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lesbomination · 4 months ago

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Dead By Daylight New Chapters: Ben 10

^ in the throes of hyperfixation, possibly part of a series I’ll get going on. Lengthy text under the cut.

Cosmetics are reminiscent of their Alien Force designs (except Vilgax)

SURVIVOR: Ben Tennyson The Adaptive Hero -- A resourceful and quick-thinking Survivor who uses his agility & resilience to outmaneuver the Killer. His perks, Omnitrix Override, Adaptive Instinct, and Power Surge, allow him to escape danger, recover faster, and stay one step ahead of his enemies.

BIO: Ben Tennyson was born for adventure. At the age of ten, he discovered the Omnitrix, a powerful alien device that allowed him to transform into various extraterrestrial heroes. With it, he dedicated himself to fighting threats across the galaxy. Now a teenager, Ben’s skills had only grown, but so had his overconfidence. His arrogance nearly cost him dearly when he was ambushed by Vilgax, the warlord who had spent years trying to claim the Omnitrix for himself. During their battle, a mysterious rift tore through reality, swallowing both of them. Ben awoke in a world that defied logic, his Omnitrix flickering uselessly on his wrist. The alien transformations he once relied on were gone, forcing him to depend only on his wits and willpower. But Ben wasn’t the kind of hero who gave up easily. If there was a way in, there had to be a way out -- and he was going to find it.

PERK 1: Omnitrix Override Each time you safely unhook a Survivor or stun the Killer, gain one charge of Override (max 2 charges). When injured, you can consume 1 charge & heal yourself for 25% of your missing health over 8 seconds. If you are fully healed, using Override grants you Endurance for 6 seconds instead. Each charge lasts for 60 seconds before expiring.

PERK 2: Adaptive Instincts When performing a rushed vault, gain a 3% Haste status effect for 4/5/6 seconds. Has a cooldown of 30 seconds. If you perform a rushed action near the Killer, you leave no scratch marks for 3 seconds.

PERK 3: Power Surge For every 10% of a generator repaired, gain a 1%/2%/3% bonus to repair speed, stacking up to 3 times. If you hit a Great Skill Check, you retain your highest bonus for 10 seconds, even if you leave the generator.

SURVIVOR: Gwen Tennyson The Arcane Prodigy -- A mystically gifted Survivor who uses her supernatural awareness and strategic mind to outlast the Killer. Her perks, Mana Shield, Hex Sense, and Lucky Escape, give her defensive magic, the ability to detect dangers, and an uncanny knack for slipping away from trouble.

BIO: Gwen Tennyson always had a keen mind and a sharp intuition, but as she grew older, she discovered something even greater -- a connection to mana, the life energy that coursed through the universe. Unlike Ben, who relied on the Omnitrix, Gwen honed her abilities through discipline & knowledge, training to become a powerful sorceress. When she & Ben were ambushed by Vilgax, Gwen fought back with all her strength, but something far worse happened. A dark force beyond even Vilgax’s power ripped through reality, dragging them into a nightmarish realm of endless fog & lurking horrors. Her magic still flickered at her fingertips, but it was weaker, unstable -- the Entity’s world seemed to suppress her true power. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew that something terrible & ancient was feeding off the fear & suffering here. If she wanted to survive, she had to be smart, fast, and careful. She had to think like a Tennyson.

PERK 1: Mana Shield When in the injured state, gain Endurance for 3/4/5 seconds after vaulting a window or pallet. This perk activates once per chase and resets 30 seconds after losing the Killer. While this perk is active, you leave no scratch marks for 3 seconds after vaulting.

PERK 2: Hex Sense While within 12/16/20 meters of a Hex Totem, it is revealed to you with a faint aura. Cleansing a Hex Totem grants you a 2% Haste effect for 6 seconds. Blessing a Totem while this perk is equipped increases the blessing speed by 20%.

PERK 3: Lucky Escape After wiggling free from the Killer or escaping their grasp, break into a sprint at 150% movement speed for 3 seconds. This effect causes Exhaustion for 60/50/40 seconds. If you vault a window or pallet within 5 seconds after breaking free, gain an additional 2% Haste for 3 seconds.

KILLER: The Conqueror (Vilgax) The Conqueror -- A merciless alien warlord who wields brute strength, calculated strategy, and technology to dominate his prey. His power, Omnipotent Terror, allows him to crush obstacles, grapple Survivors, and leap across the map. His perks, Relentless Pursuit, Dread Incarnate, and Galactic Conqueror, enhance his chase potential, weaken Survivors near hooks, and disrupt objectives.

BIO: Vilgax was feared across the galaxy, a warlord whose name alone struck terror into countless worlds. He had spent years hunting the Omnitrix, believing it to be the key to his ultimate conquest. Each time he clashed with Ben Tennyson, he came closer to claiming its power, but time and time again, the boy slipped through his grasp. Until now. Using forbidden Null Void technology, Vilgax launched his final assault on Earth, capturing Ben & Gwen before they could escape. Victory was within his hands -- until something else interfered. A tear in reality, neither natural nor technological, pulled them into a realm unlike anything he had encountered. His cybernetic sensors failed to map it, his warship disappeared, and the very air was filled with a force older than time itself. It didn’t take long for Vilgax to realize what this place was -- a hunting ground, where killers were shaped into monsters even greater than himself. He would not be tamed. He would conquer this world, as he had conquered so many before. No force in the universe could stand against him. And no one would escape his grasp.

POWER: Omnipotent Terror Vilgax utilizes his Cybernetic Strength and Tentacle Grapple to hunt down Survivors. Tentacle Grapple: Vilgax can extend a tentacle strike up to 8 meters, damaging survivors and briefly slowing them for 3 seconds. If a Survivor is hit twice with Tentacle Grapple, they are grabbed and pulled toward Vilgax. If the survivor is healthy, they become injured; if they are injured, they enter the Dying State. Cybernetic Strength: Vilgax can smash vaults and pallets, breaking them 15% faster than other Killers. After breaking an object, he gains a 5% movement speed boost for 3 seconds.

PERK 1: Relentless Pursuit After breaking a pallet or a breakable wall, gain a 5% Haste effect for 6/8/10 seconds.

PERK 2: Dread Incarnate Survivors within 12/16/20 meters of a hooked Survivor suffer from Oblivious and Exhausted while they remain in range.

PERK 3: Galactic Conqueror When a generator is completed, the two furthest remaining generators regress by 5%/7%/10% and are blocked for 6 seconds.

WEAPON: Sword of Ascalon A legendary alien blade infused with unstoppable power.

SPECIAL ABILITY: Conqueror’s Wrath Upon hooking 2 survivors, Vilgax gains a charged leap ability for 20 seconds, allowing him to jump forward up to 12 meters. If he lands within 4 meters of a Survivor, they become Exposed for 6 seconds. This ability has a cooldown of 45 seconds.

SPECIAL OBJECTS: Null Void Portals Vilgax can summon Null Void Portals to alter the environment and create deadly zones for Survivors. Vilgax can place up to 3 Null Void Portals at a time. Once a new one is placed, the oldest one disappears. Portals last for 30 seconds and have two key effects: Disruptive Energy Field -- Survivors within 5 meters of an active portal experience Oblivious and Hindered. Tethered Strike -- If a Survivor is hit within 5 meters of a portal, Vilgax immediately teleports to their location, cutting off their escape.

SPECIAL INTERACTION: Titan’s Grip When grabbing a Survivor from a vault or locker, Vilgax lifts them high with one arm before slamming them into the ground with devastating force. Effect: The grabbed Survivor is instantly inflicted with Deep Wound, even if saved mid-animation. If the Survivor was already injured, they enter the Dying State immediately. Nearby Survivors within 6 meters experience a brief screen distortion and a heartbeat audio spike, causing disorientation.

SPECIAL LOCOMOTION: Leap of the Tyrant Vilgax can perform a powerful forward leap, covering a long distance in a single bound. Leap Distance: Up to 12 meters. Cooldown: 20 seconds. If he lands near a Survivor (within 4 meters): They are inflicted with Hindered; vaults and pallets within 3 meters of the landing zone are shaken, increasing their drop animation time by 25%.

NEW MAP: The Null Void Randomly spawning Null Void creatures appear in the background, adding to the ominous atmosphere. Crows are replaced by Null Guardians.

#ben 10 #dead by daylight #dbd new chapters #< tag for now. wanted to call it ''hypothetical chapters'' but thats a mouthful

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avoskorm · 4 months ago

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Dragon Age: The Veilguard - Character Skills and Descriptions

Bellara:

Ability - Fade Bolts Damage: 390 ⚡Electricity Cooldown: 🔄38s 🎇Detonates 🛡Sundered Bellara channels the energy of the Fade through her gauntlet to unleash a volley of magic projectiles. Applies Shocked on hit.

Passive - Painstaker Fade Bolts Critical damage: +25%

Passive - Flare Shot Fade Bolts Damage vs. Barrier: +50%

Ability Upgrade - Direct Current Fade Bolts Shocked is now applied to all enemies within 6 meters of the target. This skill cannot be purchased while Veiled Courage is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Veiled Courage Fade Bolts Stagger +100% This skill cannot be purchased while Direct Current is acquired.

Passive - Quick Flash Fade Bolts Cooldown duration: -20%

Greater Passive - Rapid Returns Fade Bolts Lethally 🎇Detonating an enemy with this Ability grants Quickened

Ability Upgrade - Refraction Fade Bolts Now fires an additional, smaller projectile at a random enemy. This skill cannot be purchased while Power Surge is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Power Surge Fade Bolts On impact, bolts of lightning shoot out of the target, causing ⚡Electric damage to any enemies struck. This skill cannot be purchased while Refraction is acquired.

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Ability - Replenish Healing: 1,096 Cooldown: 🔄36s Veil Jumpers never know what the Fade might throw at them. Bellara throws you a magical lifeline, instantly restoring your health.

Passive - Run it Back Replenish Cooldown duration: -20% This also applies to Contingency.

Ability Upgrade - Contingency Replenish When you have Low Health, Replenish automatically triggers if it is not on cooldown. Auto-fire does not apply cooldown. Manual activation will remain available.

Ability Upgrade - Endure Replenish When you have Low Health, healing is increased by 50% This skill cannot be purchased while Top Form is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Top Form Replenish Healing bonus: +25% This skill cannot be purchased while Endure is acquired.

Passive - More Vigor Replenish When used, gain 20% of your Ultimate. This bonus is applied only during combat.

Greater Passive - Pillar of Health Replenish On activation, now also grants Immovable.

Ability Upgrade - Spirit Shield Replenish On activation, if you have Low Health, you gain Invulnerable This skill cannot be purchased while Steady Ground is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Steady Ground Replenish When you gain Immovable through Replenish, its duration is increased by 50%. This skill cannot be purchased while Spirit Shield is acquired.

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Ability - Galvanized Tear Damage: 260 ⚡Electricity Cooldown: 🔄28s Bellara creates a controlled tear in the Veil concentrating on enemies but sparing allies. Draws enemies towards a point on the battlefield, then deals damage to those pulled in close.

Passive - Veil Master Galvanized Tear Cooldown duration: -20%

Passive - Electrocution Galvanized Tear Stagger: +50%

Passive - Voltaic Rift Galvanized Tear Damage vs. Armor: +25% Damage vs. Barrier: +25%

Ability Upgrade - Surge of the Ancients Galvanized Tear When the tear closes, a shockwave spreads, dealing 150 ⚡Electric damage. This skill cannot be purchased while Energy Trap is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Grasp of the Beyond Galvanized Tear Radius: +50%

Ability Upgrade - Shockwave Galvanized Tear When the tear opens, it sends out a shockwave of energy that deals 150 ⚡Electric damage

Ability Upgrade - Energy Trap Galvanized Tear Leaves behind a hazard that deals 50 ⚡Electric damage every second to enemies caught within it. The effect lasts 6 seconds. This skill cannot be purchased while Surge of the Ancients is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Lingering Spark Galvanized Tear Lingering hazards from Energy Trap now apply Shocked every second.

Ability Upgrade - Displacement Galvanized Tear Energy Trap now deals 10% more damage for each Shocked stack on the target.

**********

Ability - Time Slow Cooldown: 🔄48s An Arlathan relic enables Bellara to conjure concentrated time anomalies on the battlefield. While active, these anomalies reduce the movement of enemies and companions, but allow you to continue moving and attacking at normal speed.

Passive - Seize the Moment Time Slow While this effect is active, you deal 25% more damage.

Passive - Windfall Time Slow When the effect ends, you gain 50 Mana. This bonus is applied only during combat.

Ability Upgrade - Relay Effect Time Slow When the effect ends, you gain Precision. This skill cannot be purchased while Short Circuit is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Short Circuit Time Slow When the effect ends, all enemies take 150 ⚡Electric damage. This skill cannot be purchased while Relay Effect is acquired.

Greater Passive - Hasten Time Slow When Time Slow is active, your next ability does not have a Mana cost.

Passive - Time Leak Time Slow Cooldown duration: -20%

Ability Upgrade - Stop the Clock Time Slow This Ability's slowing effect is intensified. This skill cannot be purchased while Chrono Control is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Chrono Control Time Slow Companions can use Abilities during Time Slow, and active cooldowns are reduced by 25%. This skill cannot be purchased while Stop the Clock is acquired.

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Ability - Enfeebling Shot Damage: 234 ⚡Electricity Cooldown: 🔄36s Applies ⚔Weakened Bellara fires a magic-infused shot from her bow, dousing her target in Fade magic. Deals high Stagger.

Passive - Barrier Buster Enfeebling Shot Damage vs. Barrier: +50%

Passive - Speed Shift Enfeebling Shot Cooldown duration: -20%

Ability Upgrade - Enervate Enfeebling Shot ⚔Weakened effectiveness: +10% This skill cannot be purchased while Wither is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Wither Enfeebling Shot ⚔Weakened duration: +20% This skill cannot be purchased while Enervate is acquired.

Greater Passive - Overload Enfeebling Shot On hit, applies Shocked to the target.

Passive - Critical Shot Enfeebling Shot Critical damage: +25%

Ability Upgrade - Electric Precision Enfeebling Shot On Critical hit, grants Precision. This skill cannot be purchased while Flash of Lightning is acquired.

Ability Upgrade - Flash of Lightning Enfeebling Shot On a Critical hit, the cooldown of this Ability is reduced by 20%. This skill cannot be purchased while Electric Precision is acquired.

**********

Veilguard Skill - Lingering Strike Bellara's Replenish skill now applies ⚔Weakened in a 6-meter radius around you. Whenever Bellara applies ⚔Weakened, it also deals 200 ⚡Electric damage and renders the target Shocked.

#datv spoilers #long post #i'm splitting these up by character since these are already long af #for reference #dragon age #veilguard #dragon age: the veilguard #bellara lutare

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ananke-xiii · 9 months ago

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Missing Mothers and Missed Opportunities

Or: There can be three, four fathers in this show but there can only be one mother (and she doesn’t even want to be there, lol)!

One way that I like to see the first episodes of s13 is focusing on missed opportunities. Sam’s mind is in the past, he is very much ruminating about his missed opportunity with his mother while Dean’s mind is in the future as he is trying to deal with the fact that Cas is dead (although, to be honest, I think Cas’s death is a catalyst for Dean's much deeper issues related to his identity. As I’ve already said, in s12 Dean was in the process of understanding who he was regardless of his relationships and while he had some sort of reconciliation with Mary, he didn’t have any with Cas).

It’s no wonder, then, that Sam thinks that Cas and Mary might still be alive while Dean doesn’t. In Supernatural the past can come back and if it’s come back once why can’t it come back again? Past is hope. The future, however, is always “doom and gloom” in this series, it’s apocalypses, it’s “it ends bad, it ends bloody”, it is, in other words, super pessimistic. And “The Future” is impersonated in Jack and in the visions of the future he transmitted to Castiel which Dean blames for his death.

Sam is smart but it doesn’t take a genius to understand that if Jack has opened the rift once he might be able to open it again. Therefore, Sam sees in Jack an opportunity: if Jack can control and manage his powers he might open the rift again and Sam could get his mother back. What’s more, he also starts to see (what he thinks he’s) himself in Jack.

Dean: I told him the truth. See, you think you can use this freak but I know how this ends and it ends bad. Sam: I didn’t. Dean: What? Sam: I didn’t ‘end bad’. When I was the freak, when I was drinking demon blood. Dean: Come on man, that’s totally different. Sam: Was it? Because you could’ve put a bullet in me. Dad told you to put a bullet in me, but you didn’t! You saved me! So help me save him! Dean: You deserved to be saved, he doesn’t! Sam: Yes he does, Dean, of course he does!

The “What?” shows how the two are talking about completely different things. Maybe it was the word “freak” that triggered Sam, however I tend to agree with Dean here: Sam and Jack are not “totally different” but they are different. What I disagree with is when Dean says that Jack doesn’t deserve to be saved (Dean, Dean, Dean… you, just like everybody else, don’t need to “de-serve” anything. I swear to God the day we realize what the words we use actually mean maybe the world will really start changing). Because the thing is that Jack doesn’t need to be saved. He’s not a human who drank demon blood for what he thought was “the greater good” but turned out to be the beginning of his end. He was not part of a gigantic, messy, blatant scam involving Heaven and Hell. Jack’s partially the result of both Lucifer’s delusions of grandeur regarding Creation and Kelly’s conservative and dreamy desire to have a baby with the President of the USA (he was never gonna put any ring on it, girl and you knew it. Btw, Kelly is the baby-trapper in this story and no one else, I won’t change my mind ever), but he is nevertheless one of the most powerful beings in all existence. I honestly think that the only character who has ever understood Jack was Donatello.

Donatello: Oh. Speaking not as a prophet but as a scientist, I don’t think teaching him is in the cards. It’s like asking a lion not to be a lion. Sam: But this is not a lion! This is a human! Donatello: With a strong dose of God juice.

It’s not a strong dose of demon blood, Sam. It’s God juice, okay? LOL. Anyway, Donatello is super on point here: Jack is human and not-human. He’s a living aporia, the character where all the false dichotomies of the series show their fallacies. He’s “both… and” incarnated. He’s born and he’s already in his 20s. He’s a child and he’s a not-child. He has an age and he’s without age. Nobody will ever come close to understanding him if they cling close to a “black or white, good or evil” mentality. And this is why the show totally failed (for me) in s14 and how Sam is also failing here because he projects his own (respectable and very real) Lucifer-related issues with evilness onto Jack. Jack is beyond “good and evil” because he’s both human and angel, he embodies two different moralities and also transcends both of them because he’s neither only human nor only angel. To sum up, I don’t think that Supernatural, with its structure and its specific morality, could have handled a character like Jack. And this is why the show has to de-power him, de-soul him, make him die and resurrect etc.

Back to Sam and his failings. He projects his own stuff onto Jack, he wants to use him as a “can-opener”, he thinks Jack can be saved from “evil” because he can teach him. My question is: how much can Sam be negatively judged for these actions? My answer is: not so much.

As far as projections go, this is what he’s been doing from S1. Per SPN structure, both Sam and Dean have been projecting and identifying their issues onto the monsters of the weeks for 15 seasons. Jack is just the “Monster of the Season”. Projection and identification, identification and projection… I mean, this is what the show is about. If all of sudden Sam had woken up and miraculously solved all his identity-related issues the show would have been over.

As far as the utilitarian aspect goes, Sam has actually made some progress here. He “only” surveils Jack via cameras and tries to convince him to do some stupid exercises with a pencil. Previously on Supernatural Sam had literally enslaved, chained and imprisoned the people/creatures he wanted to use. These kids, they grow up so fast :”).

As far as the “do no evil” teaching goes, now here’s what’s really interesting to me.

The episode is “The Rising Son” and Sam’s passionate plea for Jack’s goodness via his teachings is paralleled to Asmodeus’s attempt at locating Jack in order to find him and harness his “timeless knowledge and unschooled power”. Asmodeus acts like Lucifer acted with Sam in S11 in that he pushes Jack to open up the earth “for God” (“I speak the words of God”, “God has a message for you”, “Do it for God” etc). Since Lucifer’s not here, though, Asmodeus wants to “[have]him (Jack) found and trained to rule. With me as his humble advisor, of course”. Of course we know he will fail because he himself says that he had tried to train the Shedim in the past and utterly failed.

ASMODEUS: I know the perils of Lucifer’s disappointment. DREXEL: He—he did that? ASMODEUS: Long ago. Eager to please, I freed the shedim. DREXEL: You… Oh, I’ve heard stories about— ASMODEUS: Oh, I’m sure you have. Hell’s most savage. Things so dark, and base, God himself would not allow them into the light. But I, in my pride, believed that I could train them. Use them. But Lucifer feared them, as well he should, so he forbade it, locked them up again.

This, of course, means that Sam will fail to train Jack/the Shedim too.

The parallel between Asmodeus and Sam must be explored because the show seems to pass it as an Evil (Asmodeus) vs Good (Sam) training but it’s not as simple as that. There’s even a scene where Asmodeus-as-Donatello talks about Jack with Sam and he seems to agree with Sam’s theory that Jack can be molded. While Sam thinks so because “Kelly was a good person”, Asmodeus-as-Donatello is obviously more interested in his evil father’s lineage.

While it’s true that both of them don’t even consider to give Jack a choice, to ask him questions and to try to understand him, they’re not exactly wrong when they agree that Jack’s powers do need some training, regardless of why they’re interested in his powers, Jack doesn’t have a grip on how his powers work. The show insistence on “good vs evil", however, completely ignores the very valid point where Jack’s powers are simply neither good or evil per se but they are “only” a(nother) force to be reckoned with.

This “good vs evil” thing obscures something very important and I think a distinction must be made here about what "training" really means in this context: Sam wants Jack to learn to master his powers, so that he (Jack) can be in control of them; on the other hand, Asmodeus wants to exploit Jack because of his powers, he wants to be the one who’s in control of them.

Both Sam and Asmodeus have an agenda, clearly, they’re also two characters very much interested in power. But when Asmodeus says that he wants to train Jack what he really has in mind is to groom him. Asmodeus’ techniques are very similar to Crowley’s with baby Amara and Demon Dean (I know Dean was not a child but he was one metaphorically because Crowley calls himself “Father” and “daddy” while he calls Dean “a rather scrumptious altar boy”. Ugh). These are predators’ techniques: their intent is to create intimacy with a person (for instance, Asmodeus takes on Donatello’s resemblance to lure Jack and take him to the Hell’s Gate), usually a child, to make them do what they want and abuse their victims, victims who usually don’t even realize they’re victims (Jack doesn’t know he’s being manipulated).

This is NOT what Sam means when he says he can teach Jack. Sam’s utilitarian mindset can be reproachable but his intent is not the same as Asmodeus. Sure, it’s still absolutely problematic but, again, his intent is not to open up the earth to release the Shedim and use Jack to rule Hell. He wants to open the rift to the Apocalypse World to find his mother. He is, in other words, being a softer version of John Winchester. In fact, he is replicating John’s methods because this is what he grew up with and this is what he knows. Avenging Mary’s death, finding Mary in the AU… even if the intent might be comprehensible it doesn’t justify both John and Sam’s attitude towards the reaching of their ends. Yet, their ways are still not the same ways of a Crowley or an Asmodeus.

The other thing is that John was Sam’s father. He was father to two human children whom he raised as if their childhood was a huge, endless military training. Training someone, as a concept, is not evil: if you have a skill or a talent or whatever, you need to train and learn and explore your limits. Having someone who believes in you and wants to help you in your training is not evil too: in fact, it might be a very good thing. It’s a problematic thing, however, when your caregiver is more focused on the training than the care. It’s even more problematic if said caregiver is a paranoid who raised his sons as soldiers. But this is still NOT the same thing as demons such as Crowley and Asmodeus do.

The differences in "training" and what Sam fails to understand about what happened with Asmodeus is explained in "Patience":

SAM: Even with Asmodeus, that just happened?

JACK: No, he made me. It was like, like he was in my head.

SAM: Okay um, then uh… Imagine him doing that.

JACK: No!

SAM: No? Why not?

JACK: Because I don’t want to! It’s just… I can’t do this! And you keep staring at me, waiting!

Asmodeus made Jack use his powers, he was in his head. He had also abducted him, manipulated him: he wasn't trying to train him, he was trying to groom him. Of course Jack doesn't want that.

If Sam is replicating his father's teachings we must then ask: who is Jack to Sam in this moment in the narrative? He’s definitely not his son nor his sibling. But he's not someone Sam keeps in locks either. As I’ve said, Sam has never been above imprisoning people in his dungeon to reach his goal, yet he takes another road with Jack, maybe precisely because he’s identifying with him and projecting onto him his own fears and issues with “being evil” and “being a freak”. There is something very similar between the two but what is it? And why is it not expressed? Maybe Sam is not Jack the way he thinks he is but they do share one thing: they have both missed the opportunity to create a bond with their respective mothers.

Sam only really utterly fails Jack when he’s dishonest with him. He eventually understands that and comes clean with him but I think that a lot of the initial issues happened because he was not communicating with Jack at all. And he didn’t even give him a choice. I think that if Sam were honest with Jack and gave him the choice to help him he would have discovered another thing that make them veeeery similar: both of them are okay with twisting human morality and… sort of… manipulate people a little to get what they want. Does this make them evil villains? To me, no. Does this make them human, layered, compelling characters that raise interesting moral questions more than give black and white answers? Totally yes!

Sam and Jack are not “totally different” but they are different. Conversely, they are not “totally similar” but they are similar. The Rescuing of the Mother can happen because The Loss of the Mother is something that Jack can deeply understand and relate to. He doesn’t want to save Mary just to please Sam and Dean. I think it’s deeper than that.

In case it wasn't clear, the conflation of Mary and Kelly is very clear in "The Big Empty":

MIA: You’ve lost someone recently? DEAN: No. JACK: My mother. SAM: Uh, our mother. We’ve having a difficult time.

Mary-as-Missed/Missing-Mother is such a central theme in this season that the Apocalypse World is a literal ramification of the Original World that's solely dependent on Mary Winchester’s choice to not deal with Azazel. John is never brought back and, more importantly, Sam and Dean are never born. This is a world where she’s not the mother. But why is Mary’s choice so vital it can create different timelines?

S12 and S13 implicitly seem to tell that everything that happened was because of Mary’s choice and… it’s, like, not true? Sometimes Sam and Dean are so ultra-focused on “free will” and “making the right choices” that tend to forget the part where both them and their parents were part of a larger scheme that was predicated on people ultimately being herd towards a designed pen. Like, while I think that Dean and Sam having issues with their mother is completely real and plausible, I don’t understand why the narrative re-frames itself in this way… I understand that they were going for a specific retelling of the first seasons but this is not just retelling, this is demolishing the premises of those series. S4-5 were precisely about the mystification and the perils of a glorified, Grand Destiny that in reality was nothing but a Big Scam. It’s not your destiny if your destiny is something that somebody else is telling you about and when this somebody else has a vested interest in you believing that you have that specific destiny. Or if somebody else is removing all of your choices leaving you with close to nothing to choose from.

Apocalypse World is, thus, such an unfair double-edged sword, cause on the one hand, it gives Mary agency but on the other it shows us that both choices resulted in… well, frankly, catastrophes. And I think it’s unfair to throw this huge weight onto her shoulders after they had dug her up from her grave while completely ignoring the whole thing about senior management angels playing puppeteers with the Winchesters.

Kelly-as-Missed/Missing-Mother is the other side of the coin of this little argument of mine because in s13 the writers demonstrated how Kelly must stay dead because one mother is enough and they didn’t know what to make of Kelly since she was not a hunter. She was just, as a character, Jack’s mother. The rift to the Apocalypse World was even possible in the first place because she (more or less, it’s complicated) decided that she would.have.her.baby. But, just like Mary before her resurrection, if his actual mother were back in the game it either meant that Jack was out of the game or that they had to include her in some capacity into the Winchesters dynamics and they didn’t want any of that. Mary’s death meant that Sam and Dean entered the hunters’ life, Kelly’s death assures the same for Jack. Plus, they all have an angel watching over them, isn't it just great? But hey, wait, this is the absent fathers show so we’re gonna give this kid three, four, five fathers!!! (sarcastic). Also, Alive Kelly wouldn’t be the Good, Perfect, Dead Mother that she is to Jack because, well, she would be a Real Character, not a memory on a pen drive and Alive Kelly would be so faaaar from the Good and Perfect Mother. Do we have to try to write another complex mother? One is enough!!! (sarcastic).

In conclusion, in s13 Sam’s (and Jack’s) huge missed opportunity stays… missing. Jack will go to the Apocalypse World and fight the angels with Mary whereas Mary decides to stay there (lol!) to help with the fight. They literally have to find a bus and move all the remaining AU people to the Original World because Mary has decided that she wanted to stay in a world where she didn’t choose John and she didn’t give birth to her sons (me asking Sam who has just died and was resurrected by Lucifer only to find out that his mother didn’t want to be saved: are you REALLY okay? LOL). I’ll stop here cause this is getting way too long but maybe, just maybe, s13 as a whole was a giant missed opportunity.

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ariesgamesandminis · 3 months ago

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New Novels! Shrapnel Issue #20, Honor Code, & Hungry Like the Wolf…as well as a major restock on Catalyst Novels!

A Bonfire of Worlds A Call to Arms A Question of Survival A Rock and a Hard Place A Splinter of Hope/The Anvil Betrayal of Ideals Blood of Kerensky Trilogy - All Editions Children of Kerensky Close Quarters - Limited Edition (Leather Soft) Close Quarters (Hardcover) Decision at Thunder Rift - All Editions Divided We Fall Double-Blind - Limited Edition (Leather Soft) Double-Blind (Hardcover) Elements of Treason: Honor Elements of Treason: Opportunity Fall From Glory Forever Faithful Heir to the Dragon Honor Code Hour of the Wolf Hungry Like the Wolf Hunting Season Jaguar's Leap Land of Dreams Legacy: A BattleTech Anthology Legend of the Jade Phoenix - Book Three - Falcon Guard - Limited Edition (Leather Soft) Legend of the Jade Phoenix - Book Two - Bloodname - Limited Edition (Leather Soft) Main Event - Limited Edition (Leather Soft) Main Event (Hardcover) Marauder Mercenary's Star - All Editions No Greater Honor No Substitute for Victory Rock of the Republic Shrapnel Issue #1 Shrapnel Issue #2 Shrapnel Issue #3 Shrapnel Issue #4 Shrapnel Issue #9 Shrapnel Issue #10 Shrapnel Issue #11 Shrapnel Issue #12 Shrapnel Issue #15 Shrapnel Issue #16 Shrapnel Issue #17 Shrapnel Issue #18 Shrapnel Issue #19 Shrapnel Issue #20 The Battle of Tukayyid The Corps: BattleCorps Anthology, Volume 1 The Damocles Sanction The Price of Glory - All Editions The Proliferation Cycle The Warrior Trilogy - All Editions Trial of Birthright Visions of Rebirth Without Question

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deviija · 8 months ago

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Alright, let's do thisss. Here's my Rook!

Name: Renga Jettine "Jet" Adaar

Codename: Jet Barracuda

Faction: Shadow Dragons Agent

Role: Infiltration & Espionage Specialist

Age: 20

The adopted dwarf daughter of my Inquisitor, Red Bear Adaar, and his husband Iron Bull.

Jettine is a girl in her rebel yell phase of life, coming into her own, figuring out who she is outside of growing up with her two dads and the Inquisition. She's a little cocky in her own abilities, and is in the militant anti-authority mindset that comes with being a young passionate 20 year old with something to prove. Someone that is freshly on their own for the first time, and thinking they know everything and have it all under control.

This extends to her views on nobility, royalty, the power structures involed. She's against it but knows from her soft-handed diplomat papa, Red Bear, that you get more flies with honey and an open dialogue. She grew up watching him and how he moved in negotiations, diffusing hostility with kindness, and navigating a world prejudiced and wary of Qunari. Sometimes you just have to 'play the game,' as her mentor Leliana said. Beat them at their own social webs, outmaneuver them, crack the system from within little by little. And don't get caught.

While not religious, Jet has taken on an agnostic viewpoint like her papa (Red Bear). She believes in the/a Maker, but not necessarily what is written in books and sold by Chantries or the Dalish or the Avvar.

She definitely isn't a believer in the Qun, but appreciates being brought up in a home where it and the politics of it were openly talked about. She learned a lot on the Qun from her dad, Iron Bull, and found the ways Leliana spoke about the Maker and faith (and the struggles of having it) to be deeply meaningful. She desires to believe it all has meaning, that it is all worth something, and that they're not all just flailing in the dark without purpose. If it all amounted to nothing… well, that's more frightening to Jet to even consider.

The biggest motivation in Jet's life right now is to 'make it' on her own, embracing this new free phase of her life, deciding for herself what she wants to do and who she is going to be. Figuring herself out, proving herself (to herself, to her dads, and to the world at large), and doing good along the way for the Greater Good. Being part of the Shadow Dragons, helping to free slaves in Tevinter, sabotage 'experiments' and relics used on innocents, and fight the good fight against ruling oppression, is a big part of that.

Her dream is to be… a somebody. To have left a positive mark on the world, one her dads would be proud of.

Also to kiss a lot of hot girls.

Jettine is an orphan. Her family was killed by demons outside of Redcliffe during the events of the Breach and the demon rifts that opened up across the countryside. Jet was 8 years old at the time. Trying to flee to safer pastures, her birth family (mom, dad, two sisters) moved in with her grandfather on his little goat farm he had outside of Redcliffe. One night, a rift opened right outside and the worst fiery nightmare of her young life happened. Being so small, her sister pushed her into a clothing cupboard to hide when the massacre happened.

The ceiling and stones caved in, trapping her in the cupboard but also keeping her safe from the demons. She spent three days in the dark before Inquisitor Red Bear, Iron Bull, Dorian, and Sera came along to seal the rift and pulled her out of the rubble. She became like a barnacle on Red Bear and Iron Bull after that. Officially they were able to adopt her in Trespasser. Dorian became her godfather and Sera became Auntie Sera. Her adopted family means everything to her. They're all very close.

Card games. Jet loves to play cards - and is something of a card shark pro. One of the only thing she remembers about her birth mother is getting a gift of cards and being taught how to play. The cards had hand painted locales of places from across Thedas, and it instilled within her a desire to see the world for herself. And to carry those cards, and this memory of her mother, with her to all the places she dreamed about.

Playing cards also helps her to focus, organize her thoughts, and strategize. When she needs to think something through or clear her head/decompress, she'll start shuffling. She also has hypermobile joints, can guess any seasoning spice in a dish, and is a great whittler.

Jet's scent is a mix of patchouli, leather, and caramel, with top notes of almond and mandarin orange.

She could eat her weight in spicy almonds.

If she were a meal, she'd be an almond pear tart or an almond stew (Khoresht Badam).

Jet's ruled more by her heart. Her passions set her course, and her dogged determination and sheer willpower carries her through more than logic. Heart, spirit, head, in that order. Despite being highly trained and capable, she's still young and going to make mistakes when passion overrules thought on the crossroads of recklessness and thrill seeking/something to prove.

Her persuasion, diplomacy, and (spycraft) emotional manipulation style is 40 percent Ethos, 30 percent Pathos, 30 percent Logos. Though it can veer more toward 60 Ethos, 30 Pathos, 10 Logos.

The biggest flaws for Jet: the drive to prove herself, being young and overeager and overconfident at times, biting off more than she can chew. Jumping into missions that can end up way above her head in terms of the ripple effect or geopolitical ramifications. She's focused on the short-term, immediate objectives and can lose sight of the much larger picture's butterfly effect.

Irrational regret: She has survivor's guilt and lives with an internal dialogue about how she should've done something to save her family. It doesn't matter that she was only a child. "If only I were smarter, faster, stronger…"

#dragon age #dragon age: the veilguard #da:tv #da:v #da: the veilguard #dragon age rook #my rook #introducing my Rook #Jettine Adaar #Jettine #my oc stuff #questionnaire #tomorrow I will get to make her and I am excited!

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pathfinderunlocked · 1 year ago

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Unlocked Bone Ship - CR18 Undead

A Pathfinder Unlocked version of the bone ship.

Artwork is official art from Pathfinder 2e, by Damien Mammoliti on ArtStation, copyright Paizo Inc.

Unlocked Monsters are my series of redesigns of official Pathfinder monsters to make them more interesting and interactive to fight.

The bone ship is, as the name might suggest, an undead ship made of bones, which comes from Bestiary 5. Ghost ships are a classic staple of many types of adventure stories, and the ship itself being an intelligent accursed undead thing that can lash out at you on its own is a very cool idea.

Unfortunately, the creature has the problem of being, you know, a ship. A vehicle that creatures can ride, and that players are very likely going to try to board, not stab in the hull with a shortsword. The original stat block really doesn't support this at all. This is my solution. I wanted to make something that not only could be boarded, but that actually rewarded players for doing so, while still being somewhat able to fight back. I also wanted to make something that made more sense in a setting without cannons, in case you're using this in a low-firearms or no-firearms setting.

Oh, and here's a fantastic battlemap or token you can use for it. Note that this is way bigger than 30 ft., and not square like most creatures. Because it's a ship. The official art clearly shows a much bigger ship, but its space is only 30 ft in Bestiary 5, because Paizo was scared to make an irregularly sized and shaped creature. I'm not.

Bone Ship CR 18

Muscle holds together the large bones that form the hull of this ship. Rotting sails hang from masts crafted from gigantic spines. The water within 400 feet of it is stained red, and seems to be made of blood.

XP 153,600 CE Colossal undead (water) Init +4 Senses darkvision 400 ft.; Perception +40 Aura blood wake (40 ft., DC 30)

DEFENSE

AC 32, touch 2, flat-footed 28 (+4 Dex, +30 natural, –12 size) hp 499 (26d8+182) Fort +17, Ref +14, Will +20 Defensive Abilities all-around vision, bound souls, channel resistance +4 Hardness 5 Immune undead traits Weaknesses rotting heart SR 29

OFFENSE

Speed swim 60 ft. (slow turning) (cannot submerge) Melee slam +28 (8d8+24 plus energy drain) Ranged 3 energy rifts +13 (3d6+9 force plus 3d6+9 negative energy/×3) (30 ft. range increment) (ranged touch within 90 ft.) Space 25 ft. wide x 95 ft. long x 35 ft. tall (20 ft. above water, 15 ft. below water); Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks energy drain (2 levels, DC 30), energy rifts, ghostly boarders, spectral energy cannon, trample (8d8+24 plus energy drain, DC 39)

STATISTICS

Str 42, Dex 18, Con —, Int 11, Wis 20, Cha 25 Base Atk +19; CMB +47 (+53 bull rush, +49 overrun); CMD 54 (57 vs. bull rush, can’t be tripped) Feats Far Shot, Great Fortitude, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Overrun, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Great Fortitude, Improved Vital Strike, Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Vital Strike, Weapon Focus (slam) Skills Intimidate +36, Knowledge (geography) +13, Perception +34, Profession (sailor) +18, Swim +53 SQ cannot submerge, rideable, supercolossal, slow turning, unholy repair Languages Common, Necril (can’t speak)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Blood Wake (Su) The frothing, churning waters around a bone ship are stained crimson with blood. Creatures entering the bone ship’s aura must attempt DC 30 Fortitude saves. Those that succeed at their saves become shaken for 1d6 rounds. Those that fail become shaken and staggered as they feel themselves drowning and envision themselves pulled down into the bloody waters. staggered creatures take an additional –4 penalty to AC, on Reflex saves, and on Swim checks. Creatures can attempt a new save at the start of each of their turns to resist this effect. Those that succeed at their saving throws are immune to the bone ship’s aura for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear affect, and works only when the bone ship is in the water. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Bound Souls (Su) The souls of numerous sailors and sea creatures form the bone ship’s collective consciousness and hull. A bone ship is immune to spells and effects affecting a specific number of creatures (but not those that have attack rolls). Any creature attempting to communicate with a bone ship, such as through telepathy, hears only the anguished cries of the imprisoned souls and must succeed at a DC 30 Will save or be driven insane as per the insanity spell (CL 20th). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Cannot Submerge The bone ship floats and cannot swim underwater or otherwise submerge, although its hull extends 15 ft. underwater while it floats.

Energy Rifts (Su) The bone ship can create three energy rifts anywhere along the sides or bottom of its hull as a swift action. These function as ranged attacks with a +3 enhancement bonus, which deal 3d6+9 points of force damage and 3d6+9 points of negative energy damage, and have a x3 critical multiplier. The energy rifts have a range increment of 30 feet, and target touch AC within the first three range increments (up to 90 ft.). The bone ship can fire all three energy rifts as a standard action. The bone ship's Strength modifier is added to the damage, and both this bonus and the enhancement bonus are split evenly between the force and negative energy damage; this is already included in the statistics above.

After firing its energy rifts, the bone ship cannot fire them again for 1 round, as they recharge.

Ghostly Boarders (Su) Once per minute as a one-round action, the bone ship can disgorge the souls of the sailors bound within it. This ability can be interrupted as if it were a 6th-level spell; the bone ship has +26 to concentration checks to maintain concentration on this ability (CL 20th, +6 Charisma).

At the end of the casting time, the ghostly boarders appear as spectral entities and slaughter all living creatures in and around the bone ship. Living creatures within 40 ft. of the bone ship take 20d8 magical aging damage (DC 30 Fortitude save halves), and if killed by this effect, their souls are dragged into the bone ship. Creatures slain in this manner can be restored to life only by a miracle or wish spell. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Rideable (Ex) Enemy and ally creatures can safely stand on - or even inside - a bone ship, riding it like a normal ship. A bone ship cannot perform melee or ranged attacks against an enemy that is riding on top of or inside it.

A creature adjacent to a bone ship can attempt to grab onto the side of it with a grapple check or a climb check rolled against its CMD. A creature holding onto the side of it in this way can then climb up the side of the bone ship; it’s 20 feet up from the surface of the water to the top deck where a creature can safely stand. The Climb DC for the exterior of a bone ship is 20 (a slippery surface with handholds).

Rotting Heart (Ex) A bone ship's interior is a 25x95 ft area (the same size as the bone ship) containing a massive rotting heart with countless tendrils of blackened flesh connecting to the bones that make up the exterior hull. This interior can be reached through a hatch accessible from on top of the bone ship. The hatch is locked with a superior-quality lock (DC 40 to open with Disable Device). The hatch has 5 hardness and 15 hit points. Damage dealt to the hatch counts as damage dealt to the bone ship.

A creature inside a bone ship's interior treats the bone ship as flat-footed, ignores its hardness and spell resistance, and automatically deals a critical hit with any attack it makes against the bone ship.

A creature inside the bone ship's interior is considered to be riding the bone ship.

Slow Turning (Ex) The bone ship can only turn 45 degrees per round.

Supercolossal (Ex) The bone ship gains an additional +4 size bonus to CMB and CMD, a -4 penalty to AC and attack rolls, and a -16 penalty on stealth checks, on top of those normally granted to a colossal creature. It gains a +200 bonus to its maximum hit points. These modifiers are already included in its statistics above.

Spectral Energy Cannon (Su) As a standard action every 2d4 rounds, the bone ship can combine all three of its energy rifts into a spectral energy cannon that deals 18d6 points of negative energy damage to creatures in a 180-foot line (Will DC 30 half). The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unholy Repair (Su) By spending 1 full day inactive, the bone ship can heal itself to full hit points by scavenging the bones of dead sea creatures within a 10-mile radius, pulling the bones up from the bottom of the ocean to join its hull.

#d&d #pathfinder 1e #undead #water

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pandginiceland · 4 months ago

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Crossing Continents

Today we crossed continents - starting (and ending) in Europe but crossing into America. And all by road.

To explain a little more, Iceland straddles the boundaries between the two tectonic plates that carry Europe and America. Those plates meet at Þingvellir (Thingvellir) where it forms a rift valley. There are also ancient volcanoes in the area which have flooded it with lava in the past, some of it creating deep fissures such as the one below.

The weather today was interesting. Most of the snow we saw yesterday was gone (which made driving a lot easier) but instead we got strong winds and driving showers of hail (which hurt!). Fortunately they cleared quickly but they made for dramatic lighting.

We were really glad of the multiple layers we had purchased and put on.

Þingvellir is a very important place in Iceland. It was the home of the annual Parliament which met every year from 930 until the lat 18th Century- 850 years. It was the place where the nation decided to become a Christian nation in 1000AD. It is also where the nation was declared an independent republic in 1944.

As a piece of geology it is impressive. There is a cliff which forms the end of the American continent and a flat plain beneath which the Parliament gathered.

The following pictures show the view from the top of the cliff.

You walk down a fissure beside the cliff edge to get down to the plain. Part of it is a wooden structure which was put in in 2011 when a small hole appeared in the path. Upon investigation that small hole showed there was a massive gap beneath it!

You can walk alongside the cliff to the other end. We walked most the way but saw the other side from another car park since the path was very icy and dangerous.

This is a close up on where we went.

The Parliament/Assembly was a big event with maybe 4000 people attending in the 1100's (10% of the population). The Law Speaker used the cliff edge as a natural amphitheatre so that the assembly could hear him. The people camped out on the open plain with the river being diverted over the edge to supply a drinking supply.

The area around the water was frozen with ice/snow sheets 10's of cm thick.

Where the river was diverted, there is a large waterfall called Öxarárfoss which can be seen from a distance.

Down on the plain, there are two significant buildings. The first is a church which was built in 1859 to replace earlier churches which had started in 1000AD (the first church in Iceland following the decision). Interestingly the earlier church was used for the definition of lengths - it had two marks 20 ell apart. The ell was the measure from the elbow to the fingertips and these marks was the formal definition of that length.

Next to the church is the Summer House of the Prime Minister. Slightly surprised we could get so close to it - Chequers in the UK will have a far greater security cordon!

We completed our walk around the park before getting back to the car.

We then drove to ‎⁨Laugarvatn⁩ which is famous for its hot springs plus bread which is "steamed" for 24 hours in a metal box buried in the ash near a stream of hot water.

We then drove back to our hotel in Hveragerði. We walked out to find dinner tonight. It appears that the town is also famous for hot springs. There is a brewery powered by hydro-thermal energy as well as a number of greenhouses. These have artificial lighting on for what seems like 24/7 - we can see one from our room.

#iceland

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paperanddice · 5 months ago

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Queen of Night and Magic

Stunningly beautiful, with hair the deep blue of a starless midnight sky and draped in a dress of stars, crown and raiment glittering diamonds, the Queen of Night and Magic is the current ruler of the court of shadow fey. Her Celestial and Royal Majesty Sarastra Aestruum, Queen of Night and Magic, Duchess of the Heavens, countess of Thorn, Mistress of Air and Darkness, Lady of the Summer Palace, and Bride of Shadows. Her titles carry on even longer, a testament to the centuries of rule she's maintained and the many rivals she's overthrown. Husband to the Moonlit King, Queen Sarastra has largely stripped him of his power, keeping him far from the Court and out of her hands, though if the seasons turn she must step aside to grant him his rule once more.

Her primary title as Queen of Night and Magic is not one granted lightly, as she is one of the most devastatingly powerful sorceresses in existence. With great power over shadows, she tears open rifts and engulfs foes in icy darkness, and unravels magic with a wave of her hand. While dangerous and quite unpredictable, she is also shockingly reasonable for a fey lady and quite open to recognizing the value of mortals who catch her eye. Those who prove their worth are rewarded greatly and provided exceptional benefit, so long as they continue to be useful, and she will ignore no opportunity to increase her advantage over her political rivals.

Inspired by the Tome of Beasts 1. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

Pathfinder 2e

Several of the Queen's spells are legacy content, particularly some of the shadow ones that haven't been updated to the Remaster, but I'd rather have some of these spells that fit so well with her theme and nature rather than build her without them.

Queen of Night and Magic Creature 21 Unique, Medium, Fey, Shadow Perception +38; darkvision, detect magic, truesight Languages Common, Elven, Empyrian, Fey, Shadowtongue, telepathy 120 feet Skills Arcana +36, Deception +41, Diplomacy +41, Intimidation +39, Society +38, Stealth +36 (+42 in dim light or darkness) Str +1, Dex +5, Con +3, Int +5, Wis +4, Cha +8 Shadowborn The Queen of Night and Magic is always concealed while within dim light or darkness, even against creatures that have low-light vision or darkvision (but not greater darkvision). Items +3 major striking greater frost rapier, major staff of control, necklace of allure AC 42; Fort +32, Ref +34, Will +36; +1 status to all saves vs. magic HP 365; Immunities cold, electricity, frightened; Resistances fire 20, physical 20 (except cold iron); Weaknesses cold iron 20 Sudden Fraying [reaction] Trigger A creature casts a spell that targets the Queen of Night and Magic, or that she's within the area of; Effect The Queen of Night and Magic uses Unravel on the cast spell. Speed 30 feet, fly 60 feet Melee rapier +37 (deadly d8, disarm, finesse, magical), Damage 4d6+17 piercing plus 1d6 cold Ranged star strike +40 (cold, fire, primal, range 120 feet), Damage 4d6 cold and 4d6 fire Spontaneous Primal Spells DC 48, attack +40 ; 10th (2 slots) dominate, moon frenzy; 9th (4 slots) falling stars, howling blizzard, metamorphosis, phantasmogoria; 8th (4 slots) charm, disappearance, mystic armor, suggestion, uncontrollable dance; 7th (4 slots) duplicate foe, interplanar teleport, moonburst, visions of danger; 6th (4 slots) collective transposition, cursed metamorphosis, dominate, mislead; 5th (4 slots) hallucination, howling blizzard, moon frenzy, shadow siphon; 4th (4 slots) darkness, suggestion, vision of death; 3rd (4 slots) chilling darkness, enthrall, fear, haste, slow; 2nd (4 slots) darkness, laughing fit, revealing light; 1st (4 slots) charm, fear, grim tendrils, mystic armor, ventriloquism; cantrips (11th) figment, frostbite, prestidigitation, shield Constant detect magic, truesight Fey And Shadow Focus Spells 3 Focus Points, DC 48 , 10th consuming darkness, dim the light, faerie dust, fey disappearance, fey glamor, moonbeam, steal shadow; Shadow Rift [2 actions] (cold, primal, shadow) The Queen of Night and Magic creates a shadowy rift, dealing 20d6 cold damage in a 20-foot emanation (DC 48 basic Fortitude save). A creature that fails this save is also immobilized (restrained on a critical failure). She can't use Shadow Rift again for 1d4 rounds. Teleport [1 action] (move, primal, shadow, teleportation) The Queen of Night and Magic teleports up to 60 feet. She must have line of sight to the space she teleports to. Unravel [1 action] (concentrate, primal); Frequency Once per round; Effect The Queen of Night and Magic attempts to counteract all magic upon a creature, object, or effect within 100 feet that she can see (counteract rank 10, counteract modifier +40).

13th Age

Queen of Night and Magic Double-strength 13th level caster [humanoid] Initiative: +19 Freezing Rapier +17 vs. AC – 50 damage plus 75 cold damage and the Queen of Night and Magic can pop free from the target. Natural Even Hit: The target is also stuck (save ends). R: Star Strike +18 vs. PD (one nearby or far away enemy) – 55 cold damage plus 55 fire damage. Natural 14+: The target is also vulnerable to cold and fire damage (save ends). Double Attack: As a standard action, the Queen of Night and Magic can make two freezing rapier or star strike attacks, in any combination or order. C: Shadow Rift +18 vs. PD (1d3+1 nearby enemies) – 80 cold damage and the target is stuck (save ends). Natural 14+: The target is also dazed as long as it’s stuck. Natural 18+: The target is weakened as long as it’s stuck. Limited Use: 2/battle, when the escalation die is even. C: Prismatic Spray +18 vs. PD (4 random nearby enemies) – Roll a d8 to determine the effect of the attack. 1: Red. 85 fire damage. 2: Orange. 85 acid damage. 3: Yellow. 85 lightning damage. 4. Green. 85 poison damage. 5: Blue. 85 cold damage. 6: Indigo. The target must start making last gasp saves. On the fourth failed save, the target turns into a stone statue. 7: Violet. The target must make a hard save (16+) at the end of each of its turns. On the fourth failed save, the target is hurdled into the Overworld, removed from the fight and can’t return on its own without very powerful magic. On a success, the effect ends. 8: Two rays. Roll twice again, rerolling any doubles or further 8s. Limited Use: 1/battle. Teleport: As a move action, the Queen of Night and Magic can teleport to a nearby location she can see. Unravel: 1/round, as an interrupt action when an enemy targets the Queen of Night and Magic with a spell, the Queen can roll a save; on a success, the spell has no effect on her. While the Queen is staggered, this becomes a hard save (16+). AC 28 PD 25 MD 26 HP 860

#pathfinder 2e #13th age #homebrew #my homebrew #monster #NPC #fey #humanoid #pathfinder level 21 #13th age level 13 #tome of beasts #long post

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the11tailedwrites · 1 year ago

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Day 19-20 | Gunpoint

I like putting The Speaker in situations.

The Speaker recognized that he should be used to this by now. As a highly respected religious figure, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that someone was pointing a gun at him. It was, however, a surprise to see the one holding the gun was one of Osiris’ cultists.

Did Osiris want him dead? No, that didn’t sound like Osiris. If he wanted The Speaker dead, he’d do it himself.

“You son of a bitch,” snarled the cultist, “How dare you exile the great Osiris? And for what? He is greater than you, you were jealous so you cast him out. You must atone for you sin with your life,”

How this cultist got in the middle of the city was beyond him. He could see civilians pressed close to each other and whispering. No guardians yet, but he did see some civilians talking into communicators.

“You may have let his back in, but you must still pay,” roared the cultist and he fired.

The Speaker was glad that this cultist was a terrible shot. Of course, the bullet still ripped through his side and splattered blood on the shoes of that poor little girl behind him, but he wasn’t dead immediately.

That little girl screamed. Her mother screamed. The cultist moved forward, but now that the Speaker was out of immediate danger, three large civilian men jumped on the cultist, wrestling for the gun. The little girl rushed to his side and pulled off her jacket and pressed it hard against The Speaker’s side.

”Mr. Speaker,” whispered the girl, her brown eyes wide and filled with tears.

”D…did any blood get on you,” The Speaker croaked out.

”N-no, I’m okay,” said the little girl, her face wet with tears now.

”Do-don’t cry, kid, it’s alright,” The Speaker wheezed.

”Move, people, move!” roared a voice and The Speaker spotted a fireteam of guardians push their way through the crowd. The two hunters rushed towards the cultist and subdued him while the warlock walked over to his side.

She placed a reassuring hand on the little girl’s shoulder.

”You did a good job…”

”Abby,”

”Abby, you did good, go get cleaned off before you get sick,” the warlock said gently.

As Abby’s mother gently led her away, the warlock casted a healing rift around The Speaker and he felt his wounds heal. He closed his eyes.

”My thanks, Warlock,” he managed

”Anytime, Speaker,” said the Warlock, “Let’s get you cleaned up, blood related diseases are no fun,”

The Speaker accepted the warlock’s extended hand and let himself be pulled up.

#whumpuary2024 #the speaker’s kidnapping/hostage situation bingo sheet!#the speaker #osiris’ cult #osiris’ cult have radical members who act out on their own

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shahananasrin-blog · 2 years ago

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[ad_1] The African Union has been granted permanent member status in the Group of 20 top world economies, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday, adding momentum to his drive to give a greater voice to the Global South as host of this year's annual summit.Modi announced the membership during his opening speech for the weekend summit of the G20. Growing global rifts and the absence of key players threatened to make reaching consensus on the thorniest issues elusive.There was widespread support, however, for adding the AU to the G20, making it the second regional bloc to become a permanent member after the European Union.Modi rapped his gavel three times before announcing the move to applause in the room.He shook hands with the current AU chair, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, and embraced him warmly before inviting him to sit at the table."I invite the representative of the African Union to take his place as a permanent member of the G20," Modi said.Modi has made giving voice to the Global South a centrepiece of this year's summit, and adding the AU at the outset was a strong step in that direction.Modi urges 'concrete solutions' for global problemsModi told leaders they must find "concrete solutions" to the widespread challenges that he said stemmed from the "ups and downs in the global economy, the north and the south divide, the chasm between the east and the west," and other issues, such as terrorism, cybersecurity, health and water security.He addressed the delegates from behind a nameplate that listed his country not as India but as "Bharat," an ancient Sanskrit name championed by his Hindu nationalist supporters that his government has been pushing at the G20.Modi gestures as he attends a session at the G20 summit in New Delhi on Saturday. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/The Associated Press)With much of the world's focus on the Russian war against Ukraine, India wants to direct more attention to addressing the needs of the developing world at the summit — though it is impossible to decouple many issues, such as food and energy security, from the European conflict."Friends, after COVID-19, the world is facing problems of trust deficit," he said."The war has further deepened this trust deficit. If we can beat COVID, we can also triumph over the trust deficit caused by the war."Modi avoided mentioning the names of any countries involved.Russian, Chinese leaders give summit a missAs the summit opened, at least a fifth of G20 heads were not in New Delhi. The leaders of Russia and China opted not to come, ensuring no tough face-to-face conversations with their American and European counterparts over multiple disputes, most acutely the war in Ukraine.Spain's president couldn't make it due to COVID-19, and Mexico's president decided to miss it, too. A series of preparatory meetings leading up to the summit failed to produce agreements, largely due to differences over Ukraine. Ending the weekend without such a statement would underscore how strained relations have become and tarnish the image Modi has tried to cultivate of India as a global problem solver.Participants arriving in the Indian capital were greeted by streets cleared of traffic, and graced with fresh flowers and seemingly endless posters featuring slogans and Modi's face. Security was intensely tight, with most journalists and the public kept far from the summit venue.WATCH | Delhi cleans up ahead of G20 summit: G20 host India tries to present a bright and shiny imageAs India finishes final preparations to host G20 leaders, workers shine and paint every part of New Delhi where the summit is taking place. But local activists say the city's slums and homeless shelters have been demolished because of the summit — leaving thousands with nowhere to go.The G20 agenda featured issues critical to developing nations, including alternative fuels like hydrogen, resource efficiency, food security and developing a common framework for digital public infrastructure.Countries were also expected to address reforming development banks like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to help make funds more accessible for lower- and middle-income countries as they seek solutions to combat climate change, among other things.India's lead G20 negotiator, Amitabh Kant, told reporters that boosting climate action and climate financing were key priorities, particularly for developing and emerging markets."Our view was that Global South, developing countries, emerging markets must be able to get long-term financing," he said.War on Ukraine looms large at G20With so many other issues on the table, Human Rights Watch urged the G20 leaders not to let international disunity distract them at the summit.Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of the organization's Asia division, added that members should not "shy away from openly discussing challenges like gender discrimination, racism and other entrenched barriers to equality, including with host India, where civil and political rights have sharply deteriorated under the Modi administration."The summit comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said a landmark deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea will not be restored until Western nations meet his demands on Russia's own agricultural exports.Bulk grain cargo ship TQ Samsun is anchored in the Black Sea near the entrance of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul in July. The summit comes just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said a landmark deal allowing Ukraine to export grain safely through the Black Sea will not be restored until Western nations meet his demands on Russia's own agricultural exports. (Sercan Ozkurnazli/Dia Images/The Associated Press)The original deal was brokered by the United Nations and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but Russia refused to extend it in July, complaining that a parallel agreement promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn't been honoured. Russia dispatched Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov as its top representative to the G20. Erdogan himself was on hand in the Indian capital, and others said ahead of the summit that they hoped to be able to find solutions, even as Russia's military keeps up its attacks on Ukraine's ports."The Kremlin's war is also unravelling lives far beyond Ukraine, including right here in South Asia," European Council President Charles Michel told reporters on Friday in New Delhi."Over 250 million people face acute food insecurity worldwide, and by deliberately attacking Ukraine's ports, the Kremlin is depriving them of the food they desperately need."British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he hoped to marshal international resources to counteract the impact of Russia's moves on the global food supply. London will host a global food security summit in November in response to Moscow's actions.Sunak's government has also said Royal Air Force aircraft will fly over the Black Sea as part of efforts to deter Russia from striking cargo ships transporting grain from Ukraine to developing countries.U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attend a session at the G20 summit on Saturday. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/The Associated Press)Hundreds of Tibetan exiles held a protest far from the summit venue to condemn Chinese participation in the event and urge leaders to discuss Sino-Tibetan relations.On Friday evening, before the meeting got formally underway, Modi met with U.S. President Joe Biden. White House aide Kurt Campbell told reporters afterward that there was an "undeniable warmth and confidence between the two leaders." Zelenskyy not invited to address G20Leaders of the U.S., India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were working to finalize a joint infrastructure deal involving ship and rail transit between India and the Middle East to Turkey and beyond, in hopes it could be announced in New Delhi during the summit.Campbell called the emerging deal a potentially "earth-shattering" project and said that "the strongest supporter of this initiative is India." In the past, Campbell said, India's leaders have had "almost a knee-jerk reaction" to resist such massive multilateral projects.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, arrives to take part in a session at the G20 summit on Saturday with, left to right, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov, European Council President Charles Michel, Oman's deputy prime minister Asa'ad bin Tariq bin Taimur al Said and Biden. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said late last month he was "disappointed" that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wasn't invited to attend the summit. U.S. administration officials sought to play down that the Ukrainian leader wasn't invited to address the G20.Zelenskyy has made regular appearances, virtual and in-person, at such international forums since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, to rally allies to stay committed to supporting his country. [ad_2]

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everygame · 2 years ago

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Koronis Rift (Atari 8-Bit / C64)

Developed/Published by: Lucasfilm Games / Epyx Released: 12/1985 Completed: 13/06/2023 Completion: Skipped my way to Rift 20 and blew up the base. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

Accompanying The Eidolon as the second game in Lucasfilm’s now obscure “second wave” Koronis Rift, if anything, has a greater weight of expectation on it. While The Eidolon was created by the largely unknown Charlie Kellner, Koronis Rift is designed by Noah Falstein (Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis) and co-developed by Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island) (though it’s worth noting that Charlie Kellner did help on this too, let’s not talk the guy down too much.)

It’s a deeply unusual title, one that emphasises a point that I’m constantly banging on about when I talk about the games of the 80s and earlier: genre is so fluid, and there are so few settled design tropes, that games end up going in very weird directions that feel totally unintuitive to modern eyes–and it’s not like Koronis Rift goes out of it’s way to explain itself. Right down to the manual, in fact, it’s rather the opposite.

I mean, at first glance, you’d assume this was simply a more detailed version of Rescue on Fractalus where you’re flying around a fractal landscape, shooting enemy ships and landing to access derelict hulks to increase your score. But you’re not! You’re actually driving around the landscape in a rover! I mean, I’ll be honest, the game has like, a rover on the cover and think that’s supposed to be on one on the title screen, but it wasn’t until I was actually playing this that I actually grasped what was going on.

What’s going on is this.

You’re a space adventurer looking for hot junk to sell and get rich, and you’ve stumbled upon the legendary planet Koronis, where ancient beings tested powerful weapons in twenty of the planet’s rifts. They’re all dead now, but the remaining expensive space junk is all just sitting there waiting to be ripped off apart from the fact it’s protected by dangerous automated guardian saucers and un-surivivable radiation.

Starting on the first rift, you lower yourself down to the planet in a rover, and drive around using a radar to find the hulks. When you find one, you send out your little repo-robot to steal anything good from it at which point you can either attach it to your rover to improve it, or store it to sell later.

These things you’re picking up all have different uses: new shields, lasers, batteries, generators and so on, all of which come from different alien races. Everything costs energy, too, so you can’t just stick all the best stuff on your rover and expect it to work.

While you’re doing this, of course, you’re being pursued by guardians saucers which you have to kill to loot hulks or escape the planet. Saucers have different colors and different laser colors, and shields offer a varying protection against different lasers, and your own lasers are better at destroying different saucers via a fairly complicated system of priority (purple lasers are best against yellow ships, etc. etc.)

You can leave a rift whenever you like to dismantle and sell the junk you’ve collected (and it also allows you to learn some stuff about what you’ve picked up, but, as far as I could tell, nothing especially useful) and go to future rifts, but if you go back to the same rift it helpfully drops you off back exactly where you were.

You can play this quite straight, by just going through all the rifts, upgrading your equipment and trying to get the highest score, or you can be using each playthrough as a recce, trying to work out the most efficient way to get the best stuff and be able to survive the final level, finding and blowing up the guardian saucer base, which will cement your ownership of the entire planet and “win” the game.

Well, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? And I’ll say this for Koronis Rift: some of the decisions made give the game an otherworldly, mysterious and honestly quite… lonely feeling that makes it very captivating. Trudging around a barren landscape, picking up things you don’t understand… after my first night playing, I kept thinking about it. There’s so many things unsaid that it can’t help but set your imagination alight.

The problem, unfortunately, is that it’s also a 1985 video game. I’m not quite sure if there was some kind of edict at Lucasfilm that games had to be played with only the joystick (although The Eidolon did require the space bar as well) but Koronis Rift is very quickly hamstrung by that. Perhaps Rescue on Fractalus had too many keys, but Koronis Rift makes everything reliant on essentially a cursor that you have to move with the joystick (blecch). Want to move the rover forward? Bump the cursor off the top of the viewport. Want to stop the rover? Bump it off the bottom. Want to loot a hulk? Awkwardly move the cursor to the bottom of the viewport and hope pressing fire works.

The Eidolon doesn’t quite manage to be a first person shooter, and Koronis Rift does an even worse job than it. There’s a version of this where you are moving the tank with the keyboard and moving a cursor around with a joystick (or better, a mouse!) but clearly no one could imagine this in 1985, so you’re stuck with something unbearably slow and awkward.

And what’s worse, too, is that you’re in a terrestrial rover facing off against airborne flying saucers with no way to look up, or turn around with any speed. With saucers attacking every fifteen seconds or so, the game very quickly becomes a frustrating experience where you swing the cursor around to rotate your rover around, sometimes for multiple revolutions because there’s no way to tell where you’re being shot from, and then have to shoot a flying saucer at the top of the viewport without accidentally driving forward (because you’ve had to stop driving to even slightly give yourself a chance to find them in the first place.)

It’s very tedious, and what makes it a hundred times less fun is that the game is unbelievably vicious. I was sure I was playing a broken version because I never seemed to have any shields, and it’s simply because you have to play so deep into the game to get any useful shields that you’re dying after a few shots otherwise, and the saucers move around so quickly compared to your sluggish cursor that it’s a nightmare trying to hit them. Certain times playing this I’d die before I’d looted my second hulk!

In addition to this, there’s “an air of mystery” and “what the fuck am I doing/why the fuck is this happening???” and Koronis Rift strays too far into the latter. I could not workout how much energy my ship had, nor how much batteries and generators helped (my best guess is that you have to add up efficiencies to make sense of it.) I also couldn’t believe that a player is expected to clock what color a ship is and then be able to work out what laser is best to use in the space of time they’ve got before they’re obliterated–never mind that you’ve only got six slots, so I’m not sure how you could hold more than one laser along with everything else you need anyway.

It’s just not… fun. It’s awkward to control, you die too often, and even playing it for hours, with the one set of maps I could find and having poured over as much information on the internet I could find (very little) it’s still totally obscure to me how you’d be able to play this “properly.”

In fact, I’ll admit right now: the only way I was able to beat this was on C64 because I was able to find a cracked copy with a trainer allowing both invincibility and one-hit kills (along with, astonishingly, the entire manual in the intro. I didn’t realise pirates could be that conscientious.) Interestingly, while the Atari 8-bit version looks nicer with longer draw distance and so on, the C64 version feels a bit more survivable even without the cracks due to less aggressive saucers. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Amstrad CPC version is every bit as good as the C64 version in speed and quite a bit more colourful–couldn’t find a trainer though, so I was stuck playing the C64 version.

Anyway. There’s really no point in finishing this–on the Atari 8-bit you just get a black screen with your score, and the C64 just gives you a short text scrawl, and in order to do so I had to wander the last level for easily an hour trying to find the base (I’m no proud, but I resorted to copying a speedrun video on youtube, and it still took forever!)

Will I ever play it again? Not unless I ever talk to Noah Falstein and he explains exactly how you’re supposed to play this properly.

Final Thought: For everything I’ve said about how downright unpleasant this can be to play, the weird thing is that in my mind it remains a beguilingly lonely experience. I can imagine, were the game tuned a little easier, the upgrades a touch more intuitive (if still mysterious) you could want to play this again and again, digging deeper and deeper into it. I mean, I’m not surprised to see a game like Scavenger SV-4 on Steam transparently inspired by this with the very clever twist that your rover is remote and the feed is degraded due to radiation, and I almost want to play it to get the same feeling Koronis Rift gave me, just in a slightly less… aggressively brutal way. Anyway, things get even more interesting for Lucasfilm Games next…

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up a digital copy of exp. 2600, a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

#gaming #video games #games #txt #text #review #atari 8-bit #atari 800 #commodore 64 #c64 #koronis rift #lucasfilm games #lucasfilm #1985

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caughtthedarkness93 · 1 year ago

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Endlessly, this. I see a ton of people in the tabletop space trying to bend D&D to do things that it's not designed to do when there are systems that are not only designed to do that, but are actually more straightforward in their mechanics and easier to learn. Fate's a really good one! In addition, it's setting-agnostic, so you can flavor it for any setting and genre. One of the big issues with hacking D&D is it's very specifically designed for zero-to-superhero campaigns in a soft magic, high magic setting reminiscent of Lord of the Rings, and if you try to do something that is not that, you wind up chopping out or aggressively modifying a lot of its inherent design. Like Dimension 20 and Critical Role are great, but they're also run by a bunch of people who are absolutely stellar improv artists and have been involved in those spaces for years. The 5e rules aren't doing the heavy lifting there, the players are. If you want to do something that's not that, there are so many easier and smoother ways.

A few favorites of mine:

• City of Mist - designed to do urban fantasy noir, heavy emphasis on character. You play a Rift, essentially an avatar of a mythical figure that is, in some way, in conflict with your normal life. Your mythos gives you supernatural abilities. So you could play an upright legislator with a background in law who is a rift of Robin Hood for a character focused on the conflict between law and justice. Your character's stats are determined by tags - essentially a set of four categories that represent aspects of your character's mundane life or mythos, each with three traits. When a trait is relevant, you can add it to your roll. So our Robin Hood lawmaker might be able to use his public speaking skills to negotiate a hostage situation, or convince a greater threat to stand down, or give a long-winded filibuster-style rant to stall for time. I love this system so much and am bummed that I've barely gotten to play it.

• Savage Worlds - setting agnostic, really well-suited to pulpy action-adventure stuff like Indiana Jones. Your skills are tied to a specific type of dice - so you may have a D6 to hack a computer, or a D10 to look at a map and know where you're going. Usually your goal is 4, but the GM can add modifiers to increase or decrease the difficulty. The real fun part is that when you roll max on a die, it explodes. You roll it again, and if it rolls max again, it explodes again. Keep going until it doesn't. Every 4 you get over your initial target is basically a crit. You can get ludicrously high rolls in this system, and though it has grid-based combat, it's designed to specifically be simple and fast-paced. This is my go-to system when I run a game that I suspect will involve lots of fights because it makes them interesting and dynamic, without bending the game's whole design around them like D&D does, and without using the whole attrition-based rules that D&D has that kind of necessitate several encounters per day. Combat can be a little swingy, but is weighted in favor of the players most of the time.

• Blades in the Dark - designed for dark steampunk fantasy heists. This one's a really interesting one because it's very heavily tied to its setting, but there's also a really good core mechanical engine under the hood. The downside of Blades is that by the time you've hacked it to create a new setting, you've borderline created a whole new system, but the upside is that it gave rise to a whole RPG design movement of Forged in the Dark (FITD) games, and if you want to use the Blades rules to play in a specific genre, someone's already made that. The upshot of this game is that it's purpose built to run a heist game, and there's two phases to it - the mission itself, where you have a resource called stress that lets you do flashbacks to have figured out how you planned for an obstacle the whole time, or Resist a GM's consequence (i.e. when the GM says something bad happens, you can say "Fuck you, no it doesn't") and use special abilities. Then there's Downtime, the time between missions, where you can get ahold of new resources, work off the stress you built up last mission by indulging in a vice, and try to cool off some of the heat from that last mission. It's an ingeniously designed game with a lot of systems that play together really well. Highly recommend giving it a look.

And this just scratches the surface! There's games like Fabula Ultima, which is going for a real fantasy JRPG vibe and does a lot of really cool things with it; Delta Green, which has you as an agent of a shady American spy outfit that investigates the supernatural and where you stay sane by leaning on your relationships with others, but risk damaging those relationships at the same time; millions of really cool systems out there that do amazing things in the space. D&D is what a lot of people know, but it's also a system with massive limitations and a corporate owner that I've seen act highly irresponsibly too many times to want to support any longer. Go see what cool things people have created - I promise you will not regret it. There's nothing stopping you from coming back to D&D if you decide that's what you want to play, but what do you have to lose by trying something new that could be tailor-made to play the campaign you've always wanted to play?

Saw a post that op turned off reblogs on about how a lot of people think DnD 5e is a great system for rp over combat and uh hey y'all

If you want a game system for more structured improv, 5e ain't it. DnD is very combat driven, despite what Dimension 20 and other such shows may lead you to believe.

If you genuinely want a ttrpg system designed with More Structured Improv Roleplay in mind, I'm gonna suggest you go ahead and pick up the FATE Core Rulebook. The system is all about telling a story and the mechanics it has make such clear.

Your character creation process is essentially "What is my character's job, their biggest problem, a facet of themselves from their backstory, and a couple tie ins to the rest of the party?" And then you allocate a few stats and you're basically done.

DnD is great, truly it is. But the story you can tell is extremely restricted by your ability to understand the rules and bend/break them appropriately in ways that don't fuck up the entire system, which takes so much more effort than the average person is usually willing to put in. It's very much genre locked, and taking it out of that high fantasy genre in a way that's fun for you AND your players is a lot harder than people like Brennan Lee Mulligan make it look.

Go pick up FATE. It is not genre dependant. It's all about flavor, and failing forward, and saying, "But your character was literally raised in a barn, don't you think it'd make sense for them to really bomb this conversation with a noble?" and having that actually be a fun mechanic.

If you want to see the system in action, the Nebula Jazz series by ItMeJP on YouTube should do you just fine. It's a Guardians Of The Galaxy-esque campaign with a heavy Music theme laid over top of it. It also features the producer of Monster Prom, Jesse Cox, if that helps.

There are other systems outside of DnD. Your idea might be better suited for one of them. Please. Please look in to other systems before trying to force the rules of DnD 5e to conform to your vision.

#dungeons and dragons #fate ttrpg #ttrpg #savage worlds #SWADE #Savage Worlds RPG #Blades in the Dark #BITD #forged in the dark #City of Mist RPG #City of Mist

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anneapocalypse · 3 years ago

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Dragon Age: Magekiller and Knight Errant

Magekiller

Dragon Age: Magekiller is the fourth in the Dark Horse series of Dragon Age graphic novels, published serially in 2015 and 2016. It introduces two new characters, Tessa and Marius.

Tessa Forsythia is a young woman from a Nevarran family who has left her noble bloodline behind in favor of a life hunting powerful mages. Marius, you’ll recognize if you read the short story “Paying the Ferryman,” about Inquisition’s minor antagonist Calpernia, published online earlier in 2015. Marius was enslaved in the home of the same magister as Calpernia and they were friends and then lovers, and until Marius was unceremoniously sold, removing him from Calpernia’s life without even the chance for a goodbye.

I read these comics first in digital format, and then more recently re-read them as part of the print collection Dragon Age: The First Five Graphic Novels, which I would highly recommend picking up if you, like me, prefer reading print media, and if you, like me, are inherently wary of media which is licensed rather than owned and which can therefore be yanked out of your library at any time. (It’s also just a lovely volume for your bookshelf.) It is a bit funny to re-read because the print version, in addition to lacking page numbers, has all indicators of breaks between issues removed. So Tessa introduces herself and Marius on the third page or so, and then about 20 pages later introduces both again as though you might have forgotten who they are, even though there has been no pause in the narration in between. Ah, comics!

From here on, there will be spoilers!

The comics from this point on take place during and after Inquisition. Magekiller in particular takes before and during the game, and the plot centers around a high level hit on four Venatori leaders for which Marius and Tessa are hired, with their extreme reluctance, by the Archon of Tevinter himself. Things are complicated when the fourth target turns out to be none other than Calpernia, and Marius immediately locks lips with her instead of putting a blade through her heart. Tessa, already having suspected they would be cleaned up as “loose ends” once the job was done, agrees to leave the job unfinished. Calpernia helps the two get out of Tevinter, but they’re pursued by the Archon’s hit squads. The Conclave boom happens as they flee south, and rifts burst open all over Thedas. As Tessa and Marius try to protect innocent people from rampaging demons, they are recruited to the Inquisition by Charter.

Charter and Tessa’s initial meeting is a particularly fun scene—meeting in a tavern with blades to one another’s throats. And eventually, ending up in bed together! It’s always nice to have a canon F/F ship, and while I don’t mind having some that don’t end happily, it’s also nice to have some that do, and I like Charter and Tessa a lot.

Tessa meeting Charter also plays into the more personal themes of the story, which center around friendship and loyalty. Marius and Tessa have worked together for a long time, and in their work they trust one another completely. The narrative is from Tessa’s point of view, and it’s clear that she cares for Marius deeply, and yet it also becomes clear that she’s lonely with just him as a friend. Marius is quiet, and to a certain degree closed off because of his past. When he’s reunited with Calpernia, it shocks Tessa, because she never realized he was even capable of such feelings, nevermind that he had had romantic relationships before. She and Marius call of their entire mission, putting themselves in even greater danger than they were already in because of his feelings for Calpernia, and she never questions it. When she realizes she has real feelings for Charter, she starts to wonder if there’s more out there for her. In the eleventh hour, she does start to wonder whether Marius would stick his neck out for her the way she has for him—and she finds that the answer is yes. Though Marius does not show his feelings with words, they are no less real, and his loyalty to her is no less strong. Despite the rekindling of old relationships and the spark of new ones, their bond is reaffirmed in the end.

A bunch of Inquisition characters show up, including Dorian, Charter, the Bull’s Chargers, and Sutherland’s crew. After the sometimes over-the-top melodrama of the first three graphic novels, I must say I’m a big fan of this direction of putting new character in the protagonist seat, with game characters getting cameos but not taking over. The back half of the story certainly feels like a love letter to fans who love Inquisition’s minor characters—by which I mean me. But they don’t detract from the story of Marius and Tessa, which I appreciate.

Magekiller also gives us a northern perspective on magic, sort of, though I wouldn’t say it spends a whole lot of time on that theme. It does so insofar as Marius and Tessa’s profession is itself a commentary on magic in the north. Marius comes a nation where mages weild near-unstoppable power not just magically but politically, and was himself enslaved by a magister for many years. Tessa isn’t Tevinter, but Nevarran, where the Mortalitasi play an interesting political role; nothing close to the magisters, but an influence far above the Circle mages of the south. Tessa herself says early on, “The problem with magic is that it cheats. It is, at its root, an unfair advantage.” She says this, I note, not of mages but of magic itself: a force in the world which stacks the deck, giving some individuals a power disproportionate to others, a fact of which those in the north are profoundly aware. Marius and Tessa are not templars; they have no special powers derived from lyrium or the spirit power of Seekers, only the learned skills of those practiced in combat against mages.

The title “Magekiller” feels a little unnecessarily provocative because we’re so used to the attitudes toward mages in the south, especially for a story that isn’t really about killing mages! It’s not really about mages at all, northern or southern, but about loyalty and friendship.

Those themes will continue in the next graphic novel, Knight Errant.

Knight Errant

Dragon Age: Knight Errant is the fifth in the Dark Horse series of Dragon Age graphic novels and was published serially in 2017. It introduces two new main characters, Ser Aaron Hawthorne and his elven squire Vaea. (Evidently, the comics writers pronounce her name “Vie-uh” and the BioWare writers tend to say “Vay-uh” so it’s anybody’s guess what we’re going to hear if she shows up in DA4 but for now I’m going to think of it the way the comics writers say it.) Tessa and Marius, from the previous graphic novel, return in this story. Varric and Sebastian from Dragon Age II also make appearances, as well as some characters from Dragon Age’s tabletop RPG, published in 2010.

I feel the need to note here that this graphic novel as well as the last one seems to be indulging in the well-worn trope of giving dark-skinned characters light-colored eyes. Tessa’s are blue; Vaea’s are green. Marius at least has brown eyes, and if it was just one character I wouldn’t have commented at all, but since it happened twice… It’s a common trope in sci fi and often fantasy as well when the medium is drawn or animated, and I don’t know at what critical mass it becomes a problem but it’s two POV characters in two graphic novels in a row now so that feels noteworthy.

Anyway, Vaea is in many ways one of my favorite RPG character types: scrappy, stealthy, city elf thief, and it’s a good time watching her parkour her way around Starkhaven.

Spoilers follow!

After her youthful idealism was shattered in a failed attempt to save the day in the alienage of her youth, Vaea is disinclined to fight for “causes.” The violence of Edgehall’s oppressive Arl Lendon took from her not only her parents, but her beloved Uncle Coran, who joined a Dalish clan which in turn seemed to take a particular interest in aiding the alienage.

This story is set after Dragon Age: Inquisition, the game—but as we will learn, the Inquisition still exists as an organization, though perhaps smaller and less prominent, and its agents are still in play—including Charter, who approaches Vaea about a job.

Class politics rear their head in this story, and it’s interesting to see the ways in which they cause tension—and don’t. Sebastian, now Prince of Starkhaven, isn’t affronted in the least when Vaea, an elf, flirts with him, and he treats her graciously. Honestly, it’s pretty cute. Whatever Sebastian’s other faults might be, I am reminded of the fact that he spent a lot of time in the company of elves in Kirkwall, and in particular was friendly with Fenris.

I enjoy the fact the Vaea pulls an “old Dalish saying” out of her ass—"Not my circus, not my monkey!“—and is called on its lack of veracity immediately.

I especially love Ser Aaron. He’s really presented as a sort of "Knight of the people,” a landless knight who travels, drinks a lot, and tells tales from his glory days. He is rumored to have been a soldier loyal to King Cailan who somehow survived Ostagar, though no one knows quite how. He was knighted by King Maric after intervening to prevent further violence during the Orlesian withdrawal at the end of the occupation. There is also a sadder and more serious side to Ser Aaron, and I think it shows through a bit in his habitual drinking, hinting at the things he has seen that he’d like to forget.

Vaea and Sera Aaron have a great dynamic. When Vaea’s honor is impuned, Ser Aaron does not hesitate to defend her. Even though it comes out in the end that he knows about her stealing, and always has. He knew that her perhaps ill-gotten gains always came from those who could well afford the loss, and go to those less fortunate, and as such he is willing to turn a blind eye, and even take responsibility when push comes to shove. He shows himself not only a man of honor but a man who places the needs of others before himself, and disdains those who would exploit others for their own advancement, like Professor Marquette, whom he clearly finds repellent.

There are a hilarious few panels in this story in which Ser Aaron is being accused of thievery by Professor Marquette while Varric defends his honor. Their conversation is illustrated by two panels featuring Empress Celene, which are clearly not meant to be taken literally, but it would be very funny if they were because they would imply that a) Vaea once stole the crown jewels from the neck of the Empress of Orlais without getting caught, and b) Empress Celene has one blue dress that she wears all the time forever. I guess when Briala left her, she forgot how to dress herself.

But my favorite parts of this story were the glimpses of Vaea’s backstory and the Edgehall alienage. I really enjoyed seeing a part of Ferelden we hadn’t seen before, seeing an alienage in another city, and seeing a Dalish clan directly involved with an alienage community which we don’t see very often. I loved Vaea as a character all in her own right, and I thought her backstory was a really nice bit of worldbuilding. I also really loved her relationship with Ser Aaron, and how their partnership and friendship developed over the course of the story.

As the story concludes, Vaea and Ser Aaron are headed to Tevinter, and the next few graphic novels promise to take us north again!

Crosspost. Originally posted on dreamwidth on 4/4/22.

#magekiller #knight errant #dragon age graphic novels #dragon age #vaea #aaron hawthorne #tessa forsythia #marius #blunders of thedas

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event-horizon-x · 3 years ago

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Mauna Loa Heightened Unrest (25th October 2022)

I want to put up an update on Mauna Loa as another report from the USGS Hawaii Volcano Observatory was released today (25th October 2022).

The media has seemed run with one of these reports recently.

Mauna Loa has been on yellow for several years now. Currently the volcano has a heightened background level of earthquakes which have been ongoing at the Mokuā’weoweo caldera and below the northwest flank. These areas have been historically active so this isn’t too unusual. Below the summit itself earthquakes have increased from 10-20 to 40 to 50 per day.

Unrest began in 2014 and had a slow down in 2017 and 2018 but picked up again in 2019 and now with a larger increase. Deformation from earlier on has been because of much deeper processes and not just with the recent more shallow intrusion.

Elevated inflation on the flanks but not the summit for this update (25th October 2022), the inflation has been ongoing since mid-September.

Sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide as well as fumarole temperature are currently stable at the sulfur cone and summit as well as the Southwest rift zone.

Magma is most likely being renewed into Mauna Loa’s summit magma reservoir at a depth of 3-8 kilometers which is creating this heightened level of volcanic unrest. There are no signs of an imminent eruption at this time. Although magma is most likely upwelling below the summit it does not mean if there is to be an eruption it will occur there.

Magma at shallower depths (less then 3 kilometers) is most likely what’s responsible for the current inflation below the summit during the last 2 weeks. Magma movement at a deeper depth (greater then 3 kilometers) can be detected by measuring the increase of upward movement as well as extension.

Again there is no imminent signs of an eruption, the current activity should not be viewed as certainty of an eruption from Mauna Loa either. It should also be noted that this volcano is a large shield and although has the capacity for slightly larger violent eruptions it is pretty rare.

The last eruption occurred in 1984 and created lava flows which came as close as 7.4 kilometers from Hilo, because of the slope angle lava can travel fast. If we are going with historical eruptions we should expect to see a major increase of earthquakes to around 2-3 per minute from an already elevated background level as well as seismic tremor with rapid unrest, this has been typical of Mauna Loa’s historical eruptions for the past 2 centuries.

All of this information is simplified and there are of course other things that will occur before an eruption starts, it may slightly differ from historical patterns but not by much.

Right now we cannot be sure of an eruption occurring or of how violent it will be if it does occur, just keep a watch on the Hawaii Volcano Observatory (HVO) website as everything is official coming from there, they also share live earthquake data and tilt readings for those interested.

#hawaii #Mauna Loa #volcanoes #volcanology #update #geology

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shadlad24 · 4 years ago

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Tumblr Master Post

(Third Mensiversary)

Hey, guys! So, instead of the usual monthly post, I decided to consolidate everything. From now on, I will update the following list and reblog it every 22nd. Enjoy!

Please note that Tumblr either cannot or will not preserve my formatting. So, I have used Google Docs as well. Please click on this link if you’d prefer that. It’s open to all. Thanks!

My posts are almost XWP-related and can be categorized into eight main categories (The pic below is merely for record-keeping and visualization purposes; scroll down for the actual links):

Questions

Curious— Why does everyone think Gabrielle/Renée O’Connor has green eyes?

A Favor to the God of War?— What in the world was the favor Ares wanted from Gabrielle during “Sacrifice”?

Smoking Gun?— Why did Hope knowing Solan’s name give her away as his killer?

Good Luck, Kid!— Why was security so bad in “Maternal Instincts”?

The Love of Your Love— Wasn’t the second verse of this song frustrating and hurtful to Gabrielle?

The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares— Why does so little about Ares’s character make sense?

Hard Ask— Can I PLEASE get a willing, able, AND reliable beta-reader for my Xena fanfic???

The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares [Reblog]— Three more questions about the god of war

No Way— Is the titular image of “Xena: Warrior Princess” what it seems?

Episode Reflections

Random Thoughts While Watching XWP— funny moments from “A Family Affair,” “Them Bones, Them Bones,” “Married with Fishsticks,” and “Coming Home”

Observations from “Sins of the Past”— fifteen things I noticed while watching the episode for the second time (first after completing the series)

Running Commentary on “A Family Affair”— just what it sounds like XD

Concluding Thoughts on “A Family Affair”— a defense of Hope and Gabrielle

Echoes Across the Years— how Solan’s last conversation with his mother echoed Gabrielle’s first with the warrior princess

Redeeming “Fishsticks,” Part 1— how the adults and themes in Gabrielle’s dreamworld held great significance

Redeeming “Fishsticks,” Part 2— how Crustacea’s monstrous children were re-imaginations of Hope and The Destroyer

Fault— my thoughts on the series finale

Good Luck, Kid! [Reblog]— a fun little extension of the original post showing the impression Gabrielle made on Hope

Original Fanfic Excerpts

The Mother of Hope, a collection of one-shots exploring Gabrielle’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences with/about her daughter

Disparity— Hope’s and Gabrielle’s conversation during the final commercial break of “A Family Affair”

Somewhere— Gabrielle searching Tartarus for Hope while Ares was harassing Xena and Solan in “God Fearing Child”

Super Challenge— the entire Rift Arc summed up in a single conversation, the lines of dialogue coming from each of the twelve Rift episodes of season three

Aperture— Gabrielle’s thoughts the night of her wedding

The Daughter of Duality, Hope’s life story from her perspective

My Great Hope— Seraphin prepares her goddess for childbirth

Hope Rising— Baby Hope makes a terrible mistake

“Tears of a Goddess: Blood Rain,” a one-shot exploring “Motherhood” from the goddess of love’s perspective

Useless— Aphrodite agonizes over what to do when alone with Gabrielle and Eve

Tears of a Goddess, a story in which Aphrodite comes clean about the large part she played in Gabrielle’s life behind the scenes

Gabrielle Rages against Xena— the bard finds herself at Aphrodite’s temple, heartbroken and lost after the series finale

Aphrodite Ribs Gabrielle— Aphrodite complains about Gabrielle’s mishaps throughout the show

Rapprochement, a story about Xena and Gabrielle hashing out The Rift Arc before finally coming together as a couple

The Answer— Xena reminds Gabrielle of who she is

Divine Intervention— Aphrodite blesses Xena and Gabrielle’s union

Adventures in Moving Forward, a chronicle of Aphrodite’s and Gabrielle’s adventures together post-AFIN and all my other XWP stories

Stranger— Aphrodite protects Gabrielle from a mob in Brittania

The Betrayer, Gabrielle's untold experience during “The Deliverer.”

Disturbance— Xena makes an unexpected suggestion on how to stop Gabrielle’s recurring nightmare

Deception— Khrafstar fills multiple voids in Gabrielle’s heart

Defilement— Reality slips away from Gabrielle with the loss of her blood innocence

Desecration— Gabrielle becomes one with darkness

Dissolution— The return of Gabrielle’s hero brings about only more tragedy

Fan Theories

Soul Orbits and Psychic Echoes— how Xena and Gabrielle got their children through equal and opposite people and circumstances

Shazam!— how Xena might be able to come back after the series finale

Man-Killer— what really happened to Toris

An Unsung Hero— Aphrodite being Gabrielle’s guardian angel throughout the Rift Arc

Infamous, Infuriated— why Xena engaged in the GabDrag (and BardBraining)

Solving Some Problems with Ares— answering two of my own questions about the god of war

Odd, Sort of Beautiful Symmetry— how we ended up with Annie and Harry

Soul Orbits and Psychic Echoes [Reblog]— an extension of the original theory that focuses more on Solan and Hope themselves

Solving More Problems with Ares— answering my next questions about the god of war

Episode Cracksubs

The Comedy of Amphipolis— “The Haunting of Amphipolis”

What in the Gurkhan?— “Who’s Gurkhan?”

Them Bones and Boneheads— “Them Bones, Them Bones”

TL;DRs— cliff-notes version of longer posts

TL;DR #1: Soul Orbits and Psychic Echoes

TL;DR #2: Infamous, Infuriated

TL;DR #3: The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares

Funny Little Moments— (Five:) a series highlighting overlooked silly things from each episode, illustrated in pictures and cracksubs / (More:) summation posts showcasing additional funny moments from each episode, in half-season chunks

Five Funny Little Moments #1: “Sins of the Past”

Five Funny Little Moments #2: Chariots of War

Five Funny Little Moments #3: Dreamworker

Five Funny Little Moments #4: Cradle of Hope

Five Funny Little Moments #5: The Path Not Taken

Five Funny Little Moments #6: The Reckoning

Five Funny Little Moments #7: The Titans

Five Funny Little Moments #8: Prometheus

Five Funny Little Moments #9: Death in Chains

Five Funny Little Moments #10: Hooves and Harlots

Five Funny Little Moments #11: The Black Wolf

Five Funny Little Moments #12: Beware Greeks Bearing Gifts

Miscellaneous

Golden Ticket— Renee O’Connor’s initial responses to me on Instagram

Bath Time— a fun self-challenge involving making a story from recently downloaded/screenshot images in just a few minutes

Mensiversary— review of my first month on Tumblr

Confirmation/Affirmation— Steven L. Sears’s essay of support for my Furies theory

K.O.— Renée O’Connor liking my comment about ^

Hooray!— The Mother of Hope is finished (kinda)

Aww…— a quick picture post to try something new while I was bummed about the deadly tech bug that obliterated my posts for weeks

Second Mensiversary— review of my second month on Tumblr

NOOO!— a lamentation related to The Mother of Hope

The (Many) Problem(s) with Ares [Reblog/Response]— answering a reader

More Funny Little Moments #1: Season 1, Episodes 1-12

*Other

Black Hole— a poem about depression

It’s Nothing— a poem on invalidation

What the?— the beginning of the bug :(

#xwp #xena warrior princess #xena #xena and gabrielle #gabrielle #link post #fan theory #fanfic #fanfiction #xena fanfiction #gabrielle fanfiction #cracksubs

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