I like how in these past two entries Dracula is just There In the Background.
He's a flying bat, maybe a bird, he's that figure on the seat over there in the distance with the glowing red eyes. This is so different from how he menaced Jonathan (where he was the creepy old man that is Actively Keeping Me Prisoner yet still wants to have nightly chats) or the Demeter crew (where he understand the Nothing is Scarier trope and generally keeps out of sight till the end).
This time, he's just chillaxing in the background because we've had those two instances of different flavors of horror, and now we are thoroughly terrified of him, so just seeing him in the background is enough.
And this kind of tickles me in a weird way because I do so love when you can see the danger. It may not be actively menacing you. In fact, it may be moving away from you. Honestly, you don't even know if it has noticed you, and it's still TERRIFYING.
Like, sure, the idea that the monster is watching you and you not realizing it is scary, but sometimes you watching the monster is worse.
Anybody got recommendations for indie ttrpg youtubers? I'm looking for content that is broadly not D&D-specific, and not actual plays. So, video essays/reviews of games, how-to-plays, GMing/playing advice, game design, etc.
i really like the lock picking in Skyrim because it's an actual skill that i, the player, have gotten good at.
like, i have never put a single perk point into the lockpicking tree, but i can pick any lock in the game in ten picks or less because i have a system that i developed into a practiced skill i use on all the locks.
That may sound like a useless or broken game dynamic, but it's one of my favorite things in the game actually -- the locks in Skyrim are built a certain way, and i, as a player, have developed the skill to pick them based on experience, practice, and the development of a process.
i actually wish more things in more RPGs were like that.
thinking about how there is "Americanized Fantasy" and "American Fantasy"
Americanized fantasy is that vaguely european folklore aesthetic. Like elves, dwarves, gods, demons...etc.
You'll see it in stuff like D&D, Warhammer, Video Games, Books...
And then theres actual American Fantasy, which is stuff like bigfoot, the jersey devil, mothman, aliens, the wendigo, lizard people, area 51...
I think Lovecraft stuff can fit into that too.
I think Scooby Doo and Gravity Falls fit into the American Fantasy genre.
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