#considering most npcs only have one quest

[unromancable-favs]

Nazirs special reactions to the amulet of mara

As imagined by me.

"Id follow you untill im dust in the breeze, you realize that?"

Before completing the quest:

"An amulet of mara? Odd thing for an assassin to be wearing."

>Are you intrested in me?

"No. And let me give you a bit of advice, dark brother/sister. Youre going to want to leave false ideas like "Love" behind."

After completing the quest:

"Maras amulet? What, did you kill a priest?"

>Are you intrested in me?

"You know what, listener, I think I might be. What say you?"

>Im intrested.

"Well, how about that. Hah. You know, I thought I left behind feelings like that a long time ago. If I ever felt them to begin with, but.. Youre different. You're worth it."

>No, im not interested.

"A respectable decision. Romance is quite the weakness."

If you change your mind at the wedding

"Dont waste my time like that again."

[0alix0]

Overusage of Lore

a lot of people tend to say that bioware put little to no lore into Veilguard, and i might be on a minority on this to me it's way too much and way too shallow

The entire game feels like writers just scream at you "Look at all the magical thing we have!! So we have Titans! And Evanuris! And Illuminati Those Across the See! And-- are you listening? You better listen cuz there are more! We have Shadow Dragons! We have Griffons! We--"

OMG calm down it's not a fucking Warcraft

the best thing in DA was the way it beautifully showed real life issues through the lens of medieval fantasy world.

The dalish weren't so fascinating because they had an entire language made for them and pretty tattoos. They were fascinating because they were enslaved, fought for freedom, then got their land taken away YET STILL continued to fight for survival, for their cultural identity, their children and their children's children, for freedom. Literally combination of native american's and jewish history. Because despite having one goal they all had different approach and opinion about other of their kin: city elves (those disconnected from their culture) and half-elves ("can they be considered elves?" "should they be allowed to be a part of dalish?").

The city elf origin wasn't so memorable because every npc had a backstory with a length of bible. It was memorable because it was the most obvious analogy on racial oppression, segregation, colonialism and fetishism in the entire franchise. Because it had the guts to actually show in details the horrors of these things.

Broodmothers weren't so horrifying because it's a female mixture of jubba hutt and a fucking pudge from dota with a detailed explanation their anatomy. They were horrifying because they were paralleling a very real misogyny, mistreatment, the way how women in some countries are seen as nothing but a walking uteruses, where the only thing they're good for is to give birth

AND bioware doubled it while doing the same thing with Orzammar, cast system & Rica!

The Circles weren't so interesting because we've got dozens of pages in WoT explaining their hierarchy/fraternities. No, they were interesting because it was literally a bunch of medieval GULAGs with a function of a mental hospital, it showed what mistreatments happen there, the abuse, child abduction and enforcement of religion.... And from the side of templars it was a discussion about professional deformation, addictions and the way high ranking people abuse those to control their underlings.

..... And you know, if we were back in origins, griffons, for example, would've probably been used as a parallel on irl eco terrorism. it might've been about how Wardens despite their good nature unintentionally bonded the general association of the entire animal species to their order and abused this connection to the point when the species was beyond preservation!

and btw, then that decision in davrin's quest would actually had any meaning, instead of throwing wardens into mud (again) and turning isseya into a villain for no fkn reason.

lore is only good as long as it's used for purpose, when it has things to discuss, not just exist

i don't fucking care about titans/evanuris/and other shit because they're just a 30 pages long article in codex and WoT trying to explain magic and write DA timeline almost to a fucking mesozoic era. it's BORING. Get me emotionally invested, then i'll care

[0104-vikita]

The Amazing Digital Circus 🔎Episode Speculations🔎

With friends we tried to make up different scenarios and speculations based on Episode 2's trailer. Most of them are about the episode, but some can apply to the show in general. I felt like sharing them.

NPC Awarenesses/Sentience

NPCS and Locations don't get erased. Instead they can be reused over and over. The Candy Cannon has been used for humans that to this day are already abstracted. The NPCS might remember.

All NPCs are aware of their role as simple additions for Caine's adventures. They are almost like actors that may not get out of their role.

Only SOME NPCS are aware of their role AND as sentient as a human, while others just get reset. Those who are aware feel depressed and trapped as a result. Has major impact in the Lore

The NPCS are not aware, but become so and find out the truth towards the end of the adventure, leading to an existential crisis. Has major impact in the lore

NPC Awarenesses and "we were just acting" is instead played as a Joke where they all hang out before the main cast returns to the circus.

Storylines, Plot and Escenes

The gators are bandits and present a major issue for the kingdom. Is the main cast's quest to stop them or interfere with them (@notnights)

The gators aren't necessarily bad guys, and the quest has nothing to do with them, but the main cast does something that bothers them (maybe the truck they ride is theirs and stole it) getting into conflict

There is a BIGGER threat lurking in the Candy Cannon, the gators and the main cast are forced to work together (@gen-toon)

I like to think the reason Gangle is shown driving is because of the fact she's the most likely to get carsick (said by Goose previously). Being the driver diminishes the chances of getting carsick (for some)

There will be a chase and shooting scene in the episode

The close up eye picture belongs to either one of the gators (what I thought at the beginning) OR some creature we have not met before (the eyes look different from the gators) The lightning suggests a different location and lore relevancy.

Overall there will be lore related scenes suggested by the different non-candy cannon scenes on which Pomni appears worried, scared and overall nervous.

There is a mannequin running behind Gangle in what appears to be their entrance to the Kingdom. This is most likely the reason her mask breaks.

One of my friends (@gen-toon) realized that there's a mosaic that looks oddly similar to Kinger. But it could also be Caine (@notnights). It makes more sense to be Caine's since he's like a God almost. Maybe they worship him

Jax (there's stuff I wanna say about this bitch specifically)

There's a scene in which Jax appears to be in danger of falling from the truck while being eaten by the monster. This scene made me think about the possibility of Jax getting in danger and the cast REFUSING to help him or at least hesitating to do so cuz bro is a bastard.

He notices this hesitation/refusal, this occurrence makes him think (leading to the "sad Jax" scene) but it does NOT lead him to be better, instead, it leads him to be worse because "they hate me anyways"

This scene could also be the result of other possible plot scenes suggested by my friends:

The gators have been defeated and tied up. They attempt to manipulate Jax into joining them by hitting on his weak spots. (@notnights )

The gators and the cast are bonding together. The gators' boisterous personality drifts him away. The only way he socializes with people is by being boisterous and annoying, so the fact that these gators might be boisterous AND nice will take him out of focus. It will show that he in fact does not know how to form a genuine connection with others. (@gen-toon)

Maybe he's considering shooting the captured gators to get over with the adventure. (@notnights )

Maybe bro's hungry and is just eating the chocolate on the floor idk (got that idea from @corpseacoast fanart)

I will just keep adding stuff as I remember, speculating is kinda fun.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Homebrew Mechanic: Fixing D&D’s Gameplay Loop with Item Degradation

Normally I have snappy titles for these, but in this case I wanted to be super upfront with what I was getting you all into. 

Some people are not going to like the idea of introducing item degradation into the game, and they’re ABSOLUTELY right to be hesitant. Just about every attempt I’ve seen (includig both RAW versions from previous editions, examples from videogames, and those I’ve put together myself in the past) have been horribly clunky exercises in beancounting that only ever existed to needlessly slow down gameplay for the sake of joyless realism. 

I’ve come at it from another angle however, but to explain we’re going to need to get into some game design talk. 

The basic gameplay loop of D&D is supposed to be: 

Seeking adventure leads you to face challenges

Overcoming challenges leads you to rewards

Rewards Help you get stronger 

Getting stronger allows you to seek tougher adventures

After a while this system starts to break down specifically with regards to gold as a method of reward. Even if you’re the smart sort of DM who flouts the rules and gives their party access to a magic item shop, there’s an increasingly limited number of things to spend gold on, leading to parties acquiring sizable hordes of riches early on in their adventuring career, completely eliminating the desire to accept quests that pay out in gold in one form or another. This is a pretty significant flaw because adventures that centre around acquisition of riches ( treasure hunts, bounty missions, busywork for rich patrons that will inevitably betray you) are foundational to storytelling within the game, especially early on in a campaign before the party has gotten emotionally invested.  Most advice you can find online attempting  to solve this problem tends to dissolve down to “let them pour money into a home base”,  but that can only really happen once per campaign as a party is unlikely to want more than one secret clubhouse. 

TLDR:  What I propose is the implantation of a lightweight system that forces the party to periodically drop small amounts of wealth into maintaining their weapons/armour/foci. The players will be motivated to seek out gold in order to keep using their best stuff,  giving value to treasure drops that previously lacked it.  Not only does this system act as an insulation against powercreep at higher levels, it also encourages a party to engage with the world as they seek out workshops and crafters capable of repairing their gear. 

The System: 

Weapons, armour, shields, and caster foci (staves, holy symbols etc) can accumulate “ticks” of damage, represented by a dot or X drawn next to their item entry on the character sheet. Because you get better at handling your gear as you level up, an item that exceeds a total number of ticks equal to its bearer’s proficiency bonus breaks, and is considered unusable until it is repaired. 

Weapons and Foci gain a tick of damage when you roll a natural 1 on an attack made with them, or if they are specifically targeted by an enemy’s attack.

Armour and shields gain a tick of damage when you roll a nat 1 on a saving throw or when an enemy beats your ac by 5 or more. A character equipped with both can decide which of the two items receives the tick

Creatures with the “siege” (or any “does double damage to objects” ability) deal an extra tick when attacking gear. 

A character with a crafting proficiency  and access to tools can repair a number of ticks of damage equal to their proficiency on a four hour work period. This rate is doubled if they have access to a properly equipped workshop.  A character with access to the mending cantrip can repair ticks on any kind of item, but is limited to their proficiency bonus per work period.  

Having an item repaired by an NPC crafter removes all ticks, but costs vary depending on the rarity of the item:    5g for a mundane item, 10g for a common item, 50g for uncommon, 250 for a rare, 1250 for a very rare, 6250 for a legendary.  The DM decides the limit on what each crafter can repair, as it’s likely small towns have access to artisans of only common or uncommon skill, requiring the party to venture to new lands or even across planes if they wish to repair end game gear.

As you can see, degradation in this system is easy to keep track of and quite gradual, leading players into a position where they can ignore obvious damage to their kit for the sake of saving their now precious gold.  It likewise encourages them to seek out NPC crafters (and potential questhooks) for skills they do not possess, and encourages the use of secondary weapons either as backups or to save the more potent items in the arsenal for a real challenge. 

Consumables

Everyone knows the old joke about players hoarding consumables from the first adventure past the final bossfight, it transcends genre and platform, and speaks to a nature of loss aversion within our shared humanity.  However, giving players items they’re never going to use amounts to wasted time, resources, and potential when looking at things from a game design perspective, so lets work on fixing that. 

My inspiration came from witcher 3, which encourages players to make frequent use of consumables by refreshing them whenever the character had downtime. The darksouls series has a similar feature with the signature estus flask, which provides a limited number of heals before it must be refreshed at one of the game’s checkpoints.  When the designers removed the risk of permanent loss and the anxiety it creatures, players were able to think tactically about the use of their consumables confident in the knowledge that any mistakes were just a resupply away from being fixed.  

My proposal is that while the party is in town they can refill the majority of their consumable items for a small per item fee. Just like with gear degradation, this encourages them to seek out crafters and do quests for the hope of discounts, while at the same time encouraging them to explore new realms in the hope of discovering higher level artisans. 

The price for refills is set at: 5g for common, 25g for an uncommon, 125g for a rare, 625g for a very rare, 3125g for  legendary.  I encourage my own players to keep a  “shopping list” in their inventory with prices tabulated so they can hand out a lump sum of gold and have their kit entirely refreshed. 

Characters with a relevant skill and access to their tools can refill a number of items equal to their proficiency bonus during a four hour work period. With access to a proper workshop, this rate doubles.   ( At last, proficiency with brewers supplies, carpenters tools etc become useful) 

I encourage you as a DM to check out this potion flasks system, which I’ve found adds a delicious factor of uncertainty back into the mix.  Attached is also my super lightweight rules for tracking gear and supplies, which I absolutely refuse to shut up about.

Artist

[pocketseizure]

I still consider it a crime that the Gerudo sage of the past had NOTHING to say about Ganondorf in TotK. They could have grown up together. They could have trained against each other. They could have been siblings, friends, lovers, or just classmates. Is she sad or angry at him for attacking Rauru? Did she like him as king before he attacked Rauru? Is she jealous that he gets to rule the Gerudo and not her? How does she feel about the other Gerudo joining him over her? So much missed potential.

This is all true. So much missed potential. The same goes for Riju.

The same goes for all of the Gerudo, especially given that anyone can see the giant geoglyph of Ganondorf in the Gerudo Highlands from the walls of the city. A main theme of the development of the Gerudo in Tears of the Kingdom seems to be the reconsideration of their rule not to allow men into Gerudo Town, which stems from "a long-held belief that men only bring disaster." The revelation that the Eighth Heroine was a man in Rotana's "Heroines' Secret" quest could have been used to make a strong thematic statement in this regard, as could the stories of several other NPCs in and around Gerudo Town. Unfortunately, since no one is allowed to acknowledge or discuss the existence of Ganondorf or the origin of the prohibition against men, all of these narrative threads are left hanging.

I understand that a lot of the writing in Tears of the Kingdom was outsourced, and the contracted writers were almost certainly given the directive not to include anything that might inform or contradict series lore. For most of the NPCs in Hyrule, this is fine. In fact, I'd say it's actually quite lovely to be able to see all sorts of small stories that have nothing to do with magical princesses or ancient kings. For the Gerudo in particular, though, the inability of characters to talk about a major element of their history and culture is extremely awkward and frustrating.

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Why do you think Diablo has disenged on it's core themes? (I mean I agree) I've always considered it to be a franchise with some insane wasted potential, but my perspective comes more from Diablo 3 and 4. Id be nice if you could expand on that.

I mean, my argument is that Diablo 1 was a dungeon crawler with a randomized loot mechanic that existed mostly to enable the roguelike random level generation that ensured replayability for the adventure. Players shouldn't be able to simply beeline it to the most powerful items in the game once they figure out exactly where they are, so randomization made each journey into the Tristram Cathedral a new process of discovery.

It's a game that, yes, wants to provide engaging gameplay, but just as much as the discovery of loot, it is driven by discovery of its world and story - multiple NPCs in the game exist that have no function or benefit to the player except as characters to interact with. You find lore tomes in the labyrinth which give you exposition about the world, but offer no tangible benefits. Shrines will randomize your stats, transform your potions, curse your items, randomly teleport you into a horde of monsters. The world is populated by objects, people and events that entice a player with curiosity to see what happens as much as they entice the player with the power fantasy of Making Number Go Up, and plenty of interactions have no hard gameplay benefit. "Sub dungeons" in the labyrinth, like the Halls of the Blind or Chamber of Bone, exist in part to give the player lootable rewards and monsters to fight, but also each of them have their own exposition, lore and worldbuilding (however limited by budget and technical limitations).

Diablo 2 realized that the skinner box thrill of randomized loot drops and number-go-up optimization was by far the most primally emotionally engaging part of Diablo 1's gameplay, and began the process of reorienting the franchise ENTIRELY to enable that specific pleasure. The loot system expands exponentially, crafting, gem slotting, etc all get introduced, and loot mechanics are given pride of place in terms of how the game engages the players. Shrines all provide knowable, specific benefits, every NPC is either a quest-giver or a merchant, there are HUNDREDS of randomized sub-dungeons on every map, and the vast majority of them have absolutely no narrative content whatsoever, they are merely slot machine arms for the player to pull, hoping for a chance of a jackpot loot drop.

Diablo 3 is the apotheosis of this process - a game which drops all pretense that the nature of your loot matters in favor of orienting every part of it around chasing the high of Getting A Bigger Number. You're a sorcerer running around with a greatsword? No problem! You cast all your spells as normal. So long as the greatsword has Bigger Numbers, anything works. Templar with a Wand? Equally viable! Damage numbers inflate into the millions, hordes of monsters swell with ever greater numbers, your spells and abilities clear entire screens in seconds, and everything in the game revolves around enabling the player's power fantasy.

In Diablo 1 you are an unimportant adventurer, the latest in a long line of unremarkable hopefuls, stepping alone into the bowels of a middle-of-nowhere village church, creeping slowly through its doors and hallways, fighting its monsters primarily one by one. Any group of ranged monsters can kill you in seconds, even in the late-game, and if you get surrounded, likely as not you are quite simply dead. It's tense, lonely, unglamorous and often desperate. Unwieldy inventory management puts constraints on your ability to heal and restore mana. You can only carry so many potions while leaving room for loot, and remember to leave room for your Town Portals and Identify scrolls, and for your all-important gold, which will clog your inventory almost totally by the end. Slay a unique monster and hope to god that the item it dropped wasn't cursed. Touch a shrine and you might lose 2 Strength points and suddenly be unable to equip your armor. When you kill Diablo, you find he is nothing but the possessed body of a young boy who was abducted and abused by a corrupt priest, an ugly and mundane tragedy leading to extraordinary suffering.

In Diablo 3 you are the most specialest most important incredible super-hero that has ever existed. You are a half-angel half-demon unstoppable killing machine, mowing down hordes of demons and corrupted angels like nothing, absolutely BATHING in infinite showers of ultra-powerful legendary loot, each more ultra-powerful and legendary than the last. You deal ten million damage with a single ability. You fight Ultra Diablo, the special super-powered SUPER SAIYING MEGA ULTRA super-powered extra special Prime Evil who is the most powerful evil bad guy who has ever existed and YOU are the only one in the whole universe who can beat him because you're SO special, yes you are! Identify shit by clicking on it! Cast town portal whenever you want! Enemies drop infinite health potions whenever you need them! Fuck it, you even KILL DEATH by the end because you are invincible and immortal and unstoppable and perfect. Fear has no hold on you, never in your life will you know uncertainty or doubt. AND it's your birthday! Buy a sword that is 3.2% better than your magic wand with real money in the auction house as a treat!

tl;dr Diablo 1 is an adventure game, Diablo 3 is Cookie Clicker.

[anneapocalypse]

Urianger and Moenbryda are clearly set up as polar opposites in so many ways--in personality and temperament, even in the simple fact of her being a tank and he being a caster/healer--but it's especially interesting to me that they're also opposites in their fields of study. Moenbryda is a scientist, Urianger a humanities guy--in modern real-world terms I'd say his specialization in prophecy with the way it's applied in-universe translates roughly to something in between Divinity and Classical Studies. While he no doubt has some general scientific education as I'd assume any Archon would, and he can read an aetherometer as all of them can, he is not a scientist. In fact I'd probably call him one of the least scientifically-minded of the surviving members of the Circle of Knowing. (And it's probably not a coincidence that he's also seemingly the most devout... but that's another post for another day. 😉)

Notably, while Louisoix mentored many of the Archons we know in various ways, Urianger is I think the only one who actually shared Louisoix's specific academic field. (Louisoix was considered Sharlayan's foremost expert on prophecy specifically, and it was his interpretations of prophetic texts that led him to take the Circle of Knowing to Eorzea.) While NPCs' combat classes tend to overshadow their academic fields somewhat in the game itself, it's plain from both Urianger and Moenbryda that this is not always a one-to-one correlation. With some, the two are plainly much more closely correlated, as with Thancred (though it's interesting to note that he was a gladiator and not a rogue in 1.0), and probably also Y'shtola. I am uncertain at this time what specifically Yda (the real Yda) studied, though it doesn't seem unreasonable to guess that her field might have been more tactically-oriented, not unlike Thancred. Papalymo, according to EE1, "indulges his passion by deciphering ancient spell tomes," which doesn't seem far removed from the study of thaumaturgy, though with a distinctly academic bent. His interest in ancient texts seems to me to place him closest to Louisoix and Urianger, and that's probably relevant when considering his moniker of "Louisoix's finest pupil."

Moenbryda's affinity for the axe is unrelated to her academic studies, and according to her dialogue, long preceded them. Urianger seems to have done some notable work in the field of arcanima, with his use of the unique amber carbuncle (though it seems this remains purely a personal accomplishment as no one else has ever been able to replicate his work, which is fascinating in its own right). This seems both secondary and largely unrelated to his work with prophecies, and indeed while he can hold his own when needed, until Shadowbringers it's a rare thing for him to actually take to the field with his companions--either for combat or direct observational research. When he does, it's noted as unusual, as in the 2.3 quest where Urianger actually ventures into the sylphlands to witness Ramuh firsthand, and is rather starry-eyed about it. "Never till this day had I looked upon his visage save in painted renderings, made faint by time..." Urianger's field of expertise is highly esoteric and highly theoretical, his beloved texts always several steps removed from the realities they attempt to describe.

And somehow, I don't think it's a coincidence that only one patch later, he's at last called upon Moenbryda to come join the Scions in Eorzea. Moenbryda the tank, Moenbryda the aetherologist. Moenbryda who is determined to join the Warrior of Light in confronting Shiva until Urianger begs her not to. Moenbryda who likes to be in the thick of things, to observe the world up close and personal. Moenbryda the scientist.

In that light, I can't help seeing something scientific even in the way Moenbryda went about befriending her, as she calls him, "excruciatingly stiff childhood friend": studying him, reading the books he read so as to better understand him. Direct observation.

And what does it say about Louisoix, I wonder, that it was the most scientifically-minded of his followers that he chose to leave behind? It's plain to see how Moenbryda's talents would have been invaluable to the Circle of Knowing in Eorzea. Urianger claims that Master Louisoix merely wanted Moenbryda to "discover her own path, free of the shadow of his influence." Long as I've contemplated that choice, I'm still not really sure what he meant. With so many students from varied backgrounds, why did she, of all of them, need to "discover her own path?" Urianger frames it in terms of Sharlayan politics: Louisoix made a pariah of himself in leaving Sharlayan for the salvation of Eorzea. Moenbryda was one of the few in his circle whom we know had living family in Sharlayan, so I think it is possible his concerns were at least in part for her personal ties. Yet I can't help wondering, also, if he felt some part of her temperament, her approach to learning, might be at odds with the way he meant to carry out his work in Eorzea.

Louisoix's decision, and Urianger's continued devotion to the man, certainly drove something of a wedge between two lifelong friends, but it seems plain to me that there was always a certain friction between them. Moenbryda herself says it was a wonder they got along, and I can only imagine the arguments, the misunderstandings, the dissonance in their ways of thinking over the years. Scientist and theologian, they had such fundamentally different approaches to the world, even as they still clearly cared for one another so deeply.

[iraprince]

do u have any advice for those that want to run a quest?

it feels a LEETLE silly answering this when all my own are currently on hiatus bc i got busy (SORRY TO CALLIST0 READERS LOL) BUT!!! yes i do. i have only ever run quests/interactive comics on the site questden, so i guess as a baseline this will kind of all be geared towards that, but i think most of this should translate to any hosting situation

you have to be cool with your plots branching and mutating in unexpected ways, and you have to be willing to play ball with your readers. quests are a collaboration between the author and the audience. it often feels a lot like gming a tabletop campaign (and that's the origin!! questden, specifically, was originally an offshoot of /tg/.) -- we've all had or heard about bad GMs who view their position as that of a narrative dictator who exists to punish and prod a captive group of players thru their own personal novel, but a good GM is interested in telling stories as a group. u have final say and have to stay true to the important stuff abt ur story, but if u get mad or frustrated when ur readers want to explore something "off topic" or aren't following the threads of ur narrative the way u expected them to, u don't actually want to run a quest, u just want to make a webcomic w mandatory comments. (the flip side of this is: consider if the story u want to make is the right one for an interactive quest. if it is REALLY important to u that the plot beats of a story go a certain way, maybe save it for a medium where u have more control!)

keep it loose and fast. the art does not matter. i am rly guilty of not following this one, but i still think it's really important! one of the things i like best about quests is the barrier to entry is very low and you SHOULD be able to start and maintain one very quickly. if i were better at keeping my art scrabbly and sketchy and loose, my stuff would not go on hiatus as often as it does. draw fast! it's NICE if the art is gorgeous to look at and definitely will draw readers, but it's way better if the art is simple enough that you can update frequently and without much stress. the quality of ur writing + character building, and whether u are telling a story that's engaging and that ur readers feel meaningfully involved in, is 100000x more important than the art.

on the more nitty gritty side: try to have a hook in each update. one of the most common reasons suggestions die off is readers being unsure of what they're supposed to do next. sure, too much spoonfeeding could end up feeling like railroading, and you don't have to end every single update by getting right in their faces and yelling "WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT??", but when you finish an update try to take a second to put yourself in a reader's shoes and see if there's an obvious next step. is there a course of action to decide on/debate, are there clear questions they can ask an npc, etc -- i can't think of a great way to describe it, but you want to avoid ending an update on a note where the player character and readers are basically sitting there looking at each other like "um... okay. that's that, then." some ppl even just end all their updates w multiple choice options, which is a super simple way to keep things moving if it fits the style of what ur doing. if you don't want it to be that overt but you still can't think of a way for there to be a clear hook, you can at least try to leave a little nudge in the narration that invites the readers to try to tie whatever they've just done/learned back into the pc's main goals/motivations or current tasks. (on this subject, VERY useful for your main character to have a very specific goal or end destination that everyone is on the same page abt. it's harder for your plot to lose momentum if you can always point at what your readers are supposed to be moving toward!)

finally: KEEP UPDATING EVEN IF YOU GET VERY FEW/NO SUGGESTIONS. it's a niche genre. questden is a small website. it's hard to get people to read something new, especially if it's in a new and unfamiliar format (and especially especially when it's on a website that looks like a chanboard lmao). picking up readers takes a long time, and a lot of people lurk without suggesting (ESPECIALLY if it's a difficult/plot-important decision, and also especially in the opposite, if it's a very obvious next step and someone else has already commented what most ppl would say). it's very tempting to want to wait for more suggestions bc u "only" have one or two, and then that wait becomes stagnation, and then you're frustrated and u end up dropping the quest bc "nobody cares." instead u just have to push thru!!!! u only have two suggestions and u wish u had more? maybe next update u'll get more. u have NO suggestions and u feel like that means ur quest is dead in the water? NOPE! the solution is to update again, bc maybe ppl with latch on more and have something to say in the next scene. the more u update ur quest, the more u'll be able to talk abt it (and maybe get more readers), and specifically in the case of questden the more ur thread will be bumped to the front page. think abt how many times you've seen ppl talking abt a webcomic or a book and thought "i need to check that out eventually...." but it takes months for you to actually do it. 99.9999% of the time, ppl need to see something MULTIPLE TIMES before they check it out!! most readers do not come from clicking something the very first time they see it!! i know it can feel lonely and discouraging, but u owe it to ur art and the stories u want to tell to keep trying, even if engagement is very low at first, otherwise you're killing it before it's even had a chance. like, get shameless about it. ask your buddies to comment on your quest. but give that horse a few really good whacks before you decide it's dead!! i think that's my main thoughts. if you have any more specific questions i'm happy to help if i can! but also i think you'll learn the most by just jumping in and fucking around. quests are easy to pick up and easy to drop, and imo do really well as a playground where u test different ways to draw and tell stories, so might as well just get messy.

[niofo]

the q&a was good in the first hour, but then it was pretty frustrating with bs and repeating question (like duh, thedas is in the southern hemisphere). but the beginning was good.

taash is the youngest in her mid 20s and emmrich is the oldest in his early 50s

hossberg wetlands?

crossroads explorable

there's some unique venatori helmet that's important in the plot?

can't romance npcs outside of companions bcos they put a lot of work into having the romances be deep and meaningfull

bellara and lucanis have a friendship bcos family is important for them both, also they're both team cooks

bellara and neve also have a nice relationship and it was "sisters like"

emmrich and taash argue about necromancy, but considering there's not much reactions to rook's specs i guess we can't argue about it too?

you don't have to have tank in your team, there's only a specific number of enemies focused on rook, but on nightmare the more important part is bringing the elemental damage against the enemies

each class is supposed to set debuff and detonate abilities of other class like rock-paper-scissors, but it's not clear cut and companions can have different detonations and debuffs

you get more gear from factions you build relationship with, and you can upgrade this gear

each time you find new gear you can transmog into it, and also there's some cosmetics to be bought from vendors

evoker don't have to be ice, but can be all types of damage

next month we explore more of the lighthouse

there are companion-specific gifts and they will be displayed in their room

neve, lucanis and emmrich were already companions when the short stories were written

maevaris is coming! and she's having some important role in the game (perhaps the viper??)

sth about lucanis' parents? most likely being murdered?

it's supposed to be very upfront about when you're locked out or into the romance so you're not left out

you can save rook's look using your local save files

lucanis possessed confirmed, and it's some venatori shit (zara renata i guess)

quests can expire, which makes me super stressed out and nervous already, and the game's not even out yet

most missions don't have mandated companions

davrin has some kindness brough out by other companions, but he has rivalries with others (pls not be bellara), he's also a monster hunter on top of being a warden, not bcos of it

they're really working hard to not answer much about cc, there will be dwarven beards and you can put one on a qunari

there's not really lockpicking, but each companion has an unique way of solving the puzzles, and rook has the dagger (the lyrium dagger i assume?)

they were singing someone happy birthday :(

helmets are tied to races the way they are in dai

assan's brothers and sisters will show up

[kirain]

Hi! I love your metas and I had a question if you don't mind. I love Barcus but I'm a bit confused by the Ironhand gnomes and why they were so mad at the Gondians? Did I maybe miss something?

Omg, I'm so glad someone asked me this! Thank you, anon. I broached this exact subject with my friend a few days ago, and I'd already considered writing a post about it, so this was the kick I needed! Barcus is hands down my favourite NPC (perhaps of all time) and the gnome plight is easily my favourite side quest in the entire game, so I'm excited to share what I've learned!

To preface, I'd like to mention that most gnomes, according to D&D lore, live in clans and keep to themselves. This is especially true for deep gnomes, as the Underdark is an exceedingly dangerous homeland. Their people are often enslaved by drow or duergar, or eaten by other nefarious creatures that lurk in the shadows. As such, they have become a profoundly somber and cynical race, relying only on each other for survival. They're also extremely wary of strangers, as Barcus perfectly demonstrates when we first meet him.

Now, a history lesson. The Ironhand Gnomes, who at some point left the Underdark, worked in Baldur's Gate for generations, providing the city with the best mechanomagical inventions the populace had ever seen. Though they still kept to themselves and worked in isolation, they were well respected by the citizens, and flourished enough to inspire other gnomes to seek a new life in the city as well. This may not have been their goal, but whether they meant to or not, they brought gnomish innovation to the forefront of one of the most multicultural cities in all of Faerûn.

More importantly, the Ironhand Gnomes worshipped a lesser deity called Gaerdal Ironhand, who Wulbren's ancestor, Wolverforce Bongle, allegedly conversed with. Massive however, in all of my research, I haven't been able to find any evidence that he was truly capable of such a feat, nor is he ever referred to as a "Chosen" by either himself or anyone from his clan. Therefore, it's possible this is nothing more than an unsubstantiated claim made by zealots. A book called Ironhand Gnomes: Our Grievances can be found in the gnome hideout in Act 3, verifying some of this information, but it's glaringly biased against the Gondians, with radically religious and violent undertones.

But where did this hatred come from? Well, according to the book, the Ironhand Gnomes shared some of their expertise with other clans, and some of those clans took what they learned and opened their own workshops. The Gondians, who worship Gond, did particularly well, constructing their own factories and becoming quick competition. They even built a Gondian Church in the city, and attributed their success to Gond; god of craft, smithing, and inventiveness. For whatever reason, the Ironhands didn't appreciate this and accused the Gondians of stealing their methods and designs, as well as pointing out flaws in their "shoddy" craftsmanship.

However, Gondian work was relatively flawless, as well as artifice-based, meaning it relied on science and raw materials. The Ironhands specialised in mechanomagical inventions, meaning they imbued their engines with arcane influence. This put the Gondians and Ironhands at odds with each other, as Gond espoused artifice supremacy, whereas Gaerdal Ironhand, according to Wolverforce, accused Gond of being a thief. So yes, we've reached the crux of the issue—religious turmoil. Both gods, I should mention, are good-aligned and easily misinterpreted, so of course that adds another layer of complications.

In response to the Ironhand's accusations, the Gondians started slandering the Ironhand clan, losing them favour in the city. In other words, the feud quite literally became a he said/she said situation, with both clans acting like petty children. Whether or not the Ironhand Gnomes taught the Gondians a few tricks, they weren't owed credit for their inventions. That would be like my friend showing me how to use Adobe Animate, then demanding credit for all of my artwork thereafter ... and all while criticising it. And the Gondians, though attempting to protect their reputation, had no right to spread lies about the Ironhand clan, not all of whom participated in the drama. They could've let their work speak for itself.

But this war of finger-pointing dragged on, with both sides losing and gaining support from confused Baldurians. Eventually, the Ironhands became desperate to get the upperhand, rousing Wolverforce to experiment with the thought-to-be mythical runepowder. This led to what became known as the "Unfortunate Runepowder Incident", wherein the overweening Wolverforce caused a massive explosion, killing himself and countless others in the blast. Wulbren blames this tragedy on the Gondians alone, and many Ironhands seem to feel it was the root of their exile, but there's more to it.

In reality, the Ironhand Gnomes were banished from Baldur's Gate because they aligned themselves with Sarevok Anchev, the Bhaalspawn who tried to destroy the city in the first game. For some reason, Wulbren completely glosses over this detail, likely because he can't bring himself to admit the Ironhands are responsible for their own downfall. In fact, he brushes it off, as if it's some insignificant happenstance that deserves forgiveness without merit. After all, it happened over a century ago. Then, in Act 3, he says a painfully backwards line about how he thinks the Gondians would've joined Sarevok, if given the chance. But they did have a chance, and they didn't join him. The Ironhands did. As far as I'm concerned, this highlights Wulbren's extensive denial.

Which brings me around to Barcus and why he's such an endearing character. He doesn't care about ancient feuds or gnome supremacy. He made a name for himself, despite his clan's reputation. The Gondians never saw him as an enemy, and he in turn saw the value in their work. He prefers diplomacy and open dialogue, and he abhors violence to the highest degree. With a little hard work, he proved that the Ironhand Gnomes could've redeemed themselves without resorting to such extreme and radical measures; which is why I will always argue for him to take leadership. He's the best. He's everything. He is the shining future of unity and creation.

[utilitycaster]

A really interesting phenomenon in Actual Play analysis is that in most cases we're only seeing the NPCs and factions through the eyes of the PCs, and what we see is very much distorted through that lens as well as the weirdness of Actual Play time, in which a single four hour stretch could cover one particularly rough battle lasting under a minute, or could cover a mostly uneventful weeklong journey.

There's tons of examples I have in mind but one I've been thinking about a lot recently is Vasselheim in Campaign 1. I've seen it referred to as isolationist, but really the only evidence of that is that they don't jump to help Vox Machina during the Chroma Conclave. The thing is, while I get how you could come to that conclusion, from the perspective of Vasselheim, a bunch of people showed up on a mission from the Tal'Dorei council to seal an ancient evil relic in a vault, proceeded to break a significant rule, spent almost all of their time in the city only two of the temples (Bahamut and Kord) and all but three days fully outside the city on various quests, and then dropped by a month and a half later asking for an army to aid in four different locations on two separate continents. Given the timing it's completely possible that some of the powers in Vasselheim didn't even know Vox Machina was no longer in disgrace, since it had only been a few days since they returned to Emon following the defeat of the Briarwoods. And just generally I think you should be considering how NPCs feel (I think a lack of doing so is why analysis of WBN often frustrates me) but you do need to apply this logic consistently, not just when the NPCs agree with the party or with you.

[curioussubjects]

I just finished Veilguard, and...I'm really not sure how I feel about it?

All in all: good game, had fun, but still didn't quite hit some of the highs it wanted to hit and it's still not as good as DA2

(Spoilers galore below for everything)

The Good:

Pretty game is pretty;

Love the codexes, especially the ones written by companions or with their commentary;

Speaking of, the Mementos had so excellent tid bits of lore flavor to them, as well;

Regrets of the Dread Wolf was a damn good quest;

Some truly funny party banter;

I actually thought it was really easy to figure out who my Rook is as I played the game, which was much harder for me to do for my Lavellan in DAI;

And speaking of Lavellan, she was in character she WOULD say that she WOULD do that. Bless;

Everything about Nevarra and the Mourn Watch, I wish there was more content there because I was so into it;

Orb and dagger mage is really fun to play, which was VERY surprising considering I don't play close range ever;

I also really enjoyed destroying blight boils for some reason lmao;

Petting cats (they PURR WHEN YOU DO);

Assan <3;

Taash being so autistic;

Teia and Viago my beloveds;

✨Friendship✨

The Solavellan of it all;

And Solas, too. Love that sadsack disaster man;

Maybe this is super basic of me but I liked Varric's narration...idk it's comforting;

Honestly, just Varric in general was a bit safety blanket in a nice way for me because the game feels overwhelming at first;

There's no party like an all Dalish party!

Exploring -- loved finding all the fun details in each location, and I know I didn't even do enough in my playthrough;

I'm weak for stories about guilt, fear and regret. And I'm even weaker when those stories are so obviously about forgiveness and moving forward. Also love. Always love.

The Bad:

The pacing. I've said this before but DAtV could've used a more explicit arc structure or have quests note which level they're meant for or SOMETHING because some times it seemed I was doing quests too early or too late for when I was in the main story. I also thought events kept oscillating from happening too fast or too slowly, and it very much did get in the way of immersion;

The romance. Literally what are you doing Dragon Age that you fumble the romance. Granted, I only romanced Davrin so far, but I'm getting the sense from looking through the tag that maybe Lucanis' romance also feels a bit off? Honestly I have so many issues with the romance progression for Davrin that it's its own section;

I hope this is only a Veil Jumpers issue, but I thought Rook was so separate from the faction. I felt very little connection to them;

I've seen some people point out NPCs talk to Rook like they're a child, and while I don't really agree with that I do think Rook doesn't have enough opportunities to be knowledgeable in their own right. Especially annoying with a mage Veil Jumper Rook! I miss the Inquisition perk dialogue options that let my Lavellan be a smarty pants;

Holy overdesigned armors! Yikes!

Not all areas are as well developed as the others: Rivain is the most egregiously empty and underdeveloped, but I actually thought Arlathan Forest was super lifeless too. So was the Lighthouse! You get the early game discovery bit and then nothing ever again and it's like oh that was really it huh (and the stuff we did get was so good please more?);

I hate to say this but BioWare missed the mark with Rook's place in the group. The companions seemed connected to each other, yeah, but Rook was like some cross between group therapist and not-so-undercover boss. There was none of the warmth Hawke got from their companions (or the Inquisitor, for that matter!). The game really needed 1. a lighthearted party hangout cutscene and 2. companions coming together to take care of Rook (the fact this isn't even a thing in the romance is bonkers to me);

Taash's personal quest being about choosing between being Rivain and Qunari as if that's how culture works is Bad Actually;

The worst minimap I've ever seen in a game wow;

Also: give me back my beacon marker;

The gods were in a regret prison but what were their regrets exactly we just don't know.

The Bad (Romance Edition):

Again, the pacing! Incredibly slow to start (and not in a slow burn way, mind!) and then super fast in the last third of the game;

In fact, the romance seemed to be running on a completely different level than the rest of the story. The last romance scene was incredibly out of place tonally, especially.

The first two romance titles for Davrin are "Thrill of the Chase" and "Hot and Bothered"...and like WHERE????

Davrin never writes about Rook as a romantic partner or as if he has any concerns with the relationship...which we later find out he has, but was news to me;

Tbh, the romance felt like an afterthought. There were cutscenes that in any other DA game there would've been flirting options, for instance, but this time there was nothing (what do you mean Rook can't make a flirty comment when Davrin is shirtless working out with Taash? It's low hanging fruit!);

Not nearly enough flirty banter between Rook and Davrin, which is nuts considering their personalities;

I'm really super disappointed with Davrin's romance, which sucks because he's actually perfect for my Rook and I really like his character. There was so much potential for a really fun romance that was both tense and sexy, but also sweet. But no. Secret good Davrin romance that exists in my head save me.

The ???:

Southern Thedas got scorched when the North didn't how?

Please tell me who was catfishing Andraste;

Making enemies super aggro on Rook unless you specifically have companions taunting was very weird.

[constarlations]

I wanted to ramble a bit about Ethan and Dawn as well as their whereabouts in the future but I get too scared to do it on Twitter due to the size of my account (It’s why I made my side sketch account but that account as well gets too traction for my liking so I decided to ramble my heart out here in a private space where my two friends can’t judge me for my trash) 

A bit of a warning: I’m very much a fanatic when it comes to the intricacies of Pokemon game lore as well as a stickler for the Pokemon timeline BUT I also like to interpret the games in my own way to interpret stuff with my own logic

((for example I see Hilbert and Hilda as 15 in BW rather than 14 (how they are referenced to be in Bulbapedia) or 16 (how they were originally designed to be) solely due to my own experiences of growing up latina and how turning 15 is a huge part of our culture plus the Unovan protags are all Latinos to me))  

I consider my own protag interpretation to be just that, an interpretation. A personal take on the canon like how the Pokemon anime and Pokemon manga are their own takes of the games. It might be wrong to something that happens in canon but that’s ok I’m just a dumbass who’s likes wasting time from studying to ramble about things.

Anyways with that out the way:

In my fictional canon Ethan and Dawn are both the main player character of their respective games. 

In the case of Ethan, however, I decided to give him some traits similar from his NPC appearance in HGSS such as having the Pokémon daycare grandparents.

My Ethan and my Lyra interpretation are actually a mix of their main character and npc counterparts  

Ethan’s mom is specifically the GSC mom as his mom while Lyra’s mom is the HGSS mom

Ethan has a Pichu and Lyra has a Marill. 

Ethan takes on the Lake Of Rage while Lyra does the rocket tower takeover quest. 

I basically divided it so both have main character AND NPC roles in the story but the true npc (catching tutorial npc) would be Kris who went on her journey 2 years prior (yes Kris exists in this story too as Lyra’s older sister and as Elm’s assistant) 

For Dawn however I solely see her as the protagonist of DPPt (sometimes I see her as the protagonist of PLA as well btw but decided early on to hand that role off to Lucas (his NPC version) because collecting Pokémon fit well with his theme of becoming a professor and researching Pokémon in the future) 

I usually draw all the protags loosely as teenagers but in the context of this specific story pre-timeskip hbhk are 15〜17 in my eyes.

15 is the age they meet in my interpretation in the PWT (around the time that the events of XY and BW2 are happening). It is also 4 years after their base adventure in DPPt occurred and when PLA takes place.

17 is the age where Ethan and Dawn start officially dating, is also the era when SM-USUM is happening.

The way I have them specifically meet is through the PWT in BW2 (under the champion bracket) when they are 15 and become rivals through that experience and later confess around age 17 so that’s the specific time period I usually draw them in (BW2-SM era).

The best way I could describe my version of HibiHika in terms of their dynamic is that I see them differently from their Pokémon masters counterparts so please allow me to explain.

The way I see Dawn in my interpretation is as a very refined, polite and mature young woman who’s very strict and hardworking. Despite her refined/strict aura, she can be sometimes brash or melodramatic at times but mostly keeps a level head. She often times comes out of her shell when a matter about something she’s passionate about comes up. She’s sorta a tsundere? But I’m unsure if that’s the most accurate term for it. Regardless she sometimes has difficulty getting along with others due to her intimidating nature but deep down she’s a sweetheart who wants to make friends. She’s extremely close with Barry cause he’s one of the only kids in her preschool class who kept dragging her places and reaching out to her as well as Lucas, her cousin.

When making my version of her when I was a teenager I sorta drew inspiration from characters like Dia Kurosawa from Love Live Sunshine as well as her Pokespe counterpart, Platina. I also drew some inspo from early Komi San as well (the aspect that everyone is intimidated by her at first glance).

In the hibihika story after the PWT arc, Lyra becomes one of Dawn’s first female friends outside of the gym leaders and Caitlin (who moved to Unova) and Lyra drags her out of her shell to places and the whole exchange is sweet.

The way she interacts with Ethan was first due to a small admiration due to seeing him on TV in the Lake of Rage report as the boy who calmed down Gyarados before her journey starts in Pt, then next it was due to hatred of meeting her idol meaning he was not what she thought he seemed (I’ll get to that in a second) but then afterwards they became proper rivals in the PWT and then kept in contact, eventually dating some time after.

(I actually have a AU of my stupid hc where they are pen pals as well during the whole PWT exchange so it’s like they know each other but don’t it’s really silly lol I’ll talk about it later or edit this later lol but in that au teen Ethan isn’t as toxic as I’ll describe now so ye)

For the Ethan side of things, Ethan is very laid back and amiable. He gets along easily with other people and is loyal to the people on his side. He is very selfless often putting others even his region before himself and has a slightly narcissistic side to him that feeds into the praise he gets lmfao. He’s flirty sometimes and very quick witted but overall. He loves Pokémon battling for the fun of it rather than chasing any fame or fortune.

but he wasn’t always this way (extremely bad fanfic territory incoming you can skip this if you want)

Ethan, upon defeating Red, begins to develop a massive ego as a teenager and gets mixed up with the wrong crowd who only likes him for his title and being the people pleaser he is he fed into that negativity and overall ruined his self esteem in the process cause he tied his self worth into his champion ranking rather than having fun in battles like he used to. He was lost in that spiral for the longest time that it made his closest friends like Lyra and Silver separate from him.

This is where the PWT would take place 4 years after their original adventure where Ethan, in the height of his toxicity, doesn’t put effort in training anymore cause he “always wins” and Dawn, disgusted with what her idol became sorta swept the floor and coldly admitted how unfun that battle was.

It’s sorta with this PWT battle, hundreds of miles away from home, that Ethan wakes up and goes what the hell am I doing with myself after seeing a news interview he did prebattle like after the battle. He calls his mom for the first time in ages and Silver and Lyra as well and goes back home and sorta detaches himself from the fame and fortune of being a champion and goes back to the basics. Keep in mind he does this change in his own will not for Dawn and doesn’t expect her to meet her again until a few months later they do meet again whoops but Ethan sorta apologizes for the way he acted and asks for another battle and Dawn accepts and even tho in this battle he lost again they both admit it was a lot funner than the last one and after a few more encounters sorta keep in touch bringing in a sorta friendly rivalry between the two. Despite Ethan completely changing his whole outlook there are some things that don’t change (Himmelism) but he is overall a sweetheart he just lost his way during his teenage years and needed someone to smack it into him before the damage was too done.

Once again this dumb ass fanfic isn’t necessary for hbhk stuff since I draw them as a couple anyways after Ethan’s asshole phase but I like exploring flirty characters with more to them in media so I accidentally made Ethan that lol.

Anyways would you believe me if I told you I based off his personality off of Sylvain. Lmfao. I love Sylvain he’s such a complex character sorry not sorry BUT mostly based him off of Himmel in terms of personality and how I draw him. I also based his asshole teenage phase from Gold Pokespe cause I thought that was the coolest shit as a kid but it has sorta changed over the years and I wanna separate Ethan from Gold Pokespe and Gold Pokespe fans as much as possible, especially after really liking his NPC self when playing HGSS myself as a teenager and feel not a lot of people sorta portray that and I wanna portray that.

So my Ethan is essentially both a mix of his npc self and some elements from Gold like his flirty outgoing loud personality so like my art style he’s sometimes inconsistent as hell but that’s ok that’s the hell I signed up for when I made up personalities but don’t write them down cause I’m too scared for being judged that my characters are inconsistent as hell 💔

maybe like when I wake up later I cringe reading myself this lol

I have more to write in regards to their dynamic with one another but I’m sleepy as hell

ANYWAYS TIMESKIP LITTLE RAMBLE AAAAA:

The Timeskip series, however, occurs 5+ years after the events of Alola so I have them as 22 (though I keep aging them up every year as I get older due to self indulgence so I draw them as 25 (cause in my head they were born in 1999) but they are specifically 22 for the sake of my story in Sinnoh 11 years later). 

In the timeskip series, Dawn is the champion of Sinnoh and a famous Pokémon Coordinator. She follows in Cynthia’s footsteps to become a champion that makes her region proud but due to her strict demeanor she comes off as scary to those not familiar with her.

Ethan is the Champion of Johto as well as the promotional face of the Pokeathlon! Lyra and Silver help out in the indigo league as well but I’m uncertain if to make Silver an elite four member or make him champion. Lyra is definitely the champion tho along side Ethan but handles more of the Kanto side of the region while Ethan handles Johto.  i have more to write so I’ll edit this later with all the lore but I’m worried there’s a tumblr word limit lol so ye

[ganondoodle]

some random ideas for the totk rewritten project

krog (korok) seeds

i think i found a way to include krog seeds even if i reintroduced bags for expanding your inventory- what if the krog seeds are redeemed for the amiibo sets and maybe a few new things? that way you are not forced to engage with krog puzzles if you are tired of them and its not essential either, you can choose what armor set you want instead of being "surpised" by the same link hat three times in a row for fighting your way through the depths (like i was lol)

considering im rewriting the krog forest to be like a minidungeon with a unique miniboss and boss AND you start the quest for restoring the master sword there i think that this is acceptable

what if one of the expensive rewards was a krog armor set that includes the mask from the botw DLC but adds two more pieces, its effect could be to turn invisible as the krogs are to most people; considering how they are not invisible to everyone it could still work with important NPCs still seeing you AND you could run through monster camps without them chasing you if you just want to get through without you attacking them- since its expensive you gotta gather alot of krog seeds to buy it meaning it wouldnt make encounters much easier bc you have to fight alot of monsters before being able to afford it anyway and the effect is removed once you attack an enemy .... or maybe once you are spotted you can stand still and the effect restores itself nhfkjdnkjfdk

food + storage

to raise the difficulty a little i thought about bringing bottles back, they are physical items this time with a limited number and are able to store medicine and soup that has no expiration date; personally i like cooking tho so i want to keep it, maybe with the effect of being a bit more limited in number and, while not spoiling completely, it loses some of its effectiveness over time

how you use them im not yet sure, either the same way in inventory (which i think i will go for since i dont want to change it that drastically and with the added balance of limitation i think that is still fine) or on some kind of item wheel you can set yourself like in skyward sword

there are bags you can find as bigger items that will expand your weapon, shield or bow inventory slots, perhaps a small bag gives you one and a big one two slots- it would be a bigger and different reward for exploring or quests and fills the spot for inventory expansion

theres a chest in links house (i thought maybe links house is still links but they built onto it so zelda has a place to stay as well, like a bigger/double house) that can hold armor sets if you dont want to keep carrying all of them around but dont want to sell them either

repairable weapons through zelda

weapons still break but are full weapons again, i found the excuse of them all being useless now through the cataclysm ... somehow for some reason a pretty blatant way for forcing you to fuse stuff bc its literally the only viable thing to do, but i like the idea of inventing new weapons with materials; to balance it out and give you an incentive to help out your friends i figured that at first weapons still break, but in each region is a smith that can teach zelda (who is your companion in this rewrite) how to repair weapons of a certain type (zora, spear, goron, two handed, rito, bows, gerudo, one handed-- perhaps it is a longer quest of idk .. bringing certain weapons to those smith or similar) which she can do anywhere outside combat;

how broken the weapon is determines how much extra material she may need to do it- im still working on it but i got the idea of the status of the weapon being symbolized in three stages, fine, damaged and broken; damaged is the one that needs less material to fix up, broken costs more- a broken one might still occupy an inventory slot but is unusable or very very bad damage wise, you can throw it away either manually or when you try to pick up a new one you can choose if you want to swap it out (just like they did with stuff from chests in totk .. idk why they didnt add that to in game weapons lying on the ground too) or choose to keep it and repair it once you are out of combat

arrow types

i dont like the menuing in totk for the arrows ... it was one of the most frustrating things to deal with (especialyl bc it sorted your inventory too??? when you used the sorting in the quick menu???) so i wanted to change that a little, havign to go into the quick menu everytime for each arrow i find tedious too, so;

there are more arrow types but they are craftable with arrows and materials, you can craft them in bulk out of combat (the typical types from botw -fire,eletric,ice,bombs- but then add those confusion ones, wind, the cloudy shroom thingy, poison .. perhaps a few more if i can think of more but not too mayn to not clutter it again)

enigma stones function

i wanted to change how enigma stones function somewhat, they dont "enhance" the ability of the champion/sage (i still wanna call them chmapions bc thats what they areeeee) it allows them to link an ability of theirs to link without the orginal champion having to be present or dead, the stones come in set of two each and function somewhat like a magic communication between the player and the champion, once you obtain the second piece its embedded into links shiekah arm prosthetic (also something of my rewrite) and allow him to call upon their ability at will through a second selection wheel

ranch ruins

the ranch ruins i wanted to be rebuild (bc thats cool and i thought restoration was a theme? lol) and maybe you help rebuild it proper and as thanks you can put your horses there to roam around all at once when not taken out to ride, not a big gameplay thing but a neat quest with a rebuilding thing of a building we havent seen in its prime and a neat addition of letting you see all your horsies at once :)

(totk rewritten project)

[possibly-not-a-ghost]

Wriothesley and Arlecchino

Okay but can we talk about Wriothesley and Arlecchino for a second because I am bouncing off the walls thinking about the two of them in relation to each other.

Spoilers for Wriothesley's story quest and voice lines below!

Recently, I've been thinking about how isolated Wriothesley is in terms of characters and how much or how little would change if he were not to exist or be a designated playable character. I love that man don't get me wrong but I was was just thinking about why he was made into something of such importance. Literally, he's in an underwater prison and they could've had an NPC warden with the same traits. Figuratively, we know he has a very dubious ability to trust as seen is voice line.

I've managed to get myself to a pretty comfortable place in life, but there's still some things I want that are outside my reach, like a peaceful and happy childhood, or the ability to trust other people. - More About Wriothesley: V

Anyways after watching the trailer with Arlecchino, I was struck with how much Wriothesley and Arlecchino both parallel each other or perhaps could even serve as each other's foils depending on how Arle's lore will change upon release!

Both were orphans. Each had siblings they were raised and some of which did not survive. Both killed their parental figures while young. But whereas Wriothesley was convicted and exiled for his crimes, Arlecchino was pardoned and not only that but her crimes were 'rewarded' with the title as Harbinger. (I use reward in a dubious sense as we don't know how she felt about her inherited title yet or if she was more or less thrust into it with no real agency in the matter.)

She was given a new name, Wriothesley chose his and discarded the one his adopted parents gave him.

God, even the start of the short when "Mother" is telling a story to the children we see how the future where they'd be pitted against each other but through their eyes. The colors are soft and bright. It's a child-like rendition of the brutal reality that Arle would later be faced with.

During Wriothesley's story quest, we learn the full extent of his backstory. He was being fostered by a couple who seemed perfectly lovely and loving but the truth of the matter was that they were trafficking the children under their care. That, or 'disposing' of them if they were useless or found out the truth. To use a veneer of love, of kindness and safety and that have that shattered in the most brutal of betrayals. Sounds familiar, huh?

"They did all of that, but never considered how their actions would utterly ruin all the children they took under their wing. Worse, perhaps they never cared about that at all."

—But I did.

Wriothesley, who took extreme actions and murdered his foster parents so the other children could live and be free, shouldering that sin.

Arlecchino who presumably had her siblings blood on her hands. Who had no siblings left but murdered "Mother" anyways. (I'm not entirely sold that her friend didn't throw herself on Arle's sword but nvm) and once alone, was placed back into that cycle that made her as we see her today in the first place.

Do I ship them? Do I want them to be found family? Enemies? Distant acquaintances? YESS I just want to see them interact with each other, hoyo please.

[st4rstudent]

i feel somewhat responsible for this, even if i’m not the one saying these things. I’m genuinely so sorry.

No need to apologize! It's not one singular person doing it and truth be told I don't think it's a large majority that thinks that (albeit the ones that do are quite vocal). I didn't mean to upset anyone or anything when complaining about it, I was just letting off some steam.

Having a yap session under the cut sorry I feel like rambling under your ask anon.

Admittedly, I do think there are reasonings for people thinking this way. A lot of the focus with Clash has been on the cogs, especially after the 1.3 update. Which I can't say I blame them! Managers were something new and exciting and (from what I can tell) really separated them from the other servers. I don't blame them for wanting to put focus on that because that was their thing. Alongside other things, but majorly when you hear Clash the managers are mentioned in someway shape or form. But as we all know, toons ended up taking the short stick from this. This isn't helped by the gameplay itself, being mainly a fetch-quest deal so you often only talk to npcs once or twice unless if they're repeated ones and the taskline wasn't entirely accessible on the wiki for a while (shoutout to the wiki maintainers. The taskline script is a savior). Which I'm quite excited to see if they deal with this issue with the rewrite. I imagine they will, but anyways. Social media posts would often contain more managers than toons, which I also believe they're starting to fix. And ontop of this, I believe most of the team in the early era of the sever is gone, so there's been some stuff lost in the change. So yeah, dialogue/writing has been kind of rocky. AGAIN- I am completely aware of the rewrite going on and I am not judging them harshly based off of their current state. I'm very appreciative of the fact that they took the time to listen and are focusing on trying to fix it up. And then there's also fandom mischaracterization- especially of the cogs. Forgive me for mentioning mischaracterization because normally I wouldn't really care (I've mischaracterized characters before..especially in my younger years. I think it's just a process of learning an having fun and I hate to limit anyone because of it). With that being said, there's a lot of baby-fying and coddling of the managers. Especially with those who have more 'sympathetic' stories (Misty, Chip, Winston specifically). Don't get me wrong, I like these characters and I can appreciate the story they're trying to tell, but I feel like so many people will hear their dialogue and then misplace their anger. People get mad at Bessie for trying to protect HER lighthouse or at the Elders for trying to keep YOTT safe (lets not forget Winston was there to brainwash toons). Yes, yes technically there would've been better ways to do it but consider this: The toons are scared. Their homes, stores, lives are being taken over by a big corporation that has more resources that they do. They don't have the privilege of waiting, seeing, and gathering. And then people forget that the company has such a huge role in both toons and cogs lives. If you're mad over the mistreatment of Misty or the fact that Winston is still in the dungeon, your anger should be directed at the company who doesn't care. I may be completely wrong in saying this, but I feel like the stories with almost all of the managers is a reflection of the company. The toons are only trying to protect themself and their environments and yet this seems to go forgotten when people start bashing them. And of course, I'd consider myself a toon guy so me saying all this and complaining may come off as "I HATE the cogs and everyone who posts only about them!" and for clarification that's not true. You all know how much I like that little brain thing. The cogs are interesting, their designs are fun, I don't blame people for liking them because I do too. I just wish that the thought process behind so many of these discussions wasn't so cog focused because I believe that this anger at the toons for, RIGHTFULLY, defending themselves helps push this mischaracterization of them as a whole. That they're mean, boring, unlikeable while the opposite is true. Yes there are some, what I'd consider, "filler" dialogue from the shopkeepers. This is just because of the gameplay. But there are some funny and cute moments with them if people would just listen and read.

Which also brings me into another point: people skip the dialogue. I've caught myself doing this before (on my first account. I have 4 accounts total, so I reread the dialogue on like 3 of them). But people will complain about lack of toon personalities while doing this. It's like reading through a comic book, only looking at the drawings, and then complaining because there "isn't a storyline". Luckily, there's been efforts to keep track of the dialogue on the wiki but I doubt a lot of people are going through and reading the entire script. It just feels very disingenuous to criticize the dialogue when you haven't even read it. Likewise, people don't seem to read the blogposts either. This is both from a dialogue aspect and from an update aspect (people continuously asking about hammerspace/mix-and-match under unrelated posts).