#does it show that I miss having regular lore updates?

[stellocchia]

Since people often seem to think that Tommy’s and Dream’s dynamic is something that was established in season 2 and sorta came out of nowhere before that, I thought I’d finally take a look at the evolution of it throughout season 1. 

From here on out, of course, I’ll be talking exclusively about the characters. It is also to be kept in mind that season 1 was a LOT less scripted, so there may be streams and moments that I leave out as they don’t seem to be too impactful or they lack canonicity. So sadly the whole stream where they build Church Prime that has Dream comparing himself to God for 2 hours has to go...

 This will undoubtedly be an EXTREMELY long one, so be prepared for it...

Let’s go step by step in chronological order, shall we? 

THE DISCS WAR PREQUEL

By now a lot of people know that the Disc Saga wasn’t actually started by Tommy, but here’s a refresher anyway: Ponk started it off by pranking Sapnap’s base, in retaliation Sapnap burned down Ponk’s lemon tree. With this Ponk allied himself with Alyssa and the two started a war against Sapnap. 

Later Tommy joins the server. Tommy obtains the first netherite cheestplate in the server and it’s promptly stolen by Sapnap. Later again Sapnap uses the netherite chestplate to blackmail Tommy into joining his fight against Ponk and Alyssa. Tommy just refuses ang gets his armour back, but he considers Sapnap’s offer because of: Alyssa setting him on fire and Tubbo (who was mostly neutral but leaning towards Ponk and Alyssa) had made him loose his stuff the day before.

Dream arrived then to stop the fighting, but Sapnap and Tommy decided to kill him instead (non-canonically of course). Sapnap killed him twice and Tommy once. In retaliation Dream stole Cat and Mellohi. Sapnap stole one of the disks back and then they retrived the other one and Tommy hid them near his base.

So what does this tell us? Tommy most definitely wasn’t the one who instigated the conflict, nor the one who escalated it. YET, he was the only one Dream focused on. And remember, while a proper coherent storyline didn’t exist back then we know that the wars were at least somewhat scripted (thanks to cc!Dream telling us so on the Eboys Podcast). They also kept their characters characterization pretty consistent throughtout, which means we had the first hints of their dynamic all the way back here.

ESCALATION OF THE DISC WAR

(From Tommy’s main channel it’s: “Dream is a Psychopath.”)

Everything could have been over then, but Dream was still pissed he lost, so he removed all the floring of Tommy’s base (escavating all the dirt from in front of it) in order to find the disks and take them back. At this point, after once again stealing the disks, Dream asked Tommy for his netherite chestplate (again, only one on the server at the time) in exchange for them. Also, an actual conversation they had: 

Tommy: “Dream! Was this you that destroyed my entire base and re-named the sign to ‘BitchBoy enterprise?!” 

Dream: “I didn’t touch the sign. I didn’t destroy your base either it’s just the f- the dirt” (note: as I said before, all the dirt was removed, but, hey, he didn’t touch the chickens and the carrot farm!)

Also:

Tommy:“Dream, you removed the ENTIRE floor of my base” 

Dream: “It’s YOUR fault. It’s your fault...” 

T: “How is it MY fault?!” 

D: “‘Cause you hid the disks!” 

T: “Yeah, because they’re MY disks!” 

D: “You hid the disks and I’ve taken them back, okay?”

If this doesn’t sound like the beginning of the Obsession Arc, I don’t know what does! 

But, in all seriousness, even back then for c!Dream the key of everything in the server was Tommy, though at the time he was just “the reason for conflict”. Still it’s pretty obvious that the disk conflict could have ended before it started if Dream didn’t decide to escalate things (though, as it’s obvious by the conversation, he blames his own actions on Tommy as we see him do in later seasons).

Anyone wondering about the gravity of Tommy killing Dream once non-canonically before this: In this video Dream kills both Tommy and Tubbo twice in the first 10 minutes. Yeah, he’s not any better. Btw, this is the video with the fight they then mimicked in the finale and they actually loose this one as well. 

Tommy: “What is your obsession with this disks? Why don’t you just give them back?” 

Dream: “No because I can get something in return for them, I don’t care about the disks”

Oh what simpler times when blackmail was just simple old blackmail to obtain material possessions... 

Btw, this one ended with basically a double scam where Dream gave them fake disks and they logged off with both the fake disks and the netherite chestplate.

(Main channel: “mission: kill dream (FINALE)”)

Tubbo: “Please do not tell me you have sentimental attachment to the bullshit disks...”

Early theme of attachment back in season 1. Either way Tommy has been portrayed as an extremely sentimental character that develops attachments scarily fast from all the way back in season 1. C!Dream’s idea of him he expresses in the finale isn’t born from nothing.

Anyway, Tubbo and Tommy use the composter glitch to find Dream’s base to try and get back the disks, but they aren’t there, so they end up going for the original exchange, this time with no scamming included. Tommy get’s his disks back, while Dream gets Tommy’s netherite chestplate. Just to point out: at this point Dream was the one completely at fault. Tommy was dragged into a war he wasn’t involved in and yet was the sole one to be punished for it and Dream couldn’t just accept a defeat so heavily griefed Tommy’s base and stole back HIS posssession. Dream is the main instigator here, yet he blames it ENTIRELY on Tommy from the start. Literally their dynamic started off pretty f*cked. 

Still, since Tommy didn’t want to keep risking loosing stuff to Dream for the disks he decided to make an ender chest for himself. He gets some blaze powder and ender pearls from Punz in exchange from an apple (that was too sweet not to include) and then, when it comes to getting the obsidian is when Dream realizes what he’s been doing. You’d think he’d be fine with it considering they already had a “fair” exchange (aka Dream’s blackmailing had been succesful), but nope. He hunts down both Tommy and Tubbo, but fails in killing them and they manage to put the disks away safely.

L’MANBURG BEGINNING

As we know Wilbur founded L’Manburg and Dream did not like that, so he declared war on them. Here’s the speach: 

“Tommy! (pause) And Wilbur and the rest of L’ManChildburg, we are at war. There is no mercy. We’ve burnt down Tubbo’s house. We’ve planted tnt cannons around your land. We have cobblestone walled the outside and we shot ONE warning shot inside your walls ans an explosion and we have NO MERCY! NO MERCY FOR YOU! Do you understand? We will come! We’ll burn down your houses, we will kill anything inside your walls and we’ll take back the land that is rightfully ours if you do not surrender. I want to see WHITE FLAGS! WHITE FLAGS OUTSIDE YOUR BASE BY TOMORROW, AT DAWN, OR YOU’RE DEAD!”

So, a couple of things to unpack here:

1) Dream first and foremost singles out Tommy who, if you all remember, was NOT the leader of L’Manburg. He was barely Wilbur’s right hand man and had only been confirmed as such recently at that point. He is not the leader and YET, in how the speach is enunciated it’s obvious that it’s directed at him specifically.

2) For anyone wondering if Dream could be considered a villain back in season one: so far the people from L’Manburg had done nothing but frolic in the flowers. They were a group of pacifists that refused to use any armour and Dream’s reaction to them is to kill them all and burn anything they built. And he’s doing all this because he thinks he’s entitled to all of the land in the smp and even something as small as og L’Manburg had no right to exist free of his rule.

(Always from the main channel: “Doomsday.”)

Two important things for their relationship happen here: Dream deciding, out of everyone, to kill Tommy specifically in the final control room and the duel (or more so the result of the duel). 

It is something back then no-one wondered about, but why would Dream, the leader of the Greater Dream SMP, go after the second in command instead of the leader? Possibly for the same reason he singled out Tommy in the declaration of war? Possible foreshadowing of their future dynamic?

Also, may I mention that Dream was the one to add the condition that, on top of not getting independence for L’Manburg, Tommy had to give up one of the disks (mellohi) if he lost? And Dream being the one to mention it is the reason why Tommy knew they were valuable to him in the first place. It’s the reason why Tommy proposed the deal of his disks for L’Manburg independence (which worked, which tells us a whole lot about when Dream’s obsession withe the disks started. Man was willing to take an L to have THAT sort of control over Tommy already in season one)

POGTOPIA

Jump to when Tommy and Wilbur get exiled. A lot happens here, but, for the function of this analysis, I’ll only be talking about what pertains to Dream’s and Tommy’s relationship. 

So, at the beginning of exile Dream offers his support for Pogtopia leaving a chest specifically for Tommy (once again, not Wilbur, the leader, but Tommy. He also gives Tommy a lot more stuff then Techno who was arguably a much more valuable asset). In the chest there was: a full set of netherite armour, 3 stacks of ender pearls, an enchanment table, a netherite sword, Dream’s crossbow (”Definitely not penis”), a stack of golde apples, 1 enchanted golden apple, 1 stack of diamonds, 17 obsidian, 3 potions of strenght, a stack of steak and a book written by Dream called “Tyrant” which, again, is addressed soley to Tommy. (In the book he basically says that he doesn’t like Schlatt and that he’s only going to help from the shadows because he can’t directly involve himself). 

Now, for the standards of the time, that was A LOT of stuff. Dream clearly wasn’t half-assing his support to Tommy there (I’d say to “Pogtopia” but, again, it was all specifically for Tommy). He keeps up his help when he intervenes in favour of Tommy in the Battle of the Lake (from the vods channel: “TommyInnit, Dream & Technoblade TEAM UP (dream smp war)”). Before that however he also helps Tommy to lava cast (or attempt to) the Eiffel Tower (built for Karl’s and Sapnap’s honeymoon). For this battle Dream also gives Mars (Sapnap’s and George’s fish) to Tommy (together with quite a few more ender pearls). Their relationship up until this point seems to have improved quite a bit with Tommy immediately trusting Dream again (he seems to be always inclined to trust Dream much in the same way he’s always inclined to trust Wilbur) and Dream seemingly being supportive (although that was actually because he needed both Manburg and Pogtopia to disappear as we discovered later on). 

Fast forward again we have the moment when their relationship sours again: Dream provides Wilbur with the tnt. With this momement we have the confirmation that Dream truly was only siding with them for his own self-interest (as he always considered L’Manburg as his own propriety, independence or not, and he wasn’t happy with Schlatt wanting to expand and being morw ambitious then Wilbur ever was) and Tommy also looses part of his trust in him, though not completely. 

You see, their relationship is a bit more complex then that. In season 1 even when Tommy and Dream were enemies there was never really much bad blood between them. And when I say this I mean that Dream in particular didn’t let there be much bad blood between them, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After Quackity joins Pogtopia they try to make a plan to get L’Manburg back that would not include blowing it up. After that fails (from the vods channel: “Dream BETRAYS TommyInnit during the Dream SMP Meeting...”) and Fundy joins Pogtopia as well Dream announces that Schlatt gave him something “more valuable then frienship” and he’s now siding with him and leaves the Pogtopians announcing that there is a traitor among them. 

Wilbur: “Dream just wants to be on the side of the rebellion and now that we are the dominant force technically... isn’t that right Dream? Would you say you just want to be on the other side? You just want to be on the other team?” 

Dream: “No I- I don’t think so...” 

Tommy: “Dream’s the good guy Wilbur” 

D: “I think I’d say that my interest is in myself”

So, despite everything, Up to this point Tommy still trusted Dream. Fully trusted him. But now, soon after this conversation, Dream explicitely tells them that he never considered them “friends” they were “convenient allies” for him (a mindset that he carries on later on and brings to an extreme). 

Now you’d think that was the breaking point right? I mean the whole vod was also titled “Dream betrays Tommy” and Dream just left them telling Tommy specifically that no, they were not friends (though Tommy didn’t agree on that point, much like with Techno later on). But that’s not were Dream leaves it. 

First he allows Tommy back in his old base to get some stuff once they’re alone (despite having just said in front of Wilbur, Quackity and Fundy that he’d stab him if he tried going back)

Tommy: “I just don’t understand, why would you team with Schlatt?”

Dream: “Tommy... I’m a business man, you know what that’s like”

T: “No I don’t”

D: “Well you do, of course you do”

God since exile that damn soft condescending tone he does hits me so different... anyway. As you see as soon as he’s alone with Tommy he starts being more friendly, less formal. He also takes on a more menacing persona (I really don’t know how he manages to do both at the same time... no wait, exile. He acts more like how he did in exile). Anyway the switch is actually pretty interesting to see. 

Tommy: “Why would you not team with us?”

Dream: “Tommy... I’ve never been on your team. I have never been on your team, ever!” 

T: “Well I’ve been in your team...”

D: “Wel I- I’m not saying you have. I’ve never been on your team. I’ve never been on anyone’s team” 

And with this we are done with their important interactions for this stream, but wait! They have a war in a few days, right? Well, Dream makes sure to spend that time with Tommy. Like, a lot of it. 

All of “Dream bullies TommyInnit for having low viewers.” Is Dream following Tommy ominously around while mildly inconveniencing and somewhat helping when they’re supposed to be enemies (it’s literally one of my favourite vods, it’s great! It was also the one vod that sparked the “Dream is obsessed with Tommy” theory in me. Yes I’ve had it from all the way back then, but I also was right, so...). 

Tommy: “Okay, so you know how we’re going to war in 7 days time?”

Dream: “Yes”

T: “like, ME and YOU are going to war...”

D: “Yes”

T: “Yes, yeah so I need to- I- it feels very strange to be- I need to prepare for THAT”

D: “Well, what do you need?”

Dream then proceeds to half-help him half-stop him from getting gold in the nether. The whole vod is like this. It definitely has a very weird atmosphere as it’s clear that both of them are fully aware of their respective roles in their upcoming war, but Tommy doesn’t know what to do and Dream is clearly willingly ignoring it all. It’s pretty jarring to watch tbh (together with being a hilarious vod to watch) and it helps starting to paint the picture of Dream having the level of dependence on Tommy that we know he has now.

Then there is “TommyInnit, Dream & Sapnap's PET WAR FINALE” which is LITERALLY THE DAY BEFORE THE WAR. Here Dream, once again, decides to spend the whole time with Tommy. He helps him against Sapnap (who is Dream’s ally) and even decides to lead Tommy to Sapnap’s and Punz’s secret base where they keep their animals and starts encoraging him to kill them. Tommy, of course, refuses and the whole pet war finishes with Sapnap and Tommy releasing Mars and promising to be friends once the war was over. 

Like, honestly, if anyone in Pogtopia had known about this interactions maybe they could have suspected Tommy of being the traitor for legitimate reasons instead of misinterpreting him entirely as a person and thinking he just wanted to be president... and you’d think that, maybe, THAT was Dream’s goal, but... not really? He always made sure to spend time with Tommy when there was no-one from Pogtopia around. In all 3 of this vods he is drastically different when they’re alone and, I mean, he stopped hidining how he is with Tommy only during Doomsday (when he gave his speach on the obsidian grid to Tommy, not caring that Tubbo and Quackity were both there).

To finish it off, we know that season 1 ends with Dream fighting alongside Technoblade and nothing else of significant happens for their relationship. Still, I hope this was comprehensive enough to show that, most definitely, his obsession with Tommy and the having power over Tommy is not a new concept for Dream. It’s something that got worse with time, but it’s most definitely not something new. The main thing that changed throughout season 1 and 2 was Tommy’s perception of Dream (which went from easy trust and friendship to hatred and fear), not vice versa.

Also may I add that Dream's constantly acting friendly when they most definitely aren't is probably one of the reasons why Tommy was so predisposed to accepting Dream as his friend in exile? Just a thought...

@ladycatland

[oviids]

pls share some of your spn fic recs 🥺🥺

ok, a few things first:

followers and mutuals who do not have supernatural brainworms, kindly avert your eyes

i don’t normally rec or even read much fanfic any more but this is a CRISIS ok (cont.)

there is so. much. content for deancas out there and i have incredibly high standards, several ancient ao3 bookmarks, can speedread, and want to spare you guys the experience of wading through it all.

i also have a section for spn femslash since I was pretty into that back in the day (sadly a lot less fan content for this :/)

I don’t really like au’s or pure smut (I honestly usually just skim or skip those scenes) so if you’re mainly looking for that kind of thing this probably won’t be very helpful to you. jsyk.

i’m not great at describing stuff but i’ll do my best, i’ll also try and add tw’s when neccesary.

i wil try and keep updating this with any other decent fics i find, feel free to rec stuff too since i’m like 7 years behind.(edit 1/25/21) this is getting looooong so i’m going to start making another list on my spn blog rather than update this one

(edit 1/3/21) since this has gotten pretty long i’ve added rating/approximate word counts and marked my particular favorites with an asterisk.

Dean/Cas fic:

So Says The Sword*** - explicit/85k. FUCK its good...au/time travel where dean is not pulled out of hell by cas and says yes to becoming the michael sword. honestly could serve as an alternative to actually watching the show, if you want to get into dean/cas without actually doing that to yourself.

Fata morgana.*  - teen/6k, pst s9 finale. very bela centric and i love it, she finds cas looking for dean in hell.

Redemption Road -misc/600+k. an incredibly long fic from a collaborative writing group back in the day. canon divergent from the end of s6 on, has a cool take on godstiel and the leviathans, as well as the lovecratian mythos connection. ngl when i reread it i only made it about 28% in but imo the casual reader can actually stop around there, the rest concerns a lovecraftian apocalypse that is still good (i think i don’t remember it very well) but not required to enjoy the first half. if you prefer i have an ebook version i can send you on gdrive.

Someone Who's Feeling For Me* - mature/45k, s12. they run into lisa braeden and dean thinks cas is into her while cas thinks dean still likes her. treats lisa way better than the show ever did and the miscommunication is pretty funny rather than annoying.

a turn of the earth - mature/95k. time travel fic where cas from s10 keeps showing up in deans life from a few years before s1 to right before the hellhounds take his soul.  slow burn, good character study, and at one point cas punches the dad in the face and it rules.

On the Wings of War - teen/85k, canon divergent s5. dean accidentally becomes the Horseman of War. plays fun, fast and loose with biblical lore, michael has some rights.

Named - mature/95k, alternate s5. EXTREMELY blasphemous in a fun sexy way. manages to predict metatron almost to a T. there’s one major character death and its literally jesus christ, everyone is very sad about it and it sets the rest of the story rolling. an alternate interpretation of cas’ mission to raise dean from hell which had me on the floor. ngl its kind of misogynistic at points, but its from 2010 and tracks with late oughts-2010 spn (sorry anna the author did you dirty here:/).

The Girlfriend Experience - explicit/15k. uhhh i don’t normally rec or even read smutty stuff unless someone i know is specifically asking for it but this has stuff like sam trying to be a good ally and dean thinking holding hands with cas is ‘kinda gay :/’ minutes after having gay sex with him.

i crippled your heart a hundred times - explicit/19k, s8. cas confesses his feelings and dean spends a long time getting his head out of his ass about it. truly hits different after the actual confession, despite being written six years early it feels like its actually what could have gone down more or less if the writers weren’t talentless demons who hate us.

My Roots Take Flight** - mature/125k. reverse au where cas is a hunter and dean’s an angel...OR IS IT???? an alternate retelling of s4. tw for briefly being set in a psychiatric hospital/the hospital being mentioned somewhat frequently throughout the fic, plus more references to torture in hell and heaven than usual.

The One Thing You Can't Lose* - teen/4k.you know those posts about how cas is a super-strong super-tough ancient warrior but he just lets dean tug him around because he likes it? thats it thats the fic.

Hands, From Which All Things Are Built - teen/14k, post s8′s ‘goodbye stranger.’ cas is on the run with the angel tablet but keeps in touch with sam and dean by text, he and dean still manage to be terrible at Actual communication.

Autrement, Danger - or, The Account of an Exceedingly Long Day - mature/30k, post s11. a monster that takes the appearance of your soulmate leads to some wild miscommunications and dealing with years of repression, also dean gets to see cas’ true form which is always cool. tw for non-graphic mentions of underage sexual assault/sex work.

Down to Agincourt - mature/explicit/900++++k, endverse continuation. endverse!cas survives his encounter with lucifer and discovers another time-displaced dean from s7. i’ve only read the two of four parts but its really good, veeeeery slow burn, has a lot of fun oc’s and takes a rather surprising but (imo) entertaining and intriguing turn into Hellenic history and mythology. usual tw’s for endverse/endverse!cas but nothing graphic, it’s actually pretty light-hearted (relatively speaking of course).

Nothing Equals the Splendor** - explicit/8k, THEE finale fix it fic you’ve been waiting for! posits that the entire final episode was just a (very bad and lame) djinn’s vision.

like moses and batman and james dean - explicit/31k, post s8. explores dean’s trauma and internalized homophoba from his technically canon experience with sex work and its impact on his relationship with cas. the sex work itself isn’t really shown in any detail but it’s still a relatively heavy fic.

Crazy Diamonds - explicit/25k, s4/alternate s14. fresh-out-of-hell dean and dean from 10 years in the future are displaced from time and sent to each other’s present.

where the weeds take root - explicit/30k. au where the men of letters kick them out of the bunker and they accidentally move out into the country, get over their codependence and semi retire. featuring chicken coop building, sam volunteering at a dog shelter, gardening, and blissfully mundane domesticity.

No Resting Place - teen/6k. djinn dream fic, switches back and forth between cas’ dream of being married to dean and retired from hunting to the aftermath when he wakes up. tw for brief mention of suicide since, y’know, djinn dream.

any port in a storm - mature/52k. post s8 finale. cas and dean have to pose as a couple going through a rough patch for a case and actually deal with their emotional baggage, cas struggles with being human and metatron is up to stuff.

all this and heaven too* - explicit/7k. in the author’s own words ‘...a love letter to every trans person who ever projected onto Dean Winchester.’ absolutely unzipped me emotionally and theologically, its just. so good. tw for very brief mentions of internalized transphobia/dysphoria.

Because it is* - mature/6k, finale fix it. killing chuck does not bring back anyone back and the winchesters spend a very long time dealing with what they’ve lost, cas and dean SOMEHOW still manage to have signifigant communication issues even after the confession. tw for suicidal thoughts/brief attempt.

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit* - teen/4k, s6. when cas fell for dean it automatically soulbonded/angel married them, shenanigans ensue when dean finds out during the angel’s civil war. funny and actually written back when s6 was airing so cas is still (or at least pretending to be) kind of an OP asshole which is fun.

Rinse, Repeat - teen/3k, s8. angsty character study of cas as he’s reprogrammed and trained to kill dean. not really dean/cas since its just cas’ pov of canon events but its beautifully written and ends with him snapping out of it through the power of love (also now a canon event!).

Emergence - explicit/59k, canon divergent after s11. dean meets a hunter he only recognizes as their friend claire novak’s missing father, but soon realizes he might be the answer behind the mysterious void in his memories and feelings (aka everyone’s memories of cas are completely wiped away for three years).

Cuckoo And Nest - explicit/10k, early established relationship/character study, cas tries to figure out how he fits into dean’s life and space in the bunker.

Build a Home* - teen/20k, canon divergent s12. sam and eileen are cute and turn the bunker into men of letters/hunters hq and everyone but cas moves in, mutual miscommunication issues and pining ensues.

Down in the River - teen/5k, early s8, cas prays to dean in purgatory while sam and dean try to figure out a way to get him out.

Teaching Poetry to Fish* - mature/52k, ?? BC through the entire series/canon divergent s14 and 15. retelling of crucial scenes throughout the shows timeline from cas’ pov, feat. actual fish and poetry.

the minor fall, the major lift - gen/4k, post confession/finale fixit. dean goes into the empty to save cas and runs into several old friends (and enemies).

With the Kisses of His Mouth* - teen/3k, gen later seasons. dean and cas keep kissing by accident.

Remaining Grace - explicit/109k, alternate s6. au where cas asks dean for help with raphael and dean, of course, does. tw for temporary major character death/semi-graphic depictions of alcohol withdrawal.

The face of heaven.* - teen/10k, au, dean is a regular guy and cas is a fallen star (think ‘stardust’, kinda).

Stories Are Made of Mistakes*  - teen/5k. newly human cas has trouble getting used to a human body and humanity in general, but still figures out that he and dean are A Thing before dean does.

Hurry Up And Wait - mature/21k, canon divergent s12. a fairyland and quite possibly LOTR related case comes up and dean goes full fanboy, mary is introduced to the wonders of the peter jackson adaptions, many references and comparisons (including between cas and dean’s ‘friendship’ and arwen/aragon). also charle is still alive and has just been doing fairy stuff this whole time.

There Are Many Things - explicit/28k, s9. cas is extremely lonely/touch-starved and trying to figure out this whole human thing, as well as where he and dean stand after being kicked out of the bunker.

It's A Long Life to Always Be Longing - teen/40k, post s11 finale. amara helps dean by putting him in a magical coma so he can finally get some much needed rest and show him possible futures for him, sam and cas. meanwhile sam and cas go on a roadtrip (or several) to find componets for a spell to wake dean up. really good sam and cas friendship, they actually talk about their shared lucifer trauma and stuff.

Non-Photo Blue - gen/2k, s4/5/alternate s5. fifty moments from cas’ memories of dean.

Tall Grass - explicit/57k, canon divergent post series. cas becomes the ultimate plant dad. feat the wayward sisters gang, cathartic character growth, fun oc’s, domesticity, and lots of actual botanical info-dumping.

on vessels - no rating/gen/2k. established dean/cas, cas tells dean about how he used to imagine what it would be like to have him as his vessel.

search for tomorrow on every shore* - teen/11k, post-finale (extremely derogatory). some angels in jack’s new heaven act out and dean gets temporarily resurrected in 2003 and runs into his younger self.

Architecture of the Minotaur’s Heart - explicit/45k, very canon divergent post s1. dean’s new house seems to have a life and mind of its own, while in his dreams he sees glimpses of a world and apocalypse that never came to be and an angel that looks strangely like his mysterious neighbor, cas. loosely inspired by the book house of leaves (which i highly recommend for fans of weird horror).

The Distance Of The Setting Sun - explicit/17k, post s5. established dean/cas relationship, team free will finally takes advantage of cas’ abilities to go on vacation around the world.

diamond star halo - teen/5k, s11. dean lets cas use him as a temporary vessel while he recovers from rowena’s spell, sam is a long-suffering third-wheel.

Make Known** - teen/16k, s6/7. dean struggles to understand how cas could have become his enemy and whether he ever truly knew him in the first place.

blunt little instrument* - mature/1.4k, post finale. dean finally confronts his father in heaven, very cathartic.

my heart a compass*** - teen/10k, post confession. the empty forces cas to re-experience his most regretted moments while dean tries to snap him out of it and bring him home.

A Crash Course in Someone Else's History - teen/11k, s6. cas from the very start of s4 is brought forward in time by s6!cas to distract the brothers from his and crowley’s plans.

The Cuckoo Father - mature/8k, s7 au. the woman who found cas in the river post-leviathans does not marry him bc he was sent to her by god or whatever, but actually identifies him as jimmy novak and sends him back to claire and amelia.

The Dead Dean Clause* - teen/5k, post alt s5 ending. team free will celebrates surviving taking down lucifer by getting blitzed, cas lies to a cop and gets an impromptu driving lesson. title/description sound dark i know but it’s actually very funny and light.

Suck It, Judy Garland - mature/20k, s12 (after the ‘i love you...i love all of you’ episode). cas and sam have to pretend to be a couple for a case and dean is NOT happy about it.

By Daylight and In Dream - teen/16k, s5. pre-dean/cas, dean invites cas to use his dreams to hide from the other angels. tw for very brief mention of a memory/dream of alastair sexually assaulting dean.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven - mature/22k, post-canon. an actually happy (if sometimes bittersweet) heaven endgame written several years ago, though some details are rather eerily similar to the show’s ending.

heaven is a place on earth* - teen/2k. dean’s pov of some of the times cas left him behind throughout the show, and one alternate ending where he finally gets to stay.

I Cleanse The Mirror - teen/20k, alternate s6. dean’s body is stolen by an ancient elemental and his soul has to hitch a ride in cas’ vessel.

an exploration of gender; angelic*** - mature/4k. *oscar isaac voice* lets get into angel gender politics!! aka cas is trans.

Zenith - explicit/33k, s9. after 9x06 an angry witch curses cas with the ability to see supernatural beings and human souls.

La cucina. - gen/3k, alt s9. dean goes wild helping a newly-human cas find out what kinds of food he likes, or the early s9 domesticity we deserved!

Dean Winchester, Cocksucker at Rest***** - teen/7k, post-finale. john and mary finally come over for dinner and john reacts to dean/cas in a rather predictable fashion. SOOOOOOOOO good omg, its so funny and a little sad and very very cathartic. part of a series that has a few other really good short fics.

The Way You Didn't Go - teen/5k, s15. coda to 15.09, dean has nightmares about the moc!cas timeline.

On Drowning - teen/28k. dean saves cas after he nearly drowns, they both try and deal with the physical/mental fallout (aka the fic where thee iconic “you only touch me when you think I’m dead or dying” originates). tw for realistic depictions of drowning/triage/misc medical information.

The Thirty-Six Questions That Lead to Love* - mature/13k. claire has dean and cas pretend to be her gay dads for a case and they play the titular 36 question game, get mistaken for swingers, and birdwatch, among other things.

Assorted F/F stuff:

Deep Breaths* - mary/ellen, au where mary said no to azazel’s deal and let john stay dead, still becomes a milf.

Like Rebel Diamonds - krissy/claire, they become hunter gf’s on the hunt for cas to kick his ass for taking jimmy. not-so-stealth dean/cas as well.

To Ash and Bone - anna/ruby, same author as the previous fic (p much all of her stuff is good from what i recall). au where ruby is a witch and helps anna when she’s cursed.

Holy Clockwork Angels - jo/ruby, STEAMPUNK au with very cool worldbuiilding.

At Day's End - jo/anna (my fucking KINGDOM for more jo/anna content, the dean/cas parallels are allllll there), au where they are both at the camp in the endverse and gfs.

these posts - ok so not actually a fic but i’m now obsessed with this hannah/meg dynamic.

Tagelied - mary/ellen, the true story of how ellen got into hunting before angels interfered.

Hell's Bells** - meg/abaddon, alternate s8/9 where meg survives crowley’s attack with sam’s help and teams up with abaddon (who she has a sk year old crush on) to take back hell.

The Ecstasy of the Rose - anna/ruby, anna travels back in time to escape heaven and becomes a signifigant part of ruby’s old human life.

Angel Underground - anna/jo, kind of an urban fantasy au with a very intriguing premise (sadly its very short, i’d love to see more if this ‘verse).

Clover, Flame - billie/mary, billie was always the reaper that showed up to take mary after her death(s) over the years.

Drag Me To Heaven - anna/ruby, a variant on the ‘last night on earth’ thing with dean.

Come Home* - jo/anna, canon-divergent au where anna is the new waitress at the roadhouse and helps jo set up a (probably not really) haunted house for halloween.

[bedlamgames]

No Haven 0.956

Highlights for this one include a bunch of new assignments, a new encampment role, new training options, an overhaul to removals, and more

Download links can be found on the No Haven page. Update notes can be found under the break.

If you don’t have RAGS and you need a copy to run it there’s one on the help page here or the one pinned on the patreon you can find a link to in the attached read me which is more up to date. If RAGS has never worked on your system despite the help page suggestions then it might be worth trying with one of the alternate players. There’s also improvements on there to the RAGS player that can also help with performance.

0.95 to 0.956 Change logs under the break:

0.956 Change Log

-Miscellaneous additions: ---After a number of interested buyers made inquiries in acquiring a certain Imperial Muse at the local auction block, her estimated value has been increased substantially to account for this. ---Due to Harmony not being able to improve like other slavers, her Aspect has improved to gain a new Critical Success bonus for Assignment types based on her current form. ---Anyte has slithered off to see a certain Stylist, and has updated her eyes to match her artwork. ---To make Unstable Change more attractive as an option, there is now a chance when the time would change to Evening after Biomancy/Corruption to instead stay at Afternoon allowing another attempt or the doing of something else. ---Added some new going on Assignments lines of dialogue for Amazons.

-Bug fixes: ---Fix for Kyssandra's Aspect which wasn't working if you found her from an Assignment rather than by getting her straight away with Recruiter. ---Fix for a broken name variable in both anal training, and when Agile is removed by Corruption. ---Fix for Outcast not applying when chosen from Quick Start - Extra Options. ---Fix for Drow not working correctly with stuff that would set their gender beforehand. ---Fix for the menus showing the old costs for Dominant/Submissive on Full Custom when you can only take Traits that don't take up a slot. ---Fix for an issue where you could make a clone by being able to select a slaver to effectively train themselves. Now that should be an invalid choice.

0.955 Change Log

-New commissions: ---Share the Wealth.

-Miscellaneous additions: ---Slavers that are also slaves can no longer be sent in the slave spot during Negotiating Entry. Presumably as they want to see evidence of your work that's not just someone who's clearly just there due to being that much of a sub already, or has been through extensive training at the hands of another. ---Updated Jogdun Clugg, Ogre Bruiser's quote on Abyss Trolls to no longer be about the no longer existing Wild Trolls. ---Slavers now gain a small amount of Xp when doing Biomancy regardless of the result.

-Bug fixes: ---Fix for an issue when checking to see which ears can be corrupted. ---Fix for the Biomancy tracker on Encampment Status/Stats showing the Corruption tracker instead. ---Fix for the display of Severina's race when acquired from Private Passage. ---Fix for Icebreaker Critical Success claiming it gives the Stars in their Eyes assignment. ---Fix for 'Perks Array' showing up randomly on slavers after succeeding at Icebreaker. ---Fix for Saiphas' lore page being mixed about somehow after being correct before. ---Fix for the scapegoat having a drastically over the top value. ---Fix for Shadow Outcasts with double loner. ---Fix for the Savage Orc Whorelock not having the Whorelock traits. ---Fix for the Three Random Rare Traits for Second-in-Commands going away if you take the extra optional customization.   ---Fix for being forced to make a selection at the Stylist rather than just being allowed to leave. ---Fix for Alice picking something random as her title initially, including for potentially setting fires, before end of day when she gets her correct one. ---Fix for Squad Goals not making you start as a Sissy (TF Edition only) ---Fix for Fulfill Opportunities showing up repeatedly in the Overviews. ---Fix for Alyanara d'Vyr being only able to do Endurance Training, as the first attempt was only partially the problem. ---Fix for Heal Sluts not restoring enough morale when healing Slavers. ---Fix for Slavers healing Slaves increasing the amount of Xp it takes to level. ---Some text fixes.

0.954 Change Log

-New commissions: ---Asanei Futa. Also with other versions used for Asanei Females who are naked, and for all results for Adversarial Affairs apart from Disaster or if you managed to find the Unique.

-Miscellaneous additions: ---Updated the Drow lore page to reflect changes since the last time that was done. ---Replaced one of the new golem encampment composition for a more full shot. ---If a character starts with Fel Tainted due to it being rolled as a Trait, but on their subsequent Corruption gains a non description effecting change like a regular other Trait or by resisting the Corruption entirely they will now start with the High Elf eyes so the Trait doesn't appear to be there for no reason. ---Got a good suggestion for having a new rare trait package for Horned Ones themed around classical satyrs so I added it. WIll be a 50/50 between them getting that or the old more leader themed one. ---Reworded the Stubborn Trait description a bit, and added a version that's specific to the player character. ---Added a new option under Talk To for Slaves to strip them naked. ---Added a new option for Full Custom Strong Right Arms for Three Random Rare Traits (all three not a guarantee!)

-Bug fixes: ---Critical Fix for only Raid Elven Farm being the only available rare Great PLains assignment. ---Entirely removed the 'You do not currently have enough slavers available to complete this assignment while keeping the encampment secure' mechanic which was a legacy of when you needed to have slavers in the encampment to keep watch over the slaves that got removed as no one liked it. As it had the tendency to cause occasional issues it's now gone for good. Now this did touch every assignment in the game so entirely possible I deleted something I shouldn't when I was doing that so please let me know if any assignment suddenly doesn't seem to be working anymore. ---Fix for Shalazzar and Alyanara d'Vyr's missing lore pages. ---Fix for Shalazzar's aspect only working for training after he had picked up another aspect. ---Fix for Alyanara d'Vyr being only able to do Endurance Training. ---Fix for Alyanara d'Vyr being able to say no when you try to remove them from being a Second-in-Command or Spiritual Leader. ---Fix for Alice Charmane, Bles Giggleswell, and Alyanara d'Vyr being cloned if you make them a slave, and then train them. ---Fix for Spiritual Leaders who Dislike the role but are also Leaders being able to say no if they would normally always agree with you such as due to being a Bimbo, Obedient, or Thug. ---Fix for an issue with the following more recent Assignments (Temple Takeover + Stars in Their Eyes) and Quick Restart. If you generated one of them and then did one or more Quick Restart after it would then be impossible to obtain those Assignments. ---Fix for Unstable Change being a tad too unstable in the number of aspects it would claim were available. ---Fix for the gender preference for slavers not working (very sure I've got it this time!). ---Fix for the Stylist being unable to do Pig-Tails (Tall ones were no problem). ---Fix for Spectacle of the Sacred not providing bonus assignments from the Diplomacy rank up. ---Fix for the updated description for slavers made into slaves not correctly applying. Also added a new specific one if it happens to you. ---Fix for changing difficulty via start-extra options not affecting your starting gold and supplies. ---Fix for the racials that change gold and supplies not correctly being applied. ---Fix for slavers with Cum Thirst potentially getting both the regular escape text and the specific escape text on the Pillow Talk Disaster. ---Fix for Males needing to take Sissy first on Full Custom to be able to get Exceptional Feminity (Still limited to the Feminine portraits and the specific races who can always take Feminine - TF Edition only) ---Fix for the stylist before you make your choice listing a random character's description instead of the correct one. ---Fix for a potential issue with characters starting with Fel Tainted having missing description as part of their corruption. ---Fix for clit piercing descriptions when being applied to the player character. ---Fix for some double cock specific blowjob text using the wrong text variable. ---Fix for slavers who punish before getting oral having double text for their experience. ---Fix for the risk on Sky-Shaman not having the appropriate gravitas. ---Some text fixes.

0.953 Change Log

-New assignments: ---A new Rare Great Plains Assignment that will be needed to progress the Biomancy storyline chain of Assignments. Has vignettes for all results for some extra variation. To reflect it being part of the storyline on any other result other than a Critical Success. The Assignment will immediately become available allowing you to try it again without needing to re-find it. Repeatedly if needed though that could get costly in terms of Woundings and Removals as this one isn't kidding about that INSANE risk rating. Also has a very long expiry. Has two versions of a commission for the art. Uses a similar multiple different wounding description system from Meddling Fools. Though this one has more bite as some are Badly Woundings instead of regular Woundings.  Can reward a very valuable semi-unique slave with a new Aspect which helps out with both Biomancy and Corruption. ---A new Rare Great Plains Assignment themed around Elementalism: Fire. Uses another version of the commissions that were used for various Dark Elf examines. Does have an improved chance to find a Dark Elf and not male to reflect the art, but can also be other races and genders. Has vignettes for a bunch of different gender combinations if you do find out what happened here. Has a reasonable reward even on the Fail result, and can extend length on the Disaster result. Has some different specific text for the two positions for Submissive players on the Disaster.

-Stylist: ---Can be found in the Marshlands under your Personal Assignments. ---Has a commission generously provided by a patron. ---For the cost of the day's visit and a few supplies can provide some new customization in hair cuts, hair colours, eye colours, and piercings. Do plan to expand on all of these in future with the idea being to have some basic functionality to start off with. ---Adding earrings specifically from the new piercings will overwrite the third part of any character's look while keeping any bits that are importantly mechanically like pouty lips or fel makeup. So if you want to remove a slaver's lowly history of being a rat catcher for example then now is your chance. ---To reflect the new piercing options the earrings part of the outfits it is possible to get them from sissy training have been moved to now being part of the updated look. ---Expanded the previous piercings' descriptions a bit and made them work for guys too. ---All piercings now add to Estimate Value, and will always be worth more in extra Value than what they cost in gold to buy. This includes ones who either always got them or had a chance to get them on generation. ---Also applies a short Makeover buff after a visit that allows a max of one of Trading, Diplomacy, Exceptional Beauty/Feminity, Beautiful, Feminine, Seductive, or Terrifying to count as Fully Favoured along with an increase to Value Estimation. May not apply if the Inflamed Lusts penalty is active.

-Tavern and Town additions: ---More than doubled the number of tattoos obtainable from the Tavern with some new body locations for them to be applied. ---Entirely redone and expanded the alternate Dominant result for the Tavern Tattooist to better reflect how such a player character wouldn't fall into the same vulnerable position in the first place. ---Instead of sobering up if a conflicting tattoo would be added now there's a new different tattoo that will be applied each time instead. ---New Tavern event that improves based on the number of Encampment Rank and Special Upgrades you've earned which if you do well can add a new scaling buff to Great Plains Assignments. If you don't do as well then there can be consequences along with a special Submissive option. ---New Tavern event to help with the Ever Forest in terms of a generated Assignment and temporary region buff. ---New Tavern event to help with finding better quality Deep Mountains Assignments. ---New Town event that's hard to find without the trait Connected (Con). Can unlock the same bonus or the City of Aversol as the slaver dilemma bribe without needing to spend any gold to get it. ---Reduced the cost of a Tavern visit from 10g to 3g. In setting that still makes you a very generous tipper, but a more reasonable cost for a day's worth of drinking than before. ---Updated the Blessing of the Frozen Queen from the Town Shrine on Assignments to note that it is a Critical Success bonus. ---General punching up and tidying up of all the existing texts in the Town and Tavern along with improving various bits of the formatting. ---Both the Tavern and Town now have an intro the first time you visit with options whether or not to engage with the various random events or not. You can turn off this option each visit, and then they'll work like they did before from then on. --Alternate result for the Tavern event with the Goblin and his 'artefact' for Golems and Lizardman as for lore reasons they wouldn't be taken in, and also there's now a chance to resist based on the number of Aspects you have with the trait Crafter: Enchantment (C: En) helping too. ---Losing the fight in the Tavern you're not more likely not to lose morale for the whole encampment rather than it happening every time.

-New Uniques: ---A new Night Goblin Male playable start, and a recruitable Drow Female. Both with commissioned art generously provided by a patron. One of which is also used for Night Goblin Males Examines until I can get one done for that race that's more generic. Both also have lore pages and new aspects.

-New commissions: ---Wandering Lonely as a Cloud, which is a special Assignment in the City of Aversol. Generously provided by a patron. Also used for the unique obtained from that Assignment. ---Alternate for Golem Encampments. Generously provided by a patron. So big I've done four compositions out of it. Three as alternate Finish Day pictures for Golem Encampments, and one for Broken Human Examines (Elves will still use the old placeholder for now). I've made it so you'll see them when playing a Golem and not just on the Scenario Metal and Flesh.

-Miscellaneous additions: ---The Great Plains Bribe will no longer apply to Encampment Assignments. ---Added 'flawless obsidian' as a possible skin colour for Drow. ---Added some extra description for male muscular chests for goblins and hakh to reflect they can only be so impressive in that regard in comparison to other races. ---Increased the maximum possible potential length of region specific buffs you can get from slaver dilemmas from 8 days to 14. ---Added some more text to try to explain the logic of why the roll would be set to 0 on the help page for Forced Encounters when the Character is using a strength difference to make it happen. Definitely agree that before it was super confusing. ---Were slavers will now be unavailable for one extra day after a full moon to ensure they don't pop off and then come back on the same night. ---The Aspect Iron Will has been improved with the following addition:  Will not be affected by Untruly (Unr) personally regardless of position on assignments including during Ragestorms. ---Reworded the lacking in supplies warning as it was confusing where it would set the required supplies on the assignment to all supplies remaining implying you had the exact right amount to avoid the penalty.

-Bug fixes: ---Fix for Bles missing some of her slave checks, and Alice's slave checks if you don't start with her. ---Fix for Nike's history going missing if you put her through Keldan Alley. ---Fix for Meddling Fools where the fourth and fifth assigned slavers would not gain any experience. ---Fix for the you specific text on Weald Autonomy if you went in the second position. ---Fix for the slaver obtained from Temple Takeover not being dominant enough. ---Fix for the Ground Shatterer centaur start being broken. ---Fix for the extra text results in Gem's True Coast which could also lead to at once having a slave while also not having the slave. ---Fix for wearing a maid outfit overwriting the specific art for two of the drow uniques. ---Fix for Slave Driver and Strict Supervision for you where it wouldn't recognise your existing bed warmers unless you reassigned them. ---Fix for Imperial Muses where you could get the improved Crafter: Devices trait on a normal Success result. ---Fix for Treachery Most Foul where it could incorrectly give a Male or Futanari. ---Fix for characters with a guaranteed Magic or Elementalism trait like the ones from Private Passage always getting the same result if their gender is not set to be random. ---Fix for Tessa Versteckter's aspect not working with Sympathetic like it says it does. ---Fix for Rynhart's aspect to double make sure it doesn't trigger again when she's not present. ---Fix for Kyssandra's short traits. ---Fix for a broken text variable for a name during one of the forced encounters. ---Fix for the Start - Extra Options - TF Edition Gender Options menu. ---Fix for Basic Obedience Training Stubborn removal where it would refer to the slaver's race instead of the slave's. ---Fix for the Life in Coiled Tentacles Slave also getting the history from Nest of Vipers. Her history would have also been lost if she'd go through Keldan Alley but that was a separate issue. ---Fix for the Male Fallen Centaur start using the Female Fallen Centaur portrait. ---Fix for Fulfil Opportunities not checking traits correctly. ---Fix for Wargold, Adazantine, and Mythantium gear to have a 1/10 chance to have a missing description. ---Fix for former Slave turned Slavers being so proud of their blowjob training that they list it twice. Also tidied up the formatting of Former Trainings in general to be more consistent. ---Fix for the QAYL listing entirely the wrong name on a Success that was not their old one or their new one. ---Fix for some gender description issues on Into the Depths. ---Fix for the traits checking on Temple Turncoat. ---Some text fixes.

0.952 Change Log

-New assignments: ---A rare Convent themed Assignment in the Great Plains. Has commissioned artwork. Has vignettes for all results, two goals with different rewards, including two new possible Special Encampment Upgrades. ---A special Convent themed Assignment in the Encampment that follows on from the previous assignment and is the second part in an eventual three part chain. Has commissioned artwork. Each result has four different versions dependent on who is on the assignment, and what you did in the previous assignment. Has the potential to gain a new unique slaver with her own aspect. ---A reduced rarity Uncommon Assignment on the Dreadsea Coast. Uses a crop of a previous commission generously provided by a patron. Has an entirely different version of the Assignment when a certain event is active, and the regular version can potentially make that event occur then next time a new event is generated. Has the potential to get a unique slaver before obtainable only by taking her via Full Custom. Can get a slave with one the more submissive aspects or even possibly have them apply to whoever is going along with making them more submissive in general. Has other multi-stage levels of rewards including two different good rare traits that are obtainable from both Critical Success and Disaster. Also possible for this one to extend in length which is a mechanic I've not used in aaaages.

-New commissions: ---Word in your Ear. Also used for Troll futas, Thornheart Nymph slaves, and Wisp slavers. ---Package Retrieval, with a second version used for Critical/Success results. Also used for Cathayan slavers to replace the Alley one, and for Cathayan slaves who have been gagged. ---Alice Charmane. Part of a much larger commission that will be included in a future update. ---Neko Slavers. Replaces the old crop from the Encampment commission. Is a crop of a larger commission that will be used for an assignment in a later update. ---Endurance Training with two versions. Also used a crop with two other versions more focused on the rider for Black Orc slaves so there's one if they have a blindfold/oral hood on, and one if they don't. Also while I was there I made part one of Slaver Caravan the Black Orc slaver examine. I do think she's still a bit too pale, but might as well use it for now rather than the placeholder.  

-Miscellaneous additions: ---New Recruitable Unique slaver. Has her own new aspect, and due to her I added a new Profession title for her and anyone else who has both Elementalist: Fire and Magic: Corruption. ---Slaves on the Cumdumps Encampment Role are no longer able to make escape attempts. ---Some assignments have specific text for you and for slavers if they or you are not wounded or removed. Previously this only showed up if they made the first save which avoids checking the wounding/removal process entirely. Not it will also show if they make it through the process and still avoid wounding/removal. ---Added trait description text for you if you have both Bimbo and Cunning. ---Succubi with the Lamia heritage will now use the Fel Tainted lamia Commission with the double strap-on if Female, and the one with dicks if they are Futa. ---Any Futanari with the Lamia heritage will now get the Lizaman/Lamia cock description and will get the double cocks. ---Added specific lore pages for the Saiphas Asmodo Unique Playable Start and the Kaara de Sindero Oscuro Unique Slaver. �� ---Added some specific still a virgin pussy description for the Bottom Bitch addition,

-Bug fixes: ---Fix for Faith Any listing Blinded Lady when the character actually had Shallya. ---Fix for a potential issue with Uncommon Dreadsea Coast assignment generation where some specific values would have been missed. ---Fix for Gender General Orders not working. Also made them more likely to work than before. ---Fix for Gem for Nothing not happening if Krystal is made a slaver. ---Fix for Advanced Anal Training adding Slutty to Cumsluts. ---Fix for High Elves being considered to be Harpies on assignments. ---Fix for the Good Luck Fuck Princess aspect only working if you'd set Veren to not assignable. ---Fix for Basic Anal Training becoming available again after Bottom Bitch Training has been completed. ---Fix for Krystal ignoring that Gem's True Cost has actually been completed. ---Fix for Lady-in-Waiting not generating the follow up on a Success. ---Fix for some race missattributation during cumdump usage. ---Fix for an issue where training wasn't always fully removed on removal. ---Fix for not being able to get the first rank of Defending Slaver Upgrade if Marauding is taken first. ---Fix for Unstable Change not working correctly for you and turning off Personal Assignments if it is still the Afternoon. ---Fix for Weald Autonomy breaking the number of Slavers tracking. ---Fix for the futa also with a pussy description not accounting for you having it.   ---Fix for an issue with Seduction of the Light expiry.

0.951 Change Log

-New assignments: ---A Special follow up assignment to A Gem for Nothing. Has two commissions provided by a patron. Can get one or two new uniques from this one. Both with new aspects and lore pages. Also potentially has a 'Bad End' for your leader on the Disaster.

-Removal Overhaul ---There's now a base 75% chance for something else to happen if a slaver would before have been removed from the encampment on an assignment. This will only apply if there was a risk of being wounded instead. Automatic removals where there's no way to avoid it will still apply as before --- This can either be gaining Cowardly, Heroic, Sex Addict, Unruly, Peaceful+Sympathetic, or the slaver refusing outright to return to that Region. All of those come with a extra hit of morale loss. If gaining a trait that will lose a trait slot. ---Can get more than one Region blocked, but not the same one twice. It's also not possible to get the Great Plains blocked (also not the Deep Mountains in the Lady of Many Feathers scenario). The unlockable region counts as Deep Mountains for the purpose of these. ---Golems, Wrights, and those already Obedient or Heroic are not likely to be so shaken and so will be removed as before. ---If the slaver has a trait that would not be compatible with the alternative result such as having Follower for Unruly or Reserved for Sex Addict they will be removed as before. ---If the slaver later gains Heroic, Obedient, or are made a slave they can ignore any Region blocking they may have got from these alternatives to being removed. ---Slavers with Unruly now take additional moral loss if the normal base Encampment morale change is in the negatives. ---It is now much easier to Dismiss a slaver with Cowardly, Sympathetic, or has got one of the new Region blocks. ---Added a new save on Standard assignments to greatly increase the chance that the slaver will be wounded instead. To preserve some of ol' Scout the Deep Mountains bite it will Badly Wound now. ---Increased the existing save for removals to woundings on Crits/Successes by a bit.

-New commissions: ---Basic and Advanced Obedience Training. Will both be used for Male Cathayans, and the Basic will be used for untrained Orkhai slaves, and the Advanced will be used for Orkhai having been through training or already inclined to behave. ---Human Fancy Slavers. Current vine tentacle one will be used for slaves. Will be used for an assignment in a later update. ---Sea Elf Bimbos. Will be used for an assignment in a later update. ---Profane Ritual with two variations. Now you'll know in advance based on the art if the naughty adversary will be female or futa in advance. Also to reflect the art there's no more chance of her being a Savage Orc, and the sacrifice will no longer always be a commoner, but now any race with an increased chance of being Draenei. Will also always respect general order to enslave if that's been set to female or futa. Will also be used for Savage Orc females and Futanari which means that every race now has at least one commission to represent the race.

-Miscellaneous additions: ---Redid part of the Submissive text of the Barbarous Bargains results as the first version was missing a bunch of text so it didn't make as much sense as it should. ---Reworded and expanded the Success texts on Raid Elven Farm to fix some readability issues and to improve upon what was previously there. ---Expanded and corrected the text for Disasters for Heal Slut Training / Bimbo Training / Anal Training where the slave had Obedient. ---Added another pause to the Witch-Queen success results to break up the text some more. ---Expanded the intro to Raid High Elven Dwelling. Also fixed the High risk not being suitably red to warn that it is infact High. ---The succubus-ification from Arrogance Subjugated now also wipes any hypnotic mantras. ---Added a note to the Special of Advance Obedience Training about how higher will is needed to be able to get Obedient from the training.

Starting Options Extended fixes: --Critical fix for random recruited unique crashing the game. ---Fix for most of the Difficulty ones not applying including the change of difficulties and not getting the extra supplies and/or gold. ---Fix for the extra traits not showing.

-Bug fixes: ---Fix for Shuffled Deck not starting if Severina is currently not assignable or on an Encampment Role. ---Fix for Keldan Alley repeat and Lead Astray not using the updated expiry managing mechanic. ---Fix for Alice Charmane having a default history rather than a specific one, so no more former rat catcher Alices. ---Fix for cancelling assignments not clearing a specific variable that was causing weirdness with certain aspects and bonuses. ---Fix for a bunch of assignments that had pauses followed by extra text for their results that were using the same green as Successes instead of the different one used for Crits. ---Fix for Quicker than they Like not having a rarity when it should have been a Special assignment. ---Fix for being able to also take Feminine or Beautiful if you've already taken the new Exceptional Beauty/Fem. ---Fix for not being able to select the following lady Human starts: Mutinous Fancy Slave, Whore Errant, and Cityborn Cult Leader. ---Fix for having Friendly as a favoured or unfavoured trait affecting Spiteful. ---For the sake of humanity the double spaces prior to the auction coming up messages have been eliminated. ---Fix for Spectacle of the Sacred not adding the potential new slavers/slaves that it should be making the counts go wrong. ---Fix for Innocent slaves not coming with their virginities intact and so having the wrong pussy description. ---Fix for Shun the Other and the increased chance of being same race as you breaking forced gender choices for Asaenei, Ori'Nek, and other fem/futa races. ---Fix for Cumdumps only having the regular slave usage rather than the possible everyone in the encampment they were supposed to be having. ---Fix for Titfuck Training going off twice on slavers that can be trained. ---Fix for slavers that can be trained as slaves making the slavers on assignment count wonky. ---Some text fixes.

0.95 Change Log -New assignments: ---The Anal path for slaves gets a final Tertiary option in Bottom Bitch Training.   ---A new Uncommon assignment to follow up to A Brief Foray in the Deep Mountains that will unlock once you've explored the first one enough. Uses the Fel Tainted Lamia Commission previously added to the game. Has a bunch of different vignettes as part of the results. There's a special reward for some of those that go, and one that can lead to a special game over if you get it too many times. There's now also a special Crit bonus to A Brief Foray when you've done it enough to unlock the follow up assignment, and that can increase to a double Crit bonus if you do it more than that.

-Centaurs: ---Succubi, Demi-Angels, and Fallen can now have the centaur heritage. Commissions for all examines, including female and male versions where applicable, and also for plain vanilla versions which replace the old placeholder ones. ---New regular female/futa and male start, Demi-Angel female/futa and male start with the centaur heritage, Fallen female/futa and male start with the centaur heritage, and a Succubus female/futa start with the centaur heritage using portraits from these commissions. ---You now get the lower body description slavers and slaves get. ---Male centaurs now get the ass description ladies get.

-Start Changes and Improvements: ---Whole new way to play Quick Start. Now you can select as many options as you want to customize your start to provide a middle ground between that and Full Custom. Includes some options that are only available in this mode with more ways to customize what you can get in terms of difficulty and who is in your encampment. ---As dwarves get the trait as standard as other characters all regular dwarf starts have now gained Resilient (Res). You'll also get this automatically via fully random traits or by Full Custom by default. ---Fully random traits will now grant the race specific guaranteed traits like how they work in Full Custom. ---Allmounter was not listed as having an Aspect. ---Starts you previously could only pick are now possible to randomly roll. Some though are only possible though when using the new Quick Start option due to the added complexity. ---I've redone the gender setting including the race specific ones so gender setting outside of general orders should be absolutely guaranteed to work. ---Chance to get more traits for you than before when starting with random traits. This chance is increased when using the new Quick Start option. ---Added the following traits/options to starting random traits for you (also removed Corrupter). Common: Beautiful (Btf), Brutal (Bru),Cooperative (Coo), Cowardly (Cdy), Cunning (Cun), Dancer (Dan), Emotional (Eml), Logical (Lgl), Friendly (Fnd), Spiteful (Fnd-), Herbalist (Hrb), Heroic (Her),  Honourable (Hon), Unscrupulous (Usc), Resilient (Res), Singer (Sin), Slutty (Slt), Sneaky (Sne), Stubborn (Stb), Tactful (Tac), Tracker (Tra), Trapper (Tpr), Uncommon: Creative (Cre), Debutante (Deb), Educated (Edu), Folklorist (Flk),   Rare: Exceptional Beauty/Feminity (Exc), All Magic Traits, All Elementalist traits, Psionic (Psy)

-New Encampment Role: ---Cumdump. Limited to two, and slaves only. Removes all limits on numbers and will be used more often by cocked slavers, and less by uncocked ones. Will be used only for Blowjobs by cocked slavers and will take increased condition, willpower, and wear for doing so. Has a risk of your slavers growing bored of them if they get too broken and if so they will be removed from the role, may not have the role again, and will take a big value penalty. ---Has eighteen different texts for the various cumdump specific activities that follow if two cocked slavers makes use of them. Each of those texts then has variations to reflect the increased numbers for groups of three, four, five, and then six plus. ---It was only possible for four accounts of sexy time per slave to be reported. Due to this role this has now been increased to fifteen. To make certain training more valuable I've increased Heal Slut from five to six, and Orc Cum Addict to eight.

Other new commissions: ---Asanei Slaver and Asanei Slaves. Will be used for an assignment in an upcoming update. Kept the old slave one if the slave is wearing a maid outfit, and the previous Slaver one will be used for the assignment/unique it was done for. ---Lamia Slaver. Made the previous one used for Lamia slaves who are not Fel Tainted. This one will be used for an encounter in the Marshlands in an upcoming update. ---Back Alley Abduction. Now also has a second version for the Crit/Success, an alternate version if you send a Futa which is also used for Cathayan Futa slavers (there's also a bulge version of the first one which will also be occasionally used for them on examines), and an alternate version if you get a Futa which is also used for Akir Futas. The first main version and the main results version will also be used as alternate versions for Akir Female slavers to go with the Dancing Lights one, and for Cathayan Female slavers. To go with this commission it's now possible to get Futa slaves from this one and it's more likely the slave will be Akir. ---Patron submitted ones for the unique Drow Shadriel with a regular examine, a new one for her as a slave, one of her naked, and one with her in a maid outfit that will also be used for other drow so attired.

-Miscellaneous additions: ---New Exceptional Beauty/Feminity Super Negative (TF Edition only). Comes with appropriately high boost to Seduction respect checks, but at the cost of your rep likely trending towards Obsessed Over. You will also count as Obsessed Over for the purpose of Forced Encounters, and if you are at that reputation the penalty will be doubled. ---Convent can now be found in general as slavers. Will be rarer though than they will be found as slaves. Increased the chance of them being futa as it was too low as is. ---Hardcore difficulty now increases rarity of generated assignment. ---Reduced the 'less than best slave' penalty when slavers are choosing who to use. ---Orc Cum Addicts are more likely to be used by cocked slavers to help mitigate the value estimate penalty. ---Dominant slavers are now a bit more likely to use slaves. ---Blowjobs on larger cocks does now affect condition and willpower a bit based on size. Lago'Mae are still entirely immune, and Elven Flexibility can also help. ---Legacy will be far more likely to make Golems into monsters if they don't already have that trait. ---Standard outfits that also have a quality now don't just have a -5 non crafted outfit penalty. All of the scenario noble starts, and also everyone from their household staff now have added qualities to their starting attire. Gave a big value bonus to wearing the Ensnared Rose maid outfit from the letter. ---There's now a small chance that slavers with tentacles will do a normal punish activity instead. ---Reduced the bonus from Competent and increased the penalty from Inexperienced a bit in general. Reduced the bonus for higher experience on Three slaver assignments, and more so for Four or more Slaver assignments to reflect how Successes and Crits are also reduced when more people are around.  (The Remnant's Experience bonuses during Defending are unchanged) ---Because Mighty Strength+Strong was still being annoying I've now added a check to remove it on generation if it somehow does get added. Did the same thing with Onslaught+Aggressive just in case. ---To reflect the commission I've increased the chance of getting an Akir on Seduction of the Light. ---Added two new starting trait packages for Ogres so they will be now a lot more likely to start with Mighty Strength over Strong. ---Standard Fae starts no longer come with an aspect slot taken up as that got replaced by their racial a good few updates back. ---Changed the old invalid estimate value wording as being really overly confusing. I also removed the first condition as it wasn't really needed, and could potentially cause issues. ---Redid the wording on elf ear corruption.

-Bug fixes: ---Fix for a couple of places where lamia heritage checks were missed that I spotted during adding the centaur ones. ---Fix for if a playable male centaur became a lady then they'd end up looking like a orkhai. ---Fix for having preference for Draenei making it more likely to get Ori'Nek or Asanei instead. ---Fix for Ori'Nek and Nymphs not being set correctly to Female or Futa only. ---Fix for an issue where certain bonus traits for races weren't being rolled for which had caused the Golem Obliterators aspect to not work like it should. ---Fix for enslaving slavers via the dilemma not doing anything. ---Fix for the Lesbian hypnotic mantra having the wrong gender check. ---Fix for an issue where certain attire could be generated without a quality. ---Fix for having the Blight magic counting as also having the Faith: The Light trait such as with the Enlightened profession. ---Fix for Anal Training not being carried over when a slave is made into a slaver. ---Fix for Advanced Anal Training having both Resilient as a Critical and as a Success. ---Fix for the bonus Endurance Training from Anal Training potentially overwriting Ponygirl Training. ---Fix for the five day version of Most Impropa gold version having the same chances of what gold to get as the four day version. ---Fix for some of the Fully Favoured bonuses not being checked correctly if the character had one of the others. ---Fix for the check for Demi-Angels being prevented from getting Fel Tainted. Also blocked Golems from getting it. ---Fix for being able to go on Wyrd Reckoning if you're full up on slaves. ---Fix for the Dominated not being able to be given attire. Changed it so that Dominated and Obedient allows you to skip over some of the checks. Added some new specific text for giving them something to wear if they are Dominated, Obedient, or are a Bimbo. ---Fix for Lengthy Tongue not being listed as a Success for Slavers on Word in your Ear. Also for both that and Throat Enhancement being listed from the reminder prompt. ---Fix for Convent Elves and Convent Neko not having a base value estimate. ---Fix for the trait checks where instead of (Unchangeable Attire) it would incorrectly say (Wer) ---Fix for starts with custom mounts, clothing, and the like carrying over through Quick Starts. ---Fix for the following starts who had discrepancies between what it said they would start with, what they actually would get, and what they should have had in the first place: Male - Human - Former Sellsword, Male - Elf - High Elf Renegade, Male - Goblin - Forest Chieftain, Male - Dwarf - Bitch-Master, Male - Nethemir - Cult Vessel, Female/Futanari - Human - Former Noble, Female/Futanari - Human - Mutinous Fancy Slave, Female - Human - Whore Errant, Female/Futanari - Elf - Drow Harlot, Female/Futanari - Orc - Dark-Acolyte, Female/Futanari - Orc - Tribal Champion, Female/Futanari - Troll - City Rogue, Female/Futanari - Draenei - Former Soldier, Female/Futanari - Fae - Courtly Exile, Female/Futanari - Orkhai - Feral Wildrager, Transformed - High Elf, Transformed - Neko, Transformed - Both Demi-Angels, Transformed - Orkhai, Male (Scenario Exclusives) - City Elf Whore, Female/Futanari (Scenario Exclusives) - Human Noble, Promoted Golem ---Fix for Unscrupulous being removed incorrectly. This also meant that any starts that had this trait as standard to start off with, wouldn't. ---Fix for starts having Strong Right Arm as standard incorrectly also getting Strong. ---Fix for the Aggressive (Agg) + Strong (Str) + Resilient (Res) Strong Right Arm customization missing Resilient. ---Fix for an issue with Fulfil Opportunities where you would possibly not get credit for having stuff that you did have, and so not getting paid extra for it. ---Fix for the Box traits bit saying its Any Slaver rather than Slaver or Slave. ---Fix for the Basic Obedience Training (Success) Defiant removal version referring to the race of the slaver rather than the slave. ---Fix for Impressive quality attire not having the full description when initially selecting them. ---Fix for two missing vignettes being included in the Try the Village option in Price of Freedom resulting in an abrupt sentence end. ---Some text fixes.

[notajinn]

Top 9 Games Played in 2020: Number 1: Bug Fables

Rising from the ashes of the once-great Paper Mario series comes a game I never expected.

A beautiful little game called Bug Fables.

Where It Excels

Bug Fables is thoroughly inspired by the first two Paper Mario games, and it shows. It uses a similar battle system, a Medal system similar to Badges, and even similar paper-like aesthetics. It would be easy to just say "wow, what a ripoff" and brush it aside.

But this is not a copy-paste of Paper Mario. This is clearly designed with love for those games, and for the people who enjoyed them. This is a game that says "yes Paper Mario was good, but how could it be improved?"

So let's talk about what it does differently (and arguably better) instead.

The story does not have the history of the Mario series to build on, so Bug Fables relies on having to be an interesting self-contained world. It does a good job providing lore as you move forward through the early story, and you can find optional Lore Books that give background into things like why some bugs evolved into intelligent beings, and the past conflicts between different groups. As someone who does not like most bugs in-person, they did a good job getting me invested. The tone is often lighthearted, but able to become serious when needed. The world feels more grounded than Mario, so there's a greater sense of danger during darker plot points.

I loved all three main characters (Kabbu the Beetle, Vi the Bee, and Leif the Moth) by the end, though some take longer to become interesting than others. Each of them feels well fleshed out, and get at least one important backstory sidequest.

And while it initially appears to follow the Paper Mario structure of "find the special items in episodic adventures, then go fight the final boss", it actually feels more like a traditional RPG because the story evolves over time.

In battle, you have three full party members. Each of them have their own HP and specials, and can equip individual Medals. You can change the formation of battle to decide who is in the front (more damage but more aggro) or back (less aggro but normal damage). Importantly you can also pass a turn to another party member, which depending on the enemies and formations may be your best option. For example if you have a bunch of flying enemies, you can just pass an extra turn to Vi so she can continue grounding them. There are certain enemy types that can only be reached by certain character's regular attacks, but you can often use a Special to overcome a lack of reach at the cost of SP. There are even combination attacks that take multiple characters' turns in order to deliver especially devastating specials.Each attack and special also have a unique action command that lets you make them better with good button inputs.

Medals are your equipment replacement, and can give you new active or passive abilities, or just raise your stats. However unlike Paper Mario, most the especially powerful Medals (like boosting your attack) are offset with a weakness (lowering your defense). This means you need more strategy than "I'll just equip this attack-boosting Medal." I'd argue there's less active ability Medals in Bug Fables than Paper Mario, but the greater strategy to the passive abilities makes up for it. There’s even strange setups like giving yourself poison but having +1 defense.

There are two EXTREMELY important Medals that Bug Fables copies from Paper Mario, but in a better way. One immediately defeats weak enemies on the field when you touch them. The other prevents enemies from getting a first strike on you. And Bug Fables gives you both of these extremely early with low MP cost. These make backtracking significantly less frustrating. The backtracking was one of the worse parts of the Paper Mario games, so I appreciate this. You also still get a fast movement option after a few chapters.

Quests are very well organized. You'll find a quest board in every town, and can take as many quests at once as you want. There's a quest log in your menu to keep track of them, and it updates as you go through steps of multi-step ones. And often a quest-important NPC will have an exclamation over their head to make them easier to spot. A lot of them have fun interactions and situations, so they’re definitely worth doing. Only one is a particularly long fetch quest with item trading, but it feels like a purposeful parody.

A lot of strengths in this game come from convenience. For example, you can fast travel between towns almost as soon as you unlock a new town. And you have two-item cooking unlocked from very early-game. These were things that felt unnecessarily gated in Paper Mario. Every party member can also scan the enemy to get stats and provide some information, whereas Paper Mario restricted it to one partner. As a bonus, this means you get three unique pieces of dialogue for every enemy depending on who you have initiate the scan.

Dungeons and their puzzles feel much more involved. There is less emphasis on platforming, and more on using your characters abilities like creating ice blocks. It's a step closer to a Zelda dungeon, which is appreciated. Save stones are well-paced enough to not make exploring feel to daunting either.

In terms of design and sound, it's strong for an indie title. They can't quite compare to a big publisher like Nintendo, but the world and characters look pretty good. And there's at least a few songs I still have stuck in my head.

The game also feels much harder than Paper Mario, which is good because I felt those games were too easy. It can be rough early on when you're learning, but fun once you get the hang of it. The game never gets to a point where you just steamroll everything either, so you'll have to continue paying attention for the whole game. I know some people like to overpower enemies, but I think that gets boring.

Where It Falls Short

While I don't like steamrolling enemies, I do like a sense of progression. And Bug Fables has that in many forms, like levels, and field abilities.

But at no point in the story do your standard attacks do more damage. Paper Mario would give you upgraded boots and hammers and you progress for more damage, but you'll keep hitting for your normal 2 damage here outside of Medals or an optional expensive upgrade. I know that in-universe it may have been weird to explain why Kabbu's horn is suddenly stronger, but they managed to give reasons for Vi not to fly despite being a bee for a long time.

There's also a dungeon puzzle near the end of the game that I found annoying. The solution to one section was actually to defeat a particular enemy. Given I was avoiding enemies at this point looking for a puzzle solution, this took longer than I'd like to admit.

You can also optionally get a fourth sort-of-party member, which I only learned about by accident when looking up Medal strategies. However it is not from an official sidequest that appears on the board, and I honestly missed any hints towards it. I was expecting them to show up in the late-game, but as I was getting ready for the final chapter I still didn't have them. Only when I specifically looked up what to do was I able to find them. I don't mind optional party members, but you need a little more guidance than what Bug Fables provided.

My final complaint may be strange, but...the game does not have a cliffhanger ending. It's a self-contained story that resolves everything important. Which means I don't think they can easily get another game out of this. But I'd love to see another similar game by this team.

Maybe if they do a time-skip and follow a different set of characters, it could potentially work.

Final Thoughts

Bug Fables is yet another indie title that proves you don't need to be a big studio to make an incredible game.

If you like classic Paper Mario, or just fun RPGs, I highly recommend giving it a shot.

[paperanddice]

Tears of the Crocodile God Part 3

The next part will be to start putting together stat blocks for some of the monsters needed for this adventure. Many of the creatures will at least need some modification, as the adventure has a lot of unusual or custom made monsters for it, and few of them are in either of the games I’m converting this to. Then again, this is an opportunity to make new monsters and I always enjoy doing that.

Drowning Vault

Both games have manticores, and while the 5e version might seem too low leveled for the adventure a group of them are capable of dealing some damage to level 10 characters. Lots of ranged attacks and flight gives options, even in a relatively enclosed space. The goal of a lot of these encounters is to wear down rather than kill the characters, and any resources they expend during the fight are some lost for future encounters. The 13th Age manticore is right on par for this adventure though, so nothing is necessarily needed to put them into the adventure. I’m talking about them though because I have some small notes for something fun and interesting.

A note in the adventure is that the manticores are drugged up to make them more aggressive and less concerned with their own safety. This gives an opportunity to customize some traits to represent that.

5e

Give the manticores the Reckless trait and immunity to being frightened.

Reckless. At the start of its turn, the manticore can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against it have advantage until the start of its next turn.

13th Age

This is a risky proposition, since I don’t have as in depth of an understanding of 13th Age mechanics as I’d like, but here’s a possible idea for something very fun to use on the manticore. Increase its attack bonuses by 2 points and add on the following trait.

Comedown: The manticore applies the Escalation Die as a penalty on all attack rolls.

So for the first few rounds of the encounter the manticores fight with greater fervor and strength, but as the drug wears off they experience the crash and start slowing down.

Howling Hunt

This encounter has some complexity to it, and I’m presenting a straight conversion of the original and a variant idea. I personally think the concept of the encounter is a bit too gimmicky and unlikely to actually play out as intended. It requires a modification to some of the basic 5e mechanics to convert (swapping shields as a bonus action instead of an action), and none of my players ever wanted to buy in to the idea of picking up and using any of the shields themselves, even when shown what they could do. While having the actual encounter sweep in from outside rather than the statues coming to life to fight is a good way to break expectations, it winds up feeling a bit convenient and leaves this room feeling like it doesn’t have any actual purpose on its own. What happens in this room if the tanarukk war party doesn’t happen to arrive right when someone is in it?

The shield effects themselves will be updated in a later post when I start converting the traps, hazards, and other miscellaneous features of the various encounters.

5th Edition

The tanarukk are demonically enhanced orcs by D&D lore, and show up at a reasonable level in Volo’s Guide to monsters, but their weapons are unfortunately wrong for the encounter. Adjust them in the following way:

Increase the tanarukk’s AC by 2 by equipping it with a shield. Replace its greatsword attack with a broadsword: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) slashing damage.

This lets it swap shields in and out as the encounter calls for, and for as long as the tanarukk are mounted they’re not going to be using their bonus action for anything else anyway.

As for the howlers, either new stat blocks will need to be custom made or alternate creatures used in their place. 5e released howlers in Mordenkainen’s, but they’re far too high level to include as a portion of this encounter. Their look and mechanics have changed as well, removing their massive quills. They’re especially not usable as a crowd of minions. The replacement I had planned for my runs of it was to mount the tanarukk onto dire wolves and have some regular wolves as the sort of hunting dogs, and have this be a force sent if the party took a short rest and kept any of the sacrifices alive. Since neither party I ran did that, they wound up sitting to the side and never coming into play. With this however, I think I’ll create a low CR version of the howler and keep to its 3.5/4e appearance a bit more. Keep the massive quills.

Dread Howler Large fiend, chaotic evil Armor Class 17 (natural armor) Hit Points 68 (8d10 + 24) Speed 40 ft. Str 21 (+5) Dex 17 (+3) Con 15 (+2) Int 6 (-2) Wis 14 (+2) Cha 13 (+1) Senses darkvision 60 ft. passive Perception 12 Languages understands Abyssal but cannot speak Challenge 3 (700 XP) Defensive Quills. A creature that misses the howler with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 5 (2d4) piercing damage. Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8+5) piercing damage. Dread Howl (Recharge 6). The howler unleashes a loud howl. Each creature within 30 feet of the howler that isn't a fiend or deafened must succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom saving throw or take 9 (2d8) psychic damage and be frightened until the end of the howler's next turn.

For larger groups especially a few lesser hunting howlers will be a good addition. Smaller and less terrifying than the dread howlers used as mounts.

Howler Medium fiend, chaotic evil Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Hit Points 18 (4d8) Speed 40 ft. Str 13 (+1) Dex 13 (+1) Con 11 (+0) Int 6 (-2) Wis 14 (+2) Cha 10 (+0) Senses darkvision 60 ft. passive Perception 12 Languages understands Abyssal but cannot speak Challenge 1/2 (100 XP) Defensive Quills. A creature that misses the howler with a melee attack while within 5 feet of it must make a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or take 2 (1d4) piercing damage. Incessant Howling. A creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of 2 or more howlers must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw, or become frightened until the end of its turn. Each additional howler beyond the second increases the DC of this save by 1. A creature that successfully saves is immune to the Incessant Howling of all howlers for the next 24 hours. Actions Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6+1) piercing damage.

13th Age

There isn’t a lot of cavalry concepts in 13th Age that I have access to yet. I’ve seen 4 stat blocks total that I can recall and find, and they all combine the rider and mount into a single creature. It’s a bit of a simpler way of doing it (though one of them does reference to the creature becoming un-mounted, so presumably in a combat with that one the mount could be targeted separately from the rider? I’m not 100% certain). For now I’ll go with the same method, creating the tanarukk steel cavalry that consists of a demonic orc rider and a howler dread mount.

Tanarukk Steel Cavalry Large 6th level wrecker [beast & demon] Initiative: +8 Broadsword + 11 vs. AC - 35 damage Natural odd hit or miss: The steel cavalry can make a howling maw attack as a free action. Natural 20: The steel cavalry can make a dread howl attack as a free action Dangerous: The crit range of attacks by the tanarukk expand by 3 unless it is staggered. [Special trigger] Howling maw +11 vs. AC - 15 damage [Special trigger] Dread howl +10 vs. MD (1d4 nearby enemies) - 5 ongoing psychic damage and the target is dazed (save ends both). Quill defense: When an enemy misses the steel cavalry with a melee attack and rolls a natural odd attack roll, it takes 2d8 damage. Resist fire 12+: When a fire attack targets this creature, the attacker must roll a natural 12+ on the attack roll or it only deals half damage. AC 22 PD 20 MD 15 HP 180

The rest of the howlers are mook grade foes, swarming around to harry and weaken the players as the hunters pick their target.

Howler Dread Hound 6th level mook [beast] Initiative: +8 Howling bite +11 vs. AC - 12 damage [Group ability] C: Incessant howling + 10 vs MD (1d4 nearby enemies) - 6 ongoing psychic damage. Natural 16+: The target is dazed as long as it is taking the ongoing psychic damage. Group ability: For every 4 dread hounds in the group (round up), one of them can use incessant howling during the battle. Quill defense: When an enemy misses the dread hound with a melee attack and rolls a natural odd attack roll, it takes 2d4 damage. AC 22 PD 20 MD 16 HP 23 (mook) Mook: Kill one howler dread hound mook for every 23 damage you deal to the mob.

On Monday I’ll put up some custom stats for my own version of the shield room encounter if you want to make use of that version instead. I feel it utilizes the shields themselves a bit better, and doesn’t rely as heavily on a sort of convenience.

[shima-draws]

Okay listen I really really enjoyed The Wonderland/Birthday Wonderland a LOT but there’s definitely like. Huge chunks of stuff that are missing from the plot that I would have loved to see;; SPOILERS AHEAD BEWARE

First of all let me say that this movie definitely would have worked better as a TV series. Why? Because the world itself is MASSIVE. There’s so much worldbuilding shit going on that they only got to touch a little bit of each section, and left so many things open ended. And then there’s the fact of the plot itself that leaves a lot of holes behind and unanswered questions.

Rest is under the cut so ya’ll can avoid spoilers if you so desire:

What the fuck happened with the sweater contest? They make it out to be such an enormous, important part of the plot that literally ends the moment Akane hands the sweater over. We see her protectively guarding it the entire journey to the city, and yet it’s never even touched upon if the sweater wins the contest or not. What happened bruh?? I want to know if it won, a lot of unnecessary screentime went into the development and story of that sweater! Don’t leave me hanging!

“Our world is dying”, Hippocrates says, as the majority of the land is still thriving pretty okay from the looks of it. Aight. There’s lots of gorgeous visuals in this film that are made clear through the gift of water that they’re living--and apparently there isn’t even enough water to go around for humans to drink. At that point literally everything else would be dried up, right? There is literally a giant pond--GIANT! With koi fish right outside the city. They just gotta learn to distribute their water better;; it’s a shitty system tbh lmao I mean there’s plenty to go around. They just don’t bother to try spreading it evenly, which is why some places are flourishing while others are not. They really should have spent more time showing how people are suffering from this rather than showing the remaining gorgeous parts of the land--that would have made the impact of saving that world that much stronger, made the stakes so much higher. If Akane had seen how bad it really got without water, maybe that would have driven her character development earlier on, and made it more significant.

Akane’s change. It felt...really...anti-climatic. Or maybe just rushed. It was a sudden, minor sort of thing that when I realized I was like “Oh, okay, she’s already come to the conclusion that she can be strong on her own, but I wanted to see that?” They didn’t execute it super well. It feels like we’re missing an entire scene where Akane finally breaks through her fear to gain courage and make her own choices. There was definitely a bit of that right before she made her grand speech to Zangu, but there was nothing that prompted it. The whole movie is a coming of age story for her, building up until the moment where she has her great breakthrough and is able to be confident with herself. But...they don’t show that. We don’t get to see that moment. I don’t know why, because it’s the most important thing of the entire film? They really could have handled that better.

I really wish they touched more on Midori’s involvement;; she was so minor I almost didn’t catch the connection between her and the previous Goddess of the Green Wind. I like that Akane feels closer to her because of this, but we never really get anymore information than that. How did Midori end up in Wonderland so many years ago? Was she a reluctant hero type like Akane, or was she determined to save the world? Did she meet Hippocrates way back then, or was it a different alchemist that lead her on an adventure? Was something wrong with the prince at the time which required her presence in order to make sure the drop rain ceremony went well, just like Akane? I don’t know! I want to know!

The ending was SO abrupt and short. Literally right after Akane and Chii get back that’s it bam roll credits movie over! I’m like. Whiplashed by it. I wanted to see how they were affected by the journey (besides Chii immediately going to take a nap which fandjksad MOOD), and how they’ve changed from their adventures. We obviously see a huge change in Akane at the end, but how does this affect her life in her own world? Does she start treating her friends differently? Does she ever make up with the girl she abandoned in order to be in the popular group (which is another huge thing they never came back to). Is she more determined to do things now, to be confident? Is this a change her mother notices? At least show the impact of what they went through;;

Halfway through the movie we’re introduced to a London-type city that’s really...not so fun looking. Dark, gloomy, and depressing, with obvious signs of poverty, where everyone looks angry all the time. It’s a very very clear outlier in the colorful Wonderland. I’d love to have seen more history on this city...why is it so different from the rest of the world, and so dark? Why do all the people seem so unfriendly, when those outside of its walls are generous and kind? How did this city come to be? It’s such an enormous mystery that they never talk about, besides hinting that this was where the prince had ended up once before he became Zangu.

Speaking of the lovely prince. I know we got kicked in the face with his backstory (and that shit hurted, this poor baby who also kinda deserved it but not to THAT degree), but I would have liked to see even more. Maybe I’m biased because he became my favorite character the instant his identity was revealed, idk. (And, to me, he feels way more fleshed out and rounded as a character regarding his development than Akane does, which is another reason why I like him best.) But while we were given his motivations in becoming Zangu, the personality difference between Zangu and his regular princely self is IMMENSE. I really don’t think the prince would have ever committed such acts--he may be a little shit and have a lot of anger issues (which, valid, I mean his parents died and he suddenly has all these huge expectations on his shoulders and he’s. He’s just a kid man, that HAS to be traumatic) but I really don’t think he would ever strike against his own people or openly threaten them. Sure, he’s definitely shown to be prone to angry outbursts, and is fond of pushing everyone who cares about him away, but he’s not purposefully malicious. And as soon as Akane transforms him back, he calms down immediately and becomes immensely selfless and heroic. So: why the enormous change of heart? I think something that could be canon that they never really mentioned is that, when he was transformed into Zangu, he became sort of a puppet. A lifeless doll without any real empathy, and the only emotions he could feel were a burning anger and a desire for revenge to those that wronged him and made him feel pressured to perform the drop rain ceremony. Being trapped inside a body like that probably just made those feelings escalate, resulting in all of the crimes he committed and all of the people he hurt. (And maybe they did touch on this but I just don’t remember since my memory is garbage lol)

Going off of that, I know this is the type of story where we follow the hero characters, and as soon as Chii and Akane made it home that was it, we weren’t allowed another peek into the Wonderland. But...what if we were granted that opportunity? Could we have gotten the chance to see how things changed after they left? Perhaps the prince began a journey traveling to all of the towns and villages he terrorized, and apologizing to the people. Maybe Ron starts to train under Hippocrates just like Pipo. Maybe the rain washed away all of the sorrow in that lonely city, which caused people to start to change it and make it brighter. Change, change, change! I want to see proof of Akane’s help! 

Why the fuck did the other alchemist/sorcerer (I forget his name and there’s no info on him anywhere MDAKMASD I’ll update this when I find out later) do that to the prince?? That was SERIOUSLY fucked up. “Oh yeah, to punish this child for being naughty and angry after his parents died, which is actually perfectly reasonable, let’s turn him into a doll where he can’t MOVE OR SPEAK and let him sit there in absolute torture until I feel like setting him free again, instead of trying to find an alternative way to confront him about his anger issues”. Dude;; No wonder he was so fucking angry and bitter when Ron finally allowed him to speak again. I would be too! Trapping children in naughty doll prison is not the answer!

I’m trying to think of more but I think I covered most of it :’) If ya’ll have anything to add, please do!

Like, overall, the movie was GREAT. It would have been even better if they didn’t shove so much information into it that ended up becoming irrelevant later on. It felt as if they were trying to cram a TV series into a movie, trying to cover all of their bases but failing. There’s just so many things they left open-ended and unanswered;; and you know me, I’m a slut for lore like this so I want to know EVERYTHING. And I only got little bits and pieces of it. I really would kike to know if they just cut out large portions of the movie to fit the time limit and the budget;; because that would make a lot of sense, because it feels as if I was handed a puzzle without all the puzzle pieces.

[thumbscrewgaming]

Hitman 2 (Basically, a DLC that’s worth it)

If you’ve played Hitman’s Season One, then Hitman 2 will be no different in terms of navigation and feel.

At the start, Agent 47 is tasked with hunting down the "Shadow Client." As he hunts this target, it comes to light that a group called Providence paid for 47’s job. It wouldn’t make any difference other than Providence is the organization that Dr. Ort-Meyer was in when he created Agent 47. So the story thickens between Agent 47, Providence, and Diana…Yes, Diana gets involved in a side storyline. All of these storylines are told with still images and end in absurdity, but more importantly, it shows the lack of plot breadth in Hitman 2. Most players could give a damn about the storytelling, but the downgrade to still images makes the game feel like a DLC rather than a full-fledged game. Alas, 47 is here to right the world by spilling blood not by telling stories.

The new environments in Hitman 2 are more complex and fun, and the ability to move under, through or over a locale gives each mission more depth than Hitman. Most levels have multiple targets, which makes each mission harder and longer. The devs did bring back the “walkthrough” portions which make any player of any skill level be able to brutally kill a digital person and walk away scot-free.  Also, those walkthrough portions are much easier in Hitman 2. I felt they were too easy at times, but if I wanted to finish off a challenge quickly they were helpful.

Hitman 2 does thrive on finding new fun ways to kill people. My latest favorite is helping another hitman snipe my targets for me…Clever and classy.

Exclusive targets have returned which can be argued as the best part of the latest Hitman games. If you are unaware, exclusive targets are timed events that only give you one shot at a target. Miss and feel shame. All of the shame!

A downside I’ve experienced is when trying to finish a kill via free roaming and the target does not rotate into a private locale thus I’m forced to use one of the predestined kills which gets repetitive. I would wish for the ability to maneuver targets into certain places without them being pre-planned. Maybe an item that gets them to move on my time not theirs? (Coins didn’t do the trick either.)

47’s quick return to the assassination game provides plenty of fun and an immense level of replay-ability. Don’t expect a brand new experience or lore, but do expect to spend a lot more time strategizing and finding your favorite kill in the large environments. Good hunting. [Hitman 2 – Worth a Try]

Update

IO has been really good at adding new content and providing regular updates. The game has become well worth the investment. Jump in and starting garroting!

[next-lvl]

Majority of my followers know what Wakfu is, but not all know about the game: how many wounds it left in my heart, and everyone else’s. This post isn’t gonna be precisely explaining the wrongs that Wakfu did, I just wanted to mention that, in aftermath, it was a disaster of a game that left its most loyal players hurt, disappointed and immensely sad. I still keep meeting people who love this franchise, but can’t stand the game anymore since it’s.. Changed too much and didn’t stay enjoyable, to say mildly. I’m surrounded by, literally, traumatized veterans who look back at the good old days and shed tears. And I’ve been talking a lot about GW2 recently, not for no reason.

I want you to heal, just like I did. I mean.. I’m still hurt over Wakfu and I’ll stay this way forever, but I found a game where you can feel safe, loved, cared about. Devs in GW2 are humans who talk to us, who put smileys and memes in their posts, who hang out on reddit and ingame. This’s one of the major and striking differences between Wakfu and GW2. I’m still genuinely stunned by my own experience with customer support, I had a few troubles during my 1.5 years in GW2 and the response was not only fast and effective, it was HUMAN AND CUTE. I’m still not over it. Now that I’ve been invited to be a creative partner.. I’m still not over it too. They shower their regular players and content creators in gentle attention and kindness. I cry. During the 5+ years of being the most active and visible artist in Wakfu fandom, literally promoting it with thousands of drawings, I’ve never got a tiniest bit of official recognition. Not even a single placement on official media. When I took part in contests, I never won. Overall it’s been a one-way street. During my first 1.5 years in GW2, I’ve been noticed, picked up by the team, pampered and spoiled to the point of barely believing it’s true. That’s my personal experience, but it should indicate Anet’s general attitude towards the players. They. Do. Care.

I just wanna try and convince more ex-Wakfu players to give GW2 a shot. The two games are different in the visual and core gameplay aspects, yes, transitioning from an isometric 2D turn-based to a 3D, real-time game was somewhat harsh, but boy, how glad I am that I did it.

There’s EVEN MORE TEXT, brace yourselves. :D In GW2, I found everything that I wish was in Wakfu.

GW2 is a true sandbox. You log in, you do whatever the fuck you want. Level your first (second, 12th, 33rd, 68th) char? Grind mobs and dungeons? NO. Run around, look for events, explore, literally everything you do and everywhere you go, gives xp. You can level via crafting! Which, btw, is relevant throughout the entire game, unlike in Wakfu.

You do have dungeons of two kinds, and you CAN farm them if you want, but it’s your deliberate decision. There ARE farms in GW2, but they’re fun, if you’re not trying to get a legendary weapon in a month. I personally like running around with a bunch of random people who are there to FARM events in a specific map, but that happens once every two months.

Said legendary weapons ARE hard to get and yes, they can get you burnt out in no time if you don’t have a concept of a “long term goal”. Leggies are a prestige item, and, just like other prestige items (auras, specific minis, skins, etc), they’re meant to be your ultimate show-off item. People see you and know that you’ve been through.. A lot. BUT. Your hard-earned prestige item is to stay prestige. I assume you know relics in Wakfu? Then you must know what happened to them after a few years.

There’s no devaluing in GW2. Your trophies stay relevant and rare. Your prizes, your exclusive titles, skins, etc stay exclusive. You aren’t losing half of your wealth just because the devs decided to revamp ALL GEAR FOR THE THIRD TIME.

Speaking of the gear, the orange set you get at 80, is endgame gear. GW2 is 5 years old, so that orange gear is. People crafted it on the release and.. It stayed endgame. Yes, there’s also pink gear, which ~5% better than orange and is only needed if you do high lvl fractals or are min-maxing in raids. If you’re casual or just starting, you don’t even have to think about it. But once you craft your set, it stays relevant forever. People’s effort is never shoved up their asses.

There’s no constant carrot-on-a-stick gear upgrades. Level cap is 80 since release and will stay so. The game promotes safety and stability, that’s what attracted me. You take a 2 years break? No problem, you log in and go play. Nothing has lost its value, you don’t feel inferior, you don’t need to catch up to play with your friends.

Which reminded me: there’s a wonderfully done level downscale system. You’re a lvl 80 in a lvl 16 zone? Your stats are auto-adapted so the enemies you fought as a noob are still dangerous, and your reward (xp/gold/materials) is adapted to your true lvl. You go and play anywhere you want, and get fair rewards.

Crafting materials of all levels are also demanded and relevant. Oh yeah, you can run around for hours just gathering wood/ore, familiar to Wakfu players? It’s nice and relaxing until you meet another player. Well, in GW2 all gathering nodes are NOT shared. You see a tree? It’s your tree. That dude who runs up to it won’t steal it from you.

Oh also there’s no kill steal! Which is big, imo. You’re encouraged to play together, to help people kill stuff, to contribute to any event you see around, since everyone gets rewarded equally.

Legendary stability of GW2 servers. Lemme just say: there’s no weekly maintenance. There is. No. Downtime. Even on the big update days, you can download and play pretty safely. If there’s a hotfix, the game KINDLY WARNS YOU that you need to update and you have TWO FLIPPING HOURS to do so. Before you did that, you still can play, finish whatever you were up to.

Everything revolves around player’s happiness and convenience. There are constant quality-of-life updates. Your bags are full of crap? Here, salvage it into materials with two clicks, then deposit into your bank with two clicks (from anywhere in the world), then compact the rest of your shit. Yeah, with two clicks. x’D

There’s wonderful Fashion Wars. The game offers so much customization, and it’s taken so seriously, that it’s one of the endgame aspects. There’s 30000+ achievement points to earn, which are mostly fun and make you go out of your usual way. Dailies? You get 10 points and 2 gold for doing 3 easy tasks that take ~15 minutes.

There’s LORE. There’s fun little interactions all over the world. You just did an event? Stay here and listen, probably npcs will say/do something and start another event, logically following the previous one. The world lives and breathes. You can just walk around and observe. You’ll learn so much. And of course, there’s always a good cause to laugh. Dialogues/reactions are just hilarious sometimes.

Regarding the lore: there’s a so-called personal story which accompanies you up to lvl 80, then there’s “living world”, smaller events and single maps being rolled out every once in a while - so far there’s 2 seasons available, and 1 being “historical”, not playable anymore. In that season, they fucking crushed the main capital city. It changed forever. It was an epic event, which I missed, but watched people’s videos later. Then season 2, then HoT, then season 3, and now we’re waiting for PoF, second expansion. The updates have picked a nice pace and are frequent now.

There’s just so much to do. Just go, dive into the world and drown forever. :3c And meet me on the bottom. x’DD

GW2 feels different from Wakfu, but I found similarities for myself. It’s a sandbox after all, and later endgame has a lot of strategy. GW2 is never tank-and-spank. You just, literally, can’t facetank shit here. You gotta use your skills wisely, time your dodges, play with traits/passives until it all flows together. You’ve got a HUGE BUILD FREEDOM. There’s 9 classes, each having at least 3 defined roles, with more variations. You don’t just go ranger (oh archer it’s like a cra rite??) and do pew pew from max distance. Well, yes, you have a bow and can pew pew.. Or you can be a melee fighter, you can be a full blown healer/support.. As a ranger, yes.

I’ll be wrapping up now, I swear. GW2 is true f2p. Which of course does have a few restrictions (can’t trade or use map-chat), but you can get to 80, gear up and explore to your heart’s content before you decide to pay. I personally played for 5 months, every day, before I bought HoT.

Why’d you buy an expansion? More story, more maps, new class traits, gliding in HoT and mounts in PoF. The expansion and living world content has been constantly improving, visually, mechanically and lore/writing-wise.

Other than that, there’s a gemstore offering cosmetic and convenience items (gems can be bought for cash OR ingame gold). There are infamous rng boxes, but none of those are p2w. GW2 is oriented at the western consumer, which means, yeah, they know that we hate p2w and they’ll never do that to us.

*breathes out* I had to get that off my chest. I wanna talk about GW2 forever, but it’s exhausting to do one-on-one. :P Hopefully someone’s still reading this!

Now lemme remind you that now I have those partner links, if you use this to create a new account and play for free (for an hour or two months? w/e), or this to buy an expansion, I’ll get paid a bit. Not much, but it definitely helps!

And I was gonna write this wall of text regardlessly of the partnership one day, now I just have more incentive. x’DD Plus, we’re gonna have a beta weekend on 11-13 august, where you can preview the second expansion for free! It’s a perfect timing to write this post and try convincing you. You’ll just need a f2p account, and you’ll be given a lvl 80 boost and whatnot for that beta weekend. I’m not sure yet, but I assume you WILL. Just please register using my link above, so that I get paid for the two hours I spent on this post. :D

[silver-stargazing]

Storytime with Joel and The Bots

My submission for @aggressivelyarospec AggressivelyArospecWeek. I wrote about Joel Robinson from Mystery Science Theater 3000, who I headcanon as aro/ace and also as someone who, at one point in his life, wanted children of his own.

Please note that this is entirely a headcanon and that you are more than welcome to have a different headcanon from mine. Draw a picture, write a song, compose an awesome play, make a goofy post, whatever it is that helps you express your important headcanons! I’d honestly love to see more headcanons about these wonderful characters!

And for context: this takes place a few days after Women of the Prehistoric Planet, so this would be very early in the show’s run and only a few months into Joel’s captivity. The only thing you need to know is that they had a couch briefly on the bridge.

AO3

Word Count: 2572

“C’mon, Joel! Hurry up!”

From the Satellite’s kitchen, a slightly muffled voice responded.

“One more minute, Crow! My hot chocolate’s almost done.”

“How long does it take to make one cup of Swiss Miss?” Tom Servo shot back. “It’s like you’ve been in there for hours. Did you fall into the stove again? Do we need to call LifeAlert?”

“You keep up with that sass, Tom, and there’ll be no RAM chips for any of you guys. Now I said a minute and I meant it.”

The Bots both groused for a moment. Then the bridge of the Satellite of Love fell into a restless silence as its robotic crew waited impatiently on their big comfortable couch.

The past few days had really tested the patience of the Satellite’s crew, both robots and human alike.

They’d had to sit through a particularly dreadful film called Women of the Prehistoric Planet and deal with a doomsday device that did nothing but aggravate them even further. Then, once the experiment was finally over, they ended up flying through a nasty solar storm that resulted in a brief black-out, shorting out many of the Satellite’s essential functions including the heating.

According to Gypsy’s calculations, the Satellite would return to normal after a few days of system updates and reboots. Until then, though, no heat.

To compensate for the coldness, warm blankets and pillows had been dragged out of every nook and cranny and stockpiled onto the bridge. The Bots had their built-in heaters, but the chill of the Satellite mixed with the general frigid coldness of space was more than enough to get everyone to bundle up. Crow and Tom were wrapped up tightly with several multi-color afghans, Gypsy had a bright pink shawl tied up around her head and body, and even Cambot had on a little winter hat made from spare fabric.

Joel Robinson, the sole human occupant of the SOL, walked into the room holding a small stack of books and his coffee mug. He looked to all the world like he’d just come out of a blizzard. He had three different layers of Gizmonics sweaters on over his regular jumpsuit plus a cozy wool jacket. His hands were covered in several gloves, each with a built-in heating unit of his own design. His face was barely recognizable under the length of scarf covering it, but from the warm crinkle lines around his eyes, the Bots could tell that he was actually enjoying the change in climate.

“Peculiar weather we’re having for June, huh?” he joked. “Reminds me of those summer days back in Minneapolis.”

He placed the pile of books down in between Tom and Crow and set off to the far opposite of the room where Cambot lay nestled on a pillow.

“Sure you don’t want to join us, little guy?” asked Joel softly while adjusting the bot’s tiny hat.

The bot narrowed his lens and nestled even deeper, indicating he was comfortable where he was currently.

Joel nodded and gave Cambot a little pat on the head before returning to the couch. The little bot had always been a bit more standoffish by nature, anyway. Always happy to simply be around his family but not directly interact with anyone. Joel could understand that.

Grabbing a heap of blankets, Joel settled himself neatly between Tom and Crow on the couch. He cradled his hot coco in his gloved hands, cherishing the taste of chocolate and appreciating the warmth. It was so warm, in fact, that it was almost enough to put someone to-

“Hey, don’t go to sleep yet!” Tom called out, jerking Joel straight out of his daze.

“Yeah, remember?” said Crow, nudging the pile of books with a small golden claw. “Stories?”

“Stories!” Gypsy exclaimed excitedly.

Storytime was a relatively new tradition on the Satellite of Love. A week ago, when Joel first found the couch in the loading bay, he also came across an old box full of fairy tale and folk lore books. Why they were there in the first place, he never knew why (then again, he’d learned by now to stop asking too many questions when it came to the Satellite anyway).

Originally, he read the stories to test the Bots’ comprehension skills and experiment with how much information they could retain. Overtime, though, storytime turned into less of a lab test and more of a nightly gathering for the residents of the Satellite to take a break. To hear stories that were designed to lift their spirits up rather than break them down. Sure, their evil overlords down in Deep 13 would probably take away both the stories and the couch as it would mess with their data, but for now, everyone on board appreciated their time spent together.

“Well, all right. We’ve got storytime and then a letter from Earth to read after that.” He began to flip through the stack of books. “Which story should we read tonight? We’ve got Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio-“

Tom shuddered.

“Never again with that one. Way to traumatize me away from show biz, story.”

“Not me!” said Crow enthusiastically. “Hollywood ain’t seen nothing ‘till they sees the likes of Crow T. Robot! I’ll be up there with the legends. Steven Spielberg, Billy Wilder, Francis Ford Coppola…”

“Yeah, more like Ed Wood, Coleman Francis, and Sandy Frank,” muttered Servo.

“Hey!” Crow squawked indignantly.

“Girl!” croaked Gypsy, distracting everyone from the brewing fight between Crow and Tom. The purple robot pointed her head in the direction of the book stack.

“Do you want us to read a story about a girl, Gypsy?” asked Joel, proud of her for taking the initiative in choosing a book. She was usually so shy and introverted around the rest of the Crew during their nightly storytime.

She nodded her head vigorously. Both Tom and Crow groaned.

“A girl book? Aww Joel? Do we have to?”

“Hey, you should have said something before Gypsy. Besides, I happen to recall that you, Mr. Tom, have chosen the last three stories in a row.”

Servo sighed.

“Alright, we can give Gypsy’s story a try.”

They silently rummaged through the story books, occasionally showing a book to Gypsy only for her to reject each offering.

Crow waved a book in front of Joel’s face.

“Ha-ha. Hey! She looks just like how you used to look!”

On the cover was a young woman with impossibly long blonde hair. Rapunzel.

“Very funny, Mr. Smart Guy,” replied Joel dryly. His right hand ghosted over where his old hair length used to be. That extra hair probably would have helped to keep him a little bit warmer, he lamented.

“What do you think about this one, Gyps?” asked Crow, holding the book up for Gypsy. “She’s got really long hair just like you’ve got a really long coil.”

“Yeah! Yeah!” she responded, nodding her head eagerly.

Crow passed the picture book off to Joel, who then held the book up for Cambot to see.

“You all right with Rapunzel, Cambot?”

The bot’s lens widened and his whole form whirred with excitement. Joel smiled at the quirky response.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

He quickly drained the remaining dregs of his hot chocolate and set the mug aside.

Cracking open the book, he gave a dignified “Hem” and began:

“Once upon a time in a far-off kingdom…”

And so, Joel recounted the tale of the maiden Rapunzel, of the evil witch who imprisoned the young girl in a tower, and of Rapunzel’s noble prince. He paused occasionally to address any questions and allow for riffing from his captivated audience (that was, after all, what the Bots were originally designed for. To make jokes at stories no matter how good or bad they were. Joel found no point in discouraging them from what they were built to do).

“And Rapunzel and her Prince rode off to the Prince’s kingdom where they lived, happily married and with several wonderful children, for many long and loving years. The End. So, what did you all think of the story?”

“Yay!” exclaimed Gypsy, enthused by the story’s happy ending. Cambot similarly buzzed with delight.

“Thought the second act could’ve been stronger. And that ending? Is it believable in that era that a peasant would marry into nobility? The whole kingdom would be thrown apart by scandal! It would be like Wallis Simpson and King Edward all over again!” Tom argued before adding hesitantly “It was nice that the Prince got his eyesight back, though.”

Crow, meanwhile, seemed to have his focus elsewhere entirely, his ping pong eyes darting everywhere in concentration.

“Crow, buddy, what’d you think of Rapunzel?”

“Wait a second…Joel!” Crow finally cried out. “Joel Joel Joel Joel Joel! Remember how I said you looked like the lady?”

“Yeah, I remember. And I should really have a talk with you about-”

“Oh, I was joking then, but Joel! What if you did grow out your hair long enough so that it could reach Earth? We’d be saved!”

The human could only chuckle at the Bot’s suggestion.

“I don’t know if that would work too well,” was all he could respond before laughing again.

“What? Why not?! We’re all basically stuck in a tower like Rapunzel anyway. Let your hair grow out, toss it out the airlock and wait for a wayfaring prince to come and rescue us! C’mon, it’s foolproof!”

“Crow, space and human hair do not work-”

“Oh yeah, and then maybe you and the prince could get married and we could all live in a castle!” Servo chimed in. Joel could honestly not tell whether Tom was being serious or not. “Get ourselves some servants, a few butlers, a swimming pool, the whole nine yards!”

“Marriage? Now that’s the most far-fetched thing you guys have said yet!” snorted Joel, before realizing what he had just said.

He awkwardly coughed and gave an outwardly light laugh. Scratching the back of his head, he hoped for something, anything to change the subject. He really didn’t feel ready to have this conversation yet (if ever).

“What’s so odd about you and marriage, Joel?” Tom inquired innocently.

“Yeah, are you already married or something?” came the follow-up question from Crow.

“Wife?” asked Gypsy.

“No, not married. It’s just, I’ve never considered getting married before. Well, actually…at all. Just never been for me, I guess.”

“How do ya’ figure?” said Crow.

Joel opened his mouth, paused and closed it again, considering what to say next.

To him, it had always been so simple. He had long accepted that he would rather be in a lab cooking up a new gadget or planning his next invention than pursuing any sort of romantic relationship. Romance was about as appealing to him as an arsenic and hamdinger sandwich.

But how do you explain that lack of attraction? The Bots only had a scant understanding of human behavior, most of which came from awful B-movies. Joel would have to choose his words carefully.

“It’s like…some folks have lives and stories a lot like Rapunzel and her Prince,” he finally said. “They find someone who they deeply love all romantic like and they hopefully live happily ever after together. But that’s not everyone’s story.”

“Some folks, myself included, have stories more like…more like Geppetto.”

“What? The old geezer from Pinocchio?” Crow responded incredulously.

“Yeah, does that mean we’re going to get a cricket infestation and Crow’s beak is going to grow longer than it already is?” joked Tom.

“No no. Just that Geppetto is so full of love but not in the same way as Rapunzel is for her Prince. He has more of this wonderful platonic love. A love for his craft. A love for life,” Joel reached over to pat Gypsy on the head. “A love for his creations.”

“Aww,” she said.

“I think the word they were using for that back on Earth was ‘aromantic’.”

“Well, I always thought you smelled lovely,” said Tom.

Joel smiled at the word-play.

“That’s ‘aromatic’, you goof. And I don’t remember installing any smell sensors in you, either.”

“Wouldn’t be opposed to an upgrade,” Tom quickly replied. “You know, my vocal box still keeps glitching on me from time-to-time.”

“I’ll see what parts I can scavenge to build you a new voice box. Might take a while but we’ll fix it.”

Joel paused and looked upwards.

“Hey, Magic Voice. How are we doing with those system updates? Any estimates?”

“Five more hours, Joel,” chimed a light mechanical but still recognizably female voice over the Satellite’s intercom.

He gave a weary sigh.

“Thanks. Looks like I’ll have to make some actual coffee this time. It’s going to be a long night.” He shifted, getting ready to stand up. “Maybe I’ll sniff out some RAM chips while I’m in the kitchen. Gypsy, honey, you want to help me search for some?”

“But-but Joel?” Crow finally said, still processing what Joel just told them. “If we can’t marry you off, how are we going to convince a wandering prince to save us?”

Joel could hear the worry in the golden bot’s voice. He placed a gloved hand on Crow’s shoulder.

“We don’t need any Prince to save us. Crow, you just came up with an escape plan in minutes! Why would we need a stuffy old prince to get us out when we’ve got a couple of expert jailbreakers right here? We’re all smart enough to get home safely together.”

“Well…” Crow started, reconsidering his plan. “We could always modify the plan so that I climb down your hair to Earth.”

“There we go!”

“Yeah! And then, in a thrilling conclusion to our epic odyssey, I’ll lead an expert commando squadron of elite ninja warriors to infiltrate and bring down Deep 13, getting you all back to Earth! I should really check to make sure my ninja contacts are all up to date…”

“Give me an outline of the plan in the morning and I’ll see what I can do for you, buddy” said Joel, getting ready to return to the kitchen. He stopped, suddenly remembering the letter in his jacket pocket.

“I almost forgot, the Mads sent us a letter before the black-out earlier. There’s not going to be an experiment this week until they get the projector fixed but we can still read it.”

“Who’s it from, Joel?” asked Tom.

“From a Mr....Isaac Asimov? From Minnesota, Earth?” Joel looked at the address then back at the Bots. “You guys didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?”

They all shook their heads, even Cambot. The human still suspected otherwise.

Joel opened the letter and smiled wider than he had in months.

It was a crayon drawing of a red jump-suited person being hugged by a red gumball machine, a golden bowling ball pin, a purple snake, and a camera on a wire.

The SOL crew.

Joel felt a tear leak from his eye. Years back on Earth spent in misery, coming to terms with the fact he’d never have a family like he’d often wished for. All that felt immediately shut down by this letter

Here was his family all along, sticking it out together on a satellite orbiting the Earth. An unconventional family? Sure, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The letter simply read:

“HAPPY FATHER’S DAY JOEL ROBINSON!”

Joel’s honestly really important to me in regards to headcanoning him as aro/ace. Here’s a cool and relaxed man who I see as aromantic who has a family and is a wonderful parent to his kids. As an aro/ace person who might like to have kids of her own one day (maybe), it’s kind of reassuring to know that Aromantics can make for great parents.

This is also actually my very first fanfiction and probably my first time writing creative fiction since I was 14 (discounting any songs that I’ve written as writing those feels like a completely different experience). So I apologize if the characters seem OOC. Never was the best with dialogue, so it was probably a poor decision to have my first fic be comprised largely of dialogue...

[breastforce]

Marco is a Trans Girl - The Megapost 2.0

So you’ve likely seen my big post on the theory that Marco Diaz from Star vs The Forces of Evil is a Trans Girl. It was made back in July of 2016 when Season 2 was just starting, and since then a lot of things have changed and we now know a lot more about what’s going on behind the scenes.

This post is meant to be an updated explanation of Trans Girl Marco theory, but now more in line with how things are actually happening. The gist of it being that Marco Diaz is coded as a closeted transgender girl.  Expect less theorizing and more meta talk. I’ll be going over all the clues that indicate Marco is trans, as well as how the starcrew came to the desicion as Marco developed as a character.

I can’t give enough thanks to the members of the crew such as @arythusa and @hug-bees​, whom have both done as much as they possibly can to communicate with the show’s growing LGBT fanbase, and given us so much insight into what’s going on

Full post below the cut.

Part 1: How it Happened.

“In my experience, almost no character goes into episode 1 totally finished. With such a long writing process, people end up changing and "discovering" more about the characters as they go on.” -Sabrina Cotungo [x]

A lot of aspects in Star Vs developed and matured along Seasons 1 and 2. Alfonso and Ferguson were written out and Janna joined the main cast, Ponyhead, Tom, and Glossaryk were given bigger roles, etc. So it’s pretty clear that Marco wasn’t originally penned as a Trans Girl. For the greater half of Season 1, they were simply a boy that ocassional feminine tendancies, with very few episodes indicating that there was anything else going on.

So what happened?

Well, individual writers and storyboarders have a bit of creative freedom when it comes to cartoon episodes. While they don’t have the ability to set much in stone, they can weave their own interpritations of characters into the outline that they’re given, inserting in small details that can enrich a character.

So while Marco was ‘officially’ a feminine boy, some writers interprited their feminity and general insecurities as indicative of something deeper.

One such example is in Mewberty:

While Star’s under an affliction that causes her to break out in hearts around boys, the writers have Marco not realize that they’re also a ‘boy’ for the first quarter of the episode, and when Marco’s hit over the head with something that would seem to be fairly evident for them, there’s a very noticable pause indicating that it’s something they are (or have just become) self-concious about.

And just to hammer the point home, there’s even a part in the episode where Marco’s outright mistaken to be a girl:

And Marco could have just been left at that.

The episode where I believe things changed though, is St. Olga’s School For Wayward Princesses

Marco disguises themself as a Princess to break help Star break into a boarding school, and the whole thing is completely natural. Marco doesn’t really try at all to be something they’re not - they’re just Marco.

Most media would have somebody suspect that there was something ‘off’ about Marco or constantly bring up how they’re the “odd one out” amongst all the other girls. Instead, Marco’s allowed to simply just be a girl for an episode without any objections from the narrative. Their gender is never made fun of, questioned, second-guessed, or even really brought up at all, even by the villain.

Not to mention the message of the episode - It’s Not Criminal To Be An Individual

It’s all about how there’s no wrong way to be a princess, but since royalty is a very narrow market in the United States, let’s just assume that the actual message is about how there’s no wrong way to be a girl.

And it’s likely no coincidence that Marco’s not only viewed as being no different from any of the other princess but also the keystone of the entire movement.

There’s no wrong way to be a girl, and Marco’s included in that. 

I don’t know for sure whether the writer behind this episode, Piero Piluso, conciously wrote Marco with them being transgender in mind, but they wrote Princess Marco as a girl through and through.

And that’s likely when the lightbulbs started going off in the crew.

Season 2 brought in a slew of new writers and cast members, including people who’ve had previous expierience writing LGBT characters such as Giancarlo Volpe, Evon Freeman, Le Tang, Amelia Lorenz, Zach Marcus, Brett Varon, Gina Gress, and the aforementioned Sabrina Cotungo (whom had even tried to get a transgender character into Gravity Falls)

The new batch of writers now all had the existence of Princess Marco influencing their interpritations of Marco, which made it a lot easier for many of them to come to the conclusion that there was something deeper going on, and that this kid was trans.

Thus resulting in a MASSIVE explosion of hints occuring throughout Season 2.

Part 2: Scattered Evidence 

“So if and/or when you detect LGBT-friendly themes on this show, it’s most likely there because the creators fought hard to put it there. They did the best they could to get any form of representation over, under or around those censors. They put it there to make a positive change in media.” -Amelia Lorenz [x]

Seaon 2 was where things really staarted to pck up.

Marco’s very first appearance is this:

Alright, they could be a feminine guy, Doesn’t exactly prove anything

They then spend the rest of the episode trapped in a closet that they want to get out of.

Which just so happens to be a Closet of Secrets.

Star even proposes at one point that it might be easier for Marco to just spend the rest of their life in the closet.

And, to top it all off, the writers specifically have Marco spend their entire time in said closet wearing a goddamn skirt.

In Mr. Candle Cares we get Marco outright saying they’d ‘Love to be Queen’. 

Red Belt opens up with a dream sequence where Marco’s more shocked to find themselves buried in a suit than dead:

And upon seeing themselves in a suit (which they don’t want!), they’re reminded that they’re unsure of themselves and their future.

And how, to Marco, there’s something holding them down. Something that they’re missing. Something that sets them apart from the rest of the cast (!!!!!!!!).

And this dyphoria Marco’s expieriencing was set off by a suit covered in mewberty hearts.

Calling back to the ‘Boy Hands’ moment above:

Marco fears that they’ll spend their life closeted, that they won’t be able to progress in life because they spent it hiding away, unable to escape being a ‘boy’ just like what happened in Mewberty.

And the dream wasn’t just a one-off thing for Marco:

It’s a regular, recurring nightmare they’ve had to the point where they told Star about it. They’ve been unsettled over the long term, but the show hasn’t shown it, they just let us know in this moment. 

Then we get Fetch, where in the last few minutes the writers do an animal-based dysphoria metaphor that puts Cartoon Network to shame.

It is pretty clear that the writers know what they’re doing because that’s legitimately one of the better explanations of what having dysphoria is like that I’ve seen on television: Rather than the dog talking about how they were “born in the wrong body”, they want to be a dog that is just like any other in order to calm their troubled emotions.

The book Star and Marco’s Guide to Mastering Every Dimension hammers down on the trans metaphor even further:

Willoughby is a dog. But in her dimension, dogs aren’t like dogs on Earth. They have very complicated feelings. So she stole my wand to make herself not have those complicated feelings anymore.

This passage can easily be translated to: “Some [women] aren’t like [other women]. They have very complicated feelings. So they [transition] to make themselves not have those complicated feelings anymore.” which is such a simple way of explaining what being trans is like to kids that it wouldn’t feel out of place on Sesame Street.

Not even a minute after the first exchange, we get this:

Which not only hammers in the idea that this is all about gender ever further, since they include a gender reveal that has no other real impact on the story, but if the dog’s in any way symbolic of Marco, then the scene pretty much speaks for itself.

And then in Gift of the Card, Heinous makes her return and the name “Princess Marco” is actually used in the show itself.

And after a season with a bunch of bits and pieces of foreshadowing scattered throughout:

It’s revealed in Nayasya that Marco does in fact have dysphoria, they’re so ashamed of their body that they can’t even look themselves in the mirror:

Marco Diaz covers the mirror when he shows because Marco is ashamed of his own body!

In addition, mirrors and showers are such common motifs in trans narratives that Sense8 had their trans character describe her dysphoria in nearly the same exact way. 

“At that age I was really uncomfortable with my body and didn’t like to be naked, especially in front of other boys. But you had to take a shower before you went in the pool, so I would do it but I kept my swimsuit on.”

And the only point where Marco can apparently somewhat stand to look themselves in the mirror?

When they’re dressed like that. Indicating that this isn’t just some Teenaged Body Insecurity but rather dysphoria.

Star and Marco's Guide to Mastering Every Dimension, a canonical side book that fleshes out the lore of the show, also manages to expand on Marco’s thoughts on their stay at St. Olga’s:

I almost died at St. O’s. Twice. The first time was at the hands of some robot guards, and the second time I almost died emotionally in the Solitary Conform-ment Chamber. I did learn that I’d make a great princess. I really wouldn’t say that pink is my color... but I wouldn’t mind wearing a poofy dress every now and then. It’s kinda liberating.

Notice their word choice. Not only do they outright say “I learned I’d make a great princess”, not only indicating that they did infact themselves as a girl in St. Olga’s to a degree rather than simply seeing the whole thing as ‘just a disguise’, but they also call wearing a ‘poofy dress’ to be liberating. 

There is a HUGE difference between “a guy enjoys wearing dresses and would like to wear them more often’ and ‘somebody who’s fantasized about being a girl finds a dress they didn’t even chose to wear to be personally liberating’. It’s not simply a matter of Marco wearing a dress, but rather that their attitudes towards it (and everything else) are something that a lot of Trans Women have found relatable.

Part 3: ‘Heinous’

“I can tell you that Daron is open to the idea of LGBT characters but beyond that the situation gets complicated. Also, as a board artist, I don’t have a lot of say in terms of larger story or character arcs, so I’m afraid I can’t comment on future plans.” - Sabrina Cotugno [x]

At this point there’s a number of members in the crew that all view Marco as a trans girl, and are writing her that way, but nobody has the power to make it explicit.

Then comes ‘Heinous’.

This episode pushed this concept to its absolute limit, where the writers for the episode did literally everything they could to get across the message that Marco’s trans and brought the theory to being as canon as they can possibly get at the time. (To the point where people on Reddit who either didn’t follow or dismissed the theory were struggling to figure out what the point of the episode was)

The basics:

Marco is consistently gendered with ‘she’ pronouns throughout the episode and the writers don’t have anybody ever question it

When in her Princess getup, Marco explictly refers to herself as a girl and seems to have a blast despite being blackmailed, to the point where they voluntairly keep on the dress for family game night.

The dialogue from Marco’s parents have loads of double meanings, where they’re talking about finding out about Marco’s interdimensional activities, but deliberately involk the image of somebody who just got outed as being gay or transgender to their parents.

And, most of all, Princess Marco wasn’t just a distant memory that didn’t matter. The episode revealed that Marco secretly kept up the ‘Princess Marco’ persona this whole time, getting royalty checks from merchandise inspired by her.

And to make things even more meta, Marco has apparently ‘influencing the next generation of princesses’ to be true to themselves.

The whole theme of the episode is Marco getting across a hidden message meant to inspire people despite being restricted in what they can say. So Marco says what they’re obliged to say, but phrases it in a way that makes the true message clear to the intended audience. This is essentially how the crew has been handling the theory in of itself.

Part 4 (for now): Conclusions

I’ll continue to update the post with relevant information as we move onto Season 3, so this part of the post will most likely change

The image that is being drawn is that the crew really really really wants to include trans representation within their work, and not only views but are actively writing a character as being transgender, but they can not come out and just say it due to legal reasons.

The crew’s response to the idea of Marco being transgender, as well as the prospects of LGBT representation within the show itself, has been nothing but positive. They’ve been consistently defending it to the point where one of the directors for Season 4 put out an argument as for why Marco being transgender girl is more important than them being a boy.

It’s not certain whether or not Marco will be able to come out and transition to being a girl during the series. The crew has many times expressed frustration about how much of a fight they have to put up to even get hints at LGBT representation past the censors. In the meantime, or in case they ultimately don’t succeed, the staff are deliberately giving trans people something to relate to in Princess Marco, and are doing everything they can to make sure we at least have that.

“I wish I could give a more reassuring or more substantial answer, but little by little people in the industry are trying to change things. The victories seem a bit small for now, but please know that you’re not forgotten.”  -Ariel V.H. [x] 

[thehenryhiggs]

bre’s big ol podcast rec list

heyyy everyone! so @bodhilukes​ asked for podcast recommendations on twitter and @czarrish​ and i immediately jumped on that. i was gonna make this list sometime this month away, and im super excited to do it! this is probably gonna get long so under the cut we go!

COMEDIES:

1. Hello From The Magic Tavern

Updates: Every Monday

Current # Of Eps: 101

General Length Of Eps: 40 mins to an hour

Synopsis: Arnie Niekamp fell through a dimensional portal at a Burger King in Chicago into the magical, fantastical land of Foon. He’s still getting a slight wifi signal from the Burger King, so he hosts a weekly podcast with his buddies Chunt (a shapeshifter who normally takes the shape of a badger) and Usidore, a wizard. They interview different creatures from Foon each week as Arnie tries to learn about Foon, while also trying to figure out how to get back home.

Notes: Okay, I have to say it. This is my favorite podcast. I love it to absolute death. It 100% got me into improv comedy and comedy podcasts, to the point where that’s pretty much all I listen to anymore. Arnie, Matt, and Adal are sweethearts and the show is so genuinely funny and interesting. Please give this one a listen.

2. The Adventure Zone

Updates: Every other Thursday

Current # Of Eps: 57

General Length Of Eps: An hour, but there are a few that are two or three.

Synopsis: The McElroys play Dungeons and Dragons. But it’s also so much more than that.

Notes: Okay you all know how much I love this podcast. I love it to death. I’m still only like halfway through it but god it’s amazing and I’m so angry I didn’t start it earlier. All of the characters are amazing and Griffin is truly such an amazing storyteller. It’s so much deeper than you would originally think, and it will make you cry like a baby. Please listen to The Adventure Zone. Holy shit.

3. CoolGames Inc 

Updates: Every Friday

Current # Of Eps: 45, with some CGI Jrs mixed in.

General Length Of Eps: An hour (CGI Jrs are 20 mins)

Synopsis: Polygon’s Nick Robinson and Griffin McElroy take listener suggestions and make video games out of them.

Notes: These are my favorite soft boys, and they are just too funny. Some of the games they come up with are genuinely good games that you’ll be upset don’t actually exist, but most of them are just silly goofs that are guaranteed to make you laugh. This podcast single-handedly got me through last semester, so shoutout to Nick and Griffin for that. You should also check out CoolGames Inc Animated!

4. Improvised Star Trek 

Updates: Every other Monday

Current # Of Eps: 157, with a BUNCH of bonus eps mixed in

General Length Of Eps: About 30 mins for regular eps, 5 mins for bonus

Synopsis: These are the voyages of the starship Sisyphus, Starfleet’s worst crew. Captain Julius Valentine Baxter and his crew, including First Officer Corbomite Hayes, Science Officer Crick Watson, Ensign Laserbear, and Chief Medical Officer Zarlene Zonaldson, just to name a few, get into way too much trouble out in the final frontier.

Notes: I started listening to this because of Matt Young from HFTMT (and because I got super into Trek), but god I fell in love with every single character. Quite a few guests from HFTMT are regulars on IST, and their shenanigans are just amazing. If you love Trek, you’ll love this.

5. Siblings Peculiar 

Updates: Infrequently

Current # Of Eps: 29

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: Adam and Sarah Peculiar (pronounced Pec-U-lAr) are trying to figure out what happened to their parents, paranormal investigators that suddenly disappeared 10 years ago. They interview conspiracy theorists of all sorts as they try to gain any information they can about their parents’ whereabouts.

Notes: I started listening to this one because of Adal Rifai from HFTMT, and I’m glad I did because he and his sister are so funny together. Their conspiracy theories are so off-the-wall hilarious (there’s a whole episode about Grease being propaganda where they interview the real creator of Grease), although I will say the comedy might not be for everyone as it can veer a little into the offensive (but it’s satire and I personally love it). It’s less frequent now because Sadieh got cast in a tv show, but I still recommend listening to it!

DRAMAS:

1. Welcome to Night Vale 

Updates: Bimonthly, on the 1st and the 15th.

Current # Of Eps: 103

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: Cecil hosts a radio show in the mysterious town of Night Vale, where abnormal things like Glow Clouds, angels, ominous dog parks, and floating cats are commonplace.

Notes: We’ve all listened to WTNV at this point, right? Or at least heard of it? Besides an old Fringe podcast I used to listen to back in like 2008, this was the first podcast I ever listened to. Cecil’s voice is just incredibly soothing, I find this podcast really helps when I’m super depressed, and I used to stock up on eps specifically for those times. 

2. The Black Tapes/TANIS 

Updates: they used to be weekly but they look pretty infrequent now

Current # Of Eps: TBTP has 24, TANIS has 25, both with several bonus eps mixed in

General Length Of Eps: 30-45 mins

Synopsis: TBTP is about journalists Alex and Nic investigating The Strand Institute’s Richard Strand and his various black tapes that may be evidence of the paranormal. TANIS is the spinoff, where Nic focuses more on real life conspiracy theories as he tries to find the location of the mythical TANIS.

Notes: I’m not gonna lie, I did drop both of these podcasts and I’m not sure if I will pick them back up. But the first season of both were incredible, and @czarrish introduced them to me and they really got me into podcasts. In my opinion they both declined in quality during their second seasons, but that’s just my opinion!

3. The Penumbra Podcast 

Updates: I think it’s on hiatus? But I think it was bi-weekly at one point

Current # Of Eps: 19, with bonuses mixed in

General Length Of Eps: 30-50 mins

Synopsis: The Penumbra is the grandest hotel this side of Nowhere.The series mostly follows Detective Juno Steel trying to solve mysteries, but they’re all stories you recognize told in ways you won’t expect. 

Notes: Again, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve barely listened to this and I really don’t know that much about it. I had to take a lot of the synopsis from the actual one on their website. But the first two episodes were awesome, so I feel confident in recommending it. I think they might be rebooting it?? Idk, you might want to ask @czarrish for more details.

4. Alice Isn’t Dead

Updates: Season one wrapped in Jul 2016 and it’s been on hiatus ever since. edit: s2 is starting soon!

Current # Of Eps: 10

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: Alice is a truck driver who’s driving across the country in search of her missing wife, who she thought had been dead but now has reason to believe otherwise.

Notes: This is from the creators of WTNV and features the voice of Jasika Nicole, who I know and love from Fringe but also does the voice of Dana on WTNV. It’s spooky but not too much so, and I’ve admittedly only listened to 3 episodes but just like Cecil, Jasika has a wonderfully soothing voice.

MISC:

1. Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Updates: Every Monday

Current # Of Eps: 148

General Length Of Eps: An hour

Synopsis: Basically what it says on the tin: two guys explain in detail everything that has happened in the X-Men universe, starting at the very beginning.

Notes: Again I haven’t listened to too much of this, but it’s really fun. I’ve loved X-Men for a while but I always get confused with all the retcons and different verses and stuff, but Jay and Miles do a wonderful job of explaining everything without making it confusing.

2. Terrace House Mafia 

Updates: Infrequently

Current # Of Eps: 14

General Length Of Eps: 10-15 mins

Synopsis: Polygon’s Nick Robinson and his roommate Chad watch Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City and talk about it. That’s it. But it’s cute as fuck.

Notes: I absolutely love listening to these guys talk about Terrace House because they’re going through the exact same journey that I (and probably everyone) went on when I first watched it. It’s quick and super fun to listen to.

3. The Probe 

Updates: Was weekly, but s1 wrapped in November so it’s been on hiatus

Current # Of Eps: 8

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: A satirical take on news podcasts, two journalists follow the election at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, and learn about the country’s political climate along the way. 

Notes: Again, I started listening to this because Matt Young from HFTMT produced it, but I really enjoyed it beyond that. If you like HFTMT, you’ll recognize a lot of the Chicago-based actors in The Probe. Also I wasn’t exactly sure where to put this so I just put it in MISC cuz it’s like... definitely funny and improvised but also it’s a little serious, maybe? Idk, it’s satire. And it’s great satire.

I’m also gonna include the podcasts that I’m subscribed to but I haven’t actually started listening to yet. They piqued my interest but I just haven’t gotten around to listening to them yet! So here we go: The Bright Sessions, Darkest Night, The Hilarious World of Depression, Hollywood Handbook, Homecoming, Lore, My Brother My Brother And Me, Reply All, The Room Where It’s Happening, Wolf 359, With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus.

[level99games]

BattleCON Unleashed Fanwork Showcase - Week 5

Hey everyone! Marco here with another fanwork showcase! We’re in our last few hours so we decided to update early. If you haven’t been featured yet, don’t worry! We’ll still be showing off the cool stuff you’ve done for a bit after the project is over!

This update also shows us that (spoiler) all our social goal characters were met! So we’re getting them all. I told you there was nothing to worry about!

Every week, we’ll feature at least one fanwork in each of the six categories we have. Should there be no new submissions to a specific category, we will instead feature some older works that have been shared in the community over the past years of BattleCON’s history!

Remember, you can submit your works on THIS FORM!

Here’s the current tally of submissions, taken from the Kickstarter page. Remember that the chart takes some days to be updates, so don’t fret if you’ve submitted and don’t see a change in the chart just yet!

Test One Hundred and Seventy One by Neil Alexander

A creature awakens and sees its creator. It waits and learns about its world before plotting to escape.

An experiment goes well. But who could this fan fiction be about? Neil Alexander provides a story with a mystery that reveals the nature of one of our characters! READ HERE!

Empty by Shaun Kerr (tA)

Magic was meant to enhance the lives of everyone. it was meant to make peoples lives easier.

In my opinion, we just made everything meaningless.

Shaun shows us the dangers of a world filled with magic (to the point that nearly everyone has it). How could things possibly go wrong? READ HERE.

Teatime by Mook Blook

A fanfic with accompanying images. Mook Blook features Eustace having a calming cup of tea. That is, until Heketch tries to ruin everything.

Overprotective by Zeru

Karin and Jager stand vigil as Marmalee visits the big city, are any of them ready for the ups and downs of city life?

Three fish out of water visit a city. With 2 werewolves and a dragon visit the suburbs, what could possibly go wrong?

Clive is Gonna Start a Riot by Kat

The creator giveth and also taketh away. Kat graces us with her favorite character: Clive! In this image, he’s having a Cadenzaling help him with batting practice. Let’s hope he doesn’t miss!

Marmelee Clay Figure by Robert Durant

Robert brings out characters to life with this stand-up replacement! Gives the game a more 3D feel to it, that’s for sure!

Karin and Jager by @Puffkins236

@Puffkins236 shows us Karin & Jager ready for battle. The posing is great, especially under the red moonlight.

Shekhtur by parchmentEngineer

You’ve never seen a Shekhtur this cute. ParchmentEngineer engineers an adorable Shekhtur drawing for us!

Burgundy by Multiple People

You all figured it out. The easiest and best Indines character for simple cosplays! Burgundy is taking over the cosplay page and it’s actually in-game accurate (since he can make multiple copies of himself).

Xal Ezra by Heather May

Contemplative. That’s what Xal Ezra seems to be in this image. Great cosplay from Heather! They even got the pose right!

Last Legs by Daniel Daniel Zeiger (tirankin)

Daniel shows-off his fight club custom: Last Legs. This character is basically BROKEN beyond belief but he’s on his last legs. He can only use each of his styles ONCE!

Zwick by junkmail

Zwick is a thrillseeker who loves getting his adrenaline pumping. This character gets resources whenever a clash occurs, but has no easy way to cause clashes (the same way Cherri does). Instead, they must capitalize on using their UB to force clashes.

Bia by ARBco

“Bia is a wrestler from Relecour who creates and benefits from clashes as she "grapples" with opponents to disrupt their plans and deal out heavy punishment! The zip file includes a full character kit with card files, tokens, standee, lore guide, and some design notes! She's undergone some revisions based on commentary and playtesting, and hopefully is shaping up pretty well.” - ARBco

Figments of Indines by Jon Silvestri

Jon goes the extra mile and submitted 11 (you read that right: ELEVEN) custom characters for their own set called Figments of Indines!

Erlenmeyer's Third Clone by TobiaF

Erlenmeyer's Third Clone is a brawler who gains stats but usually has to modify their range in order to gain them. Going faster lowers his range and getting tankier increases their range, for example. Delicate balance is needed to make this brawler/tactician work!

Burgundy Brigade Meet-Up by Heather May

Nothing to see here but two Burgundys just enjoying a game against a giant Dragon. Looks like they had a deviously great time!

2 AM BattleCON by Brian Leahy

What do you do when you’re still up at 2 AM? Play BattleCON of course! That’s the only answer.

BattleCON Freeplay at Madness by Daniel Zeiger (tirankin)

“Almost every Saturday, from about 14:30 'til midnight, I set up a table at Madness Games & Comics in Plano, Texas, with lots of L99 games ready to play! I have a host of irregulars and a handful of regulars, and my events are strictly casual (no tournaments). I invite anybody at all to pick up the games and look at them, or to ask for demos if they're interested. Come by and chill with us sometime!” - Daniel

VISIT THE PAGE HERE!

Seven Basics and Match-up guide by Sentorian

Seven is first and foremost a defensive character. She is all about limiting opponent's options, shutting down their dominant strategies with a big bag of tricks, and playing safe on her way to a timeout win. She also requires a bit of forethought and planning to be comfortable with, which is why I am making this guide. The purpose of this guide is to give something of a primer for general Seven strategy and to give a jumping off point for newer players wondering what they should 'upgrade'.

Sentorian gives an in-depth guide and match-up list for everyone’s favorite Division 13 member: Seven! Find out how to win against the rest of BCO by reading the guide! READ HERE!

Sarafina "the Mixup Meister" Vanedran [Beginner's Guide] by Der_letzte_Ritter

This is a guide for noobs, by a noob, covering BattleCON Online's own teleport-happy elf. Style analysis, matchup insight, and more await the avid reader!

Der_ letzte_Ritter is a Sarafina player and wants to impart their knowledge to YOU! See how you can step-up your game here: READ THE GUIDE!

Winning Beats for Beginners by Robert Durant

This is a guide for players who have learned the basics of how to play the game and want to get better. The guide covers how to do well in the current beat. This guide does not go into planning ahead for future beats(a more advanced strategy).

We often say that winning BattleCON is mostly about winning beats. But what constitutes winning a beat? Robert tells you how to do it! READ HERE!

Strikers Guide by Cerol

It's a pocket-sized guide to the pocket-sized Strikers expansion. It covers edge cases and suggested bans, which are things largely missing from other sources and places.

Cerol looks into the Strikers expansion and talks about some strategy that goes into playing it. READ IT HERE!

That’s enough for this week! We’re in our final hours. Congratulations to all of you for unlocking EVERYONE! We’re proud to have such a great community.

If you have a work waiting to be submitted, don’t forget to submit it by CLICKING HERE!

Good luck and see you next week!

[bedlamgames]

No Haven 0.74 - Release

First a warning combined with an apology. There is a stack overflow, maybe more than one, lurking in this update which can kill RAGs entirely. I’ve done what I could to track it down but by the nature of the crash it’s not the usual infinite hang which are a lot more straightforward to track down. I’ve heard from a couple of people who have said that running the game as administrator helps so I would highly recommend that if you don’t want to wait till next week when I’m back to try and fix this properly. It mainly seems to affect quick start and random starts for the most part so just bare that in mind if you do want to dive in on this update. 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/9d9u9fdeq5u030l/No_Haven_0.74.zip

Due to this I will not be updating the No Haven page here yet with this version and I also won’t be circulating it to the usual places like TFgames and the Collective till it’s more stable. 

Sorry about this, but I do hope you enjoy the new update anyway. 

Patch notes under the break

---New/Expanded Content---  

-Nine new assignments including new mechanics, defending especially getting a lot more love, being able to set goals on some assignments to pick which reward you want to go for which changes the rewards and in some cases the traits involved as well, the first slaver with a recruitment history, one new assignment with specific sub content, and a way to land a slaver into some decidedly tricky to remove restraints which lay the groundwork for having a slaver in restraints but still struggling to go on assignments.  

-Related to the some of the new assignments is a massive overhaul of the fulfil opportunity system, this has been rebalanced, reworked, more varied, and expanded. The Ensnared Rose is now a fulfil opportunity assignment on the plains unlike the old version that never really worked, and there is one linked to a new assignment that awards supplies instead of gold. You now have the potential to also sell two slaves rather than one. There are now five ways to earn a fulfil opportunity each with their own variations and rewards. There's also a couple of new art variations for specific races being sold on these assignments outside of the single orc that their used to be.

-New commissioned art for the Into the Depths assignment.

-There are now Art Sources under Help and Options, this is still very, very, very under construction. Can also be used as a guide to what assignments and races are currently in the game. Please do not freak out if what you feel like a blatantly obvious bit of a certain artist's work is unattributed. I probably know it too, I just haven't got round to filling that bit in yet and with the help of SourceNao I'm sure I'll get all of them done eventually.  

-New harpy scenario with three new starts which led to...  

-Bunch of new harpy types, all with specific art and looks, art for slaves and one for being dominated/being a bimbo. Massively expanded lore page and a new harpy specific name generator.

-New start as a Trollop. Also as the old art was terrible there is now new art for slavers, slaves, and futanari of that race. Their hair colour is now a bit more varied than it used to be.  

-New playable race via Patreon in the Golem. This includes two new starts, new unique, new name generator, and four bits of edited art.  

-Also via the patreon comes a new Keldan playable option who comes with a new unique in another human northerner.

-More unit barks including ones on trade, educated slavers and based on the current weather.  

---Rebalancing---  

-Once you've ranked up the amount to level increases by 250 extra each time. Rank up bonus now does not have to be a slaver with a certain trait and can instead be an extra amount of gold/reward/assignments depending on what you've ranked up. Also ranking up Scavenging no longer mentions Infiltration.

-The glory hole noble was missing her history under examine. She along with the crossbones captive, the former living statue, the regular harpy, and the Keldan neophyte now have a bonus under value estimating.  

-There is now a chance to resist corruption helped by the Faith, Spiritual, and Resilient traits, and hindered by the Depraved and Fel Tainted traits.  

-Quick as you Like now has no restrictions outside of you going on it (yes, that will be allowed eventually if you're wondering). Barges and Paladin also have had the restrictions removed to better fit with how the newer assignments work.  

-Previously there was a base chance that something bad would happen to a slaver regardless of circumstances, instead now there's a base chance they'll get away with a risky assignment regardless of circumstances.  

-Some more variation on weather, weather has a chance to persist from day to day, and it being nice makes slavers happier than it used to.

---Bugs and minor changes---

-Sadist had been mixed up with Sadistic in some checks leading to the trait not affecting everything like it should.  

-Alchemists can now gain Xp, and any items crafted contribute Encampment Crafting Xp.  

-Given that the old new troll male art is now being used for one of the new assignments I've done a new pic for them.  

-Added another FAQ on the uses of equipment and expanded on the how to squire with a note on the different sizes. Also added one on expertise, fame and infamy.

-Finally got round to fixing that bug where you could get peaceful slavers when levelling up Marauding rather than aggressive.  

-Legion can't wear armour or clothes which is just logical.

-The Ensnared Rose debt reduction now shows correctly.  

-Fix for Strong Right Arm being counted as the trait Strong.  

-You shouldn't be able to clone on basic dominance training any more.

-Attempted fix for the full items when you've got plenty of spaces issues.  

-Fixed a bug where it was far too likely for human surnames to override others. 

-The regular agreed unit barks were incorrectly overwriting some of the more specific ones.

-Picking picking Male "Human Commoner Whore" gave the aspect, traits and picture of "human Wastelander whore" when not playing a scenario in TF edition.  

-There were some Sex/Def left when I wasn't sure on the abbreviation for Insatiable.  

-Spiritual leaders could pick up (Cor) which has long been defunct instead of (Usc+)

-The fifth camp bitch was being incorrectly looked over.  

-Fix for Strong Right Arm being counted as the trait Strong.  

-The playable lago'mae was missing mention of her tail.  

-Stats for slavers going trading weren't being tracked.  

-Added a check in case a second-in-command or spiritual leader gets a name change on an assignment it will be reflected in encampment status.  

-If you trained males the wrong way round they'd be blocked off from learning advanced blowjobs which should now be fixed.  

-The Dominant removal under preferences wasn't working correctly.  

-Fixed issue with the Head Maid on the Disgraced Noble House having a traits miss-match.  

-Some attempted tweaks to resolve some problems with the tracking of assignments.  

-Exhibitionist wasn't checking properly.  

-Fixed chance for Felborn succubi to not have a portrait on random starts.

-Despite saying it was Cheep and Cheerful wasn't checking on orcs properly.

[geek-gem]

Dawko's Video On The Freddy Flies

Yeah I feel that's the best possible title also gonna link the video. I've watched it on my laptop.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C3bvYXocbu0

Including before the video ended and just my bro came back and meh he tricked me saying he got something and I guess it was the loser symbol but not on his world and I said screw you and he laughed or some shit.

But now about this. Despite last year with people talking about it's not gonna reveal anything and I wanted to reblog yet just me being pissy or some shit.

Yet seeing it here and just...I was thinking in my head just of in my head now I'm proud of Scott of just he does not want people to know the true lore.

Spoilers from the video and book a bit. It mainly explains the games a bit and even talks about theories. Yet also in a way it's like, "Hey anyone who's gonna read this thinking they are gonna find out the lore of the franchise. Stop it, your not gonna find that in here. Me and possibly only a few people know what the lore actually is. Nobody else despite of how they think they have the correct timeline. Stop acting a few of you thinking you know the lore. This is my franchise but for anyone still liking the franchise and is okay with me not revealing it yet or not. It depends on how I feel. I hope you like the book and have a fun time reference there". Basically just a bit less insulting yet he doesn't say that no. That's how I feel a bit just because their have been people thinking they know the true lore when Scott is the only one who knows.

But to talk about it a bit just I like this and despite before hand I thought FNAF in merchandise should be geared more towards young adults or older. Yet I thought him teaming up with Scholastic seems like the best choice.

Along with I in the words of Lori Loud went like HOLY FUCK and WHAT THE FUCK when Dawko showed the page of the whole Bite theory the case between 83 vs 87 debate. Also I was eating some Jack In The Box chicken strips and regular fries. So yeah my mouth was full and it just proved how I feel like he's being like, "Stop thinking your theories and ideas are canon and right. This is my franchise and I'm gonna do with it how I want. How I feel what direction it should go. Just stop being jerks to each other please about stupid theories and stuff" just...some what sorry just I feel like ever since accepting how The Silver Eyes is and The Twisted Ones doesn't seem so bad just I haven't read it yet. Some funny stuff about it being mentioned.

Including it just makes me think a modern version of the franchise I thought of just seems better then trying to make a possible canon version mixing the games and novels of how they can work yet changing some stuff.

Also a nice thing my right hand knocked on my laptop keyboard in excitement. Because also theirs an art style from very popular artist in the fandom. But I was excited spoilers theirs a drawing picture of Charlie possibly the canon version of her Scott wanted to be made. Including that's in the part where the book talks about the novels. Along with some other stuff.

Also the teaser to FNAF6 as well. Including Dawko said and saw a comment first reason I decided to check the video theirs some cooking recipes ha just their was an update thing ha pressed later ha. Sorry normal to smile.

It seemed quite nice might get it for my FNAF collection but well I am a fan. Yet also yeah at times I thought of making more of my own timeline no not like yeah you can see this in canon. At times I think of that yet seeing this Scott in a way does not seem to care. Including he seems to be making his own. I sound hypocritical on that one part.

Also OK KO is on 5:38 pm just I feel I don't wanna tag this just post okay fine okay no. Now 5:39 pm just meh ticks missed post stop talking just I'm saying some random shit I said I would stop.

Anyway this was a nice video to see also just that picture of Charlie...makes me think if just...screw it he can make his own versions of characters I feel were past a point now. But I sound stupid saying that since I kind of made a deal and praised Scott for doing that with The Silver Eyes making a reimagining. Also OK KO is done credits done commericals on 5:41 pm

[wisteriafield]

Dark Souls

send me a tv show/book/fandom and i’ll say the top 5 things i’d change about it 

Since each of the installments are vastly different, I’ll either assume that you’re just talking about the first one, or I could do one for all 3. Yeah lets do that I’ve got a lot on my mind and really want to talk about Dark Souls

As a sidenote, for DS1 and DS3 I’d like an arena much like the DS1 arena where you neither gain nor lose anything but you get to challenge whichever boss you want in their arena like you’re selecting a bonfire to warp to or w/e. Either found near the end of the game or a place you can access early but updates as you progress.

DS1

There’s not a whole lot I have a problem with in this game, but there are some glaring issues...

I miss the Dark Wood Grain Ring a lot, after playing lots of DS2 and 3. And easy ravioli steps, ones that have invul frames too.

Change backstab detection and confirmation

Have you heard of anyone that joins Princess’s Guard? Possibly consider reducing the FTH requirements to make the covenant-exclusive miracles more accessible, or at least make more useful rewards

Maybe actually confirm if joining Way of White helps you not get invaded

This is the only game I can reliably parry in but that’s also because it’s probably the easiest game to parry in and it’s kinda ridiculous, especially given how powerful criticals are in this game.

I personally dislike humanity mechanics and found it better handled in DS3, it’s necessary for what the game is, but it would be nice if it was less monotonous to farm the item version of it, compared to all of the fun ways (invading, cooping) that only get you “soft” humanity.

There’s nothing you can really do about how easy it is to twink a character in this game because of all of the core parts of the game design that make it so strong (the accessibility of the master key, invading with 99 humanity items, getting like +5 giants armor and a +5 chaos weapon and being invincible against new players, etc) You’d have to change a lot of things.

Also I wish I didn’t have to look ugly everytime I died but it’s the price I pay for being bad.

DS2

I don’t necessarily mind Soul Memory, but it feels like the inclusion of the Apage Ring makes the mechanic redundant and harder to manage than Soul Levels, but I do appreciate that twinks are much rarer just because of how much more effort you have to go through just to do it.

Both Aggro persistence and range are kinda ridiculous, while the game stresses stamina management much harder than DS1 or DS3, their reception to sound makes it so you’re often outnumbered 4:1. Maybe we could do with like 1 less Alonne Knight?? Just a suggestion.

Enemy animations just seem really stiff but also can be really subtle (like the way hollow bastard sword enemies can just suddenly charge into you like they’re using a spear, which is just weird). It’s like the worst of Monster Hunter’s animations (aka Gen 1 monsters with Raths doing their instant charge that sends you flying)

Make gear you can only get from killing one-time NPCs drop easier and not force people to use like 50 Ascetics

Hollowing is ugly but in a cartoonish way, the drastic change of your appearance over 5% of your max HP is ridiculous, in my personal opinion.

Also there’s questionable area design which I guess can’t be helped because of the game’s development circumstances, such as taking an elevator UP into a volcano/lava area after passing through a mining colony. or having to go through a special shrine that requires powerful souls because some chest high rocks are covering the proper path.

I do miss kicking though.

DS3

I could write a whole paper on Covenant reforms in particular

Sorcery Reform (and Miracles to a certain extent): Allow Sorcerers to hold off casting spells similar to Bow-users. In DS2, there’s enough variety of sorceries you can use to keep people guessing (even if everyone and their mother will have Homing Crystal Soulmass and Crystal Soul Spear, there’s still other spells you can and should attune to mix your game up). Change scaling of INT and FTH so builds don’t have to get 60 of either stat in order to see sufficient damage, they have to dump enough points in ATT as it is, this also drastically tends to limit the amount of weapons they have available to them. maybe I’d consider reducing FP costs too, having to split Ashen Estus Flasks with your regular flasks just makes life a lot harder in PvE than it does for Quality builds, and not even having access to spells makes up for that due to the way INT investment affects spell damage. Maybe the complaints are exaggerating (I wouldn’t be surprised). I’ll get back to you on this when I start my non-quality build characters.

Strengthen split damage weapons. This tends to cause Refined/Hollow infusions to be your choice of infusion for 90% of weapons. THAT in turn is also caused by many weapons being quality weapons in general, if you don’t run quality builds, too many weapons end up being underwhelming. This would also put less of a demand on STR/DEX points for INT and FTH builds and open up a lot more options for them.

Remove auto-summoning from Blades of the Darkmoon. Upon using the Red Eye Orb, to reinforce the lore of them having a feud with Aldritch Faithfuls, allow them to invade players with the Aldritch Faithful covenant in any area regardless if the area boss is dead or not; remove Proof of Concord Well Kept with this change. (Seriously why did they make the same covenant twice?)

Increase the lower bound of Blue Sentinel summon range; Move Way of Blue to become accessible in Firelink Shrine as opposed to the end of the first area (this is probably where low level embered players will run into invasions the most anyways). Allow their White Sign Soapstone to be used in invasions to create Signs Requesting Cooperation in Blue Sentinels’ worlds (this is something new they added in DS3 for NPC questlines that I find underused). They can interact with the sign and be summoned where it was placed. Way of Blue hosts can use this and then hold out until an answer arrives, or perhaps use it to lure an invader into a pincer attack. I’d also disable summon signs when you get invaded since hosts tend to run back to the bonfire for safety to summon more people, thus occupying slots that could be used on a Blue Sentinel. Blue Sentinels should always be able to locate the Host as well, and should be ignored by enemies and cannot hurt them either. Blue Sentinels are there to protect the host, but protecting them from enemies in the area is NOT what their concord tells them to do, they are there for the invader and the invader only. If there’s one thing I learned over the last few days: Equip Way of Blue when going through areas yourself.

There’s a recent glitch that allows people to invade AND enter boss fights as if they were a phantom. The main issue with this glitch is that the invader is not announced in the world, but can be sent back home with the Black Separation Crystal if the host is careful before entering the boss room. The most dickish thing I’ve seen done with it is someone invading the boss room and killing a questline NPC in a certain boss fight. I’d like to see this included since this is discovered to be how the Mound Makers covenant was originally supposed to work. DS3 needs to give incentives to summoning Mound Makers and there really aren’t any except for the fact that they’re probably better at fighting invaders than your sunbros are. The only thing is that once the Mound Maker enters the boss room, they have to land the finishing blow on the host or they get nothing, and can’t just sit there to let the boss kill them. 

(Extra) Instead of weapon reinforcement checks permanently barring you from lower reinforced hosts, either scale down the reinforcement to their level or don’t count weapons in the Item Box.

(Extra... again) I have to admit that estus drinking and healing speed make invasions much longer and tiring than they should be (but not as long as Demon’s Souls pvp where apparently everyone has 99 dank). The fact that roll stamina cost is so low combined with the fact that you can turn which is more important than the fact that you can move in general while drinking makes estus really strong, I might change this for healing Estus but not for Ashen Estus.

I don’t know if it’s really that important, but it really bothers me that it’s literally impossible for you to learn the Proper Bow gesture by summoning Yellowfinger Heysel unless you want to end Sirris of the Sunless Realm’s questline (also, the amount of gestures you need to learn by summoning NPC phantoms is something I’m not very fond of) and thus possibly deny access to both the Mound Makers covenant AND Blades of the Darkmoon in a single NG.

I could make another note about broadening weapon diversity by changing their moveset, like how 90% of straightswords outside of DLC have the same Stance and how all of them swing the same for the most part. Only 2 Greatswords have unique R1s and one of them is complete shit thanks to said note about how Split Damage is in a really bad place in this game.

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #30

Today answers on Twine, slave names, more on slave to slavers, typos, and living armour among others.

Anonymous: I've dabbled enough in twine to know that snapshot of Whorelock's looked painful. Good luck with that! As a novice is there a reason you went with twine 1 over twine 2? Have you considered doing some of it as script calls? I think that's how FC guy does his descriptions, rather than having a twine passage that has all of the if's it just calls a javascript, might even be able to get someone to help with that part. Thanks for letting me pick your brain.

Thanks! I make no claims to have any idea what I’m doing on the Twine front with script calls being entirely foreign but I did try both and found I preferred how Twine handled things over 2. Main reason though was that was how Stranded was done and that was the game that convinced me WR could be done in that program. 

Anonymous: never mind about the expire it was that they took a really long time to. 

Some do have expiry dates in the 40-80 day region and you check them on some of the assignment overviews. 

Anonymous: not really questions, but just some feedback on a couple things, firstly with scenarios if you try to use the remove dominant options the dominant doesn't get removed, which means you can add secretly submissive multiple times as dominant stays there. secondly in scenarios if you pick disgraced noble human female the veteran head maid has the wrong abbreviations for her traits in the inventory box it lists (C:Cu)(Cre)(Pcp)(Flk)(Sed) and examine says she has (Lea)(Trn) instead of the first two

Feedback is perfectly good, I do like feedback as well as questions. 

Huh, okay will check that and thanks for the spots. 

Anonymous: On the subject of switches, in the future when slaves happen to get both submissive and dominant through training crits/paths will it be melded into switch in the future? Seems like it might be good in case switch itself is ever a modifier for an event, or if it could possibly help alleviate having one as a weakness and one as a strength at the same time, although I haven't seen that happen so far, iirc.

Yeah both of those are good ideas. When I do advanced dominance training for promoting to slaver I’ll probably incorporate that then. Cheers. 

Anonymous: Love the game and thought I would see if I can help out a little. When I examine my second in command, it says this: "Tinaslut has gigantic tits... She has sparkling unnaturally pink eyes, beach-blonde hair with pink highlights, and a magically enhanced physique. Carmen's head is decorated by two small horns.(Btf)(Sub)(Con)(Cun)(Per)(Sed)(Sne)" Carmen was her name pre-event (should be Tinaslut now) and the traits appeared after an event in the Deep Mountains gave her the horns.

Thank you! Also oh wow, you have no idea what a mess you caused me with this innocent little spot. Had completely failed to realise that name changes would cause problems with how the horns corruption currently worked and had to completely change it. 

Anonymous: Is there a way to change the name of a slave?

There will be. Possibly next update.

Anonymous: 0.7202: nethemir slaver got the following examination text after into the depth crit: "As a quintari futanari they have hooves for feet and a long silken tail." wasnt part of any corruption event and has no (fel).

Odd one, not sure what caused that. Will look into it.

Anonymous: is crafting completely randomized or are there certain clothing/armor types that are more frequently crafted of certain races? like silk robes are more likely crafter by elves whereas street walker attire could be more likely crafted by succubi? also if you have a dwarven smith he crafts nearly all the time equipment in dwarven style which is too small for everyone except dwarves and goblins, feels like a restriction.

To some extent yes though it varies. I do need to add a general order so that you can ask for small, regular or large versions for ogres and the like as an option.

Anonymous: 0.7202: theres again something wrong with the clothing equipment, storage says its full and assignments dont give additional items. main suspects are a brief foray and shark of the cards.

How many items had you had by that point and had you done one of the assignment starts?

Anonymous: Bug in version 0.7202 (No Haven) - I'm trying to send a slaver to "Infiltration - Lead Astray - (One Slaver) - (Seven Days) - (Common)" and it tells me "You do not currently have enough slavers available to complete this assignment while keeping the encampment secure." I currently have 8 slavers in the camp (myself included).

Sounds like a counter has gone wonky. Will check it. 

xcomcommander12: I managed to somehow get two Keldan students, both exactly the same after the assignment completed again the day after I completed it. Useful, but now it freaks some when I try to send them out on a mission together.

I can imagine! So they were both of the Keldan diplomacy success? 

Anonymous: stumbled upon the new male goblin start which i have somehow missed ^.^ anywho in the ogre rashnags lore there is a line: 'the Countess insisted that Rashnag, nor a single one of his follower, had so much as even a finger on her body' i think theres a word missing (had 'laid' so much as even a finger on her body) maybe? Thanks for your efforts!

Cheers for the typo spot, and thank you. 

Anonymous: something for no haven, maybe its what the healslut will do in future builds, but i had a slightly different idea about a slave who helps to watch over other slaves: headgirl, alpha or prime camp bitch, same traits like a regular camp bitch but also needs leader to command the camp bitches, several other traits improve the status of the camp bitches line faster regeneration or more durable in sexing, or to reduce camp bitch sexing, some qol improvements. got quite some more ideas

That’s got potential and it could be used as part of the progression from slave to slaver to show they can handle it. Added it to my notes. 

Anonymous: whorelocks revengen has an unimplemented feature, all natural. it mentions living and natural clothing like equipment. could this be a thing for no haven too? enchanted clothing/armor that has tentacles inside to boost traits like strength or agi?

It wasn’t actually entirely un-implemented as the Tangle Infestation item was in the game for ages but I disabled it temporarily (course that turned into quite the long temporarily..) due to not being entirely happy with how the quest to remove it was working. But that digression aside, yeah I’m sure I’ll do something with that in No Haven. Probably as you discover more about what’s going on in the depths of the Ever Forest.