#i think there's a lot to say about how intended themes of a campaign will differ from the end result

[silkywishes]

i think maybe somewhere there is something in between "you're not allowed to voice negative opinions on any part of D20's story bc it's all improv!!" which feels like a blanket excuse to bulldoze over any and all opinions you dislike, and "disparaging the cast and crew bc these fictional characters didn't get treated like actual irl human beings"

[rebelspykatie]

Soulmate AU Part Five - The Final Part 

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Alternate Ending 

There’s a display of dnd handbooks and supplemental materials right beside it. Beyond that, Eddie spots a fantasy section overflowing with worn paperbacks that he can’t wait to sort through. 

Steve follows Eddie around, pointing out all the things Dustin loves, listening to Eddie ramble on with a fond, soft look on his face, and carrying everything Eddie has expressed an interest in around the store, including a brand new set of black and red dice. He never looks bored or disinterested, just patiently sits beside Eddie as he goes through stacks of paperbacks, nodding along to his stories and flipping through a magazine he found.

When they get to the counter, Eddie doesn’t expect Steve to whip out his wallet and pay for everything Eddie has so much as even touched, but he’s brushed aside and knows better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. He’s not going to let Steve pay for things all the time, but it’s a nice surprise that he’s willing to shell out for all of Eddie’s nerdy little treasures. 

When they climb back in the car, Eddie mutters, “Thanks, Steve. This is the best date I’ve ever been on.” It’s the only date he’s ever been on, though, so perhaps the sentiment doesn’t count. 

“It’s not over, yet.” Steve’s smirk is mischievous as he backs out and gets back on the highway. 

They end up at a tavern a few miles away. It looks like a cottage from the outside, but inside, the staff are all dressed in medieval themed attire, lots of tunics, capes, and leather straps. It’s not quite accurate, but it’s probably the best they could do on a small town restaurant budget. The patrons are a younger crowd, which leads Eddie to believe this is typically a family spot intended for kids. It reminds him of Wayne doing his best to play dress up with Eddie for his birthday as a kid, just trying to make Eddie happy despite not understanding any of it. 

A warmth that’s starting to feel like home is resonating in his chest, wrapping around his heart like a hug, a tether to the boy beside him. Steve endeared himself to Eddie with one perfectly planned date, crafting the entire evening around Eddie’s interests. It loosens the last thread of doubt he had about Steve. He’s doing everything in his power to prove that the universe didn’t get it wrong.

The conversation flows easily, the two of them getting to know each other beyond surface level rumors they picked up in the hallways of Hawkins High. Eddie learns more about the rocky relationship between Steve’s parents and how that affects the way he views the soulmate bond. Steve gets a detailed reenactment of a recent campaign, tugging on Eddie’s shirt sleeve to prevent him from climbing on the table. Eddie learns more about the hoard of children Steve babysits and how awkward it still is seeing Nancy every time he drops off Mike. 

At some point, they spot a table with supplies for kids, coloring sheets and paper crowns. Eddie grabs a crown and places it gently on top of Steve’s hair. He makes a cheeky joke about King Steve, making sure Steve knows he’s joking. They have a foam sword fight in the play area while they wait for their dessert, chasing each other around until Steve’s crown is crooked and they’re laughing so hard their sides hurt. 

It’s the most fun Eddie’s had in a long time. 

When they get back in the car, there’s a quiet calm that settles around them. Eddie ends up dozing off along the way, jerking awake when Steve shakes his shoulder after he turns the car off outside of the trailer. 

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Eddie says, “This was perfect, Steve. I know the universe magically knows that we’re made for each other, but I think this is the first time I really believe it.”

Steve grabs Eddie’s arm, fingers running over where the band is resting, covering up the mark on his wrist. He doesn’t even know why he put it on earlier, maybe just habit, or maybe he was still waiting for Steve to change his mind. He glances up at Eddie’s face before returning his gaze to the band, undoing the clasp and letting it fall away from Eddie’s wrist. 

Eddie wants to memorize the look on Steve’s face. The awestruck wonder that takes over when he sees his name for the first time. Fingers trace over the lettering, soft whispers along Eddie’s skin. It’s the first time anyone has seen it besides Wayne, who held him on the night of his eighteenth birthday as he cried himself to sleep and bought him the band the next day. 

“I believe it, too,” Steve whispers. And Eddie doesn’t have time to think about anything else before Steve tugs on his arm to pull him closer and kisses him. It nearly knocks the wind out of him, a mixture of surprise and joy bubbling to the surface. It’s chaste, just a soft press of lips together, but Eddie has so much pent up energy he’s grinning against Steve’s mouth, practically vibrating out of his chair.

He wants to crawl over the console and press Steve into the seat until they devour each other, but Wayne is probably waiting up and will knock on the window and shine a light in like a cop or some shit if Eddie takes too long. Especially since he’s wary of Steve after the whole crying on Eddie’s birthday thing. 

A first kiss seems like a great place to end the night anyway. He pulls back, resting his forehead against Steve’s, basking in the moment. “I’m going inside now, but next time, I’m planning the date, okay?” 

“Deal. Thank you for the flowers. I feel pretty enlightened after this, so I think your mom was right about them.”

“My mama would have loved to meet you.” Steve squeezes his hand. “This is as close as we’ll get, but I think she would have approved of you.”

“You think so?” 

Eddie nods. “She approved of anything that made me happy.” He kisses the tip of Steve’s nose, then climbs out of the car. “Now let me go grab your flowers and I’ll be right back.” 

He brings them back and kisses Steve one last time through the open window of his car. “Get home safe, sweetheart.” 

He waves a final goodbye as Steve pulls away, that giddy feeling resurfacing. He can’t predict the future, but he knows that the feeling he has right now, knowing that Steve is on the same page, is the best feeling in the world. 

💜💜💜

Thank you all so much for reading this!!! I hope you like this ending and get some joy out of this because I had so much fun writing it. I’ll be posting the whole thing to AO3 this weekend once I clean it up.

[antimony-medusa]

As we all engage with the Egg arc on QSMP, I know we're all having a fun time talking about how emotionally devastating it all is, but I have seen some concerning takes about this, so I want to also reiterate that it is fiction. It's not real.

You can have real emotions about fiction (talk to any D&D player whos run a long campaign about this), but it is essentially fake, it is something you can box up and put away. And if you think you can't tell the difference between a fictional roleplay and real life child death, you need to step away.

Cause like, I have been seeing people comparing egg deaths to real life tragedies, and like. Guys. That's just offensively disrespectful. I do not want Chayanne to die. I'm team "storm heaven and get all the eggs back". I want the happy dragon ending. I have also had real life children die in my life and equating a pixel egg despawning to that makes me actually mad. We can have fun with it but this is fiction and you need to be clear to yourself that it is fiction. The QSMP admins are not "responsible to give you a happy ending" because it is essentially not real, they are ethically responsible for how they treat people in the real world (the players and the admins) not for what happens in the story they are telling.

There are two aspects of this that are important. The first is the most basic. Fiction is not real. It's lies we tell ourselves recreationally. No real people were harmed. No one actually died. The egg's admins are fine and now playing league of legends on stream. You can have real emotions about fiction, but you can also take comfort in the fact that the bad thing didn't actually happen. This allows you to engage with topics that you would never want to happen in real life (horror media, for example), in an entertaining way. Fiction is a safe spot to explore really concerning topics, whether that's something you're afraid of, something that has happened to you, or something that you'd never want to see happen in real life but it scratches that brain itch. And that isn't intended to say that you have to be comfortable with every topic in fiction. Suicide themes even in fiction are too close to real life for me, so I stay away from them. You get to set your own comfort levels with what fiction you're comfortable with. And that leads into my second point. The essense of fiction is that you are opting into it. Except in vanishingly rare cases, if you are engaging with something fictional, you are giving ongoing consent to engaging with the story by continuing to watch/read/listen to it. At any point you can tap out and step away, back into real life. You have the power to control your experience and say "yes I am watching this" or "no I do not want to engage with this actually". You can take the headphones off. You are an active player in how you deal with the fictional story, and if it gets too much for you, you get to step away. You get to write fanfiction and it is just as real as the original. If someone is dying in real life, no amount of blocked terms and telling your friends not to discuss it is going to keep it from happening. It is inescapable. It happens to you, it is enacted on you, you are a passive figure and you have no control. The only thing you have a control over is how you react to it, and this is why a huge element of grief is the powerlessness.

You have power over fiction. You can opt out of it. And if you can't tell the difference between a fake story and real events, a) you need to do work on that, because there is a lot of really upsetting content in fiction that is going to fuck you up, b) you need to step away from the fake story that is doing harm to you, and use that power that fiction gives you to opt out of it. Block terms. Unfollow people. Go do something in real life. Fiction is not real.

[clownsalot]

im very normal about fuuta in general but i dont think im ever going to emotionally recover from his fire motif and what it represents for his character and how he reflects the greater theme of justice so that means i must rant about it

(more under the cut because this got longer than i expected whoopsies)

so anyway fire is pretty obviously supposed to be symbolic of his passion for justice right? that fire is all over the place in bring it on. he's wielding it to take down enemies, his signature weapon is a flaming sword. it's what he uses to lead the campaign against the people he's after, the people he's deemed in the wrong.

it's a fucking flaming sword, it's badass as hell!!!! it's what a hero of justice, a knight, would use!!!! it's cool as shit, it's his symbol of justice.

that's how he sees his justice in trial 1.

he's righteous, he wants so badly to believe he was a hero, he was doing it all for a good cause, for justice. his passion for justice was a tool he used to meet those ends, to be a hero, to wave it valiantly in the face of enemies.

the fire, however, is conspicuously absent once he's noticed the blood on his hands

interestingly, despite backdraft as a song title being much more related to his fire motif than bring it on, fire is actually surprisingly absent from the mv's visuals. fire, as in actual orange burning fire, doesn't show up much at all in backdraft except for when both fuuta and his victim begin turning to ashes, and a short bit near the end right after the last chorus when the spraycan explodes in fuuta's face. you know what the mv does show a lot of though?

smoke. and ash. the byproducts of a fire, the byproducts of fuuta's passion for justice.

bringing it back to firefighting for a moment: as many people have already pointed out, backdraft as a firefighting term refers to when a fire that has consumed all available oxygen suddenly explodes when more oxygen is made available, such as when a window or door breaks. the thing about fire hazards, though, is if the fire and the heat don't do someone in, usually it's the smoke. the smoke inhalation causes breathing difficulties and suffocation, making it even more difficult for a person to escape the fire.

in backdraft, instead of fire itself, what we're shown is these byproducts of a fire. the smoke is damaging to human health, and the ash shows that the fire has burned things up and caused destruction, in this case killing someone. all we're shown is the negative results of a fire, in sharp contrast to its badass, positive portrayal in bring it on.

hell, even fuuta himself starts turning to ashes and the spraycan explodes in his face, showing how even he is experiencing the negative results of a fire that has gotten out of his control, how even he has gotten burned by his passion for justice. or, is it es' desire for justice?

translation of fuuta's t2 vd by onigiriico

Me, too! I was like that, too! I also didn't think it'd turn out that way!

You and I are exactly the same breed! The only difference between us is the clothes we're wearing.

fuuta's justice and es' justice, it's all the same in his head now, he directly tells es that they're the same, that we're the same. it's all the same hunger for justice that ends up causing harm even if that wasn't the intention.

you know that saying that fire is a good servant but a bad master? i think that's pretty applicable to fuuta's situation. his passion for the pursuit of justice was great when it was still a tool, a sword he could wield, after all he did manage to shed light on some people's wrongs and bring them to justice. but once it exploded, when it became a backdraft that even he could no longer control, it did more damage than he intended.

it burned even him, it killed a middle schooler. and he recognizes that in backdraft. he only shows us the ways fire that becomes a hazard can go wrong.

translation of fuuta's t2 vd by onigiriico

What did I do? All I did was say that what's wrong is wrong! I was just going off at a bad person online!

I didn't think they would die! I just thought that wrong things are wrong, and that a crime is a crime! You get that, don't you? See? Aren't we the same?

it's just. fire is such a good metaphor for the message of fuuta's character and his arc. it's an amazing illustration of how dangerous it is when you feed a desire for justice too much, when you forget to put a boundary on how you handle that fire. eventually the fire spreads just like how passion for justice becomes zealotry, until more and more things fall under what you consider to be 'punishable' by your standards and goes out of control to hurt people that probably didn't deserve it. it's a warning to set proper boundaries on our own definition and desire for justice and what's 'right' so the good intentions doesn't spiral into harm. it's a reflection of our attitudes towards milgram as the audience responsible for their justice and forgiveness. it's amazing i love it i love fuuta's fire symbolism i love fuuta's character arc and i love milgram's writing so so so much

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I forgot where I read it but there was a tweet circulating back then that originally Savannaclaw was meant to be the 6th dorm to be introduced, making Octavinelle the 2nd. This would explain why Azul and Riddle was shown more prominently in the prologue, and Diasomnia's introduction in episode 2. The plan was to involve a conflict between two princes in episode 7.

>.> Which would kinda explain why episode 2 feels very rushed?? Idek But, I do wonder what would've been the change had Savannaclaw's episode became 6 🤔

I believe you’re referring to popular fan speculation (based on the order the dorms were revealed back in 2019). As far as I know, none of those plans were actually confirmed in official TWST materials.

For those who may not be aware, TWST had a whole marketing campaign the year before the (JP) game launched. Part of this involved introducing the public to the dorms one by one on the socials/the official TWST JP website. The order of reveals were as follows:

Heartslabyul

Octavinelle

Scarabia

Pomefiore

Ignihyde

Savannaclaw

Diasomnia

As you'll notice, Savanaclaw was the sixth dorm shown, NOT the second (which is the order that its book is in the game). This is the only dorm "out of order" with TWST's main story. This led to some fans theorizing that Savanaclaw was actually intended to be the sixth installment in the main story, NOT the second, which aligns with some details in the plot (ie the Riddle-Azul emphasis in the prologue, implying that Octavinelle would follow Heartslabyul; the introduction to Diasomnia in the Savanaclaw chapter). I’m guessing that “the plan was to involve a conflict between two princes in episode 7” mentioned was a reference to how the previous episode’s characters would return to help with the current episode’s dilemma, thereby resulting in a clash between Leona and Malleus. Again though, none of this has been confirmed.

Some have also suggested that the noticeably poorer writing quality of The Usurper from the Wilds may be attributed to this theorized “last minute structural change”. Do note that Savanaclaw was released to the public on July 29th 2019, and the game itself officially dropped March 18th 2020; that’s roughly 7.5 months. I don’t know about the intricacies of game development, so I can’t say if that’s a sufficient or a realistic amount of time to rework and/or to rewrite a script to insert it earlier than intended, but this time is worth considering when thinking over the speculation. Consider how much they could have cut out of 2 (The Usurper from the Wilds) and how much they would have had to add to 6 (The Watchman of the Underworld) in this time while also preparing to launch.

Regardless of whether or not the theory is true, I do feel like episode 2 could have benefited from more time/parts to explore its ideas and themes. I'm not sure what else might have happened (in terms of plot significant events), since its events would be contingent on what came before it (and who knows how much of the main story was rewritten or redone), but 🤡 Savanaclaw could have definitely been a lot better than what it actually ended up as...

[foxtriestobiteandmaimandkilland]

Hi hello spoilers for the ENTIRETY of riptide (specifically episodes 78, 93, 110, tho the entire campaign ep1-ep115 is talked about here) and also. A read more since this is a very. Very. Long post. And i dont intend to colour of the sky you <3

Yknow im just thinkin like ik the common theory is that chips the nameless prince and im still pretty in agreement but im also. Thinking.

Bc i relistened to episode 78 where goobleck finds the book on the nameless prince. (32:35ish) And id basically entirely forgotten abt it until i relistened to 93, heard charlies sparknotes version n wanted to listen 2 it for myself. And like.

Im pretty sure, unless im interpreting grizzlys words wrong, that the nameless prince is whatever entity was mentioned in the 110 prophecy ?

Tho its hard because. He gave a summary of what the book was about since goobleck didnt properly read it i think he just kinda. Skimmed. And he started by saying that the book is about a prince, a self proclaimed prince at that, but mostly just an entity born in the abyss. So im not sure if that entity is the same person as the prince or if theyre two different people ???? But for the sake of Thinking ill say theyre the same bc i dont see why they wouldnt be.

But he goes on to say that this book talks about this abyss entity, and how it became obsessed w spreading corruption in a world of mostly peace. And how it wants to learn about the inhabitants of this world (?) And then the book ends in chaos and tragedy, where the entire world falls to corruption. The entity destroys all living things ("this race of living creatures") and then consumes even more worlds by spreading its abyss corruption. And how its also almost. Parasitic.

So. This sounds a lot like the 110 entity.

"An entity threatens world stability / caged in the deepest layers of infinity [...] forboded calamity, the chosen is warned / the shape of all life shall take a new form / its choice to be made with no time to mourn"

Definitely sounds like this entity is the same, it threatens world stability by spreading its corruption, and this infinity could be the abyss. The shape of all life line draws my attention tho bc of how grizzly described the entity as destroying "this race of living creatures" and like a parasite.

Althoughhhhh i will have to relisten to. The just rolled for episode 93 because i think it was then that the 3 players made their guesses as to who the guarding giant, nameless prince and unborn kings are and grizzly said One was correct. I know they guessed arlin as the guarding giant and i think niklaus chip or rose's kid were other guesses perhaps ? Tho im not sure as to Where they fit each.

[HI HELLO i have now relistened to the rolled for 93. Condi guessed Arlin as the guarding giant, Chip as the nameless prince and Rose's Kid as the unborn kings. Only 1 of these is correct]

Ill also have to relisten to the stone age what if. Because even though that what if probably doesnt contain much thatd be important since. Its a what if. And it was back in the desire arc. The ending of it reminds me a bit of the nameless prince section where the entity destroys more worlds by spreading its corruption. Andddddd yea if that what if means anything at all then that could suggest niklaus as the entity or the nameless prince ?

Something else that gets me though is the legend lore scroll itself. We all know about the guarding giant nameless prince and unborn kings but. What i keep thinkin on is the beginning and end:

"A map that is a guide and a key / passed around the hands of destiny / it leads to chaos infinity / beneath the seas / the guardian giant / the nameless prince / the unborn kings / all wait to be inevitably free"

The very end with the "inevitably free" sounds like. One line of the 110 prophecy ("its release in time an inevitability" IT being the entity) and niklaus' greatest desire: freedom.

There is a consistent theme of freedom throughout riptide - or instead, a need/want for it. Gillion and jay both work towards freedom from the elders and navy respectively, islands (and casinos) early campaign all wanted freedom from various curses, pirates strive to create freedom from the navys rule, navys claim to strive to create a world free of "chaos".

However, across the nameless prince skim read, the legend lore scroll, and the 110 prophecy, there are manyyyy many parallels between them. Parallels, which i spent about 2 hours brainrotting about yesterday

It has been a couple days since i have made this biggg graphic and ive had a lotta time to dwell on this all and think. Because there are definitely many reasons why chip could be the nameless prince - and like a lotta other people i Know he has a bigger role in the world of mana than it seemed at first. However, i do feel like that role isnt the role of the nameless prince.

I mean, i probably have forgotten some evidence since i havent rewatched the ENTIRE campaign in a littleeee bit, just random episodes i think would have points of interest. But so far, we dont exactly know a whole lot about the nameless prince, only that whoever it is, is waiting to be free, could be whatever entity these poems and texts talk of, and has links to the hole in the sea. There were also a lot of details in the hole during episode two of the oneshot, which could be linked back to the prince. Lemme justtttt. Get the notes i took during my rewatch of it.

So, on the staircase where the three had their flashbacks, there were a few engravings in the wall. Some were words in abyssal primordial which read "what do you desire", others were depictions of humanoids with gems and coins, some were depictions of slavery + power. However, one stood out to finn since whilst the others repeated, this one was unique and singular. And it was the mountain with a crown above it.

This ofc could be passed off as mostly unimportant since it appeared so very early in the campaign, but we all know grizzlys dming and worldbuilding style isnt like that - everything thats been mentioned so far has been important in some way or another, and events from incredibly early episodes still affect the present day.

Although, unfortunately, i am Not Smart. And dont really know what this could Mean.

Weve seen a few mountains throughout the campaign, and none that instantly feel connected to that. Theres the mountain they all climbed in 111 of course, but that just housed those ice pirates, not anything much to do with a prince. It did also make me think of edison kingdom, since that has a monarchy and is a stacked city, howeverrrrr i doubt it would be that since. I dont see the relevance.

The crown is of course the only part here we can really connect to anything, that being the nameless prince. Since, they are a PRINCE afterall (although i do think these names are more metaphorical than literal). There ARE other places throughout the campaign crowns appear (once again, edison, and queen) though i doubt the edison kingdom would be so important to what feels like personal riptide pirate story, and queen didnt exist much as a character until they were introduced in episode like. 80smth. And their name is only queen bc charlie started the bohemian rhapsody bit.

SOOO yea basically. Summed up. Shits addin up. And also not addin up. I have lots of thoughts on this stuff, howeverrrr like ive said before im. Not very good at analysing. And also not the most articulate either. All in all, i think chip could possibly not be the nameless prince, and whoever the nameless prince IS could be whatever entity has been mentioned around a lot. The end. Goodbye. Thanks 4 readin. Love u.

[noatpad]

I've been rather busy with grad school projects lately (and it'll probably last a bit longer), but recently a friend surprised me with some gift art of my dnd lad and his own. Since the campaign has been put on hold (and also wanting to scribble another idea related to it), I had an itch to scratch.

This is a "what if" redesign of my boy, alongside some of my personal scribbles I've done of him over the past few months that I'm still fond of

So a bit of exposition!

I say "what if", 'cause Tint here is a special case where his design was intentionally left untouched, or well, intended to keep his outfit and general look the same as my art style matured. Reason why is that I wanted to keep it consistent with his ongoing campaign, and I found it fun to draw things as it developed. So any different takes of him I did (which there is at least one of, that being his Metronome look) was like an AU or was what actually part of the campaign, which you'll see with all the scribbles below.

Though the thing was that back then, I made Tint as more so a one-time, hypothetical character. At the time, I actually didn't think I'd ever get the chance to play dnd 'cause of constraints I had (how wrong I was). But hearing a couple of friends talk about how fun it was for them, I basically made him just to imagine that "what if" (just noticed that that first sketch was actually posted here, and yeah I even said it was a hypothetical on the canvas, hah).

Because of that though, I went for a rather basic design: purple tunic, round glasses, long scarf. Fun fact: foxfolk was picked mostly just because I was comfortable drawing it after scribbling Note and Clef so much (and magic seemed rather fitting for a fox given the ethereal side of folklore involving them). I still like him since I grew attached to playing him, don't get me wrong! But now that I know a good bit better on anatomy & character design, and Tint's story took shape, I figured it'd be fun to explore what he'd look like if I were to redesign him.

As a tangent, gosh it's so surprising to me how my ability to do anatomy and structure on a character has grown in just the past couple of years. Not to say I dislike it, but I conditioned myself to only be capable of drawing that style consistently. I think I only could've had this growth because of the friends and inspirations I slowly learned from.

And yeah! There's a lot more intent on his palette being themed around light or radiance (and I've been informed it looks reminiscent to the colors on Isaac from Golden Sun, which is a funny coincidence), and hopefully he looks more adventurous yet studious type of mage!

[sapphire-weapon]

Hello!! So I was reading your meta analysis on Leon deciding not to pursue Ada in RE6 and tbh never looked at RE6 as a resolution to Aeon. They were acting too married in my opinion, there was a established intimacy between them idk, and he has her phone number. When Leon demands answers from Ada, he's never harsh or angry, he believes her even before she answers bc he knows her. I think it's poor writing bc there are a lot of holes to fill and it's really annoying bc she sounds like a hotline operator, she does "good things" but she still has these corny lines and won't explain shit to anyone, not even to Leon after he went through all that trouble for her. But his letting her go felt like an "ok you'll go figure things out and I'll see you again soon" which is really fucking unhealthy but that's always been them.

But after reading your post I was like... did I missunderstand the purpose of that scene or did the game really gave closure to their relationship? Bc it feels like no one else in the fandom feels like that was the end lmao, Aeons or not, they're still waiting for the resolution to their relationship.

Do you think that if the game had been received better, Capcom would've continued with the whole cat and mouse thing between them or was that really their intended resolution for Aeon? Bc Vendetta, ID and DI feel like a really hard attempt to appease that response and not like a direction they were planning to take originally. And at this point they don't know what to do with Ada so it really proves she was just an accesory to Leon and when they couldn't fit her into his narrative anymore they were like welp.

Sorry for the long ask and I hope you have a great day 🧡

dude the whole point of leon's RE6 campaign is that leon thinks he knows ada and doesn't. like he watches a video of carla being hatched from an egg, legitimately thinks it's ada, and then just rolls with it because that's how little he knows her.

what people pick up on in these stories is fucking wild, to me. y'all miss the forest for the trees. "omg he has her number" HOMIE HE THINKS SHE'S PART DINOSAUR OR SOMESHIT

like one of the biggest themes of RE6 is "chasing after an illusion." jake spends a significant portion of his story chasing after the ghost of wesker, chris spends a significant portion of his story chasing after ada thinking she's carla, and leon spends a significant portion of his story chasing after a woman he thinks he knows but doesn't. ALL OF THEM ended up being wrong in the end. jake was wrong about his blood ties informing his future, chris was wrong about ada killing his men, and leon was wrong about the many assumptions he made about ada.

if anyone's sitting around waiting for closure about aeon, that's their fucking fault. because at the time that RE6 came out, a good chunk of the fandom went "okay resident evil can end now, RE6 feels like a conclusive end to the story" -- which is also an incorrect takeaway to have, but it goes to show how much people's memories get warped over time and influenced by others.

and no, i don't think that they would've continued the aeon story if RE6 had been received better. the original version of RE7 that was scrapped following the RE6 post-mortem was a leon and sherry game -- that says, to me, that they were always intending to pivot leon's story towards his relationship with the government and away from ada.

[tisorridalamor]

Gonna write out my Milgram thoughts over Trial 1 before watching the 2nd trials and then reblog later when I've collected my thoughts on those that are out so far :) <- girl who loves watching and making theories for music videos has discovered a mixed media art piece about watching and making theories for music videos

To summarize where I'm writing from: I've seen all the Trial 1 vids, read the audio dramas, read the interrogations, and read through all the bonus mini app conversations until about mid 2022. But since I've only known about Milgram for like a week and due to "spoilers" for the 2nd trial I haven't done too much digging on other's interpretations so I'm sure there's details I'm missing :) Excited to read other's thoughts soon!

Undercover: One of my fav songs tbh! Es is kind of insane and I think I'd have a very different picture of them if I just watched this without reading the dramas/interrogations. Their role beyond 'prison guard' is fun to think about since they are more than just audience surrogate. The shot at the end of them without the cape and hat hints at who they were before becoming the 'prison guard'... Much to think and theorize about, especially with the empty prisoner room and their breakdowns in a few of the interrogations. I also do enjoy the dramatic visuals of each of the other prisoners killing Es. Not much else to say about the song otherwise, but it's very fun and I think the singer is great both here and on the Es covers :)

Weakness: This is a strong one to start out on and one of the hardest for me to interoperate personally - it's very clear a crime has been committed, but who was killed and why is a lot more vague than the other videos! It's clear from Haruka's dialog outside the music vid that he both fears others and strongly desires attention, either good or bad, and it seems to stem from a mental or developmental disorder. I'm really interested in seeing his 2nd vid. I understand the innocent verdict on this one - personally I'm all for innocent until proven guilty and I have a hard time passing judgement here (this will be a running theme)

Umbilical: To be honest, I had NO clue what the intended meaning was for this one until reading the comments. Completely agree with the general interpretation that Yuno had an abortion or several after reflection. That's totally fine lol. Not much else to say other than surprised how few people seem to discus how scary getting pregnant probably was for her - she likely couldn't turn to her family, and since the father(s) were possibly compensated dating clients it's unlikely she'd go to them for support. I really feel for her. Her upbeat personality feels like it's a front for just appealing to whoever she's around :'(

Bring it On: Really like both this vid and the song! I think it's fairly clear, either someone Futa targeted in a online harassment campaign committed suicide or someone caught in the crossfire committed suicide. Out of all the characters, I believe he's the only one who denies his murder, which I think stems from his strong view of himself being in the 'right.' Cause if he wasn't morally superior, that would make him just as bad as the people he targeted, and then his actions unjustifiable... I'm interested to see more details, but like Yuno I feel like I have a good idea of his story. Futa not having access to Twitter in Milgram is probably very good for him, and I like his protective nature to the younger prisoners a lot.

After Pain: Soooo to be completely honest, a LOT of the comments on Mu's vid reference her more sinister 2nd trial vid. The vid itself is straightforward, with her being bullied and killing one of her classmates who does nothing to help. Knowing the gist of what happens in her 2nd trial and the other Milgram material though makes her a lot less sympathetic. Considering the vid alone though, it's clear to me why everyone voted innocent. After Pain is also a huge bop, another song that gets stuck in your head easily!

Throw Down: Another banger!!! A lot of people in the comments theorizing that Shidou was killing people to somehow help save his wife??? I disagreed and thought it was more generally about the role of a doctor with terminally ill patients but some of his dialog outside the music vid implies he is killing specifically to help someone else, so maybe he is an organ thief! My personal interpretation was he works with terminally ill patients and possibly worked to end their lives early in the hopes that they would have less pain and it would help the surviving family move on quicker... until someone he was close to (wife likely) became terminally ill, throwing his worldview into question. I think I need more info from his next vid... Overall re-watching the vid was awesome, it has great visuals and I love Shidou's florist outfit!

This Is How To Be In Love With You: Oh Mahiru... our crazy tradwife... Another song that gets stuck in my head very easily! Her music vid is very vague, so I'm pretty shocked she got a guilty verdict. There's clearly an unhealthy relationship happening but I see comments making the case that Mahiru's lover committed suicide and I have a hard time seeing it. Since she's clearly shocked at the end and the last 'magazine' image is of a dinner she made, my current theory is she killed him via allergies in the food. She didn't know if he had one or think to ask, she was just going through the motions of what she thinks what a perfect gf would do. Her crime feels one out of carelessness or ignorance. This is definitely one that I could go back and forth on so I'm excited to see her second trial vid!

half: So personally I do NOT think Kazui is beating the cheating allegations lol. I'd like to be charitable and say his wife committed suicide because she thought he was cheating but he really wasn't, but the shot of him taking a bite out of the green apple really makes me think he did. The green apple (AKA the forbidden fruit....) seems to represent the woman at the bar with the shattered red apple being his wife. He may have killed her himself but I don't think there's enough to go off of here. Fun fact: I realized yesterday I'd actually been recommended his 2nd trial vid on youtube so many times I put it in my Watch Later list! It was fated that I'd discover Milgram at some point lol

Magic: Absolutely baffled at the guilty verdict... Amane is clearly a brainwashed kid caught up in a crazy cult :( No matter what she says in her interviews and drama, she's twelve and has been seriously abused. Can someone please help her?? Tbh her story just makes me sad and I've seen what she looks like after the guilty verdict :( I hope she gets better.

MeMe: Possibly the best music vid of them all for the shear drama and unexpected tone. I LOVE the music transitions to the calmer parts! I can't imagine how it would be to have had this drop live (especially cause idk when the interviews dropped in relation to the vids so the shock value would be amazing). It was a surprise for me too watching it the first time. Kotoko drops the idea that Mikoto could have dissociative identity disorder and I'm skeptical but you never know! There seems to be no motive for his crime... So much of the song seems to be him begging and threatening Es to say he's innocent - really can't wait to see what's next with him. Not surprised by the guilty verdict, I think this is the only one where I might have voted guilty as well.

Harrow: Seeing that Harrow and half are the only two songs that never got Es covers makes me sad! I feel like it's seriously overlooked since it comes right after MeMe. I love the wolf visuals and Kotoko's vigilante story is very compelling. I have a feeling this one might have a twist later, but for now the innocent vote is easy. I will say her actions in the dramas and interrogations have me worried though, I could see her becoming one of those 'vigilante with good intentions that goes too far' characters.

[secretsnowclub]

TTRPG School: What is an RPG? Or, Defining a Quasi-Text

 This was written recently for the new edition of .dungeon, but I wanna share it with y’all.

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Cameron Burger (@camcamburger) coined the term “Quasi-lore” to talk about the worldbuilding of Minecraft. Quasi means “almost” or “resembling,” so, quasi-lore is not-quite-lore, just hints and clues that motivate an audience to come to their own conclusions about a fictional world. 

I want to go a step further and say that an RPG book is not a Text in the sense that it gives you the proper and complete instructions, rules, and information. An RPG book is, by design, a quasi-text, giving hints, clues, and advice about play that motivates the players to then produce play between each other.

I like to think of it this way because there is no way for an RPG book to hold every possible challenge, and every possible solution to every possible challenge. It can’t hold the answers to every possible question. It can’t account for every possible person who might want to play. And that is not a downside, it is a benefit.

Part of the beauty of role playing games is that there are no limits to the things that can happen. There is no computer with a set amount of power or a planned series of events with a predetermined solution to its contrived problems. It’s a collaborative effort in a way most other mediums aren’t, limited only by the people who are playing together at the time. 

A lot of words have been written about this. Crack open any RPG book and it will most definitely have a “what is an RPG” section. But the main thing this phenomenon has led me to believe, is that our language alone isn’t enough to convey or define the totality of collaborative storytelling or playing. And because of this, a very important part of an RPG cannot exist inside of a Text. It can only be created and sustained while playing.

A quasi-text doesn’t force people to see it or think of it a certain way. It’s quasi-nature allows it to be used to tell a million different stories, by allowing the players to discover or create connections between the incomplete ideas and rules presented by the text. You, the reader, or your fellow players, can peruse the book and use what’s there to think of new concepts that fit nicely inside the book’s themes, while still leaving enough, or even creating more, quasi-lore for everyone to build on.

This is what makes rpgs so collaborative. It’s in the limitations of language and definition. It’s in the limitations of the individual to cover all possible avenues. As a game designer, I can only ever hope to create a quasi-text that inspires people to Play. .dungeon is my attempt at that. There are rules and lore that this book cannot give you. There are things purposefully left open or nebulous, and not “because of vibes,” but because I simply cannot know. 

“Connection” is the biggest example and one I got a lot of questions about when people read the first edition of .dungeon. This book will not tell you how long a campaign of .dungeon should last, or how much Connection you should lose every session. Each group that sits down to play will have a unique experience with Connection . Some campaigns will end quickly, others will go for much, much longer. 

That is intended. 

You won’t know when you’ll get a “game over.” You can’t know what random encounter or boss battle will be your last. Which adventure you’ll go on last. You won’t know how many people you’ll meet, or who will be important to you in the end. The text of the book knows how to measure this and can tell you what happens when it’s gone. But what it can’t tell you is how it will happen or when. 

Your duty as an RPG player is to meet these unknowns with confidence, because your answer will be unique to you and the other players. It will be unique to this particular moment of your life. By design, there are no wrong answers between the gaps of a quasi-text. There are only your answers.

[utilitycaster]

Do you think Travis will keep Chetney for the whole campaign? I think there’s definitely themes he wants to explore plus I’m sure he loves being a blood hunter + werewolf so I could see him playing Chet for a while. What makes me wonder is the way things with Bertrand went down, how they’re both previous oneshot characters, and how many jokes are made about Cheney going “any day now” since he’s so old. He has a lot in common with Bertrand in that way, so it makes me wonder if he’ll follow that formula to introduce another character later on once he’s satisfied with Chet’s story.

Hey anon,

Much as I do try to ask myself "what do I want" and "what is actually going on" and "am I just irritated at bad fanon and malformed theories surrounding a potential avenue of story, or is it legit just bad" in my consideration and predictions, I cannot be objective about predictions whether or not Chetney will leave. There was so much idiocy (to be clear, not what you're doing here) surrounding Chetney not being Travis's "real" long-term character from people who just...refused to take him seriously in any capacity and would not put in the most basic work to engage with him as a character. So I truly don't know, and any internal plot compass re: Chetney leaving or staying has been permanently fucked by the strong magnets of whatever stupid shit people were on roughly a year ago.

With this said: I think the context of the current moment is highly relevant: even with the assistance of Beau, Caleb, and Keyleth, Bells Hells is going into a really dangerous scenario and Chetney is a tank who's lived a long life and had some meaningful plot beats already. I don't think this means Travis intends to play a different character - honestly, Chetney still has several compelling plot hooks that haven't been explored - but I do think that Travis has one of the stronger senses of narrative and likely outcomes among the cast, and is just...well aware that character death during the solstice is on the table and Chetney might be the one to die (and that it would be narratively fulfilling for him to make a sacrifice to allow someone else to live, should it come to that). I think the jokes are probably just jokes and perhaps a bit of defusing the tension.

I should also note: Scanlan left and came back in a very serious and thoughtful plot beat but one that I'm not sure anyone foresaw, and character death is always a possibility so even without the weird history of how the fandom has responded to Chetney, it is particularly hard to have a meaningful answer. Which is a long way to say "¯\_(ツ)_/¯".

[thetownwecallhome]

Halloween Town 2024 -big UPDATE, please read-

((OOC:

Hello tender lumplings.

Well I'll get the 'quiet' part out of the way. In spite of what a few naysayers may say, this blog is still a Nightmare Before Christmas fan comic blog, despite it's recent up-tick in fundraisers you're seeing. It is STILL going to be open. It is DEFINITELY going to have comics. So why all the donations? Besides the moral reasons of me wanting to get the word out and help save innocent people's lives, I think some people are under the impression that, when this blog's in it's 'inactive' periods; Late Jan - August, it just is tnbc themed only. That's....not what I ever intended for it.

I generally try and make it a place to promote myself, my friends, important campaigns and more. TNBC and Burtoneseque/Selickism musings are a give-in, but I want to try and help out myself and fellows artists and bloggers. My blog is followed by some wonderful people and a lot of fellow TNBC-ish mutuals who like the same things I like. I want to get them their traction to. I support who I want and, yes, I'm open to @s far and wide from smaller blogs wanting some eyes on their work, not just dire campaigns. As for the blog itself, for one, YES I'm going to still be reblogging and sharing updates on Palestine fundraisers throughout September - November. If that's awkward amidst my kooky comic updates than that's on me. Keep in mind I myself am not a vetter-organizer or officially affiliated with any organizations that help people in Gaza. I follow resources (namely @90-ghost, @el-shab-hussein and others) made by blogs who are better than me at this and try to get those stories out. My own financial situation is all fraught right now, so I'm out of donation-money I set aside for month. But again, that's why I'm doing with the reblogs.

As for comic news:

This blog and my original characters @odditiesnoctobermidnightroad are both turning TEN YEARS OLD this year. Ten years. That means three years left to make all the comics I've wanted to make for this blog, but also that this particular year is going to be something special and something I hope to have out sooner than later as it will be going on till Halloween Day (thurs Oct 31st)!!

The 'Halloween Mailbox' will not be open this year for Halloween itself on account of how much time the new comic will take, but things will settle down in time for Xmas, where I hope to have a bit creative fun with the mailbox.

Anyway, you're getting updates on that AND my "Mouse the Witching Cat" 2024 rerelease news. Hoping to launch a few more sellables on Redbubble, Etsy and InDeed.com this year!

Now, what will the comic be about? Well... all I'll say is there will be a crossover element to it with another Tim Burton-property but I won't say what...

You're not getting any less octoberling goodness at all this year, folks. Swear to it.

[hayleysayshay]

so I went on the cr subreddit (again. I need to block it.) and there was a hot take post (never a good sign) I saw a few ppl say they thought Talesin was an edgelord player who played edgelord characters. I can’t speak for his play style because I haven’t seen enough, but on characters:

A) yes Taliesin made Caduceus quickly and so maybe he didn’t have time to develop the backstory to be dark but he played a non edgy character for like 120 episodes and didn’t bring in any edgy character beats as the campaign went along and Tal could have if he wanted

B) I won’t speak for Molly as he died before he really got going (some people love him, some say overrated and dislike him), but for me, Percy and Ashton are kind of similar but mostly opposites. For me, Ashton isn’t actually that edgy. Sure they have an incredibly abrasive personality and talk about how much they don’t get along with people, but in the campaign proper they’re actually not that edgy with people. They’re sweet with FCG, they get along well with everyone in the group… their story, though ongoing, is actually quite simple imo (and I don’t mean as a negative).

Whereas Percy is like, wrapped up in themes of karma and making the world worse for the sake of revenge and if you can really atone for that. Lots of edgy themes that are at odds with the other characters in Vox Machina. You can argue if that’s a bad thing if you want. I also generally think although Taliesin’s likely original idea was that Percy would die, Percy living wasn’t forced upon him and he was fine with playing him to the end of the campaign.

I think Percy differs from Ashton because he doesn’t appear to be edgy personality wise (stuffy noble with sad backstory) but actually is, whereas Ashton appears to be edgy but actually isn’t. I don’t think it’s because Taliesin fumbled the roleplaying for Ashton and didn’t make the character as dark as he intended: the non-abrasive side of Ashton had always been there from the early episodes. Honestly Ashton isn’t any more edgy than the other characters of Bell’s Hells, they’re probably just the rudest. Like yeah going off pure personality alone maybe Ashton is an edgelord but it’s such a surface level reading of them it just doesn’t seem like they have looked any deeper than Ashton saying fuck all the time.

Idk. Cant get Taliesin’s supposed edgelord characters out of my head.

EDIT take with a grain of salt of course, Ashton could have a dark backstory where he ate babies. But from what I’ve seen, Ashton doesn’t actually feel like a dark character in the same way Percy was.

[esther-dot]

i don't understand why people say dany burning kingslanding is misogynistic. we've seen her burning people that has gotten in her way. her dragon even ate a child! was fine with drogo saying he'll have his people r*pe their enemy's women.

i am honestly confused. can't women be villains as well. no one takes issue with cersei as a villain. heck a lot of people demonize catelyn and even sansa (who i think has yet to do anything that's i consider terrible in canon aside from telling the lannisters about ned's plan but like, was it her fault that ned bit more than he could chew?)

I didn’t like how they wrote Dany’s massacre and death in s8, but her villain arc as a concept isn’t inherently sexist. How D&D did it in s8 felt sexist to me, but Dany was always going to burn KL and a lot of BNFs now admit she will too, they just don’t think it makes her a villain. 😬 So, really what people are objecting to isn’t a woman committing atrocities, they just don’t like us saying that makes her a bad person.

Personally, I like a female villain. I really enjoyed show Cersei, so I'm with you. It bothers me that so much of the conversation was not "did the show do a good job progressing Dany to her inevitable end?" and instead, "it's sexist to make a woman do this." As you point out, there were things to indicate it early on and if anything, D&D backed off and tried to make it a more sympathetic version of her ending than they had once intended.

I don't find fault with Sansa going to Cersei behind her dad’s back because no one cares when other characters are willful and perfectly obedient children aren’t characters we uphold as ideals or favorites. I can’t stop them from blaming her for her father’s death, but in doing so, they’re acting as if she were supposed to know that this time, there would be dire consequences to disobedience when her entire childhood and several times in AGOT, her sister disobeys and doesn’t suffer. That’s the context for her choice there. And Sansa is linked to the innocents suffering due to the decisions of the powerful, so I also think in the process of misinterpreting her they’re missing out on important themes. The fact that people include Sansa alongside Dany as both victims of misogynistic treatment by the fandom, as if they’re on par morally, as if we didn't end the first book with Dany personally burning a woman alive, as if we didn't watch her threaten to burn cities season after season, as if in the books she didn't use forced labor or profit from the slave trade etc really bothers me. Sansa had no reason to believe the family that was meant to become her family by her father’s choice was evil, but Dany saw the cost of war and decided it was all worth it. Childish naïveté isn’t the same “crime” as accepting the rape, enslavement, and death of others as the necessary cost for a pointless conquest. It’s reasonable to point this out and take issue with Dany’s choices.

The fandom pretends it’s all awash for their own reasons, but it’s ludicrous to think that Robb (who initially had a justified war) was punished by the narrative for not choosing peace when he could have but the story will reward Dany’s war campaign. It isn’t sexism that Dany dies too after doing far worse than Robb. It’s thematic consistency. And considering how many male characters we have who are cruel and evil intentionally, I don’t think we can argue that having female villains as well is sexist. There are just a lot of bad people in ASOIAF. Some of whom you know upon meeting are evil, others are sympathetic but gradually do worse and worse things. I understand she isn’t thinking she will intentionally do evil things so book fans ignore what she does, but that’s their choice. Dany orders the death of children, and the fandom actively defends (or did at one point) her for it. Why were they fine with the kiddie killing but not the massacre of KL? How can they act like her burning KL is totally ooc as if when it happens in the books they won’t do the same shit they currently do and defend all her other mistakes? IMO, their issue isn’t that D&D had Dany do a bad thing, Dany has done bad things all along. It’s that this time, there was no way to defend her actions, no way to pretend it wasn’t what it was. Their objection is to other fans saying if you do villain things it makes you a villain. We can criticize certain aspects of the writing without going wholesale “female villains are sexist” and I wish that’s a distinction fans could make.

[adlbeay]

I wanted to talk about the themes in the Walk in the Dust event. The story of Arknights has always had a high level of thematic consistency, but it’s especially prominent in this event. I feel like a lot of the discussion of the story in certain places comes down to “lore” and surface-level plot details, so I wanted to get this out there somewhere.

The two big ideas that are covered in Walk in the Dust are that of revenge and the homeland. Let's talk about revenge first. Long post and story spoilers under the cut.

In the beginning, we are introduced to Elliot, aka Passenger, who by the time we meet him, is an aimless husk of a man. He is utterly empty inside despite being the most powerful figure in the Reefsteep black  market, with vast wealth and political influence under his thumb. Having completed his decades-long quest to slay everyone who was involved in betraying his teacher, he has no more goals for his life. After killing  the Lord Ameer of Ibut, the last of his targets, he realizes that the revenge he had been pursuing was ultimately empty, that the weapons he built and the schemes he engineered to that end no longer moved him. Even the death of the Lord Ameer didn't matter one bit in the political landscape of Sargon.

As for the Sargon army... We live in different times now. The ruling  Padishahs simply care not about what is happening here in this barren  wasteland. My guess is that it matters not to them whether it's the  father or the son that's in charge. Actually, to tell the truth, it  hardly matters to me either.

Ultimately, no one cared if the Lord Ameer was murdered or simply  died in an accident, not even Elliot himself. Sargon continues to be exploited by the Columbian military and the ruling Lords. Professor Thorne remains dead. His research, once entrusted to Elliot to prevent  it from becoming a weapon of war, has nonetheless been used by Elliot  himself to bring even more death. Now, 22 years later, Passenger sees  finding Kal'tsit as his only path to salvation, so that she can once  again give him a purpose like she did when she rescued him the first time.

Folinic's mom, Lillia, also shares the same kind of story. Her husband was killed in Chernobog when the count decided to purge the researchers working on the sarcophagus device. Among the children of the families broken up by this incident are Lyudmila (later Crownslayer), Alex and Misha (later Skullshatterer), and Luisa (later Folinic). Lillia finds Kal'tsit after months of searching, intending to take revenge on  Grand Duke Vanya not just for her husband, but also for Luisa, who never got to know her father because of it. Kal'tsit tries to talk her out of  it, even during the final phases of the plan, but Lillia's mind is set.  She entrusts Kal'tsit with taking care of both Luisa and Lyudmila, as  she knows she won't be able to come back to live a normal life after  this. And... she succeeds. Although it is Kal'tsit who ultimately administered the poison, their plan works flawlessly and Duke Vanya is finally dead.

Except it still ended up being completely meaningless. The Grand Duke was in a glorified nursing home already near the end of his life, and if Kal'tsit didn't kill him then some other conspirator from the Ursus  political backstage would have done it anyway. He was already crippled and blind, and as we find out during the confrontation with the Emperor's Blade, even Kal'tsit only agreed to Lillia's plan because it  defused the conspiracies of other powerful figures who would have used  the Duke's death to spark another rebellion. The only thing that Lillia ended up accomplishing was making sure that Louisa would grow up without both a mother and a father, and Lyudmila would never get the answers she really wanted about her family's death. And, although she ended up not doing it, she was even also planning to go back to Chernobog to kill  Sergei, Alex and Misha's father, for his betrayal.

And this carries on through the future outside the event. Crownslayer ends up joining Reunion because she thinks it will give her the answers  she wants and avenge her father. Folinic almost lets her anger at Atro's death get her into a confrontation with Wolumonde. In the end, Crownslayer is stopped by Kal'tsit and Folinic is calmed down by  Suzuran, but we might be able to imagine what would have happened if  they managed to carry out their vengeance.

The theme of homeland is one that's intrinsically tied to Kal'tsit and has at least a bit of relation to the broader story outside of the event. It's harder to talk about since it's not clearly  split into individual stories like previously, but there's at least one character that exemplifies this theme the most: Old Isin.

Old Isin is appropriately to his name, old as rocks. He remembers being a servant to some lord of a long-lost city that very few even know once existed, and spends his time telling fortunes while trying to seek out people who, like him, also share that past. According to Kal'tsit, the city's people were scattered when it was destroyed, and now only Isin even remembers the origin of the name "Reefsteep". Even then, Isin only has vague memories, and believes it to be his unforgivable sin that  he has forgotten so much about the city.

Old Isin originally helps Kal'tsit and Elliot because he hopes that  she can help him remember about the lost city, and thus absolve his  "unforgivable sin". And Kal'tsit indeed does help him. Isin begins to recall the conquests of armies a thousand years ago, something even with  his age he should not have been a part of, much less remembered.  Kal'tsit dispels the illusions clouding his memory, and reveals that  what Isin remembers is only the stories that the padishah recounted to  him, that the glory of his old city was only a memory of another memory. In truth, the city in Old Isin's memory was merely a stepping stone for the padishah's ambition to conquer the uncharted deserts, and was abandoned just as easily when that campaign failed. His homeland's glory was just an illusion created in his mind by the padishah's charisma.

Which brings us to the Emperor's Blade. Wherever he stands is the dominion of the Empire of Ursus. Whatever he does carries out the Ursus Emperor's will. Or at least, that's how the Royal Guards imagine themselves, single-handedly carrying out their homeland's legacy. Kal'tsit lays it out clearly:

Kal'tsit: Tell me, what does the current Ursus Emperor think of the Pine Valley affair? Or do you mean to tell me the seeds of that uprising, the origins of the crisis were all the will of the Emperor? Feel free to keep deceiving yourself, but the truth is the young emperor is unaware of the events that transpired there. You believe he has no  need to know. You... all of you seek a bygone era. You are just caught up in the former emperor's grand vision!

As does Patriot in Chapter 8:

Patriot: I fought with your fathers. Your strength and tactical acumen are no less impressive than theirs. But you look at the Ursus of those times with rose-colored glasses. What you see is nothing more than your wild fantasies.

The Royal Guards are described in not too unclear words as soldiers  who probably believed too much of their own grandiose affect. They are unparalleled fighters, to be sure, but it isn't hard to infer that those words about executing Ursus's will and each Royal Guard being his own nation are words intended to strike fear into their enemies rather than  statements of any real truth. Indeed, if you know anything about the internal politics of Ursus, the idea of "Ursus's own will" can be seen as more of a nostalgia at a bygone era when Ursus was, or at least seemed, united in conquest under the previous Emperor. The perceived glory of their homeland is what motivates the Emperor's Blade, but like with Old Isin, the truth behind it is shaky at best.

We also have the contrast between the retired veteran at Pine Valley  and Grand Duke Vanya. While talking to Witte, the veteran cuts off one of his own fingers, claiming that the scars he has suffered in Ursus's wars, once considered symbols of his glory and honor, were ultimately meaningless, and he wants this self-inflicted wound to be his only legacy to Ursus. At the same time, the Grand Duke is postulating about how the seeds he had sown in the winter would give birth to beautiful flowers. Even though his actions and the crimes he committed never bore fruition, he is convinced even in death that Ursus's soil will bloom.

The issue of a real or imagined homeland, and its loss, is also  shared by the Sarkaz as a whole not only in this story but in the main story and many other events. It's even arguable that Rhodes Island's mission to help the Infected was originally inherited from Babel's goal of establishing a stable homeland for the Sarkaz. After all, as pointed  out in many places, the Infected and Sarkaz share much of the same discrimination.

Sarkaz Mercenary: Home...? How could us devils... us Infected possibly have one... Kal'tsit: The Sarkaz have tried to rebuild 'Kazdel', their home for centuries, though they have never succeeded. Everyone has a different idea as to what the term 'homeland' means, but as it stands right now,  Kazdel is perhaps as close as you can get to the term's original meaning.

And in Twilight of Wolumonde:

Armed Infected: We’re going home? To what home?

Mudrock: Kazdel. There may be no place for Sarkaz outside of Kazdel.  But in Kazdel, there is a place for you. Not because of tolerance. But because there is... nothing there. Kazdel... is where the homeless go. A land of rootless people.

So what does all this have to do with Kal'tsit?

In the ending cutscene, Passenger asks Kal'tsit whether this "Rhodes  Island" is yet another passing persona to be used to accomplish a goal and discarded when it's complete. Like the persona of the Trusted  Advisor, or the Servant, or the Laterano Cleric, will she abandon Rhodes  Island as well? Kal'tsit initially puts up a front saying he has no  right to ask, then bluffs about having thousands of answers, but is pushed by Passenger saying he'll even accept a lie. In one of the only times we get to see Kal'tsit faltering, she actually has no answer to this.

Unlike the other characters we see throughout the story, Kal'tsit has no homeland. No matter how fake or illusory it is, Old Isin and the Royal Guard have something to believe about a place where they can belong. The nobles in Victoria, as incompetent as they appear from the outside, are dedicated to defending the peace of their home despite having no ruler. Even the ostracized Sarkaz can ultimately go back to Kazdel, as unpleasant as that might be. But while Kal'tsit wanders the earth to keep the homelands of others from falling into chaos, she has no homeland of her own to go back to.

In one of the trailers for Chapter 9, we hear a recording from Theresa, addressed to Kal'tsit: "I hope this Rhodes Island can be a place to call home, a place you can always return to."

[dmsden]

How Much Prep? - Tips on campaign and encounter prep

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week's Question from a Denizen comes from my good friend Rourkie, a veteran player of my games and DM in their own right. They ask, “Any hot tips or tricks for long-term campaign planning? There's a couple of games I'd like to run in the future but I'm absolutely rubbish at planning and pacing my adventure out ahead of time, even if I know it'll be better for being pre-planned. Lol”

Campaign prep for me is a delicate balancing act. If you prep too much, you risk your players taking things in a direction you didn't plan for, and you end up having to shelve a lot of work that you've done. If you prep too little, then you run the risk of running out of things to throw at your players during a game session. It's a challenge.

I'll start by saying that, while I don't recommend it to everyone, having a solid idea of the world I'm running the game in works well for me. I started working on the world of the Shattered Pact as soon as 4th edition D&D was announced, and I didn't start running my game for several years after 4e had been released. That gave me lots of time to create a setting I liked...one that felt to me like an old-school setting, but also one that had room for all the things I was hearing about 4e. With a solid world like that, I'm never concerned about running out of things for my players to do. I can always pull something out of my lore or the culture of the area, even if it's just to delay the PCs for the rest of the session so that I can plan for the next one.

Quite often, when I start a campaign, I have a strong opening set piece I want to run, a strong idea of how I want the campaign to conclude, and a number of ideas for things that would be fun to explore during the campaign. I then leave a lot up to player agency. For example, when I started my Swords of the Amanar campaign, I had the idea for a giant showdown at the end in a dreamworld ruled by an Elder Brain Lich. I also had an image of the players being essentially deserted by their mentors in the same town, and then a kobold attack with a mysterious force behind it that would present a mystery. Exploring that mystery would eventually lead to discovering the existence of the Elder Brain Lich, but I had a wide swath of empty space. I dangled various plot threads in front of the players, and I followed the ones they seemed interested in. If they hadn't shown any interest in the mystery behind the kobold attack, I would've put that aside for a time, and, eventually, would've dangled something else related to the Underdark, the Mind Flayers, and the Lich that was ruling them. Ultimately, if they'd shown no interest in that plot at all, I might've developed something else, but, fortunately for me, they were keen to find out why the town had been attacked, and things proceeded from there.

I find it's very helpful to check in with the players, as opposed to their characters, and see if there's any kind of plot lines they're particularly interested in. For example, in my current campaign, a number of people mentioned being interested in exploring a War storyline, so a war against the orcs popped up a number of times as a strong plot element. The PCs even spent some time as voluntary soldiers in that war, and then returned, years of game time later, to assist in its conclusion.

I also like to ask players if there are monsters they'd like to see in the campaign, particular magic-items they'd love their characters to find, NPC cultures they'd like to visit, and so on. That gives me things to build on. If someone wants to fight an owlbear, I would make sure to work an owlbear hunt into one of my stories, or have one lurking in a cave somewhere along the PCs' path. If they want a monster with some strong story elements, such as Drow, Mind Flayers, Dragons, etc, then that gives me a whole storyline to work with. If someone has always wanted to play a character that assembles the Rod of Seven Parts, that gives me a potential element to thread through the whole campaign!

I find it helps to have your over-arching goals, but not to plan more than a level's worth of material at a time, beyond rough ideas. That leaves the flexibility for the players to take things in a direction you weren't expecting. If you're running a campaign where they're fighting ettercaps in a swamp, and they get it in their heads that the ettercaps are serving the will of a Swamp Hag, you can then have the flexibility to create a Swamp Hag and insert her, as if you'd planned it all along. Maybe you intended them to meet an exiled priestess of Lolth instead, but this plot will still be satisfying, and, if the priestess of Lolth is important to your overall plans, maybe the Hag has a letter from the priestess that can steer the PCs back where you need them to go. And if they don't, then follow the PCs' interests. It's their story, too, and they deserve agency.

Once I have a vague idea of what a level's worth of material is likely to be about, I like to create some very sketchy encounters. I look over level-appropriate monsters, using the Challenge Ratings as a guideline, and I pick ones that I think will fit the themes of what I want to run. I rely heavily on the advice in the Dungeon Master's Guide and Xanathar's Guide to Everything on XP budgets and such. I might jot these down in my notes with a few thoughts on the setting of the encounter. For example, I recently created an encounter for a group of 6 2nd level characters that were heading into a sea cave that was likely to have undead in it. I chose ghouls, because I think ghouls are pretty nifty and a scary fight, and I chose to make them “lacedons”, the aquatic version of ghouls I remembered from 1st edition D&D, by giving them a swim speed of 30 feet (which, it turns out, had already been done in the adventure Dead in Thay.) I jotted some notes about them attacking from underwater in flooded tunnels. Later, I picked a cool battlemat I had that showed flooded tunnels and noted to myself about where the lacedons would be. Ta dah! Cool and creepy fight, especially in the darkened tunnels.

Rourkie, I don't know if that helps, but I hope so! Roll them bones, my friend, and give your players a great story!