#i play on easy because combat doesn't interest me that much and i don't have the patience to figure out nice setups

[certifiedbundleofsticks]

current party composition:

Me (obligatory)

funny boytoy that runs into battle and dies immediately every time

very cool woman 👍

"i thought bringing you made sense for the plot but you contribute absolutely nothing and I deeply regret my choice but I'm in too deep to turn back and switch you out"-man

[thydungeongal]

I think people who play D&D despite its combat focus is, and correct me if I heard this wrong from them, but like... the idea is that they don't like combat, so having a big, chunky combat engine is good somehow??? because the rules don't interfere??? with The Roleplay TM.

Or as my GM said it: "I prefer D&D because I don't have to worry about rules when we're Roleplaying TM and it gets combat out of the way"

I don't get it. I don't. I tried asking why the hell you'd play a game with this much Combat Time and I can't get a straight answer. Like, not having combats is somehow impossible. It's required. But also bad, annoying, and must be codified so the GM can turn brain off BUT ALSO have so many rules you are Brain On, wait 15 minutes i gotta check the book heavy.

I think it's legitimately a toxic meme (in the academic sense of the word) being spread to make people think D&D is not about dungeons but "Whatever You Want uwu" or something.

Maybe you can help because I am on the verge of having an aneurysm here.

There's a lot of stuff that plays into this all too common sentiment.

First of all, there's this idea going around in D&D circles that Combat and Roleplay are two things that are not to touch. You see this expressed quite a lot by fans of D&D, the notion that once combat begins roleplaying stops. This is of course a silly notion, because combat is also roleplay, and it's even more silly coming from the players of the game whose rules are 80% combat.

But once you've established in your mind that roleplaying and combat are two, fundamentally incompatible modes of play and the game you're playing mostly has rules for combat and very little rules for stuff outside of combat (and the rules for combat aren't, at the end of the day, all that interesting) it's easy to draw the conclusion that roleplaying and rules are themselves at odds. @prokopetz has articulated this much better than me, and to paraphrase him: in the dichotomy of combat vs. role-playing, combat actually acts as a metonym for rules-mediated play as a whole. So it's your classic role-playing vs. roll-playing dichotomy, which not only smacks of elitism but is also, frankly, idiotic.

Anyway, once a person has drawn the conclusion that rules-mediated play and roleplaying are fundamentally at odds with each other it's easy to see where a person might draw the conclusion that having any rules that touch upon the "roleplaying" side of play would either needlessly restrict the roleplaying or somehow infringe upon the purity of roleplay. Within the dichotomy of role-playing vs. roll-playing role-playing is ultimately seen as basically free play where there are no rules and procedures in play, only to be broken off by the necessary evil of procedural scenes.

Where has this toxic meme come from? Well, sadly it's as old as the hobby itself. A lot of people who are fans of D&D still think they need to inject "real roleplaying" into the dungeon game to grant it legitimacy as a roleplaying game. This is, of course, bull-honkey. D&D, even played as purely a dungeon crawling challenge game with no pretensions of trying to tell a greater story beyond "the story of what happened during the events of the game" is still roleplaying, and ultimately it owes to a lot of D&D players themselves having bought into elitist notions about roleplaying games and not actually even liking the main supported mode of play of D&D.

Because if you take a look at what D&D as a game mostly supports, it's ultimately a challenge-based dungeon game, which is great and cool actually. But if one has a reductive notion of what counts as "real roleplaying," then, well, there's gotta be something wrong with this game. So actually the roleplaying isn't what the rules say and are actually a secret third thing and also it doesn't even matter what the rules say about the game, because system doesn't matter whatsoever.

You might see why, as a person who is passionate about game design and who loves the dungeon crawling challenge game playstyle, I might find this attitude grating.

And I definitely agree that it's a toxic meme, but D&D 5e play culture at this point is mostly a circlejerk about how the game actually is fine and how game design doesn't actually matter and how in those other games the rules actually get in the way of roleplay instead of doing what they actually do: act as a participant in the game on equal footing with the players and with an actual voice as to how the narrative should look like. Even D&D's rules are loudly opinionated about what the act of gameplay should look like, but these people have convinced themselves that the style of play D&D's rules are opinionated about is bad, actually, so in fact any type of rules that are opinionated about play are actually bad rules that get in the way of roleplaying.

Anyway, as a final note, while these ideas have been around for a very long time, there has been something of a resurgence of this idea, and Brennan Lee Mulligan is partly to blame. Brennan is a wonderful comedian and clearly a great entertainer, but he has also espoused the idea that D&D is good because it gets out of the way in the scenes which he is actually interested in (social, interactive scenes) and takes the reins in scenes which he's not interested in (combat scenes, procedural action scenes). I can sort of understand where he is coming from, and in fact the game taking the weight off the pedal during social scenes is great if your players are all extremely funny comedians like you. But it's also basically a playstyle where there are procedural, rules-mediated action scenes followed by essentially improvised, free play cutscenes where the rules themselves don't have anything to say. It doesn't play into the strengths of the medium, which is that the rules of the game are an active participant with an actual voice in the fiction and not just something to be sidelined. So like with all due respect to Brennan Lee Mulligan, but this is something where he simply is incurious and frankly fundamentally disconnected from what the purpose of rules in a tabletop roleplaying game is. The rules aren't there just to handle the boring stuff for you, because in a game you actually enjoy playing there shouldn't be any boring stuff! In a good game engaging with the rules shouldn't be boring! I play older editions of D&D because I like how the rules shape the act of dungeon-crawling and wilderness exploration! I play Monsterhearts because the rules are opinionated about the teen monster melodrama and they produce extremely cool and wildly volatile drama!

All of which is to say: the idea that the rules of a game are somehow diametrically opposed to the act of roleplay is a silly, toxic meme, and one that is often espoused by D&D players who have latched onto D&D because it was the first game they became aware of and who clearly want something more out of games but they have also convinced themselves that D&D is what all RPGs are and the idea that other RPGs might actually differ from D&D in terms of rules quality, how the act of play looks, and the type of play the rules actually incentivize is completely alien to them. A lot of D&D players have nothing but sneering contempt for the playstyle incentivized by D&D because they have convinced themselves that that playstyle is beneath them and not "real roleplaying," and I think those players should stop playing D&D and instead play games that actually support the playstyles they think are befitting real role-players. Also they should shut up and give me like a hundred dollars for being forced to read their posts.

[biggaybunny]

Games I Don't Hear Anyone Talk About, So I'm Going To Talk About Them

There's no rhyme or reason to the order here, and maybe these games do have fanbases I've just missed! But that's the premise, here we go:

The vibes to me are like, if Celeste were a metroidvania. It has exceptional platforming mechanics that are easy to learn, hard to master, and a colorful and expansive map that rewards exploration. The characters are all adorable too.

A horde survival game a la vampire survivors with a stark and effective color palette. It has tons of atmosphere and the characters offer actual differences in playstyle from one another. I admittedly haven't put too many hours into this because it's tough as nails, but I still recommend it.

A choose-your-own-adventure VN with a light card battling element, I Was A Teenage Exocolonist was both comfy and a little melancholic about finding happiness and meaning in times of change and strife. It'll take you some time to uncover the full story, and I found myself doing four or five repeat playthroughs without feeling the repetition because there are so many branching routes to take. Also, while you can opt out of the card battling to focus on the story experience, mastering it is a lot of fun!

Have you ever thought to yourself "The only thing wrong with XCOM is that I wasn't playing as a group of weird superpowered teens, also I need the plot to be more JRPG, also there weren't enough auxiliary mechanics for me to get lost in"? Have you ever wanted to see a teenage girl roundhouse kick a man so hard he catches fire?

What if SimCity was set in the future, and also made by insane people? I admit, this game has a learning curve, and is niche. But if you're as much a fan of citybuilders as I am, this is a gem. This isn't a sandbox city builder, but doesn't follow the format of traditional guided city builders. But if you do succeed, the art style and level of detail makes regarding your successful metropolis all the more rewarding

It's part battle chess and part deck builder, and all fun. Lots of combat styles to pick from as you work your way through ridiculous odds. Not much plot, but a good game for people who like games like Slay The Spire and Monster Train.

I think those are my top games I don't see talked about. Hope someone finds this interesting, but tbh, I just had fun talking about these. There's more I could add, but I could be here all day if I wanted to. There's just so much out there, I don't know why anyone's buying price-gouging triple-a games when you can get hundreds of hours out of a title asking less than twenty bucks.

[utilitycaster]

Hope I can phrase this in a way that makes sense but—

What well-known actual-play cast member is your favorite for each of the core D&D class? Not necessarily a specific characters, but I’m interested in which players you think brings the most to each class.

This is a very interesting question! It's a hard one to answer for some classes and very easy for others so bear with me; also there are a couple where I could not pick just one.

I'm sticking to the PHB 12 for, as you said, core classes:

Barbarian: While Travis did give us "I would like to rage," I think Ashley and Taliesin get to share this one for me. I think they both really explore what rage means to someone and while I love a good "I'm a tank because I can take the hits and that's what I do and what I'm good at" story, I also think Yasha's messy relationship with her feelings of guilt and grief, and Ashton's chronic pain, are both incredible ways to play with the barbarian archetype.

Bard: much easier. Sam Riegel and Krystina Arielle. I'm a sucker for someone who actually sings even as I don't think you have to (and have played bard without doing so). It's both clearly a class they each love dearly and it shows, and they're incredibly musically talented performers to boot.

Cleric: Lou Wilson. Especially since I didn't like Fantasy High season 1 Fabian until the end of the season Kingston blew me away. I would love to see him explore cleric again, though it's exciting to see him as a paladin on WBN.

Druid: Emily Axford as Moonshine. Emily as a rule understands D&D classes very well anyway, but I think the culture of the crick and the ways that Moonshine must grow as a character while being a druid take it to the next level. (Also I prefer a caster-heavy druid to a shapechanger-heavy one; that's just me).

Fighter: Back to NADDPod because literally who could I say other than Jake Hurwitz, the man who only plays fighters. People who are new to D&D when they start actual play can be hit or miss imo; some pick it up and some lean harder on being showy to make up for it and it doesn't play well for me personally, but Jake is the greatest hit.

Monk: Marisha Ray; Beau is just generally a great character, and I think Marisha's own experience with martial arts informs the way she plays her; monks can be kind of repetitive in combat even with strong players and she manages to avoid this through her description.

Paladin: This is actually super hard because people don't play straight paladin a lot. This is incorrect of them, but it is an intense class. I think Luis Carazo and Zac Oyama are like...the duality of paladin (and indeed, redemption paladin). The tragedy and the comedy.

Ranger: Laura Bailey, natch; it's funny because Vex is in many ways not the archetypal ranger due to having high charisma, but she is simply my favorite and that's that on that. Sorry the mechanics were so bad; I would love to see more rangers in D&D even though Vex will be hard to dethrone. I promise Tasha's fixed them!

Rogue: I think I'm actually going Murph on this one. I like when rogues are more of the detective/spy type than the assassin/criminal type [obligatory "of course that's what you'd say you stupid paladin stan"] and inquisitive and arcane trickster are probably my two top rogue classes so Riz it is.

Sorcerer: I do consider PF1e cheating here because it's technically a different system that also imo addresses a lot of the weaknesses of sorcerer/makes it way better, but Bryn Monroe of RQG did play a great sorcerer. In D&D? Giving Emily Axford a second spot here for Saccharina. I'm going to talk about this for warlock, but I think sorcerer is a class you don't have to justify but if you don't it's a little unsatisfying. Sorcerer really shines in the Crown of Candy setting, and metamagic often doesn't live up to its reputation but Emily makes it work for her.

Warlock: Travis Willingham. I think there are classes that are kind of self-explanatory, for lack of a better term; you can play a fighter or rogue or even a bard or druid without going super deep into why the character is this class and still be an incredible character (though a good backstory never hurts). But there are others where you really need to be engaging with the class at all times to make it work, and warlock is one of them, and Fjord explores the warlock pact and what it means like few others.

Wizard: Aabria Iyengar. NO ONE gets wizard hubris as a player like Aabria. Knowledge is power and boy do wizards love knowledge. I especially like that most people in 5e play wizards as genuine adventurers because it feels very easy to play them as old guy in robes swept up in events beyond them; Aabria plays wizards who are combat ready with the humanity and backstory to make the difficult decisions sympathetic and meaningful, and I think that's how you have to play it.

Note: I want to specifically call out Liam O'Brien and Siobhan Thompson as "people I trust in basically any class or system and just didn't happen to hit a favorite here due to sky-high competition/personal preferences". They are both very close seconds for wizard.

[redsamuraiii]

Had a wonderful time at Kyoto Samurai Ninja Museum, hosted by MAIKOYA, the same organization that I experienced kimono tea ceremony with recently in Kyoto.

(Pics are mine).

I learn things about Samurai and Ninja that I know and never knew. The tour guides speak good English as they share insights and trivia about the history and culture associated with Samurai and Ninja.

The tour group assembled in one room where we were greeted by a male tour guide dressed like Ninja. He summarized the history and culture of Samurai, like its hierarchy, armor, weapons, life and more.

There are several rooms which he brought the tour group to explain different parts of his interactive "lectures", each room with its own specialty, like a room full of armor, a room full of swords and so on.

There are rooms where different tour guides awaits you to play shuriken and see how well you can throw them at the dartboard, with some friendly competition for the best Ninja award.

The final room is the one where you get to dress as Samurai, with the armor, helmet and sword. Here, you can take many photos, after which, you're given time to roam about freely around the museum.

I learn many things but 3 of them I find very interesting.

Why some Samurai Mask (Men-yoroi (面鎧), have moustache? (Pic Source)

I wrongly assumed it's because of seniority, thinking that the older and more experienced Samurai wears this to battle. But turns out, it's the youngest Samurai in their teenage years that wears them so as to hide their youthful looks which the enemy might underestimate. So to intimidate the enemy, they wear these fierce looking masks.

2. How many warriors can a Samurai kill at a time? (Pic Source)

We've watched countless Samurai films from Yojimbo to Rurouni Kenshin, showing them slaying multiple warriors at a time. In reality, they can only slay 3 to 5 warriors at a time, depending on the skills of their opponents. Also because the sword will need sharpening after slaying 5 people or it's no longer effective in slaying people.

3. Why Samurai carry 2 swords? (Pic Source)

A Samurai carry Katana (long sword) and Wakizashi (short sword). I wrongly assumed it's for seppuku, which is true but it's more often used for close combat in close quarters like indoor battles in the castles and palaces. They can't use Katana or it'll get stuck to the low ceiling or the walls of the narrow corridors.

(Pic Source)

It reminds me of an episode of Samurai Cat, where the antagonist came to the protagonist house to kill him. The protagonist patiently tells him to have a duel with him outside as he doesn't want to mess his house, but the impatient antagonist tried to slash him from behind, only for his katana to get stuck in the doorway.

BONUS

(Pic Source)

My favorite part is when the female tour guide mentions about The Last Samurai, of how the title is actually referring to Ken Watanabe's character, which is inspired by Saigo Takamori, and not Tom Cruise's, to which the tour group of tourists laughs and chuckle. It's so much fun learning about the difference between reel and real.

If you've never been to the Samurai Ninja Museum, I'd recommend it. It's easy to understand the history and culture, and it's quite interactive that it doesn't bore you with "lectures". The infographics designs shown are informative and beautiful to look at, that you can take your time to read it after the official tour ends.

"Do you think Samurai and Ninja still exists today? Well, Samurai descendants do exist today but they don't use swords anymore. Ninja? Well, you never know, they might be in this room now."

What a witty way to end the tour.

Speaking of Ninja in modern day, check out Netflix's House of Ninjas!

[toothpicktiger]

The Alpha Strike Draft Cube

TL;DR: If you like drafting cards and playing Alpha Strike, this is the format for you! Click here for the full rules of the format.

---

Inspiration

For my first non-introductory post on this blog, i want to share something i've been working on for a couple months. A marriage between my last hobby, Magic: the Gathering, and my current one, Battletech: Alpha Strike. Introducing the Alpha Strike Cube! Also known by its even clunkier name: Alpha Strike Booster Draft Cube. I really need a sexier name for this format...

When i played Magic more regularly, drafting, then cube, became my #1 favorite way to play. I now have an affinity toward deckbuilders, and card games with limited/draft play. So, when I got interested in Alpha Strike and noticed that their units are on cards, the very first thing I expected to see was a draft format using them. To my surprise, the only format I could find that was similar is Wolf Net's Drafted for War format which uses the salvage boxes or other boxed products as "boosters" in a draft-like format.

This is not the experience i was looking for. So, in the spirit of being a California Bay Area native, i decided to make a startup up my own format!

Overview

The defining feature of my format is the drafting portion of it. At a high level, players draft 2 packs of 10 unit cards, plus a pack 3 pilot cards. Afterwards they use those cards to create a 250PV list (12 units max), and play an objective focused game with the others at the table who did the same.

Taking inspiration from Wolf Net's AS350 format, the (currently in beta) matched play rules, and the Battletech video games, objectives are randomized and each table (which i set up ahead of time) has Terrain Rules which affect gameplay and list building.

Design Principles and Intent

Which brings me to the guiding principles of this format and the skills I think this format is designed to test: flexible list building and drafting. Everything about this format should point back to these principles. If a feature or optional rule doesn't connect back to these principles, it's not meant for this format. Keeping these in mind is how i settled on some of the unique features of the format.

Unique Features

This format has a few unique features that set it apart from other formats i've played so far:

Constrained Unit Cards

Pilot Cards

[optional] Terrain Rules

Below I'll describe each of these, and explain how I arrived at their inclusion.

Constrained Unit Cards

Normally in list building, players pick units then adjust pilot skills anywhere from 0-7 in order to help players dial in their point totals to be as close to a certain PV limit (250 in this case) as possible. However, this was slowing down list building, and it meant players could run really silly one-trick lists using only exactly the units they wanted. Part of my definition of being a flexible list builder, is going outside of your comfort zone and trying units you don't normally try. This exact kind of restraint is how I found some new favorite units!

A suggestion I got a few times was to constrain how much you can adjust a unit's skill. While I think this is correct, I didn't want to have players referencing the PV adjustment charts all the time, slowing down list building. Then, someone suggested writing the PVs on the cards. I almost dismissed this out of hand because it would make cards unreadable, but then I remembered that Jeff's Battletech Tools (RIP, Jeff) lists both the unit's current PV and the base PV of the unit (I hope you're listening MUL 2.0 developers!). This is a perfect solution because it gives me, the cube designer, the ability to balance the cube and a binary choice for players is easy to understand. You can take a unit as-printed or reset them to the default skill of 4.

Pilot Cards

I wanted to integrate some components that I think are cool but underutilized. So I looked at the Faction/Combat Command cards you get in the official CGL card packs for Succession Wars and Clan Invasion and the pilot cards you get in every force pack and boxed set.

In my testing, I found that using both of these was a bit too much for players to handle in a timely manner. So, I knew that one had to be cut (honestly one of my favorite parts of game design). In the end, pilot cards won because the nature of them ties more directly into your list since they can affect the PV of the unit they're assigned to. This extra "knob" lets players dial in their PV better so that they can hit on or close to 250PV much easier.

So, how do you use a pilot card? Well, I leaned on the information in the card and the AS PV system. In short, you may assign a pilot card to any unit that is exactly the same size as the pilot's listed unit. That unit must be set to the skill level (the large number in the top left or right corner of the card) of the pilot, paying for any PV adjustments. Then, you may turn on their Special Pilot Abilities (SPA) by adding the cost to the assigned unit's PV.

The above is an example of one of the pilot cards that I modify for use in the draft. This pilot card for Katherine is a Skill 2 pilot for Size 3 unit (the pictured Mad Cat is a Size 3 unit) with the Cluster Hitter SPA which costs 2 PV to activate.

It was this last bit that really made these pilot cards stand out. SPAs are cool features of AS and folks tend to not use them for balance concerns. In this format, I can curate which SPAs are allowed in a very invisible and organic way. No need to ban abilities when I can just not include them!

This relates to a fun fact about this format I discovered in playtesting and development: there's no reason to have a banlist of things like SPAs or Special Abilities. If I don't want people to, say, use artillery, I can just not include any artillery cards (I did include them because I want them in the format, but they're often banned in other formats). As a corollary, I can safely enable all abilities that are present on cards. This means we can get real weird with the card choice. But my method for building the card pool is for another post...

[optional] Terrain Rules

One thing I love about the Mechwarrior and Battletech PC games is the map variety. Part of that variety are terrain/weather conditions that affect play. These seem to be rarely used outside of campaign play, but when I have used them they greatly affected my unit choices. Sounds perfect for this format's guiding principles, no?

So, when planning for this format, I will print displays for special terrain rules for each table. What makes good terrain rules for this format is the same as everything else: the rules must have the potential to influence unit choice in a meaningful way without mandating it.

Good examples are the Snow Terrain rules shown earlier in this post and the Night Ops posted above. The former encourages the use of units with Overheat and units with Jump to get around the ice. The the latter encourages having one scary unit as an ambushing unit, drafting vehicles with SRCH and mechs to combat the night time modifier, and drafting scouts to help light up targets (literally!).

Conclusion

That's the overview of this fun and unique format. If you are interested in running it yourself, the rules are available at the top of this post. Additionally, I plan on doing some follow-up posts that detail what you need as an event host/T.O. in order to run this yourself. Plus, there will be advice on how to build an interesting cube pool for players to draft from.

Until then, If you're in the California Bay area and interested in trying this format out, keep an eye out at our many local gaming cons. I might just be running this there, or, at the very least, I'll have my cube on me if you want to play a pickup game with it. It's great for that!

[bitter-panacea]

Goultard's introduction in the Dofus manga, his confrontation with Clustus Part 2

Part 1

Let's get right back to the fight. Clustus tells Goultard he talks too much and attacks first.

Clustus : You shouldn't have been called Goultard the barbarian but Goultard the chatty!

I still think the D at the end of Goultard's name was supposed to be silent. First of all because in french the D is usually silent in words that end in -ard-, just like here in "bavard", but also because they make a lot of rhymes with his name and none of them work if you pronounce the D. Goultard le barbare, le bavard, le bâtard etc

ANYWAY! Back to the fight. Goultard is hoping this fight won't be yet another disappointment...

Goultard : King Clustus, I hope you have more to offer me than a pityful crow spell.

Turns out Clustus isn't king of Bonta for no reason and is actually quite skilled in combat. And Goultard seems pleased to see it. Maybe this won't be as easy and boring as he expected.

Goultard : Well, well, well... This old man can do some damage.

"Bonhomme" is a very interesting word to me. It can mean "man" or more accurately "fellow". For example "bonhomme de neige" is a snowman, "un bonhomme" is also what you'd call a child's drawing of a person, there is something childish about it.... It's informal and can be affectionate or condescending, maybe even both at the same time. Goultard calls Joris "petit bonhomme" (little fellow), but he's not the only one who uses that word to describe him. (If I'm not mistaken, Gou affectionately calls Arty bonhomme... I might be wrong but I'm too lazy to check right now)

BACK TO THE FIGHT

Clustus invokes the royal crackler (whose name happens to be Kabor). Goultard gets crushed by Kabor and buried under the rubble but frees himself and destroys him with ease.

Rip Kabor

And Goultard starts talking again (he wants to be mysterious so bad but he simply cannot stfu)

Goultard : You said earlier that you knew me... But I'm not so sure, you must be wrong. Because, you see... If you really knew me, you would hold more of a grudge!

Clustus basically tells him to "be more clear or shut the fuck up".

Clustus : A grudge? What do you mean by that? Be more clear, if you will, I'm too old for guessing games. / Goultard : I'm much older than you, Clustus, and I still love riddles... But let's not get distracted, what I meant to say... Oh!

Goultard loves riddles apparently, (I find that hard to believe but why not.) Goultard says "let's not get distracted" and immediately gets distracted by a cool sword he saw. Clustus attacks while Goultard has his back turned (to pick up the cool sword he saw.) Goultard parries the blow and slashes Clustus across the chest (with the cool sword he just picked up.)

Goultard: As I was saying...You can't know me, we've never met before. However, I know you, and I've known, your father well. The king Balbosus Sheran Sharm! / Clustus : What... Impossible!

Goultard : a king well-deserves a few explanations before dying! You see, Clustus, I've spent wonderful moments with your father. He even almost "freed" me. Shortly before I took his life!

Clustus' reaction to that information

Clustus : It's impossible. My father died sixty years ago! I don't know what you're playing at but your story makes no sense! He lost his life facing a monster named Dark Vlad.

Goultard shapeshifts into Vlad just a moment to make Clustus understand they're part of the same entity.

Clustus : You killed my father... He was a good man... Generous and certainly the best king Bonta ever had! / Goultard : Maybe...

Goultard : But once again... That changes nothing! You all are nothing but humans. Whether rich or poor, kings or peasants... Only your combativeness and eagerness interests me!

(I will explore this whole thing with Goultard's contempt for humans, how he doesn't see himself as a human yet wishes he could feel like one, his self-loathing, in a future post focusing on Gou and the symbiote)

Goultard : And to get back to your father, know that he didn't hesitate to sacrifice his men to get me! And when time came for him to be reunited with his ancestors, he begged me to spare him...

Goultard : If you're saying the truth and he really was the greatest king this city's ever known... I don't dare imagine what the others must be like!

We don't know anything more about Goultard and Balbosus' realtionship but I go absolutely fucking bonkers imagining what it could have been like. Wonderful moments, knew each other well, almost freed him, but in the end sacrificed his men trying to capture him... I could talk more about it but It's all stuff I completely made the fuck up in my head. In my head Balbosus wished to free Goultard in a messed up dehumanizing savior complex way "I must free this creature and if I can't, i'll be the one to kill it". They fought many times but Goultard would always let Balbosus live because he was amused and intrigued by his weird obsession for him. A sick game of cat and mouse. Goultard enjoying the thrill of being chased... Until the symbiote grew more possessive of his prey, or Goultard got bored of Balbosus, or he felt betrayed when Balbosus sent his men after him... The fact Dark Vlad is the one who killed Balbosus in the end could also imply Goultard lost control at some point before he finally decided to kill him... Much to think about.

Goultard then starts to shift between his different shapes, revealing only now that, all along, Vald (who we thought was dead), was a part of Goultard, or that Goultard and Vald are both part of a whole. He talks briefly about Vlad and Vald having 50% and 5% of his potential strength, respectively. Clustus calls him insane.

Goultard : No, in hindsight... You could have only beaten me in my Vald form.

Clustus : Well, boy... Seems like you have a couple bats in the belfry! Quickly, put me out of my misery, I've had enough of your ravings... (why is he so funny)

Goultard : My... ravings? My ravings, as you say, make my immortality easier to put up with. / Clustus : If you say so!

Goultard HATES being immortal. Being immortal is a curse, unbearable without adapting by developping a dissociative disorder.

Goultard gets bored of talking to Clustus and decides to leave to find something better to do. Clustus realizes Goultard isn't going to kill him after all.

Goultard : Time has already taken its toll on you, Clustus. You're but a shadow of your former self. So don't count on me to give you the warrior's death that you dream of so badly! It's much more cruel to imagine you passing away on your throne like the senile old man you are.

Clustus shouts at Goultard to come back and finish him off. But Goultard is gone.

Volume 6 continues with Goultard's backstory and ends when Goultard finds Arty and offers him to fight. I'll probably make a post comparing Goultard's manga backstory and the animated one.

[prapaiwife]

Mahasamut's character introduction!!! Played by fort, so mut is as I can tell by the trailer is very much an easy going person who is very helpful. He definitely has a purpose on the island as he is the go-to for everyone. He is very dependable, and so with this very purpose of his, he is to help others and be a guide to people on the island. But He says he does everything without expecting much in return. Yes, he takes the cash, but that's only fair when you do just about everything. But he doesn't seem to make it his whole personality, which shows his sincerity he's not a shallow guy! This island he treasures it so much. It's his home. 🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

He goes on to say that people would think of him just as this playful person. And so they probably don't expect much from him. In terms of him ever being serious, he always takes things lightly or, preferably, a joke. But as he says, he has a lot of his own feelings that he deals with, he conceals. But it seems like he doesn't show that side to anyone. He's only willing to show the good things of himself.

This part is interesting because he says that the people who don't like connects to his job. which, as we have already been seeing and hearing. He treasures the island he loves what he does. And so when someone shows a lack of interest to even understand why he's passionate for his work and / or disrespect it, it's a insult towards him and towards the people who work around him.That's what really rubs him off about people. So, to me, he probably can care less for materlastic ppl but also seemingly doesn't have a problem setting them straight tongrak preferably cause they do butt heads as we see lol. But as he gets to know him, he will know that tongrak isn't that far from it even cause he wants tongrak to be himself and tell him everything about himself. He wants to listen he's always ready to do so for him.🥺

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

And lastly, he's like stating he's not under tongraks control 😗 but he kinda is admittedly so as he barks for rak lol but I do think we will see bend alot for rak cause he likes him! And so he can combat the comments or remarks tongrak will say to him. (like bantering with him would be fun and comical for him), but i also see him standing up for himself regarding those remarks if they sting a little too close, even from others who just give him a bad rep whether that be seriously or jokingly cause they don't know him.

[cloverskentwells]

inspired by @thefloatingwriter to make a list of clove headcanons because dayne did such a good job with johanna headcanons

so i see the vision for her as an only child/orphan but i'm of the strong belief that she has a lot of little sister energy. she has three older brothers - marcellus, mason, and gunner.

marcellus went off to be a peacekeeper in district 7 or 9 or whatever, months before clove was born, and she never met him.

mason was her favorite before he moved out when she was five because he was super nice and always playing with her.

... gunner is a weapons maker who visits like once a year but he always happens to visit when clove is at training so she doesn't get the chance to talk to him.

her brothers are all a lot older than her because she was an "accident baby"

clove's a bi girlie but she doesn't think about it that often since she's obviously super busy with training and doesn't date.

she's such a loner girl, like she's worse than katniss because she doesn't think people like her and also doesn't know anyone she genuinely likes enough to hang out with. it surprised her in the arena how funny marvel was and how surprisingly nice glimmer is, and even more when cato whom she'd written off as an arrogant and a jerk turns out to have a lot in common with her and really understand her

i've seen a lot of fics about clove's hobby/talent being woodcarving and you are all 100% correct. cooking and woodcarving are both great things that involve knives, and clove also sometimes likes to garden because knives might be her life but she's a person outside of that

her personal fashion style -> comfortable, quick, easy to wear but also flattering her body. leather jackets with spaces to hide knives, dark hair always in stylish braids to keep it out of her face during training/workouts and still look cute, and black combat boots. she likes knee length cardigans when she's in her home.

she hates cold and so you can find her huddled in front of the fireplace.

clove is a frigid bitch (affectionate) who keeps others at a distance and she unlearns this habit as a victor, first with cato and then with her parents. she laid that groundwork with cato in the arena and her parents watching the tv were surprised by how companionable she seemed to be around him and how she smiled a little more.

she clutches the handle of her knife in her sleep, it's like her stuffed animal and it's adorable. clove also murmurs death threats in her sleep, like a lot!!

she secretly loves it when someone she likes/cares about (cato, maybe glimmer on like the first night of the games, her mom at one point before they drifted apart with clove's training) braids her hair because the hands on her scalp and a tender touch from someone she loves deeply feels good. she'll never admit it though because she wants to give a strong don't touch me energy

ooh here's an interesting one that just came to me: so remember that lizard clove killed in the games? so mason actually gave her a pet lizard as a birthday gift on one of his few visits, and she took care of it and loved it so much. however one night she was practicing her knife throwing at targets in the backyard and the lizard was climbing up the tree she was throwing at and she accidentally killed it. clove cried like a little kid for hours that night but she didn't want anyone to see her in such a shameful position so her parents never found out. the lizard in the arena triggered that memory

[transpathfinder]

veilguard thots

[massive plot spoilers]

ok i did say i was gonna write up some brief thoughts after i completed but first of all before i start, as a lucanismancer i just want to say any lucanismancer who hates neve kys. you are not affiliated with me don't even speak to me or breathe in my direction. and bioware, idk when u will realise i have 2 hands. 1 is for lucanis 1 is for neve and my spare dick is for spite so just get with the programme

alright that being said... yeah i didn't really like the game much. i think it's easily the weakest DA game, which i consider a pretty big failing since i am not someone who thinks inquisition is good. i had a lot of problem with inquisition's main story and open world, but somehow veilguard's story is. Worse. i don't even have the energy to get into supervillain evil blighted elvhen gods, turning the old gods as stupid little dragon thralls, because obviously, again, nothing pagan or elemental matters, they're not real, they're not godly or saintly or divine, just stupid animals. making the antaam breakaway into this crazed faction you keep fighting cos they absolutely had zero ideas or interest in tying positively into qunari culture you can have a relationship with, it becomes an easy excuse - ''they're not reeeeaally qunari teehee'' first of all, crafting both the antaam and venatori into easily siding with supervillain elvhen gods who want to bring the blight to the world is fucking weak and pathetic excuse for it cos it doesn't even make sense with their goals/ideologies. a very, very cheap entry into the lore, i think lazy and diminishes the world as well the utter thinness of companion background and conversations. i know there's no dialogue wheel, but to me that's a basic aspect of getting to know in-depth background lore about factions, status of the worldstate, different parties' political ideologies and leanings, in standard video game infodumps cos yes this is still a video game, you need to write for it rather than focus on the realism of how conversations play out.... u can't even call solas a monster without morrigan attempting to school you like you're 5. this game wants you to suck solas' dick so bad as if the rest of us from inquisition didn't already peg him as a person who wants to cause genocide. veilguard only told us he already caused it once and now wants to do so again, but in 2 entire games, he is constantly made to be this sympathetic and deep figure that i'm supposed to be enamoured and intrigued by and want to save. why would i want to save this thousand plus year old mf who eradicated a race knowingly!! this game doesn't even give me the opportunity to kill him, i was so disappointed by my 3 choices in the end with him, of which 2 are literally functionally the exact same. there's no way i was gonna redeem this piece of shit even though i had mythal's essence peacefully or whatever the fuck yeah this other abuser piece of shit is also a hero now that morrigan carries lmafoo give me a break. all da2 did was demonise anders over and over again, and again in inquisition. these chars are not even in the same universe of ''crimes they've committed'' and yet, the disparity in writers sucking one dick and trying to get u to hate the other is crazy. i hate white liberals soo much fuck all of you!!!! bitchass mfs

which brings me to why i think this game is so thin and written so childishly - it's desperate to be liked. it wants to be liked by the masses sooo bad, that it becomes nothing to me. everyone is sweet, everyone is lovely, all factions are uwu heroes, even antivan crows, who torture and abuse children but hey nvm they're cool heroes now with no nuance. i loved all the crew, but the game makes it exactly so. no difficult stances to combat, nothing akin to any previous DA game, where there's at least a companion or 2 people would find their nerves fray over, which is the point. this is the only game that feels so typically found family where everyone loves each other, because it's deliberately made to be that way. a child's idea of big threats and saving the world and everyone happy in traditional hero centric journey with a team.

BUT EVEN THAT... it doesn't commit to it fully, because it so desperately also wants to teach u a lesson on how not everyone can survive this. so... yeah... harding died in my pt, and u know what? i felt nothing until the credits rolled. cos i straight up thought it wasn't real and we'd just get her back later. like she got stabbed and fell into the pit and i felt zero emotion cos i was like o okay she's injured we'll wait for this cutscene to end and next bit we'll look into a new sub-quest for finding her or something cos ofc i had already completed all personal quests, there's no way she would die unless the player didn't do it. and until the credits rolled i didn't believe she had cos i was just so stumped this game even pulled that... imagine the heartbreak and betrayal players who romanced her would have felt? it's soo shitty wtf... no idgaf how ''unrealistic'' it is everyone survives. this is a video game built off fun rp-ing and romances, which is a core bioware feature. you don't write romances and entice people on that front and then turn around and pull this shit. my god i'd have been livid but by then i was ready for the game to end so i already found myself semi-exhausted by the experience since i was maxed out at level 50 and already clocked in over 120++ hours taking my time with it slowly. certainly not something i binged through

it's not a horrible game... i do think the linear playstyle and the no death toggle was critical in my getting through it. i love the deviation from open world, and obviously, the lucanis romance really carried me through cos i adore the character and very much fell in love with him and the romance... and while like i said, i do love the crew as a whole, i can't shake the feeling away that it's an empty game void of classic DA mannerisms of choices and conflict of prior entries that i have strong memories of. i don't hate it and i'll still replay it in future if i do a DA run, but it hasn't captivated me enough. i may sound very angry in this write up but honestly i'm pretty chill in my explanation and thoughts about disliking this game. it's nothing to me. this DA game feels so bitchless and sauceless with no identity apart from ''wow i hope everyone loves this game i'm making this as palatable to for mass consumption as possible'' from hero to weak basic story to lack of imports from earlier games to classic hack-n-slash combat. definition of mid.

[rottenbrainstuff]

Don't you guys love it when I unearth the most random unrelated niche bullshit and then ramble about it incoherently for you all to read?

The latest thing giving me the dopamine hit atm is a silly otome game called Love & Deepspace, details of which mercifully hidden for you below the cut:

A friend of a friend recommended this game to me and it's turning out to be surprisingly fun. I'm impressed by how little content is paywalled or monetized. Like, I wouldn't mind dropping a little money on the game cause I'm enjoying it, and I HAVE spent a couple bucks here and there on items, but it doesn't really give you a huge advantage in the long term over someone who is playing it for free and that’s kind of surprising. (My god though this game is fucking chonky. If it keeps needing to download stuff I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to play….)

Unlike some other otome games where you have very clear relationship paths with the focus on one single person, here you develop relationships with everyone sort of all at once. I know some people like that, but I personally don't prefer it - it seems even in video games I am too monogamous to have multiple boyfriends at once. I started out focusing on Zayne, cause the older and more serious kuudere character is the one I tend to like in the silly games like this, but then Sylus popped up and now I have abandoned Zayne, I'm so sorry babe, it’s not you, it’s me.

Sylus is very much giving me vibes that the devs all had a design meeting and said "oh the girlies really fucking like Astarion from BG3 right now, why don't we make a copy of that, we could make him the tsundere criminal antagonist character or something?" One of the audio stories has the MC teasing him about looking/acting like a vampire and that's so funny, the devs absolutely knew what they were doing. Hilariously, one of the Sylus-specific custom titles you can win is a nickname I used to have back in the dinosaur days when I was in college, and I find that endlessly amusing. I like how he complains you're in the way if you get too close to enemies in combat - I will choose to interpret this as protectiveness, and it suits me just fine anyways cause I can't fucking dodge properly, and prefer to shoot shit from a distance.

Sorrrrry but I find the english audio way too cringe (particularly Sylus' VA?... sorry) so I have been playing it with the japanese audio. (because I understand a little japanese, and perhaps because I want to shame myself for not practicing at all in the last couple years) I'm sure the japanese audio is no less cringey to native japanese speakers, but the point is that *I* cannot tell. And you see, it increases my vocabulary of useless words I will never need to use - for instance this week I learned the word for "gun". I also like to note the translation choices where the audio and the subtitles don't match up, I find it interesting, like little easter eggs. In this case my understanding is the game was released in Chinese first, so instead of comparing a translation to an original, I am comparing one translation to another translation, but I still find it amusing. (Pie the fox is called “six dumplings” in Japanese)

I enjoy the little details... Sylus is very good at the card game and I can almost never win, Zayne is ridiculously easy to bully into swapping cards and I almost never lose. Sylus sucks at the crane game to the point where it's ridiculous (or maybe I just have bad luck???) but Zayne cheats and uses ice and wins a lot - myeh I dunno. It's cute, I'm easy to please, it's making my brain happy.

The fine details of the story are a bit incomprehensible and the interface takes a little getting used to. I do appreciate all the moving parts here, the story and the collectible content and the combat and everything, but it's a little bit humorous how all the bits don't overlap tidily, for instance I am getting event-related texts that are giving away spoilers for things I haven't learned in the main story yet. And Sylus' separate chapters popped up I think after I finished the ... second main story chapter? And it begins with mentions of a serious disaster that happens in the main story that I hadn't read about yet. It's funny though, just funny. I just got access to protocores and now everything is a million times more complicated. I have no idea why dumb shit like this releases the dopamine in my brain but whatevs. I dunno. If you found this post through a tag search feel free to jabber at me about this game, these little niche things I find, I have so few people I can talk about them with. Every once in a while I will holler my thoughts out into the void here. Blah blah blah. Etc.

[milesandmorales]

I'm kind of disappointed about the direction they are going with the new DA game. I guess I just love the old lore of Origins too much - I sort of wish they were implementing some of the old features in there that made it so magical for me.

** I still think having several opening beginnings (whether they be just 20 minutes long or less) was GENIUS and still hasn't been done again. It just makes the replay factor of the game SO good. Especially when that very specific background comes into play at the tail end of the game. It just brings it to a satisfying full circle and ensures you replay the game several times to its completion to see how that other character's story shall end.

Second - I'm not particularly interested in the fade/tearing the veil conflict. It feels very Marvel - there is a big hole in the sky and an outside threat that we don't feel particularly attached to. Given we did make friends with a couple of spirits in Inquisition - but it still feels a little alien.

It lacks that more internal - base conflict like the conflict of Darkspawn - people can turn into one from being tainted. They are a constant threat banging on the doors of Dwarves. The contaminate old Gods - one began to speak in Awakening. It is a disease that affects EVERYONE even if they'd rather ignore it.

I also really enjoyed the politics of the mages and templars - that was very well done as each side has pros and cons. And finding a solution is neither simple or easy.

Third - protagonist - I loved the Grey Wardens as a protagonist because they are essentially the anti-hero - come from any background but their cause is noble. And yet they are also tainted as well - a great twist.

Hawke was an interesting experiment as it was very interesting to live as someone caught in the turmoil going on around them, but not necessarily they center piece. I also really enjoyed the time progressing feature that they introduced - seeing all the characters grow and change through the years.

The Inquisitor is where it starts to decline - none of your original background matter at all. Your race - maybe - but who or what you were before does not matter. Shit - if you believe you're the Herald or not really doesn't matter that much either. It is your character accidentally being the most useful tool. While the growing of your power is cool cinematically - you do not earn it - therefore it does not feel rewarding.

I just hope the new protagonist isn't another character that just happens to be there at the right time - where their backstory has no options and ultimately means nothing. It just feels stale.

Fourth - dialogue - the simplification of it is so unnecessary/annoying. Baldur's Gate 3 showed that people were perfectly fine/content reading lines of dialogue to decide exactly how they wanted to react. Why do we need a vague wheel?

Lastly - The graphics - I'm not terribly upset about. I would play it regardless of how it looked - although I do enjoy the gritty - old look. I do prefer the old combat - it was a lot more fun to experiment with different builds as a mage or as a rogue/thief. As well as controlling your party. Though - I could see past the combat if the story is more compelling.

ALTHOUGH - if the new game does look like your bag of tea - I truly hope that you enjoy it thoroughly. These are just my thoughts and opinions - nothing more.

[bronx-bomber87]

No better way to end a Friday than with a review. We are in the home stretch of s1 still crazy to me. Excited each time get to write up my reviews. So thank you all for your interest and support as always. Lets dive in to the third to last ep shall we?

1x18

Homefront.

After having a non Chenford ep always happy to have them back together. Loved dissecting Lucy and having insight into her family life but I missed them. They don't have a ton of content in this one. Pretty Talia driven one but what they do have is really good. Underrated moments in this ep for them IMO.

Our first shot of our fav duo is at the hospital. They’re visiting a released convict they were assigned to check up on. Tim makes a comment about filling his hours when not studying. To him it makes the most sense to fill his dead time with work. Lucy is immediately all over that comment. Because Lucy don't play around at all when it comes to Tim. She knows that isn't healthy for him. She starts probing as to why he doesn't have a hobby. She's genuinely surprised he doesn't have a way to decompress/recharge.

His first answer cracks me up it’s so Tim. Also how he adds in for her not to give him shit cause it has 'work' in the title LOL He knows her so well. He tries to combat her answer before she even says it. Lucy doesn’t deny she thinks that anyway. Goes on to say he needs something for himself. A way to decompress. Maybe even have a little fun. Gotta love her for trying to get him out of his comfort zone. He’s a creature of habit and doesn’t like that to be upended. Lucy is very aware of this and can't help herself but to challenge him on it.

The eye roll she gives him is primo. She knows this is going to be an uphill battle per usual. Tim fights her on it because its his natural first instinct. He always fights her on it and she always ends up seeping in. Jolting his system and POV on things. I do love him opening and holding the door for her. Ever the gentleman even when they’re arguing hehe

This shot is just because they're so pretty just standing together haha. That's it really. I mean look at them. Their Tall/Small thing never ceases to make me happy. Also Tim's stance pretty damn appealing tbh. I mean look at dem biceps. It's a wonder Lucy gets any work done haha

They respond to a call at a paintball place. A guy named Jimmy has lost it and impaled another player with a piece of wood over the game. Go on to tell them he plays there every day. He'll be hard to find. They head off to find Jimmy. Lucy does not waste a second before she is giving him more crap. So damn sassy with him. Using this guy's obsession to prove her point about why its bad to be focusing on one thing too much. They were married long before they ever dated people haha Lucy is so smug in this moment. Makes me happy haha

Tim defaults to what he usually does when’s she got him dead to rights. Clams up. Tells her to shut it cause that’s the best come back he has at the moment. LOL The smile on her face when she says ‘Yes sir’ Lucy knows that ‘shut it’ is just him annoyed he has no witty comeback. Lucy is reveling in the fact he can’t fight her on this one. No leg to stand on and he knows it.

They start searching the paintball area for their suspect. Lucy makes a comment about it would be easier if everyone wasn’t wearing camo. Tim gives her his company line about this job isn’t meant to be easy. She instantly disregards it and asks him if he’s ever played paintball? Trying to peak his interest. His reply cracks me up. Not a doubt in his mind he would crush these people at this. Her face is what kills me the most. That’s the wifey face. Placating him like ok babe....

I also love her blowing past his TO line earlier haha Very early on Lucy would’ve said yes sir or nodded. We’re long past those days even in s1. Especially at this point in time. That rapport and comfortability has come to stay. She’s on a mission to find him a hobby to help him relax. Bypasses Teacher Tim without blinking.

Tim starts to explain why he would straight destroy these people at paintball. Using one of the players as an example. Also Timothy there is no need to lean so close when explaining strategy to her sir heh But he does it anyway and she’s grinning like a fool. I’ve always loved the magnetic pull these two have between them. Whether they’re aware of it or not. Personal space is word not found in their vocabulary. Clearly passionate about what he's telling her so he gets closer. I love it.

Look at the way she is looking at him. Goodness girl you are working. That look on her face. You know she’s indulging him right now. Letting him ramble about how everyone is amateurs. How he would go about it. Tim has no idea he’s giving her fuel to get him to play. Always looking out for him even when he doesn’t have a damn clue she is. Taking care of him and putting his needs first. I can not with them. I love it so much.

They end up going to higher ground where Jimmy would be. They find him and Tim is sexy af stopping his escape. Grabs a players gun and easily decimates him with paint. Don’t tell me she wasn’t the slightest bit impressed with him nailing that guy with the paint gun. But it’s also reinforcing her idea about paintball for him.

That little smirk of hers before she hooks Jimmy up. Just like in 1x15 Lucy is all smiles and heart eyes for him in this ep. She is also a little bit wifey like in her reactions. Like yeah he’s an idiot but he’s my idiot. That second gif above says it all for that for that.

Ahhh the hanging out, outside work begins ❤️ Look at her dragging him outside his comfort zone like only she can. I bet you she pitched it one last time to Tim as a hobby. Something he could do to destress/relax. That it would be fun. He probably didn’t have to twist her arm too much to join him. That he would only do it if she came with. I could see Tim doing this so he could show and or prove to Lucy he could smoke everyone at this like he said. A little flex on his part. Coming in armed with a plan ready to execute it with her.

He looks so happy. She did that. It's written all over Lucy's face how happy she is that he's enjoying himself. That little smile on his face as they’re gearing up to go in. My heart. He’s so excited to do this. It’s why Lucy is beaming. She got Tim outside his routine and into something she knew he would love. He’s smiling and ready to have some fun. Not that he will say as such but everything in his body language does. Once again that beautiful silent communication of theirs is a sight to see.

His half hearted 'No' has Lucy smiling and laughing. She is beyond pleased with herself for this. Anyone looking at them without context would be able to see how she feels about him. I saw this great post by relentlessescapsim had a collection of Lucy unabashedly looking at Tim. Being as transparent as she could be. It said ‘She’s a ten but she’s terrible at hiding her feelings. ‘ I died laughing cause it so friggin true. You just watch her entire body language around Tim and you know. You just know he’s far more than her T.O. to her. I mean its clearly her day day off and Lucy is spending it with him. She's doing his new 'hobby' with him. I love it sfm.

Lucy challenges and pushes Tim same way he does for her. Been saying this all season his growth is incredible. Look at this puppy of a man playing paintball with her. Once again doing something he wouldn’t have for any other rookie. Incredible. He's continually allowing her to influence him which is huge in itself. Its constantly seen through out the entire season. This was her challenging that bubble of his that rigid routine. Lucy pushed because in the end she knew he would benefit from it. What good it would do him. She was right.

Tim says 'No' when really he's so glad she got him to do this. He can't say it just yet but his actions scream it. They balance one another out so well I could not adore their dynamic more. Damn I just love them so much haha. How good they are for each other. The fact that it dates back to s1 for multiple reasons is amazing.

It's why they’re so good in s5 once they get together. That beautiful base is already there and solid as hell. I love the idea of them playing paintball and having fun. Its lovely to see such beautiful depth and development for them. Such a good episode for them top to bottom. *chef kiss*

~~~~

Side Notes Non Chenford

Cute Wes/Angela stuff I always enjoy them so much.

Stuff with Jackson's dad was also very good. Watching him stand up to his dad was awesome.

Percy asking why Grey didn't stick Jackson with Tim. My god that boy wouldn't have made it without Angela. He has no idea. Tim would've washed his ass out so quickly. Hell Tim might not even be around cause of his bullet issues in the beginning. So very good he was not. Everything happens for a reason and all that.

Thank you all again for you likes/comments/reblogs. Every time I get a notification for them makes my heart smile for real. See you all in 1x19 :)

[punishercross]

NICHOLAS D. WOLFWOOD (TRIGUN STAMPEDE) PERMANENT PLOTTER/AD

SO I've never actually written one of these before, but considering that I pretty much constantly have muse for this guy and always want new threads and am just insane about Trigun in general, let's actually make a permanent plotter.

In general, I take these as a "I can reach out to you, you can reach out to me" kinda thing, and assume that one of the categories below is something that piques your interest! Although I will say my DMs are always open, and I'm definitely approachable in the isola discord server.

General content warnings for this character include: child abuse, child experimentation, death, violence, smoking, alcohol, religious trauma, cults.

I read rules before I write starters, but I think that it's important to consider personal comfort with characters when discussing collaborative writing!

SHORT CHARACTER SUMMARY

Wolfwood can be a difficult person to get close to. While he's definitely one for joking and pulling the occasional con for shits and giggles, he's actually a deeply traumatized man who was trained as an assassin by an insane cult in exchange for the safety of other orphans. He's led an extremely violent life and doesn't shy away from it despite his own deep-seated desire for normalcy. While he's trying to play nice in Spirale, he absolutely will kill if it means preserving his own life. Wolfwood is a sheep in wolf's clothing.

GENERAL PLOTTING GUIDELINES

As a rule, I have zero issues with people recognizing Wolfwood from his work with Lionheart, because of the other Wolfwood, or because he's a guy with a big fucking cross and that's pretty memorable. I also don't mind you choosing whether or not he has the Punisher if starting the thread, because he's definitely a conversation piece! Unless in combat, the Punisher is wrapped up in cloth and belts, so unless you've seen him use it as a gun it just seems like a weird cross. Although to note that he's now been in a public exhibition match with the other Wolfwood(s) where these clowns were drinking their glowing Kool-Aid AND firing rockets and lasers at each other, so. There's that. Other notable points include that he usually wears sunglasses all the time, even indoors, and that his "uniform" has crosses embroidered into it. He, technically, is an ordained priest, but he'll refer to himself as an "undertaker". He also may con you out of money, because he's a holy man.

RELATIONSHIP GUIDELINES

Platonic

As stated before, Wolfwood can be an extremely difficult person to gain a deeper relationship with. He can be temperamental and is extremely closed off, his world views often differ from people around him given his general propensity for pessimism despite wanting for optimism. While he's trying to be on his best behavior in Spirale due to the influence of his partner, he's still definitely working a job that puts him in dangerous situations. When it comes down to it, he'll pull that trigger, regardless of how he may feel about it at the time. Despite how he can be in general, Wolfwood is particularly good with kids and teens, switching into "big brother" mode as needed. This is especially true in Spirale, as he views any kid being brought to Spirale as being displaced given the very nature of the island. Generally, friends, coworkers, and collaborators are welcome in this category! He's also not averse to found family, as he's an orphan himself.

Antagonistic

I would love for some antagonistic relationships, as I'm a particular fan of inflicting all sorts of trauma on my muses and I love fight threads. I mean, ahem, Wolfwood is actually kind of an easy person to have an antagonistic relationship with. Between his upbringing, his job here in Spirale, and his affinity for pushing people's buttons, it's not that hard for the undertaker to get on someone's bad side. Alternatively, as he's generally accepting of most walks of life, it can take more to provoke him than it typically takes for him to provoke others. Being on the other end of the Punisher isn't entirely a reason for him to hate someone, and a job's a job. He will, of course, defend himself, but as he has generally low self-esteem, he tends not to take much too personally, especially from strangers. After all, it's hard for people to mistreat him more than he already has been, and he has low expectations of most people he meets. Of course, he can be provoked if it involves people he deeply cares about, or if a kid is being treated poorly. He'll definitely sucker punch someone on a kid's behalf.

PLOT IDEAS (Updated 5/26/24)

Working Dangerous Jobs - I love putting Wolfwood into SituationsTM that test his character development. The more dangerous the better. I enjoy making NPCs to involve in this, too, so we can have a pretty extensive mission for our muses to go on.

Fight! Fight! Fight! - I'd really like him to get into more fight threads. How far those go, well, we can play that by ear depending on the why of it all!

Stranded in the Mistwood - He frequently travels between The Land of Burnt Umber and the center of the island for work, which means driving through the Mistwood. Having a bike break down in the Mistwood is more than a possibility, and I think it could leave room for shenanigans, danger, or both!

[bost-ebin]

So much of the problem with Magic systems in ttrpg's is that the larger system generally comes from 3 schools of thought, those being MMO, Wargames, Roleplay-As-Theater and Fairytale. MMO style rpgs like 5e and PF2e are generally focused around combat instances being tightly controlled, and a focus on everything being balanced and the math roughly working out to be within tolerances. The magic in these tends to not extend past the situation it will be cast in, and durations that exceed a single combat encounter and into another are rare or are for benefits that are not the core of your style of play. Magic does not allow for longer term benefits or advantages because if players are allowed to stack those up they can quite easily escape the tolerances of the dice curves for their level. On the Wargames front you have a focus on combat yes, but in the sense that magic is used as a tool in combat and isn't as constrained into instance focused combat. See AD&D for an example. Magic is able to do a lot because its able to be used in creative ways due to the lesser limitations placed on it. On the Roleplay-As-Theatre front, you have games like Everything in oWoD, where the idea that magic is a part of the world is even more present than in the Wargames front, and as such can be used for anything and everything if you are willing to put in the effort of learning how to do it and or make the physilogical changes to yourself to be able to do it. And lastly you have Fairytale kinds of magic, where its powers are vague, the methods obscure, and learning it is not easy or often even possible for someone who would become an adventurer. See Lotr, and Warhammer Fantasy for examples. Magic is a power that people have and is strange, sometimes unpredictable, and difficult to control unless you are exceptionally gifted or is otherwise "hard" to do. This falls on the far end of a spectrum of what I want to call teh "Magic as a Skill" Spectrum. Magic as a skill in ttrpgs and fantasy in general is on this spectrum of repeatability and being performed the same way. Why does a barbarian waving his hands and chanting the words in the same way as a wizard does not produce a spell? If we go by D&D logic, its because theres some arcane skill to it, but what that is is never really addressed (Do not come for me 3.5e vets I'm sure its touched on somewhere) And the crucial step there is that TTRPG systems are scared to tie themselves to settings, and this hurts the mechanics. Explaining why in the stock setting things happens makes things more interesting. Which is why the Magic as a Skill spectrum reaches its other end in things like WoD where magic of all kinds is incredibly well explained and explored so it makes sense in a way that works to people, and doesn't result in tippyverse nonsense outside of sam haight. Magic as a Skill is about it the arcane being explained in ways that make sense why only magic users can use magic. And if the explanation is "Well anyone *can* use magic its just difficult and often just not worth the time" thats a valid reason. Its part of why people don't just go get PHD's. But don't undercut your own worldbuilding by then introducing people with "natural" magic who can do it just as well, unless that is itself just as well explained.

[phagodyke]

Would love to hear ur thoughts on Hades game sometime because I too loved but had beef with the game and I think we are the same ….

yessss, disclaimer I haven't played it for like 3 years and I only played 10 hours/got to the end once before I dropped it so i might be misremembering some things but I stick by my opinions! under the cut cuz this is long as fuck 🫣 my haterism has no limits

ok so basically my grievances w hades can be split into 2 main areas: gameplay + narrative, I'll break them down in that order.

firstly gameplay - roguelikes/lites are my fave genre so I was predominantly approaching hades from this angle + its failure here is the clincher for me.

I found the gameplay repetitive and stale. this isnt a criticism of its permadeath like ive seen some ppl make - I usually relish repetition/grind especially in permadeath-based games bc I find tactical challenge fun + love the learning curve, its soooo rewarding. but hades is ultimately just a glorified button masher. mob/boss movesets are boring + unoriginal, and can generally all be fought the same way. trying to do otherwise drags out fights; it actively discourages emergent gameplay so theres little variance WITHIN runs. the pool of rooms for procedural generation is far too small so theres little variance BETWEEN runs. there's no real challenge to combat, difficulty is mainly increased by heightened mob tankiness as you get further in a run. movement/combat doesn't flow well, its mechanically very weak, relying heavily on its permanent upgrade system instead of developing skill in the way you approach the game. all the weapons feel clunky and don't really offer any unique challenge/benefit so theres virtually no point switching between them and the grind to unlock them all is so pointless… god there are just SOOO many hack n slash crawlers that keep it fresh even for hundreds of hours and hades fails miserably at keeping it fresh for even 5 measly hours :^/

I didnt like the boon system either - its far too simplistic + shallow. its fine to rely on chance, this is part of the random generation, and I think it had a lot of potential in that it was a good way of combining aesthetic w gameplay itself. but this is pretty much the only form of resource management - and theres barely any management to it! theres no reward for exploring different builds, they dont really synergise BETWEEN gods in interesting or useful ways, so the game encourages you to just stick with one god throughout, and biases random generation towards boons youve already collected. part of the fun for me is learning HOW to design a build, and working with the randomiser to play flexibly, but hades just isnt interested in that at all...

also - I don't like the permanent upgrade system, I think this detracts from it as a rogue. every time you should be starting on square 1 - maybe you pick up health upgrades etc throughout each run, and maybe you unlock new weapons etc for the random generation pool, or purely cosmetic upgrades, but the point of permadeath is that it RESETS! zags base health + dmg should be the same 50 hours into the game as when u first open it. make a different genre of game if u dont wanna do that lol. I also think IF youre going to say fuck it and add a permanent upgrade system, you should also add unlockable permanent biome shortcuts bc ur just making it boring as fuck to have to waste time grinding thru earlier biomes with unskippable combat once youre op for them.

I GET that they did this to make the game more accessible* to players who dont typically enjoy rogues, but it just makes it really disappointing for those of us who DO love rogues, and it always feels cheap to me when games are like "well of you want challenge then set the difficulty yourself with these modifiers 🙄" like just make the base difficulty TOUGH up front and then add an easy/story mode and accessibility features* for players who don't want the challenge.. if you're gonna call yourself a rogue the gameplay should be the PRIORITY not a throwaway option

one of my biggest peeves with hades is how people now laud it as one of the best rogues - whenever I mention I like the genre I almost always get asked "oh, like hades?" and it pisses me off so much… its a rogueLITE not roguelike, ie. it has rogue ELEMENTS but its not a true one and imo, it does a pretty shit job implementing them! I would have a lot less resentment towards it if it wasnt marketed as the forefront of the rogue genre - frankly its a very basic rogue with very mid gameplay, its characters/design are by FAR its strong point and it should be sold as such. its misleading and makes me sad that this is what most people think of when they hear rogue :-(

*(side note - accessibility in this game is another major flaw. theres really no excuse for a game as popular as this to be so lacking in accessibility options. allow people to bind keys together or use coloured outlines or have colourblindness settings or alter font/text size etc - its not that hard! dead cells did a great job of this lol)

anyway... moving onto my second criticism - narratively, its also unsatisfying.

the hades plot is, loosely, about a cycle of abuse, so the 2 natural directions to go in with this are either: #1: escaping the cycle, or #2: continuing it forever.

#2 is the easiest to do with a rogue format - bc of permadeath the game is already cyclical, so all you have to do is create an ending which loops perfectly back to the start (smth like 'its impossible to truly defeat/reconcile with his father so even after zag beats him, hades drags him back to the start again). obviously this is a miserable story to tell, but tbh I think it wouldve been interesting + fitting - so much of greek mythos is about cycles and the unchanging nature of the gods, and they LOVED eternal cyclical punishments. plus theres smth rly tragic about zag gradually helping everyone else while no one else can save him from his family LOL

#1 is a bit harder to do - this is the story they WANTED to tell but I just don't think it worked… the driving force plot-wise is his desperation to escape. realistically for this to happen the game needs to be finite, which it can't be due to its rogue nature - somehow you have to end up at the very start again. the main solutions I can think of for this are:

a) after the final boss, insert some time travel shenanigans (easy to fit into the worldbuilding using a character like kronos) and all of zags progress with hades is unspooled. this can be completely out of his control, or it could be a choice the player makes (to end the game here or choose to go back and relive zags past in order to progress npc questlines). eg. what happens in dead cells. again, tragic but it makes more sense to me

-or b) bite the bullet and give the game a completely finite ending after beating hades. if players want to go back and play more to complete other npc questlines, they pick up play from before they beat hades. this isnt explained "narratively" bc the plot is already concluded and now theyre just playing for fun (eg. what going under does)

I also think for a character-focused story-rich game, roguelite was a really terrible choice of genre as it locks every interaction behind pure chance and hours of grinding - just really baffling why they decided to do this, especially when theyve had such success previously making games within different genres (transistor, bastion, pyre). the core of the issue for me is that the devs wanted to create a game that was both story rich AND a rogue - and these things arent mutually exclusive, but the best features of each contradict each other when you try to balance them in a way to appease their respective fans (ie. the challenge/complexity of the gameplay is heavily restricted by keeping it easy for ppl unfamiliar with rogues to pick up, but the strength of the narrative arc is simultaneously weakened by the fact that as a rogue it has to be perpetual bc of permadeath + you're working with procedural generation…)

I'm not going to beef with the artstyle or music bc I rly loved them both (even if I wish the body diversity was better!), or with the interpretations of greek gods bc literally every piece of media abt greek mythos has to decide how to interpret them and I think its silly to be like "this isnt CANON" - since we actually dont HAVE a strict "canon" for many of these stories bc theyve been retold/translated in so many conflicting ways lol. I've just heard ppl complaining abt that and I dont think its worth complaining about 🤷‍♀️

ANYWAY tl;dr: hades should've been an action-heavy isometric metroidvania… it wouldve made it far easier to focus on character questlines (ie. with respawn points + a fixed map), unified the story they wanted to tell with the gameplay SO much more effectively, and allowed them to reach the full potential of both, whilst also playing up to supergiant's previous game-making strengths. but thats my 2 cents!