#it was also just the right length of gameplay

[felassan]

David Gaider on Fenris, under a cut for length:

"Fenris. Now, DA2 is a story all on its own but I'm not going to go there other than to sum it up as "we had just over a year and a half to make this". It's why I only wrote one follower, Fenris, and although it'll make his fans mad: I probably shouldn't have. Let me explain. The way we'd approach making the followers is brainstorming a list of concepts covering first the array of gameplay classes (and sub-classes) and then making sure they each have some skin in the game when it came to the story's conflicts - ideally having characters on both sides of the major ones. Why? You can't make a player care about the world, but you can make them care about characters who care about the world. It's the easiest way to provide hooks into a conflict, outside of it knocking on the player's door. Heck, it's probably better than that. Players will burn the world for approval. After that, we'd decide things like romances/sexuality. Then the writers would pick who they'd write. I always let my writers pick first. I figured they do their best work when it's something they're inspired to write... and they got so few chances at ownership, I wanted to give it whenever I could It's why I (reluctantly) let Patrick wrest Cole from my grasp in DAI, a character I'd created in Asunder. It's also why I let Jennifer take Anders in DA2, who I'd started in Awakening. In this instance, it meant I was left with the angry elven warrior character who nobody else appeared to want."

"It should have been my first clue that something was up. The second was how the artists had zero clue what to do with him. The art concepts were all over the place - from mages to crows to... well, even weirder. No matter how hard I tried to explain the idea, the artists simply didn't seem to get it Does this mean he was a bad character? Not exactly. Just an idea that probably deserved some re-examining. You can tell when an idea has a certain spark, and part of that is being easy to communicate. Sadly, there wasn't time for any re-examining even if it'd occurred to me. And it didn't, not yet. If it had, if I had time, maybe I'd have re-booted him as a templar. Someone pro-templar rather than anti-mage, who could give a personal hook into Meredith and give the templars some badly-needed humanity. But this falls into the shoulda-woulda-coulda category. I had a follower to write. Quickly. I struggled, at first. It was hard to get away from "Fenris hates everything, all the time". It felt very one-note, and I didn't know where to take him. My third clue, I guess. I also wasn't sure if I was the right person to write a former slave. I did know that couldn't be the center of his story. I did know trauma, however. How it can eat you up. How the hate and resentment is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. How it can infect your relationships. Fenris's trauma isn't my trauma, obviously, but here I dipped into a more personal part of myself than I'd ever done before."

"It gave me the center of his story I was missing, but wow was it uncomfortable. In a good way, maybe. I likely wouldn't have, if I hadn't been so desperate. In a way, I think DA2 had some of our best writing *because* of the timeline. It was raw, with little time to sand down the interesting parts. I wouldn't have done the "Fenris doesn't talk to you for three years" thing if I'd known we were going to cut all the reactivity initially planned for the time jumps. When that call was made, I campaigned to cut the jumps to a year, but there was no time for the revisions it'd need. So, um. Awkward. I used to get asked where the name came from, and I... don't remember? Obviously it's derived from Fenrir, but I don't recall why we picked that. Someone pointed at Fenris the Feared from Joe Abercrombie's books... and I did read them, so maybe the name lodged in my head? Wouldn't be the first time. Casting Fenris turned out to be easy. He was the first time I requested a specific VA and got him. (The other times were Merrill and then Solas, my two "I want these specific Welsh actors, please".) Why? OK, if you must know, I'd played a bit of Final Fantasy XII. I heard Balthier. "Yes, that." 😅 And Gideon Emery was a delight, as it turned out. Consummate professional, and that lovely gravel in his voice... good god. Bite the knuckles. There was a struggle to find the voice at the outset where I did my best not to say "just pls do Balthier" but he found Fenris on his own and it was amazing. Overall, Fenris turned out better than he had any right to, considering the rocky start. He had a lot of soul, a vulnerability forged by pain that struck a chord with a lot of players, and I'm glad. Do I regret anything? Probably having him live in a corpse-filled mansion that would never update. That's a hindsight thing, though, as again the cut to reactivity over the time jumps came late. Outside of that, maybe letting the player give him back to Danarius? Poor shock value and a waste of resources because almost nobody took the option. Good evil options are ones that are tempting to take. And the lyrium tattoos. Interesting concept, but they're probably why you'll never see Fenris in a future DA. He requires a custom body, and the tattoos make that expensive. It's why I put Fenris in my 4th DA novel - the cancelled one. Don't fret, though. He died in it, so this way he lives on. 😉"

[source thread]

User: "Wait wait how does he die in [the cancelled novel]??" David Gaider: "Gloriously, after taking up a cause he didn't believe in at first but then made his own, one that allowed him to rediscover what it meant to be elven." [source] David Gaider: "I’m not sorry about the novel cancellation. I’m the one who cancelled it. I am kinda sad we couldn’t make it work, though. Considering it was after I left the DA team, it would have been my final DA hurrah." [source] David Gaider: "From my perspective, it was kind of "well if you're never going to use him again, let me at least give him a proper send off" and the story required a glorious death... but I get that's not the story his biggest fans would want (which is Hawke + Fenris 4ever), so it's just as well." [source]

User: "You all did some incredible work with such a tight deadline" David Gaider: "I'm of the opinion that even if we'd had only another six months to bake, DA2 would be remembered as a classic and not either a flawed gem or underbaked sequel, depending on who you ask." [source]

[giriduck]

Hot take: I had a more enjoyable time playing Skyward Sword than I am playing TotK.

[motherforthefamicom]

almost played through the entirety of the game in one day this is what a hyperfixation does to a mf

[plumbogs]

Making Sims 2 University Fun: my personal guide

I've noticed that while it's probably one of the most utilized of the expansions, TS2's university is generally seen as a slog. Which makes sense. It has a completely different gameplay loop than the rest of the game. But it's very handy to send your sims to college, especially if you use any of the various mods that limit careers based on education. So here's my big guide to making university an actual fun experience to play through (to me, at least).

The university expansion is, uh, very tailored to the 2000s college party time animal-house tropes. the pack becomes more fun when you treat it that way and let your sims be stupid young adults who streak and fool around on campus and throw parties. which, by default, is tricky because of the gameplay that requires so much skill building and assignments. which the rest of this guide will also deal with.

Note: I make some pretty big changes to normal university gameplay, to the point that it does require a bit of modding and at least one instance of fooling with simpe. there's probably also easier ways to do it, and of course everything is optional. maybe you do like keeping sims in dorms for the entire time and just three-speeding trough it all.

*mods: there are a few absolute must-have mods to me.:

TwoJeff's College Adjuster. It's basically an all-in-one controller to adjust semester timing, change semesters, plus a bunch of other features. The semester timing is the most important to me.

Active Classes is still in testing, but it almost completely changes how I play college sims. Once again, I'll detail gameplay later, but actually sending your sims to class makes for a much more fun campus experience.

No College Time Progression On Community Lots: this goes hand-in-hand with the previous mod.

Community Time: IIRC you have to do a little editing in SimPE to make it work right with University - this post explains what to edit. I don't know if I'm allowed to share the exact edit I made as a download. This might seem redundant after the last mod, but there's a reason for the madness: while one group of sims are in their active classes, the other students can do things on the home lot.

Instant Pledge for Greek Houses: This one is important for greek house gameplay, which is later.

SimBlender: There's like, 500 different edits of the SimBlender, and I think all of them have the main function needed for my college gameplay, which is teleportation. You can use a comparable teleporter if you fancy.

Simlogical's University Break is another important one for me, but it's not really necessary if you don't want it. I usually give the sims one break day per season - more on that later.

Autonomous Casual Romance is not required, but it sure adds a lot of fun to your college experience. You can also do any number of professor-limiting, custom degrees, etc mods and fixes you want.

*mods i do not use: there are mods to change the number of/length of semesters, but I seem to run into issues with them so I use the college adjuster to do the same things. I also don't really use any major overhauls, or mods that make term papers faster. I did have the tuition mod for a bit but grew tired of using it.

*general timing changes: I do seven-day seasons with longer lifespans for all sims and play rotations each day. These are the things I do specifically for university:

Four semesters: I only do semesters 2, 4, 6, and 8. Every time a new semester starts, I just use the College Adjuster to set the correct semester for each sim. I use the default length of 72 hours.

Synchronized finals: I use the College adjuster to reset the timer so the finals are all around 6-8am, and synchronized for each sim on a lot. This makes it easier to keep track of timing and skills. Also, all sims in university run on the same 3-day semester. Finals are the same day for the entire college each round. Once again, that just makes it easier for me to keep track of college-wide events for gameplay reasons.

Because this means there's 3 days per school year, and two school years per season week, it syncs better if they get a day off every Sunday using the University break mod.

Teens are sent to college on the same schedule. I send teens to school when they have 14 days or so left, with maybe an extra day or two if the college is currently in the middle of the semester.

*Gameplay: living situations: Here's where the meat begins. Now all your sims are on the same college schedule, they're all being sent to school, and now they need to actually move into college. I follow a real rule a number of colleges use: Every student spends a year in the dorms. Just their freshman year, then they have to move somewhere else. I find that this gives them a chance to meet dormies, adapt to being on college, and sorta figure out what kind of young adults they are. Plus, this gives them time for joining greek houses, which will be talked about later.

I do this because I like seeing sims as their own little characters with arcs and whatever and it forces me to think about what exactly they would be doing in college. Some sims get so frustrated with the constant mess of a dorm, some sims thrive by making friends with every dormie. Sometimes they start new drama with the others they came from high school with. Nothing quite like losing your high school sweetheart to some stinky dormie, after all.

After freshmen year, the students are kicked out of the dorms. They can get an apartment, they can rent a house, they can move into a greek house if they join one. Either way, they need to live somewhere. You can let them stay in the dorms, but I prefer somewhat smaller college households and divide them accordingly. Which gets into that whole greek house situation:

*Gameplay: greek houses. I gamify the Greek houses. I play SSU in my megahood, which comes with a fraternity and sorority, and you can do whatever setup you like there if you dislike gendered houses. Or abandon them all together and ignore this section. There are a few important elements:

Freshmen cannot live in Greek houses. They can, however, pledge while living in the dorms and move in right after their finals end. This includes dormies. There are benefits to the dorm, such as free housing, more social opportunities, usually more money per household since I cheat to make the greek houses actually nice to live in with things like pools and comfortable furniture, etc.

The Greeks have to be recruiting consistently. To keep the house going, they need to constantly be bringing in new members, either playable OR dormies.

Any recruited dormies are required to move in. You can townify them after graduation if you don't really get attached to them, but every member of the house is moved in. I use the instant pledge mod to get rid of that annoying requirement where they have to hang out on the lot so long before moving in. That, and they also move in after finals. You can teleport or invite them on and just ask them to move in. Whatever you want. Then, you must set them to be sophomores. Beyond that you can do whatever. They're playable now. Have fun.

You gotta let the Greeks party. Throw toga parties all the time and use a teleporter to maximize guests. Generally, ALL members of ALL greek houses are teleported to a party by default. Add more dormies, any friends, anybody in the dorms - the kids need to recruit and the easiest way is by forcing everyone on one lot. If you have autonomy mods or realistic alcohol, sit back and watch the madness unfold.

I don't really play wants-based, so playables that join greek houses is more based on vibes or friendship with existing greek members than wants.

*Gameplay: what do you mean we have to study??? Yeah. I made it this far before even bringing up the whole point of college. This is also where it gets a little more complicated and changed up, so bear with me.

I don't do wants-based, again, so I generally just try to make sure sims are at least passing by default. Whether they go beyond a C is up to whatever. I usually try to get knowledge sims to their 4.0s or sims that just seem like they'd take it seriously to max GPA.

ACTIVE CLASSES ARE SUCH A LIFESAVER. You can use the pre-made lecture hall or make your own. Put some skill-building objects in there, and if you like flavor theme the lecture halls around majors. I have a business/gen ed building, a science lot, and an arts lot, each with two classrooms (plus the library contains a classroom). I do believe I made an edit to the mod to make the class performance go higher with active classes, as well, so attending class every day is the bare minimum to get a passing grade.

The active class lots also contain career reward skill-building objects. These are nice because your sims can request to be taught by other sims on the lot. If you have a mod that allows non-students to visit uni lots, this helps even more with faster skill-building.

Every day, I send groups of sims with similar majors to their class. If there's a mixed-major group, each sim group gets one day in active class per semester. (So if there's an economics major, a bio major, and an art major, each one attends class on a separate rotation and the others do the normal autonomous go-to-class where they leave the lot and disappear). They attend one or both of the lectures and otherwise exist on the college lot to skill-build, socialize, eat, etc.

Outside of class, sims will usually research if they're not doing great. I honestly barely bother with assignments or term papers unless the sim actually wants to do them or are aiming for a high GPA. Maybe they go hang out at the lounge or downtown to fool around. Maybe they just fester at home. Whatever they want.

*other gameplay/storytelling things: I usually will take advantage of the aspiration change after their sophomore year if I realize that their aspiration just doesn't really jive with how they act. It's realistic to me. They had many years since being like, 13 when they first had their aspiration selected. I'd like to implement more in the way of holidays/events, personally, but that's not really relevant either. I usually give them an outfit change as well, and I like to go hard with the idea that they're going through a bunch of weird fashion phases. You know you want to give them a mohawk, just for a few days, don't you? Dye their hair red? Shave it all off? Have fun with it.

All of these things combine for me, at least, to make the college years a lot more engaging/interesting and less of a slow "move to a dorm -> study -> read books -> meet needs -> graduate" loop. There's a lot more storyline development that comes from sims being able to enjoy their time as young adults, too, such as the regular polycule jealousy explosions and party fights. It serves to break up anything they had going on as teens and give them a little direction to enter adulthood with. This concludes my little mini-guide, feel free to steal all my gameplay style or just take inspiration if you please. Or ignore it all and shake your head and call me an idiot. do whatever you want forever.

[purpleph4se]

look upon me

shang tsung x reader

warnings | smut, fem/afab! reader, dom! shang tsung, degradation, hes a meanie, but also praise, fingering, orgasm control

a/n | hi...everyone...sorry for my disappearance. so i decided to watch some mk1 gameplays not suspecting i would fall for his cunty ass. but ykw shang tsung basically ended my writers block/laziness. as always please enjoy this deprived mess

shang tsung has had a long day. he failed again at selling his “cures”. he needed to feel in control of something, anything. and how lucky he was to have you so pliant under his fingers.

your legs were spread wide open over shang tsungs thighs; he lazily leaned against the headboard with you in his lap—your warm back against his chest. you moaned in tandem with the repetitive motion of shang tsung’s thick fingers penetrating you knuckle deep and grazing that sensitive spot deep inside you as he pulled them out. purposely bringing you right to edge and stopping. you looked so pretty when you cried.

"f-fuck!" you sobbed, your hands shakily grasping the sheets beneath you. a familiar heat pooled just below your belly. you threw your head back onto shang tsung’s shoulder, and he smirked at the sight of your tears pooling on your eyes.

"such language! is it too much for you? poor thing..” shang tsung whispered into your ear, humming as you cried, he knew you were oversensitive, but he didn’t care.

"mhm, feels good doesn’t it? i know, i knoww, precious girl.” he cooed at you, only two fingers deep inside you. the mess between your pretty thighs made him throb, his length pressing into your back as he held you tightly so you couldn't squirm away from it. no, he wanted you to feel the way his fingers stroked the inside of your tight pussy, focusing on that little spot that made you keen.

"m-mhm! s’-too muchh!" you babbled out. the pads of his fingers pressed into your walls at new angles, making you squirm at the delectable sensations. your chest heaved, and sweat beads began forming at your hairline. 

shang tsung pulled his fingers out without warning (again). your back arched off him as you let out a needy whine. he ran his thumb over his slick-coated fingers, staring at his handy work. his obvious effect on you had him bordering on giving in and fucking you right then and there. but he felt like teasing you, for fun.

shang tsung brought his fingers to your lips. thankfully you were not so far gone that his gesture was lost on you. you eagerly took them into your mouth, expertly swirling your tongue around them. shang tsung watched intently as you cleaned your arousal off of his fingers. he let out an airy chuckle.

with a quiet gasp, you released his thick digits. a thin string of spit bridged from your plumped lips to the tips of his fingers, and drool dripped down your chin. “good pet.” he said as he admired his wet fingers.

dropping his now well-coated hand back down between your thighs, he drew large, slow circles over your clit. you sob, sensitive at his sudden touch.

he leaned in close, ghosting kitten licks over your lips before pulling you in— your tongues quickly intertwined, swallowing your pretty moans as he pushed his fingers deep into your needy cunt. your eyes fluttered shut. 

the room filled with sticky, wet noises as shang tsung set a relentless pace, prying you open on his fingers alone— a white ring formed at his knuckles due to his calculated movements. you struggled to focus on the hot, lustful kisses he pressed into your lips. shang tsung noted your distraction and pulled away, deciding to have mercy on your short-circuiting mind.

"m—mm, i’ve—i’ve been so g-good! can i—” you sob, he hooks his head over your shoulder too look right between your legs. "look at you! such a messy girl." he scoffed when he saw how his hand and your thighs were glistening from your wetness.

"ahn—shang tsung please-" incoherent wanton noises sat at the tip of your tongue. you reflexively bucked your hips into shang tsungs hand before he snaked his other one around your waist, holding you in place. his lips tickled the shell of your ear.

"hm? please what?" you could barely process his soft, honeyed words. you took a shuddered breath. "i can’t possibly know what you want until you tell me��" he purred.

"h-hah—slow down! m’ gonna," you whimpered, trying to move your hips away from his quick fingers, the swirling on your cunt drove you mad. "silly girl, didn’t i teach you to ask nicely? go on and show me how badly you need it." shang tsung cooed into your ear.

just as quickly as his fingers worked you to your high, they stop, making you gasp through choked cries and devastated pleas.

"hah, look at you," he chuckles out. "go on then…show me." a wicked smile crawls onto his graceful features, satisfied in seeing you right on precipice of euphoria. he’s mean—cruel and unrelenting and just the slightest bit twisted as he kisses your cheek with a laugh.

on the brink of desperation. you needed him. needed him so desperately that tears spilled down your cheeks. “please, pl-please i-i need you—need you to make me cum. please—!” 

his voice caressed you like honey, you trembled helplessly, reduced to nerve endings. “see? was that so difficult? pathetic girl…” 

"thank you! th-thank youu—“ the concentrated pressure at your core threatened to burst shang tsung knew what you needed. the room filled with sticky, wet noises as shang tsung set a relentless pace, prying you open on his fingers alone—a white ring formed at his knuckles due to his calculated movements.

"cum like the little whore you are, darling. cum for me ."

“i’m-m'g'nnaah-“ you took a sharp breath. shang tsung encouraging words coaxed you over the edge. your legs shook, threatening to close around his hand (save for his legs prying you open). your warm arousal gushed around his fingers, coating them as your orgasm overtook you. shang tsung chuckled, his fingers still swirling around your clit to prolonge your orgasm as you writhed and struggled against the arm around your waist.

"that’s it. such a good slut for me…“ shang tsung urged you further. cooing you down from your orgasm. you felt safe to be yourself wrapped within his strong arms. a slew of questionable praises fell from his mouth: "did so well," "beautiful, perfect" "my sweet pathetic girl."

"all mine." 

[cheollipop]

*swims across the ocean and shows up at your door with my lobster plushie (larry) in my arms* hiii my nora i love youuu and i’m so excited for the sleepover ahh >< ALSO I HAD THIS IDEA RIGHT …. soo … gamer boyfriend woo – he loves to play LoL in the late night hours and he’s been ignoring you and you’re just sooo needy for him that you crawl into his lap and rub yourself against this thigh to try to get his attention and bc he sucks ass at the game he’s mad and hard but stubborn so he’s like, “if you want my cock so bad then you can keep it warm for me, can’t you, baby?” so you cockwarm him until you can’t help but move your hips and he can’t resist your pussy so he just fucks you into next week <333 ahem … so… what should we do? make some hot cocoa and have a pillow fight? :3 💕

2𝙠 𝙎𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩

my alyssa ily too!! <3<3 gamer bf woo...... cockwarming...... frustrated woo...... *head in hands* good god. I fr had to do research for this bc I don't play league, but wanted to include some of the gameplay between paragraphs of reader being needy ^^ also went a little crazy towards the end so enjoy the filth ig. hope you like this, happy reading!!~

pairing: gamer bf!jung wooyoung x fem!reader

w.c.: 1.0k

tags: smut, dry/thigh humping, some teasing, cockwarming, mean/frustrated woo, he may or may not switch up a little tho ^^, reader is so needy (not projecting whatsoever), creampie kink, terrible description of league gameplay oopsie

nsfw under cut—minors dni!

Wooyoung’s character remained perched by the fountain, mainly because the opposing team had formed a camp around his own’s spawn point, taking them down before they got the chance to make their way out. He tried to convince himself it was just that, and that the heavy drag of your clothed cunt over his thigh had nothing to do with the drowned out, fuming screams blasting into his eardrums, the idle stares at his screen while his character repeatedly respawned, the nth time the ‘defeat’ screen flashed before him.

“Woo, please,” he saw your lips move in his peripheral, one side of his headset moved off his ear to catch the faint whine leaving your lips as you used his thigh to get off. “You’ve been playing for so long….. ‘want you so bad.”

He didn’t reply, but the arms reaching past you to punch at the keycaps tightened around your waist, his muscles flexing under your moving figure. It’s only when his screen turned red once more that his attention shifted to you, your grinding faltering when fierce, lidded eyes fixed on yours. He remained quiet, the silence stretching until you shifted on his lap, a groan echoing in the space between you when the heat of your wet cunt engulfed the throbbing bulge in his sweatpants, your arousal seeping through your ruined panties to stain the grey material. His fingers floated above your hips, refusing to hand the control over to you, yet battling the need to touch you as you rolled your hips over his weeping cock.

“C’mon, Woo, I've been good-”

“Good?” His eyebrow raised, he gazed at you in disbelief. “Is that what you call humping my thigh like a needy slut while my friends listen to your pathetic whining?”

Wooyoung watched you panic, turn your head around in search for the crossed out mic, your shoulders slumping in relief once you realised that had muted himself the second you’d walked through the doorway, the familiar glint in your eyes enough to inform him of your intentions.

Twisting your head to face him again, you stutter over your words while he stares back at you with burning irises, “no, Woo, I-”

“if you’re such a good girl, then why don’t you warm my cock while I win the next match for my friends, hm?”

And you did, scrambling to pull the elastic waistband down to free his pulsing length, the tip glistening with precum, lowering your head to allow a line of drool to lube up the rest of it, unaware of the hooded eyes following the trail of saliva then the hand spreading it over his cock. Adjusting his headset to properly cover both ears, the infuriated scolding blaring through the speakers masking the grunt leaving his lips when you split yourself open on his girth, taking every last inch between your walls.

Wooyoung waited until you found a comfortable position, a hand on your lower back urging you closer to his chest until your arms circled his waist and head rested on his shoulder. You heard his keyboard clacking behind you, followed by the rasp of his voice in your ear,

“Was AFK, sorry. What did I miss?”

More screaming. Screaming you drowned out as soon as it started—the overlapping voices and aggressive mouse clicking fading the more you take in Wooyoung’s warmth, his cock nestled deep within your fluttering cunt, inhaling the pungent musk emanating off his honey skin. His thighs flexed under you. He wasn’t unaffected by your tight heat, that much was obvious. He was just being stubborn.

You rolled your hips experimentally, the edge of your panties dragging over the side of his cock where you had them pushed to the side, the fingers resting over the expensive keyboard flying to your hip, Wooyoung’s neck craning to shoot a disapproving glance your way. Shifting his attention back to the game, you moved again, clenching around him and smiling to yourself when a broken moan left his parted lips.

Wooyoung wasn’t sure where his irritation stemmed from—was it his continuous losses, the fact that he was absolutely terrible at the game and the only reason his team ever won is because Yunho carried every time, or was it because he needed you so bad, despite his wordless claims otherwise? Both, perhaps. But mostly the latter, he finally admitted, the small, incessant rolls of your hips paired with heated lips pressing kisses to his pulse point breaking his long-lasting composure.

“Something came up, got to go,” he blurted out, hurriedly dropping his headset over his desk before standing up with you in his arms.

Hastily grabbing onto his shoulders, you studied his expression while he held you—features relaxed, a semblance of a smile on his lips, it seemed as though his previous exasperation had dispersed without warning, eyes now filled with nothing but adoration. He mooned over your dazed features, clouded by unbearable lust as you continue to grind on him despite your position, sending gentle waves of pleasure up his spine and aggravating his need to stuff you full of his cum. Until you’re fucked-out and leaking, mumbling repetitions of his name into the sheets, begging for a break while he pounds into your overstimulated cunt.

He laid you down onto the mattress, a hand on your spine to soften your descent, contrary to the replaying images of how he planned to take you, to fuck you senseless, to watch your pussy spit his load out only to finger it back into your womb.

“Oh baby, I’m so sorry,” he ran his hands up the sides of your body, pressing his lips to the exposed skin of your neck as he spoke. “You’ve been so good, haven’t you? ‘Been such a needy slut for Youngie,” slipping his cock out, he swiftly discarded of your panties and fitted himself back inside your heat, fingers pushing up the material of your shirt to grab handfuls of your tits. “Let me make it up to you, ‘wanna give you all my love.”

[iraprince]

I love the entire concept of Cookie... the look, the fashion, the gender... Would you mind telling us a little more about him? I'm also intrigued about why she's named Cooking with Gorgeous!

HI i would LOVE to talk about george thank you so much. also this makes me realize i've never actually sat down and just made a post unabashedly infodumping at length abt an oc before and it seems silly that i haven't. i ask only for all dear readers to please temper their expectations for this post with the knowledge that i just smoked half a joint before sitting down to answer it. a small one. but still. anyway

FIRST OF ALL FOR THE UNACQUAINTED THIS IS COOKING WITH GORGEOUS, aka cookie or george for short. he uses he/him and she/her pronouns interchangeably!

hi sorry that's not cookie that's a horse in a bridal veil that i. found in my stuff while trying to scroll and find my cookie art. i just got distracted and had to show you. okay no for real here's cookie

he's the character i'm playing in a playtest campaign of the absolutely mesmerizing sapphicworld, an in-development ttrpg!!! and if i'm going to be talking about cookie i feel like i HAVE to say i think a huge amount of her charm and dazzle and charisma comes directly from the charm and dazzle and charisma of the setting i created her for. i know i am laying it on really thick right now but that is on purpose. i want, desperately and unashamedly, for this game to get really popular bc 1. it's genuinely that good. and it's not even DONE yet and 2. i want everyone to get into it so that everyone will make sapphicworld characters and then i'll get to see everyone's sapphicworld characters.

EDIT i'm scrolling back up here and adding a readmore bc this is already getting so long lol. you asked for "a little more" and apparently i have graciously decided this means "literally every fact about cookie that exists in my brain"

SO a lot of the info/tidbits i haven't shared about cookie are i guess gameplay-specific stuff... his title (which is like a class/playbook) is "The Noble Sweetheart," though in sapphicworld "nobility" no longer has anything to do with wealth or class, and is instead entirely about amassing a court purely via devotion/popularity; her subculture (which is like, Who You Hang Out With; drifters, goths, poets, debauchers, cowpokes, etc) is Babe; and her kind (which is like ancestries but in sapphicworld is really just like, a physical form, which u can change more or less at will) is Lunarthrope, which is basically a werewolf!! or more broadly a furry, since u always look like whatever were-animal you are 24/7. just MORE at night, tho i suppose i don't represent that aspect much in my cookie art... ANYWAY i am restraining myself from just sitting here and like. transcribing her entire character sheet. but basically what all this means is that cookie's role in the world (at least at the beginning of the campaign) is "Professionally — no, VOCATIONALLY Hot Person who everyone loves so so so so so so much." cookie really enjoys this role.

he's named cooking with gorgeous because he's an avid cook, and he wants to share that with you, and he's gorgeous!! though honestly the cooking hasn't ended up as important to his character as it was when i first came up with him, lol — but my initial concept was kind of like, what's the equivalent of a bouncy normie recipe blogger/lifestyle influencer but in the context of the lush horny trans deathless psychedelic universe of sapphicworld. and it's cooking with gorgeous, a doggirl dyke with big blue boobs (six of them!!) who is so devastatingly cute and darling that a bunch of people just kind of pledge their fealty to him for no real reason other than he feeds them. and is cute

also her name is def influenced by the fantastic names of many canon sapphicworld npcs! like, quick example list of some npc names off the top of my head: the booty commie, death cybernetic, princess eureka!, the culinary goof (whom cookie dislikes. btw.), pizza friday (whom cookie loves!!!)

cookie is very very determined, and she's ALMOST always very confident. even when she isn't feeling confident, she's still very good at forcing herself to keep putting one foot in front of the other — maybe just while screaming or crying or uncontrollably barking or at least very ardently complaining. he has a tendency to be spoiled and, like, tactless-via-obliviousness, so sometimes he can be grating to interact with, and he has a petty/vindictive streak; but in general he's an AGGRESSIVELY kind person and usually aims all his shrill, cheerful stubbornness directly toward the goal of refusing to accept anything but the best for everyone.

at the beginning of our campaign cookie has JUST received a brand new castle!!!! (chateau gorgeous.) which he doesn't actually "own" bc, remember, no wealth or class in sapphicworld, but he's the ENTHUSIASTIC new caretaker and is chomping at the bit to renovate it so ppl can live there and he can throw a bunch of magnificent parties and basically continue living exactly as he has been, But Even More Fabulous. obviously this is exactly when the main plot threat of the campaign shows up and spoils everything and compels cookie to go on his First Ever Adventure!!!!!! she HAS to save the world otherwise NOBODY will be able to go to the first big party at chateau gorgeous :((((

at this point to prevent myself from just like, giving you guys a play by play of the entire campaign so far i am going to just start listing every cookie fact i can think of as bullet points

🎀 he owns a magical sword in the shape of a giant microplane. it's called The Microplane. he pronounces this "mee-crow-plah-nay"

🎀 george desperately wants to resurrect The Dog-Lich, an entity that once ruled over all beasts from its palace on the moon but was murdered and torn to pieces in a cosmic war far in the past. her attitude towards this desire is 50% devoted lunar cultist, 50% parasocially obsessive twitter stan

🎀 this isn't really a cookie fact but going back to how his title is The Noble Sweetheart — just for a glimpse at party composition, his fellow party members' titles are The Intimate Scholar, The Tentacle Advocate, and The Tw*nk Controversial (the * is the canon spelling).

^ aforementioned tw*nk. its name is Mwah ("pronounced like the kiss you blow at someone you just fucked over"). mwah is played by @/squiddelyfather on twitter!

🎀 mwah and cookie used to be very, very tight, BEFORE mwah became the tw*nk controversial. now that it's so.... you know.... controversial, well. they're still very close, but it has gotten a little stilted and weird (and watching them slowly un-weird it together as the campaign goes on has been one of my fav roleplay experiences ever honestly)

🎀 cookie's other adventuremates, skarligge and delaryn, are both very indulgent towards him. delaryn acts the most grumpy/dismissive about it but is honestly sometimes the worst about spoiling cookie out of anyone in the party (skarligge's player is twt@/clown_dream and delaryn's is twt@/glaiveguisarme and hey while im at it our fantastic gm is the sapphicworld dev, twt@/ddemoneclipse. hi guys i hope u don't mind me chattering abt ur ocs here lol it's just hard to talk abt the best of cookie w/o bringing up everyone else's characters and roleplay also!!!)

🎀 cookie is very VERY sensitive and will burst into tears at the drop of a hat. the precursor to this is her eyes getting So So So Big And Wet And Round. one of my favorite bits to menace the other party members with is when something is not going cookie's way i will lean into my mic and say "cookie's eyes are getting so so so big. they're getting so big and wet and round and shiny. they're so so round and fucking big her eyes are like big wet black glass marbles" and this is like kryptonite to them. this is like getting hit with deadly radiation

🎀 oh speaking of fashion!!!! one of cookie's perks from being a Babe is that she can always change her look whenever she wants. she will ALWAYS have whatever outfit she needs and can quickchange instantly. wait this reminds me i have a bunch of seasonal holiday outfits sketched out and i don't think i've ever posted them here but it'll only let me put one more image in this post. well here have this one

🎀 okay well suddenly i have forgotten all other george facts so that's all for now!!! from now on i will try to just dump oc facts like this more often tho this is really fun. ty for getting me going lol!!!

[indie-ttrpg-of-the-week]

Perfect Draw

Shoutouts to this being one of my favorite queer developed TTRPGs in a while and it only fully came out after I had chosen my pride month line up

Touchstones: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Cardfight Vanguard

Genre: Card Game anime, Shonen

What is this game?: Perfect Draw is a tabletop rpg about card games and the kids who play them

How's the gameplay?: Perfect Draw is a powered by the apocalypse game, more info on that here, the narrative bits have some interesting mechanics that play into other systems, but that's not really why you're here. While Perfect Draw's narrative roleplay systems are certainly competent and fun, the REAL meat comes in the form of its extensive in-depth combat system. Players get to build their own deck of custom cards, using either custom or pre-made effects, and get to duke it out in a simplistic albeit very fun TCG, a major thing in the game design is the idea that Winning will always be a hard bargain, and sometimes winning might be the incorrect choice!

What's the setting (If any) like?: Perfect Draw technically is setting agnostic, but it does have a default setting in Shuffle City, a city inspired by the many different cities in Yu-Gi-Oh (Domino City, Heartland City, arguably Neo Domino from 5ds?), its a large city with many strange and unique characters, and a strange underbelly of mystical powers fighting each other for power! Perfect Draw's setting is very loose however, only really requiring the vague idea of magic (kinda) and card games to really get started. What's the tone?: Perfect Draw often has the tone of the anime its based on, high action friendship-fueled powers abound! It's very cute and optimistic, but I've seen darker games work decently well

Session length: Combat can take a little bit, but 2-3 hours is realistic

Number of Players: Perfect draw is, very deliberately, built around smaller groups, 4 players (including GM) is advised

Malleability: As said above, PD does not have a setting, you could theoretically run anything within it!

Resources: This is sadly where the game falters a bit, right now there's a few unofficial Tabletop Simulator add-ons, but that's about it, there's also an official card maker, a card balance calculator, and a few homebrew playbooks, also there's a huuuuge sheet of community made keywords for cards (some of which are written by yours truly!)

I'm a MASSIVE fan of card game anime, they're just so genuine and silly in ways that not a lot of media nowadays is. so seeing a game that appeals so much to me was a godsend! It's a fantastic game made by fantastic people, and I highly recommend it

[hellslayersomething]

I feel like I should write out some proper thoughts about my opinions on Veilguard, or at least an outline for the much longer essay that is currently calcifying in my heart. It's a mixed bag of a reaction, and I'm not going to compliment sandwiching any of it--this is all just stream of consciousness, so I'm probably going to snag on the negative and spiral down that pretty quickly. Spoilers, obviously:

I liked the battle system. For the first time in a DA game, it actually felt satisfying to play and had its own identity. I do wish the Pokemon element aspect was a little better balanced among the companions, but overall it was great.

That said, considering the length of the game, they needed way more enemy diversity, especially with the bosses. Eventually I was just fighting dragons, and every dragon had essentially the same moveset, one of those moves being "the dragon trips over her own dick and face-plants on top of Rook", which sure doesn't make the fights feel epic. Even very unique characters, like the Gloom Howler, were just reskinned basic demons when it came time to fight them.

The decision to tie companion approval to companion levels was a mistake. A massive and extremely obvious mistake. No wonder there are no disagreements or tension among the group--the game can't let you lose affinity with your team members, because then it would have to account for you leveling them down. The gameplay design here strangled the narrative design in its crib.

Speaking of narrative design: while I appreciate that the modular approach to companion arcs was experimental, it was extremely weird of them to take that approach in the only DA game where all companions are required. The story doesn't have to be written to account for the fact that you might not recruit some of them or they might die early--so why didn't they write one story about Rook and their seven friends instead of one story about Rook and also there are seven smaller, unrelated stories of extremely varying quality shoved in next to it?

The hyperfixation on the companion quests paired with their complete compartmentalization from each other means that each companion basically has nothing going on outside of their own quest and very few opportunities to engage with other characters' quests.

I was so starved for conflict in this game that I went from Solas-neutral to Solas-positive because he was the only character who the game allowed to be a bitch to me, and I respect him for that.

I do like all the horrid little sons the game gives me. I think I would appreciate them more if there was anything bad or tense happening in the story on a personal level that required some comic relief, but I am a sucker for a funky little guy none the less, and Manfred, Assan, and Spite are the perfect trifecta of funky little guys, as far as I'm concerned.

"We're only going to do character cameos if it's important to the plot." *does what they did with Isabela* Okay, devs.

"We aren't importing player choices but we won't override your decisions either." *several codex entries overriding player decisions later* Okay, devs.

I like the companions, generally. I see their potential. Fanfic will do right by them. Harding, in my mind, is the weakest of the bunch, just truly having no personality to speak of and talking like she was written by a Boomer who thinks that Millennials are still teenagers. (Everyone responsible for her uttering the phrase "Awkward..." like she's a character in 2011 quirky girl sitcom should be tried at the fucking Hague, istg.) And while I like Bellara, it was extremely frustrating to have a character that's just "Merrill, again, but with the edges sanded off". Taash and Emmerich are also glaringly the last additions in the writing process, each belonging to one of the two most underbaked factions and neither of them being tied to any of the game's few "big choices". There's promise in this cast, but I don't think any of them came close to realizing their potential.

Davrin and Emmerich's companion quests felt appropriately scoped to the size of the questlines, had good emotionality, good antagonists, and expanded on the lore of Thedas in ways we hadn't seen yet.

Lucanis's companion quest had potential, but it was too unfocused with three antagonists, too much attention to the boring Venatori shit, and not enough examination on Illario's motives or Lucanis's relationships with either Spite or Illario.

Harding's companion quest was fine, I guess (the people are starving for dwarf lore), but Harding could have been swapped out with literally any other dwarven character who wasn't Sandal and nothing would have been different. (Also weird that the whole quest was basically about Sandal while simultaneously fully removing Sandal from the narrative.)

Bellara and Neve's companion quests were just nothing. Just a whole lot of nothing. And Neve's also suffered from what I like to call "machete editing", where it is glaring obviously where things were cut, changed, moved around, and added at the last minute.

I say, from the bottom of my non-binary heart: Taash's companion quest is total ass. Real nice of Mae to come out of hiding and risk being found and executed by the Venatori to give Taash a Queer Theory 101 class, though, I fucking guess.

Is Lucanis's romance bugged? Apparently I'm not the only one who had that thought while I was playing it, so now I'm wondering. Like, there's no way they made it Like That on purpose, right?

Why and how are the Venatori still a force in Thedas, never mind a force with numbers so great (in spite of lacking a central leader) that they were able to simultaneously occupy the two largest cities in Thedas?

They literally didn't even try with the Antaam. The Venatori are at least theoretically still working to try to restore Tevinter to its former imperial might. The Antaam are just invading countries for literally no reason except ill-defined power grabs. Given the racial coding of Qunari, this writing choice sure is...something. (And that something is racist.)

That said, the revelation that the Butcher did a military tour in Europe and fell in love with the culture and just wants to drink wine and visit art museums now is fucking hilarious.

What the absolute FUCK did they do the Crows. I like the Crow characters from Tevinter Nights/the comics, and Zevran is my favorite character in the whole damn franchise, but they completely whitewashed both TN's mafia take on them and their original portrayal in DA:O. But it also doesn't really retcon anything, making it instead seem like the human trafficking and torture and sexual abuse that Zevran suffered at the Crows' hands A) only happened to him individually, and B) are fine, actually??? Even the very few times that characters express reservations about working with Lucanis because he's an assassin, if you play as a Crow, those concerns get immediately backpedaled, so the Crows end up being so ironed out that the game doesn't even let characters say of the Crows, "Murder is bad," lest it hurt a Crow Rook's feelings. That is how conflict-averse the writing is.

So I guess everyone in southern Thedas is...dead now? Several characters survived long enough to get a mention from the Inquisitor, but by the end, it sounds like Orlais, Ferelden, and most of the Free Marches are pretty much donezo. When Epler said the events in southern Thedas didn't matter, I didn't expect that to mean they were going to nuke the damn place. Even having generally enjoyed VG (in spite of all my criticisms here) that, uh...doesn't leave me enthused about the future of the franchise, ngl.

The layoffs of several writers (and other Bioware employees) before the game's release was obviously heinous. But after that secret ending, I'm now of the mind that of the writers that remain, at least a few of them need to be demoted. Like literally what the fuck was that. That was the dumbest plot point to ever appear in a Dragon Age game, and that is a high bar to clear. If you're not going to acknowledge our past choices, then keep Loghain's name out of your fucking mouths.

[lunarlegend]

okay, so after a few more hours of playing...yeah, my mind is officially blown, lol.

normally, during regular gameplay, Ignis & Gladio share several idle animations and will automatically gravitate to each other whenever the bros are just standing around. Gladio can usually be seen talking to Ignis while Ignis listens or checks his phone, they will often cross their arms at the same time and lean into each other, etc. it's very cute, and very predictable, especially when you're a Gladnis shipper like me who regularly photographs the two of them.

but when you add Aranea to the party, everything gets shaken up.

in a vanilla playthrough, Aranea and Gladio should never be in the party at the same time except for the brief moments when Aranea jumps down from her ship to help out at night. but, since she automatically leaves once the battle is over, there is never any time to see them actually interact. so, you would think that, since they are not meant to stand around together, their AI would reflect that. except, it doesn't.

when Aranea is in the party, Gladio completely ignores Ignis. he gravitates to Aranea instead, and frequently chats with her. the two of them will run ahead and stand together, while Ignis keeps his distance. what's interesting is that Aranea reacts to Gladio also. she is programmed to talk back to him and laugh, etc. they genuinely look like they're flirting. she doesn't do this with Ignis or Prompto during Chapter 7, for instance, only Gladio...who she's never supposed to be able to talk to for any length of time.

this leaves poor Ignis without half his idle animations. he repeatedly distances himself, crosses his arms, and watches Gladio and Aranea from afar. when he does approach them, even if he walks right up to Gladio, Gladio never turns to face him. and Ignis doesn't have any chat interactions with Aranea either, so the two of them never engage. it's downright painful to watch.

what this means to me, as an incredibly biased Gladnis shipper: Tabata meant it when he said "fukai naka", lol. Ignis is jealous. i can't think of any other explanation. i spent several days and nights with Aranea in the party, running around in different areas, in different weather, doing random battles and quests. she & Gladio gravitated to each other over and over, while Ignis stood aside looking genuinely pissed.

also--i don't believe any of this is random. the devs added photos and dialogue acknowledging Gladio and Aranea, who, again, should not canonically be able to interact in this way. the fact that Ignis' normally predictable AI goes haywire when she's there is no coincidence.

there is a bit of dialogue with Gladio & Prompto discussing Aranea in the main game, and someone once used Ansel to turn the camera to Ignis' face since his expression wouldn't normally be visible, and he looked upset. i always figured maybe he liked Aranea too and felt awkward/shy joining in on the conversation. but now i think it's not Aranea he likes at all, it's Gladio, and has always been Gladio, lol. he is programmed to be completely lost when he can't gravitate to Gladio. it actually hurts my heart a little. 🥲

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 1

Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user's post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and played the game. nb, this post is more of a 'info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts' collection rather than a 'regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal' post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

as this post hit a kind of character limit, there will probably be at least 1 more post. :)

Character Creation

CC is vast [source] and immensely detailed [source]

We will enter CC straight after Varric's opening narration [source]

You are given 5 categories to work your way through in CC: Lineage, Appearance, Class, Faction, Playstyle. Each of these has a range of subcategories within them. There are 8 subcategories within the "head" subcategory" in "Appearance" alone [source]

Lineage dictates things like race (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, qunari) and backstory [source]

Backstories include things like factions. Factions offer 3 distinct buffs each [source]

There are dozens and dozens of hairstyles [source]

There are separate options for binary and non-binary pronouns and gender [source]

"BioWare's work behind the scenes, meanwhile, goes as deep as not only skin tones but skin undertones, melanin levels, and the way skin reacts differently to light" [source]

CC has a range of lighting options within it so that you can check how the character looks in them [source]

There are a range of full-body customization options such as a triangular slider between body types and individual settings down to everything from shoulder width to glute volume [source]. There are "all the sliders [we] could possibly want". The body morpher option allows us to choose different body sizes [source]

All body options are non-gendered [source]

They/them pronouns are an option [source]

Rook can be played as non-binary [source]

Individual strands of hair were rendered separately and react remarkably to in-game physics [source]

Special, focused attention was paid to ensuring that hairstyles "come across as well-representative, that everyone can see hairstyles that feel authentic to them, even the way they render" [source]

The game uses strand hair technology borrowed in part from the EA Sports games. The hair is "fully-controlled by physics," so it "looks even better in motion than it does here in a standstill" [source]

The ability to import our choices from previous games is fully integrated into CC. This will take the form of tarot cards - "you can go into your past adventures" and this mechanic tells you what the context was and what decision you want to make [source]

In CC we will also be able to customize/remake our Inquisitor [source]

A core tenet of the game is "be who you want to be" [source]

There are presets for all 4 of the game's races (human, elf, dwarf, qunari), in case detailed CCs overwhelm you [source]

Story

The story is set 9 years since Inquisition [source]

The Inquisitor will appear [source]

Other characters refer to the PC as Rook [source]. This article says they are "the Rook" [source]

The ability to import our choices from previous games is fully integrated into CC. This will take the form of tarot cards - "you can go into your past adventures" and this mechanic tells you what the context was and what decision you want to make [source]

The prologue is quite lengthy. A narrated intro from Varric lays the groundwork with some lore and explains about Solas [source]. In this Varric-narrated opening section, the dwarf recaps the events of previous games and explains the motivations of Solas [source] (Fel note/speculation: this sounds like this cinematic that we saw on DA Day 2023)

What happens first off is that Rook, who is working with Varric, is interrogating a bartender about the whereabouts of a contact in Minrathous who can help them stop Solas. The bartender does not play nice and we are presented with our first choice: talk the bartender down or intimidate them aggressively [source]

The first hour of the game is "a luxurious nighttime romp through a crumbling city under a mix of twinkling starlight and lavish midnight blue" (Minrathous) [source]. The game begins with a tavern brawl (depending on dialogue options) and a stroll through Minrathous in search of Neve Gallus, who has a lead on Solas [source]. Minrathous then comes under attack [source] by demons [source] (Fel note/speculation: it sounds like the demo the press played is what we saw in the Gameplay Reveal). Off in the distance is a vibrant, colorful storm where Solas is performing his ritual. [source] Eventually we come upon Harding. [source] and Neve. Rook and co enter a crumbling castle, where ancient elf secrets pop up, "seemingly just for the lore nerds". [source] Then we teleport to Arlathan Forest, have a mini boss fight with a Pride Demon, and there is the climactic confrontation with Solas. After a closing sequence, at this point it is the end of the game's opening mission. [source] (Fel note/speculation: So the Gameplay Reveal showed the game's opening mission)

The action in the story's opening parts starts off quite quick from the sounds of things: the devs wanted to get the player right in to the story. because, “Especially with an RPG where they can be quite lore-heavy, a lot of exposition at the front and remembering proper nouns, it can be very overwhelming.” [source]

BioWare wanted to make the beginning of Dragon Age: The Veilguard feel like the finale of one of their other games [source]

Rook's Faction will be referenced in dialogue [source]

Minrathous is beautiful, with giant statues, floating palaces, orange lantern glow and magical runes which glow green neon. These act "like electricity" as occasional signs above pubs and stores [source]

The story has a lot of darkness tonally. These dark parts of the game contain the biggest spoilers [source]. However, the team really wanted to build in contrast between the dark and light moments in the game, as if everything is dark, nothing really feels dark [source]

Our hub (like the Normandy in ME or Skyhold in DA:I) is a place called The Lighthouse [source] (Fel note/speculation: I guess this screenshot shows the crew in The Lighthouse? ^^)

Each companion has a very complex backstory, their own problems, and deep motivations. These play out through well-fleshed out character arcs and missions that are unique to them but which are ultimately tied into the larger story [source]

We will make consequential decisions for each character, sometimes affecting who they are in heart-wrenching ways and other times joyously [source]

Decisions from previous DA games will be able to be carried over, it will just work a bit differently this time [source]. The game will not read our previous saves. For stuff pertaining to previous games/choices, players will not have to link their accounts [source]

Characters, companions, romance

Varric is a major character [source]

Every companion is romanceable [source]

BioWare tried to make each character's friendship just as meaningful, regardless of romance [source]

If you don't romance a character, they may end up romancing each other [source]

There will be some great cameos [source]. Some previous characters are woven into the game [source]

Companion sidequests/optional content relating to companions is highly curated when it involves their motivations and experiences [source]

We could permanently lose some companions depending on our choices [source]

Our choices can influence if characters get injured and what they think about us [source]

The bonds Rook forges with companions determine how party members grow and what abilities become available [source]

Each companion has a very complex backstory, their own problems, and deep motivations. These play out through well-fleshed out character arcs and missions that are unique to them but which are ultimately tied into the larger story [source]

We will make consequential decisions for each character, sometimes affecting who they are in heart-wrenching ways and other times joyously [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

Each class (warrior, rogue, mage) has 3 specializations. The ones for Rogue are duelist, saboteur and Veil ranger [source]. (Fel note/speculation: Veil ranger reminds me of Bellara. Maybe this is her 'spec' too?)

Duelist gameplay involves a sharp combination of dashes, parries, leaps, rapid slashes and combos [source]

Faction-related buffs include being able to hold an extra potion or do extra damage against certain enemies [source]

Individual strands of hair were rendered separately and react remarkably to in-game physics [source]

Playstyle settings include custom, distinct difficulty settings for options as granular as parry windows, meaning "players who might fancy that playstyle but typically struggle with the finer points of combat can give it a go" [source]

Combat mechanics is a mix of real-time action and pause and play. Pausing brings up a radial menu split into 3 sections: companions to the left and right, Rook's skills at the bottom, and a targeting system at the top which helps get in focus on certain enemies. [source]. In the pause system you can queue up your whole party's attacks [source]

Tapping or holding the shoulder button pauses the game, allowing us to stop the action and issue orders to companions [source]

There is a system of specific enemy resistances and weaknesses [source]. Weaknesses and resistances plays a big role in combat and abilities are designed to exploit these accordingly [source]. An example is that "one character might be able to plant a weakening debuff on an enemy, and another enemy might be able to detonate them" [source]

There is a vast skill tree of unlockable options [source]

You can set up specific companions with certain kits, e.g. to tackle specific enemy types, to being more of a support, or as flexible all-rounders [source]

Healing magic returns [source]

Abilities can change together with elaborate results, e.g. one companion using a gravity well attack that sucked enemies together, another using a slowing move to keep them in place, and Rook using a big AOE to catch them all at once [source]

A shortcut system lets you map a few abilities to a smaller pinned menu at the bottom of the screen [source]

There are class-specific resource systems. For example, Rogue has "momentum", which builds up as Rook lands consecutive hits [source]

Each class will always have a ranged option [source]

Rogue Rook can do a sort of 'hip fire' option with a bow, letting you pop off arrows from the waist [source]

Warriors can throw their shield at enemies, and can build an entire playstyle around that using the skill tree [source]

There is light platforming gameplay [source]

The game runs on the latest iteration of the Frostbite engine [source]

The game targets 60 fps

On consoles it will feature performance and quality modes so we can choose our preferred visual fidelity [source]

The game is mission based [source]. Some levels that we go to do open up, some with more exploration than others. "Alternate branching paths, mysteries, secrets, optional content you're going to find and solve." [source]

Everything is hand-touched, hand-crafted and highly curated [source]

Some sidequests and optional content is highly curated, especially when it involves the motivations and experiences of the companions. In others we may be investigating for example a missing family, with an entire open bog environment to search for clues and a way to solve the disappearance [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc continued, after the above bullet list hit a character limit

There is sophisticated animation cancelling and branching. Gameplay is action-like, and the design centers around dodging, countering, and using risk-reward charge attacks designed to break enemy armor layers [source]

The dialogue wheel returns [source]. It gives truncated summaries of the dialogue options rather than the full line that the character is going to say [source]

The bonds Rook forges with companions determine how party members grow and what abilities become available [source]

For stuff pertaining to previous games/choices, players will not have to link their accounts [source]

We can play the game fully offline [source]

There are no microtransactions [source]

The game itself is not as cell-shaded in look as the first trailer looked [source]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[luffyvace]

what the Strawhats would watch on YT 🏴‍☠️

Cuz I think it’d be funny

(No gifs but they’re a decent length since it’s only one crew—may or may not do a WBP version 🤗..)

Luffy:

watches boxing

He just likes it idk why- ik it’s oddly specific but I feel like he’d be into the adrenaline rush of it yk?

OF COURSE has a crap ton of food on his feed 😭 (he follows Sanji’s cooking channel 💞)

some music but not really, mostly party music for when he throws parties yk? 🤪 (I feel like modern Luffy would throw random house parties for no reason- and invite his friends)

super impatient with ads (he doesn’t like it interrupting his stuuuuuff 😩)

occasionally watches soccer as well

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this but he also likes video games! Watches gameplays and skips over the storyline for the action

would watch random animated shows but not necessarily for little kids yk? Just funny animated skits (but they have to be fast paced and actually funny or he’s not interested 😁)

watches yt shorts a lot, feeds into his short attention span (likes it better than TikTok)

Zoro:

work out vids.

debates in the comments on what strengthens/creates more muscle

always wins the arguments (has a lot of knowledge abt working out)

prob watched one motorcycle vid and now they won’t stop showing up on his home page

he’s tired of the motorcycle vids 😭

wants his gym work out hardcore routine home page back 🫤

would run his own yt page about gaining muscle n’ such but doesn’t care enough + doesn’t have time for the trolls and know it all’s (bro you ARE ONE..? 🤨🤦‍♀️)

blocked Sanji’s cooking channel after disliking all his videos

Nami:

fashion tips n tricks

”this or that” outfit edition on yt shorts

heavily criticizes each outfit and scrunches her face at the ugly ones (they’re not ugly just not to her taste)

doesn’t ever actually comment, even if she likes it

rarely likes too- actually, 😀 mostly just watches it and moves on, and there’s like nothing other than a few fashion haul and “where to shop for cute clothes” vids in her “watch later”

only watches them once, then deletes them, it pretty much stays empty

usually the vids she watches are around 5 mins, she doesn’t have a short attention span but she feels like vids that are hours long are a waste of time if it isn’t a music playlist

speaking of which she has a lot of light/catchy music playlists saved (Tyler the creator, kali uchis, laufey sometimes)

Usopp:

lots of inventions and creations, etc

used to watch life hacks/diy vids til it came out everyone found them cringe 😆👊💥

now he watches how to make stuff out of random car parts/tables- wtv! yk?

also some gamers :)

likes Minecraft a lot. He watches the “pro builders” thinks: I can do that easy! Tries, miserably fails, then rages quits (to continue watching the pros again). In that order.

watches prank vids

him and Nami share playlists/recommends each other songs so he has a whole bunch of music playlists she created for him (she forces him to watch and give opinions on the playlist right when she sends them. And if he takes over an hour she’ll charge him for making her wait)

He’s the one who got Nami into Tyler the creator

loves supporting Sanji’s cooking channel and likes/comments on all his vids. Actually takes his advice and has tried cooking a few of his dishes as his dinner and it actually worked out?! 😲

Sanji:

Has a cooking channel with 34.5k subscribers and an average of 50k views named ‘Cooking with Crap Cook’

Tries to Makes himself look like a “seductive waiter” in yt shorts (for the ladies)

does really good replying to questions/comments, open to suggestions/requests of what to make a cooking tut on and has actually traveled a bit with the money yt gives him! Takes the opportunity to cook in different places :)

cooks in public sometimes, occasionally someone recognizes him! ‘Wait are you the crap cook?!’

spoils Nami and Robin with the money he makes

Responds to women a little more happily than he does men (but realistically what else are we expecting?-)

his vids usually have a lot of cuts (Luffy, Usopp and Chopper came over uninvited for food and are TOTALLY trying to keep quiet while playing as Sanji makes a video) and are typically around 7-10 minutes

swoons whenever he sees Nami or Robin liked his video (has a nosebleed when they comment 😅⁉️)

has Zoro blocked despite the fact that he doesn’t post

Chopper:

has thought about posting health/medicine tips but is a bit insecure about what other will think + he’s camera shy

Zoro and Sanji try to encourage him by saying things like “just hurry up and do it already so I can incorporate your tips in my work out routine” and “there’s no need to be scared, I’ll help you out if you need”

still hasn’t pulled the trigger yet

for now he just follows other doctors and some gamers too

Luffy and Usopp put him on gaming

likes “Octodad” (LOL 😂💖)

doesn’t actually watch yt all that much, mostly when Usopp and Luffy do- but on they’re iPads instead of his

they mostly go on his when theirs runs out of battery, but they don’t stay on long since it just has a lot of medial advice on there 😀😅

prefers playing with Usopp and Luffy over his ipad

Robin:

(Long) informational vids and documentaries (mostly abt history)

also likes animal documentaries

follows other archaeologists

corrects anyone who’s wrong in any video she watches and is always right + wins the argument (has the most unintentionally funny comebacks ever 😂)

Follows Sanji and is pretty supportive, likes his vids and occasionally comments (more than Nami anyway..) whenever she sees his videos on her homepage

also encourages Chopper to start his channel and made him promise she would be the first follower/to know if he decided to finally do it

doesn’t spend much time on yt unless she has a lot of free time, and even then she prefers to read or spend time with friends

Always snuggled up in a blanket, drinking tea, watching animal planet’s yt channel on the tv when she does watch

has contemplated starting a informational channel but has never told anyone. Ultimately decided not to since she’s not on yt much and she’s too busy anyway.

Franky:

random inventions n such, like Usopp

still watches life hacks without any shame—genuinely uses some

also watches random vids, usually funny stuff- sends it to Robin (who always responds with ‘👍’ ……..(🗿😂)

Already knows how to build a lot of things from Tom- still goes to yt anyway and learns to build random stuff for fun

not on here often either, mostly when he’s bored

has a few gamers on his homepage because Luffy, Usopp and Chopper got him to watch a few vids he found funny (+ they steal his iPad to watch his yt when all 3 of theirs run out of battery)

always forgets to charge his iPad because he’s hardly on there and the one time he needed it for a yt vid to remind him how build smth it was dead 🙂

Follows Sanji’s cooking channel- always forgets to like his vids when he sends them to the group chat (also follows Robin even tho she doesn’t post)

Brook:

women..

not exactly inappropriate stuff but he does follow a lot of girl content creators so it looks like he’s just into fashion but he’s actually just following for them 😭 (the disappointment)

At least he also follows Sanji! (🤦‍♀️) forgets to like his vids tho- there’s so many women on his homepage that Sanji’s vids don’t even come down his feed

Also follows Nami and Robin

hardly on yt, prefers to play his instruments 🤷‍♀️

speaking of which he also follows a lot of music artists, mostly older ones from his time (HAHAHAHA)

Usopp and Nami force him to listen to today’s artists and he likes a few- but grandpa sticks to what he’s knows for the most part 😊

(Nami has Brook blocked)

Jinbei:

Follows Sanji but is Vegetarian so he doesn’t like any of his meat/fish recipes- same w chopper I forgot to mention that (😀)

Follows everyone (idek why)

mostly watches vegetarian cooking shows/recipes

Requests for Sanji to do a lot of vegetarian recipes (sometimes Sanji does them if enough women are backing him- 🤦‍♀️🗿 other times he ignores him……🙂👊💥)

also follows karate channels/masters n stuff

doesn’t criticize per say but does cringe a bit when they give bad advice

has better things to do then waste his life away on yt so he’s another one that’s not on here much..

would make a (fishman) karate channel if he cared enough- but he doesn’t :P 🤷‍♀️ (Zoro would’ve followed him)

[spinningbuster98]

Metroid Other M Part 7: You're authorized to go to Hell, Adam

The gravity section before Nightmare is actually pretty cool. It’s actually a much more appropriate use of the Gravity Suit than simply limiting it to underwater usage. However this further proves what I said a long time ago about the authorization mechanic just straight up not being in synch with the story: Adam is no longer present, Samus takes the opportunity to reactivate her Space Jump and Screw Attack...but not the Gravity Suit. Even though she needs it and, again, Adam’s no longer around to be a dick to her. See? The devs thought about building a cool gameplay setpiece without bothering to think about its story consequences. Now Samus looks like a moron, again

Speaking of morons...

Yeah it’s the Adam shoots Samus scene. What you all came to see. Whoo. Much hype. Very yikes

Let’s start with Adam

The game has a very nasty and unfortunate tendency to, unintentionally, create a contrast between how Samus describes Adam VS how he actually acts. Throughout the game Samus does nothing but shower Adam with praise of all kinds, commenting on not only his military genius but also on how compassionate and “fatherly” he was towards her. Yet the guy that we actually see on-screen is the complete opposite: he’s a spiteful control freak obsessed with protocol, who doesn’t know how to manage having such a useful asset as Samus on his team and who, by his own admission in this very scene, incapacitated Samus while she was in the presence of a Metroid he wasn’t completely sure could be frozen. He literally says that, he gambled Samus’ life on a guess for no good reason.

If I wanted to be charitable I’d say that the plot was trying to purposefully present him as a prick in order to create an air of mystique: why does Samus revere this bastard so much? And I guess that this scene was meant to be the one that was going to pull the rug from under our feet, after all this is the closest that Adam ever gets to showing any kind of affection and “trust”...but it’s in the context of him shooting her in the back and leaving her at the mercy of a monster. There’s such an incredible disparity between the Adam that Samus prattles on about and the one that we see that it genuinely makes Samus look like your stereotypical abused girlfriend trying to rationalize why her boyfriend hits her.

But why does Adam shoot Samus? Many people seem to think there’s no reason for him to do that.

But actually...there is

It’s actually a bit of a trope in some works of fiction to have one character attack and or incapacitate another one that they’re supposed to be friends with in order to perform a risky thing on their own. It’s supposed to showcase the character’s levels of selflessness and the lengths they will go to in order to protect their loved one, even if it means hurting them in a way

In theory I would not mind Adam shooting Samus for these reasons: as seen in Fusion, Samus can be pretty stubborn and set in her ways when it comes to the idea of having to sacrifice herself for the greater good, so, in a better story, I wouldn’t necessarily mind Adam needing to exercise some force in order to prevent Samus from throwing her life away. The first issue with this is that the reasoning that the game gives is pretty flimsy to start with: Sector Zero will detatch from the rest of the station and self destruct as soon as she tries anything. Because it’s not like Samus has ever escaped from a self destructing location before right? It’s not like Fusion didn’t have this exact scenario with the Secret Metroid Laboratory, with Samus escaping unscathed, because Other M has its lips locked onto Fusion’s dick harder than a cheap prostitute.

But the biggest, surrounding issue is the general tone.

The story may communicate that Adam is doing this to save Samus’ life selflessly and Adam may say that Samus is inexpendable due to being a galactic heroine unlike him, but the other, underlying reason as to why Adam needs to shoot Samus in order to stop her from entering Sector Zero...

...is because Samus is an immature child that cannot be trusted to act logically

Because if there’s a message that the game just loves hammering into your skull literally since the beginning is this. From the intro when we see Samus as a child curled up in a fetal position because muh symbolism, to her acting subserviant to Adam either because she feels guilty about disobeying her father figure in the past or because she wants to be a spiteful brat, depending on your interpretation, to when she had to be saved by Anthony from Ridley, to her now repeating almost word for word what she told Adam when Ian died, there’s this permeating, consistent idea that Samus, deep down, is just an insecure little girl who isn’t anywhere close to being as confident and capable as she appears. The reason why Adam shoots her is because she’d be too immature and emotional to accept his sacrifice logically, so he needs to use force and take the choice from her. And, as usual, the story proves him right by how Samus reacts afterwards. The scene REEKS of condescension

And I know that some might argue that this is just a result of her trauma of the Baby’s death but....when does she recover from this exactly? After Adam dies she says she gained some “clarity of mind”, but did that just magically fix the trauma? Did that just magically fix her insecurity? The game acts like this act made Samus a stronger character,which I guess it did since she largely stops angsting after this, but when you look at the facts she magages to accomplish shit after this: Ridley gets killed off screen and Anthony will ultimately be the one to save the day.

What is Samus’ arc in this game? What lesson did she learn in the end? That she had been fooling herself all this time? That she’s still that capricious teen from her army days? Ok nice, what was the point of that? What exactly is the point of devoting an entire plot to just telling me that a character that had always been known for being highly skilled and practical is actually just an insecure mess? For depth? To humanize her? Because I’m sorry but if the final take away of a story is “yeah you kinda suck and you shoulda listened more to that abusive prick you called a father figure because you only mess up on your own” then something has gone wrong along the way, unless you’re writing a story that’s being cynical on purpose, or one about a morally reprehensible person getting broken down, which isn’t either case with this game, as the story wants me to believe that Samus ends up being a better person by the end even though she really has no reason to be. And all of this to say nothing of the myriad of sexist implications at play, which I’m not going to touch on since I am by no means knowledgeable on the subject matter

This is also the reason why I refuse the notion that the Samus that we see here is supposed to be a purposefully nerfed take on her due to the Baby’s death: she may be depressed, but a big selling point of this game was that we were gonna see the “real Samus” underneath the helmet, and this is the Samus that we pretty much see from start to finish, so I’m left with the conclusion that, according to this story, this IS Samus, full stop.

And quite frankly? Even if it made logical sense it still would not have been a good idea. I could, theoretically, write a story where I put a character like Superman through a billion different traumas, just so I can write him as a depressed and mysanthropic asshole. Even if it technically made sense writing wise, it still would not be a good decision, unless it’s a what if story of some kind, because there’s very little value in destroying a characrer just for the sake of it or just to say “hey see? He’s falliable just like any person!”

Humanization can be a good thing that can make characters feel more real and even more relatable. However not all characters are meant to feel completely real. Some characters are meant to feel like symbols or concepts or ideas. Distillations of human traits even. It’s only in the world of fiction that we can have characters that are technically impossible or very hard to come by in real life in terms of their character. I do believe that Samus falls into this category for the most part. She’s an iron willed badass, fearless in the face of untold alien dangers and capable of widespread destruction and carnage, yet still possesses a heart of gold and a selfless spirit that allows her to do the right thing because she thinks it’s the right thing to do, no matter what others may think. She suffered a traumatic tragedy, yet is not a Batman-like figure darkly seeking vengeance. I think that this is what Samus is at her core.

You might argue that this is very bland and boring. Maybe you’re right, plenty of people think the same about Superman. But I’d say that the kind of character that Other M Samus is is also a dime a dozen, so for my money I’d rather go with the former, who’s entertaining and even a little inspiring if viewed a certain way, rather than with the latter, who’s got a truckload of writing issues and unfortunate implications.

[pichongames]

It's time for a new DEV UPDATE! [February 2024]

Let's talk about the upcoming Nintendo Switch port, localization, plushies, and new content coming soon?

It's time for a new development update, we've been working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes so let's talk about some of it, shall we?

The Bunny Graveyard is coming to Nintendo Switch!

If you didn't know already, The Bunny Graveyard is on its way to Nintendo Switch. But this port will not just be any normal port, the game will receive some enhancements and changes both visually and gameplay-wise. Including motion-controls, HD vibration and more!

But do not worry PC users, even though some gameplay features will be exclusive to Switch, any content updates, improvements and future chapters will be released at the same time on all platforms.

More languages!

The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 1 is currently being translated to more languages, some of these are:

Brazilian Portuguese

French

Russian

Japanese

Simplified Chinese

Korean

...and more!

Boxers Plushie!

You probably heard of this already, but yes! Boxers got himself his very own plushie, which is still available at the time of this writing, however, this is a limited edition plushie so make sure to grab one before they're gone. As of right now, there's still 8 days left, so think about it! You guys absolutely CRUSHED that funding goal by the way, 450 sold so far!

We're definitely making another one... hehe.

This is also our first piece of merchandise and we're open to do more merch stuff in the future! But for now we'll only be choosing things that don't slow us down during development. So, if you got any requests for merch, let us know and we'll look into it!

NEW free content is coming this year...

We are working on a new secret project for the game, it will be released as a free content update at the same time as the Nintendo Switch release. It's a small thing that we wanted to make for a while now, but never got the chance to do due to time constraints. Think of it as the next "4-1-1992" for now.

We'll be releasing a separate trailer for this soon, so stay tuned!

So... how's Chapter 2?

Finally, let's have a quick talk about Chapter 2.

We are still not ready to fully reveal Chapter 2, buuuut we can tell you a little bit about it. It is the most ambitious project we have ever done, we expect it to be about the same length as Chapter 1, but despite the length, this chapter has proven to be quite a challenge to develop... but you know us, we love ourselves a challenge!

The story has been fully written, the gameplay has been finalized, but there's still quite a lot of programming to go, and don't get me started on all the music and animations left. Oh, did I also mention that this chapter will be releasing at the same time on Nintendo Switch and PC? And that it will also release in multiple languages? And that I'm still working on this game mostly by myself?

Yeah, things are not the same as they were back when I was making Chapter 1, The Bunny Graveyard is no longer just a silly lil' indie game, but that's exactly what makes it fun. I seriously can't wait to show you guys what we've been working on, this chapter is going to blow you away. Expect a trailer sometime this year.

You can add Chapter 2 to your Steam wishlist now!

Final Thoughts!

2024 is looking like an awesome year for this game, I'm hoping that this year we can get more people to know about this game. I'm extremely thankful for all of the support that we've been getting lately, it's crazy that I can now FINALLY focus on this game full-time, something that I've been trying to do for a long time now. I'm still processing the fact that this game is coming to the Switch, but it really is! Truly a dream come true. If you got any questions, ask in the comments and I'll try to answer as many as I can! And as always, thank you all!

[dice-sociation]

Girls Who Don’t DnD

Quick Info

Audio Quality: High-Quality Audio, Effects, Music. (Occasional fan-submitted recordings)

Vibes: Throne of Glass, Doctor Who, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Princess and the Pauper

Extras: Patreon rewards, Discord Community with Book Club, and more!

System: 5e DnD

Campaign/ Show Length: Long Term Campaign

Average Episode time: 1.5 Hours (varies a bit)

Uploads 1 episode a month. 

Diversity: Majority Women

Platforms: Podcast, Audio Only. 

Number of Episodes This Review is based on: 30+ 

** If you want the TLDR, scroll to the bottom of the post **

Why Girls Who Don’t DnD?

How often have you said to yourself, “Man, I wish I could experience that for the first time again?” While we can’t reset your brain, you can live vicariously through the Girls Who Don’t D&D podcast. 

If you're looking for a podcast with relaxed gameplay, fantastic humor, great editing, and effects, you should read on to learn more. This wonderful adventure showcases the beautiful experience of watching three girls fall in love with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). 

Starting the Pod

The podcast starts with Cory, the Dungeon Master (DM), explaining that he has invited three girls, Indy, Alana, and Stacey, who have never played D&D, into his world of Kalee with premade characters. If you, the listener, haven’t played before, you’ll learn a lot just from listening. Cory purposely doesn’t edit out explanations of how to play. I’m confident my experience was better because I was still learning to play the game myself as I started listening.

Right from the start you will hear how much work Cory puts into editing and pre-recording. He recruits people to voice-act for non-player characters (NPCs) or to play out memories or scenes. Some additions are just for the listeners, giving us a little extra information about the lore of the world. This includes the origin of magical artifacts, gods, and sometimes an NPC’s perspective that the players don’t get to hear.  It feels like listening to an audiobook and honestly, I think “booktok” would love Girls Who Don’t DnD. 

We learn that the three player characters, Freya, Kaa'Riin, and Morrigan, have lost their memories and need to recover them. The story and the discovery of who the player characters are and what happened to them work in tandem with the players themselves learning the game in a beautiful way. 

Power gamers and hardcore strategy? We don’t need that here. (Tosses book over shoulder). This group is made of story-tellers who usually choose to progress the narrative over strategy. At first, it's like watching Without A Recipe or the British Bake Off challenge where they have no clue what they are supposed to be making. This makes it all the more special when the players get more comfortable with the gameplay and more grounded in their characters. 

About the Team

Cory, "(who owns all the books but hasn't read them)"* completely absorbs the chaos the girls bring to the table and somehow also keeps them immersed in the story. He holds onto the rules of D&D loosely, letting his players use their abilities in different and unique ways. You still get full epic fights with no pulled punches, yet they feel more cinematic than the usual D&D grind. Outside of combat, Cory introduces challenging puzzles and encounters that present more opportunities for his players to think outside the mechanics of the game.

I adore Alana, Indy, and Stacy. I have some difficulty with telling their voices apart, but I never felt like that took away from my enjoyment of the show. Over time they develop their characters and have different play styles. They all have so much personality and bring their own flavor to the table. 

Indy, playing Freya the Rogue, has to be the most classic of first-time players, starting a little hack-and-slash happy, but eventually, she gets really into the strategy of the game. Freya is a cheeky scamp of a character and Indy leans naturally into the rogue class.  

Alana, playing Morrigan the Sorcerer, is usually the most sensible of the group. She is a leader in a way. There is so much more I want to say but I can't think of anything that isn't a big spoiler. Playing a sorcerer for your first time playing D&D is never easy, but Cory was able to ease her into the role and she runs with it.

Stacey, playing Kaa'Riin the Bearbarian (Druid with some Barbarian), has some epic combat moments. She can change from one animal to another without reverting to humanoid form, which deviates from traditional Druid rules. This decision, as well as other tweaks of the rules, help the pacing of the overall production. 

And sure, you're probably thinking their whole schtick is that they don't know D&D, so wouldn't it lose its charm after they get better? Absolutely not. Not even a little bit. This table is casual, silly, charming, and gripping. They make me feel like I am with my best friends playing our chaos gremlins together. 

A special shout to Mia Stegner (https://www.miastegner.com/) who composed and performed the opening and closing songs. It’s the cherry on top of this podcast sunday.

*Referenced from the Podcast Description. https://www.girlswhodontdnd.com/ 

About the world

“There is a saying among the good people of Kalee, when you know what is right, do what is right, and then deliver it all into the endless sea” From Episode 1: Throw it Into the Sea, Aug 16, 2021.

Cory presents a world both complex and informed by the player's choices and features some of the more bizarre parts of typical High Fantasy settings. 

There is just something so satisfying about learning the characters' backstories and how their stories are expertly baked in the many-layered cake that makes the world. Flavors include; wild magic, strange and whimsical characters, Evil Queens, “timey-wimey” stuff, super cute plans, snails, Gods, magic crystals, trapped souls, and Alan (the real star of the later episodes).

Extras

There are so many Patreon perks! You get behind-the-scenes talks, recipes from Indy, DMing tips, Lana's book reviews, and more! You can also join their Discord server where Cory is pretty active and they encourage community gaming and have a book club.

TL;DR: 

This podcast is about girls learning to play D&D using premade characters with amnesia. The girls learning to play parallels the story’s progression as they regain memories. 

Reliving the experience of learning to play for the first time all over again. 

Loosely follows the rules of 5e to keep the pacing up.

DM Cory recruits people to voice act for NPCs or to play out memories or scenes. Some additions are just for the listeners, giving us a little extra information about the lore of the world.

It's a little hard to tell the girls apart, but I don’t think it takes away from my enjoyment at all. 

Wild magic, strange and whimsical characters, Evil Queens, “timey-wimey” stuff, super cute plans, snails, Gods, magic crystals, trapped souls, and Alan. 

DM Cory presents a world both complex and informed by the player's choices and features some of the more bizarre parts of typical High Fantasy settings.

Special thanks to Artax of Who's Taking Watch for helping with editing!

No Context Gifs:

[legendsgalore]

Sooooo guess what I've been obsessed with lately!!!! The farming game called Fields of Mistria!!!! It's just so cute, gameplay feels very satisfying, and it's literally the type or game I have been dreaming to play for years!!!!! My fav chars so far are Eiland, Ryis, Juniper, March, Celine, Balor, Dozy....what do you mean I'm just listing every character? And what do you mean ofc I have the most hearts with March bc he's a ill-tempered and competent individual who has a soft side like every fictional crush I have? Anyways, I was going to try to give other characters a chance, but that first Friday night in the inn where you find out (thanks to drunk March) that he actually likes you solidified my choice :) still gonna max out hearts with every char tho bc NO FRIENDSHIP DECAY THANK FUCK. Didn't have time last night but I'll be unlocking the barn today, and then I can have cute animals ♡♡♡

My thoughts on common complaints:

Length of Day: I feel people's complaints, but I also feel that the stamina bar and every other gameplay aspect lines up with it perfectly well. Once I realized there was no friendship decay I didn't feel as urgent, bc there's no rush to have things done in Year 1, or 2.....There's no rush.

Money being hard to come by:

No way! It's becoming common knowledge that crafting smth is much more profitable than selling the base goods, so literally if you need money just craft like 40 tables or stone chests (over 100 t each!) Or just fish for a whole day (usually gets me around 500 t). Plus with crops, I've noticed that either once u harvest or ship a certain crop, characters will send u a recipe for them in the mail. So I got a baked potato recipe which you literally just need a potato for and that now sells for 80 t/piece, and if i planted 10 potatoes (bought for 40t each) that's a lotta money! Also copper bars sell for 110t/each and it's not hard to get around 30 copper ore in a full day of mining! But literally my early money makers have been tables, rugs, and the stone furniture you get from upgrading your town rank cuz i have so much stone from mining.

My personal complaint: i know it's coming but i wanna ride horses pleaaase. Also fishing does take a really long time, like sometimes 40 in game min for one fish? But I find it fun, and if i am out of stamina i can just keep repeating eating 1 wild berry, and then fish. Cuz you just need 1 stamina to cast the line. And are there more long hair options in game??? Maybe I haven't progressed enough to see them from the Saturday hair vender (vell right?)