#the tiefling is one of my favourite characters to draw ever

[ev-fav]

Two warlocks and a ranger walk onto a pirate merchant ship. A merfolk child is accidentally adopted.

My D&D party! They called their ship Shark Bait

[anxiousheart7]

*spoilers* Astarion’s story - analysis and thoughts

I’ve been thinking quite a lot on Astarion the last couple of weeks, and the journey I’ve been on with him. I’ve seen a lot of content about him.

I’ll start by saying this - I didn���t ascend him. I couldn’t. I did, however, watch the ascension on YouTube but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. And I’m going to explain why.

Here’s the TL:DR version, with my deeper dive below.

As Astarion gets his revenge in Cazador, his flurry of knives felt oddly satisfying to me. It was a release as grim and cathartic. That cry of pain and ending felt necessary for him. I came out of that palace knowing that it was ok and he’d be ok.

The ascension felt gratuitous. Watching him carve exactly what Cazador put him through should have been cathartic too, but it wasn’t. I just felt a shiver of cold. And that was the moment I knew it was the ‘bad’ ending.

Experiencing Astarion’s Journey - delving deeper

I don’t think I’ve ever quite experienced a character story like his before. Here’s someone who is quite clearly designed to draw you in via the usual routes. He’s attractive, he’s got the funny lines. He’s the rogue - a lot of D&D players’ favourite class. He quickly becomes indispensable.

At the start, his flirting was fun. Act 1 I think is supposed to be a light hearted toe in the water, so to speak. Right up until your first major choice with the goblin vs tiefling conflict. Then it becomes real. But until then you can spend copious amounts of time wandering and chatting to your new friends in camp while some of them (namely Lae’zel, Gale, Karlach and Astarion) go straight to ‘i want you’ territory. And you’ll gravitate to those that are ready to get hot and heavy because…video game sex.

There was such a focus on romancing your camp and you lean into that so heavily in act 1. Approval is all-important. And his approval is harder to get, so you try harder with your choices. You want this guy. Like really want him. He’s like ambrosia. And, if you’re not one of the 100k rejections toted in Larion’s infographic, you get him.

As a recovering people pleaser, I’m not going to lie, that was a hard concept to grasp. To make your choices based on who you were trying to impress is exactly the kind of behaviour I’ve been trying to step away from in real life. But hey, this is a game so I’ll be ok.

And then it starts…

Looking back, there’s this line that stood out ‘it felt like you weren’t all there’. Despite his insistence later, Astarion was very likely going to that place of dissociation that he talks about later on. And that’s sad, because as Tav you want this milestone to be special. You want them to fall in love with you. The reward for all your hard-earned approval hiking.

But Astarion masks. He masks well, but you can tell on Insight that it’s all an act. Even when you look closely, the ham fisted complements he throws at you reflects the 10 charisma he’s carrying around. He works as a lothario not because he’s an adept silver-tongued Casanova. It’s because he’s simply beautiful. People see him and want him. His looks mask what’s going on underneath. But then you look into his eyes and it’s right there, plain as day.

There’s so much more underneath. I have watched the scene over and over with the hammy chat up lines as he’s trying to convince you to sleep with him again (I got propositioned first before the tiefling party) and the more I watch, the more I believe that ‘I love you’ wasn’t an act. They wouldn’t have given you three brush off comment choices if it was. He meant that, and I don’t think he even realised he meant it until he found the words coming out of his mouth - as though he was daring himself to say it.

With Astarion, it’s all in the eyes.

And, as someone who has seen those eyes in the mirror on a pretty regular basis, I knew there and then until he started revealing his backstory - the scars, the master and all the rest, I knew this was going to hit very hard and this man was a deep well. He was so lost that he barely had any idea of who he was any more.

By the time you’re well into Act 2, you’re starting to get the gist of him. You learn about his sadness and sense of loss around his identity before he was turned. You learn about the scars. And you learn about Cazador. I got the sense that all of this exposition was almost like a therapy dump from him. Thoughts and feelings he’s wanted to express for decades but hasn’t had a soul to tell - or he’s been compelled not to by his master. Now he can get them out. He can voice how unfair and unjust it feels. The sarcasm, the cynicism, all a way of expressing how much pain he is in. But one thing he’s never lost is the knowledge that he doesn’t deserve this. He hasn’t been beaten down so much to believe that he is unworthy of better treatment. And that sense of self is what I believe has kept him going all this time. He knows it wasn’t his fault. He knows Cazador was a cruel, sadistic monster.

And I hugged him. Of course I hugged him. I defended his autonomy from the moonrise drow and I hugged him after. At this point I’d fallen as hard for him as he had for me. I cared for him. I couldn’t make any of those obviously awful choices with him. When the details of the ritual came up I felt a knot in my stomach. And sure enough every time we talked after that point he talked about taking that power and I thought ‘this will be rough’.

It reminded me of a lot of really bad experiences I’d had in the past. Boyfriends and friends who were clearly bad for me and I was bad for them. And yet, I needed to help this guy. This person who had nobody for so long. Who didn’t know what it felt like to have someone actually care about him.

I looked this as someone who has experienced trauma in their life. How would I feel. How have I felt? To be scared of so many things. To wonder why on earth would I do something nice for someone else when I’ve sat in alleys, starving and in pain while people just walk on by. No gods to answer my pleas for help. I’d be cynical and disapproving too. I’d have a warped sense of humour. I’d want to never feel that again. Of course he saw the one thing that could protect him and feel compelled to grasp it with both hands.

Astarion has conjured up feelings in me I thought were long gone.

Astarion’s finale

The images I’ve included in this post have been doing the rounds on tumblr and this hits so hard it hurts. Astarion’s journey ends in such as way that it’s meant to be hard.

If you’re a gamer that commodifies your characters as a series of stats or objectifies them based on their design, then ascend him. It doesn’t matter to you. And I’ve seen plenty of people on message boards and Facebook saying exactly that - “but he gets these powers and is so badass”. They’ve never seen past the facade. He was a jerk at the start of the game, a creepy flirt and a vampire ready to be staked. And that was it.

Every excessive power in this game has a major consequence that you have to live with. This choice I think is one of the biggest before the climax of the game.

The ascension pretty much erases him. It takes who he was and the healing that he’s done and throws it away, as if it never really mattered.

And to him he’s worth exactly what he thought he was to begin with. His self-worth is warped into superiority and his hunger and fear replaced with a hunger for power and dominance. He’s not free in this form. He just becomes a new kind of imprisoned. He’s placed in stasis forevermore. And this won’t last forever because as absolute power corrupts absolutely, it also falls. Just like Ozymandius, he’ll rise and collapse under his own grandiose. And he’ll take you with him if you let him.

That steamy scene before he turns you is basically exactly what the Larion writer is saying - you’ve not empathised or grown here. Have your sex scene and then enjoy your eternal enslavement with New Cazador. It’s a bad ending for you and Astarion. You get to be exactly what he was, no matter what pretty words he tried to convince you with - he’s still that 10 charisma trying to convince himself as much as you. He’s Act 1 Astarion with some nifty new powers. He will control you like a doll and yours will be the same half life his was. He’ll start with promises of being his right hand, but somewhere down the line you’ll do or say something and he’ll do to you what was done to him. It’s the ultimate narcissistic relationship.

If Astarion walks away, he’s him. Truly him. With purpose and a new path to walk. You can build a new life together with nothing holding you back. The trauma behind him, he can now walk a path of healing for himself and learn who he is. It makes me feel hopeful and joyful that he gets a second chance.

And that’s where I’m at. My ideal ending is for them both to go off together searching for a cure for his vampirism. Whether it’s possible, who knows - on writing this I’m still to finish my first run of the game. But at least there’s that glimmer of hope in that ending.

I think Astarion is beautiful. There’s a reason half the internet is madly in love with him right now. But if you let yourself, he becomes more than a nice body and a pretty face. His complexity opens up like a puzzle box and you feel the satisfaction of a truly beautiful arc come to its climax. He’s a beautifully written and crafted character and I’m so glad to have experienced his story.

I could say so much more…but it’s long enough as it is. Thanks for reading x

[space-writes]

hello (again) writeblr! i decided to make a new intro that has all my current wips on it, since i have way more than when i first started out on here.

about me

I go by Space, my pronouns are they/he, and I’m in my third decade of existence, which is absolutely wild. I’ve been writing for most of it, so I like to think I’m pretty decent

I write mostly fantasy and erotica (sometimes at the same time), both original and fanfiction, and all of it's queer

You can find my work on my AO3 here, crossposted to my neocities here, and under my snippets tag

I’m open to tag and ask games, and my inbox is currently open to anything as well. I don’t always reply the fastest, but I’ll get to it eventually! (I don’t take part in chain asks, so please don’t send me them)

I use obsidian.md for all my writing, and it’s my favourite notes app ever, so I also talk about that occasionally. The tag for it is here, and I’m hoping to write some more showcases/tutorials this year!

my main goal is to actually finish some damn books and also to inflict my OC brainrot upon people. so far the second one is the only thing that’s actually happened, but i live in hope

My current wips are Chronicles of Valloroth (Renegade Prince being book one), Obedience, Obsession, and claws—summaries and links for all four are under the cut!

this is my writing sideblog, you can find my main @thespacelizard, and i follow/like from there

tag directory is here

current wips

Chronicles of Valloroth

⚔ Genre: Fantasy Adventure

⚔ Features: Queer cast, found family, A Whole Entire Dragon, magical mishaps, The Mere Concept of Doing The Right Thing, a grumpy assassin, a sparkly mercenary, knock-off tieflings, a handsome prince (he’s gay), more banter than your average dungeons and dragons campaign

⚔ Status: Book One: First draft completed, re-drafting in-progress || Book Two: drafting || Book Three: outlining

⚔ One Sentence Summary (Book One): A runaway prince seeks freedom in a new world and must find a way to convince a rag-tag group to defeat an ancient dragon, all whilst he is being hunted by a band of mercenaries and an infamous assassin.

⚔ Series Tag: valloroth blogging

claws

🩸 Genre: Queer Horror

🩸 Features: teacher/student relationship (university edition), toxic romance, gender fuckery, broken identity, demonology, murder, self-harm, obsession, stalking, infidelity, a lot of blood, pact-based magic system, corruption, jealousy, eldritch entities, love is a wound, body horror, attempted suicide, and a little bit of arachnophilia

🩸 Status: First draft complete!

🩸 One Sentence Summary: A young student’s obsession with his demonology teacher sparks a twisted romance that draws him to the limits of his humanity—and into the web of an eldritch horror.

🩸 Series Tag: wip: claws

Obedience

💜 Genre: Erotic Romance, D&D fanfiction (original characters, Forgotten Realms setting & loose 5E ruleset)

💜 Features: a variety of BDSM scenarios, one closed off wizard dom, one enthusiastic nerdy sub, weird uses for dnd spells, a painful amount of pining, somehow; worldbuilding, emotional slow burn, as much self indulgence as I can possibly fit in a fanfic series

💜 Status: Arcs 1-3 are complete (read on AO3 here, or my neocities here). The first book of Arc 4, The Perils of Wanting is currently being posted bi-monthly here. The second book of Arc 4, A Question of Trust, is on its second draft.

💜 One Sentence Summary: A D/s M/M series featuring two wizard boys, the kinky magic they get up to, and the feelings they definitely don’t have for each other.

💜 Series Tag: obedience fic blogging (it began on my main, so the tag there has more snippets)

Obsession

🕷 Genre: War of the Spider Queen/Forgotten Realms fanfiction, also Erotica, Horror and a smidge of Dark Romance

🕷 Features: OC/canon, a nightmare transmasc wizard boy, obsession, stalking, jealousy, violent impulses, dubious consent, possessiveness, evil gender dysphoria, incest, gore, the inherent horror of Having a Body, and occasionally actual school things happening at Sorcere

🕷 Status: Ongoing serial, which you can read on AO3 here, or my neocities here

🕷 One Sentence Summary: Pharaun Mizzrym is everything to Vizaeth Thaezyr. He’ll do anything for him—even if Pharaun doesn’t know it yet.

🕷 Series Tag: obsession fic blogging (it also began on my main, so check the tag there for additional content!)

[little-piece-of-tamlin]

6, 19, 20 for the character asks? mostly thinking abt bard boi but feel free to share abt others!

hi!! oh i am Delighted to yap about bard boi!! ty for the questions <3

6 - What was the thought process behind their appearance? Did you go mostly for the aesthetic or are there other reasons they look the way they do?

oh you are asking the tastiest questions i could talk for days about his design!!! i knew i wanted to play a blue tiefling. i had a base idea of one since i played one in a oneshot right before the campaign started. i think originally i wanted to make him dress in more yellows, but a fellow player claimed yellow and so i settled for sunset colours (which actually became super thematically fun later)

he actually has a lot of little trinkets on him that i dont usually draw, but that exist in his early concept sketches. i pulled those trinkets together from both gifts he wouldve gotten from the ppl important to him, and from the material components he would need for some of his spells, since it made sense that he would have them on hand all the time. for example, he used to have a little feather earring for the spell hideous laughter, but later i changed his spell list and the feather stopped being relevant

19 - What is your general favourite thing about the character? What is your least favourite?

i think my favourite is his anger. its very cathartic to play a character that can be furious and bite ppl about it, and i really get to unleash all my vitriol with a bard. a close second is how, in contrast to this, he loves so easily. he's nice with the most random unfriendly NPCs just bc why wouldnt he be, and makes very thoughtful gestures towards ppl he just very recently met, simply because he can and he thinks it would make them happier.

i honestly don't know what my least favourite thing about him is. there isn't anythign that i particularly dislike about him. maybe its that he struggles with picking sides, since he loves so easily. he often befriends ppl on opposing sides, and then has trouble aligning with just one of them

20 - Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about

a fun fact that i dont know if will ever come up in game but that i find utterly hilarous is that he has a lot of piercings, and he has his nipples pierced as well, and i debated giving him smth on his dick as well. and then i thought that no he wouldn't dare. so now there is this whole little story in my head about him pre-canon agreeing to it on a dare and then chickening out and getting shit for it for years. its just funny.

also i think a few years after our campaign ends he will get it. it just feels correct

[briebo-art]

Intro (+ Tag & Character directory)

Hi there! I'm Brie, a transfem artist and writer living in Aotearoa, and I like drawing anything related to my TTRPG characters, trans people, sci-fi, and fantasy stuff <3

Here are some examples!

my old online name was "BenjiBo", which i don't go by anymore, but, any art before the beginning of 2023 will have that as a signature as a heads up :)

The main tag I use for all my art is "#bri art", which should include only singular posts and none of the reblogs I use for bumping.

i use tags for posts with my ocs, but I'll keep all that info below the cut.

all my art now has tags for if a recurring character of mine pops up in case anyone wants to look through and find all the things ive done with em, so ive got a little directory here that ill use for keeping up with that

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Maxine (She/Her) | tag "bri oc: maxine"

my original blorbo and first trans OC (if im not counting that one time i went feral over a headcanon with my elden ring character), she's gone through a bunch of name changes, which looked like Bridgette -> Brianne -> Maxine, so that's why my old art refers to her by a different name

currently planning a novella/short novel with her as the main character! chipping away at it in my free time :)

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Anya (She/Her) | tag "bri oc: anya"

another transfem oc, and my first proper pathfinder character. I wrote a whole short story about her realizing she's trans that you can find somewhere on my profile or here (It was the first story I've ever managed to finish, and that shows I think, I can write a lot better now but it's still a cute little thing) her hair changes colors with her emotions because i think its a fun thing to draw

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Belladonna, or Bel for short (She/They) | tag "bri oc: bel"

my tiefling ttrpg character, and, surprise! also trans. paired up with a friends OC, so there's a few quicker doodles i've done with them being gay. they're my high-femme OC who i put in all the outifts i'd like to wear, and one of my most favourite characters to draw. her tail emotes like a cats :)

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that's all i have for now but i'll update this as i design and draw new characters, cheers

[ghoulgeists]

8. What do you like most about your own work? 12. Show your favourite drawing from this year 13. Show your favourite drawing from last year 19. Favourite character(s) to draw? 21. Weirdest thing you’ve ever drawn? Thank you <3

8- A LOT... I haven confidence in my art now so it's hard to say one thing specifically lol

I think the thing I like the most about my art, traditional or digital, is probably my linework? Even when it's not super clean (according to me) it still looks pretty good imo

12- HEE HEE... I don't have a lot from this year yet but cupid destreza... was really fun to draw...

13- OK I still have a lot of favourites from late last year... this is another one because I love my little elf guy... I treat him so poorly because I never draw him anymore :'( sorry willow

19- SORRY EDIT I FORGOR THIS ONE I love drawing my tieflings and I love drawing your tieflings and I love making them kiss. You know this.

I also love drawing my wild weast ocs even though I haven't drawn them seriously in forever... missing my cowbows

21- lmao... I have no idea... back in 2017 or so I was really into guro as documented on this art blog and I think my stuff from back then is super weird and a little cringe but I have no idea if it could be called the weirdest thing I've ever drawn! Second weirdest might be my food fantasy fanart phase, but I don't think drawing gacha game fanart is that weird either

[anatthema-art]

A and D for Chronicle :D

A) Why are you excited about this character?

Chronicle is one of my favourite OCs ESPECIALLY from a technical writing point of view! I think she's one of my most complex and dynamic characters with an ever-shifting mental state that does some really COOL things with storytelling. I do absolutely adore her in the more typical blorbo-ifiable fashion but I think Chronicle, more than any of my other OCs incites a feeling in me that I'm a competent writer telling a story I really want to tell. The way her arc so subtly sets up throughout MiOrMa in the background is gonna be an INCREDIBLE thing to have an audience react to and theorize on in live time, and she's one of my OCs I'm most excited for on the audience reception side of things because she's SO tied into the main plot! She does a lot of things with examining narrative tropes while tying it into more personal emotional things I've experienced myself, and IMO she's just VERY strongly crafted! MiOrMA fundamentally is not the same story without her.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

Chronicle went through a super interesting development appearance-wise, because in her beta form, before she ever had a name or an actual design or story, I had envisioned her as a Thoughtborn! This was before Zenith existed, and it was just her and Penny as a character duo. I sat on her concept for a while because of unrelated reasons, and when I came back to it, I had Zenith, and so I switched her to being a Tiefling to be more varied design wise, and work better thematically since with Zenith's existence her entire personality and character arc became a LOT more clear to me!

Interesting too, is that I first designed her ACTUAL first design pass in a piccrew! she's the only OC I've EVER done that with! I did it because I was working on Zenith's reference at the time and was brainrotting very hard over both of them, and wanted to have a design down quickly before I could actually start drawing it because she existed in tandem with the other two, so I wanted to iron out a first design pass.

She always had the same basic thing going on conceptually! She looked a little different in her first design pass than how she looks in MiOrMa though because I hadn't quite figured out her vibes yet, just kind of the natural way character models shift over time! There was very few active choices in changing her design beyond the model itself, besides VERY minor stuff like removing the white shirt and pockets for simplicity. she instead changed SUPER drastically from the subtle ways I draw her. She got a lot rounder and a lot more bouncy! She became shorter and more compact, and exaggerated in the circles that form her design. Her eyes got bigger more expressive, and just overall shifted towards what was my mental image of her more as I got used to drawing her! She has now become perfectly wet cat-able and the newer form of her model is just much more streamlined as a design!

[saphirered]

Lovely Caleb fic! Could I get a confession of love fix that involved Caleb kissing the hands of a bewildered reader?

Thank you for the request! I hope this is to your liking!

It’s rather late. Well, you think it is. It’s kind of difficult to tell in Rosohna’s eternal darkness. At least you were sure it’s been a long day. You find yourself wandering the halls of the Xhorhaus. The last few months have been crazy, hectic and you’d have to admit your life has been turned upside down but you wouldn’t change if for the world. You found friends, family even. Reminiscing you find your mind gravitate towards fond memories of your favourite wizard. Dragging him along on a little shopping spree for spell components, the excited rants he goes on when you ask for his advise on this new spell you found, the talks about nothing when you shared a watch, holding his hand while Yasha shaved his beard with her sword, giggling about a little prank you played on a very grumpy looking halfling shopkeeper in Zadash, drunken nights sharing a bottle after a successful job completed, him falling asleep with his head on your shoulder, caring for each other’s injuries, the rare dance in the tavern…

Not as insightful as Caduceus may be but you weren’t blind either. It’s clear Caleb seems more comfortable around you than anyone save for Nott maybe, a different kind of comfort still. You’ve been consciously picking up on a shift in his behaviour for a while now. Your favorite wizard has been getting closer and more affectionate towards you but you’ve known him for a while now and you can’t help but pick up on this. His recent shift in behavior gave you butterflies in your stomach, something more than friendship but you didn’t feel it was the right time to tell him how you feel. Besides, what his feelings don’t extend beyond care right? This is no different than his relationship with Beau or Nott. Love is a strong term and one you may not hand out so freely but you know yourself well enough these feelings you’re experiencing are love. You just don’t want to ruin your friendship because he’s not ready, not comfortable or doesn’t reciprocate your feelings in the same way after all. Caleb has come out of his shell and made so much progress, growing more comfortable and open around you and that’s extending to those around him too. You don’t want him to crawl back into that shell again. You value him more than that.

Quietly you get some dried herbs from a sleeping Caduceus’ stash and wander into the kitchen to make some tea. You’re pretty sure you’re the only one still awake as everyone was quite exhausted after your return. Trying to start a flame to boil the water proved more difficult than you had hoped. Growing frustrated with the flint and steel you slam them on the counter a little too hard. You cringe squeezing your eyes tight shut and listen. Okay… seems like no one woke up from that. You glare at the kettle half the mind to toss it out of the window. Stupid tea. Stupid fire. You take a breather leaning your head against one of the shelves above the counter.

“It looks like we had the same idea.” You almost jump out of your skin quickly covering your mouth to prevent a scream to escape from your lips. You see a bleary eyed Caleb looking about as disheveled as expected standing in the doorway of the kitchen. 

“Don’t scare me like that you idiot!” You toss a towel at him. It hits, draping over one shoulder and he just gives you a ‘really?’ expression as you feel the blood rush from the scare fade. 

“You’re having trouble, ja?” He says more than asks referring to the still cold kettle. 

“You have to make me feel worse about not being able to get a flame going to brew some tea?” You say in jest as you grab another cup for him. Caleb walks over taking your spot and with a snap of the fingers the flame is lit. 

“It is not that difficult.” He jokes back fully aware that your expertise lays not with fire magic. You have many other talents, he’s told you so himself many times praising you for them. You grab the towel draped over his shoulder, fold it neatly and put it back on the counter. 

“Your help is appreciated oh grand master magician.” You give him a side hug which he returns wrapping his arm around your shoulders as you wait for the water to boil. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” You ask watching drops of condensation build up on the outside of the kettle. 

“Ah, no. Uh, wandering thoughts.” Caleb sounds like he’s only half paying attention. Wandering thoughts indeed. 

“Wanna talk about it?” You offer as the kettle starts whistling and you remove it from the heat before it gets too loud and begin preparing the teapot. You take a step closer to the counter, Caleb’s hand falling from your shoulder to your lower back. 

“I… uh-“ He hesitates and you swear when you look over your shoulder for just a second you can see a slight blush creep up his cheeks. 

“Caleb, you know you can tell me anything, right?” He manages to get out a ‘yes’ under his breath so you grab a tray, put the teacups and saucers, the teapot and grab some biscuits from a jar hidden behind the vast array of herbs and spices to avoid a certain Tiefling from claiming them all. Balancing the tray on one hand you turn around and grab his hand, guiding him along into the living room. You put the tray on the table and make Caleb sit down on the couch as you sit down next to him. You can see him take a deep breath and he refuses to meet your eye. Though, that’s not entirely out of character for the wizard so you give him time and space as you pour the tea in each of your cups. With a wave of your hand you cool the hot water to a less scalding but still warm level. 

“I know. But in this case I don’t know if that makes this any easier.” You frown and grab his hands in yours. Almost absentmindedly he begins drawing circles on the back of your palms with this thumbs. While he won’t look at you you can see he’s trying to find the words.

“Should I be worried?” Many questions rush through your head. Was everything alright? Did something happen? 

“No. No. No need to worry.” He musters a quick half smile before it disappears. You hated seeing him like this. So much conflict and inner turmoil. You give his hands a soft squeeze. Whatever this is it must bother him a lot if he’s so affected by it!

“It’s alright. Take however long you need. I’m here for you no matter what.” He takes a deep breath as you finish your sentence. 

“I’ve had some revelations lately and I’ve tried so hard to push them away, deny them or hoping that maybe I was interpreting them wrong but I can no longer just brush them aside. I don’t think it’s fair…” Another deep breath.

“What’s not fair to who?” 

“This. All of it. What I’m doing. It’s not fair to you.” He has trouble forming a sentence. 

“Slowly. Just keep breathing.” You try to calm him down.

“It’s not fair that I freely take your comfort, affection, kindness and even companionship. I’m afraid my actions in return, they do not come from friendship but selfish motives instead. I don’t want this to end but I cannot treat my own actions as rooted from friendship when they are not.” He scrambles on stumbling every few words and you try to make sense of his words but you’ve known him longer than today so you get where he’s going. 

“Caleb…” You begin but he cuts you off.

“No, no I need you to hear this before I cower back and lose the courage to do this. You are heaven sent. You are patient and kind and every time you smile at me I feel my heart skip a beat. Every hug, touch or kiss feels like the warmth of the sun after endless winter. I thought perhaps I felt this way because this is who you are and what you do; making the lives of those you care about brighter where you can. I know you care about me as you’ve reminded me many a time, and I care about you a lot, but I do not think it ends with just care. My realisation showed me that you’ve brought about a feeling I thought myself no longer capable off; love.” He pulls your hands close to his chest. You’re bewilder, confused at this open confession but above all surprised he so openly confides in you. You think hard taking in every word.

“So I think it’s unfair to you when for me this kindness and affection from my side will always be out of love and I cannot in good conscious give you my love when you do not want it. I cannot ask you to feel the same but I also don’t think me returning your kindness and affection can ever be anything other than love. So please, I don’t want what we have, our friendship to end but I don’t want to take what you don’t have to give me…” 

“Caleb, I need you to listen to me very carefully.” You watch as his shoulders slump. So insecure when it comes to other’s feelings and opinions of him it hurts you every time he sells himself short. You look for the right words yourself. If he can muster up the courage then so can you!

“You can be so blinded by your own thoughts and insecurities you don’t even consider the fact that I feel the same.” He finally looks at you wide eyed freezing in place for a second.

“You underestimate your ability to be loved and if I can prove you different, if you will let me prove you different I will.” Caleb scans your face for any sense of insincerity, deceit or even jest but he finds none. He takes a minute but eventually pulls your hands to his lips pressing a long soft kiss to the backs. 

“Thank you. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this but you truly are a light in the darkness.” He kisses the backs of your hands again. 

“You were you; all you ever need to be.” You shift leaning into his side, head against his shoulder and his arm wrapping around you. Intertwining your fingers with his at your waist you grasp his other hand and bring it to your lips. That small kiss right where his wrist meets his palm makes him melt. He leans back on the couch pulling you with in a slouched relaxed position. If only the rest of the Nein could see you now. They’d go crazy… 

[achaosfilledworld]

mod walrus.

pleasure to meet you all, my main blog would be @cathedralrefuge (but i mainly use @imagine-the-walrus). i do go by some names, like... walri, or... waws (kou's nickname for me HAHA), or kenway (silver's nickname for me). and no i will not include the canon characters ^^;

basically, i write and draw a lot, so nothing distinctly special about me, just an old artist/writer hag.

anywho, it's time for me to bring you to the character introductions!

the DnD chat:

Nathala – a Tiefling Bard who actively does not perform in taverns (due to her bad reputation... of starting bar fights) and doesn't get paid for her songs—but for her... “contracts” (a.k.a, she kills for money, putting her bard and sword-fighting skills to the test). Has a tall beautiful elf girlfriend named Elyscia :>, and she also takes care of Connor!... (Though, she would need to protect them both a lot more now. wink wonk). Is against the Seven Deadly Sins (especially Greed—we will come to that) due to her mother's involvement with them (accidentally inhaled Greed's venom during a fight and died in her bed).

Elizabeth White – AAAaaa aa A. Half-Elf Rogue! (she's actually an assassin's creed oc sheesh) After the murder of Christian Raynott she doesn't have a permanent home and so she sets up camp anywhere as long as it's far enough from the manor she ran away from (...well she burnt it down, but repairs are being made), is now trying to find a way to get back at the Seven Deadly Sins squad (that's what she calls them) alongside Hypno, Illusion, Beep (she's just taking care of him), and of course, taco man (...Haytham.)

Tsarra – ew disgusting. She's an antagonistic character, the leading Elf Sorceress in the Seven Deadly Sins (the Pride). Ever since Beth killed Christian Raynott she and the other Seven Deadly Sins sought to either beat her up (well, that she accomplished) but then later decided to fully kill her, as merely beating the shit out of her did not satisfy her thirst for revenge. Overall, she's a bitch.

Sylthyra – another disgusting vermin (hah!), she is the Greed listed in previous names. She is another Elf Sorceress that can shapeshift to a King Cobra—but now she has a gauntlet strapped to her forearm that allows her venom-infused blood to shoot out. She's bloody dangerous, and she will kill Nathala on sight should they ever cross paths (have I mentioned how strikingly similar she is to her own mother?).

Sudar – the Lust in the Seven Deadly Sins. Lusting for power most especially, he was the one who made Tsarra realise she had made a grave mistake of sparing Beth right after the nearly-fatal beating and instead should kill her right there and then—but slowly and definitely painfully (and to add insult to injury to burn her).

Baby Myrmi – a baby Myrmidon (...creatures I made up for a realm, hehe... I'll post about them in the future) that integrated with humanoid species for too much that he now can speak words. Favourite fruit is GRAPB (grape) and loves BIG and FIBBY (fluffy) and PIBBY (pretty).

the Earth chat:

Earth!Kenway – a killer with a cause who hopes her son, Beep, would be able to choose what he is able to do, not what she does. Regrets her killings the first ten lives she took, and she painfully admits that she started to grow used to herself being the sole cause of many lives dead, by her own blade and hand. Is now looking for a very important diamond which first started as a simple treasure hunt and now a race against time.

Earth!Alex – the Vulture. Has killed much more than his cousin, Kenway. Has mommy issues (:'>) and often sees visions of the corpses that were mutilated by him and he still didn't realise that was caused by his demons that only overtakes him by said visions. Doesn't feel emotions that much and evidently hates it because once he did feel something, he doesn't know what it is even though he is very intelligent for his age. Well... he has a strained relationship with Lilian, his mother, after finding out that he wasn't her biological son and that she wasn't able to save him. Well, now he's a double agent, and of course Lilian doesn't know that he's helping his cousin and her merry band of Assassins.

Earth!Lilian – a struggling mother from the Order who failed his son and now is trying to help Hypno, and slowly starts to see Kenway as not a manifestation of her own issues but only a mere representation of her mother. Has severe stress due to her conflicting views and her hidden desire to resist against the Order just to protect Hypno. A higher-up due to her intelligence and quick-thinking.

Milaeth – basically, a Sorceress from said realm—Mivuris (from the Buvalon Kingdom). Takes care of Silver and teaches him everything she knows that Earth would share some materials with Mivuris. Plans to teach him to craft an extremely lethal potion that would disintegrate your fingers upon touching it, all in good time.

Adult Myrmi – YEP YEP YOU FUCKIN GUESSED IT. GROWN UP BITCH!!! This time this BIG man is THE war general in MIVURIS! In the Öuryia Kingdom!!! Beheaded the Ekredian War General during a war and that was how he was granted this position. Now on Earth for... reasons

Jennifer Flores – a CIA Agent with ties to both Kenway and Alex, aiding the both of them for the said powerful diamond with weapons-dealing, covert tactics strategies and such. Hardened by battles she fought, there is a reason on why she always wears fingerless gloves.

Hyelius – The Mother of Gods. Ekredian Empress Goddess, may she cleanse your soul from its wrongdoings. May she save you all with her Crescent Moon and Spherical Sun interlocked with one another, living as mere murals behind her. Do not test her patience even though she is generally warm, for her fury is unmatched to a thousand fuming suns.

Mycelia – lol ghost edgy kpop man. But in all seriousness, he drags deserving souls to Hell. The Wrath of the Ember's Chains, he is unforgiving towards those who had committed wrong and is now carrying out said tasks to horrible and cruel criminals that the Eternal Damnation should hold—the Perdition.

the Space chat:

Kenway – think paranoia and killer instinct mixed into one person. That is her. Ran to the ship to escape from the Order, with Alex's help. Went through Hell and back, Kenway stresses more when she started to take care of Beep along with a parasite that gave her new abilities but there are drawbacks, negatives to positives.

Alex – same as the earth tbh lol. But the relationship between him and Lilian are further strained.

Lilian – afraid of failing her daughter as she did Alex, again a struggling mother who questions her allegiance to the Order as she takes care of Hypno.

[forgottenrealmsrp]

Hello, I am very new to DnD and I would really like some tips on how to play and roll for certain things (Im not too good with examples) etc. etc.

Howdy! Mod Nate here coming at you with some Tips for Beginners. There’s a hell of a lot to cover that I cannot fit into one post (because, let’s be honest, that would be a nightmare), but I will try my best. So, without further ado, hold onto your butts.

The Three R’s

I find there are three main aspects to remember (and master!) when starting off in DnD or other such TTRPG’s. You can sort them into three categories: 

Rules,

Rol(l/e)s, and

Roleplaying

Of course there are heaps of other things to consider in game, but for a beginner, it can get overwhelming very quickly, so we’ll just stick to the Three R’s for now.

Rules

What better thing for a game than rules! The first thing you hopefully would have done if you were gearing up for your first game is to get your hands on a Player’s Handbook (For DnD 5e), or your RPG’s respective rulebook. Hobby stores, book stores, libraries, even video game shops might stock a physical copy of our favourite WotC volumes, but you can also secure them online wherever you may find them. 

Once you have your grubby little goblin hands on a handbook, give it to a friend, and have them read it to you. If that gets too boring, have them explain the rules in detail - you’ll need a pen and a notebook! If that is too time-consuming or - more likely - you don’t actually have any friends, you’ll have to settle for a hurried and often last-minute explanation of the core mechanics of the game, the finer details of which will be left unaddressed until you get your creative spirit crushed by your mean Dungeon Master, or local rules lawyer. 

(Remember kids, if you aren’t sure of where to locate one of these “rules lawyers”, simply talk out loud about your homebrew weapon or Pathfinder game, and they will be sure to find you!)

In this fabled Player’s Handbook you will find a fun breakdown and walkthrough of the game’s races, classes, and backgrounds, all of which you will need to read through several times and then immediately forget. Only after you have asked yourself “Which Bard School is going to make Sildaar Hallwinter not a steaming pile of crap?” for the fifth time in 10 minutes, can you move on to “equipment” and “rules”. Make sure to read these thoroughly, because you’ll learn them pretty quickly after your party’s Paladin once again forgets how many d10s to roll. It’s two, Derek. You asked the exact same question last round. 

Idiot. 

Rol(l/e)s

Once you manage to wrap your head around the rules, you get to the meat of the sandwich - rol(l/e)s. Whoever came up with this idiotic word hybrid (me) needs to report to their editor (also me) and get his ass whooped (still me). 

Now, I know you’ve gotten this far and thought “Wait, Nate, that may have rhymed but you haven’t actually given any tips yet?!??!?!?!!/1!?!?!?!?1?!???????????”. To that, I say yes (or no?), I have(n’t?) given you tips for how to play and roll for certain things, because the biggest tip I have for you is coming right up.

Wait for it.

You cannot build a dragon’s tower without strong foundations. 

Meaning: Only once you have “mastered” the rules and basics of roleplaying (and rolling!) will you be able to spread your beautiful dragon wings and soar as a damn good DnD player. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you will have to learn and remember every single mechanic or rule in the book! Because that would be a nightmare and if you can do it, you will be God. No questions asked. But hey! People make mistakes, or remember things wrong, or guess incorrectly, or even make it up as they go along. Having the handbook or Dungeon Master’s Guide on hand for these occasions will save everyone’s sanity at least once, but knowing when to draw the line between fairness and fun will make everyone’s play a whole lot better. 

So! Now that you’ve become God, rolling and role-ing (not a word) are your new best friends. And you know who makes the best friends? DICE! Just google it and have fun, kids, but remember that you have to eat and sleep somewhere warm and cozy tonight, so try not to build your hoard of shiny forbidden snacks too quickly, now. All you will need for starters is your standard 7-dice set: d4, d6, d8, d10*, d12, and d20.

*The d10 often comes in pairs to act as a percentile dice. The die with the ten’s (00, 10, 20, 30, etc.) will act as the ten’s place, and the other die will act as the one’s place. So, if you roll a 60 and a 9, you get a really funny number. If you roll a 00 and a 0, that’s 100! If you roll a 00 and a 1, however, that’s a 1. You die in game and you die in real life. Goodbye.

The handbook will tell you all the dice you will need to roll in order to both run the game, and make your character! That’s right! Maths begins even before the game does. Even Death themself cannot escape the point-buy system. Just submit. 

Stats are fun. 

What do they mean? What do they do? Who even knows what Constitution does?! I certainly don’t! But that’s where you’re in luck, bucko.

This post is already long enough without getting to the good stuff, so I’ll keep it simple. 

Strength - a measure of how well you can do stuff with your muscles. Skills like Athletics (aaaaaaand nope just athletics, huh, really? No fish-lifting skill? Huh? Cowards) will benefit from having some damn good muscles. Also you can stab stuff real good.

Dexterity - a measure of how deft, nimble, and stealthy one can be. Contributes to skills like Acrobatics and Stealth, unsurprisingly. If you can move good, you can groove good. I’d add a skill for dancing if I were you, WotC. 

Constitution - I lied before when I said I had no idea what constitution does, but it was only partly a joke. Constitution contributes to skills like not dying, staying alive, and stopping being dead. Sometimes it determines how much health you have. Sometimes it means you can drink an entire frog. Don’t ask.

Intelligence - Are you a smart cookie? Can you learn languages fluently in a short span of time? Can you destroy scores of defenceless troops with a single pillar of flame? Can you read? Are you kept awake at night by their screams? Intelligence makes you good (or not) at skills like History, Religion, Arcana, and being a nerd. Oh wait. No one is good at being a nerd. Sorry nerdlord. Also, if your intelligence is under 10, you can’t read! Just like me.

Wisdom - Not the smartest cookie in the shed? Like to eat leaves? You and me both, kid! Wisdom is a measure of your STREET SMARTS! so you can throw those nasty pervert kobolds off their rhythm. Unfortunately, starting equipment does not include a money clip. It makes you good at eating dirt and walking through forests and stuff. Also I think you can pet dogs really well?

Charisma - If you’ve ever played a bard, you would know what this is. If you haven’t played a bard, it’s not too late! Quick! Choose a Warlock or a Cleric if you want a Charisma based build! Choose the entertainer background if you must! -sigh- but if you insist, charisma is a measure of how easily you can quite literally charm the pants off a dragon. Also, sometimes you can roast people really well?

Having high skills is all fine and dandy, but the next tier of DnD player character power is owning your low skills. Have low constitution? Your tiefling is sickly or has a weak stomach! Low intelligence? Your character can’t read or write! Low charisma? You cause every single npc interaction to end with you being punched in the face. There is colour and interest in every aspect of your character, so make sure to let your character sheet represent your character as well as you can!

But how do you determine these stats?

Looking in your class description, you will see under the ‘Quick Build’ section the recommended stat scores, backgrounds and/or spells for that character. These are NOT mandatory, but I find them to be a helpful guideline for how to keep your character functional and, well, alive. Stat scores themselves can be determined a few different ways: Point-buy (I have no idea how this works but it looks like a lot of maths and that’s homophobic, so); Cascading, and rolling. 

Cascading (or at least that’s my name for it, I have no other way to describe it) is where you take the values 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, and 8 and assign each to one of your stats. For example, before adding racial stat modifiers, I could assign my barbarian’s stats as follows:

STR: 15, DEX: 13, CON: 14, INT: 8, WIS: 10, CHA: 12.

I may have a character-based reason for assigning my barbarian a relatively adequate Charisma score. Maybe he was a particularly intimidating character, or perhaps his iron-will makes his Constitution a 14. Maybe he likes to dance. You could have a particularly burly mage with a strength score of 15, just because you feel like it. Maybe your cleric is part of team sweet-flips? Or your monk could study tomes night and day to get her Intelligence to a lofty 17 points post-modifiers. Balancing stat scores so that you don’t die is awesome, but having a change to shout “YOU DO NOT SEE GROG!” and win 9 times out of 10? Priceless.

Rolling your stats is perhaps the most widely-used way to determine stats, but to be safe, ask your DM (or get crafty if you’re the DM!) about their preferred method. It’s pretty simple: roll 4d6 (the six-sided dice four times), noting down each individual roll. After four rolls, you cross out the lowest roll, and add the remaining three. Repeat five more times and you have some good good stats, bro! Don’t forget to add your racial stat modifiers before you assign your stat scores! 

Modifiers seem pretty confusing as a newbie, but there is a handy table in the PHB to help you keep track. Alternatively, you could subtract 10 from your score, and then half what you have left, making sure to round down! A score of 19 would have a modifier of +4 (19 - 10 = 9/2 = 4.5 ≈ 4, rounding down). A score of 8 would have a modifier of -1 (8 - 10 = -2/2 = -1). Pretty simple, right?

So now I think I can finally address whatever the F*$# I mean by ‘Roles’. What the heck is a role? Do you mean roleplaying? No, dear reader, I do not. A ‘role’ is what I like to call your position in the party. Because yes, on the unlikely occasion that you do manage to wrangle a group of people willing (or able) to play DnD with you, you still have to play with other kids, Derek. That means that the typical balancing applies. You cannot just have a 7-person party filled entirely by bards. Or bees. Though I would prefer the bees. Who would want 7 bards? That sounds like the start of a bad joke. 

A good rule of thumb is to make sure you have enough bases covered in the traditional party makeup that you won’t die immediately, but you also don’t have to deal with 7 goddamn bards, Derek, I swear to God-

You’ll want someone to hit stuff, someone to get hit, someone to help those who get hit, and someone to hit things when you don’t want to get hit. This could be solved any number of ways. Get creative, go hog wild. But not buck wild, Derek. I will not have the “Seven Buskateers” at my table again, do you hear me?!

This brings us to the finale. I’ve been writing this post for half an hour, and we’re finally getting to the good stuff. Thanks for stick with me so far. How about dropping your favourite stardew valley bachelor/ette down in the replies if you’ve read this far? Mine’s Elliot, because he’s beautiful and I love him, just like I love you. :3

Roleplaying!

It’s in the title! The very mechanics of the game! So, the question you’re asking me is: “Nate, how the Flippity Doo Daa do you roleplay?????????” 

And I reply, “How are you making those noises with your mouth? Where am I?! Who are you? Why can I hear each individual question mark even though they shouldn’t have a place in the mortal coil? What are you?!”

And then I tell you about my favourite thing to tell my own players. 

The easiest character to play is one that exists. So? What does that mean???

It means that YOU, my dead, dear nerd, can’t just pull a self-insert every single dang game, Damn it Derek! No one LIKES YOU! GO HOME! You have this opportunity to think of a fun, unique concept, and roll with it. So, how can you create the next Taako, or Nott, or Yashee’rak or Caduceus? 

If you have a concept to work from, that’s great! If not, start from the ground up. Who is your character? What are their likes, dislikes, loves, hates, loyalties, vendettas? I often like to establish both a backstory and a goal for them to accomplish, the simpler the better, to get you on the right track. Perhaps a Neverwinter begger wishes to open their own tea shop in Ba Sing Se? A cursed child of an angel and a demon takes it upon themself to avenge their brother’s death? A simple farm girl falls in love and follows her princess Buttercup across Faerûn? You name it!

Some good questions to ask yourself about your characters personality could also include:

What would they kill for?

What would they die for?

What would they watch someone else die for?

What are some rumours your party members would have heard about your character?

What would they think of your favourite meme?

How do they treat their mum? How would they treat your mum?

Do they have any recurring nightmares? Why?

Etc. Etc. Think of them as a real being, with thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams and fears! The more detailed you can get in theory might help in the long run. If you find yourself deviating from these details, however, don’t sweat! That’s a character’s natural development and progression as a character! In fact, if things don’t change as you play, you might have to have a look at your play style. Loosen up. No one is one emotion their entire lives. Characters lie! They hide things and change details and cheat and steal! But they also act kindly, even randomly, and change and grow. Encourage that. Let them grow. They (and your party members!) will thank you for it!

I think that’s all I have in me for now, and oh man there are so many more things I could mention. DMing in itself will have to wait for another day, of course, but I hope this helped! I’m going to die now. 

[bisexuhellvevo]

Poker Night at the Mellerelel’s

I’ve written up a few DnD sessions that I’ve played in here, and I have some to write still (fuck the False Hydra), but this one is my favourite so far. Partially because I ran it rather than playing in it, but also because it lead to the one scene that I’m most proud of as a DM and I’ll always remember. I’m gonna put this under a read more because it’s quite long.

The characters were:

Darryn Mellerelel, a Noble Half-Elven College of Swords Bard, who was born out on a illicit affair between the High Elven Lady Mellerelel and someone else, potentially another noble. He was kicked out at a very young age because it was eith er that or his mother lost her status and was thrown out with him. He’d come back to the city of Stoldhaven for the first time in nearly thirty years.

Joegan Greenfall, a Human Ancients Paladin of Mielikki, Goddess of Forests. His mother and father ran the Stoldhaven guard forces, and he was annoyed at being forced into this life away from his religion, so he stole his family’s ancestral greatsword and ran away. He was visiting for the first time in twenty years.

And Darvin, The Rat of Peatbog, an urchin Druid from the poor town of Peatbog. He grew up on the streets of Peatbog with a much more successful sister who’d left town before him, and after the orphanage he was stealing little bits and pieces for was suddenly granted a hell of a lot of money from a mysterious benefactor, he had no more ties to the town and left to make a name for himself as an adventurer. He had absolutely no business being sat alongside nobles in a poker game, especially since he had no idea how cards even worked.

First a little explanation of the setting. The heroes had arrived in Stoldhaven a couple of days earlier, only to find themselves completely stuck the morning afterwards as the city was trapped inside of a time loop, resetting at midnight every night and trapping everyone who stayed after that point. After some anger at the people around them for deciding to lie to incoming adventurers, they’d decided to see how they could help out.

They’d started investigating some murders and disappearances and, due to a combination of extremely good rolls and talking to exactly the right people at exactly the right time (and Detect Thoughts), had found out about the Timeless - worshipers of Savras, God of Divination and Fate - who were intent on keeping the time loop dome up, due to believing it was fate and anyone trying to work against it were working against their god. They found out that The Timeless One was a human noble by the name of Kara Dundragon.

Meanwhile, Darryn had made a deal with Lord Mayor Tressel, a Tiefling and current leader of the city, that he’d help as long as he got to see his mother again. He wouldn’t exactly reveal himself straight away, so he didn’t want her to be told who he was first, but he did want to speak to her. Tressel said he could get them all in to a poker game between a few of the noble families in his place (and they wouldn’t necessarily have to disguise themselves). At the poker game would be Lady Mellerelel, Lord Greenfall (the paladin stayed very quiet at that name) and Kara Dundragon.

The guards were privately hired, so they couldn’t necessarily be tipped off ahead of time - the adventurers decided they would rather keep things quiet and see what they could get out of her at the table instead of announcing she was a criminal and having her go underground. So, after some adventures around the city, they arrived that night for poker.

On his way there, the paladin was stopped by Kara on a little side street - with a whole bunch of civilian hostages to stop him trying anything. She explained that the group were meddling where they don’t understand what’s happening, and they should stay away. Joegan politely explained that he wasn’t going anywhere, and that he was going to stop her, and she merely answered that it was a shame and they were warned, before leaving.

Poker night started with Kara not present (the other two explained that she’s usually late), and was quite fun to begin with - Darvin had his cards backwards for most of the first few rounds, and they discussed the goings on in the town, the time loop business, and the two nobles repeatedly failed INT roles to recognise their own children (Lord Greenfall nearly got it, but Darryn and Darvin distracted him by juggling ice and dropping it in their drinks). The players gathered a little bit of money, too (mostly Darryn). Then Kara entered.

The mood immediately changed, and Kara spent the evening mostly taking jabs at the more prim, proper nobles, especially at Mellerelel’s infidelity. Also she kept winning despite not having proficiency in cards. The Paladin kept making vague threats towards her (leading to a great instance where, after making a comment about taking money from the group, he responded to her with “I’ll take something from you”, to which she replied “You can have my bra, if you’d like. If not, I’m sure the Lady can sort that out.”). The tension was heating up, and Darryn tipped her off that Joegan was about to try something, which lead to my absolute favourite scene I’ve ever DMed for ever.

Kara gets up and claims she has to use the bathroom, and Joegan stands up as she leaves and casts Command with the word “Truth”. She fails the save, but both Darryn and Joegan try to say something at the same time. Darryn is just a fraction quicker, and asks “What’s your favourite wine?” over the top of Joegan’s “Tell them you’re the Timeless One!”.

“I prefer a good red. There’s a great vintage made in the southwest kingdom that’s really lovely. Also, your mother fucked my father and that’s where you come from.”

The mood dropped. Darryn’s player sat there completely shocked, Lord Greenfall was looking between Kara and Lady Mellerelel as she looked at the floor, mortified. Kara then said “we should run, yes?” to Darryn, and they ran for the back door together. Joegan got up to follow, drawing a weapon, and the guards stopped him, but he convinced them to let him chase her as long as they were allowed to protect the noble. Darvyn turned into a horse to let Joegan get on and corner her at the open back door, and the players rolled initiative.

Darryn was up first, and cast Charm Person on both Kara and Joegan, both of whom failed, and he apologised for the Paladin attacking her, to which she forgave him (it wasn’t his fault, after all). Darvin was up next. Seeing that Darryn didn’t want Kara attacked or captured, he turned around and ran, letting Kara get away with two Action Surge Dash turns.

My main villain only got away because of the unprompted actions of my players, who were so invested in her as a person, the sudden reveal of a relationship between two of them and what she had to say about it that they let her. Not as a group, mind, but they managed to let her. That is the thing I’ll always be proud of as a DM, I think. Managing to create someone that they want to see a proper end to, rather than a cheesed “fight” against an unarmed opponent. The player playing Joegan wasn’t even mad because he’d have done the same thing if he wasn’t playing a super devoted Paladin.

Anyway yeah DnD’s good.

[quaxorascal]

do numbers 1d20 1d12 times >:3

Lmao I rolled a 12 but I decided to reroll and got a more manageable 7 (Thank you!!) ((from here))

17. What is your favorite armor?

Honestly armour is usually the last thing I ever think about wrt a DnD character lmao. Taber’s paladin armour is pretty damn cool though and I love it to bits (and so does she)

15. What is your favorite weapon?

I love daggers just as a general concept I gotta say, and as a side note I’m especially fond of the flame-tongue enchantment. I can’t choose a favourite specific weapon between Taber’s sentient greatsword and Mhel’s quarterstaff that can cast a select amount of druid spells per day

The rest will go under a cut!

13. How many d&d characters have you made?

Technically nine? In rough order of creation I have

Fyf the half-elf/ tabaxi rogue+assassin

Taber the tiefling fighter+paladin

Wilver the halfling warlock

Niamh the aasimar cleric (+bard) ((someday))

Erisonne the dwarf monk

Shuvermhel the drow druid

Ekaterina the gnelf ranger

Keziah the half-elf/ tabaxi wizard

Kole (full name pending) the human rogue

Rn I only play as Taber and Shuvermhel consistently; Erisonne and Keziah are my one-shot/ guest PCs, Wilver and Niamh get played sporadically, I left Fyf’s campaign, Kole will be a PC once Taber’s campaign has wrapped up, and I still need to do literally anything with Ekaterina (Katt for short)

18. What level do you usually start your players at?

I haven’t been a DM yet, but I am planning on running a one-shot for a couple different groups!! I’m thinking of starting the players off somewhere between 3 and 5 for that one-shot so that they can get a feel for the fun parts of a race or class that they don’t normally play

1. What was the first race you ever played as?

Technically my first ever PC was a human rogue, but that game didn’t last very long because we were in middle school and had terrible attention spans. The first race I ever properly played was a half-elf because I didn’t realize at the time of Fyf’s creation that tabaxi were a thing lmao

10. What is the most annoying thing that has happened during a d&d session you’ve played in?

Okay so speaking of that middle school campaign, the one thing I remember most clearly was when my rogue was trying to sneak through a goblin encampment in a cave without drawing attention, and then Chris’ wizard character shot Magic Missile into the cave. At least he killed the singular goblin he shot, but then everyone else had to rush in the prevent me and the cleric from getting clawed to death by goblins avenging their fallen brother

6. What is your favorite class?

Rogue, always rogue. Paladin and druid have both grown on me, but I love rogues and roguish characters with my entire heart and soul

[zakdesignprojects-blog]

As part of the flat mag, my group decided to have interviews with rpg characters. It was my job to create n draw them and write the interviews. Two were used in the final flat mag, n four weren’t

Adahna - wood elf druid

What's your journey been like? Any interesting or memorable quests? Definitely! It's hard to travel with a group of people for months without getting some good memories out of it. My favourite was when we travelled through a haunted forest - well, we didn't know it was haunted at first. Aside from my party almost dying to a demon - which was not the fun part, by the way - we ran into a possessed tree. He was quite lovely, and eloquent too! It's been my dream to be able to speak with a tree, and he proved to be a wonderful conversation compared to the other ghostly inhabitants of the forest. He even showed us some poetry he'd writte- oh. Oh my Gods. He's a poet tree. A poetry! Why did it take me so long to realise that!?

Does your party often get into unexpected situations like that? I wouldn't say often, but more than the average wanderer goes through. If I had gold piece for every time we got jumped while travelling the roads, I'd have seven gold pieces. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened so many times. We've been stopped by everything from bandits to farmers needing help to mages, to even assassins! Though not every encounter was so bad. The assassin ending up joining our party, and now he's one of my closest friends! ... Though come to think of it, a lot of our party joined in not so pleasant ways. It seemed that wherever there was trouble, a new friend was waiting to be found!

That's quite an optimistic way of looking at things. Are you always so positive? I try to be. The world's such a dark place sometimes, it's the least I can do to try and bring a little happiness and light into it! My party says my mood's infectious, that when I'm happy, they all feel it, too. And when I'm upset, they all feel gloomy, too. For them, I try to keep my spirits up, even when I'm having an off day. That's not to say they don't comfort me when I'm feeling down, we're all very close and comfortable with each other. Well, mostly, anyway. Some friends aren't as touchy or emotional as me, and I've had to learn that they have other ways of showing affection or comfort, like giving presents or protecting in a fight.

Have you had to change your habits much while travelling with new, different people? Of course. I am the only wood elf, and the only druid in the party, so no one else really understands some things I do or some ways I act. And in return, I don't understand the practices of orcs or tieflings or humans, or even other elves! It isn't always easy, but it's amazing to learn about so many new cultures and people, and how they see other groups of people. I can rethink how my people view other races, and clear up misconceptions my party may have about wood elves. We're not murderous cannibals, or dainty elves who prance through meadows, crafting flower crowns and conversing with trees. Well, not most of us, anyway.

You said most of your group met under poor circumstances. Can the same be said for how you joined them? ... Yes, I suppose. I lost a very dear friend in my village to a terrible disease. I... I blame myself every day for what happened, thinking that if I only tried harder to find him when he wandered off, our leader might have been able to save him. If it's my burden to live with the memory of failing him, then it's what I deserve. Ever since that day, I've travelled where I can, helping whomever I come across. It's gotten me into trouble plenty of times, sure, and I know he'd object to some of the things I've managed to get myself into, but I like to think he'd be proud of what I'm doing with my life now. Nothing can bring him back, but I can lay his memory to rest.

[expressandadmirable]

Femslash February week 4: Favourite Trope

The first time they met, it was mid-afternoon.

Officer Sol Feldryn -- formerly Major Sol Feldryn of the Royal Cornerian Guard, and other names and other titles before that -- had forgotten how meditative walking a beat could be. Corneria was quite a beautiful city when you stopped to look at it, and the best way to do so was on foot. She had also been fortunate enough to land a route that centred around one of the larger parks in the city: a vibrant, sprawling green oasis hemmed in by tall brick and stone. In truth, she suspected it was not luck that had given her this route, but her superiors hoping to ease her back into the routine after so many years of active duty overseas. Whatever the reason, she was grateful.

The weather was warm and clear for the first time in days and the park's wide pedestrian walkways bustled with activity. Vendors with hand carts hawked wares and food and drink, artists created elaborate chalk drawings on the stones or invited patrons to sit for caricatures, musicians and dancers claimed small patches of performance space and blended their disparate music into one constantly shifting soundscape. Sol allowed the distance between herself and her younger partner Brash to widen as they meandered, confident she would not lose track of a nearly-seven-foot Dragonborn. She let her focus wander, theoretically scanning for suspicious characters but largely just people-watching. It had been a pleasantly uneventful day so far.

As she approached the plaza at the centre of the park, its fountain guarded by the bronze statue of a long-dead hero, a single clear melody rose above the din. It took Sol's long ears a moment to locate the source: a violin, tucked against the neck of a tall, willowy Tiefling woman standing at the base of the statue. Her gold-streaked purple hair was pulled into a short, loose braid that looked as if it was fighting her with all its might; with each tilt of her head, new strands shook themselves free, giving her a wild, almost feylike quality. Her black clothing reminded Sol of an apocalyptic dancer: a loose, flowing tunic and fingerless knit gloves paired with ripped jeans tucked into combat boots. Sol found that she had stopped walking, distracted by the notes of the Tiefling's instrument and the way she swayed in time with the music she created. She debated for a moment, glanced ahead to make sure she could still see Brash, then leaned against a lamppost. Call it part of the job, she reasoned. Protecting citizens. Sure.

The Tiefling attracted a small crowd as Sol loitered, each person eventually stepping forward to drop coin in the open violin case at her feet. She smiled and dipped her head at each benefactor, sometimes winking if they seemed particularly shy. She seemed perfectly aware of the enchanting effect her music produced and she revelled in it. In time, the piece she played came to its natural conclusion and she lifted the bow from her strings. The crowd applauded respectfully. She grinned, bowed slightly, allowed people to disperse, and started another.

Sol pushed off from the lamppost as the song ended, suddenly aware she had lost Brash completely. With any luck she could catch up to him further along their route. She left the plaza and continued on, her pace slow, keeping an ear on the violin for as long as she could before it faded into the background.

"Hey!"

Sol turned. A young Human man was running full tilt across the plaza in her direction, clutching a very familiar violin case, closely followed by a very familiar Tiefling. As Sol calculated the best course to intercept him, the Tiefling unleashed a string of furious words in a guttural tongue. The man stumbled, his eyes wide with surprise and pain, providing Sol with just enough time to step into his path and send him sprawling to the ground. He looked up at her, dazed. She raised an eyebrow.

"That's not yours."

"No, it's most certainly not," agreed the Tiefling as she caught up to them. She took a moment to catch her breath as Sol rolled the man onto his stomach and handcuffed him, then retrieved her case and stowed her instrument and bow. "Am I going to get in trouble for the spell? I was defending my property. That's my drinkin' money right there."

Sol shook her head and tried not to smile at the Tiefling's odd commentary. "No ma'am, you're all set. This fellow is coming with me." She hoisted the man to his feet and he scowled at her.

The Tiefling grinned. "Works for me." She was even taller up close than Sol realised -- and more striking. Her braid had given up completely during her sprint, a mane of messy purple hair now framing her face. Silver studs in her nose, lower lip and eyebrow shifted with her expressions. Her gold eyes met Sol's. "Thank you for taking him down."

"Thank you for the assist," Sol replied with a slight smirk. She paused. "Your music is beautiful."

"Oh thank you! I thought I saw you listening." She smiled and Sol felt her chest tighten slightly, as if she had been caught. "This is one of my favourite places to play. It's got the best acoustics in the city."

"Do you play elsewhere?" Sol held onto the handcuffed man but did not move to take him away just yet.

The Tiefling nodded. "Here and there. Bar gigs and basement shows, mostly. Haven't hit it big quite yet. Still a ways to go."

Sol opened her mouth to ask another question, but the handcuffed man wriggled in her grip and brought her back to her senses. "Alright you, let's go." She started to push him in the direction she knew Brash would be, then addressed the Tiefling once more. "I hope I'll get to see you play again sometime."

The Tiefling smiled again. "Maybe you will, Officer..." her eyes flicked to the nametag on Sol's dark blue uniform in a gesture that may or may not have contained a once-over, "Feldryn. I'm Lux. Look for me when I'm famous. You can say you knew me when." She winked before she walked away.

Sol set off to find Brash, feeling something she had not felt in a long time.

* * *

The second time they met, it was evening.

Sol blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the bar. It was a dive, but it was the precinct's preferred dive, and Sol had promised Brash she would make it out eventually. She nodded to him as he played darts with a Dwarf, then made her way through the press of people to lean against the bar and wait for the Human behind it to notice.

A low, rich voice from the tiny stage at the back of the room caught Sol's attention. She craned her neck to peer over the sea of heads and felt her pulse quicken. Lux was perched on a high stool, barely visible in the low light, an acoustic guitar on her knee and a microphone hovering on a stand before her. Her makeup was heavier, dark and smoky, and her song spoke of a woman in mourning as her lover wasted away. A roar erupted as she finished, and she smiled and thanked the crowd.

After a moment of consideration, Sol asked the bartender what the Tiefling onstage was drinking and ordered one sent to her. She waited. At the end of Lux's next song, a waiter made his way over. Lux accepted the presented glass, confused, and conferred with the waiter for a moment. He gestured at the bar; Lux followed his gaze. When Sol knew she had been seen, she lifted her own drink. Lux's confusion turned to surprised delight and she raised hers in return. She took a sip, set the glass on the small table beside her, and began another song.

Sol watched Lux's entire set, any interest in making small talk with her coworkers quickly dissipating. Brash came to check on her and she assured him she was fine. It was only when Lux disappeared backstage that she turned back to the bar and debated ordering another ale.

"Officer Feldryn! My hero!"

The corners of her mouth curled slightly as Sol tilted her head to look up at the Tiefling who had just materialised beside her. "I'm off duty. It's Sol."

"Well, what a coincidence! I'm off too. What are you drinking?"

Sol held up her nearly empty glass. "But I wouldn't want you to spend any of your drinkin' money on me."

Lux grinned, her dark eyeshadow lending her a coquettish edge. "It would be my pleasure. You rescued it, I figure I can buy you at least one."

One drink became several, and they talked the entire rest of the night. The conversation flowed with an ease that rather surprised Sol, as she had never considered herself much of an honest talker, and she sensed the same was true of Lux. They appreciated many of the same books. Sol asked about music and composition and Lux waxed poetic on the topic. They disagreed on the superior breakfast cafe. Lux had grown up in Corneria, while Sol had moved to the city later in life. They both liked Dwarven food. Sol spoke of her time in the service. Neither enjoyed hiking. Lux revealed her first name to be Aviva, which was not something she generally shared. Sol said she thought the name was beautiful, and was fairly certain the Tiefling blushed a few shades darker.

Last call came and went, and all too soon it was closing time. The bartender reminded Lux her guitar was still backstage and she grumbled that she knew. She looked apologetically at Sol. "I've got to go. Rented studio space to try and record an EP tomorrow. We'll see how it goes."

Sol nodded. "Save me a copy. When you're famous, I'll say I knew you when."

"Of course," Lux replied, her smile coy. "See you around, Officer."

* * *

The third time they met, it was morning.

Lux dragged herself through the doors of the coffee shop with an exhausted groan. Day four of recording was due to begin as soon as she could make it to the studio, but she'd be damned if she was going to do anything without coffee. She had followed Wilhelm's orders and drunk nothing but water for days -- and she would never, ever make such a grievous mistake again. The barista asked if it would be the usual and she responded with a dull nod, willing herself not to rub her eyes and further smear yesterday's makeup. The day was going to be a trial.

In blessedly short order, Lux's breakfast was ready. She retrieved it gratefully and turned to find a seat at one of the myriad small tables dotting the cafe. The morning sun streaming through the windows glinted off something pale in the corner of her eye, and when she squinted over to see what it was, she suddenly found herself very much awake.

"Officer Sol!" The Drow was out of uniform, clad instead in a dark flannel over a tank top and jeans. Lux offered a quick, silent prayer to anyone who might be listening that her makeup still looked somewhat presentable. "We have to stop meeting like this. People are going to talk!"

Sol closed the book balanced on her knee and looked up at Lux with a small smile, the sunshine turning her white hair into a brilliant halo. "I'd rather let them talk."

Lux eyed her, intrigued. "What are you doing here?"

"Hoping to run into you." Lux seemed momentarily taken aback, which amused Sol. So she could be rendered speechless after all. "You said this was your preferred place, I figured I'd see what the fuss was about."

"Well, you've certainly caught me at my most glamourous." Lux gestured to her unkempt appearance with a sleepy grin. "Welcome to the secret life of musicians."

"I think you look lovely." Lux blinked, once again at a loss for words. Sol tilted her chin toward the empty chair across from her. "Do you have time to sit?"

Lux immediately moved to set her breakfast on the table, then stopped mid-motion. "I actually don't think I do," she said, transferring her coffee to the other hand so she could pull her phone from her pocket. She checked the time and made a face. "I don't. I'm sorry, I wish I did. Wilhelm will have a conniption if I'm late; at this point I'm pretty sure he survives purely on caffeine and his own neurosis." She paused and thought for a moment. "But if we keep on schedule, I'll be free tonight. There's a Dwarven place up the street from here." She pointed the direction with her phone. "You interested?"

"Absolutely. What time will you be out? Actually, how about this--" Sol held out a hand for Lux's phone. When Lux passed it over, Sol typed in her number and saved it before giving it back. "Just let me know. I'll be there."

"It's a date." Lux beamed. "Enjoy your coffee, I promise it's worth it. See you tonight, Officer Sol." She left the shop with an extra spring in her step. Turned out it was going to be a very good day indeed.