#chris pine premades

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IP Freely

One of the really interesting things about this WotC / OGL thing (if it ends up coming to pass), is how it exposes a way they’ve shot themselves in the foot. I mean, other than the obvious.

Since you can’t copyright game mechanics (though I’m sure they’ll try to sue everyone anyway), D&D has two things remaining: brand recognition, and IP.

Their brand recognition is going to be the real hurdle, because it’s stronger now than anytime in the past, really. They’re about as close to mainstream as they’ve ever been. They got a Chris Pine movie coming out. They’re in the “generic” phase of popularity, where “playing D&D” is shorthand for the entire tabletop experience in all but the minds of the nerdliest of nerds (I include myself in this group, Deadlands4Ever!).

I’m not sure surmounting the brand recognition is possible for any new game (at least not on a short time scale), which is where the battle is going to be fought. Pathfinder has the strongest play, probably, if they can survive the legal fees they’re about to be assailed with. Sounds like Kobold Press is making some moves, too, and more power to them. Good luck, everyone.

However, WotC could have had an enormous second weapon in their arsenal, one they’ve systematically dismantled since around 3rd edition: their IP. Nowadays, I doubt many new players know anything about the D&D IP, and I don’t mean that in a grognard / gatekeepy way. I mean, the company used 3rd, 4th, and much of 5th (with exceptions) to wipe their own IP away in the name of ease of use. Which obviously worked for them - they clearly have the new player base they were looking for.

But, believe it or not, D&D used to have big iconic characters. Elminster and Tanis Half-Elven and the Dragon of Tyr. Fiction books on the best seller list. Spinoff game lore books in the dozens about each setting, packaged in full boxes with maps. Branded video games that introduced huge groups of non-dice rollers to places like Baldur’s Gate and Sigil. They had a mainstream Saturday morning cartoon show, for chrissakes.

Somewhere around 3e, though (when WotC took over), they started to seem embarrassed of their own IP. They released fewer novels, they alienated their own authors. They stopped making campaign settings (leaving 3rd parties to occasionally do it, but with little support or marketing), letting Dragonlance, Spelljammer, PlaneScape, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft wither on the vine. Generic Fantasy World A and B became the primary setting (Greyhawk in name only for 3e, the wildly beige “Points of Light” setting for 4e).

They certainly stopped trying to make movies or cartoons with their IP. Video games set in D&D worlds became thin on the ground, mostly just a half-hearted MMO no one remembers.

Why wasn’t there a Drizzt movie or cartoon? According to Telegram, the character sold 35 million novels and was on the New York Times Best Seller list dozens of times.

5e tried to make a course-correction. In the rulebooks, you started to see names like “Bruenor Battlehammer” in rules examples instead of the generic “Tordek” and “Mialee.” Curse of Strahd was probably the strongest IP exercise, single-handedly resurrecting Ravenloft and one of the brand’s most iconic villains for millions of new players.

But even these attempts have been lacking any real teeth. Ravenloft eventually got an anemic “Van Richten’s Guide” fully five years after Curse of Strahd became popular, a book that lacked sufficient detail for a true campaign setting - or sufficient flavor to excite newcomers. Dark Sun remains on a shelf. Dragonlance only recently started getting attention, but even those books have been premade campaigns pretending to be campaign settings. Spelljammer is probably their most notable effort in 5e, which actually came with multiple setting books, probably a callback to the heyday of Spelljammer (when D&D loved introducing you to new worlds).

But this isn’t about campaign setting books, though that shit contributes.

It’s more that WotC spent the past two and a half decades making D&D as generic as humanly possible, without all of the flavor and characters of their most interesting settings, and burying all of their actually valuable IP.

And now that people are looking to jump ship, the company has nothing more than branding to lean on.

I hate to say “I told you so,” but, well, shit. Turns out all those cool stories and settings hundreds of people worked on and millions of people loved had some value or whatever.

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Episode 9 - “Sharks Can’t Survive in Boiling Hot Tea” - Sarah

How is Jordan Pines still in this game?!

WHAT I LEARNED IN BOATING SCHOOL IS

I AM PISSED BECK LEFT. I AM GOING TO SLAUGHTER THEM, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM. My main target is Landen. You're gonna be a butt hurt baby cause I sniped Juls then it's war, and I'm coming for you, because I doubt anyone else would target me for that reason so he needs to go NOW. I can't wait for the moment where I get to write his name down and him leave because he's so narcissistic. This round went exactly how I wanted Stoner won the gold medal in the arena and Sonkei wins immunity, easy way to get to Final 14 and the person I'm worrying the most for on the other tribe has immunity. The only way this gets better is if Miraitowa has a messy tribal tonight. Also if Darcy, Kevin, or myself are able to volunteer for the arena before Pete gets the chance tomorrow to avoid Pete winning immunity because he is the target if we go to tribal just because of who he's connected to on the other tribe. I think next round will either be the last tribal immunity before merge or a double tribal council before merge so it is super important that Pete does not get to play in the next arena, if Pete makes merge idgaf if he competes in the arena he wouldn't even be my target anymore but if I end up having to vote him and he has an idol I'm going to have to work against him because he won't trust me anymore. I'm also getting weird vibes from Caeleb and I'd actually like to get Caeleb out when we merge because I straight up don't trust him. I rather keep Sammy, and to a lesser extent Eve around because people know they are a strong pair and they already votes against  Kevin/Jacob/Nicole so they will probably have tension between each other. Stoner I'm not close with but for me it doesn't make sense to go after him first, because our relationship is just okay. If sonkei doesn't end up going to tribal I like Pete and wouldn't mind the idea of building our relationship during the merge. I'm hoping Jordan Pines gets voted out if I'm being honest he has connections to my tribe and I think he's most likely to get people to flip from my tribe so him going this round might be beneficial to my game in the long run, however if he makes merge I need to start building a relationship with him right away because I guarantee he will be an important connection to have if he makes merge. Sarah would probably be one of the people I'd like to see leave as soon as we merge, if we don't go for Landen, I think Sarah would be a good option because Emma would be on board, she doesn't have a past with anyone else in a negative way so I could see people wanting to work with her long term which is not good for me long-term because I want there to be a divide for as long as possible to I can keep myself in a majority spot. So primarily for this upcoming merge I'd like to get out Sarah or Landen, maybe Caeleb. I really am starting to not trust Nicole, I know she's a winner but I think she's gonna flip maybe not right away but eventually I see her wanting to flip and maybe make a move against me, Darcy, or Jacob C. which would be super problematic, so I think I need to socially somehow ingratiate myself with Nicole, that way if she does flip it won't be on me and if she does plan on flipping she might prolong it to where it won't matter if she does flip.

To start off my confessional for this round, I lost who was pretty well my main ally throughout the game in Beck at the past Miraitowa tribal, which then left me as the last original Yushu remaining.  So, here on out, I am not only doing this game for myself, but doing it for Beck as well.   Anyways, my tribe won Immunity once again, which is nice, so I am officially in the top 14, which honestly, I did not expect to make it this far, so I am very proud of myself.  Now, get to witness Miraitowa tribal once again, but this one probably will be a bit more interesting than their past tribal, as Stoner is immune due to the gold medal win at arena, so that just leaves the vote options on Miraitowa as Sarah, Landen, Evelyn, Sammy, Caeleb and Jordan for this round.  Honestly got no idea who is going to go out from those people, as advantages or idols could come in play, so one can never make a full on prediction to who they think the boot will be, as anything is bound to occur.

There are too many angles going on in this game right now for me to even articulate it through a confessional. I think, at this point, people who are taking the route of being blatantly dishonest to everyone are going to be found out, and voted out. You can't just make an alliance to cover your own ass, then expect nobody to privy to your deception... 👀 Sharks can't survive in boiling hot tea, so stop adding fuel to the fire *cough cough certain someone cough*

I hate how quiet my tribe is and would not be surprised if I were blindsided tonight. Stoner literally does not speak so it’s so frustrating. I think I have gained caeleb, Jordan, and eves trust but it’s just so hard to talk and formulate plans when literally everyone is dead. I think we are blindsiding landen tonight but i could be wrong...I’m just hoping I’m not the one going home and if I am well...shit. I just don’t like this idea and paranoia surrounded with landen in the game he’s given me several red flags and I’m just not sure what his logic is.

This vote is touuuugh. I'm not going to go into specifics because like, due in an hour! But let's just give a brief recap of where the war lines have been drawn: 3 people from Sonkei 2.0, Jordan/Chris/Sarah. Jordan earlier invited myself to a big Anti-Premade alliance, and I was all on board. When we got to this new tribe structured around this idea, I asked Eve if she'd heard about this alliance and if she was interested in it. She gave me no clear answer yes or no and I assumed she was waiting to make a decision. Chris then asked me to make the group chat. I tried to wait on a yes or no from Eve, but you know how she is. Vague. Safe. FUCKING ANNOYING. So anyway I made the group chat without her... well later on when asking her the very important question of whether she wanted to side with the 3 Sonkeis, or with Caeleb & Sammy, she made me feel like the decision was allll on me. My responsibility. That shit is fucking annoying. I can tell when you're trying to get me to take the game-blame and it's obnoxious... That being said with all the other 3 Sonkeis wanting Eve in the group and with Eve now implying she wanted to be with the group, I had no choice but to add her to the group chat. I did my best to explain why I hadn't added her before but she took it as sketchy sketchy sketchy which I Sort of understand but now it's making me spiral and I'm very confused about it all. We planned to lie and tell Sammy/Caeleb both Sarah, but Eve told Sammy the truth. Which is a possible reason for why shit is going to blow up tonight. But knowing he knew, I also had to be truthful so Sammy still keeps trusting me going forward and doesn't side with any kind of plan to strike me after this. Which is something I'm actually pretty concerned is going to happen. I'm always nervous there's a plan to get me out, it's Survivor, but it's especially bad this time with how Sarah is weirdly quiet with me and the group, annoyed with being the name... The way Sammy/Caeleb are catching onto my side playing... The way Eve is trying to drag me under the bus... I just have a very bad feeling. That being said, I'm trying not to trust my gut, but to trust my head, which says logically, everything you've heard from everyone perfectly lines up. Caeleb is going home unanimously. Unless he plays a power in which case it will probably be Sarah or Eve, but it will not be you... There's a part of me that says to trust my heart, which says Caeleb and Sammy believe me. Still, as much as I know these things to be true, and the reality appears like I'm safe, I can't help feeling like everything I'm standing on is a cracked illusion and it's all going to come crashing down on me at tribal tonight as they laugh in my blindsided face. I truly hope my anxious gut is wrong about all this, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see, and be proud of myself I made the bold move to be honest with Caeleb and Sammy which may help me later. For now, all I can do is wait and see. 30 minutes to go.

Bye landen yuu were crazy too much has yiu been calmer you would have stayed wish you weren’t crazy 

This week is gonna be hectic, we’re blind siding landen allegedly. I just hope it’s not me getting played for the clown. If so, good on em!! I got played. But if not, bye landen. Babe u played to hard tbh

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Male Premades- C

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Chris Pine

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