#i need to figure out ranger designs

[me-asterisk]

silly little doodle dump while i slowly slowly work on other things.

me: simon has resting neutral expression and rarely emotes also me: simon makes the stupidest expressions imaginable at all times

[ask-cloverfield]

Sixth fourth but who's counting Ranger for some Sentai Ocs

Love it when one of the rangers is a MILF Mech in a tinier body

[acerikus]

Just finished spriting the dark world design for my monkey monster oc and I feel so proud of myself, never realised how easy it'd be to imitate the utdr style and I'm honestly fascinated 😭💜

Didn't even need to do any big drawing to plan out the outfit either! Hoping it's not too hard to do the same for the human next 🤞

[cor-lapis]

I decided to have a go at doing my own redesigns because these three are my favourites and I love them very much. further notes + sources under the readmore (warning: lots of text). I did my best with the research, but if there's anything I overlooked, I'd really appreciate people letting me know :)

Tighnari:

My main source for Tighnari was this excellent thread, from which I looked up each item of clothing individually. Since djellabas tend to be quite long, and Tighnari needs mobility for forest ranger activities, I figured he would cut and re-hem the lower half. He also has a lot of clothing pieces that are traditionally multicoloured, but to keep his design cohesive I decided to use the same colours across different items, but using a larger palette of colours than I would usually. I like the bright colours on him a lot though!

There are also some minor details I just changed because I wanted to. The flower on his chest is now a nilotpala lotus, because I thought it was nice to include his acension material/the material he asks you to help gather. The dirt stains/scuff marks are because rainforests are muddy and I wanted the design to emphasise Tighnari being very practical and hands-on with his work (see also, the specimen belt).

Finally, I shrunk the magnifying glass on his back (because I'm pretty sure it's meant to be his first magnifying glass toy and that thing is very large for a child to handle) and gave him an undercut because it seemed right. Also, I merged his front and back trailing cloths into a scarf type of thing that he could wrap around his nose and mouth to prevent inhaling spores from mushrooms.

Collei:

COLLEI my beloved. I had a mild nightmare trying to figure out a specific source culture for her design, but nobody seemed to know specifics and her outfit wasn't matching with any traditional dress I looked up, so in the end decided to keep the overall look the same. Just in case I assigned her something else, but then it turned out I missed her actual inspiration.

Anyway, I made her shoes simpler (no fur, heels, and open toes in the rainforest seemed reasonable to me), and gave her shorts. I liked the green colour because it's pretty unique under a dark dress, and pairs nicely with Nahida's white dress + green undersides. Amber's tie stays, but I made most of her jewellery smaller since it felt a little clunky for a trainee ranger.

Her earring and necklace(?) are allusions to the Evil Eye and the Khmissa/Hamsa, both symbols of protection. Especially considering the fact they're meant to ward off evil, and very common across multiple MENA cultures, it seemed fitting for Collei to have them. Also, she has Eleazar scars, and I used the design for her stockings as inspiration for the combination knee braces (similar to those used for arthritis, since Eleazar also causes stiff limbs and I HC that people affected would probably still need some recovery support)/knee pads (in the case of a fall). I like the idea that Kaveh would have helped make them for her (tangent but the fic Here is the House explores similar ideas; it's really really good, I heavily recommend it). Finally, she has curly hair because I thought it would be cute.

Cyno:

Here's the thread I found for Cyno. The main critique was to do with the eras from which each aspect of his clothing drew inspiration, but I admittedly wouldn't be able to do much about this without a lot of research. One thing I did try and verify was the small strip of cloth on the left of his chest, and I found a few wall murals where the people seem to be wearing similar strips of cloth? (example here; rightmost figure) Therefore, I didn't remove it, but if someone wants to explain Ancient Egyptian clothing history to me I'd be really interested to hear it 6.6

I might iterate on the design in the future, but for now the changes are mostly HC territory. Cyno wearing his hair in locs (a protective hairstyle) makes sense for someone who does a lot of hiking after rogue scholars, and I also gave him quite old and faded top surgery scars because healthcare is canonically free in Sumeru (thanks for that information, al-Haitham)(though tbf Cyno makes bank anyway). I also adjusted the colours a bit, since Genshin tends to use desaturated shades for metallic elements.

I also considered giving Cyno more scars, but figured that it could indicate Hermanubis' presence that someone you'd expect to get injured a lot is relatively scar-free (i.e. some sort of godly healing factor/resistance to damage). However, we know next to nothing about Hermanubis, so Cyno having a lot of scars also makes sense. This paragraph is mostly just a cry for help cyno story quest 2 literally any more elaboration about the nature of Hermanubis' pact and the Temple of Silence.

Conclusion

I wasn't intending to write one when I started the explanations but this got REALLY long so if you made it this far, thank you so so much ToT please check out the links; the threads especially were a great resource, and I'm grateful that people take the time to make them <3 genshin's character design department are cowards but I'm glad I learned some new things through the redesign process

[thefusioncelestial]

Mix 5: The Rich Bear

Here is Tyler:

Nature boy disguised as park ranger. Very out doorsey, loves camping, and an astrologist. Apparently, the lack of light pollution, many night shifts in the woods will introduce you to the stars. And he wrestles bears, races with the deer, swims with the fishes, and lord knows what he does with birds. Sings with them? Basically the Avatar of the Park. And in all his time as a park ranger, poaching has gone down to zilch in his nature reserve.

And then there is John:

The city boy. You would think he was a typical rich play boy. But its an act. When you are put together & don't have to work a day in your life, a lot of people want to use you to get to that status. He spends his waking hours funding charitable causes through art auctions. Yes, the fake play boy has an artist side. Very good for fashion tips too.

They both know each other. They hated each other in high school. Something about being rivals io the same basketball team back in the day. The clashing energy pushing their team to win state every year until graduation. They started out at different colleges. But depending on who you ask, they followed or stalked each other because they ended up at the same uni for the actual undergrad work.

Tyler studied Zoology. John, Fashion Design. And despite not sharing a single class, they ended up at the same club: Scuba diving. The experience inspired them in different ways, and before graduation, they buried the hatchet. They made a promise. If they were not married in five years, they would meet up at a certain park at its main pavilion. This wasn't a marriage proposal, they just were curious on how two different life trajectories could lead to the same resort of being single.

John could have married anyone. He was well liked, well known, and never struggled for a thing. His relationships just ended when he found out their motives or at least his perception of such. His money. One scheme was marriage, divorce, and then a rich alimony. Another, she didn't need to marry him, just get her pregnant. He hoped Tyler was having a better time...

But Tyler never tried. He put his full focus into animal related work, and found he could do the most good as a park ranger. He liked the outdoors too. He could be a bit much, at least once or twice or week, he would go out working shirtless. Something about a better connection to life. Thank god he didn't turn into one of those online life gurus. He figured John would have baby mommas all over the city by now. The ladies were al over him in Uni. A new girlfriend every week. Tyler shuddered at the child support payments. Especially once the court knew he was loaded.

And that was the life, avoiding baby traps, and snapping bear traps, but eventually that date came closer.

At first neither of them were going to show up. What are the chances they both messed up? But they went anyway. A change of environment helps anyone no matter the settings.

Knotfield Park. A giant hilly grass land with pavilions on selected hilltops. The one this pair aimed for was the biggest one in the middle. John came in a Mercedes-Ben, & Tyler a park ranger truck.

They both arrived at the pavilion at the same time. They were both surprised.

"Uncommitted Playboi," Tyler blerted.

"Senator Moosefarts," John responded.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before they both broke into a smile and hugged each other.

John started. "Who knew we striked out unlucky. A rich boy with nothing to do, and a nature boy living it up with bears."

"How did you know? Were you spying on me?" Tyler asked.

"Word got around that the God of the Wild emigrated to the US and I investigated. Come to find out, it was you being you. No matter how much you hide from the world, it finds you. Maybe we should switch lives..", John said, ending in a sad tone.

"All I got is money. Doesn't lead to healthy foundations in the relationship department," he exclaimed.

"Bears scare off the ladies you know." Tyler quipped.

"So what now?" he asked.

"You know I work in auction houses right? So, I get a peek at a lot of stuff with a lot of history. Snagged one for this occasion. It's ~~~Magic~~~." John said enthusiastically.

Tyler remembered that John was into supernatural stuff when he was in high school.

"How is a magic item going to fix our problems? Is a genie's lamp? First wish: never ending apple pie.." Tyler licked his lips.

"Haha, no. A magic mirror. One from ancient Mesopotamia." John Said.

"Historical trash. We going to admire ourselves into a new future?" Tyler said sarcastically.

"Moosefarts, the mirror works as a fortune telling device. You put a piece of your own hair on the polished surface and point it to the stars, and it illuminates the way."

It was now night time. The stars clear in view.

"Let's try it." Tyler said.

"Oh?" John said in confusion.

Tyler already cut off a piece of his hair to put on this mirror. John quickly did the same.

"Why at the same time, Playboi?" Tyler asked.

"Why not." John responded.

He pointed the mirror at the sky. Nothing a happened.

"Maybe you are doing it wrong, Maybe the stars don't give enough light. Point at the moon," insistently said by Tyler.

"Someone is a bit excited by my expensive trash." John Smiled.

He tried the moon, and then the etchings around the mirror glowed. Both Tyler & John could read it for some reason, and they both said

"Two paths, under the moon, converge as one. The source of life, a river."

The mirror's polished surface glowed brighter and brighter until they were both glowing. A light path formed from their feet forming two light roads. Leading to the nearby forest.

"You see what I am seeing?" John asked.

"Yes." Tyler responded.

Tyler trusted his instincts and started following his path.

John hesitated, and then following Tyler's example to not be outdone, followed his.

After 30 minutes, they were in the middle of the woods. Skinny trees, it was fall time to, so not much foliage blocking the way. A lot of brown leaves on the forest floor tho.

Their paths eventually converged, a figure cloaked in light was at the convergence point. They couldn't make out any features except it being humanoid shaped.

"Do yo trust me, John?" Tyler asked.

"This time sure, I got you into this." John joked.

They both walked closer. But as they did. They became enamored by this being. They never stopped walking, and soon they were up real close to it. And yet they didn't stop. They were inside the glowing figure. John half way on one side, Tyler the other. Was it a hologram?

Just then, the light exploded and the two best friends were jerked forward. They smashed against each other & then turned into light particles. They floated for a bit and then swirled around the glowing figure.

The swirling lights that was once John & Tyler converged inside this light being in waves, smashing into it. Each time, the light being gained distinguishing features and became more solid, the light glowing dimmer.

The first wave: The humanoid being was now a skeletal frame surrounded by light.

The second wave: the nervous and vascular system started growing like vines and grew around in and the skeletal frame. A brain was forming.

The third wave: organs and & muscles were formed. It looked like one of those life sized cadaver models of the body without skin.

The fourth wave: Blood starts pumping and skin is formed.

Mentally, John & Tyler were confused. They were inside this light being & at the same time swirling around it.

The fifth wave: They understood. The light being was them. Both of them. In a sense they met their future self and he used the past to bring himself to the present. They were broken down into light and used to make him. Their destiny was to become one and chart a new future. Strangely, they excepted this. Life always brought them together. Maybe that was the hint that they were one being in two bodes. And now they shall be whole.

They gave in. Their minds were broken apart and put back together as one mind.

The sixth wave: John & Tyler's dna was mixed together and added to being. With this set of new instructions, the generic body began to morph.

Tyler's physique was used as the template. The skin tightened & etched Tyler's features the neck down. Loud stretching noises were produced. The biceps bulged out and the shoulders & pecs grew with a popping noise, but John's physique was added as well, and the H body shape was more fleshed out, like being pulled from both sides from the waist. The skin was fighting against this and so he became more cut, and his veins became more visible.

John's face was used as the template. The features morphed to copy John's but soon Tyler's characteristics had their say in this. The eyes became more sunken, the lip color more towards the skin tone. The ears moved to be more like Tyler's. When it came to hair, it was short cut like John's but darker like Tyler's. John's hairline won out, but Tyler's eyes would be used. Tyler's jawline and chin would win out, but John 's potential for facial hair gave him a lowkey grizzled look. The chin was a combination of both, long & thick.

Tyler's ass would form on it, and in the front, John won out. He was well endowed and needed no upgrading. Like his chin, his jewels would get hairy. But Tyler had better leg days from being out in nature, but it would use John's feet. Though for this new being its leg muscles got bigger and stronger than Tyler's, thanks to John.

Throughout this process, he would not make a sound. No moaning, no grunting. The only noise being made was from his body forming. He would find that he had a high pain tolerance.

The Seventh wave: It was shirtless like Tyler likes to be, but it had John's denim jeans.

The final wave: Their life force was added. The light built up again and let out a quick, but bright flash. He was alive. He slumped to the ground and began breathing air. His lungs sucked in the oxygen like a pair of black holes.

Who was he? This was the true final step. The name he chose would solidify the merger of the best friends, there would be one mind going forward. Just say who you are.

He stood up and opened his eyes:

I am James. His jeans became unbuttoned. He fixed that. He would need to get some new clothing.

What does he do in life? Run's charities to fund wildlife refuges. He spends his life between city & nature. James felt a sudden rush of confidence. It was his Tyler half pushing away what kept John from forming relationships: a fear of commitment. He knew someone, Analise. And with John helped push away Tyler's social anxiety. He kept his love of nature but would not selfishly keep that to himself. And with John's money, he could hire a team of new park rangers to protect Tyler's old park. He would still wrestles bears, race with deer, swim with the fish, and lord knows what he does with birds. He would just not do it alone anymore.

[esamastation]

Gamer girl gets transmigrated into a farm boy Chapter 6 [<<Prologue | <Chapter 5 || Chapter 7>>] Ao3 link

-

Tutorial in Age of Tales goes like this:

The main character is woken up by Janelle, who calls him a sleepy head and tells him to get the cart ready, because her daddy wants to go to town. The game teaches the player how to move, climb, jump, and interact with objects there.

The main character drives the cart to Westbrook in a cutscene and gets a chance to explore the town for a moment before Mr. Gylcross concludes his business. It's implied that it's a rare visit for the main character, and he's still new to town. He's given only enough money to buy a few health items maybe, just enough to learn how to interact with shops.

The main character returns to the farm with Mr. Gylcross and there's a time skip to the next day where, after they're done with their various farm-related duties, Josel approaches the main character and says…

"Hey, Van - there's some rabbits in the field again. Do you think you could take care of them?" 

Which then teaches the main character the very basics of combat, specifically long ranged combat, seeing as the beginner weapon for the main character of Age of Tales is a sling. In the game, there's auto aim you can turn on, which helps with long ranged weapons, but they were never a particularly well designed part of the game.

In this sort of real live version of the game…

"How the hell are you supposed to use this damn thing," Van mutters, trying to fit a pebble in the sling and figure out how to spin it in a way that didn't send the rock flying off prematurely.

Unfortunately it's not one of those slingshots with a y-shaped piece of wood and elastic band, no, this is the much older kind with a woven cord and a small pouch in the middle where you put the rock and then spin it around before releasing. Which is, it turns out, pretty tricky to master.

Katie had kind of loved the sling thing, though. It was very historical, she felt. Traditional weapon of commoners. Very cool that they included it in the game. You could even do some real damage with magical ammunition, though it was never as good as just specialising in magic, or even being a ranger. Still, with auto aim it was a cool beginner weapon for ranged combat, and considering that the early fights were all about running away…

It never made much sense for the main character to have it, though, because Van wasn't actually a commoner.

Van tries to spin the sling, and the stone slips out of the nest, landing in front of him with a thud. He grunts, frustrated. "System can't you help me out here? There's the automated chore thing - why isn't this automated? I should know how to do this, right?"

The System opens up his character window, which is not very helpful.

[Farmboy] [Van] [Lvl. 3 Commoner]

[Status:] [Constitution: 10] [Strength: 10] [Dexterity: 1] [Intelligence: 1] [Wisdom: 10] [Charisma: 1] [Luck: 1] [You have 4 unused Stat Points.] [You have 2 unused Skill Point]

"That's not very helpful - wait," Van says and peers at the list of stats. Intelligence is highlighted. "Huh - I need intelligence to figure out how to use a sling? Wait, wait, wait," he pauses, coiling up the sling. "Say I wanted to become a… rogue. I want to sneak around and assassinate my enemies. What would I…?"

The status screen shifts, and it's dexterity that gets highlighted this time. "Huh," Van says again. "Okay, that's actually really good to know." It's nothing he didn't already know - he had played as a rogue before, but still. It's neat that the System is giving him this kind of info. "I didn't need intelligence to use a sling in the game, though. Also, why are chores automated but this isn't? It makes way more sense for me to know how to fight, doesn't it?"

System just highlights intelligence again.

Van really doesn't want to spend any stat points yet, not before he decides what class he's going for - also, who knows what will happen in Westbrook. He might need a sudden burst of charisma to persuade the bad guys not to kill him, or dexterity to avoid being skewered, or any number of things. Intelligence is only good for Wizards, and Katie did not enjoy Wizard build all that much. It was too slow, and the combat didn't quite have the oomph of getting up close and personal with a big sword.

Shaking his head, Van closes the System window and continues working on the sling. He does figure out how to get the stone to stay in the sling, but trying to get it to fly even to the right cardinal direction…

Hm. Maybe he could put one point in intelligence? Just to see what it would do?

… No, he will not be tempted. He'll save the points until he needs them.

At any rate, the rabbits have been dealt with - he might've not hit any of them, but he definitely made enough of a racket to scare them off. Shaking his head, Van puts the sling away, his ammunition pouch five pebbles lighter. Whatever. He's got more important things to figure out right now, anyway.

Like how to make a spear.

-

The tutorial goes on to then try and deepen the main character's relationship with Josel and Janelle - giving the player a chance to eavesdrop on them during a cute moment. Van gets that opportunity too.

While he's doing a little bit of gathering in a copse of trees, figuring out how to get a Wooden Pole as opposed to mere Branches he's been finding, Van happens to spot Josel, picking up flowers out in the meadow just beyond the forest's edge. And then Janelle just so happens to come across Josel, greeting him cheerfully with, "Hey there, Josel - what are you up to?"

"Well, uh, I just, um," Josel stammers, looking between her and the sorry bunch of flowers he's holding. Then he tries to, comically, hide them behind himself, as though they haven't been fully on display already. "It's - it's nothing!"

"Oh?" Janelle asks, instantly mischievous, and skips forward. "It's nothing, is it? What's that behind your back, Josel, what have you got there? Hmm?"

Josel squirms and backs away while she tries to sneak a peek past him and it's very cute until he finally gives up. "It's stupid, I didn't -" he says and then holds the flowers to her. "For you, Miss."

"Oh, for me? Why, thank you, Josel!" Janelle says cheerfully, accepting the flowers with a little bow. "You are most kind, sir. You didn't have to."

"I thought it would - that it would brighten your day," Josel says, flushed bright red all the way down his neck and wringing his hands with embarrassment. "It's nothing, just a bunch of flowers."

"Well, I think it's very sweet," Janelle answers warmly, hugging the flowers and then grinning. "Say, have you ever made a flower crown?"

It's almost unbearably saccharine, the whole thing, but Van can't help but watch, leaning onto a tree trunk and grinning fondly as Janelle gently bullies Josel into learning how to weave flower crowns, before plopping the one she made on Josel's head. The whole thing is so blatantly wholesome that the first time Katie saw the scene, she'd shouted out loud, "Oh, they're definitely going to die!"

Van is half impressed that the developers refrained from including promises about the future and how they'd make flower crowns for each other until the end of their days. Or reminisce about their past as childhood friends, or something. Honestly, Janelle and Josel didn't really have much of a background beyond their roles as cannon fodder for the plot.

Still, it is pretty cute.

Janelle finishes the flower crown Josel can't figure out how to tie properly and puts it on her head, smiling. "There, now we match," she says with satisfaction, making herself comfortable amidst the flowers. "It's been ages since I did something like this."

"You're very good at it," Josel says earnestly.

Janelle laughs, hugging her knees. "Thanks! I used to make wreaths for the Flower Festival, you know - I won the first Prize and everything!" she says and then her smile fades. "We haven't really gone since Momma died. I thought maybe next spring would be different. With you and Van here, Daddy is in much better spirits these days."

"I'm glad we've been able to help," Josel says, adjusting his crown. "If there's anything else I can do to help out, you just let me know."

"Thanks," Janelle says with a chuckle and then looks at him. "Van's not going to stay until the Flower Festival, though, is he? I don't think he's even going to stay over winter."

In the shadows of the trees, Van folds his arms, interested.

"What makes you think that?" Josel asks. "Did he say something?"

"Not really. He's just acting a bit weird, isn't he? Like he's waiting for something," Janelle says and sighs. "I think he's remembering stuff from before."

"He hasn't said anything to me," Josel says, frowning.

"Me neither, but he's all… I don't know," Janelle sighs and looks away. "I just think he's getting ready to leave. It's funny, he's not even been here for that long, but I was kind of hoping he'd stay longer. Daddy's been a lot more active since he appeared, you know? Like with more people around, he has a purpose again."

"Yeah. Mr. Gylcross has seemed more energetic."

"Yeah," Janelle says with a sigh.

Josel looks at her like he's not sure what to do or say. For a moment it looks like he might put an arm around her, before awkwardly refraining. "Well, I'm not going anywhere," the farmhand promises earnestly. "Even if Van leaves, I'll always be here, ready to help you out."

Janelle laughs. "I know I can count on you, Josel," she says and rocks back and forth before rolling up to her feet. "Come on, let's head back - you can help me catch a chicken for dinner."

Van watches them leave, leaning his head against the tree trunk and frowning. He still doesn't feel any particular attachment to these people - it's hard to, really, after Katie had watched them die over and over again in the exact same way. Even the most sympathetic NPCs stop looking like people when you can see their strings being pulled. Even so…

It would be nice if he could save them this time.

Glancing up at the sky, Van tries to gauge how long he has until sundown. Then, shaking his head, he heads back into the forest, to find poles for his spearheads.

He got maybe three hours until the Rift would open and no proper weapon yet.

He really needs to get a move on.

-

And then, the Rift.

In the tutorial, it's not expected of the main character to have a proper weapon when the Rift opens. That's why the farm is littered with low grade farming tools - though they barely had any attack power, they could be used as weapons in a pinch, usually to comedic effect. The whole point of the Rift is to mess up the farm, kill everyone there - except the main character - and send the main character running to town.

Most of that happens in cutscenes, of course. There was no way to stop the Rift from appearing, or close it once it had, and there wasn't meant to be a way to stop the demons coming through, either. You could kill a few of them, maybe, but they kept coming and coming in an endless, steady flood. The whole thing was meant to be a hopeless fight.

Of course, no good set piece survives contact with players, and it took less than a day after Age of Tales launched for people to turn the traumatic Rift event into a mob farm.

For a Gylcross Mob Farm you need at minimum two things, plus a weapon to kill the mobs with. You need one of the carts, parked in a specific location before the Rift opened, and a barrel, set down just a little to the right of it. Because the rift opens right next to the barn, the demons coming through can move only in three directions, and the cart and barrel block two of those, creating a bottleneck. If you do it right, the arrangement cuts down the number of enemies you have to fight to a single one at a time.

And the Rift never stops spewing enemies at you. So, in effect, you can just stand there, for hours, for days, killing imp after imp after imp, just collecting exp. Add to this some better gear and those sweet, sweet Draughts of Memory… and it takes you approximately eight hours and fifty four minutes to boost the player character up to level 100.

Van might not have those potions - but he still intends to take advantage of the Rift's mechanics as much as he can. Without the Draughts it would take literal days to reach the same effect - but right now, he'll settle for ten, twenty levels at least. Just something to get him started properly.

Assuming, of course, that the Rift worked the way it did in the game. If not, well, it still wouldn't hurt to prepare.

"Uh, Van - what are you doing?" Josel asks, watching Van push the cart into place.

"I'm going to clean up the barn. Getting the place set up for the harvest, you know," Van answers, huffing while turning the cart around, aiming to get it just below the window. "Just… getting this… out of the way."

Josel looks at him, at the cart, at the barn, and then scratches at his cheek. "… Okay, you need a hand with that?"

"Sure - grab that barrel in the back, will you?" Van says and then thinks better of it. It wouldn't hurt to over prepare. The game mechanics haven't exactly been on his side so far. "Actually, let's move the other cart first."

In the game once you're done with fighting the Rift, however long you take, the player character escapes in one of the carts that's, mysteriously, ready to go with Bell strapped in and everything. It's very dramatic and convenient, and Katie could even forgive the plothole there - here… here Van doesn't think he can trust the plot holes to be on his side.

Better get the cart in place for easy access.

Josel gives him a weird look at the very precise way Van wants to position the cart once outside, conveniently close to the stables and nowhere near the barricade. The other farmhand says nothing, though, confusedly helping him situate the cart just so that Bell could be easily strapped on in a hurry. Van makes sure all the necessary straps and such go in the cart as well.

The barrels and boxes and other things from inside go to and around the first cart, with Van carefully situating them around to box in the spot where the Rift would be, enclosing the space as much as he can.

By the barn doors, Josel pauses. "Did you make these?" he asks, taking one of the spears Van has lined up against the wall.

The shafts Van had made for them are pretty rough - they're basically just trunks of young oak trees, which had been the only things to register as Wooden Poles to the System. Cleaning them and attaching the spearheads to them had taken some effort, and Van can't say he's particularly confident about his woodcraft skills - but after he'd sharpened the spearheads, the System had approved his craftsmanship by re-designating them as Rough Spear, lvl. 2s, each with 15 Attack power, so Van's satisfied with them. The enemies he's about to face are only lvl. 1, and with his strength stat lvl. 2 weapons would be more than enough to handle them.

"Yeah - just leave them there," Van says, hauling another barrel in place and testing its stability. Yeah, that wouldn't go anywhere. "I'll deal with them."

Josel gives him a rather concerned look but leaves the spear where it is. He goes to pick up the barrel lids sitting in a stack beside the spears instead, but Van tells him to leave them, too.

"I'll need them for something later," Van says, inspecting his Rift barricade, trying to fill in the gaps

"... Okay," Josel says slowly and then shakes his head. "I guess I'll get a broom and start sweeping then…"

Van lets him do it and finishes up his barricade, leaving just the one opening for the imps to get through - the one he'd be covering with a spear. With his mob farm ready, Van brushes his hands together and then heads inside to join Josel in "cleaning".

Another hour or so until sundown, and his preparations are just about ready. Now he just needs to wait.

-

"Van? Van, my boy, are you in here?"

Van, who's sitting on the hayloft just in case he needs to be in a specific position to trigger the Rift, peers down. It's his boss, peeking into the empty barn. "Yes, Mr. Gylcross?"

The farmer looks around the empty barn and then outside at the Rift barricade. "Would you like to explain what's going on here?" he asks, baffled.

Van goes down the ladder. "I just thought of doing a bit of cleaning," he says. "Before the harvest, I mean. I, uh," what would be a good explanation, "I heard some mice or something the other night, and I thought we should close up all the holes before bringing the harvest in. I'll put everything back tomorrow, I promise." Nailed it.

"Mice, hmm? I see," the farmer says, anxiously twiddling with his moustache. "And the - the spears?" he asks worriedly. "What's that about?"

Van looks at the spears and the various barrel and pot lids he'd gathered to serve as shields. "Uh," he says. "A new hobby?"

The farmer looks at him, looking very concerned indeed. "My boy, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," Van assures him. "I'm just trying new things, that's all."

"I know about your visit to the tailor - Ms. Arbury sought me out," Mr. Gylcross says slowly. "As I understand you ordered something quite expensive, and she was a tad concerned. Where did you get all that silver from, Van?"

"Uh," Van says. Well that explains how and why Mr. Gylcross knew about the gambeson. "From the inn?"

"Van, surely you didn't just… take it?" Mr. Gylcross says, anxious.

"No, no, nothing like it - I gambled," Van says quickly. "And taught a gambler a trick about how to play Echo better - she paid fifty silver for it."

Mr. Gylcross doesn't look quite convinced, eyeing him with grave concern before turning to look at the spears again. "And - and then spears?" he asks. "What do you need spears and a gambeson for?"

Having no better explanation to give, Van tells him what he told Janelle. "It just… feels like I need them?" he says awkwardly. Hooray for amnesia as a convenient excuse for weird behaviour. "I can't really explain. It's just a… feeling."

That doesn't seem to quite soothe the farmer's mind, though his look of worry turns into something more serious. "You know you can always come to me if you have concerns, right?" the man says earnestly. "If you remember something, if you have issues. I know waking up here the way you did was quite traumatic."

"Um, yeah," Van says, awkward. "Thank you, Mr, Gylcross. I'm grateful that you, um, took me in," he adds, which feels like something the character would say, had this conversation been in the game.

"You looked quite rough, when Janelle found you - like you'd been in a fight," Mr. Gylcross says sadly, shaking his head. "Have you remembered what happened?"

No, though Van knows about it from the game. The player character had been hit over the head with a hammer while trying to escape assassins. Very creative of the developers. "No, I haven't. Sorry, Mr. Gylcross."

"That's quite alright," the farmer says and looks at the spears. "I didn't really expect you to remember much, not after all this time - though it looks like something's getting through anyway," he mutters, considering the weapons. "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with having weapons on my homestead, Van."

"Oh. Um. I'll put them away tomorrow, then," Van offers. If Mr. Gylcross still objected to their presence by the morning, he'd be pretty surprised. "You won't have to deal with them, I promise."

"… Very well," Mr. Gylcross says and then gives him a look. "You'll still stay for the harvest, though, won't you? I planted a lot more than I would've without you here - we'll need all the hands we can get, to get the fields harvested in time."

"I won't go anywhere just yet, Mr. Gylcross," Van assures the man, and smiles. "I'll see my job here to the end."

"Good, good," Mr. Gylcross says and clears his throat, looking at the makeshift barricade before peering up at the sky.  "Well, at least it doesn't look like it will rain tonight… I suppose it's fine, this once," he then says, moving to leave. "And you'll put the spears away?"

"I will," Van says - as soon as they wouldn't have any more use, he would. "Have a good night, Mr. Gylcross."

"You too, my boy - sleep well."

Van smiles at the sentiment, nods and then watches as the farmer heads back to the house, making sure the man is inside before going to double check the barricade, just in case. Everything is where he put it, nothing has been moved. Good.

There's maybe another half an hour until the Rift opens.

No one would be sleeping in Gylcross Farm that night.

-

Proofread by @nimadge [<<Prologue | <Chapter 5 || Chapter 7>>]

-

Cue suspenseful background music...

Gotta say guys, not really seeing point in posting this on tumblr anymore. Might just post on ao3 after this.

[jisuto]

On the topic of game reception, what are your thoughts on the current state of pokemon?

OK THIS ASK WAS SENT BEFORE THE HUGE LEAK LOL but I have a lot to say:

I watched VHS tapes, played the games, and owned merch since a young age so the series is very special to me. But I don't like the current direction at all and it's not because of the designs or nostalgia. The quality and game performance plummeted so how can I enjoy playing when there's mad lag or low frame rate that hinders my progress and worsen the experience??

It took too many years for them to realize they need to put quality over quantity after the SWSH mess, seeing that they can get away with pretty much ANYTHING and still make huge profit. You see people say that Pokemon should've never went 3D and stay 2D but tbh, it's a series that improves it's graphics as technology advances so it's not a surprise for them to finally go 3D and personally I think that's fine but just keep it looking good and fun (though I would love a 2D/3D hybrid). XY introduced a lot of new features but still lacked in some aspects that still haven't really been solved or added.

Reusing assets is common in the industry but only to a certain extent. They claimed that SWSH was taking a while to make because they were making brand new models which turned out to be a lie and they look like bootleg figures with the new lighting. The 3DS models were ripped from Pokepark, including some animations, but a lot of them still barely have any character. They have their own in-house team (Creatures Inc) so they made the decision NOT to have pokemon properly animated or look alive.... Also they made spin-offs like Ranger, Colosseum, Pokepark, and Pokken which look AMAZING

FRLG took only one year while HGSS was being developed at the same time as Platinum and took 3 years to finish that turned into one of the best games and remakes ever made. As the franchise expands, the team also needs to add more manpower but Game Freak can definitely afford to get more resources to help them?? They can't continue having a ragtag team of like 20 people to make a game back then and do the same now then expect good results... Hire more people who know how create with current gen consoles IT'S COMMON SENSE PLS also I can't believe they had a different company create BDSP knowing how beloved and groundbreaking DPPT was?? No redesigns like the previous remakes and thought it was a good idea to keep it looking a carbon copy to the DS style...

Also it's shocking to see how fan reception can change how the devs direct the next gen ESPECIALLY when it's not even real constructive criticism?? When Unova came out, I remember seeing all the online outcry about "OH THEY HAVE AN ICE CREAM CONE POKEMON AND A TRASH BAG, THEY'RE RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS EW" then actually hear it being repeated at school.... I WAS TRYING TO SURVIVE SINCE DAY 1 IN THE TRENCHES DEFENDING THIS GAME IT WAS ALWAYS GOOD AND DIDN'T NEED 10 YEARS TO AGE WELL. It's crazy how these are the same people who want another Kanto when Trubbish is Grimer (garbage waste) and Vanillite is Voltorb (based on literal items) then you could not catch any other pokemon from different regions in the main game. And the leak confirmed that the disgruntled hate from the west made the devs not release new pokemon in B2W2 and move them over to XY instead AND NOT GIVE A SINGLE GEN 5 MEGA EVOLUTION. So we were robbed because of genwunners who were fixated on the wrong things and ignored all the great content Unova brought us. It's strange how players keep complaining they want a different and fresh game, but want it to continue being super formulaic and binary like wtf do you want make up your mind

None of the switch titles really got me invested and I always end up replaying the older games but hopefully PLZA will break the curse and finally give us a nice game. Also why don't we have more spin-offs on the switch if there's so many of them floating around like the DS had a bunch??? STOP BEING COWARDS I WANT A POKEMON NINTENDOGS GAME OR THAT FIRE EMBLEM CROSSOVER WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET. I JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN AGAIN ;w;

[sergeifyodorov]

draft lottery opinions

im pretty sure any team that hasn't made the playoffs can win it but only the bottom 11 can pick first overall so let's go there

s tier:

sharks. obviously. they've suffered a lot over a long while and they deserve something good out of it. will macklin be The Answer? no. will he Help? yes. that teal is beautiful and he'd look charming in it! Let The Pacific Be A Nightmare To Visit Again

blue jackets. a little bit further along in their rebuild; primed to Actually Go Places with a bit of determination, a sacred child, and some luck and head office competence

a tier:

utah hc. only didn't put this in s tier because i'm sad as fuck about the yotes but they're basically on the precipice with a little bit of reworking of the dcore and another piece up front. logan cooley/macklin celebrini flagship yaoi of the late 2020s who says no

ducks. most of my ducks opinions are filtered through a lens of "jersey 2 ugly" TEE BEE AITCH... get some graphic design in there... those teal and purple thirds were excellent lean into that... also they're really trying something interesting with carlson and mactav and gauthier and mintyukov. like this is going somewhere. mack might make it scary.

b tier:

sens. i think a relatively competent goalie and a true 1c in mack could actually solve their problems and end their rebuild. like im serious if they win this they're actually a playoff team by the end of his elc. but also that will make tickets more expensive and they're the only team i can viably commute to :(

habs. probably won't improve the team substantially but it might create some interesting vibes

c tier:

kraken. this is a thing that could happen i suppose

sabres. actually no let's investigate let's consider. the youngest team in the nhl could get even younger, gain what may track to be a true 1c (im sorry. tage is not that girl), and in that vein get, like the sens, the final piece of the puzzle they need to make The Jump and finally exit their decade of darkness. only reason it's here is bc like they've already had 2 first overall picks in the last few years and frankly i think we need to torture The Blonde Man (rdahlin) a little more

flames. it would NOT make their organization understand what was going on more and it would NOT give them a positive or negative direction but it WOULD give nazem kadri and jonathan huberdeau a son to raise. so i don't hate it

d tier:

devils. hischier-hughes-celebrini as centre depth is simply Too Much and they certainly do not deserve it. i hope luke goes to the rangers

f tier:

blackhawks. i want connor bedard to be a hockeyblr top ten tragic figure already

[quirkwizard]

Expansion on the quirk Bookkeeper? I loved your idea, I was looking for something for a character to "summon", and this Quirk is PERFECT!!! I remember you also had a Quirk called Claymation. Could you tell me which of the two is better in terms of "summoning" creatures?

Expansion for Bookkeeper? I like how it works, Quirk really embraces the idea of creating a "magical" summon.

Love Bookkeeper! Any expansions, costumes, training and evolutions?

To be honest, I don't care to compare my Quirks on which are "better". It's more about which one you prefer more. I'm also confused about "Claymation" as an option. It's not a bad choice. But you'd think "Incubate", the sci fi cousin Quirk of "Bookkeeper", would be more fitting.

Training "Bookkeeper" is going to require a lot of trial and error. It'd be a lot of the user designing a minion, throwing in whatever items they feel are needed to make it, and sending it off to complete whatever task you made it for. Repeat until you see real results from your minions and general improvements. And a lot of the Quirk will require that kind of experimenting to figure out what items work best for what they are trying to accomplish. They really need to learn how to command their minions as well. Spreading out different minions to different tasks could help them divide their attention and help them learn how to control them.

Evolutions would be more about the user understanding the full depth of what the Quirk can do and how best to apply the immense depth of the Quirk. The learning curve for this Quirk would be pretty steep. So getting to understand everything it is capable of with the basics would be pretty great. Still, it could expand in other ways. The main one I could see the user evolving the Quirk is effectively quick creating a bunch of their smaller, ineffective minions. Just to make them less defenseless in a pinch. They'd also be able to make and maintain more minions at a time, reducing the hassle of trying to make up more on the spot.

Because of the set up and risk involved with it, it's hard to imagine the user really fighting with it like any other hero. If the user could, they'd be sending out their minions like a Power Rangers villains. Ideally, the user could have a van where they can safely use the book, full of random items from floor to ceiling they can use for their Quirk. They should also have those some of those items on their person in case they need them, like having various pouches on their person for them. And of course, you need to go with the wizard look. Preferably a dark warlock or cultist with some horned skull mask and robes covered in eldritch patterns.

[theresattrpgforthat]

I’m probably gonna sound very disjointed. But I have an idea for a superhero campaign where all the P.Cs are kids cause all adults have disappeared.

I thought MASKS would be a good system for this but my friend informed me that in order for MASKS to work you kinda need mentor characters.

So in your opinion, what would be a good, easy to learn superhero based system to run this game.

THEME: Superheros, Kids - Only

Henshin, by Cave of Monsters Games.

Henshin A Sentai RPG is a storytelling tabletop game about young heroes with transformative powers who battle both monsters and personal problems. It borrows from a Japanese superhero culture of color-coded masked teams, giant robots, and over-the-top special effects. Anyone can tell fun, collaborative stories in Henshin!, regardless of familiarity with the tropes, and the game showcases a diversity of settings and characters for every player.

This book includes instructions and actual play examples for everything needed to start playing Henshin! right away. Also included are the eleven Color playbooks, seven ready-to-play settings, original exclusive art, and references to digital downloads. Resources and information can be found at henshingame.com. Let’s Henshin!

Henshin is inspired by the Tokusatsu genre of superhero media, and reminds me intensely of Power Rangers. Your characters will wrestle with personal obstacles such as dealing with their temper, their failures, and the way they are seen by their peers. The system is inspired by No Dice, No Masters but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily GM-less, just that it doesn’t use dice. Henshin’s settings are also very flexible, so you should be able to write your own custom setting in which the kids have taken on super-powered relics in order to survive in a world without adults.

Masks: Retconned, by Sam Roberts.

You’re like most teenagers, with one small difference: You’re a superhero. Fight villains, be part of a team, save the day, and maybe, slowly figure out who you are.

Masks: Retconned is a game of teen superhero adventures, designed for 3+ players. Most of the players will take on the role of individual Heroes on a Team. Imagine these as the protagonists of your new comic book series. One player takes on the role of GM, embodying the superheroic setting, supporting characters, and villains.

If you like the basic premise of Masks but you don’t want to deal with the adult entanglements, you might want to take a look at Masks: Retconned. The game is very bare-bones, and only has the basic mechanics - your stats, your emotions, and the graded success scale and what it means for moves. The rest is meant to be designed as you need it. So if you don’t mind doing a little bit of game design before you sit down to play, you might want to check this out!

Powered by Cereal, by bismuth.

Become the Teen With Attitude you always wanted to be Inspired by tokusatsu hero teams and magical girl squads, PbC is a game about building a brightly-coloured Hero team and playing their adventures across a Series, fighting to save the world from evil!

PbC brings all players together to collaborate on crafting a Series, with its own aesthetics for heroes and villains, its own setting, and unique qualities for each hero. Play comprises the Episodes of the Series: both the Heroes' lives, and fights against Boss characters. It uses a relatively straightforward d6 system and encourages the Hero players to think about how their individual actions work towards a team strategy, bolstering allies and keeping momentum!

Characters in PbC are embodiments of different virtues, and these virtues will define your personal strengths, as represented in the Verbs and Adjectives assigned to your character. Relationships are also important in this game, and this is represented by connections that each player will have with side characters, whether that be positive or negative. Overall the game is still very lighthearted, as it’s inspired by Saturday morning cartoons.

When you try to do something in PbC, you roll a number of d6’s, and check to see how many results were unique. The more unique results you have, the more successes! This means that there’s a cap on how successful your character ca be, but I think the fact that any roll is going to have at least one success really communicates the tone of this game. This another game where the setting is build-your-own, and I don’t see any mechanics that require adults to be part of the setting.

Teens With Powers, by Unknown Dungeon.

Teens with Powers is a one-page roleplaying game about extraordinary young people, inspired by TV shows like Teen Titans and Avatar the Last Airbender, and shonen manga.  As a group, the players and GM come up with the setting, themes, and age-range of the characters. Then each player creates a character with a singular power that they can use to help solve problems and fight evil, while also traversing the trials of being young adults.

Teens with Powers uses a dice-pool system to resolve risky actions, and a back-and-forth combat system to allow of maximum expression and excitement. Also included is a back-page with GM advice and rules.

Teens with Power is a stripped-down Forged in the Dark game. There isn’t much of a setting involved in the first place, so you should be able to build your own setting to fit your preferences. The downside is that there isn’t much guidance or inspiration for powers, so it might be worth it to check out something like Supertables to help you come up with your powers.

This ruleset has a mechanic called Limit, which tracks how close your character is coming to breaking down - push too far, and you lose control of your powers, likely causing damage and hurting something or someone you care about. This might be also good for a high-tension game where the disappearance of adults is the cause of a lot of stress and fear for your characters.

Super City, by David Garrett.

One in every one hundred children in Super City is born with super powers. You are one of those children. Together with your classmates at Super City Elementary, you save helpless citizens, rescue lost pets, and eat delicious ice cream.

Utilizing the ultralight VRBS system, Super City is easy enough for a six year-old to master, but also provides the structure for anyone to generate a superhero story of their own.

Super City was designed to be able to run for small kids, so the rule-set is definitely very light. Your powers will be represented as verbs, and you’ll gain better control over your powers as you progress. The game is organized over a series of scenes, which will present you with a number of problems that you’ll have to solve. You also have a collective pool of Energy, which is meant to track how close your characters are to running out of steam. The goal is to get through the mission without running out of Energy, which depletes when you fail a roll.

This is a game without a setting or history, which means you can backfill whatever lore makes sense for your characters.

Cosmic Ray Kids, by Hedgemaze Press.

Cosmic Ray Kids is a single-page (front and back) atomic-age adventure roleplaying game for all ages. Play as superpowered youngsters who fight the forces of evil with heroics and heart!

Cosmic Ray Kids uses a push-your-luck style of gameplay, that looks very much like the PUSH system by Cezar Capacle. Rolling a 6 is the best possible result. If you roll a 4 or lower, you can choose to roll again - but roll higher than a 7 and you’ve gone too far!

This game also has a Boost resource that is communal, and can be spent to improve a roll up to a certain point. This gives the players an option in case there is something that they can’t risk a re-roll for but still need a success, and also encourages the group to work together to figure out how to solve problems. If you want a game that has a retro-cartoon feel that encourages the characters to work together, Cosmic Ray Kids might be worth checking out!

A Special Extra:

It’s not a superhero game, but Children of the Fall is a GM-less game that takes place in an apocalypse that has turned adults into bloodthirsty monsters. It’s very gritty and dark, but an interesting premise.

[unsoldd]

𝚃𝙰𝙳𝙲 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙿𝚃

𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙿(𝚜): 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐱 Pᴏᴍɴɪ, ᒍᗩ᙭ 𝗑 ℝ𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕒 𝚊𝚗𝚍

Ｚｏｏ ｂｌｅ ｘ 𝒢𝒶𝓃𝑔𝓁ℯ

𝙰𝚄: Human

—————————————

The cast of the digital circus has found an exit deep inside of the circuses code. Not knowing that without that code, hackers and all different viruses and bugs can know enter the circus anytime. Caine, just figuring this out tries to hurry everyone away. But, Pomni, who doesn’t want Caine to be alone in the circus asks him to join them. Caine says he doesn’t think he could as he is an AI and is made of different pixels. Pomni, who isn’t taking no for an answer shoved Caine through the door, along with are boy bubble. And everyone runs through leaving the digital circus to be destroyed by the viruses, bugs and hackers to destroy it.

—————————————

Caine gasps as he looks around to see he’s in a small white bland cubical. He’s in the real world, with Bubble. But, where is everyone else?

—————————————

Everyone wakes up from their escape and find they are in the C&A storage room on the top floor and can’t get the lift to go down to work and the stairs are busted and broken down. While everyone is cheering that they have finally got out of that place, they are also scared as they are stuck on the top floor of an abandoned 90’s building of their old work place. Also, Caine and Bubble are missing. Either Caine and Bubble didn’t make it through or they have been teleported to a different part of the building. Can they all get out of the building in time? In time for what you ask? Well, the construction for the building to be demolished into rubble…

—————————————

I have tweaked their ages a bit but only so it made sense how they all worked in C&A, except for Bubble. They are as followed:

•Ragatha - 30

• Pomni - 25

• Gangle - 26

• Zooble - 25 (Used to be 22)

• Jax - 25 (Used to be 22)

• Kinger - 48

• Caine - 27 (Didn’t have an age before)

• Bubble - 10 (Didn’t have an age before)

—————————————

Their jobs in C&A. Also, I thought of C&A as a Game Developing Company (The C part) and Networking Company (The A part):

[The C’ part of C&A]

•Caine - Animator

•Gangle - Graphic Designer

•Jax - Game Developer

•Zooble - Game Tester

—————————————

[The A’ part of C&A]

•Ragatha - Network analyst

•Pomni - Cloud architecture

•Kinger - CEO of Networking

—————————————

Real Life Names (Nickname) + Genders + Nationality:

•Ragatha=Agatha(Aggie)Ranger-Female-She/Her- 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿/🇵🇱

• Pomni = Polly Flex-Grantor - Female-She/Her- 🇰🇷/🇺🇸

• Jax = Jackson (Jax) Xeon - Male-He/Him- 🇺🇸/🇩🇪

• Zooble = Zara Charlie - Non-Binary-They/Them- 🇲🇽

•Gangle=Gabriela (Gabi) Linton-Female-She/Her- 🇫🇷

• Kinger = Keith Scotts - Male-He/Him-🇬🇧/🇷🇺

• Caine = Caine Dentó - Male-He/Him- 🇺🇸

• Bubble = Ben Dentó - Male-He/Him- 🇺🇸/🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

—————————————

This is just a prompt for anyone who is struggling with ideas for books they want to write. No need to add credit this is just for fun for me.

—————————————

Also! These are the photos I’m using as reference for what they look like (IN MY OPINION). Also, pictures were made by deduukk on Pinterest.

Caine and bubble… when I tried finding one for Caine all I got was Caine as a human, but with eyeballs in his mouth… and bubble is impossible! So, on Ao3 someone has already made a pretty good drawing of what Caine and Bubble will look like. The book is:

[brucewaynehater101]

Cooked up an AU based on the Power Rangers & Digimon asks

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

Power Rangers Digital Division

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

Introducing Timothy "Tim" Drake, Batclan fan extraordinaire

Seriously, you should check out all those hero photos he's caught

And you wanna know what's better than being way too young to stay up all night for one special interest? Two special interests!

Particularly these weird .mon files he keeps finding on his journey to hacking mastery. He can't decipher them quite yet, but they look so interesting and there's so many designs

It's only when screen-of-death blue and ones and zeros climb from his keyboard to his arms and the rest of his body does he realize that biting off more than you can chew is very, very real

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

Introducing Subject "Thorn" 13, escaped clone extraordinaire

Hard to not be the very best escapee when you're the only escapee. Same with being a thorn to child protective services

Good thing he got out of Metropolis soon as he could, Mr. Lex had nothing good to say about Superman back in the lab, and given the horror he was also experiencing second hand about mere cops? he trusts those tales

There's a reason he keeps kryptonite on his person, hearing and smelling and hearing so many horrible things is too much

Eat the rich, but they're good for some things

He paused his thoughts to look at his one and only companion. well, not really, but he can barely take care of himself, so a digital alternative is much preferable

Thorn was proud to say he stole it from the labs themselves. People called it an off-brand tamagotchi, but he'd say it was even better

Yuramon. It was even more plantlike than him. Demanding he be near quality soil and bath it's screen in sunlight in the real world

Sunlight on his skin, nobody questioning his presence, and no acts of cruelty nearby, he's never felt safer . . .

Ding!

[Yuramon is ready to digivolve and it wants you to see it up close and personally!]

[Will you plug in to an internet connected device?]

[Yes] / [No]

Say no to that? Hell no! He had a phone right on his person

He quickly ran to a vacant alleyway. He wanted to keep this special moment all to himself!

Connecting to the local library's wifi, he was careful to not break anything as his devices connected

Yuramon was right there on his phone screen, ready to Digivolve! Grow!

It's when his screen began to glow brighter than the highest setting and his hands were irremovable from the screen he realized something was up

Yeah when it felt like he was being sucked into the glow he had an idea where this was going

He was going to become a missing person, they'd figure out a child who stole Luthor tech vanished because of it, and Superman would get on his case

Oh come on! He stole his phone from a cop! Why is he suddenly getting the "hero learns a moral" treatment?

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

Bart, frankly enough, didn't trust this world. past present or future

There was a reason the Earth was cooked if his memories and this time period's social study books were any indication

Not even the digital world faced world ending threats as often. granted, it kind of already ended itself . . .

But with him and Terriermon by each other's side, they'll find a way back; They're in this together!

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

Pursurimon! Pursurimon! Pursurimon!!!1 Cassie blasts onto the keyboard

Could you blame her? Her mother just uncovered a wicked (recent!) artifact and she already got permission to blab

She attached a picture of the rusted item to her message

[Pursurimon] Woah!

[Pursurimon] My friend found one as well

[Wondrland] huh??///

No fucking way

[Pursurimon] Can I show you through the screen?

Accept Pursurimon's Request?

Yes / No

a video chat she had to assume. They've known each other long enough that she's comfortable with it

Going off topic, this forum needed to get itself together. the team might be small, sure, but not everyone could put cryptic pop-up messages and clues together

It's only after clicking yes and getting dragged through the screen with claws, that Cassie thinks there was probably more to internet safety than she thought

◢◤◢◤◢◤◢◤

This AU is takes ideas from both Digimon animes, and various Power Ranger series

Short explanation. Tim accidentally digivolved a .mon while messing with a DigiMorpher through the screen. using the digivolution energy, the .mon dragged him into the digital world cuz it was curious

Cassie's mom found a DigiMorpher and Pusurimon thought "it's fate!" and asked a friend to drag her in while it was busy draggin in Tim. Cassie & Pusuri met through the forum

Cassie coming in with her own DigiMorpher digivolved Pusurimon to Herissmon

Luthor was poking around the digital world and decided to try and raise a loyal digimon from birth. The baby wasn't even meant to hatch yet, he intended to have it be a designer baby

Thorn stole a very vulnerable prototype. When it's time to Digivolve at last, Yuramon used the vulnerabilities to meet it's partner face to face at last w/ the help of a DigiMorpher

Bart and Terriermon already had their own & figured out how to turn it on at long last (for whatever reason it would not turn on), this allowed them to reenter the digital world

This is also the eighth's first meeting altogether

In a nutshell; Tim and Commandramon, Cassie and Herissmon, Thorn and Petimeramon, Bart and Terriermon

confused? Me too. I'm jumping from section to section typing this up as we go along

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I didn't make a backstory of lore lol

Basically, the four are the DigiDestined chosen to wield DigiMorphers, special Digivices that not only Digivolve their partners but also allow the wielders to DigiMorph into the Power Rangers of the Digital Division; Digivision for short

They are a special group of Power Rangers meant to protect the Digital and Real World from threats connected to the Digital World or will have a negative effect on it

These DigiMorphers come with the ability to transport their holder and whatever/whomever they choose between the two worlds

Furthermore, as their partners, the four Digimon get this for free, no DigiMorpher required

Oh frick, the actual Power Rangers part

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Tim Drake - Virus Ranger, suit's main color is blue camouflage just like his partner's

Thorn - Data Ranger, suit mixes yellow & orange w/ accents of red

Bart Allen - Vaccine Ranger, cream with a secondary green

Cassie Sandsmark - Free Ranger, silver with golden accents

When transformed, their partners will gain pieces of armor matching or similar to the ranger's suits. in Commandramon's case, a full wardrobe change

I was agonizing over what classic colors to give the four, until I realized it was completely unneeded, canon is our bitch

DigiMorpher suits are designed to integrate traits and colors of the ranger's partner

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Team dynamics!

// Bart is from a dystopic future and was placed in a virtual reality to experience growing up in a body matching his mental age. Except he got booted into a post-apocalyptic Digital World. Oh, and he could use the speed force without restriction here

There he met Terriermon and they've been partners ever since, they also found an inactive DigiMorpher. It's a mystery they've spent forever trying to solve

By the time his mind caught up with his body, the two got booted again to what the rest call present time. Likely due to the two experimenting with the speed force or using it for something else for whatever reason, maybe it was even intentional

Due to growing up and only remembering the digital world, learning about Earth through lingering data, Bart is the de facto leader for any operations dealing with Digimon or the Digital World

However, the Digital World he and Terriermon knew was post-apocalyptic, and they know next to nothing about their Earth, much less it's history-now-present

They have their work cut out for them relearning and learning so much. Feeling out of place in their home will probably also be an angst point even if the digital world truly is better this way than it was in the future

// Tim Drake, by virtue of extensive parental neglect and a load of natural curiosity, knows the most about superism and the Real World, missions taking place there or regarding it falls onto him to work with

// So Bart and Tim are co-leaders of sort

// Cassie—by virtue of her divine lineage—is best suited for conversing with Digimon of divine/irl cultural origin. Direct relation to the Zues puts a foot in the door. She's close with her mother and has learned plenty of several cultures so the knowledge will help as well

((see the wikimon's page for list of mythological refs in digimon))

All there is to worry about is how much she knows in the first place and the cultural differences of the cultures of an entire digital world!

// Thorn—seconded by Bart—has the most learning to do

Whereas Bart has to relearn a familiar but unfamiliar world and a brand new one, Thorn has to learn two new worlds at once

Thorn is a clone fed so many lies by Luthor and he's only just figured out that some of his world is built on lies

He and Petimeramon have a long way to go, but him telling the crew his backstory may just give them a head start to listing down their future rogues gallery 

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if Jason still dies and Batman spirals just like in canon, instead of Tim cleaning up after him—

Well Tim is still gonna make sure the victims are recovered from his rampage, but he's not going to become Robin. he has his own team

Instead he and Dobermon (less obvious artillery and thus less likely to make Batman think bad of them) are going to force Batman to listen to them and maybe request their teammates or other digimon they can recruit for backup

This is an intervention. Batman will either put up the cape and only come back if he attends therapy and genuinely recovers enough from his grief to be a sufficient hero again

Should Batman continue brutalizing Gothamites however, they will chase him down and have him imprisoned legally for as long as the law allows

"Do you want to keep being a hero Batman? It's yes or no."

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Attributes!

Ever since entering the Digital World (with Bart being an exception, we'll get to him when we get there) the four gained Attributes which they share with their partners. Thank the DigiMorphers for that

// Tim has the Virus attribute, as he has been hacking and distorting data for a good while

Plus Commandramon can camouflage in real time, something Tim had to learn to get Batphotos

// Cassie has the Free attribute, since she's descended from Zues who existed before technology, much less attributes, ever existed

Herissmon stores treasures in its fur only shared with close friends, a nod to Helena's archeology career

// Thorn ignores his Kryptonian heritage, wants nothing to do with supers, and tries to pass for human for his own personal peace, hence the Data attribute

His partner starting off as a petimeramon in the Baby II stage instead of Child stage like everyone else's is also a metaphor for how much learning they have to do

// Bart has a Vaccine Attribute due to having future knowledge and can thus act against threats that otherwise would have succeeded ahead of time

Oh, and a big reason for the apocalypse the Digital World went through was the X Program, which Bart and Terriermon only knew the aftermath of

Terriermon was born into the Digital World with a dormant X-Antibody of its own while Bart got that and his Vaccine attribute after the two agreed to be partners

The X Program has been dormant itself too, but better safe than sorry, the surviving digimon of the apocalypse say

I haven't come up w/ exact details but when in the Digital World, or in Ranger form, their attributes become more prominent in some way, shape, or form. Doubly so doing both at once

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They are the second generation of the Digivision, and even if information on their predecessors exist, it leaves a lot to be desired

So instead they must turn to the morphers themselves; Tim takes it upon himself to try and crack—maybe even jailbreak—them

It's up to the writer how much information they can yield from the morphers, plus the intricacies of the task (for example, say Tim need the morpher's wielder presence or even aid to avoid meeting an even greater firewall), but it's going to a tough and long ride 

Maybe there's episodes where Tim or others fuck up when he's hacking places in the Digital World or the DigiMorphers or even the mechas and hijinks ensue as they cope with and try to fix their mistakes

I don't even know how they figure out the whole DigiDestined and Power Rangers deal 💀💀💀 we can worry about that later lol

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"Power Rangers, Digitize!" that's the transformation phrase

Maybe because the morphers were found rusted, in a destroyed Digital World, and otherwise left to rot for a good while

That could be a plotpoint, all the DigiMorphers are damaged in their own unique ways, repairing them requires different solutions but unlocks stronger features over time

Initially they can only transform or Digivolve, neither at once

but as their Morphers get repaired they unlock transforming and digivolving, weapons, biomerging, and the obligatory mechas

Except I want it to be a blend of biomerging and my memories of typical power ranger mechas

And I think I have a compromise. When it's time to bring the mecha out, the respective Ranger and Digimon have to be biomerged, turn into pure Data, and then they can go into the mech as data, and pilot it from there

So they effectively become the mech in a sense

When making the obligatory megamecha, it's basically eight people synchronized into one until it's time to unmerge

Said mechas are scattered across the Digital and Real world, so the team has to learn/know they exist, find them, and first time using them manually transfer them across worlds if they want to.

Later on as Morphers get repaired they can summon their mechas across worlds and to their coordinates with a command, but early into using them, this time sensitivity is going to be something they have to manage

Idk what they'd even be called I just know they exist in this au

I got nothing else lmao 💀💀💀💀

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So the DigiDestined are like, really young here, like somewhere around ten to thirteen, which begs the question

Do they look like adults in Ranger form or are obviously kids?

The former gives secret identity security + identity shenanigans + dramatic irony, while the latter can be used for Outsider POV angst and humor as kids whoop their elders asses

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Also as the Power Rangers Digital Division make a name for themselves, I think they'd try to make connections in the Digital World and maybe the real one too to gain manpower and ease the weight off their shoulders

Since they have to focus on the duties they got dubiously selected for, any other time spent outside of obligatory Ranger and DigiDestined stuff would be spent doing volunteer work and other lowscale street level stuff, like so low scale it's barely even crime fighting

I'm taking saving cats from trees lowscale

If anyone argues against them being so low-level in the super scene, even by streetlevel standards, people immedietely point to the rare times a gigantic monster popped up which only the eight were equipped to fight against via their own megamecha

and the statements where they said they're very focussed on fighting threats before they reach the kaiju vs megamecha point of fighting

its even worse if they are very clearly children

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Tim does not tinker with a digimon data on the principle that he is not playing god in a way that can go dramatically wrong but he does learn how to observe the data. Data he can record

Later on, he learns when transformed &/or in the digital world, he can view their own DNA as if it were data and some of that data in Terriermon's and Bart's is the X-Antibody they've talked about

If he can activate it, he can unlock more digivolutions and security and a major leg-up against their foes in general

Maybe he can even give it to his whole team and other allies giving them an edge in battle

And they don't need to worry about the X Program at all if they play their cards right, right?

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Wait how does this affect Young Justice/Teen Titans and canonical relationships---?

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Extra notes

Petimeramon digivolves into a candmon the first time in hopes of giving back the sunlight Thorn gave them; alas, they became a Data Attribute who couldn't

But maybe later down the line, they can become a Coronamon and give Thorn that sunlight they want to give back

Came up with Thorn's name when figuring out a believable shortening of "Thir" in "thirteen"

Heck ya boy isn't gonna like that they share a villain with Superman from the very start, that guy said Superman would have him killed!

But Cassie and Tim can teach the facts of Luthor's villainy, just how deep it goes, and the truth to contradict the lies he lived trusting

Heck if digimon based on irl mythology and the real deals interact, wtf is gonna happen? Cassie my girl, will you be okay?

Remember the post about Tim not seeing himself as obligated to follow Batman's morality? Dobermon, who Commandra can digivolve to, has the power to steal abilities and destroy Digicores, which sound up his alley when push comes to shove

idk if other power ranger groups exist here or not but the crossovers between would be fun

I mean, the words Digital Division implies other groups so that can go into the team's research as well

Heck maybe some Power Rangers are retired and or still active and there's a sideplot where after learning of the Digital Division, they try to track them down to give their own guidance and support

The wikimon is your savior if you dunno anything about digimon like me

Main thing that made me drop the idea of doing ranger colors is the fact that Bart or Tim are both team leader at least at the start

I was like "how do I make them both red & thus leader?" then I remember that fanfiction is all about heresy against canon lol

This is basically Digimon with Power Rangers tacked on, maybe the Digital Division was formed when previous rangers met digimon due to threats to the two joined together and stuck for a good long time? idk my brain is cooked

I think seeing Barbara duke it out against Digimon or the Power Rangers and even manage to get herself her own Digivice, maybe even a DigiMorpher, perhaps even a DIY version, would be fun

Barbara getting her own Digimon and being an outside context problem the Power Rangers don't even anticipate would be fun af to explore, even more her diy-ing a digivice or even morpher

While the digimon start off in one evolution branch with the same attribute as their partners, later on they will experiment with their entire trees

Speaking of evolution tree's, all I got for go-to adult stage evolutions at the start are Dobermon for Commandramon and Galgomon to Rapidmon for Terriermon

Feel free but not pressured to add onto this as you wish!

I know absolutely nothing about Digimon and only a slight bit more about Power Rangers. However, this was fascinating to read.

Some aspects I loved about this AU:

Kon's name being Thorn. Since he never meets Superman, that makes so much sense! Fics where Kon has a different name would be cool to see/explore (especially if he was glancing at alternative versions of himself).

The digital world with YJ was a very interesting concept to think about. Idk much about Digimon, but there's a ton of cool ideas to explore just with the notion that YJ has to protect an alternate dimension (dimension meaning one connected to their world but not easily accessible by the populace [like hell, virtual internet, some shit Raven sees, etc.])

Barbara would become God if she got her hands on this world, and I am here for that. That woman deserves to be worshiped and praised

The attributes are hella cool and definitely fit the characters well

Threatening Batman with jail time :D

YJ meeting sooner than canon. It's just such a cute concept

The nod to Spider-Man with the smaller level crimes

There's more, but those stuck out.

I really loved your little comments throughout and "canon is our bitch" specifically made me laugh.

I am curious about the other yj members. Would they have this AU's powers temporarily while they are part of the team?

[raeynbowboi]

Mystery Inc as a DnD Party

I figured as long as we're still in the vicinity of spooky season, I'd build everyone's favorite gang of teenage mystery solvers as a collective unit. Pulling from their group dynamic to come up with a party roster that will give everyone in the party a designated role.

FRED JONES

PALADIN || OATH OF THE CROWN

INVESTIGATOR BACKGROUND

Skills: Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion

Freddie is the dimwitted but lovable himbo leader of the team. He's also the muscle, except in moments of athletic skill, when he's outshined by Daphne. His backstory isn't always consistent, but he's usually a jock of some sort. He's not usually all that book smart, but he has a good heart, and inspires his team to success. Paladins who swear an Oath to the Crown hold law and justice above all else, and Fred usually enjoys catching the bad guys and seeing justice served.

DAPHNE BLAKE

BARD || COLLEGE OF LORE

NOBLE BACKGROUND

Skills: Athletics, Acrobatics, Deception, Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, Performance

As surprising a choice as this might seem, Bard is actually a very appropriate choice for Daphne. Modern Daphne is the most supportive and emotionally intelligent member of the group. From What’s New Scooby-Doo? to Be Cool, Scooby-Doo, Daphne has become the emotional powerhouse of the group. Sensing when her friends are off their game, and offering sage advice to her friends when they need it. She’s also become a very creative girl, skilled in singing, dancing, fashion, design, and more. She’s grown to be the group’s resident skill monkey, almost on par with Velma’s uncanny encyclopedic knowledge on all brainy subjects. If a lock needs picking or the gang needs to get out of a trap, you can count on Daphne to have a nail file, bobby pin, or something else on her person to save the day. She's typically also the face of the group when it's not Fred, meaning she's going to want high Dexterity and Charisma. I chose Lore because Daphne is a reporter in Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and this is the only real career she's ever had. A lore bard is basically a more magical reporter, and singing the tale of her group's mysterious endeavors.

VELMA DINKLEY

ARTIFICER || ARTILLERIST

SAGE BACKGROUND

Skills: Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature

Velma was the most debatable one for me, as she could be a wizard or an artificer. And I was really leaning toward Wizard, but I had to stay true to Velma's character. She's been a tinkerer and a gadgeteer for a long time now. Velma is absolutely fascinated by robotics. But while Velma in our world can handwave superstitious nonsense, in a world with gods, demons, and real ghosts, I could absolutely see Velma using her knowledge to become a powerful wizard. I even considered the Knowledge Domain Cleric because it's basically designed to be a magical detective, and if Velma was going to worship a deity, it'd be a god of knowledge and reading. Ultimately, I did choose Artificer as it was more in-line with her base character as a skeptic and a scientist, but she would work as a Wizard. Plus, as is, Daphne is the only full-caster in the party.

NORVILLE "SHAGGY" ROGERS

RANGER || CONCLAVE OF THE BEAST MASTER

GUILD ARTISAN BACKGROUND || COOKS & BAKERS

Skills: Animal Handling, Investigation, Stealth, Survival

No surprises here, Shaggy and Scooby are a bonded pair, and the two were going to be joined to each other one way or another. Scooby is technically a Beast of the Land, and there's no Great Dane stat block, so call him a Mastiff if you need to. You can't really build Scooby by himself per se. There's no dog race unless you go Custom Lineage or something, and even then, I'd struggle to assign Scooby a class as he's mostly an animal sidekick. Make sure Shaggy picks up Cooks Untensils and proficiency with them so he can become the party's designated camp chef.

Ultimately, I'm happy with how the team turned out. Fred's the tanky and bulky frontliner, Velma can use her robotics to help solve mysteries, Daphne is the face on top of having so many skills, and Shaggy works with Scooby. Inadvertently, they're also all classes with access to healing spells. So, while I suspect Daphne being the sole full caster will probably assume primary role of group healer, everyone is capable of healing each other up. Making this a great group of supportive friends taking care of each other.

[fever-project]

Hyrule for the Pokémon AU! His design his mostly the same, I just took some inspiration from the Ribbon Smock in XY, since those are my favorite Pokémon games. I think it fits with the Pokémon he has. I also think I messed up with his arms though, specifically his left arm, it looks a bit weird. I do love how I drew the Pokémon though, poor Litwick. But now, onto the Lore under the cut!

There are little to no pokeballs in Hyrule’s time, production for them has stopped long ago. So his Pokémon just follow him around, like his Drifloon. Sometime before his first adventure started, the Drifloon attempted to take him away. It failed, spectacularly, and ended up being pulled around by Hyrule, none the wiser to the Pokémon’s attempt to carry him off. They’re friends now. Drifloon doesn’t really fight for Hyrule though, he has a sword-that I forgot to draw here oops-that he uses to fight off evil Pokémon.

In Hyrule’s time, it is very normalized to use actual weapons against Pokémon, whatever it takes to survive in such a dangerous world. Some people keep Pokémon, but most don’t. Object Pokémon are typically seen as “safer” to keep, and Hyrule only has object Pokémon.

Hyrule found a Klefki after it stole one of the small keys he needed for a dungeon. So he beat it up until it let him use the key. But then it continued to follow him, since it figured that Hyrule could lead it to even more keys, even fighting for him occasionally. After Hyrule found the Magical Key in the 8th dungeon, he let Klefki keep all the small keys they found. Then he lost the key sometime before his second adventure, repeating that cycle until he found the new Magic Key, which he leaves with Klefki to keep an eye on. Klefki is so very happy.

Hyrule first just had a regular Blue Candle he bought from a merchant, before finding a unique looking Litwick in the 7th dungeon. Litwick clung to him, clearly wanting to leave that place as soon as possible. Hyrule loved her immediately, she’s so cute. Drifloon carries Litwick around when he’s fighting, otherwise she tries to stay in his pockets.

The Power Bracelet made Hyrule stronger, and it also had this cool stone called a Mega Keystone according to Impa. The Keystones are very rare, not many people even know they exist. He also found some mega stones in the treasury that he was allowed to keep, just in case he found a Pokémon that could mega evolve.

During his second adventure, Hyrule found a Shuppet. He was very tired and frustrated from the everything, so he was the perfect feeding ground for the Pokémon. But Hyrule loved him. He was so cute. Hyrule’s mood increased immediately upon seeing him. Shuppet was now stuck with the hero, whether or not he liked it, and he didn’t at first, but he eventually grew on him, even fighting for him, more so than Klefki, eventually evolving into a Banette. He basically hates everyone that’s not Hyrule, because he took care of him so well. Banette tolerates his other Pokémon, as well as the Zeldas and Impa. Even though Hyrule treated Banette with so much care, he would not turn back into a stuffed toy as the legends say he would. Once Hyrule brought Banette back with him, he figured that Banette could mega evolve.

Now onto the LU! Picking up where we left off in Legend’s post, The Chain has just met up and introduced a bit about themselves. Hyrule told the rest that he didn’t really have pokeballs, and that his Pokémon liked just being out and about, his Litwick in his pocket and Banette being held in his arms, the other two floating around him.

Legend seems to know the most about what’s happening, but surprisingly the old farmer (time) is the one taking charge, the ranger captain (warriors) staying by his side. Legend stayed to the wayside, the so called Hylian Champion is sticking by his side, and the blue-coated gym leader (this is twilight, i’ll make a post about each link’s occupations later) is sticking by his side, much to Legend’s annoyance. Hyrule really wants to talk to him, but he’s knows better than to make the hero even more annoyed. But he knows he has to make friends with the other Links. The child was walking over to him, but the glare sent by his Banette made him instantly turn his heel and walk over to with the Master Sword, who was already with the multi colored one.

Then the captain fell back, going over to him, completely ignoring the Banette. The captain had a determined look on his face, a black pokeball in hand. It took Hyrule a few seconds to recognize it as a Luxury Ball, something that he’d only heard of from Zelda the First. The captain placed it in his hand as Hyrule’s mouth was agape in shock, staring directly into his eyes before subtly nodding his head over to the Klefki before stepping away and going back to the farmer’s side. Hyrule dumbly nodded back, holding the ball out to Klefki, who curiously tapped the button on it and disappeared in a flash of light. Needless to say Hyrule was freaking out, having never seen a pokeball before. The champion and the kid had to teach him how to use the pokeball, with Legend and the multi-colored one giving him more Luxury Balls for his other Pokémon. They all loved it, except for his Banette, who clearly preferred to be held.

Anyways I’m currently resisting the urge to make a fan fic, since I haven’t really planned much out. Also going to make a master post of this eventually.

[curseofthebloodcountess]

One of the underrated changes I've made to my Barovia, just because it fits some of the themes and narrative better, is with Ez and Van Richten. He's still her mentor and foster father figure, but instead of Van RIchten being secretly racist and leaving Ez behind because he is cursed, it's more heartbreaking. Van Richten is dying in my game. He doesn't want Ez to have to witness it (or, worse, die with him). His stint as Rictavio is a coping mechanism that is not working and his goal is to kill Strahd or die trying.

Ez just found him again and she's hoping he'll reconsider sentencing himself to death like some martyr. She doesn't want him to reconsider killing Strahd. She just wants him to not throw himself at Death (in Barovia, no less!). She wants to be included in the greatest hunt Van Richten has undertaken. There is a heartbreaking drama unfolding between them.

And it's all background noise. Rictavio traded his horse for information on Castle Ravenloft with the warlock (who has a celebrity crush on Rictavio). He just offered to arm the party's fight against Strahd. Ez took the ranger aside and said, "Hey... he means well, but he will be reckless. Coming from me, that means something."

Except... coming from her, it means nothing because as much as she likes and wants to support the party, they hate her for stealing a horse from Arrigal's camp. They don't like Arrigal, either, but Arrigal and the ranger were formerly business associates, so saving Ez's life had a financial cost. More to it, the cleric hates Ez for "embarrassing his family's name" or something. I do not understand my player's logic there, but Alistor generally hates most people so it doesn't shock me.

Sometimes I think about party roles. Theo, our warlock, is definitely the heart of the party. She certainly is the one who wants to make connections with NPCs the most.

I just don't get it with Ez. Ez saved Victor Vallakovich from Castle Ravenloft, and the entire party's lives from pissed-off druids in the woods this past session and it didn't move the needle. Maybe her stint as "Rictavio's Lovely Assistant" will be humorous enough (or productive enough) to impress them. If not, I'm going to have to reevaluate. She doesn't show up often or in every life-or-death scenario. The two times she has shown up were to first give the prophecy to the ranger (who is a replacement for a dead bard PC) and reunite Victor with the party after a teleportation circle went wrong, and second because Van Richten promised the party a ride home from Castle Ravenloft. It made more sense to send Ez than Van Richten, who wouldn't have been able to resist a vampire hunt.

My GF said she wished Alistor (her cleric) liked Ez better because it seems like a fun little drama and that she wishes everyone had insight checked the NPCs more. I agree but I don't know what to do about it. I know what plot beats to hit with my players that they generally enjoy. I have not cracked the code on NPCs. And it's weird because they adored Ez last game!

I think one of the things I'm going to try to do is pare down the number of NPC allies they take with them to Krezk and Immol. Right now, they have Ireena, Ismark, Victor, Stella, and Doru. Stella died and was brought back by Theo during the druid fight. At other times, they've traveled a little with Godfrey and the revenants, the Durst Siblings, and they have plans to travel with Patrina Velikov. I guess they don't really need more NPC allies but like... wild choices, I think.

And I still have NPCs to finish designing for Krezk and Immol.

I'm not mad about it. The game is going really well and we're having a great time. I'm just stumped! The party wants to spend a day or three in Vallaki before shipping out west to search for prophesied items. I have to have Immol ready for them! I'll probably try posting more here as I prepare!

[benzyon]

I want to see your dnd/ttrpg characters!

I want to make a thread/post where people share art or mini figures of their characters and perhaps even share some info about them! I love hearing about characters and the wacky things that can happen in games

Warhammer [40k or fantasy] are also welcome!

Or even if you just want to share a character that isn't table top related!

I'll start with mine

Bits about these fellas [and lady] below

Arogos:

my first ever dnd character. He's a chaotic neutral rogue thief wood elf who can't read/write and also only speaks common [much to the confusion of every elf he comes across]. He's a klepto, often having random and unuseful thing like wooden spoons, any coins he can find, buttons, you name it. If he finds it he will pocket it. Of the party he was the tank believe it or not.

We only had 3 members of the party Xanth [16 year old wizard] Danric Phantom [33 year old half ghost] and Arogos [123 year old rogue]. The group was chaotic from the very start. One of the first sessions I was in we blew up and entire cities sewer system trying to get 10 gold from some kobalds. That alone should tel you all you need to know about these boys.

Lilith

Lilith is/was my only female dnd character. I wanted to try out something different so lady it was. She was also my only lawful good character. She is a ranger in 5e legacy which was quite the struggle and a beast master on top of that with out a summonable beast. I managed to find a single wolf that I be friended [which took multiple session but it was also the dms first time dming so they didn't know how to go about it] and then the wolf died literally a few sessions later which was extremely disheartening. You know cause my subclass was basically worthless with out an animal companion. The dm did let me pretty much switch the subclass but still with playing as a ranger it is currently my least favorite class. At least the campaigns I've played were not very ranger friendly.

But anyways back to Lilith herself. She was 100% the mom and moral compass of the group. She always did her best to do the morally right thing while the other 5 were a form of neutral and one of them was actually evil [did not betray the party] and him and her more or less adopted a super powered necromancer frog girl. At the end of the campaign she went to one of the colleges and taught as an archery teacher.

Darude Sandstorm

Yes his name is a meme and his design is straight up just liquid snake from metal gear solid. Darude is a wind genasi barbarian born from earth genasi parents in more or less the earth kingdom. [In this campaign it was 4 large islands that have the 4 elements] because of his weird situation he is basically a sand man. In stead of sweating like a human he sweats sand. Later when he got the earth elemental power he just straight up went sand bender. This campaign was incredibly short more due to a disagreement between players [there were only 4ish for this group] so he didn't get much play time or story. He's more or less an apathetic man who was to lead an army and that's about it. Oh yeah this was also an evil campaign so we were supposed to be playing the bad guys.

Baltimore Reeves

Baltimore was named so because you can't tell me it doesn't also sound like a fantasy name. Anyways he is a 16 year old con artist wizard and a greaser. [His design was directly inspired by black and white photos of greasers] his best friend was also the rich boy of the group whos name is Chad. Balt is also one of my chaotic characters [chaotic is my favorite alignment to play I can't help it] fun quirks about Baltimore is he's a cold tielfing so he does cold damage for hellish rebuke and he can't cast fire spells with out throwing up [no fire ball] and also was not proficient in arcana and did not know magic missiles. At the end of the campaign he knew 84 spells [cantrips counted in the total] of mostly illusions, utility, cold or thunder damage spells and a few healing ones too. I also got the dm to let Baltimore polymorph into a young dragon

Balt as a dragon over Chad and his mom

And the party going down a slide [npcs included] and balt telling the party member who was there about it

Alistair Varis

Also but not least my current dnd character Alistair. He's a drow valor bard who has flirting with 1 man and they are dating. Since I like going against class stereotypes he's more or less demi sexual [originally ace but then his current bf appeared who was not supposed to be a love interest by the way] so he never flirted or tried to seduce anything. He is definitely the most chaotic in the group but at the same time of the party I was the only one who wasn't new to the game. Alistair craziness definitely helped them get out of their shell a bit too. Anyways when joining the party I joined specially to be their healer [wasn't asked to but I like being a healer in video games] and a utility guy. Alistair definetly tries to topple most governments he encounters by outing corruption. He's done it twice so far and will again given the chance.