#HAVE FUN CLEARING OUT THAT DUNGEON LMAO

[thydungeongal]

D&D is actually pretty good

Unless you're trying to do something that it actually sucks at

This is part 3 of my big post about why D&D, structurally, works for a very specific type of gameplay and actually resists other types of gameplay. As I have pointed out in previous parts, none of this is to say that D&D is a bad game, but that it's a very bad fit for gameplay outside of its specific niche and might not produce meaningful or desirable gameplay when twisted into other types of narratives.

In the first part I discussed the terminology that I'm using, namely the two different playstyles of Challenge Mode and Story Mode, and in the second part I talked about what it is about D&D's structure that makes it a good fit for Challenge Mode. In brief, D&D has many parts that allow for meaningful gameplay to emerge simply from developing system mastery, allowing players to make meaningful assessments of risk and reward. You can find the previous posts here:

Part 1: Terminologie

Part 2: What is it that D&D actually do?

This third part will be covering what it is about D&D's mechanics and structure that make it not great for Story Mode gameplay. Once again I will be tagging this as #the big damn post for easier finding.

Part 3: Mismatched Expectations

D&D is fun as a game. It has a very clear gameplay loop of going into a place where there is danger, overcoming that danger, being rewarded with better abilities, and thus being able to overcome greater dangers, rinse and repeat. That gameplay loop can be in and of itself fun and rewarding.

Problems arise when that gameplay loop is placed on top of an extended narrative with greater stakes. D&D's rules are a great fit for narratives about some fellas going into a dangerous place and engaging with that danger for the sake of reward. It is very good when placed in the hands of players for whom the gameplay loop itself is its own reward and who are thus willing to engage with the gameplay on its own terms.

But okay, what is it specifically about D&D's rules that clashes against Story Mode gameplay?

Firstly, resource management and the adventuring day does not model rising action very well. Rising action refers to the rising narrative tension leading up to a climax when the tension is finally resolved. In a way the D&D adventuring day (which can be variable in length depending on edition but let's be fair even though 5e claims it's supposed to be 6 to 8 encounters long it doesn't actually work out like that in actual play lmao) represents rising action: tension rises throughout the adventuring day as player characters have their resources taxed, and thus the gameplay becomes more risky. However, this rarely leads to a satisfying climax because players will either choose to rest and recover their resources. DM's can of course always arrange for a narrative contrivance to take away the players' ability to rest, but more often than not this won't actually achieve the desired result. It will result in greater tension, yes, but it comes with its own dangers.

But by default, the game expects players to be able to make the meaningful decision to rest and recover their resources, although this often comes with its own opportunity costs as well as the risks inherent in either resting in a dungeon or returning to home base to recover. By default players have access to a method of resolving rising action themselves. This is intentional, which is why I refer to denying players access to this as a contrivance.

As said, the DM can arbitrarily deny access to recovery to amp up the tension until the last encounter of the adventuring day, a type of "boss fight" if you will. Here once again D&D's structure butts heads with the desires of the narrative: while a boss fight that resolves the tension can be narratively satisfying, it is a very risky proposition for a group that has been denied access to rest and recovery. This easily risks a total party kill due to the inherent swinginess of D&D's resolution, which can jeopardize the story.

The easy solution to making sure the players have a chance of surviving the boss fight at the end of a long adventuring day as a means of resolving tension is to make the boss fight easier than the previous fights. Which runs counter to the demands of the narrative. The boss fight should be more of a challenge, not less of a challenge than the guards posted outside of their chambers.

This is where we see D&D's challenge game, soft sim nature butt heads with story structure: D&D has an inbuilt story structure of players being able to take on challenges on their own terms, taxing their own resources, the tension rising naturally due to their resources being taxed, and with players having access to the pressure release in the form of choosing to rest and recover.

You may have noticed that all of my examples thus far assume that the ultimate cost of failure is death. Now, while D&D does have the tools for representing consequences other than death, all of the meaningful consequences amount to the loss of resources that relate to Challenge Mode. D&D does not quantify the emotional impact of the loss of their loved ones, nor the sting of being rejected by the one you love, but it does model the loss of spell slots and hit points and torches throughout the adventuring day. Taxing resources like hit points is the most meaningful way the game provides for modeling defeat, so players will be losing them, bringing them closer to 0 hit points and thus risking death.

I say risking death because while 4e and 5e allow for the blow that sends you to 0 hit points to be a nonlethal one and thus only render you unconscious (but in 5e it is only allowed for melee attacks), the default assumption is that a blow that takes you to zero hit points is potentially a lethal one. Enemies may have their reasons for not immediately killing characters that fall unconscious, but they would have very little reason to stabilize characters that are already dying. Outside of narrative editing, character death is always a real possibility in D&D.

Now, death being a consequence isn't in and of itself a bad thing. It's a great way to add tension. But the way D&D models death, as the default consequence for accidentally going into a fight you weren't expecting to be that tough while not at your full resources, produces narratives that most people playing in Story Mode generally don't want. And that's also why arbitrarily denying players access to their resources also produces an extra risk of death and is, like, actually pretty Bad and Not Good.

D&D's model of death always being on the table runs counter to the expectations of Story Mode. Deaths can happen even in the most incidental encounter, which can be frustrating. However, beyond a certain point in D&D death simply becomes a temporary obstacle. As long as the group has a character who can cast Raise Dead and enough gold (and in most editions of D&D characters have less to spend money on than they have money available) players have a rules-mediated way of removing death. Thus, the only meaningful consequence for failure in the game is robbed of narrative weight.

The only option is the dreaded total party kill, which is not desirable because it completely breaks narrative continuity. Outside of narrative editing it forces the group to create a whole new cast of characters, thus breaking whatever personal continuity the story thus far had.

To reiterate: D&D doesn't model meaningful consequences for failure beyond losing combat, because it is a combat-centric game. Losing in combat is often lethal and there are no guardrails to protect characters from meaningless death in a low stakes fight. The DM can not effectively build tension with multiple combats that then gets resolved in a climactic fight without risking a total party kill and the loss of narrative continuity. This leads to a story structure where the party has to keep on winning in order for the narrative to continue.

And that is supremely narratively satisfying. If players can't ever meaningfully fail (because the only meaningful rules-mediated consequence of failure is death) then every twist in the narrative has to be extrinsic to the player characters. This risks giving off the impression that the player characters are hypercompetent and the world around them is constantly getting into trouble that only the player characters can fix. Which can often feel contrived.

None of this is to say that satisfying narratives can't emerge out of D&D gameplay, but those narratives will emerge almost incidentally, without actual help from the game itself. For every story of the rules coming to save the day by sheer providence you will hear another story of accidental TPKs that ended up bringing the campaign crashing down or a group ignoring the rules themselves or fudging the results for the sake of a satisfying narrative. Which, again, goes to show that the rules themselves resist satisfying narratives, because if the rules themselves produced the types of narratives the group desires they wouldn't need to ignore the rules, right?

Anyway, that's it for now. The next and final part will discuss what can be done to resolve these issues. Warning: my advice mostly boils down to "accept that D&D is a challenge game and play it to its strengths" or "play another game that better supports your desired narrative structures," but like idk you can also house rule D&D all the way to hell if you like, I'm not your boss.

#long post #the big damn post

[guesst]

OKAY MANHWA REC LIST

CONCUBINE WALKTHROUGH

the main reason i made this list lol concubine walkthrough is a video game isekai with a. a really REALLY cool artstyle b. very well thought out plot that kept me guessing and c. lovely characters. the game itself is set in historical korea so if youre a fan of that id rec. super super good

the art btw ⬇️

THE VILLAINESS EMPRESS' ATTENDANT

this one i started reading recently! the art is cute, plot is also fun w a healthy dose of comedy and i really like the empress akfjsm her and the mc have such a good relationship its great

could be yuri but its not and honestly i love it either way

FOAM OF THE SEA

okay well this one i dont have much to say about cus only 2 chapters are out so far lol BUT its intriguing!! the premise so far is that the main character, having been pushed off a cliff by her lover, is resurrected in a different body by a sea witch n is now out for revenge. has very strong little mermaid elements and againnn the art is lovely. look at the cover!! the art !!

S-Class Hunter Doesn't Want to Be a Villainous Princess

IF YOUVE READ BEWARE OF THE VILLAINESS AND YOU LIKED IT AND HAVENT READ THIS YOU SHOULD. same artist!! same energy!!! tower dungeon protagonist is thrown into a romance plot and now has to clear this to get back home . i love her so much shes so op lmao. anyway its a good action/comedy so far and the constellations are funny too

I SEE YOU

i am rereading this yet again. its so good its so so good you will cry and your heart will feel warm and happy i promise. it handles grief and friendship and the side characters so well the backstories are so !! pain inducing !! and good !! and honestly its so easy to like the characters !! if you pick one thing to read from the list please make it this. also theres this silly man

MY FAVOURITE IDOL

super super super good take on the idol genre !!! i will admit i dont read much manhwa about idols (like. at all) but i am really enjoying how they explore the industry in this one. plus theres some bodyswapping :D and the character arcs are great too !! both mains learn a lot from each others lives :]

they are good kids

THE REDEMPTION OF EARL NOTTINGHAM

INSANELY GOOD !! the author clearly did a lot of research into the era this is set in -- early 1900s, during WW1 (which on its own is pretty unique like im not seeing a lot of historical manhwas set this time) and definitely has some very heavy themes. the mc time travels back to her twenties just before ww1 breaks out, after her marriage goes wrong w her husband and she dies from. falling down the stairs. RIP. i just think its really well written and the pacing is lovely - the author is not infodumping all the bad things that happened in one go and its working really well. also look at this guy

okay ive hit image limit cus im using app, truly terrible. TBC

#manhwa #manhwa recs #rec list

[room-surprise]

Dungeon Meshi Anime Review, Season 1, Episode 11 review

Red dragon part 1!!!!!!

Absolutely fantastic episode. No real complaints. Spoilers below! NO REALLY THERE ARE SPOILERS.

Sometimes the camera is too close to the characters and I really don't like it, examples are when Marcille and Laios are talking before Laios goes to try his final attack against the dragon, and when Senshi is helping Chilchuck pick up the sword and throw it to Laios.

The camera is zoomed in so close to Senshi that it's genuinely hard to understand what's happening, especially with all the sakuga speedlines. I'm sure that bit of animation was gorgeous but I couldn't see enough of it to understand what movement Senshi was making!

Didn't like how multiple times they zoomed in on character's eyes while they were talking so you couldn't see their mouths for the entire shot - normally you'd start with a shot that shows the mouth moving and then cut to the closeup without the mouth to save budget, but just going straight to the eyes closeup... Made it hard to tell if they were speaking out loud or thinking. This is just sloppy storyboarding IMO and not the end of the world, but it was noticeable and bugged me. Maybe it was like that in the manga? But then there are dialog bubbles vs thought bubbles so it's clear if it's a thought or spoken out loud. Anime doesn't have that.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way the magic words written on surfaces are being animated like they're a gunpowder trail/wick for a traditional explosive. WONDERFUL detail, so inventive and fun! I don't think that was in the manga but it fits in SO WELL with the vibes of dungeon meshi. Fantastic addition.

Loved Marcille's little bouncing spell.

The jokes in this episode all landed so fucking well. Just incredibly funny and good, pacing was immaculate.

Marcille healing Chilchuck and Senshi rofl.

Funny that they put Marcille on TOP of the building she exploded, I think it was more ambiguous in the manga or she was off to the side. Putting her on top of it was certainly a choice, and funny lmao.

The pathos and the drama... god. Laios' final attack on the dragon. Losing his leg. It was all incredibly well done. The way the sound and color cut out, Laios hyping himself up to do something he knows will be excruciatingly painful.... top ten Laios moments for sure. This episode captures his character so wonderfully. That's my boy!!!!

(thinks about if they're going to handle Kabru's moment of falling into the dungeon with this amount of intensity..... ohgodplease.)

I love how gory they get with the dragon, the butchering sequence so far is fantastic, I hope anime onlies are like "haha... ha..... what the fuck this is kind of intense? and gross?" because they do not know what they're in for lmao.

While I DO LOVE the way they revealed Falin's skull (what an incredible pov shot!!!!!!!) I kind of miss the panel that was in the original manga... Where Laios pulls the skull out of the clump of hair in a way that looks like a baby's head coming out of the vagina during childbirth. That panel was REALLY intense in a quiet horror sort of way in the original, and I miss it.... BUT they replaced it with something equally cool so I can forgive it.

They had new dub actors for the Touden father in this episode, and some random villagers. Since those characters have VERY few lines, I'm wondering if these actors have been double-cast and if we'll see them again playing other roles later, since this has been the case for most of the other minor characters so far.

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #spoilers #theories #review

[daychiie]

For the manga ask: 1, 11 and 17

HIIII HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

AND ALSO THANKS FOR NOT ONLY SENDING ME A ASK BUT SENDING ME THIS TWICE SINCE I ACCIDENTALLY BLOWED UP THE FIRST TIME TEEHEE <3 <3 <3 odeio escrever coisa pelo celular augghh

Anyway I'm answering those questions here!!!

1. Your top 5 reads of 2023

Meme for symmetry lol

No Home - NO HOME MY BELOVED MY BESTIE NO HOME,HOW IT CAN BE SO WELL WRITTEN IT MAKES ME INSANE BRO... COMICS OF ALL TIME. I have no words to explain... I do want one day stop being a coward and write out some analysis on it, buuut--oh well~~

Dungeon Meshi - I got into the party almost "too late". Well, I don't really believe that starting something after if finished is getting into it too late,but I do get that you lose some experiences if you get into something late than other... And in my case I got into it some weeks before it officially ended lmao. Always heard about it and finally gave a try, it's extremely funny and charming, can't wait for the anime this week :]

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun - I saw the anime back when it was releasing, enjoyed it and...that was it. Hoped for season two (kinda still wish for it),but yeah... Then finally said fuck it and OHH IT GETS SO MUCH BETTER. LIKE ITS NOT THAT THE ANIME IS BAD BY ANY MEANS BUT WELL...it only covered one part of it and it always keep getting funnier and funnier! Wakamatsu is so much more insane and dumb... The characters we never got to met there. I do have some issue here and there but in general I have a pretty fun time :]

Ikoku Nikki - yeah maybe sometimes see that something gonna end next week really pushes me to read it lol. Anyway I do want to re read again sometime soon,but it was a very emotional read!! Makio women of all time, a aro icon <3 she everything!!!!

After School Lessons for Unripe Apples - another fun read!!! Don't think I have too much thoughts but I really enjoy Mi-ae and Cheol dynamic <3

Just making clear that in this top 5 I put stuff I started reading in 2023,so like ... No Skip to Loafer here lol even thought I enjoyed the new chapters that were released in 2023,in the rules my head made it didn't count lmao.

11. Your favorite covers

Suddenly I actually never read anything in 2023 :) GJJSAJFN ok guess Hirayasumi covers are very neat!!! I love the painting of it.

But yeah I noticied I remember chapter covers much more than I remember volume covers, so originally I was going to show some of my favorite chapter covers...but then 10 photos limit. Even thought I was sure nowdays is 30 idk if its because I'm stuck in mobile but whatever,I spend two hours looking covers on my phone I gonna show it on a rb or something lmao

17. A manga you didn’t expect to like

Hmnm ... I don't remember lmao. Like at least not anything that I felt that extremely "omg what pleasant surprise!!!!!" ? The best I could think of is kisses x kiss x kisses that ...well does have a cringe name that kinda put you expectations at low I guess lol

It's nothing amazing, it's a finished romance comic, that is very sweet. I liked the contrast of the protagonist and his love interest being like, boy with big family all living together and boy that lives alone with parents in another country lol. It is a cliche and not gonna pretend they do anything groundbreaking with it, but it's still a nice storyline. Lowkey big spoilers ahead I guess but: I liked that while the protagonist dream of living completely alone changed a little (cause come on its a fluffy romance lol), he still got separates room cause he does want be able to experience and enjoy not sharing a room,having more privacy and stuff. It's kinda small overall, but it's nice that his dream and his goals didn't do a complete change because of love.

#daychiie talks #my laptop giving up on me on new years...so sad... aug aguhhh #PORRA MANO ESCREVER PELO CELULAR FAZ EU ME SENTIR NUMA JAULA AUGHHRNFJSJSJ #but yeay thanks for the ask wawhahwh #now i only have other of those to reply hehe #i feel kinda bad talking so much lol

[team-heavenly]

Chapter 22 - Part 2

Lest you've lost your way, click here to progress (regress?) back to Part 1.

...Okay, now I'm officially worried.

Meanwhile, back in the Real World™️ (shout-out to my buddy @kantochampred!):

Alright, I'm about to go off on a small side tangent here but I promise it's worth it-

(Sorry to post your sins on main, Red 😔)

(Why Do I Climb the Mountain? is a reference btw)

LMAO OKAY thank you for bearing with me, now back to the main show:

Good job, neither of those two things is correct!

...Okay, Cherrim has replaced Drifblim, yes, but. Imagine this tiny seed holding Teresa and Andrea by their little stubby hands while riding the wind down the mountain.

I had to look up a walkthrough to identify that little Riolu to the right. Normally, that's an Exeggcute! (And the backup for Team Frontier, apparently).

The Third Station Pass was dubbed Great Turn, while the clearing was called:

Admittedly, I had no idea what an "oubliette" was, so I did a quick search and...

Wait a minute, are you freaking kidding me-

WE ARE STARRING IN A WAR DRAMA AAAAAAAAAAAA-

(Apologies for the small text at the start, let me know if I need to add an image description!)

...No >:l

The only reason I left this in is because this happened:

Oh my God yes PLEASE-

So fun fact, I actually did a dry run of the first few dungeons before doing it for real and taking photos. And the first time around, this gift was an Escape Orb? Which isn't bad, but I would 100% take the Reviver Seed over that any day.

The 4th Station Pass was named Sad Peninsula. (Florida? Dat you?) And the 4th Station Clearing? See below.

But then!

(Handsome Desolation? Is this where the handsome men in uniform... perish?! 😓)

I feel like a large, prehistoric rock dino should be enough to scare most things, but I guess taking the even larger rock snake as backup can't hurt.

So we go through the 5th Station Pass, Sandy Way... (Only one letter different from Sandy Bay.)

I. Don't remember why I took a picture of this. The downfalls of not immediately composing posts after the playthrough...

But yeah, those giant two-room dungeons with guaranteed MH's and a huge mass of enemies in the other room aside is definitely a theme and I hate it.

Andrea consumed enough Gummis to obtain this IQ skill, which is awesome since Max Elixirs are so hard to come by.

Look at this!! I'm pretty sure Blizzard only had 7 PP before! Yee haw!

I wonder which Pokémon are the ones bothering Sneasel Pichu?

OH NOOO!! I'm imagining this grisly scene where all these Combusken are just pecking Pichu to death.

Team Frontier happens to beat us to the punch:

I love that Onix is so big that she blocks Nidoran F.

Like all territorial encroachments in Mystery Dungeon, everyone just jumps right into the fray without listening to anyone 🙄

Honestly, all of Team Frontier was pretty based. Jolteon had an ability that allowed him to attack twice in a row (I think because the weather was different?) and he consistently used X-Scissor. Nidoran F had Sesimic Toss (55 damage) and Ice Beam. Deoxys had Attack Order, Seed Flare, Rock Wrecker(!), and Swift, the last hitting for 120 damage on a critical. Combined with Teresa's Chatter (when we finally got there, because you start off a ways from everyone), they didn't stay up for much longer.

Also Jolteon shielded me when Teresa got low on HP 🥺️

"SIT DOWN FOR TWO SECONDS AND LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, I SWEAR TO ARCEUS!"

"We owe you..." -> Yet another line from this game that never made any sense to me. (Unless it was sarcasm ig?)

💀You what

Hey, speaking of... I know Onix is huge and all, but have y'all seen Pichu since the fight started...?

(Beep boop, click here to advance to Part 3)

#pmd explorers #pokemon mystery dungeon #randomizer #post game #climbing sky peak #chapter 22

[spike-dearheart]

It would probably be greedy of me to ask for a little of everything for the wip ask game lol but you KNOW I'm super curious about hearing more for "meeting the parents and definitely not exploding with anxiety" I love your takes on Moist and Adora already, and am excited to see how you explore Adora's family!

@creativenicocorner Brooooo literally you can ask for any and all at any time hahaha

So this entire fic is like.... me spitting out a lot of Adora thoughts on paper. all her jadedness, all her grief, and all these IDEAS about what it means to try and exist when tragedy happens to you??

(also this DOES fit like a puzzle piece with the "Moist/Adora Wedding" fic that I don't have anything written down for yet but WILL happen one day, no doubt, lmao. But first I gotta use this fic to nail down my thoughts about Adora's parents)

I will subject you to multiple snippets because I have so many thoughts and feelings but essENTIALLY the plot is "Moist gets invited for Sunday dinner at the Dearheart house and him and Adora have a really really normal one about it as both of their anxieties skyrocket" because I do think it's just fun and interesting to see the normally VERY practical and in-control Adora in a place where she's like?? actually pretty uncomfortable??

(I think Adora values her privacy and as much as she loves Moist and knows he's gonna meet her family eventually, she keeps herself and her past and all the ways she feels about the past on an EXTREMELY tight leash, so opening up is like trying to open a walnut with nothing but tweezers)

Anyway, snippets under the cut because I get the feeling it'll be kinda long lmaoooo

Adora huffed and looked away, the words coming out of her mouth the way prisoners escape from a dungeon – in a rush and not too keen on being there anymore. “You’re being invited to Sunday dinner.” “Am I?” “Apparently.” Moist stared at her as she continued to stare at the wall with an uncomfortable tension in her shoulders, a low blush rising on her cheeks that she seemed determined to ignore. He flipped over all the words she’d said to him thus far, looking for clues until he was at last forced to inquire for further details. “And… who’s inviting me?” Moist cleared his throat, adding, “Since, as you said, you have no interest in asking me this?” Adora chewed her lip and answered through clenched teeth, “Mr. and Mrs. Dearheart.” “Mr. and—” Moist started, then cut himself off with a gulp.

annnnnnnd

In all his time with Adora Belle, Moist realized that he had conjured up a mental image for what the Dearheart home might be like, based solely on Spike herself. A large, austere gothic mansion had seemed to be the ticket, really. Someplace with crows atop it and big iron gates with spikes and killer dogs in the yard. Somewhere that had stayed trapped in mourning and tragedy, lots of black all over everything, sooty residue of cigarette smoke making every room a dark and sober thing. Instead of this. This simple, small place on an ordinary street. Sitting like an ordinary house that existed in an ordinary world. It had shutters with peeling paint which might have been a cheerful teal color, once, and it had a little mailbox with a bird painted on it, and a doormat that said “Wipe Your Feet!”

#asks #ask games #creativenicocorner #my writing #my fics #adora belle dearheart #moist von lipwig

[aseuki]

Data Sheet

Tagged by: @humming-fly hii bestie :p

Last Song: well I've been listening to a Playlist while I've been Working on this so I'll hand you Two: started writing to Sleep Walking Orchestra (Bump of Chicken) and ended on Nonsense Bungaku (Eve)! Both are solid imho hahaha. The first is the opening to the Dungeon Meshi anime (very solid and fun show. Oooo you want to watch it so bad) and the 2nd is the Result of me going on an Eve deep dive a couple months back lol

Favorite Color: I'm fond of actually. A Lot of shades of blue tbh! Aquamarine, Peacock Green/Teal, and Indigo are some particular shades that come to mind. I also love Raspberry/Wine red!

Last Book: hmmm let's see the last time I read A Book was Little Thieves by Margaret Owen! It's a retelling of the fairy tale The Goose Girl from the perspective of the maid who stole the princess's identity and its hella good if you like that good good folk fantasy magic!

Last Movie: uhhhHHHHH I Think??? It was Your Name? No wait it was Astro Boy (2009) with a friend of mine because we were reminiscing about nostalgia and realised we both remembered watching and enjoying it but not remembering Anything about the plot lmao. The pacing was like 500 mph but the animation aged pretty darn well! Storywise Defo had potential and I'm always a sucker for taking the sand a story was made of and seeing what kinds of castles could have been built

Last TV Show: Pluto on Netflix. Oh my god. Just watched Ep 6 last night and I'm ready to Not Be Normal (have not been normal since ep 1 but that's besides the point). Defo the kind of show that is to be Savored I Don't recommend binge watching it space out those 8 1 hr long eps so you can properly appreciate and process it. It's good I highly recommend it if you're into a good sci fi fantasy! How many sad dads can a singular mini series have. The answer is Yes

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: I tend to prefer Sweet>Savory>Spicy! I Do have A Spice Tolerance to some extent, but if given the choice I tend to prefer it light! (My Sweet tolerance is actually pretty pitiful but that doesn't stop me from eyeing all the pretty cakes and candies LMAO)

Relationship Status: I have Two Hands and I'm using them both for tax fraud >:'D

Last Thing I Googled: 'Shinji in Chair Meme' (searching for a reaction pic to send to a friend wrt ^Pluto)

Current Obsession: in case you haven't guessed already. Not being Normal about Pluto ncsvdjf. I'm also super into Kirby and the My OCs fandom (always rotating my and my buddies' OCs in the cranium condominium all the time all the time)

Looking Forward to: finally digging into and clearing out the sheer Mountain of WIPs I have accumulated :') holiday stressors are now over which means I can get working! (I am sincerely excited bc I've been looking forward to seeing some of them completed for a long long time hahaha) also got some future cosplans in the works! We'll see what comes out of it! 👀

Tagging: well Fly already tagged like 99% of my Tumblr Directory AFSNFDF so if you see this and want to feel included/give it a shot, then go for it and give me an @! I'd love seeing where this goes!

#haven't done these in a while hoooo hello!! #ask meme #aseukitalks

[jinxed-ninjago]

Fuck it, I'm explaining the end of the fic I posted last night lmao

Alright for anyone who hasn't read it, here's the link to the promo post (which has additional important information in it). I JUST WANT TO DUMP HEADCANONS LOL.

If you don't care about being spoiled, basically at the end of the fic I decided to imply that Fungus has a habit of "blaming Plundar for being a victim of circumstances as a teenager," which stems from a headcanon I have regarding Plundar's kleptomania and how I headcanon his past. I've discussed Plundar's kleptomania a few times before, but basically, the show implies that Plundar's a kleptomaniac, which in medical terms means he impulsively steals things that have little to no value to him or that he would be able to afford. Essentially kleptomania is an impulse control disorder that results in theft.

This initially stemmed from Plundar's line of "Sorry, force of habit" when Fungus tells him to give Cole his weapon back in Dungeon Party. The phrasing from Plundar -- specifically, Plundar using the term "force of habit" -- implies that he's committed theft often enough that it's become an impulse he no longer has control over. This would mean that at some point in the past, he got to a point where he committed enough thefts to end up losing his impulse control related to theft.

When it comes to shit like theft, using "force of habit" to explain why you did something implies you have an impulse control disorder. I'd say the same thing about my skin picking, as I have a habit of picking at the skin around my nails to the point that, yeah, saying I do it by force of habit wouldn't be entirely inaccurate.

Now that the filler is out of the way, let's get into the nitty-gritty of why I wrote Plundar telling off Fungus for blaming him for being a victim of circumstances.

Before I continue, I personally like to think that Plundar was on his own for a while before he met Fungus, at which point he was around 16 or 17. I elaborated on it some more in this post so if you want some more context for how I headcanon Plundar's past, go to that post.

Because of everything I imagine happened in Plundar's past, I would be surprised if he didn't resort to petty thievery to make himself feel better. This would be the most likely culprit for his kleptomania; he made a habit out of stealing and eventually that stealing spiraled out of control and he lost his ability to control the impulse to steal in the first place. It's made abundantly clear in the dialogue and animation that Fungus doesn't approve of Plundar's thievery; hell, look at his expression when he tells Plundar to give Cole his throwing star back!

I also brought this up a few days ago, but the Upply's dynamic is fascinating when it comes to their interactions with each other.

Plundar pretty consistently interacts in a more friendly manner with Korgran than he does with Fungus, and it seems to be mutual on Fungus's side (by which I mean Fungus also acts in a more friendly manner with Korgran when you compare his interactions with Plundar to his interactions with Korgran). Plundar and Fungus seem to find each other mutually irritating, and considering Plundar's entire character (being a thief) seems to go against Fungus's morals, I'm not surprised in the slightest.

Plundar telling Fungus off for blaming him for being a victim of circumstances he was in as a teenager in Ain't It Fun was referring to this headcanon of Plundar resorting to theft for his emotional wellbeing and eventually survival as a teenager that eventually spiraled into a total lack of impulse control; Fungus being irritated by Plundar's complete lack of ability to stop himself from stealing would come off as victim blaming with that in mind.

One of the things I actively tried to show in Ain't It Fun was Plundar being nervous to get help, and not specifically because he was committing crimes, but also because getting help is fucking hard (something I additionally tried to show through Cole's behavior and attitude towards Plundar's coping mechanisms). Sometimes it takes a near death experience to realize you need help, and even when you realize you need help and accept the help that's been offered to you, shit happens. If I decide to continue Ain't It Fun, Plundar's interaction with Fungus is gonna be incredibly limited because in his position, having Fungus around isn't gonna help him.

The reason I had Plundar effectively cut Fungus off at the end of Ain't It Fun wasn't for angst points; it was because in Plundar's position, having Fungus around is only going to do more harm. Fungus is canonically irritated by what is fundamentally an impulse control disorder that Plundar has.

I fucking love the Upply, but I genuinely don't think Plundar and Fungus have a healthy dynamic. Even if Plundar wasn't a victim as a teenager I'd argue he's a victim of Fungus. Plundar's implied to have an impulse control issue, and Fungus's attitude towards Plundar's lack of impulse control is ableist frankly. They've known each other for years, and Fungus still acts like Plundar having an impulse control disorder says fucking anything about his morals.

#lego ninjago #ninjago #ninjago plundar #ninjago fungus #this probably comes off as fungus hate. fuck #I PROMISE I DONT HATE FUNGUS. #tw ableism #tw victim blaming #idk how else to tag #if i need any other tags on this let me know pls #ninjago headcanons #ninjago analysis #jinxed chatter #jinxed analysis

[fivekrystalpetals]

So, I was trying to figure out a bit of the timeline for a fic and found this interesting (to me) something here: (this is a fun analysis and probs won't go in the direction you expect lol)

The events between Retrace 42 to Retrace 45 happen over one and a half day at the most. Something in this order:

Break wakes up after being bedridden for three days, finds that he is almost fully blind,

Oz and gang have a discussion in his bedroom,

They prepare to find the second seal at Rytas' place, Sharon insists on joining them

They arrive at the village as per Duke Barma's orders and meet up with Gruner

Next day: The fight between Marie and Oz goes down, Rytas acknowledges his right to be shown the seal

Finally the Head Hunter attacks, kills every one present and destroys the Seal.

Next, in Retrace 45, we find Vincent and Ada on a date and they discuss the Head Hunter as well. (which is being discussed at around the same time by Leo and Elliot)

He asks her to tell everything about herself, her father, her uncle Oscar whom he is targeting for the Key to the Door of the Abyss. And this, if you remember, he mentions as part of his plan to obtain the Key in his discussions with the Baskervilles in Retrace 46.

Which means... the Vince-Baskervilles discussion happened before his date with Ada, or let's say, sometime after the Head Hunter attacked Rytas Mansion. Or, maybe, even on the same day cuz, of course, news spreads fast, you know.

Same day, the day the Seal got destroyed, which if you keep count of, is 3/3.5/4 days after the Sablier Arc, the day after Break woke up.

So here, the second seal has already been destroyed and Lottie is questioning why the chain Head Hunter, having some involvement with the Nightrays, is destroying the seals (supposed to be the Baskervilles' job)

Well, we know the answer to this, but that's not the interesting thing I wanted to point out.

It's that Lottie was mad af right from the start of this conversation. She is so grumpy here and even slams the seat to silence the group, which.... is so unlike her.

Because, she is usually the noisy and talkative one in this group. Back in the Lutwidge arc, Fang was struggling to keep her under control when they kidnapped Oz. (It's only after Fang died, she became full-on depressed.) But here, Fang, who is the voice of reason in this little ragtag group, is carefree and chatty and playing with Lily. Even the silent Doug is playing chess with Vincent.

It's strange that only Lottie should be so serious and frustrated here.

On reading this for the first time, I assumed this conversation is happening a week after the Seal was broken. annnnd, so, it didn't make any sense to me why she should be mad for so long either. She generally gives me the impression of being cool headed over most things.

But this is just utmost four days after Sablier.

So, my (not so) secret headcanon is that she is still mad, not at the Baskervilles for not getting to the second seal fast enough, not at the Head Hunter for breaking the seal either..... but at Break (lmao) cuz she is still not over what happened to her. As in, she is still confused frustrated because she couldn't get why and what the guy was aiming at?

As I said, this is interesting to me cuz I wanted to see her reaction after Sablier. I thought we never see it cuz the next time we see Break and Lottie interact again is at Isla Yura's place. They never ever openly react to anything nor openly give their inner thoughts that I have to pick up from small things like this.

Anyway, to continue, I imagined the Vince-Ada date in Retrace 46 and the dungeon scene happens as a continuity to the one in Retrace 45. that is, Vince and Ada roamed around the park for some time, visited the opera following which she takes him home.

But, their clothes are different in both? I suppose these are different dates they went on.

So no clear timeline of when the Opera Hall date happens. But the one in the park is definitely after he discusses his problem and solution of targeting Uncle Oscar through Ada with the Baskervilles.

These scenes happen a week later, though.

#pandora hearts #retrace xlv #retrace xlvi #vincent nightray #ada vessalius #lottie baskerville #xerxes break #charlotte baskerville #ph musings #brottie #does this make sense? idk but it does to me #The time jumps in this manga are insane #we keep going back and forth #and then jump into the middle of an event and see it from multiple perspectives at the same time #on my first reading the timeline confused the hell out of me but rereading slowly i find new (stupid) things like this ahgjfk #sorry if it is not what you expected but this was most interesting to me having a you know what shipping brainrot 😇 #this really is not shippy just a canon scene hc #but jic #break x lottie

[aarcanechaoss]

Can you do a chained to the wall fic but this time for BC with the characters yami and charlotte ?

You don't have to if it makes you uncomfortable💜

Lmao I’ll never understand why people think I’d be uncomfortable writing something I’ve already written?

Includes Yami spoilers from a recent chapter also it’s very rushed sorry lmaooo I ran out of ideas towards the end.

Yami’s head hurt. He doesn’t remember what happened, where he is… nothing.

Even as he stares at Charlotte chained to the wall across from him… what happened?

“Captain Yami you are awake.”

“What’s happening?” He grumbled, vision far to foggy for him to be comfortable with. He could see Charlotte though and she was still breathing thankfully.

“What’s happening? Well glad you asked! I have you and Captain Charlotte trapped. All I ask is that you answer a few questions and let me have my fun.” He couldn’t see who was talking. Couldn’t see anything but Charlotte.

“What questions?” She asked- thank gods she was conscious.

“I want secrets. I want all the secrets.” The voice said. “Every time I am not given what I want I hurt the pretty lady- capiche Captain Yami.”

“Let us go.” Charlotte growled.

“I’m not in the habit of answering shit.” Yami added.

“Too bad.” The voice said, sounding far too gleeful.

~~*~~*~~*~~

Yami didn’t know what happened next but hearing Charlotte scream was not what he expected to hear. It was piercing and filled with pain. Yami couldn’t bear hearing it, he couldn’t.

“Tell me a secret Captain… what’s the Hino country like? Do you have any family?”

“You want me to gossip you fuck?” Yami roared. Charlotte only screamed again.

“Yami!” She called out.

Fuck he wished his vision would clear up.

“It’s like a giant fishing village except it’s an entire country.” He starts. “I have a little sister, that’s all the family I got.” He admits.

“Oh a little sister? How cute!” The voice exclaims. A vile, sickening feeling crawls up Yami’s spine as he speaks.

“Ichika would kick your ass to next year.” Yami adds, watching as Charlotte slumps against the wall. He can’t see what’s hurting her, can’t even use his Ki to sense the bastard holding them captive.

“Ichika huh… pretty name one thousand flowers.. must be a pretty girl too.”

Yami seethed.

“You’ll never get to see her asshole.”

“Hmm another insult- you must like seeing your fellow Captain in pain.”

“No.” Yami says. “Let her go for fucks sake. Why have both of us here if you just want to gossip- anyone could tell you secrets.”

His only reply was Charlotte screaming once more.

Yami was getting irritated, what did this fucking bastard want, why did he want them… how did he get them?

“I want your secrets! The biggest one you have… tell me and I’ll let you go.”

“That’s all?” Charlotte whimpers. “What do you want then?”

“Not you my pretty. Truthfully I only wanted to hurt you for a moment.. see if I could get that curse of yours in motion again. Alas I have not… so Captain Yami what is it? What’s that one thing you want no one to know?”

He doesn’t know how long time passed, doesn’t know how long he took to think. If he didn’t answer Charlotte got hurt, if he did (considering he’d captured them) he’d kill them both.

“Fine.” He says finally. “I-”

A bang and crash sounded throughout the dungeon (or whatever room they were in was). A bang and crash that Yami immediately recognised.

“CAPTAIN YAMI!” Luck cried as he came into view, smacking the tall man across the face. “Wake up Captain please!”

His vision cleared as he noted how a substance trickled down his arms and face… he’d been caught in a trap… almost forced to reveal something he hadn’t wanted too.

His dark eyes met with blue- Charlotte.

Quickly he stumbled towards her, reaching out to grab her.

“You okay prickly princess?” He asks.

“I’m okay… I think Yami.” She answers, face burning a little. Then he saw it, the smooth surface of what looked like a chrysalis that had been holding them. “A chrysalis?” Charlotte questions.

“Looks like it.” He answers. “Luck where is everyone else.”

“Looking for whoever made these.” The berserker grinned. “Are you feeling strong enough to fight?”

“Give me a minute then yeah. You go ahead I’ll stay with the prickly princess for a bit.”

“Yea Captain Yami.” Luck salutes before rushing off.

“Yami…” Charlotte murmured. “It was so strange… I was bound to a chair and you were being tortured I… it wanted secrets?”

“You were being tortured for me… you sure you’re okay? Did you reveal anything vital?”

Her face burns at the memory.

“Nothing that would effect the knights.” She answers. “You?”

“I almost…” he starts. “I revealed I had a sister is all.”

“Oh.” Charlotte says as she moves to stand on shaky legs. “I feel so sleepy.”

“Whatever is in those chrysalis’ seems to have taken some mana from us.” Yami grunts.

“Will we be able to fight?”

“Yes… we just can’t expel any unnecessary mana… now let’s go Luck went that way.”

And though that fear Yami had felt was all in his head, he worried. What if something like that happened again? Could he surpass any limit like that again if it meant keeping Charlotte safe too? Something irked him, like he was being watched… like his mind was still bound to that chrysalis.

#black clover #yamichar #yami sukehiro #charlotte roselei #yami x charlotte #black clover angst

[actualaster]

Plot spoilers, HEAVY. ENDGAME PLOT SPOILERS. As in "through the entire final sequences"

May or may not write up some more coherent thoughts on the game as a whole now that I've beaten it, not sure yet

I get why they did it--avoid confusion caused by finding information out out-of-order and to avoid forcing you into one specific path. But I still wish they'd had more variety with the 4 regional sage dungeons since it was the exact same backstory for each just from a slightly different angle.

Since you can already do things in an order then makes certain "mysteries" clear (like knowing the identity of the Light Dragon which means knowing the "Zelda" you see is a fake)... I think it would have been fine to tell more variety and maybe achronological, y'know?

Especially if they had included the stuff from the old Sages in re-watchable scenes.

ANYWAY on to The Next Part!

Oooh, blood moon in cutscene

Hm, that's a creepy cadence for not!Zelda

HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS THE GLOOM SHIT ON THE CEILING--OH FUCK THE UNDERSIDE OF THE FUCKING HANDS??? NOPE.

THEY BOB UP AMD DOWN AS THE HANDS MOVE /sobs

Ah, yep, called it, puppet for the Demon Lord. But ack, the way its body flopped around like a marionette for a bit before disintegrating was creepy. Literal puppet.

Huh. Honestly that was a way easier Phantoj Ganon fight than thr ones that appear after the GLOOM Spawn. (...probably because it too busy being terrified of them lmao)

SIDON WAS FIRST TO SHOW WHEN THEY SAVED HIS ASS. YOU GO SHARKY BOYFRIEND.

Also deeply appreciate Riju being the calm voice of reason when the others are very afraid and worried.

So, is THIS the past where I'm supposed to go to that spot that, uh, I accidentally came across before that was plot relevant?

Ah, yep. BUILDING ROBO!MINERU LET'S GO

I actually like to think that Mineru has been watching Link come and go from this area repeatedly as I abuse it to dupe items lol

Huh, that was an interesting gameplay sequence. I liked it :3

Wait, if MINERU has been in the Purah Pad how long has she been watching Link do dumb shit like hunt bugs and cook 30 fish skewers in a row ahdjahfhd

Also kind of morbid to think about Mineru getting to hold Rauru's hand one more time except it's attached to a different person

Oh, lol, THIS was when I was supposed to get the Master Sword. I've had it for ages lol

HE ISN'T... DUDE HOLY SHIT THAT IS SUCH A COOL DRAGON. I mean he can't actually rule the world now since "he" is gone now...

OH, FUCK, FOR REAL? LIGHT DRAGON TO THE RESCUE--WAIT DO I GET TO FIGHT HIM UP HERE!?

AERIAL DRAGON BATTLE, LIGHT DRAGON KEEPS ME IN THE SKY!!! FUCK YEAH!!

Say whatever the hell you want about the rest of the game, it's shot way up to one of my faves from this sequence alone FUCK YEAH

THAT WAS SUCH A COOL SEQUENCE OMG

Ah, there we go, Zelda restored. And Link's arm healed?! Sadly no more Zonai abilities for him XD

A final skydiving sequence, eh? That's a great closer, reaching out to grab her just like at the start except this time he succeeds.

Ah, huh, I kinda assumed "fall from any height and land in water to survive" was just a game mechanic not canon lmao nice

I also love that Link was shirtless for the entire final bit there lol

Goddamn that was a really fucking fun final sequence honestly. What can I say? I'm a sucker for dragons lmao.

Ah, Mineru... I'm glad Purah got to see the skylands lol, but it's sad seeing Mineru go.

Oh, and they all echoed the vow of their ancestors to Rauru but pledging to Zelda...

Nice.

Honestly, overall? 10/10 I had a blast with the entire game

#totk spoilers #kage plays games #kage plays totk #kage plays loz

[trekraider]

A busy weekend already! These last two weeks in general have felt much better, like life is stabilising and good things are coming my way again.

Last night I hung out with two of my Renfest friends in Kemah/Clear Lake where we did some bar hopping and had way too many drinks. Got to pet some cute puppies, and in general just have some great decompressing time to feel like myself. I didn’t end up getting home til almost 5AM, and only didn’t stay the night with my friend because mum and dad would get too freaked out lol. Which tragically means I missed out on a great cuddle sesh.

Slept in until about 11AM, and then got ready for the Hobbit Festival in Houston. I dressed up with my cloak, a tunic, and a cute embroidered cat vest, plus some elf ears for fantasy fun. Got so many comments and compliments, which surprised me because I’m so used to people only noticing me when I’ve got a bunch of cleavage going on. Being seen and seen for me is such a different feeling, and really validating in a lot of ways. It’s nice.

I had some food, bumped into a few friends, and bought a few random jewelry and outfit pieces that will really work well for the renaissance festival later this year. Being the nerd I am, I also immediately found some Star Trek themed pieces. They had a raffle as well during the market, and I ended up winning 2 tix to see Machine Gun Kelly at the Houston Rodeo (which I will just be selling or giving away lmao), and because the event was hosted by a big DND community in town, I also won a one-shot dungeon crawl for me and up to four friends. Which is both exciting and bittersweet, since my love of DND came through ex-friends and an ex-partner who really hurt me. This might be a great opportunity to rekindle my love for it, and get closer with other friends through it. We’ll see!

In general, my mind is more at peace. I haven’t cried or had a major anxiety attack or meltdown in a while now. I feel like I’m healing.

#using my blog as a blog to journal

[peaterookie]

Lupin III Chapter 62 Review

y'know what i said about chapter 61? FORGET ABOUT ALL OF THAT BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER SINGLEHANDLEDLY FLIPPED IT FROM AN ehh TO A MUST READ.

Yes!! This chapter is a continuation of the last one!! im so excited about this information!!

to comment more on this cover, for some reason it means a lot to me since it was the first couple of images i found really cool when i started getting into lupin, i was browsing mp art on twitter during that time and when i saw it i was like "wow, the way lupin stands and looks at you in this drawing goes raw as hell" it sounds stupid but idk i just really really like that drawing for those reasons, it stands out to me a special drawing

ok, on with the chapter! if you dont remember basically lupin and fujiko got split into a good and evil side and now theyre fighting each other

the setting is in like this factory place for some reason and were led to believe good lupin and fujiko got out of the dungeon. good lupin gets trapped by evil fujiko who got her hair color changed for some reason

wow! rare colored panel moment

evil lupin approaches good lupin and he thinks the good one is an impostor and tells fujiko to kill him good lupin wants to clear things up like how they're the same person and killing him only means evil lupin would die too but he doesn't believe any of that lmao he leaves evil fujiko to kill good lupin but good fujiko comes to the rescue!

(good) lupin then asks evil fujiko where his other half is and she completely plays dumb and lupin just slaps her :skull:

then good fujiko smacks lupin on the head with her gun and lupins like what the fuck??? i didn't hit you?? then shes like well shes also me and lupin just gives up (it's funnier when you read it)

then lupin does a whole 4th wall break recapping chapter 61 that part its also really funny because the way lupin poses and explains everything makes him look so done

ok so now lupin is finding his evil version they get out of the factory place and lupin finds himself just ontop of some random house then they fight and evil lupin obviously comes out on top

good lupin tries to tell evil loop one last moment before he dies and it... kind of works!

G for good loop and E for evil loop G: Fine! You win! Blow my brains out! E: Any last requests? G: Just one... WEARETHESAMEPERSONANDYOU'VEGOTTOBELIEVEMEANDIFYOUWILLHELPMEITHINKICANFIXUS!!! (good job tokyopop you made me laugh)

E: Okay, I'm naked, now what? G: According to the book, after we strip we have to crash into each other at full speed.

god monkey punch... we can't do this, the good and evil lupin dynamic is so fun.. dont turn him back into the boring singular one...

sadly, they will do it anyway, as existence as one half of the other is painful. one attempt failed because good lupin got scared by the evil one running at him so fast but they eventually get merged

then he checks up on the fujikos who seem like they succeeded he jumps in the bathtub that shes in and fujiko asks what happens if the merge didn't work exactly right, and lupin says that they simply needed to wait

then fujiko reveals that uh... the merge came out... sort of freakish..

the end.

#what a chapter #lupin iii #lupin the third #fujiko mine #local lupin manga fan screams about the manga as per usual #lupin iii manga

[equalseleventhirds]

Okay so this is GM anon, to answer your questions: as a friend group we definitly lean towards sci-fi and adventure, as in we enjoy movies in those genres so we know and enjoy the conventions thereof. Horror too, but in the style of Scream watch-alongs, or watching scary movies to make fun of them (and hide that you're feeling creeped out) no actual like gore or serious contemplative horror. I don't really know if it's better to go with more serious of more silly games, I was def looking at the more silly stuff bc the serious ones feel really awkward to me (but that might be informed by the fact that most serious RPG's I've heard are longform? The actors get really deep and attatched to their characters and I can't really picture feeling that intense? But maybe I'm just biased to think that short games are always more comedic and silly?). I think I'd prefer more rules/guided games to start with, I think it'll help with getting started and not freezing up when you can't think of something. I think puzzle games or like a heist or mystery sound great! Social interaction too, that's def one of the plus points of RPG's and games over watching something, that you're spending the whole time talking to eachother. Tbh I really don't know what would be best to focus on, I'm just spitballing, I just think something with a clear goal. We usually have at least a couple of hours time together, but it's not necessary for a game to last that whole time. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!! I'm in a different timezone, it's actually pretty late for me so if I don't answer any follow up questions, it's bc I'm sleeping LOL

hi again gm anon! glad u did not wait up for me bcos it took me a while (i have...... many games), but here is a handful of recs for you!

first up, i think generally caltrop core games might be p good for a beginner; it's a very simple d4 system with very structured rules (how much depends on which game, but generally it's turn-based with set actions to choose from). there's still room for roleplaying & improv ofc, but it's easy to keep a handle on the table. there's been a caltrop core game jam with lots of submissions before, and ofc u can browse the tag on itch, but something like crystal souls or cursed confections might be fun for your group!

futuristic scifi 'group of thieves/scoundrels/rebels/etc do a mission' games are also very popular (i own like........ 20? 30? some are cyberpunk and some are spaceships and just. lot of em.) and also generally have a decent structure to work with (altho less turn-based than caltrop core, usually). a lot of them are geared towards longer campaigns, but can be done as a one-shot if you ignore some of the between-missions stuff. or do it as a post-mission cooldown thing. u kno. (lots of them are sorta forged in the dark based, but the slightly less complex ones i think are good for beginners; fitd can get really involved, but there are also simplified ones!)

you might enjoy offworlders, off the grid: resurgence, xanadu, subway runners, what's so awesome about hacking the planet, weasel overdrive, make our own heaven, bubblegum wizards 2, or dwindle.

and finally, i do love a dungeon crawl; keeps everything to a relatively small & defined space, but you can get weird with it (npcs in a dungeon? yeah! timespace fabric folding in a dungeon? yeah!) and it's a place to do all the puzzles and riddles and inexplicable creature encounters you generally don't get a chance for in a 'here you are in A World' sorta game. also, easy to keep short (my game sessions tend to run 4+ hours for oneshots, but in a dungeon crawl you can just. skip to the last room lmao.) games designed for dungeon crawling tend to lean more horror (if they don't lean..... d&d, basically), but i tried to pick ones where you can either take out most horror elements, or choose to play them lighthearted and chill/campy. you may like crwlr, the dark below, or the empty house.

.......and that's some basic game recs for your group; should be fine for 3-4 players, or even for one-on-one play if you can't get everyone together, altho that's not the ideal. as far as games specifically designed as two-player games, i know there are a bunch of them on itch, but most of them are gmless (usually asymmetrical gmless, but still gmless), and many of them lean heavily emotional (altho some are silly!). i'm not sure if you have different requirements in mind for a two-player game; lmk and i'll see what i can do? altho probably not until after this weekend, i got some stuff to work on for school T_T (this is....... part of why i'm not actively looking to gm rn, even tho i waaaaaant to. too many school.)

oh also podcasts! i know there's more than this around, but you can always check out oneshotpod for shortform games of many kinds! international podcast month also has some oneshot ttrpg episodes; i gmed a game of dwindle this year that was lots of fun! i'll poke around for more sometime, but for now i rly gotta get some sleep lol.

#long post #algie talks ttrpgs #hope this helps anon!!!! i am. love games.

[kamil-a]

 continuing to play the boyfriend dungeon dlc

-people in verona beach are like i need to create a new kind of existence right now immediately. holmes is working on ai, eric's got his little frankenstien project..... those two need to hang out/argue/bounce ideas back n forth actually i hope there's a mini event between them!!

-leah is sweet and cute and i like her. i hope she'll go for it and be a fashion designer ;w; 

-funniest joke in entire game so far imo is 7 getting challenged to be in a dance battle and going "sure! i am a professional dancer. that will be $5000"

-eric moment. guy who follows you into your clothes shopping date to tell you to look at clothes that arent slutty (TBH SURPRISED THE WORD MADE IT IN?!?) and gets pissed when you and your date tell him to leave. absolute cartoon caricature of a man

-YESSSSSSSS YEEEESS MASAMUNE FANS RISE UP . ignore that it is called 'monster cosplay' and described as a thing you see in your nightmares. its a MY SPECIAL BOY cosplay.

-jonah is also extremely sweet.... and the bit where hes like. talking about needing to indulge the part of him thats weapon. and also says "would you even hang out with me if i weren't all... you know.... choppy choppy?" like GOOD QUESTION esp considering how many options the game gives you to express a specific preference for weaponpeople!! i struggle to know exactly what the game wants me to think about this topic at times but its fun to chew on.

no but seriously on the one hand weaponpersonhood is treated as a gimmick- which, like, it IS because sword boys arent real. to be clear. so you get SWORD SMOOCHER merch etc etc. but on the other hand it seems like there is a specific oppression aimed at them - (jonah gets fired for going axe at work! SPECIFICALLY , he is fired for revealing his weaponism at work to a child who seemed to be struggling with being weapon themself, if i remember correctly?) (god i got spoiled by honk’s ability to let you go back thru events lmao.) 

which makes you the player, as a non-weapon who exclusively seeks out ( “SWORDS ONLY” ) weaponpeople, ummmmmmmm kind of a jerk by that metric. and its really really cool that jonah even brings that up at all. but it does make you wonder what the game’s stance is because i really don’t know.

-i hope we get to see holmes’ ai and compare/contrast it to masamune.

-holmes/player have sex and then they text you after going “btw do you believe in alternate realities” i love her so much

#call that thoughtful bonking. lol #textie

[rsmrymnt-tea]

Sooo i may have downloaded gw2 because of you. This game is SO PRETTY.

Do you have any tips? I have exp with mmorpg but never played gw2. Take responsibility and share some wisdom!

:o!! omg??? Didn't think my recent constant gw2 posting would actually get someone playing sdhgjkdg I really hope you're having fun!! It's a gorg game with some flaws that are honestly frustrating at times but I heard most MMOs are like that? <-has literally only played Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 so those are my only as frames of reference

But tips!! Bit hard to think of some since tbh, I'm a filthy casual (and tbh not that skilled of a player, but recently I found out it's partially because of my ADHD?? It's weird lol) but I have some thoughts and tips and little QoL things I've picked up over the years.

Disclaimer though: I got the back when it wasn't free to play to try it out and idk if you're on the f2p right now since I'm guessing you're just trying it out (unless you went ahead and got End of Dragons which I think gives you both Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire now for free too?) so uh not sure if all these apply (also I mainly play PvE so)—

I won't talk too much about the Personal Story to not spoil anything, and I don't know if you've gone with the sylvari for your character/one of your characters. But trust me, if you haven't please give them a go for at least the first thirty levels because it gives a lot more—like way more to the point that I was surprised that people didn't get why He was so important to the story because I went with sylvari first—context as to why A Certain Character becomes heavily involved in the story when you reach level 60.

If you don't like your starting area, take the asura gate to Lion's Arch then head to Eastern Ward, from there you can take asura gates to all the major racial cities. Best layout for everything you need in one place is Rata Sum tbh but personally I live at the Grove

Get a nice guild!! Enhances the experience so much imo! And also LFG can seem hopeless sometimes because it tends to be empty but I find that parties for even Dungeons fill up eventually

Gameplay-wise, you can go with literally any profession and any playstyle you want, especially for open world and story. Try everything out! Iirc you can open your PvP tab and enter the Heart of the Mists to be temporarily max level and do whatever you want with your build to try it out.

Alternatively, metabattle.com is your friend for builds too. Though it doesn't really matter while you're levelling up.

And tbh a lot of core Tyria stuff (non-expansion areas) + Personal Story can be done while underlevelled and underarmored. Your best defense is actually your dodgeroll, so generally people go for gear that gives Power, Precision, and Ferocity (Berserker's). But for other modes you can take more supportive roles (boons, healing power, etc).

There's a wardrobe tab in your Bank that lets you try on literally any skin in the game, both armor and weapons. It'll use whatever dyes you currently have on and is great for Fashion Wars

Killing yellow mobs that haven't been killed in a while (usually found in map areas where there aren't a lot of people) grants a lot of bonus XP

This is such a grindy thing and I'm sure there's more efficient ways, but in your Dailies there's usually a map where you need to clear like, 4 events to fulfill. Those maps usually have a lot of people doing events and calling them out and I'd usually stay there and grind until I hit 80 lmao

I think you can also do this by doing a lot of WvW but I'm never in that area because my laptop can't take it. It's lots of fun when you manage to find a zerg though!

Iirc PvP also gives nice rewards and is really fun! I just handle the stress and my ping is too bad to be reliable hjkgdfg

Log in everyday for those Login rewards. They come in pretty useful and if you need quick cash, those Mystic Coins go for like 80+ silver each lmao And I think this is the only way to get Laurels for Ascended trinkets

Regarding the Unidentified Gears you get, I personally open them then salvage everything with a good salvage kit. The materials sell for more than the gears themselves, tho for Rare Unidentified gear you can take your chances with just selling them straight if you don't want the gamble of hoping for Globs of Ectoplasm (which sell for like, 1 more silver than each Rare Unid Gear but you can get multiple if you salvage Rare armor and weapons. But also none so yeah, discretion >.>)

The Personal Story absolutely does not take you through the entire map—I think when I did some Personal Story only runs on some characters I got only like, 11-13% world completion? So explore!

Speaking of, there's a lot of interesting little hidden spots around the world. Find some Jumping Puzzles, they are incredible and lots of fun and frustration >w< There should be a couple just in Lion's Arch, actually.

You can buy food and utility consumables on the Trading Post, and right now at the time of writing, you can go get a shit ton of useful food items for a little Zhaitaffy.

Breaking the text block because apparently there's a word limit for it now >.<

You can get full level 80 Exotic gear for Karma in Orr at the Temples of each god once you've beaten the meta event for them. Each Temple gives different gear. You can get Berserker's stuff at Grenth's.

That said, I think there's plenty of worth to doing Dynamic Hearts (those gold heart things around maps) and buying some of the stuff the heart vendors sell once you've done them? Some are even part of Item Collections

Your chosen server doesn't really matter except for who you can play with (NA can't play with EU and vice versa) and who you're fighting for in WvW

If you join a party or a squad and they're not in the same map instance as you, you can right click on their icon on the side or on their name in chat and choose to join their instance

Login whenever they release new Living Story!! It's kind of expensive to go buy them all if you missed them (you can convert gold to gems but it's still a hassle esp if you don't get to farm much and don't like grinding) and if you login you get it for free

the common and uncommon dyes are so cheap, feel free to just go nab each one of them for your Fashion Wars desires from the Trading Post

Personally, I don't really craft but there's some endgame stuff where you need max level in some of the crafting disciplines. Feel free to look into it since I honestly don't really craft >.>;; Bit expensive

Buy better inventory bags from the TP, like. Idk why it's never explained outright that there's a shit ton of things you can buy from the TP that are just never mentioned? Had no idea about sharpening stones and all that until I got bored one day and decided to look through literally every tab

Iirc you can lookup things in game really quick with the /wiki command then typing the thing you're curious about after it. Like '/wiki Dragon Bash'

You can do custom emotions by typing in /e though it doesn't make your character do anything. I think this was for roleplayers? You can target an NPC or player with the non-custom emotions by adding @

Hang onto your aquabreather whenever you get one and don't forget to use the same runes on it as the rest of your armor. it switches out your headpiece completely and ngl, it's so oddly hard to find an aquabreather for higher levels. Eventually you can get one in Orr, in Cursed Shore at Gavbeorn's Landing from Gavbeorn himself but that's like, late core game :/ not even Exotic too. I think you can land yourself a good Rare one from doing Tequatl the Sunless, but it's by chance and I don't think they're for sale in the TP.

Speaking of Teq, there are World Bosses you can fight everyday!! This is also something I don't think the game ever elaborates on, but they're usually the final stage of a map metal event and are huge whole events that give good rewards + stuff you need for high level/Legendary crafting. gw2timer.com has the timers for literally every boss worth fighting repeatedly and their locations too, I think.

I really really feel like not enough is said about taking time with the game to smell the flowers and do dynamic events that no one does. There's a lot of little stories and ambient dialogue from various NPCs in the world, and a lot of interesting little interactables in some places. Something I really like is that nearly every graveyard has epitaphs on each gravestone, and it's so interesting going through all of them. One of the maps, Drizzlewood Coast, gets a lot more... idk real? Shocking? And kind of depressing if you've played the charr personal story and pay attention to the names of the cache keepers at the end of the first half of the map's meta event.

Like. It's a really pretty game even if you don't go all out on your graphics, and there's a lot of details in the environment even in core Tyria that only get crazier through the expacs. HoT genuinely feels like a massive, massive jungle that you're lost in (also the enemies become several times more dangerous than in Orr), and PoF the desert really does feel massive, and the detailing where there's civilization is nuts. Can't speak for EoD since I don't have it yet, but Cantha was gorgeous even back in GW1.

Seriously like I feel like my biggest tip is to stop and appreciate all the details the devs have put into their literal world building. This isn't the kind of game where you should rush to 80, especially not on your first playthrough/character.

#chat & colloquy #trashy-corvian #okay tumblr wont let me say more shjkhsdfg #tbh im a lot better at answering specific questions than giving general tips?? so if you need to know anything just hmu >w< #my game thing is chaos.3915 #this is a lot shjkdhfg sorry lmao #guild wars 2