#but it was for a dnd thing that i'm recording

[glisten-inthedark]

You wanna know what gives me confidence for Byler? The show.

That's it.

Because I promise you, if you watch the show objectively everything is there. You don't even have to look at camera angles, lighting, or signs that point towards closets, the information you need is there.

And it isn't even shit people made up (****** I'm looking at you, even though I ship it). It's there, I fucking saw it before even shipping it.

And at first, I assumed I was seeing shit. To be honest I mostly brushed it off, but when we found out that Will was gay and in love with Mike, it clicked.

My favorite mental exercise is: If Will was a girl, how would you perceive their scenes? All you have to do it's switch up their genders and it's not even up for debate because we all know everyone would eat that shit up.

I mean, a boy relentlessly looks for a girl in the woods, stays by this girl' side, tells her they'll go crazy together while touching her hand, tells her that asking her to be his his friend was the best thing he's ever done, fights with her but actually tries to apologize, then we find that said girl has been in love with her friend but it's lying so that this friend could be happy. Tell me that if this was the case there wouldn't be like 30000 fics of that couple on Ao3 and millions of people begging the showrunners to make them canon? Tell me, I fucking dare you.

And at this point I'm like a broken record but I am going to repeat myself.

WILL BYERS BEING IN LOVE WITH MIKE WHEELER does not make a difference to the plot. It doesn't.

He could have been gay and not be in love. If the life lesson was: "Will has to learn to accept himself as gay, and to love himself and understand he isn't a mistake" they could've done without the love. They could've given him exploring that part of himself in California, they could've presented another gay character that taught him that.

They could've fixed El and Mike's relationship without Will's love. We've seen them doing it before. Will could've helped by just being Mike's friend.

So can we ask ourselves this itsy bitsy question: Why make Will in love with Mike in the first place? Why make him say not once, but twice, that he and Mike could play DnD together for the rest of their lives which, if you're not good at subtext, means he sees himself with Mike by his side as long as he lives if all they're going to do is bring him more misery?

Because I'm going to be honest, with the way they wrote this love Will has, they literally didn't gave themselves a easy way out. They made sure we knew it was real, it was unconditional and that it would never change. We didn't make it up, they gave us that information with their writing.

So again, ask yourselves why that is.

Because whatever non Byler explanation I try to come up with doesn't make sense.

Queerbaiting? More like Bylerbaiting at this point considering Will is gay and again, he could've been in love with anyone else or not be a queer character experiencing love at all.

Make Mil*even stronger? It literally did the opposite, the ship is going down in flames and we all know it. Their relationship isn't healthy, El's arc isn't about romantic love and the painting which was the only reason Mike proclaimed the romantic love he doesn't feel literally came from Will.

So... Again. Why?

[salstray]

15 questions for 15 mutuals ~ ✨ 

I was tagged by the lovely @killerspinal <3 Thank you very much <3

---

1. Are you named after anyone? 

Nope! Doubly so now that I’m changing my legal name, rip.

2. When was the last time you cried? 

Last night :) Worry not! I simply like to day dream before I go to bed and it got angsty, is all.

3. Do you have kids? 

I have a cat that I refer to as my son and that’s as close as I’ll ever willingly get to motherhood.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? 

Yes. Yes I do.

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

Played volleyball in middle school and hated every second of it! Never touched A Sport since <3

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

In person? Their voice cause I’m usually too scared to look them in the eye right off the bat. Online? honestly, no idea. Don’t talk to enough new people-

7. Eye colour?

Blue~

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

Why can’t be both?

9. Any special talents?

My ability to make a story out of Literally Anything that is put in front of me. Mobile games with the simplest gameplay/graphics/features? I’ll build a world from it. A plant? I’ll give it a backstory. Keep anything in the public domain AWAY from me otherwise I’ll worldbuild for 8 hours then never look at it again.

10. Where were you born?

US of A, baybeeee

11. What are your hobbies?

Writing, Video Gaming, watching youtube, and DnD!

12. Do you have any pets?

My sweet, darling son Jinxx (aforementioned cat), who bit me about four minutes ago <3

13. How tall are you?

5′3 and willing to bite you if you comment about it.

14. Fave subject in school?

Gods, I feckin hated school with a deep burning passion- Anything that let me write. One of my teachers let me turn in a Skyrim fanfic as an essay onetime but I don’t remember what class that was.

15. Dream job? 

The dream is to actually finish a book for once in my life and make it big, wonder off into the woods with my cat and live at the base of a mountain, destined to one day vanish without a trace and never to be seen again.

Thank you again, bestie <3 I hope you have a lovely day!

--

ACTUALLY TAGGING PEOPLE??? ME???

I never thought I’d seen the day~

I only have two people, though, who I think would actually want to/enjoy doing this. No pressure though.

@captains-price and @charrhylis

<3

[can-of-slorgs]

caw 🦅

[blujayonthewing]

well I just spent an hour digging through my own dnd notes and social media and also almost cried because I mentioned, in passing, something justin had said about one of his NPCs and he, completely lightheartedly, was like '?? I don't remember that at all. [I mean I'm not making it up?] I think you might be making it up 😏'

[radiance1]

Inspired by @puppetmaster13u and various dragon aus they have.

BUT! This is also a bit of a fantasy/DnD au I guess...? IDK BUT HERE WE GO-

Okay now so, I'm imagining that that Danny, Tucker, and Sam create a pocket dimension for their game via the use of reality warping (via scepter) and something given to them by Pariah Dark before he went off on that whole honey moon thing with Clockwork.

For the record, Danny isn't the ghost king here, Pariah Dark is he's just the prince.

Sam created a garden from the barren earth, that eventually grew into a great forest and spread out to the rest of the world, which technically made her the creator of life but anyways. So, she's holed up in said garden turned forest.

Tucker bestowed upon his subjects (after they were made of course) knowledge and technology and is regarded as the greatest teacher in that world's history.

Danny? Oh yea he became that one that giant dragon that everyone knows is there, is afraid of, and just sleeps all day in this one specific place. You'd have to cut him some slack though, because no one told him creating a world and its laws would be so hard even with help.

That and him, as the one with basically the most knowledge and resident fanboy of space, created the stars surrounding the place as well!

Of course, they couldn't stay there all of the time. What with work (Tucker), high-society (Sam), and studying (Why the heck did Danny decide to go to collage again?). That entire place was just made to play around in before they had to go their separate ways and be, you know, actual adults, so it was easy enough to let go of it really.

Except for Danny. Not of any great reason, really, he just needed someplace where he could quietly study in peace, nap, think or just get away from the Ghost Zone before he had to go through all that princely nonsense again. Plus, none of their creations in that pocket dimension really wanted to mess with the giant fuck off dragon who was said to created the place anyways.

For the record, Danny is more of an eastern dragon in design with a long body rather than western. So that probably just added more into his intimidation with his sheer length.

So, you know, of course he would have been none too pleased when someone actually did disturb his solitude (as stated by the dimension's residents) as soon as the world was thrown off-balance by an outside force.

Meanwhile, Klarion the Witch boy is having the time of his life coming across a whole world that somehow hasn't been affected by Order or Chaos. So he's capitalizing on that.

Then he came across a place that was said to be sacred, not that he cared, and then came across a boy who didn't look a day over his teens (which frankly doesn't say much in regards to immortals) with a frankly long tail that looked longer than he was tall and very majestic looking horns.

Danny was annoyed yet curious, Klarion was surprised yet delighted.

[upsidedownmvnson]

eddie's little somethings

aka some of the ways eddie shows you he loves you

he is your personal driver: even when you don't ask, he shows up after your shift to drive you home whenever he can, brings you to and from school, and never wants to let you drive. he just loves how you look in the passenger seat, window open, hair flying everywhere. he can put his hand on your thigh. his perfect little passenger princess <3

he wants you around 24/7, just sitting beside him, even if you're doing your own thing. especially when he's dm'img at hellfire, sometimes you'd just read a book beside him, if you weren't involved in that particular campaign

he's actually a big fan of pda, he loves causing a scene, and he loves showing everyone that you're all his. so what better way than making out with you against a locker, or keeping his arm around you for the entire lunch period. if you share a class, he'll sit beside you and have his hand on your thigh the whole time. more comforting than sexual.

one of the rare occurrences that eddie cancelled hellfire was because you had a terrible day, and you just wanted to go home instead of hangout with the party, so he cancelled it and took you home, even when you insisted he could just come over after.

eddie kisses every inch of you like he's looking for a secret. he makes sure you know he thinks every inch of you is perfect. from love bites on your thigh, to kisses behind your ear, up and down arms and legs, all over your back while he gives you a massage omfg (i'm writing smut based off of this, stay tuned)

one time he asked you if you would be comfortable with him looking at porn "not because i want to right now, but like, don't wanna cause an issue later, yaknow babe?" and you thought that was very mature

when he's meant to give you gift (birthdays/holidays etc) he prefers to make something. one time he recorded two cassettes of himself playing all your favourite songs, one slow, instrumental & acoustic for studying, and one how they were meant to be sang for jamming. he's also made a popsicle stick diorama of your childhood tree fort that was torn down, and a DnD campaign on your birthday based on your favourite fantasy movie (wrote a follow up to this point: here)

he likes to bring you a little treat. when hes on his way over he'll often stop to grab a cookie, or a smoothie. just something nice for him to give you. he likes to do anything to make you smile

he makes a huge effort to partake in your interests and hobbies, and makes sure not to accidentally dominate your shared time with his band, and his club. he wanted to make sure the attention was split between you, a healthy balance for a healthy relationship <3

he dedicates a song to you at every single gig, as if it's not the same crowd every time. but he doesn't care, he's just happy you're still excited to see his shows

eddie always asks for your opinion on everything, and while it's not always what he wants, he always takes yours into account, and if it's something you two have to decide together, he wouldn't stop trying to figure out a perfect compromise.

he loves to feel skin on skin contact. when you guys are just hanging out, he always finds some way to get his hand on your skin, whether it's your thigh, or rubbing your back, or just holding your hand. he likes the comfort of you nearby. but in bed, he likes to press his chest into yours during missionary, wrapping up your legs together and coddling your head in his arms, laying as flushed against you as he possibly could

eddie also just straight up says "i love you" like a million times a day

i am going to write 1000000 more eddie headcanons so feel free to request

[hairmetal666]

What if, after Vecna is defeated, Eddie lives and is recovering in the hospital and one day he's just gone. Like, Steve and the kids come to visit and his hospital room doesn't even exist anymore. It's just a blank stretch of wall. The nurses, nurses they know worked with Eddie, say they've never heard of Eddie Munson and there's never been a room where the kids insist there was the day before. Anyone else they ask says they've never heard the name, even though it was only weeks ago that the entire town formed a mob to hunt him down. Hopper and Murray look into it and there's no record of an Edward Munson in any database anywhere. His previous arrests are gone, his fingerprints, record of Wayne becoming his legal guardian, his social security number, his birth certificate. Even his Uncle Wayne, gone without a trace. Like neither man ever existed.

They search for years, always hoping for word, or a return, or anything. But Eddie was there one day and gone the next. Apparently forever.

They mourn, all of them. He was part of the group, part of the family, and then he was gone with no fanfare or goodbye. Then he was gone and every force in the world pretended like he'd never been there in the first place.

Steve, quietly, takes it hard. He spends weeks crying himself to sleep, clutching the ruined battle vest to his chest. It's just unfair, is all, Steve thinks. '86 was supposed to be Eddie's year.

Time passes and they all grow up, all move away from Hawkins. Steve and Robin move to Indy; she starts college and Steve gets a job at a little bakery because he's a regular already and they're hiring.

He loves baking, finds it calming in a way very few things are for him anymore. After a few good years, the store becomes his, and he didn't know he could be this happy or satisfied with his life, after everything.

He never stops thinking of Eddie.

Close to Steve's 30th birthday, a little bookstore opens up in the vacant building across the way. Steve sees the owner sometimes, dark hair pulled into a sloppy bun, pale skin, the occasional hint of black ink under his dark clothes. Beautiful. They wave at each other almost every morning and Steve ignores the reminders of Eddie. They're commonplace now. Any man with long dark hair, tattoos, and black clothing stirs a spark of recognition in Steve's gut, and the disappointment still hurts even after a decade.

Weeks pass and Steve notices a new display in the window of the bookstore; those dnd guides all the boys have, the dice with too many sides, the little plastic figures and pots of paints and delicate brushes. He vows, the next time the kids are in town, they'll go over and he'll finally introduce himself to that probably nice man whose only sin was a slight resemblance to a boy from Steve's past.

The kids come for a visit only a few weeks later, and are just as enthusiastic about going to the bookstore as he is to take them. He has them help bake his secret-recipe sugar cookies, decorate them in a dnd theme (Erica and Max say they're dorky, and he agrees, despite being pleased with the results).

Steve heads to the bookstore first, to warn the guy about the veritable horde of feral young adults about to descend on his quiet store.

He walks in to the sound of a gently ringing bell and Metallica playing at low volume on the store's speakers. Steve has to ignore it or he'll walk out.

"Be right with you," a muffled voice calls out.

"Take your time," he responds. He browses with the container of cookies in his arms, taking in all the dnd stuff, the signs about dnd club meetings, the stacks of new release books and a couple cds.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," a soft, husky voice says back at the front of the store. It breaks Steve out in goosebumps.

"Don't worry about it. I'm from the bakery across the street, wanted to finally introduce myself. I brought goodies," he adds, sort of blushing.

He steps back up to the cash register, eyes finally settling on the owner he's only seen from afar and all the breath leaves his body. It leaves him lightheaded, dizzy.

Eddie Munson. Eddie. Munson. Stands behind the counter, hair in a bun with messy tendrils around his face. He looks the exact same. Maybe a few more lines around his mouth and eyes. But the same.

"Ed--Eddie?" Steve's voice croaks out. He barely manages to drop the cookies onto the counter and not the floor.

Eddie's deep brown eyes flood with tears, a hand--every finger with a ring--covers his mouth. "Steve," the other man sobs.

There's no hesitation as Steve flings himself into Eddie's arms, the other man catching him and holding him tight.

Eddie squeezes him, crying against Steve's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he repeats.

"I can't believe you're real," Steve murmurs between soft sobs, pressing his face against Eddie's neck.

"I'm real. I'm here," Eddie agrees. "I'm right here, sweetheart."

Steve pulls out of the embrace a little, just to look at Eddie's face. To see after all these years. He presses trembling fingers against the line of Eddie's jaw, and the other man leans into the touch, lets Steve trace the contours of his cheeks, his mouth.

"You're here," Steve agrees.

Their eyes lock, drink each other in, ten years of longing dancing at the knobs of Steve's spine.

"They took me away," Eddie says, deep brown of his eyes serious and pleading. "The government. They snuck me out in the middle of the night and forced me and Wayne to adopt new identities, sent us to New Mexico. Monitored us so I couldn't contact any of you. It killed me, Stevie. To be away from you. From Robin. The kids."

That snaps Steve out of his daze. "Oh, shit. The kids."

It's too late, though. The bell at the door jingles, the usual cacophony that accompanies the seven of them filling the little store in an instant.

Dustin's voice rings out, above the others, "this store is so fucking cool."

"Language," Eddie scolds on auto-pilot. When he realizes what he said and why, his eyes wash with new tears.

The kids turn, as one, to the man they never thought they'd see again.

Steve's fingers dance down Eddie's arm, finding his hand, twining their fingers together. Eddie tightens his grip. Steve's never letting go of this man ever again, and he knows with some deep, element certainty that Eddie feels the same.

"Eddie?" Dustin exclaims.

"Hiya, kid." Eddie smiles a little, ducks his head.

"What the fuck," Max says.

"Anyone have time for a story?" Eddie asks. He dashes away the few tears that track down his cheeks.

"We have all the time in the world," Steve agrees. Doesn't think before he lifts Eddie's hand and presses a kiss just below his knuckles.

[stargazerbibi]

🪩🔮👾NEW SEMESTER, NEW PRODUCTIVITY CHALLENGE! 👾🔮🪩

hello again!! the fourth and last year of my bachelor's is starting! it's going to be a tough one, but i really want it to go well so here i am, making this, hoping it will guide and help me finish this degree once and for all!

this semester, i'll be taking:

Differential and Integral Calculus I

Differential and Integral Calculus III

Physics II

Analysis and Synthesis of Algorithms

Linear Algebra

152 DAYS (max.)

for the record, aside from algebra, i don't particularly enjoy any of these subjects, but i'm trying to face them with an open mind. my situation is not ideal, but i'll try to make the most of it. manifesting good things for this year <33

🌪️⛲☄️ GOALS ☄️⛲🌪️

-> pass all my classes: 0/5

-> complete my goodreads challenge: 14/30 🫥

-> keep my Duolingo streak alive

🩷🌸🦑 FUN PLANS 🦑🌸🩷

-> re-read jjk: 5/20

-> go to the cinema ☑️

-> play tennis 🎾

-> draw my DnD character

🌆🪸🪼 NOT FUN PLANS 🪼🪸🌆

-> organize my email

-> organize photos (computer, camera, phone)

-> clean my room 1 ☑️

-> clean my room 2

-> sign up for swimming classes (on hold until the local pool opens again)

🌌🎆🗻 COUNTERS 🗻🎆🌌

-> properly study Danish: 0 hours

-> movies watched: 2 (last watched: Zodiac, 2007, dir. David Fincher)

-> series watched: 2 (last watched: Unbelievable)

-> books read: 0 (last read: The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers)

[ebonyheartnet]

Who wants to spite a landlord? Any volunteers?

My friend’s got a new job starting on the 5th, but rental assistance fell through. Her landlord was cool until a few days ago, when they suddenly changed their mind to giving her until the 29th. While she is a hardcore badass, this isn’t happening without backup. I’m sending out an SOS to my fellow nerds. Come help one of the best friends and GMs I’ve ever known.

I’ll try to make it worth your while, k?

If you like my writing, I’ll do 500 words of fic for $5, and a ficlet for $1. I primarily write Danny Phantom and DC (mostly batfam + supers, but I’m willing to research for the sake of this).

If you want a song for your fav characters from the above fandoms, or you want to give your DND character a theme song, I’ll put something together for $20. Chords, lyrics (if you want) and a guaranteed minimum 1:20 demo recording—more if the brain weasels take hold.

Speaking of songs, to my Danny Phantom, DC, and DP x DC fans:

If we pay my friend’s rent before 12/29/24, I will fully record and release demos for “Half a Kingdom” and “One More Fan for Superman”

If you don’t know me and want to see what you’d get for a ficlet, “Ebony Writes the Thing” is my general writing tag. You can find the lyrics to Half a Kingdom here, and this is One More Fan for Superman. I also have a recording of myself singing a War x Famine Good Omens song, She Make Me Hungry on my old mic before I upgraded.

To claim your reward, DM me your screenshot.

With processing time, we’ve got about 2 days to pull off a minor miracle. Let’s hopepunk the fuck out of this and keep her safe.

Edit:

WE FUCKING DID IT!

Feel free to add some for extra shit like groceries just in case, but fuck, my friend gets to keep her apartment. 🥳

[hopepetal]

So @applestruda and I, as well as a friend of ours, have been watching Fantasy High together. That made me think. What if some of our sillies played DND?

--

Grian smiled, the kind of smile that always preceded a prank or something equally as dastardly. “You find yourself traversing through the forest, surrounded by trees that stretch–” And he reached up with an arm to show the great height of the forest– “right up to the sky, it seems. There's a muggy, sort of humid air, and you can hear that the birds are calling for potential mates in the distance.”

Impulse nudged Jimmy with a grin. “Hey, lover bird, sounds like your kind of crowd.”

Jimmy flushed a bright pink, spluttering out, “No, what the– oh my gosh, Impulse, that's so rude!” to laughter from around the table.

Even Grian had to hide a chuckle, before going back to describing the scene. “And you see, as you're trekking through this jungle– Pearl in front, slashing through the vines and smaller underbrush with her sword– you find that the underbrush suddenly stops, and there is a huge lake of what seems to be quicksand blocking the path.”

“Can I jump over it?” Pearl asked immediately, to which Grian, after a moment of consideration, shrugged.

“It's worth trying,” he answered, “give me an acrobatics roll.”

Pearl took up one of her starry blue die and rolled it, peering at the number when it stopped moving. “14– 18, with acrobatics.”

Grian thought for a moment, before shrugging and nodding his head. “...yeah, that works. You, take a few steps back, get a running start, and you jump over that quicksand like its nothing. It's– definitely not nothing, you probably just broke a human world record for long jump with half the effort, but hey, that's the fun of not being human!”

“I feel targeted,” Impulse joked, earning a round of giggles.

“Right, then. That's Pearl's turn.” Grian turned to Jimmy. “Do you wanna try doing the same thing, or are you gonna look for another way...?”

Jimmy grabbed his die, shaking it eagerly in his hands. “Oh, we're jumping this thing, baby.” He released the die, glanced at the number, and let out a horrified exclamation. “Nat one! That's– no, oh no, that's not–!”

Grian already had an evil grin on his face. “So, you go to jump over this huge thing of quicksand– and it's huge, man, you don't even know why you're doing this– and you land right in the middle of it, flat on your face, and begin to sink.”

Jimmy groaned, burying his head in his hands as the table laughed. “Oh, this is awful, this is awful...”

Tango fumbled with his die. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, can I– can I roll to help him, or something?”

Grian snickered. “Go ahead.”

Tango rolled, and screeched. “Oh no! I got a nat one! Ohhh, no!”

The whole table started dying from laughter, Scar almost falling out of his chair, startling Jellie in the process. Tilly barked once, her tail wagging as she panted heavily.

Grian wiped tears from his eyes. “Ohhh, boy. Oh man.” He giggled, his wings shaking as he tried to calm himself. “Right. So, you see Jimmy sinking face first into the quicksand, and you quickly jump out to help him– falling straight into the quicksand yourself, almost landing on Jimmy in the process.”

Tango pulled his knees up to his chest, burying his face in his knees as he wailed. “Oh, nooo! I'm so sorry, Jimmy!”

[chaoticneutralgood2627]

Advice to College Students (From someone who's trying to apply for a master's program)

Note that these are in no particular order and from my own particular experience. I will add if I think of more.

TAKE NOTES ON EVERYTHING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU FIND IT COOL: your brain will tell you 'I'll remember that fact, it's so neat!' Your brain is a BITCH. You will not remember SHIT. Take ALL the notes. If you can record your classes, even better!

Write down who your professors are for each class. Make a big document. All the years. Write them. Write down their vibes and if you like them. Write down what sort of assignments they gave. Because I'm over here trying desperately to remember which professors I had multiple classes with so I can beg them for recommendations.

Save your assignments. Even if they're horribly cringey. You can use this to gauge how far you've come. I know it hurts your soul. I have fanfic from when I was 12. Do it anyway.

When they tell you the grad school shit, pay attention. Even if you don't plan to go back to school. Because I didn't listen and now I have changed my mind and I have no recollection of that section of school.

Networking. Gather contacts from your classmates. If for no other reason than because you think they're intimidating and you don't want your LinkedIn to look depressing. They're probably just as intimidated by you. And if not, you can pretend they are.

College is not high school. Next to no one has friends at first. Everyone is a disaster. Talk to people. You might not find Your People in your first friend group. That's fine. There are people there somewhere that can make life less awful. The worst they can say is no, you can't be friends with us (and most people aren't that bitchy). The universe is big and no one is judging you harder than you are.

It's not that friends Can't Live Together, it's that people have different organization styles and needs for survival and sometimes those Do Not Mesh. If you're going to live with someone, make sure that you have talked about things.

Everything can go on a resume if you word it right. Editing a friend's paper? Congrats, you have editing and tutoring experience. Playing DND on weekends? Cooperation and teambuilding to work towards a common goal, sometimes in the face of creative differences (your friends want to Fight Everything and you want to Stay Alive (or reversed)). EVERYTHING CAN GO ON A RESUME.

There are so many resources on campus. Use them, for the love of god because then you're going to be an adultier adult and realize that there is not a med center right across the campus.

Find what motivates you. Mine is spite, I am applying to grad school to get out of retail and to spite 2 specific supervisors. Cling to that when you want to drop out and quit.

There is not a specific route to take in college. Or out of college. Listen to yourself rather than everyone's advice (I am aware that this is ironic to be on an advice post).

If you think you can wake up at 9 after like 4 hours of sleep, that is the devil talking to you. Go to bed.

On the same note. I am aware that you woke up at like 5 for high school. You will not want to exist before noon. 8 am classes are not illegal, but they should be.

Take care of yourself. You're paying a shit ton of money to be there, you can take an hour to eat the food. Plus, if you take care of yourself, then you will work better.

There will be weird shit happening all over. Just roll with it. Unless it's hurting someone or has the potential to hurt someone (my one friend got stalked).

You are not required to stay somewhere social if it's creeping you the fuck out or if you aren't comfy. I think I went to a single party in my entire college life and I hid in the corner with their illegal kitten the whole time.

Speaking of illegal kittens. If you know someone has an illegal kitten, no the fuck you do not. There probably will be at least one. And you do not know about it.

[blujayonthewing]

it would be so fucking cool and fun to play a kenku through a soundboard if I only had a soundboard or knew how to use one or had a campaign in which to play another goddamn new character

[dylawa]

You know what? I'm gonna say it. Am I the only one who headcanons that Gale is a pianist?

Think about it. Sure, the only real evidence we have to go off of is his romance scene if you let him walk you through his tower in Waterdeep and he points out the self-playing piano in his study, but how often does he really set up that thing to play on its own? Wouldn't that cost a lot magically speaking to upkeep (and he'd probably have consumed the Weave in it in his year of self-isolation for his condition? Maybe just sheet music is enchanted and influences the piano)?

And Gale doesn't seem like the kind of guy to own a piano solely because it can play itself. Maybe he is, he's clearly not at all bad off financially and he does have a bit of clutter around, but a whole piano? I just don't feel it. He seems like he'd want to be able to have at least some use for everything of significance in his tower. I have no doubt the man reads all his books, so he wouldn't have a piano just lying around collecting dust.

"Dyl it's the DND equivalent of owning a record player" ssshhh play along with me

Besides, he's already proven to be good with his hands. I mean, he's a wizard. And there are fewer more romantic instruments to play than a piano, and we all know Gale's very romantic. He may not compose his own music, maybe he improvs his music, but I'm sure he does play. And I'm sure he would play for his significant other on shared quiet nights.

[waltwhitmansbeard]

so i just read a post explaining why the op (and, according to the op, a lot of other people, even tho the post in question only had 32 notes, some of which were from people who disagreed with them) didn't like the cut to the crown keepers in last week's episode. while i'm totally on board with people not jibing with stuff that just doesn't work for them, i wanted offer some reasons why this seemingly hard pivot to people who are not the main characters of the story being told was a good decision to make (note good decision, not inherently the best decision, which i believe no one, including the dm, at a ttrpg table should ever be expected to make).

matt had an extremely powerful, extremely unexpected character decision dropped in his lap in the final moments of the previous episode. we don't know exactly how much time matt has between recordings, maybe a full week, maybe not, but either way, there's a very real chance that matt just did not have enough time to fully prepare a session to deal with fcg's death and what comes next.

sam now has to create a new character that a) is of a level with the rest of the party and b) makes narrative sense for him to be there. that takes time for both him and matt, and they might just need some space to work on that. when laudna died, marisha was willing to sit away from the table for several weeks because she knew that she wanted laudna to be resurrected, but sam may not want the same thing, and that's okay!

matt may want to fold the crown keepers into his main story, some or all of them—particularly dorian, whom both liam and the fans have been asking to return for a while now. dorian is clearly important to orym and the story that liam is trying to tell, and bringing the crown keepers in may be matt's way to do that.

matt—and dms generally—has always had to straddle a very fine line of making sure that his players are the main characters of their story who feel like their actions have real consequences and effects on the world, while also understanding that in reality, it doesn't make sense for half a dozen chucklefucks to have such an outsized effect on major cosmological goings-on like *checks notes* the potential release of a god-eater. this becomes especially true when you're on your third campaign set in the same world, and your players' previous ultra-powerful pcs are still around and definitely more adept and connected than their current pcs are. i, personally, think matt does a great job at walking that line, and one of the things he does that i appreciate is that he doesn't shy away from the fact that a) his players are powerful but not the most powerful and b) his players aren't the only one who care about what's going on in the world and who are taking actions to effect change. the current plotline re: ruidus is absolutely world-shaking and is causing all the divine girlies to cower in their demiplanes, so of course even the evil ones are going to be calling on their champions to help out. it makes more sense for opal to be involved (which, btw, matt has been hinting at for a while now) than not.

matt might need a fucking break! he's been doing this consistently for nine years now, and shit is complicated! handing over the reins to aabria for a week or two or three may be what he needs to not get burnt out.

dnd is an emotional game, and the entire cast might have been rocked hard by fcg's death. some space away for a week or two could help them process and regroup to get back into a story that is otherwise very stressful and action-packed.

or it's none of these! what do i know! i'm a random idiot on the internet! matt doesn't consult me on these matters! (though my dms are open if he wants to chat, i do have ideas)

i think it's tempting to think of the decisions made in and around critical role (or any ttrpg show) like those made for a television series, because the episodes are serialized and we love them so much. but this show is, first and foremost, a group of friends playing a game together, and not a carefully constructed narrative with the primary goal of entertaining an audience. the audience always has been and, frankly, always should be second to the wishes and fun of the people around that table. matt would not have asked aabria to step in and dm a crown keepers side arc if he didn't think it was a good decision for him and his players, and that priority is the correct one. we are being invited in to watch these friends have fun together, and that's a privilege that we're super lucky to have. as long as the cr story isn't doing things that are outright abusive or harmful to the cast or the audience, i don't think we should begrudge them the choices they make in the name of their own game.

again, it's okay if you're not vibing with the crown keepers! i didn't love the aeor arc of c2! not everything is for everyone! but i think accusing matt and the cast of narrative malfeasance is a bit much when, tbqh, they don't answer to us. they answer to each other.

[angiemaniac]

Hi Angie! I'm gonna be running my first real DnD session as DM soon. It'll be a small group, and everyone likes different things, but 1 of them is very familiar with your Durge companion comic. It's just a small campaign between friends, no recordings or money is involved in any way & I wanted to put in little Easter eggs for my players. Would you mind if I had Tavella make a small appearance? Not necessarily to interact w/them or fight, but as a background character in a market or something? :3

Perfectly fine! Have fun with your campaign btw!

[leidensygdom]

I promised I would update when Pathfinder 2e's new Humble Bundle was out- And that time is now! For around ~5$, you can get a few essentials, including the core book. They've got a really sweet deal for ~25$ too which includes quite a few books to work with!

One thing our DM really appreciates is how affordable is Pathfinder compared to DnD (which, well, helps when you can't justify shelling over a hundred bucks just on getting the three main books :'') )

So if you wanna give PF2e a try, it's a good time! (For the record, I'm just sharing this because someone asked me to do so once the Humble Bundle came out, I'm just excited to see people try out this system as we will be switching to it too quite soon!)