#moon's dnd sessions

[namelessmoons-corner]

☆.｡.:° Session II | Wild Beyond the Witchlight °:.｡.☆

Click here to go to the first session notes

Where the DM (me) can't remember what happened in a session from a few months ago for their lives.

We left the adventurers as they went toward the HR of this carnival. Is there one? Nobody knows, not even the DM. In a logical turn of action, the three of them assume that to find someone who could help them, they need to go the the place where the hands of the carnival live.

On the way, they pass by the Glass gallery and see a halfling doubled over laughing, not managing to breathe. The other halfling, who was about to propose to her, begins crying and flees into the gallery.

Our dear adventurers follow him and manage to get him to come back for his happy ever after with the love of his life.

(It has now been months since the actual session play, so I'll need to speed things up and only tell you about what I remember)

Our adventurers went to the Witch and Light's trailer and managed to speak with them. Speedrunning this playthrough, both of my players had a crush on Light (hot jester means my queer players loved him).

They did manage to find Canfoo, who is in fact Candlefoot and paired him of with Palasha in a grand gesture of love, even without his voice by coaching him and creating banners for him.

They went back to Mr. Light and stole his magic wand to make him to their bidding, which was to go to the Feywild because they learnt through Diana that they would find answer there.

So they manage to go through the looking glass and level up to level 2, making Trinket sad because he wanted to become the Witchlight Monarch and be able to fly like his two friends.

I'm quite sure I forgot a lot of things, so please @alysorah add things in the comments if you remember anything and I'll add it to the post <3.

[bernard-the-rabbit]

Some dnd character designs :3

[morrigan-sims]

🎭Rune Lovelace🎭

she/they/he/it | changeling | bard | college of dance | charlatan | former acrobat she is beauty, he is grace, they will punch you in the face!

[some extra info under the cut]

Rune is going to be my character for the new campaign my Monday group is starting!!! (RIP Kiran, who I never got to show off on this blog because he was a Tabaxi, a Dragonborn, and a Thri-Kreen. I'll miss it. Bugs and kisses.) We're playing Heckna! which is a Domain of Dread-adjacent horror-comedy campaign. The entire party is very macabre, and we should fit right in! (But hopefully not too much...)

Anyways, more about Rune. She's a changeling college of dance bard (a new subclass with the 2024 rules, kind of like a combo between a monk and a bard), and they used to be an acrobat at a circus. Since whatever world this party came from is clearly some kind of grimdark dark fantasy setting, the circus itself certainly had its eerie moments. (And of course, it was a magic circus.) When he wasn't up on the high wire, Rune also dabbled in doing tarot card readings for the circus guests, lying through her teeth about their pasts and futures. (While they used their true changeling form while performing in the big top, she used a specific guise when she did the readings, an older woman who used a different name.)

Rune carries with them a porcelain mask, largely featureless, but gilded with gold. When among people who do not know his changeling identity, she pretends that the mask is the source of her ability to change shape, putting it on every time they shift forms.

[shrimpari]

On the eve of the blood moon, Strahd finally kidnapped Ji and took him to Ravenloft

[pinkee-moon]

My first dnd character is a drow artificer named Yavarielle Peniel. My poor baby's just a space cadet.. I just wanted to share her somewhere cuz I love her ;;;

[emotigonecreative]

Kalor session 51

[hollowsart]

I haven't touched TSP in forever but like.

I gotta note. I love how a fair number of people who make a human Narrator either base him off his VA in design, or they make him look like a grandpa.

..I may or may not be guilty of this to some degree with my own design. the grandpa category at least. I designed him based on the voice and what I pictured.

People who depict the narrator as less a human and more.. idk, a concept?? abstract entity?? those are cool. the people who depict him as an inhuman spherical robot, something akin to the personality cores in Portal, those are so cool. I read a fic once where the narrator was that and like.. it opened my mind, blew it wide open. mad respect to the op for that concept design they described in the fic for him.

I almost miss my Narrator design. he was so fun to draw. :(

[lystring]

@orangenottangerineart drew my dnd character Bird!!!! I couldn't be happier omg ♥️😻 she's a tabaxi bard, a disgraced court jester, n honestly just a silly lil kittycat

[liliumaa]

the moon is a deadly laser

[namelessmoons-corner]

☆.｡.:° Session II | The Uncharted Continent °:.｡.☆

(Drawing I made picturing our group. From left to right: Ignis, Trevon, Octave, Evelyn and Same)

Ignis uses both they/them and he/him pronouns interchangeably, I try to use the same ones during paragraph to simplify the narration, but some slip through the cracks, sorry

[TW: mention of torture, bad parenting, description of a panic attack, stick figure drawing of a child being dismembered]

-> Where Ignis is still awkward and their friend is a cryptic. <-

Our session begins when Ignis goes back home after their night escapade at the haunted house. When they go home, there is no one to welcome them, but it seems they're used to it.

Getting the note out of their bag, they begin searching for answers in their family library, but either there's nothing to find, or they don't know how to look for things.

(player moon here: Ignis just don't know how to look for things)

After accepting that he wouldn't find anything here, he decides that it's the right time to go to bed, knowing sleep won't come easy but hoping they'll manage to catch some for a few hours.

While he does sleep, his dreams are not what he signed up for. He dreams of his mother and his uncle tying him up to a chair, and he cannot feel his prosthesis. He can feel the rope digging into the soft sin of his upper arms, and his ribs are squeezed tight, his breathes coming out short and leaving his lungs without the much needed air.

Ignis logically knows they're dreaming. Their mother wouldn't stoop so low as to kidnap her own child to remove them from the succession when she could simply asphyxiate them with a pillow while they were sleeping with no way to defend themselves.

This doesn't stop the panic from rising like a tidal wave within his chest, drowning his hearing and forcing its way out in the form of slated tears, the taste on his tongue and their tracks on his cheeks. The world in front of his eyes gets more blurry as each second pass.

A rumbling sound gets him back. His uncle is holding a chainsaw and his mother puts a living hand on his shoulder. "You've always been useless, Ignis. A stain on the name Pruinae. Your limbs are useless, even as you're already missing some of them. A curse to bring me down."

The chainsaw is quickly approaching his legs. "You don't deserve to walk, curse. It would be better for everyone to remove your legs." As the saw touches his right thigh, Ignis passes out.

And wakes up.

Their legs are hurting. This is good. It means they're here, they still have them. Their prosthesis are on the chair near their bed, on their allocated place.

And now he needs coffee; figures the only time he manages to fall asleep, he's plagued with terrible lucid dreams.

Well, they can't do anything about that. Maybe see a therapist, but with their mother breathing down their neck, it's going to be complicated.

Classes are a pain. And Sam, the girl they met yesterday, isn't even here. Strange, because she said she was in a science/lit bachelor and this should mean they have some classes together. Ignis has never heard of this kind of double bachelor, but to each their own. This is one of the reason they're so suspicious, they think.

After class, Ignis decides to head towards the library, in hopes to get some answers about the note he got yesterday at the haunted house. And about the eclipse.

They see Octave at the library and decide to say hello. While Octave isn't the nicest guy to be around, they should stick together if they want a shot at resolving this strange thing. Ignis can't find anything on the shelves of the library about arcanic writings and scriptures, Octave pull through and manages to find one and only one book talking about it.

Seeing as Octave doesn't want to share the book and to read it together, Ignis seats at the table and listens back to the recording of their classes of the day sped up.

When Octave leaves the desk not bothering to put back the book in a huff, Ignis gets curious. What would bother the guy? The answer is easily found: all the linguists agree that every one who tries to understand the language further becomes mad. This is a dead end.

As they're putting the book back in its rightful place, Evelyn, the friend they made yesterday, calls to them and Ignis goes to sit beside her. Apparently, Sam wasn't here at all today, which confirms Ignis's suspicions, and one of their teacher asked her to give Sam the notes of the classes she missed. Evelyn plans on going to her flat at seven so she can give them to her and Ignis offers to come with her.

Ignis is a bit scared of Sam, mostly because she's an unknown. Besides inviting him to meet yesterday, he hasn't talked a lot with her; mostly with Trevon and Evelyn. And so he wonders if they shouldn't ask Trevon or Octave to come with them. Octave is discarded quickly, but they can't find Trevor so in the end they decide to go alone.

And so when the time comes, the two of them heads towards the students lodgings. They are joined in their endeavour by Trevon, freshly showered after training, who seems happy to see them, at least until Evelyn says something about his smell.

They finally get to the building where Sam lives, and Trevon is surprised because he lives in the same one, and he tells Ignis and Evelyn that he has never seen Sam around. They see that the door to her flat is open and it seems that there's nobody there.

As the group waits for Sam, they decide to snoop a bit. Trevon manages to throw a 0 in Religion and he thus firmly believes that Sam is a demonspawn. Sam eventually comes back to her flat, telling us that she was outside running errands.

Ignis and their comrades did sort of create an ambush, and they want answers.

(Here comes long minutes of lore dumping that i don't completely remember, but i'm not the only notetaker in our campaign so that's ok)

When the group leaves her house, they see a flock of police cars going towards the haunted house and the group follows; a friend of Evelyn, named Eleanor, tells her that a child was found dead and dismembered in the house.

(here is the child; we only found out later that his name was Charles, but it's not that important)

Ignis isn't worried about fingerprints, but the fact that the group was there yesterday, before any type of murder occurred, is bad. really bad. Sam said that there should be about 5 murders and that the group needs to prevent them in order to stop the end of the world.

Of course, because it would make it too easy, Sam doesn't know where the next murder is going to be. Ignis says the church. Everybody knows that the end of horror movies with sacrifices is in a church.

(Map of the city; the red line is what Ignis thought would happen in order; little spoiler, the cross and 2 later proved that it wasn't)

So Ignis, Trevon and Evelyn camp out at the church, but no murder happens. They do see a person in a black cape watching them, but they don't manage to catch them. In the end, Ignis quite tired, so they all head home. Before going to sleep, Ignis receives a strange message from Trevon and Evelyn, asking them what Sam's last name is on their group chat. It's Eda. Or Edda, Ignis isn't quite sure about the specifics.

☆: .｡.o.｡.:☆

I'm so late and I'm sorry ;-; we've finished our sixth session now, but I should post the summaries later this week :) Hope you enjoyed and have some theories hehe

[six-improbable-things]

One of my characters for the new planescape game I'm joining is a swords bard who plays bagpipes as they charge into battle. How do they play the bagpipes while holding a sword, you ask? Well, one hand is holding the sword, one hand is holding the bagpipes, and their mage hand is helping to play the bagpipes.

One of my other two characters for the planescape game is a dragonborn moon druid who can use their breath weapon and limited flight ability while in wildshape.

And for a holiday oneshot where we're all playing different toys, I'm going to be slime/thinking putty and be a plasmoid monk.

[creature-once-removed]

.

[lieutenantn]

It just makes me so happy when me and my friend just absolutely geek out about our characters' awkward romance after a DnD session because they are just so socially awkward and shy BUT so sweet at the same time and they are crushing on each other so hard... It's so fun, I just love them 💙

I have a half drow, half something else (i don't know, she doesn't know) druid/healer elf girl, and her hopefully future bf is a moon elf healer/doctor

[munsonsmixtapes]

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

Eddie Munson x shy!fem!reader

summary: You and Eddie think that your feelings for each other aren't reciprocated but you both couldn't be more wrong

cw: hurt/comfort

This is part two to Flattery Works With Me

You sat in the front seat of Eddie’s van picking at the skin around your finger nails as a metal song played from the speakers loudly. You had been in his van many times since he always gave you rides to the DnD sessions, but this was different. He was going to come into your house. He was going to see your room, and that terrified you. You knew he would never make fun of you for anything, but you were still embarrassed considering that you still had some things left from your childhood, like some boy band posters and stuffed animals that you couldn’t get yourself to get rid of. 

Eddie, though, was looking forward to seeing where you lived. The place always looked cozy when he drove up to it and now he was going to see if it actually was. He was looking forward to seeing your room, wondering if it was as sweet as you, if it was what he had been imagining. He was looking forward to helping you with your homework, honestly anything that meant he got to spend time with you. Alone. Those twenty minute car rides were the highlight every week and now he was going to hang out with you as long as you would have had him. 

“You okay over there?” Eddie asked, drumming on the steering wheel to the beat of the song that was playing. He then reached over and turned the volume dial, making the music a bit lower so he could hear you when you spoke.

You slowly turned to him just in time to see his warm smile before he turned back to face the road. You thought about his question, wondering how you should have answered it, trying to figure how to word it without spilling the entire truth. That you had a huge crush on him and were nervous to be hanging out with him alone because you were concerned that you were going to tell him the truth and he was going to reject you. 

And you couldn’t have that, you just couldn’t. He was the best friend you ever had and there was no way that you were going to bring feelings into the mix. Everything was great and you weren’t going to ruin it by telling him that you liked him romantically. So, you swallowed the confession down like a large pill then turned to him, plastering on the best smile you could muster even though your heart was breaking a little. 

“I’m good,” you nodded. Eddie wasn’t buying it, but he was going to press you on it. If you had something that was bothering you, you’d tell him. At least, he hoped that you would. 

“Alright,” he replied as he turned into your driveway and your heart rate picked up. “Good.” He got out of the van then rounded the front of it before opening the door for you and helping you out of your seat. You led him to the front door, very aware that you were still holding hands, but you wouldn’t dare let go. His was soft and rough and there was something about it that made you instantly feel comforted. 

You let go of his hand and reached for your backpack, opening the smallest pocket and pulling out your keys. Eddie watched you, wondering why he was falling in love with you as you were doing something so mundane as unlocking your door. But there he was, looking at you like you had hung the moon, feeling like he was going to throw up from how overwhelmed with the feeling he was. He wanted to tell you the truth, but he didn’t think it was right. He didn’t think there was any way that you’d be interested in a freak like him. He was lucky enough to have you as a friend and he sure as hell wasn’t going to push it by telling you that he was totally and completely head over heels for you. 

The door opened and Eddie followed you inside, kicking off his shoes as he watched you do the same thing. He followed you into the kitchen like a lost puppy, getting distracted by all of the decorations that lined the walls. He was about to enter the kitchen when he spotted a framed photo that was hanging by the entrance. It was a photo of you from when you were about seven. You were reading a book, facing your palm towards the camera as if you didn’t want to have your photo taken. He shook his head with a chuckle since seemingly nothing had changed. 

“Do you want some orange juice?” You asked and Eddie stepped into the kitchen, seeing that you already had two glasses out along with the carton. He wasn’t really a big fan of the beverage, but there was no way in hell he was saying no to you. 

“I’d love some,” he smiled and you poured him a glass before handing it to him. Your fingers brushed his and your were beginning to panic at the way your hands were touching, deciding that you needed to move away as soon as possible. 

You watched him bring the glass up to his lips, wondering what they would have felt like slotted between yours, if they were as soft as they looked. He finished off half the glass then set it down on the counter and you couldn’t help but notice that some of the juice had dribbled down his chin. You stared at him, wanting to wipe away from him, but not quite having the confidence to do so.

“What?” He asked with a chuckle. “Do I have something on my face?” You pointed to the spot on your own chin and he stepped closer pointing his towards you, wanting you to get rid of it for him. 

You reached up and wiped the juice away from his chin with your thumb and your hand was removed from his skin before he was ready. He wanted you to pull him towards you and press your lips to his. He wanted to taste your lip gloss, desperate to know what the flavor was. If there was one. 

His gaze dropped to your lips and they parted, your eyes widening ever so slightly.. Just when he was about to make the move, you stepped away, smoothing out your dress to distract yourself. You then looked back up at him, clearing your throat as you did so. 

“Homework?” You asked, the volume of your voice even lower than it usually was. 

“Sure, doll,” he nodded. “Homework.”

Eddie grabbed your backpack from where you left it leaning up against the island then let you pass him, leading him out of the kitchen and to the stairs. He slung a strap of your backpack over his shoulder as you ascended the stairs, feeling very out of place considering that the only reason why ever went to a girl’s room was to sleep with them. And you weren’t going to sleep with him. That wasn’t the kind of girl you were, not that it would have mattered if it was. 

And you were also shameless about your friendship with Eddie. All of his hookups made him sneak in through their window and make him leave the same way because they were ashamed. They just wanted to have a fun time with Eddie “the freak” Munson and then make him swear to not tell anyone. He always said he didn’t mind, but that kind of treatment does something to a person. Not that Eddie would have admitted that his feelings were hurt by it. 

You got to the door of your bedroom and opened it, heading inside with Eddie hot on your heels. You stood in the center of the room awkwardly as he took it in, deciding that it was exactly what he was expecting. He set your backpack down by your desk then pulled out your desk chair, planting himself in it, making himself at home the only way Eddie knew how to do. 

He opened up your backpack and pulled out your book, splaying them out of your desk before turning to you, resting his hands on his lap. He patted the spot, inviting you to take a seat and you hesitantly made your way towards him. You turned your back to him and gingerly sat in his lap before he turned the chair back around to face the desk. 

“So what’s first?” He asked as he rested his chin on your shoulder, looking down at your assignments that were on the desk in front of the both of you. You usually liked doing your homework, but this time, you had no interest in it. 

You wanted to lie next to him in your bed, to have him pressed against you while you stared into his eyes as you played with his hair. You then wanted to kiss him. Nothing crazy, just a little peck. And then he’d chase your lips, deciding that he needed more. And then the two of you would make out for hours, your homework completely forgotten. 

“Sweetheart?” He asked, his hands moving up and down your waist gently, trying to get your attention. Mission accomplished. 

“Hm?” You asked, avoiding his eye contact, knowing that if you looked at him you’d do something that you knew you shouldn’t have. That would have changed your friendship forever and you couldn’t risk losing him because you couldn’t keep your hormones in check.

“I was wondering what you wanted to do first.” His hands were still rubbing against your hips and your mind was reeling of all the things he could have done with those hands. His rough fingers gliding up your soft thighs as he kissed you senseless, but stopping there since he knew that you weren’t comfortable with going any farther. 

“Um,” now your brain was short circuiting. There was no way you could focus on anything being that close to him. Feeling his breath on your skin, smelling his cologne that was mixed with the cigarette smoke that lingered on all of his clothing. It was absolutely intoxicating and driving you mad. 

You pushed away from the desk to free yourself then stood up, trying to put as much distance between the two of you as possible. He had to go and right then. Your feelings for him were getting overwhelming now that you were alone with him and you were starting to feel sick to your stomach, seeing the worried look on his face. 

You turned to face your window, not wanting him to see you like that. It was all too embarrassing. That you had fallen for the boy who you thought was out of your league. The one who definitely only saw you as a friend and now you were mistaking his niceness for attraction and there was no way in hell that was what was going on between the two of you. 

“Y/n?” Eddie asked softly as he approached you gently, as if he was trying to show a spooked animal that he wasn’t a threat. He was blaming himself for your sudden mood change. He had gone too far by asking you to sit in his lap and now he had made you uncomfortable. 

His hand gently rested on your shoulder and you whipped around, putting your hands out as if to tell him to back up. He put his hands up in defense and did what he assumed you were silently asking. 

“Stay back,” you commanded, your voice the loudest he had ever heard and now he knew that he had fucked up. God, he was always screwing up and now he was sure that you were going to kick him out and never invite him back. You’d tell him that he didn’t need to pick you up anymore and you’d stop coming to the DnD sessions. And you’d stop sitting with him and the others at lunch, finding another group to sit with. And it’d be easy for you because you were so likable and a sweetheart.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his voice now getting small. “What did I do?” 

You had no idea why he was asking that. He hadn’t done anything wrong. You were the problem and now you felt even worse for allowing him to believe that it was his fault. 

“Nothing,” you shook your head. “I-I just need you to leave, okay?”

“Y/n, what-” he tried to speak, but you were making a beeline for him, pushing him towards the door. So this really was the beginning of the end. Your friendship really was. 

“What are you doing? Why are you kicking me out?” Eddie sounded so hurt that you had to tune him out, not wanting your heart to break any more than it already had. 

“Because you have to go. I can’t have you here.”

“Why?” You made the mistake of looking into his eyes and could have sworn that you could hear your heart crack as you saw the sadness take over the pretty brown color, the absolutely heartbroken look on his face. Why did he have to make it even harder to say goodbye? 

But you still opened the door and pushed him into the hallway, watching dejection take over his features. You couldn’t stand to look at him anymore and it was getting frustrating that he wouldn’t just leave. 

“Because I can’t look at you without wondering what your lips would feel like against mine. I can’t stop wondering what it’s like to be cuddled up with you on the couch as we watch a horror movie, knowing that you’ll let me bury my head into your neck when they get too scary. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if you reciprocated my feelings, but you don’t so you have to go.” 

With that, you slammed the door in his face and waited for him to come back. To tell you that you were wrong and that he did love you. But he didn’t. You just stared at the closed door, feeling tears well up in your eyes as the seconds passed, further proving that he wasn’t coming. 

You turned away from the door and stared out your window, watching the leaves fall from the trees, wondering why you had to go and fuck everything up. If you hadn’t said a word and just pushed down your feelings, Eddie would have still been there. Your friendship would have still been intact and you wouldn’t have been crying because you had fucked up. 

The door was ripped open and Eddie made a beeline for you, grabbing you by the wrist and turning you around to face him. Before you could even process what was happening, his lips were slotting between yours in a passionate kiss. You gasped into his mouth, but quickly melted into him, wrapping your arms around his neck while his went to your waist. 

Your lips slotted together like two puzzle pieces and his were a little chapped, but still as soft as you had imagined. You honestly couldn’t believe it was happening. That after months of pining for him, he had actually reciprocated your feelings. That you were both standing in your room, kissing, and it was everything you had dreamed it would be. 

“Please don’t kick me out again,” he whispered against your lips. “I love you so much that I can't stand being away from you.” 

“I won’t,” you whispered. “Stay as long as you like.”

Eddie’s lips found yours again and this time, his tongue swiped along the seam of your lips and you quickly opened up, letting him inside as you pulled him towards you even more so that your bodies were touching, wanting to leave absolutely no space between the two of you.

“Strawberry,” he mumbled against your lips. 

“What?” You asked through a breath, having no idea what he was talking about. 

“Your lip gloss,” he replied, reaching up and pushing some hair behind your ear. “It tastes like strawberry.” 

“Mhm,” you nodded. “Want another taste?”

“Of course,” he smiled, pressing another kiss to your lips and you pouted at how short it was. “Already can’t get enough of me, hm?” He chuckled. 

“No,” you shook your head. “I’m going to need to kiss you all the time now.”

“Oh, sweetheart,” he chuckled again, resting his hands against your cheeks. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” With that, he pressed another kiss to your lips, that being your third of many of the night. And even though there were plenty more where that came from, he still felt the need to savor them, wanting to go as slow as he could just so he had more time. Now that he had a little taste, he just knew that he was going to be kissing you any chance he got.

[xxsillysealxx]

The Eltingville club (separate) x gn!reader who dresses like a fantasy character?

Like their out here being a little sweetheart, singing songs and frolicking in the fields Yaelorke style🌞💞

this is so cute omg

The Eltingville Club x Fantasy Reader

Bill Dickey:

💥 Initially thinks you're weird. You're too upbeat for his tastes, and he's generally annoyed by your presence.

💥 Calls you a poser, asks if you've even played Dungeons and Dragons or seen The Hobbit. If you say yes, he'll quiz you on the lore.

💥 You do begin to grow on him though. Still calls you weird and irritating, but there's something kind of irresistible about someone being so nice to him for a change.

💥 Plus, your clothing style is "kinda cool, I guess". But he's never gonna admit that to you.

Josh Levy:

🪐 Not used to being around someone so positive, and it's a nice change of pace for him.

🪐 Kind of views you like a manic pixie dream girl/boy/whatever, cuz that's kinda what you are. He thinks you're magical.

🪐 Makes you play/sing songs from movies he likes, like Lord of the Rings.

🪐 We know from the comics that he likes Disney movies, and I think he'd want to watch things like The Black Cauldron with you. Might compare your style to one of the Lost Boys from Hook.

🪐 He thinks it's cool how unapologetic you are about being yourself, he thinks it's one of your most attractive features. He wishes he could be like that too, but for now, he's happy being seen next to you :)

Pete Dinunzio:

📼 Even though you two are vastly different, he thinks your style is kinda cool, in a weird way.

📼 If you go full Yaelokre with the masks and stuff, he'll really dig it. Thinks the mask is creepy cool.

📼 Will introduce you to fantasy horror if you aren't already into it. It isn't his favorite genre, but he likes it, and he likes that you like it.

📼 He thinks you're kinda odd, but in a fun way. He fucks with it.

Jerry Stokes:

🎭 Absolutely LOVES it. You look like a character out of his favorite movies or a DnD session. He's immediately lovestruck.

🎭 Compliments every outfit you put together and might even ask you to dress him up too. He'd never leave the house in whatever you put him in, but he can dream.

🎭 Play DnD with him!!! He'd be honored if you asked for his help creating your character.

🎭 The only guy in the group that enjoys the same style of music as you, give him an earbud whenever you're listening :3

🎭 Ren Faire dates !!! He'll be over the moon to go with you !!!

[thisisnotthenerd]

putting the tl;dr at the top as a poll and the commentary under the cut because it’s quite rambly and it’s also late and i’m tired.

*whether dorian is one of these is up for debate

there’s some discussion of bell’s hells not having the “it” factor for a lot of people. even though it’s my first campaign and the only one i’ve mostly watched live, i kind of have to agree.

there’s a distinctive lack of investment in backstory for the group in terms of what they’ve spent time on in campaign. i think fearne is the only one who’s been done justice, even though we’ve seen other exploration, because they’ve been to her home multiple times, and while her backstory isn’t central to the main plot, it is close. it’s enough distance for her to be able to develop as a character but also for us to see where she came from.

imogen’s is tied directly to the main moon plot, so she’s had screen time aplenty, but less time to develop quietly, as laura does really well. i might argue for orym, but that’s because his is kept simple but with depth. his backstory comes through in the acting because he’s put up against his family members occasionally, but he’s a little guy at root.

for everyone else it’s been short detours. sometimes not even that. the spotlight oscillates between moon plot and god arguments with indecisive wandering in between.

while not everyone in vox machina inherently had a deep personal connection to the big bads of their campaigns, they didn’t need to. they did it for their friends, because they loved and trusted one another deeply. they made decisions about what they were facing and stuck to it, even when it meant sacrifice. they made multiple levels of friendship around and across the table.

at this point bell’s hells has been told a bunch of different things to do. and honestly i don’t know if they ever decided on one.

that’s not the point of this though.

there’s some archetypes or dnd players out there: roleplayers and power gamers. people who are all in it for the story and people who are all in it for the game. and it reflects in the characters they build.

somehow bell’s hells (collectively) is neither.

they don’t have strong investment in the plot collectively. the character concepts range from simple to deeply complex, and i have to say that i think the simpler has worked better for a plot-heavy campaign, because the characters that started simpler had a chance to develop over the campaign rather than competing for time between the plot and their own stories hanging over their heads.

take dorian. he was a humble bard, a former noble, who’s trying to make his way in the world. he refused great power from an evil source and paid the price in the loss of his brother. he fell in love as the world ended, and is still trying to sing the songs of the people he loves because he wants to bring people joy and bring them together. he’s invested in stopping predathos because of his friends, but also to avenge loss, and to protect the people of his homeland and take up his responsibility as heir to the silken squall.

it took a paragraph. but at the table, even when he was with the crown keepers for a few months, he fits right in. he’s had growth while keeping true to his core.

i’m not going to get into the rest now but there’s a definite element of throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks.

anyways, beyond the difficulties of backstory, they’re not super optimized. i’m of the belief that optimization works in tandem with roleplay—the characters are growing and changing over the course of the story, and having the mechanics trace that and make choices impactful is a big part of the appeal of the game.

watching vox machina and the mighty nein fight is a treat because not only are they level 20 and therefore godlike in power, their mechanics support interesting combat where failure hits hard because they’re built to succeed. when someone fails a save or misses it means something. they have options in their wheelhouse but they’ve found their niches and know how to play to their strengths.

bell’s hells is playing high level combat right now, but they have middling stats: lots of dump stats, 10-14s in the middle and some attacks/spell saves that aren’t as high as you’d expect of level 15 characters. they have several characters with perhaps too many options, and have made some weird strategic decisions. they’re indecisive. in combination with fluctuating luck from the dice, there’s times where they can wreck house, but also times of them failing saves, missing on full turns, losing resources, and overall failing more than they succeed.

also bell’s hells don’t make big decisions in combat unless they’re absolutely forced to. in the last arc pre-final battle, the big battles were otohan on ruidus, dominox and ludinus in aeor (+delilah), zathuda and the unseelie in the feywild. with otohan, they were dying all around until fcg’s sacrifice. literally end of the line. then in aeor, they fought to end dominox, got whammied with downfall, and then had the delilah fight, but then her sealing came later. they fought in the arch heart’s temple, but the big revelations came on the heels of that, between the arch heart themself and then zathuda being strung up on the loom.

but of a tangent: i don’t think naddpod and critical role can be fairly compared, because they’re different in tone and telling very different stories. i relistened to naddpod c1 recently along with the last few episodes of c3 as we approach the finale, and while they have gotten more creative on the character building side, the story is still well done and combat is fun to listen to. they have had moments of deep tragedy on naddpod. they’ve had cameos of old characters, and even had one of them as a pc for a full arc mid-campaign 3. they’ve explored the future of the world of bahumia after the events of c1.

and while the story is satisfying and fun, the combat is also satisfying and fun. not just because murph is really good at building combats that are interesting in theater of the mind, but because the characters are built to be good at what they do. and when they go down, when they miss, when they fail, it hits harder. but they bounce back and keep going even when the circumstances suck. and they make narratively important decisions during combat.

with bell’s hells, i have often noted a split between their combat and roleplay. i like matt’s combats. i think they’re fun and make good use of a variety of enemies, terrain, and complicating factors. with vm and mn, it makes for really engaging episodes of combat, where they make use of the environment tactically and get to discover elements of how the field is set up as they go. i’m using the recent examples, which are not entirely inclusive but generally reflective of their combat trends.

vox machina fought their way off an airship, onto a chaotic battlefield, and then stealthed up to the malleus key, where they proceeded to defeat ozo cruth, break the bloody bridge, and get vax out of imprisonment. the mighty nein stealthed around kreviris, met with the volition, zip lined to and blew up the arx creonum, and then snuck through to meet the weave mind in combat. i can recall fun details and clutch moves, big risks including characters dying, and overall, battles that had character interaction.

as i’ve talked about before, bell’s hells gets whomped. they swing for the fences on some things, but when it doesn’t pay off it’s not just a missed opportunity, it’s often an active barrier or a loss of valuable resources that drive them closer to crisis.

imogen’s whirlwind, laudna’s disintegrate, and dorian’s forcecage were all great moves this episode. it also means they’re down some of their highest level spells before they actually face ludinus and/or predathos. granted they have the orb. but whether they can use it will be variable.