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kerlonprofit · 2 years

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radiance1 · 5 months

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Master List

King of the Blob Ghosts - Mostly flavor text where Danny is the only king of the Blob ghosts. Au not tied in with Ghost King or Ghost Prince hc unless specified.

Goo Dragon - An au where Danny is a goo dragon made entirely of ectoplasm!

Blind King - Danny is blinded by the portal incident, gets adopted by blob ghosts, and then falls into DC and ices over an entire section of a city.

Infinity Prince and the Dark Escapee - Where Danny gets prince training and then has to hunt down Dark Danny because he escaped.(Small thanks to @starlightcat04 and @lauwftzee3542 for ze name)

Cat Familia - Where Danny gets turned into a cat by pissing off a wizard, and accidentally adopts various cats in Gotham!

Tempest - Danny owns a ship called Tempest that he created that he uses to sail through time. Then he accidentally jumps timestreams.

Moth - Where Danny is de-aged and is a moth boy.

Moth - But with Killer Moth.

Eastern Dragon - Danny is the ghost prince and can turn into an eastern dragon.

Cuddly Apocalypse - Teddy Bear Danny au meets one Dark Danny.

Interdimensional Mini Occult Detective - De-aged Tucker gets thrown to another dimension after getting caught lacking by the magical government branch he was looking into.

Herald of Seasons - Danny obtains the ability to guide the seasons when he was split off from .Phantom while still having Vortex's powers

Vortex's lil guy - Soulless Danny gets taken by Vortex and is his little guy.

??? - Phantom causes a ruckus in DC after getting into it and him and Danny fight or something.

Sold to the devil? Nah, sold to the bear - Constantine sells his soul to the Ghost Prince, and is then turned into a baby sitter by the Ghost King.

Demon and Wraith - Demon twins au where both of them are dancers.

Sun and Moon - Based on an older au where Danny and Vlad were deities.

Successor in training - Ghost King Danny except he isn't and Pariah is his mentor.

Just Monika - DDLC is installed on Tucker's PDA somehow and he dates Monika.

Subject M-0001 - Monika hacks into Mount Justice.

Subject Omega - Danny's most perfect clone protects the ruins of Amity Park.

Medic - Danny be a doctor in Gotham.

??? - Pariah Dark just disappears and it's left to Danny and Vlad to find him.

Eastern Dragon and Phoenix au - Mostly a cosmetic au, where Danny is an Eastern Dragon and Vlad is a Pheonix.

Ghost King/Ghost Prince and Duke of the Ghost Zone - Mostly just flavor text really, Danny is usually more Ghost Prince than King and Vlad is the Duke.

Phoenix King Vlad - Exactly as it says, Vlad is either one of or the king of phoenixes

Kawmi? - Where Vlad and Danny get transformed into magical jewelry that allows others to use their powers.

Fountain Dragon - Danny drops in the Wayne Manor Fountain.

Will of the Wisp - Where Danny gets turned into a tiny whisp because of one of his parents inventions.

??? - Jack gets thrown to the DC dimension alongside Danny and made a coffin for Danny to sleep in during ze day.

??? - The Ghost King gets summoned to DC and wages war, but the Ghost Prince stops said war and gets a date out of it.

Teddy Bear Danny - Another cosmetic au where Danny get turned into a stuffed teddy bear in his accident, he was holding onto one before it happened. He's also in ranges of 5-10 here.

Ghost King at birth, Farmer at heart - Mostly cosmetic au where Pariah Dark, if he weren't the ghost king, would be a farmer and he has an intense love for horses.

Farmer with quite the ghostly (and kingly) secret - Pariah Dark disguises himself as a human and moves into Smallville, has a hard time interacting with humans and humaning as a whole.

Life hanging by tape and sheer will - Where Tucker gets yeeted to the DC dimension.

Dream pals? Dream pals! - Younger Danny and pre-Batman Bruce meet each other through a dream, unfortunately when Danny experienced his accident that connection was shut down.

Bakery and a masquerading demon? - Vlad owns a bakery, Constantine is a regular who holds suspicions that Vlad may or may not be a demon.

Gift in the arms of tragedy - Danny becomes Vlad's ward after the Nasty Burger explosion, only to then become adopted when he was turned into an eight-year-old not even a week later.

??? - Danny and Vlad get turned into kids by Clockwork and placed in the DC dimension because Clockwork thought it was funny. Danny decides to use Vlad to not get adopted.

The key(s) to Doomsday - Danny gets de-aged by Clockwork when going to visit Pariah in the human world, gets summoned, and meets Raven.

Alicorn parole - Pariah gets released from his eternal rest with the sole condition that he's to be watched over by Clockwork. The Ancient of War then decides to combine two mythical beasts and shaped himself into an alicorn, Clockwork followed and then they met Billy Batson.

Ferret Danny - Danny is a ferret. That's it.

Witch - Sam is a witch.

Dead eyed Doctor - Danny, the son of Talia Al Ghul and Jack Fenton, trained under Vlad Masters and became a doctor.

Shadow Twin? Shadow Twin. - Danny dies and reincarnates as the son of Talia Al Ghul, the younger brother and twin of Damian Wayne and son of Batman. Only to then be killed immediately after because he was born with a birth defect, thus becoming a shadow creature that follows Damian around.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #dcxdp #dc x dp crossover #Me shall stop here for now because good fucking lord #Do I have a lot more aus than I thought I did.#Right the ones with the question marks I can't think of a name for lmao #master list #This tag is important if I accidently unpin this

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toskarin · 9 months

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As someone knowledgeable about MMOs, and given the topic of SAO just came up. If you were to write a .Hack/SAO/Log Horizon style story, what kind of things would you focus on? I personally feel like there are a lot of different elements of MMO culture anyone writing about them could really delve into. So I'm curious what Tumblr user Toskarin would choose.

condensed

back when I played Perfect World, it had some empty spaces. this wasn't uncommon for mmos, and if you can name one older than 15 or so years, you can bet there were vast empty spaces on the world map that existed to pad it

but they were important! sure, they added nothing of obvious value and could cynically be read as existing just to pad travel time, but they also made the worlds feel bigger than you what you were doing in them. and more mysterious.

some friends in my guild and I got a message one day that one member was going to roll a new character and wanted help levelling. a complication: their starting zone was across the sea.

a few friends and I volunteered to swim across the sea to their zone. there were definitely easier ways to go about it, but setting out to do something just to see if it was possible seemed fun

now, they may have changed this since then, but the sea in Perfect World felt strange in a way I haven't seen any game really emulate since. the sky was a dull, and as was the fashion, everything was a bit muted. the sea itself was opaque, and when you swam under it, there was a significant amount of grey-blue terrain that seemed to stretch on forever into the fog

and of course, there was fuck all in it. nothing alive. no monsters until you got close to a shore. just vast empty sea that you swam through, only your friends' characters to break up the odd stillness of it. you probably turned the music off at this point, too, so there was only ambient sound and splashing

this is because you were supposed to fly over it, if you crossed it at all. and because there wasn't really a good centralised source of knowledge on these things, it wasn't really clear if it was entirely empty

the trip there was fine, if a bit boring and lonely. during the trip back, I accidentally clicked on something in the middle of the ocean

now, there weren't supposed to be things there. I had my friends, but I clicked on a monster, and when I swam down to look at it, I saw that it was actually an enormous sea monster

so I pinged one of the guildmates swimming with me and they thought I was lying, so I showed them, and then we repeated this several times until everyone in the group had seen this weird thing that felt like it came from a schoolyard rumour

Ancient Sea Dragon. 99,999,999 health points and none of us could find anything on it posted online. it was pretty common for players to run into it and be shocked, but we didn't know that

so we naturally let the rest of the guild know, got a hunting party together, and spent the better part of a day just whittling its health down

with the benefit of hindsight and documentation of this thing existing now, I can spoil this and tell you it didn't drop anything, but this long down the line, I still think about how deeply surreal it felt to stumble on an enormous sea monster in the middle of what my brain had come to understand as a liminal space. the sea was supposed to be mostly empty, and here was this thing

which is a very long way to introduce what I think is lacking here: we need more of those enormous empty spaces that leave characters with nothing to do but talk and feel completely isolated. sometimes you get to a sprawling castle city and it's completely empty because the players moved on. sometimes the devs threw an enormous monster in the middle of nowhere just to fuck with you, and that was kind of cool even if it sucked

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utilitycaster · 5 months

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Dimension 20's Failed Genre Experiments

(This is the "Has Dimension 20 lost its touch?" post I’ve alluded to; please enjoy some genuine criticism masquerading as a riff on those sorts of articles for other shows.)

Dimension 20's debut and flagship burst onto the scene with a simple and elegant premise. What if a John Hughes movie were set at a high school for D&D adventurers? Its next full length pre-recorded season was the similarly strong urban fantasy The Unsleeping City, which in turn was followed up by the channel’s most ambitious outing yet: the Game of Thrones in Candyland mash-up, A Crown of Candy.

Widely considered to be a watershed moment for the show, A Crown of Candy explored darker themes on a famously comedic platform, was the first on the channel to have permanent player character deaths, added new mechanics and limited what the players could choose to fit the world to support this more serious tone, and on a structural level, was a welcome departure from the prior rigid alternation between episodes of combat and episodes without. It was filmed prior to the pandemic but went to air in early April 2020, when many livestreamed actual play shows were on pause and even some podcasts were scrambling to figure out remote recording. D20 introduced their talkback show as a way for the cast to hang out remotely and chat about each episode, and Adventuring Party has remained a companion to the main show. The channel had hit its stride.

Its House of the Dragon sidequest, The Ravening War, aired three years later. Despite a complicated reaction to its announcement, it was a well-received outing, but one on what had by that time become a noticeably bumpy road.

Sidequests like The Ravening War are what D20 calls its shorter, 4-10 episode seasons that do not feature the main “Intrepid Heroes” cast in full nor necessarily feature Brennan Lee Mulligan as DM. We've seen everything from the perspective of the villains in both a Lord of the Rings clone (Escape from the Bloodkeep) and a Dracula homage (Coffin Run); to a Regency romance in the Feywild (A Court of Fey and Flowers). In addition to Mercer, Jasmine Bhullar and Gabe Hicks have each run a sidequest, and Aabria Iyengar has run three. And while the Intrepid Heroes' only venture outside D&D so far is the D&D-inspired Star Wars 5e, sidequests have been run in various Kids on Bikes hacks and Hicks' own Mythic system, as their shorter format makes it even easier to experiment with the parodies, pastiches, and mash-ups the channel is known for.

There have however been two notable failed experiments, and their close proximity (both released within the past year) could be a hiccup, or could be a sign that D20’s ambition, while admirable, could use some serious reining in. They are Neverafter and Burrow's End.

Marketed as the horror season, crossed over with fairy tales, Neverafter started out strong. Only three episodes in, there was an unprecedented (for D20) total party kill. The subsequent episode is the zenith of the season, in which each character is brought back, most of them changed and twisted by the experience, playing out an analysis of their role as an archetype within these stories: Sleeping Beauty and the classic roles of The Princess (introducing such NPCs as Cinderella and Snow White), for example; or Puss in Boots as The Trickster.

Unfortunately, the quality dropped soon after. It was revealed that the darkness spreading across the fairytale multiverse was due to the influence of The Authors, and the story began to be one about the concept of stories...while still trying to incorporate not only the plotlines of the fairy tales the main PCs were from, but also an intertwined conflict between the fairies and the princess NPCs. With this, the horror, with a few exceptions, melted away: violence and monsters are standard D&D fare, and when heroes race to save the world and victory seems not only possible but likely, any distinction between horror and a typical D&D heroic fantasy is lost.

It’s not the first overstuffed campaign, but it certainly is the first one that fails to land on several levels. Starstruck Odyssey is similarly chaotic and rushed at times, but it consistently sticks to a broad message of personal autonomy and freedom within late-stage capitalism. Mulligan is famous for his capacity to spin endless dense lore off the cuff, and if it at times overcomplicates the plot of the packed and colorful comedic space adventure, at least it contributes to the baked-in excess of the setting. But Neverafter's postmodern flourishes against a horror backdrop desperately needed an injection of sparseness and silence it never received.

This is enhanced by the nature of actual play: with a few exceptions, even when filmed and even with the elaborate production values of Dimension 20, it is first and foremost primarily an auditory medium. We only know what is narrated to us. Neverafter did not permit its audience the time and space to fear the unknown. The existential horror of the metanarrative, of being a character doomed to a specific ending, while touched on by some of the cast (particularly Siobhan Thompson’s Sleeping Beauty), took a backseat to models of giant spiders and tales of undead dwarves. The story lacked the room to build real tension, but also failed to adequately create the claustrophobia of being truly trapped within its narrative. It feels more stuffy than unsettling.

Burrow's End is far less airless, but profoundly disjointed. Neverafter thought it knew what it was, but Burrow's End went through multiple identity crises by the halfway mark, and the marketing for the series reflects this.

The initial trailer makes it seem like a cute if dramatic story about a family of stoats - think Redwall, think Wind in the Willows. The first episode was excellent, however, and sold many who had been unimpressed by the trailers on the series, with its well-played setup of the clear Watership Down/Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH parallels with a unique twist in the form of The Blue.

The promotion took a strange turn, however, with the second episode and its infamous bear carcass battle map. It was hyped as uniquely horrifying, with a teaser video posted of the cast shrieking as the map, unseen by the audience, was wheeled past them. This seemed rather cavalier of the channel once the episode was posted, accompanied by a gore content warning covering a period of well over an hour...which was then further undercut by an exquisitely crafted, but ultimately rather tame display of a bear's innards. It was left out on the table during Adventuring Party as well, further reducing the idea of any meaningful shock factor (or any attempt to accommodate those in the audience who were triggered). The combat this map was for was a creative one, and the episode itself high quality, but it furthered the sense that Dimension 20 itself was unsure of what they were trying to get people to watch.

The series continued on with two more excellent episodes as it reached Last Bast, a clearly man-made structure full of thousands of stoats, with a strong dash of the police state. The actors immediately clocking the flaws of this society, but their stoat characters having no similar sense, led to a fascinating tension. However, the Blue (called the Light in Last Blast), previously described as some animating force and driver of magical power, and mysteriously concentrated in the brain of the dead-but-animated bear, was then revealed to be ionizing radiation.

At this point, the details of my own life become relevant. My career is in the field of health physics. I hold a master’s degree in this specialty and have served as a radiation safety officer, though not at a reactor. I don’t think that this background is a requirement to understand the structural issues of this season; but it certainly made me particularly attuned to the flaws.

Before you claim that this is just a show and who cares: In addition to my love of actual play, I am also a fan of comics and all sorts of speculative fiction. I am well aware that Spider-Man’s “radioactive blood” would not realistically grant him spider powers; I know that going into a high radiation field would not create Doctor Manhattan; I know that Superman does not actually have ‘x-ray vision’, and I know that radiation creates neither kaiju nor rad roaches. This is fine. In comics, radiation is a shorthand for “mad science” or “mysterious powers” with a sense of the lethal and the eldritch and the hubristic. The story is not so much about the source of these powers, but rather the great responsibilities they require. Godzilla, meanwhile, is clearly a metaphor for the very real nuclear devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Fallout is an anti-proliferation and anti-war message with nuclear annihilation as the set up for its post-apocalyptic setting. These works understand that radiation is a limited-use plot device, and, wisely, they keep it simple.

Burrow’s End, by placing radiation front and center, has lost the message. The themes of the story are irretrievably muddled: what seems like a tale of family displaced by human intervention now positions a man-made hazardous material as both sinister corruption and divine boon, and engages neither with a fitting narrative of both the pros and cons of technology, nor of human and animal symbiosis. The finale establishes the latter in a rushed cut scene reliant on a single persuasion roll, and the two episodes prior to that meanwhile establish that while the humans first introduced radiation to the ecosystem, the first five stoats were the ones who sought it out and disseminated it and built the police state, and their true nemesis was Phoebe, one of their own. This culminates with Phoebe, the previously unseen fifth of the first five stoats (who have by now already been killed by the heroes), piloting the body of a 20-years-dead human, threatening to somehow cause global radiation contamination as her grand Evil Scheme. Unnecessarily, from a narrative perspective, I might add; this occurs after the final combat has already begun and she is magically controlling two of the party members. They’re already going to kill her. It’s a hat on a hat on a hat, and the humans are incidental.

When I was a child, I was enamored with the sort of stories in which children are sent to another time or place and then return with seemingly no time passing, and at one point excitedly told my mother I had an idea for a story, of what happens back while you’re time traveling. My mother, a fan of speculative fiction herself, and never one to coddle, told me “nothing, honey, that’s the point.” I wonder if something similar happened here; an attempted deconstruction of those radiation-granted superpower tropes, focused so hard on being clever it overshot into something anything but. Other elements of the story - particularly the weak pun of “copper” to hammer home the already obvious theme of population support being the arm of the police - make me think this was indeed an attempt at cleverness that missed the mark.

I am happy to elaborate on the flaws of the science elsewhere but I think the most succinct way to put it is that while the biology and habits of stoats sans radiation has been considered with what seems to be at least a modicum of love and care (their use of pre-existing burrows, Viola’s pregnancy), the radiation science/understanding of recent nuclear history can only be described as abysmally neglectful, in and out of game. They let a Loss of Coolant Accident go on for three days with a remarkably casual attitude? This disaster was sufficient to result in what appears to be an exclusion zone (of which there have been three, ever, in human history; two of which are the immediately recognizable Chernobyl and Fukushima) and yet it isn’t being monitored closely enough for someone to notice that there’s been penned animals next to the building for years (let alone that the building itself is teeming with stoats)? For that matter, they’re opening the site only twenty years later? After the “radiation dust”, apparently present on the fully maintained roads by the reactor, but neither within nor in front of the reactor, just now made 14 people bleed out (not how Acute Radiation Syndrome works; also 14 deaths from ARS in 1982, when the series is set would in fact be an unprecedented disaster. In our world, Chernobyl - which had not yet happened in 1982 - is the only nuclear accident that exceeds that ARS death toll.)

Radiation becomes an all-purpose plot engine with no internal consistent logic: it kills humans swiftly and brutally (though based on statements by Dr. Tara Steel and the fact that she seems fine in only a hazmat suit - which shields from contamination but will stop neither gamma nor neutron radiation - only via inhalation). But it infects chipmunks and bears with corruptive and bizarre neurological effects, turns wolves into horrifying but loyal hybridized monstrosities, and conveys to stoats not just human intelligence, but mastery of human language, magic spells, and the ability to come back as a revenant through force of will…though it also can immediately kill them, but also extend their lifespans, but also cause them to slowly mutate into wolves (but not through DNA splicing transfer, that would be silly). It kills 14 humans nearly instantly with off-site dust, but another survives a fiery attempted core meltdown with no apparent ill effects.

There is an excellent and thoughtful story about family, generational trauma, and political structures somewhere under here, and the incredible cast does its damndest to sell it, but it is all but lost beneath a sci-fi whodunnit that would make Ed Wood cock a skeptical eyebrow.

Neverafter and Burrow’s End’s respective collapses under the weight of ambition coincide, perhaps unintentionally, with some of the more dubious film editing choices on Dimension 20. Filmed actual play can be visually unexciting, and Dimension 20 has used simple shot/reverse shots, as well as some sound effects (notably for critical hits and fails) throughout its run to break it up. Neverafter, however, is marked by deliberate hisses and glitches, fractured split screens, echoey vocal effects, and nails-on-chalkboard screeches. This did not add to the atmosphere as intended; at best they were irritating and for many made it actively harder to hear key dialogue. Burrow’s End’s editing has been simpler, mostly relying on some, to be fair, well-placed cuts to black and voice distortion to indicate taped or radioed segments; but a key moment - Jaysohn’s potentially fatal rush into radioactive waters - is undercut with a frankly cheesy montage. Others I spoke to compared it to Indian soap operas, 1960s Doctor Who, The Oscars In Memoriam video, and reality show farewell reels. It takes what could be a tense potential character death - something D20 already handles wonderfully with their iconic Box of Doom - and makes it cheap and tacky, particularly jarring given the beautiful and haunting shadow puppet animation the season had previously delivered to convey the stoat creation myths. (And then, when Ava falls into the waters herself saving him, she merely comes back as a revenant with no ill effects. The stakes were never there to begin with in this smoke and mirrors season.)

Praise for Dimension 20 often hinges on its original innovative structure; most actual play shows skew towards more longform storytelling. However, the short format comes with a price. The fixed length of D20 seasons and the elaborate, custom made maps require a deft GM that can guide players to the exact right place without it seeming forced. Threading the needle is harder than it looks; even the otherwise iconic Fantasy High debut season stumbled towards the end when the players were too good at uncovering the mystery, and Mulligan had to place their characters in an inescapable prison in order to pad out a pre-scheduled episode before the finale. Perhaps the strain of this constant need to live up to a reputation as high-concept innovators, rather than simply create something good and cohesive, is beginning to show. The higher production values in Neverafter and Burrow’s End cannot hide their messy plots and confused messages, and indeed only highlight them. One interview said that for Burrow’s End, Iyengar wants the audience to trust her; after Burrow's End, I can’t say I do.

The next Dimension 20 season after Burrow’s End is a long-awaited return home to the flagship: Fantasy High Junior Year. Let’s hope this reminds the channel where they came from, and what magic they are capable of making when they keep it simple.

#long post #d20 spoilers #burrows end spoilers #d20 tag

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theresattrpgforthat · 1 month

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Hello! My play group has recently begun a PF2e game and we're enjoying it, but as an almost-forever-GM running one-shots looking for The Next Big Game to run I'm definitely noticing a trend of "a small run of bad rolls has decided you lose" that stands in contrast to a more subjectively "forgiving" system like Cypher or Quest. I know any dice-based game can theoretically end up with the dice deciding "you lose tonight," but it got me to thinking about that feeling in trying new systems. We definitely love mechanics in play - i.e. I'm not strictly looking for diceless systems, but they're not off the table either - so I'd love to hear about games you like and think are on the forgiving side of the spectrum with regards to bad luck streaks. Thank you!

THEME: “Forgiving” Games.

Hello friend, I love these kinds of games a lot. Here's a few outside of Numenera, which you already seem to know about. I tried to stick with games that have some longevity, although I'm not sure how long you can play Our Haunt as a campaign.

Vaesen, by Free League Publishing.

Welcome to the Mythic North – northern Europe of the nineteenth century, but not as we know it today. A land where the myths are real. A cold reach covered by vast forests, its few cities lonely beacons of industry and enlightenment – a new civilization dawning. But in the countryside, the old ways still hold sway. There, people know what lurks in the dark. They know to fear it.

Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying is written by Nils Hintze and based on the work of Swedish illustrator and author Johan Egerkrans. Vaesen presents a dark Gothic setting steeped in Nordic folklore and the old myths of Scandinavia. The game mechanics utilize an adapted version of the award-winning Year Zero Engine.

Vaesen allows players to do something called pushing the roll, although you can only do it once per any given action. You will roll a number of six-sided dice according to a skill + attribute combination, and aim to roll 6’s, which are successes. Pushing the roll allows you to re-roll any dice that did not come up as a 6, thus giving you a second chance - or a chance to be more effective, if you need more than one 6 to do what you want to do.

Since Vaesen is a horror game, however, this push doesn’t come without a cost. Choosing to Push a roll means that your character will have to take on a condition, which is represented as either a Physical or Mental injury or affliction. Take too many in the same category, and your character becomes Broken, thus requiring immediate medical attention. Conditions can be healed and cured, so how deadly your game is depends on how little (or much) rest time your characters have in between encounters.

Genesys, by Edge Studio.

Face down a dragon as a brave knight, hack into a corporate security system as an elite runner, set sail in your airship. Unlimited adventure awaits you in Genesys, a new roleplaying system designed for a variety of settings and limited only by your imagination.

The Genesys experience begins with the Genesys Core Rulebook, which features an explanation of the innovative narrative dice system and core mechanics of the game, an overview of five different settings in which to place campaigns, and advice for Game Masters to craft a myriad of adventures with unparalleled freedom.

So I’d really like to recommend the Star Wars RPG that spearheaded this system, but as far as I understand it’s getting harder and harder to get a hold of. The core system, however, is still available on DriveThruRPG, and I really like how it handles dice rolls. The Genesys system uses a custom set of dice that have three different levels of results: advantage/threat, success/failure, and triumph/despair. These symbols typically cancel each-other out. Both positive and negative dice have a number of different symbols on their faces, and rolling more successes for example, means you’re not going to have less advantages, while rolling a higher number of threats will lead to less failures.

This means that the two most common rolls you will get will be Success with a Threat and Failure with an Advantage. Therefore each roll has both a positive and negative result. If you end up rolling extra-special dice, you might end up with a Triumph and/or a Despair, which happen regardless of any other rolls. So you could have a Failure with an Advantage and a Triumph - which might mean that maybe you don’t unlock that door, but maybe you hear someone coming and duck into a hidey-hole before they show up - and they turn out to be an ally.

Genesys is a toolkit that you can use to make your own game, but if you want a setting to go with it, you might want to check out Realms of Terrinoth (Fantasy), Keyforge: Secrets of the Crucible (gonzo sci-fantasy), or Shadow of the Beanstalk (cyberpunk).

Masks: A New Generation, by Magpie Games.

Halcyon City has had more than its fair share of superheroes, superteams, supervillains, and everything in between. Your team of young supers must forge your own path amidst the pressures of a world full of people telling you what to do and who to be, and kick some butt along the way!

Masks: A New Generation is a superhero tabletop roleplaying game full of action, youthful angst, and dazzling bravery. Take on the roles of members of the latest generation of superheroes, young adults trying to figure out who they are and what kind of heroes they want to be.

MASKS is well-known and for a good reason. It’s an excellent introduction to the PbtA framework, and contains a lot of solid advice for the person who’s running the game. One of the core pieces of advice that you can take from this game to others in the same system-family is that of Soft and Hard moves. When a PC rolls a 6 or less, the ball is in your court, but as the GM, it’s up to you how bad the character fails. Soft and Hard moves are a key part of this.

While a straight-up failure may be needed once in a while, sometimes all you need to do is telegraph danger, and give your players another chance to try a different approach. This is called a Soft Move. You might place the characters in an eerie atmosphere but give them a chance to act, or present them with an NPC asking difficult questions, but give them space to answer. You might not even require them to roll at all - if you think that the hero should be able to do something, they’ll do it.

Finally, since Masks is about teenage superheroes, death isn’t really on the table. What’s at stake is their self-image, and that is reflected in the emotional damage the characters take. This chance to wrestle with why they truly are might even be something welcome for the players to dig into - I know me and my friends sometimes found moments of interpersonal conflict to be the most rewarding.

Endeavour, by Armiger Games.

You are an officer aboard the Interstellar Confederation Ship Endeavour. Your mission is to explore the galaxy. You will travel deep into uncharted space where you will encounter strange phenomena, make first contact with alien civilizations, and help those in need.

This is an optimistic-science fiction game. It is a game about a future in which humanity has progressed beyond the kinds of internecine conflicts that plague modern society. Advanced technology is common and has created a post-scarcity society throughout the Interstellar Confederation.

Stories in Endeavour generally involve some kind of moral quandary. Moreover, the futuristic setting acts as lens through which we can view contemporary social issues. The best such stories are fundamentally about the difficult choices the crew are asked to make and how they are affected by their experiences.

Endeavour is a play-set for AGON, a game about Greek Heroes setting out to make a name for themselves. You need AGON to play, but the rules for both these games take a very unique approach to solving problems.

Almost every conflict present in Endeavour is a collaborative Challenge. This means that any time an obstacle presents itself, the group has a chance to face it as a team. Facing Challenges as a team increases chances of success in two ways: in one way, since each player might be participating, there is a higher chance that one person or another rolls a high enough number to pass the challenge. However, players can also choose to aid each-other, foregoing a chance to gain Distinction but improving another player’s chance at success.

Our Haunt, by Rae Nedjadi.

We are ghosts. We are in a house we don't recognize. We have a handful of memories, and these memories are brief moments and flashes of barely something. The Living are nearby, and they encroach on our space, making their demands. Worse, there is a Thing in the Walls. It is ancient, inhuman. Hungry, yearning. Angry.

But this is Our Haunt now. This is our home, and we only have each other as family. If we take care of each other, good things will happen. We just know it.

Our Haunt uses a diceless system called Belonging Outside Belonging, or No Dice, No Masters. This can be GM-less, but it doesn’t have to be - and I definitely recommend checking other games that use this system if you want to control the level of failure.

BoB games use a token-based economy, where following certain prompts on your character sheet will give your character the ability to use other abilities listed on their character sheet. This creates a rhythm, between moves that invite interesting interactions or complications, and moves that push the story forward, or allow you to do something special.

Each playbook usually also has special moves that the character can do for free, that neither earn nor spend a token. Because the use of tokens is up to the players, failure will only happen when you decide it happens, and every failure banks a potential success, so even if Our Haunt isn’t what you’re looking for tone-wise, I definitely recommend checking out other Belonging outside Belonging games.

Slugblaster, by Wilkie’s Candy Lab.

In the small town of Hillview, teenage hoverboarders sneak into other dimensions to explore, film tricks, go viral, and get away from the problems at home. It’s dangerous. It’s stupid. It’s got parent groups in a panic. And it’s the coolest thing ever.

This is Slugblaster. A table-top rpg about teenagehood, giant bugs, circuit-bent rayguns, and trying to be cool.

Forged in the Dark games allow you to succeed at least partially on a result of a 4 or higher, so you’re much more likely to succeed with a cost than straight up fail, and even if you do take some kind of consequence, that consequence can always be thrown off by using something called a Resistance Roll. The original system, Blades in the Dark, still felt pretty brutal if you played it as written. However, Mikey Hamm, the designer for Slugblaster, wanted to make a game about teenagers hoverboarding across dimensions, not hardened criminals surviving in a brutal city, so he made some key changes.

Kids in Slugblaster may take “slams”, but no damage is permanent. Staying in another dimension too long may trigger an unpleasant experience called peelback, but it doesn’t kill you, and if you log a bunch of doom (the game’s Stress equivalent), you don’t take a permanent condition - you worry your folks, or have to spend your extra free time doing homework. At its core, Slugblaster’s biggest threat is losing your status - you’re not really in physical danger.

Other Games to Check Out

Wanderhome, by Jay Dragon.

Spectaculars, by Scratchpad Publishing.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #forgiving games

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darksaiyangoku · 6 days

Text

RWBY Witcher Tales

—The Seventh Paladin—

It was a cool morning in the Kingdom of Céline and outside of a small cottage was a young, blonde-haired boy named Jaune Arc. In his hands, he he held a long stick and came face to face with his opponent; a crudely made dummy of rags and straw. Jaune circled the dummy and delivered several hacks and whacks to it.

Jaune: Hah! Hiyahh! Hah!

Jaune was channeling every ounce of strength into each attack, smirking as he saw bits of straw fall to the ground. With a deep breath, he held the stick up high and smacked the "head" of the dummy with tremendous force, tearing it off.

Jaune: *pants*...maybe I overdid it a little. *chuckles*

The sound of trotting hooves alerted him to a nearby horse and cart. The driver, an elderly man named Barry, arrived on the road to pick up Jaune for work.

Barry: Still messin' around with that stick, young man?

Jaune: It's called 'training', Barry.

Barry: *chuckles* Oh Jaune, I thought you would've learned by now that your trainin' is worth dirt. No commoner in the history of Céline has ever rose to the rank of knight.

Jaune: *smiles* Then I'll be the first! Prince Carson is holding a competition to find worthy candidates and I'm gonna beat every single one of them!

Barry: *laughs* You'd have a better chance of findin' lost Elven treasures than beating a noble! Stop dawdlin' and get on the cart, you'll be late!

Jaune tossed the stick onto the dirt and jumped onto the cart. As Barry rode off, Jaune looked at the bright blue sky as he tried to cheer his spirits. No one ever took his ambition of being a knight seriously, as the only ones who were eligible were the children from the noble class. When he was younger, Jaune used to read fairy tales of simple folk who would accomplish great deeds, like fighting dragons, saving people and becoming heroes. He'd imagine himself in those stories and was desperate to show that they were possible. That a common boy could be something more.

Jaune: *whispers* Just you wait. I'll show all of you and become the greatest knight in all of Remnant!

[Kingdom of Céline - Claremont]

Claremont was a tailor shop located in the city of Céline, owned by Robert Claremont. He was a white-haired man of middle age, yet had the spirit of a youth. He could work on 10 or 15 clothes a day, and they would come out absolutely pristine! Jaune had been his apprentice since he was 10 years old and while he wasn't at Robert's skill level, he was showing good signs of improvement. Today was especially busy and Jaune was sweating from the workload. His eyes strained as he tried to focus on the last stitch of a green tunic.

Robert: Are you alright there, Jaune?

Jaune: Yep! Just gotta finish this... almost there... got it!

Jaune stood up and inspected the tunic, making sure everything looked good. It wasn't the fanciest of clothes but he was happy with his work and wanted to make sure the customer felt comfortable.

Robert: Not bad, my boy. I'm sure the customer will appreciate it. He'll be arriving today. Make sure you have your chin up, we have a lot more orders to complete.

Jaune: Yes sir!

Throughout the day, Jaune was hard at work measuring, cutting and sewing, nearly pricking his fingers a few times. One by one, the clothes were flying into the hands of satisfied customers. Soon, the last 5 minutes of work time was approaching and Robert was about to close up the shop. However, he was stopped when someone placed his foot between the door. Robert raised his eyebrow in confusion and remained calm as he tried to shoo the unruly stranger away.

Robert: *ahem* I'm sorry, but we are about to close now. You're free to visit on Monday morning, now please remove your foot from my door.

Stranger: I'm just here to collect my order. It won't take long at all. Please?

Robert: I- oh alright, but make it quick.

The stranger opened the door and stepped inside. Jaune's face turned pink as soon as he saw her. She had messy, white-blond hair and wore an ashen black leather corset, a tight green shirt, ripped black trousers and long, cream-coloured leather boots. On her back, she carried two shortswords, a bow and a quiver of arrows. Two features stuck out to Jaune the most; a pair of violet, cat-like eyes and a silver-coloured medallion in the shape of an eagle's head.

Jaune: *blushes* U-Uh um *ahem* D-Do you have y-your ticket, ma'am?

Stranger: Right here, darling. *shows ticket*

Jaune hurried to the back room and returned holding a crystal white sleeveless dress.

Jaune: I-I hope it's to your s-satisfaction, Mademoiselle.

The Stranger glanced at it and picked it up. She gave Jaune a satisfying smirk and bowed her head to him and Robert before departing. Jaune leaned over the counter, still smiling from ear to ear.

Jaune: Wow.

Robert: I wouldn't get too attached with the likes of her, Jaune.

Jaune: Hm? Why not? She seemed nice.

Robert: If you knew the line of work she does, you'd stay far away from her as possible. But enough about that, you did very well today. *smiles* Good work. Here you go, *tosses purse* your month's pay.

Jaune's hands nearly fell to the floor as he caught the purse. It was quite heavy. He slowly opened the bag and his eyes gleamed. Inside were 150 silver lien coins.

Jaune: My god! M-Maître Robert, this is way too much. I-I can't accept-

Robert: *chuckles* It's perfectly fine. You've come a long way these past two years and I am proud to have you as my apprentice. You've earned this coin. Take it.

Jaune was in awe and rushed over to hug his Master. Bidding goodbye, he left the shop and strapped the purse on his belt. Jaune walked with a skip in his step, not caring about who looked at him. But the further he walked, his happiness started to fade. He stopped in the middle of the street as the image of the silver lien pieces burned into his memory. It was a lot of money and Jaune knew that if he kept improving, he could make enough for his family and support them alongside his two older sister's jobs. But what would that mean for his desire to be a knight? Should he just give up? Stick something more normal and safe?

WHACK!

Suddenly, Jaune was knocked over as a sharp pain hit his back. He stumbled across the floor and his purse tore from his belt, the silver flying everywhere.

Jaune: *grunts* Agh! Ow!

Jaune looked up and glimpsed at his attackers. His eyes shrank as he recognised Cardin Winchester, son of the Bishop of Céline. Surrounding him were his friends, Dove Bronzewing, Skye Lark and Russel Thrush. Each of them bore an emblem of a golden cross that was crudely sewn onto their chests.

Cardin: Well, well, well. That's a lot of coin there, Arc. Now where would a commoner like you find such treasure?

Jaune: *pants* Agh... it's mine... I... earned from my job...

Cardin: *snorts* Why would a tailor waste his good fortune on someone like you? In fact, this *takes purse* should be donated to those who rightfully deserve it. The Eternal Fire thanks you for your contribution.

Jaune: Hey give that back!

Jaune sprang up and tried to grab his purse, only to be kicked in the stomach by Skye and Dove. He doubled over and fell to his knees and Cardin laughed sadistically.

Cardin: Oh give it up. You've been weak as a lamb ever since we were little and even if you could beat me, your ass would be sent straight to prison along with the rest of your family.

Skye and Dove held Jaune's arms while Cardin and Russel started punching and kicking him. He tried to escape, but the grip was too tight. His face and body stung with intense pain. Cardin was about to deliver the finishing blow when a hand gripped him tight and pulled him away.

Cardin: Hey! What do you think you're-

Cardin backed away in a rare moment of fear as he saw who interfered. Jaune gasped as he recognised the woman who purchased the dress from his shop.

Cardin: W-We need to run. Now!

Russel: What? But-

Cardin: Do as I say! If we stay here, she'll place a curse on us!

Skye and Dove dropped Jaune to the ground and followed Cardin and Russel as they ran away screaming. Jaune coughed and wheezed, still feeling the injuries dealt to him. The Stranger offered her hand and lifted him back up.

Stranger: Are you okay, darling?

Jaune: Agh! A-A little. T-Thank you, Madamoiselle.

Stranger: It's no trouhle and please, call me Robyn.

Jaune: O-Oh. Well thank you, Robyn. I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc.

Robyn: Nice to meet you. Who were those boys ans what was their problem with you?

Jaune: Ugh, they're Cardin Winchester and his little gang called 'The Eternal Fire'. They like to cause trouble for all the kids here, but especially nonhumans. Lately, I've been their favourite target. Why? I have no idea.

Robyn: Kids can be pretty cruel. What's stopping you from fighting back?

Jaune: *sighs* Even if I wanted to, I'd just get into trouble. They're all sons of nobles and if I defend myself, I'll be the one blamed for everything.

Robyn: Hmmm, I see. Tell you what, why don't I get you cleaned up and give you a hot meal?

Jaune: Wha-? I-I don't-

Robyn: *ruffles Jaune's hair* It's absolutely fine. After what you've been through, you could use some cheering up.

[Reynard Tavern]

Inside Reynard Tavern, Robyn chuckled as she watched Jaune devour a plate of sausages and baked potatoes.

Jaune: *munches* Ow!

Robyn: You might want to slow down a little. You haven't even healed yet from the beating.

Jaune: *feeble laugh* Sorry. I guess I was a little hungry.

Robyn: Clearly.

Jaune: *mouthful* Sho waz za dreff fo?

Robyn: ...

Jaune: *gulps* I meant to ask what the dress was for? Are you going to Prince Charles' banquet?

Robyn: Oh I wish. No, I have a mission to take care of that involves me looking my best.

Jaune: Hm? What is it?

Robyn: *chuckles* Nothing to worry yourself with. *ruffles his hair*

Jaune: Hmph. *small pout*

Robyn: So tell me, Jaune, what's it like working for a renowned tailor like Robert Claremont? He doesn't let just anyone work for him.

Jaune: Well he and my father used to go to the same school when they were children and, on my 12th birthday, it was decided that I'd become his apprentice as a favour. I wasn't sure at first, but I grew to like it. We get to meet so many interesting customers. Some of them local and some of them from other parts of Remnanf.

Robyn: That's wonderful to hear. I bet your family must be proud.

Jaune: Yeah I guess, but... being a tailor isn't really what I dream of.

Robyn: Hm? Then what is?

Jaune: I want to be a knight. A hero to defend my kingdom! Riding on horseback in shining armour! Brandising a sword at my side! Earning the glory of the kingdom!

Robyn: So you want fame and fortune? Not very chivalrous.

Jaune: Hey, it isn't about that! I just... I wanna prove to everyone that a commoner can be jusf as worthy as a noble to don armour. *clenches fist* That blood and status don't determine success.

Robyn: Hmmmm, I see. That does sound admirable and I do agree with you. Blood and status mean absolutely nothing. It's a flawed system designed to cause mistrust and anger among us all. *taps table* But first thing's first, do you even know how to use a sword?

Jaune: Um, I do practice a lot every morning before I go to work. I don't have a waster, but I use a stick.

Robyn: And do you practice with anyone at all?

Jaune: *shakes head* The things I know about sword fighting were from old books. The stances, the techniques, everything.

Robyn; I won't lie to you, you won't have a chance at joining the knights.

Jaune: ...o-oh. *hangs head*

Robyn; Which is why I'll train you myself.

Jaune: *looks up* What? Really?

Robyn: Of course. If you are serious about this and willing to put in the work, then I'll train you.

Jaune: Thank you so much! *grins*

Robyn: *raises hand* Don't expect this to be an easy ride, however. It will be gruelling. You will be beaten, bruised and bloodied almost daily. We'll treat our sparring sessions as real fights. Can you handle that?

Jaune: *nods head* Yes Robyn! I won't let you down!

Robyn; *smiles* Good. We'll start tomorrow. *leaves table* Bonne nuit.

Jaune waved goodbye as she left the tavern. His eyes sparkled with elation. For the first time in his life, someone didn't mock his ambition and was actually going out of their way to help him achieve it. He smiled again and made a vow not to let Robyn down.

[Arc Cottage Field]

Jaune yelled out as he was forced to the ground from Robyn's waster. His face, arms and legs were covered with bright red bruises and his lungs were burning fiercely. Robyn stood over him playing with her waster.

Robyn: I think it's time we took a break.

Jaune: *wheezing* No... I... can still... carry... on...

Robyn: Jaune, we're stopping here. You're tiring yourself out and that's dangerous. Your enemies will take advantage of that and kill you. So let's take a break.

Jaune: *groans* Fine.

Jaune and Robyn sat by a tree and she pulled out a small, glass bottle filled with light blue liquid. She gently poured some of it over Jaune's wounds, making him grit his teeth as it stung.

Robyn: I know it hurts, but you have to bear it. This medicine will help and you'll be fighting fit in no time.

Jaune: What is this thing?

Robyn: It's called Sunshine. It's a mild form of potion designed for healing.

Jaune: *winces*This is mild?

Robyn: Compared to the other potions I have. If you took those, you'd be in big trouble.

Jaune: *chuckles* I have to say, you're much nicer compared to what everyone says about Witchers.

Robyn: *raises eyebrow* I don't seem to recall mentioning I was a Witcher.

Jaune: Well you're not exactly hiding it. Aside from your eyes, your medallion is giveaway.

Robyn: *laughs* I suppose I haven't done a good job of blending in. I am curious that you never mentioned anything until now, though.

Jaune: That's because I wanted to see if any of the rumours were true and so far, you're not living up to them at all. You saved from Cardin, bought me a hot meal and are even going out of your way to train me. I'd say you're a good person.

Robyn: *smiles* You're a kind boy, Jaune. Never lose that. How are your wounds?

Jaune: They should be healing up soon.

Robyn: Excellent! Although since you know I'm a Witcher, I'm going to take this up a notch. *taps waster in her hand*

Jaune: Ehehe, you're joking... right?

[6 Months Later]

For many days and nights, Jaune trained hard. His body had seen a slight growth in height and muscle, he was more agile and his technique was more focused. Today was the last day of summer and many of the citizens were invited to Prince Charles' castle for a banquet. No matter their social status, everyone eas welcome be they peasant or noble. The Arc Family gathered with everyone in the courtyard and clapped along as Noir and Blanc, the youngest twins, joined the dance circle.

Saphron: Whooo!!! Go Noir!

Rouge: Show them how it's done, Blanc!

Verte: Hey Jaune, why don't you join in? Who knows, you meet even find a lucky lady. *winks*

Jaune: Wha- Verte! *blushes* Th-That's not why I'm here!

Rouge: Yeah, yeah, you're here for the swordfighting contest. Try to lighten up a little, we're just having fun.

Jaune: Hmph!

As the morning turned to evening, the main event was about to be begin. Arriving in the courtyard was the young man himself, Prince Charles of Celiné. He had ashen black hair with a large, cyan streak at the front, emerald green eyes and wore a long, white linen tunic that stunned the crowd. Beside him was his best friend and leader of his Six Paladins, Orlando Lima. He was tall and green-haired, with brown eyes and wore lightweight green armour. Charles turned around to see his audience as they bowed to him. After a few minutes of speeches, it was time for contest to commence. However, this was no ordinary contest, as Charles had made an interesting addition to the rules. The winner would be offered an official membership into the Paladins. Within the crowd, Jaune soon became nervous. There was no way he could compete with the other swordsmen, he had only trained for six months. One by one, many of the compeitors had been defeated and standing victorious was his old enemy; Cardin. Jaune was about to turn away until his brothers blacked his path.

Blanc: Come on, big brother! Go!

Noir: Yeah! You got this!

Jaune: Hold on, I- gwagh!

Jaune was pushed into the centre where he came face to face with Cardin, who laughed mockingly..

Cardin: Oh this is too perfect! The Eternal Fire has blessed me with victory if he sent you as my challenger.

Jaune: L-Listen Cardin, I-

Cardin: Don't worry, Arc. I'll make this quick as to not humilate you. Haaaaah!!! *runs*

Cardin raised his waster high into the air and tried a downwad slash. Without even thinking, Jaune parried the incoming attack and elbowed him in the chest, staggering him. For a moment, Cardin was in shock but quickly regained is composure as he resumed his attacks. Jaune dodged each one with graceful agility and thwacked him from behind. The crowd gaped in excitement and intrigue, as did Charles and Orlando. Cardin, however, was gerting angrier and carelessly thrashed around. Jaune blocked and countered each strike and landed several blows across Cardin's stomach, arms, shins and his face. Cardin reached his limit and yelled as tried to thrust, only to be kicked to the ground as Jaune disarmed him. He couldn't believe it. He had lost. Jaune put his waster back in its sheath and bowed his head to the Prince.

Charles: *claps* Marvellous! Absolutely marvellous!

Jaune: Thank you, Your Highness.

Charles: What's your name?

Jaune: It's Jaune. Fourth child of the Arc family and the first son.

Charles: Hm. I don't think I've heard of the Arc family before.

Jaune: *chuckles nervously*We're not exactly famous. We're a common family with jobs like servers or tailors.

Orlando: And yet your technique with a sword was impressive. You must have had an excellent teacher.

Jaune: You could say that.

Charles: *smiles* Well now since there's no more challengers, I declare Jaune Arc as the winner!

Jaune: Excuse me?! Y-You mean I get to be one of your Paladins?

Charles: *nods head*

Cardin: What?! *gets up* Your Highness, I demand that he be disqualified from this contest! He had no right to join this contest in the first place! He's not of noble blood!

Orlando: Now, now settle down. The contest was open for everyone to compete in. Status doesn't matter at all.

Charles: And Jaune won fair and square. As such, he will be a squire for the Paladins. *turns to Jaune* Do you accept?

Jaune: *bows* Yes, Your Highness!

The room erupted with applause and Jaune's face turned rose red with embarrassment. But the loudest shouts and claps came from his family. He had done them proud.

Jaune: W-Wow! I-I actually did it!

Orlando: *grins* Welcome to the Paladins, son.

Amidst the cheering was a violet-eyed woman in a hooded cloak, smiling proudly. History was made that day; the day when the Seventh Paladin had arrived.

#rwby #rwby au #rwby fanon #the witcher #fairy tales #legends #jaune arc #robyn hill #team crdl #cardin winchester #russel thrush #skye lark #dove bronzewing #rwby oc #robert claremont #orlando lima #charlemagne #joan of arc

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bleongambetta · 9 months

Text

A singular rite in the life of a tabletop designer is the creation of their D&D heartbreaker. I’ve held off on it personally, in part by making near-misses like RADCrawl, but the siren song has proven to be a little too powerful and thus I’ve started on extremely temporarily named BL-G Hack. It is just coincidence that I’m additionally trying out blogging at the same time, after reading a Twitter (X?) thread with discussion of how much in the indie space is lost to Discord.

I’m starting from a framework of what I want the game to feel like and how I want to work on the game.

What I Want The Game To Feel Like

In terms of the table experience, I want the game to feel like playing a mostly theater of the mind D&D. I’m a huge 4e apologist, but for this I want to try to capture what it felt like to play D&D as a kid and we goofed around with world and city maps, but didn’t usually get out the grid for combat. I want to evoke some of the Catalogue TTRPG feeling, but ideally with choosing things pretty quickly. I want for characters to feel powerful and be able to do cool things, without feeling like bags of HP.

There’s definitely some merging of PbtA and D&D that I’m aiming for; but I don’t want it to feel like PbtA. I’m aiming for resolution systems that give interesting results, not full on Moves. You roll d20s.

I want to have players battling monsters and feeling like badasses. I want the game to feel ‘gamey.’ I’m developing a set of toys that tell a fantasy story.

I want to simultaneously have the joy and excitement of playing a West Marches game while avoiding the feeling of ‘go out and conquer.’ I love looking at a map, exploring it, battling things, and grabbing riches… but I don’t want to casually recreate the same approach of D&D of ‘orcs are evil, we are allowed to take their stuff.’ Balancing that is a little fiddly, but I think I have a solution that I am comfortable with.

How I Want To Build This Game

I want to approach this game in the style of blogs, Dragon magazine, and tiny splat books of the 3.5 era. Scenarios, skills, abilities, classes, monsters, etc should be able to be relatively stand alone; the kind of thing that I can sit down and crunch something out over the span of a lunch break or two. I think I’m going to try to keep barrier to entry on this low, the intent is to let people explore what kind of D&D I like to play.

That said, I’m aiming to be able to after initial release have some fun with zine-size releases that give some locations, some monsters, class options, etc. I’m actually truly hoping to get a group together to actually PLAY this game and have that playing inform design… but, let’s stay realistic here.

Core Systems

So, without further delay… the first bites of The BL-G Hack.

Characters have stats, probably six of them, probably the same D&D stats. When a roll is called for, the player rolls at least a d20 and tries to get under their stat for a hit. A basic roll is d20, a proficient roll is 2d20, and there may be higher bonus dice than that.

One hit (rolling under your stat) gives you a partial, marginal, or barely managed success. Two hits (rolling twice under your stat or your stat exactly) is a full hit, a heroic hit. Three or more hits (rolling thrice under your stat or an exact roll plus an under) is a truly superheroic hit.

Characters have classes, which give them proficiency in some scenarios which allows them to roll two d20s instead of one. They also give them a couple of Abilities that allow them to do cool things and a table for starting equipment. When characters level up, they’ll get new abilities which can come from any class or situational ones. Character classes will be specific (think prestige classes from 3.5 rather than base classes), but hopefully pretty mix and match.

Between adventures, are Map Phase and Company Phase. The GM will run the Map Phase where dark forces move, quests and landmarks are added, and the map is revealed by the player’s actions. Additionally, some player abilities will allow them to be invited to Map Phase or give input into Map Phase. Company Phase is run by the players, where they can share equipment, spend gold to roll for purchases, and take downtime activities.

Call to Adventure

The world is misted in a choking miasma; remnants from the Shattering when the death of gods sent magic running wild, slaughtering and corrupting all it burned over. In few seats of power the mages who did not succumb to the falling produced the Dimlight crystals that hold back the corruption and prevented all life from being burned out. The spells that produce these Dimlight artifacts destroyed the mages who cast them, turning their bodies into haunting, crystaline statues that radiate safety. In larger cities, where mages worked in circles, the protection may extend over neighborhoods. In rural areas, where only a single adept worked the protection may be as little as a room.

The world in miasma is dangerous; elemental monsters and corrupted humanity feeds on all who dare delve into the mist. The very air stings to breathe where Dimlight doesn’t clarify it and can have worse effects. There are refugees in the miasma and small enclaves that have gained access to Dimlight, but most are clinging to a solitary existance separate from the world. Those who live in cities where Dimlight is more plentiful have can live more normal lives, though communication with other cities and wealth remain exclusive to the hands of nobles and the wealthiest merchants.

The world just changed; Dimlight has been miniaturized. A new generation of Dimlight spells can be created without killing it’s user and requiring significantly less space for the artificial crystal. Dimlight torches offer the greatest possibility, an opportunity for adventurers to delve into the miasma and destroy the godsplinters that corrupt the land. The world is still dangerous, even when the miasma pulls back the monsters remain. But there is no end to the treasures that could be gained; abandoned riches, incredible power, and reclaiming homes long lost.

Roadmap

Currently I've got this, four out of five starting character classes, and some ideas that I've got to get into paper. The actual PDF of it is probably a little bit off, but I'm hoping to have an accessible, playable version available soon.

If you'd like to get it as soon as possible, consider backing my Patreon where I'll be doing an announcement post with a link soon! There'll be an itch page too, but it'll need to be more final before that.

So what do you think? Wanna play some BL-G Hack?

#ttrpg design #ttrpg #game design #blghack #dnd #osr #ttrpgdesigntwitter #ttrpgs

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agronian · 18 days

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AKRON. my teacher, my love, my favorite insane person that i’ve ever met. yea, i stole the uhaul for him. ok? dont hate

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melonthesprigatito · 2 months

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So I found out in a Pokémon Masters OST comments section of all places that Atticus shows up as a special vendor in the auction market in Porto Marinada, and the things he sells are clothing items that are easter eggs from past games. The thing I find weird about it is that Atticus himself says that he "took inspiration" from clothing items to make replicas of them to sell. Which is fine except for the fact that there are some items he should have NO WAY OF KNOWING IT EXISTS.

So for funsies I'm ranking all of Atticus's auction items by how likely it is that he and the average Pokémon citizen would be aware of the existence of the things they're replicas of

Ball Guy Helmet: 10/10

Literally a famous sports mascot. Maybe if you weren't into battles you'd be unfamiliar with him but I bet if you typed Pokémon League Galar into PokéGoogle, he'd show up everywhere. There's merch of him too. Cursed, cursed merch. Plus, Penny is from Galar so she most likely told Atticus about the Ball Guy.

Replica Leader Bag: 9/10

More obscure than the Ball Guy, but again. Penny is from Galar, she probably informed Atticus about it. Marnie is the Dark Type Gym Leader at this point. Penny knows about Marnie as much as Paldea trainers know about their Gym Leaders, especially if Atticus decided to look for any neat styles he could copy from them.

Replica Dragon Gloves: 8/10

I fully blame Giacomo for this one. Had to Google Ryuki myself because I'm not familiar with his lore, but apparently he's a famous rock guitarist. Giacomo literally wrote the background music for Team Star, I bet he knows his musicians. I can 110% picture him running up to Atticus like "DUDE DUDE YOU GOTTA MAKE THIS"

Replica Expansion Suit Helmet: 7/10

Ranks surprisingly high considering that nobody in the Pokémon fandom knows what this it because 90% of players dont know that X and Y has a post game story, but assuming Scarlet and Violet takes place a few years after X and Y's post game, Emma has probably been working as Essentia for a few years at this point. A superhero working in the capital city of the region next door to Paldea is probably gonna be recognisable

Replica Aether Shoes: …..5/10???

Uhh….. Umm…. Huh????? I guess the Aether Foundation is famous… But THAT famous…? Would a guy in Spain know about an animal conservation company from Hawaii? And even if if they are that famous, I certainly don't know the kind of shoes Apple employees wear. Or Mc Donald's employees. Or literally any other multinational company. Why the shoes, Atticus? How do you know about the shoes? Why?????

Replica Aqua/ Magma Helmet: 3/10

Ok now this is just getting ridiculous. Even if everybody knew about what went down in Hoenn, I can almost guarantee that nobody knows the specifics or about SOMETHING THAT WAS SECRETLY DEVELOPED BY TEAM AQUA/MAGMA

Replica Ultra Glasses: -1000000/10

WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

Didn't Sun and Moon's Looker postgame imply that the existence of Ultra Beasts is something that the government/ International Police has been deliberately hiding from the public????? I assume the same goes for the existence of LITERAL HUMAN ALIENS. Either someone from the Aether Foundation leaked a selfie with the Ultra Recon Squad to some obscure message board or Penny hacked the Alolan government just to give her buddy inspiration for neat clothing items he can recreate. I can't think of another explanation.

#pokemon #pokémon #pokémon scarlet and violet #team star atticus #trainer penny #pokemon ball guy #pokemon marnie #pokemon ryuki #trainer essentia #aether foundation #team aqua #team magma #pokemon ultra recon squad

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moddedrevolution · 2 years

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#dragon city mod apk #gaming #how to hack #dragon city #dragon city mobile

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unadulteratedsoulsweets · 1 year

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A DC X DP IDEA #2 The love of a daughter

Imagine dis…

What if Daniella “Danny” Fenton has a former past and name that goes by Delilah Rose Wayne?

Delilah is nothing more than a sweet and happy girl who was showered with love from his older brothers, father, and grandfather. She is the apple of their eye as she lights up the room with her giggles and laughs. Her eyes twinkle and sparkle at any mention of space and stars, and wished to go to space and discover planets and life.

Richard “Dick” Grayson, the one who made sure that she felt cared for. He was there to keep her company, willing to paint his nails for her, willing to do acrobatic flips to impress her and listen to her rambling about her obsession with stars.

Jason Peter Todd, the one who made sure she has someone on her back. He was there to protect her from a simple stray dog to people who wishes her harm. He often managed to drag her into mischief like stealing a few cookies before dinner or even making a mess at the Wayne manor garden.

Alfred Pennyworth, the one who made her warm meals. He was there when it is mealtime. The loved each dish, she felt as if her grandfather made such a dish just for her and her family. She would help Alfred prepare some dishes as well as prepare tea for her father. The grandfather's warmth with each smile felt like she was in front of a fireplace holding a cup of her favorite cocoa.

Finally, her father, Bruce Wayne, was her knight in dark armor in the midst of chaos and darkness. Who played with her with a Batman costume that was bought from a dollar store somewhere? Who gave her life and made her the princess of the Wayne manor. Who read her favorite stories each bedtime after a kiss on her forehead. Who made sure that she felt precious and held her like an expensive pearl.

But those are nothing but stories from the past.

Like all of us we learn someday, that fairy tales are nothing but pure fantasy.

There is no prince charming that can swoop you up and save you from the monstrous dragon. There is no knight in shining armor who promised their loyalty and protection to you. You also live to learn that there is no happily ever after.

At the age of 6, she was told to change her name to Daniela for her safety and was shipped off to Amity park for her protection against rouges who wishes harm to the Wayne family and Batman. They wished for her normality and innocence would stay intact, thus shipping her off but promising to come to get her back after a few days.

She learned that promises tend to be broken.

She knew her father and brothers' nightly activity, loving them for protecting the such dreary city as home but also worrying and caring for them as every time they go out in the night danger lurks in the shadows. So she was patient, waiting day after day after day for her brothers, father, and grandfather for her by the window still.

Days turned into months and turned into years with no family in sight.

There are no brothers who would protect her from bullies. There is no father who would tuck her in for the night, but a large strange couple proclaims themselves as her parents even though her foster sister Jazz is more of a parent than a sister to her. There is no grandfather in sight but a weird man whom he calls her godfather.

But our story doesn’t end there.

Like every princess who lost hope on top of the stone tower, she rescued herself.

After the accident leading to her being both alive and dead at the same time, she carved her own destiny. She swore fate up above that she wouldn’t let this sit by.

Being a hero in a small part of the US patch of land where ghosts, GIW and Vlad are all after her head.

…

At 16 she made a decision, to destroy all things that are to harm her people.

She may be half human but her people come first and the people who called her family. Namely, Frostbite, Pandora, and Clockwork.

Destroying each government base leaving only ashes, hacking and releasing each database that contains their research with the help of Technus, destroying each technology and weapon the Fenton’s have made including the artificial portal down the basement, getting Nocturn to erase their memories on the fact that they are ecto-biologists and erase the memories of her friends.

Her human friends wouldn’t understand the weight of the crown on her head while the one who had raised her had laid down her life for her to escape the clutches of their own parents. Preparing contingencies in case another case of the Pariah Dark ever happen again.

She is her father’s daughter.

Random natural portals are caused by the imbalance of the realms. When she fixed the problem not only the citizens of the Infinite Realms are more than happy to have the balanced fixed.

Her entire being is the Infinite Realms herself.

Danny became a workaholic to avoid future aches in her core. Her former family living their best lives with her is out of the picture.

How is that fair? Am I not enough?

Seeing the smile her father gave to those he adopted.

How?!?!

Seeing the fond look that was given to her and only her to a SON

Is that it!!! Is it I am not a boy?

It was obvious that they have forgotten about her.

“That terrible feeling that you’re being replaced and there is nothing you can do to stop it.”

If they have replaced her then she can also replace them.

The observers as a grumpy tsundere grandfather, Clockwork a father she never thought she had, Pandora a mother who made her strong so that she could protect herself from the dangers of men, Frostbite an uncle who cared for her mental and physical being, and Dan a big brother who solemnly became her knight and brother alongside Fright Night to scare away the horrors she faced in the hands of her “families” Her former rouges as another figure in her life.

She was satisfied.

…

Danny is always drowned in paperwork Ember and Kitty had a great idea to start a band in the human realm. This was supported by all the adult figures in her life seeing that she neglected her human half.

Danny went along with it as long they won’t cause trouble like hypnotizing the audience, causing trouble…etc.

Johnny 13, Shadow and Shulker as their bodyguards, and Walker as their manager.

They had created the band Massacre Trio, in which they created songs about their life before the afterlife.

As for their stage outfits and names both Kitty and Ember stayed in their ghost forms and turn into their human forms when they are out enjoying teen things while Danny wore a skull that covers half top of her face and was given the stage name Shade, she wore a hard gothic style that had a bit of tech on her in memory of her life before the afterlife.

…

Timothy Drake became a fan after hearing one song as well as rest of the world.

At first, they were just creating songs and posting them on Vtube the next thing they know they are already performing on live stages.

Danny felt to be free, without the expectation of you being the King, without the care in the world about her family nor doesn’t care about the fact that this realm is where her ‘family’ lived but at that moment she lived for applause.

What she didn’t take into account are her ever-growing powers.

…

Tim forced the rest family to watch a live feed in their family living room as a family bonding, as it is also the day Shade reveals her face to the world.

The moment Tim opened the TV all four members were hit with nostalgia with the person wearing a skull singing her heart out in their new song.

(Danny never realized that whenever she sang with her heart it takes effect on those who heard her sing by being happy or crying their hearts out as her powers and core amplify her voice)

Oh, father

Please, father

I'd love to leave you alone

But I can't let you go

Oh, father

Please, father

Put the bottle down

For the love of a daughter

Don't you remember, I'm your baby girl?

How could you push me out of your world?

Lied to your flesh and your blood

Put your hands on the ones

That you swore you loved

Don't you remember, I'm your baby girl?

How could you throw me right out of your world?

So young when the pain had begun

Now forever afraid of being loved

The moment she removed her mask all four of them felt like the air was leaving their lungs.

That is Delilah…

That is my daughter…

That is my sister…

How?!?!!?

Now the Batfam are now scrambling to get to their missing piece while in the shadows Ra is looking at the female Wayne with both curiosity and disbelief all while Danny’s past is slowly catching up to her.

But do not worry her family of clan is right behind her refusing to part with her.

PS: If someone out there wanting to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so don’t forget to tag me though.

#dc x dp #dc x dp prompt #danny phantom #danny fenton #dick grayson #bruce wayne #jason todd #infinite realms #dc #dp #op danny #op

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breadnabreadd · 8 months

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✦ Oh boy! Here we go.

I created a LMK Au just for funsies. A furutistic, high technologic world with cyberpunk vibes! (Because I absolutely love this type of aesthetic)

✦ the picture above is just a quick drawing I did of Macaque in this AU. I will get into details about the AU while showing a few infos of a few LMKs characters alongside with their designs. (Just a reminder I'm still creating the AU and it's my first time making one. It might be a little messy, so I apologize if it gets too messy--)

Oh! And by the way, the characters on this AU follow the same basic formula as the original characters. So it doesnt have much changes, other than the world they live in, their clothes and a few events.

✦ MK, The Monkie Kid

• Its the same thing as our little MK from the animated series, he works at Pigsy's Noodles as a delivery boy, is the Monkey king's biggest fan and is his successor and pretty much the basic stuff.

• He learned about the Monkey king with Mister Tang. He is a huge fan.

• Tho he isn't a great expert, he knows how to how to fix computer cases, machines and vehicles and build stuff by using old pieces (he learned with Pigsy and Sandy, just in case his delivery vehicle breaks in the middle of the road or a something start malfunctioning in the noodle store). As we can see, he works more in the hardware part.

• He likes to collect the old pieces of old devices that people throw away in the city's old graveyard. It's like a type of recycling. (That's also how he find the Monkey king's staff but that is a thing I will tell in details in another day--)

• He loves to draw!!! Hooray!!! He also likes to play games. Is always playing video games with his best friend, Mei, on the arcade or online.

✦ Mei, The White Horse Dragon Girl

• She's a programmer/developer of softwares (Yes I know that in I drawing I said she's a "hacker but a bit clumsy" but actually i wanted to say shes a programmer. I was sleepy, it was 2 am, and my brain wasn't braining 😰😰😰---) with a few knowledge about hardwares. She created her technological helmet system with MK's help. (Her helmet it's similiar to Iron man's helmet from inside.)

• She built her own motorcycle, again with MK's help. She participates a lot motorcycles race just for funsies.

• Loves to play games. I guess I could say she is quite of a professional gamer? She play to win. But when she is playing with MK or with other friends, she doesnt care losing or winning, she only cares about enjoying some quality time with them.

✦ Liu'er Mihou, The Six Eared Macaque.

• Pretty much same as the original Macaque. (Lost his eye in the past with a fight against Sun Wukong. Omg betrayal. Yknow the deal-)

• Here he is a Hacker/Cracker.

"But what is a cracker?" You may ask. Now it's time for my nerd/TI studant side take over. A cracker it's a mean hacker. The cracker breaks/attacks the systems and webs for their own benefit, which it's for illegal purposes. Now a Hacker it's actually a job, which their purpose its to find the security breaches and ways to how break it, so then they can make the security stronger and prevent invasions/attacks at the system.

With that being said, Macaque is a hacker/cracker. So he makes defense systems to himself and breaks into other systems for illegal purposes.

• He got these gloves that helps him hack things better, he created it himself. He create floating holograms like it's a tablet screen and can hold on these holograms using these gloves. With a simple touch he can steal database from a device and hack it's system. (He can hack machines, computers, tech weapons and even the light system.)

• He got his shadow magic too, same as the original one. Shadow clones, shadow portals... but he kinda makes a fusion between his magic and the technology he invented to himself. (Before anyone say it. YES! I got heavily inspired by Sombra from Overwatch. 😔)

✦ The Monkey King, Sun Wukong

• Yeah, the Monkey king. The great sage equal to heaven. The silly who made a havoc on heaven---

• HE GOT THAT HUGE MECHA WE SAW IN THE ANIMATED SERIES BECAUSE HE DOESNT LIKE USING HIS KAIJU FORM !!!

But he doesnt use the mecha much. It has been CENTURIES since he last use it. Now MK is the one who uses it because he is Sun Wukong's successor.

• That's not his "Monkey King" royal clothes. It just some casual/comfy clothes to use in everyday life.

• He already knew who MK was. MK is a stone Monkey just like himself. Wukong have been watching the kid grow up from far. He grow a bit attached to the boy.

Sun Wukong surely wasn't expecting to MK being able to lift his golden staff, so he think in the opportunity to make him his sucessor and teach him how to use his new powers. (Yes, I was lisiting to "the horse and the infant" song. How did you kn--)

Oh God. That explanation was long.

✦ Welp, that's all for today!

I will post more stuff about the AU in the future. And I still need to think a name for it...

It is clear I got heavily inspired by Cyberpunk, techwear, overwatch, New Gods: Nezha reborn, Arcane and other stuff. I'm sorry, BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THAT AESTHETIC AND VIBES!! HHHHHHH-

✦ I'm a huge nerd. 🤓

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mightymizora · 5 months

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So I noticed with several of your posts that your interpretation of Banites are predominately masculine and is massively ‘good ol boys club’ leaning. I’m curious how in a world that operates under a different praxis of sexism, bio essentialism, economic discrimination, and fertility politics than our own, how and why this is the case. Does it have to do with the general personality types that are attracted to Banite worship? The group of people who just happen to have the means and motive to be attracted to Bane? Gortash’s conscious or unconscious bias? What does being a man mean in Banite culture, to you? I’m so sorry, this is way too long and way too serious ……

Eeee I get to get into this one! I'm only on my first cup of coffee and I am trying and failing to not make this a literal essay (EDIT I failed sorry this is long and I don't think I even answered everything)

And I'm also going to pre-empt this by saying I am not a sociologist, or a particularly smart person! So some of these ideas may be very hack!

So the first thing I have as a parameter here that there's three scopes of influence that inform looking at this to me - there is the version of Faerun and Dungeons and Dragons 5e that Larian put in the game (which I LOVE and appreciate very much, I love the direction that 5e has gone in) there is the history of the writing of some of these characters and the influences of those writers across the history of D&D, and there are the influences I have in how I've built my characters and the influences I'm taking. So I'll try and be clear about which is which where I can!

Under the cut for more as this is already too long!

So the first thing to acknowledge is that gender and D&D in 5e is at its best representation of all time, to me. Obviously things still to improve, but as somebody who started out in the days of 3.5 with all the myriad of problematic ways women were represented, and then through the 4e oddness of "Yes, you as a woman can do ANYTHING!" with no real backup in the worldbuilding, I really enjoy this and I like that Larian has gone for it too in a really meaningful way.

I also think that the Dead Three were created at a point of the most edgelordiest writing in the history of the franchise, and they wear that influence on their sleeves.

We're at a really interesting point in Faerun and Larian are really exploring that in BG3. We have the printing press, we have automatons starting to come into civilian life not just inter-planar stuff, we have pianos (!) and I think it's fair to say we are at a point of change and upheaval in how people live their lives. More information is flowing across the classes. There's more social mobility starting to happen. Automation brings different approaches to jobs, and it also brings unemployment, profit margins etc etc.

We're also at an interesting point with worship of the Dead Three. I'll leave the other two for now but The Church of Bane has already gone through a pretty dramatic reform partly due to the Banesdeath and subsequent rebirth of Bane (Sidenote I need to dive into the similarities and differences between Iyachtu Xvim and The Dark Urge at some point.)

My inference is that in a combination of changing socioeconomic and socio-political norms (we can also include what happened to Elturel and Neverwinter in that, two big local powerhouse cities dramatically altered in the past twenty years before the game) has opened up a lot of potential for a lot of uncertainty, fear, and opportunity in both the church and the way power is perceived. I think this is somewhat supported in the game with just how Gort has risen to power. We get tons of ambient dialogue about the sort of cult of personality he's ridden in on in the general public. He will literally say anything to anybody to get his own way, as shown by his political manifestos having different core values. So I think this is also reflected in the Banite worship.

The Banites traditionally are people with means and ambition, which makes sense, but who those people are could be seen to be shifting too. Landlords, foundry operators, new captains of industry are likely to hold as much sway as the fading patriars. I think it offers a great deal of potential both for progress, but also regression of ideas. It also means that it would be easier, I think, to target new members by positing it as a business venture, which I think we have a little, possibly, support of in the text. It's a club for people of means. Oh, and it's a cult. But you're okay with that, right? Here's some money and some contacts.

I've shown the good old boys club of Bane (which was influenced by the lore line that they were as likely to solve disputes through lively debate, it took me right back to gentlemen's clubs) but I think there are a myriad of ways of worship now that basically play to the indulgences of the participants that best show their hunger to usurp each other. Where they were literally killing each other for dominance, it's now a more subtle set of rituals. Gambling, sex, fight clubs. Rather than torture to evoke fear as the offering to Bane, fear is now a pact offering. Everybody has their metaphorical hands around each other's neck in vice.

I do think there are women, and I do think Gortash hosts them just as he hosts the boy's club I've put forward, but in my interpretation he sees value in dividing, in creating these silos of worship and letting people create their own competition to try and destroy. At the end of it he doesn't care about who is under his boot, as long as they are, as long as he has control of them, and as long as they're looking to each other as the enemy and not to him. I think he would absolutely play into gender politics as part of that.

When it comes to influences I bring, I really like the idea that progress is not as linear as we always assume it is. I read a lot of Victoriana and I find it so fascinating that a lot of British ideas of values and things were really completely made up in that era (on a very not smart note, that's what I'm evoking in my writing. It's literally "enforcing gender essentialism and being Victorian style reformers is evil, actually." Not really very deep.) Myths were repackaged, etiquettes re-examined. Attitudes to sex were a huge one - the Georgian period had a huge shift in attitudes to sexuality and then the pendulum swung back. So I'm putting forward that one of the easiest ways to gain followers is to play into people's worst instincts. I'm not retconning the crap gender politics in earlier editions of D&D, but saying they were of the time and history in-game as well, and Gortash is very cynically using them to gain support. He encourages people to think that they are special, that they are the power, and to look down on the other, but he changes who the other is to suit himself (very contemporary politics there, Gortash...)

The Dead Three have historically been very, very masculine, and I don't think this changes if you have a default Durge. There can, I think, be a case for a reading of the gods being of a different era, a bunch of cringefail men, and their choices of chosen which leans into old misogyny when it comes to Orin (who could have a whole post of her own because of course, as a changeling, she isn't bound to gender at all, but is percieved as girlish, more on that later.) Bhaal being obsessed with siriing offspring and the big buff Bane examples etc. and I do think there's something interesting in their values being also out-of-step with the world. They will never win not only because they suck, but because the world has moved on. Again, Kelemvor and Cyric deserve their own posts here...

I really, really like the idea of Bhaalists and Banites essentially swapping their worship styles a bit and this is only from my own readings. Bhaalists becoming more obsessed with hierarchies and secrecy, Banites becoming more of a club for vice and taking on some of the weird gendered things Bhaal is guilty of as a means of control.

(I also REALLY like the idea of the Dark Urge being a woman, non-binary, or gender-shifting through how they identify and/or being a changeling, firstly because I like the idea of Bhaal God of Mess wanting to try something new. I also like different idea of having a womb and being able to birth in changing Bhaal's plan. It's not wide spread of seed, it's gestation, it's something personal and can be seen as sacred. The Dark Urge is a vessel for Bhaal in multiple ways. And thirdly particularly in trans Dark Urge works I love the idea of autonomy in that. Does Bhaal approve or no? Is this defiance or blessing?)

I'm going to stop there because honestly I could go on forever but this is the surface-level considerations in the worldbuilding of my fics.

#long post #banites #this was long and didn't really get into depth with ANY of it #but I hope it's of interest?

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