#but it still feels... like I'm doing a bad job at art and at dnd art specifically :')

[blujayonthewing]

the inner conflict between 'I can draw whatever I want forever' vs 'drawing what I want will make people mad at me' has never been better exemplified than right now as, out of all the OCs of all my friends in all the campaigns I'm in and all the cool stuff that's happened in those campaigns, I've just spent an inordinate amount of time and effort doing a neutral pose standing full body height and figure reference for the paladin Justin plays in a campaign that's in indefinite limbo, and if I'm not very careful I'm gonna do the whole rest of the party-- including the player character we have literally never played with and, at this rate, almost certainly never will

[strugglingatart]

Jr year ep 2

This is me live blogging bc I need to get thoughts out also would love fandom friends full spoilers bellow the cut just so no one accidentally reads anything they don't want to this will be long

No shenanigans at the begining way lowkey sad I love our intrepid heroes being dumb

Siobhan and Zac kick it off with SUCH good turns straight away we love (also emily's cutting words? delicious)

Them all discussing more stuff mid battle is so nice I love but also not Ally forgetting they could try to heal lol

"playing with you all at level 10 has never convinced me more that this game is unplayable at level 20. fucking unplayable" Brennan the man who I 100% have seen play att level 20. But we HAVE to stan the complaing I love them so much Murph especially I always laugh so much

Siobhan please we cannot be confident before rolls they go bad then

we were doing so well like seconds ago and now everything feels terrible

ARMOR OF AYDA omg my loves

Kristen and Riz are me when my friends are being to sexual but also Kristen please remember you and tracker?

NOT FABIAN FALLING AGAIN, and his idea was real good as well, but Ally yeeting the dice also a big mood

Lou's sass was so good I love im so much

only one person saving out of everyone is brutal why do dice currenntly hate them

Murph loosing it at Ally's saving throws being empty is so funny, and poor them gatting so defensive (also have they been doing it wrong this whole time then? has it never been written down? was is just a mistake on their season prep?)

Zac and Lou killed that look at me bit I'm sorry they are geniuses

I truly thought Brennan was gonna make this fight SO much easier and in many ways I get why he didn't but I'm not over it

Listen Murph is looking SO GOOD this season it legit distracted me for a few seconds I had to go back to understand what Brenan said about the van flipping I am a disaster queer through and through

this is so intense all of a sudden omgggg

Poor hangvan ily and know Gorgug will fix you tho

Oh no Kristen, but also the die deadass turned on them, sad vibes (also I miss good rolling Murph I know we had him for one ep but I loved him)

once again yeeting the dice is a mood and then the whole if i hit anyone bit, art tbh

AHHHHH that nat 1 followed by a nat 20 was magical, also Em is wearing the naddpod live shirt 😍 I was 110% with her tho I wanted Gorgug to get it so bad so that deception roll was EVERYTHING TO ME, Ayda claming Gorgug as the greatest wizard is legit one of my favorite things whenever they bring it up and support that theory my heart is so happy

Brenan just being like yes these npcs i made up for the media res are just for that they will die even if they don't

Zac has what healing thing? again not knowing enough about DnD makes me bad at knowing who can do what

shoutout to the two crew

listen this theme of exaustion specifically with school will end me like i cannot it hits too close

Moggy the doggy! we stan Adaine the little guys guy(gal?)

Did Cassandra text you? Nonstop

this flourish lacks flourish (me giving the finishing touches to art projects for university)

LISTEN Fig asking about first day of school outfit was literally Emily choosing violence omg I felt that deeply

I still have jump and i haven't used it so I'm just gonna... I love Zac

They all LOOSE IT at two more guys and I know it was mostly the players but honestly having an absolute laughing fit out of exaustion is another big mood and I felt both seen and called out (I have STROIES about this) and like it just fit the theme so well

there's two nat 1's, Lou's full discociated, Murph's loosing it, it's pure chaos for a bit but whoever did the closed captions? A+++ job

Kristen taking ths ice cream sandwich out and going to the hangman is gold (also I remember the pouch of ice cream sandwiches existing like I fully remeber Kristen usinf it before but i don't remeber when/where she gets it despite having just rewatched both freshman and sophomore years and it's bothering me)

I want the so tactical so late t-shirt

Fabian passed so I legit thought that was gonna work but you know what? it's funnier that it didn't

"I was a turncoat the whole time" is so funny for no reason, also Fabian babe, ily but like why do you wanna kiss a mirror it will not be enjoyable (also at this point Lou is either feeding into all the comp-het queer theories or is like the queer whisperer)

The father the son and the balthazar made me cackle

I have said this before in a post somewhere but while I get where Kristen is coming from so much like truly I'm right there with her but also I kinda hate how she's avoiding Cassandra but also I get it baby but also pls do better (or at least change tactics in odrer to to it lowkey unhealthily)

Fabian I promise you you can do better LMAO Riz, you are correct

Again to me Fig's hypothetical is like fighting words I'd be pissed and depressed

But also high school me would have loved a dance camp tbh (also to be able to dance in general rip my dancing dreams, taken away by a chronic issue and over protective parents)

"I think I do a really half hearted prayer of healling just because I don't.. trust you" I love Ally so much

ah yes the silliness is back but they are so tired

wanna stay at our place? we have so many beds

The entire ecaf bit was so good i cannot deal

Hallariel is saying Fabian's name more like the elves or am I tripping?

Gillear is slightly less pathetic! he won a cruise! oh and they are engaged, full step sibblings Fig and Fabian

also poor Fabian like he needs his parental figures here... Cathilda better stay or I'm personally gonna have words with Brennan, stop making them suffer they fuck up things alone

ALSOOO there is no way Gillear would not want to talk to Fig omg I'm fighting brennan again

Gillear luck... did Fig uncurse him by taking that deal and is she about to get his bad luck?

SKLONDA we stan

Brennan I swear to god this tiny goblin has saved the world three times what do you mean he cannot go to college I will fight you, this scene hit me so hard omg we were promised silliness not heart wrenching reality in my fantasy

I think Zac legitimately forgot the mirror didn't run away for like a second which makes it funnier but Fig IS just that good. 32 decepetion fool the character and the player

BRENAN what do you mean Zelda gave back his stuff this is DURING the seven where they are still TOGETHER I swear I will riot

Frosty fair mentioned twice it's connected to or the big thing this season

The Thistlespring are SO PRECIOUS

Jawbone and Sandra Lynn made a cake I can't deal, and it's belated birthdays omg the way I would cry

THE RAGH AND LYDIA ART IS SO GOOD

the justaposition of Emily's cackle and Ally's face to the dangers Fig and Kristen are dangerously and/or wildly close to being expell is so good

Lou choking on water at "we're allowed to fail a certain number of classes each semester" also real good treiler editing bc I thought that was 10000% connected to the you let your god die line that comes right before it on there

Fig's been multiclass since start of sophmore year, does she do warlock classes sometimes I wonder

I like that Jawbone is not judging here he's just like facts: you are failing and this is why, now we can see what we do about it

ouch that whole im swimming my head is liquid kristen thing felt dangerously close to me... I usually relate to gorgug and riz like i adore kristen but she's never me what is happening (this is not bad just me having like my 10th identity mini crisis this year)

THE AYDA ART she looks so bummed but so pretty.. but also Brenan I feel like I said I'll fight you a couple of times here but if we get no ayda I will fly to LA and fight you

I reached text limit will do a part two

[chronotsr]

Pre-G1 Modules, part 6: Reflections

This isn't a full on post or anything, it really is just random thoughts. This blog has basically 3 goals, in no particular order:

Show off some weird interesting ideas from older modules. This is why the bullet-point sections exist.

Look at all the obscure modules no one's ever heard and don't get discussed so they can enjoy more awareness. This is why it's module to module and not lists of cool things I've found.

Look at how modules grew as an art-form. Their design, layout, styling, writing, et c. This is why it's in release order.

So I'm going to ramble about all 3 in turn.

1. Coolest ideas

So somehow the coolest idea I ran into in this roundup was keep on the borderlands ~in the desert~. The mental image is just stuck in my brain and if you're one of my fantasy age players, you've probably inhaled some spoilers accidentally now. It's gonna show up eventually.

I was also really fond of the really lateral use of animated objects in Tegel Manor, particularly the battlefield painting that spits arrows as the events on-canvas play out. It's very fun and very goofy and I regret the yearly Samhain one-shot being so far away. I will find an excuse to use that random magic statue table eventually.

Third place goes to the pet sea monster of the invincible overlord. It's just really stuck in my brain

2. Coolest Module You Haven't Heard Of

Oh that's easy. Tegel Manor. 100% Tegel Manor. That was easily the most fun I had writing this column so far, even as the pagecount sprawled and sprawled. I think the haunted house is the single best starting location for a new player, it's part of why I'm so ride or die for Ghosts of Saltmarsh (and I do specifically mean the 5e iteration, they did an excellent job realizing Saltmarsh as a location. It's a crying shame people hate because they expect pirates and get, not pirates).

Happily, I don't think the move is actually to just, buy modern Tegel Manor. In fact, a spiritual successor to Tegel Manor would be just what the doctor ordered.

3. The Growth of Module Design

I am telling on myself hard but my favorite part of watching this go on is to see the art of keying slowly evolve and standardize around the familiar model of today. We are far away from the, I know I will get crucified for this, frankly better keying of 5e. Or even the significantly improved keying of 4e. We are in crusty-ass 1970s keying, where if it was typed, it was professional. Honestly Temple of the Frog's keying is a shockingly good first attempt. The keying solution that Vampire Queen went for is, kind of novel in its own way. I kind of wish that this table-style keying had stuck around as a sort of summary page for quick reference, it's…honestly kind of convenient, especially for particularly hack and slashy campaigns.

Watching JG recover from their tailspin of excessive loot was really fascinating. I do keep in mind that weight was a big thing about loot recovery in early DND but what exactly was to stop a party from just going back in and looting the place over and over again, anyway? Sure the monsters could move around, the loot could move, but they still know the layout. I really feel like you have to simply not provide that much treasure, and I get the sense JG worked that out too.

Finally, I am just kind of happy to see the focus on creating dungeons, as in combat rectangles is already starting to be threatened as the status quo. Arneson obviously understood why this was bad, and you can see some designers working it out too. Holmes also had a very good grasp of pacing and dungeon layout that it would take others (including Gygax) a while to catch up to.

So anyway, see you at G1!

[ninapedia]

I saw your post 623829004122718209/hey-i-can-finally-post-this-heres-one-of-my through radar, i have a question I am an illustrator but so many say to sell their illustrations on etsy or gumroad or a trillion sites but I dont comprehend what is different between someone getting an illustration of mine on tumblr or deviantart and then one on etsy, what is the difference in yours?

Hihi! I'm answering this publicly because I think others could benefit from this as well.

So, full disclosure. Art is not currently my full time job. I have a day job doing marketing/graphic design for a medical device company (I'm on my lunch right now, hi!) and do art on the side because it makes me happy.

When it comes to the art I do sell, my primary business is not prints. It's other merchandise such as clothing, key chains, enamel pins, stickers, buttons, etc. Basically things most people cannot make on their own. Some examples below:

When I do sell a print of my work it's typically at an in person event like a convention or art show. Most of my online sales are not prints, though I do have an InPrint and a print listing on my webstore (and I used to have a RedBubble and Society6). Hell, most of my in person sales aren't prints. Usually it's my hats and shirts.

For selling illustration prints online the biggest difference between someone buying a print and someone just right-click-saving-print-themselves it quality.

Most of my work is uploaded as a 72 dpi png that is significantly scaled down from the digital canvas size I actually used to draw/paint it. Anyone who's saving and printing it out is going to get a pretty shitty quality print. Buying a print directly from me is getting a nice crisp 300dpi jpeg print that look GORGOUS, if I do say so myself.

The quality of the paper is important as well. The people who don't have the funds to purchase a print typically also don't have the funds to invest in fancy paper or specialty printing. I do sell a lot of 'gimic' prints (foil, holographic, pearl) and most people who attend conventions are willing to pay a premium for something like that, but even my standard matte prints are on nice heavy or textured linen paper. I use professional print services mostly (thank u CatPrint for my life) but even if I'm printing at home for a smaller con I have a very nice printer and very nice cardstock. A lot of convention artists who just do prints also sell fancier things like canvas prints.

Unrelated to the actual 'product', you should watermark your work and offer the unwatermarked version for sale if you want to do prints. I don't always do this out of laziness but, again, it's not my primary source of income. The Beloved illustration you linked was specifically for a larger DND 5e supplemental. It wasn't even designed to be sold as a print, so I didn't bother watermarking it. I honestly still should have but in my mind the value of that piece was contained around the book it was drawn for. The illustration is nice but it feels empty without all additional information included in Bardic Inspiration.

To circle back to something I said early, don't limit yourself to only selling prints. Make stickers of your illustrations, put it on tote bags and tshirts. If you don't want to source products yourself RedBubble and Society6 are fairly decent print on demand services. The only reason I left their platforms was because I didn't like the way they were changing their payment structure for artist, but it's not a bad place to upload things and make passive income. If you're flexible with your art and are willing to source products yourself, you can make other merch. The upfront cost is higher but the eventual return is MUCH bigger than any print on demand services. People wound up liking Beloved enough for me to make an enamel pin of her

Maybe it's the circles I travel, but most people do want to support the artist they like and the people who are right-click-save-print either can't support you financially or were never the type of people who were going to support you financially.

As long as no one is re-posting my art as their own or sharing it without credit, I really don't care if someone decides to save my illustration to admire it later. If you're broke and want to print one of my illustrations out at a library and slap it on your wall go for it.

[chenanigans]

2023 Accomplishments, 2024 Hopes

I did a lot of stuff this year, so I'm gonna talk about stuff I'm happy about accomplishing this year!

Art

I made the most money ever for commissions! Almost $900 I hope to make more next year!

I finished quite a few comics as well as Cherry's first journal! Comics have always been quite difficult for me to finish, so I'm proud of being able to do a handful of them!

I got to be a featured artist in an app! That was a pretty cool experience getting to test out and draw in an app! Also getting paid to do so!

Next year, I would like to try an improve on some things with my art, finish more art, and maybe get another art job!

-----

TTRPGS

I played a LOT of DnD this year.

In my Monday game, we're closely approaching our 100th sessions and possibly the end of our first campaign! I love Cherry so much and I hope she gets through it all with the Flockless! This is the longest campaign I've ever been in and the highest level I've grown to as well. Cherry went from level 3-13 so far, how my baby has grown! We also got to play some Kids on Bikes and Pathfinder 2e which was very fun! I hope to do more games after we finish campaign 1!

With my Tuesday group, I got to make so many fun characters and also try some new TTRPGs too! I'm excited for all the fun little things we'll get to do next year! I love Manon and hope we figure out the nature of this world.

I hope to finally run something next year for my friends next year, but we'll see how it goes!

-----

Video Games

I played a fuck ton of games this year. I got really into simulation games because I find them relaxing and nice.

The games I beat this year:

Garden in!

Paradise Marsh

Flying Neko Delivery

Unpacking

Lumbearjack

Terra Nil

Alba A Wildlife Adventure

Mail Time

Katamari Damacy Reroll

We Love Katamari Reroll

Frog Detective 3

Sticky Business

Pikmin 4

Garden Buddies

Pizza Tower

Loddlenauts

Moonstone Island

Frogsong

Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe

I'm excited for a fuckton of indie games coming out next year and for the Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door remake. I need to beat the original before it comes out but we'll see how that goes.

My favourite games this year were Pikmin 4, Pizza Tower, Loddlenauts and Moonstone Island for sure!

-----

Life

No major changes happened in my life this year. I'm hoping next year I have more luck in finding an art job, but overall, I'm pretty ok with where I am.Working at a grocery store will always suck, but I'm at least making enough money to buy things I like and help my family out a bit.

I went to my first Pride parade this year. When I was sitting at the subway waiting for my friends to arrive I almost cried because seeing the sheer amount of queer people around was just heart-warming and made me feel like it was all gonna be ok. I got my first ace flags, one of which is on my desk near Rawhide. I also got handed a paper for black queer people which was a lil funny. I also got a lot of compliments on my outfit which felt very good.

Mental health wise, it's also been very ok. I'm hoping to get more support in terms of my ADHD meds since I've been on the same dosage for a while and things could be better.

-----

Lastly...

This is a lil sappy, but I wanna say thanks to all my friends and my sister for making this life worth living. I haven't been in a depressive rut in a long time because of those I love, the things I love, and the things I'm looking forward to. Life for me isn't always rainbows and sunshine, but I'm always happy about the small things that make it worthwhile. I'm looking forward to making and sharing more art with my friends, playing video games and TTRPGs, and just doing what I enjoy in life!

[sometimesrosy]

Hey Rosy, I have an ethical question to make. I don’t really like AI generated images, I feel like it’s soulless and a plague in the bookstagram community, for example. I support artists and hate to see so many AI images being spread around with thousands of likes and comments saying “how you depicted xyz is exactly how I imagined it!” while some real artists don’t even get close to those numbers.

But, a few days ago, my boyfriend commented how it would be useful to him to use AI generated images for his DnD campaign, just to idealize the characters and settings better (but would obviously never profit from it). I immediately frowned, but I have to be honest and say that, due to that, I’ve been having the thought that maybe it isn’t so bad to use AI juuuust to create some images for my story characters as well, without ever publishing them anywhere, without ever calling it art. Maybe I’d even use celebrity pictures and modify them with AI to get them elf ears or something, maybe I’d mix a sky with three moons, maybe I wouldn’t even generate a full picture.

I am, to be honest, almost ashamed of having these thoughts when I was (still am) so vocal against AI generated images. What would be your take on this, especially considering you’re an artist yourself?

SUPER timely question. I gotta be honest I'm grappling with it myself.

I don't believe that AI is in inherently bad. I think it's a tool, although there are some unethical things about it.

First of all, it isn't artificial intelligence at all. It takes real creations or performances that are already out there and uses those to synthesize amalgamations. It's not that real people don't do that, being influenced by other artists, they do, but they also put themselves into it.

I have actually seen some really cool stuff that human artists have done using AI generation tools, creating a kind of slick glossy surreal world.

I think someday, AI generators are going to be used like photographic cameras are now. When photographs first came out painters were horrified. Technology taking over what had until then been sacrosanct. Photography didn't take over art. It became it's own art. Sometimes it was just used by the masses to take snapshots for their own personal benefit and some was used by artists to create stunning works of art. Yes?

The problem we're having here is that corporations seem to want to use AI to get rid of human artists, writers, performers, editors, etc. Artists are pains in the ass. Always having opinions, being troublesome and wanting to keep the profits.

It's frankly terrifying, as an artist and writer. Is my job at risk because my clients can just ask Chat GPT to write them a novel?

I have less of a problem with people trying to visualize their own characters in their own book or DnD campaign. That's akin to people taking snapshots of their kids birthday parties. You know? I've used it. Got some ideas for visuals for my alien spaceships... although I've also drawn my own stuff.

If we're talking about turning AI generated images into things to create a profit, I think then we start getting into shaky territory. Those long text AI things are writing novels, right? But they're not paying the fiction authors whose works they scraped to get that.

The Hollywood producers are trying to pay performers one time rates to film them so that they can then create AI performances based upon their performance to use in perpetuity.

Seeing people create AI art for their self published book covers is concerning. First of all, none of the artists whose works were scraped to get those generated images are paid. Most of them didn't agree to their work being used. I think that's copyright infringement. It's stealing.

Second of all, yeah, that's a lot of human artists who are losing work. Not that the self pubbed book covers done for cheap are all that genius anyway. They're a package for marketing, not works of art for the most part, although you can certainly hire an artist for a gorgeous artwork, which is more expensive. In fact, that may be why they want to do it themselves, because they can't find something in their price range that meets their standards.

Thirdly. Using AI generated art looks flashy and impressive, sure. But we're starting to recognize the look and frankly, the images are slippery and slick. They LOOK like AI. They look like the authors are using AI not human art. As we get more familiar with it, that's going to say it's own thing. And it's not professional.

IDK. I'm still struggling with the whole thing. Have I even said anything that makes sense here? I see multiple sides. Most worrisome is coming from corporations and big business. Hollywood. The publishing industry. Journalism.

Least concerning is private people playing with a new toy to make things more fun for their hobbies. I mean yeah sure, would it be better if you paid an artist to create your DnD character profiles or fanart or fantasy maps? Sure ABSOLUTELY. But were you going to do that? Is the AI art taking away from an artist you would have otherwise hired? Chances are it's not.

Like fanfic, you know? If you're going to do it for your own enjoyment that's fine. If you're going to try to make money off of someone else's intellectual property... that's an actual crime, isn't it?

This whole thing is CRAZY and the ideas around it are still developing. I'm open to keep having this discussion.

[sycamorre]

17, 33, 34, 38, and 40 for the OCs asks!

-OC Questions- Gonna try to find art for as many as I can to help with putting faces to names.

17. Any OC OTPs?

A handful! Most are from my Elder Scrolls RP days but I'm slowly collecting some DnD ones.

We have the werewolf power couple Indes and Korgul, my wood elf Companion (as in the Companions faction) and her half-orc beau Korgul:

Indes' little sister Nidhel, a healer, and another Companion, Tural:

And I still need to draw them together, but there's the newest pair from our last campaign, Ori and Ranna.

I have other ships out there, but I hate boring people with them because they're either characters that have never interacted with anything outside of my own brain or are completely unofficially and I'm someone who doesn't like to make a fuss or gush over things that only I know or care about on here.

33. Your shyest OC?

This is honestly a bit of a hard one. I have plenty of quiet/introverted characters, but I don't consider most of them as genuinely shy. Most have no problem socializing, even if they do not have a ton to say. Likely either as the result of myself being the same way or because most are RP characters that kind of depend on interactions.

I will say pre-campaign/younger Oriana was definitely in the shy camp, though as a result of being uncertain and scared of her magic rather than her personality. Gaining confidence with that and her fighting skills definitely got her in the previously mentioned "quiet but not shy" category.

I do have one character I can think of that is definitely shy in a literal sense. My witchy-innkeeper, Aubrey, has a member of her staff, Annabelle, who came from a servant background and was not treated very well in her previous job, so as a result she became very shy and anxious. To the point where if she is berated by anyone outside of the rest of the staff, she will either run away or freeze up. Aubrey has her mostly cleaning to help keep her from having to interact with bad customers, but not always foolproof. Everyone's trying to help her, though it's a slow process.

The night sky-themed air genasi I've drawn before (whose working name is Stellara/Stellari maybe) may also end up kinda on the shy side if I ever do get to play her. Mostly because I imagine her as a bit of a hermit who just doesn't do socialization very well in general.

34. Do you have any twin characters?

I do! Jayni, my halfling wizard (previously bard) that was originally made for a short-lived Waterdeep Dragon Heist campaign, has a twin brother named Finn. He was originally taking on an apprenticeship to a tinker in the city, but if the characters ever came back, I'm not sure if I would keep that or have him doing something else.

The art is old and Jayni specifically has strawberry blonde hair now, but Finn still looks mostly the same c:

And technically, though I never did make any official art for them and they would be shared and not just mine, it was decided between me and the other player that Indes and Korgul's first biological kids would be a set of twins (Uram and Taram), so I figure they may count as well.

38. Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer?

Easily Wisteria, the Eladrin glamour bard (who I drew here) that I really wanna play someday. The entire idea behind her was that I wanted a bard that didn't necessarily having singing or instruments as their main "thing" and I wanted an excuse to make a character that would feel natural dressing in very flashy, hanfu-inspired dresses, and she was born out of those two thoughts. Instead of playing an instrument, her magic is triggered by her dancing and her fan, which would act as her arcane focus.

40. Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share!

If we talked about all of my fond memories with my OCs we would be here forever. I have literally been making OCs and RPing them since the end of middle school/beginning of high school, and I still occasionally lurk around my old stomping grounds to see what old buddies are up to and reminisce on the nostalgia.

For the sake of being relevant to this post and the people I know here, I'm gonna go back to my Elder Scrolls RP days in the shipyard here on tumblr. Some highlights of my time RPing as Indes and Nidhel, as well as a family friend, Vialgo (an Imperial Dawnguard member) include:

The player of Tor-Acr, an Argonian were-croc, asking for a spar RP literally a day before I said I was gonna start looking for threads and sparking Indes' first friendship in that community.

Watching Indes' and Korgul's relationship grow from occasionally butting heads, to genuine friends, to secret feelings for each other, to admitting everything when Korgul was at a low point and sparking honestly one of the best RP romances I have every had the pleasure of being a part of and that made both of our characters better as a whole.

Getting to host a tourney event for the other Companion players and watching everyone get to enjoy it and building closer relationships between the characters.

Vialgo talking down one of his commanders when he almost slipped up and realizing I could actually play a smooth-talking character rather than just the blunt, gruff ones or super sweet, honest ones.

A whole multi-part story where Herryk, another player's Dragonborn character and one of the Companions that Indes is closest to (basically a little brother to her), is almost killed by a dragon and she witnesses him literally fall from the sky when he gets dropped by the dragon. And she plays an integral part in his return and the emotional payoff was just amazing.

Just getting to see my characters get integrated into other people's stories and getting to make even better stories together. I love that about RP so, so much and it's why I love it just as much if not more than just writing things by myself.

[ren-c-leyn]

🥛🍯☕🐄🌳🐔

For the cottage core emoji asks, right? ^^

🥛 Milk: What is a food you find comforting when you are sad?

Homemade macaroni and cheese. Can't explain why, but it seems to help make a bad day a little better.

🍯 Honey: What is one thing you like about yourself?

I like my laugh :D

☕ Tea: How do you take your tea?

Depends on the type and my mood, but generally I like my tea so sweet my housemates give me weird looks when they happen to be in the kitchen while I'm making tea lol. I usually prefer honey, but some flavors, like Lady Grey, I prefer sugar. Strong teas, like english black teas or chais, I will sometimes add some cream too. Sometimes I'll add ginger and lemon to a green tea.

🐄 Cow: What is one other tumblr blog you really appreciate?

How could I pick just one? There's so, so many writeblrs I love T-T

I love @writingonesdreams and her creative stories and chronic enabling. Very curious about other people's wips and writing processes and is happy enough to share her own.

@hannahs-ramblings is a spark of joy, super creative, and has been a highlight of my tumblr experience since I was still a newbie around here. Always has some fun, creative project in the works and like 5 other blogs dedicated to writeblr stuff.

@hyba, can I say enough about hyba? One of my oldest and dearest writeblr friends who has like 900 amazing settings that are in so many different genres and are so beautiful and detailed you feel like you could travel to all of them. A very sweet and caring person, with a knack for writing suspense.

@sleepyowlwrites is a newer writeblr friend, but an amazing one. Beautiful poetry, even when it's not intentional, amazing characters, great art, and fun to just chat with ^^

@athenixrose has some beautiful story concepts and does an amazing job with lifting up the writeblr community.

@bloodlessheirbyjacques is another newer writeblr friend but again has a beautiful story, amazing characters, and is like a bubbly ray of sunshine.

@notwritinganyflufftoday is an amazing writer, and paints too! :D A snippet of her wip that's told through letters made me cry. Very emotional.

@vermontwrites does great descriptions and I freaken love Zazu. Their art is also INCREDIBLE! And their WIPs and settings are very creative and interesting.

@dragon-swords-prophecies is a fellow dnd fan, and their amazing stories and settings definitely reflect that. (I still love the sea elves with glowing spots that can kind of talk to fish. Don't think for a second I have forgotten it.) And their WIPs always have the most amazing titles. ^^

And that list, that's not even half of it. I can keep rambling and screaming about fellow writeblrs I love for hours.

🌳 Tree: What is one thing in your future you are looking foward towards?

I'm looking forward to, hopefully, getting some of my WIPs published some day. To seeing the finished versions of them in print, and realizing that I did it. I actually did it.

🐓 Chicken: What is a comfort movie/show for you?

March Comes in Like a Lion is one I've been going back to a lot recently. It's an anime that follows a professional shogi player and deals with some pretty heavy themes, like depression and loss and family trouble. That's not all it is, though, it has a silver lining. Friendships, fun and comedic moments, quiet moments. I love the way it blends the different moods in a way that kind of feels like life, you know?

Thanks for stopping in! I hope you have a lovely day/evening ^^

[arrowpunk]

Feel free to ignore I just feel like putting this all together Somewhere

So the past couple of weeks have had so many things happen to me

-Scheduled my surgery (Insurance won't cover it I've gotta go into approximately $13,000 in medical debt, or come up with that amount 2 weeks before surgery) (I'm just happy it's scheduled tbh)

-Landlord screwed me and my roommate over majorly and now we have to pay to rent the place out for another month at an inflated rate even tho neither of us live there anymore (UGH)

-Got moved in to the new place, new place is lady from church's basement, kind woman who isn't charging me rent b/c she wants me to be able to save money (Yay! Thank the Lord for this woman or I would be living out of my car)

-Reconnected with one of my uncles? Learned a bunch of family shit that was kept hush hush and secret from specifically me and my siblings, but really shouldn't have been??? Glad I know now?? It's a whole thing, anyway reconnecting with my uncle was nice, turns out he and his wife are on a similar deconstruction/reconstruction journey w/ evangelical Christianity

-Partner moved in with me!!! (This is Wonderful and I am So Very Happy about it)

-Found out that uh. Apparently. Without asking me. My parents are gonna change their will so if they die I get full custody of all of my younger siblings??? Tried explaining to my mom that I didn't want that, and wouldn't be able to do a good job of that if that ever did need to happen. Was completely brushed off. So that's a thing now. Here's hoping my parents don't die in a freak accident because I would not handle becoming a single mother/sister to my siblings that are still at home very well

-My desktop tower died, so now I need to buy a new one (Approximately $1300-$1500, cannot afford this right now, gotta wait like 2-3 paychecks for this thing, rip to my ability to do art for the next month and crap I have no fucking idea how I'm gonna run DnD w/o a working desktop b/c all my Stuff is on there and I cannot run it from my phone I think my brain would shrivel up and die if I tried to do that)

-Found a Different aunt and uncle(?) online b/c I wanted to try to reconnect, uncle(?) is now using they/them pronouns and I feel so bad for finding this out it wasn't on purpose, as far as I know they are not out to the family, because most of this family is Very Conservative and it would not go well, have now tried contacting them to let them know I saw but also let them know that do not worry I will not out them to any family members of course but oof I'm so sorry I saw that I know I wasn't supposed to see that. I wish there was a non-gendered word for aunt/uncle because I don't know what else to Use for them right now

Anyway just So Much has happened within the span of like a week and a half, the last 5 things on that list happened within the last 4 days so yeah, there's a good amount of good stuff and also a good amount of crappy stuff and then a good amount of ???? I don't even know how to feel about it stuff

So I sure am feeling some kind of way about the state of my life right now, mostly just stressed about the state of my bank account lol because I was getting pretty happy w/ feeling financially semi-secure, and then was hit with a bunch of bills all at once and now it's just oh shit guess who really needs to be super careful with spending for the next like many many months, main worry is w/ the loan I need to take out for the surgery, not knowing if the amount I'm gonna have to pay monthly on that is gonna be bad enough that I won't be able to find a place to rent b/c can't afford paying on the loan and rent. But anyway I'm sure things will work themselves out eventually. Just a bit stressful right now but I'll be fine

[v-poreons]

kova's backstory is so sad, like I knew it was sad but reading that still :((( anyways more kova lore bc I'm invested

I can talk about the campaign he was in then! :))

I'm so mad Tumblr deleted everything I wrote hold on while I try to fix this

Basically what I said before was so fucking long I simply can't rewrite it in as comprehensive a way i did before so this is gonna be a lot shorter I'm PISSED.

I don't remember everything that happened in the campaign because it was four years ago but the party was me as Kova, Asher (Wood Elf Ranger), Lan (Changeling ((in the form of a High Elf)) Fighter), Mislia (Tiefling Sorcerer), and Savory (Tiefling Monk, we had an inside joke that Kova spells her name Savoury).

We were on a job delivering some stuff from one town to another I believe when we were attacked by some goblins who we beat the absolute shit out of. Lan was checking one of the goblins when she found a ring with an eye symbol engraved on it. She put it on and it latched itself to her finger and shot a beam of light into the woods, presumably for us to follow. We hid our wagon and set up camp in a cave for the night. I don't remember who was on watch but we were ambushed by some Dark Elves who took us to the Underdark to their queen who welcomed us and decided to throw a party in our honor.

We were all varying degrees of intoxicated but Kova, who was nursing his first cup of ale since he hates drinking since it inhibits his reasoning skills and he was a little wary of the whole thing. Lan also was suspicious so the two chatted for a bit and planned to do some investigating together later. When we had been escorted to our rooms we found out that we had been magically locked in so we found a way to bypass the spell and sneaked out with the rest of the party, but we were caught and taken into the throne room where the queen revealed she had led us here for a reason. She activated a big rune on the floor and we all blacked out. Then when we woke up our skin was translucent and you could see our skeletons under our skin because plot twist we were dead and had been sent to the underworld (the reveal slapped so hard david if ur seeing this u popped off so hard)

We ended up having to do like a gladiator type match where Kova and Lan created the legendary knife cube combo (Kova casts cloud of daggers Lan throws enemies into the cube and theyre promptly turned into bad guy soup). We won and were brought before Hades and Persephone (Kova and Savory charmed her because they're both nice :) ) and then we were thrown in prison because Hades had a stick up his ass.

We met Brutus and Milquetoast in jail and decided to do a prison break I'm not sure exactly how it went but it involved the warden and a prison riot and Lan killed the warden and was inexplicably drawn to this dark spooky hallway which supposedly held Thanatos but when she reached the end of the corridor all that was there were empty chains.

We had a sick ass chariot race with Hades and Lan flipped him the bird as we escaped down a big cavernous hole in the ground. We woke up at the bottom and learned if we wanted out we each had to go through trials to judge our characters.

I don't remember the exact order we went in but Mislia's was a fight with their ex wife and ended with them choosing Savory's life over the ex, Savory's took place in her old monastery which she had been banned from, Asher's was a puzzle that ended in a fight with his former friend and leader (who happened to be his player's other character from a different campaign remember this it's important), and Lan's (which was the last trial and also the last session since we unfortunately didn't finish the campaign) took place in her childhood hometown but everyone but her had lost their memories and she had to convince us all to come with her and get our memories back.

Kova's was a quiz show type trial during which we would gain or lose things (body parts, knowledge/memories, items, etc.) The trouble with playing a character who's smarter than you is when ur DM asks you what the components are to an X level Wizard spell (something Kova would probably know but I sure as hell didn't) you end up spinning the bad wheel (a la taz suffering game) and losing Kova's harmonica which was a gift from his dead friends dead daughter. Also it got turned to ash :)

The game show host ended up being Medusa and we killed the hell out of her and Lan and Kova struck the final blows.

I ended up asking the DM what the campaign would have gone like from the last session and he said the twist would have been that Brutus was Thanatos and I don't remember how but he could not longer continue being Thanatos so Lan, who had the ring, would be given the choice to become the new god of death or not.

From there we have two endings:

The 'canon' ending, in which Lan accepts her role and remains in the underworld while the rest of the living party members return to their lives. Kova is alone and lonely returning to his travels but has healed somewhat and learns to accept people into his heart again.

In the ending where Lan refuses, the party returns to the living world and parts ways. Lan and Kova reluctantly separate since Kova wishes to keep traveling and seeing the world but Lan is exhausted by everything that has happened in her life up until this point and just wants to settle down. The two visit from time to time but reminisce on their past and wonder how they could have remained close and developed their relationship (art in the video is drawn by Lan's player lil.bunny.prince on Instagram)

In both endings (and here's where you remember that importance regarding Asher's trial), because the story has established that it takes place in the same world as another campaign, Kova meets

Gwyn, and becomes a father figure to her and essentially adopts her. They're perfect for each other. Gwyn was cast from her clan and disowned by her family, and now she finally has a solid adult figure in her life who loves and accepts her and helps her overcome her fears of rejection and accidentally hurting the people she cares about. Kova has lost so much and with Gwyn he is able to raise her like he would have helped raise Iris and learns to overcome his survivors guilt and both of their scars and trauma heal together I love them so much.

Kova does outlive Gwyn by a couple hundred years (damn dnd lifespans) and whichever direction his life goes his endings are always bittersweet but he is able to heal despite always feeling a little sad and when he gets older he settles in a nice town and owns a library. And obviously his canon storyline isn't sad enough so I have aus for that (villain au my beloved). ❤

[xbelovedstar-dustx]

15 Questions about the Muse(s)

Tagged by: @dragontamer05

Tagging: @iixiplaytimeisoverixii @kaibagirl007 @diverse-hearts and whomever else wants to try

Yami

1. ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ?

"Not to my Knowledge, However the name Yami means Darkness"

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED ?

"Honestly a few days ago, Stress from work gets to you man..."

3. DO YOU HAVE KIDS ?

"No...but I think I'd like to."

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT ?

"Meh, I say its depends on the situation."

5. WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE ?

"Usually if they have good intentions around me or my twin."

6. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR ?

"My eyes are violet, however according to Aqua, its an Orchid Violet. The color changes depends on my emotions, like it darkens if im upset and it gets lighter when I'm happy."

7. SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDING ?

"Happy Ending...I'd like one personally..."

8. ANY SPECIAL TALENTS ?

"Besides my magic, I'm a damn good cook If I do say so myself! The cafe where i work actually has a few of my orginal recipes on the Menu. I'm also decent at baking, but that's another challenge...."

9. WHERE WERE YOU BORN ?

"I was born in a small village six hours away from Domino City by train. We actually lived away from the village in a big house near a forest where my siblings and I played a lot when we were kids."

10. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES ?

"Cooking and learning new recipes. I can also sing a little."

12. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED ?

"Does...Kendo count? I used to fight with bokken than I got an actual Katana which I never really used."

13. HOW TALL ARE YOU ?

"5'2."

14. DREAM JOB ?

"I'm pretty much already doing it, But being a chef. However if I was going bigger, My own restaurant!"

15. FAVORITE SUBJECT AT SCHOOL ?

"Besides whenever I got to cook, I actually decently enjoyed Social Studies.

Aquamarine (Aqua)

1. ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ?

"My full name is a Gemstone, and it means trust, truth, and letting go."

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED ?

"Like...Yesterday...I was watching a sad video on YouTube. I'm an idiot."

3. DO YOU HAVE KIDS ?

"No, But i'd like some one day!"

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT ?

"Not really...if I do, I try not to."

5. WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE ?

"If they feel like kind people or assholes."

6. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR ?

"Ruby Red! But it brightens and darkens depending on my mood."

7. SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDING ?

"I want a Happy Ending. "

8. ANY SPECIAL TALENTS ?

"I'm an amazing artist not to toot my own horn. Oh I can do magic too."

9. WHERE WERE YOU BORN ?

"Same place as Yami was, we are twins after all."

10. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES ?

"Besides drawing and doing commissions, I actually find some comfort in singing and dancing sometimes."

11. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS ?

"No."

12. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED ?

"I trained with a Bo Staff when I was younger and I probably still remember some old techniques if given a Bo Staff now."

13. HOW TALL ARE YOU ?

"5'2"

14. DREAM JOB ?

"I'd love to be a full on artist and maybe work for a gaming company or an animation studio!"

15. FAVORITE SUBJECT AT SCHOOL ?

"Besides Art, I loved Literature in school."

Brunhilde

1. ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE ?

"Not to my knowledge, but Brunhilde is a Valkyrie name I've heard."

Hey Admin Sidenote: Brunhilde's original concept was another version of Ponyo, So thats where her first and middle name comes from ;)

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED ?

"Hum....I think a few days ago.. Forgot why."

3. DO YOU HAVE KIDS ?

"I'm 14..."

4. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT ?

"Nooooooo what makes you think that..."

5. WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE ?

"If their Aura is good or bad."

6. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR ?

"Royal Purple, but my siblings say it can brighten and darken with emotions."

7. SCARY MOVIE OR HAPPY ENDING ?

"Happy endings are cool, but scary movies make me laugh."

8. ANY SPECIAL TALENTS ?

"I can fly unlike my siblings, I can sit on clouds, I can use magic and oh I can sing I guess."

9. WHERE WERE YOU BORN ?

"Third verse same as the first."

10. WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES ?

"I like playing videos game's, and I like trying to write Monster World or DND campaigns. I practice my singing but away from others."

11. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS ?

"No."

12. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED ?

"Don't play sports."

13. HOW TALL ARE YOU ?

"4'9"

14. DREAM JOB ?

"I dunno."

15. FAVORITE SUBJECT AT SCHOOL ?

"Uh...I really like music and I'm pretty decent at other subjects I guess."

[pbandjesse]

Emotionally i am having a tough night. I am just feeling bad about myself physically and I just am feeling low. It sucks. I am so ready to move and I'm excited to start taking classes like skating again. I feel so tried and sore and bad inside and i know its been a lot because im emotionally exhausted and just eating because I cant do anything else. It sucks. It will get better but it sucks right now.

Today was mostly good though. But there were parts that lead to me being so emotional. I slept okay. It was still hard to wake up. Dnd last night was fun and didn't go to late. And when I got up in the morning James made us a very nice hashbrown breakfast and I felt pretty good.

I had a good ride to work. Got there early, worked on some stuff. I added fabric to my new shorts. Very cute.

It was a fairly okay day, though i am really running out of steam. Im trying not to let it influence the kids to much but I am tired. During yoga we had some good stretches and inversions. Lots of laughs.

Art was good. I had Bre'Asia crying on my chest cause a boy called her dumb. And so we dealt with our feelings and apologies were made. As was Art. And the kids did a really good job cleaning the room.

During reading I read a fascinating long form article about the possible euthanasia of 45 hospital patients that happend during Katrina. It was wild and tooj me most of the morning to read through. But it was worth it. It was wild.

We skateboarded a bunch and it was very fun. Kids got snowballs at the end for $1. We had a good time. Lots of hugs.

Stem was where the issues laid. I was teaching. I had the kids researching about bones. But a bunch of them had sometimes fron recess and most were sitting with my coteacher and chilling. That's fine. Their body thing won't have bones I guess.

But then she yelled at me??? I let the kids on laptops who were drawing their bones listen to music. And she yelled at me for it!!! Like are you serious. I was just so mad. The disrespect in front of the entire class. And then they tried to inturup my instructions to use Google to research because they "had done enough researching yesterday" when they had watched a childrens video. Why are you telling them to do it differently. Then my instructions??? The googling it to help them learn to google. Which is a skill!! I had to have a conversation with my boss later because if this wasn't the last week I would not be willing to work with them anymore. Cause its ridiculous.

It upset me pretty bad. I wanted to be alone.i vented at Marcus a bit. He made me feel a little better. But I just wanted to take the bus ans be quiet by myself.

But of course a creepy guy made me uncomfortable the whole ride. He told me to sit next to him. On the empty bus. I said no. But it was all questions about what i like to eat and where i work and if i have kids. I just wanted to be alone.

He stopped bothering me eventually. And i got off the bus and biked home. I got a shower, and felt a bit better.

Until I stepped on a pretty sizable piece of glass. Super cool. Got blood everywhere.

James came home. I had a snack before he got here. Which was good because we were meeting his parents for dinner but we didnt know when. I didnt love the lack of plan but it was fine. Eventually his sister and cousin came and got us. And we were off.

First ti his parents house. Drinks and talking. Then to Hamden for Mexican. And it was so good. I had a realy good time talking teaching with his sister, who just finished school to become a teacher, and his cousin who is goofy and sweet and into cosplay and some of the goofy stuff I like.

I had way to much to eat. It was all so good though and i had a lot of fun. Even if i was to full and felt kind of bad.

Us youngins all got back to the apartment so his cousin could meet sweetp. His sister is still very funny and uncomfortable around the cat. She talks to him in a business casual voice and it makes me laugh.

They left not long after. I repacked my bag for the beach. And then spiraled into sadness and cried for a while. But im okay now, just very tired.

My new book and my blue light blocking glasses came and i like them a lot! Very good purchase. Ignore my red nose from the crying. Still cute.

Camp tomorrow. Possibly the last teaching day?? Unclear. Still going into it with a positive attitude. I hope tomorrow i feel better. And i hope you all have a good time.

Goodnight everyone.

[internetremix]

I was wondering... Do you any of you have tips for a rookie GM? I'm setting up a game night here soon and I'm stressing the heck out over it.

Alex: No matter what game system you play it's usually quite intimidating because there are like 600 pages of information to digest. At any given time you need to have memorized only, like, thirty. At the end of the day most tabletop games are just two things - math and improv. Admittedly things that, outside of tabletop games, people go out of their way to avoid, but still.

Stress can lead people to get things done fast but also get things done sloppy. You don't need to plan out every single detail of what the characters might encounter eventually in a session. You can flesh out a couple of interesting people, places, or things you want them to see and just keep a scratch card of notes and traits for if/when they go off the beaten path. Remember, no matter what you plan, there is no accounting for the actions of players, and rolling with them provides a far better experience than slamming your fist down and saying "NO" to every deviation.

And above all else, remember that tabletop games are a collaborative effort. People come together to play games, tell stories, and shoot the shit. If shooting the shit overtakes the game you can rein that in a little but at the end of the day everyone's there voluntarily to have fun, and no one is there to see anyone fail.So to recap -

1. You are the arbiter of rules no matter what the book says. You can double-check later and take notes for future games if it becomes an issue but generally you only need to have in mind rules that are actively going to be used in game. If you don't know the exact way to handle something just make up what the closest action would be and if the player rolls what you think is well enough to do it, they did it.

2. If you don't have time to take notes on every single thing the players might encounter, congratulations, you're an average person. You only need a few based on the following factors - what do you want the players to do, how do you think they're going to do it, and do you have something prepared for when they go off the beaten path.

3. Have fun! Seriously, it's called a tabletop GAME, not a tabletop dictatorship.

Kristen: All of my games are Tabletop Dictatorships, all of them. Unfortunately I'm a terrible, weak-willed dictator so this helps nothing.

Alex: Discord Murder Party is different. Mafia/Werewolf operates way differently than D&D and needs a GM SPECIFICALLY so that players don't go off the rails.

Kristen: You are 100% correct.

God my first tabletop I ever DMed for I made my own thing and wrote like... twenty pages for my first session. And then as soon as I started, my players were like HEY I WANNA EXPLORE THE SHOPS

"O-oh.... y-yeah, here's uh... heeeere's a list of shops..."

So then I had to improv like... five shops and make multiple NPCs on the fly and then I found out "it turns out writing an entire paragraph for every NPC is an awful idea because you can't fucking read those notes mid-session"

So my point is don't do that.

Juno: Oh yeah. Last night I had to make up a guy named Lucas on the spot because JoJo's character wanted to convince a guy not to kill them

Kristen: YEP I ran the generic 5e DnD starter for a group of friends and somehow it went from a generic "you all hunt down and kill a bunch of goblins and a bugbear in a cave, way to go" to "You spared a Goblin who has a ridiculous Brooklyn accent who hates his job and now you're starting a ridiculous worker's revolution and this has ended with you all enlisting every other goblin you were supposed to fight into swarming the bugbear boss. Okay."

Juno: I mean. That's a pretty bomb plot twist if you ask me.

Kristen: Oh yes, I enjoyed it immensely. Also really in the context of a DnD game I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be doable cause I don't think any of them were supposed to be able to speak common. If your players are setting themselves up for a more interesting story and you have to bend the rules a bit to make it happen, go for it. One of the most important things for GMing is making your players feel like they have agency- as Alex said, it's collaborative, it's not just you telling your players a story.

Another thing to keep in mind is what sort of players you have. I usually prefer to play with people who are more into the RP/story aspect, but some people are gonna be more into them fighty fights and mechanics and such. Which is fine and can work, it's just a matter of striking a balance in your game.  I usually try to tailor things in such a way that everyone's getting a chance to get what they want out of a game and their shot at the spotlight, in whatever manner that takes. For me it's helped to ask my players directly "hey, what do you want out of this game? Do you have any ideas or anything you're really into?"

Mostly what I'm saying is just try to keep in mind what your players are in this for, since that contributes a lot to how much fun you all have.

Atwas: Something that's helped me a lot is to not stress out or stop the game entirely to double check rules. It sort of kills momentum. In my experience, ruling a situation and then looking something up later is a lot less stressful than the pressure of putting something completely on pause while you flip through a book/google something.

If you're doing stuff in real life, I would recommend making a little cheat sheet of your PC's information. My DM screen has sticky notes with each party characters HP, AC, Passive Perception, and Spell Save DC to keep things streamlined.

Kristen: Oooo smurt

Alex: Hell yeah dude. Also there are custom DM screens you can get tailor-made to give you quick rules references. Fairly cheap on Amazon.

Atwas: Also your players don't know if you're winging stuff unless you tell them. ;^)

Also also don't be scared of bumping monster hp up or down depending on a fight or having monsters run away or call in reinforcements. If you go off script in an encounter--surprise! Nobody knows but you. I did that quite a bit when I was starting out because balancing encounters is a bit of an art and CR is a loose guideline at best.

Also also also the point of the game isn't to win. Don't fall into the trap of "beating your players" or stuff like that. Imo that kind of messes with the table dynamics unless 100% of everyone is on board with that type of game.

Kristen: Yeah, don't fall into that and also be careful not to go into the mindset of "punishing" your players if they do something dumb. Like if it's a silly "you did this thing and consequences have gone WILDLY outside of what you expect wheee", awesome, but I've had DMs who basically would act like if you didn't somehow read their minds and find their exact solution, welp you made a dumb choice and now everyone is penalized for it. Made for a pretty toxic atmosphere, do not recommend. Kind goes hand in hand with "don't be a tabletop dictator".

Atwas: oh gods i could go on and on about how punishing someone in game never works for out of game behaviour but i digress. also please don't feel afraid to talk to your players, even if having adult conversations is difficult.

Juno: Cause and effect is the biggest thing to think about I think, especially in a DMing situation.

Alex: For instance, siccing a Revenant on the party? Thavagath made a bad decision in character, that's the natural consequence, he gets a chance to save his ass. Someone makes a dick joke about your carefully crafted NPC? Don't be a dick right back.

Atwas: sweats, trying to think back to the last time a dick joke was made in Fallen Empires

Alex: Like I think the last major one was Phill pulling a muscle stretching so hard to make a joke for five minutes about the "Male Room" rather than the "Mail Room"

But then we - wait for it - ACTUALLY DISCUSSED THE ISSUE OUT OF GAME and stuff like that doesn't pop up any more.

Atwas: WHAT? SPEAKING LIKE REASONABLE ADULTS?!?! IN MY TABLETOP?!?!?! it's really useful. please have those conversations, even if they're uncomfortable. and if something is becoming an issue, bring it up sooner rather than later--turns out that people can't change stuff if they don't know about it! Most people want to stay friends after a campaign after all.

Jojo: Have your story planned, npcs, and what you want an end goal to be. Make sure it's all planned out BEFORE asking people to join it. And if you need a second DM to help you with Dice or story, then that's ok too! I'm still a beginner DM myself, so that's the best advice I can give

These guys are pros, so listen to them

Phill: Heheh... male room

Alex: Phill no you'll pull your hamstring again

Phill:

Atwas: what do you think is Phill's average Henderson rating?

Alex: Phill has at least One Henderson in him, he destroyed Underdark to the point of we can't go back to it ever now.

Phill: I mean. Yeah. Honestly, I could've very easily seen phresh reach a 1.75 hendersons eventually.

Atwas: I'd say 1.75 works. 2 is still out of reach, but one day...

Xander: Underdark is cursed content and deserved better

Atwas: How many of he players had that as their first campaign? 3/5?

Xander: I believe so

Alex: Uprising and I had played before, I don't think Jojo, Dawn, or Phill had.

Xander: I'm probably gonna reboot Underdark one day. Wipe the slate clean. Probably not gonna be done on IR

Alex: We did it! We reached two Hendersons!

Xander: Two full Hendersons.

Phill: time unveil my new original character. Blesh

Alex: Blerish

Xander: More like Blemish

[bluering8]

for the dnd meme, i'm gonna send you the same prompt someone else sent me: prime numbers!

2. Your favouritecharacter that someone else has played.

My favourite character was probably Pax! Her player is nolonger around because Reasons, but I still love Pax. She was hilarious and anabsolute delight, top-quality belligerent homeless drunkard with more arms (four)than brain cells.

Favourite character who is still active is maybe… Glitz??That’s a really hard choice because I particularly love the entire Navarenegroup, the Glitz-Levin-Aradi trio is super fun for me to watch interacting becausetheir personalities bounce off each other in really entertaining ways.

3. Your favouriteside quest.

I don’t think we really… do side quests… Numenera iskind of like Side Quests: the RPG, the whole point of it is that you’resupposed to explore and get distracted by random shit and race off in twentydifferent directions at once.

5. Favourite NPC.

Ssenofyn Srelthyn Syntysus! Ssen’s hilarious to me because he’sso consistently deadpan in the face of wacky shenanigans and questionablesocial skills. He cares only for science and it’s delightful. It also means he’sreally good at the job of Being A Party NPC: all he wants is for the party tokeep running around and exploring, so he’s content to stand in the backgroundand only help out when asked. He lets the PCs do all the Fun Stuff, and it makes sense for his character that he’d act that way.

7. Your favouritedowntime activity.

We don’t really… do downtime either… I mean, we could do downtime, but I’m a veryimpatient man and want lots of things to be happening at all times. Okay, wejust jumped out of a plane after encountering/rescuing a new PC and there’snothing immediately important happening, this would be a really good time torelax and take stock and have some RP where we get to know our new teammateright? Well, we could do that, or wecould investigate this weird space lego in a nearby pond let’s do thatinstead!!

11. How often do youplay and how often would you ideally like to play?

We play pretty irregularly? Mostly as a side-effect of wowthere are so many different time zones and conflicting schedules at play here.We’ve switched to play-by-post rather than having actual sessions, which has helpeda lot with the scheduling issues, but we still don’t play very often. I’m like68% sure we’re maybe on hiatus until the new books come out?

13. Introduce yourcurrent party.

There are three!

Draolis party: Tom Sideways (Charming Jack who Works theBack Alleys), useless layabout on a quest to locate a gun which fires weird timebullets and also an occasional pawn in his crime lord brother’s scheming; Aeli(Clever Glint who Crafts Illusions), a con artist who got herself involved inOracle’s political shenanigans; Styx (Ultraterrestrial Glaive who IntegratesWeaponry), a boisterous adventurer from the Timelands who found herselfstranded in the Ninth World by accident and is seeking to repair her worldlineshifter; Oracle (NPC), an overdramatic “””terrorist””” who likes to yell aboutpolitics a lot.

Navarene party: Enodyne (Perceptive Nano who Abides inCrystal), an imperious supervillain with a mysterious backstory; Levin (WeirdNano who Rides the Lightning), Aeon Priest, mom friend, and also an avidknitter; Glitz (Manipulative Jack who Possesses a Shard of the Sun), a fancyboy who wears impractical shoes and is super Extra at all times; Aradi (GuardedSeeker who Manipulates Force), a Gaian who is just here to explore ancientruins and doesn’t know why these strange people keep talking to her like shetolerates them.

Techhunter party: Mote (Mystical Jack who Fuses Mind andMachine), a space ape from space on a quest to find her lost god; Flux Dynamo(Mercurial Glaive who Employs Magnetism), who is ADHD as hell and loves spaceso much you guys so much; Ssenofyn(NPC), who is just here to do science.

17. What are somehouse rules that your group has?

Anyone who draws an art gets an experience point, AKA therule which lets Hap advance at approximately the ten times the rate of everyoneelse put together (I’m not deliberately spamming art specifically for the purposeof XP gain, I’m just Like This). The GM insists this is fine.

The new books are gonna be introducing Player Intrusionsalso, which presumably is gonna mean players get to spend an XP to make goodthings happen to themselves. The GM’s said that if there’s no mechanism to letplayers make bad things happen tothemselves they’ll houserule it in just for me, which on the one hand I feelkind of offended but on the other hand shit yes time to shoot myself repeatedlyin the foot!! I promise to use this power responsibly and only cause disastersfor myself so I don’t ruin the game for other people. On the gripping hand thisshould go some way to correcting the ridiculous amount of XP I’ve accidentallyaccumulated with my constant fanart, so it all balances out in the end I guess.

19. Do you or yourparty have any dice superstitions?

Nope! Except that back when we were using physical diceinstead of a dicebot Jack’s dice hated them, which was less superstition andmore objective fact because one time we had a session while they were visitingme and they borrowed a set of my dice and suddenly they could make non-shittyrolls.

23. Do you usepremade modules or original campaigns?

Mostly original stuff I think? Don’t look at me, I only haveaccess to the character-creation books, I don’t know how much of what goes on is canon and how much the GM makes up on the spot. Fortunately all my characters areeither foreigners or complete idiots so my relative ignorance of the NinthWorld doesn’t matter super much.

29. Do you prefer RPheavy sessions or combat sessions?

As a GM? RP sessions, mostly because the game I’m GMing usesa ridiculously ruleslite system so there’s not really anything interesting youcan do with combat. This might change if I ever get organised enough to runsomething with more than a single page of rules. But also, when the players are RPing and treating their PCs like characters instead of sticks to solve problems with, that’s super super pleasing for me because it feels like they’re enjoying themselves and getting engaged with what’s going on.

31. What is yourfavourite class? Favourite race?

My favourite type is jack! They seem to be, like… the bestset up for interacting with the world in the way I want to interact with it. Ilike having the variety in what I can do and I’m not super bothered by the lackof high-powered/specialised skills. It looks like the new book’s going to bemaking jacks their own Thing instead of just being a nonspecialised mishmash ofall the other character types so iunno, we’ll see how that one shakes out.

Numenera doesn’t really doraces the way DND does races. You get races, but they’re in place ofdescriptors rather than a separate trait. I ain’t give a shit about function orbuilding a mechanically-optimised character, if you tell me I can either pick aspecies trait or a character trait I’ll pick the character trait. So I guess Iprefer the default “race” (which is… not necessarily human, Mote’s a spaceape but she still counts as the default mechanically) because then I can picksomething else interesting to have going on. I did super enjoy playing an ArtificiallyIntelligent character one time, but the GM let me pick two descriptors so I wasAI/Mad and honestly if I could’ve only picked one, Mad all the way.