#surprise round rpg

[detectivemothman]

Rush and her Stand The Spirit of Radio

[calicoparade]

Erm,,, what the scallop??

[arrowgriffon]

if I had a nickle for every time a surprise round / stabbyness character showed up in a obscure blorbo poll, I'd have 2 nickles which isnt a lot but ITS WEIRD IT HAPPENED TWICE

[halo2rat]

old eb borb fanart (the keep arc?? i think mid 60s) bc i miss them sm

[fantasyfantasygames]

Seven Hundred Signs

The Seven Hundred Signs of the Unseen, Alice White, 2013

Alice White is quite the multi-talented individual. She's a solid game designer, and writes clearly, but her main skill is as an artist. Seven Hundred Signs puts her creative talents front and center.

The game's core conceit is that there is a hidden world layered beneath our own, "the Unseen", with magical conspiracies, invisible portals, impossible buildings, astral technologies, etc. People disappear from our world and end up trapped in an in-between state, from which they eventually escape. The way in which they escape - ripping, bargaining, squeezing, etc. - sets their character type. That's Session 0. After that the game revolves around various major factions and their quests for worldly power, often by acquiring magical power.

You've heard this setting's story before, but that doesn't make it bad. It just means that you can take bits and pieces from Unknown Armies, Delta Green, Over the Edge, Mage: The Awakening, Underground, Living Prism, Kingdom of Nothing, JAGS Wonderland, Night's Black Agents, ConX, Nahual, and more and they'll all fit in your game without too much extra work.

The mechanics are taken from Exacting Calibration, a 4000-word game in the same lineage as Snow & Silence. It uses a deck of playing cards that you write on and alter as the game goes on, a little like "legacy"-style board games. Your character might want there to be more 3s in the deck, for instance, because one of their powers triggers when a 3 comes up, so they might quest for the ability to add an extra diamond to the 2 of diamonds. Or you can place special sigils on cards, which lets you reduce ill effects or trigger critical successes and unseen power surges. It's a fairly slow progression, but by the end of the game the deck is pretty literally stacked in your favor. Balance is not necessarily great. The number of people playing also has a major effect on the odds of a particular card coming up. We'll eventually see those kinks get ironed out in Break of Night (2021), but for now it's still a bit wonky.

The game really shines in its layout and artwork. Full-color two-page spreads are common. Text is placed where it reads clearly, without trying to get too clever about it. On pages that are mostly text, there's still always at least one piece of art - things like a character walking past a streetlight in a bottom corner, or a monster creeping out of the seam in the center of the book.

Two intertwined stories run through the book's art: one of redemption, one of corruption. Different factions have their own subtle color themes. That makes for a really cool moment when the color of someone's wallet makes you realize that they've switched sides. The Unseen is painted in a hyperreal fashion that contrasts with the more typical painting style of the Common World (our world) in a way that makes it feel more real and more important.

There's a little bit of weirdness in the specific conspiracies - some of them are connected to real-world antisemitism and pseudoscience - but it seems like Alice was genuinely unaware of that at the time she wrote the game. Ten years ago I would not have possibly guessed that lizard people theories, of all things, are connected to antisemitism... but it turns out that if you dig deep enough in almost any conspiracy theory, someone starts spouting off about "Elders of Zion" and it alllll rolls downhill. Anyway, like I said, it doesn't seem to be intentional here, and the setting is modular enough that you can remove the problematic elements.

Seven Hundred Signs was expensive when it was first published, and it's only become more so since then. Your best bet may actually be the art book section of a used bookstore. Alice left the RPG scene for computer game visual design back in '15.

[anim-ttrpgs]

Re-Introducing the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club & FAQ

Alright, so, we have this discord server called the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. A discord server, run by the A.N.I.M. Team, for reading, analyzing, and playing TTRPGs. It’s free to join, and at the time of writing this it has a community of nearly 200 members.

Also at the time of writing this, for a limited time, you can get a FREE PDF of the July 11th update of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy just by joining the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club! This is a huge upgrade over the free May 10th version!

Here’s how the book club operates:

Nominations. Members nominate RPGs they wanna play.

Voting. After we finish the current RPG, we vote on what the next one will be. You can vote for as many nominations as you want, and nominations with the most votes wins.

Reading. We encourage you to buy the winning game to support the developers, but if you can’t for any reason, we will find a way to get you a PDF. A rough deadline is set that will allow everyone to read the rulebook at a rate of about 10 pages a day, though reading faster or slower is okay.

Playing. We assign GMs on a volunteer basis, and players are assigned to groups with GMs based on schedule compatibility. Each group plays the same adventure module, so each group will have commonalities in their adventure that they can talk about and compare their experiences with, even with different GMs, players, and characters.

Repeat. Voting begins anew with the nominations that we have accumulated in the mean time.

A.N.I.M.’s current Patreon goal is also tied to the Book Club. If y’all can raise our Patreon income to $310/month, that will allow us to set aside manpower to carve out and organize a small additional space within the ANIM TTRPG Book Club server for other games which do not fit the nomination criteria for the main book club! At the time of writing this, it sits at $259/$310. Signing up to the patreon grants you access to monthly rulebook updates as we continue to finish the game, adventure modules, short fiction, and our patreon discord server.

Below is a bit of an FAQ as an attempt to quell any concerns or hesitations

“The Book Club games probably don’t fit with my schedule.”

They might! Because we assign multiple different groups based on schedule compatibility, the book club games are actually very very schedule-flexible! You might be surprised!

And if they still don’t, even just reading the rulebook and joining in on discussions is a valuable form of participation!

“I’m afraid to play with strangers.”

They won’t exactly be strangers if you hang out around them in the book club long enough! Yes we do get what you mean, but there’s nothing to worry about. The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club is a safe community, and we have rules and, more importantly, procedures designed to make playing with relative strangers as smooth an experience as it can be!

“What if I don’t like the RPG that wins the vote?”

While we encourage you to step a little out of your comfort zone, participation in any given round of the book club is not mandatory, there’s no punishment for sitting out! It’s cool to just hang around in the discord server and discuss virtually anything if you want to.

Elegantly designed and thoroughly playtested, Eureka represents the culmination of three years of near-daily work from our team, as well as a lot of our own money. If you’re just now reading this and learning about Eureka for the first time, you missed the crowdfunding window unfortunately, but our Kickstarter page is still the best place to learn more about what Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy actually is, as that is where we have all the fancy art assets, the animated trailer, links to video reviews by podcasts and youtubers, and where we post regular updates on the status of our progress finishing the game and getting it ready for final release.

Beta Copies through the Patreon

If you want more than just status updates, going forward you can download regularly updated playable beta versions of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and it’s adventure modules by subscribing to our Patreon at the $5 tier or higher. Subscribing to our patreon also grants you access to our patreon discord server where you can talk to us directly and offer valuable feedback on our progress and projects.

The A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club

If you would like to meet the A.N.I.M. team and even have a chance to play Eureka with us, you can join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club discord server. It’s also just a great place to talk and discuss TTRPGs, so there is no schedule obligation, but the main purpose of it is to nominate, vote on, then read, discuss, and play different indie TTRPGs. We put playgroups together based on scheduling compatibility, so it’s all extremely flexible. This is a free discord server, separate from our patreon exclusive one. https://discord.gg/7jdP8FBPes

Other Stuff

We also have a ko-fi and merchandise if you just wanna give us more money for any reason.

We hope to see you there, and that you will help our dreams come true and launch our careers as indie TTRPG developers with a bang by getting us to our base goal and blowing those stretch goals out of the water, and fight back against WotC's monopoly on the entire hobby. Wish us luck.

[fostersffff]

Seeing rounds of people respond to NISA saying Trails through Daybreak is a great place to jump into the franchise with "NOOO! IT'S BY NO MEANS A GREAT PLACE TO START!!! WHAT ARE YOU SAAAYING!?!?! IT'S THE 11TH GAME IN A SERIES WITH A CONTINUOUS STORY!!!"

Listen: I understood when it was laughing at how Trails of Cold Steel III was advertised by NISA as "a great place to start", but everyone needs fuckin' relax here. If someone who has never played a Trails game sees Trails through Daybreak and thinks "wow, that's cool!", they are statistically unlikely to go "but before I check out this brand new thing I've never seen before, I will play 10 other RPGs first to make sure I have complete context, including a game that is literally older now than the first Dragon Quest was at the time of its original release". And if people keep saying "NO NO THESE GAMES CAN'T BE PLAYED WITHOUT THE FULL CONTEXT TO APPRECIATE EVER MINUTE DETAIL YOU NEED THOSE 10 OTHER RPGS!!!" they're much more likely to go "oh, nevermind then".

Like, as someone who played Cold Steel I and II before circling back to Sky and proceeding straight through from there, there were moments where I surely missed the impact of some characters showing up, or was a little confused about the why or how other things were happening. Not knowing that the weapon that deleted Garrelia Fortress was one of three giant robots didn't make that game unintelligable; if anything, it made the sudden appearance of the Panzer Soldats at the very end even more surprising. Yeah, I had no idea in what context Lloyd and Rixia showed up at the end of Cold Steel II, but the game just tells you "hey here's who these characters are" and I went "well, ok".

It is so much easier to entice people to get into a thing if they try the new hotness, and then go "woah, there's even more stuff in this series I can check out!?"

Or maybe they don't and just go forward from there, and that's fine too. Just don't actively tell people they gotta do like 800 hours of what will feel like homework to them before doing the thing they actually want to do.

[rpgsandbox]

FÄNGELSEHÅLA is the Swedish word for "dungeon." 

We are inviting you to play an epic adventure with the elegance of the instructions from everybody's favorite furniture store!

This tabletop role-playing game takes a minimalist approach, offering an immersive experience without the complexity. Forget thick rulebooks and intricate character sheets – FÄNG is as easy to grasp as connecting the dots in an instruction manual. 

Designed for new players and one-shots that allow you to embark on quests with mechanics so straightforward that you can be up and running in minutes. 

Make characters within minutes using d66 tables and jump right into the adventure!

You can choose from character options of Alv, Dvärg, Krigsman, Tomte and Trollkarl. (Elf, Dwarf, Warrior, Gnome & Wizard) Each character option providing some unique benefits in the game. 

Each character also receives a heirloom and curse to help round out their back story and make the game play a little more exciting!

Attributes of Will, Tinker, Agile and Tuff ranging from 2-4 that are the base pool of white Action Dice as well as any extra dice added from character benefits

Top two Action Dice are totalled to beat a Difficulty score on a scale of 12

Jinx is a tie, and there is success with a complication

Use Luck Dice to improve failed Action Rolls

Difficulty Scale

<6 - Don't bother rolling... characters just do it! 6 - Pretty easy, you had better be able to do it 7 - Expected outcome, unless you mess up 8 - Pretty hard task, but not surprising that you did it 9 - Damn hard, but with all your concentration, you can do it 10 - Very difficult, to the point that pulling it off is surprising 11 - Almost Impossible... don’t kill yourself in the process 12 - Impossible... best you can hope for is a Jinx

The "DOOM STACK" for Tactile Game Play

Character damage and trauma is tracked with black Doom Dice which you stack on the table - or track on character sheet if you are on a wobbly table, camping, or just think it's too gimmicky (it's fun though... you should try it!)

Difference between the Action Roll and Monster Difficulty is Doom to the loser

If your Doom Stack tumbles during battle, the character is unconscious, or you trigger a trap if you accidentally knock them over while getting a snack!

Risk using Doom Dice to help Action Rolls but then add them to your Doom Stack

* Dice are not included as part of the game, but hopefully you have some extra lying around, or can find some at your Friendly Local Game Store. It's not necessary to have different colors of dice (white, black and a third color for luck), but it makes game play a bit more clear! Dice with dots tend to work better than numbers, for quickly determining success.

* The base game mechanics were inspired by the d6 system first developed for Ghostbusters RPG by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis & Greg Stafford, which has been foundational for dice pool mechanics across many TTRPGs

Each adventure is minimal game prep from random d66 tables that provides the dungeon rooms and its contents. It's so easy that you can probably even run it without a Doomsayer (Game Master).

In true ZineQuest fashion, you will receive a 36-page saddle-stitched landscape digest-sized zine (5.5"H x 8.5"W), with black and white interior pages and heavyweight card-stock color cover and inside cover pages.

This format was chosen to lie flat and be accessible while you roll on the d66 tables. It has the bonus of looking like an instruction manual!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Wed, February 21 2024 3:05 AM UTC +00:00

Website: [Dieku Games] [facebook] [twitter] [instagram]

[allmannerofmalady]

DATV: Thoughts after 30+ hours of playing

Part 2 of my jumble of thoughts, spoilers ahead. I'm going to be yapping a LOT but hey, this is my space to yap. It will be LONG.

General spoilers ahead, and explicit Solas/ending spoilers.

I feel like I have to add caveats yet again-

This comes from a place of deep emotional involvement with the franchise - but it's just the personal opinion of a rando on the internet (me).

I work in the VFX industry and I'm transitioning into game dev. I am very aware of how much time and work has gone into every detail, so I just want to acknowledge the work of the whole team. Creating assets, environments, levels - it's NOT easy. I am also very aware of how creative people and projects can get stifled due to corporate greed/ upper management.

I am a to-the-bone RPG player, I am in my 30s and it has been a lifelong passion of mine. I care about lore, character design and story - so that's my bias when it comes to opinions.

I love Solas and have feelings about it sorrryyyyyyyy

ON TO THOUGHTS :D

Positives

I'm really enjoying the gameplay and combat, hence the 30+ hours I've put into it. I'm playing as a rogue, and as I level up the combat and combos have been very satisfying. I usually always play on mouse + keyboard for DA, but I'm using a controller for DATV.

Again - I am surprisingly really enjoying Rook so far! I like the character and the British VO, and this is coming from a person who was extremely meh and uninterested in Rook, and yearned to revisit previous protagonists.

Bellara is another surprise, she's much more sweet and endearing than I expected, and from the trailers/leaks I thought I would not enjoy her character at all. Voice acting in general seems to be improving, or at least doesn't stand out to me as much as the start of my game.

The companions as a whole don't feel as deep or well rounded as previous games (but I'm still midway through, so not a fair assessment until I complete all of their personal quests), but as an RPG lover who loves games with a diverse party of companions, I'm enjoying the journey with them. Emmrich is my fave.

I don't think any amount of cameos and previous game mentions would ever be enough for me, but wow was I emotional when I saw Dorian and Inquisitor Lavellan <3 how amazing is it to have characters that get that sort of reaction from you.

I'm happy to be back in the world of Thedas, even if it wasn't how I personally envisioned it would be presented. Walking around and hearing a bard play Sera Was Never?!?!? I'm not crying.

The game looks and plays beautifully, setting aside feelings about character proportions. I keep getting distracted by how beautiful my Rook is lol. It's also running so smoothly for me, not a single glitch or bug as yet.

Personal meh's

I really, really miss the opportunities for dialogue as we had in DA:I. I feel like I can only start conversations when the game allows me to, and I loved yapping with the characters whenever I could. It also allowed you to ask juicy questions, like going to Viv or Morrigan when she's in Skyhold, asking their opinions about stuff, etc. I hate that I can't pick Harding's brain more about her time at the Inquisiton, or Varric (yes, I'm aware of the twist but still).

Following that, I wish we had more access to Solas :') even if it's just to bicker or give him attitude, or whatever the player chooses. So far, I've only been able to speak to him 3 times, I think.

The 3 choices at the start of the game (which like many, I have feelings about) don't seem to give you much satisfying payoff so far. For example, I created Inquisitor Lavellan, who romanced Solas and wants to redeem him. I spoke to her, she gave me the lines about her history with him - based on those choices, I feel like Rook should rush back to Solas and use that information? Like hey, I know this about you, I hold a weak point, work with me etc - or something idk. This applies to a lot of other angles as well, but just one example. I guess this is part of the phasing out of the Keep, and in turn removing the importance of previous decisions.

I am still really enjoying playing and nothing will stop me from finishing the game - but it doesn't feel like the RP in RPG (which I think is what it's going for, it's leaning towards the action RPG style). At moments it feels like "Dragon Age Stories" or something - shorter, tighter missions and an overarching story. This does not feel like the follow up I envisioned after the first 3 games, and the grand finale of Tresspasser. Sometimes it feels like playing Hyrule Warriors or Persona 5 Strikers and being told they're sequels to the actual RPGs if that makes sense? I'm still not sure I'll feel this way at the end, we shall see. I'm absolutely open to changing my mind.

I'm not a fan of the music, and think the previous games had much better soundtracks *hides*

Me being butthurt about stuff

There's been so much DA Inquisition hate over the years, and recently I feel like a lot of the feedback from BioWare has also felt like DA:I is being swept under the rug. Yes - a lot of it is valid, the fetch quests, the Hinterlands stuff etc, and I know a lot of DA fans have mixed feelings about it. But to me, it was so ambitious - that's what has continued to blow my mind until today. It's breadth, the size - running around Skyhold, feeling the power of the Inquisitor grow, the lore. I played DA2 first, followed by DA:O (which I ADORE) and when I started DA:I, the amount of lore was still overwhelming - I felt like I was really entering a true high fantasy game, and never felt like I was treated like an idiot. In fact, it was so fulfilling to absorb and learn the lore. The way it's simplified, over explained, retconned or glossed over in DATV really makes me sad at times. I refuse to shit on DA:I (or any previous DA game) to justify changes in future games. I bought every DLC, art book, merch, the novels - I and many others have invested into the franchise over the last 10 years with only crumbs of info about a new game. I don't like feeling like in order to celebrate a new release, we're encouraged to disparage the ones that came before, IDK.

I question getting invested in DA characters anymore, when we see how they get treated. Why should I be invested in any of the new gang? I fell in love with every companion in DA, and I miss them sorely. I downloaded mods to fix the banter bugs, tried every path to squeeze what I could out of the games. How can we be in Tevinter, talk about the issues of slavery, and no mention of Fenris?! (Yes, I'm biased af lol). I miss Cassandra, Leliana, SO many others. The line between rebooting the franchise and not wanting to mention previous characters is controversial.

There is a lot of love put into DATV, even as someone who is disappointed at aspects of it. The one thing I wish for was for the game to have felt like a love letter to the franchise that came before, and TO ME it feels more like a rush to tie loose ends. The new Silent Hill 2 remake feels like a love letter to the fans, and to the original game. If you feel that way about DATV that's fantastic, genuinely, it just didn't hit that mark for me after years of anticipation. But hey, I'm a rando on the internet. A love letter to the game to me could feature characters from the first 3 games (whatever choices the players made, since the Keep is removed any way), just to bid them a proper farewell at this point. Alistair my bb :')

There is a lot of world building from the previous games that seems completely ignored. Too much to type out tbh.

Solas/Solavellan rants - I'm seeing a lot of people complain about negativity on the subject, so please take with a grain of salt that this is just my opinion! I am still enjoying my Rook's journey.

I am sad about how Solas was written, and the Solavellan ending. I know many are happy about it - and trust me, I'm glad but I just wish I felt the same :') he feels very moustache twirling a lot of the time and I miss the previous complexity. They clearly set him on a path of no return with what he did to Varric as well, and that was... a choice. Idk what to even say about that whole plot line.

Not everyone is a Solavellan, or even likes Solas as a character. Hence the beauty of different endings, the different ways you can go about it. But I just can't reconcile the "good" ending options, and the effort to provide a Solavellan ending when it was set up like this. I get that Solas is now on the Din'anshiral, his mask is gone, he is embodying the Dread Wolf. But that beautiful nuance from Inquisition isn't there for me. The sadness, the conflict. The incredible branching dialogue options. SIGH.

The Mythal plotline - I would not have minded this given the backstory we get from previous media, but having the new companions making sex jokes about Solas/Mythal honestly felt like it was purposely shitting on Solavellans lololol. There is a million ways to interpret Solas' memories, the things you find, but I wish it didn't require it. I wish it was a clear homage to a romance that became iconic for the game this is a follow up to, and kept a sizeable chunk of the fandom going for 10 years. I still do think the game is slightly selling that Solas loves Lavellan (if that's the storyline you choose at the start, and if you choose to find the clues etc), but it feels wedged in, like an afterthought to the Mythal storyline they're going for. Almost like "HERE shut up about Solavellan, TAKE THIS *slaps messy baggage about potential Solas x Mythal and a limp kiss/doomed ending on a plate* now eat it and SHUT UP, we're moving ON" ha ha haaaa

The kiss between Solas and the Inquisitor at the end, and them getting into the flying car to (maybe?) rot in the fade like a doomed Danny and Sandy - not it for me. Sorry. But AGAIN, my dad doesn't work at Bioware, this is their franchise to do with as they see fit lol I'm just a yapper, a fan who was nourished by Solavellan crumbs. I do hope it makes others happy and wraps up the story the way they envisioned it, I'm actually jealous and wish I felt that way lol. But fanfics and art have always filled the gaps, and they shall continue to do so. Maybe I'll change my mind as time goes on.

Even though I'm not a fan, I am glad we got SOMETHING for Solavellan, I think it was just overhyped and not this grand beautiful foil to the heartbreak in Trespasser.

So far, gameplay wise - I would give DATV a 7 or 8 out of 10. It's smooth, it's beautiful, and the combat is addictive and I find myself always wanting to go on one more quest, or exploring just a little bit further.

Storywise - I don't think I could give it a fair assessment given I'm biased about previous games, and I'm too entrenched in the world building of DAO to DAI to be fair. I accept that I might be being phased out as the target audience for the franchise moving forward, but will enjoy getting my Rook to where she needs to be :)

[the-count-to-tomodachi-2]

posting daily until tomodachi life 2 comes out

day 292

Putteth thy mii centre stage in a w'rld full of possibilities with tomodachi life, a quirky game starring thee and ev'ryone thee knoweth, only on nintendo 3ds family systems. Populate thy v'ry owneth island Elysium with the mii charact'rs of thy choice and gaze the drama unfold! bringeth thy mii charact'rs to life! thee can maketh a mii charact'r from scratcheth, using a photo, 'r transf'r in a mii you’ve already did create from mii mak'r. In tomodachi life, thee can giveth thy mii a voice and setteth their p'rsonality, which det'rmines how they’ll act, what s'rt of things they’ll sayeth and much m're! once you’ve hath moved thy mii into a new home at mii apartments, bringeth the lodging to life by creating the mii charact'rs of thy family, cater-cousins, 'r anyone else thee can bethink of! if 't be true thee putteth thy minion people in thy game, surprising things can befall! thee can eke taketh mii charact'rs from oth'r playeth'rs via local playeth 'r by scanning qr code patt'rns. Behold aft'r those folk! up to 100 mii charact'rs can moveth in to the mii apartments and each one shall needeth looking aft'r. Thee can hangeth out with all thy mii charact'rs, giveth those folk gifts, holp to customise their apartments, and playeth minigames. Tryeth diff'rent things to figure out what maketh each one joyous! checketh backeth ev'ry day… helping thy mii charact'rs realise their desires and dreams is rewarding but so is sitting backeth and watching the most wondrous, ridiculous, fartuous, hilarious drama of tomodachi life! some residents may becometh cater-cousins, falleth out, haply coequal falleth in love…assuming a loveth rival doesn’t stepeth in! those gents might needeth thy counsel, so checketh in on those folk ev'ry day to seeth what those gents receiveth up to! expl're thy new home thy tomodachi life unfolds on two islands pack'd with int'resting shops and places to hangeth out! the stock in shops changes ev'ry day, so thee'll at each moment findeth something new. To starteth, just a few areas art available, but in timeth oth'r areas shall unlocketh, letting thee enjoyeth these most wondrous islands in all their gl'ry! the days and seasons passeth on thy islands just liketh in the real w'rld. Keepeth thy eyes peel'd f'r special events ev'ry day. 'mongst oth'rs, you’ll unlocketh a café wh're you’re sure to ov'rhear some bizarre conv'rsations, a conc'rt hall wh're thy mii charact'rs can receiveth togeth'r to p'rf'rm songs and an amusement parketh did fill with excit'ment activities – enwheeling an rpg hath called tomodachi quest! aught can befall! if 't be true a couple hast a peat of their owneth, anon'r 'r lat'r yond dram p'rson shall groweth up and wanteth their owneth space. Thee can giveth those folk their owneth lodging in mii apartments, 'r sendeth those folk off travelling 'round the w'rld! those gents can wend on a trippeth to visiteth oth'r playeth'r’s islands via streetpass, and thee might just taketh some visiteth'rs 'r goods from oth'r islands, too! with spotpass, thee can eke taketh lett'rs 'r photos from a mii who is't is off travelling the w'rld. What shall befall in thy tomodachi life? maketh mii charact'rs, giveth those folk all unique p'rsonalities, and holp those folk realise their desires and dreams! expl're the island and discov'r excit'ment new ways to careth f'r and ent'rtain thy island'rs! witness fartuous, comical, 'r just plain most wondrous moments and showeth those folk off with screenshots! checketh backeth ev'ry day to seeth what crazy things thy residents receiveth up to!

[detectivemothman]

Miles O'Cyrus and his stand Fighting With The Melody

[aw-colorcat]

So… I wrote a fight scene? 

Takes place in the “sequel to Mario rpg were you go to weapon world” au/idea thing (originally by @missd476)

It’s kind of long so under the cut. Not long enough for me to bother to post on Ao3 I don’t think

Not too soon after entering weapon world, Mallow and geno face off against Bowyer and Mack in Boomer’s dojo. The heroes had some reservations, considering the state their opponents seemed to be in, but the weapons were out for blood and would not take no for an answer. (Mallow studied Bowyer, whose eyes were covered by… tape? and was missing his bowstring. “Not to be rude but can you like, see? Or fight at all?” “Perfectly well, I know where you stand, Nya! And strike you down where you stand I will!”)

Boomer insisted that this be a FAIR fight with actual turns, instead of a free-for-all. One of Boomer’s apprentices unpacked a gong from one of the crumbly boxes (even in weapon world, every dojo has one of those lying around). Everyone took their places, and soon it was dead silent.

The very instant the gong was hit, Bowyer sprang- mowing down Geno before he had a chance to charge his gun. He quickly pivoted direction and returned to his original position. 

Geno found himself on the ground. How had the weapon done that so quickly? He hadn’t even had time to register the sound himself. Was it possible… he could have picked up on the air moving as the mallet approached the gong?

Mallow gathered electricity, remembering how it had been effective on the weapons they’d seen so far, and launched it at Bowyer. To his surprise, the bow seemed to absorb the attack.

“Nya ha! Free energy!” He cheered, sparks running along his arms. 

Mallow remembered “Oh wait, doesn’t he use electric attacks? Well, not doing THAT again.” He flicked his eyes over to Geno, hoping he hadn’t noticed his mistake.

Mack proceeded to waste his turn doing knife tricks, “Hah! At this rate we have it in the bag! Show em’ Bowyer!”

Bowyer charged at Mallow, and this time Geno paid close attention. How did he know where to go? Surely he couldn’t hear over his own clattering movement, not to mention the general chaos of a battle. Unless it was… how Mack stared intently at Mallow, turning his head to follow Bowyer as he returned. That had to be it.

“Mallow!” He called as his friend got up off the floor, “Try to get some clouds in here?”

“What? Okay sure!”

A round full of bullets, fireballs and static electricity passed. Upon Mallow’s turn arriving, he let out a huge wave of fog from his body, obscuring most of the dojo. The response was immediate. “NYAAA!” A screech from Bowyer. “Don’t panic yet I got this!” from a clearly panicking Mack.  “Hey! This is cheating!” from one of the apprentices. All pretense of taking turns went out the window as attacks began to fly.

Bowyer was apparently not content to wait, and charged at Mallow again. A loud and frequent clicking could be heard as he got closer. Was it really this easy? Mallow didn’t even need to mind-read to know this was some kind of echolocation. He took out his cymbals and slammed them just as the bow reached him. As he suspected, bowyer was throughly disoriented.

Meanwhile, Mack and Geno were fighting each other. Flames bled light through the fog as Geno focused on dodging them. He was discovering that without the huge sword as a mount, Mack was not very mobile, preferring to stand his ground and turn to face an attacker. This was easily used to his disadvantage.

Once the fog lifted, both weapons looked significantly worse for wear. 

“Are you giving up yet?” Mallow asked.

“No!” “Nyat yet!” The weapons shouted back at him, “It’s time to get serious!”

Almost in an instant, the two stacked on top of each other. Mack rode Bowyer as he charged, like a jousting horse and knight. One as the sight, one as the agility, and their combined elemental powers… it was apparent why these two stayed together. It was time for the real battle.

Still nobody was taking turns. One of the apprentices pointed this out to Boomer, who wasn’t about to step in and do anything about it. “We will just have to let it happen.” He sighed.

Geno had taken several fireballs as mallow prepared�� something. He just hoped whatever it was could end the fight before he got torched. And then he felt it.

The apprentices panicked first “RAIN! Rain in the dojo!” They cried, taking cover under a table. Boomer took down the painting behind him and held it over his head. The Bowyer/Mack combo skidded into a wall. 

“What was thaaattttt?!”

“Closed your eyes you did!!”

Mack squinted back at him, “I can’t get water in here, my fire will go out!”

In the seconds they spent bickering, mallow and Geno had surrounded them.

“Turn that S$&* off! I don’t wanna rust!”

By the tone of Mack’s voice, Bowyer knew he was done fighting. And if he tried to take them on alone, that cloud guy could use those horrible reverberating things and mess him up.

“Surrender we do, nya!”

[galaxychaos78]

Gamer!boyfriend Trio Headcanons!

lowkey feel like Naruto's a strict console only player. He tried to play on PC, but found it too complicated to use. shit me too Naruto.

absolute GARBAGE at Mario Kart like oh my god he cannot handle anything higher than 50cc

huge Pokemon fan and is a Pikachu fanboy

has broken a few controllers, not out of rage, but because he keeps smashing the buttons thinking it'll make him better at the game

really into fighting games, but also winds down with Pokemon or Sonic games

is a pretty respectable loser and always compliments his opponent on their skills. has made a few friends just from being nice. however if he runs into a shit talker, they're about to get their shit rocked.

likes to make you involved in the games he plays no matter how little.

has you customize and name his characters and picks the stats. He also lets you pick the choices in story based games

he loves playing games while laying back against your lap & having you play with his hair

feel like kiba's also a console only player. he's one of those people who just has an entire bookshelf with xbox and switch games

he really enjoys rouge-like games and pixel indie games (Hades, Hollow Knight)

100% a COD/Apex Legends player

has the biggest fucking ego when he wins, but is a shit talker as SOON as he loses

one of those gamers who camps out stores to get his hands on a new game

has the WORST LUCK on Mario Party. Like literally ends up last no matter what, yet still keeps playing

teaches you how to play Apex and Overwatch and by teach I mean this man literally TRAINS YOU to be good

does not hold back in 1v1's cause "If I hold back you won't get good."

but he's always giving you tips whenever you lose a game and encouragement when you win

cries when you get your first Play of The Game

soon y'all are a feared Overwatch pocket duo. Genji/Mercy, Reinhardt/Ana, Lucio/DVA.

has you sit in his lap while he plays and gives you forehead kisses before every round starts

this man just has a Switch and a PC & has fully fleshed out Minecraft servers on both

to no one's surprise, he's really into Minecraft and Stardew Valley. he likes being able to do things at his own pace.

but also enjoys RPG's like Octopath Traveler and Final Fantasy

the worst person to play Mario Kart with because he knows all of the fucking shortcuts

AN ABSOLUTE DEMON IN SMASH BROS. mains Mii Brawler, Ridley, and Bowser JR

makes the most intricate yet aesthetically pleasing Animal Crossing island

the two of you have shared Minecraft servers and Stardew Valley farms

is the luckiest Mario Party player ever. LITERALLY will have no coins and lose EVERY MINIGAME and still win somehow

really into games like Fallout and Skyrim, but does not care about his reputation. Like he's the type to always pick the fight option no matter what.

takes notes on what games you seem interested in and buys them for you.

will find a way to marry you in any co-op game that allows it and will get mad if you romance any character that isn't him. "I'm the only person you should be romancing."

"Shika, those are pixels."

"A set of pixels that wanna steal my girlfriend."

[pbcornylius]

The IPS-N Menorca, a rare breed found in the far reaches of the Long Rim, it moves across the battlefield with surprising haste!

A full custom License for the Lancer RPG, bring an Artillery class mech to the robust IPS-N catalogue. Call now and get a free sample of ANTI ASTEROID ROUNDS!

Check out the full PDF (with LCP) here

Art by Oshlett

[theoutcastrogue]

D&D 5.5 Rogue tweaks

[5.5, 5.75, 5.24, OneD&D, 2024 D&D, ugh, I don't care]

Rogue

In the base class, honestly everything's GREAT except stealth rules and damage output. So all I got to add is:

See Invisibility, Trueslight and similar don't let you see creatures that used the hide action successfully

Pending a more comprehensive stealth fix, because dear god these rules suck, and also I won't be sure how they even work until the DMG comes out.

Sneak Attack 1/turn/target

Extra Attack at lvl 5

My old 5e houserule. This may seem too much (with the Nick Weapon Mastery you can have 3 melee attacks/attack action at lvl 5) but remember that it's a much bigger hassle to set up sneak attack for multiple targets (stealth and Steady Aim will only cover one attack), Cunning Strike sacrifices sneak attack dice lowering dmg, and often you'll simply run out of targets. So you won't actually be dealing 3 x sneak attack dmg every round. Also remember that other martials got boosted even more and deal quite a lot of dmg. Needs playtesting, but I'm confident it's gonna be fine, and if it's not, I'll just roll back the extra attack.

Cunning Strike includes Disarm, like in the playtest

Come to think of it, shouldn't that be a Weapon Mastery? Do you think books down the line will introduce alternate weapon masteries, like, rapiers normally get Vex, but alternatively you can pick Disarm or whatever? Cause we can beat them to the punch and homebrew that right now!

Arcane Trickster

you can cast Mage Hand without verbal components

you can cast without verbal components [Proficiency Bonus] times / long rest

Self-explanatory. Sorcerers are the masters of metamagic, but conceptually this subclass needs Subtle Spell.

Mage Hand can be used to pick locks and disarm traps

No idea why they removed this ability, and limited Mage Hand to Sleight of Hand, but that's just silly and we're bringing it back.

you can use scrolls of the spells you know

Just clarifying a little thing here – an unfortunate wording appears to prevent Arcane Tricksters and Eldritch Knights from doing that by RAW, because they choose "Wizard" spells, and you can only use scrolls of your "class's spell list".

Assassin

the extra damage from Surprising Strikes is now twice your Rogue level, and applies only on the first sneak attack that hits in the first round

Assassinate, famously, used to let you crit surprised targets. Surprise rules changed, and now we get instead advantage on initiative (new and cool), advantage vs creatures that haven't acted yet on the first round of combat (as before), and Surprising Strikes: if you sneak attack on the first round, add +rogue lvl to damage. (so like, +3 at lvl 3 and +20 at lvl 20). Although much more reliable, this flat bonus is really underwhelming, and doubling it gets it on par with a crit. I feel that's appropriate. What's the point of being an Assassin if you don't wreck someone once per combat? It's your job!

As for the crit, I will miss it because it was HEAPS of fun, but I'll admit that for multiclass martials the "Assassin 3" dip was simply too good, and anything that's too good is bad design.

And I added the "only on the first sneak attack" clause due to my 1st houserule: now rogues can potentially sneak attack more times per round, and we only want to go nova once.

Soulknife

Psychic Blades can now be used outside your turn

Opportunity Attacks are finally feasible with psychic blades in 5.5, but for example a Commander's Strike from your Fighter buddy gives you an attack as a reaction, not called an Opportunity Attack, so it wouldn't apply. And it's a pointless restriction.

Thief

is perfect 10/10 no notes

Main sources:

2024 DnD 5e Transition Guide and Change Log: Everything That's Different in the new Player's Handbook (RPG Bot)

2024 PHB Rules Changes D&D 5.24 (Treantmonk's Temple video)

2024 Player's Handbook First Look Review (Dungeon Dudes video)

[redacted]

[judasiskariot]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

The 🖤judasiskariot❤ round - thank you lovely delightful @pinkberrytea for the tag 💕🌸

When did you start writing?

Already enjoyed writing creative essays at school. Wrote my first fanfiction (yugioh) as a teenie at an anime/fandom website. Got really into it, with writing fanfiction about a RPG I were playing/writing at the very same time.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Maybe I read more smut than writing it. Because it seems I always need to put up huge story before smut, so it makes sense, cause the ghost of dumb it is ooc comments are still in my head.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

I guess not. Both ways (I just often say I am a film noir or Tolkien type cause I often get lost in description or heavy in inner monologue. We could be in Mordor....or only went down the hill, same length. So happens with me. (So gods no never ever would I say I can write like Tolkien!!!! I just mean by that, that I do not keep some things sharp and short when maybe needed, as I do prefer in real life)

I am a huge Dante Alighieri and Vergil fan, compare me to them and I will always love you 🤣🤣

I just feel like a bardic soul 💜📜🪶

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Desk is always occupied. Also is there gym, man sleeping medieval storage cave (The Manc Ave, right Terry and Korvo? 😉Dig old bicks)

Hardly wifi connection in there. I have no stationary pc, only cheap small laptop (it is hard to be a bard xD) so writing on the couch.

I have reading and writing candles (my luxury; even I should not)

Love to write in my bard poetry book outside in the nature 🌳🏞️🏕️☀️

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

🤷‍♀️

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

DRAMA OVER BLOODY DRAMA

I am the drama queen.

Love some angst and emotional damage; make it harder than it needs to be.

But also horror, gore, love and smut.

Never surprised.

and dumb sassy joking; could write forever funny crosstalks like chat. Would anyone read that? Than I would write all my ideas, ALL! So efficient and quickly. Sooo...I get lost in my Tolkien surroundings 😅🙈

maybe i write more cheesy and theatrically than I thought 🤔

What is your reason for writing?

SOMEONE HAS TO DO IT, RIGHT?🤷‍♀️

😄

No. I am not skilled in any other divine arts and I guess that's the only thing I can call on. I like it. I always liked it. I can create something, that's nice. And I've written so much RPG and FF as a teenager, I messed it up and I hate that I didn't do it for over 10 years now. Why abandon the thing you were good at, had fun with, made progress while practicing? So that all progress seems lost and you have to start from zero?

I'm glad I've started making progress again, maintaining what I once set out to do, and learning to be better.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I'm incredibly happy with every single comment, even if it's just a smiley.

" You really did read my thing? How great is that!?!?" 😍🤩

But comments with a specific part or a line that they liked or whatever, their specific thoughts on certain parts are incredible. As a writer, I need feedback to know if I'm doing well and if I'm on the right track. Do others know what I wanted to say? Does it come out right? Otherwise I cannot improve.

If someone shares their exact first thoughts, what they thought about certain passages while reading, then the work pays off. 😍😍🤤🤤

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

As someome whose writig is good? 😅🤷‍♀️🙈 someone they can talk to. some nerdie partner in crime.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I have no clue. No one told me. I guess maybe having drama ideas and writing the inner struggles of characters.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Also here not much confidence in my own writing.

I got the two beasts in me: GOD YES! BEST WRITING EVER. THIS IS SO GOOD! THEY HAVE TO LOVE IT! CAN'T WAIT FOR REACTON TO THIS!🤩

Reread it: what da fuck is this?! 😠 I thought this was good?! I have no clue where I wanted to go with that 🤷‍♀️

BUT I can also be proud, reread it and think "I did this. I created that myself. It may be not the best, just small and silly and cliché, but I created it myself!" Be proud, all of you writers!! 👏🏻🫵🏻💪🏻 We are forgotten so often.

Do people criticize paintings for being ooc? Well..I guess assholes being assholes in every aspect of life 😅😆

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I do it cause I want to. But of course the external motivation is important. Lack of comments and feedback makes you quit, mean people make you quit. You post cause you want to share your joy with others, hope they enjoy it too. When they do not, it can be bitter.

But still for me I guess. But non the less, I pick up things I think others will like (but not troping or so, writing things I dislike myself cause they are gaining online likes and so on; not in that way never) When I know a certain mutual/friend is reading the thing, I put easter eggs/insiders in it, they should get; things I think they might like and makes them smile. If someone would request some things they would like to happen/read, I would totally pick it up when possible. Shared happyness is happyness doubled.

thanks for the tag lovely

All my muts, please keep tagging me. I just keep forget doing it, when I can't do it right away.

And spinning head prevents me from that. I see what nonsense I write in the DMs and in every lil post a huge amount of spelling mistakes; I can't do it better at the moment; so embarrassing🙈

I've had a hectic time, sorry, but I love things like that and always smile when I get tagged😃😘 (and sometimes I'm a little unsure about telling something about myself. The urge to disappear completely one day and the next day I urge to overshare. Plus bad experiences with some folks😅🙈 )

I tag @nihil-ism @damadisangue

@sorceresssundries

@mercymaker

maybe you guys want to ramble a lil bit

[check out their works (if you like 😘)]