#based on stuff that happened in a recent dnd session
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sskk + things you didn’t say at all
There were many things Atsushi could have said and wanted to as he leapt forward, putting himself between Akutagawa and that unknown artifact that clearly posed a threat, but didn’t.
Like ‘You’ve won today, fair and square.’ ‘It’ll be my treat, ‘kay. With pleasure.’ or ‘Next time you won’t be so lucky.’
There were many things Atsushi could have said and wanted to as he pushed Akutagawa away from him and that dreadful thing that was starting to pull him into its closest proximity, but didn’t.
Like ‘Now we’re even.’ or ‘I think I get it now, why you saved me back then on the ship.’
He did get it now, still. That or he was being a complete fool for even considering the possibility of Akutagawa doing it for the same reasons which had moved him then and there. But, the point was: when push came to shove, it had been as natural as breathing, so much his body had moved on its own and way faster than his thoughts. Or maybe ‘thought’ would be more precise, since the only thing in Atsushi’s mind had been dead set on simply not letting him be harmed.
Even at the cost of his own security.
There were many things Atsushi could have said and wanted to as he smiled softly, overcome with both the aforementioned epiphany and the joy of having succeeded combined, but didn’t.
Instead, he just kept staring at Akutagawa for as long as he could while he disappeared into whatever that thing was, while nothingness surrounded him during what seemed like an eternity but couldn’t have lasted more than a minute or two at most. Instead, he just hurried him in the same way Akutagawa had done when he took that terrible slash for him, because danger wouldn’t be stopping there either.
Instead, he simply said:
“Run.”
(Also on ao3.)
#sskk#shin soukoku#akuatsu#nakajima atsushi#akutagawa ryunosuke#bsd atsushi#bsd akutagawa#bsd#bungou stray dogs#my stuff#clau stuff#ficlet#huehuehue#based on stuff that happened in a recent dnd session#aka: atsushi is currently a cat in a box y.y#he'll get rescued dw#anyway i have sever brainworms from then
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SORRY GUYS OMG BRAINROT MOMENT 💥💥💥
So if it wasn’t obvious with the lil Gong Shu asks I’ve been doing more recently YES I PLAY DND but alsoooo I do dm infact I just had my first session today (yesterday)!!
And I feel like going on a tangent really so no LMK content today it’s more dnd stuff I know I knowww
BUT DND OK???
(Ready for my ramble?! Read on!!! Let me know what you think as wellll)
So first right to get this out of the way I won’t go too much into detail what it is about since I believe 2(?) of my players follow me here and I don’t want them to get spoiled for stuff we haven’t reached. But I can share these silly NPCS!!
As well as the oneshot (yes this is a oneshot) is called Stuck in Smiles and is a Horror/Halloween based oneshot 😋
Below thou are three of the NPCS that I get to play! Dinko was and still is currently the players favorite in this household so… I mean i can’t blame them thou. She’s a skrunkly birdddd (she’s not blind btw)
But anyways she’s sorta like a guide basically but the players decided to steal her from the candy shopkeeper and now are in a mysterious mansion in a different Demi-plane 👍
I’m said Demi-plane they meet two other children, I forgot to mention this but all the players’ characters are small children as we have a stat blocker(?) that de-ages them or somethin I don’t remember off the top my head.
But anywaysss they meet other children there which I can’t ramble much about them rn besides the fact that Sha is currently missing and the last time that any of the players saw him was through a keyhole laying on the ground being dragged away…
while Jia um she’s possessing one of the players now 😀 (they volunteered btw I didn’t give them this option) since they want Jia to help find Sha since the two are friends(ish)
Here are their goals though nowww as of Session 1!!
Take care of Jia if anything happens to Sha
Find or Make Jia a new body to possess for herself
Find and Rescue Sha
Make it out of the Mansion
Also yes I am aware my art style looks different in each one of the pieces, my art style fluctuates depending on what I use and the day 👍
#dnd#dnd one shot#halloween#crimart#dnd oc#dnd campaign#dnd5e#dnd ocs#late night thoughts go brrrrr#rambles#stuck in smiles dnd#art#artist#digital art
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Advice for New DMs
I’ve been lucky enough to have DM’d a weekly game for over a year now and I’ve had conversation with people irl and online about how they think about DMing but aren’t necessarily too confident in their own ability or don’t even know where to start. So here’s some things I would suggest to get started, things to keep in mind and advice about general stuff. Here we go;
1) Familiarise Yourself with the Rules. You can read the DMs Manual or the Player’s Manual for rules. You can find rules explained everywhere online from Roll 20 to DND Beyond. But if you don’t like reading, and I get that cause the thought of reading a 200+ page instruction manual on how to play a game does sound daunting, I would suggest watching or listening to Actual Play Shows. If you watch like a few episodes of Critical Role or Dimension 20, you kind of get the basics of DnD. That’s really all you need to start DMing, just the basics like “what which Dice do”.
2) Know your Players. DnD is a collaborative game and all good collaboration necessitates some base understanding of who you’re collaborating with. You don’t necessarily need to know the people you’re playing with very well, but just enough to get where you can decide whether these people are chill to play with. So say if you’re gonna be playing a horror/scary campaign and you know one of the people in mind for playing isn’t too into horror- maybe don’t have them play cause it will make them uncomfortable. That example is perfectly fine but it delves into extremes when you’re dealing with people who are just difficult. You can look up online and find tons of stories relating to bad dnd experiences with just rude, shitty people. I would like to clarify that by saying that these experiences aren’t a DnD problem- it’s a social group problem. If you hang out wih a shitty person they will inevitably do shitty things, and honestly its better that a shitty outburst occurs at a controlled environment such as a DnD Game than say a house party where all sorts of shit could happen. So know your players. If they’re cool people, they’ll make cool players. If they’re kind of shit heads, they’re going to cause a lot of issues and not the fun kind. Know the difference between “shenanigans” and “open disrespect” because you as the DM put a lot of work into the game, if the players don’t respect that- maybe don’t play with them. No dnd is better than bad dnd
3) Know Your Game. This rule helps a lot if you are familiar with lots of DnD shows, which gives you a frame of reference for the type of campaign you wanna run. If you wanna go big dramatic epics with a lot of strict survivalist rules, Critical Role is a good place to reference. If you wanna go for balls to the wall humour with a lot of heart and emotional moments, NADDPOD is a good place to reference. You want a proper scary campaign, watch Sophomore Year from Dimension 20- it is primarily a comedy show but when they do drama they do DRAMA. Knowing your players allows you to know the game better. It took me quite a while in my own campaign t realise “Oh I’m not running a CR game, I’m running a NADDPOD game” and ater I realised that I was able to play it better. Know the game, know the genre, know what you and your players like and enjoy and try to maximise that fun.
4) Preparation. DMs do a lot of preparation whenever they intend to run a game. I would argue that the amount of preparation you want to do should be equal to the amount of time you’re willing to spend. Sad fact of life is that DnD, and other activities with friends, are all dependant on IRL scheduling. A campaign can fizzle and die out at a moments notice, not all stories get finished and if you wanna start any creative process that’s a reality you have to accept. I’m a creative person, I do quite a lot of writing and stuff on the side so when I do prep for DnD I don’t want to spend too much of my creative juice on a project that only six people at a table will know about compared to one that would feature a larger audience. Also if you have a busy schedule you might not have time to worldbuild, so short cuts help. So in those respects I don’t see anything wrong with being lazy. There are plenty of websites online where you can randomly generate maps, towns, characters- you name it. You don’t need to spend hours on end developing streets of a city that no one will walk down or lore behind businesses no one will ask about. You just need to be familiar enough with the history or your world, its vibe and tone in which you can effectively improv the rest. I’ve been DMing a game now for well over a year, I spend less than an hour a week doing prep. I write a few bullet points for stuff to bring up in the session, I make a brief map for encounters, I’ll look up monster stats, maybe draw up some homebrew and heroforge pictures of the NPCs- that’s it
5) Improv. I think 90% of DMing is pure improv. Depending how well you know your players and their characters, you can predict certain behaviours. So if you have an NPC say or do something that you know will gaina certain reaction from a player, that’s something you are certain about. Everything else however can be improv based. Players will surprise you. They’ll do weird dumb shit and they will do really cool game breaking shit. You have an NPC who was supposed to be a big villain? Well the PCs all teamed up and with an effective strategy, that NPC is now dead. It’s the lay of the land. The goal with prep is to have enough prepared that you can effectively pull stuff out of your ass with no issue. Improv isn’t necessarly difficult, all you really need is to listen. When a player responds to something and you feel its worth rolling for, have them roll for it. If tey roll well, tell them they did the thing. If not, tell them they didn’t. If the thing they asked for is impossible, tell them it’s impossible. You can come up with all sorts on the fly
6) DND isn’t like TV/BOOKS/MOVIES. DND is a weird medium of entertainment. Its a collaberative game where you all make a narrative, but a lot of strange stuff happens in between. Like if youre watching a movie or a show or reading a book you might think to yourself “why is this character spending twenty minutes talking to this waiter that genuinely isn’t that interesting?” or something like “why did the main villain die five pages in?” DND doesn’t follow a beat structure or format. Plot armor doesn’t fit here, it’s all decisions and luck- that’s it. Don’t be dissapointed in your work in regards to storytelling. Don’t worry about plot holes or inconsistencies, just focus on player engagement. If the players are having fun, then you’re playing the game right. You as the DM have to make sure that everyone is playing fairly and having fun. Treat your players equally, don’t be a dick, don’t be a pushover. You have to know what your players want, but also know what they don’t want. If your players like a weird NPC, have that NPC show up more cause they enjoy it. If your players discover an ability ot a magic object that left untouched will alter game play (e.g. one of my PCs recently gained an ability in which they gained the breath weapon of an ancient red dragon) that if used effectively could elminate all threat from any boss fight ever- don’t be afraid to NERF that. You need to be considerate about your enjoyment and the players enjoyment, its all in the balance.
That’s the main six points I have so far. If I have anymre I’ll be sure to add them. If anyone has any advice, feel free to add below. Hope this helps! Also; Brennan Lee Mulligan has a good podcast giving DM advice called Adverturing Academy. Has a lot of cool guests. The episode featuring Carlos Luna from Roll 20 is actually good career advice and gets me motivated just thinking about it. Definitely worth checking out!
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session 92 end (bye 413...)
this session was so long but so fucking hectic what the fuck
im going to try and slim it down to its bare essentials rather than go on a full rant because im pretty sure i want to make a post later on about vriska’s characterisation (not anything about me liking her/disliking her, just an analyse on her life really, so it wont be too bias because thats not the point of an analysis. i also want to do one on aradia, been meaning to for a while... hmm... damn i havent done much analogies lately, and i THINK the last long post on a character i made was about davesprite??? so its been a fucking while. that being said, ill leave a lot of details out for this end of session notes so i dont just repeat myself later on. rather will keep to plot points here and then make character points in another)
alright
first we had a page or two where aradia confided in nepeta about her being dead which means nepeta is the only one to know this revelation. im pretty sure aradia confided because there was no other way around it, since nepeta was her server player, so it was inevitable. either way, aradia still put her trust in nep, which means, if you think about it, nobody else knows and nobody else ever will. and considering aradia asked nep to keep it a secret, it probably wont get explored by others until MAYBE later on, whenever its plot relevant, so everyone will be in the dark about it for a while which ill have to remember for future dialogue and scenes with aradia in them
then we met vriska
which, yes, is a meme. i may not have been on a lot of fandom platforms, but you cant escape some of the stuff that goes around the internet. even if you dont know undertale, im pretty sure you know of sans. or komaeda if you have/havent seen danganronpa. its just.. the memes, ya know? ive heard from many sources of the “vriska did nothing wrong” quote (even through mbmbam which??? WHAT) but since i didnt even know what it meant, i never explored it so then i never knew it was a homestuck thing. imagine my surprise...... i think even at the time, i wouldnt have known what homestuck was either honestly so it wouldnt even matter. i only recently learned about the fandom.... uhh, maybe half a year ago??? yeah, august, so my knowledge was slim but vriska is a thing ive heard before, which still shocks me
goddammit
anyways back to her
so her intro was something, we pretty much found out she likes DnD (a FANATIC in fact) and feeds her lusus the flesh of living trolls. which is fucked up. but i wont get too much into detail about that until i make a post about her life on alternia and the consequences of such. or maybe just alternia in general...?? or *both* heheheh but i feel i need more information before i go off on a tangent about that
then we met??? white text dude?? who is a major asshole but an asshole with insults that hURted, to think i felt bad for VRISKA when that happened. woah.
i said before, but... karkat, he cant really hit deep because his insults are just HIM and his way to express himself. like some people find it natural to just go “FUCK YOU” to show emphasis on a point, and thats just karkats way. he may do it so aggressively that it takes you a second to realize what he said, but usually i dont take anything to heart whenever he spurts out some insults. ive progressed to the point where whatever he says, is just “karkat” and not him trying to be actively mean. rather, its now funny whenever he does say anything SOMEWHAT creative, dude has an imagination that goes on for miles
but vriska?? she IS trying to be a bully, you can tell. but i feel theres something much more to that. like shes trying to prove herself and her “blueblooded” demeanours or whatever the hierarchy is. she doesnt want to show emotions so she makes herself a barrier by being mean is what i can gather from her conversation with kanaya. im pretty sure youre not supposed to understand her until its pointed out and rather see her as an “antagonist” at first, but yeah, her insults are more pitiful than anything and i also cant take her too seriously. i may not like her as a person but her character is interesting because you cant always have the goodie two shoes as the protags. it doesnt diversify the characterisation so i like vriska as someone who makes the plot work and it becomes more interesting since you have someone that makes it harder for the main crew to progress. a happy-go-lucky adventure with no trouble and no turnabouts would be boring in a way. so having a character like vriska, or like this new white text guy, it makes you stop for a second and realize oh shit okay, here’s where shit CAN go wrong and WHY. and i do especially like it when these bastards of characters somehow have more depth than being the “bastard characters”. kinda humanizes them in a way. doesnt mean you have to LIKE them continuously, but theyre humans (trolls whatever) in the end and every person has their own story whether its for better or for worse
for example, i like her being placed into the story, along with white text, by how its all leading to this “accident” and is slowly showing us hints on what happened, but in the end, it wont be until later that we know the full story. even if it was in the past, it apparently is very vital to the plot and shapes how the characters act in the future, so important aspects like that are to look out for. and usually they only occur when theres been some trouble within friend dynamics. so without these bastard of characters, plot wouldnt grow AS strong and i often keep that in mind when i explore a story.
anyways, I HAD A POINT TO THIS: so vriska and karkat are characters who are yes, mean, but it seems to be their personality, and the way they either show emotions and convey feelings (karkat) or make a barrier so they DONT show emotions to produce vulnerability (vriska), white text guy seems to mostly be out to be an asshole. he told vriska she was useless to sum it up but im not too sure if this is one of those “first dialogue” to mould out a bias opinion before we even get to the character themselves, but judging by how vriska and karkat played out, he surely means something bad and i dont know how to explain it. but i cannot base anything off from one piece of dialogue. i dont even know what else to call him other than white text guy so...... ill just leave that out for now, until we finally get his introduction
though, i do wish to mention, and will expand on, im not wrong when i say karkat and vriska are similar but in different context. sorry if youre favourite is karkat and you dont like vriska, or vice versa, but uhhhh their introductions are so similar its uncanny and the way they’re portrayed is the same except one is more on crack about the meddling, while the other is angry about the meddling. similar to how it was with karkat, we were introduced to vriska talking with someone we knew (tavros) whom she obviously didnt like, so obviously, from her point of view, she wanted to be menacing. like how karkat was menacing to jade because she wouldnt listen to his point... he got angry, so he lashed out. but us, the readers, didnt know that. we thought “oh god its this asshole” until we made it further in the story and started to warm up to karkat. it may not be the same with vriska, she may be a bully regardless, but you cannot tell me we moulded a bias towards her character as we did when we first read karkat. theyre both truly mean to other people, maybe both for different reasons, but i do want to point out the similarities and not leave that out. im pretty sure andrew basically gave us a conversation that formed our opinion of a character right off the bat rather than go into depth of WHY they did it, and how they are naturally without the conditions of the game. which, you can also see with vriska when she conversed with kanaya. andrew started off with a character who only appears to speak once, and makes you judge them from first appearance alone, without any explanation as to why they said what they said and how they are with other characters, let says. so you assume they were simply a rude character. now look how karkat turned out. so im guessing in homestuck, the first impression should never be the opinion you stick with until MAYBE 5 more conversations with that character (each one different)
OKAY done with the vriska introduction, now to slutquius
yes, hes kinda weird, i have stated that many times. i have no idea what to say about him other than he likes porn, he likes centaur dick which just so happens to be his lusus as well and if that isnt a red flag idk what is
he also likes his lusus milk, right from the udders of his guardian
fun times, fun times
my opinion of equius kinda.. differs. which i should really put in place the “dont judge by first impression” rule, because at first i thought he was rude with, then i thought he was hhh okay, because i understood why he was being so protective over nepeta and her team placement, since the people she was going to play with WERE dangerous. but if you think about it, both sides will probably put you in danger. it just depends on which ones you confide in more to protect your back rather than those which would cause trouble on purpose, in my HONEST opinion. so equius was a little overdramatic on that part, but i got what he meant. he was on the blue team and he didnt want to leave nepeta alone without him on the red. but then this session happened. and he went back to being weird again because of the whole porn thing, especially being so open about it like dude chill youre 13. but the thing is, then i felt bad for him because hes basically touch starved. to say that he could break anything he touches, i doubt people would go up to him for hugs. in fear they would be crushed to death by a simple hug. so im guessing hes rather lonely and doesnt really know how to interact because of this. so i felt sad that he had to live a life where he needs to be careful of everything he touches so it doesnt break randomly. see? poor dude. but then things got weird. and im pretty sure hes a masochist. so my opinion on equius is a fucking cosine graph
which brings us to the final point:
gamzee and equius’ conversation
i dont even know.....like.........gamzee was unaware that equius was using him for his own power play roleplay, right? gamzee knew it was a roleplay but it had had some.. idk.... obvious sexual implications? and i bet gamzee didnt really know that? he thought they were only venting out through a simple roleplay and trying to get closer because he originally thought equius hated him, considering equius flat out said “i hate you” and gamzee went “you tell me everyday and im okay with that” so.. gamzee probably wanted only to get closer to equius so he helped out his little problem which.. thats so sweet but i feel bad he was coerced into something he didnt get, especially since he was innocent enough to go along without knowing equius’ true gain
anyways, equius was getting off with the hierarchy thing. considering he’s “lower” than gamzee, and gamzee is surprisingly ...high on the spectrum??? so equius wanted gamzee to boss him around, because it felt only natural to him since he’s the “inferior one” and gamzee is The Big Man. like i get that, but it was written in a way that was so uncomfortable, that i wish i didnt. equius is just a weird character... hes not BAD per say, but hes... hes something alright
but im really liking gamzee. the two things which struck me in that one conversation, was the “i dont get why we should dictate people by the colour of their blood, i just see people as people” piece of dialogue and “i cant go around pleasing just everything so its alright if you hate me”
thats... so good, idk. i really liked that. i also really liked when kanaya said “youre dangerous but dangerous people are needed and are important because it shapes you” like <33 my fucking heart
god homestuck may be a tad on the weird side with some of its characters but it surely knows how to create great lines of dialogue
and that concludes the long 4 hour session i did, hope you all enjoyed it
with that, i rest
#homestuck#homestuck liveblog#hs92#hs92 end#i wrote more than i should have but i had a lot to say#just you wait for those analogy/analysis posts
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2020 Art Summary
Yep, it’s 2021 already. 2020 is finally over. It felt like it lasted forever, and it felt like the end would never come, but here we are. Crazy how the time flew by.
I felt like I didn’t get much art done this year because of Current World Event, but I made a lot more than I thought I did. Even some of my new favorite pieces came out of this year, so I think that’s worth celebrating and looking back upon!
I was insanely productive during the first month of 2020, and looking back I was surprised at all the stuff I did, but then I remembered that that winter season was actually one of the best times of my life! I started being more socially involved, and I think my newfound drive at the time translated into all the art I pumped out this month. This is just a small fraction of what I made in January, but I only have so much space. Quite a few complex pieces in both style exploration and polishing my own style.
Apparently February was a rather intimate month. Things began to slow down in terms of my own art here, with me spending more time in social settings and school work ramping up, I didn’t have as much time to coop up in my room to draw. I did wanna do something for a friend’s Valentine’s Day OC art challenge, so I drew my lovey-dovey couple from Dance of 1000 Words havin’ a dance. Nothing actually came of that challenge, but it was fun to do regardless.
One of the things I was most proud of in the winter season was making more friends, and one of the closest friends I made was completely coincidental. I met a person named Kiri on the bus one night I decided to volunteer somewhere by myself, and we ended up chatting and getting along. They quickly told me their tumblr username, and I shot them a message immediately after they left. A couple days later, we met up for brunch, and we started becoming really close friends and creative partners!
Not much else happened in March cuz that’s when Current World Event started becoming an issue, but Kiri and I still kept in close touch and we randomly started developing a concept for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Galar Edition. These are a handful of characters we thought up, with Skipper the Scorbunny and Dross the Dreepy as the main characters, Morgrem as the main antagonist, and some shopkeepers such as those of the Greedent Bank and the Indeedee General Store. This was also my first time drawing all of these Galar Pokemon (except Scorbunny, but I also made Skipper a bit more unique than a regular Scorbunny).
Lots of events happened this month. First of all, Steven Universe Future ended, one of my favorite and most influential shows was no longer continuing. I had to do something as tribute, both as a send-off to one of the greatest cartoons in the world and as a cathartic release for my feelings towards it.
A while later, I got the opportunity to start playing an MMO in beta called Fer.al, by the same people who made Animal Jam, which coincidentally I had also beta tested for back in the day. I ended up getting really attached to my first character, a Senri I named Sasha, and though I’ve made more characters than them since, they’re still my absolute favorite. Though I haven’t touched the game in a few months, I was really engrossed for a long time and enjoyed playing through the beta and early access phases.
At the end of the month, some friends of mine invited to a roleplay group with some mutuals, and we all played characters in a crime syndicate. Just a bunch of ragtag thieves and criminals who ended up together in order to protect an artifact called the Crown of Thieves, which was essentially a flag to be taken by other groups to prove that they are the best thieves in the land. My character was based heavily on my sona (if it wasn’t obvious) and was also influenced by Cloud Strife, since the FFVII Remake had just come out and I was super into watching the cutscenes at the time. My character’s (code)name is Valkyrie, and they are a mercenary, going between multiple different employers to carry out whatever duties they need to do. They have a more complicated backstory, but presently they were recently hired by recommendation of their friend Shark (played by @shmoots-universe who is also My friend now ily maya) who works with a group called the Court Cards who are currently in possession of the Crown of Thieves. Valk never really had a place to call home, but staying with this group of people had to be the closest they could get to that feeling. They still sleep with a knife under their pillow because of trust issue but that’s okay.
Okay, so technically these examples started in April, but I continued making content with them in May, and the month was just pretty void of art in general, so here I am addressing them.
There were two main things I worked on this month: a Steven Universe AU of my own and the whole #sixfanarts thing that kicked off around then. Let’s start with the fanart bits. I did two and a half of them (six in April and nine in May), and it was so much fun to be able to draw stuff I don’t normally do! My personal favorites are shown here: Blake Belladonna from RWBY, Roll from Megaman, Yuki Konno from Sword Art Online, and Link from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The other thing I’d been planning for a while was a Steven Universe AU, probably to cope with the show being over but also because I was inspired by a lot of those SU AU artists I started following at the time. I won’t share the details here because it’s gonna have its own blog at some point, but the example I’ve shown here is of a comic I made loosely in order to introduce a divergence in the plot of the story as well as introduce a character unique to my AU. It was a lot of fun figuring out how to draw the characters and get a feel for the style.
As the year progressed, my amount of art I made per month began to dwindle, this time mostly because school was kicking my ass especially hard with finals. However, I took what time I had to get some backburner pieces finished, like the Tigerlily picture which I sketched out a couple months back, and the Gunvolt picture which I started working on SIX YEARS AGO. I don’t quite know why I got the urge to work on it again after so long, but it was nice to finally realize. The other drawing for DOTS was done in the dead of night but I was really happy with how it came out.
Despite only having two summer classes left of school, this month was really rough because they demanded a lot of my time and attention. I did not have the gumption to do anything digital, so I stuck to my sketchbook to get out what I felt like getting out.
My friends and I did a stream of the game Helltaker, and I really enjoyed the concept, so in following my friends I made my own Helltaker demon OC named Raksha the Ravenous Demon (it’s a pun but also got mythical insp). I also got super into Hazbin Hotel at this point, mostly because the Addict music video dropped and I couldn’t get enough of it, so I doodled Angel Dust cuz I felt like it. The other drawing I did was actually a free commission I gave a friend of mine as a prize for a trivia game show I ran back in June. He along with a couple other friends got some free drawings from me for getting the top three scores, and this one in particular was fun because of how interesting it was. He wanted me to draw a video game reviewer called the Irate Gamer from a specific moment, and I decided to go ham and just make it as dramatic as possible.
University classes finally wrapped up and right after that I was in the process of moving out of my apartment and getting adjusted to living with my parents again. I did a couple of agg.io drawing sessions with my friends from the Court Cards group as well as a new Dungeons and Dragons homebrew group I had joined. I drew some more of Valkyrie and came up with a design for my DND character Qakuqtuq (or Kai for short). He is monkey grandpa and I love him.
My main focus was on finishing a polished piece for my friend Cake, whose birthday was in the upcoming month. I wanted it to be as amazing as possible, so I put a lot of time into getting more detailed and making them look good. In addition to that, I did a few TOME doodles just for fun. The creature on the bottom was for this month’s art challenge on my Discord server where we made original TOMERPG monsters, and I created Hundylow, a Crystal-element monster based on the Grindylow from English folklore.
This month was a lot more productive than the past few had been. I tried to do a 31-day art challenge called Creatober but failed to get past the third prompt because I was still swamped with other work. I’m still happy with what little I did, including the piece with my characters Kyle and Guarudan from DSWD.
I don’t remember how, but I also suddenly rediscovered an old Flipnote Hatena series called Tales of LostClan, a Warriors fan series that I would say was the most obscure thing I’ve ever been super invested in. It was what got me into the actual Warriors books, and I liked it so much I redrew the animations into a comic... twice. Didn’t get nearly as far the second time but clearly my love for this little fanfiction had not waned after nearly a decade. I felt like drawing a book cover/movie poster for the series, just to get it out there and see how much I’ve improved over all that time.
Also I felt like making a vampiresona just before Halloween because I never dress up for Halloween in art (or real life anymore, for that matter), and I wanted to do something like that for once. It was short-lived but I really liked the design!
The focus of this month was definitely on Pokemon stuff. As per usual I contributed to the current Gotta Draw ‘Em All collab, and I was tasked to draw Regieleki. It was really fun to figure out how to make it stand out and look like it was made of electricity.
I also committed a lot of my spare time to my Fakemon Gym Leaders, as I had been working on bringing them to life in the past year or so now. As of this post, I’ve finished rendering their full body poses and gym badges, but I’m still working on completing all eight VS portraits, the first half of which are shown here.
I... didn’t draw anything this month, actually. What I’m showing here was worked on in the last few days but has actually been in progress for a couple of months, and I just finished it earlier today, in 2021. But I needed to show something off, and it’s also about time I mentioned it.
Back in October, I kept seeing people rave about this game called Genshin Impact, and I was interested but not so much as to start playing it... until my friends started playing and I was like “fuck it, let’s download it”. Since that day, I have been super immersed and in love with this game, to the point I came up with my own canon based on my gameplay experiences. This also included the creation of an original player character: Astra, the non-binary Traveller. And now, I’ve finally drawn them and brought them to life.
It has been one hell of a year. I had some of the highest highs and lowest lows in 2020, lots of changes, and I have now officially moved onto the next chapter of my life now that my time at university is finally over. I’m very excited for what 2021 has to offer, and I’m going to go forward with great ambition.
#my art stuff#art summary#this is always a joy to do every year and i'm glad to keep up the tradition for the sixth year in a row#this year was super good for this as well just to look back on what i was actually able to accomplish#long post#tome#hazbin hotel
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Give me the OC lore!!!! What's your favorite of your OCs and why?
Oooh I’m gonna try to keep this brief because I could literally go on and on and on and ON about this but my favorite OC is one of my characters I use for DND. Like I know it’s wrong to pick a favorite child but.... This one is so insanely my favorite OC. Her name is Ariadne and she’s a moon elf sorcerer and oh my gosh literally this lore is so juicy (and whoops trauma filled, but honestly, who doesn’t give their OCs trauma that is a metaphor for your own traumas hahahhaaaaa) Slight CW for people reading on, mentions of violence, abuse/familial abuse, gaslighting, emotional trauma, that should cover all the bases I think?
Uhh but like tldr version is she grew up in a noble family, good life, has a little sister and a twin brother, blah blah blah got engaged, things are happy, she was born with powers but her twin brother wasn’t, no one knows where the powers came from and no one else in the elf town has magic like that (another tldr some weird stuff happened, a star was bored and had a one night stand w her mother disguised as her father, but her father and mother were already recently ~getting it on~, long story short her twin brother is actually technically her half brother and her elf father isn’t her biological father) ANYWAY one day her brother snaps in a jealous and power hungry rage, violently kills their entire family in the night and wakes her up by killing her partner in front of her, tells her it’s all her fault because she’s magical and everyone thinks she’s a monster and stuff like that, beats her up and then makes to kill her but she escapes and that’s the point where I have her join in campaigns, on the run from her brother who has taken over their town and is now hunting her down. The big thing of that is that I decide to make her keep her magic a secret and not use it at all in the campaigns I play in for many sessions until character development within the campaign happens (the people I play dnd with are very plot and role play driven, so the story lines are very involved) Because of this I actually created some new magic roll charts specific to my character, kind of similar to the wild magic surge roll chart, but specifically geared to Ariadne and what toll this suppression of magic takes on her. I have one for situations she gets very stressed out in, and another for situations she is wildly happy (the happy chart doesn’t usually get touched at all until many many sessions into the campaign)
This is all getting very long winded by now, but I’m sure you can guess the reason why she’s my favorite is because I’ve poured my absolute heart and soul into creating her and she’s just very important to me. Here’s a link to a small reference sheet I drew last year: https://persephonaae.tumblr.com/post/623686351418687488/i-finally-sat-down-and-made-a-character-reference
#there is honestly so much more I can say about her but I will leave it at this for now#I tear up when I infodump about her#she is so special to me#Ariadne
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6 and 14
6) What do you do when your players are stuck or aren’t picking up your plot threads?
Well, to be honest, I haven’t actually had much of a problem with that: I'm inexperienced enough to be like “THIS IS THE PLOT IN YOUR FACE.” If they somehow still don’t pick it up, I usually have a trusted NPC of theirs point out the thread, if they are truly stuck. But sometimes, I let them go in the direction they are heading, as that can lead to... interesting happenings.
14) Do you enjoy when a PC contributes something original to your narrative or lore? What’s been your favorite player addition big and small?
Oh of course I enjoy it when a PC contributes something! DND, to me, is a collaborative story. I can set up some things, but if a PC decides to go a different direction, or add some bit of lore I can use, it makes my job that much easier. We collaborate, and we tell the story together. I could have some sort of Beginning, Middle, End shenanigans, but everything in between is malleable and changed for the good, most of the time. Sometimes endings change due to the decisions the players make, and it just makes me, as the DM, so enthralled by their decisions, their actions, their characters, and how they interact with my world, it brings me joy. That is why I am here, DMing for amazing people. Most of the time I really only have a Beginning, in that I set them up with my setting and a possible thing to do, but after that, it’s essentially sandbox mode. What that also means is that I Improv the hell out of things, however.
As for my Favorite player addition, I'm going to choose the one in one of my current campaigns, which I call Auriga. The player who added this nice tidbit was a person who joined in later in the campaign but only after a few sessions in so, it was good. He decided to play a Warforged: now, in my world, Machines of his like and other technological advances were broken due to a loss of power, namely Magic. Magic essentially had all but disappeared from the world. Until recently, and that's when this Warforged awoke. Now, because of that, that already adds a lot I can do for side quests, possible enemies, NPC interactions, all that. But this player also added in a big “home base” of sorts that the machine was supposed to protect: being that it was drafted into fighting an Enemy (who one of the important NPC’s is actually the same race of) at his time, he was not with this Garden of Shade, as he has called this place he was supposed to defend. So having that connection I can toy around with, given that is has been millennia since he was last awake, is also nice. What this guy also did was add a background affinity for a possible future multiclass: I love that to bits too, as having an actual, personal, feasible reason to multiclass as something either that happens in-game or through background is amazing.
Anyway, I should probably stop gushing about this guy who has added a lot to my world, certainly its interactability that I find I tend to lack. Thanks Anon for the questions! I would love if anyone else wanted to ask questions, either from that thing I reblogged or just random questions you have! (I am also a player in things so if you want to learn about character stuff I am totally willing to gush about that too). Gonna stop this here though before it gets too ridiculously long.
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Okay so, back when I asked for asks for my Ego DnD AU, @lace-maze sent a really good ask a while back asking about why each of the egos chose the characters they did and their playing styles- and I can’t for the LIFE of me find the original anywhere on my blog. ;3;
But! I finished it and I bet it reads horribly but whatever who cares I’m tired- enjoy!
So to FINALLY answer your question, the way I went about choosing what each of the egos would play more or less boiled down to a combo of trying to pick what I think THEY would want to play, and what I figured they would be in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. (wink wonk)
Marvin- Dragonborn Sorcerer
One of the top veterans of the game, he likes to play something with more of a challenge and a lot more mechanics. And since he’s a magician it’s definitely has to deal with magic of some kind (I mean c’mon, he’s already got the aesthetic wardrobe irl for it so why not?). So he’s currently playing a Sorcerer- a magic caster who has the power naturally within him (which ties in his Race for it’s from his draconic bloodline:)
He could have easily chosen his race to be a Tabaxi (a human-cat like hybrid), but he already got enough shit of being the “furry” of the group as it was so instead he decided to go for a Dragonborn. In the game there are different types of Dragonborn, so specifically he’s Brass- which both deals fire damage breath, and is also resistant to fire.
Being one of the older players, his play style depends on the day. For the most part he is the cool, collected member of the party who doesn’t rush in and thinks things through... Until it’s later in the evening with a few drink in ‘em and then they just say, “Yeah, this might as well happen.” Before taking another shot and round-housing someone poor guy’s ass for mocking his scaly features.
Jackie- Half-Orc Fighter
Always wanting to be the hero, Jackie wants to fight and protect his fellow party members. He only has a few sessions under his belt, but he’s confident in saying that he's comfortable with playing more tanky characters and dealing heavy damage.
Jackie doesn’t have a lot of reasoning for his Race other than Orcs Are Cool so he just rolls with that.
As for his Class he likes having a bunch of different fighting styles to choose from while in combat so he can pick and choose which would work best for the situation (they also get more of a range in picking which Armor Class they want-).
His play style is Protect the Party, but also Rush In Head First Into Danger. He’s always in the front lines of a fight to tank the most damage and provide cover for the more squishy characters. It can get quite frustrating for the healer at times when he runs battleaxe-first into battle, leaving his head behind.
Speaking of healers-
Henrik- High Elf Alchemist
A lot like Anti, Henrik found the idea of playing to be quite silly. But once he got into it, the doctor found it quite enjoyable to get into a fantasy character and forget about the real world for a couple of hours. But wanting to retain some kind of dignity, he decided to play as a High Elf. He was drawn to their grace, wonderlust for adventure, and near perfectionism. To say the least, it's easy for him to slip into character.
Strictly speaking, Alchemist is not the the 5E DnD Handbook, but Jack allowed it and made some homebrew additions to the character so their party would actually have a fucking healer. So in addition to the damage-dealing bombs Henrik’s character uses, he also has a special healing bomb he can yeet at the other players when needed.
Henrik’s play style is serious, but curious. He’s always wanting to explore the world Jack created for them and peacefully interact with the NPCs, enjoying events that unfold naturally. However when it’s time for a proper fight he does not beat around the bush, staying in the back for more long-ranged attacks rather than right on the front lines.
Chase- Human Ranger
The recently-single father needed an outlet other than drinking to try and cope with the loss of his family. So like any good friend, Jack offered Chase a spot in his campaign that he was putting together! He wasn’t too sure at first, Chase said that the game seemed really complex and hard to get into. But Jack waves it off and told his friend, “You honestly have to fully jump into it if you’re gonna get anywhere. There’s not really a small way to start. It’s pretty much all or nothing. But trust me, it’s gonna be great!” And ever since his first session, Chase always looked forward to next week’s game.
Being one of the newer players, Chase doesn’t really play anything too crazy, so he sticks to his guns and runs a Human pc. And he may or may not have based the character on his old life to some degree. Giving himself a stable home, a fulfilling job, and a big loving family and at least 3 dogs. Ya’know, real heavy fantasy stuff.
Jack offered him the newer class/ homebrew of a Gunslinger, but he politely declined ‘cause he didn’t want to have to deal with new rules. So he decided to go with a Ranger for his class, figuring it would make for a cool character to play.
Chase’s play style is pretty average (no pun intended), and not all that spectacular. He gets a few good one-liners in here and there, but for the most part he plays passively. Fights when there’s a fight, and interacts almost only when others interact with him directly. (He’s been trying to get better at being more engaging, but he tends to zone out.)
Jameson- Halfling Bard
This session being JJ’s (and Robbie’s) first ever game, JJ pleasantly surprised Jack when he decided to be a Bard. When asked why, the silent man replied simply, “There’s nothing in the rules saying bards HAVE to sing. At the core of them, they are performers.” Jack beams and asks what’s their instrument of choice then? Jameson smiles and shows him this video, saying he thinks it would be interesting to have this as his musical item. (Also gotta love that good The Bard Seduces Everything trope. He’s keeping that in his back pocket for the right moment.)
As for being a Halfling, Jameson figured it would be fun to play a smaller character. And nobody ever suspects the small man to pack such a whaloop. But really, his love for the hobbits in the Tolkin books had captured his heart and really wanted to try and emulate that in the game! Maybe leaning more towards being a little prankster, but still at the core- in short- Soft Cottage Aesthetic™
Jameson’s play style is bouncy and go-gettem. He’s eager to explore the world and have fun with the NPCs. In battles he’s more comedic relief in the back inspiring the other players (and intimidating enemies by aggressively cranking his music box rapidly). And AT LEAST ONCE he has had Jackie’s character YEET his at the enemy to get the final blow to slay the beast. That was a fun session.
Anti- Changeling Rouge
Do I really gotta explain this one?
Naturally Anti always tries to play the edgiest characters he can. Giving them dark, moody personalities but with a slight crazed tick. (Chase naturally calls hypocrisy when Anti says his character is a self-insert to the game.)
I’m almost out of steam here so in short-
Anti loves the idea of having puppets to mess around with irl- so in the game he can somewhat do the same- by changing his figure/ features to mimic those of somebody to manipulate another. He doesn’t care much for the society around him and does his own thing, but can easily blend in and slip into other’s traditions if he needs to. His character has a tendency to pick fights pretending to be someone else before ducking out and watch the fight take place with a smirk on his hidden features. None of the party has ever seen his real face/ form, always changing it subtly so every time someone tries to take a second look something seems different or off.
Rouge: Quick and Stabby. Like the bitch himself.
Robbie- Undead Druid
Jack had to make a special homebrew character for Robbie ‘cause he was set on being an Undead. Apparently Robbie and Marvin talked about character ideas before hand and Robbie got a little overwhelmed with all the options that they had, so Marv suggested something Rob could relate to easier. So after an afternoon of crafting a special stat sheet, Jack allowed their favorite zombie ego to play.. Well, a zombie. (I’m sure someone else has made something similar out there but I might try and make a sheet later.. That could be fun lmao)
As for Druid, I like to see Robbie as being a little more connected to nature than the rest of the egos. Since he.. Yaknow, crawled out of the dirt at one point. (Side story- before the others found him in an old cemetery, he liked to just hang out around the area that was slowly being reclaimed by nature and liked watched the birds and animals). So he was pretty drawn to choosing this class. It’s a little complicated at points, but that’s why Marvin sits between him and JJ, so he can help them out through the whole process. Robbie gets really excited when one of his spells works in combat or just having fun interacting with the NPCs by growing them some flowers to be nice.
As a whole Robbie’s play style is pretty passive. He gets distracted pretty easily and unless Jack is waving his arms around or using miniatures/ figurines to keep a visual, the zombie will sometimes lose focus and stare off into space for a minute before coming back to the game and raising his hand for something to be repeated.
It’s one big mixing pot of different people and play styles, but at the end of the day, Jack has a lot of fun trying to bounce around and keep up with everyone’s antics and storylines. It’s hard as hell at times and it gets a little frustrating when things get out of hand, but they all try to check each other and keep things rolling. And at the end of the day, all the boys enjoy the game and what Jack has to offer and really fucking enjoy themselves. DnD is a good destresser for most of them and all around a grand fun time!
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hey alice I've seen you mention then before and they seem really interesting and I was wondering if you could tell us more about your dnd characters! (Whichever your favorite is or who you feel like talking about) or even a tag you have where I could read up more!
:O i would LOVE to talk about some of my dnd characters
my three main ones are my half-elf raven queen warlock gwyndolin (aka gwyn), my human swashbuckler rogue gertrude, and my life cleric alicia
gwyn was the character i played when @speechjam was DMing who is a half-moon elf with Parental Baggage (because what’s a half-elf who doesnt have an iffy relationship with their parents) who is very gay and very trans and canonically Really Hot because she has a literally goddess gifted body. her parents raised her in an elf city where she experienced a lifetime of racism for being a half-elf, and that combined with not having a great relationship with her parents as well as dealing with dysphoria eventually led to her attempting suicide. however when this happened, she suddenly found herself before the raven queen, who told her it was not yet her time, and offered her a deal - a new body and some of her power in exchange for making a pact with her. she readily agreed, and was reborn as gwyndolin
since then she’s spent a few years acting as a servant of the raven queen, acting as a sort of soul bounty hunter tracking down people who had unnaturally escaped death and dealing with necromancers/undead infestations. eventually she happened to take a job that led to her meeting the party, including happening to bump into her elf druid cousin solira played by @lyssatbqh
she’s also a total Disaster Lesbian and cant talk to women to save her life which is a problem when Lots of women want to talk to her on account of being Really Hot. she has a thing for knives and has like 8 of them on her. she also has a spirit familiar in the form of a raven named crawford who she always makes keep watch for her at night instead of doing it herself
THEN gertrude is the character i play in @lyssatbqh‘s campaign, which is a homebrew campaign set in the dark souls world. gertrude’s whole life was spent believing that humanity didnt matter and only existed to serve the gods - lessons instilled in her from birth by her parents. often being left alone while her parents were off doing whatever religious things they were off doing, she grew used to wondering the city of anor londo by herself, exploring every alley and climbing every roof top, having just a dagger given to her by her parents as a form of protection
as she grew older her parents tried getting her more involved in the way of white (the religious organization they were a part of), and gertrude never really quite got the whole “sit and study and pray” part of it, but she found ways to use her natural charisma and dexterity to instead serve the gods by acting as a spy against people who might speak out against the gods. this is how she met the party initially, being sent by one of the gods to spy on a book club founded by @speechjam‘s character brillin. long story short the party ended up encountering some of the witches of izalith, went to izalith right as the witch of izalith was trying to recreate the first flame, and they all fucking DIED
some long period of time later the party all mysteriously came back to life, and have since came back to life any time they have died, always returning to whatever fire they’d rested at. the whole experience of dying and coming back forced gertrude to, for the first time in her life, have to think about being a human and what humanity meant and what her place in the world was, and she proceeded to go into a several week long existential crisis. during this time the party investigated some mysterious happenings around the city of new londo involving other people coming back to life, fought some demons, and eventually made their way back to anor londo
the whole time gertrude was hoping returning to anor londo would get her some answers from the god she had been working for by the name of flame god flann. however, upon returning he offered no real help, and seemingly didnt even remember that she had worked for him. this furthered her growing crisis and fear and doubt, and eventually the party confronted her about her sneakiness and dodging questions, and she confessed the nature by which she’d originally joined the group, and asked for their forgiveness and explained that she’d suddenly had a Lot to think about and that a lot of things she thought she’d known had been thrown out the window. the party was initially hurt, especially brillin, and gertrude suddenly found herself for the first time Caring about other people and how her actions had effected them, but they eventually forgave her and they continued to all work together to maybe figure out a little more on what was happening
encountering two strange people known as skin man and skeleton man, the party worked with them and eventually learned that skin man also was coming back from the dead, but also seemed to be fading away more and more each time he came back - becoming less of himself and more just a blank husk. eventually skin man went missing, and the party found him by a mysterious machine that could answer questions for them - in exchange for memories
gertrude used it to ask two questions, choosing first between the memories of her time working for flann, her time with the way of white, and her memories of brillin, who she had grown increasingly close with throughout their travels (because gertrude is a Fool and JUST kept jokingly flirting until she fooled around and caught real feelings), eventually choosing the way of white. she then had the option of flann, brillin, or her forgetting the memories and associations that her daggers had with her, eventually choosing daggers
her questions were if the gods cared about her, about people, and then the second was if she, too, was gonna steadily fade away the more she died. she received a simple answer for both - no, and yes
initially going into another crisis, she soon shock that feeling off and decided on a new course of action, a flame suddenly lighting in her as she realized that she couldn’t rely on the gods anymore, and that it was people, and her new found friends, that she had to rely on. the gods were seemingly uncaring about their current plight, and she would find answers on her own. no longer being shackled by the gods, she would suddenly live as she was meant to - as a person, as a human
the party eventually fought a couple more demons and, with the help of skeleton man, defeated them. in the aftermath, gertrude and brillin FINALLY smooched and it was RAD, and they later had a roof top discussion about everything and about Them. they came to the conclusion that neither of them really knew what was happening, or what their place in the universe was, and the weight of the inevitably of them both hollowing was ever present, but they wouldn’t focus on that - they would focus on the now, on living as best they could in the moment, and deciding that they would eventually figure things out, and they would do that Together
dang i didn’t mean to do just a plot summary of that whole campaign so far but i got TOO into talking about gertrude i just……………….. love her so much guys she has learned and grown so much she literally started off as half a joke character i literally threw her concept together 10 minutes before the first session started and she became so!!!!! much more than i could’ve ever expected
anyway my other character is alicia aka the Divine Lady who i cant talk about TOO much because i just started playing her and friends in that campaign follow me and there’s #spoilers but she’s a life cleric who was once a shy awkward little boy named joey who has grown in to a slightly less awkward but no less shy but STRONG woman. she’s a life cleric and JUST wants to help people she’s really caring and is always worried about someone and i love her she’s such a change of pace from my usual edgy characters she is TOO good for this world and has two beautiful lesbian blacksmith moms and a million adopted “cousins” who she all loves dearly
she’s surprisingly Buff, enjoys blacksmithing (she made all of her armor and weapons), is a big fan of beauty in all forms, is an avid reader, and is constantly writing letters home to her family and keeping a diary of her adventures. she worships lethandar (aka god of birth & renewal) as well as sune (aka goddess of beauty), with the symbol of sune crafted into her shield and her mace designed to have a sun motive for lethandar, and she has big dorky glasses because she’s blind as a bat
some other side characters include primrose my college of swords bard who is JUST primrose from octopath traveler, ailce my water genasi druid that i usually play in one shots who in the most recent one shot i played her in adopted a wonderful child who has bat ears and was NOT appreciated by their parents and she loves them with all her heart, and ari “the banshee” who is a city cleric in a modern space based campaign who is an anarchist and part of a punk rock band
oh! also i have a tag for gwyn (which is just #gwyn tag) and TWO for gertrude (#former gertrude tag and #gertrude tag, former being for dagger related things since she lost her love of them) and im sure i’ll get an alicia one going! its all just like aesthetic stuff or things i relate to them but you can get a good sense of those characters through those
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Version 287
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I had a busy but great week.
Please note that I will be spending the next two weeks working on an important library update (I'll be trying to move from wxPython 3 to 4 for all platforms). There will be no release next week.
thumbnail DnD
The surprise Christmas present is the first prototype of thumbnail drag-and-drop! If you drag and drop some thumbnails to a page tab, the files will be moved to that page! If you drop them on a 'page of pages' tab, they'll go to the current media page beneath it, and if you drop on some empty tab area space, the thumbs will go into a new window. If you hold down control when you drop, the thumbs will copy instead of move.
I have been thinking about this for a long time. A lot of different little things went into its preparation, so bringing it together this week was a nice cap on it all. The thing in itself is a cool new tool that I expect to do more with in future.
This is a prototype. It has worked well in all my testing, but there may be unusual situations where some thumbnails get lost or do not render correctly or something. If this happens to you, please let me know the details. Something that did trip me up a couple of times is that if you drop thumbs onto a page that already has them, it may seem like they never landed, as the file count will not increase and they won't appear appended at the end--but really, they were merged into the ones already there.
I will add some options in a release soon to flip the control-to-copy behaviour and any other custom preferences we can think of for this.
new import presentation
All 'file import options' (and hence all import contexts) now have 'presentation' options. This first version has three choices:
show new files
show files already in inbox
show files already in archive
By unchecking one, the files that fit into that category will still be imported and everything, but they will not 'present' in the import context. For import pages, this means appending the thumbnail, and for subscriptions and import folders, this means appearing in the popup file button. So, if you uncheck all presentation options on a gallery download page, the queue will process but no thumbnails at all will appear!
Regular import and download pages default to presenting everything, just like before. Subscriptions and import folders only include 'new' files (i.e. ignoring all 'already in db' files in their popup button), which I think was the old behaviour, at least most of the time. In any case, if you would like to see all of the files of a sub or only see inbox files from a hard drive import, you can now do it simply.
This will also be useful for users running big (10k+ files) import pages. Adding new thumbs to already weighty pages is computationally expensive, and these big pages tend to make the gui pretty laggy. Now if you have a big import, you can scale back its thumbnail presentation however you like to keep things running smooth!
Please note that all existing import queues will be updated to the new system. Unfortunately, I could only choose one way for them to go, so I went safe and gave them all the 'quiet' subscription's 'only show new files' option. This means that any import pages or thread watchers you have in your gui sessions will only show thumbnails for new files unless you edit their file import options. This will only apply to queues you have open now--all new ones will go back to the old behaviour of showing everything by default. In any case, I apologise for the inconvenience. You will get a popup on update to remind you of this.
Like with the thumb drag and drop, I will add some preferences to set the defaults for these in a future release. Let me know what you think!
misc
Adding to the presentation options above, subscriptions will now fold all their queries' downloaded files into a single popup file button for the subscription. So if your subscription has five queries that each download 20 files, you will end up with one button with 100 files waiting for you. This should reduce some of the "Show 2 files" spam some people are seeing.
Also, popup file buttons now preserve file order! Your new sub buttons will present the combined query results in a neat order, least recently imported first.
For advanced users: The file import status button now lets you import and export all the 'sources' for that import cache to clipboard or png file from its right-click menu. If you want to share all of the urls in a subscription, for instance, this makes it easy. Give it a go, let me know how it works for you! Don't put urls in hard drive importers, or gelbooru urls in deviant art downloaders or anything!
full list
thumbnails can now be drag-and-dropped to other pages!
dragging and dropping thumbs to another page tab will remove them from the source and append them to the destination, maintaining file order!
DnDing thumbs to a 'page of pages' tab will put the files in the next lowest selected media page
DnDing thumbs to a blank notebook area (or a page of pages without a selected media page) will create a new page for the thumbs
holding down ctrl when you drop thumbnails will not remove them from the source
please forgive the thumbnail DnD cursor, which for now will be in the 'copy' state, despite the internal DnD being move by default
improved page tab drag and drop drop logic--dropping onto the page area itself will no longer send the page to the right-end of the current notebook
the 'file import options' object now supports three 'presentation' booleans--for new/already_in_inbox/already_in_archive files--so you can customise whether new thumbnails appear based on each state. page imports will by default show everything, while 'quieter' import queues like import folders and subscriptions will continue to just show only 'new' files in their files popup buttons. if you have a gui page with 10k+ items in its queue, try reducing the presentation to speed it up!
all existing import queues will be updated when they are next loaded--but please note that for simplicity and safety they will all initialise to the 'quiet' presentation method, so if you have ongoing download pages in any of your gui sessions (including thread watchers!), they will only add 'new' thumbnails unless you edit them. I apologise for the inconvenience
the regular hdd import now has a file import options button!
subscription query 'finished' file popups are now merged up to the subscription level--so, a sub with five queries that each get 20 new files in a run will now ultimately leave one popup with 100 files
file popups (as produced by subscriptions and a couple other places) now preserve their import order!
if a subscription with many queries runs out of bandwidth, it should now only give you one 'no more bandwidth to download files' message, rather than one for every outstanding query to sync
added a checkbox to turn on/off the new random subscription syncing to the options->downloading panel
the file import status button's menu now supports import/export of sources to clipboard/png! it _should_ also support unicode. be careful not to paste paths into a url cache, or urls from one gallery site to another, or you'll just get errors--this is prototype, so please keep like with like for now
the png import/export system now supports raw string payloads
the new listctrlpanel can now hang its buttons in multiple rows
the manage subscriptions panel now has an 'overwrite checker options' button to mass-set checker options
the manage subscriptions panel now has a 'select subs' button that selects subs based on a basic query text search
separating merged subscriptions now sets better new subscription names of 'old_sub_name: query_text'
saving a session from a page of pages with a custom name will no longer suggest a session name prepended by [USER]
doubled the subscription and downloader instance default bandwidth rules to 400 and 200 rqs/day
the 'load_images_with_pil' and 'disable_cv_for_gifs' options are now officially BUGFIX in the options--unless you know you need them on, turn them off!
added some safeguards to the new dialog-panel system's OK stuff, which sometimes catches a duplicate OK event
shuffled some db update status texts around
next week
Again, there will be no release next week while I work on the wx update. I will drop by the discord for a bit on Saturday, and if there is some big explosion in the next couple of days I'll push out a hotfix, but otherwise I will be a bit out of touch as I focus on the rewrite. I will post an update on Tuesday 26th on how it is going.
I will be back to the downloader stuff in the new year.
𝕸𝖊𝖗𝖗𝖞 𝕮𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖒𝖆𝖘!
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50 DND Questions
1. What do you think your d&d race would be? Proabably human. If I get the choice, I’d like to be either an Elf or Dragonborn. I’d be cool with either of those.
2. What class? Mostly likely a fighter? I’m not religious enough for a cleric, and not smart enough for a sorcerer or wizard. I like the idea of being able to throw hands.
3. What two feats would you have? I’d want the Alert feat, and more than likely the Lucky feat. Alert means my initiative gets improved, and Lucky means that I can reroll a bad throw. Those would get used a lot.
4. What has been your favorite d&d character you've played? (NPCs count for DMs) I’ve only got the two for now, but Liander’s been getting the most love. She’s probably my favorite.
5. Which of your d&d characters has been the most like you? Oh, Liander, without a doubt. She’s pretty close to my baseline personality.
6. Which of your d&d characters has been the least like you? And that would be Cade. Cade is just this side of Chaotic Evil, so she’s a little harder for me to get into the right headspace for. Playing her takes a lot out of me, to be honest.
7. How do you go about making a character or NPC? That’s hard to say - I give the session about an hour or so to feel it out, and let the personalities develop naturally over time. My playing style is reactive, so I let the situation dictate how said character would respond.
8. What is the most memorable natural 20 you've ever experienced? That would be with Cade. I’d rolled to take out a stone giant, suplexed them (because she’s a barbarian and her strength stat is wild), then chopped his dick off with my battleaxe like I was swinging a golf club. It uh, made an impression on the rest of the party, and the rest of the enemies.
9. Has one of your d&d characters ever died? How? Not yet, so don’t jinx me! I’m still attached to both of them, and would like to keep them around!
10. What is your favorite class to play? So far, it’s been my ranger. She’s fun, and I’m digging the whole ‘animals as companions’ thing she’s got going.
11. Have you ever fought a dragon? Yes. Between Cade and Paileous, we cut it’s head off. It’s currently a trophy back at home base. Got a lot of gold for our trouble, too.
12. Have you ever fought a beholder? NO. Not entirely sure I wanna, either!
13. Have you ever fought a mind flayer? No, but it’s coming up. My buddy is having us roll new characters for the Underdark campaign. I might try a cleric just for funsies.
14. Have you ever had a romance with an NPC or another PC? Nope. I am here to tell you that neither of my characters is looking for any of that. Liander’s too busy, and Cade is a halfling barbarian surrounded by equally questionable Drow paladins and rouges. No thanks.
15. Do you prefer to DM or play? I have no desire to DM. I’ve only been playing for a little while, and I’m not creative enough to attempt it. I’ll stick to playing. I’m good at that.
16. What is your favorite D&D pod/vodcast? I’ve been listening to Critical Role - I’m relistening to the Whitestone/Chroma Conclave arcs. I love No Mercy Percy so much.
17. Who is your favorite "celebrity dm?" I only know the one - Matt Mercer.
18. Do you use props/minis/terrain in your game? Very rarely. I think we’ve only had like, two sessions that actually had terrain and mini’s.
19. How did you discover D&D? My friends. I sat in on one of their games, and just for the hell of it, they rolled me a character, and thus Cade was born.
20. If you run a homebrew game, give an out of context spoiler. I’m not running it, but smuggling is a thing, and the dude we’re smuggling for is someone whose face is on a wanted poster in my pocket.
21. Drop a picture of a mini you painted (if applicable) Sorry, I don’t have any minis. They’re all with my DM.
22. Write a brief scene centered around one of your characters! Uh, hang on - "That was nice. I didn't ask you to get it for me, and I distinctly remember telling you I can get my own. Not my fault you don't listen worth a damn." Liander says with a slight grin. She doesn't know why, but she likes poking at Chancel. Not many folks react the way he does, and the scowl he sends her just makes her grin wider. "Come on. I cannot possibly be the only one who's pointed that out to you."
"Yeah, me. Two minutes ago." Zulth mutters into his mug.
23. Do you have any art of your characters? Yeah, one of my more artistic friends drew a sketch of Liander for me, complete with her cat on her shoulder. It’s pretty cool. It’s also huge, which is why I’m not posting it here.
24. Have you ever played any TTRPGs other than D&D? No, this is my first foray into TTRPGs.
25. What is your favorite snack for d&d? I reach for Cheetos or Doritos usually. They’re good, crunchy snacks.
26. If you could have one potion from d&d, which one would you choose? If I could just load up on superior healing potions for life, I’d be a happy woman.
27. If you could cast one spell from d&d, which would you cast? Fireball. That’s a nice equalizer, I think.
28. What is the most memorable natural 1 you've experienced? Oh man. That would be with Liander this time. She was trying to sneak into a well fortified part of the city, and tamper with the water supply for one family. Well, I had to roll to hop the fence to do so, rolled a natural one, my foot caught in the fence, and there was a dog right in front of me. Landed on my face, and got bitten for my trouble. Still got the mission done, though.
29. Have you ever been drunk playing d&d? I’ve been buzzed. Does that count?
30. Homebrew or prewritten? Both? Both. Both is good.
31. Tell me about your current party! Which one? Well, for the Alagaesia campaign, there’s my character Liander, a dwarf named Thorin, a rouge(?) named Zulth, an herbalist named Liam, and the man who hired us, an NPC named Bjorn. We’re actually trying to accomplish something with this campaign, or so the DM says.
For the Guardians of Gravenhollow campaign, I’m a halfling barbarian named Cade, there’s a drow Paladin named Varis, and another Drow rouge named Paileous. This particular campaign is just chaotic evil fuckery.
32. Most memorable NPC you've encountered in a game you played in. Victor. He built a clock, I wanted his tinkering kit, and wound up buying both at a just criminally low price. I kinda feel like I ripped him off, tbh.
33. Do you listen to music while playing? What kinds? Mostly the Skyrim soundtrack with a little Witcher soundtrack thrown in for funsies. Atmospheric stuff.
34. Favorite accent to do for characters? I don’t really have one for either of my characters. Mostly because I’m bad at keeping it up. I forget.
35. Favorite classic d&d trope Tragic Backstory(TM). Only one of my characters has it, but it’s damn fun to role-play.
36. What was your first d&d character you made? That would be Cade! She started out as kind of a throw-away, but she got mixed in with Paileous and Varis and she’s living her best chaotic life.
37. What is the most recent PC or NPC you've created? That’d be Kahtri, actually! I haven’t played her a whole bunch, so I’m not really familiar with her yet, but it’ll be interesting to play a Drow cleric who doesn’t actually worship Lolth. (I don’t do spiders.)
38. Goblins or Kobolds? I actually haven’t dealt with either yet. I’m slightly more familiar with Goblins simply because of CritRole.
39. Favorite villain you've defeated? Uh, I dunno if I’d classify her as a villian exactly, but Cade’s killed an NPC named Creed who was a servant to the god Grotz. Pretty sure he’s out for revenge now.
40. What d&d deity would you be a cleric of? I am a cleric of the Drow deity Elistraee. (I had to double check the spelling on that)
41. Give an out of context quote from one of your games! Liander - “I tried to stop him, but he fucking yote me across the room like I wasn’t even there. Is it weird I’m bitter about that?”
Thorin - *emerges from the wreckage of the crate we were smuggling holding dragon eggs* “I FOUND LIVING ROCKS!”
Liander and Zulth in tandem - *knows exactly what he’s holding* “Oh for fuck’s sake!”
42. Have you ever rolled turn into a potted plant on the wild magic table? No, I don’t think I know anyone who plays that particular class, so I’ve never seen it happen.
43. Minis and terrain or theater of the mind? Theater of the mind, good sir/madam.
44. Mulligan, Mercer, Murphy, or McElroy? Mercer! Mercer! Mercer!
45. What is the longest session you've ever had? Oh, jeez. Like, fourteen hours, give or take?
46. What is the longest battle you've fought or run? Uh, that’d be the fight with Creed. It took us like two hours to beat her down with three of us. She was stupid powerful. The bounty was great, though.
47. Have you ever played at level 20? No, my highest level character is a level 11. I’m working on it, though.
48. Does your dm say "How do you want to do this?" Oh yes. The table just blows up when that happens, not gonna lie. It’s fun to hear, especially if it’s aimed at you.
49. Have you ever played an edition other than 5th? No, I started playing last year, so 5th is all I know.
50. Will you try to convince others to play? Already done so. I’ve added a couple people to the group - my husband, whose character is the best straight man to our fuckery, and one of our mutual friends whose lunacy works with our brand of crazy.
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If you’ve sent me an ask within 30 days… it's here!
If yours isn’t here, send it again! I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you guys. It’s been a few crazy weeks, I’m generally a lazy person, and having more than 5 asks stresses me out so I avoid my inbox. So lets get to it!
@leonmashedpotatoes Hello there, I'm going to be running a 3.5 shackled city campaign and I'm excited about the campaign, but I'm nervous because my homebrew campaigns have been making me super overwhelmed and I don't end up having any fun playing and the session just ends anticlimactically. How can I keep myself from getting overwhelmed? I figured it'd be easier since I'm using a module but I'm still nervous that I won't end up having fun PLeS HalP
It depends! Why does it overwhelm you? Are you organized enough? Do your players ask you stupid questions that you didn’t think you had to prepare for? Get good at predicting those dumb questions, or get good at improv. Are they doing things you don’t want them to do, like going north when they should go south? Just change the stuff happening in the south to the north. Or block off the path. I’d also recommend taking a 5 - 10 min break. Get up, stretch, get some snacks, etc. AS for anticlimactic session ends, try to plan for a good stop or stop playing too long. Sometimes sessions I’m in go so long we basically end when someone falls asleep.
@meme-regime
Hi, gonna DM a campaign that revolves around 2 countries at war. The campaign will eventually build up to each country having a superweapon, but the players only know about the enemy's. They are sent to stop it and while gone the allied country's goes off accidentally. My question is, how should i get my players invested in the story and really care about and join one side, rather than just do mercenary work? Its a war over land, so neither side is necessarily in the right, morally. Thanks!
Ask them to come up with detailed backstories about where they’re from, any friends, etc. Put those NPCs in the town in the region you want. Maybe one side pays well, maybe one side is filled with [x “evil” race]. Have them meet NPCs that they themselves care about their land. You can’t really force anyone to care about anything. I always stressed myself out when I cared if they did, so I stopped caring. And weirdly enough they started!
@ anon
I want to start dm'ing a campaign. Any advice for someone who's never dm'd before?
Just read up on the rules, find a module you want to try, read through it, and relax!
@ anon
I need to create a D&D character for a group me and my friends are starting. How do I go about it?
I use the app “5th edition Character Sheet” and I love it. If you pay 1 dollar you get to level up easy. There are guides online to help you out. Reading the player's handbook also helps! Make sure you and your buds know what level you’re starting at, and if you’re doing point buy or rolling your stats.
@sevenawkwarddays
So, I just recently started DMing and my group really seems to enjoy inns and enjoys roleplaying visiting one. I'm running out of gimmicks and fun quirks to give them and was wondering if you have any advice or suggestions?
Watch/read/listen to media related to that and take inspiration from there. Look up historical inns, look up local bed and breakfast joints, etc. There are some cool podcasts about history, myths, etc.
@irl-yuya
I'm writing a campaign for my friends (in which I will be both DMing and playing a character) should I get ideas, just knowing my friends' classes and see what happens or wait until they've finished character building? (We're using fan made classes. Dancer, Death Weapon (based on the show Soul Eater) and Dragon Slayer Wizard (based on Fairy Tail.)
Its your campaign, you should make it no matter what they want to play. Their races and classes shouldn’t matter too much. I’m in the middle of writing a campaign where Drow are despised, much more than normal, and driven out of towns. I’d gently suggest my players not play Drow, but hey if they want I won’t stop them. They just need to know what they’re getting into. I’m not about to change my entire campaign just because they want to play Drow but not be treated unfairly.
@ anon
Im setting up a Lamia lair in an old desert ruin, and so far i have a Lamia, jackalweres, manticores, and slaves occupying it. I have a maze, main lair, and slave cages planned, but i want it to be bigger. Any ideas???
Honestly I have no idea what Lamia is and google didn’t help… so here are some maybe not so helpful suggestions.
Room of pots, some overflowing with rubies. When you dig for more, its sand. If one breaks, endless sand pours out.
A giant room with pillars, and a single set of stairs that almost goes up to the ceiling.
A room dedicated to giving gifts to gods. You probably shouldn’t take anything. Should leave something instead.
Giant crocs who can be appeased with hearts
@ anon
So, in my campaign, almost all the PCs have a dead sibling, so I try to emphasize familial bonds in the story. Would having the BBEG's goal to bring back their own dead sibling be keeping to the motif or just lazy writing? Any suggestions for alternatives or ways to make that more interesting?
Whats bad about bringing your sibling back? Obviously raising the dead is a bit iffy but if I was one of your players I wouldn’t hunt him down for doing that. Maybe his sibling is bigger, badder, and generally better at doing evil stuff.
@didthething
My players are wandering through a mountainous region, with occasional Kobold tribes interspersed. They are searching for an old tower surrounded by a thick, cloying fog. What might they run into while they are wandering about?
I don’t have a monster manual, but I’d look into that to help you out! Rocs could be funny, since they sound like “rocks”. Bullets? Birds, goats, other typical animals you’d find on a mountain. Maybe some mountain monks or something.
@candalable
I think this is totally doable for your first game. Neat idea! I think your plot is fine, I don’t have any points. Since this is set in one place, make this places VERY detailed. Names, ages, jobs of all npcs they come across, town export and import, etc. Not sure about puzzles since everything sets back to normal tbh.
@anon
I'm DMing a session and my players are in a campaign where they're in a magical rubix cube dungeon that rotates and opens paths to new rooms when they interact with certain parts of the room they're in. I'm trying to design each room to be unique in both it's layout and what kind of challenge they'll have to go through, and i've already got three rooms planned out, but i'm running dry on cool ideas for puzzles, traps, or fun battles for them to stumble into. There are 5 players if it helps.
@anon
Could read through my blog and see if you can apply/tweak any to a room. Look up popular brain teasers and puzzles, twist them to a dnd setting. A room with a long staircase, halfway up you notice a really tall being just staring at you. Narrow bridge to get to the other side, but its cut. You can climb down the ladder into darkness. The other side seems slanted enough you can climb up.
@literal-trash-heap
In an adventure I'm writing, I need a monster that could make ships mysteriously vanish, but still be suitable for first level players. I was thinking maybe something to do with ghosts and the ethereal plane, but any suggestions would be terrific!
Low HP powerful monster that actually only makes ship invisible and sets them off course? Otherwise your suggestion sounds great.
@anon
In the party I have, everyone seems to be focused on only the task ahead and they aren't finding creative ways to overcome challenges. How can I change this and slyly force them into some RP and world exploration?
You can’t make them play how you want them to. If you want them to get into room A, and the door is locked and you don't want them busting it down but finding the key… make it impossible to break down. Thats as far as you can force their hand though. Maybe they like the straight path? You can introduce some NPCs that want to show them the world, or need an escort.
@anon
Several sessions ago the party I have been DMing helped an Armorer and a Weaponsmith get together. Now, they've been invited to their wedding. It looks like the party wants to go so I want to spice it up a bit. I'm thinking some sort of monster should attack mid vows but I'm not sure what would be good. The wedding will take place in a city set on the side of a mountain, and the players should be about level five by the time they get there. But I have no idea what the monster should be
@anon
Look in the monster manual? Maybe there is a crazed ex lover that wants revenge. Maybe some giant birds want the bird seed, or see shiny objects in the wedding like the rings or decorations.
@anon
im dming for my four friends, but two of them chose to be bards, and the other two are a cleric and a wizard. should i like, force some of them to change roles or is there someway for me to change monsters and enemies so they dont get completely junked
I’d tell everyone everyone’s class, see if they���re okay with that, and treat them like any normal party. I treat my normal parties like they CAN die… but if they’re nice and don’t do stupid stuff, they only almost die. I don’t force my players but if you’re cool with that and so are they, go for it I guess.
@cometgrace
I have a question, if you don't mind. I'm really interested in playing d&d but I have no friends who would be interested so I'm looking to play it online. The problem is, I have absolutely no experience with the game and I know pretty much nothing. What's a good way a get started and figure out the game? or a good way to just learn the ropes?
Read up the players handbook and go online! Roll20.net is something people use. You can also find game shops in your town that host [free] dnd nights with tables for you to use! For free! Most people are patient. Just be up front that that you’re new and do your best to play along.
@gxjira
i have an idea for a campaign and several little details for it but for some reason i cant connect them? so far i have a tiny town full of completely regular people, a well with weird powers, the lunar eclipse and a bad time
Sorry but there isn’t nearly enough information for me to help you out!
@synodicstudying
I have a new DND session this weekend and I'm dusting off one of my old character ideas- a wood elf druid with a chronically ill wife and a 10 year old stepson, driven by trying to find the cure for her wife. She's definitely a motherly figure, with an emphasis on healing and shapeshifting abilities who I mean to make into the glue of the party, but I just got the setting. We're in the Arctic. Any ideas on how to adapt her to fit?
I love your idea so much! Why not have her travel from your beautiful home continent? The arctic supposedly has the oldest seed in the world, frozen in time. And its one of the things you need for your wife!
@anon
So my players have unknowingly contacted the first arcs Big Bad and asked them for work. The Big Bad has been scrying on them and is slowly recognizing them as a threat, not just an annoyance. He's in a really good position to get rid of them without losing his sterling reputation. Any suggestions on how he could do this without tipping his hand that he's a villain to the party until it's too late?
Having them do tasks that kind of fuck up the town, or powerful people only. Tasks like taking a package from the Yarl to X address, instead of Y making it look like you stole it.
#ahh this took like an hour and a half#i gotta start answering them as I get them#dnd#d&d#Dungeons and Dragons#not inspo#ask#asks
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First Stumbles of a GM
A.K.A. One Shot, One Glancing Blow
I recently got into RPGing, with the help of some friends. And only after one session of playing DnD, I decided to GM my own game in a completely different system none of us had every played: Fate Accelerated. I spend a week sweating over a hot laptop outlining and re-outlining drafts of what would happen in this “one-shot” adventure.
I had no idea how to GM. I had no idea how to write an adventure, or a one-shot. I had no idea how to balance the encounters, or how a game of Fate worked in practise.
...Then we began.
First, the players created characters. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I kinda threw everything at them for each step, which complicated things and ended up with overly-written characters and doubling-up of “Aspects.”
Lesson: Read from the book! The rules were written to be super clear and easy to understand, without overwhelming the reader.
Then I started the adventure. I didn’t know what I was doing, so I started with a graduation ceremony and a speech by some guy basically introducing the world and its central conflict. It set things up well enough, but because of how I progressed it next wasn’t necessarily the best use of time.
Lesson: Let the characters interact. If they created their characters that night, give them some role play opportunities early on so they can get a better feel for what it’s like to be in their characters’ shoes. This will make it easier for them to think through what their character would do, and worry less about how that would work mechanically.
Then a bunch of giant spiders crashed the graduation and battle commenced. I didn’t know what I was doing, so the monsters were weak and didn’t get up to much, and it was over in a round and a half. Against giant spiders!
Lesson: Not sure what I could’ve done particularly with this one. I hadn’t played Fate before, hadn’t GMed anything before, and so had no idea how to balance the opponents facing the PCs. Here, experience is everything. Now I have a better idea of how easy it was to beat those spiders, the next spiders will be a lot more challenging and interesting to cross sword (or legs) with.
Also I didn’t explain the systems properly before we began, preferring to focus on the narrative and explain the details as we went. Which could conceivably have gone okay, had I not given them any of the systems. But telling your players there are certain actions they can take and “Aspects” they can “invoke,” without explaining the whole thing short circuited such a pursuit. Instead, they focused on what action and aspect they could use, without really understanding how they could use it. And all the while not really understanding what was going on mechanically.
So while the spiders turned out to be wimps, it still took a good hour and a half to defeat them. (Or it felt that way to me, anyhow.)
Lesson: Explain the full system to your players. Or explain nothing of it to them and know it like the back of your hand yourself so you can handle it all behind the screen. Well, I guess knowing the system you’re playing would be useful in any case, but you know what I mean.
We had some more awkward scene setting, dragging the players around just so I could put some pretty CGI cut-scene in front of them, further establishing the world. And then I had gave them a brief social interaction introducing the central conflict for the adventure. The spiders were driven into the player’s swords by fear; a monster has been spotted to the east.
I feel like this worked okay. The players still hadn’t made any decisions, and not much role play had happened--though they still managed to cram some in when I wasn’t waffling, so props to them!
Lesson: I think the beginning of the adventure could’ve gone a lot smoother if I wasn’t “writing” it all in my head like a story. As I’m a writer, I tend to want to show everything from the characters’ point of view. But when you’re just starting an adventure, just show them it before you even start--unless the characters haven’t already seen it. This leaves you more time to actually play, and lets the players have agency within the story from the get-go.
Once we moved out into the world and started moving eastward towards whatever monster was waiting for us there, things eased a little. All because of one small thing. I had added a small thing into a later draft that just solidified something already established.
But in practise, I hadn’t established it as clearly as I thought. In prose I’d show the character’s thoughts remembering stuff that had already happened to make it clear to the reader. But I wasn’t in control of the characters. The players were. And they read the situation very differently than I had thought.
This was awesome! For the first time in the session, for the first time in my entire 2-hour-long GMing career, things started to click. The players were engaging with my world. They were thinking about what it could've happened here, what it could imply about the world and the characters in it.
None of it was what I had planned; it was just a footnote detail that could be brushed over. But instead of cutting them short and telling them “there’s nothing to see here,” I just sat back and played along. They led the experience, not me.
From then on, I barely glanced at my notes. Up to that point, of course, I spent most of my time staring down at them trying to get the words out that I’d prepared over the past week. But now I was free. I knew where the players could go, I knew what they players would find there, and the rest was pure improvisation.
Lesson: Let your players do the talking. A player’s job is to decide what to do. A GM’s job is show them what happens when they do it. You hold the world in your head, you know the rules and how to use them in different situations. While you also have the job of giving them things they could do, the bulk of your time will be spent acting and reacting based on what the players decide to do.
I feel like this is where roleplaying really sings. In the roleplay itself. They roleplay their characters, you roleplay the rest of the universe.
This took a lot of pressure off of me. Because I had so much planned out, so much detail I’d worked hard on, I wanted to get it all out there. I wanted to read them a script, a story I had crafted beforehand. But once I let go of that idea, I was collaborating with the players. We ended up putting equal amounts of effort into it while playing.
Which, for Fate at least, felt like the right way of doing things.
I had 8 pages of detailed notes--a good chunk of which was that intro speech. After 4 and a half hours, we finished 3 of them. We had to stop so people could live their lives, I guess. I wrapped it up with a point of interest, and mild cliffhanger with absolutely nothing resolved.
So it pretty much failed as a single-night one-shot. But on the bright side, we have another couple of sessions already prepped for! ^^
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