#mina plays bg3

[kirnet]

fight went well

[beangusu]

happy halloween :3

[intramoon]

Mina; a acolyte high elf storm sorcerer, for my new playthrough. ♡

[faerune]

[gortrash]

almost got dragged back into playing skyrim while checking up what i missed on nexus... yall stay safe out there!

[voerman]

WAIT THEY ACTUALLY HAVE CIRCLE OF SPORES???

[ahoderahayato]

I MADE MY DAUGHTER IN BG 3 GOOD BYE WORLD

[artsyaprilmr]

his side profile too.......aoaoaoao

Shaved off Minas' facial hair in act3, now he reminds me of Oscar Isaac...

[ass-deep-in-demons]

I love Domhall Gleeson so much, you have no idea!!! 😱😍😭❤️ I was already super interested in your wonderfully conceived Derufin before, and now I'm even more determined to bring him into my AU with a significant role! With your permission, of course!

I know he's technically canon, but the character is one of those blank slates that makes him practically an OC (in my view, anyway). When you have the time, could you please give me an info dump of everything you've created for him, as much as you are comfortable sharing? If you don't mind! :)

And speaking of fancasting, is his father Duinhir played by Brendan Gleeson by any chance? 😂

PS. Have fun with BG3! I haven't played it myself, but my sister spent a solid amount of time being lost to that game too. So I understand the fixation. 😂

Thank you so much for sending this ask @sotwk! And thank you for your infinite patience, unfortunately my new job has been hectic so I've had to delay forming a replay, but HERE WE GO!

The second I read your idea about Brendan Gleeson being Duinhir it immediately became my canon also <3.

There are some things about the Derufin/Morwen/Boromir triangle that I've cut out from Under Our Darkening Skies.

"When Lady Morwen had first arrived in Minas Tirith, she had wasted no time to approach Boromir and subtly prodded him on his designs regarding marriage. He was, after all, the most sought after bachelor in Gondor. A bachelor still, in his late thirties, to his father’s eternal chagrin. In response, the Steward’s Heir equally gently had let slip that he had not been planning to take a wife, and she had quickly pranced off to the greener pastures that the City offered."

Because of Morwen initially setting her sights on Boromir (I mean duh), Derufin is still to this day reluctant to make his feelings for her known. He thinks Morwen still prefers Boromir. In reality Morwen's making a pass on Boromir back then had been dictated more by her youthful ambition than any real feelings for him or even any genuine regard. So, Derufin, grow a pair and just ask her out already!!!

Some more trivia:

Derufin's older brother Duilin is prone to brooding and melancholy while Derufin is the funny, carefree one.

Derufin's love for Lady Morwen is rivalled only by his love for his finely made and custom-decorated yew longbow - a gift from Lord Steward given for Derufin's knighting. He has, of course, named the bow after the Lady. Boromir groans loudly whenever he's reminded of it. Derufin is so so so cringe about his bow but also INSANELY good at archery.

Derufin is one of the few people who know about Boromir's fling with the Archivist. He found out accidentally (and has been wishing to erase the image from his brain ever since).

Derufin is actually not the only member of Boromir and Faramir's friend group from their youth. The "pack", aside from Boromir, Faramir, Derufin and Duilin, also included Hirluin the Fair (nicknamed Pretty Boy by Derufin). Faramir befriended Hirluin when he squired in under Hador, the Lord of Pinnath Gelin. Hirluin (who has as of 3018 TE succeeded his late father) is a ladies man and a party animal, so his friendship with Faramir is an unlikely one. However, their bond is strong because of the shared memories from their youth.

I dread what will become of these babies during the Battle of Pelennor. Just know that I am out od my mind and I can promise nothing :D

[time-in-red]

I dreamed that Larian used the systems they made for BG3 to make a Lord of the Rings game. You could play through the whole canon plot, it was the default the game led you through, but it was an open world game, so you could go off the rails anytime you wanted. (Sometimes you could get back on them with minimal change, sometimes things would have gone sideways.)

Now I'm imagining people re-stating Frodo from a stealth build to a dps one and trying to kill every enemy mob between the Shire and Mt Doom. Mods to make Arwen a PC who can join the party. Speed strats the involve taking a boat from the Grey Havens and around the coast to Gondor, then picking the pockets of the merchants in Minas Tirith since you missed all the gold and loot along the way. You can go over the Misty Mountains instead of through Moria, but it takes a bunch of nat 20 survival rolls, and also Saruman knows the party exists and where it is as a result. Whole different dialogue options in Gondor if Boromir lives and is in your party when you get there.

[alpaca-clouds]

My December Challenges Masterlist

Alright, tomorrow the last month of the year begins and with it there come a lot of fanfiction writing challenges. This is going to be my masterpost, in the hope that I will manage to update this every day and not forget about it halfway through.

I am very hungry right now - so I am going to write for three challenges. My own Fluffcember Challenge with 31 stories for a variety fandoms, @amonthofwhump's Winter Whumperland Chalenge with 12 Stories focusing on Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3 and @justporo's BG3 Winter Holiday Challenge with 12 stories focusing each on different characters from BG3.

Fluffcember will update daily (unless I am somehow prevented from updating). Winter Whumperland between the 1st and 23rd on the uneven days, BG3 Holidays between the 2nd and the 24th on the even days.

I obviously will also post about the stories when they update.

Masterlist under the cut!

Day 01

Fluffcember: Stardust Children Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow | Mina & Soma | 1100 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Shadow Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion-centric | Astarion/m!Tav | 2300 Words

Day 02

Fluffcember: An Unperfect Gift Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves | Ed & Kira & Holga | 1000 Words

BG Winter Holiday Challenge: The Best View In The City Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/m!Tav | 2000 Words

Day 03

Fluffcember: Buona Notte SK8 THE INFINITY | Reki/Langa | 500 Words Winter Whumperland: His Punishment Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion-centric | 2000 Words

Day 04

Fluffcember: Russian Winters Yuuri!! On Ice | Victor/Yuuri | 1100 Words BG3 Winter Holiday Challenge: Memories of Childhood Baldur's Gate 3 | Karlach/Shadowheart/Wyll | 1000 Words

Day 05

Fluffcember: The Meaning of Family Castlevania: Nocturne | Richter & Maria & Tera | 1500 Words Winter Whumperland: His Past Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion & Original Female Charater | 2000 Words

Day 06

Fluffcember: Winter Days Baldur's Gate 3 | Halsin & Scratch | 1200 Words BG3 Winter Holiday Challenge: Reflections in the Moonlight Baldur's Gate 3 | Aylin/Isobel | 1100 Words

Day 07

Fluffcember: Caffeine Addiction Digimon Tamers | Yamaki/Reika | 1000 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Guilt Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/Original Female Character | 2100 Words

Day 08

Fluffcember: A First Time For Everything Castlevania | Trevor & Adopted Kids | 1300 Words

BG Winter Holiday Challenge: Children's Laughter Baldur's Gate 3 | Halsin & Tiefling Orphans | 1000 Words

Day 09

Fluffcember: On Thin Ice Baldur's Gate 3 | Karlach/Shadowheart/Wyll | 1100 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Responsibility Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/m!Tav | 2100 Words

Day 10

Fluffcember: Like Family Ojamajo Doremi | Majo Rika & Doremi | 1600 Words

BG Winter Holiday Challenge: Cheesy Noodles Baldur's Gate 3 | Tav & Enver Gortash | 3200 Words

Day 11

Fluffcember: Cold Nights Blue Eye Samurai | Ringo & Taigen | 1000 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Ghosts Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/m!Tav | 2000 Words

Day 12

Fluffcember: Sweet Treats Castlevania | Hector & Striga | 1600 Words

BG Winter Holiday Challenge: Midwinter Princess Baldur's Gate 3 | Karlach/Wyll | 1100 Words

Day 13

Fluffcember: A Promise of Change Castlevania: Nocturne | Olrox/Dead Lover | 1000 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Wounds Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/m!Tav | 2200 Words

Day 14

Fluffcember: The Scent of the Forest Arcane | Jayce/Viktor | 1100 Words

BG Winter Holiday Challenge: Sparkling Wine and Honeyed Berries Baldur's Gate 3 | Karlach/Shadowheart | 1200 Words

Day 15

Fluffcember: Home Again Baldur's Gate 3 | Alfira/Lakrissa | 1200 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Fault Baldur's Gate 3 | Cazador/Astarion | CW: Noncon | 2500 Words

Day 16

Fluffcember: The Meaning of Christmas Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical | Grace/Persephone | 1100 Words

BG Winter Holiday Challenge: Simril Nights Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion/m!Tav | Tav & OCs | ~4000 Words

Day 17

Fluffcember: Child's Play Baldur's Gate 3 | Astarion & Tiefling Orphans | 2100 Words

Winter Whumperland: His Leash Baldur's Gate 3 | Incubi/Astarion | CW: Noncon | 4000 Words

Day 18

Fluffcember | BG3 Winter Holidays

Day 19

Fluffcember | Winter Whumperland

Day 20

Fluffcember | BG3 Winter Holidays

Day 21

Fluffcember | Winter Whumperland

Day 22

Fluffcember | BG3 Winter Holidays

Day 23

Fluffcember | Winter Whumperland

Day 24

Fluffcember | BG3 Winter Holidays

Day 25

Fluffcember

Day 26

Fluffcember

Day 27

Fluffcember

Day 28

Fluffcember

Day 29

Fluffcember

Day 30

Fluffcember

Day 31

Fluffcember

[kirnet]

[artsyaprilmr]

Hi there! If you're comfortable talking about it, I'd love to hear more about your process creating Armenian OCs 😊 I've been wanting to incorporate more cultural aspects into my characters (particularly in a fantasy context, like dungeons & dragons) but I'm a bit lost about where to start. Ty! 🙏🏻

Hi! When making an OC, I work on 1. Name, 2. Appearance, 3. Personality and 4. Background. The process is the same for all of my OCs, though armenian OCs are influenced by my own experience and life more than the others :^) I go into more details under the cut!

If my main goal is the representation of cultural elements (ESPECIALLY in a fantasy setting), I focus mostly on naming and appearances. On the other hand, for characters that exist in a world similar to ours background would be much more important. I could explain the logic behind this too, but this would turn into a HUGE text and I'm trying to get to the point as efficiently as possible lol

I tried to keep this as short as possible, so if you'd like any clarifications or have any more questions, feel free to send me another ask or a dm! <333

But let's get back to fantasy! So, if I'm making an armenian coded character in a fantasy setting, I always go for an ethnic name. I feel like non-common (by western standards) names fit really well in fantasy worlds. You can also get away with using old/very traditional names because of this imo.

Appearance, like facial features, clothes and hairstyles also help to bring some parts of the real culture into a fantasy world. With facial features you have to be very mindful to not make a caricature on accident. Despite being armenian I am not safe from this also - I have to think not only about the way I perceive the character, but also about how others perceive them too. For example, Minas (my PC for da:tv and bg3) originally had a big, hooked nose and a unibrow, but I've decided to get rid of a unibrow because both of these features combined reminded me too much of some nasty caricatures about Caucasians I've seen in Russia. Despite there being real armenians, both men and women, who have both of these features, I didn't want to play into a widely spread stereotype and strengthen it with my presentation of the character.

With clothes I am also very mindful about NOT using 1 to 1 copies of actual traditional clothing - I personally find it to be in a poor taste. Clothes are a real part of someone's very real culture, treating them as a fancy thing for some fantasy wizard to wear is wrong, imo. Though elements of ensemble, its embroidery and a silhouette, jewelry and hairstyles are good things to use in a character design! I personally like mixing and matching different elements until I find something I like :^)

Other than names and appearances, if I want to hint at a character being armenian, I add traditional instruments, dances, weapons, foods, maybe even some armenian collocations or words for them to use. In a fantasy world their personality can be whatever I want it to be, just like their background. Because there's no Armenia in a fantasy world, it's important to remember that all the "armenian" characters are actually just armenian coded or armenian inspired. I basically let only the cultural aspects build and affect the character, and not the historic and social aspects (though when you're making an OC that exists in the real world, these aspects are EXTREMELY important).

[adarlingmess]

I think I finally figured out what's off. It's misogyny, pure and simple.

Villainesses and anti-heroines had been sexualized since time immemorial. In the last 100 years we see them from film noir femme fatales, to Bond girls, to comic book characters like Catwoman and The Baroness.

Videogames weren't safe from this phenomenon. In RPGs where romances are becoming popular, players are given the choice to go after the "bad girl"... While "bad boys" are more scarce in comparison. Why?

I don't want to throw my fellow sapphics under the bus, but even with the significant cultural shifts in the recent years, these romances with bad girls are marketed towards cisgender heterosexual men. Men in fiction are allowed to play with fire and possibly reform or conquer these dangerous women. Villainess romances fulfill sexual, romantic, and power fantasies for them. When a man expresses attraction towards a villainess, I've never seen anyone tell him "but she's evil!" and men don't get shamed for that. Evil is sexy... if the evil in question is a she.

Meanwhile, women get derided for loving bad boy romances that we used to mostly get from romance novels. These fictional men aren't even villains, they're just bad boys. Until recently the recent explosion of villain romances in circles like booktok, villains and anti-heroes that are romantically or sexually linked to the female protagonist are often depicted as predatory, irredeemable creatures who aims to destroy the purity of these women, such as Dracula towards Mina, and Erik/The Phantom towards Christine.

As a femme queer participant of fandoms, I observed that women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community get so much flak from wanting the villains and anti-heroes, and a small but vocal part of the BG3 fandom even engages in that bullshit. I've seen folks, especially cishet men, who mock female and LGBTQIA gamers for romancing Astarion and wanting romances with villains like Raphael and Gortash. The worst of them fall into redpill nice guy rhetoric, saying shit like "uGh wOmEn'S rOmAnCe oPtIoNs pRoVe tHaT tHeY wAnT aSsHoLes aNd dOn'T gIvE nIcE gUyS LiKe Us A cHaNcE."

This misogynistic phenomenon infantilizes women and queer folks, making them seem like naive children who can't differentiate fiction from reality, while men indulge in the same fantasies without reproach.

We just want options. Personally, I always wanted to see what could've happened if Mina Harker damns Jonathan and stays with Dracula. I've always wondered how things would have turned out if Christine chose the Phantom instead of going with Raoul. As mentioned above, the rise of villain romances in books is starting to balance the scales. Now that videogames have become a robust medium for storytelling, give us the option to explore these narratives.

There's a lack of morally grey/evil male romantic options for BG3.

Let me preface this by saying that the direction Larian Studios took for the romances are groundbreaking. I can definitely feel the effect they wanted us to feel with the romances- it feels like an actual relationship instead of a game where the end goal is just sex. The players are given an opportunity to influence their love interests and affect their storylines for better or for worse, just like how one would in a real relationship. Kudos!

But… I need to say it. As much as I love Baldur's Gate and BG3, the "bad girl" romance options are numerous (Viconia, Hexxat & arguably Safana in the predecessor games; Shadowheart, Lae'Zel, & Minthara + Mizora as a fling in 3) compared to the male (Dorn in 2, Astarion in 3). There's something off about it that I can't put my finger on. Plus, player have more control on whether to "fix" the bad girls or "make her worse". Meanwhile, Astarion is the only "bad boy" you can do that with. You can't even steer Dorn to a lighter path- he will straight up leave you if you are too good.

In Baldur's Gate 3, every male romance option except Astarion starts off as "good boy" romances. Gale and Wyll did questionable things but their alignment ultimately leans towards good. Halsin is a walking green flag. What if we want to roleplay a character who is into the "bad boys"? This is why we were clamoring for a Raphael and Abdirak romance since Early Access. I see folks wanting Nere and Gortash too. Where are our bastards? Please, we want to play with fire 👀

[faerune]

i have to put horse blinders on myself or smth because i keep starting bg3 runs

[cascadeofmuses]

If my muses were players in BG3

Rogue - Arcane Trickster with the Sage Background. Good at researching and stealth kills.

Sorcerer (Storm subclass) with two levels in Warlock - Agonizing Eldrich blasts with eruptive powers. (mostly likely the one who will eat the tadpoles.)

Cleric - Life Domain - Always wants to play healers, but also a good tactician. Always makes sure to keep the party buffed.

Fighter/Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) build - Lays on hands only on herself, and keeps her slots for BIG BIG SMITE DAMAGE! Also Action surge for MORE BIG BIG SMITE DAMAGE!

Barbarian (Bear Totem) - Because yeah. Reckless Tanker but also gets angry when she misses attack. She and Peach smooch at camp.

Bard (Lore subclass) - Robin is considered the ipso facto leader of the bunch, but Mina is the face and heart. She's always the one that's chats up the folks and rolls high persuasion checks. Has talked her way out of many dangerous situations.

Druid (Circle of the Moon) - Honestly, she's just there so she can peg Asterion as an owlbear.