#also!! the plane of elysium is really cool

[teansouprmyjam]

From the critical role ask game! Aasimar 👀

thank you for the ask anon!!!!

aasimar: what is your favorite location in exandria (or out of it)

i could talk about my favorite places forever so i'll try to keep it short

Aeor has a special place in my heart because it's got it all!!!! (except a decent tavern) It's an ancient ruin with magical relics and historical records forgotten to time, fucked up abominations, aeormatons, giants, a portal to the astral sea!!! it was literally punched from the sky by the gods!!!! the whole design of it with the crater showing its different levels!!! it's so cool!!!!!!!!!!!

There's obviously also Whitestone..... It's so beautiful and creepy and lively and Taliesin and Matt did such an incredible job. Whitestone along with Blumenthal and Nicodranas are all places that feel like home!

Other than that I'm very much obsessed with Molaesmyr and Rosohna. Vasselheim is also up there amongst the places I hope they go back to!!!! I want to peel its layers like an onion.

[stormikins]

OC MEME: Jenn Shepard

tagged by @omniblades-and-stars thank you!!!

no pressure tags: @unfair-water-plane and @jtownnn

(art by my beloved mutual @spookyvalentine)

GENERAL

Name: Jenn Shepard

Alias(es): Shepard, Commander, Hero of Elysium, Savior of the Citadel, Jenny (by one (1) person), Captain, Shep, ma'am

Gender: Female, she/her

Age: 28 during me1 (she dies before her 29 birthday)

Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland, Earth

Spoken Languages: English, Spanish, Russian, and galactic trade (also one thessian language)

Sexual Orientation: bi bi bi

Occupation: weapon for Lieutenant Commander of the Alliance Military, and Citadel Spectre.

FAVORITE

Color: Pthalo green (basically a dark green)

Entertainment: Documentaries, music, combat

Pastime: model ships, sparring, gear maintenance, playing with her hamster Mister Spocket the Third

Food: blue raspberry candy

Drink: Peppermint schnapps

Books: reads a lot of news and tech articles, keeping up to date on new tech and such

HAVE THEY

Passed University: idk, any education she had post high school the military most likely provided for her

Had Sex: Yup

Had Sex in Public: semi-public

Gotten Tattoos: yes! she at least has a thresher maw tattoo after she killed her first one during me1. Her and her fellow N7 grads prolly got tattoos but idk what of

Gotten Piercings: she has a lot in her ears and used to have one in her right eyebrow when she was a teen

Had a Broken Heart: She is the patron saint of heartbreak. She's had friends die and she has had a bad break up once in her early twenties.

Been in Love: The aforementioned heart break in her twenties. And she does fall in love with Kal’Reegar and Nihlus. In some universes, at the same time even! also Saren

ARE THEY

A cuddler: when she's comfortable, oh yeah

Scared easily: the only they fear is you. jenn core

Jealous easily: She gets more possessive. I think there's a line between the two. Don't ask me to define it.

Trustworthy: Oh, she can be loyal to a fault if you prove yourself trustworthy. She is a ride or die friend, one that knows how to keep her mouth shut.

FAMILY

Siblings: She is an orphan, so no biological siblings, but there were a couple kids she considered close enough to call sibling during the first two decades of her life. You can consider Joker, Tali, and Garrus as her siblings.

Parents: Never knew them. There was a teacher that came close in middle school. And then she got really close with Chakwas during the Normandy tours and then post crucible firing, her and Victus got close as well.

Children: Never has, never will. She is not parent material, and she knew that even before the events of Mass Effect happen. Will be a cool aunt and babysit if needed but she does not want to be the first choice. She does not want the responsibility of a child if she can help it.

Pets: she gets a hamster in me2 as a way to help her cope with her reanimation. Post war on Rannoch, she gets an alien cat

[honourablejester]

I’m watching Pathfinder lore videos, because I just enjoy looking at other people’s worldbuilding, and a tiny little nugget stuck with me. I was watching this video on the demon lords of the Abyss, and it came to Angazhan, the great ape demon of jungles, apes and tyranny. And it just mentions that his realm, Ahvoth-Kor, is formed in a great ravine in the Abyss, with jungles on either wall, but gravity pulls towards the walls, so as you stand on the ‘ground’ in one jungle on one wall, you can see the other above you. Trees and rope bridges cross the gap, which must be fascinating as you cross the halfway point and gravity abruptly reverses itself. And I just. I mean, Angazhan doesn’t do much for me as himself, but his realm caught my attention the most in the entire video, just for that one detail. Because it’s so cool. He lives in a folded realm. You can climb a pillar to the sky and then fall up the top half of it to the ground on the far side.

And it just made me realise that I love the Abyss, or rather the potential of the Abyss, in both its D&D and Pathfinder incarnations. Because chaos gets all the cool world states. Because chaos feels free to break the rules and get weird, and therefore give you fantastic landscapes like Ahvoth-Kor. Which is actually quite normal, aside from the fact that it’s folded double on itself. You could go so much weirder.

But, at the same time, I also hate the Abyss, just slightly. Because you can’t get weird, apparently, without also getting evil. Because, while I have seen the chaotic good and chaotic neutral planes mentioned, they don’t get anywhere near as much attention. How many people even know the names of the good-aligned chaotic planes? And, yes, Limbo and the Maelstrom are more of a thing, and the Maelstrom at least is fantastically cool, but they’re not focused on really either. Because they don’t have cool themed villains hanging out in them. Which is, granted, another excellent selling point of the Abyss. Demon lords are a lot more idiosyncratic than archdevils, more, again, weird and wonderful. On the D&D side, which I’m more familiar with, I do adore Juiblex, Zuggtmoy and Fraz-Urb’luu. When you are shaping your realm out of raw chaos to match your personality, it gives you a degree of wild customisation that more lawful, rigid planes just don’t allow. The demon lords are exciting, in a way archdevils just aren’t for me.

But. It means that if you want really cool fantastic landscapes and batshit world states, you have to go to an evil plane where everything is trying to kill slash torture you. The good aligned chaotic planes of the respective ttrpgs, Elysium and Arborea and the Beastlands, are to a large extent just ‘unchecked nature’, the extremely pastoral idea of untouched wilderness. If you want to see truly cool and alien and fantastic things, you have to get tortured for it.

Or, granted, try the Maelstrom in Pathfinder. The Maelstrom is really cool.

Like. If they’re both formed from raw chaos, why can’t good be equally as batshit? Why can’t you have, I don’t know, a chaotic good sea god whose ship sails upside down on the surface of a vast ocean of air, and whose sea sprite petitioners venture down in diving bells to marvel at the stars? (Sidenote: there could also be more good-aligned sea gods, just as a general note). Why isn’t there a heaven for the souls of subterranean travellers and explorers where they get to spend eternity spelunking absolutely mind-boggling and impossible caves that open out into the raw foam of chaos? Why couldn’t the chaotic good plane also be a nested stew of personalised bubble worlds shaped from raw fundament by strong-willed but mildly-to-majorly batshit themed entities, that are just in this case also friendly and unlikely to torture you out of hand?

Why is good so tame? Even at its wildest, it’s so tame compared to how batshit and weird evil gets to be. Like, yes, good means safety, but safe doesn’t have to mean ‘bounded’. It could mean ‘I will touch my grace upon you so we can witness wonders together’. It could mean ‘let me make a place where fire does not burn so I can turn a sun inside out and let you experience the strange geometries of its interior’.

I just. The Abyss is really, really cool, this strange bubble realm of nested psychoses written onto reality by larger than life beings. I do love it. But. You could have that, and not have it built on suffering. Not instead of, but as well. With equal weight.

Let good be weird too. Let chaos in general just be the place where both horrors and wonders beyond imagining are explored.

As another, related complaint, I know it's to do with game balance and player capabilities, but it's also a bummer that the outer planes in general are something most PCs will never experience first hand, owing to being in general fantastically lethal and/or hard to get to. I just wanna wander Zuggtmoy's fungal fields, and climb rope bridges across the gravity line in Ahvoth-Kor!

Anyway. Carry on.

[some-pers0n]

Would you mind reccomending some video games?

Sure thing

BioShock – Story-heavy single-player FPS. You play as a man named Jack, a silent protagonist, who's plane crashes in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Through happenstance, you stumble upon a lighthouse that reveals an underwater city called Rapture, a libertarian utopia that's since then gone to hell. It's a classic and well-known game for a reason. I'd recommend it if you've played FPS games like the Half-Life series for example

Disco Elysium – Story-heavy game taking inspiration from TTRPGs. You play as a washed-up disco detective who can't remember his own name, much less the world he lives in. This hot mess of a man has to work alongside the cool and stoic Kim Kitsuragi, his assigned partner. Filled with politics and heavy emotional scenes, it still has lots of charm and life and tells you to hold onto hope in spite of everything

Slay the Princess – Visual novel wherein you are walking on a path in the woods with a disembodied voice, the Narrator, telling you your goal: you must get to a cabin and slay the princess held in the basement or else the world will end. Charming story-heavy game featuring a lot of cool scenes where you and the princess in question come into conflict, wherein you can very well slay her, or maybe even save her. It's a story about love, but not inherently romantic love. It's one of relationships and how you make them work

Scarlet Hollow – Visual novel made by the creators of STP, but instead now taking place in modern day North Carolina. Your character (whom you get to name, chose the pronouns of, and select some traits for that'll assist you) is going the small town your mother grew up in to attend the funeral of your aunt. The town holds many mysteries though, what with pets going missing and sounds coming from the woods. It's a charming game filled with fun and unique characters. One of the few visual novels I can actually say makes your choices actually matter. It's currently a WIP, releasing in a chapter-based system, with four chapters out currently. Even in its current state I was EASILY able to squeeze 30 hours out of it. Highly reccomend if you played Slay the Princess too

SANABI – Pixel platforming game with hookswinging mechanics and a cyberpunk aesthetic. You play as The General, a retired military man who now lives a comfortable life with your young daughter in the countryside. However, tragedy strikes, and this Sanabi figure is to blame for it all. Sanabi has now infiltrated a giant city called Mago City and it's up to you to save it (all with the help of a young woman named Mari). This takes place sometime in the future in South Korea (it is a South Korean game after all lol) and features a lot of fun and charming dialogue, amazing gameplay that encourages speedrunning, and a story that definitely most likely will not hurt you in the slightest. Don't mind the fact I bawled my eyes out even on my second playthrough. If you played Celeste, I highly recommend this game too

Dredge – Laid-back fishing game inspired by the Cthulhu Mythos. You play as a fisherman who's just now arrived in this archipelago. While not story-heavy exactly, I find it to be a really cozy and fun game that I love revisiting time and time again. It does have some mild horror elements, but ultimately I wouldn't say it's scary. Stylistic and charming, it's quite a fun game

In Stars and Time – Story-heavy JRPG wherein you, Siffrin, are trapped in a timeloop. It's kinda styled like you and your party members are at the very end of your typical JRPG adventure, but, for some reason, you are stuck repeating the same two days over and over again. Extremely lovable cast of characters! I can't find myself remotely disliking a single one! It's also featuring a big queer cast, with their identities playing into them their stories as well when applicable. Aroace rep ftwwwww. Also it'll hurt. It hurts. This game hurts a lot. I'd recommend it if you liked games like OMORI

Night in the Woods – Story-heavy emotional stylistic game about nostalgia. You play as Mae, a college dropout who's come back from university to her small town. Despite being only gone for like two years, the town seems so different now. She feels like a kid who wants to relive her childhood when everyone else kinda grew up a little without her. Mae is a funny, loud, and charming character who gets into trouble and does absolutely ridiculous things with her friends. Really endearing and fun game. Oh, and also everyone's an animal. Mae's a cat. Very fun and talks a lot about the messy emotions of being a young adult and your town slowly dying out

[ssvnormandysr-1]

one thing larian did and did really well is not romanticizing the end result of pursuit of ambition, or the erasure & denial of one's true self. The result is shown as pathetic, sad, and hilariously heartbreaking. This is shown especially well in Astarion & Gale's case.

Gale, in his god form, is honestly pretty insufferable. On the surface, it's easy to think that he's the same old guy with jokes and all but in every sentence, you can see him demeaning the mortal lives, the material plane, his superiority complex, etc.

The dude's been a god for 6 months and apparently forgot what faerun smells like, saying it 'cannot be compared to the aromas of Elysium' (this is shown when you play as his origin). He goes around to his companions and essentially in a roundabout way, begs for them to pray to him. when as a player you ask him 'you didn't dethrone Mystra? that's not very ambitious' he gets defensive by basically saying 'well i didn't say I'm giving up.' The devnote for this section says 'torn between the need to refute your accusation and knowing that doing so would be a terrible, terrible idea' - he's afraid but too proud to admit it because he does not want to be seen as weak. In his origin he can tell minthara that he can smite her, to which she replies 'better gods than you have tried.' Fucking owned. His idea of helping mortals is turning some mage's book to a helpful page. It's a fucking joke. All of these are a very hilarious and pathetic and so sad as we are witnessing his ego death in real time. There's nothing cool or awe-inspiring about who he has become. And i love that.

I think this might also be why in the epilogue he was alive and not smitten to pieces by mystra. Challenging Mystra directly and dying? now that's pretty cool shit. He may have failed but he still flew to the sun and shot his shot. few mortals can claim to have tried to both bed and behead the goddess of magic herself. But staying alive because he actually fears mystra and therefore taking the loophole to create his own domain? displaying his twisted heart for everyone to see and pity? for us to see that the true result of ambition is becoming this petty and narrow-minded? now that's just sad and pathetic. I love that.

[cinderschild]

So the cosmology and alignment system for Path.find.er slaps and here is a bullet point list explaining a little bit of why.

When it comes to alignment (good, evil, neutral, lawful, chaotic) and Outsider races (races like angels, demons, devils, and other non-natives to the planet Golarion) there are always polar opposites and two sides of the same coin. For example, demons are chaotic beings that belong to the Abyss and devils are lawful beings that belong to the Hells but are both lower plane beings/evil-aligned. On the flip side, we have the lawful angels of Heaven and the chaotic azata of Elysium, both are upper planar beings/good-aligned. There are also sooooo many other races and planes with alignments. It's honestly so freaking complex.

This is not the first universe to exist and we know this because it is stated that the goddess and judge of the dead Pharasma has lived through multiple iterations of the universe. In fact, she put the creation of this multiverse into motion because she is the only survivor from the previous. She has a freaking assassin god that lives in her spire and is most likely the one that gave the order to kill the god Aroden (the god that Iomede took over for).

The fact that Asmodeus is the only archdevil able to claim true divinity 'cause he is a god (and is one of the oldest). He hated when mortals got free will so much that he left Heaven and took over the Hells with the promise of taking that was from mortals. He is also one of the main factors holding back the end of the world because he holds the key to the prison of the god Rovagug caged in the center of Golarion that will one day devour everything in existence. He hates the caged god more than mortals to the point that it was a unanimous choice from the gods to let him be the keyholder 'cause he will never give up the key as long as he is alive. He is also considered one of the most lawful beings in existence.

That fact it freaking shows the gods being wrong and growing from it. Desna and Sarenrae are perfect examples of this! Desna accidentally let out an evil mosquito that fed on her divine blood making it a god. Sarenrae learned the importance of redemption over wrath when Rovagug tricked her into smiting her followers and exposing his prison which allowed many dangerous beasts (the spawn of Rovagug) into the world.

Some of the most powerful goddesses are in a poly relationship and are referred to as the Prismatic Ray. It is made up of Desna, Shelyn, and Sarenrae!

Notcticula is so freaking cool! After being no longer satisfied with being a Demon Lord, she decides to find a way to cut herself off from the Abyss and ascend to godhood. She is literally known as the Redeemer Queen.

The fact that there is a way to freaking become a deity via a trial for mortals involving a mythical artifact known as the Starstone. AND we have active/known deities that have become gods this way. Also, there is potential (never confirmed) that part of the trial is escaping/beating Pharasma's assassin god, Achaekek.

There is so much more and many amazing things I could talk about. Sadly, that would take days of nothing but typing to talk about. I really recommend looking into it because it's incredible.

[gunterfan1992]

Episode Review: ‘Together Again’ (Distant Lands, Ep. 3)

Airdate: May 20, 2021

Story by: Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang, Hanna K. Nyström, Christina Catucci, Jesse Moynihan, Adam Muto

Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Iggy Craig, Maya Petersen, Serena Wu

Directed by: Miki Brewster (supervising), Sandra Lee (art)

Across Adventure Time’s ten season run, the show explored a bevy of “mature” themes and story ideas—topics, like love, sexuality, depression, and grieving. The show also touched upon death, but the emphasis was usually placed on the emotional toll of a loved one dying, not really what happens when you die. We knew there were Dead Worlds and Death. We knew that there was reincarnation. But how does it all fit together? What does it mean? How does it work?

With “Together Again,” we finally have many of the answers.

This special opens with a marvelous fake-out episode simply called “Finn & Jake,” that sees the two steal a magical cartoon of 50-flavor ice cream before rescuing Turtle Princess and LSP from the clutches of the villainous Ice King. This is all deliberately anachronistic and over the top. Ice King is back to his season one ways, Finn has both arms, and he is still wielding his golden sword that he lost in season two’s “The Real You.” There’s lolrandom dialogue and silly monsters; it’s like a parody of seasons 1-2. But then, this adventure starts to get all wonky, and in time Finn realizes that he is in a some sort of trance or illusion: one that ends with Jake being buried in the ground. Suddenly, Finn awakens from his reverie. He’s an old man. And he’s dead. We’re then presented with a new title card that lets us know the episode is actually called “Finn & Jake Are Dead.”

Holy Glob! They actually went there.

Turns out Jake died years before Finn, so naturally Finn is super excited to see his best bud. But something’s wrong—he cannot find Jake!! They planned to spend eternity together. But all that Finn can find is his very own psychopomp, Mr. Fox (voiced by Tom Herpich, whose purposefully stilted line readings are the epitome of delightful). Finn rightfully assumes that Jake is in a different Dead World, and so, being the ball of spunk and energy that he is, he demands to meet with Death, only to discover that there’s a New Death in town (voiced by Chris Fleming). The episode eventually explains that New Death was the son of Death and Life, and after New Death killed his father, he became the sovereign of the afterlife. New Death hates his job and decides to just blow up all the Dead Worlds so he doesn’t have to deal with it all. (I won’t get too much into the details here, because there would be a lot of story to parse out.)

Finn soon learns that Jake has reached nirvana in the 50th Dead World, where there is nothing but peace and serenity. Finn nevertheless tracks down Jake, pulls him from paradise, but in doing so, accidentally lets New Death in, who promptly obliterates Elysium, sending all the enlightened souls—including those from different levels of the afterlife—to the 1st Dead World. This gronks up the afterlife, temporarily halting the reincarnation process.

Well, Finn and Jake are rightfully ticked, and so they haunt the material plane looking for Princess Bubblegum. She’s not home (more on that later), but Peppermint Butler is! After Ghost Finn and Ghost Jake explain the situation, Peppermint Butler tells them what to do: They need to find Life and explain the situation. The duo manage just that, and Life is rightfully angry that her kid has stopped the transmigration of souls. After Life gives Finn a McGuffin sword that can hurt Death, Finn and Jake return to his abode. A brawl ensues wherein we learn that New Death has been possessed… by none other than that spirit of the Lich.

That’s right, it’s the Lich! He’s back, and boy is he evil.

The Lich explains that by possessing Death, he can destroy the afterlife, thereby destroying a key aspect of reality. Naturally, Finn and Jake are not cool with this, and they engage in combat. After Mr. Fox grabs the McGuffin sword and uses it to annihilate the Lich and New Death, he is proclaimed the New New Death and sets everything right. Finn is slated to be reincarnated, and Jake is slated to return to the 50th Dead World where he and Finn will one day be reunited. As Finn is pulled into the wheel of souls, Jake suddenly decides to go back with Finn, too, “Just for fun.” The episode ends with a card letting us know that the episode is neither called “Finn & Jake” nor “Finn & Jake Are Dead.” Instead, it is “Finn and Jake Are Together Again.”

As they say, “And there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.”

If you were to tell me several years ago that the last episode to star Finn and Jake would revolve around them dying, I think I would’ve been upset. Not simply sad, but rather frustrated because “they all died” can feel like a cheap ending. But with “Together Again,” it all works. And a large reason that it works is because the show goes all in with their ideas. Finn and Jake don’t magically leap back into their old life (no, no, they very much do bite the dust). Instead, the special emphasizes the cyclical nature of life through the transmigration of souls. The episode ends with a beautiful scene of Finn and Jake, bound together as soul-brothers, being reborn into a new, mysterious (possibly Ooo 1000+?) world. It’s both aesthetically and emotionally pleasing; it doesn’t feel off the way over finales might. This is right. This is the way life works. “Round and round as nature goes,” and all that jazz.

I loved the series explanation of how death works. It seems that souls land in a specific Dead World, where they ‘marinate’ for a bit, presumably being rewarded or punished based on their life in our meat reality. After a time, they are then reborn. This process repeats, with each soul reaching higher and higher levels of enlightenment until they hit nirvana, which is the 50th Dead World. So in a sense, Adventure Time has a roughly Buddhist cosmology with a dash of Greco-Roman mythos thrown in for flavor. (As to what happens after a soul stays in the 50th Dead World for a long period is anyone’s guess, but I’d speculate that when all the souls in the multiverse have been purified and land in the 50th Dead World, they will all collapse into one another and form one perfect Monad. Perhaps this is the sphere of perfection that the beings who merged into Matthew thought they were connecting to? Who knows! It’s anyone’s guess!) I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see who Death, Prismo, Life, etc.’s boss was, but perhaps that’s a mystery better left up to the imagination!

One minor thing that I loved about this special was the number of characters who made cameos as well as all the callbacks that were made to previous episodes. Regarding the former: Finn and Jake’s canine family show up (including the oft-forgotten Jermaine!), as do Tree Trunks and her myriad husbands. Tiffany plays a major role in all these shenanigans as a “death cop” of all things. There is a delightful rogues gallery stuck in the 1st Dead World (including, among others, Maja, Sharon from “The Gut Grinder,” and Wyatt). In the 50th we find Ghost Princess and Clarence happily at peace next to Booshy, the weird spirit mentioned in the Pen Ward classic “High Strangeness.” As far as callbacks go, perhaps my favorite is the clap (from “James Baxter the Horse”) that Jake taught to Finn in case they ever do get separated in the afterlife. And of course, there are myriad references made to “Death in Bloom,” the episode that planted the seed for what this would grow into.

Going into the special suspecting that it would involve Death, I was curious how they were going to handle Miguel Ferrer’s character. (In case a reader is not aware, Ferrer played Death in episodes like “Death in Bloom” and “Betty,” but he sadly passed away a few years ago). The producers’ choice to feature him in a non-speaking cameo—despite playing a relatively significant role in the story—was wise; I’m not sure if I can articulate the exact reasons, but something about his role felt appropriate and not gross, as some post-mortem memorials can be. Speaking of which, the wonderful, lovely Polly Lou Livingston was featured for the last time in this episode as Tree Trunks, happily in heaven with her literal harem of husbands. It was funny, it really was, and I’m sure that Polly Lou would’ve gotten a kick out of seeing it on screen. (Also, this is a pro-Tree Trunks safe space. Any Tree Trunks haters will be chucked into the 1st Dead World with Wyatt.)

The biggest mystery in this whole thing, for me at least, is the question of Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. Several years ago, I wrote an essay about what could’ve happened to them in the Ooo 1000+ universe. I speculated that they peaced out and left Ooo behind. In this special, neither Bubblegum nor Marceline are to be found in the Candy Kingdom—Peppermint Butler seems to be the one in charge, given that he is now wearing Bubblegum’s crown. Likewise, the duo aren’t anywhere in the Dead Worlds either. Maybe the two of them skipped town and got a duplex in the Nightosphere? Who knows… I just want my favorite gals to be OK!

All things considered, “Together Again” was a marvel: An episode that managed to feel like a series finale even more than “Come Along with Me” already did without taking away from the series itself. An episode that managed to make the idea of dying funny. An episode that brought back the Lich in a way that wasn’t forced. An episode that made Mr. Fox the New New Death. An episode that gave us a beautiful ending to Finn and Jake’s story… as well as the beautiful beginning to a new one. I said it on Twitter, and I’ll say it again here: “Together Again” was the end of a sentence in a book with infinite pages. Truly, the fun will never end.

Mushroom War evidence: Everything takes place in the Dead Worlds, so not really. Perhaps a more eagle-eyed viewer can inform us...

Final Grade: That’s right, I’m gonna do it...

Post-script, I actually messaged Jesse Moynihan to ask about his writing credit. He told me that it was for an unused story idea that he had developed. I’m not certain, but I’ll bet it was a part of the cancelled TV movie they were trying to make during season 5, since that would’ve seen Finn and Orgalorg journey to the various Dead Worlds.

[monstersdownthepath]

Spiritual Spotlight: Ng, Lord of the Crossroads

True Neutral Eldest of Seasons, Secrets, and Wanderers

Domains: Knowledge, Magic, Travel, Weather Subdomains: Exploration, Seasons, Thought, Trade

The First World: Realm of the Fey, pg. 30~31

Obedience: Wear gloves, a veil, or both at all times. Wearing the items for 24 continuous hours counts as meeting the terms of the Obedience. Benefit: Gain a +4 sacred bonus on saving throws against spells and effects that damage, drain, or penalize ability scores.

Ng (which I’ve learned is pronounced “ing” like in “going” or “moving”) continues the trend of Eldest Obediences that are comically easy to perform, with his own being one of the easiest of all. Has your character crossed a pair of really nice, comfortable, magical gloves that they’d never logically take off, and they also have access to Prestidigitation? Congratulations on never failing your Obedience ever again unless forcibly stripped of your clothes. Note that you can freely switch between gloves and veil so long as one of them is still on your body at all times, so if you really need to wash your hands or hair you’ve got a way out.

There is the minor caveat in that breaking your Obedience, either through negligence or because something stopped you from wearing your uniform, costs you your bonuses and Boons for at LEAST 24 full hours rather than just until you have an hour to beg Ng for forgiveness. If you’re not Faesworn, then this loss can be painful but not debilitating... But if you ARE Faesworn, losing access to all of your class abilities for a full day can be fatal.

The bonus you get for remaining in uniform won’t allow you to keep your uniform on and unharmed, but a +4 bonus to anything that would harm or penalize your ability scores in any way is actually a LOT more amazing than it looks at first glance. For example, do you know what two extremely common conditions penalize ability scores? Fatigue and exhaustion, and thus anything that causes either condition (either by itself or as a side effect) has to get through your +4 bonus to affect you, including things like staying up all night to keep watch, marching across harsh territory, or pushing yourself beyond your normal bodily limits. Ng is a god of explorers rather than exploration itself, blessing his faithful against anything that would impact their body’s ability to carry them across the land. 

As mentioned before, the Eldest do not possess the average Evangelist/Exalted/Sentinel spread, and use the Feysworn Prestige Class. The Feysworn Prestige Class can be entered at level 6; if taken as early as possible, you get the Boons at character level 8, 11, and 14 instead of 12, 16, and 20. Yes I’m going to clarify this for every Eldest.

Boon 1: Pass Freely. Gain Expeditious Retreat 3/day, Invisibility 2/day, or Blink 1/day.

Right off the bat, Invisibility 2/day is useful in a generous handful of scenarios. From sneaking around enemy encampments to giving an ally a free Sneak Attack to just eavesdropping on a conversation you can’t be seen anywhere near, becoming invisible for minutes at a time is invaluable. Since spell-like abilities require no components to perform, you can even trick people into thinking you’ve escaped their clutches by false-casting Teleport while fading from view.

Blink is an incredible defensive action, as well, fading back and forth between two planes to avoid incoming attacks. Useful for people who really don’t want to be hit, though Invisibility is, in general, better for getting the drop on enemies to prevent you from being targeted at all. It really depends on what sort of character you are or what you plan to do later on in the day. Hell, even Expeditious Retreat has its uses when cast onto archers, mages, or otherwise-immobile tanks and bruisers.

Personally, I’d always lean towards Invisibility--the other two are better in specific situations, but turning invisible is good in just about every situation.

Boon 2: Planeswalker. You may cast Plane Shift 1/day as a spell-like ability.

.. Hm. Only once? That’s... A little disappointing, actually. Now don’t get me wrong--easily hopping from one plane to another at level 11, two levels before Wizards can do it, is quite the ability... But Clerics and Oracles can do it two levels before you can, and can do it three times per day when you’re finally able to cast it once. Now if your party doesn’t HAVE a Cleric or an Oracle, you run into a completely different problem with this ability in that you have no real way to quickly get out of the plane you just shifted into without some outside help.

All that being said, though, one of the biggest limiting factors of Plane Shift is that, normally, you need a special tuning fork aligned with a specific plane in order to visit that area, often requiring a quest by itself to find, steal, or create. Not so with Planeswalker, which bypasses that need completely and grants you access to any plane you’re aware of and the power to hone in on any specific locations you’ve gained the knowledge of. Know that Devils will soon be launching an invasion upon That Poor Town and its only means of salvation is divine intervention? Why not step directly up to Heaven’s Gate (or Nirvana’s doorstep, or Elysium’s cool tree gate, etc etc etc) and personally ask for assistance? What about bringing some angels to Hell for some personal justice? Er, so long as you can get past the doorman, I mean.

Or, hey, has one of your Faesworn allies died and you need to get into the First World to bargain with their Eldest for their freedom? Ng has given you the power to do that.

Still, not being able to shift back without outside assistance can be a huge limiter with this ability. Until you or your party has some means of returning to the Material Plane, one of the better uses for Planeswalker is body slamming your enemies out of reality. Unbound by the need for tuning forks or silly incantations, you’re free to send your foes to the furthest reaches of the Multiverse to any plane you desire, either stranding them without any hope of getting back or dying outright from a hostile atmosphere (or lack of atmosphere). It’s easy to mislead your foe into accepting this ability and denying them their saving throw, too, since it’s a spell-like--perhaps you lull your enemy into thinking you’re going to heal them, buff them, or harmlessly send them on their way.

Remember, though, what I said about Imprisonment in the Lost Prince’s article. because it applies to Plane Shift as well. If your target has something valuable on them, teleporting them across reality will just mean you have to undertake another questline to get them back.

Boy that was long! And we still have one more Boon to go over!

Boon 3: Home at the Crossroads. You may cast Maze 1/day as a spell-like ability. The target is transported into an extradimensional space consisting of an endless series of roads through a lonely, darkened forest. You may instead target yourself with this ability if you choose, transporting yourself and any number of willing targets within 100ft to the crossroads, where you may remain indefinitely without the need for food or drink. Any creature peacefully invited into the crossroads may leave by willing it (reappearing in the location they disappeared from, if possible), but cannot re-enter unless invited with another use of this ability.

Maze is an impressive spell to slap right onto something you don’t want to be around, locking a single enemy out of reality until they figure their way through the endless twists and turns, only to drop back into the fire once they find their way out. Locking a singular powerful foe, such as either half of the typical Caster And Bodyguard duo, while dealing with the lesser minions makes lots of fights much easier. Even without mooks in play, Maze can give the party a much-needed respite from a battle, enough time to recollect themselves, heal up, and prepare for when the target manages to get back out.

The secondary function, however, is infinitely more interesting. Having a sort of base to retreat back to if things get hairy is useful, especially since it has no natural hazards, and the only way in is to be a follower of Ng. It’s not elaborated on if you go to the same section of the crossroads with each use of this power, or if the crossroads can be altered in any way, and what happens to anything left behind in it, but I like to think that a powerful follower of Ng would be able to carve out a little hovel for themselves in this endless realm and return to it when needed. DMs not wanting to hand over a tool as powerful as an extradimensional home-away-from-home could simply say No to building a base of operations inside the crossroads, but the option for the DM to consider is there once the player reaches level 18+ and have proven themselves to be a truly powerful follower of the Lord of the Crossroads.

Much like how bopping an enemy into the Maze gives your team a bit of breathing room, so too does allowing your allies into it. Scrambling into the crossroads in order to rest, heal up, recuperate, and plan against whatever made them retreat in the first place is a viable tactic, especially since enemies won’t know that you and your party haven’t actually teleported away. Once you and your allies have finally gotten themselves together, you appear in the location you vanished from (if possible), which may potentially be right in the villain’s throne room or base of operations. Vanishing into the crossroads during a “collapsing lair” scenario is also effective, because like a normal Maze, if you really don’t want to reappear in the same spot you left, the crossroads can be exited via Plane Shift... Which you just so happen to be able to cast!

You can read more about him here.

[rarestereocats]

It's been a year since Virhea's death and we've all been keeping ourselves busy in one way or another.  Xaren's been hard at work building his own monastery for his people outside of town,  Industria's become a plant-person and has had her Order members spying on all of us to keep us safe,  Elathera's been spending a lot of time with her family when she's not scouting out knowledge on the planes,  and I've had a baby and published the second volume of the "Beautiful Girl Squad" series.  We've all been keeping in touch over this time and are having our weekly meet-ups at a cafe for brunch and mimosas.  It's the most normal thing any of us have probably done in ages.

We catch each other up on everything that's been happening as we've all been gifted wishes from the gods over this year too.  Industria wished she could ferry the souls of the dead,  Elathera wanted to make sure nobody could ever take away her magic under any circumstances,  Xaren wished for his brothers resurrections,  and I wished for me and my family to have a lifespan on par with elves.  Lucky and Rikius also received wishes;  Lucky spending theirs to break the curse they put on Remy's soul and Rikius simply wanting the ability to sleep.  All in all,  it's been a pretty productive year for all of us.  After brunch,  we all decide to skip over to the monastery to meet Xaren's brothers,  who we've heard a lot about these past few years,  but haven't had the chance to see yet outside of Elysium.

With his brothers met and one of them currently half a bottle deep in some wine and attempting to steal more,  me and Industria talk about how Ilyana will be going on a pilgrimage of her own in a few weeks.  She suggests it might be a good idea for Sirqi to go along,  which leads to Xaren schooling her on all the wisdom she's learned lately.  Unfortunately,  it doesn't seem like my sister's learned all that much in terms of that,  but she tries her best and we love her for it anyways.  It's agreed she'll go with Ilyana then with Antony chaperoning the two of them,  so the rest of us hop over to Elathera's plane for surprises. She shows off how powerful her summoning's got and Industria shows us what her secret project is finally.  The seed from the Tree of Life has grown into a Colossus of Life,  as Industria has named it;  an 80 ft plant-being that's powered by Virhea's soul and is made to be a weapon of peace.

Yes,  a weapon of peace,  folks.  It can also turn into a wagon that's able to drive itself,  so Arnor is officially out of work,  but is probably elated that he doesn't have to put up with us anymore.  The Colossus and one of Elathera's gigantic,  beastial summons proceed to arm wrestle which is cool as fuck.  Xaren bids us farewell after as he has monastery duties to tend to and Industria drags me and Elathera along back to the lodge for something.  I'm a little worried because I should really be getting back to my baby (don't worry,  Antony was looking after him),  but I'm led back to my old room which is now occupied by a portal.  Industria subtly (and by that,  I mean not subtly at all) acts surprised and says I should check it out,  but Elathera says something that has me worrying that I'm about to step through a portal to Hell.

Instead,  I'm treated to the sight of our hotel suite in Sicily when I step inside.  The door to the balcony is open wide and as I step outside,  I'm treated to the island under a night sky and Rikius waiting on the beach for me.  I'm unable to figure out what's happening here,  so I go to excitedly ask him and it's then that he mentions that Industria crafted this demiplane just for the two of us.  He then pulls out a beautiful circlet that he had crafted with her help and asks me to marry him.  Of course I say yes because how could I ever say no to him?  We head back to excitedly tell the others before slipping back into our private plane for some alone time.  Next morning,  we decide to go traveling on a whim to scout out possible wedding destinations.  I mention we should go somewhere with a train,  so Elathera hooks us up with a teleport spell to the nearest train.

Spoiler alert!  This train isn't near us at all and is in a city 25,000 miles away from Caelsimil and in a city called Marrakesh.  It's a colorful desert city that not only has trains,  but working electricity,  which is something none of us know about and are stunned by.  We spend several minutes admiring a lightbulb that isn't made of magic before we ask for directions to the train station.  I'm beyond excited to finally get to ride a train and the ride itself takes us all around the city so we can admire it over dinner and drinks.  Then Elathera picks a destination to scout next,  taking us to the city of Lamaki so we can see the Great Falls at the center of our world.  Industria decides the best thing to do is to hurl herself into the falls,  where she's dragged down and then launched into space where she gets to see that our planet is shaped like a donut.

Elathera creates an illusionary double of herself to throw in there so she can use its senses as her own to get a look at space.  She's amazed by the sight of the cosmos before her illusionary eyes.  Before I can get a chance to throw myself into the seemingly endless waterfall next and give everyone ten heart attacks in one go,  she uses a memory sharing spell to show me and Rikius and our minds are blow.  Now we all wonder if there's other "material planes" out there to explore.  So of course,  what do we do?  Elathera puts contingencies on all of us so that if we start to die out in space,  we'll be teleported back to this exact spot and with that,  we teleport to a random place and hope for the best.  We first reach the planet of Triaxis,  which is currently going through the winter season.  Every building is covered in ice and there's a shitload of dragons flying around in the sky while the people don't seem too concerned.

We meet some of the Triaxians,  one telling us if we want more information on what's going on,  to go hit up the main hub city.  This is all annihilating our minds and we pick up Lucky first before we continue exploring.  We're treated to the sight of futuristic cities and technology we've never seen or heard of before.  It's hard to comprehend anything that's happening around us and upon seeing spaceships,  we of course wanna ride the giant space wagons.  But first,  we're dragged into interrogation by officers of the Intergalactic Space Force who want to know what we are and where we came from.  They seem like decent folk,  so we answer their questions honestly and are given space visas.  Elathera's given a disposable camera,  which she doesn't know what the fuck to do with,  but hey;  souvenirs!  We finally get to ride a spaceship and visit one more planet before we decide we should head home and make note to question Tacitus about this later.

Next possible wedding destination is Industria's choice,  so she picks the farmlands in southern Caelsimil that her mother grew up by.  It's very pretty and reminds me of home,  so we take some time to wander around and interact with the people. Elathera thinks I should have the wedding in Nirvana,  but as she tries to open a gate to it,  the gods promptly say "no" and don't let the spell pass.  So she suggests Heaven instead,  but Industria thinks that's a bit much and suggests somewhere in Teme-Rasadar.  I know the perfect spot in that case.  It's an elegant,  sprawling garden Rikius's sisters showed to me when I first visited them,  so we go there and it's a hit with everybody.  As we admire it and think over the wedding,  some of us spot a blur of movement and what was supposed to be a good day is ruined as we recognize the cultist robes that Virhea's people adorned.

The guy's taking off fast though,  but Elathera stops him long enough with an ice wall so I can hop on his back and try to subdue him.  It's pointless though and in a few short seconds,  I'm separated from the party by this cult yet again as he teleports the two of us out of there and into a stone hallway.  I have no idea where we are,  but I can rest easy knowing it probably won't be long before the others catch up with me.

[gta-online-speedhack-vt]

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[st33d]

All These Worlds Are Yours (Except Europa)

It’s been a while since my last CRPG report and I have played quite a lot of CRPGs in the meantime. I’m going to keep it brief. It’s by no means all the games I played over the past year or so, but it is all the games that are worth playing in some fashion or another.

Yet again I didn’t really bother to get decent screenshots so you’ll have to endure some tangentially related Shutterstock photos.

Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk

It’s like Etrian Odyssey but made by horny 14 year olds. Monsters take the form of purple-black eyes that move only when you do. Colliding with them triggers a JRPG battle with your team. You must conquer around a dozen or so dungeons to defeat a mysterious evil whilst learning about your protagonist’s horny hubris.

I like how it automatically fills in the in-game map, only drawing tiles you have stepped in. Stairways also connect perfectly on most dungeons, leading to some detective work to solve them. The combat is passable. The story is PG13 with random suggestions of poop and sex without really showing any. It’s… a good game with a lot of simple mechanics that it layers up over time to make something quite complex. I really enjoyed solving the dungeons but it’s such a multilayered ball of weirdness that I hesitate recommending it. 

Dragon’s Dogma

It’s like Skyrim but with less items, less map, and decent fights. Like, really decent fights. You can climb on the back of beasts and hack pieces off of them or shoot magic arrows that do a host of cool things. The story is pretty anime - I can’t get into why without some major spoilers. Safe to say that after the first (and honestly entertaining) chunk of the game you get an overlay of falling ash pinned to your screen and the monsters become hit point sponges. That’s around when I stopped playing because it felt like I’d reached “an” ending and the rest was about beating as many dead horses with whatever sticks I could upgrade enough to hit them with. Last time I fired it up I got in an hour long fight with an off-brand beholder that basically respawned all its limbs eight times because of its egregious hit points.

You’re joined by some enthusiastic AI companions called pawns who have no story and just kinda throw themselves at enemies whilst repeating the same phrases over and over. I’m not really sure if they’re a blessing or curse. The game overall is pretty jank with terrible traversal (don’t explore, the quests will send you to every corner of the map anyway - twice). Despite all my complaints it’s a lot of fun - at least until the 1st ending. It’s cheap and I recommend it.

Sky Rogue

It’s like a lot of aircraft dogfight games but a bit random. I’ve played this a bit on single player and it’s alright. However I have played many, many, missions in the 2 player mode with a coworker. It’s just very satisfying doing the whole Top Gun team thing taking on a bunch of enemy planes whilst working on upgrades.

Disco Elysium

It’s like Planescape Torment but without the tedious combat or problematic writer behind it. There’s a video of one of the devs explaining how the dialogue is laid out like Twitter in tabloid format for easy reading. This is revolutionary. I want every computer text game to use this format from now on.

I cannot stress how important it is to enter Disco Elysium unprepared. To have no grasp on just how far you will be allowed to explore, who you will meet, who you will travel with, or what you are expected to do. It is a game about amnesia and becoming someone new - if that is at all possible.

I have two pieces of advice however:

Don’t start with Psyche or Physique stats below 2, they’re both your health and the game will surprise you with damage to either in the most unexpected places.

Do every quest. Explore every nook and cranny. Not knowing is the very essence of the game. You’ll have lost that feeling after the ending.

I don’t need to tell you how good the game is. Just look at most reviews.

Everspace

It’s like Descent (that 1st person spacecraft game on the PSX) but in space and it’s a roguelike. Everspace has you mine, salvage, fight, trade, and quest - but you do it all from the comfort of a spaceship that has responsive controls and interesting weaponry. I had a lot of fun skulking round wrecks to salvage parts whilst avoiding patrols of hostiles until I had enough kit to take them on.

It has a substandard storyline but great meta-progression, asking you to grind cash from each run to unlock parts for a better ship on the next. I put in a great deal of hours into this game and I’m looking forward to what the studio does with the sequel.

Horizon Zero Dawn

It’s like Shadow of Mordor but good. My only major complaint was how constant use of the bow had the camera staying uncomfortably close to Aloy’s arse and burying itself in grass during frenetic combat. When the camera wasn’t trying to kill me the combat was astoundingly good. You fight lumbering robo-dinosaurs with special weak spots and various attacks. The quests are also good with a surprising amount of cutscenes and dialogue for a lot of completely optional content.

I was also amazed at how they managed to pull off an almost believable backstory for a world full of robot dinosaurs. Despite some frustrating combat encounters I had a good time exploring its large and very pretty world.

Pathfinder Kingmaker

It’s like Baldurs Gate but not as good. Only on my 3rd attempt at playing the game with the newly patched in turn based mechanics did it start to make sense. It uses Pathfinder’s rules which are deep and tactical - as tactical rules go they’re pretty good. However when those rules fly by at real time speed you don’t learn how opportunity attacks work (they’re more complex than modern D&D) or how to utilise charge and positioning.

The story is pretty forgettable and the encounter design is relentlessly dull. A lot of areas are just simply fight after fight after fight. In turn based mode the fights are pretty good but too many of them are identical. The ones that weren’t I found inscrutable and impossible to pass. If you like min-max fighting and little else then have at it - but I warn you that the UI is lagging behind most popular CRPGs. You can’t even check the world map whilst in a town.

Metal Gear Solid V

It’s like an RPG. Despite not having a main character with stats, in this open world game of hide and seek you kidnap soldiers who in turn become your stats. Through them you gain access to new abilities. Through them you are drip-fed the resources you steal, only becoming able to spend all that you’ve stolen by having enough accountants to do your taxes. It is a brilliant work of roleplaying economics and a thoroughly enjoyable open world game. One where I can completely ruin a mission yet chuckle at my attempts to save what’s left of my dignity.

It also fails to stick the landing. At around the 20th mission the game starts committing to its plot and the rot sets in. Bit by bit it becomes worse to play. There was trouble at Konami when the game was made and it feels like the end of the game was hit the hardest. This was the part that was tested the least and had the worst ideas thrown into it. Metal Gear Solid V is still worth it for the 1st half of the game.

Final Fantasy 8

It’s like the other Final Fantasy games but poorly paced and balanced. The junction system is incredibly interesting in that it tries to sidestep the whole issue of items by gluing your characters to guardian angels. It’s built in card game Triple Triad is simple and engaging. The story is kinda interesting with some time travel shenanigans going on...

But it’s pacing is dreadful with endlessly copypasted rooms. The magic draw system is miserable (and yes I know you can get GFs to convert items to magic but then it’s more tedious busy work to upscale all the magic into something work attaching). The world map is shockingly empty. And the characters are just yawn, yawn, yawn.

Pick it up on sale.

Torchlight 2

It’s like Diablo 2 but not quite as good. Still worth playing though. I got it on the Switch and found that playing it with a gamepad was a pleasant experience.

It has a few balance problems with the Engineer class being ridiculously overpowered compared to any of the others (and way more fun). And there’s some annoying bugs that prompted a few reloads. Still pretty entertaining however.

Pokemon Shield

It’s like every other Pokemon game (surprise surprise) but easier. As much as I like how they’ve removed a lot of busywork from this entry, it makes it feel like the only challenge in the previous titles was the busywork. When really it was the busywork that held you back from just kerb-stomping everything in your path.

It’s not until the final DLC that you’re given some pokemon that are needlessly tedious to catch and some group battles using randomly selected pokemon that test your knowledge of the game’s systems. The only real challenge in the game is in the online multiplayer against humans where your pokemon level is normalised and encyclopedic knowledge of the title’s history is required.

My internet is terrible so the online gameplay is dead to me. It’s a very fun game, but also a very disappointing one.

Burnout Paradise

It’s like a sandbox game for cars. Except that you’re not really driving a car, it’s more like you’re driving a bobsleigh with a rocket attached to it. Unlike most driving games you aren’t given terrain that slows you down. Even if you hit a wall you’ll skate off it so long as you collide sideways. The game just wants you to drive like an arsehole and go faster and faster - to the tune of Epic by Faith No More (literally).

I mean yeah, it’s not an RPG by any stretch but it’s one of the best sandbox games I’ve played. Even when you’re not doing a “mission” you can just drive around the city finding back alleys and ramps to fly off of. It’s just a massive playground with very little negative feedback.

Cyberpunk 2077

It’s like a bunch of different games you’ve played before but not quite as good. The story is the best bit. I really liked the characters I got to hang out with. I guess I would have enjoyed the gun fights if I hadn’t been playing Doom 1 before I played it. And I would have enjoyed the stealth if I hadn’t already played Metal Gear Solid V with its superior A.I. It has cool Obra Dinn style brain movies to explore for detective work but I enjoyed the spectacle of them more than the execution (though I did enjoy them more than Obra Dinn which I found tedious to navigate or understand).

I saw one review say it was the most backwards view of the future. Not imagining what could be but endlessly paying homage to cyberpunk stories of the past.

I see other reviews say play it when it’s fixed. When the myriad of bugs (and I experienced enough to impact gameplay) are solved.

I say play the sequel. It’s worth experiencing but there’s too much going on that’s playing catch up to other titles.

Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate

It’s like Rogue. I first played Shiren 2 on the Nintendo DS and was amazed by its deep systems and story meta progression - various tales progressing in the game only after each death and subsequent replay.

This entry is technically Shiren 5. Holy shit the content in this thing. There are 15 optional dungeons with different rules. Over a hundred block pushing puzzles using various mechanics of the game that you can just walk up and play in the 2nd village you enter. A minesweeper minigame. Loads of tutorial levels. All of these give you rewards which you can take on your main adventure which is a wholly different set of dungeons. I’ve unlocked several companions to adventure with and the game is hinting there are even more later on. It is obscene the amount of value there is packed into this title. And it’s fun. A little unfair at times, but as with all roguelikes the later depths require knowledge and a lot of caution. Strong recommendation for roguelikers.

Dicey Dungeons

It’s like Dream Quest but with dice. I played the prototype of this at the 7DRL after party. Terry was quite bashful about his creation and didn’t want to submit it. I honestly didn’t see why he shouldn’t as many of us had made far worse in the past.

I put off playing this until it finally landed on the Switch as complete as any roguelike can hope to be. It’s quite different to Dream Quest in that it requires a bit of math to do well in. If you’re not prepared to do basic sums then it’s hard to make progress. Also unlike Dream Quest it’s very balanced. There’s definitely some cheesy tactics you can pull off to get cheap victories but not without some thought and planning.

In a sea of deck building roguelikes, Dicey Dungeons is quite simply refreshing. There’s a lot of good ideas in here you won’t see elsewhere - give it a go.

[warglaives]

isCritical Role was much happier and better than last week!!! Everything will be under the cut!!!

Alright so starting off, I yelled very loudly at Vax. What kind of fucking deal did you accept??!?! Like holy shit I wonder what all really changed now that all this happened!! What if he’s like super powerful!!??

Also, thank the dice gods that no time passed in the Feywilds, that could have been bad.

Pike and Sarenrae!!! That was cool! The Elysium Fields sound cool af, and then the Isle of Renewal and everything sounds so beautiful and everything about all of Pike and all that was amazing!! Like Sarenrae gave her a key to plane shift right TO HER like what??? Also, Pelor is on that plane!! There’s no way he doesn’t know about Percy and all that he’s done for Whitestone!!

I really hope that they each get a god, but Percy would be a big issue since he’s not comfortable with gods and such. 

And then the guards. Grog and Scanlan doing anything together is always amazing but holy shit. All of Vasselheim’s guards are on the alert for Grog. And Scanlan. Holy shit. And then the part with the hat, Travis literally turned so red I was crying

And now, word is out about Vecna! They used the Orbs!! 

Overall tho, good episode, everyone’s alive, and good progress is being made.

Still worried about Vecna tho.

[salty-dracon]

the relationship between tmx/feathers, halfwaydead, and magical aus in my work

exactly what the title says

This is something I’ve wanted to talk about for a while now for no particular reason other than that I need to document it. 

So first, the stories I mentioned. 

TMX (T Minus Xero) is about a teenage girl named Brooke who dies in a car crash and goes to heaven. She finds herself on a train with a bunch of other teenagers, including her soon-to-be friends Julien and Arthur. They learn that each person has a guardian angel that watches over them until they die. Brooke’s guardian is named Grey, Julien’s is Amelia, and Arthur’s is Lucia. However, due to some mishaps, they end up seeing the truth about their guardians. Eventually they escape to Xero, which is an organization dedicated to helping people escape from the guardians. Eventually they learn that they were all killed by their guardians to prevent them from going to hell, and they kill their guardians for it. Eventually the guardians lose the war. 

Feathers is a different story along the same lines. In Feathers, Brooke, Julien and Arthur are first-year college students visiting Brooke’s hometown for the summer. They learn that there has been an alarming number of suicides in the town. After piecing together some clues, they realize that the killer is a supernatural being of some sort. They manage to summon it (it’s an angel), and learn that it is telling people an “absolute truth” of some kind. When Brooke meets with it alone, it introduces itself as Grey, Brooke’s guardian angel and “brother”. Grey then pressures Brooke to join him in his quest to destroy humanity. Ideally the story has three different endings- one where Brooke and her friends kill Grey, one where Brooke follows Grey and destroys the entire human race in a nuclear war, and one where Brooke lives and dies a natural death and goes to heaven on her own. 

Halfway Dead is about a teenage girl named Laurie, who is very pretentious and self-righteous. One night her friend is killed, and she learns that she is an Architect of Hell, a being that can warp space in the Planes of Hell. One of these planes is dedicated to an eternal party, known as Hell’s Gala, and other Architects like her reside there. While balancing her life in the day she trains at night under a powerful architect named Narcissa, but finds herself slowly falling in love with the mysterious Damian, who is training under Narcissa’s enemy and brother Luke. 

The magical AUs generally take place between our world (Earth) and the Rift, which is a place of refuge for magical creatures. Land creatures like centaurs, satyrs, elves, and dryads roam the earth, sky creatures like fallen angels and harpies roam the air (and floating islands) and sea creatures like mermaids, naiads, and sirens live in the oceans. Venus is the child of a fallen angel and a werewolf, while Ares is pure fallen angel. They are the nephews of Oliver (Dark Angel in SECRET Agents, and actually a fallen angel in this AU), specifically his sister’s children. There are many portals from the Rift to Earth, which manifest at random spots, and can be entered and exited at will. However, they can only be seen by magical creatures. These portals come into play in Pain in the Neck as well as another magic au I’m working on.

SAHunters, as well as these magic aus, also feature monster hunters: Lumi, Sam, and May being three of them, working for an organization called MOSAIC. They often exhibit extreme prejudice against monsters and will go out of their way to kill any they find. They are armed with crossbows and can target the weaknesses of almost any monster. However, Lumi, as seen in SAHunters, does feel bad for some of the things she does. 

So after all of that, I’m going to explain the link:

There is no purgatory in my work, only a heaven and hell. There are specific rules for entering heaven, which are usually not met in today’s world. Hell, however, is not fire and brimstone, but instead just a cool place to chat and socialize and make friends, and you can do whatever you want with your personal plane, including hide there if you don’t like people! Plus, most likely, all of your friends will end up there.

In many ways, in fact, heaven is worse. In TMX, guardians are seen to be possessive- they may mean well, but they still see their earthly halves as “theirs”, considering they have more power one-on-one. Most people in heaven get along very well with their guardians, but for some the connection doesn’t exist, as is the case with Brooke and Grey. They are spiritual siblings, but while Brooke is gentle and prefers to let humanity run its course, Grey has the desire to kill all humans so they may all enter heaven. It is not uncommon for guardians and humans to have opposing viewpoints, as will also be seen with Julien and Amelia. Julien is genderfluid and wishes to go by they/them (or i accidentally write she/her sometimes) pronouns, but Amelia wishes Julien were a boy, as they were named at birth. This disparity makes Julien realize that Amelia doesn’t really care about their feelings, and they leave for Xero. Some guardians are benevolent, though, like Lucia with Arthur. Lucia is shocked and hurt when Arthur leaves to join Xero, but when Arthur explains that he is much happier surrounded by friends, she accepts his feelings. If one decides to stay with their guardians, they have a small chance of ever seeing other humans again. 

Fallen angels are a different race. Some angels were born to guard heaven as a whole, but for some reason or another, fell and became demons. These were the beginning of the fallen angel bloodline. They are often at odds with angels, and labeled as impure. 

Each person on Earth has two personal planes (empty pocket dimensions) - one in heaven and one in hell. The plane in heaven is relatively small, and also the residence of the person’s guardian, who has ultimate control over it. The plane in hell is infinitely big and under the control of the person. Architects can control any plane, however, including overriding the owner of the plane. There are also common planes that anyone can use. In hell the only one is Hell’s Gala, and in heaven, there are seven of them. Only one is named- Elysium. They will all be named after heavens in different mythologies. 

Now for monsters... 

Many of my characters are magical creatures of some sort or in some AU. Adrian is a vampire, Narin is a siren, Thaumas is a merman, Aditi is a naga, etc. There are three main classes of monsters- demonic, animalistic, and holy, but they intersect more often then not. 

Demonic monsters are demons (Ares and Adrian are examples). 

Holy monsters are heavenly creatures of some sort (Grey is an example). 

Animalistic monsters do not fall in either category, but find their genetic roots in both animals and humans (Thaumas and Aditi are examples).

Obviously merfolk+merfolk=baby merman/maid. 

Also, fish+human=baby merman/maid.

Buuuut it’s more complicated than that.

For example, the offspring of a demon and a merman/maid would be a siren (like Narin) and the offspring of a holy monster and a merman/maid would be a naiad. However, some just don’t mix and match properly. Although a werewolf is the offspring of a demon and a wolf, Venus is the offspring of a fallen and a werewolf... and he doesn’t fall under a specific name. He does, however, have the powers of both fallen and werewolf.

Magical creatures are often created in other ways, however, such as demonic conversion (which fallen!Oliver tries... a lot), infection (in the case of vampires, though Adrian was born one), and in some rare cases, are just the chance offspring of two parents who happen to carry a certain gene (such as Aditi- both of her parents were humans, but she was born a naga). Dryads are created when a holy monster fuses itself with a tree. Mages, featured in my earlier AU work, are created when an animal’s spirit bonds with a human’s, granting the human its power. Lily was a fox mage and Michy was a bat mage in these stories. 

The offspring of a holy creature and a demon is a human. However, that human carries a special recessive gene. If it has a child with someone who carries the same gene, there’s a chance that their child will be an Architect, like Laurie and Narcissa. 

In conclusion:

Heaven sucks.

Fear the angels. 

Planes are pocket dimensions and some are fun.

Venus is an adorable abomination of nature. 

Fuckin’ Architects, man. 

I have elaborate AUs.