#first time gm

[sevilemar]

And again I watch Calamity, and again I'm blown away. This is not Brennan's world, he did not make it. And yet he learned it so well that he could improvise an absolute devastating moment of redemption for the legendary villain of the Calamity.

To remember in that moment, after all the other intense scenes he's just done, that Vespin Chloris was a Malconvocer, and find a way not only to reward Luis for staying true to Zerxus, but also do it in a way that's true to Vespin as well, it's a true master class on GMing, and I'm very honoured to be able to appreciate it and learn from it.

[theneverusedaccount]

I've never played a tabletop game before and I bought the Entity level Magnus Archives RPG....

And I'm the only one of my friends who listens to Magnus, so I'm probably going to have to GM any game I play....

This is fine.

[cybersp4ced]

im going to take break on all other project have in favor of focus on prepare for directing ttrpg for real life friends pls wish me luck pls give tips if have , will be run era of radiance hollow knight rpg ::) so excited so excited so excited . if anyone here can pls send reminder to work on this sometime , i forget often . thanks

[edspear]

Might be running a Lancer Game on fridays.

Or at least every other Friday.

And also, like, an in person/meatspace thing. Excited and terrified. Eager to see where this mechventure goes.

[thefirstknife]

Getting real sick of a certain subset of Destiny players complaining that it’s a baby game and crying to Bungie to nerf exotics and abilities when their ENTIRE POINT IS TO BE STRONG in specific ways as if they are being locked into using them.

IF YOU WANT AN EXTRA CHALLENGE STOP BEING SUCH A DPS GOBLIN AND JUST EQUIP SOMETHING THATS NOT TOP TIER META AND STOP COMPLAINING JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

MOOD. Go off.

It's incredibly annoying to me. They always use the argument of "the game should FORCE me to do things, I should not SELF-IMPOSE challenges." And like. ? I'm sorry but what? It's a video game for a big audience, it's here to be playable and accessible to the widest possible playerbase. There are plenty of ways to make the game difficult for yourself, so knock yourself out if that's your thing, but don't force others into it.

Like, I enjoy hard content, I regularly at least attempt day 1 raids, I do master raids, GMs, solo and solo flawless content and all that. But only when I want to. Sometimes I don't and I don't want to suffer in a patrol zone or struggle in a seasonal activity I'm doing for the story. The majority of the players don't want that. Designing games for the professional gamers only has NEVER been a good idea and never will be. Fifty streamers can't sustain a video game. It needs casual players who will want to come back to the game instead of feeling defeated.

One of the reasons I really enjoy helping others is because I know that casual players tend to struggle in stuff that's basic activity for me. I've seen people unable to get through a strike. I've sat for 10 minutes rezing someone who couldn't do the jump in a seasonal activity. I want those people to be able to play basic content without feeling frustrated and I want them to know that there are people out there who will help them out.

And this doesn't apply just to basic content, although it should start with that. I think all dungeons and raids and everything should be things that all players can complete. Fine, doing a master raid with all challenges should be tough, but it should be achievable with time and practice, not impossible. What a lot of these "pros" want is just completely divorced from reality.

It takes days and days of practice every time a new master raid is out for me and my team (all with thousands of hours of playtime) to get comfortable to finally finish it. We're far from casual players and it still takes a lot of time to be able to finish hard content. Making it even harder is insane to me. Like, if something is so hard that my team full of people, each with 5000+ hours of playtime and a coordinated team that's been raiding together for years now can't finish it, that means it's absolutely impossible for probably 90% of the playerbase. That's wild to me. Raids and GMs should have more people playing them. If master raids are too easy for you, Mr. I-Play-Destiny-For-A-Living, that's on you buddy. Unequip the super god tier god roll meta guns and loadouts or play something else.

And ofc, another excuse they make is "if I don't use meta, I am not going to win a raid race!" Then don't. Idk. Let me play you the tiniest violin. This affects literally nobody except a grand total of 50 people. Run your meta in day 1, and play with random shit otherwise. Play raids with all white weapons. Play without mods. Play without a HUD. Do things solo only. I don't know, make up a way to spice things up for yourself. I'm not interested in that and neither are 99% of the players out there. The game is genuinely hard enough for the majority of the players. On top of that, I am here to feel like a powerful space fantasy superhero. I am NOT here to die to dregs in patrol zones. If there's ONE thing that I know for a fact that put people off from Lightfall (as in this year of Destiny), it's the difficulty changes. They're annoying, frustrating and for some a barrier to entry more than anything else.

[yerrenica]

OMG I really loved your yi zaha content . Can you please make a fluff oneshot of him

[Y/N] has a problem, you see. It is a very big, very difficult problem, and it involves one raven-haired martial artist and the fact that their heart beats a tad bit too quickly when news of the man reaches their ears. Or when the man talks to them. Or when the man—

Whenever Jaha Lee was in a 10-meter radius, really. 

See, this was an extremely large problem, because Jaha, like the bastard he is, was becoming too much of a distraction for them. 

How was he being a distraction, you ask?

Well, [Y/N] would be happy to rant tell you. Firstly, whenever there was a commotion outside, [Y/N] would instantly get distracted and just have to check whether or not it was Jaha creating trouble again, which was a far cry from before, back when they just went about their days not caring about a thing in the world.

And another thing: the colour red was associated with Jaha far too much. A flash of red could appear in the corner of [Y/N]'s eyes, and they just couldn't help but glance at it to see if it was the man, and ignore the sag of their shoulders when they confirmed it wasn't. It wasn't fair, really. Jaha shouldn't be going around spilling blood everywhere. His violent tendencies didn't do good things for [Y/N]'s heart. 

...

[Y/N] lied. Jaha shouldn't stop. Jaha's fighting abilities were too attractive.

And there exactly lies the problem. Jaha's sword skills were beautiful, Jaha himself was beautiful, and [Y/N] had no choice but to confront a problem they weren't ready for; to answer a question that they had absolutely none of the answers to. 

[Y/N] blinked, going through their train of thought once more before they pursed their lips, feeling a sort of second-hand offence for what they had just thought. Jaha wasn't just beautiful. Honestly, [Y/N] could look through a thesaurus and they still wouldn't be able to find a word good enough to describe Jaha and how perfect he was. 

[Y/N] sat in his chambers and stared blankly.

Before they knew it, they held a thesaurus in their hands. 

Then they slammed the book against their head without hesitation.

Oh my god, they were so screwed.

After a few moments of [Y/N] laying flat on the floor with the book over their face, the doors to their chambers burst open, and in comes Hongshin with her signature smile. "Dinner's rea— what are you doing?" She stared blankly at [Y/N].

"I might just challenge Jaha to a death match."

Hongshin sighed. This wasn't the first time she stumbled upon [Y/N] dramatizing the hell out of their feelings for Jaha. "Absolutely do not do that, you idiot." She moved to grab her friend by the arm and drag them across the floor to the dining area. Along the way, they kept talking about how being killed by Jaha Lee would be a "thank you" worthy act. Hongshin, of course, decided to tune it out.

Once there, [Y/N] stood up with a deep exhale and sat down. They looked around, noticing that their Master was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Jaha?"

Seongtae chimed in. "Said he wanted to eat his dinner outside or something."

And just like that, [Y/N] was back on their feet, setting off to look for Jaha. The first place they thought to look at was the roof—you could always find Jaha cultivating there, and it was a nice and chilly place during the evening. Once they did not find him, they thought of the plum blossom tree residing near the training grounds. Jaha frequented it a lot, so surely he would be there.

And he was; looking far more beautiful than he should have... given his messy hair and bad posture. He was sitting under the tree, with a bowl of rice in hand, eating away with a nonchalant look on his face. The chilly evening wind gave him an almost enchanting appearance as it tousled the man's hair. The pale stars were sliding into their places. The whispering of the plum blossoms was almost hushed. All about them it was still and shadowy and sweet. It was at times like this that [Y/N] felt their difficulties about having feelings for Jaha melting away and getting weaker to the warmth that they brought. To be able to look at someone, and see them as one's own world was a pleasant feeling. It made one forget about the real world for a brief second.

"You're staring."

"You mind?" [Y/N] asked as they went to sit next to Jaha, legs crisscrossed.

With a mouth full of rice, Jaha mumbled. "No. You look cute."

"What?"

Swallowing his food, he turned to look at [Y/N]. "I said you look like a sack of shit when you do. So yes, I do mind."

There was silence.

"I should start spitting in your food, great brother. More cholesterol would do you good." [Y/N] scoffed, eyebrows furrowing as they looked away from Jaha, focusing their gaze forward.

Jaha's hand, which was moving the chopsticks to his mouth, stopped for a moment. He pursed his lips. That was not what he meant to say. He did not mean it at all. It simply came out on instinct. The moment he heard [Y/N]'s words of confusion, it was as if his mind registered it as disgust and acted out in self-defence. And now there was an awkward silence between them.

He glanced at [Y/N], observing their sullen expression. Why on earth was this bothering him so much? When did he start caring about little things like this? These questions irked the crap out of him, but maybe that's just what happens when you live long enough. Everything's so damned irksome, and irrational.

Finally, he brought the chopsticks to his mouth. "Do that and I'll kill you." His eyes furrowed as he chewed, realizing what he just said. Why on God's green earth was he threatening them now? Did he have any control over his mouth? He felt like screaming.

Quickly, trying to regain control of his words, he blurted out. "And besides, aren't you way too close to me?"

"That's because I'm this close to shoving my fist down your throat." [Y/N] muttered, glaring at Jaha, their appearance resembling that of an angry cat. Now this was strange as well. Jaha didn't feel disrespected, not in the slightest. Rather, he felt amused, thrilled even to have [Y/N] talk to him like this.

Nobody could tell whether they were flirting or fighting right now.

"Oh, I'd love to see you try." Jaha urged them on, leaning in closer as he smirked, his bowl of rice now seated beside him. [Y/N] observed him momentarily, before a smirk graced their features. With swift motions they placed their hands behind them on the concrete, and moved their upper body slightly up, their leg going for Jaha's throat. Their movements were quick and precise, and only because Jaha was Jaha did he evade them, leaning back just enough to let [Y/N]'s leg miss him entirely. Pressing their body weight on their hands seated behind them on the concrete, they did a backflip, now standing up before Jaha with a wide smile.

"Dodging? That's all?"

Jaha smiled slightly, and in an instant he found himself behind [Y/N], reaching out his hand towards them, but to his surprise, they ducked before leaping further away from Jaha.

"Now look who's dodging."

"It's more shameful for you since you're supposed to be the leader of this sect, great brother." [Y/N] held their hands behind their back, snickering at the sight of the slight contortion of Jaha's eyebrows. "But regardless... aren't you missing something?" They moved one hand from behind their back, revealing Jaha's red hair tie draped over their fingers. Jaha's eyes widened slightly, his hand instinctively moving behind his head to touch his hair, only to realize that his hair was swaying freely behind him. He focused his gaze back on [Y/N], who was standing before him with a triumphant smile.

His heart skipped a beat.

"How did you..."

[Y/N] chuckled. "It'd take hours to explain."

Jaha would listen to them for hours.

He quickly moved his feet, reaching for the hair tie in [Y/N]'s hands, only to see their hand move away from his reach, and their entire body along with it. Their robes being rocked by the subtle waft made each of their moves seem elegant, which spurred Jaha even more. This wasn't a serious battle. It was not a showcase of strength; it was more of a dance being guided by the swaying winds. Each of their movements through the roofs of the place, the branches, and the bases guided their bodies closer to each other in a chase of longing. This was never about the ribbon, but combat was the language they spoke the best, so how else would they ever showcase their desire for one another?

Their gazes locked as they moved with precision. Jaha always wondered what crossed their mind whenever they looked at him in such a candid way.

"Great brother, is the food you ate slowing you down?"

A flicker of amusement danced in Jaha's eyes. "I'm merely humouring your fickle attempts at evading me." His body was close to theirs as they moved on top of a roof, his chest meeting [Y/N]'s as Jaha moved his feet quicker, purposely placing a foot behind theirs so they'd fall over on their back, but Jaha was quick to catch them, his hand placed intimately over their back as he gazed into their eyes.

It was the beating of their hearts that made it seem as though time stopped. Jaha's free hand rested on theirs, sliding the ribbon past their fingers. "Caught you."

A single question ran through Jaha's mind. Why them? Why after all these years, after two lifetimes, after hundreds of people met, did he fall for them? Why not for all the others? What made them so different from everyone else before them?

But it was simple.

Why would he choose anyone else when [Y/N] exists?

Seeing the slight shift in [Y/N]'s gaze, he wasn't certain whether it was disdain or reciprocation of his unspoken feelings, so he decided to pull away, steadying them back on their feet as he shifted his gaze to the side.

"Good effor—"

Before he could finish speaking, [Y/N]'s hands were cupping his face, and his gaze was turned back on theirs.

"What a coward." They said through flushed cheeks and slightly furrowed brows. Their lips met his in a tender kiss. Without much thought Jaha's hands found themselves behind [Y/N]'s back, pulling them closer. He touched them, and it felt as if the stars were dancing upon their skin. It was a collision of desire, a meeting of souls, as their mouths moved in a synchronized rhythm. Their kiss was both tender and fervent, a passionate dance of exploration. They lost themselves in the intoxicating taste and texture of each other as if discovering a long-lost treasure.

Their bodies pressed closer, their hearts pounding in sync with the fervour of their embrace. [Y/N]'s fingers entwined in his hair, pulling him closer, deepening the kiss with a hunger that burned through their veins. Jaha let out a low groan at the tug of his hair. He pulled away slightly, breaking the string of saliva which connected their lips for a mere moment. He smiled.

"You're eager."

"And you're without your ribbon once again." With a playful grin, they moved away from Jaha, showcasing his ribbon tangled between their fingers once more. "Catch me again and I may consider rewarding you again."

Jaha wasted no time in going after them once more, his soft laughter filling the moonlit sky. He didn't mind catching them again, and again, for as many times as he had to, if it meant that they'd stay in his arms for just a moment longer.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Heya, I'm going to do a one shot session for my birthday and I'm looking for recommendations! If you're up for giving me some pointers, I'd be super happy. I'll be playing with people who have no experience role-playing, and I myself have little experience and I've never DM'ed. It needs to be easy to understand and the rules need to be easily readable for the players. It can be GM less (doesn't have to be) because I'm also really excited about playing :) It should be creative and not to combat heavy. Aesthetic wise I'm flexible, I like magic and fantasy but I'm not at all set on that, just one thing: I made a mysterious notebook (dark academia style) that I want to use during the session, it documents "secrets" like maps and drawings of plants and old photographs, nothing's legible in there, I just want people to make up the secrets that have been discovered within this book. So the notebook needs to somehow fit into the game, but the setting in general does not need to be dark academia style.

Wow that's a really long ask,I hope you're not seeing it as me feeling entitled to a super specific recommendation. Just if you want to give me and my inexperienced friends a hint for my birthday afternoon, anything at all, I'd be super happy

Theme: New Group Friendly, Fantastical Mystery

Alright, so for this answer, these are the following concepts I tried to consider:

Guidance for the GM

Friendly to new players, easy to teach

Creative with a de-emphasis off combat

magic, fantasy, mystery, a little bit of darkness

something that encourages the group to flip through some kind of oracle

GM-less is welcome but not necessary

All of these games have GM-less as an option, but I recommend that if you're the one picking the game, that you read through at and be ready to facilitate, as you'll know a bit more about what's going on.

A Land Once Magic, by Viditya Voleti.

A Land Once Magic is a Post-Fantasy worldbuilding game to help create unique worlds based around deconstructing and evolving fantasy tropes and creating unique magic systems that are built from the ground up. Using only random tables and a deck of cards you'll be able to create a wholly original post-fantasy world!

If you want to specifically use the mysterious notebook to add to the game you are playing, I think a world building game would be a great way to incorporate it into the setting itself. A Land Once Magic asks you to create a world together and come up with your own ideas about how magic works, using a deck of cards and random tables. However, for a game like this, you could use the book that you have to give you ideas about how to answer questions in the game. For example, to answer the question about what cost magic has, flipping the book to a page with a botanical drawing of flowers might inspire the character to talk about the the bond between magic and living things, or how flowers fail to bloom where magic has been cast.

I like the fact that this game is GM-less, giving everyone the same creative agency, and that it structures play using cards, so you should always have an idea of what you can do next. At the end of it you’ll have a completely unique setting where you can imagine the potential of future stories and adventures!

Goblin Market, by Kestrel Eliot.

Every solstice, the veil thins between the worlds, merging mortal world with fae realm. Some time ago, the goblins started a market on the solstices to encourage friendship, trade, and storytelling between the worlds. Play to get to know your characters, meet fae beings, and ultimately decide where you belong.

Another game that uses a deck of cards as prompts for telling a story, Goblin Market explores the story of mortals trying to decide if they run away into the fae realm or not. You’ll spend the game in three different phases: setting up character backstory as they explore the market, diving into the personal struggles and connections of each character as the are confronted with the magical food of the Goblin Market, and then finally a choice - do you stay, or do you go? What does this mean for you in the future?

This is another game in which you could use the book as an oracle. You could flip to different pages to help characters answer questions about themselves if you like, or even use it as inspiration for what happens once each character makes their decision. This game definitely provides the structure a first-timer might appreciate, while encouraging each player to put forward ideas and create the Goblin Market as you play.

Beating Heart Bargain, by Charlotte Laskowski.

Beating Heart Bargain is a rules-lite tabletop roleplaying game made for one to three players, with or without a GM.  You play as a Wizard who has traded a piece of themselves in exchange for more power, and now you seek to retrieve what you had once bargained away. Heavy inspiration is taken from Studio Ghibli films, especially Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away.

This game has such an enchanting theme, and provides all of your characters with short but evocative options to create their wizards. This game can be GM-less, but it doesn’t have to be. If you play without a storyteller, the players will take turns describing the environment around you, the people you meet, and the creatures and details that will show up as problems emerge. You could use your book as a kind of “grimoire” in this game, possibly as an oracle to fill out parts of the setting, or perhaps the pages leave clues as to how to return your missing piece.

This game is extremely creative and really encourages you to avoid combat if possible. I strongly recommend that you check out this game!

EYE: A Murder Mystery Generator, by Zak Makes Games.

EYE is a cooperative mystery solving game for one to six players. Players take on the role of detectives, hunting down suspects, evidence and clues in order to solve a randomly generated murder mystery. It’s up to you and your friends to make sense of the information presented and get to the bottom of each mysterious case!

This is a setting-agnostic mystery game, so if you would like to use it for a fantastical setting, you absolutely can! Players will use a random word to generate the premise of the mystery, and then interview suspects and uncover evidence to determine who the murderer actually is. You can use the book as a way to come up with clues, and perhaps even make it an integral part of solving the case! This game is totally co-op, and the pieces of evidence that are required give everyone a concrete goal to pursue and points the group in a specific direction. Worth checking out!

Games I've Recommended In the Past

Research Arcanum, by J. Evan Nyquist.

[strangesickness]

losers playing ttrpgs... losers playing ttrpgs save me...

mike is running a multi-year homebrew ttrpg campaign that is basically just a combination of any rulebook the losers can get their hands on + anything they come up with. i know it to be true. the campaign started as a call of cuthulu campaign but it is now a terrifying mix of call of cuthulu, dungeons & dragons, and cyberpunk with elements from a dozen other games including star wars: the roleplaying game, warhammer, harnmaster and somehow alma mater(??? idk how. but i know this happened). richie was like. "mike man, i love you forever, you're great at this. but why don't i have magic powers?" and he pointed at ben's collection of d&d rulebooks he'd been browsing through and he sounded so earnest and excited that mike knew in that moment he was going to sacrifice the integrity of his cool mystery campaign so richie could cast vicious mockery (99% sure vicious mockery didn't exist yet... don't quote me on that but it doesn't matter because the idea of richie using it constantly is hilarious)

they've all been playing the same characters for years and they keep convincing mike to add more stuff so they're all like super powerful and mike keeps having to come up with more and more powerful enemies.

mike's dice collection is so so so cool he has so many dice, and whenever he introduces a new important character he goes out and gets dice that fit their theme and it is such a moneysink but it's worth it because ooooh pretty dice

after four occasions where the losers decided to adopt a random npc mike hadn't planned anything for, mike has started planning every single npc out down to the specifics of their childhood education. he has endless character sheets hanging out in his room with characters he's created that populate his game world.

okay hanbrough agenda time: bill is the most oblivious guy in the entire world. i know this. (he is the guy who looks at brokeback mountain and goes "what do you mean it was gay? why can't men be friends anymore?" this is based on that one passage at the beginning of the book where he goes on one of those "why can't the curtains just be blue because they're fucking blue" rants lol. he does not know what media literacy is. to me) and mike is. increasingly frustrated and feels like he's losing his mind. he is like head in hands because he asked bill to go to prom with him and bill was like "yeah sure man! sounds great, you're my bestie forever!", and he has no idea what to do, because how is this man this dense, so he just starts having all of his NPCs fall head over heels for bill's character and flirt like madmen. it is painful for everyone involved. except bill. who still has no idea what is going on. that is a very unfortunate month.

mike and ben hang out a lot and ben helps mike brainstorm for the campaign so ben has all this insider knowledge and mike will just look at him before something insane happens in the campaign. they'll like make eye contact and ben will be like holy shit holy shit holy shit :0 and mike just drops some insane new lore. it's very special to me.

[wearily-confused]

i wish it was acceptable to ask to dtr friendships

like are we treating this as bfs or acquaintances or talks casually every other month or every day gm and gn or what

like please tell me what amount of energy and care you are willing to reciprocate without pingponging between loving me and not even giving a fuck if i die, just stop with all this hot and cold bs

[ljblueteak]

George Martin, posted by Linda McCartney’s official Insta on January 3, 2023. Caption there reads “George Martin. Abbey Road Studios, London, 1968.”

[sevilemar]

Do you remember my first post as a not-quite-yet GM? Someone recently gifted me a like on that post, and as I was reading it over again, I found myself smiling quite a bit. We are about a year and a half into our campaign now, so let me give you an update:

- The players will do what they like, but they actually need a bit of trust to get there.

At the beginning, they were all very respectful of what they thought was 'The GM's plot'. The thing is, I didn't really had a plot back then, still mostly don't, so there were a few situations where I just had to pretend I did, and yes, it was exactly what you thought it was, how did you guess?

These days, my players feel a lot more comfortable to just go where the story takes them, and sometimes make their own story. I want them to do even more of it, so my work here is not done yet.

In the meantime, I work out plot points from session to session. I have a general direction, but no idea how we'll get there. It stresses me out a lot, because I have to figure out a way to progress after every session, and I really am not good at that (or if I am, it takes a lot of work).

- Session zero is still important, as is regular feedback. The most important though is dealing with any conflicts that may arise openly, and before a session, not after.

- Building encounters got easier over time, both because my PCs are now level 4, and because I have more experience now. PC death is still scary as fuck to me (we had one to this day), and I have learned that it is best to leave it up to the player if they want to roll up a new character, or if we need to find a way of resurrecting their old one.

I still think I handled the death too leniently; there should have been more consequences than just a block on their abilities and spells for a few hours.

- The funny thing about not letting Forever-GMs taking over your game is that sometimes, you need to let Forever-GMs take over your game^^

I collaborated with two of my players to date, one taking over GMing for a side quest, and one with whom I co-GMed for a bit. It is fun, makes the players more invested, and it also takes some stress away from me.

- My track record with safety tools is not good, tbh. I did lines and veils at the beginning, and introduced the x card and signs, but nobody has used them yet. I also find myself straying very, very close to one of the players fears a few time, and I couldn't find a way around it. Still need to get better with safety tools.

- Since we started our campaign, I got involved in four more campaigns or extended oneshots, two of them as a direct result of the people at my table. I have played a few oneshots in DnD and other systems, and made characters for a few more. Suffice it to say, no DnD class is completely foreign to me anymore, and most of them I have played or planned already.

- Eberron is still a lot of work. So much so that any oneshot I run also takes place there, because I am not a world building person, and learning one world is quite enough for me. I still discover new things every session, and I am fortunate that one of my other campaigns where I am a player also takes place in Eberron. This way, I'm learning about the world without having to learn the world.

- I found good ressources, kobold fight club for encounters, wikidot, etc. If you are interested, PM me and I give you links privately.

- I have gone with drawing over printing, mostly because I do not own a printer, and the print shops are not open at 1 am at night, when I get my craziest ideas for the session tomorrow.

- We started out with paper minis, but as you know, I got into painting minis, and so I find myself increasingly either making encounters for specific minis, or reskinning monster stats to fit the minis I just finished. It's a lot of fun.

- I still don't have a list of names. I should really do something about that.

[soldier-poet-king]

My pf 0 rizz wizard acquired a surprise gf and it's just??? Girlfriend???? Gorlfriend?????

The we are not friends I'm using you for political connections at this prestigious wizard university because you're nobility and also a Magus (wizard jock) and I think you're an easy target and a little dull -> wow you've considered me a friend this whole time and I've been an ass and also in hindsight you WERE the closest thing I had to a friend in wizard academia -> I only realize this after I break your trust by lying to your face about using you for political gain -> spending time with good hearted adventurers and not my asshole wizard master makes me realize that people normally have emotions beyond just blind ambition??? And maybe guilt is a thing and I need to learn how to be apologetic and not just a neutral selfish wizard post grad??? -> fumbles every single apology because she has had no connections outside of elf politics in a decade -> this pitiful attempt at being honest for once is apparently endearing, esp in contrast to all the machinations and manipulations -> leads to masquerade dancing even with two left feet and a dropped pair of glasses and every other cliche

There's another date??? Squeezed in amongst the political intrigue??? I'm????

Our himbo paladin is also flirting with a murderess ron swanson-esque dwarf and it is. So good.

[lakesbian]

Even when she’d had Blake there, when she’d worked alongside him, she’d been entirely isolated. Only a surprise kiss from Padraic had broken that seclusion. If there was anything else, it had disappeared along with her memories of Blake.

heh

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

uh-oh she's gushing about shinon again and it's super long

So you guys know I love Shinaff. BUT!!! I would like to explain to you part of how that came to be, i.e. how Janaff's supports with Shinon were both different and important!!! In other words, a direct exploration of his development involving laguz and how he's turning out for the better post Janaff A support and RD (and how it makes the most sense to have their A support slotted between the beginning of PoR and the end of RD for a full progression of his development)!

First of all, Shinon only has three supports; so unlike most characters, every line counts and needs to hold more weight to his conversations.

Rolf and Gatrie's supports portray different sides of him: the mentor and the friend. What we see in these supports is stuff we essentially already knew about him, but we're given more depth. The thing to note here is, again, we already knew these things about him. This is the man we started with.

What we don't get in these supports is proper development. Janaff is the only support he has that gives him that. Janaff's supports with him are the only ones that gives him any self reflection and improvement. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for the other supports, but it's more that it props up these ones a little bit more.

Also, when you get to RD, Shinon comes off as though he's already gotten this development. He feels like he's grown as a person. While that makes sense, from a player's perspective, we didn't really see that development in him (like we would have with characters like Ike, Mist, Soren, etc)... unless you supported him with Janaff.

In RD, Shinon has Gatrie and Rolf as bonded by defaults. These are basically internal bonds in RD - ones that aren't needed by supports. You can carry over support data from PoR to RD, and characters will receive a bond with the character they A supported. For some, like Ranulf and Ike, these bonds will be there regardless of if they got an A support.

That means that even without supporting them in PoR, Shinon will bonded to these two by default. Janaff is his only other support, so if they reach an A support and that data is carried over to RD, he now has his full list of supports bonded to him. Mind you, that's a liiittle bit of a big deal (and kinda cool to me!) as nobody else can do that (or almost nobody, since I'm not totally positive what Stefan and Volke's situations are and would have to check on that in my game, as the only other characters with an extremely low amount of supports).

So why do I say that's important? Because the only character he won't have by default as a bond is Janaff. You have to go out of your way to get their support bond (and when I say out of your way, I mean it pretty literally if you don't normally use one or both of them, due to how PoR's support system works). Janaff is the only character Shinon has to build up a bond with from scratch, which is something the player has to decide to do.

Gatrie and Rolf are the base - the bare minimum. It's given to you, no questions asked. Shinon doesn't have to develop as a person to have those bonds. When Janaff arrives in 3-7, if they were A supported in PoR (and your data was carried over), he and Shinon automatically have their bond show up in the bond list on each of their profiles as of the turn Janaff is on the map. This also means they can get a double A support, which is, again, something Shinon has very few options for.

Without Janaff, Shinon doesn't get that extremely direct development. In RD it's assumed all the characters had development of some sort (example, Shinon is much more chilled out and takes a much more active role in watching out for the GMs and making sure they're properly funded). However, with the way Shinon's development toward laguz went, you'd think something must have happened for him to change his mind.

However, it's an uncontestable fact that Ike stated everyone in the GMs decided to stay knowing full well they'd be fighting for the Laguz Alliance:

"I told the others they could leave if they didn’t want to work with laguz, but everybody decided they’d rather stay. Don’t worry about it, Ranulf."

If they didn't want to work with laguz (Shinon and Soren would be the primary candidates he brought this up for), they didn't have to go. They didn't have to take part. They didn't have to be there. Shinon decided to stay despite fully aware they would be the only beorc there. That's development already... but if he supported Janaff, it starts to make more sense and feels like a proper linear path for his development.

"But DCB, he was racist toward Lyre!" Sure! He's not perfect and there's still room for growth. In fact, Shinon started out calling her a sub-human but referred to her as a laguz when Gatrie was the only one left to hear him, so he either:

is trying to keep up appearances in front of laguz he doesn't like, using sub-human to their face but not using that term in private anymore (or to laguz he doesn't hate, i.e. Janaff in their A support where he catches himself about to use that term. Though he wasn't quite ready to say "laguz" yet, he stopped himself from using "you sub-humans" and instead said "you guys").

slipped up in using sub-human (from habit*) and called her a laguz when speaking to Gatrie because he's becoming more used to using that term regularly. That is to say, it's becoming more natural for him to say.

If you got his A support with Janaff, it makes sense that he slips up sometimes still but is trying to speak more properly about laguz. Getting out of old habits is hard. Feeling differently about something you've had a steady mindset for (in his case for 27 years as per his support with Janaff) is hard. There will be slip ups.

*It's possible Shinon uses "sub-human" as an insult aimed at individuals he doesn't like while not meaning it toward others (i.e. he doesn't like Kyza and Lyre). Yes, this is a big flaw! He could very well be using a racist term to express distaste toward someone specific but not mean it toward the whole of laguz. It's still racist and shouldn't be done, but the fact that he turned around and said "laguz" only a couple sentences later (if that) means that something is kicking in and some gears are turning.

Again, if you look at his A support with Janaff, he wasn't even at the point of using "laguz" at all! If you consider their A support part of his linear development, he starts as he is in PoR, supports Janaff and goes through their conversations while seeing laguz differently now, and ultimately ends at respecting Janaff. Despite this, he's not ready to use "laguz" yet because he experiences with laguz to date, prior to Janaff, had all been presumably negative enough for him to develop this racist mindset.

Linearly, that brings us to RD. He's suddenly fine staying with the GMs and fighting a war on behalf of the Laguz Alliance, even when he was directly given an out. Next, we have him refer to a laguz as a laguz - something he wasn't able to do yet in PoR.

Does the linear progression stop there? Not if you supported Janaff! Following those things, again, when Janaff arrives in 3-7, their bond will show up in their profiles. These bonds are separate from RD support bonds in that they're basically saying these characters were bonded before the events of RD and thus have special bonuses near each other, regardless of if you support them in RD.

So where does this lead us? Well, like in PoR, we start to lose focus on the GMs as a whole and only end up with focus on a few of them. Our next line of progression can only come from supports again. These are notable and extremely important if he's supported with a laguz.

If it's Janaff you support him with in RD, he gets one of his standard support quotes in battle. Maybe you're thinking that sounds unimpressive and unimportant... but this means he's responding to Janaff as someone he's familiar with and not treating differently from the others (which is not the case when responding to several others, which I'll get to). Normally you'd expect him to treat a laguz differently, but he speaks with Janaff like he would to any beorc.

It gives off an air of familiarity - like they already know each other, are passed all that nonsense and aren't even thinking about it anymore. This is, of course, the case regardless of if you supported them in PoR (but again, I find their PoR supports to be important in terms of a proper, full linear progression of Shinon's development, which is something not every character actually even gets, i.e. they don't get a fully fleshed out and ongoing development story between both games if they're not a main character).

It's almost like it's considering that you may have gotten their PoR supports. It has to leave it up in the air as to whether or not you did, because it'd be odd if he was suddenly treating Janaff like they weren't as familiar with each other after getting their PoR supports. In other words, by default, their relationship in RD is not as bad as it starts in PoR in their C support. It feels like they've already supported and are closer now to be at this point.

So why is it important that he acts no different with Janaff than anyone else? Because he does act different near laguz kings. He's given special, personalized lines to the laguz kings and refers to them sincerely as laguz. Important to note is that the laguz kings only become playable in part four (Tibarn and Naesala) and Endgame (Caineghis).

These are characters he would have absolutely no chance at having any development with in either game prior (even if you consider time spent in PoR, Tibarn and Naesala are not playable until the final chapter and you can only pick one of them. Caineghis, plain and simple, is not even an option). That means his supports with them are the very beginning of their relationship.

This is by part four. There's been development since part three in his character that we don't see. He's now openly referring to them as only "laguz" (remember, he was back and forth earlier in RD). He treats them with respect.

"But DCB, of course he does! They're kings! They're powerful!" But the Shinon we started out with in PoR wouldn't have cared less. To him back then a sub-human was a sub-human. Even as allies, he wouldn't have respected them (re: his C support with Janaff). Instead, here, in RD with these supports, he can talk with laguz directly, refer to them as such, and give them respect.

He also doesn't start out being intentionally racist toward them. He's at the point, by the time he can support the laguz kings, where he skips right past the active "sub-human" bullshit.

What do I mean by that? Well... I mean with Tibarn, he almost says sub-human but catches himself and doesn't just say "you guys" like he did with Janaff in their A support (which came before his C support with Tibarn if you consider his development linear and including Janaff). He corrects himself, and instead uses "a king" - similar to his "you guys" pull back, but outright referring to him as a king is actually a step above that (and again, this is their C support).

King Tibarn. It seems like a sub-hu– I mean–a king such as yourself can hold your own.

He's learning! He's growing! He's maturing! He's realizing he can get out of that mindset! All his experiences prior to PoR, based on his supports with Janaff, would imply he's only ever known that he has to protect himself against them. He never got to actually meet one. When he did, it was hard to pull himself out of old habits for new experiences. He was trying for Janaff, but he wasn't quite there yet. Here, he does something very similar.

With the other kings, he just outright refers to them as kings with no stumbles.

Hey, Lion King! Of anybody here, it seems like you’d be just fine.

Raven King, you seem all right. No need to be babied, I hope.

Mind you, the latter is pretty standard Shinon in personality. It's unrelated to Naesala being a laguz. However, both are these are completely respectful as a person talking to another person.

For his B supports we have:

I thought you were the all-conquering King Caineghis! And yet, you mess up. Bizarre. You better stay by me.

Hawk King, whew, even you mess up sometimes. Kinda makes me nervous. You better stay by me.

Raven King–your fighting? Not good. Just…stay by me and let me handle this.

Bizarre, he says, that one of the strongest people he knows is having trouble. He's actually surprised. No comment about how sub-humans suck or anything, not here!

Similarly, even Tibarn messes up sometimes. He's surprised. He expects basically perfectly from Tibarn (so this presumes he has positive expectations of him from what he knows of Tibarn).

Naesala's fighting isn't good? Well what does PoR Shinon care! Let him die! But that's not RD Shinon (and remember, these quotes could've been anything else considering he got specifically personalized quotes with these three, and personalized quotes for RD supports are somewhat few and tend to be for specific pairs).

Stay by me, he says! The same things he'll say to anyone! To any beorc and to any laguz. Again, personalized quotes did exist and they were there for certain pairs. Those pairs got special quotes specifically for their relationship). He didn't avoid saying "stay by me" just because they were laguz.

Mind you, his support quotes with these three are much more respectful than usual Shinon. He's very, uh, hilariously Shinon (there is a word for this, however at this time I cannot think of it 😔. I am not thinking of sarcastic, I am thinking of... something else. Granted, these lines are directed to Reyson and Rafiel, who technically can't fight... so I'll give him a break on that one) in most of his quotes, and some don't sound particularly respectful ("Prince ___, it’s really hard to watch you fight. Why don’t you stay by me and let me handle this?").

Now for the A supports (and BOY HOWDY I'M EATIN' GOOD HERE)...

You know, I’m not one for making friends and being nice. But, Caineghis, I gotta say, you are one bad laguz. In a good way! Hang in there.

I gotta admit… I didn’t like you when I first met you. But, Prince ___, I hope you make it through all this. I was wrong about you.

You know, I really don’t care who lives and who dies. But, Hawk King, for a laguz– hey, for anyone–you seem pretty decent. I hope you make it.

You know, I never thought I’d say this, but… King ___, I’m thinkin’ you should live. Don’t ask me why! Just a crazy notion. Maybe I like you?

Not one for making friends and being nice in general, with beorc, but he's befriending a laguz? Well now! What would PoR Shinon pre-Janaff say!

If you need me to explain the lines to Reyson and Rafiel to you, I have no hope for you at this point. If you can't read "I was wrong about you" and understand what that means, you might need to go back to school. In fact you definitely do.

For a laguz - no, scratch that because that doesn't fucking matter anymore - for anyone - you seem pretty decent (<-- this is the way Shinon talks to everyone).

Maybe he likes Naesala? Maybe they're friends? Maybe he just admitted he's fond of a laguz? Maybe he just said he likes a laguz??? Gosh jolly, early PoR Shinon is rolling in his grave!

So uhhh, what does this have to do with Janaff? Well, like I said, I feel like their supports slot perfectly into Shinon's development that's going to exist anyway. It's like the middle part of it that you get to see but also may miss out on. It's like jumping from PoR to RD and wondering what on earth happened in between to bring Shinon to that point... and if you consider his A support with Janaff, it makes sense that that's what happened. It fills that gap, and it also slots in perfectly with where he is in his development as a character between two games.

Timeline:

PoR start - Shinon hates laguz. He seems to hate them for reasons unknown. Greil dies; Shinon leaves. Chapter 18 is reached and Shinon is recruited back into the GMs. Despite that the GMs are now working with the Crimean army which has actively allied itself with the beast and bird tribes, Shinon whatevers his way through that fact and rejoins. He'll tolerate, he guesses. Fam is here.

Cue Janaff supports. New birb, who dis, except he's rude! Yes folks, it was Janaff who was rude first (his lines were also very Janaff... who is very like Shinon, so it makes sense that would get a negative reaction from Shinon even if he was a beorc). Shinon is set off and now thinks he was right to hate laguz. Look at this annoying birb face and his dumb lil hat!!! Better threaten to kill him just to be safe...

B support, they're having a conversation and learning from each other because Janaff came over to apologize. He knows he was in the wrong to nag at Shinon just for being an unfamiliar face. Shinon is still pissy though because it's a goddamn birb with a hat!!! Their conversation is a mix of ugh fuck this annoying guy to actually talking things out... and Shinon admitting why he hates laguz - because he's always needed to protect himself from "those half breeds". Sounds like his only experiences were very negative, so he ends up racist. Well, Janaff was also racist until very recently for similar reasons, and he used to think all beorc liked to kill. He, too, had misconceptions that bred a racist hatred. Now, though, with Shinon talking to him, he's realized he was wrong about beorc and is open to seeing things differently. Shinon backtracks, realizing he's having this conversation with the birb with a hat and wonders why.

A support, they talk more and it's getting better... and Janaff not only admits to relating to Shinon - which is a nice touch because they're two sides of the same coin who are both still very much learning about each other's races - and mind you Janaff was racist at 110 years old so he's been doing this shit for a while! It was because he talked with Shinon and learned more about beorc that, on top of what Ike did for Leanne, he's being more open minded now. Janaff, understanding where Shinon is coming from (ignorance and misconceptions), is much more polite and kind to him. Shinon, in response, backtracks when he almost uses the racist term "sub-human" so as not to offend Janaff, leaves off here respecting him and, when Janaff has to leave because the support is over, calls him back because he wants to hear more about the world from him because Janaff has lived for so much longer. Maybe the birb with the hat isn't so bad at all after all!!

From here the GMs fight with laguz allies until the end of PoR. Two or three years pass idk shit's inconsistent I guess, and we get to RD.

By this point Shinon has already been in an army that allied with and fought alongside laguz, and maybe that's tempered his feelings. When given an out from joining the other GMs in their aiding of the Laguz Alliance, and as the only beorc, he chooses to stay with the group.

At this point he's back and forth with "sub-human" and "laguz". There's definitely improvement, but old habits still get out sometimes. Still though, he's progressed from "you guys" to outright using "laguz".

The laguz kings join in the fight against Ashera. Shinon can support them, getting personalized quotes specifically for them (and for the herons). With Tibarn, he catches himself and corrects what he almost said - something he did once before with Janaff as per this linear timeline. That's the only instance left of a mistake in his wording. By now he's not using "sub-human" at all (B and A support with Tibarn or C-A with Caineghis or Naesala), or he's freely and without stumbling using "laguz" with no "you guys" esque backtrack.

This is obviously only one aspect of Shinon's development, i.e. the development of him growing out of racism similar to Janaff, and there are more aspects to him that did develop and grow throughout both games, but this post was specifically to highlight the importance of having Janaff there as part of his growth. Without it, it's like a blank, empty spot in his development where you don't know how it started happening and to such a degree (how did he go from outright using sub-human to using laguz at all? It feels like there had to be something in the middle of that growth, and without Janaff's supports it's just missing.

With them though, it's quite clear how he reasonably went from sub-human to "you guys" to laguz with some slip ups (ones that he corrects himself with if he actually respects the person, in this case Tibarn. He didn't bother correcting it with Lyre and Kyza because he didn't like them, which again, is still a flaw, but that was prior to his ability to support the laguz kings. It would be more reasonable to say he's starting to grow out of using "sub-human" just to specific people as an insult by this point.

Mans ain't perfect, but he's trying and he's working on it. Why is that without Janaff involved in his development? I 'unno, I guess he just had some random offscreen development between the games. With Janaff though? It actually works, fits and makes sense. It feels like that part of his development is meant to be there, as it compliments his development going forward.

that's it that's all i had to say bye now

[orbdotexe]

I keep almost writing Lua instead of Luna/moon and Infestation instead of Hive. maybe playing Warframe and writing Destiny fanfic at the same time isnt my greatest idea (i refuse to stop)

On another note, Chains of Harrow has inspired me to torment Rancher and his gaggle of Hunters (F for his sanity) but we'll see if this actually goes anywhere/if its another drabble to chip at between Arsenal Check and Stormjoys...

[ridiasfangirlings]

I kinda love the idea of the S4 alphabet squad playing D&D or something like it with Munakata as their GM. Fushimi being forced to play but then getting really into it is also cute to me!

Imagine this starts as just the alphabet squad and then Munakata finds out and Fushimi just gets dragged in against his will because Munakata doesn't want him to feel left out. Like I can totally see Enomoto being something of a fan of role playing games and maybe he and Fuse convince Hidaka and Gotou to come have a game night with them. They end up having a good time, Doumyouji finds out and quickly joins up. After a few more sessions he brings Kamo along (someone needs to make the snacks) and eventually even Akiyama and Benzai get pulled into it. With the whole group it's too crowded in Enomoto's room so they have to find a new space, deciding to just set up their next game on like a weekend in the common area. They know it's risky, there's the chance that a certain person might catch them, but they think it's worth a try – and then of course Munakata somehow senses people are bonding without him and shows up wondering what fascinating game they are playing.

Enomoto hesitantly explains the whole thing to Munakata, who listens intently and asks many pertinent questions and it's actually weirding Enomoto out a little because he's probably used to people tuning him out when he talks about his hobbies. Imagine Munakata not so much asking to join as hinting very obviously that he would like to be invited and finally Enomoto can't handle this anymore and asks if Munakata wants to try a game. The good side is they quickly figure out that Munakata's favorite role is being GM which as it happens the squad had been trading off because none of them really wanted to do it. He does a decent job for a newbie and the squad breathe a sigh of relief, until Munakata happily notes he will be seeing them next week to play again.

A week later they're all summoned to the common room and there's Munakata with a very grumpy Fushimi at his side, ready to start a new game. Imagine Munakata's so excited too, he spent all week refining his scenario. Fushimi clicks his tongue and grumbles about being dragged into this, like why does he have to participate in this at all. Munakata thinks this will be a splendid bonding experience and he wanted Fushimi-kun to enjoy it too, Fushimi is absolutely not planning to enjoy anything thanks. Enomoto gets to help Fushimi make a character sheet and Fushimi lets him do half the work because Fushimi isn't intending to play seriously at all. The squad all brace themselves, certain that Captain's scenario is going to be super complex and this is going to be a miserable experience.

Except as it turns out Munakata is a great GM, his scenario is clever and he keeps the game moving and soon the squad are actually having a great time. Fushimi of course keeps trying to do as little as possible but imagine he starts to get drawn into it, I imagine him going from half-assing everything to being unexpectedly transfixed by it. The squad can tell even Fushimi's enjoying himself and imagine them all smiling a little at each other, I bet Akiyama and Hidaka in particular are happy that Fushimi is finally enjoying doing something with all of them. After this the games become a regular thing and Munakata is just so pleased, like at last they are all bonding in the manner of his dreams.