#to use for a story or a campaign

[funkle420]

do adoptable character designs actually sell?

[egophiliac]

innocently logging in to look at the Twst schedule for May like

[shorthaltsjester]

watching the sdcc panel and i am just very :) about how sweet their answers to “what are some of the micro moments from the game that have stuck with you the most over the years?” are. taliesin saying what the fuck is up with that which was the first like The Party Gets To Know Each Other moments of c3. travis saying asking his wife if he could kiss her in campaign. marisha going way back to the cannonball competition in campaign one. ashley choosing the beauyasha date but also just the silly goat noise matt made. liam adding onto that to compliment matt roleplaying grass so well and then saying his favourite moment was writing a story for laura and reading it to her as caleb for jester. and then matt saying that was his answer, and that his favourite moments of the game are when they find ways to give gifts to each other whether tangible or not. and sam saying his favourite moments have less to do with the story and is more so when he can just. see his friends across the table from him. when marisha perches and when laura and ashley are (badly) drawing dicks and liam saying he loves when sam sneezes and ashley tells him to stop it and just. yeah. they Are an extremely popular online powerhouse, but i’m so happy that they’re also friends building a world together out of gifts to and love for one another.

like i Am so enamoured with the characters and the world of exandria but the moments when you can feel the love that those people have for each other reach out from behind the stained glass of their performances (to steal a metaphor from brennan lee mulligan) are so extremely special and i am endlessly grateful that they decided to share their silly little home game with the world.

[artharakka]

Star of the Forest

[dol--blathanna]

Thinking a lot about Orym choosing a rabbit when asked what animal he would pick if cursed with lycanthropy.

Because, it makes sense. Orym is small, quick, agile, jumps well, and is highly perceptive. That definitely evokes rabbit imagery. But a lot of Orym’s identity is also tied up with being a protector – giving people AC bumps, the shield being as much a part of his fighting style as his sword, even his title: Saviour Blade of the Tempest. He wants to be a “Shield that protects Exandria”; his priorities about saving the gods are less about the gods themselves, and more about protecting the people of Exandria from the unintended consequences and bloodshed of releasing Predathos. And it would’ve been very easy to pick a large, strong predator to try and evoke the sense of a protector – a wolf, for example, an animal associated with loyalty and protecting its pack. Yet Orym chose a rabbit.

And I think that’s interesting, because rabbits are often seen as ‘cute’ animals – but they’re also a prey animal. In fact, they’re a common food source for many animals across several ecosystems: foxes, wolves, wild cats, dogs, birds of prey like eagles or owls, coyotes, stoats, and humans (and that’s just off the top of my head). Rabbits are skittish, easily frightened; to be rabbit-hearted is to be timid or cowardly. They are not generally associated with fierceness or prowess in fighting. Mice and rats are prey animals too, but typically seen as vermin (rabbits are sometimes seen as vermin too, but a farmer could eat a rabbit – they wouldn’t eat a rat). Deer are prey, but they have hooves and antlers that bring a danger to hunting them, for any animal – the difficulties of hunting rabbits are more related to their evasiveness, speed and good hearing than any life-threatening danger they might pose. Rabbits are, first and foremost, prey animals. They are killed and eaten, so that another animal might live.

Which made me think a lot about one of Orym’s other key traits: self-sacrifice. Bait and switch doesn’t just bump up his ally’s ACs, it specifically switches their place to put him directly in harm’s way. Goading attack is meant to encourage enemies to attack him instead of his friends. He literally made a deal with a hag, essentially exchanging his own life for power to protect his friends. How many times has he gone down in a fight? He’s not the only tank – but unlike Ashton (and Chetney, who also uses ‘self-sacrifice’ in his fighting style with his blood curses) he has no abilities to reduce the damage from the hits he takes (barbarian rage and the werewolf form).

(Side note: I think it’s pretty interesting that Chetney, the wolf, has attacked Orym, the rabbit, more than anyone else when losing control. That Orym’s facial scar was given to him by a friend, not a foe).

Of course, Orym isn’t the only character with self-sacrificial tendencies (FCG wins by a landslide), but I just can’t stop thinking about how weirdly perfect it is that he chose a rabbit for his animal. Rabbits are prey animals. They are eaten, so that other animals may live. Orym takes the hits, he goads and switches with his team mates to put himself in danger, he makes a deal with a hag at the cost of his own life. He’s a soldier, throwing his life away for a cause over and over again because Ludinus must be stopped, because Keyleth has put her trust in him, because it’s the only way to protect his friends, to protect everyone, because it’s the right thing to do. Orym is a rabbit. He’s always been a rabbit. That day in Zephrah, it could have easily been Orym who died instead of Will and Derrig – “unfortunate but necessary sacrifices”, as Ludinus viewed the attack. It’s unfortunate they had to die, but it was for the greater good, according to Ludinus. It’s unfortunate that a rabbit has to die, but it will feed a family of foxes, or stoats, or even a hungry human, so it’s acceptable, right?

Orym is a rabbit. He is giving himself to a greater cause that could very easily kill him – he already willingly signed his life away to Nana Morri. Because that’s what rabbits do. They die to feed others.

And the theme of being disposable is present across the entire group, not just in Orym – Bell’s Hells has been called a “party of NPCs” before. Aside from FCG’s death, I’d say Laudna perhaps fits this theme the best: she was literally murdered and hung from a tree simply because she looked similar to Vex, acting as a warning to adventurers she had never met before. But FCG’s death was – rightfully – viewed as a terrible tragedy by the group. Laudna’s decision to remove Delilah, finally freeing herself from her abuser and emphasising she is more, and deserves to be more, than just some disposable puppet – this was rightfully viewed as a very good thing! But Orym seems to be embracing this identity of self-sacrifice instead, rather than this mindset being properly challenged or acknowledged as a bad thing. After all, there’s no time. There’s too much at stake. Keyleth, Bell’s Hells, all the memories of those who have died in this fight, all the people who might die if Predathos is released and kickstarts a second Calamity – they’re all relying on him, right? A rabbit feeding so many animals with his sacrifice. And it’s not malicious compared to the way that, say, Delilah killing Laudna was an incredibly evil, fucked up and unnecessary thing to do. If Orym died to save everyone else, well, at least everyone else would be saved, right? Saving lives is good, isn't it? How could he complain?

Because rabbits are prey animals, and Orym is a rabbit too. Destined to die so that another animal may feed.

Except, that’s not true. Rabbits are more than just prey. They’re highly social, and thrive best living with others. They’re playful, they enjoy running around and kicking their legs just to show their enjoyment. They’re inquisitive and mischievous, even being associated with tricksters in some folklore and stories. They’re also associated with innocence, playfulness, spring, youth – all manner of things, depending on the story or culture. And they’re not helpless, either, even if they might be thought of as such. They can bite and scratch and draw blood quite easily if they want to! In fact, freezing up isn’t their only response when being attacked by a predator, they are known to fight back if cornered. They can sprint quickly, they have excellent hearing and senses of smell, they know how to evade predators.

Rabbits are prey, and they are also survivors. They have their own social dynamics, their own habits and dislikes and preferences. They are more than just a wolf’s meal. And Orym is more than a soldier, too. He’s more than a “necessary sacrifice”, he’s more than just a shield and sword. He deserves more than to die for a cause. He deserves a happy ending, just like everyone else. I hope he remembers that.

Orym is a rabbit. And the message isn’t that he shouldn’t be a rabbit. It’s that rabbits are worthy of surviving, too.

[ivysos2001]

I still can’t believe marvel had Steve tell Natasha he could only really see himself with someone with ‘shared life experience’ (5 seconds after they literally kissed) and then had the two of them practically glued together for literal years (in this movie and in every other movie after it), only to not even seem to consider them as a potential couple/love story

[wardensantoineandevka]

this is relevant to a lot of fanspaces, but I'm feeling it most with CritRole C3 right now, though it applies to a lot of other works too: I feel like a lot of fans mistake "the work had the potential to expound on XYZ themes and tell a narrative about such-and-such with these particular building blocks" for the work actually telling that narrative and working with those themes

the building blocks merely existing in a text does not necessarily mean that the text has that particular narrative at all, let alone is telling that narrative well. a lot of the time, a text has the potential for it but is not using those elements to actually tell that story and is just plain ol' missed opportunity

[swordscleric]

I can't stop thinking about the post from a few days ago about how Critical Role has been great at doing personal faith but didn't put the necessary work in to discuss the religious/god angle of c3 in-depth. Like the fact that Cardinal Respa was linked to both the Dawnfather and the Chained Oblivion is, on a personal level, very interesting (fallen/corrupted priest goes hard) but like does that mean that there's a Papacy somewhere in Exandria dedicated to the Dawnfather? If so, are there more cardinals who ordain the bishops of the Dawnfather? Are there Conclave-level intrigues going on in the Dawnfather's Sistine Chapel? Why is the Dawnfather so Christianity-coded in vibes alone if there's no actual outline of his religious organisations? With Downfall the Dawnchild/Dawnfather thing makes the allusions to Christ as Son of God co-existing with the Father textual - was there a Dawnfather Schism around whether the Dawnchild was a separate mortal? Was there a Reformation about how the Dawnfather's Pope kept selling indulgences? Is that why the priest of the Dawnfather Grog & Pike offer a drink to doesn't partake because of a cultural shift between Protestant-Temperance-League-coded and Catholic-coded Dawnfather congregations? Why do I have so many questions about the religious organisation of one of the most important Prime Deities in Exandria and to Critical Role's 3 campaigns? How on earth were the cast (and us as the viewers!) meant to care about the gods if all they had were "really tall kings" instead of interrogating how religious organisations provide both a place of healing and community to a wide range of people and also a place of horrific harm and abuse for a wide range of people?

[tinycowboyart]

Painting of Nova <33

Anyways ramblings about the painting in the tags as always

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Two weeks before MWIII campaign early access and they're not giving us anything yet, not a story trailer, not a campaign teaser, not a new character teaser other than Makarov, not ANYTHING.

Last year I remember the live-action trailer was THE SHIT with Alejandro's introduction, where they used a whole-ass DOCK to introduce the character posters.

Give us some crumbs 🗣️‼️‼️

[grifff17]

Audiodrama Sunday 2/9/2025

Happy Audiodrama Sunday! So much good stuff this week. Ylelmore season finale, Courier's Call season premiere, a great reveal in Unend, and Lost Terminal is back!

NEW SHOW ALERT At the Bottom of the Garden - Interesting show, I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to an audiodrama quite like this. I’m still unclear how much of this show is fiction, which I think is by design.

@storiesfromylelmore - the hard cut from Elas’s drama to Keryth and Rion in complete chaos with the river monster was incredible. Loved the sneaky little post credit scene. A character in the universe of a podcast listening to the podcast is such a funny premise. I'm sad the season is done already, it feels like it just started.

@midstpodcast - Oh shit some remnants of the Trust are still around. Great worldbuilding in this episode. The naturalist is Tziela???? That's such a crazy thing to reveal so casually.

Skyjacks: Courier’s Call - The kids are back together! Kieran’s haircut being a reminder of Alba is actually heartbreaking. I'm curious to see what happens when June meets back up with her parents, they did not part on good terms.

@campaignskyjacks - Random thoughts as I continue to listen through this show: I love Captain Orimar but he’s truly terrifying. Gable is a fallen angel? The scars on their back are from their wings! I really want to learn more about the Church of the Slain God. It’s insane that Dref is the most normal of the PCs.

Starwhal: Odyssey - “Have you ever fucked a Hydra” is such a great hard ending to an episode. I'm so excited to see the Usegoni try to capture and transport a living Hydra.

Find Us Alive - back from the hiatus! I would absolutely attend Hole!. Building a scale model of the place you’re trapped in in Minecraft is hilarious. And holy shit they’ve made contact with the outside! I had theorized that the memetic effect somehow prevented the outside signal from coming through while Harley was in the room, but I guess not.

@lostterminalpod - Its back for a new season! What is this weird cyborg monster? This has become a comfort shot for me and it's so nice to be hearing from Seth again.

@breakerwhiskey - I finally caught up on last 2 listener messages and responses. It makes me want to submit one. I never got around to submitting a question to either of the fictional advice shows I listen to, though, so I doubt I ever will.

I'm realizing that I listened to 3 different One Shot Podcast Network shows this week. They just make exactly the style of APs that I enjoy: narrative heavy, rules light, collaborative, audio only, and not DnD.

[duchessofostergotlands]

I don't like Blake Lively, never have and probably never will.

She was truly awful during the press promotion of the movie.

However I hope people remember obnoxious people can be victims or crimes too and we should not treat justice as a privilege to grant on merit.

Absolutely. The right to work in a safe environment is not just for people we like.

Also something else to consider is many of the alleged incidents happened in front of unwilling witnesses and Blake claims other women - women without the power and resources she has to pursue this - spoke to her about their poor experiences with Justin on set. This is why I worry about these public cases becoming just a popularity contest where the one who has the public on side is right no matter what. Because if she’s right, and people allow him a pass for this because Blake’s unlikeable, it most likely will happen again.

[lylahammar]

ppl pretty often ask if they can use my character/creature designs in their dnd campaigns and the answer is always yes but I need to start demanding they tell me about their campaign and my character's place in it from now on bc I always end up thinkin about it for months like man......... I wonder what my little guys got up to

[notchainedtotrauma]

In regards to Meg and her support of Kamala Harris, I don't need "we shouldn't expect "celebrities" to have revolutionary politics." discourse. Cardi B has been making a couple of quite good political critiques over the years on both sides of the political aisle and got hosed for refusing to vote because of imperialism. Khelani made a whole video about Palestine. Solange intentionally used Palestinians photographers and cinematographers to shoot her performance In Service to Whom and had made several references (although that's not enough) to the multiple genocides happening. What's happening with Meg and Kamala Harris is the uninformed enthusiasm of someone that is swept into the glittery Black magic/ girl power of it all, which ALSO happens to coincide with her brand.

[artharakka]

Erol 🕊

[luna-the-cretar]

I need to point something out about the Krew’s conversation with Torbek in episode 19.

Kremy—a man who likes to keep up appearances and appear larger than life, who relies on his silver tongue to spin his words into lies and half-truths—let himself appear as vulnerable to Torbek as Torbek was after the fight.

Because Kremy took off his coat and his tie (Richie made a point to both say that and make the motions as he was describing what Kremy was doing), before getting on Torbek’s level and seeing if there was anything on Torbek’s person that could explain what just happened, before noticing everything else that was off.

Kremy taking off his coat and tie is actually kinda significant, considering that shortly after, he (eventually) agrees to tell Torbek the truth about what happened, and even willingly spoke up to fill in what Gricko was missing in his explanation. Kremy was, metaphorically, letting his walls down and letting Torbek see him in a way that I imagine even Frost and Gricko rarely see (maybe outside of sleeping or bathing).

I mean, of course, Kremy immediately puts his walls back up the following day, and then acts like he is somehow above Torbek for the remainder of the season (which I hope he cuts it out early S2), but…it’s a step. It’s a step in the right direction for Kremy’s arc, and I can’t believe I didn’t even take too much of a notice in this—or anything the gator did—until I started rewatching the series and genuinely started looking into Kremy’s character more.

And of course Kremy’s whole interaction with Torbek this episode isn’t the only significant one, and i promise I’m not ignoring the others (in fact, I’m actually quite interested in the way Frost handled the combat, as well as the way he separated himself from Torbek afterwards, and it will be making me pay extra close attention to Frost for the next few episodes), I just…don’t hear a lot about Kremy in particular this episode.