#DM and I have had too much fun with his backstory

[cyberdragoninfinity]

> do not test me and my endless well of ''what kind of ttrpg character would this yugioh guy play in various campaigns.''

I saw this in your old asks and I feel like testing you tonight Dana. :)

So of the protags you've met so far, what TTRPG characters are Yugi, Jaden, Yusei, Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku bringing to the table?

I LOVE THIS ASK IT MAKES ME FEEL LIKE THIS. SLASH POS

dont even remember where I said that but on god I will deliver. for the sake of simplicity we're sticking with fantasy ttrpg classes/character types, your d&d and pathfinder and related fare. this is probably going to inevitably just turn into "what kind of ttrpg player is each yutag like, to me" but it's all good. let's goooo

Yugi: kind of crazy that we basically have a canon answer for this with Monster World, huh? I love that he played a half-elf, he has huge 'elf and the like' enjoyer vibes. Definite inclination towards spellcasters, "Beast Tamer" makes me easily see him making some kind of ranger or druid character that makes heavy use of magic and animal/monster befriending. Preps pretty thoroughly, gives character a pretty substantial amount of lore and backstory, probably has DMing experience so he always tries to be respectful to the gamemaster and what theyre trying to do (providing it's not. trying to kill you with demon magic) and likes to tie his own character into the lore of the world as best he can. Spitballs character ideas with Atem. (You know Atem's characters have Dense backstory and are roleplayed with the immense gravity of an oscar-winning drama.)

Jaden: ZERO prep, just decided to join the game two hours ago and maybe skimmed the rulebook at most. Whatever class he plays he's playing that thing fast and loose and way sillier than the DM anticipated for this game. Warrior/monk/physical fighter build type enjoyer, plays a furry race like a tabaxi cuz they Look Cool and Fun, definitely shows up with a jokey joke character named Boots McScoots or something that everyone gets attached to bigly by the end. Kind of player just happy to be having fun with his friends ^_^ *inadvertedly blowing up every possible plan the DM had in mind for this campaign* (Yubel writes a five page doc of insane traumatic backstory if given the chance to make a character themself)

Yusei: puts a lot of thought and care into his character, even if they're ultimately a little bit of a self-insert (hey aint nothin wrong with that.) Probably gravitates towards something like an artificer, wizard, or a paladin, firmly something in the 'good' end of the morality spectrum. Could get really into complicated magic systems I feel; reads over spell lists and carefully picks out what he thinks could be the most beneficial for the upcoming situations. A bit shy wrt RPing his character, no silly voices or anything, but plays his character with so much heart they feel real and lived in right out the gate. I feel like he could really vibe with playing a dwarf, dont @ me

Yuma: Rolls up with a big shiny Super Cool Overpowered character he loaded way too many bells and whistles onto despite being told REPEATEDLY that everyone was starting at level 1 and is subsequently crumbling into little pieces over having to scale them waaaay down. Absolute warrior/fighter preference, you look me in the eyes and you tell me Yuma has the attention span or desire to sit and do complicated magic management he wants to swing cool sword and fight bad guy. Has trouble picking what sort of fantasy race to play and ends up with, like, a gnome. Gets really into the game and playing his character, there's probably not a Huge amount of deep backstory to them and probably has poor group synergy but he's giving it his 110%. (Astral is doing some insane dual-class magic and math heavy character he thinks about very much outside of the game, and is always tweaking them and excited to bring them to life.)

Yuya: I think Yuya's the only yutag I could see actually trying to play a more evil-aligned character--I don't know if he'd actually be able to RP them well, but I think he'd like the idea of playing a character very Unlike Himself. Gets a little caught up trying to come up with a 'cool' enough backstory and ends up with something kind of barebones. Probably a little scattered actually at the table, but you know his character is Loud and Full of Personality. It's bard or bust with this kid, cmon now. I feel like he's playing either a twinky whimsical elf or a dragonborn he thought really really hard about the design of. (re: the other yuboys: Yuto's character has 25 pages of lore and backstory that is full of tragedy and vengeance and redemption. Yugo's playing some funnyguy he came up with in ten minutes. Yuri makes some big show out of implying he's just going to play a violent freak that's here to dissemble the DM's entire campaign but then he gets genuinely caught up in a political intrigue sideplot and starts conspiring with the DM for a grand epic twist with his character)

Yusaku: now THIS is the guy who spent hours quietly researching the best subclasses and spells and builds for whatever particular party his character is meant to slot into; every choice he makes for his character is much-deliberated and carefully chosen. Shows up at the table with a well-balanced human paladin/similar swordwielder with spell slots on deck. Doesn't really RP per say, but definitely slips into the Playmaker vocal range when announcing choices and actions, and his character has such a powerful cool as fuck aura it's almost a little intimidating to play alongside them at first. His character is selfless does nothing out of malice because why wouldn't it be? That's his natural first choice. (Ai razzes yusaku nonstopt for playing the NERD ROLEPLAY FANTASY game for NERDSSSS but if you sat him down in a oneshot he'd bust out his tumblr sexyman-ass flamboyant half-elf half-tiefling bard (who's also a vampire) character that he DEFINITELY did NOT make months ago waiting for the chance to play him, noooo no sirree)

[theatrekidenergy]

UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA AU QUESTIONS ‼️

1. do you have backstories for how everyone learned to play their instruments? why it matters to them that they play / go to university for it / etc?

2. why did you pick the instruments for them? (lowkey i already know some of this cause we chatted in dms but i wanna know more…)

3. what are interpersonal relationships like? are they close to canon, or have you shaken it up a bit?? how will the relationships develop over the course of the au

4. do you have favorite arrangements / pieces for any of them yet? or have you picked out any songs for them to play in the parts of the au?

4a. if you have a playlist….. i am a fiend for playlists

5. are they all in music school or do they have other majors?

6. is this set in the modern day or is it like. back in the past when they’d like canon age progression wise be in uni… this is kind of a silly question but i am curious

7. got any plot points happening ?? or is it just like brain worms of them playing cause like. that is how most of my aus are hehe so im curious!!!

8. gimme a scene if you have one. a cool fun scene you’ve thought out that you wanna share with the class

i really hope this isn’t too much like don’t feel pressured to answer everything or any of it or whatever !!!! i’m just really interested in this au :D <3

THIS MADE MY DAY HDJSJSJSJSKSKAJKS IM GENUINELY SHAKING THE STIMMING IS INSANE IM SO HAPPY

YES AND THIS IS ABOUT TO GET DEEP.

Vincent: Growing up Vincent had a difficult time making friends, he had always been scrawnier and more mature than the other kids which made it difficult to get along with his peers. He always enjoyed music, and his parents, worried sick seeing that although he was content without children hus age to play with he didn’t have anyone to do so with if he did want to, decided to enroll him in the city’s youth orchestra. He said the squeek of the violins snd violas hurt his ears, the bass was wayyyyy to big, and the cello was just perfect. He fell in love with the sound instantly, and started playing when he was 7, the practice rooms of the creative center became his refuge growing up. 

Aldo Bellini: He learned to play violin from his dad!!! His dad was an Italian immigrant, and his grandparents on his mom’s side immigrated à generation prior. His dad had made violins as a part of a family business when he was younger, but fell in love with the music instead. So, naturally when he had a son of his own—Aldo—he not only taught him to be good with wood, but also learn to appreciate and practice the art he desperately wanted to. 

Goffredo Tedesco: He played viola for the first time when he picked up on a one-time music class in 4th grade, and although he could hardly hold a bow his teacher saw how much he absolutely adored it. After that day he started renting a viola on his own dime, teaching Tedesco in the mornings before school and the evenings after. He grew up in a poor with a less than loving family (the word “dysfunctional” hardly scratches the surface) and similarly to Vincent, music became his safety. 

Thomas Lawrence: Thomas started to play the piano, following in his older sister Clara’s footsteps who was a classically trained pianist. He always used to climb on the stair balusters, listening to her music until she eventually noticed and insisted she teach a little 6 year old Thomas to learn. 

Joseph Tremblay: He started playing double bass in 6th grade, primarily since he lied about playing it, realized people would eventually found out, and pressured himself to learn it so he wouldn’t be caught. Turns out he ended up really enjoying it!!!!

2. why did you pick the instruments for them? (lowkey i already know some of this cause we chatted in dms but i wanna know more…)

Vincent: The cello is the closest to the human voice! It has a beautiful sound. It’s versatile, both capable of being soft, sweet and melodic, as well as stern, specific, and fast. Also I’m a cellist and he’s my comfort character and also me irl so likeeeee, all of the above still apply I just had to. 

Aldo: FIRST VIOLIN VIBES. He’s sarcastic, witty, hard headed, and deeply passionate. He’s perfect for it.

Tedesco: This is a determined mother fucker. He’s competitive, puts his everything inro it, and because of how he grew up he in a way views viola as the one thing he’s good at. It became his purpose, it became his safety and he takes it seriously because it’s a part of him. He’s competitive, aggressive and arrogant, but internally the pressure he puts on himself to be perfect is enough to make him crack some days. 

Also he takes viola jokes farrrrrr too personally. 

Tremblay: I’m going to be so honest I don’t even know. Someone who’s a Tremblay fan please come up with a cool idea I will use it in a heart beat. 

3. what are interpersonal relationships like? are they close to canon, or have you shaken it up a bit?? how will the relationships develop over the course of the au

Bellini and Tedesco met in a very specific and very much a tragic setting that you’ll get to see when I post the fic. ;) They have a complicated relationship to say the least.

Vincent and Agnes are stand partners!!!! They have a very much a high-school-best-friends-going-to-the-same-university type of vibe. 

Bellini and Vincent are actual best friends. Practically like brothers, they’re always togehther.

Thomas and Vincent practice together sometimes, and Thomas admires Vincent for his craft but feels intimidated by him as a person (primarily since he believe’s he’ll only harm him regardless of the fact he’d never want to.) so he keeps his emotuonal distance despite Vincent repeatedly treating him like an old friend.

4. do you have favorite arrangements / pieces for any of them yet? or have you picked out any songs for them to play in the parts of the au?

YEAYESYESYESYES I DO. THE CONCERT WILL BE A PREFORMANCE OF TCHAIKOVSKY’S SYMPHONY NO.6 (MY ABSOLUTEL FAVORITEEEEE) 

You can listen to it here on YouTube!!! 

4a. if you have a playlist….. i am a fiend for playlists

OH BOY YOU FUCKIN BET. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ZhTCXFzcQZrf2zo7C756u?si=2xhXH32lTtWEpvSoroGg6w&pi=X_8-o2N2SqmbG&pt=5c5f0d664c9ee1ab0a8e4254cfceab80

5. are they all in music school or do they have other majors?

They each have their own majors and minors, they’re also just part of the orchestra!!

Vincent: Chemistry and philosophy double major (has some elective psych classes that he adores) 

Aldo: Political science major, minoring in psychology. (planning for pre-law. Not how things turned out, obviously) 

Goffredo: Political science major, minoring in Latin. 

I’D LIKE TO ADD THAT BELLINI AND TEDESCO ARE POLITICAL SCIENCE MAJORS IN VERYYYYY DIFFERENT WAYS. Bellini is a liberal New Yorker who loves debate and critical analysis of the world’s political climate. Tedesco is a conservative Italian whose beliefs are as deeply ingrained into him as his DNA is, desperately trying to escape his home life. Both of them are planning for pre-law. Both of them, obviously, do not go down this path. Both of them still find each other again, just as they did across the concert hall. Across the globe, in a church recognizable to the world by a mere outline, their past and futures remain intertwined. 

Thomas: History major. 

Agnes: This is a physics major. Tell me I’m wrong. 

Joesph: Architecture major. 

6. is this set in the modern day or is it like. back in the past when they’d like canon age progression wise be in uni… this is kind of a silly question but i am curious

Not a silly question at all!!! I’m so glad you asked. I set it in present times, but with minor tweaks to the story it could be set in the canon timeline of when they would’ve been in university. So like, think 2024-25 ish. 

7. got any plot points happening ?? or is it just like brain worms of them playing cause like. that is how most of my aus are hehe so im curious!!!  

YES. A LOT OF PLOT. ITS INSANE. 

The emotional distress I’m putting these men under is crazy. 🫶

I don’t want to spoil it but we get to see the concert prep, Tedesco’s addiction problems (and Aldo’s link to them you’ll learn soon!), a flashback, and then some extra stuff youll just have to wait and see. 

8. gimme a scene if you have one. a cool fun scene you’ve thought out that you wanna share with the class

I just think this is a kinda cool little excerpt without any real spoilers!!: 

“The room ordered itself quickly, thrashes of each bow producing a sound smooth yet bold like an ocean tide. Tones danced with each other, notes lifting off the page with intense focus and a skilled hand. Each section began with their tip of the bow brushing the highest string, sliding through the measures in practiced routine.”

HOLY SHIT THIS HAS BEEN A SUPERRRRRR LONG POST- I HOPE I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTIONS SUFFICIENTLY 😭🙏 THIS BROUGHT ME SO MUCH JOY BECAUSE 1. FANTASTIC QUESTIONS???? AND 2. ACTUALLY REALLY HELPED ME FLESH OUT MY FIC!!!

ANYWAYS TYSM FOR ASKING AND TYSM DOE READING THIS!! ^^

[gleekingdom]

I do not know how to make my text look fancy on here, I just make posts and repost for fun.

That being said if I haven't lost you, hi I'm a gleek and I took a break but I'm back at it soo-I'm looking to rp with someone 1x1 on Discord. I am 23 so please do be 20+ my friends, for one because of legal reasons and two it feels more comfortable to rp with people near my age or a bit older than me.

Alright now I'm also dyslexic and autistic, if that bothers you, to bad for you 'I can't change that.' And the only reason I bring that up is because, sometimes I misspell or forget words, but I usually edit and correct my responses unless I don't know that word.

❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️

❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️

• I am looking to Rp Sam or Blaine, I kinda lean a bit toward being Blaine lately,But there the characters I'm most comfortable being in the glee fandom. I usually prefer MxM pairings rping in the fandom. Though I'm not looking for Smut.

•Ship's I'm open to

-Seblaine ( Sebastian and Blaine, me as Blaine)

-Blam (Blaine and Sam, me as Ethier or)

-Jesse x Blaine ( a rare pair that I feel could have an interesting dynamic. Think similar to St.berry, or even rivals, I have even just read fanfic about the dynamic it's so interesting, and I just like Jesse st.james) ( me as Blaine)

-Finn x Sam ( Me as Sam)

-Finn x Blaine ( Me as Blaine)

-Mike x Blaine ( I see stuff about the ship but never rped it, it looks interesting) ( me as Blaine)

-Sam x Sebastian ( it's super rare I didn't know it was really a thing but kinda seems cute, me as Sam)

Elliot x Blaine ( Elliot was star child/who was also played by Adam Lambert, I ship him more with Kurt. But their dynamic could be interesting.) (I'd be Blaine)

Hunter x Sam ( Idk, I headcanon Sam as bi okay, and it's interesting to see how other people rp Hunter) ( me as Sam)

Hunter x Blaine ( I'm really open to ships in this fandom, me as Blaine)

- Klaine ( I don't really ship Klaine anymore, but if the plot and the flow of the way we play the characters works well I'll give it a shot.) ( me as Blaine)

• Most male ships with Sam and Blaine xD Lol I like playing the characters so much, and shipping so much. It kinda combined together.

• I like making plot alot too. And would love aus ones based off the former world building or other. Like examples: Modern,Sifi, Fantasy, medieval times, Greek mythology based,etc as long it's not too gorey like characters can get hurt but like over explaining in gorey detail. Not that people would usually do that with glee but you never know.

And I like even just coming up with the ideas together, or even just hearing your ideas. Which can be based on other medias concept but doesn't have to be exact. Because I find it's funner like kinda finding the story as we go too.

• I did one glee au where it was like some characters of glee were ghosts in a haunted house, and others were human and Blaine was a person who could see ghosts. He had to try to help them with there unfinished business of what kept there spirits there in that building. I love being super creative with these characters.

• So yeah I like being creative, and I enjoy drawing off of the source material too. Because even if we're not really drawing off canon for backstory I still want them to feel like them, even if it's kinda a bit are own take on the character. And yes I'm cool being other characters in the glee universe as side characters, if you do too. I just am only comfortable with Sam or Blaine as my main.

• So I only rp on discord so please dm me here if your interested and I'll give my username out.

Also For people who aren't use to this I usually repost this a few times. Because usually it won't get to popular and I wanna find a rp partner. So hopefully that doesn't bother you guys ^^

[nabi-unveiled]

Ooooh okay PLEASE go off about DnD. Whatcha playing? Whatcha DMing? Got any good stories?

- also a DM and player 😊

Thanks for the ask!

As I said earlier though...don't expect me to know all the legitimate rules or be able to argue technicalities of rules/builds. We're the "if the DM allows it" kind of people and most of the people I play with are very casual players. We do have a lot of fun though.

Let's start with "Whatcha DMing?"

These days I primarily DM for 13 year olds 😂. I used to do it for high school groups too, but I don't volunteer there as much anymore. The game has gained enough popularity that they normally find a teenager to DM the sessions at the high school these days.

This summer I'll DM a couple of one shot sessions for my son and his friends. During the year, they are part of the DnD club at school and a different family hosts a small group of them fairly regularly to run a longer campaign. They have a session on their long campaign tomorrow.

But I'm the one that hosts the sessions with any of the "friends" that aren't committed enough for long-term campaigns and a place to add some variety and let them try out new characters and scenarios. For the kids, I typically modify one shot outlines I find online or in books. Most of my planning will get wasted. Kids are much less predictable than adults.

I'm currently planning the June session (modified outline). Child went missing in a swamp. They must find and rescue her. It has a bit of a Hansel and Gretel vibe. Given the players' ages, the tricky part is making them actually want to go rescue the child so the reward will need to be pretty sweet.

Whatcha playing?

Just like the board game Diplomacy, finding a good group to play DnD with can be tricky lol. I typically stick to one shots. It's less frustrating than prepping or getting excited and people bailing last minute. And honestly -> my own time is pretty restricted too. I don't want to have to bail on others either.

I should probably note that we mainly use the 2014 rules + any relevant expansions. None of us have invested a lot of time into the 2024 rules yet. I have the book, but I mainly use it as a DM (if a kid relied on that edition to build their character).

Last one shot I played was in March. We rolled for characters. As in the DM had us roll to decide our class, race, etc. We then got 30 minutes to finish creating our character (decide on our name, build our backstory, roll for stats). I do not recommend this route unless everyone you are playing with is very experienced. The variety and push to try something new was fun, but it turned out very badly for many of us individually and for us a party as well. People ended up with classes they didn't know well, and then they didn't have time to investigate and make good decisions. We had fun, but it would've been disastrous if you have a serious group of players. If you want to do it, I'd almost recommend rolling at a pre-session 0 so people have time to familiarize themselves with their character.

I ended up as a warforged artificer with the very obvious name of Ferric and minimal backstory as I spent my 30 minutes mostly reviewing mechanics and focusing on the build. And the one-shot had a ton of aoe and dexterity based traps so....😅

Any Good Stories?

Most of my stories are probably the same as other people and not very exciting.

You probably know the type -> The Barbarian decides to punch the bartender in the face for no good reason even though that was the person with the information we needed, and the DM had CLEARLY indicated they had the information and were amenable to sharing. But no, barbarian decides to knock them out instead of letting the high charisma character talk to them. DM got irked and we had to go "search for clues" for an insanely long time (for a one shot) before we found anything useful.

There was one session where we came to the edge of a ledge and could not see the bottom (seemingly bottomless pit). There were options (other rooms/paths to take, etc.), but one of the idiots (or geniuses) in my party decided to jump. Turned out it was some type of false gravity/gravity loop mechanism. DM had to throw out 3/4 of the planning/one shot because it was supposed to take us a long time to figure it out. That said -> I feel that was bad planning on their part. We easily could've thrown something down there if the idiot hadn't jumped.

Probably most unique (and homebrew) session was when I had to bring my daughter to a session (with permission). She was like 4 at the time. DM decided to make her a "pseudodragon" that tagged along with our party. We told her they couldn't talk and could only make certain noises, and she happily played along for the whole session. We used her as a scout, etc. The fighter decided to "throw her" to knock something off of a high wall. They said "why not?" Why not? Because she can fly 🙄. For the record, it failed. She loved the idea though and acted out bouncing off the wall.

Those are the ones that immediately come to mind. There are probably better ones, but...I'm tired.

Thanks again for the ask! I'm always up for hearing a good story myself ✨.

[the-raging-tempest]

Could I ask why Zrise doesn’t like Daeran? Not to be rude. I was under the impression he romanced him.

One. Very funny you sent this to me before liking every post on my blog. Welcome to tumblr.

This was almost buried in like one hundred notifications. My pal, my friend, I will not tag you but why. I’m cry laughing.

I know you love Daeran and so you are probably wondering why some sort of poly situation would not occur with your Knight Commander and them. You could just dm me. But now I’m going to bully you (affectionately).

Two. I love you, but you don’t know how much of a trap this question is because I know you have not finished this game. So please know there maybe some slight spoilers for Daeran’s quest. But I’m trying to keep it vague for your sake. This is a good question that I had fun spinning around in my mind. And it has a nuanced answer.

So beware my rant below the cut. This is a long one. And I’m almost scared to tag Daeran so I shan’t.

____

So first and foremost. Most of my writing is from Zrise in the perspective of another companion for the Knight Commander. Where, by the nature of Daeran’s quest, he can’t know about his past. So Zrise never gets a deeper look past surface level with him. And his first impressions are… bad.

I think Zrise would be deeply offended in the exact wrong way with Daeran’s use of prostitutes as props for shock value and to push boundaries. Seeing them as a means to offend people around him. This would really really tug at a wound within Zrise. He himself was a sex worker and used in similar ways. Seen as not a full person by people more powerful and rich than himself.

This also does not mesh well with Daeran liking to work people up and push buttons. Zrise’s buttons are easy to push. But this wouldn’t be fun for him. Often I can see Zrise coming to blows about it. And Daeran not being afraid of him.

Zrise would think of him as a huge hypocrite who doesn’t stand up to anyone bigger than him (the Queen) and only punches down and looks to hurt people when he has nothing to lose. (How ironic)

Daeran is also exactly the type of noble he’d learned to resent. The kind who feel like they can get away with murder. The kind who see people as means to an end. The fact that he doesn’t really care about anyone but himself.

(Listen I know why, I’m just talking about the kind of impression the guy gives off if you don’t know his backstory.)

The kind who’d throw others lives away and when you mention it they seem annoyed you care. This is because Zrise always justifies his own violence and killing as righteous, even when no one else agrees with him. (And why he’s haunted by the murders he can’t justify) It is his Goddess’ will. Which would probably also piss Daeran off. Zrise isn’t one to hide his distaste in people.

And I think between the two of them I only see misunderstanding and resentment layering and layering until they truly despise each other. Where Daeran finds him fun to torment and Zrise just wants to kill him. Even in Act 5 once the truth is revealed and the Knight Commander could explain, I think there would be too much bad blood between them.

So if Zrise agreed to some sexual arrangement in that situation, it would be not a sign of his recovery, but relapse of exactly what he experienced in Galt. Where he sees himself and his wants as not important enough to someone. That he must be unhappy and unvalued to have anyone like him. That his consent is not important. Which in some situations he would agree to. But it would not be the healthy and happy type of poly I think most people want.

THAT SAID when Zrise is the Knight Commander. He does get to see why Daeran acts the way he does and IS more willing to give him room. The bad blood doesn’t have a chance to simmer and stew as long. Though I still don’t think they’d work out long term as the way Daeran shows affection bumps up against Zrise’s past in ways where he wouldn’t be confident or secure that Daeran wasn’t using him. And he’d feel like he didn’t really know him.

Big romantic gestures and gifts followed by sex is not an uncommon thing to Zrise. But he would take this to mean Daeran is completely insincere romantically. Because they aren’t specific to him. They are vague by nature. If he can’t be honest (because they’d both die) this to Zrise is evidence they are on the same page. That neither of them care and are paying lip service to the idea of something more. That’s been his experience.

So when Zrise realizes Daeran does actually have feelings he would experience a lot of guilt. It’s also why he ends that relationship. The feelings aren’t returned and he doesn’t feel understood by him. And he’d still feel like another prop, but it’s more three dimensional here. Very ‘you love the mask I resent I must wear’. KC Zrise actually kind of feels pity for Daeran in a way Companion Zrise never will.

[cilil]

What would the Valar’s reaction be to a modern woman from our world showing them D&D? Who’s going to be really into the game?

𝓐𝓝 ~ Oooh very interesting question! Thanks a lot for the ask, I had so much fun thinking about this ^^

𝓕𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 ~ All the Valar! I couldn't resist... Enjoy!

In general, I think that all the Valar would be at least curious, if not excited to hear about the games modern humans play and try it out for themselves, considering how the Ainur have always been looking forward to interacting with the Children of Ilúvatar.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Manwë

As a poet and writer, he's immediately in love with the concept of collaborative storytelling. You can expect elaborate worldbuilding and character backstories from him (especially ones that involve reconciling with an estranged sibling) and he loves to write small side stories and fanfic about the cast. Manwë also wouldn't mind being the group's forever DM once he learns how to run a game.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Varda

Being less excitable than her husband and not always in a playful mood, Varda may choose to watch at first, but she's certainly intrigued by the concept of D&D and she enjoys the mathematical aspects of it, always calculating everybody's chance of success. Once she decides to play, she may surprise the other players with how ruthless and cunning she can be - a menace both in political intrigue and combat-heavy campaigns. Varda also loves seeing Manwë and the others having fun.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Ulmo

Ulmo in particular is always very fond of the Children and the things they come up with. He too may be hesitant to join in at first, but he's always down to do some voice acting or provide some tasteful background music. If he joins the group, he'll probably need the occasional explanation and reminder how things work on land and that his character might not be able to swim as well as he can (keep an eye on him especially if he plays a class that uses armor).

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Aulë

If he isn't sold on the game immediately, he will be once you tell him that he can play a dwarf. Aside from storytelling, combat and roleplay, Aulë swiftly becomes fond of everyone's favorite shiny math rocks and is more than happy to make custom dice for everybody's characters, satisfying all their dice goblin needs. Important note for the DM: Aulë is an inventor and (in)famous for creating his dwarves in his workshop - do not let him play an artificer if you value your sanity.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Yavanna

Whether she's aware of tree hugger stereotype or not, she has absolutely no shame and will indulge her preferences by playing nature-based classes such druids or shamans and finds it cathartic to bring nature's wrath into battle in ways she can't in real life. Aside from indulging the occasional destructive or vengeful impulse, Yavanna may default to being the party mom, fiercely protective and supportive of everyone involved in and out of game.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Vána

Vána loves the concept of the game and is eager to play. Once she learns the basics, she gets really into character and is excited to play with ideas that are very much unlike the flower girl persona people expect from her, always remaking and reinventing tropes and archetypes that catch her fancy. Like Manwë, you can expect her to never miss a game and be very passionate about it.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Oromë

Talking about and imagining slaying monsters instead of actually doing it isn't exactly to Oromë's liking, but he isn't opposed to indulging in a fun tale of adventure on cozy evenings at the campfire. After he's been sufficiently introduced to D&D culture, memes and inside jokes, he embarks on a personal side campaign to prove to everyone just how cool his personal brand of ranger can be.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Tulkas

Similar to his good friend Oromë, Tulkas isn't fond of activities that involve sitting still. His creativity and imagination isn't the best either, but at least he's always willing to play frontline and martial classes, which will come in handy especially in groups where most players have their sights on fancy casters and/or fun support builds. Tulkas is a fun guy to be around if you don't piss him off and so are his characters.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Nessa

Like her brother and husband, Nessa also enjoys being active. If she decides to give the game a try, she's very expressive, gestures a lot and may act out small scenes if given the chance. As fun as this is during roleplay, sitting close to her during combat segments while she shows you how exactly she's smacking her enemies is not recommended, especially if she plays a monk.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Námo

Námo isn't known for his playfulness, however this doesn't mean he's opposed to engaging with the game. In fact, he quite enjoys slipping into a different role and mindset for a while - having to be the impartial judge and observer all the time can be tiring after all. Another aspect of D&D he may enjoy is, surprisingly enough, the element of randomness: His foresight allows him to know the future, but not every little detail, and a couple of dice rolls in a roleplaying game are probably not important prophecies Eru gave him. It may feel refreshing for Námo to be surprised.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Vairë

No matter how casual any given session is, Vairë arrives in full cosplay, really getting into character creation like Manwë does as well, though as usual she's more practical about it. Additionally, she keeps a cute notebook as a campaign journal in which she records all the fun little details and great moments the players experienced together. She also enjoys creating fan content for the campaign.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Irmo

Irmo has quite a vivid imagination and has always adored roleplaying, so he's immediately on board. It's by far his favorite part of the D&D experience, though he quickly finds that he enjoys combat and puzzle solving sequences as well. He's the one to initiate and drive a lot, if not most of the character interactions, helps advancing their character arcs and is just a joy to have at the table. Class-wise, he's definitely a bard player and will happily perform his songs and flirtatious lines in real life too.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Estë

It may come as a shock and surprise to the other players that Estë categorically refuses to be the party healer, at least on her first playthrough. Like Vána, she's eager to explore other roles through her characters. No matter what she decides to play, her character may strike up an in-game rivalry with Irmo's character to spice things up and both of them have way too much fun bickering.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Nienna

She most likely takes a back seat at first, letting others play the game, observing to learn the rules and quietly enjoying the stories they tell. Encouraged by her family, Nienna joins in eventually, provided she's currently in the right headspace for it (being the Lady of Grief, she sometimes feels mentally and emotionally exhausted, in which case she prefers to just sit there, relax and unwind by being in the presence of her loved ones). As a player, she enjoys roleplaying the most, but also does well with puzzles since she's a keen observer and listener.

⊹ ࣪ ˖ Melkor

Well. Melkor is most certainly going to be that guy at the table. He likes to derail campaigns, especially if they're Manwë's, tests the limits of the rules (and everyone's patience) and wants kills and loot. Once he familiarizes himself with the game's mechanics, he exploits them and likes to powergame. The one concept Melkor has trouble grasping is that D&D isn't a game you play to "win". Simply put, he very much has fun, but isn't fun to play with for a lot of other players; however, if you want to play a meme or evil campaign, he's your guy.

Side note: If Melkor plays with his own friend group he may also chill out for once.

Side note 2: Don't let him DM unless, again, you want the kind of campaign he'll come up with.

Side note 3: Watch your shiny math rocks. Melkor likes shiny.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

taglist: @a-contemplation-upon-flowers @asianbutnotjapanese @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @bluezenzennie @edensrose @i-did-not-mean-to @melkors-big-tits @melkors-defense-attorney @singleteapot @wandererindreams

[strayheartless]

DnD AGSZC. You know you have HCs. Sharing is caring.

oh well, twist my arm why don'tcha!

So to start, Sephiroth is one of THOSE players. You know the ones: makes broken characters that seemingly can do anything by level five; consistently has a rather depressing backstory that drives their character to be a dick to everyone for the sake of "roleplay". one of THOSE PLAYERS (see also: the Chocobro... or as Salty has pointed out to me, the Genebro.)

Likes to dable with his Characters. Though his favorite remains his Dragonborn Oathbraker Paladin, named Azriel who turned on the party in one paticular campaign to join forces with a powerful female Dragonborn Litch... I don't thing I really need to tell you why.

Angeals a pain because he wants to play "correctly". he's not competative but heis a rulebook warrior. Cloud has banned the Player's handbook from the table for this very reason. Angeal complains about "house rules" and the "rule of fun" all the time, even while activly enjoing the game. He's a pain.

He usually plays a Paladine and his drive for adventure is always "to avenge/ make his father proud. he once pushed the boat out at Clouds behest and broke his oath, and it didn't go... Well. to put it lightly everyone at the table cried (esspecially Zack) and Angeal had to make a new character.

Genesis is predictable to the point of hilarity. always a Bard or a Warlock. Always a Tiefling. Always gender ambiguous. if the games not starting withthe party finding Gen drunk and bemoning exsistence in a tavern then are they really playing DnD? He will always be playing a College of Tragedy bard (Thank you Matthew Mercer.) He's never pushed the boat out once in all the time they've played and if he can squeeze a loveless Quote in where he can he's gunna do it.

Genesis is however the table flirt and the Horny player. he's rolling to seduce the dragon. Cloud has Vowed never to let them play Curse of Strahd... EVER.

Zack is never predictable in his Character build. In the beginning he went similar to Angeal except a human young fighter with dreams of being a hero, But now he likes to dabble with his classes sometimes and mess around in terms of race. Cloud likes Zacks approach to DnD cause it keeps him on his toes.

His Favorite build thus far is his Halfling Rough/Monk multiclass he based off of a little girl he met in Wutai (you know who.).

When Kunsels Available to play he plays as a College of Lore Bard. He knows everything and Cloud is pretty sure He's been spying on his notes between games.

They are all suprisingly big on Roleplay which is fine by cloud cause it makes his job more fun. He's made them cry multiple times with his storylines, and His NPC voices are unparalelled. concidering he's not expressive in his day to day, he comes alive as DM.

There has been some massive in jokes that make other people question if they are sane or not. things like all the boys mimicing Clouds voice yelling "DON'T FUCK THE DRAGON!" everytime they gointo monster dens. Or looking Angeal up and Down and saying "I don't have the hit points to clinb you like a tree," .

Genesis begs Cloud to make a LOVELESS based Campaign... Cloud doesn't want to admit he already has one, hes just afraid Gen will pick holes in it.

Zack is a bastard for casting Fireball when he doesn't have the hit points to survive his own spell. the one time he played a wizard he cast it, did 39 points of damage and only JUST survived by one singular hit point.

Kunsel has the magic touch where dice are concerned. He constantly rolls consistently high rolls.

Cloud is absoloutly sure Sephiroth uses loaded dice. but he can't prove it.

Angeal always seems to end up getting attacked by mimics. doesn'tmatter how many times it happens, he always has too much trust in everyday objects.

[number-1-kuaidul-fanboy]

What are you main thoughts on arc v and what you like and don’t like about it?

*Cries out in agony*

Okay fine I'll talk about Arc V.

So... I don't know/remember if this has necessarily been a trend on Tumblr the way it has been in my Discord circles but uh... I have a habit of referring to Arc V as my least favourite Yugioh series.

Now let me clarify. By "least favourite" I do not and never have meant "worst". I have stated before that I love every current Yugioh series and believe they all have entertainment value.

Arc V is not a bad series. It has a lot of genuine merit that I would be remiss not to talk about.

That being said, my overview is going to be critical so don't like? Don't read.

1 The duels, even if they were starting to get a little too complicated by this point, are very fun and breathe life into match ups I otherwise wouldn't care for. Looking at the Arc V duels purely based on the cards and plays, I'd say they're a step up from the overly boss monster reliant but otherwise decent Zexal duels and leagues above the slog-fest overly complicated combo ridden duels of VRAINS.

2 The first season of this show is legitimately fantastic. It has some occasional whatever filler episodes here and there but overall it sets up the characters and story really well and is just fun and engaging to watch in general.

3 The way this series depicts the horrors of war, and how it's not necessarily a black and white issue. Arc V takes a more nuanced approach to this and shows characters being groomed or brainwashed into the cause on both sides, not just the fusion dimension. Serena, Sora, Dennis, Reira, even Yuri to an extent that the show didn't show too well- they're all just children forced to fight in a horrible war and Serena, Sora, and Dennis in particular have really interesting arcs and such fun personalities that they are among my favourites in the show.

4 The foreshadowing and ultimate payoff of certain elements is really satisfying and on my first viewing, eclipsed a lot of the problems Arc V had. The show truly does feel grand and epic and the ultimate reveal of the backstory, Zarc and Ray's stories, how the dimensions split, all of that is really well done and interesting and definitely the most interesting parts of the show on rewatches. But... speaking of rewatches...

I'll admit, I really loved Arc V when I first saw it and declared it my second favorite Yugioh series at the time, beating out Zexal and DM but not GX. It was when I rewatched Arc V that the cracks showed and... my god were they big cracks.

Rewatching the Synchro dimension arc after finally watching and liking 5Ds made me notice how much of the unique riding/turbo dueling elements were taken out in favor of just regular dueling on motorcycles with the occasional action card. But that's a small issue compared to how terrible the social commentary aspects were in the Synchro arc, even without comparing it to 5Ds.

Oh Shinji how they dropped the ball with you.

I'll try to keep this brief but I think the fact that the Synchro arc demonized protesters is incredibly disgusting. And sure, you can claim that the protesters weren't demonized specifically for rioting but for wanting to oppress the rich but you know what? Making all of the protesters, who had very valid reasons to protest by the way, out to just be trying to oppress the rich is still disgusting and I hate it. The way the narrative presents it, it really feels to me like this arc ends with Yuya ultimately forcing his "never fight, only pacifism" beliefs onto LEGITIMATELY OPPRESSED PEOPLE WHO WERE FIGHTING FOR THEIR RIGHTS only to be told "no no no, just talk to your oppressors instead!" which historically, DOES NOT WORK and is a disgusting message to perpetuate, even if it wasn't what the show intended. And this Yuya problem of forcing his ideals onto others along with his character development going in circles are things that do not go away after this. It's a problem with the entire show after the first season and the reason I don't really like canon Yuya very much.

All of this, and also Yuzu's character being destroyed, kills that part of the Synchro arc for me, which is a HUGE part, and the fact that very little actually happens to progress the overall plot for this entire THIRD OF THE SHOW is really frustrating. There's some character development here and there, some arcs being less useless than others, but in terms of major events for the overall story, it really feels like the plot just comes to a screeching halt for most of this arc, with the only things that happen being Serena and Yuzu getting kidnapped, Dennis's betrayal, and Sora's honestly kinda rushed but still decent redemption. So nearly an entire third of the show is both a boring or enraging slog AND doesn't further the overall story I was actually interested in. GREAT.

Also I hate Roget. I don't have any deeper analysis there, I just hate his guts and not in a fun love to hate villain way like Amon from GX. I just hate him and wish he wasn't in this show.

So... the first third of Arc V is great and the second third throws a lot of what made that first third great into the garbage and is so frustrating that I've declared it my most hated Yugioh arc in all eight shows so far. So... where does that leave the final third that most people seem to hate?

...to be honest, I'm in a weird middle ground where I find this final section of Arc V to be both underrated and also not very good. It's... a mixed bag. I have a lot of the same problems with it that most do: the way the show dropped the ball with Reira's arc, Leo Akaba getting off scott-free for being a war-mongering genocidal maniac, the non Yuya and Yuzu yu-boys and bracelet girls becoming irrelevant the way they were by the end, Rin and Ruri getting pretty much nothing but macguffin status, the creepy mind control shit in general, the Battle Beast arc. Just. The stupid ass Battle Beast arc.

Fuck this arc.

And I have some problems that I feel might be unique to me but are major all the same: the legacy characters, especially Asuka and Edo, being poorly written with Asuka overshadowing Yuzu then being sidelined and treated horribly in her duel with Yuri (still one of my most hated duels in the entire franchise) and Edo being incredibly inaccurate to and disingenuous of his character in GX with his arc being incredibly rushed and also feeding into that Yuya problem of insisting "pacifism will resolve everything!" that I mentioned earlier which also logically should not have worked on this version Edo.

Basically, I DESPISE these duels:

And on top of all of that, I don't like the Z-Arc duel. It's got some funny moments in the dub and I like the concept of it but it just goes on for way too long. For how many characters butt into this thing and how obvious it is that none of them are gonna win until Reira steps up (shouldn't have been her, should've been the bracelet girls or actually Ray in some form) it goes on for so damn long and it's just not fun. I feel no desire to rewatch this thing.

Soooo why did I say this arc was a mixed bag when I've had so many negative things to say about it? Honestly, it's just a lot more fun to watch than Synchro arc was. There's more variety in locations, it's not a tournament so the match ups are more surprising and varied, and like I said earlier, the pay off to all the foreshadowing, mostly from the first arc, is really strong. The grander story is back in focus and there are more good character moments sprinkled throughout than there were in Synchro arc. I don't care for Kaito that much in Arc V, or even Zexal II for that matter, but his duels are still fun to watch, I particularly enjoy his duel with Dennis, if just for Dennis.

And while I don't like how overly long the Z-Arc duel is, I still enjoy parts of it and the build up to it is genuinely fantastic. Nearly everything that happens from the Z-Arc backstory up through Yuri vs Yuya and all the duels in between are quite possibly the peak of the entire show. Declan standing up to his shitty father and reinforcing his loyalty to and belief in Yuya is amazing and exactly what Revolver's arc in VRAINS should've been, I love Declan and Riley's duel, Yuri gets to be a fun villain for a while before getting discarded, it's all really great stuff. Maybe it's partially my Declan bias, I really love him, he's my favourite character in the show, but these duels are peak.

Also, apart from the stupid aspects of the ending that I already discussed, the last eight episodes are just. Genuinely good in my eyes? People say they bring the plot to a screeching halt but to me, those episodes are an epilogue, and a pretty good one for the characters the show kept around. I unequivocally like the way Dennis's arc wraps up. I like Shun's duel with Yuya. Shun having to accept his sister and best friend are gone but finding happiness in knowing they do still live on in a way is pretty much the only good thing to come out of forcefully fusing the Yu-boys and bracelet girls. Also Jack and Yuya having a goddamn interdimensional turbo duel is still one of the coolest concepts for a duel EVER. And Declan vs Yuya right after it is a really fun duel with a very good emotional core. Still absolutely LOVE that moment of Yuya understanding and sympathizing with Z-Arc. All these parts are a great way to wrap up the series, even if a lot of the stuff around it isn't.

It's definitely an arc, and show for that matter, of peaks and valleys and sadly, a lot of those valleys really aren't worth trudging through to get to the peaks for me. Arc V, to a more major extent than 5Ds, is the kind of show that I don't feel compelled rewatch in its entirety, just the parts I really like (or need to rewatch for writing reasons or something).

So overall I do like Arc V but it is the Yugioh series I have the most problems with.

[thespacelizard]

Okay so! I haven’t read ANYTHING long-form on AO3 in a hot minute, just too much else going on so I fell off the Obedience train pretty hard. I think the last time I read about these two was actually around the end of the Graduation arc! I recently saw one of your updates on tumblr, went back to catch up on what I had missed at around 2am last night and haven’t gone to bed yet because I had to binge every chapter of Sabbatical up until now. 

I was going to comment along the way as I did, but I saw that non-Archive users weren’t able to comment so I decided to wait until I finished before storming into your DMs to tell you how much I missed these two and all their will-they won’t-they nonsense. And imagine my absolute jubilation when I realised WE’RE REALLY DOING THIS BOYS. THEY’VE FINALLY ADMITTED (TO THEMSELVES, AT LEAST) THAT THEY’RE IN LOVE. WE’RE MAKING PROGRESSSSS

I’m not going to go through all the minutiae, but I’m delighted with all these new characters. I love that Shen has new friends in the lifestyle with Mara, Verin and River, and Kelran says what we all wish we could beam through the screen into Rizeth’s thick skull. TELL! HIM! THE! TRUTH! I will say though, for all they didn’t appear again after the arrival in Waterdeep, I’ve got a soft spot for the wonderful lady Scheska Jadefoot, as well as our loud-mouthed drow caravan scout and their surly dwarven co-worker. I am absolutely rooting for Xullzalle and Bhalrom to kiss.

Rizeth remains incredibly hot but you didn’t need me to tell you this. Bastard. Shen is also incredibly fun in his brat era. More Rizeth backstory reveal! Which also made me very sad. I do love these little windows we've been getting into his life "Before" and the ways it influences the man he is now.

And then, wow. Chapter 14 absolutely devastated me. The sequence where Shen recounts the change-dance floored me, and then it let me get up just long enough to knock me back down again. Like three separate times. I mean all of this as the highest possible compliment. Fucking hell.

“Is that allowed?” And she’d smiled, and taken his hands very gently, saying, “Of course it is, beloved. Would you like to dance it with me?” [...] “Will it hurt?” he’d whispered. “If it’s what you want, it will feel like joy.” [...] When it was over, he’d looked down at himself and something had welled up inside him, a rush of some great, overwhelming euphoria. His entire life opened up anew, and he felt for the first time how wonderful it was to be elven, to be drow, and have so many years ahead of him. This was Eilistraee’s miracle, and he would never need another.

I wept. Legitimately. The gentle understanding of that priestess. How happy and relieved Shen is to finally be himself! All that joy and hope for the future! But then his mother’s reaction came in with the steel chair. It was devastating in a different way, in just how true to life it felt, knowing that there are so many parents out there who react just the same, who make their kid’s happiness and journey of self-discovery all about themselves and how hurt or distraught or embarrassed THEY are, that poisonous sense of entitlement. You captured it so well in Shen’s mother.

All in all! Damn, it’s good to be back.

exe!!! welcome back to boy hell, i have missed you!

im kicking myself i did NOT realise i had set the comments for archive users only. that was not on purpose TT_TT i cannot believe i accidentally deprived myself of your readalong comments i feel like i stole the wings off an angel.

but this comment!! a delight to find in my inbox, an absolute joy. WE REALLY ARE DOING IT! FINALLY!

(feel free to barrage my inbox with comments at any point, btw, minutiae and all. i am never not ecstatic to receive your thoughts)

im so very happy you like all the new characters, i had soooo much fun coming up with them and writing them. (especially Kelran, who yes, gets to say what we all wish we could beat Rizeth about the head with.) and the pre-Waterdeep characters too; i was a little sad i only got them for a little while, but they did their jobs and they have a special place in my heart.

(Xullzalle and Bhalrom should absolutely kiss. in the world where Obedience has a thriving fandom, they are the runaway pairing with an outsize number of fics. to me. in my Mind)

Rizeth being too hot to be reasonable is a vital part of Obdience :p i've had a FANTASTIC time finally getting to post his backstory things. i've kept them secret so long and im very proud of myself but also NOW YOU ALL KNOW AHHH! the building blocks that make him 'him' are much more on display and it seems it's as satisfying for y'all to read it as it's been to write it

brat era Ashenivir is a DELIGHT to write. he's a menace and we (and Rizeth) love him for it.

Chapter Fourteen my BELOVED. i cannot tell you how much it's meant to see you and all the other people who've commented say how emotionally hard that chapter hit. as a trans author who was only a baby trans when making Shen, writing his story has kinda come alongside some of my own Life Things, so that part of him is very close to my heart.

The part you quoted especially just…like you wrote, the understanding and the relief and joy - and then his mother's slap down of it. 'true to life' is exactly how i wanted it to feel - because there is a place for trans stories where it's more vicious, but i really wanted that more…not insidious, but the emotional hurt that happens when someone makes it all about themselves, and how much damage that can do. she's never laid a finger on him, she's never done anything you'd call overt abuse, it's just the kind of selfishness that has devastating consequences for other people.

all that to say, thank you for weeping, and for reading, and for returning. i hope you enjoy the final few chapters <3

[duusheen]

Hi! So I’ve been following the Pollock legacy since the start & I absolutely love your way of storytelling/gameplay! I’ve always been curious if you follow a specific legacy challenge or if it’s all randomized for each gen? I’ve been wanting to get into a legacy myself but I completely suck at storytelling. So any tips/advicr? Love your blog!!

heyaa!! First of all, omg thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words 😳 and thanks too for sticking around from the very beginning lol 6 generations of Pollock… wow 😫

aaanyway! this is kinda long so ☝🏽🤓

Ngl it took me a while to figure out how I wanted to tell my sims’ story because I’d probably wither away and die from stress if I had to do 100% storytelling (I truly admire those who can seriously), and I’d most likely get bored if I went full-on 100% gameplay simmer. This balance works for me, half storytelling, half actually playing the game (because, let’s be honest, if you don’t create a story in your head, this game sucks)

So that brings me to the following tips:

Create a story! Give your Sim context, build a backstory in your head—their origins, their childhood, their personality. Even if you can’t or don’t want to write it down or showcase it in gameplay, it’ll help you connect with that Sim, who you know so well. You know their flaws, strengths, and secrets (even the dirty ones 😳)

Tell your story! Whether through gameplay, storytelling, poses, animations, random facts—whatever you’re comfortable with! It doesn’t have to be 100% one way or the other. Go wild! It’s your story, and you tell it however you want.

Look for inspiration! Other challenges, simmers, movies, TV shows… even your own chaotic life(?. Whatever works. This will help keep you from getting stuck and keep things interesting. You can also ask for help from the people here. (I promise they’re all very kind and willing to throw ideas your way if you need them!)

The most important thing: It sounds cliché, but have fun! If you’re not enjoying it, you won’t want to stick with it, so try to have a good time, do whatever you want, and enjoy it!

Try everything. Not all players like to follow a challenge strictly. Some prefer more flexibility with the rules, while others need clear objectives to play. It all depends on your playstyle and what you feel comfortable doing.

Ask (respectfully) for a Sim! If you’re not feeling attached to your own Sims, you can always ask one of your mutuals to make you one. I love playing with Sims that others have created, knowing they put love, dedication, and time into them (sometimes, if you’re lucky, they’ll even give you a backstory to work with), motivates you to give them the best Sim life possible!

Now in my case, for example, I started doing the Globetrotter Challenge (just kidding, I started with the Human Enough challenge, but shh). I made Wilde, took him all around the sim world, and at some point during the challenge, I grew attached to him. He had a personality, likes (he had a boyfriend someone made for me, my first friend in the community), and it felt wrong to just leave him forgotten in a save file. So I kept playing. Now, I’m not following any specific challenges or rules (except the ones I make myself), though I have a Jiminy Cricket in my DMs with whom I conspire every day to make life miserable for my sims (and hers lol)

[clarafyer]

Okay here's the ramble abt the Root campaign under cut because it got quite long

(If you haven't already go look at my last post it has my character's backstory on it)

Ziggy's full name is ZYGMUNT VON RATTINGTON 💥💥💥 and even though he has 10 charisma he is a very talkative member of the party. He's very self-absorbed due to his past accomplishments that led him to become a general among the Hundreds, but his accomplishments (and ESPECIALLY his big failure that led to his imprisonment by the marquisate) have led him to become very famous.

The bad kind of famous.

so of course when he fails a con save on what I should have realized were skunks trying to ambush them while he was on watch, a lot of them are like "... I recognize you." And he starts to regret being such a "great" general a little bit.

But still his ego is almost unbreakable so he's fine he beat the shit out of one of their captors with a literal broken clipboard.

Fun fact! Ziggy hums cadences a lot whenever he does just general mundane things. Cooking soup, keeping watch, etc. Sometimes you'll also find him unironically singing his anthem he is that dedicated to being a war criminal even though it's been a LONG time since he's had contact with his soldiers.

There was this one moment that showed that he's already having a bit of a heart and I'm just gonna paraphrase it here

"If we need to, we could probably find my dad, he's pretty rich and might be able to help us with our... Situation. I- I'm not sure about it though..."

"What is your relationship with your father?"

"Oh he's a bastard. Like, he can go fuck himself."

"PERFECT! If you see him, just tell me! AND HE SHALL SUFFER THE WRATH OF ZYGMUNT! VONNNN RATTINGTONNN!!!"

"... That's actually quite comforting."

For context her father is a transphobe and I am so sorry for our dm who will have to act as him one day.

Anyways I cannot express just how perfect our session was because most of the time we either dick around too much, go way too fast with very little roleplay, or struggle doing longer roleplay without feeling incredibly awkward. TODAY WAS NOTHING LIKE THAT AND IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE JOKE ONESHOT CAMPAIGN LIKE WHAT???

- Started camp roleplay right away after the intro, lasted like 15 minutes it was me in Gordon Ramsay mode making the others cry not because they were chopping onions but because they were chopping onions WRONG

- Had a seamless night watch segment after having a whole bit about "zest of tree" and eating pinecones like apples

- I had the third watch which just so happened to be the watch the dm rolled to be when the skunk ambush was. That whole moment went by like perfectly. No trains of thoughts lost, perfectly succinct roleplay moment before a BONK to the head and then, and I quote: "Hey you, you're finally awake."

- I now have a Doofenschmirtz style backstory because of a bit that started from "have you ever tasted dirt?"

- Had a perfect amount of questionable means of escaping our prison cell. By that I mean I ripped apart my bat parole officer's clipboard and the otter rogue used the metal part as a lockpick.

- Why was my parole officer there? Yeah he got caught by the skunks too, his cloak is just a bag of holding but it's only full of pens, paper, and clipboards. No matter what, he's stalking me somehow.

- We found proof that God is real but only while the character whose life mission it is is to find evidence of divine beings was separated from the party.

- Among all of this tomfoolery in a very jokey campaign, WE HAD AN ACTUAL HEART-DROPPING, WIDE-EYED, LOOK OF FEAR MOMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN?? EVER?? LITERALLY I DON'T THINK WE'VE HAD ANY SUCCESSFUL MOMENT LIKE THAT.

(It was when the skunk boss who was actually a raccoon shut the gates on us while we made our escape, and just slowly walked towards us, giving a slow clap congratulating us on besting his men. Now we owe the skunks 20 hostages!!)

We ended off the campaign at an inn in a revolutionized village, we were spending way too much time debating on what kind of hostages we take and kind of had to hurry along to a good stopping point because our time was coming up soon.

Anyways yeah I'm getting tired so I may ramble more about how excited I am for continuing this campaign later. Idk if it's messy and I don't care either lmao

[stopmyhearts]

this is for @smallerontheoutside and @daughterofheartshaven (but also anyone else who's interested) who wanted to hear about my DnD character

first maybe a disclaimer that I'm a rather casual player and me and my friends usually play pretty loose with the rules, also half of our rulebooks are in english and the others are in german so we're constantly chaotically translating things too (which I will be doing here as well) just so you know that I don't really know that much about DnD actually

so her name is Esvele Falbdrache, the last name translates as Paledragon or something like that

here's my best artistic rendition of her:

and like my ideas for her backstory and stuff are pretty disorganized and not all fixed, they just sort of end up crystallizing when it comes up in playing so I'm just going to ramble about a lot of things and you can ask if you want to know something else or want me to elaborate further on something

so to start, she's a ranger and currently level 13, we've played curse of strahd with her and are currently in an adventure that my friend wrote herself that also uses some elements of baldur's gate because she's a fan of that. she's got pretty high stats overall cause I was very lucky rolling the dice, her highest are wisdom and dexterity though, and her lowest is intelligence which makes for a fun combination. my favourite thing about her is that she's got some fey ancestry and is a fey wanderer because of that so she's insanely charming, she's got a wisdom boost on all charm talents, and some pretty cool spells and a dancing shadow. she recently gained the spell of summoning little fey spirits too which is so cool too, and she's got misty step and is super good at being sneaky so that's really helpful. She's chaotic good and really impulsive so she will often just start fights if there's an injustice though. in curse of strahd she got the sun-sword? which we just call the lightswitch because it can emit daylight which is her main weapon. she's got an ex-girlfriend who's a werecat, dead parents and trauma from that but she doesn't talk about that (aka I didn't know enough lore at first to create a cohesive backstory and never got around to it). she's very much a wandering spirit. on the topic of girlfriends, she's a lesbian but kind of useless about it (all of our characters are, trying to romance someone but failing is like the sidequest for us and we are also all so bad at playing flirting and tend to end up in giggles on the floor), though recently we've had a new character played by our DM's brother join us who (the character) is a very sleazy guy who keeps trying to get people to model for his magazine and she's had a bit more success at being charming enough to get people away from him and also beat him at a beauty contest out of spite (and actually also because I decided she was wearing Romana's Meglos outfit for that which our DM loved). she did recently get nearly turned into a vampire because she just followed a pretty woman without thought though. she also has a bit of a loose thing with Esmeralda from curse of strahd. another fun thing is that in our most recent session (like two months ago rip we've been busy) Esvele became a quasi-goddess. we'd planned to just sort of trick these people into helping us but with a combination of a 20, some spells and the bit of fey charm that kind of got a lot bigger, so now she has some protection-based boosts too. don't let that trick you though she is still very cringefail. she's an alcoholic too, i think I haven't said that yet, she and our cleric always carry around flasks of some vile brew and get drunk when something bad happens. we've had some very funny fails as a result of that

uh yeah that's pretty much it? like i said you can ask questions if you want, either I'll have an answer or I'll make something up which is how most of this came together in playing anyways

[thepinkofgoth]

I was shown a Dragon Ball Z movie recently and it was my first real exposure to the series as it was super banned in my house as a kid. Anyway we watched the Super Broly one specifically. The visuals were gorgeous, the punching sound effects were immaculate like they really knew the whole thing would be worthless without good fighting folly

One thing I was really impressed by was the background animation too and I mean literally the background. When characters are animated moving around very fast and all around a space, having to actually move the background behind them can be tricky and make the "depth" of the shot feel flat (or make the space their in confused in terms of its layout) but this movie really rose to that challenge considering the characters were flying through and all-around mountain ranges, it was really impressive and I'm honestly really curious what the background art looks like in full. Is it like a map where all the land is laid out flat? I'm so curious!

I'll just say it the animation was all around perfect, I noticed the digital lineart looked a bit uneven to evoke more of that traditional drawing feel and that was great. I REALLY like that Goku's muscles were drawn a lot more soft because it looks realistic but also it's a great contrast against Broly who was so Massive and Sculpted he was hard to look at.

In terms of the actual story I always knew DBZ was one of those Fight Don't Feel shows (being INCREDIBLY general but as a jojohead and a hxh veteran I feel qualified) but even with its macho manly gym bro tuff guy approach to Every problem I was very fascinated and intrigued by the questions and themes brought up in the movie that I assume are touched on in more depth in the actual series: a society that creates a classification system for its people to determine their worth based on their PROJECTED (because this is all determined before birth) potential, is not a kind and comforting society and it creates broken people. Do we do what we think is right, or what will better our society?

And Broly oh my god Broly. I love Broly so much it makes me look stupid. And while the movie is about Broly I feel like it's with his character that the movie, funny enough, fails! He has no interiority and while that in itself can be a fun character to explore (they made an entire, touching scene about him discovering drinking WATER for the first time) I can't help but feel that maybe 10 minutes of all those cool fights could have been substituted for Broly to have a few speaking lines. How does Broly feel? What does Broly want? WHY did he go Super Saiyan when his father died? Brolys dad would electrocute him and speaks about Broly like he's a creature and like, shot his childhood alien dog pet. Did he go Saiyan because he was mad? In grief? Even the idea that he could have respected his father, thought that the treatment he was getting was just and correct is not really explored. And thankfully Broly got out of that fight but what resolved his negative feelings? Did being sent back to the planet all his trauma was formed on really going to bring him back down? Why not like, Hawaii or something. A spa. He's kind of just treated like a pet which is fine I like when a big boobied man is there to look cute and say nothing but he's the core of the movie! Even at the end Goku was talking about Broly to Cheelai like he's a dog.

Obviously I think a lot of my remaining confusion comes from still being dazzled by the whole of the series itself having never seen it before, and I'd like to hope these things are touched on in the series and the 1st Broly movie (this definitely was a movie for the Fans for sure. It really expected you to just Know what was going on and what had already happened) and I'm assuming it didn't get into Broly's full backstory because of that too. Anyway movie good I've just been thinking about it for days.

If Brolys character has in fact been touched on please DM me I want to know more about who he is

[cinderbuck]

Death Save Bargain Bin, Page 10

Hm, not a very inspired layout, but passable, I think. The original rough layout was really boring, so I tried changing it up. Thinking back, it was probably a bad idea to draw out all the rough rough layouts in one day. They got more and more uninspired the further into the pages I got.

My initial plan was to just have the imp, who goes by the name Trish, terrorizing Galdrus (the dwarf), but I couldn't resist adding more of Greetings (the Cambion).

Trish, short for Trishul, which I believe is another word for trident, was a traveling companion for my character in one of the previous adventures my D&D group played.

Long rant ahead about our old D&D adventure, feel free to skip this:

It was Out Of The Abyss, and my character died in the very first session because the merciless adventure stated that the last person down the rope gets a slime (black ooze or something, I don't remember, it's been years) falling on their head, and dies. Can't make death saves or anything, just melts, dead forever, RIP. (If anyone plans on playing this adventure, I highly recommend not following the book too much. Use it more as a guideline than an actual instruction manual. It's infuriating at times.) It was a bit of a bummer, I had plans for my wizard-Gnome.

Had to make a new character, and in this campaign we all decided to roll our base stats on a D20. I didn't really have time to plan my next character, as we were currently playing, and my rolls were mediocre, so I made Penjamin the Average Man, not thinking he'd survive very long.

Just for fun, while I waited for the DM to find a good place for me to reenter the adventure, used the Origins table in Xanathar's Guide to Everything to flesh out his background some more. One of the tables is 1D100 for where your character is born, where it's pretty much a 50/50 chance you roll "home" (results 1-50). I, however, managed to roll 100, "On an Outer Plane of your choice". I wasn't, and still isn't really, that familiar with the Outer Planes, other than the Nine Hells, and the Abyss, so I chose Hell, and built my character's personality around that. His backstory pretty much ended up being that his mother was a Cambion, but his dad was a human so average that their union didn't spawn a tiefling as they normally would, but just a normal human baby. (I accidentally gave him a huge fro though, because at that time we used character sheets printed on paper, and I had a scribble of Pen on there that I just doodled more and more curls on whenever someone had to look up rules and such. It got huge. DM made it cannon.)

I don't remember why, but for some reason, way out in the adventure (somewhat close to the end, I think) I wanted an imp friend that looked like a cat, not a familiar or anything, just a pet of sorts. The DM granted me one, and along the way Pen and Trish might've made a cult. Some human/dwarven sacrifices were made. Some deals were struck, and by the end of the adventure Pen was a Cambion, and had a large following of mostly dwarves that he took home with him.

(I'm not sure what the rules are with gore here, so I blurred the drawings a little. This is a very old drawing of Pen and Trish.)

This might make it sound like I stole the show, but I didn't. Two others also started cults, and the adventure ended with two of us walking away with pretty much an army of cultists each, and the third one went to reassemble his following. (One of these also married the Demon Lord Graz'zt, I think, or at least ended up in a relationship of sorts with him.

Pen is still my favorite character.

Anyways, back to this comic. Trish, old character, redesigned her slightly for this comic, as I couldn't quite remember what she looked like before I managed to dig up an old drawing. Here's the doll I drew before starting the comic to get the palette nice and look alright in grayscale.

Previous Page, Page 09:

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[burning-bubble-tea]

Vox machina is good and it’s funny seeing people joke about how having their dnd campaign animated is like the dream but the campaign that I play in, the story is mostly just like kept in our heads and shared verbally.

Like I’m sure the DM has notes and what not to structure a story around but also I sorta love the verbal history of our dnd campaigns.

But also I feel like all my characters would have issues of tonal dissonance because I play comedic characters.

Like there was a cool scene where the big bad was trying to coerce my character and it was cool and fun but also my character is a lawful good guy so it was like a scary threat but there wasn’t that good drama of him being convinced to give in to the darkness because he’s a naive chap who believes that good will triumph.

I’m banking on him having those hopes crushed or something so that scene is interesting in context but that cool scene of the big bad threatening my character and tryin to convince him to betray his friends fell on probably the least likely to be convinced ears.

I do wanna try playing a serious character one day but playing gag characters is too fun.

And also I play dnd for fun silly times with drama. But like I more so enjoy seeing the drama the other players at the characters have written into their characters. Like I really like the idea of my character having their own drama filled moments but I find it more enjoyable for the table to involve them in my characters stories.

Like in the most recent campaign, my character’s parents are jerks and my character goes to confront them for story reasons and two other characters come along. So what could’ve been a dramatic one on one scene between me and the dm instead became this wonderfully chaotic scene of two other characters who have grown to like my character and hate his parents to cumulate in a fist fight with the dad and a screaming match with his mom and it was very very funny.

Did it pull attention away from my character? Sure. Could I have had a cool one on one scene where it developed my character and had cool backstory shit? Sure. But what happened was equally as enjoyable. And also I’m very much of the opinion that one on one scenes shouldn’t drag out too too long unless it’s a scene that impact everyone and thus they should all be listening.

My character’s argument with his parents related to the plot sure but did little to impact the grand scope of the story itself so I was happy more than just me were involved in the scene.

Anyways my character’s parents did come to some semblance of an understanding and I just like the last thing they may potentially hear from their son is “I’ll either see you as a hero of the land or be dead, bye mom and dad”

[mellowwhumps]

looks at you with my big blue eyes

Do your characters have any cool facts about their hair? Do they represent anything? Hair lore :3

big blue eyed blahaj guy is in my askbox LETS GOOOOOO HELLO LEM!!!! LOVE THIS ASK (check out his writing btw!! very awesome!! he’ll be doing an oc intro post soon as well so stay tuned)

YES!! yes all of them have hair lore it’s so fun i planning out hairstyles that are development-related…it’s so fun. scuffed question btw i know what you are (the correct answer is in my dms as the voice whispering in my ear to write)

also i stole your divider. mwahaha

————☆————

Haley - for the most part he keeps long hair because it’s natural…but because he’s so adamant on it being related to balance, not wanting any external factors to affect his perforrmance in battle, he doesn’t ever cut it. and this is meant to represent a lack of change! 

beyond a certain point he does start exploring other hairstyles even if he still doesn’t cut it, showing how he still is the same, mistakes can’t just be cut off like hair, but he shows an acceptance for growth and moving on!!

and of course i have to mention the braids!! because originally they are also a symbol of the past (with elowen, he braids them because they obscure his face when fighting + elowen is the one who taught him how) but they are also part of ria!! in the end, he is a mishmash of everyone he has ever loved

————☆————

Halcyon - her current hairstyle is extremely screwed up because if you actually imagine it untied one side is much much longer than the other!! and this also does have a part in her story too

because she’s been living on the streets for so long (old oc…generic backstory is a must but she’s so precious to me), her hair just got really really unkempt. split ends, everything, semi-long, and obviously that doesn’t give a good impression. so!! cerilux (her commander/senior) tells her to cut it! and, yknow, typically she would have obliged because she was a heavy people-pleaser…but halfway through she disagrees

and this does show the competence of cerilux for giving her a choice, since this is very important in halcyon’s character development!! since cerilux would have wanted her to have short hair like most of the other male recruits, since that’s the norm. but she wants to make that difference. 

the half that has long hair is sympathy for the others like her, the half that has short hair is the one that wants to protect, the one that, no matter how conformative, is still an act of change.

and of course her hair color! which is a very unnatural kingfisher-feather shape of blue (the bird she was themed off of). but actually the kingfisher’s feathers aren’t blue, but brown! no matter how much she’s idolized as a hero, perhaps, this is still her. she is no queen, unlike the one she serves. she’s just doing her job. but still she’s special, and so many other things that makes others admire her just as it is. in the end, nobody cares.

————☆————

Twelve - in querencia, their hair was LONG. like to the floor long. once again it is so messy. nobody cared about them, at least. but verrill doesn’t care. verrill spends half a day trying to maintain it since he knows they still don’t want to cut it even if they don’t say it. braids it, even, combs fingers through the hair of someone nobody else would touch. he cares so much about them even if that act was dooming them both…ouh

stuff goes down. verrill’s gone. and they still had that braid, really, never did want to fully take it out. they can’t remember why, the phantom of some caring touch in their memory. because no matter how much their memories fault and fade, other things sometimes don’t. by all means, they can’t let go, even if it is a hindrance. 

eventually, it is cut, though!! they don’t want to be burdened by it anymore. it shows their longing for something more, something better, something real.

never mentioned this to anyone before (very old concept), but in querencia, long hair is seen as weak! since it covers skin and makes them look less vulnerable, less free. hair is a confine, and though they do want short hair, they never could ask for it. they were weak before, but now they know how not to be while still being weak. on earth it isn’t the same and will never be the same, because dystopias and utopias aren’t earth.

maybe that’s why they liked emmei in the first place, because emmei gives them a place to be weak and they do the same in return. in the end, they’re both trying to live their own lives.

————☆————

Verrill - once again, long hair in his hometown was seen as weak! and of course he doesn’t want to be that way, so it’s kept mostly short. oh, but that isn’t the case. 

the front part of his hair is still long, still obscuring. he wears a scarf/cape to hide the parts of his neck that aren’t covered. he is not meant to escape. he is not strong enough to escape, despite him having so much compassion in him. he’s shackled.

it’s still hope. he hopes that one day people just will stop caring. one day something will happen, things will change. nothing happens. that’s what drove him to release twelve from their cage.

hope never changed anything for him. because of his act, he causes the downfall of an entire city. nonetheless, his hope does indirectly affect the one person he wants to save semi-positively. selfish, but it’s enough for him. in the end, he’s not a saint or a hero, just verrill. the warmth of the sun in winter, no matter how much it burns.

————☆————

Ria - not much here, actually! but the colors of her hair are dual-toned since she’s essentially a mix of the two kingdoms focused on in the main story!! a symbol of harmony, if you will. blue for hampton, the kingdom by the sea, and brown for irecel, the landlocked kingdom!!

silly fun fact she does the braid for herself because she learnt from watching haley!! while she does learn from him she won’t ever explicitly ask him to help her either, and that’s something that will be worked on :))

she has clips pinning her hair to the side as well because just like haley, she’s cautious on instinct and any threat can and will trigger a fight-or-flight response, so she doesn’t want hair to obstruct at least one of her eyes. but it’s not full coverage, because in the end, she’s still a child and still messes up.

————☆————

Elowen - honestly since his hair is the exact same for the first arc of the au with 🫵lem i have and it’s similar plot i’ll just. use the au LMAO (yes i know you’ve heard this before lem. do i care no i’ll say it again.)

so yes! his braid was originally at the back because that is a remnant of his past! his hair isn’t naturally too curly he just kinda. does it. and straight hair is easier to braid anyways!! but because it resembles a ponytail like naeri’s he just couldn’t wear it like that anymore when he left to form the syndicate.

but he does still keep the braid. because just like haley (or rather haley is just like him) he can’t fully let go of that past. in the original universe he died with the braid at the back because there is no change, he’s as stationary and closed-off as ever, but in this au i do allow him to!! 

and i was thinking that when the timeline ends he goes back to the braid at the back. because no, it’s not that he doesn’t want to change, it’s more of honoring the dead and learning to move on with the past, facing it headfirst and breaking through. in the end, the past does shape the future. which is also why i nicknamed the au ‘futures past’!! once again subject to change but fun fact of the day

————☆————

Ida - woah new ocs i swear i’ll do an intro post soon…anyways!! hard to describe it but yeah it’s undercut hair and yes is it really mello if i don’t try to relate it to identity

because!! he served in the military and the right side of his hair, which is cut, is meant to symbolise his time there! the part of him that he doesn’t know how to deal with, something that he can’t part with because it’s what changed him the most. and the left side of his hair which is left long is meant to symbolise his present! 

my honest thought process was i make this guy look as mascfem as possible because yes he is trans and no i do not know how to write dysphoria whump so this is the second best thing. have fun lem.

and yes! he does have a dark-purple streak in his hair. while he wants to rebel and be different from the others, it is still the purple of auxili’s (the laboratory he works for) logo. just like his entire outfit honestly…in the end, he is forever in control by them!!! he simply cannot escape! and that’s also some sort of screwed up metaphor for his identity as well. and also he’s a foreigner so that’s also symbolism. go get him yuuto 💥

————☆————

Ibys - another new character! ida’s fault this time for their hairstyle!! they refused to let him get close at first, but then one time ida was bored and he just. kind of started doing it. it’s not even out of care or anything, because he will always view ibys as a tool (he has to), but he braids their hair. (and they’re touch starved…)

after that, they just kind of assume that’s what he wants it to be like, so every day they turn up with that exact same hairstyle. ida obviously doesn’t notice because it isn’t really his job to care, as long as they can do their job he doesn’t mind. so that’s just how it is. after everything ends i like to think ida has a good laugh about it

however, as it is, their hairstyle wasn’t very good for seeing. so? solution? headband! since ida doesn’t really want to chop off their hair knowing they’d agree anyway. so now the headband’s just part of their attire.

it’s really symbolic in a sense since it shows their dedication towards him…since the hairstyle is extremely complicated, a mishmash of braids and random accessories, yet they do it every day. ida’s influence on them is extremely large since their last handler wasn’t exactly too kind, and yknow. 

parting hair to braid is just such an extremely intimate thing and for it to be done without any sort of emotion towards it on one side, while sparking the first semblance of freed emotion on the other…well. it’s complicated, but in the end still beneficial.

————☆————

and that’s it!! once again thank you for the ask lem…actually made me think about my characters more that’s crazy