#All traitors pcs campaign-

[itsguysnightitsironic]

A snake among snakes knows no fear

Pocket knives on display, A sinner is not a sinner between wrongdoers Only themself, Only themself.

"There's a traitor among you" Would you happen to know who you're talking with? Do you even know them?

[onlycosmere]

The Kickstarter goes live tomorrow!

When Brandon Sanderson began working with Brotherwise Games on the first adventure for The Stormlight Roleplaying Game, he considered how it could help him fix holes in the narrative of his bestselling fantasy series. He settled on a mystery from the first Stormlight Archive book, The Way of Kings, that will have big implications for the fifth book in the series, Wind and Truth, which will be released in December.

The Stormlight Archive is set on the planet Roshar, where 10 heroes known as Heralds spent millenia protecting humanity with the help of highly magical swords dubbed Honorblades. All of them abandoned their duties except Taln, the Herald of the Common Man. Despite Taln’s best efforts, the forces of the vengeful god Odium have returned. Taln was left maddened by his ordeal and soon after he first appears in the books, his Honorblade goes missing. Its whereabouts remain unknown.

“The adventure is answering that question,” Sanderson told Polygon. “What happened? Where did it go? What’s going on? And you get to be part of the story. We were looking for an adventure you could do that would intersect with the canon of the books in an interesting way, and allow you to fill in a hole yourself.”

The Kickstarter for the d20-based game goes live on Aug. 6 along with a beta preview of the rules and a first level adventure meant to walk players and game masters through the setting and core mechanics. The hardcover Stonewalkers Adventure, where players encounter Taln and learn what happened to his honorblade, will be released in 2025 along with the Stormlight Roleplaying Game Handbook and World Guide.

...

Players will hunt for Taln’s honorblade across Roshar, from the Shattered Plains where much of The Way of Kings is set, to the magical forest of the goddess Cultivation, where bold souls can receive both a boon and a curse. There are a mix of dungeon crawls, puzzles, chase scenes and prison breaks. As they choose how to approach the problems they face, player characters will be able to attract the attention of spren, spirit-like beings who can bond with like-minded people to bestow them with incredible abilities. Completing the mission can allow them to join the newly re-founded ancient order known as the Knights Radiant.

...

The PCs can meet major antagonists from the books, including the twisted Herald of Justice Nale and the traitorous General Meridas Amaram, and learn how the talking sword Nightblood first featured in Sanderson’s 2009 book Warbreaker wound up on Roshar. As they move through key moments from the series, like the emergence of a raging storm that brings Odium’s most powerful lieutenants back to the world, Sanderson welcomes players to reshape his narrative.

...

“There’s a lot of cultural details being filled in, but at the same time, we dig a little bit further into what each order of Radiants’ oaths, spren, and motivations are,” Sanderson said. “There’s some new stuff there that I think fans will really enjoy.”

[enzomancer]

Curse of Strahd Campaign Shenanigans

In which my dhampir Wizard PC Lorenzo gets pranked, and Strahd acts like a mean girl… should be spoiler free

The party is camping in a cave under the protection of Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum. We expect to be ambushed by Strahd as soon as we leave the cave, so we’re discussing options. Ludmilla (she’s traveling with us) makes an offhand comment that Lorenzo is probably the least likely to be killed on sight (this because Strahd finds him… interesting… and they have hooked up). Needing no further excuse, Lorenzo goes outside to have a cigarette/chat up Strahd if he shows himself.

Note about our party: the PCs are all dudes, and sometimes they feed a certain frat energy in each other. As Lorenzo leaves the cave, the cleric scrawls a note to the effect of “HOT YOUNG SINGLE IN YOUR AREA, LOOKING TO GET SUCKED” and dares the artificer to stick the note on Lorenzo’s back. Artificer agrees, the cleric turns him invisible, the artificer slips out of the cave and rolls handily to stick the note to Lorenzo’s back without him noticing.

Lorenzo, meanwhile, is feeling very chic, wearing his beautiful black fur winter coat and smoking a cigarette outside the cave (rolled a nat 20 to find a good coat back in Vallaki) when Strahd coalesces from mist, looking amused. They chat a bit and end up gossiping about Azalin Rex at some length.

At one point, Strahd asks if Lorenzo knows where his traitorous wife is. Lorenzo chokes a little and makes a comment in the vein of “haha, I’d prefer not to get in trouble with Ludmilla by telling you that,” and Strahd asks Lorenzo to pass along a threat.

Lorenzo tries to salvage the conversation by making small talk, but Strahd is not amused. He says, “it’s a pity, you were being so interesting,” and turns into mist again. Lorenzo heads back to cave, as yet unaware of the note on his back.

Next session: rue the consequences of boring (and boning) Strahd, get revenge on the cleric

[bagofspoons]

dldnd ask game!

abjuration - what running gag always comes to mind when you think about the campaign?

conjuration - duo/any number of characters you want to see (more) interactions with?

divination - favourite session and why?

enchantment - any ships you like? (canon/implied/whatever!)

evocation - class swap! change all (or some) of the pcs classes around to something else. explain your reasoning.

illusion - do you have a favourite fic?

necromancy - who do you want to win the in-universe game?

transmutation - do you have any ocs/a sona for dldnd?

artificer - who’s your favourite player character?

barbarian - favourite npc?

bard - songs you associate with any of the dldnd characters?

cleric - what magic items would you give the party or any individual character?

druid - what is your favourite au? tell me a fun quote, idea, or scene from it!

fighter - npc you think deserves more screen time?

paladin - who else do you want to see dm, either a campaign or a one shot?

monk - if the group did another themed oneshot (like halloween), what would you want to see?

ranger - race and/or class predictions for the next campaign, for any and all players?

rogue - dynamics you want to see between player characters? (secret traitor, more pvp, certain romances, etc)

sorcerer - any animatics you like? ones you want to see made or would make yourself?

warlock - favourite moment from one of the fights?

[satoshi-mochida]

Dark Deity II announced for PC

Gematsu Source

Publisher Freedom Games and developer Sword and Axe have announced Dark Deity II, the sequel to the 2021-released strategy RPG. It is in development for PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG). A release date was not announced.

Here is an overview of the game, via its Steam page:

About

Dark Deity is back! A quarter of a century has passed, as Irving and the Eternal Order carefully rebuilt Verroa to protect it against a future war. Their efforts will be put to the test far too soon as a new threat looms on the horizon. The neighboring Holy Asverellian Empire needs new lands to grow, and the fractious, fragile Verroa seems ripe for the taking. All that stands in its way is the Order and twenty scrappy heroes-to-be.

Take command of the Eternal Delegation, led by Irving’s descendants. Gwyn and Riordian will have to navigate the treacherous politics of Verroa, and weave a web of alliances to turn the tide of the coming war. Your decisions will determine the shape of these alliances and define your army. Coupled with the help of a giant pool of customizations, no two playthroughs will ever feel the same.

Put simply, Dark Deity II is about playing your way, all the way.

Strategize and Prevail

Turn-based tactical combat is at the heart of Dark Deity II. Your 20 heroes have access to 45 branching classes, each with its own powerful abilities, passive effects, and its own tactical niche…

…that’s until you start experimenting with skills, abilities, and gear that can completely change the way a unit performs in the field and upend your tactics in a good way..

Heroes will bond as they fight seemingly impossible odds. Hardship forges the strongest bonds… but can also destroy friendships and wreak havoc. Will you be able to walk the line between the two?

Make Your Decisions Wisely

A desperate defense against an overwhelming foe. A land in the grasp of war fever, panic, and factional strife. A traitor around every corner. To have a chance at winning the war, you’ll need to make some difficult choices.

Verroa is torn apart by factions, and many of these factions are fractured in turn. Decide who to support and who to throw to the wolves – but weigh each option carefully. After all, your choices may drastically change the coming battles…

Every choice can fundamentally change the way you play the game. No two playthroughs are the same and what goes right in one game can go terribly wrong in the other.

Twist the Threads of Destiny

No playthroughs are going to be the same, but you can push Dark Deity II even further. Inspired by roguelites, we created the Twisted Destiny mode, allowing you to play through a shortened version of the campaign, featuring a randomized team on every playthrough, a host of new levels and modified existing ones, and unlock rewards for future playthroughs – which can completely change the way you play them!

Watch the announcement trailer and developer diary below.

Announce Trailer

Developer Feature: What To Expect

[judgetoast-blog]

Black Emperor Campaign Diary vol 8 & 9

Session 8:

The Party splits, Cindergrip the goliath berserker, Atreyu the minotaur, and Jacob Ironsides the construct, and Squawk the kobold are all sent north, looking for the tomb.

As they travel north they cross the main road leading out to the coast and encounter the bulk of the army, for some reason marching east across the continent to reach the coast. The party camps among the troops and strikes up a friendly conversation with them. They break bread and share booze with the troops and learn that they are being moved to the coast to look for some kind of weapon and that most of the troops aren't happy about this.

The following morning the party leaves the army behind at the waystation and continues north. Along the roads they see a armored figure falling from the sky. Shortly after they are almost run down by a horse fleeing in terror. They fail to stop the horse but find they are able to locate the body, a minotaur knight of the famed clan Beryn. As they discuss the dead minotaur they are attacked by a flight of Wyverns, coming to claim the meal they killed. After a struggle the PCs kill one of the Wyverns but send the rest fleeing as Ilanth channels the power of her god to turn the beasts.

After the battle with the Wyverns the party decides to take the armor and equipment of the minotaur with them, Atrayu intends to return them to the clan later, as it is the right thing to do. They continue the journey north and arrive in a village called Groveton. 

Session 9:

The trio arrived in the village of Groveton, a small farming village that is more orchards than houses. They stop only briefly, resupplying and continuing into the pine barrens before sending Jacob, Illanth, and Atreyu into the mountains. 

In the pine barrens the party encounters strange mounted warriors. Green of armor and skin. Their proportions strange and elongated, their bodies and horses all one piece. The party attempts to communicate with these men of the pines and ultimately brokers a deal with them. these immortal warriors will have their curse removed by the druids, as long as they serve the party in their campaign. When the deal is struck they send the men of the pines to the druids to help them mop up the remaining gibberlings.

While moving through the pines the party hears the sounds of distant voices crying out the word “Doom” drawing closer. The party picks up their pace but the calls only draw closer still. Realizing they could die tired or fight the threat the party agrees to make its stand. They are confronted by strange and powerfully built twisted reflections of Kenku, creatures of kenku nightmares known as dire corbies. The party met the first wave of the dire corby charge with only minor injuries and heard another coming in the distance. Discretion is the better part of valor it seems as they take the break in the assault to flee the pine barrens and meet the rest of the party at the base of the mountains. When they break  through the treeline the rest of the party is waiting for them. The re-united party too much of a threat for their pursuers who stop short of the tree line. As the party looks back at the horde of dire corbies in the trees a kenku shows himself, the emperor’s assassin Deathrattle. Deathrattle reflects the sun’s light using a mirror, shining it at the party before slinking back into the woods.

The party decides it would be best not to look for the weapon, fearing tipping off Deathrattle that Jagh-Deesh is a potential traitor they decide to travel along the mountains before turning south to return to the druid grove. During their trip along the mountains the party notices a massive dwarven face carved into the side of the mountain. They come to understand that this is the tomb of a dwarf known as Brund. The party decides they are not tomb robbers and turn south.

On their journey south they encounter a fellow rebellious spirit in a brigand and his band calling himself “Lugh”. They come to find that Lugh isn’t from the Black island, he’s an outsider who has come here to fight a good fight, gathering people around him to fight for a good cause. The party smells a potential ally and agrees to travel with Lugh back to his camp where he reveals he is not just here to be a hero, he is a piece of a god, a shadow that is diminished and he hopes through his heroic deeds he might take back his power as a god and return to the realm of the gods. The party notes that there is a chance for both of them to get what they want and ask him to join them in their rebellion. Lugh agrees and lends his fighting men to the party’s growing troop count.

[linuxgamenews]

Get Ready for Plus Ultra: Legado - A Kickstarter Success

Plus Ultra: Legado 2D metroidvania adventure game is funded in 10 days on Kickstarter for Linux and Windows PC. Thanks to the creativity of developer Póntica. Still going strong in the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Exciting news for all Metroidvania fans. Plus Ultra: Legado a new title by Póntica, has smashed its Kickstarter goal. Due to release in 2025 on Linux via Steam. The campaign is still live until June 15th, so there’s time to hit those stretch goals for more languages and 4K Ultra HD. In just ten days, Plus Ultra: Legado hit its funding goal. With fourteen days left, there's still a chance for you to back the project and get some nice rewards. These include digital items like the soundtrack and a game key. Physical items, such as a comic book, collector’s editions, and figurines. There are also replicas of Don Juan’s halberd, shield, and helmet.

Plus Ultra: Legado | REVEAL TRAILER

Dive into 16th century Mexico as Don Juan, a Spanish explorer on a mission to capture the traitor Hernán Cortés. You'll meet a broad cast of historical figures, both allies and enemies. Due to explore real historical sites. Take on the rich cultural heritage of Mesoamerica and the impact of war, conquest, and rebellion. Plus Ultra: Legado takes the 2D metroidvania adventure genre to a new level. Doing so by including comic book elements. The title’s vivid ligne claire style lets you move from panel to panel through complex maps. Interact with speech bubbles to advance the story. All while you smash through sound effect text for an engaging title. With unique platforming, exciting boss battles, and settings full of secrets. This “comicvania” is something special.

Features:

Comicvania Style: Step into a comic book world with mechanics that interact in the Metroidvania fans will like.

Historical Adventure: Explore 16th century Mesoamerica. Due to take on key ancient events that shaped Mexico.

Meet Historical Figures: Face real characters from history as you play Plus Ultra: Legado.

Explore Unique Areas: Find diverse and superbly designed locations based on real places.

Vibrant Scenery: Enjoy the bright and detailed ligne claire art style. A new change from the usual dark and moody vibe.

Original Soundtrack: Listen to a mix of Spanish Baroque melodies and native sounds. Perfectly crafted for each area.

Multilingual Support: Planned languages include Nahuatl, Spanish, English, and French at launch.

The Plus Ultra: Legado 2D metroidvania adventure Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign runs until June 15th. So don’t miss out on the chance to support it. Grab some great rewards. Stay updated through the title’s Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to Wishlist the game on Steam to get notified when it launches in 2025 on Linux and Windows PC.

[rampagingpoet]

Good old false dichotomies :(

The crazy thing is that there are a lot of people providing excellent DMing advice on how to prepare for a game without scripting the game. The concept of preparing a situation instead of a script is literally as old as the hobby itself - the Blackmoor campaign that D&D descends from sure wasn't scripted! - yet some people can't get the difference through their heads.

You can prepare the statblocks for the Orc Warleader and her Trusty Shaman without also committing to the party challenging them to an honourable 2v2 in the centre of a ruined town square.

You can decide what the Traitorous Vizier actually wants and who he has working for him without hardcoding a knife in the King's back the PCs can only react to.

You can create a Wise Old Master On The Mountain - and then leave their laundry list of wise koans in the back of a 3-ring binder forevermore after the would-be mentee decides she doesn't like the Wise Old Master and just leaves.

There are so many things you can create ahead of time and then use as they become appropriate (or not use because they never became appropriate) without forcing your players into a scripted, linear path designed to show off all the cool props you commissioned for your Actual Play show.

And it's not hard to learn the basics of these playstyles! There are hundreds of D&D blogs out there, and dozens of them have excellent advice.

One particular blog I follow, from a published game designer, is The Alexandrian by Justin Alexander. He's written extensively on the topic.

Favourite articles to counter Critical Role - style big setpieces in particular would be Don't Prep Plots and GM Don't List #18: Too Precious Encounters.

A plot is the sequence of events in a story. And the problem with trying to prep a plot for an RPG is that you’re attempting to pre-determine events that have not yet happened. Your gaming session is not a story — it is a happening. It is something about which stories can be told, but in the genesis of the moment it is not a tale being told. It is a fact that is transpiring. Don't Prep Plots, Prep Situations

Plots should be avoided because you cannot and indeed must not control the actions that the players actually take. The more your prep focuses on specific events in a specific order, the more of it you'll have to throw out if events at the table don't play out exactly that way. Preparing the general situation (who is involved, what they want, and what resources they have) is easier to adapt to what actually happens at the table.

On on an individual encounter level:

What we’re driving at here is a difference between specificity (additional details) and preciousness. To proffer a definition: The fewer ways in which you can dynamically alter or use an encounter, the more precious its presentation and/or prep becomes.

If you've spent $500 to build a hand-painted coliseum complete with battle-scarred lions and a tiny little emperor, it will feel like a waste if the players don't sign up to take part in the arena deathmatch against the battle-scarred lions. And if you're playing for an audience you know the audience also wants to see your $500 coliseum. And so the events of the game get warped by the magnitude of the prep.

Or purely in terms of your own time and effort, if you predetermine the first three rounds of combat actions for a pile of goblins in a mine under the assumption that the PCs are spotted entering from the western coal seam, that will get wasted if the PCs just never enter that room or use a different entrance. Taking a large amount of time to prepare unflexible details exerts pressure to show those details to your players; this in turn exerts pressure on your players to go see all the Precious Encounters you carefully assembled for them instead of acting how their characters would actually act.

Now I’ve got people thinking that when I say that TTRPG campaigns shouldn’t be scripted, that I mean that they must be 100% improvised right there on the spot with zero planning or structure. I can’t fucking win.

And therefore critical role must be destroyed

[fantasypictures]

The Elective Thelassocracy of Freehold.

Freehold had another name once- when the city was ruled by a tyrannical (and possibly hellish) monarchy, served by devotees of Erathis the goddess of law.

It had secured itself a surrounding territory with fertile farmland, several valuable mines, and non-human neighbours of relatively timid disposition. A rival kingdom had intended to invade the city and claim this for themselves, so they reached out to a pirate fleet that had been fighting the local authorities. The intention was that the pirates would attack theport as the army marched on the city, with the pirates being a distraction for the main assault.

This is not how it turned out - the army was bloodily mangled, but the pirate fleet actually took the city, slaying the ruler and claiming it for themselves. 

You might have expected that the pirates would pillage the place, but the admiral declaired that the city would be treated as a captured vessel, and any crew/citizen would be welcomed to sign up to the same code of conduct the pirates held to. The Erathan devotees that handled the administration of the city were forced by the tenets of their religion that the Code was technically a set of rules and was just as valid as the oppressive rules the previous power structure had instituted.

Now a handful of generations later, the city has settled into being a trading hub with a reputation for producing swashbucklers and rules-lawyers.

(the map I used, that isn't finished, and includes a bunch of stuff complete irrelevant to outside the campaign I ran. The motto is intended to translate to "Have Fun, Don't Drown")

The Council of Sealords

Elections are held every 4 years, and any inhabitant of the city who can fulfil the requirement of having held the title of Captain (on a ship, or in a military unit), and can pay for a marked barrel to be deployed at every polling location can stand for the position. The nine people with the most votes in the city become the Council of Sealords, and must choose among themselves an Admiral to hold executive power in wartime and a tie-breaking vote in other situations.

There is a tendency for Sealords to be from hereditary merchant families, but a few make it onto the council through sheer popularity with the people. 

(the council as it was immediately before the PCs showed up)

Laws of the City

The cult of Erathis still does a lot of administration in the city, and takes in any orphans or foundlings to be trained as civil servants, clerics, or watchmen - in freehold, the statement All Cops Are Bastards is literally true. 

The laws handed down by the Council are, thus far, fairly liberal - many things that would be illegal in other cities are fine in Freehold. Drugs aren’t banned, but ARE taxed - a drug bust from the Watch will be due to failure to meet manufacturing standards, or due to the constant cat-and-mouse tax evasion schemes that are considered almost a national sport. Among the rich of other nations, Freehold is an enticing tourist destination, albeit one with a reputation for violence... 

Brawls and battles in the streets will bring down the watch… who will forcibly enquire if both sides are taking part willingly and with set rules of engagement. If so, they will step back and act as referees.

Breaches of law can face various punishments, depending on severity: a traitor to the city might be chained up and thrown off a cliff into the sea or exiled, but most things adventurers will get up to would result in a fine, or community service, sometimes enforced with old dwarven curse-stones. 

Those who do community service are paid for their time - slavery is illegal, and being forced to work without pay is slavery in the law’s eyes. For the rich who can’t pay a fine, they might be able to pay somebody to “steal” their identity and do the community service.

Worship

The cult of Erathis is not popular in the city, but her cult is powerful, in a somewhat similar situation to the devotees of Umberlee - Few people actively like the goddesses of the Law or the Sea, but they do command the city’s respect, so tithes are paid and sacrifices sunk. Everybody wants to avoid paying the taxes, but it’s widely acknowledged that somebody has to. 

Tymora and Kord, conversely, have rather popular followings, with a small shrine to the lady of luck in every gambling den, and devotional statues to the god of strength adorning the city arena and gunnery school. 

Demographics

The city is majority human, but only just - sizable populations of Orcs (endemic following a failed invasion centuries ago), Dwarves (displaced from the Thunderwall Mountains by the orc invasion) and Minotaurs (actually native to the area - they make good sailors and might have introduced the humans to Erathis worship in ages past) are found in the city, as well as smaller groups of visitors such as High Elves, Dragonborn, and Tritons.

Nobility

The pirate-led revolution did remove many of the rich nobility of the city, but a few generations down the line, the families that came out of the upheaval on top have become the new old money, and despite their claims of being Free Spirits, and coming from The People, they’re not much different from what they replaced. 

The title of Lord is awarded by the Erathisian tax-office, based on calculations of income and assets, rather than being handed out by a ruler. 

Wizardry

The city is home to two wizarding organisations, although organisation might be a bit generous as terms go

The Brotherhood of Ship-Wizards is more drinking club than university, and the members have been compared to ships cats - useful in their way, potentially territorial, and unable to be trusted to command. The members study magic that manipulates the wind and wards boats against damage more than anything else. Ship-wizards are banned from captaincy (and by extension, politics) - hubris being a common problem among the magically inclined, this might be for the best.  

Most of the wizards that aren’t part of the Brotherhood are instead part of the Guild of the Arcane Eye. Closely associated with the Miscellanium University, the Guild’s handful of local members mostly specialise in gathering (and protecting) information. Magus Collix Firnath has been given guardianship of the tower that once belonged to the fallen monarchy’s pet diabolists, and is called on by the Council to provide magical advice. When the post was being assigned, the other  Arcane Eye guildmembers were too busy trying to one-up each other and blackmail the Sealords’ Council - the resulting deadlock meant that the stuttering dragonborn geomancy and teleportation specialist won by being the Sealords’ second choice.

Art Sources:

0 - I did the map myself

1 - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/v1mPVx

2 - https://paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo5lg1o&page=4?Want-More-Adventure-Card-Game-Weve-Got-That

3 - https://twitter.com/AbsintheOTL/status/1136972404553654272

4 - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/kYdz2

5 - https://twitter.com/JasonRainville/status/1235351632705196033

6 - https://sfw.furaffinity.net/view/25386419/

7 - https://www.reddit.com/r/characterdrawing/comments/8bywk4/oc_ysarian_dragonborn_shadow_sorcerer/

8 - https://www.deviantart.com/acewest, but it's not in their gallery anymore

9 - https://tyron-art.tumblr.com/post/110151948375/salut-tout-le-monde-voici-ma-participation-au

[owlixx]

CoD Classic Mid-Thoughts (British and half Russian done):

Well, I have really warmed up to the game after playing it some more. You kind of get used to the antiquated graphics and design. I can’t tell if the American campaign is the least impressive or if I’m just getting acclimated here. and all this in spite of the fact that I didn’t really enjoy the British campaign - it had far too much turret and on-rails content. plus the climactic mission was an awful labyrinth of a battleship. Almost all of my deaths have been from the British campaign. I died a couple times to stupid battleship labyrinth where you basically have to memorize soldier locations (even on easy!). I died maybe ten times to a particular on-rails segment that is horribly designed where you just instantly die if certain vehicles aren’t dead at certain pints but you also can run out of ammo? Very bad. What’s funny is that I think that’s the section with Jason Statham, who I believe is also the character that laments Captain Price’s death, which is very funny to me.

No, my opinion has changed because of the Russian campaign. Does the “cowards and traitors will be shot” intro come across as American propaganda? Yes. Is there probably some truth to that depiction? Also yes. Does it kick ass to assault Stalingrad with only five bullets in your hand and no gun? Very much yes. From the tense opening in the boat to running and ducking for cover in the approach to Stalingrad, it’s a very cool non-combat opening that really feels like the cinematic moments of the later games.

Not to mention that the actual combat levels themselves here are awesome. Maybe the Mosin Nagant is just a better gun than the Kar98K, but I swear I became a wizard quick scoped these last few levels. Maybe I’m just getting good enough to enjoy the game more, but the Russian levels feels so much better designed and layed out. Much more varied environments from bombed out towns to a tank factory to a snowy apartment. Much more cool big interactive set pieces rather than the on-rail sections of the US and Britain campaigns that range from stupid at best to maddening at worst.

Even the tank defense mission is better in the Russian campaign than the British campaign. The British version consisted of swinging around a big flak cannon between 3 or 4 different attack angles for 5 boring minutes , while the Russian one consists of darting. Back and forth between a multi-level building to man 2 different mounted guns all while gunning down foot troops approaching from the lower floors. It felt so much cooler and more intense.

Gun wise, I barely used the British guns in lieu of just MP40ing every enemy I came across. Oh, I did enjoy the dam mission. The visuals of the dam were the most striking in the game so far and I enjoy the Wolfenstein-like room-to-room clearing more than the big open fields, it was just a little too cramped and repetitive in the case of the battleship mission even if I like the concept. I wasn’t super fond of the dam mission requiring me to go out the way I came in but I did enjoy it being a solo mission for the most part.

Oh, weapons - the ppsh sadly eats ammo too fast to be any good, especially since enemy troops aren’t carrying it. And the sight on the Bren made it hard to use. I’ll tell you what - I never want to handle an anti tank rocket launcher in this game again.

I’ve got 3 Russian levels and 3 epilogue levels left, I believe. I’m actually kind of excited to beat this game and then see how the GameCube spin-off is, although I suspect I’ll be frustrated with the controls since CoD Classic is at least adapting a 2003 pc game to 2009 PS3 control standards, but it’s anyone’s game on the GameCube. Also I hugely appreciate that CoD classic using L2/R2 to ADS and shoot instead of L1/R1 which I thought was the weird standard for PS3 games.

[gertlushgaming]

The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth Review (Steam)

For this The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth Review, we play a turn-based combat epic set during the origin era of Warhammer 40k. Play on either PC or VR, as the game will detect your platform choice. Take command of Ultramarines as they battle against their traitorous brethren, the Word Bearers.

The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth Review Pros:

- Decent graphics. - 12.88GB download size. - Optional VR Mode. - Officially licensed. - Launch options - game or VR version. - Graphics settings - resolution, shadows, texture quality, v-sync, anti-aliasing, and anisotropic filtering. - Skulls 2020 content can be turned on and off. - Three game modes - campaign, skirmish, and multiplayer. - Multiplayer options - matchmaking, private lobby, and army builder. - The campaign has four acts after the tutorial act. - Optional tutorial act for movement, combat, assault, and hold. - Strategy gameplay. - You have full camera control and can freely zoom around and zone in. - In-game cutscenes. - Good voicework. - Elemental hazards and advantages with walls providing cover, the ground can make shooting or walk over it harder. - Four maps to choose from in Skirmish. - Skirmish mode lets you choose a side, edit your team and pick a map against the Ai. - Fast loading times. - Icons flash on the screen to show who's taking action or who is shooting at your team. - Click a unit and a Hex grid comes up showing how far you can move and where. - The simple hot bar for aiming, moving, etc. - You can see the enemy health bars. - Cross-platform playing allows VR players to face off against non-VR players. The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth Review Cons: - No Steam achievements. - Isn't actually available for purchase anymore. - Doesn't offer controller support. - Basic graphics settings. - Cannot rebind controls. - Massive game version text written all over the place. - No difficulty options for skirmish. - Definitely a VR game first and a non-VR game second. - You don't get any turn order lineup. Related Post: Pretty Girls 2048 Strike Review (PlayStation 5) The Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth: Official website. Developer: Steel Wool Studios Publisher: Steel Wool Studios Store Links - Steam Read the full article

[dndidgaf]

I never get asks, so i'm just gonna answer them all. Wall of text, my answers under the cut

PLAYER

Race: I don't think that I've ever played a common race before. I default to uncommon/homebrew races for better roleplay.

Class: Rogue....... Maybe Artificer.

Playtest: I'm going into a new campaign, and I can't wait to try out the Chaneler class (I definitely spelled that wrong). I can't remember who it's by.

Party Comp: Sometimes. If my party is really tanky and gets themselves on the brink of death a lot, I might consider being a Cleric or Bard. On the other hand, if my party is mostly spellcasters, I might take on the role of tank. In both cases, I only do it in drastic situations. My usual character is an ambush, stealthy, works behind the scenes kind of character. Level One: I heard about it through friends and we make a group. They really helped me out in making a character, and it was a fun first session. Horrible character build and usage on my part though. Skill: I'm good at roleplay and combat, although I find combat more fun. I guess I would say that my specialty is teamwork. I look at my party's strengths and weaknesses and work around and with them. I also usually work better with smaller groups. I do add flair into combat though, like that time I sliced that priest in half and peeled him like a banana.

Scheduling: Long campaigns, by far. Oneshots are fun, but the angst that comes with longer campaigns takes the cake.

Feat: I roll my dice until they hit a low number, preferably under 5. I then keep that die untouched until I need to roll something important, then use the die. Rolls high every time. I always forget to do it though.

Nat 20: My friend AJ (player) rolled a 27 (19 + 8) on a deception check trying to convince an NPC that they don't exist. Charlie (the character) went invisible and all proof of their existence was wiped from the face of the earth. NPCs and PCs alike had no memory of Charlie. Charlie stayed non-existent for the rest of the session until at a critical battle, where they scored a crit against the enemy (not quite the big bad, but close) and was the reason we won the fight.

Initiative: In my next campaign (I'm the DM), I've planted a traitor. This traitor is going to kill a child. I can't wait to roleplay the child being killed by her role model, who is a scummy, greasy, rat man. I can't wait to kill my players' hearts.

Crit Fail: Somehow, no. I've come close, but I've never had a character death.

Diamond: No resurrection. My party's character deaths have all been before anyone had access to the Revivify spell. After that, we could handle ourselves enough that we didn't need it.

Backup: I have a binder full of cool characters that could fit into any situation, but I usually have at least 3 backup characters specifically for one campaign. Don't judge, I get bored easily.

Dungeon Court: Back when I was a kid, my dad tried to run a dnd game with the rest of the immediate family, which consisted of my mom, me, and my brother. Thing is, my dad didn't know anything about how DnD works, and he was drunk and high. That was not a fun game.

Dice: I have a horrible dice curse. Any dice that I touch or are on my person for more than 10 minutes doesn't roll higher than a 10. Expensive dice tend to roll better. Once I get a new set, I immediately hold it over a candle and chant "Natural Twenty" for 10 minutes while the candle is surrounded by crystals and flowers. After this, I leave it on the Dice Altar, highest side up, for a week. This usually rids it of it's curse temporarily. For a typical set, I have to renew it every month. Considering that I'm a dice goblin and that I own over 50 sets (I can't afford more :')) , I set aside a day to purify all my dice sets and rotate them on the altar.

DUNGEON MASTER

Leveling: I start my party at 3-5, depending on experience. I use milestones; it's good motivation to stay on the plot. I'm DMing for 7th level players rn.

Prep: I get the bare bones of the story all written out, then just improvise and wing it. It goes better that way. Less DM Depression.

Screen: Character sheets of PCs and NPCs, dice, laptop for homebrew, and speakers for ambiance and music.

TPK: Yes, unfortunately. I decided to let all characters come back as reborn, which saved the party, kept some continuity, and added some good roleplay.

Session Zero: I usually ask players for two flaws and one secret. This keeps things interesting, as I can exploit these. It makes inspiration easier to give. I also love horror campaigns, so I usually ask players what their boundaries or triggers are. I want my players to have fun, so I do what I can to make that happen.

Homebrew: I love making magic items or finding them on tumblr. I use a lot of the stuff people put out. I also have an initiative system where players in blocks of five (1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 20-25, you get the jist) take their turns together. It makes combat more fun and dynamic.

CHARACTER

My character's name is Doodle. He is a warforged rogue that escaped from a facility known as A.R.G.O. He was never told what the acronym means. He wears a red scarf and a beige handkerchief over his right eye from a past injury.

Background: He usually uses his time on self-maintenance. Tighten loose screws, fix oil leaks, adjust lenses, buff or replace plating. After an accident with his lens caused it to give him shattered vision and migraines for about two months, he's not taking the chances again. He also loves talking to another PC named Charlie (same one as before)

Vibe: Doodle is the polite one of the group. In social interactions, he ends up becoming a voice of reason. He has anger issues though, and he tries to conceal them, but his only coping mechanism is killing. He was made for it, after all. Our party doesn't discuss dynamics, but I wish we did.

Downtime: We don't get much downtime in game. We usually hop from one adventure to the next, trying to stop the big bad as fast as possible. In his few spare moments, he meditates to calm his anger. Sometimes this doesn't work very well though, so he has to resort to... other means.

Secret: For context, Doodle was kidnapped by the big bad and a clone replaced him. Doodle was tortured, and it scarred him for life. He is merciless in battle, like he is trying to pay back the pain that was inflicted on him. Anger is replacing is fear, and he disgusts himself. Doodle acts nonchalant, but he is secretly resentful that his party members didn't notice and left him to be tortured for weeks.

Heart: He hopes for a better life. One where he doesn't have to fight. That faint linger of hope is what keeps him going. This is easily used against him, though.

End: His perfect ending would be to defeat the ARGO company, settle down, and find family. He is aro/ace, so he isn't interested in marriage or children, but he still loves the idea of spending time with his friend's children.

If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading! It means a lot

d&d player asks

FOR THE PLAYER

Race: What's your favorite race to play? Is there a race you default to or play more often?

Class: What's your favorite class to play?

Playtest: What class (or subclass) do you want to try out?

Party Comp: Do you think about party composition while building a character? What role do you usually fill in your party, if any?

Level One: What was your first experience with D&D? How did you hear about it? What was your first game like?

Skill: Do you prefer RP, combat, or something else? Is there a part of the game you consider yourself best at?

Scheduling: Do you prefer to play in long campaigns, oneshots, or something in between?

Feat: What's one habit, trick, tip, etc. you picked up from another player?

Nat 20: What's the most memorable RP scene you've been a part of?

Initiative: What's an RP scene you're looking forward to playing?

Crit Fail: Have you ever had a character death? What happened?

Diamond: Have you ever participated in a character resurrection (for your own character or someone at the table)? What happened?

Backup: Do you design backup characters? What's your process? Have you ever had to use one?

Dungeon Court: What's the worst D&D experience you've ever had?

Dice: Do you have any dice rituals? Preferences? Collections? Does such thing as dice luck really exist?

FOR THE DM

Leveling: What's your ideal starting party level? What leveling system do you use? What level are your currently (or did you most recently) DMing for?

Prep: How much prep work do you do? How far out do you prep?

Screen: What do you usually keep behind your DM screen?

TPK: Have you ever had a game go completely off the rails? TPK? How did you adjust?

Session Zero: Is there anything specific you ask your players to have before you start playing (e.g. a secret about their character, a backstory event, etc.)?

Homebrew: Do you have any table rules or homebrews you use? What are they?

FOR THE CHARACTER (A/N: You may want to specify a character for these!)

Background: Does your PC get up to anything that you don't narrate often? Any background habits, activities, plots? Do you share these through other avenues (e.g. a group chat, table cross-talk, posting online)?

Vibe: How does your character get along with the party? Does your group talk about party dynamics outside the game?

Downtime: What does your character do in their downtime? How do you bring this up during gameplay?

Secret: Is there anything that you know about your character but your character doesn't know? What is it? How did you come up with this secret?

Heart: What drives your character? Do they have a theme, question, mission, etc. that they're holding onto? How did you pick it for them?

End: What's the ideal ending for your character's story and the game? Are these the same, or different?

[samuraiko]

And STILL more C3 ponderings... SPOILERS AHEAD

I have to admit, I am now REALLY curious...

After Travis and Erika’s conversation during Episode 28, I am sensing what might be a Chetney tipping point?

On the one hand, he can be kind, empathetic, and generous - he’s making toys, he’s paying for stuff, and at least as far as Orym, Laudna, and FCG are concerned (Orym the most of the three), he does seem to have their well-being (both physical and emotional) at heart. (Ashton is quickly becoming his new archnemesis following Dorian’s departure, he and Imogen have this semi-belligerent thing going on, and he really just seems to want to score with Fearne, so him being nice to her comes off a bit suspect.) And his apology to Orym after hurting him (both in the moment and later on) DID seem to be sincere.

On the other hand, his concept of a grudge can be almost ridiculous, he can be rather malicious at times (whereas Fearne more often than not just comes across as insensitive, but then again so does Imogen), and he is EASILY the slowest about trusting anyone in the group. (Though if he were going to really open up to anyone, I think it’d be Orym, especially because Orym is rapidly turning into the group confidant, as opposed to FCG being the group therapist.)

And every time I think Travis is going to commit one way or the other to which direction Chetney is going to lean, he tilts the other way.

But now we have his offer to Dusk...

Was that just to try and earn Dusk’s confidence so he has something TANGIBLE he can take back to the Hells and go, “DUSK’S A FUCKING TRAITOR AND HERE’S WHO THEIR PATRON IS!”?

Or is he really so callous that he’d sell out Fearne and her parents just for MONEY? Or worse, to get back at Fearne for not sleeping with him?

I will admit, it would certainly be interesting from a character and narrative perspective (though what it would mean to the other players at the table is certainly open to debate). And it’s not the first time we’ve seen PCs with openly selfish motives (Caleb and Nott from C2 come to mind).

But still...

It just REALLY.... disappoints me if that’s what’s going to happen. Mostly because of how much it would hurt the other PCs.

ESPECIALLY Fearne (and twice over, Orym).

And if it turns out he really did plan to sell out Fearne, werewolf or not, fellow Hells or not, gift or not, Orym will absolutely fucking WRECK Chetney. (With Ashton RIGHT behind him... considering how much Ashton utterly hates being lied to.)

And even if Chetney should survive, neither Orym nor Ashton will NEVER, *EVER* forgive him.

---

All that aside, the ACTING at the table would be utterly DELICIOUS. Travis leaning into his villainous side? Everyone else being utterly betrayed? For everyone who’s been saying that C3 has been the “light and fluffy campaign” compared to C1 and C2, I think we’re about to see shit go REALLY dark REALLY fast, and I want to see these actors pull out the stops.

[novoki]

dnd and improv

a dm’s worst fear is the pcs taking the plot where you don’t want it to go, or where you haven’t planned it to go. the instinct to “railroad” (force players onto a certain path) is strong but one of the worst things you can do - dnd is about the players’ story and choices, and taking this away from them negates the fun of the game.

improv is scary, but it doesn’t have to be! because of this i decided to put together this short guide on how best to deal with improv in your games.

leave space in your plot

the easiest way to deal with something is, naturally, prevention. if you’re terrified of having to deal with improv in your game, make sure the plot you write has space for things to develop and change in your game. if you want to set your party off on a quest out of town but are worried they won’t take the bait, set up multiple pathways to this outcome - say you want the pcs to go out of town to catch some bandits: you could introduce an npc whose relative has been taken by the bandits, or a guardsman who is putting up wanted posters for the bandits, or even a girl who says her dog ran off right to where the bandits are camping. this way, if your party refuse to speak to that Very Important npc you still have other options to advance the plot.

in my very first campaign, i needed the party to go a guard’s house to start a quest. in order to push this but not railroad, i created two stems the pc could take: upon entering town, they would see two npcs they could wish to help out, each who would eventually lead them to that house. they weren’t very detailed, just barebones in case i needed to use them. if they didn’t approach either of the npcs, i had a planned encounter where the guard stepped into town and gave a big speech and explicitly called upon the party for help. this allowed the plot to still develop even when it wasn’t going according to plan.

take opportunities

when things don’t go the way you planned, take advantage of the new opportunities you are presented with. if your pcs are spending more time with a random npc than a plot-relevant npc, tie the random one into your story - maybe they are the next victim of x’s master plan, or they happen to know information that will help the party. if the party goes a different way than you want them to, move around events and adjust them according to setting - the preacher they were going to meet in the town square to give them a prophecy now turns into a drunkard in a tavern who tells the party all the gossip he hears.

in the campaign i’m playing right now, our party ended up killing an npc and setting fire to his hut. his companion, in her grief, set off lightning strikes that scorched our hometown and killed everyone in it. when talking to the dm, i found out she never planned for that npc to die - the scorching was planned, but she had originally wanted a band of humans to come and set fire to the town while we were at the npc’s hut. but, once we killed the guy, she saw an opportunity and took it: she followed the exact same plot, but adjusted details to tie it into our choices.

speed up plot where necessary

if you’re in a situation where you have nothing for the pcs to do, speeding up your plot is a good way to ensure your party is never bored and always have something to do. for example, if a player decides to search an npc’s house and you have nothing planned for that, pull a revelation/piece of information you planned to explain later down the line and use it here. you want to reward your players for taking initative and being active, so make sure their choices don’t result in nothing. if they have decided to eavesdrop on a conversation because they thought the npcs were suspicion, use this as an opportunity to advance the plot - perhaps down the line you were going to unveil one of those as a traitor: do it now! perhaps you were going to involve them in the plot in a few sessions: do it now! 

you will, of course, have to then rearrange your plot to account for these moved details, but it ensures you are not struggling to come out with a brand new thing for your players to do/experience. 

conclusions

tl;dr summary:

- plan multiple pathways so you have more than one way to lead the party into the plot

- take opportunities that arise from the player’s actions to introduce new elements to the plot

- reveal plot elements early if you are afraid of improv’d scenes getting too stale/boring

i hope this guide helped y’all!

[vethbrenatto]

I'm so excited for EXU Calamity all the lore that will be revealed is amazing! The only thing that would make it even more amazing (for me) is if at the end of this miniseries is it revealed that one of the PCs is helping the Big Bad and if the party is indirectly helping them

I would LOVE to see something like that. It's not essential, but I think it would be awesome. Like I said with my post on predetermined tragedy, it opens up so many avenues that I think you don't always have in a "regular" campaign setting, and that's one of them.

In a group of adventurers, it's a lot harder to pull off "there's a traitor in our midst" in something in the present day. Not impossible, but with the concept of large-scale doom already hanging, the traitor idea just fits in very nicely conceptually. And it's something I love to watch in D&D, it's why The Screw Job is one of my favorite CR oneshots. Give me players having lil secret plots. Particularly, I think Lou or Aabria would be really well suited for playing that sort of role, leaning toward Aabria because I think her steady demeanor and just general vibe of trustworthiness would make her one of the hardest ones to clock if she was a traitor.

There's just so much you can do with this idea and setting! I'm not even a lore person but I'm obsessed with what we're going to learn: how people are going to act in that time period, what exactly the general tech and advancement of society will be like for the average person. It's insane because with this world Matt's built, EXU: Calamity will be like a... fantasy-scifi-period drama? (side note: you KNOW i fucking live for period dramas) It's historical, we're going to see this new party literally writing history and also... living through history, which there's just so many options for. They could be everyday citizens pre-Calamity or they could be major players in the imminent doom. They could be heroes, but I think the setting really detracts from them needing to be heroes, which I'm just obsessed with.

[st-just]

What's the eldritch conspiracy? Is this a new setting or is it Abhari adjacent?

I'm glad you asked!

Entirely different setting. Properly speaking it's just an extensive riff on/two degrees removes from Delta Green and other modern lovecraftian stuff. Human existence is a tiny soap bubble in a grand and terrible cosmos full of things which are to us as we are to gnats, exposure to Reality has terrible consequences both physical and mental, as technology and human understanding of its little sheltered cove of the universe has expanded, so has the degree to which we've bumped against the edges, and the strength with which the edges bump back, things get worse every day and only with constant vigilance and sacrifice is the masquerade preserved and the beginning of the apocalypse staved off, etc, etc.

The org chart without context (bold lines are command/authority, green is funding, blue is other support. Hexagons are parasitized/infiltrated but not controlled, diamonds are front-line tools/catspaws/deniable projects and all still need names, rounded shapes at the bottom are plot seeds before I ran out of objects in the free version)

So really the main thing that has my interest is figuring out conspiracies. Which are, basically, cliques of people In The Know who have each come to the conclusion that yes, in the long term this is unsustainable and humanity is fucked. To which there are a few responses.

1. The 'over my dead body' response. Basically the standard PCs in a Delta Green campaign - a network of military officers, federal agents, cops, spies, and friends in industry and academia willing to fight, die and kill to save the world for at least one more day. Between embezzlement, misuse of the national security state, and apocalyptic paranoia they do their very best to put out every fire before it can start to spread (helped by the fact that most of these things burn themselves out and need more of a cover-up than an intervention if you're pragmatic or slow enough). They're..often overzealous about this - this is a world with fewer Jonestowns and more Wacos, if you understand me.

2. "Humanity is doomed, but we can salvage what's important": Apocalyptic transhumanism is probably a workable term? An acceptance that the real conditions of the universe are incompatible with the existence of the human race, combined with a desperate conviction that humanity can create or transform into something for which that's not true. And so their efforts are split between trying to buy more time and efforts to engineer a successor species capable of meeting the mythos on its own terms while still retaining the pieces of human consciousness and culture they consider the worthwhile parts of its heritage. As might be expected, this is a very messy prospect and requires a lot of, ah, 'raw materials'. But it's easy to justify doing quite a lot to individual humans when you're already resigned to extinction and committed to building something better.

3. "Civilization is doomed, but we can save humanity". Or, as the previous two groups would put it, defeatists and traitors to humanity. They'd argue they're just trying to make the best of the inevitable. Essentially they're trying to curate the apocalypse, making it the gradual, gentle kind, easing humanity into awareness of its true conditions. The line about how "The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy"? That's their best case scenario, more or less, and they do what they can to engineer culture and nudge history in directions to make the transition as easy and subtle on humanity as possible. Better than burning from an instant of some mad god's attention or all the myriad of fates worse than either, after all.

4. The nihilists, or the real traitors, or the idealists, as you prefer. A small number of those who've been touched by the Outside and been remade, and are really quite happy with the result, or just are sufficiently disillusioned with the world that they're willing to give apocalypse and revelation a chance. Of course most aren't actively trying to die, or at least would prefer someone else was the suicide bomber if there's an option, so they do their best to find their way to promising nascent cults and arm and support them to meet their end in as dramatic and hard-to-hide a way as possible, and find potential converts more interested in Truth and enlightenment than their own obsessions.

(the org chart is for conspiracy number 2, for reference)