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

[ziracona]

Iirc Griffin did something similar in Amnesty, when Aubrey succeeded on a roll that should've saved another character's life, but it didn't work and I don't think they ever explained why

Yeah!! And in Amnesty, Ned used a point of LUCK. To get a 12. That in MOTW is a guaranteed success. You do not take harm in Protect Someone if you use luck. Also, a fucking shotgun does not DO 7 points of harm anyway. It’s 3. And he fucking KILLED him. Never forgiving Griffin for that one >.>

[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

[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.

[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.

[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)

[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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

[reel-fear]

I'm sorry if I'm bringing negativity to your blog,you can ignore my ask, I'll understand.

Mike (JDS) is active on his YouTube channel (community tab) right now and he replies to a lot of questions.

In one of them he confirmed that The Illusion of living written by Kress isn't canon and one that exists in Batim/Batdr has different biography of Joey. Isn't this weird? We got a physical book that explores character in details. And now it's not canon.

We'll never get "canon" biography for him so this erases huge portion of his character, pre-studio Henry and Sammy, Joey's queerness and Abby Lambert's whole existence.

I'm so upset about this whole thing. Idk what to do with myself /gen

Never apologize for giving me an excuse to complain about Bendy KJHDFGKJDHFGKJHSD I might not be happy with the way the devs are, but it would feel a lot worse to just push down my feelings about em then to at least know others feel the same. And yeah you're absolutely right! It's very weird and confusing.

I honestly am so glad you brought up the particular point of "We'll never get "canon" biography for him" it's honestly one of the most frustrating parts of this whole book retcon. The devs are never going to fill in the blanks this has made so really all this does is take away so much from the world!! Like the devs have never expressed interest in showing us what the studio was like before the cycle and that was the fun of the books! But now we know those aren't canon so that part of history is just left blank with nothing to fill it and likely nothing ever will. The devs seem so disinterested in developing these character's backstories, pasts, etcs, I don't know how they could literally have someone write a great one for their MAIN VILLAIN and then willingly throw it away. So sad.

I loved Abby a lot in that book, her friendship with Joey was both sad and fun. It's upsetting when you see the way Joey is willing to admit behind her back how unsure he is of her talent if I recall correctly. Not to mention how funny it was when she clearly knew how snobbish and mean Joey could be to works of art.

Now she's just gone, along with Joey's entire backstory which I had loved. Reading that book felt like a gateway into his mind, seeing the way he thought, the way he justified his actions. How he lies, everything. It was so compelling, it made me fall in LOVE with Joey's character. He felt sympathetic and beyond redemption at the same time. Not to mention how much I LOVED Sammy's appearance in it. Ugh it was just all so well written, you truly felt like you were seeing the world the way Joey did for a moment. Walking through the mind of a mad man and seeing everything he would allow you to.

I also like the way Nathan was portrayed too, he kinda seemed like he was so defensive of Joey? Which I thought could tie into BATDR and he'd be revealed to be a villain. Like when he says stuff like sometimes he liked to think Joey was being lied to as opposed to lying to others about how the studio was going. How messed up is that? To just casually accuse Grant of withholding that information from his boss just because Nathan doesn't want to think Joey would lie about that? It seemed like a fun place to take his character.

Then that all just gets thrown away? I just don't get it. By far I prefer that version of Joey above the games. His backstory, his mind, the way he sees the world as a big story? It was all so perfect.

Honestly the only thing I can say in comfort is to just love the books for how well written they are. Canon or not, I prefer their writing over the games. So make fanart for them! Tell others why you like them! If the bendy devs won't give them the praise they deserve we will! And if anyone is having trouble getting their hands on the Bendy books, they can always dm me ;]

[animeniac-writings]

Obey Me DnD headcanon

Otome: Obey Me Shall We Date

You were the first one to bring it up, asking Levi if there was an Devildom equivalent to Dungeons and Dragons, starting to explain the gist of it when his eyes lit up because there is, and it's almost exact.

Not only is he thrilled you have a similar game in your realm, that you KNOW the game, and that you brought it up. Because he never would, already believing he'll be shunned as an otaku and now a nerd 🙄.

He's so excited and brings out his secret stash of Demons and Dungeons (A name you're sure you heard Asmo say in very different context) to show you, especially his character sheets.

You, wanting to play so badly and having, at the very least, 7 demon lords at your call, decide with Levi that you HAVE to start a campaign.

Using one of his extra character sheets and a little help from him to figure out the modified from human-realm abilities, make your character and stat sheet. He's very impressed and starry eyed, even if you think it's nothing to fawn over. Lucifer's pact warms as you get a little burst of pride though.

With a lot of luck and bargaining, using the boys' desperate love for you and determination paired with Levi's hopeful, watery gaze backing you up, one by one they agreed.

Although Levi would love to play (he's only been in a few campaigns, all through facetiming with his group), as the one with the most knowledge and an array of already built characters, he became the Dungeon Master for you all.

Leviathan thought it was such an honor you trusted him to be a good DM (no one else getting the big deal, with minimal, if any knowledge of the game they agreed to) and thanked you with tears in his eyes. He ran off to his room to start planning out a worthy and complex campaign with so many choice routes and side quests- he could have been hulled up there for weeks.

You took it upon yourself to help the others make their characters, using a few books from Levi's DnD library for reference.

Asmo, who never would have been interested but adored how excited you looked about this, was very happy to hear of the "horny bard" trope and of course chose his class for it. Though there are different races that you aren't familiar with, sexy slutty Tiefling is always a classic and he was ecstatic to take it on.

Mammon's confusion and talk of money made you realize how with each of the boys' very strong character traits, they would very easily make an interesting party. Greed and thievery? He will be a lot of fun. Has better luck pick-pocketing in game than in life. Clearly the Rogue.

Satan actually is well and familiar with the game but wont answer you how or why when you inquire, you're very suspicious but he refuses to give anything up. (was actually in one of the campaigns Levi was before but Levi had no clue.) His character is a dark elf sorcerer, you laugh and call him edgy, he rolls his eyes and huffs but you kiss his cheek.

Beel is pretty clueless, but he's always liked board games and thinks it will be fun. He takes any and all suggestions from you, ends up a barbarian Oni so he can protect everyone, but really wants to help heal too. Baby boy. Actually puts in most of the work because he will half-play Belphie's character when Belphie falls asleep against him.

Belphie really is not happy you roped him into this and keeps grumbling about it, keeps saying "I don't care" and "whatever, sure." while you try to make him a character. Low and behold, once you start the game, he's really hooked within a few sessions and tries to 'subtly' ask when the next game night is. Complains about how you built his character too, but makes the best of it. If you make him the healer he will be so fucking salty and will only heal you until you tell him outright to help.

Lucifer takes the game much too seriously. He read multiple guides after agreeing to join, and meticulously worked to figure himself a good, well rounded character. Detailed backstory but hardly tells any of it. He believes he can manipulate the dice by how he rolls it, and is appalled when that does not happen. He takes all choices very seriously and is exasperated when everyone else is more playful, but goes along with childish (re:FUN)decisions. Enjoys some of the creative things everyone comes up with.

While at RAD Simeon saw you and Levi talking very passionately about the upcoming sessions and ideas and had to come ask what could have your attention, you excitedly told him and invited him to join!

Simeon had a bit of knowledge of the game, and seeing how happy you both were, accepted, asking if he could further the invitation to Luke. You and Levi of course told him yes.

Simeon enjoys the game very much, getting your help first at making his character, to which he put a lot of thought into race, class, and backstory. Angels are much like infernals in this game and he chose one, disgraced. He picks it up very quickly and is a great player, likes making some goofier choices too.

Luke first thought it was a trick being invited to join some game, but when he saw how all the sins were very serious at playing it, and Simeon too, he nodded. He's more worried about making the 'right' choices but gets caught up in the fun! Definitely picks healer and is distraught he can only do so many at a time. You and Simeon help him build his character and he's so proud of it and keeps a little binder for it.

Solomon joins in before he's even invited, telling Levi beforehand to write him into the next session and appropriately joins as a skeezy sorcerer that shows up to 'help' your party and eventually joins it. Very powerful, so very chaotic with Asmo's bard. He always has good potions stashed and has had his character for awhile.

Diavolo finds out everyone is playing an activity together and is so interested, he wants to join! Despite everyone you have playing, you never expected the Demon Lord himself to want to join your DnD group.

(Honestly you're a little concerns for Levi having to keep up with all these members too)

Though his schedule is as bad as Lucifer's for picking a time to get everyone together, once a date is chosen, he is committed and will be there. DnD night is a meeting he will not miss out on. Very clumsy at playing with a very randomized character, but he has so much fun. He says this is the most fun he has ever had, being together with everyone too! And it squeezes your heart how easily you believe him.

Barbatos of course joins in. First he was just planning to tag along to provide snacks and drinks, getting some work done and being there to check in with Diavolo on some papers if need be.

But you and Diavolo quickly roped him into playing (with puppy eyes and a playful 'command' from Dia.) He helps Diavolo understand his character's abilities and what needs done and occasionally makes very intricate props and maps if Levi needs a hand.

Barbatos is another character who is very competent in his choices, but will suddenly say the most out of pocket shit that stuns everyone and has you burst out laughing. Almost always has the most hit points left and you almost thing he can decide what side the dice will land just by how he rolls until the look of utter betrayal when he gets a nat 1.

[beanibon]

Ideas and AUs I wanna write for in regards to Trigun

Fun fact: I have so many drafts and too many ideas, so I need to get this down now before I forget and I'd love to get everyone's opinion on some of these. So honestly don't be afraid to comment or dm in regards to these ideas, I'm an open book when it comes to brainstorming.

Game of Thrones AU:

I am an avid fan of GOT, I have every book, spin-off, lore book the whole works, hell I even have the cookbook.

In regards to this AU, the twins would be veer off as Targaryens. Rem as their mother who married an unnamed Targaryen King (cause names be hard be I'll figure that out when I get to it), so Knives and Vash being the next in line, Knives the official heir to the throne.

Knives as he's the heir has a lot less freedom, often being ushered off to learn how to rule the kingdom and their nations. This deprives Knives of a childhood, so he's more serious and eventually grows power hungry in his later teens.

Knives has a dragon, which is just as temperamental as he is. The She-Dragon is white in colour with aqua accents, and she's greatly attached to Knives as he is to her.

Vash on the other hand is a lot more carefree and is often found among the people, along side his mother. He's a lot more distracted and at times caught sneaking off to the dragon pit to admire the beasts.

Unlike his brother Vash never got a dragon, his was one of the very few eggs that became Dormant. So he much prefers admiring the dragons and watching in awe as his brothers she-dragon grows to be one of the largest dragons in their possession.

Not to say Vash won't ever get a dragon, as he'll eventually Tame a pitch black male with pirple accents, that hasn't had a rider in 50 years.

Wolfwood would be the Stark of the AU, living in the North and defending the borders from deserters of the Wall. And yes this AU will include Vashwood, Vash would be crushing hard on the tough North man.

Being the only Lord of the land, Wolfwood has a pack of dire wolves. And no, he does not name them seriously, best believe there's a Princess among them.

Meryl and Milly would be lady's in waiting of Roberto's house, who a high lord serving the king and eventually becomes one of Vash's knights, who complains about babysitting the prince.

Meryl is a ward of Roberto's, and holds herself to high standards, yet isn't afraid to disobey her lords orders if she thinks they are counter productive.

Milly is much like Bren of Tarth, she wants to be independent and help her father (roberto in this AU) protect their House. Is very loyal, as Meryl would back up, a bit of a clutz but great with a sword.

Elendira in this AU would be Knives first child with a woman he is betrothed to. He hates the idea of an arranged marriage, but being the next heir to the throne he doesn't have much of a say unlike his brother. His first wife will mysterious vanish, never to heard of again once Knives officially becomes king.

Con'rad is the kings and Knives chief advisor aka Hand of the King and Maester.

Legato would be Knives Chief of War.

Livio is Wolfwoods ward aka bastard brother who ends up serving at the Wall by his own tuition.

Plot:

Now I do have a plot that I'm going with this, most likely if I am going to make this it will be a full fledged fanfixtion with chapters and lore and all that kind of backstory with GOT terms, languages, etc as this is based in said universe just without GOT Canon characters and of course a different story line.

I am considering whether I want my own personal Trigun OC in this, this AU is still in the planning stage so I'll be tossing up whether storylines will suit it and how they'd go without them.

On another note, I have two trigun x reader stories in my drafts and I plan on publishing one or the other this weekend if not both.

I'd love feedback on this au as it's in the planning stage, so again feel free to comment or dm me in regards to ideas and I'll keep you all posted on chapters and updates for this AU and where I'll be posting once I do get it in motion.

Thank you all for your patience, love you all 💜

[jomadis]

Are you planning to make any Paradise content in the future? It sounds silly but I adore those characters so much, I’ve been watching the animation memes and reading their lore since… wow, 2018?? I hope they make a comeback soon, especially Huru (I found what you told of his backstory very interesting!)

HIT WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME ONCE AGAIN 2018 AAAAA

My optimistic answer is that I would absolutely love to do more with them!! I'm glad you liked them all the way back then too, I had a lot of fun with Paradise and they really mean a lot to me!! I think my problem now is that I would be hit with the urge to rewrite everything, and with how many things I have on my plate idk how feasible that is (just graduated / moved back home, job hunting, part of a d&d campaign with my friends, /writing/ a campaign for said friends so that my bf doesn't have to be the forever dm smh, and trying to do commissions as often as I can, PLUS trying to relax sometimes and spend time with family-- they all really add up).

And originally I had thought about doing a comic for Paradise, but I have always struggled immensely with them for whatever reason. I recently started up a clangen blog where I do little comics in an attempt to get more comfortable with the format, so maybe that will help! I always felt bad doing random animation memes and then never really giving a story for y'all, so I feel like maybe a comic would help with that. Who knows!

Sorry thats a wall of text, but basically: I haven't totally abandoned Paradise, and someday I would love to go back to them. And thank you for your kind words!!! They hold a special place in my heart as well ;W; <33

[ko11ok]

Just wanna say ty for being some of the chosen Kollok people that carried the hashtag and are still around

hahaha yeah ofc!!

honestly i still need to like. actually finish series 2 (cannot call it kollok because kollok 1991 is always just kollok in my heart) i got maybe three episodes in because personally I wasn't enjoying the direction they went with it. i think it would've been better as an independent series, it just didn't have the heart and soul kollok 1991 had.

okay. i was like. i don't need to go on a rant....but i want to >:)

one of the things I liked about kollok 1991 was how messy it was, it was messy and fun and dark at the same time, there was a lot of cool stuff about it, and it felt like watching someone's beloved homegame with their unhinged dm, where not everything got wrapped up neatly and you never quite knew what was going to happen next.

the second series felt to clean to me, everything was put together, very streamline, very neat. it didn't have the edges or the humor 1991 had that was integral to [of course], my personal enjoyment of it. i feel like the ascended in general felt flat to me as well, like they were trying so hard to get us invested and interested in them that they wrapped back around to myself feeling like i didn't know them at all.

i think they tried really hard to do a little bit of everything, trying to let old fans see the legacy cast and their story, bring in a new audience with the ascended and the new story. it just all felt like? too much? like by catering to everyone and anyone they catered to no one. I remember zac saying that he wanted the second series to be something that anyone who'd never heard of kollok before could pick up and start watching, but to me that was so incredibly flawed. 1991 by its nature is a complex story, even if you created something new in the universe, the deeper lore and characters are still there, especially with how it was written.

my only pet peeve with zac's gaming style is that it's clear he almost always bites off more than he can chew, and when he needs to reconcile what he's bitten off, he almost always just spits it out (retcons) rather than just tries to swallow it (improvise, shift). he has extremely rich backstories and background written, and he likes to drop hints and ideas, but he never reveals any answers that are truly satisfying. (which maybe I missed because i didn't watch the second series). he likes to tease his audience, but never truly satisfy, in my opinion the most satisfying moments almost always came from the players.

imo legacy and the ascended should've been two different shows. they could've had the same format, they even could've existed in the same universe! [BIG BIG, "this is coming from someone who watched only like the first few episodes"], they could've just broken them up into separate shows at separate times. they could've given the old fans a satisfying ending, and given the new fans something to chew on with the ascended.

in my like. dream scenario, legacy's timeline instead takes place in 2002. (i've mentioned how i think a "kollok 2002" would be really cool, another palindrome year, most of the cast would be 11 years older, and in their late twenties/early thirties) they could still have mallory having gone into the black rock, tibby wracked with guilt, and the others sort of far flung. i think they could've pulled the same stuff and gotten a good result!! they could've even kept the timeline!! the ascended would rebel shortly after, the could've even done a series about that, which would've felt very similar, and ended where the show eventually got to, with the disillusioned ascended trying to figure out what the fuck they were going to do

idk! just my ten cents on it. sorry for taking your message and doing a lil rant lmao hope you don't mind

maybe i should do a sweet kollok rewatch in the future soon....like 1991 is pretty long but maybe i could swing it again >:)

[s0lar-ch3ri]

tell me all about dnd character(s) please i am begging

OMG OMG OMG OMG OKAY OKAY OKAY!!!!! HAGVJDFD GLADLY I WILL

I GOT A COUPLE SO LETS GET INTO THIS:

ohevet: first ever character! uses she/they i think (and if they didnt, they do now! update: JUST REMEMBERED, IT WAS HE/HIM FOR A CIS WOMAN! THROW OUT THE OTHER IDEA SORRY) and also my first aroace character. his name is a joke with that honestly, as ohevet is hebrew for love. i lost the stat sheet a bit back BUT im working on rewriting the stats so i can make an actual character of him! his backstory is kinda silly and i dont really remember it rn so ill also be redoing that shit for sure, but i do know one thing, he's cursed. with this marking on his face, hes able to get "Stackable Concussions" (which me and my dms came up with stat affection ideas but i do also wanna make my own for funzies, and i doubt either would mind if you also wanted to lol). by the end of the campaign, he had been like the only one to not try to seduce someone (my friend had gotten a nat 20 to seduce "mommy nature" so theres that) and had a stack of 10 concussions. how he was still standing is beyond me. did i fall for him? abso-fucking-lutely, i made him hot and wanted him carnially and yet hes aroace so what can my gay ass do? (fun fact: one of my dms is my now girlfriend!) btw before i forget, mountain dwarf fighter, and had a lizard he took off the floor rather then pay for a pet, one of the players had its brother/cousin.

ivy: meant to be an npc for my campaign (which btw ill gladly talk about BUT MY PLAYERS CANNOT SEE THIS LOL ARCADIAN AND GAYWITCHNERD SKIP TO THE SECOND PARAGRAPH ON IVY), but a played character in my friend's (arcadian) campaign (arcadian was the one to try and seduce "mommy nature" btw). speaking of npc, the played character and npc have different stories, so we going with npcs rn! ivy (she/they/star pronouns lol) was meant to be a royal guard who did training and learning in the forests, but im thinking of making her a shop owner (eh, probs for out of dnd oc shit). while in the forest, she sorta fell for a nymph there which looks a lot like one of my players characters (agreed romance thing lol). while in town, i plan for her to sorta like fall for said player after bumping into them and shit. that being said, love wont be her only motivation! i do have some plot ideas i need to think up, but im pretty ready to connect shit in. also shes gonna have a dog familiar (my dog) just to involve her somehow lol. oh yeah she slso has gay moms

NOW WE TALK HER AS A PLAYED CHARACTER! in arcadians campaign, shes a half-elf druid like before, but her lesbian parents arent really too existant. (hey gaywitchnerd, i dont mind you reading this, but your character wouldnt know this info) due to issues with her planet, ivy has had her set of challenges, and is looking for strength in knowledge (literally). back home, theres some fucking secret thing there for some deity. on this route, its a pursuit of learning what the deity is. (another idea i had was that the swamp she once lived in is commonly disregarded, and due to anxiety she worried about it being forgotten and shit happening to it so she went looking for power to protect it) there are religions based around it, but ivy isnt exactly religous but still learning as much as she can about it. (fun fact for this one, but its related to the oc: i was planning for her to have BPD, but i wasnt sure how to play one so as a non-dnd character im gonna find ways to incorperate it, also she likes one of the pcs and an npc, the pc is my gfs one but i doubt they realise it lol)

hunter: like all my characters, i go into it with a basis, something i build around for them (ivy is an acception, she was just gonna be an npc), and hunters no different. since the campaign features 3-4 tabaxis (cant remember for sure), an undead, and other various magical people, i wanted to be just a regular guy, which i am! human fighter guy and all that, pretty normal (most extraordinary thing is that hes a magician)...except humans arent fucking normal here because its a tabaxi village. i fucking love that i didnt know this btw! CAUSE I DID NOT, NOR DID MY FRIENDS REALIZE. the story with this guy that i got is he was a traveling performer, one who used this bow tie made special by his fiancé, which works like the bandana chip uses. this however, got taken while traveling, and hes not willing to preform at a show or anything until he gets it back. for the tabaxi village hes disguised as a cat and his whip is his cat tail (this is to make up for the fact that im not a tabaxi with them all lol)! fun fact for him now: his original design was meant to look feminine and masculine to encapsulate my bigenderness in a character ("the most magical thing about them is their gender!"), but ended up feeling too extra for the "just a guy" vibe and got a total redesign lol (he/him cishet man btw, gonna be fun to try <- bigender afab)

techic: my newest campaign character (who i get to play again in 5 minutes, but by the time i finish writing this, we may have started already lol)! a genderfluid tiefling warlock, who worked as a cashier at a 8/12 before shit went down (its an apocalypse campaign). (update, it did actually, writing while we wait for players to arrive) the funny idea with this one? "what if they made a deal for surgery and just got more out of it?". not much on them rn so fun fact time! their mom is a pc (played by arcadian) and currently being locked in a closet cause they ate their zombified partner!

[rikichie]

how about 10 and 22 for the fic writer asks?

For this ask game.

10. What fic made you feel the happiest to work on?

Trickling kisses. It came together in a way that felt like so much fun. I just... threw it into a friend's dms and barely needed to edit it after to post it.

Other than that, Kaleidoscope. I have so many feelings about young Viktor and the lingering impact that life in the spotlights will have on him. It was so much fun to put it down in a fic.

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene.

Fhsjsgfhs I tried to find a specific one in a WIP but instead ended up doing little edits to a bunch of WIPs.

But from posted fics, from Kaleidoscope (this is later in the fic so, spoiler warning I guess? if it even applies to domestic oneshots):

"Vitya." From this distance, Yuuri can see individual sparkly specks on Viktor's skin like pixie dust. He feels lightheaded. "Why... Why didn't you do this before?" "Ah." Slowly, Viktor's smile melts away. "Well." "Oh, no. Sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" "No, it's fine. It's nothing... traumatic." Viktor gives Yuuri another little kiss and pulls away. "Hmm. I think I was... fifteen? Sixteen? I can't remember exactly." "Something happened?" Yuuri asks, placing a hand on Viktor's. "Like I said, it was nothing big," Viktor says but turns his hand to lace their fingers together. "I can't even remember what it was that made me realize..." "Realize what?" "Okay." Viktor licks his lips and shifts his legs to face Yuuri more comfortably. "A rising star. Skating and making it look like magic. Hardworking, talented, beautiful, charming," he lists off easily, simple facts. "I was popular, and at first, I didn't see any downsides. I don't..." he pauses, frowning, then sighs. "I really can't remember what it was, but something made me realize that to those who don't know me, the smallest things can become the essence of who I am as a person. And I have no control over that. They won't listen to me about what's important and what's not. So if I don't want something to become too big... They can't know. At all." "Oh." All the responses Yuuri can think of are superficial. He could say that it doesn't matter what strangers think, but even if he could talk to the boy Viktor was, would this help the fragile self esteem of a teenager living under spotlights? "Finding out who I am," Viktor says, "had to happen at home." "Alone," Yuuri adds. "In private." As if it's shameful. Viktor smiles at him briefly, thankful. "With no one else to see... It didn't feel very real." ...

This is the first time I touched on some of the trauma backstory I imagine for Viktor, and I'm happy with it. I want to write more about it.

[savior-of-humanity]

Ouougrghhh yeah um. Sorry for being basically dead here lately 😭 I've basically had zero energy for writing on tumblr lately + my energy has basically been reserved for niche discord rp servers (Godzilla/Evangelion crossovers my beloved) and video games. I might also drop most, if not all, of my threads/owed replies in the inbox but idk if or when I'm gonna do that. If yall ever wanna reach out to me for w/e reason, your always welcome to hit up my DMs on here or discord!!! You can find me @ sharklordsatan on discord

Anyways. I'm gonna drop some Hot New Lore™ under the read-more for my argonian character (Swift-With-Arrows) since I decided I didn't really like how ""plain"" her backstory was

SURPRISE BITCH YOU ALSO GET SOME ART OF HER TOO!!!! Okay anyways. For context, originally Swift's backstory was pretty generic - she grew up in Black Marsh, before setting out to explore the world (definitely visiting at least Cyrodiil + Morrowind) at around 19 - 20 before she'd end up in Skyrim.

Now, the current iteration of her backstory goes something like this;

Somewhere on Solstheim, there's a remnant of the old Dragon Cult. They once were part of the cult for Miraak, but became disillusioned with him (given that he was, y'know, stuck in Apocrypha) and fucked off to return to their dragon-worshipping ways.

However, they would latch on to the idea of a Dragonborn being subservient to the will of their dragon overlords, much like how Miraak himself had once been. So obviously they set off to go actually find a Dragonborn - which. Isn't an easy thing to pull off, given their rarity. I don't know how long it would take them (let alone how they do it - maybe something involving Daedra?) but eventually, finally, they find what they're looking for. A child, born of dragon blood, deep within the swamps of Black Marsh.

I also don't have many solid ideas on how she ends up in the custody of the cult in the first place, but either way, she's ultimately taken back to Solstheim and raised by the cult directly.

Her being taken from her homeland is a tragedy in of itself - it means that she's ultimately denied her birth-right to be raised by her people. To learn their culture, to live with her family, and ultimately to develop her connection with the Hist. Her being separated from Black Marsh at such a young age means that she is estranged from the Hist, further alienating her from her fellow Argonians.

It doesn't help that the cult actively indoctrinates her on her future role as Dragonborn; to them, she is to act as the ultimate servant to their dragon gods. The embodiment of their will, the perfect tool, the perfect slave - belonging to no-one but Alduin himself. It's not a great environment to grow up in, as you can imagine - especially as they at some point forcibly tattoo their given name for her, Dovriizaak, along her spine in Dovahzul.

Eventually, though, she escapes their clutches - fleeing into Morrowind, where she proceeds to head west so that she can get as far from Solstheim as possible. For a good while, she goes without any name whatsoever; the thought of being called her cult-given name (or her fated name as the priests called it), let alone the memory of the cult at all, was enough to make her sick to her stomach. Eventually, though, she would decide to give herself a name; Swift-With-Arrows. (Fun fact; this is the name the Hist would've given her had she still grown up in Black Marsh. So you could probably say that despite the circumstances of her childhood, she still has a connection.)

Finally, she crosses the border into Skyrim - only to be caught up in the middle of an Imperial ambush, leading into the events of the storyline. She never figured that she actually was Dragonborn despite the cult treating her as such, so to not only have Alduin himself come down from the sky and try to kill her at Helgen, and then later face Mirmulnir at the Whiterun tower and absorb his soul...

Yeah. She doesn't take it well.