#volo came highly recommended

[junuve]

putting my hairless cat under for surgery

[pyromaniac-cyndaquil]

people are saying that about volo huh? man he’s such an experience bc the fundamental rules of the game (or of singles i should say) are messed up there. there’s a lot that’s different in your favor and a lot that’s different in his. the turns system is unique with the strong and agile style thing making it possible to go multiple times in a row (and to get hit multiple times in a row.) the fact that there are no free switches in between your opponent’s pokémon so you can get punished for ohko’ing somebody by having him send out the perfect counter that immediately goes first. the fact that max revives are very easily attainable in this game. the fact that not only is giratina A Thing, but that when playing for the first time *you don’t know about that.* the only way to be truly prepared for giratina is to stall and take the time to heal your team toward the end of volo’s fight which feels kinda cheap. barring that you either have to be very overpowered or very lucky

i struggled when i first played even when using a ton of items and having brought four legendaries (probably bc i was a noob). but on my next replay when i had more experience and a real team i was still fighting for my life, even with items. but i did a no items volo challenge for my most recent run and it was a fresh nightmare that came down to very good luck on my part for the final shot. all three times i remained strictly on level and honestly isn’t the game way more fun that way? i’m also thinking i should go no items or at least limited items from here on out. and a strict level cap

It's mostly YouTube comment bragging I've seen people say that about volo in, but yeah, it's really silly. Couldn't have said it better myself! The way pla is balanced is honestly so cool, and the dread I felt so many times with battling him and he stacked up enough agile and priority moves to get like three turns in a row was painful 😭 not to mention the obscured status! Hoo boy, that REALLY made giratina a pain.

What I find really funny is I beat volo's regular team first try and even when I was liveblogging I mentioned that I was sad it wasn't harder, even if I only had a couple pokemon still standing.

... Then giratina happened 😂 I lost to his first phase sooooo many times on subsequent attempts after that, think I ended up having to swap out my hisuian lilligant for an alpha sylveon and trained that up from scratch just to have a reliable counter for spiritomb.

Anyway yeah, it's soooooo much more fun to stay on level! If I'd just ran in overlevelled there's no way it'd have stayed in my head for as long as it has, it's probably my favourite pokemon moment of all time as it stands. No items is definitely really fun in Pokémon in general, I love having to think hard about team order, items and status moves to give myself the best shot of staying alive 😭 tempted to also try a level cap when I play violet, bc shiny hunting and BBQ grinding made it way too easy to accidentally overlevel (accidentally got my hydrapple to level 100 half way through the epilogue, woops)

If you have access to emulation btw, I'd highly recommend luminescent platinum! Idk if you've heard of it or not but it's a really cool bdsp mod with a few cool story changes, properly scaled pokemon and a massive overhaul to every battle in the game (as well as expanding the dex by A Lot). All bosses have several rotating sets of teams they'll use at random that are fully competitive and there's an option in-game to set hard level caps that increase as the story goes along, and stop you levelling up at all once you reach them. It's really cool! Think I'm up to victory road in that game, should really get back to it haha

[i-thought-so-ima-say]

That- mandatory long post and “POKEMON LEGENDS ARCEUS SPOILER” alert

Okay so look, recently on the weird mess of a dashboard I have as my tumblr I’ve been seeing different interpretations of the possible reason as to why Ingo’s present in PLA story-wise.

First I heard that it was Arceus’s fault (which came to the influx of god bullying and abuse) then I heard it was “discount-Cynthia”s fault (which then led to literal man bullying and abuse) but then I saw an ask on @nartothelar ‘s blogs (side note: if you haven’t heard of them or have seen them in passing and are a submas enjoyer I highly recommend checking them out if you haven’t already. Their art’s immaculate and it gives me life on a daily basis) mentioning how because Volo’s rift wasn’t the one Ingo came out of, he isn’t a lead to reasoning why Ingo’s there (he’s innocent).

Which follows to my confusion of whether or not we have some- if any evidence to prove any type of theory as to how ingo miraculously appeared in Hisui. Post game claims it’s not Arceus, timeline claims it’s not volo- I can’t think of any other solid reason ingo would be eeby deebied to Hisui if it wasn’t from some other legendary or something. Perhaps an organization was doing something in the battle subway and ingo got caught in the crossfire somehow.

I’m currently subscribed to the theory that the guy in the zorua trailer is ingo (which would imply that it is technically Arceus’s fault that ingo’s there- with the strange device either being an arc phone of his own or just his normal phone and the memory loss is just slowly kicking in) I think it’s a funny concept to play with and I like thinking about how there’s a possibility that it might have been consensual or even planned for this to happen. There might be a chance that ingo is from a future a bit farther from the present black and white variants we’ve seen!

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated- you entities on tumblr seem to either know everything about a subject, or make up enough bullshit until it becomes the communities common knowledge. Both are things I’d love to see and indulge in.

[pixelgrotto]

Ladies and lords of Waterdeep

From April of 2019 to June of 2020, I ran Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for levels 1-5, for two groups - a party of three gals and a party of six guys. This was a tricky undertaking - mostly because as written, Dragon Heist is kind of a mess (more on that in a sec) - but also because I had to balance an adventure for two very different audiences that really only shared the commonality of being filled with D&D newbies. It was a worthwhile endeavor, though, and looking back on the experience reveals some interesting food for thought on how to remix an adventure, as well as how some ladies and gents experience roleplaying games differently. 

First, let me briefly discuss the adventure itself. Dragon Heist is meant to be an urban outing set in the Forgotten Realms metropolis of Waterdeep, which I described to my New York-dwelling players as “pretty much a fantasy version of NYC.” Over the course of five levels, players inherit and possibly renovate an old tavern, catch wind of an ancient heap of gold beneath the city and run into a bunch of important figures from Forgotten Realms history, ranging from Laeral Silverhand to Volothamp Geddarm. All of that’s epic, and the only issue is that the adventure’s laid out in a pretty shoddy way. 

There are four chapters in Dragon Heist, and the first is the only one that can be run with a minimum of hacking on the part of the Dungeon Master. The other three present a so-called “toolbox” of vague ideas for missions with Waterdeep’s various adventuring factions, as well as middling advice for scenes like a rooftop chase and a battle with a chain devil in a crypt, but it’s all highly disorganized with a minimum of connective tissue, requiring heavy lifting on the DM’s part to stitch together. The book is also rife with excessive red herrings for players to stumble upon as they search for the treasure trove, way too many characters with overly long names, and last but not least, there’s a lack of an actual “heist” in the grand finale, which is more scavenger hunt than Ocean’s Eleven. 

With all these criticisms, why did I choose to run this book for not one, but two different groups at the same time? It was largely because I’d just finished playing through Dragon Heist with my own character - a mask-wearing teenage street urchin who fancied herself a swashbuckler. I’d had a more-enjoyable-than-not time with the folks I played with, but the guy who DMed had a habit of sending us on the aforementioned red herrings for multiple sessions at a time, with nary an interesting combat encounter or social challenge in sight. I don’t really blame him for this - especially seeing at how poorly the book was laid out afterwards - but immediately after finishing, I was approached by two friend groups who wanted to try their hand at D&D, and this gave me the excuse to see if I could do a better job. 

Since I already had a clear example of which pitfalls to avoid, the version of Dragon Heist that I ran heavily remixed all of the elements in the book, with an emphasis on streamlining whenever possible and always making it feel like my players were accomplishing something. This is usually my underlying philosophy whenever I run a game, but it’s an essential strategy for newbies who might be driven off of roleplaying games altogether by bad pacing. For instance, as written, there’s an annoying series of fetch quests near the end of the story where players have to find a number of keys in order to open the hidden treasure vault. These keys are random as heck, ranging from semi-sensible McGuffins like a bronze dragon scale to bonkers junk like a ballad played by two dwarven bards and a friggin’ unicorn. This whole exercise in randomness reminded me of the worst of video game filler, and I cut it out entirely by having the son of the man who hid the treasure accompany the characters, with a drop of his blood activating the magic needed to open the vault’s doors. (This also led to an amusing situation where the guys were stuck as they ruminated on how to open the vault...until the dude playing the goliath suddenly shouted, “I GRAB RENAER’S HAND, CUT IT AND SMEAR THE BLOOD ALL OVER THE DOOR!” and I was like, “Okay. It...opens!”)

Because my players were nearly all D&D virgins, I also wanted them to get their money’s worth by encountering all four of Dragon Heist’s villains - Xanathar the beholder, the devil-worshipping Cassalanter nobles, Manshoon the cloned wizard and Jarlaxle the drow rogue. As written, Dragon Heist touts itself as highly replayable, since DMs are only supposed to choose one villain for their players to go up against. The problem is that all of the bad guys are teased on the cover, and the beginning chapters dangle most of them into the narrative with the players caught in the middle. This created a lot of confusion when I was a player, as my companions and I kept hearing about Xanathar and Manshoon...only for them to suddenly disappear halfway through as Jarlaxle took center stage as the big bad. And so, in order to circumvent this confusion and make both the boys and the girls feel like they were getting a quintessential experience with a minimum of loose ends, I threw in all the baddies. (I wasn’t the only one to do this - tabletop RPG designer Justin Alexander also recommends this approach on his blog The Alexandrian, where he offers an impressive revision of Dragon Heist that I probably would’ve used if I hadn’t discovered it too late.) 

So, when it came down to actually rolling dice, how’d my two groups interact with the material? I think it’s safe to say that both the girls and the boys hit the same major story beats and had a grand time doing so, but the nuances of their experiences were fascinatingly different. The girls, for instance, dove into the art of roleplaying and devising histories for their characters, and one of them decided to play as an elf from a seafaring clan and gave me a whole backstory involving the ocean that inspired my “final boss” for Dragon Heist, an evil, decaying dragon from the Elemental Plane of Water that isn’t in the book. (Hey, it’s called Dungeons & Dragons, the story’s named Dragon Heist, and since I wasn’t sure if all of my players would stick around for future campaigns, I figured I’d better stick a notable battle with a big scaly lizard in there somewhere.) 

The girls also got way more into some of the social justice subplots that permeated my version of Dragon Heist, pushing hard for Waterdeep to remove the anti-dragon magic bubble that surrounded the city and excluded an entire species from its borders. Their interactions with non-player characters - often progressing along the lines of “well, if you feel like you want us to do this quest for you, then we certainly can” - reflected this sort of empathy, and even though this sounds incredibly stereotypical, by the time the final session wrapped up, all three of the gals had either shipped or flirted with NPCs that they’d encountered during their journey. One of ‘em even ended up hitched with a baby!

The boys, by contrast, were much less likely to devise in-depth character histories beyond “I’M IN THIS CITY TO GET MY MONEY,” and their NPC conversations also frequently waded into “GIMME MY GOLD” territory. I don’t want to make it sound like their characters were just two dimensional mercenaries, though, because definite, organic progression occurred over the course of the campaign - the goliath who couldn’t read gradually worked his way through Volo’s Guide to Monsters and became fluent in Celestial after joining the Order of the Gauntlet, for instance.

Where the boys clearly felt more at home than the girls was in combat, probably because 1) there were six of them as opposed to the three ladies, and 2) they collectively had lots of video game knowledge, and D&D’s influence has kinda trickled down to every video game ever made. It didn’t take long for some of the dudes to begin subconsciously min/maxing their characters, and while there were two major deaths in unpredictable boss fights, the boys did go through a long period where they were just steamrolling everything to come their way and yelling, “LET’S FUCKIN’ GOOOO” as they did so. In contrast, DMing for the girls during combat sequences was occasionally a nail-biting experience where I didn’t know who was going to survive, and since some of this was due to my own slapdash encounter design where I underestimated the abilities of the monsters they were up against, I made sure to give them lots of friendly NPCs who could potentially offer a helping hand, or even resurrection spells if needed. 

Both groups were aware of the other’s existence, and I’d sometimes playfully pit them against one another. (Example: The guys often forgot who was who, and one time one of ‘em looked down at his character sheet and was like, “MY NOTES ARE SUCH SHIT” which made me respond, “Well, y’know the girls take really good notes...���) But at the end of the campaign, when my players asked me which party was more fun to DM for, my answer was that both groups were great. The girls were bursting with imaginative roleplay, and they gave me real moments of glee as they responded to story twists with the legitimate surprise and wonder that comes from people who aren’t already overexposed to fantasy tropes and gaming culture. The boys gave me that feeling of what some fans affectionately call “beer & pretzels D&D,” where you’re shooting the breeze with your buddies, playfully teasing each other and going for broke in combat encounters. 

I want to stress that the ladies I DMed for were absolutely not representative of how all women might approach D&D, and the exact same thing must be said for the fellas. This was no planned sociology or gender studies experiment that I conducted, in other words - it was merely a thing that I did with two friend groups, and the resulting experiences were two opposite yet totally valid sides of the same RPG coin. And while I doubt that I’ll run the same campaign in the future for two different groups at once (let alone a campaign as wonky as Dragon Heist), I like to think that as someone who tries to advocate for how roleplaying games can be fun, welcoming experiences for all, I played a small role (hah) in bringing swords, sorcery and storytelling to the lives of people who might not have experienced such imaginative forays otherwise. 

Already, both the gals and the guys are whipping up ideas for future characters and checking out stuff like Critical Role...which means that my work here, at least for the moment, is done. 

[ittybittypearlygirly]

It was one thing to not see Akari after she’d been exiled from the village. It made sense, in a twisted sort of way. The problem arose when Survey Corps reported seeing her far from Jubilife two months after her exile.

“Are you sure?” Cyllene was heard demanding. For someone who expressed emotion very little, she seemed extremely distressed, especially the longer Akari was gone. She, the professor, and Rei had apparently expected her to take shelter with someone outside the village and be back on her feet in no time. When this didn’t happen, the trio became increasingly more and more stressed, which was what eventually wore Kamado down into occasionally sending a search party out.

When someone reported having glimpsed her in the Alabaster Icelands, it became the talk of the town.

“I only saw her from a distance!” the Corps recruit swore up and down. “I’m not even 100% sure it was her!”

“What a terribly dangerous place to be spotted,” the professor could be heard murmuring to Rei. “Why in blazes would she be all the way out there?”

It came to a head when Cyllene marched into Kamado’s office and demanded Akari be found and brought back to the village. “It’s been two forsaken months since she left and the problem you pinned on her hasn’t even resolved,” she snapped. “If she’s still out there and willing to accept to forgive us, we desperately need her help.”

Kamado, initially, dug his feet in out of pride but caved quickly under Cyllene’s brutal attack. He began sending small parties out in search of the prodigy recruit and it didn’t take long for the Diamond and Pearl clans to catch on, too.

“We should’ve taken her in,” Irida lamented. “Tensions between our clans be damned, she deserved better.”

Adaman nodded grimly. “I just hope she’s doing okay out there.”

Further investigation amongst the goers of Jubilife revealed that Volo had been the last to see Akari. “I invited her to somewhere safe and secluded, but she got this distant look on her face and said she’d meet up with me later. I never saw her after that,” the trader admitted, looking less upbeat than usual. “When several days had passed and she still hadn’t shown up, I went looking for her, I really did. But I never saw her and nobody was talking about her anymore, so I... suppose I assumed someone else had taken her in. I’m so sorry.”

“What’s done is done,” Cyllene huffed. “Now you can help us find her now. She was reportedly seen in the Alabaster Icelands, so your cooperation is greatly appreciated.”

So many people had never before been in the icelands, and the local Pokémon made it clear when the Galaxy Team attempted to establish local camps to make searching easier. However, with a dear friend’s life on the line, more people were willing to take the risk than usual, and so the search continued.

Unfortunately, it only took about a day after the redoubled efforts to find Akari.

Rei came back to the camp one day, pale as the snow around him and speaking only in clipped sentences. “Anyone who thinks they can take it, you’re welcome to come,” he announced flatly. “Otherwise, I highly recommend you stay here and wait.” This confirmed the increasing fear that Akari wasn’t actually alive anymore, but several people still wondered why she’d been spotted earlier as if she were alive.

Irida and Adaman volunteered immediately and Kamado spoke up as well, knowing he owed the girl that much at least. Laventon and Cyllene, worried beyond belief, agreed to stay back in case something went wrong. It was with a heavy heart and a grim expression that Rei led the others back into the forested iceland, not answering any questions aside from the occasional, “You’ll see.”

Upon entering a certain grove, everyone immediately felt an unnatural chill seep through their clothing. Zorua had been spotted in this area, they knew, and the area reeked of ghosts. It also reeked of blood. There, near the edge of the clearing, lay the lifeless body of their beloved companion, scarlet blood seeped into the blood like a mockery of what had once been.

As Rei hung back and the others approached, led by Kamado, however, something even more terrible occurred.

First, a handful of Zorua trotted out from between the trees, likely coming to investigate the strangers intruding on their territory. Then an otherworldly light began to coalesce above Akari’s body, taking shape into a horribly familiar figure. It was Akari but... different. Her signature Survey Corps uniform now resembled the ghostly Zorua and her eyes were yellow and unwavering. Her bloodless face turned up to look at the group, which now stood paralyzed with fear. For a few, heartbreaking moments, no one dared speak. Then Akari opened her mouth.

“Where I come from, Zorua and Zoroark are black as night, Dark-Type tricksters of illusion,” she said almost conversationally. “Here, in this time, when all Pokémon are wild and not just Zorua, it’s understandable they would be feared. However, Zorua in particular were reportedly cast out from other territories here and died in the harsh environment. Now they reappear as ghosts fueled by anger and hatred.” Her sickly gaze fell upon Kamado even as Irida covered her mouth in horror and Adaman cast an arm up to protect Rei, who stood silently crying. “Dying in the wilderness after being shunned and exiled by humans who were unjustly afraid of them and coming back out of malice… quite the familiar story, wouldn’t you agree, Commander?”

Kamado had trouble forcing the words out that he knew needed to be said, due to the dry knot that had formed in his throat out of fear. “I... know that nothing I say will ever make up for what has happened, but... I am truly sorry, Akari. You didn’t deserve this.”

A fluffy little Zorua sniffed curiously at the corpse in the snow and Akari merely barked a short, humorless laugh and glanced at the others behind him. “Too little, too late,” she sneered.

“You - you deserve a proper burial, at least,” Irida whispered, voice trembling. “Can we at least give you that?”

Akari’s ghost cast an uncaring eye towards her body and snorted. “Sure. Do what you want. I’m tired of seeing it anyway.” Without another word and without letting anyone ask any of the other burning questions in their minds, she faded into the darkness and the Zorua scattered as well, leaving only Kamado, Adaman, Irida, Rei, and Akari’s body.

Akari’s funeral was grim and filled with much mourning from the Survey Corps in particular. Anyone who had met the bright, cheerful girl attended, shedding tears for a wronged hero. Kamado, who had not cried since the death of his wife and destruction of his village that led to leaving for Hisui, was in tears and inconsolable, knowing he was solely responsible for the tragedy that had occurred. Rei was also beside himself, unable to even say more than a few words in her honor before breaking down sobbing. Many of the Diamond and Pearl clans attended as well, joined in their mourning for the wonderful girl who had done nothing but help them.

How Akari manifested as a ghost was never fully understood, nor ever really seen again, but for years afterwards, Laventon and Rei would often make trips out to the Alabaster Icelands and pay respects, despite her body being buried just outside of Jubilife. The gravestone read:

AKARI

A GIFT FROM BEYOND TIME AND SPACE

MAY YOU FIND THE PEACE WE NEVER GAVE

Hisuian Zorua dying in the wilderness after being shunned and exiled by humans who were unjustly afraid of them and coming back out of malice…quite the familiar story, wouldn’t you agree, Commander?

[determinedowl23]

Ok so it’s currently called The Ruined Celestica, but I’m open to name recommendations. This idea came into place when my friend said that Volo looked like Link and just went downhill from there.

So basically, after you beat Legends Arceus, Volo retrieves Giratina from the Cobalt Coastlands and they sail to another region, where they could hopefully complete their wish of recreating the universe. They land in a region that they have never heard of, but the locals call it Hyrule.

In this region, Giratina was changed into a form where it is humanoid and can actually speak. But in return, it is also much weaker and it isn’t truly a Pokémon anymore. It is able to rest in Volo’s simple sword in this form, becoming a sword spirit and creating the Renegade Sword.

Everyone seems to recognize Volo and praise him. He is confused, until someone directs him to the Princess of Hyrule. The Princess explains that he is destined to save Hyrule from the Risen Demon King, Ganondorf. Volo, having just shown up to recreate the universe, is highly doubtful of this. Nonetheless, he is immediately placed into the Royal Army.

So basically, Volo is the Hero of Hyrule and Arceus knows he has no clue how to do that. But he does agree to help out the kingdom on the condition that once Ganondorf is defeated, Zelda will help him with his goal that he only describes as “returning to my homeland” but his true intentions is to use Zelda’s divine power as well as Giratina (still weakened and in need of more power) to create his new universe.

Volo will travel through dungeons that represents of the five areas Hisui to train himself and prove his strength to Zelda. After this, the land becomes disturbed and the sky darkens, kind of like after the space-time rift opens further or when Calamity Ganon awakens in AoC. Now, the Demon King has risen.

Trying to find the princess, Volo finds an artifact in a hidden room in her quarters: Hylia’s Ring, an heirloom of the loyal family that when used by the Goddesses’s Chosen Three, will grant the user with immense wisdom, power, and courage. He has the option to steal the ring, knowing it could help him achieve his goal faster, or leave it, rejecting the evils in his mind.

If Volo takes the ring, its power will seep into his sword, making the False Creator Sword, a powerful weapon that drains a bit of the users life force, but this is balanced gameplaywise by Giratina gaining immense strength from this, and even allowing Volo to heal sometimes. If Volo refuses to take the ring, the artifact will call out to him and enhance his sword, creating the Blessed Sword. This sword is even more powerful than the False Creator Sword, but Giratina will abandon the sword, refusing to take in the light and hope that Hylia grants Volo. Either way, the “Hero” is ready to battle the Risen Demon King.

The Ganondorf fight is probably pretty simple. You beat him and yay, Hyrule is saved. But the story is not over yet. Depending on your choice with the ring, you have one final battle- against Giratina or Zelda.

If you stole the ring, Zelda, although grateful you saved the kingdom, shows up to give you an ass beating. She explains that yeah, you were the one prophecized to defeat Ganondorf, but Volo don’t have the spirit of the hero and that he doesn’t have the true blessing of the goddesses. But despite all odds, you manage to defeat Zelda. In her final moments, she remarks that Volo will never be a hero and never truly be satisfied. Using her fading life energy, as well as Giratina, everythung around the three fades to nothingness, until a bright light floods the entire screen. Volo’s perfect world has been created. And that is that ending.

But if you chose to leave the ring, you encounter Giratina one last time. In Volo’s absence, it has recovered something that hasn’t transformed it into a Pokémon again, but still returned it to its full glory: the Griseous Core. Facing Origin Giratina alongside Zelda, who has become more powerful due to the divine energy from the Blessed Sword, you defeat it. As it faints, it states that a man with Volo’s dream will rise up and take control of Sinnoh, completing Volo’s mission in the end.* It fades away, and Volo and Zelda return to Hyrule.

So… what so you think? I know Giratina isn’t well written, so I’d love to get some thoughts on it, specifically the ending of the Giratina fight because’ I don’t like that right now.

*yes I am fully aware Giratina completely stops Cyrus from doing this in Platinum. Maybe it was a change of heart after all those years? I’m really not sure

Y’all are not ready for my third LoZ Pokémon crossover au