#also new pc for a campaign in the future

[cryptidmai]

»What did we say about murder?« »Don’t leave any traces. So do it right, or don’t do it at all.«

[jarvesque]

I did not expect to like Dndrag queens as much as I do, I just expected it to be a nice little distraction before the next big season.

But it's so fascinating to see 4 new players approaching the game in different ways, and I want to categorize them

Alaska : she's understated but she's clearly engaging with the plot (the way she immediatly figured out the corrupted wraith clasp was great). She has a simple character and a simple backstory and she is a bit cautious with the roleplay but she is having fun (she reminds me of me during my first campaign)

Monet : She has a more complex and edgier backstory. She's in it for the power fantasy (who doesn't want to be a super powerful half-elven half-merfolk assassin with mommy issues?) but she still cares about the narrative and she takes things a bit more seriously

Jujubee : She's the embodiment of chaos, a future Axford. Brennan gave her the power to shape a world with her mind and imagination and she is having the time of her life. Also she cried during one of Alaska's scene showing that she cares about the other Pcs as much as she cares about Twyla (also a very Axford trait)

Bob : She's the most theatre kid of them all. She lives for the drama. She immediatly went for a very complicated and dark character (in the AP they revealed a part of Gertrude's backstory and it was genuinely fucked up and terrifying) She may struggle a bit with the rules but once she'll get the hang of it she'll be an amazing player

[satoshi-mochida]

Former Chibi-Robo! developers announce robot action adventure game koROBO for consoles, PC - Gematsu

Tiny Wonder Studio, a new game development studio featuring key members from Chibi-Robo! series creators Skip, Ltd., have announced koROBO, a new action adventure game that follows a pint-sized robot named koROBO and his owner Tom. Kickstarter and Campfire campaigns have launched with the goal to launch on modern consoles and PC.

Here is an overview of the game, via Tiny Wonder Studio:

■ About

koROBO is an action adventure game follows the story of a pint-sized robot named “koROBO” and his owner, Tom, a young boy who receives koROBO as a gift from his father on his 10th birthday. Players step into the tiny but mighty shoes of koROBO, embarking on a thrilling and heartfelt journey that starts in Tom’s room and unfolds into a world-changing adventure.

■ Story

Sometimes it takes the smallest hero to fulfill the greatest destiny! Somewhere in the borough of Brocklyn, nestled within the urban jungle of New Yock City, Tom and his mother are celebrating his 10th birthday. When a wrapped present arrives from his estranged father, Tom rips through it, excited to see what’s inside. What he finds is not the coolest and latest in tiny household robo tech, but some knockoff model. “koROBO?” But before long, koROBO is cleaning the home, helping Tom with his homework, and even playing games and reading comics with him like a brother. What will koROBO’s arrival have in store for Tom, his family and perhaps, the world? koROBO‘s story unfolds inside Tom’s family apartment in Brocklyn, New Yock. Players take on the role of the pint-sized hero. As koROBO, they will help out the family, perform tasks around the home, meet the many denizens that inhabit the apartment building, and defend Tom and those he loves from a mysterious enemy… that can travel through space-time?

■ Gameplay

Tiny Hero, Big Adventure

koROBO‘s core gameplay involves traversing around the family’s home, cleaning up messes, and solving problems wherever they can be found–a big ask for such a tiny hero! Be careful, though! koROBO’s battery is limited, and performing tasks will drain it even faster. While more popular robots require owners to plug into adventure, Tom has modified koROBO to bathe in some rays in order to charge the solar battery strapped to their back. Players will have to keep an eye out for patches of sunlight to make sure koROBO keeps running at peak capacity! While exploring Tom’s apartment building, players won’t just be helping out him and his family. There’s a whole host of kooky denizens living their lives that koROBO will encounter. As koROBO, players can talk to these characters and help solve their problems to unlock some of his most powerful upgrades!

Better, Faster, Stronger

Players can collect items as they clean and explore to upgrade koROBO and what they can do. While koROBO will start out being able to run, jump, and glide, in time he’ll also be able to fly, swim, and even travel through time…? But wait, there’s more! koROBO isn’t the only toy in Tom’s retinue. Players will discover new miniature friends and gain an assortment of attachments that’ll allow koROBO to adventure and sometimes even fight in new and exciting ways! The parts players will need to find for their upgrades can be found all over the house, each with a rarity color denoting how difficult it will be to obtain them. Players should collect as many as they can to upgrade koROBO!

House of Future Past

While koROBO has a whole apartment to clean and explore, players will be doing much more than just merely traveling around the home while helping the family. Eventually, koROBO will unlock the radical ability to travel through time—at the mere touch of its tiny fingertips…?

■ The Cast

koROBO “Robotic Cleandroid”

A robot gifted to Tom on his 10th birthday, and the pint-sized hero of our adventure, koROBO is given to Tom by his estranged father. koROBO isn’t strong by any means, but he’s got a go-getter attitude and a mischievous streak. koROBO helps out by cleaning up, helping Tom with his homework, and more. But will he have what it takes to fill the void that separates Tom’s family?

Tom “Ten Year-Old Tinkerer”

A homebody by nature, Tom has few friends and spends much of his time in his room making modifications to his collection of toys and machines. While he rarely sees his dad after his parents divorced, he sometimes receives toys and other tchotchkes from his dad’s travels around the world.

Sally “The Mother of Invention?”

Originally from Japan, Sally now raises Tom on her own in their apartment in Brocklyn. Sally hates when things are in disarray, and gets frustrated with Tom when he says things that don’t seem to make sense. While she and Tom’s father enjoyed a whirlwind romance, she eventually divorced him when his lust for travel grew too strong. Strong-willed and kind-hearted, she once dreamed of becoming a singer but now works as a waitress in a cafe to make ends meet.

John “Wanderlust King”

Tom’s father. Considered an eccentric by some and a genius engineer by others, John and Sally were madly in love in their youth. However, when Tom was five, John left mysteriously, leaving only a note behind that read, “I’m leaving to protect you.” Despite the distance between the two, Tom clearly gets his love of mechanics from his father.

Garth Vader (Real Name: Unknown)

A suspicious figure seen wandering around the courtyard of the apartment building, plenty of rumors have surfaced about the truth surrounding Garth. Some say that he’s fallen to the dark side and is plotting to take over the world. Others suggest that he’s simply the building’s super, watering the plants, feeding the birds, and tending to the plumbing. No one actually speaks to Garth, though, so the truth remains shrouded in mystery.

■ World

A World in Crisis

It is the year 2025, and the world is dealing with a looming energy crisis. Fossil fuels are quickly becoming unreliable as a fuel source, and humanity teeters hopelessly on the edge. Even in these most dire times, however, hope springs eternal in the hearts and minds of those that believe in a better tomorrow. When the world needs it most, one pint-sized hero could be the catalyst that sets humanity on a new path, one that would change the course of history forever: koROBO!

The Brocklyn Apartment

While traversing a living room or kitchen might not seem like a monumental task, things look a lot different when you’re a tiny, highly-motivated robot. While well-placed book piles and a toppled over chair might offer koROBO assistance in getting to hard-to-reach places throughout the home, it would be impossible for them to get to the hardest to reach places all on their own. koROBO is going to need a little help!

Tom’s Room

One might look at Tom’s room and see the messy room of a lazy kid, but that’s far from the truth. If one were to look closer, one would instead see the workshop and playground of a gifted child, wildly imaginative and naturally inclined to work with electronics. Tom’s room is full of toys, tools, and electronics in various states of tinkering. One boy’s garbage is another boy’s treasure, and Tom’s room is a treasure trove for koROBO. What new treasure will be uncovered while exploring Tom’s room?

■ koROBO Crowdfunding Campaign and Message From the Developer

Tiny Wonder Studio is reaching out to fans for their support in bringing koROBO to life. Together with the community’s backing, koROBO will evolve through collaborative efforts between creators and enthusiasts, aiming to launch on PC and modern consoles if enough funding is achieved. “Our goal is to create a game that everyone can enjoy, so koROBO is intended to be a cozy and comfy game that we hope everyone will fall in love with. The core of koROBO is all about bringing people together and working towards a better tomorrow and this campaign, combined with your support, is a wonderful opportunity to bring fans of video games together—something that would make our tiny hero proud! “The future is a dream we all share! Let’s make it a reality together.” —Kenichi Nishi, Director

■ About Tiny Wonder Studio

Tiny Wonder Studio is a new development studio composed of key members formerly from Skip, Ltd. and other veterans in the industry.

Kenichi Nishi – koROBO director (Tiny Wonder Studio)

Previous Works: Chibi-Robo! Plug into Adventure!, moon: Remix RPG Adventure, Incredible Crisis, L.O.L.: Lack of Love, Giftpia

Hiroshi Moriyama – koROBO director (Tiny Wonder Studio)

Previous Works: Chibi-Robo! Plug into Adventure!, Chibi-Robo! Park Patrol, Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Osoji!, Giftpia

Keita Eto – koROBO director (Tiny Wonder Studio)

Previous Works: Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash, L.O.L.: Lack of Love

Hirofumi Taniguchi – koROBO Music & SFX

Previous Works: Chibi-Robo! Plug into Adventure!, moon: Remix RPG Adventure, Chibi-Robo!: Photo Finder, Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash, L.O.L.: Lack of Love, Giftpia, Captain Rainbow, Snowpack Park, Chulip, Black Bird, Million Onion Hotel, ufo～a day in the life～

Hikarin – koROBO art, character design

Previous Works: Chibi-Robo! Plug into Adventure!

Hisashi Koshimizu – koROBO producer (Tiny Wonder Studio)

Watch the announcement trailer below. View the first screenshots at the gallery. Visit the official website here.

Announce Trailer

[centaurianthropology]

Why C3E51 worked so well (a DM’s perspective)

I have seen a lot of absolutely bananas critiques of C3E51 (thankfully not nearly as many around here, far more on Reddit, which I should not have visited).   And the ongoing theme of those critiques is that Matt should not have imperiled former PCs, and if he brought them in should have either done lengthy side-bars with those characters or let them win the fight against Ludinis and have a chance to take him out themselves, since they’re ‘god tier’ or ‘high level’ and that makes ‘logical sense’.  What these critiques really boil down to, IMO, are people who were really invested in the former campaigns upset that their faves didn’t get to do cool things, treating it more like a TV show than a game.  But even as a TV show, that would have been disappointing from a narrative perspective.  Because even in a TV show, this is a sequel spin-off show, starring new characters.  The story is about THEM.  And more importantly, the game is about the players and about telling their story.

So let’s break this down from a DM perspective.  How do you build a Kobiashi Maru situation for your characters?  For those of you who aren’t familiar, the Kobiashi Maru is a Star Trek term for a scenario designed from the jump to be unwinnable (Kirk beat it by creativity, but later admitted that he missed the point of it).  In Star Trek this was done to test what a future officer would do if faced with certain failure.  In a D&D game it’s a little more complicated.  Part of it is to set up the BBEG, put their plan in motion, and set the stage for the next leg of the game.  But it’s also to give your players, who are clearly into it, a darkest-hour scenario.  Not every player group is going to be into facing down the Kobiashi Maru, and it’s clear from the aforementioned critiques that a lot of them are on Reddit.  Power-gamers who always want to win are not going to enjoy this sort of storytelling, but players who are really into RP and working through difficult times and failures will eat this stuff up.  And this is absolutely the sort of table playing on Critical Role.  There is a level of trust there that can only be built after years of working together, and this was finally the moment when Matt could pay off years of planning and campaign-spanning set-up.

Matt carefully plotted the structure of this episode out to give maximum agency and impact to a party of dramatically under-leveled characters.  And they knew going in they were under-leveled.  This wasn’t a surprise, but a potential suicide run by people who knew they weren’t the heroes they needed to be, but were the only heroes in the right place at the right time to try anything.  So they came up with as good a plan as they could, and executed it fairly well, all things considered.  

They knew they couldn’t take on Ludinus directly (and this was a great way to demonstrate exactly how much he had planned and how long, to bring in elements from C2, hints we’ve had for years about Ludinis, only to reveal it went deeper than any of the characters could have imagined), so Matt gave them some winnable objectives.  This is a great way to keep the characters invested in an unwinnable scenario: the ultimate outcome may be beyond the characters, barring some insane genius or incredible rolls, but they can still help.  They can do something that will have a tangible impact on events and hinder the baddies enough to give them another chance at a rematch and a way to stop the apocalypse when they’re higher level.  So Matt gave them the batteries: take out as many as you can.  While this would not stop the ritual, I suspect that the more they took out the more Ludinis would have to drain his own power to make the key work, and the longer the process would take.  Knocking out the feywild key, as well as multiple power sources turned what would have been an instantaneous event if they had done nothing into a more drawn-out affair which, I suspect, could be stopped or even reversed.  It gave them a window to come back and demand a rematch.

Then we have the high-level PC allies, and how to play with those sorts of characters without pulling focus from the PCs.  Matt handled this very well, by having the players roll for their former PCs, taking the specifics of their actions out of his hands and letting the dice of the former players decide.  He also revealed that Keyleth’s involvement, and baiting Vax with Otohan’s permadeath poison, was key to Ludinis’ ritual, which was why she couldn’t just dive in and clean everything up.  But again, because of this story, it ties less back to Keyleth and more back to Orym.  That was the point of the attack on Zephrah, to get her attention by getting her to look into who did it and then coming to get some payback, but the little guy on the ground has always been caught in the middle.  Orym has been Ludinis’ unwitting pawn from the off, his family’s deaths merely a means to an end, and that is vicious and amazing set-up for character growth for him.  

Beau and Caleb had to be there by the logic of the story.  It didn’t make sense that Caleb would sit out a world-ending event orchestrated by a Cerberus Assembly member after spending years trying to take them down.  Beau would obviously go with him.  It also made sense that they would be the only two there, because they were scouting when Ryn got taken down, and after that were trying to keep a low profile.  Shit accelerated too fast for them to call in reinforcements.

Which is the in-story reason for them to be there, but isolated and vulnerable, making them useful allies and wildcards (who likely could have been more useful if ultimately failing as well, but failed early thanks to Liam and Marisha’s rolls).  But they were still outmatched.  I have no idea what the challenge rating of Otohan, Leliana, and Ludinis are, but we know Otohan was considered ‘beatable’ back in Bassuras.  That indicates she’s the lowest CR, particularly with the glowing weak-spot on her back.  But she can still wreck a level-20 PC if she gets the jump on her, which she did.  And that meant that she remained a massive threat.  Caleb and Beau were playing it smart, keeping to the shadows, but still got caught by Leliana.  Between dice rolls, careful planning, and some great enemy design, Matt really set up a team that could take on high-level players and win.  And he made it clear that Ludinis did not leave this to chance.  He has the best people he could muster after 1000 years of planning.  Nothing short of a miracle could have truly stopped them.

Which is why we cut back to Bells Hells.  Because ultimately this particular story isn’t about Keyleth or Vax or Caleb or Beau or any other former PCs.  This is about the current party being caught up in events much larger than them and having to rise to the occasion.  This is the story of the schmucks sent in to take out the batteries, but who have personal beef with the big bads.  Ludinis orchestrated the plan to attack Zephrah to bait Keyleth and draw out Vax, and Otohan carried it out.  And he used Orym as a pawn throughout all of it.  This makes taking them down, but especially taking Otohan down, the cornerstone of Orym’s personal quest.  Letting an NPC take her down would be taking away a critical part of his motivation and goals, which is an absolute no-no for a DM.  NEVER bring in a god-tier NPC and take away player agency or story beats.  Especially never have them resolve important player goals and backstory events!  Every NPC, even the powerful ones, are there to support the story the players are telling.  So of course Keyleth wasn’t going to take out Otohan.  Of course she wasn’t going to stop the ritual.  Beau and Caleb might have been able to do something more if Liam and Marisha hadn’t rolled so badly for them, but ultimately, they had to get caught or fail in another way.  

For the sake of gameplay, Bell’s Hells had to be the only functional team.  They had to be the ants that were beneath Ludinis’ notice long enough to really accomplish something.  And as much as it feels like they failed, they had minor victories: Laudna and Ashton took out more batteries, making Ludinis drain his own power to kick off the apocalypse.  They only failed to take out Otohan’s backpack by 2 HP, which showed them that she was an achievable goal in the future.  If they had rolled a little better, they probably could have taken her out entirely, which would have felt like a big accomplishment for them.  Imogen made her mother pause in her assault before doubling down.  This leaves open very interesting future beats for their interactions.  Can she ultimately redeem her mother or would she have to take her out?  Every step that Matt set up in this episode, from the reveals about Ludinis’ plans and Orym’s past, to Imogen’s interactions with her mother, to Chetney and likely Ashton finding themselves staring down their own backstories after the party split, was focused on this party, on getting them ready to step out of low-level play and advance.

And that’s the point of E51.  It’s not a climax of the story, but the ultimate set-up.  It’s putting all the pieces onto the board in a way that all the characters can now recognize.  Yes, unless the players came up with something genius, the apocalypse was going to kick off, but their actions slowed everything down to a place where it could be combatted.  Yes, the god-tier former PCs were always going to get neutered, because this is Bells Hells’ story, and you cannot have NPCs fix PC problems.  They might have been able to do a little more before this happened, but the dice rolled.

And it’s honestly good for the PCs how things turned out.  They have a clear objective, but are split up.  This gives them great incentive to level up, explore character backstory, deal with their personal shit, get stronger, and then come back to kick the asses of all three of these villains (or possibly redeem one, we’ll see).  Their powerful allies are now temporarily side-lined.  Keyleth is badly hurt and will need time to recover.  Caleb is collared and will need time to get that removed.  Beau is likely up and moving now, but will need to safeguard Caleb for a while.

The Bells Hells are on their own.  The Darkest Hour has come, and it’s time for them to rise up and go from nobodies to heroes.  This is their true call to adventure.  And as a DM, it was so cool seeing how Matt set up all the pieces over the campaign, only to pay them out in such a satisfying and motivating way in this episode.

[slymewizard]

The “Adventure Time is a dnd game” is one of my favorite cartoon theories so heres some of my headcanons about it:

Finn, Jake, and Marceline are the only consistent players, PB is a dmpc, and bmo is also an npc but when Finn and Jake’s players’ little sibling wants to play they pull out his character sheet. Marceline is dating the DM which is why she was the only one to read the entire lore document and use it in her character.

Flame Princess and Huntress Wizard are also PCs played by the same person, who is also Finn’s players’ irl gf. She tried getting into it after her boyfriend convinced her that it would be fun, but didn’t really like it. But they already committed to a plot with FP and Finn being together so they made an agreement that Finn would take a moral nosedive to resolve it. Around a year she decided to try again with a new character that she liked playing much much more.

The game wrapped up when The DM and Marceline’s player had to go off to college. All the players got together for one last session fighting against an ancient evil being named GOLB that the dm pulled from her ass at the last second.

Distant Lands were continuations of the story set in the same universe. BMO was Finn’s player setting up a game for his little sister and one of his friends, Obsidian was a surprise oneshot by Finn and Jake’s players as a gift for Marceline and the DM (who played PB as a pc for this) when they came back from college for the summer. Wizard City was the DM setting up a game for her college friends. And Together Again was a game the DM tried to set up online for Finn and Jake’s players years later. Marceline’s player played the villain for this one.

Because Together Again actually worked out well, the DM decided that maybe they should pick up the game again online, even just for a few sessions, but wasn’t sure what to base it off of. Then one of the players brought up that time they drew their characters genderswapped and the Fionna and Cake campaign. Marceline’s player co-dmed. Huntress Wizard’s player decided to come back but she didn’t want to play the character she made and wanted to focus more on rping and less on combat, because thats what she really liked about the game. So the DM slid Simon’s character sheet across the table and she said “understood.” And she prepared to do the most heartwrenching roleplaying any player had ever seen.

Marceline’s player would also go on during college to start her own campaign with her friends about alien rock women and their little human brother.

Finn’s player starts a much shorter and less well remembered campaign about a team of space faring warriors with a half bug half cat as a pet.

Jake’s player starts a campaign set in the far far future where his favorite recurring npc is a morally challenged robot. (He also played a game before adventure time with the same DM with a pirate theme where he played an angry sea captain with an obsession with candy)

And BMO’s player many many years later would start a campaign about a magical robot girl and her pet alien cat dog thing.

[towards-toramunda]

Back on my BUT WHAT IF PREDATHOS IS A GOOD OR NEUTRAL ENTITY HUH????

WHAT THEN???????????

WHAT IF LUDINUS IS ONLY TRYING TO RELEASE PREDATHOS SO HE CAN USE HIS MORE ADVANCED HARNESS THAT HES HAD HUNDREDS OF YEARS TO DEVELOP TO EAT THE GOD EATER AND THEN HE’LL BE ABLE TO EAT THE GODS????????????????????????

WHAT IF THE BELL’S HELLS DISCOVER THAT PREDATHOS EATS GODS “NOT BECAUSE OF MALICE, NOT BECAUSE OF MURDEROUS INTENT, BUT BECAUSE SOME THINGS HAVE TO EAT AND SOME THINGS HAVE TO BE EATEN” (QUOTE FROM MATT MERCER IN EPISODE 71 WHEN THEY WERE IN THE SHATTERED TEETH THAT I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT)??????????????????????

ALL CAMPAIGN WE’VE SEEN THE GOOD SIDE OF “BAD GUYS” LIKE WITH NANA MORRI OR THE NIGHTMARE KING OR BOR’DOR OR EVEN THE PCS THEMSELVES LIKE THEY’RE ALL TEXTBOOK VILLAIN NPCS (except orym thats my father right there)

WHAT IF THAT WAS ALL TO LEAD US TO PREDATHOS ACTUALLY BEING A FINE DUDE??????

Okay but all caps is hurting my eyes so lets discuss:

- we haven’t seen predathos and presumably they’re either asleep or in some sort of dormant state and have been since nearly the beginning of recorded history so there is no record of their form, true power, personality, etc. all we know is they (presumably, but lets be real yes they did) ate two gods

- Predathos was said to create “twisted life” but so far what we’ve seen from the life on Ruidius is just… *different* life. Red and spindly and alien, but not necessarily bad. Yes we’ve seen some reilorans siding with ludinus in the fight near the lava a few episodes back, but we also know that reliorans called by imogen have to do what she says so how do we actually know these ones were working on their own volition/weren’t misguided like bor’dor was?

- Quite a few times in this campaign we’ve been shown the theme that bad things are often not evil or malicious, (and evil things can be useful shoutout to Teven Klask). As mentioned earlier and by many people throughout this campaign: these PCs are easily the villain NPCs in any other dnd campaign

- When they went to the shattered teeth Matt said “You are uncertain who is who, but you get the sense that many innocent creatures have met their end in this land violently, not because of malice, not because of murderous intent, but because some things have to eat and some things have to be eaten.” And ever since I heard him say that I keep wondering if THAT is gonna be who predathos is! Because gods may meet their end to predathos violently, not because of malice, but because *some things have to eat and some things need to be eaten*

- And NOW with the introduction of ludi’s old harness and seeing just how powerful and dangerous it is I absolutely think that Ludinus has been working on a new one since he left molaesmyr and my *theory* is that he’s only trying to release predathos so he can suck in his power (maybe he’ll be the one controlling imogen’s powers then and YIKE) and have the ability to devour the gods/become one himself.

- Imagine how JUICY and INTERESTING it’d be if the hell’s realize that predathos is actually not a bad being, but a being who has been treated badly and then BAMB LUDINUS COMES IN WITH AN UPDATED HARNESS AND SUCKS HIS POWERS INTO HIMSELF?? HOW BATSHIT WOULD THAT BE?????? LIKE??????? COME ON

(This is all speculation I hate when I speculate on this hellsite and someone claims I’m trying to pretend I have a crystal ball that can see into the future with 100% certainty: I’m trying to have fun calm down)

[utilitycaster]

Weirdly specific and overly long Critical Role Ask Meme

The annual Thanksgiving Hell Drive tradition that matters only to me!

Character you don't particularly like, but will defend vehemently when people dislike them for the wrong reasons.

Favorite unhinged shopkeeper.

Minor character people in the fandom are obsessed with that makes you go "them? why?"

Minor character you are (correctly) obsessed with.

Meta you would write if you did not fear people would be SUPER weird about it. This is also an invitation to write that meta and block the haters.

NPC you would most like to see as the subject of a Tales of Exandria series.

Alternate outcome in a main campaign that you don't necessarily wish happened, but that you wish you could see played out in an alternate universe before returning to ours.

You may personally require that Liam O'Brien plays a non-core four (ie, not a Rogue, Wizard, Cleric, or Fighter) character for at least 10 episodes - he cannot in any way be one of those classes, even as a multiclass. If you like Orym, assume this has no impact on him. What class or multiclass do you have him play?

Location in Exandria you'd like to see in a possibly canonical one-shot/EXU but with non-main campaign characters (as in Song of the Lorelei/The Darrington Brigade)

Favorite and least favorite Matt Mercer Original Subclass.

A common stance within the fandom you would most like to eliminate on the specific grounds of hypocrisy/self-contradiction.

Best ship of the literal seafaring vessel or skyship variety.

Favorite D&D PC (guests & EXU included but must be a PC) of [class provided by the asker]? Note that as of posting there is only one option each for artificer (Tary) and ranger (Vex), so don't ask those.

Describe the art you would most like to create or commission if talent/money were no object.

Favorite one-on-one conversation (can be between two PCs, or a PC and NPC).

Favorite group (all/most of the party) conversation.

You know that post that's like "I wish you could filter in ao3 on 'attitude towards a canon event'?" In the world of imagination, you can! What's the event or attitude?

Share one unpopular opinion but it must specifically only pertain to Sam's ads.

You can swap one subclass (not class) for any one main campaign main cast PC. Which character, and what's their new subclass?

What non-D&D TTRPG would you most like to see Critical Role run a one shot in?

You can eliminate one ship that did not become a canon, reciprocated relationship from the fandom's consciousness. It is entirely gone - no fics, no posts, no doctored out of context gifsets inexplicably claiming that Travis ships it, no anon hate, no drama. Your blocked tags list becomes several entries shorter. A weight is lifted from your shoulders, and you take the deepest breath you've taken in a long time. Anyway, now that you're feeling relaxed and inspired, what do you think Bertrand Bell's fighter subclass was?

Assume that every single non-multiclassed wizard PC OR significant wizard NPC (includes EXU Calamity) are in a battle royale, and all are level 16. Who would you bet on as the winner?

You can guarantee that Vax lives at the end of Campaign 1. However, you must trade his permadeath for the permadeath of a different PC who was dead for more than a minute. Your options are Percy dying permanently in 1x68; Scanlan dying permanently in 1x83; or Laudna dying permanently in 3x34. Do you choose to do so, why, and whose death do you trade?

You can guarantee that one Evergreen Question you write is pulled on 4-Sided Dive AND that the four cast members you most want to answer it are on that month. What's the question, and which cast members answer it?

What class do you most want to see Matt play if he is in a future EXU campaign as a new (not Dariax) PC?

You must swap one nat 1 die roll with one nat 20 die roll. They must both be from the main campaigns, but can be cross-campaign. Which are they, and why?

Pick one character, ship, or party; and one song you associate most with them, and explain why. This song cannot be on an existing playlist from the main cast. It also cannot be We Have it All by the Pim Stones nor Dust Bowl Dance by Mumford & Sons; I love those AMVs but please think for yourself.

Think back to all weird or bad opinions (pertaining to Critical Role) you've seen but which were not elaborated upon. You get to make one, and only one, person have to provide an honest response about what the fuck they were thinking. Which opinion do you receive the honest explanation for?

You can give any PC a Staff of Birdcalls. Who do you give it to?

What is your favorite theory or headcanon that has absolutely no bearing on the plot and isn't important at all, but which is completely compliant with canon?

A really weird fey entity grants you the following boon: you can magically make it so that whenever people try to draw Imogen with glasses, the glasses magically disappear. All you need to do is hit the DC. The DC begins at 15, it is a simple d20 die roll with no modifiers/additions, and you can reduce it by one for every month you live with canon, pre-episode 2x26 Mollymauk Tealeaf. You do have your own room, but the walls are thin. After 15 months you automatically succeed and Molly disappears as though he had never existed. How many months do you live with Molly?

If the CR main cast were to play the original 7 tombtakers per The Nine Eyes of Lucien (Brevyn, Cree, Jurrell, Lucien, Otis, Tyffial, and Zoren) in a one shot, who should play whom? Assume Matt DMs, but you do not need to have Taliesin play Lucien.

You may ask any member of the cast one, and only one lore clarification question. What do you ask?

You meet an old woman in the grocery store and help her with her bags. In return, she tells you she can guarantee that Campaign 3 will be fantastic, and that there will be a Campaign 4 set in Issylra that is also fantastic. However, she warns you, the price is that Marisha and Laura's characters will never be in a romance together, nor will Taliesin and Liam's, though there will be significant queer romances aplenty, both F/F and M/M, in said campaigns. Do you take her up on her offer?

You can set the time and place of the next EXU series, but it cannot be within 100 years of the Calamity nor Divergence. When and where do you set it?

Every cast member must create a main campaign character loosely based off a character they played in a one-shot not set in Exandria, a la Chetney from Chutney (as a result, Travis is excused from this exercise). Who should they choose? (Please note that Bar Room Blitz is set in Exandria. You cannot pick Jayne and you're boring for thinking it.)

You have to take a 16 hour road trip with one NPC from each campaign (all at once, ie, three other people). The NPCs cannot shorten the road trip in any way and the road trip must be via driving but you can do it in two 8 hour days and share a motel room if you'd like. Who do you pick?

Assuming that your rent and basic living expenses are paid regardless, nothing cataclysmic happens while you're there, and your race and class are perceived as completely average and nothing to comment on, which city in Exandria would you most like to live in for a year? You must spend the vast majority of your time there.

Favorite parental figure NPC?

What named but as of yet unseen character do you most want to see onscreen?

[necronatural]

Project Moon Discourse part 6: It's Over (It's Never Over)

My project moon tag is dedicated exclusively for details on this situation make of that what you will

Last time on Project Moon: Geonggi Youth Union and Project Moon User Association (protesting fans faction) gets a legal threat from a an actual legal firm (none of them say as much, but the contents appear to be specified to the Youth Union, so likely a copy-pasted message). PMUA were asked to not ragepost until the Youth Union finished talks with Project Moon, but THAT completely fell through, so they just post it with a translated reply. Kim Jihoon gets MAD mad and says that the Geonggi Youth Union were going after PM to promote their campaign standing! Youth Union says what the fuck are you talking about, how would we do this when it was being handled internally and the public would only see us apologizing? The crux of all this legal threatening is because Vellmori resigned, therefore it wasn't 'unlawful dismissal'.

And now some new updates:

IT union vice chairman Hwanmin Kim realizes that on September 8 the Limbus Company Twitter sent him a cease and desist. Over Twitter DMs. I'm not kidding

A user has translated Hwanmin Kim's explanation of why talks broke down with the Geonggi Youth Union in this Twitter thread. In short: unless Vellmori expresses a desire to be reinstated their hands are tied, as the laws don't adequately protect workers. It seems the "political motivations" accusation is rooted in the fact that the YU is respecting that they can't represent Vellmori's worker rights unless she asks, yet are still campaigning against PM regardless.

The surrounding climate of Korean gaming companies policing women's speech and how the PM case blew up because of that climate has been recorded in a news article that tracks situations as recent as the whole PM/YU/PMUA showdown. You can read it here. They reached Monggeu (the artist for Leviathan) for comment, and Monggeu noted "they asked me not to say anything too 'PC' when I was hired". Another staff member said PM treats workers 'not as people, but as parts'.

HamHamPangPang addresses a rumour that fan gifts are being thrown out, saying the stored items were damaged. Main response has been "with no notice though?" and "how the fuck did that happen?" with some gift-givers noting they have photo evidence of their goods being stored safely. Most people are actually rather forgiving of the manager (HHPP has been totally exempt from all the blowback towards PM's mismanagement thus far) and are casting suspicion on Kim Jihoon.

Most importantly of all, Kim Jihoon posts an apology on the Limbus Company twitter, which is a hell of a thing after the Notes App Ragepost. He far more cordially explains that he says he posted a notice with 'vague wordings', despite the fact that it very explicitly stated 'she violated our rules, and thus we won't be working with her in the future' - the only vague aspect was how Vellmori left the company. I suppose this is a polite way to say 'we fucked her over in hopes the DCInsiders would feel they successfully drew blood and leave the company alone'. At no point does he specify the original DCInside harassment beyond 'the artist was free to go after them legally', just as Hwanmin Kim mentioned.

Also this:

LMAO

It's actually an otherwise reasonable apology and I think it's encouraging that he will finally work with his employees when they come to him with harassment, but he at no point is clear on why on earth it required international protest for him to do so.

But he had time to interject that he wants the Geonggi Youth Union, Hwanmin Kim, and the PMUA annihalated. OK dude

Personally, I support further protest and not spending money on Project Moon titles, this time strictly over refusal to denounce anti-feminist harassment or comment on their mismanagement. Also it's all but explicit the offer PM gave was "either resign and escape by letting DCInside feel they won or stay on and sue them by yourself, we don't want to rock the boat by helping you" and I'm pissed

[thisisnotthenerd]

d20 finale thoughts.

for being the ‘horror season’, the intrepid heroes really go all in on the comedy in neverafter. i was laughing through the finale, in between some high stakes roles, npc and pc deaths, and wave after wave of enemies.

now that i think about it, this finale just shows how much the intrepid heroes have really tightened up their strategy as players, to the point that they can pull really crazy bits in the midst of battle and still hit a victory at the end of the day. for every ih season, they’ve had to step up the final battle to make it something that’s conceivably a challenge to the players

like in fhfy, they had some quips in the final battle, and a clutch beardsley roll to kick off the final ep, but it’s all battle focus. more individual attacks, and just trying to keep everyone alive pre-aguefort intervention. they had a few smaller enemies to deal with, but the primary issue was kalvaxus.

with tuc, it’s a similar scenario, but they have more options in terms of calling allies and a more complex environment. the individual appeals from the american dream, as well as the continuation of their fight with robert moses make this a more involved combat than fhfy. they were more confident coming in.

with acoc, the balance between troop mechanics and individual combat was the new challenge--the gimmick of the battlefield being the one they had previously fled from, as well as the task of getting rid of the leaders as well as the general troops added a new dimension to the ih final combats. edit: the intra-party tension added to this battle in particular; saccharina & ruby really defined the end of the campaign.

once they hit fhsy, battles became longer and carried out over more than just the two finale episodes. with theater of the mind, brennan could give them a longer sequence of individual and group combat. it starts with the nightmare forest individual fear scenes, layers on the need to rescue their attacking/trapped allies, as well as the continuity of the lore going on throughout the battle. i would say this style of battle, with multiple waves to exhaust the intrepid heroes, set a precedent for future combats.

with tuc II, the longer battle sequence continued, but more condensed. tony simos @ gramercy took 1 and a half episodes to get through, and so did null at the dragon’s hoard. again, each battle had layered mechanics e.g. having to stop the umbral engine overload and then having to birth the dragon. this style of battle aligns with what we saw in previous final combats, and has just the funniest instance of a divine intervention that i’ve seen.

in starstruck, they have talespire. they also have a lot of enemies, with their guns, trained on you. there were a few layers to this combat. again, the extension from a previous battle episode, the split between minis and ship combat, and of course, who could forget margaret encino, turning their enemies away with the power of emails and girlbossing her way into a campaign office. literally overwhelming odds that they managed to pull through including a 2 on the die from gnosis.

and now with neverafter, they had waves of powerful enemies, going from a siege to a tower defense from one episode to the next, the baba yaga, the ally persuasion mechanics, and the objective of holding concentration on bottle of ink that has hand(s), while either convincing or killing everyone else. the actual battle was not the hard part--as evidenced by the shenanigans they pulled off by the skin of their teeth. it was just the singular goal, and more rp than previous final combats. they also just crit. so much. no need for a beardsley crit when you’ve got siobhan one-shotting fairies and zac killing god and rolling an 18 that makes a new universe.

in short, as d20 has grown, so to have the intrepid heroes (+brennan). i’m excited to see where they go from here.

[eveningrelics]

For the record, we love making games and want them to be approachable.

This whole debacle has had us discuss trigger warnings for the future because some people are only sensitive to certain sub-sets of issues, myself included.

On a store page and in fane, however, these warnings could be lengthy.

Would it be good, I wonder, to have the lists on the store page and at launch, as we have thus far, and then each respectively direct you to where you could read more about each trigger type?

For example, a longer warning might be:

Transphobia:

Depiction of violence against a transwoman; scene includes aftermath of physical altercation

"T Slur" appears twice if player interacts with [PC in Chiyo's room]

Online abuse against a transgender individual (Sexual harassment and dehumanizing language)

In-game, I think it should be fairly easy to do a trigger warning directory with breakdowns and possibly examples of each?

It's time consuming, but if it's something that would make people feel more comfortable playing horror games, I am always looking to explore new options.

I don't think doing this would have mattered in the recent abuse, but it does matter to us for making sure players are comfortable moving forward.

I mentioned these things in my itch.io response on Mare's page before comments were closed.

For what it's worth now, the "T slur" was used because people who tear us down really don't give two shits if I'm nonbinary, trans masc, or whatever. Being trans is enough for them to hate me.

Maybe it's regional, generational, or whatever, but it's been applied plenty to trans masc and nonbinary people around me as much as transfemmes because people who hate us don't really see a difference.

As far as trigger warnings in games though, I am always happy to discuss ways to improve on it further. Z and I are both neurodivergent, queer game devs and I am also disabled.

Making stuff accessible is very important to us, so I would genuinely like to have a conversation about what makes approaching dark subject matter feel safe.

However, given the recent targeted hate campaigns, I will Not be engaging with anyone who comes to this in bad faith.

You will be blocked immediately, and I encourage others to do the same rather than engage.

[demifiendrsa]

Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Official Announcement Trailer

The Mortal Kombat 1 expansion “Khaos Reigns,” will launch on September 24, 2024 for $49.99 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC, and for $39.99 on Switch.

“Khaos Reigns” includes new story chapters and “Kombat Pack 2.” A bundle containing “Khaos Reigns” and the existing “Kombat Pack 1” will also be available. “Kombat Pack 2” will not be available as a standalone character pack outside of the expansion. Pre-orders for the expansion include four new skins: “Wedding Scorpion,” “Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Sub-Zero,” “Empress Mileena,” and “Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Noob Saibot.”

A free update dubbed “Animality” will be available upon the release of “Khaos Reigns,” which sees the return of of the “Animality” finishers from Mortal Kombat 3.

Key visual

First details

Khaos Reigns After repelling the invaders who endangered Fire God Liu Kang’s New Era of peace, Mortal Kombat 1 “Khaos Reigns” expands the story campaign with an all-new cinematic narrative. When a perilous threat arrives from an alternate timeline, led by the ruthless Titan Havik whose sole mission is to throw the realms into khaos, Liu Kang must rally his champions and put faith in his enemies to defeat this grave danger. If they fail, the New Era will be reduced to anarchy. Kombat Pack 2

Adding to the growing roster of playable fighters, “Kombat Pack 2” features returning kombatants Noob Saibot, voiced by Kaiji Tang; Cyrax, voiced by Enuka Okuma; and Sektor, voiced by Erika Ishii, all with unique backstories as part of the reimagined Mortal Kombat 1 Universe. As Sub-Zero, Bi-Han was the Lin Kuei’s ruthless Grandmaster, but his soul was stolen by Titan Havik to create the perfect henchman, Noob Saibot, who is now dedicated to fomenting anarchy. Born into the Zaki, one of the Lin Kuei’s many sub-clans, Cyrax became a martial arts prodigy with an independent streak and untamed desire to serve the clan on her terms, or not at all. Growing up immersed in Lin Kuei culture under the tutelage of her parents, Sektor becomes a master armorer, skilled warrior, and Sub-Zero’s most trusted lieutenant, committed to advancing the clan’s future at all costs.

“Kombat Pack 2” also brings a new batch of guest fighters into the mix with Ghostface, the recurring identity donned by antagonists from the Scream horror movie franchise, voiced by Roger L. Jackson; T-1000, the liquid metal-based Terminator and deadly cybernetic assassin from the Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) film featuring the voice and likeness of actor Robert Patrick; and Conan the Barbarian, the towering warrior from the Conan the Barbarian (1982) film featuring the likeness of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Animalities Additionally, Animalities, the fan-favorite finishing moves will be returning as a free content update for all Mortal Kombat 1 owners. Allowing characters to morph into their spirit animal to annihilate defeated opponents, Animalities can be performed by all playable fighters and will be available in conjunction with the Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns release. Furthermore, all owners of Mortal Kombat 1 will receive a free MK 95 Scorpion character skin, inspired by the original Mortal Kombat (1995) film, available today.

[nellasbookplanet]

Actually loving how the different critical role campaigns exist in relation to themselves, each other, and the world at large, and how their different narrative structures ripple outward.

Campaign 1 was story driven. Not to say the characters weren’t deeply important and dynamic, but their growths were largely driven through and by the plot. They were on a mission and grew along with that mission, and as a mission driven archetypically heroic party they also left very few loose threads by the end.

Campaign 2, meanwhile, was more insular and character driven. Where Vox Machina traveled all over the world and planes outside the main setting of Tal'Dorei, the Mighty Nein largely stayed in Wildemount, allowing for a more intimate and political look at it’s cultures. Instead of story and characters revolving around plot, plot revolves around character. We only got to see Yasha’s tribe in the epilogue, because her growth didn’t require facing them. We didn’t face Uk’otoa, because Fjord’s arc culminated in embracing the Wildmother, not in facing his former patron. Similarly, while the entire Assembly was an antagonistic force, only Trent was dealt with directly, because he was the only one directly tied into one of the pc's arcs.

The larger world building let us know about Molaesmyr and Ludinus, about the Luxon, even about Ruidus to some extent, but the Mighty Nein weren’t a typically heroic party here to save the world and solve every mystery, but a group of broken people finding it in themselves to heal, and to end their journey ready to face greater threats in the future. They were still getting the Assembly and Uk'toa, they just weren’t doing it in the main narrative, because they were irrelevant to the growth of the characters. Of course, that also left a lot of threads hanging, which brings us to campaign 3.

By now, it seems pretty clear that campaign 3 is another plot driven story rather than the more meandering, character driven narrative of c2. That leaves the cast free to pick up on the many larger mysteries in world building left in the wake of the last campaign. What is the nature of the Luxon? Of Ruidus? Of Aeor and the aeormatons? Half the party was just plopped down not far from the ruins of Molaesmyr, Ludinus' former home - will they go there? One of them is tied to the Luxon and dunamancy, another to Ruidus and Predathos - will we get to know the true nature of these entities?

Much like c1, the characters of this campaign are driven and shaped by events rather than shaping their own events. The difference is, c1 began as a blank slate, whereas c3 has history. Powerful allies and enemies alike are tied to former campaigns because such is the nature of the world. Mysteries left to solve were introduced earlier but approached only now because this is a campaign whose narrative and characters are served by approaching them. The world is dynamic. Alive. One story merges into the next, and new heroes are born on the shoulders of the last, ready to be shaped by their own narrative.

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

AB, Mogwix and Co.

This was a piece of art did by one of the other amazing players at my D&D table for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign and I love it! The robot with the hat is my PC, Environmental Analysis Automaton A-B4 or AB for short. They're a Circle of the Shepherd Druid trying to find their creator who went missing at the Witchlight Carnival under mysterious circumstances.

The other member of our party include Buttercup, the minotaur college of lore bard, Pan, the half elf college of eloquence bard/fey pact warlock, Mogwix, the goblin wizard, and Goramorn, the dragonborn way of the dragon monk.

I've been playing them for a while now and thought I'd share some of what I wrote about their creation.

Also, after this campaign wraps up we'll be starting a Curse of Strahd campaign which we will be streaming on twitch! Let me know if any of you are interested in watching or at the very least would like to hear about my PC for that campaign.

Memory Banks: 00.00.00.00.001

Visual data: 

Environment: enclosed, wood interior, man made 

Danger rating: Yellow; tripping and magical hazards  

Lifeforms: 1 Humanoid, Designation: Human Male

Audio data:

Human Male:

…there was light. Ah! Yes! Third time’s the charm, or eleventh in this case. 

 Alright Environmental Analysis Automotom Prototype A-B4, let’s see if you’re the one. Oh, that really is mouthful isn’t it? We’ll have to come up with something different. Of course, if all goes well you’ll be able to do that yourself some day, eh?

Why anyone would want to scrap you is beyond me. Well you know what they say, man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

 Oh, well…I suppose I shouldn’t say that. Readings look like you’re picking up everything audio and visual. Excellent. Was a bit worried about your memory banks. Obviously for an analysis unit all you’d really be worried about are the plants and the like pertaining to your programming. Admittedly it was a spotty job. But the storage is just about perfect. Probably will need to work on expanding it. Wouldn’t want you to have to erase memories to keep new ones. 

Oh well, details to be sorted later. Made a bit of a mess myself. 

Welcome to the world A-B4. I’ve got a feeling you’re going to be spectacular. 

Analysis:

Environment: Moderately hazardous

Humanoid: Mostly harmless

Memory Banks: 00.00.00.00.102

New Program: Designation: Speech 

Audio Data: 

Julian:

Sorry AB. Seems as though I might have crossed the wrong wires. Your visual input is temporarily down, but let’s test out this new feature. 

Oh there have been so many things I’ve been wanting to ask you. Your vocabulary should be up to snuff. I took special care in your speech pattern recognition. Best way to learn is through doing, after all. Doing in this case having been listening to my rambling for the last few months. Hopefully it did us both some good. 

I think it did. It’s how children learn at any rate. 

Alright, first question: what is your name? 

Searching…

Statement: Designation: Environmental Analysis Automotom Prototype A-B4

Julian:

No, not your designation. What is your name?

Statement: Request unclear. Specify. 

Julian:

What do you want to be called? 

Statement: Request unclear. Specify. 

Julian:

Well, I do suppose it’s still a bit early for you to have proper wants now isn’t it? Still got a lot of programming to get through. We’ll save your name for later. Hopefully you won’t resent me calling you AB in the future. 

I hate to ask what your thoughts on me now are.

Statement: Answer. Analysis of Human Male, Designation: Julian. Wizard. Middle Age. Diet: Tea. Sleep pattern: Inconsistent. Communication: Heavily Verbal. Danger level: Yellow. 

Julian: 

Now that’s a shining endorsement, I must say. 

Statement: Understood. Analysis confirmed. 

Julian:

Alright, next on the list, fine tune your audio input to recognize irony. 

And I’m hardly middle aged. I don’t plan to die at seventy. Well, seventy-two if you’re getting technical, but I’m nowhere near the top of the hill let alone going down it. 

Statement: Understood. 

Julian:

Let’s just get your eyes working properly again. 

Memory Bank: 00.00.00.200

New Visual Data: Still Image: Tiefling Female. Expression: Unknown. 

Audio Data:

Julian:

Happy. See the smile? She’s happy. 

Facial Expression: Happy. 

Statement: Understood. Smile means happy. 

Julian:

Alright. Now let’s go back to this one. 

New Visual Data: Still Image: Dragonborn Male. Expression: Happy. 

Julian:

Understandable confusion. See how his brow creases. That’s anger. 

Question: Showing teeth indicates happiness and anger?

Julian:

I’d say it’s usually either or, but yes. The subtleties are in the eyes. Mouths may lie, but the eyes always tell the truth. We’ll get more into the nuances once you get the basics down. 

Question: What is lie?

Julian:

Deception. It’s when a person says one thing but means another. 

Question: Like irony? 

Julian:

Ah no…well, sort of. It comes down to intent really. It’s when somebody makes a false statement and indends for another to believe them. 

Question: Why lie? 

Julian: 

Any number of reasons. Some people lie in order to trick somebody into doing something they want. Other times people lie in order to comfort another. 

Statement: Definition unclear. 

Julian:

Fair enough. I think this is just something you’ll have to wait to figure out when you’re older. 

Statement: Understood. Question will remain unanswered. 

Memory Bank: 00.00.01.002

Julian:

I do hope you don’t find these memories too boring once you properly wake up. I mean, most days are boring, but from what I understand you’ll be able to remember everything that’s ever happened to you, this included. 

I can only imagine what you’ll think of me. Try to be charitable. I’d argue no parent in the world has put this much effort into the actual creation process. 

Oh Gods, me a father? That doesn’t sound right. I’m not old enough– Well, I am plenty old enough, but I never saw myself as the fatherly type. 

Forget I said anything. Or, no, don’t forget. That’s not an order. Just an expression.

I’m really not giving you much of a leg up if I’m your example am I?  We’re going to have to make sure you get out more.

Memory Bank: 00.00.01.095

Visual Data:

Environment: Lab

Danger Rating: Yellow, tripping and magical hazards

Lifeforms: 1 Humanoid, Designation: Elf Male

Facial Expression: Surprised, subcategory: Unknown

Audio Data:

Unknown Elf: 

What in the nine hells? 

New Visual Data:

Lifeform: 1 Humanoid, Designation: Julian

Facial Expression: Surprised, subcategory: Put-out

Julian:

What are you doing back here?

Elf Male:

I should be asking you the same thing. You’re not seriously considering this. 

New Visual Data:

New Facial Expression: Elf Male

Facial Expression: Angry, subcategory: Very

Julian:

There is a reason why I keep my work private. 

Elf Male:

It’s one thing to work with automatons, maybe dabble in trying to awaken one for a period of time, but this? Do you realize what magic you’re tampering with?

Julian:

What I’m doing is just taking the awaken spell and to its most logical conclusion. Where exactly am I going too far? 

Elf Male:

To create a sentient creature they require a soul. You think you can just create a soul out of whole cloth?

Julian:

Last I checked quite a number of creatures create new souls every day, oftentimes by accident. 

Elf Male:

You know what I mean. Those are living, breathing, biological beings touched by the divine. This is a machine. Whatever programs or even magic you put into it, all it will ever be able to do is pantomime mortal emotions. It will forever be soulless unless you give it one or somehow deluded yourself into thinking you could create one. 

Julian:

I am making no claims to my personal ability to isolate the soul. My only claim is that something doesn’t require biological parts to have one. 

AB has no baseline instincts, not even survival. They were initially programmed for cold, calculated analysis of raw environmental data. All I’m doing is attempting to give them the ability to ask why and the choice to find the answer. 

Curiosity, in its purest form. That’s where it all starts. I give them the baseline ability to recognize emotions in others and the rest writes itself. How they decide to react will ultimately be up to them as they grow to understand and empathize with the world around them. Now look me in the eye and tell me that’s not any child you’ve ever met in your life. 

Elf Male: 

All without a soul to guide them. 

Julian:

You really haven’t met many children, have you?

Elf Male:

This isn’t a joke, Julian. Gods, do you not hear yourself?

Julian:

What exactly am I doing wrong? I’m not hurting anyone. No bodies are being exhumed. No souls have been stolen. No deals have been struck. All I am doing is what every wizard has done which is explore the full extent of our reality. 

Now either you’re right and what I end up making will merely pantomime mortals. Or I’m right, and I will have proven that souls are not given to us by some divine entity. What we call a soul is created within ourselves for each other. No gods required. 

Elf Male:

I can only hope I’m right.

Julian:

And I can only feel sorry for you. 

Visual Data:

Elf Male: Out of range

Analysis:

Elf Male: Potentially harmful

New Visual Data:

Lifeform: Julian

Facial expression: Sad, subcategory: unknown

Question: Are you sad?

Julian:

Not sad, AB. Disappointed perhaps.

Statement: Understood. Expression is disappointment.

Question: What is disappointment?

Julian:

It’s when you hoped something would be different from what it actually is. 

I wish I could tell you people like him are a minority. I wish I could say that others will see you and fully accept you as the person you will become. 

Some of them will. I think most people will want to. It’s hard to say. There is a great deal of ignorance and fear in the world, and a lot of people are content to leave it that way. 

Do try to be patient with us though. We’re only mortal. 

Statement: Request unclear. Specify. 

Julian:

I guess what I mean to say is, go into the world assuming people want to be kind.

Statement: Understood.

Question: And this can cause disappointment? 

Julian:

More often than not, but you’ve got to do it anyway. 

Statement: Understood. 

Memory Bank: 00.00.00.01.269

Audio Data:

Julian: 

I really do hate to admit it AB, but perhaps Dustain was right. Arcane magic will only get us so far. You’ve progressed nicely, but something is missing. Just that last little umph. 

Don’t worry, I’m not about to ask a god for help. Bastards would just rub in our faces. 

The awaken spell is the baseline of all of this. Perhaps that’s the best place to start. The magic innate in nature is separate from the divine. You’re not so different. Metal is merely refined elements found in nature. Just because you’re man made shouldn’t exclude you. 

Hmm, perhaps I shouldn’t have wiped all that analysis programming. 

Memory Bank: 00.00.00.02.154

Julian:

Now this is silly, isn’t it. I’m not even sure if this is going to work. But, I think I’ve got a lead on something that might finally wake you up. Not sure when I’ll be coming back, if I will. Of course, if I don’t come back, you’ll hardly care, now, will you? But, you might care, someday. Depends if this works. Memories are funny like that. They change the more you remember them. That was the point of all my ramblings anyway. 

What am I trying to say here? Wish me luck? Wish us luck? 

I can’t wait to meet you.

[evish-rambles]

So I decided just to make a new blog aksfjkaghkslfaf. n e way this is a spot for me to basically just turn my voices time (technical term for talking to yourself in/about character) into something i can actually look back on. I expect my posts could range anywhere from single sentence concepts all the way to like,, paragraphs upon paragraphs of nonsense. Horray!!

My tagging system may evolve overtime but as of right now; "oc: [name]" is used for my characters, "foc: [name]" is for my friends characters, and "npc: [name]" will be used for npcs of any campaign. "character into" is for if i actually decide to write up intros for my losers (I may do some quick synopses? if so they'll be under the cut <3), "fic ideas" is pretty self explanatory, and any aus will be tagged, ex. "band au" "evil au" etc. If i come up with anything else i'll probably add it here!! I fully expect this blog to be more well tagged than my main aklsfgaslkhf

alright! settle in for chaos >:)

Basic Character Intros!! Wahoo!! I'm gonna list em in chronological order of when I made them. Race, Class and Subclass, age, a song i feel fits them best, and a brief backstory rundown will all be given.

DnD PC's

Zezrina Frear (She/Her)

Drow, College of Spirits Bard

227 (equivalent of 25)

The Mariners Revenge Song by The Decemberists

Has a power where she can talk to ghosts who tell her the future, inherited from her mother who was driven insane by visions of Zez's death. Her mother then died under mysterious circumstances and Zez ran from her family to try and figure out what actually happened.

Imagine if you fused the Madrigal family from Encanto with Luke and May Castellan from Percy Jackson.

Vildanna Cadieux (She/Her)

Half-Elf/Hexblood, Shadow Sorcerer

19

What The World Needs from Ride The Cyclone

Orphaned daughter of an attempted coup, Vildanna believes she alone knows right from wrong. She believes truly that good people (her) do only good things, and bad people (anyone who opposes her) do only bad things. This is complicated somewhat by the fact that shes the character I play for Curse of Strahd :)

She also has a litte rat dog named Syvestre, have you ever seen the "nightime pee artist" meme? that.

Kezarel Riverseeker (She/Her)

Human, Necromancy Wizard

16

High (Keep Up) by Bo Baskoro

As the middle of 7 in a prominent Waterdhavian noble house, Kez knows that unless she can prove herself she'll be forced into a political marriage. Her chosen path is to become a Court Mage for her family, an educator and protector. She protects her self by mimicking the behavior of her mother, who is... not a great person.

General Nizira Votsky (He/Him)

Reborn Half-Orc, Vengeance Paladin

46

Just A Man from EPIC: The Musical

After a long life in the military Nizira settled down with his adopted son Alexi. This was interrupted when people broke into his home, killed him, and kidnapped Alexi. With his dying breath Nizira swore vengeance and was reborn as basically a wraith, his hunger for violence is the only thing keeping him alive.

Arda Pendragon (He/Him)

Aasimar, Mutant Bloodhunter

25

Reaper Man by Mother Mother

An ex-noble who got kicked out for being too gay!! Arda fell in love with a man who lived in the woods outside his town who was executed for "crimes against the throne". Now he drifts through life seeking any carnal pleasure to distract himself from the loss.

His father is an Angel and also his angelic guide, which makes for some interesting conversations.

Weary aka Lavender Farmane (She/It)

Teifling, Gunslinger Fighter

22

Mr. Capgras Encounters a Second Hand Vanity... by Will Wood and the Tapeworms

Oh the TMA hyperfixation hit me hard here. A simple kid from a farming village comes home one day to find her sister June replaced by someone else, even worse; shes the only one who seems to notice. Over the next 3 years Weary is slowly driven to the brink of madness, eventually leading to her using her inventive mind to create a firearm and "kill" the thing that isn't June. Naturally she's sent to a psych ward which she manages to escape from. Now shes on the run from the law, ever vigilant to anyone else who seems to change.

Ivy "Venus" Allium (She/Her)

Firbolg, Knowledge Cleric

26 (19)

Dear Wormwood by The Oh Hellos

Valas Diril Hylinn (He/Him)

Drow, Battlemaster Fighter

412 (41)

Layin' Pipe by David Wilcox

Amze Sankrat (She/They/It)

Shifter, Gloomstalker Ranger

17

Fire by Kimya Dawson

Wyvern Maradil aka Lucien Clement Hargreaves (He/They)

Dhampir, Hexblade Warlock

257 (25)

I Am by Foot Ox

Azalea Ito (She/Her)

Water Genasi, Mercy Monk

20

My Smile is Extinct by Kane Strang

Casimir Belladonna (She/He)

Aasimar, Zealot Barbarian

21

Soap by Penelope Scott

Aria Novri (She/Her)

Changeling, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer

22

Mary by Alex G

Maximillian Fabron (They/He)

Goliath, Drake Warden Ranger

25

Liar by Queen

Dogma aka Ephraim Olach (They/Them)

Reborn Teifling, Undead Warlock Crown Paladin

29

The Weight by Amigo The Devil

Wisteria Bancroft (She/Her)

Warforged, Bladesinger Wizard

18

Marie Douceur Marie Colère by Marie Lafôret

Pollux Verrum-Sinclair (She/They)

Air Genasi, Armorer Artificer

37

Chip On My Shoulder from Legally Blonde The Musical

Verity Goodheart (She/Her)

Satyr, Eloquence Bard

19

Bugbear by Chloe Moriondo

Oscar Larke aka Valentine (He/Him)

Dhampir, Glamour Bard Soulknife Rogue

26

Remember My Name by Mitski

Michaelangelo Yelquinal (He/Him)

High Elf, Spores Druid

204 (20)

Freedom! '90 by George Michael

Muse Lavesque (She/Her)

Teifling, Profane Soul Bloodhunter

39

Looking Forward from Steven Universe: Future

Wickland Thorpe (He/Him)

Fire Genasi, Whispers Bard Swashbuckler Rogue

24

Truth Or Dare by Ricky Montgomery

Prudence (She/Her)

Warforged, Conquest Paladin

(unknown)

SPIT IN MY FACE! by ThxSoMch

Lance Mahoney aka Violet (He/Him)

Yuan-Ti, Feywanderer Ranger

14

Keep You Safe by The Crane Wives

Non-DnD Characters

Phoebe Lane (She/Her) - Monsterhearts 2

The Fey

15

Not Your Seed from The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals

Calithe aka Nightwave (She/Her) - Masks

The Outsider

17

Dare To Be Stupid by "Weird Al" Yankovic

Selene Duskrith (She/They) - BG3

Drow, Moon Druid

267 (26)

Sylvia by Autoheart

Calliope Schaefer (She/They) - Kids on Brooms

Charismatic Slacker

20

What Was I Made For by Billie Eilish

DnD NPC's

Kazius Absinthe Valcod (He/Any Pronouns)

Teifling, Wizard

~1100 (28)

Lavender by Two Door Cinema Club

Cecilia (She/Her)

Reborn, Gunslinger Fighter

27

Bury Me Face Down by Grandson

Ovid (He/Him)

Disgraced God

(unknown)

Sonne by Rammestein

[chiko-akihari]

Day 3 + 4: Old OC + Redesign

Decided to group these together since it's been years since I've touched her design 🥹 I still need to flesh out her robe but that's a problem for future me. Also Tumblr posts are so much slower than Twitter for fairly obvious reasons. If you want to see mostly the arts feel free to check out my twitter! I'm still a few days late but I'm not as late :')

Please welcome Sarc Saffrols, an Illusion Wizard and my first ever DnD PC! Her story is a few years old and fairly outdated, but i did try to patch it up the best i can for the dnd campaign rerun

Story

Born a tiefling, she stumbled into the material plane and got adopted by a kindly wizard librarian. During her lifetime, she lives to see the hatred towards non-humans and non-elves spread from the capital city to the small town of Mildmourn. This rising tension eventually exploded into razing flames that engulfed the library and the entire town. Ever since, Sarc has been on the run, using her magic to survive day by day in the hopes she can get enough money/support to bring back the lost librarian.

However, life has other plans for her. An unstable portal spawning under her feet pulled her into a completely new world, with entirely new problems. Here, she eventually become a nation's hero after multiple world threatening operations along with her newfound companions. Despite this, she is stuck in this new world, unable to fulfill her one goal. Worse, a past she didn't know about finally hunted her down, and she has to face the consequences of her actions (?).

...Before she was a tiefling, Sarc was a creation of the God of Light. When the God disappeared, she was appointed to be a replacement due to her partial relation to Light. Locked in the gilded greenhouse, she slowly grew bored of her 'job'. One day, she sneaked out, shed her immortal skin for a chance to live a more exciting life. Unbeknownst to her, her actions left the elements in disarray and led to the eventual destruction of the world.

Design

Sarc's design has undergone a few changes to match her character advancement and story plot. Her original outfit is scrappy and mismatched, consisting of whatever she could salvage or get her hands on. Despite having illusory magic to temporarily hide her horns, she sawed it down, hiding it underneath the hat for her own safety.

Her second design is after some times in Nyamene (the new world), once she has some good money to tailor a good outfit. She still kept the robe and the rose brooch - the only 'heirlooms' she had. Her outfit was tailored around the robe, and she got some more rose pins to decorate herself with. She also grew back her horns (with help from Regeneration), and showed more of her tiefling features in general.

Her final design (tbd) will be after she confronts her past and mistakes. The outfit change reflects her changing beliefs and goals, going from resurrecting her adoptive mother to fixing the problems she caused. On a meta level, I wanted to redesign her to give her a more fitting design for a level 20 wizard. I'm mostly proud of the hat! She'll no longer have to have horn holes on the brim, and it solves countless problems for me.

[lex1nat0r]

The Danse Mechabre: White Elephant

AAR #01

Ran the first session in what is hopefully going to be a full Lancer campaign over the weekend. Gonna be posting these after-action reports from the GM perspective in case it's useful to anyone (and it turns out there are a couple of things I need to make sure I remember). No spoilers because at least half of the players are on the tumbles (eye see you).

Characters (LL 0):

Raiju (Hacker/Ace/Centimane) - GMS Everest - Delta

Sunshine (Grease Monkey/Technophile/Leader) - GMS Everest - Exchange of Affection

Rook (Walking Armory/Stormbringer/Brutal) - GMS Everest - Not Fun By Myself

Daylight (Technophile/Crack Shot/Infiltrator) - GMS Everest - Hits Different

Magpie (Hacker/Technophile/Centimane) - GMS Everest - General Protection Fault

You will notice right away that there are three - count 'em, three -characters with the Technophile talent. That means there are three bonus NHPs in the party. And the first thing I neglected to do is prompt for more interactions with the bonus NHPs. The only one that got characterization in this session was Molotov, Sunshine's little buddy.The reason I didn't prompt for more interaction is mostly because this group is used to 2.5-3 hour sessions and I am trying to hit one combat per session, which does not leave a lot of time for roleplay outside of combat. The schedule will need to be adjusted somewhat.

So in the year 4570u the PCs depart as crewmembers (and one stowaway) from the secret KRAKEN facility on the highly experimental blinkship Eye of the Tiger. The crew of the Eye of the Tiger had secretly been replaced with revolutionaries, planning to use its blink carver to quickly head towards the core worlds and help overthrow Union's Second Committee. They go into stasis, trigger the ship's blink carver and wake up to a variety of alarms blaring. It eventually turns out the year is now 5016u and the blink carver may have moved them in space as well as time. Or something. They fix up the ship a little and realize that they're near a planet that is putting out a distress call. When they also get the opposing force's broadcast about returning the planet to 'traditional Cradle values' they decide the situation requires mechanized intervention. Important note: I'm very happy with my players for not immediately deciding they need to intervene on the side of the people putting out the distress call and that maybe they need more information before getting stuck in. Keep hold of that instinct, just because you didn't need it this time doesn't mean you won't in the future.

So while the Eye of the Tiger engages the enemy fleet in orbit, the lancers drop right in to protect an urban area.

Combat 1.1: We get to be the Cavalry for Once

Sitrep: Control

OPFOR:

Pyro x2

Priest Vehicle x2

Hive x2

Grunt Breacher Vehicle x6

Outcome: PC victory, 11 - 8

No PC structure or stress damage, though Hits Different and Not Fun By Myself both used a Repair. The only mech to not get hit was Delta, which secured the lower left control zone and blasted away with its howitzer (whoever put the howitzer on the default Hacker loadout in COMP/CON is a real joker).

Here's the aftermath of the battle after I invoked the mercy rule when it became clear the NPCs couldn't take enough control zones some time around the middle of the last round (not pictured: the Hives' Razor Swarms that were still in 3/4 control zones).

(Tokens by Retrograde Minis (on the basic blank 1-hex tokens that come with Lancer so they show up well), map by Interpoint Station's pixel art assets, they released their new mapmaking tool like the day before we played. VTT is Roll20)

Most of the civilians had already been evacuated from the area with two exceptions: the blue building just above the lower left control zone (some kind of cultural building maybe, there were a lot of civilians around it), and the orange building to the left of the lower right control zone (an IPS-N showroom/liaison office). Those were both intact at the end of the combat, which will be relevant next session.

The enemy comp is very short-ranged which ended up working because the PCs had to get at them to get into their control zones. It also features a lot of burn which I ended up not using correctly (see below). I maybe went a bit hard on Strikers with that many Breachers, but I knew it would be fine because Breachers can only hit something once in a blue moon (Hits Different was the only one to get tagged by a Breacher shotgun). A lot of vehicles because I like combined arms in my mecha (I think I get this from my exposure to Battletech). No optionals on any of the enemies to reduce cognitive load on me, and even then there was plenty I forgot (see below).

I was worried about cover and LoS going into this because it doesn't feel like the Lancer rules have enough detail on that but it was easy enough to adjudicate in practice. Also shout out to one of the best rules in Lancer: the PC that went last nominates the PC to go next. That helped speed things up a lot.

Overall for a first combat with 5 PCs, getting through it in ~2.5 hours is pretty impressive! HOWEVER:

Things I Definitely Forgot About:

Tech attacks ignore cover!

Engagement gives +1 diff on ranged attacks!

Pyros deal double burn to anyone who already has burn!

Pyros can put out their FIREBREAK shield at the end of each of their turns!

Breacher's shotguns have a threat of 3!

All the PC talents!

Thankfully this can kind of be written off in fiction as the OPFOR being kind of bozos and the PCs not being fully familiar with their mechs (maybe some residual grogginess from stasis and the fact that mech warfare was still pretty new to them).

So definitely some things to keep in mind for next time - I'll have to come up with a format of NPC stat blocks that works for me because just using their stats in the core book clearly means some things get overlooked.

Next Time: Straight into the Wall?

INDULGE ME:

Campaign notebook is a Maruman Mnemosyne N195A, 7mm lined. A month ago I swore I would only use binders for campaigns going forward but Lancer seems constrained enough (note I did not say 'on rails') that I can get away with not doing that (as opposed to, say, a hexcrawling sandbox) that I can get away with it. Plus this notebook was only holding a half-done campaign idea that is unlikely to see the light of day so I figured I'd use the rest of the pages up. I've found the paper is very good at taking fountain pen ink, though I'm not using a fountain pen for these notes. I've settled on a Zebra Sarasa Clip 0.5mm gel pen as working best, and I do like that pen (it's what I used to finish out my #Dungeon23 notes).