#I love dnd and the connections to be made between these two works

[astarionancuninswife]

My brain just realized that BG3 and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves are not only literally set in the same world (duh, they’re both DnD based projects and both projects were collaborated with the publisher of DnD), but also just years apart from each other (BG3 is set 1492 DR and DADHAT is late 1490s/generally believed to be 1499 DR) and not that far away from each other location wise!!

My brain, it has exploded and won’t let me sleep now over this discovery

[waltwhitmansbeard]

so i just read a post explaining why the op (and, according to the op, a lot of other people, even tho the post in question only had 32 notes, some of which were from people who disagreed with them) didn't like the cut to the crown keepers in last week's episode. while i'm totally on board with people not jibing with stuff that just doesn't work for them, i wanted offer some reasons why this seemingly hard pivot to people who are not the main characters of the story being told was a good decision to make (note good decision, not inherently the best decision, which i believe no one, including the dm, at a ttrpg table should ever be expected to make).

matt had an extremely powerful, extremely unexpected character decision dropped in his lap in the final moments of the previous episode. we don't know exactly how much time matt has between recordings, maybe a full week, maybe not, but either way, there's a very real chance that matt just did not have enough time to fully prepare a session to deal with fcg's death and what comes next.

sam now has to create a new character that a) is of a level with the rest of the party and b) makes narrative sense for him to be there. that takes time for both him and matt, and they might just need some space to work on that. when laudna died, marisha was willing to sit away from the table for several weeks because she knew that she wanted laudna to be resurrected, but sam may not want the same thing, and that's okay!

matt may want to fold the crown keepers into his main story, some or all of them—particularly dorian, whom both liam and the fans have been asking to return for a while now. dorian is clearly important to orym and the story that liam is trying to tell, and bringing the crown keepers in may be matt's way to do that.

matt—and dms generally—has always had to straddle a very fine line of making sure that his players are the main characters of their story who feel like their actions have real consequences and effects on the world, while also understanding that in reality, it doesn't make sense for half a dozen chucklefucks to have such an outsized effect on major cosmological goings-on like *checks notes* the potential release of a god-eater. this becomes especially true when you're on your third campaign set in the same world, and your players' previous ultra-powerful pcs are still around and definitely more adept and connected than their current pcs are. i, personally, think matt does a great job at walking that line, and one of the things he does that i appreciate is that he doesn't shy away from the fact that a) his players are powerful but not the most powerful and b) his players aren't the only one who care about what's going on in the world and who are taking actions to effect change. the current plotline re: ruidus is absolutely world-shaking and is causing all the divine girlies to cower in their demiplanes, so of course even the evil ones are going to be calling on their champions to help out. it makes more sense for opal to be involved (which, btw, matt has been hinting at for a while now) than not.

matt might need a fucking break! he's been doing this consistently for nine years now, and shit is complicated! handing over the reins to aabria for a week or two or three may be what he needs to not get burnt out.

dnd is an emotional game, and the entire cast might have been rocked hard by fcg's death. some space away for a week or two could help them process and regroup to get back into a story that is otherwise very stressful and action-packed.

or it's none of these! what do i know! i'm a random idiot on the internet! matt doesn't consult me on these matters! (though my dms are open if he wants to chat, i do have ideas)

i think it's tempting to think of the decisions made in and around critical role (or any ttrpg show) like those made for a television series, because the episodes are serialized and we love them so much. but this show is, first and foremost, a group of friends playing a game together, and not a carefully constructed narrative with the primary goal of entertaining an audience. the audience always has been and, frankly, always should be second to the wishes and fun of the people around that table. matt would not have asked aabria to step in and dm a crown keepers side arc if he didn't think it was a good decision for him and his players, and that priority is the correct one. we are being invited in to watch these friends have fun together, and that's a privilege that we're super lucky to have. as long as the cr story isn't doing things that are outright abusive or harmful to the cast or the audience, i don't think we should begrudge them the choices they make in the name of their own game.

again, it's okay if you're not vibing with the crown keepers! i didn't love the aeor arc of c2! not everything is for everyone! but i think accusing matt and the cast of narrative malfeasance is a bit much when, tbqh, they don't answer to us. they answer to each other.

[tadbitfooled]

I wish to discuss gods and my muses' relations to them. In Toril, religion is an intricate part of the culture, as the gods are proven to be real and can directly affect life on the planet. The relationship between mortals and the gods seems to be very transactional, so we'll do a quick post about how my muses relate to the gods.

Tadpoled

Brinus - Obviously, in Menzoberranzan, he has to exonerate Lolth, but he also favors Kiaransalee, the Dark Seldarine goddess of undead, necromancy and vengeance. He feels a sort of kinship with her, at times, so makes sure to include Kiaransalee in his prayers while keeping on the appearance of a Lolth follower for social clout.

Briza - The Jaelre family was exiled for exonerating Vhaeraun and the family keeps up the expected faith, but Briza doesn't feel much connection with Vhaeraun. She has very little religious connection and does what's expected of her but not more. Perhaps, in time, she could find a god more connected with her own life.

Durante - Durante, being the grandson of Mephistopheles, has a rough relationship with anything religious. He has no main deity, but he tends to pray to Sune, Lathander, and Beshada. The former two for artistic inspiration and the latter to save himself from further misfortune.

Frits - As a wizard, obviously he worships Mystra but also the other magical gods as well, such as Azuth and Savras. He also at times will pray to Deneir, as his field research relates to the god's desire to write knowledge down.

Gwenifar - as a cleric of Ilmater, she exonerates Ilmater and Ilmater alone. It's been pointed out by various religious figures that she has a special connection with the god, perhaps from the encounter in her youth and her deal she made to save her sister. It's known she has a strong blessing from him and his favor, but perhaps not at the level of a Chosen due to Ao's decree. Gwen does view it as a transactional set up and feels Ilmater fits her personal views best, plus he was the one who helped when others wouldn't.

Talilah - Follows the Seldarine pantheon, with prayers to Corellon Larethian, Erevan Ilesere, and Melira Taralen most of the time. It's an integral part of her life, for sure, but not something that she views as something that controls her. Just something that's there and part of her, like for a lot of other high elves.

Tavinkas - He's a bhaalspawn so before this, well, it was Bhaal. He was Bhaal's chosen. But after the game, it's Jergal, although Tavinkas would love to step away from death and perhaps, maybe eventually something less bleak.

Camp Followers

Anatol - he's a cleric of Lathander. That's who he prays to, who he focuses on, and he is very much wrapped up in his duties as a cleric and wanting to be heroic (I would've made him a paladin but that's old DND. Maybe I'll multiclass him). He is definitely a little bit obnoxious about it.

Kyrirthlila - follows the Seldarine pantheon, with special attention to Erevan Ilesere and Sehanine Moonbow. She does take her worship seriously, oddly enough compared to how she normally is about authority. But she views it more as working a deal with them, and feels like they're the ones who listen when she needs aid.

Misc.

Arakhivaen - Big follower of the Seldarine pantheon. Obviously with attention to Corellon Larethian but also to Hanali Celanil. He is very devote in his worship, given the whole set up for elves and their pantheon.

Ingeleif - As one of Mystra's chosen, he has a very intimate relationship with the goddess and has for some time. His own skill eventually drew her attention as she needed to grow her power base and she gave him a years long trial to prove his worth. Having proven his worth, he now exonerates her and does her bidding as she wishes.

Klaudius - he is a truescar and high priest of Loviatar. He was raised Loviatan and happily embraced it, taking it even farther than his own parents did. He takes great pleasure in spreading pain as Loviatar requires and only wishes pain and anguish to flow through all of Toril.

Family of Canon Characters

Aella - Oghma and Milil, the deities over bards. Aella is very serious in her practice and will take any insult to either deity as a personal insult. It's an important part of her life and she respects both of these gods and their work.

Arzan - The Seldarine pantheon, with attention given to Solonor Thelandria, as he hunts vampires so he needs the favor of the god of hunting. He prays to the others, of course, but Solonor gets the most attention.

Chiela - a cleric of Sehahine Moonbow, that's who Chiela focuses her worship on. She is very studious in her work and feels Sehanine is the best suited for her and views the relationship as bit of a partnership between them.

Perun - Tymora, the goddess of good fortune. Being an adventure, he knows he needs as much good fortune as he can get. You can't pay him to pray to Mystra, even though people tried when he was a youth.

[msommers]

10, 15, 30, 37 for riya, ghilly and jorina!

I FINALLY ANSWERED THEM. I DIDN'T HAVE A CRISIS OVER SOME OF THESE QUESTIONS AT ALL. THANK YOU. // random dnd questions

10) How does your PC fidget?

RIYA — hands gotta be in motion (clasping and unclasping in different positions, tapping against her thigh or a surface, half-effort somatic practice for spells, etc), twisting the Valdivia rings around her fingers, playing with her hair, adjusting her outfit, messing about with the locket or handkerchief her father sent her.

GHILLY — traces the vallaslin on her fingers, gently swings the lantern at the top of her staff while gazing at whatever magic is currently idling in it, tugs and twists loose threads from the various patches on her skirt/dress, draws various runes/sigils/letters she’s seen in ruins on the nearest surface with her fingers.

JORINA — a lot of readjusting her posture/stance, picking at the edge of a pocket, taking out a pencil and fiddling with it, tugging at the end of her braid or fully rebranding the hair if anxious long enough. 

15) How does your PC feel about marriage? Weddings?

RIYA — i have overthought this question to the point of insanity somebody save me. i think this is a case of Riya having not really thought about marriage for herself (not out of disliking it, just avoidance because one too many subtle mentions of political arrangements), but in General she has a positive view on it because she grew up with a healthy example in her parents. they have a beautiful love and partnership, and her favorite part of it is how they’ve clearly communicated what they need/want from each other so there’s never any confusion in expectations. it’s rubbed off on Riya and that’s why she’s so chill about discussions in her relationships, having no troubles communicating expectations, boundaries and needs. i mean if it came down to it, if Riya’s serious enough with somebody for marriage to come up then they’ve probably thoroughly established every aspect of the relationship and she’d be down for it so long as the other party isn’t demanding changes outside of her comfort zone. it’s already a partnership, this just adds a few fun new titles/petnames to use and probably a pretty ring 🥰 there better be a pretty ring 🥰🥰 oh also the other part of the question: weddings are fucking bangers, she wants to attend them all.

GHILLY — she thinks it's cute :’) it's so funny knowing the big chunks of text that flank her answer, but Ghilly doesn't have any strong opinions here. she's a romantic at heart and enjoys the idea of feeling so connected to another that you want to add another level of devotion to it. i bet some dalish bonding celebrations are fun as fuck, she'd vibe with them. 

JORINA — i think marriage is a side quest in Jorina's overarching hero's journey to understand, process, and work through the complicated mess that is her feelings on romance after what happened to her parents. for a long time it was a terrifying concept because her father basically fucking disappeared into his grief after her mother died, and one of the things that got stuck in her head from that was “marriage = committing to love somebody so much that you're entirely shattered if they leave and that's it, you're broken forever ”. it's such an extreme take but it was formed at like age 15 or smth and it was easier to fully lock into it than deconstruct it,,,,but she ends up doing that down the line anyway. because after a few years with Aleksi she has to admit to herself that even without marriage between them, she fully understands that you can feel that kind of love without exchanging vows and rings. there's obvs a lot more to work through there but that's the start of it, and she'd probably eventually land in the camp of respecting that others see it as a relationship goal but it's nothing she herself requires. the commitment is already made, y’know. weddings are like all other social events: she's fine being there for an hour or two to show that she cares and can hold a few nice conversations with the people hosting, then she's fucking out of there. social battery dry. 

30) How does your PC flirt?

RIYA — (i blackout half the time she talks in-game so like. grain of salt here lmao) so much of it is based in being absolutely shameless in her interest/desire. loves to open with direct compliments delivered in an overtly-flirty voice to immediately get her intent across, also a big fan of blatant innuendo (moaning room you will always be famous). the level of subtlety when detailing her intentions depends on the target of her attention and her current patience level. puts an equal amount of effort into the physical approach as well with eye contact, deliberate movement/expressions, brazen touches with her hands. it all comes down to the simple fact that whatever Riya wants with you—anywhere on the scale from flirting just for fun / wanting to tear your clothes off then and there—you’re going to know it within about 30 seconds, even if you aren’t the most insightful.

GHILLY — this one is fucking with me because i can't see her doing any form of typical flirting, but i could see her doing romantic displays like reading poetry or gifting flowers. she wouldn't do innuendo or cheeky compliments, it'd be straight to the point comments on admiration/appreciation and then a proposition if there’s clear interest on both sides.

JORINA — bro so awkwardly i don't even wanna think about it, i'll suffer secondhand embarrassment from my own character 😭😭 she's not flirting! she's gazing and pining!! she's stuttering and leaving the scene the minute somebody flirts with her, she can't return it!!! i strongly believe the only time Jorina's tried to flirt it came out as an awkward but not notably out of place compliment on work performance, then she immediately walked away and it was chalked up to “wow she's real bad at positive reinforcement”. 

37) What flower represents your PC?

flower symbolism aka the bane of my existence because each flower has 17 different meanings depending on which site you visit lmao. i’m just gonna collect multiple for each so i never have to look again for them and can just come back here for future use

RIYA —

laurestine: "i die if neglected"

tiger lily: wealth, pride

marigold: grief, despair, sacred affection

red orchid: fire, romance, desire, passion

orange orchid: pride, enthusiasm, boldness

rainflower: rebirth, new beginnings, great expectations

willow: (french) bravery, humanity; (weeping) mourning

GHILLY — 

purple heather: solitude, admiration

magnolia: nature lover, nobility, dignity

blue orchid: rarity, uniqueness, beauty, spirituality

dahlia: elegance, dignity, abundance, instability

JORINA — 

purple lilac: first emotions of love

bluebell: loyalty, constancy, humility, gratitude

protea: courage, daring, resourcefulness, transformation

white tulip: forgiveness, remembrance, sincerity, "i am worthy of you"

[romanticsanthem]

Will Byers: The connection and the letters.

originally posted on ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/41130420

“Guys, we can’t do that” Mike said, his voice on the brink of yelling.

“If Will was the connection, that’d be the only way to cut all ties to the upside down to our world” Dustin spoke out, you can tell it pained him to say that.

“We are not killing my brother” Jonathan yelled out, looking directly into Dustin’s eyes, making himself clear as daylight, Dustin felt intimated.

The party, minus Will and El, as well as the older kids sat in the Wheelers basement, awaiting news that could destroy their lives, friendships, their whole world.

Eleven sat in the wheelers bathroom, blindfolded, and with static playing, all while her brother sits on the ground, on the verge of a panic attack, ignoring the muffled talks outside of the bathroom.

Will really doesn’t want to die, he’s yet to do so much.

He’s never been outside of the U.S, he’s never made friends outside of Hawkins, he’s never gone on a date, he’s never had his first kiss, and most importantly he’s yet to tell Micheal Wheeler that he’s in love with him.

Suddenly, El gasped, and threw the blindfold to the side, panting, tears streaming down her face.

“Will.” She started, pulling her brother into a tight embrace, almost as if she let go he’d simply disappear into thin air.

“I’m sorry.”

Will understood what she meant, he knew that he was the connection all along, he just wished it didn’t come to this.

The Byers-Hopper siblings sat there, huddled up together, sobbing for what felt like hours, El muttering “I’m sorry” in between sobs.

Finally they had gotten up, eyes red and puffy, to go deliver the news to the others.

Once the pair arrived in the room, all arguments and shouting had come to a halt, all eyes on them.

Based on the look on their faces, Mike could tell the next sentence to come out of Eleven’s mouth was going to be a sentence he hated.

“Will.. is the connection” El muttered, looking down at her feet.

Will just observed everyone’s faces, a mixture of teary eyes and angry faces.

He was then pulled into a tight hug by Jonathan and soon the whole party was hugging, crying over the fact that their dear friend and brother, may no longer live past tomorrow due to circumstances they didn’t want to happen.

After awhile the they pulled apart from the hug, sitting around the Wheelers basement in silence.

Will broke the silence, “I need to do something, I’ll be back.” And he left the basement, feeling all eyes on him.

Will grabbed his notebook, a pen, a stack of envelopes and locked himself in the wheelers guest room, he was going to write letters to the people he cares about, if he was going to die he wanted them to know how much he truely loved them.

The first letter up was Lucas, his dear friend,

To Lucas,

I understand we didn’t really speak much whilst I was living in Lenora but I heard about you being on the basketball team, that’s awesome! I hope it brings you joy, I hope you know how much I care about you, I appreciated it when last summer you and max invited me to hang out with you two when I didn’t have anyone, I loved learning how to skate with you guys by the way. Meeting you and Dustin in the 2nd grade was one of my favorite memories, I hope you the party stays friends after this, I’d love that.

Please take care of yourself and Max, I know how much you love her.

Love, Will.

He folded up the paper and placed it neatly in an envelope.

Next up was Dustin.

To Dustin,

You were the one of the first people to make me not feel weird for being well different, and I’m glad. You were always the smartest one out of us four and I’m glad that you still have the same love for dnd that I have, even after all these years. Never change Dustin. By the way, we met suzie, she seems really nice and she helped us find El, so in my books, she’s just as awesome as you described her to be. I hope you guys get to see each other again.

I hope your doing alright, I heard about Eddie, I never met him, but from his description he sounded amazing and I would’ve loved to meet him. Take care Dustin.

Love, Will.

His eyes were already getting watery and he was only on the second letter. That’s pathetic he let out a small laugh.

He then went on to write a letter for Max, not as long as the others however still just as meaningful.

To Max,

I know we didn’t hang out much, however you were just as important to me as the rest of the party, you make Lucas and El incredibly happy and for that I’m so thankful, never stop be the sarcastic, yet caring friend I know. You included me in a time that I felt incredibly excluded, and I’m so glad to have met you.

Love,Will.

After writing a letter for his birth father, Lonnie, which to summarize, stated that he was a horrible father to will and how he wished they had a good relationship, however it was too late for that.

He then went on to write a letter for Hopper.

To Hopper,

Thank you for being there for my mom when I went missing, I will be forever grateful, in this life and the next. You make my mom so happy and I’m glad, she deserves someone as kind and caring as you, take care of her and El for me please? I wish I got to know you more as a father figure.

Love,

Will.

Next up we’re Jonathan and His mother, Joyce. He decided to write them one letter for the both of them.

To Mom and Jonathan,

You guys were the best family I could ever ask for, thank you both for raising me to be the best version of myself I could be. I however, have a confession to make, I’m gay.

I never told either of you directly not because I didn’t think you’d support, but because I was still figuring things out for myself, I know you’d support me.

Jonathan, please take care of mom for me, I understand this will be hard but it’s for the best and I truely do wish the best for you in life, I hope you get into that college you and Nancy want to get into.

Mom, please stay strong, I know this is difficult but I promise we’ll meet again someday, please make sure El has a nice time in high school, treat her as normal as possible please?

I love you both so much.

Love,

Will.

Tears were now streaming down his face, he hopes his family can move on with their lives afterwards.

Two more letters to go, El and Mike.

He decided to save Mikes letter for last.

To El,

Im so glad to have been known as your brother, I couldn’t be prouder. Ever since you saved the party, me included, from the upside I’ve been forever thankful. I hope you find true happiness and have a better time at school, I’m sorry for not defending you all those times, I regret that a lot.

I hope you and Mike can work things out, I know he’s not the best at expressing things but I hope you guys figure things out, romantically or platonically, I just want you to be happy.

Love,

Will.

And finally, Mikes letter.

To Mike,

The day we first met, was the best day of my life. I cherish that memory a lot. I’m so incredibly happy that I had you as my best friend. I apologize for saying this so late but it’s better you know this now rather than later.

Mike, I’m gay and I’ve been in love with you since we were eight.

I loved you even when we fought, which is why I didn’t like any girls, I liked you.

If I listed all the reason why I loved you so much it might take up the entire page, so here’s a few;

I love your black hair, especially the way it curls. I love your smile, the same smile that gave me butterflies often, I love your kind heart, the same heart that stuck with me while the mind flayer stuff occurred, crazy together right?

I hope you have a good life with El and the rest of the party, you truly are the heart.

Love,

Will.

1 MONTH LATER

Mike sat in his bedroom, Will is dead.

He’s been wallowing in his room all by himself for the past month, they won but at what cost?

He doesn’t know how he’ll live without Will being by his side.

The entire party was hurting, but it hit Mike twice as hard.

He’s yet to open the letter Will wrote for him, it hurt too much.

He sat at the foot of his bed, the letter in his lap, by the look of his face, it seems as though he hasn’t slept in days.

The grief had fully struck him by now, Will is dead, and never coming back. That thought kept replaying itself in his head, over and over again. He hated it.

He decided to finally open the letter, the moment he read the words on the page, his eyes started to watery, and that turned into a full blown sob.

“Mike, I’m gay and I’ve been in love with you since we were eight” He read that sentence, too many times to count.

Will loved him, Will loved him so much it was able to overlook all those times he acted like an asshole to Will, especially last year, he regrets that so much.

He wishes he could go back in time so desperately.

Mike ripped a piece of paper from his notebook, and sat at his desk and began writing.

Dear Will,

I’m sorry.

Im so so sorry for being an asshole to you, I’m sorry that I made you feel bad for not liking girls, I’m sorry for not realizing my own feelings so long ago. I love you too, Will.

I wish things didn’t end how they did, I wish you were still here.

I hope one day I’ll see you again, we’ll be reunited one day.

Love,

Mike.

Mike sobbed, like a full on ugly cry.

He stared at the paper before him, his tears dripping down on the letter.

He doesn’t know how he’s going to bounce back after this, but he knows he will, it’s what Will would want.

[bonesandthebees]

YOOOOO that's so cool :00

My first dnd character was a cleric, but that one was premade for me, so the first one i properly played was actually a wood elf ranger lmaooo twinning

And then my 3rd character for a campaign I made was a human college of swords bard

My fav character I made tho (as a guest character) is a water genasi wild magic sorc :))) wild magic is SO MUCH FUN also i just love water vibes sooo rahhhs

I love all my characters tho

(Tho only the cleric campaign ever finished 😭😭 the other two got demolished from covid big rip, one day I'll get back into dnd... one day)

BUT YOOO THATS COOL!! I think i remember u mentioning smth abou the discord rp in an old ask. Feel free to ramble about ur character here !!! I'd love to learn more, that's so cool :000

going through older asks time anyway hi again icy

omg twinning with the elf rangers!!

oooo human college of swords bard sounds like a fun time. I think I technically started making another dnd character at one point for a different campaign that never turned out, but I think she was going to be a tiefling monk? oh well lost ideas...

ooooo a water genasi with wild magic sounds SO fun. I don't know the details of wild magic mechanics that well but from the little I do know it sounds like that would be a lot of fun

ok well. the discord rp thing I was a part of was technically a fandom thing but the people running it very quickly took the plot in their own direction and by the end it was pretty unrecognizable what media it was originally inspired by. but um that's just a disclaimer in case anyone recognizes the format. pls don't snitch. anyway I'm gonna ramble about it under the cut so it will be long I am sorry

anyway! the gist of the game was that all our characters were thrown into a discord server and told we had to participate in trials run by a godlike beings (entities) who liked tormenting people for entertainment and all that jazz. we would have to submit videos of us completing tasks given to us in order to stay alive, and later on could also participate in puzzle games in giant vc calls if we wanted to basically just get extra kudos with the entities.

the rp was mostly done through in character texting, but again we could also film videos for tasks, and could participate in ic vcs. the rp itself was improv, but there was a team of admins who played the entities running the game, while also having characters of their own that participated in the trials as well. these characters had their own larger plot going on, but along with that the admins would work with individual player characters and give each of us our own plotline that connected to the larger story. so actually very similar to how the qsmp works right now, and somewhat similar to how dsmp worked

also fun fact, we had a 3 lives system! and this was july 2020, so, like, we did it before dsmp lol.

every participant was assigned a number, and was only allowed to be referred to by that number in the in game discord server. so while most of our characters technically shared our actual ooc names, I think of my character by her number.

my girl's number was 28. technically this rp game was a sequel to a similar one we'd done way back in 2018, so 28 was a continuation of my character from that. 28 was known as a peacemaker in the group who tried to keep everyone else grounded, but wouldn't take shit from others. she was definitely one of the nicest people in the group, but would call out bullshit if she saw it. when us participants started trying to find ways to plot against the entities running the games, 28 ended up becoming more of a leader-figure in the group along with a few others and tried to keep things between the other participants stable as these death games just got more and more stressful.

these games spanned over the course of nearly 9 months in real time so it's impossible for me to talk about everything that happened, but some highlights include 28 falling in love with another participant (22) and the two of them continuing to date even when 22 started working directly for one of the entities running the tournament while 28 herself was one of the leaders of the rebellion against the entities. communication goes a long way LMAO

later on in the rp a rival entity organization basically hijacked the games and forced all the og entities running it to either hide or become participants themselves. with this rival organization one of the new entities (known as the quarterman) picked out 28 and basically forced her into working for him as a hitman. the change happened over the course of like a month with 28 hearing dimes whisper to her all the time, until her soul got ripped out of her body and put into a dime that she had to keep on her at all times. after this though she could teleport, which was pretty cool!

I loved 28 as a character bc she tried so hard to be kind and keep everyone together but it was such a stressful situation and people got so harsh and bitchy with each other (all in character of course. we'd all have a huge argument and then hop into the ooc server to meme about it). the conflict she had between wanting to help the rebellion while her own gf worked with the 'enemy' was sooo much fun to rp. and of course my lovely friend lisa who played 22 was an amazing rp partner to have. lisa if you're reading this I miss our girls :(

it was just such a fun experience overall. I once had to order some really weird stuff off amazon once to build a fake radiation detector for a task video and my mom straight up thought I was building a bomb 😭 We did in character vcs both for plot but also sometimes we'd just drink and chat ic. the admins I worked with were so lovely and I'm so glad I had that experience bc it taught me so much about how rp games like that work and what style of improv rp I like. fun times :,)

[dgdraws]

My art year in review!

I learned so much this year and made a ton of cool stuff! These are my favorites from each month, but it was so hard to choose. A lot of stuff didn't even get posted--I'll be sure to at least post the ones that made it to this list!

It's amazing to see how much I've changed and learned over this year, and to see the things that are emerging as part of "my style."

Here's to another year of delight, creation, connection and fun!

Some monthly reflections beneath the cut, but here's the highlights:

I participated in 3 art challenges, Artfight, OC-tober and Huevember.

I made fanart for the first time!

I created a piece I conceived of before I started drawing

Made some big breakthroughs in techniques and skills in April, July and November

January: My first branch into full character design, Rodd is the culmination of training on Hero Forge renders to make dnd portraits! I was doing this cool thing with neon rim lighting, I should bring that back!

February: I saw a piece on here with this amazing glowing effect, so I color picked it and experimented to figure out what relationship between the colors was making it do that! The answer was saturation. This rose is meant to be glowing from within, and I think I did a good job for my knowledge level at the time! As Chuck Tingle would tell us, it's beautiful because only I could have made it in that moment on the timeline.

March: I spent a million years on every detail of this one, it has at least 5 clipping overlay/saturation layers for lighting, multiple line work groups and I want to rework that background but! I never felt more accomplished than I did when I finished this one. I learned a lot, especially about things I could skip or simplify. And the symbolism really pops off ngl

April: I read Gideon the Ninth for the first time this month and I immediately needed to draw Jeannemary Chatur, Cavalier of the Fourth House, the worst teen to do it. She's the first fanart I ever made and posted! I also discovered a new pen tool with this one, which CHANGED THE GAME.

May: This one is an idea I had written down before I ever picked up the tablet and stylus. I thought I might commission someone to make it, the image of it came to me so clearly during our VTM session I just had to make it real somehow. Well I did it! This is one I will come back to redraw in like 5 years bc I love the concept so much. Also rife with symbolism and inside nods to the Low Kings.

June: I made a bunch of ref sheets in the run-up to Artfight in July. Caleb hadn't even been in my plans to upload, but I had time and inspiration! I will be uploading this and a few more of him <3

July: This is one of my faves from Artfight! This character is Blueberry, by way of OrchidEatsBread on artfight. I have still never played... rainworld? But I love me a slug cat. In July I drew a TON of people, it really drilled anatomy basics into me and how to get clothes looking like actual clothes a bit more. Also solidified some things I would consider "my style" at the moment, like no irises, and my approach to noses and mouths and fingers!

August: Another fanart for the Locked Tomb series, I never posted this!!! Will be rectifying that soon.

September: I got really into javascript and css this month, and I made this to be a landing page image on my neocities website XD I'll get back around to that eventually...

October: At the last minute, I discovered OC-tober and the prompts from @/bweirdart, a worthy follow up to the rush of Artfight two months previous. I developed so much stuff for the Low Kings, including this drawing/character, Amayah/Girl-Z, who has been a figment of my pintrest board for 2+ years.

Huevember: Chasing that OC-tober high, I found Huevember! I did not expect to actually do every day, but it proved to be an amazing exercise! I learned so, so much about color, discovered amazing new brushes and techniques and found I really enjoy working in those one day capsules! I loved a lot of the stuff that came out of this month, including my highest note post ever!!!, but this one is still my phone background and I'm maybe developing an OC world around it. We'll see what happens in 2024.

December: I got hit HARD with the writing bug this month, so this was my only choice for this month but I WOULDA CHOSEN IT ANYWAY. I unlocked something here that I'm really excited to visit again, in fact I'm working on a companion piece rn! This is also fanart btw, prepare for me to get even weirder about this guy in the coming months.

If you've read this far, thank you so much! I have so much fun writing these little reflections and making my posts on here.

xoxo, wren

[gunshou]

You need to understand that not everything is specifically about you. I was likely bullied more in school for being fat than you were for your nose specifically because youre Jewish. Unless you live in some other country than I do that really hates jews.

Idk what your problem is but being made fun of for your nose a couple of times does not mean the whole world is out to get you. Like I said. I'm over 30 and I had never even heard of this stuff until recently. And it's all over some stupid ass video game or fictional book. And I don't even like Harry Potter books because it's boring as fuck I can't even make it through the movies without cringing a quarter the way through and getting bored.

BUT I have played dnd and roleplay tabletop games for most of my life and not once have I heard anything about goblins being some Jewish hate type thing. Even if they started out as that the thing is that no one fucking knows or cares about it anymore. No one besides people looking for problems has ever made a connection between goblins and jews.

That's the problem here.

It's people looking for problems when there isn't even any. Especially with other mythological beings where jews had zero influence on their appearance or behavior. Which is what the submission was about BTW.

Everytime I hear something or other about Jewish people or big noses it's always about some work of fiction that either has no correlation to jews or people who just want a reason to hate something and feel morally rightious about it go and look for any reason they can to say its whatever *bad thing*.

And ofc YOU as a jew might know about it and the people who did bully you probably looked specifically for something to hurt you for and not because they were taught it. But MOST people don't give two rat asses about it and are TIRED of hearing people with nothing better to do, complaining about some fictional character have a big nose so it's apparently nazi propaganda. It's fucking stupid. It's tiring and I'm sick of having people (in general) telling me I can't enjoy shit because of some dumb fucking reason that no one even knows or cares about anyway, and most certainly don't care even if they DID know about it, because most people have enough brain cells to understand that they can still enjoy things like goblins without supporting their past (or even present) meanings.

And if say that I made something specifically like that (I wouldn't) but didn't say it's about hating *xyz* and a bunch of people loved it. People would still be allowed to enjoy that thing and are capable of separating it from it's hidden meaning if they ever found out. I mean that's what most of the Harry Potter Fandom did with jkr and her books. They separated the art from the artist. And anything that's bad is just coincidentally that way and doesn't actually mean those things at all.

It's not fucking impossible. Cast aside your victim complex and touch grass. You'll be a lot happier when you stop thinking every little thing is some slight against you.

Well, I'm fat too, so there you go.

It's not about me, and I'm not the one taking this personally. You can like what you like, literally no one is stopping you. But the fact that you're a grown adult who doesn't know basic world history isn't the flex you think it is. You really came into my house here to yell at me that because *you* never personally heard of something in your vast experience playing DnD then hundreds of literary analysts must be wrong. That because you never heard of something it doesn't really exist and people who do know about it are just being stupid. That your weariness at being told a fact is somehow more burdensome than actual antisemitism and so you don't want to hear it anymore. I don't think I'm the one who needs to touch grass and maybe broaden my experiences.

Absolutely people can separate art from artist and like problematic things. I do that all the time. Go enjoy your goblins and have fun! I don't know where you picked up the idea that I feel persecuted by fiction, but I didn't write the original submission - I don't even know what it said.

Go be free, gobbo. Enjoy your day! May you be unbothered and blissful.

[houkagokappa]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who reblogged something from you! get to know your mutuals and followers (ू•‧̫•ू⑅)♡

Thank you for the ask, altho I guess it was on me haha

I get to play dnd again! A few weeks ago two of my colleagues mentioned that they have an ongoing campaign, and once they heard that I'm into dnd as well, there was an instant mutual "you could play with us/I'd love to play with you" exchange between us :D It's been great to get back to a beloved hobby - dnd is what kept me sane throughout the pandemic, and I'm thrilled I get to hang out with these people outside of work, because I really like them and I want us to become (better?) friends. Being included/excluded is a very touchy subject for me, and now both have shown a clear interest in spending time with me outside of work and I couldn't be happier!

I'm happy I'm in a position that allows me a lot of flexibility. It's been a little stressful this week, because I might be getting sick and I've mostly been laying in bed instead of doing something more productive and fun (like I had planned), but it's also nice that I have the possibility to do so. I can come up with my own schedule and it's great to get to do things at my own pace.

I've been connecting with a lot of people! Besides the two work friends I now play dnd with, I'm building up my relationships with the people in the same uni program as me. They're cool people and it's easy to spend time with them, as long as I have a reason to meet up with them (I've been studying, but not on campus so I've barely seen them since we all started). I'm also very slowly building up friendships with people who share the same hobbies as me, and I'm trying to maintain the few longtime friendships I have. I have a lot of plans to see different people during the upcoming weeks and I'm so happy to be building up my social network again, because it disappeared almost completely a few years ago. Besides the friends and people I hang out with irl, I'm also really happy to connect with people online, and I feel like I've made some progress keeping up with everyone!

I'm doing that one text post trick and treating myself like an animal in need of enrichment, and I'm providing myself with that by trying out new things. Mostly I buy and try out new foods, but I'm also planning on visiting a few places and then I'm forcing myself to go on walks every single day to keep my mental health strong. It's kinda working? And trying out new things is a lot of fun, even if some things end up tasting weird.

I love rambling on forever and ever when it's a topic I care about or I feel comfortable talking to someone. I used to feel self-conscious about it, like I'm weird and bothersome, but I've since found several people who act the same way with me and encourage me to keep going, and it feels so good to be accepted as I am? And to find people who enjoy talking to me for it?? Although sometimes our messages get so long it takes me a while to reply or get back to them haha

[flowersfallingdown]

What are some of your OCs? What are some of your favourites?

Okay so I have a bunch so I’m gonna only talk about five of them

Fí!

They’re a non-binary changeling Druid/warlock. They often take on the form of a Satyr. They love to learn about the world around them and they adventure frequently! Also, the mushroom hat they wear is what connects them to their undead patron thus they can never take it off :D! Very silly, but also very scary in the right situations.

(Art by AndrewTheMood on ArtFight)

Chit’al!

An agender thri-kreen monk/sorcerer! Also a reborn god of nature and beauty which is how they got their powers! They’re currently traveling around with a group of adventurers by the names of Lux, Kendell, Saint, and Addie. Chit’al is currently going by the name “The Eternal Lotus” to honor his power and make him seem more powerful than he actually is. The whole group has been through some stuff from becoming enemies of the church because the priestess is evil to getting eaten by a giant purple worm to Addie getting possessed. They’ve always come out on top though, and hopefully as his story continues that’ll stay true :D

(Art by me)

Polaris!

Originally born as Peter Parker, Polaris was bitten by a radioactive spider and for ten years has been the one and only Solar-Spider. They’re basically my spidersona and I adore them <3 Also unlike other spider people, Polaris is able to shape shift in a way. They’re able to change from a human form to a spider form and anywhere in between! Their spider form is like an anthro spider with hair covering their body, sharper teeth and claws, and, of course, organic webbing! They still wear a suit though because they like it and when they were first starting out they got knocked out while fighting one time and their identity almost got revealed because they weren’t wearing a suit.

Picrew:

Pixie Sticks!

My killjoy oc! He’s a drummer in a band called The Atom Bomb Kids. She’s also poly and dating the two other members, Rose Bombshell (the singer/bassist) and Astral Ammo (the guitarist). Huge sugar addict and always incredibly hyper. Also the resident hairdresser of the group. Love her.

Picrew:

Unnamed Hollow Knight OC

Secret OC I’ve been working on! Haven’t got a name for them yet but I know I want them to be a mantis in the Grimm troupe who’s partially infected!

(Art by me)

I also have characters I’ve made for stories, even more dnd characters, and other fandom ocs like star wars and toh! I have a bunch lmao

Sorry it took so ont to respond to this btw! Been slowly chipping at it throughout the day

[carmenized-onions]

Ok nooo my ask got deleted so I’ll start again

First PUZZLE TIME!!!! Them having a tradition already and carny being the one who started it is so cute

Tony wearing her jacket so Syd doesn’t clock it but her immediately calling tony out. And the two kisses the cheek kiss and carm being cheeky and giving one at the door who knew

Carm being confused by girl friendships is so hilarious he’s just a guy fr

Collecting all of these like Infinity Stones.

First of all, I hate rewriting things, so the fact that you rewrote all these for me, really means the world, thank u.

PUZZLE TIME!! I did do yesterdays, btw, and I was going to send it. I did end up getting stuck in transit on the way home (fucking SUBWAYS!!!) and then passed out after watching the finale of my funny little DnD show. But I SWEAR I only made one mistake. Connections, you bitch. I hate you. Their ____ Purples really make me,,,, infuriated. And frankly I looked at todays and I just immediately closed it I simply am not down to clown.

I can't fathom a world where Syd did not IMMEDIATELY clock it, these two are essentially her closest friends, she can catch that vibe IMMEDIATELY. Also, wasn't a scene, but like-- Carmen came down instead of buzzing Tony in. That honestly by itself to Syd was definitely a ,,,,, interesting.

If you ask him, the door kiss is Tony's fault. SHE DID IT FIRST!!!!!!!!

Writing. the female friendship. Between Tony and Syd. Has been so fucking fun for me. Because upon kinda drafting Tony up and going okay, yeah, these two will have history I was like-- Sydney doesn't have girl friends her age (Like, Sug? Maybe? But like? She's still a little older and married). That's. An entirely new side of her. CAUSE GIRL FRIENDSHIPS JUST HIT DIFFERENT!!!

And honestly, they're holding back for Carm-- Idk about y'all but behind closed doors my girl friends are calling me a whore every I wanna say 2-3 business hours. (kidding, but like, in College? Not kidding. At all). But I think with the clocking of Carm and Tony, that ice of 3 years little to no contact just melted dramatically.

And also, with Syd not having female friends, and Nat never mentioning friends it's like-- Carmen Anthony Berzatto has never witnessed two young women pass the bechdel test until right now and he's so fucking confused. I loved writing that.

I RECCOMEND GETTIN' SOME BASIL IF YOU GET THE ALREADY GROWN STUFF FROM THE GROCER YOU GOTTAAAA SEPARATE THEM INTO SMALLER BUNCHES IF THEY STAY CLUMPED LIKE THAT THEY FUCKING DIE!!! YOUR GROCER IS TRYING TO CON YOU!!!

Carmen is too strong and if I had less internal fear of cringe, I would be a lot more detailed about his physicality in my writing-- but for now, big man lift heavy thing and move walk in door.

Poor (bad news) bear, he's me when I'm at my second day of work (today) and pretty sure everyone hates me for asking for confirmations of emails.

[junow-honours]

Notes

(On points raised in the critiques, or recent revelations I’ve made):

Emotional distance- not only referring to separation vs inclusion devices mentioned in the game, but emotional distance as a way of representing the whole ‘atmosphere’ of the game. It impacts how the viewer feels when they encounter it, feeling unwelcome or watched, or as if they aren’t allowed to participate.

The chairs are prompts for ‘sitting’, however how can I make it feel as if you are not welcome to sit on them, that they are reserved for players only?

Think carefully about inclusion and exclusion prompts, what can you touch, what is forbidden? I always think about Alice in Wonderland and the bottles and cakes that say ‘eat me’, ‘drink me’. How can I do the reverse of that and, without explicitly saying, make people feel like they shouldn’t touch that. I’m already half way there because of circumstances, being in a gallery setting already has established rules around touching. But board-game pieces are designed to be touched and fondled and enjoyed, a dice is meant to be thrown, so how can I subvert that?

From the beginning, with my introduction, I said that I was interested in the ‘emotional coolness’ of pop art, this sense of disconnection (or false connection) between the viewer and work. I still stand by this idea, however I also like the charm of boardgames, and how everyone has their own personal or nostalgic connection to them. I want people to look at my work and turn to their friend and say “this reminds me of this”, “this looks like that game we used to play”, “that looks like my old character”. I love contradictions because it causes tension, how can I make my work both inviting and uninviting at the same time? How could I make the viewer feel slightly excluded from the ‘conversation’ happening between the players and characters at this table?

Boardgames are obviously associated with ‘family fun!’ And friendly social activities, which is why I have become really interested in the death-game TV show genre (Squid Games, Escape Room, Alice in Borderland), which flips that narrative on its head. A game becomes a death-match, or competition. They often involve some sort of Faustian bargain, trading your life in for eternal knowledge, fame, or riches. The game room becomes tense, your senses are heightened, don’t touch anything, don’t trigger anything, assume that everything is placed meticulously and has some sort of meaning to it. Observe, but do not touch. The archetypes of heroes and villains are quickly distinguished in life or death situations.

Visual aesthetic:

For a while I wasn’t able to make up my mind on the aesthetic and style of the installation, I was torn between two options: 1) to go for a more accessible, laid-back, almost hand-crafted approach, to honour DND players who create their own game. The shelf would’ve stayed the natural wood colour, with a glossy sheen. The board-game mats would be hand-cut thick card. Everything would have an earthy, natural tone, overall having this calmer, more inviting look. And 2) is to honour my interest in commercial shop design and technology: laser-cut board-game mats of clear perspex, the shelf would be painted white and sanded to perfection, plastic, glossy materials would be primary.

For some reason I really struggled with my decision, but now I only see one clear winner. The idea of ‘emotional distance’ only strengthens my decision further. There is nothing that destabilises the geeky, fantasy aesthetic of a DND game than presenting it in a highly commercial, sterile way. I’ve always found the whiteness of a gallery, and my plinths, really cold and uncomfortable, so I was worried about the idea of painting my shelf white. But when my intention is to make people feel slightly uncomfortable, then presenting it in this way would be useful. I’m also really interested in laser-cutting the backing boards, seeking perfection through the use of technology. Raises another contradiction that I like! 3D printing and laser cutting ensure a ‘perfect’ finish. But, on the other hand, using artificial intelligence to construct my images has only brought uncanny accidents. I like this tension between seeking perfection, and embracing flaws- it’s a challenge for myself as the artist and a perfectionist, but I’ve realised that these unexpected moments are important. The project involves a constant push and pull of me asserting my own control, and me allowing for mistakes to carry the project.

Prompts between player, Watcher, and Dungeon Master.

The player seats (related to the Aggressor and Victim) need to have an arrangement of gaming paraphernalia to act as prompts for ‘play’.

Dice, character cards, character pieces, tokens, information sheets. Teams- something that connects each teammate to one another? Think about this- is it just the God that they are playing for, or something else?

The Watcher seat (on the end of the table opposite to the DM) needs to be taller than the other chairs, a stall perhaps? Something modest and unimportant- ‘The Thinker’ sculpture. The Watcher isn’t a God motivated by luxury. Simplicity and unoriginality is core to his ideologies.

The Dungeon Master (the architect’s seat), on the other hand, would need to stand out clearly as the most important and influential seat. Perhaps a CEO style chair, with a very high, plushed backing? Or a dining room chair that is tall and heavy.

[jq37]

#it feels like this was too much of a call back to the “roots”#ie. the first two fh seasons and maybe tuc (vibes-wise)#when d20 as a comedy dnd show has developed out past that purely chaotic comedy energy I think#this felt like the least thematically coherent season#even if the mechanics and battles were top-notch#the rat grinders felt like such a missed opportunity#yeah the porter reveal was fun and I was raised by asian dramas on a tiny island country where everyone *is* connected#so I have no problem with the everyone is connected to the mystery thing#but making kipperlily & co even the slightest bit more active participants in what was happening#would have made it less stale maybe?#someone suggested that kipperlily was gonna backstab porter to get revenge for lucy#wish ankarna had been a bit more vengeful a la asmodeus in calamity when they finally interact with her#the bobby dawn and church of sol involvement??? what happened there#also would have been nice to have had a mix of unstructured NPC interactions and the downtime mechanic (@berokyandi's tags--truncated)

I think Kipperlilly turning on Porter would have been a really great twist too. Either as revenge for Lucy or because she'd been playing him the whole time or whatever. She's just overall a more interesting antagonist than Porter is who is only really a villain for the bit. Which, listen, I of course respect doing things for an elaborate bit, but ideally the bit doesn't mess with your thematic integrity.

And, honestly, while I'd generally prefer there be themes and stuff in my media, there doesn't always have to be. I recently listened to Hot Boy Summer on Naddpod and that's just bits the whole way through and I loved it. But it was obvious that that was the intention. JY like...kinda dabbled with themes but the narrative never followed through on any of them so it all felt kind of half baked in that regard. The story kind of had the cadence of being About Something but it never actually came together. Like, it's weird to have the Rat Grinders be both a joke about XP leveling AND a serious point about rage. To an extent, you have to pick a lane or things are muddled. The XP leveling thing works great if they're supposed to be bit villains and the rage thing is good if you wanna delve in that. But they were kind of stuck between both of those the whole time (which is, I suspect, what led to a lot of the discourse this season).

The Church of Sol being involved to me is kind of like the Devil's Honey thing where it's like, this is an interesting idea that we do not have any time to explore so maybe let's explore this Bobby Dawn/Sandra Lynn thing later (along with everything else connected to the church). And like, this partially comes down to player choice and what they chose to look into but if I knew I was making the season where I was having my players heavily manage their time, I wouldn't include so much super important and at the same time super potentially missable content. Like, missing the Loam Farm trial isn't as big of a deal because those are new NPCs but missing out on info about Sandra Lynn's past and shadiness in Kristen's ex-church feels like a bigger loss lore-wise.

Agree on downtime. There also could have been more NPC interaction during downtime. I mentioned this earlier but like, why not have Mary Ann show up when Fabian is rolling for Owlbears or Oisin show up when Adaine is rolling Academics? There was a way to work those moments in more. And we even had stuff kind of like that happen like when Aelwyn showed up while Adaine was working and had lunch with her. I dunno why we didn't get more stuff like that with other characters. Never going to complain about more Aelwyn but stuff like that would have been even more helpful to establish the new characters that the season was focused on. Even if they were fully not to be taken seriously, interacting with them more would make it more clear that they were bit villains and not characters to invest in, which would be great for narrative clarity.

And the Ankarna thing really is my biggest narrative sticking point for the season. It's just so so so close to the Cass storyline. I don't understand why we'd do it again. It's not far enough back that it feels like a callback. It just feels like a rerun. We JUST did it. And she started out so aggro with Kristen but then she got so chill so so fast in later interactions in the season even though her domain is rage. Not doubt and mystery. Rage! It feels like that was way too easy! Other choices this season even if I would have done something different, I get why the choice was made. This one I really don't get at all.

FH Junior Year Post-Season Thoughts

With another season of Fantasy High in the books and my recaps all finished, I wanted to do an overview of my thoughts on the season as a whole. Even though I feel generally positive about my experience with the season, there are a few things I think maybe could have been done differently narratively or mechanically. This isn't to criticize the way the season went down or to backseat DM/Play. More my combined ten years of college for textual analysis and storytelling bleeding through, haha. 

I first want to start with the things I thought worked really well.

Fantasy High has "High" right in its title but, in past seasons (and especially Sophomore Year), not as much time as you'd think was spent actually at school and even if it was spent at school, there wasn't much time spent in class or engaging with the realities of being a student. This season really dug into the academic consequences of skipping your classes all the time and the realities of needing to do a ton of extra stuff to try for a scholarship and I think that was a refreshing thing to highlight for a change. Being more scared at flunking out than the dragon that's trying to eat you feels very emotionally resonant. Real "High School Is Killing Me" vibes for anyone who's a fan of NPMD. 

Even though Fantasy High is a show that has some deep emotional beats and strong character arcs, it's first and foremost a comedy show. From the jump, everyone was generating bit after bit that had me cracking up as usual. "Little girly dog collar" is one of the funniest combinations of words I can think of. I think it was Siobhan who said that this was the goofy season and, having seen it, I'd have to agree with her. It never failed to make me laugh and it was always a highlight of my week.  The cast just has great table chemistry that I love to watch no matter what they're doing. 

Watching some of these high level combat encounters is as close as I'll get to understanding people watching sports. Even though combat is generally my least fave part of D&D, I think the cast really killed it this season with how cleverly they played and Brennan came up with some really great combat encounters. Special shout outs to Baron's Game and The Last Stand for their unique mechanics.  

This is going to be one that's on the other list as well because my feelings are mixed, but I genuinely do like the downtime mechanic and how it forces hard choices. I think it's an interesting way to connect a mechanic to the story and cultivate stressful atmosphere for the season.

I have problems with the execution but I love the Rat Grinders in concept. I think as early as season 1 I was hoping that we'd meet a party that was like the Bizarro Bad Kids and the idea of a party that's farming XP instead of going on crazy adventures is a strong concept. Likewise, I think a character that's jealous because of your "cool" (read: tragic) backstory is also a fun trait for an unhinged antagonist in this kind of setting.

This is me absolutely showing my bias but I adored the Abernant Sisters content this season. I dunno if Siobhan specifically asked Brennan to not put her on a bus with the other beloved NPCs or what but I'm so glad she stuck around and we got the development we did. It was almost entirely ancillary to the plot but there was this clear pattern of Aelwyn getting softer and sweeter towards Adaine over the course of the season, from the guarded, "Enjoy the nemesis ward," to, full I love you's and, "I'd take them to get you." It was way more focus than I expected considering that Aelwyn completed the bulk of her arc last season and a lot of the time, a redemption arc basically ends after the big gesture (in this case, Aelwyn taking a magic blast for Adaine in Sophomore Year). So the fact that we got to see all of these sweet moments of them reestablishing their relationship outside of do or die moments was such a pleasant surprise. Again, I fully admit I am extremely biased, but this was my top wishlist item and the season overdelivered so there's a baseline happy I'm always gonna be with Junior Year. 

OK, so moving on to things I things I think could have been tweaked.

Even though I liked the downtime system and the pressures it created, it also squeezed out the chance for more casual PC to NPC interactions that would usually be more common because they were semi-locked behind the relationship track and there wasn't an obvious benefit to roll for Relationships (as opposed to something like Academics which was crucial for not flunking out). Making the mechanical benefit more clear would have helped that (even if it meant Brennan didn't get his reveal--which he ended up just telling them anyway so might as well do it early). The other thing is that the consequence of a rage token was so bad that of course they spent all season avoiding getting one. Things might have gone differently if the consequences had been a bit more obscured, like in Neverafter. And it could have been a nice parallel to the Rat Grinders to take this unknown resource that makes things easier for you but is also having this negative effect. Then it could be like dang we did the same thing they did unknowingly. 

I mentioned this in my recap but I'll talk about it again. It is a little confusing to me that we did the Ankarna subplot right after we did the very similar Cassandra subplot. It took up so much time this season which I don't think is an issue in and of itself, it's just that we literally just went through some extremely similar beats last season. Why double up on this same storyline when there's so much new ground to cover? Or if we're going to raise a god, why not make it a different kind of god? One theory I had early on was that the Rat Grinders were trying to raise their own god to one-up the Bad Kids but instead of raising a chill, misunderstood Cass type, they accidentally raised a god who was erased for a good reason and got in over their heads. 

It's fun for there to be connections between seasons but sometimes it's like, OK that's a *lot* of coincidences. Like the god who your rivals is trying to raise *happens* to be the wife of your cleric's god and also *happens* to be the god of the fiend trapped in your friend's mom's chest and that fiend *happens* to be the relative on your bard's dad's side which is *also* the reason she is randomly cursed? That's a LOT of red string connecting plot points. As unhinged as Kipperlilly is about coveting Riz's backstory if I saw that go down I'd be like you have *got* to be kidding me.  

The mystery elements didn't feel like they clicked as well as they did in other seasons. I think that's partially because Porter's plan was so convoluted (seriously, I made another post about how haphazard his plan was) and had all these moving parts and we didn't get clear answers for a lot of mechanical things like how the rage crystals actually work and when they were implanted and stuff. You had stuff like Devil's Honey which I think is super cool as a thing that exists in the world but ended up being an element that just led the players down the wrong path and had a relatively small payoff (that Porter was using it to lie to Ankarna). I think it's plausible that a forgotten god would be willing to listen to anyone saying the right things without introducing this element. (As opposed to, for instance, Ambrosia which has a very clear connection to what's going on and is a solid clue that someone is flirting with aspirations of godhood.) 

The Porter reveal came so late in the season that even though it was a fun/challenging fight, there wasn't a lot of emotional weight behind killing him. It was basically just dunking on a teacher Fig has always hated who was also mean to Gorgug so screw him. Which, valid of course. But the Bad Kids were never going to react as strongly to Porter as they were to the Rat Grinders so putting Porter in the prime villain spot isn't necessarily what I would have done if I wanted the fight to be more than just a brawl--especially since we've done "School admin with student minions" already in S1. I don't mind the full circle callback but it would have been nice to pick something else for the sake of variety. We haven't had a child mastermind yet and I think Kipperlilly could have been a great candidate for that. My friend suggested that it would have been fun if Kipperlilly was trying to become a god instead of just being Porter's underling and I agree. "I'm not anyone's chosen one so I'll choose myself," is still within her established jealousy and Type A tendencies. If we want to keep Porter involved since that was Brennan's gift to Emily, maybe have it be that instead of Kipperlilly working for him, he's working for her. Like Artemis Fowl vibes! And the Rat Grinders can be varying levels of on board--from true believe to redeemable. I don't think Brennan planned for the Bad Kids to ever redeem her so might as well go full megalomaniacal mastermind with her and make her The Villain if she's not gonna be nuanced anyway. If My Little Pony can do it and send a literal child to Tartarus for pony treason (or whatever Cozy Glow did), Fantasy High can too. 

Continuing from the above, if we have the Porter fight in place of the Grix fight (a la Daybreak) and don't use Ankarna, that gives way more time for the Bad Kids to investigate the Rat Grinders throughout the season and it would mean that they would have their personalities developed a lot more. With the limited downtime, they Bad Kids didn't have a lot of time to spend on these kids who were just hating on them for no good reason (valid). But if you cleared their plate of the god hunt stuff, they'd have more time for this. And if they weren't all rage zombies to varying degrees, it would be easier to see them as characters. Besides Kipperlilly (and, funnily enough, Mary Ann) we don't really have a good read on what these kids are actually like. The little time we spent with them all season was kind of a wash if them breaking out of rage means their personalities got laundered too. Anyway, regardless of how their loyalties ended up shaking out, it would have been fun for them to be more than the minions that they were in canon. As funny as it is for them to just kinda be XP farming losers, they did have the potential to be more interesting in their own right if they weren't just Porter's minions. And again, we've done adults forcing or coercing children into being minions in Freshman and Sophomore Year already. Lemme see some self-created child maniacs! (Or, peer pressured child maniacs. That's cool too. The Lucy/Kipperlilly dynamic is way more interesting to me if it's like girl, I would take a bullet for you but I CANNOT walk this path with you any further in response to *I* will be a god and you can be *MY* champion.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Like I said, I have my points that I think could have been tightened, but overall an enjoyable season and I will be glued to my screen if they decide to close out with Senior Year! 

[gigilberry]

Dracula DnD AU

So I actually did sit and come up with DnD classes for Lucy & her polycule however bear in mind that a) I'm a first time Dracula reader so for all I know maybe some characterisation/information changes later idk, and b) the most I know about DnD comes from tiktok skit compilations on youtube & occasionally listening to dnd podcasts so EXTENSIVE creative liberties up ahead:

Lucy Westenra

She's a race of human shaped cat creatures, since I love cats and I love Lucy I combined my two favorite things and she looks like this:

(Idk if it can be seen but she's somewhat chubby and it's not plot relevant but I want you to know it's there)

As in canon her family's part of the gentry, though not the nobility, and she was very sheltered growing up. What's different is that for her community polygamy is favored and seen in a good light - cats are communal raisers and also Lucy wanted polygamy so she gets polygamy.

Lucy is a warlock and what happened was this: her deity takes the form of a scrungly little goblin creature, and more than anything what it really wants is to be loved. One day teenage Lucy found them crying in the bushes and was like "Who are you?? Are you okay??? 🥺" and the deity was so surprised she wasn't repulsed by them that they instantly befriended her and got an idea. In exchange for them giving Lucy protection and powers, Lucy will gather the affections of people and it'll get siphoned to them.

It works something like how it does in the anime Sugar Sugar Rune, where whoever it is that takes a shine to Lucy has their momentary feelings absorbed into a small jewelry on her person, and this doesn't hurt them, alter their personalities, or make their memories/feelings vanish.

The deity receives the affection that Lucy gets and in exchange Lucy has strong persuasion, luck, and invisible protections that aid and guide her to safety, plus she also receives little gifts from her deity like trinkets and useful & pretty little items. To other people Lucy appears as someone with a melodious voice, a sweet and gentle smile, having an aroma of honeysuckle and lavender, and accompanied by the sound of bells from charm bracelets on her wrists and bells on her ankles.

The relationship between her and her deity is like the flip side of the sugar daddy/sugar baby dynamic I've seen described for this class. Every time they meet Lucy goes "Who's a good puppy?? You are!!!! :D" and gives them pets and they become a happy, adoring puddle at her feet, it's very silly and cute.

Arthur Holmwood

The thing about Arthur is that he's surrounded by so much death, so as an exchange or comfort or running with the theme of it I made him a Witch Lord. That is, his family has magic running through them, most likely through an otherworldly ancestry, and because he's a Lord this means he has responsibilities that someone of the nobility would - responsibility towards the protection and safekeeping of a peoples, territory, and dominion.

His family's responsibility is towards aiding lost souls and guarding the boundaries between death and life. And because this is Arthur "Get Shit Done" Holmswood this man has connections. He has wealth, power, influence, and an extensive network of resources and contacts. He can call upon those souls that linger and so long as he does his duties and pays respects then they will give him information and guidance.

Lucy's race being cat adjacent, they are more than capable of seeing and interacting with the dead and hold a lot of respect for witches. So by her people's standards, Arthur is A Catch. As far as appearances go, he looks mostly human though there's something just a little otherworldly about his features but it's hard to put a finger on what. Some of the more obvious ones are that he has night vision and glows faintly in the dark.

Quincy P. Morris

Quincy multiclasses in Ranger and Barbarian I feel like there's a joke in that one. He's traveled to many places and been on many incredible adventures, and has collected allies and knowledge alike. Analytical, perceptive, a man of action but also very noble and kind, Quincy is a fighter and a thinker possessing skills, stats, and charisma across the board. Were it not for him having little to no magical ability he would've been very much OP but I'm trying to curb my obvious favoritism here

John (Jack) Seward

He's a half-dragonborn wizard, and despite having dragon features he's still as much of a soggy wet paper bag man as canon. Being draconic gives him strength that can match up to Quincy if he wanted, though he prefers to rely more on his studies. He tries his best to keep up a somewhat tidy appearance but is usually impeded by frequently molting scales, askew glasses, and a generally sleep deprived and frumpy disposition.

Mina Harker

Mina is a dark elf and also a witch. Unlike Arthur's lordly upbringing, witchcraft was something she took pains to learn, what with her being an orphan and all. She teaches magic to students and is as much a lover of the dark and creepy crawlies and things that go bump in the night as any elf born amongst them.

In appearance, Mina is a tall and politely intimidating but otherwise neatly put together elf woman. She feels most at home in dark forests and chats with the supernatural on the regular. Her being a witch also means her and Lucy were encouraged to be besties from the get go.

Jonathan Harker

A regular ol' human and perhaps even a solicitor here too. Just like in canon he shows a deep well of strength of character in this au, and being a human of not much special abilities doesn't stop him from being courageous, determined, loyal, and deeply kind. He's the Connecticut Clark to his big, scary, amazing Goth wife and he's got a warm, sunshiney nature that's so in line with Lucy's that the rest of the polycule loves him just as much. He's always ready to help and protect and fight for those he loves.

And if you want an angstier angle, he can have some qualities of the supernatural lurking underneath the surface - a pallor to his skin, slightly elongated teeth, a taste for meats, being drawn to darker magics, etc - after a terrifying run in within the forests.

As for Van Helsing of the alphabet soup degrees, I feel like similar to canon he'd be a mysterious figure of sorts, but giving off the air of a sorcerer or monk. He's a scholar, a potioneer, an artificer, and many, many more that most don't come to know. He plays the role of the polycule's favorite uncle who occasionally drops by to send them all careening off on an adventure.

[a-martian-chronicle]

Some Stranger Things Theories Ahead of S4, Vol II

Okay so i’ve just finished season 4, volume I and i cannot wait for volume II, but i also have some Questions.

Like...how the hell did Henry Creel get his powers? I loved the way they connected the evolution from Henry to 001 to Vecna, but still...where did these powers originate from? This seems pretty important considering Henry’s powers are the genesis of Brenner’s entire program, and of our hero, El. Perhaps Brenner knows more about that; he seems to understand these powers pretty well. I hope this question gets answered.

But this post is about a different question: What is the relationship between the Mindflayer and Vecna? Are they two villains operating completely independently of each other? Or are they working in tandem? And if so, is there a hierarchy between them?

Dustin theorizes that Vecna is the Mindflayer’s “five star general” and that the demogorgons are the Mindflayer’s foot soldiers. And Stranger Things has typically followed the lore of DnD, as explained by the party, in bringing to life its villains, so I’m tempted to believe Dustin is right. He usually is. But this time, i think he has it backwards.

I think the Mindflayer is Vecna’s five star general. Or rather, the Mindflayer was/is just a vessel which Vecna was using; Vecna = Mindflayer. In other words, Vecna is the Final Boss, not the Mindflayer. There’s a lot of evidence pointing to this conclusion.

Firstly, we know from Will in season 2 that the Mindflayer’s end-goal is to basically take over the world, to kill everyone and assert itself as the superior being of the universe. This sure sounds A LOT like the manifesto 001 spouted off to El in s4e7. He views the entire human condition as unnatural, forcing an oppressive structure upon the world that he wants to eradicate. He fully believes he has seen a better way to exist and is going to do what he can to make that existence a reality; i.e. he’s better than the rest of the human race and the world would be better off without it. 

It’s not unthinkable that Vecna and the Mindflayer share that same worldview - plenty of villains do - but let’s think about this for a second. Until El opened the first gate to the upside down, it’s doubtful the Mindflayer even knew about our universe and the human race. So why would it be so hellbent on eradicating humankind? I suppose ‘just because’ is a plausible explanation, but I think Vecna is the reason. Vecna (001) entered the upside down already as an evil character with the intentions of taking over the world. He doesn’t need to be possessed by the Mindflayer to carry out this evil plot, he already wants to do that of his own volition. So what’s more likely, they share the same evil worldview, or the Mindflayer was a tool Vecna was using to carry out his plans?

This brings me to my second point. Vecna defies what we know about the way the Mindflayer operates. The Mindflayer acts like a parasite that infects its host and forces it to do lots of evil shit in the name of achieving the end-goal of taking over the world. First it was Will, then it was Billy and the army of people Billy raised. The Mindflayer requires a real-world host to operate. Vecna, on the other hand, is operating entirely from the upside down, using his psychic powers to haunt, but not possess, and ultimately kill his victims. 

Further, the Mindflayer has only ever been present in the real-world when a gate is open, and as far as we know, the Mindflayer cannot open gates on its own. El opened the Mothergate in season 1 (which we learn occurred when she defeated 001 and more or less banished him to the upside down). Although they rescued Will at the end of season 1, the Mothergate remained open, and part of the upside down remained in Will. The Mindflayer then possessed Will in season 2. They managed to rid Will of the Mindflayer at the end of season 2 and El closed the Mothergate. 

The material/particles/whatever that made up the Mindflayer left Will but remained in the real-world, and laid dormant while the gate was closed. When the Russians reopened a gate in the beginning of season 3, that material came back to life and found Billy as its new host to do the Mindflayer’s bidding. Again, at the end of season 3, much like at the end of season 2, they did not defeat the Mindflayer, they merely closed the gate once again.

In season 4, no gate was ever opened prior to Vecna’s haunting of Chrissy. Only once Vecna killed Chrissy did a gate open up between worlds. Vecna is doing things the Mindflayer seemingly could not: killing people in the real-world without needing a an open gate, and opening gates on his own. Basically - the Mindflayer was a tool Vecna was using until Vecna was strong enough to do shit on his own.

And this makes sense if you think about Vecna’s recent history. Vecna was weak in season 1 - he had literally just been beaten by El and thrown into the upside down. He was already hellbent on eradicating humanity, and being ‘betrayed’ (so to speak) by El would’ve only spurred a bigger appetite for revenge. Psychic control is his bread and butter. 001 explains to El that he can get into people’s minds and make them see things they resent about themselves, make them feel this overwhelming sense of dread (which sounds a lot like the way Will describes the feeling of being possessed by the Mindflayer). It would make sense that considering he’s so weak in season 1, the only thing he could control is a demogorgon or two. And there’d be no sense in going directly after El with just a demogorgon; Vecna knew that’d be no match for her. He’d need to wait until he was stronger to go after her.

As the theory would go, he’s been building power the entire time he’s been in the upside down. The more time that goes by and the more he kills, the more powerful he gets. In season 2, with the gate still open, perhaps he’s strong enough to use the Mindflayer as a vessel to possess Will, but just Will (someone already connected to the upside down). But he still can’t operate in the real-world to full capacity - thus, he uses tunnels just below Hawkins to maneuver, with Will as his eyes in the real-world.

Then the gate closes and he’s still not strong enough to make contact through worlds. A gate reopens in season 3 and he uses the Mindflayer again, this time possessing not just Billy, but a whole army of people in Hawkins. He’s growing much stronger now. He’s able to manifest the disgusting blood and guts version of the Mindflayer in the real world.

Finally, in season 4, he doesn’t need a gate to be opened anymore to operate; he’s strong enough to make connections with people through the fabric separating the two worlds. He’s not opening gates for the Mindflayer, he’s simply strong enough to get to people without needing to use the Mindflayer now. It’s telling that gates have been opened again, and yet there’s been zero sign of the Mindflayer thus far in season 4. That’s because Vecna was the Mindflayer, and he no longer needs that vessel to wreak havoc on Hawkins. Everything in the upside down remains a hivemind - it’s Vecna’s hivemind.

Finally, it can’t be just a coincidence that the Mindflayer essentially looked like a giant spider...the very creature that Henry was oh so fascinated with and felt a weird sense of kinship to. This further points to the Mindflayer being a manifestation of Vecna as opposed to them being separate entities.  

Tl;dr: the Mindflayer is Vecna, or a manifestation of Vecna. They’re not separate entities. Vecna is the final boss that El and the gang need to defeat.

Thoughts? Am i way off here lol?

[worldviewcast]

The Origin of Worldview

So this is going to be a semi-personal, but also a semi-explanation post about alot of the background info regarding Worldview.  Yes it’ll be a long somewhat boring wall of text for many of you, but to ME it’s words I feel need to be said and it would mean the absolute world to me if people would take the time to hear me out.  Even if its only gonna be the five of you that continue on after this. Anyway...

Worldview technically started forming in my mind when I was probably about fifteen. (For reference, at the time of writing this, I’m about half a year to thirty-one) I was really into doing comics, I had done probably a hundred pages of a really dumb fantasy comic I came up with when I was TWELVE, a Sonic fancomic, and every morning on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I would upload my micron inked and colored pencil story about some DnD characters into the school scanner to post on Drunkduck which is probably all still there today. Adventure’s Guild is missed in my heart, for sure.  But in between looking for my first job, the constant writing and doodling I was doing, and my schoolwork I was tossing another idea around in my head. A really DUMB idea, cuz ya know I was FIFTEEN. And I wanted to call it ‘My Big Brother the Ninja’. At the time I was influence by all the dumb anime I was watching and my best friend at the time who always wore black and stood about two feet over me. I don’t know if he’ll ever read this, but trust me if he knew I was talking about this he would recognize this story right away.  Well. My first job came around, along with my post secondary college work, and then a tech school I paid for, and.....life really started to get in the way of development. I was more focused on drawing Adventures Guild and other doodles for a long time, and soon enough taking care of my daughter took precedence over everything, and then I started sewing, and doing conventions....and the idea of ‘My Big Brother the Ninja’ was just stuck in the back of my head. Sitting. Waiting. Forming slowly as it waited for its existence - its time in the sun.  And at some point I decided I wanted Android/Robotic like characters too...some of my FAVORITE series are Kikaider : The Animation and Chobits (the books, not the infants show they try to pass a a fully written anime) - things like that. So I KNEW long before Worldview had a proper name I would be writing robot characters with a twist. But I couldn’t figure out what that twist was, what would make it work. The whole idea was still....building. It needed a push.  Right around the time My Hero Academia came around everyone with a creative mind seemed to be suddenly struck with a similar idea - what if unique powers WEREN’T so unique in a world?  This is fairly common now, but at the start of MHA I remember finding it weird that suddenly every half the new shows out had a whole population of super powered badasses in a world where living daily life with it was more the norm than the exception.  And I remember finding it REALLY weird this all came out the same time I evolving a similar idea for my own thing.... I wish I could prove I was evolving this ideas before I saw em but I can’t. I have a much deeper theory about the evolution of cultural art and how influences drive creative minds to similar conclusions but that’s a LONG mental dive for another day.  ANYHOW.

So my original idea in ‘My Big Brother the Ninja’ was the Ninja would be the weird super power in the normal world.  NOW I wanted the NINJA to be the ‘normal’ one...and the younger sister would be the WEIRD one because she DIDN’T have some sort of power or ability.  I fell in love with this new dynamic and now things were REALLY starting to come together in my mind, what kind of powers were people gonna have, just HOW mundane was it gonna be, how many fantasy elements did I want to have?  Because I already KNEW another element I really wanted to include was modern day Paladins - and YES I WILL be covering modern-day style Paladins in Worldview proper, but this meant the universe needed a Deity system, a hierarchy or pantheon.  And the world just started to grow....but something was still MISSING, the binding, the elements of what all I wanted to do -  Aaaaaaaaaand then came UNDERTALE.  And yes this ENTIRE long post is just me mini ranting about how WV came to be so people can TRULY understand just HOW much is inside MY universe so we can stop tagging it as part of the UT Multiverse please and thank you - it’s not that I don’t UNDERSTAND the confusion, but here is your ultimate ‘for the record’ post regarding mine and @little-noko ‘s personal frustrations. Undertale was obviously a HUGE part of pop culture, personal experiences, my life, MANY of my readers lives, I GET why the emotional connection is there and why its the first thing that comes to mind - but the ONLY part I truly was fascinated by with Undertale was the way the Souls were.  PHYSICAL Souls - an actual magical entity that represented a person - THIS idea.  This was my missing piece.  To say artists get inspiration from other artists is beyond an understatement - even Sans and Papyrus are references to Helvetica, right? If not references, inspired by, or ‘great minds think alike’, whatever your argument there....its not uncommon.  And Souls being PHYSICAL was the element I wanted to play with - the idea I wanted to expand on, and so much more I want to go into detail about but don’t want to go into spoilers yet so I’m not going to - and the absolute CRUX of my frustrations when dealing with ‘WV is just UT with different characters’.  Worldview has.....humans. Only humans, divided into four race. Mechanoid. Masic. Skeleton. Metazoan. (The last one exclusively because I wanted an excuse to draw cute cat girls, so sue me)  A pantheon of Gods. It’s own world map. Special BIOLOGY that I have developed to work specifically with the races I have built. Ability trees (diagram to come, don’t worry, we’re just still working out the kinks).  It’s own countries, nationalities, and even it’s own tangible form of afterlife which I blame watching WAY too much Supernatural on but HEY Reapers are freaking COOL man.  It’s absolutely gut wrenching painful to have people argue with me over a world that I have nurtured and slowly tended to for a good fifteen years...now that it finally, FINALLY gets a chance to exist and be worked on....I feel like the one binding element I finally found and played with and tried to expand on is the ONLY element that people care about. As if absolutely EVERY other element that I want to show just - doesn’t EXIST. We started with Finch because its a good transition from the old projects to the new and it’s the earliest event in the timeline - nothing more than that. But I’m almost starting to feel like that was a mistake because it’s TOO familiar.  There’s no going back now, and thats fine. But it does make me anxious to move on to the next ‘chapter’ we’ll be delving into.  MAN.  I hope that helps clarify a few things.  I love answering questions (those that I can) about  WV...so my ask box is always open.  For those that made it, thanks for listening. :)