#mmo scenarios

[astro-naut9]

vampire shadow because i love vampires and i also love shadow and did i mention i love

[w1tchybusiness]

i could write a 100 page essay about what a fucking masterpiece warframe is. i will write many words in the tags. please readem if you want my 'tism.

[thegreatyin]

i should pick up the pace and finish shadowbringers already. i NEED catboy rigel to be exposed to that catwoman

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/768756274786631680/what-are-some-less-gendered-ways-of-talking-about?source=share

I had an online stalker once. I was in no real danger and it never went offline, but the stalker was indeed stalking. I was followed between video games and social platforms, my "no, I'm not interested" was ignored

In video games, I was pressured to bring specific RPG characters and to dress my characters in certain ways, I was expected to schedule my own things around this distant acquaintance's whims. I would come out of dungeon in an MMO and find the stalker had been waiting at the loading point for twenty minutes. I would go somewhere unpopulous to craft (which involves keeping your character in the same spot for an extended period of time) and lo and behold, I'd somehow end up face to face with the stalker's character for an hour. If I teleported away to craft somewhere else, it'd only be five minutes before the stalker was in my face again.

On social media I was followed on every platform and non-secret account and pressured to reveal details of my sex life and told that my own identity labels weren't good enough. I was apparently supposed to use a different identity label that would accomodate the stalker's fantasies about me.

All pretty typical bullshit that people who don't believe in other people having boundaries will engage in.

****

If you're a canny reader, you might have noticed that some of the above is phrased a little awkwardly because I talked around any pronouns for the stalker.

What I detailed above is very stereotypical stalker behaviour, and the stereotypical players in this scenario are a female victim and male stalker.

I'm an ace man. The stalker was an AFAB femme NB.

What the stalker was doing was inappropriate because it ignored my boundaries. It wasn't "male" behaviour, it was asshole stalker behavior.

My being a man doesn't make what they did any better, nor does them being not a man.

Framing ignoring boundaries and stalking people as a male thing is not helpful in any way.

--

[hiresandhavoc]

Hello!

Welcome to Danganronpa: Hires & Havoc, an AU of Toontown: Corporate Clash based on the Danganronpa series!

This will be a post to get acquainted with how this AU will work!

Danganronpa: Hires & Havoc, or H&H for short, is a multi-media webcomic! Pages will be released at easiest convenience for the creator, but will likely be kept as consistent as they possibly can!

What is Danganronpa? For those who are unfamiliar, Danganronpa is a murder mystery game! In short, a character will be killed, and all the other characters will investigate and then debate in a trial to out the killer (referred to as the 'blackened' ingame)! If they correctly out the killer, then the killer will be punished via execution. If they are incorrect, then they are all punished. Typically, Danganronpa is split into 6 chapters and a prologue, with a murder and trial happening every chapter. This is the most basic rundown, but the nitty gritty details will be explained in the story itself!

As a disclaimer, the deaths will likely be gruesome, and viewer discretion is advised. Despite the fact that Corporate Clash is family friendly, this AU will not be due to the emphasis on murders. It will not stray too far into the edgy or shock value category, but it may be uneasy to go through.

What is Toontown: Corporate Clash? For those unaware, Toontown: Corporate Clash (or TTCC) is a free MMO based on Disney's long-gone Toontown Online. Make a Toon, and stop the Cogs from taking over Toontown! The characters in this fangan are lifted from Corporate Clash and placed into a Danganronpa scenario.

H&H is unaffiliated with Toontown: Corporate Clash, and may not directly reflect canon, as H&H was being written, Corporate Clash stated that there will be a rewrite in the works.

One last thing! If your favorite characters end up being killed off, we apologize! H&H has been in the works for well over a year as of posting this, and everything was planned in advance! Every character in the game is likely someone's favorite, so practically nobody is safe. We hope you enjoy regardless! Thank you for reading!

[varethane]

It weirded me out during Stormblood when NPCs mentioned your "adventuring comrades" when talking about an upcoming dungeon or trial in the main scenario, it was like they knew they were in an MMO. Very meta.

So anyway I drew some Final Fantasy XIV frogs.

[rontra]

"PAWS UP" is KILLING ME. "Loving GF idk" is LIKEWISE KILLING ME. @ "worse case scenario": god forbid you allow her to actually help you lmao. also very funny assuming she doesn't know she's being taken advantage of. like, she's gossiping about it in her fucking mmo,

BHFDHJBG LIKE ... its so funny to me how theyre . simultaneously on the same wavelength but also completely different isolated wavelengths. at the same time

ms "i dont mind being under her thumb" over here!

[eemamminy-art]

Hi, I've been seeing you post a lot of FFXIV stuff, and I've been kind of interested in trying it for a long while but am absolutely broke. Do you think it's worth getting into even if it's just the free trial version?

Omg yes!! The free trial honestly has a LOT in it, it takes you through the base game (A Realm Reborn) and the first two expansions (Heavensward and Stormblood, the latter of which is my favorite in the whole storyline), which goes up to level 70. You have a few limitations on the free trial, such as being unable to send private messages or join free companies (guilds, basically), but you can still party up with people and fully engage with the story and gameplay! They also have made it now where if you want to have a solo experience, the main scenario has support for partying with a group of NPCs instead of other players too, though there are a few parts where you'll need to play with real people. But I might be presuming too much, maybe you like the social aspect of MMOs :D

The character customization is really nice! There are a bunch of different races to play as, though sadly two of them will be locked behind a paid subscription (viera, which are bunny-people, and hrothgar, which are like a lion anthro race), but all the others are available on the free trial. I love making OCs in it, it's a lot of fun! I'm really fond of roegadyn, which are giants basically, and elezen, which are elves but if the elves were weird gangly pointy things. There's also cat and lizard kemonomimi (miqo'te and au ra respectively), chibis as the smallfolk race (lalafells), and stock standard humans in two varieties (midlander and highlander hyurs, one is like a normal human and the other are like bodybuilders). I'm probably forgetting something but.... Yeah!

The story is really good... ✪ ω ✪ Like extremely good!! I have been a fan of Final Fantasy for my whole life and not really ever much for multiplayer games, but FFXIV's story grabs hold of you in a way that a single player rpg does!! It's amazing! I've played it on and off since the ps3 beta of the game a decade ago, it's really special to me :3

I might be biased because I have like, nearly 12000 hours logged of playtime but.. yeah I think it's worth getting into ahaha

If you had specific questions about it I'd be glad to answer! I'm honestly kind of surprised to get an ask like this since I have been posting my art from ffxiv for the last few years, but I'm assuming you followed me for something else since I draw a variety of things! But always glad to share the gospel about this beloved game ahaha

[alteredsilicone]

"Talking to GamesRadar+, creative director Rebecca Ford said she's "always wanted to put some type of romance system into Warframe," but added "there was never an appropriate scenario to do it.""

Warframe fuckers everywhere yelling "COWARD!"

jk I would never disrespect Rebb like that

[astro-naut9]

him doodle <33

[lunarsilkscreen]

Harassment in MMORPGs

This is my conclusion on the Topic of a particular mod; along with my own thoughts on the matter; and how it may both negatively and positively affect players.

I want you to first consider this; You are having fun in some sport, against people your own skill-level, against people in your own weight-class (if that matters in your particular sport)

And then; Somebody comes in with mods or Hacks to the sport, the referees are always on their side, and always discouraging counter play by any other player or team.

Or perhaps that player just uses illegal performance enhancing drugs; and just dominates your sport. (Like how TERFs think Trans Women act in female sports.)

You have to keep that in mind for this conversation before you come at me with your "IT'S JUST A GAME! JUST DON'T PLAY WITH THAT GUY." BS.

There is no advantage to weight class or gender in the digital world; but there is a HUGE advantage to hacking and assholes behavior when other people are not allowed to do those things.

<aside>I had a friend, who after 2 years of building a Guild together; Kicked everyone out; sold the guild; and made a bunch of expensive purchases that were rendered moot when the expansion dropped and those items were made negligible in price for the new content.

Fuuuuck that guy. He was an old friend from school; we were in our twenties; and he knew it would hurt his friends.

And then his sister (who was also in her twenties) harassed me like "IT'S JUST A GAME! WHY WOULD YOU LET IT GET IN THE MIDDLE OF YOUR FRIENDSHIP‽"

Fuuuuck that guy. Seriously.

She's right though; Bros before Hoes; and Bros don't pimp your entire Guild for personal profit.

We hoe together or not at all.</aside>

For a long time in MMOs certain players in the player base would use performance recording tools to harass other players.

At the highest levels of play; Nobody cares; everybody has a reputation.

However; at the high level entry points and below? It's not only bad for business; it's bad for the players who need other players to play the game.

And a lot of.... not very compassionate players would harass others about their performance logs until they stopped playing the game.

It was a very unfun time all around; and myself and many other players have put A LOT of effort into ensuring that the other players using them were at the very least...polite about it.

Well. Except at the highest levels of play where we still had a penchant for being particularly mean to *each other* but that doesn't count....

...probably. Consenting to harassment, anxiety, and PTSD might be pushing the line a bit; BUT. We did put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that we were at least polite about it.

I do have lots of complaints about many different players; that doesn't mean I don't want to play with them again. We may need a cool down period because sometimes tensions run high; especially when reputation, prestige, and most of all; Loot are on the line.

We are, however, certainly aware of the limited pool of players at the end-game; and that we need to foster players in a compassionate environment if we'd like to continue clearing stuff.

I had to say *all* of that just to reinforce; Elite players care about the community; where Elitists (Players who use their "Elite Status" against "lesser players") do not.

And while we break the rules sometimes; we know why the rules are in place. Because these tools get used to harass and bully players out of the game; offline; and in the worst-case scenario; off the planet.

We are very aware of threats to our communities and our former comrades who brought that kind of behavior not only to people who didn't deserve it in-game; but also into social media and Offline; outside of the game.

Professional Game Players (for profit) have both experienced and perpetrated the worst of it. Because IRL Loot is a much larger incentive.

And, what this particular tool does I've had issues with for a while.

One tool we use Frequently; FFLogs, allows for performance log uploads into a separate community. AND; has restrictions for who show up on parsed logs.

....Well; They should have three-verifications TBH; they should 1) require a player to make an account and 2) obfuscate player names unless they decide to put a user name that is the same as their player name.

They have a special form of account linking; putting a unique-string in your character's public profile (on official forums themselves) that verify you actually wish to take part.

However; anybody is allowed to publish another player's logs, under that player's name. Which is a vector for harassment, unseen and often non-consentual.

It's right here I'm worried about litigation and prosecution. Our communities should know how better to deal with it; and they really should.

Though; you have to pay to keep older logs from older expansions or they're deleted. Which is a cash grab... But, you know; it helps protect players.

So how can these things be used for harassment?

Well you, my good friend; don't see why *anyone* would waste the time, energy, and resources to track a single player from server to server, or even dox their account and harass them until they log out for good.

Good for you; You're a good person. Pat yourself on the back.

Some Elitist assholes do that.

They get *so* mad or upset at somebody; that they get as many pitchforks as they can to dox and harass a player in a game specifically to prevent that player from enjoying their own personal free time until they make the obvious choice that *you* would make

Logout and do something else because *that* community is *obviously* toxic. That's what I had to do to Church; that game is worse.

What if your community or friends and family all play that game? What if somebody is *so* annoyed that you exist that they dox you and follow you from game to game to social media to your LITERAL WORK PLACE.

JUST to harass you?

*That's* what Developers and Producers are worried about when it comes to their communities; AND it obviously affects their bottom line for that public perception of "Shitty Toxic Player base" to exist.

I've said before about some harassment that I've gotten; and a lot of the stuff that I've had to deal with in *that* scope is benign in comparison with some of the things I've seen happen to real people in real life.

Y'all know MS-13? The Mexican Cartel?

Yeee.... For a little while there "Melin Shoot" became synonymous with MS-13 because 2013 is the production year of my old Chevy Sonic.

Which; As far as harassment goes... Everybody basically knew I had no affiliation with a Mexican Cartel, and it really helped out my in-game reputation for a bit.

But it did bleed into Facebook; and was one of the reasons I had to delete my personal account. Among other... Mostly unrelated things.

These are the kinds of things we *who know* think about when other people say "ITS JUST A GAME".

Yea; but sometimes.... When you logout in-game, you logout IRL. And even you have to admit; we should at least be a little concerned about that if we *really* care about our reputation and Loot-Drops.

[sexhaver]

ESO (along with probably other MMOs) has this enemy aggro system where mobs aggroed onto you will follow you right up until the very edge of the zone... but if you hit them at all while they're far away from their spawn point, they instantly realize that they don't want that smoke, sheath their weapons, do a 180, and start sprinting back home. which is obviously very frustrating in a lot of scenarios but is admittedly kind of funny when like

>try to leave a zone

>get 90% through the door opening animation only to be yanked out of the black screen by a trash mob slapping your ass for 100 damage

>turn around, deal half their health bar with a single cast of your spammable

>"hm. on second thought, never mind."

>leaves

[cringecatgirl]

10+ Year Transition Timeline

Posting the thing that cracked my egg for my 10 year tranniversary

5th Jan passed by about a month ago, but better late than never. This is a very long post, with 30+ photos over about 14 years

Pre-transition 2011-2014 The question of how I knew I was trans? I had The Feeling from about age 11 (2008), reading a gender-bender manwa called PhD: Phantasy Degree in the school library. Wherein the Protag, Lady Sang, has a ring that swaps her gender once removed. Childhood was a difficult time, and I often would go to bed dreaming of comforting scenarios where I would be able to use this kind of power on myself (yes i like forcefem, how could you tell?)

The biggest barrier for my transition for the next 6 years was simply that I wasnt aware that transitioning was a possibility, or more accurately, viable. As a kid, I was aware of The Transexuals that appeared as a butt of a joke on TV, but it felt like an impossibility if you weren't rich and had connections, requiring many surgeries and god knows what else; how they were also depicted as unattractive, undesireable and fetishistic.

2015 The first year In early January, I came across a trans timeline post on imgur.com by sheer luck. What really struck out to me is how happy, and how beautiful everyone seemed post-transition. I'll never forget the feeling of discovering that those funny little dreams I have might not be just me who does. I looked into the comments and discovered what transitioning meant, as well as that most of the people only used HRT, which was relatively inexpensive compared to what I had been expecting. The next day I awoke after having a dream wherein I was looking into a mirror atop a hill, and seeing a girl looking back. Once I awoke, I decided then to transition; simply based of the massive euphoric feeling of seeing myself as a woman.

Sadly however, I didn't really have a clue what I was doing, or what I wanted. I was terrible at asking for help or researching. I was pretty broke too, so experimenting was quite difficult. My sister moved to London and my city didnt really have a great LGBTQ scene (still doesnt 10 yrs later), so I was basically by myself. In these photos above, I think I started telling my close friends and family but I really struggled to make any meanful change to my appearance. My one goal was to start the NHS HRT track, which was supposed to be a 18 month wait list. Due to my inexperience (and being a bit socially inept) with navigating the NHS and my GP, I wouldnt start HRT until 2019, almost 4 years later. If theres one thing I could go back in time to change, it would be to DIY HRT.

2016-2018 I'd left college and begun work. I didn't feel like I passed at all, and absolutely hated voice training. I don't really remember much about this time of my life, it felt like waiting for HRT so I could start living. In hindsight, I was very depressed. I ghosted a lot of my IRL friends and working in fast food was sucking the life out me. I was very unhappy with how I looked, and didn't know how to fix it. My wardrobe consisted of pretty basic & safe outfits, like jeans & hoodies; I didn't have an experimental phase like so many other trans women did. I was decent at makeup but made so many mistakes that people often laughed at me for. I spent most of my time in this period escaping into MMO's with my discord friends and working ~50 hours a week. Sadly, I think I lost a significant amount of hair due to stress during this period of my life. Some has since grown back, but not all.

2019 (CW: SA) This is the only year I don't have any photos of, which is somewhat odd since I started HRT in May. But it was also one of my lowest points. I was at the breaking point with stress from work and didn't have many IRL friendships, in addition to working with my Dad to sell his house.

This was also the year when I was sexually assaulted on the way home from work. I would then repress this for over 5 years, as of writing, I have my first appointment in 6 days.

By the end of 2019, I had left my crappy fast food job and was living in a house share, unbeknownst that the world was about to drastically change. My mental health was starting to improve with starting HRT, I'd also learned that I had a natural testosterone defeciency, which explained why I had almost no body hair and little facial hair growth (though i still needed to epilate). However, the NHS used this to determine that I didn't require anti-androgens, and I deeply regret not challenging them on this, as I learned it was a huge mistake on their part.

2020-2022 Immediately you can tell how much HRT affected my face and body in just a year. I'd also put on a decent amount of weight as a result of a fast food addiciton. I'd begun to feel better in myself, but still didnt like my appearance. 2020 felt like a turning point in my mental health, I started a cross-Atlantic long distance relationship with another trans woman that lasted about 3.5 years. Though this gave me emotional fufillment, I craved physical affection and initmacy. During this period, it felt like something between coasting and stagnation. I wasn't satisfied with how my life was but didn't have the drive to change things. I thought I was less depressed here but I think just barely.

In late 2023, I entered the lowest part of my life. I was unhappy with the state of my living conditions, my relationship, my appearance, and so many other small things. I was working a 9-5 whilst trying to maintain a relationship where my girlfriend would get off work at 10pm. Sleeping after work was impossible whilst living at my Mothers, and moving wasn't an option due to noise complaints. I wanted to loose weight, start prog, change my wardrobe, start wearing makeup again, start voice training, dye my hair, and start taking care of myself. I was so tired of feeling like a genderless blob. And I hit my breaking point. I quit my quite-decent-paying-but-otherwise-insufferable call center job and went back into fast food, simply so I could be with girlfriend more often. I hit the gym, started prog and all the other small things. I attempted voice training again, but this time decided not to listen to my own voice. I would judge how good my voice was based on how people responded. I found they would small talk and be way more chatty to me than before, in addition to less misgendering even after 2 weeks of training.

2024 was one of the best years I've ever had. But it started with a breakup. I was distraught at the time, but in hindsight I truly think it was for the best. The first month was incredibly difficult, but I kept up my routines of self improvement. I lost about 8kg (starting from 98kg) and finally found the style I like, goth. But it still felt like something was missing Soon after the breakup, I lost my job, but this was a blessing in disguise. I got referred in to where my Mother works, and soon found this missing piece that I needed.

Holy shit does a hair cut make a difference I felt like a completely new person, and people treated me so so so much better. I'd get compliments almost every day. I actually loved my appearance, and taking photos. I reconnected with my school friends I'd alienated. I felt confident about dating. I hit my weight goal of 85kg, and starting taking prog the right way. My mental health had never been better. By the end of the year, I'd moved out of my Mother's house, who had been manipulative and abusive up until this point.

2025

So here I am, 10 years later. I've still got things to finish off, mainly fixing my testosterone levels. But it truly feels like the end of the road.

Don't ever give up, no matter how far in you are. Happiness will often not find you, you have to pry it from the Earth yourself.

[hananoami]

Forgive me but what is MSQ?

Ah, sorry @skynapple! It's a term used a lot in MMO games, but MSQ = Main Scenario Quests. In this sense I'm basically I'm referring to the Story~

I highly suggest doing the Main Story [Long Awaited Revelry] first to unlock Sylus at 1-8 before pulling making any wishes in the Wish Pools or Galaxy Explorer. That way you'll unlock his [With Him] section (Love Timeline/About Him) to start gaining affinity points from any of the new memories you obtain!

[Long-Awaited Revelry] will be available after the update on July 15th. They also mentioned that you can enter [Long-Awaited Reverly] after completing Main Story [Under Deepspace] 2-15. No need to complete all previous stages.

[wandringaesthetic]

Have an insane post I put in my drafts like a month ago:

feeling the temptation to replay a Final Fantasy game again...

Kinda want to do another full series replay but throw the MMOs in there this time since I've been FFXIV-pilled. But. That's like at least a year long project at this point. I've played I thru X a bunch already I wanna revisit the ones I haven't revisited much/at all.

So

Final Fantasy Tactics:

pros: I only played this game once and it's been a looong time ago (like >20 years a long time ago). Podcast I listen to has made me think it might be worthwhile to play the War of the Lions version. I'm a lot better at Tactical RPGs than I was as a teen or even than I was this time last year

cons: 1) I'm playing Tactics Ogre right now and I'm not sure if I can fucking take this game and that game back to back. 2) either I'm going to have to get out the PSP or do some emulation. Leaning toward emulation because the PSP feels bad in my hands. Isn't there a remake of this supposed to be happening? Maybe I'll wait.

Final Fantasy XI (online):

pros: I almost certainly wouldn't do a full replay, but I want to go back to it eventually to do the storylines for the other city-states from the base game and Wings of the Goddess, plus possibly play more of Seekers of Adoulin, which I only played enough of to progress Rhapsodies of Vana'diel. I also didn't technically "beat" it, which I'm arbitrarily defining as rolling credits on Rhapsodies.

cons: 1) I would have to resub. 2) this game in general is an enormous pain in the ass. I want to return eventually, regardless, but I don't know if it's been long enough for me to actually enjoy it. [I thought seriously enough about doing this that I tried to resub but had trouble getting the site to take my money so I decided to watch some YouTube videos of the base game Sandoria storyline instead. Was reminded of the hell that is this game's UI and decided I would prefer not to return at this time. Or perhaps ever.]

Final Fantasy XII:

pros: it's been long enough since I've played this game that I don't remember parts of it well. I would like to play it again since I've played FFXI because I think there's a strong link in terms of both gameplay and aesthetics between these games. It would be neat to get some of the espers and fight some of the bosses I've never bothered to fight before. I might do the zodiac age version because I've only played a tiny bit of it before. It is aesthetically and thematically linked with other games in the series I want to replay (Tactics, XIV, XVI)

cons: I do not actually like this game very much. Weirdly, I would say that I enjoy both the gameplay and the story but I think they mesh very poorly together and bring each other down

Final Fantasy XIII:

mostly want to revisit this one because I also want to revisit Lightning Returns and FFXV and want to perceive the ghosts of Fabula Nova Crystallis (I've played XIII-2 recently enough that I'm not going to do that again right now)

Lightning Returns (Final Fantasy XIII):

pros: I haven't played this since release, I generally enjoyed it then, and I think this game has had a surprisingly strong influence on the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy and FFXVI

cons: I would have to pull out the PS3. This isn't that big a deal. (it kinda sucks that there haven't been any ports of the XIII trilogy)

Final Fantasy XV:

pros: I haven't played it all the way through since its release. I want to.

cons: I think maybe more than any other game in the series, it's going to feel pretty different on a replay. The main scenario is kind of a disjointed mess and I'm not sure if I can play roadtrip with the boys simulator a second time and love it

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth:

pros: I played through Remake on Hard mode and want to attempt it here. I want to sort out my feelings on this game.

cons: it's so long, there are so many sidequests, there is so much

Final Fantasy XVI:

pros: I wanna play the DLC but I can't do it on its own now because I forgot how to ding dang play. I suspect this game would feel Significantly better on the Hard/"Final Fantasy" mode. As in, I feel like the eikon fights &etc would actually feel as big as they are on the screen. I have generally liked nearly every Final Fantasy better on the second playthrough because I know where it's going to please me and where it's going to disappoint me and I can better enjoy it for what it is. I have been listening to the soundtrack and contemplating it.

cons: do I want to get good. Do I want to have an existential crisis about whether I want to get good.

Final Fantasy XIV:

pros: I think this may have actually become my favorite Final Fantasy. I want to replay it to further solidify my feelings and refresh my memory, not just for its place in the series, but the expacs in relationship to one another. Wanna play all of it with the updated graphics. I feel like I could go through it a lot faster than I did the first time.

cons: I'm going to have an existential crisis on whether I want to new game+ it or make an alt. I already feel like I've spent most of the last three years playing this game.

World of Final Fantasy

pros/cons: has nothing to do with anything I just like it and would like to play it again

Final Fantasy X-2

pros: since the reason I list for a lot of these is "I've only played it once/ haven't played it since release," sure, why not, throw this on the pile

cons: If FFX didn't exist, I would probably think this game is.... Fine. Since FFX does exist and is one of my favorite games and this game is theoretically a sequel to it, I find it loathsome and insulting

[drakeanddice]

On the Matter of “Lonely Fun”

I do not enjoy prep.

I had a conversation with Navi the other day and many things were discussed regarding Trad gameplay, OSR stuff, dungeon crawling, and the varying imbalance between the GM and player roles in those games. Navi explained that she views most of those older trad games as, to a greater or lesser extent, board-games in which you try to face greater and greater perils while expending the fewest resources possible. She misses a little bit of the granularity in the tactical plastic-pushing sense of dungeon-crawling.

I’ll admit I got a little caustic. “Of course you do. You weren’t the one doing the homework.” She showed up and got to passively consume. The AI had already set up all the situations and all that was left was to make interesting choices and see how the situations resolved.

I don’t want to put on that mantle of wounded pride, the one so common among the legions of “forever DMs.” No one’s forcing anyone into the service side of the weirdly-fraught master and servant relationship that is D&D. Plenty of power-bottoms in the scene, for sure; just absolutely over-the-moon to make sure everyone has a good time week after week, whose psychological reward is that their friends at the table were excited to experience the story they’d crafted.

Don’t @ me that you’re the big D at your table because you’re sitting behind the screen and deciding matters of life and death for your party, because the same has been said about healers in MMOs. You are in the service industry, friend. It’s why you’ve got homework before every game.

I do not enjoy that prep. Mostly, it rankles that only one person at a table of four, five, six functioning brains is the only one who gets saddled with the lonely fun in a lot of these games. Because, I’ll happily admit that it can indeed be lonely fun. Honestly, the problem is that I, being a writer, have a tendency to vanish over the edge of the deep end where prep and world building and scenario design and customized content and everything are concerned.

Navi, for all of her talk of occasionally missing the D&D-esque dungeoncrawling adventure days will be the first to tell me that she does not miss the days when I was running D&D for her. Because I put way too many hours in. Not because I had to. Not because the game was complex or difficult, not because the game required it of me, but because it didn’t fight me if I did. Honestly, the game was such a bag of blanks that I could spend as much time as I liked filling them in and if anything, the game only got better. And so I did. And the game was…y’know fine. Great. The table was awesome. So long as I didn’t expect anything of them.

The players would show up and play through the encounters, ooh and ahh at all the right places, and tell me they had a good time. And that was enough for a while. But man, the energy only goes one way in that kind of game. I spend my time daydreaming and writing and such, and they appreciate it. Then wonder what happens next week. No real agency or direction, just passive recipients.

I can’t do that anymore. So I tend to play games that treat prep with the same disdain I do. Or I write some World Anchors when I pitch an OSR game. I set the timer and spend no more than ten minutes on the steady state world and then go. I don’t prep, I play.

I prefer to get my board game-y combat bits from board games. They don’t require as much set-up. And typically the other players help.