#I'm playing one of those historical rpgs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hexiva · 4 months

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Roleplay Is Not Dead Nor Doth It Sleep

There's a post going around about how text-based, freeform roleplay is dead, and I was typing up a huge response to this, with an accompanying guide on how to find roleplayer in 2024, when I realized it might have a bigger reach if I made it its own post. So here's that guide.

I hesitate to say that there isn't a problem with the new format of social media making roleplay more difficult to find, but in the desire to make that point, the OP of the original post has left people with the idea that there's no way for them to get into freeform text roleplay in 2024. Which just isn't true! Here, look at all the ways.

Forums

The link to RPG-Directory to find roleplaying forums is a good start. Once you've found a forum RPG, even if you don't join, there's usually an 'advertising' section on that forum where other forum RPGs post their ads - this may help you to find forums that don't advertise on RPG-D.

Another really good forum to find roleplay on is Barbermonger. Barbermonger is focused on connecting people for one-on-one roleplays.

This last one's going to be weird, but it turns out that there are still people seeking roleplay on the Gaia Online forums after all these years. I think this is delightfully retro and then crowd there seems a little older than average. No pre-existing knowledge of Gaia required.

Tumblr

You can also find forum roleplay groups (as well as tumblr and Discord groups) right here on Tumblr. Usually, the thing to do is to use the search function - search for "[genre] rp" or "[fandom] rp" and sort by "latest." (If you sort by Top, you are likely to find dead RPs.) For example, here's fantasy rp, historical rp, and marvel rp. You can also try jcink rp, as most roleplay forums are hosted on Jcink these days, or discord rp, depending on your favored platform.

There are also tumblr blogs specifically dedicated to advertising roleplays. I'm not super familiar with these nowadays, but just in the process of searching those tags above, I found these:

Jcink Tinder

RPG Adverts

RPings

There are more, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

Listen, don't run away, I swear it's good now - I swear Reddit is good now -

Reddit is a good place to find Discord roleplays. It's a little heavier on smut-only roleplays than other platforms mentioned here, but it's not impossible to find sexless, plot-based roleplay here either. Most ads are for one on one RP, but you can find groups mixed in here too. The big subreddits for text-based freeform RP seem to be:

r/DiscordRP

r/RoleplayPartnerSearch

r/roleplaying

r/Roleplay

Some of these have weird rules about what you can put in your ad, and I don't remember which ones, so read carefully and don't get discouraged if your ad is initially removed.

Discord

In 2024, Discord is by far the biggest and most popular platform for roleplay, and it has its own native roleplay advertising hubs. Here are a bunch:

roleplay partner hub

Rockin Roleplay

The Roleplay Garden

roleplay help

the roleplay connection

RP Central

Roleplay Central

Roleplay Hub

Barbermonger also has a Discord server

Roleplay Meets: Reborn

RP Hub

The Scribes Guild

DM Rp Village

cherry blossom! roleplay hub

DM-RP

Roleplay Round Table (21+)

The Historical Syndicate (specifically for historical roleplay)

The Roleplayer's Directory

If you can't find the Discord roleplay you want on here, you can also try Discord hub websites, like Disboard. These work similar to tumblr tags - search for [genre] rp or [fandom] rp.

Other

The original post specifically mentions that 'all the old "omegle but for role play" type websites died out ages ago'. This is mostly true, but not quite! There's still Rolechat. It's a little janky, but what it needs more than anything is a bigger user base. Their Discord server is also a good place to find one on one discord roleplay. It is, of course, free, but if you want to support its development, they have a patreon.

Please reblog this post, and add your own tips on how to find roleplay!

#roleplay #rp #fandom rp #discord rp #jcink rp

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allieebobo · 7 months

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Do you have any if recommendation?

Ooh! I have really, really bad memory(!!) but these are current faves that I have played/replayed recently that I can think of. A lot of the authors are also THE BEST HUMAN BEINGS EVER. So, double recommendation.

I probably missed a bunch out, so take this as a non-exhaustive list! In no particular order:

(Edit: Added some descriptions but yeah I got a little unhinged so I'm sorry nothing makes sense or if the quality of the write-up went down over time/did not actually give you any useful info)

WIPs with demos

Citadel, @bouncyballcitadel (I think of all the IFs on this list, this one makes me sweat the most. And I've said it once and I'll say it again: the dialogue is so snappy and well-written, and characters are SO DAMNED LOVEABLE.)

Infamous, @infamous-if (I've been manifesting Band/Musician IFs for the longest time, and then this popped up! I've even played Choice of a Rockstar, that's how desperate I was... Anyway, this is legions better than that. Angsty ex routes are my kryptonite, and Seven is just. Inevitable.)

Defiled Hearts: The Barbarian, @defiledheartsblog (I went into this wanting something juicy and fun/historical—and it's all of those things, but I didn't expect it to be so damned funny, too. The ROs are all impeccable.)

Raiders of the Caravan and Apartment 3-3, @leftski-if (A'ight listen, fantasy slice-of-life is my fave genre, and these are IT. Like, everything I never knew I needed in my life, and SO cozy/wholesome, with a cast of characters that I want to befriend in real life.)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: An Affair of the Heart @doriana-gray-games (First off, the customization in this game is INSANE, and the branching too. I've replayed a couple of times and the little variations I discover each time just blows my mind. Secondly, it's so funny and written so well. Ngl I'm not a Sherlock fan but that's just testament to how amazing this IF is.)

When Life Gives You Lemons, @when-life-gives-you-lemonssss (Modern slice-of-life with an adorable kid, a bunch of hot ROs, CC. Hill's humor, what can I say?)

Golden @milaswriting (Really interesting world-building, one of the coolest fictional cities I've read in an IF, AND I'm obsessed with the ROs, in particular K de la Renta. Also Mila is such an awesome writer, I'm beyond excited for @beyondthegame.)

A Tale of Crowns @ataleofcrowns (This game is beautiful, polished, and SO exciting. Honestly, it looks like the kind of game created by a whole-ass game studio and would cost $50 to buy, it's that good. I really got swept up by this IF—probably played it all in one go.)

Rougi @rougi-if (Again, another game with scrumptious visuals/UI and also is just so well-crafted. I love the premise too, it's so original and fresh.)

Scout: An Apocalypse Story @anya-dev (Unfortunately this one might be on hiatus but I am/was really, really obsessed.)

Wayfarer @idrellegames (Love the game mechanics of this one, and the visuals. Probably controversial, but I like the D&D / random dice effect. And I also like the fact that it feels like an old-school RPG.)

Chop shop @losergames (The premise is all I needed to be sold, really—I'd always wanted to buy GTA as a kid but my parents were like NO WAY. Anyway, this IF did not disappoint, and let me live all my childhood dreams.)

Edit: AHH! How could I forget, one of my recent faves, Folksaga @folksaga-if (Lush atmospheric writing, super unique premise—norse mythology, plus I'm head over heels for Katla).

Completed IFs

Butterfly Soup 1 and 2 @brianna-lei (these are completed and I will never not promote them. Honestly the most adorable, wholesome, funny sports/coming-of-age IF I've read)

Elsinore: After Hamlet @lapinlunairegames (Insanely cool premise, insanely cool execution)

The Thick Table Tavern @manonamora-if (I love bar/tavern games, and this one actually lets you mix drinks! Instant fave.)

Other HGs/COGs I love: Slammed, Tin Star, Fallen Hero, If it pleases the court, A Player's Heart (these last two are so underrated, though I guess cause it's mainly wlw)

#asks #if #IF recommendations #other IFs #interactive fiction

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prokopetz · 1 year

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The thing that annoys me about the received wisdom of "tabletop RPGs are descended from fantasy wargames, and that's why Dungeons & Dragons is Like That" is that most of the time, when people bring it out they're drawing conclusions by comparing D&D to modern fantasy wargames, and consequently getting cause and effect precisely backwards.

The fact of the matter is that tabletop RPGs aren't descended from fantasy wargames – at least, not in the way that this claim is usually meant. When D&D and its contemporaries came on the scene, fantasy and sci-fi elements were a relatively new (and often controversial) entry to the wargaming hobby; the 900-pound gorilla of the tabletop wargaming scene at the time wasn't fantasy wargaming, but historical wargaming; i.e., re-creations of historical campaigns and such.

Fantasy wargaming and tabletop RPGs are less a linear progression, and more two parallel branches of the same evolutionary tree; they both split off from historical wargaming at roughly the same time, and for much of their shared history there wasn't a bright line between them; many early titles that are classified as fantasy wargames due to their publication history would probably be considered tabletop RPGs by modern standards, and vice versa.

Bringing this back around to my grump about getting cause and effect backwards, one of the consequences of this shared history is that many of the features of contemporary tabletop roleplaying culture that are often cited as reactions against the hobby's wargaming roots are actually directly descended from those roots.

The frequent preoccupation with separating player knowledge from character knowledge, for example? That's straight up an historical wargaming thing. When you're gaming out an historical battle, it makes a big difference whether the players' tactics are informed by contemporary knowledge about the situation, or whether they restrict themselves to acting only upon information which the commander of the side they're playing could plausibly have possessed at the time. Whether there existed an obligation to remain "in character" as your side's commander – and exactly what constituted breaching this obligation – is something people literally got into fights over.

Or the whole "rules versus rulings" nonsense? Arguing about whether it's more appropriate to resolve uncertainty with recourse to game mechanics or by deferring to the judgment of subject matter experts is so deeply embedded in the DNA of historical wargaming that it goes all the way back to the Prussian Kriegsspiel.

Like, I'm not saying that these things aren't worth discussing, but I think we've gotta recognise that when we talk about player knowledge versus character knowledge or rulings versus rules, we're not "evolving beyond" the hobby's wargaming roots; we're rehashing arguments that tabletop wargame designers were having two hundred years ago, in some cases practically verbatim.

#gaming #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop rpgs #history #game design #grumping #violence mention

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ussjellyfish · 1 month

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Star Trek asks: 🖖, 🌀 and 👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾

🖖 First Star Trek Media you encountered:

We watched TNG on television when I was a kid (as it was airing the first time!). One of my earliest memories (I was 4) is of Will Riker getting sucked into the big black Armus pool and how freaky that was. I remember the face coming up from the bottom.

And they saved him! he was okay. (Tasha's death did not compute in my very small mind). Will being okay in the end was part of "Star Trek means we're all okay" which is my earliest opinion.

Often this still carries over.

🌀 If the Holodeck was real, what's the first thing you would use it for?

adventure fantasy RPGs. I'd love to be able to play something like Dragon Age. It would be incredible.

I would also use it to test out fic lines and positions and make sure they make sense. I have no sense of inner eye, so that would be helpful. Where do her hands go...

👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏾 Do you ship any characters? Who?

Oh Georgiou.

I don't have any strong preferences about ships in some series. My levels of shipping are:

Ships I find cute on screen. (USS Enterprise-G)

Ships I would read fic. I would probably write fic for an exchange or a challenge. (USS Enterprise-D)

Ships I would write fic for, because I want the fic to bring myself joy and those are much more intense. (USS Voyager) I will land my starship on this planet.

Ships that are platonic for me and I adore them. (USS Protostar)

Ships where I want to read everything that has ever been written about them. I have saved all the artwork. I want to commission more artwork. (USS DIscovery) I will travel through the mycelial network for this ship. This ship is my home.

(under a cut for length)

TOS - no ships. Never really had any. TOS is not foundational for me though, I don't think I've seen the whole thing and probably never will. It's so much men talking.

AOS - I have a soft spot for Spock/Uhura. I really liked Uhura.

TNG - I shipped Deanna/Will so much as a child. They're in my very first fanfic. I liked Beverly/Jean-Luc (historical) later, but not until I was an adult. Deanna/Will I shipped as a very tiny human. I have witten fic for both of these. I also ship Beverly/Deanna, and Beverly/Deanna/Will in a very lighthearted way.

DS9 - Jadzia Dax/Lenara Kahn is gorgeous and tragic and I adore them. Kira/Dax in a very lighthearted way. They're fun. I shipped Jadzia Dax/Worf when the show first came out and probably would if I did a rewatch, but it's a very mild ship (I wouldn't read fic). I am very invested in Jadzia Dax.

VOY - Kathryn Janeway/B'Elanna Torres is fun. I've read some fic. I love how intellectual they would be together. I wrote and read much Janeway/Chakotay (historical) about ten years ago, but I'm not as into him now. (Robert Beltran makes it hard for me). Still love Janeway. I also like Seven/B'Elanna.

ENT - I enjoyed Trip/T'Pol when the show was on. I don't think I've seen all of it. I love T'Pol.

SNW - I have a passing interest in Una/La'An and Una/Pike. I've read some fic but haven't written any. I want nice things for Batel/Pike in canon. (he needs to be a better partner to her though). I ship Amanda/Sarek here simply based on how convince I am that Amanda loves him.

PIC - Seven/Raffi are wonderful and I adore them. I love their connection and their dear faces. Agnes/Borg Queen are fun and dark. Laris/Zhaban are fun. I wanted to ship Beverly/Jean-Luc again but they didn't give me much. Shipper brain was not engaged. Deanna/Will were so angsty. Will & Beverly might be my strongest legacy ship in this show. I wish Beverly & Deanna got to talk.

PRODIGY - dammit here I almost ship Janeway/Chakotay again. I ship Janeway/happiness here so much and if finding him will make her happy, okay fine. Gwyndala/Dal are cute and I want them to have nice things. Haven't wanted to read any fic though.

Crossover Trek - Beverly Crusher/Kathryn Janeway has held a special place in my shipper heart for 13 years. I love them so much. I love that they're still going and they show up in exchanges. They would be such a good couple.

Philippa Georgiou/Afsaneh Paris was such a fun thing.

Most trek crossover femslash is fun and I would try it in an exchange.

DSC - Philippa Georgiou (captain)/Katrina Cornwell. They'd be cute. They must have met. Katrina Cornwell/Gabriel Lorca (prime), Katrina sold me on that one. Katrina Cornwell/Philippa Georgiou (emperor), they have a handful of scenes and they would totally work.

Michael Burnham/Cleveland Booker are very cute on screen and I hope they get a nice ending. (I think they will). Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets are adorable and charming. Adira Tal/Gray Tal are so sweet. Saru/T'Rina are the regency couple of Star Trek and they're very cute. They're so happy in season 5, I love it. I think Joann Owosekun/Keyla Detmer are really fun, I hope they get a nod this season. I love how much the actors do with a look. Michael & Tilly are one of my favorite friendships ever and I adore them. Michael Burnham & Philippa Georgiou (emperor) variety is so complex and intense and I love how they evolve and grow together.

Michael Burnham/Laira Rillak are my top tier, own my soul, ship. I will read every fic that is ever published of them and reblog the gifs on repeat forever and memorize every nuance of every conversation they've ever had. They are the shiniest thing in my fannish heart at the moment, and I have watched their scenes together so many times.

For years I was this obsessed with Beverly/Kathryn, but they didn't have scenes together so I couldn't rewatch them.

Micahel/Laira have scenes together! They talk to each other! I have a whole arc that I can watch on repeat!! I have different episodes to watch for different feelings I need for fic!!

They're so niche and I wish I had more people to talk about them with because I love them so much and...it is a very lonely ship. People do write fic and read it and it's tiny and lovely. I am so grateful for all the interactions I ever have about this ship.

I often feel very out of step in my fannish Star Trek spaces because they are not a ship shared by many. I feel seen when someone acknowledges how much I love them.

#long post #star trek asks #watch discovery season 4 and come ship my OTP with me #they're wonderful

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thydungeongal · 5 days

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Regarding my idea to turn fantasy species into cultures with no biological component also kind of reminded me of how Total War Saga: Troy did it.

Their idea was to maintain ambiguity regarding existence of supernatural powers so that you could play it as both historical speculation and literally Iliad, and to do this they included fantasy units but in a kind of more grounded way. I didn't play it myself, but for example centaurs are in the game and Chiron really taught Achilles, but they are not half-human half-horses, they are a tribe of nomads who possess unique skill of riding on the horseback. You can also recruit a cyclop, but he is not a monster but basically a berserker priest of Poseidon who wears elephant skull as a helmet (the skull is speculated to be one of the origins of cyclop's myth, their fossils are abundant in Greece and the hole for trunk kind of looks like an eye). There is a lot of them, that's just off the top of my head.

I was very impressed by elegance of this idea because similar type of people who are considered non-human due to some religious customs was a thing historically among proto-Indo-Europeans.

Which is also an additional idea for fantasy worldbuilding. Even more, since magic is actually real this transformation may even be physical without making them a different species and worrying about genetics. That was oftentimes the case in myths, but they usually dealt with individuals and you may want mass-produced monsters (like Medusae were the three cursed sisters, not an entire culture).

(Off-topic, but is Total War series sketchy politically? If yes, what are good strategy games about ancient history?)

That sounds like a really interesting direction to take it! A lot of cool ideas here! As for the parenthetical, idk, but like I'm not one to subject the games I play to tests of "does this game have good or bad politics." Like of course it's good to think about these things critically, and there are lots of examples of genres where the implicit politics are a bit suspect: the four-X genre is grounded on a lot of tropes that are not great to be honest but that doesn't make them irredeemable or bad games: it's more likely the creators of these types of games rarely think about what their games are saying by implication than that there's an actively malicious intent behind them, but it's good to be able to spot those unfortunate ideas in the media we consume.

Actually this is a skill I feel more fantasy TTRPG players should cultivate. Like, playing the fantasy RPG won't make you morally tainted. But I think it's better to be aware of unfortunate tropes in the games we love (like, my favorite game, Rolemaster, has a lot of stuff that isn't great!) than try to argue that no actually that stuff doesn't exist and also if it does it isn't bad. Like, we're all grownups here there's no need to tie our self-esteem and identity around our favorite games being perfect and morally pure.

Sorry for the tangent but this is just something I've been thinking about a lot today! Anyway, cool ideas here! Gonna be seeing how much of these I might be able to apply to my Rolemaster setting, because while I'm aware of Rolemaster having some not-great stuff I would much rather change the not-great stuff that I can. :)

#thydungeongal answers

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synergysilhouette · 3 months

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"Wish" rewrite: Setting the Scene (NOT the prologue)

Welp, I'm finally doing a lengthier rewrite of "Wish." For those new to my account, I must stress that you do not--repeat: DO NOT--need to read my shorter two rewrites of the film as well as song rewrites in order to understand this story. (BTW, the above art is by Sanjaycreates on Twitter.) NOTE: THis is all subject to change before I get the prologue and stuff going!

The Setting

The Kingdom of Nelke is a fantasy kingdom with German influences (but with racial demographics that you'd see in the Americas), but by no means should it be taken as something historically accurate, or even 100% culturally accurate. I kind of wanted something akin to "Baldur's Gate 3" where you see a mix of modern and historical garb--actually, it'd be pretty akin to many high fantasy RPGs, in my opinion, as well as the fashion for 2015's "Cinderella," if you will. I always loved the mix of modern and medieval aesthetics when used correctly. The royal family's crest is be a swan, in reference to "Swan Lake" and ruled by the favorable Queen Lina and overseen by her right-hand advisor, the sorcerer Eiko.

The Characters

(Note: I'm not an artist, so I'll simply use pics of characters who fit the overall vibe I'm going for, either in fashion, personality, or design.)

Talia--For those who don't know, a variant of "Sleeping Beauty" sees the main character named Talia, which is fitting since "Wish" was visually inspired by it. She's a young woman in her early 20s, wears an orange dress, and while she is kind at heart, she is rather hot-headed, and not always in an endearing way. Right now I'm considering making her half-Egyptian, half-African in reference to the lead couple in Disney's play "Aida." She has been a sorcerer's apprentice ever since she discovered she had magical powers, but talent isn't everything. She's become a bit shy around crowds, concerned with bringing out their ire of making them overly dependent on her. She occasionally leads her friends--nicknamed "The Dreamers"--when making decisions. (Art by Jonuelsketch and Disney.)

Vocally, I imagine her to have a deep, theatrical voice, something booming and powerful. She loves to sing in order to de-stress, though this doesn't always become a song; sometimes she just sings a line or a few sentences to herself like a lot of people do at random moments in time. If I was an artist, one person who would inspire her design would be Janelle Monae.

Aion--Taken from Aiionwatha, an alternate name for Hiawatha, a Native American figure who Disney made a short about and once tried to adapt into a feature film. He doesn't talk very often, and frequently tries to put on a brave face, despite his severe depression over losing one of his older brothers to magic when he was a child. He's the heart of the group, and often tries to diffuse conflict, as they stress him out. While he has great concern for Talia as a sorcerer's apprentice, he supports her, though Talia misunderstands his feelings and wants her to fail, since his own brother couldn't succeed at using magic. His main color is usually a flurry of colors, making him look like stained glass (which influences Talia's fashion at times).

Lucy--A reference to the protagonist in Walt Disney Pictures' adaptation of "The Chronicles of Narnia" with Walden media. She's of Arab descent and dresses in purples to reference Princess Jasmine. A fast-thinker, she always tries to think up solutions quickly and ahead of time, making her Aion's best friend when it comes to crisis aversion. The daughter of a diplomat and a smooth talker, she has confidence to spare and while she can be self-centered at times, she's first and foremost a great friend. For health reasons, she is often accompanied by a (stylish) cane, sometimes a wheelchair if things are severe.

Wolfgang--Not a Disney reference, but simply a German name. He has a lot going on with his life, largely due to being a political pawn all his life. While he has those he cares for, he isn't good at expressing it and consistently tries to control everything around him. It's been remarked that in another world, he and Talia could've been siblings, but not in this lifetime. He doesn't have many (real) friends, but his years of emotional abuse have led him to crave attention, even if it's not in the best possible way. Perhaps that's why he's often dressed in green; he has a bit of envy to spare.

Queen Lina-- A reference to "Thumbelina." The greatest person you will ever meet, or at least that's how the slogan goes. She's beautiful, intelligent, and often takes to disguises in order to check on her citizens. She's quite dramatic when you get to know her, but more in a theatrical way that pulls you in, not an annoying way. Her husband, bless his heart, likes to stay out of the limelight often, so he lets her be the face of the kingdom, and it suits her vanity just fine. Her clothing is colorful and ALWAYS memorable. Of course, she has an edge to her, something she doesn't want to let the citizens know about. As someone with a couple chips on her shoulder, Talia can relate--but are they in the same boat?

I imagine a soprano-type voice for her, but she has an affinity to rap when she's frustrated.

Princess Elsie--An occasionally clever, but altogether lazy princess. She enjoys her royal status and letting people fawn over her. Due to her commitment to being completely selfish, the people of Nelke assume this is an affront to a more caring future ruler (which Lina continually tries to support). When she's bored, she's been shown to be quite hilarious and astute, though you can be sure she won't let herself be bored for long. She's beautiful, but in a way slightly askew to mainstream society.

A good singer, albeit not the strongest; good enough for a movie, but not to sell albums.

Eiko--The queen's right-hand man and flatteringly referred to as her fairy godfather. A man who's past is shrouded in mystery (ironically clad in purples and greens), he vowed his fealty to the queen when he found her to be a worthy ruler. As of late, however, he has been looking for an apprentice to take over his place. As magic by birth is extremely rare and magic by education is difficult without a trained tutor (which there are few of in the kingdom), he has had difficulty finding one--until he comes upon Talia. While she is highly skilled, she doesn't always think things through, making her a mixed public figure before she's even come to prominence. When he isn't conducting official business for the crown, he is quite relaxed--and an excellent singer.

He used to be a more powerful singer, but he prefers a much softer sound now due to age.

Anselm--My Kingdom Hearts friends get this. The mysterious being in the west wing of the castle. It's said that his (their?) magic eclipses even Eiko's. But how Anselm came to be there--or what secrets lurk inside their mind--are anyone's guess. When Talia encounters him, they are a wise and mesmerizing figure, as she's able to see a sea of stars in his eyes. When he ventures beyond the wing and into the world below, he's shown to be playful and caring, always seeming to have one's best wishes at heart. Their magical form is a cascade of silvers, blues, and white, while as a human, they often wear "feminine" colors (bright/light colors, including pinks and purples) with flower motifs when in his human form, his favorite being a bleeding heart. His favorite room in the castle consists of a giant koi pond that frequently calms his soul. However, despite his outgoing nature, he can be quite shy when he develops a crush on someone, most recently Talia. Despite her attempts to look the other way, Talia reciprocates his feelings, and she finds that he may be hiding a mystery of his own, as she sees a sea of stars whenever she gazes into his eyes for a long time.

Probably the best singer, a tenor with heart and power.

Lemme know if you have any questions! IDK when I'll release the prologue, but it shouldn't be too long. Originally I was gonna include the storybook intro in this, but I've decided it's better to just put it in the prologue since I'm still figuring out my words. I may or may not write songs for this; I imagine it's a musical, but IDK if I'm gonna be happy with the songs I write.

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dailyadventureprompts · 2 years

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Why is your writing so dense with modernistic moralism? It seems like a losing approach, fighting against the structure of the game systems you write for instead of the more intriguing project of embracing past mindsets—not the recent past, which is boringly wrong—but more distant, wildly ‘wrong’ (or perhaps merely different if you’re feeling postmodern) of so much of history—instead of these bizarre pastiches of modern morals shaped like a caricature of the past struggling to withstand their own internal contradictions and the rigours of the medium

/srs

Alright, I'm not sure whether you're honestly trying to learn about a different point of view here, or if you're just upset that a content creator you follow isn't reinforcing your world view. So I'm going to give a good faith answer to your question first (part a), and then rip your argument apart for the entertainment of others like an Edwardian doctor in an operating theatre (part b). Feel free to respond to whichever part best matches with your actual intent.

Part A: The basis of your premise is flawed because D&D has never been a game about historical accuracy, and thus there is no "historical mindset" to return to. From it's earliest days d&d has been a work of fantasy as evidenced by all the dragons and wizards and spaceships, and like all works of fantasy what's included in the world is a matter of preference on behalf of its creators.

Like all creatives my work represents my own values, values that are shared by a large segment of the population and an increasingly large (if not dominant) part of the RPG market. However much you'd like to think that adherence to/emulation of the past is a virtue, most of the hobby flat out disagrees, preferring anachronism with allowances for genre conceit.

When it comes to morals, it's a simple fact that I and those like me don't find it fun to be racist/sexist/generally bigoted not only because those things are blemishes against humanity, but because we have had to overcome many of those prejudices ourselves including when we were getting into this hobby. We are well acquainted with bigotry, why would we wish to glorify it when we ourselves are its victims?

Part B: If you're wondering why my work is so full of moralizing, it's because I'm a moral person who's trying to make the world a better place with his art. Unlike you, who's evidently so behind the times that you need to pretend to be in the past so that you can pass your prejudice off as "historically accurate".

I'm very interested in what you mean by "fighting against the structure of the game systems" because newsflash, the game systems can change. The rules are something we made up because we thought they'd work and where they've broken down we've begun replacing them with something we think would work better. Same goes for the narrative conventions that the hobby has built up over the past 50 years, if something doesn't work we fix it, we move on, and life improves for everyone. That's the exact same ethos behind the "modernistic moralism" you seem to have such a problem with.

As for a "losing approach", I hate to break it to you anon but our victory is inevitable. D&D is for the queers now, the hobby caters to us more than it does you and in a few short years we'll be the ones publishing the thing. Same goes for all pop culture, though it's a long and bloody battle conservatism is losing the culture war and pretty soon the talking points of the right will seem as antiquated as serfdom and the divine right of kings.

There's no contradiction in including modern struggles in my work because it's the same struggle we've been fighting against ignorance and tyranny for all of human existence. There's nothing "intriguing" about putting yourself in the shoes of the oppressor when you know they're wrong, and then trying to orchestrate an opportunity to play the hero. It's sad, and I'm not sure whether it's because you're afraid of change, or you just don't care about other people.

TLDR: I write characters that have blue hair and pronouns because the people that play the game have blue hair and pronouns

#bad opinions #d&d #dungeons and dragons #irl politics #heavy topics

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oathkeeperoxas · 11 months

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tag game to better know you

Ty @new-anon for tagging me! What else to do on a cold Monday morning public holiday then fill out a questionnaire about myself 🤔

What book are you currently reading?

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough Definitely has nothing to do with the fact that we can see this book on Ice's shelf next to the photo of him and Mav shaking hands after rescuing the USS Layton...

What’s your favourite movie you saw in theatres this year?

I have only seen the new Spiderman (literally 2 days ago) so I guess that! I think it was pretty good, but tbh I liked the first one more.

What do you usually wear?

Pokemon or bird themed t-shirt paired with shorts or my high school gym trackies if it's cold. I have one green overcoat that I wear pretty much any time I need a jacket, it is very versatile in what weather it can be worn in.

How tall are you?

170cm, that's 5 foot 6 inches to those USAmericans in the audience (had to google that...)

What’s your star sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event?

I don't know any celebrities off the top of my head that I share a birthday with, and the only historical event I connect immediately with my birthday is a bad one lmao. Though it happened in the 1920s, so mostly only relevant when I was studying history in high school...

Do you go by your name or a nickname?

Serie! Fun fact, I made this name up on the spot randomly when playing Facebook games as an 11 year old and the RPG ones wanted me to input a name. I have been stuck with it ever since.

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child?

My current job didn't even exist when I was a child, so, no!

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one?

No relationship, and I have not had a crush since high school pff

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at?

Good at procrastinating, bad at resisting the lure of more wips 🙏 this makes for a wild combination haha

Dogs or cats?

Probably cats, but I am allergic to cats and dogs (and most fluffy creatures) so I don't have any pets :(

If you draw/write, or create in any way, what’s your favourite picture/favourite line/favourite etc. from something you created this year?

Probably my favourite things that I've posted this year was Dawn and well. haha. (nuts) because they were both very self-indulgent in a way that I always enjoy writing with codywan, though for very very different reasons.

What’s something you’d like to create content for?

I want to write more Aloy femslash!! I've written so much for her, but none really with the characters from the new game, and now with a canon femslash kiss under her belt, I think she deserves to be a wlw icon. Next year for femslash February I'm thinking of trying to organise a Horizon event to get some momentum not just for me but for others to create too

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

Val Kilmer's jaw.........

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

I can maybe half say the Horizon: Forbidden West DLC - I liked the overarching plot well enough, and they gave Aloy a lesbian kiss so I'm not too mad, but it carried over almost all of the issues from production that the base game had, which I was keen to see fixed in the DLC. That and the lack of backstory for Seyka or the Quen, the lack of side quests and the lack of interesting stuff to do in the wilds of the DLC made it a bit of a mediocre experience for me (though after HFW I wasn't expecting anything too good anyway).

What’s a hidden talent of yours?

Not sure if it's hidden, but I'm particularly good at spotting double spaces in a document. Pisses me off (it's my editor brain going haywire... my team is always making fun of me for this at work lmao)

Are you religious?

Nope!

What’s something you wish to have at this moment?

Someone to make me breakfast </3 alas after I post this I will simply have to do it myself

Tags?

@elwenyere @tragediegh @playablekairi @cillyscribbles if you like! No pressure ofc

#calling cheese as I wrote one of my fav fics for you #i would tag turtle as i wrote the other for her but not sure of her tumblr...#this is why people should have only one username across every site rip i cannot keep 3443342 names straight in my head #tag games #personal

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faejilly · 9 months

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@walks-the-ages [Beauty and the Beast (1987) post]

You should definitely read them. They're really good, and if you do not have Beauty and the beast on DVD, send me a PM, and I can give you a link :) Also, at this point somebody might have uploaded the actual TV series to the archive but I have to check when I get home.

I have read the first one already and it's great! The second one will probably happen while sitting at the dr's office next week 🤣 (And I think I know someone with the DVDs, but if not, I will let you know when we get to the end of the current Colombo season. <3)

Also thanks for the tag on the updated post, that was very helpful.

@thievinghippo replied to your post “Seriously y'all I have never played a BG game and...”:

Join us! It's been so fun to geek out about a game again

That is definitely a kind of fun I miss, so this is very compelling 😆🤣😅

@msviolacea replied to your post “Seriously y'all I have never played a BG game and...”:

I haven't played any of the others either, and it's fine. This game is a giant combination of Dragon Age and D&D and Divinity Original Sin, and so if you like any one of those things it's absolutely worth it.

I have not played Divinity, though I've seen it when Thing 1 checked it out and it seemed quite good, and I do like TTRPG's and have a passing familiarity with other people playing D&D specifically? And we both know I love DA so... ALSO A COMPELLING ARGUMENT!

@pameluke replied to your post “Seriously y'all I have never played a BG game and...”:

Meme has been having a lot of fun with it AND I WANT TO JOIN THE FUN, but I've never played this kind of RPG game before and historically I have been Bad At Figuring Out Problems (looking at you Lara Croft) but on the other hand i love DnD so....

I'll admit that the mechanics of the original BG is mostly why I never played it; too many dice rolls behind the scenes. Like, I love TTRPG's but I've never been good at keeping track of the actual rules I just bullshit with people I like a lot? Randomness/dice karma is fun when it's people, I find it less fun in CRPG's... I like to know WHY I failed or succeeded at things in computer games and what in theory is possible if I played differently.

@angstmongertina replied to your post “Seriously y'all I have never played a BG game and...”:

It looks pretty and fun but I’m very bad at that kind of game so I may just sit and enjoy everyone else’s enjoyment of it lol.

Fair! If I do break down and get it I will probably also break down and find some mods to figure out some of the mechanics for me for much the same reason :D

@shadoedseptmbr replied to your post “Seriously y'all I have never played a BG game and...”:

i loved the old baldur's gate games with a love vying my love for DA but i'm hesitating on this one and i don't know why

ALSO FAIR. I have done that with many things that sounded like stuff I would like or were related to things I knew I liked, so.

#mood

I have found that even if I eventually break down and try the thing and like it, I am usually pretty sure that I wouldn't have been as in to it at the time that my gut went idk meh blurgh? so. Probably a good idea to trust your gut, no matter how incomprehensible it is. <3

#jilly replies #walks-the-ages #thievinghippo #msviolacea #pameluke #angstmongertina #shadoedseptmbr #beauty and the beast (1987)#baldur's gate 3

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heart-forge · 2 years

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If this feels too cans of wormsy please feel free to ignore, especially since you’ve talked about this before, but do you feel like your RPG critique applies to Cyberpunk 2077? In my mind that’s the game that failed pretty hard at being an RPG, not just from how it was marketed or its initial launch state, but also from a gameplay and narrative perspective.

I feel like if you put a top ten list of RPG critiques on a big wheel and then for flavour you added common film critiques and like a grocery list, no matter what you hit it would apply to some way to Cyberpunk. I cannot emphasize enough how wholly CB2077 failed. I have written fanfiction, I have thought about it at length, I'm deeply obsessed with the character arc of Johnny Silverhand, and I'm infuriated at the historical revisionism of something that happened in goddamn 2020. It failed. It is not a good game, it is not a complete game, and while you're playing it you know that it is not a complete game. If you happen to have worked in some level of gaming, you can observe the places in which it is incomplete. I can vividly taste the parts of Cyberpunk where something was cut or a concept was oversimplified to integrate it at all. I can see features that were haphazardly integrated and never removed. They never fixed the driving.

I'm gunna throw this under a read more. I don't think those are necessary anymore but I talk a lot.

They fail in very predictable ways. As I said, their biggest prior hit was with the Witcher, where they had Geralt and they had predetermined major milestone events. From there, they could get creative: they could add silly quests, they could add story moments, they could improvise dialogue, but all with a preexisting stone framework.

Playing an improv game within your favourite setting, writing functional playable fanfiction, is different than working from within a TTRPG system. Improvisation where anything could happen is hard, and with TTRPG systems that's the point. When you're playing a game with your friends, you need the structure to allow your buddies to be silly or serious, to engage with a well thought plot and to take that plot off the rails in a way that's still fun and enriching. The concept was just too foreign and their scope too enormous, especially for a first attempt (comparable to Bioware's Anthem, where I said very confidently at launch...why is Bioware doing this? I played DAI multiplayer, and it wasn't transcending the genre for me).

V isn't a player character. V is not the main character. The story could care less what happens to V: the V might as well stand for Victoria, from Cats (2019). No one cares what happens to V. V's connections are all superficial, even their dead best friend's mother might as well stop existing after he's been laid to rest. People think V is a cool tough guy badass, but because they pretty much have to: if they know V, then V has to be good at something or have some serious connection to someone that isn't "I heard you're the guy to call if we want the world state progressed". V is your cardboard cut out in every scene to experience the life and times of the actual protagonist, Johnny Silverhand.

See, Johnny has a reason to be pushing to the end against all odds (you're told very, very early in the game that V is going to die no matter what you do: one ignores it, because one assumes that there must be some reward to putting up with all this nonsensical bullshit, but no). Johnny has a reason to burn out and a driving force behind him. Johnny is the one with ties to the city, real ties: people that love him, people that hate him, people who just don't want to see him burn out or blow up. Johnny has grudges, Johnny has a history. Johnny is the one that ends the game becoming a better person. Johnny is the one who has something to lose, and something to learn.

V is just the audience proxy. V cannot be truly loved by anyone, because nobody knows V, least of all the game. River's entire romance happens before you tell him that you have a dead rock star in your brain that's killing you. Judy and Panam I have repeatedly described as the only romances, as they're the only ones that show up in the main plot literally at all which is a big glaring testament to who this game is for (and hint, it's not wlw despite Judy). Kerry might not even know that you're dying. Johnny isn't romanceable despite being the only person in the world who offers you any sympathy and encourages you to live against overwhelming odds. Keanu Reeves whispering "tell him it was your guardian angel" when your good buddy and doctor who repeatedly tries to goad you into suicide for some reason asks you how you even made it to the clinic in the first place, as sick as you are (the answer is that Keanu Reeves piloted the EVA) lives rent free in my brain.

V doesn't have opinions. Johnny as a million opinions, which range from Twitter levels of simplistic violence that assumes that the world hasn't been fixed because everyone on earth is too stupid to see there's a problem, and like, basic empathy for other people, but V almost antagonistically disagrees with him on literally every point he tries to make, sometimes playing devil's advocate like a total asshole just for the pleasure of fighting with Johnny. It makes their relationship early on annoying, because I don't always disagree when V disagrees. V isn't disagreeing because they hold morals to the contrary, they just agree with the popular narrative about Johnny Silverhand because agreeing with the news is the safest option and doesn't suggest that V is a right-wing loom nor a frothing anarchist.

Johnny is also constantly being, loosely speaking, racially insensitive. It's edgy garbage put in by the game developer and doesn't serve Johnny's character, especially as it's never acknowledged that Johnny himself, through virtue of being played by Keanu Reeves, is asian. I'm not asian so I can't speak to it, but he calls the Japanese Hanako Arasaka a lot of shit that I'm sure somebody would beat his ass for even if it isn't an outright slur. It's the same with the Nomads, who are a group of indigenous stand ins that specifically include white people in prominent roles so that the game developer feels safe from criticism about the way that they treat the stand in for indigenous populations in their game which is an issue spanning many, many game developers who want a cool nomadic population that faces the same prejudice that real nomadic peoples face with at least similar slurs but also don't want to be held responsible for making them zone enemies, mindlessly evil, and insulting barbaric. Anyway, the point of this section is that even though Johnny is one of the more principled characters in game, it's pushed to the point of absurdity: Johnny has to be a blue haired social justice warrior (but also a borderline racist insensitive conservative type, as to never express a political opinion in the political opinion TTRPG system) so that V's centrism never seems glaringly malicious.

I'm editing this section for detail. I got off the rails here, I'm talking about the narrative push and pull between Johnny and V. Johnny is the protag, you're V and you just ferry Johnny to and fro between events. You have no real life, no real friends, no real ties to the city. You want to be famous but it's never really explained why besides like, California malaise I guess. You have barely any options for origin: if you're a street kid, it tells you what street you lived on and eliminates the possibility of any wiggle room between there because other people will recognise you as a resident of the city (destroying one of my favourite V concept, an outcast Pacifican V who goes to work for a corp and returns in disgrace). A street kid V will also be told where they've been and why everybody is reintroducing themselves (you were in Atlanta for two years). A corpo V works the same position in the same company, and their motives are never discussed. The morality of it is barely addressed and they behave exactly the same as a street kid V. Nomad V operates exactly the same as a V who's always lived in the city with no real ties to their old clan and no real questions about city living.

V is a born killer, a mercenary and edgerunner who's good with a gun no matter what weapon you actually choose to use. V can run off to live with the nomads again (prompting kerry and river to leave you), stay in the city and become an asshole (Panam and Judy will leave but you still destroy your relationship with Kerry or River). V can die and let Johnny take over (in which case Johnny steals your life and runs but is a better person this time because he was nice to an abused kid which we literally have no reason to believe he wouldn't be anyway), or V can just die (in which case your friends all hate you for dying).

Also there's a thin veneer of transness over the character creator, but it's so bad. it's so transphobic that it wraps back around and suddenly it's just misogyny again. your voice pitch controls your gender, your voice gender is repeated over and over and over and over and over again, girl V small boy V big.

THEY NAME V. BASED ON YOUR GENDER. YOU GET A CANON NAME FOR YOUR OC FOR NO REASON AT ALL.

I have a lot more complaints about CB2077 not being good. It's a game of interesting concepts dotting a corporate frankenstein with Keanu Reeves' face on it, but it's now 1:30am and I've lost steam. This has been highly paired down because I got heated and lost the point, but yes, cb2077 failed because it didn't want to be an RPG, it didn't want to be a shooter, it didn't want to play strategy or politics...all it wanted was for a firmer structure, a clearer guiding hand, a more controlled scope, and a pre-built protagonist.

#talkForge #honesty in gaming !! transparency in gaming !!#which doesn't mean that gamers need to know about every phase of your production because it's meaningless to 90% of people anyway #no need to overcomplicate the extremely simply concept of not actively engaging in false advertisement

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martianbugsbunny · 6 months

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Guess who just made Archbishop of Canterbury!!!! It me!!!

#I'm playing one of those reacting to the past games in case you didn't know #my guy is George hickes #formerly dean of Worcester cathedral #NOW ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY!!!! OMG SLAY DEAN!!!!#I'm so excited this is like the big goal for my character in the game #reacting to the past #reacting to the past games #historical games #dean George hickes #archbishop of canterbury #it's the glorious revolution game btw #it's not technically out yet we're playing an early version of it woohoo #it's equal parts fun and silly but I'm contented with how it's gone for me #I barely even care how it shakes out in the end lol #rpg #historical rpg #martianbugsbunny plays a game

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mikk1n · 5 months

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If you could design 3 games, each in a different genre, what do you envision for each of them? Doesn't need to be super detailed, I'm just curious.

ooouh this is a good question... also if by genre idk if you mean the type of game (like rpg or whatever) or if you mean like, horror or action/adventure or romance or what, so I'm just gonna roll them into one.

one game I'd like to make would be a psychological horror visual novel (and tbh I'm considering making one for real). I used to play visual novels a lot through high school and though I don't play them as much anymore, I do like the format and I wanna return to it! this is personal but I'm at a point in my life where I'm trying to unpack and unlearn a lot of traumatic shit, and I think the horror vn would be about that; breaking cycles and hacking at the root of a mangled family tree.

the second would be an immersive sim, probably a historical fantasy in the same vein as Dishonored. I'd set it in precolonial Africa, probably a post-classical West African kingdom or a fantasy approximation of post-classical West Africa (in the vein of the Empire of the Isles or Thedas, though uh...with more care.) I don't really know what the story would be about—I don't exactly have the means to make an immersive sim by myself right now—I'm mostly just eager for more historical fantasy that doesn't center Europe in the immersive sim scene.

I'm really struggling to decide what I would do for a third game? this is kind of out of left field, but I really like dinosaurs and I'm annoyed that most of the dino game options I've come across tend to be science fiction that casts them as monsters, science projects and/or zoo/farm animals; it would be fun to make a single-player dinosaur survival game that contained none of those elements, and was instead like...you play as a small dinosaur trying to survive a large and harsh world. a game like that would be pretty hard to make for a lot of reasons, but I think with enough focus and care something really fun could be made there.

#not art #anonymous #inbox #this is for that one ask game I reblogged a few days ago. that's still going btw

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claire-starsword · 9 months

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The Guardiana Magic School Run - Part 1

Let's do this thing. Seeing @shiningforcegirlpower got me inspired to do Shining Force challenge runs myself, so I'm finally starting the magic users only run in GBA that I had wondered about some months ago, maybe many? Ah, time.

All posts will be tagged as "#guardiana magic school run". We've got a lot of rambling and RPG starting setup to go through, let's get to it.

The rules:

-I can only use characters who start with spells or learn spells at some point. So Max and Arthur are valid despite knowing only Egress and nothing at the beginning, respectively. Mawlock however is banned, I'm treating the card gimmick as something completely different that honestly deserves its own challenge one day. Also excluding him gives us exactly 12 characters to work with which is very convenient as it means I'll never have to worry about the team composition.

-I must have every character who fits the rule above on the team, no giving up on any of them. If a character dies, I must revive them as soon as I have the money needed instead of saving the money for something else.

-Enforcing character bans is super easy in this version as you can remove any characters except Max from the team any time. The exceptions however are the Narsha interludes. Frankly, I'm not too concerned about these as I'll likely just die on them lol, but yeah, I can't use Zuika and Mawlock for anything on them. But if they do attract enemies or do a counter or anything like that it's out of my hands and I don't care.

-No resets (unless I accidentally break a rule and have to undo something), we die like men who enjoy funding the churches of Rune. This also means I can't reset for good boosts from stat boosting items, if I decide to use those I get what I get. Also means I can't reset for good item drops, which are a thing in this version.

-Also in the spirit of not exploiting things, I can only check the deals section of shops once before each battle. From what I've heard the deals section rolls to generate stuff each time you open it so you could abuse it by just opening it a lot. I want to ride on the silly waves of the RNGods instead.

-No Egress or Angel Wings, I don't want to just overlevel on easy battles and then wipe out the rest of the game. I can however use the Retreat command at the start of battles.

-I just remembered a Bank exists in this game and would make these money related restrictions trivial so, that's banned too. I don't think I've ever used that thing.

-Also on the topic of money, I can use/sell the items of banned characters, I'll give myself that.

-No using magic through items, I want to see the character's own magical skills. Also the Sword of Light and the Chaos Breaker tend to destroy the late game with their magic.

-It's hard to enforce this as a rule but, again, the point of the challenge is to not overlevel, so dying on purpose to go around the Egress ban shouldn't happen either. I should play trying to minimize losses and even characters deaths to the best of my ability. So I will be counting these metrics, with two caveats: Narsha deaths on the interludes get a separate counter, and Mawlock and Zuika's deaths there don't count at all since they shouldn't even be there. The interludes are a beast of their own and kinda don't mash well with challenge runs.

The rules have been set, let the games begin.

Queen Anri's dream has come true and the Guardiana Magic School is a success. To celebrate and promote its teachings, we are gathered here today for a perhaps not very historically accurate reenactment of the war against Runefaust, with only the Shining Force members who can showcase the wonders of ~*~magic~*~. Hans weeps tears of joy at not going to battle this time, and vows to never get anywhere near magical talent, which might be the opposite of what this expedition is trying to achieve here, but that's okay this isn't about him.

Between the starting money and what we get from selling Hans, Ken and Luke's equipment, we get 385 gold for our first provisions. And I know some if not all of my Shining followers haven't played this version, so I'll try highlighting differences when I remember. We already have big ones when it comes to items and equipment.

First, as my rules implies, the deals section have a random chance of coming up with some special equipment, sometimes very overpowered for the chapter you are in. But I did just check it once as I'm allowed to and there's nothing yet.

The amount of items you can carry has also changed. In classic SF games, each character can carry at most four items total. So if you have a weapon equipped, that's one less slot to carry an item on, and same if you have a ring on. Also, you can only equip one ring at a time. Here instead we get four slots for items, and separate four slots for equipment. So everyone gets to carry more healing items or whatever else we need. We also get to equip more rings at once, and the game will incentive us to do that by putting a lot of new rings in this version (also weapons but I'll bring them up as they come later).

The Steel Ring can only be bought in Guardiana by a whooping 500 gold, and offers a mediocre +1 in defense. Stacking three of them however can make a good difference, especially in a gameplay full of squishy wizards. I would love to buy as many of these as I can before we leave Chapter 1, but sadly that sure won't happen now. Or before Battle 2 which happens before we can get back to Guardiana. Oh well. Max does start with one, so we aren't ringless at least.

The fact that we can't get back to a shop for a while does make me paranoid so I buy sixteen medical herbs to fill up everyone's bags. Of course I don't have four valid characters but we'll get to that in a hot minute. Let's get our carriage and head to the Gate of the Ancients already.

And then let's immediately retreat, I allowed it in my rules for a reason. We return to the world map and go to the Mountain Hut to pick up Gong. With this frankly silly move, our four first spellcasters are finally assembled.

Our great leader Max is for now only in this playthrough by technicality due to knowing Egress aka the run button which is a spell in this series for some reason. This is the GBA version though so he will learn something else eventually, but it will take quite a while so it's not worth talking about it now. For now he's a welcome melee fighter in this spell based team, but he's also the man we can't let die at all costs so there's only so much he can do in the front lines.

Tao the Blazing Woman is our first squishy wizard, you can see even with these small numbers she's the frailest member. I would love to shower her with Steel Rings in the future but for now I'm letting Max keep his because I hope to not let her get hit at all in the next battles. She's also my favorite of the wizards in this game and the first to get high level spells, so I'm expecting her to carry this run honestly.

Lowe and Gong are our healers, as of now there's not much difference between them in offense and defense. Lowe has way more MP, allowing him double the amount of Heal 1, while Gong has better movement, which will definitely matter for Battle 2.

You can also see two GBA exclusive things in these stat screens. One is Magic Resistance, a new stat that reduces the damage the character takes from enemy spells. Usually only characters that know magic get this, so basically everyone in this run, which should be fun to show off. The other thing is the CTR OK in the top right for some characters. In this version only characters with this have a chance to counter enemy attacks, non-combat oriented classes like mages and healers can't. It doesn't make much of a difference honestly but it's a neat detail.

After this long ass prologue that you should have expected because I can't be brief to save my life, let's get some action in this party.

Every battle until Chapter 8 in this version has some sort of bonus for clearing it in a certain amount of turns, usually either money or a special weapon. I do want those Steel Rings, and this one is not too hard, so let's do our best to get it (you can check the turn count in battle btw, along with the character order within the turn, it's one of the many QoL improvements of this version).

Again, this battle shouldn't be hard even with less characters. The goblins are weak and tend to stay spaced out instead of rushing us together, and the dwarves and the knight, which are bigger threats, stay still in the back. I'll try to keep Lowe and Tao safe while Gong and Max tank some hits, but Lowe might need to attack at times if we want the clear bonus. Also the AI loves to hit Max through any means possible so we gotta be careful with that.

I get counterattacked on my very first action of this run and hope this isn't some sort of omen. If Gong is taking 3 damage per goblin then in theory all goblins here could kill him next, so it's time for Lowe to do some healing, even if it feels like a waste.

I immediately give up on letting Tao stay safe because I'm a reckless idiot and she gets hit for 4 damage, while doing double that amount on the guy first, so you can see why I do that. She's just great.

Gong gets swift revenge (counterattack that i failed to screenshot). One of the goblins wasted their turn just lining up with their friend, because even though this version has much better AI than the mega drive one it is still silly sometimes.

Turn 3 is chill. Everyone kills a goblin except Lowe, who heals Tao. I began to fear that I should be saving her Blazes for the tougher enemies, but alas. Self control is apparently not a thing I have, but that's okay, who needs good strategy to do a challenge run of the strategy game.

Turn 4. Gong could reach those guys but I'm scared so I stay a little away to heal and see if the goblins advance first. Only one of them does, and that's fine I guess. Max seems to be the slowest of the team right now and that's currently good as he can score a hit once the enemies have already moved.

oh no they had not all moved. Max tanks it well though, so all the better that the dwarves are now separated.

-_-

This asshole survives at 1 HP but I'd rather Tao burns the dwarf.

She does great and Max finishes the job, earning the first level up of the run. Look at that attack boost, this man is so overpowered. The next dwarf comes at him because he's irresistible like that, but with this +1 in defense he's tanking even better than before.

We start turn 6 and I'm like everything is going so well :) I figure Lowe can heal Max a bit later and would rather Gong just punch someone (the dwarf). This unfortunately gets the knight's attention.

MOM I'M SCARED

THAT'S NICE I GUESS BUT STILL SCARY.

Plans are out the window, Lowe, fix this. This is Lowe's last heal but we do have a squad of Medical Herbs so it's fine.

Tao is out of MP but can still kill that 1HP goblin. She gets a level up as she deserves, and +3 MP, which means her amount of Blazes just went from 3 to 5 in a flash. Love this woman.

Meanwhile Max has to heal himself with a Medical Herb because I'm scared. He's taking like 2 damage from the dwarf which is great, but I don't want at half HP when the knight is Like That.

We get to turn 7 which is getting tight for the clear bonus but Gong's super punch did leave the knight on death's door already so there should be no need to rush, let's get the exp from the other enemies before ending the boss. I am terrified of Gong getting double attacked or critted which would end him, but also scared of taking him out there and opening a path to Tao. We're on the hands of the gods.

We get a kinder damage roll this time I guess. Turn 8 arrives and there's a half dead goblin on the field yet because Lowe and Tao couldn't finish the job, but I don't wanna risk losing the bonus, let's finish the knight already. And hope he doesn't counter Gong with that big roll because Gong's at exactly 7 HP.

The asshole survives at 1 HP and counters but thankfully does only 5 damage. And then gets to their turn and attacks Max, because I moved Max next to them before finishing dwarf, and the AI just loves Max so much. Lowe finishes them, getting a level up that I barely pay attention too because I'm bad at that, and a Bronze Lance drop? Extra money I guess.

Man that was stressful. But we won. The anticlimatic town theme starts playing as we move immediately to more war, except we don't because I retreat and save the game. The parade of Guardiana spellcasters shall continue some other day.

Also reviewing this hours later before posting I realized there's no damage rolls in this game and I've just been watching too many pokemon runs. Gong leveled up at some point and got +2 defense, and I didn't notice at all, probably because I was busy crying in fear.

Losses: 0 Deaths: 0 Number of Hans mentions in a run not about Hans: 2 (see the tags)

#shining series #shining force #ressurection of the dark dragon #guardiana magic school run #sf tao #i never noticed she has earrings in this version they look cute #there should be more elves with earrings #but i can picture hans being too anxious about them because what if they get stuck on an stair railing or something #(this blogger is projecting on the blorbo)#(as the ending of the post clearly shows)#sf hans

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zoethebitch · 1 year

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I know it's been months since you last brought up assassin's creed making a game set in Japan, but I remember you enjoying ghost of tsushima which was inspired by assassin's creed afaik? I'm wondering if you've ever played the actual asscreed games to compare them with ghost. I've never played ghost of tsushima but I'm replaying all the older assassin's creed games right now and I'm wondering if ghost of tsushima is worth getting!

yeah I played AC 1 and 2 and also Brotherhood and then I skipped a bunch of them and then played AC Origins. those early ones were very cool games. Definitely recommend ghost of tsushima if you enjoyed those it does have similar RPG elements to the post-Origins games but the combat is very similar to early AC especially in regards to how it let's you choose between stealth and open combat. AC really pioneered open world games and Ghost has a gorgeous open world as well. and they both take inspiration from historical events while heavily embellishing and taking a lot of liberties.

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thydungeongal · 8 months

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Thinking about the practical reasons for the fact that most RPGs tend to assume a style of gameplay where the group mostly stays together and takes on obstacles together. I mean, the historical reason are simple enough: D&D, the first RPG, did it, and most RPGs have ended up taking that structure into them unwittingly.

But setting aside the tonal dissonance of assuming an "adventuring party" or similar structure even in games where it doesn't necessarily fit (Vampire: The Masquerade is the one that always springs to my mind), there absolutely are practical reasons for it beyond just aping D&D:

It makes the job of facilitating or running the game easier. When there is a silent agreement that the group of players also make their characters act as a single unit it makes it unambiguous whether given characters are present in most scenes.

It also makes prepping easier on the facilitator: whether you're running a mostly linear story-driven campaign or a player-driven sandbox you can plan your content accordingly. You can already plan for the most likely choices players make. You can plan your encounters and challenges assuming everyone will be there. But more importantly, you don't often need to consider the consequences of two parallel running storylines colliding with each other.

It's easier to divide spotlight time. This is related to the above, but I think it deserves special mention. I've previously talked about the uneven distribution of spotlight time in party-based games when some players have activities outside the core gameplay loop they want to spend time on. Games without a strict party-based structure amplify that issue and make it so swinging the spotlight becomes a skill that the person running the game needs to develop (although in my experience, it's not quite as hard and intimidating as it sounds).

It already kinda fits a lot of genres of popular storytelling? Most blockbuster films already are "group of people overcome obstacles together" as are lots of television shows. Those genres tend to be the ones most often emulated in tabletop RPGs, so the party-based structure works perfectly.

Now having said that, I'm very much a proponent of playing lots of games and trying out new things with RPGs and like... as much fun as it is to make a pair of blorbos with my friend Steve who can solve our GM's Skull Dungeon with military precision, there is also a lot of fun to be had in a game where Steve, as a player, makes a post-apocalyptic warlord who hoards the resources of his community and I make a cool as hell gun girl who hates the warlord's guts and the MC simply throws us at each other. Me and Steve get to make a cool story about our two blorbos fighting each other and it's probably going to kick so much ass.

Anyway, there very much is a reason why "party of adventurers" is the most common structure for RPGs, but there are lots of stories to be told that don't follow that structure.

#long post

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