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limes-sagau · 6 months ago

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Mondstadt Sagau Shimegi AU Drabbles

I'm Alive!

Sorry this took a hot minute to put out, but here's the Mondstadt edition of the Shimeji AU. I did every playable character from Mondstadt, some of them have shorter sections *cough* Mika *cough* simply because they haven't had much screen time in the game or I don't know them well enough. In the future I might do an update post for some of them. Also this should be treated like crack. Now that this is out I can move on to actually writing the First chapter of To Build A Haven which should be up soon.

ALBEDO:

Curious but not a menace

He looks at everything your doing with absolute interest

He wanders around looking at what you're doing and writing what he observes down on a notepad.

If He’s really interested in something on the page you're on like a photo or text he will snag it to get a closer look (for those who don't know there is a function that allows shimeji to grab items and take them off screen, this can be reversed by simply refreshing).

He gets a little miffed when you refresh to get the item back in its correct place but he's not upset for long.

If you leave your computer he will end up messing around and looking up articles on chemistry and physics, he tried searching up alchemy and he just got led down a rabbit hole that he later found out was all fake.

So there's no alchemy in your world, interesting!

Uhh Oh! He accidentally duplicated!

He’s immediately on guard once he sees the duplicate

Is that his twin! No wait, the mark on the twins neck is there!

He realizes it is just a full carbon copy of him that just wanders around mindlessly.

He will get a little antsy if you let the duplicates get out of hand in their numbers so make sure to dismiss the duplicates

He just wants to study this strange world in peace.

AMBER:

She confused as hell.

She waves to you whenever you return from getting up from your computer

She is the opposite of a menace.

She almost is too helpful

She sees her knightly duty in this weird in between world to be of help to you.

If you're easily distracted while working on something like a document she will wave her hands around and try to get your attention so you get back to work.

And while she is not an expert in grammar she’ll try her best to point out errors in your sentencing.

When you're not working on something important she has a lot of fun climbing the walls of your screen and jumping off to glide across your screen.

If you pick her up with your cursor and toss her she’ll laugh and glide down

Don't shake her though! She’ll get dizzy!

BARBARA:

Shy babbie!

At first she's kinda cowering in the corner so confused as to what's happening and in awe of your presence.

Eventually she chills out a bit but she never fully relaxes.

You got spotify going in the background?

Great! This is how Barbara got introduced to (insert music genre here) or (insert artist here)

She will be scandalized if you play something with profanity, innuendos, or sexual references.

Like full clutching of pearls

Do not play Squidwards Nose for her. She is sweet baby, she doesn't deserve that.

I'm sorry if some of yall dont like what I'm about to say… but the moment you play one of Taylor Swift's songs she's hooked.

I'm talking like something from Folklore, Evermore, or Midnights.

Her favorites are Clean, Willow, and Snow on the Beach (she does not like the F bomb in that one though)

She does try to give everything you listen to a fair shot even if it might not be her style.

If she likes the song she will sing and dance along to it.

BENNETT:

He fall over all the time

So Bennett will be like climbing the side of your screen and will lose his grip and fall.

If you catch him he'll be so happy.

Hes kinda wandering around your page

He do be trippin (and not in the fun way)

There was this time where he picked up one of the items on your screen and didn't know how to set it down.

He ran around scared and confused until you refreshed the page.

If you pick him up and shake him, he will get dizzy.

DILUC:

He’s pretty chill

He will start wandering the internet if you leave him alone with your computer open

Hopefully he doesn't find your fanfics

Who introduced him to Batman?!?!

JUSTICE FOR MONDSTADT!!!

Not that big into the superhero movies but he does really connect with Batman, who would have guessed.

Show him the Mt. Dew wine or the Peeps Wine from TikTok and the disappointment will be so evident on his face.

That's not even wine

If you do bring up some articles on wine brewing and aging techniques he will read them and take some of the methods to possibly use at Dawn Winery.

DIONA:

She small she baby

Normally she’s chill

But If you drink in her presence be prepared to experience the menace of menaces

Every time you leave your computer unattended expect to come back to either your browser being on a local AA group website or on a study showing the impacts of alcohol on the body.

She aggressively points at what's on screen whenever you come back

She can be reasoned with if you give her a pat.

She can also be pacified by one of those videos of birds meant for cats

She also likes those games made for cats where it's like a bug or ants crawling across the screen and you gotta crush them.

She tries to jump around the screen but she short, holding her up to catch all the crawlies.

EULA:

Eula is confused by modern internet slang

She mainly stands guard in the corner not wanting to get in your way

She's in the overly respectful gang

Don't pick her up and shake her she will seek revenge

Likes the cat videos on facebook though

She like the “going no contact with toxic family” type videos on TikTok since she can relate.

Boomer but she working on it

FISCHL:

Who let this theater major in the building?

She is by far the most distracting shimeji you can have on your browser

“The Prinzessin der Verurteilung desires your attention at all hours”

When your working you literally have to dismiss her if you want to get work done

If you leave her on screen when you leave your computer you will come back to her somehow reading Twilight.

The can of worms has been opened and Fischl's Twilight phase has been unleashed.

She also grows to love shakespeare if you ever have to read one of his works for a class

Holds up skull “Alas poor Yorick”

She does hate The Taming of the Shrew (if you know you know)

JEAN:

Like her sister she is also a bit confused

This internet lingo is so confusing

This is a facebook mom

How did she get an account? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The funny thing is is that she successfully and pretty accurately shuts down alot of bigoted people

She gain like a cult following of converted beige housewives

KAEYA:

He isnt distracting like Fischl is but he’s like a cat who wants attention so they climb over your keyboard until you gotta move them and give them pets.

Menace

He’s the worst when it comes to fishing your fics out of your files when your away

You gotta lock them up, time to move everything to your phone… rip storage space.

You accidentally introduce Kaeya to his new guilty pleasure besides Wine… Horse Girl Movies!!!!

It's bad… It's really bad, his favorites are the movies Spirit and Felicity (yes the American girl movie).

The man misses his horse, why do the favonius cavalry have no horses? the captain of the calvary should have a horse!

He also is somewhat interested in the wine industry from around your world.

He might give you a list of types he would like you to bring if you ever visit their world.

KLEE:

Protect this one because she's so smol.

But also keep her from blowing up your documents-

She picks up whatever she wants and will set it down in the wrONg place but if you scold her about it she’ll give you puppy eyes and apologize.

And then do the exact same thing not ten minutes later.

She will wander around wherever she can so do not let her out of your sight. Open tabs, downloads, files, browser history, nothing is safe.

LISA:

similar to albedo in that she is curious about everything.

She likes that she can chill out and read whatever comes on screen

One of the worst if she finds your writing

She will correct your grammar and give suggestions while actively flirtily mocking your work.

Likes making you flustered in the middle of work

She requested you make her a playlist on spotify so you sit down and show her a few artists you think she would like

She adds a bunch of music from (Hayley Kyoko, Muna, Clario, Mxmtoon, and Janelle Monae)

She listens to it when she's on your computer and you aren't around while she looks through the internet.

MIKA:

I don't know this child!!!

Literally I know nothing, hopefully he gets more character time in future quests

I'll come add more latter if we are given more

Spawn in a Len(vocaloid) Shimeji and he’ll be so confused

Who is this doppelganger!

MONA:

Girl is going insane learning our world's zodiac system!

You have to dismiss her sometimes because she asks so many questions, some of which you don't know the answer to.

“What Do You Mean? It's Considered A Pseudoscience!!!”

She is beyond insulted if you don't believe in astrology.

If you do believe in astrology she's so excited

Give her your Natal chart and she’ll be ecstatic

After she learns everything she can about your world's astrology, whenever you boot up your computer she’ll give you your horoscope for the day.

NOELLE:

She’s so polite! :D

Doesn’t do much climbing, but when she does it’s to clean the cobwebs in the corners of your tabs.

Will remind you to drink water and have stretch breaks every so often and will be very sad if you don't.

You better clear your browser history before she tries to take a broom to it. she doesn’t deserve to see what you look at, you degenerate fifth.

She either likes ICP or studio ghibli soundtracks; there is no inbetween.

RAZOR:

Precious Puppy™

He is very confused by the internet but he’s still very curious .

Will patiently watch you work and will bite pop-up ads

Starts looking up pictures of wolves cause he's a precious baby and ends up in the furry community. He is very confused. He is very scared. Save him before he learns what an omega is.

ROSARIA:

She's chill

She's easily bored so she will on occasion if you are doing work just dip out

How did she figure out how to dismiss herself?

Most of the time she leaves when your working

She will stay if there is a church event back on Teyvat that she wants to get out of.

If you summon Fischl they will both watch Twilight together

Though Rosaria will leave after the first movie, she doesn’t like any of the other movies.

She also has a few strong opinions on the way that Stephanie Meyer handled Native Americans in the book.

SUCROSE:

very curious and intrigued by the internet and will watch you work from the top of your tab and take notes.

will ask a bunch of questions about and google the answers when you leave.

got into a fight with a redditor about something sciencey you didn’t understand and battled that man for hours.

She won.

She likes watching ted talks and documentaries when you’re on break and wiLL get lost in wikipedia if you let her. Please don’t let her because she is very small and that website is very big.

VENTI:

#1 MENACE!!!

He's up about climbing the walls and flying all about the screen.

If you are trying to get work done good luck

If you ask he will sit down and be somewhat quiet

If you listen to music while you work he will either be singing along to it or if the BPM is fast enough singing and dancing along with the music.

He likes listening to the music you listen to because he can learn what to perform if you ever come to Teyvat.

He at first will be thrown off if you listen to something that's more on the sexual side ( im talking something like Ayesha Erotica, or cupcakKe) but eventually he gets used to it and has a lot of fun distracting you when those types of songs come on.

Like Kaeya, he is also interested in the wine from your world.

You have to tell him to narrow down the list he gives you of wines to bring to Teyvat… it was 2 pages long.

#sagau #genshin sagau #genshin impact sagau #self aware genshin #sagau x reader #yandere sagau

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anim-ttrpgs · 1 month ago

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Fairy Player Character Rules in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy

Eureka has six playable "monster" types, and about ten total supernatural character options all together. Each supernatural trait is taken basically as if it is a normal trait like the ones you have been seeing us post. You cannot give a character more than one supernatural trait--and from what you are about to read, you probably wouldn't want to. Playing monsters is recommended for "advanced" players only, people who like a lot of "crunch" in their games, as require you to keep track of a lot more mechanics than playing a normal human.

Here is the Fairy Trait as it appears in its overhauled state which will be coming in the next release. The August itchio beta does not currently have these overhauled monster traits(though, you could just use this post as reference if you wanted to play with the overhauled fairy rules, we don't mind! They're much better rules and we want people to have the most fun possible!)

If you are reading this past about October 24th, then there is a good chance that the itchio beta actually has been updated to include these improved rules, fingers crossed!

Anyway here we go. This is going under a Read More because it's long as hell but we really hope that you will check it out and comment. This is, like, the whole entire ruleset for playing a fairy in Eureka.

Stay tuned for the overhauled Wolfman rules next week!

Fairy (Monster Trait)

“Fairy” is a bit of a nebulous term, and has been used to describe all sorts of things which, thanks to modern fantasy literature, are now strictly sorted into all sorts of distinct categories such as elf, goblin, dwarf, fairy, pixie, etc. in our culture, when in the past when such legends were told, many of these words were just different regional names for the same or similar phenomenon in Northern Europe and the British Isles. Mysterious beings outside of normal society—and who may have an entirely separate society of their own—who live by a bizarre set of rules and are as likely to grant a boon as steal one’s child.

What a fairy can actually do is similarly often nebulous, though there are a small handful of through-lines which we extrapolate from. The modern categorization that most people would probably use for the fairy being described by these rules is “elf.” Pointed ears, magic powers, and a sense of superiority.

A fairy investigator could be born and raised as a fairy by fairies, or they may have been raised by humans as a changeling.[1]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] Unlike with the Changeling Trait, a character with the Fairy Trait is a respectable, fully capable fairy regardless of their origin. That does not mean, however, that they cannot fall into disgrace by means other than the circumstances of their birth.

The Fairy rules tackle some very different themes compared to most of the other supernatural character options, but, mechanically, certainly don’t fit anywhere but the Monster category.

A lot of a fairy’s powers hinge on them knowing someone’s “full true name.” What exactly is meant by a person’s “full true name” is a matter of discussion between player and Narrator, but as a general guideline, if a person is named Jeremy Matthew Jones IV, then “Jeremy Matthew Jones IV” is needed, and just “Jeremy Jones” or “Jeremy M. Jones” won’t be enough. Nicknames also do not generally count. A fairy cannot make their magic work by just guessing a person’s true name, they have to know the name with certainty.

Spiriting Away

Sometimes, a fairy wants someone to just go away forever, and they do.

So long as the fairy is not debilitated by a weakness, can see and is within 5 feet of the target, and knows the target’s full true name[1], at the fairy’s whim the target appears to simply pop out of existence, or at least out of this existence. If done while time is being measured in Turns, this takes one Movement. This can be done without the fairy knowing the full true name of the target, but under these circumstances, the fairy must make voluntary skin-to-skin contact with the target.[3] There are a number of explanations and possibilities as to what happens to them or where they go,[2] but for the purposes of gameplay, it does not matter, because the ‘camera’ of the story will never follow them there. They are out of the Scene, and potentially out of the adventure entirely. There will be no Scenes exploring the fate of a spirited away character.

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] What exactly is meant by a person’s “full true name” is a matter of discussion between player and Narrator.

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] They may be transported to a sort of “pocket dimension,” transported to the “fairy world” if such a thing even exists, still technically present but unable to interact with the rest of reality, or perhaps all or none of the above. It depends on the whim of the fairy - and they may not even know!

[2.1. Off to the side in the final formatting] A thorough explanation of fairy society and where they come from would be far beyond the scope of an investigative TTRPG, any fairy’ll tell you that.

[3 off to the side in the final formatting] “Voluntary” means that the target knowingly accepts the physical contact and does not do anything to resist it, or initiates physical contact themselves voluntarily. They do not have to be aware that the fairy is a fairy or that the fairy intends to spirit them away.

Spiriting Back

It is much easier to send someone away than to bring them back.[1] To return someone they have spirited away, when not debilitated by a weakness, the fairy must make a full Success on a Nature, Paperwork, Blacked Out, or Senses roll. Each Skill can only be used to attempt this once per fairy per victim, and each attempt costs the fairy 1 point of Composure. If another fairy knows both the full true name of the victim and the full true name of the fairy which spirited them away, they may do the same, but with a -2 modifier.[2]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] It’s possible that the fairy’s household may have changed the servant’s name to thwart efforts to retrieve them.

[2 off to the side in the final formatting] The return of a spirited away person does not need to happen at the same location where they were first spirited away.

Taking Names

When not debilitated by a weakness, a fairy can be “given” a mortal’s name voluntarily, though the mortal need not fully understand the situation coming to pass.[1][this sentence sucks help me rewrite it]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] This could be anything from a formal signed contract detailing the transfer, to giving one’s full name in response to the simple request of “Can I have your name?” It is up to the fairy if they actually want to take the name or not. Voluntarily handing over a physical nametag could potentially count as well, if the nametag has the full true name.

A person whose name has been taken by a fairy will perpetually forget their own name, and will not respond to it when called by it. The fairy must take the full name of the victim for this to work, and a fairy will quickly become aware if they do not have the full name.[1]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] A fairy does not have to take possession of someone’s name to use name-based magic such as curses or spiriting away on them, they just have to know the name.

Write the person’s full true name in the fairy’s inventory.

A fairy can relinquish a person’s name and return it to them at any time, from any place.

A fairy can also take possession of a person’s voice in the same way. If a voice has been taken, the person missing their voice will be unable to speak, and the fairy in possession of it will be able to speak in the taken voice at will.

Using Names

So long as a person is missing their name, no name-related magics, such as curses or a fairy’s spiriting away, will be able to affect them. These magics will instead affect the fairy in possession of the name.

Spiriting away has no effect on a fairy regardless of the name.

If a curse is put on a fairy through any of the names in their possession, they may instantly transfer the curse to any name they possess, and send that name back to the original owner, along with the curse.

A fairy can *truthfully* answer with any name in their possession when asked their name.

The Gentry

When not debilitated by a weakness, fairies have a +3 Base bonus to Wealth. Their Wealth Skill Rating and any Wealth bonus they get from any other Traits will also always be considered Base. While this means that Composure will cap their Wealth Skill checks during the adventure, it will not cap their Wealth Skill during the Wealth Point Roll in character creation.[1]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] Some kind of joke about exchange rates.

Fairies also seem to be able to pull things out of the most unlikely of locations sometimes. Add +2 to the Property Modifier of any home or vehicle owned by the fairy.

A backpack, purse, duffle bag, or similar personal storage device given to a fairy at character creation at a WP cost of 2 will be a little bit bigger on the inside than it looks like on the outside, and can be used to roll Wealth for items just as a home or vehicle could, with a Property Modifier of -3.[1][2]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] This already accounts for their +2 Property Modifier bonus. It would be -5 otherwise.

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] Maybe they could even cram a person in there with a bit of effort. If the fairy does try to cram an unwilling person into their purse or whatever, consider this to require a successful Hold. Regardless of compliance, this will deal 2 Superficial Damage.

Glamor

When not debilitated by a weakness, fairies appear supernaturally attractive and supernaturally well-groomed at just about all times. They have a +2 Base bonus to all Interpersonal Skills except Social Cues and Threaten.

A Keen Interest

Fairies gain +1 Investigation Point for any Investigative Roll that involves asking or otherwise inquiring about someone’s family history or personal identity.[1]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] “Personal identity as in how a person would identify and think of themselves. This would not apply to a fairy asking “Who is the killer?”

Weather Affect

When not debilitated by a weakness, fairies can exert very minor influence over the weather in a localized region of about a mile radius around them for the duration of a Scene. They could not turn a hurricane into a sunny day, but they could turn a storm into a drizzle, a drizzle into a cloudy day (or vice versa). They could raise or lower the temperature by about ten degrees Fahrenheit, cause the fog to thicken or dissipate, part the clouds to allow sunlight or moonlight through, or help block it out, etc.

With use of a Eureka! Point, the fairy can change the weather much more drastically, such as summoning a violent rainstorm out of nowhere, initiating a snap freeze or sudden thaw, or parting the clouds during a hurricane.

With use of a Eureka! Point,[1] a fairy can extend the duration of the weather change to last for the whole day, and one day per Eureka! Point after.

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] This is a separate Eureka! Point usage from the above option of making the weather change more drastically, though they can be combined to make the drastically changed weather last longer.

Poltergeist Activity

When not debilitated by a weakness, fairies have the ability to exert “poltergeist activity” in their general vicinity, such as within their line of sight or the building[1] they are in. This ability essentially causes chaos and unexplainable accidents. Equipment malfunctions, food mysteriously spoils, objects fall over or off shelves, people trip and drop things, unidentifiable banging may be heard, etc.

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] The wing or floor of the building they are in, if it is an exceptionally large building.

For each use of this ability, the Narrator rolls 3 hidden D6s. For each 4 or above, something advantageous to the fairy will happen, and for each 3 or below, something disadvantageous or at best unhelpful to the fairy will happen. When deciding what happens, use the same logic as Woo Rolls. Whatever is the most obvious thing to happen happens.[1]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] Beware, use of this ability can have catastrophic consequences in places where people’s lives rely on the proper functioning of sensitive equipment or strict safety regulations, such as hospitals or construction sites.

Curses

So long as they are not debilitated by a weakness, by speaking the intended target’s full true name,[1][2] a fairy can place a terrible curse on an unsuspecting victim from anywhere in the world.

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] This must be done with intent to curse, it doesn’t just happen every time the fairy says someone’s name.

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] What exactly is meant by a person’s “full true name” is a matter of discussion between player and Narrator.

Casting a curse requires a supernatural ability Composure roll.

Casting a curse takes one Movement. The curse takes effect immediately, and will last for 14 days by default before wearing off completely. As the curse is cast, roll 1D12+1+[Relevant Skill]. Which Skill is used will vary depending on the curse. The result is the number of days by which the fairy may extend or reduce the curse's duration. If the result is a negative number, reduce the fairy’s Composure by the same amount. A fairy may use the Focus Eureka! Point ability to add an additional 1D12 to this roll and drop the lowest die.

If a curse is reduced to a duration of “0 days,” it will only take effect for the duration of a single Scene.

Fairies may place curses upon themselves if they so desire.

A second curse placed upon the same target will extend its duration, but only the effect of one type of curse can apply at once.

Effects of Fairy Curses

Each curse has a different Skill associated with it.

Curse of Transformation

This curse uses the Nature Skill. The target will be spontaneously transformed into an animal of the fairy’s preference.[1]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] Their clothes don’t transform with them.

The fairy must make a Full Success on a Nature roll to choose an animal that is not on the following list.

Cat

Frog

Mouse

Newt

Pig

Rat

Toad

Wolf[1]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] For the stats of a wolf, see p.xx “Werewolf”. The rest of these do not have official stats, but we expect you to be able to figure out what they would be good and bad at.

The target will maintain a functional degree of human intelligence while in this form, at least for some time. Once their human mind is lost, the curse cannot be removed, and will never revert after any amount of time. The curse will also never revert if the target dies while transformed.

For an NPC, the Narrator rolls a hidden 1D6+3. This is how many days the target will retain their humanity.

For an investigator, the Narrator rolls a hidden 1D6. After this number of days, if the transformed investigator ever reaches 0 Composure, their humanity will be lost.

Curse of Reduction

This curse uses the Visual Calculus Skill. The target will be spontaneously reduced to between 5% and 10% of their original size.[1][2]

[1 off to the side in the final formatting] Their clothes and items may or may not shrink with them, at the caster’s preference.

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] For a 72” person, that would be between 3.6” and 7.2”.

If the target dies while shrunken, the curse will never revert.

Curse of Petrification

This curse uses the Chemistry Skill. The target, including their clothes, will be spontaneously turned to stone. At the preference of the caster, they may or may not retain awareness of their surroundings. If kept aware, they will lose 2 Composure per day, and if unaware, 1 Composure per day, until they are effectively dead, at which point the curse cannot be reverted.[1] If the curse is reverted, either by it wearing off before the point of no return, or being broken, any damage the target sustained as a statue will immediately take effect. For example, chips in their stone body become lacerations in their living body. If an arm was broken off of the statue, their arm is now severed. If the statue suffers fatal damage, the curse will not be able to be reverted. If unaware, then reverting the curse will feel like waking up from a long and restless sleep. The target does not need to eat or sleep so long as they are petrified.

[1 off to the ads in the final formatting] For NPCs, consider them to have 1D6+1 Composure to lose before it starts to eat into their Superficial HP.

Curse of Slumber

This curse uses the Medicine Skill. The next time they fall asleep, the victim will fall into a coma-like state for the duration of the curse. The target will lose 1 Composure per day until the curse either reverts or they die.[1] Unlike with petrification, the body must breathe and be fed during this time.

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] For NPCs, consider them to have 1D6+1 Composure to lose before it starts to eat into their Superficial HP.

Curse of Death

This curse uses the Blacked Out Skill. The target begins to take 2 Superficial Damage each day for the duration of the curse or until they die, and will be unable to regain HP or Composure through sleep. In addition, apply a -3 modifier to all their rolls.

Breaking a Curse

There are a number of ways for a fairy to break a curse. If the ailment is not immediately identifiable as a curse, a Full Success on any Knowledge Skill check by a fairy will positively identify whether it is or not.

The death of the curse’s caster will not remove the curse, and fairies cannot simply lift their own curses at will.

To lift any curse, the fairy must know the full true name of the victim, and must make a Full Success on a Nature, Paperwork, Blacked Out, or Senses roll with a -2 modifier. Each Skill can only be used to attempt this once per fairy per curse, and each attempt costs the fairy 1 point of Composure.

True Love’s Kiss

A kiss can sometimes be all it takes to lift a curse, and it doesn’t even have to be a kiss from a fairy. The Narrator rolls a hidden D6 once the victim has been kissed. On a 7, the curse will be broken by the kiss. If it fails, another kiss from the same person will not work either.[1]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting.] Morgie’s kisses always lift curses.

Add +1 to the roll if the kisser truly loves the victim.

Add +1 to the roll if the kisser is female.

Add +1 to the roll if the kisser is of noble or royal lineage, or is a fairy.

Mage Power

Every fairy has one Mage Power by default. A fairy may have any number of additional Mage Powers, but for each additional Mage Power, increase the number of Investigation Points required for the fairy to gain a Eureka! Point by one.

Fairies can only make use of these powers when not debilitated by a weakness.

Misc. Fairy Features

Every fairy character must have one or more of the following features.[1][2]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] The expectations placed upon a fairy has affected them, whether directly or through rebellion.

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] In many cases “what happens to fairies who aren’t cut out for the thing they’re prescribed at birth” and “why is this fairy hanging out with a bunch of humans” have the same answer. Other times, fairies just might want to unwind in a world where the stakes are lower and their riches higher.

[2.1. Off to the side in the final formatting] It’s only humans.

Pointed Ears

It is said that fairies with pointed ears are always eavesdropping on others’ conversations and internalizing their secrets, but who isn’t? This is the most common feature among all fairies.+2 Contextual bonus to Senses rolls involving hearing.[1]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] These ears are articulate, and their position will often betray a fairy’s mood.

Antlers/Horns

It is said that fairies with antlers or horns are stubborn to a fault and should never be trusted with nuanced decision making, but are very fit for positions of authority.

The fairy is considered to be wearing a helmet when struck with bludgeoning weapons.

Irregularly Shaped Pupils

Some say that fairies with eyes like these eyes can gain very brief glimpses into the immediate future. That’s not how it works, but there is something going on. The fairy has a +1 Contextual bonus to Reflexes and Visual Calculus.

Tapetum Lucidum

The fairy’s eyes will reflect light and appear to shine in darkness. They are not affected by low-light conditions, unless the environment is completely lightless.

Unusual Number of Teeth

Fairies with unusual rows of teeth are thought to be liars.

Glowing Skin

At all times, the fairy’s skin emits a very faint glow and may even sparkle.[1] Apply a -2 penalty to Stealth in any darkened area. At will, the fairy may intensify this glow enough to dimly light a dark room.[2]

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] This may be colored or white light.

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] It’s said that these fairies always want to be the center of attention, but what fairy doesn’t?

Furry Legs and Hooves

The fairy’s legs are more like those of a goat or deer than a human’s. Any sort of kick from these hooves can deal Penetrative Damage. Fairies born with these qualities are thought to grow up to be sexual deviants.

Wings

The fairy has large insect-like wings on their back, such as resembling a butterfly or dragonfly. So long as these wings are uncovered, the fairy may fly and hover freely, in such a way that does not seem to actually be directly related to the intensity by of the wing beats, as long as they are able to spread out and flap.[1] When flying, the fairy has +5 Acceleration.

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] Fairies with wings such as these are thought to be flaky and noncommittal.

Marked Skin

The fairy has elaborate markings across at least a third of the surface area of their entire body, which could be passed off as regular tattoos to the untrained eye. Add +1 to all Composure rolls made by the fairy for non-skill supernatural ability usage.

Short Temper, Long Grudges (Fairy True Nature)

Fairies are able to regain Composure Points from restful sleep, and will take Flat Composure Damage if they do not sleep. Fairies will take Flat Composure Damage as normal for skipping meals, but do not regain Composure Points for eating three meals a day.

Fairies are known for their short tempers, long grudges, and difficulty letting things slide. Fairies must have “Disrespect” at some rank on their Tiers of Fear.[2] This Composure roll is made when the fairy is slighted, insulted, intruded upon, ignored, or otherwise disrespected by others, whether disrespect was the intent or not.[1] If the one disrespecting the fairy is a changeling, always consider this an exacerbating factor.

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] A fairy might even consider accidental disrespect to be worse. To think that they weren’t even thinking about how rude that would come off…

[2. Off to the side in the final formatting] Lying to a fairy, expecting them to lie, or accusing them of lying, is considered disrespectful. In this case, make it a Lying Composure Roll (see below), but all the same rules regarding Composure loss and restoration apply.

Keep track of how much Composure was lost as a result of a Disrespect Composure roll. If at any point the fairy enacts disproportionate revenge upon the person who slighted them, then this revenge will restore the amount of Composure that was lost +1. If the act of revenge results in permanent or otherwise life-altering consequences for the victim, then the revenge will restore double the amount of Composure that was lost.

Trickster

Pranking, humiliating, or otherwise “whimsically” exerting power over mortals will also restore a fairy’s Composure.[1] If the effects are temporary, this restores 1 Composure. If the effects are permanent or otherwise life-altering, this restores 2 Composure. Double these values if the target is a changeling.

[1. Off to the side in the final formatting] How well can a fairy establish a relationship with someone they have been raised to look down on so pointedly?

Exchange

Where fairies come from, nothing is given freely, and if no one else is going to name the price, they will. Fairies must have “Debt Discrepancy” somewhere on their Tiers of Fear.

If a fairy accepts aid, or accepts something given, they must provide something in exchange, or else they must make this Composure roll. If the other party does not name a price, then anything will do, even a smile.

If the fairy’s aid or possessions are accepted or taken by another person, and the other party does not name a price, the fairy must decide upon something that they are owed, and do everything in their power to ensure that this price is paid, or else they must make this Composure roll. The fairy also has a +1 Contextual bonus to any Skill check which will directly result in collecting on this debt. The price they name may be anywhere from something as inconsequential as a single penny, to eternal servitude.

Honest to a Fault (Fairy Weakness)

Segue?

Lived Under a Rock, or Maybe a Mushroom

Whether the “fairy world” is actually real or not, fairies certainly seem to come from a different world. Fairies have a -1 penalty to all Investigative Rolls using Knowledge Skills.

Cannot Lie

Fairies must have “Lying” somewhere on their Tiers of Fear. If a fairy tells a lie, they must make this Composure roll, but lies of omission or statements that are technically true but phrased in a misleading way do not count. Additionally, if a fairy learns that they have been lied to, or otherwise does not believe what they are told, they make this Composure roll.

Fairies have a -2 penalty to Social Cues.

Iron

Iron, and alloys of iron, will irritate a fairy’s skin on contact, often causing an itchy rash.

Iron, but not steel or other alloys, will also render a fairy powerless so long as it is in physical contact with their body, giving them a -2 to all rolls, and debilitating them. This will not undo any curses or spiriting aways that have already been enacted.

Their Own Name

A fairy’s full true name is perhaps their greatest weakness. If a fairy’s full true name is spoken to them with intent, the fairy will be debilitated for the remainder of the Scene. This must be the fairy’s own name, not one they have taken from someone else. This will break any ongoing curses by the fairy that have not already become permanent, but will not return any spirited away people.

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sprintingowl · 1 year ago

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TTRPGs As Terrariums For Blorbos

One thing that I think isn't covered enough in TTRPG recommendations is styles of play.

There's a lot of "this game has this tone," or "this game is this amount of crunchy," but less "what are you playing towards?"

In games like Microscope and I'm Sorry Did You Say Street Magic? and The Quiet Year, you're playing to see what happens to the setting.

In games like Mork Borg and Into The Odd and Mothership, you're playing to see how far your character can get.

And in a lot of games, you're playing to create a blorbo, an OC, just a little guy, and the soul of the gameplay is the story of who your guy is and who your guy becomes.

This is blorbo style play.

And the thing about styles of play is that you can apply them to any game, even games that aren't really built to enable them. So I wanted to take a moment to shine a spotlight onto some games that do specifically enable you to fully blorb out. (I'll try to cover a mix of genres and tones, but the rpg scene is vast so if you have a favorite that I missed please feel free to shout it out in the replies.)

-Golden Sky Stories. This is the English translation of the Japanese TTRPG Yuuyake Koyake. You play as shapeshifter kids and spirits in a small town and, instead of tracking EXP, the thing that you carry from session to session is your relationships with other characters. The tone of the game is heartwarming, and if combat happens, both sides lose. There can be emotional turmoil, but this isn't a game where you have to worry about bad things happening to your blorbo.

-New World Of Darkness. On the other hand, let's say you *want* bad things to happen to your blorbo. You want to play a guy that's really going through it. If you also like modern supernatural stories, New World Of Darkness was built for you. Characters in NWoD can be entirely non-combat, or a literal werewolf, or a noncombat werewolf. The game places a lot of emphasis on navigating through the setting socially, as its supernatural creatures tend to run in factions and starting a fight usually means making a bunch of enemies.

-Pasion De Las Pasiones. Of course, not everyone wants a fantastical setting. Sometimes good old melodrama is hearty and comforting. Pasion De Las Pasiones is a playable telenovela, and it encourages you to play your characters bold and recklessly. Every class even has a built-in Meltdown, where if you're pushed to the edge they become extra reckless, ensuring a broad fallout of messy drama when they do manage to calm down.

-Cortex System / Unisystem. Perhaps you want to drop your blorbo into an existing fictional universe? But you also want stats and meaty character creation instead of just freeform roleplay? There are easily a dozen games on the Cortex engine, including Supernatural, Firefly, Smallville, Battlestar Galactica, Marvel, and Leverage. And on Unisystem, there's Buffy, Army Of Darkness, as well as a somewhat rare I Can't Believe It's Not Planet Of The Apes.

-Lancer / Gubat Banwa. If you like blorb-y play but still want a heavy side of combat, both of these games have you covered. Lancer has a sprawling scifi universe focused on mech pilots, and Gubat Banwa has a violent and lavish mythological Philippines setting. Both of these games also have stunningly beautiful artwork, so if you like seeing a setting visually come to life, these are for you.

-Fabula Ultima. My final recommendation is also an extremely gorgeous looking game. Fabula Ultima is built on the bones of Ryuutama (itself an excellent travel-fantasy game) to enable meaty, blorby Final Fantasy style campaign play. Combat is a rich and deep option in Fabula Ultima, but so is everything from spellcasting to crafting, and players have built-in resources they can spend to affect the story. If a scene isn't quite going the way you want it to, you can spend a point to nudge it in the right direction. Fabula Ultima also feels extremely complete without being too complicated.

So there you go. Eight options, and that's barely scratching the surface of the sea of blorb-y games (Seventh Sea, Exalted, Blue Rose, Legend Of The Five Rings, Coyote And Crow, Timewatch, Nahual, and more!)

It's also not wrong to play non-blorb-y games in a blorb-y way. Do whatever you're comfortable with! But you might enjoy dipping into these titles.

Finally, if you've read this far and you're somehow still looking for MORE recommendations, I wrote this game about runaway changelings trying to find their place in the world, and it's probably the blorbiest in my catalog.

#ttrpg design #indie ttrpg #rpg #tabletop #indie ttrpgs #dnd #ttrpgs #ttrpg homebrew #ttrpg #rpgs

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schneiderenjoyer · 10 months ago

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UTTU Catalogue's Categories

There's a lot about UTTU that still is unknown and they operate strangely. I've seen some conversations about it, but out of everything that's making me lose my mind is the Category Covers.

The implication of Categories creating a diverse subculture (and potentially subspecies) of arcanists within the arcane community aside, the covers literally tell us the very essence of the arcanists categorized within it are. All hidden by the fine print (seriously they're hiding the words and shrinking the letters and blending it into the colors on purpose, it's so hard to see)

The clearest one I can read full is for Arcanists; "The two-faced are among them. Born to Suffer." It's a strangely poetic way to describe how arcanists, in human society, are viewed to be ill fated people. Thus, they're born to suffer for their nature.

There's also Awakened; "Backdoor listing, welcome to the phenomenon world." Which is interesting since we know the arcanists listed in this category have a far more bizarre and even unknown way they're born and became arcanists. A form of "backdoor" approach to being born an arcanist. A Phenomenon, if you will.

The Beyond is a little hard to read near the end, but it states; "Under the surface, I know nothing but the fact of my ignorance." And who is in that category? Jessica. There's also words covered that make the word WHO and a cut off line that says "Cannot spe? spa?" Does it refer to the fact that Voyager doesn't speak?

The Mixed is even harder to really read for me, but I can make out is the half the phrase of "Where did the rationality go... -----" like it's questioning where they went wrong in the gene process to not be 'logical' enough for human society, but just 'irrational' enough to stand among arcanists yet not fully belong. A lovely commentary on mixed races.

Lastly, the reason I'm writing this whole thing, is for the Infected. Why? Well, one, we now have an official arcanist categorized to it, Ezra Theodore. (This has now been debunked and instead replaced with a far more infuriating revelation here.) And for the unofficial...

SLAMS TABLE

IT'S SCHNEIDER, YES, THIS IS ANOTHER OF MY LONG DELULU RANT ABOUT HOW WE GOT SCAMMED SO HARD DURING BETA AND LOST OUR CHANCE AT A PLAYABLE ITALIAN MAFIA GODDESS. I'M MAKING MY STANCE, BLUEPOCH PLEA--

Anyway.

The caption for this category is ominous, threatening even, being; "We know who you are and we will visit the visitors." And for those who don't know why this is important. This category pertains to one of the most fascinating cases.

Because it's for humans that can use arcanum.

Not that they have an arcane bloodline, no. They're pure blooded human that can use arcanum. And that spells a fucked up implication that could mean all sorts of things. One being human experimentation. And UTTU knows something and are making sure people in this category understood that even if they can use arcanum, they're not arcanists. Like many arcanists, they're keeping the line between humans and arcanists very clear. Even calling the category "Infected" like it's a virus, a plague. Something dirty that entered their veins.

UTTU is fascinating in this regard and I hope to see more about them in the future the more times they have these flash events and maybe even someday fully explored more in depth to its lore.

#reverse 1999 #reverse 1999 lore discussion #I'm not normal for Schneider forgive me but I'm not sorry #if me being obsessed with her fuels my desire to make deeply profound conversations about something as simple as the UTTU COVER PAGE #then I'll let it happen and I will keep screaming for my bbygirl back till my dying days

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dutchdread · 7 months ago

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Hi Dutch. Since you have answered many questions about Cloti, what is your thought about Zerith in Rebirth? I saw many people disappointed or having no hope for them but others said the devs are creating angst. Do you agree?

Hi, thanks for the question. Yeah, I understand being disappointed with the Zerith content in Rebirth. The developers spent a lot of time hyping up Zacks importance, not just with Remake but also with developer interviews and such. To have such a build-up and then have him relegated to just a few playable intermissions, to not get a Zack Aerith reunion, and depending on who you listen to to have him being brushed aside in favor of Cloud in regards to Aeriths affections, can understandably feel disheartening.

But really this is just a lack of understanding concerning story structure, to put it simply, Rebirth is EXTREMELY Zerith.

When reading Harry Potter I always knew that Snape was most likely going to end up a good guy, despite the seeming back and forths. And do you know which moment to me proved that he was a good guy? When he killed Dumbledore at the end of book 6. I knew then without a doubt that he was a good guy, because there was still one book to go, and it was obvious that that book would have the final ultimate reversal.

Rebirth didn't have a lot of Zerith pay-off, but if anything that's a good thing. If it did I would be worried about what would happen in part 3 to flip that pay-off on its head. Instead Zerith has gotten a lot of build-up that is now screaming to receive pay-off in part 3.

We have shots of Zack desperately trying to come back to Aerith. We have Aerith admitting she still has feelings for Zack. We have Aerith desperately trying to recreate her time with Zack. We have Tifa and Aerith talking about Zack. We have Aerith sensing Zacks touch in the cave of the GI. We have Aerith singing songs about meeting again. We have Aerith admitting to seeing Zack again in Cloud. We have Aerith instantly going to Zacks parents. We have Cloud talking about how Zack is head over heels for Aerith. We have Zack in Nibelheim talking to Cloud about their respective girlfriends

And the question you need to ask for all these things is "why?" Why would they include all these scenes if it's not getting a pay-off? Why show scenes of Aerith trying and failing to recreate her days with Zack interspersed with scenes of Zack trying to get back to her if that ultimately isn't of importance? Why show Zack positively contrasted with a negatively presented Cloud if the message you're trying to convey is that Zack has been replaced? Why show Zack to be an amazing guy if you want to end his arc with people being ok with him being rejected? Why make a themesong with the desire for meeting again at its core and have Zacks entire story in the game being about trying to reunite with Aerith if the point of that reunion is heartbreak?

The answer is that a writer wouldn't do those things, they make no sense. If you want your love story to feel positive then you need to disassemble the alternatives first. You need to show how the other pairings don't work, minimize their importance, or in some other way make it clear to the audience that the "main couple" coming together is the desirable outcome.

If you want to show that Aerith is getting over Zack you don't spend your limited screentime showing Aerith pining over Zack, you instead show how she's no longer occupying his mind as much. If you want to show Aerith getting over Zack you don't have her talking about still loving him, you instead have her talking about how she DID once, but that that was a long time ago. You don't end her arc with a date that remind the viewer of the existence of Zack, but one that is fully between Cloud and Aerith. If you want to show the compatibility of Cloud and Aerith then you don't make it so that everything goes wrong, you make it so that the dream date goes "DREAMY"!. And if you want to sell the idea that Aerith is over Zack and has come to the conclusion that she truly romantically loves Cloud then you DON'T place that confession right after said horrible date, with Zack scenes left right and center, a Cloud thats talking about you being "nakama", and Aerith dialogue that at best says she's not sure about what she feels, and at worst is a straight up friendzoning. If you want to replace a very positively portrayed romance then you will need the end all be all of chemistry and certainty in the new one, and talks about "well, I like you, but there is liking and then there's liking" is NOT a recipe for that.

In short, if you want to sell the idea that Cloud has truly replaced Zack in Aeriths heart and more importantly IN THE NARRATIVE, then you don't put emphasis on the existence of Aeriths feelings for Zack, and you don't put emphasis on Zacks feelings for Aerith. Those things all serve to maximize the connection between Aerith and Zack when what you need to do if you want to sell Clerith is minimize it. The reason being that this romance is in narrative conflict with the supposed Aerith Cloud romance, and the stronger the Aerith Zack connection is presented, the more extravagant the bond between Cloud and Aerith needs to be written for the story to make sense.

And that won't happen when you have Cloud deriding Aerith for the way she tries turning everything into a date the one moment, and then a scene showing Zack taking care of Aerith while in a coma the next. It doesn't happen when you show a scene of Cloud bonding with Tifa in one scene and almost kissing her, and then show Zack bonding with Aeriths mother in the next. It doesn't happen when you show Aerith failing to recreate her date with Zack and asking Cloud to find her in "her place", and then show Zack waiting for Aerith in "her place" the next.

All these things signal the same thing "Zack good for Aerith, Cloud bad".

You can extrapolate this idea beyond Rebirth of course. If Zack and Aerith isn't getting a pay-off what is the point of re-releasing Crisis Core before Rebirth? If the point is to show that Zack is no longer in the picture what is the point of showing off an entire game all about how important he and Aerith are to each other and about how desperate he is to get back to her? What is the point of showing that the bow Aerith is always wearing was gift from him. What is the point of her always wearing the clothes that she said she'd wear in anticipation of seeing him again. What is the point in bringing up the fact that she wrote Zack 89 letters and has been waiting for him for 5 years if Zack is replaceable in 2 weeks? What is the point of writing that Aeriths one wish is to spend more time with Zack if her literally spending time with a Zack stand-in isn't relevant? What is the point of writing it that Aerith didn't just see Zack in Cloud because they're similar...but because he's LITERALLY putting on a fake persona based on Zack, if Zacks presence in Clouds persona is irrelevant to Aeriths feelings regarding him?

If you want us to believe that Aerith likes Cloud for Cloud then these are all very questionable writing choices, especially when you also keep harping on about her wanting to get to know the real Cloud, which implies that she doesn't know him YET. It's not that you can't still have it so that Aerith does actually prefer Cloud despite all this, but if that's the case then you've failed as a writer because this would be VERY incoherent storytelling. If the writers want you to believe that Aerith has moved on from Zack, then they shouldn't and wouldn't have spend so much time showing Aerith not having moved on from Zack. Ultimately the question is one of focus, a story about Aerith falling in love with Cloud, and a story about moving on from Zack might look superficially similar, and entail the same basic events. But the difference is the focus. Is that focus on Cloud and what he means to Aerith? Or is the focus on Zack? In rebirth there is a heavy focus, not on the developing bond between Cloud and Aerith, those are limited almost exclusively to Tifa, but there is a heavy focus on Aeriths feelings in regards to Zack. There is no storytelling purpose to Aerith telling Cloud she still loves Zack 3/4ths of the way through her story if the focus of the story isn't Aeriths feelings for Zack, but her feelings for Cloud. If the writers wanted you to think Zack doesn't matter they wouldn't spend so much time hammering in the idea that Zack matters. These moments are all in service to Aerith and Zack, not Aerith and Cloud.

Even things like Zack discovering that Aerith has started developing feelings for Cloud only makes sense to include if the pay-off for that is them reuniting and him showing Aerith what love really is. So if we saw in Rebirth wasn't a "lack of Zerith", then what DID we see? Well, to reiterate what I said earlier:

If you want your love story to feel positive then you need to disassemble the alternatives first.

This is what we saw in Rebirth, Cloud and Aerith being disassembled, so that part 3 can get us to the pay-off. We see Cloud and Aerith bonding, yes, but it's ALWAYS contrasted with Tifa and Zack. If we have a scene where Aerith tries to engage Cloud in talks concerning food he will be shown to engage with the same discouraging passivity of the average woman on tinder, then that scene will invariably be followed by a similar scene with Tifa where he is enthusiastically trying to keep the conversation flowing. If we see a scene where Aerith is trying to get a certain energy from Cloud and failing, it won't be long till we see a scene of Zack having that same desired energy naturally.

In short, Rebirth was filled with scenes that "serve a purpose in the overall narrative". But the only way those scenes WOULD serve a purpose in the overall narrative, is if the overall narrative is: "Aerith is trying to get over Zack and is trying to move on through Cloud. But by doing so she discovers that it's just not the same. While Cloud helps Aerith move on and accept the past, he can never replace Zack". If the overall narrative is: "Aerith used to be pining over Zack, but now she has truly replaced Zack in her heart with Cloud and Zack is a relic of the past" then none of these scenes would make sense to include. You can also look at it like this, why didn't Rebirth have a Zerith Reunion scene? Because apparently that's too important of a scene to quickly tack on to the end of part 2. Nomura has already hinted at something very important to include in part 3 that wasn't in part 2, something that he thinks will make people very happy if done right. And I am pretty freaking confident that what he's talking about is the long-awaited Aerith - Zack reunion. And that is why this game is extremely favorable to Zerith, so be excited for part 3.

#ffvii #ffvii rebirth #cloti #ffvii remake #cloud strife #tifa lockhart #ff7 #aerith gainsborough #shipping #zack fair #zerith

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luigiblood · 2 months ago

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Why Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online is shit

I have been very critical of Nintendo 64 - Nintendo Switch Online since the beginning, not only the very noticeably broken graphics emulation was certainly a case that everyone understood, but it did certainly make me completely avoid the Expansion Pack subscription entirely for a year because that was genuinely shit in 2021.

Now how is it in 2024? Well, it's not that much better. They did fix a lot of problems during that time for sure, and that's something that we do need to acknowledge to do at least something resembling fair criticism.

Current context

That one Dark Link room in Ocarina of Time was fully fixed, as the fog and even transparency emulation was just outright broken, somehow worse than its Wii U Virtual Console counterpart (which was already not very good), it also affected other games like Super Mario 64 where the fog was actually not correct, but oddly enough, it's not as much of a problem in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and I'm not entirely sure what happened between that and Nintendo Switch Online for it to have such a massive emulation downgrade.

I've done some analysis of the software, though not a ton because I don't have that much time to waste reverse engineering emulators. Through that, I found out that iQue was responsible for the Nintendo 64 emulator on Wii U and Switch, because of the emulator framework, named "TRL," being 100% identical to their NES and GBC emulator for 3DS, confirmed to be iQue through leaked source code among other things, and the debug menu is seen on Wii U if you have more than one game ROM in the folder, and it's just like the 3DS one.

The Wii U Virtual Console N64 emulator was already seen as worse than its Wii VC counterpart, mainly due to the dark filter, but that thing has nothing to do with the emulation quality it was providing, aside from apparently some additional slight input lag on top of the already massive input lag which I find mindboggling, the graphics emulation was already considered worse than on Wii, a lot of issues that people saw on NSO were already on Wii U VC, which turned into a massive mess of complaints because, yeah, it turns out the Wii U was just not successful, but the Switch is, making obvious complaints very much more important.

The Dark Link room just happened to be using a bunch of graphical features at once which made it very noticeable when they don't work as intended. When I discussed this with other people, I couldn't help but feel terrible at the answer I get: "It's good enough."

This response annoys me to no end, but in truth, yes, the games are playable, nowadays graphically you probably wouldn't tell the difference from the real N64 with an untrained eye, and in fact, so am I at times too. But the problem is that it now becomes an actual history rewrite of how the game actually was, and you could still say that you would prefer the N64 games now than before with better framerates, better resolution, all that.

Better performance is always better?

Now this is still more of an opinion piece so here's my opinion about better framerate and better resolution: It's fucking misguided. Doing better framerate and better resolution works a lot better for games after that generation than the 32-bit and 64-bit era of the mid 90s to 2000, because the graphics looks a lot better for it and the standards are closer to the current era that we're in.

For N64 however, simply running the game better does not work as well as it should most of the time, and, frankly, seeing big polygons in 720p does not work as well as it should for most games. 2D games especially suffer from this and get some really weird filtering that just bothers me, especially in games like Yoshi's Story and Harvest Moon 64, where the emulator seemingly can't decide whether the graphics should be almost pixel perfect, or become vaseline.

Speaking of vaseline, where's the anti-aliasing? The N64 is very much known for its blurry anti-aliasing! While I'm pretty much immune to aliasing myself, I can still see it's not really respecting the original N64 very well about that, and it only deepens one of the biggest history rewrite of the N64 nowadays, where most people is more likely to look at badly emulated footage of a N64 game than seeing the game running on the original system, and this really bothers me that when you have every single other system on the service to care about this to the point of having a CRT screen filter, and even outright and pretty faithful reproductions of the Game Boy series' screens, N64 is the only one that forces you to play in its uglier HD resolution with no actual option to play games in their original resolution with some CRT filter or not, and that is just a real evidence of a lack of care to me compared to the rest of the systems.

When it comes to better framerates however, as much as I love that (Pilotwings 64 on NSO is actually one of the few experiences I can recommend on it), a lot of the games' speed are tied to the framerate, potentially making games harder than they should due to its speed being more accounted for the actual system, and sometimes, causing actual desync problems that iQue had to implement ways to manually slow the framerate down in specific moments of games just to account for it, but this only works for games that can run faster than intended. A lot of games sometimes have their framerate completely capped and doesn't run any faster.

But emulating the N64 lag is genuinely complex, and it's a problem that's not fully solved to this day even on unofficial N64 emulation, because there's way too many factors to take into account that it would probably take too much performance to figure out where it should take more time to process or not, so, on this one, I have a bit of sympathy about that as a developer, but it is still possible to roughly approximate that, even if the result can be weird; but I don't seem to notice any legit attempts about that.

Besides, a lot of people would be annoyed about the N64 lag and bad framerates, but to me if you want better framerates, in my opinion, it would be done differently, and unofficial emulation absolutely can deal with it in ways that isn't intrusive to the game's performance: If you played the N64Recomp PC port of Majora's Mask, you would know this, as RT64, the new graphics plugin powering this port (and hopefully emulators soon), actually handles interpolation between frames, allowing better framerate without sacrificing the game's performance to be better or worse than intended, and it makes for some real impressive results while still being relatively low in cost. For me this seems like a potential avenue to attempt to ease in comfort with N64 games.

Is N64 emulation really that hard?

…frankly, if you asked me this question 10 years ago, I would have said yes, at least to my understanding back then, but also now. But if you ask me this same question now, the answer is no, mainly because of brand new standards that actually makes a huge difference in how to handle N64 emulation in current systems, even through unofficial emulation.

I know it's very easy to mock unofficial N64 emulation as relatively hard to play, and this I would agree with, but this problem is purely user faced now. The old problem of unofficial N64 emulation was mainly that not many people were doing work on it and their time is just not infinite, but that is very much changing nowadays.

The Nintendo 64 is actually a well understood system, additional research are still being done, but for the most part, we can understand the N64 to a decent degree. The actual bottleneck of N64 emulation was actually how to emulate it on current systems, when we were stuck to older graphics API standards like OpenGL and DirectX 9.

However, a shakeup happened since with Vulkan and DirectX 12, allowing deeper GPU control. This, is actually one of the most important events of computing that actually unlocked bigger N64 emulation potential and finally get rid of problems that plagued N64 graphics emulation and it started with an adaptation of THE most accurate N64 graphics plugin as Parallel-RDP, and its extremely good, but its pretty much asking on performance and requires a decent GPU (no need for the latest stuff though).

Unfortunately, not much happened since on that field, due to as I said before, a lack of developers, but now RT64 exists, and is made to be extremely performant, and especially made to be accurate without relying on any game specific code for it, which is extremely impressive and shows a lot of potential for the future, while providing tons of new features that allows enhancements like frame interpolation and more. RT64 was fully enabled because of Vulkan and DirectX 12, else it would simply not exist!

Now why did I talk about this stuff that's seemingly unrelated to NSO? Well remember that Majora's Mask PC port I talked about earlier that uses RT64? I saw that thing running on Nintendo Switch, seemingly perfectly fine, with enhancements as well.

This makes me look at N64 NSO differently, and with even more criticism than before. Instead of making good graphics emulation through Vulkan, they seemingly instead just ported the graphics emulation from Wii U VC's GX2 API to Vulkan. That isn't without effort, but it is quite frankly lazy, and means that whatever they're doing, they're not using the technology at their disposal to the fullest, especially since Vulkan is a standard that applies to pretty much every current GPU under the sun now, whatever the work is done here, it would likely work on the long term, especially the next systems after the Switch. Why Nintendo did not allow that is just sad, and a waste of time. RT64 was done by mostly a single developer, and while it took many years to be developed, these years could have been reduced a lot more if it was handled by a team fully dedicated to this, with possibly even more cutting edge to it. The ingredients are there, but the recipe was just botched.

Genuine trust issues with the quality

But aside from all this stuff I just talked about, if you didn't understand much of it, hopefully this part should help you understand other issues that I have with N64 NSO.

Remember that the first version of N64 NSO was graphically buggy, and while they did fix that over time, new games sometimes were outright buggy and possibly game breaking:

When they added Paper Mario to the service, while the game did actually receive some improvements over the Wii U VC emulator, the game, somehow, was more prone to crashes. If you game over with Watt as a partner, the emulator crashes, and you lose your progress. If you have the curiosity of hitting trees with your hammer, one of them in the snow town actually crashes the game too! Thankfully both were fixed, but you still needed to wait months! If you had no idea why crashes could be caused as Nintendo just never warns about that stuff, that is genuinely inconvenient.

When they added Kirby 64; the western version actually had a game breaking bug that makes you softlocked if you get hit in a particular way underwater. That is genuinely a terrible bug that could affect just about anybody playing the game. Thankfully, they fixed it the next week, but that REALLY shouldn't have happened to begin with!

There's also the smaller problems like Yoshi's Story's boss, Inviso, where the point of the boss is to be invisible. Except he's very visible at all times making the point of the boss moot and any respect to the original game gone. For some fucking reason, they took more than a year to finally fix it, and that's just a huge shame.

There's also how Jet Force Gemini had a worse widescreen mode and somehow thought it was good for release, thankfully fixed 2 months after, but you still had to wait 2 months!

And then F-Zero X still has genuine framerate problems to this day where the game just runs worse over time. That game is known to run a perfect 60 FPS on the original system, so there's no excuse here.

I could also mention Goldeneye and Perfect Dark, but just look up Graslu's videos on them, he has done a full comparison, showing what's wrong with them with enough detail.

For these, I just mentioned the glaring issues plaguing several games, but a lot of times these issues just comes on their addition to the service, and then only gets fixed months later; and for me, that's an actual disrespect to the player. I understand the developer is doing their best here, but frankly, what that looks like to me is a legit constant: they visibly seems just scrambling to get games to work to a "good enough" state. I am NOT accusing iQue of this, however I accuse Nintendo to not have taken any measures to stop having these kinds of problems to begin with.

To speak better of iQue, they seem to be good at reverse engineering, as they do patch games to fix issues, or sometimes just modifications like anti-epilepsy measures or other kinds of hacks.

The controls

I had some really bad things to say about the controls, but it got partially invalidated when I played Perfect Dark on the service to see how bad it got. I think I simply overthought about it.

Now I have an opinion about the controls of Goldeneye and Perfect Dark that will not please people: They're… fine. The default controls I mean. I know people have some real aversion to FPS that doesn't use a double stick, but frankly I dare say those controls didn't age as badly as you'd think. Some people say it's best played on a N64 controller but I don't agree about that, it's also okay on a regular Switch Pro Controller.

Turok however, oh boy, the default controls can be a double stick FPS… except it's reversed. That's where the ability to remap controls would be very useful here, or possibly just one moment where better forced control setups would be actually nice here.

Or how Pokémon Stadium has minigames that uses actually both the D-pad and the Stick, it could be great if the right Stick acted like the N64 Stick at that moment on a Pro Controller instead of the C Buttons!

Instead, I sometimes get told it is an excuse to get the (frankly expensive) N64 controller. Fuck no. I should not be forced to buy that, and I actually dislike using that controller, and I played tons of N64 games through emulation with different controls without having serious issues either, so for me, this isn't an excuse. Wii U VC also provided button remapping!

The forced use of ZL as the N64 Z button, and L for N64 L button for every game, also bothered me. I know they care about consistency, but then, I got actually curious to check how they handled Z and L on Wii and Wii U VC… and holy shit. They handled it right from the start. On Wii they actually just used the L button for the N64 Z button! But, the N64 B and A buttons do correspond to the B and A buttons on the current controllers regardless. Though, on that one, for most games, it's not as much of a bother, but if you're playing games like, let's say Wave Race 64 or F-Zero X, this is particularly worse.

F-Zero X has the use of strafing left and right, so I'll let you imagine how worse that sounds if you use ZL and R. NOT ZR, that's for C Buttons macros on the face buttons. It feels horrible and unintuitive, but also there's how the B and A buttons on N64 are vertical, and you just use your thumb on both buttons, making it easy to boost or to soften bounces on waves in Wave Race 64, which is a pretty darn important thing to understand, but instead you have to handle it on horizontal B and A buttons, making it a slight bit more annoying to your thumb, physically speaking. It just feels unintuitive and actually bad for your thumb, frankly.

It's where I wish games would actually make either ZR or R buttons to be swapped depending on the title, to be the R button and C button macro, and also offer an option to rotate the face buttons so that B and A would be placed on Y and B instead, corresponding more to the actual feeling of the N64 controller.

Sin & Punishment is oddly enough the only game of the bunch that comes with slightly custom controls, more adapted to the game, and I'm sorta glad that they bothered.

Just to go back to the N64 stick emulation, I also wish the sensitivity of it was managed better on current controllers. It really seems like when some games run faster than intended, added with the fact the stick isn't reproduced faithfully, some games are a lot harder to play, especially with Joy Cons if that's your only and basic options, where for example, turning the camera is way faster and you just keep wanting to reposition all the time.

Missing features

Man, imagine emulating the Controller Pak for the ability to save in games that only uses it instead of battery backed save memory in the cartridge, but then, literally never use it, ever.

Well that's what happened to Wii U VC and N64 NSO. iQue has actually emulated it, but for some reason, they never use it, and I just do not understand why, especially in games where the Rumble Pak isn't supported.

Speaking of the Rumble Pak, it is emulated, but there's one thing I just do not understand: Why isn't there code to automatically swap the Controller Pak and Rumble Pak? They have the best ways to actually handle this in ways that is pretty transparent and unobtrusive, but somehow, they don't bother with it, and it's just very strange. I know the N64 games are weird about it, but some outright allow to swap them, sometimes they even bother to remove the No Controller Pak message in Winback, but in other games they don't even bother removing the Rumble Pak swap message. It's just inconsistent and weird.

We don't have Transfer Pak emulation unfortunately, but that one, I can partially understand, it's definitely a bit messy, but it would still have been cool to play Mario Tennis and Mario Golf with your GBC characters and to level them up on the N64 games. Instead, in Mario Tennis GBC, you actually get the Transfer Pak content unlocked from the start, which is still pretty cool of Nintendo to care, and a mere reminder that they do care about these details in other apps. But in Mario Tennis on N64 NSO, the Transfer Pak courts are yet to be unlocked.

Then there's the wish to see 64DD emulated, which they initially did some work towards that back on Wii U VC, but then simply never touched in years, and then removed the code after I noticed they tried to support the fanmade cartridge ports of them. It's probably just for testing though, I don't really care that they do it like that, but I would think it's particularly crass had they used them officially on the app. This has yet to be seen again, so I don't have my hopes up. Here's hoping the Nintendo Museum made them care though, considering Doshin The Giant 64DD actually showed up there.

The future

I think I pretty much said what I wanted to say the most in one place. It might have been a little hard to read, but I really wanted to make my points very clear.

When I look at N64 NSO vs the rest of the service, I just cannot help but see how worse it is in general, I have genuine trust issues as it is very badly managed as games get added but then doesn't run properly, only to get resolved, if it does, only months later. It just makes me want to put off for later any time I wanna play a N64 game on that service, and I really want to love that service, I want to recommend y'all the biggest N64 library so far that Nintendo has given us that surpasses both Virtual Console libraries on Wii and Wii U, but I just can't.

Unfortunately, I don't see the future to be that bright. I see no reason to believe Nintendo has done any big efforts to allow a better N64 emulator, and of course, Nintendo has never really addressed complaints, and I partially blame the "good enough" feeling. When I read ArsTechnica to make an article just to complain about the borders after the N64 NSO ordeal, it just makes me feel like no matter what, this bigger complaint of mine across all of N64 NSO just cannot be seen seriously. It's a much bigger problem than borders (though, I agree, they should allow more, including pitch black borders).

I don't see any reason for Nintendo to read this either, but that's my full impressions of N64 NSO so far. Nintendo 64 NSO is just shit, and disrespectful to the legacy of the N64.

I outright accuse it to force people to buy a N64 controller just to play it correctly, which definitely worked as it definitely was out of stock several times, but if that's truly what they aimed for, then it's an app that doesn't know what audience it wants. If it aimed to be played by casuals, they'll be put off by the controls. If they aimed for the hardcore, they'll find problems, no matter what.

And it really cannot be helped when the emulator is clearly designed for the developers to manually fix problems per game instead of having a better emulator overall.

#nintendo switch online #nintendo 64 #rant

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not-the-conversation-starter · 1 month ago

Text

The Death Of A Website.

tl;dr click source to see an AU of my blog.

As many of you may not have heard, Cohost has gone read only. The website infamous for "Zero Discoverability" and its users "Not Being Funny." Servers will close down at the end of 2024, if not earlier, being backed up on the Internet Archive before that. Since their user counts were still low after 2 years (about half of all sign ups ever were from people evacuating twitter, which then didn't know how to use the site so most left almost immediately. Kind of hilarious) they didn't feel like anymore money bleeding OR the fact that a staff of only four people being on call 24/7 was worth it anymore.

However,

the people who DID use the site loved it. And they did some genuinely cool things on it, far cooler than anything I ever saw even in the glory days of Tumblr. You know, like Finn and Jake hi-fiving between 2 posts. Stuff like a playable maze, or a fully navigable 3d room you move around in with your mouse entirely within a post. They really did some cool stuff.

There were also a ton of really talented people, people like the composer Lena Raine(Celeste/Minecraft) who loved the site because you could just. Actually talk to people on it! Without an algorithm to boost their posts, the only people who saw it were genuinely looking for it.

Also some of them were just good posters, we did get Pikmin 18 billion and eleven from Cohost after all.

The point is, I think if anyone outside of Cohost actually knew what was being done on Cohost, it would of succeeded. There would of been enough active users for them to invest more. If I knew about all of this I would of been there way more!

But rather than just you blindly believing me, I decided to spend (almost) every hour I would of on Tumblr, on Cohost instead. Clicking that link, or the source, or the link on the source above in the tl;dr, will take you to my Cohost blog. At least while it's still read-only.

You should check it out. I reblogged a lot, but the first page or 2 (every 20 posts, I kept trying to stop but I got sentimental and reblogged more) is pretty much just people's last posts. I'd say give it 3 pages to see if you're interested or not in exploring more of what the website has to offer.

If you've ever wondered what people would post on a dying website,

If you ever wondered what some of the best posts people were making on Cohost that got shared again in its last dying moments were,

If you want some reference for what inside jokes would look like to an outsider,

If you're just bored and need something to scroll through,

if you ever wondered what I would of reblogged on that website if I remembered my password easily enough to log back in easily...

You could think of my blog as a small encapsulation of a small website. There's only 60 pages, including the ones from before the announcement from me just rarely using the site!

I reblogged all kinds of posts. Goodbyes, sarcastic hellos, mourning, long speeches about the spirit of Cohost set to sad music, nothing burgers, inside jokes I didn't understand, The New Garfield, posts I flat out didn't read past the title because they were too long and I just wanted to move on really there's a lot of posts to archive, CSS crimes, stuff I found funny, "Where to find me" and webrings and website posts for people I never knew, Love Honk, reviews for movies and games I never intend to play or watch, 88x31 buttons, music recommendations and history, entire games, signing up for RSS feeds, asks and answers related to other stuff I didn't share on accident, regular memes, Intern Secretary Eggbug, a post that's just an image hosted off-site so it'll update even after readonly, and so on.

(Nothing overtly NSFW. Tag search still works if you want that)

One that I, personally, am sad is gone. That I'm glad I got to see at least in its dying days. That I genuinely hope someone makes another attempt at creating.

#Cohost #The Death Of A Website #The Global Cohost Feed #<- there was no algorithm or 'new' section so a lot of people just tagged everything with this to do that. Kind of funny tbh #yes btw the 4 people also handled all of the site moderation. This did in fact cause: problems sometimes #if it's not read only by the time this scheduled post goes up uhhhh. Go Hog Wild I Guess.#I would go through people's blogs and random tags whenever my following tab dried up #so post type can get kind of clumpy sometimes. Feel free to skip forward or back pages if that ever gets annoying.#If you genuinely want to buy Cohost go make them an offer it is absolutely for sale btw.#The Cohost Global Feed #I definitely did not mix it up and am just being thorough

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cerastes · 1 year ago

Note

Was thinking about the hypothetical Arknights action game stuff from awhile back again, what enemies/story characters do you think would make for some sick boss fights?

Oh, I like this one. Just to name a few:

Patriot: The first that comes to mind is Patriot, as an enemy that would push the game systems of an action game to its limit. In concept, I like to imagine it in the way the true final boss of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon goes: You have your playable character, which I would like to say is Amiya for this case, and your big damage opportunities come from interference ran by Rosmontis clashing with Patriot and Rhodes Island Snipers and Casters barraging him by Elysium's instruction. Patriot is also perfect to load a ton of mix-ups onto by virtue of him being able to do both gigantic, slower attacks and barrages of quick lunges. He could be a setpiece boss and a straight up skill check boss in equal measures.

Bishop Quintus: Yeah, man's Yamcha as far as bosses go, BUT in the context of a character action game with tight movesets and mechanics, a gigantic tentacled boss that can spawn more and more tentacles from everywhere in the arena, has laser attacks, and was explicitly Devil May Cried for a while by Specter when she was literally air comboing it by leaping from falling rock to falling rock as she unleashed a Sexy Smokin' Style kinda beatdown on him? Yeah I would very much love to control an Abyssal Hunter in a fight against this thing.

Faust: Hear me out. In the context of a full on high impact high speed action game, Faust would be heaven to fight. Between the ability to shoot a hugely powerful bolt, the ability to turn invisible, the turrets, and imagining him hoping around for a stylish mix of melee and ranged combat, yeah, I'm a believer. I like to imagine a scripted part of the fight where he hides and starts charging a truly massive shot, with the Arts humming from the sheer power. In the arena, there's also a lot of his snipers to run diversion and make it harder to find him. Normal people will find him and hit him out of the charge. COOL people will find him, taunt to trigger a MUCH faster charge, and then use a counter to catch the supercharged shot and return it to him a la Nero Buster counters in DMC4.

Full Power Big Ugly Thing & Eunectes: Remember Full Power Big Ugly Thing? No, not the one running on emergency fumes and jury rigged power sources, the actual fully geared version, powered by the airplane engine? The one that sent Gavial flying into the sky Team Rocket style? That one, that one should be some sort of secret fight. An actual brickhouse of immense, unfair power, only for the gamerest of gamers to cut their teeth with, punctuated with a final, high impact duel with Eunectes herself as the burning wreck and the originium fires make for a makeshift ring.

FrostNova: Legitimately, I think FrostNova would make That Moment in an action game. That Moment, That Boss, the one everyone remembers. Her skill set and aesthetic is supreme, the way ice can be used for both style and gameplay, alongside the actual emotional beat of throwing down with FrostNova as her life literally evaporates. Creating ice weapons that break with each attack just to have another one ready for the next swing, diverse moveset, dangerous at all ranges, highly mobile due to sliding on ice, giving the player high mobility as well (I love when boss gimmicks also can be used by the player in some way), there's just SO much one could do with a FrostNova fight, it'd probably my dream fight if done with love.

Endspeaker/Amaia: The concept of an ever-evolving boss with multiple forms has so much potential, TOO much potential, it's hard to fill those shoes, but if you do, imagine. In my dream of dreams, each phase/form of Endspeaker would grow resilient and even develop specific counters to your habits, in the shape of better dodge maneuvering against specific, high usage moves, and even counterattacks if you use some too much. The best way to go about this boss is to actually use your whole moveset, and even then, you want to ration specific parts of it depending on the phase. Plus, the latter forms of Endspeaker/Amaia are legitimately wicked looking and I think would look eerie and breathtaking in motion, with all those flowing parts constrasting with its sharp, long claws.

#kc5rings #arknights

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aleenya · 5 months ago

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sharing a little bit more of my steins;gate mtg deck bc im having a lot of fun with it and to be cringe is to be free

context: these are all mtg proxies. ive changed nothing mechanically except the card names or flavor text (some i need to tidy up or format better tho.)

i wanted to prioritize thematics above all else so most of the cards come from the dr who sets!! (which are so banger omg. suspend is a great mechanic.) if ur interested in the full deck feel free to pm me, im happy to share! it still needs some editing/reworking but its fully playable and legal as is

commanders

so these are the commanders. kurisu (clara proxy) is scarily good bc whenever an activated ability triggers on a doctor (all the doctor cards are mostly just world-line variations of hououin kyouma/okabe LOL) then it triggers a second time. and that gets ridiculous fast 🧍

hououin kyouma (tenth dr proxy) is great bc he gets cards into suspend, the mechanic this deck is built around. when cards are in suspend, they're considered 'exiled' and have time counters on them that tick down every upkeep. once there's no more time counters on those cards, you play them for free. He can also time travel (bc of course) which can either add or remove time counters. hes honestly a lot of fun, i love the lil combo this pairing has!! and i love the thematic element that kurisu just makes okabe better bc its true jfghdhdhdh

see more below!

creature highlights

ignore the fact that mr braun is an alien rhino soldier i just had to have this card in my deck bc i thought it was funny LMAO

i also have other wordline variations of suzuha and all the lab mems <3

spells/instants highlights

one thing: all of history all at once + rousing refrain = insanity

i have no defense for grapeshot i just really wanted the cg of mayuri with the gun in my deck KGHXDH

enchantments highlights

artifacts highlights

i have a lot more artifacts (including the time machine and a lot of the future gadgets, like moad snake, which gives protection from all creatures for a turn.) round table and the moment are thematically fun tho - and of course obligatory ibn 5100.

wincons

wincons are cards where, if i fulfill a certain condition, i win the game! i play mtg very casually and just for fun, so i dont like infinite combos or anything like that. but i thought for s;g it'd be fitting to have some slow-burn win conditions that i slowly build up towards. one is Gates. Gates are special lands from the baldur's gate set; i've reworked them in my deck to either be different s;g locations or worldlines (like alpha, beta etc) and then finally i have the steins;gate card (proxy of maze's end) where if i have at least ten gates in play and then play that, i win. it's a verrryyy slow burn wincon tho and i've only pulled it off once, so it's not very reliable. but its fucking thematic and thats all i care about LMAO

and then the other wincon is the Divergence Meter which is also super slow. if i can at least get the time counters on it to 500, then double to 1000, its pretty much an autowin B) but again, getting it to that point is difficult and takes a while. which i find very fitting

thank u for coming to my deeply autistic presentation. am i slightly deranged for doing this? mayhaps ... but my love for steins;gate knows no bounds </3

#steins;gate #i feel suitably insane #magic the gathering #I GUESS???#mtg who?? this is the official steins;gate trading card game what are u talking about

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satoshi-mochida · 2 months ago

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Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road delayed to June 2025 - Gematsu

LEVEL-5 has delayed Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road from its previously planned 2024 release window to June 2025. It will be available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC via Steam, iOS, and Android.

“The scheduled release window for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road has been changed from 2024 to June 2025. WE know many players ear eagerly waiting, but to deliver high-quality content, and a system that offers long-term playability, we’re putting all our effort into creating the ultimate Inazuma. We kindly ask for a bit more of your patience. We will also incorporate a lot of feedback from Inazuma Post to ensure we will meet our players’ expectations. We deeply apologize to all fans for keeping you waiting.

“Let me walk you through the details of the new system. Commander Mode is designed for players who don’t enjoy action games, allowing them to give characters general strategic commands and focus on training characters to win matches. You can switch Manual and and Commander Mode freely during matches. This greatly increases the player’s agency during gameplay. The ‘Abilearn Board’ and ‘Bond Link’ allows players to fully express tehir love for the characters. The Abilearn Board lets you change a character’s traits and abiliies; Bond Link allows you to set their relationships as you like. You can create relationships based on previous storylines, or set up your own unique teams with the connections you desire. Enjoy the freedoms of character training and team building!”

“Finally, I am excited to introduce ‘Bond Town,’ a feature that will fully utilize every Inazuma Eleven players dream. You can create your own avatar and live in the world of Inazuma Eleven. All decorations and characters collected in Story Mode, Chronicle Mode, Competition Mode, and so on, can be placed here to create your own unique Inazuma World. Interact with other players and grow your town! In Bond Town, you can play football matches or mini-games with other players and fully enjoy the world of Inazuma Eleven.

“Featuring various ways to have fun with, Inazuma will evolve into a game with endless possibilities. Thank you for waiting; we appreciate your continued patience.”

Watch a new trailer below.

Trailer #7

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

#Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road #Inazuma Eleven #Level 5 #sports game #Gematsu #Youtube

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jones-friend · 2 years ago

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I PRESENT TO YOU: THE DUNGEON HORDE

Horde mode is a cooperative mtg format. 2-3 players get 3 turns before the horde takes its first turn. The horde deck consists of 60 token and 40 nontoken cards. It reveals cards until a nontoken card is revealed. The horde has infinite mana. All revealed tokens enter play and the nontoken card is cast. All creatures the horde controls have haste and must attack if able. If the horde must make a decision it does so randomly, if it makes a target it cannot target itself or permanents it controls.

Players attack the horde back and damage dealt mills from the top of the horde deck. Players win when the horde mills out entirely.

I designed this horde as a dnd or dungeon based horde, as if players are delving into the dungeon itself. There is a diverse set of tokens with “mini boss” tokens with keywords like trample, regenerate, death touch, flying. There’s a number of effects requiring dice rolls. There’s also a number of iconic dnd monsters and effects in the horde deck itself.

As its dnd themed I’ve added a number of goodies to make games spicy!

First, players may select backgrounds from a random draft based on their deck’s colors. There’s four from each color picked to fit with the horde’s rules. Backgrounds are added to the command zone whether or not your commander has Backstory.

I’ve also added The Undercity/Initiative to the game! In this format if you deal combat damage to the horde you Venture into the Undercity.

Lastly I’ve added two treasure chests to the horde deck! These do not count as nontoken reveals BUT they do allow the players to do one of two things depending on the setup.

Players may roll as if they opened a treasure chest and reap rewards and continue the turn as normal. OR. Up to 4 treasures are revealed for players to each draft one putting the card in their hand or onto the battlefield under their control.

Some treasures require more powerful synergy. Some are just good on their own.

And that’s the dungeon horde! Fully playable, cooperative, with lots of bits and bobs to make games different.

My next project is to develop horde emblems. As players deal damage to the horde the horde gets additional reveals. I want to make emblems where the horde deck gets one reveal per emblem, giving a visual indicator on the power level of the horde. Then I want to make big bad evil guy emblems: special emblems themed around dnd villains like Strahd that enhance the horde deck for optional difficulty. I’ll post when made ^^

#Mtg #Magic the gathering #buy singles not sealed

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anim-ttrpgs · 6 months ago

Note

Hey I know you’ve probably said or before. But what’re some of the playable Supernatural folk in ANIM.

Firstly, just to be clear, A.N.I.M. is the design team, while Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the TTRPG currently in its final week of crowdfunding (ends 2:00 PM CST on Friday May 10th)

As for the supernatural folk, even though most PCs in Eureka end up being mundane, there’s quite a lot of options for supernatural characters, which we have talked about before, but we never miss a chance to talk about them again!

This will be a brief overview that will barely even scratch the surface of the depth and nuance we’ve written in to most of these abilities. If you’re interested in learning more, why don’t you just download the fully playable, free prerelease version of the Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy rulebook available on our website and our itch.io page, and go to Chapter 8!

There are ten of what we call “Mage traits.” A “mage” in Eureka is something you could think of as kind of like an X-man. They are otherwise normal people except for one single inexplicable power. Some of these include pyrokinesis, telekinesis, lightning powers, supernatural speed, supernatural beauty, and even the option to play a “psychic detective” who can receive clairvoyant revelations based on clues.

These powers tend to come with few if any downsides, besides the fact that the character can only have at-most one of them. There is also a slight investigation point penalty.

Then, there’s the playable monsters, of which there are five, each of which is fleshed out to the point that they are entirely unique gameplay experiences.

First up is the vampire.

Playing a vampire is a unique challenge because of their rather large list of weaknesses they must contend with in everyday life. The sun, while not instantly lethal like in Hollywood vampire movies, does strip them of all their powers, and they must contend with a compulsion to count large numbers of small objects, an unwillingness to enter private residences uninvited, difficulty crossing bodies of running water, an aversion to garlic, and more! They must of course also drink human blood to keep their Composure up, as they do not gain Composure from eating or sleeping.

These weaknesses are more than made up for by incredible stealth, combat, and mobility options. They can move nearly silently, travel through shadows as if by teleportation, are superhumanly strong, nearly unkillable, can walk effortlessly on sheer surfaces and ceilings, and can “remanifest” into a variety of forms, such as the classic bat, a wolf, an enormous monstrous bat form, and even mist! There’s also a religious angle with them but that is too complicated to get into with just a brief overview.

Next up, the wolfman.

The wolfman is like a Hollywood werewolf. They can transform from a mundane human to an anthropomorphic wolf(however you choose to interpret that) or a very large regular wolf. In either wolf form, they can only be permanently killed by decapitation or by silver weaponry.

My favorite thing about them is the fact that they transform involuntarily on the night of the full moon, or when they hit 0 Composure. In this state, they will rampage uncontrollably, attempting to devour just about anything that moves for a period of time. The fact that it can come out at the worst of times is so awesome it makes me super excited to hear about in future sessions.

Then there is the witch.

The witch is actually a regular human and has no supernatural weaknesses except for the fact that their powerful witchcraft takes more of a toll on their body than the supernatural powers of other playable monsters.

The first thing a witch can do is place a variety of terrible curses on people, a few examples of which include turning them to stone, putting them in a supernatural slumber, or turning them into animals.

The other thing witches can do is cycle throughout all the different Mage traits. They can only have one at a time, but if a Mage trait exists in the rulebook, they can have that trait when they need it, which basically represents their ability to cast a wide variety of different spells in addition to those curses.

My actual favorite thing about the witch though is their ability to enchant certain objects to make them fly, which is not limited to just broomsticks, although broomsticks are of course a classic.

Then there is the fairy.

The fairy was a tough one to translate into Eureka because of the sheer number of different things attributed to fairies in historical folklore. We had to come up with a sort of “generic fairy” that gets the gist of fairies across while leaving room for a player to get way more specific if they are so inclined.

The fairy shares the witch’s ability to place curses on people and cast a variety of different spells, but also can take pieces of people’s identity, such as their names, and/or spirit them away to the fairy world, from which they may never return.

This is offset by the fact that they cannot lie, as well as a few other folkloric fairy weaknesses.

Finally, one of the fan favorites, the thing from beyond.

(Fanart by @umbraldame)

The thing from beyond is kinda like if you wanted to play as something inspired by The Blob and The Thing.

Imagine a color-changing “blanket” of flesh and teeth that can fold itself up into the shape of a human, change colors to mimic the right colors including clothing, and mimic human speech. It wants to be your friend, and eat you, which, to it are not mutually exclusive.

The thing from beyond can do anything a thin blanket of flesh could do when unfolded, such as squeeze under doors or camouflage themselves against surfaces, and also fold themselves up to mimic just about anything, including specific humans. They tend to have a default human persona, but can get very specific with their mimicry if they want, which gets easier the more of that specific person they have ingested. A small sample of blood or hair could give a bonus, but eating the entire person makes mimicking them effortless.

Eating a person also allows them to absorb bits of their memories, which means they can get to know bits of what their meal knows, which is represented in mechanics by them getting bonus investigation points for the duration that they are digesting their latest victim. If the victim knew anything about the current case they are investigating, that means even more investigation points.

Here’s a fan comic about that, if you’d like to see it in action.

And here’s a post about the themes of monstrousness in Eureka if you’re interested.

You can play as all of these things and more in Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, which is in its final week of kickstarting right now! Crowdfunding closes at 2:00 PM CST on Friday May 10th, so lock in your copy now while you still can!

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If you’re interested in a more updated and improved version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy than the free demo you got from our website, subscribe to our Patreon where we frequently roll our new updates for the prerelease version!

You can also support us on Ko-fi, or by checking out our merchandise!

Join our TTRPG Book Club At the time of writng this, Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is the current game being played in the book club, and anyone who wants to participate in discussion, but can’t afford to make a contribution, will be given the most updated prerelease version for free! Plus it’s just a great place to discuss and play new TTRPGs you might not be able to otherwise!

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

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