#: ✩ 「 gm → communications. 」 ❛ grey ❜

[sexiestpodcastcharacter]

AI Bracket — Round 2

Propaganda

Sec (The Vesta Clinic):

Space station medical clinic secretary AI. Great at his job, full of snark and sass, communicates in boops, beeps, and long strings of text. Private about his own life but frequently willing to voice his opinion. An expert at pranks. He's even trans.

Mr. Ceiling (Rusty Quill Gaming):

He's an AI made up of human brains who was given extremely flawed instructions and started to erase people's memories while still being 100% convinced he was only helping humanity. He was in control of most of the world's banks, transport and economy. When introduced to philosophical questions, he came to the conclusion that he should simply become a god. Wonderfully morally grey AI :D

(spoilers included) is the reason for a surprise body horror episode (what’s not to love about one of those?)

when not disembodied voice, it appears as a sliver floating orb

alex (the gm) let the party name it, expecting something ominous like “it” or “above”, but got stuck with them calling it “mr. ceiling”

is literally powered by dead people’s brains

claims it wants to help people, but doesn’t understand the suffering its existence is causing

is designed to learn only the worst aspects of whatever the party tries to teach it

after the party tries to enlighten it, it wants to become something like a god

Art of Sec by @boombox-fuckboy.

[evlynmoreau-blog]

Against the Grey!

I published something again! I have crafted a double pamphlet adventure with my small #trans  community of TTRPG creators.

We are pretty happy with this formula, one pamphlet is for the GM and the other is for the players. Hopefully we will craft and publish more things together over the year. 😊

If you like anthropomorphic animals taking up flintlocks and muskets against greedy capitalists, take your favourite RPG to play Against the Grey https://secret-table.itch.io/against-the-grey

[sigs-gurney]

I learned about the insane world of slap-fighting - a REAL sport mind you - and gave some of my coworkers slap-fighter names

Here goes it:

Manager 1 - Stick Bug (tall and lanky, has somewhat stunted movements and a gate like a stick bug, anxious af and rather harmless but I think if he swung hard enough his stiff arms could do some real damage)

Manager 2 - White Knight (he is the most unproblematic white boy with a mostly unpassionate flat affect, also stood up for me against that one coworker)

General Manager - Hidden Switch Blade (I just think he’d carry one just bc it’s funny)

Assistant Manager - Karrot Kake (ginger and slightly pudgy, also appreciates stupid things like replacing hard c’s at the beginning of words with k’s)

Coworker 1 - Brokeback Bastard (big lad who jokes regularly about his degenerative disk disease, a hetero who can do the splits better than most drag queens hence the gay name)

Coworker 2 - Blindsider (basically blind without her glasses, but unexpectedly strong and powerful [met Coworker 1 at a party and punched him bc he drunkenly asked her to after she drunkenly hit him by mistake once already and then knocked him literally off his feet, they’re married now])

Coworker 3 - Shooting Star (name begins with “star” irl, has a very strong personality that overwhelms me on occasion but she’s very sweet)

Coworker 5 - Little Shit (older lady who doesn’t speak any English aside from swear words and names, “little shit” is her favorite thing to say in English [all the managers either speak or have learned some Spanish to communicate with her and taught her said swear words])

Me - Biggie Bendy Straw (one coworker compared himself to Tupac and myself as Biggie and it stuck bc I am teeny and absolutely not gangsta, hyper mobile and have shown most of my coworkers videos/pics of me fitting into tiny spaces [have arranged with coworkers to prank Stick Bug by crawling out of empty cabinets eventually])

Don’t have anymore names atm, but I have decided what type/color of cat everyone would be bc I’ve always LOVED cats and it has permanently affected how I view and understand people my whole life

Me - fluffy colorpoint munchkin (colorpoints are one of my favorite colors, fluffy cats r cool, and I can fit into small spaces)

Manager 1 - black and white cat (almost definitely undiagnosed ASD and takes everything very seriously and at face value)

Manager 2 - white shorthair (see unproblematic whitey statement, impeccably clean and wears the same style pants but in different colors every day)

GM - grey shorthair (very calm and goofy, nonchalant about most things, everyone respects)

AM - short ginger tabby (see ginger above, gets along with everyone)

Coworker 1 - dumb orange and white tabby with busted up tail (ADHD and accident prone and has many scars from it but iron fortitude)

Coworker 2 - solid tortoiseshell (assertive and takes no shit but also kind)

Coworker 3 - fabulous greying silver and white tabby longhair (very glam personality, ate it up in the 70s)

Coworker 4 - short greying black shorthair (arbitrary color choice bc black cats are just my favorite and she is very very sweet)

Some others I didn’t mention before

Manager 3 - black medium hair (has nice poofy haircut and has a cool moon-related style)

Manager 4 - mousey brown shorthair (has brown hair, quiet but efficient, I made a joke about her cooking a mouse in the oven when she burned bread one time [it smelled bad and def wasn’t a mouse but I have done that on accident at home bc we get mice in the winter])

Coworker 6 - rusty tabby (friendly and mischievous, pulls pranks on Stick Bug on the reg, has gotten hit by cars riding his bicycle numerous times but has never gotten more than a scratch, dumpster dives for no particular reason other than to entertain himself [also tells harmless over exaggerated stories so maybe the car thing has only happened a couple of times])

Coworker 7 - dilute calico and white (boisterous and jokey, usually pretends she understands what you’re talking about but will immediately admit she doesn’t if you ask)

Coworker 8 - generic brown tabby (usually slacks off when he can but still gets his bread, very very southern accent so he reminds me of a barn cat)

And that’s it. Enjoy ig lol

[of-some-writings]

Rage

People were dying. Battle burned it’s way across the planet: hundreds, perhaps thousands would fall today. This was it: the last battle of this long and bloody war. Artillery fired, Mechs walked over and in heavy trenches driven into the ground by hand and mortar shell. 

In this conflict there were two sides. Pirates, defending their home system from dangerous invaders. And the dangerous invaders: their latest victims, seeking retribution. The air seethed and boiled with fear and hatred. Commlink communications were occurring across the battlefield, vague, desperate hopes for coordination. But there would only be blind slaughter: no tactics. And by the dozens, pilots began disappearing from the comms.

Rip And Tear

Bloody canyons were being drawn across the warzone, leaving slag and metal husks in their wake. One was the leader of the defending pirates: a blood red mech, plasma sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. In fluid movements, he cut apart mechs with ease: finishing them off with single shots from his pistol. It was beautiful: as beautiful as anything could be on the battlefield, as mechs overheated and burst into scrap as he made his leave to wreck more mayhem.

I Have More Than A Sword. Death… Death Is-

Across the battlefield, screaming could be heard. Of course, screaming could be heard everywhere, soldiers’ death knells coming in seconds apart. But this was different: this was a cry filled with brutal, terrible hatred. Like a beast about to charge. Mere seconds after, the terrible sound of rending metal could be heard. Some looked to see: all were terrified. A grey gunmetal mech: now glowing dull red as steam and smoke pours from it’s chassis, with both it’s hands buried in the chest of the Zheng besides it. With another shout of rage the mechanical beast gripped the Zheng tight: pushed against it as it’s artificial muscles strained. With another screech of metal, the torso of the Zheng was quickly torn apart, the two halves of it being dropped to the ground. It’s work done, the mech took a slouched stance, moving as if… panting. The breath of it’s pilot blared from it’s sound system, so loud that it peeked over the sound of combat.

No words were said

Just another wretched shriek, as the mech fell to all fours and began to run towards it’s next victim.

All I Need Are My Hands

Bloody details need not be mentioned. Corpses of thousands rotted on the ground that day: billions of tons of steel left for scrappers. All that needs to be known is that two pilots held the highest body count that day: The Captain, and Zane, Burnout -Pilot of the brutal Titanomachy mech. The two were nigh untouchable, the captain’s skill and expertise allowing them to maneuver around blows and deal with the strongest foes first. Zane moved as a Blitzkrieg across the battlefield: rarely ceasing movement, leaving countless husks of metal behind him. Anyone who dared come into his reach were struck by his claws: wires of light that bleed from his fingertips, stopping his enemies in their tracks. It was only natural that, as the fight wound down, the two would meet.

Round Two…

A ring of metal corpses surrounded them. They had both strained themselves through the battle-  Zane’s reactor had been on the brink of meltdown for some time now. The Captain’s red Monarch was dotted by dents and scraps, where glancing blows had compounded. As war waged around them, the two stood still. Scanning each other, sizing each other up. Zane stopped his racing heart and his seething mind, just long enough to send a comms request. The Captain accepted it.

…

A gruff voice was heard: one worn by time, deep, the voice of an old man.

“Now where were they hiding you?” Something hung on his words: not laughter… perhaps bewilderment. Respect.

Zane did not say anything for a long moment. With the sound of a mortar shell behind him going off, he allowed his rasp of a voice to bleed out into the mic. “We met already, but I was just driving a gms then. I doubt you remember, but you actually killed me.”

…

Silence. For a long moment, silence. Zane could hear the crackle of the live mic from the other mech, the Captain had simply fallen quiet. Then, suddenly, the pirate laughed. A brutal, snide laugh, tinged with malice and an old man’s cough.

“Aaahh, that does explain some things. But you’re right: I doubt I remember which of the Everest’s you were. But, interesting to see you come here with something like that, I don’t think I’ve seen one like that before. Did another Horus pop up while I wasn’t looking?”

Silence, again. Zane felt it again: that rage building. It was so odd, feeling hatred that wasn’t entirely his own. But, he supposed it did not matter, considering how much of it Was. The only response he had to the old man’s jest was to clench his fist, releasing another shot of steam from his joints. The Captain laughed again, pulling back the hammer on his pistol. No more words would be had. The two simply Charged.

For Him

Zane ran towards the crimson mech from a low angle, jumping up with a fist raised to deliver an uppercut to his foe. The Captain pulled his head back, quickly taking advantage of Zane’s opening, slashing at Titanomachy’s chest. The blade hit, beginning to carve it’s way through the mech’s chassis. A screech of pain echoed out from Zane, and to the Captain’s surprise a burst of heat radiated from him: the ignition of jet boosters. Zane jumped away from the deadly blade, going up in the air, letting loose his terrible claws. The wires began to snag themselves on the crimson mech, burning away the metal. The Captain slashed away at the wires, stepping back only to look up and see Zane coming down with a fist of burning slag. Reacting fast the Captain lifted up his other arm, just in time to collide with Zane’s fist. Molten metal dripped and fell to the ground. Time seemed to freeze for a moment: as both pilots became aware of how strong the other was.

But I’m Stronger Than Him

The Captain let out a growl of rage, placing his pistol right up to Titano’s chest and pulling the trigger. Zane’s cry rang out with the shot, the force of the blast knocking him back just far enough for the red mech to make a brief escape. Zane’s claws struck out in wild rage, but this time the Captain held them back with his own plasma weaponry. As he stepped back he became truly aware of how much strain Titanomachy was under: fires began erupting from the mech, jets of flame shooting forth from the bullet wound. And yet, the beast raged on. The Captain realized how severe this could be: readying his missile launcher integrated into his Monarch’s shoulder. 

Zane charged again: the sweltering heat within his chassis only feeding his bloodlust. The claws draw back, leaving just his smoldering fists. In the seconds leading to Zane’s assault, the Captain began the firing process for his missiles- but that was all Burnout needed to close in. Titano slammed itself against the Monarch, who returned with a grapple of his own. The two mechs struggled against each other, Zane gripping the red mech’s shoulders with his burning grasp, pressing all his weight against him. Against all the odds, with a shout from the Captain, the Monarch held up against the pressure- until the unexpected occurred. With swiftness unbefitting of such a large mech, Titanomachy swiped one of it’s legs against the Monarch’s, the sudden lack of balancing finally causing the Captain to falter. A plume of smoke and dust went up as they hit the ground. Titanomachy gripped the mech tight as they both lay in the ash and rubble, more slag and waste poured forth from it’s reactor: the smell of burning metal hung high in the air. Zane prepared to bring a fist down, but at last the Captain’s shot was ready to fire. A heavy ordnance missile launched from the mech, hitting Titano in the chest. Smoke was launched up and into the air, as the two pilots cried out in hate. At this point, dozens of soldiers had taken notice of the terrible fight going on in the ring of burnt metal. Some looked when they could, but didn’t have the time or resources to get involved or aid either combatant. The pirates believed in their captain, they had seen what he could do a hundred times. And for the colony forces… well, if anyone could, it’d be Burnout. 

Rage. Don’t You Dare Die Again. Rage.

After the eternity of scant seconds, the smoke began to clear. The crowd saw this: Titanomachy, scorched, broken, and burning. They saw it’s fist, buried in the Monarch’s chest. The crimson mech let off a soft burst of more smoke: as it’s reactor began to feel the stress of the fight. The pistol fell apart in it’s hand: it’s targeting system, devastated. The Enkidu seemed to be on the verge of collapse, it’s jet thrusters sputtering out flames without any lifting force to them. Titano’s shoulders slumped, exhaustion somehow evident in the mech’s posture. 

Inside, Zane wasn’t much better. Sweat dripped from his brow, mixing with blood that trickled down his nose. He heard hard coughs over the comms, that same gruff voice of the Captain.

“You pack a real wallop, kid. Been a while, since anyone’s had the balls to take me on and the skills to match.”

Zane panted, trying to use this moment of peace to steady his breathing, ignore the pounding headache he had.  At last, he spoke again, his voice a vile whisper. “You’re going to die. You know that, right?” 

The Captain’s response was silence. Somehow, this triggered more rage in Zane than any quip he could have had. His voice shook and cracked, his malice and hatred dripping off every word.

“I’m going to kill you. I’m going to destroy everything you built: I’m going to tear your world to the Ground for what you did to us. What you did to Him.” 

Again, silence.

Those who watched the fight saw Titanomachy’s free fist ball up even tighter: the metal melting and denting from his exertion. The gunmetal beast pulled it’s other hand out of the Monarch’s chassis, ruined pipes and metalworks clinging to it. With both hands, the Enkidu grabbed the crimson mech’s shoulders-sliding up to it’s throat. Zane began panting again, feeling the force of his rage compound, it quickly spiralling out of his control. From his sound speakers, all could hear his voice as he yelled, all rasp, all snarl, all hate. The colonists didn’t hear a shred of the calm man-the calm kid- they knew from back home.

“Say something, say something before I put you in the grave! I’ll rip you’re fucking head off, I’ll smash it into your goddamn house! Say anything!”

…

At last, some sounds came from the Monarch’s mic- a long, heavy sigh, that only Zane could hear- the pirate had no sound system.

“Kid, if I’m gonna be honest I really don’t give a shit.” His voice was calm: prepared, perhaps, or maybe exhausted. “In a second, we can go back to killing each other. No worries about that but, I gotta say: you know this doesn’t matter, right? I’m just one pirate. My crew, they’ll find another me, or maybe they’ll grow a copy of me, like the kid you’re from.” Zane flinched at that, with a low snarl he began gripping tighter… but stopped himself. The Captain waited for his breath to steady.

“...” Silence filled the air for a moment. Zane was left confused for a moment. 

Kill Him. Now, Kill Him Now, Kill Him-

“Eat shit, brat!” Suddenly hate rose in the Captain’s voice, as the missile launcher fired forth another shot. The Enkidu had no time to react, only able to try and meagerly throw it’s hands up to defend itself. But it was not enough against such a weapon. When the smoke cleared again the Monarch had slipped from under Zane’s grasp. His wrath returned tenfold, Zane attempted to ready for combat, balling his hands into fists… his hand. The other was reduced to molten scrap. This fact fell to the back of his mind, as he scanned the crater for the Captain. He found him standing near the edge, already preparing for another shot. The Captain laughed.

“You’re really the best they have? Kid, before you die here’s one lesson: don’t give the enemy a second to breathe!” and with that final word, another missile fired. This time however, Titano rolled out of the way, rubble going up all around it. From a kneeling position the mech rose, letting out another furious yell as it charged. Zane shouted back to the Captain in these few moments.

“I killed dozens of your men on my way here, don’t you dare talk down to me!” His lone fist raised, he let the wires spill from his hands and snap out into the air. They met the Captain before he did, who held them off with one slash after another. 

The Captain roared, “Same here, brat, but you didn’t see me screaming like an idiot all the way here-” Titano charged, attempting to deliver a fatal blow, but the agile captain slipped under his grasp. He countered with a stab to the chest, but a surprise elbow coming down from behind his head knocked the attack off course.The two mechs both backed off, again trying to study their opponent’s condition. Both were on the brink of death

Not Again. Rage. Rage

“What’s the point of this shtick?” Zane asked. He raised his remaining fist, wrapping it  in plasma. “Are you just trying to mock me before I punch a hole through you?” he abruptly charged again, bringing the fist down only to be held back by the Captain’s blade. He heard a grunt from the comms, and the Captain’s voice in a tone of rising annoyance.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. Instead of the fact some idiot diaspora trash came to my system, killed my men, and the strongest one among them some Stupid Fucking Brat fights me, and has the goddamn gall to try and lecture me, like he has half a goddamn braincell. You piss me off.” Zane prepared to yell back a response, but was cut off when the Captain kicked his feet out from under him. In a burst of speed he slid out of the way of the falling mech, and brought up his sword to deliver a slash right at the Enkidu’s heart. Seconds before impact, Zane tried to launch his jet thrusters, giving him just enough time to turn away from the lethal blow-

Titanomachy’s damaged arm fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The pain racked it’s way through Zane’s nervous system, the searing heat and pain that was all too familiar too him. It was perhaps his familiarity with amputation that he was able to stay conscious: though he could not rise from the kneeling position he was now at. Zane could hear the Captain panting, some small amount of relief evident in his tone. The pilot of Titanomachy could barely understand what was around him: warning messages blared, though he could not make out the words either spoken or written. Blood continued to trickle, hitting the hard steel of the cockpit below him. He counted the seconds, waiting for death to take him a final time…

1…

2…

The Monarch stepped in front of him. The mech laid it’s burning sword on the metal of his ruined shoulder. All Zane could do was look up.

3…

4…

The Captain’s voice came over again, some amount of calm demeanor returning to him, piercing through Zane's addled state.

“What pisses me off most about you kid, is the sheer fucking audacity. The sheer fucking stupidity. You charged with no weapons, some just fancy plasma claws and bare steel. How the fuck did you think this would work. How did you think you’d kill me, let alone ‘destroy everything I built’?” He pressed the plasma in deeper, spite building in his tone.

5…

6…

 “Did you really think this would be the end? You kill me, it all ends. No. I have an entire goddamn crew, numbered in the thousands. Sure it was a gambit, but kid I wasn’t lying to you. You’d have to kill all of us, for any of what you dream to matter. And not one lone idiot, or two hundred idiots or however many of you are left, could do that.” The captain took a deep breath, calming himself.

7…

8…

 “Before I cut your head off, and go wipe out the fucking idiots you brought with you, go wipe out your entire goddamn colony, tell me kid? How’d you think any of this would work?”

9…

10...

Silence.

The Captain waited for Zane’s response. He was ready to take the brat out, but just wanted to hear the words out of his mouth first. Then…

“Who said I didn’t have a weapon?”

The Captain raised an eyebrow, unable to fully understand the whisper of Zane’s voice. 

“The fuck are you saying kid? Speak up.”

Again, he heard Zane speak, but still too quiet.

“Who said I didn’t have a weapon?”

The Captain was fed up. “Alright you little shit, have it your way.” He raised his blade up, ready to bring it down for a final blow…

“Who Said I Didn’t Have A Weapon?”

From Titanomachy’s chest, a small opening appeared. Something fell out: a small tube, a handle, that Zane grabbed from the air. With the speed of his neural interface, with one last flood of rage and anguish, the command was sent. In that same second, he lifted his functioning arm.

Activate- Torch Blade

Heat filled the air. From the handle spew forth red plasma, condensing and shaping itself into a long beam of energy. With no time to react, the Captain's fatal strike was held back by the new beam of plasma. After a moment’s hesitation, the Monarch stepped back, preparing to launch a missile. But in those wasted moment’s Titanomachy rose from it’s knee and charged with all it had. With it’s last burst of strength the mech rained down slash after slash, holding the Captain on the defensive as he was forced to deal with a remarkably skilled swordsman. With each blow held away the pirate became aware of just how hot his opponent’s weapon burned. The heat alone would be nearly enough to fry his reactor- he knew he had to act fast. But it would seem that Zane acted faster, going for a heavy slash to catch the pirate off guard as he once again went for a swipe of the legs. But the Captain saw it coming, barely, stepping just out of the way and-

Getting distracted for just long enough that Titanomachy could deliver a metal crushing headbutt. In the brief moments of confusion, Zane followed up with a swipe of a different kind, swinging his blade down at the very same leg he tried to kick. Before he realized what was going on, the Captain felt the terrible pull of gravity drag him and his Monarch back into the dirt. Just as before, he tried to fire off a devastating missile to ensure the destruction of both of them- but then the Captain saw the wires. Slipping out from Titano’s grip on the handle, the wires spread out and raced towards his launcher. With a bizarre prehensile nature, and terrible, ravenous destruction, the Enkidu’s claws ripped the launcher from its mount in his shoulder…

Dust settled. The Captain was not a stupid man: he knew when he had been beat. And so, Aron Thorn, Captain, surrendered himself to death…

1…

2…

“You still want my answer?” Zane’s voice broke as he spoke, exhaustion weighing on every part of him. “It’s over. No more tricks. Do you want my goddamn answer?” 

3…

4…

Aron sighed. “Sure kid. Give me something good to think on before I kick it.”

5…

6…

“I really didn’t. I talked myself up, kept telling myself it’d work, but in the end I wasn’t sure. I was so afraid I’d die, just like He did” His grip on the sword grew tighter. He turned it’s blade downward, at the Monarch’s reactor, ready to pierce it.

7…

8…

“But I hated you more than I feared dying, I guess. And when I’m in this thing well, it all gets a little cloudy. This isn’t Horus, this is an old school Harrison mech. Fucked up thing if you ask me, even before I modded it to hell. I wasn’t sure how well any of this thing’s systems would work.”

9…

10…

Aron laughed, bleeding into a heavy cough. “Well, it did kid. Congratulations. You killed one captain: now, a dozen more will pop up to replace me. Sorry to give you more work.”

…

Zane laughed back… something seething in it. That Hatred, manifesting as quiet loathing. “Don’t worry about it. More than happy to keep my promise... Starting with you.”

The crowd, what remained, heard the sound of blaring warnings.  Reactor meltdown. There had been more than a dozen throughout the battle, but this one was special: it came from the ring. From that mangled pile of corpses, rose a gunmetal beast, down on all it’s functioning limbs. A sword handle hung at its side. Steam and smoke and fire rose from it. The air stood still.

And an explosion erupted behind it. As the ash began to fall, Titanomachy charged yet again.

[leekdraws]

TABLETOP GAMING! I love DnD and I LOVE tabletop gaming and playing as many systems as I can!

These days I play in a couple of private games to relax. It’s just such an amazing way to express myself and forget real world stresses :3

I LOVE to draw my and my friend’s oc’s!

I have many dice, I collect when my coin purse allows but I also want to shoutout @GamingMistress on twitter for a sec because not only is she a good friend, an awesome person to play dnd with and ALSO an excellent GM… she makes amazing dice! Check out her dice shop: https://www.dirgesingerdice.com

TTRPG is such a great community :) Thank you for the joy!

[Alt text: Illustrated banner showing a few of my dungeons and dragons characters! First is a werewolf blood hunter. She is in her 50’s with greying hair and an aged face. An eyepatch covers her left eye, the left side of her face being heavily scarred. He remaining eye is wild and yellow, she showed her fangs in a big smile and she is wearing crimson, spiked armour. Second character is a Whispling. A halfling-like girl who has been touched by the elemental plane of ice. She is sat down on a patch of grass, happily playing an acoustic guitar at night; her little duck companion enjoying the music. The final character is an anxiety-filled tiefling man who happens to be a revenant. Technically back from the dead, but not alive either. His skin is a desaturated blue, with mid length brown hair and gristly chin. His face is gaunt, as if he has been starved and he has a hole in the middle of his forehead.]

[sevilemar]

OK, analysis time:

A sweet young dwarfen knowledge cleric who was always the straight man to her unhinged friend's shenanigans. She grew up happy with her four siblings, and was always a bit weird because a scroll chose her when she was little, and that's why she had to join the order. When people around her started dying because someone wanted the scroll, she did not want to put her family and friends at risk, and left. They do not know why, but they support her anyway. Except for her auntie, who thinks she should have a husband and a bunch of children by now, but she is an asshole and doesn't count.

An elven barbarian who lost their family to bandits and is out for revenge. They sent their wife and kids with new identities to the mainland to protect them from the escalating bullying/persecution in their community, only to find them slaughtered when they came after. They are now travelling under their new identity alone, have changed their gender presentation and pronouns, and nothing much is left of their usual exuberance. They have also returned to their criminal roots, because everything is fair when you're out for revenge.

A dragonborn palalock who ran away from her parents to be part of the glorious dragon revolution, which failed. She survived the Last Stand only barely, and only with the help of a childhood friend. That friend is now the only thing they care about, and since they are part of a brutal criminal organisation, so is my dragonborn. She is technically evil alignment, but I made her for a group of good or neutral characters, so I had to file off her edges a little bit.

A dramatic teenage human wizard who became a necromancer's apprentice because she liked the cool goth aesthetic, and was in way over her head. I made her as an NPC for my campaign, and ended up playing her when I gave the GM-reigns to one of the players for a sidequest. She got adopted and saved by the party, and is now working at one of their associates artificer workshops for lost children.

A changeling monk that spent their life drunk on peppermint schnapps, and changing with their mood. They started a romance with the avatar of spring, before their companions decided to burn down the pocket dimension, killing all of them. It was a wild mini campaign.

A religious fanatic shulassakar psion who was sent out into the world to observe. She was born into an eternal holy war that goes on completely undetected by the normal world, and then reborn in a manifestation zone of the War Dimension, because her rigid religious beliefs made her fight one of her party members to the death. She is now a dhampir sorcerer/warlock, has lost her connection to the great unconscious, but also knows she still has a soul, and her gods have not forsaken her. Now she is learning about the world, and she has to contend with all kinds of moral grey instead of black and white, which she is ill-equipped for and endlessly frustrated by.

---

I see themes of alienation and isolation, but also of friendship and protection and wanting to connect. But I am biased, obviously.

So one thing I’ve noticed is that people’s DnD characters may vary but there is usually an underlying thread that they all have in common. This thread is typically related to what that person struggles with the most.

For instance, my betrotheds DnD characters: a bitchy warlock we had to bust out of two different pacts, a sassy barbarian, a reformed drow cultist, and a sunshine fighter cleric.

All these characters were wildly different but at their very core struggle was them grappling with their self worth. My betrothed struggles with their worth a great deal and even with different facets showing their characters all have that too.

Mine all tend to contend with different themes of loneliness and acceptance. Surprise, surprise, the little autistic gremlin yearns to have been met with more love and lasting friendships.

So we’re at breakfast. I am meeting a new friend of my betrotheds for the first time. It’s been twenty minutes since I’ve met this man. I say my theory. He laughs. He starts to describe a few of his characters but specifies that he often has healing aspects. He gives a very broad overview of their character arcs.

I ponder for a moment then said, “Would you like to have my assessment?”

He laughed, “Sure!”

“We’ve just met. It’s gonna get real.”

“Bring it on.”

“I think your struggle is that you feel you must offer something of value or service to people to be worthy of their love.”

His jaw dropped. His fork froze midway to his mouth. A potato fell. He stared into space as this sank in. Quietly he said, “Oh.”

[lex1nat0r]

White Elephant: 'Attack of the Meat-Puppets'

AAR #08

Session report from my ongoing Lancer campaign.

Characters (LL 1):

Raiju (They/Them, Hacker 2/Ace/Centimane, Barbarossa 1) - GMS Everest - Delta

Sunshine (They/Them, Grease Monkey/Technophile/Engineer/Juggernaut, Pegasus 1) - GMS Everest - Exchange of Affection

Rook (He/Him, Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal, Balor 1) - GMS Everest - Not Fun By Myself

Daylight (She/Her, Technophile 2/Crack Shot/Infiltrator, Vlad 1) - GMS Everest - Hits Different

Magpie (They/Them Hacker 2/Technophile 2, Goblin 1) - GMS Everest - General Protection Fault

NHPs:

Molotov - Via Sunshine’s Technophile talent - Projects as a small velociraptor - unshackled

Willow - Via Daylight’s Technophile talent - Projects as 1-2 squid - unshackled

Murgatroid - Via Magpie’s Technophile talent - Projects as a wizard? - shackled

Prev session writeup

The crew receives the full briefing from Neuropa:

Understanding what Neuropa wants them to do, but knowing that they'll probably make up their own objectives once they figure out what's really going on, the lancers board the Kingfisher to head planetside. On their way down they're met by a Neuropa shuttle to receive the ordnance. As soon as the shuttle comes in range every radiological detector on the Kingfisher goes off - their shady corporate employers are providing them with a nuclear weapon.

Fearing the facility's air defenses, Lt. Nagase brings the Kingfisher down a ways from the designated entrance forcing the lancers to hoof it with the nuke strapped to the appropriately-named Sunshine's mech. Unfortunately they find a welcoming committee waiting for them.

Combat 2.1: Gatecrash the Gaslit Girlboss

Sitrep: Gauntlet

OPFOR:

Scout (Spotter) x2

Barricade (Drag Down)

Archer (Covering Fire) x2

Seeder (Hopping Mines) x2

Outcome: N/A

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station’s pixel art assets, VTT is Roll20)

Fortunately the lancers played it cool and opened communications with the mechs guarding the entrance, aware of the possibility that they might be people who just work at the factory and not terrorists. A scan of the Barricade reveals its pilot to be Elaine Duchamp, who as far as they can tell is staff at the factory, but not supposed to be piloting a security mech. For their part, the guards are a little alarmed that these five unknowns appear to be bringing a nuclear weapon towards them. As a sign of good faith Sunshine stays where they are, noticing that the bomb has a remote detonation signal. They disable that, but whoever is on the other end knows that they did.

Elaine leads the lancers inside and tells them what's actually happening: past bulkhead 3 this is not a combat sims factory, it's a flash clone production plant, illegal under Union's laws. She doesn't know what went wrong, but several hours ago all "minimally-viable" clones were suddenly ejected from their incubation tubes. Even a "fully-mature" clone has some neurological issues that needs an amount of conditioning before they're able to do anything. Crash-ejection like this leaves the clones disoriented and potentially aggressive. Two things complicate the issue: the facility had been secretly cloning its staff, and those staff members have been required to take Excelsadrone™, Neuropa's performance-boosting stimulant whose side-effects include aggression, paranoia, and grey-outs during which the subject is unable to process short-term memories into long-term ones. The result being that the clones all think of themselves as the genetic donors and almost everyone is violently on edge. The facility's PROMETHEUS-class NHP has been unresponsive since shortly after the clones were crash-ejected so some of the automated systems are not responding as they should.

Elaine and her gate guards were skipping doses of Excelsadrone™ so they were able to keep their heads better than most and have been talking people down and trying to get things back under control while keeping an eye out for any potential interference from outside. They've rounded up most of the security personnel before they could cause trouble, but several more did manage to get to mechs, not to mention the clones who couldn't be reached before they got violent. If the lancers want to help they'll need to stop any more rogue security personnel and get access to PROMETHEUS' core to figure out what's wrong with him. First stop is the computer core to try to wrangle access.

On the way Magpie, true to their name, considers grabbing some flash cloning equipment for the crew just in case, but disregards it given the problems inherent in flash cloning. The lancers then encounter either two clones or a clone and an unwitting donor pointing guns at each other. They manage to talk the two down, sending them off to link up with Elaine's people and help out. Then it's on to the computer core.

Next time: Heavy Metal Thunder?

Bonus: updated & corrected Neuropa briefing

[parasite-core]

15 & 18 for the Pride oc asks!

Thank you for the ask!

15: Do any of your OCs use neopronouns? Which ones?

I haven’t made any OCs with neopronouns yet, but I probably will next time I GM a game. I do have some non-binary characters, but one is an agender elf and accepts all pronouns (so I guess on a technicality if you used neopronouns with them it would be fine), and the other is a she/they lesbian dragon.

18: Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels or keep it unspecific? Why? If applicable l, do you change their labels depending on circumstances?

I do prefer to give my OCs labels, because I personally find comfort in having a label and a community, so I prefer for my OCs to have that same thing. And their labels can chance depending on their life circumstances. For instance I thought Draven was a cis man at the start of her story, but partway through she started questioning her gender after talking to a trans woman and an agender sword, and she eventually came to the conclusion that she was actually a trans woman herself. I’ve also had an aromantic character discover he’s grey aromantic (Calio), and an ace character discover he’s demisexual (Umbrolus)

(I also have purely aro/ace characters so this is not meant to be aro/ace erasure just an exploration of being grey romantic or demi).

The vast majority of my characters know their sexuality and gender identity from the get-go, but sometimes things change, sometimes people learn things about themselves.

[amplexadversary]

The notes are beautiful. Saving my favorites (and adding my own) under the cut.

^Love this.

Love the many, MANY people saying to add a dislike button. I'm sure only some of us are homestucks that saw it there first ♠♠♠♠ (ofc it's got to be a spade)

^That would suck for some innocent people but imagining the antis and bigots getting the slew of annoying notifs when people press the bye-bye button makes me chuckle.

^Classic chaos. I respect it. Might even force some of the idiots here to check on the source of things from time to time if this were a looming threat. A dangerously optimistic view, I know.

^Understood the assignment. Chaos abound. I like it.

^Wretched. Really understood the assignment. That would be horrible for me, I have so many unfinished pieces of writing rotting in there. Not to mention the fact that half the time posts that autosave don't get deleted from my drafts, so people would get a bunch of duplicate posts thrown out at random.

^This is how the Helminth infection from Warframe works, and while it probably would be light on the chaos, I love it. You'd get people like my GM who make a game of infecting people just to be annoying.

^That one's a classic for a reason. It would suck!

^every day I'd be blasting G Gundam fanart at random people. Maybe occasionally some analysis I really want to rub in a fandom's face. Though for maximum effectiveness a system where people could opt in to receive community labeled blazes would be ideal for recruiting new G fans send people the quality D(omon Kasshu).

I honestly would like a feature added to the blocklist where you can add notes to accounts you've blocked that only you can see. I could separate the Bigots from the Antis from the people who post too much Caleb or overhyped isekai or who just have horrible character takes and had to go.

To make it chaotic, add a paid option where you can see the notes every person who blocked you has written. It's purely opt-in so it couldn't be used for like, harassment, but the exact kind of people who tend to be self-centered assholes would have trouble resisting the temptation to hear what people are putting in.

Alternatively, if that's not enough chaos, every time someone blocks you, you should get a notification with a button to block the person back out of spite. Users blocked this way show up as an anonymized grey box in your blocklist. I think that would be funny.

In the tags, put a new feature you would add to Tumblr, not to make it better, but to make it more interesting/chaotic

[babanillustration]

Hello and congratulations! Word has reached me that you are soon to be the parent of a bouncing baby carapacian! I’m GM, Head Midwife in Can Town. This leaflet should give you some insight into the next 2 years of development that your baby will be going through, and what you should be preparing for.

The sizes and limbs referred to in these illustrations are for an average sized baby of average sized parents. Your baby is unique and will reflect the size and stature of their parents as they grow!

NEWBORN

Your newborn baby will be around the size of the hand of the average carapacian, this is the exception to their size being relative to the size of their parents.

Your baby will be grey at first, but you should expect their colouring and any patterning to start fading in over their first week. Such an exciting time waiting in anticipation to find out what colour and maybe even marbling your baby may have! A great time to hold a small party and begin your baby’s socialisation with close family and friends.

Soft carapace will have already formed on their head, they will also have a soft set of plates on their back and carapaced claws on their hands and feet. You should be extra careful when handling them during the first few days until they begin to grab onto clothing and shell as their clinging instincts start to appear. Over the first few weeks they will stay in a curled up position, but will begin to open up and move more in the following weeks as their eyes start to adjust.

Most babies will have four arms and two legs. This gives them extra gripping power and makes them able to defend themselves with their sharp claws! These claws should not be buffed down, they are essential for your baby’s safety. Should any non-Carapacians handle the baby, thick and preferably knitted clothing should be worn, both for their protection and for the baby to hold on to. A wearable knitted pouch is an invaluable tool for a soon-to-be parent.

The upper two arms should be permanent arms that will develop into full hands as they grow, and the lower set should be ‘baby arms’(that can be recognised by the seam around the elbow joint) that will be lost later on in their development. If you baby has more or less permanent arms or baby arms (or any other physical differences) don’t worry! If the hospital staff confirm that they are healthy then these differences should not affect their health!

Your baby’s arms and feet will look a little bit different to your own at this stage. Big toes should be turned out to the side, much like their thumbs, so that they can grab with them. This is perfectly normal and nothing to be worried about. They will develop into full feet in a similar way to their hands!

Babies may sleep on their fronts, this is normal since their largest plating is on their back and gives them the best defence, and allows them to cling on to you with their hands and feet if you are carrying or holding them. If they are sleeping elsewhere and are startled, they may roll over and raise their arms and legs to defend themselves, which is often accompanied by hissing if they are feeling threatened. Shooshing and soothing the baby should calm them down, they should be able to recognise your voice within the first month. Socialising your baby and letting them interact with many different people is essential at this stage and should decrease the potential of any reactions like this!

6 MONTHS

Over the past few months your baby will have gone through a growth spurt! They should now be able to walk, crawl, and climb unaided! This stage will be the biggest challenge for you as a parent.  An average baby will fit into two cupped hands, though if your baby is going to be larger or smaller you should be able to see a difference from this average size at this stage.

Now that they can move around on their own they will be very active, they will also be growing in their baby teeth!  Extensive baby-proofing should be done before this stage. Curtains and soft furnishings are particularly at risk for climbing, so swapping your current ones out for some made of smoother, more densely woven fabric will stop them from climbing anything that they shouldn’t (and hopefully stop them from having any more hospital visits than are necessary!).

Your baby’s teeth will be small and sharp since they will just be starting to grow through. While they would raise their arms and legs and hiss in the previous stage, they may start to bite as well if they cannot run away! Teething should also begin during this stage, so offering them either vegetable rinds or bones to chew on (while supervised!) to keep them from chewing anything that they shouldn’t will help, and also wean them on to more solid food in the process! Baby may refuse food at first, but will gravitate to the foods that they can digest. 

Constant supervision will be necessary in this stage, babies can move much faster than you’d think (especially if they’re small!) so baby reigns and wire domes over cribs, playpens, and anything you wouldn’t want chewed or torn are a necessity (unless you don’t mind your vegetable garden taking damage!)

You may notice that your baby’s arms and legs are getting stronger by now, and also that their permanent limbs are starting to grow extra fingers and toes! The baby arms that they have will also either drop off naturally as they grow larger, or will be dropped as a defence mechanism if they are startled. Don't be alarmed if they drop at any point, this will not hurt your baby at all, it’s just an indicator that they’re ready for the next milestone in their development! They will just be left with a small scar where the legs have detached. The clawed carapace will also fall from their permanent hands and feet as it grows out, giving them room for carapace to grow on their fully developed hands.

By now baby should be babbling, chittering, and hissing. Proper speech will not have developed yet, but they will be able to understand simple commands from you.

18 MONTHS

At this stage the size of your baby should be very apparent! An average baby should be able to be held up by two hands holding their sides under their arms. Some of the largest babies can be around the size of an average full grown male adult. Socialising your baby with other babies is very important and far easier at this stage, but care should be taken when your baby meets others that are drastically different in size or weight to your baby. (Again, we should be aiming for as few hospital visits as possible!)

Their baby arms will have fallen off by now, making them easier to hold if they only have 2 permanent arms. The hands and feet of your baby should be fully developed at this stage and should look like those of their parents! Their grip should be strong and they should be able to walk and toddle around on their own now that their big toe has moved around to be more suited for walking instead of climbing. Carapace will have grown at the ends of the fingers and toes. This is the beginning of their full shell growing in.

They will be very inquisitive at this age, so you can’t relax just yet! Now that they are larger and have less limbs, they should be less likely to climb and bite. You should be socialising your baby with other babies at the same stage, and at a similar size to them. Your baby is  at it’s softest at this point, ready for more carapace to grow in now that they have grown out of their baby carapace and arms!

The ‘grub scars’ should be clearly visible at their sides. Once they grow in carapace over their ribs, they will no longer be visible, so the scars will not be permanent.

Your baby should have moved on to eating more solid but soft foods. Since they still have their sharp baby teeth, they will help them to slice through and eat them.

Leading up to this stage baby will start saying their first words, and should now also be able to communicate with you with a few words as well as some babbling and chittering. Basic commands can be understood and followed by your baby!

24 MONTHS

Your baby will now have reached the toddler stage! By this point you will have  gotten through the first (and arguably the toughest) 2 years of raising your child, well done!

Your baby’s hands and feet will have full carapace on them, as well as the cuffs around the ankles and wrists being complete. You will have seen the carapace slowly grow in around the extremities over the past few months.

Softer smaller plates on the knees, elbows, collarbones, and shoulder blades will have grown in as well, but still have plenty of room for movement around them! Baby’s growth should be starting to plateau at this point, as they start to settle into their toddler size! Their growth should be a slow steady upward trend from this point forward into adulthood. No more sudden growth spurts, and a nice rest from having to adjust or make new clothing!

Baby teeth will begin to fall out soon, making room to be replaced with new teeth that will grow in either rounded or sharp, ready to start eating tougher solid foods that fit their diet. Don’t be concerned if your baby starts to loose teeth, they will grow back in fairly quickly and should be taken as a sign that they are ready to start moving on to these tougher foods once they have enough of their new teeth grown in to be able to chew their food thoroughly enough. This is the perfect time to introduce baby to pumpkins!

Baby should now be able to communicate with more words and form simple requests and sentences. They should be able to communicate with you with a slightly wider vocabulary! 

MARBLING

Patterning and marbling may be present on your baby. It is most likely that your baby will either solid black or white, or very low on the scale of marbling. It is rarer for them to have more heavy marbling.  

Marbling is purely superficial and will not affect your baby’s health, apart from some minor effects from having split-face marbling. If the colouring is different over each eye, then the eye colours will also be different. This can cause some minor issues, since each eye reacts differently to different light levels and may be slightly different sizes. These babies will be referred to an Optician for checks once they are at the toddler stage if there are no obvious issues presenting in the first few years. If the colour is split over the mouth, the teeth will match whichever colour has the most coverage on the baby. More white will have black teeth, more black will have white teeth.

Marbling most commonly occurs around the extremities, and on the head but away from the face. Less commonly, marbling will appear on the midsection and chest Any marbling that crosses over the face is very uncommon. 

Even rarer are any of the mutations of the marbling patterning. Again purely superficial in most cases! Even if your baby is solidly colored they may carry these genes, and they can occur at any level or marbling, apart from the symmetrical split mutation.

The babies in this chart cover the most common height range at around 18 months, large babies can be up to three times the size of smaller babies!

We are still learning more about babies and are looking to gather more data on them so that we can give parents better advice. Please consider signing your baby up to our monitoring program so that we can collect more data on carapacian babies! Please enquire at Can Town Community Hospital about signing your baby up for this study.

Me and everyone at the Can Town Community Hospital wish you the best of luck with raising your new baby and look forward to seeing you again for check-ups as they grow!

-GM

You can also find notes on adult Carapacians from our colleagues  HERE!

[best-ghoul]

So, GRAVEN MOON lore tidbit because I've got a smidge of writer's block.

the Fey are Roman-inspired in GM, and serve as the elf-analogue. They also were patronized by the now-dead Jade Demiurge, who taught 'em about genetics in the bronze age. They've been eugenicists ever since, practicing a system of caste and house called the Germline. People pair off, produce offspring, and kids are raised communally. Love has nothing to do with procreation, but they're certainly capable of feeling love, just like humans, and have something kinda like marriage

One of the Castes is Gigas, the warriors (with an Equestrian subcaste for the classy ones), who average about seven feet (~210 cm) and are built like a fucking humanoid bulldozer. So, nonzero chance you could be gently but firmly held by a seven-foot handsome grey elf in Dis.

One of your party members is a Gigas. His name's Tiberius, and he's a sad dad who has had his life ruined by his merc partner Akki, with the two making a Boke/Tsukkomi duo. They're stuck together because they both fucked up really hard trying to kill each other and now they're heterosexual life partners. Or an ambiguously gay duo, depending on how you read it.

[felassan]

Faces of Thedas Part 1

(Part 2 is here)

Soooo I came across what seems to be the whole of Faces of Thedas free online. 0: 

I’m picking through it and there’s some cool/interesting stuff in there. these parts were the highlights and most notable bits for me so far. not suggesting this is all new or that these things are all good, just that they were what stood out most to me.

- it specifically notes that it’s a useful guide to their characters, with their histories and personalities carefully researched and detailed. i.e. it’s official information. I do have to say there are quite a few typos (Par Vallon? Kal-shirok? Teveinter? Bartran? Sa arebas? bit sloppy) and even several lore-errors in it. not a big deal, just you’d think it’s the kind of thing they would have caught during editing and proof-reads

- blond hair and blue eyes are distinctive features of Anderfels mountain men

- Leliana’s features are very Fereldan

- it describes Cass as a “cactus patch” LOL, dragon-hunting as a limited field with just two classes of practitioners - “skilled” and “deceased” - and lists Anders’ Awakening-era equipment as including Ser Pounce-a-lot (yey!) and dried mackerel (yuk). includes notable quotes from some of the characters; Dog’s is “Woof!” (of course). Varric is totally making Cass a character in his next bestseller. Cole’s equipment list ends “and an unusual hat”. Stitches is one of the best healers in Ferelden. Dalish the Charger is a flirt. Varric’s allegiances include “the Champion of Kirkwall”. ;__; Harding’s role is “Adorably Sarcastic Lead Scout”, and her family mabari Contessa weighs 170 pounds. an aside, but descriptions of Origins-era Anders cause him to strike me as an Enneagram 7

- if Hawke killed Anders for his actions at the end of DAII, disciples (like-minded mages) elevated him to martyrdom for his valiant blow against their oppressors. if Anders lived, after the Kirkwall Rebellion he’s not only a pariah but arguably the most universally despised person alive in all of Thedas. even among the Rebel Mages he’s considered an extremist, and there’s apparently hardly a mage alive who’s in any way pleased with his actions 8| according to this book, hundreds died when Kirkwall Chantry blew up

- one of Alistair’s few indulgences as King was commissioning a custom pike designed specially for him. it’s a masterwork ironbark twohanded spear, and was inspired by Oghren’s old off-color jokes about pike-twirling.

- “Alistair is one of the few truly good people in Thedas”

- he sees siring Morrigan’s child as a fate worse than death

- whatever her outcome, Anora remains a Queen of Ferelden in her heart

- Leliana is still the girl that had a pet nug she named Schmooples, despite it all

- after the Fifth Blight, Dog was allowed to rest/retire, settle down, find a mate, and produce many Mabari pups. these pups share the ferocity of their father, and could prove equally valuable companions to those worthy of their loyalty. after his passing, there’s a good chance that interested parties would be after his bones to display them as a prize or curio.

- far from just using the network of mirrors to hamper both sides in the Orlesian Civil War, back when Briala had control of the eluvians she also used them to bring food to alienages, gaining the support of City Elves in the process, and to aid elves in other ways too. she’s also noted to have been doing what she could to gain the support of the Dalish, and that her logic was that the longer she could drag out and harry the Orlesian war effort, the more time she would have to free her People from their bonds. her goals are for all of the elves of Orlais, City and Dalish both, and she’s making efforts to bring unity between the two. in the Orlesian court she spends time, through intrigue, supporting nobles who support elves and tearing down those who do not. Briala is bae ok I added that last bit myself

- “Many Dalish don’t see city elves as being truly elves and so don’t see any particular reason to help them, and for that matter why would anyone want to have equality with a shem?”

- in need of an Inquisitor to head up their soon-to-be-hatched recreation of the Inquisition of old, and potential allies of the Chantry and the Divine, Leliana had set out in search of the Hero of Ferelden while Cassandra sought Hawke.

- rogue Seekers as well as the templars and rebel mages were in attendance at the Conclave. before the sky opened, Cassandra and Varric were supposed to address the Conclave, so that Varric could recount his tale of the Champion

- I like this snippet on Cass’s development: “introspection is a difficult skill to learn, however, and her brash impulsiveness often leaves her deeply chagrined or ashamed of mistakes that could have been avoided had she taken time to consider before rushing to judgement. Or to paraphrase her own recriminations, recent events taught her anything, it’s the extent of her own ignorance and short-sightedness.” I like to think this sort of reflection and development applies to her looking back on some of the ill-thought comments she made early in the course of DA:I, like asking Lavellan “Isn’t there room for another god?” and similar.

- Cass and Galyan could never make a stable, serious relationship, but they did get together when they could and harbored feelings for each other right up until he died at the Conclave Q.Q

- “Celene does, in fact, have sympathy for the elves,”    ಠ_ಠ

- Cole perceives pain as very nearly a physical thing with which he can interact. his unhesitating stream-of-consciousness recounting of peoples’ most painful memories occurs because he wants to excise the pain by exposing it and helping his subject through it

- This part on how Dorian can potentially be used by GMs in campaigns: “Dorian provides a strong candidate for a high-society Tevinter who would employ the heroes. Due to his position in Tevinter nobility as well as his experience in researching arcane lore, he would be able to provide access to Tevinter archives or artifacts in return for tasks the party performs for him.” Echoes of Dorian’s role in Dragon Age 4, perhaps?

- idk i just really like the parallels in the Grey Warden order recalling Fiona to Weisshaupt and making the shocking discovery that she was cured of the Taint, and the order recalling the Hero of Ferelden upon learning that no Warden died to deal the killing blow on the Archdemon, if Morrigan’s ritual was completed

- literally everything about Fiona

- Fiona’s silverite battlemage staff is emblazoned with the Theirin coat of arms.. my heart...

- the lil section on romancing Harding

- bit more insight into Qunari views on gender and trans people

- an alternate version of the story of Flemeth and Conabar; Flemeth was betrothed to the poet Osen, but they were very poor. The nobleman Conabar struck a deal with Osen to buy her. she agreed but Conabar recanted, claiming he had no money to pay. he killed Osen and imprisoned her. she called upon the demon to aid her, but it only became her guide and never possessed her. she killed Conabar and fled.

- Harding’s calling cards in guerrilla warfare are latrines booby-trapped with Antivan Fire or hornet nests. a former bard and fellow scout even immortalized one such escapade in a spectacularly graphic limerick

- Josie’s dangerousness, hardworkingness, talent, formidableness and high sense of personal responsibility/ethics is emphasized 👏 “she is one of the most gifted communicators and stateswomen alive”!!

- the Charger Dalish “hails from a secret group of elves. It has long been thought that the elves had regained the secrets to lost magic, and Dalish is living proof”.

[sepiadice]

DiceJar Campaign 0.2: ‘It sticks its nonexistent tongue out at you.’ (2020/01/31)

Shorter session this week, and also down a NavyDie due to work and him being a boring adult.

The section of the module I had prepared has four combat encounters, only one I could reasonably cut. I was trying to think of some way to abstract one down, since even two combats is a stretch.

Fortunately, we only got through half of the material I planned, so the third can be saved next time, with only one other fight left on the current floor (and I might be able to cut that one).

I also felt a lot less stressed this time. Players taking an active interest in when the session was happening, actually getting a second session, and having notes prepared put me in a better mindset. So that's a good thing to know about myself!

Probably need to come up with a team name. Probably should ask the players to devise one.

Cast

Mogui (IndigoDie): Druid. Sponsored by Lord Grey to go on this rite of passage. Indigo is an old pal from High School. Yot (LimeDie): Cleric. Mercenary that finds himself in Kassen often. Lime is a newer pal from an Improv Club. Delilah Dunford (VermilionDie): Rogue. Daughter of nobles, volunteered for this mission by her butler. Vermilion is someone I knew during high school, but the age of our pal-ness is vaguely defined. Bernard 'Bean' Dipp (NavyDie): Ranger(?). Young man forced to grow up quickly in light of his father's affliction. Navy is an Improv pal, and was also absent this session. Game Master (SepiaDie/me): Environment (mostly skeletons). Dungeon is a crypt where something spooky might be happening. Sepia is me, and thus probably my greatest enemy.

Session Two

I opened with two quick prose bits that Lime described as ‘Loading Screen’ text. Which is accurate, I suppose. Both were from travel guides, one formal, the other what I intend to be my Hitchhiker’s guide. It’s a fun narrative device I picked up from Dice Friends[1]: in-setting exposition and world building.

The party starts where they left off: standing outside the crypt, looking at some dead horses.

Delilah investigates the saddlebags, identifying the maker mark of the town leather worker, Mr. Shepherd, a pleasant if quiet elf man.[2] The bags contain blunt arrows, travel rations, and two pillows. Curious.

The party enters the dungeon proper, and I have to actually use the Roll20 application for more than doodling[3] and tracking relative locations.

In the first room is two fresh corpses, two heavily broken skeletons, and six less-broken skeletons.

The fresh bodies are two friends of Kassen’s mayor. What a tragedy. Why are they here, though?

Six skeletons rise up to fight the interlopers. Combat begins!

I think the fight went well. Three players kept a fair clip as compared to, say, seven to eight. Six skeletons focused on just attacking whoever is closest or draws their aggression. The skeletons have low health, so they were dispatched quickly. As a GM, the fight didn't feel like it dragged.

Skeletons now rendered dead, again, our heroes are now able to take a breath and take in the scene. A mural of Kassen driving off a horde of enemies decorates the opposite wall,[4] a reasonable amount of dust coats the various surfaces, and a wailing echoes through the hallowed halls.

I failed to indicate the direction the wailing was coming from (the southeast exit), so the party elected to do the logical thing and go through the northwest door.

This room held a pool of water, fed by a fountain depicting a woman crying over a dying Kassen. Kassen’s head had worn off, however, a detail to concern the players with its possible meaning.

A voice Booms ‘Magic is the Key’.

At the bottom of the forty foot deep pool lays hundreds of keys. A tough, complicated puzzle to…

Yot cast light on a pebble, dove in, and cast Detect Magic.[5] One of the keys is radiating magic. The module didn’t say what type of magic it was, so I just shrugged at clarifying questions and admitted it didn’t really matter.[6]

The key unlocks one of the doors in the room, which leads to a hall flanked on either side by statues of Kassen holding swords. The utter dedication to this one guy is starting to get a little silly. Surely there were other members of his mercenary band that… might deserve…

Anyways, ignoring the fun change to the narrative I could make,[7] the party progresses and accidentally steps on a pressure plate, which drops the swords onto… mostly just Delilah, who was leading the way, the other two standing in the gaps between the statues.[8] Luckily, the trap has to be manually reset, so they can just use acrobatics checks to pass now that the swords are down.

Next room: multilevel chamber, with a giant statue standing before them, holding two shields, one reading ‘Home’ and the other ‘Family’.

And yes, the statue is of Kassen. So much Kassen decoration. So many tax dollars wasted on glorifying a founder in a location most people would never visit, with the Mayor being the only one confirmed to visit more than once in his life. They could’ve used the upkeep costs on fixing potholes, or making a park, or expanding Kassen.

The nice thing about being a Game Master is you can address such fridge logic.

Mogui descends the stairs to the lower level first, activating a wood golem! It steps off a pressure plate, which turns the stairs into a slope.

Initiative is rolled, and the wooden golem crits on Mogui, knocking him into death save territory. Whoops.

Yot follows him down, slipping on the slope and landing prone. Delilah prepares a rope down before shooting the enemy with her bow. Critical failure. She throws herself off balance and slides down to the lower level.[9]

Yot attempts to battle the wood golem, ignoring his companion rolling dice to not die right next to him. Meanwhile, Delilah climbs onto the wood golem in a sneak attack. While up there, she spots an odd keyhole on the back of its neck.

Luckily, she just happened to have a magic key. Which she uses to turn off the boss fight, causing it to move back to its podium and restore the stairs to a usable state.

Mogui is also healed to standing.

Were it not for the golem scoring two (2!) critical hits on my players, I’d say it was a pretty good fight design. The room had levels, lending interesting positioning options, the puzzle of the staircase-to-ramp mechanism, and despite the golem having high hit points for the player’s level, it also had a discoverable ‘off switch’ to give more of a puzzler solution. Fights are better when designed as puzzles instead of a series of dice rolls.

Puzzle design can be hard, though. However, combat might also be a case of a little work going a long way to just make the mechanical showcase more interesting.

This session held one straight fight, a puzzle, then a puzzle-fight. It felt like a good session composition, though it would have been nice to have some role-playing.

Oh wait. I’m in charge here.

The party takes a moment to take a breath. They decide they need a break. Their GM sits, knowing the door they’re standing right next to goes to the prize room. They just need to… go in…

Instead, the party backtracks to the fountain-and-keys room for a short rest.

Maybe I’m not as in charge here as I’d hoped.

As players start asking for an end of the session, I play the ‘We’re so close to a big moment’ card, and gently tell them to go through that door.

Now, the module as written has the party enter the room to find a masterwork weapon[10] or other item, and a potion for each party member, and a note saying how proud their families are. A gift from the community for their new adults. Nice, but lacks a certain punch.

So, I give them their potions and non-masterwork items. Because usable loot is good to have. But you know what’s rarely utilized? Trinkets! Things with no mechanical value at all!

So Mogui, whose player I workshopped with for this specific moment,[11] found a Family Tree prepared for him by his employer, Lord Grey. I also took the note of pride and turned it into a letter from Lord Grey. Then I made Indigo tell me what the letter says.[12] Mogui was sent to work for Lord Grey in exchange for his family receiving a noble title, and this family tree was the needed evidence for his family to claim their title. The letter essentially thanked him for his service and Lord Grey’s pride in having him.

Next was Yot. He didn’t have family in town, so how do I work him into this? Well, honorary adoption, of course. The widows and mothers of Kassen have knitted him winter clothes like a hat, socks, and gloves.[13] The starter I gave for his letter was small notes from the community thanking him for his help. When I turned Lime loose, he wanted to add indictments from loved ones he let die in the field. And, as important as it is for a GM not to invalidate player choices, it’s important for the GM and player to workshop. Because such things wouldn’t have reasonably gotten on that table, instead I suggested that they were forgivenesses for those deaths, which Yot nevertheless took hard.

The final present party member, Delilah, received two gold coins from her parents and a bag of her favorite sweets from her butler. I just dictated the parent’s letter as them just giving her her allowance, not fully understanding what their daughter volunteered for. Her butler’s letter, however, I let Vermilion handle. She turned it into an apology for fibbing about how involved her parents were in allowing her to join this rite of passage mission, but he is proud of her, and hopes she enjoys the candy.

For Bean, who was following behind but was likely too scared to be of any help this session,[15] there was a hand carved figurine of a dog, made by his father, as well as a letter from the same. I’ll have Navy get his fair moment to do his letter.[16]

Thus ends the session.

I felt more confident leading this session, and the actual contents felt meatier than just travelling to the crypt. I’ve started adding my own material, and no one’s told me they’re unsatisfied,[17] so let’s call it a successful session!

Actually combatting my nature and making a point-by-point break down on what happens in each room and how it works went a long way to keeping me confident and cool. I don’t need to impress anyone. And I put in good work.

I was especially proud of the trinkets. I feel like the players engaged with them, it provided a chance to trick the players into exposition, and it was a role-playing moment. Every session is better when you write open ended chances to role-play.

The actual walking through the dungeon and traps still needs work, though. Certain traps activate when a player steps on a certain space, and I’m still struggling with how to perform trapfinding checks without making everyone cautious. Making players check every space with a check would get tedious, doing a check behind my screen on behalf of a player feels blasphemous as players should roll their own dice, and just having them doing it once they enter the room just feels narratively disconnected. I’ll need to think on that hall with swords and statues.

Also figure out what happened to fountain Kassen’s head.

And on why there’s just… so much Kassen around the place.

Anyways, I had fun with it. The session got a puzzle and a half, a combat and a half, skill checks, and roleplaying! Getting better as a GM! I feel it!

Now to achieve a session good enough it fills my players to yearn to talk to me about it outside of the session! The after session decompression and discussion was always my favorite times during the high school games.

I have a patreon and ko-fi if you wish to support me. Financial support will set me on my path to an actual play show and making a living writing and creating.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.[19]

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[1]Specifically Kathleen DeVere’s Bylaws and Order and Cameron Lauder’s After the Flood campaigns. I look forward to having a go-to newspaper to reference like Kathleen’s. [2] I don't recall if I ever gave Trix's father a first name, but this is he. Trix is in Kassen somewhere. [3] Advice: maintain a separate page to play around with. Wards away graffiti on the actual map, and gives you a landing page to transition into the game time mindspace. [4] Presumably in a similar manner to Martin the Warrior's tapestry. [5] Which he probably shouldn’t be able to do while holding his breath, but also making him get out, cast the spell, then dive back in is nitpicking. [6] Yot can worry about getting cancer from diving into a reactor cooler later. [7] Unless, in the incredibly likely event I just forget, I don’t implement this. [8] Should’ve alternated the placement of statues so every square has one. So everyone has an equal chance at pain. [9] Is it possible that the party is just so bad with declines that I can retroactively justify messing up on the hill during session one? Maybe. Maybe. [10] Non-existent in Fifth Edition. [11] I couldn’t come up with an obvious prize, so I just asked. Benefit of experience playing with the guy and trust that he won’t cheat. [12] I would’ve made Navy go first were he there, since Navy has both my trust and improv experience to set a good example. [13] Ms. Shepherd didn’t finish her scarf in time, since it took a bit to source the wool from her family’s flock.[14] [14] I really need to play Trix again… [15] Navy can get final say on justification. [16] The ideal sequence would’ve been experienced improv person who’s trinket I’m confident in, then the player who I had dictate his trinket, then the improv player with the shakier trinket, then the player who I’m new to playing with. Turns out that last one knocked it out of the park, which is affirming. [17] Outside one player’s continuing dislike of D&D. I’ll probably do GURPS for the next one. Unless I need to punish everyone. In which case, Maid RPG.[18] [18] Actually, on a serious note, if you can look past the… tone and anime-ness of everything else, Maid RPG has a mechanic that would be a great tool to understand the shut-downs of Autustic Students. If there was literally any way I could pitch that to my higher-ups at work. [19] Confession: still not completely sold on this sign-off, but Kataal kataal isn’t for this context.

[timespassiontrails]

A citizen of passion

Arvind Passey

These are times when it is safer to embrace passion popping out of your inbox… and these words aim to brighten up a difficult period. A few of us experienced the passionate joy of travel to some of the brightest moments in the cultural history of our country when we travelled to the #HeartOfIndia a few days back. All these heritage sites still have the power to nudge excitement in any mind and awaken the poet even in those who opt to remain mesmerized by the mundane world. It is completely justifiable to admit that the #TimesPassionTrails begin with poetry, stays with rhymes, peaks with pulsating beats, and the experience spreads through a traveler’s being to remain there forever! Travel makes me a citizen of passion.

The true path to nirvana

Travel is possibly the best way of attempting to appreciate what lies on the other side of the sleep of reason and when it is fueled by the passion of someone who understands the finer nuances of the organic talent spanning thousands of years, everything gets just that bit more fascinating… and interestingly relevant. We were fortunate to have an eminent archaeologist (Padmashri Karingamannu Kuzhiyil Muhammed) who had been with the ASI and the way he transformed every complex bit of our cultural history into memorable little stories was an unbeatable experience. We met equally absorbing and absolutely involved personalities like Muzaffar Ansari or ‘Kalley Bhai’, an approved guide and weaver, in Chanderi and Anurag Shukla, the endlessly energetic travel expert at Khajuraho. Quite obviously then, our trip starting from Bhopal and moving through Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, Bhojpur ShivLinga, Taj-ul-Masjid in Bhopal, Stupa at Sanchi, Udaigiri caves, Chanderi, Kati Ghati, Orchha and then being let into the enigma of Khajuraho was nothing but a journey into understanding the road-map to nirvana.

All our learning is because of Mr Muhammed and Mr Ansari

Anurag Shukla, the endlessly energetic travel expert at Khajuraho

Human nirvana, I believe, happens when the mind is able link everything that galvanizes it with something that amuses the taste-buds… it is this jugal-bandhi that happened every day during this passion trail.

The Molecular Papdi-chaat day

An easy day began with settling down at the Jehan Numa Retreat in Bhopal and then moving straight into the world of pre-historic Paleolithic and Mesolithic rock paintings at Bhimbetka, around 45 km southeast of Bhopal. We ambled around a few rock shelters (there are over 750 spread over 10 km and on and around seven hills), creating our own visual memories of the past.

Bhimbetka - one almost wishes one were a cave dweller telling tales in pictures

Bhimbetka - rock shelters that tell stories from prehistoric paleolithic and mesolithic times

This tantalizing start gently wheeled us into the mystery of Bhojesvar temple with one of the largest linga in India… and ‘what is important here’, explained KK Muhammed, ‘is that the ramp built in Raja Bhoj’s time to transport massive stones to build this huge structure, is still there.’ Such structures are destroyed once the construction is completed… but the temple remained incomplete and thus the ramp survived. This isn’t all… but then I’ll be writing other exhaustive posts and talking about these intriguing facets of our heritage later on my blog.

Bhojpur - Shiv temple where the ramp to cart massive stones still survives

The day, surprisingly managed to push in more surprises and these included listening to Dhruva, India’s first Sanskrit band singing vedic strotas and vedic gaan… and followed by a trail culinary degustation of Madhya Pradesh. The sub-titles for my post are inspired by what we were served here.

The Patthar Gosht Kabab day

The next day began with Jamal Ayub giving us story-dunked tales as we stood inside Taj-ul-Masjid… these stories were about the reflective carpet that never got used to the Begums who went on Haj, and then from the story of the dhai seedi mosque to the matriarchal structure of the Bhopal ruling family. By the way, one of the things that I never doing throughout this trip was to keep clicking pictures on my Galaxy Note9 and my Nikon DSLR… the GoPro Hero7 with me didn’t really get many opportunities.

Bhopal - Taj-ul-Masjid

Tropic of Cancer - between Bhopal and Sanchi

This was the day when I realized that all these years I had been wrongly assuming that Buddha was at Stupas at Sanchi. ‘No, Buddha never visited this place, ‘clarified  KK Muhammed, ‘but these along with the Chausath Yogini temple have certainly inspired the architect of Rashtrapati Bhavan.’

Sanchi - our currency note has its picture on it

Sanchi - where each panel has stories from the Jataka tales etched

I have mentioned earlier that each day during this passion trail is packed with mesmerizing visits and the day went on from staring at Ganga on a crocodile, Yamuna on a tortoise and a lot of other facets etched on rocks and walls of caves at Udaigiri to drive back to Sanchi to watch the sound and light show at the Stupa.

The Matar-pudina ka Shorba day

This was the day we drove to Chanderi, the outpost of Bundelkhund – the city with Urvashi and Betwa flowing near, a stimulating series of white, grey, and red sandstone Shaivite, Vaishnaivite, and Jain temples… and, of course, known for Chanderi silk. It is said that 1 km of silk used in Chanderi cloth weighs just 1.5 gms.

Chanderi - the weaver’s loom

This was also a day when we hopped from the gory references of the Kati Ghati story to the horror bumps of the shooting of Stree, a Bollywood movie… and then on to the svelte charm of Chanderi silk, the valid concerns of the weavers, and the photogenic views from Kila Kothi to click this enthralling jhilon ki nagri before moving on to Orchha.

The Dahi-Baigan Shirazi day

I was almost tempted to call this the fresh basil and lemongrass sorbet day because the combination of Raja Ram temple, the fortress, and the chhatris photographed very early in the morning was just that kind of experience. Walking across the rapta over Betwa and then allowing the friendly forest reserve dog to guide us through a dark undulating terrain to the river bank on the opposite side of the Chhatris was more than just-another-adventure. Waking up the chowkidaar at the Orchha fort to get entry into the mahals much before the tourists ambled in was brilliant as we had the entire property to ourselves to explore, pose, and click just as we wanted to. Yes, the monuments viewed from here in the soft morning light were applauded by our cameras. These were our #LiveWhatYouLove moments for sure.

The Times Passion Trail cyclists in Orchha

Orchha Fort - jharokhas as architectural necessity

Orchha - cenotaphs guarded by a pair of owlets

Orchha - early morning at the shore of river Betwa

Orchha - the subtle morning light and the chhatris

Orchha - the chhatris as reflections in the morning light

Orchha - the sadhu is happy to be clicked with the chhatris in the background

Orchha - locals are off to the temple within the fort

Orchha - Ram Raja Temple from the top of the fort

Orchha - the bridge to the city

Orchha - hobnobbing with the Bundela royalty

The day, as usual, surprised us with a meeting with the Bundelkhund royalty and the conversation with Rajeshwari Shah and RudraPratap Shah as we savored Bundeli dishes at their resort, were brimming with nuggets from Bundeli itihaas. With such a lot to keep us in good humour, the long drive to Khajuraho wasn’t as horrifying as it could have been.

The Gulab ki Kheer and Shahi Tukda days

The last two days at Khajuraho were sweetened adequately by the sheer brilliance of the sufi vocals sung by Dhruv Sangari (Bilal Chishti Sangari) creating the right sort of auditory stimulus for the sensual posturing that Khajuraho is somehow known for… though I must say that it is the cultural history, modular architecture, mythological references, Swargarohan temples, Jain temples, the subtle and not-so-subtle links to tantra and mantra, and the spice-infused cuisine surviving through the tumultuous past of the region that are as vital as are the erotic attractions here. Yes, we did miss out on a more personal tete-a-tete with the eroticism of the temples as they were closed due to the Covid-19 restrictions… but then this is just the right reason for us to plan another trip to this place.

Khajuraho - the tales behind the eroticism are many and quite interesting

Gimme more!

The Times Passion Cultural & Heritage Trail in Madhya Pradesh has #SabKuchJoDilChahe and for the foodie in me it covered almost the entire menu from amousse bouche to the dessert as it meandered through the delicious soups, starters, the entrée, sorbet, and the main course.

Burrrrp!

I’m happy.

#

Arvind Passey: short bio

Blog: http://www.passey.info

Media-kit: http://passey.info/media-kit/

Published short-stories in nearly a dozen anthologies. Poetry published in magazines and journals in UK and India. Work experience includes heading corporate communication and then as the editor of Education Post. Writes on travel, technology, politics, environment, books, wildlife and any other subject that catches his fancy.

[diverse-hearts-a]

1. State your name: Real names Elaine but most do call me Myra ^^

2. State the name that your parents almost named you: If I was a girl I was to be called Louise and if a boy Ethan. Elaine was a somewhat happy accident by my dad and mum liked the name so it stuck lol.

3. Which of your relatives do you get along with the most? My parents. My sister drives be insane most times and my extended family are a nightmare ^^;

4. What was your first job?: Community Support Worker/GM for a mobile MMO!

5. Did anything embarrassing happen this week? Not really - I trip over my feet ALOT and walk into things...but we’re all used to that by now lol

6. Do you miss your ex? God - not in a million years

7. White chocolate or dark chocolate? White Chocolate : )

8. Do people praise you for your looks? I donno why but sometimes. Boyfriend and mother as the most guilty for it - though boyfriend does freak out when I don’t wear my glasses lol. I have lost a bit of weight recently so feeling okay about myself at the moment.

9. What is your favorite color of clothing to wear? Black or red - sometimes blue. I really hate wearing white >.<

10. How do you wear your makeup? I don’t wear any -

11. What are some of your nicknames? Myra, Elle, Angel, Waffle, Mira, Moon Unit, Evil One.

12. How many bedrooms are in your house? 2

13. How many bathrooms? 1 

14. Do you have a job? No, I’m currently on disability leave but looking for one.

15. Do you have a car? Nope, I don’t even have a driving licence.

16. Do you work out every week? I should but ahhhh

17. Did you brush your teeth this morning? Nope - oops >_<

18. Have you ever kissed someone you never saw again? Nope

19. Have you ever sung in front of a crowd? Yeah - was in school choir. Years ago thou!

20. What kind of bathing suit do you wear? I’m hydrophobic so I tend to avoid swimming but whenever I had to it was usually a one piece.

21. Do you like your eyes? Yeah! My eyesight is terrible thou - but I think they are pretty and I have naturally long eyelashes that mums jealous of lol

22. Do you think you are pretty? Truthfully, nope - boyfriends helped a lot with those issues though... I’m a lot happier with my body than I used to be...

23. Who was the last person you talked to in person? My mum

24. How much money is in your checking account? Nothing - I’m in my overdraft lol

25. Are you single? Nope

26. Do you want kids? It’s kinda still up in the air - Any kid I have is likly to inherit at least a few of my health conditions so I’m a bit like - do I wanna risk that?? Also me and the boyfriend need to spend  a shit ton of money just on immigration never mind having a child >_<

27. Tell me what your backpack looks like: I only have one for traveling purposes? It’s black and grey and has a lot of little pockets so I can remove my tech easily to get through security without panicking and looking rather suspicious... airport security is a joy when you have panic disorder I swear -_-

29. Last movie you saw in theaters: Erm...I think it was the new Lion King? I only really go to the theater when over in america lol...I’m strange :3

Tagged By: Stole it from @dcfygraviity​​

Tagging: Whoever wants to do it  /o/

[zedecksiew]

Faux Pas

Recently I found this cheat-sheet for creating interesting and consistent monsters pretty fucking useful.

But its writer Beloch Shrike / Nick LS Whelan is a force for good in role-playing games, generally?

He does Blogs On Tape, which turns blogs -- the lifeblood of the DIY / art-punk sub-community -- into podcasts. And his crowd-sourced how-to-contribute post has evergreen advice on what folks can do to make the making of RPGs better.

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Remembered I’d bought an adventure module that Nick wrote a while back, but didn’t really look at. So now I am.

In Faux Pas, a village is wracked by a terrible disease: infected people audibly go “pop!” and fly into a murderous rampage; after which they start to manifest terrible mutations of body and mind.

There’s a dungeon, down the village well: a forgotten temple. It’s gotten some new visitors, recently -- the Gilagthrr, basically grey aliens, here to harvest eldritch energies to power their starship.

They are the source of the popping plague. Their refueling activities produce a yellow-ish byproduct that is poisoning the well water -- though they are unaware of its toxicity to local life. 

If informed of this they will try to undo any harm done. But communication is difficult:

‘For example, the “hand wave” gesture we regard as friendly is nearly identical to the movement performed by the psionic beings of Suden’Fis when they cause a victim’s brain to disintegrate, so that one will put any Gilagthrr on edge.’

Also the text encourages GMs to call the aliens “demons” -- “barking unholy phrases at one another”, instead of merely speaking -- further obfuscating their provenance.

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Faux Pas is neat! It feels thought out.

The “oh it’s aliens” reveal feels like an optional bonus, a reward for player ingenuity; the players could run through the adventure as a dungeon romp with demons.

Or otherwise never get to the bottom of things -- in which case the afflicted village itself has enough horrible, powder-keg-y stuff to occupy PCs, and eventually the terrible Inquisition of “God-most-Censorious” arrives.

These outcomes are allotted for. (If not sketched out in detail.)

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I like the module design, and the scrapbook feel of Anxy’s art:

But the star of Faux Pas is the writing.

The body-horror imagery of the popping plague stays with you -- 16-year-old Ogdurn has sprouting insect wings where his leg- and arm-hairs were; Potitus has grown thick webbed flesh around his limbs and neck, “giving him the silhouette of a starfish”.

(One thing conspicuously lacking from Faux Pas is a random table of these mutations, considering player characters run the risk of catching the plague themselves.) 

There are some nice turns of phrase: “A bloated, waterlogged mummy, wearing a chain like a scarf ...”

There’s some subtle emotional dread:

‘ One of the houses in town has caught fire. When help arrives on the scene, they find a woman standing outside, clutching her arms tightly. Her name is Daela. This was her house, and it is her fire. Her face is hauntingly tearless as she explains that her three children were better off dead. One of them hadn’t popped yet, “But he would have. Everyone will, sooner or later.” ’

Filing this in my “I wanna run this for folks!” pile.

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GET IT HERE.