#some forgotten realms lore makes you go i am Not Touching That and other is. this.

[kshaar]

sorry it has led to WHAT

#bg3 #some forgotten realms lore makes you go i am Not Touching That and other is. this. #(this is from descent into avernus btw) #anyway everyone meet my next tav she used to hang out near the gates to hire out giant peacocks for fifteen minutes intervals #her competition is the gang who casts reduce on peoples' pets for exorbitant amounts

[sailorgundam308]

how is karlach coded as a person of color? genuine question

In terms of character design and representation: she has southeast Asian, even pacific islander (depending on the area ofc) features. Does that mean there are “asians” or “Europeans” in Toril? No. But visual representation of real groups is huge for people’s self validation. That said, southeast Asian peoples are a wide and varied group but they stand in contrast to the “white Asia” of Korea and Japan (and China to some extent), for example. The “white” Asia is rich, desirable, stylish, culturally relevant in the global stage - and their skin is whiter, to top it off. On the other hand, SEA is seen (not only in the west but ESPECIALLY in these rich Asian countries) as poor, underdeveloped, inconsequential - and darker skinned. No surprised there.

In Asia you might not have the concept of White as in White US Americans, because whiteness is a social construct that will change depending on the location and cultural/historical context. What US people understand as white and poc might differ from what other people in other countries understand it as. Still, in East Asia being literally lighter skinned is the desired beauty ideal and brings with it all the highly privileged misconceptions of “if you’re light skinned, you’re richer, more educated, more well behaved, more beautiful” and so on. SEA peoples have, in general, darker skin tones - therefore, they miss (to say the least) on these “advantageous pre-conceptions”. Also, even within certain SEA countries, being lighter than another is a desirable thing. There is an entire beauty industry here based on “whitening”. Literally making your skin look whiter, because that is more “beautiful and cleaner”. (In Japan, the amount of things you can get to cover your skin from the sun is not due to any cancer concerns, I guarantee you.)

Karlach, having features reminiscent to some SEA people, puts her in this dynamic. Not because this dynamic exists inside the BG3 world, but because the people with whom her character design (her face design at least) resonates are those same people who are seen as less than due to their geographic location and tone of their skin.

I also am under the impression that in some countries, Asian people are also commonly included in the “poc” umbrella, though I cannot be sure where this is true and even if that depends on “what Asia” you are from.

If you get into Forgotten Realms, and Toril lore, things get even more layered, because Karlach is a tiefling. And tieflings are discriminated against for their appearance - something that comes from their heritage and they have no control over. Tieflings are plane touched people, meaning their ascendancy is made of humans mixed with devils/cambions. Is basically because their blood has some devil blood in it that the “devil like” features like horns, tails, claws etc appear. Unlike the aasimar (who are the same but mixed with divine blood) who are accepted and seen as beautiful, the tieflings are discriminated against by most if not all populations in Toril. They are outcasts, often having to settle in marginalized/unfit areas and form their own communities due to the unwillingness of others to interact with them. There is something to be said about how the comments of “devil” towards a tiefling and some religions’ interpretation of indigenous peoples (or even black people) as being cursed or in cohorts with the devil. Aka, this shit is problematic.

You can have an insight on how bad this was in Baldur’s Gate city by a story Karlach tells. She says her mother died of an illness that would have been easily cured if treated early. But mom cliffgate was refused medical care because no physician in the city wanted to visit and help a tiefling family in the outer city. By the time one accepted to go and help, it was too late. The disease had advanced and could not be cured, and so Karlach’s mom died prematurely. I guess that illustrates very obviously the degree to which tieflings are marginalized and discriminated against in Toril. If that is not an analogy to the struggle of peoples of color in a generalized manner, I don’t know what is.

#anon ask #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #karlach #representation #resonance #tieflings #dnd tiefling #forgotten realms #forgotten realms lore #dnd lore #bg3 lore

[keeperthemultiversemom]

What could be consider laws of the multiverse?

Or is there no such thing?

Aight aight

Let's go, explanation for time

For this one I will speak as creator

This is infos I've shared before on my site, and I got the greenlight to share it here !

Reminder that @neonross was the og creator of Out of Bounds and I am merely one of the artist and writers ( and alternatively the lore gremlin that make sure everything is smooth good lore lol ( so for lore clarification yeh I'm the good person to ask haha))

So here are the "laws" of the multiverse and how it works in wttmv specifically !

Those rules apply only in our story, but anyone who wants to use those concepts are welcome, of course ! Neon Ross's og intent was to have rules flexible enough for people to make characters and have fun with the concepts, but we don't mean to be an autority of any kind and ruin people's fun... Anyway, explanation time

It's not really "laws" so much as rules for ourselves and for our story, to give it nuances and stakes and the right amount of lore scratching complexity

Some characters however might tell you that these are laws lmao

✨Out of Bounds ✨

___-Lore Guide-___

Out of Bounds (OOB) is a realm existing beyond the multiverse, operating by its own rules and devoid of time. This guide provides insight into OOB's nature, its role in the multiverse, and the mechanics governing its interactions.

Nature of Out of Bounds

Definition :

• OOB is a space outside of alternate universes, akin to the Void Realm in Towags where forgotten characters and places reside.

• Awareness of this space is limited, known only to those who reside within or encounter its inhabitants.

Television :

• Floating televisions within OOB display AUs, acting as viewports or portals for interaction.

• Televisions serve as a primary means for Multiversers to observe and interact with AUs. ( While it is the primary way, note that there are exceptions and other ways to travel )

Shows :

• We call "show" the stories within the multiverse. Includes the Original, Variants, Alternate Universes.

• The Original cannot be touched or interacted with by anyone.

• Variants are copies of the original with very minor changes (art style, design, head canons). They can be interacted with on varrying degree, depending on the creator of the variant will.

• AUs are copies of Welcome Home with major or noticeable changes, from the story, to the characters and their designs.

Vintage Tapes :

• AUs are stored within vintage tapes, with the film inside representing the universe's timeline.

• Tapes categorize AUs into Fixed and Flexible, depending on the level of interaction allowed by the creators of each AUs.

Interference Mechanics :

• Interfering with Fixed AUs poses risks, as altering their storylines can lead to universe corrupt and/or collapse.

• Flexible AUs allow more interaction, often featuring crossovers and Y/N scenarios.

Out of Bound Spaces

Channels :

• Spaces integral to the multiverse system, including the Observer's TV room, the Archives, and Admin's film room.

Shows :

• The AUs themselves, contained in the multiverse, then OOB

Lost Media :

• Spaces not categorized as channels or tapes, such as the Keeper's domaine, Trader's space, and Stitcher's atelier. (Often time those are kind of like shells of dead/collapsed/modified AU, or pocket dimensions)

Pillars of Creation :

• Vast space outside of the multiverse, a galaxy-like zone full of stars, that is said to be where the creators of AUs reside. Very few characters go so far in the OOB.

In between :

• The void between the AUs. It is devoid of breathable air, often dark and lightless as well. Some multiversers are unaffected by the lack of air, but stay careful ! We don't know what lurks or leaks in the in-between

Diagram made by Bloomenvogel and Neon Ross for the Out of Bound as we see it in WTTMV

Note : this diagram applies to wttmv, but feel free to use I with your characters if you want ! Just like all of those rules, we made those to help make the story as a whole

Out of Bound Inhabitants

Natives of OOB :

• The Out of Bound is often said to have a mind of its own... It will sometimes create its own variants of the core cast, for reasons still obscures to this day. Notable characters born from the OOB : Observer, Courier, Messenger

"Refugies"

• Cast or OC characters that had their worlds destroyed/corrupted/collapsed, and who are left to wander in the multiverse. Most often they will end up in Peacekeeper's domaine until they can be rehomed in a flexible tape or new universe, or adapt to the Out of Bounds.

• A character that adapts to the Out of Bounds will then be called "Multiverser" along with the native of OOB

• Characters considered "refugies turned multiverser" in wttmv : Peacekeeper, Filante, Trader, ShopKeeper, Watcheye, Stitcher, Croupier

Multiversers :

• Multiversers are the inhabitants of the Out of Bounds. Often times, they are anomalies that have developped specific abilities allowing them to reside or survive in the Out of Bounds. Those abilities often includes being able to travel to multiple flexible tapes, but not always. A multiverser will almost always be a variant of a cast character, and rarely, if not ever, a y/n or fan oc. (If you wonder why y/n and ocs are excluded from being multiversers specifically, it's because Y/N is at its core a you self insert, but *you* are supposed to be viewers in the story. It's fine when in a pocket universe like Keeper's and Trader, a y/n can exist there, but in the oob it could causes some problems of logic with viewer influence and control, or the focus of the story could go astray to fit a y/n, which is not a story we want to tell. It kinda goes for ocs too)

__________________

I tried to say as much as I could without much spoilers... For the reminder, I already explained the main, general chronology of wttmv on the site

Ik, ik, it's a bit of a hassle to go search and look and all. Tbh the site is kind of a way to give a bit of a treat for the really big fans who are ready to go on a separate site to get lore lmao /lh

But now I get to ramble here too ! Hurray !

TLDR :

OOB is big and weird. The AUs and Variants can be interacted with only if allowed by the creators. Multiversers are the weird cast variants living in the oob. The OOB is kinda like an onion, it has layers. Most characters always stay in the multiverse part.

#ooff big lore one #rambling time #yk I love to ramble #anyway - you can use this as official lore guide #it's Ross approved #mostly- #you might notice the lack of Nyxie inclusion in this post /j #well actually it's because that even as a multiverser she doesn't fit in here. #also Nyxie runs under an other set of rules that loosely connects to wttmv so that she can be disconnected whenever I need her to #i am smart like that haha #you might also notice some characters are not mentionned #it's either because their originin is “unknown” or because they have been created by a third party outside of AUs #but if I say that - I fear people might roll with it and go too crazy - so just in case i put it here for people who read all the tags only #to you - you are allowed to know that some characters were created in the pillars of creations by a third party and it's an anomaly #welcome home au #welcome home #whmultiverse #keeper poppy au #multiverse mom #ask peacekeeper poppy #ask blog #welcomehome #lore time #big lore drop here #lore guide

[themuffinbee]

Lore Olympus Novelized, Chapter 1

Hey all! I’ve moved my non-official fan adaption of Lore Olympus from Ao3 to Tumblr for anybody that might wish to read it. Hope you guys enjoy!

The plot and dialogue belong to the incredible Rachel Smythe.

----------------------------------------------------

Raindrops pelted the windshield as the slick streets of the Underworld glowed with fluorescent blue and electrified neon. A beautiful sight if anyone cared to notice, though few ever did.

Hades didn’t, not anymore. He hadn't for a very long time. 

At the present moment, like most moments, he had other things on his mind much more important than kaleidoscopic puddles of dirty city water. Important things like how it was only 9:15 and the night was already turning to shit.

Said shit-turning was mostly due to the absence of a particular river nymph, whose sultry silhouette should be right there, waiting under the awning of her apartment building. That was what she had agreed to with a little wink and a smirk only six hours ago, anyway. There was no way she had forgotten about it either. Not after the way she had gleefully crowed about receiving one of Hera’s coveted invitations to the night’s festivities. She had the damned thing pinned to her refrigerator, for crying out loud.

That left only one real question: what had he done to piss her off this time? He hadn’t even seen her since before the end of the workday. Then again, that had never managed to stave off her ire before. 

Eyes scanning for a streak of blood-red among all of the mirrored blue, Hades drove yet another circuit around the building, tapped out yet another text message, made yet another call. The phone rang once, twice, three times—

“Hey!” Minthe answered, voice low and relaxed. Carefree.

“You’re late, where are you?” Hades tried his best to keep any impatience out of his tone. Minthe didn't like it when he got impatient. 

He heard the sound of sloshing water in the background as she asked, “Did you get me that purse I wanted?”

“Um, yeah…” he began, “I did, but—”

“Oh, great!”

Another splash sent his heart sinking in his chest. Surely she wasn’t in the bathtub. She knew he had all but begged Hera for that damn invitation, there was no way she was taking a bath right now. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. “You’re coming to the Panathenaea with me, right?”

The other end of the line went silent, and he found himself holding his breath despite knowing her answer.

“Hmm…” She drew out her simpering hum long enough to sound playful. At least, it would have, if he hadn't known better. “...I don’t think so.”

Hades bit inside of his cheek and counted backward from ten in his mind. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that I don’t particularly feel like being seen in public with you today.”

Oh, screw this. 

"Real classy, Minthe," he said, anger finally leaking into his voice. He glanced at the clock again and felt some of that anger turn into nervousness.

9:19.

There was a large difference between late, fashionably late, and late. Hera, of course, had worked out how to tell which was which down to an exacting science. He really didn't feel like getting pinned under that calculating gaze or chastened by that arched I told you so eyebrow. Or, even worse, being the beneficiary of her well-meaning but oh-so-condescending pity. 

"Come on, stop messing around," he said, sounding pathetic to his own ears. "I can't go to my brother's party by myself."

Not again. 

Minthe sighed, then explained as though she were speaking to a particularly dense toddler, "I don't feel like being seen with you in general."

It wasn't the first time she'd said something like this, but the words still hit him like a slap in the face. Normally, there would at least be a reason for her to say these things. Maybe one of their infamous knock-down, drag-out fights, or even a careless word on his part. Something. But this...this was completely unprovoked. Things had been...good...between them recently. No fights in almost a month, she seemed happy most of the time, and the two of them had settled into a comfortable routine between work and after work. It had been nice. Normal. Or, at least, as normal as the two of them were capable of being.

He opened his mouth to ask what the hell had gotten into her, what he had done to make her so angry, but Minthe’s voice halted the words in his throat 

"Hades…" she said, tone as languid as a string of cigarette smoke, "all the fine suits in the world won't change the fact that you stink of death."

That...that was a new one.

His teeth ground against one another as he tried to think of some kind of coherent response, willing himself not to give in to the outrage and panic that threatened to fill his mouth with poison. When no ingenious plan or even the will to salvage this whole mess appeared, Hades did the most sensible thing he could: he ended the call.

His limbs and head felt heavy as he sank his forehead onto the steering wheel, but not nearly as heavy as the weight that felt like it could tear a hole in his jacket pocket.

Ha. He had really thought she would consider...

Gods, what an idiot he was.

----------------------------------------------------

Even two blocks away from the party, Hades could tell the night’s festivities would very much resemble his youngest brother himself: loud, flashy, and obnoxious. Thunderous bass beats reverberated his car windows in place and splashes of light reflected off of the clouds like multi-colored lightning. The music only grew louder as he entered the building, now joined by the sounds of drunken party-goers.

As if he didn’t have enough of a headache already.

If all went well, he could make a few strategic appearances here and there, suffer through a five-minute conversation with his brothers, and be home with a bottle of his favorite scotch in under an hour. Most important of all, he needed to avoid—

“Hey! Hey! HEY!”

...Hera.

He turned around to see the golden Queen of the Gods, dripping with jewels and looking as resplendent as ever. Also, drunk. From the gentle sway of her walk and tilt of her stance, she had to be at least on her third drink of the night.

“Where is your date, Blue Boy?” She cocked her head with a grin.

“Gone,” he answered, unable to keep from averting his eyes. There wasn’t much point in trying to lie to her, there never was. Being married to a pathological philanderer for two thousand years had given her the ability to smell bullshit a mile away. “I need a drink.”

She studied him for only a moment before her face melted from a cheerful smile to tired annoyance. “Well, I, for one, am grateful! I don’t have to spend the evening with that nymph trash.” 

Ah. So she was drunk enough to be honest. Fourth drink, then.

...Nymph trash, huh? It wasn’t that all nymphs were trash. After all, Amphitrite, Queen of the Sea and bride of his least annoying brother, was technically a nymph herself. Hera wouldn’t ever speak of any of the Nereids like that, not if she didn’t want saltwater running through her taps for a month. No, his nymph was the one who was trash.

Hades began twisting a scrap of paper from his pocket between his fingers at the thought of his sister-in-law. “Did Poseidon bring his wife?”

Hera glanced down at his restless hands, then back up to his face, wearing that dreaded look of pity as she answered, “...Yes.”

Anger and anxiety had been battling it out in his brain the whole night through, and anger finally seemed to gain the upper hand.

“Great!” He threw his arm out to the side. “So I’m the only one alone?”

With her most self-assured smile, the kind that could convince almost anyone to throw themselves off of a cliff, Hera said, “Relax, no one will notice.”

Hades glared at her out of the corner of his eye. “You did.”

“Hera!” An unfortunately familiar voice boomed across the hall as the host of the night’s event, the purple pain in the ass, strode into view. Zeus, looking every bit the smug asshole he was with his white suit and diamond laurel, grabbed his wife about the waist and spun her around. “Hera, I’ve been looking for you everywhere! You look beautiful tonight!”

“Oh stop! You’re embarrassing me!” she cooed.

Zeus leaned in close, their noses almost touching as he whispered, “How ‘bout we get outta here?” 

Oh Gaia, he wasn’t about to start making out with her, was he?

Hera wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck, words covered in honey. “You big silly! You can’t leave your own party!”

Zeus began nibbling on his wife’s ear and she giggled like a teenager with her first boyfriend.

Hades sighed. Yes. Yes, they were about to start making out in the middle of the hall. Now that he thought about it, he had walked in on the two of them making rather inventive use of one of their couches a few years back at a party much like this one. That was more of his brother than he had ever wanted to see.

Hades tugged at his cuff links and cleared his throat.

Zeus looked up with an empty smile as he finally met eyes with his brother. “Ooooh! Hello, Hades. I didn’t see you there.” 

Sure you didn’t.

Then the King of the Gods and idiot extraordinaire glanced around. “Hey, where’s your date?”

Hera groaned, “Zeus, I wish you knew when to shut up.”

This was going to be a long night.

----------------------------------------------------

“Hey, Artemis! What do you think?”

Persephone stuck her hands out to the sides and tilted her hips, hoping that if she struck a pose like she had seen on the cover of one of her cousin’s magazines she might look a little more...mature? Stylish? Less like a bumpkin straight from the country that had only spent a total of forty-eight hours on Mount Olympus?

Something like that.

Artemis looked her up and down with her dark eyes, then frowned. “Persephone...you can’t wear that. You look like a relic.”

Darn it. She had been afraid of that. The fashions on Mount Olympus were so different from those in the Mortal Realm. Like, way different. Her gauzy, loose tunics and chitons and shifts weren’t going to cut it up here, especially not at one of Zeus’ swanky parties. At least Artemis wasn’t the type to soften her opinion and hem and haw, dancing around the problem without actually saying there was a problem. Persephone rather liked that about her.

But that still meant there was a problem. A big one. Persephone’s pose wilted, hands coming up to her cheeks as if she could hide her embarrassment behind them. “But this is the only dress I have right now…”

“I’ve got something you can borrow!” Artemis smiled, still a little pitying, but Persephone had already accepted that she would be encountering a lot of that in the next few weeks. It was inevitable, really.

Either way, her cousin’s words brought a flood of relief. Persephone bounced on the balls of her feet and clapped her hands together. “Thanks! You’re a real lifesaver!”

Artemis may have been one of the three sacred virgins, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to turn a head. The Moon Goddess’ dress sparkled with sequins like stars in the sky and paired perfectly with her indigo skin, which was very visible with those high slits up the side of her thighs. Oh yes, Persephone would be in good hands on the fashion front. 

She smiled. Maybe the night wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

Chapter 2

#my fics #Lore Olympus #Lore Olympus Novelized #Persephone #Hades

[deamstellarus]

A Touch of Ink (5)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: Date Attempt #2

Word Count: 4604

Warnings: Uhm, fluff and some maybe intense-ish (not really) kissing?

A/N: I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know how I feel about this chapter. I rambled a bit and some parts aren’t really necessary but it is what it is I suppose. Next chapter will be super fluffy though!

Series Masterlist | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4

Chapter 5:

“I should probably get going soon,” you said, still straddling his lap with your head lying on his shoulder. “You probably have an early morning.”

He hugged you to him a little tighter then relaxed his hold on you. This close you could see the shades of blue that made up his eyes, the ring of navy that outline his irises, the flecks of grey with tiny specks of green. You could get lost in them. He leaned forward and kissed your cheek.

“Thank you, for going with the change of plans,” he smiled. “How about we try again next week? I mean, how quickly could Becs be sick again right?” He chuckled.

“That’s true. But really, it’s not a big deal, Buck.” You kiss him on the nose, then got off of him and the couch to stand. You adjusted your shirt while Bucky stood up. You grabbed your keys and phone off the counter before turning back to him. He stood by the door with his hands in his pockets, head down with a hint of a smile on his face. You walked back to him.

“I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?” you asked. His head popped up.

“Yeah, of course. I'll text you...or call you. Whichever you prefer.” You couldn't help but giggle at his nervousness.

“I'll see you tomorrow then.” He wrapped his arms around you for the second time that night, and pulled you into his embrace. A few moments later, he reluctantly released you and opened the door. You gave him one last smile before slipping through and heading for the stairwell, hearing the door close behind you.

As you walked down the hall, you ran into a wall of muscle. You looked up into the face of Steve, who seemed exhausted.

“Sorry, Steve. Didn't see you there. Long day?”

“Yeah, it’s been- wait, weren’t you supposed to have a date with Bucky tonight?” You couldn’t stop the smile on your face when you nodded. “Well, that’s great!”

Steve pulled you into a side hug before he yawned and practically unhinged his jaw. You laughed.

“Get some sleep Steve.” You gave him a little push toward his door. “Have a good night.”

You unlocked your own door, and once inside, leaned against it. Your mind ran through the “date” and you couldn’t help but smile. You loved everything about it. Unconventional first date, sure, but Bucky is wonderful and Noah is adorable and you honestly couldn’t wait for your next date.

You went to bed with a smile on your face.

“Y/N! I’m so sorry your date had to be cancelled the other day!” Becca caught you the moment you walked into the bookstore. “I was just so sick on Wednesday. It’s not his fault. You should give him another cha-”

“Becca, calm down,” you interrupted. “We still had our date. It was just a date for three instead of two.”

“Oh. Oh.” Becca’s eyes were wide. “Well that’s...that’s really great, Y/N. How was it?”

“It was really nice. Bucky cooked. We had lasagna, and afterward we played with Noah and watched a kids’ movie before Noah went to bed. It was all very sweet.”

“Aww! And after Noah went to bed?” Becca quirked an eyebrow at you.

“We talked. Mostly about our pasts. I learned about Dot? She seemed amazing.”

“She was.” Becca said, a distant look in her eye.

“He told me how she died… and how her family treats him and Noah.”

Since that night, you couldn't help but be heartbroken, not only for Bucky, but for Noah. He's so young, and to have a family that will not put aside differences to visit him is so sad. Luckily, he has a good family here, made up of members of this quiet little town.

“They're...something else.” Becca shook her head to clear it. “Well I'm glad you had a good time. Are you seeing each other again soon?”

“Yup! We talked about trying again next week? And meeting up when we can before that.”

“I knew you'd be perfect together!” Becca gushed.

“Slow down there. We’re not officially together or anything. I think we're taking it slow? Just dating for now.”

“But you like him?” she asked. The warmth had returned to your cheeks.

“Yeah, I like him. I really do.” Becca grinned at you.

“So are you in for coffee or books today?” You’d almost forgotten why you were at the Hideout in the first place.

“I’m actually here for a little research. I’m trying to find books about fantasy and myths?”

“Oh? What are you doing that requires that kind of research?”

“It’s for a project I’m working on. I could just as easily look up references and whatnot on the internet, but I like to find books on the topics sometimes. A bit of history to get a better understanding of the subject.”

“Huh. Whelp, the selection is kind of small, but it would be this way. Follow me.” Becca came around out from behind the counter and you followed her down one of the aisles. She stopped abruptly in the middle of a bookcase. “These top three rows are pretty much all we have on folklore and fantasy and myths, that aren’t exclusively in the children’s section.

“That’s alright. Thanks so much Becca!” She left and you browsed through the selection until you found a large book with a red spine. Fairy Tales, Folk Lores, and Myths: The Guide to Another Realm.  Huh. Pretty cheesy title, but as you flipped through the pages, there were visual references as well as elaborate stories and tales about magic, adventure, and love. You didn’t know how long you were sat on the floor thumbing through the pages until someone startled you. Becca giggled.  

“Sorry! I’m going to grab some lunch, so I’m going to close the store for a bit. Want to come with me?”

“Lunch?” You checked at your phone for the time and realized it was already past noon. “Oh wow, I didn’t think I’d been here that long. Sure, I probably should eat something before I starve.”

“Sam never said you were dramatic.”

“That’s because he’s always been the bigger drama queen and he knows it.” She held out a hand to help you off the floor, and your bones ached as you stood up. Your muscles were sore. “Wow, remind me not to do that again,” you laughed.

“Sure thing. Come on.”

The two of you went over to Tony’s, where Wanda was your waitress. She practically squealed when you came in.

“Oh! How was the date? Give me all the details! Don’t leave anything out! Please? Aren’t we friends, Y/N?” She pouted with the biggest green puppy eyes you’d ever seen.

“Yes, fine, sure.” You laughed at Wanda took a seat next to Becca in the booth. “Well, it was nice. Bucky cooked dinner, and it was delicious. Then we watched a kids’ movie and played with Noah until it was his bedtime. And then we talked. About our pasts and whatnot. And then we kissed.”

“What?” both exclaimed simultaneously.

“What do you mean you played with Noah until bedtime? I thought Becca was babysitting him?” Wanda said, leaning forward and pouting in frustration.

“She was really sick, and he couldn’t find another babysitter on such short notice.”

“And you were okay with that?”

“Honestly? Yeah. I like Noah a lot and he’s not rowdy or obnoxious. He’s sweet and loves his dad. It was a nice dinner.”

“You didn’t tell me you kissed, Y/N,” Becca said, her face unreadable.

“Sorry. Is that a problem?”

“Um, not really? It’s more surprising than anything else. Bucky hasn’t kissed anyone since Dot.” Your eyes went wide at that. “He’s been on dates before but they never went very far, and certainly didn’t generate enough chemistry to kiss.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know. In the moment, it just felt right. I really like him, guys.” They had matching soft eyes and smiles on their faces.

“That’s great, Y/N. I think Bucky really likes you too,” Becca said as she reached across the tale and put a hand over yours.

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious with the way he makes heart eyes at you,” Wanda giggled. Becca checked her watch.

“Hey, let’s order something. I have to get back to the shop soon.” You both ordered and soon your food arrived. Halfway through your meal, Becca placed a to-go order. You looked at her questioningly.

“This is for Bucky. I usually bring him lunch on Fridays and he brings me lunch on Mondays. We’ve done this since he started at Black Widow, when he forgot to bring food and he was super busy one Friday afternoon, so like the perfect sister I am,” you rolled your eyes at that, “I brought him lunch. The following Monday, I was really grumpy because it was raining and I had a headache and he saw me through the window looking otherwise... pathetic, I’ll admit it. I hate Mondays and the rain just messes with my mood. Anyway, he saw me and brought me lunch and it did cheer me up, and the habit kind of just stuck.”

“That’s really sweet, Becs.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well I love him. We were really close as kids, even when he started highschool and I was still in 4th grade. He never really excluded me and let me join him and his friends when they played football and stuff in the backyard, and let me come with them when they went out to get ice cream during the summer. We’ve always been close. Me and Steve too, to be honest. They’ve been best friends since they were in diapers, and I basically grew up with him too. It’s like I have a second brother.” She rolled her eyes at the grin on your face. “Anyway, let’s get going. He’s probably starving. It’s a tad later than I usually drop off his food.”

The two of you went to the counter and paid for your food, then headed across the street to the tattoo shop. On the way there though, an older woman stopped Becca, frantic about how some book on crocheting plush toys lied to her or something and she needed a new gift for her grandson. Becca tried to calm her down, but it wasn’t an easy feat.

“Hey Y/N, will you run this in to Buck? I gotta go help Mrs. Mugillicutty before she has a heart attack,” Becca said, handing you over the bag of food. Without waiting for a response, she left you to calm down the old women.

“Sure Becs, no problem,” you muttered under your breath. You stopped in front of the shop. You couldn’t see Bucky from the window. He must be in the back or something. There didn’t appear to be anyone else was there but Bucky would be expecting Becca to bring him lunch, right? You steeled your nerves that came out of nowhere and pushed open the shop door. A little bell overhead rang out as you entered.

“I’ll be with you in a minute!” A voice from the back called out.

You took the opportunity to wander around the tattoo parlor. There was a sitting area in the front that consisted of a couch and a couple chairs, and a coffee table with magazines. The front desk had a big binder flipped open to a couple elaborate tattoo designs. As you got closer, you heard...snoring? You peaked your head behind the desk and were greeted with the sleepy face of a yellow lab. He reminded you of your family dog back home. Ahead of your were two tattoo stations with chairs that reminded you of a dentist seat. At the station you saw Bucky at that first night, there were papers with hand-drawn designs on a corkboard on the wall. You took a step closer to the drawings when one caught your eye. It was one of the few that was drawn with ink instead of graphite. It was a mandala, but it was formed out of flower petals compared to the geometric shapes you’ve seen before.

“Hey, Becs. Sorry, I wa-.” Bucky stopped mid-sentence. The grin on his face when he saw you initiated the butterflies in your stomach. “Y/N! What are you doing here? Not that I’m not happy to see you.”

“Hi. I uhm… Becca! She sent me over with this.” You handed him the bag from Tony’s and watched as his eyes lit up.

“Oh my gosh. Thanks! I’m starving. Noah was slow getting up this morning and I barely got him out the door with breakfast, but I didn’t have any time to eat something myself..”

“Oh, well I’m happy I could bring it over.”

“I’m happy to see you again.” He set the bag down on the stool at his station, then turned back to you, reaching out to hold your hand. “I had a good time the other night.”

“Me too.” You couldn’t stop the smile on your face.

“Honestly, I don’t want to wait until Wednesday to see you again. How about tomorrow night? My parents could probably watch Noah. What do you say?” You were almost distracted by the twinkle in his eye.

“Tomorrow is perfect.”

“Great!” He pulled you into him and kissed your forehead, just as you heard the bell over the door ring.

“Hey! Get a room!” Clint said, walking in with Natasha. He went over to the dog you’d seen earlier, with a small to-go bag in his hand. The dog got up and his tail wagged like crazy. Clint pulled a slice of pizza out of the bag, holding in front of the dog’s face for a moment before it was snatched out of his hand. The dog went back to the dog bed and happily chewed on the pizza.

“Is that good for him?” you asked.

“Who, Lucky? Lucky loves pizza. It’s how I found him, by the harbour, eating pizza from an abandoned box behind the pizzeria.

“Huh. He’s cute,” you said, slightly concerned for his eating habits, but he seemed happy and content so who were you to judge.

“Oh he’s the best!”

“What brings you here?” Natasha said.

“Oh! Just brought him lunch, from Becca.” Natasha hummed in response then turned and headed to the back of the store..

“I don’t think she likes me very much,” you whispered to Bucky. He laughed in response.

“She’s like that to most people. She’s actually pretty nice, and fiercely loyal. She just comes off a bit rough. If she didn’t like you, you’d know it.”

Oh. “Okay, well I’ll let you get back to lunch and work!” You went on your tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

“See you tomorrow, Y/N.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow!”

“So what do you think?”

“This place is beautiful in the moonlight.”

You and Bucky were walking hand in hand down the boardwalk. You’d just had dinner at a little restaurant by the harbour. The dinner was nice, but the company was better. Bucky’s hand found yours multiple times throughout the night and you couldn’t remember the last time you’d laughed so much. He insisted on paying the bill when it came, but when he suggested getting ice cream on the boardwalk afterward, you slipped the cashier the money before he could. “Fair is Fair,” you’d told him. With ice cream in hand, the two of you strolled by the boats in the harbour, looking out at the water. The waves were smaller than when you’d seen them in the daytime and the water seemed to be glittering.

“I can’t believe you grew up with this just outside your door. Well, essentially.” Bucky chuckled.

“Yeah, it was great. Becca and I rode out on my dad’s boat practically every other weekend.” His thumb drew circles on your hand as he held it. “I could take you out on the water sometime if you’d like.”

“Really? That’d be amazing!”

You stood at the end of the dock by the lighthouse for a while until a breeze blew by, causing a shiver to run up your spine. Bucky noticed and shrugged off his leather jacket, placing it on your shoulders. You slipped your arms into the sleeves and were instantly surrounded by the smell of leather, sandalwood, and… Bucky. You burrowed yourself into the jacket as much as you could, savoring the warmth. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder.

“Let’s get you back home. It’s pretty chilly out here.”

When you arrived back at your apartment building, you waited for the elevator to come down to the first floor.

“I’m not ready for the night to end just yet,” you said, gazing up into his eyes.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Uhm.. do you want to come back to my place? I have some wine and beer, or coffee and tea, if you’d like.” You hoped you didn’t sound too eager.

“Yes!” He blurted. He coughed, clearing his throat. “I mean, yeah, that’d be great.” Once inside your apartment, you told him to make himself at home. “What would you like to drink?”

“You don’t have to make anything special for me, just whatever you’re having.”

When you came back into the living room, Bucky was looking at the pictures on your wall. There was a photograph of you and Sam from when you were about four and Sam was seven, posing in your Halloween costumes. You’d gone as Minnie and Mickey that year for the annual Halloween party your mom throws. You handed him the bug of tea and he thanked you.

“You were adorable!”

“Were? Am I not adorable now?” You quipped back, quirking your eyebrow at him. Bucky’s eyes went wide, and his mouth opened and closed several times like a fish.

“I’m just kidding Bucky. I’ll admit, Sammy and I were pretty cute kids,” you said, taking a seat on the couch.

“I’d say you’re pretty cute now,” he said as he sat next to you. He put his mug on the coffee table and placed his arm on the back of the couch behind you. You took a tip of your tea, then set your mug on the coffee table.

“Well aren’t you sweet.”

He glanced at your lips before looking back into your eyes. Before you knew it, you were leaning into each other and your lips connected. His lips were warm, much like the first time you’d kissed a few days earlier. Unlike the first time though, this kiss was thorough and you melted into it. You cupped his face with your hands, fingers grazing the scruff on his face. His arms went around your waist, holding you to him. His strong hands lifted you from your position beside him to seat you on his lap, legs straddling his thighs. A position you noticed he prefered. His fingers gripped your hips, not too tight to leave a mark, but enough to let him feel in control. You pulled away for a second, gasping for breath as you remembered you had to breathe. You rested your forehead to his, peeking at his closed eyes. You held onto his shoulders as he let go of you and leaned forward to take off his button up and throw it over the arm of the couch, which left him in a dark t-shirt that showed off his tattoos. His eyes finally met yours again and you could see some hesitance of what you were doing. You ran a hand through his chestnut hair.

“We can just keep doing this, we don’t have to go any further. This is plenty for now, alright?” You kissed his cheek. “Is this okay?” you whispered, hoping that you hadn’t crossed some line or pushed him too far.

He nodded, grinning back at you. “More than okay.”

You bent your head down and he reached up, his lips captured your once again.

“Have you ever thought of getting one?”

You were lying together on your couch, your head on his chest. His arm was around you, his thumb drawing circles onto your side through your shirt.

“One what?” you asked, tilting your head up to see his face.

“A tattoo. When I found you in the shop yesterday, you were looking at some of the designs I’ve done for people. Have you ever thought of getting one yourself?

“To be honest, I have, once or twice. But I’m too scared. Not of needles or anything, just the pain. My tolerance is not the highest and I bruise easy.” Bucky hummed at your response. “But I have imagined getting something that was drawn for me, you know? Like a unique piece that had a meaning behind it or connected me to someone.” You shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe someday I’ll get something.”

“Well, when you do decide to get one, I’d be thrilled to do the honors.”

“I wouldn’t want anyone else to do it.” You pulled his arm around you a bit more to get a closer look at the images.

“If you wanted to see them, you could've just asked.” He laughed softly.

He turned in his spot, holding you by your arms to sit you up with him. He took off the t-shirt he was wearing and you gasped slightly at his bare skin. You reached out and lightly traced the edge of where the sleeve began at the top of his shoulder. A green and red dragon curled its way down half the length of Bucky’s arm, with its curved neck at his shoulder. The skin there was a little bumpy compared to the smoothness a couple inches underneath it.

“That's part of the scar. When I decided I wanted something to cover the scars, I told Stevie I wanted something that would cover a large majority in one go. He came back a couple days later with the dragon. He’d really gotten into art history in high school and drew in all different styles he read about on the internet. I guess the dragon was something that stuck in his mind because it ended up working perfectly and Nat did a great job.”

On the underside of his forearm, a set of three red roses bloomed on his skin, textured and made to appear real. You traced your fingertips around the green leaves filling out the empty spaces.

“Roses were Dot’s favorite. She used to say, ‘I know they’re overrated but they smell so nice.’ It seemed like a less cheesy way to remember her, you know?” You hummed in agreement.

On the inside of his bicep, just below the dragon’s head, was the phrase, “‘Till the end of the line,” written in a pretty script that contrasted with the other colorful designs on his skin.

“It's something Steve and I used to say to each other. It meant that we’d always have each others’ backs. You wouldn't believe me, looking at him now, but Steve was a tiny kid and got picked on a lot by the older kids, and stuck up for others who got bullied. They'd knock him down and he’d get right back up again with bruises already forming and a cut lip. So I'd jump in because he's my best friend and I can't let him get beat up alone. Then when we both joined the firehouse, it meant even more in the field. Steve has a matching one on his right bicep actually. It was one of the first tattoos I ever did, but it’s technically Steve’s handwriting.”

“‘Till the end of the line.’ I like that. Feels nostalgic somehow,” you said. “Can’t really imagine Steve as anything close to tiny though.”

You turned his arm over to look at the last tattoo that took up the majority of the front of his forearm. It was of ocean waves, rough and choppy with a lighthouse in the background.

“This one isn’t as sentimental as the others. I’ve always loved the water though, I grew up on it, so I like having it permanently a part of me. The lighthouse though is the same one down by the harbor. Lights the way home, my dad would say. Stevie drew something similar to this one day and I knew I wanted it on my arm.”

“Wow, it seems like Steve has drawn most of your tattoos.”

“Well he is the better artist. He’s been drawing as long as I could remember. There used to be a time where you couldn’t find him without his sketchbook nearby.”

“Well, I appreciate his artistic eye,” you said. You laid back down on the couch together, your body snuggled into his side. In the silence, with your head on his chest, you could hear his heart beating fast.

“Do they bother you? The tattoos, or even the scars?” When you glanced at him, you could tell he was nervous about your answer.

“I think they're all beautiful, James. I think anyone who thinks differently is wrong,” you whispered, not wanting to break the comfortable quiet you were in. You caressed his chest absent-mindedly.

“I haven’t really dated since the accident,” Bucky said. “Nat and Stevie have tried to set me up with people before. To “get back out there” they said, but it never worked out. I would go out on the date, usually meeting them at Tony’s but by halfway through dinner, I’d want to leave. I found myself comparing them to Dot, their personalities, how they laughed, what they looked like, what their interests were. Sometimes, they’d see the tattoos and would judge me, not openly talking about them, but they’d eye the bits of ink peeking out from my shirtsleeve and a look of disgust would flash across their face before they corrected it. And then there’s the fact that I have Noah, and what young person wants to be in a relationship with a man who already has a son? By the end of the night... I would feel awful. I would feel like I wasted their time, and mine…” He took a deep breath, but when he exhaled, it was shaky. “The worst part was that I felt like I was cheating on Dot. Like what I was doing, dating other people, was seen as trying to replace her.”

“Oh James…” You stroked the side of his neck.

“She was the love of my life, the mother of my son. I felt like I was...was disgracing her memory or something.”

His arms around your waist tensed for a moment before they loosened. You leaned back in his hold to look up at his face. His hand went to your cheek, thumb absently brushing your skin as he stared into your eyes.

“But then I met you. Well, heard about you first, briefly, from an energetic six year old.” He chuckled. “But when I first met you at the Hideout? I think I even surprised myself that day how at ease I  was and comfortable I felt around you.” He leaned forward and kissed your forehead. “I don’t want to scare you, or put too much on you...I know I have a lot of baggage...but I like you. And I think you like me too.” You rolled your eyes at that but smiled at him. “I don't want to rush into things, but I’d really like to see where this goes. I guess what I’m trying to say is, will you be my girl?”

[Chapter 6]

#Bucky Barnes x Reader #Modern AU #TattooArtist!Bucky #Fluff #Tooth-Rotting Fluff #a bit of angst #and more fluff #avengers fic #marvel fanfiction #A Touch of Ink

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 41: It’s Mai’s Turn to Get Electrocuted

Hey guys, welcome to the Christmas Break.

It’s TV watching season, so lets watch some TV and over-analyze a 20 yo kid’s show, you in?

Odion, after suffering from a lightning strike and getting impaled by many pieces of that fake millennium rod he was holding gets dropped off in the only room on this blimp that has sheets. He also had the added shock of witnessing his brother morph into a somewhat evil-er dude with saiyan hair, which I dunno, I’d want to take a nap too, that’s a lot to deal with.

(And thanks to some reader input, turns out this Marik isn’t so much a ghost situation so much. I mean, I guess it’s more of a Season Zero --this is your deep down scary personality taking over-- type thing but it’s not like I really finished Season Zero so...We’re just rolling with it.)

Glad we have an actual hospital wing--confused as to why Bakura isn’t here.

But I guess lightning strike is slightly worse than having a bleeding stab wound for 12 hours. I mean I’m no doctor, maybe it is? Anyway, Odion is hooked up to all sorts of computers and life support although there aren’t any cords attached to him anywhere on his body. Not even one piss-yellow IV bag.

Check out the size of that IBM. This is what a widescreen used to look like.

The rest of the Yuge Crew are here although I’m pretty sure that’s not how hospitals work. Pretty sure you have to be related to drop on in directly after being put in intensive care but like, they are on a blimp so I guess it’s different up there. But also, this guy has abducted them once already and just tried to kill Joey for the second time, and now they are like “We’re basically on BFF family terms with this Odion guy, lets visit that bedside.”

Although, mind you, his real family is Marik and Ishizu, both of which have never said aloud that Odion is their brother. This family is sort of bad at life, TBH.

Since we’re barrelling right into a Mai arc we have to confront one of her 2 big Mai character conflicts--which is either “this is why I don’t get married” or “OMG I am going to die forever alone.” Which is interesting, because last time we hung out with her, we did whatever we could to keep her independent, while in this episode Mai mourns that being independent is the ultimate curse. Girl wants whatever she doesn’t have, pretty much.

Ah, Miss independent, never thought I’d get that song stuck in my head again. Thanks, Mai. Except in this version, instead of falling in love, Mai just makes weird friendships with jail bait teenagers. Why can’t she make friends with like, Roland? He’s her age. Or maybe this nice doctor? But whatever, age is meaningless on this show.

(read more under the cut)

Anyway, Joey has decided to tell us all about that dream he had but leaves out the parts where he dropped everything he owns, and then knocked himself over a desk onto his face, and then in the same dream Kaiba kinda walked in from off screen, dunked on him, and then walked directly off screen again.

Mai is deeply touched.

And then, because she is Mai, gets extremely offended immediately afterward.

I can keep hoping it’ll be Duke Devlin but like...as much as I want him to do more on this show, I really think the only people who remember Duke Devlin at this point are all the animators who were like “HOW many people are in this shot?! Why did we make a season where every scene is a freakin crowd scene!?”

*I know the shading on her ass was supposed to be attractive but it looks like nasty sweat stains*

(Also what the hell computer-machinery is supposed to be behind them in this scene?)

This one time where Joey doth protest too much is the first time we have ever, ever on this show seen Joey act less than vague towards Mai. During the dream episode he blushed, but I thought that was because of Serenity being there for her brother in his dream. I didn’t at all think that was over Mai at the time.

But I guess this is happening now? I mean people kept saying “yes, Joey and Mai will be a thing” and I was like “they better start building up to that because like...nothing is happening.” but this show’s version of building up to that was by just not being vague one single time.

Which in this show is a big deal, I guess. Because shortly after this event, Tea remembers that her character description sheet says “Is bossy AF” with red underline and was like “OMG I totally forgot and it’s been like 20 episodes since I did anything, I gotta hurry” and she just lost her lid.

I’m regretting more and more that joke I made that TeaxKaiba was way more reasonable than TeaxYugi, because sometimes when Tea goes ham she may as well be wearing a long spiky coat with boots leggings. Tea had two very different personalities way before she ever got possessed by Bakura. Like, Tea is kind of a monster actually, but we rarely get to see it because she gets completely distracted and cries a lot when it just feels like...the other half of her, the half that bit a guy once--like she legit bit a guy on this show--that side of Tea would just never cry over cards. Or cry, period. She sure wasn’t crying when she bit that guy!

This is mostly because I think the writers didn’t know how to write a girl like Tea since she’s a mix of a Season Zero Tea and this more old fashioned-’feminine’ version I think they were trying to turn her into for this series. It’s weird. It’s weird that this group of friends have nothing to say about these very abrupt changes in her behavior. Then again, it took them a while to notice the abrupt changes in Yugi.

Anyway, Joey isn’t done getting harassed by everyone he knows yet.

We have Marik trapped in a blimp in the sky and the entire Kaiba security force, why are we dueling him anymore? I mean I know why, we are contractually obligated to show lots of card content in this show to sell cards, but at this point I feel like maybe they should drive the blimp over international waters and resort to maritime law. Give Kaiba a gun.

Actually don’t do that, it would be bad. Don’t give Kaiba a gun. Give it to Duke or something, he seems stable enough. He seems like he’d be able to shoot somebody but not everybody, if you know what I mean.

And because it’s the Mai arc, we gotta have Mai duel next. There’s only 3 people left to go against: Ishizu, Kaiba, and Marik. I think. There’s so many people on this show. Tea isn’t playing, right? I mean I really do feel like like I’ve forgotten someone--maybe Shadi? Miho? So many people are on this blimp.

Whatever, I’ll just roll with it, if I forgot someone I’m sure they’ll show up at some point.

Mai sure is that girlfriend.

Anyway, lets see what Marik’s up to. Ah, he really is visiting his older brother after all.

That’s right--Marik has to play twice. I mean obvi the first Marik was Odion, but still, it just feels like it’s Marik playing twice.

Also can we please talk about Marik’s cargo pants obsession for a little bit? This arch villain is in CARGO PANTS. Like, they have puffy pockets. He figured out that the hoodie was a bad look, but then he was like “I’ll just cover my tum-tum, and then put on my khaki cargo pants with a sensible belt.”

It just sort of insinuates that Marik only owns cultist robes and cargo pants. Just those two things. Imagine if every pant in your closet was cargo pants. Just imagine with me. You’d go mad, too. Imagine you packed for a trip, a nice vacay on a blimp, and then you opened your luggage and you were like “oops! all cargo pants!” you’d fly home.

Marik looks like he’s going to Casual Khaki’s Friday at the office from about the stomach down, and then stomach up up he’s ready to join piccolo and fuse brains or whatever the hell goes on in Dragonball Z.

And Yugi and his friends are late to Mai’s duel because they are teenagers and also of course they would. This whole season was introduced with Yugi being chronically late to stuff.

The bathroom joke in this episode is canon, PS. I skipped a Season Zero episode where Tristan went to the loo and so Yugi held his spot in line and it took like 30 minutes before Tristan finally got back. Tristan’s epic poops have apparently been Yugioh canon since the very beginning.

I’m learning so much about the lore.

Now that Marik no longer has to hide who he is, he has decided that he’ll just use the Shadow Realm willy-nilly now. Although Marik did this without playing any cards at all, it doesn’t seem to register to Seto Kaiba that this is not a hologram. Maybe Kaiba sneezed when Marik summoned it and just assumed he missed a card play or something.

So now, for our gimmick!

Every time we fight in the Shadow Realm it feels like the rules are a little bit different, and Marik decided to make this duel a memory fight.

The Shadow Realm seems to eat on your greatest insecurities, and for Mai it’s feeling all alone. Not sure how that works once the duel is over--her friends will still be there, so like...she can just get a heads up on the one day they went camping that one time and then boom, friendship rekindled, I think. But for now, this is very scary for everyone involved.

But I mean at least she isn’t a playing card, or being thrown into a graveyard by being played as a card, or being devoured by gloopy blobs, or rapidly dying because of the exposure to the shadow zone. As far as Shadow Realms go this one seems kind of tame.

But I guess we shall see if somehow losing Tea will effect her story in any way.

Depends on which Tea, in my opinion, but if we’re going for the normal boring one that only cries wellllllll I wouldn’t notice if she were gone, just saying. Now, if it’s the fun Tea that bites people and yanks their ears off their face, well being forced to lose my memories of her is what the writers do to me basically every episode of this show. Let Tea bite more people in the arm. Let that girl rage.

But all that will be for another recap where we can all watch Mai get Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-ed as if a memory wipe hasn’t happened at least once to every single person on this show with the exception of Mokuba. And Mokuba was a paper card for like I want to say about 10 episodes, so...

Anyways, if you just got here I do have these in chrono order from s1 ep1, here is a link.

#Yugioh #yugioh recap #photo recap #s2 ep 41 #Mai Valentine #Tea Gardner #Joey Wheeler #Yugi Muto #Seto Kaiba #Kaiba #Mokuba #Roland #Tristan Taylor #Duke Devlin #Serenity Wheeler #odion ishtar #marik ishtar #did I get everybody #theres so many people to tag now #cargo pants #plot coma

[zippdementia]

Part 81 Alignment May Vary: Mirrors of the Abyss (Pissed Off Librarian)

The next part of our adventure is taken from Mirrors of the Abyss, by Ryan Durney. I highly recommend it as a rare high level adventure. Very much worth a purchase. I will be covering huge aspects of it and it will not be spoiler-free, though it is a random enough adventure that there is PLENTY we won’t see on this playthrough and some additional material for our own story. Art is taken directly from the module and is illustrated by Ryan Durney. The purpose in using it here is to show off how beautiful and professional the product is, not to claim such images as our own. I sincerely hope it inspires you to purchase the product!

Chamber 12: Her Library

The third chamber the players end up in is a library. It has multiple challenges but only one is absolutely mandatory and that is finding the “key” to escaping the room. Is it buried in the stacks of books here? Is it hidden among the artifacts laid out on the ground floor? Or is it forgotten on the third floor, where crates of ancient relics and do-nothing items are carelessly piled up on top of each other?

I’m not going to say, because my players haven’t found the way out yet in our game.

An optional challenge here awaits them at the librarian’s desk, where an attractive woman is reading and writing something in a huge journal on the desk in front of her. While Carrick, Remus, and Milosh go to check out a huge painting of the entrance to the Tomb of Horrors that is on display in the south of the room, Daymos and Imoaza go to greet the librarian.

Daymos approached the woman and gave her a wide smile. “Hello! Perhaps you could tell us where we are?”

The woman looked up and didn’t smile back. “Name and layer of the Abyss?”

“Uuuh, you mean where we are now? Vulgarea, the---”

“No, of course not where we are now. I need to know where you come from. Which layer? What is your lordly name?”

Daymos briefly looked over his shoulder at Imoaza for assistance but she just stared straight ahead. He swallowed and turned back.

“I come from between layers, from the realm of Ia’fret. I am the new lord of his domain.” It wasn’t too much of a lie, Daymos did consider himself the master of that realm. But would this being think that marked him as a proven Demon Lord?

The dice rolled across the table and... no, even with Daymos having advantage on the roll, she did not think that this qualified him as a Demon Lord. The woman rose up from the desk, rose up to seven or eight feet tall, and now they could see that her lower body merged into that of a massive serpent.

“She’s a Marilith!” Daymos hissed to Imoaza, “and a powerful one at that! Possibly a general of the Abyss, maybe one of Shaktari’s from the 531st layer.”

“That’s nice,” Imoaza said. “Do you know how to defeat her? The Weave is strong about her. She’ll be immune to our elemental magic!”

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t rely on such childish magic,” Daymos said. “Just don’t stay close, those blades will tear you apart!”

The Mar1ilith stretched out six arms, four of which she had tucked behind her back before. They grabbed six blades off the wall behind her and her tail flicked backwards to grab a seventh. Then she smiled at last and said, “Let’s see if I still know how to use these.” She whistled and suddenly a swarm of three dozen quasits, impish looking creatures wearing maid outfits and wielding tiny brooms, appeared on the stairs and began chittering excitedly.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had some fun,” the Marilith said. “Let’s smash open those artifacts and show them their power, dies.”

This combat is a cool one, and a deadly one. The Quasits are interested in moving around the room and picking up players, then chucking them into different artifacts, most of which have some negative effect associated with touching it. They also can turn invisible as a free action when they move, basically guaranteeing them advantage on their first hit each turn. They auto-grapple if they hit, which then lets them use their second attack to hurl a player at an artifact.

The Marilith is a powerhouse at close range, able to pull off 4 attacks each turn, plus a 5th with her tail as a reaction that also throws players around like the Quasits. She has advantage on saving against magical effects and has an automatic and FREE chance to block all melee strikes aimed at her, even when blinded or restrained! She is immune to basic elemental damage (fire, ice, lightning) and non-magical damage. Her damage isn’t great (2d8 for each successful strike, no bonus) but she hits pretty easily and each time she hits a random effect is triggered, indicating which of her seven legendary swords she is striking with. None of these are good: probably the most banal heal her for a little damage or force the target to try and block the next attack aimed at her. One steals items. The nastiest add a ton of damage, all but guarantee a critical strike, throw the players around, or let the sword rise up and attack on its own next turn, adding a FIFTH attack to her already deadly arsenal. Oh, and she can move 45 feet on her turn AND teleport up to 100 feet as a free action. So you can’t escape her.

So this could be a TPK, if the players aren’t prepared. Or it could be a very fun, tactical fight, if they are.

In one of my recent Adventurous Appetizer episodes I talked about how a good fight is one in which the players understand their options. I like to take my own advice (that way, I know at least SOMEONE does) and I recognize that this fight, what with all the crazy abilities and advantages the Marilith and Quasits have, could be a very frustrating one if the players aren’t aware of their options or the situation. So I give them some information. First of all, I warn them that this creature is melee proficient, just driving home something that would be obvious to their characters but maybe not to us playing with figurines on Roll20. Don’t rush this creature, or do so at your own peril!

Then I turn to all of the players and ask them if they have any abilities they want to use to try and determine good tactics here or get more information. Carrick and Milosh play their characters well, saying they wouldn’t know anything here. I give them two fate points, bonus points they can apply to their rolls to make them better, for roleplaying appropriately. Daymos has demon lore from being a hunter of demons these last few decades and so I let him roll to determine that the Marilith is a high ranking one and is probably going to have a lot of abilities normal monsters would not (this sets them up not to be taken off guard when she starts blocking all over the place). Lastly, I let Imoaza roll arcana to see if she can detect the Weave around the Marilith, which she succeeds at, and thus gets to tell the party the Marilith is immune to basic elemental damage, potentially saving them a wasted turn trying to attack her that way.

Not only does this get everyone prepped for the fight, but it also lets them play their characters and use skills that further develop their personalities and strengths.

And with that, we leap into the fight!

Fighting the Marilith General

I think this fight goes really well. The Marilith and her Quasits roll really high on Initiative, but the Marilith decides to spend the first turn trying to charm Imoaza with a high level charm spell instead of attacking. She wants Imoaza to tell her her name, which if successful will lead to something special I’ve added to this fight. I’ve taken the Marilith character and, based on her described bookishness, decided to add in some naming magic, in particular one spell that will send Imoaza, er, somewhere else for the length of this battle, if only she can get her true name. As a bonus, the spell is high enough level she can try to charm Daymos as well, who is next to Imoaza. But both attempts fail. The Marilith could pull away at this point, but she wants the players to close in and attack her at melee range, so she waits here to see what they will do, confident in her high movement abilities to chase them down if they run. The players play this smart, though, and back away, using their long range spells and actually achieving quite a bit of damage. And so on the second round, the Marilith unleashes her full force.

There’s some rounds of trading blows that I won’t go into details about, but I will cover the basics. The Marilith and the Quasits don’t get great rolls, so their effectiveness is limited. The Quasits are at least able to focus on Imoaza and drive her away from participating much in the combat, ending up tossing her in a artifact of acid (taken from the Temple of Elemental Evil). The Marilith ends up rolling the same sword over and over and it is one of the less deadly ones: the one that forces players to try and block attacks for her. Because my players are pretty fast and the save is a dexterity save, they end up being able to dodge out of the way after being compelled to take hits for her. The one time it would be very useful is when Carrick fails a roll and is about to block a magical strike from Imoaza using Crown of Stars that would be 5d12 damage, but an inspiration reroll and a fate point saves him and deals some good damage to the Marilith (I’m admittedly a little sad about this, I love when plans turn to shenanigans!)

The big turning point is when Daymos taps into some of his most powerful magic and whips out Prismatic Ray. It’s a gamble: some of the rays do damage the Marilith is immune to. But it pays off when he rolls the blindness function, which severely limits the Marilith’s ability to target appropriately and hit a target for a turn. She calls out to her Quasits to point her to a target, but they can’t spot Daymos, so they aim her at Milosh instead. Because of her disadvantage, she ends up missing almost all of her attacks against him and she can’t use teleport because she can’t see! 

A lot of stuff happens when she recovers from this. She targets Milosh and Carrick, while her Quasits go to distract Daymos. And in targeting Milosh she finally lands a good strike with her tail, cutting him and throwing him into the painting of the Tomb of Horrors, which sucks him inside...

Milosh finds himself on the top of a hill which is turning into an avalanche of stone and rubble, bearing him down towards a mouth constructed roughly of black stone in the ground beneath him, the smiling visage that marks the entrance to the Tomb of Horrors. The mouth grins then horrifically begins to move, opening to reveal a pit in the earth made of pure darkness. Milosh tumbles towards this hole of annihilation...

Meanwhile, with one party member out of the way, the Marilith prepares to unleash all of her strikes on Carrick and hopefully remove him from combat. But rather than flee her, Carrick does the brave thing and leaps directly at her, amazingly dodging her counterstrikes, getting underneath her insane defenses, and going to town on her, inflicting two massive hits that take her to the point where she decides to flee. Only one player will get the chance to go before she disappears by teleporting away from the arena, and that player is currently stuck in a painting...

Milosh was falling and he wasn’t very happy about that. Thinking fast, he turned his arm into the grappling hook feature and fired to the side, catching a piece of huge rubble. He then leaped and fired again. Almost as if he were willing it to happen, another chunk of rubble flew from the hilltop and gave him a platform, then another, and another, until Milosh was leaping up a set of improvised stairs, each step collapsing underneath him as he ran and leaped and reached for something that seemed just beyond his reach... and then he was back, back in the world of Vulgarea, emerging from the painting to see the hissing serpent tracing a pattern in the air. Something magical, for sure, and he didn’t give her time to finish. Loading his drill, he pressed forward and slammed into her side. She shrieked in pain and rage and turned to slice at him, at which point he rolled to the side, underneath the swinging of three blades. He tried to strike again, but was blocked by the tail sword. He then took a risk: he grabbed the tail, let it lift him up, and let go to land on the Marilith’s undefended side. Then he drove his drill into her back and activated it. Flesh and blood and bone ground together and sprayed around him and the Marilith screamed as her Abyssal form was decimated and her soul shunted back into the long chain of reincarnation that it would take for her to regain her form, if ever she actually did. Her last action was to reach out towards her distant desk on which her thick book still lay.

Milosh gets a bonus to his gun arm after this fight by absorbing the data from the Marilith’s wild blocks and swings. His gun arm comes equipped with its own spell slots and abilities that cost a certain number of slots. This ability costs 2 and creates a wall of blades around him that greatly boosts his AC (+1 for each of the swords, and there are four of them) and can harm creatures that fail their melee attacks against him. Failed strikes by either melee or ranged remove a blade (and a +1 to the AC) and Milosh can also grab a blade and use it as a bonus attack. Pretty cool (if I do say so myself). His gun arm slots recover after a short rest.

The great thing about this fight is that I think it was a legitimate challenge. The players don’t take a ton of damage and Remus heals them up afterwards (he is able to access some of his Paladin magic, though it is very limited). But the risk was there: the challenge came from having to think smart and dip into their wide repertoire of abilities and magic spells. Which is how it should be at high level: you have lots of options, you need to be given opportunities to use them! Most importantly, I feel like everyone had a chance to shine and do something cool, whether it was Carrick getting to go toe-to-toe with the Marilith and succeed, or Milosh cutting her down in a glorious final moment (which was very close: he had to use an inspiration to reroll that final melee attack, avoid her responsive block, and then do enough damage to kill her... he did literally JUST enough).

With the Marilith dead, the swords are the players’ to claim (we’ll cover those in a later session, the players don’t have time to examine their abilities just now). The Quasits flee and now the real challenge is made clear to them...

Esheballa’s Taunt

The fox statue made a grinding sound of stone snapping as it twisted its features into a canine grin and began to speak: “There is only one way out of this chamber and you have limited time to find it. I hope you don’t mind if I remove your ability to breath...” and with that, as the statue’s laughter slowly strained the limits of the stone and ripped apart its face, pussy blood-red and green liquid began to ooze from the statue’s teats, poised over the laughing, hungry statues of the babies feeding there. The ooze hit them and sizzled and the air began to smell acrid...

The first obstacle here was facing the Marilith. The fight was avoidable, but they fought and won, so we go onto the second part of this puzzle: finding a way out. I’ve added to this based on the players’ actions in previous sessions. For when Imoaza goes to examine the book the Marilith pointed at, the one on her desk, she finds a set of instructions there for entering the book, where the Marilith has been keeping victims trapped using their true names. And the last name on the list...

“Shit,” Imoaza says, showing the others. “It’s Hecate.”

Next time, it’s all about Not Waking the Demi Lich, in part 3 of Mirrors of the Abyss.

#Mirrors of the Abyss #Campaign Journal #Dungeons & DRagons #DND 5e

[andrasteshaircurlers]

Alright to be fair this post should be titled: Let’s talk Lyrium, and world order, and how magic types relate to each other, and a lot of other shit because Tansy just finished Trespasser and is kind of freaking out. but that did not make as good a title.

See?

(As you can also tell I started this lore post a LONG time ago)

Basically the DLC was just one validation after another of some of the ideas I had lore wise that were so out there that I just sort of went NAH and didn’t really share them. It also validated lots I have spoken of but that’s beside the point.

There was literally so much to cover that I kept debating about how to mix it up for a while before finally deciding to just sort of dump it all in one place.

I ended up going with the Lyrium title because this has validated TWO crazy theories I had!

So basically I promise you there will be lyrium

There will just be a lot of other stuff too. Please keep reading. Unless of course you are a templar experiencing withdrawal in which case I advise you to… I don’t even know. Sorry buddy you’re screwed.

CRASH COURSE ON THEDAS WORLD ORDER!

Fade - Fade magic - spirits - sky/outerspace

Thedas - blood magic - us - Thedas

Void - Void Magic - dead people - Water

LYRIUM! LYRIUM EVERYWHERE!

I um... Might need to explain a bit more. Lemme just copy and paste from another of my posts

First let's look at magic. Blood/fade/void

We know how magic works for blood and fade “ A mage uses magic by tapping into the power of the Fade to essentially question reality, rendering it mutable and able to be reshaped. To this end, templars are the ideal foils for mages, having been trained specifically to counter and “deny” magic

http://higheverrains.tumblr.com/post/132465307323/circle-charts this post got me thinking

ok so basically Blood magic uses the power of real life of reality to shape spells Fade magic uses the fades power with it being a place of unfixed existence.

You got that? Thedas is reality, Fade is unfixed reality

The void as we see in the void magic performed in the Calling draws its power from lack of reality. It works by literally dissolving reality out of existence instead of changing it as fade magic does or creating it as blood magic seems to.

Side note: this is why blood magic can be so unexpected as in Last Flight. You are creating reality not changing it as Fade magic does.

Still with me here? Good,

According to the prima game guide  “ Spirits whose realms are flocked with visitors rise to rule great portions of the Fade, while memories and concepts forgotten in the real world slowly drift away back into the ether, the spirits who ruled them losing all potency”

This ether is also known as the abyss or void. It's the raw waters of the fade. It is nothing but nothing is powerful because nothing is just energy that has not been shaped yet.

This is the fade in its natural state. Before people touch it with their perceptions

Its also a storage place for the souls of the dead before they return

The void is the land of the dead. (as stated by so many cultures in thedas) Thedas is the land of the living. And the fade is the land of those who can neither live nor die.

Now then.

Titans figured out how to have dwarves not enter the fade. But instead be drawn to them and their wellspring to from their own private pool of knowledge.  These were the original memories. The accumulated knowledge of generations at the finger tips of new dwarves.

Sound like anything? The well of Sorrows. The elves took lyrium and “something else” That something else was souls.

This is how imortality works. Circumventing the void. Or rather making sure your full being is brought out into a new body.

Of course this does not explain my last little bit about space and stuff... So I Should started talking about that. 

It started with a crazy thought There are three realms of existence, three types of magic. 

But two big powerful animals? Titans and Great Dragons? Both of whom have blood with crazy special properties?

I don’t believe there is only two. I think one has not yet been revealed to us (Unless of course it’s the Cetus in which case we just don’t know shit)

Dear Bioware, please let it be this thing. Please let our heroes have to go out on boats to meet with it with only harpoons and fishhooks for defence, all like “Haha, we’re so screwed.”

 But basically It got me thinking, If Dragons ruled the skies, and Titans do their shaping thing in the stone what is left? 

BINGO! The Seas!

But that is crazy right and where did outerspace come from?

Well let me show you somthing

Heh-heh nice little rifty, please don’t swallow m-

No! What are we doing!?

OH MY G-D!!!

Gonna look back.... What the?

HOOOOBOY!

Welcome to the other side of the rift.

But wait there is more!

Nice Crossroads Green Forcefield thing.

Hmmm So this is the lowest point.... I wonder if I just

Is that what I think it is?

Thats right under the crossroads is an entire freaking forest.

Oh broken paths?

You mean like this?

A lot of people get frustrated about the geography of thedas and how it makes the sence. The thing is... It does. If you link the physical and the magical

But back to the concept of the seas.

Remember this in the fade?

Yeah I don’t think it was crestwood. Mostly because there is black water in the raw fade in DAO 

Wanna know what else was in the fade?

Which is interesting because in the past lyrium in the fade was blue

Why the change?

Well... It could be because we entered the fade physically 

Or it might have somthing to do with the part of the void we entered being connected to the void. I don’t think those fossils where an accident. Connecting water and death in a thing. As is connecting death and the void as I mentioned above.

We know the titan’s blood is lyrium 

We know it has a heart

New age crystal lovers eat your heart out!!!! Yes I am a crystal lover...

So let's ask the question. What do hearts and blood DO?

If our blood and hearts carry things like oxygen and the other nutrients we need... We have to ask what TITAN hearts and blood carry.

My theory since before trespasser has been that the awnser to this is souls. Lyrium transports souls through the void the fade and thedas.

Moving on.

Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls. From these emerald waters doth life begin anew. Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you. In my arms lies Eternity.

In the book “The Calling” Merric speaks this verse while very likely in a titan.

What if this wellspring is a holder for souls. So that when Sha-Brytol die they can be brought back. A “secret to immortality”

What does this idea remind you of? Well it reminded me of The Well Of Sorrows.  

But that’s crazy right... WELLLLLL....

This is the “pure” Lyrium we see in Decent 

The Lyrium we see in trespasser however is different looking The following are two pictures of it taken at the same angle just moments apart.

Notice the shiny. It’s almost like the Lyrium has been charged somehow.  But charged how... FLYCAM TIME

Oh look at this... You know what it reminds me off?

Welcome to Uthenera

Close up more

Oh look Lyrium columns leading to...

The dark waters of the fade.  Shall we call this the void?

Diving boards are important for void sacrifices guys.

I’m about to propose somthing crazy guys.

What if Red Lyrium is not always evil?

Besides the fact that a Qunari inquisitor seems not to find Red Lyrium a bother in trespasser we have this.

Does this mean that Red Lyrium was once not blighted? or that the blight was once not bad? That there is some red Lyrium that is not bad?

The Elves in origins seem to suggest so.

This Camp should be doomed

But we have seen more than just blue and red lyrium

We’ve seen green Lyrium. FYI The Hissing Wastes is home to many Oddities

I know some suspect this might be a trick of the light But this does not look like a trick of the light to me.

Furthermore the Qunari in Trespasser seem to agree with me considering this is found in their little clubhouse.

SO if red lyrium is blighted lyrium.... Or rather void like Lyrium.... what is green lyrium..? 

The awnser came to me seeing the Fade Touched Lurker

found in Jaws of Hakkon.

Green Lyrium is fade touched lyrium... 

Which means that it is either like Veil Quartz... OR....

We have a possessed Titan somewhere!

Personally I bank on the Possessed Titan for two simple reasons.

First of all we find no green Lyrium in the Frostback Basin where both our fade touched friend above and veil quartz are...

ALSO

While we know that dwarves like using Lyrium in interior decorating...

We also see what could be other colors of lyrium in their decor...

From green...

To red and even yellow....

That this might be lyrium is given further credence by the fact that a Lyrium sales dwarf in Orzammar seems to be selling these decorations...

And that wraps up this lore post!

Thank you to @aqunaristateofbind for the Morrigan well graphic!

#final pre-hiatus lorepost #lore #dragon age lore #codex #lyrium #lyrium lore #inquisition lore #dragon age inquisition #tresspaser dlc #trespasser lore #de #the descent DLC

[entergamingxp]

Baldur’s Gate 3 Interview — David Walgrave Shares Game Details and Reflects on Obtaining the IP from Wizards of the Coast

February 27, 2020 4:15 PM EST

After getting a look at Baldur’s Gate 3, we chatted with Larian Studios about what to expect from this long-awaited sequel.

After watching a three-hour presentation on an alpha build of Larian’s Baldur’s Gate 3 at a preview event in San Francisco, I had the privilege of interviewing Larian senior producer David Walgrave about the Dungeons and Dragons-based RPG which Larian plans on releasing in early access this year.

We chatted about everything; from the game’s tone, inspiration, and relation to previous Baldur’s Gate titles, to the implementation of the Dungeons and Dragon‘s tabletop elements and rulebook. I also asked Walgrave questions about the gameplay I saw, including information on the game’s multiplayer and difficulty settings. Ultimately, the game holds very true to the lore, creativity, and RNG elements that characterize Dungeons and Dragons.

Josh Starr: Both the Baldur’s Gate and Divinity: Original Sin series are regarded as definitive CRPG experiences, but are still quite different games. How much are you looking to reconcile the Larian style with long-time Baldur’s Gate fans? Are you trying to go for a middle ground, opting for something more akin to BioWare’s work, or sticking with what Larian knows and does well?

David Walgrave: Oh, wow. So, obviously we know our own strengths and weaknesses, and we always take our strengths into the next game we develop. So, over the last 10 or so years, there have been certain pieces of technology and philosophy that we identify as core Larian and take into our next project. For example, when it comes to technology,  a lot of stuff in our games follow systemics, so it’s really more of a simulation than anything else. We used to do this because we were a very small team, and if you work with systemics, you get a lot of gameplay for free. But we started noticing that a lot of this free gameplay was also creating a lot of fun, and creating a lot of different experiences for different players. So, everyone that was talking to each other about our games had different stories, which is really cool. So, that’s technology.

The way that we organize dialogues from a technical point of view has also been kind of the same for the last couple of years. There is some technology that we have and reuse, and there is also some philosophy that we have and reuse.

One philosophy we call N-plus-one design. This means that if there is a door that’s closed, you need to be able to open it in different ways. You can burn it down, you can start hacking it down, or you can just open it with a key if you find a key. But then a designer will say, “What if the key got lost?” Then you need to be able to unlock the door. “But what if you don’t have lockpicks?” Well, you can maybe jump over it, or maybe you can teleport through it with a spell. We always think of different ways to approach things. Not just doors, also quests. We even stopped calling quests, “quests” because we think of a quest as a simple task like, “Hey, I lost my boots, can you please get my boots?” We don’t do that anymore. We call them situations. That’s from a design philosophy point of view.

“…we started noticing that a lot of this free gameplay was also creating a lot of fun, and creating a lot of different experiences for different players. So, everyone that was talking to each other about our games had different stories, which is really cool.”

So, there is a lot of Larian that’s going to be in Baldur’s Gate 3. On the other hand, we also like Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, and certain things that they did in them. They did things that we have been trying for the last few years to do ourselves. For instance, if you like Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, what you will recognize is not just the Dungeons and Dragons terminology, vocabulary, and ruleset, but also the emphasis on your character, the emphasis on the party, the emphasis on your companions, and the emphasis on how they react to things that you do, how they react to each other, and the relationship between them.

One of the biggest things that we think Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2 players still remember is all of the different companions that can join you. They have very outspoken personalities, and they also react to each other in specific ways. That is something from the originals that we really really wanted to have in Baldur’s Gate 3.

JS: I’d like to touch a bit more on the relationships between characters. In the gameplay presentation we saw, I noticed that many of the characters developed gripes with each other or with the player-controlled-character. To what degree can you improve or destroy the relationships you have with your companions?

DW: Completely. They might start attacking you, which is not actually that bad, because if they attack you then they are still part of the party, I think. But they also might just leave your party, and then they are gone. Meanwhile, on the other end, when they really like you, and the choices you make, there are romance options. So, you can go to the extreme in either direction.

JS: While we are talking about characters, fans have, of course, been asking about the whereabouts of Minsc and Boo, and if they’ll return. Are there any other favorite characters you’d particularly like to bring into Baldur’s Gate 3?

DW: Well, I know that our writers are planning to have cameos with characters that you will recognize from either the previous games or from The Forgotten Realms novels. I have my own personal favorites, but I don’t know if they’ll make it into the game or not.

JS: Have you spoken to any of the original BioWare or Black Isle teams about concepts, and how you might best approach development on a new title? Are any of those developers involved? Are there any plans or considerations to involve the Bhaalspawn or Bhaal, or do you plan to tell a story of your own within the setting?

DW: No, we haven’t. With Baldur’s Gate 3, we are creating a story completely of our own in the Baldur’s Gate setting.

JS: With the game being a story of Larian creation, would you say the tone of the game is leaning more towards Divinity or Baldur’s Gate? There’s body horror present in the reveal cinematic, but are you intending to make a darker game than before? What kind of humor, if any?

DW: I think, and it should have become clear from the game’s intro movie, that it’s a pretty dark tone. We also think that it’s full of serious topics; we said this about [Divinity] Original Sin 2, and I think that in Original Sin 2, we introduced pretty serious topics. I think that Baldur’s Gate 3, because of the setting, characters, and themes that we are trying to include, it is going to be very serious and dark.

But as you may have noticed during the presentation, there is also still humor. However, it’s not the typical Larian humor anymore. This is a bit of a different thing. Also, because it’s Forgotten Realms, it has its own lore, it has its own stories and backgrounds, and we’ve got to keep those; we are trying to keep the tone of Baldur’s Gate.

JS: How does the music and art direction complement the dark tone and themes? Are they key things that you try to include early, or something you fit into a developed framework?

DW: I am a producer, so I don’t know too much about art direction. But when it comes to art direction, we do have photogrammetry in the engine now, so the art direction is very realistic when it comes to nature: rocks, trees, and all that. We are also trying to put realism into everyone’s armor and weaponry. So, I think our art direction from the beginning has really been more realistic.

Music is only written after we finish a certain part of the world, and then designers and writers talk to the composer and discuss what is happening in every small region of the world. Then he starts composing stuff that really fits into that section of the world. But music is also very dynamic, so when combat starts the music changes. If you’re losing a battle, music changes. When you’re sneaking, music changes. So, it’s very involved.

“With Baldur’s Gate 3, we are creating a story completely of our own in the Baldur’s Gate setting.”

JS: How connected are you intending to make the plot of Baldur’s Gate 3 with prequel tabletop module Descent into Avernus?

DW: Very, because everything that Wizards of the Coast writes concerning D&D rules or Forgotten Realms lore is something that we need to know. We need to make sure that we don’t do anything within the game that contradicts the lore. It also makes a lot of sense, not just from a writing point of view, but also from a consumer point of view for Wizards, that what we put into the game is very recognizable.

In Descent into Avernus, something that’s currently happening is that the Tieflings are now refugees and they are fleeing to Baldur’s Gate. Within the gameplay presentation, you could see the Tiefling refugee camp that we explored. That’s something that came directly out of Descent into Avernus.

JS: In general, when people see a new game released with a numbered title, that can be very daunting for potential new players. What is Larian doing to make Baldur’s Gate 3 more attractive and accessible to a new audience?

DW: Obviously, you don’t have to play Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2. Though, it is a sequel. The 5th edition ruleset of D&D in Baldur’s Gate 3 is 100 years after what happened in Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, so people in the game know that as history. But as a player yourself, you don’t really need to know any of it.

To make sure young people play it, we’ve made the game look very nice. When I first saw these numbers, they were a bit shocking to me because, for some reason, I kept thinking we were making RPGs only for thirty and forty-plus-year-old people. But most of the people that are playing our games are in their twenties. I think that’s because we are using a tried and true formula, and we are introducing it to a new audience. We are trying to make sure that our game looks attractive, that it looks nice, that it looks 21st-century, that it looks appealing.

With Baldur’s Gate 3, when you see the cinematics or something like that, you’re immediately drawn to it. What 20-year-old people might not want to play is RPGs that still look and feel like it’s 1998. There are things that we love from the ’80s and the ’90s, and we are putting those elements into our game, but it’s 2020, and we want to make the game look like it’s from 2020. There are more than 300 people working on this game, and it needs to be a triple-A experience. So, if we limited our audience to this group of 42-plus-year-old-people, then we would have a very small audience.

JS: That tried and true formula you just mentioned is, of course, the Dungeons and Dragons formula, and it’s been stated Larian has been making an interpretation of D&D rather than a straight port of the tabletop systems. With that said, how are you adjusting that formula for the game? How many of the options for races, classes, abilities, etc. are you trying to include? And what kind of flexibility are you hoping to incorporate?

DW: We are actually trying to implement the D&D ruleset as close to the literal meaning as possible. I think that if you know D&D and you play our game, you will recognize about 95% of everything that’s in it. However, some things just don’t work in a computer game, so we approach them from a different angle so that it is still in the game, but in a slightly altered form that works in the game’s format.

For instance, one of the things that we don’t do from the 5th edition is called reactions. When I say we don’t do it, I mean that they are in the game, but not in the way they are in the handbook. When you’re playing tabletop, you actually interrupt someone else’s turn and say, ” I am going to play a reaction.” We don’t do that because that would take the speed out of the combat. We are always trying to make turn-based actually as fast as possible.

However, reactions are in the game, they’re just automatically executed. For instance, if an attack of opportunity triggers, your character will just automatically attack of opportunity. So, the thing is still in there, but we might have changed it a tiny bit.

There are things that we left out. But usually, that’s just magic spells that are simply too wild because Dungeons and Dragons is so free-form and out there. There is a spell called “Wish” where you can make any wish. You could just tell your dungeon master, “I wish I was a pigeon.” You can come up with crazy ideas. We didn’t put that in. Sometimes, we did put it in, but we just thought of the five most-wanted options.

JS: Touching more on what you were just talking about with spells and game balance, when balancing the power of player abilities and classes, do you try to keep things relatively even, or are you okay with disparities? Lots of options with some better or less situational than others, or a more tightly curated variety?

DW: We are implementing things based on how they are in the book. So, if they are a bit skewed in the book, then that’s how we are going to implement them. What we are trying to do is make sure that every class is a lot of fun, and has many different and unique ways to have fun. For example, implementing the fighter in a computer game is a bit of a challenge because we want them to still have interesting choices to make.

“We are actually trying to implement the D&D ruleset as close to the literal meaning as possible. I think that if you know D&D and you play our game, you will recognize about 95% of everything that’s in it.”

JS:  In the gameplay I saw today, I noticed the game seemed very difficult. Swen appeared to be struggling at points, even though he’s played this segment dozens of times, and already knows many of the different environmental combos. Are there different difficulty options available or is it meant to be a learning experience where you adjust after developing more knowledge?

DW: We will have difficulty settings available. We always do that because as difficult as the game sometimes seems, some people think that they can really cheese anything. Because of the way that the systems and simulations work, you can really use the game against itself. So, some people are really good at that and then start saying, “The game is way too easy because there is so much stuff that I can abuse.” But we really like the fact that people can abuse the systems against themselves. It’s part of what makes the game so cool. But there will also be a story mode difficulty so that you can go through the story without having too much trouble during combat.

JS: During the presentation, there were also a few brief mentions of the multiplayer mode. Could you describe that mode a bit more, and specifically how it differs from the single-player experience?

DW: There are two different types of multiplayer when you start a game. Let’s say you’ve been playing for half an hour or 17 hours or whatever. Your friends can just drop in and out, and they’ll take control of one of your party members. This is very nice because the hard thing about multiplayer is if you always need to start on time, and someone can’t make it that night, then you’re kinda stuck. So, that’s one possibility. Then you also have multiplayer where you say, “Okay, let’s take on the game together from the start.” So, you and your friends – up to four people – basically start together in character creation, choose your characters, and play from there.

In multiplayer, you can basically do all of the same things that you’ve seen. You don’t have to stick together, but it’s recommended because combat is going to be pretty hard. You can do all sorts of things behind everyone’s back. If you’re the first person to start talking to someone, you might have a certain impact on the entire world and the others in the group don’t have a say about that.

Multiplayer within our previous games was actually very popular because you are in a party, and if you have a party member that’s not agreeing with you, you can actually help each other in combat because you both think differently. Multiplayer for us is a big deal because even if you just prefer single-player, all of the things that we are doing to make multiplayer work actually have a positive impact on the single-player campaign because of all of the different ramifications that we thought of. So, we have a convenient drop-in option, as well as a more traditional group D&D experience available.

“I didn’t know if we ever thought we would land the IP because we asked Wizards of the Coast five years ago, and they said, ‘No.’”

JS: From everything I’ve seen, you guys have created a video game that is very true to the D&D formula. Earlier you stated that you guys were creating your own entirely new story. So, what influenced you guys to use the Baldur’s Gate name in the game? Did you have a specific story idea in that universe? Are you guys big fans of the games?

DW: I think that Baldur’s Gate 3, for all of the RPG developers in the world, is like the golden grill. A lot of people have been asking for it, like, “We want to do it, can we please do it.” So, it’s not strange that it’s something we wanted to do, but we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I didn’t know if we ever thought we would land the IP because we asked Wizards of the Coast five years ago, and they said, “No.”

So, at first, they said no, and then we released Original Sin 2. They played it themselves, and they really liked it. They liked it because they thought that it was a computer game where the freedom of creativity in Dungeon and Dragons really came forward. So, they said, “If anyone can make a D&D game like Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s you guys.” Then they said, “It’s okay, you can do Baldur’s Gate 3.”

We actually work together with them on writing the story. So, Swen came up with the main idea that you have a tadpole in your head and your going to turn into a Mindflayer, but for very big decisions we talk to Wizards of the Coast.

Larian has announced that Baldur’s Gate 3 will enter early access in 2020 before it has its full launch on PC marketplaces and Google Stadia. This isn’t shocking, as they took advantage of early access to help finetune their more recent games like Divinity Original Sin 2.

Editor’s Note: All images were provided by Larian. Some portions of this piece have been edited for clarity’s sake.

February 27, 2020 4:15 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/02/baldurs-gate-3-interview-david-walgrave-shares-game-details-and-reflects-on-obtaining-the-ip-from-wizards-of-the-coast/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=baldurs-gate-3-interview-david-walgrave-shares-game-details-and-reflects-on-obtaining-the-ip-from-wizards-of-the-coast