#Surely I wouldn't get attached to any other characters/campaigns :)

[star-ra]

Now that I've caught up on Riptide I finally decided to watch the few other campaign episodes on YouTube

And I started with The Suckening

And I am already so unbelievably attached to these characters you have no idea

Like

I'm almost done with the fifth episode and I KNOW that I'm going to need to see the rest of this campaign

[jinxed-sinner]

Alright here's my full (possibly hot) take on redesigning Hazbin Hotel characters and making a video showcasing those redesigns while you criticize the official designs.

First and foremost, you are redesigning someone else's OCs. Hazbin Hotel is, in essence, a passion project for Viv. How she talks about it makes that incredibly clear to me. The only difference between Hazbin Hotel and, for example, the story I'm developing surrounding some of my D&D OCs is that Hazbin Hotel got picked up by a streaming service and is significantly more popular than most passsion projects get.

Personally if someone wanted to redesign my D&D OCs, I wouldn't mind it, in fact I'd probably think it was really cool that someone would want to redesign one of my OCs to be closer to their tastes in terms of what they like to draw. I would, however, be made incredibly uncomfortable if someone made a video redesigning them where they also pointed out everything they thought was wrong with the designs. I didn't design these specific D&D characters to be 1-to-1 accurate to their classes in D&D or to look professionally designed. I designed them how I wanted them to look for the story I'm telling because I don't plan to ever play them in a campaign. The main character Avlan is a paladin, and I can acknowledge that his design might not look exactly like a paladin. One of the tabaxi in the story (Ice) is a bard and the other (Spark) is a ranger, and I acknowledge that their classes might not come across well in their designs. The single tiefling I've designed for this story (Tragedy) is a cleric but might not come off as one in their design. But I specifically designed them to be easy for me to draw because I want to be able to tell this story through my art. Having someone say "oh, Avlan's armor isn't paladin enough!" or "Avlan's fur colors and patterns should be closer to a wild rabbit's because harengon shouldn't be based on domestic rabbit colors!" would fucking hurt (especially because I'm so attached to Avlan, but it would hurt just as much if similar comments were made about Ice, Spark, or Tragedy). I am so passionate about these characters and being told their designs are bad or wrong in some way would be like a stab in the heart, and it would still feel like a stab in the heart if this story ever got a massive fandom behind it. Giving Avlan more complex armor because you think it'd look cool or just want to see what it'd look like? Sure, if I could draw more complex armor I'd give him more complex armor too. Giving him more complex armor but also shitting on the armor I decide to draw him with? My motivation to draw him in his armor, potentially draw him period, would be dead for WEEKS.

Why is it suddenly okay just because someone's passion project was picked up by Amazon Prime? Why is it suddenly okay to be "fixing" someone's character designs just because the project has a much bigger budget than most artists get and is on a popular streaming service? It's not. I don't care if you're a professional character designer, or think a specific character would look better with certain traits, or just don't like the character designs.

Hazbin Hotel is still Vivienne Medrano's passion project, and redesigning her characters and making videos talking about everything you think is "wrong" with them is, honestly, disgusting. You can make videos explaining your choices in your redesigns without putting down the designs that already exist, whether you like them or not. Me thinking Lucifer looks better with his tail not restricted to his full demon form doesn't suddenly mean I don't like his official design, because I fucking love it. If you wouldn't do it to an artist whose passion project is just a webcomic here on Tumblr, don't fucking do it to an artist whose passion project got picked up for a cartoon by a big streaming service (or any company for that matter).

[vgilantee]

Hello! Me again, Isekai mess writer.

I want Ghoap, obviously. I need reader to already know that's a thing based on gameplay, head cannon in their world. Reader immediately clocking their relationship even though they think they're super sneaky.

I adore Daddy Price, Sweet Boy/Feral in bed Gaz, Down bad but won't admit it Ghost and Nasty Dog Soap.

Basically the premise is that reader just appears. The 141 are just immediately like wtf considering their base of operations is highly guarded. Probably some interrogation in which poor reader just spits it all out that a "God" yeeted them into the game. Soap might be a bit touched that reader for so attached and also a bit creeped out about the dedication. Ghost is spiralling thinking of Johnny's death and how reader basically died trying to change it. Price is trying to hold onto reason/simple explanation and Gaz wondering when his life became an anime.

Basically I want reader to be their guide through everything, they've played enough to know exactly when everyone comes in, where everything is.

Makarov will be taken out. No question.

What about after? Reader is essentially a civilian consultant to their taskforce. Do they all get together? Is the taskforce together prior to reader? My brain is on fire.

okay it took me a minute because Work, and also anything I ramble about is based on context clues from this ask because again, only anime I've watched is the first 6 (??) seasons of one piece and the first episode of that volleyball one. but here are my thoughts.

ghoap but they haven't labelled it so they think that they're being sneaky. lingering looks, softened eyes, hands brushing when they wall by each other.

maybe price pushes them behind him when the reader starts rambling about how they're video game characters and she starts giving plot points and details (maybe even bits of ghost's backstory because she's read the comics?)

simon and gaz grabbing johnny's hand when she blurts out "and soap will be shot in the head by makarov" because she sounds desperate but they still Ned the reassurance that their johnny is still there and alive and safe

you say the reader basically died to save him, does that mean like died in "her world" to get put in the video game, or is there going to be a death loop?

"Look I know you don't believe me. I wouldn't either if I were you. I sound like I need to be institutionalised. But I swear, everything I've said is true. I don't know why or how I'm here but while I am I cannot let Johnny die, not when I know how I could save him."

I personally haven't played the game or watched a playthrough, so I don't know the campaign very well, but maybe she tells them about graves and shepherd?

"I doubt you would have included gaz falling out of the helicopter in your report. and i mean if you did, not him saying he's 'hanging from a bloody rope'"

depending on whether you want ghoap to be the only relationship from the start, or have them full subtle poly, little touches and sitting too close are always good. maybe John gives simon a light pat on the arm, or simon gives gaz a tap on the chin with his knuckle. little things too intimate for just team mates.

not sure if any of that helped but if it at least got the gears turning then I count it as a win!!

[bath-creek-lake]

In the early days of these accounts, you were asked what characters in media/history inspire Creek/Lake. Now that we’re getting closer to the end of the campaign, are there any new inspirations for the character?

Yes, Creek in her conception was a runaway, scared of failure and attachment, only feeling connected in the context of a chase. She started as Remy a rat with a dream, but the forests surrounding Curious were not Paris, the many places she has gone with her new friends, finding Jerry and getting her to safety, I think Lake might not ever find her Paris, I guess riding horses isn't a place specific kind of passion. It is a people specific one, those she rides with is what is important.

Another influence was Quinten Coldwater, mostly for the name, but also that kind of depression and obsession that play with each other. A love of magic (horses) but a frustration with and an inability to go on with or without it. I think Lake has left that behind a bit. She loves horses and especially Wendy, but her understanding of the world has changed a lot. The magic grad school she got in was in this metaphor, the world beyond her home and the people beyond her home.

I wouldn't say that she is in either of these places anymore, she is very much "along for the ride" in some ways. I think as my first campaign character, that is ok. In other ways Lake is a force of nature, she has spent most of her life living in the forest and in one way or another searching everywhere for ways she can prove herself useful. One thing I didn't expect to have in Lake is this certain amount of intensity, she is often not talking a lot, but when she is she's curt and grasping at metaphor but missing the mark and doubling down and repeating this cycle of trying failing and trying again. I think she is most connected to frustration, kind of in that learning curve limbo where she wants to be further along than she is and is also unwilling to drop the idea that she has come as far as she has.

To answer your question, I don't think I am making a specific effort to pull from other places, I think Lake has come into her own a bit. I'm sure that something is inspiring me, but the collage has gotten so intricate that I can't say one specific inspiration.

[karmahasagun]

If your ocs were in rainworld what creature would they be? How would they act? Friends? Any tamed pets? Are they the tamed pet?

oh BOY did this give me some BRAINROT

I need to put this shit under a fucking cut because this ended up longer than I thought. Anyways.

Kas

My boy is absolutely a scug, there is no doubt in my mind. I think he is somewhat aligned with Artificer, both in morals and powers, but rather than explosions, it's probably similar to Centipede electric. He's a bit faster than your average scug, and can wall-jump well. I also think, to reflect his wild magic, his electricity has a small chance to misfire which will stun him rather than whatever he's trying to stun, and the chance is higher the lower his Karma level is. Karma 10 has no chance, Karma 1 has maybe a 1/3 or 1/2 chance, with the others being evenly dispersed between. I also think he frequently terrorizes visits the local Iterator and fucks with old Ancient tech, either finding or building a mechanical lizard, probably with similar abilities to a Cyan. My girl Smoothie :]

Because my brainrot is incredibly high, I also think Jericho is a scug in this AU. They'd probably have the same spear-dual-wielding ability that Spearmaster has, and would be able to poison their spears with something like Spitter Spider/Red Lizard venom, able to slow down and stun anything they hit. They probably also have the high backflip from Riv.

Maybe the Local Iterator (tm) is Zep. Iterator Eve & Adem in the same local group. Idk what Frog would be. Maybe a Blue/Yellow Lizard? Dunno.

I don't think Kas would be able to ascend, at least if Jericho was alive. He wouldn't be able to let go of that attachment, and the ascension would fail. If he lost Jericho, it might be able to happen, but I also think he could just as easily get consumed by sadness/anger/grief, which would also make it difficult to properly ascend.

Eries

She's an Iterator. She is very similar in demeanor to Moon, but I think she is a few degrees more... questionable. She's probably a newer-gen Iterator, not really being around much during the Ancients' time before the Mass Ascension. In the campaign, she is a paladin dedicated to the Goddess of Death, and my way of translating that into RW lore would be giving her an obsession with Karma and The Cycle. Rather than trying to find a Solution to The Cycle, I think she would find a way to bend the rules of her programming to do more research on The Cycle, and how it works. As an Iterator, she wouldn't be able to experience The Cycle herself, but she'd know from her database that it exists, so I think she'd want to understand why it exists and how it works. She's not really trying to find a way to die/ascend like most Iterators, just trying to better understand the world, and the reason why death and ascension work the way they do.

As for other characters, the Pantheon are Ancients/Echos. Clover is another Iterator in Eries' local group, but his can is infected with Rot. Everyone else I'm not really sure. Eries would probably have a pet scug that she uses to study The Cycle.

Glory

They are an untethered Iterator, their can abandoned/collapsed. They have a pet Blue Lizard, aka Bluebell, and they travel around doing research on Ancient civilization.

Cypress

He's a scug similar in vibe to Monk. No real special powers, gets along with animals easier, etc. He probably has several pet Lizards.

Misc.

I didn't really have any solid ideas for Darcy and Lilac, so they're getting left out of this one rip. This does have me thinking Very Hard about both Kas and Eries tho. Lowkey wanna draw them in this AU now. This was very fun, good question :]

[utilitycaster]

This may very well come off as asinine. If it does, I apologize. Not sure how to put it otherwise. I’ve been wondering for a while now, given some of your meta, what would happen if you found yourself on the business end of a ‘the table is doing it wrong and I could do better’ situation. Are you expecting a massive course correction from Matt? Somebody to leave and come back as a different character? Is it possible you’ll just lose interest? Genuinely very excited to see what you have to say.

Not asinine at all, and while I have a few other similar questions I think this covers the most ground and will be the main one for my answer!

My initial course corrections would have ideally been, as said, during session zero. If I were Matt at that point I would have at minimum said "hey, I am hoping to do a lore-heavy campaign. Right now, there are no characters with both a reason to be interested in this lore and the intelligence score to back it up. Let's talk through what you want to do: I can change the campaign, but that means changing some of the details I've previously sent you and probably waiting a bit longer so I can rewrite aspects of it. I can also see if anyone's willing to reconsider either their class or their stats; I'm willing to allow for some generous stats rerolling/items to make up for deficiencies since this does mean changing a character you may be attached to." I mentioned Imogen's Open Mind feature and switching that to an INT save; I'd have specifically brought that up to Laura.

(I also would have probably uh...86'ed a couple of the characters from the start as as discussed prior so as not to end up in this situation. Matthew Mercer is famously an incredibly sweet person; I am not, and I do think that there's a way to respectfully tell a player "I'm sorry but this doesn't work." But again, that's getting way too far back.)

The other thing to do is, quite honestly, don't make this plotline come up so early. Later in the campaign, after the party is bonded, I think having NPCs doing the legwork wouldn't be so rough, but right now it means the party keeps kind of being shepherded through by smarter acquaintances. I think if we hadn't had Yu come in and force the Calloway plot which is connected to the Ruidus plot? We could focus on Ashton and FCG, whose backstories don't require nearly the same amount of research, and the party could start to cohere more over that. I think if we spent episodes 25-40 or something on FCG and Treshi and the party had more time to breathe and become friends, you could introduce NPCs more readily.

However, we're well past that so the things I'd do if I were Matt and had recently realized what was going on:

Have a mid-campaign session zero! Say what you didn't say earlier! Say "hey guys, I'm so sorry, and what I planned isn't working. Is anyone interested in playing a different character or having a stats mix-up, and if so, let's talk through what that might look like and how we can bring it in." Like, ideally, yeah, someone would play a new character, but as a DM you can't just make that happen; you do need the players on board. I will say: if Sam has any kind of Charlie to Devexian change in mind for FCG, which I presume he would have talked through with Matt, and which would be a very reasonable point to switch around stats pretty dramatically, I'd talk to him and try to accelerate that timeline quite a bit. However, this only works if Sam did have that in mind.

If no one wants to change their character but they are cool with changing around some stats: take a page from Brennan's Fantasy High season 2 book and put the characters in a situation where their stats might change or be rerolled. Put them in a dust storm that's eerily reminiscent of the red storm! Have Delilah go ham with the gnarlrock! Do a mad scientist brain lightning moment with the machine next episode? It's going to be a little contrived probably, but we can get past that quickly. This is honestly my favorite option.

This would be risky but could pay off really well: have a trusted strong guest player who is excited to play a high intelligence ally join them for a long (like...Dorian's 14 episodes) arc. As mentioned I think having a guest play an antagonist was a risk that didn't pay off, but having a guest play a quest-giver and ally is a bit safer. The one drawback is, again, the baseline Bells Hells have had more episodes with guests than without, and this could just make the party's fragmentation worse by introducing new weird groups.

If no one wants to change their character at this point (valid! they've been playing them for a while) and no one wants to change their stats...I would probably try to be a little heavy-handed and rail-road-y and make it clear that the Calloway parents, Hondir, and Ira have things handled for Ruidus, get Treshi resolved as quickly as possible as well, and send the party to Yios. At that point make it more of a political challenge to learn information, meted out bit by bit by contacting the right people, rather than one of research. The thing is, you don't need a high int party for D&D in general. I was just thinking that A Court of Fey and Flowers has only one character with good intelligence - but it's a comedy of manners, which runs on an engine of charisma and insight. This party is good at charisma skills and insight as well as sneaking around, and doing this in a university town in which secrets are a source of intrigue and currency lets them play to their strengths.

There's definitely plenty more you could do - pivot to EXU for a bit, give some characters a stopping point there, return with half of a new party, for example - but it's all hard to say. I think my point is that this does require a time out of speaking to the players and laying it out on the table, getting their input, and moving from there. The ways to fix it are endless though most are going to be a little awkward, but they need to be something everyone is on board with.

As for whether I will lose interest: hard to say! I'm still enjoying a lot of the characters, the setting is great, and I still like Ruidus lore. I've mentioned before that EXU Prime and Kymal had plots that don't make any sense to me but the characters and world were fun enough for me to keep on. I think I'll probably keep watching for that if nothing else, but ask me in another 20 episodes.

[snowwhitelass]

New Outlander Game Coming – Talking with the Game Designers

By:  Erin Conrad, June 15, 2021

Gamers Corner, TV News

Outlander game, Sony, Starz Outlander, Variable Outcomes

Who wouldn’t want to dash around the Highlands with Jamie, trying to be his favorite, and rescuing him from trouble on the way? That definitely sounds like a fun time, even if all you can do is dream about it. Or IS that all you can do?

NO! Sometime this fall, a brand new board game will debut – Outlander The Series! Designed by the husband and wife team of Matthew and Ashley Killeen, the game will let you play with a bunch of your friends, meeting familiar faces along the way, and getting in and out of all kinds of scrapes. The game will be available for holiday shopping, so you can start to set up your Outlander game nights now. I had the opportunity to talk with Matthew and Ashley about the development of this new game, and learned some details.

From the game’s marketing information: “His fate is in your hands! Step through the stones of Craigh Na Dun and run through the Scottish Highlands with the handsome Jamie. The year is 1743, and the outlaw James Fraser is at your side as you navigate the thrills and dangers of the Highlands. Use your wit, reach the right locations, make the right friends, and gather the items you need, all while keeping Jamie out of the hands of the many who would do him wrong. The gallows await fair Jamie (or worse!) should you fail. Fulfill your destiny, and win his heart. Only then will victory be yours!”

Outlander is the Killeen’s first big franchise game. “From a business point of view, it’s something I always wanted to do,” Matthew said. “I enjoy games with an IP license attached, TV show or movie, and I have designed prototypes that might be good for Ghostbusters or Star Trek. I really wanted to get into that.” Ashley knew Matthew was interested in trying a licensed game, and said “I’ve been watching Outlander, you should make a game based on that.” Matthew hadn’t yet seen the show, so he said “you do it” – and she did.

Ashley didn’t get into the show until season three. “The first version (of the game) was based on the book, because I thought that might be the avenue to go. But it ended up being more layers to secure the book rights than TV. We heard back from Starz/Sony quickly, and the show and book were similar enough that I didn’t have to change too much from initial design. I swapped out characters and items that didn’t translate from one to another. Jamie still has same event encounters, the same enemies. It’s nice to look at both sides, to really put in all those little hidden tidbits from show. I’m hoping that fans of the show will enjoy all those subtle things that I’ve put in. But the other thing we wanted to make sure was that it was not dependent upon being familiar with the show, because the last thing you want is a game with Outlander masked on top of it that doesn’t play as anything on its own. And having a lot of friends who knew nothing about Outlander, how could I get them to the table?”

Matthew said, “One of philosophies for the board game stuff was that I’ve seen games that were maybe like a movie spin on top. Is this fun or exciting because of the game, or just because of the movie or tv show tie in? And one reason, the biggest reason why I got excited was when I first played it, I had never seen the show. I knew nothing about it. I had never seen the characters, and yet, I still enjoyed it. It was a good game.” Ashley added, “He has since seen the show.” Matthew continued, “That’s another thing that’s always bothered me. I feel like if a certain publisher or game designer makes something but doesn’t know the back story, that’s lazy. As soon as I found out we were going to do this, I watched the show. I know all my lore now. I was obviously able to play the game again once I knew the show and the lore, and it made the game play better.” “You understood my decisions,” said Ashley. “Exactly,” said Matthew. “Whether you know the show or not, it’s a good game.”

Ashley discussed their process: “I started December 2019. This past December, we were finally able to go forward. We got the contract from Sony in November. It was a long process! We got approvals for the design of the game, and access to the virtual library. We could figure out images that would go with the components we had.” Once they had that, Matthew figured out the graphic design for the game.

Was Sony/Starz helpful? Enthusiastic? Ashley said, “They were enthusiastic. They didn’t really have a board game. They had Destiny Dice, but that wasn’t the same thing.” (For my review of Destiny Dice, a game that came out a couple of years ago, click here.) I’ve had reservations about this previous game, so I asked how they overcame the failings of that one to make this new game. My concern with a platform like this is that the show is so big and layered – a group of women will come together over a glass of wine or three, and are they going to be able to figure it out easily enough to have a good time in an evening? Ashley feels that the new game will let us do that. “The idea behind this was that we wanted to bring everybody to the table – people whose board games lives consisted of Scrabble for their whole lives, and those who have played campaigning, like Mage Knights, epically, every week. We want to bring both those sets to the table. It should be intuitive enough once you’ve figured out the first turn order. It’s the repetition of that, it’s just your personal strategy that changes on what you choose to do, but the game play isn’t going to change on you as you go.”

She added, “But there’s enough in there that if you are an experienced board game player, you’re not sitting there bored waiting for the next thing to happen. That was our goal, as many people at the same table as possible enjoying it at the level they’re at. You can have the game player who knows nothing about Outlander, and you can have the Outlander fan who doesn’t play board games, and they will have a good evening. We also tried to be strategic about the length, because you don’t want to have just a tease of a game, because then you can’t be really invested and immersed in that world, but we also know, especially being parents now, you don’t have time to spend four hours on a game. That’s not going to happen any more. What’s a good length? If you can watch an episode of Outlander, you can play a round. So we wanted to find something that made sense. A lot of these pieces, once you apply a little logic to it, they fell together really nicely.”

This is the first “franchise” game the Killeens have designed. The fascination with board games started in 2004, and in 2011, Matthew began to design games as hobby. “I enjoyed playing, but in between then I was going to school and forgot about it. As school was winding down, I really got into it. I created an educational game called Witchful Thinking. We’re both teachers, and when doing practicum, the teacher (that he was working with) had kids doing games for math. but they were really boring, and the kids didn’t like it at all. I remembered I had a game that worked for this! I started looking at my business from a professional point of view, filling in gaps in the market. I wanted to bring people to a table they hadn’t been to yet. Witchful Thinking is a card game – witches brewing potions, teaching math – subtraction, addition, pre-algebra, and more advanced math. It was a great educational tool.” The company has more ideas – they have an upcoming Kickstarter for a game called Tennessee James, an Indiana Jones parody (learn more here). Matthew says that the company expects to bring out many more titles – “Between the two of us, we have a backlog of designs.”

When do they expect to have this out? Matthew said definitely for the Christmas season. “I am working with manufacturers right now, trying to iron out some of those details, but we’re going to be moving into manufacturing right now. It depends on how long it takes to do the mass production plus shipping, but I would estimate this would maybe in stores (or online retailers) by October. That’s probably a good estimate.”

Did they do a lot of testing? “We needed especially non-Outlander fans to play this game. The Outlander fans, it didn’t take a lot of convincing to get them to play,” said Matthew. “Even before there were pictures on the cards, they knew the board, they knew the characters. So even if you had a blank piece of paper that just said Murtagh on it, they know what it means. I wasn’t worried about the Outlander fans, and the game play is pretty intuitive, once you go through the steps. So once you’ve done a round, you can keep going around, no problem. So we were just like, ok, you don’t know what these names mean and where these places are, but you’ve got a bit of the information, are you on board? And so far the reaction has been, yes, I feel like I’m playing a game, even if they don’t know who Jamie is or anything like that.”

He continued, “The tall and short of it is that this that this has been play tested thoroughly. It’s not broken, and the most important part is that it’s fun.” Ashley added, “It’s a nice balance of cooperative, nobody wants Jamie to come to any harm, but you still want to be his favorite. So you can get a little catty, and that’s what makes the fun. You’ll be adding something a little stronger to your tea nights once you start playing that way.”

Matthew said, “One of my strategies for play testing is that I like to try different strategies each time and see what works and what doesn’t .Ashley laughed, “You played mean one time.” “Yeah, it’s my wife, I’ve got to play nice, right? But one time, I didn’t play nice, and I took a competitive edge, and it was awesome,” he said. So players, remember that!

“When I was working on Witchful Thinking, I was looking to put it into Walmart and Target. But they don’t want to talk to the independent company, they want to make sure they’re getting multiple products from the same distributors. So we want to make sure that the distributors that we get are also trying to get the game out there. I do have distribution in the US for Witchful Thinking, and they’re excited to take on this one.”

What was your favorite part of the game, as you play it, I asked? Ashley said, “I like the QuickSave. This is a component we have because Jamie is always going to move in a predictable pattern, and the three villains he’s trying to avoid – Black Jack Randall, the Redcoats and the Watch – those are all the Meeples that are going to be moving around. As you are collecting friends along the way, if you happen to be en route to an Encounter, you can use the special abilities from your friends. So maybe it’s Dougal who is going to be discarded, and that will be a Quicksave to put Jamie back in hiding, so the game’s not over, you haven’t captured him yet. I like that idea, the Quicksave. So you’re strategizing, not just for what’s going to give you a lot of Favor from Jamie to try to win his heart in the game, but where are these people going to help me if Jamie is in a pickle. Because he’s going to get himself in a lot of pickles.”

As he does on the show, I said! Ashley continued, “And as a designer, that’s a fun way for me to tie in the personality of the characters. There’s a reason why they have the values that they do. There was a little argument between us in the design phase, because I made Willie – Willie Mackenzie from the first season – he has this hidden kind of superpower that most of the time, he’s a bit weaker, but when the danger level’s up, he’s strong. Matt was criticizing that, ‘he’s a minor character, why is he so strong?’ But you haven’t been paying attention. Because when Jamie’s in Wentworth, it’s Willie who’s willing to go. So that’s his power, when things are toughest, he’s the one that can save the most. I was having fun finding those little nuggets, the lore, that fans love, and if you’re paying attention to how I’ve designed it, you’ll start seeing like why you get more Favor in some places, or more Wit, or why you have the saving abilities.”

The women playing will like seeing that, I agreed. “I think that we’ve got it so that your favorite characters, from S1 at least, this is just in the Highlands, you’re going to see them, I think they’ll do you proud,” Ashley says. “We’re still excited about it, even though it’s been a year and a half doing it, so I think that says something about it, that we can still be passionate about it, little choices like that, I think the game has life.” Ashley told me that she has ideas for additional Outlander games to follow each season, so this may go on for quite a while!

As their cute kids came into the room, I asked if game design was full time, or is this an extra job? Ashley said, “I’m a full time teacher, so I’m squeezing this in between the report card writing and the classroom stuff. With a bunch of changes with Covid, it’s made more sense for Matthew to stay home, so we decided to go all in, make this run for itself.” Matthew said, “I can speak from the graphic design standpoint – I didn’t design the gameplay, Ashley did that, but I offered suggestions here and there, it was her decision on things, and she made some great decisions. And between that, I did the playtesting and the graphic design in January and early February, I’ve put in hundreds of hours, not just with the graphic design, but also the business stuff too, figuring out social media posts, getting things approved by Sony, talking with the distributors. So this has been not just like a full time job, but overtime, I’ve put in some serious hours for this.”

Since this is the company’s first big license, I asked if is this something they want to continue. “Absolutely,” Matthew said. “And I knew that when I turned this into a hobby back in 2011. I enjoy making board games. I enjoying making movies, watching movies, reading books, all that stuff. I needed some sort of creative outlet. And this was it. I enjoy tabletop games, so I found a business that I’m passionate about. But I found over the years, since I am a small business, I had to learn everything. I can do the game design, I can do the graphic design, the IP stuff, social media, the PR, distribution. I have all those experiences, so if I can continue this, I’ll be very happy.”

Price point for the game should be $48.99 CA (US equivalent is about $40). And it will be available in the US, and more – Matthew says, “The territories we have with Sony are Canada, USA, UK, Australia and France. We’re a small family run company, but at the same time, this is a big license. So we want to do the fans proud, we want to do this IP proud, so we want to give the biggest reach that we can.” Ashley said, “We’re limited because we’re not the distributors, so once we put it in those hands, it’s really up to those stores that want to put it on their shelves. So until we know where they’re placing it, I can’t tell you ‘oh, pick it up here.’ ” Matthew agreed. “I have experience with all of that, so when I made Witchful Thinking and released that, I had a hard time getting distribution. So I went store to store, city to city, and I made those contacts myself. For me as a business owner, I’m not just one of those owners who throws money out and does it. I have experience in all these aspects. So when this game comes out, let’s say that distribution doesn’t have as far of a reach as possible, I’ll make it happen. With Covid especially, the online market is important.”

“From a business standpoint, we’re a new company,” Matthew said. “It seems that we’re very new to this but that’s not really the case. This game has been been in development for a long time, and between the two of us we have 20+ games in prototypes. So we definitely know how to make games, and make games fun. And the fact that we’re both teachers, I think makes it even better. Because as teachers, we have to know how to sell to an audience.” ” And explain the games,” Ashley added.

PRE-ORDER THE GAME RIGHT HERE! Three if by Space has the game available for pre-orders in our Collectibles shop!! Click here to go to the pre-order page!

[dolcetters]

Hmn, how abooooout.... 7, 8 , 26 and 28?

munday asks

7) is there a muse you played on more platforms or in different moments of your life?

ABSOLUTELY. good lord.

i've played beast boy both on tumblr and very frequently over discord with my bestie in an ongoing DC-AU we've had since high school. in the ask linked under #8 i mentioned having played don from TMNT'03 on tumblr, and i'm still writing for him over discord with jenn in another on-going RP.

since we're the only two in those RP 'servers' on discord, i've also written numerous other DC and TMNT canon characters as well as a bunch of OCs and random NPCs.

do DnD characters also count because if so i think i have 4 characters i've actively used in campaigns, so--

8) did you have a muse you tried to play, but didn’t feel connected to?

[ answered here! ]

26) are you multiship?

i would say i'm selectively multi-ship, yes! dol can be kind of difficult to ship with (for several reasons), and i have a very large attachment to rosecetto even if i don't get to write it often. marcetto still has a close place in my heart even if it's faded a bit. but 2 other ships have come along that have majorly given me ~emotions~ (pointed looks at CC and bird) and i am vibrating at max velocity whilst lying facedown on the floor.

28) is your muse canon divergent in any way?

BOY HE SURE AIN'T DEAD IF THAT COUNTS--

yes, he's canon divergent in the sense that i 1) refuse to let him die because i ain't about that life and 2) i don't want to make my RP partners feel like they're stuck interacting with him in dublith OR like they have to write that early on in the series.

having dol survive the raid and be on the run means he has more places in amestris he can show up (with the exception of central; he is not setting foot there unless it's necessary), AND it allows for other parts of the canon's timeline to be explored.

there is the ~angst~ that comes with being the (potentially) sole survivor of the raid, but what it ultimately came down to was that i didn't want anyone i wrote with to feel limited, y'know? it kind of bites when you're having to bullshit a reason for why a character who wouldn't visit dublith would also be in the sketchier areas of dublith--or to constantly be stuck in the first 13 episodes/first 7 volumes of an otherwise huge story.

[aggressiveglockenspiel]

so here we start, with mumbo as the dm. mostly put him in this position because he's ceo and i just think it would be funny tbh. mans (at the very start) is super nervous to dm but was reassured by the rest of boatem that he'd do a great job. it's a homebrew campaign, for mumbo's redstoner brain is amazing at creating, but there's a twist to it: he's tried to make every npc interaction not result in death, to keep in line with his peace, love and plants. he creates his own dm screen equipped with an illustration of the boatem hole and crew on the side visible to the players, and has his own physical manifestation of an initiative ordering system in the form of player heads on pegs. he gets gifted redstone dice by impulse that are his favourite and always roll the best.

grian! in this weird au i like to think he played once before but all the way back in evo and not in 5e, so he gets guidance from mumbo (and pearl) on what he should be and they both have a WAIL of a time being like yeah :) be an aarakocra :) goes thru the character creating motions and halfway thru he's like. these mfs this is a BIRD. but at this point he's too attached to this race so keeps being an aarakocra. plays true neutral but tries his hardest to find loopholes in mumbo's 'peace, love and plants' npcs but never succeeds. fighter that always forgets he has second wind, ends up multiclassing as a warlock but continually forgets to use his spells. mumbo creates little post-it reminders on his dm board that are mainly for grian. his character just about reaches 5ft

my first instinct with pearl is to say elf. a drow. with a backstory that her character used to hide it due to being born to a wealthy family from the product of an affair, but now she's out of that environment and flaunts her loud and proud drow self. pearl tossed and turned between rogue and warlock, but after seeing (helping with) grian's plans for the future of his character, decided to go with rogue. it fits with her hooded aesthetic anyways. chaotic neutral, because if she's going down this route then she may as well have fun rp-ing! in a previous campaign she took part in she played it more stern and serious, so why not have some fun now? (and yes that does mean joining in with the rest of the party to foil mumbo's 'peace, love and plants' npcs)

impulse - he's the only player that hasn't actually played dnd before. sure, he's seen tango and skizz and others play it before, sat there tinkering with redstone and managing to pick up the general premise of the game, so he gets started pretty easily. he chooses firbolg, because after mumbo he's the tallest out of boatem and, well, he's gotta keep some aspects of himself hasn't he? (it's his first time playing. first time characters kin yourself and all that). everyone comes to him begging to at least be any kind of lawful alignment, for he's the last to make his character and there needs to be at least some order in this party. he refuses. he plays a neutral good artificer, a mastermind inventor who will, uh, bend the rules every now and again. for good - he promises! it takes a little while for impulse to get into the swing of the game and roleplay, but once he's in he's in - and he makes metagaming plans with scar as to how they'll break the 'peace, love and plants' npcs.

and now for scar. he's played before, and the others know that, but they don't know that he has really played dnd before. he guesses (right) that the others are creating characters akin to themselves, so he decides to go ham. he creates a neutral evil dragonborn barbarian (because we should let the man rage) and absolutely has the time of his life. his dragonborn is copper (because why wouldn't it be?) and he is the one who finally succeeds in ruining mumbo's 'peace, love and plants' npcs, after a petty fight as well (scar placed his charisma score high for a barbarian. c'mon, he's gotta at least keep some parts of himself)

boatem inc but instead of capitalism they play dnd and mumbo is the dm