ozthedm

[ozthedm]

I love shippy stuff but I also wish there were more stuff of the Tadfools just being buds post canon?

How do they help Astarion with his renewed allergy to the sun?

What if they ALL went to Avernus with karlach?

Can they please sass wylls dad during dinner? Can they walk around Baldurs gate like his personal detail glaring at all the naysayers?

Imagine them all squeezing in a tiny room at Shadowheart's parents as they help them rebuild.

Visiting waterdeep and they all have a incredibly specific and themed room at Gales tower like it's a 2010 avengers tower fic.

And fuck it, I don't know how they make it work but they should all pull up on vlaakith in mf dragons, cheering laezel as she brings her False God down.

Just... I want adventures, I want laughter and healing and messy petty lil fights. I want to see the Tadfools as friends.

[ozthedm]

I heard this audio and immediately had to redraw it 🫠

[ozthedm]

We have 30 days until the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) laws are rescinded. This is the 50-year bedrock of American conservation. Normally, these actions take years but the administration has provided 30 days for public comment gutting clean water and clean air. Drop what you’re doing, before you make any more calls or read any more social media posts, please populate the Federal Register with dissent.

A. Go to https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/02/25/2025-03014/removal-of-national-environmental-policy-act-implementing-regulations

B. Click on the green rectangle in the upper right corner ("SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT") .

C. Fill in your comment, and info at the bottom, and SUBMIT COMMENT.

[ozthedm]

Sebille's character introduction Divinity Original Sin II 38 / ?

[ozthedm]

putting bg3 point and click voicelines together to sound like a conversation has brought me great joy, so. here's gale, karlach, shadowheart, and astarion doing a terrible job of sneaking around

[ozthedm]

been toying with the concept of vampirism as like, needing something that you inherently can't provide for yourself. vampirism as dependency- especially in cases of vampires who refuse to (or straightup *cannot* for whatever reason) feed on anyone without consent, who must rely on blood freely given by living humans.

an independent young adult, so eager to move out on her own and see the world by herself, is turned into a vampire. her human parents are willing to feed her, but now she'll be dependent on them. she can't move away, can't stray too far from the family farm by herself, because she can't be too far from her source of blood for too long. she's afraid of what will happen when her parents are too old to give blood to her, if she'll be able to find someone else to depend on. she'll outlive them all eventually, if she's not left to starve.

a sociable vampire with a wide network of human friends who are willing to offer up their blood to her. they're happy to help her, but she still feels like a monster for having to take their blood all the time. she tries to take as little as possible while they beg her please take more, we hate seeing you so hungry all the time, please let us help. 

a vampire trapped in an abusive marriage because he relies on his wife for blood. if he leaves her without an alternate support system to feed him, he'd starve. she isolated him from all his other loved ones who might've been willing to feed him years ago. she holds the fact that she gives him her blood over his head anytime he tries to defend himself.

[ozthedm]

10 year old college humor sketch that i watched at 1am last night and have since watched five more times

[ozthedm]

I've been engaging with more cosmic/eldritch horror lately. Partially as a way to process current events, but also because I find horror an incredibly cathartic medium in general.

Eldritch horror especially stands out right now because the key fear factor is helplessness. In so many of these stories, the threat is so powerful that it can barely be comprehended, let alone escaped.

The storyteller in me really wants to dissect that.

[ozthedm]

Okay, use your working braincells and realize how much damage shitty AI art/writing does to the creative industries. There were STRIKES going on because of how out of control it was becoming and WILL become if this shit doesn't get called out immediately.

AI art doesn't just magically appear when you write your shitty chatgpt prompts, IT USES STOLEN ART FROM OTHER ARTISTS!!! The same goes for writing as well. IT SOURCES OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK!!

Actors are not puppets that you can just use to fulfill your horny on main urges. Actors are real human beings, they are workers and acting is their job. Acting is NOT A STABLE WORKING JOB! They don't have the usual 9/5 and clock out like most of us, they can sit for months not getting any calls or new projects. And I'm not talking about the AAAAA listers, I'm talking about the actors that have to do non-stop work, doing theatre, series and film, whatever role they can get, just for a paycheck. You have not worked a day in your life or have your ass still covered with money by someone to not get the point how scummy it is when you're using their likeness to make shitty AI art just because "BuT I WanTED theM to KISss nuuuu". FUCK OFF! I mean why have actors at all if that's the case? Fuck it!! AI ACTORS!! "I can make them kiss and do the things I've always wanted yaaaay!!" FUCK OFF!!

So, learn to draw, or make an AO3 account, practice some writing skills and in the same time venting your horny on main thoughts there like all the rest are doing.

Stop using AI art. Period.

[ozthedm]

Wyll Ravengard Deserves Healing Too

Every origin companion in Baldur’s Gate 3 is traumatized in some form or another, and they all deal with it in different ways. That is only realistic. But let’s take a deeper look at the inequality between how these stories of trauma are written and presented to the player. Because when we do that, it is extremely noticeable that there is one character who never receives the same level of catharsis bestowed upon everyone else: Wyll.

Shadowheart was abducted as a child to be raised in an abusive cult. When this is brought to light, the player is able to help her confront her abuser and find her parents again. Even if her parents die, Shadowheart is at least given closure; she has a whole scene in which we see her finally break down into tears, and the player can comfort her.

Gale ended up with an orb of Netherese magic inside him, ready to explode and destroy not just him but everything in his radius. He went into a deep depression and relied on Tara to keep him alive, pre-game. His goddess/ex-lover then tasked him with a suicidal mission. But Gale is able to confront Mystra and either regain her compassion or reject her and forge his own godhood. Either way, Gale is able to heal physically and emotionally.

Lae’zel, much like Shadowheart, was also raised in a torturous environment, only to realize that her Queen Vlaakith is nothing but an abuser and a user. She is able to ally herself with a rebellious faction rising against Vlaakith, not just freeing herself but potentially her entire People.

Karlach was betrayed by Gortash and sold to Zariel, who replaced her heart with an infernal engine, making it impossible for Karlach to keep living outside of the Hells. Even if she doesn’t end up with a cure, the player can at least help her confront Gortash, and like Shadowheart, she gets a whole special scene for her to finally work through her bottled up emotions.

Astarion was enslaved and tortured by Cazador for over two-hundred years, who would have used him in a ritual that resulted in his death. The player can help Astarion confront Cazador and potentially kill him, which leads to Astarion getting a small scene where he cries out in a mixture of emotions.

But what of Wyll? At just age seventeen he was given the choice of either selling his soul to Mizora, or see Baldur’s Gate fall to a dragon cult. The terms of his pact prevented him from telling the truth about the situation, resulting in his idolized father banishing him. Ever since, he was bound to Mizora, and we see how she treats him in game as if he’s a dog. Wyll is just as traumatized as his companions, and yet, where is the ability to comfort him? Where is his closure? It’s all disregarded, in favour of more content with Mizora.

Wyll’s personal quest at the start of Act Three has him forced to choose between giving up his soul to save his father, or freeing himself and seeing his father die. Now, it is possible – though difficult – for the player to rescue Duke Ravengard themselves even if Wyll breaks his pact with Mizora. But even if this is so, reading Mizora’s mind results in the player hearing her admit she will never stop trying to harm Wyll’s father.

The reason you can read Mizora’s mind is because she is just there, hanging out at your camp! There is even a sex scene between her and the player available! Just imagine for a second, if that was Cazador or Viconia in Mizora’s place. Mizora is nothing but Wyll’s tormentor, just like Cazador for Astarion and Viconia for Shadowheart, and yet she is permanently there, giving witty one-liners and trying to seduce the player. Attack her, and she only disappears to reappear again, unharmed. You cannot get rid of her, and it’s played for laughs.

Wyll deserves comfort. Wyll deserves a chance to show his emotions, too. Yes, I’m aware that part of his character is that he tries to downplay his concerns in order to maintain his heroic persona, but that just means it would have been even more powerful to finally gain his trust enough for him to share how he feels with the player, truly.

Wyll is the only Black companion – and only one of two visible characters of colour, period. (The other being Karlach, who while yes is a tiefling, based on her facial features in the full release of the game is East Asian.) It is hard to believe it is all just coincidence that it is the only Black companion was given no opportunity by the writers to receive any significant emotional support or show any significant relief from his trauma. Statistically, African Americans who need mental health treatments receive less than 50% of treatments that white Americans receive. This is despite African Americans having 20% more likeliness to undergo serious psychological distress than white Americans. [X]

No, Wyll Ravengard is not a real person, and I am not attempting to equate a fictional character to real life struggles. My point here, is that the way in which Wyll was written mirrors the way in which the mental health of Black men and boys in real life is systematically ignored and downplayed, with the belief that they can and must “tough it out”. My point here, is that I have a hard time believing the prejudices and stereotypes against Black people did not contribute to Wyll’s lack of content. Specifically, the lack of content related to his healing.

[ozthedm]

ur future nurse is using chapgpt to glide thru school u better take care of urself

[ozthedm]

The seminar devolves into Shadowheart and Lae’zel finding acceptable ways to insult each other while Karlach laughs them off and Wyll wonders why we can’t all be nice.

[ozthedm]

Yes yes yes. I made a Larian Forums account just so i can make a "We need to talk about Wyll" thread in the hopes that someone at Larian might listen and (hopefully) understand why this is a problem. I highly recommend that if folks really want Larian to hear their Wyll feedback, that's one of the places they need to go.

just so that we're all on the same page, the lack of wyll content is not astarion's fault because he's a fictional character with no choice over his content.

the lack of wyll content is not astarion fans' fault either because they also do not make the choices for wyll's content. you can't blame people for enjoying and liking a character and making him popular. this also just causes unnecessary discourse and fighting within the fandom. just leave them alone and focus your anger and upset to where it could make a difference.

the lack of wyll content is not even neil newbon's fault because again, he doesn't decide wyll's content either. also i've seen people use this argument to just shit on neil's performance and acting which is just???? i saw someone say that they didn't think he should have got the game award for best performance 😭 no idea how that is relevant to wyll having no content (and also you're wrong).

the lack of wyll content, however, is larian's fault because they do make the choices over wyll's content and choose to listen to astarion fans over wyll fans. larian don't have a backbone when it comes to astarion so when astarion fans voice their opinions about astarion's content, larian will be at their beck and call but if wyll fans voice their opinions, they're completely ignored. you can't blame astarion fans when it's larian that's the pushover. instead of taking your anger on astarion, his fans or his actor, take it to larian who are the only ones who are responsible for the wyll drought and could do something about it.

in the meantime, keep giving wyll all the love he deserves and showing larian how much we love him so that hopefully they can do their job and actually give him content.

also, i thought i'd mention that some wonderful modders, Magnetuning and Aimryax, are making a series of mods to give wyll more content called the wcu (the wyll cinematic universe) on nexus mods seeing as larian can't do their job 🙄 it reuses voicelines from early access and some other parts of the game and it looks amazing :) i'm going to be downloading it for my next playthrough! hopefully, if loads of people use this mod, larian will finally take notice and think about adding official content for him. you can find the first mod in the series here: https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/12174

tldr: the lack of wyll content is not astarion's fault, his fans' or his actor's fault but larian's fault so focus your attention on them and in the meantime play all the wyll extra content mods!

edit: i won't be responding or replying to people looking for an argument because, as you can see what i put above, arguing over this is just unnecessary discourse that diverts from the real problem which is larian not respecting wyll, theo or wyll fans. if you're angry, argue with larian, not me because i don't make wyll's content. neither do astarion or astarion fans or astarion's actor.

[ozthedm]

There's a not-insignificant number of Astarion girlies (gender-neutral) who will happily hate on Araj Oblodra, and then proceed to harass game developers/voice actors out of a sense of entitlement.

[ozthedm]

The Obligatory Body Swap Episode: Tadpole edition is complete!

If anyone is interested in checking out a fun little BG3 story about the tadfools getting body-swapped, please do so! I had a lot of fun writing this story, and am happy to see if others have enjoyed reading it too.

[ozthedm]

bg3 the princess bride au ⚔️ no idea who vizzini would be

[ozthedm]

OK but putting Mizora in the Raphael role would've been BRILLIANT

Need to rant about Mizora again. She's such a goddamn strange character, written with SO little care for how important she technically is (or should be!) to one of the main companions' stories.

She might have more screen time than any of the other companion quests' villains / any of their abusers, but she has much less presence, is much less threatening than, say, Cazador - we learn so much about him from how Astarion talks about him, and I think the same applies to Shar, Vlaakith, honestly even Mystra to an extent. Mizora is just like. there. I honestly like what we get to see of her personality in her introductory scene, she could make a fun villain, but that's not enough. It's definitely not what I need from a character with her role in the story. Like, hell, she hangs around in camp all throughout the third act, and Wyll barely brings it up! People have talked about how goddamm insane that is before. We know basically nothing about how Wyll feels about her and her presence besides some generic lines! What could be a fascinating, if fucked up relationship is barely there, because once upon a time it was meant to be a little more romantic, but then they rewrote it (carelessly), and now she groomed him, but it's not treated with the gravitas it deserves. Or any gravitas at all if we're being honest. I'm not even inherently opposed to Wyll being kinda attracted to her - make her a Makima-like figure! A mother and an object of desire and an exploitative groomer and a terrifying powerful presence all in one! The foundations are literally there, but it's like they refused to make her more interesting.

And fucking somehow people still treat Wyll like he's attached at Mizora's hip? When she's not only his abuser, but also just such a goddamn nothing character, I genuinely don't understand it. But I guess she's hot or something, so let's include her in all the Wyll merch, let's make light of her grooming! Also I've said this before, but I kinda have to wonder why she exists at all. She genuinely just should've been combined with Raphael (Wyll's care for Mol's wellbeing would hit even harder that way! And don't even get me started on the Gortash parallels my god)