Drider in the Baldur’s Gate 3 Official Launch Month Trailer.

something very funny about bg3 is the fact that gale and volo very well could’ve known each other. gale and elminster were in the same wizarding circles and were both mystra’s lovers/chosen, and elminster himself edited volo’s books (and refused to print one titled “volo’s complete guide to the behaviour of nymphs”). like. imagine you are gale of waterdeep. you’ve spent the last year moping in your tower after your girlfriend breaks up with you, meanwhile she’s fucking your 1000+ y/o old friend and idol, who is also the editor of the realms’ combination Marco Polo/Chuck Tingle. you get a tadpole in your brain and find said writer getting heckled in a goblin camp. his editor tells you your ex (who he’s sleeping with) wants you to kill yourself.

what i am saying is every day gale dekarios wakes up

Colson

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (02/12/2024)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

Strahd von Zarovich

his silliness and depression have captivated me

(feat. my oc gin)

so we know that like, Kristen's whole deal is religion and such, right? I'm just kinda thinking about the other Bad Kids and the Gods. Maybe it's my own multi-deity pagan ass just wanting to consider what it would look like. (I'm using primarily Forgotten Realms Gods and my absolutely vague knowledge of them).

This got long so read under the cut ;u;

Gorgug is absolutely Garl Glittergold's favorite child. He loves the shenanigans. Do you think he starts connecting with Gruumsh when he starts connecting with his birth parents? Baby Gorgug leaving bits of metal and toys he accidentally broke on the altar the Thistlesprings' have in their workshop. Gorgug pre-artificer offering up the songs he makes as a tricky sort of "metal" working. Feeling a connection to Gruumsh in the heats of his rage, the nudge of a hand during his frenzy guiding him to the right target. Keeping bits of scrap from their enemies to melt down into his next artificing project. He also probably talks to Helm, sometimes, asking for guidance on how to best protect his friends. Gorgug has big protector energy.

Adaine who is, in a way, a deity in her own right, depending how revered the Oracle is. I don't know if Adaine would connect with Elvish gods, but she and Oghma vibe. I think that after the Bad Kids all talk and bond, Kristen makes a joke about her being a Gruumsh follower with her furious fist and so Adaine jokingly buys a pin to wear in offering. Jawbone also had a talk with her about sometimes it can help to talk to someone about your anxiety--whether that be a counselor or even the Gods, sometimes. Just Adaine praying to Gruumsh to have the strength to punch her anxiety in the face is very beautiful to me. Azuth is the god of wizards, so he and Adaine might vibe. Adaine feels like the type to vibe with the Gods mostly in jest; she talks to them sometimes, but they're silly little guys to her. Because of Tracker and Jawbone's lycanthropy, I think she either has a small shrine to Galicaea or has the biggest beef with her imaginable. Maybe a little bit of both.

Riz. God. I think once Riz meets his Father, he definitely like, sets up a little shrine to him. Ancestor work feels really important to Riz. He dedicates a lot of self-care things to his dad, I think. Mainly sleeping and drinking water. Does he do them? No. But it's the thought that counts. Riz is definitely the like, mundane acts of worship. Incorporating it into miniscule parts of his day that would go undetected unless you knew him and where to look. He also probably has some devotional jewelry to Yondalla; I think that Penny probably had a habit of repeating prayers while touching the beads of her bracelet (kind of like a Rosary) and that rubbed off on him, especially when she was babysitting him. The whole family also probably have at least some sort of worship to Tyr due to their connection to justice and law enforcement. I think Sklonda is more connected with some of the deities associated with Goblins, specifically Gruumsh (can you tell I love him?) and Maglubiyet. He prays to war gods to get through the absolute shitshow of Adventuring school. He and Adaine probably dedicate their research to Oghma.

Fig is really interesting because I feel like she is probably in the vein of demon work instead of divinity. Although I think that she unironically thinks Riz's dad is super cool so like, playfully worships him. Fig is the Bad Kid that I feel like collects all the different pieces of her friends and wears them proudly upon herself. She dedicates concerts to Kristen's new deity of the week. She sighs and asks Oghma for help on exams; she includes prayers to Gruumsh in her tracks. I feel like Fig also might have a tendency to like, worship the people in her life. She thinks they're so important and she cares about them so much. So she elevates them to the status of a God in her mind. They are invincible. They are young and powerful and the bonds they share are much, much magical then some God who pretends to be high and mighty. Her body is an altar--she wears jewelry and draws sigils and uses so much color magick. She is, in a way, a walking beacon to the gods, saying, "Look at us! We're just as good as you, and if you doubt it, then we'll kick your ass!"

Fabian Seacaster my beloved. This man follows his Father's footsteps for a long time. He worships Gods of the tempest, of the sea and sailing. Yondalla holds a special place in his heart. Riz nearly has a conniption when Fabian corrects him on a prayer to Yondalla, and the two of them bond about it. But once this man starts dancing, this man worships Corellon Larethian with his whole chest. He does a lot of his worship through dancing. Moving his body, getting in touch with his roots. Because of the fire elemental, he also does some like, elemental magic? But I think a lot of his forms of worship come through bodily experiences. Braving a storm, dancing in front of a crowd, making just the right maneuver to protect his friends in battle. Sometimes he and Fig and Gorgug will sit together and make devotional playlists!

"Oh Jergal gave up his portfolios so his power level is like that of a demi-god lol"

I am a firm believer that if Jergal had the motivation to, he would absolutely fuck up the Dead Three, Kelemvor, and Cyric's shit all at once. Just yoink the power back. Dude just doesn't give a fuck. Sure, he hates Cyric and the Dead Three, but no matter what kind of bullshit they get up to, they a) can't kill him and b) really won't interfere with his paperwork. The whole non-interference thing is very Death God of him. The guy's Lord of the End of Everything, but killing everything at much was too much work and actively holding the power was too boring for him lmao

Leading the way in terms of awards was the much-anticipated Baldur's Gate, a fantasy role-playing game set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons.

-TLDR News Daily

that one bozo who made the gender swapped dame aylin mod: it's unrealistic for minorities to exist in this game because it's supposed to take place in medieval europe!!!!

aasimar, vampires, devils, and dragons aside....

bg3:

Honestly those little 1st person snippets we get from Drizzt at the beginning of each section are always my favorite parts.

It's been a while since I last thought seriously about Dr*gon A*e (even prior to falling in love with BG3) and I think a big part of that is I'm not as big a fan of the setting and the worldbuilding as I used to be. Like to me it really does feel like BW looked at typical fantasy settings and went "hmm okay but what if there was Catholic-enforced racism and abelism". And like. Cool thought experiment bro. Do we really need three games made by primarily white guys about that.

just ran the Baby Tiefling Heist Chaos One Shot for some friends and highlights include:

"how do we get out of the orphanage-" "SET A FIRE!"

no other plans were discussed. they intended to use the fire as a distraction and sneak out in the ensuing chaos; they were instead almost immediately scooped up by a caretaker and brought outside for their safety, so. task failed successfully?

"how do we avoid drawing suspicion to ourselves while in town?" "let's disguise ourselves as halflings escorting a demon prisoner."

surprisingly this worked

this ploy changed to "we are halfings collecting charity on behalf of the tiefling orphanage and this newest member," successfully used this to get lots of blankies and took a nap mid-heist

tried to use this on the candy shop owner as well before the most chaotic tiefling baby decided things were going too smoothly and used vicious mockery on the shopkeeper

of course as a baby-friendly version the shopkeeper was incapacitated with laughter at this three year old cursing him in baby babble

the mission was actually a success and they managed to get back to the orphanage and convince their caretakers that they had simply run away from the building out of fear of the fire

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (02/20/2024)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

A little piece of lore for your fics - time in Toril. You can find this in this book.

What is so interesting to me is the first time I read this I glossed over the part where it says a month is made up of 3 tendays and one year is 365 days.

I love that the extra 5 days are there as celebrations but known as that day. Like Midwinter is between 30 Hammer and Alturiak 1. (Basically it's a day between 31st of January and 1st of February) That day is known as Midwinter as opposed to Midwinter being inside the month.

I didn't realize it then but it is such a nice detail to me. Another one I liked is leap day is a celebration and it works just like the other celebrations. And it just made me wonder: Why don't we have a celebration on the leap day in real world? It would be so fun.

The Calender of Harptos is under the cut.

Follow me for more weird dnd facts as I explore the lore! (this is sarcasm btw you don't need to follow me. But you can be sure I'll be sharing more stuff as I find them because I love this fantasy world.)

"You know I am not even from this plane? Tiefling is no word where I come from. That is why I am called it, as cambion does not fit, or does it? See, where I come from, things like me do not walk so freely, we barely live more than a few minutes after birth. We are created to act as empty sacks to fill. Greater demons cannot pass the veil the gods made to protect mortalkind, but they found back doors, spawn like me. If you ask any from my plane, I am a demon."

"The blood of such evil does not go out with a whimper. And I see, feel the difference between me and other tieflings. My blood is alive and it sings of slumbering madness, hunger unending, chants of grotesque carnage of which we feast on the fur. My friend sent me spiraling here in hopes my soul could escape its fate."