#both ttrpgs I’m playing in right now are different kinds of HORROR

[maramahan]

So we had the the Season 2 finale of our long-running Shadowrun ttrpg campaign just now.

We finally got to fight the big bad we’ve been chasing/dodging for two irl years, and… things were looking dire. The villain had our mage pinned to the floor and was actively attempting to disembowel him; our techie threw herself at the boss to try and save the guy — but got poisoned for her trouble, hit with an effect that had her hallucinating & unable to tell friend from foe, and our gunner couldn’t shoot the villain without potentially hitting (and killing) an ally.

….So it came to my character: a doctor who’s pretty much useless in combat. I’d already flubbed two separate rolls to shoot the villain in the face, and there’s not a single attack on my whole entire spell list…so instead I took out a spray bottle & spritzed the final boss as though she were a misbehaving pet?

…….which woke up our techie, which gave the mage enough leeway to free himself, which gave our gunner a window to fire his tank, which killed the villain and ended the fight.

I swear Im only halfway sure how I got here as a person, but APPARENTLY this is how we deal with murderous wannabe blood-gods now

[theresattrpgforthat]

THEME: SHUDDERS

This week’s games are all horror games of different genres, with settings that grab me by the lapels and pull me in. I’m excited about all of them.

Kaichu-Shi, by Lone Archivist.

In this system-agnostic Sci-Fi supplement and love-letter to Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara, your characters play as frontier doctors called Kaichū-Shi or Parasite Masters. 

They'll explore dark forests and research parasitic organisms, known as Kaichū,  that exist in a classification somewhere between plants and insects. Heal colonists and blue collar workers who fall sick with mysterious ailments, exhibiting symptoms that vary from minor to life-threatening.

Many of the organisms are only visible when viewed through specific spectrums of light. Some only partially exist in this universe. When viewed, they are often semi-corporeal, ethereal creatures that bend light around them as they float and crawl around.

This game comes with a short settlement description and map, as well as a way to generate creatures and scenarios. I’m curious about playing it in a game like Mothership, Liminal Horror, or something from the 24XX system of games. I’m not sure what the sliding scale is when it comes to horror for this game - if healing your fellow colonists is relatively easy, then you can come away from it feeling like you’ve saved the day, while if the parasites are harder to combat, then you could aim for a more horrific or tragic tone. The idea of the parasites being semi-corporeal certainly has a lot of horror potential!

Wrath of the Undersea, by EfanGamez.

"The Great Ones promised retribution for the folly of Man. Their empire spreads across the once great kingdoms that now reside below the ocean's depths. Only then did we, chosen of great Dagon and Mother Hydra, climb ashore to heretical ground to lay our foundation once more. We gave the usurpers the children of the sea to feast upon, and ancient shells that whisper hints of prophecy in exchange of resettlement. This was the way it was…until betrayal plagued our kind."

Wrath of the Undersea is a 17 page game where you play as Lovecraftian monsters seeking revenge on the people who kill your kin and have stolen your land. Use powerful Incantations to cast spells, pray to the Great Ones for help, or use fang and spear to reclaim the shore for yourselves once more.

Embrace the horror and play as one yourself, in Wrath of the Undersea. This game comes with a selection of peoples that you could play, and has a style of play that’s familiar for players of traditional ttrpgs. You’ll roll 2d6 and add stats in an effort to beat a Difficulty Class, with Eldritch Incantations and chances for character advancement to buy or improve your PC’s traits. The PDF itself is beautiful and dark, and perfectly evokes the mood of the game inside.

Bloodclotte, by Sillion L & Nick Duff.

Bloodclotte is a tabletop RPG about doctors in a world of Gothic horror, where alchemy, reanimation and medical astronomy are used to save lives every day. Player characters work in a war hospital settled inside an abandoned castle, treating the soldier and civilian casualties of a continent in violent chaos. As patients develop unusual symptoms, the war unfolds, supply lines falter, and morale breaks down, the doctors must work together to keep the hospital from being overwhelmed.

Right now this edition is still in the works, but it’s a full-enough game to play. Each patient you treat has a reason why that can’t simply heal, manifested through Clot Boxes. Your job is to create and find resources to take care of these Clot Boxes, thus raising your patients’ chances of a full recovery. This game contains the horror of working on the front lines, with people who are both physically and mentally traumatized. Your character classes are a mix of the medical and the magical, including Death Priests, Metaphysicians, and Yellow Chemists. If you like medical dramas but want to make them gothic and spooky, you should absolutely check out this game.

Exuviae: Relics of House Dragonfly, by Sean Smith.

It's the forties. You live in a bayside city that's secretly under the control of an insect cult, and tonight you're going to prove it.

EXUVIAE produces horror-noir one-shots with a single pack of playing cards and no preparation.

EXUVIAE is designed to produce an investigative roleplaying experience without needing elaborate planning. If you've ever wanted to run an investigative game but haven't had time to dedicate to preparing a mystery, this is the game for you. What's more, because the structures of the game provide specific narrative prompts from the players, it better enables characters to make deductive leaps and the horror feels closer to home.

Using a pack of cards, your party will investigate a town with threats left behind by the insect cult, while trying not to attract too much attention from the cult itself. I’m not sure if this game is run by a GM or GM-less: it feels like it could go either way. Overall the setting itself is what fascinates me, and that’s why this game is on my list.

What Lies Beneath the Darkness, by Cezar Capacle.

What lies beneath the darkness is a gaslamp fantasy game about intrigue and struggle. 

You play as a Horror employed by a faction to expand their dominance over the victorianesque city of Ravenswatch, while you fight to balance the human and supernatural natures that inhabit you. You will face the dark streets of Ravenswatch performing missions for your faction. You live an internal battle between your human links and your dark instincts, between what you want and what your faction demands.

Powered by Push, this has a dice mechanic that allows you to push your luck in such a way that there can be too much of a good thing. It’s advertised as zero-prep and online-friendly. You can play as a group, or you can play solo. I’d love to see this game as a prequel or partner to something like Urban Shadows or Apocalypse Keys, but this game looks more than enough to be played on its own.

The Hunted, by Chris Bissette.

The Hunted is a folk horror storytelling game for 3-5 players that blends together mechanics from Forged In The Dark, Powered By The Apocalypse, and Belonging Outside Belonging games to create a lean chimera of a game unlike anything you have ever played.

Players take on the role of a group of friends on an expedition who become cut off from civilization as they are hunted by an unknown entity. As the game continues the players will tell their own stories about the thing hunting them, building up a unique legend that feeds directly back into the narrative. The more stories you tell the more your characters succeed and the longer they survive - but with each story the Hunter grows stronger and becomes more of a threat.

I love collaborative storytelling, especially in a horror game like this, because sometimes not knowing what’s hunting you is the scariest thing of all. With generative mechanics that help you build as you go, I can see this game being suitable for a number of settings; fantasy, modern, sci-fi and post-apocalyptic are at the top of my head.

[dndhomebrewguy]

My Thoughts on Creating a Villain

Hello, everyone! I hope you're staying safe and washing both your hands and assholes because hygiene and quarantine and all that. This post is going to be a little different, so bear with me. No magic item, no subclass, no homebrew period. So, in the games I run, I've been slowly expanding my horizons to new territories I never really explored in my first ever D&D campaign. The first game was very cut and dry. A real "Good vs Evil" thing, which is fine and dandy if you want a story like that, but I'm one to want more complication than that. However, what's a "Good vs Evil" story without a good villain? I want to take you through my process of developing, planning for, and the actual implementation of villains in your D&D or any other ttrpg game you play/run.

Firstly, what is "evil"? Evil is a concept, yes, but what does that mean? Most people define evil as something objectively bad. Thanos throwing Gamora off the cliff was an evil thing, right? To me, evil is defined as something that causes tribulation. An action that someone takes that leads to suffering and pain. However, I try not to write something as "evil" and I don't think you should either. No person is evil, just as no person is good. It's simply people making evil decisions and good decisions. Evil should not be the basis for your villain. Evil is not a trait.

That lacks depth. That lacks imagination. Plain and simple.

Rather, evil is an action. Someone intervening or setting events into motion for the purpose of harm and suffering. These are 100% the easiest villains to write. People who cause suffering for the sake of suffering, a la the Joker. Much like MK11's Raiden, if you have altruism in mind, but resort to dark and violent methods to achieve that goal, are you really evil when compared to someone like the Joker? If I make you a sandwich, but accidentally poison it (fuckin somehow), thus leading to your death and the emotional suffering of your entire family, am I evil? What if I meant to poison you? Most people would consider that an evil action and I agree.

You want some of that tasty density? That moist character? Make a character. The first thing I always do is build as if I will play this character in a campaign. A paragon of good and light; someone almost incorruptible and then just fuck them up. As mentioned previously, no one is born evil and those traits most found in what is traditionally "evil" are learned. Selfishness, fear, anger, resentment; all of those one games from the experiences they've been through. Negative experiences can brew negative thoughts, which can brew negative actions.

Your hero should have a few things in mind. First being the things they hold close to them both tangible and intangible. Family, beliefs, ideals, etc; the things that this person believes makes them unique. Second should be ambitions and goals. What is this person's greatest desire? What does this person consider their life's work? Thirdly should be their fears. What do they not like and what do they fear would happen if they don't reach their goal?

Finally, begin adding cause and effect. What events transpire to make them snap? How do you corrupt the incorruptible? Chain reactions. I'll take you through an example of one of my earliest villains.

Dairo Cysterik is a blue dragonborn noble of the now fallen country of Dwendalos. A prodigy in the magic stemming from his bloodline, he went to the best schools and got the best education possible. What he holds close to him is family; the notion of the unbroken bond himself, his sisters, and his parents share. His father is stern yet soft, his mother is a kind gentle woman, his sisters are young and innocent pranksters. He loves his family and his family love him. His goals are bettering the country. He knows that he is destined for the throne, that he will root out the underbelly of crime that plagues most of the cities and shine a light in the ugly dark. His father did it, his father's father did it, now he will do it. He will be the good king that his father was. Lastly, his fear is failure and what will happen if he doesn't succeed. What if he introduces policies that the people don't like and what if the crime bosses outsmart him and are always one step ahead of him? He has often lost sleep over this.

Now how do we vilify this paragon of good? I shall answer my question with another question: what can make a paragon turn to darkness? Evil actions are most often caused by forces one cannot control, stemming from things like desperation or insecurity or jealousy or fear. Thanos saw the resources and population of his planet be ravaged by overcrowding and it was his fear of this happening again that led to him being the antagonist. Sandman had an ill daughter on her deathbed and it was his desperation to help her that led to him becoming a villain. You get me yet?

In the case of Dairo Cysterik, he faces fear at every turn. He's the insecure son of Raxan the Great and is forced to live in that image and is terrified of the massive throne he will one day sit in. He knows that it's inevitable and it terrifies him. Even more so, he has been publicly asked about his leanings with the policies currently in place that his father said in and his allegiance is to the various factions of the city and felt he should say his genuine opinion. That led to an outing with his family where he was publically attacked by a handful of citizens, savagely beating him because of differing political views. This was his first snap. He wanted to help these people. Why did they hurt him, almost beat him to death?

He sits on these feelings for a while and does not appear in the public eye, even going so far as to isolate himself lavish parties that he used to enjoy. Alone and confused, he cries before picking himself up and heading down into the party, where he overhears his father speaking about him, saying how his son is unfit to rule and how he fears for how his son will act. This is his second snap. His own father doesn't trust him with the life he wants him to lead. He begins resenting his father and begins getting delusions hatred towards him that doesn't exist. If his father thinks these things about him, everyone must. However, he pushes these feelings down, understands they are most likely the result of paranoia. Months later, the castle gets broken in and Dairo is killed by an assassin. His father thinks the commotion and runs to his room just as Dairo gets attacked. Dairo watches his father watch in horror, doing absolutely nothing as Dairo is killed. Of course, he is revived in a way. What runs through the mind of Dairo? Paranoia, hatred, anger; his father watched him die, did nothing to stop this death. It never crossed our villains mind that his father might have been stunned with fear, no; all that consumes our villain's mind is the hatred and the betrayal he feels. This is his final snap. He wanted vengeance. The greatest friend and the worst enemy of the villain is a skewed concept of what they want and how the world is. Especially in regards of how they're going to deal with it.

That is a very long example of how I created the villain. One thing you have to keep in mind is that anyone can become a villain. Paladins become death knights, wizards become liches, and kings become tyrants. All it takes to turn a man into a villain is cause and effect. Take everything someone loves from them and leave them with nothing and they lose what made them human. Having too much it's the same as having nothing at all. Take what a person loves away from them and there will be no lengths a person will not go to to get that back in whatever way they can. To what lengths will the villain go? What will the villain sacrifice along the way? What will they do to achieve this? Anyone can become a villain with pain, a skewed view, and motivation. That, to me, is what makes a villain.

[geejaysmith]

Wolf 359: A running list of things I have a heightened appreciation on second listen, pt. 2

Part one here. 

SEASON 3:

Pan-Pan: Still a little miffed they didn't explicitly do the "we have to huddle to conserve body heat" trope. Yes, it's corny, but also shut up, let my touch-starved space disasters cuddle.

So Eiffel stopped Hera and Minkowski arguing in season 1 to address an emergency, and now with Eiffel absent, the team starts arguing again. The fact he doesn't exactly have much Pride In His Own Self-Sufficiency to get in the way of "hey! Guys! Remember, imminent death? More important priorities happening?" tends to defuse situations like this aaaaaand now he's absent.

"Cutter will send a squad of psychos to come up here and kill us faster!" ...she's not wrong.

"Pick a corner and relax! Hop to it!" I just like this line delivery.

"The entire station is a SPACE YUKON and this thing is overheating!" I know, it's like it's symbolic or something.

Episode 29: "we all feel responsible for losing Eiffel and are lashing out because we're scared and sad and grieving and fear getting backlash while we're vulnerable if we admit we need help, and we don't know what to do but keep going because the alternative is breaking down and possibly never getting back up again." Alternatively:  "It's Metaphors All the Way Down."

Mayday: Eiffel's frustrated screaming.

Brain Ghost Minkowski showing up like "Yeah, we know I'm a hallucination, or Weird Alien Shit, or maybe just a clever metaphor representing the abstract process of thought, but who gives a crap, this is more interesting than listening to you talk to yourself for an entire episode."

BGM: Hi, I'm your thought processes externalized using a face and personality that you subconsciously think you need to hear from in this situation, possibly because you think so little of yourself you need to hear it from somebody else first. Eiffel: Oh hey cool, this is just like this one web comic I kept up with sometimes back on Earth- BGM: Not another word.

Eiffel getting slapped by Brain Ghost Lovelace, who is a projection of his thoughts.

What is that whispering in his head that reminds him of the Hermes' name supposed to be anyway? Score one for my Weird Alien Brain Shit theory. Having Lovelace's alien juice in your system comes with such fun side effects.

"I dunno, I only know what you know." "Shut up, don't go meta on me." / "Hilbert wouldn't know that word! He's never even heard of Empire!" Yeah, toldja: it's Brain Ghosts.

Brain Ghost Hilbert may represent the realist in Eiffel and the brutal, calculating reality he doesn't want to confront, but Brain Ghosts Minkowski and Lovelace are his cooler head and ingenuity, working him through staying calm and devising a way to survive, and Brain Ghost Hera, who appears when Hilbert tells him it's hopeless, telling him that against all the odds he will be okay, is his stubborn determination to never, ever quit. They're all his determination to live when Doug might want to just stop trying. They're the better parts of himself, reflected in the voices of his friends.

And Hilbert. But I digress- HOLY FUCK, I just realized the brilliance in the one-two punch of the Brain Ghost Brigade contrasted with the previous episode's Stress Fracture Argue Crew, it's The Sound And The Fury all over again.

Paging the Wolf 359 incorrect quote blogs: "Save my friends! And Zoidberg Hilbert!"  

Sécurité thru Don’t Poke the Bear: Maxwell! I've missed you! (':

"And I build pretty awesome battle drones on the weekends." ...Does Maxwell have her own souped-up version of one Jamie Hyneman's Blendo?

Eiffel, realizing he's starting to sound like Minkowski: My god, what have I become.

Eiffel mumbling to himself in general. "This is hell and I'm in it."

Is it just me or is Kepler's pig story not as agonizingly drawn out to listen to the second time around?

A Matter of Perspective: Funzo: 12 different board games, three of them TCGs and maybe at least one TTRPG, all tossed in a blender, because Pryce and Cutter are psychopaths.

The Funzo manual is the size of the actual Bible and don't try to convince me otherwise.

How into the game the girls all get.

Headcanon: Minkowski and Lovelace are both the types to get stupidly competitive over any kind of game regardless of their initial level of investment.

Eiffel keeps a photo of (it's implied) him and his daughter taped to the underside of his console...

"He looks so... happy." shUT UP

"I had no idea Eiffel had a-" daughter. Was it "daughter" you were going to say Minkowski. Well, no one else knew you were married til you brought it up, so turnabout's fair play.

"You think you know me? You know the artist formerly known as Warren Kepler, you've met my job. Aside from that, there's no one left for you to know." In light of the series finale, I, uh... I don't if I like this, Scoob. Also, stop reminding me all these people are human persons underneath all the desensitization to horror and violence.

"Happy birthday, Eiffel." They remembered! Hope this one is less traumatizing than the last, Doug.

"Happy Kwanzaa!" "Lovelace."

"Long Story Short, that's the last time I saw Maxwell's feet" wh. What. What happened involving Maxwell's feet. What's. why-

And to make a long story short, that's where my "Maxwell has hands for feet" headcanon came from.

Need to Know: Minkowski's dreams, apparently, include both creating musicals and commanding a deep space mission. She's gotten the latter way the hell off the bucket list, somebody with actual songwriting skills want to get in and write the former with me?

Lovelace overindulging on painkillers for her broken arm after losing Officer Fisher... "It was a difficult time." ):

Aaaand serious implications of the above are immediately headed off by Lovelace quacking aggressively at Jacobi.

Fire and Brimstone: where is my fanfiction about Lovelace overseeing Minkowski during her solitary confinement?

The Backstory Episodes: Zach Valenti wrote all the backstory episodes! I just find that kind of sweet.

Once in a Lifetime: Small detail I only noticed on my second listen, after a fanfic put the thought in my head: Minkowski's parents are only referred to in the past tense. Oof.

"Thank you for coming in on such short notice. We had a hiccup in staffing for this upcoming quarter."  So... according to the wiki's timeline, the launch for the second Hephaestus mission was some time in late March 2013. The beginning of this episode (and Eiffel's) states it takes place in 2013, with 3 months of training, meaning they were probably brought on board in January and the whole thing moved *ridiculously* fast. Everything points to them wanting to get people up in space as quickly and with as little fuss as possible, giving the newcomers no time to think it over or do additional research. Once they start the training program, they're probably too busy to look further into Goddard's deep space missions, and are likely in an environment where Goddard Futuristics can cut them off from other information sources. The people they select are relatively isolated (Minkowski and her husband being an exception) - the easier to make them disappear. Even Lovelace has been stationed at "a lot of very isolated, very quiet outposts", the implication being her superiors wanted her somewhere out of the way. Kind of makes me wonder about the rest of the Hephaestus 1.0 crew...

Greensboro: Nice ominous foreshadowing you've got there vis a vis Captain Lovelace and "are you an alien?"

Decommissioned: "We're not about to force anyone to do something they don't want to do!" ...Marcus Cutter deserves to have his trousers ablaze constantly.

All Things Considered is still a bit confusing (because I somehow keep listening to it while doing something else) and I'll need another listen to figure out what probably actually happened, but it is also hilarious.

"Eiffel had engaged the machine, but that's why I build in extra safeguards. My mistake, clearly, was to assume that would be enough to stop the slapstick routine."

“All Things Considered”: Did you have fun with this over-the-top romp of hilarity and and hijinks, dear audience? Good! Because that was us burning off our comedy quota for the rest of the season. Get ready for six whole episodes of nonstop emotional gut-punches!

MEMORIA.

Just... Memoria.

Putting this quote here because of Reasons: "Three years... Three and a half years... I've had this thing in my head breaking me, and making me think it was all my fault, that there was something wrong with *me!*"

So Memoria is still one of the best episodes and the last five minutes fuck me up in a special little way.

Time to Kill: "Or the one outside is the real Jacobi... and the alien is already in here with us." The funny thing, Maxwell, is that you were half-right and didn't even realize it, and you *were* just speaking to Lovelace.

So... do alien duplicates only get reloaded from the singular "snapshot" of the person, or does getting flare-scanned once give them a continually updated source of info? What I'm getting at is: if another Jacobi shows up post-finale, would he need to be filled in on events between his horrible, terrible death and the present?

Persuasion: Maxwell switching to First Name Basis to get Jacobi to be honest with her.

I always forget until the scene after that Hilbert is totally setting up the Space Telephone to manipulate her, but of all the ways he could've gotten Minkowski around to "we are disposable and need to act *now* before these people decide they're done with us", it still kinda touching that this is the method he chose.

Desperate Times/Desperate Measures are just a blur of "oh god oh god oh god" and it's just as nailbiting the second time around. One thing I love about this podcast is how comfortable it is with (for its medium) long stretches of silence, which can feel a LOT longer when you have no other forms of feedback except dialogue to know the first gunshot was just a warning.

So you really *do* feel Minkowski breaking out into laughter when Eiffel tries to invoke Air Force code is a release of the tension that's been building for multiple episodes. Like he's finally gotten through to them just how far this has all gone and how much further it could still go. I keep saying this: when the situation starts to threaten violence, he's got an amazing gift for keeping the rest of the crew in touch with their common humanity when the rest get far too used to a world that runs on self-interest and subterfuge. Hell, he even gets Hilbert and *Kepler* opening up over the course of the story (presuming Kepler is being honest when he talks about being a shell of himself, but even though he was trying to manipulate Eiffel, that doesn't exclude there being a kernel of truth in those words).

Speaking of Kepler: he's definitely riding the adrenaline high of the situation and it turns him into a monster with a manic streak. It makes Jacobi's and Maxwell's relative calm all the eerier by contrast. Those two really do make you forget that all of this is... pretty horribly routine for them.

Until they meet their match, that is, when the women of the Hephaestus refuse to stand down, and each of them is unspeakably badass in their own way. What Kepler didn't account for is that they're ready and willing to die together rather than sacrifice one another for their own survival.

Although again, the irony of the situation is that just dropping the station into the star could have let them avoid, /gestures at season 4. BUT I'm not gonna rain on the Badass parade here.

Bolero, aka "The podcast kicking me in the feelings while I'm down."

The way Minkowski orders everyone else out of the room before Brain Ghost Lovelace conversates with her.  ...did she pop up in the middle of that conversation, I wonder? And all this when psi-wave radiation is spiking, apparently. Coincidence?

Oh come on Hera, war is no reason to end a friendship- Look, I came here from Metal Gear. I see folks dunking on Hilbert and I'm just over here like "he's still not as revolting as Huey Emmerich."  

Listen I've seen enough of Warren Kepler and Marcus Cutter in this fandom to know y'all aren't above liking a bad guy, you just prefer the ones who're having fun with it.

"You're gonna come to my funeral! And you're gonna like it! ...I mean you're gonna feel really sad! And cry! And stuff! GOT IT??" Ah, good ol' Eiffel.

THE COMPUTER ALSO HAS BRAIN GHOSTS

"If I'm not your doctor, then what are we?" "We're... complicated?" Listen, Eiffel, if you're not careful, I'm going to start shipping you and Hilbert ironically For The Lulz, and we all know where shipping things ironically always leads.

Errybody gets brain ghosts this episode. Again: I accept that this is a device that's more interesting than an alternative method of expressing these same ideas, but the ambiguity of a Watsonian explanation (is it all in their heads? Do they really see an apparition of some kind?) lets me do my Weird. Look, I once wrote in a joke in a fic about Death from Discworld complimenting a Quirky Miniboss Squad member from Metal Gear Solid 3 on his taste in interior decorating arena design, and that spawned entire subplots in projects for two different fandoms, and eventually roped in a third fandom to elaborate further on their now-intertwined cosmology. Do not underestimate how much I can give myself to work with.

The last ten minutes of Bolero also fuck me up in a special way, partly because We Are Dealing With the Hard and Unavoidable Fact of Death but also the aliens are about to throw a curve ball that'll... alter that last part a little.

Like, words cannot describe the "Dead Man's Curve in the wet" hard right turn of going from being in mourning for several beloved characters (including my favorite) to SURPRISE, SHE'S BACK! I love it.

I'd have to check the scripts to be sure exactly because some words got lost in Lovelace's respiratory spasms but I do like to imagine the her head wound closing up in front of a horrified Eiffel and Minkowski, with a side order of glow-y shit. I've drawn too many Homestuck god tier revivals I guess.

Update: I DID check the recording script's stage directions to see just how disgustingly physical the whole event is and okay, so no weird glowing shit (I reserve my right to depict it that way anyway) but I'm delighted to report that the gross anatomical-ness I was picturing? It's worse! It is so much worse!

The goddamn AGONY that is the Special Episode being TWO HOURS LONG when it comes right after the BIGGEST CLIFFHANGER IN THE SERIES.

You have NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF TEMPTATION IT WAS TO SKIP THIS AND COME BACK TO IT LATER

LOVELACE 1.0 I LOVE YOU BUT ALSO I WANNA TO SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING TO FUTURE-YOU RIGHT NOW

Change of Mind: love the framing device placing this episode as within Lovelace's mind during her successful cranial reconstruction saving throw.

"Buncha nerds, gonna crash my-"

Just how familiar she is in this place, with these people... Hera was installed in her sister's grave (as another post put it), but Lovelace lives in the gutted cadaver of her home.

Zach Valenti's Lambert voice *does* sound like a bad Minkowski impression.

"I have a physicist to put the fear of *me* into." That's my girl. She kind of was more of an ass pre-Total Party Kill, though? Like come on, Isabel, how necessary *is* all this arguing with Lambert?

Fourier's voice is very nice, also. Very soft, very easy on the ears.

I'm now appreciating how it sounds like Fisher is the older and calmer mediator among the crew.

Also the image of Isabel just floating out in space and listening to some chill tunes is sooooo good.

Hey Doc, did it turn out Fisher was too perceptive to live. Was getting caught outside in that meteor shower really an accident. Hey. Hey Hilbert. Answer me. 

Also goddamnit, has EVERY character in this series has read Harry Potter?

Did the Fishers always differentiate each other by audio channel? I had to rewind the scene when I realized Lovelace's questions in my right ear weren't getting an answer.

"Say you're a big pink elephant!"

*gunshot* *gross biological dissolving noises* WHY

"Just because somebody made you something doesn't mean that's all you're going to be - you can be more!" I wrote this line down prior to the end of the episode's confirmation that it's a Big Thematic Point.

Aaaand we're back to the framing device, and with that, season 3 wraps. Or maybe season 4 kicks off? Either way, hell of a way to kick it off.

Cecilia Lynn-Jacobs had a hand in writing this episode? Aw... that's sweet...

So, yeah, headcanon: Alien resurrection does the weird glowy thing to close any obviously fatal maladies, then the gross biological viscera part kicks in, hence Lovelace sounding like she's trying to hack up her lungs as soon as she starts using them again.

Listen, sometimes the gross biological viscera parts are my favorite parts, okay? Okay.

[theresattrpgforthat]

TTRPG Podcasts - Mint Recommends

I listen to a lot of ttrpg podcasts as I do my daily tasks, and there's quite a few that I really like listening to. This is a list of podcasts that I really enjoy, although it's not completely comprehensive. I'm not recommending podcasts that I like for more nostalgic or personal reasons, nor am I recommending podcasts that I only just added to my feed.

Various Games

Trials of the Apocalypse

This is a podcast that focuses on Powered by the Apocalypse games in short sessions. I’ve only listened to a couple of arcs so far, but I really appreciate the among of the respect the game group brings to each game they play. The cast are very intentional about understanding what kind of story the game designer wants to tell, and then endeavour to bring that story to the table.

Party of One

Party of One is a great platform for small designers and two-player games. Jeff Stormer is very meticulous in making sure that episodes are easy to find on the website, and is willing to sit down with guests to play games that match the tone that they’re looking for, whether that tone is serious or silly. Jeff also runs a podcast called All My Fantasy Children, which I don’t think I can speak to the quality of yet because I haven’t listened to enough episodes.

The Eternity Archives

I’m still working through this show, and it looks like it isn’t publishing episodes anymore, but the concept is so so good. The characters are part of an interdimensional library that sends them into different worlds to do certain quests. The idea of maintaining the same narrative throughout a number of different games has directly inspired me in how I’m running the Planedawn Orphans campaign on my own server right now.

Team-Up Moves

Team-Up Moves is a podcast that focuses on superhero ttrpgs, and I started listening to it because it covered Exceptionals, which is a game that I really wanted to hear. The hosts are passionate comic book fans and bring their understanding of the genre to the table. They haven’t released any episodes recently but I enjoy their reflections on the games after they run through each one.

My First Dungeon

The format of this podcasts surround the host of the show interviewing the game designer about the goals and techniques of running their game, followed by a series of episodes of a selected cast running through that game. The sound and editing quality is very high, making this such a pleasant listen.

Long-Term Campaigns

Monster Hour

I’m still working through the first game of Monster Hour, which was Monster of the Week, but I understand that current episodes use a game system designed by the GM for this podcast, which is Absurdia. This is the podcast that helped me really understand the flow of PbtA games. Quinn is also very good at raising tension, and the players all mesh really well.

Tales Yet Told

Tales Yet Told prefers to play using narrative ttrpgs. I started by listening to Whispers in the Sea and now I’m working through Strangers in the Wood. The group likes telling long-form stories but the game systems used every season are different. I’m putting them in the single game category just because each season is quite a few sessions long. Both the players and the GM really enjoy rich characterization and I like that they take the time to explore what the characters are feeling and how those feelings motivate them to do certain things, even when those things aren’t the most ��optimal.”

Explorers Wanted

Explorers Wanted is a podcast campaign about journeying through the world of Numenera. The GM, Daniel, has a very unique way of ending the podcast that involves just a small tidbit of daily horror, and those pieces of horror also show up throughout the course of the game.

Talking About TTRPGs.

Fine Blueprints and Dice Exploder

I listen to Fine Blueprints because I really enjoy Forged in the Dark games and also because I’m designing a Forged in the Dark game. I found Dice Exploder because it’s made by the same people, and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve listened to so far. This is a podcast primarily about game design, so if you want to listen to people talk about what makes games tick, I recommend these podcasts.

Character Creation Cast

Character Creation Cast leads you through character creation of various games, and has discussions about how character creation informs play. The people running the show are very very passionate, as are the people that they interview. I feel like I come away from each series with a new understanding of the games they talk about.

The Gauntlet Podcast

The Gauntlet is currently a publishing company but before that, it was a gaming community. The gaming community has changed its name to The Open Hearth, and since they’ve done that, this podcast was retired. However, there are a lot of really good conversations here about running games, what people like or look for in games, and safety in games. This podcast really informed a a lot of my own GM practises.

Yes Indie’d Podcast

The host for this podcast is Thomas Manuel, who is also the author of the Indie RPG Newsletter. It involves interviews with folks who are in the TTRPG scene, including game designers, game reviewers, and podcasters. I’ve found it really helpful when I want to think about running games.