#evan is such a fun character and brennan is such a fun player

[botanicallyinclinednerd]

"Does Evan Kelmp carry a grenade?"

"I dunno, will you let me?"

Brennan lays his chin on his hands while Aabria loses it

Truly amazing

[seawitchkaraoke]

You know whenever a discussion comes up where ppl accuse a certain player of hogging the limelight too much or taking too big swings, I just can't help but think that there's this player who frequently has huge main character energy when he's a PC and who I've somehow never seen any such complaint about. You know who?

Brennan.

Brennan as a player gives off suuuch protagonist vibes! Evan Kelmp? Nikhil? (from battle for beyond) Hell even Tula? Look at me and tell me those don't have main character energy

To be clear I have no issue whatsoever with this, I love these characters, Brennan is great, and everyone in those games clearly had fun! Plus when a forever DM finally gets to play he absolutely gets to take the spotlight. I do not have any problem with players taking big swings

But. But I do find it fascinating that I've seen ppl criticize Emily, Ally, Ify, Rekha, Izzy, Lou and Aabria and others at one point or another for taking up too much space, for taking too big swings, for taking the spotlight too much, for optimizing their characters too much and so on and so forth. And I've never, not once, not on tumblr or twitter or youtube seen a single comment criticising Brennan for the same things. Despite the fact that he absolutely takes huge swings and loves minmaxing

And like. Considering the very obvious differences between Brennan and the other ppl I listed, y'know

Maybe next time you wanna be mad about someone taking a big swing in an actual play show, think whether you'd also have a problem with Brennan doing the same thing or if you just don't like a black man or a queer woman or a non-binary person take up space

[brian-louis]

brennan and aabria (@quiddie) love throwing extreme circumstances and expectations at each other as players and gm's and it's sick and twisted and i love it.

exhibit a: all the hoops brennan builds for suvi to jump through in worlds beyond number in terms of expectations and responsibilities because aabria designed a character to be a high performance individual and the game of playing that type character is fighting to perform at a high level under adverse conditions.

exhibit b: how willingly brennan lets aabria take evan kelmp into death and how kind've pragmatic he is about the whole thing because he trusts her to handle his story with care and love, even through the bad and the ugly. he is here for whatever ride she takes him on.

it's so perverse and beautiful watching the two of them go "let's play pretend, but instead of doing something cute, goofy, or fun, let's put each other through it."

[everlastingremorse-blog]

The Rat Grinders are Minmaxers

I’ve been thinking through a lot of the discourse surrounding the bad kids and their immediate dislike of the Rat Grinders, and how it’s not fair and all that stuff.

And that is important to consider, but it took me awhile to realize how un-fun it would be to play in a group of rat grinders.

Like Brennan said in an earlier adventuring party (and I am paraphrasing), “this year we get to see what it’s like when being an adventurer means going on adventures.”

Like, in earlier seasons, Aguefort would go on some long tangent about how adventuring is enacting violence in order to change the world.

Not that I completely agree with that assertion, but it’s also true that there is a narrative in DND, thus there are narrative arcs. Going on an adventure in DND means having personal arcs exploring how your character’s motivations are changing and interacting with the world. One of my favorite parts of Dungeons and Drag Queens was seeing these new players get really invested in their characters.

And then there are minmaxers. Now if you don’t know, Minmaxers are players that really optimize their character to game the system. Think Evan Kelmp. He’s set up in a way to prioritize fighting over anything else.

Now Kelmp is a bit of an exception, as most Minmaxers tend to (at least from what I’ve seen) avoid roleplay, while Brennan made Kelmp explicitly for roleplay. In other words, Minmaxers don’t make good stories.

And I think that’s for two reasons:

1. If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Having a character built to fight (and that’s how most Minmaxed DND characters are built, according to me) means you’re going to use fighting as a solution. Why try to convince someone when your dumb stat is charisma and you could probably kill them easily if you tried. Murder hobos are bad for stories.

2. It’s impressive, the first time. Don’t get me wrong, Minmaxers show a strong mastery of the system they’re working in. Just like the rat grinders. They’ve gotten to a real high level by (in my opinion) a flaw in the system, and it’s a fun loophole… the first time I saw it. If there is no story (no quest that you’re going on) then it’s going to just be boring grinding. It’s like looking at a painting in a museum. You can look at it. Examine it. Think about it like a painter, and then like an art critic. Read some analysis of the work, but eventually I want to move on. I might come back later, but I’ll hit a limit on what I can do. I can be impressed by the mastery of the system, now what? Now they go back to grinding rats.

And that’s why I dislike the rat grinders. They are adventures, but they don’t go on adventures. They just gamed the system. They followed the rules without following their spirit. And I’d hate to play a game with players like that.

But hey, things are looking up. Obviously, the rat grinders have a lot going on that we just don’t know yet. There is a story there, and I can’t wait to see it.

Also they have a really hot drago———

*sounds of muffled horny screams as I’m dragged off into the distance.*

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: A Place of Knowing

First thing: I admit, I'm a little disappointed we immediately dropped the M&M theme on the third episode.

Second: the anon ask didn't scare me away. I had something going on in life, and I've only finished the episode today. (Also, I shouldn't watch at night. Because tired + Aabria's very soothing voice = Very good sleep even while sitting on a narsty chair.)

Third… Well, on with the show!

Okay, so. Last week, I complained about the episode not being plot-forward. And guess what this week's episode turned out to be? Another character-driven episode! But, you know what? I liked this episode better? Because the cast BROUGHT IT.

Danielle's breakdown? Lou's shutdown? And Erika? Erika was so good at shrinking her character to a point where you just want to reach into the screen and grab her. Just so she doesn't shrink anymore. And all their decisions make perfect sense.

Yes, especially Evan's very Brennan question that he wants answered. Because Evan is Brennan dialed up to a hundred. And with magic.

The episode's high point for me though was the emotional lows. We killed someone right off the bat. Aabria did not pull punches. Oh my goodness. (That said, I kinda really wanted the character to stay dead. And not just because of the interesting new mechanic. Sorry to the poor little meow-meow.)

Now, I also do feel like Aabria had to do a bit of reshuffling this episode because of how the last episode ended. I absolutely did not think we would have gone to the yellow iceberg island second had someone's arm not exploded. Intention seems to be key to navigating the islands, and their intention remains on Boudicca and Tabby. But Aabria pivoted so seamlessly it's… it's chef's kiss.

Going back to what I said earlier about liking this episode better than last week's… I think I understand now what I found missing last time. It's a sense of purpose. Getting to Fire Island 2, the players was just exploring. The "onsen episode" felt meandering because they were casting out nets to see where they need to go next. Meeting new people was fun, sure. I was just very ready to move. And then in this episode: we moved. Swiftly. With a sense of purpose.

I know table-top role-playing will not always be plot-driven. I know that and I accept that. And, as I said before, the episode last week was fine. But with a fire premiere, and a blazing episode 3--I don't think it's hard to understand why I didn't resonate with the second episode.

And I apologize that I keep bringing it up. I just wanted to process my emotions. Because we are now on the fucking move. And next week? Bouddi-boots!

[bored-trans-orchidsexual]

Brennan is acting his heart out with Even's flaws here. He is *emphasizing* how much Evan is fucking up in that phone scene. Looking *right* at Lou while people are laughing, making sure to specifically tell them the things he as a player knows lou didn't tell them, snapping at this guy IC, even lying to Jammer's face about why he has the phone.

And like yeah I don't really care, flawed characters are better than squeaky ones, but imagine seriously looking at all that and defending it, saying it's ok, yada yada. K is *also* and interesting and fun character despite the flaws in their actions, its why we like them both. Even them killing Even I don't hold against the character, it was an accident and made sense to their character.

I was on the d20 subreddit and it is truly fascinating to see people do all kinds of mental gymnastics to avoid criticizing Evan for invading Jammer's privacy, and outing his location and general activities to his friends, while criticizing K, with fervour, at every opportunity for literally anything, in the same breath. Like beyond them killing Evan, which they do deserve criticism for, there are people on there hating them with a, "burning passion," which is kind of a lot.

There's just a major vibe difference between how people are talking about Evan and K, and to a lesser extent Sam and Jammer, that feels kind of charged ngl.

I'm literally seeing the, "my blorbo could never do anything wrong," verses, "put that bitch in the fires," in real time. I genuinely wonder what is happening in their heads as they do this. What is their thought process here.

[crobones]

TWO THINGS. just. two things i need to get off my chest.

FIRSTLY.

lou/jammer was in the middle of asking Dr. B if the mission is dangerous or worth it, and erika/k disregards any of it and says they'll all do it. christ alive how did I ever manage watching season one.

BUT THEN.

>>lou/jammer directly asks brennan/evan a question

>>brennan/evan begins to answer

>>erika/k interrupts with a non-answer and expects it to suffice

>>dialogue continues

>>several minutes later, brennan/evan gets a chance and answers lou's/jammer's question very specifically and with nuance. No, it's not a good idea; but it's possibly the morally correct decision that will likely help many, many people.

like. maybe it's the hater in me. but sometimes I imagine how much more fun to watch any given season of D20 could be if certain players just. didn't fucking do shit like play with main character syndrome. like, imagine a world of three misfits. the potential.

[girlbosstomie]

.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

hey! did you listen to the new dimension 20 show they started? I'm excited to see a new DM on the team and was curious to hear what you thought about it

oh MAN I'm so glad you asked, because I was gonna post my thots about the new characters whether anyone asked for it or not, because I love them all so much!

Whitney is such a gem! he initially comes across as such a typical dumb jock, but he has SUCH a good interpersonal intelligence and natural leadership that's SO well-acted by Lou. he sort of reminds me of Bellow, a character from Rude Tales of Magic who's 100% a hot idiot frat boy but is also very soft and emotionally aware and overall a very Good Boy. LOVED to see Whitney so quickly stepping up to take on a unifying leadership role for the group, especially when he SKEWERED whatever Aabria was planning by intervening in Evan's meltdown.

Dream is so SO interesting to me right off the bat, and I love that Erika didn't stop at parodying and making fun of Harry Potter and went ahead to poke some fun at more toxic aspects of fangirlish culture as well. from the initial acknowledgement that she is basically a cyberbully working in the name of "accountability" to her straight up admitting that she has a hard time interacting with people without breaking them down into tropes, there's a LOT going on there that I REALLY hope there will be time to deconstruct and explore in the remaining episodes. failing that, I hope she can at least have an arc about learning to embrace pink glittery things.

Sam is so fun and upbeat! I'm really excited to get to see more of her and Danielle in general, since she's the only cast member who I'm not already familiar with. from what I've seen so far, she seems funny as hell; the way she set up the cucumber and sausages joke and the name of her pig familiar were both rock solid goofs, and I can't wait to see more of that sense of humor. of all the PCs I feel like we go to know the least about Sam outside of her initial gimmick as a content creator, but I can't wait to learn more about her - and her relationship with Dream! WHAT is the history!!

Aabria is a great GM!! she seems so completely at ease running the table and making the dome her own, and is so SO great at blending her humor with her players' and supporting them to build out funny scenes - right out of the gate, her playing all of Whitney's teammates was pure gold. I adored her as a PC in Pirates of Leviathan, and this is only making me want to track down and watch every session she's ever run anywhere. summer of Aabria, baby!!

what do I even say about Evan Kelmp? probably the same thing my housemate said REPEATEDLY while we were watching the first episode, which was "WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU???" I'm a huge sucker for nice characters being plagued by some evil bullshit they want nothing to do with, and Brennan is playing Evan with a great mix of painful sincerity, high anxiety, and unpredictable outbursts that is SO compelling. I see a lot of comparisons to Gilear, but honestly Evan reminds me a lot more of Ayda, and I LOVE how Brennan plays Ayda. either way, can't wait until he unhinges his jaw like a snake and eats Harry Potter Digsby Whatshisname alive.

love them!!! love them all!!! I can already tell my biggest complaint about the season is going to be that there's no NEARLY enough of it.

[seawitchkaraoke]

Thank you! I mean, I have complained about Brennan because his play style genuinely bothers me. (Although the more he's played the better I think he's gotten! I hope he continues to improve!) So I wasn't exactly your target audience. But it's still nice to see someone point out that he's about 10x worse than the non-cis white men who get complained about constantly. He creates cool characters. But he hogs the spotlight like no one's other actual player I've watched/heard

I mean you're free to dislike his playstyle as long as you're not like. A hater about it (like half the time the issue with ppl disliking things is they'll go on positive posts about that person and complain there instead of making their own posts, or worse, project on to the other players and say they totally must secretely hate this too like they're not adults and friends and professionals who would talk to each other if smth bothered them)

I don't mind Brennan's playstyle but he absolutely does have a main character vibe especially in his earlier player campaigns - which makes sense bc he's not actually super experienced as a player bc he's a forever DM and that's a pretty normal thing for new players to do (even if it feels super weird to call him new but as he said himself he doesn't get to play that often).

And I do agree he gets more balanced the more he plays (though again as long as everyone at the table is having fun, I really don't mind ppl "hogging" the spotlight, especially since these are all ppl who are in the actual play scene and get to play a lot, they'll all get their moments at some point. And Brennan usually facilitating those moments as DM sure deserves to get some himself)

Either way it's really the double standart for me. Like. You truly cannot be mad at Emily every time she makes a cool move or makes a powerful character and at Ally every time they take a wild swing and then have nothing but love for Brennan as Nikhil or Evan Kelmp. Like that's just an obvious double standart (and Brennan himself would absolutely throw hands with you for being mean to his friends)

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Magma and Mingle

Are we doing an M and an M for the titles this season? That's fun!

The rest of the episode weren't for me though. I guess I was expecting more world-building or movement with Tabby and what the heck is going on with the chaotic nature of magic…and instead we got characters catching up. Which isn't bad. The episode was not bad. It just wasn't for me.

The things I did like though? Aabria. Aabria having fun with her friends and really riding the out-of-pocket choices they're making. The cliffhanger to the episode? Amazing. T2's sudden turn into a weird little pig with ACCESS? Inspired. And that's not even mentioning the way she creatively rewards her players (and friends) when they make choices with their heart.

And much as I'm really not a fan of Evan Kelmp's sad boy energy, I really do like how Brennan is leaning into the sadness more this season because his friends love it. Plus, we get a fun moment with Evan and sewing this episode.

I'm hoping next episode would be more story-forward though.