#could i in theory work on the pathfinder thing on my own?

[radicalshadow]

Highkey disappointed my web development group isn’t going with my project idea (Pathfinder tool) for our semester project. To be fair I’m the only one that plays ttrpgs but all the online tools sorta super suck so I thought it’d be nice to make one that’s actually. Y’know. Good.

[wickedgodmother]

This is for my tabletop RPG folks. I am in mourning for my Pathfinder group, and it is so painful. I am wondering if other people have had a similar experience.

I was in a group of friends that regularly played tabletop RPGs together - D&D, Numenera, long games and one-shots. There were two people who GMd, and they were both amazing storytellers and some of the best GMs I have ever had in my many hears of tabletop and live action gaming. We were roommates with one of them, I’ll call her R, and for the last year we had been playing a game with her, our other roomie, my partner, and the best GM ever, H. It was a pathfinder game, but set in the D&D Eberron setting. It was such a good game. H had worked with each of the players to create backstories that were complex and full of interesting trauma, and better yet connected to the main plot. I was only beginning to see how they all connected, and the ways that all of our player stories were intertwined. It felt like a novel - like our stories were inevitably twisted into a greater story within this world that we could not escape. I could see the complex plot coming together and I was SO EXCITED. The section of the story we were in, we were heading towards Stormreach, where my character was from. I was so ready for her trauma or people from her past to rear its head and force me to reveal her backstory to the rest of the party. I was so excited to see if the theories I had as a player about how it was all connected were correct.

But then things soured with the roommates. For our own emotional, mental, and physical safety my partner and I had to leave that house fast. And R did not take it well. I don’t want to go into the details, but it was horrible and messy, and R and a third roommate who was not part of the rpg group became strange and distant and iced us out.

The tabletop group fell apart. At first I was sure we would start playing again, once things calmed down and we all had some space from each other. But then I contacted H (they live out of state, so we have never met in person, and talk mostly over discord) And they completely ghosted me. I did not expect this. They are longtime friends with R, and I suppose she told them some story of what happened from her point of view, and made my partner and me out to be the villains. But I did not expect H to react this way. We are all in our 30s and 40s, and H is a very grounded, drama-free adult. Them just ghosting me is like a punch to the gut. Were we not also becoming friends? Did our game and our friendship mean so little to them?

The reason I am posting here is that my family and friends are sympathetic, but don’t seem to understand the depth of my mourning, except maybe my partner. It feels like a piece of my soul has been ripped away. It feels like someone taking a novel you were reading that was so good and you were so invested in out of your hands and burning it. Except you are also the author. And you will never be able to finish writing it, since you are a co-author. And the community, the friends, the sense of camaraderie, the monday nights you always looked forward to - gone. All gone.

I don’t know where I am going with this. I have played for years, but the loss of a group has never hit me this hard. I miss being my character every week, she was so cool. I miss the other party members, they felt like real people, like my friends, who I may never see again. And I miss the players behind them too. The greif of losing a party is so real. Monday nights are hard.

[utilitycaster]

oh PLEASE tell us your thoughts about the Daggerheart speculations

So with the caveat that this is somewhat secondhand because I do not deign to go to the CR Reddit, from what I understand and from what I've seen reposted/expounded upon elsewhere, there's been a theory that the Campaign 3 plot is building to the destruction of the gods and a radical change in the magic system so as to support a switch to Daggerheart. Now: while I have my thoughts on where things are going narratively, this is mostly irrelevant, actually, because the logic behind this theory is so fucking stupid.

Critical Role does not, in fact, pay royalties or owe anything to WoTC (and in fact get money from WoTC for the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount; Call of the Netherdeep; and D&D Beyond ads). The reason the gods are referred to so often by epithets (eg: Wildmother rather than Melora) is explicitly to skirt WoTC IP in non-WoTC materials (such as in The Nine Eyes of Lucien or the Tal'Dorei settings). They do not have to kill off the gods to split off from WoTC and it would not be the gods that would be an issue had (for example) the OGL gone through as originally planned. The concept of "this is a fantasy world with gods" is, obviously, not a copyrightable thing. So this has nothing to do with avoiding WoTC fees. Any choice to move to a different system would be motivated by the cast's personal preferences (and, frankly, a desire to make their own money off Daggerheart).

There are reasons to stay in Exandria but it isn't necessary. I think switching systems or worlds will both come with a potential loss of an audience, but also the potential gain of a new one. You could just be like "we're doing Daggerheart in a whole new setting"; d20 and TAZ do this and there's no reason Critical Role couldn't.

It's entirely possible to switch systems within Exandria without killing off the gods; you're simply telling a different story. A Familiar Problem and the first two Honey Heist one-shots are, hilariously, essentially consistent with main campaign canon; they're just about a bunch of wacky animals from the perspective of said animals. What's more, not only have magic systems been indicated to have changed for various other reasons (including the gods introducing them, or just through research by wizards); in real life, the cast switched from Pathfinder 1e to D&D 5e in preparation for the stream, with no in-world reason given. They could just. switch.

Here's where I will admit I may be missing something based on my Reddit ignorance: from what I understand the reason this theory has recently collapsed is because Daggerheart is a 2d12 system, and for reasons I truly do not know, the proponents of this idea believed that for it to work, Daggerheart did still need to be a d20 system. Again: I have no fucking clue why this is; if it's a radically different magical system and a fundamentally altered world I don't see why the dice you use to tell the story can't be different (also the rolls you get with 2d12 are not in fact radically different from the spread of a d20 in the first place, so. bad at math as well as logic.)

Anyway: I think it's entirely possible that CR will, if they have a future long-form campaign (not a guarantee in and of itself), switch to Daggerheart. But if so: no guarantee or inherent need for it to be in Exandria, no guarantee or inherent need to change the fundamental cosmology of Exandria to support a system switch, and absolutely no reason that to support this hypothetical upon a hypothetical upon a hypothetical you would specifically need a d20 ttrpg system.

Anyway. I dislike wild speculation when it's portrayed as theory but if people are like "total bonkers guess based on nothing in particular" at least they're showing some self-awareness, even though I'm not personally interested in that kind of speculation. But a lot of "theories" are structured as an argument while relying on assumptions constructed from thin air (if that) and I think it's valuable to point that out; unfortunately people get really mad when you do because you are, kind of, calling them stupid. Which they are, but people don't like to be told that.

[mantis-lizbian]

this is very much just a tangent springing off of your first paragraph - absolutely no disagreement with the actual points you're making here - but i gotta step in to give my obligatory defense of "3e D&D actually did monsters the best out of any TTRPG ever (30% joking)" because while yes it does drop things like reactions and morale that results in making it easier for the GM and players to view monsters as mere challenges to overcome for loot and XP, at the same time, it is one of the only (at least crunchy) systems i have ever come across that builds monsters with the exact same underlying rules as PCs.

while i'm not discounting that critical discussions of the treatment of "savage races" are pretty much as old as the hobby itself (if not older, when one digs into its origins in pulp fantasy novels), i do certainly get the impression that these discussions started to get mainstream during 3e, and i can't help but think that a contributing factor might have been the fact that the way the rules handle and interact with monsters (including hit dice, ability scores, skills and feats, and even class levels) are absolutely indistinguishable from how those things interact with PCs to the extent that, setting aside relative power level, a player is - as far as the mechanics, if not strictly speaking the rules, are concerned - just as capable of making a human character as they are an orc, ettercap, stone giant, dragon, or literal bear.

the fact that it is, again, 3e's focus on encounter balance that is the only meaningful thing that stands in the way of this at least makes it so that the players are more able to see NPCs and (at least intelligent) monsters as not being fundamentally different from their own characters. and by extension, it's possible that this made it easier to relate to those characters within the fiction, as well.

if i were to let myself get too absorbed in this theory, i'd also think this could be related to why, after going back to handling monsters fundamentally differently from PCs and doubling down on treating them as loot piñatas, 5e continued to treat gnolls and the like as demonic monsters, while Pathfinder was simply an extension of 3e and after putting out a variety of books over the course of its first edition that expanded on the cultures, ecology, and other mechanic-independent elements of various monsters and "savage races", its next edition wound up putting goblins among the core playable races, and they've worked diligently since release to double-down on fleshing out those races as actual inhabitants of the world with their own cultures and customs just as real and vibrant as those of elves and dwarves.

So there is a pretty clear shift in playstyle between TSR D&D and WotC D&D: for better and for worse, D&D 3e introduced the idea of encounter balance, de-emphasized mechanics that had previously encouraged the GM to think of the monsters as real living creatures (reaction rolls, morale, etc.), and it had the effect of making D&D a much more combat-focused game. D&D has always been a game that's opinionated about combat, it's basically the most expressive and detailed form of play regardless of edition, but combat in the TSR editions was not exactly zoomed in and tactical. The WotC editions purposefully made combat zoomed in, granular, and tactical.

And this has had an effect on playstyle: since combat is now the main form of player expression what players actually want is for their characters to get into combat. Because combat is the most fun part of the game. But the game has also changed from the largely amoral dungeon-crawling game into a game of fantasy heroics (even though a lot of the trappings of the amoral dungeon-crawling still remain, which contributes to the dissonance), so you can't just have the player characters going into combat for the sake of it. That would frame the player characters as kind of Fucked Up, and we can't have that in our supposedly heroic fantasy.

What you end up with is a variety of contrivances like "they're bandits," "they're cultists," or, my all-time favorite, "they attacked first" to make the action seem morally justifiable, even though gameplay is still motivated by a desire to fight. The monsters fight to the death and, importantly, can often not be reasoned and negotiated with, partly because combat is supposed to be the fun, engaging part everyone is here to do, but also because if they actually acted like reasonable people it could cause dissonance with the whole "the player characters are the goodest heroes."

As my friend @tenleaguesbeneath once called it: what is actually going on is that the player characters are hunting people and monsters who have been programmed to fight to the death and never negotiate for sport, while justifying it as self-defence.

It's a simple power fantasy, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Sometimes you want to play a morally uncomplicated game about killing guys with cool magic swords. But I think it's also fun to think about what the specific types of monsters players end up fighting reveals about Society the invisible, unexamined ideology lying under the surface that the designers of even modern D&D have failed to examine. And to me it often reads like a frontier justice fantasy. None of that is to detract from anyone's joy of the game, and for me it's just fun to think about and post about this stuff while Still Enjoying the Game, but if someone expressing that opinion makes you feel uncomfortable, why? That's pretty silly imo.

[astramthetaprime]

Drops to Fill the Ocean

Pathfinder is at 34k words.

As I spend eight hours a day sitting in front of a computer for work, my weekday nights are spent largely in a vegetative state in front of the TV watching videos. I just can't gen up the energy to come back in here after dinner and crank up my own machine when I've just spent the entire day concentrating for work. It's the most illustrative example of "spoons theory" right here in my own life. I only have so much gumption in this old head and I spend the vast majority of it earning a living. Earning enough money that I can pay my bills and keep myself and the pup fed. What few hours I have to spare on a Sunday afternoon are all I have where energy, brain power, and creativity coincide to eke out a few hundred words.

A scene -- maybe two if I get a bug up my wazoo. But it's progress, however truncated. I'm still writing. I'm still trying.

That grand pronouncement I made before my mom died "I'll finish it by ChattaCon!" Yeah that didn't work out. I should know better than to issue challenges like that to the universe.

But it will be finished nonetheless. No one may ever read it. But I will finish it. One scene at a time.

Cory Doctorow writes his books in 15 minute increments. He writes 15 minutes a day. And he gets it done. I may only write a couple hours a week. But I'm getting it done. I want to finish it. I want to workshop and edit it. I want to keep on writing further stories in this universe. Not because it could ever be published. But because I want to see what I can do with it and where it can go.

But beyond that -- there's Substack. Or Medium. Or just good old fashioned ebook and audiobook on Amazon. I'm afraid of the work involved in all that, frankly. I'm not one for social media at all. Tumblr is the only social media I willingly participate in. And that came about because I got tired of reading @copperbadge and @scifigrl47 as websites. (Oddly, I cannot find Sci on here, but Sam is like the Statue of Liberty of Tumblr, you can't miss him, he's on t-shirts and mugs everywhere. )

Also I get complaints that my formatting is wrong from the local writer's guild group I'm in, but that's because I write the first draft in single-space vertical, 1 inch margins, Arial Rounded MT Bold 10 Point with no indents at the start of paragraphs. I can reformat it later during the edits. Besides, what's the point of double-spacing these days? No one in their right mind is actually printing manuscripts out for mark-up anymore, right? The slush pile is an email address.

Anyway.

Things are looking up. Slowly but surely.

My old friends I told you all about? We've started playing D&D again on Saturday afternoons. I will gladly give up those hours to spend with them. This is self care. This is being kind to myself.

I went to speak to a therapist. I'll be starting regular appointments later this month.

Nothing will get done, nothing will be healed, sitting on your ass in front of the TV.

Write. One word at a time.

Two jumps to the Cluster, two to Daitengu. The Shogun is expecting us. We're going home.

[theseventhoffrostfall]

What are some of your favorite RPG characters you've made? I had a fighter who I played as the most anti violence fighter after he and his volunteer company got slaughtered in some brutal battle. Not even like he was a skilled fighter or renowned or anything, he simply survived and was disgusted with fighting after seeing lives used as political currency. But he spent most of his story trying to actually talk people out of fighting or doing so reluctantly. His arc ended with him going off to train with a group of Paladins because he finally found a cause worthy enough to die for and they were impressed by his moral resolve, I think the GM wanted me to incorporate the party into a larger adventure with the Paladins but tbh I thought it was a perfect end to that character for the time being and let him ride off and made a new one (medic/cleric who specializes in black ops interrogation because he knew exactly how to torture you the most effectively and considered it his responsibility because he could also fix you up, so it was an act of mercy if he interrogated you vs some clumsy sadist) but yeah.

Have you had characters where you let them go off and make new ones? Or do you prefer to keep your characters until they die/the story ends?

Both of those characters sound fun. Myself, I try to work it out so my own character's journey's end coincides with the end of the campaign, but if it's a very long one (or an open ended/sandbox deal) and I wanna shake things up and the current one's run his course, I try to give them a satisfying and appropriate ending. There are exceptions, of course. I had at least one character who was adventuring because he was seeking death in battle for glory's sake, and another who was a grim type seeking to fight the world's evils unto his death to fulfil an oath of penance.

As for noteworthy characters, my most recent lad was an elven desert raider. It was a more light-hearted campaign, in theory. What sticks out to me is that most of the other PC's were more cutesy, pithy types, the sort who have deep emotional storylines about their daddy issues or whatever, so I made my guy a veteran raider who, though constructed almost as a joke (his entire motivation was that he wanted a palace full of money and a harem of gnome twinks) took himself ridiculously seriously and did everything with the utmost dignity and gravitas. He was called "the Eagle of the Sands", on account of his astrological association with eagles and the eagle-feather cloak he war, and also because he called himself that all the time. "Hey, you wanna ride in the carriage with us?" "The Eagle Of The Sands does not dwell in a cage." "Hey, I'm not sure we should be in this creepy haunted city." "The Eagle Of The Sands is ruled by neither fear nor dead men." And so forth. Also, I don't claim to be an ultimate Pathfinder guru but I am autistic enough with numbers and assembling feats and magic items that most combats were the party trying to fire up their wacky pumpkin spells while my boy just rode up on his beloved camel, Nahb (Arabic for "loot", which says everything you need to know about his rider) and just became a walking double-shamshir blender.

Unfortunately, my involvement in that campaign got cut short by the whole war thing.

There are others, but I have to mentally sort out the ones I actually played vs. the ones I came up with and simply imagined stories for

[volucris-liga]

Okay, the book came out in February so it’s been long enough that i assume anyone who cares about spoilers for Pathfinder’s Quest has already obtained Pathfinder’s Quest, and i have a lot of Excited Thoughts to share so I’m rereading the last chapter and writing some notes. I’ll still put it under a Read More in case anyone is still avoiding spoilers for it, but I figured it’s safe to post now at least.

The majority of this post is probably gonna be about Ash.

This post is also probably very long.

Anyway. Let’s go:

First of all, the Project Iris story stuff starts in 2658. Since the current year is 2733 (maybe 2734 by now? idk) and Horizon came back 87 years after she was left at the black hole, that means she disappeared in 2646-ish. So this is around 12 years after Horizon was lost.

Since the last chapter mentions that Project Iris had been around for 15 years, I went back to Horizon’s chapter to confirm that it was already technically Project Iris before she left (it was, yes), and found this bit: 

“Lilian set me up with a laboratory on Olympus to test my theories and find a solution to the crisis. I brought my whole family there… I miss them.” 

She specifically is talking about more people than just her son. I’m so curious about who Newton’s father is lol, and why it’s only Newton that we see in her Story From the Outlands and the rest of her lore.

Okay now I’m finding more stuff in Horizon’s chapter, i’m glad i went back to reread this too.

“Years and years went by with nothing. Financiers were getting impatient; Lilian was kind about it, but I knew even she was doubting in me. My own assistant thought I was failing.” 

Whiiich means before they discovered Branthium, Reid already had sort of an antagonistic thing toward Horizon and didn’t trust that she could succeed at the project (though, as seen shortly, Horizon didn’t realize how bad it was). I’m guessing she was resentful that Horizon was getting all the recognition for the project and she was always seen as her assistant, not an equal scientist on the project. 

And then there’s this bit:

Horizon: “My assistant, Dr. Reid, joined me on my mission.” Path: “The one who thought she was better than you?” Horizon: “Aye. Didn’t know it then, though. She was a good friend. We were close. Came to dinner with my family. Even babysat my son a few times. That’s why it’s so hard to ken what happened…”

Oof. I’ll come back to this point later; there’s some stuff about Newton in the last chapter that’s important. 

As a side note, I think Horizon didn’t know a lot of the people in Project Iris, and most of them were recruited after she was already gone -- she’s not able to tell Pathfinder much about the group that actually solved the energy crisis. 

Anyway, moving on. I appreciate that Reid’s first name is Ashleigh, lol, makes sense why she’s called Ash as a simulacrum later.

I really like that even in this storyline there’s connections to the other legends -- Wattson’s grandmother, Amélie Paquette, and Gibraltar’s grandfather, Aleki Gibraltar, are both on the team. There’s a bunch of other scientists as well, but as far as I can tell they’re all new for this lore with no prior connections. 

There’s a scene where yet another experiment with refined Branthium fails, and Reid calls out Amélie for it -- “Your plan was wrong from the start. I pointed that out, must have been, twenty times?” Reid is clearly quick to judge others’ ideas and shut people down (and has been all along, like when she thought Horizon would fail before the discovery of Branthium). Reid and Amélie also reeeeeaaallly don’t get along. 

There’s this exchange:

‘“Excuse me? And what have you done, Reid?” Paquette pressed, moving face to face with Reid. “Besides stand by and critique our every move while ze rest of us do all ze work. Is zis how you treated Somers?”  “You’re not half the scientist she was.” Reid smirked.’

Even though she was resentful of Horizon, enough so to betray her, she did apparently respect her more than she does the rest of this group, which i think is interesting. She also just… really hates Amélie.

And then there’s Newton!!! aaaaa!!! I love that he’s an intern for the group now that he’s a teenager. And his personality is adorable. 

Newton finds something that none of the rest of them saw, which is that someone needs to be in the refinery to continuously recalibrate the process. Which is impossible. Aaaand then it’s Reid, of all people, who comes up with the idea to reprogram a MRVN robot to do it. Which is painfully ironic, given what happens later.

While they’re trying to figure out how to actually do the MRVN thing, Reid mentions that she has contacts at Hammond Robotics. I’m assuming Hammond are the ones who eventually rebuild her as a simulacrum (though for all I know that’s been confirmed somewhere and I’ve forgotten. I have trouble keeping all the corporations and factions straight in my head, and i’ve barely played any Titanfall, rip). They’re definitely the ones who made Revenant (which has already happened by this point in the lore). 

All the scientists putting part of their personality into Pathfinder is just so good. Especially cause of Newton; I love that it’s Newton’s influence that has Path being so friendly to everyone. Please give us in-game voicelines between Horizon and Pathfinder next season, now that Pathfinder knows Newton was one of his creators.

Aaaand here we go, stuff about Newton. Reid obviously helped raise him after his mom was gone. I wonder if she ever felt guilty about what she did to Horizon? A few interactions that Hurt:

‘Paquette paused and looked at the MRVN. “He’s our fail-safe.”  “Whatever… I’ve got other work to do. Let me know when you’re done fooling around,” Reid huffed as she stormed out of the lab.  “Should I go after her?” asked Newton. “She seems sad.”’

-

‘“A lot of what I have to offer is what my mom had, and I think most of that’s already in here, but there’s one thing that was always important to Mom: she loved her friends. It’s important to me, too. You’re all my friends. But especially you, Dr. Reid.” Newton looked over at her. “You were always there for my mom. Just like this MRVN is going to be there for the Outlands.” Reid did her best to smile, but it ended up as more of a quick nod.  “Thanks,” she said hesitantly.’

I appreciate that Amélie is suspicious of what happened to Horizon. Like, Reid managed to fool most people, but not everyone.

‘As Stay started to pack up the tools, Paquette joined her. “I’m assuming you added some precautions to ze program in case anything was to ‘appen,” she whispered. “He can’t be hacked, if that’s what you’re askin’, P,” Stay assured her as she packed away a welder. “Zat’s not what I’m talking about.” Paquette’s expression showed a deep look of concern and hesitation. “You really don’t trust her, do you?” “Do you? Somers was ze best astrophysicist in ze entire Frontier. It doesn’t make any sense what happened to her. Ze stories don’t add up. I just want to make sure we cover all our bases.”’

More of Ash’s voicelines from the Broken Ghost quest! I thiiiiink this is almost all of them covered now, if not all?

Path says “Who doesn’t like ice cream? Every kid likes ice cream!” when he first wakes up.

Delgado says “All roads lead to Branthium!”

Reid herself says “Fail-safe, fail-safe, who’s got the fail-safe?” during the whole big Thing at the end.

When Reid betrays everyone to try to divert the first Branthium shipment through the Phase Runner to the IMC, both she and Newton disappear from the party first. And she and Amélie have this conversation:

“I knew it. I knew it from ze start. You killed her, didn’t you?” “I did nothing.” “Yeah, right. You killed Somers. You put yourself before every innocent life in ze Outlands.” “Innocent life? Please. The Outlands are filled with nothing but war and greed. No one cares for anyone but themselves. I’m just playing the game.” “Have you told zat to Newton? Where is he?” “He’s not a part of this. Not anymore. I took care of him. Right now, it’s just us.”

So Newton’s fate is a bit uncertain. I’m guessing she got him out of there to save him, actually, which I think is really interesting. 

Anyway, Reid then cuts off Amélie’s hand with a sword cause deactivating the lockdown requires two of the scientists to authorize it. Which I guess explains why Amélie’s arm is in a sling in Pathfinder’s Story From the Outlands video. 

Pathfinder had managed to get out, so Amélie’s able to set the lab to self-destruct with his help. Path’s able to fight the mercenaries and Reid and get to the Phase Runner. And then there’s this that Reid says to Pathfinder:

“No one is your friend. You’re a machine. Nobody cares about machines. Nobody loves machines. You’re no different than that Phase Runner. You’re a MRVN. We use you and turn you off when we’re done. You’re nothing.”

There’s probably a lot she has to work through when she ends up as a simulacrum, oof. 

She almost stops Path, but then gets stabbed in the back with her own sword by Amélie, which is fitting. The mercenaries Reid was working with are attacking so it’s basically impossible for the scientists to escape, but Pathfinder’s able to program the Phase Runner to send the Branthium to all the various Outlands planets instead. And, at their request, to send himself through as well before the self-destruct (and he then eventually wakes up with amnesia). aaaaaa this is so sad

“I don’t want to say goodbye. You’re my friends. I’d be sad without my friends.” “You’ll never be without us. You’ll never be alone.”

I’m assuming that after the explosion, Reid’s body was found and turned into Ash. Also everything about the season 6 comics is so ironic now help. After Hammond Robotics get what they need from her after the Legends find her head, she’s just left behind somewhere deactivated, and Pathfinder finds and rebuilds her. And she has no memory (until Blisk shows up, anyway). So like, it was her idea to create him, and then he completely ruins her plans which leads to her death, and then he saves her life later. Great. When she had no memory and was living with him he called her his girlfriend and everything, he’s gonna be so sad when he finds out who she is, rip.

There’s this bit of dialogue in the intro conversation for the chapter:

Path: “I can’t be weak and the person who killed the people who saved the Outlands.” Blisk: “Heh. Very true, mate. That’s why it wasn’t you.” Path: “Are you sure? How do you know?” Blisk: “Pretty damn sure, because I know ‘em.” Path: “You know my creator?” Blisk: “I know who killed your creator. Or, well… creators.”

This implies that Blisk is fully aware of Ash’s history. Makes sense, and I assumed as much anyway, but given the season 6 comics that means he also absolutely knows that Pathfinder knew Ash and he’s purposefully not telling Pathfinder that Reid and Ash are the same person.

There’s also this part at the end of the chapter:

Blisk: “Oi! One more thing… Did you ever find…? Eh. Forget it.” Path: “What? Did I ever find what?” Blisk: “Actually, I, uh…” Path: “Tell me! Is there more to the story than what was on the chip?” Blisk: “Just one small detail. But why don’t you turn that recorder off. This one’s just between us, eh?” Path: “Okay. You’ll tell me after I turn it off--”

Now, my first thought when first reading this was that it was gonna be about Ash. But I’m sure it’s not, cause in Pathfinder’s last log entry after that he’s very happy and optimistic about finding his creators, and he would have been affected by finding out that Reid was the same person as his missing ‘girlfriend.’ Sooooo I’m still 1) very curious about what Blisk talked about after the recording and 2) very excited for whenever Path finds out the truth about Ash.

On a related note, I am so ready for Horizon finding out about Ash. And to a lesser extent, if Wattson finds out about her grandmother’s role in what happened and her history with Ash (also Gibraltar about his grandfather, but anyway). I’m assuming Ash would know they’re related to her former team, since she’s working for Blisk and likely would know all the basic info about all the legends, including real full names. So Ash interacting with Wattson would be interesting, especially at a point where Ash knows who she is but Wattson doesn’t know about Ash’s history.

Also depending on how things develop with Ash and the other Legends, it’s interesting to think about Loba’s perspective, since it’s technically her fault Ash is back at all. I wanna see a conversation between her and Horizon cause Horizon wasn’t around for the Broken Ghost stuff. Plus, Loba agreed to get everyone to go get the components that turned out to be Ash’s head because in exchange she’d be given the location of Revenant’s source code. With Loba later deciding to send the source code away as revenge instead of killing Revenant, her need for revenge on him is definitely gonna come back to bite her later, now that Revenant’s resolved to destroy everything she loves (maybe he goes after Bangalore?). Horizon’s still definitely very angry at Reid, probably even more so if/when she finds out what Reid did to the Project Iris team, and when she finds out Reid is Ash, well… both she and Loba certainly have strong vendettas against the two simulacrums lol. It’d be neat, though unlikely, if there’s a plotline where Loba ends up facing consequences from the Revenant thing and then because of her own experience she convinces Horizon not to go too far trying to get revenge on Ash.

Oh right there’s also the question of Newton’s messages to Horizon near the end of season 7. He’s still a little kid in those, even in the last one where a future Horizon who got back to him has sent a message to herself. And obviously, that didn’t happen -- Newton’s there, as a teenage intern for Project Iris, and the characters mention his mom being dead multiple times. Soooo then what’s the deal with the messages? I’m thinking there are three options: 1) Horizon eventually going back in time creates an alternate timeline/dimension 2) those messages are for/from a Horizon and Newton in another dimension entirely (look, the Phase Runner is weird, Wraith’s tech is weird, etc.) oooorrrr 3) the messages were faked somehow and are connected to Ash -- some of her voicelines in the Broken Ghost quest were the codes for those messages. 

In conclusion: a a a a a a a a a a

[streetkid-named-desire]

someone better at math than me check my work. i counted 507 total items, excluding mv exclusive piercings and including items that are not required to pick. there are 30 items overall that need to be chosen. this all just for the head only (ty noralee's npv parts picker)

other calculators kept giving me NaN (not a number) so idk

i.e. idk if us all using the same character creator is a good excuse? i think what might explain the phenomenon more is it being a reflection of cultural and social mores and conventions about what is attractive on top of personal aesthetic preferences. especially for a roleplaying game. most people would want to make a character either as similar to them or an idealized version they find conventionally attractive (so self esttem could even be a factor)

ON TOP OF ALL THIS is computer mediated communication theory and i think back to Sherry Turkel and one of her earlier books where she discusses MUDs (multi-user dungeons for you young'uns) and how they're used to explore gender identities. so, in a sense, we are having a conversation between the game and ourselves and how both the character creator and the roleplaying aspect of the game is a dialogue exploring our own identity

OOOOHHHHH i found a really good article

also this started as me just being annoyed and turned into my ol' academic special interest

why do I always default to playing myself? Am I not denying myself the wealth of possibilities these developers have created by only experiencing a game through my own eyes? Well, for me, diverging paths and choices are things I like to learn about after playing a game for the first time. Games have become a space for me to explore my own identity, values, and decisions first and foremost. Everything else is just extra.

-

The insistence that my Shepard wasn’t gay like me made those games fraught for me, to the point where I was so deliberate with the decisions I made that it felt like I was actively rebelling against the notion. Eventually, Mass Effect 3 came along, and after projecting an unrequited love story on the two for two games, I got to make my Shepard enter a relationship with Major Kaidan Alenko. This experience, of being told who my characters were and could be, made me determined to never again leave room for doubt. Things have gotten marginally better since Mass Effect, but gay men are still never the default in AAA games and are only a choice, often given less love. It seems being told for so long that these stories weren’t about me or people like me has rewired how I play games.

-

My version of V from Cyberpunk 2077 lived in the metropolis Night City his entire life, but he still holds my hope for a better, less dystopian future in the company of the ones he cherishes. My Renegade Shepard is my teen angst personified, so by the time I reached Mass Effect: Andromeda, my Pathfinder Ryder could embody my hope for the future. My Tav in Baldur’s Gate 3 holds my self-destructive, hopeless romantic tendencies as he navigates his relationship with his patron and his lover, Gale. My Pokémon trainer? I don’t know, he likes the electric rat a lot, and wears a red beanie most days. For me, making a hero in a video game is not about creating an original character and immersing myself in another identity. I’m leaving time capsules of who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become. The characters I’ve left behind have each captured a moment in my life when I was angry, hopeful, or, in some cases, before 2018, when I had on my head instead of just my face. But through their stories, I’ve mapped out my own. If I’m going to live out these stories, they’re going to be mine.

YEAH this is exactly why I write fanfic and why Bea is so close to my heart. She's who I explore all this shit through. She doesn't look like me but I've projected a lot of myself onto her.

MMMMMMM I love this shit. It is about our idealized selves so it is less about lack of creativity or individuality and more about the people and parts of ourselves we value and want to see. For someone with a male and female OC, they could be exploring their relationship to gender.

Okay I retract my hater stance. I get it now.

“Studies have shown that, in general, people create slightly idealized avatars based on their actual selves,” says Nick Yee, who used to work as a research scientist at the Palo Alto Research Center but who now works at Ubisoft.

-

Yee had subjects don a head-mounted display that let them perceive and move around in a simple virtual environment. There was just a virtual room, another person controlled by someone else, and a virtual mirror. The mirror was important, because it obviously wasn’t a real mirror and the researcher could use it to show whatever ‘reflection’ of the subjects’ avatars he wanted. In fact, Yee randomly showed subjects one of three types of avatar reflection: ugly, normal, and attractive. What the researchers were interested in was how this would affect how subjects interacted with the other person in the virtual room. After following directions to inspect their avatars in the mirror, subjects were asked to approach the room’s other occupant and chat with him or her. This other person was controlled by a research assistant and followed a simple script to get the conversation going, saying something like: “Tell me a bit about yourself.” The study revealed that an avatar’s attractiveness affected how its owner behaved. Relative to those with ugly avatars, people assigned attractive looks both stood closer to the other person and disclosed more personal details about themselves to this stranger. Then, in a follow-up study using the same setup, Yee found that people using taller avatars were more assertive and confident when they engaged in a simple negotiation exercise. So, generally speaking, people with prettier and taller avatars were more confident and outgoing than those with ugly and stumpy virtual representations. Like in the real world, we first make an observation about our avatar, infer something about our character, and then continue to act according to our perceived expectations. We needn’t make a conscious decision to do it.

OOOO this is so fascinating

Subsequent research by Yee, Bailenson and others has even revealed that there doesn’t even have to be an audience for us to feel the need to conform to our avatar’s appearance – an assumed one is sufficient.

okay thanks for following me in another random special interest info dump session

my hot fandom take is people need to make less conventionally attractive OCs. i cannot tell so many of them apart because they all use the same hair cut in the same normal colors with little to no face or body cyberware or tattoos. we need more ugly OCs!!!!! we need weirdos!!!

although tbf some heavily modded ones still look exactly alike 😭 is it possible to have like prosopagnosia for cartoon characters? maybe thats my problem

its especially rough on nexus bc some modders only allow preview pics from people with a very specific aesthetic so they all end up looking the same because the photo aesthetic looks the same too. also we should talk about that too. obviously youre welcome to have your own aesthetic rules cause theyre your mods but also it only leads to cliques and exclusion and people discouraged from wanting to get better especially when you limit it to a certain subjective "skill" level too

there shouldnt be real competition in fandom, its all to better each other and have fun and is just a fun lil hobby. there are no real stakes unless youre a modder and going for a career in game design. hobbies need to stay hobbies

really thinking about trying to make my own stable of models with people with unconventional looking OCs calling ourselves the uglies where we all just try to take the worst photos imaginable so hyper zoomed in, weirdly cropped, over or under exposed. gotta disrupt the status quo of hyperedited and overproduced vp

i say as i have conventionally attractive OCs (i mean except for vg and sally, and sandy cause she aint got any eyebrows. i actually tried to make them less conventionally attractive bc theyre supposed to be weirdos)

[raleighliving]

Let Your Nerd Flag Fly

  Growing up Southern™ I always thought I’d have a hard time actually doing things that interested me.  I didn’t get into Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, and tabletop games that weren’t “Cards Against Humanity” until about my Junior year in high school because of southern living stereotypes and my own social awkwardness; coupled with the fact that the way my classmates acted did nothing to dissuade these perceptions.  

   I always, looking back now, regret that I didn’t do more to get into these hobbies earlier than I did.  I could’ve been making new friends, interacting with a variety of peers, and learned about the world a lot sooner than I had now.  On top of that, I shouldn’t have let what other people think dictate my wants and interests.  

   So, little nerd who might be reading this, let me tell you about surviving as a Nerd in the triangle.  To begin with, count your blessings because the genetic lottery could’ve placed you in podunk nowheresville where the only game store closed 10 years ago.  One of the key factors in exploring your hobby will be finding a nice game store to frequent.

   Game stores are one part storefront and one part social club. They’re of course where you go to buy the newest editions of Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, what have you; but they’re also great places to go when you want to meet new people or learn a new game or skillset.  Both major stores in Raleigh are Game Theory and Event Horizon, with Event Horizon being more on the Raleigh/Garner line than actually being in Raleigh.  

  On the Cary side of things we also have Armory Gaming and East Coast Gaming, two wonderful stores in their own right.  There are a few smaller name brand stores as well like Games Workshop, but be warned ahead of time these stores might be niche as hell.  Games Workshop itself, for instance, has a strong community vibe; but the only games played in-store are Warhammer and other GW wargames.  

  Each of the stores mentioned has a strong and healthy nerd community, and the spread of stores means that there’s probably one close to you.  Shops like Game Theory and Event Horizon have sign-ups for weekly events like Pathfinder League and fledgling DnD groups looking for members, snacks and drinks for sale, and a variety of products to look at when considering what game you want to get into.   Some groups lean so heavily into the social aspect that East Coast Gaming has an actual bar set up in their store.  

    Of course, not everyone is good at socializing even in social settings. Signing a list in a crowded store, or asking some strangers if they have room in their group for one more (especially if the group is a different age/gender ratio to you). So what if you want to meet new people before you head to nerd Mecca? There’s meetup.com

   Meetup is a website dedicated to helping people find and discover, or if there’s not one, start their own groups for various activities.  Sure the website has things like 50s/40s hiking groups and Triangle Research Open Source groups, but they also have things like RDU Dungeon Crawlers, fan groups for the various stores, board game groups, anime fans, sci-fi fans, and poker.  As with any group finding website that encourages meeting people IRL, remember to exercise caution when meeting strangers for the first time. 

   Of course, maybe even that’s too much social interaction and exploration.  After all, it’s strangers; and you have to leave the comfort and safety of your home to find wherever the meetup spot for everyone is. That’s gas money, travel commitments, and depending on your family situation maybe you don’t have a car to get there in the first place.

  Thankfully, once again, you’re living in the age of the internet.  An age where anything you could possibly imagine (even the bad stuff) has been taken into account and created. Although if you’re reading this, you probably already know what I’m about to talk about.  

   Websites like The Giant In The Playground, my personal favorite, serve as a kind of nerdy hub online where you can find groups or join play-by-post games to join.  Other forums/webcomics with forums provide similar spaces, but what about actually playing?  For that, we have Roll20.

   Roll20.net is THE place for nerds.  A sort of holy stomping ground for nerds of all walks of life to get together and play some board games over the power of a wireless internet connection. Aside from giving players the tools to host, play, and manage games on an online cloud from any of their devices; it also has forums and game seeking tools built-in so the nerds will come to you.

   Not to mention, with how the site works you can easily meet new people and even learn from them how to play a majority of the games; with in-app tools meaning that if it’s REALLY necessary then someone can jump in and walk you through how to run the program.  It’s one of the best, if not THE best, applications of it’s kind, but it’s not the only one.  

   A lot of the features mentioned above and aspects are being used to develop similar apps, and some like Fantasy Grounds seriously improve the visual appeal at the cost of being a bit more expensive.  

   Hopefully, if you feel like I did so many years ago, these tips and resources will provide some ounce of help to you.  Or maybe you’ll stick with reading random Tumblrs and feel validated in that regard, whatever works for you in the long run.  Just don’t wait to explore potentially interesting hobbies because you’re afraid of social interaction with either new people or the people around you

   These games help individuals express themselves in ways other forms of play can’t.  They encourage creative writing skills, math, reading, and imaginative problem solving all while being a safe way to have some fun. 

P.S.  If anyone wants to play a game or two sometime of CAH or DnD or anything DM me 

[the-barn-rat]

IB 1. Dianora Brixie, Sk.

SUP FOLKS i’ve decided im literally going to just post monster hunters (working title Iron Bound) as i fucking write it?? because 1. i really like hearing what people think about what’s happening/what’s going to happen as i go, which ties into 2. I Want The Validation

this is literally a fresh completely unedited draft, so there will be a lot of changes & additions, especially to descriptive setting prose. that being said, if there’s specific shit you want to hear more about immediately, lemme know and i’ll make sure it goes in draft 2

These posts will all be tagged “monster hunters draft” in case you want to track them or don’t want to see them!

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO: that monster hunters shit i’ve been planning since like november

.....

Sigi is the only one who can tell that she is distracted. They are twins, and so they know each other’s tics and tells, but it still feels like a weakness. He eyes her across the table, squints and tilts his head—dark and owlish like hers, with sharper angles—and she lets out a long breath through her nose, ignoring him. A folded-up letter sits heavy in the pocket of her waistcoat. Dia can’t think about it now.

At the centre of the cabin, the hunter kneels for preparation. She could be made of lifeless bronze but for the steady rise and fall of her breastplate. The mentor, whose virtue-name is Eager, clasps golden ornaments into her hair and onto her black horns.

There’s a murmur outside, beyond the stone walls and locked shutters. Townspeople have gathered, doubtless fascinated by the spectacle of a hunting crew. Dia ignores them in favour of the crossbow resting in front of her: she fidgets with it, checks the springs and sights and checks them again. There is nothing wrong with the crossbow, but she needs to occupy her hands.

Eager steps back, and the hunter stands. Dia never feels right sitting down when the hunter stands. The hunter is too tall, too broad, and it makes her nervous. She feels as though she must be ready to flee or hide at any moment, however futile an exercise that would be.

At least this one is Cornuta, and not one of the stranger breeds. Not Seguna with their twisted animal faces, or fish-like Pescqui with their gills. Hollow comforts. This hunter could still slaughter all of them if she chose to. If the rumours are true, she might yet choose to.

Eager produces an elegantly carved mahogany box, about the size of his own palm. He presses his thumb to the rune on its front, and it opens for its keeper. The single vial inside glows a soft, sickly yellow-green.

“In defense of the common folk, your masters,” Eager intones, “sharpen your senses and steel your mind.”

Wordlessly, the hunter takes the vial, uncaps it, and swallows its contents. If Dia were closer, she might see the hunter’s pupils shrink down to dots for a breath and then dilate until her irises are slender lilac rings. Dia prefers not to be closer until absolutely necessary.

Sigi fits a belt of flasks and tiny grenades around the hunter’s hips. Dia slides the crossbow into the hunter’s hands, checks the straps on her quivers, and backs away.

The pathfinder speaks: “It was last sighted eight miles north of town, in a valley bog between two nameless peaks. We have no expert testimony, but eyewitness accounts continue to support our initial conclusion that the creature is a green hag.”

“You hear that, Ferro?” Eager says, addressing the hunter directly. “This is a fawn’s assignment.”

The hunter nods once, terse. In theory, her kind can speak. Dia has never heard this one’s voice.

“Medic, is she sound?” Eager says.

The medic, Antare, has not risen from his seat at the table. “Do you reckon she injured herself kneeling on the floor?” he asks.

Eager reddens. His mouth twists underneath his full silver-specked beard. “The rituals are not for nothing,” he starts.

Antare sighs, but he stands. He’s the tallest and broadest of them, the only one who can look the hunter right in the eye. Dia has wondered privately if that’s why they sent him to replace the last medic. If she snaps again, he’s the only one with half a chance.

The medic stands square before the hunter. “The body is sound,” he says.

Eager says, “You haven’t…”

Antare cuts him short. “I checked her over at dawn,” he says. “She’s in excellent health. The body is sound.”

“The path is clear,” says the pathfinder, effectively delaying the inevitable argument.

“The steel will bite,” says Dia.

“The fire will burn,” says Sigi.

Eager collects himself. “Murat’s light guide you to your quarry,” he says. “In his name, Valiera’s Nezetta Six Ferro, strike true.”

The hunter gives a shallow, wordless bow from the hips, and otherwise does not respond to any of the proceedings. Eager unlatched and opens the door, and the smell of pig shit and springtime mud billow in before the hunter steps out.

The small gathered crowd flows away from her like water. They fall silent, staring up at this tamed creature of legend. She may well be the first and last they ever see; Apla is a small, unimportant farming village well-protected from most fronts of the First War. This hag is an irregularity at best.

She stands there, not looking at the people, until Antare brings the horse they bought from one of the farmers for well above its value. It looks small and scruffy beside the hunter. When she sits astride, it drops its parrot-mouthed muzzle and arches its ewe neck as though it knows that this is the most important thing it will do in its life.

A murmur starts to rise again from the farmers. Dirty-faced and small-minded, they cast wide-eyed glances at each other, up at the hunter, at the crew standing behind her. Dia knows what they will say, to each other and to Eager and to whomever else is stupid enough to stay outside the tower for longer than necessary. They will continue to say it until the hunter returns with the head of a hag.

Eager senses the shift. “My friends,” he booms, opening his arms wide. “The hunter is strong and true. She will bring your tormentor’s end.”

“We sure that ain’t a demon also?” someone says.

“Go, hunter,” Eager intones. “Win their hearts and minds with the highest gift.”

The hunter swings the horse about and kicks it into a trot, and then a gallop. None stand in her way. Dia watches horse and rider disappear up the dirt road, between the pig farms and into the encroaching woods.

Dia tunes out the villagers’ concerns as well as Eager’s responses to them. As soon as the hunter is out of sight, she turns back into the tower, giving Sigi a look on her way past. He understands and follows her up to the third level, to the bed chamber she claimed as hers.

Sigi goes to open the shutters on the single window.

“Don’t,” Dia says. “I can’t stand the fucking smell.”

Her twin shrugs. “City smells worse.”

“That’s why we don’t live in the city, either.”

Sigi smirks. “That and no other reason, right?” he says.

Normally, she would laugh. This time, she half-turns away from him and rubs at her eyes. His face falls; she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the folded-up letter.

“Courier caught me right before we boarded the Olunaria,” she says. “I forgot about it until this morning.”

When she holds it out to him, he approaches it like a skittish deer. He reads it in silence, a small frown wrinkling his brow. He does not shed a tear; neither had she. They were never close to their lord father.

“What does it mean for us?” he says carefully, once he’s through.

Dia sighs. “Hopefully, very little. We weren’t expecting an inheritance, were we?”

“No, I meant…” Sigi says. “Should we go to Brixi? Cecilia may need us.”

“Cecilia needs us as far away as possible,” Dia snorts. “If we go now, the nobility will decide that Signore Fiadri’s bastard twins have come to mine the estate.”

“Or perhaps that Signore Fiadri’s bastard twins have come to their sister’s aid in her time of mourning,” Sigi says. He is charmingly naïve, sometimes.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “We can’t leave the crew now.”

He doesn’t argue. He folds the letter up and slips it back into her pocket. “I’ll be in the cellar,” he says. “Knock before you come in.”

And that’s the end of that, she supposes. They ought to write to Cecilia, eventually, but that will fall to Dia. Sigi is better at expressing emotions, but Dia knows how to avoid political misunderstandings.

There is no one here to call for wine. This little tower is barely maintained and has not hosted a hunting crew in years.

Dia goes to the pantry on the main floor, freshly stocked with bread, cheese, eggs, cured pork, and root vegetables from the local baron’s kitchen. The carrots and turnips are firm and fresh, but they’re not what she wants.

“No drink allowed in a sentinel tower,” says a voice at the door. The pathfinder leans against the frame, a performative boredom etched across his face. Every member of the crew is well-dressed and groomed, but the pathfinder’s class is still obvious to a trained eye. He wears silks, embroidery, and ennui like the wearing is sport.

He pats the limestone wall. “These are sacred stones.”

Dia stands up straight and gives a short curtsy. It feels ridiculous when she’s wearing breeches and a waistcoat. It must look ridiculous, too, because the pathfinder gives a snort of mocking laughter.

“My lord,” Dia starts.

“We could see if Apla has a tavern,” he says. “Though they’re as like to brew pig piss into ale as grain.”

She says nothing. He looks her up and down.

“I’ve heard the Fiadri is short a patriarch,” he says. Dia feels a misplaced flare of anger at his flippancy, but then she notes the wine skin dangling from his hand. He holds it out toward her. “Lesson one of crewing: bring your own.”

Dia takes the wine skin. “Thank you, my Lord,” she says. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The pathfinder’s brow knits. He tips his head back to squint at her down his aristocratic nose. He always manages to look tired, but now the circles under his eyes are especially pronounced.  “Aren’t you highborn? You’ll take my wine, but you can’t say my name?”

Dia carefully keeps her expression neutral. “Forgive me. It’s safer to stand on ceremony.”

“Fair enough. Drink, it’s Luquian.”

She does. The wine is good: robust and sweet, blooming on her tongue for a long breath after she swallows. She tries to hand the skin back, only to have the pathfinder push it away.

“I have more,” he says. “A Kyriak dry white and a Sahnish spiced red. Both excellent.”

“Each more expensive than that farmer’s horse, I’ll wager,” Dia said, but she took another drink of the Luquian.

“A discerning Brixian palate,” says the pathfinder.

“My lord is too generous,” Dia says, to see if he insists.

“Corso,” says the pathfinder. “Valiera, if you must, though I’m about as near the Valiera seat as you are the Fiadri. If you really think about it, we’re equals.”

“You’re no bastard.”

“Neither do I hope for my brothers to die,” he said, somehow blunt and nonchalant at once. It occurs to Dia that this might be Corso Valiera’s way of offering his condolences. She won’t ask how he knew; information is a pathfinder’s currency. She takes another drink.

“Corso,” she says.

“Dianora,” he says. “There, now we can be colleagues.”

Below their feet, something rumbles like distant thunder. The pathfinder’s thick black brows climb, and Dia sighs and hands him the wineskin. “He’s the more emotional between us,” she offers, by way of explanation.

“And yet you’re the one hiding in the pantry, sharing illicit drinks with your patron’s fifth-born,” says Corso. “At least that sounded productive.”

Dia’s scalp tingles with embarrassment. “I had neither the time nor the space to bring my prototypes,” she snaps.

“Easy, there,” he says and, maintaining eye contact, takes a drink.

She realises, suddenly, that he’s still standing in the doorway, effectively blocking her path. Eager is outside with the masses. Sigi is in the cellar with his concoctions. Antare’s movements are nigh impossible to track. Corso Valiera outranks them all by far.

Dia’s heart beats rabbit-quick. Idiot. “I should go,” she says, controlling her tone. “My sister will expect a reply.”

The pathfinder hums. “Right, yes,” he says. “The worst part, this. The performance. The determination of what parts and pieces of your grief to display, to hide, to inflate for others to notice.”

He seems to turn inward, eyes distant and faded. Dia makes for the door, and the pathfinder stands up straight, blocking her path. He’s not much taller or older than her, but he’s broader and stronger. She doesn’t look him in the eye.

“Take this,” he says.

Dia blinks. The wineskin hangs between them, still mostly full. She reaches out and carefully takes it by the neck, and the pathfinder looks down at her.

“My advice, for what it’s worth, is to write at least four letters and burn the first three.”

She’s quiet and still for long enough that he notices, sighs, takes several deliberate steps backward. It’s the sudden release of tension from a spring, knocking the fear out of her lungs.

“You have nothing to fear from me, Dianora,” he says. When she looks up, he winks. “I’m shocked that you haven’t heard the rumours.”

She has, actually. She assumed they were slander. “I apologize,” she says stiffly. “I’m sure you are an honourable man. I have wronged you with groundless conjecture…”

He waves her off. “Go write your sister,” he says.

A part of her still expects that he’ll stop her as she goes by, but he doesn’t, and she’s left to feel childish and strangely dirty as she half-jogs up to her chamber. She hates it. It’s not Corso Valiera’s fault, really. He gave up a dangerous truth to calm her. Dia wondered, once a heavy door was closed and locked behind her, if he somehow knew or sensed the truth about her.

She takes his advice about the letter, sort of. The first sheet of parchment is utterly wasted on failed greetings alone:

I am so sorry to have heard—

My deepest condolences, dear sister—

We have just received—

This awful spectre follows us to Apla, where—

Father’s timing is impeccable as always—

Dia takes a long pull from the wineskin, corks it, and buries her face in her hands. She might sit there for a minute or an hour, and then she burns the parchment over a candle.

Hoofbeats drum on the dirt road outside. Dia starts: that’s quick, much too quick, even for a hag. She cracks the shutters, holding her nose against the smell. The shaggy brown horse gallops home, riderless.

Dia rushes down the stairs, teetering only once with drink. Corso and Antare stand in the doorway; Eager is outside among the people, has been for hours. Dia stands between the two men, peering out, listening.

“Is it dead? Is the demon dead?”

“We’re doomed. It’ll come for us next.”

“You said the hunter would stop it!”

“It ate my goats.”

“Liar!”

Eager stands, stoic and still, with a hand on the horse’s bridle. The beast is unharmed, without a drop of blood on it that Dia can see. A man comes wading through the crowd, and Eager hands him the reins.

“She has sent the horse back,” Eager intones. “You see? She has returned him unharmed to his master. The hunter will follow in time.”

“He speaks with confidence,” Antare mutters.

“An impressive front,” Corso replies. “He’s about to piss himself, as he should be.” Both Dia and Antare shoot him a look. The pathfinder shrugs and meanders deeper into the tower, ignoring the throng outside and leaving Antare to shut the door.

“I wasn’t aware you were concerned,” says Antare.

“You didn’t see the body,” says Corso. “To be frank, we should already have a courier running back to my father.”

Dia understands, belatedly. “You think she’s gone feral. So suddenly?”

Corso levels her with a look. “You didn’t see the body,” he says again. He shakes his head, almost imperceptibly, and leans against the table at the centre of the room. He looks exhausted. “Maybe, when this is over, we’ll all be reassigned to something normal. I’m fond of the Ottiudi strain, myself, which of course means that the Signore will give me a Seguna. What are the two of you being punished for, by the way? I never asked.”

Antare says nothing. Dia swallows. “We wanted to work a hunting crew,” she says to fill the silence. “Your brother…”

“Ah, yes, right,” says Corso. “The University man himself. I suppose it was the best he could do for a pair of bastards. Terribly sorry that you’ve stepped out into this mess, green as grass.”

Dia has read the last medic’s journals, of course. They all have, but the tension in the pathfinder’s voice is a stretched bowstring, ready to snap. Drinking wine in the pantry, Corso’s face had been a healthy, warm brown. Now, it’s gone grey.

Antare stares out the window like it holds a puzzle he can’t quite solve. “Why would she run off now? She must know she’ll be hunted in turn.”

“You talk like she is a rational, thinking creature,” says Corso. “She was not thinking then, and she is not thinking now. I’ll draft a letter to my father.”

The door swings open. “You’ll do no such thing,” Eager says. “Have a little faith. She either fell off the horse or sent him back and out of danger.”

Corso presses his lips together. Dia thnks that gesture is all that keeps him from yelling at a Brother of Murat.

“You fear her,” Eager says.

“Bloody right I do,” says Corso.

“As you should,” the mentor says, nodding sagely. “As one fears the wolf, or the mountain-lion, or the summer storm. She is a force of nature. She has not lost her mind to a hag.”

Corso scoffs.

Eager presses on. “Do you remember what she was, before? The monsters she slew? She can be that again. It is our task to keep faith and to help her reclaim herself.”

The pathfinder complains, but the mentor helms the ship. They wait. Eager goes back out to the villagers after a time. Dia bangs on the cellar door and tells Sigi what’s happened now. Corso produces the Sahnish red and drinks most of it himself. Antare seems to vanish and reappear at will.

Near midnight, Corso balls up the fourth draft of his letter to the Valiera and tosses it into the hearth. Sigi reaches across the table for what’s left of the Kyriak white. Eager joins them, at last, and bolts the door behind him.

“Sleep soundly, my friends,” the mentor says. “Murat’s light will guide her home.” He flows up the stairs, calm as anything. Antare is the first to follow. Sigi goes next.

Dia meets Corso’s eye. “You saw the body,” she says.

The pathfinder’s face is lit with firelight behind and candlelight before. It flickers across his skin, casting a twisting grimace across his still features. “There was no head,” he says. Slurs, but only barely. “She had not cut it off, mind you. It was gone. It was paste on the stone. My nephew found a tooth in the garden, just last week.”

Dia nods. She sits in silence for a time, watching the fire burn. “If you’re right, then she’ll be gone soon.”

He doesn’t respond. She rises, at last, and puts herself to bed, where she stares at the ceiling until a dozen shouting voices stir her at dawn.

She staggers down the stairs just in time to see Antare shoving his way past Corso and Eager, rushing out the door with his equipment under his arm. Outside, another small throng has gathered, milling about with wordless shrieks and cries. Antare shouts, disperses them just enough for Dia to see the hunter’s body, face down in the mud.

The smell of pig shit hits her then, stained with something acrid and sharp that burns in Dia’s lungs. The hunter’s face is tipped just enough that her nose is not submerged in muck, but her eyes are shut, and they don’t flutter when Antare turns her over. The medic’s eyes bulge, and he swears.

“Clear the table,” he shouts over the din. “Clear it, there’s no time to move her!”

Antare lifts the hunter’s body, draping her across his arms like a gruesome bride, and marches through the villagers in a straight line. It’s only when he passes through the door that Dia sees the gore and sinew dropping from the empty socket of the hunter’s right shoulder.

“Alchemist!” the mentor shouts. Sigi has already recovered Antare’s equipment. He arranges knives and cloth and bottles of bubbling fluid on the table beside the filthy, prone body.

Corso mumbles. “Just let her die. Just let her die. It would be a mercy.”

Eager grips him by the shoulders and shakes, once, before turning to Dia. “Take him away, girl. You don’t need to see this.”

Dia wants to protest that she’s seen any number of surgeries and dissections. Instead, she grabs Corso by the arm, decorum be damned, and pulls him toward the stairs.

[sepiadice]

Art Direction of Tabletop RPGs

Dungeons and Dragons is good at being Dungeons and Dragons.

That shouldn't be a controversial opinion, and it's not worded as one, yet I have one friend who derisively labels it as a war game, and another friend who believes D&D is all you need in regards to TRPGs. These two are from distinct eras of my life, and have never met.[1]

My moderate view is such: Dungeons and Dragons is good. It's not the ultimate system, but if you want a western fantasy built on the framework of Tolkien, Fifth Edition is the way to go. You could use a different system, in theory, but no other system has the same reach and stability. Everyone knows D&D, which is valuable.

Its combat and mechanics are a good balance of grit and function, and it's mostly teachable. My friend's 'wargaming' derision is because he believes it doesn't support role-playing well. Something about the guy who wrote Dungeon World saying if it's not in the rules, it’s not in the game.[2] But I've always felt that D&D makes the right decision in not bogging it down with structure and dictating the 'correct' way to role-play.

However, if you want to do anything else (Sci-fi, non-european fantasy, superheroes, Slice of Life), best case scenario the seams will creak in the attempt. D&D is good at being D&D, and that's the limit.

I appreciate D&D. I'll play D&D, happily!

There's a reason I bristle when “DM” is used as the generic term.

That said, I've always had a sort of tonal disconnect when I play D&D, and it's because of the art.

Fair warning, what follows is a lot of personal interpretations and vague mumbling trying to relay a point. I’m not actually an authority on anything.

(Dungeons & Dragons owned by Wizard of the Coast . Image sourced from Wikipedia)

Dungeons and Dragons does not have pretty art. It’s technically well done, and far from ugly, but it’s not actually inspiring. Above we have the cover of the Player’s Handbook, the first thing most new players see. Setting aside that the focus of the cover art for what should be the book about Player Characters is a giant monster man[4], the cover is very orange. The actual people are composed of muted, neutral colors, and the background is vague and out of focus.

It’s not really conveying an air of fantastic worlds and larger-than-life characters (giant wearing a dragon skeleton aside). It coveys oppression, monotony, and “realism”.

(Pathfidner owned by Paizo. Image sourced from Wikipedia)

Pathfinder’s core rulebook, on the other hand, is colorful. Look at that big, bright dragon![5] Sensibly dressed Fighter Man’s brown clothes are still bright enough to pop him out from the green-grey dungeon background[6], and Fantastic Sorceress’s red dress is also bright and helps frame the Fighter as her hand glows with magic.

While both covers feature a woman with an orb of magic, D&D’s cover shows magic as contained and lighting a small space, while Pathfinder’s magic is big and trailing, hinting at movement.

Actually, D&D’s mage girl doesn’t have a cohesive movement. Is she falling from above? Jumping in from the left? Where is she going? It doesn’t really follow in a meaningful way.

Anyways: color. Yes, yes, I know the plague of brown and and muted tones is a much whined about criticism, and it might seem odd from someone calling himself SepiaDice, but neutral tones have their place; usually as background and supporting other colors to pop more.

Besides, Sepia has a noble history in film, the brown range isn’t a common image color, and Sepia is fun to say.[7]

Color choice is very important. Bright colors draw the eye and make visuals more distinctive. Bright colors also denote and bring energy to things. Dull colors are used for locations meant to be calm and sedate. If you want the characters and locations to seem fun and full of life, you fill it with bright colors.

Everything breaths, adventure can strike at anytime!

Dull colors, and it’s hibernation. People are around, but they don’t seem to enjoy it.

But let’s turn to the visual storytelling: what does each cover tell you about life in their setting?

D&D: lots of posing to look fancy, but there’s no real sense of energy. Jumpy Magerson’s weird Megaman hop has been mentioned, of course. The Giant has a look of dull surprise as he drops Jumpy Magerson,[8] as he holds a sword in the non-active hand. Foreground fencer man is wide open, holding his own foil up and away from where it might accidentally jab anyone. The locations is… orange? Looks like there might be lava geysers?

Patherfinder: A dragon roars at its enemies! Teeth bared, tongue coiled, tendons on display! Wings unfurled to make it seem larger! The fighter is yelling back at the dragon, his weapons mid-swing! Shoulder forwards to defend the rest of the body! The Sorceress is holding a firm stance as she casts a spell that crackles with arcane energy!

Pathfinder’s cover tells a story of epic combat, fizzly magic, and energy. D&D’s cover tells a story of two adventurers existing in a space also occupied by a giant.

Now, both of these systems have the same ancestry, as Pathfinder is an iteration on D&D 3.5.[9] But one sparks more joy when I look at it.

But let’s do another case study. I’ll need an audience volunteer, and my brother’s the only person immediately on hand.

I’m going to make him list three qualities of goblins real quick:

Green

Wimpy

Sneaky

Awesome. Don’t know if the green text translated, but those are what he wrote. Give him a hand!

So, with those three traits in mind, let’s look at a goblin picture from D&D Beyond:

(Owned by Wizards of the Coast. Source here)

Like, you can’t say D&D doesn’t call that a goblin, it’s literally on the goblin page.

This guy is yellow. He’s built like a four foot tall WWE Wrestler. He’s defending with his advancing arm as he rears up to smack ya!

(Okay, “Sneaky” is a hard one to argue.)

Moving on, what does Pathfinder call a Goblin:

(Owned by Paizo. Source here)

Look at this charming miscreant! Green. Big ole head. Good mix of of ugly and oddly adorable. Probably two feet tall, and happens to want your two feet, please, but you could step on him if you’d like.

He also looks like a Gremlin

(An adorable little chaos monster owned by Warner Brothers. Source)

Point is, Pathfinder’s more cartoony take on the classic monster feels more in the spirit of the thing. Every time I see one of those goofy faces, I feel like I’m in for an enjoyable time.

Bringing us back around to the point of this essay: the art direction of D&D bogs down my theater of the mind. The art in the rulebooks don’t inspire creativity or fantastic visions. It inspires… dull, lifeless people walking through dirt roads flanked by dead grass.

I don’t enjoy looking at D&D’s art. Relatedly, I don’t like looking at the art of Magic: the Gathering, whose style I can’t help by see in every D&D sourcebook cover I see. Neither game invokes an inviting world, but utilitarian ones that exist to give quick, forgettable visual flair to represent mechanical card effects.

To save making this long essay even longer and unfocused, I’ll save talk of actual ‘canon’ lore for another time.[10]

So why do I, a semi-professional funny man and sad dreamer who can’t actually draw, want to talk about rulebook art?

Well, I’ve always felt a disconnect when I play D&D. I make the characters, I roll the dice, I attempt to role-play, but I’ve always had an emotional gap between me and the character I’m playing. I like the concept, but when I use my theater of the mind, the character feels stiff and divorced from everything. Kind of like the 5th Edition rulebook.

Then I saw this:

(Source tweet. All of this artist’s work is great and I wish I could hire them.)

This half-elf showed up on my twitter timeline, and my first thought was ‘How come my characters don’t look like that?’

Soon followed by ‘Why couldn’t they?’

Then I completed the trilogy with ‘Why haven’t I imagined my characters in a style appealing to me?’

As I was deep into contemplating what sort of aesthetic I consider my “brand”,[11] it was entering a mind primed to start overanalyzing.

So, how do I imagine my characters? In the neighborhood of the D&D art, if I have  firm concept. Micah Krane always was mentally nebulous to me, just kinda being a generic half-elf dude. Trix (who was created for the brightly colored Pathfinder) is green-haired and wears a tail coat, but otherwise is also normal looking in my mind’s eye. In the last two D&D campaigns, Tybalt was also vague in appearance, and Teddi had Goat horns, but those were meant to stand out on a generic rogue character.[13]

But you know what I’ve never put on a character I’ve played? Glasses.

I hope that those who read my various media reviews[14] don’t need this overly explained, but I like glasses. I, myself, don’t wear glasses, but I find them to be great accessories in character design. Frames the eyes, come in a variety of shapes, adds bit of extra visual interest. I always point out Meganekkos and pay them extra attention.[15] I really, really like girls with glasses.

But I’ve never made one. Because there’s no cute design in D&D rulebooks. Just a range of handsome people to ugly halflings.[16]

That is the effect of art design in a system. It sets tone, expectations, and aesthetic for the players. It’s so ingrained that everytime I see art of players’ characters that break the standard, it always takes me aback. It’s inspiring to see artists who manage to divorce D&D the game from D&D the art.

I want to imagine fun, personally appealing characters. But the subtle direction of the insert art as I look through to rulebook, or the provided character portraits of D&D Beyond does not suggest things I like to see. It infects the mind, and leaves specific molds. People in practical, mundane clothes, walking down drab, uninteresting roads.

It’s the same lack of escapism that makes Western (Video Game) RPGs super unappealing to me.[17] Dark Souls, Elder Scrolls, Bioshock don’t look like fun places to be, they look tiring and full of splintery furniture waiting to do 1d4 nonlethal damage.

So I have to talk about anime now.

My mother was staying at my home a little while ago, and I turned on My Roommate is a Cat. This prompted her ask me about what about anime was appealing. I couldn’t form a competent answer for the question at the time, but it’s had time to churn in my head.

Anime is a good middle ground between cartoon and realism. It can broach deeper topics and more mature storytelling than children’s cartoons,[18] without sacrificing a light visual tone and fantastic imagery. Also, the fact that it’s produced by a non-American, non-European culture lends a degree of separation with cultural expectations and tropes. Enhances Escapism.

Luckily, in (very) recent years, after generations of exchanging video games and animation back and forth, Japanese Tabletop RPGs are starting to join in on the fun.

Which means I can look at Ryuutama.

(Image copied from DriveThruRPG. Brought over the pacific by Kotodama Heavy Industries. Buy this book.)

I love this system.

Watercolor art direction. Layout evokes a spellbook. Two Characters and a Dog take the focus on the cover, while the road signs and tiny shrine in the background invoke the emphasis on travel and wonder.

The interior art?

(Taken off the Ryuutama (english) website. Buy this book.)

Well, that makes the game just look like fun. Cartoony characters fighting cat goblins. Conflict, but it doesn’t make life feel like a constant struggle. A world I wish to inhabit. There’s also more detailed images of dragons and other world-establishing pictures mixed in to give the art range, but it’s this sort of charming that makes Ryuutama the first rulebook I actually sat and read cover to cover.[19] It’s a good system I already reviewed. Buy this PDF, maybe they’ll reprint the physical book.

Anyways, I’ll admit, the art’s a little too simple for D&D. Perfect for Ryuutama, and the end of the scale I want my mental image to be, but overshoots the sweet spot. And it’s difficult enough to find players for the much more popular 5e, so Ryuutama exclusivity would grind my playtime to zero.

Still, Ryuutama does a great job of setting it’s light, fantastic tone, where D&D has failed me. The art direction of the books, and years of exposure and defaulting to what I assume D&D should look for establishes a mental habit that’s hard to break. Wizards of the Coast has drowned nerd spaces with its particular kind of art, especially with MtG plastered all over hobby stores, deck boxes, dice, playmats, and even D&D sourcebooks.

That’s not even accounting for fanworks and the speculative fiction art in online spaces.

So what do I want to look like? Were I blessed with talent or with patient to actually learn to draw well, what would I be referencing?

What about what set my expectations of fantasy years before IndigoDice invited me to that fateful Traveller game?

(Screen cap of Tales of Vesperia grabbed from here.)

Well, okay, what I’m actually thinking about is Tales of Symphonia, but Vesperia’s graphics are kinda what nostalgia tells me Symphonia tooked like, as opposed to what it actually looks like.[20]

Look at that verdant town! Warm lighting, bright characters, leaves growing to depict life. A hotel built into a tree. This is a fantasy world that is unashamed about life thriving.

Forget solarpunk. This is my aesthetic.

As for the party members…

(Okay, Judith’s a little gratuitous, but The Definitive Edition lets me put her in a suit, and she’s awesome. Art stolen from here.)

Oddly enough, as far as JRPG outfits go, these are pretty tame with details.[21] Mostly bright, popping colors, even Yuri’s dark clothes are done in such a way to not feel grim and edgy, hints of personality, and I just enjoy looking at them.

The Tales series as a whole does a good job of taking European fantasy and applying Japanese whimsy to the design. Also yukatas. Every member looks like the hero of their own story, while still being part of a cohesive whole.

Which is, you know, the ideal way to operate as a TRPG party.

So, what’s the take away?

Artists, keep being creative. Pull inspiration in from things besides the rulebooks and Critical Role. Look at the other things you love and bring visual flare and whimsy to your art. Then share it. Ignite the passions of those of us who can’t do the draw-good thing.

Players, play with the tropes. I love doing it narratively and mechanically. My favorite rogue is still my neutral good stage magician who would never do a crime. Explore what’s possible in the freeform world of tabletop games, both in play and your Theater of the Mind.

Game designers, branch out with the art. And stop using Powered by the Apocalypse as a crutch.[22]

Hope this long ramble was enjoyable and cohesive. If you want more of this, my other works, and maybe to allow me to make an actual play podcast, consider supporting me through Patreon or Ko-fi.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.

[1] Though I would love to read a transcript of the two discussing it. It'd be a fun debate. [2] I don't like Powered by the Apocalypse for precisely this reason. Every actual play I've heard with the system has players talking about their characters in the abstract, because they're just pressing the buttons on their character sheet.[3] [3] I maybe should do a breakdown of PbtA one day. [4] Which is pretty poor direction. Do an epic group shot of characters battling a horde around them. [5] None of the D&D core books has a dragon on the cover. Come on, that should’ve been a gimme! [6] Similar note as footnote 5. [7] Also CornflowerBlueDice is too long to be catchy. [8] I figured it out! [9] I haven’t looked at at Pathfinder’s forthcoming second edition. Fifth Edition reclaimed it’s throne as The ubiquitous system after fourth lost its footing, so I don’t think there’s much point. [10] TL;DR: I ignore it. [11] Pulp Fantasy is too mundane. Steampunk is too victorian-y. Sci-fi fractals into so much. Solarpunk has appeal, but isn’t quite right.[12] [12] Haven’t really found the term. [13] Let’s not examine that I put more thought into female character design than male for the moment. [14] Which you should. Validate my efforts! [15] And desperately pray it’s considered innocent enough of a fetish that I don’t have to stop. [16] Never liked halflings. Gnomes are fine. Halflings, in art, have always been off-putting and malformed. [17] That and the emphasis of character customization kneecapping the Player Character’s narrative involvement. Can’t give them a personality if that’s the end user’s job! [18] Even Avatar: The Last Airbender felt like it had to sneak the narrative depth it achieved past corporate. [19] I do need to give it a reread, though. Relearn the system. [20] It still looks good, especially the environment, but the characters are kind of… leaning towards chibi. [21] This, specifically, is why I chose to highlight Vesperia over Rune Factory. [22] Technically nothing to do with this essay, but I can’t stress this point enough.

[tyrantisterror]

My friend @scatha5 generously hosts many of the audio TTRPG games I DM, including:

No Small Feat - a Midgaheim campaign using the Fabula Ultima system set centuries before Wizard School Mysteries during the Age of Fairy Tales. It's pretty close to wrapping up, so now is a good time to binge.

Wake of the Red Death - a Midgaheim campaign using the Fabula Ultima system set a thousand years after Wizard School Mysteries, set at the end of a plague called the Red Death that caused a death of roughly 45% of all animal life in Midgaheim, and may well chronicle the collapse of the long-running Mediterran empire.

Offbeat Melody - a campaign with its own unique setting inspired by lumberjack folklore and paranormal "sciences," particularly the Goblin Universe theory. It uses the Monster of the Week system and is pretty wacky, especially whenever I give an in-universe commercial break to cover for someone having to go to the bathroom or pick up pizza. Currently on hiatus.

Tolkien Off the Rails - a D&D 5e campaign that works off the pitch of, "If the plot of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings was a DM's rough outline for a campaign before the players start playing, how would it change in reaction to those players?" In other words, what happens to the story of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings when you completely change the protagonists and how they interact with the world, and also the person technically controlling the narrative is a sillier bastard than Tolkien ever was? Currently on hiatus. It has a spinoff called Gnargnia (the g's are silent) Off the Rails, which I don't DM but do play in as a strange spellcaster named Annatar who disappears into a magic ring whenever he's reduced to zero HP.

The Conquering Worm - my first over-the-internet TTRPG campaign, uses the Pathfinder 1e system and is in an original setting that was in many ways defined by the mechanics of Pathfinder (i.e. having gods meant to cover every cleric domain, the concept of inherent evil/goodness, etc.). It began as an excuse for me to homage as many horror stories in a TTRPG game as I could fit and spiralled into metanarrative goofiness pretty quickly - we gave it the subtitle "A Serious Horror Campaign" and it is entirely sarcastic. At one point a one-off gag about Grinches living in a mountain range named after Boris Karloff became a critical plot point. Fans of Wizard School Mysteries will recognize prototype versions of some of the supporting cast originated here. There's a part where I sing about duck penises. It's strange but I have fondness for it. The first two sessions weren't recorded, but I don't think it's too hard to jump in despite that.

Scatha's channel also has a number of let's plays where I guest star in, including Let's Play The Hobbit, Let's Play Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, Let's Play Drakan, and Let's Play Final Fantasy 9 (though I'm not in all of this last one). They get... pretty unhinged? There's one where I go slightly mad singing the Benny Hill thing, and the less said about the Cock Batman skit the better, but my friends make great commentary in them and there are a couple of moments where you can hear me pitch ideas I eventually became invested in enough to make proper stories out of, which is fun for me. Plus we'll always have forehead jelly.

And there's a lot of campaigns on there where I'm a player - Brine and Tide, GMed by @cerothenull, has me playing a tiefling thief named Ryoko Musashi who is loosely based on the character (design of) Tsunade from Naruto, who I know almost nothing about but still wish was in a story that would actually let her accomplish things instead of a shonen. Ryoko's evolved into her own character since and may be some of my proudest TTRPG work from the player's side. There's Return of the Obsidian Scourge, where I play a Don Quixote figure, and, like, a bunch. I've done a lot, it's been fun.

Recently I'd been rewatching the No Small Feat campaign and I started wondering something during the Menagerie Arc (my favourite arc of the campaign so far btw). You've been pretty transparent about this campaign's fairy tale motif, from general archetypes such as Leonie being a take on the Disobedient Girl to characters and plots taken wholesale and placed into Midgaheim like Sir George and Jack and the Beanstalk. Even the one other arc I couldn't name a particular fairy tale equivalent, the Heartless Witch, feels enough like a fairy tale plot to fit, but the Menagerie arc, aside from the significant presence of Sir George, seems like the odd one as a fantasy flavoured Jurassic Park homage. So is there some fairy tale inspiration to that arc I'm missing, or did you really just decide to diverge from the rest of the campaign's theme for that one arc as an excuse to introduce more of Midgaheim's various fantasy beasties (this is valid btw, it is as said above mt fave so far)?

Ok, I could bullshit that Jurasisc Park is, in its own way, a fairy tale - a rich king commands the finest wizards in the land to bring dragons back from the dead and place them in his menagerie, defying the gods with his hubris, only for them to prove unruly and destroy the kingdom in the process, leaving the king humbled and destitute by his hubris. It's a morality play about folly and hubris and not breaking the rules of the world as much as, say, the story of Grandfather Death - is bringing dinosaurs back that much different from using Death's shotglass to subvert the natural rhyme and rhythm of the cycle of life?

I could do that. I could claim that bullshit is true.

But the fact is that @dinosaurana pitched a character who wants to build a pokedex of 100 monsters, and I was figuring out how to make sure we encountered at least 100 monsters (with some to spare in case my players missed some of them). And I've always been enamored with the idea of a medieval take on Jurassic Park - of finding some obscure rich weirdo who's captured a bunch of dangerous, rare mythic animals, and all hell breaks loose. I tried it out in a couple of my earliest D&D campaigns, in fact, but was never quite satisfied - and I ultimately realized this campaign would be a good fit.

It may break the pattern of the fairy tale homages that the other arcs have, but it's not like any of them were particularly bound by fairy tales - the story of Kaboldt's manor turned out quite differently than Bluebeard, after all, and so on with the others. And, well, to go back to that bullshit above, while a Jurassic Park homage may not fit the theming of the allusions in this campaign, it does fit the overall theme and structure of fairy tales if you think hard about it.

Plus, I got to throw in a shit ton of monsters.

[magicmirrored]

So! It’s time to tell the full full story of what the twins underwent in their D&D verse. But this is waaaaaay too big for one post, considering that I will, in fact, be explaining the entire campaign. All six parts.

The campaign is Carrion Crown, a Pathfinder adventure path taking place in the country of Ustalav. There are six parts, plus a seventh to explain backstory, and these parts will be what I will use to sort out my explanation:

Prelude

Haunting of Harrowstone

Trial of the Beast

Broken Moon

Wake of the Watcher

Ashes at Dawn

Shadows of Gallowspire

Please note that any events after “The Trial of the Beast” are not actual events that I played out in the campaign I was in that this is based off of. We ended after “The Trial of the Beast,” but there are so many loose threads left unchecked that I decided to take my own personal theories to give the story a proper conclusion.

This is gonna be a long one, folks. But it should be fun.

Now then:

Part 1: Prelude

Laine Xiu Misota and Zane Zhi Misota were born to Rosanne and Jay Misota in Ustalav’s capital city of Caliphas as unplanned twins. Since birth, the Misota parents thought that something was ‘wrong’ with Zane, as he was deathly cold to the touch, and the shadows seemed to be almost attracted to him. As a result of his parents’ mockery of and disdain for him, Zane felt very ostracized, and buried himself in books in the hopes that he could find out what was ‘wrong’ with him.

Laine, on the other hand, seemed physically normal, but was frequently seen as restless and violent, and labelled as a troublemaker by teachers and other parents. Laine would often get into fights, sometimes to defend her own pride, but most times in order to protect her brother. She found an odd thrill in combat, and began to exercise and teach herself how to fight and use weapons behind her parents’ back by some of the town guards (that she admittedly hounded until they taught her). At the same time, Zane began to learn magic from a couple wizards in Caliphas.

Laine and Zane suffered a variety of mental and emotional abuse in their home, mostly done by their mother. Rosanne Misota was (and still is) highly emotionally disturbed, and her rage at the world was funneled to her children. Years of the twins’ chlidhood was filled with yelling, misblaming, gaslighting, insults, manipulation, degradation, mockery, and threats of physical abuse (but never once did either parent lay a hand on them). Jay Misota was not as actively abusive, but he enabled and approved of it.

When the twins were fifteen, they met and made friend with a traveling merchant in a caravan, and they learned that she was going to the arts city of Karcau the same night that the Misota parents were going to be going to a party, and therefore not home. With a bit of pay and extensive planning, the twins snuck away from their home, stealing some money and supplies, and hid aboard their merchant friend’s caravan to Karcau. They have not seen their parents since.

It was, admittedly, difficult for the two in Karcau, as their only contact, the merchant, had to leave after a few days. Laine went to join a nearby militia branch, part of a larger organization, and proved herself rather deadly with a battleaxe. With some training, Laine became proficient in weapons--light and martial--learned how to control land vehicles, and became a regular but respected soldier. She became the sole stable income for the two--though it was good money by Ustalav standards. Zane would take odd jobs around town to afford spellbooks and components, eventually being able to fashion his own arcane focus (a staff with a crystal tied to it). Laine and Zane began to train in the ways of a champion fighter and a shadow sorcerer, respectively. 

On occasion, Laine would be hired as a bodyguard to and from Karcau by one Professor Petros Lorrimor, a known researcher and professor at the University of Lepidstadt. Her abilities had impressed him, and whenever he would pass through and be in need of a hired hand, Laine would be his first choice. Laine always enjoyed being Lorrimor’s hired help, as while they walked, Lorrimor would tell Laine tales of the places he’s been, the monsters he’s researched, the people he’s met, and would always go into detail as Laine asked questions. She loved learning about things beyond the city boundaries, and Lorrimor loved having someone so interested in learning. This continued on for two years, with both Laine and Zane growing in their abilities and becoming more comfortable in the city of Karcau.

One fateful morning, seventeen-year-old Laine received a letter announcing the death of Petros Lorrimor and inviting her to attend his funeral. Shaken up and heartbroken, Laine took some time off from her work and left for the tiny town of Ravengro, where Lorrimor was set to be buried. Zane, who controlled most of the finances, gave her a hefty sum of gold to take with her in case anything happened, and promised he would be fine alone in Karcau for a week.

The twins separated, and Laine began her journey to quiet Ravengro to meet with the professor’s daughter, Kendra, and pay her respects to the man who let her live beyond the city’s confines.

[utilitycaster]

that’s no moon (...theory)

you know I was going to put this under a jump after a nice little thing about how while I don’t like conspiracy theories this is harmless and I don’t want to yuck any yums but after this video included a clip that was like HERE’S AN UNEXPLAINED FLOATING OBJECT IN THE ASTRAL SEA. LAST WEEK WE SAW A MYSTERIOUS CITY IN THE ASTRAL SEA. and not only did not address it but completely attributed it to something else that does not even make sense, fuck that.

1. The astral plane/sea is not outer space. This whole theory falls apart the instant you are aware that the astral sea is in a different dimension and space is the thing outside of the planet’s atmosphere within the same dimension. When you look up at the sky in real life, and you see the moon do you genuinely think it’s in a different reality? Actually don’t answer that. If you do I don’t want to know.

After that I mean there’s nothing else to say, but I will, and I did put a jump so that I ruin this theory but don’t ruin your dash. You’re welcome.

2. The Gith are not unique to spelljammer, a specific setting for 2e. They’re in the 5e monster manual but have existed in D&D from the first edition; the lore of them being astral plane pirates was there pretty much from the start. The existence of Gith in a 5e D&D game merely means the DM has read the monster manual.

3. I cannot muster the strength to go through every half-assed reference to the moon that a competent editor could have covered in a quarter of the time but:

Circle of the Moon is from the PHB and it’s just a druid circle, the moon indicating the form-changing, wild shape side of druids vs. the more traditional, environmentally-based, and spell-oriented circle of the land. Keyleth was a circle of the moon druid too, which Marisha said at one point was because circle of the moon gains the ability to shape into elementals.

The moon is often associated in most real-world mythologies with the feminine aspect, with change, with night time, with secrecy, with fate, and, particularly relevant to this video, with the ocean (see: season 1 finale of Avatar the Last Airbender, also the existence of tides on the REAL EARTH like I cannot stress this enough, Catha and Ruidis are fictional but please tell me you have some basic knowledge of what a moon is).

Tolkien frequently associated elves with moonlight, starlight, and nighttime.

Sehanine Moonweaver is just part of normal forgotten realms lore that was folded into the Dawn War pantheon which in turn is what Matt used for the pantheon in Critical Role (+ Sarenrae from the Pathfinder canon, because funnily enough you can take lore from something without the entire source becoming canon immediately).

A moon-touched sword is a common magical item (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, page 138).

4. All the stuff about Molaesmyr and the sword seems more like links between the Blooming Grove and Molaesmyr (both being blessed by Melora and Corellon, both being in the Savilirwood). Additionally, Molaesmyr is one of the few cities that survived the calamity before later falling to the blight that sounds much like the blight that came to the Blooming Grove and was notably an elven city which meant it was more likely to include worshippers of the moon goddess Sehanine, a deity who is, and I cannot stress this enough, stated in the video to be primarily an elven deity. It is not weird that a researcher of the moon would be like “yeah I look for information about the moon in one of the few locations on this continent that did not fall during a nearly world-ending event, full of people who worshipped the moon goddess.” I mean it’s no mysterious astral blip you’re completely ignoring, but you know when people are saying something on a podcast that’s extremely wrong and you know the answer and you’re just screaming in your car? This video was that, but for over 51 minutes, like there were so many dots ripe to be connected and instead you made me watch a clip of an anime in the sancitity of my own house.

5. Further occam’s razor notes: the parent of a toddler/CEO of a company/working actor/person with ADHD being on their phone briefly during a D&D game and then getting off their phone and paying attention? goodness me! what other strange rituals have you observed in your travels? Oh, the artwork of a world that’s explicitly stated to have two moons depicts two moons? wild. Asking a weird question on the spot of someone who once played a character who tried to murder santa got you a troll-like response? wow. better read into that.

6. Okay I’ll stop being sarcastic for a full 15 seconds to note that the height of half-orcs is “between 5 and 7 feet tall”; Fjord is well within that range and in fact towards the top of it; if you’ve been imagining him shorter than Yasha, that’s a you problem (unless you are imagining Yasha as like 6′6″, which is also not canonical but I have transferred my annoyance about Yasha’s height over to this garbage video so like, do what you want). Yeah he’s on the smaller side but within normal size ranges; this could just mean his human parent was short and skinny, or his orc parent was short and skinny for an orc, or his non-orc parent was actually elven, or that one parent was a half-orc and one was human, or that someone who grew up in an orphanage was malnourished and never got super buff. I mean, Yasha and Reani are both aasimar and don’t exactly look alike. I’m 5′5″ and when I see a 6′8″ person I don’t ask them if they’re from space.

Really, in addition to not making some glaringly obvious and far more valid connections the thing that grinds my gears here is that this video, despite editing that I found illogical and frustrating, did compile a good deal of moon and space (and astral plane, which is not the same as space, I will keep saying this) lore. It is worth considering that there are magical meteors! Ruidis really is, in Exandrian lore, alleged to have connections to the betrayer gods! I’d love for someone with two brain cells to rub together and a basic understanding of logical fallacies to take a crack at what’s going on there! But instead I got this. I mean it’s not  even a tin foil hat, it’s like, crumpled tin foil covered in the moldy remains of bad takeout pizza that someone put on their head.

[thevulturesquadron]

2017 Fic in Review

Tagged by darlin’ @solas-you-nerd​ to review the fanfics I’ve written in 2017. I’m just amazed there’s someone out there aware that I do write from time to time, when the planets align and the stars are in position. No really, I love writing but I don’t do it often and my Ao3 account is most of the time as dry as the Mojave desert. This being said, thanks a lot for the tag!!! Listen.. the list will be really short cause I only have 4 fics written in total. XD

1. Your 3 fanfics with the most comments in 2017: 

Theory of Relativity  [ Fallout 4:  Deacon x f!Sole Survivor ] : 5

In the Wake of Our Actions [ ME: Andromeda : Sloane & f!Ryder ] : 2

Querencia [ The Expanse: Gen; various characters ] : 2

2. Your 3 fanfics with the most kudos in 2017:

Theory of Relativity :  122

In the Wake of Our Actions : 11

Querencia : 9

3. Your 3 fanfics with the most Bookmarks in 2017:

Theory of Relativity :  19

In the Wake of Our Actions : 1

4. Your first fanfic in 2017 : 

Theory of Relativity : Chapter:  ‘ Wanting not to want you won't make it so’ : Just a quiet, everyday moment between Deacon and Zaraza.

5. Your last fanfic in 2017: 

Prompt: Things you said you'll never forget That one time when their partnership brought Soane and Ryder at the gates of death; Sloane’s thoughts on how she had allowed the Pathfinder to drag her into the mess and a promise she’s going to keep if they would outlive the moment.  

6. Favorite Opening line from a fic in 2017

People come and go. They come and go and take their voices with them. But the noise still stays. The drum of the engines, the clangor of working machines, the beeping of everything automatic, the babel of terminals, with their fluorescent newsfeed and announcements; the invasive neon lights that never give night a chance in that place; even those, he was aware, were producing little endless buzzing noises. And yet there was a deafening silence inside his mind; and yet he chose this active hive as a place of solace where he could find his own thoughts.  

Querencia: Chapter1:  Things you said while holding my hand

7. Favorite ending line from a fic in 2017

‘Pray for the dead, father.’ She was not alone yet. She had fought for Shaun once; she was going to fight again. 'I'm still here for the living.'

Theory of Relativity: Chapter On loss and faith

8. Your favorite character to write for in 2017

Sloane. I just enjoy creating content for her.

9. Your favorite pairing to write for in 2017

Since last year was the year of Fallout 4 limbo, it was definitely Zaraza x Deacon even if only half of the chapters have been posted online. 

10. Your proudest fic from 2017:

Things you said while holding my hand; I’m so happy I managed to write this one-shot. The special relationship between Miller and Julie just got the best of me and I am quite happy with how I shaped this moment. 

11. Your Longest Fanfic in 2017:

Theory of Relativity( multiple chapters - 23,527 ) ; longest chapter - Big boys don’t cry

12. Any goals for 2018?

Oh, yes. All that I want in terms of writing for 2018 is to finish Fulcrum , the new ME: Andromeda story that I started. I am so hooked on Eyon Ryder&Sloane partnering up in order to track down the Benefactor. So here’s to hoping I will manage to put everything down in words. 

13. Tag some people:

I don’t know who has already done this one and who hasn’t. @nourgelitnius ? interested? Also anyone who wants to do this pls go for it and tag me! 

[cyberkevvideo]

Throne of Night Theory Builds Part 6: Play as Myceloids (Book 3)

Today is Halloween. I figured it would be the perfect time to discuss playing a monster race. Namely, the Pathfinder 1st Edition mushroom monster, the myceloid.

When Gary first started developing the Throne of Night adventure path, he talked about alternate races that could do the scenario as well. One was as elves or humans who’d been bought as slaves. He even had a Campaign trait available in Book 1 that gave these non-darkvision characters, darkvision 30 ft. Not bad. It wasn’t brought up in detail, but I theorize that these particular characters would likely have managed to escape their drow or derro captures, and made their way to the outside world temporarily, whether with help from their saviours or even on their own. They could have even started in the village of svirfneblin and been nursed back to health.

One of the races that was talked about most as an alternative to the drow and dwarves, was the myconid. There was even art for it. So in one of the unpublished books (Book 3 specifically), we were supposed to have had a section that would have been all about playing this telepathic and voiceless mushroom race from D&D. And, unfortunately, there in lies the problem. They’re a Wizards of the Coast copyrighted race. They’re not OGL. You see fan versions online for both 3.5 and 5e, but they’re fan works only. They can’t generate any monetary value. Not without permission from WotC. My guess is Gary didn’t realize this when he first conceived of the idea and had the art work commissioned. He might have even thought Paizo would eventually release their own version, but they did not. Or that he could borrow from another 3PP, but no one officially released a clone version of the race. This sadly meant that Gary would never be able to see this come into fruition. And I can’t help but wonder if other copyright issues got in the way as well. But that’s just another hypothesis.

What could have been done, and it’s not exactly his forte, is to design his own version of the race or convert one that already exists in monster form. With the help of the Advanced Race Guide, that’s possible. Looking at it though, that would have taken up quite a bit of space in the book, and could even have other logistic issues that I might not be aware of. Thankfully, that doesn’t stop me from doing updates like this though.

Images shared here were done by the forever fantastic and amazingly talented Michael D. Clarke, aka SpiralMagus. The art is on Michael’s dA page, which I’ve brought over, and am sharing for this article.

EDIT : Going through Gary’s old updates, it seems he did realize at some point that the myconid race was not a possibility, but that he’d have to write for myceloids. The art piece uses the former name, but that was back in 2014. By 2015, Gary must have updated his notes for the final update that he gave us on the project. Saying: “Here also is another piece of preview art showing a party of myceloid adventurers. In Book Three, there will be an article about playing an all myceloid party through Throne of Night and this is the piece of art that accompanies that article.“ It’s still unknown whether or not he was waiting on Paizo to release an official race or if he was going to homebrew one just for this adventure path. He might have even have thrown caution to the wind and decided that he’d just have players go up as the 5 HD monsters and play them straight out of Bestiary 3 as-is. There’s a lot of options he could have gone with.

While the small size myconid is not a playable race, the medium size myceloid from Bestiary 3 is a possibility. Normally a CR 4 monster, and a mushroom creature at that, they have many abilities and traits that could come in handy. Normally of evil alignment, this definitely fits for the theme given for the drow side. It’d be interesting to know the reasons that these mushroom people would have for making their own kingdom. Maybe they’re all good-aligned and they want to establish an empire that showcases trade and emphasizes peace. Always a possibility. The party could consist entirely of black sheep myceloid that aren’t carnivores and looking to consume mortal flesh and have a magnitude of slaves. Or they could be the most evil of all myceloids and were booted for being too evil, and their own empire filled with cages upon cages of slaves that also serve as their food rations could be just the thing they’ve been looking for.

I broke the race down into two different sections. The first is a very playable and balanced race of only 12 race points (RP) with an optional section that shows a myceloid race class ala Savage Species (D&D 3.5) that slowly gives them back all of their abilities over the course of the 5 hit dice that a myceloid normally gets. If you haven’t seen them, Dreamscarred Press and Rite Publishing both have monster books that deal with this kind of progression as well. Necromancers of the Northwest did a stint on their site as well, for free, a few years ago. Everyone definitely has their own style of doing things. This just happens to be mine.

The second section is a much more Advanced Race version that puts the race at 25 RP. This rivals things like the svirfneblin, adaros, kasatha, and wyrood. All of which are 20 RP or greater. While I don’t break it down point for point, I do make mention of just how much this race would cost if you tried to get everything available through the Advanced Race Guide, for the race, without taking any racial HD.

Note: There is no telepathy ability in the Advanced Race Guide, however, strix have an ability to only be able to speak with avians, and it’s 0 RP. Figured that for 30 ft. a myceloid could speak to other myceloid with telepathy. You’re welcome to ignore and remove it though if you feel that’s not a correct assumption.

Myceloid Race Ability Score Modifiers +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence 1 RP Type Plant 10 RP Size Medium 0 RP Base Speed Slow 20 ft. –1 RP Senses Darkvision 60 ft. 2 RP; low-light vision — RP Thick Skin Natural armor +1 2 RP Special Quality Telepathy 30 ft.; other myceloids only 0 RP Weakness Vulnerable to electricity –2 RP Languages Xenophobic: Undercommon plus Common, Elven, Sylvan, Terran, Treant 0 RP

Total 12 RP

Myceloid Race Class Hit Die d8 Racial Class Skills Perception, Stealth Skill Ranks Per Level 2 + Int Modifier. HD    BAB    Fort    Ref    Will    Special 1    +0    +2    +0    +0    Claws (1d4), thick skin, scent, shatter resistant, Survival +2, +2 Wis

2    +1    +3    +0    +0    DR 2/slashing, resist 5 (cold and fire), Sense Motive +2, telepathy (+10 ft.), +2 Con

3    +2    +3    +1    +1    Disease (purple pox), Survival +4, telepathy (affects purple pox sufferers too), +2 Str

4    +3    +4    +1    +1    Claws (1d6), DR 5/slashing, resist 10 (cold and fire), Sense Motive +4, telepathy (+10 ft.), +2 Con

5    +3    +4    +1    +1    Spore cloud, spore domination, telepathy (+10 ft.), +2 Str

Disease (Su) Purple Pox: inhaled or injury; save Fort DC 10 + ½ racial HD + Con-modifier; onset 1 minute; frequency 1/day; effect 1d2 Wis and 1d2 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. A creature that dies of the purple pox becomes bloated over the course of 24 hours, after which its body bursts open, releasing a fully grown myceloid. Additionally, as long as a creature takes at least 7 points of Wisdom damage from the purple pox, it must make a Will save, equal to the initial save DC, each day to avoid becoming affected by a lesser geas (no HD limit) that compels the sickly character to seek out the nearest myceloid colony in order to offer itself up for spore domination. The save DCs are Constitution-based. Shatter Resistant (Ex) At each racial level, a myceloid gains resistance to sonic 2 (to a maximum of resist 10). Spore Cloud (Ex) Once per day as a standard action, a myceloid can expel a 10-foot-radius burst of spores centered on itself. This cloud persists for 1d3 rounds. Any creature caught in this cloud or that moves through it is exposed to the myceloid's purple pox disease—a creature need save only once against any one spore cloud, however, before becoming permanently immune to that particular spore cloud's effects. The spore cloud does not hamper vision. Spore Domination (Sp) This spell-like ability functions as charm monster, but functions only against creatures currently infected with purple pox. Thick Skin (Ex) At each racial level, a myceloid’s natural armor improves by +1 (to a maximum of +6).

If taking monster race hit dice isn’t your speed, or your GM doesn’t approve of this, an alternative is to play a version of the race that’s still playable, and uses the Advanced Race Guide to its fullest. While the total racial points looks like it’s a lot, remember that the svirfneblin is 24 RP and the newer released adoros shark humanoid race from “Blood of the Sea” Player Companion is 32 RP. It’s also been suggested that despite how powerful they are, playing an entire party of drow noble (41 RP) still wouldn’t give you much of an advantage. That’s honestly kind of crazy. So with that, in mind, if you’re allowed to play this, I’d go this route over the hit die route. That said, if you want to add in the rest of the stats and natural armor, you’re looking at +4 Str, +4 Con, and +2 Wis for 28 RP and the additional +4 natural armor comes to 14 RP. Improving the resistance to cold and fire to 10 is another 2 RP each for 4 RP. You’d also need to take the Improved Natural Attack to get the claws to 1d6 damage. Granted, you could just buy the “Named Feat” for 2 RP. Without the resistance to sonic, telepathy, spores, and disease, you’re still looking at a total of 73 RP. That’s beyond monstrous. But for now, here’s the basic version that’s more likely to be approved. Hopefully.

Alternate Myceloid Race Ability Score Modifiers +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, –2 Intelligence 1 RP Type Plant 10 RP Size Medium 0 RP Base Speed Slow 20 ft. –1 RP Senses Darkvision 60 ft. 2 RP; low-light vision — RP; scent 4 RP Thick Skin Natural armor +1 2 RP Natural Attacks Claws (1d4) 2 RP Energy Resistance Cold 5, fire 5 2 RP Skill Bonus Sense Motive +2, Survival +2 4 RP Weakness Vulnerable to electricity –2 RP Languages Xenophobic: Undercommon plus Common, Elven, Sylvan, Terran, Treant 0 RP

Total 25 RP

If you like this, I’ve done others, and a couple of 3PP have been making their own Savage Species compendium over the past couple of years. Seek them out. Necromancers of the Northwest probably did my favourites. The ogre mage and the medusa ones are what I used for the Way of the Wicked when we had to figure out how to work them into the story and advance them for the campaign. I changed them up a bit because they were missing a few ability score advancements and didn’t have a “base race” of 10 RP, which would have helped A LOT. But that wasn’t part of the original design because the creator thought that would make cause the PC to out-scale other PCs. Which, no, it won’t. Monster PCs of equal HD will never trump a standard PC. I guarantee you of this as someone who’s been forced to play one too many monster PCs. But that is neither here nor there.

What’s funny is that there was possible mention of a team of all kobolds doing this AP. I would have loved it despite the fact that they’re so weak. If you wanted to that out, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend the Jon Brazer Enterprises umbral kobolds or go with the standard Paizo kobold and make the advanced variants that gain bonuses on what chromatic dragon scales they have, and even gain a breath weapon of that type. Much more survivable. The party’s opponents would soon regret underestimating them just for being a kobold.

I hope you enjoy this update and should you do an underground adventure, whether Throne of Night or not, it’d be great if this race build was of benefit to you.

I will say though, that if you are running 5e because you’ve converted the AP to D&D 5e or are doing your own Underdark/Darklands campaign, I would absolutely implore you to seek out the fan made myconid race. It’s pretty well designed. I will say that a party of mutes would make for a very difficult campaign. However, I have heard of parties that are composed entirely of kenku. Those poor, poor DMs.

Have a happy and safe Halloween.