I looked inside and lo, I loved the beast I found.

Louva, the Dread Fist monk.

---"Rejection of One's Kin"--- A drawing I did of my newest dnd character Matthew Hastur! A cursed eldritch boi who trying to find a way to cure his supposed curse thats consuming him and regain his lost memories+ more. ^^

Spelljammer Campaign Concept

Since I’m space-ttrpg brained at the minute. One thing specific to spelljammer’s Astral Sea setting that I really wish they’d added more to is the idea that it’s full of dead gods. And live ones, yes, but it’s the gargantuan celestial corpses that I’m interested in. (Which sounds weird when I say it like that, but anyway). There’s a canonical city, the githyanki city of Tu’narath, built on one of these corpses, and apparently in older lore Red Wizards of Thay pulled an artefact that beat like a heart out of it. There’s an idea that some aspect of divinity or even life still resides in some of these vast remains, some spark of godhood that provides power and even some animation to a thing long dead. In whatever sense gods can die.

And. Look. That is a hell of a concept to just throw out there and dismiss in a single sentence and small sidebar in your new setting book. I’m mad about it. Anyway.

The Astral Sea is littered with the corpses of dead gods, strange and forgotten deities from thousands of worlds. Strange beings that have become strange places, islands in a silver vastness, sometimes still pulsing with the echoes of divine life and perhaps divine natures. Places big enough to build cities on. Or dungeons in. Big enough to explore. Searching for what?

So. Picture this campaign. A mysterious backer is approaching the crews of adventurous spelljammer vessels, sponsoring expeditions to strange places in the Astral Sea. Terrifying places in the Astral Sea. The remnants of what were once gods, and now are bizarre islands full of strange magic and the echoes of old divine domains. This backer is searching for something specific from these sites, these corpses, and, on top of actual payment, is willing to allow crews to keep anything else they find on these expeditions for themselves, provided they bring everything they find back and allow the backer to examine them and choose a single item for themselves. Upon receipt of this item, they will pay the crew what they owe, and allow them to keep the rest.

This is because it’s not an item they’re searching for, as such. It’s a shard. A shard of lost divinity. A fragment of celestial life, still throbbing at the hearts of vast corpses. The form it takes will be different every time. The form of the deity will be different every time, and so the seat of their last remaining fragment of divinity will be different also. It might look, and feel, like anything. But the backer will know it when they see it. And they’ll pay for it.

They’re not going to say this, of course. They’re not going to tell anyone what they’re looking for. But they’re sending crews out. Maybe they’ve been sending crews out for a while. No one ages in the Astral Sea, so maybe they’ve been on this quest for time without meaning. One shard isn’t enough. Not for their purposes. Many of them are so small and so faded, bare motes of potential after aeons of death. They don’t want a single fragment of divinity, this person, they need enough to make a whole one. A whole divinity. Necromancy of the rudest sort, a frankensteined apotheosis. If you eat the fractured souls of enough dead gods, sooner or later, won’t you become one yourself?

I’m picturing an eldritch lich, personally. One that’s been listening to whispers from the Far Realm for far too long. A puppetmaster being puppeted themselves, maybe. What forces in creation have an interest in the ascension of a frankensteined god? What would the results be of a god made of pieces, torn fragments, of so many lost and disparate and unwilling dead deities? Any and all deities. Good, evil, alien, of any and all domains, scavenged and consumed into a single, roiling whole. What sort of divinity would result from so traumatic a process? And what would that divinity then do?

But all that’s in the future. An endgame perhaps aeons or only a few remaining shards down the line. For the moment, what’s being asked is this:

Travel the Astral Sea. Find the body of a god. Venture into its depths. Bring me everything you find.

Now. I’m going to take objection to the description of the dead gods provided in Astral Adventurer’s Guide, and offer a different direction:

“The Astral Sea is also where one can find the petrified remains of gods who were slain by more powerful entities or who lost all their mortal worshipers and perished as a result. A dead god looks like a gigantic, nondescript stone statue that bears little resemblance to the divine entity it once was. Githyanki, mind flayers, psurlons, and other natives of the Astral Plane sometimes turn these drifting hulks into outposts and cities, many of which are hollowed out beneath the surface.”

A giant nondescript statue that looks nothing like the deity once did. No. Boring. Even Tu’narath still has six arms, so there’s some resemblance happening there. And besides. It’s just cooler, more fun, more interesting, if the dead gods do resemble what they once were. If they are influenced by what domains they once held. Because then … the universe is your oyster.

They’re all different. All these island corpses. These slain gods. This is the Astral Sea. These are the deities of a thousand worlds and a thousand species and a thousand forgotten realms. They might look like anything. Shaped by the echoes of the god’s nature and its domains and its species. The dead sea god that looks like a vast alien whale, whose gut is filled with strange waters and strange creatures, and into whose belly the party must venture. A forgotten deity of knowledge whose vast skull now contains a calcified, crystalline ‘library’ with aeons of knowledge written in light onto spun fibres of crystal. A deity of madness, darkness and despair whose corpse is a labyrinthine maze of passages that leech will and soul the further you venture into them, a lingering undead malice that doesn’t want you dead so much as maddened and undone. And your sponsor won’t care, so long as at least one of you makes it back, that shard of dark power clutched in your trembling fist.

Some of the bodies might still be guarded. Some of them might be inhabited, with cities and realms nested into their bones and calcified flesh. Some might be considerably more ‘alive’ than others. Some might be just stranger than others, deities so lost and far-flung and alien that nothing about even their inert remains makes sense. You have … an infinity of options here. Let your inner dungeon designer completely off the chain. These are the corpses of dead gods made physical, floating in an infinite silver sea of possibilities. There are no rules, not even physics. You could do literally anything you wanted here.

It'd make sense if the backer was sending crews to less well-known, and therefore perhaps stranger and more dangerous, corpses, just to be sure that no one had taken or destroyed what they’re looking for already. The more alive ones, more likely to still contain lingering power and divinity. So you have an excellent excuse to get weird up in here.

Basically, if you want a vast, eldritch, apocalyptic dungeon crawl, or series of dungeon crawls, in space, then the Astral Sea is very much the perfect setting. Although, yes, this is likely a high level campaign, unless you want to guide the party in with more accessible godly dungeons first. Even then it’s probably on the high side.

There’s also the shards themselves to consider. They’ll likely be potent magic items. You’re holding a piece of a god’s divinity in your hand. With powers probably themed to what the god would have been in life. Although they don’t necessarily need to be powerful. The divinity might be faded enough, shattered and torn by death, that it doesn’t do much externally anymore. Its power is intrinsic to what it is, not what it does. And maybe that makes more sense for how crews are willing to give them up afterwards, if they’re only mildly impressive amidst other loot.

Though that could be a thing. If it’s a magic item that you know for a fact your party will want to keep, and then that could bring them into conflict with their ‘backer’ before they ever maybe twig to the greater issue going on.

And there is a question of how and if they do twig to that. How would they find out the goals here. Are there other interested parties who’ve figured out what our backer is trying for? Or simply parties who are aware that they have been desecrating dead gods and who object on purely moral and philosophical grounds? How has society in the Astral Sea evolved around the fact that there are dead gods just drifting around?

How do living gods, deities with living dominions in the Sea, deal with the idea that there is a creature going around looting the corpses of their deceased forebearers? Grave-robbing in the Astral Sea can potentially be a couple of orders of magnitude more apocalyptic than the terrestrial equivalent normally manages, and I do love that.

(Or maybe it’s not apocalyptic. Maybe there’s nothing left in the dead gods that could actually make a new one, no matter how many you eat, and those few deities who are aware of our backer’s quest, deities of knowledge, perhaps, just look at them with pity for this obsession, delusion, of theirs. They don’t want them stopped because of the danger, but just because of the disrespect, the desecration. That, and the fact that eating bits of dead gods, while it might not make you a god yourself, still won’t do anything good to you, and perhaps there is a certain amount of not goodness happening that does need to be dealt with. Dealer’s choice.

Or perhaps the gods think that, and they’re wrong, and now you have to convince incredible all-powerful entities that there is a genuine threat there, whether they believe it or not)

I just. You can’t just put that out there, that this setting you’re casually sailing around is full of dead gods, and not … do something with it. Expand on it. Play with the implications of it. The Astral Sea is a vast, infinite celestial graveyard, and the remains of dead gods are locations you can interact with. That is a concept, and you can have a bit more fun with it than ‘nondescript statue asteroids that people can build on’ over here. Lingering echoes of what those deities once were, fragments of divinity, the sheer magical and theological potential of being able to grave-rob a dead god. Come on. You have divine corpses, in a setting where necromancy exists. Somebody’s gonna do something apocalyptic with the implications of that, you just know they are.

And in the process, you can get some really cool and weird dungeons to explore. Heh.

Spelljammer has such potential as a setting. The Astral Sea allows so many possibilities. How do you open with ‘you are sailing through a setting where you can make port at a god’s house or at a rock that is a dead god’ and just … park that there and leave it? Good god. Good gods. And bad ones, and weird ones, and completely inexplicable ones too.

I’m not sure Wizards quite understood how much they jumped the scale by bringing spelljammer back and putting it in the Astral Sea. So many settings have archmages and other people spend so many resources to try and reach the realms of gods, and in spelljammer you and your dinky ship can just sail up and knock on their door. Maybe not get in, but you can totally just heave up to any deity who has a Dominion in the Sea and at least knock. You can put your smuggler’s cache in a dead god’s skull. The deities are now, in this setting, significantly more interactable. If you want to try and necromancy a god’s corpse, that is a thing you can attempt.

Which is probably why they tried to tone it down with the whole ‘nondescript statues’ thing, that dead gods in the Sea are just rocks that people build on/in, but … Honestly? It’s still a dead god. You can’t undo the raw scale of that. And maybe you shouldn’t, either.

Nah. Play into the bonkers scale and setting implications of a potentially infinite number of god corpses just littered around the place, with the astral floating kingdoms and vacation homes of living gods keeping them company, and you in your dinky little boat sailing cheerfully out among them. Because that’s amazing, it really is.

Anyway. Have fun. Moving swiftly on.

well @voidsteeth has given me the power to ramble a bit more. PLEASE ignore the cat in that picture, for some goddamn reason it's the only way tumblr let me post this goddamn picture. it's a nice kitty, mind you

Up above, some really loose logo/main pic ideas for it! Excuse my terrible handwriting. Let me do it bullet-point format since it helps my adhd pin down stuff

So, it's gonna be a RPG. I wanna figure some fun gimmick and I surprisingly have a bunch of that well fleshed out! (Part of it revolving the elemental system, concerning Flesh/Memory/Mind/Matter/Soul). I'm not a huge fan of the repetitive encounter "smash everything in front of you" format. I'm going to be using RPG Maker MZ. My partner has a lot of experience with that, which should help a lot!

Inspired by a bit of a mix of classic JRPGs and more recent indie RPGs, specially Rpg Maker stuff. I've been raised watching my dad play the old Final Fantasy games (which I love dearly, specially IX, X and VII), but I've ended up loving the more recent indie scene myself (OFF, Oneshot, Undertale/Deltarune, Everhood)

(I'm gonna be playing more RPG Maker games to help with inspiration and knowing how much I can bend the system- Please feel free to recommend me some!)

Set in a sort of high fantasy setting, and it takes a bunch of stuff from the one I run my current DnD campaign in. I think it will feel familiar to DnD/PF players, but I'm going all in with my own worldbuilding! I wanna set myself apart from these.

I want to have a sort of in-game illustrated encyclopedia because I really dig that. I liked the way OFF used images here and there to add to the lore. I just love the idea of being able to collect pages and learn more on the way. I've sketched the ones for the elements already!

Themes will spin around friendship and human connection, eldritch horror flavoured stuff, and some temporal shenanigans too. It will also tackle on the importance of understanding the past- The story will put some focus on how people are too busy pillaging a ruined city to understand what actually destroyed it in the first place. Which, well, it's the kinda thing to have consequences.

I'm planning to work on this on my free time, and once it has a nice shape (and perhaps a playable demo), I may consider having a Kickstarter to complete it. I'm fairly confident I can handle (with enough time) most of the parts of it. I just need to get a bit familiar with pixel art (for the maps). I used to do that ages ago! I'm also familiar enough with programming and have done small web-games in the past.

The one thing I am absolutely not qualified enough for is music. I wanna try honing my skills but- Oh boy. (on that note, if you know of small musicians that are open for commissions, do let me know! Just as a very preliminary view)

also you can bet this is gonna be really LGBTQ+ themed. I wanna also take the chance to maybe sprinkle in some of my heritage's stuff, I've wanted to do that for ages!

I'm of course always open for specific questions about this. I'm really excited to work on it and help my mental health on the way. I'll do my best to share some concept art, mock ups and such as I get it more fleshed out! I have some enemies pinned down and I think people will really enjoy these designs : )

Heart-Purr is another of my dnd characters that has a very unique build. She is a humble, traveling tabaxi bard who plays her enthralling hurdy-gurdy tunes to downtrodden souls. At least, that's how she appears on the surface. Her real name is Fuchsia, and behind her fluffy disguise is a monstrous thri-kreen hypnotic illusionist, a form she trusts very few to see.

In a past life she used her bewitching powers to amass wealth through a host of hapless victims. But in time she realized her ability to pierce into people's minds could be used to help instead of hurt; She could soothe and heal anxious, troubled, haunted minds, a task that felt infinitely more fulfilling than scrambling their brains for coin. Unfortunately, Fuchsia's life of manipulation caught up to her (she may have extorted a wealthy crime syndicate), and was forced to flee from her homeland. From there, "Heart-Purr" found herself in a foreign nation and thrust into a harrowing adventure where the fate of the world hung in the balance. Also, evil clowns.

Now I'm gonna rattle off some fun facts about her build because honestly I'm still proud of it...

Fuchsia is a 3rd Level Eloquence Bard / 2nd Level Archfey Warlock multiclass.

Thanks to class bonuses, the lowest she can possibly roll on a Deception Check is 19.

She has the Mask of Many Faces Invocation, allowing her to maintain her "Heart-Purr" form indefinitely. She also had the Duel Personalities background feature, further bolstering her ruse. The other players did not know she was a Thri-kreen was she joined the party, and Fuchsia managed to go entirely undetected during the campaign. Ultimately, she chose to willingly reveal her true form to the party.

Because her Heart-Purr form lacks the extra arms of her Thri-kreen form, when she dual-wields daggers with those arms, the daggers appear to just hover in midair (she claims to have telekinetic powers to explain this).

Fuchsia prefers to be a "hands off" sort of combatant though; she has low damage output herself, but has several spells and abilities that force the Charmed condition on enemies, making her foes do the dirty work for her.

With the right combination of spells and abilities, she can give enemies anywhere from -3 to -14 to their saving throws, making it extremely difficult for them to resist her mental manipulations. And with her Eldritch Mind, she is also good at maintaining those Charms.

Because she's a Monstrosity, she's protected from a number status spells that only affect Humanoids (notably Charm Person), making her difficult to Charm herself.

My favorite combat moment in the campaign was when she mind controlled a massive, eldritch Iron Maiden that was destroying a city. But then an enemy spellcaster wrested control by Charming it themself, which Heart-Purr did not stand for and Charmed it right back, and from there the encounter spiraled into those two fighting a mental battle for control over the metal monster. It was legit one of the coolest things I've ever experienced in a combat.

What subclass is Dandelion? I’m guessing Archfey because you mentioned charm magic a while back?

Also, was the amazing Dande always a Warlock in your mind? Or did you ever consider other classes/subclasses for him potentially?

I’m wishing for his swift recovery from his curse!

Yeah, Dande's an Archfey Warlock (patron not yet revealed, but he says he gets his magic from his grandma).

Dande's my first dnd/ttrpg character and I knew immediately that I wanted to play a Warlock because it has a built in dynamic I like to explore (loyalty? sold souls in a way? conditional "love"?). Actually, when my friend who is the DM put out feelers on twitter for who wanted to play, I was immediately like, "I wanna play a drow warlock!!!"

For the subclass I wasn't sure. To be honest I really wanted to go GOO Warlock because I dig eldritch horrors and horror in general, but ultimately I went Archfey since i found a story that clicked better for baby's first dnd game; I wanted an older elf who has adventures a lot already but wanted narratively satisfying reasons for starting at level 1, so I figured a warlock that forgot most of their magic could work well, and also a character with memory problems in general could play well for me, someone completely new to dnd. So: Feywild! Memory loss! And a lighter tone of magic for a game I wasn't certain what the narrative tone would be like, but I figured it'd be lighter than what I tend to make.

And then I got very lucky and have gotten to play him for over a hundred sessions which is a total dream so he's gotten to grow a LOT.

I will one day have to make a GOO Warlock, though. Or maybe just DM for one one day in a long campaign. either way I get to dip into that GOOd shit.

And thank you for the well wishes!!! He needs them 💀

a stereotype of each cast member, for new TLOVM members looking into the stream:

laura (vex) is obsessed with dice. she has an entire bag full that she brings on EVERY episode. also, she makes a lot of dick jokes. a lot.

taliesin (percy) is an ancient eldritch immortal entity. every tear shed at the table adds another day to his lifespan. also, "your soul is forfeit" was improvised.

sam (scanlan) was in an a capella group in college. also, he was in les mis as a child. i bet this explains a lot of things.

travis (grog) HATES scary things. anything horror terrifies him. i bet this explains absolutely nothing.

marisha (keyleth) hates shirts with sleeves. one of their merch items is a tank top that says "sleeves are bullshit". also, she's from kentucky. this is surprisingly relevant at times.

ashley (pike) was in a show called Blindspot. her character canonically plays d&d. upon being asked, "what do we do now, elf sorcerer?" she responds with, "actually, i am a gnome cleric."

liam (vax) is the reason critical role exists. he asked matt to run a pathfinder game for his birthday, and they kept going until Geek&Sundry offered them a stream deal and critrole took off.

matt (sylas, and in campaign, Everyone Else) is FREAKISHLY good at sound effects. you might think "he can't be that good." WRONG. YouTube "your voice actor is showing: sound effect edition" and listen to him replicate some of the most complicated and terrifying sounds ever.

Hey fishsticks, today I will be talking about the beautiful world of Vundabar! Where all our campaigns take place!!!! SO WORLD LORE INFO DUMP BABY!!!!

Vundabar is a world filled with magic, emotion, love, hope, and despair. At times it can get a little silly but underneath it, lies a hopeless goddess yearning for her love, a dark fog that creates to destroy, a walking fish that started it all, and eldritch horrors that represent nothing and everything.

Let's dive in shall we!

Here's a map! Created by our good friend @theccrowsnest (go follow them) On the left is Dehd and to the right is Vundabar!

Let's talk about Vundabarian history!

It all started about eleven thousand years or so with a fish that could walk, he was born in the middle of nowhere but he looked up to see the moon so he spoke to her. She answered and told him how to build a beautiful world with magic so great it'll make a mark on the universe for as long as it stands. So he tasked a wandering giant to help build the new world and more. The giant could mold rivers with a kick, build mountains out of dirt, and breathe fire into the world for everyone to use. After a hundred years or so of creation, the fish wished to give the world a gift so it tasked the giant once again to build a mountain like no other, an enormous mountain as big as itself, one that could reach the moon, so that everyone could see it no matter where u were. "Bauhaus". The giant created smaller giants to help and those giants created smaller giants called "Dwarves" to help some more. It was around this time though that a malevolent entity grew aware of Vundabar and began to lurk... "The Dark".

It presents itself as a black fog never revealing anything else for if you saw its face then you're already dead. The Dark is the representation of evil in the universe, going by many names throughout history, it created "The Symbols" horrifyingly powerful abominations with one goal in mind. The Moth, The Owl, The Bear, The Beast, and The Wolf. Each one is stronger than the last, each one a different horror story on its own, each playing a different part in the darks mission to destroy all life. Thankfully none are seen around as much anymore except for one...

But back to the history lesson!

After another hundred years or so Bauhaus was almost finished WHEN SUDDENLY.

"Her." arrived. The Goddess of the Moon and Creator of the Universe.

It's not known what exactly happened that day but the fish and giant both disappeared abruptly afterward and a great war commenced against her. She sat at the top of Bauhaus while her army laid waste to the few who stood up against her, this was a time of great peril, and many lives were lost. Thankfully the first group of heroes rose from the stardust called "The Miracle".

QUICK SIDE NOTE BEFORE WE PROCEED!

In the universe, there is a "god" aka "The L1ght" The Creator of Life. The L1ght is also the energy that flows through all living creatures and is what is known as your "soul". Back to history class!

The Miracle. The first group of heroes on Vundabar, all representations of one of seven virtues and filed with the L1ght. They formed when the world needed them most and so they established peace, order, and kindness. They defeated all those with "Her" and The Dark's abominations sadly though during the final war that gave them their victory against her their leader was killed and a deity called "The Mother of All Creatures" died to her hand. This act caused "The Great Crack" to happen that split the sky in four and the land in two which created the continent "Dehd". Now "Her" is said to still reside at the top of Bauhaus to this day but no ones ever confirmed it as for whatever reason during the war Bauhaus was cursed to be unclimbable and unescapable except for giants of course who could come and go as they please due to building it but anyone who dare enters is certain to die.

So yeah that's pretty much it and there's a bunch more I could talk about like "Dehd" or "The Woods" or even "The Thin Place". Maybe I'll talk about "N0TH1NG." next? Who knows but until then have a great day!!! Though I'll probably talk about Vundabarian Gods, Deities, and Creators next!

Okay, that was a GOOD episode.  The first episode definitely had some pilot difficulties, but it seriously feels like they’re hitting their stride with this one.  I am totally in love with what Laura’s doing with Arlo, and Ashley is a delight as Auggie.  Anjali’s performance as Charlotte gets more and more nuanced and tragic, and I can’t wait to see where she’s going with it.  They were all so compelling this time around, and taking some major hits and poor roles meant that they all got shaken up a lot worse this time around.

Matt’s DMing also felt a lot more tuned into the horror side of things this episode, with the monster being intensely Soulsborne-y (the mass of bodies glommed together is such a Dark Souls thing, but I love it!), and had a lot stronger of an eldritch horror vibe, with some Hunger Beyond Time coming after everyone because of an artifact.  I really, REALLY hope they get sent to Oldfaire next episode, as it’s their last for this Circle, and I really want to see that part of the city, given how much it’s been hyped up, and how likely it is to intersect at least with Arlo’s backstory, and possibly also Charlotte’s (and maybe Howard’s too??).

But there was one stand-out tonight, in an episode in which everyone was on top of their game, and that was Robbie Daymond.  Holy shit, no one heard “you are in a horror game” and took it to heart quite like he did.  He’s going full Reanimator, and I love his choices.  His self-trepanning scar was horrific in the best possible way, and then there’s whatever happened at the end with him.  Who is Dean?  Was that his reason to get into Candela?  And what the hell does it mean that the phantasmal force just dove straight into his head??  He is getting more and more unhinged as we get into this story, and I am so here for it.  I get the feeling he’s the most likely character to die in the next episode, with Charlotte very close behind (”You have to give everything” has a very ominous ring to it), and I think Arlo and Auggie might make it out to make later reappearances, but who knows?  They rolled like ass tonight, so hopefully they saved a lot of sixes for next time.  I’m honestly only sad that we only get one more episode with this Circle, but then again it makes sense.  Horror campaigns generally have to run short, because they lose the scares the longer they go on.  And I can really hope that next episode is downright terrifying.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the level up for the next game.  The more I see this system play, the more I really want to pick it up once the Core Book drops.  The flavor of Newfaire is great, and I think it would be great for short campaigns with friends who really want to dig into some gnarly horror material.  

Man, that was a fun episode.  I am seriously going to miss these characters, as they’re all so delightful and vivid.  The players are great, and they’re a fantastic intro to a system I now really want to buy once it comes out.

So about six years ago, I created a homebrew system for a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon tabletop game. It didn't quite pan out, so I migrated to a heavily homebrewed version of DnD 5e (also designed by yours truly.) Until about 4 months ago, I was running two different campaigns as well as a handful of smaller adventures. I can't take full credit, my boyfriend has been a massive help with running games and coming up with homebrew. Over the last half decade, I've kept a record of all of the characters that have played in our games. And as a celebration of finishing such a long journey, here's all 72 characters that have been played in PMDnD. 

Also, I recorded the timelapse of the whole process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0b3rYlGvFU

All characters in rough order of being drawn 

Xaio, Oshawott Rogue (old system) 

Byron, Nidoran Mercenary (old system) 

Qyzen, Litten Fighter (old system) 

Tobu, Oricorio Black Mage (old system) 

Argaveus, Scyther Zealot Barbarian/Blood Hunter 

Tovu, Togedemaru Grave Domain Cleric 

Issac, Riolu Gunslinger Fighter 

Lest, Arcanine Pyromancer Sorcerer 

Dolon, Sylveon Life Domain Cleric

Blaze, Charizard College of Swords Bard 

Skye, Zoroark School of Illusion Wizard 

Ludwig, Dartrix Oath of Redemption Paladin 

Noelani, Floatzel Life Domain Cleric 

Roger, Monferno School of War Magic Wizard

Joshua, Hakamo-o Gunslinger Fighter 

James, Toxicroak Arcane Trickster Rogue 

Micheal, Pachirisu Ancestral Guardian Barbarian 

Koishi, Oricorio Dancer Bard 

Clay, Lycanroc Battlemaster Fighter 

Grace, Comfey Totem Master Fighter 

Gabriel, Auroros Hexblade Warlock 

Elena, Floatzel Horizon Walker Ranger 

Allen, Scizor Way of the Kensai Monk

Haku, Zoroark Assassin Rogue 

Alex, Weavile Thief Rogue

Stella, Chesnaught Fortune Teller Astrologian 

Iona, Cinccino College of Valor Bard/Trained PKMN 

Akira, Kekleon Alchemist Artificer 

Shift, Eevee Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer 

Justin, Sceptile Oath of Ancients Paladin 

Arin, Roserade Pact of the Deep Warlock 

Zhang, Smeargle Eldritch Knight Fighter 

Firokhan, Houndoom Way of the Kensai Monk 

Camilla, Gardevoir Divine Soul Sorcerer 

Hyargrum, Alolan Marowack School of Necromancy Wizard 

Lilliana, Audino Spiritmaster White Mage 

Koko, Thwacky Dawnbringer Warlock 

Aiden, Lopunny Path of Wild Magic Barbarian 

Dex, Sableye Echo Knight Fighter 

Jae, Banette Order of Scribes Wizard 

Minet, Cinccino Way of the Kensei Monk 

Ergin, Houndoom Arcane Trickster Rogue 

Audra, Manectric Circle of Wildfire Shaman 

Tristan, Goodra Cavalier Fighter 

Kasi, Frogedier Way of the Dragon Monk 

Mobius, Decidueye Gloomstalker Ranger 

Rook, Krokorok Inquisitive Rogue 

Jack, Decidueye Drakewarden Ranger 

Guinness, Haxorus Path of the Totem Barbarian 

Kadmos, Sceptile Way of the Kensai Monk 

Pluto, Delibird Oath of the Ancients Paladin 

Meryl, Golurk School of Abjuration Wizard 

Penicillin, Meganium Life Domain Cleric

Cleo, Ampharos Celestial Warlock

Quin, Quilava Drakewarden Ranger

Rheda, Hisuian Sneasel School of Illusion Wizard

Rian, Zangoose Path of the Beast Barbarian 

Lucas, Delphox Knowledge Domain Cleric/School of Divination Wizard 

Rubix, Typhlosion Arcane Archer Fighter/Soulfuse 

Henry, Kecleon Storm Sorcerer

Floss, Delibird Spiritmaster White Mage 

Cassandra, Absol Celestial Warlock/Soulfuse 

Calvin, Archeops Oath of the Crown Paladin 

Ballard, Azumaril College of Whispers Bard/Hexblade Warlock 

Adachi, Toxicroak Way of the Open Palm Monk/Barbairan 

Zeish, Lucario Swashbuckler Rogue/Celestial Warlock 

Sol, Charizard Gunslinger Fighter/Artificer 

Thalnor, Charizard Oath of the Ancients Paladin 

Ariana, Nidoqueen College of Swords Bard/Fighter 

Clade, Absol Hexblade Warlock/Soulfuse 

Jace, Luxray Battlesmith Artificer

in lieu of a halloween party

~ 10pm, sunday, oct 29, 2023

if i listen really closely i can hear the quiet snoozy breathing of the sweet black cat who now lives in my room! oh, now she is purring.

(contains minor mention of the study of death/dead bodies, but also cat pictures, classical music, and minor spoilers for the end of the most recent season of star trek: strange new worlds)

reading more victoria goddard (blackcurrant fool is somehow *even* *more* for medievalist academics, they visit fantasy university and then the main character saves the day through the power of his dissertation research for crying out loud), some assorted libby holds from jenny odell and amitav ghosh, some kj charles inspired by the medieval mlm romance i finished a few weeks ago (which was great but i was so taken with the idea of posting a whole historical assessment that i scared myself out of talking about it, so maybe next time).

but the book that's been the biggest presence in my life lately has been the audio book version of mary roach's stiff: the curious lives of human cadavers, which i picked up because it had a little Moment back when it came out and i remember thinking that an approachable, sympathetic look at this kind of medical history would be fascinating. and it is! it is just as full of interesting information and humorous, humanizing turns of phrase as you'd like! roach doesn't hesitate to ask, like, intense questions of the people she interviews, nor does she ignore or downplay various gruesome topics, but the audiobook narrator has a hint of a southern accent and gets the mix of tones of voice (from ironic to earnest and back) really nicely. and also, sometimes i'm glad i'm listening to it as an audio book so i don't have to consciously continue turning pages, it'll keep playing even if i stop listening or need to disengage, because there's no shortage of actually quite challenging material. not for the faint of heart, but also, i can't regret reading it.

watching the new season of ghosts from the bbc! the second season of ofmd of course, both because it was fun and because i had to out of self-defense; uhhhh what else this month has been so long and also so fast! the musical episode of strange new worlds which was GREAT. how good were some of those songs!! like on their own, i would listen to nyota and christine and la'an's songs-- reminded me of the mix CD a friend made me for a birthday one year that mixed, like, barenaked ladies with some songs from the buffy musical episode. then the finale of this season which (minor spoilers here) i found actually so compelling, like, i've been mildly ehh about a lot of the gorn stuff (not la'an, but the concept of the gorn always feels very old-school scifi and the more serious they try to play it, the worse that effect usually) but then the monster design and movement when they finally appear on screen? excellent.

though to be entirely honest, the thing i've come back to and watched/listened to most consistently has been the new series of dimension 20, burrow's end. i managed to tune in as a campaign was starting, and actually more or less keep up! huge for me. the bear in ep 2 was all-to-close to some of the body horror i'd just been reading about with stiff, so this month has been 'so you'd like to get better about dealing with body horror?' for me in a way. unintentionally. i think i am appreciating this series more than i would have if i hadn't read and enjoyed watership down a few years back, but the added edge of, like, for-real magic from the d&d elements makes it even more fun. i love the new (to me) players, i love seeing the old ones in their new roles, i love that while the conceit seems to be 'humans are like eldritch horrors to woodland creatures' on the surface, there's also clearly something (or things?) else going on.

listening checking in on my spotify daylist lately to see what moods i've been assigned (soul-crushing once, which was wild to see as a genre, but goblincore also so. whatever i guess!) paper writing lockdown included more autoheart, more yws gwynedd, and like a 24-hour lockdown on @lessthansix's 'deferring panic' playlist, from which i share the following track as a thank-you:

playing tuned into dnd as a virtual player tonight so that i could stay home and supervise the NEW BABY aka this little (large) black dumpling of a cat who i cannot quite believe is my very own. playing such classics as 'ribbon on a string' and 'this is a ball that makes food come out when you play with it, ooooooh' and 'i hope my eyes feel normal again after i stop putting my face directly on you so much and i have not somehow developed an allergy to cat dander in the six weeks since we last had a cat come visit'. playing the classic game, 'so you think you can be responsible for another life form! and are you willing to risk an increase in your experience for loss in order to gain an increase in your experience of love?' (also while we're here: why is naming the hardest part of any endeavor. naming wifi networks, naming pokemon, and now this, a real live creature! who i want to treat with love and also humor, while showing wit and personality at the same time. hell.)

making fixed up a sweater my housemate was going to get rid of. i am not, habitually, a fibercrafter (though not for want of opportunity or, even, interest sometimes), but this made me want to find other easy and quick things to do with yarn.

before: big fuck off hole between the cowl and neck line

after: used some yarn of a similar weight /softness that i already had, so it doesn't match but it's not like you see it. hidden little necklace of pearls.

working on writing a paper for my first ever 30-min conference presentation, which is also going to be the first time i submit a paper ahead of time for someone (a professor i do not usually work with, but whose work and career and writing i admire) to read and give real comments on. this is fine. i am simultaneously trying to use this as an opportunity to squish an entire chapter's worth of notes and observations and ideas into a single presentation, and trying to not do that. but i want her take on all of it! i also...do need to write all of it. but getting a chance to slow down and take a bit of extra time with it was also very welcome. gave a guest lecture this week on a subject only vaguely related to my own work, which required a lot of extra reading (not even to know what to say, but just to be confident that i wasn't missing anything massive), and also did organize my department's halloween party, so. it's been a busy last ten days, and i'm excited to wrap some of this up.

bonus: cat pictures! thank you for reading this far, i think we will be going with luna? her grace, lunette st. cat, first marquise of dumplingdom. something.

The Eldritch Soul Campaign ACT III: Journeys for Truth

As my campaign moves into act 3, I wanted to create a poster to commemorate the start of this new portion of the journey my players will be undertaking and call back a similar piece I did more than a year ago. A piece depicting the moment the scope and scale of the campaign really made itself known to them. Much has changed since then, but other things haven’t- fell powers oppose the party on their search for knowledge and the truth of a forgotten past.

(Bonus version without text and process below cut)

We had our first player death in our Curse of Strahd campaign (we're only 3 players) and it wasn't even a Barovia or Strahd related one, but us trying to save his soul from some eldritch horror. Which was also kind of Patataj's idea so....he's not having a good time right now.

The Rift was whispering.

More than whispering, really. Grian thought he could hear faint cheering emanating from it. Or maybe crying. 

Well, whatever it was, they were annoying, and Grumbot Prime’s messages were starting to get more and more on the “get that to stop or I’ll rip out your spine” side of the spectrum. And honestly, Grian was in favor of keeping his spine. He would even go so far as to say he was quite attached to his spine. So, with little regard to potential radiation poisoning or existential tearing of his soul, Grian stuck his head into the Rift.

The funny thing about the Rift, is that it had layers. It was a rip into the fabric of space, time, and reality, and through it, it had rings, like a tree. Like the strata in a rock, realities layered and fragmented and shifted in every mind-melting way. Eyes glinted off of each impossible facet in the dimensions around him, each one turning towards Grian as he stuck his head past the threshold of the rift. The rough whispers were amplified in here, ping-ponging around Grian’s brain.

Grian just raised his eyebrow, unimpressed by the eldritch horror living in his basement, “Seriously, guys? What’s going on now?”

The eyes turned pleading, their amethyst and tuff irises large and puppylike. Polls. We have polls. Vote in polls? Sexy? Sexyman?

Grian took a second to process what they were asking, before immediately u-turning out of there, “Nope. Nope. No way. Goodbye.”

But! Polls! The eyes cried, wailing over each other, Competition! Win in polls!

“I said goodbye, guys. I’m not debasing myself like that.”

Noo! Minecraft men! The watchers beseeched, each yelling out their chosen champion with renewed fervor, making the space around the Rift warp like it was being pulled in by a black hole. It did absolutely jack squat to Grian, though, only serving to make him roll his eyes at heir tantrum and further resolve to stay the hell away from their whole… situation.

That didn’t stop them from trying to campaign at him, though.

Vote Joe! Do you think a non-sexyman can look like THAT?

BLOODSHED AND CHAOS ON THE PLANET EARTH.

Vote for the little guy! Jimmy deserves to have a win! 

Phil’s winning MY sexyman poll

QUACKITY SWEEP 2023 PLS HE NEEDS THIS

Endorsed by Martyn, I repeat, we are endorsed by Martyn!

Vote Mumbo 4 sexyman! It’s been too long since he’s been campaigned for something against his will! With your help we can change that!

That last comment stopped Grian in his tracks, as suddenly as if he had hit a wall. The chatter behind him immediately went quiet with a sensation distinctly similar to an entire crowd holding their breath.

Grian ignored them and opened his inventory, swiping through it slowly until he took out his ender chest. He set it down and knelt, rifling through his diamonds and knicknacks, “You know…” he started, taking out a well-worn white shirt and holding it up to the light. A faded “MUMBO 4 MAYOR” shone in dull red at him, “It has been a while since I last wore this.”

Gumbot blinked at him, his mustache beginning to bounce up and down, a musical jingle starting to play as he booted up a sentence. A little piece of paper shot out of the dispenser, wafting down to the ground. With a growing grin, Grian picked up the paper, which read in big, bold words: MUMBO JUMBO 4 TUMBLR SEXYMAN.

“Well, Grumbot.” Grian planted his hands on his hips and smiled up at his huge, homicidal, robot son, “It looks like we have our work cut out for us, don’t we?

Can you tell us a bit of your current dnd character?

Iji comes from a secret enclave of Tiefling Bards called The Infernii who share the stories they gather with each other to build a collective oral history that they all then pull from to make their own personal stories.

However, he was never a very proficient bard and left to find his voice, so to speak. He traveled through the Domains of Dread with a sort of pirating crew for hire, “The Company,” who were eventually employed by Larissa Snowmane on her ship, The River Dancer.

While onboard, Iji curried Larissa’s favor and friendship, and she gave to him what she thought was a ring of protection.

Later, her hand was forced during an attack and she performed the Dance of the Dead, killing everyone on board. The ring saved Iji—at the cost of the souls of his crewmates—and transported him to safety out of the Domains so that he could be a vessel to collect more souls for the mysterious Yellow Figure inside the ring.

Now, he is a College of Spirits Bard with access to the Eldritch Blast cantrip through the power of the ring. But each time he accesses its power, there is a chance the Figure intervenes to direct events towards its unknowable and strange goals (and causes a roll on a custom wild magic table).

I have little backstories for all the souls held within the ring (which Iji summons with his College of Spirits abilities), all the tieflings in The Infernii (which appear not only as characters I play, but also as NPCs in campaigns I run with some of the same people), and the forces at work behind the creation of the amber ring.

Luckily my boyfriend is the DM in Iji’s campaign so he’s nearby when I dream up crazy convoluted backstories and mechanics. 😂

TTRPG Devlog- Qet & Progression in Horror RPGs

So, as probably previously mentioned, my bronze age eldritch horror game— Qet— originally began life as a 5e module. There's a LOT of design poison that came from those origins, and I think I've hit upon another one: progression.

What does character progression look like in a horror game? Typically, progression in an RPG means that your character grows more powerful, which I think is antithetical to horror— unless you can balance it with particularly compelling difficulty spikes to compensate. There's a balance to strike between player agency and hitting the tone of a horror story— you can't empower the main characters too much, or tension begins to fade. If you make it easy for your players to die, and lose their characters forever, they become jaded and easily detached from future characters— or they lose complete interest in continuing the campaign. (This is a problem in Call of Cthulhu, and one that is much more pronounced in many horror video games...which have their tension and mystery dissipate upon subsequent deaths.) Death isn't particularly interesting of a consequence, but it is still important to maintain some form of consistent tension. In Qet, you can come back to life a limited number of times-- exactly how many times that is depends on your choices, and some luck. Every time you come back to life, you have to sacrifice something to the Thought of Death— typically parts of your body, but things like strong memories, Quality scores, and entire Skills can be sacrificed as well. You also have a connection to the Thought which degrades (via dice roll) each time you return to your body. So, you're steadily growing weaker and weaker over the course of a campaign...except... ...at current, Qet has a levelling system (Tiers). You develop Skills to reach higher Tiers, higher Tiers let you access better Skills, and allow you to increase your Quality scores. Granted, there are a grand total of 4 Tiers. (Which is why I didn't call them Levels. Feels different.) Needless to say, this feels...weirdly out of touch with this being a horror game. It's something I hadn't mulled over back in 2019 when I started, and never questioned when looking back, until now. So, how can I have players explore and grow their characters mechanically, without undermining the game's tone and tension? Here's the thing— Qet already has other methods of progression that don't create a power fantasy; 1- Alchemy. You can mutate your body with alchemy, adding new body parts and changing those you have-- at risk of things going very, very wrong, and getting stuck with negative mutations. (Like, trying to gain sharp teeth...and instead of growing them in your mouth, growing them in your stomach.) 2- Manipulative Magic. While you become more powerful as you gain access to stronger spells, you have to uh...cannibalize people to gain this power in the first place. This corrupts you steadily as you transform into a qepluezet olxlikliz (blood sick). Which not only has your body begin to betray you as the souls of those you've consumed coalesce and rebel, but it also attracts the Qrol-- a cult who's well-trained members hunt down the blood sick. (And this is a game where getting into a fight is rarely desirable.) 3- Eldritch Magic. Again, you gain access to stronger spells as you progress through this. However, it first requires a certain amount of eldritch Insight, and it requires that you find a source that you can borrow power from. Sources can be from eldritch entities, objects, and even cosmic diseases. Each requires a particular sacrifice for their power, and further beyond this-- each branch of eldritch magic then requires a different risk/reward to actually cast their spells. Some use your health, others give you temporary curses, some give you body horror transformations. I will probably rework Eldritch Magic to instead come from the Thought of Death, just to streamline things a lil. Narratively make it that players are borrowing the memories, skills, and strengths of those who have passed into the Thought for themselves-- at the risk of weakening their consciousness' ability to return to their body. Or something like that. I'll figure it out.

---------- Now, you might be able to guess what I'm thinking here. None of these progression systems are linear, each has a cost. Risk/reward is always more interesting than pure reward. I'm thinking, if I remove Tiers, make Skills simply part of character creation, and somehow put these other systems up front more clearly-- then we'll have a much more engaging "progression" arc. As players weaken over the course of a campaign, they will be pushed further and further into making tough decisions. Do they still have limbs, memories, and Skills to give up? Just how much are they willing to part with? They need a leg up-- something to compensate for what they've lost and gain a chance at survival. As they grow weaker, as they gain more Insight into the cosmic forces around them, as their circumstances become more and more harrowing-- the less horrible the costs of power might seem. How I will actually execute this will take some time to mull over. I will most likely have take a big ol hammer to each of them and cut down their power levels by...a lot. Reduce the number of spells, make them more akin to sidegrades-- new tools for the belt-- rather than linear power growth. The exact risks for each may need to be adjusted. There's potential in making spells specifically scoped to single lives or something. Maybe limiting how many times they may be obtained, so you have to think carefully about which you use and when. Who knows! Stay tuned!