#unearthing ancient magics | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pocketseizure · 4 months

Text

The Two Kings in Tears of the Kingdom

Tears of the Kingdom unearths the roots of Calamity Ganon in an ancient conflict between Rauru, the first king of Hyrule, and Ganondorf, a rival king who attempted to usurp him. In many ways, Rauru is characterized as a good king. He is noble, kind, and self-sacrificing, and he acts for the long-term benefit of the various groups of people living in Hyrule. In contrast to Rauru, the antagonist Ganondorf is an evil king who started a war because of his pride, ego, and greed.

Rauru and Ganondorf represent different styles of authority, both of which are grounded in Japanese fantasies of cultural identity. I’d argue that, in the end, neither king is fit to rule present-day Hyrule, which is why it’s appropriate that the game ends without any call to rebuild Hyrule Castle or the centralized government it symbolizes.

Rauru represents a golden age in Japanese culture when many arts now seen as “traditional” originated. This golden age is closely tied to Nintendo’s home city of Kyoto, which is associated with the culture of the imperial court before it moved to Tokyo in 1868. Because Tears of the Kingdom is a fantasy, the visual metaphors of Rauru’s character design are mixed, but his connection to a bygone golden age is tied to two symbols: the magatama jewels referred to as “secret stones,” and the kare-sansui dry landscape gardens of the Shrines of Light and the Temple of Time.

The “secret stones” that Rauru gives to the six sages have the distinctive comma shape of a magatama jewel, one of the three sacred symbols of Shinto. These three symbols are as follows: a mirror represents clarity of heart, a sword represents the power to protect the weak, and a jewel represents the materiality of divine blessings. These three objects also serve as the regalia of the Japanese emperor, whose role was historically to perform ritual prayers and thereby serve as a symbolic bridge between the world of humans and the world of gods.

There is nothing sacrosanct about magatama jewels; at various street fairs and tourist areas throughout Japan, you can buy inexpensive polished quartz and jade magatama to attach to phone charms or friendship bracelets. As a result of its relative ubiquity, this particular shape of gem has both a historical and a pop culture association with being a magical stone bestowed by the gods on special and worthy individuals such as, most famously, the first Japanese emperor.

Along with his magatama “secret stones,” Rauru is associated with kare-sansui dry landscape gardens of the old imperial capital. Note, for instance, the front courtyard of the Temple of Time that Link visits at the beginning of the game:

The visual motif of raked white gravel punctuated by standing rocks also appears in various permutations within the Shrines of Light established by Rauru and Sonia. To give an example, this is what the player will see if they circle back behind the entrance of the “Rauru’s Blessing” shrines:

This style of dry landscape garden is frequently referred to as a “Zen garden” because of its association with large Buddhist temples in and around Kyoto. The most famous example of this style can be found at Ryōanji, in northwest Kyoto:

The philosophy of these gardens meshes well with the philosophy behind the Zelda series, which Shigeru Miyamoto has described as his attempt to create a tsuboniwa miniature garden for the player to explore. In the same way, dry landscape gardens represent a larger landscape portrayed on a much smaller scale. The rocks in the gravel are meant to represent islands on the ocean, or perhaps mountaintops rising above the clouds. Another common interpretation of these gardens – and one especially pertinent to Tears of the Kingdom – is that the rocks are the dorsal spines of a dragon swimming through the sky.

Although dry landscape gardens have strong ties to Buddhist thought, they were primarily created by wealthy lords residing in Kyoto during the fifteenth century. This was a politically unstable era, and these lords needed to make a show of their wealth and cultural legitimacy. Unlike in China, where Chan Buddhism was largely anti-establishment, Zen Buddhism was the domain of the wealthy educated elite in Japan. Many of the rocks used in Zen-style gardens were imported from China and Korea at great expense, and lords competed to secure the services of celebrity landscape designers. Even today, the late medieval culture represented by dry landscape gardens is associated with the prestige of Japan’s former imperial capital of Kyoto.

Rauru is therefore associated with nobility and a certain air of sophistication. In the original Japanese script, he is unflaggingly polite and addresses everyone – Zelda, Ganondorf, and Link alike – with the sort of “clean” language associated with people of high social standing. To put it simply, Rauru is a perfect gentleman. He is the personification of the aristocratic virtues of the “traditional Japan” of the late fifteenth century, during which the wealthy filled the capital city with gardens while countless wars ravaged the countryside.

In contrast, Ganondorf is a personification of the warrior culture of eastern Japan, especially as it was exemplified by the warlords who competed for territory outside the capital before the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Oda Nobunaga was the most notorious of these warlords. He was infamous for being aggressive but effective, and his military prowess and ruthless tactics have been memorialized in a wealth of stories whose lineage stretches to the video games of the present day. I believe that Nobunaga (or, at least, a commonly fictionalized version of him) served as a model for Ganondorf, who seeks to take advantage of the instability of the newly established kingdom of Hyrule in order to expand his own territory.

Like Rauru, Ganondorf’s character design contains mixed visual metaphors, but I think it’s fair to say that his topknot and costume are meant to evoke a samurai who has thrown off the kimono sleeve covering his sword arm as an indication of his readiness for battle. This is a style still worn by practitioners of Japanese fencing and archery, which are common extracurricular activities in many high schools. Appropriately, Ganondorf fights with a tachi katana, a naginata spear, and the body-length longbow used in kyūdō archery – all weapons associated with the martial arts of Japan’s medieval military elite.

As if to cement his connection to Nobunaga, Ganondorf speaks in period-drama “samurai Japanese” that demonstrates neither the elegance nor the poetry of his incarnations in previous games. He seems to lack both regret and awareness of the consequences of his actions, and he is concerned primarily with hierarchy, conquest, and the thrill of battle.

As was arguably the case for Nobunaga himself, there is no endgame for Ganondorf, only scorched earth. Ganondorf has absolute faith in his own power, and he views other people only as subordinates or enemies. According to his value system, there is no merit in compromise; he simply takes it for granted that he will win.

It makes sense that the aggressively bloodthirsty Ganondorf is a villain, but it’s important to understand that Rauru is not a hero. With all his magic and culture and imperial splendor, Rauru failed to understand that the system of power he created could easily be turned against him. A nation politically defined by a central authority whose rule is justified through military conquest and the cultural chauvinism of “ancient tradition” is not sustainable, and the legacy of such a kingdom can only be tears.

This is why Hyrule Castle remains in ruins at the end of Tears of the Kingdom, and this is why the game’s central hub is a research station populated with people from all over the world. This is why Zelda doesn’t attempt to re-establish Hyrule as a kingdom, and this is why it’s so important to her to understand the reality behind the myth of the nation’s history. This is also why the grand mythology of Hyrule’s origin is far less important to the player’s experience of the game than individual acts of community building. The highlights of Tears of the Kingdom are Link’s work in facilitating a local election in Hateno, helping Lurelin recover from a disaster, and volunteering in towns facing environmental issues such as water pollution and climate change.

Both Rauru and Ganondorf are compelling in their own ways, but it’s thematically satisfying that both characters are gone at the end of the game. When Zelda meets with the regional leaders of Hyrule during the closing cutscene, they promise each other that they will work together to ensure a lasting peace that neither of the two kings made possible. The legacy of the past still affects Hyrule, but Tears of the Kingdom suggests that it’s the duty of the younger generation to understand where this legacy came from in order to avoid the mistakes of their ancestors and move forward in a more hopeful direction.

#Legend of Zelda #Tears of the Kingdom #Rauru #Ganondorf #Zelda meta #essays

243 notes · View notes

the-magiarcheologist · 3 months

Text

Hogwarts Legacy Timeline

I've gone deep into research to try to put together a timeline of events that happened before the start of the game.

Ok, let's break it down! (I'll provide my sources for all of this)

And let's start with the most shocking: when anne gets cursed.

Almost everyone assumes (logically) that she got cursed sometime during the fourth year or the summer before the start of fifth year. But, in the book "The Art and Making Of Hogwarts Legacy" there is a short paragraph introducing Sebastian and here is what it says:

If we take this info as legit (and I think it is since that book was written by the people developping the game) then Anne has been suffering from that curse for far longer than anyone thought!

That also means that Ranrok opened the first repository over a year before our MC starts at Hogwarts and discovers ancient magic.

Before we start the mission 'It's all Gobbledegook" with Amit, Lodgok tells the MC that Ranrok orginally unearthed Bragbor's journals that had been long lost. From these journals, he discovered that wizards had hidden for 'repositories' full of magic that Bragbor had built for them. He knew all of this was connected to five names: Rackham, Fitzgerald, Bakar, Morganach and Rookwood. Ranrok then sent Lodgok to begin the search at Rookwood castle.

Sebastian also confirms that Goblins first arrived at Rookwood castle. Before we visit his sister, he tells MC: "No one has felt safe here since Ranrok's Loyalists took a peculiar interest in that castle over there - Rookwood castle."

Miriam was actually already at Rookwood castle, conducting her research on ancient magic, before the Goblins arrived. That is how Lodgok meets her. She had already found the container (with the portkey inside) and was studying it. (Lodgok tells us this after we complete the mission with Amit).

Other Goblins join Lodgok at Rookwood castle to search it. At this point, Rookwood must have joined hands with Ranrok and allowed the Goblins to tunnel under Rookwood castle to search for the repository. (We overhear Rookwood telling Ranrok: "I allowed you to tunnel under my family home!" when we first visit Rookwood castle to start the second trial from the Keepers).

The Goblins find the first repository and Ranrok is thrilled. That is when Lodgok tells him that he met Miriam and that he trusted her and allowed her to continue her research on the container independently. Lodgok does not really know what happens after that but we know that Ranrok eventually found her and killed her. So Miriam died sometime between Ranrok finding the first repository and the start of the fifth year.

The only other thing we know to try to piece together when Miriam died is that shortly before her death she first sent George Osric a letter warning him about Ranrok's activities (presumably she knew that he had accessed the first repository) and then "before [George] could respond" she also sent him the container. Since George himself says he had not had time to respond to her first letter before he received the container, that probably means only a few days went by between Miriam being worried about Ranrok's activities and when he found her and killed her. (We learn all of this from George Osric in the carriage going to Hogwarts.)

The other interesting thing is that George tells Prof. Fig that he had received Miriam's first letter (and the contained shortly after), "months ago". Rookwood sort of confirms this when he tells Ranrok that he spent "months and countless Ministry favours" locating the container (he says this when we overhear his conversation with Ranrok at Rookwood castle). So this means that Miriam died several months before september 1890.

This raises a lot of questions: Why did George Osric wait that long to tell Prof. Fig that he has received a mysterious container from his wife before her death? Also, why did Miriam send the container to George and not her husband? Were Prof. Fig and his wife estranged? Did Miriam not trust Prof. Fig? But that's the topic for another post I suppose...

Anyway, after Goblins started searching at Rookwood castle, they also started searching at other locations connected to the 5 names of the Keepers. (We know this, again, from Lodgok before we start the mission with Amit). That is when they arrived at Isidora's house. We don't know the exact timeline between them arriving at Isidora's home and the fire during which Anne got cursed. This could have happened before Ranrok found the first repository. But it happened after Ranrok and Rookwood started their alliance since Rookwood was at Isidora's house with the Goblins. So I think it happened after Ranrok had already found the first repository but we can't be sure.

Anyway that's all I've got! Have I forgotten something?

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy timeline #miriam fig #eleazar fig #professor fig #anne sallow #ranrok #lodgok #keepers #isidora morganach #george osric #repositories #victor rookwood #rookwood castle

169 notes · View notes

blueiskewl · 6 months

Text

3,400-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Cemetery Found With Colorful Coffins

Archaeologists have uncovered an Ancient Egyptian cemetery dated to more than 3,000 years ago containing the colorful coffin of a high priest's daughter and preserved mummies, among hundreds of other finds.

Researchers unearthed the cemetery at the Tuna el-Gebel necropolis, located almost 170 miles south of Cairo in Minya Governate, Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced in a statement on Sunday.

The cemetery, which dates back to the New Kingdom (16th-11th centuries B.C.) of ancient Egypt, was used as a burial ground for senior officials and priests during the period, according to archaeologists.

The cemetery was uncovered during excavations that began last August in the Al-Ghuraifa area of Tuna El-Gebel and features "many tombs" that have been carved into rock.

Researchers have also made hundreds of archaeological finds at the site, including stone and wooden coffins—some of which contained mummies—amulets, ornaments and funerary figurines.

One of the most notable finds at the cemetery is a colorful, engraved coffin belonging to the daughter of a high priest of the ancient Egyptian god Djehuti, often referred to as Thoth.

This deity, commonly depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or baboon, was a key figure in ancient Egyptian mythology and played several prominent roles. For example, Thoth was credited with the invention of writing and is also believed to have served as a representative of the sun god Ra.

Next to the coffin of the high priest's daughter, archaeologists found two wooden boxes containing her canopic jars, as well as a complete set of "ushabti" statues.

Canopic jars were vessels used by the ancient Egyptians to store the organs removed from the body in the process of mummification—the lungs, liver, intestines and stomach—in order to preserve them for the afterlife.

Ushabti statues, meanwhile, were figurines used in ancient Egyptian funerary practices that were placed in tombs in the belief that they would act as servants for the deceased in the afterlife.

Archaeologists also made another particularly fascinating find at the New Kingdom cemetery: a complete and well-preserved papyrus scroll measuring approximately 42-49 feet in length that features information related to the Book of the Dead.

The Book of the Dead is a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts consisting of spells or magic formulas that were placed in tombs. These texts were thought to protect and aid the deceased in the afterlife. They were generally written on papyrus, a material similar to thick paper that was used as a writing surface in ancient times.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in the statement that the discovery of the cemetery is an "important" find.

By Aristos Georgiou.

181 notes · View notes

pianokantzart · 3 months

Note

for the ask prompt: ❤️‍🩹🤒

❤️‍🩹 Reunited after a long time apart 🤒 Needing to be looked after

Content warning: Injury and implied torture

Mario had a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach long before he came home to find the house trashed and his brother missing, a halfway completed dinner strewn about the dented floor and smashed furniture. Naturally, Bowser was the first suspect, even if Luigi’s disappearance lacked the Koopa King’s usual showmanship. Whenever he stole something or someone he always made a scene, gloating and threatening, making his angle clear. This was the argument Bowser made when Mario fought his way into the heart of The Darklands, demanding his brother back. The King even allowed the plumber to search his dungeon unhindered, so long as he didn’t do any more damage or hurt any more minions. Sure enough, the search came up empty. Not even a scrap of green fabric could be found. A call to Elvin Gadd confirmed that King Boo was still in captivity. He had no guess as to what had happened, or who else Luigi might have made enemies with, but promised to investigate the matter himself. Princess Peach sent out a message to every ally she knew, asking for information regarding Mario’s missing brother. Sarasaland sent out a call of their own, as well as a few search parties, but no matter what reward was promised, or what powerful figures offered their services or support, all leads ultimately went nowhere.

As days passed into months, Mario stopped coming home, even after the horrible mess created amidst his brother’s abduction had been investigated and cleaned up. He stayed as close to The Mushroom Kingdom as necessary to keep Peach protected, but was often found in surrounding territories, peeking into hidden corners and asking questions. He was never inside when night fell, and instead laid sprawled out in open fields searching the skies for shooting stars. He knew the power of wishes. He intended to make as many as possible.

___

After seven months, Luigi was finally found. Captain Toad and his Treasure Trackers discovered an ancient underground temple hidden deep within mountains of jagged black stone, just outside of The Darklands. Before they realized the location was a secret meeting place for magikoopa rather than a cache of treasure, they found a familiar man in rotted green clothes lying unresponsive in a cell, shackled and barely breathing. At once they went for help while trying with all their might to carry his withered body back to The Mushroom Kingdom.

___

Once Luigi was safely delivered to the palace into the best care Princess Peach could offer, forces from The Mushroom Kingdom and Sarasaland alike raided the temple uncovered by Captain Toad. The magikoopa responsible never appeared, likely having heard word that their secret was unearthed, and wisely choosing not to risk their necks by returning to the scene. Bowser immediately went on the defensive, insisting that what happened to Luigi was outside of his jurisdiction. Mario’s brother had been found near The Darklands, not in The Darklands, and though his closest advisor was a magikoopa himself there were many others besides Kamek, who conducted their own business and research far outside of Bowser’s knowledge or control.

Books and journals were gathered and brought to The Mushroom Kingdom for further study. Their pages revealed that Luigi had been the subject of a long, grueling series of experiments, dealing with the darkest and most forbidden forms of magic. The magikoopa were trying to turn him into something– what it was was anyone’s guess, but a theory scrawled between the lines inferred that Luigi had some innate ability to attract dark forces– an ability that they wished to harness. What a joke. The mere idea would’ve been funny, had the results not been so horrible.

____

“Hey. Breathe, bro. They’re trying to help.” Mario spoke gently as he could, struggling to keep his brother still as the nurse toads changed his bandages. It was difficult for Mario to keep hold of his brother’s hand, only because he feared gripping it too hard would break it. Every bone could be counted through his skin, turned an ugly corpse-like color by the combined efforts of magic and complete seclusion from sunlight. What remaining hair hadn’t fallen out in clumps had turned from dark brown to an ugly grey. The blisters of ingrown restraints and festering incisions shone bright red in the first stages of healing as the bandages were pulled away and replaced with fresh ones, all the while Luigi struggled, the hand that Mario didn’t hold swatting away the intruding toads with a strength only made possible by panic.

It would’ve been easier if Luigi could only see. His sight should’ve returned by now. It was said that his vision would be perfectly restored within three days. The medical examiners couldn’t find any direct physical damage done to his eyes. “Then again, the true extent of the harm will only be understood in time,” a doctor explained somberly, “physical injury combined with magic of this sort could harbor unexpected consequences. All we can do is wait, see what heals, and treat whatever we can as it comes up.”

“Luigi! Calm down!” Mario took both of Luigi’s wrists, and placed his palms against his own face. The initial response was aggressive, blistered fingers with missing nails wrenching to fight back until at long last Luigi recognized the feel of the mustache and soft round cheeks. He shivered, but stopped fighting, tears filling his clouded eyes as the nurses took advantage of the moment of calm to quickly finish their work. “I’m here bro, I’m here.” Mario continued in a broken whisper, struggling not to cry himself. “Nothing’s gonna hurt you while I’m here, got it?”

Luigi didn’t speak. He hadn’t spoken since he had been found, but he nodded. For now, that was more than enough.

____

Mario wasn’t sure how long it would be until Luigi was deemed well enough to go home. Given what had happened the last time he was home, Mario was unsure if taking him back at all was a good idea.

But that was a problem for another time, and whatever concerns arose there was no doubt the princess would help however she could. When Luigi’s eyes finally developed to the point he could see large splotches of shape and color, Peach had his bed clothes changed from pink to green, and arranged to have some of the more opulent decorations exchanged for more simple, homey wooden furnishing. Every morning, the princess found time to personally bring Luigi’s breakfast, and every morning she asked him questions about his health and wellness, not minding at all if she was met with nothing but silence. She would later take Mario aside and ask similar questions, seeing to it both brothers' needs desires were met to the best of her abilities. That afternoon, the toads delivered boxes filled with books and trinkets that had been gathered from their home. After thanking them, Mario sat on a recliner next to Luigi’s bed and read aloud a hardcover fantasy he knew to be one of his brother’s favorites. Halfway through chapter four, he heard a raspy voice call up from the mound of jade-green cushions. “Hey, Mario?” Mario paused his reading, and bookmarked the page with his thumb. “Yeah, Luigi?” “Am I gonna be okay?” This was the fourth time he asked that today. When Luigi had finally regained his voice it was full of strange rhythmic repetition… statements and questions asked over and over and over again with little regard to the answers he received. Mario didn’t care. He was talking, that was something. He smiled, and answered the way he always did: “Heh, you’re doing better already.”

And that was the truth. The color was coming back to his face, his mustache was fuller, and his body had regained some of its old muscle and fat. Already Luigi was able to stand unattended, though he needed a cane in order to shuffle to his bedroom window and look out.

Luigi nodded and fell silent again. Mario opened the book back up and continued to read, not stopping until he heard a gentle snore of his brother gently drifting off to sleep.

#my writing #ficlets #princess peach #Mario #Luigi #mrbluerememberyou #implied torture cw #injury cw

103 notes · View notes

raeynbowboi · 7 months

Text

Playing a Heroic Necromancer in DnD 5e

Necromancy is one of the most evil-skewed powers in just about any fantasy setting. However, unless you're running a villain campaign, most DnD parties are made up of heroes who won't like having an evil character in their midst. You want to play a necromancer, but you also realize that DnD is a very collaborative game. So, how do you make your party more amicable towards the thought of you raising a family? Here's some possible backstory ideas that can fuel a heroic necromancer for your next campaign.

The Scholar

The taboo, illegal, or forbidden nature of studying necromancy drew your interest. Whether you studied with a secret sect, uncovered a grimoire of necromantic magic, or made a deal with a devil for profane knowledge, you were driven by a desire to study magic. The sparse availability of necromancy forces you to remain mobile, making party formation easy. You may be hunted by law enforcement, clerics of Kelemvor, or other necromancers angry at you for stealing their arcane secrets. And now that you know what so many tried to hide from you, it's your choice how to use it.

The Chronicaller

History is written by the victors, the rich, and the powerful. But every life holds valuable knowledge and secrets. Ancient bones know things lost to time. Knowledge that was never written down. Stories which have not been spoken in centuries. Opinions of the common people during a historical event. Experience with phenomenon that can no longer be encountered. The Chronicaller wishes to unearth the secrets of the past already laid to rest.

The Physician

The Frankenstein of Necromancers wishes to understand the medical and scientific elements of life and death itself. To understand the body by inspecting it and digging into it. They may study how to cure diseases or how to spread them. Try to find a way to slow or even halt the slow decomposition that turns the body elderly and frail.

The Thayan Rebel

Once a Red Wizard of Thay, you have left Thay and the Red Wizards, letting your hair grow back slowly as you seek to expand your arcane talents beyond the limitations of Thayan conquest and oppression. The Red Wizards and Szas Tam become personal antagonists for your character and party as a result.

The Undead

Be they a Revenant, a Dhampir, a Vampire, a Lich, or something else, they are already imbued with undead power. They simply embrace their anti-life energy already flowing through them, channeling a power most others would avoid. You may be undead, but you desire to staunchly defend the living from other undead who are less compassionate.

The General

A wizard with a soldier background and optional martial multiclassing, your undead horde is your army of loyal soldiers, putting their lives on the line again and again to serve their general. An Oathbreaker 7/wizard 6 adds your CHA mod to undead within 10 ft, and proficiency bonus to all undead you control. But the steep dip into paladin locks you out from higher level spell slots for stronger undead minions.

The Noble

Similar to the general, the undead serve you out of loyalty, not fear or force. But where the general commands their soldiers, the Noble may command their staff of servants, their commoner citizens, their knights and soldiers, or their own noble ancestors. The Noble utilizes their horde to fulfil the services and duties of their noble house. They're just as likely to conscript skeletons to pave a road or build a bridge as they are to form a wave of zombies to break up a smuggling ring in their city.

The Immortal Guardian

You have or want to become immortal not out of power hunger or greed, but to protect the innocent forever as an unwavering guardian against evil. Everyday people can't protect themselves, and even legendary heroes die eventually. Only an immortal protector can be an eternal defender of the people.

I hope if nothing else, this gave you some ideas for some good and noble necromancers you could bring to your next table. Did I miss any Heroic concepts that you thought of? Let me know, and help make the world a more morbid place.

#dnd #dnd 5e #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #necromancy #necromancer #lich #wizard #wizards of the coast #vampire #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #undead #skeleton #Halloween #happy halloween

146 notes · View notes

viridis-mundo · 3 months

Text

City with no name, person with no history

A thousand years ago, Pix voluntarily went into the desert and never returned. A thousand years later, it still has consequences. A short look at friendships that span lives.

"You’ve been spending a lot of time here lately," Pix smiles, there is no claim, no hint of suspicion. The smile is soft, he is simply observing the fact. The sky is blue, the grass is green, the ancient city that Pix is working so hard on has no name. Fwhip has been spending a lot here lately.

It is the middle of summer, and the sun stands high and shines for a long time, making its way even underground to the goblins. Gobland is cooler than the surface, but everyone still works a little slower and a little lazier than usual. Fwhip decided to stop construction during the heat wave. However, when your hands are not busy with materials, it turns out, that he has too much free time.

"Are you against it?" almost escapes Fwhip, but something inside him is suddenly afraid - what if he really is against it? What if suddenly Pix will say that he is tired of the company and overall the goblin is getting under his feet? What if he suddenly leaves? Which is honestly hilarious. Pix may disappear for a day or two or even a week, but everyone knows that this man has simply buried himself again in some ancient hole and sighs in admiration over half-broken vases.

"Someone should make you warm up, old man, otherwise you’ll wither away like your precious artifacts," Fwhip grins, kindly, of course, and Pix laughs too, a little muffled, as if from afar. Fwhip is again overwhelmed by the feeling that Pix is going to disappear right now. Pix has always been... Fwhip doesn't want to use the word "weird" because it implies that everyone else was normal (which they weren't), but there was always something ELSE about Pix's presence. He will tell you a fact and then add something ELSE that he shouldn't know, he will ask you a question, but there is something ELSE in the question, but you don't know for sure what it is, you will say the answer and he will hear something ELSE, incomprehensible to you. And then he will smile again and for some reason, you will feel sad.

"As if I don’t have enough warming up without you, little children," he is only like maybe eight years older than Fwhip, but Pix again looks into the distance, at the restored castle, and in his eyes is the regret of an immortal. Fwhip resists the urge to grab Pix by the sandy (it's blue-gray) shirt, like a really small child afraid of losing a parent at the festival. "I do need some fresh air from time to time," Fwhip adds more quietly, still hoping to keep his voice light-hearted, but, judging by Pix’s look, failing catastrophically. Pix looks at him closely, but not as intensely as, for example, Scott, with his magic eye, or Gem, with the carefree attitude of a princess, but with hawk's sight. Pix’s gaze is soothing, like a heavy blanket after a nervous day, like a mug of warm milk before bed, like the quiet dance of stars in the night sky. And just as centuries ago, people looked at the sky and looked for constellations, so Pix is always looking for something in someone else’s soul. With the precision of an archaeologist, he unearths long-forgotten (or buried) emotions, and Fwhip has always taken this as a challenge.

I have nothing to hide! Here I am!

But today, under Pix's magnifying glass, something too forgotten turned out to be, something that Fwhip was not ready to face. This something had a taste of redstone, gunpowder, and for some reason sand. The sand got into his teeth, into his nose, into his eyes, and that’s probably why Fwhip found that his eyes were watering. He nuzzles his nose into Pix’s shirt (it’s blue-gray), and he smells of copper - he was working on the copper aging machine underground. And this smell also calms, but for some reason, the tears keep flowing and flowing.

"I’m not going anywhere," Pix says quietly, hugging Fwhip back. And there is no consolation in the voice, only a promise, as if he was going somewhere, but changed his mind. And Fwhip believes, he nods his head, as if agreeing with the decision, and holds Pix even tighter.

A thousand years ago, these same hands could not find a sand shirt to hug and cry into. A thousand years ago, Fwhip stood alone in the middle of a desert that stretched for thousands of miles around him and wept alone. A thousand years ago, Pix voluntarily disappeared into the desert. A thousand years ago his friend did not return.

"I'm here," Pix says again as Fwhip calms down under the setting sun. The night embraced friends.

#empires smp #empires s2 #pixlriffs #fwhip #empires pixlriffs #empires fwhip #immortal pixlriffs #gunpowder boys #i wrote it at like 2am #they just came to me honestly

58 notes · View notes

kiefbowl · 1 year

Text

one of the things I find so funny and interesting about sigh the goblin discourse is that people talk about it like jkr made up goblins or that jkr unearthed long forgotten rhetoric. like oooo these ancient goblins you hadn't even heard of goblins until you read hp bc they're soooo old and archaic or some shit. like goblins are everywhere. I play magic the gathering and they print goblins all the time, why is no one in an uproar over wizards of the coast printing goblin art for 30 years. where are the twitter threads about magic the gathering? now that D&D has had a resurgence, why aren't there pages of reddit threads about how you're actually so so so problematic for playing D&D guys there are goblins in that game

like it is so transparent that, like always, this is a bunch of people who are not in the group deciding they can use an oppressed group like a prop for their own weird devices and guilting people into thinking they're bad allies if they ask a question like "what are you talking about"

I swear to god if I tell someone harry potter is good and fine, I get uncomfortable stares of "don't you know the problems now? the new problems we all decided we agree on together?" but if I mention I play magic the gathering it's like "oh cool, I didn't expect that. please tell me more about your silly fantasy hobby of ghouls and spells."

249 notes · View notes

hogwartslegacyreactions2 · 9 days

Note

Hello it's me again can I request the hlc students, professor and villians meeting THE VILLAIN AU of MC, (Mc is a dark entity who was stored under wookrook castle after the first ancient magic stop was open they let out !villain! Mc who's a 11ft entity who is sassy, manipulative, playfull/ Mc in this au plays a game with her victims if they lose they lose a limb if they win they get some power (btw this is a discarded au of mine Lol)

A/N: If I'm following your idea correctly, MC is not human but a dark entity that manifested inside the repository under Rookwood Castle? I can roll with that.

HLC REACT TO VILLIAN!MC

WARNING: angst,death, destruction, mayhem, evil!MC

RANROK: Finally. The Rookwood repository was unearthed. This one was the largest by far, he could practically smell the magic buzzing within its cage. In his haste, the magic beam from his hand killed a loyalist that didn't get out of the way fast enough. The repository shattered, releasing the large black and red mass of magic.

Something was different. The magic didn't automatically come to him. It didn't attach itself to his armor or go inside his body. Instead it writhed formless on the ground. He angrily shot another beam of magic, but it had no effect.

The magic did not come to him. Instead it started to rise. Higher and higher until the mass was near the height of the surrounding trolls. The magic swirled in place, gradually forming the silhouette of a human. Two exceptionally bright red lights glow where eyes would be.

The goblins behind him started to back up, looking to him for orders. He stared up at the unknown entity, unsure of the correct action. His magic had done nothing.

His hesitation was his downfall. The creature of undiluted dark magic simply pointed a finger at him and he felt as though his own soul was being ripped from his body. All the magic he had collected from previous repositories flew from him to the entity.

He fell dead while the entity seemed to grow stronger. Its form was more defined, more humanoid. The faceless head split across the front into a gnarled, chaotic smile.

VICTOR ROOKWOOD: He was outside Hogsmeade negotiating his next step with Harlow when the sky above went red. He pulls out his wand, thinking he's ready for what's about to come out of the sky when he sees it.

A large winged creature, not unlike a dragon, swooped down from above. A blast of dark and red energy came from the entity's hands and vaporized entire rows of houses. The protective barrier around Hogsmeade is entirely ineffective in stopping it.

He and Harlow try to flee, but the entity lands within feet of them. The weight of the creature shakes the earth and knocks them to the ground. He rolls onto his back and starts firing every destructive spell he knows, including the killing curse. His magic is merely absorbed.

A low shrill laugh pierces the air, he looks up in terror to see the sound coming from the entity standing over him. An impossibly tall humanoid figure with undefined features was staring down at him. They seem to be made of liquid chaos and fire, their skin constantly shifting and morphing. From the back came four large wings, like those of giant bats. They too seem to be constantly changing shape and definition.

The last thing he heard were his own screams as darkness descended upon him.

~~~

SEBASTIAN SALLOW: The school was in chaos. The alarm bells rang out as professors rushed to collect the students for emergency evacuation. He fought against the crowd to get to the nearest floo powder stantion. He needed to get to Feldcroft.

He nearly reaches one when the wall next to him blasts apart. He's thrown off his feet and half buried in rubble. His ears ring. The screaming of the students around him feel distant when he sees a horrific being approach him. It glares down at him curiously.

He couldn't reach for his wand, his arm was broken. The creature reached down towards him and he tries to shuffle away when he feels a slight tugging inside of his chest, like his own heart was trying to leave through his ribs. An oily black substance oozes from his skin, shining red like blood and he believes he's dying. But then...he feels nothing. Not fear, not anger, not pain. He doesn't need to go to Feldcroft. He doesn't need to do anything...he doesn't want anything.

He's left there in the rubble. The creature absorbed what they took from him and moved on through the school, heading downward.

OMINIS GAUNT: He's lost in the crowd and couldn't find Sebastian, no matter how many times he called. He's forcefully shoved through the hall and to an evacuation point. No matter how much he protested, he was floo-ed away without explanation of what was happening. The best he could tell was at the school was attacked by something. It had to be huge by the sounds of crashing and all the screaming. Whatever it was was horrible and he was slightly grateful he didn't have to lay eyes on it.

It's later he overhears people saying it's the end of the world. An unstoppable monster immune to magic was destroying the wizarding world as they knew it. He never heard from either of the Sallows. He doesn't know what to do or where to go. He's never felt so lost and alone in his life.

ANNE SALLOW: Her uncle rushed her away from Feldcroft without explanation. Only that it was urgent and they needed to leave the valley immediately. She asks repeatedly about Sebastian and Ominis but her uncle insists that the boys will be kept safe by the professors and likely taken to the ministry to be reunited with families.

She never sees her brother or her best friend ever again. No matter how much it hurts her, she screams and spits at her uncle for leaving Sebastian behind. Even if there was no time, he could have at least tried.

IMELDA REYES: She gets escorted away with other students and eventually gets back to her family. With them being well off, they could afford to flee the country. Not that it may matter in the long run. Any bit of news she could get her hands on, wizarding or muggle, talk of the end of days.

NATSAI ONAI: Brave soul that she is, she fights against the flow of panicked students to try and find her mother. She instead finds the monster cornering a group of second years. She casts at it, shouting for the young students to run, and gets the attention of the entity.

It stands to its full height, unfazed by her attempts to attack it. She stares back, showing no fear. The entity shows its horrible grin and echoed words, that sounded like screams of the damned, came from it. "You... look... fun..."

GARRETH WEASLEY: His aunt finds him before he knows what's happening. She shoves an old rag in his hands and he gets pulled away by it. The rag was a portkey back to his home. He sits on the floor, dumbfounded and confused. He doesn't get word until later at Hogwarts had been destroyed. Unknown casualties. He never saw his aunt again.

LEANDER PREWETT: He runs past the hall the monster is down. He only catches a glimpse of Natty in the monster's grasp, black magic being pulled straight out of her throat. He's in a blind panic for the nearest floo. Once he's on the other side of it, far from Hogwarts, he vomits on his own shoes.

AMIT THAKKAR, EVERETT CLOPTON: Both of them make it out together with many other students. The ministry had been alerted to the emergency and sending every auror they had to Hogwarts. The students being rushed in were collected in the main area around the fountain. They stayed together, trying to find comfort in their familiarity amongst the chaos.

POPPY SWEETING: Her only thought was to get home. Get back to her gran. They needed to- CRASH! The wall in front of her caved in as the entity came through it with another person. She didn't have to worry about her gran anymore. Or anything ever again.

~~~

ELEAZAR FIG: He sees the Onais with the monster. NATSAI was on the ground, Professor Onai standing numbly. He fires at the entity and distracts it. His magic doesn't seem to harm it, It just grins and rushes him. He gets shoved through the stone wall behind him. So many of his bones are broken, he can barely breathe. His suffering doesn't last long as the entity inhales and sucks the pain out of him, along with any energy he had left.

MATILDA WEASLEY: She is the one that raises the alarm. She witnesses the attack on Hogsmeade and rushes to get the emergency portkey for her nephew. If she could at least get one person out safely, it would be him. Seconds after he's gone, the ceiling above her collapses. The entity falls through the floor as it continues its destructive path to get to the repository it's senses beneath the school.

CHIYO KOGAWA: She's The first teacher to be evacuated out to the ministry to help guide the students and keep them together. Her voice is still calm and commanding as she tries to maintain order, but she feels the same dread and panic as the scared children around her.

AESOP SHARP: He actively pursues the entity. No matter how many times he fires at it, it doesn't seem to pay attention to him as he chases it through the halls. He and many aurors from the Ministry are the last ones on the grounds when the entity finally decides it's done playing and heads down to the caverns.

He sees it happen. The final transformation. When that thing absorbs every last drop of whatever magic was in the cage. Had no idea what it was or what was happening but it was bad. No matter what he threw at it, it just smiled. It looked at him and the others like they were curious insects.

To his surprise, the thing spoke to him, and it's awful voice. "Such suffering... I can taste it..." It raises one of its arms and he and all the aurors come off the ground. He struggles against the invisible force holding him, but to no avail.

Then he feels the tug in his chest. Black and red magic comes from his body, and the others, and is absorbed by the entity. When it was over, he did not care that he was falling head first to the ground. He didn't feel anything at all. Not even when his neck broke.

ABRAHAM RONEN: His class was one of the first destroyed in the attack. He and the students had no chance to defend themselves, not that there really was any way to defend themselves. For him, it was quick. Shards of glass and stone made for an unceremonious end.

MIRABEL GARLICK: She's at one of the evacuation points, getting students out. She sees the horrible thing come down the grand staircase and she stands between it and the students. The last thing she hears is it's terrible laugh as she and any students remaining have their pain removed.

MUDIWA ONAI: She finds the monster holding her daughter off the ground by her throat. She doesn't hear her own cries as her daughter falls limp to the floor with a sickening thud. She's too stunned to move. She doesn't even hear the entity's laugh as it rejoices in her pain.

BAI HOWIN: She goes through the floo after Kogawa to maintain order with the students they manage to get through to the Ministry. She is not, however, a steel willed as Kogawa so she's on the floor with her head in her hands.

DINAH HECAT: She manages to evacuate most of the defense against the dark arts tower before the monster comes stomping through. She tried to defend the floor the students were using to run, but it fired a black beam of magic and destroyed it. Her analytical eyes scanned the beast as she tried to figure out what it could possibly be. From her time as an unspeakable, perhaps this is an ancient beast that none have seen in centuries. She never figures it out, unfortunately. The monster feasts upon her pain.

CUTHBERT BINNS: He and the other ghosts are trying to Shepherd students to evacuation points. There's nothing he can do for them when the monster comes. Just watch as they become empty husks.

SATYAVATI SHAH: She makes it through a floo with her students. Only seeing two other professors and less than half the student body, the gravity of their situation hits her hard. One being, whatever it was, destroyed Hogwarts and most everyone in it in a matter of minutes. Not days, not even hours, but minutes. This was the end.

PHINEAS NIGELLUS BLACK: The coward fled when the school was attacked. Abandoning his post and ruining his reputation in the process, but he did not care. Nowhere in the job description was he ever supposed to fight off demons from the darkest pit of hell.

~~~

MC: Oh, what fun they've had! The screaming, the crying, the pleading, the begging! The insurmountable amount of pain they got to experience! They never felt so alive! Now the largest repository of dark magic was theirs! All theirs! They pry the repository apart with their bare hands.

When they consume the magic, they undergo their largest and most drastic transformation. They more than double in size, being about the size of a giant. They grow another set of wings, more demonic seraphim in appearance, and grow another set of arms. Horns burst forth from their skull and another set of glowing red eyes blinks open.

They're horrible cackling laugh echoes from the depths of the crater that was Hogwarts. Everything the ministry tried to throw at them, were now dead and gone. The world was theirs.

#hogwarts legacy #hogwarts legacy reactions #hogwarts legacy professors #hogwarts legacy villians #sebastian sallow #ominis gaunt #amit thakkar #garreth weasley #anne sallow #everett clopton #imelda reyes #leander prewett #poppy sweeting #natsai onai #villian!mc #angst #tw death

40 notes · View notes

sea-salted-wolverine · 1 year

Text

Having seen the sheer confusion of people who have seen posts about the locked tomb series but not actually read the books themselves, I've got a few theories as to why that is.

The fandom refuses to focus on the plot, and instead gloms on to the particularly odd chunks instead. Post-apocalyptic magic lesbians unearth ancient and terrible secrets. Cool, good overview. Has anyone ever described that way? No. We're all stuck on revenant Barbie and DIY labotomies. Those are both spoilers that sound insane. They're actually more insane once you have context.

The text of the actual novels, often has the emotional character driven style of fan fiction. And like the good stuff where the title is a song lyric in all undercase and a single chapter with 15K word count. Which can make it difficult to tell apart excerpts from the actual book and excerpts from fan fiction. (This isn't even counting the part of the book where a character actually invented an alternate universe where she and her crush were in a cute coffee shop Au)

The memes. I saw a post where somebody had drawn like 8 different memes of the book. Except only one of them was a drawover of parks and rec, AND THE REST WERE CANNON SCENES FROM THE BOOK.

The naming conventions. The series is called the locked tomb. The 1st book is called Gideon the 9th. The 2nd book is called Harrow the 9th. The 3rd book is called Nona the 9th. The 4th book of what was intended to be a trilogy is called Alecto the 9th.

Somehow the POV character is always the person who is least qualified to tell the story. The narrator has no idea what's happening. The narrator may be clueless, haunted, possessed, in denial, or straight up lying. Why would any of us know what's happening? If you're trying to put together pieces from the outside with no context, you're just fucking doomed.

#gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #the locked tomb #Describing it sounds insane #Every character is competing for the title of chaotic bastard #Even the ones that you would think would be the holders of the brain cell #The 1st book starts out and they have terrible secrets that they must keep #and it does not take long to blow those catastrophes out of the water with bigger and worse catastrophes

216 notes · View notes

teambyler · 2 days

Text

Stranger Things 5 speculation based on the episode titles and what we know from D&D

Vanishing of Holly Wheeler?

I already shared that I think Episode 2 is Holly Wheeler: "IF this information is accurate, I'm guessing the missing Wheeler is Holly. They have a new actress to play her. I think they're returning to s1 themes and the horror of a child being in danger is one thing they might get back to. The 1st episode would give them time to make her a character we care about. (And probably stabilize the situation at the end of s4.) It would also consume the entire Wheeler family into getting Holly back. Karen will be beside herself. Nancy will be tough and take charge. Will will have to unearth his memories of the Upside Down, and possibly use his connection, to help MIKE and NANCY get back their little sister. One possible road to BYLER is Will having to reexperience his trauma and possibly sacrifice himself to help his best friend."

Camazotz

I see a LOT of interest in episode 6 title "Escape from Camazotz"... I think for ANY speculation we HAVE to go to where our D&D nerds would go, which is the Dungeons & Dragons sourcebooks in the 80s. Camazotz was published in Deities & Demigods for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1980). It is the "bat god," so we're probably going to see it tied to the demobats.

We learn from Deities & Demigods that the Aztec and Mayan gods have "inscrutable motives"... which is ON BRAND for the Cthulhu inspirations of Stranger Things. These gods come from a "parallel universe." Clerics "are the elite of the populace," and are able to cast "commune or gate spells" to connect the planes together. ("Will the Wise" has been the cleric of the party... perhaps he is a cleric?)

Also, these gods "unusual nature makes it impossible for them to travel on any planes but the ones that they have worshipers on." Maybe Vecna needed to have a host on the "Right Side Up", to take form here, which is very consistent with the s2 and s3 plotlines.

The clerics perform human sacrifices... maybe another theme in s5??

But perhaps JUST as important, the adventure D&D module Hidden Shrine of Tomoachan (1980) involved an ancient temple dedicated to Camazotz. Odds are that our heroes will be trying to escape from a "temple" within the Upside Down. According to the Wikipedia article about this adventure, it is "full of tricks and traps".

As a "tournament module," meaning for competition purposes, and it was EXPECTED that heroes died in it because it was so deadly. The goal "is to get out of the ruins before time runs out." The lower levels (where the heroes begin) have a poisonous gas that slowly kill them. Also it is very unstable, spells will cause a collapse. If El were caught in it, it might be dangerous to use her powers.

This adventure debuted the gibbering mouther, a very distinct D&D monster that is VERY reminiscent of the s3 Flayer and would be VERY on-theme for Stranger Things:

The Sorcerer

Also, Episode 5 is titled "The Sorcerer." Sorcerer was not a class yet in D&D in the late 1980s. (The idea that Sorcerers have innate arcane power versus Wizards who study magic, was not invented yet until 2000.) Sorcerer was one of the many titles that Magic Users had (next to Wizard). Sorcerers had less power than Wizards. They were 9th level, while Wizards were 11th level:

It is already established that El is "the Wizard." Maybe there's another person with powers in season 5 which are less developed? If so, the most logical choice would be Will. It's confirmed that this season will focus on him. Although he's a "cleric" in their D&D game, maaaaybe he finds out he has new abilities. There was a reason Vecna didn't kill in season 1, and who has had "truesight" since.

That's what I can find for now! There's a lot of interesting traps and puzzles, with illustrations, from the adventure. But it's hard to predict what else (if anything) they might borrow from it! The aspect of escaping, and the poison gas and the timer, are probably what we can most rely on!

P.S. I mainly blog about Byler, but I thought my D&D knowledge would be useful for this one. If interested, follow and read my blog! I have so much to say!

#stranger things #D&D #st5 #st5 speculation #camazotz #escape from camazotz #sorcerer #vanishing of holly wheeler #byler

45 notes · View notes

blueiskewl · 5 months

Text

'Magical' Roman Wind Chime with Phallus Found in Serbia

Phallic objects like this were common in the Roman world to ward off evil.

Archaeologists have unearthed a Roman wind chime called a tintinnabulum — featuring a prominent phallus — at an archaeological site in eastern Serbia.

Such objects, which were hung near the doorways of houses and shops, were believed to serve as magical protection for the premises. This one was discovered on the porch of a large home on a main street in Viminacium, an ancient Roman city, the extensive ruins of which now lie near the Serbian town of Kostolac, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Belgrade.

"The building was destroyed in a fire, during which the porch collapsed and fell to the ground," Ilija Danković, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology in Belgrade, told the Serbian-language website Sve o arheologiji.

Tintinnabulums were designed to catch the wind, supposedly so their noise and unusual appearance would frighten off evil spirits and ward off the curse of the evil eye, which was greatly feared in antiquity.

Viminacium was the civil and military capital of Rome's Upper Moesia province from the first to fifth centuries, until it was sacked by the Huns under Attila in 441. The city was rebuilt under the Byzantine emperor Justinian, but it was finally destroyed by invading Slavs in about 535.

Magical phallus

This is the second tintinnabulum found in the ruins. The first is now in a private collection in Austria; nothing is known about its discovery, he said.

However, the newly discovered tintinnabulum was discovered in its full archaeological context. "As soon as we started uncovering it, we knew immediately what we had discovered," he said.

The latest tintinnabulum from Viminacium is made of bronze, but it is being kept surrounded by soil until it can be properly restored. As a result, its exact configuration isn't known. But it is centered on a "fascinum" — a portrayal of a magical phallus — with two legs, wings and a tail, he said.

"Judging by what can be seen … it had four bells and the chain from which it hung," Danković said, adding that there also seemed to be other elements to the design not seen on other tintinnabulums.

Roman beliefs

The symbol of a phallus wasn't always erotic or obscene for the ancient Romans, Danković said. "It was a bringer of good fortune and happiness, and an efficient weapon to combat the evil eye," he said. "For this reason, phalluses can be seen everywhere in the Roman world, from wine cups to the amulets worn by children."

He added that the symbol was often publicly displayed to summon prosperity and deter thieves.

The discovery of the tintinnabulum is evidence that Viminacium was "in every sense a part of the Roman world," Danković said.

Not only did its people share many Roman beliefs, he said, but it's likely that the tintinnabulum was imported from elsewhere in the empire, showing that there were social elites at Viminacium who were willing to pay a significant amount of money for such an object.

Ken Dark, an archaeologist and historian at King's College London who wasn't involved in the discovery, said the Viminacium tintinnabulum was a type of "apotropaic" amulet that was designed to ward off evil influences and give protection to people or their property.

Such amulets "were common in the Roman world, and these sometimes took forms which would seem very strange — or even comical — to us today," he told in an email.

By Tom Metcalfe.

#'Magical' Roman Wind Chime with Phallus Found in Serbia #tintinnabulum #phallus #bronze #ancient artifacts #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #roman history #roman empire #roman art

97 notes · View notes

theresattrpgforthat · 3 months

Note

Are there any TTRPGs with a focus on weapons and weapon customization. I've been poking around and haven't found anything that was quite what I was looking for. There are a few about making weapons but those usually don't involve using them outside of recording their history.

Theme: Weapons / Weapon Customization

Hello there friend, I had a bit of a hard time trying to nail down what you were looking for, but I figured I could give you a few different approaches and hopefully something here works for you.

RIG, by NotWriting.

"You’re alive. Good."

"What do you remember? Do you know your Mars songs? Were you born on real ground? Do you remember Earth's hand reaching out to steal from the stars? Hmm. Endocortex must have some rot. Don’t bother with the local infonet, your soft is too old. I’ll find something. I’ll be your Local Admin. You have a rig, a mech. It’s a good one, a Dead Core. Good way to hop the gaps of the firmament, deal with threats."

"And we have problems aplenty right now."

RIG is based on the Rune RPG system designed by Spencer Campbell, perfectly tuned for capturing the difficult and disciplined design decisions of video games inspired by Dark Souls. Instead of quick reactions, each round of combat builds tension and rewards creativity and patience by giving you windows of opportunity and weaknesses to exploit. High risk maneuvers give high rewards but can build up dangerous amounts of heat that can damage your rig. Active your core, unsheathe your core blade, and sink that heat into your enemies, or risk death. Experiment with different builds as you refit your rig between encounters, or push your luck to delve deeper and deeper into the dying heart of Recombinant Earth.

The first thing I thought of when I saw your ask was mech games, and RIG is a solo game all about piloting a mech. Your rig is highly customizable, and the designer described it as rogue-like, allowing your character to try out new configurations using different pieces. Much of the building is a balancing act: you’ll be assigning dice to various modules and some modules take up more dice than others. Your mech also comes with a resource called Heat, which can be marked to give you short-term effects, but must be strategically dumped before it fills to the point of causing you problems. If you want a solo experience that allows you to progress cyclically, I recommend RIG.

Reclaim the Wild, by Elemental Knight.

The Legend of Zelda: Reclaim the Wild is a freely-distributed tabletop roleplaying system made by fans, for fans, of both tabletop games and of The Legend of Zelda. It was designed from the ground up to enable players to create all new adventures in the world of Zelda, and specifically the hit game Breath of the Wild.

Because of this game’s inspiration, there is a lot of detail put into the different kinds of weapons your characters can wield, and more importantly, make. Weapons break all the time in this game, and if you want something a bit more sturdy, you’ll either need to trade with a merchant, or build something yourself. Characters that specialize in weapons crafting have to pick what kind of weapons they can craft, and the party will want to keep whatever bits and pieces they can salvage from fights in the wild, because those pieces will become essential in creating more durable weapons, more magical weapons, and more effective weapons. If you like inventory and record-keeping, then this game is for you.

Numenera - Destiny and Building Tomorrow by Monte Cook Games.

Terrible beasts. Abhumans. The iron wind. Ancient machines that lurch to life unexpectedly—or leave communities desperate when they catastrophically fail. The Ninth World is awash in dangers left by the prior worlds. But these ancient remnants also hold the keys to the future. Those brave enough to discover and study the amazing structures, weird devices, inscrutable automatons, and extradimensional gateways can unearth the knowledge and materials to build the future.

Discover new kinds of numenera items, along with the plans and materials to construct them yourself. Explore the ruins of the prior worlds, uncover their mysteries, and from their secrets begin to build a new tomorrow for the beleaguered people of the Ninth World.

Out of all of the recommendations in this list, Numenera is probably the biggest investment if you’re looking at complex weapon design. First of all, Numenera has some really unique, one-time use items called Cyphers, which (in this setting), are objects that your characters don’t really know the original purpose of, but which can be insanely useful in fortifying settlements, finding information, and doing a lot of damage in a battle. Not all cyphers are weapons, and not all weapons get the same attention that cyphers do.

However, if you really want to explore what these items can do, you’ll want to take a peek at both the Destiny and Building Tomorrow books for this game. Destiny is the first book after the corebook that I recommend getting, because it provides character options that focus on salvage and building, and because it hosts the bulk of the creation plans for Cyphers and more permanent objects such as Artifacts and Installations. Building Tomorrow expands on this crafting system, by introducing new crafting materials, salvage locations, and weird side effects that might come about when your crafting roll is less than ideal.

LUMEN, by GilaRPGs.

This is a link not to a game, but rather a System Reference Document for a family of games. LUMEN is an RPG system for high-action, high-speed, high-power games.

The character classes in many big LUMEN games are often differentiated by fighting style or weapon type. You can see this in Monster Guts, a LUMEN game inspired by Monster Hunter, and NOVA, a game about piloting exo-suits after the world has gone dark. There are also plenty of customizable options within those classes, allowing you to try out different combinations to find something that works really well for you.

This game can really sing in a small group, as each player can build their character to do some outstanding combinations, and then synchronize those combinations with things that the other players at the table do really well. There’s a lot of interesting things being done with this rules system, and if you don’t find exactly what you’re looking for in this collection compiled by Gila RPGs, then perhaps you still have the tools you need to make what you want for yourself!

Heartbearers, by Whimsy Machine.

It's a dangerous world of heroes and monsters. You play in pairs: a sentient weapon and their bearer. You go on thrilling adventures with other pairs. Be the greatest fighter pair through the ultimate feat of strength: making friends!

Long ago weapons realized that their bearers can get really hurt in battle, so culture shifted: the goal of combat changed to skillfully clash weapons, not harm bearers. Two weapons going head to head can show off their magic, abilities, and legends. Colors burst, sparks fly—it's intense!

In this game, players pair up and choose whether they will play a hero or a sentient weapon. Bearers and Weapons will have very different responsibilities in game; while Weapons focus on shifting their forms or concentrating their attacks, the Bearers will determine why they are fighting in the first place, ruminating on desires, emotions, and goals. Duels use d12s as counters to track actions, with a rest for all of the characters once their counters reach 0. Weapons can also aid their Bearers during non-combat parts of the quest, while Bearers will determine what alliances they will make (and possibly whether they will lay down their Weapon for good). If you want a game that gives personality and sentience to a weapon, or if you want to play a weapon yourself, this might be a game for you.

Lancer, by Massif Press.

In Lancer, players adopt the roles of mechanized chassis pilots - mech pilots - comrades together in a galaxy of danger and hope. Some groups will fight to rectify the crimes of previous administrations; others will fight for their nation, pieces in a greater game of hegemony. Others will carry the banner of a corpro-state or mercenary company, working to advance private interests while lining their pockets. Others still will fight for groups acting in opposition to those in power - for the underground, for the forgotten, agents of entropy and agents of yet more radical revolutions.

If we’re going to talk about mech games and weapons, I’d be remiss not to talk about Lancer. This is a highly tactical game with most of its rules focusing on mech combat, and a very exciting wealth of mech options that you’ll be toying around with after almost every section. Your mech will have distinct weapons, such as the Blackbeard’s Chain Axe or Omni-Harpoon, but there’s also systems that you can add for specific strategies on the battlefield, such as the Swallowtail’s cloaking field, which helps you hide both you and your allies, or the Goblin’s metahook, which allows teammates to share their systems and sensors, for improved e-defense and a broader range for electronic warfare.

Other Thoughts

If you like the high tactics and strategy of Lancer, but you want a fantasy setting, then I'd recommend Gubat Banwa instead.

If you want to focus on inventory and less on character class, you might want to check out the OSR side of things, including games such as Knave or Into the Odd.

If you like inventory but want to keep your character class, then Troika! might be for you.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #dnd #game recommendations #asks #weapons

32 notes · View notes

shitposting4squares · 1 year

Text

Pizza Tower/Evil dead crossover Peppino

He had to cut off his own hand to stop from turning into a pizza monster, and he’s mad as hell about it. Also I decided to give him a sleeve harness for his BIG HONKIN PIZZA CUTTER BUZZSAW cus it looked strange on the end of his more noodle looking arm. And this gives him more heft and motion. I’ll put what I’ve got so far about the au under a readmore.

So a chain restaurant opens in a historic landmark, the tower, where during renovation they accidentally unearth an ancient spooky power. Which gets harnessed by the human who would soon become PizzaHead.

Setting off a very monkey's paw be careful what you wish for situation, cus the guy basically wanted a “pizza empire”. He meant that in terms of creating a huge and wealthy corporation, but the tower magic took it literally. So now not only is it spawning armies of pizza monsters, but Pizzahead has the power to turn humans into more pizza monsters.

So he starts by inviting all the owners of the local businesses to the restaurant part of the tower for a little get together before the grand opening.Targeting them first to cut down the competition and ensure the maximum amount of customers would instead be visiting his restaurant. This being the moment that first gets everyone scared, as a 6+ foot tall man made out of cheese with a pizza for a face bursts into the restaurant. Acting like some kind of unhinged cartoon clown, and trying to get the people who haven't eaten the free pizza yet to try some. Though it seems like his presence speeds up the pizza monster transformations. As the ones who were infected start to turn, while Gustavo, Mr. stick, and Peppino escape into the tower.

So in this instance, the bosses are other humans who showed up to the party and got turned into pizza monsters as part of Pizzaheads army. Like pepperman used to be the owner of an arts and crafts store. Vigilante was a farmer who restaurants would sometimes buy meat and veggies from locally. Noise and Noisette were a young couple involved in journalism who were covering the opening of the new restaurant. And some of the other one-off monsters could be other local business owners.

Peppino never ate any of the pizza, but he did get a slice of it shoved into his hand by pizzahead when he showed up and terrified everyone by being an unhinged pizza monster, and it took him a moment before dropping it. So after a bit of adventuring, it turns out his hand is infected, and he's gotta cut it off to keep the pizza transformation from spreading. As his screaming and comically slamming his cheese and pepperoni hand on various walls does little more than stun the cheese hand in a cartoony sorta way (Like with stars spinning over it’s head).

After a building of panic as the cheese starts to spread over his wrist, he cuts it off in a grocery store-like location within the tower with a industrial strength pizza cutter, that is really more like a big buzzsaw, splattering himself with his own blood. Though the pizza monsters are threatening to break in, so he attaches the big buzzsaw to his stump arm, and goes on a blind rage chainsaw massacre style rampage. Eventually collapsing from blood loss and overexertion in the abandoned looking Bruno's pizza when it looks like he’s killed all the monsters nearby.

He wakes up with something trying to force his mouth open, and it's his severed cheese hand. He tries to kill it, but it tricks him into screaming and it's able to get into his mouth. He tries to puke it out, but instead he pukes out a whole grey shirt Peppino clone, which he screams at, it screams back, and it melts into inert goo. He vomits a few more times, with a similar outcome of spawning a short lived lumpy looking clone of himself, and he's able too look inside his mouth in a reflective surface, and his mouth and throat is full of goopy hands. No longer made of cheese, but more looking made out of melty rubber skin. So he quickly boils a pot of water and drinks the boiling water while screaming and swearing much like how it goes down in army of darkness, with the clones screaming as the boiling water hits them. A very brief moment for Peppino to catch his breath, hoping it's over, but then stuff starts growing under his skin, and he undergoes a rapid, but disturbing mitosis.

The two Peppinos pulling apart and falling to the ground. With Peppino having a moment of excitement as his hand has grown back

But he spots his doppelganger and scrambles to his feet, fake Peppino currently being a perfect mirror of him. Matching Peppino’s looks and movements exactly. Peppino takes a moment to process how weird this is, doing stuff like moving his arm and hand, with Fake Peppino mirroring the motion, before trying to back away slowly. But when he takes a step back, fake pep steps forward. And again. Before Peppino tries to book it, and fake pep lunges after him, causing him to scream, and fake pep screams back, revealing himself as a warped goo monster, and the chase is on. And that’s as far as I’ve got with the au so far. Can let me know if you have any ideas to expand on the au with.

#peppino #peppino spaghetti #pizza tower #evil dead #au #spooky #pizza head #fake peppino #army of darkness

332 notes · View notes