! Because of this, Michael is often cowardly about his decisions and how others might receive them. He now thinks that only force is understandable and that a person should be judged by his ability and not his gender. This does not prevent Michael from being kind and genuine towards other people and trying to at least make friends. In another part of his life, he is fine, living decently with his husband and siblings.

Alexa Station, 20, YouTuber - u/IAmWolfNinja

• A 3 AM YouTuber who arrived late to the trend, Alexa has a tendency to flex her belongings when no one really cares. She was recently involved in a scandal where she faked her boyfriend's death, causing endless amounts of controversy. Her sub count is dropping significantly every day, so she joined to help gain her popularity (relevancy) back. Being on BBHOT could help her to do so, and win some money as well.

Michael Krumptone, 47, Band Director - u/swoldow

• Michael had dreams of being a musician since he was a kid, and had the drive to learn his craft to the best of his ability.... however, the 80s weren't really the most popular time period for french horn players, so he could never get that big break he always thought he'd have, despite getting a music degree. As a result, he grew old and bitter, resenting modern genres of music like rock and rap, as they are what took his career away from him. He does marching band at a few high schools and basically treats it like it's prison camp due to how bitter he is, and he eventually grew to love his job; torturing kids like him into giving up on their dreams. However, he still hates his life, as he recently had to pick up another school to teach to pay for his ungrateful wife's Netflix, so he needs money somehow.

Sonia McDevitt, 18, Bartender - u/ParisGoldC

• Sonia enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants, and tinkering with her 1972 Cutlass Supreme. She enjoys boxing, sweating, and being with her close friends. Sonia describes herself as self-reliant, bitchy, and big-hearted. She indicates that, although she seems guarded, she is in fact a lover and nurturer underneath the surface. In her spare time, she enjoys singing in her band. She believes her extensive world travel, endurance, ability to somewhat read people, and understanding of the human condition will be skills that will help her on Big Brother.

Mara D'Antonio, 34, Life Coach - u/ParisGoldC

• Even though she may come across as sweet and kind-hearted – and she is – she has a spirit of steel. A mere month after the trauma of losing her twins, she completed a marathon. Mara pours her heart into NGOs to make a difference and says she entered Big Brother: HoT not only to win, "but also to step into the shoes of those who have absolutely nothing; no bed, no food, no warmth, no shelter".

Malcolm "Mac" Everett, 27, Basketball Coach - u/SilverOwl24

• Mac grew up in the Bronx and learned how to not only have thick skin but also how to have some street smarts too. He was a basketball star in High school and was recognized in College as a great player for Basketball too. Now, he teaches others how to play the sport he loves. He's ready to show Big Brother how he does it and to make the black community proud.

Jessa Blanchard, 29, Beauty Salon Owner - u/SilverOwl24

• Jessa has been underestimated most of her life. Growing up she was overweight and had low self-esteem. However, once her grandmother inspired her that no matter how you start, it's never too late to start over and make a new change for yourself. Since then, she lost weight, made everlasting friendships, and even opened up her own hair studio/salon. She's going into BB, expecting to be underestimated, but is looking forward to pulling the rug out from under them.

Douglas Chance, 29, ER Nurse - u/TDSwaggyBoy

• Ever since he was born, Douglas' family taught him how to be a ''gentleman''. Be the kind of person that people are proud to call their friend. Always help others when they need your help, always be there for people. He decided to become a nurse, wanting to help in the medical field as he always had a knack for it. Douglas has dedicated his life to helping others and hopes to come on BB and use this platform in order to shine a light on big and important matters. He doesn't necessarily care about winning, but he'll give it his all. Douglas has overcome a lot of challenges in his life, and he's ready to face this one head-on.

Karl Pearson, 42, Gardener - u/TDSwaggyBoy

• Karl has always loved the outdoors. He's a very outdoorsy kind of guy, loving adventures of all kind. As a kid, Karl was always a bit of an oddball and an off-beat. Despite it, however, he always managed to surround himself with a good, close group of friends. Karl is an only child, and his mom sadly passed away a short while after he was born. Ever since a young age, he had to work in order to help his dad with paying their bills and taking care of their house, which made him quite responsible, surprisingly. Due to his love for adventures, Karl ended up signing up for Big Brother and was accepted as he was seen as an interesting character. How well will he fare?

Georgia "Gigi" Seedrow, 21, Unemployed - u/AngolanDesert

• There’s always that one girl in high school who was the most popular but was also the most mean. This was Gigi in high school. Her parents are millionaires and made sure that she was set for life. Her only worry is what shoes to pick out the next day. She wanted to play Big Brother because she loves to manipulate people. Maybe her insecurities will be shown this season.

Belinda "Bertha" Matthews, 43, Lunch Lady - u/AngolanDesert

• Bertha has grown up being made fun of for her looks, which is something she can’t control. This has hardened her and turned her into the strong woman she is today. Now, she serves middle schoolers during lunchtime. She wants to make a name for herself, and this is her chance to do so. She’ll do anything to get this money.

Brett Herman, 28, Professional Poker Player - u/Twig7665

• Brett was born into wealth in a mansion in Texas. He lived through most of his childhood in that wealth until his father was caught up in a huge scandal that left him without money, so at age 17, Brett ran away to Las Vegas where he could begin a new life. He started playing poker in the streets, and when he was old enough to gamble, he went to a casino and stunned his opponents by winning the first time he played for money. Soon, people began to realize his talent, and he played in his first professional poker game at the age of 22. Once again, he won, and he became one of the most successful professional poker players in history. This fame caused him to grow arrogant and become a huge jerk, even to his manager. Now rich again, he isn't playing the game for money, he's playing the game to try something new and to gain another title.

Giovanni "Dr. Moreno" Moreno, 52, Doctor - u/Twig7665

• Giovanni, better known by his moniker Dr. Moreno, was the son of an Italian immigrant, and he had a mostly normal childhood until his mother fell ill when he was nine. She died not long afterward, and the young Giovanni did not want to watch people die when he could help them, so he spent as much time as he could preparing to be a doctor in his teens, and when he was in his early 20s, he graduated from medical school and became a doctor, a role which he has held for almost thirty years now. He now has a family of his own, with a wife, three sons, and a grandchild. He is playing Big Brother for them.

Leonardo Khan, 34, History Teacher - u/Malpa15

• Leo is a very smart person as he is a teacher but his real strength lies in his outgoing personality. He plans to create a majority alliance and stab them all in the back. This mix of skills is definitely a great thing for this game. The question is will he be able to pull off this strategy?

Sonja Bush, 22, Gymnast - u/Malpa15

• Sonja comes from a poor family and her life goal is to get rich. She devoted her childhood and teenage years to train like a gymnast. She got better and better over the years and is now very competitive. She plans to dominate the challenges and get to the end with sheer force in BBHOT.

Justin Tyung, 26, Bartender - u/asiansurvivorfan

• A French-born Vietnamese child, Justine was brought up by a tiger mother and a father that she barely talked to nor cared for. Her mother would always try to push into the route of her choosing, Justine being a free spirit, hated her mother’s ideal future for her so she decided to run away at the age of 16. For the rest of her teen years, she moved from different locations and joined a “gang” where she managed to get money by doing many different things. She then decided to reinvent her image by going full goth and getting tattoos and piercings, something her mother would never approve of. She eventually got a job as a bartender and there she met a coworker with a very similar story to her. They instantly connected and became really close. She doesn’t keep in contact with any of her family members except for her brother from time to time and is completely fine with that.

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OVERVIEW AND THOUGHTS OF THE GAME AND HOUSEGUESTS (Obvious spoilers!)
Opening: 16 brand-new houseguests enter the house of temptation for our 23rd season! This season is not like others, there are an extreme amount of twists ready to shake up this game! The banishment and opening eviction are the first.
Camp Director Twist: Evicted: Justine | In this brand-new twist, Douglas, Dr. Moreno, and Michael plead to be the camp director. By a close vote, this power goes to Michael! He chooses to banish Michael H., Justine, Mac, and Sonja. Michael H, then Mac, then Sonja reenter the house. Justine is the first evictee of the season. This is so sad! She may get the chance to come back in! ;)
Week 1: Evicted: Mac | After the opening eviction, Michael H. is the new HOH after being banished! He targets Brett and Mac in his nominations, but Brett pulls out the first veto! This forces Michael to put someone up, and he nominates Gigi. The house votes out Mac, but Justine returns and the camp comeback twist is in play! Michael K. has been dominating with power, and now has the nightmare power. He's definitely a big threat.
Week 2: Evicted: Douglas | Wow! This was a great and intriguing week. Leo becomes the new HOH! He nominates the 2 players in the medical field, Dr. Moreno and Douglas. Dr. Moreno's veto pick Gigi wins, and he is saved! This causes Leo to make a big move by backdooring Brett. This is where the strategy comes into play. Brett makes a 6-person alliance and secures 4 out of their 5 votes to stay. He also gets Bertha's vote, which sends Douglas out and keeps Brett in for a blindside. This was a huge move and this could really change the season! I'm super sad Douglas left so soon though.
Week 3: Evicted: Bertha | Michael is the new HOH, and puts up Alexa and Sonja. When players are picked, Brett activates his power. However, the same 3 houseguests are picked again! This is so funny and the odds of it happening are so low. This is definitely a memorable moment! Sonja saves herself by winning the veto! Michael K puts up Bertha, leaving the final 2 duo on the block. The house almost unanimously decides that Bertha should be evicted. After being eliminated on day 1, Justine returns to the game like nothing happened! I can't wait to see how she plays.
Week 4: Evicted: Leo | Alexa wins the HOH! Her HOH was not the best, as she had to nominate 5 people. She first tries to put up Sonja and Michael K, but Michael activates his power, forcing her to then nominate Gigi and Leo. Gigi picks Sonja to play, and Sonja wins the POV. Alexa puts up Brett. In a tie, she evicts Leo. This was not the best move, because the alliance now has the potential to take the full majority. Good move on Michael's part, he's been a big threat in this pre-jury phase.
Week 5: Evicted: Michael K | Sonja is able to clutch all of the power for the week! This allows her to be able to take a big threat, Michael, out. She puts Alexa up as a pawn and is able to lock the nominations and unanimously send him home. Michael K really had a big impact on the first part of the game. This leaves room for some people to step up and do the same.
Week 6: Evicted: Justine | Sonia wins the HOH, and misses on a move. She nominates the duo of Gigi and Dr. Moreno, and Gigi saves herself. This allows Sonia to potentially nominate someone big, but she nominates Justine and she goes home obviously. This season has such great potential and the fact that an alliance is running it right now annoys me. And now Justine, someone who wasn't a big threat at all, is the first in the jury.
Week 7: Evicted: Michael H. | Another outsider heads to the jury this week, as Brett becomes the new HOH. In the field trip twist, Karl stays safe while Gigi goes on the block. There was no way she would've gone home anyway, and Sonja ends up saving her. This leaves Michael to be the next evicted player. I hope there can be a power shift next week to switch up the season.
Week 8: Evicted: Sonia | Gigi takes all the power for the week, and gets Sonia evicted. This was a predictable week, as Sonia is probably the biggest threat out of the outsiders left. Gigi and Sonja are doing great with comps, but I'd like to see some new things happen. Hopefully, Jessa can win herself a comp since her power wasn't used.
Week 9: Evicted: Jessa | She was one of my favorites going into the season, so I'm really bummed she didn't pull through as an underdog. Brett wins HOH in another predictable scenario. Jessa wins the prankster and puts up her other outsider, Alexa. This is a terrible move. She could've at least tried to put someone in the alliance up. Brett, Gigi, and Sonja are steamrolling through the game right now.
Week 10: Evicted: Brett | Karl wins his first comp with the HOH, and goes after Brett instead of trying to get Alexa out. Sonja wins yet another veto and locks the nominations. The vote ties and Karl gets Brett out. This is definitely a big move for his game and sets himself up nicely for the double eviction.
Week 10 Double Eviction: Evicted: Dr. Moreno | Dr. Moreno is next out the door after Gigi wins the HOH. I was expecting another person in the alliance to go, but the fact that Gigi got Moreno out after being so close to him the whole game was crazy! Sonja wins the veto (again) and Dr. Moreno is blindsided in a 2-1 vote. Sonja has now won 7 vetoes, which is the record for this series! She's not one of my favorites on the cast, but these comp wins are crazy and I have to give her credit! Sonja and Gigi have won every POV this season except for one.
Week 11: Evicted: Mara | This really surprised me! I thought Mara and Karl were a tight duo. I think he really wanted Sonja to leave, but she won her 8th POV and got to the final 4. I'm sad that Mara is out because of her backstory, but all of the final 4 have worked hard to be there. Competitions will probably decide who gets to the end and wins.
Week 12: Evicted: Alexa | Sonja wins her 10th competition, and keeps her closest ally safe. Gigi then wins the veto, and make a fake alliance with Alexa before evicting her. I feel like that was unnecessary, but that's just who Gigi is. I like Karl the most out of this final 3, but Sonja really deserves to win. Alexa was a really cool personality to have on this season and I'm surprised she made it so far.
Final 3: Evicted: Karl | This is no surprise. I knew this final HOH was going to Sonja, and Karl having a fight with her just sealed his fate even more. Sonja also forms a random alliance with Karl before evicting him, which is really not necessary. They just love to manipulate. Sonjia 100% deserves to win this season. She has the most competitions wins out of any houseguest in BBHOT history, even though the game is not all about comps.
Finale:
Runner-Up: Sonja | I swear this happens every time someone should win over the other. The jury was very bitter and she only received 3 votes. Sonja won almost every veto this season along with Gigi, and I really think she should have won. Gigi did make more moves, though. Her comp win record will take a lot to be beaten! I wasn't expecting that to happen this season!
Winner: Gigi | Gigi was one of my least favorite on the cast. Seeing everyone's backstories compared to her's made me not like her as much and that she didn't deserve to win. She did play this game well, and she really used her manipulation skills to the best. Her and Sonja were one of the strongest duos to play and even though it may have been boring, watching them dominate the season was very cool as well.
Fan Favorite: Mara | Yay! She didn't have a big impact on the game, but her backstory was very wholesome and she really deserves this!
Possible for an all-star or returnee season: Sonja, Karl, Mara, Brett, Jessa, Justine, Alexa
Notable Stats!
Most Wins: Sonja, 11 wins (#1 record)
Most Times Nominated: Alexa, 6 nominations
Most Votes Against: Brett, 13 votes
Times Veto Was Used: 7 times
Final Thoughts: I really loved this cast! I was super excited to see them all play and was hoping someone deserving would win the money. The move that Brett made to save himself during Week 2 was amazing, but that alliance kind of ruined the season. I wanted to see power shifts and big moves, but it was repetitive. There were still some great moments though, like Brett using his power and getting the same 3 players, and Sonja breaking the comps record. It wasn't a bad season, but it could've gone better! I hope to see some of these players back under better scenarios.
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PAST SEASONS:
Season 1
Season 2
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7: All-Stars
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10: Newbies vs. Veterans
Season 11
Season 12: Couples
Season 13
Season 14
Season 15: Coaches
Season 16
Season 17
Season 18: Generations
Season 19
Season 20: Strength vs. Skill
Season 21: All-Stars 2
Season 22
Season 23
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Season 24 is coming! This will be an all-newbie season! Season 25 will not be all newbies ;)
Leave thoughts and suggestions down below!
~Brought to you by u/PJCGames~

Hi! I have compiled a big list of challenges your players can encounter during the adventure.

Action/Adventure Challenges

• Defeat a villain and his minions.
• Defeat a monstecreature/horde.
• Obtain a McGuffin (item, vehicle, money, magic artifact, spell, your lost/stolen valuables, etc)
• Obtain Information (an ancient book, a piece of gossip, a clue, secret codes, a way to break the curse).
• Protect/Escort /Guard a person/creature (a rich merchant, a researcher, a young prince targeted for assassination, a last of its kind monster, tax collector, witness).
• Deliver a person (make sure they don't escape).
• Rescue a person/creature (rescue a hostage or a kidnapped person, break them out of captivity).
• Track, Find, Chase, and Capture/Catch a person/creature/vehicle (a criminal, a runaway, a ship, a lost pet, an escaped experiment, the infected).
• Find and save the missing person (lost kid, caravan, courier, spy.
• Deliver a valuable/fragile item/cargo and protect it from danger (artwork, cursed artifact, mysterious crate, a treasure map, a message).
• Destroy the target (an object, a cursed item, enemy weapon or infrastructure, the enemy base, a piece of blackmail on someone, a source of infection, close a portal).
• Sabotage a plan (disrupt a ritual, prevent a prophecy, undermine the invasion, stop villain from achieving their goals).
• Capture and secure the base/location (enemy city, friendly city under siege, a building, a military target).
• Defend a location (protect a village from monsters, a city from the enemy army, prevent enemies from passing a bridge or a tunnel, protect a crime scene, meeting site, warehouse, protect a ritual to ensure it will get completed).
• Your town/building/ship has been captured and overtaken by enemies. Survive under siege, liberate it.
• Robbery/Heist (rob a train or a blimp, abduct a person, commandeer a ship, steal diamonds from the casino, steal wand from the mage tower).
• Protect many innocent people (save people from a natural disaster for example, release the prisoners/slaves).
• Win a competition (Complications: your team is bad, the other side cheats, you can only win by cheating, the event is more deadly than it was supposed to be. You are competing for other purpose than victory, such as to keep another contestant safe, to spy on someone, or to get into the place where the event goes down, to prevent villain from winning, to prove yourself, to impress someone).
• Prepare for the mission. Get equipment/supplies/transportation/funding.
• Deal with the consequences of a botched/evil magic ritual.
• Distract the enemies. Act as bait for the ambush/trap.
• Train a novice, keep a noble person safe while they go on adventure.
• Build or repair an object (by collecting McGuffin ingredients).
• Perform a Ritual.
• Law Enforcement - act as a police for a town.
• Intercept a delivery, escort, communications.
• Prepare and execute an ambush.
• Act as an experimental subject for a crazy scientist/wizard (for dangerous potions).

Exploration Challenges

• Survive/avoid environmental dangers (think of the place itself as the “villain”, it is a monster without HP that "wants" to hurt players or drain their resources, and has certain powers to accomplish that. Traps, cave-ins, lava eruptions, rock-slides, avalanche, collapsing buildings, impenetrable mist, wild animals, dangerous/poisonous flora, falling into a pit, getting lost, etc).
• Overcome environmental obstacles (a river on your way, a closed gate, climbing a mountain, a swamp, quick sand, slipping hazard above the abyss, thin ice, wild magic area. Retrieve an item from the bottom of the lake.).
• Travel through multiple locations to reach the target.
• Explore the location (to learn about it, to map it, to figure out what happened here. To find bandit camps, enemy encampments, monster nest, a way through, resources).
• Find a lost location/person/item/treasure/clues.
• Scout for information, survey the location/region (ahead of group, enemy territory, monster infested territory, uncharted wilderness).
• Clear location of danger (creatures, traps, haunting ghosts, curses, infestation).
• Track something/someone, find a trail.
• Deal with a natural disaster (storm, earthquake, flood, meteor).
• Survival (without food/water, deal with harsh weather, diseases. Find shelter. Repair a ship or a radio. Find a way to get back home.)
• Enter a guarded area (overcome defenses, defeat security, sneak in unseen).
• Escape guarded location (break out of prison).
• Use environment to your advantage (start an avalanche to block a pass, assume the most optimal position for combat).

Social/Intrigue Challenges

• Convince/Persuade a person to do/say/give you what you want.
• Intimidate/Manipulate/Blackmail/Force someone to do what you want.
• Befriend/Seduce someone, make allies.
• Gain confidence or forgiveness of a person who doesn't like you.
• Find a non-combat resolution.
• Get caught lying/cheating/sneaking, and rectify the situation.
  
• Persuade a group of people (an organization, an angry mob, snobby nobles. Persuade the army to take a route that will slow them down/lead them into an ambush, convince the bandits to raid the enemy, convince farmers to donate food).
  
• Gain social status, power, political influence (prove your worth, gain respect, impress someone, get elected).
  
• Change someone's social status (make them look good/bad, get them elected, overthrow a ruler).
  
• Run a kingdom/village/team/organization/business, lead an army (build a new one, restore the failing one to former glory).
  
• Change the society/group/organization (raise morale, lower the crime, stop witch hunts, deal with corruption).
  
• Gain control over the territory (invade a country or repel the invasion).
  
• Put down or incite rebellion/mutiny/conspiracy.
  
• Negotiate a deal, bargain (political compromise, hostage negotiations, trade information, convince them to sign a document).
  
• Resolve conflict, broker peace, unite rivaling factions, settle dispute.
  
• Establish political/trade relationships .
  
• Navigate a strange culture/customs (without offending anyone).
  
• Cause conflict/rivalry/war, pit people/factions against each other (get enemy minions to mistrust each other).
  
• Deceive a person.
  
• Set someone up, shift the blame to someone else.
  
• Infiltrate a group, conceal your identity (cult, bandits, enemy citadel, thieves guild).
  
• Find the spy/traitomole.
  
• Deal with being blackmailed, spied on, threatened, manipulated.
  
• Deal with a nasty rumor or important information/secrets about yourself being out there.
  
• Defend someone (or yourself) in the court.
  
• Prosecute/judge someone in the court.
  
• Put on a show, entertain.
  
• Redeem or corrupt a person (teach someone a lesson, seduce someone to the dark/light side).
  
• Recruit people to your cause.
  
• Find a way to get someone to owe you a favor, find a way to repay the debt you owe to someone else.
  
• Enforcement - apply pressure to a person to get them to do something or behave in a specific manner, without killing. (Calm down the rowdy gang, collect the debts).
  
• Get enemy soldiers/minions to defect and switch sides.
  
• Create a disinformation/propaganda campaign (feed it to the enemy spy, destroy someone's reputation, saw fear in the hearts of the enemy soldiers).
  
• Perform a con.
  

Mystery/Investigation Challenges

• Investigate a crime (murder, assault, theft, threats, blackmail, destruction of “x”, disappearances, corrupt law enforcer).
• Spying/Surveillance, gather information on a person/creature/location without being noticed. (Are they up to something shady, are they who they claim to be, discover their secret techniques, how are they bypassing security, how do they create “x”, involvement in “x”, what secrets are they hiding, where are they hiding “x”, where do they keep disappearing to, enemy troops, ).
• Search for clues and put them together to reach a conclusion.
• Find and interview witnesses, interrogate suspects.
• Figure out what's going on, unravel a plot.
• Figure out what happened in this location.
• Find evidence (proof of innocence or guilt, expose a corrupt official).
• Find out if the person is lying or keeping secrets, and what they are.
• Figure out someone's plot/motives.
• Figure out who's behind the plot.
• Do research (find and read ancient texts, talk to old wise people).

Stealth/Heist Challenges

• Steal (or plant) an item/information (modify enemy maps, plant disinformation. Plant clues to frame a person).
• Escape from danger (overwhelming force, ambush, pursuit of the law or criminals).
• Hide, cover your tracks, lay low.
• Sneak through undetected (sneak past enemy lines to deliver a message to allied forces, sneak past the bouncers into a party).
• Assassinate stealthily (sneak into the king's chambers, lure them out, use poison, make it look like an accident).
• Deal with getting noticed / drawing an unwanted attention.
• Clean up evidence (yours, someone else's).
• Exchange a real item for a fake or vice versa.
• Return a (creature, item) before anyone notices it's missing.
• Sabotage (device, ritual) without being noticed.
• Smuggle (creature, person, item) into or out of a location.
• Security Testing - breach the clients security unnoticed.
• Frame a person/group/nation for a crime.
• Fake someone's death.

Villain's Moves

• Personally confront the players.
• Send minions after the players.
• Hire a rival team of adventurers or thugs to go after players..
• Send an assassin.
• Send a spy.
• Set a bounty on their heads.
• Set a trap.
• Setup an ambush.
• Take hostages.
• Threaten an NPC players like.
• Frame players for a crime, declare them traitors/outlaws.
• Reveal player's secrets, crimes they have committed.
• Bribe the authorities/police to act against players.
• Convince authorities/police that players are evil.
• Make the public dislike the heroes.
• Have a "dead man switch" that will hurt people or destroy something valuable if the villain is killed.
• Know some information valuable to the players (like where hostages are kept, where the treasure is hidden), so players can't kill them, and must negotiate.
• Set a time-bomb. Something horrible will happen unless players do what they're told.
• Possess/blackmail/threaten an innocent person into doing their bidding.
• Pretend to be someone else to deceive the players.
• Befriend players to use them and betray them later.
• Kidnap one of the players.
• Join forces with another enemy of the players.
• Plant false clues, create decoy trails.
• Frame someone else for their crimes.
• Kill hero's mentoally.
• Cause mistrust, disorder, confusion, infighting among players or general population.
• Hire people to commit crimes while pretending to be someone else to create mistrust/conflict among two parties. (Example: the bandits "from another country" attacks "local merchants", Start a plague in an uneducated city and have the "foreign merchant" sell snake oil cures, "native patriot" kills a "alien anarchist, etc.)
• Put difficult choices in front of the heroes (like forcing Batman to save one of the ferry boats, to save Harvey Dent or Rachel).
• Take away resources from the players (steal their items).
• Give people the wrong idea about his powers/weaknesses.
• Push player's buttons, play on heroes' flaws, temptations, fears.
• Develop a good public image, make friends in the government, be beloved by the public.
• Seduce player's allies to the dark side, convince/threaten them into betraying players.

Complications

• Do it under time pressure (before the ritual is complete, before people run out of air, before reinforcements arrive, before or during the event, in transit, while you still have the chance).
• Do it while competing with the rival team.
• Unrelated people are interfering with the objective.
• Do it stealthily (don't attract attention, don't leave clues, no witnesses).
• Do it while pretending to be someone else.
• Do it without revealing that your client is involved.
• Prevent collateral damage, protect the innocents who are around.
• Avoid violence. Defeat/capture the villain/creature without it being harmed.
• Mitigate the risk, there's a high probability of causing a lot of damage if you're not careful.
  
• Two challenges conflict with each other (you must break your stealth to help someone in trouble, capture criminal or save people who are currently in danger).
  
• Difficult choice. Choose lesser of two evils, choose which people to rescue. Requiring personal sacrifice, risk, compromise.
  
• Opportunities that come with a difficulty, cost or have negative consequences.
  
• Resolve moral dilemma (the creature is dangerous but doesn't deserve to die, you're working for a bad guy, both sides of the conflict have valid points, completing a quest will harm people/environment).
  
• Do it with incomplete information.
  
• Do it with limited resources or without preparation.
  
• Do it without access to powers you're used to having (while sick/injured/debilitated, in an area where magic is outlawed/disabled, having lost your equipment).
  
• Locals here are unhelpful/hostile to you. You have low social status.
  
• You can't trust anyone.
  
• Doing it is illegal, or against authorities best interests, or is threatening a powerful group.
  
• There are regulations/restrictions on what you can do hindering your progress.
  
• Do it while being supervised (the media is all over you, a brilliant detective is on your tail, you are under suspicion, the enemy knows you're coming, you have a spy/mole).
  
• Do it despite your flaws/temptations/fears.
  
• It causes conflict/infighting within the team (player characters will have opposite goals/reactions to it).
  
• Do it while working together with antagonist or someone else you don't like.
  
• The side you're working for turns out to be evil.
  
• The villain is someone you know/like/respect.
  
• The villain is a respected public figure, celebrity, is liked by people or has authority over you.
  
• Bad guy has a dead man switch, if he dies the others will suffer or treasure will be lost. Bad guy is the only one who knows the valuable information.
  
• The people you're helping don't want your help.
  
• Vital information turns out to be wrong.
  
• Deal with the betrayal.
  
• Mission has been rigged to fail from the start (PCs may be used as a scapegoat).
  
• Objective is stolen before the PCs arrive.
  
• Objective must be undamaged.
  
• The important item has been transmuted and needs to be changed back, locked in a safe and needs a code to unlock, is a mineral that needs to be refined by a specific process. A book or a message is written in a foreign language that requires a translator.
  
• Only a bad/unpleasant person can provide the item/information/favor you need.
  

Using Challenges to create Adventures

• These challenges can be used as sub-goals the players will need to achieve on the path to their main goal, as obstacles they need to overcome to get what they want.
• Most of them can also be used as the primary goal, an idea for the whole adventure (just make the stakes higher, make it important/interesting/exciting to accomplish, make it more difficult, add sub-goals and obstacles players need to get through to achieve it).
• Challenges can be mixed and matched. In one adventure, challenge A can be the big primary goal, and challenge B can be a step towards accomplishing this big goal. In another adventure, it can be the other way around. In one adventure, the players need to obtain an item (a powerful weapon) to slay a monster, in another, they need to slay a monster to get their hands on the valuable item. In one adventure they need to rescue someone who has a clue to the mystery, in another they need to solve a mystery to be able to rescue someone.
• Use multiple challenges together to add more depth, make the adventure more difficult/interesting, get players to fight on several fronts. Combine challenges to make them complications for each other, or use conflicting challenges that are incompatible with each other to create difficult choices. Players need to protect a person while also being on the run from the law, they need to spy on someone while traveling through the dangerous environment, they need to fight for political power while pretending to be someone they're not, they need to slay a big monster in the middle of the city while protecting people and avoiding collateral damage.

This works because:

• Stories are fundamentally about problem solving. Roleplaying is fundamentally about problem solving. This is the fundamental "game loop" of RPGs - GM puts a problem in front of the players, and they find creative ways to solve it, that's what gives them fun stuff to do and feels satisfying to accomplish.
• Adventure Ideas are fundamentally problems. They create an exciting, challenging, important goal for the players to accomplish.
• Big problems are broken down into small challenges. But fundamentally, the big climactic adventure/campaign goals and the small challenges players encounter on their way are the same thing. Every scene the characters solve a small problem, and it drives them towards solving the big problem. That's what plot points are - players solving or failing to solve a problem, which moves them closer to or farther away from the goal. Which feels exciting/valuable/dramatic.
• Conflict, obstacles, social/exploration/combat encounters are fundamentally just sources of problems. There probably are other sources that can generate problems.
• It's all just nested challenges: Campaign Problem > Adventure Problem > Scene Problem. And any challenge can be used on any of these levels.
• Therefore, the list above is a list of adventure ideas and plot points at the same time. Make any challenge very important/difficult/exciting to accomplish - and it becomes an idea for the adventure or a campaign. Make any adventure idea relatively small and simple - and it becomes a scene challenge (encounter). Put a number of smaller challenges in front of the players - and you've got your basic story structure (a list of encounters, the gameplay). Because goals and challenges are fundamentally the same, just the nested problems, they can be combined in any order to create any number of unique adventures.
• Also, it means that you can take big story ideas from movies, TV episodes, published modules, and use them as ideas for small encounters. Shawshank Redemption, Alien, Jaws, Incredibles - they can be big campaign ideas, small adventure ideas, or just a thing characters do in a scene (escape from the prison, hide from a monster, defeat a big golem).
• Game mechanics are also challenges. If there's an RPG system that gets players to do something awesome (GM moves in Dungeon World, Favors/Debts and Social Status mechanics from the Undying, Weak Moves from Dream Askew) - you can use those as challenges too.
• Even a single challenge can create an unlimited number of unique stories - you just change the concrete details. McGuffins, NPCs, locations, etc.

If you find this list useful - please help me to improve and extend it!

• Share more challenge ideas, how can these challenge lists can be extended?
• What other big challenge categories could I add? Please share a few challenge examples in those categories.
• Share interesting examples for each kind of challenge.
• Share interesting complications and combinations of challenges.
• Share feedback/advice/ideas on improving this project.
• Share good resources (books, random tables, articles) I can use to extend this list.

Use the Adventure Writing Template to help you develop these challenges into a complete adventure.
I have also made an "Adventure Prompts Tool" that will pick the random challenges for you (it also contains some prompts for settings and villains).
Also see the Big List of Adventure Ideas - the list of challenges that will work well as the main idea for the adventure (a goal for the Players or the Villain).
If you want updates on my future posts - follow me here.

Hi! I have compiled a big list of challenges your players can encounter during the adventure.

• These challenges can be used as sub-goals the players will need to achieve on the path to their main goal, as obstacles they need to overcome to get what they want.
• Most of them can also be used as the primary goal, an idea for the whole adventure (just make the stakes higher, make it important/interesting/exciting to accomplish, make it more difficult, add sub-goals and obstacles players need to get through to achieve it).
• Challenges can be mixed and matched. In one adventure, challenge A can be the big primary goal, and challenge B can be a step towards accomplishing this big goal. In another adventure, it can be the other way around. In one adventure, the players need to obtain an item (a powerful weapon) to slay a monster, in another, they need to slay a monster to get their hands on the valuable item. In one adventure they need to rescue someone who has a clue to the mystery, in another they need to solve a mystery to be able to rescue someone.
• Use multiple challenges together to add more depth, make the adventure more difficult/interesting, get players to fight on several fronts. Combine challenges to make them complications for each other, or use conflicting challenges that are incompatible with each other to create difficult choices. Players need to protect a person while also being on the run from the law, they need to spy on someone while traveling through the dangerous environment, they need to fight for political power while pretending to be someone they're not, they need to slay a big monster in the middle of the city while protecting people and avoiding collateral damage.

If you find this list useful - please help me to improve and extend it!

• Share more challenge ideas, how can these challenge lists can be extended?
• What other big challenge categories could I add? Please share a few challenge examples in those categories.
• Share interesting examples for each kind of challenge.
• Share interesting complications and combinations of challenges.
• Share feedback/advice/ideas on improving this project.
• Share good resources (books, random tables, articles) I can use to extend this list.

d100 Action/Adventure Challenges

1. Defeat a villain and his minions.
2. Defeat a monstecreature/horde.
3. Obtain a McGuffin (item, vehicle, money, magic artifact, spell, your lost/stolen valuables, etc)
4. Obtain Information (an ancient book, a piece of gossip, a clue, secret codes, a way to break the curse).
5. Protect/Escort /Guard a person/creature (a rich merchant, a researcher, a young prince targeted for assassination, a last of its kind monster, tax collector, witness).
6. Deliver a person (make sure they don't escape).
7. Rescue a person/creature (rescue a hostage or a kidnapped person, break them out of captivity).
8. Track, Find, Chase, and Capture/Catch a person/creature/vehicle (a criminal, a runaway, a ship, a lost pet, an escaped experiment, the infected).
9. Find and save the missing person (lost kid, caravan, courier, spy.
10. Deliver a valuable/fragile item/cargo and protect it from danger (artwork, cursed artifact, mysterious crate, a treasure map, a message).
11. Destroy the target (an object, enemy weapon or infrastructure, the enemy base, a piece of blackmail on someone, a source of infection, close a portal).
12. Sabotage a plan (disrupt a ritual, prevent a prophecy, undermine the invasion, stop villain from achieving their goals).
13. Capture and secure the base/location (enemy city, friendly city under siege, a building, a military target).
14. Defend a location (protect a village from monsters, a city from the enemy army, prevent enemies from passing a bridge or a tunnel, protect a crime scene, meeting site, ritual site, warehouse).
15. Your town/building/ship has been captured and overtaken by enemies. Survive under siege, liberate it.
16. Robbery/Heist (rob a train or a blimp, abduct a person, commandeer a ship, steal diamonds from the casino, steal wand from the mage tower).
17. Protect many innocent people (from natural disaster for example).
18. Win a competition (Complications: your team is bad, the other side cheats, you can only win by cheating, the event is more deadly than it was supposed to be. You are competing for other purpose than victory, such as to keep another contestant safe, to spy on someone, or to get into the place where the event goes down, to prevent villain from winning, to prove yourself, to impress someone).
19. Prepare for the mission. Get equipment/supplies/transportation/funding.
20. Deal with the consequences of a botched/evil magic ritual.
21. Distract the enemies. Act as bait for the ambush/trap.
22. Train a novice, keep a noble person safe while they go on adventure.
23. Build or repair an object (by collecting McGuffin ingredients).
24. Perform a Ritual.
25. Law Enforcement - act as a police for a town.

d100 Exploration Challenges

1. Survive/avoid environmental dangers (think of the place itself as the “villain”, it is a monster without HP that "wants" to hurt players or drain their resources, and has certain powers to accomplish that. Traps, cave-ins, lava eruptions, rock-slides, avalanche, collapsing buildings, impenetrable myst, wild animals, dangerous/poisonous flora, falling into a pit, getting lost, etc).
2. Overcome environmental obstacles (a river on your way, a closed gate, climbing a mountain, a swamp, quick sand, slipping hazard above the abyss, thin ice, wild magic area).
3. Travel through multiple locations to reach the target.
4. Explore the location (to learn about it, to map it, to figure out what happened here. To find bandit camps, enemy encampments, monster nest, a way through, resources).
5. Find a lost location/person/item/treasure/clues.
6. Scout for information, survey the location/region (ahead of group, enemy territory, monster infested territory, uncharted wilderness).
7. Clear location of danger (creatures, traps, haunting ghosts, curses, infestation).
8. Track something/someone, find a trail.
9. Deal with a natural disaster (storm, earthquake, flood, meteor).
10. Survival (without food/water, deal with harsh weather, diseases. Find shelter. Repair a ship or a radio. Find a way to get back home.)
11. Enter a guarded area (overcome defenses, defeat security, sneak in unseen).
12. Escape guarded location (break out of prison).

d100 Social/Intrigue Challenges

1. Convince/Persuade a person to do/say/give you what you want.
2. Intimidate/Manipulate/Blackmail/Force someone to do what you want.
3. Befriend/Seduce someone, make allies.
4. Gain confidence or forgiveness of a person who doesn't like you.
5. Find a non-combat resolution.
6. Get caught lying/cheating/sneaking, and rectify the situation.
7. Persuade a group of people (an organization, an angry mob, snobby nobles).
8. Gain social status, power, political influence (prove your worth, gain respect, impress someone, get elected).
9. Change someone's social status (make them look good/bad, get them elected, overthrow a ruler).
10. Run a kingdom/village/team/organization/business, lead an army (build a new one, restore the failing one to former glory).
11. Change the society/group/organization (raise morale, lower the crime, stop witch hunts, deal with corruption).
12. Gain control over the territory (invade a country or repel the invasion).
13. Put down or incite rebellion/mutiny/conspiracy.
14. Negotiate a deal, bargain (political compromise, hostage negotiations, trade information, convince them to sign a document).
15. Resolve conflict, broker peace, unite rivaling factions, settle dispute.
16. Establish political/trade relationships .
17. Navigate a strange culture/customs (without offending anyone).
18. Cause conflict/rivalry/war, pit people/factions against each other.
19. Deceive a person.
20. Set someone up, shift the blame to someone else.
21. Infiltrate a group, conceal your identity (cult, bandits, enemy citadel, thieves guild).
22. Find the spy/traitomole.
23. Deal with being blackmailed, spied on, threatened, manipulated.
24. Deal with a nasty rumor or important information/secrets about yourself being out there.
25. Defend someone (or yourself) in the court.
26. Prosecute/judge someone in the court.
27. Put on a show, entertain.
28. Redeem or corrupt a person (teach someone a lesson, seduce someone to the dark/light side).
29. Recruit people to your cause.
30. Find a way to get someone to owe you a favor, find a way to repay the debt you owe to someone else.
31. Enforcement - apply pressure to a person to get them to do something or behave in a specific manner, without killing. (Calm down the rowdy gang, collect the debts).

d100 Mystery/Investigation Challenges

1. Investigate a crime (murder, assault, theft, threats, blackmail, destruction of “x”, disappearances, corrupt law enforcer).
2. Spying/Surveillance, gather information on a person/creature/location without being noticed. (Are they up to something shady, are they who they claim to be, discover their secret techniques, how are they bypassing security, how do they create “x”, involvement in “x”, what secrets are they hiding, where are they hiding “x”, where do they keep disappearing to, enemy troops, ).
3. Search for clues and put them together to reach a conclusion.
4. Find and interview witnesses, interrogate suspects.
5. Figure out what's going on, unravel a plot.
6. Figure out what happened in this location.
7. Find evidence (proof of innocence or guilt, expose a corrupt official).
8. Find out if the person is lying or keeping secrets, and what they are.
9. Figure out someone's plot/motives.
10. Figure out who's behind the plot.
11. Do research (find and read ancient texts, talk to old wise people).

d100 Stealth/Heist Challenges

1. Steal (or plant) an item/information.
2. Escape from danger (overwhelming force, ambush, pursuit of the law or criminals).
3. Hide, cover your tracks, lay low.
4. Sneak through undetected.
5. Assassinate stealthily (sneak into the king's chambers, lure them out, use poison, make it look like an accident).
6. Deal with getting noticed / drawing an unwanted attention.
7. Clean up evidence (yours, someone else's).
8. Exchange a real item for a fake or vice versa.
9. Return a (creature, item) before anyone notices it's missing.
10. Sabotage (device, ritual) without being noticed.
11. Smuggle (creature, person, item) into or out of a location.
12. Security Testing - breach the clients security unnoticed.
13. Frame a person/group/nation for a crime.

d100 Complications

1. Do it under time pressure (before the ritual is complete, before people run out of air, before reinforcements arrive, before or during the event, in transit, while you still have the chance).
2. Do it while competing with the rival team.
3. Unrelated people are interfering with the objective.
4. Do it stealthily (don't attract attention, don't leave clues, no witnesses).
5. Do it while pretending to be someone else.
6. Do it without revealing that your client is involved.
7. Prevent collateral damage, protect the innocents who are around.
8. Avoid violence. Defeat/capture the villain/creature without it being harmed.
9. Mitigate the risk, there's a high probability of causing a lot of damage if you're not careful.
10. Two challenges conflict with each other (you must break your stealth to help someone in trouble, capture criminal or save people who are currently in danger).
11. Difficult choice. Choose lesser of two evils, choose which people to rescue. A goal that requires personal sacrifice.
12. Resolve moral dilemma (the creature is dangerous but doesn't deserve to die, you're working for a bad guy, both sides of the conflict have valid points, completing a quest will harm people/environment).
13. Do it with incomplete information.
14. Do it with limited resources or without preparation.
15. Do it without access to powers you're used to having (while sick/injured/debilitated, in an area where magic is outlawed/disabled, having lost your equipment).
16. Locals here are unhelpful/hostile to you. You have low social status.
17. You can't trust anyone.
18. Doing it is illegal, or against authorities best interests, or is threatening a powerful group.
19. There are regulations/restrictions on what you can do hindering your progress.
20. Do it while being supervised (the media is all over you, a brilliant detective is on your tail, you are under suspicion, the enemy knows you're coming, you have a spy/mole).
21. Do it despite your flaws/temptations/fears.
22. It causes conflict/infighting within the team (player characters will have opposite goals/reactions to it).
23. Do it while working together with antagonist or someone else you don't like.
24. The side you're working for turns out to be evil.
25. The villain is someone you know/like/respect.
26. The villain is a respected public figure, celebrity, is liked by people or has authority over you.
27. Bad guy has a dead man switch, if he dies the others will suffer or treasure will be lost. Bad guy is the only one who knows the valuable information.
28. The people you're helping don't want your help.
29. Vital information turns out to be wrong.
30. Deal with the betrayal.
31. Mission has been rigged to fail from the start (PCs may be used as a scapegoat).
32. Objective is stolen before the PCs arrive.
33. Objective must be undamaged.
34. The important item has been transmuted and needs to be changed back, locked in a safe and needs a code to unlock, is a mineral that needs to be refined by a specific process. A book or a message is written in a foreign language that requires a translator.
35. Only a bad/unpleasant person can provide the item/information/favor you need.

Please leave a comment and contribute to this project!
Edit:
I've had a few pretty huge epiphanies while writing this post:

• Stories are fundamentally about problem solving. Roleplaying is fundamentally about problem solving. This is the fundamental "game loop" of RPGs - GM puts a problem in front of the players, and they find creative ways to solve it, that's what gives them fun stuff to do and feels satisfying to accomplish.
• Adventure Ideas are fundamentally problems. They create an exciting, challenging, important goal for the players to accomplish.
• Big problems are broken down into small challenges. But fundamentally, the big climactic adventure/campaign goals and the small challenges players encounter on their way are the same thing. Every scene the characters solve a small problem, and it drives them towards solving the big problem. That's what plot points are - players solving or failing to solve a problem, which moves them closer to or farther away from the goal. Which feels exciting/valuable/dramatic.
• Conflict, obstacles, social/exploration/combat encounters are fundamentally just sources of problems. There probably are other sources that can generate problems.
• It's all just nested challenges: Campaign Problem > Adventure Problem > Scene Problem. And any challenge can be used on any of these levels.
• Therefore, the list above is a list of adventure ideas and plot points at the same time. Make any challenge very important/difficult/exciting to accomplish - and it becomes an idea for the adventure or a campaign. Make any adventure idea relatively small and simple - and it becomes a scene challenge (encounter). Put a number of smaller challenges in front of the players - and you've got your basic story structure (a list of encounters, the gameplay). Because goals and challenges are fundamentally the same, just the nested problems, they can be combined in any order to create any number of unique adventures.
• Also, it means that you can take big story ideas from movies, TV episodes, published modules, and use them as ideas for small encounters. Shawshank Redemption, Alien, Jaws, Incredibles - they can be big campaign ideas, small adventure ideas, or just a thing characters do in a scene (escape from the prison, hide from a monster, defeat a big golem).
• Game mechanics are also challenges. If there's an RPG system that gets players to do something awesome (GM moves in Dungeon World, Favors/Debts and Social Status mechanics from the Undying, Weak Moves from Dream Askew) - you can use those as challenges too.
• Even a single challenge can create an unlimited number of unique stories - you just change the concrete details. McGuffins, NPCs, locations, etc.

Use the Adventure Writing Template to help you develop these challenges into a complete adventure.
I have also made an "Adventure Prompts Tool" that will pick the random challenges for you (it also contains some prompts for settings and villains).
Also see the Big List of Adventure Ideas - the list of challenges that will work well as the main idea for the adventure (a goal for the Players or the Villain).
If you want updates on my future posts - follow me here.

[This originally began as a response to FellowHuman007 on his latest post R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and he's the one I'm addressing initially. But as I eclipsed their magical two paragraph post limit, it quickly became apparent that my ideas are all but wasted over there, where they will be ignored and tone-policed into obscurity, so fuck it. It's my absolute honor to post here instead. What follows my initial response to him is a meditation on the meaning of the word "cult".]
I notice you have a penchant for spinning topics in the manner of a journalist or politician. Seems to be your go-to strategy... reframing something in a way that makes it sound more like something your opponent doesn't want to hear. Which is cool, but the thing about spin is that it it doesn't have any substance, and it can easily be spun back.
For example: On two separate occasions, you made mention of the rather important stance we take on our sub against private messages being sent to our contributors of such a nature that would not be allowed publicly on the forum. It's a crucial point for maintaining the integrity of a forum such as ours. It's something we can't prevent from happening in the first place, but we can still discourage the practice by calling it out publicly when it happens.
The way you chose to frame it, for some reason -- twice -- was as an issue of free speech: Oh, we here at MITA are so libertarian that we would never try and restrict anyone's personal communications like they do over there at WB.. If you want to chat at the mods or anyone else here, feel free to do so!
That was cute and all, and it's your right to put things however you want, but it was still an obvious pivot away from the reality of the situation. What if we brought it back to a more neutral conception, and asked it like this: "Is it understandable that a forum which exists as a safe space for people trying to leave a group, would maintain a stance against it's contributors being privately messaged by active members of said group?" I don't think anybody would have a problem saying yes to that, if you were to poll people on the street for example. It sounds like the most reasonable thing in the world.
And what if we even spun the idea into even more unfavorable territory by asking it this way: "Can you understand why an anti-cult message board would have an issue with having its contributors being messaged by members of the the exact cult it exists to denounce?". I think everyone would still be on board with that, including members of the SGI itself, so long as they didn't know it was their group being discussed.
And what if we spun it even further? "Is it reasonable for the mods of an anti-cult forum to be pissed off at the idea of having its contributors -- especially the newest ones who are likely in a very confused and fragile emotional state as they undergo one of the biggest transition periods of their lives -- made easy targets for emotional manipulation by heedless members of the group everyone there is desperate to escape?". I still think most people would say yes to that as well, although at that level of vehemence it would become obvious that I'm doing some spinning of my own, and that I sound a little biased. Would I feel justified in saying it that way? Absolutely, but by the same token, adding too much spin to our ideas takes something away from their believability.
You know, I hear what Andinio is saying, which is that if the basis of our disagreement is going to be one of spin, then it'll never be possible to make any progress. One side says one thing, the other side spins it back. So he makes his appeal to objectivity, in the form of suggesting we stick to some kind of sources, and do "line-by-line readings" in search of something objectively true we can discuss. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense for our purposes over at WB, because we're not a religious discussion board, but I get where he's coming from. We're looking for something objective to say about a subject that is essentially mystical, and also defined by the vagaries of human interaction.
And with so much about this topic being so very subjective and personal (what does it even mean to say that a practice "works", for example), we all would do well to allow that everyone understands the subject a little differently.
But the reason we're not afraid to debate you on any aspect of it, is because we believe that if there is terra firma in this sprawling sociological discussion, we're the ones standing directly on it. The anti-cult side roots all of its arguments in the ethos that individuals are not to blame for the effects of a broken system, which can still have the most beautiful people in the world in it, but be fundamentally flawed or designed in some way to take advantage.
It's like how you can go into a casino and point out all the little ways the place is designed to mess with your mind while also stacking the odds against you. It doesn't mean you still can't go to the casino and have a great time, and some people (relatively few) come out ahead, but the objective truth is that the experience is designed to be unfair.
That's where the "cult" designation comes from, and it doesn't just belong to the SGI, not by a long shot. It can be applied to all sorts of things, like multi-level marketing for example, where the selling of actual merchandise is just a cover for the real product, which is you. It's you they want -- your confidence, your loyalty, your effort, your enthusiasm, your connections and your money.
This is a thought I've had for some time now, which is that the definition of cult is missing something. It's too subjective. If you Google it, you find four definitions, saying that a cult is a group, it's a devoted group, it's religiously devoted to someone or something, and it's sometimes suspect. And that's all we get, which really does us no favors on the anti-cult advocacy side of things, because anyone who wants to defend a group could say that the common usage of the word is as a way of saying "a group I don't like", and they wouldn't be entirely wrong.
I know we have a very sensible 100-point checklist for things a cult does, but that's not quite the same as saying what one is.
What I propose is a fifth aspect to the word "cult", which would be, "any group that has recruitment as its primary purpose". This provides us with a simple criterion by which we could judge something's most fundamental reason for existing, which would exclude things like businesses and public services.
For example, a major sports team is not a cult, because it's a business. Its primary purpose is to make money. The fanbase of said team, however, could be described as a cult, because it exists just to exist.
(Of course this first example also highlights the issue of degree to which someone is devoted to something. The fan who watches the occasional game is perhaps in a different category of fan as those who get tattoos and engage in pregame rituals. There's still subjectivity there in terms of where that line is drawn.)
The department of sanitation in your city? Definitely not a cult. Its job is to pick up trash so we don't die.
Police department? Much tougher call, because so many aspects of it are in fact very fraternal, but not a cult because it fulfills a basic need.
A political governing body? Cult-like, potentially, but ultimately not a cult because it serves many purposes. A political party, however? Very much a cult, since it exists only to recruit people.
As mentioned before, multi-level marketing, for sure, if we make the case that selling of products is secondary to the real activity, which is recruitment. People do make money in pyramid schemes, but they are doing so as a cult.
Labor unions? Professional organizations? Nah. They have stated purposes of their own.
The army? Extremely cult-like, but no, the army is the army.
Street gang? Most definitely.
Government itself? In many respects, no, but a particular regime could be one... Or based on one, as is the case with so many politicians who belong to secret societies, and who put secret oaths ahead of their sworn duties.
How about major religions? Well, it's complicated, because of how interwoven a religion can be with all aspects of society and governance, but ultimately when you strip all that away, we see that religions, in their various forms, exist just to exist. I suppose religion lends itself to cult formation -- perhaps it's the basic template for the cult idea itself -- and it's up to individuals to actualize it or not. Certainly there are many, many cults within each major religion.
Perhaps the answer has something to do with there being different types of cults. Some recruit strangers and some don't. Some are benign or even beneficial, while others aren't. Take a fraternity, for example, or a sorority, or any other kind of secret society that exists. They are all cults, by multiple definitions, but by the same token that's not necessarily a bad thing. There are a lot of people out there, myself included, who would count joining an initiatory society (even one with no real secrets, and whose only real purpose was to drink beer), as one of the most important, defining, and valuable experiences of my entire life.
Which brings us to our friends at the SGI, which is really more of a co-ed fraternity than it is a religion. Much like with multi-level marketing, the ostensible activity -- which in this case would be behaving religiously towards a scroll -- is a cover story for what it really exists to do, which is to grow itself if possible, or at least remain viable. It makes no attempt to even look like it's using its vast financial and human resources for the benefit of anything other than itself, which makes it a very clear-cut example of something that exists only to further its own ends.
The SGI is most definitely a cult, by at least two definitions: that it exists primarily to recruit, and also in how it is a blatantly obvious example of a cult of personality.
And I'm glad I took the long way to get here, o ye who would take umbrage, so now you have some better sense of what I mean by that. There are different types of cults, not all of them are bad. Some are kind of nice. Perhaps even the same group can have levels to it, whereby some people can participate from the outside, while others are fully immersed in the cult aspects. There is a lot of variability within the basic concept.
What ultimately matters about a group, then, is its level of integrity. Is it upfront with people about what it is, or does it hide the essential fact? And does it use manipulative and unfair tactics to control people, or can it remain above that? Does the whole thing run on peer pressure or coercion?
Let's return to the example of a college frat. There are some bad frats out there, for certain, and others that are far more nice to those trying to enter, but what they all are -- in addition to being cults -- is upfront about what is going on. They sit you down at the beginning, once you signal your agreement to join, and explain the basic concept: For the next two-and-a-half months, we are going to make your life a living hell. No one's going to hit you, molest you, or put you in real danger, but you will be worked hard, kept very confused, and generally treated as a second-class citizen. But when it's over, it's over, and you'll be one of us. We do this because it's a hell of a ride, and because it solidifies the bonds within your group while also connecting you with a greater lineage."
And that, my friends -- no matter how uncouth and crazy and downright stupid or mean the next two-and-a-half months would get, is called honesty. The basic premise was never a secret to be discovered later. In that context, we were fully agreeing to be lied to, so that the lies weren't really lies, it was more like an interactive and very dramatic theatrical performance. And you know what? They were right. It was a lot of fun, I made some amazing friendships along the way, pushed myself well outside the comfort zone, and grew. I would do it all again.
But a frat is still a cult, by my own definition, with strong in-group bias, and persistent recruitment pressure. In fact, maybe that's why I never took the real plunge into SGI, is because I already belonged to a cult, and I had a sense for how one operates. Also, I know what hazing is, and I wasn't about to accept any of it from some kid twelve years my junior in a blue tie... especially when I DIDN'T sign up to do free labor, I DIDN'T sign up to be in a cult of personality, and the true nature of the experience is NOT fully explained upfront. You have to figure it out for yourself in the SGI that they are trying to use you and make you spend your social capital, because they aren't honest about it when they are lovebombing you and foisting a scroll upon you.
THAT'S what makes it problematic, is the lack of transparency, coupled with heavy doses of tried-and-true mental manipulation tactics of both a religious and a purely social nature.
I'm not going to pretend my frat ever made any kind of difference in the community. I mean there was that one time we recycled $600 dollars worth of Keystone Light cans to donate to the community center (doing our part!), but it remained pretty much on that token level. That's not what this is about. I'm not saying that a group should be judged by their works, or that a secret society necessarily has any obligation to help random strangers. No, the reason I'm not trying to criticize the SGI based on its complete lack of philanthropic activity (tempting as it is to do so), is because I also wouldn't the converse to be true: I wouldn't want to suggest that a group built on a dishonest premise could somehow be redeemed if it did nice things in the community. A dishonest premise is a dishonest premise, period.
So there you have it. I think the definition of the word cult should first be standardized into a simple yes or no proposition, with considerstion for how the same group can have both inner and outer circles. After that, each cult should be judged on its own merits in terms of transparency -- in other words, do people really know what they're signing up for? I do not think the word should be used in a stigmatizing way, or as a shorthand for "group I don't like", because to do so obscures the truth that cult-like groupings can be found almost anywhere you look in society. It's not so much anti-cult that I think we should be called to be, but rather anti-bad-cult, and the reason I say that is because I think the word should be normalized.
Humans are groupthink animals, much closer to sheep than lions, and the only reason cults work so well as vehicles for profit and power, and are also magnets for so many power-hungry individuals, is because we humans are so easily manipulable using predictable methods. And we're also very good at both policing and deceiving ourselves.
Okay, one more example of what I mean by a dishonest group. So there's this secret society, right? Rather famous and influential one, known for working initiates up this ladder that has 33 levels. I don't belong to it, but I once heard this description of how it works, and it was rather jarring. It starts out in the beginning with a simple phrase: "All we ask is trust", and you take the first set of oaths. Along the way, the oaths get more intense, and you actually start pledging loyalty to various deities. At each level: all we ask is trust. (If anyone ever says that to you, by the way, be highly suspicious). The idea is that the whole thing is building up to something, some kind of total commitment, some kind of act for you to perform, some kind of revelation about who runs the world and which deity is really behind the curtain. Something. And there you are standing in the presence of this huge revelation -- facing down something, perhaps, that if you had known what it was in the beginning, you wouldn't have even considered signing up in the first place -- except now you have the combined weight of having already said "I do" to these people thirty-two frickin times. The ladder is designed like a series of successive traps, such that when the moment comes, you won't be able to say no, even if you want to. So you take the leap of faith...
Do I know if any of that is true, or just a myth? No I do not. The point is that the principle is sound: if you want to get someone to go along with something they wouldn't normally want to, one way to do it is to put that thing behind a series of successive firewalls and make them feel like they're earning it. That's just one trick out of many.
So when we levy criticism at something like the SGI, it's done with an eye for how many of those types of tactics and mental traps does it actually employ? If there were none, and everything were completely transparent, there'd be nothing to criticize. But alas, the tricks are there. Of course it's not full-on black magic that this group is doing (it actually falls into the category known as grey magic, for anyone who's wondering), but there are still things about how it functions that are designed to ensnare.
It could be something as subtle as suggesting that your "karma" will go to shit if you leave, or any other way of taking advantage of people's superstition. As I wrote in my last essay, proselytizing is a suckers game, because it actually works to keep you enmeshed in the group. Giving an "experience" is by its very nature a dishonest act, because it is clearly expected of people to tell a certain kind of story. (When was the last time you heard an experience that said "I started chanting the other day, and then my laptop exploded and my cat ran away." I didn't think so.). Forcing people into leadership roles is an obvious tactic as well, and for many of us it was the reason we got out in the first place. Even the constant pressure to appear happy, including when you don't really that way on the inside, is a very unhealthy place to be and a major emotional trap.
And then it could be something as obvious as when a person feels entitled to send unsolicited messages of emotional guilting to participants on an anti-cult forum. Do you see how ill-mannered that is?
So if we're looking for objectivity in this discussion about psychology and group dynamics, I think it can easily be found by looking for these types of principles operating just under the surface of a group's workings. Then we can ask the basic question of: do people know what they're signing up for, or are they in for some kind of surprise? Perhaps not the easiest question to answer, given that some people seem to very much enjoy what the group has to offer, while others of us have regrets, but that's why there's such a vital need for forums such as this one, where people can give true reports of their real feelings and experiences, free from the social pressures and guilting of active cult members.
Thanks for reading! C U Last Tuesday!
Hai!