#arabelle cos

[tantaliart]

redesigns be upon you (part 1)

I’m rerunning curse of strahd, so I thought I’d give all my (rather well known at this point :p) designs a refresh :D

[dark-twist-fairytales]

Another one: "Daylight" by David Kushner, in relation to him and Arabelle.

Clayton Azran angst potential: "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons

[qusok]

@the-pale-chancellor this one is for you specifically

[pumpkincalico]

A short animatic of what I think strahd sounds like 👀

[anxresi]

A Short Zoe Rant Cos I Is Bored

The ONLY way Zoe would’ve been remotely acceptable in the show is if she’d been introduced MUCH earlier.

Like, the very first season.

Show her as a ‘counterpoint’ to Bully Chloe as one who is actually bullied, and how being raised in a completely different country & continent can influence one’s behavior & outlook.

Maybe she can have a few cameo scenes until she’s a full-time regular, show her chatting on the phone to her dad, sending letters to her sister etc.

Then, when she eventually DOES turn up later, give her more personality than ‘feel sorry for me, oh and btw I’m a lesbian’. Not everyone has to fall hard for her the minute she appears, and if you ARE going to make her a superhero, don’t give her the miraculous in her second ever episode!

And Mr Astruc wonders where these accusations of favoritism come from, when all this coincides with Chloe’s sudden descent from being a semi-complex character to a raving lunatic sociopath? Anyway…

Have Zoe perform some actual function in the show: like, give her a pivotal role in her sister’s redemption. Let her have some negative traits, apart from I-don’t know-how-special-I-truly-am (a common trait of badly written Mary Sues). Don’t let the finality of her character arc be a single pink streak in her hair(!) (talk about lack of ambition).

A few other ideas: Give her a girlfriend crush who ISN’T Marinette, because not everything has to revolve around Baker Girl. Quit putting words in the mouths of other characters how ‘perfect’ she is to manipulate and influence the young audience, it’s distracting and annoying.

Basically, the only thing I’d keep about her in her current incarnation are her shoes, which are pretty groovy TBH. Everything else can be ditched, including her name (Too close to ‘Chloe’ idk… I think something like ‘Arabelle’ would suit her) and design, (again, too similar to Baker Girl)

But, as anyone with half a brain cell would’ve figured out by now, she was only created as a flawless counterpoint to you-know-who so Mr Astruc and his lovable team of hacks wouldn’t have to do any real development on Chloe… they gave us a ready-made, blandly nicey-nice ‘cute’ replacement to just simper away in the background without doing anything of value and contributing the grand total of nothing to the dynamic of S4 onwards.

And seeing as how S4 is generally seen by a lot of people as the beginning of a steep decline in quality of the show, I guess she’s in good company.

Welcome to the dumpster fire, Zoe. We have cake! 🔥 🧁

[lexicals]

So I'm gonna write this down partially for my own reference and partially bc I'm curious to know what other dms following me think of the concept - curse of strahd module spoilers below the cut here

So long story short the CoS campaign I was running had to be put on hiatus because of inter-group issues, and at this point my plan is that once I've finished running our current pathfinder module, I want to reboot it minus the players that will not be returning for various reasons, and plus the new players that want to join from the pathfinder group.

Now obviously the rub here is that 2 of the 5 or so players have already played this module up to lv5, but the other 3 are coming in with varying levels of knowledge (one person has DMed it, but long enough ago that he doesn't remember most of it, plus a lot of the later sections I've got for this module are homebrew, and the other two know nothing about it other that what I and the other players have mentioned to them). I don't really like the idea of subbing in 2 or 3 new characters to the campaign halfway through, as this will be a completely new dynamic that they'll have to adjust to on the fly, as well as the new players having no context or attachment to anything that's happening, but nor would it be fair to the OG players to just slap them back to level 1 and have them try their best not to metagame.

So, I am thinking. What if I just groundhog day the whole party. They get reset back to the entrance of barovia, but retain all their levels and gear that they've picked up, and the NPCs that were travelling with them (Ireena and Arabelle, in this case). My in-universe justification for this is that one or both of the party members who will definitely not be returning fell prey to the temptations of the dark powers, and tried to kill either Ireena or each other, in order to earn themselves their own demiplane domain (they've just come out of a homebrew mini-domain, so this would be thematically appropriate I think). The third player who is currently a "maybe-depends-on-scheduling-but-probably-not" happens to be a paladin of lathander, so he (in his aspect as the morning lord) and the elven god of dusk whose name I cannot remember right now work together through her to perform an act of divine intervention that results in the reset, and can remove her from play if needed due to the impact of channelling that much divine power. This would be linked to postgame homebrew plans I had linked to a couple of players' backstories (unfortunately mostly the ones that are not returning, but what can you do) wherein shar aka mother night is amassing a cult in her name whose endgame goal is to summon a beast capable of destroying the moon and thus assassinating selune, who lathander & co are allied with. They know that if the cycle begins again with ireena's death/the party falling apart and strahd remains undefeated the party will not be able to leave barovia in order to combat what's happening on the material plane, and they can't afford the loss of time that would occur (I'm thinking it has to be this particular group for prophecy reasons or something idk about that yet lmao). The party get their reset with the warning that they cannot fail again.

This also means that I can justify a hike in difficulty by removing the influence of the morning lord and the sun itself from barovia, leaving shar and strahd more powerful as it becomes a very literal land of eternal night. Aside from that, my plan is to run everything mostly the same as before, with the hope that the old players will be able to have fun being allowed to selectively metagame with their knowledge of events, which they can share with the rest of the group, who also get to experience events they would otherwise have missed. It should mean we get through the content we've already covered fairly efficiently but with room for things to play out a little differently this time, whether that's fixing mistakes from last time or making new ones lol.

I think it's hopefully a fair solution but I would be really interested to hear what other people think about it; my main worry is that it won't have the intended effect and the old players will be bored while the new players feel swept along. Genuinely would love to know what other GMs or even just other players think of the concept!

[nancythepirate]

Pitva nepodstatných detailů v Arabele

Začaly jsme s přítelkyní koukat na Arabelu a už v prvním díle se nám podařilo stvořit konspirační teorii k tomu plakátu, co visí Majerovým v kuchyni

Proč mají na zdi Klaudiánovu mapu Čech, ptám se. Kdo z nich je takovej nadšenec do historické kartografie?

Petr je na to moc technicky založenej a jeho otec sice pracuje v televizi, ale kdyby to tam pověsil on, tak maximálně aby se blýsknul před návštěvou, jakej má rozhled, takže nabízím hot take - paní Majerová je nedostudovaná historička, která musela vzdát studia kvůli dětem a teď se snaží manžela tajně dohnat k infarktu.

nejsem specialista na socialistickou kuchyni, ale ten langoš s kostkama másla, nebo co to je, mi připadá jako akt msty.

EDIT: Zmínila jsem se o našem pozorování kamarádce a dozvěděla jsem se, že její rodiče měli Klaudiánku pověšenou v kuchyni celý její dětství. Tak teď nevím, jestli je to náhoda, nebo fakt socialistické domácnosti razily trend “Klaudiánovu mapu do každé rodiny”.

[whattheeverlovingfuck]

Curse of Strahdanya ep 8

arabell is the best I love when little children are sweary and violent

Oh god are they going to fight the abbot? In my 3 campaigns playing COS I never fought the abbot. I never even knew he was a celestial

[prose-priest-potentate]

There's a lot of fun symbolism and a lot of fun looping plotlines in our cos game that I just totally fell in love with man.

MOST recent on my mind is Marileina and Arabelle as morbid little best friends - like yeah, on the surface it's two girls of similar ages who meet and have similar powers and attitudes and get along like a house on fire. Love that.

But also Mari as Strahd's heir and Arabelle with direct ties to Madam Eva sort of just inheriting a better version of that relationship where technically the Zarovich royal line, the legitimate line, is integrated into the Vistani people again by this friendship between the girls instead of dangling by the aging remnants of Eva's care for her bro. And then Viktor! GOD I hated him at first and he IS awful but he's grown on me. And deciding that he's not Vargas' legitimate son???? That Lydia cheated with a Vistani man? WILD. Vargas Vallakovich who is OBSESSED with legacy and image, with a fucked up heir who causes problems politically who isn't even HIS and an orphan he picked up specifically to groom as a knee-breaker who he treats like a dog but doesn't adopt -because Izek doesn't deserve to be part of the family can you imagine?? But Izek's the one whose loyal and Viktor ruins an important marriage alliance. I just love seeing Vargas lose.

and IZEK AND VIKTOR and their budding romancing KILL me. STAKE to my HEART the symbolism isn't lost.

Viktor who runs to Krezk and meets Vasilka and just thinks she's the most interesting girl in the entire world who adores the fact that she's this brutish amalgamation of dead bodies given life, and Vasilka who has rarely met someone who didn't recoil in disgust at her, a young lady who meets a young man and they try to run away together and make a little life?! Adorable! Precious! They're going to grow together and make each other better! Viktor will learn to love and see the value in the world, and Vasilka will get to follow her dreams of adventure and curiosity!

Izek who meets a beast of a man who gives him the time of day and specifically is friendly to him when so few people (none) are, so he runs away from his obligations to Vallakai on a paper thin excuse and starts chasing down a future he didn't even know was an option.

Both of them as cruel, obsessive, vicious sons of Vallakai who meet people who want to see them grow and be loved.

Izek, who leaves behind a place that has crafted him from something bad into something worse, who then has a chance at a happily ever after laid out in front of him on gilded tableware; he gets his little sister back, inherits a step-brother along with her, ends up with two or three unlikely and very annoying friends that adore him, and ultimately will 1.) get his soul and 2.) see even his sitting foster-ish-brother Viktor doing better and having a second chance too.

There's just an ENTIRE generation of young people set to inherit the ashes of the world and build it back up and it's beautiful and I love it and I always wanted them to turn into this extensive dysfunctional family where they don't always see each other but Viktor and Vasilka send Christmas cards, Mari and Arabelle get their own little spin-off of high school slice of life, and Izek and Ismark get to settle down in positions as noblemen and finally have some say in their own damn lives.

[utcpias]

          ⊹˚. ♡ ship ideas

hiii ! so i’ve got quite a few characters and i’d like to get some more shippy stuff going with them. under the read more is a basic outline of what i want / what character it relates to and if you’re interested at all pls just like and we can discuss what one you are interested in ! i’ll start crossing them off as they get filled and add when i come up with other ideas but these are the main ones currently. please be aware i will only offer m/f and f/f on the below characters. last updated on 25/04/23.

angie rhodes / choreographer: the father of her child coming back into her life... please. she’s a single mother but we could write how they came to having a child. maybe exes and angie found out she was pregnant after they broke up. this can definitely be fleshed out.

arabelle jang / actress: give me co-workers that are rumoured to be together and are trying so hard to not make the rumours true but their currently recording a rom-com and it’s long nights, lots of events and press together and resisting each other is just proving difficult. then when something happens it’s even harder to try and hide there’s something between them.

archie baek / premiership footballer: archie is definitely a player. every other week the media are speculating on who is his flavour of the week. maybe your muse is someone he is trying to go on a date with or something and they know about his reputation. thinking a lot of back and forth of archie trying to win the chase etc. but would ultimately end in him falling for your muse and throwing his player life out the window.

autumn prescott / con artist: would love someone who knew her before she was kicked out of her home and got into the business she is in now. maybe they are a customer of elijah’s and autumn finds it easy to research them because they were close in high school. this one probably needs to be more fleshed out but just thinking it’s her constantly trying to run away from them because she’s worried it could incriminate her but also not being able to stay away.

cartier im / socialite & heir: give him the only girl he’s ever loved. the one that got away. the only person that he ever cared about or would ever care about. thinking a chuck bass x blair waldorf situation where they’ve never been in the right place at the right time. a high school fling/relationship that he’s never been able to get over.

celeste jeong / solo artist: someone from her old company that she had a fling with when they were trainees and no one knew. now she’s on go agency she no longer has a dating ban and maybe they re-connect and things spark again!!! she’s got such bad memories of her old company but they’re the only thing that kept her there.

devon kochi / ice skater: ice skater x coach relationship please i am BEGGING. maybe they tried to stay away from each other for the sake of training but the long days and late nights took it’s toll on both of them and they’re now trying to hide their relationship from other skaters and the media.

enzo jeong / premiership footballer: please give enzo the stay at home wag. could have met when enzo was signing for his first premiership team. thinking someone whose own career was kicking off at the same time as him. maybe everyone said she only got with him at the time because he was coming into a lot of money from his contract but they proved everyone wrong and are still growing strong. probably a lot of rumours speculating in the media about if they have broken up or not when she’s just at a work event and he had to travel for a game etc. 

evan ortiz / producer: thinking it’s an artist he’s currently working with they sparked something up on the last project and now they’re back in each other company it’s started again and they’re trying to hide it from the media. stolen glances and touches at public events where only their closet friends know they’re an item

peony kang / songwriter: one of her elder siblings industry friends would be kinda fun… maybe she helps write for them as a favour to her sibling and they realise just how much chemistry they have but they’re both trying not to act on it or trying to keep it hidden from not only the public but from her family too.

rowen xiao / socialite: someone from little money that her parents don’t approve of. they want their only daughter to marry rich, if not richer, and create heirs for the family business. she wants to find love, not riches. would be a constant battle of being from different worlds but rowen does everything she can to be with them.

scout bailey / olympic swimmer: give me childhood/high school sweethearts that were forced to split because of his training. he just wasn’t around wasn’t present because all his energy went into the training but now he’s older and has a career he’s got time and they re-connect again. 

sutton lee / member of band: i want the person she wrote all the clover songs about whether it’s sad or happy. i want the turmoil relationship that gave clover their first wins, their first awards. i want her trying to stay away but not being able to and only getting hurt again cause the two can’t figure it out or it’s never the right timing. her playing the happy songs to them but writing the heart wrenching songs behind closed doors.

zahra west / divorce lawyer: just want a cliché plot of someone showing her love does exist and that not everything in love is bad after she’s seen so many failed relationships. someone to be the sunshine to her rainstorm.

[xmoriartea]

2, 7 perhaps?

Ask game for CoS DMs

2. How long has your game been going? Is it finished or unfinished?

So we started nearly a year ago haha but I am a baby DM, this is my first time attempting to run a campaign and 2024 was a rough year for me, so we've only done like 5 games in that time haha So we are very unfinished. The party just got their card reading from Arabelle

7. What's your named character death count so far? (Players, friendly NPCs, villains.)

So far zero! But oh do I have plans for if players fall haha It got a little spicy for one of our warlocks in the last combat, but we have a cleric and a support warlock so he got back up with minimal southern grumbling lol

[larkaloke]

Arabel de Marchefort, half-elven fighter, and one of the lieutenants of the Ebony Arrows in our long-running D&D campaign. (Originally I played her in Baldur's Gate, as a secondary character to one of my Bhaalspawn, Taneth.)

I was sitting on the sketches for this series of portraits for a while, so I decided to use them for a quick style experiment in CSP. It's a little different from what I usually do, but definitely quick.

Thanatos Hawke, human fighter, and lieutenant of the War Dogs in our long-running D&D campaign. (Originally he was my character in Dragon Age II, but that campaign has ended up with characters from just about everywhere showing up in something of an alternate-reality type deal.)

Anzegarnox, more commonly known as Ansgar, a copper dragon paladin and co-leader of the Adamant Knights in our long-running D&D campaign. Ansgar is original to the campaign.

Segrinarix, often known as Segri, a battle dragon legendary dreadnought and co-leader of the Gods of War in our long-running D&D campaign. Segri is original to the campaign.

It was nice to get back to just drawing my characters, so hopefully I'll be doing more of that in the future!

[dark-twist-fairytales]

*staring at CoS Chapter 15*

EX-FUCKIN'-CUSE ME??? EXCUSE ME???

[Spoiler for end of CoS Chapter 15 under the cut]

~~~

THE CARDS??!?!?! THE CARDS??? THEY WERE- THEY- WHAT?????

I didn't fuckin' know that there was A SHEPHERD CARD??? WHAT??? HOLY SHIT????

I'm- Oh wow. Okay. Uhm... Wow. I couldn't handle much after the Vallaki thing. I even looked at the official Strahd wiki and- wow??? That wasn't entirely planned but also ON THE MARKET?? I'm- I'm really happy with how that turned out actually. Oh my gods.

Nikkie... Man. You have outDONE yourself! But also- How the fuck??? Did you have their fortunes planned??? The cards got shuffled??? DID THEY FUCKIN' LAND LIKE THAT???

Man... Madam Eva... You're somethin'. I want Arabelle safe with the professor, is that too much to ask for?

[generic-cleric]

The first continuation of Ireena’s Bad Hair Day.

Better Hair Day: Arabelle

Alternate versions of Ireena with other characters to come~

I love when my npcs get to interact <3

[starkidmack]

Anyway if you haven’t listened to the latest COS: SS episodes yet, you’re missing out

[willowc]

So my current/old CoS campaign is wrapping up soon, so i'd thought i'd post my characters, Lokki Lyesmith and Sloane.

Lokki was for my dm's original campaign as a tiefling Arcane Trickster, who definitely had a thing for Ireena. However after the campaign went on permanent hiatus which we decided was explained by huge failed uprising in-universe. He then started working with van richten and co, adopting arabelle, or in our canon, Sera.

Sloane on the other hand, is an order of the ghostslayer bloodhunter for our current campaign, who decided to drop out of art school after her now-ex Escher left to go live a life of hedonism and luxury somewhere else. Throughout her training she became a mentor/older sister figure to our other ghostslayer bloodhunter, JD. Not pictured is the fabled 4d12 per shot musket. Very fun to roleplay, and I can't wait to run her in my own campaign.