#Or the day after! Or the day after that! Because I don't post these design polls for my blorbo to get hate!

[imsobadatnicknames2]

I mean... while I don't think you're wrong about how the goal of mechanics like reaction rolls or morale rolls probably is more "let's introduce more randomness" than "let's treat our enemies as living creatures rather than punching bags for the PCs to kill", but I think saying that the difference in the playstyles encouraged by the mechanical design of old-school D&D vs modern D&D is a matter of simply how structured the game is ends up being extremely dismissive of the ways in which the design of old-school D&D does organically disincentivize combat as the default encounter disposition on the player side (regardless of if that was the design goal or not) by making combat an extremely suboptimal default way to respond to encounters.

As you say, the flavor text of various monsters in modern D&D is a clear indication that combat should not be the default assumption, unless the players choose to ignore it. But the thing is. In modern D&D you *can afford* to ignore it in a way that you really can't in earlier editions of the game.

I'm gonna be using the 1981 edition of Basic D&D (a.k.a. B/X edition) as my example here because it's the edition I'm most familiar with, but pretty much all of this is applicable to all TSR editions of the game (except maybe 2e)

In all editions of D&D, HP is a resource, and turning an encounter into a fight is synonymous with consuming it. However, in editions like B/X, this resource is scarce and hard to recover. At early levels, even the beefiest classes in the game are never more than one or two solid hits away from 0 HP (my last B/X character was a fighter who started with 4 max HP at level 1. FOUR.), and once you reach 0 you're DEAD dead, no negative HP like in 3.x or death saves like in 5e. Magical healing is scarce (clerics can't even cast ANY spells until level 2. At which point they gain the ability to cast ONE spell per day), and without magical healing you naturally heal at a rate of 1hp PER DAY of rest.

By contrast, in something like 5e (or, to a lesser degree, even 3.x), where your characters have larger HP pools, there are several guardrails to prevent you from dying once you reach 0hp, your cleric is a much more plentiful source of magical healing, and even without access to magical healing you can use short rests to recover a substantial chunk of hp after a fight, HP is a resource that is much easier to justify spending. It's plentiful, easy to recover, and even running out of it is less of a big deal.

My point here being that, when you're playing an edition of the game where every time a fight happens there is a not insignificant chance that someone might end up dead within the first round of combat (and even if everyone does survive, the fight will likely leave the party in a state that might take several in-game days to fully recover from), you kinda can't afford to ignore any opportunity to NOT turn an encounter into a fight.

Like sure, in an edition like 3.x talking down the goblins instead of fighting by opening trade negotiations is a cool thing that MIGHT happen if the DM crafted the encounter that way and the players are so inclined. But in B/X talking down the goblins instead of fighting by opening trade negotiations is something you want to be doing as often as possible unless you want a TPK every couple sessions.

Like... I think there's something to be argued about how much these games are ACTUALLY played that way, but if we're looking purely at the gameplay style incentivized by the game design itself, I think it's plainly wrong to say that there's not a palpable difference in the degree to which combat is mechanically incentivized in post-3e D&D vs older editions.

So there is a pretty clear shift in playstyle between TSR D&D and WotC D&D: for better and for worse, D&D 3e introduced the idea of encounter balance, de-emphasized mechanics that had previously encouraged the GM to think of the monsters as real living creatures (reaction rolls, morale, etc.), and it had the effect of making D&D a much more combat-focused game. D&D has always been a game that's opinionated about combat, it's basically the most expressive and detailed form of play regardless of edition, but combat in the TSR editions was not exactly zoomed in and tactical. The WotC editions purposefully made combat zoomed in, granular, and tactical.

And this has had an effect on playstyle: since combat is now the main form of player expression what players actually want is for their characters to get into combat. Because combat is the most fun part of the game. But the game has also changed from the largely amoral dungeon-crawling game into a game of fantasy heroics (even though a lot of the trappings of the amoral dungeon-crawling still remain, which contributes to the dissonance), so you can't just have the player characters going into combat for the sake of it. That would frame the player characters as kind of Fucked Up, and we can't have that in our supposedly heroic fantasy.

What you end up with is a variety of contrivances like "they're bandits," "they're cultists," or, my all-time favorite, "they attacked first" to make the action seem morally justifiable, even though gameplay is still motivated by a desire to fight. The monsters fight to the death and, importantly, can often not be reasoned and negotiated with, partly because combat is supposed to be the fun, engaging part everyone is here to do, but also because if they actually acted like reasonable people it could cause dissonance with the whole "the player characters are the goodest heroes."

As my friend @tenleaguesbeneath once called it: what is actually going on is that the player characters are hunting people and monsters who have been programmed to fight to the death and never negotiate for sport, while justifying it as self-defence.

It's a simple power fantasy, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Sometimes you want to play a morally uncomplicated game about killing guys with cool magic swords. But I think it's also fun to think about what the specific types of monsters players end up fighting reveals about Society the invisible, unexamined ideology lying under the surface that the designers of even modern D&D have failed to examine. And to me it often reads like a frontier justice fantasy. None of that is to detract from anyone's joy of the game, and for me it's just fun to think about and post about this stuff while Still Enjoying the Game, but if someone expressing that opinion makes you feel uncomfortable, why? That's pretty silly imo.

[bugsmoverocks]

a little nervous to share this because i am in no way a good character designer or anything BUT! i've been thinking a lot abt the wayfarer and the witch from the song of the wayfarer lately so here's my personal interpretation of them!!

to avoid making this post a wall of text i'm just going to ramble about my interpretation of their story below the cut so its only a wall of text if you want it to be!

so ya!! i tried to give them similar characteristics to kiwi and miriam (both in appearance and personality) but still having them be their own people. they're not connected to kiwi and miriam in any way they just happen to be similar people in some ways ha. (oh also the wayfarer's outfit is inspired a lot off of wirt from otgw !)

also i should say before i ramble about their story that i don't personally interpret the wayfarer and the witch as being in a romantic relationship. i think they were very close of course but everyone who saw them hanging out together just sorta...assumed it was romantic (similar to how some characters in wandersong assume kiwi and miriam are in a romantic relationship too). but there's no rule book saying you can't be in love with someone platonically !!

okay im gonna try to summarize their story as best as i can so i guess ill start off by saying that i think the two's initial interactions when they first met were. a bit awkward. the witch was not very trusting of the wayfarer for the longest time. with tensions between Rulle and Chaandesh going on, and also just not being used to accepting kindness in general, she sorta just assumed the wayfarer must secretly hate her just for being a witch like other people in Rulle do, and that her kindness must be a trick or something.

but of course that wasn't true, the wayfarer really did just want to be her friend. and after many days of the two just happening to meet in that same forest they met in over and over again, the witch started to believe that. it got to the point where the two would go to the forest just to see each other.

but unfortunately things couldn't stay happy forever. one day, with really no explanation or warning, the wayfarer came down with an illness bad enough to leave her bedridden. the witch of course did her best to help her, but nothing was seeming to work, not even any of her healing magic or potions. after all of her options were exhausted, all she could really do was just stay with the wayfarer and keep her company.

despite everything the witch tried to do, the wayfarer ended up passing away one night. a particularly beautiful night, where there were no clouds in the sky and the stars shone bright. before she passed the wayfarer told the witch that she would be up with those same stars, watching over her, so they really weren't leaving each other. but it still did nothing to stop the witch from feeling a deep and heavy grief at the loss of her only friend.

upon the wayfarer's passing, the people of Rulle immediately put the blame for it on the witch, believing she had cast a deadly curse on her. she became exiled from the kingdom, and the people's distrust of witches only grew worse. so she left, taking nothing back with her - not even her own broom. nobody knows what happened to her after that.

...uhh ya thats it i guess!! there's still some little details ive thought up of for them but this post is already long enough. i dont really know how to end this. ok bye!!

[icedb1ackcoffee]

Corrupted by Design CH 4 | Feyd-Rautha x Reader

After generations of pillaging and destroying their ecosystem, you are assigned by the Emperor to work on with the Harkonnens to improve their planet’s agriculture as Imperial Ecologist. However, Giedi Prime is far from welcoming, and you must fight to survive the horrors you endure at the hands of the Harkonnens. When you catch the eye of the Baron’s youngest nephew, and most prized possession, you step into a world complicated by politics and revenge.

Tags: Unbeta’d, AFAB Reader, multiple OCs, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, enemy to friends to lovers/enemy lovers, slow burn, fake science, blood, violence, gore, body horror, cannibalism, uncle/nephew incest (implied), eventual smut, etc.

A/N: I’ve never read the books, so this is a combination of the Villeneuve films, the Dune Wiki, and a heavy dose of just making shit up lol. I try my best to make Reader as nondescript as possible, but there are mentions of having periods and body hair in later chapters. As a warning up front, this will not have a Happily Ever After ending, but maybe more like Happy For Now?

Please mind the tags; this is very dark, but that comes with the territory.

Chapter Four: Obsession

Previous Chapter ⦾ Next Chapter

It took several days for the bleeding to stop. By the time you returned to the labs after your bedridden absence, that particular biting pain was replaced with grim paranoia. 

Your diet of Bane built itself inside of you so slowly, until all at once it was like the pain was a part of you, a second skin just beneath the surface. The increased light sensitivity and hand tremors you could get used to—if only the constant stomach cramps didn’t purge what little food you ate. What did it matter if you were already dying? 

You used up most of your supply of mint in effort to keep the pain at bay. Even after your period, your body barely adapted. It’s difficult to remember a time when you could merely breathe without feeling gutted.

Read More

[hurricanek8art]

Last art post because my nerves are getting to me, sorry for spamming 🙃 I just wanted to post my ref sheets for my girls because I'm proud of them. No idea if Tumblr's gonna crunch these too, so better safe than sorry, click for quality, you know the drill. Sorry for my chicken scratch handwriting, dysgraphia makes writing neatly hard. :P

Aja's ref sheet is kind of a huge mess, so I'm just posting the current armor and downtime/off-duty looks I've got for her. I'm proud of Vega's, though!

[peacockrulz]

Funny stuff happens on twitter sometimes dkslfjsdlkf

[silverior968]

Tfp gijinkas (1/4) Dad squad (aka I binged a childhood favorite show in 3 days and the special interest won) Zoom in to the image for more details (especially the faces, that's where I put the most details)

Next post

[Image ID: A character sheet with two characters on it. On the left side is a human version of Optimus Prime from Transformers Prime. He's tall and muscular with tan skin and blue-tinted black hair that is visibly grayed. His hair is around shoulder-length and tied into a short ponytail with a red hairtie. His expression is neutral and his eyes are dark blue. There are several scars on his face and hands, and the lines on his face show his age. He is wearing a black turtleneck, a red, cropped bomber-style jacket with white lining and a blue autobots logo embroidered on the left shoulder, blue trousers with gray patches and dark blue combat boots with black soles. He has two swords holstered on his back with connected shoulder-holsters. Placed around him are character design notes, reading as follows: "I turned his eye notches into scars - at first I thought of eyeliner but it didn't feel right". "I tried to simultaneously give him the vibes of a hands-on leader, a father figure and a dignified man in his twilight years - and I have no idea if I succeeded!". "I made both him and Ratchet appear somewhere in their 50s." "He accidentally ended up looking a lot like my design of Anton Shudder". "Making an outfit for him was tough because as a kid I thought his design made him look like he was wearing a cropped jacket and denim short-shorts. But I can't have him fighting decepticons in that, think of the asphalt burns! It was hard to unthink that, though". A tiny version of the Sonic the Hedgehog "my fucking god! these bitches gay! Good for them, good for them!" -meme is placed to his right. On the right side of the page is a human version of Ratchet from the same franchise. He's a stocky white man with pale skin and a few freckles here and there, but not many. His hair is mostly white, with some ginger streaks still visible. It is short and somewhat spiky near the back. He also has sideburns, a beard with no moustache and thick eyebrows. He looks grouchy and he has several facial scars and his face is lined. His eyes are cyan. He's wearing a red-and-white uniform, reminiscent of a first responder's outfit. It consists of a zip-up jacket, a thicker jacket on top, trousers, gloves and boots. The zip-up is white with a red zipper, and the jacket has four pockets and is mostly red with white shoulders and sleeves with heartbeat-reminiscent patterns. The jacket also has a white belt. The trousers are white with similar red stripes. The entire outfit has reflective stripes. The boots are mostly white with red heels and soles, and metal-enforced toes. He's holding a scalpel in one hand. There's a red autobots logo on his jackets over his heart. The design notes around him read as follows "He needs a strong nosebrideg because he's going to be pinching it a lot." "He came out looking like a middle-aged Roskilde paramedic named something like "Fredrik" or "Søren" who claims to have Manchester Orchestra as his favorite band (which isn't entirely false but) spends more time listening to ABBA and Radical Face." "Reflective stripes - safety first!". A meme with the text "Dad: doesn't want dog. Family: gets dog anyways. dad and dog:" and a picture of a man and a dog grilling. /end ID]

[featherymainffins]

Kinda fucked up how all the people I know are like "Yeah I know what I want in my life. I want to work in X field and I want/don't want a long-term partner who I'm going to marry, I want kids and-"

and I'm there just like 🧍

[miodiodavinci]

about the packaged au, i've never really seen their full designs other than Kyo and smol Kyo [guitar was it?] where are they?? can i see them??

A H you can find most of the stuff related to it by heading here, but if you're interested in the designs Specifically here's the original post where i shared those for the gang w

[crescentfool]

going to keep this vague on purpose but playing reload has reactivated brain chemicals in me that i forgot i had.

i think i'd want to make a more thought out post later, but i think my favorite thing about reload (aside from seeing minato in full HD glory) is how much it's made me think about video games as a storytelling medium- specifically with what mechanics and game design imply for characters.

there's a lot of quality of life features added to reload that help players easily enter a flow state and get immersed in the gameplay (most notable with tartarus)! which is so dope! reload has been such a nice blend of the mechanics from both FES and portable and it feels like a love letter to persona 3 fans.

there are definitely mechanics i miss from FES (minato's ability to wield multiple weapons being one of them). i can't deny that FES has some dated mechanics that don't necessarily feel fun for the player experience... but!

i think i mostly miss things from FES because i feel like so much of minato's characterization (for me) was informed by the gameplay experience and mechanics (e.g. fatigue system). obviously there's still other ways you can put together his personality (his dialogue responses), but i think game mechanics are a bit part of it, for me.

but in spite of that, i think reload is a really nice introduction to persona 3, it's so much more accessible and has a bunch of things to help make it more fun :) so far i think i'd recommend it to people :D

[koko-loco-urlocalbbgirl]

Happy birthday to our favorite hacker!

"I think you liked strawberry roll cake, so I bought you some. Or was it strawberry shortcake? Anyway, hope you like it. Happy birthday Ren! :)"

Oh, Angel...

14DWY IS AN ADULT VN MINORS DNI. PUT YOUR AGE IN BIO OR YOU'LL BE BLOCKED

[cinnabundolly12]

I've been struggling to fix designs for one of the most obvious reasons which is the fact that they still mostly look like edo's designs (like bonnie)

I'm not mad I've actually been trying to figure out how to completely change them like golden but I'm not getting the view besides the round hair tips- fhs bonnie technically never had his hair like this and I did change the shade of purple to further deviate the design comparisons and I've been trying to get inspiration from fnaf remake fangames cuz they actually help a little

I've been too afraid to show one of the others which is why there has been no mention or sketches shown of the progress there has been a pallette change to some of them I'm trying to go more into it but it's kinda hard for the animatronics and toys when even though I'm used to edo's pallettes it just feels like what I have at this point should stay

So if there's something specific that you see of my designs that are still screaming fnafhs besides the rounded tips of hair I'd appreciate if you could let me know c:

Btw mangle is getting minor adjustments to the hair but it'll stay jellyfish hairstyle. Also toy freddy is staying a girl here but I don't know if I'll keep the pallet colors I had for my toddy (the hair color just never sat with me cuz she never felt like a toy freddy)

Foxy's redesign is being held off until we figure out what to do with him

[betweenlands]

feel free to ignore/delete this ask for any reason, but i need to ask someone because i can't tell if i'm imagining things or not, and i know you've sort of talked about things like this before, but has there been a large jump in... not always active arophobia, but in the amatonormativity in mcyt fandom spaces lately? it feels like things go untagged, there's a larger focus on romance and love, and the active aphobia that there is just goes quietly unmentioned by the majority, and all of these more than before. this isn't me trying to say shipping's bad or anything, i don't have a problem with it, just that this fandom has felt so alienating lately for some reason and i can't figure out whether it's because something's changed in the fandom itself or not

i think this is genuinely a really interesting topic to talk about so i'm giving this a kinda longer response!

(tl;dr -- it's not just you and things have changed, but it's also not what you might think; this is how most non-mcyt fandoms are)

so! to start with, more than ever i think the amatonormativity thing depends on the specific sub-fandom you're in. qsmp's a huge outlier; by virtue of having canon relationships it brings itself more in line with the average fandom in terms of how much people talk about ships (being in a non-mcyt fandom or two helps for perspective on this. i s2g half the tag for murder drones is just ship wars. nonstop ship wars. please stop i want to discuss lore).

with qsmp being such a genuinely interesting outlier (it's something the english mcyt fandom hasn't seen in a while in terms of a series with explicitly canon relationships being mainstream) i think that causes a lot of people to really want to post about these relationships, because like... people feel strongly about being able to express this aspect of their interests in a way they weren't able to before, i think? we've never personally been interested in shipping stuff (with like maybe 5 exceptions ever across all fandoms we've ever been in) but the attitude towards shipping used to be so INCREDIBLY hostile that i think people take their ability to post ship stuff very personally.

i'm not sure about other series, though -- this is where things get weird, because we're not really in mainstream mcyt fandom right now. we don't follow a lot of hermitshippers, but most of them generally tag their stuff? on reblogs it's a bit more sloppy but i also think a lot of people tend to just put "i post [server]shipping content" in their bios as like a blanket reminder and leave it at that

all that said, i don't think it's intentional amatonormativity, or even remotely malicious. i do think we're seeing a lot more ship content than usual/it's a little more difficult to find platonic stuff than it used to be in general mcyt fandom -- this VERY much varies based on series, though. we currently main dominion/adjacent and there's not shit for ship stuff there (to be fair, there's also not a lot of fandom in general, it's Mad Small), whereas with something like trafficseries there's a lot of focus placed on shipping partly because that series is Heavily About character dynamics.

am i tired of seeing ship content as like the main product of fandom? oh, absolutely, but that's nothing new -- that's been the case since before we had this blog, before we were even in mcyt fandom at all. fandoms are just Like This, which can absolutely be exhausting if you're not here for ship content, but this sort of thing is not uncommon for any more mainstream fandoms.

so, yes, it's not just you, there's more amatonormativity in mcyt fandom than there used to be -- because it's starting to act more and more like most fandoms, and therefore is reflecting the amatonormativity most fandoms have, whereas before there was such a hostile attitude towards shipping that this absolutely Could Not be the case.

it sucks in some ways, but at the same time it's very important to note: this is not a new problem. this is an old problem. this is a problem as old as fandom itself, and mcyt fandom is only just getting to a place where people have stopped tearing each other's throats out long enough to act like most other fandoms do.

anyway shoutout to jaidenanimations. aroace icon👍

[watercolor-hearts]

.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

[stick-named-figure]

somewhere in my brain i have a "death of the artist" metaphor for AVA 2-4 rattling around but it feels silly goofy since it's obviously not the intent of the series but like. the idea is very literally about that. like that's kinda the point.

[arolesbianism]

Having a rain world oc moment. Dysfunctional family of the year award, they were so toxic that one of them found a way to kill themselves in a world where that was supposed to be physically impossible