#wod crew

[girlnextvore]

Drew another Vampire today. He is a brujah and like 6'8 and super lanky

[millerrowing]

When you find the river flat for the morning row.

[porcelainseashore]

Memento Mori - The Cardinal North

Author's Note: Fyi, I used the prompt “Haunting” as I was originally going to submit this for @vampemoqueen’s WoD Hallozine, but ended up choosing another entry. Shoutout to the lovely @childofmalkavians for their art direction on my cover image!

“Memento Mori” is about Dávdna’s (or Dagny, as she was once called) near-death experience as a child, and how that resulted in her future sire haunting her throughout the years.

“Eh, Dagny, stop that,” her father called out. There was a stern edge to his voice, weary, and worn like cracked leather. He sucked his teeth, yellowed from tobacco, which he sometimes chewed or smoked in his pastime.

Her humming mellowed into a sigh before sputtering out like an extinguished flame. She knew better than to upset him further when he addressed her in that tone. He turned his gaze back towards the horizon, crow’s feet splaying out at the corners of his eyes as he squinted—searching, hoping, wandering.

It had been a long day out at sea, casting lines and nets, but each time they came back empty handed—peculiar for what was considered the prime cod fishing season. It was that period of the year where the days were short and darkness swept across the windstricken landscape of the region they called home: Romsa. With nightfall approaching, whatever light they had was fading. They would need to set sail soon.

One of the men said Guolleipmil was angry. The people have been taking too much and giving nothing in return. And that was when the god would withhold any catch as punishment.

“Her singing attracted a bad omen,” another one accused, his eyes narrowing in Dagny’s direction.

“Pshh!” the skipper snapped, his patience wearing thin as he came to his daughter’s defense, silencing the man with a single hand raised in the air.

“One last try,” he urged, his broad, calloused fingers already working through the fishing tackle. “Then we go.”

Murmured whispers broke out among the crew, but their actions betrayed their words, hands and feet busying themselves at their stations as if on autopilot, one step ahead of where their minds were at present.

“Dagny,” her father whistled low through his crooked teeth, his hand lethargic and weighty as he motioned for her to join them.

Folding her legs in, she pressed her palms against the wooden floorboard of the deck, smooth and cool against her clammy skin, pushing herself up onto her feet. She didn’t want to disappoint him when he’d fought with eadni—mama—to bring her along on one of his many fishing trips, instead of leaving her at home to tend to the farm, like a good little girl should. Dagny was at the age of restlessness, where the world was an oyster, and everything had to be explored, at least once. 

Áhčči had quelled the tumultuous waves surging underneath mama’s calm veneer. “Let her be,” he had said, his gruffness replaced with warm velvet caressing her shoulders. “She is all we have...”

Papa longed for a boy, even though he had never mentioned it out loud. But Dagny knew. And she couldn’t fail him—not now, not ever. 

She darted over, taking on her gloves like a second layer of skin before throwing the hooks out, watching it sink out of sight with the plummet attached at the end of the line. Her hands slipped into a repetitive pattern, pulling the cord taut between her fingers, checking every so often if anything would bite. The practice itself was meditative, her eyes turning glassy like the gentle swell sloshing against the hull. 

They said her eyes were waterlogged—too pliant and weak. She would go places, but never gather any moss. Yet there she stood, legs rooted to the ground, listening to the waters rolling in like the rhythmic tick of a grandfather’s clock, comforting, in silence. Apart from the occasional flock of oystercatchers overhead, they were relatively undisturbed. Time grew sluggish. The blistering winds pierced her cheeks and crystallized on her lashes.

There was a glimmer on the surface, maybe it was the last rays of sun catching on the ripples. She rubbed her eyes, once distant, now focused on the spot where the light had blinded her. And it reappeared, that unearthly sheen—a secret morse code, beckoning and luring her like prey.

Someone called her name. A deep voice, like her father’s, except… it wasn’t her name, not quite. She jerked her head in each cardinal direction, but the men were still, like marbled statues, lost in space and time to the twilight hour. Papa was nowhere to be found.

“Dávdna…”

Again.

“Čahcerávga,” she muttered under her breath, knowing them as one of the many who had perished at sea.

Don’t answer. She had been taught not to.

But a force tugged at her from within the bowels of her chest, and she felt compelled to speak. “Bures?”

There was no response.

“Hei?” she tried again, but nothing stirred. Not even the men tried to shush her. Were they still around?

Something bobbed in the waters below. She leaned over the railing, watching bubbles froth in the foam. A monstrous face flashed across her vision and she gasped, dropping the line she had held as it slid carelessly into the open sea.

“No!” she cried out, scrambling to salvage the rest of the tackle, clutching onto it for her dear life as the cord entangled itself around her fingers.

Without warning, the boat keeled on its side and she lost her balance, plunging headfirst into the murky depths of saltwater. Frantic shouts of commotion came from the vessel and she saw the crew’s distorted faces reflecting back at her from the world above. They popped up next to each other like scattered stars in the sky—so magnificent and beautiful, she could stay here forever.

“Man overboard!”

The yell cut through the air like a knife, sharp enough to reach the pit she was falling through. It ripped her from her reverie the way a patch of hair would be torn from her scalp. She shook her head, limbs awakening from their temporary slumber as they powered into motion.

Dagny had always been a strong swimmer, but little did she know that she was caught in the middle of a cross sea. And even she was no match for that.

Pockets of water swirled around her as she struggled violently against the undercurrent. It resisted her like thick sludge, clinging onto every part of her body, coaxing her to stop, to surrender, to accept that this was where she would finally meet her end.

The freezing temperatures numbed her flesh, lulling it back to sleep. Pressure filled her eardrums as she was sucked deeper into the briny abyss. How far had she fallen? Her mouth flew open and she screamed and screamed. But it was silent—no sound could travel here, not in this godforsaken place she had once considered her second home.

So cold…

Tired…

Give in…

Her soul would be offered to Čáhcealmmái now.

She could hear her heartbeat quietening, eyes falling heavy as her lungs burned. Yet she carried on, defiant in her pathetic, feeble paddling. The nerves in her fingers twitched and her muscles spasmed, but she continued moving.

“I’m still here! I’m still alive!” she wanted to howl.

In return, she felt scaly, webbed claws hook onto her oilskins, shredding the fabric and scratching her back. The next minute, she was hurled upwards, yanked from the womb of the ocean’s belly as she rose to the top.

Amid the flurry of activity, a pair of glowing embers greeted her from beneath the waves, like pin prick dots of a blazing sun. Globs of saliva drooped from elongated fangs in sinewy strings, dissolving into the tide. She should’ve been scared, she should’ve turned away and bolted, but she didn’t. Instead, she reached out, delirious, noticing how the fire flickered in those eyes. But before her hand could draw any closer, the creature shrieked, pushing her back as it disappeared as quickly as it came.

Floating on the water’s surface, Dagny took her first gulp of air, reborn.

When she was safely hoisted up onto the boat, her father lunged forward, grasping her frail body in his arms as he pressed his lips desperately into her wet hair. “Mu mánná…” he choked. 

My child.

She peered up at his sore, reddened eyes, and his grip around her tightened. It was only then that she realized it was the first time she had seen him cry.

━━━━━━━━━━━

For a long time afterwards she searched for answers. A sprinkling of hints or clues as to what she had witnessed down below. 

“Be grateful that the spirit spared you,” she was often told.

Whatever questions she had were put to rest, buried six feet under, unspoken and unheard of, as if it had never happened at all. As if one could only will something into existence by acknowledging it. If only it were that simple.

Those eyes, like scorching coal, haunted her wherever she went. She could never shake off the unsettling feeling of being stalked—from the shadows, the blurry figures in her peripheral vision, or the glint in a smiling fox’s gaze, like she had been branded to the bone. In her sleep, she dreamt of those demonic eyes, the same eyes that belonged to her savior, and the strange name it had called her.

Eventually, she grew up, taking after her father like a replica. Though she had flown from the nest, making a life for herself in another coastal town down south. He sailed less now in his age; she sailed more.

One night, she found herself back in the same hometown where she had spent most of her childhood years. It was enroute along the course they had mapped out beforehand. While her crewmates hogged the local bar, crass and blustery with their swollen faces, she slinked away, paying a rare visit to her old man.

He was thrilled to see her. Mama had passed a few years ago and he missed company.

“You’ve cut it short,” he remarked, eyes crinkling as he thumbed through the ends of her hair. His toothless grin proud, as if he had raised a son in place of a girl.

“Come and live with me, áhčči,” Dagny suggested. She had made the offer countless times, but he was stubborn, ox-headed.

“I won’t go any further south,” he scoffed, clearing the phlegm from his throat as his mouth twisted in disgust. 

They spoke differently there; they lived differently. That was not his home. He would rather die alone than surrounded by a community he didn’t belong to.

When he headed to bed, she wandered off, aimlessly ambling along the shore. She stepped over the seaweed and debris that had washed up along its banks, twirling the neck of a liquor bottle between her fingers. The faint strains of drunken sea shanties echoed from a distance as she sat upon a half-forgotten log sunken in the sand.

The sulfur smell of the sea calmed her. She took a swig, scrunching her face as the harshness stripped her throat bare. There was always dried fish blood under her nails, no matter how hard she scrubbed, and flakes of scale embedded in her clothes. She’d grown accustomed to the odor of sour wool and stale sweat—this was her life now. But she couldn’t help but wonder: was there something more?

A shift in the breeze caused her to shudder, and she heard that damn name again.

“Dádvna…”

It carried the scent of something new, something foreign, and along with it, a sense of unease—one she had tried so hard to suppress, time after time. 

Just as she picked herself up to leave, there was a loud gurgle and a roaring whoosh, and she found herself slipping, face hitting the ground as she was dragged by her feet into the brackish waters. She thrashed about, swiping at whatever it was that had caught her, clawing her way free. 

But it didn’t let up, holding her in a vice-like grip, too powerful for her to overcome. All at once, she was taken back to the time she had nearly drowned as a child, flopping like a dying fish, only to be released back on land. All of it amounting to this.

How apt.

And she laughed and laughed. Bubbles escaped from her mouth as seawater suffocated her lungs. Through the darkness, she saw the same blood red eyes that had haunted her over the past decades, and she threw her arms open, welcoming it.

━━━━━━━━━━━

Endnotes

Thank you for reading!

I’ve tried to do my research on coastal Sámi communities, as well as their language and mythology, which I hope I’ve portrayed respectfully. However, if I’ve made any mistakes, I’m happy to receive feedback, so I can correct them accordingly.

Dividers by @strangergraphics

[ttrpgcafe]

Heya! TTRPG trick or treat, please! 🎃👻

This one's got a backstory, so stick with me.

When I first got into TTRPGs, I learned about the big 6: D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, Cyberpunk, WoD, and Shadowrun. Of those, I've still, to this day, only played 5, and Shadowrun has remained the odd man out, despite having probably my favorite setting of all of them after Pathfinder. Part of this is its reputation for being a really crunchy game, keeping me from getting players, and part of it was that it's a very crunchy game that explains its rules SO POORLY (in recent editions at least, I'm told 3rd is the best in this department) that I couldn't even really convince my friends to get over the hump because it's hard for ME to grok the rules.

For well over a decade, Shadowrun has been my white whale, always on my shelf, never my table. So I did what any other well meaning TTRPG player does when they have a setting they like but a system for that setting they hate: I looked at every hack on the planet for every other system.

So here's your treat: every Shadowrun hack I've found!

Up first, Runners in the Shadows by Mark Cleveland:

This is a Forged in the Dark hack for the Shadowrun setting that is probably one of the better ones for emulating the "crew going on heists and doing cool shit" vibes that Shadowrun tries really hard to say is its core. I'm a sucker for FitD games in general, I think the system is *so* elegant, and I struggle to find a system more suited for the setting (SR's own rules included) than Blades, so this one has to go at the top.

With that said, there are still plenty more!

I'm going to give 2 PbtA games a shout out here, the first I've played, the second I haven't, but have heard plenty about.

Up first: City of Mist!

"But that's not a shadowrun hack!" I hear you saying behind your screen, and you're almost right, it technically isn't, BUT it's asymptote certainly approaches shadowrun, for my math nerds out there. This is a game about the (literal) power of stories, about struggles against an unseen and unknowable force trying desperately to remove every semblance of magic from your life, and about the yearning to keep your mundane life despite, or maybe in spite of, your magical adventures. City of Mist proper is a fantastic gritty noir urban fantasy game that works wonderfully as the framework for an early 6th world setting with minor tweaks, but it's sequel: Metro Otherscape, leans into the Shadowrun of it all, adding a 3rd axis along which your character can struggle, being "noise". In Otherscape, you're balancing a mundane, magical, technological life, and trying not to let any of those three overwhelm your being. A lot of cyberpunk games try to say that cybernetics reduce your humanity in one way or another, but I think Otherscape does the best job at embodying that balance in a way that isn't deeply ableist in its messaging. It's ALSO the only PbtA game I actually LIKE.

Hot take: I can't stand Moves, they annoy me to no end, and needlessly complicate an otherwise brilliant system. I might make a follow up post if anyone wants to hear my deeply bad take, but for now, just know that I'm a ttrpg heretic, and we can move on.

Otherscape completely does away with moves, and instead just lets the MC and the players decide whatever is most relevant to the action being attempted! It solves almost every problem I've ever had with PbtA games, AND kicks ass as a shadowrun stand-in, so this also deserves a place at or near the top.

Second PbtA game: Shadowrun in The Sprawl. This one is a hack of The Sprawl, a PbtA cyberpunk game in its own right, SRiTS adds the setting and magic of SR to its formula, and that's all I know about either system, due to my aforementioned PbtA-phobia. I've included this one for thoroughness, not because I have any stake in it.

Most of the other hacks I've seen use generic systems like Fate, Savage World, Cypher system, Genesys, and a hero system hack I've heard a bit about but can't find anywhere. All of this is to say that there is a wealth of options for generic systems that try to emulate SR, and most of them are fine. The last game I'm going to talk about though uses its own system, its own setting, and manages to be completely, utterly unique while capturing the vibes of SR so well that I'm still a little in awe at how well it does all of the above. I'm also not 100% certain it's a particularly good game, but the fact that I'm unsure about it should tell you that it's definitely still better than SR proper, because I KNOW that system is bad.

Without further ado: NewEdo

NewEdo is fascinating to me in that it feels like the same jump from Shadowrun that 3rd edition D&D made from 2e, or even the same kind of jump from 3rd to 4th, where you can clearly see the spine of the game it's evolving, but almost every other part of the system has been changed and improved in new, interesting ways that can still be used to tell VERY similar stories, but has its own identity at the same time. I mentioned that City of Mist is Asymptotic to SR earlier, and I stand by that assessment, but I'd say that NewEdo is closer to a parallel line, or a tangent from SR's line, if we're using the same terminology. To get into the nitty gritty, NE uses a system the author describes as "Crunchy lite easily managed", which amounts to a priority system during character creation very similar to the one SR uses, but with each tier you can select having pretty impactful ramifications for your character going forward. The easiest example is the modifications priority, at its top tier, you basically make a mythical creature into robo cop for your character's ancestry, but at its absolute lowest tier, your body actively rejects any and all implants, such that your character will NEVER have implants. On the same note, cyberware is handled REALLY well, with your body only being able to handle so much at a time, but otherwise the only ramification is a "biofeedback" line on your fate card, which I'll get to right now!

Almost every option your character picks gets added to a little personalized random d100 table on your character sheet called the fate card. This includes your character's crit rate, the possibility of a deity intervening on your behalf, or the aforementioned biofeedback line, which briefly fucks you up as you cyberware malfunctions. You get new lines on your fate card through picking certain character options, making impactful decisions during the story, and otherwise fulfilling the express goals of your character. The entire system kind of hinges on the fate card as a mechanic, which is weird, because I don't think I super love it, as it adds additional rolling to an already pretty dice heavy system.

Which brings me to the dice! New edo uses a d10 as its primary die for dice pools when rolling your characteristics like strength, speed, etc, but the rest of the polyhedral family for your skills. (D20 excluded) The skill system is a little funky, but I like it. Basically, each skill has a rank, which indicates how many dice it has, but each rank is assigned a die, each having a different cost associated with it. So my swordsmanship could be rank 4, but what that really means is that I've got 1d6, 2d4, and a d8 that I get to add to my strength rolls every time I attack with a sword. As far as resolution, you total all of your dice together to try and hit a target number. I don't have the table handy, but it's something like 15 for a moderately challenging task, and up to 40 for a nearly impossible task. I dislike addition in this context because math at the table usually slows things down, but it looks like you're probably only rolling 2-5 dice at a time at the beginning, which isn't *that* bad.

You'll notice that the two major mechanics I've mentioned so far have received pretty luke-warm responses from me, and that sounds like I hate the system, but those aren't that makes me like (\love?) this system is the back end, the choices that happen during character creation, and the things that those choices let you do. Every skill is attached to feats that unlock at different skills, magic is a skill, and its feats unlock better relationships with the Kami in your repertoire (magic is up next, I promise) and your class (path, they call it) doubles as a way to tie your character to the world, with each being associated with an in world faction which gives your character an immediate stake in the world and their community. It's a lot, but it all comes together to make something greater than the sum of its parts.

The last thing I want to talk about is the magic system, because I found it deeply interesting, as it's one of the very few skill based magic systems I've interacted with, and one of my favorites on a narrative level. Instead of spells or spell schools, your character instead develops relationships with Kami, and each new "order" or "type" of Kami your character gets access to represents them finding out how to supplicate, make an offering, or otherwise convince a given Kami to do a certain effect. If you have a relationship with the fire Kami (that's plural, not singular), then your character has learned that their local fire Kami really like a certain type of hot bun, so they offer them that hot bun after a scene where they invoked those kami, to maintain their relationship. Mechanically, this works instantaneously, you simply make a roll on your "Shinpi" skill, invoke whatever "rote" you want to use, and the relationship building is left for the GM and player to work out at the table.

(That's the last I have to say on the game itself, but I would ask anyone who has read the game and is more intimately familiar with Japanese culture to tell me if the game feels respectful to that culture, because I truly don't know, and the book doesn't list any sensitivity consultants. The author is Canadian, but spent many years sailing to and from Japan as a professional sailor, so idk. )

I guess the moral to this post, if there is one, is to acknowledge when a system or setting has faults, but learn from them, and don't ignore the good or cool stuff that's there! It might inspire you to make some amazing shit like City of Mist, Metro Otherscape, or New Edo, all of which, their relationship to Shadowrun aside, are fantastic games in their own right! (NewEdo is still up in the air, but it has its teeth in me, and that has to count for something)

That ends my trick or treat, thanks for asking!

[vampemoqueen]

This is my piece for the WoD Hallozine project I organized! It just hit me that I’ve never shared any lore about my beloved character Emily, so now I get to. 😄

For context, Emily is my OC version of the Ventrue female from Bloodlines. In this AU, she was a frustrated campaign assistant in Los Angeles, weary of the backdoor politics and ready to walk away. She tells her boyfriend, a powerful Ventrue Ancilla named Benjamin Whittaker, that she wants to leave L.A.—and him as well.

Unwilling to accept her decision, Benjamin Embraces her during a night of passion, only to be caught by the Sheriff and his crew. Prince Lacroix, his bitter rival, had been surveilling him and Emily for weeks waiting for the right moment to take him down. Benjamin is executed for violating the Masquerade, but in a twist of fate, his unwitting childe Emily is spared to serve Lacroix’s political schemes and as a jab at his fallen rival.

Throughout the events of Bloodlines, Emily is transformed from a Plain Jane into a proper Ventrue under Lacroix's oppressive guidance. He takes her under his wing as a pupil and accomplice, though their relationship soon turns romantic, toxic, and fraught with unstable power dynamics.

Benjamin, now a wraith tethered to Emily, is horrified by what he has to see. Unable to let go, he remains bound by guilt for Embracing her and leaving her in this dire situation. Emily, still resentful and angry over what he’s done, is the very reason he remains anchored to her.

In a desperate attempt to make things right and earn her forgiveness, he spends a great deal of pathos into writing her a letter. But his effort ends up in vain.

[squirrelwrangler]

Recent Ardbert thoughts that really aren't that recent-

he gets forgotten behind Emet and Exarch in Shadowbringers but he's central to that narrative, and for all that the consensus is that ShB is when the WoL is the main character finally, they are sharing protagonist duties with Ardbert. Not only is Ardbert the cautionary tale of what fate might await the WoL, and character that is not only narrating each new location and interacting the most with the WoL in heart-to-heart private scenes, he has his own narrative arc. His shame of having damned the world to destruction inadvertently when going around saving it and showing mercy and that he was the one left behind when his friends sacrificed themselves to start the process of undoing the disastrous unintended consequences. He's not the only one struggling with survivor's guilt in ShB. Reason his scene is paired with Lyna - but he’s healthier about it than the lowest bar that is Emet. But he's a ghost that only the WoL can see, so his struggles through ShB with his inability to take action to save others- leading up to his railing against his own enforced passivity, still trying and failing and then reassured that the WoL is there to take over. Which, not the only ShB character embodying that central theme of bequeathing legacy and planting trees whose shade only your future generations will enjoy. But Ardbert encourages the WoL and unlike the previous co-protagonist characters of expansions, does join in on contributing to the finale by powering up the WoL to defeat Emet, the necessary encouragement boast and literal power boost. There's a reason Ardbert's axe is the blow that kills Emet. And the Azem stuff only works because Ardbert is in the story - not just the idea of a past counterpart but one we interacted with as their own person with their own friends and world that they care about but one that failed.

And looking at what the Exarch does in ShB's story, it's funny how much could easily be rewritten to be given to Ardbert. G'raha as the emissary of the Bad Future 8th Umbral Source, looking to overwrite and thus sacrifice his (assumed unsalvageable) world by saving the First and the current Source? Ardbert is the survivor of the Pre-Flood First. The time travel element to ShB's story -which is the least popular and the exception to bootstrap paradox that the rest of the game uses- is there to counter Emet. It has two purposes: first to be something that the Sundered accomplished that the UnSundered thought impossible, thus refuting his bigotry. And his assertion that the UnSundered sacrificing half they numbers twice to save their world from dying (ignoring that the step he's on is making unwilling sacrifices of all the Sundered to return the dead and the world he lost) is too altruistic for the Sundered to do. Which is patiently false in the micro-scale of "legacy and planting trees for future generations" but also that the 8th (or at least an implied portion) sends G'raha back in time knowingly.

So, back to Ardbert. In HW, Ardbert and the WoD crew were introduced having been coned into following Elibidus's plan. The First can't be saved, so the only part salvagable is the aether of their souls which via Calamity can be poured into the Source. This, ironically, matches most closely the action of Hydaelyn that Elidibus and the Ascians are trying to undo - the Sundering. UnSundered World is dying and the feeding of souls to Zodiark is not going to restore it or actually stop the Endsinger. Sunder the remaining souls, make them mortal, split the world into many weaker new worlds that have the capacity to grow into something that defeat the Endsinger.

Which is why, aside from the ubermensch power fantasy and buying into the utopian claims of the UnSundered Past in Elpis, people could be understandably looking for a magical third option at the end of that Elpis trip to break the time travel paradox loop and give them a third option that wouldn't require the Sundering to happen. Because at the end of the HW arc involving the WoD, Urianger convinces the WoD to trust his new plan instead of Elidibus - to enlist the Minfilia as Word of the Mother to go back to the First and hold off Eden's Flood of Darkness. That the First as a world itself isn't completely unsalvagable. Yes, the deep irony of having a proxy of Hydaelyn go over to do a mini-version of Zodiark and reject Elidibus's plan (aka avatar of Zodiark) to do a mini-version of Sundering. Key difference is that Ardbert and WoD know that they can't undo the Flood of Light and restore all their dead and return their world to how it was pre-Flood. Which means that they have greater emotional maturity than Emet and the rest of the Ascians.

And in a rewrite, there would need to be a classic Devil’s Offer to Ardbert of his friends returned (Lakshmi callback) for Ardbert to reject.

But it does point out the key difference in comparing the Endsinger versus Eden. Both are corrupted beings sending out the Floods to warp and destroy the world, temporarily stopped and later the Wol confronts and kills. Eden was caused by Ardbert killing Mitron but screwing up because too much Light power, and that overbalance was engineered by the Ascians using Cylva. Ardbert, in his act of mercy and love towards his friend Cylva, is strongly implied to be what tips the Light power into being stronger than the Ascians planned it to be - they still wanted the Flood of Light. Just not Mitron turning into Eden and the Flood being so fast and strong. The Endsinger was caused by Hermes sending Meteion into space looking for a better answer to the purpose of life than the singular one he got in the UnSundered World's 'utopia'. And people who pin all the blame on Hermes with his clinical depression are refusing to admit that the UnSundered World isn't a utopia and that it's the systematic -no, foundational- flaw of the UnSundered World that causes its destruction, the Endsinger being only one option. By blaming it on Hermes as this aberration instead of the product of the UnSundered, Ancient fans are making him into the Ascians who plotted to create Floods and accidentally made Eden. But despite the hidden Cylva questline element - and she's only on the First because she's doing the bidding of the Ascians- Eden was outside forces. Endsinger, despite some fans upset that she wasn't a Jenova/Lavos type Big Bad, isn't.

No surprise that Elidibus later uses Ardbert's body and pretends to be him in the follow-up arc that finally explains Elidibus and shows off his survivor's guilt, amnesia, hero-complex when the WoL defeats him.

Back to the Exarch- functionally for gameplay he's the plot device by which the Scions and then the WoL are transported to the First for the plot of ShB, the one to give them the goal of hunting down the Lightwardens, and city state leader and eventual ally leader. The later leadership role makes him a counterpart of Nanamo from ARR (and the other city state leaders). It's the Crystal Tower power usage to answer magical macguffin plot needs that, when you really examine it, make him the wizard equivalent of Cid and the Ironworks back on the Source. Now one of the initial problems for why Ardbert gets overshadowed and how easy it would be to tweak ShB's story to make his as central to ShB's plot as Wuk Lamat is to DT (or Lyse to SB) is his passivity due to amnesia at the start of ShB and that the Exarch instigates the plot by yanking over the Scions and WoL to use them in a plot that will ultimately end, he hopes, in a secret self-sacrifice. In similar invention for plot requirements that said 'bad future cobbles together Omega and Alexander raids dimension and time travel and uses Crystal Tower raid as vehicle', make Ardbert more proactive as the one, not the Exarch alone, to do the cross-dimensional yanking. What's required is that he not fade completely into almost full formless amnesia during that 100 years before ShB starts and at least one other person on the First able to hear him. And his connection via Azem soul to the WoL and that he's missing his boon companions and wishing for them returned to his side because he wasn't a solo adventurer - that is a much stronger reason for the Scions to be gacha-pulled one by one before the WoL is grabbed. Then it becomes Ardbert as the plotter and task-giver in concert with Exarch reduced to a role more in size and line with other city-state leaders or Cid.

Ardbert's former party members probably become a little more prominent in this AU draft version instead of their adventurers shunted off into the Role Quests. Ardbert is the only planning to "betray" the WoL by grabbing all the Light poisoning the WoL from each Lightwarden defeat.

That an early draft of ShB had Eden instead of Hades as the final boss of 5.0... yeah, I bet you it's a version closer to the one that I'm outlining.

Now the Exarch plotline of ShB does elegantly tie in three optional major side stories of CT, Alex, and Omega. And with original G'raha inheriting the Exarch's memories after he dies, it becomes another situation of pondering the self in the vein of Ryne versus Minfilia and Gaia. Which, frankly, I always held would have been stronger had the Exarch not been the same G'raha that sealed himself in the Crystal Tower, but a clone with the inherited memories of OG G'raha. But also I firmly fall into "a clone (which reincarnation is also) is always a distinct person to the original" no matter the media. Aka the point of Ryne's plotline. Why the fans insisting Gaia be Loghrif instead of the Gaia that chose Ryne is annoying (and homophobic). And why so many Azem takes make me snarl.

[ogrepoppenangleaksofficial]

Are there any other good WoD or Chronicle actual plays that the staff recommend?

Norfolk Wizard Game is unutterably perfect, and any others that y'all personally enjoy would be greatly cool, as bigly brains (exceedingly common among the crew, looks terminal, congrats) lead to bigly good tastes.

see this post here!!!!!!!!!!!!

[uninformedartist]

You know theres an indie series I wanna recommend to you

Hunter: The Parenting

Basically its a show set in the 2000s about a grandfather named Big D and his family hunting monsters set in the World Of Darkness TTRPG Universe. Now you don't have to know shit about WOD to get anything I certainly didn't when I watched the series but it got me into the gamelines because it is such an amazing piece of work from Alfabusa and the cast and crew.

So basically Big D is literally insane to most people but he's the oldest and most experienced member of the group who deeply cares about his family to the point for their safety he hesitates telling them much. Because in the World of Darkness if like a vampire hears about someone using specific terms exclusive to their society or suspects a human knows more they will do everything in their power to make sure that info is silenced. They would kill the person suspected and everyone and anyone they could have told. There is absolutely no way to survive this unless you leave the country or continent because every vamp in a general area will hear about this. And because of this it causes friction with one of Big D's sons, Markus.

Markus and Door are Big D's sons and it is interesting to see their different viewpoints of their father. Markus seems annoyed with him most of the time because of his antics and the previous stuff about hiding info. While Door who is the elder of them seems to understand and the one with the second most amount of experience. There's also a few hints Door knows slightly more about things than Markus either via his own experience or D trusting him more. Door is also the father of Boy.

Now there's not much on Boy besides the fact he's extremely skilled despite being 10 and is a wholesome cinnamon roll

Kitten is Markus' fiancé and if we don't count Boy he is the least experienced member of the group and a nerd about the supernatural like he actively wants to learn. He is also the most reasonable person in the group. He and Markus are also gamers.

The series is still ongoing in fact they just released ep 4 a few weeks ago. But they've made a couple audio logs that take place between episodes

Ooh sounds really interesting anon, ty I'll definitely check it out 🌟

[zak-dar]

I've seen a lot of demon AU, werewolves AU or vampires AU, but I've never seen a crossover with the World of Darkness. Well, I decided to correct this unfortunate omission.

If you don't know what WoD is: it's a series of tabletop role-playing games that include games about vampires, werewolves, magicians and other supernatural beings (mostly) in the setting of modern times.

... but here we will focus mainly on the distant future.

(It's a bit messy, because I read the manga casually and I didn't really get into it, but I love the 1998 anime with all my heart.)

The apocalypse happened at the beginning of the 21st century, but it was not as it was described. The world received a sign from God himself and the Reconciler were given the opportunity to stay on Earth when others were again imprisoned in the Abyss. Banality and Technocracy won, which is why the magicians of tradition and fairies disappeared, and werewolves lost touch with spirits. The masquerade fell, which forced the vampires to rally in an attempt to survive, which gave them unexpected bonuses: now their curses have lost their power.

Proud, the Reconcilers decided that other demons should also contribute to the creation of paradise on earth, so they teamed up with technocrats and gave the world a new technological breakthrough. The "power stations" were actually tethered demons from the abyss. They had no physical shell, only a clot of their power.

And so during a collonizing mission to another planet, a force majeure occurred in which the station gave out not just a clot of power, but a full-fledged body with a demon inside. The shell was eventually destroyed, and the demon returned to the Abyss. But the second time the crew was less lucky: instead of one demon, two escaped and while one wanted to help, the second was able to sabotage the mission and ruin half of the expedition.

The survivors were able to settle down on a deserted planet, but the collonists were also vampires who wanted more freedom, and werewolves in search of new spirits. There is no way to avoid confrontation and victims, no matter how hard one strange guy in red tried.

[littleharpethcrossfit]

Sunday, 12 November, 2023.

Another in a long run of near perfect Fall Days at the Barn. It was sunny and 70 degrees for the 1 PM crew.

Warmup

4 Rounds

10 Banded Good Mornings

10 Plank Shoulder Taps

Strength

Deadlifts: 3 Reps EMOM X 10

(75 to 80%)

Ed=317 Mitch=315 Smoothie=225 Dana=215 Coach=195 Elisa/Kayla/Alicia/Sandy=105 Tripp=55 Robert/Timmy/Warren A/Tom/Linda/Bernie/WG=check mark

WOD

6 Rounds

12 Pullups

9 Deadlifts (185/145/105)

6 Box Jumps (24/20)

100m Farmers Walk (E=70/ 53/35) (2 KB's)

Linda=9:25 (No Farmers) Warren A/Tom=13:00 (No Farmers Alicia=15:08 Kayla=15:18 Tripp=15:57 Sandy=17:51 WG=18:03* Bernie=18:24 Robert=18:40* Smoothie=20:38 Ed=21:04 Dana=21:11** Timmy=21:55 Mitch=3 Rounds Elisa=4 Rounds Coach/Lew=Biked

Notes:

I'm sick of being sick. I've had some sort of viral ailment for over a week, and I think today was the worst day. I privately pride myself in never missing a day of doing "something", and October was a 100% month, but already this month I have missed 4 days. I have dragged myself to the Barn several days and done a crappy workout just to fill the day on my workout log. BTW, for all you who have worriedly inquired, I have tested COVID Negative.

My apologies to Mitch and any others who came today at 0930. I mistakenly posted the wrong time and changed it too late after Smoothie caught it.

My heartfelt thanks to the many assistant coaches who made the workout happen today. Miss's Esther and Linda of course, but they told me that Robert/Ed/Smoothie/WG helped a lot.

Tuesday at 4 PM.

[astrcthesiai-archived]

Some notes:

Fandomless: Higanbana will always be open to meeting other goddesses and gods, and will conduct herself with grace while on other planets and in other realms not her own. There are rules to being a goddess, and she sticks to them. She expects the same respect in her realm of influence.

FFXIV: I have my own WoL/WoD (Mira) and her fellow Chosen, Sarangerel-Raikou. I will be happy to meet other WoL/WoD with mine. I tend to consider them alternative selves. Mira may not be nice at first (I consider her an anti-hero WoL), but she knows she needs to play nice at times.

Fairy Tail: I have two dragon slayer characters. They are of ice and water and are very close like siblings. I will be happy to meet other dragon slayer oc's. Including ones of the same element. They used to belong to a vigilante guild, which is classified as a dark guild by those in Council. Their missions were to hunt down other dark guilds.

One Piece: My OCs, Mira-Feiyu are all part of the same pirate crew, and will work together in large battles. They are willing to work with your OC's so long as they don't command them. Only Mira gets to. Mira is a reformed antagonist character, but she does relapse into her old habits.

I will prioritize my OC's threads over the canon characters I picked up. That's how it's gonna be on this blog, and I won't apologize.

[fdcenter]

WORLD OF DANCE - 1ST PLACE JUNIOR CREW JUNIOR DIVISION INDONESIA

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[estiniens-left-horn]

That's wraps on 3.4!

The end left such a sour taste in my mouth (in a good way). I was really wondering how they'd wrap up the WoD's story and that was so bitter. Really kicks down your idea that the WoL is anything special in Hydaelyn's eyes and you're confronted with the reality that the WoL is just lucky. Its cruel! Imperfect gods -- I eat that trope up every time.

I also thought the Ardbert's voice acting was what sold it. The VAing has really been a treat in 3.x and I'm so glad they ended up casting such a great crew.

And oh gods, the Titan rematch! Such a brilliant way to show that the primals are a reflection of their thrall.

Alisaie really stole the show in this patch! I haven't completed Bahamut (SOON, I will...!) but you really dont need to do that to get acquainted with her; they show why she deserves to be part of this saga. Her delicate handling of for Ga Bu AND giant magical sword sold me.

I'm dreading Baelsar's Wall though. I skimmed the guide... oof. I've heard only bad things too. If there's duty support, I'm taking it. I play duties as AST, and I'd rather not die to that collar and then get kicked for it! I feel like people are getting less forgiving as I go, but that's the MMO experience I guess. What did Dan Olson say...?

"It's rude to suck at Warcraft."

Very excited for 4.0!

[eden-regained]

I'm gonna draw myself a new banner loosely inspired by John Duncan for my blog with some of my OCs (mostly WoD), I'm thinking either my V:tM/M:tC crew or DA:F/C:tD (leaning towards fairies tho but maybe I'll do a mix of both)

[canadiankazz]

WoD Month of Darkness 2024

2. Someone Else's OC

@cravatfiend forgive me, but I'm going to talk about your beautiful vampire character, Saskia. <3

Saskia was embraced in The Pines, a fictional town in Washington State. Because we were playing with Vampire the Requiem, Saskia was a Daeva, but in VtM she would be Toreador. She was a goth girl before her embrace - pale skin, long dark hair. She fell into vampire stuff through the underground kink scene. She was in love with her sire, Makin (Maken? I don't remember how it's spelled, sorry frund.)

Saskia was forced by the elders to share a house/haven with other supernatural beings from The Pines, in an experimental peace treaty between the local vampires, werewolves, mages, changelings and geists. (Woo, mixed WoD party! I played one of the werewolves, Darla "Bloodcoat" Jones.) Despite all of the differences between them, she became very close with those house mates. They went on many adventures over the years. They called themselves the Motley Crew. Saskia also co-owned a bar with several others in the group.

Eventually though, they started to die off. One of the Mages sacrificed himself in battle. The Changeling disappeared into the Hedge. The Werewolves died the typical violent deaths that werewolves do. Another of the Mages fell to corrupt magic. Saskia is the only surviving member of the Motley Crew left in The Pines, doomed as all long-lived vampires are to see every mortal they care about die. She is the Princess of the local vampires, and is still striving to maintain friendly relations with mages, werewolves (including the children of her friends), and changelings, to honour that original truce.

(Cravat, anything you want to add about Saskia that I've neglected to mention, please feel free to reblog and add your own notes!)

[owlbear33]

CofD book I want (but will probably never be written), fallen magic supplement, cross splat, for mortal occultists and more liberal hunters, the Giles's of CofD, kinda an equivalent of WoD sorcerer but for nWoD mix of pack and crew rites, mummy sorcery, and maybe one or two other ritual traditions, all the bits of magic don't require the requisite splat to be present, so like pack rights that don't actually require a werewolf, crew rites that don't require a bound, that sort of thing plus like adjacent merits, and equipment and the like, maybe an antagonist section