#but that’s not even really the point. villains DIE in dnd. that’s what they do

[mccoyquialisms]

wait, there’s for real, serious discourse about the bad kids killing the rat grinders? people realize they’re watching a show based on the “burn towns, get money, slaughter our enemies to save the day” game, right?

[vinxwatches]

the adventure's of puss in boots

1.1 9 years old, tv show, but not bad in animation quality (at least from the . definitely themes that the last wish touch on as well (of course that'll be the strongest point of comparison). love that the fight in episode 1 ends with a massive bluff "i can't defeat all of you, but i can defeat one. so which one of you will die?"

1.2 travel through different horrific lands. "yes, my friend, this is going to suck". the kingdom of darkness: just a dark screen a noises of people stumbling, and then doing it multiple times. the humour is spot on. that's a damn cool sphinx design, and telling us something about the character while not being overly obvious while in 3d show based on a movie? now that's surprising. sad that she's not in the next one, probably never to return, which makes the quality of design even more surprising.

1.3 you know, it takes some skill to make a funny "i hate my wife" joke, but they pulled it of. "i can never say no to a woman" "please pay your bar tab" "no" have i pointed out that this show nails the humour yet? puss vs ninja's? funny. but apparently not enough. puss vs teenage overly buff ninja pigs? now we're talking. also this show loves being dark in it's humour. how how the mean lady is apparently often crying. i wonder if that'll ever get depth, or is ever mentioned again instead of just being one dark joke.

1.4 "what's it like inside your head?" "wet and bloody".... i mean you're not wrong. at this point i'm just trying to convince people to watch the show because the humour is great. "it's not scary, it's just a bag stuffed with old dolls' heads" so many blink and you'll miss it jokes. why does dismemberment follow me everywhere? seriously what the fuck is up with that? why is it suddenly everywhere? at least it's clean and well cared for. this old guy be horny, in a kidshow. how is this a 2015 show? "you are crazy. but this is not new information" "nope". also recurring villain maybe?

1.5 standard episode: life here is too boring and an interesting old friend comes to steal the hero, but turns out to be a villain. will they play it straight (probably, he's designed as a villain), or will they do something more interesting. way too deep a thought for a short scene: so the orphanage is putting on a fake adventure, the costunes are brought out, and the buys very shortly argue over who gets to be a princess, until it's revealed that everyone who wants to can be a princess. here's what makes it so interesting: there is no joke outside of "the intrinsic funniness of buys wanting to be princesses". now while this could of course be setup for transphobic jokes later this honestly feels like it's just scene setting, just quaint town life, and the opposite of transphobic. i'm sure we won't see a trans character in this show (probably the closest being a queer coded villain) but this is nice. a simple message that everyone gets to be a princess if they want. again very cool monster design. like i want to steal this for my dnd game good. kind of a giant geko with a huge mouth and a lure like some fish have but with a fake pretty lady looking thing instead. my point of comparison is the kong-fu panda tv show which has the issue that it was extremely limited to always using the same assets. this show keeps bringing out amazing new designs every episode so far. also the message is damn strong. also neat that the standard plot was only really plot setup, it's never actually part of the plot, it never really comes into play. and for a boring plot now following up can be the best thing. the joke is that everyone wanted to be a princes. nothing about gender, just everyone wanted to be the same thing, nice. seriously, how come i never heard anything of this show? 2015. i'm pretty sure i watched some cartoons in 2015. did it never make it's way on dutch tv? i mean i've also never seen anyone talk about it online, something i think i'll have to correct at some point.

1.6 softpaws? nope, just a black cat. also the return of the sphinx which makes me happy. interesting that we get the more visually interesting sphinx sister first. so i've been watching a lot of TBSkyen and now want to kind of do a visual interpretation video like he often does on these two sisters. how the firsts inks and piercings make her read kind of Egyptian, alongside the naked cat stylings, while also indicating individuality and complexity, and how the lack of those in her sister suggests that she's simpler, which is true. one tells riddles, the other just tries to kill you. fuck why is this show so full of great dnd ideas. many magical fountains, each with different effects, like reverse gravity, talking backwards, and needing to say a word to undo it, which is hard with talking backwards, or induces fall damage after falling upwards for a while. fuck it, list time: fountain of invisible spiders, fountain of nausea, fountain of fire, fountain of itchy feet, just a regular fountain.

1.7 this serious continues to confuse me in a positive way in not making transphobic jokes. girly scream from the cowardly mayor? ok, that's prime setup right? sure, but they don't make the joke, it's just a scream that doesn't match the character design, but that's part of the general joke of the character: he's a coward who often hides in a barrel, but he's a huge buff dude who wouldn't even fit in the barrel. you get what i mean? puss doesn't burst in saying "i'll save you my lady" and then haha is a dude. he just bursts in to save someone. another standard plot: convince someone they are brave by pretending they defeat something, they they get overconfident and find real trouble and learn to reign it in or fully return to the status quo, wonder how they'll do it. damn, they did the getting too confident straight, but put enough good jokes in the scene to not make it awkward (hard to avoid), not to see if they can do the rest well. making Dulcinea (the female polite cat) do it because puss is too tired helps. "it's ok buddy, i'll read it to you" "you're a cute friend" subversion of expectation and cute as fuck, these are the joke i love. oh no, the man travels with a shadow over his face in spite of physics, he's definitely evil. surprisingly polite to those he thinks unwell though. and the standard plot continues. going with the "hopes and dreams dashed, but then shows bravery for reals". yep that's basically exactly what they did, with one funny in concept but sadly meh in execution fightscene. this isn't an episode you watch for the end, you watch for the jokes which are amazing.

1.8 human shrek is on the cover of the romance novel. blink and you'll miss it and i love it. oh no, puss ate xanathar's fish, and is now hunted by a Sinnamon smelling golem. this is so stupid in the best way. classic way for things to gain a soul too, it's neat. and damn does it make for a neat episode.

1.9 "let me gaze upon your golden booty" "i am uncomfortable" yes i'm still trying to get you to watch the show. oh a dust devil, neat. and that it's a demon is accurate to how people used to think about them (to my knowledge the origin of djinn). i think that was the first reuse of an asset i noticed (if you ignore the bandits): a sceptre that was broken in a previous episode. this is not a negative, just impressive that it took this long to use the same asset for a similar thing. also love that Dulcinea's arc so far is getting angry, but not like in a bad way.

1.10 excalibur? ok, this is an interesting take. generally not the angle of a reluctant hero (fun dnd PC backstory?). and the classic puss being pretty lost when he can't be the hero... starts to feel a bit overdone, but how many things can you do with him? also the animation touches are very nice. is this a story about cheating? because it sounds like a story about cheating, and with someone not getting over their ex. also this episode has some crazy good action. also this sword has a problem with asparagus.

1.11 uhm, that's not what sphynx looks like. where are her inks and piercings? did they accidentally use the wrong model? "well, technically medicine is the best medicine, but laughter is cheaper". wait what!? the cow barlady used to be an assassin?! also is this an episode about racism? like this could turn sour quickly. also what i think is clever but also semi noticeable is a cost cutting measure (honestly i've been noticing it for a while): if things don't move they aren't actually rendered in 3d, instead a single render is made of them and then it's a flat image that animation is rendered on top of. now this makes total sense to do: it's a lot less rendering so everything will be faster, which is a necessity if it's a tv show with tv show budget with 15 episodes. it allows for backgrounds that are relatively detailed unlike other 3d shows which are very often very plain. but if things look slightly off to you this may be why. damn, mature talk about wanting to do things but not doing it. this show is crazy. also damn that's one evil mouse. at least the sphynx petrified is the correct model.

1.12 that's just a god damn goblin. like literally called a goblin. and visually think dnd goblin... wild. also this is just about racism. mostly a pretty standard episode, but pusses unwavering belief is nice. and if a new person joins the cast that would make it even better.

1.13 earlier today episode? can always be fun. oh, Dulcinea gets to have puss' standard problem: feeling like he's no longer needed, and thus no longer him, thus problem. "i'll even write all of the stories myself. i will use all of the words. so many words!" and suddenly puss is talking like fucking trump. when puss thinks Dulcinea may be in legal troubles he'll immediately start helping her out, because pull aint no snitch lol. well now this episode conflicts with the last wish. Puss being against wishing stars here but going after it then? well, there is of course desperation

1.14 mother Mary the cat? so it'll be a puss' pride episode. the episode didn't have any big fightscenes, so instead the focus was put on the final dance. odd, but really fun.

1.15 a curse of bad luck turning puss into a black cat, that's just neat. wild that i had nothing more to say about it despite it being the last episode of season 1. oh well, on to season 2 i guess.

[creamsiclesquid]

Even the most well trained dog can turn when the muzzle is off and the leash is gone.

okay he's got backstory now under cut

i'd really like to plan a DnD game where he's the villain turned-not-ally whatarewe . jpg

but basically in whatever setting, the church has some sort of force that deals with dangers in secret and without remorse or mercy. They basically are just trained dolls, acting things, and they have no souls in their bodies so they just. don't have any kind of conscious about the murderous thing they do for the church and crown.

So this guy here who i still have to name died as a child and then ressurected, like most of the people, and then trained from childhood, this little working machine, this puppet.

And then he cut his strings. Something happened. He snapped. He realized what was taken from him. His life, his rest, whatever happens beyond.

He doesn't care about his soul, he doesn't care about how many lives he has to take, how many bridges he burns.

He only solely cares about revenge against the one who raised him (from the dead and as a tool). No remorse, only revenge.

Because there's no soul in his body, just some spell tying him here, he probably can't die and his body heals itself and regenerates. I imagine that his life is connected to the person that cast the spell to raise him -- and the only way he truly dies is if they do too. Which sounds like a win-win for him.

Bonus points if over the course of the story he starts getting little bits of his soul back by accident through some outwardly force and he starts feeling again and then he's double down resolved to end it because he doesn't want to feel. Any 'good dead' he does he waves of as just a calculated 'you can help me if you're dead' 'saving that child will get us on the good side of the village and they'll give us information' 'if I do this thing you're more willing to help me'.

Real villain that was doomed to never be a hero vibes.

[eddiemunsonssoulmate]

I just got some bad news (my beloved DND campaign gets cancelled because some other players don't invest enough time and constantly miss sessions), so I could really need some positive thoughts right now.

So could you please write the essay about why killing Eddie would be bad writing? I need the hope, that while losing my DND campaign I at least don't lose my favorite DND nerd...

(btw I agree with everyone else, your stories are great and I love how you write Eddie!)

That’s a horrible thing, I’m so sorry! Loosing a D&D group always sucks, happene to me too many times. So in this case, your wish is my command~

101 on why Eddie isn’t dying and if he does, why I’m suing the Duffers for bad life choices and burn the Netflix HQ.

I'm sorry for any typos in there but it's past 11pm and I'm tired

Maybe teeny tiny spoilers ahead but actually not really because it's 99,9% me trying to make him survive.

Let’s start with the bad things but I promise it gets better!

The foreshadowing for his death is huge. “Outside of D&D, I’m no hero.” and “I did what I do best, I ran.” and “There is no shame in running.” 

Him coming in as a new, beloved character and we all know what the Duffers do with them

The trailer scene in the Upside Down where he plays guitar to distract the Demobats

No one knows how he gets out of being hunted by the whole town

Overall it feels like they’re setting him up to be a martyr, dying a hero’s death in Volume 2 and being, once again, another sacrificial lamb for the show.

That’s exactly where my problem already starts.

Been there, done that. Barb? Sacrificial lamb. Bob? Sacrificial lamb. Billy? Sacrificial lamb, little longer buildup than the others at least. Alexei? Sacrificial lamb. See where this is going? I’m tired of the sacrificial lamb trope. “Oh, it’s a new season and we need another death but we’re not going to kill anyone from the actual main cast, let’s throw in more sacrificial lambs.” It gets boring. Predictable. They talked about Season 4 as having “high stakes” and being “gut wrenching''. For me, high stakes are not writing in a new character only to kill him off as a sacrificial lamb later on. That’s pure laziness.

What’s the difference between all those others and Eddie? Barb? Only in season one, died quite fast. Bob? Older and only Joyce’s boyfriend when we all knew she and Hopper would end up together. Billy? Villain coded. Alexei? Just a cute russian with no real relevance. Edide on the other hand fits perfectly in the established group. He’d be the 5th young adult, making the kids and young adults the same amount of people. Which also brings me to my next point

He fits in. He is similar to Max and Robin joining the main group, fitting right in there. Something those other death’s didn’t have. Gaten even compared Eddie’s introduction to Max and Robin, so that gives me a little extra hope.

The season is about finding your confidence. What kind of message is that if Eddie finds the confidence to be a hero only to die two seconds later? Right, it would basically say “Hey, don’t find your confidence, it has bad consequences.” Leaves a really bad taste in my mouth if you ask me.

Joseph wants to come back and hinted multiple times at Eddie’s return. Of course he might just be teasing but ya know it gives me hope. “Oh, yeah, I think so. I can’t see why not. I’d be furious if they’re not bringing me back.” Is the first quote from him. Means to me, they could totally bring him back because he’s not dead and it wouldn’t make sense to not bring him back in S5. For the second I don’t have the actual quote but it was about Eddie and Jonathan meeting in S5 and Joseph was like “We’re pushing for it in Season 5” or something like that. Would be a weird thing to say if he wouldn’t have the possibility to come back, right?

One thing most people don’t know about is that the Duffers took inspiration for Eddie from Damien Echols, a member of the West Memphis Three. He was accused of murdering three kids but was later on proven innocent.

The trailer scene still has me concerned, not going to lie, but given that Dustin is with him, I can see them fleeing into the trailer and finding shelter from the Demobats in there, giving the others just enough time to get into Vecna’s lair.

Joseph did a fantastic job with Eddie and that’s not really a reason to not kill Eddie but I just wanted to mention it here.

They have also been hyping Eddie up before the season started, he’s included into the main poster right in the middle of the main group and tbh, it would be a really really wasted character if they’d just kill him off.

I might be reaching because I need a lifeline here. I might be thinking too much, I might try to turn it all positive but just thinking about his death rubs me the wrong way because at this point, none of us would be surprised if he really would die. We’d be devastated and sad for sure but not surprised because that’s just how the Duffers did it in the past. And that’s why I, as a writer myself, would just not do it this time.

They’re building up for a final season, a big war coming to Hawkins. The stakes have to be higher than a sacrificial lamb.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk called “Eddie’s death would be my 13th reason”, thank you for staying, hope you have a nice day.

(Also thank you very much <3)

[writerfae]

Yes, please tell me more about your story! What do you mean about frozen 2 lining up with Henry and Aiden? I've seen the beginning of Frozen 2, but never finished it, so I'm curious about this.

As for me, I have a new-ish WIP that I've described as "Six of Crows meets a DnD campaign", and I'm really excited about it, hoping that I can get it somewhat put together and actually go somewhere with it.

~Morri🗡 (@memento-morri-writes)

@memento-morri-writes

Hello there :D I’m sorry for the belated reply, I was suddenly too tired to write coherent sentences yesterday 🙈

Well my Frozen 2 parallel is less of a plot thing but rather the sibling dynamic of Anna and Elsa somewhat matching with that of Aiden and Henry. Which is due to the fact that Elsa and Henry do have similarities, in a way. Which shows in both Frozen movies, btw.

Both Elsa and Henry are the eldest child who want to protect their younger sibling by hiding their true identity from them (which kinda backfires in both cases if we’re honest).

While Henry doesn’t have a strong magic like Elsa does, his secret is that he’s a fae (which means he kind of has magic but let’s ignore that for a second). Henry also doesn’t isolate himself from Aiden completely, but one day he leaves him alone still by going to the faerie realm.

But both are very unhappy with their situation and finally escape it, but not without having to leave behind their siblings. Who are both stubborn and trying to get their older sibling back.

I always joke that Into the unknown is the perfect song for Henry, because after his mother dies all he really wants is to go and find a place he belongs to and hopefully an answer to his questions.

And maybe the song really does fit perfectly, because I think it really shows all that restlessness and longing both characters have. I’m not gonna overanalyze frozen 2, but the search for your true self is a strong theme there I think and that just fits with Henry as well.

And Aiden would go the same length for his brother that Anna goes for her sister. He’s someone who just wants to be loved and to be happy and he hates that his own brother has secrets he keeps from him. Aiden is braver than most others, but he’s not aware of it, instead he’s looking for his brother’s guidance.

And I’m having a hard time to explain it, but this unconditional yet complicated relationship between siblings is portrayed in the movie and bits of it you can find in my story as well. It’s the dynamic of the dreamer and the wild one that reminds me of my boys too.

I feel like I did a bad job explaining this, I’m sorry 🙈

But since we’re already at the topic of Henry and Aiden and you asked to know some more about my story I offer you three cute brother facts and one (tiny) spoiler! To make up for it

Three facts:

Aiden doesn’t know that his brother is a fae. But when he was still little, so little he can’t remember it anymore, Henry would use small magic tricks to entertain his baby brother

the two were taught a lullaby by their mother and whenever one of them was feeling down they would (cuddle up and) sing it together as kids. Both still sing the song to themselves when they need to calm their nerves and both think of the other when they do

Henry has that special ability to calm his own heartbeat and calm others through that and when Aiden was a baby Henry used it to rock him to sleep whenever he woke up upset so that he wouldn’t wake their parents

Aaannd a spoiler:

I recently made the decision that the villains will offer Aiden to join them and save his own life by sacrificing his brother (they had a fight and Morena knows that), but though he’s mad and disappointed in Henry at this point of course he refuses. Even more so, since he knows then that one of them has to die, he decides that that person will be him.

Oh and that wip of yours sounds very exciting! Right up my alley! I’d definitely love to know more if you ever feel like talking about it ^^ I wish you all the best for working on it!

Thanks for your ask :)

[radnewworld]

I am a firm believer in fuel points as a game mechanic. Huge fan, can’t get enough of ‘em. Every character in a tabletop RPG should have them.

In RAD New World, they’re called Energy Points, but you might also know them in other systems as mana, spell points, ki, fatigue, power, or something even more esoteric. They’re the points your character can spend to do stuff (activate abilities, react to outside action, reroll dice, empower other abilities, or what-have-you) and that come back after a rest or food or simply elasped time.

What’s so great about them, you might ask if you were feeling particularly cooperative with this ramble’s structure? Aren’t they just another resource to monitor, like money or HP, just on a day-by-day scale? On a surface level analysis, sure, but they represent something much more intrinsic to a game’s fun: they are choice. It’ll certainly vary from system to system, but the very best points are the ones that enable abilities that you’ll want to use at least once or twice per encounter but are also sparse enough that you’ll also not want to spend them all at once for fear of not having them in a critical moment before they restore; that quick mental calculation keeps the points present in your decision making process, and friends, that is fun. Making moment to moment decisions in TTRPGs is fun.

And if you really want to harvest happy developer tears from my eyes, make sure the points can be used for more than one function.

Because I’ve got a big enough ego to think my system really is the best, I’ll put RAD New World’s Energy Points as an example of excellent point design. A typical low-level character will have between three and six Energy Points to spend during an adventuring day, with each point either powering a mutation, activating an ability, or allowing you to reroll a failed skill or attack roll. They’re universal to all player characters, creatures, and NPCs, and many, many powers rely on them for fuel, so very few encounters (whether combat, social, or exploration) will conclude without EP being spent... And there are also a sparse few powers that deplete Energy Points from targets. The absolutely most hate-filled, dirty looks players have fired at me have been in response to their character’s EP being attacked instead of HP. They hate it, because they know that whatever hazard is depleting their Energy Points is taking choice away from them and it forces the aforementioned moment-to-moment calculations to change... But even if they hate it when it happens, it’s the sort of hate that gets reserved for everyone’s favorite villains or RPG stories. It’s a special sort of challenge that has to be used in moderation.

My own horn being sufficiently tooted, here are some of the best designed point systems I’ve encountered. 1. Basically everything you do in Cypher System games is about spending your character’s three different point pools to make tasks easier. 2. DnD 5e has Sorcery Points for sorcerers, the battlemaster’s Superiority Die, and monk’s Ki Points, all of which are multi-use and impactful when spent (unless you whiff), but they only get half a tear since they’re basically limited to combat situations. 3. FATE points have a special place in my heart because they not only allow you to increase your odds of success, but also allow you to add or take away elements from the encounter’s narrative as well!

[hobgoblinsandpeachfuzz]

Dnd character ask: bc I’m rewatching the Hobbit these days, how do you think your characters would fare in Middle Earth ? Where would they live if they got to settle down there ? Do you think they’d join Thorin’s company, or the Fellowship, both, or neither? And who would they get along with ?

Ooooo, wonderful question! I'll try and cover all my recent characters!

Lord Mayor August Bane: I think that he would fare somewhat tragically. As a wizard I think there's particular lore for them in Middle Earth, and he begins dabbling in what I'm sure is quite evil arts in Middle Earth. As he's a good hearted guy underneath it all, I think he'd definitely join either company that needed his help, but I feel like their fellowship as it were would not be destined to last long. I imagine he'd have somewhat of a sad Boromir-esque end, for his hubris.

Sophie Sanscullottes: I think in terms of grumpiness, Thorin's company is where they'd fit right in with. She would likely work or help with whoever either a) Hired her, or b) Made her feel bad enough for not helping. Aragorn and Thorin in particular has the sort of vibe that could easily sway them into working for free. In the end, I definitely think she'd end up getting along with them for sure, and probably would get along best with Samwise and the commonfolk that they meet. They'd fare alright in Middle Earth, though maybe living more of an eccentric alchemist life than they do in their canon existence.

Cadfael: As the villain that he is, obviously I think at some point he'd have to get defeated. But I think he's a little more uh... Personable than the villains I recall from Middle Earth. So maybe he'd get on the other villains' nerves and they'd kill for that. xD But as a bounty hunter, and a demon, I think he'd LOVE hunting those hobbits headed for Isengard.

Morcant: Middle Earth and Morcant I think make the most sense together. All the human drama of Middle Earth fits very in line with Morcant's backstory, and his character arc is very Lord of the Rings already, although perhaps he's a little worse of a guy to really have earned a redemption by Middle Earth rules, he's working on it. Transplanting any of them from DND to Middle Earth, I think Morcant fits the best of them all, and whichever Fellowship member showed him even the like slightest bit of kindness would have his heart and loyalty forever (perhaps more than they would bargain for).

Sydney A'Daragon: Sydney is new and I'm still figuring her out a bit, but I feel like she, similarly to Morcant, can transplant the easiest into Middle Earth, in terms of like. Being a classic Lord of the Rings type personality and story arc. She's a hero through and through, even with her baggage, and I think would especially get along with the Fellowship and the Hobbits, and would die for any of them.

[dailyadventureprompts]

Drafting the Adventure: Lessons Learned

I love stories that focus on people developing new skills, partially because I as a creative I pride myself on constantly improving my craft, partially because there’s so much potential in a story about learning and how it relates to the evolution of the character’s arc:   A character puts their heart and soul into something they SHOULD be good at but falls short because they just don’t muster up, only to figure out a way to succeed that’s uniquely theirs. A pair of characters grow closer as they exchange skills that will keep the other alive. An uptight and pillaged character gets their hands dirty for once and learns that they actually like doing something constructive. 

All these and a thousand more arcs form the foundation of some of the world’s best stories, providing meaningful development of both conflict and themes without forcing the stakes to climb ever higher. The hero learning some essential skill can be just as cathartic as the defeat of a hated villain, while curbing the need to constantly introduce new external hazards to keep the audience engaged. 

Color me disappointed then when I realized that d&d’s mechanics for learning new proficiencies are laughably bad, relegated to a downtime activity that much like crafting can only really be done off screen and requires months of time away from actually adventuring to perform. I didn’t want to run my games that way, so below the cut I’m going to link to possibly the best “learning” system I’ve seen in a d20 format,  then explain why you should let your party start gathering new proficiencies and other abilities even if it breaks the traditional paradigm of “leveling up”

The System: created by https://dumpstatadventures.com/ (good stuff, go check them out), features a mechanic that matches what you’re trying to learn with a particular ability score, then assigns you a die based on your bonus in that score. Every time you roll a 1 on that die, you decrease the size of the die, until eventually you learn the thing you want to learn after rolling a 1 on a d4. Each of these training sessions takes 4 hours, which is a perfectly manageable amount of time for adventurers to fit into their routine, making it instantly better than a lot of the other systems I’ve seen that require a student to potentially take months off in order to pick something up. 

Doesn’t this break the game?: While it’s true that having more profficencies does make a character more powerful, I want to point out that dnd is a game about telling stories, not mathmatical perfection. There are plenty of things in the game already that break the “Power curve”, and I can promise you letting a character pick up a new hobby or the ability to speak sign language isn’t going to fundamentally break the underlying math of the game. 

Effort should be rewarded, and systems like this allow you to reward your players’ effort in a tangible way, making their character feel unique compared to others of a comparable level. Likewise, this customization creates whole new forms of emergent storytelling, as the characters decide which skills they’d like to peruse: 

The wizard teaches everyone a dead language so they can communicate in code

A party signs on with a vessel to earn their sea legs (read: water vehicle proficiency) before crewing a vessel of their own

Characters can learn specific skills not commonly available, such as law or mercantilism, to better fit with their character concept. 

The return of exotic weapons! Now rather than requiring a feat to utilize a chakram or kursuri-gama, the fighter need only put in the requisite training hours. 

A character loses a limb and must grow used to the prosthetic, practicing and practicing until the replacement becomes second nature. 

In addition to learning new profficencies, I think this system works great for characters improving their already existing capabilities, especially as tips and tricks handed down from mentor characters and skillful rivals. Mete these out as you see fit. 

Skill expertise: It WOULD break the game if players doubled their proficiency on every skill check, but there’s no reason that a character can’t put their mind towards being the very best at something. I’d tie this training into quest, really digging into WHY they want to be the best and what motivates their passion.  

Alternate class features: players arn’t always going to read through the optional content documents ( or all that delightful 3rd party material) so having them taught these tricks and modifications by fellow casters lets you introduce the option without overwhelming a character with choices. 

Boons: given that the dmg is very rare on how often your’e supposed to give these out, letting platers work for these powerful mini-feats provides a steady means of doing so. 

Feats: give some love to little selected feats by offering a player the ability to train in a SPECIFIC one ( learning gourmand from a master cook, learning an ancestral feat from an elder of their community) that might interest them, but they’d pass over because it wouldn’t always be useful.  

Unlocking the powers of an artifact, beyond an identify spell. 

Proficiency dice: there’s a variant rule that rather than adding a flat bonus based on your proficiency, you can roll a die, size determined by what that your proficiency bonus would be ( d4 for +2, d6 for +3 and so on). This might slow down gameplay if it was for every roll, but consider letting a character train to “surpass their limits”, granting the ability to replace their proficiency bonus for a die during one roll or save at the cost of a hitdie. This would let them use their healing pool in a whole new way, as well as provide a great moment of achievement for a character that’s surpassed their individual limits. 

[bakurapika]

and now i’m copy/pasting my discord liveblogging below

i love how the yugioh manga goes like this:

yugioh: the fucked up horror anthology yugioh duelist: card games yugioh millennium world: the fucked up egypt part

so when i look up "yugioh manga" it sends me to the horror shit. which is exactly what i want. i love that they don't assume i want the card games. how many people have accidentally seen yami set a guy on fire because of this

man i forgot how straightforward this is

[Image description: Yami Yugi points to the viewer as Bakura glares. Yugi says “Too bad for you... Bakura! If you can cheat... I can too!” End description]

godddd this manga fucking slaps. this is the best shit i've ever read. i'm not even reading it, just skimming for reference pics, and i still have to stop and show you all. takahashi really said this rpg nerd is going to be my final big bad. he was so fucking horny for ttrpgs that he said, "hi entire fanbase who follows me for my card games. i'll show you some 'card games' but ACTUALLY the final battle in yugioh will be a tabletop roleplaying game in which the rpg characters are the ones playing card games. fuck you and long live dungeons and dragons"

[Image description: A page where Bakura takes out a case of gaming miniatures, thinking about how he has sealed stolen souls into them. End description]

fucking sobbing. bakura is the worst dm. he fundamentally misunderstands the point of rpgs and then bases his entire character around it. and then he does a tpk so like, okay, good job on being an evil guy who is bad at dming. AND THEN, my MAN who is AT LEAST 3000 YEARS OLD, arguably a fucking god of darkness, goes, "i recognize my limitations and will calculate the damage with a 1998 laptop" because yes this was published in 1998. bakura was on the cutting edge of dungeons and dragons tech. because HE NEEDED THE COMPUTER TO CHECK HIS MATH FOR ROCKS FALL EVERYONE DIES

[Image description: A page of Bakura discovering that all players still have one hit point. He says in his narrator-voice, “Well, it’s probably pointless, but... I’ll calculate each character’s status on the computer. There are so many variables in this game, it’s safest to let the computer crunch all the data. (typing noises) I’ll input the data on Zorc’s attack power, the die roll, the characters’ defense, hit points, damage... The end result will be the number of hit points each character has remaining! Well, no matter what, it’ll be less than zero... Hm... WHAT?!!” End description]

and yes OBVIOUSLY the computer was tampered with. but that doesn't jgdfnjfjndfg fucking matter. bakura is bound to the calculations of this fucking dnd computer

but you know what? if i lived through 3000 years of inflation and then spent that kind of money? yeah i'd do the same thing

my goddamn meow meow. best villain of all time. 😭  i love him. he is so fucking stupid

yami yugi, also 3000 years old, also fucking stupid: "this doesn't seem right but I don't know enough about computers to dispute it"

[Image description: Bakura shoves his laptop away from his left hand, apparently saying aloud, “If I do this... and place the computer where my left hand can’t reach, you’re powerless!! H-ha ha ha ha...” Yami Yugi watches in confusion, commenting about Bakura’s reaction when looking at the computer. End description.]

god you know what? fuck doing art. im just gonna read this arc and you all are going to listen

i've been thinking "this is a different translation than I grew up with" and considering the fact that "Satanist" is on this list. yeah. yeah

[Image description: Bakura displays a list of RPG classes, including Satanist. End description]

[Image description: A screencap displaying the large text “ZORK ZONE.” A screencap showing HP for various monsters, including Zork, which specifies “Needs to be placed in the Zork Zone.” End description]

places you in the Zork Zone

[strangertheories]

STRANGER THINGS SEASON 4 SPOILERS!

Vecna's role in S4

On request from @rockandrollbyler

In the upcoming season of Stranger Things, we will be introduced to our new big bad; Vecna. Vecna, like the previous monsters, is inspired by its DnD counterpart but also Pennywise, Freddy Krueger and Pinhead. Using the evidence provided through interviews, trailer clips and the new spoiler full monopoly game, I'll be aiming to theorise Vecna's powers, their motivation and try to debunk some popular Vecna myths. I'll also be talking about how this will impact characters like Max Mayfield and Victor Creel.

But first of all, who is Vecna? In DnD, Vecna is an undead God. He is loves collecting secrets so he can use them to manipulate people. He believes that the true key to taking over realms isn't entirely through violence but through these secrets. Unlike other villains, he is highly intelligent and calculated. Vecna used to be a human but ascended to godhood after dying, leaving behind only one of his eyes and his left hand. Stranger Things will obviously make liberties in this description as they have done with previous DnD characters, but I believe the main points still stand; Vecna is intelligent and unlike other villains will use psychological manipulation to bring down our (vulnerable and traumatized) characters. Like in DnD, Vecna will be an ex-human although it seems like he started off with good intentions but was warped by the Upside Down. Some people believe Vecna is '001', meaning they were experimented on like Eleven and Kali but got trapped in the Upside Down which sounds cool, but might be a bit of a plot hole since it seemed like Hawkins National Lab wasn't aware of the Upside Down before Eleven. They could still do that, but I don't know if they would as they'd have to explain some stuff away.

So what will his powers be? I don't doubt Vecna will be highly physically powered, but what really makes him special is his dream warfare, his possession powers and his ability to open portals. First of all, his psychological powers. Vecna will be able to force people to re-experience traumatic events in the form of a trance or nightmare, such as forcing Max to experience the events at Hawkins mall. It is clear where the Pennywise influence comes in here as he used to feed off of people's imagination and fear. However, I think they are especially close to Freddy Krueger because I think if they die in the trance they will also die in real life as evidenced by the monopoly cards. This is like their DnD role of using secrets and fears to manipulate, but also serves as an interesting plot device to explore our traumatized characters.

Next up, possession. There's a lot less proof for this theory but I think it would make sense. I believe Vecna himself was possessed in a sort but not by an actual creature but more by the Upside Down warping him. Victor Creel snapped and killed his family members after seeing an odd clock. In DnD, if you take one of Vecna's possessions, it corrupts you so I think that somehow seeing this clock means Vecna can infiltrate your mind and control you. This could manifest as literal possession or internal psychological warfare which could explain why Creel had to go to a mental asylum after killing his family. We already know they can control the demobats and their DnD counterpart uses secrets to control people. I think this would make sense, especially considering that the Duffer brothers said that the Upside Down was psychologically leaking out and they also mentioned how seeing the clock is a really bad sign. If this is true, then Max is in even more danger than we thought. Could she be possessed when she's floating?

Finally, portal opening. In the promotional material, we have seen the portals repeatedly showing up. At the end of every path in the individual posters, there was a portal. In the trailer, there was a frame of several portals. And biggest of all, in the poster with all four groups walking down a path, it is leading to a portal in the shape of Vecna's eye. I believe that this season Vecna will be opening portals near the characters we know and love. Not only is this foreshadowed with every location having a portal in it, but in the monopoly rules booklet it says that you need to stop Vecna from opening portals. It says 'Vecna is opening Gates to the Upside Down in Hawkins and beyond!' meaning I believe the Upside Down will come to the characters and not the other way around.

Now we've established some of Vecna's powers, what are his motivations? I think Vecna's motivation is quite simple; power. But apart from wanting power, as mentioned earlier, he wants secrets in order to blackmail and manipulate people into doing his bidding. I believe that by the start of the season he will have taken over the Upside Down but was not content with only ruling over one domain especially since there are no humans to psychologically manipulate meaning now he is going to start targeting our world, essentially using Creel as a kind of trial.

But before, I finish this post, I want to debunk a few theories. Firstly, is Victor Creel Vecna? I think all signs point to him being manipulated or possessed instead of the big bad himself. What I believe happened to him was that after finding the clock, he got corrupted by Vecna and then killed his family under this negative possession. However it is of note that Vecna went into the Upside Down in the 1960s which is when Creel snapped so whilst I don't believe in this theory, it is possible. As well as this, I highly doubt Brenner is Vecna as well as if he is in the Upside Down then he has only been there for 3 years and his crew tried to kill the demogorgon so if he was from the Upside Down then that would be an odd move.

TLDR: Vecna is a highly intelligent villain who will use a mixture of traumatic dreams, possession and portals to take over our realm and take down the cast.

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

High Guardian Spice Redo

 I know Crunchyroll’s new series High Guardian Spice has gotten…less than favourable reviews and criticism with some people even rewriting some scenes or redesigning the characters. Thought I might give it a try. 

     Make the show a magic fantasy genre/hero anime deconstruction/satire. If it’s for mature audiences might be better to have the show point out the flaws of their world, even child shows have done deconstructions well. Have the whole magic hero fantasy be shattered for the main characters and see the dark reality of it. People die, lives are at stake, u could die on TRAINING PRACTICE! It can also be played for dark comedy, for a mature humour. Maybe someone dies and the teacher could be like “wow, that happened sooner than expected”. Maybe it could come off like an abridged anime.

 Sword Art Online Abridged by Something Witty Entertainment is one of the funniest abridged series in my opinion and many have considered it better than the original itself. I also like Tomotasauce’s abridged work with Amphibia and The Owl House. U can find them on YouTube, they’re hilarious🤣 The theme song, credits and soundtrack be mixed with more modern music such as techno and rock. Like Aggretsuko. More mature content and humour. I don’t really swear or do mature content things like that and a mature show doesn’t necessarily need it or should rely too much on shock humour like that but if this is for mature audiences, should have more mature content. Plus a lot of abridged series and satire tend to do this.

Make the show more animesque. I don’t think it’s bad to mix Western and anime style together but perhaps should be more anime styled. Western could work too. Depends on how you draw the style really rather than the style itself.

A Guardian is basically someone apart of a hero agency. An organization of heroes and trained fighters who help take care of things such as monster attacks or evil villains. Their biggest threat yet is the mysterious and elusive "Trimuvirate" and their many minions of evil. A running gag could be the cast and more being confused of what being a "Guardian" means. Most Guardians come in groups. There could also be corruption and flawed things the Guardian organization has. Seriously the cast are young teens, even younger. Apparently Parnell is 10…A TEN YR OLD IN A SCHOOL WHERE YOU COULD DIE, WHAT THE-. Good deconstruction potential on hero academies encouraging children into dangerous crap. Also instead of the students being chosen, you can enroll by choice but you might also get an offer, if shown to have potential, like a college offer. Set the world in a more modern fantasy setting. Would portray new magic/modern themes better and in previous stuff, shown the show having more modern things such as business buildings and street lights.

The Academy to put students of different classes such as warrior and mage together, D&D together for better defense and power.

Perhaps another running gag could be confusion of the whole show in general, like breaking the fourth wall. Is it an anime, kids show, DND, action hero, No one fully knows. And netheir does the cast. Could be more up to interpretation. Shows can have multiple themes.

Old and New Magic. Old magic is traditional, mystical magic like with potions, rituals etc while new magic is simpler and more technological. Basically old magic is just traditional way of doing things before, technology. People use new magic now a days for most things such as electricity, internet, and even weapon fire power and lost interest in old magic. But new magic was built from old magic and can still be used for a lot of things, such as healing, cooking and combat too, can also represent old and new ideals.  There’s a lot of heated arguments and debates over which is better. Sage and Amaryllis have had these and still do in the rewrite. Both have their pros and cons.

Old magic takes more time and practice but because of said time and work put into it, easier to control and allows you to do more complex and powerful spells. Also connected to nature and the elements

While new magic is magic that’s stored and can be stored into terraspheres and other technological devices and systems. It’s easier to use and apply to things but far more unpredictable and if not careful can cause serious damage. Also can’t be used to perform ancient spells, done with old magic. 

Together, they’re nearly unstoppable. It’s difficult for one to use both old and new magic together . Only some of the most experienced and powerful magic users can do this. Think of it like environmental energy like solar powered machines and wind mills.

It’d also be fun for the show to reflect on fantasy/hero cliches and stereotypes like the whole Mary Sue magical girl savior. Maybe Rosemary had fantasies like that and has them all  basically destroyed first day at the academy. Like The Owl House style with Luz’s magic fantasy dreams. Perhaps she even tries to do a grand, iconic character introduction or internal anime monologue only to get hit by something or attacked while in the midst.

Change the name. Many people have pointed out that even though Spice is in the name, the main 4 girls are named after HERBS! I’m thinking instead of just a spice or herb, maybe it could be called “Sweet High Guardian”. Ngl when I saw the show and named it made me think of dessert and food. Maybe the girls and other characters could be named after ingredients or even food. Could have a food/dessert theme. 

     A lot of people have been criticizing the main girls looks, especially Sage’s for being too bland and cliche. Maybe mix the traditional D&D look with some modern fashion elements.

Snapdragon's identity journey. Not that I have anything against trans characters but many people have discussed about the unfortunate implications the show made, with them implying that a guy liking traditionally feminine things mean he’s automatically trans and the whole “all men are bad” controversy in general. So perhaps Snap could be still a guy but enjoys traditionally feminine things and effeminate and learn that’s perfectly ok and doesn’t make you any less of a man like vice versa for a girl liking traditionally masculine things. There’s also the idea of Snap not really feeling like either and exploring that, like being non binary or gender fluid. The trans journey really could work too. There's really no bad ideas, just bad execution. I'm not an expert on this kind of stuff but it seems to be an issue of how the message was delivered.

 The villains, Olive, Mandrake, Triumvirate to appear sooner. 

Have characters like Aster and Cal have sympathetic, relatable traits. For Aster maybe he came from a traditional knight saves damsel in distress family and tries to be that but learns the problems with that mindset. And Cal maybe a jerk with a heart of gold. Either way, just have some more positive masculine characters.

Beach episode. Guess the mermaid ep kinda counts.

Prom or fun event dance episode. Similar to the Halloween one.

Character tropes deconstruction. Since it's satire in my version and deconstructing the whole fantasy hero stuff, makes sense to break down the character cliches too. Like Ex. Rosemary trying to be some MarySue knight in shining armor magical girl, falls flat on her face, trying to fit the ideals like being brave and charming end up with her being reckless and even annoying. People criticize how the writers are trying to make Rose be a plucky wide eyed hero only for her to come off annoying, so maybe that could be played for straight. It's suppose to be the opposite effect. And with the show having a vague concept and Rose trying to be so many things could be her trying too hard to compesnate to be like her mother and not fully knowing what she really wants or what she's getting into. The message for her arc could be learning that she shouldn't be trying to be like her mother or some Mary Sue magical warrior or whatever, but rather just be herself. 

What do u guys think? Any ideas u want to share? Feel free to add💖

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

So... I have a lot of thoughts on the finale. I've deliberately kept my mouth shut, more or less, on the campaign overall because I'm a firm believer that you can't pass judgement -- at least not complete judgement -- on stories until they're over and done with.

Well, it's done! Kind of crazy. I've been watching Critical Role with almost insane consistency, viewing almost every single episode live, with maybe five-ish exceptions, since episode 19, and I've been blogging it for, what, two and a half years?

It's a weird feeling. It's been such a constant thing for me that I'm always gonna have love for it and remember with a lot of fondness.

...Which is in spite of the fact that I can now comfortably say I'm pretty eh on the ending. I know not being positive about something most of us have loved a lot for a very long time can sting a bit, but I personally think it also stings when people relentlessly crow over how good they think it is or want it to be, to the point where you feel you can't voice your absolutely valid upsets or dissatisfactions. So, here goes, if anyone's interested! I'd be curious to see other opinions, too!

I actually drafted a post talking about my overall frustrations with the campaign a whole two weeks ago, and then scrapped most of it when 140 blew me out of the water. I was really touched, and really happy. I hadn't expected it, but it shockingly felt right, you know?

Unfortunately 141 robbed me of most of that satisfaction and brought me right back to neutral.

The blanket statement you have to make, of course, is that you can’t criticise this as a DnD game, and you can’t be mad at the cast for playing it in a way they think is best for them. They’re the players, Matt’s the DM, and in the end it makes no sense for them to try to make themselves act how they think the audience wants them to, and I’m sure most of the audience wouldn’t like the result anyway.

That said, there is an audience. And that’s where I see this clash coming in. As a DnD game, as long as the players and DM have all enjoyed it and been satisfied, it’s a successful game! But for us, it’s not a DnD game. For us, we’re watching a story be written in real time through the medium of an RPG. And while as a DnD game you can’t fault it, as a piece of media, I completely get why the way things have gone has sat weirdly for a lot of people.

It's not satisfying to see so many character hooks dealt with so quickly or left as an offscreen "and then you do it." If they don't want to keep playing to dive into it, absolutely, but for us who have been watching this as a story with all these character elements get so built up, it's a huge anti-climax.

Which is a lot of what this campaign has been, really.

Oh, Nott’s cursed! But through a really cool character moment that problem is completely taken care of with no consequences we see. Yay, I want her to be Veth and that was an iconic move from Jester! Still, it kind of feels like this was built up to be a big problem and at the first success it was let go... Caleb's got a really intense frightening past he tries to hide, I wonder how the Mighty Nein will respond? Oh, they found out, but it's not a difficult revelation for anyone. Looks like it's easy for them to move past it and forgive. Yeah, that's healthiest for the characters, but huh, kinda undercuts it as a storyline or point of interest. Oooh, Avantika’s back! Ah, they’ve killed her and grabbed the eye again. I mean I don’t want them to die or for Uk’otoa to be free, but I’m starting to feel like that’s not much of a threat anyway. The Traveler’s been kidnapped! Nah he hasn’t, he tried to save Jester so he was let go with no further issue, and also he wasn’t actually in any danger anyway. Oh... Cool. So... Why should I care or be worried?

And these are just the biggest ones I remember being kind of let down by. I wanted to see them STRUGGLE for the successes to have meaning. To my view, threats of failure -- real failure -- really decreased the more the campaign went on, with a few exceptions.

Because don't get me wrong, we've definitely had struggles, and those have made for some of the best moments! Molly’s death, Yasha’s kidnapping, Yeza’s imprisonment. When failures that were threatened are allowed to occur, it’s far more gratifying when it’s followed by success, because you understand that that success was actually necessary. It shows us that what they do really means something.

Honestly, that's why the final battle really shut me up, because nothing makes you quite feel stakes and failure like having two PCs die, and having a resurrection ritual fail -- AND knowing that failure would be delivered on, had it not been for a seemingly miraculous roll of the dice to turn it around. One of the greatest failure's -- Molly's death -- made the success of his resurrection put a lot of my other issues to rest immediately, because to be honest? Molly's resurrection was the biggest success of the campaign, exactly because it was originally the biggest failure.

But this episode, we got to see the other side of making threats and successes feel disappointing -- when you get the impression that success was robbed from you. Again, their characters, their choices, but to have them roll an intervention to get Molly's soul, to convince Molly to come back with his own possessions they've so loved, after so long and so many struggles... only to apparently not get Molly at all?

Changed, of course. Memories, maybe he'd never get them back, though that seems inconsistent to how the initial resurrection was played and Matt's hints. It even makes sense that not having his memories and being a bit different, he might forge a new identity, but insisting Molly was a different person entirely after such a supposed hard won success to get Molly back, especially after what his death meant to the audience and potentially healing that old wound? It robs the narrative of a LOT of catharsis, at least for me and I know many others.

Trent, too, I'm very up and down on. He was so built up -- and what fun that build up had -- and I very much disagreed with the idea that the best story would be dealing with him offscreen.

It's true that you don’t need to explicitly address, confront, or explore every big aspect of character's story hooks and background ties for PCs to move past them and grow healthily. But that does not make it a satisfying viewing experience. People quietly healing in real life is healthy. People quietly healing in an explosive fantasy setting is frustrating for the audience.

What on earth is the point of a story if you don’t get to SEE THE ESTABLISHED CONFLICTS go anywhere? A lot of the characters got distant, quiet resolutions, if that, to everything we wanted to see.

Except, we did get to see Trent. It was a really fun, inventive battle, from opening to conclusion, but much like Travelercon, much like Nott's/Veth's problem with the hag, these were things that the audience in general wanted to see be really dug into and explored, and every single one of them got, in my opinion, quickly tidied up instead. Trent got beaten in the first and only proper battle they had with him, which, after all his build up, is pretty disappointing for a villain many of us wanted to see be a big deal. It really just felt like they were trying to tidy up to get on with the epilogue, which is not what a lot of us were looking for with Trent especially.

And that's how most of their endings felt to me. It didn't feel like any of them had reached a comfortable conclusion. Literally all of them, bar Veth and Caduceus, continued on their character journey threads, without each other and very quickly. Meeting Yasha's tribe and Vandran, Caleb finally openly debating changing time for his parents, Trent and Zeenoth's trials and the changing of the guard at the Assembly... All were things it would have been so fun to have all the PCs react to and explore together, and instead they were fleeting encounters in the latter half of a seven hour finale.

Is all this, from Molly not really coming back to Trent being a finale side plot to the Nein continuing on their individual journeys, potentially realistic to how these fantastical things might go down in real life? Sure! But that's not necessarily a good thing.

Stories THRIVE on conflict and resolution. That’s what makes them FUN! Conflict isn’t nearly so fun in real life and resolutions are often frustrating question marks, so no, past a certain point I don’t WANT stories to be realistic. I want stories to be SATISFYING.

And campaign 2 has fallen far short of the mark.

I haven’t spoken... Basically a word of this for most of the campaign, because as I said I’m a firm believer that you can’t necessarily judge something until it’s over, and because I ALSO firmly believe that being negative WHILE trying to enjoy something is counterproductive. I have had no interest in spoiling or naysaying the fun of the campaign for anyone, least of all myself.

But it's done now, and all I can say is... I really have had fun. I love the characters. I love their relationships. I’m pretty okay with where they’ve ended up. I’m not mad, really, and I’m still going to think of this campaign with a lot of affection. But it hasn’t been a satisfying story, even though for a week following episode 140 I thought, despite all the brushed over story threads, it might be.

So... to try and reclaim some of that satisfaction for myself, I might ignore some aspects of the finale proper. Namely Kingsley specifically. Taliesin's choice -- but to me, it's pretty clear that who we saw at the end of 140 was Molly, and the tags on my posts will reflect that, just as my 141 tags will be for both Kingsley and Molly, for clarity's sake. I personally want to believe Molly did come back, however others might want to interpret it. The victory in 140 that meant so much to me is hollow otherwise, and it just kind of hurts that we would lose Molly after everything. I was okay with him being dead -- I'm not so okay with his resurrection being stolen.

Kingsley will always be canon, but Molly is what I choose to acknowledge. I get if you don't like that take, and that's okay! I didn't care for canon's in the end. That's the good thing about storytelling, is that no one can stop you from making your own versions.

For the people who are hopefully hyped for campaign 3, heck yeah have fun! I’m on the fence. My investment, which... I think I can objectively say was pretty substantive as this blog will attest, doesn't feel rewarded, so I’m not convinced I can faithfully keep up for over three years all over again with a strong possibility that I will once again be left disappointed. It's been a huge chunk of my life, and... yeah!

I’ll take a break, probably, view (and liveblog, if people want!) campaign 1 when I’ve had a mental stretch and vacation, and then... I might start campaign 3. I definitely won’t be able to put the same time in it I did campaign 2 (my first love no matter what), knowing that it’s likely to not be so vindicated, in the end.

I swear I’m actually writing this in fairly good humour, but I totally get its always disappointing when the people you come to for fandom enjoyment just aren't sharing your fun. Honestly I’m half tempted to write all those frigging AUs I have sitting around! But I wanted to say my piece, and try and logically outline why this ending has been lacklustre for so many people, ultimately myself included.

Episode 140 felt right because it felt like a natural conclusion -- these disparate people coming together and finally being whole, finally soothing the hurt that MADE them so long ago. Episode 141 spat on that sentiment -- they all scattered to the winds, not as happy people to live out their dreams, but as confused people chasing up loose threads towards an unknown future, with the friend they thought returned still lost to them, ultimately.

It doesn't feel like the ending we should have gotten for the Mighty Nine, who were finally, finally all together. Until they weren't. So to me? I choose to acknowledge that they were, even if I have to force it to happen post-epilogue in my head.

[thebrightsessions]

Entertainment Spotlight: Ian McQuown

Ian is an LA based actor and producer known for the YouTube comedy group, Extremely Decent, as well as a voice actor in the popular audio dramas: The Bright Sessions, The AM Archives, StarTripper!! & Deck The Halls! His credits inclue American Housewife, Trial & Error, Better Things, and For All Mankind. Ian took the time to answer some questions for us. Check it out:

You’ve worked on multiple podcasts -- what drew you to the medium?

Well, to be honest, Lauren drew me to it because TBS was my first narrative podcast. We met at a Rocky Horror Picture Show show. Anna Lore is our mutual friend and I think Anna is just talented as all get out, so anything she’s involved I want to be in. And, I don’t know, it was just one of those lucky breaks you get where a door opens and takes you to all these cool places you never anticipated.

On podcasting though, I really appreciate how much more possible it is to tell engaging stories without the boundaries of having to afford a set and a camera and insurance and etc etc etc. Like, I grew up with Star Wars, The Matrix, Cowboy Bebop— so when I imagine the stories I like, I’m usually picturing other worlds, space ships, people with super powers and those types of stories used to have a lot higher barrier to entry to make than they do now, which is just awesome.

If you could give a character from The Bright Sessions a spinoff series, who would you choose and what would the series be called?

I mean, no surprises here, but I’d love to see Damien’s early years. And I’d be super clever and call it something like... Damien: The Early Years. I'm dying for that content a little bit actually: Damien, before he became such a bad guy. Maybe a love story that doesn’t work out and leaves him really scarred? Villains so bad they created a villain instead of a victim—  that moment where we see the two roads Damien has to choose between and it totally shreds us when he makes the choice we all know he’s going to make, I mean, come ON you can see that, right? It’d be like the Star Wars prequels but without all the youngling killing and “NOOOOOOOO”’s and I want it.

Can you share a fun story or anecdote from the making of The Bright Sessions?

Haha, ok well it’s not really anything of note BUT: I remember Lauren had this area rug in her room, which as you probably know is where we would record, and it was this really nice, I think, red sort of floral rug that took up pretty much all the floor space because it was covering up the older apartment rug-floor underneath it. And it was, as I said, really cool, except it wasn’t a rug on a wood floor, right? It was a rug on a rug so it was a bit taller than the people who designed the room had planned for— the result of which was that you’d walk in and the room had this really awesome little vibe with this cute rug, and it was all very cozy, unless you looked directly behind you at the corner where the door had just spent ages scraping the surface of it, catching the corner, tearing little pieces out. And I may be getting apocryphal at this point, but I feel like by the time I had started coming around Lauren had straight up duct taped it to the floor, which really didn’t help the problem. And, I don’t know—again it’s not really anything momentous—but I just remember giving Lauren a particular amount of shit about it one day and us all having a really good laugh. And I really love that— there are jobs where you show up, keep your head down, do your work and leave, but then there are jobs like The Bright Sessions where you all get to become friends, and even if you don’t see each other for a while you sort of just get to pick up where you left off. And then those jobs turn into other jobs and you get to keep hanging out with your friends and peers and just making stuff you like— I’m a big fan of that.

If your life was a choose your own adventure, what decisions would viewers have to make on an average day?

OKAY, you wake up...

Water your garden before it gets to be 110 today, you cannot skip this step. You may however:

A) Stay out in the garden for longer if you get inspired and check if the tomatoes and peppers are ripe for picking.

Great! Now let’s make breakfast:

A) Make eggs, toast, fried tomatoes, and hash browns? 

B) Make (A) But also with Bacon? 

C) Make a smoothie?

D) There’s no time today, run to Whole Foods and get their incredibly priced $6 Egg, Bacon Cheese Breakfast burrito.

Awesome! You’ve eaten and now you can think. What work do you have to do?

A) Prep your audition, dummy! It’s due this afternoon, go fix your hair. 

B) You have a zoom meeting with actor friends at 11 to play around with some new material, put on a hat.

C) There is nothing you have to work on so stare at your computer and wonder if there’s new project you could be working on. Try to find that project, leave your hair as it.

Wow! You really had a great (insert previous choice here), let’s get you a coffee and take a TV break. What should we watch?!

A) That new show you haven’t seen yet because you need to watch everything so you know how to work on it should you get an audition for it.

B) Harley Quinn (your favorite new cartoon).

C) Teenage Bounty Hunters.

D) Farscape.

E) Nope, you just got an audition for tomorrow, everything is off the table, start working on it (Level Complete).

Lunch Time!!!

A) Turkey sandwich with pickles from the garden?

B) Trader Joe’s Margherita Pizza with basil and peppers from the garden?

C) Are we going to start another loaf of sourdough you basic mf?

D) Yes we probably are, but also (A) and (B).

Cool! I’ve eaten lunch. Now what?

A) You haven’t finished that work from this morning. Riiiight.

B)…More Harley Quinn…?

C) Let’s make pasta from scratch!

D) Let’s make ribs! From…ribs!

F) You just got an audition for tomorrow, everything is off the table, start working on it. (Level Complete).

Bangarang! You probably chose to start cooking dinner immediately after eating lunch. You ate it (and it rocked), what now?

A) You just got an audition for tomorrow, everything is off the table, start working on it. (Level Complete)

B) DnD with squad.

C) Go on a run, dude— you’re getting a Jaba chin….

D) Bring on the chin! Let’s watch TV until 2am! Here are your options:

A) Harley Quinn (your new favorite cartoon)

B) Teenage Bounty Hunters

C) Farscape

D) Put The Office on in the background and clean your house.

Level Complete.

As you can see I’m a very food-focused person. Also, I’m going to be real, that is truly what most of my days look like and I’m low-key a little mortified that ’taking a shower’ wasn’t a game option... 

Can you share your favorite piece of Bright Sessions / AM Archives fan art?

I love all the fan art that people make for my characters but this one from Franartz has always been really special to me. It’s so GQ, I just love it — and some of my favorite early AG moments are with Damien, who looks a little like he stepped out of a Gorrilaz album here— big fan. I’m a little obsessed with fan art actually, I save everything I come across— there’s a freckled red-headed series of Owen by TheFigureInTheCorner that makes me really happy. Seeing that my work has inspired someone else to make something of their own is really what’s up, you know? It makes me think about all the art and entertainment that has touched me over the years and I get a lot of joy from being a part of that cycle.

Thanks for taking the time, Ian! Give I Can Die When I'm Done a relisten right here.

[juiceboxman]

Advice for New DMs

I’ve been lucky enough to have DM’d a weekly game for over a year now and I’ve had conversation with people irl and online about how they think about DMing but aren’t necessarily too confident in their own ability or don’t even know where to start. So here’s some things I would suggest to get started, things to keep in mind and advice about general stuff. Here we go;

1) Familiarise Yourself with the Rules. You can read the DMs Manual or the Player’s Manual for rules. You can find rules explained everywhere online from Roll 20 to DND Beyond. But if you don’t like reading, and I get that cause the thought of reading a 200+ page instruction manual on how to play a game does sound daunting, I would suggest watching or listening to Actual Play Shows. If you watch like a few episodes of Critical Role or Dimension 20, you kind of get the basics of DnD. That’s really all you need to start DMing, just the basics like “what which Dice do”.

2) Know your Players. DnD is a collaborative game and all good collaboration necessitates some base understanding of who you’re collaborating with. You don’t necessarily need to know the people you’re playing with very well, but just enough to get where you can decide whether these people are chill to play with. So say if you’re gonna be playing a horror/scary campaign and you know one of the people in mind for playing isn’t too into horror- maybe don’t have them play cause it will make them uncomfortable. That example is perfectly fine but it delves into extremes when you’re dealing with people who are just difficult. You can look up online and find tons of stories relating to bad dnd experiences with just rude, shitty people. I would like to clarify that by saying that these experiences aren’t a DnD problem- it’s a social group problem. If you hang out wih a shitty person they will inevitably do shitty things, and honestly its better that a shitty outburst occurs at a controlled environment such as a DnD Game than say a house party where all sorts of shit could happen. So know your players. If they’re cool people, they’ll make cool players. If they’re kind of shit heads, they’re going to cause a lot of issues and not the fun kind. Know the difference between “shenanigans” and “open disrespect” because you as the DM put a lot of work into the game, if the players don’t respect that- maybe don’t play with them. No dnd is better than bad dnd 

3) Know Your Game. This rule helps a lot if you are familiar with lots of DnD shows, which gives you a frame of reference for the type of campaign you wanna run. If you wanna go big dramatic epics with a lot of strict survivalist rules, Critical Role is a good place to reference. If you wanna go for balls to the wall humour with a lot of heart and emotional moments, NADDPOD is a good place to reference. You want a proper scary campaign, watch Sophomore Year from Dimension 20- it is primarily a comedy show but when they do drama they do DRAMA. Knowing your players allows you to know the game better. It took me quite a while in my own campaign t realise “Oh I’m not running a CR game, I’m running a NADDPOD game” and ater I realised that I was able to play it better. Know the game, know the genre, know what you and your players like and enjoy and try to maximise that fun.

4) Preparation. DMs do a lot of preparation whenever they intend to run a game. I would argue that the amount of preparation you want to do should be equal to the amount of time you’re willing to spend. Sad fact of life is that DnD, and other activities with friends, are all dependant on IRL scheduling. A campaign can fizzle and die out at a moments notice, not all stories get finished and if you wanna start any creative process that’s a reality you have to accept. I’m a creative person, I do quite a lot of writing and stuff on the side so when I do prep for DnD I don’t want to spend too much of my creative juice on a project that only six people at a table will know about compared to one that would feature a larger audience. Also if you have a busy schedule you might not have time to worldbuild, so short cuts help. So in those respects I don’t see anything wrong with being lazy. There are plenty of websites online where you can randomly generate maps, towns, characters- you name it. You don’t need to spend hours on end developing streets of a city that no one will walk down or lore behind businesses no one will ask about. You just need to be familiar enough with the history or your world, its vibe and tone in which you can effectively improv the rest. I’ve been DMing a game now for well over a year, I spend less than an hour a week doing prep. I write a few bullet points for stuff to bring up in the session, I make a brief map for encounters, I’ll look up monster stats, maybe draw up some homebrew and heroforge pictures of the NPCs- that’s it

5) Improv. I think 90% of DMing is pure improv. Depending how well you know your players and their characters, you can predict certain behaviours. So if you have an NPC say or do something that you know will gaina certain reaction from a player, that’s something you are certain about. Everything else however can be improv based. Players will surprise you. They’ll do weird dumb shit and they will do really cool game breaking shit. You have an NPC who was supposed to be a big villain? Well the PCs all teamed up and with an effective strategy, that NPC is now dead. It’s the lay of the land. The goal with prep is to have enough prepared that you can effectively pull stuff out of your ass with no issue. Improv isn’t necessarly difficult, all you really need is to listen. When a player responds to something and you feel its worth rolling for, have them roll for it. If tey roll well, tell them they did the thing. If not, tell them they didn’t. If the thing they asked for is impossible, tell them it’s impossible. You can come up with all sorts on the fly

6) DND isn’t like TV/BOOKS/MOVIES. DND is a weird medium of entertainment. Its a collaberative game where you all make a narrative, but a lot of strange stuff happens in between. Like if youre watching a movie or a show or reading a book you might think to yourself “why is this character spending twenty minutes talking to this waiter that genuinely isn’t that interesting?” or something like “why did the main villain die five pages in?” DND doesn’t follow a beat structure or format. Plot armor doesn’t fit here, it’s all decisions and luck- that’s it. Don’t be dissapointed in your work in regards to storytelling. Don’t worry about plot holes or inconsistencies, just focus on player engagement. If the players are having fun, then you’re playing the game right. You as the DM have to make sure that everyone is playing fairly and having fun. Treat your players equally, don’t be a dick, don’t be a pushover. You have to know what your players want, but also know what they don’t want. If your players like a weird NPC, have that NPC show up more cause they enjoy it. If your players discover an ability ot a magic object that left untouched will alter game play (e.g. one of my PCs recently gained an ability in which they gained the breath weapon of an ancient red dragon) that if used effectively could elminate all threat from any boss fight ever- don’t be afraid to NERF that. You need to be considerate about your enjoyment and the players enjoyment, its all in the balance.

That’s the main six points I have so far. If I have anymre I’ll be sure to add them. If anyone has any advice, feel free to add below. Hope this helps! Also; Brennan Lee Mulligan has a good podcast giving DM advice called Adverturing Academy. Has a lot of cool guests. The episode featuring Carlos Luna from Roll 20 is actually good career advice and gets me motivated just thinking about it. Definitely worth checking out!

[dmsden]

Too Many Ways to Die - Looking at the Death Save mechanic

Hullo, Gentle Readers. This week’s Question from a Denizen comes to us from frazzledbutfunctioning. They ask, “ Hello! I recently discovered how easily you can kill you players with just the base rules of DND 5e. Specifically, with the rules of unconscious alongside the traditional death saving throws. Up until this point, I didn't know that any attacks made within 5ft of a downed pc count as criticals, and that criticals count as 2 failed death saving throws. My question is, do you think that there is a better way to go about killing players in combat, besides just murdering them outright with any monster that has multiattack? Do you think death saves are out of touch, and maybe should be replaced with something more lenient (Pathfinders rules maybe?)”

Hey there, frazzled. So let’s dig into this.

First off, the current rules are actually very lenient by comparison to what has gone before. In the very original version of D&D, when you hit 0 hit points, you were dead. When Advanced D&D came along, there was a little bit of leeway...when you were reduced to -10 hit points, you were dead, so you had a buffer zone after you hit 0, but it wasn’t very hard to get there. Similar rules moved forward through the editions, until the idea of death saving throws came along in 4e. Now, at least, there are elements of chance, as well as a way for a villain or monster to hasten death along, should they be so inclined, and that’s really the question you should be addressing.

I personally think the rules are fine. They give a time period for the players to work towards saving their friends when they fall while leaving distinct elements of peril should the players not step in to take immediate action. I don’t think there’s a need to mess with those. Instead, I think the question is, “Should your monster/NPC pause to try and kill a fallen foe?” The answer to the question should be based on motivation, circumstance, and intelligence.

Motivation is definitely the first thing to look at. Why is the creature fighting the PCs? Are they defending their home? Looking for food? Trying to stop the PCs from interfering with their Master’s evil plans? Is the fallen PC someone they despise, or just a random foe they’ve encountered and (at least temporarily) defeated?

Alignment is likely to play a role as well. Chaotic evil creatures are more likely to try to kill a fallen foe to inspire terror than more lawful evil ones. A more honorable NPC might use the fact that they’ve defeated one enemy as a reason to call for the PCs to take their unconscious comrades and retreat.

Assuming that a battle is still raging, I wouldn’t often have intelligent NPCs stop to try to kill a fallen PC. Unless there are mitigating circumstances based on an NPC’s relationship to a fallen PC, it’s hard to imagine most NPCs giving up the chance to try and take out someone else who is actively trying to kill them. Obviously there are going to be exceptions to this. An undead ghoul who wants to feed, a berserker who dedicates kills to a blood god, or a major villain who might relish the despair and fury the death of a comrade would cause could all be those who might want to see their foes dead.

Obviously, logic goes out the window when emotions are brought into play. If tieflings and dragonborn are mortal enemies in your campaign, and a dragonborn NPC knocks a tiefling PC unconscious, I think it makes logical sense for the dragonborn to try and finish the job. Or if the PC’s evil brother is specifically motivated to kill the PC in order to take the family noble title, then he has a specific reason to want the PC dead, and he will likely try to make that happen.

Creatures of animal or lower intelligence, or at least ones that’re working on instinct, might decide to kill a fallen foe if they think it will serve their motivations. An owlbear defending its cave might not specifically try to ravage the halfling scout when it gets a chance, but an owlbear hunting for food might, if it thinks it will then be able to run off with its prey. Oozes are completely unintelligent and are as likely to keep trying to consume the PC they knocked down regardless of whether or not there’s anything attacking them. Constructs likely follow specific programming. If their creators told them to kill anyone who entered a chamber, they might take the time to finish a fallen enemy, even if there are still others around who might damage them.

I hope this helps, frazzled. For me, it’s not so much a matter of how when it comes to killing PCs, but instead, it’s more a matter of why. Thinking of whether or not an NPC/monster has a compelling reason to kill a PC will likely help you decide what course of action to take.

[janiedean]

Book!Theon is Azor!Ahai, not Jon. It makes no sense narratively for Jon to be AA, and it’s the most stereotypical thing ever, and he’s already stereotypical, he’s the red flag for the audience. Theon’s chapters are full of hints, he has the perfect salt/smoke/stars/dragons thing at the end of ACOK, when he “dies”. His story is about destroying death, his entire narrative, with things that come from mythology and ancient literature, points to that. The show is trash, but don’t you think that it’s a little weird that Theon is there at the end and then Arya comes out of nowhere and becomes AA? And what ending does she get? Exploring the unknown SEA with SHIPS? Being free and on her own? Maybe it doesn’t make sense for her because it’s not for her. D&D already took everything else from Theon, they took this too. And even if he’s not AA, he’s still clearly connected to magic and all of that, he didn’t go though so much for nothing, he didn’t take his name back for the first time in his life, his name that literally means “godly”, for nothing. He has something big to do, and it’s about himself, not Robb and the Starks. And he’s also so clearly connected to the politics of the north and of the iron islands, a villain was literally created for him, so I don’t understand how can you say he’s not really important and all he’s got left to do is retire in a house and be sad. Of course he has a lot of trauma and that’s important, but I don’t like how people reduce him to that and act like just because those things happened, he can’t do anything else

anon with no ill will and I swear I don't want to sound pedantic or anything but I, uh, never came to the conclusion you say I came from - that said let's go in order even if I think I already went through all the reasons why it makes literally no sense if it's anyone but jon, but let's start with one thing:

It makes no sense narratively for Jon to be AA, and it’s the most stereotypical thing ever, and he’s already stereotypical, he’s the red flag for the audience.

it's stereotypical.... to us maybe, but it is not to westeros. like, you're looking at it through audience-lens because it has been years and the show confirmed r+l=j and we all figured that shit out, but to westeros, the idea that the prince that was promised is a bastard guy serving on the wall aka a state-sponsored prison where people go to not die and is filled to non-desirables to society is... the least likely option in existence? no really, but again:

first thing that should quiet all doubts, when melisandre asks r'hollor to see azor ahai bc she wants to see stannis, r'hollor shows her jon snow and instead of going like 'uh wait why am I seeing another dude' she's like 'I want to see stannis but r'hollor shows me jon snow there must be some disturbance on the line', like she doesn't even consider for a second that it might be jon;

no one else has brought WITHIN THE NARRATIVE jon up as a likely candidate - they said stannis, they said dany, they said whoever but no one ever said hey jon snow might be AA, because again no one even suspects that it might be jon;

other matter that you're overlooking here: if theon is azor ahai.... it means that the rebellion basically was for nothing? because like the entire shtick with rhaegar targaryen's bad life choices™ is that he was apparently a swell dude, then he read a book where somehow it was exactly explained how the apocalypse was gonna happen, he deduced that he was the guy who had to father AA/the prince that was promised and in order - first he doesn't care about fighting but suddenly after that he starts getting learned; - he immediately worries over having THREE children from which we can deduce from the narrative that as far as he knows in order to fight when the wights come he has to have three kids for three dragons and one of them is azor ahai; - the moment his wife can't have more than two even if he's sure that he already had the right one (aegon) he still runs off with lyanna to make sure he has the third because it's that important that HE rhaegar targaryen fathers the three heads of the dragon... to the point of starting a civil war and most likely giving arthur orders to make sure that the kid lives at all costs even if he thinks lyanna's kid is NOT AA; - let's remember that the entire schtick is also that 'he is the ptwp and his is the song of ice and fire' which means that this kid of rhaegar's is the person these books are titled after.

now, let's look again at tyrion's infamous quote which I always bring up in these cases but let's refresh our memory here Prophecy is like a half-trained mule. It looks as though it might be useful, but the moment you trust in it, it kicks you in the head now: given this, we can absolutely assume that no single prophecy in this book goes the way the person at the end of it interprets it... which means that rhaegar was wrong on a lot of accounts, but guess what, the thing is that one out of three of his kids is dead (if we count aegon as trueborn, if he's not then two on three but I think he's trueborn) and the one who hatched the eggs/has the dragon is DANY so he already was wrong on head of the dragon #1, and he can absolutely be wrong on aegon being tptwp which would mean mistake #2 and we should know about the prophecy, but one of his children being AA and his being the song of ice and fire looks a bit too much of a stretch to be incorrect and have AA being someone else's son also would be.... but if AA is jon ie the one he had for last that he was sure was not AA and who doesn't even have the targ name (nor the stark one) and no one suspects having that kinda ancestry then yes it fits exactly all the parameters and it still allows for rhaegar to have partially misinterpreted the entire thing even in large chunks but not enough to make it look like he was completely making shit up, which... I mean the long night is coming I don't doubt he had very good reasons to want to stop it; also, anon not to beat the dead horse, but: - jon's death fits all the prophecy parameters already there's the bleeding star, the smoking wound and the salt of the tears which btw is not obvious nor something you'd immediately do 2+2 about... which fits perfectly with the above - jon died and came back to life in the godforsaken show like he's literally the only idiot who resurrected in it and we're supposed to handwave it the way dnd did? - jon has a valyrian steel sword that he can handle while theon atm really doesn't - we could argue that ygritte could be a possible nissa-nissa contender though I mean maybe it could also be that he and val get hot and bothered and it turns out it's her or someone else and that hasn't happened yet but surely there's more evidence for that with jon than with theon - theon has like... povs in two books for a total amount of less than fifteen chapters, jon has at least ten chapters per book or so on, which just mathematically makes jon a main fiver character while theon is not and like I understand deconstruction and all but you don't make your ace in the hole mystical prince hero character someone who has had fifteen chapters total at most unless I remember wrong the amount he had in acok in comparison to someone who was a main throughout the entire thing - like guys I say it as someone whose third-fave char is theon, theon is not a main fiver™ character and that's okay that's not the point, and with that I don't mean he's not important, I mean that he's not one of the five main ones that have most of the plot stuff on their shoulders and he's not THE main character, because if theon is AA then these books are named a song of theon greyjoy and considering that the main five are jon tyrion arya dany and bran I think it's highly not probable that at the end of it theon is the one character to rule them all

and that was for how jon fit the criteria, but theon doesn't fit them because again he doesn't have a number of chapters/povs that justifies such a plot twist, balon is certainly not rhaegar and I don't see how rhaegar reads a prophecy wrt balon and thinks it's about him, the heads of the dragon should be three and theon had three siblings two of which are dead and asha has no tie to the dragon storyline, this means that theon should be able to ride/command a dragon and we know that in theory just targs can and there's already three of them around - dany jon and aegon - and if anyone who's not a targ has a narrative reason to ride a dragon is tyrion not theon... and tyrion is a main fiver too, also there's the nissa-nissa/burning sword angle and as it is theon could absolutely use a bow again but a longsword with his hands maimed like that and no muscle mass would be a bit implausible, in order for the reborn prophecy to actually make sense it means his last adwd chapter should have smoke, salt and the bleeding star which it doesn't but jon's has so there's that

now, re what you said wrt theon:

Theon’s chapters are full of hints

not really? he doesn't have a tie to the magical storyline beyond his connection to bran. they have hints for a lot of things but that he's AA? idt so

he has the perfect salt/smoke/stars/dragons thing at the end of ACOK, when he “dies”

okay but then I could use the same argument for saying that AA could be davos when he survives blackwater because he says he woke up in wreckage of smoke in salty water, and then stannis has equally valid arguments bc he has the shiny sword and he's in dragonstone etc and we all know it's not stannis, also an AA death at the ending of acok when the topic has barely been introduced in dany's vision is entirely too early for me to drop that bomb

his story is about destroying death, his entire narrative, with things that come from mythology and ancient literature, points to that.

his story is about overcoming trauma and abuse and not dying in the process (which is why I think the show was trash) and okay but everyone in these books has something that comes from a mythology or ancient literature, like jaime brienne and c. all have arthuriana roots same as bran, doesn't make any of them a viable AA candidate

The show is trash, but don’t you think that it’s a little weird that Theon is there at the end and then Arya comes out of nowhere and becomes AA?And what ending does she get? Exploring the unknown SEA with SHIPS? Being free and on her own? Maybe it doesn’t make sense for her because it’s not for her.

considering that maisie williams was shocked that arya was AA and she also thought it made no sense and that dnd never thought theon had his own storyline while I can agree on the fact that it fits more for him as an ending than for arya, I don't think that means it makes him AA, same as I think that they gave sansa his storyline and possibly his confrontation with ramsay and I'm not 100% convinced on the last part anyway but that just means they didn't realize theon doesn't exist for the starks' storyline, also like.. in the show everyone but c. was in WF and theon was already dead when arya did her thing and honestly idt the battle of the long night will ever go like that anyway so idt even partially show truthing is bringing us anywhere

and even if he’s not AA, he’s still clearly connected to magic and all of that, he didn’t go though so much for nothing, he didn’t take his name back for the first time in his life, his name that literally means “godly”, for nothing

I never said it was for nothing which I'll elaborate in a second and ofc he's connected to the magic storyline... because he's connected with bran's storyline and his last round of atonement has to happen through bran in the sense that since he was the one basically forcing bran out of wf now he most likely has to facilitate bringing him back or smth (surely not dying for him), but like whatever magical stuff he has going on it has to do with bran dot, not with AA which I still think he doesn't have a stricter text connection to than davos has for that matter and idt davos is AA as I think I made clear

He has something big to do, and it’s about himself, not Robb and the Starks.

never said he didn't, and I also said that I wasn't going to speculate in detail about what theon has to do because I don't think there are enough text elements to say it now but there will be when wow comes out for sure, but like again I don't want to make predictions when I don't have the elements and wrt theon's themes/possible canon ending etc I always said that he most likely isn't going to inherit the islands but that he'll do something huge before the books are done which is gonna be tied to the northern storyline and possibly to bran because he has to go specular to acok - acok is his downfall, adwd is 'I'll find myself again', wow+ados have to be what would theon do if he decides his own thing while being his own person, or recycling my old THEON HAS HEGELIAN THEMES IN HIS STORYLINE acok = thesis, adwd = antithesis, wow+ados = synthesis so obviously he has something huge in the plans.... I just don't think it means he's AA

And he’s also so clearly connected to the politics of the north and of the iron islands, a villain was literally created for him, so I don’t understand how can you say he’s not really important and all he’s got left to do is retire in a house and be sad

aaand here we get to the point which is that... I never said that? I honestly never said that? I said he has to overcome his trauma and live and thrive and be happy after that. if he retires in a house at the end of ados after he does whatever he has to do in the main plot it's going to be because it's what he wants to do and most likely he and jeyne are going to be adorbs while doing it together or smth or if he goes back to the islands and advises asha then he's going to be happy doing that too, but like... the entire point of theon's sl is that he overcomes that horrendous abuse while not being a perfect good victim™ throughout and still be happy after and gain his redemption? that's what I always said. I never said that now he can just retire and be sad. trauma recovery is becoming happy after getting over your trauma. not being sad. and like.... sometimes not getting amazing mythological things but just being happy by yourself is actually a goal? again, grrm is a lapsed catholic. if I know that breed and I do, he doesn't think redemption and happiness are in shortage at the supermarket. and in order for theon to have narrative importance/weight/relevance he doesn't have to do magical mythological IMPORTANT™ things (even if I think he does have something cooked up as I said above), but like the entire point of his sl is the trauma recovery. he's there for that. that's literally his point in the plot and the fact that grrm created a villain for him means that he thinks it's an important thing to explore.

also I personally think that theon's arc is the best written thing in those books so like I don't want to undermine its importance, I just don't think that in order to be important™ then theon has to be dragged kicking and screaming into main fiver territory because there isn't the need.

. Of course he has a lot of trauma and that’s important, but I don’t like how people reduce him to that and act like just because those things happened, he can’t do anything else

I don't like that either esp. when coming from dnd who didn't even let him have it fully, but: and when did I ever do it? I never said that theon is only his trauma. my standing opinion wrt theon is that he's grrm's best written/constructed character (along with jaime) and his most innovative one (jaime following but theon wins it) because theon deconstructs the backstabber trope which I already went on about but:

again usually ppl who backstab the good protagonist™ get caught and punished and you never hear their pov

theon has all the povs

he's the main char in that storyline not robb

he has entirely understandable reasons that ppl decided aren't sympathetic just bc they don't want to admit that in his position they'd have done the same thing

the audience hates him for having contributed to robb's downfall but then he gets a comeuppance that's completely not what anyone would deserve for that and he gets the spotlight/the sympathy again

he gets narrative redemption saving jeyne so you can see he's not an asshole at all

has to get through horrific abuse for his entire life not just with ramsay, he's not a good victim™ but he's still written in a way that makes you want to root for him and at the end he actually comes through so you want him to keep on succeeding

which is smth that with the backstabber trope never happens

now the thing is that theon's there bc a) identity issues b) trauma recovery storylines that then get tied to bran's main one but like idg why just having the recovery storyline would make him lesser - saying he's not a main fiver doesn't mean he's not important, it means he's not a MAIN™ character... which in asoiaf doesn't matter bc even ppl without povs are important to the narration and are there to drive a point (see sandor and stannis), and I don't see why saying that the most important part of his sl/the one grrm wants to stick with the readers is the survivor part of it rather than whichever heavy magic related plot thing he has to play in the future means undermining his importance. and while I think he has that role, idt it's the most important one he has bc being a survivor is what sells his storyline/the entire arc of his character.

then if come wow I'm wrong I'll be like okay I fucked up, but: honestly, imvho there is no way that azor ahai is not jon snow, the fact that collectively as a fandom we think it's obvious doesn't mean people in westeros do, each single point of evidence is at jon and if occam's razor is a thing then it's jon and that's okay because as deconstructed chosen one as he is, jon is still the protagonist of these books and regarding the prophecy above, it makes a lot more sense that this series is titled a song of jon snow and not a song of theon greyjoy and I say this as someone who vastly prefers theon as a character. also, if smth is well-written, readers should see it coming, so the fact that jon is AA isn't predictable if it's true, it's grrm.... knowing how to write a book and plant his hints because if everyone guessed right then if he makes it suddenly someone else bc jon is too predictable then it's dnd making it arya bc SURPRISE WE NEEDED YOU TO GO LIKE WTF HAS JUST HAPPENED INSTEAD OF FOLLOWING THE NARRATION TO ITS NATURAL CONCLUSION, not 'it's too predictable' or the audience red herring the way jaime being the valonqar is an audience red herring. jon being AA should be absolutely obvious for the reader who paid attention and a total surprise for the other characters in the narration, the audience red herring is more dany than anyone else imvho and I'm dying on that hill for now, thanks for coming to my ted talk but like I don't see how it's anyone but jon personally X°D