#My d&d campaign is a mess tbh

[eyebagsanonymous]

So I was playing D&D

and I had a sudden epiphany about my character, Calypso.

I started thinking about why she was even still here in the first place. Her mental health is basically as bad as mine, she's just not adhd. Then I realized she's here because she thinks she owes a debt to the world.

Some slight backstory: Early on in our campaign, we had to kill some baby black dragons, right? We got most of them, and as the last dragon was severely injured, Calypso fired her shot and missed. By one point. The dragon was at 1 hp. I (as a player) felt so bad. The dragon escaped, and our DM decided it would now be the bbeg (big bad evil guy) of the campaign.

Now we are almost to our fight with the dragon, trying to end the last obstacle in our way to his lair. We're about to enter combat with an Archmage who has a staff our wizard wants.

So the archmage is trying to convince us to leave, and he asks Calypso "Why are you even here". I shrug in response. I honestly don't have an answer, so I begin to think (Im incapacitated by the Symbol hopelessness effect, so it's fine).

I eventually come to the conclusion about the debt thing. She's a very LN (Lawful Neutral) character. her goal was never some glorious purpose or saving innocents like the rest of the party. She's here because she has a job to do. To have her conscience free of whatever she owes the world for failing to kill the dragon right then and there.

Knowing this helps me roleplay and choose her decisions much better. She's either going to end this dragon and be free, or die trying. If she could, she'd leave right now and let the problem to someone else, but she knows this is how the world works. She's paying her dues for her past mistakes.

So, for your character, ask why they are even with the party? Why stay there through all the troubles? It helped me with my weak little ranger, so maybe it can help you

[dark-elf-writes]

Random KHR headcanon, aka the characters playing D&D!

Tsuna is a willing forever DM that is infamous in the Naminori D&D circles for being fucking ruthless, yet fair, when it comes to it. He will take an eye or limb from your character, but only if it makes sense for that to happen. Makes very detailed maps.

Hayato: Enjoys cycling through the various classes, but likes the Ranger class the best. Tends to go for more open ended backstories to let Tsuna mess around with them for plot reasons. His one Bard became the next campaign's BBEG and he regrets nothing.

Takeshi: Tends to stick with the Rogue and Fighter classes, and occasionally plays as a Sorcerer when he wants to spice things up. Keeps him backstories simple to avoid Tsuna milking them for emotional damage. Sometimes fails but he sure does try.

Ryohei: Mains Monk, Barbarian and Fighter, and occasionally multi classes into other classes if it makes sense. Tends to give his characters amnesia or a mysterious origin that they don't know of because otherwise he has no clue how to do backstories. Fully aware of the fact that said tendency has caused some of the most harrowing story moments and does not care.

Hibari: Ranger and Druid main, and does not give a shit about the other classes. Very thorough with his backstory because the one time he made it exploitable for plot everyone came out of that particular arc a little traumatized and Tsuna wouldn't stop grinning about it for weeks afterwards.

Mukuro: Sorcerer and Wizard main, and fully embraces making Tsuna's job as a DM both easier and harder via elaborate backstories he can work into the campaign. Tsuna gets his revenge via always ensuring his character suffers because of that fact.

Chrome: Cleric and Warlock main, sometimes multi classes into both because of the chaotic potential. Her backstories tend to be ones that are all like "Yeah it happened, but it can't follow my character" and honestly she is valid for it.

Reborn: Paladin and Artificer main, his backstories are wildly different in terms of content for the challenge of it. Of course, apparently as a trade off the more convoluted his backstory is, the worst his luck is. No one knows how that's a thing. The current theory is the universe is balancing him out.

Everyone else: Guess or one shot players. They tend to cycle through classes due to not playing as much. Kyoko one time accidentally made a very overpowered Cleric that proceeded to kill everything and convert a Red Dragon Adult to their religion through fear and respect so there's that.

Tauna would be the “I’m gonna kill that dog 🤪” kind of DM and I am cackling about it tbh. He would also take the time to not only make incredibly detailed maps but specific relevant props for each player. Is infamous for tpk’ing a party in session zero when they all fucked around too hard and didnt think they would find out. Spends half his time ripping his players hearts out of their chests with incredibly small details that become massive later on and literally begging for them to stop trying to break his dungeon and just go inside already.

(So the unholy alliance of Brennan Lee Mulligan and Anthony Burch tbh)

It balances out because any of his usual party would be a nightmare at any other table but his. Their feral levels always seem to just resonate in all the right ways

[miradelletarot]

LORE/TIMING HELP!

OK BG3 and Forgotten Realms/ D&D people! I need your very high intelligence rolls tossed my way! So! I am trying to establish a semi-accurate and realistic time frame for between Acts 1-3. Possible (though very mild) Act 3 spoilers (not pertaining to anything patch 5 b/c I haven't gotten there yet so PLEASE don't discuss anything of that here...but general stuff may be mentioned so please proceed with caution).

So, in Act 3, if we don't play as Gale, we meet Tara on the roof. Now, She was left back in Waterdeep so assuming there was no Greater Teleportation spell available to her, it would take her about 45 days to get from there to Baldur's Gate. (Source) I can't recall anything being mentioned anywhere that anything like this was available, but if I'm wrong please lmk. Obviously, actual gameplay doesn't take this long, but I want to focus on what could actually be a realistic timeline. Think of any D&D campaign and you are gonna have fighting days, resting days, travel days, even shopping days. This is (sorta) reflected in game, but you can just play and play, and get thru everything in days frankly. I have spoken to a few people and some have said 1-2 months while others have said only like 2-3 weeks have passed. Which brings me to my next point: Weeks are separated into tendays (literally...10 days in a week). A month, is about 3 of those (with a few odd days tossed in through the year) which you can see in the image below. You'll notice that the events in BG3 take place just before Feast of the Moon (not important i guess, but interesting!) **more after the image**

So, if that's the case, that would put BG3 events taking place within a month's time, but even that seems short. There's so much to explore, so many people to help, etc etc. I had estimated (generously I'm sure) that each act took about 2-3 tendays each which would give us a roughly 2.5 to 3 month timespan. If this only goes for a 2-3 week span, then Gale is certainly rushing into the whole idea of marriage tbh lmao!! Like "babe, i know we have only dated for like a tenday, but marry me?" xD though, to be fair, even if we go for the 3 month (very generous) timespan bbygirl is still rushing into things, but I think we can give him a pass since they all fought for their lives and all lol. I just wanna get everyone's big lore dump info on this matter b/c I honestly wanna know, AND I am gonna use it to help time parts of my next fics. The timing is kinda important to help me plan things and also to make sure I am not doing some weird time dilation head canon shit that could mess everything up in the world LOL

[basiliskonline]

I just finished a Court of Fey and Flowers by @dimension20official, it was absolutely amazing, hands down the best AP I have ever seen, or imagine I might see.

You can find it here.

As someone that is strongly anti-D&D 5E and Anti Wizards of the Coast, it took me a long time to give dimension 20 a chance, and I will strongly suggest that anyone in that same position give it a shot.

I am gonna talk about it below the cut here, cause this will likely be long, this will be things I both liked and didn't like.

So i'm gonna talk abit about my feelings and experience with games and APs, because we're all different, we all like different things in a TV Show and by extension those variable preferences would also expand to APs. So I want to give you a little bit of information about where I stand as I explain my thoughts. Sorry if this gets very SEO Recipe lmao.

If you don't care about all that, skip to the next bold line, however if you are gonna comment or argue or whatever, at least read the context first and then probably don't do that.

I've been gaming for 30+ years, I started very early, and i've played definately dozens, probably hundreds of different games. D&D doesnt even rank in that list, I didn't like it much as a kid, when i grew up and it was 3/3,5 I hated both it and pathfinder with a passion. I played 5E for a bit but its lackluster and very poor design led to a game of boring mechanical options and choices that quickly grew old. And if I was gonna play a narrative game, i wouldn't be playing D&D in the first place. 4E is the only edition of D&D I've actively enjoyed.

I was an immense Critter during Campaign 1 and partway through Campaign 2. Like... "my wife and I have Critical Role quotes engraved on our wedding bands" critters.

But I quickly fell away from both Critters and Critical Role, by and large Critters is the worst fandom ive been apart of (and I was a SuperWhoLock back in the day) and the CR cast talks a lot of nice ideals and backs them up with absolutely nothing but lip service. I am now, tbh, somewhat uncomfortable when I see any of them on my timeline.

Dimension 20 is the first AP my wife and I have tried to watch since CR (we find most APs to be unwatchtable in most situations, just our own preference), My wife was curious about seeing Brendan as a DM after watching him on Game Changer, so we watched Mice and Murder (it was fun, and good, but has NOTHING on aCoFaF), and then on a suggestion moved to watch aCoFaF).

Last piece of the puzzle, WotC is a fucking nightmare company that has harbored some of the worst pieces of trash imaginable (though tbf that is not unique to them, its a major "large/old ttrpg company issue". And I quite frankly would love to never have to hear or see about anything wotc ever does ever again, preferably because they burned down and everything they ever made goes with them (this sadly means I would lose 4E but sacrifices must be made).

Things I like about a Court of Fey and Flowers

The first thing I love about it, is its a very role play heavy AP, and it centers on matters of Political fey intrigue, and that is done so masterfully by every single player and by the GM. (I absolutely avoided D20 because of the DnD/WOTC connection, but I in retrospect absolutely understand the whole "Season of Aabria" that was going around now).

The characters were thrilling, dramatic, sneaky, nuanced and hilarious, and the storyline was gorgeous and beautifully made, allowing the players to make their own messes and their own relationships and romances. So much romances.

I absolutely loved that I didn't have to see dnd 5e be played most of the time. This is something, and one of the only somethings, you'll see me talk about in the "don't like" section, so it is strangely enough both. The system was changed and mostly ignored that I almost never had to see dnd played, the AP is so heavily social and rp and during the state of the AP only had two very very short combats that were more priority on the social implications of the combats than the combat itself. Overall it could have used any system and done what they did, but mostly I didn't have to see 5E played and that made it pretty solid, despite "being 5E".

I also love Brennan Lee Mulligan's Captain KP Hob, a very good bab and the first and only Bugbear PC ive seen in an AP (and I love me some Bugbear)

Thing's I didn't like about a Court of Fey and Flowers

This is gonna stay light, because really there wasn't much. The only thing really is that the system, while ostensibly "5E" the system was so lightly applied, used or stuck to that the game could have used almost literally any other system to better affect and I absolutely hate that they still gave 5E and WOTC some sort of props/bandwidth by barely using the system but still selling it as DnD.

[cyle]

re-reading my set of D&D 4th edition books (the edition nobody likes to talk about), i totally forgot that they had introduced the concept of class "roles" instead of just classes. so instead of just having your standard Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, etc, they also had the concepts of Striker, Controller, Leader, and Defender. this helped further clarify what each class could really be practical for in a group, in the way that World of Warcraft (around the same time) redefined different class and spec combos into the roles of Tank, Damage, and Healer.

in WoW you can still be a Paladin as a class, but it has three "specification" tracks, and each one is a different "role" (and totally different play style). you can be a Holy Paladin (healer), Protection Paladin (tank), or Retribution Paladin (damage). part of the reason they did this was to make it easier to pick what you wanted to be responsible for in a party of five people working through a dungeon together, but also it just made onboarding to those roles very straightforward for casual play. D&D at the time was struggling with that same group onboarding problem.

for example, the traditional Fighter class in D&D 4th edition has several "specifications" for different roles: the Knight class is a Defender Fighter, the Slayer class is a Striker Fighter, to name two examples. they're both considered "Fighter" for rules purposes and advanced options, but they have different progression tracks and abilities to unlock per level. eventually, every class in D&D 4th edition got one or more different versions per role, meaning you ended up with dozens of class/role choices. the same as World of Warcraft... there seem to be only ~10-12 classes to choose from, but each has ~3-4 specs, meaning you have 40+ choices, and you can choose based on either what class you like or what role you like. that's pretty cool.

then, in D&D 5th edition, they totally dropped this "role" concept. like, entirely. i kinda miss it tbh. it helped add clarity and options at the onset of character creation, in a different way than 3.5 had (which was a technical mess imo, and turned players into soup) and 5th edition kinda skipped in favor of whole-platform ease-of-onboarding (i could write a whole essay just on this). i ran a 4th edition campaign for years and thought it was pretty good, especially since 4e is so action-oriented, which can be a struggle if you have players who aren't really sure what to do with the class they chose.

anyway, random thoughts as i spend an evening digging through different tabletop roleplaying game rule sets and reminding myself what i like about them.

[coldgoldlazarus]

.

Still not sure how to talk to the people from the d&d group about last week.

I wanna be mature and constructive about this, but the best I can really muster is "Yeah I kinda fucked up in some spots, not trying to downplay that, but on the whole I'm just frustrated with the situation, and how all of what went wrong is being put on me in a way I feel is unfair."

I felt like I was rushed into something I wasn't entirely ready for, right on the heels of several months of stress over making sure I'd have food stamps again. Yes I volunteered for this several months beforehand, but not as an immediate thing, and more with a broad vibe than a clear pre-planned... plan. I wanted to have the time to figure out the finer details and put maps and materials together before committing to doing this, but instead between being busy with IRL shit, executive dysfunction and heat exhaustion being an absolute bitch, and my own anal-retentiveness about getting everything just right combined with not being entirely sure where to start, that didn't happen.

I really should have just said no, but everyone NEEDED SO BADLY to play something during the break from the main campaign, (even though there is a minecraft server literally right there) and the whole "if you don't pilot the EVA, Rei will be made to do so again" thing was in play with the other multishot that could have filled the gap getting off to a false start and not being entirely ready either. Plus, I wanted to get this test run out of the way so I could work on the reboot of the big magical girl campaign again while the current main one was drawing to a close. Being told July was gonna be the last chance to do that before a long stretch without interruptions kinda made me panic. So I said yes instead.

I figured given my track record, having the deadline would be a good way to ensure I actually worked on it, but like, I think it really just did more harm than good, compared to if I had let it breathe. I also thought I was a bit readier than I was, with some stuff I hadn't even considered needing to figure out cropping up right on the day of, and having to scramble to get those hashed out at the last second. So yeah, while this was going on I spent the bulk of the weeks not working on this, and then having to do the rest day-of, causing the session start time delays. (I could give a detailed breakdown on exactly what those unforseen "invisible steps" were, so they have context for why the delays kept happening the way they did, but I've already been told to my face by at least one of the group that she doesn't give a shit, so whatever.) That was a mistake on my part, not gonna try to say otherwise. I just should have said no in the first place.

And I guess there's the communication issue. That I did mess up on too, the first few weeks. I tried to do better about it last tuesday, at least, after going radio silence the prior week. I felt I did a decent job of giving updates on my progress and saying "hey this is probably happening but don't assume it is for sure until I say I am Done and Ready." It's out of my control that people went ahead and assumed it was a sure thing anyway. I literally said at one point that I needed to take the bus back home from the library and that would be causing another delay in my prep, only for someone to say "okay this is happening definitely at exactly when she gets home" and I had to say, no, that's just when I'll be getting home, I still have more setup to do after that. And it's a hard fucking balancing act in giving ETAs because people get mad if you give too big a number, but then I also tend to take longer than I estimate...

I should have just called it off then and there tbh. Just didn't wanna let people down second week in a row. Not that that worked out anyway.

And of course the straw to break the camel's back was that A: There was another thing I needed to finish that I thought I had already done, but had in fact only half-completed, B: one of the other players dipped out on account of a migraine, and I hate leaving people out on principle but everyone else wanted to go ahead anyway, and C: on top of those, this was suddenly needing to be the last session before the main campaign resumes yesterday, so I'd have to rush to complete yet another session's worth of content while running one. And also I'd been up for 26 hours straight at this point. How the fuck was I supposed to react? I needed to remove myself from the situation and I needed sleep.

(I will readily admit that waking up still pissed the next morning and pouring all my complaints into a shitty meme format generator was not a mature course of action. Again, not pretending I'm blameless here.)

...

Anyway, my takeaway from where and how I did fuck up and why, is that I'm just not cut out for this.

After the first run of the magical girl campaign crashed and burned, I figured out a lot of the hows and whys, and found solutions to those problems to enact for next time. But none of that was even relevant to where this one went wrong, so that's a whole new set of problems to also find answers for, and Idk how to do that other than just having everything already ready to go beforehand. A luxury I just don't think this group would be willing to afford.

And furthermore, on sitting back and discussing both campaigns and my approach, I think the way I'm coming at this is fundamentally incompatible with what the rest of the group wants out of a campaign, and this would extend to trying to reboot the big one as well. I don't really enjoy TTRPGs as a medium in practice as much as in theory, because I just function better telling a planned story, not playing an improv game. It's a bit frustrating when it feels like the rest of the group doesn't care about my big grand narrative, but on having the time to reflect on it, I think that one's a Me Problem and a symptom of the incompatible approaches. There's nothing wrong with either, but the two don't exactly mesh well. And this is only one example of that clashing, same happened with me as a player. (The worst of which was when I tried changing my approach! It didn't work and backfired harder!)

(Literally the one exception where things did go well, was because that character I was playing was a super easygoing, down-for-whatever and in-the-moment type, and that campaign didn't last long enough for something to go wrong anyway.)

What happened on Tuesday was basically me ragequitting, but my decision to leave altogether is not. It's me recognizing that I'm the weak link here, and so it would just be better for both me and the group for me to stop trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

But of course, it seems at least some of them are mad at me over that, too. There's no winning.

So in the end, I don't really know what to say. Yeah, I fucked up. But no, I don't feel I fucked up badly enough to warrant this level of vitriol. I tried to learn from what went wrong and communicate better instead of shutting down, but that only does so much when people just decide what I said differently like with the bus thing, or change plans on me at the last second. I'm frustrated as hell, but not mad at the people, I'm just upset and annoyed that they're so mad at me.

I tried to do my best in time, but the timing was all wrong, and my best just wasn't good enough. Sorry.

[dianaburnwood]

HITMAN Freelancer: First Impressions

Let’s be real, this is not a first impressions post. I’ve been playing Freelancer for a month now :D 

First of all, before we even get into Freelancer, can we all take a moment to appreciate the new menu screen for World of Assassination: 

DIANA is the story, she is the Moment, she is THAT girl

Now, for Freelancer

ok this is going to be long

tbh I don’t know how to distill my emotions

I DO actually have some negatives to say, but TL;DR my impressions are overwhelmingly positive. It’s an incredibly fresh and interesting mode while still feeling true to the core of the series. 

So, Freelancer Missions Pros and Cons:  Cons:  A few bugs that have cost me dearly e.g. shots from an emetic pistol being reacted to as both a distraction and a bullet, NPCs seeing through walls, poisoned drinks having no effect. Also the burner phones counting as “calling a meeting” seems to be sporadic.

Two things I might consider cons but I’m not sure: Not being able to save, and not being able to choose starting locations. 

The not being able to save thing might actually count as a pro, as it really makes everything super tense. But starting locations can really mess you up e.g. starting at the top of Dartmoor Manor when you were trying to avoid getting spotted. 

My other con is that I was hoping alerted territories would be based on player action, like the notoriety system in Blood Money. But at the same time I understand that you could end up with no alerted territories then, which would take away some of the strategic elements of the campaign e.g. choosing your showdown location.

I think it’s a shame that there clearly wasn’t either enough time or resources to nail down the randomised dialogues. I’ve had loads of instances where 47′s line and the supplier’s line don’t add up - e.g.

Supplier: Hey there, you need anything?  47: I am. 

It happens with Diana too, and her line transitions aren’t smooth enough so it makes it obvious they were all recorded separately instead of them sounding like they flow e.g. “So you need to be careful. Be careful 47″ and things like that.

It’s hard to get randomised lines perfect, but I think this could have done with more polish time.

Pros:  Literally everything else :D The stakes are high, the NPC targets are fresh, the showdowns are fun and require careful planning, the assassins and lookouts make for excellent complications, showdowns in alerted territories are a wonderful nightmare, buying from suppliers is great too BUT I have been disappointed now that I’ve collected everything I get nothing from suppliers or supply crates :/ I don’t know what I expect them to give me, but every time I open up that empty supply crate after a mission I’m like... :(

Got everything a few times over now except for the outstanding service coin???? It’s nowhere??? Must be a bug, or maybe it’s only awarded for Hardcore. 

Speaking of which, Hardcore looks pretty but it’s also tough so I’ll wait till I’m bored with the regular mode.

The biggest plus for me is obviously the safehouse. I mean who doesn’t want to play dress-up in Barbie’s Murder Mansion????

The safehouse deserves its own post (THAT is coming) and I have a lot to say - namely it’s pretty obvious that Diana canonically bought this house for 47????? He didn’t get it, SHE got it for him? LIKE, I AM DECEASED

The Safehouse

When you first get here, I was struck by the absolute aloneness of the upper floors. I know this was deliberate as you get to choose your own music later, but omg. I think IO portrays emptiness and loneliness so well in Hitman in general, and this is no exception. The slow echo of footsteps, the silence, the large, empty spaces... it really gave that feeling when you first move in somewhere and you’re like, what now?

Progressing through levels and unlocking more stuff is SO much fun. Decorating is so much fun. 47′s little blend in actions are SO much fun. I wish he had more tbh. 

Like why can’t I sit here?????? It’s PERFECT???

The shed is such a nice thing to have, really reminds me of Silent Assassin. I love that he can make little poisons in there as well as in the infirmary, and he can go make bombs in his garage, like dude

Speaking of Silent Assassin - he can grow tomatoes????? Do IO know what they’ve done for me 

It’s so beautiful out here, so soothing, when Diana says she loves the lifestyle she is RIGHT like, the music out here is so calming I love it - meditating beside a picnic table???? YOU’RE KILLING ME

Wish I could check out this church tho

His house appears in a mid-century modern style to me, so I’ve kept the furniture and decor mainly matching that aesthetic where possible.

I’ve finally opened my asks again lmao lemme know if you want a house tour complete with “dark floors... hide stains easily....” 

And I’ll post on all the things I’m freaking out about in the safehouse. My playstation is overflowing with pics 

Happy hunting babes

[aliferousdreamer]

@livingincolorsagain Okay, so first of all:

Seriously though, unforunately it looks like I can no longer answer your long-awaited ask because I just saved my response to your inbox in the drafts and apparently that just deleted both your ask and my answer?!?! It looks like it's just been completely gone for no reason?!?!?!?! Tumblr: WHY????????? (Btw this is my shorter back up draft so luckily I at least have this lol)

Now... I cannot say this enough... I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO BLOODY LONG to do this. I think it has taken me about 1 ½ years to do this?!?! I'm so freaking embarrassed omfg. There really is no good excuse for why it has taken so freaking long. I remember that I have at least a few drafts that I made, but then my drafts became like this-

-and then I either forgot about it completely or got overwhelmed when I couldn't find any of the drafts and just abandoned it. My ability to just "nope" out of anything and procrastinate for eternity is unmatched.

Btw: I'm gonna censor most of the fandom/character/ship names (even the ones I like) because 1. I don't want to attract people who feel the need to argue with me (because I cba I really cba) and 2. I don't want to offend anyone who likes those things. It's gonna look super silly with *s everywhere but I don't have the energy for any heated discussions or arguments.

-

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

Ooh I have several squicky ships that I do get but I just don't feel them at all and have negative connotations associated with them... It's not exactly an answer to the question but it is what I first thought of.

Pre 2020 me didn't like Harm*one as a ship (in H*rry P*tter). Nowadays I don't interact with the fandom so I don't care but I still have negative associations with that ship and its fans.

I don't have any positive associations with Cl*uis (in TW*DG) because of bigotry.

I understand the appeal of E*yam (from C*kur) but it's a toxic, abusive, insulting mess like its fanbase. Man, I'm so glad C*kur ended in 2021 so I could leave that show and its fans behind.

I also used to feel more negative towards R*xi (from E*phoria) as a ship because of shippers' attitudes towards J*les/R*les but since F*xi became really popular I don't see nearly as much of that ship anymore.

I'll explain the reasonings more in the next question because the answers in both questions are pretty similar.

Also, to sprinkle some positivity amongst my mostly critical answers, here are some OTPs that I do like:

7. Is there anything you used to like but can’t stand now?

Again, this applies to me pre 2020, but I still remember that I used to somewhat like Harm*one as a ship from H*rry P*tter, but yeah... the portion of toxic fans who were super hateful and bitter and straight up mean towards R*n and G*nny.

I used to like L*ouis and sorta like Cl*uis from TW*DG but the homophobic/lesbophobic/biphobic fans have pretty much turned me off from the ship completely. This doesn't really apply to fans on here, moreso YouTube fans who are just The Worst tbh.

Similarly I used to like E*sun from C*kur and back in season 3 but E*yam fans (particularly on Twitter and YouTube) were just horrible. I remember being civil and polite and considerate to every single one I encountered but they were awful and one fan even wished death on my family when I had said nothing to warrant such a bizarre comment lol. They were also The Worst towards D*lan D*niz and their relentless bullying campaign against her from 2019-2021 (but I saw a few months ago that they're still hating on her in 2023 ffs), all because she was a "threat" to their toxic ship. Man, I'm so glad their ship flopped in C*kur's finale, even if it was upsetting to see them being more hateful towards D*lan. They deserved some karma after being some of the worst fans I've ever had the misfortune of seeing.

Again for positivity's sake, here are some characters I do like:

12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Unlike seemingly most of the fans on here, I like El*ven getting with M*ke in Str*nger Th*ngs. I will never understand why M*leven is so hated. She can be both independent and in a relationship, and I don't see how that's such an unpopular take. Sure, there are issues with codependency, miscommunication and lying but considering what those kids have been through, is it any surprise?! They've both been through so much trauma, both together and separately, so no wonder they don't always go about the things the "best" way. I'd cut them both some slack (especially El*ven considering the hell she's endured all her life that has stunted her growth). Also, I feel like fans are way too harsh of them because aren't they supposed to be around 14 in season 4?!?! I'd say that they're remarkably mature for their age. I will admit that I like them less than I used to after season 4 but tbf there are several characters/relationships that I like less because of season 4. I like other ships like B*ler and E*max but I don't see why liking them should almost become synonymous with hating M*leven.

On another note, this scene >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

-

Again I'm so sorry this took so long, and that this version of my answer isn't the final one that I wanted to send (because Tumblr just erased the original one lmao).

Thank you so, so much for checking up on me and being so kind and sweet to me, even when I haven't responded or showed the gratitude that I should do!!!! I hope you're doing really well!!!!!! <3

[adamsmasher]

Oooooo d&d questions.

25, 32, and 45

25. What is your favorite snack for d&d?

Tbh? White Claw 😝

32. Most memorable NPC you've encountered in a game you played in.

In the very first campaign I did I once rap battled an NPC named Ant Heratu. Technically all I had to do was roll performance but I was like "gimme five minutes," and wrote three diss track verses. They were so good the dm gave me advantage. I ended up going on a date with him but he brought me to what I called the "sin den" and my character kinda freaked out (very sheltered, plus it was my first time playing dnd so I wasn't really familiar with common things in the setting). I made a mess of the date, but it was a fun story to play out.

45. What is the longest session you've ever had?

I once dm'd a like six hour session which isn't long to y'all probably but it was certainly long to my players lol. It was a great session though.

[chellyfishing]

okay let’s do the videos game i played this year

uhh obviously as per i played a stupid amount of ffxiv. like i don’t think i have a record of hours played this year nor am i interested in knowing. i did my first current tier savages this year though??? (right? that was this year? or late last? i think it was this year.) also farming exes while they’re still new and not crying the whole time?? who is SHE??? i was going to say this is the year i became a whm main but i think that personal tragedy happened last year actually.

i finished until dawn in april. i actually did... pretty well without a walkthrough, i did restart after i got the dog killed bc i felt so so bad about it (this is the kind of thing i think is understandable and acceptable) and then i had some ehhhh struggles with those final hold still QTEs to get everybody out before things exploded but otherwise i mostly made... okay choices?? FOR THE MOST PART??? i discovered later that there aren’t as many places you can get people killed as i thought tho so tbh i don’t think my performance was that impressive. anyway i enjoyed this game, the further along i got in it the more i had to play it in short bursts cause it’s uhh kinda stressful? and listen i don’t mind explaining to you that for me the fear is not in the monsters or the jump scares the fear is in messing up, the stress of getting someone killed because of my mistakes and my wrong choices and my inability to play the game right. horror means different things to different people and for me the real horror was in the imperfections we revealed in ourselves along the way.

okay i nearly forgot that i did play my switch for more than piddling around in zelda and mario and i did actually play another new release besides stray (see below) this year which was the stanley parable ultra deluxe back in april (or may?). i never played the original so i was happy to grab this and just spend a few days exploring it. i watched the ox kids play it and was amazed that with how thorough i thought i was i STILL missed a bunch of stuff! but they also missed stuff that i did. incredible. so fun and funny and when i had the bucket for less than ten seconds i already knew i would both kill and die for it. i think this is the only switch game i finished this year which, come on, self.

(i did play a lot of botw and mario odyssey this year i!!!! just haven’t finished them!!! DON’T LOOK AT ME!!!!!)

replays of resi 2 and 3 remakes as well as 7 and 8 in june because they all got ps5 upgrades and i got a ps5! i am like one or two trophies away from plat on all of them and i hate it!!! for 3 and 7 they’re the hardest mode (inferno and madhouse respectively i think) trophies bc there’s this stretch before you can get your good items from the item box that are just So Hard and you have to actually be good to get through them and i am not!!! for 2 it’s the stupid 4th survivor mode, again you have to actually be good. and for village it’s a couple of mercenaries mode trophies that i could probably get if i would just sit down and play mercenaries mode for a bit, i said i would do it when the dlc dropped and it has and yet here we are.

in july i played titanfall 2! wow this game was a lot of fun and a lot more emotional than i expected!!! if you followed me on twitter at the time you got to witness my emotional breakdown. i might revisit this someday to get more trophies but for me the fun i had in this was just kind of jumping into a short campaign and blitzing through it in a weekend without trying to be good or complete. i didn’t even really mess around with the collectables and i kind of don’t know who i’ve become as a person.

control also got a ps5 upgrade so i replayed that also in july to get the plat again. while i was at it i 100%’d both dlcs as well. i love this game!!! i love the setting, i love the story, i love jesse, i love the sense of humor, i love the other characters, i love how weird things are sometimes, one day i think i’m actually going to sit down and read all the documents because i HAVE THEM ALL (except like... one that you could only get with a ps4 preorder or something?? idk i forget, it’s not important) and i love the writing! this year we also got confirmation on the sequel and man. MAN. GIVE IT TO ME I’M SO READY.

i played journey to the savage planet... also in july! i had a lot of opinions about this game and i remember going over them a lot on twitter. i loved so much about it but there were just some things i kinda haaaaated. like there are some things about the way the game is mechanically that are so SO frustrating (there’s no MAP in the EXPLORATION GAME??) and i really just wanted to explore this weird planet and eat goo and look at new critters with one brain cell. i dunno! also no plat bc there are like 3 or 4 co-op only trophies. i think i got almost all the others, i’m missing like one in the main game, one in the dlc, and i think you’ll catch me dead before i try old game minus if i was already frustrated enough with the normal version of the game.

i played town of light in (checks notes) july and uhhhhh. this game is a lot! there’s not a lot to it mechanically, it is more or less a walking sim, and there are some aspects of the gameplay that don’t feel great, i remember being unclear on where to go at times and the game is not always great at letting you know. but the story. i was an absolute sobbing wreck at the end. like, so many trigger warnings, you guys, and i don’t think this is right for everyone, but if you think you can play it you should, or maybe watch someone else play it. it is... gripping, heartbreaking, very hard to get through in places, especially for people with certain lived experiences.

i played wytchwood in uhh mumblemumblejuly which is easily a new favorite game. it’s like a fairy tale where you play as a witch going through different areas and the main gameplay loop is finding items and recipes, crafting them to get more items to craft more to get more to solve story and environmental puzzles to progress the plot. the story is so fun and well-written, the graphic design and animation are beautiful, it is really the kind of game i picked up and INSTANTLY went “i love this already so much.” just so good and cozy and wholesome, i would recommend to everyone honestly. whitethorn is a new favorite developer. oh also if you like trophies this is an easy plat as you get all of them just playing the story.

i played tacoma and it was still the month of july. this is from the same people who made gone home, so if you liked that you may also like this. it is another walking sim, all though you’re in space so sometimes it is a floating sim. i loved the characters and the story, plus there is a cat that you can find for a trophy. it’s really good! however, fuuuuuck steve gaynor, and to my knowledge he still works at fullbright, so up to you if you want to give them your money.

obviously, i played stray when it came out in (checks) are you kidding me?! july?! this is the other new release besides stanley parable (and resi8 dlc if you count that) that i played this year since i usually wait for stuff to drop in price but this wasn’t that expensive since it’s an indie game and uhhh i wanted to play it!!! also it is goty! you play as a cat! you have a robot buddy!! i loved the world and the characters, and i cried so much at the end!! if you haven’t played it yet why!! what are you waiting for!!!

in some month that’s not even important at this point i played teacup which is another whitethorn game. it is a very very short cute little narrative game about a frog who wants to have a tea party with her friends. like this is just a game you sit down with when you want something so cute and cozy and you’ve already played wytchwood so many times. the kind of thing you could play with a little kid if you have one of them lying around. very pleasant and cleansing. also another slam dunk plat.

in OCTOBER the resi 8 dlc dropped and i played that, like stayed up all night when it released kind of played through it. i’m surpised that i haven’t already replayed it twenty times because i did like it a lot! i like rose and you know what some of the stuff in this is... genuinely kind of scary!! i can’t even look at the face-sucking animation it is so unpleasant. a lot of things in this game were doing a number on my trypophobia tbh. maybe that’s why i haven’t gone straight back to it. also the mannequins are scarier than the fetus monster, i said it and i meant it.

and last but not least this month (tbh started nov 30) i played tales of arise. my longer post on this game is still in the drafts haha. i guess i can talk about it a bit here tho. i... loved this game. i think my expectations were... neutral at best, ofc i didn’t love zestiria and while i liked berseria at the time i’ve never felt any particular desire to revisit it (this actually may be due to other factors that i’ll not get into atm), and i normally log literally hundreds of hours into tales games, so i guess i just wasn’t feeling optimistic about being impressed by it. and i was wrong!!! i really think this has some of the most mature character writing of any game in the series. normally the characters are like one half assorted disparate lol xd random quirks and one half trauma without the two sides melding very well but i felt that much much less in this game. there were things in the story writing i thought were pretty typical for the series and things that i really liked and appreciated! i ended up loving the characters, loving the way they grew as individuals, in relation to each other, and as a group, and i actually remember what happens in the plot which is uhhhhh a bit more than i can say for the last two games. also? voice cast was flawless, no notes, yeah even papenbrook, yeah i’m as surprised as you.

aside from that, i actually played my first real matches of both among us and overwatch this year and had a lot of fun. LOST BIG HARD in overwatch every single time sorry team i was drunk and wouldn’t have known what i was doing sober. oh but i did get most damage blocked as reinhardt (had to look his name up) in one match!!! also winning a mungus match with @foxxxy--mulder as my co-imposter against a team of hardened vets who ate each other alive for us is one of my most cherished gaming memories of the year. i hold it close to my heart and think of it often.

stuff i’m looking forward to next year: 

resi4 remake obviously!!! i pre-ordered it immediately i’m SORRY i know pre-ordering is BAD i never do it but resi is an exception!!! and it comes out on my BIRTHDAY!!!!

oxenfree: lost signals! i know it was supposed to be released this year and has been delayed a couple times which is... not a great sign. like i am PRO-DELAY don’t get me wrong!! i’m glad to hear it for a lot of reasons!! it’s just usually when you hear stuff get pushed back... more than once it’s a little worrisome. however i’m still excited for it and hope for the best!

horizon forbidden west--yes obviously this doesn’t come out next year, but i will almost definitely be playing it in 2023. in fact it’s on sale right now for a price i don’t hate and i’m contemplating picking it up after i get paid, since ofc i’ve been aching to play this for months and months now.

hmm it seems there is a grimgrimoire remaster coming out next year. i will consider that seeing as i am a simp for vanillaware. (13 sentinels is another game i actually might get my hands on next year finally.)

OBVIOUSLY LOZ? when am i not looking forward to loz?? i am never not looking forward to loz.

MAYBE ffxvi. i’ve still not played a non-xiv ff game (YES I WILL PLAY IX AND WHATEVER THE OTHER ONE I HAVE IS EVENTUALLY SCOUT’S HONOR) but. they kinda got me with the primals in the teasers. i don’t know though. and actually even if i do decide to play it i won’t be surprised if this is a thing like forbidden west that takes me a year to get to because new AAA games are just so goddamn much money and i need to really really want something to pay that much for it.

while it has no release date and may not be coming out until at least 2024 rest assured i will be spending 2023 looking forward to hadesgame 2.

oh and pretty unlikely to be released in 2023 but that new IP from the bioshock devs?? i’m already in line for it.

with a special shoutout toooo all the games i have that i haven’t played yet. when i’m feeling less anhedonic (dare to dream) i will once again try to get back to my goal of doing short games on weekends, at least.

[echolepzy]

Makes industrial complex feel safe and secure tbh. Minus white lizard jumpscares and that one room with the centipedes, but those really aren’t hard to manage.

I always find myself going through the shaded shitadel so I don’t know much about garbage wastes but the unfamiliarity makes it feel extra dangerous and I don’t like it. Shoreline is actually really easy to navigate and it’s my main vibing zone, sometimes I’ll use mods to migrate scavs into the area so I can have some friends to chill with and I’ll always introduce Moon to my pups (she gets full custody of my pups on playthroughs where I have to ascend, it’s a very safe space with plenty of food and close shelters and I think she makes a great mom, it takes away some of the sting of having to part with the children I surprise adopted). Exterior is kinda a mess in terms of platforming, going through Pebbles feels very restricting despite being a huge region because one half is full of zap walls I always fucking run into and the other has cancer and gravity issues so I always go through this narrow path in between. Annoying Pebbles is fun, there’s a level of satisfaction to be gained from tormenting little guys with angsty wet cat syndrome and he’s far from any exception (unless it’s Saint’s campaign in which case AGH WAAAAAAAAAH). Sky islands is also full of platforming bullshit and I speedrun chimney canopy because I don’t like the spawns. Haven’t been through farm arrays much but I like befriending the d e e r s. I’ll use mods and tricks to steal them sometimes because it’s just fun like that. Also seeing worm grass switch to italics is funny as long as it’s not eating me. Drainage system imo is actually super pretty, but I do *not* like pipeyard, I’m not a fan of centipedes. Subterranean is a pain in the ass to navigate and it’s dark and I don’t enjoy it. Metropolis has a neat feeling like it’s mixing tribal stuff with futuristic stuff, outer expanse is very uhh… jungle-y (yeek 10/10), submerged superstructure is kinda stressful because you’re always on a timer. I’m not even gonna start on Saint’s campaign, it all feels so wrong to me, so hollow and fucked.

After awhile dying becomes funny. It’s just a result of experimentation, and experimentation imo is the best part of the game. Just fuck around and find out, even death can’t stop you! Curiosity killed the (slug)cat, but satisfaction brought it back (and also the cycle of death and rebirth).

Keep in mind I have all achievements and 800+ hours of playtime so my experience is not a reasonable comparison lmao

Choose your game

[princeminnow]

gonna send an ask cause I don’t wanna make the post even longer skskdjfj but OUGH thank you so much for telling me about your boy!!!!!! Love all the character building!! are there more gods and goddesses then? Do any of them talk to people or are they all hands off doing their godly things elsewhere?

gently holding your bunny boy 🥺 eugheugheugh love all the magic and character bits I bet he’s so much fun to play as :D

ur so valid

oh ya theres a lot of gods!! a lot of em are canon to official 5e DnD stuff, but some are my DM’s own characters! one of them is actually a player character (played by my friend, not me) from the last campaign, which ended about 200 years ago in-world! and yea some of them are def way more hands-on than others, usually ones with fewer followers? i assume? tbh in both campaigns we’ve had a little more experience with fey, which are different immortal magical beings. they’re very tricky but i think theyre very cool too!

they do that thing of taking ur name like fae in old folklore irl, and theres 2 player characters in the party with their own connections to that world, so its become a funny bit that they ask for an NPC’s name and ess’ira goes “don’t answer that.” to the NPC or “No.” to his party-mate, he’s considered a buzzkill for it in-world, which i think is hilarious

thank you!!! like i said i go hard about this kinda thing. he’s so fun!!! i love messing with him especially, since he’s so snooty etc. so he just like. has little character moments of handling something and then grimacing and wiping his hand on his pants, and once he straight up fainted at the end of combat bc it was so stressful, after acquiring zero physical wounds. he’s such a damsel i wanna shake him like a dog toy, he’s so funny to me

fun fact: he’s a horse girl (gender neutral) bc he grew up with his own horses yknow, as a fancy lil rich boy, he misses them dearly. so he just has moments of speaking softly to and braiding the manes of the party’s two horses that pull their cart

which is why he owns those riding pants, which are part of the outfit he’s usually in! more so bc he likes how they look tho lol he doesn’t expect to be doing a lot of horse riding at all, he just wont let me draw him in pants that arent high-waisted

[aceofwonders]

me, realizing I accidentally made a parallel between two npcs: I’m a fucking genius! 

[strangerfigs]

something that I can’t get over is like, tbh, it rly seemed like, yes, will DID think they would never get girlfriends and play D&D for the rest of their lives, like he genuinely thought that mike liked him back, and that they were pretty much in love (I would think that too with how mike acted in s2, especially his monologue, like that moment is when I think wills was like… he feels the same way) and then yeah, mike …….. struggles, and with mike literally not only ignoring him but making fun of him and this fight, and what Mike SAYS, will is like… this wasn’t real. and it’s why he says he is STUPID, SO STUPID and I cannot WAIT until they reveal this because literally so many home girls from the general audience were like “oh my god that makes the castle byers scene so much sadder” when they found out about him being gay and his feelings for mike. and then !!! wait til, MIKE reveals that him LOSING WILL was in THAT MOMENT AT THE GARAGE and it was the end of their relationship super, duper homoerotic “friendship” and even when they patch up, it’s not like before, which leads to the mess in California because NEITHER OF THEM WANT TO BE FRIENDS? not really. Mike tells himself he wants to be but he wants him romantically, like before, and him feeling like he LOST him is partially because he did in a way because Will came to the conclusion that it’s NOT happening, and obviously, Mike is going to be a piss baby (affectionate) about this because HE WANTS WILL TO LOVE HIM BECAUSE HE LOVES HIM!!!!! So, they get into these STUPID fights like the one in California and don’t talk to each other because they are literally in love with each other, and so FRUSTRATED about not being able to be together/ not feeling as their love is reciprocated while NOW BOTH repressing their feelings, which are becoming more and more prominent as they get older. It’s like literally a homoerotic friendship archetype that should be studied in Ivy League schools like they are such a good, accurate example that it makes me like……. So…. So. Passionate and so full of emotion. Like. This. Is just so. Like it’s so obvious? They are so gay. And in love. And just need to be together and kiss so they can stop being so sad and upset @ each other because they want to kiss each other so badly and spend the rest of their lives together. It’s just like. Literally.

Also, can we discuss how many times them implying their unity in the form of the future/basically whatever happens, they will be together? (not in order)

MIKE (apprehensively): what if you want to join another party? WILL: not possible. Mike grins at him. Will grins back.

MIKE: We’ll go crazy together, right? (needing the reassurance) WILL: Right. Crazy together. Will grins at him. Mike grins back.

MIKE: I’m not sure what’s gonna happen next, but I think we will work better as a team. Friends. Best friends. Will nods. WILL: Cool. MIKE: Cool. They share a grin, not looking away from one another until an interruption makes them both JUMP.

MIKE: What did you think, really? That we were just going to sit around in my basement and play board games for the rest of our lives? WILL: Yeah. I guess I did. I really did.

WILL: We could never work again, and just play D&D and Nintendo for the rest of our lives. MIKE (distracted): Totally.

They literally want to spend FOREVER with each other and you cannot tell me otherwise. It is why Mike probably wrote 10 hour campaigns because he wants to spend eternity with him (and playing a 10 hour game is an eternity, ok, it just is.)

They are each other’s future, like you can seriously just like. Not. Argue with me.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[feathersandthorns]

I never thought I'd see a post like this but yes I love talking about my ocs!

So this is Briar, she's my current D&D oc in a campaign I started a couple months ago. I'm a little more attached to my previous D&D oc tbh, but I started really connecting with her recently and I also ADORE this drawing, even if I got really lazy at the end and stuck in some candle images to add another light source. Anyways Briar is a bard/aasimar with much chaos and a kinda messed up backstory that I cannot elaborate on.

Artists, share your favorite drawing of your OC (that you made)

[arofili]

Line of Elros Edit Series: Appendix D

Continued from Appendix C. This section will contain information on the Princes of Dol Amroth and the Chieftains of the Dúnedain.

~~~

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Appendix A: Royalty of Númenor Appendix B: House of Andúnië, Royalty of Arnor Appendix C: Royalty of Gondor Appendix D: Princes of Dol Amroth, Chieftains of the Dúnedain (you are here!) Appendix E: Stewards of Gondor

~~~

PRINCES OF DOL AMROTH

Note: The names of most of these characters come from Adûnaic, but after using a lot of Adûnaic in the Royalty of Númenor section of this project, I was running out of vocabulary to use. Instead I repurposed the fragments of the (often untranslated in canon) Adûnaic names canonical to the House of Dol Amroth and scoured through this Adûnaic dictionary for other words that might be useful. For untranslated words, I made a guess based on the meaning of the word or a similar word in another language, which I excuse because Adûnaic is sort of a language cobbled together from a bunch of other languages.

Following is a brief glossary of the terms I used to make most of these names. If a name element does not appear here, I probably borrowed it from one of these namelists.

GLOSSARY adra || “crossing” || meaning derived from Gnomish adros (related to Sindarin athrad) agla || “brilliant, glorious” || meaning derived from Adûnaic aglar alêth || “city” || canonical meaning ang[a] || “iron” || meaning derived from Sindarin ang / Quenya anga asdi || “hope” || a canonical Adûnaic word of unknown meaning; I made up its meaning batân || “road, path” || canonical meaning êluk || “past” || a canonical Adûnaic word of unclear meaning; I derived its meaning from Adûnaic tâidô, meaning “once, then” and supposedly a later form of this word had || “to hurl” || meaning derived from Sindarin hador, “thrower” hil || “son, child” || meaning derived from Sindarin [c]híl, “heir” hir || “lord” || meaning derived from Sindarin hîr imra || “valley” || meaning derived from Sindarin imrath karasa || “red” || canonical meaning limir || “chain” || meaning derived from Quenya limil rûkh || “to shout” || canonical meaning zâbath || “humble” || canonical meaning zâira || “yearning, longing” || canonical meaning zôr || “fire” || canonical meaning

~~~

Adrahil I ft. Adrahil I, Zâbathasdî (OC), Imrazôr The history of Dor-en-Ernil is mostly canon. Adrahil’s involvement in Ondoher’s campaign is canon, but his fate in that conflict is unknown, and everything after his retreat to Ithilien is headcanon. Tolkien Gateway has a footnote I find somewhat amusing that emphasizes that we don’t know For Sure that Adrahil was Imrazôr’s father, because even though all the dates line up for that to be true Tolkien never explicitly said that, soooo..... I think there’s no reason he wouldn’t be Imrazôr’s father, but I guess it’s canonically possible he’s not.

Imrazôr ft. Imrazôr, Mithrellas Nimruphêr, Galador, Gilmith Amroth’s story is canon, though we don’t know that it specifically was Imrazôr who named the hill after him. All we know about Imrazôr and Mithrellas is their origin story about Mithrellas being lost in the woods and Imrazôr finding her, and that after Mithrellas bore Imrazôr two children she disappeared into the night. I’ve seen lots of varying interpretations of this story, including some where Imrazôr forced Mithrellas to marry her, but in my opinion nothing in the text confirms that theory. We don’t know for sure that Gilmith and Galador are twins, but since they were born in the same year and elf pregnancies are usually exactly a year long I think it’s the most likely scenario. Mithrellas is said to have left after her children were born, which usually I see interpreted as right after their births, but again nothing in the text says her departure was immediate so I think it makes more sense that she stayed until they were grown, at least. Galador does become his father’s heir (see the next edit) but we know nothing else about Gilmith, so their differing fates (mirroring Elros and Elrond’s) are entirely my headcanon. A while back I made an edit about Gilmith and Mithrellas reuniting, if you want to check that out (though I did go with the “Mithrellas leaves immediately” version of events there).

Galador ft. Galador, Zadnazîrî (OC), Minlubên (OC), Inzilkaras (OC) The distinction/transition between Dor-en-Ernil and Dol Amroth is never explicitly described in Tolkien’s work, but since the land was not called Dol Amroth until after Amroth’s rule (during Imrazôr’s reign) and Galador was the first prince of Dol Amroth specifically, I think my version of events fits into canon. He was not the first prince of his line, rather the first prince of that specific place-name. Everything about Galador’s choice of mortality and his reasoning behind it is headcanon. His wife, naturally, is unnamed and thus entirely my own creation. Here we get to the first of many “unnamed princes” - we know how many there were between Galador and the next named lord (Aglahad), but nothing else about them save the dates of their lives and rule. Which is still more than we know about the Lords of Andúnië!

Balakân ft. Balakân (OC), Avradizimril (OC), Zâinabên (OC), Imralêthî (OC), Angahil (OC), Abrazân (OC) Everything here is entirely my own invention. I realized after making this edit that the line of Dol Amroth was “unbroken” between Galador and Imrahil, meaning there was no uncle to nephew inheritance like this, but tbh that’s a minor detail I’m not fussed about contradicting.

Abrazân ft. Abrazân (OC), Zâirahirî (OC), Bawbuthôr (OC), Karbazîrî (OC), Avalôzîr (OC), Narakarî (OC), Gimlibên I (OC), Asdiphêl (OC), Zôrahad (OC), Agathilî (OC) All the events that occur in this edit are canonical, but everything to do with the involvement of anyone from Dol Amroth is my headcanon. All information about the Princes and their family is my own invention.

Alêthir ft. Alêthir (OC), Zâbathinzil (OC), Karsalimir (OC), Adrabatîna (OC), Gimlibên II (OC), Zimrasdî (OC), Rûkhir (OC), Batânaglar (OC), Zâirêluk (OC), Ûrîzôrî (OC) Same note as previous. Don’t worry, we’re getting back to semi-canonical stuff soon! The name “Karsalimir” is derived from “karasa+limir”; I shortened the first element for a better flow of the name. Adrabatîna’s name is glossed as “fortunate meeting” but literally means “crossing paths.”

Karazôr ft. Karazôr (OC), Zâiralêth (OC), Asdihil (OC), Lômihirî (OC) The 15th and 16th Princes did canonically die early; the 15th Prince was “slain by the Corsairs of Umbar” and the 16th was “slain in battle.” We don’t have specifics on either event, so an isolated skirmish with the Corsairs is plausible enough for the 15th Prince’s demise. The 16th Prince died in 2799, the same year as the end of the War of the Dwarves and Orcs that sent orcs fleeing to the White Mountains in southern Gondor, so while there is no proof I think it’s likely that is the conflict in which he perished. Karazôr’s name comes from “karasa+zôr”; again, I’ve shortened the first element for aesthetic purposes.

Aglazôr ft. Aglazôr (OC), Gimilzâirî (OC), Angharas (OC), Nîlubêlî (OC) The Battle of the Poros happened during the rule of the 17th Prince; it is conceivable he and his son would have fought in that conflict, but all information about them is entirely headcanon. Once more I have messed with the word “karas” as a name element: Angharas’ name comes from “ang(a)+karasa,” but in pushing those two elements together Angakarasa becomes something like Angharas.

Aglahad ft. Aglahad, Karasaphêl (OC), Angelimir, Minalzôrî (OC), Adrahil II Finally we get to actually canonical characters!! Although we don’t know anything at all about Aglahad or Angelimir other than their names and the usual dates. This is the time Ithilien was deserted and Henneth Annûn was founded, though Angelimir’s involvement is entirely my own speculation.

Adrahil II ft. Adrahil II, Branniel (OC), Ivriniel, Finduilas of Dol Amroth, Denethor II, The basic details of Finduilas’ story are canon, though I have embellished a bit (including Imrahil’s resentment of Denethor). Everything about Adrahil, Branniel, and Ivriniel is headcanon.

Imrahil ft. Imrahil, Malleneth (OC), Elphir, Erchirion, Amrothos, Lothíriel All of Imrahil’s deeds are canon, though they have been somewhat embellished. He was even canonically bros with Éomer! However, everything about everyone else in his family is headcanon, except that Lothíriel did indeed marry Éomer (though we don’t know how exactly that came to be).

Elphir ft. Elphir, Idhrenes (OC), Alphros We know nothing about Elphir and Alphros except for their names and relevant dates; all of this is headcanon.

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CHIEFTAINS OF THE DÚNEDAIN

Aranarth ft. Aranarth, Lorneth (OC), Amathim (OC), Arahael, Idhrion (OC) Aranarth is implied to have a younger brother, as the ROTK appendices indicate he is the elder son of Arvedui. He also had at least one other child, since Dírhael is “said to be a descendant of a younger branch of Aranarth.” I came up with a different version of Dírhael’s ancestry that I like better, interpreting “younger branch of Aranarth” to just broadly mean “a younger branch of Aranarth’s house,” but I decided I liked the idea of giving Arahael a sibling. The bit about Aranarth’s tracking ability was borrowed from Middle-earth Role Playing. Arahael was born decades after his father’s inheritance (unusual for the Dúnedain, but Aranarth was particularly young when Arvedui died); technically Aranarth gave the heirlooms of Arnor to Elrond shortly after Angmar was destroyed, but after reading this excellent fic by @nikosheba I’ve adopted the headcanon that instead that happened when Aranarth’s wife arrived in Rivendell. The circumstances of Arahael’s birth are mostly headcanon, though he was born and raised in Rivendell, as were all his heirs after him.

Arahael Arahael, Avorniel (OC), Aranuir, Bellassamdir (OC), Aravir, Daerís (OC), Aragorn I, Galadil (OC), Araglas, Aeneth (OC) We know basically nothing about everyone in this edit, except that Aragorn I was indeed killed by wolves. Everything else is headcanon.

Arahad I ft. Arahad I, Silivreneth (OC), Aragost, Alphalas (OC), Aravorn, Sírdhem (OC), Arahad II, Ellother (OC), Arassuil, Glórineth (OC) I’m not sure if it’s clear in the caption, but Celebrían was wounded during Arahad’s rule, not Aragost’s; however, Aragost was a grown man at the time and I imagined him taking an active role under his father’s jurisdiction. The Rangers as a group canonically fought back against the invasion of orcs into Eriador at this time, though Arassuil was not mentioned individually. All the major events in this edit are canonical, but any involvement of the Chieftains and their families is headcanon.

Arathorn I ft. Arathorn I, Dravoriel (OC), Argonui, Eithiar (OC) Arathorn was indicated to have died violently, but we don’t know the specifics of this death, and it happened near the end of his natural lifespan anyway. The War of the Dwarves and Orcs did happen at this time, which affected the politics of the area, but any involvement of the Dúnedain is headcanon.

Argonui ft. Argonui, Theriel (OC), Arador, Malríneth (OC), Arathorn II The events mentioned here are canonical, but most of how these characters reacted to them is headcanon. Arador’s death is canon, though the reason he was out in the Coldfells is unknown.

Eithiar ft. Eithiar (OC), Farion (OC), Dírhael, Gilbarad, Ivorwen, Gilraen Argonui having a sibling is entirely my idea; I decided it would be interesting if Gilraen and Arathorn II were more closely related than simply both being descendants of Aranarth. Everything about Gilbarad is headcanon except for his name and relation to Ivorwen. The story of Dírhael and Ivorwen’s disagreement over Gilraen’s marriage is canon, but has been embellished; the story of their own marriage is headcanon.

Arathorn II ft. Arathorn II, Gilraen, Aragorn II This is mostly based in canon, but the details have been embellished. Aragorn and Arwen are the only characters in this series that I used movie faceclaims for, just because I think they work really well.

Aragorn II Elessar ft. Aragorn II Elessar, Arwen Undómiel, Eldarion, Erthoril (OC), Eliominal (OC), Evrindil (OC) Everything about Aragorn is canon. This guy did a LOT of stuff. Arwen did indeed make the Standard of Elendil, but it is a headcanon (that I think I first got from @jaz-the-bard) that she reforged Andúril, and also that she was waiting to find the right people to be mortal with (that was also from Jaz, lol). Naturally, everything about their kids is headcanon except for the most basic information about Eldarion. Aragorn and Arwen canonically had several daughters; I made one actually be nonbinary because I felt like it. Eliominal is derived from elia “to bless” and menel “heavens”; it should properly be Eliormenel but I changed the spelling for aesthetic purposes, and also a nod to the common tongue (minal is the Adûnaic version of Q./S. menel). “Evrin” is an alteration of “Ivrin” which I translate as “crystal.” Tolkien Gateway says that Eldarion had at least one son but I went through their sources in Peoples of Middle-earth and found no mention of this. It is stated that it was prophesied he would rule a great kingdom that would last “a hundred generations of Men after him,” but the same text admits that it is unknown if that is true, and even that statement is not necessarily indicative that those “hundred generations” would be his direct descendants. It is equally likely that his kingship passed to a child of one of his sisters and that he himself was childless. Personally, I ship Eldarion with Elboron, so I’m choosing that version of events instead.

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CONTINUED IN APPENDIX E