#homebrew games are so fucking cool

[pirateprincessjess]

I am going to the Midwest Gaming Classic convention in Milwaukee soon! They have a massive exhibit of pinball machines to look at. Are there any tables I should look for while I am there?

I adore MGC! It’s my favorite Arcade/gaming expo. I’m unfortunately not gonna be there this year, but I do have some great recommendations for games to check out!

Try and Multimorphics booth, and play their P3 pinball machine. The P3 is the most unique pinball machine I’ve ever seen tbh. It has a screen under the playfield and it’s modular so you can install different games into the machine. Their new Princess bride game should be at the show and available to play. I highly recommend it. (Also play final resistance if that have it there)

Secondly, try to play Galactic Tank Force, and Barry O’s BBQ challenge from American pinball. The folks at AP are the only pinball manufacturer in history who have never put out a bad game. Every one of their machines is an absolute banger.

At the Marco Pinball/Stern both play everything. Stern makes great games and they’ve been killing it lately. Godzilla, Foo Fighters, Jaws, and Rush are some of the best games ever made, and they will likely all be there. (I used to work for Marco Pinball, so if you see any Marco employees tell them I say hi!)

If BoF is there then check out their new labyrinth pinball machine. It’s their first game and I’ve never seen one in person so I have no idea if it’s good or not, but a new pinball company is an exciting thing!

There’s also usually a big selection of older pinball machines that at the show which are super fun to play because you don’t see those machines as often these days. The old 90s Sega Godzilla machine and the Lost World Jurassic Park machine are stand outs for me.

And lastly, MGC has a huge area for homebrew games. These are one of a kind machines made by individual people who love pinball. Play all of them. They are u pique and incredible, and you may never see these games again. Playing homebrew games is a really special experience.

[fantasykiri5]

Hey do y’all wanna see the most horrible fucked up homebrew ranger spell I just wrote out for fun

[tgcg]

an open fly walking

i didnt like this one but i thought id finally air it out since its been sat in my folders for months now

TG: hey karkat

CG: YEAH?

===

TG: you ever noticed you like

TG: walk weird

CG: WOW, OKAY.

CG: HAVE *YOU* EVER NOTICED THAT I DON'T GIVE A SHIT?

TG: pff

===

TG: no listen because i got my ears scoping that shit im like a scouter for dude activity

TG: ok maybe me mentioning it to you is gonna fuck up your ecosystem or something but

TG: you have the heaviest feet of the century man

CG: I DO???

TG: just thrust them straight down into the ground like youre trying to homebrew a san andreas fault

TG: viciously tamping on tectonic plates hoping for top score on the richter scale

TG: waging war against solid particles and the basic flow of gravity

TG: i could ID those footfalls out of a million i mean it

CG: SERIOUSLY?

===

TG: i mean theres nothing wrong with it but

TG: yeah

CG: I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU'RE FUCKING WITH ME RIGHT NOW.

TG: im not fucking with you striders honor

TG: when have i ever lied to anybody about anything

CG: NOT UNPACKING THAT QUESTION WITH YOU TODAY.

CG: BUT SHIT, HOLD ON. LET ME SEE.

TG: yeah take the umbrella go over there and just walk to me

CG: ON IT.

===

===

TG: see you just kinda slam em straight down dude

CG: THIS IS THE WORST DAY OF MY RIOTOUS FUCKING JOKE OF A LIFE.

TG: dont your feet ache

===

CG: MOOT POINT. THIS MIGHT SOUND INSANE BUT I'VE ACTUALLY HAD MY STRUT PODS FOR A WHILE. ANY KIND OF PAIN THIS WOULD'VE BEEN CAUSING WOULD BE TOTALLY FILTERED OUT OF MY SPONGE BY NOW AS BACKGROUND NOISE.

TG: damn i didnt think that through

TG: my shades

CG: ALRIGHT, GET BACK UNDER THE SHITTING UMBRELLA AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME.

TG: look ive fucked myself over here too i dont have shit to clean these with

TG: ugh

===

TG: guess its karma

CG: HOLY FUCK. HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THIS BEFORE?

TG: i dunno but im gonna assume having a dad thats a literal crab monster is probably a contributing factor

TG: im guessing thats not a great role model for this kinda thing

TG: just conjecture i mean

CG: YOUR ENVY IS OVERWHELMINGLY OBVIOUS DAVE. AS A DISCLAIMER, HE WOULD'VE ABSOLUTELY KICKED YOUR ASS.

TG: yeah probably

CG: THAT'S PRETTY MUCH ALL THERE IS TO SAY ON THE MATTER.

===

TG: but see bro had me stringent on feather feets

TG: i bet i could slip across a bike horn warehouse with nary a fucking toot

CG: HAHA. ASSUMING YOU DON'T MAKE A TOTAL ASS OF YOURSELF, AS PER USUAL.

CG: IF YOU WEREN'T CONSTANTLY RUNNING YOUR GASH ABOUT EVERYTHING AND BEING AN INIMITABLE CLOWN I SERIOUSLY THINK YOU COULD BE ON PAR WITH YOUR CUSTODIAN.

CG: THAT IS A MONUMENTAL "IF".

TG: well look at it this way

TG: im basically doing you all a favor by being a dumbass

TG: never gonna get caught off guard by the bozo patrol

CG: WOW. GOOD POINT.

===

TG: also screw this can i use your shirt

TG: this stupid hoodie is just smudging my lenses up

TG: i cant see dick

CG: UH

CG: SURE, I GUESS.

TG: cool

===

TG: so yeah i could be prowling around like a goddamn verbal assassin sniping convos left and right

TG: but no ive got the decency to go bunp in the night

CG: YEAH.

CG: IT'S DEFINITELY COMPOUNDED BY THE CONSTANT INANE RAMBLINGS.

CG: BUT

CG: IT'S ACTUALLY PRETTY RELAXING, Y'KNOW? IT HAS ITS OWN RHYTHM.

TG: see yeah i sound it off and

===

TG: wait really?

CG: YEAH

CG: I DON'T KNOW

CG: FUCK. HOW DO I EXPLAIN THIS WITHOUT WANTING TO CRAM MY FROND DOWN MY PROTEIN CHUTE.

===

CG: IT'S LIKE

CG: A SALVE FOR MY AGGRAVATION SPONGE.

CG: YOUR VOICE IS THE HUMAN EQUIVALENT OF ASPIRIN.

TG: uh damn karkat hold your hoofbeasts i was talking about the rhythm thing

CG: ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT. I'M TAKING US BOTH THE FUCK OUT RIGHT NOW. YOU HAVE REACHED THE BAD END OF THIS CONVERSATION.

TG: you think thatd be heroic or just

CG: IF I WAS STILL GHOSTING AROUND THE RUINS OF SGRUB'S ARCANE FRIGGIN GAME SYSTEMS, THE COMPLETE LACK OF SHIT AFOOT NOWADAYS WOULD BORE ME TO DEATH.

CG: LIKE. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME OUR THERMAL HULL LEVELLED UP, DAVE?

TG: hah

===

TG: but uh

TG: i mean we had aspirin on earth

CG: NO, NUMBNUBS.

CG: I'M SAYING YOU ARE MY ASPIRIN.

TG: oh

CG: YEAH, TAKE THAT TO THE BANK AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR 20-KARAT ASS.

===

TG: heh

TG: well get this

TG: i will literally talk at you forever for free

TG: you got lifetime priority seating for the davealogues

TG: never gotta go to the drugstore again you can just get doped up on my dulcet tones for the rest of time

TG: take that and some of this

TG: im packin punches

CG: OW, FUCK! NO! MY MIGRAINES!

CG: SWEEPS OF VEINCLOTTING AND NERVEFRAYING DOWN THE FUCKING GAPER. BECAUSE OF YOU.

CG: YOU ASSHOLE, THIS IS THE WORST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO ME.

CG: AND YOU'RE LAUGHING.

TG: chuckle up it only gets worse from here

===

CG: BE HONEST WITH ME. DID FONDLING MY SHIRT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET EVEN DO ANYTHING?

TG: barely but yknow sometimes you just gotta deal the cards youre given

TG: ill just be astigmatic for a while its cool

CG: PFF… OKAY MAN.

[catknifetime]

I know I’ve only just seen it, but the 6th level feature for the Coven of the Green subclass of WBN’s homebrew Witch class might be one the best designed class features I’ve ever seen for D&D 5e.

First of all, the way it incentivizes fun roleplay by only activating when you actually grow new plants, while simultaneously transforming the level 2 Green Gifts feature from a primarily ribbon feature with a small utility into something extremely useful, it’s just incredible. Then as we get to the actual function of this ability it becomes even better: after fulfilling the mostly roleplay based limitations, you can create a number of potions (from a limited, but strong list) equal to your PB, that retain their power for only 24 hours.

That last part is the piece of genius game design here. It means this ability gives you a solid number of strong consumables every long rest for very little to no cost and then forces you to actually USE them. This limitation is what makes the ability both balanced and fun, because by making you use your items it makes you stronger, making the ability way more useful than if you were just collecting potions to use at some other point.

The time limit on potions effects fixes the #1 issue with consumables in any kind of game: the “what if I need them later” problem, because if you know your potion is going away at the end of the day anyway, why not use it? And using a potion is always more fun than hoarding them. Not to mention it completely shuts off all potential money making schemes from certain types of players.

I literally just realized I haven’t even talked about the selection of potions. Basically, it’s incredible. Over half of them (when counting different types resistance potions separately) are very situationally useful, now that would normally be a bad thing, but with the daily refreshing nature of this feature it just means good planning is really rewarded. Also just having potions of mind reading on hand is ridiculously fun. Honestly, I might not be able to stop myself from just brewing as many of those as possible every morning if I was playing a Green Coven Witch.

Bravo to Mazey Veselak and Brandes Stoddard, the Witch class is genuinely so fucking cool, and I’m going to incorporate it into some game I’m playing or will play somehow.

[number1rizgukgakstan]

FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR FINALE PART 2 LIVEBLOG: SPOILERS AHEAD

ITS GAME TIME BABY! :D I'm so ready for this. LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOO

Spoilers Under The Cut!

GOD their outfits are so fucking cool. I love their bullying of Brennan. it's so great I love it. I CANT BELIEVE THEY DIDNT TELL HIM thats so funny.

"I spent 217 dollars at Hot Topic" Real for that Siobhan.

I would have KILLED for Brennan in Emo Kid Clothes but alas. Some other time.

FABIAN'S ABOUT TO DO THE COOLEST FUCKING THING :DDD

MIRRORS??? MIRRORS?? ROMAENCE PARTNER APPEARANCE MAYBE??? MAYBE??? MAYBE??? It'd be so funny

That dice span for SO FUCKING LONG oh my god. The dice are FEELING IT today.

Fabian pushing Jace into the lava is maybe the funniest use of Brennan's own fucking encounter design against him. I love it.

18 D10???? EIGHTEEN??? INSANE.

"I served Rueben up a plate of redemption arc and he fucking cast a ninth level spell on it" is great.

"AHHH I SHOULD HAVE STUDIED A LITTLE BIT" beautiful final words for the duplicate

Ohhhh Jace is being HIVE-MINDED. He's just a minion. Damn.

WAIT. SO ONCE THE RAGESTARS ARE GONE, THEY COULD PROBABLY BE SAVED RIGHT??? Ratgrinders might get to go away, maybe?

Oh god if Kristen gets rage-starred they're seriously fucked,,, thank god it didn't happen.

MAZEY NOOOOOOOO.

"I mean I don't Hate it" NOT THE TIME FABIAN

They're already two people down [sobs]

OH MY GOD PORTER REALLY FUCKING HATES GORGUG HOLY SHIT. He's so fucking scary actually.

Oh god I'm so worried ANKARNA NOOOOOO

RIZ'S FUCKING PLAN IS INSANE I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. Murph the GENIUS YOU ARE. The fact that it did ONE HUNDRED AND SIX DAMAGE is absurd.

"VERY GOOD ON PAPER BUT NO PRACTICAL APPLICATION" OUCH!

SHE'S NOT EVEN RAGE-STARRED??? SHE WAS DOING THIS WILLINGLY?? HOLY SHIT MOST COMPELLING VILLAIN EVER. SHE REALLY IS JUST THAT FULL OF HATE. #1 HATER. I LOVE IT.

Mary-Ann CHOOSING to take the damage is absurd. We stan a dedicated queen.

Oh god three people down is worrying. I'm sure they'll pull through.

ANOTHER CLUTCH SCATTER FROM ADAINE!

God, Brennan's homebrew spell coming back to bite him is SO funny.

GET FUCKED JACE YOU LITTLE BITCH!

ARTHUR AGUEFORT'S CONTINGENCY MEASURE IS SO FUNNY.

Killing KLCK fucking over Jace and Porter is incredibly funny. Turns out Rage does not make for Good Planning.

LOWEST INT BITCHES AS YOUR LEADERS IS SO FUNNY

"I really can't I tried" GOD jace is such a stupid fucking sorcerer I love him.

Jace failing to Bigby's Hand Adaine into the lava and then fighting with Porter is amazing. Peak. ANOTHER CLUTCH NAT 20 FOR GORGUG! The gym really is pulling things off for them.

"He just rolled a 4" in the most defeated voice ever is so fucking funny. This is what happens when half your villain party has shitty strength.

"eat this gizard and get the fuck up" God I love Brennan's random ass magic items. It's great.

"You might still be trapped in a Burning Elmville with a raging giant" So an average Tuesday in Solace?

Honoring the Cock and Getting a Nat 1- the Dimension 20 Way

Fig's tricky little Shatter is my favorite tactic in her toolbox. And her getting 40 damage of shatter is ABSURD, even if her rolling them one by one is nerve-wracking.

SIXTY-NINE FIRE DAMAGE :D

SO IF BUDDY COMES BACK HE JUST FUCKING DROPS STRAIGHT INTO THE LAVA??

BAKUR BABY!!!!!!! LET'S HOPE HE'S NOT EVIL!

He doesn't have his own mini so he's basically just That Guy

Bakur might choose to join either side so let's see :eyes eyes eyes:

GOD I love Fabian and his clutch rolls. BAKUR and ALLIES!

SQUEEEEEEEM!!! FUCK YEAH!! SQUEEM! AND HE BROUGHT THE CORTADOS. BALTHAZAR'S BACK!!!!! HOLY SHIT??? I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT YOU BUT I LOVE YOU!

YOU GOT YOUR HEALS! GET A CORTADO AND JOIN THE PARTY SQUEEEEM!

Mary-Anne rolling a nat 1 is so funny i'm losing it. Clutch ass cutting words. The Hangman is winning!

Fabian and Mazey are SO cute. They deserve the fucking world. ITS ALL LOVE NOW!!!!

The value of protective anger,,,, the strength of love and light and the desire to combat those who would hurt the ones you love,,, Brennan Lee Mulligan you are a genius

ANOTHER K2 BLIMEY NAT 20??? THE DICE ARE THE REAL HEROES OF THIS STORY. It's fucking. It's so fucking funny. I'm literally crying.

Zac in the DM's seat again is making me laugh so hard.

Brennan actually packing up behind them is so funny. He's really committed to the bit.

"She's about to become a normal person" this is actually tragic when you think about it. Luckily, K2 is in a comedy show, so it's going to be funny instead.

"This spell is MEANT to be comedic" yeah it's literally a fucking snowman.

OH MY GOD. CASSANDRA MADE K2 A REAL PERSON???? HOLY SHIT THIS IS SOME PINOCCHIO LEVEL BULLSHIT IM ECSTATIC. OR LIKE, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN???

"Unsleeping City K2???" I WANT THIS

K2 is now a human cleric and she's fucking real. Holy shit she's fucking real.

GOD THE MOMENT WITH CASSANDRA AND BAKUR IS SO FUCKING COOL.

BALTHAZAR GOT FUCKING DISINTEGRATED [sobs] GOODBYE SWEET MAN WHO NEVER DOES ANYTHING. THE MOST CRINGEFAIL MAN EVER

Oh god the Bad Kids are fucking down again :sobs:

"We're just collecting Barbarians" I love that <3 Barbarians Only

Mazey is definitely an honorary bad kid <3 Epic crits and clutch heals for all!

Fabian and Gorgug have gone down SO MUCH. It's incredible how they keep fucking pulling themselves back up. They are truly living on the edge.

We're halfway through the episode and I am very excited and also a little nervous.

OH THANK GOD SANDRA LYNN'S FINE! :D It's also nice to see Lydia and Ragh! :D

I love how Fig immediately calls back to her mom to help. They're the family ever.

GOD Jawbone's full mini is so fucking cool.

BRENNAN YOU CAD WHERE'S AYDA???????

"All I have to do is be dead and I can roll anything" should be printed on a dice holder FOR SURE

THE FUCKING AGENT IS HERE??? IM LOSING IT

BAXTER IS FIGHTING PORTER??? OH MY GOD

Lydia's wheelchair sliding is actually so fun. I love Brennan taking into account wheelchair physics for his combat. It's always nice to see.

GORGUG HAS A FUCKING FLASHBANG?????? ONCE AGAIN GORGUG'S ABILITIES COME IN CLUTCH.

"is this Justice? Is this a New Dawn?" GOES SO FUCKING HARD???? ADAINE YOU ARE THE COOLEST

BAKUR BACK TO HIS HIGH ELF SELF!!!!

EVERYONE'S GETTING A DIVINE INTERVENTION????? HOLY SHIT.

HOLY SHIT FABIAN DID IT???? FUCK THATS SO COOL. FABIAN, A PROTECTOR, ALONGSIDE ADAINE. THEY ARE THE BEST FRIENDS!

Mazey and Fabian are so sweet. I want them to be in love forever do you hear me???? YOU HEAR ME???

"All the ways you've protected people is what makes you cool" GOD MAZEY GETS IT. FABIAN HAS SO MUCH LOVE TO GIVE.

Ankarna, sitting in the bottomless pit; THAT BOY DESERVES TO BE WITH HIS FUCKING GIRLFRIEND. LET ME RISE UP!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHH ANKARNA LIVES. SHE FUCKING SLAYS!!! SHE SLAYYYYYYYYYS

Jace getting fucking arrested is the funniest ending for a villain in this show. ITS NOT EVEN THE REAL JACE.

"I WAS HILDA HILDA THE WHOLE TIME!" EMILY THE COMEDIAN THAT YOU ARE!

God this battle was so cool it really did a lot for the Bad Kids as characters.

All of the scenes in the ether were SO GOOD. They really show how strong they've grown, and the strengths of their heart. Their desire to look ahead is built into them, and I love it.

"rebellion without a new dawn to look forward to is just cynical"

"where's the fucking cat" KRISTEN YOU'RE SO FUCKING FUNNY

SQUEEM AND BALTHAZAR HUNTING KALINA IS GREAT

"bring back everyone but Kipperlilly"

"No, just Mary-Ann"

The Bad Kids are great, Funniest people ever, 10/10

"Juicy God Gossip" is such a funny line. Another t-shirt I want.

GOD DAMN IT ARTHUR AGUEFORT WHY ARE YOU JUST NOW SHOWING UP

FORGIVEN, HE BROUGHT AYDA BACK, WE ARE WELL. God their reunion was perfect it was so sweet. And Adaine and Ayda also had a really good moment.

Arthur Aguefort is the single funniest character Brennan has ever written.

Kristen Applebees is going to be the president! HOLY SHIT!

YOLANDA AND LUCY ARE BACK!!!! I LOVE THEM!!!

RATGRINDERS REDEMPTION ARC!!! So they were ALL just possessed. This is a good ending.

Oisin and Ivy should hopefully have a terrible senior year :3

Mary-Ann is so funny and earnest and sweet and I seriously love her. I hope she has a wonderful senior year and nothing bad ever happens to her ever again. ENEMIES TO LOVERS GORGUG AND MARY-ANN WAS NOT ON MY BINGO CARD

Is Gorgug's type just barbarians who can kill him????

GOD all of them are so fucking funny.

Kristen as a Pantheon Type Cleric makes SO MUCH SENSE!!!

Riz switching to tea and embracing change is beautiful. He's so fucking strong. "whatever you choose to do, you're going to be good at it" I love his relationship with his mom so much.

Adaine's mom is being a little bastard in the Nightmare Forest? That's going to be fun to follow up on if they ever do.

"i'd take them to get you" made me SOB. They're THE SISTERS EVER.

"we know what its for, we don't have to talk about it, it wasn't great" IS SO FUCKING FUNNY. Realest teenager moment ever.

HIS MOM SHOWS UP??? CRYING LAUGHING

HOLY SHIT FABIAN'S GRANDAD IS BACK!!

FABIAN's MOM IS ACTUALLY PREGNANT [screaming] THATS SO FUNNY

HIS INFANT SIBLING IS LITERALLY THE NEWEST NEMESIS IM CRYING

"Do you ever talk to Jawbone about any of this?" Mazey's gonna learn her new boyfriend has NO CHILL.

FOUR GOD PANTHEON???? That's going to be SO FUN!!!

Tracker and her girlfriend broke up I'm losing it.

GERTIE DECLARED KRISTEN HER NEMESIS I'm SCREAMING thats so funny. I mean it was intensely funny. It is a bit fucked up she led Gertie on, but that's teenagers for you.

GORGUG AND FIG ARE SO SWEET I'M SOBBING. GORGUG'S GIFTS ARE ADORABLE. THEY ARE THE BEST FRIENDS EVER.

The Thistlesprings are the Most Adoring Parents Ever I love them so much. PROFESSOR THISTLESPRING ARC???? I REALLY HOPE THAT HAPPENS.

"maybe next year i'll be the bad guy?" ARTHUR AGUEFORT I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD.

AYDA AND FIG MOMENT. I LOVE HOW INTENSE AYDA IS. THE GIRLFRIENDS EVER.

Oh my god the Complicated Women Podcast I'm screaming. I love how Sandra Lynn talks about it.

Fig's going to be SUCH a good big sister. Hopefully Fig can help Fabian handle things.

GOD the Hunter's Mark from Sandra Lynn to make sure she can always find her daughter is so sweet. They're the cutest ever.

"Maybe she can just trust that they'll be friends outside of school" GOD I LOVE THAT. Fig is THE BARD EVER.

THE AUTOMATONS HUNTING FIG IS SO FUNNY.

Ayda connected the Bottomless Pit with Leviathin and I'm just sobbing. Her point about learning was so strong and brilliant I love it.

"it's hot tub time!" - GOD THATS SO FUNNY

OH MY GOD BAKARATH IS REAL???? AND KALINA???? THATS SO FUCKING FUNNY. IS BAKARATH GOING TO BE THE FINAL BOSS OF A FUTURE SEASON???

That ending was amazing and I had such a good time. It's bittersweet, but I'm happy I was here. GO BAD KIDS!!

[theoutcastrogue]

[D&D PLAYTEST] Pleasant surprise: 5.5 is actually getting good! And in combat I can FINALLY do something more exciting than "hit it again"

So this was my biggest issue with 5e: when I play a character who's good at hitting things, as opposed to flinging spells at things, I want to do cool shit! I love tactical combat, and I can't stand it when "I hit it again" is the only option of a martial character. Everyone should have options, but especially the Rogue. (I'm biased, yes, but the Rogue is conceptually the one class that fights dirty.) And disappointingly, not even the Swashbuckler got manoeuvres in 5e. For everyone other than Battle Masters and monks with Stunning Strike, our only options in 2014 were a measly Shove / Grapple / Disarm IN PLACE of an attack (for many of us, our only attack), and that was WITH optional DMG features. And Tasha's additions were only a marginal improvement.

You couldn't impose conditions with an attack, which, from a simulation aspect, is just silly. Any two-bit caster could do the craziest shit with spells, but an epic level martial couldn't even say "I hit 'em so hard or so deftly that they got a headache". For the most part, they could only say "I hit it again" and deal damage. And I hate that. It's boring. I even had an unfinished homebrew project of Called Shots, where you could spend a resource to do interesting shit with your attacks (give 'em disadvantage, make 'em dazed, reduce speed, that sort of thing). For Rogues, that resource was Sneak Attack dice. And guess what! In the latest version of the 5.5 playtest, WE GET THAT!

Can I get a fuck yeah, and also a fucking finally.

It's not an automatic win button, and that's good! I don't want win buttons (that's also boring), I want options. Cunning Strike is situationally useful, and that's ideal: if it's always good, you'd do it every time (so why isn't it a standard rule?), and if it's always bad, you'd never do it (so why does it exist at all?). If it's potentially good, depending on the situation, it means I get to THINK what I'm gonna do on my turn, and that's such a joy.

For years now, the only combat decisions my Rogues made in 5e were about movement/positioning, and how to get advantage. And co-ordinating with the others, which always happens, I mean it's a group game. But I had very little to contribute in that department other than flanking, I usually just waited for THEM to help ME to get advantage or something.

With this feature (which I'll be stealing as is, regardless of what happens to the playtest, or if I'm gonna adopt 5.5 as a whole or not), I can set up moves for others, I can impose conditions, so many things. Plus, it's customisable. Now that this basic framework is in place, anyone can fiddle with it and come up with new effects that fit their game and style. (I am NOT in favour of perfect rulesets that cover all bases, needs, and preferences, since that's an impossible and silly thing to ask. I am in favour of solid frameworks, that can be easily tweaked and built upon.) So I am ecstatic. I don't have to hit it again every time! Holy shit!

This is not a blanket endorsement of "One D&D" (I'll keep calling it 5.5, thankyouverymuch). It's still a work in progress, I haven't even read all of it in yet, and I do have issues with it, big and small. (And if my favourite class was the Monk, I'd be thumbs down right now: this one needs a lot of work, oof.) But with Weapon Mastery rules (another interesting development for martial characters), and better feats, and with this enormous improvement, I feel that some of the fundamental problems I had with 5e get... kinda solved. The new Rogue simply KICKS ASS. The whole class, not just Cunning Strike, it's a huge improvement. [Go read it, here's the PDF link.]

It's not overpowered, mind you. In terms of damage output it still lags behind Fighters and Barbarians and whathaveyou (which I'm perfectly okay with: Rogues are experts and skillmonkeys, they got stuff to do out of combat, meanwhile Barbarians have ONE JOB so they better be scary good at it), and full casters still slay. It just does cool shit, and I ask you: why do we even bother with the fuckton of combat rules in D&D if not to do cool shit?

See treantmonk's video below for a nice breakdown of the new Rogue. It's a few months old, and a couple of things have been revised since then: there's no "Arcane" spell list any more, so the Arcane Trickster presumably reverts to the Wizard spell list, and the Weapon Mastery rules are slightly different now. But they're very minor changes, and all the conclusions, with which I wholeheartedly agree, stand: this is simply FANTASTIC.

[kipperlillyforpresident]

Hey hey I would love it if you explained what you meant by "playing with the kid gloves" this season, I'm a full rat-grinders-should-get-redemption and a kipperlily's-only-fault-is-her-being-jealous-that-KVX-killed-riz's-dad truther [shows ID card] (I get it if you want to answer this privately, I feel like this could ruffle some feathers)

[checks ID like a bouncer at a club] come right on in, then.

So, I want to make it clear: I'm not a D&D player. I've watched quite a few D20 seasons, so I like to think I have some understanding of what makes combat challenging. But I'm definitely not an expert on this, so if anything I say is wrong, I welcome corrections.

All that said... it doesn't feel like Brennan is challenging the IH's to me. It feels like he is bending over backwards to accommodate 'rule of cool/rule of fun'. Which is fine enough for a home game. But this is a narrative show that people pay money to watch.

The most egregious example, I feel, is the fact that Brennan allowed them to take that short rest. When they crashed Seacaster Manor right by the gym, Brennan tells them that any enemy forces would have definitely spotted them. Because, duh. They didn't exactly stealth in. They landed a huge boat right in front of the boss battle.

But this has... zero narrative consequences. They're allowed to take a short rest and recover spell slots and fuck around with Ice Feast, and the Conspiracy has known that they are there the entire time. Like they're a video game boss, waiting for the Bad Kids to Press A To Start Boss Fight.

I just find that ridiculous. I think that there needed to be much heavier consequences to taking that short rest (Kipperlilly stealthed into the hut and stole the votes, they had an extra hour to prepare and set booby traps, literally ANYTHING.)

Speaking of that... Ice Feast completely undercut the biggest threat of this fight, that being the stunned condition. I do not blame Ally for using the spell, to be clear. It's almost comically made to nerf this boss fight, and them using it was an extremely smart move. I blame Brennan a) for making the spell that overpowered tbh and b) allowing it to even happen.

Because again. The town is in chaos. A rage ritual is about to start. They should need to get their ass over to the gym and get stuff done. Not fuck around and eat snowcones by...

K2!! Why the fuck was she allowed to be brought back! It completely undercuts any narrative impact of Blimeygate. It just feels cheap to me. The whole "she's actually like a sister to Kristen" thing feels so extremely "told and not shown" to me.

And now we have two insanely competent healers. And there's another thing:

I don't think Kristen should have all her spell slots to begin with. I just... I get that Kristen did some meaningful miracles. But I just don't think that a Cleric should be able to function so competently when her Goddess is literally trapped in supermegagayhell. I think she shouldn't have regained her spells at all, or at the very least, not all of them. Which is... harsh, obviously. But I feel like Cassandra's narrative is cheapened by the fact Kristen is all fine now.

Obviously, I'd want Brennan and Ally to work together on some sort of multi-class / homebrew in order to make Kristen not just a sitting duck during battles. It'd be ridiculously unfun and unfair if Kristen Couldn't Do Anything. But I don't think she should be functioning in the way she used to - let alone having TWO of her do that.

I think those are my main gripes...? I'm probably missing some, haha. But yeah. It feels like the party got to do Everything They Wanted with No Narrative Consequences, and I think that makes for a bad finale.

Thank you for this ask! I really don't post about general FHJY thoughts on this blog unless it's something so egregious like the Ivy stuff OR somebody directly asks me, so this is a bit of a treat to get to answer.

[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.

[yurisorcerer]

What are your top five dragons?

I've thought long and hard about this, and I've come up with a list that I think is pretty good.

Spoilers for, honestly, like, a couple things below the cut. I've tagged the post accordingly.

5. Raijin, my Dragonite from Pokemon Violet

(Obviously this isn't specifically a picture of Raijin, my Switch is sadly batterydead at the moment, but this is about what she looks like in my head. Anyway!)

Somehow or another, Dragonite ended up being the very last Gen I Pokemon I'd never caught or trained in any way. I'd caught all of the others in SOME playthrough of SOME pokemon game over the years, even the ones people generally don't love or tend to forget about. (I will be a Lickitung apologist until the day I die.) I'm not sure why I avoided the Dratini line for so long. Some general subconscious backlash? I can't really say for sure. Anyway, I caught Raijin off the coast of Paldea in Violet and she quickly became essentially the ace of my team. As it turns out, Rain Dance + Thunder with an Electric terra type is a pretty good combination.

4. Black Hole Dragons, from a Dungeons & Dragons homebrew sourcebook

I looked and looked and to my IMMENSE frustration, could not find a copy of the old-school D&D homebrew sourcebook that these things are from, but please trust me and hear me out here.

Black hole dragons as depicted in this book, a truly ridiculous bestiary of appropriate foes for Epic-level adventurers, were bizarre snaking collages of geometry that could grow to be larger than the size of the visible universe and erase people from existence by breathing on them. After encountering these when reading these sourcebooks at the impressionable age of uh....like, 23, vanilla D&D's usual array of chromatics and metallics don't do a ton for me anymore.

3. Nicol Bolas, from Magic: The Gathering

This guy.

This fucking guy. This is how you do an impossibly powerful doomsday villain right.

Nicol Bolas is a dragon who's also a dimension-hopping wizard. As part of what is by my estimation one of Magic's last good sets, he also kills a bunch of faux-Egyptian deities and takes their place as the divine ruler of an entire dimension. This guy fucking rules and every single card that's ever had his name on it is awesome and if you disagree, well, that's good for you, because WoTC killed him right around the time they decided to make Magic boring forever.

2. Falin Touden, from Dungeon Meshi

No, she counts. Get back here.

If I stopped to count all of the ways I thought Falin was an amazing character we'd be here all day, but very briefly I find her arc and her interesting liminal role in Dungeon Meshi's narrative super compelling, and I find her characterization very, very relatable, and not entirely in a way that reflects well on me.

But as a *dragon.*

As a DRAGON

Falin is still one of the best to ever do it. The original Red Dragon is a very cool and pivotal part of Dungeon Meshi, and I love that too, but when Falin is fused with it by Thistle we get what is just honestly one of the most memorably bitchin character designs of all time, a ludicrously hot capital MG Monster Girl, and a huge driving force for the rest of the story. Not to mention Ryoko Kui clearly put a ton of thought into how she would work, since a key flaw in her design (so to speak) is what eventually leads to her being saved. I love her to pieces, and the form Falin finally gets at the very end of the story is honestly super cool-looking too! Although it's less dragonny than this one.

The Dragon, from "Dragon"

headspace-hotel's "Dragon" is one of my favorite poems of all time. It's easily the best tumblr post, and while I don't read a ton anymore, it's definitely one of my favorite overall pieces of literature.

I realize that being so brief in the top entry makes this a little anticlimactic, but I can't bring myself to rob the poem of its impact. I linked it there, so please go read it. More than anything else on this list, it's made me think. Beyond simply thinking it's an absolutely great piece of work (which it is), it's very meaningful to me. A reminder that the danger is still present in our time.

Some honorable mentions: the rest of the Dungeon Meshi dragons, every dragon from the Souls series and from Elden Ring, Paarthurnax from Skyrim, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Godzilla, Beast Machines Megatron, and Odious, the Green Dragon who turns into a giant d20 that I bought from Hasbro Pulse a year or so ago.

[the-teddy-bear-butch]

Hi how are you? Ask game time!

16, 47, 65 & 93?

:)

Hi anon!! I’m doing wonderfully rn! God bless the end of finals and the upcoming summer break. How are you? (Should you feel comfortable enough to reply, of course! I don’t bite :3) Thank you for giving me a chance to ramble :3 um. 16 got long so it’s at the bottom 🥰

47: how well-decorated is your bedroom?

That depends! If you mean well decorated as in how much decoration, yes, lots! Well as in nice/aesthetic um? I like it, but I know my maximalist style can be a Lot for some people LMAO. I have posters and D&D art everywhere, a rainbow carpet, Christmas lights strung through my bookshelf, knick knacks everywhere, etc.

65: do you have a Signature Outfit™?

Oh yes absolutely. Or at least a signature formula: graphic t-shirt under matching button up, jeans or shorts, maybe a cap or beanie. Here’s my favorite button up and jeans just for sillies :3

93: favorite game?

In an every context possible way (board game vs video game vs ttrpg), D&D, hands fucking down. But in terms of video games, I adore the Mass Effect series. No other video game series has made me cry quite so much. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a close second, though I am still in Act 3.

16: is there anyone you're not biologically related to that you consider "family"?

ABSOLUTELY. In fact, why don’t I tag those of them that exist here as an excuse to be a huge fucking sap about it and so you all can go follow them. (Uh. This gets long, so adding a read more thing. I get sappy after 10 pm oopsies)

While I am no longer in the fandom that brought us all together (nor are most of them), I do have to thank that fandom for being what put us all in one place. One beta reading comment left on a fic inspired me to finally pick up D&D again after years of failed campaigns—and we’ve been going strong near a year and a half now. This D&D group is fucking everything to me. These people have been with my through the lowest points of my life and I owe everything to them. Not only are they all talented in art, writing, poetry, and the many things they do, but they are all absolutely incredible people and the best friends I ever could have asked for. One little comment genuinely changed my life.

@daughterofdrearburh is one of the coolest people in the world. She’s smart as a whip, hilarious as fuck, and one of the kindest hearts I’ve ever met. If you get the chance, you should bug her about her novel (I am the number one Starblossom fan) and about her horse, Ginger, who she has made incredible strides with. I admire her a lot. Also about her homebrew/framkensteined together TTRPG she’s running, because it’s a fucking blast!!

@ninthhousesteel was actually the first of the gang that I was mutuals with!! She’s also incredibly funny (probably the most hilarious person I know, seriously they pop out of fucking nowhere with one liners that’ll leave you in stitches). She’s so fucking smart and doing incredible things in engineering (I may not understand it, but I know they’re going to do great things), as well as being a great artist and wonderful writer. Also? Incredible taste in music, frankly. Another thing to bug them about!

@haaawaiianshirt is like. I don’t even know where to start. The best personality ever. She’s funny, outgoing, unbelievably sweet, with just the right amount of bite! She’s like summertime personified, just warm and the best to be around. You can’t help but smile. Add onto that the most delicious art style and an incredible talent for so many different crafts (ask her about crochet beast!!). They’re going to be famous one day for being behind the set design of all your favorite theme parks and theme park rides.

@candle-lion is so COOL. I genuinely look up to her so so so much. Again with the super funny (literally can’t breathe with this group, you will be in stitches). One of the most talented writers I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, an incredible DM, master at roleplay and making characters you can’t help but fall in love with, as a player or a DM. I admire everything she does in teaching—she is exactly the kind of teacher that our world is in desperate need of. She’s going to change lives, I just know it.

@lavenderlevetan where Emmie is summertime, Eve is autumn. She’s so unbelievably chill, a breath of fresh air to be around, a warm mug of tea of a person, if you catch my drift. She’s so sweet and so smart and sooo wonderful to hang out with, with possibly the most lovely laugh ever. Her writing is immaculate, and god I just LOVE the way she builds characters. You can’t help but be sucked into their inner workings. And yet another incredible artist!!

@suwunnysideup the master storyteller. I have never met someone with such a skill for weaving together stories and characters in such a beautiful web that you can’t help but be starstruck. Seriously, the world building is insane and so in depth, you can see how much they really care. They’re a fucking riot and my best fucking friend. Once again, another insanely talented artist, I need to shake their art like a chew toy. Ask them about carpe diem :3

And last but not least, while not an active PC in our main campaign, the group would not be complete without @avocadosockz . Our resident meme maker, comedian, character arc instigator, beloved guest star NPC, and best audience in the world—while also joining our side campaign as the funniest possible character choice in the world (ask her about Sadie!). Another amazingly supportive person who I appreciate with all of my heart, I love bouncing evil ideas off of her in DMs to enact upon the rest of the party. Excited for our next little scheme >:3

That’s the D&D group covered but I’m not done, if you would believe it. I will take every single chance to be a complete sap about my friends.

More people I met through fandom! I haven’t talked to them as much in recent months, which I’m terribly guilty about, they are all incredible people. @lionydoorin is a wonderful artist and a super sweet person, someone you can always rely on. They’re going to med school and I know they’re going to be fucking amazing in their field. @idyllghost is another rad artist and one of my first really good friends here in Tumblr! He’s so sweet, so funny, and so good at poetry and writing too. An artistic genius in so many ways.

@whiteredrose13 is possibly my oldest internet friend. I think we’re going on?? 5+ years now? Which isn’t much compared to some of y’all, but it’s a lot to me. Rose is one of the kindest, most supportive people in the entire world. She’s so unbelievably patient, listening to me ramble on and on about my D&D campaign and my unfinished writings. Speaking of, because I’m literally surrounded by talent, they are yet another insanely wonderful artist AND writer, with an incredible world and the most lovable OCs ever. Gabe and Ana and their entire family will always live rent free in my brain 🫶

And a special shout-out to the one irl friend who has stuck by me through everything 🫶 Elaina is so kind, so funny, so fucking smart, the best taste in music, one of my favorite people to talk for hours with. I wish we hung out more :,) (Side note, Em I’m realizing the two of you are like two sides of the same coin and would get along so we’ll probably)

If I forgot anyone, know that you are loved in equal measure, I am simply sleepy and functioning on post finals brain fry 🫶

[keplercryptids]

A Quick Breakdown of a Few Non-D&D TTRPGs (and how they compare to D&D)

hi it's me, your local ttrpg player and forever-GM, encouraging y'all to play something other than d&d. i wanted to share about a few ttrpgs in particular and how they compare to the d&d experience. this might be useful to some who want to try a non-d&d system with a little more guidance than "all of these look cool." i'm focusing on the three systems i have the most experience with, and i'm not going to delve into the game mechanics, but rather focus on the game experience.

also, hey!! if you learned to play d&d, i promise you, you can learn another system. d&d is complicated and often expensive, but other ttrpgs aren't necessarily like that! most ttrpgs, in fact, are much simpler than d&d and easier to learn. so don't let the barriers you may have faced with d&d discourage you from trying a new system.

Savage Worlds

experience: player in a homebrewed setting for about a year.

overview: savage worlds is a setting-neutral system, so it really lends itself to homebrewed worlds. character creation is looser and more flexible in some ways than d&d. you piece together the character you want rather than using a set class/race. i would say the biggest difference between savage worlds and d&d is what the name itself implies. the world can be savage! the dice are swingy in this game. you might be great at a skill, but it doesn't guarantee success the way it pretty much does in d&d. wins and losses tend to be bigger and more dramatic.

what i love: your "class" feels more customized to what you want. savage worlds rules can be implemented in all kinds of settings and worlds which is cool. "balance" isn't really an issue the way it is in d&d (but be prepared for those swingy dice!). combat can be deadlier in some ways, but the system doesn't rely on combat the way d&d does.

Blades in the Dark

experience: GM of a campaign for several months.

overview: blades in the dark is about a group of scoundrels, being scoundrel-y. my favorite line from the player's handbook is that you should play your character like you're driving a stolen car, and i just love that metaphor so much. blades is a game where you play bad people doing bad things (crime). you roll a number of d6s and if you get a 1-3, you fail; a 4-5, you succeed with a complication; a 6 is a total success. what this means in-game is that almost every roll you make results in something bad happening. this leads to a chaotic game experience where the pressure is constantly building until something explodes.

what i love: as a GM, i never prepped for more than 15 minutes before a session. you don't need to prep at all as a GM (either way, be prepared to improv your ass off!). the mechanics are also a delight and i know i will use some of them in most of my games moving forward (clocks! clocks are genius). it also has more of a collaborative feel than d&d. you and your players are making it up as you go and it FEELS that way, which is so fun.

Pathfinder Second Edition

experience: GM of a published adventure for just a few weeks!

overview: this is probably the system most similar to d&d. a lot of the skills, dice mechanics, spells etc will be familiar to you. if you like d&d mechanically but want more crunch and more balance, pf2e is a great option. it's definitely more complicated than d&d, but i don't think it's too complicated, if that makes sense. combat is easier to balance from the GM side and feels more dynamic in many ways at level 1 than d&d at any level. also pf2e has a sense of humor??? it's hard to describe but so many of the feats, spells and monster abilities are FUN in a way that's lacking in d&d. i plan to run my next campaign in pf2e and am excited to delve into using it for a homebrew setting.

what i love: character customization is off the fucking charts. if you're a 5e player, you'll be astounded at just how many skills and abilities you get every level-up. also, it's a game that's balanced, which as a GM i've noticed right away. combat is fun to run (i have NEVER said that about 5e lmao) and feels like you're actually playing a game, rather than giving a presentation the way a lot of 5e combat feels as a dm. every monster stat block is interesting and unique. and there's a rule for everything, which i personally like.

anyway, i hope this was useful! get out there and try a new ttrpg system, okay??

[chungledown-bimothy]

hi sorry for the bother whats world without number and how can i watch it thank you

ohohohoho <3

okay so worlds beyond number is an actual play podcast with brennan lee mulligan, erika ishii, aabria iyengar, and lou wilson.

their current campaign is the wizard the witch and the wild one, which brennan is dming (it's 5e but with a lot of really cool homebrew, including a whole new class), but eventually all of them are gonna get a turn behind the screen, and iirc they said something about it not being limited to 5e for future campaigns.

it's free to listen to i believe anywhere you can podcast, i listen to it on spotify.

episodes drop every other tuesday. episode 5 just dropped, so it's still super easy to catch up on.

there's also a patreon which has talkback shows a la d20's adventuring parties and a bunch of other really cool stuff (including an 8-episode miniseries that is basically them playing character creation. it's funny and beautiful and god it's so good). if you've got $5 a month i think it's worth it and then some.

the wizard the witch and the wild one is already one of my favorite things i've ever listened to/watched, and it's just scratching the surface of what it's going to be.

unlike d20 stuff with a set end date, wwwo is more open ended, i believe, the goal is more of a home game type of feel where it's not structured like that and takes as much time as it needs to, which is gonna be a lot from what they've told us.

it's so fucking good i cannot recommend it enough.

[mlarayoukai]

I've had a few people ask me (at least 5 different people) about ps vita hacking, so here's some quick tips:

Japanese vitas are cheaper and available in way more colors. They are region free and have options for other languages in the settings. The only thing is the o and x buttons are swapped, but when hacking there's an options to swap the buttons back. I got my pink and white Japanese vita for $165 in total, you could honestly get a white or black one for decently cheaper, about $100-140, used

To start off there's 2 vita models; the "fat" original release with an oled screen and partial metal casing, and the battery is about 3 hours, and uses a proprietary charger. The other model, the slim, has an lcd screen with all plastic casing but the battery is about 4-6 hours and is thinner, and uses a universal micro USB charger. It really is up to preference but I prefer the slim

I don't have a specific guide because I did it months ago so you'll have to go looking for a guide yourself

I'll say right off the bat don't bother downloading emulaters for Nintendo games. They usually don't run well. If you are hacking a vita you definitely have many other options to play them so don't even bother. The ds emulater on the vita SEEMS cool but you probably won't be using it often

The vita can easily run ps, ps2, psp games but again, you'll have to find tutorials yourself. This being said if you play psp games on the vita the aspect ratio is fucked and will look a little bit blurry. Ps and ps2 games will use the back touch pad for the l2 and r2 buttons

Don't don't have to buy anything special BUT if you want storage that isn't the memorystick, you'll have to buy a micro SD card converter, usually around $10. Hacking will give you an option to use sd cards

There are some homebrew games but most are incomplete and honestly nothing to write home(brew) about

That's it

Personal recommendations for games:

Disgaea 3: it's also available on ps3, but has not been ported to anything since then. The vita port is the definitive edition and is my favorite in the series. Disgaea 1, 2, 4, and spin offs are also available on vita. While 3 is my favorite, 4 is the best in the series, but it available on modern consoles and pc

Ys 8: a superb game I don't hear many people talk about. Also available on modern consoles on pc. Ys origin and ys memories of celceta are also available on vita, and several other ys games are available on other Sony consoles, so you can play most ys games on your vita

Katamari touch: probably my favorite katamari, but it's only 2 hours long. Vita exclusive

There's a bunch of indie games also available

Other games such has persona and danganronpa are also available on vita, but I haven't played those

In general, there's probably only a dozen exclusives worth playing

To end this I think owning a vita is worth wild, especially hacking it. As of right now you cannot officially play psp or vita games, and probably won't ever be able to play the vita exclusives. By owning and hacking a vita, you have about 15 years of sony games on one console. I personally love not giving Sony a single cent for playing their games

[palidoozy-art]

Oh god, I could gush and gush about 2CGaming’s stuff all day. Again, my ONLY complaint about them is that their stuff is scaled a bit high, so there’s certainly an adjustment period where if you’re not careful you’ll absolutely destroy your party. But they actually give you straight-up guidelines telling you how to run an “easier” encounter and a “harder” encounter. They also provide some actual guidance in how to build and run encounters for higher level parties as well!

Y’know I’ll use this post to give a shoutout to some other third party stuff I use

For Encounters, or general high-level design:

2CGaming’s Total Party Kill Bestiary 1 and 2

Giffyglyph’s Monster Maker (free older version on his website; you can get the pdf to the updated version through his patreon)

Badooga’s Monster Guidelines - He breaks down a lot of the math with encounter design, and was definitely a good starting point for me to understand how fights can be built. I also use a combination of this spreadsheet someone made as well as standard DMG xp calculations for building encounters.

Kobold Press’ Tome of Beasts (1 and 2), as well as their Creature Codex.

This monster stat cheat sheet tweaked from the DMG.

For player options

Pretty much anything KibblesTasty makes. His warlord class is SO GOOD. I use his crafting a lot as well, as a way of giving random encounters some kind of reward rather than just be time sinks.

The Warrior’s Codex - Martial enhancement, adds some cool baseline effects to weapons to make them all unique rather than just “i deal more damage.”

The Adventurer’s Domestic Handbook - because yes, if my players want to settle down and have kids I will allow them to, dammit.

Adjustments to baseline D&D economy rules - because yes my players bought a brothel and another one of my players wanted to run like 3 shops. If you don’t want to read through the blog, I’ve got the adjustments written down here:

(note: I just stretch out the total cost per day to total cost per month. Easier that way).

An Elf and an Orc had a Little Baby - OneD&D basically incorporated the upbringing part of this into the game (thank god), but we still sometimes refer to this book and its sequel to figure out what the players’ kids will be like (Kelogul’s daughter is quarter aasimar, quarter orc, half elf, for instance).

There’s probably a LOT more stuff, but this is all stuff I use routinely, in terms of 3rd party stuff.

In terms of actual alternate rules/homebrew we also use:

- Gritty Realism (not only does it fix 5e’s absolutely fucked encounters-per-day problem, as well as the short rest conundrum, but it ALSO stretches the time of the campaign out and makes the world feel significantly more lived in. It also essentially obligates downtime so players craft a lot more. Combine it with the fantasy calendar website to keep track of time in your campaign!)

- Spell Points (imo I would not use this outside of gritty realism. It definitely strengthens spellcasters, who do not need to be strengthened. However, because gritty realism is a significant ‘nerf’ to spellcasters in general, spell points helps offset it a bit. Also my players fucking love it. One of my players refuses to go back to vancian casting).

- Homebrew rule: when a player is downed and then healed and brought back up, they gain 1 level of exhaustion. This is to counteract the crazy health yoyo that is pretty endemic to the game. There’s an actual reason to not just let your party members fall so you can just bonus action healing word them now.

- Homebrew rule: when a caster casts cure wounds/mass cure wounds, or a person drinks a potion, the beneficiary may also choose to use 1 of their HD per spell level of the cure used to heal in addition. Potions allow one to use 1 HD per dice it cures.

- fun random additional note: our table has a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ to not use counterspell, because all our spellcasters got together one day with me and went ‘we hate playing with counterspell’ and i went ‘yeah i agree’ and so we stopped. We have an armistice lol.

[amaiguri]

Characters Judge Other Characters (Tag Game)

What do your characters think of each other? What would they think of your other stories' protagonists? How would your D&D/TTRPG characters judge your WIP's characters? What would your OCs think about canon characters? You are free to cut this any way you'd like! I just wanna hear the tea from your characters!

Also, even though I'm starting this here, I can't take credit for this idea: This was something we did in a Discord server forever back so credit to my cool friends 🥰

Now, without further ado...

Arlasaire's Opinions of my D&D/TTRPG characters:

Avakri (Kalashtar Mystic, Eberron 5e)--She'd think Avakri's kinda stuck up and difficult. But if they were forced to spend a long period of time talking, they'd ultimately get along. Mostly because Arlasaire will become co-dependent in 2 seconds if you're vaguely nice to her. Avakri would pity Arlasaire for being traumatized but also would believe Arlasaire needs to be held accountable for her warcrimes (i.e. skinning a guy's wife alive, etc.)

Agni (Tiefling Rogue, Homebrew World 5e)--Uh... they might have mutual respect for each other's fighting but Arlasaire would think Agni is really immature. Agni would just jab at Arlasaire for "no reason" and not understand why--though the truth is it's because Agni sees herself in Arlasaire and wouldn't like that.

Yuliyya (Water Genasi Necromancer, Homebrew World 5e)--These two would get along. Arlasaire would be annoyed by Yuliyya's desire to help others, but would see her as small and precious. Yuliyya would think Arlasaire is pretty cool.

Irkalla (Human Sorcadin, Same world as Agni)--Arlasaire and Irkalla would like... not talk to each other if they didn't have to. If forced to talk, Irkalla is charismatic enough to draw Arlasaire out of her shell and they would be like "Yeah, that was nice enough" but they would fundamentally not GET each other, despite both being nobles.

Sybilanne (Homebrew Dragonrace Sorc, Pathfinder Homebrew) -- Sybilanne is Lucienne with more steps and less chill (mostly because Sybilanne has magic and Lucienne can't defend herself if she pisses someone off enough). Sybilanne would think Arlasaire is a gross fucking Northern human and Arlasaire would think she's hot but hate her

Shrike (Wilder Dhampir, Pathfinder Homebrew) -- Shrike is a sociopathic people-pleaser who just wants everyone to love her so they don't tell the Church. And Arlasaire would ADORE her because Shrike would say exactly what Arlasaire wants, plus Shrike is a strong fighter. Shrike has no opinions on people but she would see Arlasaire as "a break" because she's so easy to manipulate.

Okay, I'll stop now cuz I could do this all day. Maybe I'll do a round 2 with the players of MY homebrew Pathfinder campaign that I run right now! 🥰🥰🥰

Thanks for coming to my weird characterization TED talk! Now hit me with your character judgements!

I'm gently tagging @maiemorrae, @dragonprincedawn (who may have invented this, I don't remember), @anyablackwood, @the-down-upside-finch , and also @grimcoordinater but no pressure 🤗🤗🤗

[dykeferatu]

holy shit your Tzimisce are cool as fuck. Could I ask more about Jaeyoon? They seem rly interesting :D Also, I'm curious how your group ran Cybervamp ruleswise, since that's also something I've been dying (heh) to try out.

thank u!! and jaeyoon DOES seem interesting, but they're not my character so i actually don't know a ton about them! i will tell you what i know... apologies if it's a little disjointed.

jaeyoon is an independent tzimisce neonate. they're not Actually a metamorphosist i just needed to make the joke work. they haven't been able to make cybernetics work on their own body, but they knew it worked on some kindred, so they enlisted taeho's.... help.

by that i mean they basically made him into a bit of a project. they chose her bc he had made some advancements in the field, and she had a super shady side business as an unlicensed ripper doc. perfect tzimisce fodder i think. anyway, jaeyoon embraced him to be a research partner and a test subject. fun fact: they took out all the cybernetics taeho had before embracing her. both to have a clean slate and for concerns about security risks.

jaeyoon is a paranoid sort, as most kindred are, and seems not to have been on good terms with the camarilla. they wouldn't let taeho out of the haven on his own, even to hunt. jaeyoon had taeho subsist on their vitae instead.

jaeyoon's main focus seems to be on combining cybernetics and vicissitude, which they have successfully done with taeho's sweet cyber tentacles.

jaeyoon and taeho also tried to dabble in koldunism, but they're not very connected to their roots. the two had to hunt down information themselves, and didn't end up with anything too substantial.

that's basically all the info i have on them!

ruleswise the game is mostly just vtm with cyberpunk set-dressing. i don't think we use any mechanics from the cyberpunk ttrpgs, so maybe it's incorrect to call it a crossover. i'm also not the st, so i don't know the details. it's mostly just homebrew afaik! cybernetics tend to give extra dice to certain stats, but also other functions.

taeho's tentacles, for example, give him +2 dice to brawl and evading, and they have lights to use in the dark :) they require a rouse check to deploy with vicissitude tho so they usually only come out for combat. another character has a cybernetic arm that i think gives her a bonus for strength? and that's useful except for when the arm breaks and she gets penalties instead. heehee

oh. i know that kindred even being able to get cybernetics requires some kind of combination of humanity and luck. gah, there was a scene where taeho installed some on a kindred but i can't remember if the patient had to roll anything to represent that. happened too long ago 😔