#i've already talked a lot about the NPCs not getting their due

[iersei]

THANK YOU for being able 2 put it into words on that post..... despite s2 having so much of my favorite characters (terry jr and scary) i just... have struggled so hard with caring since the seasons been in full swing and it feels like the world in s2 isnt taken as like... genuinely enough i guess? and season two is very funny and entertaining but thats... all it is. any emotional arcs feel quickly forgotten & almost not at all drawn out and it feels like a mess with how often characters are just straight up forgotten,,, i love dndads and there was such a great setup for season two that i think just. fell flat in execution. even when nicky came back anthony admitted he called him nick Foster because he wasnt thinking at all about it and didnt care, and like. at a certain point even in a d&d setting you have to care about the characters youre making plot relevant at least a little bit, and suddenly the close family arc had nothing to do with season 1 and instead everything to do with stuff that happened completely offscreen (and again, once the dads were charting around with their kids they were often forgotten & added little to any scenes) just. it all got a little careless.

and im not caught up but ive heard about so much junk that happens in the... less than 10 episodes im behind on?? like i JUST got to the titanic part and it ends, what, 9 episodes later ??? i just wish it was more organized and theyd allowed themselves to like. take their time with things. i know the 20 or whatever episodes of glenns arc in s1 is known as 'too long' or super hard to get through but thats also how it made such an impact!! there was ALOT to get through and a lot happened to the close family. yet when alot happens in s2 its like, well that happened, and in an episode and a half it will never be mentioned again . even supporting npcs especially with a lot of potential dont stick around unlike characters like paeden or walter or even erin who got her own wrap up like. i dont remember the last time anyone even mentioned mae hails. yeah theres a degree that its messy and unorganized because thats how teenagers are but theres only so far that goes. and im pretty forgiving in d&d settings because 90% of what actually happens is up to random chance but theres a difference between 'this isnt good because im not actually writing it, and i dont have total control over this story' versus 'this isnt that good because we're not playing it that good'.

anyways. um. hero oak swallows garcia i hope i see you again soon 👍

I THOUGHT YOU HAD TO BE JOKING ABOUT HOW RECENT THE TITANIC WAS UNTIL I WENT BACK TO CHECK THE EPISODE LIST AND. NO. NO, YOU WEREN'T JOKING. THERE'S ONLY 10 EPISODES AFTER THE TITANIC IN THE WHOLE SEASON. WHAT THE FUCK.

these kids really never had any time to rest, and it's actively hurting the narrative tension to the point that i just want them to be left alone </3

i can't fucking believe that they didn't care enough about nicky's whole deal to not even think about the implications of everything that happened to him. that felt like it should've been a core aspect of his character! and they just didn't care!! about that aspect of his family dynamic!!

i think that, at the end of season 1, the close family and the oak family had dynamics where it was understandable for issues to pop up offscreen. and i do think the underlying threads made sense to a degree! but it was so thoroughly unexplored in both families that it just made even more of a mess and all the characters involved suffered for it.

and i'm gonna be honest. i completely forgot about mae hails. man. man.

they all deserved so much better.

#i've already talked a lot about the NPCs not getting their due #so i'm not gonna rehash my thoughts here #but i'm nodding along to all your points #sei says an answer #dysaniadisorder

[fanstuffrantings]

I follow some people who talk about baldurs gate 3, and the way the fandom almost largely goes out of its way to babygirl everything astarion does while refusing to give the same leniency to the far less evil characters is baffling.

I feel like Gale, Wyll, and Lae'zel are the ones who often make this the most clear. Under the cut.

Whether it's because of the glitch pre console release or just a general refusal to engage with his story, people like to paint this picture of Gale being some Narcissistic abuser who is only ever power hungry. I've seen people try and justify mystra's actions. Now even if Gale was a young adult when Mystra came to him, Mystra is his goddess. She's in charge of the weave. She had so much more power over him, student/teacher and boss/underling relationships are so looked down upon because of that inherent power imbalance. And I think there's also an implication that this is relatively normal for all versions of mystra to do to younger men.

Elminster isn't free of criticism because he actively brought a young Gale to be groomed into becoming a pawn for Mystra. Gale gets discarded by mystra for his seeming ambition and wants to move on, but is also still desperate to please her in anyway he can, and she tells him to kill himself. I don't understand how people go through his plotline and see him believing the only way he's useful is dead and then just assume he's just power hungry. Is he a bit full if himself? Yes. He's a wizard. They're like that. But he's not the worst person in the world, and he's definitely not the one people should claim as the abuser in his relationship with Mystra.

People call Wyll boring, some paint this idea of him being holier than thou/looking down on everyone around him. Since he was 17 Wyll has given his whole life to protecting people and trying to be a hero. He's self sacrificial, thrown out by his father for making a pact he only made to save the city he adores. Wyll talks so much about baldurs gate. He wants to return.

Wyll has his body altered unwillingly for doing the right thing and yet he never once regrets it. He's made into a devil, the creatures so many of the npcs and companions loathe, for his kindness. He's constantly tricked and mocked by Mizora who we know from the game was sent by Zariel to corrupt a good hearted person. Even still, Wyll is a kind and honest man. He's charming and a bit cheesy but that's fine. Wyll can be incredibly self sacrificial and stubborn in his morals, but if you're running around doing mean things to impress Astarion, you can't blame Wyll for not liking your character and judging you. He's a hero of the people, of course he'd stand with them. We also need to remember he got so heavily redone that he has barely 6 hours of in-game content now. Which is abysmal compared to everyone else.

Lae'zel was raised by a cult, a cult that spans all her people where they're taught to bow and serve a lich queen who promises them glory if they're good enough. She can be harsh and unfriendly, but we need to remember she's the one most aware of what the tadpole can do and with that in mind we know she's very desperate to get things done and cure herself. Next to astarion she's the most evil aligned origins companion, and even still so much of that is due to being brainwashed into a certain belief.

Lae'zel in canon is the youngest companion, very early 20s and it often shows. She's a skilled warrior who doesn't see the need for statements that are already obvious. She's been beaten into shape and filled with ideas that unless she's perfect as the creche commands then she is worthless. She's scared and alone in act 1 with people who most likely don't care about it the same way she does. Lae'zel is imperfect like all the other companions, but if you're willing to accept that astarion is soft under all his bluster, why can't you do the same for Lae'zel?

I don't hate Astarion, I liked him a lot my first playthrough, he was my main romance. But the way the fandom ignores that he's definitely evil in act 1 and 2 because "I just don't see him that way", how people act like he's the only character in the cast who was abused when abuse and the cycles of it are the main theme of the game, how people willfully misunderstand his ascension ending and paint it as his good one when the writers state repeatedly it's not, the way the fandom will insult and demean other characters for jabbing at astarion's trauma but applaud him when he does the same exact thing, when they ignored his racism towards gnomes and gur (which is anti Romani racism repackaged). There's also a chance that in his time, Astarion was a corrupt politician, something making his death more complicated but also adding interest to it that a lot of his fans want to ignore to make him pure.

Astarion isn't perfect, none of the companions are. And they're not supposed to be. But his special treatment by fans is becoming so incredibly tiresome to see.

#baldurs gate #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #astarion acunin #molten rambles #wyll ravengard #lae'zel #gale dekarios

[shuttershocky]

From what you've played, how was Genshin's story when compared to the others gacha(you've played)?

Back when I played Genshin all we had was Monstadt, Liyue, and the Dragonspine mountain, so the only story I experienced was all the Year 1 content.

The main story was... serviceable. Monstadt was completely uninteresting both as a story and as a setting, but I really loved Liyue's map and music and found the story of Zhongli attempting to retire to be a bit more engaging, even if still inferior to the rest that Liyue had to offer.

Genshin was very lucky that unlike other gacha games, it had a sandbox map, which meant it had NPCs you could talk to. The little stories found by talking to the NPCs were far more interesting than the majority of the main plot, it was almost shocking actually. You could talk to a random NPC walking in town and they were more likely than not to have an actual name, other NPCs in town they were related to, and occasionally even a random daily commission or quest line related to their little story.

For example, even the blandest white bread city of Monstadt had an NPC where it had this sickly girl (I think she was blind too?) praying for health so as to not be a burden to her older brother. Going to the fountain in a different time of day would let you find her brother, wading in the fountain trying to get the coins people would throw in. Talking to the brother would make him a bit embarrassed, but he would be firm that while this may look undignified he had to do whatever it takes to support his sister.

These little narratives between ultimately unimportant NPCs meant to populate areas not only helped make the locations feel alive, but were easily some of the most engaging writing in Genshin's setting. You were rewarded for living in the setting, for talking to all the generic townspeople and remembering their names whenever you got a new breadcrumb of someone else's story. It was delightful stuff, and a lot more complex than most players would probably appreciate given how so few of them actually are just generic NPCs without anything meaningful to say. This aspect of the game is what best leveraged Genshin's unique position of being a (and back then, the only) 3d open world gacha game. It was the kind of stuff that would literally be impossible for something like FGO or Arknights to pull off due to the sort of games that they are.

The sidequests and character-specific quests also ended up being more interesting to me than the main quest. While the concept of the Archons (gods) and their rule over the world as well as the history of a massive war between hundreds of gods to determine the Archons is an integral part of the main quest, it wasn't until Zhongli's character specific quest where the Archon war finally pulled off being written as a historical event with real consequences to the setting beyond cool worldbuilding / a way to explain weirdly shaped rocks.

But I already talked about that specific quest before, so I won't repeat that here.

If I were to directly compare it to the others Genshin was generally better written than the gacha I've played that didn't really try much if at all in the writing department (Dragalia, a few other gacha games I'm too ashamed to write down here) or tried but failed spectacularly (Punishing Gray Raven) but did not match up to the highs of the two mobage I've played the longest, FGO and Arknights.

FGO's best had Genshin's best beat when it came to writing themes, pathos, all the messy, meaty bits of storytelling that evade easy description and yet give a distinctive quality to Type-Moon's best, while Arknights had the far more distinctive setting as soon as its meh first chapters gave way to the insane worldbuilding in its side stories.

[hsr-texts]

No, but the fact that belobogians never seen a chicken raises so many questions.

What farm animals they have and how do they keep them alive? Like the place has gotta be close to city, because it's simply easier to warm up the area this way. And just how big this farm area needs to be to provide for an entire city?

If they don't have chicken, what do they use instead of chicken eggs? If they don't use any substitutes, then they don't have cakes or other food like that. Or do they only have eggless recipes that don't require baking like some type of cheesecakes? I mean their planet is already like a giant freezer, they can use it.

Or they probably use other eggs, like idk duck eggs.

Does that create an even bigger divide between the overworld and the underground? Like most of the farm animals require plant-based food, so it would be very hard to keep them in the underground, especially after Cocolia ordered to close the border. But does this mean that some kids from the underworld never had milk?

omg hell yes i love discussions like this

this has sent me down a rabbit hole where i'd research belobogian cuisine ingame

(warning: this is a bit of a long post)

i'm looking at the flavor text lore for the dishes that you can get from belobog and i have this stone-grilled olm. i looked up what an olm is and yeah it's basically an amphibian

besides olms, they have crabs which interestingly enough also has interesting lore implications because apparently these crabs could "wreak havoc" in belobog before the eternal freeze and then became extinct so has hook just been eating an extinct species this whole time??

the answer to my question was in "Miners Weekly" where it talks about how the rock crab nests were destroyed so it seems like the extinction only happened recently

then we also have crystal lizards that are coldblooded and live in mines and apparently isn't even meant to be edible despite the fact that this is also something being sold by the food stall. i also wonder if that dialogue at the bottom saying how the crystal lizard satay tastes like chicken is from the trailblazer or march because it can't really be a belobogian

i checked the bookshelf if i had any books that could answer my question and lo and behold, here's a recipe for how the crystal lizard satay and some lore attached to it. apparently the dish was created out of necessity due to a mining accident and lack of rations. i guess desperation can be the best source of creativity.

note: according to the same book, they've eaten candied mushrooms.

so when it comes to farm animals, i found that they do have pork, rye bread soda(?), and yogurt

this implies that they have pigs and cows but we can't be sure if they're different from cows and pigs in our world. the sausage is considered a national delicacy though so perhaps pigs are common enough that they can be produced a lot since a hundred years ago.

i found the recipe for rye bread soda in my bookshelf as well!

then i found out they do have fish and jam which makes me wonder where they fish.

According to Lila, an NPC that's a zoologist, Belobog has dogs, cats, wolves and birds but in ancient times, Belobog had domesticated bears and direwolves in the wild. The bears and direwolves are no longer around though.

anyway yeah this is the info I've found on Belobogian food. I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed researching this.

It's really cool to learn more about this kind of lore in hsr

#kristalheartishere #hsr #honkai star rail #hsr lore #honkai star rail lore

[satellite-sims]

What was your inspiration to create your main oc? (pass the question on)

I already answered this question here. But! Since i have not only one main OC, this time i would like to talk about how i developed Debbie Richards. (i know y'all are in love w her) anyway, thanks for sending me this!

First of all - Debbie is a remake of an already existing sim in game. Some people may not know that. When i casually played ts3, i reached out to the uni and noticed that Debbie is my sim's professor. I saw her weird face at first and immediately thought "goddamn i should revamp her!"

When i opened her in CAS she looked awful mostly due to a bad design decisions for her. Long straight hair is totally not about her. And as for makeup...well, let's not mention that, just 00's fashion xD. In general, her face have a good structure: i like her sharp jawline, long thin nose and big round eyes. Her eyebrows may seem weird but they works fine with her big eyes. That way, she just needed a few small touches and a complete change of her style.

I decided to save her gray roots because it looks really cool and works for her very well! And i should mention that this hair made her face not that long as it was before. I haven't touched her lips, but they became more "plumper" because of lipstick. The only thing i changed is her eyes position (it was toooo high). What inspired me to create her some sort of a "rebel" look? That's pretty easy. First - this hair suits her a lot and it does have the rebel, messy effect. Second - is that in game she have 9th level in rebel group (for some reason) and this gave me an idea: "what if she is not just a regular professor?" Here goes my final idea of how she is going to dress up. Btw, her purple/green color scheme caught me a lot. I'm now using this combo a lot, haha.

I figured out some looks for her (check full post here)

As for her personality things get more interesting! When i decided that i will add her in my characters page, i've had to think about her nationality. My first thought was that she looks like middle-eastern? I googled her name and find out that it mostly belongs to a jewish culture and i loved that. After that, i found a singer - Merril Nisker (known as Peaches) who looks exactly like Debbie (in my view) and she is also jewish which confirmed my guessing about her belonging to this ethnic group. I know this is a bit silly but this just made me sure i'm on a right path xD

And again her lips are bigger because of lipstick 🙄

I'm in love with the result! Debbie came out from an average NPC sim in game to a rebel middle-aged icon, who rejects gender stereotypes and love the way she looks like right now than at her younger age. And she seem very "alive" character to me, like, i can easily imagine how she live and the way she talks. I think she is impessive speaker, by the way! She is very charismatic.

#ask #myoc #debbie #debbie richards

[neonsix67]

Dreams are weird and crazy, and if I were to ever get into the science of the brain, this is what I'd want to study.

I've actually wanted to talk about this for a while because I find it bizarre, so for context: I have very realistic, vivid, and interactive dreams. So much so that when I wake up, I really need a 30-minute adjustment period to move from one world back to reality. This adjustment also helps me to remember what my dream actually was. I also feel it's important to point out that I am a very light sleeper, so I have a lot of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Because I will wake up multiple times a night, which results in me having multiple dreams per night.

My dreams range from realistic scenarios to the craziest plots you've ever seen,

I only have realistic dreams when I nervous or I know something important is coming up like the first day of school or an important work shift, so ill run scenarios on how to deal with it through my dreams. These dreams usually start people in my life, and it can be so realistic that when I wake up, I really have to question if that was something that really happened or not.

My favorites include the ones where there is a really cool apocalypse. There is some sort of evil, big baddie, or a natural disaster that left the world scrambling. In these, I usually have a mix of people I know and npcs that have intensive backstories that me as the mc already knows. These dreams usually have a bad ending that ends with me being ripped apart or bitten or just dying to wake up. (And mind you, i can have all five senses in my dreams, so when I feel pain, I wake up with the same sorta pain just nulled down) but it's all in good fun, I actually really enjoy these dreams.

The ones I usually don't tell people about are my weird and not easy to explain dreams. In these dreams, we have a sort of hero journey, and these dreams will last FOREVER. The story can shift from one focus to another in a snap, but it all connects together sort of cohesively. Out of all of the dreams I've had like this, each character has been original and not really based on any sort of reference from reality or content I've seen. I am never myself in these dreams, always some convoluted character with a drenched past (and in one case I was actually two at the same time, twins that I managed to see and feel at the same time) These dreams can really mess up my psyche and I have a lot of trouble adjusting back to the real world after waking up, especially if there is no conclusion. However, I do get good story ideas from it.

The most dream-like dreams I've had are the ones where I become aware, and thus in full control. These dream usually start out with a mash of a ton of contrasting ideas. For example: I'm in my elementary school gym with a bunch of weird creatures, outside the window I can see Rudolph the red nosed reindeer and Thomas the tank engine speeding down a street. Then I become hyper aware I'm in a dream and start to take control. These dreams never last long and I usually wake up a couple of seconds after realizing where I am.

With all this said I can have horrible nightmares but I usually blow them off due to their nature. I'm really quick to dismiss any sort of your typical horror as it just doesn't hit me. So my brain really started getting creative, making me witness my murder my own family, drowning myself in a shallow pool (I've never been scared of water, quite the opposite but that is just one that stuck out because I woke up very shaken), dropping babies off a ledge, etc. Pretty much these dreams dig into my fears of committing crimes I would never commit and 9 times out of 10 I usually can't say anything during these dreams. I cant speak, scream, nothing. And I always wake up with a start and drenched in sweat.

Now, the weirdest part I have is when my brain will try to sike me out. Sometimes, when I am done with a dream or am revving to wake up, my dream will "wake up" into another dream, but this dream is exactly my reality. I will wake up in the same bed I went to sleep in, go about my morning routine, talk with my dad or roommate, and go about my daily business. It isn't until one tint little thing out of the ordinary happens that I realize that this, in fact, is NOT the real world, and I really have to wake up. I get angry at those dreams because now I have to do everything I just did all over again.

And finally , my sleep paralysis dreams! These are really rare, and I've only had about 4 or 5 in the last couple of years. I used to get sleep paralysis quite frequently as a child, but something changed, and now it only gets it every now and again. I'm usually stuck unable to move, and I'm aware of this, however my dreams will make me seem as though I'm merely a camera angle in my own life and I'm able to pan around and witness whatever world is going on while fully aware that my body cannot move to experience it. This can range from my brain visualizing a conversation I know I can hear in the room next to me, to something where I am witnessing a monster killer outside my window creep closer to my paralyzed form. Funky things that are not preferred. I'm glad I don't get them much anymore.

#i sometimes feel bad when i go on a dream rant to spot #but then i remember they probably use it as plot fuel #i feel bad because they dont dream too often #or at least they dont remember a lot of them #but we often after waking up will explain what we can #for me i try my best to sumarize the experience #and i get really excited when we wake up and they go “i actually had a dream” and i sit my happy butt down #and swing my legs like a little kid #“tell me tell me tell me” #cw: gore #<just in case #dreams #vivid imagery #<also just in case

[team-heavenly]

Chapter 22 - Climbing Sky Peak

Otherwise known as *rolls dice*

...Oh my God-

YEAH SURE WHY NOT!!

This post is going to begin a little a lot more differently than usual. Going in, I knew the Sky Peak arc was going to be a nightmare of text boxes. So I did a little experimenting and took a video of its introduction in Rotom's Cafe - click here to watch that before moving onward.

(Obligatory apologies for many potentially distracting things, including but not limited to: crooked pictures, cloudy lighting, the camera refocusing randomly, random hand cameos, and specks of dirt on the screen.)

I mean—

(I can’t seem to find the artist for this‚ if anyone happens to know who it is pls hmu so I can credit)

Exactly! Let's follow Rhydon's lead and head forth to check out this mountain-

...Er, right. I mean, the Cloudy Well. (Is this the pollution I was foreshadowing?)

Actually, the name feels reminiscent of a level from Spyro 🤔

Butseriouslythisissogodd*mnfunnyamythicalvillagefullOFONIXLMAAAAOOOO

Also don't worry about Team Frontier partially out of frame there, we'll get to them in a minute.

I've played this game for I don't know how many years now, and I literally only had this thought just now-

...But why didn't some flying Pokémon just bypass the ruined mountain pass? Sure, it's inaccessible to everyone else, but unless the entire peak was scorched earth, there's... really no reason for it to have become shrouded in mystery. 🤷‍♀️

Uh, I think that if you lead us on an arduous trek of one of the highest mountains on the continent only for us to arrive at the peak and go "haha just kidding, the treasure was the friendships we made along the way ^-^" I will actually kill you. FYI.

"Hey, Teresa? What do you think? Should we let Onix join us?"

*says no* *gets stuck in a recursive formula* *breaks the world*

...Just kidding, of course 😅

Team Heavenly is more or less prepared already, so of course my top priority is talking to the NPCs.

We... We can't request... a what?!

I have no idea why "rescue" is randomized like a dungeon name here. And in case you think this is a one-off:

??????????

I just thought the idea of a merchant Clefairy (actually he replaces Pelipper, but I digress) was so cute.

Ah and... Team Frontier... Oh man, where do I even begin?

Now, Jolteon is pretty fitting! I can especially see him with Breloom's style of speaking. He also ended up being a great asset in battles, so no complaints here.

So, let's address the Copperajah in the room. You must be wondering what the heck Deoxys is doing here. But clearly, he's the leader, right?

Wrong.

Don't ask how she took the throne. It's said she once razed an entire village with her fangs alone.

No, Deoxys is... a giggly space queen? Which might even be funnier than the phrase "Onix Village" 🤭

...Yeah, best of luck with that one, bud.

Because Onix is a very large Pokémon, I couldn't have anyone else on the team :( So it was just the three of us on this long, dreary trek.

The first section of Sky Peak Cloudy Well was dubbed "Significant Port." (I apparently didn't snap any pictures of the dungeon itself... whoops.)

But similar to this, the first floor was dead silent. No music. And it was snowing. Classic Mt. Silver creepypasta vibes.

Here's a fresh look at Teresa and Andrea's status, alongside Onix. Note the <100 HP despite being 11 levels higher than Andrea.

Onix wasn't bad, per se. She had Swords Dance, Megahorn, and Rock Blast, which is a heck of a combination tbh. That being said... this first dungeon was probably the hardest of them all in retrospect. At least half of that was due to Onix being super fragile, frequently getting OHKO'd by Aqua Jet of all things. (Yeah, Onix is 4x weak to water, but it's not like Aqua Jet is a very strong move.)

The other side of the difficulty coin was Furret and Blastoise both countering half the damage you dealt and, of course, Monster Houses galore. It got bad enough that I threw a Detect Band on Teresa, which did actually help me survive a future Monster House.

Has real big "WW1 Battlefield on Christmas Day" vibes. Lol, I'm sure this won't be an ominous sign of things to come, right?

(Spoiler: It Was.)

If you recall, there are ten station passes and clearings. Because of this, I'm throwing Sky Peak dungeon names into their own post, instead of stuffing them all in the guide. However, the guide itself will include a link to this "sub-guide." As we traverse each station pass, I'll highlight their titles in bold.

Speaking of, the Second Station Pass was known as Sandy Bay...

(Did you mean: Normandy Beach?! Okay yes technically a different war, but listen-)

And we got ambushed by Andrea's brothers and sisters 😭We BARELY made it out of this one, with Andrea hanging on by a thread. So I was ecstatic to pick up a Foe-Hold Orb... only to immediately lose it by spawning into a "mandatory" MH (i.e., in the same room as the stairs).

Okay folks, that's 30 images, so onwards to Part 2!

#pmd explorers #pokemon mystery dungeon #randomizer #post game #climbing sky peak #chapter 22

[franticbindings]

In most of our D&D games we've instituted a system similar to Heart, the City Beneath's beats as a way to distribute inspiration. You pick three triggers to be active for the current session, and can claim inspiration when you hit them.

When I started playing my paladin, I envisioned him as someone that had a tendency to hold grudges - the main one being that he had a pretty serious falling out with his family. Due to who the other PCs were, I knew that I was going to be drawn into interacting with the focus of my PC's ire despite what my PC wanted (and I as a player was excited about it) so one of the initial beats I wrote was aimed at rewarding me for making a mess of things when my character wouldn't let things go: "you allow a grudge to complicate your life."

As I played him though, I found myself often in a situation where this aspect of my character wouldn't come up in the way that I had thought it would. The stakes of what had happened with his family and where that relationship would end up going hovered over everything, but unless it was the direct focus of things my character ended up getting along with most people. I considered inventing a lot of people to be holding onto resentment against, but I already had the biggest "footprint" of associated NPCs out of anyone and was loathe to add more to it.

Instead I decided to broaden the beat to "Someone's grudge complicates your life," and I've been really pleased with that. I realized that in fiction, when a character has something that they're wrestling with and they encounter someone else in the same situation it's a reflection of their own issues. You want your revenge obsessed character to encounter other people who want revenge, or got it and regretted it (or didn't), or want revenge against them and get all tangled up in the situation because that is what their story is about.

Even if my character doesn't come right out and talk about how whatever grudge we're getting tangled up in relates to his own situation, claiming the beat is planting a flag and saying - "This is important." Having the trigger written down also helps remind you that it's something important to your character - last session we got halfway through a fight with some revenants who were obsessed with revenge before I remembered that I had chosen the "grudge" beat and it suddenly cast everything in a different light.

It's a bit like XP actions in Chuubo's that way - you can help someone with their chores and have a meaningful conversation, but the act of declaring that its an XP action adds an additional layer of importance to it.

#ttrpgs #dungeons and dragons #d&d 5e #dnd

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (31/03/24)

there's still 3 shows that haven't finished yet and next week the new season is gonna start already at least I will only be watching a fraction of what I was this season so that's gonna give me a lot more time to catch up on some stuff and play some things I've been putting off for a while (hopefully)

blue - finale/completed

Anime

Gushing over Magical Girls Ep13 (Finale)

surprisingly the best looking showed out of the 3 ecchi ones I watched this season, despite being the lewdest by far but anyway it was alright. the only thing I knew about it going in was that it was about magical girls and lewd. turns out it's just the author's thinly veiled fetishes totally out in the open with a thin coat of magical girl on top to have an excuse to do stuff like MOTW there's not much else to say about it really, everything that happens including plot developments are just an excuse for more and lewder scenes. not sure about reading the manga anymore after having watched it but I'll probably watch a s2 if it ever gets one

Mashle S2 Ep12 (Finale)

there's not much to say really. I had hope it'd be better than s1 and while it was due to the source material being better it still wasn't that much. was hoping for a lot more sakuga cause of one of the pvs they showed but there was barely any. even the best fight in the series which I had my hopes up for only had 1 cool moment and the rest was just the usual quality. which mind you, isn't bad at all, but still not as good as it could be. out of all the things that aired this season too I expected this to get another season announced since they can finish adapting the manga with just 2 more cours (3 at most) but they haven't yet. they announced an event in may so if there's a s3 announcement it'll be there but don't hold your breath I guess

tl;dr: everything I said about s1 applies here. you're better off reading the manga instead since the anime doesn't really get the vibes right

Pokemon Horizons Ep45

this episode marked the end of the second arc and the first year of the anime (basically). next episode we start a more scarvi focused art with the main characters going to the school from the game and a ton of npcs showing up or making a return (rika and nemona 🙏)

but anyway this arc was just alright. it was all about searching and getting the six hero pokemon but there were more random eps about other stuff than that. we also have the explorers who are supposed to be the antagonists and they barely showed up despite them revealing the designs for a bunch of them. two of them are gonna be a part of the school art so maybe they'll have a bigger part in the story but I doubt it. they'll prob just be there to give the mcs a hard time and be comedic relief like team rocket.

anyway, considering how it's gone I don't have very high hopes for this next arc BUT I'm stoked to see rika and nemona, they're some of the best things to come out of those games by far

Manga

Ruri Dragon Ch11

today marked the last chap of ruri on WSJ, going forward it'll be on jump+ and run biweekly, tho the next chap will be on the 21st so I guess it's taking a week off. kinda weird to make the transition on an incomplete part like, could've very easily done it on last week's chap it felt like a more natural stopping point, but oh well. obviously tho she's gonna join that committee thing and the other girl that doesn't like her is gonna be a part of it too and they'll make up and become friends too anyway it was nice having ruri back, it's still as good as before it left. it's a shame that it's going biweekly but hey, the author's health is more important

#silver talks animanga

[todayisafridaynight]

hey, i hope life's treating ya well this week! i finished y6 yesterday and came to share some thoughts if you don't mind :)

i think kiryu tried to project on his kids what he wanted kazama to be like as a father, but ultimately kazama'ed all of them, especially daigo. i found the ending of y6 very touching, but that's because i like daigo in all of his bland npc glory, and i agree with a lot of criticism of that ending being somewhat weird, especially when we had so little interaction with haruka, who just. you know. woke up from a coma. i wrote this already in my blog, but i'll repeat myself: that ending would've made much more sense if we had just more of daigo in general amd/or saw his transition from his y2 version to his version later in the series. like, we know haruka and kiryu are close, and we assume daigo and kiryu are close too, but i'd love to see more evidence of it in the actual text. that one substory in y0 clearly wasn't enough. i wish we could have more of haruka, MUCH more of haruka, too. the lack of her agency in y6 after y5 felt frustrating

i did enjoy the game, though. i really liked the callbacks to the previous games. as for side activities, it never seizes to amaze me how the eroge minigames are become just more and more unhinged. but all the missed storytelling opportunities, man

(it's also v funny that daigo's sr card code in clan creator is kiryusavemepleaz. i don't speak japanese and therefore haven't played rggo, but i know about a story where majima lets daigo win him on purpose or something? also the situations daigo's often put in (which are mostly near death experiences), him never getting any kind of resolve with ryuji as well... i think yokoyama kinda hates daigo lmao)

Heya! I sure love thoughts and I sure love talking about Daigo :]

On the note about 'Kazama'ing his kids, I'm going to be ugly and take a minute to interpret what that means if you don't mind.

When it comes to what Kazama did to his kids, he allowed Nishiki and Kiryu to join the yakuza despite knowing the dangers of it at their insistence. Ergo, we see Kazama prioritize the yakuza, telling Kiryu to leave the Dojima situation in Y1 alone. Moreover, despite Kazama lacking faith in Nishiki's abilities as a yakuza, he still expected him to be able to lead a family by himself while he took care of Yumi in hiding.

As for Kiryu and his kids, it was evident Kiryu wanted to be able to parent the kids at Morning Glory- to speculate, maybe as a way to atone of Kazama's messy paretning without outright admitting Kazama had faults. However, his bond with those in the yakuza inevitably kept him coming back, especially in regards to Daigo (who, of course, we find out he sees as a son. In this, it's a case of Kiryu still wanting to be a good parent, but the priorities aren't exactly there). In this (and I've discussed this in a post prior), Kiryu's attempting to spread himself thin when it comes to his family: he wants to help the Tojo, if not predominantly due to Daigo's presence there, but he also wants to father the orphans at Morning Glory. Unfortunately, since Kiryu can justify leaving the kids as Okinawa's a safer setting and he's admittedly at his best in a fight, he ends up leaving for Tokyo every time action's needed.

It's actually Kiryu's constant leaving that had me assume he was writing his letter to Haruka at first during Y6's ending, specifically when he was talking about how he lamented not spending more time with her. On the subject of Haruka, Y6 really did her disgustingly: as soon as she was of age, she becomes a mother and, on top of that, she gets hit by a car and is in a coma the majority of the game and doesn't even get to properly spend time with Kiryu before he vanishes. I genuinely wish and- foolishly- hope one day Haruka can actually get the respect she deserves after having been such an important, prominent, and interesting character throughout this franchise.

To talk about Daigo and Kiryu, the main subject of this ask I feel, I think RGG did as much as they could when it came to demonstrating Kiryu and Daigo's relationship. In Y5, it's revealed that Kiryu believes that people who become close to him suffer (and in this scene in particular, he's referring to Daigo after he gets shot on the roof)- how long he's had this mentality I couldn't definitively tell you, but I wouldn't be surprised if this has been a thought since everyone's deaths in Y1. Because of Kiryu's fear for others' well-being, it can be reasoned that Kiryu might have wanted to keep his distance from Daigo as much as he could lest something go wrong (but of course, he also feels responsible for protecting others, leading him to take action where he should probably leave things be). In Y4, we can see the buds of Kiryu regretting not being there for Daigo when he needed him most, outright apologizing to him for putting him in the position of chairman without any proper training or time. Considering all of this, Kiryu's letter to Daigo aligns with what we've seen: even if Kiryu wasn't able to be close to Daigo and properly guide him like he should have, he still confesses that Daigo was incredibly important to him and he regrets letting that fear stop their bond from deepening.

Daigo on the flip side, we become very aware that he values Kiryu immensely. To return to Y5, at the end of his taxi ride he tries to reassure Kiryu that he's able to carry himself without his help (i.e. 'I'm trying my best to walk this path' after Kiryu kicks him out of the car). Daigo's need for Kiryu's approval is also evident in RGGO: the story with Majima you're talking about is one of his character stories where he first becomes chairman. In this story, Daigo struggles to understand what Kiryu's intention was entrusting him to the Tojo Clan, but once he realizes it, this is his turning point to stop being the brute he was in Y2. To extend on RGGO shining light on Daigo's feelings for Kiryu, during his initial meeting with Mine in Mine's story, he lets Mine know he was so ardent in watching the Tojo at first so he could make 'the man' who put him in that position proud, and later during their bar conversation in another one of Mine's stories, he lets Mine know that while he doesn't consider Kiryu family at this point, he still considers him someone incredibly close to him (and as we see in Y6, Daigo will do a hard 180 on this and proudly call Kiryu his father). To jump back to Kiryu for a second, we can argue that Mine's whole 'what could Daigo see in a man like you' line could have contributed to Kiryu's want to distance himself from Daigo. Because what if Mine had a point: what WAS there to admire in Kiryu? What could Daigo POSSIBLY like about Kiryu, and would it not just be better if he wasn't in his life after- inadvertently- getting him put in a coma? To end this segment on a goofy note, Daigo's clan code being 'kiryuhelpmeplz' is super funny with the father/son lens: Daigo's gotta call his dad to help him out </3

EDIT: In regards to the RGGO story I mentioned here, I misremembered the exact quote and that drastically changes the scene and meaning I'm referencing, and significantly portrays the relationship between Daigo and Kiryu differently from what I've said. For the correct quote and sentiment, please refer to this ask here (x)

In all of this, it's reasonable that RGG couldn't expand on Kiryu and Daigo's relationship, but that's what makes Kiryu's letter so significant. We see from Kiryu and Daigo's sides individually that they saw each other as family, but neither of them were able to confront that fact directly for one reason or another (Kiryu, again, with is fear of hurting those he loves and his general inability to express his emotions perfectly. Daigo might have thought seeing Kiryu as his dad was inappropriate, especially after having had to believe he killed his actual dad). Kiryu lamenting the bond they could have had wouldn't have had the same merit if Kiryu and Daigo were actually able to bond more, but because they didn't and we see they still cherish each other, the impact's there.

My long ugly ramble aside, I'm glad you still enjoyed the game! I don't know if you have any more of the games left to play, but if you ever get around to them I hope you enjoy them!

#long post #snap chats #if you guys ever want any of daigo or mine's RGGO stories i do have them bookmarked and saved so ! ask away and ill link em to you :) #this is a lot of disjointed rambling forgive me i just have a lot of thoughts about daigo and kiryu and daigo and kiryu #yokohama hates daigos ass fr LMAO

[antstarion]

25 for the asks, like we already know but. Tell us anyways :3

yay i got one :)) send me an ask

I have created lots, probably the most of any year ever. thats thanks to you really lol.

i will talk about some of my dnd related characters though since thats my Thing at the moment.

okay so my baldurs gate character is a Lorth Sworn Drow (sp?). I can't for the life of me remember his name, or if i even named him lol. i wanted him to be a big darker than my other characters because i feel like i was on a lighthearted streak (its hard to take a giant ant seriously). im still building up backstory for him since the same doesnt really do that. but hes a bard. i know he has had a hard a traumatic past, hes trying to overcome that and not be morally corrupt. astarion may be a bad influence in that area.

I have to mention derek, the giant ant. he is my favourite character i made ever. ant who is lost in space, stranded from his children, due to his wife’s involvement with a cult, and on a seemingly hopeless journey to get them back. I’ve played a couple variations of derek. all of them bard, yes that is my favourite class. his story hasn’t been resolved yet but i would love to one day see him reunited with his kids.in the meantime he will be stealing weapons and playing all my favourite songs on the bagpipes. and sleeping in holes in the ground apparently.

I've made a bunch of potential npcs for some games im planning. next year i need to expand my horizons though as i think my characters are the same a lot of the time lol.

grant has to get a mention in here somewhere too. and my fursona

#thank you for the ask #i love to ramble

[thosebrookfieldgirls]

Something I thought about last night is why does hardly anyone get starstruck by Vil in Night Raven? The only time something like that has ever happened was Cater trying to ask him out because he's hot and for clout. Most of the time everyone is completely indifferent to that, but that doesn't make sense. People, even those who are indifferent to the show Vil acted on or hate him, would have much more of a reaction just because he's a famous person that they grew up with. It would be like Miranda Cosgrove or Ariana Grande went to the same school as someone back when they were still childstars at Nick. It would be something that would stick out a lot more and would be hard to get used to. That aspect could've been integrated into the story a lot better. Then again, the same could be said about Leona to a lesser extent as well.

Part of that might be because we're lead to believe that students like Ruggie, Deuce, or Ace that come from more "common" backgrounds are supposed to be a rarity at NRC. That most of the students who attend come from prestigious to wealthy families. Even so far as Ace and Deuce to instantly assume Epel is rich when he receives a shipment of juice from home.

So it's kind of a "what's another celebrity?" Deal or "what's another prince?"

Another reason might be arrogance/intimidation. Most students might think "well all made it to the same school so they can't br any better then me" and so students only tend to make a big deal if they want something like Azul or Cater. Or they're the other way where they think they have no right to try and talk so someone like that and so they avoid doing it.

A third possible option might be how long they've been at the school. We've seen that while Leona and Vil are both open about their status, the try to not draw attention to it either. Vil because he wants to earn what he gets and Leona due to believe the title is empty since he isn't the heir. So third and second years are already over the idea of going to school with princes and celebrities like them because they are students too, while first years are the ones left to gawk until Vil or Leona eventually does something to shut them down.

I'll admit not wanting to deal with coming up with dialog for NPC's or otherwise is probably the biggest reason but there can be logic too.... I doubt it got used but I can happen. I mean I've never gone to school with a celebrity (or even stood in line for a picture cause anxiety always said no) but I'm sure some people have and would have better insight.

#twisted wonderland #twst

[nightcall99]

Notes from 24.2.24

I'm not here right now so here's some severely disjointed rambling.

Restless night of high energy. Don't remember any dreams but there was something vague about a pool of water. A swimming pool or a public bath. The HS appeared. Questions and answers were drifting into my awareness, rolled into one.

I drank a lot of water today. More than I usually do. I did a short meditation and saw myself inside of a tsunami wave, just standing in the water like a phantom, but smiling. I let the water molecules pass through me, until I was the water.

I scrolled up a bit in the chat and saw something about how CA was teaching her daughter about Dr. Emoto's water experiments.

Spoke to her briefly. On the same page. It’s over. I remember that dream I had of the Sailor Moon tattoos. We both have the same tattoo, metaphorically.

Yesterday while waiting for my lunch at the cafe, I saw the pavement move like lava. As if I was on shrooms.

My co-worker messaged me about an issue that wasn't necessarily my fault, but kind of was. I was dreading having to deal with it on Monday since it had the potential to blow up, but I kept repeating to myself that I wouldn't have to do anything. Today he messaged me to say, It's All Sorted.

The book I'm reading is getting boring, I skip chapters. I keep looking over at the dog to check if it's still there or not.

So we just had a university placement student for 4 weeks. He was NPC as fuck, I tried making him laugh several times but nothing. Devoid of personality. But oh my god, it's like he'd been working there for years and years. I purposely create things to be easy for me so of course it's all me but it got me thinking more about my experiences of males. It's been a while since I've felt safe and protected at work (or in life) like that. I didn't have to be so tensed up and on high alert. Like my manager is pushing 40 and I'm the one who's always protecting him and dealing with the shit situations. This 24 year old kid was literally running the place with no pay. With No Ego. I was shoving prescription baskets in his face and he always knew what to do. Didn't hear one complaint, no shrinking violets here. The divine masculine must have gotten really fucked up in this realm for me to be shocked by something so simple as a male showing a few alpha traits. On his last day, I told him that he was the best student we’ve ever had. I'm really looking forward to finally resting, that's all I can say.

Other stuff I did today was put butterfly clips in my hair and take some selfies. I looked gross. My mum cut me up some mango. I ate potato wedges with sour cream. Right now I'm watching My Cousin Rachel because Sam Claflin is hot. When we move on, I wonder if we'll miss talking about these stupid little things.

Anyway, back to this water thing. When I was having a shower before, the words 'I am the recall' kept coming to mind. I feel like we're supposed to manifest it or something. Yeah, it's a total DUH. And wait wait wait, I know it's a major URGH NOT THIS SHIT. But hear me out. I've noticed lately how easy it is to manifest things from a single micro-thought. And it’s so fast now. It's not like before, putting all our effort into affirmations and vision boards. It used to take so long too. You know how those randoms in the 25th keep saying that no matter how hard you try to manifest winning the lotto (or whatever else that’s just not in the cards for you) you won't, if you're not supposed to? Before we were trying so hard to manifest the recall but we just weren't supposed to yet due to the resistance we had regarding the nature of our reality. Well, now we've reached the point where we’re supposed to. THAT'S ALL THAT'S LEFT. It's all we're waiting for. The concept that it's a hard task has been nuked already. I dunno. How about it? What are waiting for? I mean for me to bring it up, I'm already doing it right? It's like I’m just writing this for record-keeping purposes. Lol.

[magicalenbysarah]

I know I've already talked about this re: the fandom's Gerudo genocide theory and Hyrule's Civil War but do people really want a genocide that is never hinted at to be a thing in Zelda? People make all sorts of leaps and assumptions to justify their claim. We know barely anything about the civil war and the events preceding TP.

I've seen people say "I have no doubt that Hyrule committed genocide against the Gerudo before WW" which is.. so gross. Using a group inspired by (orientalist depictions of) an actual ethnic group as a prop for your edgy grimdark "what if the good guys were evil!!" headcanon just disgusts me.

We are given like 3 pieces of info on the war prior to Hyrule Encyclopedia, which is really contested because it's mostly the authors' interpretations of the lore, not necessarily intended by the game writers. 1. The war ended 10 years before OoT after a long period of time. 2. Link's mother died fleeing the bloodshed 3. It ended with all the tribes of Hyrule uniting under the under the banner of the kingdom. Nothing about how it started, who sided with whom, or who participated.

Here's what we know about the relationships between tribes(warning: fantasy racism); 1: the king is a sworn brother of Darunia, King Zora was childhood friends with Biggoron. 2: the kingdom has been a long time ally of the Zoras. Darunia gets angry at the Zora mask, 3: Ganondorf, the king of the Gerudo thieves, feigns allegiance to the King of Hyrule, and many Hylians are scared of the Gerudo mask because they are thieves and Darunia hates Gerudos (😬) . Hyrule Historia says the king quelled the fighting and the entire land was united under his rule. After the Twinrova are defeated an NPC says the Gerudo don't seem so scary now, implying brainwashing was involved which is further supported by Hyrule Historia and a gossip stone

The King and Darunia are sworn brothers and probably have a good relationship. We can assume that the Zora and Hyrule were allies long before the war ended, since 10 years is not a very significant amount of time. The King trusts Ganondorf enough to not believe his daughter's dreams, even though the royal family are well known to have mystical powers.

The Shadow Temple was presumably used during the Hyrulean Civil War and a spirit says Hyrule has a history of blood and hatred. It's fair to come to the conclusion that this was used as a torture chamber during a period of battle due to all the torture devices. But we have no reason to believe this history is recent, and the implication of the above is that the current king is a decent ruler due to the (seemingly) good relationships between him and the other rulers.

Moving on to Twilight Princess, people often claim that the Arbiter's Grounds suggests the Gerudo were victims of genocide which is again, unfounded. As the video below shows, the Grounds were built by both Hylians and Gerudo, and they must have been built long before Ocarina of Time since the mirror of Twilight was used to imprison the Interlopers. It's highly unlikely that the Gerudo text and Snake Goddess statues would remain and be so interwoven with the Hylian designs if the building was taken over by Hylians. We see the Gerudo later in the timeline in FSA and they have a great relationship with Hyrule.

I really wish people would stop repeating Gerudo Genocide Theory as if it were canon. People should keep in mind that Zelda is intended for all ages. There's not gonna be a lot of subtle implications and depressing lore like the Soulsborne games. We learn all of the relevant story info in-game, and learn about the connections between the games through supplementary materials such as interviews and books.

#the legend of zelda #Zelda lore #ocarina of time #tw fantasy racism #tw discussion of possible fictional genocide #tw fictional war

[femmesandhoney]

i'm not sure what other gay implications have been censored bc i've only heard of the jeht thing but that's quite sad 😭. those tweets really annoyed me since they felt so dismissive of how censorship affects lgb ppl and representation of same sex relationships. it's nice that hyv continues to give us implied gay and lesbian relationships even when they've been forced to remove stuff before. they even extend it NPCs (who don't make them money) and dedicated a whole lantern rite (only yearly reoccurring festival, representing chinese culture!!) to showing guiping being soulmates.

i've read that beiguang thread; i love it a lot and reread it (+ other threads by that twt user) every once in a while since the amount of symbolism between them is wonderful. like the amount of effort put into their relationship is so lovely. and i love that the VAs are allowed to openly talk about and ship the gay and lesbian ships. not only the english VAs but i've seen chinese VAs tease about them often too!!

ur right that bronya and seele are more explicitly lesbian in honkai impact! in fact they kiss in one of the mangas (so not in game but still official content) and unfortunately this actually got taken down due to censorship and iirc was only reuploaded on the global site. not sure if it's still unavailable in CN. and apart from those two, the other two main characters, kiana (protagonist) and mei (who ei and makoto are based on) are canonically in love too!! kiana declares her love for mei within like 10?? minutes of starting the game and is very affectionate towards her. the driving force behind one of mei's main character arcs is literally her love for kiana. they have a buuuunch of cute official art including them getting married etc.

if you would like to see them being angsty here is one of their most iconic moments:

https://youtu.be/v1sd5CzR504?si=o3yEoUIrYNCoe1dD

for context kiana (white hair) is dying and mei (black hair) has been offered the chance to save her by an enemy organisation and kiana is trying to stop her from leaving and joining that organisation

sorry for rambling 😭 i just love hyv lesbians

no haha im actually already decently familiar with the hi3 lesbians (tho not the story of honkai), so thank you for the reminders and context! also i forgot the bronseele stuff got taken down, which is again such an obvious rebuttal to those people who go "well there's explicit gay relationships in hoyo's other games, so they could do it in genshin and this means the couples you think are implied gay actually aren't" yeah before the even harder censorship crackdown that occurred a few years ago, those games?? the ones now being affected by the same censorship? like lmao okay. and genshin is their most popular game, ofc the censorship will be more enforced upon the media that has the most eyes on it. like it doesn't take much thought to realize why and what is being censored in genshin lmao. i wish we had more explicit lesbian and gay rep in genshin tho :'( i'm familiar enough with kiana and mei to wish we got more stuff like that. maybe in an upcoming region we could get a lesbian couple that's more heavily hinted at like how alhaitham and kaveh were. and they need to go "back" to beidou and ning and ei and miko and give them more obvious couple-y hints and scenes, we haven't seen them in ages and i'm missing them so much, especially beidou and ning.

#where's eimiko official marriage art hoyo

[mephicchi]

((I can personally recommend watching Kruggsmash's Dwarf Fortress videos on YouTube, he makes illustrations of characters, artifacts, and events that happen in his fortresses as he's telling the story which helps with some amount of understanding. He also really gets into the rp side of it all and just has a nice storytelling voice in general. MonsterKiller, and HoneyStoker are my personal favourite fortresses he's done. HoneyStoker especially, but it has a rougher beginning and Krugg swaps between a few fortresses in that storyline. I'll cut myself off here, or I could talk about DF all day. My humble apologies to your followers.

I'll admit I'm a little concerned about how quickly and how thin exactly the veil may be getting, but I'll keep this rolling for now. I have ideas for how this can play out ic if you feel so inclined to indulge me. You'll see in the letter.

I have. SO MANY mini campaign ideas I want to DM. I love planning for sessions. Making borderline unnecessary props. And cooperative worldbuilding and character building is a favourite passtime of mine. Almost like I enjoy rp or something cough cough. Although when it comes to actually DMing a live session I feel like I choke, I can't read my own notes any more, and descriptive words suddenly all fall out of my brain like it's made of swiss cheese. It's probably all in my head as so far I haven't received any complaints from my players. In total I've probably only DM'd 4 or 5 sessions, all 5e (although once I tried to mix in my own dismal attempt at a homebrew mechanic.) Unfortunately the friendships fell apart and went separate ways due to outside and unrelated circumstances. But it's been 3 years or so and I haven't DM'd live since discovering CR and picking up a lot of techniques from Matt Mercer. I'd like to try it again with what I've learned. In the meantime however I've been DMing a murder mystery over text with my one remaining player still with me. Mostly just written rp, not unlike we have been doing here, although in a much shorter format, and involving skill checks and challenges whenever something necessary comes up. I'm much more in my element when writing tbh.

I am toying with the idea to retry the aforementioned homebrewed mechanic I attempted, but move it over to Call of Cthulhu one day, as the plot I had come up with mainly involved horror themed mindfuckery. But I'll need to do a lot more research and I'm currently, if you'll excuse the phrase, balls deep in 5e with my current headworld obsession.

Ahh I'm going on too long though, once again I apologise to your followers, and I'll leave you with that and move on to the actual letter now.))

// Thanks for the recommendation, I'll definitely check out some videos of his, who knows, perhaps I will fall into a DF hole, I wouldn't count on it though.

In my mind the veil might have already been lifted, but I am having way too much fun to stop this, communicating like this both ic and ooc might just have ignited a small spark of mine to seek out some text based RP groups, while it has also been a wonderful opportunity to learn more about both you and your character, which I would never say no to.

Your enthusiasm towards DMing is all too familiar, I too get ideas all the time, I never write them down anywhere though so they always get lost to time, but perhaps that is not the worst thing for I feel like I am incredibly bad at describing things, and even worse at changing my voice for different NPCs, making it hard for my players to discern who is speaking with them in a conversation with multiple NPCs.

As mentioned before, this whole "thing" might make me seek out some text based RP groups, for as I've just now discovered with this, I seem to have an incredibly amount of fun with it, even if I sometimes have to google translate a word, or look for a word that better encapsulates what I want to say, since English unfortunately isn't my first language.

Despite my refusal to DM, since I feel I am awful at it, I've picked up the rulebooks of a good few systems I'd like to try someday, seems I simply have to find someone that will indulge in my torture and run them for me, hah!

Aside from DnD 5e, I have the core rulebooks of Pathinder 1st Edition, Cyberpunk 2020, Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse and Mage: The Ascension taunting me with their presence in the corner of my eye whenever I am using my PC.

I hope you know how much I truly appreciate this exchange, but alas, I shall too get to writing the letter. //

#Personal stuff