#anyway this ttrpg has taken over my brain

[wof-reworked]

1 & 40 for the ask game?

normally I would feel bad abt posting this late but this ask was sent on the day of my mom's death so like I am going to cut myself a little slack lmao. Anyway ask games amiright???

| 1. Favorite character? [Can be anyone, even that weirdo that appears for one page]

QIBLIIIIIII,,,,,,,,,, QIBLIIIIIIIII (rattling the bars of my car) CAN ANYONE HEAR ME????? QIBLI WHERE ARE YOU WHERE DID YOU GO HELP ME HE-

anyway I think he's neat. Peril and Sunny are also two v close faves, I just latched onto that boy from an early age as any traumatized queer wof fan is ought to do. Him, Winter, and Moon make me a little unwell in the head.

| 40. Free space! Ramble as much as you want!

I just think this whole place is neat, and I love WOF dearly. I'm gonna ramble about my tabletop game, because I'm excited that it's almost near finished !!

I've decided to do away with classes, and make the main playbooks based off of the tribes. This has made things a tad complicated, because coming up with mechanics and balancing each tribe has been a bit messy since the books also have them rather unbalanced. The main system I've been using involves a fluid stat pool- your modifiers (i.e. your bonuses to rolls in DnD like charisma, wisdom, etc.) are a currency you spend in relation to the effort you're putting in- the goal is to hit a sweet spot number (or go all out or comically low for the roleplay). So certain tribes are naturally going to be given a slight boost in their abilities from the jump, but w/o the implication they need to necessarily be good at it 24/7 (so Rainwings get a boost to flexibility, Mudwings to health, etc). There's a flat stat boost to each, as well as a unique role (or multiple). This can be the Mudwing sibling band (traveling with your sibs and/or making rolls with them can give you bonuses), Rainwing and Sandwing venom, or Icewings serrated talons. What I'm currently working on is the rare tribe abilities/traits- I don't want animus to fall into this category, bc I find it to be separate and not as fun, but stuff like the Mudwing firescales. That's been the big slowdown, as well as finetuning the dice. I'm v excited and v grateful for the patience of everyone on discord as I figure this out, especially w everything kind of,,,, going to shit irl ^^;;. Thx for the free rambling space !!

Link to the original Ask Game

[dirgecomic]

Real talk: scroll on by if you ain’t into it.

No idea what to do. Long story long. I’m obsessed with starting a commune. I see it as the last real answer to the way the world works.

I have done the ground work, found friends I trust who are interested in getting land together and the privilege to ACTUALLY try to start a little small village of people.

I have been working ttrpg live shows, therapeutic games, twitch, making merch etc. I have made friends with local fantasy themed businesses who work with me in amazing projects and the community I’m building for work and for life is becoming a really beautiful thing. I have worked hard for this kind of progress.

But my country is falling apart, people like me are having rights taken away or thier lives. My partner has pretty significant care/assistance needs and relys heavily on services our goverment is supposed to provide.

FIGHT, FLIGHT, FREEZE

I’m in freeze. And I need to figure out what we’re gonna do. Because everyone is saying the writing is on the walls.

Do I leave? Do I stay?

I’m fighting facism with community, love, energy, joy. I am working to create collaborative queer, disability friendly, acsessable spaces for people to join and smile and be ridiculous and more importantly PLAY!!

To abandon that and start over is a wild idea. I don’t think what’s happening will blow over. But I do believe it’s any man’s game. My hope is that the administration will over reach and accidentally unite the people. (Im talking about me standing next to a proud boy storming the capital type unity). I’m playing chicken with mad men who don’t know I exist.

If I leave, I lose my community, my life (structure), everything I’ve worked for and guys, when my partner got hurt, I left my old life and started a new one to help him - so I have already had to start over entirely, I’m afraid to start again. It was an easy choice to help, but it wasn’t a pain free choice.

There is no answer here, only brain thoughts.

Anyway I’m sending love to all of you. Baton down your hatches either way and spread love and joy and play where ever you can.

We’re all just sentient stars controlling tamagotchi meat suits. I see you for what you are - a beautiful human deserving safety.

Bleh - have an ok one guys!

[intertexts]

HI ROS !!!!!! coming into ur inbox this lovely afternoon with a random question bc i like your taste in things. I need a new work podcast bc im caught up with most of my other ones. I've got TWO saved because of you so I thought I'd get ur opinion: which one first. hello from the hallowoods or skyjacks :] ik u like them both (and I DO plan to get thru them both eventually but I need 2 do them one at a time or else I'll explode)

OH GOD. INSANELY HARD QUESTION!!!!!!!! FUCKED UP!!!!!!! umm. ok. ok. they're both still currently ongoing, hfth has 160 episodes so far & skyjacks has something like 230. hfth has a sort of anthology structure with many different key characters and protagonists and plot threads that all get woven together through vignettes, skyjacks is just one overarching narrative. that's the quick comparison.

-hfth: good if ur still the kind of guy who gets really emotional over casual trans & queer rep in the year of our lord 2024 despite it being "everywhere now" and "not a big deal." (me LMAO) it's not like, a podcast About That, & it's kind of reductive to say that as the first thing about it, but like. it is deeply and fundamentally and lovingly a gaytrans show. it's horror, but like, the horror equivalent of spiced tea before bedtime, more strange and warped and delightful surrealism than much else. doesn't leave u with the Residue (neutral!!! feeling awful after u finish a horror thing is like frequently part of the appeal!!) that heavier horror does. anthology with overarching plot & it's really really fun to figure out the way all the pieces fit together. there are very endearing terrifying eldritch gods and gay sad little demons and ghost boys and older butches and sentient skulls inside a weird tank body. many very resonant themes and motifs. tons of really great character work, i can think of off the top of my head at least five or so characters u will love, very fun show. makes me miss living in the woods!!!!

skyjacks: okay man. you KNOW this is my favorite ttrpg show of all time. c'mon. okay. yeah despite the insane way pd has taken over my brain (& it is a REALLY good n fun show i think) & the way im constantly talking about friends at the table as a seminal actual play show that does some of The best writing in any of the space & is easily the Best, etc. skyjacks is so fucking good. james d'amato is an incredible gm, the sound design is really lovely, the worldbuilding is. my favorite. sometimes i just sit and kick my feet around giggling and smiling and thinking about spéir. its so fucking sick it feels like folklore and fairy tales and historical romances. there are huge birds u can fly on instead of horses. the sea is angry and has spit you out. the gods are dead and the stars have fallen out of the sky. pirate story, also, btw. u will fall in love with the uhuru. maybe partially why i haven't started riptide bc skyjacks is already The pirate campaign to me. i also already know Exactly which pc u will latch onto. honestly the pcs & their dynamics are also all really compelling, nobody at the table fucking misses.

anyway. TERRIBLE answer to this question ummm i would listen 2 the pilot of both of them n then choose! they're both two of my all time faves!!! enjoy!!! :3333

[piratespencil]

Hewwo i want to ask some dnd questions!! 6, 31, and 32 uwu 🦍

6. Which of your d&d characters has been the least like you?

Oh man... If we’re talking any ttrpg and not just D&D, then it’s definitely my Edge of the Empire character. Voz Azura is a cyborg hired gun who is just a huge murder asshole. Absolutely terrible person. I love playing him but I definitely kept making him Too Nice bc idk how to be mean lol!!!

I do hope we return to our EotE campaign at some point bc it was fun to try and figure out how I wanted to play a character that is just... so different from me.

31. Tell me about your current party!

I’m GM-ing for my current party and I love them so much!! Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one...

First we have Bly (who is literally u @awittylemon​ but I’m gonna describe Bly for the world anyways lolol). Bly started out as a tiefling barbarian named Blithe who got killed and taken over by an intellect devourer in like... session four, and their player (the famous @awittylemon​ herself!) has been playing the actual intellect devourer ever since. They’ve taken over several different bodies by this point and are currently inside of a horse anthro member of the City Watch (named Megan Thee Stallion bc this was supposed to be a random joke npc not Bly’s new body but!! stuff happens!!).

Then there’s Radish (played by @whovian-troll-pirate), who started out as a sentient raccoon cleric (originally a cleric of Waukeen, and then eventually a cleric of the Raven Queen), who then had their body destroyed and their brain turned into an intellect devourer with most of their raccoon memories intact (long story). They’ve also done a lot of body hopping but are currently in the body of a half-giant woman named Rissag who is a cleric of Tempus. (Lots of cleric stuff happening here lol.) Radish started out as such a little sweetie and has had... just the wildest character arc.

Then we have Pendleton! (Played by @orangegoose.) He’s a dwarf hexblade warlock of the Raven Queen who was once a simple potato farmer but who got wrapped up in Warlock Stuff after some vampires took over his town. Now he’s in the big city trying to make money to send his kids to a good school in Neverwinter and he is both Just A Dad but also a guy who really is pretty much willing to do any morally grey thing in order to make money and also to run Lif’s (once known as Trollskull Manor), the bar that the party owns and operates. He’s just a guy trying to do his best. Also he can shapeshift into a shark now.

And finally there’s Skree (played by my brother), who was once a seagull and is now a seagull that can turn into a guy. Just a dude. He has a gun and he’s pretty much feral and he spends a lot of his time eating rats and accidentally injuring his friends with his gun. He refers to himself as Leader Skree and is definitely the handsomest seagull around. (He’s also connected to a lot more of what’s going on than he might let on but that’s SPOILERS...)

32. Most memorable NPC you’ve encountered in a game you played in.

Can I say my own NPC?? I’m gonna say my own NPC. I love Geoff the drow ex-sailor that my party rescued from indentured servitude in fantasy IKEA and hired to work at their bar. He is my best boy.

(Geoff showed up in our game before I ever listened to NeoScum, but as soon as I met Max NeoScum I was like WHAT HOW this is just Geoff. The voice, the vibes, the personality. Geoff is Max and I love them both.)

[jq37]

thoughts on this week's ep?

**spoilers for broadway brawl**

***Before we start, I remembered as I was typing this one of the important notes I lost from last week’s recap: Interesting that Christmas seemingly went off without a hitch. I expected Santa to come back into play somehow (like, someone would check on him to make sure Christmas was still on or he’d call them in to help or something) but he hasn’t, at least not yet.***

My guys, my guys, my guys. Was that something or was that something?

I think I am on record as saying that combat is my least favorite part of ttrpgs generally speaking because I’m here for the RP but when a combat episode shines it really freaking shines (see eg: that first combat ep of Bloodkeep where everyone went full Galaxy Brain except for Matt who couldn’t hit a single thing) and this is such a good example. This is easily a top five ep of the season for me, maybe top three so let’s get into it and break down why it was so awesome.

We start right where we left off with Titania and members of her court having come into the theater to beat the tar out of Misty mid-show.

Quick note: At the end of last ep, it was set up so that Misty was thrust on stage right after hearing the mirror was on stage which would place this fight right at the top of Act 2 but at the start of this ep, Brennan seems to indicate that it’s taking place during what would be the closing number. Which would make more sense but imagine you go see a play, the first act is super dope, and then the second act is an insane, minute long fight that’s pretty unconnected to the plot and then a buff, naked, beautiful man tells you the show is over and you should leave. Wild. Anyway.

Pixies with tommy guns in inherently funny.

So one of the things that makes this fight really great is the way it directly ties into the story in a way besides “These bad guys are in our way.” Misty is using this show as a part of her reincarnation spell so if the show is messed up, it fails and she’s on her last life. Brennan has a cool mechanic of making her roll death saves every round at a difficulty lower than her modifier (which is s/t crazy like 11) but that gets harder with damage done to her and performance checks failed by other players who decide to jump on stage. It’s a great way to make the battle feel like it has more personal stakes and it’s my fave original Brennan mechanic since the Family in Flames Sophie’s Choice situation.

(I love that the death save counter is changed for theater comedy/tragedy masks for this. Nice touch.)

Em, Esther, and Wally are also at the fight which is clutch.

Also, Sondheim is specifically here which is an insane detail to add just because.

WILD that no one knows what’s going on with the ritual initially because, as Lou almost does, getting all the civilians out is the smart move and it would COMPLETELY ruin Misty’s plans instantly.

Lou having Kingston take the stairs bc’s he’s 50+ years old and has no time for that nonsense has equal but opposite energy to him doing extra rolls for Fabian to do unnecessary parkour before a simple attack because Fabian’s Like That.

Murph fireblasts the hell out of Titania’s foot soldiers right off the bat from outside of counterspell range which is very cool.

“Give me a performance check for the cockroach.”

“You’re upstaging me bitch?”

Another great thing about this fight is that because of it’s theatrical nature, everyone’s RPing it more than a usual battle ep (or more intensely maybe is what I mean).

Titania hypnotizes Don Confetti and his goons into fighting for her.

“She doesn’t know she’s in a play but she does sing most of her dialogue which is helpful for you.” Titania is just Like That.

Pete drops an erupting earth and drops a sick 37 damage on those same minions Kug got.

I didn’t notice before but yeah, Ally does roll die like a f-ing beyblade champion.

Emily hearing Murph’s low key, offhand comments and cracking up is great.

“Get Sondheim!” (Emily and then Ally: WHAT?!)

Actual living dude Stephen Sondheim being involved in this fight is just so ridiculous and fun and crazy.

We go around to Misty’s turn and she has to beat a 28 (upped from 10) and she fails which feels worse than a normal failed death save somehow.

Lou, in a very good RP move, tells Pete to tell Misty to end the show so she can tell them not to so the group has a valid reason to not evacuate which is a thing they (or at least him and Ricky) would obviously want to do.

Sophie, the madwoman, jumps out of the balcony, grabs a costume, then runs on stage. Emily’s glee at being told that her grabbing the costume will give her advantage is great. She’s always trying to figure out how to make the most of her moves. She is the living embodiment of the concept of method to madness (which is from Hamlet since we’re talking Shakespeare today). 

Ox is constantly dying (Brennan!) but also it’s like, why was he even there before the fight started? I’ve never seen a non-service dog in a theater.

Ricky: Is this part of it?

Oh, forgot to mention that everything that happens on stage is kinda shielded by the Umbral Arcana so everyone watching thinks it’s part of the show, which is a cool plot detail.

Ricky gets fULLY NAKED (Emily, with perfect comic timing: Now do I roll with disadvantage?) and leaps into the fray. He casts Protection from Evil and Good on her which (1) He does by Magic Mike body-rolling on her while he’s naked and considering how much shorter she is that her raises some interesting questions about positioning and (2) is the most clutch use of this spell I’ve seen in a while. It’s a spell I always wanna take as a Paladin because it makes sense character-wise, but I’ve never been able to actually use it because we’re never fighting fiends, fae, or celestial.

Brennan’s dime change change reversal of the critic’s comments on Ricky’s body rolls when Zac re-rolls his 11 makes me glad I never had to face him in a debate team setting.

Ally: What’s Esther’s deal ;)/Brennan: *Esther’s Weapon Stats*

“Your only secret you’ve ever had in your life is that you have a crush on her.”

Wally has a beautiful singing voice and a working knowledge of Midsummer's which is wild.

Lou’s periodic, “My man”’s when Ally/Pete does something cool. He’s very dialed into being Kingston.

Ricky’s aura keeps everyone near him from being charmed and Misty saves everyone else w/ a nat 20 counterspell. Few things in D&D are more satisfying than a well executed counterspell.

Titania trying to get Pete to be her consort or something when he just over the super posh Priya is very funny.

“I mean between me and Sondheim, get Sondheim!”

“DO WE HAVE HOMEWORK TONIGHT?” (“We did have homework.”)

Anyway, Misty has one success now!

Misty tries to use puppet to get Titania to drop her crown and it doesn’t work. Brennan says the crown is Crown of Stars which I looked up and it’s actually a spell, not a physical crown, but I’m assuming he used the mechanical effects of the spell on a physical item.

Brennan doing all these musical/singing bits when he absolutely doesn’t have to. I love it.

I love Ricky and Sophie being the two martial fighting heavy hitters of the group. Like, the two fighters, having the spellcasters’ backs.

I hope the one kung fu fan in the back of the theater never sees another Broadway show again because he’s gonna be so disappointed. 

“I’m just so inspired by that beautiful penis.”

Murph, out of character, verbally acknowledging how insane what they’re doing is. I love when someone pauses in a game of D&D to just recite what’s currently happening out of context so everyone can appreciate how crazy it is. D&D. Gotta love it..

Emily and Siobhan have a quick conversation in the background about whether Sondheim did Les Mis or not (not, that’s Claude-Michel Schönberg) while Brennan and Murph are Ring nonsense.

I also was mildly suspicious of Alyssa so I’m glad Kingston checked her out.

The entire roast of Brennan when he’s selecting D6s is an instantly iconic D20 moment. I can’t do it justice. You kinda just have to see it.

“Someone call Wizards of the Coast!”

Em, Wally, and Alyssa go out when Titania puts out a huge spell that blinds Kug.

“Yummy, yummy, tastes like ass.”

On Misty’s next turn, she rolls a fail which makes it 2 failures to 1 success. Brennan mentions that a nat 1 counts as 2 failures and a nat 20 counts as 2 successes. I’m sure that won’t be relevant later because you can’t foreshadow things when dice rolls are completely random.

Misty fails on puppet again again and Titania goes full Wicked Witch of the West on her and starts Jonesing for those shoessss.

Emily’s Emily(tm) move of the session is doing a flying leap at Titania, hitting her with a stunning strike and having Brennan retract the Box off Doom he was pulling out because she can’t save when she’s stunned. She just plummets out of the sky.

Don Confetti respecting the sacrament of marriage as he goes full Opera ghost and tries to garrote Sophie.

Ricky (still naked) grabs the crown from Titania, tosses it to Misty, and, with some improv and a good charisma roll, makes the show suddenly make sense to the very confused but entertained audience.

I’m so glad that Murph decided to turn into a bear and that they made the Winter’s tale ref. I should have had faith in Brennan and Siobhan, the theater nerds. Exit pursued by a bear y’all.

Lou and Emily bonding over being proud of their die for rolling well when they lend it out for a big roll.

Really wish Pete had wild magic surged in this fight. Just to add that extra bit of chaos. 

With a very good turn (no damage taken, no performances failed) Misty only has to avoid snake eyes to get through this turn. She leapfrogs over that low bar and rolls a nat 20, instantly fulfilling her win condition. At this point, the play is superfluous and Titania is still down.

“Brennan lost and now he knows reddit is gonna eat his ass.”

OK, remember how I said earlier that Misty seems like the kind of character you nudge a little temptation at just to spice things up? Yeah, her killing Titania and getting the crown of the Seelie Fae makes me a liiiitle apprehensive, but we’ll see how that turns out.

“I killed my queen! This is America we don’t have royalty here.”

“Bear, I don’t know who you are, but take me on your back, let me ride on stage.” —creator of West Side Story, Stephen Sondheim

Misty charms the critic at the show to make sure they get a good review which is such a fae thing to do.

Kingston’s clearly not loving attacking Don and Co. post “real fight” what with his whole Do No Harm thing (well, that’s Dr’s but same principle applies I assume) is a good character detail. For that matter, so is Ricky just taking Titania’s crown and not beheading her which he super could have done while she was down but it would have been very incongruous with everything else about him.

Brian “This isn’t Loony Tunes” Murphy throws Sondheim as a projectile weapon at a pixie who snaps the pixie’s neck and then does a monologue at the audience.

I love it when someone rolls low on an insight check and Brennan gives them useless info and then they repeat it in their character’s voice.

4 mins from the end of the ep, Siobhan realizes there are two Perrys in this story for the first time and has a bigger reaction to that than almost everything else in this ep except her nat 20.

Ricky looks for costume faun legs to cover his fully out dick instead of costume pants or even his own pants.

Misty starts glowing with reincarnation energy and she runs into her dressing room for privacy. Also, she still super hasn’t told anyone what’s going on. (ALSO, assuming she’s gonna make the world think she died, it’s gonna be wild for the company of the show to have their leading lady put on the performance of her life and then die on opening night).

“Who am I to refuse a crown when it’s placed so deftly upon my head?”

You know that behind the scenes thing where Brennan is like, “Yeah, I knew Siobhan was gonna steal that book,”? I got some of those vibes during the crown scene.

The implications of what Misty did are gonna be left until next ep but Brennan says something about her creating her own court and it looks like she’s recruiting followers in the promo. IDK how I feel about that (these stories tend to have great power--especially tied to powerful magical items--as a corrupting force) but I am very excited to see how it goes down! See you then!