#depends on if i have a dnd session to plan or not

[brucewaynehater101]

DC has an in universe version of Dungeons and Dragons, theirs is Wizards and Warriors, the name is less cool due to lack of dragons but a pass is given because alliteration

Tim canonically plays and has used it to get his civilians friends to help him brainstorm plans without letting them in on secret identity stuff

Tim (not canonically but wouldn't be surprised) plays it with Young Justice, he is generally the DM but sometimes Greta takes over or on rare occasions Red Tornado is available for a one shot campaign, Tim keeps track of everyone's schedules and hosts the sessions at the most convenient location for all of them depending on multiple factors

Bart makes minis for all of them and usually has to borrow dice from Cassie

Cassie has so many sets of dice, Tim funds her addiction to pretty dice because she always gets him a set that she thinks he'll like when she looks for new dice for herself

Kon creates the most detailed backgrounds and is generally the one to bring snacks to the sessions, he has tried cheating rolls with TTK once but he was caught and suffered from disadvantage on all rolls for the rest of the session

Cissie doesn't have the time to play very often but sometimes she'll drop by and be a drop in character that in game has been cursed to be forever lost and wandering so if her character isn't there, it's because they managed to get separated from the group to use the bathroom or something and ended up on the opposite side of the country and it takes them a bit to find the group again

Anita doesn't have time to play very often either and sometimes she has to bring her little parents who Tim lets roll the dice for monsters in the game, Anita's character is charged with tracking Cissie's so anytime Anita's character isn't there it's because they're on the trail of Cissie's character

They have a character ready for Slobo just in case

Greta always plays bard and in almost every campaign her bard has inspired people to revolution and general chaotic behavior, the others almost wish that she'd do the typical seductive bard thing after the third time that she managed to convince a group of goblins to unionize which caused them to somehow be better at their job which was in direct opposition to the party but respect that Greta isn't comfortable with that, she does manage to work in a rick roll to nearly every campaign at least once

The Slobo one almost made me cry, ngl

I don't know much about DND, but I loved this so much.

YJ missions are already so chaotic. I'm curious what their sessions are like. I also would see them putting some of their missions in their campaigns just to make fun of how ridiculous or whack they were

[luna-writes-stuff]

Supernatural characters and what they want to do on a date, please? ♡

some of these will surprise absolutely no one but I am sO GLAD YOU ASKED ANON

——

Dean Winchester

I feel like Dean would be one of the easiest with a date. He always tries to do the things he wants to, so in a date, it won’t be much different. His perfect date would be a road trip - the length depending on what kind of date it is. Usually, you’d drive about four hours to destination unknown, but there have been occasions where you took a couple days off to travel the country and see some classic tourists locations. Vegas is most often where you end up. He’d take you to roadhouses for food, unless you’re travelling to a town specifically. Then, he’d try to find a restaurant which has food he actually likes. If you know him long enough, he might even let you drive Baby. But only for a short while. And his eyes will be glued on you constantly.

——

Sam Winchester

Sam is an absolute gentleman. He’d take you out to a restaurant, hold the door open for you, slide out your seat, won’t eat before you do etc. Nine out of ten times he has a tiny gift with him, regardless of the situation. It could be a random day and he’d give you a box of chocolates or a bouquet of roses. Again - he’s a classic gentleman. He settles for the classic gifts. Afterwards, he loves to take walks with you, visit a museum or simply sit on a bench with a view of some landscape. During hunts, he is likely to take you out to spontaneous trips to the library cafe. Not the most romantic place to go to, but he knows that his lifestyle makes it difficult for him to get to properly take you out all of the time. He prefers the short in between moments more than the entire night planned out. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t like them though.

——

Castiel

Does exactly what you randomly mentioned once. When you had only known him for a handful of weeks, you might have casually mentioned you love something such as going to the movies or visiting a beach, and now - years later - he’d have that remembered and do exactly as you said. Over the years, he learns much of human customs, so it isn’t that he doesn’t know what a proper date looks like. It’s simply that he likes to do the things you like to do. He’d much rather do something you forgot you had ever told him than to plan something out for himself out of thin air. Besides, he always enjoys seeing your reaction whenever he takes you out. ‘How did you know I would like this?’ ‘You told me four years ago.’ ‘?????’ He’s very endearing and can never get enough of the absolute shell shocked expression on your face whenever he decides to make your ideas come true. And it still surprises you after so many times.

——

Charlie Bradbury

No, I am not going to tell you she would not take you to a renaissance fair or an arcade or an impromptu DnD session because she absolutely would. Depending on your personal interests and experiences with either three, she’d definitely engage in it. Your first date would likely have been at a ren fair and it has become a tradition ever since. No - not a ren fair like her LARPing (which was still awesome). She’d get dressed up and offer you her arm the entire time. She’d take you to the medieval eating tents, watch live performances of battle field with you, buys you little trinkets at the marketplaces, lets you try on some cool clothing; whatever you enjoy most. The longer you’re dating, the more often you’d go out. At night when both of you are bored, she’d grab a car and take you to a nearby arcade, lovingly annihilating you in Dance Dance Revolution. When you have a free day, she’d try to introduce you to DnD and her current party. The more you learn about it, the more often you’d get invited to their sessions with your own character. She’d sit beside you, holding your hand under the table as she’d be by your character’s side the entire time. It doesn’t even matter that there are other people too. To you, it still feels like a date.

——

Gabriel

Initially, he’d definitely try to escalate the situation into a Casa Erotica tape, but he’s quick to agree with you once you decline. Most dates are spent in fancy hotels or restaurants of which you do not even know the same. He simply takes you there and you trust him with it. Gabriel is one who enjoys party and clubs, so he’d love to take you to cocktail bars every so often, keeping you close to him constantly and showing you off to everyone. Think hand on your waist constantly, sips of your glass, kisses on your cheek, chin on your shoulder etc. If you aren’t one for crowds or parties, he’d bring the party home or to a hotel chamber. He’d pop up his own little bar, mixing his own cocktails (or mocktails), offering them to you as a dramatic bartender, flirting with you as if he’d never seen you before. He’s also a big fan of taking you to big cities just to enjoy the view. You’d be at West End the first evening and Tokyo the second. He’s seen a lot of the world and loves to share that experience with you (and a lot of embarrassing tourist pictures with ‘I love Amsterdam’ shirts)

——

Lucifer

Whatever he does, he tries to brush it off casually. Did he put all that effort into making a non-poisonous dinner with a made table? Pfff, no big deal. Did he really remember you really liked that one necklace? Yeah, he thought you might like it. He definitely did not take that the moment you mentioned it and weren’t looking. He’s a big fan of the tiny date ideas. Movie night? Absolutely. Oh yes, there is a pit with pillows there but it definitely isn’t there because you love them and he secretly loves to hold you close in them. Going out to the marketplace? Fun! He definitely won’t offer you his arm the entire time and get everything you claim ‘smells nice’ or ‘still need’. He does tiny gestures and tries to brush them off every single time, even after you thank him for it or compliment him on it. He doesn’t brush it off out of his pride or negligence of you - on the contrary. He brushes it off to make it seem as if it is easy for him. He has spent a long time separated from any form of contact and has not known love for the majority of his life. To have finally found you is something completely foreign to him, and he tries to keep you happy so desperately, but he doesn’t want it to seem like he puts too much effort into it. It’s okay, though. You secretly know this.

——

Crowley

Much like Sam, he takes you out on classic dates. He’d show up to your doorstep, even though he can easily enter. He offers you his arm the entire night as he takes you out to dinner, walk the city or take you to that concert you mentioned once. Even better - he got you backstage passes. Your favourite artist in town? Isn’t it great to not have that ticket sale stress anymore? Whatever you do during the date, he makes sure you have a great time. Your pleasure and enjoyment comes first, and if that means he has to eat a place he hates or see a band he cannot stand, then so be it. He won’t make a long face nor express his dissatisfaction. If anything, he might even start to like it purely because you do. He’s quick to associate these things with you as well. Once you mention your love towards a certain dish or city, he keeps it locked in his mind and thinks of you every time someone mentions it. He’ll make sure to give you gifts often enough which go hand in hand with your interests and loves. He knows perfectly what you like and don’t like and always keeps this in mind. He’d never take you somewhere you don’t want to be or don’t like to go.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Heya! I was wondering if you had any recommendations for ttrpgs that are easy to teach the basic rules of in ~10 mins and good for running one offs!

I work with an organization that runs dnd games at conventions and breweries and we've been trying to branch out from DnD lately, but unfortunately since so many people know how to play 5e already it's the easiest to just keep using that.

THEME: Easy To Teach

Hello there, I totally sympathize with you on this! I’m first going to direct you to my First-Time GMs post just to take a look at some of the games I’ve listed there. I definitely recommend Pugmire and Visigoths vs. Mall Goths as the top two from that list. I’m also going to stick to games I’ve personally played before. I'm also going to @gayandtrashy because they asked a very similar question.

Enjoy!

The Vampire Next Door, by Cat Elm.

It's the late 2000s, school's out for summer, and you're headed out of town to stay with your grandparents in the idyllic Yorkshire village of Wymton-on-Tee. Your summer plans include exploring the countryside, and most importantly enjoying Grampy's famous chocolate chip cookies…. except that you're pretty sure that Vladimir Alucard, Grommy and Grampy's new neighbour is an evil bloodsucking vampire.

And none of the adults will believe you.

The Vampire Next Door is a roleplaying game for 3-7 players, intended for single-session or short form play. It's an homage to classic shows like Scooby Doo, Mona the Vampire, and Gravity Falls, where it's down to the kids to be smarter than the adults and save the day.

I’ve played this game with a first-time GM, and it was fantastic. The GM had an outline of the village that she could use to reference when the players wanted to go somewhere new, and the rules were very easy to understand - 4 stats, 4 dice attached to them, and 3 levels of difficulty. The goal is to acquire 4 pieces of evidence indicating that Vlad is a vampire, so once your kids have the evidence, it’s just a quick ending narration scene and you’re done! (If you want a shorter game though, I’d recommend reducing the evidence required to 3 pieces instead.)

Kids on Bikes, by Hunters Entertaiment.

Kids on Bikes is a Collaborative World Building RPG set in small towns with big mysteries. It is a rules-light storytelling system that gets players into the action fast. Kids on Bikes takes place in a more mysterious time, where anything and everything could happen. 

I’ve run a hack of Kids on Bikes for friends before, most of which hadn’t played much outside of D&D prior to playing. The tropes that are present in Kids on Bikes streamline character creation, because each trope presents you with dice already assigned to stats, and recommendations for strengths and flaws. Worldbuilding can be done by the GM or collaboratively depending on what the group is more comfortable with. The GM is presented with a a Difficulty chart that they can reference to determine how difficult its is to do something. If you have a larger dice, you’re more likely to succeed, but players also have resources such as adversity tokens, which can be spent to add bonuses, ignore the effects of fear, or activate special abilities attached to each character.

The best thing about Kids on Bikes is that once you’re comfortable with the system, you can branch out into the other games that use the same rules! This includes games such as Teens in Space, a game about science-fantasy exploration, or Kids on Brooms, a game about magic schools.

Cats of Catthulu, by Joel Sparks.

In Cats of Catthulhu, players take on the roles of a variety of ordinary-seeming cats fighting conspiracies of cosmic chaos. Mighty spirits such as Snarlyathotep, slimy Phatphroggua, and Hastpurr of the Yellow Eye inspire their cultists to destroy civilization-but that’s where all the comfy furniture is! One person acts as the Cat Herder, arranging the secret plots, challenges, and rewards and guiding the others through the process of making an adventure. Rules are light and quick, emphasizing player cleverness and the fun of being feline. There’s plenty of darkness and chaos in the world, but our fuzzy heroes can handle it!… Usually.

This is another game I’ve run for new players before! The game mentions special d6’s with cat dice on them, but you can honestly use any old d6. There is a short, defined list of character options with helpful charts to give your players some inspiration. To do something, you’ll roll 2d6. You’ll want to get at least one Success on your dice, although in some situations you might need 2 successes to get what you want. If you are the Right Cat for the Job, then the task is easier for you, and if you have a Treat that you can spend, you might even get to re-roll!

This game is cute, humorous, and excellent for short games, although there’s definitely room for longer stories if there’s interest.

Spectaculars, by Scratchpad Publishing.

Spectaculars is a tabletop roleplaying game where players create their own comic book universe, craft heroes and villains to populate that universe, and then play through full-length campaigns to tell incredible stories of heroism and villainy in a world of their own creation. This box set game gives a gaming group everything they need to play the game, and to create their own consistent campaign that spans multiple comic book genres.

Through play, each copy of Spectaculars evolves into its own unique comic book universe; in essence, the players create, through play, a rich backdrop against which their heroes and villains clash. The nature of the setting is determined by the players. Spectaculars makes it easy to create a fully fleshed-out setting, guiding you the process of creating the setting’s major elements at the time they come into play.

This is another game that I’ve seen a new GM pick up with excitement - and continue to run! This is a superhero game that takes a lot of inspiration from recognized superhero media, so it’s great for folks who are looking to emulate what they’ve seen on television. This is a really big game, with a lot of tools to help the GM run the game - including adventures with plenty of places to slot in thematically relevant villains and obstacles. There’s also plenty of collaborative world-building, giving the players a say in what they want to see, while also taking the burden off of the GM.

The physical copy is also really good at making you excited to play. It comes with tokens, dice, character pads, and plenty of GM tools and toys!

If you’re interested in a similar game that uses the same system but takes place in a fantasy city of crime, then check out Dusk City Outlaws, which is by same publisher!

External Containment Bureau, by Mythic Gazetteer.

External Containment Bureau is a game of paranormal investigation and bureaucracy using a lightweight, hackable version of the Forged in the Dark design framework. You play as trained agents of the External Containment Bureau, an organization tasked with the study, identification, and containment of paranormal phenomena. The Bureau authorizes agents to make use of these phenomena to give yourself incredible powers (so long as the proper forms are in order). But take care: using paranormal energies inches you ever closer to joining the ranks of the paranormal yourself. Will you transcend humanity in the line of duty? Play to find out.

External Contaiment Bureau is great for fans of SCP or Control, and is also a sleek, simple introduction to the world of Forged in the Dark games. Your players will add dice to their pool from a list of resources on their sheet, whether that be from their background as paranormal academic, or their special weapon commissioned from R&D. It simplifies the Controlled, Risky, Desperate pool from Blades in the Dark, and also imports the Mystery Clock from games like Brindlewood Bay and The Between, which also have a good reputation for being beginner-friendly. There are also a number of adventures available for new GMs to run, such as the Sidhe Conservancy of Portland, which pits you against the Fae, or Checking Out, which places you in a hotel that slowly erases your memory.

Other Posts to Check Out

Top 5 TTRPGs for Beginners

Introductory Games

First Time GMs (repeat of the first link at the top)

Some Final Advice

If you have any regular GM’s who you’re hoping to introduce to new games, find out what pieces of media they really like. Then go hunting for games that fit that description. When it comes to picking up a new game, nothing is more motivating then finding out there’s a story you want to tell, regardless of whether or not it means learning a new system.

One of my friends started running a Pokemon campaign because he loves the games so dang much - and he’s got a dedicated party of players! Another friend found Mausritter and got really excited because he just loved the idea of playing tiny mice on adventures. A third friend is starting to determine if she wants to hack the Cypher System to make it work for Horizon Zero Dawn. If I can compare popular pieces of media to the games that I want to run, I get folks signing up in droves - I’ve advertised Studio Ghibli, Star Wars, Really Gay Teenagers, and Bloodborne to great effect.

[moonchildreads]

small town

Chapter 19 - We Built This City

IN THIS CHAPTER: Finals week, a friendly invitation, and the Hellfire Class of 86' takes a bow [7.6k]

WARNINGS: vague foreshadowing, mentions of fantasy violence? they play dnd, it's not real (again, taking the liberty of making them play 5e because i wasn't about to learn advanced dnd for this when i already play 5e)

A/N: whew! didn't think i'd ever get to finish this one lol. huge HUGE shout out to @gutterratt, who not only is a wonderful friend i was hugging and sharing the same air with just a few days ago, but also my dm (the best dm in the world, don't @ me). this chapter would have been impossible without your guidance, knowledge, and support. thank you for teaching me to dm through eddie. also shout out to brian murphy and NADDPOD for the inspiration for this chapter! check them out on spotify if you like dnd podcasts, they deserve all the love they get. onto the update!

masterlist - prev - next | playlist

We just want to dance here Someone stole the stage They call us irresponsible Write us off the page

Wednesday, May 28th - 1986

Finals week in Hawkins High was going pretty well or terribly wrong depending on who you asked. On Monday, freshman Cindy Jackson had come out of her Geography classroom sobbing, claiming that she had flunked the entire test and her GPA was going to fall drastically below average. Dustin and Mike had simply stepped around her in the hallway and headed to the parking lot to get their bikes without sparing a single thought for her. Eddie couldn’t believe how calm he felt whenever he sat down at his desk and a new test was placed in front of him. By the time Wednesday lunch period was upon them, he had already taken four of his six final exams, Dottie had taken five of her nine, and band practice had been suspended so everyone could study for tomorrow’s new round of tests, or in Eddie’s case, put the finishing touches to their upcoming D&D Friday session.

So far, their plan to stick to each other and not walk around the school alone like sitting ducks for the bullies had been working. Dottie only shared one class with Andy Humphrey, and it seemed that her threat to rat him out to their teacher had worked because no one in the basketball team had bothered them since then. At least, not any more than the usual jeers and disgusted glances they so often directed to her friends in Hellfire. Eddie had been keeping a low profile for the past couple of months, his entire thought process having been claimed by his ever growing crush on a certain short curly-haired girl; his frequent tirades in the cafeteria had been reduced to only one loud proclamation in the hallways every couple of weeks, and to be completely honest, no one cared about him or his unconventional opinions so close to the end of the school year, so him suddenly turning into a wallflower hadn’t really been noteworthy to his peers. Everyone just simply assumed that he was stressed about failing senior year for the third time in a row and left him alone to his devices.

When the group compared schedules on Monday and saw that Dottie was going to be headed to the same lecture as Andy three times that week, it was quickly decided that Donny would be her guardian since his Italian lessons were at the same time she’d be taking AP Spanish in the classroom opposite of his. Dustin and Mike were to be inseparable, and when they had different schedules, Mike was supposed to shadow Nancy as much as he could while Dustin stuck to Jeff on their way to the east wing for their respective classes. Eddie watched over Dottie like a hawk during their shared free periods, going so far as to stand outside the girls’ bathroom while she went about her private business in case any idiot got strange ideas about cornering her in a place where she was supposed to be safe. Ms. Kelly had looked very surprised to see all six boys waiting for Dottie to come out of their latest check-in session; it was strange to see how subdued they had all gotten in recent months and she knew it had everything to do with the sunshine girl that happily linked arms with the freshmen, Dustin excitedly skipping alongside her down the hallway while Mike dragged his feet next to them in protest.

It was, perhaps, that false sense of security that had her approaching the basketball team’s table after students had begun trickling out of the cafeteria, surely headed to their last classes of the day. Donny was supposed to safeguard her on their way to her second AP Spanish class of the week, but he had asked her to please wait for him near the teachers while he excused himself to the bathroom and promptly left her alone. When Dottie realized Andy wasn’t seated at the jock-filled table but one Lucas Sinclair was, she quickly forgot about her friends’ insistent requests to “lay low” until the school year was over and headed towards him without a second thought entering her mind. She stopped right in front of the freshman who eyed her curiously, brows raised in an unspoken question.

“Hi! You’re Lucas, right?” Dottie said, smiling brightly.

“Uh, yeah, I’m Lucas.”

“Nice to meet you! Would you mind giving these to Erica for me, please?” she extended her closed fist towards him and he instinctively held his palm open for her. Two pieces of shiny plastic hit his skin softly; he recognized them as part of his old dice set, the one he assumed had been gathering dust tucked away in his bedroom. “I must have accidentally taken them with me a couple of weeks ago - I would give them to her myself but I won’t see her until Friday and it’d suck if she bought a new set because she thought she lost these.”

“Yeah, that would really suck,” he chuckled uncomfortably, shifting in his seat knowing his new friends were watching the uncommon interaction unfold. “I’ll give them to her for you, don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you so much! Here, for your troubles,” she gave him a pack of Smarties as payment in kind. “See you around!”

“Thanks,” he managed to mutter before she bolted out of the room and into the hallway in search of Donny.

Lucas stared at the candy bag in his hand next to one d20 and one d4 that had belonged to him a couple of months before. They were black with gold numbers that he’d repainted himself with one of Will’s thinnest brushes, trying his hardest to cover the tacky white underneath. He hadn’t opened his D&D box in a while, the hard plastic container hidden away underneath his bed and pushed all the way back until it touched the wall. He’d yell at Erica for touching and stealing his things, but that would have meant admitting that he still cared about the part of him he’d been trying so hard to deny lately and he couldn’t allow himself to fail like that. Lucas was tired of being the bigger man; let his former friends apologize to him for once. Though, as days went on, he was starting to realize that maybe they would never come back at all.

“How do you know that chick?” asked Chance, one of his seniors.

“I don’t,” Lucas replied quickly. “I don’t have classes with her.”

“She’s a senior,” Patrick said. “I’m with her in English. She always sits with that Munson freak.”

“What does she want with you? Who’s Erica?”

“Erica, she’s my little sister. She wanted to return some dice to her, I think they are in a club together, I don’t know,” Lucas said, but he did know. He’d noticed Dottie sitting at lunch with his club members, he’d seen her wearing the same Hellfire shirt he owned, he’d heard Erica talk about her to their Mom. Lucas Sinclair knew exactly who Dorothy Burke was.

“Isn’t your sister like… eight?” Chance laughed.

“Eleven,” the freshman corrected him, but that seemed to peak Jason Carver, the basketball team’s captain’s attention.

“Your little sister is hanging out with those… freaks?” Jason asked, eyebrows bunching together.

“They play board games together, it’s so dumb-”

“She shouldn’t be around them, she’s just a kid. Who knows what they could do to her if… They aren’t good people, they- they could hurt her,” the captain said, tone stern.

“She’ll be fine, they’re just a bunch of nerds-”

“Lucas,” Jason insisted. “You’re a good friend and a good teammate to us. I’m sure you’re a good son to your parents too, but you have to be good to her as well. That’s your duty as her older brother.”

“Yeah, I-” he quickly put away the dice and Smarties in his pocket and nodded. “You’re right, I’ll talk to her about it.”

“You make sure you do that, okay? Take care of her,” the senior said, patting his shoulder in a friendly way and getting up. “Come on, guys, let’s go to class.”

Lucas walked behind his teammates until he reached his classroom and unassumingly disappeared from the group. He took his seat at the back and noticed Mike and Dustin sitting at the front, bickering with one another as usual. Bitterly, he recalled switching seats with the girl who now sat next to Dustin after Spring Break. Jason wasn’t being mean with his warning, he knew that. His captain had siblings too, he knew what being a big brother meant and he extended that same level of protectiveness towards his friends and younger members of the team. Lucas felt grateful that Jason, the current King of Hawkins High, was so willing to look out for not only him, but Erica too, if only because she was related to him. But when Mike snorted loudly at something Dustin had said, he couldn’t help but think that there weren’t people on Earth he would trust more to take care of Erica when he couldn’t watch her than Mike Wheeler and Dustin Henderson. And perhaps Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley too, but they didn’t have to know that, lest their egos got even bigger than they already were.

Friday, May 30th - 1986

The last day of finals week came towards them at neck breaking speed, causing Eddie and Dottie to stick to each other like velcro during the final three hours of the day. During third period, he’d had his Latin exam and she sat with him during every available second prior to it quizzing him on his vocab. After that, they both had had their Calc final, where they sat side by side suffering through it all together. He’d finished before her and quickly returned to his seat, noticing how her nerves seemed to be heightened every time someone got up and was granted permission to head to the cafeteria early. He slipped one of his rings off and slid it across the table until it bumped with her eraser; she smiled, thankful, and put it on her index finger to twirl with her left thumb while she concentrated on the numbers in front of her. After that came lunch and everyone was positively buzzing. Most of the student body had already finished all their exams and there was a sense of freedom in the air, a shared joy that couldn’t enter Dottie’s brain yet as she frantically reviewed her AP Spanish notes for her ninth final exam of the week. One look at her tired, wet eyes after someone had shouted a little bit too loud, and Eddie pulled her out of the room and into the back of his van where she could finally breathe and concentrate on reading her own writing before the bell rang.

After exams were finally over, Eddie headed to the woods to wait for Chrissy who had asked him if she could buy a rather unusual amount of weed considering her casual habits, and Dottie seeked refuge in The Weekly Streak’s newsroom until it was time for Hellfire to begin. She was helping Fred put together a mockup for a story he wanted to present to Nancy the next week when the editor-in-chief herself asked her if she wanted to go to the bathroom. Dottie, being well-versed in girl language, accepted without complaint and followed the blue-eyed girl into the nearest bathroom where she immediately began washing her hands in an attempt to hide the fact that she was so very much nervous about whatever she was about to say.

“Nance? Is everything okay?” Dottie asked, eyeing her carefully.

“Yeah- yes, everything’s okay. I just… I wanted you to know since you were the one that said I should just go for it so… I called Jonathan.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised that she was getting an update on the topic at all.

“We talked and he says he understands that I’m upset. We didn’t break up but we’re going to take a break, officially this time,” Nancy shut off the water tap and stepped to the side to wipe her hands dry with coarse paper towels.

“Well, how do you feel about that?”

“Good, I think. He says he has a job now, and he’ll go full-time for the summer after graduation so he might be able to save up some money to come see me,” she smiled, hope swimming behind her eyes.

“That’s great, Nancy!” Dottie said, giving a big hug to her friend. Nancy went stiff at first but after a second, she breathed out and hugged her back. “I’m so proud of you, I know that was probably a really hard conversation for you both.”

“It was but… I feel better now. I want to trust him again, and we agree that maybe this will help us get there.”

“So you’re still off the market then? Asking for a friend that’s totally not Fred,” Dottie joked, and Nancy let out a girly giggle that surprised the both of them.

“Off the market, and out of his league,” the editor-in-chief said, playfully stern.

“Oh my god, Nance!” she let out a loud snort that sent Nancy into a fit.

It felt good to laugh like this, to shoulder a silly burden together, to foster a new friendship and be vulnerable with one another. Growing up hadn’t been easy for either girl in wildly different ways, but the summer of ‘86 was right ahead of them and promised greener pastures if one could get the courage to take the first step outside. Nancy hadn’t let herself have a friend for so long. It had been easy with Jonathan - shared trauma bonds you like nothing else in the world after all - but it was undeniable that a part of her had died that day when Barb went missing. Even though Dottie wasn’t Barb, Nancy could feel like Nancy again right that moment, in that bathroom, hiding from their nosy journalist-aspiring colleagues and the junior that kept following her around like a lovesick puppy. She felt herself breathe a little bit easier almost a full year after the nightmare that still woke her up in the middle of night, prompting her to double check the guns she had stashed in the topmost part of her closet so her little sister Holly could never find them by accident.

The door to the bathroom opened and a group of cheerleaders came in, fussing over their makeup and hair before practice began. They were chatting excitedly about an upcoming party, and Nancy and Dottie moved aside to let them get access to the mirrors. They were about to leave when another girl pushed the door open in a frenzy; a slightly out of breath Chrissy Cunningham ran inside in haste.

“Where were you?!” shouted Melissa, rounding on her as soon as the door had slammed itself shut.

“I got held up by a teacher, calm down,” Chrissy lied seamlessly, but her glossy eyes were a dead giveaway to anyone that had spent any significant amount of time with the elder Hellfire members. “What are we talking about?”

“Your boyfriend’s party. What are you gonna wear?” Kathleen asked, putting away her lip gloss.

“Are we allowed to go?” Libby asked, eyes hopeful. Standing next to her was another junior tumbler, Valerie, who was downright pouting at their captain.

“Of course you are!” Chrissy said, taking full advantage of the fact that Jason would never complain about her inviting her younger cheerleader friends if she pouted at him a little. “Everyone is invited. Are you two coming too?”

It took a few milliseconds for Dottie to register that Chrissy was talking to Nancy and her, and she only realized because Nancy quickly put on a friendly smile and shook her head, a quick excuse on her lips.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry. I already told my Mom I would babysit my sister. It’s their date night and I’d hate it if they had to cancel,” she said, and Dottie knew she was lying because her eyebrows bunched upwards in the very familiar way they bunched whenever she lied to other people in the school’s newspaper about how great their ideas were.

“Aw, they still go on dates, that’s so cute,” Valerie said, ever the romantic.

“What about you, Dot? Are you coming?” Chrissy asked, ignoring the way her friends looked at her like she was inviting a rabid dog inside for dinner.

“Uh, I- I wasn’t aware there was gonna be a party.”

“It’s tomorrow night at my boyfriend’s house but I’m organizing it so it’s honestly my party,” she giggled, and Dottie swore she’d heard Gareth make that same sound whenever he was high. “We’re saying goodbye to senior year! I just told Eddie you were all invited, you should totally come.”

“You did what?” Melissa asked and Kathleen scoffed.

“It’s our last senior year party. All seniors can come,” Chrissy said in a tone that left no questions to be asked before she turned back to Dottie. “It’s gonna be really fun, we can probably convince Jason to let us play Queen at some point! Please think about it at least? For me?”

“Okay, I’ll- I’ll think about it. For you,” Dottie smiled, and Chrissy grinned.

“We should go now,” Nancy said, interrupting the awkward tension. “Lots of newspaper club things to do.”

“Oh, sure! We’ll see you around!”

Nancy guided Dottie out with a hand on her elbow; Chrissy and Valerie were the only ones that waved them goodbye. Just before the door closed, Melissa snarled “You invited the freaks? What’s wrong with you?” but they never heard what Chrissy replied. They made their way back to the newspaper club’s room in silence, each of them deep in their own thoughts. Nancy realized that she hadn’t been to a party since she’d broken up with Steve, her ex before she’d started dating Jonathan. Had it really been that long? It seemed like it had been ages since the last time Nancy tried to act like she was a normal teenager, like she didn’t need to keep a light on while she slept, scared of the shadows in the corner of her own bedroom. Like she didn’t have sleeping pills issued by a military doctor that she refused to take hidden inside a pair of old sneakers. Nancy would never be the same Nancy she was before November 8th, 1983, but she had to try.

“We should go,” she said, Dottie’s head snapping up from the papers in front of her. “To Chrissy’s party.”

“You wanna go?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“O-okay! I can ask my Dad to take us if you want,” Dottie offered.

“I drive, I can pick you up if you want.”

“Sure, if that’s better for you. Thank you!” the brown eyed girl smiled. “I actually haven’t been to any parties since senior year began.”

“We better make this one count then,” Nancy said, and went back to work with a timid but happy expression on her face.

Dottie tried really hard not to grin, but the thought of not only being invited to her first high school party in Hawkins, but also going with her newest friend and possibly her Hellfire gang made her impossibly giddy. Senior year had certainly sucked royal ass when it began, but it was definitely ending with a bang, not a whimper.

As Eddie ticked final after final on his list, he had allowed himself to think that he would be DMing his last session as the leader of the Hellfire Club that Friday. He had carefully crafted an emotional ending to the adventure they were currently on, and hoped his players would be on board to having a less action packed meeting than usual. They were, after all, not only saying goodbye to him as a leader, but also Jeff, Gareth, Donny, and Dottie. When classes started again in September, Mike and Dustin would be sophomores and the club would be in their hands, new sheep ready to be recruited walking down the hallways of Hawkins High.

The session had started, as usual, with a recap of the previous session's shenanigans. After finding out that their dead mutual friend Orfuel wasn’t, in fact, dead but instead trapped within Shadowfell, the party quickly realized what their next move was: to embark on a journey towards the Forest of Moonstone where Jeff’s character Tharivol had grown up and lived in, all in search for guidance and help of his elders. Orfuel’s partner in crime and girlfriend, Dedlock, had sacrificed him to Mask, the Lord of the Shadows, and was being kept in his divine realm inside Shadowfell - a castle known as the Shadow Keep. Dedlock wanted to rise above the ranks in the church of Mask, and this worthy act of manipulation was going to give her entry into the Circle of the Gray Ribbon, which is where his most loyal priests belonged.

The table was buzzing in excitement as they traveled through Eddie’s carefully crafted world in what would be their last time exploring it. They took their time on their way over to Moonstone, Eddie forcing them into lengthy conversations around a campfire, sharing stories about Orfuel and how they’d become such good friends with him that they were all willing to cross planes of existence to get him back in their lives. They attuned weapons and readied spells, and got a long rest in before the final challenge of the campaign finally arrived. Upon arrival to the Forest of Moonstone, they immediately seeked an audience with the druid that had taught Tharivol everything he knew. The slender elf advised them against their plan; they simply weren’t powerful enough to face the dangers of Shadowfell at this point in time. Instead, he proposed a different alternative.

The next steps were quite easy. They would wait until the new moon, which was, coincidentally, that same night. They’d hold a ritual to open a portal between the planes and bring back Orfuel from the terrible place he had been banished to. The eldest, most powerful cleric from the Circle, a halfling cleric named Portia, would guide them through the ritual, and they’d all have to contribute, each in their own time whenever Eddie prompted them to act. Between conversations and preparations, it was getting late, and so Eddie proposed a little bathroom break before the ritual began, which the boys accepted gratefully, cans of soda littering the table. Dottie inched her chair towards him, voice low like she was about to tell him a secret.

“So,” she began.

“So,” he said, curiosity piqued.

“I talked to Chrissy today and she invited me to a party.”

“Did she now?”

“Nancy and I are going.”

“Oh?” Eddie’s eyebrows rose. “Didn’t know you were interested in that.”

“I’m not but Nancy asked me to and I dunno, it could be fun. Our last senior year party,” Dottie said in a dramatic tone. “You’re going too, right? Chrissy said she invited you and the guys.”

“She did, but I-” he scratched his neck. “I’m gonna be honest with you, darling, I don’t really like those parties very much. I go to them, I sell a few ounces, and then we go to Jeff’s for a movie night.”

“But Chrissy wants us there, she said that all seniors should go. Please, Ed?” she pleaded, eyes rounded with weaponized innocence. “I like hanging out with Nancy but I’d feel so much better about going if I knew you were gonna be there too.”

Eddie sighed. I am so whipped for her and she knows it, he thought before turning to their other friends who were refilling the snack bowls while the freshmen got more sodas.

“Gentlemen!” he called, making Gareth, Jeff, and Donny look at him. “Princess here has a request.”

“What’s up?” Donny asked, sliding into his seat next to hers.

“Nancy and I are going to Chrissy’s party tomorrow night. I want you guys to go with us too,” she said, and the boys instantly laughed.

“Dot, we can’t go to Jason Carver’s house,” Gareth said between chuckles. “He hates us.”

“And also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but no one invites the freaks to parties,” Jeff added.

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. The party is at Carver’s house, yes, but-” Eddie put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a piece of scrap paper with girly writing on it. “-Chrissy Cunningham is planning it. We got an invite this time, fellow weirdos.”

“Chrissy invited you to her party?” Gareth asked in disbelief.

“I believe she invited us all.”

“She did,” Dottie said. “She told me she told Eddie to tell you we were all invited.”

“Those are too many uses of the verb to tell in one sentence,” Donny said, poking fun at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Okay, so, let me get this straight. Chrissy Cunningham, the Uncrowned Queen of Hawkins High, invited all of us to her party? And you’re actually going? With Nancy Wheeler of all people?” Gareth’s eyes were wide open.

“How much of a discount have you been giving her?” Jeff joked, implying something less illegal than simply selling her weed, but also dirtier was going on between them.

“Shut the fuck up,” Eddie threw a ball of paper at his head. “She’s a friend, and she invited Dottie too. In person, not through me.”

“Yeah, Nancy and I ran into her in the bathroom and she told us to come.”

“What is it with girls and bathrooms?” Gareth looked at Donny, the only other one at the table who had sisters. He shrugged in response.

“So? Are we all going? If it sucks we can leave, but I just thought it’d be fun to, y’know, do something different for once,” Dottie said with a hopeful smile.

“Okay, I’m in,” Donny announced.

“Dude!” Jeff and Gareth looked at him like he had betrayed them.

“Oh, come on! It’s now or never, we’re never gonna see these assholes again after graduation. And you know those rich kids always have so much beer at their parties. Are you really gonna say no to free booze?”

“Okay, when you put it like that…,” Gareth conceded. “I’ll go if we all go.”

“Ditto,” said Jeff.

“Guess we’re going to Jason Carver’s house tomorrow night, boys,” Eddie said, reluctantly.

“It’s gonna be awesome, you’ll see,” said Dottie, right as Dustin, Mike, and Erica rejoined the group and settled for the next part of the adventure.

“If everyone’s ready,” Dustin looked around the table at his friends after a lengthy discussion. “-we go to the clearing.”

“You come into the clearing right before midnight and you see everyone sitting on the grass, making a big circle around a huge oak tree. This is where Tharivol’s Circle prays to Silvanus, The Oak Father, the God of Wild Nature. You can feel energy underneath your feet, coming up your legs and into your chest as you approach everyone else. This place is sacred, and the people here are willing to help you rescue your innocent friend. Do not take their kindness for granted,” Eddie narrated, solemn voice ringing through the tension in the room. “Portia is standing next to the base of the tree in beautiful, shiny robes, her long silver hair blowing in the breeze. She beckons you to come closer.”

“We go to her,” Erica said, firmly.

“The old halfling lady instructs you to sit at her feet where the tree’s roots come out of the dirt. She looks at her Circle and begins her speech,” Eddie held his head high as he embodied Portia with a mystic drawl. “Children of Silvanus. We are gathered here tonight to help our very own Tharivol and his allies restore order and balance to where chaos and injustice has spread. Pray with us. Let Silvanus help them return a lost friend home,” in his normal voice, Eddie continued. “Portia turns around and with her staff, she draws a line into the earth where the portal will appear, if, and only if you succeed.”

“Hang on, Portia is opening a portal?” Jeff said, holding in a chuckle.

“Portia the Portal Lady,” Dustin muttered, and Mike next to him snorted loudly.

“You’re killing the fuckin’ mood,” Gareth complained, kicking Jeff who sat opposite him.

“Moving on, please,” Erica rolled her eyes and motioned at Eddie to continue. He bowed his head in acknowledgement and carried on with his narration.

“Portia starts praying loudly in a language you don’t quite understand. At first, you think she might be praying in Elven but you quickly realize she’s praying in Sylvan, the language of the fey,” Eddie said, tense silence falling over the room once again. “Tharivol,” he looked at Jeff. “You recognize a few words and it sounds like she’s requesting access to a kingdom, to a place called Shadowfell. She’s asking the Raven Queen for help in rectifying a wrong that has happened within her realm. I want you all to tell me what you do to help Portia during the ritual.”

“What’s everyone else doing?” asked Jeff.

“They are still sitting in a circle while they pray.”

“I’m gonna pray to Silvanus too then.”

“Go ahead. Let me hear what you say to him.”

“Oh, Silvanus, God of Wild Nature, Old Father Tree,” Jeff began, in character as Tharivol with his head bowed, eyes closed and hands clasped above the table. “Orfuel saved my life once. Let me return the favor. Let me repay the kindness he showed me by righting what is wrong in his name. Let him come home to us. Let him live long and prosper.”

“Damn,” said Gareth under his breath. It was showtime at the Hellfire Club, and everyone was taking it seriously.

“I’m gonna pray to Moradin for assistance,” Erica said as Boldhild. “I’m gonna invoke my Oath, and say: Fight the Greater Evil. No Mercy for the Wicked. By Any Means Necessary. Retribution. I honor these values today, and tomorrow. In your name, Moradin, the All-Father.”

“I’ll pray too,” Dottie joined them as Holly. “I’m going to lay down my quarterstaff, my symbol of Lathander touching the earth, and I’m gonna call out to him for help like they did.”

“You can do better than that, darling,” Eddie crossed his fingers and rested his chin on them. “Show me how you commune with your god.”

“O-okay,” she said, attributing her nerves to the expectation of performing an impromptu prayer in front of everyone and definitely not because of the sultry voice Eddie was talking to her with. She bowed her head and began praying. “Lathander, I come to you as a child of the light to ask you for aid in a time of need. My siblings in arms are asking Silvanus and Moradin to come together and help, but I fear their calls might go unanswered. Morninglord, I beg of you, take pity on us. Take pity on Orfuel, who has been banished to the plane of shadows. Take pity on those who cannot walk in your light like we do every new dawn, and please let us be joyous when the morning comes.”

There was the sense in the room that this wasn’t just a regular end of a campaign. They could feel it in the way Eddie had guided the session so far: minimal combat, heavy on the roleplay, distinctively interested in character growth. He was gearing up to something, and from the looks of it, it was going to be something big. With the understanding of a party that trusts their DM to bring a satisfying story to life, they gave themselves to him freely and wholeheartedly. This wasn’t just the end of an adventure. This was the end of Eddie’s reign as the leader of the Hellfire Club and he deserved a proper farewell.

“I-,” said Mike, gearing up to join his friends in the ritual as Mozikith. “I don’t think I can pray to Asmodeus for help, I mean… Doesn’t really feel right. So I’m gonna give Silvanus an offering instead.”

“What kind of offering do you wish to give him?” asked Eddie.

“Uh, a blood offering? My own blood.”

“No!” cried Jeff. “Offerings to Silvanus can’t be blood sacrifices. You have to destroy something made out of wood or wooden materials and bury it.”

“Okay, well, uh- Do I even own something made out of wood?” Mike wondered aloud as he looked down at his inventory notes.

“You have your staff,” Dustin suggested in a sheepish tone.

“Can… Can I break my staff and still keep my arcane stone?” he looked at his DM.

“I’ll allow it but you can’t cast spells simply holding the stone. You either get a new staff or do something with it, like put it inside a locket,” warned Eddie.

“It’s fine. I won’t need it anymore anyways,” Mike reasoned. “I’m gonna break my staff in two and bury it under where the portal is supposed to be created.”

“Me too,” said Gareth, making Despair join the sacrifice. “I’m gonna add my javelins to his pile.”

“How many?”

“All four of them.”

“Very well,” Eddie smiled. “Anyone else has something they’d like to add?”

“I want to offer something to the Raven Queen in exchange for her to let us through,” said Dustin as Seebo.

“Oh?”

“She collects trinkets, right?”

“That she does, Seebo. What do you have to offer to her?” Eddie leaned forward. “It has to be something interesting, remember, she doesn’t exactly care too much about cheap junk.”

“I want to offer her my father’s ring.”

A few sharp gasps could be heard as Dustin held Eddie’s eyes as if he was challenging him to say no. Everyone at the table knew what that ring meant to Dustin’s character. The heavy brass ring was all he had to remember his parents by after a war had left him and his ten younger siblings as orphans, begging on the streets for a small mercy until Orfuel taught him to run petty scams and pickpocket. At first he’d been reluctant but he had ten mouths to feed and couldn’t afford to pity those who had so much more than he did. Dustin placed a tacky ring he’d gotten at a yard sale in the middle of the table. Trust him to always keep props on his body for D&D related purposes.

“Okay, I’ll take it. Let’s see if she does too,” Eddie accepted his token.

“I’ll offer her a memory,” added Donny as Odorr. “I know she collects those too.”

“Which memory are you offering to the Raven Queen, dearest Odorr?”

“I want to give to her the night I burned down my village. That’s why I was a hermit until Orfuel found me,” he turned to the table to explain. “I was exiled as a kid because I couldn’t control my Wild Magic and set a barn on fire. It spread to the rest of the village so they said I was a danger and casted me out.”

“Shit,” Erica said, impressed that he’d kept his origin secret for so long. “Did you kill someone or what?”

“No, but I hurt a lot of people. It’s in the past now.”

“I’m sorry you went through that,” Dottie told him sincerely. Odorr had been her first friend on the campaign, and she cared for him like he was a real person. Donny squeezed her hand as a thank you.

“Okay, are we ready to proceed? Good. Since everyone has played their part in the ritual, I’ll explain how this is going to work,” Eddie brought them back to the game. “I’m gonna ask Tharivol to make an Arcana check, with advantage. To that you’re gonna add 1d6 of Inspiration for each member of your party, so that’s 6d6.”

“Can I roll Religion instead of Arcana? Since I’m praying to Silvanus,” Jeff bargained.

“Sure. Roll in front of everyone.”

Jeff grabbed 2d20 and breathed deeply, calming his nerves. He shook the dice in his hands, letting them fall to the tabletop, the two green and gold flecked pieces of plastic glinting in the moody lighting Eddie had set for the evening.

“18 and 19,” he announced.

“I’m guessing we’re starting with 19. Mozikith, if you will,” Eddie prompted Mike to start the inspiration dice rolls.

“Wait!” Dottie interrupted. “I want to cast Guidance on Tharivol.”

“Remind me again what that does, princess?”

“You touch one willing creature. Once before the spell ends, the target can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to one ability check of its choice. It can roll the die before or after making the ability check. The spell then ends,” she read with a smile. “You told me the other day that I always use the same two cantrips so I’m using a new one today.”

“I need to stop teaching you things if you’re gonna use them against me,” Eddie grumbled, but deep down was proud that she listened to his advice so intently. “Fine, Tharivol, add a d4.”

“Thank you,” Jeff said to Dottie and rolled. “2.”

“We’re at 21. Mozikith, please.”

“Shit,” Mike said. “That’s a 2.”

“We’re at 23. Seebo, your turn.”

“Fuck. Sorry guys, that’s gonna be a one,” Dustin mumbled angrily.

“Tough start. We’re at 24. Boldhild?”

“Four!” Erica cheered.

“We go up to 28! Despair, you go.”

“Please, please, please,” Gareth whispered. “SIX!”

“34! Odorr’s turn now.”

“Fuck yeah! That’s a six!” Donny punched the air excitedly. Everyone started becoming antsy but hopeful.

“We’re at 38. Holly, please.”

“Four?” Dottie said, timidly.

“That brings us to 42. Everyone in the clearing starts humming as Portia continues praying. Seebo, the ring in your hand begins burning until you can’t stand the heat anymore and drop it. It sinks into the earth beneath you as a gash appears where the line in the dirt was drawn,” Eddie began describing, his players waiting with bated breaths for confirmation of their success. “Tharivol, you feel a surge of magic from deep inside you, like a gentle warmth crawling up from your feet all the way up and into your chest. You see the oak tree begins glowing in the moonlight.”

“Holy shit,” Jeff said.

“The ground beneath you begins to shake and suddenly, Odorr, you feel a piercing pain in your head, like a needle pushing right in the middle of your forehead between your tiny horns. You fall to your knees in agony and see that the gash begins opening more, revealing fog on the other side.

“It’s working!” Dustin cried, and Mike shushed him immediately.

“Holly, you see your Lathander holy symbols begin to shine. First, it’s the one attached to your staff. Then, your armlet. It feels warm, like sunshine seeping into your skin on a cool day. The gash keeps opening and opening until it becomes a shadowy circle right in front of you. The pain in Odorr’s head stops,” Eddie said theatrically, making a pause for dramatic effect. “The DC you had to beat… was 40.”

“WE DID IT!” Erica screeched, and everyone began yelling at the same time.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, you piece of shit!” Donny yelled.

“Fuck, that was close,” moaned Dustin, bracing himself against the table, tension finally leaving his body.

“Congratulations, adventurers. You’ve just opened a portal to Shadowfell,” Eddie laughed, throwing his head back.

“Do we go in now? How does this work?” Dottie asked, wanting to continue the story.

“You have to speak the name of a creature and they’ll be sucked in through the portal towards your plane.”

“What was Orfuel’s last name?” Gareth looked at Jeff.

“Evensorrow,” said Mike.

“We call for Orfuel Evensorrow to come back to the material plane,” Jeff said, back in action.

“You see a shadow moving behind the fog, it seems like it’s fighting back the tendrils. Call out to him again, all of you,” Eddie instructed.

“Orfuel! Orfuel!” everyone began chanting. “Orfuel, it’s us! Stop fighting back!”

“The creature becomes prone when it hears your voices and lets itself be dragged into the material plane. A dirty human man lays at your feet, gasping for air after the shadowy vines retreat. Portia loses strength and the portal closes itself, severing the connection to Shadowfell.”

“I catch her before she falls,” Mike said quickly.

“Thank you, dearie,” Eddie said in a pitiful voice that belonged to an old frail lady. He continued in his normal voice. “Portia is okay, she just needs to rest.”

“We go to help Orfuel then,” Gareth looked at his friends, who nodded in agreement.

“Orfuel is a shell of the man you all used to know. His hair is long and matted, his beard is graying at the edges. He has dark circles under his eyes and looks like he hasn’t had a drink of water in days. He tries to speak, but his voice doesn’t come out.”

“I give him my water bottle,” Erica said.

“He drinks half of your waterskin in a rush and now that he feels better he looks at everyone surrounding him with fearful eyes,” Eddie began trembling, like it took a toll on his body to even utter a single syllable. “He’s coming. We have to- we have to hide. He’s coming.”

“Mask’s coming?” Donny asked.

“Mask’s just a pawn,” Eddie scoffed. “Orcus is coming.”

“Who’s Orcus?” Dottie looked around the table.

“The Lord of the Undead,” Dustin said, wary. “He’s the master of the undead that live in The Abyss. He wants to exterminate all life on every plane of existence until only his undead soldiers remain.”

“Wait, what do you mean Orcus is coming?” Erica asked Eddie, but really, it was Boldhild asking Orfuel.

“Mask knows Orcus hates the Raven Queen, so they made a deal. Mask kills the Raven Queen, and he becomes the keeper of Shadowfell for Orcus. Dedlock gave me up as a sacrifice to grow Mask’s power.”

“Shit. What do we do now?” Donny asked everyone else in the room.

“We fight back,” Dustin said, like it was obvious. “First we go for Dedlock and the Circle of the Gray Ribbon. Then we go for Mask.”

“And then…,” Mike mused. “We go into The Abyss.”

“And that’s where we’ll end our session,” Eddie said, and everyone groaned in protest.

“What the fuck, man?!”

“You said this session was the last one!”

“That’s such a non-ending, what is wrong with you?”

Eddie laughed and looked at his friends who kept begging him for more. More stories, more adventures, more guidance. They weren’t asking for entertainment. They were looking for more friendship. He moved to lower down his DM screen and hauled his prop box onto the table. Everyone stared at him curiously, wondering what trick he was gonna pull out of his metaphorical hat next. He simply reached in and grabbed two pins, putting them on the table: one said Chapter Leader, and the other said Dungeon Master. He’d had the first one for three years, and the second one for longer. He looked up at his club members with shiny eyes, and Dottie thought he’d never looked more at peace than in that moment.

“As you all know, my beloved sheep, I’m hoping I finally get to graduate this year. I don’t know if I am just yet, but in any case, this is my last session as Hellfire’s very own DM and leader. There’s more story to tell in this campaign, but I won’t be doing it here, on this throne, in this props room that always smells a little bit like glue,” he smiled when everyone huffed in agreement. “We’re going to take a break from this adventure until Dustin comes back from his nerd camp for geniuses-”

“Hey!” Dustin protested, but he looked proudly at Eddie while he did it.

“If you still want to find out what happens next after all that, I’ll be more than pleased to keep the action going outside of school grounds. But! A king shouldn’t rule over their kingdom forever, and it’s time for me to pass the crown onto the next generation. Wheeler, Henderson, please,” he motioned to the side. The freshmen followed him a few steps away from the table where Eddie dropped to one knee and bowed regally. “Michael Wheeler, you are Hellfire’s new Dungeon Master. I trust that the tales you tell will always be as grand as Mike the Magnificent was under my reign.”

“Woah,” Mike said when Eddie presented the Dungeon Master pin to him. “Eddie, this is- thanks, man.”

“Dustin Henderson,” Eddie continued, looking into the hopeful eyes of the kid he so very much admired. “The crown is too heavy for one man to wear alone, so I am choosing you to be the next Chapter Leader of the Hellfire Club. May you be as brave as Dustin the Daring was when he was under my wing.”

“I-” Dustin managed to get out before he launched himself across the floor and tackled Eddie into a tight hug.

“I won’t disappoint you, Eddie, I swear to god-”

But there was no need for him to promise anything, because Eddie knew that Hellfire was in safe hands with the two boys that had gone from looking at him like he was their Lord and Savior to simply calling him a friend. And as Eddie said goodbye to his time in high school, he was so grateful that even if he hadn’t learned a single thing valuable within those walls, he had come out of it with a group of people that he could always count on when life got too rough to handle on his own.

taglist (comment below or shoot me a dm if you want to be added!): @munsonology @kurdtbean

[britcision]

On today’s episode of “Ryoko Kui should totally come play dnd with me she’d fit right in at our table” lemme tell you about the bard

Our bard’s a tiefling, with a little fey heritage from his mom’s side and a little aasimar heritage on his mama’s side

All this mechanically means for him is that he’s resistant to radiant rather than fire damage and his Primal Savagery does radiant damage rather than acid damage

Storywise, it’s a little more of a problem because it physically makes him shiny… and per consultation with the rest of the party after 4 years of playing, he now has a mild compulsion effect from the fey side

Cuz when people see him, they want him

How they want him depends on the person, but the party pretty much unanimously looked at this sweet little sunshine child with a DEX modifier of -4 and decided they’d die for him within a couple sessions, which was funny enough it became the effect

(Not only were our edgelords who decided they were gonna be standoffish lone wolves who didn’t bond with anyone not immune, he fucking got them both first before moving on to the others)

He has no control over this effect nor any say on how it affects people, because that wouldn’t be as much fun

It also led to him being kidnapped and kept as a pet for 11 years by Evil Art Forger Tony Stark, because wanting to keep someone does not mean you see them as a person in any way shape or form

(Coincidentally, he was 11 at time of kidnapping)

(No One was pleased to learn that the sweet happy bard also actually does have a tragic backstory)

(They were less pleased to discover that he himself does not believe he has a tragic backstory, he still likes Evil Art Forger Tony Stark and thinks he’s great)

(Wait until they find out it even includes more annihilated towns than theirs we’re at 5/7 party members - almost better numbers than the Dad Box)

So our bard is a bit of a dichotomy; on the one hand, he has Party Mode, which is when Evil Art Forger Tony Stark wanted to show off his pretty shiny little tiefling pet to his evil crime friends

The bard was also promptly adopted by the escort’s guild in-game, so unbeknownst to him until about a week ago he had official membership and status in the most prominent entertainer’s union in the land; this will be functionally useless for everything except border checks and Lying To Authority

(He’s a bard his persuasion was already there)

He’s a well known little escort, all perfect grace and poise and refined manners

On the other hand, he has All Of The Rest Of The Time, when he’s a feral little bastard gremlin who WILL bite anyone he can get his teeth into and will jump off a moving horse with a -4 DEX penalty if he thinks he saw a snake

(His passive perception is 26 and he’s planning to bump it because he doesn’t think I deserve nice things like surprising the party)

Oh, and he doesn’t believe yuan-ti are real snake people because his tiny autistic ass is 10000% hyper-fixated on snakes for not having legs, and there’s a yuan-ti pureblood in the escort union who only pulls the tail out for stabbing purposes

(She’s aware he believes this and has been deliberately not showing him because she thinks it’s funny. She’s right)

All of this brought to you by tonight’s revelation that he’d get along like a fucking house on fire with the Canaries

Mithrun may well be the only person not blood-related to him that’d be immune to his compulsion effect, but far more importantly, Mithrun and Fleki both deserve to just haul off and bite people more and he’d encourage them wholeheartedly

But far more importantly, their interactions would probably go something like this:

Everyone else: oh man I bet that shiny little guy’s not gonna get along with the captain, he’s all bright and cheery and the captain’s gonna ignore him cuz he doesn’t care about anything but dungeons

Virtue and Mithrun in the corner:

Virtue: hey wanna sit for six hours and I can tell you about snakes

Mithrun: sure. I fucked a snake once

Virtue: ………. Okay I lied you’re going first but if they had legs it doesn’t count

Mithrun: nah there were no legs my lover in my dungeon was snake from the waist down. Probably a naga

*detailed monsterfucking explanation likely follows*

[bellaphomet3]

I got an important question. How fucked up can dnd get? Like gimme a rough estimation

Depends on the group. Most people who play frequently encourage having a “session 0” to both plan out character backstory, build connections between other characters, establish expectations, and create limits on what you aren’t comfortable with. People can make a horribly fucked up grimdark campaign where everyone you meet and all your characters die brutally and horribly all the time and it’s explained in graphic detail, or it can be fairly lighthearted and silly, it can be anything in between.

The only answer I can give is to ask your dm how fucked up *your* campaign will be and to establish limits on what you are and aren’t comfortable with. It can be very general stuff like “no super graphic death scenes” or “no sexual stuff” to very specific stuff like “I’m not comfortable with stuff like characters chipping and losing teeth”

[dungeonsandkobolds]

So- Uhm hi! So so sorry if this is a bother, but I noticed you answered some questions about DnD, and me and my siblings have been trying to get into playing.

We decided I'd be the DM, and I've been doing a fair bit of research. I was wondering if you had any tips for a beginer DM? I just really want to make sure I do a good job! Of course feel free to ignore me! I don't want to be a bother!

Have an amazing day/night!

Omg so sorry it's taken me forever to answer this but I do have a few top tips (and also I tag a lot of helpful things as 'DM resource', 'DM tips', 'DM advice', or 'Dungeon Master' on my blog)

Tips are:

Being a DM is like any performance - no one knows how it's meant to go except you. Don't stress if things go to plan, if you go with whatever's happening it often ends up being more fun. And if you're a bit flexible, no one will be able to tell that things went off plan in the first place

Have a session 0 where you establish expectations and build characters - doesn't matter how well you think you know each other, this is always helpful. Also establish a safe method people can provide feedback/raise concerns with you

In the session 0 also establish that you want them to tell you what things went well lol - this helps you cater to what everyone wants but also combats something I think is commonly termed like 'DM drop' or something (where you're flying high during a session then get mad anxiety afterwards)

Don't feel pressured to do things like any DnD podcast/show!!! People like Matt Mercer and Brennan Lee Mulligan are literally paid to DM! They have way more time, experience and support that you do! I even disagree with how they rule things from time to time. DM for you and your table - you'll find your own DM style in time

It takes a while to get a hang of things - and that's fine. I only really fully hit my stride with my current group last year (we've been playing since 2017 or 2019 depending on how you're counting)

Start simple!! Do something fun and silly for the first session. You can get imaginative later, make things easy on yourself

Anyway I hope this is helpful! Feel free to ask more questions for sure! DM-ing is fun and I love it haha

[lethesbeastie]

GRAHH OK WHATS MONSTER HUNTERS CLUB IM SO INTERESTED

HYPERFIXATION ACTIVATED—

Ahem I can be So Normal About MHC I swear I swear I'm So Normal—

To answer your question, Monster Hunters Club is a homebrewed campaign based on dnd 5e run by my friend @llcursed-imagell that I've been hyperfixated on for roughly 3(?) Years alfhskfjslfjs!!! It's an urban fantasy meets american gothic storyline following a group of kids in a small West Virginia town as they get pulled into an interdimensional plot that threatens their home.

<<< some of the original artwork I did a year ago when everything started akfhskfjs

The original campaign ran for 9 sessions, and I've got roughly 43 ½ hours of audio recorded from them, but due to personal issues the beta campaign was cut short. However, the dm and remaining players still adore the world and characters, so we're planning on reviving it to do an official podcast/multimedia series when everyone is in a safe financial place to do so! In the meantime, I've been doing copious amounts of research into everything from Appalachian folklore to homelessness among queer youth in order to properly flesh out a compelling narrative backstory for my player character, and have been actively working on setting up fully fledged concept art/character designs/comic scripts/etc so when we're ready to start production most of the artistic work is already in progress.

<<< Some of my more recent sketches working on making sure designs are recognizable and distinct

In MHC I play Chorus, a young bard who settled in the small town of New Haven after being homeless for two years. There's honestly So Much I could say about them, but for now I'll leave it at this: Chorus' greatest desire is to reunite with their sister, Artemis, who disappeared from their hometown after a mysterious creature began haunting the woods. They're determined to bring her home safely or die trying.

Monster Hunters Club has been an absolute joy to work on with my friends, and I'm incredibly grateful for the patience of my dm whose been subjected to paragraphs of character thoughts on a nearly daily basis for 3 years akfhskfhsd. I'm really hoping that I'll eventually be able to start producing comics to introduce the characters and world before the campaign gets started, but it'll depend on college/finances/life in general. In the meantime, I'll just keep drawing shitposts, writing music, and making 24 hour long character playlists akfhskfjsk

[dare-to-dm]

I know you've given some session zero advice before but:

I'm hanging out with some friends in a couple days and wanna float the idea of a new DND (5e) campaign. It wouldn't be long enough to do a proper session zero. Do I tell them enough about the campaign idea/tone then, or do I wait until we hang out again in a couple weeks to do a full session zero?

It depends on the experience level of your players and how intricate you plan for your campaign to be. I would say that it'll probably be fine to do a quick and dirty session 0 if you're not expecting players to have thorough and coordinated backstories. 5E character creation doesn't take that long from a mechanical standpoint for experienced players. If you've got any kind of group chat going on, people can also do some prep work through that.

That being said, if you do want your players to coordinate their backstories and/or if some of them are going to require assistance with actually building the character, then it might be better to wait until you can have a proper session together. One danger of giving people just the elevator pitch and then starting up properly weeks later is they might fall in love with a character concept that just doesn't work.

Here are the things I like to cover during a session 0:

General tone/genre of the campaign (if you're using a published setting, let them know which one. Otherwise, give them any background lore they need to know)

Guidelines for character creation (what level they'll be, how you want them to do stat generation/equipment, if there are any prohibited races/classes, what kind of homebrew will be allowed if any, etc.)

Coordination of PC backstories (Should their characters know each other prior to the beginning of the adventure or will they be starting as strangers? Also a good chance to make sure there's a good party composition. If you want your players to come up with a specific hook for why their character is in this situation, let them know)

Any house-rules you'll be using that depart from the standard published guidelines, unless your friends are already familiar with the deviations you like to use.

When/how often you want to run the game and how you plan on handling absences

Thanks for the question and good luck!

[scribefindegil]

hello I am also accursed and what I do is I have a lil notbook and pencil in my bed to write dnd notes for, like it operates on the same tiny hand thing to do that the eep triangles do i think? I also have an audio recorder app on my phone to talk out my ideas and stuff. I know that's not helpful as much for like. PLAYING and RUNNING a ttrpg but I'm like. Hi I Feel Your Pain here is what I do for mine. I was in one of the groups of your gnome "raise the bread raise the dead" oneshot and that was a lot of fun but I Also don't have the energy nowadays to do stuff like that.

i just woke up so hopefully this makes sense I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and that the shit hits the fan Less

Thanks for the message; I hope you have a good day too! Oh sourdough necromancy oneshot, you were such a good time . . .

But yeah, the real big problem is that while there are some things you can do to make planning stages a lot more curse-friendly and modular, to actually play D&D you need to be able to think and talk and pay attention consistently for multiple hours. I've been able to play in a game my friend's running for the past few months, but barely. We have short sessions and I spend large chunks of them lying on the floor with my eyes closed; I really struggle to keep track of my character's abilities; I don't talk much and am completely dependent on the other party members to keep track of what we've learned and put the plot stuff together . . . It's fun and I'm glad I'm doing it! But I'm still not really . . . *there* a lot of the time.

And DMing took SO much energy even before I got sick :( It's extremely cognitively demanding and you have to keep so much information in your head and make decisions in real time. And also you have to, like, talk, which is already more than I can manage a good chunk of the time. It SUCKS and it makes me so so so sad, but I just can't see any way of making DMing accessible to me with my fatigue at the level it's been for the past two years.

[syntheticmortal]

Dungeon World One Shots! Looking for players!!

Pitch

PCs are part of a demon hunting group in a 'swords and elves' fantasy setting – think Grey Wardens from Dragon Age. You're sent out when an incursion happens to fight back monsters and save folk. Tone is meant to be explicitly heroic. Each session is one mission, each session is maybe 3-4 hours long (but I'm kinda winging it!). All one shots exist in the same setting, but that's mostly so I can share improv work, there's no overarching plot.

I'd love to run, like, 2-4 of these depending on how many people we can wrangle – but also if we only get a single party I'd happily run more than one for them! ^^

When is it going to be?

I'm thinking Fridays or Saturdays, maybe starting at 4pm EST – starting time is flexible though! – but also if there's like 4 of you that want to do it, say, on a Tuesday, we can make that work ^^ Definitely can't do Sundays or Thursdays at this time though

I've never played Dungeon World before~!/What do I need to bring~?

Dungeon World is a simple Powered by the Apocalyse game – i.e. dice mechanics revolve around rolling 2d6 dice, and adding a stat modifier to the result. 6 and below is a miss, 7-9 gets you what you want, more or less, and 10+ gets you what you want!

For those that may only be familiar with DnD, it does not use a turn based system of combat, instead making it more freeflow like other actions. As many people I know on here play games like VTM V5 you'll have a fine time feeling out the flow I imagine.

This game will be hosted on discord (and will probably put everyone in the same server) so have a good enough internet connection for that – and in theory I have a working dice bot for this but sometimes it goes offline so having at least 2d6 dice around as backup would be useful!

Session Zero/Safety Measure

Trying to look after my players, and be looked after in turn, is important to me. Especially with a bunch of people I've never played with, and who haven't played with me.

Session Zero will be held informally over Discord chat with the help of an old consent form as a reference point for things to discuss. A break in the middle will be provided – but more breaks can be planned in advance.

Obviously there will be violence, possibly even against children and animals, but nothing in the way of sexual assault.

I ask that Players only bring, say, a sentence or two of backstory for their character. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs are our fantasy races. Unless you want something else in which case just ask!

How do I apply?

Send me a DM! I'll add a reblog on the post when I'm done looking - probably after a week, maybe sooner if there's a flood of people like there was for my VTM game a year ago. You're also free to ask questions! ^^

[rivvytrick]



well. i got to play goodbye volcano high, in full. one ending, anyway.

i liked its dialogue system carrying forward disco elysium's ideas of having all three options be representative of your characters thoughts, with static, button prompts you have to hold to work up the courage to say some, some that'll lock themselves out as you hover over them or change into something else. its very fun and its utilized in a good way to sell your character. thats probably the one thing i enjoy.

spoilers below.

goodbye volcano high is a cartoon network show. something so incestuous about what it is, and what its obviously cribbing from and what it wants to be, despite no real way of knowing what that Glue is that holds things together. conversations are speeches thrown at each other to faint melancholic guitar chords from start to finish, words that trail off in ways that only allude to themselves and feel as if they hold no greater meaning outside of their immediate conclusion. things are made to be screencapped, but it doesnt come to you with any sort of wisdom meant to be passed on, with characters who have obvious arcs of plans being torn apart by way of the cataclysm that will end their lives, but for who many never learned to find stability with life to begin with to earn that upheaval.

the main character, fang, is someone who begins the game in transparent reminiscence to get the audience all pumped up and sentimental for that good old Senior Year feels, and is afraid of growing up and what that entails before the news of the apocalypse hits. they have one dream, and its a knowing fault that gets confronted eventually enough: to win the battle of the bands and Make It Big, playing a hit song for crowds with their best friends. its a dream thats intentionally immature, and i can't tell if its meant to be charming in how it can be irritating that even in their moments of connecting with the world around them, things are framed around said dream, a dream that isn't fleshed out. the sheer mention of college throws anxiety at them, with a family thats less than accepting of their identity, and friends moving away or drifting into interests of their own and becoming more whole people as they reach adulthood. these are the classic coming-of-age knots that take more than what the games approach to character writing can untangle as is, but the meteor plot point... makes it not matter. high school never ends for Fang. but worse is it never even really began.

Most characters are here to reinforce that "life comes at you fast, and the futures not set in stone" theme, but with not enough to truly make it worth it. Fang's brother learns to live his own life outside of parental expectations with one big Blowing Up scene from Fang over their band posters around school he took down, but with not enough to show him even beginning such. his role remains the dependable one, and the one who tells Fang to slow down. Trish's is a story about your passions leading you to a double life between friendship rituals and togetherness and individual pursuits and identity, with the game spent with her feeling meekly distant and flighty, landing only at the eleventh hour with a "im still going to be me, and we're still going to be us" speech with Fang. it wants to be touching but this character has not gone anywhere, a character arc as complete as the sentence "I am." you sure are. what now?

Reed I...genuinely dont even remember what his deal was. His worry over the meteor seeps into everything in his life down to his dnd sessions. sad!

Naomi is probably the one with the most going on, but this might be biased because I think she's very cute in a way that the rest of the cast tries to nail but fails to outside of Rosa. I'm a sucker for student presidents who Try Their Best, and works the most well with the greater plot as she realizes shes spent her life waiting and plotting for a perfect life that will never come. theres good ideas, not fully captured here but still, about the pressure of highschool, society, and her wants of a life where she has control over her destiny, with the moments (or well moment, with her texting Fang of her longstanding crush under an alias near the beginning of the game) she's most rewarded for involving her seizing the moment and accepting her anxiety. She has swings and roundabouts! It's not just an immediate fixing! She loses her shit at the cast during the final chapters, after years of repressing her desire to have her way with the world and her life, with chapters of her almost being pushed to the side and barely being present for the sake of everyone elses internal struggles, calling out Fang for their wishy-washiness in a good ironic turnaround, confronting the fact that she won't get the life she wants and still feeling cheated over it. It rushes itself to the end afterwards, but its idea is solid, and its a decently interesting concept to put this character archetype through, after the common conception of these characters being spiteful and shallow to have them turn out to be just someone nice. Plus the dinosaur thing comes together for her design in a way where its both recognizable shes a dinosaur and also still has character in a way that is appealing, rather than the rudimentary feeling the others have, with boxy silhouettes that dont work well for their personalities that don't animate well and generally carry nothing unique outside of big design Gimmicks like horns or frills. big fan, id kiss her snout and pet her horn...thing.

either way, like i said it doesnt matter. its a game about time and a lack of it, with a meteor that cuts off every character arc right before theyre able to become the people they want to be, without us getting the time to see the people they were before, for a game that crawled out from under development hell, and yet without the time to finish so many of the scenes it clearly had planned. but it doesn't matter. that's its moral. high school is something that sucks, in a world that sucks, and you wont find the closure you'll want but when its over, thank god, it'll be over. with that, this game is too.

best of luck to KO_OP, for finding a way to spite the god that clearly didnt want this to exist, and i hope theyre able to laugh and look back at this as the awkward chapter itll end up being in their history that haunts them no longer.

[sammmyy223]

I run a shit post dnd game. The players and I refer to it by one of two names. Weednd or The Brewicide Squad. The players and I get inebriated before and during each sessions.

This is the information I provided to the players when we were planning on starting the game. The hook so to speak. There are also the 4 unique feats you can choose depending on where you are from.

Brethea is a land of wonders and holds many a great deal of things. The land is ruled over by 4 major factions

The Weed Wizards-

One more Rip- once per long sesh user pulls out a spell rolled joint and can cast any first level spell

The Miller High Mages-

Feat: Gods Drunkest Driver- once per long sesh the user down a teener and spawn a set of car keys. The car keys are a magical item when used that summons a magical car that will take you where you need to go,

The Pack Priests of Stanktopia-

Herbal Remedies- one per long user can heal the party 1d8 as they share a medicinal blunt. The healing power increases by 1d8 at level 6, 10, 14, 18

The Wocky Warlocks-

Double Cup Alchemy- one per long sesh the player may roll a d20 in order to generate a double cup potion.

Brethea a land of rich and deep lore, built upon the ashes of many a sesh amongst the leaders of the four groups.

One day a black spot opened in between the four kingdoms and since then evil has been plaguing the land, trying to claim the holy relics of the kingdoms to resurrect an evil demon.

The four great rulers of the nation, Franko Skunkberry of Stanktopia, Yung King of Wocky, Flooberus Bobsnarl Jr. of the Miller lands, and Quincavius Diesalbrau of the wizards have come to an agreement that shall recruit aspiring heroes of their nation and pair them in teams of adventurers to stop the forces of evil. You are a team of those heroes. Your goal is to get as much information you can on the upcoming evil and potentially put a stop to it!

Short sesh, or long sesh instead of short or long rest.

I also wanted to share the current list of side quests I have for the players

Side Quests

Trivia with Tim-

Vietnam

Guppy’s MTV Crypt Episode

The fat king and the praising staff- you have to compliment the king or get put to death

Zoober Zone- a multidimensional plane of existence where the Hashtral Projectionists hang out

Minecraft ravine exploration

The fermented lake and the micks chosen select ultra can that whoever brings it up from and drinks it, becomes the king of beertopia. Beertopia is like el dorado of beer.

Devil fruit sesh

Chaos Sparkplugs

Metro 42033

Killing the Council

[berenwrites]

Beyond the Battle - Chapter 24 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Beyond the Battle­: Action & Consequence

This was supposed to be posted last night, but I got distracted with helping to put together a new exercise bike, sorry 💜.

Click here for All Posted Chapters

Summary: Steve hits things with a bat or gets hit depending on who you ask. He definitely does not have anything to do with the psychic stuff. That is El’s domain. However, as Vecna is defeated, the rules change.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Other Relationships: Steve & Robin, Steve & Dustin, Eddie & Dustin

Rating: Teen

A/N: Multi-chapter story, updated regularly. Honestly not sure how many chapters it will have yet because it's still a bit hand wavy in the middle, but definitely more than 12. Thank you to my beta for find my mistakes and to all those who read/like/reblog.💖 Follow #st:beyond-the-battle for updates.

Also on AO3

Chapter 24.    Momentous

Hopper had looked kind of constipated when Steve mentioned inviting Eddie’s bandmates and fellow Hellfire members over for a DnD campaign. He could understand the reaction, after all, it was a risk, but once he’d explained how close the three were to Eddie, and that they still thought he was most likely dead, Hopper had started to come around. The fact Will and El were also on board definitely helped.

Also, that they had a plan was clearly a plus in the right column too.

Eddie had declared that he needed another full day to finalise the one-shot, so it was decided the afternoon of the day after that was as good a date as any. The way Eddie was bouncing up and down like an over excited puppy, might also had swayed Hopper in signing off on the whole idea.

After some discussions via the walkies, Dustin, Lucas and Mike readily agreed it was a great idea, while Erica thought it had a little merit. The boys all agreed to take one of Eddie’s friends each to invite them to the session in Eddie’s honour. They were pretending Will was going to DM.

For his part, Steve began to plan what snacks he needed to stock up on. Luckily, dealing with the kids had him well versed in how much teenagers could eat. He created a list accordingly and spent a good percentage of the spare day grocery shopping and making sure his house was ready with help from Robin. The rest of the day he spent with El and Will.

Hence the morning of the big day dawned bright and clear, and Steve woke up alone in his bed. If he was honest, he was disappointed, he enjoyed waking up cuddled to Eddie. Although he often pretended differently, Steve was never quite sure about cuddling in bed when it came to sleeping. He liked cuddling, loved it actually, but he was hideously aware lots of people liked their space when trying to sleep. So, he never liked to push.

With Eddie it was impossible not to realise that given the chance, Eddie was an octopus. It was becoming almost routine for them to start off the night spooned together. Eddie liked to be the little spoon. Once they were asleep, all bets were off. Steve was getting frighteningly used to waking up with Eddie sprawled across him in some way. He revelled in it, if he was honest. That Eddie was not there this morning made him pout. Not that he was ever admitting that.

Falling out of bed, he used the bathroom as quickly as possible. He had to shower because any thought of doing so the previous evening had been quashed by falling asleep on the couch while Eddie finished his campaign planning. It had been two in the morning when Eddie had woken him to drag him to bed.

As soon as he was dressed, he headed downstairs and was very much not surprised to find Eddie pouring over his notes. He walked over and took a quick look over his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Morning,” he said, bending down to place a quick peck on Eddie’s cheek.

Eddie turned and gave him a smile before almost immediately getting sucked back by his notebook.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty,” Steve said, smiling to himself and almost certain Eddie didn’t hear a word. “I’m going to make breakfast.”

He knew Eddie was overcompensating because he was nervous about the afternoon, and he could totally understand that. If it helped Eddie deal with what had to be a lot of emotions, Steve would support it all the way. He simply took it upon himself to make sure Eddie was fed and hydrated.

Walking into the kitchen, he found Wayne, again. It was becoming a thing.

“Morning,” he greeted.

“Morning,” Wayne replied. “You get more than a grunt out of my nephew?”

“Nope,” he said with a smile, “I was hoping to lure him with French Toast.”

“That could work,” Wayne replied, looking at his paper while sipping coffee. “Always was his favourite.”

“I noticed,” Steve said as he started on the breakfast. “I’ve never seen anyone eat so many slices. Can I interest you in some fried goodness?”

“Thanks, but I already ate,” Wayne replied. “Just finishing my coffee and then I’m for bed.”

They’d explained the whole plan to Wayne the previous day before Eddie’s uncle headed off to work, so he was aware the house was going to be invaded. Wayne had even mentioned getting up earlier than usual so he could see Eddie in his element. Apparently, it wasn’t something Wayne got to witness very often, and he seemed to be looking forward to it.

“Do you need anything? Fresh towels? An extra pillow?” Steve asked as he broke eggs into a bowl.

“Don’t think another pillow would fit on the bed to be honest,” Wayne replied and there was a small smile playing at the man’s lips when Steve glanced over.

“Yeah,” he agreed with a smile of his own. “My mom does have a thing for pillows. The only person I’ve ever seen use them all is Robin. Not sure how she didn’t suffocate, actually.”

He scored himself a point in his mental tally when Wayne gave a short bark of a laugh. It may only have been a few days, but he hoped Wayne was warming to him. The man was gruff and said very little a lot of the time, but Eddie had assured him that Wayne liked him. Steve still wasn’t quite sure how to read Wayne, so needed some convincing.

“Good way to go,” Wayne commented. “Can’t say as I ever slept on something my back liked more.”

“Glad you’re comfortable,” he replied, not sure what else to say without coming off as a rich kid who had no clue about people in a different tax bracket. “Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Steve,” Wayne said after a moment, and he turned to find the man had stood up from the table and was just behind him, “you already done more than I could have asked. If I’m honest, I was wary when you showed up at my hotel with the Henderson kid. Eddie has had a few choice things to say about you in the past.”

“Probably deserved at least half of them,” he said with a slight smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

Wayne’s lips did twitch a little again.

“Maybe, maybe not, we both know how my kid can be dramatic,” Wayne replied. “But that’s neither here nor there, because he did nothing but gush about you that first afternoon, and ain’t done much more since. An’ I have eyes. Can’t thank you enough for what you done for him and for me. Thought you should know that.”

When Wayne lifted a hand and clapped him on the shoulder, Steve thought his heart might beat out of his chest. As Eddie told it, Wayne was most often a man of few words and fewer actions. A shoulder clap was the pinnacle of demonstrability for Wayne outside direct family.

“Keep doing whatever it is you do to the coffee, and we’ll call it even,” Steve replied, doing his very best not to embarrass himself or Wayne with his response.

“Get my nephew to eat while he’s on one of his creating binges and I might even teach you the secret,” Wayne replied with a nod of his head.

Steve just stood there with the milk in his hand as he watched Wayne walk away.

“Sleep well,” he remembered to say just as the man disappeared through the door.

He got a wave in return.

~*~

Everything was ready for the invasion of nerds, Eddie still had his head in his notes, which left Steve with about half an hour to kill. The previous day, he, Will and El had done some more practicing with their communication abilities, extending their range further with solo tries. Steve was finding it all amazing, frankly, but there was one thing still bothering him.

He was a healer. It seemed to be a fundamental aspect of his nature, which he found ironic given the fact he had always been the muscle. Somehow when he used his abilities, it overloaded his system in a way that made his nosebleed, just as it did with El and Will. Logic dictated, not that he was always so good with logic, that he should be able to fix it.

The thing was, he had been to the library when he’d had the bad nosebleeds after Billy had hit him with a plate. He’d done a bit of research (and he was never admitting that to his family of nerds), so he knew that nosebleeds were sometimes the body’s way of preventing something worse. He’d also talked to El about her experiences and what Dr Brenner had had to say about her post Starcourt breakdown. Hence, he was pretty sure just stopping them would be a bad plan.

With that in mind, he found himself a quiet spot in the backyard, sat down and listened to the breeze through the trees for a bit. It helped him put everything else out of his mind, something El had taught him was very important. Once his mind was quiet, he did his best to turn his healing instincts on himself. He wasn’t trying to do anything, he simply wanted to be aware of his own body in the same way he had managed to be aware of Max’s and Hopper’s.

When he’d healed himself, it had mostly been pure instinct. He’d never been as aware as he had with the others, so it was something of a step change. There also wasn’t anything wrong with him, so his powers had nothing to latch onto. It was kind of weird.

However, eventually he thought he could feel the underlying currents of his body. The moment he had it, he slipped into the Void, and slipped straight back out again as his awareness tried to split and blew his concentration.

“Fuck,” he said to no one in particular, and set about trying again.

It took him another four tries, and a significant number of Kleenex before he finally managed to maintain the dual awareness of the Void and his physical body. He had no doubt it was tenuous, but his instincts were firing the whole time. His brain translated it into something visual for him, as it had when healing others, and the mental image of a pressure cooker flitted through his mind. What was really bizarre was the way a ghostly version of it appeared in front of him in the Void as well.

He couldn’t work out if he was really seeing it, or if it was just the way his mind was dealing with the strange situation. Every now and then, the pressure release valve fired, letting off some steam to prevent the cooker being damaged. It made perfect sense in this odd new reality he was living in, and he slipped out of the Void with a new understanding.

The nosebleeds were a release of pressure to prevent damage to the brain, something El had been unable to stop when she had pushed so hard at Starcourt because there was only so much pressure that could be released at one time. It wasn’t the nosebleeds that he needed to heal, it was the damage being done by the concentration of pressure that was built up when using their abilities. That in turn would prevent the nosebleeds being necessary.

It felt like something of a breakthrough.

Steve wanted to go back in and make sure, but he glanced at his watch and realised he had been five minutes longer than he had wanted to be. Robin would be arriving any minute. Making a mental note to talk to El about his ideas, he wiped his nose on the tissues, climbed to his feet and jogged back towards the house. He grabbed a candy bar from the refrigerator before heading into the living room to make sure Eddie knew what the time was.

~*~

Eddie looked as if he was about to vibrate out of his skin. So far Steve had watched him try to sit down and all but bounce off the chair, pace every hallway in the house, and almost wreck his carefully put together gaming table. It was half past ten, everyone was due at eleven.

Robin had arrived about twenty minutes before, and Will had already been dropped off by Hopper. Originally El had been supposed to be coming as well, but there had been some good news that morning. Max was due to be released from hospital some time that afternoon, hence, El, who wanted to be there to support her best friend, was waiting at home for the phone call so she could help Max and Max’s mom move in to their new, government provided home.

It seemed that the fact a good percentage of the town had up and left town for good meant there were plenty of houses left vacant for Owens to snap up for his own purposes. Not that Steve was going to argue if that meant his surrogate family were well taken care of.

The plan was that El would help Max settle in, then Hopper would bring both of them to Steve’s house so everyone could welcome Max back properly. Steve wasn’t clear yet on what story Owens had sold Max’s mom, or if Susan Hargrove had suddenly found herself signing many NDAs while being brought up to speed. As for everyone else, the story was Max had sustained a head injury during the quake, been in an induced coma for a couple of days, and bounced right back as soon as she had been allowed to wake up.

“Okay,” Steve said, gently grabbing Eddie by the wrist, “we’re going into the backyard before you start chewing the furniture. Robs, you can hold down the fort with Will, right?”

“No problem-o,” Robin replied with a grin.

“Steve,” Eddie protested, but did not resist in the slightest.

“Eddie,” he replied in kind without pausing.

“Where are we going?” Eddie asked when Steve led him down past the side of the pool shed.

“Here,” he replied when they made it to the shady, secluded spot he had had in mind.

“What? Why?” Eddie asked, looking around at the empty area.

“Because you need distracting,” Steve replied with a grin, “and I have the perfect way.”

He crowded into Eddie’s personal space, urging him backwards until Eddie’s back hit the shed wall.

“Would have done this inside, but Robin would have heckled and wasn’t sure if you wanted to come out to Will yet,” he said, before leaning in and catching Eddie’s lips in a kiss.

Eddie mumbled something but began kissing back rather too enthusiastically for it to make any sense to Steve.

Making out with Eddie was always so easy. Steve never felt like there was anything he had to be doing, or numbers he had to hit like he had done with some girls. All he had to do was make Eddie feel good, and Eddie was very responsive about letting him know when he was doing well, so it was like a dream. Every little noise Eddie made was music to his ears, and it wasn’t as if Eddie didn’t give as good as he got.

“Not the hair,” he had to say, pulling back as the kiss turned passionate and Eddie’s fingers began working up his neck.

Eddie pouted. It amused Steve no end quite how obsessed Eddie could be with his hair at times.

“We have to be able to go back in there not looking like we’ve been making out,” he pointed out with a grin. “So anywhere else, but not the hair.”

“Damn, I hate when you’re logical,” Eddie replied. “But, just so you know, once the group know, I will not be so circumspect.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to be,” he said and leaned back in.

It turned out to be the perfect distraction technique, because even Steve lost track of time until he heard a vehicle and voices coming from the front of the house. He broke away and listened and Dustin’s voice carried over all the others.

“Jeeze that kid’s loud,” he commented before looking back at Eddie.

He took in the pale skin and wide terrified eyes and immediately reached out to cup Eddie’s cheek.

“They’re your friends,” he said, looking Eddie directly in the eyes. “They are going to be overjoyed to see you.”

“I wasn’t accused of murder last time we were together,” Eddie said in a quiet, nervous tone.

“And they knew that was as bullshit as the rest of us,” he did his best to be reassuring, “even before the police announced how innocent you actually are.”

“I know,” Eddie replied, “really I know, I just can’t shut up the little voice in my head.”

“I get that,” Steve told him, stoking his thumb over Eddie’s cheek, “I totally do, and nothing I say is going to silence it completely, because I’ve got one too, and it’s not rational. So how about we silently sing wheels on the bus until we get in there and it’ll be drowned out by all the love your friends are going to shower on you?”

“Wheels on the bus?” Eddie raised his eyebrows at him. “Oh, you bastard, that’s going to be going round and round in my head now.”

Steve grinned.

“Works though, doesn’t it,” he said.

“If I start humming it in the middle of my campaign, I may have to kill you,” Eddie replied, but did push himself off the wall.

“Just think of it as sharing the pain,” Steve told him, straightening Eddie’s shirt so it didn’t look as if he’d just had his hand up it.

“Lead on, Sir Knight,” Eddie said with a dramatic wave of his hand. “I shall follow thee to my doom.”

Steve slipped his hand into Eddie’s and headed towards the door to the pool room. He gave Eddie’s fingers a quick squeeze before letting go and walking back into the house. The moment he opened the door into the hallway he could clearly hear voices.

“Buckley, didn’t expect to see you here,” one male voice said.

Steve didn’t know Eddie’s friends well enough to be able to tell them apart just by sound. He’d spoken to them at Family Video on various occasions and must have heard them in school as some point, but he would be the first to admit he probably hadn’t been paying attention at that point.

“I am Steve’s translator for nerd speak,” Robin replied, which made Steve smile.

“Are you and he..?” another voice asked.

“Oh god no,” Robin replied with vehemence, “we are purely platonic.”

“With a capital P,” who Steve was pretty sure were Mike and Lucas, chorused at the same time.

“Where is the king himself?” the first voice asked.

“Oh, he’s in the yard with the special guest,” Robin replied. “Will, could you go grab them?”

Steve looked at Eddie.

“You ready?” he asked quietly.

Eddie just nodded, lips a taut line. It was time to face the music.

End of Chapter 24

Chapter 25

[arlo-rose]

I need help with a dnd thing!

(Phantom and Faye get out ur not allowed to read this)

Im putting some final pieces of my dnd character’s backstory in place because it’s going to become very relevant semi-soon(aka in a few months probably but whatever), when Jasper goes back to the town they grew up in who should they run into?

(Phantom and Faye final warning leave now/lh)

The options are:

A love interest who was one of their only friends as a child, and they ended up falling in love but because neither of them had any good examples of what love was, it was super unhealthy, even thought they desperately wanted to be together. Jasper left them behind when they ran away from their family so now the love interest upset and bitter, but still has a little bit of hope after all these years. This will be very angsty and there pretty much no way they could reconcile, and it could very well end with them dying to Jasper through a desperate attempt to fully free themselves from their past. I’m very tempted to do this one but I have a lot of other stuff planned during this session and I’m worried about this sub plot taking up too much time.

OR

Give them a mentor figure/tutor, someone who was the closest thing they ever had to a parental figure who tried desperately to make sure Jasper turned out to be a good person despite everything, but failed. They forever regret not being good enough to help Jasper in the way they needed, and Jasper is angry at them for pretty much the same reason. Having them meet years later when jasper is so changed and has spiraled so far down would be so neat. This could very well also result in the mentor dying depending on how emotional their conversation makes Jasper. However like the first option, I’m nervous about trying to shove too much lore and character reveals into one session.

OR

No one. Emphasize how truly alone Jasper was as a child and let them go through the town and home they grew up in without running into anyone but those who hurt them the most, and those who they barely ever knew. This will also let the main lore I have planned for that session stand on its own more, and I won’t be worried about cramming too much into one session.

Genuinely I can’t decide between any of these

[caw-rky]

Dungeons and ponies

(Disclaimer : There is a lot of reading here but there is also drawings, the drawings are lower in the post so don't hesitate to jump straight to it to avoid the blabbering) Since uni is kicking my behind (well, that and a good old bad cold), I put a hiatus on Shuffled (and have been for a while already). But that's not the subject of this post ! So, Dungeons and Dragons ! The most known system of roleplay than most fan of the genre have played at least once, right ? Not me. I have only played homemade systems since before I could read. But I am a big fan of DnD redesigns and love memes so, what did I do after watching some redesigns on youtube? Well, of course, I drew the pillars ! And since I can't do anything simply, I linked them all to two classes and made a few indications for stats and an idea for a small system to represent the elements. So a few explainations then drawings ! Each pillars are linked to 2 classes (I also have ideas for the mane 6 (7?) but I haven't drawn them yet, dunno if I will) depending of their stories (in the serie and in the comics) and what I felt like doing. Each pillars are linked to a "virtue", virtues are pretty much the equivalent of the elements but there is seven of them and are made to be "usable" for both generation. The concept of virtue is : each virtue corresponds to an ability (for example : faith would rise the critical sucess rate for difficult actions). A virtue being in a party will act on all members of it, having multiple time a virtue will reinforce its effect (two faith would lower the failure rate necessary for an action to be thought as difficult for example) and different virtues would stack on the party (if you have a faith and a diligence, both effects will act on the whole party). If you have six or more of the different virtue, once by session you could use the friendship rainbow lazer. For the stats, since I'm too lazy to try and figure out what level everypony would have, searching how exp works and all, instead there are 5 level existing : low-, low, medium, high, high+. low- is you are pretty much unable to do anything using this stat. Low is lower than the average adult pony. Medium is average. High is higher than average. High+ is "hello I'm pretty much a genius in this field". The pillars have a mean to medium where the mane 6 (and Stygian) would have a mean at low. Now drawings !

Starswirl is a wizard (pretty obvious why) and a bloodhunter ! To make a very gross summary a bloodhunter is someone who used pretty... unsavory rituals to achieve very powerful blood-related magic (generally in the goal of beating up bad guys). In this, I consider than Starswirl became one to reach stronger magics to fight against the monsters who roam during their times (that far before even meeting the alicorn sisters). I also imagine him now half regretting his choice but also being of the mind of "better me than someone else". His virtue is curiosity. (Also a thing I thought while thinking about it (I will try to keep it short) : isn't it funny than he thought than Stygian was trying to steal the power of the pillars but his last spell, when corrected, allows the caster to reach alicornhood by using the power of 5 other individuals? Imagine the twist it would have been if Starswirl had originally made the spell to become an alicorn (and so immortal) and planned to put the rest of the pillars in limbo until finding a way to make them immortal too to "protect equestria forever". Like, Stygian would have been silent and shocked cause he was in fact sent by Starswirl to make preparatory diagnostics check-up but was thrown under the bus when some of the pillars realized their missing stuff. (Funnily enough, seeing how high in society Starswirl was, even if he planned to keep Stygian, it would have been easy for him to get guards to capture him back so it would barely be annoying for him to have to let Stygian run off). Like during part of the finale, everyone thinks the problem is Stygian taking the artifacts for one thing or another and then you learn than Stygian thought he was allowed since Starswirl asked him to do it and accepted the shadows due to feeling betrayed (possibly even accepting them to escape Starswirl). And I'm beginning to spiral in possibilities soooo next character ! (also, link of the wizard reference : https://www.lolailo.co.uk/ravenloft-chapter-fourty-four-the-journey-back-to-an-illusion/ )

Rockhoof is a paladin (of the Mighty Helm) and a barbarian ! And his dexterity is low due to a certain episode and charisma has ended up low cause it was the only thing I could lower when I realized his mean was high. His virtue is diligence ! And ref of the viking palading : https://www.deviantart.com/rathnos/art/Ziggeroy-The-Viking-Paladin-or-Vikadin-563177921 .

Mistmane is a sorcerer (cause her magic is too important for her to not have a magic related class and I thought than wizard was better for Starswirl) and a druid (before thinking for this, I hadn't fully realized how much she is linked to plants). Her virtue is charity ! And old ponies are hard to draw x'DD

Somnambula is a bard and a monk ! And I tried two color palets cause I wondered how she would look with Ankha's color palet. Her virtue is Faith !

Meadowbrook is an artificer (mainly for the potion making) and ranger (partially cause Mistmane already had the bard part and also because, Meadowbrook doesn't really have the link with animals and plants I generally imagine druids having? If that makes sense?). Her virtue is Mercy !

Flash Magnus is a fighter (I originally thought to make him a paladin before thinking than Paladin of The Mighty Helm sounded too good to pass) and a rogue (originally cause I thought it funny since his "elemental descendant" is the element of loyalty) ! His virtue is Bravery (yes, I know, imagination 10/10)

Stygian is a Cleric (just thought it would be cool for him to have become it to help the pillars) and a Warlock (pretty obvious that one). Yes I imagine him having two patrons pretty much opposite. Just cause I think it would make for very funny interactions with Stygian and both patrons. His virtue is caution. I tried to make the post veeeeeeery quick and short so plz don't hesitate to send ask if interested in this xDD May do the mane 6 and/or young 6 one day. Or not. Idk yet? Will take a while either way so have a nice daaaay !