#and the apocalypse for the dragons

[inavagrant-a]

Celestia about to be waking up pissed off because none of the nations are following their "set of rules" anymore.

Mondstadt is controlled by the people, Barbatos is still lowkey around but more as keeping an eye rather than calling the shots.

Liyue has moved on from their god because he "died." Like Monds they too are ruled by the people. Morax is still around but he doesn't intend to lift a finger because he wants them to thrive on their own and he wants to retire(tm).

Inazuma still has their God, sort of ish because things still need to be given the okay through her first. But she rules more so as the guardian of her land more than anything else. The kicker here is that she's ruling WITHOUT a gnosis and that's not good (for Celestia) because it's what basically gives Celestia a grip over the ruling God and their nation.

Sumeru still has their God, but she's an unbiased God who welcomes all sorts of views even if they're wrong, valuing the fact that knowledge is there for you to consume and to learn from. Nahida is also ruling her nation without a gnosis, just like Ei, which isn't good to Celestia.

We'll find out what Focalors and Murata are up to eventually but no doubt things will change as well.

Snezhnaya is pretty obvious Celestia will have a huge problem with them and the Tsaritsa. Snezhnaya is Teyvat's modern day Khaenri'ah from five hundred years ago because of all of the forbidden tech and weapons they no doubt have. That and then of course them waging war against them is a given.

Celestia about to throw hands with everybody fr.

[frogcroaks]

The four heads of the wyrm god

[hijacksecrets]

CONCEPT: What if HTTYD doesn't take place in the past, but in the future? In a post-apocalyptic setting where dragons are actually evolved/mutated animals after a post nuclear war.

And what if Hiccup gets the chance to explore the world like he wants and finds something beyond anything he could have imagined?

Like a boy who has been asleep for centuries...?

:)

[mrs-gauche]

Friendly reminder that Solas did *this* in Trespasser without breaking a sweat....

....and he is visibly shaken by *these* guys.

....Yeah. To quote BioWare themselves again

[eerivee]

Presenting Zephyrini, an air genasi wizard and a talented weaver. They used to be known as one of of their homeland's greatest mages and innovative minds... Up until one of their spells went horribly wrong, leaving behind a black hole that is now eating up all the magical energy around it. Problem? Their homeland happens to be a place that consists of thousands of floating isles and as the magic slowly disappears, the isles are going to start falling down. Not a weather report anyone living under those isles wants to hear.

They're also Aella's parent and she and the party are currently working on a plan to stop this disaster from happening. Zephyrini has been assumed dead ever since the day of the incident so relying on the person who actually knows anything about the original spell is not on the table. The party will have their work cut out for them!

[borgialucrezia]

"There is a deep love and affection. They're so infatuated with each other and they're very physical in that relationship. That is not something that just came out of the blue for us." (Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia || The Borgias)

"Helaena is the only person that can really get to Aemond’s heart. He cares about her in a way that breaks through his armor. And he doesn’t have that with anyone else. She's the only person that can keep him as Aemond, and can see him as the child he is. That was the undertone — she could say what she wanted and he wouldn’t throw her over the balcony." (Helaena and Aemond Targaryen || House of the Dragon)

(requested by @lucreziaborgia)

[thatone-highlighter]

I love you albums. I love you songs connected by similar themes. I love you listening to songs in a specific order picked by the artist. I love you reoccurring motifs throughout the same album. I love you album covers. I love you albums with extended editions. I love you songs that reference each other.

[yolkyweichei]

The Golden Wasteland used to have a booming population. What happened to them?

[gatorgrumbles]

Trunks in 3 versions cause I couldn’t decide anything if my life hinged on it

[valtharr]

Pictures that make a "the only TTRPG I know is D&D"-person spontaneously combust:

This is the entirety of the magic mechanics in the game "Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined"

I'm keeping this post for the next time I hear someone say they don't want to try a new game because it's too hard to learn a new system.

[dancingdaffodils08]

Does he need heirs by any chance?🙏

[halyasgirl]

If I had to guess, I think Callum will immediately fly for Katolis in season 7, but if he is there for Runaan's fuller debrief...

Rayla: So... when I said Ethari was waiting for you, what I meant was, he thinks you're dead and has for the past two years.

Runaan: *pulling on literally the first shirt he can find and scrambling east toward the Silvergrove*

Rayla: ...And I'm Ghosted, and if you try to go home you may be too.

Runaan: *stares at her in horror*

Rayla: But we're not alone! We have Callum! He saved you! He's a ~mage~

(Runaan has not gotten the memo on humans and magic. Callum is also dressed exactly like Viren, and, to Runaan's eyes, looks just like the man who tortured and imprisoned him. Runaan is one wrong move away from snapping)

Callum: Hi, we've met. ...When you broke into our castle... to kill my family...

Runaan:

Callum: Also I pawned your husband's wedding ring and accidentally killed your dog. Is this a bad time to tell you I'm dating your daughter?

Runaan (holding it together only through years of honed self-control): *turns stiffly and walks into the trees. Moments later a flock of birds fly out, disturbed by a completely unrelated scream that rings through the woods*

[drtrashgames]

Here’s a series of board games I’ve made recently.

Astro Asterid’s Quick Shuttle Repair

Derelict ships in space need to be fixed quickly, so they call on Astro Asterid to repair them! Carry resources through the halls of various ships to repair systems that have crashed. The more resources you carry, the slower you move, and the more likely more systems will go offline! Move quickly but strategically to repair all the systems before time runs out!

Treasure by Torchlight

A single player dungeon crawling role playing game featuring cute little mammal characters in a fantasy setting. Journey through dungeons collecting treasure and defeating monsters to level up your character so you can take on the final boss! But be careful, with every step you take your torchlight grows dimmer. Keep that torch lit as you explore randomly generated dungeons!

Treasure by Torchlight: Bite Size

This is a mint-tin version of the same game. This “bite size” version contains everything the full size game does. An enormous game in a tiny package!

Noah’s Ark

A very simple mint-tin game for young players. Move down the landscape collecting animals and bringing them one by one back to the ark. But hurry up! The flood waters are rising! Count up points at the end of the game and see if you got a high score!

The Longest Week

In the middle of a zombie apocalypse you manage to find shelter and call for help. However, help won’t arrive for 7 days. During the day scavenge for weapons, farm for food, or gather resources to strengthen your gate because when night falls the zombie horde attacks! As the days progress the horde outside grows larger and stronger. Can you survive the week and be rescued?

All of these games can be found with more information and prices on my storefront on The Game Crafter website here!

[hijacksecrets]

More post apocalypse AU I did last night (and tweaked a bit today during my lunch break) :>

Sorry I haven't been posting much I've been real busy with work and with art block, but I wanted to use this as an excuse to draw some more environments! I might finish this up more later but for now I'm not gonna worry too much about it :>

[anim-ttrpgs]

Why I Dislike PbtA Games, and How Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy is Their Opposite

@tender-curiosities

It is no secret that I hate PbtA games.

Though due to a recent misunderstanding regarding another post, I’m going to preface this post by saying that this is going to be a very opinionated post and

I do not seriously think that PbtA games are inherently bad, though I may sometimes joke about this.

While I do often question the taste of people who make and play PbtA hacks, I do not think poorly of their moral character.

While I am going to call for PbtA to be used less as a base for games in the future, I’m not saying that the whole system and all games based on it should be destructified. It’s good for what it’s good for, but unless you’re doing that, I really think you should use something else.

Now that that is out of the way, here’s what I have to say about it.

My first experiences with PbtA games were pretty rough. Monster of the Week was not the first, but it was one of the first ‘indie’ TTRPGs I played after having previously played mostly only D&D3.5e and 5e. I really appreciated that the use of 2D6 over a D20 meant that the dice results would be more predictable, and I really liked the various “classes” I was seeing. (At this time, I didn’t really understand that they weren’t really “classes” at all, though I think I can be forgiven for this because many people, even people who like PbtA games, still talk like “classes” and “playbooks” are interchangeable.)

I was very enthusiastic to play, until it came time to start actually “making” a character, and found that I couldn’t “make” a character. I wanted to make a nuanced, three-dimensional PC who was simultaneously stereotype-affirming and stereotype-defying, with a unique backstory and dynamic with the other characters—but when I went to actually fill out the character sheet for basically any “class”, I found that most of the backstory and most of the personality for my character was being set for me by the playbook. It felt like the only thing about the character I really had a say in was their name, and that two PCs of the same playbook would actually turn out to be almost identical characters. At the time, I thought this was very restrictive and very bad design.

Later, now that I understand the design intent behind it, I still think of it as very restrictive, but I think of it as very bad design for me, not inherently bad.

When I play a TTRPG, I want more freedom in who my PC is. That doesn’t mean I want less rules, in fact having more rules can often increase freedom, but that’s a different post. I want to create original, unique characters, that I won’t see anywhere else. If it’s a class-based system, I want that class to barely touch the details of my character’s backstory or personality, so that I can come up with something original and engaging for why and how this “Fighter” fights. This means that two level-1 Fighters, despite having almost the same mechanical abilities, will potentially be very different people.

PbtA games don’t let you do that. In a lot of PbtA games, you’re not playing your own original character, you’re playing someone else’s character, that every other player that has picked up the same playbook before you has played. It’s more like “character select” than “character creation.” I think I could liken it to playing Mass Effect or The Witcher. Every player may pick a few different dialogue choices in those games that change the story, but we’re still all playing Shepherd or Geralt. No one is going to experience a new never-before-seen story in Mass Effect or The Witcher, which is very much a factor of them being video games and not TTRPGs, and therefore limited to the amount of code, writing, and voice-acting that can go into them.

This anonymous asker who sent a message to @thydungeongal seems to feel pretty similarly to me about PbtA games, and @thydungeongal's response is a very good response about how people find this appealing.

I have more respect for PbtA now than I did, but I still don't like it because to me it seems to play so much against what I consider to be the strengths of TTRPGs as a medium, much like how video games like The Last of Us and David Cage games play against the strengths of the medium of video games, and I will never like it. But other people clearly do, so to each their own.

Then another reason I don’t like it is because I think it’s oversaturating the TTRPG space. I’ve referred to PbtA before as “indie D&D5e”, and i do think that’s a reasonable comparison, because in much the same way that you always hear “D&D5e is a system that can do everything”, I think a lot of people seem to be under the impression that the PbtA system is a system that can do anything. It’s kinda the système du jour for indie TTRPGs right now, and many iterations of it make it clear that many designers do not consider how PbtA differs from more traditional TTRPGs, and how it is specialized for different types of TTRPG gameplay. Just like how I feel PbtA isn’t playing to certain important strengths of TTRPGs, I think that many—maybe even most—PbtA hacks don’t play to the strengths of PbtA. But this isn’t really PbtA’s fault, that comes down to any individual indie TTRPG developer on a case-by-case basis. And the cure for that is something I’m always saying: If you are going to be a writer, you have got to read lots of books. If you are going to be a director, you have got to watch lots of movies. If you are going to be a video game developer, you have got to play lots of video games. And if you are going to be a TTRPG designer, you have got to read and play lots of TTRPGs. That and you have to understand that TTRPGs are specialized. Even "agnostic" systems like PbtA are somewhat specialized, and therefore might really not be a great fit for the game you’re trying to make.

That and, to get more subjective again, there’s like an ocean of them, and I don’t even like the ones that are actually good.

Now that I’ve talked about how I don’t like PbtA games, I’m gonna talk about a game I do like: Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy. Obviously, I like it because I’m the lead writer for it, but I would also like it even if I wasn’t the lead writer for it, because it’s just my kinda game. Eureka is the opposite of a PbtA game. I wrote it to play to what I feel are the strengths of the TTRPG medium.

Eureka’s character creation uses personality traits as a mechanical element of the character, but it does so in a deliberately freeform way. You build your character’s personality out of a list of traits, so who your character is is very much linked to what your character can do, but we aren’t just handing you a pre-made character.

Eureka is designed to incentivize organic decision-making by the PCs, most often by the mechanics of the game mirroring the world they live in. Every mechanic aims to create situations wherein “what will the PC do next?” is a question whose answer can be predicted - it doesn’t need to be ordained by a playbook.

One of my favorite examples of this is, rather than a “Fear Check” forcing the PC to run away if they fail, or “Run Away from Danger” being a “Move” on their character sheet, Eureka opts for the Composure mechanic. The really short version is that one of the main things that lowers a PC’s Composure is encountering scary stuff, and the lower a PC’s Composure, the more likely they are to fail skill checks, and the more likely they are to fail skill checks, well, the less brave they and their player probably feel about them standing up to this scary monster. So if the PC has low Composure, they are more likely to choose to run away. The lower their Composure, the better idea that will seem.

This system really really shines when it comes to monster PCs in Eureka. Most monsters benefit a lot more from having high Composure, but have fewer ways to restore Composure than mundane PCs. Their main way to restore their Composure is by eating people. The rulebook never says “your monster PC has to eat people”, but more likely than not, they’re going to be organically steered towards that by the game and world itself. Sure, they could decide to be “one of the good ones”, and just never eat people, just like you reading this could decide to stop eating food. You technically could, but when your body starts to fail, how long would you? (This is a big part of the themes of Eureka and what it has to say about crime, disability, mental illness, and evil. People don’t just arbitrarily do bad things, it is often their circumstances that leads them down that path until they see little choice for themselves in that matter, and “harmful” people are still just as deserving of life as people who “aren’t harmful”, but that really deserves its own post.)

It has been said that Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually arrives at much the same end as the PbtA game Monsterhearts, and I actually don’t disagree, but it gets there from an entirely different starting point and direction. The monster PCs in Eureka are very likely to eat people and cause drama, but it won’t be because they have “Eat People and Cause Drama” as a “Move” on their character sheet.

Monsters in Eureka have a lot of abilities, which they can use to solve (and create) problems as the emergent story emerges organically.

(Oh and Eureka is about adult investigators investigating mysteries, and sometimes those investigators are monsters, not about monster kids in high school, to be clear. The same “end” that Eureka and Monsterhearts reach is that of the monsters being prone to cause problems and drama due to the fact that they are monsters, though this isn’t the sole point of Eureka, just one element of it.)

You can pick up the free shareware version of this game from the download link on our website, or the full version for $5 from our Patreon.

And don’t forget, Eureka is fundraising on Kickstarter starting on April 10th, 2024! We need your support there most of all, to make sure we hit our goals and can afford to make the best version of Eureka we can make!

Interested in branching out but can’t get your group to play anything but D&D5e? Join us at the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, where we nominate, vote on, and play indie TTRPGs, all organized by our team with no strict schedule requirement! Here's the invite link! See you there!

We also have merchandise.

[apocalypse-polakiewicz]

w.n__t