#i could put the players controller hooked onto a summon

[talonzane]

been working on this lil summoning project to get myself familiar with godot!!!

#talon zane #godot engine #indie games #gif #i spent a long time on the entity system #the player is an entity #i could put the players controller hooked onto a summon #or have another player entity AS a summon #and everything just works #its pretty neat idk

[its-snicket-here]

Being sister of Ainz?? *Whisper from the dark corner*

*Whispers from the deep abyss of personal drafts* Hell fucking yeah

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Due to you being much more younger and more prone to gaming. I can see your character to have more of a monstrous form than a humanly look.

Ainz can now rest on having to spend money on your account, due to you doing multiple side jobs. Though, that doesn't let you escape of sharing your half of rent.

Your character is a demon; clad in a tattered yellow cloak with the hood always up, blocking any prying eyes from seeing your face. What it only peaks out is grey hair. Though the sleeve aren't long enough to cover your bandaged and shackled arms. In an ombre fashion, the arms are shown to go from black to blood red at the finger tips.

Though when unhooded, it's shown that your face is also pitch black. Your mouth is replaced with something more inhumane, having no teeth nor anything. Though it's capable of breaking and tearing through anything with such animalistic powers. Strange red substances dribble out, though nobody dares to try even touching it.

Your eyes is blindfolded, though when unraveled, it shows only a void where the sockets are. All oozing the same red substance that dribbles from the mouth. You have a long black tongue that oozes a stank smell when activated for fighting.

Your chest had an open hole, where your ribcage pops out in the flesh and where your spine could be shown. Where the heart is supposed to be lies a giant plasma ball. Though like Ainz's, it's indestructible.

Like the mom, you and Ainz have special perks when you have family members joining in the game. Unlike mother's rage, the two of you have now gained "Sibling's Rivalry."

When the two of you were transported into the new world, instead of spawning inside the Tomb with Ainz. You were spawned inside a cave, deep inside the forest where Hamsuke was at.

It took you a little while to get out of there, but you did it.

But it did took you long time getting your sense of perception because your sight has been replaced black and white outlines. You were tripping over multiple shit in the cave and the forest: trees, rocks, a lizard, a corpse, you name it. You were tripping everywhere.

Though despite your struggle of having a different sense of perception. You were able to detect life sources somewhere, but couldn't exactly pinpoint the direction it was coming from.

So, it caught you off guard when you "see" a giant hamster right in front of you doing a piss ass job of threatening you.

Thus the hilarity ensued when you activated your intimidation skill on Hamsuke.

So, you have now a hamster ride and a new roommate to sleep with. Though, you do enjoy the furry rat hamster's company. At least she'll be your guide around the forest.

Thus the two of you were dubbed the "The Wise King of the Forest" and "The Demonic Puppet," much to your annoyance. You're not a damn puppet that's for sure.

When Ainz heard about you and Hamsuke in the forest, he was highly interested in you. Rumors had it you were the supposed puppet/rider of "The Wise King of the Forest." So of course he wanted to either recruit you or to at least collect you like he was planning to do for Gazef

It was surprise when he finally noticed that it was his sister that was labeled as "The Demonic Puppet," but is relieved that he isn't lonely now

Breathes

That doesn't escape the fact you're now a gremlin

Might as well make you the prankster demon, because you do a shit ton of light hearted tricks

The classic plastic wrap on the doorways, replacing bombs with glitter dust, making swords break at the first contact before reconnecting all together again, toothpaste filling in Oreos/pastries, you get the drill.

Demiurge wants to experiment and study your red ooze that drips out and see its effect. You have now gained Demiurge's interest on studying you, especially your reasons to be shackled.

I would say that you're aren't specifically in the guide but is considered to be because of your connection and how frequently you've visit the guide.

Though, you can't gain a human look no matter how hard you can transform

As if you can actually transform lmaooooo

So, you are forced to wear a mask and lots of long sleeved shirts, bandages, long pants, your coat, and/or dresses when you go outside with Ainz and Nabe in E-Rantel. Though you can't seem to take off your shackles off you.

I can see you and Evileye being acquaintances in heroes term. Other than that, she sees you as a gateway on trying to hook up with Ainz/Momonga and an interesting person. A strong mage always hiding behind a mask like her.

Though unlike cosmic demon eldritch mama, you don't gain a following. The last thing you want is idiots trying to summon you, despite saying a very hard no on accepting their praises and begging.

There is times where you go onto a blood frenzy uncontrollably out of the blue that Ainz had to put Demiurge and Cocytus in charge in containing your blood frenzy. If it goes out of control, then Ainz would reluctantly WILL and HAVE to put you out for himself.

So when the war happened between the two kingdoms, when Ainz was making everyone thinking he was an actual fucking monster. They all should be fearing you. You. Go. Nuts. With. Full. Intent. of. Excitement. For. Blood. And. Fear.

Before the whole war even happened, you and Demiurge were setting up the battlefield with traps, hidden demons/beasts, hiding poison containers somewhere in the water supply that will open at a specific time, portals from hell, etc. You are on full intent of destroying the kingdom with all of your might.

Just hope they don't get inside [Death's Parade] ok? :)

-------

[Sibling's Rivalry] - Due to you having a connection with another player via email/phone number confirmation, you and your connector have now gained a new skill set [Sibling's Rivalry]. When in a 40 meter radius with your sibling, you have now gained an increase of 125% ATK speed, 45% AGILITY, and a 200+ MP boost.

[Blood Lust] - Every physical kill increases your ATK power by +15%. Maximum is +150% for 15 minuets. Though when passive, when not killing, the player will have a meter that will slowly goes up until 100%. If any kills hasn't occur,

[Death's Parade] - One time use, afterwards you must rest until [Death's Parade] can be used again. Upon use, within 75 meter radius of the caster shall turn into an arena. Those who inside the radius can not escape nor those outside the radius can join in. Multiple demonic summons and undead summons shall appear and will fight to the death to the players that are trapped inside. The arena will stay on until either the caster's MP reaches to 1 or the players inside the arena is dead. 145% ATK speed, 65% spell power, 145% casting speed.

[F. E. A. R] - Fear Energy Acid Radiation. Those who are not immune to the fear energy radiation or has consumed fear acid would now experience a multitude of nightmares and hallucinations until they have escaped the radiation or after 2 hours if digested. It is possible to die from [F. E. A. R].

[Tier 1/2/3 intimidation] - Tier 1 effects low leveled beings through 1 - 25. Tier 2 effects mid level beings through 25 - 75. Tier 3 effects higher level beings through 75 - 100. When under the intimidation, they will be frozen in fear for 10 minuets. Though if using a higher level fear on a lower level being it can have a lasting effect until turned off.

[Blood Cult Garbs] - 'Worship is meaningless when given prayers and offerings. What THEY need is blood to be spilled, screams to be heard, flesh being wounded!' 195% spell power, 145% casting speed

[Sacrificial blade] - 'This is a gift from the Gods...' A blade that has already taken the lives of many unbelievers and its willingly followers. Though it has been unwashed over the years of use. 175% life leech, status: bleeding, status: hemorrhage, status: infected

[Status: Holy Imprisoned] - Due the angelic shackles containing your sins, you have been now suppressed of demonic urges and have now gained morality and emotions. Though the older the shackles are, the harder it will stop the demonic urges and sins seizing through. Every time a demonic ability/spell has been mustered, the host will go through intense pain that will take 25% of their health, but will never go down to 0. -250% holy damage resistance, demonic damage nullified, status: imprisoned, -110% casting speed [Holy Imprisoned is inflicted by Angelic species that is the same level or higher than the host. Can be effected again.]

[Orb of Trickery] - Due to you now infused with the orb, you are now able to cast illusion spells, psychic spells, and hypnotic spells much faster with 3x of the effect.

#ainz ooal gown #lord ainz #overlord x reader #sibling reader #sister reader #demonic reader #overlord x sister reader

[raeynbowboi]

Disney Villains in DnD

With the Disney Princesses and Princes, I put them into parties, but for the villains, I’m going to start by listing the ones powerful enough to be a Warlock Patron in descending order of power (by their base form). The rest are ordered by the release date of their film. I’m not going to cover all of the Disney villains in this one post, as there’s just too many, and not all of them map easily onto DnD.

CHERNABOG THE DARK MASTER

AS BIG BAD: Archfield Patron Warlock (Asmodeus)

As Playable Character:

Race: Asmodeus Tiefling Background: Courtier Class: Divine Soul Sorcerer (Evil) Skills: Insight, Deception, Intimidation, Persuasion

The Devil on Bald Mountain, Chernabog stands as Satan and Lucifer incarnate, the Disney-Canon equivalent to the Prince of Darkness, and the ruler of Hell. Like with Maleficent and Hades, Chernabog lacks a stat block, being a Greater Deity, and King of the Archfiends, Ruler of the Nine Hells. As a playable character, Chernabog doesn’t lend out his hellish powers or get them from an outside source. Instead he is a Tiefling with the infernal bloodline of Asmodeus (Lawful Evil) running through his veins. When he was an angel, Lucifer would have been a courtier, standing in the shining Court of Heaven before he was banished to Hell. His skills make him adept at lying to and manipulating people, as Insight lets him learn a person’s desires, and then use lies and honeyed words to lead them astray in his service. Consider this a free “how to play as satan” build.

MALEFICENT THE WICKED FAIRY

As Big Bad: The Raven Queen

As Playable Character:

Race: Hexblood Background: Noble (History, Persuasion Intimidation) Class: Wildfire Druid Skills: Arcana, History, Intimidation, Perception

Lore-wise, Maleficent uses “All the Powers of Hell”, but in terms of Dungeons and Dragons, the Wildfire Druid gives Maleficent the best parallels to her powers, as she’s able to grow a wall of thorns, call a bolt of lightning, Polymorph into a fire-breathing dragon, and spread fire. It also works lore-wise as the Wildfire Druid destroys the very forest they swore to protect. As a Hexblood, Maleficent becomes a fey hag, able to curse princesses and disguise herself as a racial ability. As the Big Bad, Maleficent maps perfectly onto the Raven Queen, ruling over the shadowfell, summoning the Heartless to do her biding, and loaning Diablo to those who worship or swear fealty to the Raven Queen.

HADES GOD OF THE UNDERWORLD

As Big Bad: Hades/Death God

As Playable Character:

Race: Mephistopheles Tiefling/Reborn Background: Charlatan Class: Death Cleric Skills: Deception, Insight, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand

For Hades, the God of the Dead, making him into a Cleric was a no-brainer. But Clerics have very limited options for fire magic. Sacred flame and Flame Strike both deal radiant damage, and their only other fire spell is Searing Smite which they got in the spell list expansion. But as a Mephistopheles Tiefling, Hades can also gain temporary access to Burning Hands and Flame Blade, along with Mage Hand. Mephistopheles is also the demon best known for making a deal with Faust, a trait shared by the deal-making Hades. If you’re not feeling the fire theme, or your DM doesn’t like the tiefling subraces, Hades can also work as a Reborn.

THE HORNED KING MASTER OF THE CAULDRON BORN

As Big Bad: Undead/Undying Warlock Patron (Lich)

As Playable Character:

Race: Reborn Background: Noble (History, Persuasion Intimidation) Class: Necromancy Wizard Skills: Arcana, History, Intimidation, Investigation

Ironically, there is a new magic item that maps perfectly onto the Black Cauldron, the Cauldron of Rebirth. But oddly, it can only be attuned by a Druid or Warlock, and the Necromancy Wizard creates the strongest undead thralls, as he adds his Proficiency Bonus to their attack and damage rolls. But if you’d rather have the Horned King be able to use the Cauldron of Rebirth, then make him a Spores Druid. If you absolutely must go warlock, make him an Undead Warlock. As a Warlock Patron, he would be a Lich. In the Chronicles of Prydain books, he served Arawn, God of Death. But the Horned King serves no such master in the Disney film.

JAFAR THE GRAND VIZIER

As Big Bad: Genie Warlock Patron (Efreeti)

Race: Human/Fire Genasi Background: Courtier (Insight, Persuasion) Class: Genie Warlock (Djinni)/Wild Magic Sorcerer Skills: Arcana, Deception, Insight, Persuasion

Jafar is the only one of the patron villains who themselves is a warlock to another patron. In his human form, Jafar has little to no powers. Everything Jafar is able to do is through either his magic snake staff or Genie’s magic. It’s only once he becomes a genie himself that Jafar has his own powers. So, Jafar here is split between two builds. As a human, he’s a warlock relying on a djinni. As a genie himself, he’s a wild magic sorcerer. Technically, he could be both. Play Jafar however you want. As a big bad, Jafar is stuck as one of the most subserviant types of warlock patron, which isn’t so surprising why he’s this low on the patron scale. Only Ursula is technically weaker than him, but that’s only true when she’s in her base form. Once she wields the trident, Ursula is even more powerful than The Horned King.

URSULA THE SEA WITCH

As Big Bad: Fathomless Warlock Patron (Sea Hag/Kraken)

As Playable Character:

Race: Triton Background: Courtier (Insight, Persuasion) Class: Glamour Bard Skills: Arcana, Deception, Insight, Performance, Persuasion Items: Circlet of Human Perfection (reskin as seashell necklace)

I built Ariel as a Fathomless Warlock because in order for her to be on land, she had to make a deal with Ursula. So, with Ursula on land, she can masquerade as Vanessa, using Ariel’s voice to charm and manipulate people. We even see Ursula do this when she charms Eric, so we know that as Vanessa, Ursula could easily run a successful criminal empire using Ariel’s voice to hypnotize and manipulate people into obeying her orders. The Circlet of Human Perfection allows Ursula to maintain a perfect beautiful human disguise without having to eat up spell slots. As a Fathomless Patron, Ursula in her base form is a simple Sea Hag, being much weaker. But once she gets a hold of Dekella, the Bident of Thassa from King Triton, she can grow in both size and power to rival the might of a Kraken. And with Thassa’s divine bident, Ursula can command the tides and all the beasts and monstrosities within it, puting her nearly on par with the powers of a goddess of the sea. But unlike Hades, Maleficent, and Chernabog, even at her near godlike power, Ursula still has a stat block, her bident can still be taken from her, and she can still be slain and defeated.

QUEEN GRIMHILDE THE EVIL QUEEN

Race: Human Background: Noble (History, Persuasion Intimidation) Class: Alchemist Artificer Skills: Arcana, History, Intimidation, Investigation

I really did consider the Transmutation Wizard for Grimhilde, as it has the power to cast polymorph for all of your Frog Prince needs, and a master transmuter can even Restore Youth. But then, the alchemist can brew a potion of transformation, and the chemistry set is clearly how we see Grimhilde using magic. The only magic she performs without the chemistry set is when she creates a gust of wind in front of her magic mirror. She doesn’t even create the lightning bolt for her transformation spell, it just happens to be storming outside, so she’s not controlling the weather either. Plus, the most powerful spell she has is the poisoned apple and she has to summon a bolt of lightning to cast Alter Self, a 2nd level spell. By DnD standards, Grimhilde’s not really that powerful. She doesn’t even fight the player herself in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.  If you want Grimhilde to be more magical, then go with Transmutation Wizard, but if you want to be more accurate, the Alchemist is how Grimhilde does her magic. Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove shares a nearly identical build.

CAPTAIN HOOK THE GENTLEMAN THIEF

Race: Human Background: Pirate (Athletics, Perception) Class: Swashbuckler Rogue Skills: Athletics, Deception, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Persuasion

While Hook’s still a putrid coward, he holds himself quite well, and is the epitome of Lawful Evil, maintaining a strict personal moral code to clash with Peter’s frankly Chaotic Neutral “heroism”. Hook’s not really good at the normal rogue skills like hiding or thieving, but he shines as a manipulative double-talking liar. Long John Silver from Treasure Planet has a similar build.

GASTON LEGUME THE HANSOME HUNTER

Race: Human Background: Folk Hero (Animal Handling Persuasion, Survival) Class: Monster Slayer Ranger Skills: Athletics, Perception, Persuasion Stealth, Survival

As the strapping hero of Belle’s Village, Gaston has the favor of his entire community, keeping them safe from any and all beasties that lurk beyond the city. Too bad he’s as rotten as they come. Likely one of the weakest villains in terms of pure power scale as little more than a local hero, he’s still an iconic enough villain I couldn’t resist adding him. Clayton from Tarzan shares a similar build.

SCAR THE USURPER OF PRIDE ROCK

Race: Leonin Background: Noble (History, Persuasion) Class: Oath of Treachery Paladin Fighting Style: Unarmed Skills: History, Insight, Intimidation, Persuasion

Simba was a druid because he was a wise king who could call upon his people to stand beside him. Scar is a paladin because he has devoted himself to a single goal: his own personal power. Scar shows little wisdom, but has a strong character and savvy charms about him that make him better suited as a CHA caster.

JUDGE CLAUDE FROLLO THE JUDGE OF PARIS

Race: Human Background: Investigator Class: Light Cleric Skills: Insight, Investigation, Persuasion, Religion

This was an easy villain to build. As a religious man worshipping God (who would def fall under Life, Light, and maybe Knowledge) Frollo would go for the one that lets him keep witches warm. His background was chosen as an investigator because he’s responsible for keeping the peace in Paris, and there wasn’t a background option for lawmaker. Noble or Courtier might have worked, but didn’t seem quite like the right fit as they deal more with aristocratic authority and royal court politics.

RIKU THE HEARTLESS KEYBLADE MASTER

Race: Human Background: Soldier (Athletics, Intimidation) Class: Raven Queen Warlock/Hexblade Warlock, Shadow Sorcerer Pact Boon: Blade Skills: Arcana, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation

In the first Kingdom Hearts game, Riku spends most of the game being manipulated by Maleficent. His DnD counterpart would surely be a warlock to her. But Maleficent oddly has not one but three possible warlock patron options. As the Raven Queen, she obviously has the Raven Queen Warlock, but the Raven Queen also created the Hexblade, which come from the Shadowfell, which she rules over. The third is unique to Maleficent, as she is a fairy, and a powerful one at that. Making her a valid choice for an Archfey Warlock. Archfey doesn’t quite fit Riku, but the other two do, and as a Sorcerer, Riku draws power from the Shadowfell which his patron rules over.

DR. FACILIER THE SHADOW MAN

Race: Human Background: Charlatan (Deception, Sleight of Hand) Class: Fiend Warlock Skills: Arcana, Deception, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand

It’s kind of hard to deny that Dr. Facilier is obviously a warlock, though his patron options don’t really come close to a neat fit. Among his choices though, fiend comes the closest to selling his soul to the Other Siders or Shadow Folk. It’s possible he could have sold his soul to the Raven Queen and his shadowy friends are the emissaries of the shadowfell, but as he has no raven or crow familiar, that’s a somewhat weak comparison.

#disney #disney villains #disney villain #maleficent #chernabog #hades #Jafar #ursula #vanessa #horned king #the horned king #riku #dr facilier #frollo #evil queen #queen grimhilde #grimhilde #captain hook #scar #disney scar #gaston #sleeping beauty #hercules #aladdin #little mermaid #the little mermaid #black cauldron #the black cauldron #kingdom hearts #princess and the frog

[inkribbon796]

The Other Side

Summary: Anti’s bored, and he does terrible things when he’s bored. Virgil just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So the heroes have to save the day, without roughing Anxiety up too much in the process.

Encore: Right Here, Right Now

   Virgil lived with Deceit and Remus, and he hated every part of it. The place they stayed at was in one of the worst parts of town, and they’d been living there for over a year now. It was never warm enough. Deceit’s first order of business when acquiring the place was to get his hands on a number of heaters and keep the room they slept in warm. But unless you were in that room, it was freezing.

   So Virgil walked out of the apartment in normal clothing and hung around King’s Park, just crowd watching. He had his headphones in and his hood drawn up.

   His favorite thing about the park was that if you wanted to be left alone, people left you alone. Except for the hiccup with Yan and the police one night, even Dark’s enforcers and network stayed out of the park. It helped Virgil feel like he had some type of privacy.

   He stayed at the park for a while, and when he finally got hungry, went for a walk to figure out what he wanted, making sure to go in costume so that people would keep leaving him alone.

   Something that turned into a bad idea when he heard the sound of a power box on top of the radio arching. Virgil looked back to see Anti scratching his claws against the electrical box, Natemare was standing next to him with a bag in his hands. Both of the chaotic villains were smiling at him.

   Anti was the one who spoke, “Hey, kid, where’s yer old man?”

   “I’m not a kid,” Virgil spat back, trying to get away from the edge of the roof. He was preparing to summon his spider legs to escape. Maybe he could get back to Dark’s area.

   “Can’t fly can ye?” Anti took the bag from Natemare, and the other glitch demon turned into electricity and slipped back into the wires of the electrical box, a smile still on his face as he vanished.

   “I can cling to walls, I don’t need to fly,” Anxiety trying to sound tough even though his heart was beating almost out of control.

   “Good,” Anti smiled. “Yah know, Dark’s usually really tight-lipped about the stuff his boys collect fer ‘im, but he must have gotten wasted because he was carryin’ this . . .”

   Anti pulled out what looked like an MP3 player but it looked like something that was probably cursed. “. . .  Around like he was proud of it. An’ I figured ye should have it.”

   “I’m not touching that,” Virgil snapped. “It looks like it’ll possess me. Why would you even give me that thing?”

   Anti shrugged and the thing went up into a string of code, “Cause it’ll make him furious, an’ he won’t let me get close enough to his desk ta piss in his coffee.”

   “Then why give it to me, he’ll just think I took it,” Virgil argued.

   Walking over, Anti tried to set his hand on Anxiety’s shoulder. Virgil ducked away immediately.

   “Why so nervous, guess ye live up to yer name, huh Anx?” Anti laughed. “Well, I’ll see if I can pawn it off to some third rate drug dealer, that’ll flip the town on its head.”

   “Yeah, just keep that thing away from me,” Anxiety sprouted out his spider legs and just left, trying to get as far from Anti as possible, and was surprised when no one was following him. So, eager to calm down he grabbed a quiet spot of roof with enough of a protection for him to sit on and lean against, he put in his earphones again.

   He was listening to some MCR at first and it was helping, but slowly in the background static began to build and Virgil was getting sleepy.

   It wasn’t until he collapsed onto the ground in a head that Virgil realized something was wrong with him. The world seemed fuzzy and he could barely move his eyes.

   His panic got worse when Anti appeared in front of him, smiling. Natemare was next to him, holding the MP3 player, hooked up to his own ears.

   “Yah know, I think yah got a good head on your shoulders, taking somethin’ from me would’a been a dumb idea,” Anti smiled as he took the player from Natemare but was careful to still keep the headphones in Natemare’s ears. “Shouldn’ta let us walk off with it, though.”

   Virgil could feel he was crying as the static in his head began to build, it was getting harder to think, harder to breathe. Anxiety couldn’t even blink anymore, his eyes were just staring at Anti.

   “So let’s have some fun, it’s been ages since I’ve had a puppet,” Anti grinned and pressed something on the MP3 and Virgil’s body stood up of its own volition. “You’ll love it, N. It’s the best.”

   Virgil was mentally shaking because his body refused to as Anti tossed Natemare the MP3, the other glitch demon was smiling.

   For the heroes it was a normal day of patrols, and Logan coming in and out of their routine. All Logan would say was that he was conducting research as a favor to the Host and if he needed assistance, Logan or the Host would ask.

   Logan was with Eric and Randall, keeping his watch on them more than anything else.

   “At this rate, you’ll make it full time,” Logan smiled, talking to Eric.

   “R-Really?” Eric smiled hopefully.

   “Your control has greatly improved,” Logan praised.

   “Hey, what’d I tell yah,” Randall grinned.

   Eric smiled warmly, and then looked back down the street before he paled, pointing, “Uh, guys?”

   Logan and Randall looked down the street, but it looked completely normal.

   “What do you see?” Logan braced to grab his TASER.

   “My dad,” Eric looked like he was about to vomit or curl up into a ball in sheer terror.

   “Eric, he’s dead,” Randall reminded.

   Eric took a fearful step back and Logan finally saw something, but it wasn’t Derek. Suddenly Logan was alone on a stage with bright lights shining down at him. Everything felt wrong, like he’d been forced to down five cups of coffee, each with about three shots of espresso, one right after the other. He could see a couple wrinkles and old stains on his favorite button-down shirt and tie.

   “Thomas Sanders,” a disembodied voice in the darkness called out before Logan was hit with a string of trivia. Some he could answer, others he couldn’t. Every wrong answer or even slightly incorrect one was met by a harsh sounding buzzer. It barely took three questions before Logan realized he’d been caught in Anxiety’s fear powers, how he’d been caught so flatfooted was beyond him.

   The whole ordeal was a little too frustrating and taxing on Logan, and the situation seemed to be already spiraling out of control.

   “You’re not real,” Logan tried to fight the illusion, but it felt like he was hitting a brick wall with nothing but his bare fists. As if he knew it was fake, could see a way out, but he couldn’t free himself by just denying it.

   Logan kept repeating it, trying to find some crack in Anxiety’s fear illusion. Then, a hand rested on his shoulder. “Lo.”

   Logan turned around to see Patton, who looked like he was about to crumple into a terrified heap himself. “Sorry.”

   “For?” Logan began before he was knocked out by something behind him. The logical side falling to the ground in a heap.

   He woke up an indeterminate amount of time to the sounds of someone arguing. It gave him an instant migraine and he groaned in pain. “Where are Randall and Eric?” Logan asked immediately.

   “Oh look, now he’s awake,” Roman said. “They’re sleeping their ordeal off.”

   “No thanks to you,” Logan groaned, holding his head. His vision was swimming could someone obtain some painkillers and water.”

   “Yeah,” Patton said, “give me a minute.”

   Roman opened his mouth, but Logan cut him off.

   “You will wait until my headache has abated,” Logan ordered. “Or I will not listen.”

   “Fine,” Roman responded grumpily. He was given a little respite to relax and massage his temples.

   When he signaled, Roman began, taking a deep breath before letting out a long rant, “Virgil used his fear powers to blanket half the town in a crazed fear spell and now he’s using it to take over the town. This proves he’s evil and needs to be stopped. See this is why we don’t trust villains because they betray, and-or kill us, and really we should have seen this coming. Patton doesn’t believe me, and I need you to talk sense into him.”

   Logan just stared at him, waiting to see if he was actually done or not. Then he looked around. “Iplier I need a scientific explanation.”

   Roman groaned, “Come on, Lo.”

   “Dude, your friend is whack and took out half the city in a gnarly fear trip,” Bing interrupted.

   Logan groaned, “I was talking to the Doctor, I’d rather have Roman’s explanation than that one.”

   “It was pretty cool though,” Roman praised, offering a fist bump and Bing’s fist tapped his. Dr. Iplier was coming over to explain the situation in terms Logan could understand without a headache

    “S’no problemo dude, glad you liked it,” Bing smiles. “But, uh, Anxiety’s probably not working alone.”

   “Explain,” Logan turned back to Bing.

   “So, I went to scout out what was going on, ‘cause the magic whatever doesn’ work on droids like me and Googs, but Anxiety was with Natemare an’ Anti,” Bing rambled. “So I got out of there, they totally didn’t see me.”

   He was with both of ‘em?” Logan asked.

   Yeah, it was super weird, dude was just staring out into space,” Bing reported.

   “Do you have any video logs on the subject?” Logan demanded. Bing nodded and hooked up the closest Ipad anyone had on hand as he began to play a short clip of Anxiety standing in front of Anti and Natemare, the two of them talking as Anxiety was just staring. Standing unnaturally still.

   “That’s a bit creepy, even for him,” Roman admitted.

   “Something’s wrong with him,” Patton cut in. “Normally he doesn’t have good posture but his back’s like a piece of plywood.”

   “Hold up a sec,” Iplier interrupted, and rushed to the door that contained both his and Henrik’s side offices. “Hey, Henrik, get out here, I need your opinion on something.”

   It took a minute, but Henrik was walking out with Iplier, the two of them talking quietly.

   Once the German doctor was standing with the group he looked at the clip, his frown becoming a tight, worried line, “Zat is not gud.”

   “What?” Edward asked his friend.

   Henrik took the recording back a couple seconds and pointed to Virgil. “He is copying Anti.”

   “Is this a possession thing?” Dr. Iplier asked. “Anti can still do that right?”

   “He’s what?” Patton exclaimed, bringing back Logan’s headache. “What are we going to do? We can’t leave him like that.”

   “Patton, don’t scream,” Logan rubbed at his temples.

   “This is awful,” Patton took the Ipad, looking heartbroken. “He must be so scared. What can we do to stop Anti?”

   “Well, a little nap usually helps,” Henrik admitted. “But he might not like us after’vard.”

   “But he’ll be free, that’s good, right, Roman?” Patton turned to him.

   Roman hesitated, but after looking at Patton and then the Ipad, he sighed, “Yeah, Mopey Frown doesn’t deserve it.”

   “That doesn’t explain what we’re going to do?” Dr. Iplier. “If it was just Anti and Natemare would could probably send a couple guys and have Logan use an EMP bomb.”

   The American doctor turned to Logan, “Do you still have one?”

   “Yes,” Logan admitted hesitantly. “But Anxiety is purely organic, and even if he wasn’t the range on them is too close. I would become consumed by his abilities.”

   “What about Emile?” Bing spoke up. “You guys and King said Em’s got some kind of emotional empathy power like Patton, you just need to see him. Stand five blocks away on a rooftop.”

   Patton made an uncomfortable noise, “Yeah, but Anxiety doesn’t like Emile, and Em can’t really do anything if the person’s fighting him. Anxiety’s gonna fight us on every word. Emile’s a bit of a squishy target. Can’t really fight against either Anti or Natemare.”

   “You know who can though,” Roman’s face lit up. He looked over at Logan with a huge smile, leaning in closer to him.

   Logan groaned. “Fine, if we must.”

   “We kinda do,” Roman’s grin didn’t go away, it only got wider.

   “Don’t pretend you hate it,” Roman told Logan. “I know you like being Remy.”

   “So you two are going to fuse?” Bing asked.

   “Yes,” Roman summoned and iced coffee. “Hold this for me, we’re going to want it in a bit. Don’t drink it.”

   “You got it bro,” Bing promised.

   Quickly Roman pulled Logan into the main area and was still all smiles as the creative Side held both hands up to snap his fingers and the space around them shifted. A twenty foot area around them turned into an old fashioned pub and Logan was now sporting a white button-down shirt and a black vest. Roman in a red vest that wasn’t buttoned.

   “Let’s get started,” Roman smiled.

   “I won’t cut out halfway into the song again,” Logan warned. “I still have a headache.”

   “Oh, I’m counting on it Specs,” Roman smiled. “I wouldn’t dare stop a show tune halfway.”

   Roman snapped his fingers as music began coming from the very room around them.

~::~ One Hour Later ~::~

   Silver and Jackie were walking down Main St. with Remy walking behind them. The fused Side’s sunglasses over his eyes, drinking his iced coffee.

   “So you two coming with me?” Remy asked.

   “As soon as Anxiety’s done, we’ll take care ‘a the demons,” Jackie promised.

   “Nice, I’m not exactly demon proof,” Remy smile, taking his still free hand and snapped his fingers at Jackie.

   Remy set his coffee on top of the closest and safest surface. “Let’s do this,” the fused Side yelled. “Anx won’t stop himself.”

   With that Remy stepped into the start of the fear bubble, as the other heroes had taken to calling it, that part of the city was in various states of disrepair. The people trapped in this part had either been rescued or were still causing destruction. Remy felt Virgil’s powers trying to affect him but with two different minds and two different fears, it seemed like it was having a hard time locking onto Remy himself.

   Remy did try and knock out as many people as he could, just so they couldn’t keep harming themselves or others. He tried to put them in safe locations. The rest of the heroes could clean up behind him.

   It didn’t take long to find Anxiety, neither the glitch demons or Virgil were exactly trying to hide.

   “Hey crawler,” Anti caled out time Virgil. “You missed one.”

   Virgil turned as if he’d been jolted and Remy could see the panic on Virgil’s face. A panic that seemed to become more frantic when he saw Remy. “No. No. No. No.”

   Oh, he looks bad. Roman thought.

   Indeed, we need to make this quick. Logan agreed.

   “Hey, Anx,” Remy greeted, sand already appearing at his fingertips. He was trying to keep calm and keep a pin on where Anti and Natemare were. “You look like you could use a nap.”

   Anxiety’s spider limbs shot out and his hands went up. He took a fearful step back.

   Anti snatched the MP3 from Natemare’s hands. “Where do ye think yer goin’ huh?”

   “Hey,” Natemare snapped at him, but Anti was messing with it and Virgil took a jolted step forward.

   The exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Remy or Logan immediately started studying Virgil.

   Now! Logan commanded and Remy smiled. Then he bolted for Virgil who looked even more terrified than before.

   “Come on, V for Vendetta, work with me here,” Remy quipped, trying to get close enough to him to grab at the headphones still in his ears.

   Virgil dodges, which both Remy and Roman thought was unfair someone with huge spider legs could still be so agile. “No, get away from me,” Anxiety shouted back, he stuck a leg in a piece of metal, probably from a car or a newspaper box and flung it at Remy.

   The fusion barely dodged in time, and it almost hit Anti.

   “Hey, watch it!” Anti hissed.

   Remy glanced back, “Well that works too.”

   Virgil kept throwing things at him, bits of rubble, pieces of smoking rubber, rocks, metal; and Remy kept dodging, trying get Anti and Natemare hit in the process.

   It turned out that the fusion got to Virgil before the other villains could get hit. Remy tackled Virgil and panicked Side was trying to throw Remy back off.

   “No, get off me,” Virgil was in a sheer panic and Remy reached up and grabbed the headphones off, knocking Virgil out with his sleep sand instantly. Anxiety slumping to the ground as the fear effects dissipated almost instantly.

   “Shoot,” Anti frowned, walking towards Remy. “Well that was fun at least.”

   “Woah, back it up, jazz,” Remy warned, standing between Virgil and the two glitch demons.

   “Nah, he was gettin’ borin’ anyways,” Anti smiled, “Hey, interested in a cursed artifact?”

   Jackie ran in at full speed, blinging fast with his super speed and slammed his fist into the glitch demon, screaming at the top of his lungs the instant he made contact. Anti violently fractured, but Jackie was now holding the destroyed MP3 player that the two glitch demons had been using.

   The speedster cursed and looked around, spiking the device to the ground. Remy was quick to scoop the thing into his pocket and grab Virgil, pulling his arm over his shoulder. “Hey, I got Wednesday Adams,” Remy quipped. “Let’s split.”

   “Pass him,” Silver flew over and Remy let the other superhero take the unconscious Anxiety and fly away with him.

   “Take him to Iplier, he trusts him,” Remy ordered before turning to Jackieboy Man who was trying to take on Anti while trying to avoid Natemare.

   “Come on, Lo,” Remy muttered as he pulled the arm of his jacket up, Logan’s arm brace firmly strapped onto his wrist. “Tell me you calibrated it.”

   Remy pressed a couple buttons, using Logan’s memories of the device to time up an EMP blast and grabbed onto of the fake bombs out of his pocket before rushing into the fight and throwing the thing at the two villains. It exploded on contact.

   Anti and Natemare screamed and then they were gone. Jackie held his hands up, his nose bleeding and a bit disorientated from the light that had come from the fake EMP bomb.

   “They gone?” Jackieboy asked.

   “For now,” Remy agreed, holding his own heart. “I’m surprised it got both of them in one go.

   Remy and Jackie spent some time with the authorities and the EMT’s, Silver and some of the other heroes arrived to help. Virgil had been dropped off with Iplier, still unconscious from Remy’s sleep sand. After the situation was manageable, the heroes headed back to the base. Mostly to relax, Remy immediately headed over to the medical ward where Ipler and Patton were, tending to a still-unconscious Virgil.

   “How’s he doing?” Remy asked.

   “You really knocked him out,” Iplier admitted, “but his vitals are stable.”

   “Good,” Remy relaxed. “He’s gonna be pissed when he wakes up.”

   “Hopefully not,” Patton whispered. “But he’ll probably be confused when he wakes up. I’m gonna make some cinnamon rolls”

   “Sounds great, Patt-attack,” Remy lowered his glasses to the end of his nose. “How you doing? Wasn’t any time to ask earlier.”

   “I’m good,” Patton smiled.

   “Good,” the fused side asked. “How’s Em?”

   “Doing well,” Patton’s smile got wider.

   “Hey, am I ever going to actually meet Em?” Remy asked.

   “As much as I’d like to, I can’t,” Patton looked away.

   “A guy’s gotta try,” Remy shrugged, and snapped his fingers over Virgil. The petty thief’s nose twitched, and he groaned. “Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”

   Virgil’s eyes immediately shot open and his eyes started to look between Patton and Remy. He screamed and bolted off the table.

   “Calm down, we didn’t arrest you,” Remy pushed his glasses up his nose in a Logan-esque manner.

   “Did you need to wake him up so abruptly?” Patton frowned, crossing his arms in disapproval.

   “Where am I?” Virgil demanded.

   “My office,” Iplier interrupted. “The heroes brought you here to recover so you wouldn’t have the news poking at you while you slept.”

   “Uhh,” Anxiety looked around, calmed by the fact he clearly wasn’t in handcuffs. “Thanks. I’ll just go.”

   “You’re in the Heroes’ base,” Remy reminded, using Roman’s creativity powers to summon himself up a new frappuccino. “Prolly don’t wanna just walk out there just yet.”

   “What?” Virgil balked.

   Remy slurped noisily at his frappe. “Yeah.”

   “I thought I wasn’t under arrest?” Anxiety reminded.

   “You’re not,” Patton agreed.

   “Haven’t even been read your rights,” Remy cut in. “Certainly can’t keep you here without cause since you obviously didn’t want to be there.”

   “So, I can go,” Anxiety stood up.

   “Let me level with you,” Remy grabbed a chair and sat down. “You know what I am, right?”

   “That’s a stupid question,” Virgil told him. “Of course I do.”

   “Then you know I speak from experience when I say you’re in every position to start making deals,” Remy told him. “Stay, talk a bit, and then if you still want Patt and I can walk you out so no one bothers you.”

   “Why should I believe you?” Virgil spat.

   “Because I’m not Dee,” Remy took another sip of his coffee. “Sides, Logan says your chances are good either way you take it.”

   “So what do you guys want?” Virgil asked, sounding suspicious.

   “Well,” Patton cut in. “You could join us.”

   Anxiety just stared at him, a little surprised laugh slipping out of him, “Excuse me? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

   “Anx, do you wanna spend the rest of your life trailing after Dee and Remus, cleaning up their messes?” Remy leaned in. “Cause that’s what you’re gonna be doing. If you’re really happy with being part of the League then commit and do it, don’t go off and rescue people and then claim to still be one of them.”

   “Remy, be nice,” Patton warned.

   Virgil was quiet, looking uncomfortable.

   “Anx, pardon Rem,” Patton pleaded. “We don’t want you hurt. And I couldn’t stand to see Anti using you like that.”

   “What do you care?” Virgil spat back. “Like you three ever cared, I got stiffed with the box and you three were too busy goofing off help me.”

   “I regret that every day,” Patton started tearing up. “That I didn’t say something to you first, but I don’t wanna see you keep getting hurt. Logan doesn’t either.”

   “Neither does Roman,” Remy interrupted.

   Virgil glared at him.

   Remy held up his hands, “I can’t turn back into them right now to give Ro a chance to prove it to you. All I can do is ask you to give us time to prove it. Please.”

   The hostility in Virgil’s eyes started to soften. It took him a bit to answer, he started playing with his hands for a bit. “I’m not doing patrols, and I don’t do press conferences.”

   “Deal,” Remy looked at Iplier and Patton. “I’ll talk to Silver and Jackie.”

   “Hey, wait,” Virgil’s anxiety spiked. He stood up, “you can’t just do that.”

   “It’ll be fine,” Remy promised, holding the door open for Virgil to step through on his own. A couple leaps of faith.

   Nervously drawing his hood over his face, Virgil followed him and Patton, Iplier bringing up the rear of the group but giving Virgil room to flee and move if he needed to. When they entered the main area of the base, Virgil hid behind Iplier.

   “E’erythin’ okay?” Jackie asked, looking at Anxiety.

   Iplier looked at Virgil, letting Virgil stay behind him. “Yeah, I think so.”

   “Good,” Jackie nodded. “Anxiety, if you’re on the level, welcome to the group. Take a seat, try and relax.”

   Patton smiled at Virgil and went off to go make some cinnamon rolls.

   “Th-Thanks,” Virgil told him, looking around the room. His heart was still hammering out of his chest, but no one was attacking him or yelling at him. Virgil was so calm he’d completely forgotten about the deal he made with Dark weeks ago. Anxiety was just working on calming himself down.

   Later that night, Anti walked out from the Void and in the middle of Dark’s main warehouse, shaking his head to clear some of the residue bits of the EMP black. He was more than a little angry. None of Dark’s enforcers guarding the place stopped him. “Hey, Dinodark!”

   Dark walked out from his office, leaving the door open, a smile on his face as he snapped his neck to his right and straightened out his tie. “Ahh, Anti, you’re alive.”

   “What did that thing actually do?” Anti asked. “I knew yah weren’t paradin’ it around fer shits an’ giggles.”

   “It served its intended purpose,” Dark shrugged. “I have to thank you for being so predictable and helping out. Anxiety drags his feet and I wanted him out of the League.”

   “Well, the hero’s have a new chump working with Logic,” Anti warned. “He had Logic’s tech.”

   “A new apprentice?” Dark mused. “This new hero have a name?”

   “Don’t know, couldn’t be bothered,” Anti shrugged, pulling a knife out. “You owe me, shitbag.”

   “You stole something from me with the intent to harm my network, I owe you nothing,” Dark reminded. “I could have had Anxiety thrown out without your help.”

   “Ye owe me Google fer the next month,” Anti argued.

   Dark scoffed, already turning around before Anti literally snarled and lunged at the greyscaled entity. The two starting a scuffle between two of them. Dark’s enforcers moved out of the way as Dark’s aura clashed with Anti’s knives.

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Thomas Sanders #Jacksepticeye #Markiplier #Nathan Sharp #Virgil Sanders #Antisepticeye #Natemare #Logan Sanders #Eric Derekson #Randall Voorhees #Patton Sanders #Roman Sanders #Dr. Iplier #Bingiplier #Remy Sanders #Sleep #Silver Shepherd #Jackieboy Man #Mind Control #fusion #Magical Artifacts #possession #Angst #Fix-It of sorts #Greatest Showman references #SAU fusions

[lilysrpgdungeon-blog]

Mysteries In Tabletop RPGs

Today I want to discuss my favorite sort of scenario to run in tabletop RPGs: the mystery. When your party needs to exercise not their brawn, but their brain. Today we’re going to how I go about designing mysteries, and techniques I use during play to make them more dynamic.

The first thing I do when I design a mystery is ask myself three questions: what does the Big Bad want? How did they go about getting it? And what mistakes did they make?

That first question is pretty self explanatory: what does the Big Bad want? Every good culprit needs a good motive. You have an advisor trying to become king. You have a cultist trying to summon Cthulhu. You have a fledgling vampire trying to free herself from her sire’s control. Whatever your villain wants, it’s likely something that they need to use subtlety to obtain. If your villain could operate openly, the adventure would be geared more towards an action campaign rather than a mystery.

Which leads us to the second question: how does your Big Bad try to get what they want? Your players are going to be investigating your villain’s actions, so you want to carefully plan out what they’re going to do to achieve their ends. Let’s use the traitorous advisor from the previous section as an example. He can’t just outright assassinate the king, because then the throne would go to his daughter and he’s likely be sent to the gallows. So, instead, he sends an assassin to a neighbouring kingdom to stir up a war. The king will tell everyone “I didn’t start this war! I don’t know what everyone’s talking about!” And that will turn public opinion against him. After that, the advisor could do a few things. He could plant the seeds of a rebellion uprising, or he could advise the king to use force to silence those who speak against him. Throw in a red herring here or there and have the king behead a perfectly innocent lord. Whatever your Big Bad is doing, all of their actions – and, by extension, your actions as a GM – should be shrouded in mystery.

And for the final step: what mistakes did the Big Bad make? This may seem like an odd question to ask. Why would your criminal mastermind make mistakes? Well, first of all, every person makes mistakes, but also, if everything went perfectly for your villain, your players are going to hit a brick wall hard, and we want our heroes to succeed! When it comes to mysteries, mistakes or oversights left behind by the culprit can be used as evidence. Evidence is the backbone of your investigation scenario, and a lot of care should be taken when designing them.

So, we have our villain, our motive, and the skeleton of our campaign. Now we just need to start putting everything together. This is segment does have some more general stuff you could really use when you’re designing any campaign, with some exceptions I hope are pretty obvious. First, I divide the campaign into quests – small, digestible chunks. Now, even if your mystery is spanning an entire chronicle, you want to end each quest with some sort of milestone. It could be a climactic action scene, like in most quests, but more often than not, a mystery milestone involves making some serious headway and discover something very crucial to the case. You could slowly reveal things like a motive or a murder weapon or something about the culprit. Obviously, you don’t want to reveal the culprit themselves until the last quest, but little tidbits are good.

Generally, it’s a good idea to design each quest so players don’t need to find every scrap of evidence to progress the story. When in doubt, rule of three! You can fill a scenario with as much evidence as you want (though too much may make your villain seem incompetent, and therefore less threatening), but in general the party should be able to progress the story with only three bits of evidence. Hopefully, every quest should naturally lead into the next. Or maybe players go off the beaten path, as players are prone to do. If they’re still headed towards the correct conclusion, stand back and let them have their fun! If they’re not, that could be when you introduce the failsafe I mentioned earlier. Don’t do it the moment things start to go off the rails, though. That gets very railroad-y. Wait for where it feels natural.

The last thing about designing mysteries is a more personal touch I like to do. It doesn’t work with every mystery, but it’s really handy when you can use it. Don’t have the quest where the mystery is finally solved be the last quest. After that, you generally want to have a big, climactic confrontation with the Big Bad! What qualifies a confrontation varies from game to game. This could range from a fight to a chase scene with the culprit trying to skip town. Like I said, this isn’t always necessary, and in games like Call Of Cthulhu a fight with the Big Bad is likely to end in TPK (though, let’s be honest, there are only a few things in Call Of Cthulhu that won’t end in a TPK), but it’s just something to really represent players hitting the climax! As fun as mysteries are, it’s hard to make piecing together clues feel as climactic as it is in video games like Dangan Ronpa or Ace Attorney, so having a more physical climax is a good substitute. Again, not strictly necessary, just something you may wanna think about.

So, now you’ve got the planning down and you’re ready to take your game to the table! But before you do, I have two little tidbits of advice you should probably keep in mind when running your mystery.

The first and, I feel, most important thing about a mystery: never hide important clues behind dice rolls. I know, dice rolls are the defining feature of tabletop RPGs as a medium, but here’s the thing about mysteries: the fun part isn’t finding the clues, it’s piecing them together. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle where you have to go on a scavenger hunt to find all the pieces. It’s missing the point of solving mysteries, and this is something I think the Trail Of Cthulhu conversion understood really, really well.

Second: take notes. Generally you should always be taking notes of what your players are doing – you can find potential plot hooks in them, or players might do something that will have major effects later down the line – but in mysteries, it’s doubly important. See, you and your players have a lot to keep track of. Sometimes players forget to write something important down in their notes. Then, when that thing becomes useful, you can see them struggling to remember it, like it’s right on the tip of their tongue.

Now, you could allow the session to grind to a halt and which the players flounder over something minor, but this is what is scientifically known as a dick move. At this point, it’s a good idea to remind the player of what they need. You don’t have to give it to them for free or anything – you could call for a memory check or spending Luck points – but the last thing you want is letting for your game to come to a sudden stop because a player forgot to right down where the one suspicious looking key was.

Also, sidenote: don’t be a smug douchebag with these reminders. I mean, don’t be a smug douchebag in general, but give players the benefit of the doubt. Sure, once all the pieces are in place, it’s obvious that the party needed to hold onto that nonsensical diary entry that turned out to be a coded map to the villain’s lair. But that’s because you’re the GM. You already know what the puzzle’s supposed to look like because you made it. Don’t ruin the story and everyone else's fun just because the players made a mistake.

#tabletop rpg #dungeons and dragons #vampire the masquerade #vampire the requiem #call of cthulhu #trail of cthulhu #apocalypse world #pen and paper rpg #advice #advice for game masters #rpg advice

[phantomrose96]

A Breach of Trust Chapter 15.5: A Beach of Trust

(Act 1: Chapter 1-9 )

(Act 2: Chapter 10 || Chapter 11 || Chapter 12 || Chapter 13 || Chapter 14 || Chapter 15 || Chapter 15.5 || Chapter 16 || Chapter 17 || Chapter 18)

(Act 3 Chapter 19+)

There is one universal law of anime, and it is that there is always a beach episode. There is always a beach episode

Mob had fallen asleep beneath the couch blankets again, curled into the cocoon so that the blankets served double as his pillow. He was woken up sometime later by the sound and brightness that came with Reigen swishing back the curtains.

“Wake up, Mob. We’ve got plans.”

Mob opened his eyes. Reigen stood over him, wearing swim trunks, a white tank top, and enormous sunglasses with the price tag still dangling off the right ear hook. He had globbed suntan lotion on his nose and shoulders, and he thrust a mesh bag to Mob containing roughly the same outfit but in a smaller size—sunglasses and all.

“I’m overworked and you’re traumatized. I don’t know anything about mental health but there’s no way a day at the beach can be bad. So get changed it’s beach time.”

Reigen sat down on the couch beside Mob, one foot pulled up and resting on the other knee, and he pulled out an assortment of deflated floaties from his own bag. He uncapped the mouthpiece of one—a duck by the looks of it—and started to inflate it.

Mob stared, baffled. “…Beach time?”

…

“Look, I’m just saying that if you’re gonna be using up your vacation days sitting home, we may as well use the vacation days.”

Jun tossed Tetsuo’s swim trunks onto his head. He put his controller down and grabbed it off his face, looking first in confusion at the swimsuit, then at Jun, who stood in front of the couch in a red bikini. She supported a beachbag by its strap, with a sunhat beneath her arm and sunglasses tucked into the string of her bikini top.

“Are we going—you mean the beach…?”

“I already invited Isa. She’s probably there already. Get moving, Tetsuo.”

“…The beach though?” He held the trunks out, baffled. “It’s October!”

“Alright fine. You can stay here. Isa and I will go and just gossip about you.”

Jun turned on her heel, flipflops slapping as she headed to the door.

Tetsuo bounced from the couch. “Wait! No wait, I wanna gossip too!”

…

“This is…what, exactly?”

“Intermission.” Teruki did not look at Ritsu. He faced the icecream vender. “Two please.”

Ritsu watched him take the two cones in his hand, coated in rainbow sprinkles, but somehow the bright mess of every color decorating the icecream cones still paled in comparison to Teruki. His swim trunks were neon green, dashed with oranges, purples, and reds. His unbuttoned shirt was a piercing salmon color, his two bright flipflops did not match, and his pink sunglasses glittered.

He still wore his tie, which he had not been able to get off.

“And when does intermission end?” Ritsu asked.

“When we’re rested up and ready to fight again. You can’t have me ruining my good looks with no rest. It’s bad for my skin.”

“So the fight’s still going?”

“Yes.”

“And we’re just…at the beach…in the meantime.”

“What? Would you rather go grocery shopping? Most people say thank you when they’re brought on vacation.”

Ritsu said nothing. He only walked behind Teruki, dumb-founded, as they headed for the waterfront. Ritsu’s own beach wear was tattered black trunks, an unbuttoned black t-shirt that seemed less “unbuttoned” and more “had the entire front of it violently torn off”—it was his school uniform, actually. It had just been properly shredded enough to double as beach wear.

Teruki stopped suddenly. He thrust his arm out, and the items in his bag spun out onto the sand. Two full-sized beach chairs unfolded and set themselves up, two immaculate pink towels, two umbrellas perhaps more garish than Teruki’s outfit, a cooler with soda, a platter of small sandwiches, a bottle of suntan lotion, a reflective tanning fan.

Teruki flopped onto one of the chairs, floated his icecream cones (both of which appeared to be for him) into the air, and grabbed the tanning board which he fanned around his face. Ritsu stared in utter discomfort at the tie still on his neck. He wasn’t sure how Teruki was breathing.

“Move, you’re blocking my sun.”

…

Tetsuo laid on his stomach, eyes shut, fingers swishing through the hot sand. Jun and Isa chatted quietly in the background. The steady roll and ebb of the waves rocked him to sleep—maybe he could sleep, maybe it was fine.

“Hey bro, can I borrow your sunscreen?”

Tetsuo’s eyes snapped open. A shadow bent down above him, blackened eyes, a noose around its neck, tattered green clothes that had seemingly rotted with the years. Tetsuo shrieked and shot back.

“Yeesh, you coulda just said no bro,” Mogami said. He stood up taller, looking left and right. “Now I’m gonna burn.”

Tetsuo only watched in abject horror as Mogami walked away, pulled a chair and an umbrella out of nothing, and set it up roughly five feet from Tetsuo’s own spot. Mogami waved at him, summoning a pair of sunglasses to his face and unbuttoning his shirt. Tetsuo stared back unblinkingly.

“Tetsuo, what?” Jun asked. She tapped him on the shoulder. Isa stood only a step behind her.

Tetsuo pointed, voice shaking. “Mogami.”

Jun followed the line of his finger, staring at the set-up beside them. She squinted. “…What, off in the distance?”

“Right—right there!”

Jun said nothing for a moment. “…Tetsuo, there’s nothing there.” She turned to Isa. “Right?”

Isa nodded. “Nothing’s there, Tetsuo.”

Tetsuo stared. Mogami blew him a kiss.

Tetsuo’s voice pitched into falsetto as he answered, “Yeah, alright, sure, okay.”

…

Reigen stood beside Mob in line for the beach rentals. He shielded his eyes with his hand despite wearing sunglasses on his head.

“Whatdya wanna get, Mob? Kickboard? Volleyball? Ooh, wonder if they rent sailboats. My dad taught me once how to control one.”

Mob threaded his fingers together, hair in a ponytail on his head that Reigen had sloppily tied up with a rubber band. He looked around at all the people he was distinctly not shredding.

“Um…” Mob answered.

“Yeesh, hey Mob look at that kid. That’s a fashion disaster.” Reigen pointed ahead of them. A boy in neon green shorts and a salmon shirt with mismatched flipflops and pink sunglasses stood in line ahead of them. “At least his emo friend has some fashion sense.”

Mob watched. The two boys rented a surfboard. The dark-haired boy grabbed it, and held it up in front of his face as he walked right past Mob. Mob watched him go.

Mob opened his mouth “He…he seems—“

“Surfboard! That’s the way to go.” Reigen slapped Mob on the back. “God I don’t know how to surf but I bet that’d be fun.”

…

“New plan.”

Teruki stood on the other side of the beach volleyball net. A swarm of mangled, howling spirits swept up behind him. Ritsu’s own decimated horde circled behind him.

Teruki grinned. “We decide this match with spirit horde beach volleyball, my horde versus yours.” Teruki held up Gimcrack. “This thing’s the ball.”

“Um…” Ritsu answered. He watched Teruki pull uncomfortably on his tie. “…Do the spirits know how to play volleyball?”

“Mine do.”

“Do mine?”

“I don’t know. I’m not responsible for your horde.”

“Why is Gimp the ball??”

Teruki tossed Gimcrack into the air. “First point! Let’s go!”

…

Reigen sprawled out on the one beach chair he’d brought, half-dozing in the sun. The parts of him not globbed with sunscreen had turned beet-red. He adjusted his tanning board a little more.

Mob sat down in the sand. He pointed. “Reigen, whose ball is that?”

Reigen lifted his sunglasses and squinted. He saw nothing on the ground where Mob pointed. He lowered the sunglasses. “I dunno.”

“I think it belongs to those volleyball players. I’m… I’m gonna go return it.”

“Have fun, Mob.” Reigen answered, eyes shut. He dozed off lightly for 30 seconds until the pattering of feet caught his attention.

Reigen opened his eyes again, disturbed, and squinted past the sun. The boy dressed all in black stood over him, panting.

“Did our ball roll over here?”

“Oh, yeah, the kid’s returning it.”

The boy, who in fact looked quite beat up, quirked an eyebrow. “…What kid?”

“The um…the kid I found, or something. He’s mine now I guess.” Reigen squinted harder at this boy. He looked familiar.

“Oh…um, alright,” the boy answered. He turned, headed back to the volleyball court. Some kinda faint magenta trail seeped out of him, staining the air he passed through. Reigen grunted, and shrugged, and shut his eyes again.

“…Who was that, Reigen?” Mob asked, 30 seconds later, once he returned.

“I dunno.”

…

“Bruh you know what’s so sissy? When people buy ‘light’ beers and try and bring them to a party. Is that your girlfriend’s beer, bro? That’s weak shit. I make my own microbrews. You can’t go back once you know good beers, bro,” Mogami said.

Tetsuo stared forward, rigidly, his every muscle tense. Quietly he mouthed to himself It’s not real. It’s not real. It’s not real.

Mogami reached over and took one of the beers from Tetsuo’s cooler. “I mean I don’t trust industry, you know? All that government-regulated crap? You should look into libertarianism, by the way, bro.” Mogami took a swig of the beer. “Yeah, that’s why I’m self-sufficient in these things, bro. I make my own food, I seek out my own flesh vessels to possess. None of that government-issued stuff. Free healthcare is hurting the economy, bro.”

Tetsuo was rocking back and forth now. Jun and Isa had gone back to chatting. The sun was starting to set. Mogami stole a sandwich from the cooler too.

“What’s your stance on religion, bro?”

…

Reigen folded up his chair and squeezed the air out of the floaties one by one. He shot a few sidelong glances to Mob, who stared transfixed at the two volleyball playing boys off in the distance—or, at least the boys standing on the volleyball court. Neither of them had a ball, or seemed to be playing. They just shouted a lot at the empty air around the court.

“I think one of them just won,” Mob remarked.

“Uh-huh,” Reigen answered absently. He stared at the elaborate beach chair set-up the two boys had put up. More specifically, he stared at the untouched platter of sandwiches in the center. “And they didn’t eat any of the food they brought.”

“Um.”

“Do you think they’ll notice if we snag a sandwich? Nah, right? There’s like 20 of them they won’t notice.”

Reigen put his stuff down and marched over to the sandwich platter. He grabbed the top one and inspected it.

“What are you doing, old man?”

The voice was behind Reigen instantly. He startled, and turned to see bad-fashion boy standing there with his hands on his cocked hips. Reigen looked back and forth between the boy and the volleyball field, mentally attempting to calculate how he had moved so quickly.

“Um.”

“Don’t fight with him!” Mob shouted, to the bad-fashion boy it seemed. “Reigen is a very powerful esper, and he didn’t mean it. We’re leaving.”

Bad-fashion boy quirked his eyebrow. “Oh, and I’m not?”

Mob stopped, blinked. “Oh… Oh, you are. I feel it now.”

Bad-fashion boy appraised Mob. “…Seems you are as well, but you can’t be stronger than me.” He stuck a hand out. “Teruki Hanazawa.”

“Oh, nice to meet you,” Mob answered, taking his hand.

“Now fight me,” Teruki said. He summoned a ball of yellow flame to his fist. “Hopefully you won’t be as disappointing as the other one.”

“Welp—none of that,” Reigen said, hoisting up Teruki by the scruff of his shirt. The yellow fire extinguished in Teruki’s palm. He kicked and flailed around, but he was shorter than Reigen, who easily held him off the ground like an angry kitten.

“Let me go!” Teruki insisted.

“No fighting with Mob. Where are your parents, kid?”

Teruki looked him dead in the eye. “I have no parents.”

Reigen stared back, then sighed, then tucked Teruki under his arm. “Well, I already adopted one kid. May as well make it two.”

“What?!”

“Come on Teruki, you’re heading back home with me and Mob. I’ll set you straight or…something. Mob, say hi to your new brother.”

Mob stared at Teruki, who was now snarling and attempting to snap at Reigen’s fingers. “But he’s—that’s not my brother. I want my little brother back, not this guy.”

“Mob, listen.” Reigen hoisted the beach bag over his free shoulder. “Who the heck knows where your little brother is? I mean you probably do but you won’t tell me. You have to settle for this kid.”

…

Ritsu looked up, and from a distance he saw some old man walking off with Teruki under his arm. Some kid in a ponytail walked beside him, his face covered by Teruki’s flailing body.

Ritsu stood there, Gimcrack in his arms, watching.

“Teruki?”

#A Breach of Trust #long post #a very serious addition for a very serious day #somewhere off in the distance there are several animated gemstones facing off #A tall angry red one doing battle with a half-shattered green one #No one notices

[thesassygaypandauniverse]

Power Ranger Script VS Final Movie

Hey All,

I came across the 2nd draft of the Power Ranger movie that’s been floating online.  From my knowledge the script is legit, but for all, I know a fan dedicated a lot of time into it, lol.  Anyways, here are the difference, and pardon me on some of the randomnesses of it.

I would say SPOILERS but fuck it.  This is so different it doesn’t count.

Plot:

- Zordon was the original Red Ranger, while Rita was the Black.  Zordon defeats Rita and puts her in like a deep freeze sleep for 20K years.  

- Rita betrayed her team due to Lord Zedd’s Promise of Power.  Side note Lord Zedd pops up on the last page, with the Green Power Coin.  (Hinting at him being the original Green Ranger)

Apparently, there’s this dig that awakens her scepter, and that’s what awakens her.

Goldar was defeated in a battle but was also in a mummified state.  He later gets revived and becomes the very much like the Goldar from the original Mighty Morphin Series.

The dig is very close to finding the Command Center, which is technically a part of a ship.  Which if activated in the right way could fly off the earth.  However, it needs to drain the energy from the earth’s core to power it; hence earth is fucked if Rita succeeds in operating it.

Zordon, who is this alien octopus/jellyfish thing, travels to earth along with alpha 5 to stop Rita.  They crash near Trini’s place, which leads to Jason, Billy, and Trini finding them.  The three freak out and after a kinda bullshit kiddish fight knock out the two and lock them in a truck.

By the way, the three go to school with the aliens in the trunk.  (smh)  Anyways school is let out, b/c all the alien activity knocks out communication in the world.  So cell phones, tech, etc… are useless.  Once the everyone is leaving Zach kinda overhears Trini, Billy, and Jason talk about the alien and follows them.  

The four eventually let Zordon out of the trunk and end up getting their asses handed to them by a pissed off Zordon.  The fight finally ends when Billy apologizes, and Zordon can see that he means it.  

Zordon gives the exposition about the history of the Rangers and explains they need the command center to give off a distress single to their main base so more rangers can show up and stop Rita.  This leads to the group splitting up.  Zordon, Alpha 5, Billy and Zach all go to the command center while Trini and Jason go to a museum to collect Rita’s Scepter.   (Note: At the beginning of the movie all the kids go to their local museum to see the display of “ancient tech” aka the scepter, Goldar, etc… it pretty much reminded me of the beginning museum scene in Scooby Doo 2)

Before they leave, Zordon gives Jason a power coin, which leads to Jason giving Billy a power coin. Two major fights happen at the same time.  Jason fights putties and a revived Goldar at the museum.  Jason kicks the putties ass but ends up losing badly to Goldar.  He ends up getting saved by Trini who nails Goldar with her car.  Jason gets in the car with Rita’s scepter and escapes.  Meanwhile, the Command Center has this security robot that almost kills Billy and Zach.  Billy falls off this walkway and morphs midway through the fall.  We don't see the morph we just see Billy as he recounts his survival.

Kim is like Jason Statham in Spy where he floats in and out, but once she becomes a Ranger, then she becomes a key player.  She actually encounters Rita, Baboo, Squatta, and Scorpiona first.  She meets them outside the police station and either follows them or sneaks onto their “ship”… it was getting kinda boring at this point, and I didn’t want to re-read it.

At the command center, Zordon is trying to build power to send a distress signal, but once he sees that Rita has assembled her group of assholes he then realizes that they’re going to need the Zords.  He sends Jason off to retrieve his in the jungle, but Jason didn't want to go alone and asked Billy to come.  Billy chickens out, and the two have a fight.  Zach defuses the situation by telling them that the earth is in trouble and to knock their shit off.  Zach then steps up and asked to be a Ranger to help.  Jason gives him a coin, and then Zordon sends both Zach and Jason to the Jungle.

There are bits in the jungle, but frankly, you don’t care.  The only thing that comes out of that sequence is the reveal that Zach is the Pink Ranger.

Meanwhile, Zordon is powering the ship and keeping eyes on Rita and her gang.  Rita is trying to find the command center and decides to investigate where Zordon initially landed.  Which is by Trini’s house.  Trini flips her shit and demands that Billy gives her a coin.  He does, and she rushes off.  Zordon’s pissed b/c she could get herself killed, so Billy goes after her.

Trini ends up in a fight with Rita and the gang.  Billy comes to help, and the two get their asses kicked.  Kimberly pops up and saves them by using a taser gun, brass knuckles, and a baton.  Don’t worry it only last for like five seconds, but then Rita beats her.  All three end up getting teleported out (along with Trini’s parents - who are knocked out) back to the command center.  This apparently made shit worse b/c it gave off their location.

Rita and the dickheads all head to the command center to ambush the Rangers.  Billy gives Kimberly a power coin, and they try to hold off the army of putties.  

Jason arrives with Zach in the T-Rex Zord but instead of calling the rest of the Zords.  Jason sees the opportunity to destroy Rita and fails.  Which leads to him getting drained and almost killed.

Zach and Jason are thrown from the Zords, and it’s Trini’s super speed that saves Jason from getting murdered by a sniper bullet.

Kimberly fights like a bad ass but then is teleported out by Billy once he realizes shit’s going south.  In the end, the Rangers lose the fight and the command center and are teleported.  Billy remains behind, and it's due to his suit that he’s able to hide in plain sight.  From there we discovered that the SOS message from Zordon did actually go through, but Rita reveals that all the Rangers are dead and that Lord Zedd is now in charge.   (Apparently, it’s been over 20K years, and this asshole's still alive so… okay….???)

Billy gets ahold of Kim first to tell her the news and the gang take it hard.  However, they realize that if they don’t regroup the world will be destroyed.

(From the actual script)

                                              Jason What’ve we got to lose, that we die twenty minutes before everyone else on the planet? I’m not gonna stand here, waiting for the world to end.  You wanna lose to them?  Really, they’re the ones who take out earth?

The Rangers yell our responses.  Consensus: Dominators suck.

                                             Jason I am not going to let our planet be destroyed by a bitch, a blue baboon, a bug and two rejects from the Muppet Show.

                                            Zach I heard that I want round two.

                                            Kim My cell phone hasn’t worked in over 24 hours, and I am PISSED OFF.

I will say in my opinion the funniest scene happens directly after this.  Which is the gang use Kim's car to get back at the command center.  

(From the actual script)

INT. KIM’S CAR - SHORTLY THEREAFTER

All of the Rangers are awkwardly asked into Kim’s car, driving in tense silence.

                                           Zach SAVING THE WORLD!

The Ranger immediately all start whooping and celebrating.

They only have one shot of using the teleport station, so they hold off using it.   Kim ends up destroying her car as she plows it into a pile of Putties by Jason’s T-Rex Zord.  The group splits up, causing Rita’s dipshit crew to split up as well.  That when Billy uses the teleport to zap everyone into Jason’s Zord.  Billy gets caught by Godar but teleports just in time.

From the T-Rex Zord, Jason summons the Mastodon, Saber Tooth Tiger, Pterodactyl, and Triceratops.  Everyone gets in their Zord and get into a massive fight.  Zach ends up blowing up this alien tech tower thingy that’s stopping all our communications.  Billy and Trini end up destroying this powerful cannon that the command center has.  Jason and Kim finish killing this spider alien ship thingy that Rita has.  (just go with it)

This pisses off Rita, so she makes Goldar grow.  Which BY THE WAY she does not say “Make my monster grow!” now excuse me if you’re throwing in alien spider ships you might as well commit to the cheese factor and put in the infamous fucking line.

The gang realizes that they are fucked, Jason’s red screen soon becomes multi-color, and he knows that shit’s about to go down b/c… that’s right… he activates the Megazord feature.  The group is barely in the Megazord for two minutes before they fuckin split up again.  Billy and Kim go back to the command center to shut shit down.  Scorpiona is trying to sabotage the Megazord on the outside, so Zach exits to fights her.  Jason and Trini end up using the Megazord to fight Goldar.  Jason is having a hard time focusing, due to the mental strain from the ship but soon realizes that Trini can handle it much easier.  He gives up control, and she takes point.  

In the End: Kim fights Rita and hold her own, but doesn’t actually beat her.  Billy stops Rita from activating some switch that would end up killing the earth.  For a second I thought they were gonna kill Billy, but they pussed out and didn’t.  Rita get’s teleported off Earth by Squatta, and baboo once they realize that the Rangers were winning.   Gondar is defeated by Trini and Zach beats Scorpiona.  

Alpha 5 and Zordon who were injured/damaged when Rita first invited the command center are fine, and the Rangers win the day.  People hook up, people say I love you, and everyone is celebrating like it’s 1999.

Cut to months later.. I guess.  I don’t know, but you assume it.  Anyways Trini’s in Harvard turning in her exams, and teleporting from the bathroom to a lake house.  All the rangers are there and have a fun time when Zordon call them saying that Rita is making an attempt to get another ship that was damaged in Tokyo.  The Ranger zoom off to save the day again.  The ending teaser scene is Lord Zedd realizing that Zordon is alive and that he has a power coin that is… wait for it… green.

Boom cut to black and me thanking God that the script is finally over.  I’ll post more differences once my brain reboots.

#power rangers #power ranger 2017 #power ranger movie #jason scott #kimberly hart #zach taylor #billy cranston #trini kwan #trini

[funnythingshere0-blog]

Just Cause 4 Brings Hilarious Chaos, Thanks To Rockets, Balloons, and Lightning Guns

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/just-cause-4-brings-hilarious-chaos-thanks-to-rockets-balloons-and-lightning-guns/

Just Cause 4 Brings Hilarious Chaos, Thanks To Rockets, Balloons, and Lightning Guns

In only a few hours playing Just Cause 4, I had summoned an electrical storm to blow up an enemy base (as well as some nearby unsuspecting cows), turned a monster truck into deadly spinning airship, and been thrown hundreds of feet by a tornado after riding it using a wingsuit. I also managed to get struck by my own summoned lightning on more than one occasion–retribution, perhaps, for those cows.

Just Cause 3 was notable at its 2015 release for the amount of creativity and chaos you could create within it–indeed, that was the point. During a hands-on preview for Just Cause 4 in Los Angeles, developer Avalanche Studios demonstrated just how much it has turned up the dial on your capability to wreak goofy, physics-based havoc in its upcoming sequel. Between new, huge weather events and a toolkit for making things move, fly, explode, and snap together, there’s plenty of fun to have in seeing how ingeniously you can combine its many intricate systems, and use them to blow things up.

Creative Destruction

The big driver of the creativity in players’ hands in Just Cause 4 is the expanded grappling hook carried by protagonist Rico Rodriguez. Not only does the grappler still let you zip around the game world or tether objects to make them smash together, you can now add inflatable balloons and tiny rocket boosters to objects, and in greater numbers than in Just Cause 3. There’s also a new loadout menu that lets you define a bunch of parameters about said tethers, balloons, and boosters–like how much lift your balloons have, whether your rockets explode when they run out of fuel, the speed at which your tethers retract, and more. You can flip between loadouts instantly, making it easy to add balloons, rockets, and tethers one after another.

All of that means you get unprecedented control over your grappler abilities, which encourage you to make Minecraft-like contraptions using the physics of the Just Cause 4 world. After taking a monster truck for a spin down the highway, crushing all cars in my path, I hooked it up with some balloons and boosters and turned it into a flying, semi-controllable monster airship.

Of course, poor planning and a misunderstanding of remedial physics caused the truck to spin end-over-end at speeds that probably would have liquefied poor Rico’s internal organs, but once I got the hang of it, I could fly the truck around pretty reliably, then drop it back onto the ground and drive away. You can use those same abilities in combat to do things like turn vehicles into rocket-powered wrecking balls, or just send unsuspecting bad guys floating into the ether for daring to draw down on you.

Ride The Lightning

The capabilities and combinations available in the grappler offer a host of possibilities for getting into serious trouble in Just Cause 4, but the game raises the stakes in a second way: extreme weather. Avalanche showed off its in-game tornadoes at E3 2018, which can ravage the countryside, tearing up things like trees, buildings, and people, and there are also lightning storms, sandstorms, and blizzards to look forward to as well.

Weather is something players both have to navigate and that can used to their advantage, but seeing as this is a Just Cause game, Avalanche has also weaponized some of that weather for your enjoyment, in the form of experimental weapons. We tried a Wind Cannon gun that could blast enemies, vehicles, and objects with tornado-force gusts, capable of literally blowing away tanks and even guard towers; a Lightning Cannon that could fire both a laser-like beam of electricity; and a grenade that created a small-scale lightning storm.

That storm, which spanned a pretty large area and saw lots of lightning bolts arcing down all over the place, is a hilarious agent of chaos even beyond what players might plan. Though it was clear the game somewhat prioritizes lightning striking targets like enemies or explosive objects, the lightning will also go after civilians, animals, vehicles, and even Rico himself.

With all those systems at play, it’s a given that players will come up with weird, novel, and ridiculous solutions to problems and ways to make those systems interact. Giving players that freedom is part of what Avalanche is going for–and even if unexpected interactions create bugs or problems, that’s okay, too.

“When you build systems rather than scripting things, you get combinations that you weren’t expecting,” said Hamish Young, lead mechanics designer on Just Cause 4. Young shared a story about how he managed to drive a car into a tornado in the game, which then carried him out over a river. He managed to get enough speed while the vehicle flew through the storm that he exited on the far side of the water and drove off. Avalanche didn’t plan for tornadoes to work as de facto bridges, but that’s the sort of emergent, interesting situations that building interworking systems can facilitate.

“We kind of have a rule, where it’s kind of okay for the game to ‘break,’ as long as it’s funny,” Young said. “We always try to make sure that, we may not cover every possible edge case, but we try to do enough that if it does break, then at least people are having fun.”

A Different Approach To Story

If there’s a place where Avalanche isn’t doubling down on making things more exaggerated and insane, though, it might be in Just Cause 4’s story. The core, like other games in the series, is that Rico is trying to whip up the people of the game’s setting, an island called Solis, into a rebellion against oppressive rulers. Another motivation, though, is that he’s investigating the suspicious death of his father.

Narrative Designer Ben Jaekle said that with this installment, Avalanche is trying to make its characters feel a bit more realistic, even as they deal with over-the-top situations.

“In Just Cause 4, our approach was to kind of deliver a slightly more grounded experience,” he said. “We kind of wanted to rein in the characters a little bit, and focus on the idea of ordinary, likeable people with heart and intelligence and desires, who are put into a really extraordinary environment where a tornado rips a train off the tracks and throws it at you. So instead of people necessarily making really cheesy jokes about how the train comes flying at you, they might react in a slightly more believable, real way. Which I think makes those moments better, because they feel less cartoony and they feel more real, and therefore more funny. So you’re like, ‘Yeah, I probably would have said that too if a train came flying at my face.'”

Still, if Avalanche’s preview of the game was any indication, there will be plenty of opportunities to fly around Solis, dropping lightning on people and turning tanks into floating death balloons. Just Cause 4 hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on December 4.

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/just-cause-4-brings-hilarious-chaos-thanks-to-rock/1100-6463107/

[funnythingshere0-blog]

Just Cause 4 Is Full Of Hilarious Chaos, Thanks To Rockets, Balloons, and Lightning Guns

New Post has been published on http://funnythingshere.xyz/just-cause-4-is-full-of-hilarious-chaos-thanks-to-rockets-balloons-and-lightning-guns/

Just Cause 4 Is Full Of Hilarious Chaos, Thanks To Rockets, Balloons, and Lightning Guns

In only a few hours playing Just Cause 4, I had summoned an electrical storm to blow up an enemy base (as well as some nearby unsuspecting cows), turned a monster truck into deadly spinning airship, and been thrown hundreds of feet by a tornado after riding it using a wingsuit. I also managed to get struck by my own summoned lightning on more than one occasion–retribution, perhaps, for those cows.

Just Cause 3 was notable at its 2015 release for the amount of creativity and chaos you could create within it–indeed, that was the point. During a hands-on preview for Just Cause 4 in Los Angeles, developer Avalanche Studios demonstrated just how much it has turned up the dial on your capability to wreak goofy, physics-based havoc in its upcoming sequel. Between new, huge weather events and a toolkit for making things move, fly, explode, and snap together, there’s plenty of fun to have in seeing how ingeniously you can combine its many intricate systems, and use them to blow things up.

Creative Destruction

The big driver of the creativity in players’ hands in Just Cause 4 is the expanded grappling hook carried by protagonist Rico Rodriguez. Not only does the grappler still let you zip around the game world or tether objects to make them smash together, you can now add inflatable balloons and tiny rocket boosters to objects, and in greater numbers than in Just Cause 3. There’s also a new loadout menu that lets you define a bunch of parameters about said tethers, balloons, and boosters–like how much lift your balloons have, whether your rockets explode when they run out of fuel, the speed at which your tethers retract, and more. You can flip between loadouts instantly, making it easy to add balloons, rockets, and tethers one after another.

All of that means you get unprecedented control over your grappler abilities, which encourage you to make Minecraft-like contraptions using the physics of the Just Cause 4 world. After taking a monster truck for a spin down the highway, crushing all cars in my path, I hooked it up with some balloons and boosters and turned it into a flying, semi-controllable monster airship.

Of course, poor planning and a misunderstanding of remedial physics caused the truck to spin end-over-end at speeds that probably would have liquefied poor Rico’s internal organs, but once I got the hang of it, I could fly the truck around pretty reliably, then drop it back onto the ground and drive away. You can use those same abilities in combat to do things like turn vehicles into rocket-powered wrecking balls, or just send unsuspecting bad guys floating into the ether for daring to draw down on you.

Ride The Lightning

The capabilities and combinations available in the grappler offer a host of possibilities for getting into serious trouble in Just Cause 4, but the game raises the stakes in a second way: extreme weather. Avalanche showed off its in-game tornadoes at E3 2018, which can ravage the countryside, tearing up things like trees, buildings, and people, and there are also lightning storms, sandstorms, and blizzards to look forward to as well.

Weather is something players both have to navigate and that can used to their advantage, but seeing as this is a Just Cause game, Avalanche has also weaponized some of that weather for your enjoyment, in the form of experimental weapons. We tried a Wind Cannon gun that could blast enemies, vehicles, and objects with tornado-force gusts, capable of literally blowing away tanks and even guard towers; a Lightning Cannon that could fire both a laser-like beam of electricity; and a grenade that created a small-scale lightning storm.

That storm, which spanned a pretty large area and saw lots of lightning bolts arcing down all over the place, is a hilarious agent of chaos even beyond what players might plan. Though it was clear the game somewhat prioritizes lightning striking targets like enemies or explosive objects, the lightning will also go after civilians, animals, vehicles, and even Rico himself.

With all those systems at play, it’s a given that players will come up with weird, novel, and ridiculous solutions to problems and ways to make those systems interact. Giving players that freedom is part of what Avalanche is going for–and even if unexpected interactions create bugs or problems, that’s okay, too.

“When you build systems rather than scripting things, you get combinations that you weren’t expecting,” said Hamish Young, lead mechanics designer on Just Cause 4. Young shared a story about how he managed to drive a car into a tornado in the game, which then carried him out over a river. He managed to get enough speed while the vehicle flew through the storm that he exited on the far side of the water and drove off. Avalanche didn’t plan for tornadoes to work as de facto bridges, but that’s the sort of emergent, interesting situations that building interworking systems can facilitate.

“We kind of have a rule, where it’s kind of okay for the game to ‘break,’ as long as it’s funny,” Young said. “We always try to make sure that, we may not cover every possible edge case, but we try to do enough that if it does break, then at least people are having fun.”

A Different Approach To Story

If there’s a place where Avalanche isn’t doubling down on making things more exaggerated and insane, though, it might be in Just Cause 4’s story. The core, like other games in the series, is that Rico is trying to whip up the people of the game’s setting, an island called Solis, into a rebellion against oppressive rulers. Another motivation, though, is that he’s investigating the suspicious death of his father.

Narrative Designer Ben Jaekle said that with this installment, Avalanche is trying to make its characters feel a bit more realistic, even as they deal with over-the-top situations.

“In Just Cause 4, our approach was to kind of deliver a slightly more grounded experience,” he said. “We kind of wanted to rein in the characters a little bit, and focus on the idea of ordinary, likeable people with heart and intelligence and desires, who are put into a really extraordinary environment where a tornado rips a train off the tracks and throws it at you. So instead of people necessarily making really cheesy jokes about how the train comes flying at you, they might react in a slightly more believable, real way. Which I think makes those moments better, because they feel less cartoony and they feel more real, and therefore more funny. So you’re like, ‘Yeah, I probably would have said that too if a train came flying at my face.'”

Still, if Avalanche’s preview of the game was any indication, there will be plenty of opportunities to fly around Solis, dropping lightning on people and turning tanks into floating death balloons. Just Cause 4 hits PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on December 4.

Source: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/just-cause-4-is-full-of-hilarious-chaos-thanks-to-/1100-6463107/