#it's not a bad game I just really don't like the combat and I cant get past it ... especially now...

[lostinthewoodsomewhere]

Beth Wilder you deserved so much better, you deserve everything, you deserve the world!!!

#quantum break #Beth Wilder #she's perfect you're honor #Courtney Hope you are an absolute treasure to the remedy verse!!!!!!! #I want to do a more rendered piece later but I like how this sketch turned out even if its super messy! #my art #my doodles #also unfortunately I have given up on my quantum break playthrough... #it's not a bad game I just really don't like the combat and I cant get past it ... especially now...

[azurlily]

I love the hange head cannons could you do something similar with korra?

Yes! Also this is for everyone( I didn't put it in my last work because I forgot) please dont reblog or repost with giving me credit.

Dating Korra would be like:

When Korra first met you she was a mess. Her face was red and she was having a hard time talking.

Over time you to got to know eachother and she asked you out. You said yes and she took you to her favorite restaurant.

Korra is very protective. She needs to protect you, I mean, she's the avatar. If she cant protect you. Who can she protect?

She loves PDA, it's her way of letting everyone know you're hers. Small bites or kisses in public never hurt anyone.

If you dislike a lot of PDA she'll respect your wishes, but be PREPARED! She'll be even worse in private. She wont let you go until she feel it's enough.

She loves and trusts you with all her heart so please don't break it. Whenever you fight she gets stubborn and wont apologize.

She'll end up crying and coming back after an hour or two.

Depending on your bending abilities, or if you can bend at all, Korra will train with you. She needs you to be ready in case something happens. She can't lose you.

If you bend fire, water, or earth she's going to be a great mentor. If you're an air bender, not so much...

I'd you can't bend, Korra will train you in hand to hand combat. She loves seeing you workout with her, it's a bonding activity in her eyes.

She'll introduce you to people as her future wife, and will more than likely tease you if you get flustered. If not Korra will find other ways to make your face all pink.

Shes very trustworthy, you can tell her anything. Whatever your thinking, she'll reassure you and talk you through it.

You're her baby, her pretty girl, she'll help you no matter what. Believe me, she loves every bit of you, and she will frequently remind you of that.

NSFW UNDER THE CUT

S W I T C H if I ever seen one!

She loves it when you eat her out. Do it, just once and she's shaking.

She'll beg, and I mean beg. She cries and squeaks, begging for you to slow down. Of course when you do, she begs for you to get faster.

She'll pull on your hair and scratch at your scalp. While her nails are cut down she had a tendency to bite.

(Were gonna pretend straps exist here) She'll bite your neck, arms, chest where she can. Depending on the position, you'll either have multiple very visible marks or multiple non-visible marks.

Now for when Korra is on top? That's a whole new story. She's a soft dom, but dont think that means she wont put you in your place. It just means you'll get more chances, with her at least.

Korra loves to chase you, she finds it cute how you think you're going to win. In the end she'll have you in her arms, taking her strap, begging for more. Your little game of cat and mouse is over quite quick.

She'll either hold you down, or tie you up. It all depends on how you act, if your good, ropes aren't involved. If you're bad...

Dont think that she's going to hurt you though. After having you so many times she get to understand what you like and dislike. Korra can be very rough or very gentle, but you have to voice it.

She could degrade you, or praise you. Call you her pretty girl, or treat you like you're mud under her boot.

"Darling, I know, I know it hurts but you're doing so well. I'm so fucking proud of you! You look so beautiful with my cock buried in your pussy!"

Or

"Ugh, you cant do anything right, can you? I'm getting tired of someone who can't even take my cock properly. Fucking slut! You need me? Hm?"

Trust and believe the aftercare is GODLY that woman knows how to treat you like the princess you are. Water, food, whatever you want, she'll get it.

She just loves you so much, so believe she's going to spoil you.

I really hope you liked it!

#the legend of korra #korra x reader #korra #i tried #im bad at this #wlw #lesbian #i love women

[thydungeongal]

What are your thoughts on situations where either a game doesnt have enough rules to cover particular situations and so rely on, or where the rules explicitly and deliberately rely on, irl skills (usually for social situations).

Like, for pathfinder/dnd, its obviously a lack of sufficient rules for how to mechanically carry out complex social situations. But there are plenty of games where this is deliberate, with the understanding being that you are supposed to resolve certain types of social conflict entirely via roleplaying the conversation.

Or another dnd favorite, riddles and puzzles, where it almost inherently requires the players to be good at that sort of thinking, regardless of the character.

I dont actually know quite where Im going with this, since the obvious answer is "play with players who like relying on out of character skills" or "play games where this isnt an issue, and all situations have mechanical means for satisfyingly carrying out stuff like this", but it still feels sort of.... those things are fun! A lot of people Do want to do those things, but just dont have the irl skill to.

It seems sad that a physically disabled player that wants to play as a super competent warrior can do that easily, but if someone with a stutter whos bad at social interactions wants to play a quick-witted bard, they either cant, or they have to do so with what feels like an extra step of removal (while both of them are only playing a character doing the thing, the one playing a warrior can decide exactly what they want their warrior to do in detail, whereas the one playing a bard only gets a summary of what they do/say, unless the GM Is very good at that sort of thing and on top of everything going on enough that they can effectively put the words in the characters mouth, which then opens up a whole new can of worms).

So yea, not even really sure what Im asking, this isnt even a major problem for any of the campaigns I run, was just kind of curious on your thoughts.

This is actually a really cool question, because it's a topic that I've gone back and forth on a lot over the years! I don't think I've yet reached, like, any kind of conclusion yet, but here's where I am at as of now.

So, I think there are basically conflicting ideas in tabletop RPG circles as to whether or not the purpose of RPGs is to challenge the players or challenge the characters. There's even a bit of controversy as to whether the purpose of these games to begin with is to be challenges or to be essentially shared narratives. I don't think these goals are necessarily contradictory, but I think they produce different types of gameplay: a traditional game like Dungeons & Dragons presents itself very much as a "series of challenges" type of game, where the production of a narrative out of the events is almost incidental, where a game like Apocalypse World isn't about presenting challenges, but presenting explosive situations for players to act in, and those situations pretty much by necessity produce interesting and dynamic narratives.

Now, here's one simple truth: games of the former type will always inevitably challenge players in addition to their characters. Character creation is part of play and part of developing as a player is to develop system mastery to be able to figure out which types of characters are most likely to succeed in the types of challenges the game often presents players with. So, even before the narrative starts, players will already be inevitably challenged. Even in game players will be challenged, because they will be asked how to best apply the character they have created. They'll have to think about which tactics are the best in combat, which abilities are the best for which situation, so on and so forth.

So yeah, I do think it's impossible for tabletop RPGs to entirely challenge just the characters, because play already begins at character creation and players will be expected to express system mastery. And I even think there's a bit of a disconnect when talking about your D&Ds and Pathfinders in that these questions of "is it okay to challenge the players" always seem to circle around talking and puzzles instead of what these games are mostly built around: tactical, granular combat. Because especially in combat these games do challenge their players with stuff like "this is your character; this is the opposition; this is the environment. Now how will you solve this goblin puzzle?" I have heard of people who will say stuff like "your Intelligence 8 Barbarian wouldn't know how to flank an enemy" to which I say bah humbug, and have my Intelligence 8 Barbarian flank an enemy, because I think my Intelligence 8 Barbarian can see the connection between having a friend attacking an enemy from one side and that enemy being unable to focus as well on defence. But to be honest, that's besides the point. Most people aren't like that.

Anyway, so yeah I do think that it's impossible NOT to challenge players. But also I don't generally vibe with the idea of expecting players to solve puzzles or convince me, the GM, that an NPC likes them.

I'll talk about the latter first: the mechanics exist for a reason. They're there to take the narrative out of the hands of the players, including the GM. Having to convince the GM to convince an NPC leaves the situation in the hands of the GM, and as you said, doesn't often allow for players to express the character they want to express if they, for an example, are shy or socially awkward. But there's a condition: I the GM still need to know what you're doing. This often gets misread as "You still need to tell me, the GM, what you are saying, exactly as your character would, using your character's voice, before I give you the permission to roll a Charisma check." I don't expect that much. But I need something specific and grounded in the fiction to work with so I know a) which specific skill might apply to this check b) what the potential consequences of success and failure might be. Specificity is what grounds these things in the fiction, and it's actually something that is useful for almost every kind of dice roll in the game (unless it's something where the input and output in the fiction is extremely specific): if you tell me your character wants to Strength check the portcullis I don't really know what you mean. If you say you want your character to lift the portcullis so the rest of the party can slip on under it, now we're cooking, at that changes the situation in a different way than bending the bars on the portcullis to create a gap your party can slip through.

Now the fact is that D&D and Pathfinder don't really have the deepest social mechanics, but that's okay in my opinion. The relatively sparse social mechanics should not, in my opinion, be paved over with a "we expect players do more talking because the mechanics can't." I feel that's fundamentally misunderstanding why these games don't have a lot of mechanics for talky talking: it's because that's not an activity these games have a lot to say about. A Charisma (Persuasion) check or Request action (handled as a Diplomacy check) is just about the level of social interaction these games can be asked to handle, and that's perfectly fine. The amount of social mechanics in a D&D you need is "mechanics for determining whether a creature wants to eat the characters right away and mechanics for convicing a creature not to eat the characters." And okay I guess having the characters ask around for rumors when in town.

So, yeah, players should be able to build Charismatic characters and be able to get meaningful and consistent results out of it in game provided they know where to point their Charisma at. And that's really the thing: we're challenging characters, but it's still the player's responsibility to figure out where they want to point That Thang at and where they want their character to shoot their Charisma beams. Just like a player in combat is asked to make a bunch of specific choices that inform their tactics, checks outside of combat also need to be grounded in the fiction. Your character won't just Charisma check their way through all obstacles, those checks need to be grounded in the fiction.

And finally, we get to puzzles. I emphatically think that puzzles in the sense I've seen them in RPGs are generally a bad fit for your D&Ds, because what they often are actually is singleton mechanics that player character's can't actually interact with meaningfully within the fiction and which are divorced from the rest of the game. Like, sure, they can be fun puzzles, but they're still often completely divorced from the rest of the game. I'm talking your chess board puzzles, your twisting gems puzzles, whatever.

But like, that doesn't mean there isn't a place for puzzles of a type in RPGs, but I think we need to move away from the idea of puzzles as, like, a separate board for players to solve while the game screeches to a halt. And I've already hinted at this: these games already have their own places where they intellectually stimulate and challenge players! More of that, please! So, like, instead of throwing the characters into a situation where they suddenly have to play tic-tac-toe to progress, instead introduce a situation where the players can gauge the situation through what they know about the mechanics of the game and assess the best way for their characters to act! Think about how the last two Legend of Zelda games did away almost entirely with your traditional video game dungeon puzzles and went almost entirely for physics puzzles which test the player's ability to engage with their physics engines! Do that, except with RPG rules! (This is why I actually feel systemic games like D&D 3e and, to a lesser extent, D&D 4e, as well as both editions of Pathfinder, the Hero engine, Rolemaster, and so on, are fantastic for challenge type gaming: because while there are lots of rules they produce consistent results and there's a degree of system mastery to be gained in learning to apply those rules as a player!)

Anyway, so to wrap things up: challenge type RPGs will inevitably challenge players as well as characters and that's okay; social mechanics are good because they allow for player expression and placing the situation outside of the control of all the players; traditional puzzles are not really a good fit for RPGs because they are usually divorced from the rest of the gameplay, and instead we should focus more on presenting game situations that provide a bit of a neat puzzle!

Thank you for this question! And I do think there's a lot of nuance to this whole situation and even though this is a very long answer I also feel that this is barely just scratching the surface.

#thydungeongal answers

[mactiir]

So you want to learn to swordfight.

The most common question I see in historical fencing forums and on social media is "how do you get into HEMA?"

If you're like "what's HEMA?" -- that's Historical European Martial Arts -- it's the study and recreation of historical martial arts through weapons manuals written at the time! Many people take a scholarly approach to it -- focused on reading and recreating martial systems -- but many take a sport approach, because martial techniques are designed to be used martially! This means we're fencing -- swordfighting! Think Olympic fencing with bigger swords and slightly different rules, and more colorful gear. In this post, I will be more focused on how to get into the sporty, competition-focused side of the hobby.

Historical Fencing is a martial art! This is a really common confusion from folks who are more familiar with more well-known sword-loving communities. It's not LARPING (though I love a good LARP) -- we aren't playing characters or scenarios, and we don't dress up (usually-- rapier fencers love poofy pants, lol). It's not stage combat or SCA (although there's some community overlap)-- most of us are less interested in recreating periods or aesthetics from history than we are in learning to fence, and compete, with our weapons of choice. Although LARPing, SCA, and stage combat are all cousin hobbies to WMA, the closest analogue to Historical Fencing as a hobby is... Modern Fencing! Kendo and blade-focused Eastern Martial arts, like Kenjutsu, are also much more like historical fencing than SCA is.

Whether you're considering starting longsword fencing because your favorite author uses it as a reference, rapier fencing because it's the coolest weapon in your favorite video game, or just because you think it'd be sick as hell (it is), here's a (noncomprehensive) FAQ for becoming your very own sword lesbian/broadsword bisexual/greatsword gay/spear queer.

I don't know if there are any classes near me, where do I look?

The best place to start is the Hema Alliance Club Finder. You can use it to look up classes and sparring groups in your immediate geographic area.

2. The Club closest to me doesn't offer the weapon I'm interested in. Should I still go?

Yes. Most clubs are "longsword" clubs, but it’s really rare to find a historical fencer that exclusively fences a single system or weapon. Even if nobody at the club fences the system you're interested in, you can 1) probably talk them into it and 2)fencing not-your-weapon will still make you better at your-weapon. My club is a "longsword" club, but we have fencers who regularly do saber, rapier, rapier and dagger, messer, messer and buckler, side sword and buckler, katana, broadsword, spear, and even montante (greatsword). Just ask!

3) The nearest club is too far away. Can I learn just by studying manuals online?

Yes and no. I don’t recommend doing lots of solo practice without having attended a class. It's a good way to engrain bad habits, as well as avoid fencing altogether ("i cant spar yet, my form isn't perfect/ive learned bad habits" or worse, "i don’t need to spar, i know all the manuals inside and out"). This is a really important point: LEARNING TO MOVE A SPECIFIC WEAPON IS LESS THAN 30% OF FENCING, and you will be moving through guards and forms like a pro with only a few months of intentional practice. Your cut form can be picture-perfect and you will still get wrecked in a bout if you don't have experience. Most of fencing is understanding timing, distance, your psychology and your opponent's, and knowing from experience which positions you can get to from what other positions. You can only learn to fence by... fencing. Now, if your thing is studying arms manuals and replicating them picture-perfect, which some people are into, more power to you! But it won't be winning you any tournaments, and I am writing this assuming you want to do the sporty/swordfighty side of things.

4) wait, there are books on swordfighting?

Yes. Check Wiktenauer. Most of them are free. My club does Joachim Meyer; Fiore and Lichtenauer are also fairly common for longsword.

5) I really can't get to classes, though. Am I just out of luck?

Is there an Olympic fencing group nearby? How about lightsaber fencing? No, seriously. Kendo? Boxing? All of these things train the exact skills that are difficult to learn in HEMA fencing -- distance, timing, reaction speed, fight psychology. Some of the best beginners I've ever sparred came from lightsaber, or kendo. If there is no group nearby at all, pick up a copy of Meyer's art of combat and a 12-inch length of steel pipe (it's the same weight as a longsword) to learn how to move the sword (do NOT hit people with this, oh my god), go to kendo for a few months, and you'll be in decent shape for WMA sparring when you can get to a group.

The reason HEMA is fun is because of the community! Even if it's a really intense commute, try to make it to class at least once or twice. You will enjoy it more, you will learn more, and you will fence better. Don't just do it all on your own! Most of the people in these groups have fallen into the common mistakes so YOU don't have to. Utilize them!

6) What do I do if there are no people to spar with nearby?

Why don't you start a group? Purpleheart armory sells foam swords for like $50 each. Get some friends, get everybody a mask and a boffer and get to it! This is how HEMA as a hobby started -- people messing around with foam trainers and a copy of a 16th century arms manual.

6.5) I'm sparring outside of a club -- should we use synthetics, wood, or steel?

Dude, just use foam until you can get a complete steel kit. Keep in mind: synthetics can be as dangerous as steel, wood is MORE dangerous than steel, and steel requires full safety kit for full speed sparring. Don't break your fingers because you wanted to look cool. These things HURT, and can cause serious injury unless used with intention.

7) should I buy a sword?

If you're with a HEMA school, they will have their own cadence for buying gear, and the sword is usually the last thing you get. You should only buy a federschwert (training sword) once you know your style and sword preference. If you're not following a club cadence or planning to attend a tournament, Do Not buy a steel weapon. A full steel spar kit costs like $800 dollars, and without a full safety kit all you have is a $300 wall ornament nobody can use.

And don't buy a blunt, please. Beginners love blunts because they look like "real swords". They also break bones. Federschwerts are standard in the community and nobody is going to think you’re cool for showing up with a weapon designed to snap someone's humerus in half. If you're that twisted about it, Sigi forge sells schiltless feders that look like "real" swords (a feder is a real sword, but I digress).

8) what safety gear should I buy?

Every club and tournament has its own recommendations. Look at the Mid-Continental HEMA Open rules for a very standard list of gear reqs for a reputable tournament. Generally, in this order, it's:

-mask (don't point a sword at anyone without one of these on)

-chest plastron (for preventing unfortunate accidents that might send shards through the lungs)

-gorget (rigid or semi-rigid)

-hardshell gloves (don't do lacrosse gloves or other soft gloves for longsword, you'll break your fingers)

-puncture-resistant jacket

-forearms/elbows

-shins/knees

-back of head protector (concussions bad)

-pants/skirt

-sword

I probably missed something but these are the most common questions-- fellow HEMAists or interested parties, lmk if I missed anything! Happy fencing!

#Historical Fencing #Hema #Historical European martial arts #Longsword #Two hander #Western martial arts #Longsword fencing #Fencing #Rapier #Rapier fencing #Sword and buckler #Swordfighting #Real swordfighting #messer

[perksofbeingalittletwat]

I love FHSY with my whole heart but what makes me upset about it is I think Brennan over-emphasized the PCs relationships with NPCs in a way that made sense in-game, but didn't make sense from a player perspective. Not even to his fault, just a misstep I don't think any other season has had a chance to really correct.

So there's a couple of layers here, there's the in-universe reality, there's the Dome and the people in the Dome, and there's also the meta-reality of the people in the Dome creating a unified Product or Season together.

So from the top down, Brennan is making sure that the story happens at a fairly regular pace to keep with the number of episodes he's been allotted, pacing things to keep within the time period he gets for each stream, and most importantly for this I think, crafting ways to have cliff hangers at the end of episodes so that people are excited to come back. This is also influenced by the taped season convention of RP-Combat-RP-Combat episodes.

In the middle is the real conditions of the Dome, in which the six players+Brennan are the most obvious people in the room. The PCs have a lot to juggle here, they have to be in character, they are in character solving a mystery, they have to be attentive to how Brennan is crafting episodes and seasons which plays a lot into how they react to things, and they also have to be funny. And to be funny is to be in contact with the people around you especially in an improve setting.

So these two meta-layers are in conflict, the Intrepid Heroes are fulfilling their roles of being in character and being in the room, and Brennan is fulfilling his role of being in the room and being above the game, but in order to do that Brennan CANT play Tracker or Zelda with the level to detail that the IHs do their characters. That's just how the game works. He has to be everyone so in some ways Tracker and Zelda or Sandra Lynn or Gilear don't exist with the same level of durability and reality as the Bad Kids at any given moment.

And so when Gorgug doesn't tell Zelda he's leaving town (because it had been over an hour since Zelda was last mentioned, and because Riz and Fig had disappeared (people who were in the room)) it wasn't because Gorgug the 'person' didn't care about Zelda, it was because Zac the Player had his three other jobs to do.

The same way when Kristen didn't tell Tracker about Sandra Lynn and Garthy (it might have related to the mystery, there were tons of bits during that time, Fabians Bad Day occurs, etc) it wasn't because Kristen hadn't told Tracker, it was cause Ally the Player was busy. Ally even says "Wait was there another reason?!" When Tracker/Brennan asks them why they didn't tell Tracker.

Again it's not anyone's fault it's just a hard game to play, especially as a cohesive media product, especially as a cohesive media COMEDY product, but it also feels so jarring as a viewer to have Tracker and Zelda get pissed by PC inattention but not have Cathilda or Ragh do the same. Or even Adaine, who's name her fellow players can't even remember half the time. It feels like punishing the players for being focused on the mystery and plot being set before them and not the radial emotional consequences.

Its some great teen angst though. Like it works for story beats. I just don't think it was like. Agreed upon as part of the story and so I'm uncomfortable.

#dimension 20 #fantasy high #fhsy #dimension 20 fhsy #brennan lee mulligan #gorgug thistlespring #zelda donovan #kristen applebees #tracker o'shaughnessey

[pillowprincessvarric]

what u said abt needing to revisit the source material is tbh probably why i don't conmect as well with da2 as i do with origins bc i genuinely find the inventory management/combat/dialogue systems so uninviting and unfun that i cant appreciate the writing. like some people forget no matter how good a games writing and characters are if its just not fun its gonna be hard to play. id love to be able to pick apart da2 but its soooo annoying to actually play

Okay this is funny bc da2 is by far my favorite combat system. But yes also there is a wider issue with video game analysis where people forget that part of the thing that makes it A Game is that you Play It. Like people act as if actual game mechanics are somehow irrelevant when discussing games and then focus solely on like, the script? and it's very bizarre. It's like forming and writing opinions about movies based solely on the audio.

(bringing it back to fallout sometimes I really want to shake people and explain to them that folks preferring 3/4 over new vegas is not solely an issue of "bad taste" and probably has a lot to do with the fact that 3/4 have very fun, relatively smooth combat systems while NV, quite famously, is extremely difficult for most people simply to boot up)

[beelspillowpet]

Also hate how Lilith is just pretty much a plot device. I don't know what the game is doing now but I hate that she's pretty much there to speedrun a relationship between MC and the brothers.

And that's when MC is already developing a genuine bond with some of them.

But if there are any other instances of her being a plot device, I'd love to hear it.

i do wanna make it clear that this contrived plot point that is lilith does not drive forward the relationship on ALL of the characters. just the most difficult two to really complete the list. i refuse to believe that mammon, satan, leviathan, asmo AND beel didnt care about MC before this turd-bomb of a plot point happened, but i absolutely do believe that is the case for lucifer and belphie for different reasons.

i believe it is a method to sort of "punish" belphie by the games weird rule of telling but not showing. it was the first sign of cowardice on the writing team back then for pulling their punches and taking judgement out of our hands; something they honestly do not often enough and too much at the same time with more mundane things, but with it being a multiple choice type game, options were never really ours to make. just the illusion of it.

by making us the very distant relative of lilith we are punishing belphie for his rash action to anger and and giving us a contrived reason to feel bad for him afterwards. which doesnt work when hes still got the blood on his hands, diavolo hot on his trail, and lucifer coming to his defense.

its a plot point for lucifer because until you earn the trust of all his brothers, he could pretend to care, hell he might even care a teensy bit, but no matter how he feels about you, if there is a shadow of a reason as to how you could betray him and his brothers and use them against their will, there is a shadow of a reason for lucifer to not hesitate to kill you.

picture a scenario where all of the boys save for belphie (and consequently lucifer himself) are forced via their pacts to attack belphie as revenge for him attacking you. with belphie out numbers and his own brothers losing control of themselves to potentially kill him, lucifer would be his last defense against those odds. lucifer is nothing if not cautious and powerful, so he could hopefully subdue his brothers in due time. it also helps that in comparison to lucifer, each of his brothers as you go further down the line have a unique type of fear of him that could in theory ensnare them from continuing their assault on belphie at your command. ie. mammon is really afraid of lucifers wrath and more than anything wasnt to avoid having his credit card taken and being strung up from the ceiling for hours. aside from everyone else in the house, mammon is more powerful than THEM compared to lucifer. then next comes levi, a sort of spineless coward-like person i feel (when it comes to a fight anyway, you basically NEVER see him stand up for himself) and wouldnt want to face lucifer and deal with the punishment of that. and then you go further and further down the list and they get weaker and weaker as we go. satan cant combat lucifers spells, he himself far too busy learning how to cast them rather than protect himself from them. asmo is much like levi in that he would rather not lift a finger, if not for fear of broken nail than broken bone. despite this, he could fold beel like laundry (which still doesnt make sense to me but whatever i guess?) and speaking of beel the guy is built like a truck. hes also the only other one lucifer has physically struck with intention to subdue that was tied to a serious event. and i believe it was more than once at that.

my point being they were very specific and careful about who came in the pecking order, and it was for precaution that lucifer be the one able to straighten them all out in the end.

if there is an MC out there hellbent on destroying belphie, that is a person lucifer will never trust. and so its rather coincidental that in the heat of the moment we choose to forgive belphie, or at the very least put it off, until "months later" since the game jumps ahead in time a LOT since the killing in c.16 and the end of the years program in c. 20.

lilith being our distant relative was for belphie to feel shame, then quickly feel attachment, only for lucifer to see that if we all get along (or perhaps fall in love with belphie in that short period of time for the belphifuckers out there) hes allowed to feel something finally too. or at least let it show more.

so it was a speedrun not for all of the brothers. lucifer, while he wouldnt hesitate in killing you in an instant before belphie got close with you, i wont say didnt feel anything beforehand. he just puts his brothers before anything and everything; something he makes clear time and time again. it was a speedrun ONLY for belphie. lucifer and MC have a sort of slowburn going on, but to say that their relationship is speedran from c.16 onwards is disregarding the little moments beforehand that were special to his character.

as for if and when shes used as a plot point again later, that requires i redownload OG and look around for it there and honestly playing in a pit of spikes sounds more fun than that. playing nightbringer is already such a painful chore....

edit: im also trapped in the early episodes of season 2 bc i flopped so hard at that boring ass gameplay in the first one lol

#jinx thoughts #obey me #om! #obey me mc #obey me beelzebub #diet vent #obey me shall we date #obey me swd #jinx asks #nonna #obey me lucifer #obey me leviathan #obey me belphegor #obey me nb #obey me nightbringer #obey me mammon #obey me asmodeus #obey me satan

[thelavendercatalogue]

Hmm. Haven’t heard from Goemon for a while in this AU. I’m not sure what he’s been up to. Has he touched bases with everyone since Bad Times started?

Oh that poor bastard has not been having a good time for all the wrong reasons. Or right reasons if you just so happen to think about it

The real reason Goemon hasn't really shown up in this AU is. . .well. . .to be honest. I really don't know how to write him properly. Ive always struggled with everyone's favorite mostly emotionally constipated samurai.

But besides that there IS a good reason as to why he does not show up often in the AU.

You can actually blame Jigen for it.

You see I'm very choosy about what parts of the show i wanna make canon in this AU. And while I still don't know how much of PT5 I actually do wanna make canon in this, there is one major event that has always caught my eye. And I think we all know what part that is.

This part had gotten me thinking. My AU doesn't happen that long after part 6, which in turn I always Headcanoned never took that long after part 5, about a year or so give or take.

Now the reason Jigen has a lot to do with Goemon not being in LJS or at least the first half of LJS is due to him being exceedingly paranoid

You see, Lupin has already forgiven him for what Goemon has done. I don't necessarily think that Lupin is one to hold a Long Standing grudge.

But here's the thing.

While Lupin might have forgiven Goemon however Goemon hasn't forgiven himself all that fully

But imagine if someone else wasn’t that quick to do so

that someone being Jigen

Jigen doesn't forgive very easily

there's still a hesitancy.

I dunno the year difference between PT4/5 and ljs. But Jigen still being jumpy is sad to think about Like he’s not out rightly hostile toward Goemon. But you can tell somethings off.

Which is sad because Jigen knows Lupin would want him to forgive him, but he just cant do that.

But the reason Jigen is so hesitant to allow Goemon the right to be forgiven is because he's known Goe for a while at this point. The betrayal would probably be so way out of left field for him, that it'd be reasonable to assume that he'd originally thought that goemon had moved on from the whole 'wanting to defeat lupin in combat' thing at this point in the game. And then bam, you have Goemon's attempt on Lupins life, which whether he meant too or not, is a still a big deal, considering that no matter what NO ONE in the group has tried to actually hurt each other outside of friendly banter/ well thought out plans

Then that comes that throws it all out of whack

As a result, remnants of the results of that “betrayal” still make their presence known once in a blue moon despite Lupin's attempts to calm Jigen down enough to trust Goe again. But Lupin knows how Jigen is, Jigen doesn't forget that easily nor does he forgive that easily. Jigen still gets twitchy when Goemon makes an odd move towards him. And because of what has happened to Lupin in LJS PT1, the twitchness is full throttle because now Lupin is vulnerable and it's Jigens job to protect him and look out for him against anything Jigen percieves as a threat.

But because Lupin wants Jigen to just forgive him, instead of just casting Goemon to the side, Jigen does something else in an attempt to show he does trust Goemon despite his apprehensions, not for Goemon's sake but for Lupin's alone

By putting him in charge of being his sister Maddies "bodyguard" In a way doing this has a double reason. It keeps Goemon far from Lupin which gives Jigen some peace of mind, but it also shows Goemon that, while he still shows apprehension towards him, that Jigen still trusts Goemon to some extent to guard something precious to him and not throw him away when Lupin isnt in the right mind to object to it.

As a interesting biproduct of this arrangement, Maddie and Goemon grow close because of it. They become friends. Maddie likes Goemon and ends up saying a lot of good things about him to jigen, which would probably improve their relationship too (goe and jigen's, that is)

#lupin iii #lupin the third #daisuke jigen #lupin the 3rd #jigen #jigen daisuke #arsène lupin iii #Lupin III: The Lavender Jacket Series #Lupin III goemon #goemon ishikawa xiii

[devilsurvivor-2-recordbreaker]

I cant believe I'm having kingdom hearts opinions but kh3 is like the societal tullpa of the subconscious formed and directed by Tetsuya Nomura.

Explination: kingdom hearts 3 is what people think kingdom hearts is like.

Okay proper explanation now: it sucks it just sucks. Not even the entire game it's just maybe two worlds (I'm death staring you down tangled and frozen world) and all the bureaucracy of the story and the rules that dictate how the universe of kh functions.

Like the character writing is either really good examples the toy story world and the monsters Inc. World or just really bad like characters really just saying shit like aqua in the midst of a fight saying 'I don't need a keyblade' like girl that's your primary weapon. You can fist fight someone with a gun and win but more times than not your going to get shot and die.

Like half of thr game is genuinely good, it still has that campy crazy plot and character witing, monsters design is still great, combat is still really fun. But the other half feels like a game that was supposed to come out on ps3 got delayed by over a decade and now is having an uncomfortable growth spurt in all the 'lore' and 'story' and every world having a vilian of the week with a new organization member fucking up sora with seemingly no through line between then other than that they all have a plan and fucking around with Sora is part of it so who cares.

A part of me sees where it all is coming from and another part of me thinks 'no this could absolutely be better' and I'm tied between saying it's fixable or that the good comes with the bad.

[anxiousxdreamer]

The insanity around the Skyrim Sexyman is so wild as an outsider. I understand none of it. I watched like part of a playthrough ot Skyrim once aged eight cause my favorite minecraft YouTuber made it. I know none of these characters. And to top it all off I CANT EVEN SEE POLLS

Keep it coming

YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE POLLS????

good luck anon it's only gonna get wilder as more favourites probably end up losing lmao

i can give the rundown on a couple of them losing being a whole thing. you didn't ask for it but i'm gonna anyway from my perspective jfkashfgjhdaks

Ralof is simply the one running the poll's favourite, but I think a lot of people kinda forget to pay attention to him beyond choosing to follow him at the start of the game for the tutorial. ISQ has a million very good things to say about him and, while I admit I hadn't given him much thought before, I have to agree he's pretty great Brynjolf is a fan favourite usually. He's a smooth talker, in a Scottish accent, and he's a thief so he's kinda got a "dangerous sexy" thing going for him. Plus he like, so very much cares about the thieves guild and idk something about the way he addresses you gets people going i guess. It didn't hit for me but that's just me, i AM truly shocked he's lost and I do like him in general

Cicero winning in round 1 and losing in round 2 was funny as fuck. ISQ finds him SO annoying. I find him kinda annoying as well, but man I was rooting for him a little bit cause it'd be funny if THEIR disliked one (that is still a person at least) one. Oh well, we move on

Him losing to SERANA, another fan favourite, because she's a troubled pretty vampire lady voiced by Laura Bailey, was just beautiful imo. Personally I love her because I like her ice spike tendencies in combat and that she can't die. I'd say "cicero eat your heart out" but uh, pretty sure she actually ate his heart already so

Any dragon winning any poll is so funny because ISQ's protests are "Alduin is TOO POINTY" and "Durneviir is a ROTTING CORPSE DRAGON" (He's like, alive enough to consent, so he doesn't count as necrophilia, but he body is rotty because he's not really supposed to Have One i guess). Alduin is also the Big Bad of the whole main game. Durneviir is at least a, like, neutral guy. He can be your friend :). Odhaviing is another dragon. He's plot important but he's not as funny to me as the WORLD EATER or the ROTTING BODY ONE

Teldryn??? Teldryn is just a merc you can hire as a follower. I'm not even sure if he has a quest at least, but don't quote me on that because I am nowhere NEAR observant. Didn't even know he existed until the past few days lmao. And the fact that HE beat Brynjolf? Insanity.

I have a personal vendetta against J'zargo because I can't stand anyone who talks like they're the greatest fucking thing ever. It's a whole thing. I don't think he deserves to be hated for his whole exploding cape thing or anything, I just don't like him. Great voice though. If he wins I'll be sad.

There are orcs in Skyrim. There are IMPORTANT orcs in skyrim. I have SEEN people call the orc librarian at the Magic College sexy. There were no orcs in the lineup. This is a personal affront and I will never recover (I main orcs)(I am not actually mad at isq)

Sheogorath is the god of madness. He's my favourite god. I want him to win. If it's not Serana (I have a lot of loyalty to her as well because of. Life reasons. And I really really really love the ice spikes) then I want it to be him.

Hermaeus Mora is the god of forbidden knowledge. There's a lot of tentacles in his realm. He's my second favourite god.

Cicero and Sheogorath both talk in a million directions. Cicero annoys me and Sheo doesn't. This is because Cicero is basically in love with a corpse and I find his and any character's obsession with the Dark Brotherhood (assassin guild) cringe as fuck. I do not feel that way about real life people who really love the DB

Lucien Lachance is not fucking hot

#Dreamer's day #had to drop one that's just “he's just not hot” in there fjkashfjdalshkj

[spikeinthepunch]

i am playing Alan Wake 2, after after Alan Wake 1 (well. i gave up on playin bc i was not a fan of the gameplay and just watched a long LP). i think AW2 falls in line with what i see as like.. "cinematic video games that are basically movies". i know a key example of this are games like The Last of Us. These games are story focused, but they also really keep you on one track. Not just in the sense of a linear story, but physically (in game). I find these kinds of games don't often give you a lot to do in terms of branching off location wise unless its for a collectible, so even then its minor. Additionally, these games are basically always realistic in graphic/art style. I think in general theres been a huge rise on realistic looking games now that tech gets better, but it pretty much dominates this kind of game.

but what is on my mind as i play AW2 and this 'type' of game... well, im all for a story focused game. but these games i feel lack more and more significant gameplay where i kinda wonder if im "playing "playing" it at all. There are a few things considered "gameplay" in this game im sure but I will be real 90% of it wouldnt call that at all. Gameplay? Explore and fight enemies and solve some pretty simple puzzles (many of which can be considered side content anyways). What isn't actually gameplay to me? reading letters, looking at pictures, and sticking them on a wall in your mind palace. Looking at a scene and Alan saying its a new plot point he needs to write, so you open the window and click it so it happens. That's... not gameplay, its just a slightly extended way for you to see the story continue. And thats not to say all that is bad-- its simply a device to tell the story and its kinda neat i guess. But this isn't what I see as significant gameplay. You could entirely leave those actions out and it would be fine, but it would admittedly make the game feel more empty in terms of stuff to 'do' (which may be a bad sign lol)

the topic of "game that feels like a movie" is complicated. because you cant claim theyre bad because of the lack of gameplay (but its a critism to make if it doesnt help the game) because obviously.... we got the genre of... walking sims. and well, people have a lot to say about them in terms of gameplay too. i have played a number of walking sims that i love but i also guess the "point" of them is walking, you know that going in? but it doesnt make a point against the games i am talking about. because little unique gameplay doesnt mean you will have a bad game.

i like games focused on stories, i love them. and its certainly my attraction to games like AW2. i have played games that feel like im watching a real good movie and i absolutely love it when i come out on the other side feeling like i took part in that "movie". but i think where i feel detached in some of them is where you the player, get further disconnected from the main character(s). And I think this honestly happens more when you dont have gameplay that really lets you interact with it as a video game enough. less and less gameplay present and undirected interaction with the world, more and more scripted paths and forced direction. walking sims dont tend to feel similar to games like TLOU or AW2 not because they dont have combat, but because walking sims are usually presented entirely differently despite what could be said about lack of/simple gameplay-- you the player know youre walking around, and typically youre doing so to explore which already leads you to a game with open opportunities as a player, you dont know what coming in your path and thats the sense of discovery I feel like i lack in these other games. the script is written, your path can be forced. if it is too forced, too restricted then it doesnt feel like im getting to play much of a game.

the video game feels like a movie in a way i dont find appealing, when i feel like all i am really doing is moving my character on a path i must take and wait for the moment i need to shoot, then walking on the path again to the next area. to where else to look unless i need ammo. no where else to look unless i care about some random side items. (all of which i dont need at all if i font want them, and dont take me anywhere outside of my intended path) the video games that feel like a movie in a good way are ones that despite being heavily story focused, it allows enough options in gameplay and in world to let me still feel free and up to my own devices even when it does get back on track and put me in some clearly directed scenarios. i want to be excited to be in the video game's world so that i can have balance and be just as excited to continue even when they game puts me on some tracks i need to go through to see the story, before going back to feeling like a video game.

its all up to preference on what genres people like. but the AAA scene is becoming quite saturated with these linear story games with ultra realistic graphics. they look great and they can tell great stories. but sometimes i am not sure i feel like buying a $60 game that maybe... doesn't really make me feel like i am playing a game. admittedly i had expected a bit more from AW2 and its not offering much else for me to do with the gameplay.

#ALSO like... in aw2 i legit end up being given scenes where i am just watching a video #like stopped in the middle of levels to watch stuff lol #i love the story and all but like. just sit me in front of an actual movie at this point

[legy]

random game roundup

Wand Wars - $11

Included in Bundle for Ukraine

this is pretty neat. wand wars is a party game about being wizards shooting a magic orb at each other and the last one standing wins. this has to have far more staying power as a multiplayer game but, alas, i am by my lonesome. i didnt love the control scheme (does really feel like it wants to be a twin stick shooter and not something played on keyboard). also it really bugged me that the projectile wasnt pixellated when everything else was. wand wars kinda fits the niche of a good boutique board game IMO, fun to break out with nerd friends at some nerd gathering

Baldi's Basics Plus - $10

Included in Bundle for Ukraine

my commitment to the premise of this project being vastly outweighed by how much i dont actually want to play baldi's basics. i could have hit random again and nobody would be the wiser

so i guess my take is roughly that im in the exact nostalgia bait audience for baldi's basics (i played tons of these edutainment games in elementary school) but its specifically aping so much of its aesthetic and presentation from sonic's schoolhouse which i cant imagine had a widespread school computer lab adoption. if someone made a off-color video game inspired by Disney's Adventures in Typing with Timon & Pumbaa or smth that would probably actually get somewhere. for me. also i hate jumpscares and YOU DONT EVEN SOLVE MATH PROBLEMS IN THIS ONE???? WHATS THE POINT

this is not a good review for baldi's basics sorry. i like that the camera controls are vertically locked even tho the game makes a lot of other concessions for a modern audience. and there really is nothing else in its genre that looks like this

Valfaris - $24.99

i cannot for the life of me figure out why i own this game.

ok first things first the art direction in this fucks insanely. it feels like a ps1 game in a way many other ps1 throwbacks don't. i really enjoyed looking at valfaris.

however this controls like SHIT and not in a way that i think would be fixed by a controller. i spent a couple minutes rebinding my controls so it isnt arrow keys to move and q/w for main attacks (this randomly reset to default at some point so that was cool) and i was still fighting for my life to actually accomplish what the game wants me to. there's a segment only a few seconds into the first level where you need to climb on ropes over some evil dogs to cross a ledge but 1. the dogs can jump up and attack you and 2. you can only aim your gun straight down. and the dogs respawn infinitely so you cant jump into the dog pit, slaughter them all and continue on your way. i legitimately could not get past this section because the controls were so ass. really unfortunate.

also the game has "wishlist the sequel" as one of its three menu options which: lmao

Thou Shalt Be Brave - $1

Included in Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality

this is a micro-rpg that is imo unfortunately hamstrung by its gimmick (the really small resolution). theres some really bad readability issues happening in this game. there is a manual on the itch page which helps a lot in combat but its really hard to excuse the "you sease lok s" message you see constantly.

this is pretty light on gameplay also but its generally a pretty fun timewaster. you explore the woods and fight guys and the ultimate goal appears to be maxing all your stats. i just wish i wasnt examining every button like it was a cryptic glyph to decipher

Planets Under Attack - $11.99

you know its bad when ive had this game on steam for over 10 years and have no idea what it is

i'm not sure how to describe planets under attack. it's a very minimalistic strategy game about spending resources to take over planets in each map. it seemed pretty chill but i did kinda feel like i was wasting my time playing it. the presentation is really competent and overall i think this is the strongest of the five games i played today

#random game roundup #wand wars #baldi's basics plus #valfaris #thou shalt be brave #planets under attack

[dullahandyke]

Ok hi dgs trial 3 part 2

Megundal is constantly doing the 🤨 emoji its killing me....

AND HE SAID QUARE 😭😭 SOBBBB oh I feel like every time this man opens his mouth I'm going to take psychic damage because all I can hear is my father

Also I cant be having conversations in this antechamber all I can think of is the 'losing lawyer has to suck off their opponent' fic

EEJIT 😭 he sounds like he came from a roddy doyle book I read as a child

Ok actually itd b more expedient to just name every piece of Irish slang megundal says that makes me die so thatll be at the end of the post

I chose the 'ja you're guilty' option n ryuu autist... call a spade a spade he does indeed

Man 'the reaper of the old bailey' is such a cool concept but it sucks that the only thing I know abt bvz is 'racist' and 'sucks off ryuu after losing court cases'. Yeah that's right I've had mid-post character development. I've decided that the thing about losing lawyers blowing each other after trials is canon

Also I hate megundal's hat it annoys me. Couldnt he just have been short

The thing abt going into the trial knowing fuck all is fun tho. Very the lost turnabout

Also I do like the idea of 'I don't even know if the client is guilty or not, dont even know anything about the case, but everyone deserves a defense' too bad iirc that doesnt reach its logical conclusion of 'even people you know to be guilty are worth defending' given the whole combatative relationship between defense and prosecution these games have going on. And like obvi I get why its always the prosecution ceding the defense's arguments but it does get to feel a bit lopsided despite all the nattering abt working together to find the truth

OMG ITS JUROR 3 FROM TUMBLR POSTS WHO HATES THE POLICE AND RICH PEOPLE!!!! Its like meeting a celebrity....

Not bvz with the vampire cloak opening sprite 😭😭😭😭

Also. Bvz 🤝 saïx. Bigoted antagonists who turn good at the end of the story who have the same scar

'Is it not the British way to be chivalrous and kind and give opportunities to foreigners at expense to yourself' megundal you're Irish you cannot be serious. Istg this fucking accent will be the death of me I cannot imagine him as saying anything to that effect and entirely believing it even tho logically I know there were Irish 'I got mine' gobshites... (autism symptom bullet point that reads 'difficulty comprehending different perspectives' appears over my head)

Oh that's right the jury thing... this is awesome

Also regrettably I have to say that bvz is hot. If he was a woman and not racist? Awooga. However he has to get there first before I get him any leeway

Also I've just realised that 'zieks' is probs pronounced more like 'zeeks' than 'zikes'. Huh that's gonna be difficult to adjust to

Also I like juror 4.... typing :)

Also I wanna do voices reading out all the dialogue but that means I have to find like 8 distinct British voices. Bvz is a brummy now

. Why is it the Phoenix wright omnibus

Oh the stained glass eye things before the cross examination are really cool

See my main quibble rn is that the skylight is only clearly visible from one angle when sitting on top of the omnibus, so unless both were sitting together on the same bench for some reason despite seeming perfect strangers, both couldnt have seen it

'I dont like blades' 'then why do you have that katana' 'that's not a blade that's asougis soul' wahhh...

Bvz's wine makes an appearance... love his little scythe wine bottle

BOOO DONT COMMENT ON THE DISPOSITION OF WOMEN FROM THE EAST AGAIN OR I KILL U DEAD !!!

Also I continue to enjoy ryuu's eyeliner

love ryuu pushing up his armband after leaving his sweaty sprite... nice little detail

Omg ryuu pacing once he puts this together ... yesss walk little gayboy

Why did they give juror 3 a sprite where hes licking the knife. Dont like that

Oh boo bvz took off his cloak... he looks less cool now

Omg perjury is a thing in this game you love to see it

Also can we get beppo a blanket or something

Halp me 'could he have just happened to see the exact moment the crime was committed? Some days are just like that'... ryuu pls tell us abt yr day to day

Fairplay keeps eating his cane... boy get some chewlery

I do like that juror 3 getting his knife stuck in the bench is worked into the dialogue. Even the people reading the transcript know that you're shit at knife wielding

Omg ryuu drew the little diagram of the view from the omnibus? That's so cute... artist man

Love it when they object back and forth... fuck yes the girls are fighting

Also it mihjt jusr have been a while since I've aced my attorneys but I feel like the witnesses jn this game are a lot more deliberately deceitful and guilty of other crimes and it's awesome. Yes boy withhold information for malicious reasons

Omg Gina? Is it Gina time?

GINAAAAAAAA YES I SEE HER!!!!!! HIIIII HI GINA!!!!!!!

DONT JUST OUT GINA AS A PICKPOCKET U LITTLE FUCK! could've just said she was a beggar or something

Omg Gina dialogue and theme yayyyyy love her... I enjoy her slight :3 mouth

MEGUNDAL LIST

Also this cockney transliteration is awful

Small detail but I love how Gina is introduce as 15 but the court record says shes 17. Yes girl lie about your age for fun and profit

BVZ LEGSLAM!!

Also 'iron-heeled Wellington' please dear God tell me this man is not wearing metal wellies

Omg the evidence suddenly changing midtrial....yessss that's so awesome

Accidentally pressed twice on one of Gina's statements and only the second time does megundal have anything to say on it.... huh

OPEN AND FAIR COMPETITION IS WHAT A CAPITALIST SOCIETY IS ALL ABOUTTHHWNWJWJAKWQJNQAKKA

Arrived at the first thing that's proper stumped me :( accusing fairplay and furst... girl what do u present I dont wanna have to turn on story mode

Ok I had to look up a walkthru before I realised u had to examine the skylight from the interior... eye see

RYUU TURNING THE LEARNED FRIEND NAME ON BVZ YES GET HIM

Oh this music as we close the trial and ryuu fruitlessly objects is banging

Also as much as hes a lying rich cunt I do like megundal I think his influence over the trial is rlly interesting

WEVE UPGRADED TO FIREWORKS UPON A NOT GUILTYY???? THAT CANT BE OSHA APPROVED (osha does not exist yet)

'Gina really does take forever to load that gun' I AAS THINKING THR SAMS THING.... ryuu you're a man of the people

IRIIIIIIIIIIIS IRIS IRIS IRIS IRIS IRIS IRIS IRIS SHES HEEEEERE IRIS IRIS IRIS! AW HER THEME IS SO CUTE

HELP ME SUSATO HAS A PLEADING EMOJI SPRITE???? NDNSKWKQOQ I HAD NOT SEEN THIS BEFORE

GREGSON SPOTTED

Also the burning carriage... eyes emojiiiii that was cool... magundal you daft cunt

That was a fun case and rlly interesting.... it's taking a while to get the pieces together for the status quo but they're keeping things interesting while they set it up so I dont mind as much

I'll try for the fourth case tomorrow but according to the longplay I've been basing my guesstimates off of, it's long as shit and I have a 2 hour driving lesson in the middle of the day... might try wake super early or something and get done the first section and then marathon it noon til night. The last trial is for sure gonna take me two days, rlly hope mam's fine with taking me back to the city on Sunday instead of Saturday

Chancer

Blackguard (still fucks me to know its spelt like that and not blaggard)

Begorrah

Ara

Be whist

Afore

#the gaelic athletic attorney

[rabdoidal]

ok idm public but its like, A Lot so here goes: Im a pretty new DM, ive only ever done little homebrew things with a few people at a time that havent gone anywhere. Currently, ive taken over as DM from a long running game involving 3 of my friends and my older sister/brother in law (im 22 theyre about 26) and im running The Witch Beyond The Wildlight (a very lighthearted offical dnd adventure). my brother in law was the DM of last campaign and the tone was pretty Brutal (like fighting dragons, surprise gorey moments, bad things happening to good people for no reason ect) i started this adventure off specifally mentioning saftey tools in the frist session because things like excess gore specifically really Dont Do It for me, to which Bro-in-law kind of makes light of the saftey tools (EG. "can we just skip part of the adventure if im uncomfortable with it") generally BiL is pretty chill/not a bad guy or anything but this irked me when i was trying to be serious about this and he was trying to poke holes in the logic of people wanting to not touch on certain topics? (1/2)

(2/2) we've completed chapter 1 which was just a safe sandbox area but now in chapter 2 we get our first fight (weenie enemies bc its lvl 2) and afterwards hes gone in detail wanting ME to describe how he can basically defile the corpses of the highwaymen he killed (theyre rabbit people. but he wanted skin/bones/teeth). which really yucked me out and i tried to set a hard boundary but i dont know if he really gets me there. This whole situation of him not really listening to me as a DM, and then him acting upset when i have to tell him No has made me really frustrated because i feel like he is just fully not on the same page as me on what this campaign is about and doesnt really respect my ruling as DM (arguing with me this session that a bird familar should be able to sign a warlock contract, dumb things like that?) TLDR: He is my brother in law, and i want to be able to play with him and my sister, but i cant get through to him, and he thinks my escapism fairytale campaign is darksouls. do you have any advice?

Sounds like a real bummer, I'm sorry to hear that! I have experience with voiding tone boundaries on both sides, though both more incidental and because of unclear communication - I've definitely pulled back from gorey descriptions in fights because players were uncomfortable, and I've had to tell players to tone it down because it was inappropriate. It's hard especially when the genre of the campaign is different to the last and there are different expectations of violence - I hope the more they explore the feywild the more he understands the tone for the genre.

If you want to go outside the boundaries of the pre-made module, creating non-violent combat encounters can help curb the more gorey aspects of battles - but if you are more comfortable sticking with the written encounters (which is fair when using pre-made modules), I think you just have to be firm with him. It sounds like an annoying situation, where you don't want to kick him out but he also wants to be a kinda shitty player - I really hope he cares enough to listen to you and continue the game without continuing to be a nuisance.

In the example you used especially - if he tries to pull another teeth pulling thing, I think saying in no uncertain terms "I don't want to hear you describe that." or even "I'm uncomfortable with that action so I won't allow it." might be the best way to go - you're the DM and its your world, don't let him dictate how things operate. A slightly less upfront approach could be redirecting the energy: I know that particular module is set in the Feywild, so maybe if he tries to yank teeth, you can describe the bodies turning into light or poofing away into magic dust before he has a chance. You could even have it so that dying for NPCs/enemies isn't a mechanic in the feywild - people disappear or reincarnate or turn into trees or are simply knocked unconscious - or they run away!

My tl;dr is don't let him run the campaign for you - players should contribute to the world and the narrative, but ultimately you are the one running the session. If he won't listen to either your feelings or your alternative narration, he might not be a great suit for the party.

If it helps at all, I usually get players to fill in a checklist (X) to make it clear what's okay and what isn't for everyone at the table. If he still argues about the importance of consent checklists, thats a red flag in and of itself. I hope this helped!

#personal #long post #dnd court

[alfouxxiv]

Layers to a Damned Man

one: outside layer

[Name:] “Alfoux...Rovat”

[Hair Style & colour:] “It’s hazel maybe more brown? I don't really know. when I was young...I used to have short hair. But as I grew older, it has become rather long. I keep it tied back when the need for a helmet arises.”

[Eye Color:] “Amber from what I’ve told, though. I assume it could be taken as any colour of that nature.”

[Height:] “I’m tall, I tower over most and very few tower over me. It is a blessing and a curse.”

[Style:] “I’m not one for style and trends but. I was raised to be fancy. To know the right fork to use and to say please and thank you, and it stuck. But I’m far from the term ‘fancy’ as many have said to me countless times before, I am rough around the edges. What else are you going to get, when you take a brume kid out of the brume and into the lap of the houses upon high.”

“I am rough, jaded and scared. I have seen what this world has to give and it has laid its mark to bare upon me. So yes, I am rough around the edges. I’m abrasive, cold in nature. So my style if you must put a thing to it, tends to lean towards such. I own nothing other than my armour on my back, everything that had ‘style’ was stripped from me.”

[Best Physical Feature:] “My hands or eyes, it is one thing many compliment me on. I have no idea what they mean however. Some have also said my jaw line is a nice feature, or my chest... Though those who say my chest is my best feature, are more likely saying that to further their motives of romantic intent which is not something I’m looking for.”

“I myself don't see a best feature, nor even a good feature. It is just a body, or maybe I just don't have the best confidence in myself hm?”

two: inner layer

[Fears:] “All of my fears have come to fruition. All I ever wanted was a home, and not have it stripped from me. But here we are, my life was a lie and those who said they loved me? a lie.” 

[Guilty Pleasure:] “The things I enjoy, though very few they are. I do not find guilt in them. I enjoy reading bad romance novels...and I enjoy them, and there is no shame in that.”

[Biggest Pet Peeve:] “People, speaking of those who believe that our great nation is in fact great, because it is far from it. Our land is flawed and blinded by lies, feed to them from who was once in control. Our world is changing and those who do change with it? well, they will be left in the dust of those willing to move for a brighter future....if that is even something we can come to.”

[Ambition for the Future:] “In the long term I guess it would be to fix the mess my ‘family’ made, in the short term? I wish to die. So we will see which comes first.”

three: thoughts

[First Thought When Waking Up:] “Oh grand I am still alive, oh what a fantastic thing to happen.”

[What You Think About the Most:] “Money I guess, I don't have a single gil to my name. So it tends to be about money or when the next job will come by.”

[What You Think About Before Bed:] “I’m either to drunk off my ass to even think, or if I’m not its thinking of another night were I don't sleep.”

[Your Best Quality Is:] “I have no idea, I am a man of very little good qualities. I am sure someone would say otherwise but as this is me talking? I have none.”

four: what’s better

[Single or Group Dates?] “I have never been on a date, I never had the time for such things or ever felt a bond with someone, to ever do such a thing.”

[To be Loved or to be Respected?] “In my heart, it cries out for love? and my mind pains for respect. In days gone by I used to think I had both, but now I know that ‘love’ was a lie. And that ‘respect’? fear. So truly? I have no idea what is better, for I truthfully know what those feel like.”

[Beauty or Brains?] “I am more inclined to lean towards brains. Not saying that beauty isn't a bad thing, because it isn't. I am just more inclined to drift towards those who are, of a more intelligent inclination...though I'm not saying those who are beautiful cant be smart because they can be. They are I....yeah...”

[Cats or Dogs?] “Cats, I have had the pleasure of living with many in my younger years. All thanks to a certain templar. Though I do preferer cats over dogs, that doesn’t mean I don't like dogs. I just enjoy the company of cats more.” 

four: do you...

[Lie?] “My job was to lie, to preach a lie and to enact a lie. So yes I have lied. Do I still lie? truthfully it is to myself nearly on a daily basis but to others I try to be more. Up front.” 

[Believe in Yourself?] “In days gone by yes, I believed I could do nearly anything, within reason. But now? no...”

[Believe in Love?] “No, not anymore.”

[Want Someone?] “I want to be left alone, yet for some reason people keep bothering me. So no. I don't want anyone.”

six: have you ever...

[Been on Stage?] “I have not, though I have watched many a play when I was younger. They were rather enjoyable at the time. But I had no intention of joining them.”

[Done Drugs?] “I have not no, unless you count smoking as a drug? though it is just tabaco.”

[Changed Yourself to Fit In Somewhere?] “Amusing. I’m a brume kid living a house upon high, so what do you think?”

seven: favorite

[Favorite Color:] “I have never really given it much thought. Though my armours have always been on the darker side, I did have a blue set for ceremonies or other such special occasions. So maybe blue? again I have never given it much thought...”

[Favorite Food:] “When I was younger Otix used to make these cream cheese and liver sandwiches, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I still do enjoy them, though now that I’m older I can make them myself. Other than that? I don't really have a preference.”

[Favorite Game:] “I never had the time for games growing up, with education, sword training and fencing and other duties. I never had much free time, so whenever I rarely did have time to myself I just read a book.”

eight: age

[When Your Next Birthday Will Be:] “I cant remember for the life of me when my name day is, and to be honest at my age I could careless for the day.”

[How Old Will You Be?] “I think I’m 36? or am I older? I cant remember.”

[Age You Lost Your Virginity:] “who cares, it is not something I wish to divulge to anyone.”

[Does Age Matter?] “I wouldn’t wish to see someone that hasn't even seen their 12th summer in a combat situation if that's what you mean. I have seen many younger people die under the hands, of people who were no where near the front of battle. But if you’re referring to someone younger dating someone older? well that all depends does it not? if it is someone far older praying on someone who shouldn't even be thinking of such a thing, then well that person will happily meet the end of my sword.”

nine: in a partner

[Best Personality:] “Someone who is kind I assume, I haven’t given it much thought seeing as, I have never met someone who I have grown a connection of that type with.”

[Best Eye Colour:] “Does it really matter? Are there really people out there who specifically court those with a specific eye colour.....”

[Best Hair Colour:] “It’s hair who cares, doesn't matter what colour is it.”

[Best Thing to do With a Partner:] “Again, I have never given thoughts like these much time. Maybe that is very telling of my nature. But if I must pick something, than maybe...maybe it would be nice to cook with someone. Maybe even quietly read with them, or go fishing...”

ten: finish the sentence

[I Love...] “To be. Left. Alone.”

[I Feel...] “Empty...”

[I Hide...] “Everything. I am not want to show my hand at the first or even second meeting.”

[I Miss...] “...”

[I Wish...] “I wish I was never adopted, to be left to have that life grow into something that wasn't built on a lie and cursed to live...”

Tagged by: @yafaemi thank you fren so it took so long!!!

Tagging: @ffxivtribehydrae | @kich-rp | @grumpy-limsan-customs-cat | @zinniane | @m-iasma​ | @bjarkan​ | @wilderkind​ | @faustinebellamy | @aethersmoke-and-ash ​ | @violetcuriosity​ | @lady-iseterre​ | And anyone else who wants to do it!!

#Alfoux Rovat #Alfoux | Ic #character meme #I hand you one grumpy broody asshole who just wants to be left alone (don't do that he actually likes people being around) #this took me most of the night to do but still feeling kinda productive!! #so maybe more to come in the future for this blog or the others?!?!

[tigerkirby215]

5e Rammus, the Armordillo build (League of Legends)

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

Yeah...

Any more words for an introduction would be excessive, alright?

Let's just get on with the build.

Okay.

GOALS

Yeah - Yuumi isn't the only one with Zoomies. Super Sonic style!

Alright - I'm rubber you're glue; whatever you say bounces off me and makes you explode.

Okay - What good is murdering anyone who touches you if no one gets close? Call them names (or just say "okay" in a very annoying tone) to force them to fight!

RACE

To carry a big shell on your back look no further than Tortle. (The spikes come later.) I'm going to invoke Tasha's ruling and suggest a +2 to your Dexterity and a +1 to your Charisma, to spin around fast and know just the right way to say "yeah" to piss people off. You have Claws that do a d4 damage, Survival Instinct for proficiency in the Survival skill, and can Hold Breath for up to an hour!

But of course there's two things we're here for: Natural Armor gives you a base AC of 17. Period. There is no way to increase this (other than wearing a shield.) Additionally you can go into a Defensive Ball Curl as an action for some Shell Defense, giving you +4 to your AC and advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws. However while in your shell you can't move, are considered prone (meaning melee attackers have advantage against you), have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, and can't take reactions. The only action you can take is a bonus action to come out of your shell.

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Rammus has to be saying something to get everyone to attack him.

14; DEXTERITY - You need Dexterity to keep rollin'. Also Strength is largely pointless to us because... Shell.

13; CONSTITUTION - You are a tank so more health would be a good investment.

12; STRENGTH - Just because you have a thick shell doesn't mean you don't have to push some things off you at times.

10; WISDOM - Living in the deserts of Shurima means you have to fight for Survival every day, even if it's more like the desert is fighting you.

8; INTELLIGENCE - You literally have 6 voice lines.

BACKGROUND

For Desert Survival the Outlander background is pretty good. You get proficiency in Athletics but since you already have Survival proficiency you can choose a different one instead. Truthfully: pick whatever you want, because Rammus is a closed book you can make him however you want!

You also get proficiency with a language of your choice that you're not going to use, and a musical instrument! Imagine if they made a Spirit Blossom Rammus skin and he played an instrument like Yone and Yasuo.

As a Wanderer of the sands you can easily remember the layout of terrain around you, and can also find food and water for you and your allies to survive in the jungle! "Alright."

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Starting off as a Rogue because while Rammus may not look the part he's actually quite talented! Take proficiency in Persuasion, Deception, and Intimidation to be the master of taunts and... well you may as well take Stealth proficiency for ganking. You also get Expertise in two of those skills: I'm going to recommend Persuasion and Deception as your two "taunting" skills.

Rammus doesn't talk much because he's a master of the subtleties of Thieves' Cant, allowing him to speak without actually speaking what he means to speak. "Yeah." But of course if you gank from the jungle you can Sneak Attack for an extra d6 of damage. If you have advantage or an ally nearby you'll get this extra damage out, and your Sneak Attack increases with levels. "Okay."

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

Second level Rogues can optimize their jungle clear with Cunning Action, letting them Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a Bonus Action. "Hm."

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Third level Rogues get to choose their Roguish Archetype, and to be the master of one-on-one combat look no further than the Swashbuckler. Fancy Footwork is basically the mobile feat, making it so that the enemy can't hit you with opportunity attacks after you slam into them with Powerball.

Rakish Audacity meanwhile is basically two smaller features put together into one: for one you have a bonus to initiative equal to your Charisma modifier, so you can be the first one around for a dragon fight. "Alright." Additionally if you find someone alone in the river (without an ally within 5 feet) you can sneak attack them, even if you don't have an ally nearby or advantage against them! This means you can dash into someone with Powerball and then taunt them for a Sneak Attack. Speaking of which your Sneak Attack damage increases to 2d6. "Yeh."

LEVEL 4 - ROGUE 4

4th level Rogues get their first Ability Score Improvement but Rammus isn't really meant to do damage? So grab the Durable feat for +1 to your Constitution and double the Constitution when healing during Short Rests, guaranteeing that you can heal up after a skirmisher and always be ready for a fight. "Right."

(Artwork by Kienan "Knockwurst" Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - FIGHTER 1

Taking a level in Fighter for... well kinda just to get proficiency with Shields, really. +2 AC goes a long way! And the Defense Fighting Style can further increase that AC by 1, equaling a +3 to your 17 total which means... hey look at that! 20 AC! "Alright."

You also get Second Wind for a refillable potion, giving you a d10 + 1 (because we're not getting more Fighter levels) healing as a Bonus Action.

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 1

People say that I make too many Warlock builds, to which I say... "Yeah." First level Warlocks get to choose their Patron at level 1, and to be the rolling speed demon of the desert the Fiend Warlock is a nice, universal subclass. That's because Dark One’s Blessing will give you a burst of Triumph (temp) HP when you down an enemy equal to your Warlock level plus your Charisma modifier.

But of course what we're really here for is Pact Magic. You get two cantrips from the Warlock list: Frostbite could be reflavored as a not-quite-Frenzying Taunt because it's basically just Vicious Mockery that targets Constitution instead of Wisdom. Inversely Mind Sliver will let you soften an enemy up for an ally's big damaging abilities!

For your leveled spells Armor of Agathys shall serve as your passive of which we will get many more abilities that do the same thing. Note that Temporary Hitpoints don't stack, but as a DM I'd be willing to say that if you get a new source of Temp HP while this spell is active its duration essentially gets refreshed. Inversely if you want a more direct source of retributive damage Hellish Rebuke will cause fire damage to anyone who hits you as a reaction. "Right."

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get to choose their Eldritch Invocations; gifts from the sands that make them better from the standard armadillo. Eldritch Mind is a surprise tool that will help us later, and you might think that we should've taken Resilient (CON) instead of Durable at level 4 to which I say... "Right." Anyways there honestly isn't that many other invocations I want until about level 5 so take what you want (Devil's Sight is never a bad thing) and we're going to keep going. You can also learn another spell but again: not much I want! Wait for...

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 3

3rd level Warlocks get to choose their Pact Boon and we're still a Rogue first and foremost, so Pact of the Blade is still the best choice. You can summon weapons from thin air to always be ready with spikes on your shell.

You can also learn second level spells like Blindness / Deafness to make it harder for people to hit you, and Hold Person which is like a ranged taunt.

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 4

4th level Warlocks get an Ability Score Improvement, and while Charisma controls most of what we do currently Dexterity still leads to kills which leads to more temp HP, so increase your DEX by 2.

You can also learn a new cantrip like Chill Touch for some Thornmail anti-healing. There are good spells at this level too (Misty Step and Mirror Image being two great ones) so take them for now but we're going to swap them out come...

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get more Eldritch Invocations! For a start we'll be taking Thirsting Blade, letting you attack twice in a round for more chances to get a kill for some healing. "Hm." We'll also be taking Cloak of Flies for Sunfire Cape, or more realistically Turbo Chemtank as CoF does Poison damage and I'm writing this build during patch 11.8 when every goddamn jungler in the game is running Turbochem.

You can also learn third level spells at this level like Spirit Shroud for a Frozen Heart that also increases the damage of your weapon, and Counterspell for some magic "resistance." "Yeh."

LEVEL 11 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks can give themselves the boost they need to make it out alright. Dark One's Own Luck lets you add a d10 to a skill check or saving throw: you're probably going to mostly be using this on saving throws but boosting ability checks can be helpful to. You can only use this ability once per Short or Long Rest however, so use it wisely, yeah?

You can also prepare another spell but again: waiting for a level!

LEVEL 12 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation like... Devil's Sight? A bit late to be grabbing it (proper) now you may say, but it's a requirement for our one-two Defensive Ball Curl special!

First spell: Shadow of Moil! Along with heavily obscuring you (giving most enemies Disadvantage to hit you) any enemy that does hit you takes 2d8 Necrotic damage back!

Second spell: Fire Shield (from the Fiend Warlock list.) It creates light yes (which gets canceled out by Shadow of Moil) but you can choose between a Cold Shield (that blocks Fire damage and does Cold damage) or a Fire Shield (that blocks Cold damage and does Fire damage.) Regardless of which one you choose any attacker within 5 feet of you will take 2d8 damage (Cold or Fire depending on which shield you chose) if they try to attack you.

Here's the fun part: Fire Shield isn't concentration. That means that these spells do stack, allowing you to do 2d8 damage to anyone who misses you and 4d8 damage to anyone who hits you! I don't think I should need to explain why essentially getting a second level Chromatic Orb off every time you get hit is absolutely insane for action economy and overall DPS.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: Dexterity is still our main "fighting" stat despite most of our levels being in a caster, so a simple +2 would cap it off to guarantee that you're doing something in a teamfight even if the enemy isn't shooting you.

You can also learn another spell like Dimension Door, which is basically a very long ranged Flash. Like, a very long ranged Flash. "Yeh."

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 14 - ROGUE 5

Hopping back over to Rogue because for some reason Rogues are very good at staying alive! Uncanny Dodge is part of that, letting you reduce the damage of an incoming attack by half with your reaction! "Okay."

Your Sneak Attack damage also (finally) increases to 3d6. "Yeah."

LEVEL 15 - ROGUE 6

6th level Rogues get Expertise in two more skills. I'm actually going to suggest the two skills from your background at this point: Athletics and Survival to continue optimal jungle pathing and escape grapples.

LEVEL 16 - ROGUE 7

7th level Rogues get Evasion which feels like an oxymoron for Rammus. But here's the thing: they can't attack you with weapons without taking damage themselves, so what if they cast spells on you? Well if it's a DEX save you take half damage on a failed save, and no damage on a successful save! "Alright." Your Sneak Attack damage also increases to 4d6 at this level.

LEVEL 17 - ROGUE 8

8th level Rogues get another Ability Score Improvement, and while more Charisma means better spell saves and more Temp HP when you kill someone I'm instead going to simply suggest the Tough feat for +2 HP per overall character level you have. It's 34 health points now and a total of 40 HP by level 20. "Hm."

(Artwork by SixMoreVodka Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - ROGUE 9

9th level Rogues finally get your goddamn Frenzying Taunt! Panache lets you make a Persuasion check against an enemy's Insight, and it works in one of two ways: if a target isn't hostile to you they're charmed by you! (I don't know what you're saying to charm them, but it's probably more than 6 voice lines.)

Alternatively if you Panache an enemy they get taunted by you, and have Disadvantage against all enemies other than you. Note that if your allies hit the taunted enemy they will lose this effect, meaning that you will have to constantly taunt them if everyone's focusing one target.

Oh and your Sneak Attack increases to 5d6 now, meaning that you actually do some good damage overall regardless of if the enemy is attacking you or not. "Hm."

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get another Eldritch Invocation: your ultimate just got reworked, so Otherworldly Leap will let you jump into the middle of a teamfight! ...With the Jump spell...

You can also learn 5th level spells now! There's a lot of fun ones but I'm going to suggest good ol' Hold Monster. It's like Hold Person, but it works on Dragon! "Right."

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 10

Our final level is the 10th level of Fiend Warlock for Fiendish Resilience. Choose a damage type to gain resistance to! This doesn't work against silvered weapons, so it isn't that good against ADCs but it does give you some resistance against spellcasters. (Most literally.) You have to pick the resistance at the end of a Short or Long Rest, so it does help to know what you're going up against.

You also don't learn a spell because lol Warlocks, but you do get another cantrip! So take good ol' Prestidigitation to put on a show after reaching max level!

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Ok - I already mentioned how strong Fire Shield plus Shadow of Moil is. This damage goes against any enemy who hits you in melee, and can really hurt against multiple attacks!

Alright - You have plenty of ways to keep from getting hurt while you tank all the hits. Temp HP from Dark One's Blessing, Uncanny Dodge and Evasion, and of course 20 AC with just a shield!

Yeah - Despite not investing completely in Charisma your proficiency carries you a long way in social encounters. Just remember to say more than 6 words! (If "hmm" can even be considered a word.)

CONS

Right - All your damage is loaded against melee enemies, as you need to be in melee to hit them with Sneak Attack and both your shields only deal damage back to melee attackers. Ranged enemies are still going to suffer against your high AC and you're capable of spamming cantrips at them, but you really shine against melee bruisers.

Yeh - Only having 10 Warlock levels means that you only have two total spell slots. That's enough to cast your Defensive Ball Curl combo once. If you want to operate at maximum effectiveness you're going to need to take frequent short rests.

Hmm - Perhaps the biggest irony of Rammus is that being a Tortle doesn't really help us much. Being any other race would give you access to magic armor, as well as likely better racial features to generally be more useful overall. (Don't get me wrong: hiding in your shell is nice to boost AC but come late game the lack of movement will hurt you more than it'll help, especially since it makes you go prone.) My suggestion would be to make a Warforged for their innate +1 AC, or go for something like a Satyr or Gnome to resist magic.

But you can do okay no matter what the enemy lineup is. Hmm? You think you'll struggle, yeh? Well with the right team backing you up you'll do alright. Yeah.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee. Made for Riot Games.)

#yeah #alright #okay #hm #yeh #right #dnd #dnd build #dnd guide #dnd 5e #League of Legends #League of Legends Rammus #dnd rogue #dnd warlock #this build is weird