#dnd anecdotes

[junkkey]

When you're supposed to have a very difficult figth with fire bats but there's a alchemist with bomb in your team.

It was me<3

[ofarkhxm]

No here's the thing It always seems like Mystra in everything I've ever dealt with her in is almost a petty and flippant as Mizora. Regardless of if you are doing something positive in her name she will in fact punish you if she thinks it will make her look bad.

Gale thought he was helping her and no doubt the other pantheon of divines found a problem with it so why not kill two birds with one stone.

Here's my fun little contribution, as when I saw gale gushing and pining after his I thought perhaps maybe she was more benevolent im BG3 than she was in my first interaction with the 'character'...

(nope, fuck mystra)

See I played a Shar worshiping Grave Cleric named Kyrie. Kyrie mostly worshipped Shar because Shar lead her to the more esoteric tomes that Kyrie seemed bent on gleaning knowledge from, she didn't trust any of the other gods largely because they all seemed to enjoy excluding her. When they wound up in the pantheon of God's and Mystra was the first one to greet them and ask that they Share what they learned...namely the location of an orb of creation that the big bad was also after, the only person who actually legitimately had the information was Kyrie, because she had a ring of mind shielding, and enough other eldritch esoteric knowledge to stare into the abyss and not blink (we were in fact close to level cap by that time)

She said something pissy about Shar and Kyrie told her to fuck off they'd share the information with a diety they trusted more or they'd just go get the orb themselves.

Mystra didn't take kindly.

And somehow true as hell to form now that I look back on it she cursed Kyrie to where anytime she tried to talk she couldn't.

You know that bit in Austin powers where Dr. Evil is telling Scott to zip it?

Mystra did that.

Mystra and I have a long standing problem and I will happily help my nerd friend overthrow her.

Ohhh, I'm rereading Mystra's entry in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide... and this detail:

This means Gale was punished for trying to restore and preserve what he thought was a lost piece of Mystra's magic. Gale being Mystra's ex-lover put aside. He as her follower, she his goddess, was punished for attempting to do the one foundational rule of her faith.

I'm seething and so sad at the same time.

[talesfromthecrypts]

I think about when my gf, who knows nothing about DND and who i have forcibly pushed the movie and bg3 upon, went "well I think that Rege's character and Astarion would make a lovely couple" seemingly out of nowhere a lot

[selfcontainedunivcrse]

WOE QND PLAGUE BE UPON YE 🏷️🍳 RC, 🧸😍cVwoop, 📊 for both

🏷️: What is their full name? Do any of their names have any special meaning? How did you come up with them?

Its full name is Release Candidate! RC stands for this. It fits in with the naming scheme of Proto, which was what I settled on for Vwoop1/Web1Vwoop/Etc, which is named Proto because it’s a reference to Prototype + Prophetbot from Oneshot!

Why these guys? Minor spoilers 4 the true end of Oneshot (just this paragraph). There is a robot that is made to be the tutorial guide at the beginning of the game, who is basically treated as one of three children of a major figure in the game. It is specifically a robot who is humanlike / not bound to programming because it has been taught how to have meaningful relationships with humans. And I cannot remember why because it’s been actual years since I’ve done a full playthru I rlly need to again o7 But. It is replaced with Prophetbot. This is Prophet’s description. And while Vwoop isn't like this the whole intent of it ...

It isn’t quite analogous but the Oneshot robot thing (+ as Oneshot is in many places inspired by Little Prince, which I also need to reread) is big inspiration for everything behind a lot of how I like to interpret Minecraft and Roleplay Rules and specifically “mob children” (picking that baby piglin to be my Minecraft son type thing, which is relevant because this happened to Proto). 

But, uh, RC.

Well. Since I had Prototype, if I was going to differentiate, I’d want to keep with the programming theme, right, especially more as I’d gotten into Seren as a modder specifically and doing more worldbuilding about magic as modding and programming the game, and had an even stronger interest in meta stuff, and.

Well. I couldn’t. Call it Vwoop Alpha. Or Beta. There are implications. So it’s a Release Candidate! Also RC takes its meta-name due to like, seeing the horrors, and RC is snappy and easy, and it doesn’t really tell anyone what its name means? So just an acronym is very easy to use. RC :3.

(Ironically, it’s the most like it’s “supposed” to be, in-universe, cVwoop would be the “unstable” version but cVwoop is My favourite version because I can be biased :3. My Vwop. I think if I chose a thematic name for it it would be Vwoop Nightly/Nightly Build, because it is the most volatile and like. changes as a person due to the things around it. But I like it just being Vwoop shrug)

🍳: Are they good at cooking? Do they like to? Why and how did they learn to cook, or, if they didn't, why didn't they?

RC can cook. I think it likes to, even, but not really like. Substantially. Because see. On the server it originated from there was the mod Spice of Life, which gives different “food diversity points”. And it doesn’t really cook for that at all, so I like to think it just kind of makes. The equivalent of snacks. It cooks breads and sweets.  It eats whatever it needs to to minmax but it’s kind of scrunching its nose at some things – such is the play. When it makes a world, it is NOT adding Spice of Life.

However, Popcorn taught it how to cook, and also is the one feeding it all of the minmaxxer food. They cook together sometimes, or RC helps him gather mass amounts of ingredients to meal prep. 

🧸: What was their favorite childhood toy and why?

The first Ranboo plushie it made itself. It has made more, and more plushies in this world. But for a little while it would carry it like a safety blanket :]. It loves… Ran Boo.

😍: What traits, physical and/or mental, do they find attractive in other people?

The question probably means in like, romantic/sexual attraction but Vwoop is incredibly aroace. It has a love interest and is happy about this and is happy w/ Finch Specifically, but this does originate because it lives in a society. It’s even had all of these complexes without properly articulating that this is what it wants from fae. Which is even more what you’re supposed to do, it’s read a book before! That’s the whole point of the dating phase!!  It does, however, think that people are joking and/or lying and/or overexaggerating that attraction exists. But people are strange, so.

With that out of the way platonically it so has a type. It is deeply endeared by eccentrics and people who it views as competent. It also likes it when people aren’t as concerned as it with social propriety, too, even though it doesn’t express this (they do not make it feel more scared to be alive). As a whole honestly it just likes people that can make it feel safe? It likes loyalty (a normal amount) and it likes being able to trust people. 

📊: What is their best stat? What is their worst/dump stat? How do these affect how you roleplay as them?

This is kind of backwards since MCRP, but here is what stats I think they would have Because of how I rp them. 

I think both of them would have really high dexterity due to being small and not stopping moving. I think RC is a bit more conscious of this because its forced to be a physical fighter (large servers have too much lag to effectively use a bow, which is depressing and cruel). It definitely tries to control space when it fights, especially in environments with scary magic weapons that Do Effects To You. I would place it as having high strength as well, but its not confident in its ability to fight through Magic Nonsense, so movement is generally more relevant.

I had to ask my resident dnd player actually about cVwoop but xe confirmed that I was right in thinking Vwoop’s highest stat would probably be charisma? Its best skill is absolutely the ability to convince people of things, and to kind of control its reputation as Nice.

Both of their dump stat is wisdom, for the same reason of having about two years’ experience in this whole being alive thing.

[peachdoxie]

Gonna watch the Dungeons and Dragons movie!

[commsroom]

youve posted about a w359 dnd script, is this an actual script somewhere? because i would very much like to read it but cannot find it

doug eiffel dnd script be upon ye

[blackthorn-legion-irl]

okay the heck did i do that for. sorry sprite and evie, brain's sorta. having trouble distinguishing reality and not, should be okay after i sleep

[tarnia2]

I played a ttrpg - can't remember the name - in high school, with a teacher as the DM, and my fondest memory was the following:

There was someone inside a box. We didn't know who and I was going to find out. I asked him, be he refused to tell us.

Then I said something that can't really be translated into english.

You see, in spanish, "escupe" can be slang for "tell the truth" or "tell the secret".

But it can also mean "spit".

You can guess what he did. I ended up hitting him with my hammer.

[lennyinlordran]

Wait, I'm a what??

Awhile ago, One of my siblings came up with a theory about how each D&D alignment would open a fridge. Thing is, I don't open a fridge in any of the ways he mentioned.

So it's impossible to deduce my alignment from how open a fridge, because I don't have one.

There are three-ish possible reasons:

I sold my soul at some point, meaning I "don't have" an alignment because it''s attached to my missing soul.

I am an amnesiac Devil-- Lawful Evil-- or Archon-- Lawful Good-- And because I've lost my memories, I can't fully tell how to open a fridge properly.

I'm just a tad extradimensional, so I don't understand the Order/Chaos & Good/Evil binaries. I have an alignment, it's just really weird. Alignment is a compass, and mine is oriented on the magnetic north of different planet.

My mother thinks that theory 2 is the most likely.

My Evil sister thinks 3 is most likely.

My brother-- the one who invented the fridge theory-- thinks No.1 is the most likely.

[amothersvow]

>> Eliyen may not look exactly as I draw & envision her in the campaign she's in, like, the skin tone is different, as are the horns and the makeup/tattoos and the outfit, but she does look damned hot in Baldur’s Gate 3. Them thiiiiiighs man 🥵

[dlight98]

Directly for our party: Summoning an Allosaurus on a bridge to fight a troll. It caused the bridge to break and killed all but 1 member of the party.

Overall: offered a vampire my bloody hands, causing our entire party's death and all of Barovia to be doomed.

My DnD character inadvertently brought the blood war to the material plane.

What’s your biggest TTRPG fuck up?

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again no problem 11/26/2024

i don't have a good anecdote this week, i have the flu. look at my cat

listening

ty @shinygoodrock for the rec! billy bragg's the marching song of the covert. i was startled by the british accent but briefly forgot the uk's been colonizing way longer than god's favorite country, the usa

so SO cheery and so catchy! samples When The Ants Go Marching In!

Here we come with our candy and our guns And our corporate muscle marches in behind us For freedom's just another word for nothing left to sell And if you want narcotics we can get you those as well

it reminds me a lot of this poster i have framed but not hung up yet, jesse purcell's "A.G.F.T.P.O.T.U.S.O.A. (A Gift From The People Of The United States Of America)" (getcher own print at the link through justseeds)

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reading

my favorite tinned fish newsletter is back! i like this newsletter for its dry anecdotal voice, but i coincidentally have a tin of mackerel in tomato sauce in the pantry for mackintosh name reasons. seems like the best way to have it is fairly plain with some light seasonings. the author was a senior editor at vice and has been out of work for a bit since that site's collapse, so it's good to see him back doing silly free nonsense like his tinned fish newsletter

i had Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis on hold for nearly six months so it extra hurt when i didn't particularly care for it.

like, what a premise! a beautifully written blurb that got my attention! i think i got an ad for this one on instagram. either that or it was floating around on this site.

A sharp-witted, high fantasy farce featuring killer moat squid, toxic masculinity, evil wizards and a garlic festival - all at once. Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, K. J. Parker and Travis Baldree. It’s bad enough waking up in a half-destroyed evil wizard’s workshop with no eyebrows, no memories, and no idea how long you have before the Dread Lord Whomever shows up to murder you horribly and then turn your skull into a goblet or something. It’s a lot worse when you realize that Dread Lord Whomever is… you. Gav isn’t really sure how he ended up with a castle full of goblins, or why he has a princess locked in a cell. All he can do is play along with his own evil plan in hopes of getting his memories back before he gets himself killed. But as he realizes that nothing – from the incredibly tasteless cloak adorned with flames to the aforementioned princess – is quite what it seems, Gav must face up to all the things the Dread Lord Gavrax has done. And he’ll have to answer the hardest question of all – who does he want to be? Dread Lord Gavrax has had better weeks.

this is a debut novel based on a friendgroup's DnD campaign, and it does show a bit. maybe you have a friend who’s freshly into improv? it gets a little wrapped up in Doing Bits. at several points i did think “i could be reading terry pratchett right now instead of enduring this bit.”

the writing itself is solid on a technical level-- there's a good balance of dialogue to description, no word choices really slammed me in the face, it flowed pretty nicely and was a fast read. flounders a bit in the middle but does pick up speed, a middling-okay pacing. if this were not a debut novel and felt a little bit more done on purpose i would be interested in talking about how the frantic lunge from plot point to plot point mirrors our protag's internal sense of self.

i do not think this rises to the level of farce, or even pastiche. it is a darkly comedic but fairly straightforward fantasy. very light PG romance elements.

so much of it is concerned with perceptions/expectations/visual tropes and then the big baddie is simply a baddie with no further interrogation. like a lot A LOT of philosophical musings on the nature of evil and the expectations thereof creating self image and morality and has unionized goblins. everything else in this book is questioned. you can’t go halfway with a deconstruction or you’re just writing more of the genre you’re trying to deconstruct. there was a scene that really clicked satisfyingly in my brain with a female sorceress, where she goes basically everyone expects me to be a bitch and a whore so let's just cut to the chase and have fun being a bitch and a whore. this alternate viewpoint of misogyny making you evil does not successfully contrast with our protag's internal calibration and view of evil but damn if that isn't the experience of being a woman in stem.

the protagonist, gav, wakes up with No memories and thereby becomes Good. or at least Better. does rozakis feel that everyone is born good and your reactions to things happening to you shape your morality? there's a reveal that one of the murders amnesiac!gav is most torn up about didn't actually happen bc his staff faked it and smuggled her out. i think this seriously undercuts the moderate amount of thinking and soulsearching and figuring out how to atone for past actions he does previously. and then it doesn’t really address any of the problems it tangled with in favor of a movie ending. it did tread a bit into therapyspeak for me. fewer shades of gray than i would have liked.

this book is also extremely heterosexual for what i expect a modern comedy fantasy to be. it neatly sidesteps the gay=/= evil conundrum but it was startling to find our protagonist with not even a curious homosexual thought.

occasionally irritating, but it was funny, except when it had to unfold some plot and forgot about being funny. this was a perfectly pleasantly written debut novel but wasn’t quite what i wanted or expected. it tries a lot of things and it’s interesting to watch the rube goldberg machine of a plot work and fail in some parts, even if it really did not carry through on its central philosophy.

-

watching

breezing through a lot of stuff bc it's easier to sleep propped up on my couch arm than in my actual bed. i usually don’t long DNFs but has to remind myself never to try Quo Vadis again. my god is that a tiresome film. and not even pretty costumes or pretty set design for the first forty minutes. whereupon i bailed. all of these were first time watches, dunno why I haven’t been reaching for comfort movies lately

-

playing

genshin update knocking it out of the park and also really reminding me of link tearsofthekingdom. also introduces a really good bird you can possess and fly around with. lots of vertical sky/coastline exploration which is so so so fun. i have done most of the things in this update inside a week bc i don't think they anticipated unemployed people like mainlining it between applying for jobs.

this girl's village has background music that reminds me of classic american westerns like bernstein or copland? heavy billy the kid ballet vibes. the music in this update is SO good im excited to yell about it in an future week when they drop the next album.

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making

still fallow baybee. currently incubating the influenza. no longer feverish thank u nyquil

[emomeishibot]

First of all, I’m a proshipper; secondly, this post has no ships in it.

I drew kuro characters as a 2000s Chinese drama costume sitcom 武林外传 My Own Swordsman (no idea why is it translate to this name, the direct translation should be Wulin Anecdotes) Why I did this crossover: it’s just hilarious for me!! To help you understand my casting read further. I was like I want to send these sketches for tumblr but you can’t get this crossover so I might as well introduce it to you. I mean you might be intrigued by the referenced show, who knows? 🤭

Let me give you an analogy if you are not familiar with Chinese Kong fu themes novels: this show is a comedy kong fu drama, and a western narrative analogy for it could be if you have a team of DND characters but they never leave the tavern but instead they are the staff trying to make the tavern successful and solve all the crazy problems in this chaotic world and become family members(I hope this works)

The male lead character is a former Robin-hood-like legend burglar but now settled down working as the waiter; the female lead is an unmarried widow who came all the way to her fiancé only to find him dead and left her his mischievous little sister to look after, so she wiped off her tears and decided to buy the inn and start her business as the landlady right there and then. As for the little niece, rumors are that she’d grow up to be a murderous fiend…! But they don’t know yet…

So I drew Sebastian, Madame Red and Ciel as these roles🤲

y’all couldn’t have known how adorable it is for me without growing up with the show… btw the show goes for a relationship for the waiter and landlady eventually in the show but I drew them as work partners and friends^^Regarding how Madame Red teased Sebastian canonically makes me laugh remembering those early kuro shenanigans 😂I always hoped Madame stayed longer with us in canon, she so lovely. Imagine her running a tavern is such fun, the vibe of this show is crazy… just look at them

There’s a reckless, chivalrous former swordswoman as waitress, another former constable girl who is amiable but has no dating luck as waitress as well. I casted Jane and Mey-Rin (I really want to see Jane join the Phantomhive manor(if possible after the Breton arc)??she slays and I want to see her working with Sebastian! Also Mey-Rin is both clumsier and deadlier than her character)

And more: a fusty, nerdy moderate scholar who sold the family inn to the now landlady and now working for her as an accountant, for which I casted Grelle (her butler persona when she’s undercover is really close to how this character usually is lol but she would definitely hate how nerdy this character is, as she is working for Madame Red again in this crossover)

For the hot-headed, ambitious yet bad cook who was a constable, I cast Bard (I might redo him because I wanted to fit Finny in but I run out of the inn staff; Bard and him could be the constable master and apprentice duo from the show; Diedrich could step up as chef)

The setting is a fictional ancient China so the kong fu element is very overdramatic; also, there's a lot of modern references to the 2000s. If you watch the show's op you'll get it) And it’s a nationally beloved show of my generation^^ I hope my explanation got you interested instead of confused😳but I love this crossover and hope my kuro ppl on tumblr enjoy it😌Such long explanations for them little sketches; Thank you for coming to my ted talk???

[isagrimorie]

Really great Kathryn Hahn interview!

Some great quotes:

If I look at the book of my life, [Agatha]'s like on the spine — I'm hoping in the middle.

[snip]

It’s remarkable, really, how Hahn carries herself completely differently, seeming to have the mannerisms woven into her DNA. Hahn credits the comics with helping her develop this. “Traditionally, she's shown much older with this fabulous gray hair up, this Edwardian look with the corset, and there's hardly any skin showing. That's my favorite Agatha,” Hahn gushes. “There are definitely Agathas in which she’s in the bustier with just a strip of gray, which is fantastic, but I love the Agatha that's very 'from another era.'”

[snip]

Hahn also shouts out her movement coach, whom Elizabeth Olsen originally hooked her up with back on WandaVision to help differentiate their magical hand movements (“her is chaos magic; mine was learned — it was important for us to develop our own vocabulary”)

I LOVE, love how Kathryn Hahn put emphasis on Agatha being more of a 'Wizard' (DND 5e) flavored Witch. Agatha loves Magick (with a K) and the craft of it. She treats Magick like a scientist/academic.

It makes me go back to what Agatha was accused of, in the first place. Learning Magick Above Her Station.

It's very informative because it tells me that her mother and coven forbade her from learning anything above the fundamentals of Magick.

And, she's never filled up that gaping hole her original coven left her.

On a more personal note, however, the purple coat we see in Agatha All Along holds a special place in her heart. “That coat was made with so much love by so many hands, and you could feel it when you put it on — how many hands were on it, how much power was in this garment. There were hand-drawn runes on the silk on the inside — protection ruins. It really did feel like a sacred garment.” Viewers will often see Agatha dramatically flipping the coat like a cape as she turns, which is no accident. “That was definitely for Daniel and for those amazing seamstresses that worked on it,” Hahn admits. “I was like, ‘I gotta give him a twirl because this is too good.’”

Shout out to our beloved purple coat! I hope Agatha gets to retrieve it! Also, I would love to see the inside of her coat! It sounds lovely!

Kathryn Hahn: “There's big, big feelings and big stakes already in there. I understood her bravado and her masking and her layers on top of it — her shell that's centuries old. Who can get in there, and who can't, and why? It's kind of like the spell at the beginning of the show. It feels like she's underneath her own protection spell.”

I love how Hahn put it-- Agatha is under her own protection spell!

While Hahn and Plaza didn’t hang out much, they sent each other poems and songs relating to their characters to prepare. When I press for details, Hahn pulls up the top of her shirt to cover her mouth. “There’s a lot… maybe we'll have to come out with some of those songs and some of that playlist. There definitely was one between us and the producer that we kept adding to as the show went on. Maybe one day we'll have to.” She tugs on her collar, fanning herself. “I'm getting sweaty thinking about it because I don't want to spill anything, but there are some really fab songs.”

She might not be able to reveal much about that just yet, but she does share a funny anecdote about talking to Plaza regarding a film that's not on their character mood boards. “I remember once, I was like, ‘Have you seen Fire of Love, that documentary about the two volcanologists?’ I remember she said she was looking at it and trying to find clues, and I was like, “Oh, no — I just thought it was a good movie,” she says with a laugh.

I love that in between making their character histories together, they have this funny anecdote.

 Considering Agatha is 350 years old, I’m curious as to what Hahn thinks she listens to. She ponders this thoughtfully. “I think she loves a really long Wagner,” she finally decides. “A long opera. And then, I think that she also loves a pop song. I think she would love a rave. I think she would be really fun to dance with — she would definitely be dancing by herself, though. And I think that she loves a chant. She loves old little ditties that mean something to maybe some old guys, but she's kind of taken them over and made them her own. And I think she loves anything that's practical — any sort of wailing in the woods with a fire going. I think she would love Eurovision. I think Eurovision, she would be in the front row.”

Of course, Agatha's a fan of Opera and Eurovision. Love that for her!

She’s excited for eagle-eyed fans to try and spot it — along with all of the details that will become meaningful after the entire show is out. “Agnes' house was so witchy, and there are so many Easter eggs in there. I can't wait for people to see that again after watching the whole show. There are so many little things that pay off later.”

What this tells me, is we should comb through Agatha's house and see the clues that might pop up!

[ollietime]

Hilde Erkan, one of my OCs (from @shepherds-of-haven’s game) fresh off a battle! Can you guess what her heritage is?

About the drawing:

In my head, Ket features are a broad, flat nose, a strong jawline, deepset eyes, and a square face. So I tried to give her all of those features! Hilde means battle-ready or battle-woman and can be lengthened to Hildegarde, but I liked the more blunt feeling of Hilde. Erkan is from the Turkish Er (brave man) and Kan (blood) and I feel is a fitting Ket last name! Hilde is looking very intense here: maybe you’re the last demon she has to kill or something, but it’s clear you’ve pissed her off. Tried my best to get that spooky raccoon glow I’m sure the iialdrin (is that how you spell it?) gives off in the dark! This is a quick drawing but I’m very happy with how I captured her!

About Hilde:

Hilde is a Ket-raised self-taught Shifter (Historically I’ve gone for Enchanter or Wild Mage, but I’m having fun playing her! I’m really falling in love with the Arcane branch :D) who’s romancing Ayla! Her closest friends among the Shepherds are Blade (Ket solidarity), Chase (he makes her laugh), Halek (she just likes the guy), and Lavinet (Hilde thinks she’s cool, and really appreciates the different perspective on missions). She’s close with everyone, but that’s who she would say she’s closest with if asked! Her highest skills are silver tongue and bright mind. Hilde’s personality is a little weird: she’s got a bit of that classic Ket stoniness about her, but only if she’s comfortable enough around you (or cares little enough) to drop her upbeat and friendly facade, if that makes sense? Like…. a customer service persona? But that’s just for like acquaintances and missions. If she knows you she drops that and lets her unexpressive side shine through! Otherwise she’s down to earth and practical, but not overly so. She’s chill, even if she looks intimidating (which she does despite being short). She’s got a good heart and a strong sense of justice. Her biggest character flaw is her tendency to take the easy way out or the path of least resistance: even though she’s got a strong sense of morality, her practicality and survival instincts win. Whenever she gives up like that she’s sick with herself for months or years afterward, not only because she’s crossed her moral lines, but because she feels she’s betrayed her “mythas” or her culture, like she’s abandoning it by not being strong enough to fight for her beliefs. Hilde gets very passionate about nerd stuff things she’s interested in, so she has a great time talking to Red and Riel! I think she’d definitely be into DnD, but alas, she lives in the SHoH universe. Her hobby is painting and she loves cartography (whether for real places or for books she’s read) which is why she interested in Ayla initially! Another anecdote is she has some complex feelings about her name. One part of her loves the simplicity and the connection to her culture, but the other part gets a bit insecure when she’s introduced next to Lavinet or someone, like she’s worried she sounds like she’s some farmer or something. And then she gets mad at herself because she is some farmer or something. Fun stuff!

[conflictofthemind]

what are ur thoughts on gnc will?

This will be a long winded one.

Short of it: yes he is gender non conforming. I don’t think he’s particularly “girly”, but it’s this nice touch of the feminine he carries. There’s other users on this platform that have probably discussed this in a more proper manner than I have, and certainly more than I will writing this ask. I’m just going to give my own flavour of take and personal anecdotes about the topic under the read more 🙃⬇️

Honestly I find it a very underrated topic of discussion in this fandom that otherwise likes to discuss the same things over and over again (all love because I do it too with the added bonus of being new so often I don’t realize).

I do think it’s because the fandom isn’t very conducive towards it. There is a small but sometimes loud portion that likes to assume you have some secret nefarious reason behind any ‘gnc will’ posting (i.e. stereotyping). Or say by pointing out certain things as feminine, I’m being regressive and misogynist. Whereas I have another profile where I almost exclusively discuss female characters and often gender in those media. This is not a new topic to me (which I’m sure you’ll see).

In the first season he is absolutely a damsel-in-distress. He’s kidnapped by a monster and is hiding away in a ‘castle��� while his friends must come to rescue him. This continues from then on, but is the most obvious in S1.

We see the two characters that tend to chase him down when he is upset or in danger being Mike (duh) and Lucas, who are the two most masculine members of the party and play corresponding roles in DnD as Paladin and Knight. Even in the painting Will makes of the party, it features the party (Mike highlighted) facing off against a dragon. In that game the boys play in the arcade, the goal is defeating the dragon to save the princess —

— which is also such an iconic image of particularly Sleeping Beauty, who is a princess trapped in a castle. I have a whole idea centered around this one for later.

So in terms of role he has definitely been given a traditional female one. Even within the Byler relationship, Will stays in that passive ‘yearning maiden’ type position who is waiting for her true love to confess his feelings first. As Mike should.

All of that might have been very controversial because quote unquote ‘boxing Byler into gender roles’ is regressive (even if the characters intentionally fit these princess/knight archetypes, oops!). Personally I don’t find it regressive at all, I find it interesting to look at things from this perspective. Part of this labelling is the deconstruction of the tropes as well. Will can’t and is not going to remain passive in Season 5, so how will this be dealt with and how will it affect specifically the Byler storyline?

I’m especially interested in whether he completes the transformation from Princess to Witch 👀 but my fairytale posting might get some entries of its own.

Now what you provably mean irt clothing and gender presentation:

The answer is still yes. I think a lot of the reason people deny Will as being gnc is because he doesn’t look the part. But instead of thinking about why that might be, the conclusion is made right then and there.

Will wears clothes that are mostly hand me downs from Jonathan. Their family is poor and if he does get ‘new’ (read: personal choice) clothes they are almost certainly from the thrift store. He has no option to even try and experiment with.

In the original pilot the Duffs actually wanted him to be identifiable by ‘colourful’ (read: girly) clothing, and did keep a bit of that in his Will the Wise outfit that is customized and only worn when he’s comfortable and in his element. The original conversation around the table was Dustin poking at him for wearing a wig and purple gown:

My personal headcanons are that he would keep the natural colours because they are pleasing to the eye, but would experiment and branch out with slightly cuter designs once he is out of Hawkins’ claws. I think the femininity in his style would be kept fairly lowkey apart from certain DnD reunions with the party where he might pull out a costume with some experimental and colorful makeup.

Like, I own an 80s vintage sweater that I think he would wear:

I hope the theoretical reader enjoyed a look into my closet lol. But yes, I see Will as gnc (very broad term there btw) and it is a part of my enjoyment of the character. I am mostly a fan of female characters, and the few male characters I do really stand behind usually have at the very least a few gender non conforming traits.

<- All of this is said as a lesbian who doesn’t necessarily consider herself gender non conforming, but also doesn’t fit a lot of major feminine ideals. I’m butcher than the average twenty year old woman solely off of not wearing makeup, not shaving, and being gay which I do consider as particularly gender nonconforming for women.