#warcraft gunslinger

[witchlightdesigns]

Remember that Green Dragon I'd made a while back? Yeah... Dragon rot is on my brain right now. So have some sketches of her visages.

I adore the way the horns came out, so much. Now I just need to settle on a dragon design for her...

At some point I want to either roleplay with her or tell stories for her. My sleepy little cowgirl. Yes, she uses a rifle instead of a bow because I think it's fun to change tropes up. Also why she isn't a druid!

[hotcupoteckla]

So, I like different editions of the game and they give different Vibes.

1st: The Beta Run, the old Fallout Game & Diablo style of play. It IS just Dungeons & Dragons, but if you're witty or clever enough you can break the DMs expectations and win the loot.

2nd: thac0 and the gritty art & relevancy of Every Rule Ever that you need to know all conditions that apply? Fuck yes, you're in the Dark Souls version where there is Deep Lore & some Role-playing available, but combat is deeply involved, and everything that spent time specializing has become relevant in later levels and your skill generalist is the support as intended. You need to know what you have with you at all times and you get minions that mean something to the story so you can build influence in an area and become the Dark Souls Boss. Rules Lawyer Haven.

3rd-3.5e: Did you want EPIC QUESTS?!?! We have the place for you! Steampunk? Check! Samurai? Check! Fucking wicked ass magic items that are regularly everywhere and everyone you meet has been an adventurer at one point? CHECK, MY FRIENDS! You don't need to worry about that BESM system over there, or that D20 modern system over there, just stick with us and you can live out your Human to Hero Final Fantasy Pokémon dreams right here, buddy!

Why yes that means out focus on Role-playing has diminished the coolness of survival type styles of games, but we do have lots of undead available in our rules for your Gunslinging Dark Tower Action Man to take them out on the regular. Leveling from 1 to 20? Why? You're super powerful at level 5! Minions are meaningless? Why, of course they are! They just follow you around, and I mean you can have them if you wanted, I guess, but this is YOUR STORY, so don't you want more Epic Quest?

4th ed: Hey guys, I hear Warhammer is having a revival of sorts and everybody's into painting all of a sudden, why don't you try out OUR EFFICIENT Non-Rules Lawyering,(Not stolen from the Star Wars Minis) 100% No RolePlay Encouraging, We Only have Battles on the Table Now System?

Elminster? Who the fuck is that? We don't care- I mean, here he is! Check out his minifig stats! Put him up against...*rummaging in box noises* Strahd! And his 3 delicious Vampire Babes! And check out these Eberron Steamjacks!

Did we say it was Non-Rules Lawyering?! We LIED! All of your Worst RP Friends ever (BroGrammers Galore!) will both Complain ceaselessly about this game WHILE Insisting On Only Playing This System, because while it SUCKS ASS FOR RP, it makes SENSE for Minis, that they live for. Minis & Cards.

Aka Hey man, I heard you like Warcraft & Starcraft? Well we put plastic pewter in your Warhammercraft/Starcraft.

5th Ed: Hey guys, um sorry about that mess back there. Did you guys miss role-playing? Oh, I see we're making podcasts now, that's nice, let's make a rules set for you 😉 😀 I mean, we gotta put these Rules Bits in there so the 4th ed and 2nd ed guys are willing to buy our books again, but yknow, this edition isn't about that. It's about sitting at the campfire with your friends and having fun Magic stories to um... to be nostalgic about, and come up with to make memories with um... hey are you guys hearing that? *checks bushes, 👀 Critical Role hitting a jackpot with a slot machine* huh, well as I was saying, what? *Witnesses Acquisitions Incorporated making a whole supplement book crossing the camp* "HUH. As I was saying, while we can't specialize and expect to make a prof-" *Vox Machina, Fool's Gold, Legends of Avernus, Dimension 20 & Dungeons & Daddies making specialized systems as mini games to fix bad rules, making bank*

"HEY, STOP THAT. YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE OUR NICE RULES FREE GAMES AND MAKE ACTUAL MONEY OFF THEM. WE CAN'T, SO YOU CAN'T EITHER"

rp groups who are doing well: "Hey WotC, we tried getting hired by you, and you said we didn't have the business sense to make it in the industry, and you made it be a free access license because that was the terms you bought it from TSR."

WotC: "Well, we'll see about THAT!"

Yeah, different Vibes in each edition.

Anyway OP, If you can find a set of 2nd edition, it might be more your style, but I do agree that it's weird the developers feel the need to include Bad Rules in order to make a profit, when after all, they could just remove the rules and make a minibook revolving around survival and make more money that way.

It's often remarked how D&D 5e's play culture has this sort of disinterest bordering on contempt for actually knowing the rules, often even extending to the DM themselves. I've seen a lot of different ideas for why this is, but one reason I rarely see discussed is that actually, a lot of 5e's rules are not meant to be used.

Encumbrance is a great example of this. 5e contains granular weights for all the items that you might have in your inventory, and rules for how much you can carry based on your strength score, and they've set these carry capacities high enough that you should never actually need to think about them. And that's deliberate, the designers have explicitly said that they've set carrying capacity high enough that it shouldn't come up in normal play. So for a starting DM, you see all these weights, you see all the rules for how much people can carry or drag, and you've played Fallout, you know how this works. And then if you try to actually enforce that, you find that it's insanely tedious, and it basically never actually matters, so you drop it.

Foraging is the example of this that bothers me most. There's a whole system for this! A table of foraging DCs, and math for how much food you can find, and how long you can go without food, etc. But the math is set up so that a person with no survival proficiency and a +0 to WIS, in a hostile environment, will still forage enough food to be fine, and the starvation rules are so generous that even a run of bad luck is unlikely to matter. So a DM who actually tries to use these rules will quickly find that they add nothing but bookkeeping. You're rolling a bunch of checks every day of travel for something that is purpose built not to matter. And that's before you add in all the ways to trivialize or circumvent this.

These rules don't exist to be used, that is not their purpose. These rules exist because the designers were scared of the backlash to 4e, and wanted to make sure that the game had all the rules that D&D "should" have. But they didn't actually want these mechanics. They didn't want the bookkeeping, they didn't care about that style of play, but they couldn't just say, "this game isn't about that" for fear of angering traditionalists. And unfortunately the way they handled this was by putting in rules that are bad, that actively fight anyone who wants to use that style of play and act as a trap to people who take the rules in good faith.

And this means that knowing what rules are not supposed to be used is an actual skill 5e DMs develop. Part of being a good 5e DM is being able to tell the real rules that will improve your game from the fake rules that are there to placate angry forum posters. And that's just an awful position to put DMs in (especially new DMs), but it's pretty unsurprising that it creates a certain contempt for knowing the rules as written.

You should have contempt for some of the rules as written. The designers did.

[eldridgecandell]

Josiah Nubern Order of Embers Inquisitor

The Basics ––– – Name: Josiah Nubern Nickname(s): Berns Age: 25 Birthday: Late Fall Race: Human Gender:  Male Marital Status: Single; formally engaged

Physical Appearance ––– – Hair: Black Eyes: Pale Brown Height: 5'9 Build: Lean, scholarly Distinguishing Marks:  Scar across bottom lip Tattoos: None Piercings: None Common Accessories: Black wire rimmed glasses; dual pistols; anchor charm Likeness: Ezra Miller

Personal Information––– – Profession: Inquisitor; Accountant Hobbies: Marksmanship; history; languages; reading; olive oil Languages: Common, some orcish and gutterspeak Residence:  Arom's Stand, Drustvar Birthplace: Corlain, Drustvar Religion: Faith of the Tides Patron Deity:  Tides Fears: Rats; Ghosts

Relationships ––– - Spouse: None Children:  None Parents:  Edward Nubern (MIA); Jessica Nubern (deceased) Siblings: Arthur Nubern (older brother); Rosemary Nubern (older sister; deceased) Other Relatives: Eldridge Candell (mentor) Pets: None

Sex & Romance ––– - Sexual Orientation: Hetero Preferred Emotional Role: submissive | dominant | switch Preferred Sexual Role: submissive | dominant | switch Libido: Dry Turn ons: Poetry Turn offs: Supernatural Love Language: Words of Affirmation   Relationship Tendencies: Short, monogamous

Traits ––– - * Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted Disorganized / In Between / Organized Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded Calm / In Between / Anxious Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable Cautious / In Between / Reckless Patient / In Between /  Impatient Outspoken / In Between / Reserved Leader / In Between / Follower Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic Traditional / In Between / Modern Hard-working / In Between / Lazy Cultured / In Between / Uncultured Loyal / In Between / Disloyal Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– – Smoking Habit: Casual Drugs: Occasional Alcohol: Casual

RP Hooks ––– – Drustvar For Life - Born and raised among the dark hills of Drustvar, the young Nubern had ample experience with the flora and fauna of his home.

Order of Embers - Things that go bump in the night, beware that those that bump back are alive and well.  Currently the young inquisitor finds himself on his way to Autumnhearth to offer his own insight and aid of the Order in reclaiming the lost province.

Heartache to Break - The Coven has taken a lot from Nubern, from family to love to home.  There is a dark and cold hatred for Waycrest's witches as well as the Drust that he fully intends to reap his vengeance upon.

Firefight - The young man is a connoisseur of firearms, a small passion that has only grown with his adventuring and travelling.  Interested in all manner of advancements, the future is a bright concept that Josiah intends to grab onto.

HOW TO CONTACT:

OoC - tumblr, Discord ( Mogwai Kraken#7988), Ingame (Nubern) IC - The low light of Sunset would flash across the glass lenses of Josiah Nubern's spectacles, the pale eyes behind them scanning the horizon for movement.  His short frame sat easily in the saddle of the smoky charger, the thick coat wrapped about him tightly despite the passing of spring into summer.  Drustvar was always cold so close to Corlain.  Bare hands would rub together to shake off the cool of the closing night, all was quiet in the highlands for now.  But once the moon rose and the gloom would settle, a short summer's night only meant more for those that bump to do more and faster.  Fidgeting with his shoulder holster a moment, the young inquisitor would click the reins to continue his ride.  He had a date with a man about some onions.

[karniz]

Patreon Early Access: Hana-lin Jeong another’s Original Character ♥ view on my patreon @ patreon.com/karniz/ ♥

Interested in being a Patron? If you enjoy my work, for only one dollar a month, you get access to monthly sketch requests by me as well as early access to commissions & illustrations I’ve done! There is also a Patreon-exclusive commission queue which includes full body quick commissions!

[dutchaddeldon]

Dutch gun aesthetic

[tlaquetzqui]

Swords make perfect sense in SF because any species you fight will probably die if you behead them. Good luck beheading anyone with a combat knife.

You can also defend with a sword, not just attack. You can kill a great gunfighter like Bill Jordan if you just get lucky, go up against a great swordsman like most of the Shinsengumi officers and you will never get close to touching them.

Also lots of fantasy has guns, notably Warhammer Fantasy (the actually semi-good game that Warhammer 40K is the dumbed-down puerile spinoff of), Warcraft, the original 2e version of Spelljammer, and Pathfinder (PF1e literally has a gunslinger class).

FANTASY GUNS VS SCI-FI SWORDS

Has it ever accurred to you that in sci-fi world building swords seem to find a way to squeeze through into relevance (think the jedi light saber, the power swords in warhammer 40k or the blade duels of Dune) meanwhile guns are almost always sidelined in fantasy world building?

Why do you think is that? What makes the complex invention of the gun so antithetical to a world with wizards, dragons and such?

A gun in a pre industrial world is complex artifact that requires various experts to work together. However a plate armour or, if you think in fantasy terms, an enchanted item would require also a lot of effort from different people to be put into it. So it would have an aura of mystique like a wand with a unicorn hair strand or an armour engraved with the legends of the kingdom.

Are guns antithetical to fantasy world building due to their aesthetic since they are more associated with pirates and napoleonic warfare?

On the other hand, why are swords so ingrained into our imagination to the point they become synonym with heroes? Why is it that even in the future, where warfare will have changed so much it will be barely conceivable as such compared to our modern understanding of conflict, there will be fate changing duels fought with blades?

Why is the sword the weapon of the hero even far into the future? Is the gunslinger a kind of protagonist only fitting for the wild west?

[cc-mg]

Art of Clarence and the Bar Gang

[thornbolts]

Shootout at Steeltusk Saloon

((Trying something new with writing. I’d like to get more into action scenes. These action-heavy adventures will be featured under the tag: barking irons.))

tw: blood, violence, firearms

"I'm lookin' fer a whiny shitstain of a shot and cowardly arsonist and murderer by the name 'a Theodorick Thackeray, who's so stupid that if he had brains fer dynamite, he couldn't blow his nose."

The entire saloon halted at the undead's entrance,  The flapping doors grated, letting in a sharp beam of Badlands sun behind the lone undead as she sized the whole room up with a dry yellow eye.

The ragtag assortment of disheveled outlaws squinted at her all at once.

A taller, stubbled man rose from his seat at the back bar, lips widening to reveal black tobacco-stained teeth. He gently pinged his spur into the metal barstool leg.

Pistols, shotguns, rifles drew. All muzzles pointed toward Remington. She leaned her hat backward, sweeping her gaze across the bar's now hostile denizens.

"I'm gonna give you another chance," the stubbled man's tone dropped lower, goading the undead. "What did you say about Theodorick Thackeray?"

Remington doffed her hat, laying it on the adjacent window's sill as she faced back toward the group. "I said I'm lookin' fer a whiny shitstain of a shot and cowardly arsonist and murderer by the name 'a Theodorick Thackeray, who's so much of a dumbass that if his brains were leather, he wouldn't have enough ta saddle a scorpion." She stared right back at the man as she splayed her hands out with a cocky grin. "And if yer him, ya really are so stupid that ya couldn't piss outta a boot with instructions written on the heel."

The stubbled man shook his head, facing back toward the bar and taking another seat. He raised his hand, an index finger extended up before pointing at Remington.

The saloon lit up in a frenzy of gunfire. Bullets tore through the undead's sandy poncho. The salvo lasted near fifteen consecutive seconds of non-stop shooting. Glass shattered under the hail of projectiles, scattering all over the wooden floor as spent cartridges and shells joined them and clinked against the shards.

Gunpowder and the hot hiss of glowing muzzles were all that remained after the thundering cacophony of lead.

Yet the forsaken still stood, her hole-ridden poncho revealing the bent ghost iron plating shielding her torso. Fragmented and blossomed bullets trickled down the armor in a jingling rain.

She smiled. "Like I said: Stupid."

The gunslinger drew her pistol in a blur of motion as a goblin to the left began to reload. She squeezed the trigger before he could swing back the grimy cylinder back into his revolver, shooting a hole between his bloodshot eyes.

KA-CHUNK. The sound of a shotgun rattled behind her. "HURK!" The ogre brandishing the weapon heaved a giant poker table up like a shield, cards fluttering about the gunsmoke.

BANG! Remy dove behind an upturned table, the blast shredding the hat rack behind where she previously stood in a hail of wooden shrapnel. The undead clutched a preserved cat's paw within her cold palm. She sprang out from the cover, squeezed the paw, then raked her claws horizontally across the air.

Four thick red stripes slashed through the poker table across the ogre's torso with an unseen, sinister force. The ogre collapsed in a quickly-bleeding heap, two stubby arms covering his belly to keep his innards within.

"Make yer piece, Theo," the forsaken growled as she twisted her cat's wrist. "Ya ain't got much time left."

The force was hungry for blood, and this den of outlaws was the perfect grounds to sate its appetite. The tauren lifted as the vengeful presence snarled, twisting his bones in unnatural directions with a slew of sickening snaps and breaks.

Remington swung her claws toward Theodorick himself.

It was the perfect way of subduing without rope or manacles. The force threw the tauren like a ragdoll, crumpling over the human and knocking the wind out of his lungs with cracked ribs.

The forsaken swung her gaze to the rest of the den.

That momentary distraction was all a troll needed. He gritted his teeth against his tusks, sweeping low with a curved blade the size of Remington herself.

He was fast, but Remington was faster. She leaped up over the vicious blade and swung her fist downward, muttering a discordant incantation as her feet touched the bar counter.

The force followed the movement, smashing the troll's entire figure into itself like a crumpled tin can. Red splattered out from the display, staining, rendering the remaining four living combatants scarred.

The undead marked her targets.

A gnome fumbling about with her shotgun, struggling to load shells into the loading dock. The weapon much too big for her height.

Another human, his fingers shaking and unable to load more bullets into the chambers of his six-shooter, likely his first shootout.

Two half-elves peeking out from below the windows outside. The first tossed knife after jagged knife toward Remington. The other raised her palms, a fiery boulder welling up between her hands.

The gunslinger raised her pistol, smacking down the hammer of her weapon after each shot, sending a volley of bullets at the flying knives.

PING! PING! PING! PING! Bullets collided with blades in mid-air as the projectiles harmlessly clattered to the bloodied ground.

Remington twisted the cat's paw-holding wrist again, hopping off of the counter.

The snarling force levitated the first half-elf up, twisting his head and body in opposite directions before dropping him like a broken doll with a dull thud.

The other elf's eyes widened, losing her composure with the giant fireball between her palms. The magic went wild, unstable flame coalescing and condensing before it exploded in a great blaze, obliterating both the elf and a third of the saloon porch.

The gunslinger shielded her gaze, though caught the gnome finally raising her shotgun in the her direction.

BOOM! Remington took the blast of buckshot to her ghost iron plating. She swung her fist out.

The unseen force rammed into the gnome, sending her crashing into the rickety wooden shelves behind the bar and toppling them on top of her.

With a shaky grip, the remaining human trained his sights onto the lone undead. He squeezed the trigger repeatedly, sending wild shots around her figure.

Undeterred by his poor aim, Remington walked forward, spurs clinking as her hard leather soles stepped through blood and glass

He yelped as she gripped his pistol and wrenched the barrel into the underside of his chin.

Remington forced his trigger finger down.

BANG.

"Theodorick Thackeray," her voice chuckled through the saloon. "Wanted fer the arson of an elderly couple's homestead after ya threatened them fer not housin' yer outlaws. That was after ya were wantin' ta lay low after ya killed a band 'a innocent whiskey merchants when a robbery went wrong."

Theodorick whimpered, unable to muster any words as he cowered before the figure looming over him. He could feel the heavy weight of the tauren's corpse crushing him, cracking his ribs and compressing his lungs. His breathing was shallow as he reached a weak hand up toward Remington.

"M-Mercy," he wheezed.

"Ya don't deserve it.” Remington snapped back. “Besides, yer bounty’ll be payin’ my folks ta eat fer one more month.”

She slid her pistol back into its holster and pocketed the cat's paw. No, she wouldn't waste ammunition on him. Remington slid her oak-handled hunting knife out from her boar leather sheathe. She punctured the man's cheeks between her clawed fingers, holding him in a vice grip. The undead hovered the tip of the weapon just before the human’s eye.

"So why don't ya be useful fer once in yer life and give me yer head, Theo?”

[fence-macabre]

(Art by Adam Schumpert - https://adamschumpert.artstation.com/ )

"Let me tell y'all a story I heard right here in Fuselight. This is the story of the legendary Goblin gunslinger, Mal 'Snake Eyes' Brighttooth."

"Mal was a rare sort, a real lawman, a goblin that hated swindlin' as far back as when he was suckin' on his thumb. Born back on Kezan, Mal was the youngest of his five siblings, and weak ta boot. Wasn’t the smartest. Wasn’t the strongest. Wasn’t the fastest.”

"But the one thing Mal was good at? Six shootin' and pure guts--That’s two things, actually. Unsuccessful back at home and in the Bilgewater Cartel after Kezan got blew to hell, Mal went out ta Fuselight ta strike rich in the gold minin' trade with nothin' but his coat, hat, and six-shooter... But trouble was brewin' in Fuselight. And Mal unknowingly would walk right into a firestorm, startin' his legend..."

[heleca]

11 - Cruel | Inktober 2018

[dear-wormwoods]

Did you ever write that meta about the roles Kyle and Stan choose to play in RPGs?

No, but I will right now!

Basically I just think it's interesting/cute that Kyle always chooses ranged/support classes and Stan always chooses melee DPS classes, because the two complement each other and reflect aspects of their personalities as well as how they see themselves as people.

In Stick of Truth, Elf King Kyle has a variety of ranged attacks that sometimes call on other people to do the damage on his behalf (like Ike or elven archers), and he also has a rallying cry that gives bonuses to the party. In TFBW, his class is a blaster/elementalist hybrid, which are both ranged and/or support classes. He has a ranged laser attack, but he also has healing capabilities and provides protection to allies. In Phone Destroyer, Kyle is a ranged card 100% of the time, and each of his cards offer support abilities instead of damage dealing ones. Gunslinger Kyle gives an attack buff to allies, Human Kite shields allies, Bounty Hunter Kyle both buffs attack and heals when his ranged attacks hurt/kill an enemy, The Master Ninjew gives an attack buff, and Kyle of the Drow Elves grants allies invincibility. Unrelated to the RPGs, but in World of Warcraft he chooses to be a mage, which is also a ranged/support class, physically weak but powerful from afar.

Kyle's purpose in games is not to be on the front lines taking hits, like a tank would, or dealing high face-to-face damage like a fighter or an assassin. He stands back and lets others do the damage while aiding them with buffs, heals, and shields. All of his characters are physically weaker (though the Elf King does have high health in SoT) than most, but he's a critical part of the party. This might seem counter to how Kyle presents in the show, since he does like to hit Cartman when he's especially frustrated, but in general Kyle doesn't like to resort to violence - he uses his brain, or his heart, to appeal to people's logic and emotions. He fights his battles with passion and intelligence rather than just putting himself in harm's way, and he tends not to take on leadership roles generally (when he does it's usually as a martyr or it just doesn't go well). Kyle doesn't see himself as a direct damage dealer or a leader, he sees himself as someone who can heal, protect, and buff others. This attitude is shown repeatedly throughout the show - he has a nurturing instinct and an innate need to help people.

On the other hand, Stan is always a fighter/melee class. In SoT, Knight Stan's abilities are primarily melee sword abilities, though he also has the ranged discus attack. Toolshed is an interesting one, because in TFBW he does better at range but in Phone Destroyer he's a fighter card. He's a Fighter 100% of the time in Phone Destroyer and all of his special abilities have some kind of negative effect on enemies (contrasted with Kyle, who buffs allies). Stan of Many Moons has an AOE (area of effect) attack, Toolshed puts down a chomper (damage dealt when activated), Program Stan has a freeze/damage dealing attack, Poseidon Stan slows enemies, and Stan the Great reduces attack of all enemies. All of Stan's characters deal moderate damage and have moderately high health. In World of Warcraft, he chooses to be a warrior, which can be melee DPS or a tank depending on specialization (I assume Stan would prefer DPS to tanking though).

Stan's roles reflect his protective nature and his tendency to put his own safety on the back burner for the sake of helping others. That isn't to say that Stan gets into physical fights very often, because he doesn't, but he will risk himself to help the people, animals, or causes he cares about. He's genuine in this aspect, but on top of that he is under a lot of pressure from society and from his family to conform to masculine gender roles. He sees knights and power tools as masculine, and he sees fighting enemies head on as masculine, so he aspires to perform those roles. Compared to Kyle, who consistently puts himself into more traditional "gamer girl" roles (healer, magic user - support classes), Stan has always chosen stereotypically Manly party roles. This is because in canon Stan has more expectations to be masculine compared to Kyle, whose nurturing instinct and emotional expressions are fostered and encouraged by his mother. Stan expresses his feelings only when they fester enough that he fails to hide them anymore and is generally determined to be tough and strong, so he gravitates toward fantasy roles that are also seen that way.

I know you only specified Stan and Kyle, but I have some thoughts on Cartman and Kenny too.

In Stick of Truth, Cartman has low health and elemental attacks, but in TFBW he has higher health and melee attacks that cause bleed effects. He's super effective as a damage-dealer but has no defensive abilities. Compare that to Phone Destroyer, where his cards are always tanks. His cards always have very high health but deal less damage, and he's slow moving, which sets him up as a protective force for his ranged and assassin allies. Sheriff Cartman has an AOE attack, The Coon gets an attack buff from other superheroes, Awesome-O 4000 freezes enemies, Zen Cartman pulls nearby enemies away from attacking other allies, and Grand Wizard Cartman has a magic attack. His Phone Destroyer cards are all about defending his allies and chipping away at enemies. In World of Warcraft, he is also a warrior, like Stan, but takes on the leader role in the episode, implying that he's also the tank there. I think that this is all a reflection of how Cartman sees himself - as a leader and a hero. Whereas Stan puts himself on the front lines because he genuinely is a protective person, Cartman puts himself on the front lines because he wants to be seen that way, even if the reality is that he's more selfish than anyone. Cartman also, like Stan, struggles with toxic masculinity. Cartman has some really intense, messed up ideas about what it means to be manly, so of course he'd want the "manliest" role in any game they're playing - whether it's simply to be the king, or another form of leader, or just the tank in a party.

Kenny is an interesting one, because I think at least Princess Kenny and Mysterion, if not all of his characters, are reflections of different aspects of himself. Princess Kenny has no melee abilities in SoT, and in TFBW Mysterion has mostly melee abilities. On the surface, they're both different not just in their skill set but in their look too - Princess Kenny is bright and cute (despite ultimately being the Big Bad) and Mysterion is dark and angsty (despite being the most traditionally heroic character in the franchise). But both characters utilize Kenny's curse - with Princess Kenny resurrecting as a buddy and returning as Zombie Kenny in the final boss battle, and Mysterion having Ghost Form. All of Kenny's characters in Phone Destroyer are assassins, and all of them have a unique 'upon death' ability - Inuit Kenny kills the enemy that killed him, Cyborg Kenny mind controls the enemy that killed him, Hermes Kenny increases energy gain upon death, Princess Kenny depletes her killer's attack level, and Mysterion revives himself repeatedly. Kenny's cards all have very low health, which reflects his reality in the show too, but deal high damage, which also reflects the type of person he is. Kenny tends to stay out of drama and falls by the wayside a lot in canon, but when he does get involved it's really effective and done on a grand scale.

I just think their Phone Destroyer roles are an important reflection of how the Broship functions. In order to have a well-rounded deck you need to have all four class types - tank, fighter, ranged, and assassin. The main four boys balance each other out, and they're all pretty much fucked without the unique skillsets they each provide. But... Stan and Kyle in particular complement each other. But that's just me. :)

[guettaes]

Overwatch devs have quietly started making McCree updates ahead of name change

McCree’s name change in Overwatch could be imminent, with Blizzard developers already quietly removing several mentions of the iconic gunslinger’s original game name in the latest title’s update.

Amidst a stream of allegations against Blizzard developers in July, the Overwatch community took notice of one employee’s name in particular: Jesse McCree. The former World of Warcraft Level Designer was involved in the infamous ‘Cosby Suite’ report from Kotaku, in quite a major way.

As a result, players demanded the Overwatch character of the same name be updated in light of the negative connotations. Blizzard responded to demands in an Aug. 27 statement, agreeing a name change was “necessary.”

This is no small matter, as it turns out, with weeks of effort going into many “extensive” Overwatch changes; everything from menus to years of voice lines has to be reworked.

Now, it appears the first batch of McCree updates have just been quietly implemented.

Following this year’s Halloween Terror update, aptly named Reddit user ‘DoctorDeadeye’ decided to sift through the game’s files. Comparing the current build to the previous instance revealed some drastic changes.

Specifically, numerous voice lines that were present in patch 1.64, now no longer appear in patch 1.65, the current version of Overwatch. The player revealed: “Almost all of the voice lines and interactions that mention Jesse McCree by name have been removed from the current build.”

Certain interactions with other heroes remain in effect. For instance, Duplicating into McCree as Echo will still play the relevant voice line so both friends and foes know there’s an extra gunslinger on the map.

Read More: Overwatch 2 reveals how Roadhog plays in sequel

Though voice lines where McCree is explicitly mentioned by name, appear to have all been scrapped. From amusing lines with other characters to interactions in the pre-match setup, McCree’s name should be heard far less often now.

It’s not completely gone just yet but these changes certainly imply the process is now underway. Perhaps the full name change could be imminent.

Read More: Official Overwatch 2 rating suggests sequel won’t have loot boxes

Blizzard did not reveal these changes in the October 12 patch notes, however, and may still be trying to keep it under the radar for a while yet.

The voice actor who played McCree in Overwatch claims the hero’s name change “needed to be done” to help people feel comfortable moving forward, but acknowledged it’s only a “small consolation”.

Activision Blizzard’s lawsuit turned the world upside down. It revealed shocking details about the company’s culture and environment in the workplace that involved countless female employees being subject to abuse, discrimination, and harassment.

The company has been trying to purge the toxicity by firing employees involved in those incidents in the hopes that it will help lay the foundation to foster a new culture where all employees are treated equally and respectfully.

And since McCree’s name is a reference to one of the employees implicated in that pervasive culture, the Overwatch team decided to rename him after players demanded the change.

The consensus is that it was the right move.

In an exclusive interview, Matthew Mercer, the voice actor who played McCree, claimed that the character’s name change “needed to be done” in order for people to feel comfortable moving forward.

Mercer explained that when the news about all people getting abused and mistreated by individuals within the company broke out, it broke his heart.

“My heart has been breaking since the whole thing went down,” he said.

For that reason, he believes that while it’s only a “small consolation,” he’s on board with the character’s name change.

Read More: Behind the Scenes at the OWL: Reactions to the lawsuit

“It needed to be done for a lot of people to feel comfortable moving forward with the story of Overwatch and the characters.”

“Some can say that it’s just a name and that it is ridiculous to change it, but it’s a name that also represents a connection to a lot of people’s pain and abuse. And if we have the opportunity to make it better, then I can’t help but be behind that.”

McCree’s new name hasn’t been publicly released yet, but the fact it’s changing at all is a step in the right direction — even if it’s a small change.

Information: Dexerto Web

Me: okay. but I think it would be good for everyone if only "Mc" remained. what I figured out might be a good McQueen it was just one I could figure out.

[thaneirstaer]

((Munday time: TELL ME ABOUT WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE THANE?! :D))

Well this is a rabbit hole, so to explain where Thane originated from we gotta go all the way back. So the rest of this goes under a read more before it is a WALL OF TEXT

This has also evolved from a what inspired me to make Thane to also being a How I Made Thane

The tldr here was “He wasn’t my first choice of character but then I decided I could move away from a violence first, brutish character to a character who is capable, and has strength but choses to strengthen his voice and bring reason to situations first.”

The first human warrior I made in warcraft was a character which is now my namesake, Dasacht.

He was an older grizzled smith, survived the later two of the game’s early history wars, warcraft 2 and 3. A hard ass soldier who was primarily more akin to an attack dog that kept getting parts of himself replaced after losing them in battle, fake eyes, metal arms and the like. He became synonymous with me and it’s the reason the trope of “Dad Character” tends to linger still to me.

I have always enjoyed martial characters especially humans because in a fantasy setting with magic, massive monsters and impossible odds, there’s always something so appealing to being just a person, willing to stand against all of this, being the bulwark to the impossible.

In 2017 a friend of mine was coxed into running a dnd campaign for a setting she had been working on for a long time by my girlfriend, after my girlfriend showed her character designs for Khoury Al’Essador, my girlfriend’s character.

As such I got offered to join the campaign and actually I had two other character designs I was interested in playing first, both being “dibs’d” by the other two party members. The first was the idea of playing a werewolf character, however I was told I couldn’t later, finding out that one of the party members was a werewolf from an order of werewolves who fight planar entities and the undead. This being everyone’s favorite bitch, Blue’s Tala 

After that I presented the idea of playing a gunslinger, kinda cowboy kinda lone ranger, but the gun guy trope was plucked up by the party’s plucky prick Zalrich Goldwood 

This left me looking both at the party and my character options and trying to think what characters were left that I could play. Character��s that I thought I would enjoy, so I had an idea for a knight, but primarily not a paladin, not to begin with anyway, he would earn being a paladin in my mind. This and having played a lot of Total War Warhammer which has a lot of imperial soldiers, knights in shining armor and desperate against all odds sort of fights. 

So me and the dungeon master, both being massive fans of Dragon Age, Grey Wardens and the like, I asked “Where in this world would have Griffon Knights?” To which she slapped Ondolathom on the map and went “boy have a spot for you”

So then I get excited and roll out my stats for thane, using a 4d6 discard lowest system. This usually means you’ll get a pretty solid state line 10 being an average man 20 being superhuman in that stat. For example being 20 in strength is herculean. So I roll my stats.

Oh

None of these are truly remarkable but I put my highest in con, as the knight character it makes sense my character be tough. But the other stats aren’t amazing, so this is where we go from making the skeleton of thane’s character design to literally fleshing him out.

He has a relatively ”Okay” strength score  it is above average, dex is low so he’s slow and not as good with finesse tools or accuracy. He’s not remarkably smart, which I’ve played into his story as “always wanting to be a scholar” but he was refused from going down such an avenue as a child. His wisdom isn’t the highest, he is not a perceptive person nor remarkably charismatic.

So this is where we decide on what skills Thane is good at.

Animal Handling I always wanted as a kid preferred quiet places Thane got along best with his horse and when he eventually got a mutt dog Cagfir he became Thane’s best friend. So that was a purely self indulgent “I wanna pet the dog” character trait

Athletics was my way of working around Thane’s relatively low strength. Athletics can be used for pulling, lifting, doing jumps, the kind of physical exertions without necessarily being combat. This is where Thane has managed to grapple, toss or hold monsters much bigger than himself to being impressive.

History is his upbringing, he was taught Ondathion lore and history when he was young, and I’ll mention religion here too as both were “necessary teaching” from his youth.

Insight is the ability to discern truth of someone’s words or intent. He is a noble, he was taught to be able to look at someone and figure out their motives behind colourful words and soft smiles.

Persuasion is his best skill, and the part of Thane I enjoy the most, given he is not some physical behemoth, both not being very big as a person (only 5ft 7) and not that strong, I decided Thane could look at talking and diplomacy best, given his abilities from the Oath of Redemption as a paladin, Thane gains further benefits to this, allowing him to talk people down or convince them to see reason.

[thenerddimension]

Lost Ark Is Finally Here

Lost Ark has been releasing around the world, and it’s probably why some of your coworkers didn’t show up today. 

Originally released in South Korea in 2019, companies Tripod Studios and Smilegate have been prepping the game the past few years for an international release with Amazon publishing the game. 

Best described as a mix between Diablo and World of Warcraft, Lost Ark was sixth in Steam’s list of most concurrent users ever days before it was even released as a free-to-play. Paid users who bought one of the Founders Packs were able to play the game a few days before the public release. 

I’ve had a couple of days to dabble in the game, and it’s a satisfying mix of mouse-clicking destruction and gacha-card collecting. The character designs are incredibly detailed for a game that spends most of its time in an isometric view, and the complexity of gameplay varies from simple melee skill spams to gunslinger stance mode switches with cooldowns to keep track of. 

I haven’t reached the grind phase, but the story and gameplay elements outside of combat have you doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Players with experience have suggested largely ignoring the sidequests and focusing on finishing the main quests in order to get to the best part of the game. 

https://www.ign.com/articles/lost-ark-steam-biggest-ever-games-free-play-concurrents-twitch

[dutchaddeldon]

Dutch revolver aesthetic

[aion-rsa]

Overwatch: Blizzard to Change McCree’s Name In Response to Harassment Lawsuit

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Blizzard surprised some Overwatch players today by announcing that they have decided to change the name of one of the game’s original playable heroes: the gunslinging cowboy known simply as McCree.

“We believe it’s necessary to change the name of the hero currently known as McCree to something that better represents what Overwatch stands for,” says the Overwatch team in a recent tweet. “We realize that any change to such a well-loved and central hero in the game’s fiction will take time to roll out correctly, and we’ll share updates as this work progresses. In the near term, we had planned to kick off a narrative arc in September supported with new story and game content, of which McCree was a key part. Since we want to integrate this change into that story arc, we will be delaying the new arc until later this year and instead launch a new FFA map this September.”

There’s a lot of reactions to this information floating around the internet at the moment, but I’d say that the most common reaction I’ve seen is confusion. While Blizzard hints at the reason behind this name change in that tweet, many people are still wondering what the problem with the name McCree is in the first place. In fact, it seems like quite a few people either believe the name was chosen because it just sounds like a basic cowboy name or because it is perhaps a reference to some famous McCree from a Western.

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However, that’s not the case. In fact, the reason that Blizard is changing the character’s name is that McCree is actually named after Jesse McCree: a former Blizzard employee who recently left the company due to their involvement in the ongoing harassment lawsuit that the State of California has filed against Activision Blizzard.

I highly recommend reading our previous coverage of that lawsuit (as well as some of the additional investigation information we shared in those articles) for more information about this topic, but for the moment, the thing you really need to know is that Jesse McCree was recently identified as one of the people in this stunning 2013 photo that was reportedly taken inside a hotel room rented by Blizzard employees that was regularly referred to as the “Cosby Suite.” While some who claim to have knowledge of the context behind this photo have argued that the name of the suite has nothing to do with Bill Cosby’s sexual assault allegations, others have claimed that the association was very much intentional and that this room is one of the clearest and most horrifying representations yet of what the state of California has described as the company’s history of a “frat boy” culture.

Jesse McCree left Blizzard not long after the Cosby Suite report was published by Kotaku. While Blizzard did not offer an official explanation for McCree’s departure at that time, the timing of the decision made it pretty clear that the public reveal of the Cosby Suite information and McCree’s departure were almost certainly related.

It should also be noted that the World of Warcraft team recently confirmed that they have decided to alter and remove some of that game’s content that references former members of the Blizzard team who are associated with the lawsuit investigation. For example, World of Warcraft NPC Field Marshall Afrasiabi was named after former Blizzard employee Alex Afrasiabi who is named numerous times in the harassment lawsuit and has been accused of physically harassing female Blizzard employees as well as organizing the Cosby Suite.

So is changing McCree’s name the right move? Sure…I guess. It seems to be at least a bit better than the alternative of leaving the name as it is and making things incredibly awkward for players who know its origins. The Overwatch team has also stated that “in-game characters will no longer be named after real employees,” which certainly seems like the way to go given how doing things the other way has worked out for them recently. I’m sure that there will be some Overwatch players who complain about this decision catering to the “woke” crowd or messing with the game’s lore, but…well, don’t take criticism from people you wouldn’t take advice from.

Honestly, though, it’s hard to celebrate this decision or even vaguely praise it given that it really seems to be based more on Blizzard’s desire to distance themselves from their sordid past. For a company that has recently been accused of destroying incriminating documents related to the harassment lawsuit, it’s really a shame to see that some of the first forward-facing moves they’ve taken to openly address the horrors of these allegations have been based on purging embarrassing names from their games.

I don’t know how the Overwatch community is going to react to this news once they learn the reason behind it (or how they’re going to react to the character’s eventual new name), but I can certainly understand why a lot of fans seem to be confused at the moment. After all, even when Blizzard is seemingly forced to publically confront the horrors of their past, they still find a way to argue that these decisions are being made in the name of preserving the “idea that inclusivity, equity, and hope are the building blocks of a better future” that they claim the Overwatch universe was “built” around.

The post Overwatch: Blizzard to Change McCree’s Name In Response to Harassment Lawsuit appeared first on Den of Geek.

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