#I haven’t even really played my own campaign in a while

[renn-aissance]

Mom Plays BG3: Ep.6 - “It’s a Woof.”

It’s been a while! Work/School/Life… yeah.

Anyway! It’s a long one today, boys.

(So a little recap of what’s kinda going on with her character! She’s been going back and forth between the Goblin Camp and the Blighted Village. So, she went and talked to Priestess Gut, but when she tried to kill her in her office an entire fight broke out so she got overwhelmed and reloaded lol. So instead she explored more, killed Minthy, talked to Halsin, and used the Waypoint to get back to the village.)

Rundown:

Shart had mentioned Shar and my mom was like “I don’t have anything against Shar worshippers if that’s what you were afraid of.”

After that she asked me if Shar was evil.

Me: “Well… I mean I guess that kind of depends on how you see her? I guess? She’s like a goddess of pain and darkness.”

Mom: “Well that doesn’t sound good. Why does she follow her?”

Me: “You told her you were cool with it.”

Mom: “I was ignorant.”

I had been WAITING for her to go to the well and she finally clicked on it.

Sees she gets an advantage as a ranger on a nature check.

Mom: “I’m a ranger! I’ve got this! Oh god please let me got this…”

Me: *starts laughing when she chooses an intelligence check to investigate.*

Mom: “WHAT. My -1 intelligence!?”

Goes down the rope

PISSES ME OFF BECAUSE SHE TOTALLY ANNIHILATED ALL OF THE FUCKING SPIDERS WHEN IT TOOK ME SO MANY RELOADS THE FIRST TIME. AND NOT ONLY THAT- THE BIG ASS SPIDER DIDN’T EVEN HATCH THE BABY ONES!!

Then Lae’zel wants to talk 🙂

This is where I’m like “okay she’s gonna be like ‘what the hell kinda games are you playing.’”

Lae’zel: “I want to taste you.”

Mom: “Uh… okay.” (Clicks no thanks.)

Queen of gently letting someone down.

Whenever the characters climb onto crates she’s like “PARKOUR!”

Clicked on a body with money.

Mom: “Yayyy! I haven’t seen money in a while.”

Me: “Same.”

She went to the windmill, guys. I was so fucking excited.

Also she keeps using the brain worm even though she doesn’t trust it lol

Went to save Barcus and was looking around the windmill. I made her do a save real quick when I saw her heading to the levers.

LAUNCHES BARCUS INTO THE FUCKING SUN.

Mom: (First, horror. Then, losing her mind) “I guess I wound up teaching him how to fly better than that other guy.”

Mom: (reloads lol)

Goes back to the Goblin Camp and talks to those goblin kids. They tell her to kick the corpse and she cracks up that she has the option to. She kicks the corpse.

Talks to Crusher and tells him he should kiss her feet. She has ZERO charisma btw. And she needs to roll a 15.

Mom: (Weighing her options.)

Me: “You don’t have any rizz.”

Mom: “I know… I GOTTA DO IT!”

ROLLS A 16

Mom: “YEAAAH!”

Crusher kisses her feet.

Mom: “He didn’t even let me take off my shoes first.”

All of the goblins just like “ew Crusher licked toes!”

She explores some more and kind of makes a circle back to where she started.

Mom: “Oh yeah, I remember this. Yeah, they’re all really mean and they’re drunk.”

She ends up going back inside and killing Gut and those goblins. She picks up the tadpole and has that option to resist it and does resist it because she still doesn’t trust the Dream Visitor.

Astarion tells her that he would be more than happy to take it off her hands.

Mom: (turns to me, whispering like he can hear her) “You know I actually wouldn’t mind if he took it.”

IT HAPPENED. ASTARION TRIED TO BITE HER IN HER SLEEP.

Astarion: “Shit.”

Mom: *Laughing like crazy. Chooses the options that are like ‘why did you lie to me, I can’t believe it. Ultimately lets him drink from her. Stops him after the first round.*

Astarion: (FERAL) “That was amazing… [blah blah blah] I thought you might turn up with torches and pitchforks… though it looks like there might still be time.”

Shadowheart: “So he’s a vampire? I should have known judging from his pallor.”

Mom: “Did you not see his fangs this whole time?”

Goes to talk to Astarion after.

Mom: “Tell me about your history.”

Astarion: “Why do you insist on exhuming the past!?”

Mom: “Hey. Take it easy.”

After leaving camp, Shart has something to say.

Shart: “There’s… something that I would like to share with you…”

Mom: “What’s with all these secrets?!”

Shart: “I want to show you something.”

Mom: “I don’t like using the parasite.” (Still let’s Sharty bae into her brain.)

It’s the memory of Shart in the woods and she sees a wolf. We had just finished watching New Girl.

Mom:

Mom: “Her hair… was this her in her anime phase?”

She goes back to the Goblin Camp to take out Dror Ragzlin. She got a little stressed out during that fight lol.

Mom: (clicks on Gale’s quaterstaff) “Will this DO anything?? I don’t know, this guy’s pretty weak.”

Mom: “HOW DO YOU MISS! YOU’RE SO CLOSE!”

Me: “I mean… it tells you when you’re too close-“

Mom: “But why do I have a disadvantage? I CAN SEE HIM.”

(Enemy goes after Wyll)

Mom: “Get away from him!”

Me: “Yeah! Get away from her boyfriend!”

Mom: “YEAH!”

She beat all of them and then went to the prison to talk to Halsin. She passes by a rat.

Mom: “A rat! Astarion, your friend!”

Me: 😀

All in all was a pretty good chunk of playtime. For one of the play throughs we didn’t even set a timer and played til like midnight. She comes over and she’s like “are we gonna play tonight :D” and bought hot Cheetos because, and I quote, “we’re gamers.”

Oh, also she met Auntie Ethel, idr if I mentioned that before, but she hasn’t gone to save Mayrina yet. She started that quest but after Ethel went into her little cave my mom went straight back to the Goblin camp. Her reaction to Ethel’s real form was “ew.”

[wandering-trader-joes]

So idk if this is a hot take or not, but I liked the end of TLOVM Season 3.

(More under the cut? Is that what they say?)

TL;DR: this version of Bard’s Lament fixed a problem I had with the original campaign, I think all the wrap up at the end was probably done as well as it could’ve been, and the way it ends with a tenuous semi-resolution is in-keeping with the way that it played out in game, albeit in a more condensed format.

———

The main thing I’ve seen people talking about is the lack of Bard’s Lament (kinda), and I was upset about that idea at first too. But honestly, I think this change does a lot of justice specifically to the relationship between Scanlan and Pike.

A lot of what happened in Bard’s Lament was due to the fact that nobody noticed that Scanlan was struggling, and that’s all well and good except for the fact that Pike absolutely would have.

The only reason she didn’t was because Ashley Johnson herself wasn’t able to be there. Idk about anyone else, but that narrative gap due to “meta interference” has always bothered me. I kind of love that they were able to rectify that in the show, and give us the way that Bard’s Lament likely would have gone if real life didn’t get in the way.

We finally get to see how it would have went down if Pike didn’t have such a Blind Spot, and I love that for her.

———

I’ve also seen people talking about how the ending felt lackluster, and I can see where they’re coming from, but I personally disagree.

I was a little anxious at the start of episode 10 when they started to split up to do a bunch of the previously group-based activities, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that, aside from not getting the group kill on Ripley, it didn’t bother me that much (and we still got the “one arrow in her heart and another in her mouth while she screams”, which makes me happy).

Especially because it gave time to see more of the twins on their own (which I will always take more of) and let Keyleth do her Earth Ashari stuff, which we didn’t even get in the original show as it happened pre-stream (but would’ve felt weird to leave out here given that they haven’t established that). And we finally got EarthElemental!Keyleth. It’s Key-teor time!

It also put her Aramente into more of a focus in her life, which needed to happen at some point anyway. And they still got to be together (kinda) for the final showdown against Raishan, so the conclusion was still there.

———

In the campaign, they had this weird kind of limbo period (the part with Tary) before the year-long gap where they were sort of just tying up loose ends. That felt fine as a game, but would’ve been super clunky on TV. So I’m glad that they found other ways to get the group to the point where it felt like going their own ways for a while was okay and also necessary (though I do wish we had gotten more of the twins struggling with the idea of being away from each other). I just really needed Vax to get his year in Zephrah!

All that being said, I am a little sad that we probably won’t get Tary in the show.

———

The vibe that I always got with the Vecna arc was that the group was pretty much ready to settle into their non-adventuring lives before they had to stop the end of the world again (aside from Scanlan stuff, but I already talked about that). In order for that to be the case, they need to have a period of time where it kind of feels like everything is wrapped up and happy. In my opinion, they were quite successful in this regard, which is impressive given how they were able to get there in only 3 episodes.

Idk I’ve just been wondering for a while about how the were going to navigate this part of the campaign, and I’m quite pleased with how they managed it. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but I feel as content with it as I do with all the other changes they’ve made whilst adapting to a different medium.

———

… also I’ve been wanting to gush over one tiny detail. I love the way that Vax’s interaction with Orthax went. Not only because of how it finally established him and Percy as brothers, but it’s also a cool way to loop in his multi-classing. Orthax specifically talks about Vax giving in to vengeance, and in the campaign he becomes a VENGEANCE Paladin! I thought it was a really fun way to kind of hint at that shift without needing to get into the dnd of it all :)

[elliewithcellie]

The Taste of the Divine

summary: reader introduces eddie to Sleep Token's The Summoning (iykyk)

wc: 0.9k

cw: modern!eddie x fem!reader, I'm gonna say 18+ smut adjacent by the end. Its very suggestive lol, reader is called baby a lot, eddie calls reader good girl because it's one of the lyrics, Eddie POV

a/n: the way I revisited this song today and was like eddie should hear this then RAN to my computer to put pen to paper. It was like a fever dream, honestly

Eddie scribbled away in his notebook on the floor of the living room. The TV chattered on. The white noise was useful to him when creating the twists and turns of his campaign. While planning feverishly, it was peaceful to him, something he hadn’t done as often as he would have liked since working full time. He became so lost in his fantasy, he didn’t notice you entering the room.

“Eddie?”

He flinched at the sound of your voice. “Baby, you scared me.” He laughed.

“Eddie, you have to hear this band.” Your tone was insistent. “They’re so metal, I know you’ll love it.”

Eddie chuckled at your seriousness. “Like, metal metal?”

“Yes! I mean, I think so! Come on. I’ll play this one song for you. It’s, like, insane.” You squatted down and started pulling his arm up with you.

“Ok! Ok, I’m coming!” Eddie scrambled up from the floor, trying to gather his bearings, as he fought to catch up with the arm trapped in your hold.

You all but dragged him to your shared bedroom. You jumped into bed, patting the spot next to you. Eddie gladly accepted. He watched as you placed your laptop between the two of you. You typed The Summoning into the search bar.

“Have you heard of Sleep Token before?” you asked.

“No, I haven’t,” Eddie said.

“I really think you’ll like them,” you said, your voice soft.

“I believe you, baby.” Eddie placed his hand on your thigh, rubbing small circles with his thumb.

You nodded and clicked play.

The song began with drums and a guitar right up his alley. Instinctually, he found himself nodding his head to the beat. He loved the blend of the singer’s voice with the instruments, all working together in harmony. The scream caught him off guard.

“Oh, that’s metal, baby. For sure,” Eddie turned to you with a grin exposing his excitement. Your eyes stayed on him like you didn’t want to miss a single reaction.

He returned his attention to the screen following along with the lyrics and the rhythm. The guitar solos left his mind wandering, piecing together the technicality, the specific fingerings. He wondered how quickly he could learn this on his own. He smiled to himself. He loved how well you knew him. Even as simple as a song recommendation, he couldn’t help but fall deeper for you, especially when this type of music wasn’t quite your usual genre of choice.

The music began to fade out, and Eddie’s smile grew bigger. “That was really good.”

“It’s not over yet,” you replied, your eyes glued to the screen. “Just wait.”

His eyebrows scrunched together but sat back to listen, you now in his line of sight.

The new soft music juxtaposed what came before, quiet and mysterious. The music swelled, building louder and louder, anticipation gathering in his lungs. He watched you in intrigue and awe as you leaned forward, the anticipation seemingly getting to you, too.

“Oh, and my love Did I mistake you for a sign from God”

The groove shook him to his core. He had never heard anything like it, certainly not in a metal song. It transcended the genre to a new plane. He didn’t want to be dramatic, but this song was changing everything he knew metal could be.

“Or maybe just to turn me on”

Your breathing hitched, stirring Eddie from his musings. You continued staring at the screen, no longer looking to Eddie for approval. He got the sense that this song wasn’t just for him anymore.

“I would be lying if I told you that I didn't wish that I could be your man Or maybe make a good girl bad”

He watched as a sigh escaped your lips. Your breathing slowed and your cheeks flushed a light shade of pink.

“I’ve got a river running right into you I’ve got a blood trail, red in the blue Something you say or something you do The taste of the divine”

You clutched the comforter. You watched the screen, your pupils dilating with every word spoken. It was a look that was all too familiar to Eddie. A look you gave when the tension between you was too much to bear. A look you only gave him.

He felt heat rise to his cheeks.

“You've got my body, flesh, and bone The sky above, the Earth below Nothing to say and nowhere to go The taste of the divine”

As the song ended, you released the breath you didn’t know you were holding in. “What’d you think?”

Now Eddie was the one staring. “I can’t decide if I should be jealous of them—”

“Jealous?” you asked incredulously. “Corroded Coffin—”

“—for riling up my girlfriend right in front of me,”

Your cheeks rouged, your eyes drifting from his.

He leaned forward, closing the space between you. “or if I should be proud” –Eddie tilted your chin to face him, his lips hovering over yours— “that you got so turned on by a metal song.”

“I—I, I thought you would like it.”

“Oh, I did, baby. I did.” He chuckled. “But my good girl was thinking bad thoughts, wasn’t she?”

A chill ran down your spine.

“You’ve got my body, flesh, and bone, baby,” Eddie said, brushing his lips against your ear. “Now, let me take care of you like the heaven-send you are.”

[sugarcoatednightshade]

I haven’t thought of Lily Orchard in years, but she just made a video on dungeon meshi and I wanted to hear what she had to say. I couldn’t even finish it.

It’s clear she hates anime as a genre and is pissed about having to review something she didn’t want to watch, and that anger permeates the whole* review. On top of that, it’s so fucking disingenuous to review a show that’s not even halfway over and then claim it’s thematically disjointed - like 1. Of course it’ll seem that way if you’ve only seen the first quarter of a piece of work, we’re still in the setting up stage, these themes haven’t had time to fully commingle and resolve and 2. Even considering that, dungeon meshi does actually know what it is/where it’s going, and at this point it’s fairly obvious how all the themes/mixed genera’s are gonna fit together.**

*to be fair, I haven’t seen the entire review, so maybe she calms down partway through. I don’t make a habit of watching things I know will upset me, and watching someone make bad faith criticism of something I like would literally ruin my week

Post chapter 65 spoilers below:

**Granted, cookings prominence in the show, while cute*** on its own, didn’t really seem plot relevant to me until around chapter 65 when it was revealed that in order to save falin they would have to eat her dragon half. Y’all, I went fucking feral over that reveal.

***cute meaning: it’s used mostly for worldbuilding at first. That’s really cool if you’re into it, and an integral part of the story ryoko kui is telling, but not technically necessary in every story. There are plenty of storys who spend needless time expositing about the world instead of focusing on the interesting bits, and if you’re only a quarter of the way into DM, I can see how you might think that this is one of those cases.

But obviously, as time passes, the worldbuilding aspects become more important, because the entire show is about worldbuilding. Or more accurately, it’s a deconstruction of the fantasy genera. It spends time setting up familiar tropes and then examines how those tropes would actually play out in a realistic world, setting up and then questioning our expectations for the world in a really nuanced way.

My favorite example of this is how dungeon meshi treats dark/ancient magic.

1. The words ‘dark magic’ and ‘dark elf’ have negative but vague connotations in traditional fantasy. “The thing is bad because it is bad.” It’s a fact we’re primed to believe, but shallow and easy to question

2. We learn that marcille uses dark magic, but that she’s using it for good. “Actually dark magic is forbidden because the people in power were afraid of The Plebs and want to restrict the populaces access to knowledge” is also a common fantasy trope.

3. As we learn more about dungeons and how they intertwine with dark magic, we learn that it does truly have the power to end the world. Not by itself, but because the dimension it pulls power from is populated by beings who would use that bridge of power to enter our world and cause havoc. Holy shit, we think, black magic is actually dangerous and was banned for a reason. Naming it ‘black’ was part of a smear campaign intended to save the public by dissuading them from using it

4. And then we learn that the so called catastrophe scenario has never happened, no demon has ever escaped a dungeon and successfully ended the world. Is this because of the work of the Canaries and ppl like them, or are demons perhaps not as much of a threat as they are made out to be?

And it’s great because there is no one correct answer. We learn things through the characters, whose perspectives are limited and realistic and based on their own life experience. Nobody knows the whole story, and neither do we.

[worfs-glorious-hair]

Baldur’s Gate 3 Tav Ask List

I was tagged by @optimisticgrey – thank you so very much! List made by @euryalex

@wee-chlo @circle-of-the-sage @inglorionamy-ammy @foxtatodreams @galeslovesickcleric24 @skelvron-keiman @lostintheweave @nerissa-dekarios do you want to introduce your Tav(s), too? :) But don’t feel pressured to do anything of course! And please tell me should you not want to be tagged in games like this. And please also tell me if you enjoy being tagged in such games!

Anyone else who is now reading this please consider yourself tagged to join in the fun if you are looking for a reason to talk as unhinged as possible about your Tav(s)! ILY 💜 And please tag me if you do, I love reading about Tavs!

Welcome to my Multi-Taverse hehe ^^

This is Tav (Human, they/them), actually called ‘Tav’ in game, and there are currently three of them. I count them with Roman numerals in order of their creation and they share a face, voice, hairstyle and makeup. Their stories are deeply interwoven (I mean it when I say I created a multiverse), especially Tav (i)’s and Tav (ii)’s while Tav (iii)’s story is the one that has not as many ties to their predecessors and is currently on the road with a worm in their head and a thousand decisions ahead of them. But more about it all very soon.

So this is why I will answer the questions for both, Tav (i) and Tav (ii), I will show you the paths of their lives, how it’s the same and yet fundamentally different from each other. I will occasionally include Tav (iii) if I consider something about them worth mentioning here (usually in contrast to the two other Tavs) now even though they haven’t finished their journey yet… Enjoy! <3

Origin & Class

1. What is their backstory and why did you choose it?

I honestly didn’t give Tav‘s backstory much thought when I first made them as my play character. I knew that I wanted to create a character I could see myself in so their face was more important to me than a backstory that would be irrelevant to the plot and my experience of the game. I wanted a character that I could project myself onto, an extension of myself in the world of Baldur’s Gate 3.

I chose ‚Folk Hero‘ as their background, because I mostly saw Tav helping people, supporting them, keeping nature in balance and trying to be a light in the darkness of the world. Trying to bring, spread and support hope and kindness.

But in the time that followed did I think about Tav’s backstory more as I needed it for OSs or HCs. It grew a little and not so surprisingly is most of it based on my own life. But still, and most importantly, does their backstory not really matter much, generally speaking was it all quite simple, even plain for Tav, and their life began, for better or worse (may you be the judge of that), when they woke up on board of a mindflayer nautiloid. Ironic in a way. Considering what was to follow.

2. What is their class (+ subclass) and why did you choose it?

Druid (Circle of the land)

When I watched the DnD movie (Honor among thieves) someday last year was I really liking the dynamics of the druid character there and thought that it would be a lot of fun to play a druid myself in a DnD campaign some day. A real-life campaign for a druid didn’t happen yet but Baldur‘s Gate 3 found its way into my life instead a few months later. And when I thought about what class I should play in it reminded me my sister of my interest in druids as a class and I took the chance to try it out. And I am in love now. I love everything about being a druid in this game, especially how deeply connected they are to the whole plot of the game.

Tav (iii) is a paladin (oath of devotion)/ druid – I played both other Tavs basically as a paladin at heart and in spirit and it was about time I actually committed to the piece and experience the beauties of righteousness, unwavering faith, principles and divine smite for myself :) Tav (i)’s favourite heavy armor they wore for the majority of act 3 was technically a paladin armour that I plan to get again for Tav (iii). I chose the oath of devotion for Tav because this is what they are, devoted. Devoted to fighting and keeping the balance of life and death and nature, devoted to the protecting others and devoted to Gale. So devoted that they were willing to take every step of this journey again to protect him from himself, to keep him from his ambitions in another life and to have him with them for the rest of their mortal lives. (See 4 for more about that.) If I were to choose one word for Tav it is devotion. So this is what they swore on.

3. Do they multiclass? Why (not)?

No. I played both Tavs in Explorer Mode, where multi-classing is not possible.

But I am multi-classing with Tav (iii), I am finally playing in the Balanced Mode.

I kept the druid in because it is who Tav is (I need it for the plot and roleplay reasons) and I would miss it too much if I didn’t had it. Also I need to be able to cast my own guidance and to speak with animals whenever I like. And I want to be able to heal even more. I miss the wildshaping terribly, tho. But I keep the druid at Level 1. If I want to experience new aspects of the game (which I want to) can I not do and be what and who I’ve always been in this game. I am currently enjoying just hitting things with my bigass sword. :)

4. Is there a reason why your Tav starts out as Level 1?

The tadpole simply suppress the progress Tav (i) has made before in their work as a druid. I imagine that they were on Level 4 when they were abducted. They were/ are talented but not a genius, so they were slowly building experience and improving their abilities.

And for Tav (ii), well, their whole existence is directly tied to a certain someone who decided to leave Tav (i) behind after the fight of their lives to become a god. The part of Tav (i) who was unable to move on from the docks where Gale had left them behind without a word of love or just even a goodbye got offered someday to go back and get a second chance at the journey they just survived. But they would be stripped naked from their powers, their grown magic and abilities, any equipment or gear they acquired throughout their journey and would be without the loyalty and love from their friends and allies. Tav would wake up onboard the Nautiloid, weak, alone and again with a tadpole in their brain. They would need to find everything on their own again, gear, supplies, shelter, friends and love.

Every step again, every fight again, probably some more…

And the ghost of Tav (i) agreed, they would do anything to get Gale back into their arms and so they woke up again in a pod on a burning mindflayer as Tav (ii). Can be read here in „To change yesterday’s future“.

5. Does your Tav have family members? Are they close?

Yes, two younger siblings, parents and a big extended family. Tav is the eldest daughter so taking care of people, taking the lead and taking on responsibility is deeply ingrained into their soul. It’s not always for the best of them but at least they make a gentle, determined and strong leader who is able to control even the messiest of groups.

The relationship to their family appears to be good and it’s definitely not necessarily bad but Tav would lie if they said that they actively missed them while they were on the road with these remarkable people they had found along the way.

6. Does your Tav have any friends from their past? Are they still friends?

Yes, kinda. They had fellow Druids that they worked alongside back home in the woods and Tav (ii) also invited some of them to their wedding but they quickly realised that though they enjoyed catching up again were their lives way too different now and they do not necessarily share an active friendship anymore. But there are no hard feelings whatsoever.

And I like to imagine that Tav (i) and (ii) know two of my other Tavs, the twins Sunna (half-orc bard) and Baldur [based on my actual DnD character] (half-orc wizard) from home and both get invited to Tav (ii)’s wedding. Sunna performs and Baldur and Gale talk shop about wizard business. And everyone has a great night.

7. Does your Tav have connections to other characters (l.e.: NPCs)?

Not from before the events of the game. Of course they’ve built connections during their journey.

Tav (iii) is fangirling about Zevlor, they can’t believe that they are actually meeting THE hellrider Paladin in flesh and blood!

8. Where did your character live before the events of the game?

With their circle of druids in the woods outside of Baldur’s Gate towards the coast

9. Does your Tav have a different class/race/origin than in the game? (I.e.: Your Tav is Aasimar, fisherman backstory ...)

No

10. What was your Tav like as a child?

✨The Eldest Daughter™️✨ they never really felt like they ever were a child no, I am not projecting, this would be ridiculous

Prologue

11. What goes through your Tav's head when they wake up on the Nautiloid? Are they scared or do they push those feelings aside to focus on escaping?

Tav (i): Their head feels off, it’s not necessarily hurting but it feels awfully light and at the same time too heavy on their shoulders. They are mostly confused on why and how they came her and they are terrified that one wrong move could wake even worse horrors than this abomination already is. Tav knows they can not stay there so they’ll carefully move forward in hopes to find anything that could help them, a person, a manual, a mechanic, anything. They don’t think, they act. Survival is all that matters.

Tav (ii): Before they return to consciousness are there smells and voices and images in their mind, shards of memories from the other life but it all fades away into oblivion as they fully wake. But they remember, no, they feel that they forgot something important. But they also know that their situation is way too peculiar and potentially really dangerous that they can not stay there and ponder over dream pictures. So they find a way off the ship. Tav (ii) is way more confident than Tav (i) was and is barely scared. Instead Tav (ii) finds that they have an excellent intuition on what awaits them behind the next door. Odd.

12. How does your Tav feel about Us? Did they free them, maim them or leave them behind?

Tav (i) didn’t went up to Us and therefore never found them.

Tav (ii) couldn’t save them, even though they tried, and had to leave their body behind.

13. What was your Tav's first reaction to Lae'Zel?

Tav (i): What a gorgeous woman, no really, she is beautiful! And she knows what she is doing, she might even know more of what is going on here. I am glad that she is with me now, I will do as she says.

Tav (ii) felt not as strongly about her as Tav (i), but was just as glad that she was there to support them on the nautiloid.

14. What was your Tav's first reaction to Shadowheart?

Tav (i) met her the first time on the beach since they did as Lae’zel had told them to on the nautiloid and didn’t touch anything, which made Tav miss Shadowheart in her pod. At the beach was Tav glad to meet another survivor and felt somehow both flattered and offended when Shadowheart told them that they were ‘the first friendly face she saw’ amidst slain mind devourers. Which made Tav slightly afraid of her. Still Tav was grateful for the company, even if it was out of necessity. But soon they wondered if the two of them would ever become true friends.

They did. They became the best of friends and were practically joined by the hip for most parts of their journey.

Tav (ii) only felt relief when they saw Shadowheart in her pod and took it immediately upon themselves to free her, despite Lae’zel’s protests. Tav was glad when Shadowheart was finally free and introduced herself to them, glad about the further company and full of a feeling of safety and security. Tav instinctively knew that Shadowheart belonged on their side and they to hers. There was no question of it.

15. Does your Tav use their Arcana knowledge (Sorcerer) to free Shadowheart or do they use the rune found in the next room?

Tav (ii) used the rune.

16. Does your Tav help the mindflayer against Commander Zhalk or do they run straight to the helm?

Tav (i) tried to help but was knocked out, this was the moment they learned that they had lost their powers.

Tav (ii) ignored the mindflayer and the commander and went straight to the helm while fighting off the creatures that stood in their way.

17. Does your Tav's starting armor reflect them? If not, what would they wear instead?

The druid standard armour fits them well and is what they wore before the abduction.

Though Tav always had a liking for big, pompous armours and really indulged in that passion on their journey. And they would always dye their armours sage green.

18. If you could, would your Tav see any of the other companions? If so, how would they react?

Tav (i) would have been awfully overtaxed if they would have seen more victims (their future companions) because they would have wanted to help but would have probably not known how and would have made things maybe even worse.

All while Tav (ii) would have done anything to find them all before, to save them all sooner. And knowing that Gale was stuck in one of the pods, that they were together on the ship, that they were free to roam and fight while Gale was stuck not only in the pod but would be later stuck in the stone tears them sometimes apart.

19. What's your Tav's personality like at the start of the game? Does it change as the game goes on?

Tav is quick to arrange themselves with the situation they find themselves in and quickly takes on the role of a leader.

They decide to believe in their diplomacy and inherent good heartedness on their journey and just hopes that their powers grow quickly enough to be able to enforce what they are saying if necessary. They need some time to arrange themselves with their missing powers but slowly, especially as they return one by one, are things starting to feel less daunting.

Ironically Tav doesn’t change too much throughout the story of the game, they find that they are able to eventually find a way to deal with everything that is thrown at them and it makes them more confident that they will find the right way for everything that is yet to come.

And they do.

What surprised them, tho, was to fall in love and what insanities they are able to commit in the name of love and how badly it hurt when they lost it all in the end. This is the biggest change for Tav (i), starting as someone who did not even consider love to becoming someone willing to twist the fabric of time and space to get him back. And they don’t want to be a called hero, not if this means that they don’t have Gale in their life. Not if he is gone. They don’t want statues or any honorifics, when the Tav from the beginning enjoyed it very much when they were called and celebrated as a hero. This Tav had died alongside the dream that had been Gale Dekarios. The dream that had been smothered by Gale of Waterdeep’s ambitions.

Tav (ii) was just very obnoxious and insufferable about their love in the end. And very happy.

20. Finally, what does your Tav feel as the Nautiloid crashes? Are they scared? Are they thinking of a way to survive?

While Tav (i) is knocked out and doesn’t even register that they are now crashing is Tav (ii) oddly confident that they won’t die, they don’t understand why this is possible, but they do. The mindflayer that sits next to them and pierces them with it’s orange soulless eyes is highly unsettling, though,

Act 1

21. Which companion do you get first? If you get Shadowheart first no matter what, who's the second one?

Tav (i) got Shadowheart first, then Astarion, then Gale.

Tav (ii) had this odd feeling to ignore the unconscious Shadowheart on the beach and to go instead further down the beach and to fight their way through the nautiloid wreckage towards a path by a cliff. Their feet knew the way through the wreck and towards a destabilising magical portal as if they had taken these steps a thousand times before. And as Tav faced the sigil they knew, somehow they knew that this is it. This is important, this is why they are here. This is why they found themselves trapped on a nautiloid and eventually crashed.

They pulled Gale (whose name they didn’t know at this time anymore) out from it by whispering some gentle words of magic, laced with the kindness of nature in spring, just like a prayer and knew that they just had saved a world. They just didn’t know that it was their own world they had saved.

Tav then got Shadowheart and after her they got Astarion who did try to kill them but Tav didn’t mind, not when Gale dared to incinerate him if he wouldn’t let Tav go. :)

22. What is your Tav's first impression of the other companions (Astarion, Gale, Karlach, Wyll ...)

Astarion

Tav (i): He is dangerous! Why does nature repels around him, why does the wind in the trees whisper to me of death when he is near? Something is off about this man. I have to be very careful around him!

Tav (ii): What a poser! Huh, is he potentially dangerous? My skin crawls, as if I am dealing with a scared lynx. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. He is a scared lynx! He needs a friend!

Gale

It’s you! It’s going to be only you! I love you! [Both]

Wyll

Tav (i): What energy, what drive! And he is beautiful! Have you seen that smile and those kind, beautiful eyes? I feel saver already! If I can someday fight like him this would mean everything!

Tav (ii): Hello! Why do I feel like I know you, why does it feel like a ‘hello again’? I know you, I think. With a different face but the same smile.

Karlach

Tav (i): She is definitely not a devil, Wyll must have made a mistake. This can’t be the woman that he had shown me. This one is just hurt and desperate. And those eyes, eyes that kind can never be cruel.

There is so much pain, she is a victim! Just like us. No, even more than us.

Tav (ii): Oh I am so glad to have you back, this time I will do everything differently, I promise! Wait, why do I think such things, I don’t even know her. Do I? Whatever it is, she needs help, friends and is obviously not a devil. Wyll has to see sense! Also I am with Shadowheart there, she could carry me to safety if necessary…

23. What's their opinion of Emerald Grove? Do they help the tieflings or side with the druids?

Tav supports the tieflings however they can but they tried to talk reason into the druids, especially into Kagha. Tav (ii) found out about the Shadow Druid conspiracy and influence on Kagha and was able to make her turn around from them and back to the grove and Silvanus’ true teachings. The day they were being honoured for that with the title Faithwarden was one of their proudest and happiest days and Tav (ii) considers this to be one of their greatest achievements (as a true druid) on their journey.

Besides having their wizard leave the crown in the river, him finally staying with them and marrying him of course!

Tav’s opinion on the grove is a good one, though. They feel at home there, despite the uncertainties and terrors that they are facing, despite the worm in their head, despite it all.

It feels good to be back at a place of serenity and the gentleness of nature’s friendship. Tav also feels a sense of responsibility for the grove, to make sure that it is save and protected from anything evil, inside or outside. That’s why it meant everything to Tav (ii) when Kagha told them that there had been a druid that had saved the grove but it hadn’t been her.

It truly was their proudest day on their journey so far!

24. How does your Tav feel about Mol and her friends?

Tav wishes that they could help them find a family, a home, so that they wouldn’t need to run their petty crime business but Tav knows they can‘t. And these children are victims so Tav smiles at them, trades a little and reminds them that there are kind people out there who care for them. Tav treats them as children and let them play if they want to. They need it. In short: Tav cares a lot about them!

25. What does your Tav think of Aradin?

„What a prick“ - both Tavs

Tav loves Zevlor, tho, they feel connected to him, a same-spirited soul with a similar fate than theirs. Zevlor is a leader of desperate, terrified people who survived hell, he wants to be strong for them, a hero, a true paladin again, but it is so, so difficult. He makes the decisions no one else dares to make, he holds their lives in his hands and knows that he is not strong enough to save them all. Tav wants to be his friend, carry his burden for some time and they make sure that the fight between him and Aradin doesn’t escalate. For Zevlor‘s sake.

26. What does your Tav think of the Raphael?

Danger! Danger! Danger! Do not mess with a devil and do not, under any circumstances, take anything he offers! Not even the food. I know how stories like this go, I will not bind myself to this place where a fate worse than death would probably await me and I will never sell my soul! And neither will my companions, I’ll make sure of that!

Do not underestimate him, or better, do not overestimate your abilities to face him. If you want to strike one day, prepare yourself!

27. Does your Tav adopt Scratch and the Owlbear cub? Did you name him?

Both Tavs adopt Scratch but only Tav (ii) also adopted the owlbear cub. (Tav (i) had visited the owlbear’s cave but the cub didn’t came to their camp.)

The owlbear cub didn’t get a name besides “bebé”. Scratch gets called Scratchie occasionally.

28. What does your Tav think of Auntie Ethel? What do they tell Mayrina?

Tav (i) didn’t encounter Auntie Ethel besides having a quick chat with her in the grove and getting mushroom soup from her.

Tav (ii) had to knock Mayrina’s brothers out and told her exactly that.

And since Auntie Ethel is a hag, which is an abomination and unnatural in itself, are there no strong feelings in Tav about her person but that it is their duty as a druid to get rid of her so that she can never hurt anyone ever again.

And, as a side note, Auntie Ethel died before she could have offered the deal, which Tav would have maybe not even taken due to its nature.

29. What does your Tav do about the Goblin camp? Do they free Halsin or side with Minthara? What's their opinion of them?

Tav does what is necessary to clean the road for the Tieflings. They slay the three leaders and all of the goblins who dare to get into their way.

Tav kills Minthara without regret. She annoys and irritates them greatly and Tav wants her gone. She poses a big threat to the grove – they are all in danger as long as she is alive. Beautiful armor, tho. Gale looks very handsome in it :) He wears it better than her, if you ask Tav. :3

Freeing Halsin is one of Tav’s top priorities in the goblin camp obviously (it’s their original mission after all) and Tav adores him immediately. He is definitely friend shaped as a bear, have you seen that fluffy butt and fluffy ears and turns out to be also a friend-shaped gorgeous elf. Tav feels save with him, they feel how he is brimming with nature’s unrelenting, yet nurturing power, how close he is to the teachings of Silvanus, how he lives them. Tav feels save and protected under his gentle smile that he graces them with even in the smelly worg pens when they are mere strangers.

30. Who does your Tav think of when they go to sleep at the goblin/tiefling party? Or are they lucky and do they get to spend the night with the person they want?

Gale obviously! (So it isn’t different to any other night they had in camp because they usually go to bed and think fantasise about Gale…)

31. What does your Tav think of the Underdark and the Myconids?

„What a terrifying, beautiful, beautiful place! How life is still life here and so, so precious despite how different it is to what I know. There is so much to learn here and I wish I could stay here. Here amidst gentle, beautiful, sentient fungi, who share their song with me, who invited me into their circle and who promised me to be with me wherever I would go. I promise I will defend you, fight for you until my dying breath, dear, beautiful friends. No matter what else will happen to me or the people I love so much that travel with me, I will have the memory of you and your song in me, forever with me!“

Suffice to say that Tav loves the Myconids. The Underdark is a fascinating place for Tav, their thirst for knowledge about life in all of it’s forms is strong there and they would love to learn everything that there is to learn. But they can’t. They also miss the sky terribly, the dark, no matter how beautiful, is no place for them.

Both Tavs return to visit Spaw’s circle eventually. Maybe they even look after the vampire spawns if Astarion wants to join their trip into the Underdark.

32. Does your Tav help Glut or do they fight him?

They fight and kill him. He was dangerous and wanted to hurt their dear friend Spaw and his circle, he left them no choice.

33. Do you bring the potion ingredients to Omeluum and, if so, did you drink it? Did you barter for his ring?

Tav (i) didn’t meet Omeluum.

Tav (ii) did and brought the ingredients and also drank the potion. They regretted it immediately, tho but what is done was done and they got the ring for compensation. But Tav never used the powers the potion had awoken in the tadpole, they were scared of them.

34. Does your Tav react to the Sussur flower or how would they react if it affected them?

Yes, as a druid is Tav affected by the tree and while Tav (i) didn’t encounter it was Tav (ii) eagerly agreeing with Gale to get away from it as quickly as possible. Tav (ii) definitely didn’t enjoyed the experience of being cut off from their magic. And Tav (i) would have felt the same.

35. Do they deliver Nere's head to the Myconids and save the slaves?

Yes and yes

36. Did your Tav fight the Forge Protector? How did the fight go for them?

Tav (i) couldn’t manage to find the forge no matter how much they tried and meticulously searched for it. They searched for it after the fight with Nere when the whole area was already deserted and Tav and their party were the only living, breathing creatures left in it.

Tav (ii) found it thankfully and fought the protector in a successful fight, that went much smoother than they had expected. But it took some patience.

37. Did your Tav go to Creche Y'llek? Did they know something was up with the healer?

Tav (i) didn’t go to the Mountain Pass at all, because they didn’t want to face Githyanki without a Githyanki by their side. (Lae’zel was sadly dead.)

Tav (ii) went but since Lae’zel was dead as well were they keeping the Githyanki interactions as short as possible and there was also not a reason to see the healer. See 39 for more.

38. Did your Tav deface the portrait of Vlaakith?

No.

39. Did your Tav get the Blood of Lathandar?

Yes. Getting it was the mere reason for Tav (ii) to go into the Mountain Pass. And the real reason was definitely not getting Gale‘s line before entering the prism „Go ahead. I‘ll come running if you need me!“ Nu-hu! Definitely not! Definitely yes.

40. Did your Tav agree to kill the Guardian or did they go talk to them instead?

Tav (ii) agreed to enter the prism but never planned on killing the guardian. They just wanted to talk to her.

Act 2

41. Which way did they take into the shadow cursed lands?

Both Tavs went through the elevator in the Grymforge

Did they run into Elminster? What was their opinion of his news for Gale?

Yes, he was waiting there in the last fortress that was unaffected by the curse for the party.

Tav was pissed, absolutely mad at Elminster and Mystra and deeply worried about Gale. They tried to talk to him afterwards and they did for a short while but he then asked for some space to think, which Tav gave him with a heavy heart.

The two of them would talk later when the emotions would have calmed again. And the truth was that Tav needed time for themselves as well to sort through their own feelings. Besides their anger about Elminster and Mystra’s cruel command was there also so much fear in Tav. Fear of losing Gale, their Gale to Mystra, to her orders.

It was the day Tav truly faced the depths of their adoration, love and devotion and their jealousy of Mystra (of course they weren’t jealous of her powers but of her influence in Gale’s life and they were also wondering if they would ever have a chance against her beauty, did Gale even see them, Tav, as someone to adore and desire when he had conjured her image just to look at it? Tav wouldn’t had to worry, but they didn’t know it yet – Gale had never again conjured Mystra’s image after the lesson in magic the two of them had shared) for Gale and decided to not let him out of sight again. Not until they had found another way, there just had to be one! This would not be the end, Gale had to live, Mystra had already taken so much from him, she would not take his life and condemn his soul „for her forgiveness“ – who knew if she would even grant it. Not on Tav’s watch, not when they love him so much! Maybe they should tell him, confess what they are feeling, maybe he feels like they do or at least he is flattered enough to consider living just to know that he is loved and adored by Tav. He deserves to know that…

And he deserves to live a full life preferably with Tav.

42. How does your Tav react to the shadow curse? Are they scared of the dark?

Very badly. They were scared of the curse when Halsin told them about it and dreaded going near or even through it. But they would do what had to be done.

And when they finally arrived were things even worse than Tav had thought. They came from the darkness and the absence of the sky from the Underdark into the rotten darkness of the curse. Tav felt nature around them scream in agony and terror, heard the shadows whisper and wail and tug at their soul. They spent many nights by the fire next to Halsin because both of them felt the curse and the shadows ripping apart the land and their souls. And they tried to cheer each other up, trying to dream of the day the land could finally be free again but it was difficult. So difficult.

Tav (ii) deals a little bit better with it all due to their ongoing feelings of familiarity with many things they encounter and having the Blood of Lathander equipped helps a lot to ease the nerves. But they despise this place just as much and hate this curse as much as Tav (i) and Halsin does/ did.

43. What does your Tav think of Jaheira and the Harpers?

Tav didn’t know much, barely anything, about Jaheira before but was a big fan immediately and Tav loved that it would be druids and harpers together once again to fight and free the land.

And Tav (ii) spent more time with Jaheira later on their journey than Tav (i) has and found that they are an excellent team. Panther and wolf 🖤 Tav’s favourite wild shape

44. What does your Tav think of Isobel?

Tav (i) found her to be very fascinating, there was an aura of secrecy around her that they were curios to learn what was laying behind it.

But she was abducted and the Last Light Inn fell before they could get to know her any better. All Tav (i) knew of her was what Aylin told them later and Tav regretted it deeply that they had been unable to save her love.

Tav (ii) was able to prevent the abduction and was overjoyed to spend more time with her and to finally get to know her better. Tav always had a feeling that there were two love stories, two couples, to save in this life and that everything would be alright as long as the moon shield would stay bold and bright over the Last Light Inn until the curse would be broken.

45. Does your Tav help Mol win against Raphael?

Tav (i) couldn’t stay quiet about warning Mol of Raphael’s true nature, much to her disapproval.

Tav (ii) listened to Gale’s thoughts about the game and encouraged Mol to listen to him.

46. Does your Tav help Astarion make a deal with Raphael?

No. If Astarion wants to make a deal with the devil, he can do that on his own.

47. Does your Tav help Markus or do they warn Isobel?

Tav sided with Isobel every time, but only Tav (ii) actually managed to warn her and prevent her abduction.

48. Does your Tav steal the moonlantern from Kar'Niss or do they fight him?

They fight him. Tav (i) caught Kar‘Niss on his way to Moonrise and fought him and his people on their own and Tav (ii) ambushed him together with the Harpers.

49. How does your Tav react to Ketheric Thorm? What about his family (Gerringothe Thorm, Malus Thorm ...)?

They mostly feel disgust at what he has done to the lands just to become an undead abomination, immortality is unnatural and Tav will do what is necessary to free the land and end his life once and for all. But Tav feels sorry for his family, they probably didn’t deserve such a fate. Well, Malus probably did, Tav suspects that he always worshipped Shar and was a cruel, malicious person even when he was still alive.

Tho only Tav (ii) met Thisobald and wondered if he was more lonely than anything after they had to kill him and sincerely hoped that they had been able to free his soul from this place, that it had found peace.

50. Does your Tav save the tieflings & gnomes?

Tav (i) had tried to but the darkness of the curse and the threat of Moonrise slowly tore apart their soul and they were nearly driven to insanity from it all. So they missed their chance, they were afraid and only focused on breaking the curse in a fever-haze. And when they realised what they had done was it already too late. But maybe it was for the better, all of the other Tieflings had died at Last Light Inn when Isobel had been abducted and there would only be more pain waiting for them.

Tav (ii) had saved them but two of the Tieflings had died on the escape.

51. What does your Tav think of the Gauntlet of Shar?

Not a place to dwell, it’s an unwelcoming, depressing domain of a cruel goddess.

If Shadowheart wants to do the trials, if they are important to her, Tav will not stand in her way, tho. But they will be very glad when the trials are done and they can finally leave to whatever brings them closer to breaking the curse.

52. What does your Tav think of Dame Aylin?

What a woman!

First, Tav is terrified that the Nightsong is a living and breathing person, chained and bound by evil, cruel magic. Secondly, Tav wonders if she has to die, since she is bound to Ketheric if Tav wants to break the curse. How could Tav ever make such a decision? And oh, how relived they are when they start to understand that it’s only the magic that bounds Aylin’s natural immortality to Ketheric and by freeing her from her shackles are they severing the connection to him.

And then is Tav completely star struck by the beautiful woman that Aylin is. And is very giddy about the fact that Aylin considers them to be their ally for life and swears her support and her friendship and sees Tav as powerful and capable of everything. Sometimes Tav feels as if they wouldn’t deserve such an honour but then are they remembering that they have slain the apostle of one of the Dead Three together so maybe it isn’t as far fetched to believe that Aylin’s words are true.

And Tav has something like a friendly crush on Aylin, if she and them wouldn’t have their loves of their lives each, then maybe Tav would deeply desire her. But not in this life… And probably in no other. But still, what a woman!

53. Did your Tav help Art Cullagh?

Tav (i) would have gladly helped him but he was already dead after the Last Light Inn fell when they found him. He was able to help them break the curse in death, tho. Tav prays that his soul found peace.

Tav (ii) helped him all the way through as best as they could but could not save his life. His last letter they received months after the brain fell made them cry half a night against Gale’s chest and it later got a special place in their tin box of keepsakes from their journey. And another important visit was added to their list of people and places to see again.

54. What did your Tav tell Arabella about her parents?

That they are dead. Only the truth would help Arabella grieve, mourn and eventually make her peace with the loss of her parents.

55. Did your Tav reunite with Us?

No. (It died back on the nautiloid in the beginning of the journey.)

56. What did your Tav think of the Mindflayer colony?

Initially a mix of surprise that something like this could be hidden under the ancient structure that is Moonrise Towers and disgust that they would have to be again in such an unnatural, slowly composting from the inside out mindflayer nightmare again. Tav had hoped they would never find themselves after the nautiloid in a place like this again. But here they were. And sometimes the only way out would be through or further down in this case. So they ventured forth. Determined to find Aylin again, to find Zevlor and to kill Ketheric for good to finally break this awful curse.

57. Did your Tav free Zevlor? Did they free Mizora?

Oh yes. They would have preferred to leave Mizora behind but they wanted Wyll to be free from the pact so they did it, begrudgingly so.

And looking for and freeing Zevlor, well, was a necessity, not a question. Tho Tav (i) had some problems finding him at first. But they managed eventually and hugged him tight.

58. Did your Tav complete the Brain Node puzzle?

Yes! The only puzzle so far in the game I immediately understood what it wanted from me and solved it without googling :D

59. Did you use the Minds you find on the head near the brain node puzzle?

Tav (i) just used the brain in the chamber behind the brain node puzzle and maybe what else they had in their inventory.

Tav (ii) tried out all of the brain jars they could find in the mindflayer colony but forgot the brains from the nautiloid ‘at home’ (at camp).

60. Did you clear Moonrise Towers of the shadow curse?

Oh yes. Tav’s proudest deed and their happiest day! They had done the hero’s work of a druid, not a warrior. Relief is too little of a word to describe what they felt when they finally saw the light returning to this place. Tho they wished that they (especially Tav (i)) could stay and watch the land heal and grow again. But they can’t.

And they are not sure if they could anything as noble, as good, as necessary ever again but what they had done by healing the land.

Act 3

61. How does your Tav feel about Baldur's Gate? Is it their home? Is it their first time in the city?

Tav is not a fan of the city even though they grew up in a small community a little outside in the close proximity of the city. They had avoided to come into the city whenever possible and don’t know their way through the bustling streets. Being here now with a mission forces them to get to know the city very closely. They don’t necessarily enjoy this.

62. What's their first impression when they enter Rivington?

Ugh, civilisation!

Tav doesn’t really know what to feel, they mostly feel disoriented and confused by the sudden order and structure and most all people all around them.

And they have a feeling of being invincible and untouchable.

We have slain gods, Tav thinks to themselves, we have broken a century old, dreadful curse and have cleansed the land from it. There is nothing that could touch us now.

And Tav (ii) feels on top of that something is stirring inside of them. Something important. They feel that they are close to winning everything or loosing everything once again when they are not careful. And it has nothing to do with the tadpole.

63. If Shadowheart got a new haircut, how does your Tav react?

Tav loves it! New hair for a new and freed Shadowheart.

Tav (ii) found that Borealis Blue dyed armours go very well with it.

64. What does your Tav do with the trapped kids' toys?

Tav (i) solved the case and eventually donated the now save toys.

Tav (ii) didn’t encounter the issue with the toys.

65. Does your Tav go to the circus? Do they like the activities?

Yes!

The circus is a beautiful, colorful, lively place that gives the whole party some much needed joy back.

Tav and Gale share a moment exploring their bond and love (Tav (ii) and Gale got their first Orin confrontation there to their disdain) and the whole party is madly pissed when their trip to the circus ends with a imposter murder clown and a bloodbath.

66. Does your Tav help with the murder investigations?

Yes. They solve it and clear the suspect’s name and let the priest hopefully rest now in peace.

67. Does your Tav meet Tara? What's their opinion?

Yes, they meet her. Tav is delighted to finally meet the famous Tara who is so much more than they had imagined from Gale’s descriptions. But Tav is a tiny bit disappointed that Gale didn’t introduce them as his lover to her. They would have been very curious of her reaction while also wondering if it was maybe better this way. They are a bit wary of her, they don’t want Tara to think badly of them and maybe they should have this conversation another day.

68. What does your Tav do with the Mindflayer in the windmill?

Both Tavs killed it.

69. Does your Tav run into Orin? If so, what's their first opinion?

Ugh. Seriously, I have to deal with this maniac of a blood thirsty shapeshifter now? Oh well, bring it on. I will be the last one standing, your time has come!

70. Does your Tav make a deal with Raphael?

No, neither of them.

71. Does your Tav 'spend time' at Sharess' Caress?

Tav (i) was interested in the orgy but since Gale wasn’t comfortable with that let they the matter drop immediately.

Tav (ii) just solved the murder of the missing libertarian and ignored the twins. They knew instinctively that it was not for them or Gale. Maybe someone else in their position, in a very different life… Like Sunna, a half-orc bard Tav knows from back home, she would have loved that… Maybe if Sunna were in Tav’s situation would she has done this… She probably would. Will do!

72. How does your Tav enter the city?

Tav (i) used the pass that Arfur Gregorio gave them and Tav (ii) used the Investigation Pass.

73. Do they free Florrick?

No, she is dead. (Died in Waukeen’s Rest (Tav (i)) and in The Last Light Inn during the otherwise successful battle against Markus (Tav (ii)).

74. What do they do at Gortash' coronation?

They stand there watching it with clenched teeth and fists and are imagining the day they will kill him.

75. What does your Tav do with the serial killer running rampant?

Investigating and solving it. Protecting/ warning and saving the potential victims and later infiltrating the tribunal with the bag of hands.

76. Does your Tav tell Dame Aylin about Lorroaken? Do they help her fight him?

Yes and yes. Die, weasel, die!

77. Does your Tav go to the House of Hopes? If so, do they sleep with Haarlep?

Yes and no, Tav would not even consider this in a million years!

78. Does your Tav help the Wavemother?

Tav (i) wanted to help her but didn’t want Redhammer to die. So they had no chance but to fight her.

Tav (ii) didn’t met the Wavemother before they descended to the Iron Throne and were never asked for their help.

79. Does your Tav rescue the prisoners in the Iron Throne?

Yes,

Tav (i) died an hero’s death tho as they pushed Wyll’s father up the ladder but couldn’t get on board themselves anymore. Gale was inconsolable and insisted to get Tav back on his own and not with Wither’s help.

No one died in Tav (ii)’s turn.

80. Does your Tav free the slaves from Steel Watch Foundry? Do they side with the Gondians or with Wulbren?

Yes.

And Tav (ii) sided with the Gondians and had Barcus step in as the new leader of the Ironhand gnomes. Tav (i) had no one to side with since the Ironhand gnomes, especially Wulbren, were dead.

81. If you saved Oskar in Act 1, did you meet him again? If so, did you help him? Did you side with the Mystic Carrion or with Thrumbo?

Neither of the two Tavs did any of that.

82. What does your Tav do with the Counting House robbery?

Solving it and returning the money, but persuading the accountant to leave them half of the gold as a reward.

83. Does your Tav reunite with Mayrina? Do they fight Auntie Ethel? Do they save Vanra?

Only Tav (ii) dealt with the hag issue in Baldur’s Gate. Tho they only found the traitor and didn’t kill the hag a second time. I skipped the hag fight because I wanted to finally finish the game and get my happily ever after.

84. Does your Tav find all of Dribbles' body parts?

Yes.

85. Who did Orin abduct from your party?

Halsin (both times).

86. Did your Tav complete the trial of Bhaal?

No. Tav (i) let Sarevok talk and then attacked him by telling him that they would definitely not become an Unholy Assassin.

While Tav (ii) had Minsc with them and Sarevok took offence in that, didn’t even talked to them or offered them to face the trials and called them a heretic. Which neither Tav nor Minsc minded much. And then they attacked. :) It was a beautiful bonding moment for the two of them.

87. Did your Tav side with Gortash or did they agree to kill him for Orin?

Tav (i) agreed to an alliance with Gortash that they planned to break and Tav (ii) didn’t promised anything to anyone and kept things vague.

88. Does your Tav successfully resist the Nether Brain?

Yes.

89. Does your Tav side with the Emperor or do they free Orpheus? Do they become Illithid to use the Nether Stones or does one of their companions do it? Do they give the Nether Stones to the Emperor/Orpheus?

Tav (i) freed Orpheus and gave him the stones and also fulfilled their promise to him to kill him afterwards.

Tav (ii) sided with the Emperor and regretted it. I regretted it to be precise. Tav didn’t felt much. He is so weak in comparison to Orpheus in the final battle and he is also a manipulative and gaslighting ass and I will never side with him again.

90. Do they betray the Emperor/Orpheus/their companions for the Absolute?

No.

Epilogue

91. Does your Tav get a happily ever after?

Tav (i) finds their peace and happiness eventually but when they came to the party were they still a long way away from that. So this hero’s journey was a tragedy, saving the world for the price of their happiness.

But in another life got the hero the wizard in the end – so there it was, finally Tav (ii)’s happily ever after!

92. Where does your Tav end up after defeating/ siding with the Nether Brain?

Tav (i) lives in Avernus with Karlach (and Wyll) until they can finally fix her heart for good and then Tav moves to Reithwin to Halsin and the children.

Tav (ii) lives in Waterdeep with Gale.

93. What do you think happens to the party, afterwards? Do they go for drinks? Do they go their separate ways?

The remaining party members Shadowheart, Astarion, Jaheira, Minsc, Boo and Halsin go for drinks but are not in a mood to celebrate anymore – Gale is gone on his ridiculous search for the crown after breaking their beloved leader’s heart (Astarion and Shadowheart are already plotting on how to murder a god) and forcing Tav (i), the kind and gentle druid who cried in relief for days when they finally broke the shadow curse, to flee from this realm and their pain into literal hell where nothing is green or kind. And so are Wyll and Karlach. At least they are together they say but in each of their eyes is so much more. Astarion’s eyes are full of bloodlust and rage, he wants to see something dead, anything really, to make the loss of his friends not hurt so much. Someone has to pay, Gale has to pay for his stupidity and foolishness. And Tav, he would give anything to hear them talk again about how doing something good for the sake of it and not a reward is enough, yes, especially for you, Astarion. He already misses them so much. And he will never forget the look in Tav’s eyes as Gale quickly walked past them down the docks and disappeared into the smoke of the smouldering city – it was a look of pure heartbreak, he could hear it break, not even the shadow cursed lands had distorted Tav’s face into this much desperation and pain.

“Gale…”, they had whispered. “My love please come back… I love you” And their voice had been so tiny and desperate that Astarion had considered to run after Gale to drag him personally back to Tav…

Shadowheart is furious, how could Gale do this, to Tav, to them, to the world they had just saved. From where did this sudden egoism come from? Had there been signs she had overlooked, that she maybe didn’t want to see? Shadowheart felt betrayed, for so long had the four of them, Tav, Astarion, Gale and herself, been an odd little troupe against the world. And it had worked. Together they had taken down a whole Goblin camp and had freed slaves and had broken curses and had done the gauntlet of Shar together and fought the demons of their past and killed Raphael and… And Gale threw this all away and for what? To become a god? Hah, he was a kind and a good and a selfless man who could have had everything anyone could just dream of – friends who are loyal to the death, a gorgeous, devoted lover who wanted to spend their life with him but as a god would he be like all the others, demanding, cruel and full of himself. There would be no space for laughter by the fire or adding more and more thyme to the soup because Tav said they liked it, there would be no space for teaching enchantments to his friends that should make their lives easier, there would be no room for too many bottles of wine passed around under a clear, starry sky…

It became a long and weary night, while the city around them celebrated.

They went to the Elfsong to ravage from it what was left of their belongings on the next day but they all were quick to pack everything together and to leave, the memories of what they had lost were just still too fresh, too painful.

And they wondered if it could be different, maybe there was a life where they could celebrate their victory…

And they did celebrate in another life, in Tav (ii)’s life. They raised their glass for Wyll and Karlach in Avernus and swore to help them if they could and celebrated their victory and the end of the journey that had made friends out of alliances that were grown from availability and necessity.

They celebrated Astarion’s freedom, Shadowheart’s living parents and their overall success in doing the impossible: removing the tadpoles and winning the world.

And Tav and Gale celebrated while being obnoxiously and insufferably in love that they were alive and free of worms and most importantly together.

94. Years after the game, what do you think your Tav is up to?

Tav (i) still lives in Reithwin with Halsin by their side, still caring for the lands and the children who are not children anymore and who are finding their own way now but I imagine that there are usually more children coming. And most importantly is Tav a druid again, hasn’t worn armour in ages, doesn’t carry around elaborate weapons anymore but a simple staff made from one of the destroyed trees from the curse to remind them of their biggest victory and the blessing they gave this land. And to remind them that good can come from the darkest of places. I also see Tav and Halsin travel together when the time allows it. Learning, studying, finding all sorts of magic and life. Being druids together.

Tav (ii) lives a comfortable, happy life in Waterdeep with Gale. They have all they ever wanted in him and have mastered the art of being a druid in a big city. I see them occasionally (for one or two semesters at a time) teaching all kinds of druidic magic and wonders at the Blackstaff Academy or building a druid community in the woods around the city and by the sea. Teaching everyone the ways of nature and the magic it holds. And sometimes, when things get quiet during the winter for example and Tav enjoys the time at home without any responsibilities, are Tav and Gale playing a game called “The Trophy Wife”. The both of them argue back and forth on who of them is the trophy wife and gets to live the life of such. Tav claims that they are the trophy wife of the renown, legendary Professor Dekarios of the Blackstaff Academy whose classes have waitlists for four semesters by now while Gale protests and says that this is impossible, that he is Tav’s trophy wife. How could it be any different if he was the one who married the Hero of Baldur’s Gate themselves, the hero who had not only saved the world but him too and had taken his heart as if it was nothing in the progress.

“Just because you had taken my heart before”, Tav usually answers with a feigned serious face and twinkling eyes. “It was only fair if I’d get yours as compensation for my loss, you know…”

“So you admit that I am the trophy wife then”, responds Gale with a very smug grin and eyes that sparkle with the certainty of victory.

And Tav huffs in defeat, shaking their head in playful disbelief. He had done it again.

“Well, if you do insist, Professor”, Tav purrs and Gale’s groan wipes the grin from his face which makes Tav grin just as smugly in return…

Two have to play this game.

The game usually ends with them on the sofa or the bed, being very busy being very indulged in each other’s pleasures and bodies, suddenly very content with no one being the trophy wife or both being the trophy wife, depending on the mood.

95. What do you think of your Tav's development throughout the game? If you compared them to who they were at the start, what would be different?

Tav (i) is at the end more confident in their abilities and possibilities in life and Tav (ii) is proud of themselves that they grew into their own person who discovered places and people Tav (i) had never seen and has done things that Tav (i) has never done. Tav (ii) knows to some degree about the other life they have lived and were worried to not be able to become someone else, to make the same mistakes a second time. But they didn’t.

Companions

96. Does Lae Zel remain loyal to Vlaakith, or does she follow Orpheus? Or neither?

Lae‘zel is dead in both of Tav‘s lives.

97. Does Astarion kill Cazador? Does he remain a vampire spawn or does he complete the ritual?

Yes, he kills him and remains a spawn.

98. What does Gale want? The crown for himself? For Mystra? Or has he given up on chasing power?

Tav (i)’s Gale wanted a life with them, he truly did, but the allure of the crown’s magic was eventually stronger than him, the promise of unlimited power, of being able to stand tall and proud next to Mystra, of finally being worthy of love and adoration got to him in the end and he became a god.

While Gale of Tav (ii) wanted only them, he chose them over Mystra’s commands, them over the crown, them over godly powers. And the crown rests in the river somewhere between the debris of the Iron Throne…

99. Did Wyll get freed from Mizora? Did he save his father?

Yes and yes.

100. Did Karlach get upgraded? Did she turn Illithid? Did she return to Avernus? If so, did Tav join her, or Wyll, or both?

Dammon left the grove before he could meet Tav (i)’s Karlach and died when the Last Light Inn fell before he could help her. So this Karlach didn’t get any upgrades. Karlach remained herself and went to Avernus with Tav after the big brain battle.

While Tav (ii)’s Karlach got all of the possible upgrades and went with Wyll to Avernus after the brain was defeated.

101. Did your Tav recruit Minsc? What's their opinion of him?

Yes. Tav thinks he is wonderful and a joy to be around. They love his matter of fact optimism and mental and physical strength. Tav (i) only regrets recruiting him not long before defeating the brain and not having a lot of time to get to know him and spend time with him.

Tav (ii) corrected that mistake.

102. Did Shadowheart turn to Selûne or did she remain loyal to Shar? Did she free her parents or let them go?

Shadowheart turned to Selûne and Tav (i)’s Shadowheart let her parents go while the Shadowheart of Tav (ii) freed them.

103. Did Tav help Jaheira with the Harpers?

Well, both Tavs discovered the shapeshifters that had infiltrated the harpers and took them down. But neither of the Tavs stayed behind in the city to help rebuild it. (Tav shares Jaheira’s sentiments about the city and is very glad to not have bounds like she has in her children to the city that would force Tav to stay. Tav (ii) is not that comfortable in big cities and only lives in Waterdeep because of Gale (he is their home!) and gets out of it whenever they can to do their druid business and to return into Gale’s arms in the evening. And Tav (i) is either in Avernus (a place where they can at least get their rage and grief out of them without consequences) or is later living in Reithwin that is close and surrounded by nature and much more to their taste than Baldur’s Gate.)

104. Who did your Tav romance? How did this romance develop throughout the game? What happened at the end?

Gale in case anyone missed this until now

Tav (i) thought that everything was going and developing very well for them and Gale until it wasn’t anymore. Until the sweet whispers of the luring call of the Netherese magic of the crown git the better of him, his hurt and his ambitions and became more important to him than the future the two of them had dreamed about. More important than the love and the future they had promised each other.

And Tav (ii) tore the fabric of time and space apart for a chance to not loose him even if it meant that they had to take each step of the journey again. Tav (i) was there in their dreams, urging Tav (ii) to not make their mistakes and in rare occasions were they in Gale’s dreams, too. Pleading with him, begging him to not let the false promises of ambition and the magic of the crown that the orb’s magic reacted to get the better of him. Do not listen to it’s sirens’ call, Gale, it’s not real. Unlike Tav, who sleeps next to you, they are very much real…

And Gale let the crown go in the end, let the false dreams of godhood rest alongside of it in the river and traded it for the certainty of Tav (ii)’s hand and heart in his. And this time turned he away from the crown after the battle and not from Tav.

And Tav (i) finally found peace.

105. Anything you want to say about your Tav! Give a random headcanon, answer a random question, say whatever you want!

Tav (i)’s and Gale’s song is now “The night we met” by Lord Huron and it’s all Gale’s fault. And “Tempting Fate” by Beth Crowley. Otherwise it would have been “Turning Page” by Sleeping At Last.

Tav (ii)’s and Gale’s song is “Bloom (Eros)” by Sleeping At Last and Peter Hollens’ cover of “For the dancing and the dreaming” and “First Light” by Hozier, while “Turning Page” fits them too of course, it’s just not ‘their song’.

Generally speaking have I a lot of Hozier and Sleeping At Last in my BG3 playlist for Gale and Tav. (Do you have a song for your Tav and their lover? I would love to hear it if you do.)

Both Tavs and Gales share for the time of their relationship in the shadow cursed lands “Magic Moment” by Glockenbach & Chris de Sarandy.

And “Cheri Cheri Lady” by Modern Talking is Tav (iii)’s song. They are the only one of the Tavs to have their own song. And while I don’t have a Tav and Gale song for them together yet have I feeling that “Save the last dance for me” by The Drifters is a very hot candidate. We’ll see… 💜

Fun fact: The biggest difference between me and Tav is that I am 100% a big city girly (genderneutral). Tav not liking big cities is definitely something that came to me about them while playing and is based on who they are as a character (especially a druid) in the story and not who I am in this world.

And if you are wondering whether there will be a Tav (IV), well, I will send them into the ring when patch 8 airs. We will get a new circle (circle of the stars 🥹) for the druids to choose and of course will I want to try it. 💚 Maybe I will even play them in Tactician mode, maybe I’ll have the experience and skills needed for it by then… 😱

[dreamlandforever]

So… I have never written a Stranger Things fanfic, or even a fanfic (beyond a very vague prompt) in over seven years. But, I haven’t been able to get this idea out of my head.

Edit: I have started writing a fanfic on this premise! Part 1

Eddie, who his whole life has thought himself a coward. Who only knows to run, to hide, to lie his way out of every situation. The Munson name is not something you live up to, is something you live in spite of. Back from the dead, recovering from literal hell.

An Eddie who doesn’t know how to explain to Hellfire how or why he became friends with no other than Steve Harrington.

Eddie who hasn’t realized that what he has been doing so far wasn’t running away, it was surviving. Hide the drugs. Hide the weirdness. Hide his sexuality. Hide himself. So when one day, Garrett asks him why the hell are they holding Hellfire for the second time in a month in the Harrington residence, he doesn't think for a second before lying through his teeth.

"Look, man, I know Harrington is an asshole, but I am taking one for the team here. Do we or do we not have a big enough space for campaigns now? And the King even comes with amenities!" All sarcastic, holding the juice box Steve had laid out with the rest of the snacks.

And he meant it as he did most things, a way to hide who Eddie Munson is and protect himself. Except he knew he had fucked up big time the moment Dustin looked furious, but he wasn't looking at him; he was looking behind him. And there was only one force strong enough in this side of the world that could keep Dustin Henderson quiet.

And sure enough, as soon as Eddie turned around he could see Steve Harrington standing behind him, a tray full of nachos in his hands. He looked as calm and collected as ever, even a smile on his face. But Eddie knew that look and that face. It was his Family Video pose. It was his retail worker face. He had never looked at him like that before.

And Steve Harrington, who had learned to trust in the last three years those who he never thought he would. The Steve Harrington who had become the forever babysitter, and now felt more comfortable with a bat full of nails than with a basketball. A Steve Harrington, former swim captain, who now only got in the water if it meant saving someone else. A Steve Harrington who had worked so hard to leave The King behind and become Steve.

The same one who, once he find out Eddie Munson was one of them now, had received him like one of their own. A brother in arms, of sort. A friend, for sure.

Just smiled his customer smile, set the nachos down and said, “That comes free of charge, Munson. No need to pretend to be friends. Please lock the door on your way out.” And just turned to leave.

Steve had never joined a single session of Hellfire, but had started sitting in and listening to the stories, at the children’s insistence. Now, he turned around and left.

Both Dustin and Eddie made to stand up and go after him, but Mike’s voice stopped them. “Let him leave, he doesn’t like the game either way. Let’s just finish this”. And to Eddie’s surprise, the boy’s voice is full of venom directed solely at him.

Dustin turns to Mike and after a short silent conversation just sits back down, not turning back to Eddie.

Steve doesn’t come back. Eddie and the other teens are thrown out almost as soon as the game is over, only the Party staying behind.

….

I am not really sure what comes next. But my guess is Steve plays his part, a gracious Host who is doing Okay. No, he’s not hurt and the kids can stop worrying. And Eddie believes him. Wants to ask for forgiveness still, explain the situation. But Steve was the King of Hawkins, and not for nothing. He will play his part to perfection, while giving Eddie 0 chance to talk to him alone. They are Not Friends, and he needs to come to terms with that (Steve or Eddie or both). So yeah. Maybe I writes maybe I don’t. If someone knows of a ff similar please let me know.

If you read this far thank you. Also, I am sorry.

[open-hearth-rpg]

#RPGaDay2024

Most often played RPG

I have a couple of ways I can take this question. If we’re talking about the rpg I’ve played the most in my life, then I have a few contenders. I spent decades in the trad game trenches, running Champions, GURPS, and Rolemaster. Tons of multi-year campaigns for each of those. GURPS might edge out the other two, but it’s a hard call. 

But in 2001, I started running a homebrew, Action Cards, that I iterated on over multiple campaigns. In it players had individual decks which they used for resolution. While these decks shared some base cards, they also had unique ones for their characters. Advancement meant marking up those cards to raise results and occasionally adding new singular ones. 

Action Cards ended up with a lot of Fate DNA. As it evolved I simplified things and changed up the elements. It didn’t have hand management, but instead focused on a push-your-luck approach to resolution. I ran tons of it at home, face to face, and at several different conventions. When DTRPG started offering card production, it really upped what we could do with it. 

However as I started to play more and more online, Action Cards dropped away a little. I tried a couple of different approaches– even building the decks within Roll20. But the set up there didn’t lend itself to individual, easily-managed and distinct decks. So I kind of gave up on that. But then the pandemic began. It killed off the f2f games of AC in play. The tactility of the game in a physical space felt important. Losing that meant losing a key vibe. 

So we haven’t played Action Cards since then. I regret that– it’s still one of my favorite systems. We had hundreds of great sessions with it over at least a dozen campaigns. Eventually I hope to go back to it, but I don’t know. I don’t know if it would work in an environment where I’ve shifted to so much online play. 

So kind of a downer there. 

On the other hand, if we’re talking about the game I’ve played the most often in the last few years, then it is probably Hearts of Wulin. It’s something of a cheat to cite a game I published, but it remains one of my favorites. I know it and I wrote it to fit with my GMing style. I appreciate the drama it provides, the cinematic nature of conflicts, and how easily I can adapt it to new things. 

I’ve run one-shots at various online conventions, including our own Shared Hearth Open Gaming weekends. I’ve also run a bunch of short, 4-5 session series. The wuxia mystery framework, Numberless Secrets, evolved out of my wanting to run stories that felt like the Ancient Detective TV show. 

Someone once told me that you’re done with writing a game when you don’t feel like playing or running it. I don’t think I’m done with Hearts of Wulin. I still dig the genre and I enjoy managing the mechanics. 

[starpunchsteria]

Three Rogues, Two Faces, and One Night | (Chapter 1; NSFW)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can find the link on ao3 here! Please read and give kudos or comment!

Pairing:

Harvey Dent/Edward Nygma, Edward Nygma/Harvey Dent/Harleen Quinzel/Bane

Summary:

Edward Nygma, Harley Quinn, and Bane play with Harvey Dent in his own lair’s office.

Words: 9,914

Sneak Peek (read the rest on ao3!)

Harvey’s office was located in an abandoned underground Gotham subway station. While his underlings, henchmen, and goons usually did work and hung out in the train station itself (along with a few carved out spots inside of the tunnels themselves), Harvey’s office sat higher up. He suspects it was used for announcements to be made along with overlooking the operations performed in the subway.

Harvey somewhat uses it the same way, even if he majorly redecorated it. Harvey’s proof of accomplishments are framed and hung on walls, little trinkets and items are placed lovingly along shelves and drawers, and little things like his plated name sitting proudly on his desk were among the things that he puts in his office. Before that however, he asked his henchmen to help with uprooting and replacing the flooring with a nice, deep-brown colored wood. He was very pleased with it, the material and feel of it giving him a feeling of the authority he has in this place. He feels in control.

However, it’s hard to be in control when you’re knelt down on the floor and staring up at three people ready to fuck you into next week.

Harley Quinn, ex-psychologist and current local Gotham kook, was currently holding Harvey’s chin in her hands. Half grabbing and half cradling, she tilted his chin so that he was looking at her and solely her.

“Are ya sure you want me to screw your mouth?” She said with a pout. “Can’t I just keep lookin’ at your cute ol’ handsome face until Bane and Eddie are done with you?”

“No, you can’t,” Eddie replied with a fond smile. He stood by Harvey’s desk, fiddling with a few items on the surface with Bane in preparation of their foursome. “This is a team effort. Besides, Harvey wanted you to — oh, how did you put it — screw his mouth. We can’t deny him what he wants.”

Harley audibly sighed. “I guess you’re right… but have you seen how dreamy he is? I mean, look at you.” She squished his face. “Y’know, I’d be lying if I said my votes for your D.A. campaign were purely because you had a lot of my values. I kinda just wanted to see you more on my newsfeed.”

Harvey hummed a laugh. Despite his limited mouth movement in the position he and Harley were in, he still attempted to respond. “I’ve heard that isn’t the best way to vote for candidates, Harley,” he said with a smile. “But… I always appreciate being called handsome.”

Finally, the last player in this gathering made himself known: Bane. Even without Venom, Bane was still a very tall, sturdy man. Every muscle felt hard and heavy, belonging to a man who commanded respect from his appearance alone. Bane also chose to keep his luchador mask for their activities, as per Harvey’s request. He was previously next to Eddie at the desk, also preparing for the night. Besides the regular lube and toys, he had something else special planned for tonight. Edward had told him there was a surprise beforehand, but never specified what exactly it was.

“I hope everyone is ready,” he said, tilting his head to crack his neck. Harvey curses himself for how something as minuscule as a noise from Bane’s body could turn him on so much. “Especially you, Harv.” Turning around, Bane was a bit surprised to see Harvey still in his clothes, though he didn’t really show it on his face. “… You still haven’t taken your clothes off.”

Harley released her hold on Harvey’s chin when he turned his head to Bane’s voice. “That’s on purpose,” he said with a raised brow. “You’re going to take my clothes off for me.”

Bane responded with a huff of amusement. “Cute.”

“I didn’t want to keep you all waiting,” Harvey said, rather matter-of-factly. “But I didn’t want to go bare immediately either.” Honestly, that was somewhat true. Before they started, Harvey wanted to seem at least somewhat desired. As much as being on his knees totally naked hit the spot in him that craved degradation, it was also always nice to feel fought for. That people want him so bad that they’re basically ripping his clothes off for him.

Harley grinned. “Well! Honestly, looks like you won’t really be gettin’ what you want, Harv, since I’m gonna tear into you like a loose snack packet from a vending machine.”

“Harley!” Edward exclaimed, almost in disbelief at that comparison. Then again, something like that coming from Harley doesn’t surprise him that much anymore. “But it's true. That’s an… interesting but fitting comparison.” Harley smugly tilted her head and put her hands on her hips.

“That’s why I said it.”

Bane rolled his eyes at the two interacting, then brought his attention back to Harvey. He noted how compliant Harvey looked on the floor like that. Harvey made eye contact with him, the look in his eyes telling Bane that even if he himself is making demands like this, he’ll always be submitting to Bane and the others first. Bane liked that. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll play along. Harley?”

Harley perked up. “Whatcha need from me, Big Man?”

“His shirt, if you would.”

“Oh, I’d love to. Come to Mama, honey!”

Despite her words telling Harvey to come to her, she was the one to rush in next to him on his side while he was kneeling down. She was quick to touch his body, seemingly taking a moment to inspect him unlike how proudly she proclaimed she’d be tearing his clothes off of him like a wild animal. She always thought he was handsome -- this was probably one of her only chances she’s got touching him like this. Harvey watched as his friend groped and grabbed at his body. He wanted to hold onto her, his brain instinctively craving intimate moments, but he decided against it. Didn’t want to get the command from Bane to not touch anyone this early. So instead, he enjoyed what was given to him.

[comvi]

Hi, I heard you liked Spearmaster, I'm begging you please tell me how

Im suffering

Red lizor mean =(

im a bit confused by what this means, but i think you’re asking me how i like spearmaster & how i deal with red lizards, so im just gonna go with that!

when i first started my spearmaster campaign, i admit the red lizards scared the SHIT out of me from just how absolutely SPEEDY they were and their spit- but like a lot of other lizards, they can only directly get to you if they have a pole to climb or some pipe that’ll bring them up to your level.

I use this to my advantage when i want to get through an area but a red lizard is blocking the way (and i probably wont be able to kill them)- i’ll wait until it goes into a pipe away from me (whilst it does that freakout-thing lizards do when they cant get you) and once it starts heading to me again from another direction or that same pipe, ill speed on by to wherever i need to go while they cant do anything for that time in the pipes.

Ive only encountered them in outskirts, and once in another region, iirc? So I don’t really have a set way with how i deal with them, or a way i could tell you how to deal with them- but when i was stuck with one and couldnt just run away (red lizards as much faster than spearmaster), i just kept juking them by re-entering a tunnel over-and-over, and when that red lizard wasnt facing me anymore i kept throwing spears until it died.

sorry if this isn’t much- i haven’t encountered them enough to familiarize myself with them, and when i play rainworld i tend to either “think way too much” or “act now, think later” with no in-between (because rainworld is absolutely brutal and will not wait up for me, i tend to just go foot-first in situations and deal with stuff in the moment as it happens)

Otherwise though- i haven’t had much trouble with other lizards, dropwigs, etc. My own issues lie in having trouble getting access to their backs so that spears will actually do damage, but when i cant do that, that juking technique i mentioned before where i’ll keep re-entering pipes has always worked for me nomatter my location.

Spearmaster is pretty cool when it comes to how they eat too- it’s really made me have to go into encounters with enemies even if i would’ve rather not (as thus i’d like to think im a lot better at using spears & dealing with lizards AND vultures). and if you didnt already know, if you hit a popcorn plant with one of their spears, it’ll replenish all of your food pips! really helpful for when theres no creatures around but the rain in coming & you need to get in a shelter quick.

overall though i like that guy a lot!! I think compared to the other slugcats ive played (excluding gourmand), they’re a bit slower & their slides dont go as far, but their advantage of forming spears at any time is super neat for getting to new areas by climbing walls with them.

also the whole spear-forming thing in general is absolutely insane to me ive never willingly killed as many scavengers and vultures as i have when i started playing as them LOL

[adornesibley]

I decided, today, to make a post about the game that started it all. And by it I mean, started Mork Borg and all that have used its game mechanics. (also the indie TTRPG that got me interested in the concept of Non-D&D tabletop systems)

If you haven’t played Mork Borg, you really should. It is great for a quick and dirty game, thrown together. But I could definitely live here for a while, doing a long campaign here would be great too. Expanding the nearly obvious conspiracy behind the basilisks and maybe even giving the players an opportunity to forestall the end of everything.

Recently, my friends and I have started working our way through all the TTRPGs we own. Mork Borg was the first. We all survived! And sort of made friends with a crystal demon who saved us in the end.

I’d love to, one day, do a fictional play… as in, write down a game of Mork Borg or other TTRPGs as if it were a story. Like an actual play… but… fictional… Remember folks, if you see that term, you heard it here first!

[photiniainsummer]

Yo my dude! I noticed you haven’t been writing lately and I’m hoping everything is okay ❤️

hey!!! that is very kind of you to check up on me so i hope you don't mind if i make this a Public Reply tm

i am actually super good but insanely busy!! i graduated and started my big girl job in japan just over a year ago and am still figuring out how to balance work and fun life, and writing requires just. so much brain energy man. most of the time i come home after work and have enough to make dinner and do dishes and play some vidya games before crashing out and doing it all again the next day

i'm also pretty tapped on markiplier fic/lore since space. i haven't really felt inspired or. i guess interested? in a while. feeling a little jerked around with the lore teases and not totally sure what i wanted to do next with my big fic made my interest really fizzle out - and a lot of my writing energy that i can muster up is getting poured into doing a DnD campaign with some friends! which honestly sucks because i really enjoy alapctts and the intrigue for what i built on my own of it, and i hate to let it moulder (which it unfortunately has)

i guess it's the adhd curse, losing the flame for a fandom as much as you love it just through the attrition of time, but that's kinda where i'm at. really into baldur's gate and DnD/fantasy stuff plus also. man, ghost (the band) has had me by the absolute throat. i might actually have some little ficlets or even a long-form idea for that but it almost feels like cheating - i went from one man playing a bunch of characters to another one lmfao do i have a type - and i hate to leave stuff unfinished before moving on

anyway!! sorry for a bit of a dump, but it's been hard to pull the trigger and realize i'm not super into ego stuff like i was and am unsure if i'll be continuing. maybe in the future! or maybe i'll come back and jonah and the reader can have some resolution one day <3

[scribe-cas]

HELLO HELLO I AM OFF WORK AND HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT COUTEAU

Okay so trying to be ~normal~ now, but it sounds like Couteau and I are super similar so I want to ask things. I’ll include my own answers as well for comparison.

Eye color? One of my coworkers showed me a picture and it looked like he might have dark eyes?? But I couldn’t really tell at the moment because I was admittedly very tired from work. Mine are brown.

She mentioned that Couteau is a bartender, so does he have anything particular he likes about that? Favorite drinks? Customers? Tricks? I do flair bartending but don’t really know how to explain my favorite trick. Flips, basically. Favorite drink is a piña colada, but Cars gives me a hard time about being “basic” :(( /lh /w love My favorite customer is a really nice old lady who shows me pictures of her 12 !!!!! cats and always orders either hot chocolate or apple juice

What kind of world does he live in? Modern? Fantasy? Etc?

Aside from apparently eating people and bartending, what does he like to do? Does he have any hobbies or special interests?? I used to LARP back when I lived in Colorado, but gave it up when I moved to the east coast, so now I mostly read and play D&D in my husband’s campaign

What is Couteau’s sexuality?? Because maybe we’re similar in appearance, but not that? Idk. I’m aroace! My husband and I are technically ?? in a qpr and just decided to get married because I never want to go without him ever again and he’s the best and this is absolutely going to turn into me rambling about him so I’ll stop here

HELLO HELLO!! ITS ALMOST MIDNIGHT BUT LETS TRY THIS AGAIN tumblr will pay for deleting my first iteration

First of all, /gen do not worry about being normal. this is tumblr. Who here is even normal one percent about anything. /v lh

If you’re as insane about couteau as i am, i Take it as a compliment. Feel free to pick him up, shake him around, put him in a jar or use him as a squeaky toy and chew on him mentally as you wish. I promise he doesn’t mind, I do it all the time. he’s like a little feral animal that I have to socialize before I unleash him upon the public /w love /lh

BUT TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS.

Eye color: it’s blue! He’s got blue eyes, although I will admit it’s hard to tell, because I actually draw them darker depending on how depressed he is. However I have been considering giving him brown eyes in a redesign, and haven’t made a solid decision for the books yet. Considering giving him brown eyes before he died to signify how death changed him, or giving him blue eyes in life and brown after death to signify that loss of “light” and humanity, but that’s for me to ponder at three am even though I also have to work tomorrow

HE IS A BARTENDER! YES! He technically owns the bar as well, but prefers to work the counter for the chance at social interaction. He likes doing party tricks and listening to the chatter, he’s a people watcher. While he’s got a lot of favorite parts, from the karaoke, to the ability to play whatever songs he wants, to the fact that he doesn’t have to manually hunt down dinner (he totally eats the mean/abusive drunks), to the ability to watch someone’s eyes go wide when he flips a bottle, his favorite aspect is his coworkers. It’s essentially a gaggle of young girls (because. They’re all young to him. They’re babies. He’s three hundred years old) in their twenties that he’s adopted hired. He trains every new bartender in himself, and it’s made him the Dad of the group, essentially. He makes sure that the till is correct and that there’s a ride home if they’ve been doing shots while working and that they have a place to stay the night if their life goes haywire and that they and their things are safe, on and off the clock. And, in return, they pretend not to notice when he comes in looking whiter than a ghost, with a new scar that looks like something no person would’ve been able to survive, let alone heal that fast, they let him fall asleep on shift when he looks exhausted, and they give him a hug and a drink whenever he stares into space for a few minutes too long.

The girls have definitely recorded him “drunk” but the “blackmail” is all in good fun and he still forces them to work their shifts despite it (I’ve written a scene about this specifically it’s so fucking funny. ‘Drunk’ Cou is a delight. It’s in quotes because while he really doesn’t get drunk by drinking, there’s something else he can come in contact with that achieves a similar effect :>)

About every 3 weeks this happens though /lh

“Mister Profane you can’t make me work I have blackmail.”

“Sandra, if you think I’m going to cancel your shift over the fact that you caught me being cute on camera, you’re a few tools short of a shed.”

He’ll give them time off if it’s for a reason, but if it’s just “because I don’t wanna”, he still has them come in. It brings me to hysterics though because whenever they give a shitty excuse of why they don’t wanna go in and they ask him if he’ll work instead, his favorite response is “Over my dead body. xx”

One week, after he’d been playing the knife game on the counter for shits and giggles, one of them ended up firing back with “You’re literally a walking corpse”, and he literally couldn’t not go in and work. What are you even supposed to say to that. BECAUSE SHE’S NOT WRONG, BUT SHE DOESN’T KNOW SHE’S NOT WRONG. So he just took the L and tried not to laugh.

His favorite drink has to be a Manhattan Cocktail, mostly because it matches his aesthetic and he has the excuse to eat the cherry garnish. He actually isn’t much of a drinker, because alcohol actually doesn’t get him very drunk? Like, he could drink a whole bottle and be a little buzzed at most. Near no intoxication, but full force migraine the next day (because hangovers yay). He goes for sweet bourbons if he’s craving alcohol, because he likes the caramel/vanilla undertones. He likes anything cherry flavored though, because one cherries slap and two he likes mixing blood with his liquor, because what little effect alcohol could have on him is automatically canceled out by the nutrition buff that drinking blood gives him. Darker cherry wines are really good for hiding that deep red color and he thinks it makes him look fancy. To just have a drink that he holds. Red is his favorite color if you couldn’t tell /lh

I’ve actually never had a piña colada, so I have no idea if he’d go for those, actually- but it gives me something to put on my list to try, although if it’s fruity he’d probably like it.

He loves any trick that requires a little sleight of hand. He just enjoys seeing the looks on people’s faces when they realize he can do that.

I don’t think he has a favorite customer! He enjoys everyone who comes in for what they are, and even if they bore him in one way, he’s good at digging up passions, and he likes listening to people talk about what makes them happy, so his “favorite” varies from day to day and who has the most fascinating interests in his opinion

I’m pretty sure I answered the world one but just in case- i think of it as kind of an extension of ours! Not a completely separate time and place but a “well, i mean this isn’t likely, but if we let our imagination take over, this could be possible here”

I weave his world in and out of ours like a needle through fabric. They’re not the same but they’re connected. They intersect, in some places more than others, with a few key differences but at the end of the day they kinda make up a whole.

It’s really funny you mention that- he’s actually a big reader. Reading, dancing, contortionism, and games/magic. He’s a playfully curious guy, and he loves messing with people. Learning how to use his demonic abilities is one part of that, but he also practices psychology tricks, mind games, mentalism, street magic- he studies horror and fear and acting, and he likes illegal street racing (and he thinks he’s hilarious because he goes “drag racing”(street racing) while dressed in drag. It’s peak humor to him he thinks he’s so funny.)That’s just off the top of my head, there’s probably more. He’d be super intrigued by D&D if he ever got to see it, but he’d definitely want to try being a DM. LARPing would feel a little strange to him, but he’d love the chance to explore other dynamics with people once he got into the swing of it.

Couteau is also aroace!! He’s just very… ehhh relaxed? About relationships etc. He honestly radiates bisexual disaster energy despite being. Aroace. And he’s ambiamorous. He’s given it a shot, but on some level he knows he experiences it differently than most people. However, this doesn’t stop him from wanting to experience it, he thinks it’s really neat, and even if he doesn’t experience sexual/romantic attraction, there are other things about the situations that he does like, which makes it worth it to him to not turn down some of the offers when they arise. He really doesn’t seek it out, but when an opportunity shows up, he’s like “oh alright. Okay cool :)” and gives it as much of a go as he’s comfortable with.

It’s like going to a themed restaurant because it was nearby, and then noticing you like the food. You don’t go to it for the same reason most people do, but there are things you like about it!

He’s kind of in a QPR relationship with his roommate, Gambit. QPR is the best way for me to…. Try. To explain what on earth their dynamic is. Because in truth it changes, but that’s how they like it. They consider each other different things on different days, and don’t operate outside of their comfort levels when it comes to the relationship. Some days, they kiss, other days, they literally cannot stand to hold hands. And both of them are chill with this! They’ve spent a lot of years together so it’s always fun for me to write them interacting because they know each other pretty well, and you can watch their little dynamics shift as they register where the other is at for the day, and I think that’s really neat and also wished “idk what the fuck they are but like. I love them. Can’t tell you what kind of love it is cause it changes and sometimes it’s all of it and sometimes it’s only one, but I fucken care about them” was more acceptable as a relationship label /lh

ANYWAYS ITS ONE AM FUCK YEAH GO ME AND I STILL HAVE-

7? Maybe 8 hours left to sleep?

BUT HERE ARE THOSE ANSWERS TY FOR ASKING AAAAA

[nickgerlich]

It All Ads Up

What do many sports fans do the day after a game? Why, Monday Morning Quarterbacking, of course! And while I will let Chiefs fans commiserate among themselves as to what the heck went wrong last night, let’s talk about what’s really important: The ads.

Regardless of the score on the telly, the advertisers played their own game, and it’s up to the jury of public opinion to determine the winners…and losers. With ads running $7-$8 million for 30 seconds, there was a lot at stake. I’ll save my favorite for last, complete with current and throwback links so you can see the context.

Let’s just say I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time, almost enough to blow out the stitches on my lower back. Oh. My. God.

I give high praise for Jeep using Harrison Ford to try to build some unity among Americans. The fact that they chose to do it over an EV is gutsy to say the least, because it is usually at this point in social media posts that someone with less than a full cup of knowledge about how EVs work and so forth chimes in with a laughing face emoji. The ad, though, featured Ford proudly saying that we don’t have to agree, that we should be able to buy whichever kind of vehicle we like.

I say a huge Bravo! This is a message we all need to hear. As much as I love the concept of EVs, I am not yet ready to buy if only because I would still have problems traveling 800 miles in a day, my norm. But that will be resolved one day. Meanwhile, virtue signalers should pipe down, and the naysayers need to study a little more. EVs aren’t perfect, but they are better, and Harrison Ford’s message is legit. Just get over yourselves. Oh hell yes, this is a superb campaign.

Sorry about that. I went into preacher mode.

The DunKings 2 ad was also spot-on. At a time when Starbucks is wobbling a bit and trying to reinvent itself among a tide of new wannabe competitors, it’s easy to mock customers with their overly complicated beverage orders that are a big part of the reason that it takes so long to get your order. All those bespoke macchiatos with this and that take time. Dunkin nailed it again with this sequel to last year’s ad.

Lay’s also gets a big nod for their potato farmer ad. Pull out all the stops and make us feel good, will ya? Lay’s is owned by Pepsi, showing why Pepsi stock still out-performs Coca-Cola by virtue of a lucrative snack food division. The ad, with its little girl and the potato, was epic.

Once again, Budweiser trotted out their horses, and according to one viewer survey, took top ranking for the ninth time. The ad features a Clydesdale pushing a huge keg of beer that had fallen off a truck. Anytime you can get animals to do things, it’s going to get our attention. It must be a human soft spot.

I did laugh when I saw the singer Seal and his head super-imposed upon a real seal. The Mountain Dew Baja Blast (also a Pepsi product) was delivered quite well. Of course, his big hit is 31 years old now, much older than a lot of people in the room watching the ad. But Gen-Xers and older know it well, and maybe we’ll remember the tune and ad next time we go shopping. I doubt it, though, even though the ad was clever.

Once again, Jesus showed up at the game. The 2025 installment of the He Gets Us campaign—What Is Greatness?—was done so well that it sucked me in before I realized it really was a call to Jesus, not a product. It is still uncertain who is bankrolling these annual installments, although Hobby Lobby’s founder David Green confirmed back in 2022 that he is a donor. This was a good ad, regardless of whether you think Jesus should appear in Super Bowl ads, not to mention all that money that could have been used for Christian ministries. I also have to wonder how the crowd would react if there were ads featuring the God of Abraham, Mohammed, the Buddha, or any other religious icon. Something to think about there.

I could go on and on, but I’m going to cut straight to my favorite, When Harry Met Hellman’s.Honestly, I almost fell of my chair. First of all, I’ll just leave this here, the reference to the 1989 hit movie When Harry Met Sally. It’s a scene that women my age still remember all the words. And moans. Watch this first.

Then watch the ad here. Nicely done. Sure, they’re appealing to an older crowd here, but even out of context, younger audiences will likely find it funny. It’s just 10 times funnier when you watch the original too. And yes, I confess: Meg Ryan made my heart skip a few beats back then.

That’s good stuff, something that may very well cause older women at least to slow down a bit the next time they’re perusing mayonnaise.

As far as the game, blowouts are never good for the advertisers, because it means our attention has likely wandered. Why watch the game when we already know who the winner is going to be? Even the biggest Chiefs fans’ eyeballs had probably strayed by the fourth quarter. Viewers then kick back, eat more, and engage in conversation. Meanwhile, those dollars keep adding up, every 30 seconds.

And we shall see in the weeks and months ahead if any of this really mattered.

Dr “I Was Entertained” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[ideas-on-paper]

Gamescom 2024 résumé

It’s that time of the year again when Gamescom has come to an end after 5 intense days of playing Steam demos, and after sobering up from my "gaming beano", it's finally time for me to collect my own thoughts - or, at least that’s been my usual experience of it in the past few years (I haven’t been there in person since 2019). While I did my “mini reviews” for indie games that I tried out on Mastodon, I’ve decided to publish my general résumé on Tumblr this year, since I have quite a few thoughts that I wanted to take the time to address in detail (and frankly, I just didn’t want to put up with Mastodon’s character limit and a mile-long thread of posts). So, without further ado, here are my impressions of Gamescom 2024.

First off, let's start at the beginning: Opening Night Live. My opinion on this year's ONL is essentially the same as the previous years: pretty okay. I should mention, however, that I don't really care about modern triple-A gaming - the stacks upon stacks of open world graphic marvels with a maximum of uninspired game design just bore me to death.

The only thing that could've made this showcase potentially interesting to me would've been an announcement of the Lies of P DLC - however, since Neowiz wasn't even among the exhibitors, any hope I had for that deflated before Gamescom even started. (It's strange, actually - Gamescom would have been the opportunity to announce it if they're sticking with the release window of late 2024.)

One good thing that ONL did though was reminding me to check out Ara: History Untold. I was already intrigued by it when I heard about it during last year's Gamescom, and since the game will release soon in September, they finally showed some more extensive gameplay. It's strange that despite being such a big strategy fan, I've never played a Civ game before (except the Nintendo DS variant I had as a child where I lost horribly due to trying to play the game as a pacifist), but I'm actually very tempted to give this one a shot - a grand strategy game with environments rendered in an amount of detail comparable to Anno sounds really great. (One of my favorite things when I was playing Anno 1503 as a child was to stop for a brief moment and just look at everything that was going on.)

Also, I'm really intrigued by the feature that you can create your own leaders. I used to say “the moment I'll pick up a grand strategy game is when I'll be able to play as Vercingetorix and absolutely blow Caesar to kingdom come” - and even if Vercingetorix isn't in the game by standard, I can simply create him. I kid you not when I say that I could cry every time when I think about how the Gallic Wars were essentially just instigated by one person to gain political power and money - Rome itself wasn’t even interested in conquering Gaul, and Caesar had enough enemies in Rome who would’ve loved to see him fail in his self-staged glory campaign. A Gallic victory might have even inspired other peoples and nations to push back against Roman expansion and Romanization, leading to a more diverse European legacy as a whole (fun fact, btw: a lot of “Roman” inventions were actually just taken over from other cultures). Now, this is an alternate reality that I would love to see - plus, I’m always open to bullying some Romans. Who knows, if I’m really getting to rewrite history, maybe Carthage can join in the fun too. (Bring me those elephants, Hannibal!)

Since I've been a bit confused that they chose Nefertiti over Hatshepsut as an Egyptian leader*, I would love to play a campaign as her, too - the, according to James Henry Breasted, “first great woman in history of whom we are informed”. Not only that, her rule was so successful (especially in regards to trading and construction projects) that the patriarchal authorities of Egypt saw their worldview threatened, and because they couldn't have any records of an actually competent woman, they went out and erased her name on almost all of her monuments so she was basically forgotten by history for a long time. Well, I'd love to change that - as usual, though, I will wait what the reviews for Ara are going to be like, and maybe wait a little more until I can snatch the game at a good price.

*It's not that I'm unhappy with Nefertiti as a choice, I'm just a little surprised they wouldn't choose Hatshepsut in the light of her achievements. It’s also a little baffling that they announce Nefertiti as “pharaoh of Egypt” when she was just Great Royal Wife (albeit a very influential one) and Hatshepsut literally held the position of pharaoh. (There are theories Nefertiti ruled briefly after her husband died, though this is a matter of debate.) Also, tiny detail, but that Nefertiti starts out with Waset (aka Thebes) as a capital is hilarious to me, since she and Akhenaten demonstratively left Waset to establish Amarna as the new capital during their reign.

One novelty this year was the German Indie Showcase (“Deutsche Indie Showcase”), which took place about one hour before Opening Night Live and focused on upcoming indie games from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Although a lot of them weren’t really “world premieres” in the sense of the word - more like new trailers for already announced titles or new content releases/updates - I still found it way more interesting and entertaining to watch than ONL, in no small thanks to the commentary by German YouTubers Gronkh (whom I’ve been a long-time fan of) and PhunkRoyal.

Speaking of which, some people may know Gronkh as one of the “regular guests” of Gamescom, but this year, he actually didn’t make an appearance at the fair. This is something he announced last year, after he realized that more and more influencers who had nothing to do with gaming tried to use Gamescom as a means to gain publicity. Because of this, Gamescom was increasingly criticized for turning more and more into an “influencer convention” in the past years, which led to Gronkh clearly positioning himself and saying “I don’t want Gamescom to exclusively become an influencer event, and I don’t want my presence to divert attention from what’s supposed to be the main attraction: the games”. As a consequence, Gronkh announced he wasn’t going to be at Gamescom 2024 and instead would organize smaller events for his community. I think this is actually a very commendable move, and that he uses his range to give more visibility to local indie games is something I appreciate all the more.

The German Indie Showcase itself was hosted independently of Gamescom, featuring no third-party advertisements, show acts, or any other useless knick-knack. This is a development that I welcome a lot, not only that we get a special event with a spotlight on local developers, but also that the showcase focuses on what it’s actually about: the games.

After catching up on some of the other showcases after Gamescom (because I was too preoccupied to watch them live), one nice surprise for me was Planet Coaster 2, which I didn’t even know about before seeing the trailer (for some reason, the announcement about a month ago just completely flew over my head ^^'). Frontier Developments took some inspiration from Roller Coaster Tycoon 3's "Soaked!" expansion this time, adding water attractions as the brand-new feature. I would be interested in checking it out if I didn't know I'm 100% going to get stuck again trying to make everything as pretty as possible, which is exactly why I never got very far in Planet Coaster 1. xD

Meanwhile, in my opinion, the indie game division had a lot more interesting titles to offer. Same as last year, I checked out a selection of 20 Steam demos from Indie Arena Booth during Gamescom, plus 4 I already played preliminary. Out of the 24 games I tried out in total, my highlights were:

Moses & Plato - Last Train to Clawville

Songs of Silence

Closer the Distance

Winter Burrow

Goodbye Seoul

Steel Seed

30 Birds

Once Upon a Rogue's Tale

Awaken - Astral Blade

Bloodless

I want to thank all the devs who provided online demos of their games for this wonderful experience - the indie games are what I’m looking forward to the most every Gamescom, and I had tons of fun checking out all the awesome demos, even those that didn’t make it into the top 10. If you’d like to read my full thoughts on all the demos I played, here are my review threads from Mastodon:

Preliminary/New in August

Day 1: Strategy

Day 2: Detective, point & click, visual novels

Day 3: Action, platformers, metroidvanias

Day 4: Puzzle

Day 5: Sim, story, cozy games

In general, I had the impression that way more indie developers provided demos of their games than last year, and some even held special events in celebration. Awaken - Astral Blade, for instance, had a Gamescom Special Demo (it was essentially just a slightly more polished version of the normal demo, but it’s still nice the devs used this opportunity to show everyone how things are coming along) and Goodbye Seoul held a simultaneous Steam giveaway event.

Other games from Hall 10.2 had playable Steam demos as well, including Paws and Leaves - A Thracian Tale, Reka, and We Harvest Shadows. Even some bigger developers followed the trend, with Krafton providing a Steam demo for inZoi’s character editor.

Given that more possibilities to take part in Gamescom online was one of my biggest wishes last year (due to the online section diminishing somewhat after the Covid years were over), I am especially heartened by this development. Due to chronic illness, it has become increasingly difficult for me to travel to Gamescom myself (not to mention the noise level and crowds, which were always a challenge for me as a neurodiverse person), and it’s so great that people who can’t visit Gamescom in person for whatever reason also get opportunities to take part in it. Also, since more accessibility was a huge topic this year, I think online presence can also be used to further improve on that - and since Gamescom 2024 set a new record in regards to online reach with 310 million digital accesses, this development will hopefully continue.

Finally, I’d like to make a brief comment on this year’s “motto” of Gamescom as formulated by the organizers: One of the guiding principles was “games foster democracy”, which, understandably, has caused quite a bit of confusion among some commenters. One German journalist even humorously remarked: “As long as I haven’t formed a conclusive opinion on that, I’d rather rely on the Federal Constitutional Court than Candy Crush Saga.”

While I wouldn’t make a general claim that video games foster democracy, I would like to add that games can foster diversity. If we have a diverse range of games made by a diverse range of people - such as we see in Indie Arena Booth - it can lead to more diversity in the medium, which in turn can increase open-mindedness among the people who consume it, and thus foster democratic values.

Overall, the impression Gamescom 2024 left me with is a very positive one, and I think there were a lot of steps in the right direction.

What’s your opinion on Gamescom 2024? Do you have anything you’d like to add? Feel free to share your own thoughts!

[shield-of-wesnoth]

Analyzing why BMR Episode II’s “Forest Confrontation” scenario felt bad to play.

In my previous post, I rambled in the tags just a little bit about how there’s a scenario in BMR’s second part that felt especially unfair and unfun at the time I played it.  While I’m in the mood, I thought I’d explain why and dissect the scenario a bit in the process. I haven’t played it in a few years, this applies at least to the 1.14/1.15-branch compatible releases, so if the scenario has changed dramatically since then, uh... I didn’t know that.

The give context, the BMR/Trinity series is hard.  They’re expert level campaigns, so of course I always brace myself for a challenge in that case, but it feels safe to say that they are especially hard for various reasons.  Despite being one of the older campaign series at this point, there are still several points at which I feel they’re more reliant on luck than strategy... maybe this is because there’s no walkthrough, maybe I have yet to find and watch any replays of people successfully beating them, or maybe I’m just not as good a strategist as I think, but by categorizing the campaigns as “expert” even the dev admits that they are objectively difficult. If you haven’t made an attempt at BMR in the last several years, modern versions introduce two massive new mechanics: An inventory/equip system for your heroes and units, and limited recruit quantity campaign-wide.  Because Wesnoth campaigns’ design generally are supposed to run on the KISS Principle, the fact that these mechanics are present at all could be enough to make the campaigns “expert” on their own, as they are nonstandard and require the player to adopt vastly different strategies (compare: UtBS’s RPG elements and unusual day/night cycle, and SotA’s unusual zombies and game progression).  In theory, I really like these mechanics!  I enjoy inventory management in LoTI and Five Fates, and forcing a player to carefully preserve their army throughout a campaign as they receive a trickle of new available recruits sounds like a fascinating challenge that could drive me to better-tune my unit survival strategies!  Unfortunately, the campaign still plays like it expects you to have a massive army that you can replenish as you have more gold (or to, as I said, be very lucky).  Let me elaborate a bit, now...

“Forest Confrontation” is a level that I got stuck on, and had to cheat to get past it at all (fun fact: my first experiences learning WML were making its sequel Trinity (at least the version for 1.6) easier!); I immediately got stuck on its following scenario “Fort Kuhle” for similar reasons and stopped playing, but this post isn’t about that one.  When I get stuck or make a bad enough mistake, or get unlucky enough in a Wesnoth scenario, I’m not shy about going back a turn or five to try something different.  The officially recommended Wesnoth experience from back in its early days is to roll with the punches and never reload from a mid-scenario save, but the “landmines” and punishing positive feedback loops in many campaigns have all but completely made me give up on that play style.  I try to avoid having to reload too often, but sometimes I may feel my hand is forced if a scenario is arduous enough... and when it’s too much even when I try over and over, even save-scumming mid-turn, I crack the thing open in Notepad++ and try to see what I’m missing.  What I found in Forest Confrontation’s .cfg had me fascinated and offended.

Forest Confrontation is a 48-turn long (on its easiest difficulty setting, of course), winter-themed level with a river down the middle with Fog Of War where you have to defeat two allied enemy leaders-- one Loyalists and one Outlaws-- while constantly keeping the Loyalists from reaching your camp.  You start with 350g, Loyalists start with 100g + 15 income, and Outlaws start with 100g.  The Outlaws start with a few Thieves already on-map, but this isn’t too weird.  As you are playing with the Ukian faction, you technically have the terrain advantage here.  Sounds fairly normal and straightforward, yeah?  Not quite.

General Burton-- the Loyalist leader, has a nasty little mechanic working in his favor in the scenario’s code.  Literally so that-- and I quote-- he “has a big army”.  And remember before I explain it your army’s mechanic: You have a campaign-wide maximum total number of units you can recruit per type, this number is only increased by making progress.  If you need another Ukian Dog mid-scenario, and you’re out of Ukian Dogs because you recruited them all and your others died, and there are none in your recall list, you’re going to have no dogs until you find more dogs or the game decides you can have a few more later.  It’s more “realistic”, very interesting, and makes every single death utterly devastating.  Even if the campaign weren’t winter-themed, you’d constantly be walking on thin ice!  Sometimes you’ll find some minor NPCs who want to join your cause and thus strengthen your army with more recruitables and recalls, but this isn’t all too common.  I can’t say it doesn’t fit the story’s bleak mood.

“What is this nightmare mechanic, then?”  It’s several smaller things, actually, but I’ll give you the big one, first.

In the scenario code, there’s a variable called “b_deaths” (presumably abbreviating something along the lines of “Burton’s deaths”), and an event tied to it on turn 4.  The first thing this specific event does is give Burton 200 gold because of course it does.  The second thing it does is set b_deaths to a value of 12 (20 or 28 on the harder difficulties). This is vital for the meat of the mechanic to work, in another event that depends on it.  This event is programmed to go off every time one of Burton’s units dies if b_deaths is greater than zero.  And so every time it activates, Burton receives 21 gold, and b_deaths’s current value is reduced by one.  This means that, on the campaign’s easiest setting, Burton gets a 21 gold gift for each of the next twelve units of his you kill after turn 4... or a total of 252 gold on top of the previous 200 he received on turn 4.

As a programmer, I find this very cool and a pretty genius concept.  It indeed does give the enemy the appearance of magically always having the bigger, unending army (subtly enough to where it could just be mistaken for income, too!), and could provide great incentive to flee in scenarios where you have to run to a checkpoint instead of staying to defeat enemy leaders.  Unfortunately, this scenario isn’t one of those, and as a player this was an absolute nightmare to have to go up against.

It all sounds pretty nasty, yes?  There’s even more that makes it worse!

Remember that river that both you and the enemies must cross in order to get at each other?  The scenario objectives hint-hint at you to “get to the river as soon as possible and avoid letting the enemy across,” and they are not screwing around with that advice.  Every time you or an enemy crosses it, it increases one of two variables-- each representing you and the enemy having crossed the river a certain number of times.  This does something with the rest of its event, of course... If the Outlaws get even one unit across the river enough, then Burton receives-- for free-- 3 Horsemen and 2 Knights.  But if before then, you have at least one of your own units across the river, then instead the Outlaws get (for free) 2 Outlaws, 3 Trappers, and 2 Thieves.  Once the Outlaws get six of their units across the river, then for free Burton gets 4 Knights and 1 Grand Knight, and the Outlaws get 3 Outlaws and 2 Bandits.

A fun fact: You don’t actually have to defeat the Outlaws to win!  It’s just Burton.  They flee if you defeat Burton first, and then you’re victorious. An unfun fact: If you do defeat the Outlaw leader-- which would make sense to do, since they’re also attacking you and are weaker than Burton-- Burton gets a free Dragoon and Iron Mauler right next to him.

And of course, once you get your units close enough to Burton’s keep, he receives 54 gold for good measure.

Have I also mentioned that the AI is set to aggressively press for your camp (and you will lose instantly if enemy troops invade it), and just as aggressively defend Burton himself?  No?  Well, it also does those things.

And so, Burton can receive a maximum of 451 gold’s worth of units for free.  Burton is essentially guaranteed to receive 506 gold throughout the level on top of his starting gold, base income, and village income unless you somehow take him out before his army obscenely fast.  None of the units he gets for free are loyal, but 500+ gold is nothing to sneeze at.  And remember: No matter how much gold you, the player, save up, your recruit amount is capped.

You have that seemingly-merciful long turn limit, but with Burton having a 15 gold income bonus compared to yours while he relentlessly pushes across the river, not much can come from its hypothetical benefits.  Where in other campaigns you could hunker down on the defensive for about a day or two to build up your troops, protect your base, and enlarge your army, the recruit cap you have combined with the bountiful boons Burton has make that idea pretty impractical.  He’s just going to take his big income, increase it with all the villages he can get on his side of the river, and steamroll you as hard as he possibly can.  You can’t even be content to chip away at his troops at the river’s edge as they swarm you, because that gives him more money for more troops! He is inevitably going to overpower you.  You cannot reasonably maintain enough troops to defeat him or hold him back, nevermind keeping enough alive for the next scenario.  You can recall your veterans from previous scenarios, but recalling is expensive, and losing experienced units that may have useful gear hurts really bad.

Oh yeah, the equipment system!  It definitely helps out a bit, and makes individual units more valuable and memorable, but not enough to withstand scenarios like this one.  Not even close.

So, that’s the problem!  All of that “ruined my day” so to speak, and really tired me out.  When I forced it to be more tolerable and finally moved onto the next level, only to see that it was yet more incredibly wealthy royal army that I had to take out with my feeble forces, I was done.  I want to finish it someday, but I haven’t picked the campaign back up in years. What could be done to “fix” this?  I don’t know.  I honestly don’t!  The computer I played that round of the campaign on is dead, so I can’t check what exactly I did to the WML those two-ish years ago (I’m pretty sure I at least removed Burton being able to suddenly get an Iron Mauler and Dragoon, though).  Even cutting out the biggest of Burton’s bonuses wouldn’t make it perfect; it’s something that would take a lot of testing and tweaking to really narrow down the main issue, not even getting into the rest of the campaign... Forest Confrontation has some cool novel mechanics backing it up, and interesting well-crafted ideas, it just feels awful to deal with and impossible to truly win.

I try and keep an open mind about game design.  Sometimes a creative vision is for a really hard game, and that’s valid!  But I honestly believe a lot of veteran UMC Wesnoth devs fall into a spiral of solipsistic difficulty-- where eventually they’re getting so good at the game, at their own campaign, that they’re compelled to make it progressively harder and harder until it’s nigh on impossible for anyone of different skill levels to complete.  It becomes punishing rather than challenging.  The player feels less like they’re missing something and more like the design is intentionally unfair.

When you get good enough at the strategies, it becomes harder to test for possible player mistakes yourself.  You can be utterly blindsided by something unwise that a player chooses to do!  Something that could possibly screw them over for the entire rest of the campaign, giving them a cruel, slow end that you absolutely did not intend!  I’ve had this problem even while trying to make my games intentionally easy!  In this case, having playtesters give feedback over time is incredibly valuable.

But... BMR has had plenty of time.  Either everyone having given feedback over the 10+ years isn’t bothered by the difficulty, or the developer doesn’t care to make it easier even on its easiest setting.

A lack of forgiveness for mistakes in gameplay is really pretty evident throughout the author’s work.  In Trinity it’s incredibly easy to get overpowered by foes in the earlier levels, especially when you’re playing as the humans’ team.  Every time I’ve beaten the “Join the Dark Side” scenario in BMR part 1-- the only campaign in the BMR/Trinity series that I’ve been able to fairly consistently win over the years-- I always feel more that it’s out of frantic luck than careful strategy, and I’m still unsure what the intended experience really is.  In the long-abandoned Tales of the Setting Sun, your small handful of troops become immortal only after the first scenario, and even though I managed to get to the end and “win” the thing after having had one of them die at the beginning, I really, really felt it during the entire campaign that I was meant to have kept them all alive.  I’m not sure if it’s intentionally so malicious, but it feels like it is, and that’s kind of the problem.

Believe it or not, I like a challenge in Wesnoth.  Beating the 1.13 branch version of UtBS without a walkthrough was one of my proudest moments after spending nearly my entire childhood stuck on the first two scenarios, but I still want to go back and beat a different version of it someday, because I feel like completing it right when the Desert Elves were first overhauled meant that it hadn’t been properly balanced and I didn’t get the true experience.  Even when I cheat, I don’t want to bring out all the big guns at once.  I may only tweak one or two things-- usually just enemy starting gold-- to level the playing field slightly so that I can (hopefully) continue through the rest of the campaign without having to get so drastic; it’s if I can’t win even then that I have to resort to meddling with AI, income, free enemy units, and enemy gold bonuses all at once. I know that a scenario being hard and seeming hopeless does not make it impossible.  The first scenario of Northern Rebirth still daunts me, but having seen a relative just barely scrape by it without guidance has proven to me that it’s certainly not quite as awful as I’d feared.  As a younger teen, when I followed walkthroughs, I was able to make considerable progress in UtBS and FtF-- proving to my young self that they are balanced if you know what you’re doing.  I’ve had moments when I was struggling in a campaign, fearing the worst, only to discover with awe that the designer had not only intended this, but that the strategies they’d guided me towards with their design had benefitted me even as I thought I had no hope of completion!  A balanced campaign is a magical, wonderful thing to experience.

I like BMR and Trinity.  I want to like them so, so badly.  Their coding, artwork, and worldbuilding is some of the most impressive in Wesnoth UMC, has been for years, and continues to be.  As I said way above, I can’t say that these design decisions don’t suit the vibe the campaign has!  In this chapter, you really do feel like you’re playing as just some guy leading a ragtag group of untrained militia through the bitter cold, in a seemingly-hopeless fight you’ve stumbled into against the vast and powerful forces of a corrupt royal military, while unknown dangers lurk around every corner.  It’s immersive, and goodness knows that marrying themes and mood with game design is quite a challenge in its own right.  Ever since I first found out about them, I’ve avoided reading ahead into spoilers, and been determined to finish them.  It’s been at least twelve years since then, trying them on and off, and I thought I’d have improved enough by now to be able to complete the series with minimal cheats, but... it just hasn’t happened.

I assume that, if a Wesnoth campaign is well-designed, that it can technically be beaten by anyone who knows how to play the game, regardless of skill level.  At least, if they had a walkthrough to follow to guide them through the beats.  I feel like, even if BMR and Trinity did have walkthroughs, that I’d still be needing some serious luck to reach their endings.  Like even if I followed it to the letter, some minor human error that made my gameplay not perfectly efficient would come back to bite me at the last second and keep completion just out of reach.  If many campaigns have what ESR calls “landmines” and “tomato surprises”, then the BMR series installments are minefields that are also full of assassins sneakily attaching time bombs to your back.  Or maybe I just happen to suck even though I’ve been playing Wesnoth since I was seven years old.  Who knows, really?

BMR and Trinity have changed a LOT over the years, and with these changes, re-balancing has to happen to bring everything back into order to make it “playable”.  It just feels to me like BMR hasn’t caught up with its own ambitions.  Forest Confrontation could be a cool scenario!  The bridge collapsing if too many human units (not dogs!) stand on it at once it is a cool touch, and Burton dissing his mercenary ally by calling him a “little hussy” is really funny.  At the very least, while it’s completely unreasonable with its challenges, BMR moderates its edginess and expletives gracefully.

tl;dr, to quote your protagonist Lorenzon himself, from a later scenario that I accidentally clicked on while trying to find the file for Forest Confrontation:

“We are still outnumbered.”

[crimsun-n-clover]

life’s been either monotonous or painful. i keep trying to focus on other shit but everyone i know fucking flakes or drains me.

i haven’t played dungeons and dragons in a fucking MONTH. every week i get my stuff all ready and plot everything out and try and expect what each player will do, and every week someone isn’t there. it’s usually not their fault and it’s not like i blame them but it’s my favorite thing and everyone else just doesn’t care that much. i want more players and better players, but every other player at the school is in a party and also probably actually homophobic or something. every party has at least one person who gave me shit as a kid or even recently and i’m not letting them ruin something i enjoy or get close to my party.

i just sleep through everything. i woke up at 3 today because mom called me to remind me i have dnd after school. or not but whatever. i’m just casually fucking miserable. i may have good times but i sure do have a lot of bad times.

did i post about how i kinda told my parents that my friend breakup with sugar was more than that? it was hard but it really explained a lot to them. i covered the basics but i don’t like talking to straight people about the nuances of gay relationships. you can’t just get into them a lot of the time and they never get that.

everyone around me is suffering and i can’t stop it. im just as upset as they are.

every week is just counting days.

monday- band practice with punk band

tuesday- dnd if anyone can ever fucking show up

wednesday- band practice with metal band

thursday- therapy

i wanna get away from this. i don’t even know what this is. i just need to leave and stay gone for a while.

i’m thinking about saving up to buy a trailer to get out as soon as fucking possible. i don’t think i’d fare well in an apartment and god knows the housing market wants us all dead. just somewhere i can sleep and put my instruments and comic books. somewhere i can invite the kiddos when they need to get away from their homes. somewhere i can make my own from the ground up with all my little collections of things and stupid posters. hell i’d even paint a dnd battle grid onto the kitchen table so i can run campaigns with less set up.

i sound like a goddamn hobbit but wouldn’t it be nice to have a little hole in the ground to come home to surrounded by gardens? with the occasional bout of relaxed partying and getting stoned in the middle. trade little gifts and dance around constantly. i wanna live in the fuckin shire. jesus christ. writing this shit out i’m worse than i thought.

i know i’d have to keep a lot of my stuff in storage. i may be a cave dwelling creature but my cave is fucking STUFFED. a lot of books, guitars, hobby related shit, stupid trinkets, hoards of blankets, all that.

there is some stuff i’m snatching from my parents. they have a nice coffee machine that they don’t use, too many fucking mugs, and vinyls dad won’t notice are missing for a little bit. plus i’ve been snatching pairs of pliers out of the garage as a form of psychological revenge, so i’ll probably have a whole box of them by then.

i’m worried that my cat won’t like it. i’ll try and put in a lot of things he can scratch at and give him sole high up places to look down upon me from but he’s one prissy bastard. well not really but he’s a lot like me. he’s picky and acts like someone who’s autistic. he likes to be up high and to have things that make noises. he picks fights he can’t win and sleeps through anything my that bores him. so the place i’m constructing in my head is an incredible fit for me, but i’m not sure if that’ll be good for him too.

i just did way too much research and what i want is in the 30-40k range, 200-400 monthly.

it’s not great but not too fuckin bad if it means getting out