#tmif answers

[themetaisfutile]

What's your most favourite class and race to play? Why? Least favourite? Why?

This answer is long so buckle up! Each TMiF member got to answer this!

CptTritium: My favorite is Pathfinder Paladin. I liked Paladins pre-3.5e because I like playing with restrictions, because paladins in pre-3.5e you had to be lawful good and live under the pact of a higher power which is really important considering the historical meaning behind the term. I like the idea of a holy warrior. I'm tempted to say gnome is my favorite race because… Well (group laughter). Honestly though all my favorite races and classes are the ones in the SRD, because I like playing in those constraints. Least favorite: (thinking) They all have their place, but I don't know, insert College of Creation Bard here? (laughter) For context the first time we played Curse of Strahd, Jade played a Creation Bard and killed Strahd with a bunch of books. Oh you know my least favorite race? The Ardlings from D&DOne or whatever they're calling it. Just make Aasimar better, don't just give them animal heads. I don't actually have super strong feelings about it though.

RosexKnight: My favorite class is Warlock, even though I'm not playing many in our games because I was trying to avoid doing my whole thing! (laughs) And the only one I WAS playing, died! Hilariously enough my favorite race is tieflings. I just really like them for their diversity in appearance. Least favorite: My least favorite subclass is the alchemist artificer because it could have been SO MUCH BETTER! And it's not! Compared to the other artificer subclasses. It's a decent enough support class becase you get some bonuses to healing, or when you do damage that's fire, acid, or poison.

Jademod: Favorite: Fighters and Rogues are both good for multiclassing, that's why I like them. One or two levels gives some fun variety and they have a good variety of subclasses if you go three levels. I'd thought wizard was my most played class but both times I've played wizard with this group it was a wizard/fighter because I'm a sucker for melee-based casters! (laughs) Least favorite: That's… A hard one. Maybe druid? I dunno I think they're cool, and I've played them and I will play them, but it depends. And (sorry Zen but) Ranger? I don't think they're bad I just don't like a lot of the ranger spells as much as other classes' spells. I don't DISlike the class it's just not my favorite class. I have played and will play ranger!

Ry: I gotta say my favorite race has gotta be dragonborn, because I'm playing Dungeons&DRAGONS and there's going to be an effing DRAGON. They're just fun because breath weapons are dope; you can have a direct line of fire or a giant cone. You turn your breath into a public service announcement! Class is where it gets tricky, because there's a lot of really interesting capabilities. Bard is a fantastic class because you can get really creative. But there's something about Barbarians, I've come to find, as a phenomenally fun class to run solo or mix in. No spells or anything, I just get mad and swing my axe or sword and it's that easy. But I am having fun playing warlock; get to use the best cantrip in the world, Toll the Dead! Eldritch blast is great but Toll the Dead has been fantastic. Least favorite: Monk. It's a good class, but for a class that's just for punching things it's just way too complex. It's just the one I like least. It's the getting going with them, and there's so much to manage.

Bluebrush09: I have mostly rogues, fighters, and wizards, and mostly humans for played characters. But I don't branch out much 'cause I don't really look at builds to play. Just go with whatever is character-fitting since most of mine are pre-existing.

ZenAquaria: My favorite class is the Cleric! Partially because that's the class I started with in the first CoS run with Spooks, my little grave cleric! I am a support player by nature, and the cleric has a lot to offer in that regard. Depending on your domain, you can be a frontliner, a back-of-the-pack support, a healer, crowd control; there's a lot of options. And I really enjoy multiclassing the cleric! Because they really can! (laughter) When it comes to race I don't really have a favorite either, that I've played? Which means I don't have a least fave either! But if you were to look at my collection of characters I've not yet run, that answer would lie with the drow, just by virtue of most numerous. I do really love the owlin though, because heyo, Spooks! Least favorite: As far as least favorite class goes, Iiiii… have not played the same subclass twice so that's really hard for me to pick because I haven't found one I just, did not like. I will say I do not appreciate how they have shorted the Beastmaster Ranger in costing them their action to command their pet, unless you have the Primal Spirit companion from Tasha's.

[zenaquaria]

TMiF Histories of Ulei'Var: The Risen War - Ep. 20 'Southward Bound'

A couple of days after the decision was made to pursue the Umbermount objective, Gael received a letter in response to hers. She had sent a query to a higher ranked officer, Lieutenant Sturmkrieg, asking his wisdom and advice.

An answer arrived, on the leg of a raven, telling her it was ill-advised to go, but he wouldn't stop her. And also that some help would be along in the form of another officer to give what aid the Grim Knights could provide.

Do not repost, edit, alter, trace/copy, use/redistribute my artworks without my permission.

[rosexknight]

LOST MINE OF PHANDELVER SESSION 19 TONIGHT AT 9PMCST

Last session, fires were contained, questions were answered, and deals were made. This session...Perhaps more? JOIN US TONIGHT AT 9PMCST~!! https://www.twitch.tv/metaisfutile/ https://www.twitch.tv/metaisfutile/ https://www.twitch.tv/metaisfutile/ FIND TMIF HERE~!! Discord - https://discord.gg/dSfvTfyUvT Tumblr - https://www.themetaisfutile.tumblr.com/

[helenarlett-rex]

This is very appropriate. Because today is Too Much Information Friday! Or TMIF for short. Yeah I know it’s normally supposed to be Too Much Information Tuesday, right? But if I’m going to be a TMIF I don’t want to do it on TMIT. I want to be a TMIF on TMIF! So let’s make this a Friday thing.

And that means you may now ask your favorite author of bizzaro erotica anything you want and I’ll give you an answer! Well... That’s provided I’m your favorite author of bizzaro erotica. If your favorite is someone else and you ask them a question but expect the answer to come from me then we are going to have problems. But even if I’m not your favorite you may still ask me questions! Anything at all. Want to know something about one of my books or characters? Go for it. Want to learn my own personal secrets? Now’s your chance. Want me to send you nudes? Too bad! This is Too Much Information Friday, not Too Much Skin Friday.

Please send all questions as asks to my inbox so I can actually answer them publicly. PMing me is to be discouraged for the purpose of this event.

[themetaisfutile]

How many character deaths have the players had? How did they die? How did the players feel?

Shockingly few amongst the TMiF players. At least, deaths that stuck, anyway.

CptTritium: I have lost 2 player characters. One didn’t die, he was a halfing sorcerer in CoS, we were level 8. He technically didn’t die, he was turned to stone by a basilisk and he’s still a statue in Ravenloft. And then, Rose was DMing, and I had a middle-aged fighter whose wife left him for a half-elf and took the kids. He was trying to find himself and become a cool dad, and the party before the session adopted him as Dadrigard. He opened a door in Mines of Phandelver and got stabbed in the chest and died super hard. Died without seeing his kids again and it was beautifully tragic; I wasn’t upset but the rest of the group was sad.

RosexKnight:  I’ve had 2? Characters die and stay dead. Like, did not come back into the game. Aranvir, who was killed and raised a vampire, then allowed a moment of clarity as Hestara pushed the sword through his heart and he joined the endless cycle of Barovian suffering. Made us feel super sad! And Ayano, in the Planes’ End game; we got some cool homebrew powers and buffs that let us bond to other characters. They could cast from each others’ locations, for example. Ayano didn’t have a lot of bonds with the party specifically, so I was like what if her bond is the whole party and this is like a get out of jail free card, but your soul is taken out of the reincarnation cycle. We were up against an undead dragon and a lich, and our rolls were just bad.

Ry: Two characters

ZenAquaria: The sole character death I’ve had did not stick, because she’s too cute. Spooks, in the first CoS run, the group went up to the coffinmaker’s attic to find the bones with Hania. Spooks was the only one who can fly, and Hania could misty-step.It was the two of them vs 6 vampire spawn, and the rest of the party didn’t know until Hania misty-stepped back out to tell them to hurry upstairs. Unfortunately, Spooks did not survive that encounter; our centaur paladin could not get up there fast enough. When that happened, I made sure to inflict the pain on everybody else by drawing it! I did a sequence for that, of little Spooks in the Barovian afterlife and how cold and lonely it is there.

[themetaisfutile]

How many campaigns have you completed?

There is a difference between long form vs. short form campaigns and one-shots. We’ve done Blight’s and (Doesn’t) Toll Any Bells, the mimic tower and the spider house, so that’s 2 short form and 2 one-shots.

RosexKnight: My campaigns didn’t complete, they just kind of… Ended, because covid happened, and just kind of fell off the face of the earth.

Ry: Five

We haven't really completed any long form ones, yet. But Auscives is planned to be drawing to a close in the near future.

[themetaisfutile]

Is it challenging to roleplay a character accurately?

CptTritium: If you're concerned about "Oh man how do I roleplay?", the wrong answer is "Oh that's what my character would do" with everything and just handwave it with that. It IS a challenge, or can be, to get into the right mindset. I'll say that DMing helps with that, because you get to play everything. By the way if you're a DM playing a villain and what is going on is squicking you out, that's not a red flag, that's a good thing. You SHOULD be squicked out at war crimes or incel vampires.

RosexKnight: Depends on the character. It's hard to roleplay in general because I think it's not something a lot of people do, so it can be harder. I like giving my characters a quirk, then going with that. Sometimes when you're roleplaying you can lose sight of the character, but then you have the quirk to fall back on.

Jademod: I've found sometimes it can be helpful, like, if you're an introvert, to play a more outgoing character. Otherwise you'll just kinda be quiet.

Ry: It absolutely depends on the character.

Bluebrush09: For me kinda yeah. I don't like being put on the spot or the center of attention. Got easier with Quentin, but even then it's hard some days. (Anxiety sucks.) -Group note: Blu HAS gotten a lot better at roleplaying since starting! And it's been incredible to watch happen!-

ZenAquaria: I'd say that roleplaying a character accurately is like the pilot episode of a new show. You're learning who they are, how their class works, their motivations, wants, needs; so it can be a little tough, at least at first. But as you go on, it gets easier and easier. New players can find it more challenging because they ARE new and learning what they can or are willing to do.

[themetaisfutile]

What was the origin and inspiration of the group's name?

ZenAquaria: A brainstormy car ride, between Trit and myself! Trit has always been a seat-of-the-pants improv DM, and gotten very good at adjusting games or encounters on the fly to deal with whatever comes down the pipe. From troublesome players or characters, to badly written RAW encounters or things he just thinks are stupid.

The lore of the game is called "the meta", and because of the necessity of twisting it to fit the story or to deal with problems at the table, the meta becomes futile in the hands of an experienced DM. Hence my thought, "The Meta is Futile"!

We didn't make it our group name until a few months afterward, when we began our Curse of Strahd live-play!

[themetaisfutile]

How do you go about creating a new character?

Literally anything can start it, from the simple concepts to jokes to memes to subversions of archetypes or the archetypes themselves.

CptTritium: There’s a couple of processes. Oftentimes I think of an archetype. Thorne, one of my favorites, was going to be the horny bard, but that ended up being a drow tiefling and she ended up being more nuanced than that. But Thorne was supposed to be the horny bard, but with discussion with other table members, it went from that to “What if he’s on a quest for love?” Very upbeat, very passionate, bright side of life, super happy all the time; he could find a redeeming quality in a Balrog. Golden retriever. Then Rose said, “why not make him an artificer”. That’s how he got his gun, Commitment, and a sniper rifle attachment, Long Distance Relationship, and then he has the undocumented feat where he can just, tuxedo-mask a rose out of nowhere. But for an NPC, that can be either super planned out, or like. Cutter, for example, exists because I have this scar on my neck. Scourge of the seas, he was mutinied against, did they not cut deep enough or did he crawl back out of hell. He was going to be a Halloween costume but I ended up making him the villain for Axia and charting out his wants and needs and motivations. Then there’s off-the-cuff NPCs. Most comes organically, others require thought, I listen to music and come up with ideas.

RosexKnight: I sometimes make my characters around the builds! Character creation just works like this, literally any prompt can spark a new character. I’ve made entire families for a character based on a bit, or for a ship, or literally any spark!

Jademod: A combination of things, really? If I get an adopt design, how do I build the character around this design; other times we design the characters ourselves from scratch. That’s a combination of what I think would be an interesting thing to do or not done before, like a take on a class or combination of classes. Now that the world’s getting more fleshed out I try to come up with things that tie to something we know in the world.

Ry: Monkey brain; throw things at a wall and see what sticks/people like. I wanna make a character that jives with everybody, and has some level of chemistry with the group. Like Ezraan was just made to be a scaredy-cat who just wants to help everybody and heal people; he’s the voice of fear, not the voice of reason, but I’ve had a lot of fun with playing him. It’s not that he won't do something, he will, he just won’t be happy about it. He is easily frightened, can see the odds are completely overwhelming but still chooses to go help everyone out. He could just cower in fear but something in him propels him forward.

Bluebrush09: I go through my horses and figure out which I feel like doing. Making new characters is very prone to whimsy. Like Quentin, it was 2am and he just, never left. Hecked off for a while, had to do stuff with Flick, who was out of spite because too many horny kobolds… I just make whatever works.

ZenAquaria: Like the other artists at the table, it varies! Like, for Vess, with her creation, I am obsessed with vampires and I wanted to do the take on the reluctant vampire, but also accepts what she is. With her, it was just a matter of bringing her from her original writing in a roleplay some 6 years ago to a more contemporary character build. She was already designed and fleshed out, I just applied the classes that fit her abilities the best, as opposed to someone like my homebrew gryphonfolk, the Toraion. Ash was crafted entirely out of a concept I nicked out of Blu’s server for a general premise based on Percival du Rolo from Critical Role with the whole warlock plague doctor aesthetic. So how can I take that premise and make it so that it works? It was a focus on acid and poison with necrotic but the limitations of warlock made a pure warlock difficult. Ended up going alchemist artificer with it, which has the abilities for the bonuses to those damage types, as well as feats like Metamagic Adept, for Transmute Spell, turning a fireball into an acidball. And artificer also for the firearm proficiency so I didn’t have to grab another feat for it.

[themetaisfutile]

Is there a favourite ship in the group?

Depends on the campaign, and whether we’re talking friend, romantic, etc. 

ZenAquaria: The best FRIENDship in the group is arguably Spooks and Cederic.

CptTritium: I disagree but I’m biased. Mercer and Thorne is the best Friendship. (Group: BroTP!) 

RosexKnight: My favorite ship is any of our characters and happiness! (Group: That’s a nonanswer, Rose!) But it’s so hard for me to pick; I love them all so much. I do agree Spooks and Cederic have the best friendship. Blu has the best characters for friendshipping.

CptTritium: Blu has all the friendshipping characters, Rose has all the romantic ship characters, I can’t speak for anyone else here, I’m just the DM. That said I do have some favorites, and I’ll go by campaign. Curse of Strahd is Ireena x Not Strahd (laughter). Axia is probably the Wildfyre (literally the boat!); there’s a lot of good potential there it’s just a matter of which ones are seaworthy. Thunder and Sebastian are good, Cammy and Vandelys are adorable, Cammy and Quentin are adorable… There’s a few. In Auscives… Ameria and betrayal (Group: Rude!) She had every opportunity to trust her friends and didn’t. To her death.

Ry: Eilonwy x Muan

[themetaisfutile]

What is your longest running campaign?

CptTritium: Adventures in Auscives. Aside from the year-long period to introduce Blu via the first Curse of Strahd, Auscives has never been put on a “proper” hiatus due to scheduling conflict. 

RosexKnight: I guess Roots and Planes both had a year of active play, but Axia’s been my longest running one (1 year and 3months). 

Ry: Axia

Bluebrush09: Also Axia.

ZenAquaria: Auscives. Aside from that one year for CoS, it’s been 3 years of active play starting in 2019.

[themetaisfutile]

How'd the DnD group get started as a whole?

Some of us would play on and off with local people, but those kind of petered off as life went on. At the time this question was reached on-stream, the rest of us were offline so only Trit, Jade, and Zen were able to answer!

CptTritium: It was about a year after we'd moved states that I was like, "I wanna play D&D again," and then Zen introduced me to all these people who were into this kids' show.

Jademod: And it's funny because Trit isn't in the same circles as we are!

ZenAquaria: That is basically how it got started; I'd gravitated into this friend circle and when Trit wanted to start playing D&D again I was like "Well baller let's go! I know a bunch of people who'd be up for trying!" 'Cause a lot of us were getting worn out with the fandom that brought us together, as happens. And it's been a wild ride ever since, and I love it~

CptTritium: I'd just thought Zen had done an all-call or something.

Jademod: And I think we each knew who the other was, but we hadn't interacted much.

ZenAquaria: I think that we pulled Jade in when another non-TMiF member had brought a friend, at the beginning of the (non-streamed, homebrew) Auscives campaign, and Jade was looking to play in another campaign than the one they were already in. And then we brought in Blu, and then Rose, and Ry, and caught lightning in a bottle!

[themetaisfutile]

How up to date is the YouTube VODs? I always want to watch but the streams are at 1am for me :'D

We do have a considerable backlog of our current Friday campaign, The Risen War. ^^;

Thanks for the reminder to get our YT channel caught up on the action!

[themetaisfutile]

What were your first experiences with DnD like?

CptTritium: I started with 3e; hung out with a guy who was like, "Hey do you wanna play Dungeons&Dragons?" And I remember almost nothing about it, except I had a character sheet in theory, and the creature we fought was a tarrasque.

RosexKnight: My first experience was with 3.5e, with the black dragon starter kit and my dad running that for me.

Jademod: The VERY first thing was, my dad ran an AD&D thing for us, we were smallish. My very first character was like… This diamond wizard with this long flowing beard and the crystal staff, but we only played one adventure with that, until college.

Ry: My first experience was with my old college roommate and a collection of other football players. Dark dorm room, community snacks, cheesy spotify ambient music. Never had played or even had heard of DnD before until he brought it up. Played a pregenerated character, an exiled half orc Paladin named Graives and was a super serious guy, very literal. Our star running back was a elven ranger named Eregorn and we had a Goliath barbarian and a halfling bard taking on a cult of werewolves. It was wild and really cemented the roleplay and combat into my head. It was a really makeshift and jank experience. We spent 8-9 hours of our off days playing into the late hours and it felt amazing. The table, the friends, the drama, all of it was just the coolest thing. We never did end up finishing the campaign after 6 months but we had fun regardless. I still think about our characters and interactions to this day.

Bluebrush09: Curse of Strahd lol

ZenAquaria: My first D&D experience was 3.5e, and my first character was a changeling sorcerer, back when the Tome of Magic was a thing. Never went anywhere but we faffed around with Rogue Trader, and then my first longer-than-one-or-two-sessions was my gnome druid.

[themetaisfutile]

TMiF: Game and Chat Night!

Come join us on our Twitch channel at 9PM Central to chat and hang out with us while we answer your questions, discuss TTRPGs, and all that encompasses!

metaisfutile - Twitch metaisfutile - Twitch metaisfutile - Twitch

Be sure to check out our Discord, too! It's the first place we announce what we're up to! Hope to see you there~ https://discord.gg/dSfvTfyUvT

[themetaisfutile]

TMiF: Game and Chat Night!

Come join us on our Twitch channel at 9PM Central to hear us discuss topics and answer questions about TTRPGs that you all send to us! metaisfutile - Twitch metaisfutile - Twitch metaisfutile - Twitch

Be sure to check out our Discord, too! It's the first place we announce what we're up to! Hope to see you there~ https://discord.gg/dSfvTfyUvT