#There's a lot of really fun npcs & interesting settlements

[evilvarric666-archive]

i’ve played zero fallout games so i have no stake in this really but i’ve watched hbomberguy’s hourlong essay on why fallout 3 is garbage (as one does) and if u don’t mind i’d love to know why you think fallout 3 is the best one. just to expand my knowledge of video games i haven’t played and probably won’t

It's my favorite and I like it :) [and it makes some very annoying people extremely Mad if you say it's good but that's secondary]

[datura-tea]

okey dokey! i just finished the fallout show! some Thoughts under the read more

tl:dr, the (bethesda) fallout vibes were definitely there. i liked it as a show on its own merits but as a part of the series canon... i'm mad, and that anger is kind of overriding the little i liked about it. overall maybe 2.5/5 stars and im being generous

things i liked:

visually, it's stunning - i could see scenes already being made into gifsets - the color grading is pretty good; even in dark scenes i could see and understand what was happening

the sets are soooo good!! costume design was alright too

title cards were fun and cute

they did some interesting stuff with the cultures of both vault 33 and the brotherhood of steel

they used the sound effects from the games :)

i liked the wastelanders!!! big npc and random encounter energy. i kind of want a whole show of just them. for example i love the marketplace and settlement in filly; it feels very lived in

the background characters weren't just young thin able-bodied conventionally attractive white people :) there's so many elders, which i loved!! ma june and barv were cool. i love gruff old lesbians

lucy!!! she was already kind of weird and a little off-putting even in vault 33 ("what's your sperm count" as an opener to the husband she was just arranged married to is WILD) and i like that. she's sweet and bullheaded and surprisingly competent :)

maximus is kind of an ass, but is also a pathetic nerd and brotherhood dickrider who actually doesn't really know anything. kind of a girlfailure

the ghoul was pretty cool too!! i liked him, though more for his prewar story than the one he has post-apocalypse

lucy's brother norman kinda grew on me. "i lack enthusiasm for every job that i do here" so relateable. also short king <3

THE DENTIST THAT BUYS TEETH. never thought that would be a Thing but now that i think about it, it makes sense

the monsters that we have were cool!! wish there had been more of them

MATT BERRY IS IN THIS!! i just really like him so i got excited :))

maximus and lucy's "wanna have sex?" talk LMAO

vault 4's various mutations!!

those giant unwieldy fuckass duffel bags that brotherhood squires lug around hahahhahahaaha

vault 4 and its genetic experiments because its main conceit is that it was ruled by scientists who hybridized humans. it's exactly the right amount of fucked up i want in a vault

i like that the protagonists regularly get captured and eat shit

FRED ARMISEN IS ALSO HERE

haha hacking minigame :) also chatting via terminals (and im assuming pipboys?) is canon now

they're growing crops in the wasteland + bustling trade + livestock + pets yay

robobrain was cute

things i was just ok with:

dane, the they/them brotherhood of steel aspirant who was fucked over so maximus can get their spot as a squire LMAO what a waste of a potentially cool character

IT'S SO FUNNY that there's yodelling whenever the ghoul comes into the scene ????? WHY

fight scenes.... pretty good but someone definitely had the bloody mess perk (i don't do well with gore so ew yucky). also lots of [VATS NOISE]

pipboy was not used as much as i thought it would be

cousin stuff... i get it, i guess in a vault you'd have a lot of cousins and not a lot of choice, so some incest would probably happen

the ghoul being vault boy's inspiration?? not sure what to feel about that tbh

the casual dismemberments... and equally casual attaching of limbs... not even prosthetic limbs.....

the vaulties eating good healthy well-balanced meals. giving out caviar in the welcome basket. kinda 50/50 on it

the vault 31 - 32 - 33 subplot couldve been more fucked up

have brotherhood knights always been celibate or did i miss the memo

there are regular chickens and... deer? for some reason?

the ghoul's design. it's fine in action but mostly it's meh

the vault 4 cult for moldaver

vault 4 as a refuge for shady sands survivors. im mad about it but like. i get it

that guys "elixir" (some altered jet??) fixing everything about thaddeus' foot instantenously AND GIVING HIM HEALING POWERS???

things i did not like:

lucy's plot premise is very much fallout 3 redux

lucy and maximus as a ship is very meh and kind of forced and not compelling. go give us nothing!!!

wilzig's head as a macguffin that everyone is after... ehh kind of just okay as a plot device

also the ghoul randomly eating that other ghoul???

the squire who bullied maximus calls himself fat but he isn't fat?? not even chubby??? hello????? just got a soft face

water chip being fucked feels very fallout 3 also but they kind of dropped it?

they definitely named cooper howard after todd. as tribute probably, which he doesn't deserve

fiend = cannibal now?????

maximus recognizing vault 4 as a cult but not recognizing the brotherhood as one lol

vault tec evil capitalism vs hollywood communists storyline was kind of basic. and bland. and weak

the enclave could've been established + explored better

no geckos or any other west coast-specific monsters

showing me ncr ranger armor when the ncr is gone

ghouls have healing powers?? WITHOUT RADIATION??

things i hated hated hated:

the ghoul needing drugs to combat the Disease That Turns Ghouls Feral

feral ghouls being basically zombies :/

IN EPISODE FIVE. THEY REVEAL. THAT SHADY SANDS. WAS BOMBED. THE ENTIRE NCR. WAS BOMBED. IN 2277. THE YEAR OF THE FIRST BATTLE OF HOOVER DAM

BASICALLY RETCONNED FNV?? IM PUTTING MY EARS IN MY FINGERS AND GOING LA LA LAAAAA

VAULT-TEC DROPPED THE BOMBS ???? BIG MT + MR HOUSE BEING IN ON IT????

THE BIG STUPID FUCKING REVEAL IN EPISODE EIGHT?? THAT THE OVERSEER BOMBED SHADY SANDS BECAUSE HIS WIFE DIDN'T WANT TO GO HOME WITH HIM??? FUCK THAT???

the brotherhood being the main faction of the west coast now. booo!! booo!!!!

the fucking last shot of new vegas being a burnt out husk. probably foreshadowing that hank is going to house's body but. UGH I HATE IT

to summarize: it came out strong! and stumbled hard falling face fucking first at the finish line. i would have liked it a lot more if it did not shit on the west coast as much as it did. because what the FUCK. if it was set literally anywhere else and left the ncr alone i would have liked it more, because on its own, as a self-contained story, divorced from the rest of the fallout series canon, it's not bad!!! it's fun, there's some good bits, it has the ~vibes~ but - and this is a big but - i don't know what it's trying to say. it's all very surface level and the very vague themes i picked up on are not really reiterated in the plot

it's like... the bits that make it fallout are there. vaults. the brotherhood. ghouls. a dog named dogmeat. but there's something lacking. it's like your usual sci-fi post-apocalypse show with a fallout veneer. idk. i like it for what it is but also i hate it for what it's emblematic of. that's all

[purity-town]

Been a little while since I last answered some asks, so -- replies below the cut!

Here ya go! Also tossed it in my sta.sh in case Tumblr crunches it.

Aha, don't worry, Chris! You'll get to experience plenty of horrors soon that'll validate your weird dreams!

All things considered, Chris is handling things pretty well right now, but I think he'd still accept a hug!

I whipped out my extensive comic collection (four of The Adventure Zone graphic novels) to get some inspiration for this! Those books tend to have a pretty basic back cover with a couple of the main/supporting characters tossed onto it, and I can see something similar working for Purity Town considering how many NPCs there are overall in the game (even though the number we've actually seen in the comic up to this point is much lower)!

:D Thanks for reading! I can't always manage to finish pages on time, but I do my best and I'm glad y'all're enjoying updates.

My first experience learning about the whole Guide/WoF thing was...I think a Stampy Cat video years before I even knew what Terraria really was. I assumed it was the scary final boss of the game, and didn't think anything more on it for half a decade. And then 1.4 came along and I got incredibly attached to the character. That's just how it goes!

For what it's worth, I will make the disclaimer: while I find it interesting to push characters and write how they react as they crack, at the end of the day, I do write happy endings. And there's plenty of room for more happy one-shots in the AO3 fic!

I kept the monsters in a sketch/low-detail/silhouetted style mostly to emphasize that Chris' dreams were strange and imprecise, but it was still cool to play around with monster designs a bit! Translating designs from the game version to comic characters can be weird because you need to account for the game expecting you to always see them from a particular angle -- the Wall of Flesh is the most extreme/obvious example of this. When we get to seeing more of Plantera proper I'll definitely have to brush up on my flower-drawing skills, haha.

I haven't actually built it out in a Terraria world proper! The world used in the blog header is a screenshot from the world I first beat the game in.

As far as a general description goes, the main town is located in a forest biome with the snowy-mountains-and-lake background. In the main area of town is the tavern and the nurse's clinic, plus the (now abandoned) clothier's store. Andrew also lives in the forest town, though slightly up-hill from it, so that he has to walk through some trees before he gets into the town square itself.

For the most part I imagine characters living in the biome they prefer in-game (with exceptions for those who like the Hallow), though the bulk of folks live in the Purity Town. The settlements in the other biomes are smaller, since having the pylons means you can go wherever you need to go for business quite easily.

Thanks! Terraria has some crazy lore once you start digging into it -- I think it'd be really cool to see "Zullie the Witch"-style lore deep dives just going ham on the minutiae of NPC interactions and Bestiary entries.

But in any case, getting to take all of that and work it into the comic here and there is good fun :D

Thank you!! I had a lot of fun with this chapter's cover, especially with the lighting and the border around the top. The Aether/shimmer stuff and the more glowy critters like faelings and prismatic lacewings are just such a delight to draw, haha.

[theworldvsyoshiko]

Here's all the boring game setup stuff. The full mod list is here.

Scenario

Well, here's the file if you've got the game. (Note that this was saved with all of the mods enabled, so the game won't like it if you don't have the same mod list.) In short, we start out with:

the clothes on Umeko's back

200 silver

an excellent combat handgun

a gas mask

30 packaged survival meals

5 medicine

Sowing crops is disabled. So are:

NPC caravans (including encountering them while traveling)

people with abasia asking to join

the archonexus quest

No caravans was mostly to add to the post-apocalyptic feel. It also means that we're even more dependent on scavenging, because otherwise our only sources of trade are visitors (who tend not to bring much of interest), visiting faction bases, and orbital traders. Trade's gonna be hard. With the population density turned down, there aren't many friendly bases, and as a nomad, orbital trade setups are going to be a luxury.

Storyteller

General Strive to Survive settings, except I bumped the threat scale up to 150%, lowered the death-on-downed chance for enemies to 50%, allowed child enemies to spawn, and lowered the instant death chance for colonists.

World Generation

First, I disabled a lot of the factions. The empire, the medieval guys and Vikings from VE... anything that didn't feel like it really fit the vibe. I turned population density down to the second lowest level, pollution up to 15% or so (higher would make sense, but it's just tedious), and bumped the rainfall up a notch.

It's not worth a separate category, but I also lowered ReGrowth: Wastelands to spawn 25% as much frigid/arid wasteland, and 33% as much temperate wasteland. Its default settings feel like they just plaster the map with way too much of them to be fun.

Real Ruins

Worldgen was done with the 'village' seed on 50% coverage, which gets us ~2500 ruin blueprints to work with. I told it to discard uninteresting ruins about as aggressively as possible, and make 95% of them abandoned.

Ruin density is at x12, additional deterioration is at 0.1, scavenger activity is at x1.7, and it's set to ignore settlement proximity. So, outside of actual abandoned sites, there will still be a lot of ruins on most maps, but they'll be a bit run down and most of the valuables will be stripped already. I didn't set an item wealth limit, though, so we can still potentially get lucky and find things like bionics and endgame gear.

[risustravelogue]

“hello, good sir. pardon the interruption to your leisurely rest, but have you seen this woman?”

a clink of mora passing between hands, and the vagrants studied the photo of a short dark-blue haired woman closely.

one of them answered with a rough voice, “a foreigner? lots of them been roamin’ around since the sakoku decree being lifted. can’t really remember well…”

another gold coin joined the other. the ronins talked amongst each others in inazuman as meirin tapped her foot almost impatiently.

“i guess she looks pretty distinct… might have seen her around, maybe in the capital.”

“are you absolutely sure?”

“chances are, she’ll be there. you said she was doing some commission work and stuff? if they could afford someone from overseas, they must have some good money. people with good money generally live in the main city.”

all general information, yet again. what do these people think we are, dumb?

the woman sighed and grabbed her husband’s hand before he could hand over yet another mora to the fifth group of vagabonds they’ve encountered that day, “alright. thank you for your cooperation, good sirs. we’ll be going n—”

“now, now,” the ronin who had been observing the scene from behind chuckled, hand inching towards their sheathed blade, “you both seem loaded, so why not throw a few more mora our way, eh?”

meirin frowned and glanced up at her lover before whispering, “is the welfare in inazuma that bad? why do they all say the same thing? what are these guys, npcs?”

“an interesting theory. are you suggesting that we’re in a game of sorts?”

“wouldn’t that be fun? in which case, i command you to bonk these npcs!”

“haha, as my dearest wishes.”

ミ𒆙𒆙𒆙

“— really! we really don’t know anything else!” the nobushi pleaded, visibly trying to struggle against the petrification to no avail.

the teashop owner sighed and pondered over the small teapot, before reaching into her bag with a soft smile, “i think you need more tea to remember, good sir… ah, yes, why not add the amount of jueyun chili in this one? and ground sand grease pupas for an added flavor! that should jog your memory!”

“wait, wait, please! i swear i don’t know anything! never seen that girl in my life!!” the man cried out, glancing back towards his friends who were laying out cold on the ground after a cup of… whatever devil’s drink that woman had forced down their throat.

were they dead? he had no idea.

and why the hell was the woman’s husband making himself home on their camp while having tea?!

clearly this couple wasn’t normal.

“look! i-i may not have information about the girl, b-but i’ve seen a weird-looking guy walking around these parts!”

“… a weird-looking guy?” meirin tilted her head.

the kettle sang on top of the portable stove. the man watched with quivering eyes as she poured the hot water into the teapot containing the 'concoction’. even from the smell, his eyes had started to water.

“y-yeah!! he’s got a mustache and wears this purple cape!! he looks like he’s up to no good if you ask me!!”

“huh… anything else?”

“uh. um……. n-no?”

“….”

“….”

“welp! special tea delivery! open wide~”

[ 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚠𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚛����𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚡𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌 ]

shoes crunched against inazuma’s soil as the pair trekked down the path towards konda village. perhaps once they’ve reached the settlement, they would be able to find some clues, or at least people who had seen kurisu. though their pace was deliberately slowed from all the venturing and questioning almost everyone they came across, it was always better to be meticulous and slow than careless and fast in these situations.

….. and on that note….

“xiànɡ gong, i love you dearly, but let’s try to be just as ultra-careful and not spend our money that willy-nilly, alright?”

“ah… yes, of course. my apologies, tiánxīn.”

@i23kazu - another ebg submission from yours truly!

I'm not sure how you'd count these, but there are 2 doodles on screencaps, 2 drawings, and 1 edit of a drawing (idt that counts as a whole piece?). Feel free to see for yourself!

230 words.

03. trying something

That morning…

“We’re here.”

“You! Boss-man! I challenge you to an Onikabuto fight!” exclaimed the young girl.

Itto cackled. “Bring it on!”

Kurisu smiled. “Haha… Have fun, you two.” 

She walked inside the tent. There, she found something glinting near one of the tent’s wooden pegs.

“What’s this?”

“Huh? A Vision? Whose is this?”

Kurisu walked out of the tent and approached Shinobu, who was walking down towards the tent.

“Kuki. I found a Vision near one of the pegs. Do you have any idea whose it is?”

Kuki’s eyes looked at the Vision, then to Kurisu’s face, then back to the Vision in her hand.

“A Sumeru Vision… hmm. Why don’t you try using it?”

Kurisu frowned.

“Odd idea, but how do I do that?”

Shinobu tapped her cheek. “Hmm. Try connecting with it, then focus on something you can’t do without a Vision. Since it’s a Hydro Vision, maybe try conjuring a ball of water floating above me?”

Kurisu nodded. She closed her eyes and imagined a big ball of water above Shinobu’s head.

“Amazing.”

She opened her eyes to find Shinobu poking the ball of water with her index finger.

And it popped, showering her green hair with glistening droplets.

“Ah! Cold!” she yelped.

“...”

“Wow, it is yours!”

“But…”

“... Kurisu?”

“But... But I—I’ve never—!!”

A horrified shriek echoed through the air.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO ME?????”

[athousandotherfaces]

kynesgrove, morthal, and markarth for the skyrim asks!

Thank you for the ask! Heads up, I've thought about some of these things for the better part of a decade so there's rambling. Enjoy the scroll!

Kynesgrove: What's your favorite non-major city/town/settlement?

Rorikstead! I think that it has such an intriguing position and a narrative that isn't explicitly explored; it's just hinted at through ambient elements and some PC/ NPC dialogue. I really love that it feels cozy, but slightly unsettling if you stop and think about it.

There's the lack of almost any grown women among the residents, aside from one elvish woman in town. It's positioned close to two known Forsworn camps/strongholds (Serpent's Bluff Redoubt and Bleakwind Bluff respectively) Which, hey, yes they could've popped up after the town was established. (which is another strange point of interest: Rorik lives in town and says he founded it: but it's also mentioned as having been founded literal ages ago in written records) The residents mention they haven't had a bad harvest in years. Years, despite war, hardly any work force to harvest things and being easily open to raids from bandits, Forsworn, what have you. Jouane, the healer, has several books on daedric worship in his home, and has an ambient dialogue with one of the young girls not to tell anyone about their 'little secret' when she asks if he can teach her magic. These facts taken together make me think there's a deal between the townsfolk of Rorikstead and the Forsworn that entails ladies of a certain age be sacrificed to ensure these unfailing harvests. Given it's location Rorikstead is isolated from a lot of the protections of Whiterun Hold and it's mentioned by some of the NPCs- they're essentially on their own. It's also pretty close to a dragon burial mound and a vampire den. Which I think is also meant to further highlight that the village is basically left to fed for itself (without much scrutiny) because it is so far from Whiterun. Dialogue from guards even mentions that Rorikstead is more susceptible to a dragon attack because of its location, low martial population and lack of defensible space. All this, plus you can find Erik the Slayer, probably my favorite follower here: Visit Rorikstead!

Morthal-Do you enjoy exploring dungeons and ruins? Why or why not?

I do! I've done so many different dragonborn builds that each time I do dungeon diving it feels fun. Now that's not to say I don't find it repetitive after a bit. I've played plenty of hours of Skyrim and Dragon age 2 (a game not gracefully noted for diverse dungeon maps); I really think, and this isn't to let things off the hook, but as a rpg fan you gotta make your own fun after a bit. I will say some ruins are more engaging than others and some feel like they are meant to break you of the impulse to get in and out quickly, while others are more of a see-if-you can-outlast atmosphere (I'm looking at Forelhost, Labyrinthian, and several Dwemer ruins). I'm a huge fan of the set dressing and narrative elements the dungeons and ruins have. I also really enjoy using followers. I have my go to followers but I do try to swap in new faces too, both vanilla and mod added followers.

Markarth-If you could rewrite one questline in Skyrim, which would it be?

Ooh, that's a tough one. Really tough.

I think if I had to pick one I would say it would be more of an additional pathway instead of a complete rewrite. But I thought for the longest time that if a few choices were made throughout the Dark Brotherhood and Thieves Guild questlines that there should be a hybridized questline added for a dragonborn who becomes Listener for the Brotherhood and Guildmaster for the Thieves Guild that deals with Maven Black-Briar & her hold on the DB & Thieves Guild after you get into the top spots.

If I remember correctly you can in both questlines tell or hint to Maven Black-Briar/her loyalists that your cooperation as her pawn as you go up the ranks is wearing thin/will cease once you're in sufficiently with the groups and they're restored to their proper glory. I would really love for there to have been an attempt by Maven (especially if she's made jarl through the civil war questline) to try to have you framed for a major political crime or just outright attempt to have you assassinated by the Morag Tong (or just frame the Morag Tong since they're not friendly to the DB and it could easily lead to inter-assassin guild fighting allowing Maven to attempt to take them down in a bid to extend her reach and consolidate power). Maven just never struck me as someone who tolerated the idea of power being wrested away from her, or just the appearance of losing grip on power like the guilds command. So some upstart dragonborn suggesting they'll be doing just that felt like it should have a pretty strong response from her.

[constellation2330]

Starfield, Final Thoughts

'cause no-one else I know has finished the game and I have to scream into the void

Starfield is a good game. There have been a couple of bugs so far (namely one where almost everything in my player home disappeared after a certain stage in the main quest, due to New Atlantis refreshing after a 'invasion' state, and a couple of naked guards), but everything has been stable and plays really well.

I like the combat, enemies will take cover, duck, run to new cover, run away, charge you. After playing a ton of FO4, it's refreshing. Outpost building and decorating is fun, and placing things is easier than in FO4. Scanning and exploration are not very exciting, but when you do them at the same time as other things (scanning a planet, flora and fauna whilst you're there for a quest, collecting resources), it can be a relaxing little side jaunt, particularly on an interesting looking planet. The random encounters, which Bethesda has always done so well, are also great.

The faction quests are genuinely fantastic. I've not completed them all entirely, but the UC one has been my favourite so far. There's some genuine 'oh shit' moments, the NPCs are compelling, and the missions are fun. I had an absolute blast with that UC one, particularly because by that point, I had learnt enough about the universe I had started taking certain things for granted that were turned on their head. There was a jump scare moment that was very delightful.

Companions are likeable, feel very grounded with 'real people problems,' and are tremendously well voice acted. I had fears they would be caricatures, particularly Barrett, but they're all solid.

Here's the bad, then.

No ground map. Particularly early on, this is a huge pain in the ass. There's actually a lot to see and do in the established settlements, but running around like a headless chicken when you're new to the game and just want to buy more ammo is frustrating. Luckily, there are some good maps online already, and after a while you'll find the layout of these places is pretty simple and you'll remember where everything is. Taking some of the 'activity' missions is also a fun and natural way they get you to explore the settlements.

Exploration, whilst as I said is a decent enough little side diversion as you do other things, is not the promised point of this game. It's boring, and I would like these points of interest to either a) have interesting enemies you need to fight b) have rare or unique loot to make them worth going to c) have random encounters or d) give you some much needed extra XP.

Companions, whilst likable, are maybe... too sane. The fact that all the main four 'full' companions are from the same, lawful, good faction is a real issue if you want to play a 'bad' or crime filled playthrough. Whilst I really like their backstories, one of the attractions of companions in games is that you get to hang out with some absolute nutters, and there are none here. We needed a mix, like in Fallout, of rival factions who would bicker and snipe at each other, at least one you can't get or lose in your first playthrough if you choose a 'side,' and at least one you can sway from their original faction. I would maybe have picked two from Constellation and one from the UC, Freestar, Crimson Fleet and House Va'runn. Sam could easily have been from the Freestar questline, as you take his place in the Rangers so he can get out to spend more time with his daughter (onto that later), Andreja could easily have been House Va'runn, who stays or leaves depending on your actions. We come to those two too late, really, when all the interesting stuff in their lives has essentially happened.

Edit: I should say, you can 'sort of' sway Andreja, but I would like to have seen YOU uncover her as a House Va'runn spy, and either let her continue (keep her secret), have her kicked out (and encounter her later as an enemy) or convince her to leave the house and join Constellation for real. The companion comments on that would have been amazing tbh.

So, the main quest. It's... a little unsatisfying. You don't get any answers about what the artifacts actually are (I'm thinking the DLC will explore this), and if you romance Sam Coe, something that really annoyed me was how easily he was willing to become Starborn, let his daughter become Starborn too, knowing the risk that they would be separated. In WHAT universe would a father as loving as Sam take the risk that he would never see his daughter again, just to fulfil some vague explorer's desire? This is done for gameplay reasons, you can't exactly wait for her to grow up, act out living a life with your family and then move on when you're all ready (although I like to think this is how it happens for my character). But it's very, very jarring. This is sort of addressed with one of the New Game+ openings, where adult Cora appears looking for revenge from a universe where Sam died, and is clearly resentful of the artifacts. But it just didn't really sit right with me.

It is, however, a really interesting and fun way to take your character into New Game+, if you're the kind that likes to do another playthrough with the same character. It's a bittersweet ending as you leave behind 'your' universe, but by the time you've done everything you wanted to do, you sort of feel 'ready.' It was nice to see the little epilogue tableaus, too.

So, yeah. Is it worth playing? Yeah. Was it worth the money I spent? Well... yeah, to be honest, considering the money off I'll get for the DLC included. But I would also recommend waiting until it comes down in price. You'll have fun and be absorbed, but I don't think it'll ever make the same splash (especially on Tumblr) that Fallout and BG3 have made.

[agirlwithachakram]

Fallout DLCs rated from worst to best

3:

The Pitt. It’s just not very fun, the reward is useful but kind of a pain to actually collect, and while you don’t have to literally kill a baby to end slavery, kidnapping a baby is in the same ballpark. Look, I get what they were going for. There are horrors in the world and sometimes you don’t get to fight them righteously. Fine. But murdering a baby’s parents and kidnapping her for medical research is a little too on the nose, and there’s nothing in the writing that makes this interesting. It kind of feels like Marvel making a leftist villain and then having them murder civilians for no reason but red scare propaganda. Also, it suffers from the same problem as Nuka World: Once you decide not to work with slavers, your quest becomes to start shooting all these named NPCs with no options for surrender or takeover or any other interesting way to end the slavery.

Broken Steel. It’s fine. I’m glad Sara’s up and at ‘em. I’m glad I didn’t die for no reason. Yay fighting Enclave with a tesla cannon. Wheeee.

Mothership Zeta. When I’m not playing it, I’m like “oh do I really wanna go do that?” but when I AM playing it I’m like oh FUCK yeah. I love the sneaking and punching and getting alien guns and spacewalking and zapping another alien ship with a gun and the fucked up ageless Claudia kid, whatever her name is. And the cowboy! And poor medic guy from Anchorage. and of course Somah.

Point Lookout. I mostly enjoy playing this one in spite of the MASSIVE liberties taken with the geography. The Calvert Mansion is nowhere near the western shore (the MD peninsula in the Chesapeake between VA and the eastern shore peninsula), it’s in the DC metro area, two hours away! But, sure. I’ll take the Ark and Dove as the presby church up in Odenton. I’ll even take the military camp as Lexington Park. Whatever. I like the scavenger hunt with the Chinese spy, I like the punga fruit vault boy trip--fantastic bit of madness it is--I like the ridiculous fight with the ghoul and the brain, I like the fucked up soil testing quest, and I like the nature of it all. Love me a good expansive DLC map. But. There is a huge but. I do not like the creepers. I think it’s exceptionally gross to make monsters that are Deliverance type “what if humans were so inbred they weren’t human anymore” beings. Sure, they say they’re mutated, but come on. We all know what they’re doing. Still, I leave it for last because other than that, it’s the most fun one.

Operation: Anchorage. This one shouldn’t be as fun as it is. I think it’s just nice to get an ammo drop video game style where they change how it works inside the game because your character is playing a game. I like how you can fuck with the army guys by saying it’s a simulation. And of course I love the stealth suit. But mostly I love sniping invisible soldiers.

4

Contraptions Workshop. Is this fun? Can you actually do anything with this?

Wasteland Workshop. Do I want any of this stuff? What’s the point?

Nuka World. Yeah, it’s cool I guess. I enjoy running around the places, I like the Tarzan dude with his...ghoul? synth? gorilla buddies. I do not like the thing where in order to avoid killing or hurting innocents, you have to just start blasting bad guys. It’s fine. It’s not fun to take them all out and you pretty much have to turn on god mode to do it. Maybe you’re supposed to spread them all out at various settlements before killing them? But then you’ll piss off my boy Preston Garvey! And like! It’s one thing to work with “bad guys” but these aren’t fun villains, they’re slavers. So while NW has a lot of good content, it’s overshadowed by the fact that you have to do a LOT of work to liberate the place.

Vault-Tec Workshop. Oh, Ted. What a good dude. I love pissing off the overseer so much she leaves. I love cleaning up the place. I have never put a real vault in.

Automatron. What can I say? It’s cute! The characters are cute. It’s all just terribly charming.

Far Harbor. Aw yeah. The good one and it ain’t even close. Nick’s brother! The weird memories! The giant hermit crab! Turning the children of atom’s sprayer into a cleanser. The TWIST. And it’s a cool-ass location.

NV

Honest Hearts. NGL, this one is BEAUTIFUL. If it weren’t racist, it would be the best one. But it is, a lot, so it’s the worst. I didn’t initially think we were meant to think of the Sorrows and the Dead Horses and White Legs as actual Native American tribes, but apparently the Dead Horses at least are partially descended from Navajo people. Follows Chalk and Waking Cloud have your sort of stereotypical movie Native American lilt on purpose, regardless. They have a very weird naivete that makes Daniel and Joshua clearly, um, taking up the white man’s burden. Did a Mormon write this? Not that you have to be Mormon to be this kind of racist, but as Dan and Josh are, it leaves me wondering. It’s gross that the Sorrows and Dead Horses are both leaving the major decisions to a missionary and a war criminal, random white dudes who are trying to take over leadership of their tribes. It’s just all fucked up and I don’t know why we can’t have a beautiful Zion DLC that isn’t This. Ugh.

Dead Money. It’s a good DLC, it’s just a HUGE bummer and the radio shit is so stressful. It’s nearly impossible to get down into the vault (and out of it!) without your collar killing you. It’s a huge pain and that’s why it’s my least favorite to play. Plus, I got so annoyed you couldn’t bring Christine home to Ronnie that I downloaded a mod so I could. You won’t keep the lesbians apart, Elijah! You bastard!

Lonesome Road. It’s fun but it gets to be a slog after a while. Feel like I’m checking off a list of warheads to detonate. Also Ulysses is always telling me I’m with the NCR which is funny because I ALWAYS turn on them eventually and take care of Caesar and Lanius myself.

Old World Blues. I like the talking stealth suit and the messed up appliances. I like fucking with the brains and hanging with Morbius. (it IS morbin’ time!) I like all the weird locations and the hints as to what’s next in the DLCs. I have less to say about the DLCs I like the most. Tranquility Lane fucks me UP. Oh and I like teleporting.

[old-stoneface]

i have soooo much to say abt fallout 4 so far . so ummm

just did the whole kellogg memory quest and when valentine insisted he get the implant connected to his brain i was like NO!!!!!!! but it was already done and valentine wouldnt have refused a chance to do anything he could to help. it was so nervewracking lmao that was such an interesting quest too because while i do know what happens in the game in general, like i know some of the major spoilers, i also really enjoy seeing it all play out. it reminds me of how it felt to play the final benny quest in new vegas and meet yes-man for the first time.....that shit blew me away.

i want to take other companions around w me in fo4 other than nick, but man im really attached to him, and he just asked for my help with tracking down his white whale. so hes sticking with me for a while. needless to say, i love goodneighbor; i think its a very cool community and hancock is a riot . his introduction was a lot lol he really took offense to someone giving valentine trouble. one of the things that i loved about new vegas was the ability to help sort out community problems and make life easier for everyone in the various settlements, so finding new towns and doing fetch quests or clearing out feral ghouls to make life easier makes me pretty happy. its a bonus that valentine enjoys that too.

anyway, back to kellogg. i kind of dont care about him. i understand, and i get it, he kinda does parallel the sole survivor, but that was on him for being a fucking asshole. like. he knew that shit was gonna bite him in the ass. hes not really anything like the pc from my perspective, and im not excited to hear more from kellogg in the form of his ghost inhabiting valentine's brain.

oh i just remembered i also got the home in diamond city!!!!! which was so exciting!!!!!! i spent like half an hour cleaning it up and adding some amenities while valentine sat on my couch. that was really fun. i am getting a LOT of satisfaction from providing homes for other npcs too, putting a lot of effort into improving sanctuary and telling other people to go there, like sheffield and the (somehow unnamed) vault-tec rep. i feel so bad for that guy. they shouldve at least named him.

anyway 👍 thats all. im just having a lot of fun. im not so good at combat but as long as i have a companion i can handle pretty much anything as long as its not a full-on assault from super mutants or anything

[arcadian-vampire]

Oracle and Ravio's Terraria Playthrough!

aka another long-ass post full of screenshots, wahoo

@ravio-the-cabinet-man and I beat the Moon Lord yesterday, the first time ever for both of us! So while we decide what we wanna do next (aside from playing with Rice), I'm finally gonna share screenshots of the things we've built. This is a medium world if I remember right, on Journey mode (bc we just like to goof around), and it's named 'Quack', thanks to Ravio's habit of naming things different animal noises

Up first, our house! Its name is Jeremiah, bc I asked Ravio what we should call it, and he immediately suggested that. The basement originally was the same length as the house above it, but as we got more and more items and more and more crafting stations, we had to expand, lol.

We made sure a lot of these rooms were vaild housing, so that whenever new npcs arrived, they'd come to our main house until we found a new home for them. The Tax Collector and Golfer still live with us, bc I never got around to building places for them (and it's nice to have the Tax Collector nearby, even if I feel bad abt having npcs pay rent).

-----

To the left of that is Ravio's lil greenhouse, bc he's in charge of potion-making, and a heart-shaped pond. The greenhouse has a name as well, but I can only remember the last part of it, which is '-Jeremiah's Lover'. The buildings are gay

-----

Further to the left is a lil arena where we go for events like Solar Eclipses. Pretty much all of our banners are hung here lksdjf;al

-----

Continuing on further left, we've got a fishing dock! One of many around our world. It's pretty close to the Event Arena, so monsters get stuck under the dock. a Lot

-----

Left some more, we've got the snow biome, where the Goblin Tinkerer, Mechanic, Steampunker, and Cyborg all live, ft. banners from the Celestial Pillar monsters bc one of the pillars always spawns nearby

We shimmered most of our npcs btw- the minute we found the Aether biome, we went ham dunking everything in the water (including Ravio)

-----

Past that, is our desert ghost town (desert-ed town?). It HAD been the home of our Nurse, Arms Dealer, and Dye Trader, but when we defeated the Wall of Flesh the corruption spawned here :/ We tried purifying it, but the npcs still refused to move back in, so we ended up building them a new place on the other side of the world

Instead of just leaving it or tearing it down, we turned the old desert settlement into a ghost town, full of holes, cobwebs, and gravestones that say things like 'RIP Twitter'. Just for funsies

-----

A ways past that, we have the Dungeon, an arena built in front of it, and our underground 'temple'/palace deal so we could put a pylon here. One of the Celestial Pillars spawns above the arena, so that's neat

Unfortunately I tried to make this arena look interesting, but the way I did it, it kind of gives me a headache if I run through it too fast, rip. It has been So easy to trigger migraines lately, I have to be careful even reforging items too fast, bc the flashing colors get to me. But anyway

This was built quite a while after the arena, and I had a LOT of fun with it. The Tavernkeep, Demolitionist, and Clothier live here. The pylon is just off-screen to the left, at the bottom of the stairs. The elevator on the right just leads to the entrance of the arena above

-----

Left again, we've got some Corruption we purified, along with a tunnel we dug around the Glowing Mushroom biome juuust in case we missed any Corruption

-----

The Glowing Mushroom biome, built over the remains of an old patch of Corruption. I'd done a big mushroom in my own single-player world, but it ended up really stiff, so I tried to improve on that here.

The inside of the cap is sorta unfinished but shh don't worry abt it, there were other projects that needed to be done

-----

The left ocean got turned into a quick arena that we used for the Pumpkin Moon and Martian Madness events, and Duke Fishron (a boss we died to so, so, SO many times before I realized I'd had the difficulty turned up to 'expert' like a goof)

-----

Zooming back to the center of the world, we've got a fishing pond to the right of our beloved house Jeremiah, and a small graveyard at the initial spawn point. The graves are dedicated to our first guide who died to summon the Wall of Flesh, our second guide who was accidentally murdered when Ravio's minions killed a demon over lava in the Underworld (followed by shrieks of panic when Ravio had to face WoF alone, pff), and the six (6) npcs that were slaughtered when we fought the Empress of Light during the day- we didn't realize just how far her attacks could reach, and they're all one-hit-KOs during the day... Pretty sure everyone living in the Hallow Tower died (skill issue. get good)

-----

Next to the graves is an unfinished house I built for the Guide, the Merchant, and a slime pet or two. At the time I took this screenshot, the Nerd Slime was dead :( Daytime EoL again, smh

-----

To the right, over a hill and a hellevator, is the Hallow! It initially spawned in the Jungle (SIGH) so I bought some seeds to spread it into the forest a bit, though I never ended up planting trees and making it pretty. We've got two dorky lil 'arenas' where we fight EoL bc we're stupid <3 She's the only boss fight we do repeatedly for fun, but we never bothered to build a proper arena for it. Spending any time in the Hallow? Fuck building, we're fighting EoL

-----

One of my very favorite builds, the unfinished Hallow Tower... full of random doors in the walls, because the Pylon is inside the tower, and a Celestial Pillar always spawns Right Outside (or, on the very fucking top of the tower, unfortunately), so we kept getting trapped in the tower with a ton of monsters harassing us </3 The Party Girl, Princess, and Wizard all live here, with a pet rabbit and the Cool Slime. They die all the time.

I ended up having to fill the uppermost roof with grass + spray it with Hallow solution so the top half of the tower would still count as being in the Hallow, because it's just so tall, lol

-----

Past the Hallowed part of the jungle is. probably the funniest bit of our world. I um. made a BIG fancy arena specifically for the Old One's Army event. Went all Extra with it, made it real grand. And we've left the jungle npcs in one of those wooden apartment buildings ;jflaskdjf;a;

Even on Journey mode with two players, the Old One's Army was DIFFICULT omg. I'm not sure I want to try it on my own

-----

Through another small forest, we've got the non-Corrupted desert! Full of Celestial Pillar banners, because this is another spot a Pillar always spawns. Our Dye Trader likes to sit on the balcony and watch fire rain from the sky. Remarkably, he hasn't died yet

-----

And finally, we've got the right ocean, where the Angler, Stylist, and Pirate all live! This was another pretty early build

-----

And that's it for now! We're for sure gonna continue goofing off here, and start a new world with new characters at some point- potentially in Classic mode, depending on if I can work out how to make a proper server to reduce lag, lol

[iceblastersdenofstuff]

Solo RPG Log #0 (Hex Girl II)

So! Fair note, when I was brainstorming names I kinda just let my mind wander. Little did I know my sister's binging of Steven Universe and memories of old scooby doo characters would jump out and insert themselves into my game :P

--

The game is set in 20X3 in a city on the west coast of the USA called Beach City. When I plotted up the city in a general sense, I rolled on Mythic's settlement description table, and ended up rolling the Impressive and Old descriptors. So, I decided to make it some long standing city with a history of tech innovation, making it have a bit of more advanced tech fitting of a typical superhero city, though of course as stated before I've made it clear that superheroes aren't exactly a common affair. No definitive number, but superpowers are uncommon enough that when you do see someone with them it's an event to remember -assuming you aren't living in the city where they operate of course.

My character -generated using the Mutants and Mastermind's 3e hero handbook generator bc while I love making characters, I wanted to get right into play- is a female-presenting non-binary super named Riley Ikaru(she/they), going by Hex Girl -and is the second to have said moniker. Her mentor is of course Hex Girl, more on her later.

While the name would indicate a lot of magic -and to be frank I might use my 'this is literally just me' powers and change that-, she's mainly focused on more psychic abilities, with telekinesis featuring heavily though they do sport magically halted aging and self-enchanted costumes.

Hex Girl I is as far as anyone is concerned 'effectively retired', though the generated NPC descriptors threw a wrench in that idea -rolling for appearance I got Athletic and professional, and disposition is Knowledgable and Disagreeable-, so I had a bit of thinking on it and had the thought that despite having mentored Riley, they were rather distant in terms of closeness, and nowadays while Riley is off doing whatever they do, she's at her hideout with what amounts to a giant conspiracy board of the various underworld elements, trying to figure out some hidden plan without really being able to put together what's going on.

The first and second session make more sense to lump together, so! I shall.

Riley was tasked with infiltrating and investigated a newly arrived corporation -whose CEO seemed to be quite interested in psionics and powers of the mind-, as there have been allegations of unethical experimentation. They successfully sneak in and even get to a storage room to get at some files, however they find a guard that seems to have been waiting for her, as they soon get into a fight.

I. Did not balance the fight well, so despite being half the power level -MnM rates PCs on a '15 points = 1 power level' basis, I made a PL 10 character- my modified street thug to have some psychic abilities forced a retreat after they activated an alarm.

So, without any proof and with the corporation now on high alert, Riley returns to Hex Girl's hideout to give the news, who after a few rolls, was none too pleased about the result and essentially threw Riley out while she tried to salvage whatever plan she had. I last left off with Riley heading out, so, next time I play, I'll be exploring that!

fun.

[manchasama]

They aren't quite old settlements, but I could 100% imagine there being some and I'd go with it.

there was some secrecy around them, that at least might be interesting. There was a town with a market who would only sell to members, and owning the Secret Power TM was proof of membership. (It was mainly secret base decorations and a few tms which included secret power, the move needed to create secret base. The adventurer fellow who teaches you about Secret bases goes on sells their own stuff in their shop built inside a tree in the Tree-walkway town. Skyla's gym town it was really a cool aesthetic/building place. )

Yeah pokemon was using portals/fallers for a bit. (If you hadn't played the games, there were basically a race of blue-skinned aliens, who could travel to other portals/worlds researching/studying them, while trying to seek out a way to help their deity, Necrozma, that their ancestors had harmed/injured. The aliens were wonderful, and traveled though these portals on the sun/moon legendaries back.

Ingo's the faller everyone clicked with, but there was canonically also a Looker/Anabelle, who people liked but lacked that certain angsty bite that the submas had. Though I'd argue theres a lot that could be done with Looker There was also a npc who vanished, but somehow was able to leave a message in a bottle saying they were fine/happy were they where, which brought comfort to the other npc. And there was that entire thing with Lusamine, who's actions were entirely based on the concept too. Her husband vanished though one of those portals, and she effectively mistreated herself, her children and others in her quest to try and find them again. In game they never reunite, pokemon anime had them reunite very recently. )

(Specifically for the first game, she's *badly* messed up by the alien pokemon and is sent to jhoto for experimental treatment. Theres no hint she even knows what happened to her husband, just that she likely had to give up for her own health/safety. In the Second game, she knows/is aware/even saw her husband, who is the Bean Guy in both games. But because he has no memories of his past life, she didn't want to disrupt his life, and just never tells him that she knows him. )

Been a bit but I wanted to answer anyway lol

This was in regards to those hidden bases if I'm remembering right, which again is a very cool concept. And a good base for interesting storyship, even if it doesn't completely follow canon. No lore? Just add writer! Or rather re-write lore lolol~ But this would be a fun opportunity to write about a secret community and how all that works.

I have seen stuff about the fallers here and there, but the concept is pretty depressing overall. The loss of memory and having no anchor to your past is a bit much for my interests. The reason Ingo resonates is that I do know his past and can reunite him with it! You can thank my cowriter of yore for corrupting my perception on personhood and memories.

Because we love timetravel fics, right? Where the MC goes back in time and gets a re-do button basically. But she pointed out long ago that the people the MC interacts with are not the people they left behind. That the people left behind are for all intents and purposes dead. Just because they have the same name and face, they are missing the key interactions and memories. It can never be the same. For some this is okay! For me? Idk, it's not a good headspace for me I suppose? Makes me uncomfy.

*side eyes some submas fics* Which is why I start out liking some fics a lot, but peeter off depending on how it goes after reunion. I can only take so much hurt without comfort. And to me the comfort is the return of memories and self.

Uh, yeah sorry tangent. I have seen Looker and Annabelle go by in some fics, but don't have too much of an opinion on them. I'd have to look into their stories, but really I'm happy in my little submas corner. Other characters would only be to support me writing stories about the bros.

[dailycharacteroption]

Daring General (Cavalier Archetype)

 The cavalier has a few archetypes related to being the implied leader of large forces, and it’s hardly the only class to have such things, the warpriest in particular coming to mind.

However, I think today’s subject is the first I’ve seen where it gives you your own armed force as part of the class abilities, in the form of a souped-up version of the Leadership feat.

In any case, the Daring General archetype is built around being an incredible commander in addition to a warrior, commanding the respect of their troops.

These figures might command proper armies in a nation, or they might be the leaders of mercenary companies. Regardless, they can be quite potent alongside their forces on the field of battle.

However, it should be incredibly obvious that this archetype requires a *lot* of bookkeeping, and is not suitable for every game. Even when it is, it should be extremely obvious that trying to take a whole army down into a dungeon is a really bad idea, tactically.

With those caveats out of the way, let’s take a look at the archetype proper!

 At first, a daring general starts out like any cavalier, but eventually, they attract or are gifted their own force to command, which eventually doubles, then triples in size. Additionally, they also gain multiple cohorts, though their subsequent cohorts are typically weaker than their earlier ones. Additionally, their followers and cohorts must all be of martial professions.

What’s more, these military leaders can assign certain roles and positions to their cohorts, ranging from a groom to care for their mount, a squire to assist in armoring up and protecting them, or as their standard bearer. What’s more, they can assign the soldiers in their care to roles at footmen or honor guard, making them more offensively or defensively inclined, and these apply to mass combat as well.

When leading their forces, the general may have their soldiers take up a challenge with them, bolstering them in combat against their foe.

The most powerful become such tactical geniuses that they can direct allies with various teamwork tactics as much as they wish.

Interested in leading a massive force with a retinue of cohorts and bonuses for the mass combat subsystem? This archetype might be for you. Just remember that this archetype is really only meant for campaigns where such rules would be useful, so keep that in mind. Don’t forget to also protect your troops as best you can, however, unless you want your leadership score to go down the tubes. In any case, enough of this archetype stays the same that you can build them pretty much any way you wish, though probably favoring teamwork feats and combat support over pure mounted combat.

 This archetype may have some extra bookkeeping involved which might give some folks pause, it’s also worth noting that the extra cohorts is a free set of NPCs that the GM can use for whatever purpose they need, not to mention the fun of coming up with lore for these subordinates. Also, while the archetype demands you pick cohorts with martial class levels, nothing is stopping you from taking monstrous cohorts with such levels, aside from GM say-so and lore stuff.

  In most settlements, the vanara are content to live peacefully alongside nature, but legend tells of a great general among their kind, one who led his people to victory against a cosmic threat under the blessing of the mischievous monkey god himself. Now, a map that supposedly leads to his lost tomb, and clues as to the nature of the storied threat, has been found.

 Riding atop a mighty crab steed, the merfolk warlord Shakai musters her army to subjugate the surface world. Alongside her are her loyal retainers, a cecaelian archer, a triton warrior, and a merfolk huntress. Their group is surprisingly well-equipped for the surface, but who exactly are they claiming the coast for?

 The party is part of a garrison under the command of the greatest military leader of their nation, but concern creeps over them as they notice him acting oddly, his behavior seeming off for one so legendary for his charisma and battle-prowess… Investigating the truth will unveil a shocking conspiracy!

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

most people I saw blog this view the sidequests as a positive, rather than a negative. "Oh cool, sidequest smorgasbord!" It does help to know which ones are timed.

It's not about the side-quests, really. I explained it a little more later. I'm pretty happy to have a lot to do, as long as it's not completely boring. Like those "quests" in Dragon Age II where you, unprompted, randomly pick up some item somewhere and Hawke somehow magically knows who lost this item, and you have a marker on your map, and then you just go there like, "I think you lost something," and the NPC is like, "Oh, I was looking for this everywhere, thanks," and gives you some money. That's garbage. But that's not what happens in Baldur's Gate 2. What happens in Baldur's Gate 2 is that... you actually get a lot of interesting side-quests, and I love that.

However, the feeling I was trying to describe was more along the lines of... my character's best friend was kidnapped! We must save her! So that's our biggest, most pressing worry, right? And it is a pressing worry. Who knows what they could do to her! And then as we try to get oriented, these NPCs just keep coming and coming, wanting something. Which is fine! It's just that... everything... happens... so much? And that's not a bad thing! It's just that it's all at the beginning and in such a short time? When I'm trying to look around a bit? Panic! I do find it a little stressful that right at the beginning you enter some part of Athkatla and an NPC approaches you randomly to give you an urgently sounding task and you barely make three steps and there's another. The same thing repeats in another part of the city. You barely started playing this game and companions already ask favours, leaving little content for later. Then they're done by Chapter 2 or 3 and afterwards they seem to be mostly silent. You get pretty much all the quests you can get right there at the beginning, because the game makes you, not because you walked around and talked to people. It's not really about the number, but about the timing for me.

So my character's best friend has been kidnapped. Now I also kinda involuntarily learned that some cities and settlements are basically on fire, and we should probably help? Okay. But will it wait until we save our friend? Can I rely on the video game rule of time basically not existing? Or do I have to do it now because it will expire? Oh, shit, my companion was cursed in a scripted event I didn't know about! I have to help her immediately! Do I have to save Trademeet now, or will it still be there after I save Imoen? Will de'Arnise Keep be burned to the ground by then? How can I ignore the pleas for help of a distressed child that sends me to another far away place? Will his village be destroyed if I help Imoen first? I was searching the wiki whether this or that quest is time-limited constantly and whether I can put some things off and help Imoen first, because it feels so illogical to noodle around when she's in magic prison and clearly in danger from implied sexual assault and the main villain, and in many cases I simply found no answers. The journal gets really messy, too. I like to be organized and I don't want to miss out on anything, so you can imagine my struggle.

Baldur's Gate 2 quests are all pretty good, though. And I love content! Lots of content! I was only making fun of how stressful it is at the beginning. Can you imagine being the protagonist of this game? Isn't that funny? They can't get a break.

Once I started working on all the quests and realized that, despite their supposed urgency, I don't have to rush through most things, it was alright. De'Arnise Keep didn't burn down. People in Trademeet and Umar Hills were still alive. Jaheira survived. We exposed a serial killer. I got to noodle around and still find Imoen, alive... but unwell. I still don't know whether the quests I left behind will still be there after we escape Spellhold, but you can only delay helping your BFF for so long.

It might not seem like it from some of my comments because I like to make fun of things, but I'm having fun playing BG2.

[staggeringsmite]

ooh, top 5 moments you've had/witnessed as a DM? (please use this an excuse to hype yourself up if you want!!)

my players make dm’ing beyond worth it, so i really have to give credit to them for the joy of what they bring to a lot of these scenes <3 (also this is all wandering isles bc it’s been my most narratively satisfying and invested dm experience) Buckle Up it’s a long one!!!

bonus: i’m very proud of my individual character moments! throughout the campaign we’ve had about four of these (the intro session scenes, two dream sequences for every pc, and a set of individual trial scenes). we’re a pretty big party so it’s hard to narrow it down, but i just love writing and running those longer narrative moments bc i think it’s a v interesting insight into each character and gives them each a separate moment to shine <3

5. “promise you’ll come back to her” / burning of contingency letters

i put these moments together perhaps to cheat a little bit, but also because they deserve it. xarus, the party’s barbarian whose family was abandoned by his mother at a young age pulls theresa, a forge knitting cleric about to board the airship he is a quartermaster of in order to find a cure for her sick wife. he asks theresa to promise him one thing, that no matter what she will come back to her wife. along the way they write contingency letters to their loved ones in and outside of the party as their adventures grow more and more dangerous, and eventually, exhausted and worn, theresa and xarus find each other in the den of a safehouse to talk. recognizing each other’s willingness to self-sacrifice, their conversation ends with them burning the contingency letters they’ve written, committing to life. these scenes come together because it shows how far they have come together, and the theresa and xarus relationship will always be a highlight of the wandering isles to witness. sometimes the players do all the best work for you, and it’s so wonderful to sit back and watch <3

4. miles is missing

damien returns to the university he works at after an unprecedented amount time away to check on his office before he heads back out on another adventure with the party. while there he moves to put a sticky note (canonically a magical item in the wandering isles universe) on his rival colleague’s (and gay lover/roommate of 20 years) door only to find it entirely emptied without a trace. despite their bickering, miles and damien are very close, and miles would never pack up his things and go without telling damien.

this was a more subtle cliff-hanger for the session, but it was made so much fun as a dm because the players were excited and joking the whole session about miles’ second appearance (and only since the very first session) so his sudden disappearance was made much more severe based on everyone’s anticipation of meeting and having a light-hearted interaction with him.

3. the infamous sex rave

sometimes things go very right as a dm and sometimes things spiral out of control when a pc mislabels a situation which becomes a running joke of the campaign. either way i love being stubborn in my defense of “it isn’t a sex rave!!” whenever they bring it up (and immediately playing an npc who also calls it a sex rave). basically the players had a heist encounter in which they were hired to break a group of pirate prisoner’s out of a secret underground information center (where magical artifacts were also being held and studied, and there was pertinent information stored for the party to take a swipe at). the group split and one subset of party members were forced to hide from guards on the outskirts of a large, gladiatorial style ring within the compound, in which prisoners were competitively battling in order to test the abilities of certain unknown artifacts for the entertainment of anonymous nobles in masquerade getup. based on the magical lighting effects, the strangely dressed noble onlookers, and the,,,, Fighting Noises being some of the only things the pc’s perceived from the level of the auditorium they hid at, it was unfortunately misnomer’ed the “weird sex rave” and has only been referred to it as that ever since.

2. mother abel’s goodbye

hmmm am i making players cry again? yeah maybe. mother abel was an elder cleric of nosa crossing, the starting city of the campaign. she’d lived through its settlement, destruction, rebuilding, and given her all not only to the city but also to the jilted creed (a secret society dedicated to disrupting geline, a large and dangerously powerful island-state which is one of the campaign’s greatest evils). in the last use of her strength she took on a role as a conduit for a powerful plane shift ritual to transport the residents of the city to safety in the feywild as nosa crossing began to be overrun by potent wild magics in the prime material plane. as a low-level cleric, the spell took its toll on her, and as the party arrived in the feywild via a similar ritual to find the inhabitants, they were led to her side. theresa, a native of nosa crossing now reunited with her wife yodean, went to abel’s side with yodean. as yodean sat on the foot of the bed, theresa kneeled as though praying to hold abel’s hand cleric to cleric, confessing her gratitude but admitting that she cannot give as freely as mother abel did, that she and yodean deserve to live for themselves as much as they choose everyday to live for other people. with her final words in a soft, weak message, mother abel comforted theresa in her decision. the scene as a whole was so wonderfully sad, and the best dm moment of something so raw as telling aj, theresa’s player, that while there was no way to confirm it in any real capacity, something in theresa felt that perhaps mother abel held out a little while longer to make sure she was safe one last time and make sure she’d truly gotten everyone home.

1. rosa’s betrayal / lian’s resurrection

enough of that sad shit let’s get mean babey!! aslkjglfk i will be riding the high of this session for an eternity, but it’s quite a lot to break down. rosa rucksaw is the captain of the crew the party rescues in the heist sequence, who eventually reveals herself to in fact be xarus’ mom who fully left to assume a new identity and is Pretty Horrible as a person. at the safehouse, the party is asked by the people they were hired if they would be willing to take the crew to a longer term safehouse island, and the decision is left to xarus. not wanting to be like his mom, xarus agrees to endure a little more time with them in order to them this service out of convenience and kindness. a few hours from their destination, rosa finds xarus on the deck and honestly? kinda begins to admit some amount of guilt for all the shit she did,,,, literally seconds before she reveals that when her and her crew were caught by geline, she struck a deal in order to keep them alive, saying to her biological son “out on the cloudsea your crew is your family, and son, believe me, i’d do anything for my family” before her crew on the deck anchored the ship to an invisible gelinish war vessel and we snapped to roll20 for combat. the look of horror and betrayal on everyone’s face as her monologue hit those final lines, ugh and the fact that no one was super suspicious made it even better!! sometimes it Really Works, and this was one of those times!

flash forward in the battle, and an npc (it’s miles, the gay lover from a few numbers ago) being held hostage by the gelinish vessel is killed, as he is resurrected by two party members (damien and theresa) damien reaches for his soul, as theresa, who multi-classed into divination wizard after a pc named lian died (with failed attempts from theresa and xarus to hold her back) feels another presence in the grey, misty beyond. lian died in session four, and when i said her name to reference jack’s character everyone lost it mostly out of confusion before i began to narrate lian feeling restless in the afterlife, eventually reaching out and forming a celestial warlock pact with miles through his connection to damien and being called upon by her goddess sune as theresa reached out, offering lian the chance to go back. theresa returning to that moment with both her clerical and divinatory abilities, with the blessing of sune, lian emerging on the battlefield, now a vengeance paladin instead of life cleric, with a flaming sword and celestial wings at her back was such an incredible highlight to set up and run,, i just, <333 very proud of myself (and very thankful jack was on board for her coming back) for this moment

thank you so so much!! this was a long ramble, but i hope it was somewhat interesting to people not in the wandering isles <33

send a top 5 or 10?

[oh-boy-me]

What are all the boys (bros&other npcs) favorite bodies of water??

Jo can I trust you?  I’m not so sure anymore.

--

Lucifer: Glacier

A river that bends land to its will?  Nice.

A river that bends land to its will and is also frozen?  NICE.

The sheer power of glaciers, man.  It’s ice, but it moves.  It hogs all the freshwater.  What a truly impressive feature.

The ninth circle of hell is a frozen lake, and while that circle is reserved for the treacherous and not the proud, that probably influences his opinions just a little.

Also when exposed to light glacier ice is blue!  How cool.

Mammon: Tide Pool

Do you know how many THINGS there are in tide pools?

Most of them are worthless, but still, Mammon likes things and tide pools are not short in supply of things.

Most of them look cool too.  Anemones and starfish and stuff.

He also likes how they’re only around during low tide.  They’re like a secret.

Leviathan: Ocean

Are we surprised?  It’s his second home.  It’s the biggest and deepest saltwater option we have.

The ocean is literally his element.  The more water the better.

He does prefer warm waters though.  Cold water makes him sluggish.

I feel like this was self-explanatory so I don’t even have much to say, so let me use this extra space to sprinkle in a world building headcanon: Devildom seas are on average deeper than Human World ones, but the Mariana Trench is still the deepest trench in the three realms.

Satan: Oasis

Remember when I said he isn’t fond of big bodies of water?  Yeah that still applies.

So if he HAS to choose a favorite that’s natural, he supposes a beacon of life in an otherwise desolate land is a good choice.

(Satan you fool you absolute fool.  An oasis is the entire fertile area, not just the body of water that may or may not be there.  We’ll let him get away with it.)

He’s thinking of those ones that show up in storybooks anyway.

And he wasn’t allowed to say “pool.”

Asmodeus: Hot Spring

Curse this bastard, hot tub wasn’t allowed as an answer and he found a way around it.

Really though, hot springs have so many refreshing, good for your skin, etc., properties.

It’s also a great trip location to have a “me day.”

Or to get to know someone a little better.  Or a lot better.

Don’t get him wrong, though--when it comes to hot springs it’s a spa day first and foremost.

Beelzebub: Channel

So people swim across channels.  The English Channel, at least.  And that’s something he’d definitely be interested in doing.

It’s also good endurance training, records and completion aside.

So with that in mind, a channel has a goal attached to it, and Beel loves having goals to work towards.

Also, channels connect landmasses.  Insert metaphor about connecting here.

Belphegor: Fjord

Millions of years ago, a glacier said “hmm, today I will carve a valley.”

And then the ocean thought “oh I should flood this” (and also the glacier melted).  And that’s how fjords are created.

They’re very beautiful, with rising cliffs on either side.

They’re also often very dangerous, with extreme currents and even whirlpools.

And they’re REALLY deep.  Like, far deeper than the sea that flooded it.

And that’s pretty neat.  He just thinks they’re neat.

Simeon: Salt Flat

So it isn’t a permanent body of water--actually salt flats are made after water evaporates and leaves the salt behind--but if Satan’s allowed to say oasis Simeon’s allowed to say salt flat.

Why does he like them, though?  Well, when it IS a body of water after the rain, it’s a mirror of the sky.

There really isn’t a body of water that seems more heavenly than a rained-on salt flat.

Please look up Salar de Uyuni.

There really is a place in the Human World where he can forget he’s not in the Celestial Realm.

Luke: Pond

Lakes are freshwater basins teeming with life, both in nature and in human settlement.

Lakes are also very deep and that’s freaky.  Ponds are the same as a lake but smaller.

They can be small garden ponds with koi, or big enough to take a boat out onto.  How versatile, how diverse!

Ponds are like the little MVPs of the water world and Luke can relate.

Solomon: Lake

Solomon doesn’t really have an attachment to lakes in general, but rather to one in particular.

He doesn’t remember what it was called or where it was, but he has fond memories of summering at a lake house in the mountains when he was a child.

His father would take him fishing, his mother would watch him swim, and the whole family would hike on the surrounding trails.  It was really fun.

A beach house has similar family vacation qualities, but Solomon’s family preferred the quiet nature that lakes more readily offer.

At least, that’s what he recalls.  They… they did go fishing on the lake, right?

Diavolo: Bayou

It has little to do with the water itself, and more to do with the area.

Because bayou?  Animals and culture.

We’re talking birds, alligators, fish, frogs, you name it, fun swamp creatures.

And New Orleans.  Cajun and Creole culture flourishes in that area, and there are few human cultures that would catch his eye more than those would.

(There are of course other groups that live in similar areas that have these same charms, but I don’t know of any all-encompassing word.)

Barbatos: Cove

They are small and separated.  Feels good, feels private.

He likes the smaller ones best.

It would be nice for there to be a cove that only he knows about.  A place where he could destress and just exist.

The chances of Diavolo not knowing or finding out about it are small, but hey.  A butler can dream.

He wouldn’t call himself a romantic, but he can’t deny that it’s definitely part of the appeal.

Masterlist