One thing I really like about Fantasy High -- and honestly Dimension 20/Brennan characters in general -- is that even the good parents are not perfect. Sandralynn is easily frustrated, especially when Fig reminds her of herself. Jawbone doesn't always know how to back off and meet people where they're at. The Thistlesprings have terrible boundaries and are deeply uncomfortable with negative emotions. In Burrow's End, Tula is constantly grappling with the urge to limit her children's options due to her own fear.
The experience of having Good Parents isn't that you get your needs met perfectly 100% of the time -- it's the experience of having one or more deeply flawed adults doing their level best to do right by you in spite of whatever shit they have going on in their own lives and psyches. And that's beautiful in its own right.
I have a lot of feelings about Adaine and Riz going from low rolls to a dirty 20 solely from the help of their friends. And not for high stakes world savers, either! Knowing what your crush thinks of you, performing well in your first Owlbears match…
I love how much the party loves each other. 100% ride or die no matter how big or small it is, because it’s important to their friend so it’s important to them.
the thing is like. as an overwhelmed teenager who was just killed by a system that didn’t protect them properly and wants above all to live, yeah i can see pledging yourself to an unnameable rage god, like you should be angry your school just shipped you off to die alone in the mountains on your spring break.
that said, given gorgug, kristen, adaine, and riz have all died and not pledged themselves to a rage god, i simply know that adaine in particular will see this as simply a skill issue
Gilear Faeth is doomed by the narrative in that he was supposed to be just Some Guy, but his daughter was so determined for him to be part of the narrative that he ended up with an ancestral curse
Daily reminder to you all that Sandra Lynn was a 17-18 year old highschool graduate manipulated by an older adventurer in a position of power over her. Something that left her with lasting trauma that heavily impacts her interpersonal relationships to this day. Bobby and/or Pamela are not an example of her "baffling taste" or of her "messiness" they are the direct cause of her trauma. Thank you.