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autumnslance · 5 years

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A Review on Emotional Stakes

A rambling, spoilery review on an emotional aspect of Shadowbringers.

They didn’t have to kill a major character to make us feel sorrow, or urgency, or the need to stop the antagonist.

(In fact, I feel a lot of sympathy for the antagonist, and understanding, and he was so...Human, in his motives and desires, and he has jumped up quickly to one of my absolute favorites, from the sheer dramatics of his behavior, to his rage, to his blue-orange morality--to his quiet plea at the very end, once all was lost to him)

We lost a lot of unnamed soldiers in Lakeland, many people in Holminster, but those were set dressing. The merchant in the beginning--a purposeful callback to the triplets that we first met in ARR--was an indication of how dangerous the First could be for common folk, and the fear of Sin Eaters. “We aren’t in the Source anymore, kids,” his death tells us.

Tesleen is the biggest personal loss, and it’s more about Alisaie’s connection with her, as well as again, demonstrating the horror of Sin Eaters--and she comes super early in the story. We feel for Tesleen as in the small amount of time she had on screen, she was a delight, and we know one of our closest friends care for her deeply, too. Also, the visceral depiction of the transformation does its job well in horrifying us, and giving the resolve to destroy these things. Facing her again in Holminster is a relief for that sorrow.

I don’t count Minfilia as a loss this time; we said our goodbyes in Heavensward, and though there had been the hope of meeting again, freeing her from the cycle of reincarnation was another relief, and we got to keep Ryne--who is pretty much her child, and less of a plot device than the Word of the Mother/Oracle of Light ended up being. While I’m sad to see Minfilia go for good (there was a lot of wasted potential with her original character, and a part of me will always miss her), I don’t feel it as a shock in the same way as losing Haurchefant. Melancholy, perhaps, but also it felt more natural, despite the fantastic circumstances around her finally passing.

I was genuinely afraid for Thancred, but he was also the only tank given to us for the Trust system, so it turned out well. I’m glad because he finally treats Ryne as she deserves, too, and how we all know Thancred is capable of behaving, when he’s not trying to be a hardass (he’s so bad at it; that man wears his heart on his sleeve, especially when it comes to little girls needing protection).

I was also afraid for Lyna for a bit there, that she might be killed in the assault on Lakeland--or worse, turned as well. The voice actress sold her rage and grief in her frustrated breakdown, and that cracking in her voice hurts me more (She’s also no less strong for that outburst; it humanizes her, with her usual controlled, stoic demeanor, as yet more losses pile up and the enemy seems to actively want to help the world finish dying in direct opposition to the relentless optimism of the Crystarium. I DO wish we had gotten more on the personal relationship between her and the Exarch, though; maybe in patches).

Yet, even without an onscreen close friend character death late in the story, there’s no shortage of emotional connection. No end to the tears, even sometimes for those we never met but learn about, and the effect it has on those still grieving (Magnus’ story as an example; and my throat caught when I realized which heartstone the Night’s Blessed wanted the PC to imbue). And I didn’t feel like there were any “fake outs” like they tried to do in Stormblood--I never once worried that Gosetsu and Yotsuyu had survived Doma Castle once Soroban said he hadn’t been able to find the bodies, which only made the drawn-out teary goodbye scene a bit frustrating. I wanted to feel more for Meffrid and Conrad’s losses, but they failed to re-establish Meffrid very well before killing him, and Conrad didn’t get enough connection--and I still feel like he pushed leadership on Lyse when she wasn’t ready or willing for it (a whole other subject), so I somewhat mildly resent him, honestly.

Shadowbringers is a study in high stakes with deep emotional connections, while not relying on shock value or sudden death to make you feel things. The story brings us along on a journey, rather than trying to force a story upon us, and there is a world of difference after so many recent media flubs using “twists” and “shocks” to try to get a rise from the audience and be “different” in their storytelling. ShB decided it was a Final Fantasy story, complete with well-seeded foreshadowing, and predictable moments, and it’s great because the journey to get there was what made the “reveals” so satisfying.

EDIT: A quick addendum: That they were able to scare us with the threat of death to friends shows how well those previous losses DID work in the story; much as we may criticize some of them–Moenbryda and Ysayle are big ones taken issue with for good reasons, Papalymo honestly could have used more characterization and time after rejoining the group post-HW, I already mentioned the StB crew above; they put a lot of weight on Wilred in StB, but he was such a tertiary character in ARR I dunno if that connection to the WoL is as strong as it was for the NPCs.

Haurchefant is really the main one that was handled “best” and so tends to hurt the worst and be the most raw and memorable for players as well as our characters, and leaves us with the very real fear of it happening again.

Which only helps Shadowbringers’ storytelling to keep the personal stakes high. We know they can and will kill characters–but they, and we, also know they don’t have to to elicit emotions.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Shadowbringers #5.0 Spoilers #literary analysis

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rekkingcrew · 6 years

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Rek DMs: Space Bastards Ep 0 (pt 2)

continued from https://rekkingcrew.tumblr.com/post/179064273187/rek-dms-space-bastards-episode-zero-pt-1

Let’s talk about the ship!

I always figured the custom ship was going to be a big focal point for the group and a big part of the initial buy in. It’s home. It’s home base. Both the players and the characters have made modifications to make it their own.

My plan had been to ask the group what insane star wars alien species their ship was designed for, and what modifications they had all made to be able to use it. I was thinking something like an aquatic species where the inside required joisting to hold it’s shape absent the presence of liquid, or it had belonged to something that was naturally much smaller or much larger than a human.

Instead, the players gave me something magical.

TK’s player said his idea for how he came to join the crew was that he had been in a crate in an evidence locker.

Or maybe an evidence ship.

“Oh my god,” said another player. “We’re driving around in a stolen cop car.”

And so they are.

And I’m not kidding, that’s the thing that set the tone for everything that came after and clicked everything into place. The Black Star is who the group is.

What the players came up with was that they and their NPCs had been disparate petty criminals who had, individually and with other groups, been part of a fifteen gang pile up when a wealthy criminal individual died and everyone tried to be the first to loot his space station, and had ended up in a guns pointed every direction space Mexican standoff (minus TK, who was in the evidence locker, and Eshi, who had already hopped aboard from one stow away situation to another), before they made the collective decision to work together to escape the collapsing station rather than fight. The main architect of this truce was an older twi’lek called Ort Fine, who was wounded during the escape. The group grabbed the last available ship, a slow but heavily gunned and armored police vehicle that was a brand new prototype model, and jetted off together into space. They peeled off the police logo and painted a black star over it. It’s not even a particularly good cover job. Ort was initially the primary force in getting them all to stay together and work as a crew, speaking to each of them about their strengths and convincing them to work a job together he arranged. He died on the job, but the crew stayed together, and out of respect Ort is still listed as the captain on all the manifests.

Mechanically, I’d told the players to pick one of the freighters or transports from the books. They would be allowed to up two stats or put in upgrades, and then I would require them to drop one stat. There would also be whatever narrative consequences I thought fit their choice of ship- in this case, they look like a cop ship, plus in stealing their ship, they’ve made personal enemies of the police forces. The ship also has a lot of internal locks and seals that have been slightly on the fritz since they stole it. I’ve also told them I’m keeping track of fuel and they’re going to have to keep refilling if they want to make long jumps. They have six units in the tank. A small hyperspace jump uses one, a medium two, a long three. The players picked an ILH-KK Citadel Class light freighter, which is a perfect police or pirate ship. They improved the handling and added smuggling compartments as their upgrades. For their disadvantage, rather than dropping a stat, they suggested the following: this ship is exclusively sold for police and military use and parts are proprietary and restricted. All mechanics checks have at least two disadvantage dice unless correct parts are obtained first. Some repairs will not be possible at all without them.

The players seemed to really enjoy making the ship. Most of them also do Warhammer, and one of them found a ship design from there they shared with everyone. “Yes! That’s perfect!”

The NPCs

I’d told the gang they got two NPCs to help cover any gaps in competencies. They were also meant to get the players invested in the world right away. Since TK was capable of covering multiple roles, they had a little freedom.

The first thing they wanted was a criminal face man. I’d been talking to Nyla’s player about some of the things I’d been kicking around about Devaronian gender politics, and so that was the species suggestion from that player. We went for some obvious Satan jokes, and everyone in the group took a turn giving the character one trait. Which is how we got:

Beelz Feck: devaronian con artist and walking catastrophe.

Beelz is a compulsive gambler and up to his eyeballs in debt. He’s also alienated a lot of people in his past and has more bounties on him than the rest of the crew combined, largely because when things get dangerous, Beelz has a bad habit of cashing out. Even so, more than anyone else on the crew, Beelz has a very good ear for what’s going on, and while he always comes back to the ship poorer than when he left it, he also comes back with loads of useful information about rumors, gang wars, and possible leads for the PCs to follow. Beelz’s uncle (who variously goes by “Old Harry”, “Old Scratch”, and “Old Nick”) runs an off-the-grid ship hangar and trading port, and out of gratitude for looking after his sister’s kid, he’s sheltered the crew even when it was a big personal risk for him (that NPC was always planned but not populated, and the group decided it made sense to tie him to Beelz). We also worked out that he is terrified of Brick, but Brick, being Brick, has never actually noticed, and just thinks Beelz is being accommodating. They’re room mates now.

The players couldn’t think of any role they desperately needed after that, so they went for something fun: an assassin. They decided the character should definitely be female, because it was a bit of a sausage fest otherwise. They also decided she was a Bothan. We followed the same format: one trait from each player, then a free brainstorming session. This gave us:

“Thirteen”

None of the crew know what Thirteen’s real name or actual story are. Every now and again she claims she needs to visit her husband, but each time it’s a different man. They have never seen her without knives or a holdout blaster. Sometimes she’ll just disappear for days. Sometimes, even when they think a mission was their idea, she’ll coincidentally have someone she needs to kill at just that place. Thirteen mostly stays out of the rest of the crew’s business, and she keeps them well out of hers. She’s icy, aloof, and professional. Only the killbot personality in TK has ever gotten a laugh out of her. After Ort died, she took over the captain’s quarters and changed the locks, and no one has been able to get in since. Twice since she’s been with the crew, small groups of well trained killers have tried to hit the ship, which hasn’t made the rest of the crew happy, but Thirteen has not explained anything. She appears to know and will occasionally allude to other character’s secrets, but she hasn’t betrayed any confidences and does not appear likely to. Thirteen is exceptionally capable, and when it suits her, she brings in hard to find jobs that make problems like the APB on their ship just... disappear. She seems content with her situation for now, and as far as anyone can tell, she mostly likes the crew, especially Eshi.

I also gave each NPC four starting opinions, one for each character: very positive, positive, neutral, and negative. I let the players pick who got which and what that meant. I like players having asymmetric access to resources, and I like interesting social dynamics.

Beelz considers Nyla his good luck charm and goes out of his way to do nice little things for her. He’s also predisposed to think of her as competent and in charge because he grew up in a matriarchy and doesn’t examine his own thought process much. For all that Brick terrifies him, he’s a really comprehensible sort, and a useful guy to have at your back. TK is a droid, and kind of a weird one, but meh, what can you do? He doesn’t like having Eshi on the ship, though. He’s just a kid, and that feels irresponsible even for Beelz.

Eshi is Thirteen’s favorite. He’s a smart kid with so much potential. Of all of them, he’s going to be the most useful. She’s amused by TK, especially his violent program. Her relationship to Nyla is cool and professional, and that feels comfortable for both of them. Nyla is more crisp and military around her. But they don’t know each other well personally, and neither seems inclined to. And Brick? What about him? He doesn’t even merit contempt, really. He’s a dime a dozen. We could replace him with any one of a thousand thugs off the street and who could even tell the difference?

More later. Jesus this is long, but I did want to talk about the process, because I think it all went very well.

#Rek DMs #i dmed #Space Bastards

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dropintomanga · 7 years

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Post Anime NYC – On Women and Their Impact on My Life

2017 is a year I will always remember with regards to anime conventions. The Bay Area finally received an anime convention in Crunchyroll Expo, that looks to spearhead the next generation of anime fans. And finally after 7 long years, New York has a new place to call home for many anime fans in the form of Anime NYC. After going through 3 days of non-stop walking, talking, & hanging out, I had a blast being around friends (old and new). But it was also one of the most emotionally exhaustive experiences in my life. It brings me back 6 years ago when a certain someone came into my life and how my blogging life suddenly became quite a journey that went beyond blogging.

Around late summer 2011, I tweeted at a random Twitter user who loved Tiger & Bunny. She happened to be a Japanese woman who lived in New York. We actually chatted online for a bit. One day, we decided to meet up in person. A date was scheduled and it was after her trip to Comiket, as she liked to draw doujinshi. Before the meetup, she said she would get me Gintama merchandise from Japan for me. I said "Sure." We met for lunch at Kinokuniya NYC and we hit it off right away. The two of us fangirled/fanboyed over anime/manga series that had huge homoerotic undertones. I even introduced her to a few of my friends. All of this was really unexpected and I felt lucky. We then started going to NYCC and other conventions together and grew closer as the years went on. We always texted each other every day. I never thought I would have a close friend/companion that listened to me a lot during that time and vice versa.

That big old post I made about the power of fujoshi back in 2012. That was largely inspired by her.

Around 2015, things changed slowly. I think I was starting to have feelings for her, but I was so confused over what to do. We were at Otakon that year and things felt off. She then said she felt guilty for bringing me with her because I looked depressed out in Baltimore like I didn't want to be there. She also said she wanted to do separate hotel rooms if Otakon 2016 was a possibility as we always shared a room together. I was confused and told her that I was happy to be at Otakon with her. Later around October 2015, I was physically harassed by a male employee because I made his job more complicated than it needed to be. He pushed me aside, thought I was trying to make his life miserable, and threatened to watch over me. I reported the incident to my supervisor and the president. They didn't punish him since no one saw what happened. I quit about a week later because I didn't feel safe there.

My relationship with my friend slowly deteriorated. She said she wanted a time out early summer. I said sure and that she can talk if anything. She said that it wasn't what I was thinking. Around that time, I was unemployed. I mostly did a volunteer gig, helping out NAMI. I slowly began to think that she wanted me to die because I was an annoyance in her life. One night, I had enough and wanted to kill myself. I put up a tweet saying that I had enough. I couldn't take it anymore, yet I didn't do anything. A fellow fan on Twitter actually called the cops for me and they came over to my house after midnight. I felt so stupid afterwards. I actually told my friend what I tried to do and she told me that she felt that she was in the way of me developing new relationships with other people. She didn't want me to like her romantically. I called her on the phone to talk and we made up. I thought we were good again.

She wanted a time out a couple of months later. I agreed. Then the big U.S. Presidential election came and I wanted to talk. She said to not talk to her unless I wanted her to say something harsh. I then made the big mistake of contacting her with a large email about a whole bunch of things and she replied back saying that she wasn't my mom and that I was a crybaby who blames everything and needs to grow up. She did tell me to take care of myself more. I wanted to say more, but she didn't want any of it. I left it as is. However, I was so angry that she called me a crybaby. I never asked to be that way because of my mental illness. I didn't know how to process her not being in my life and I made another mistake in continuing to bother her around early January. She then blocked me.

Around that time, I bought a Humble Bundle PC game set that included the game VA-11 Hall-A. For anyone who's played the game, you know it's a bartender-simulation game. Behind it was a story about life and reconciliation. The story behind the main character, Jill, got to me as she broke it off with her ex-girlfriend, Lenore, years ago before her bartender job. Lenore's sister, Gabriella, came by after 3 years of no contact to let Jill know that Lenore was dead. She blamed Jill for everything. One night, Jill gets a letter from Gabriella saying that she wanted to talk in person to clear things up. Jill becomes hesistant to talk, but one of her friends said to her that the fact that Gabriella wants to talk means she's trying to give Jill a chance and that if Jill avoided her, Gabriella would hate her for life. The game got to me.

I wrote an apology email to my now-ex-friend, saying that I wanted to work things out. She replied by saying that friendships all end at some point and she didn't want me to contact her in any way, shape, or form. She also said that if I try to see her, she would call for legal protection. This was back in January of this year.

This ex-friend was at Anime NYC, working at Artists' Alley. I was up there with a female friend, saw her, and told my friend to go somewhere alongside Artists' Alley. She got the message since she knew my situation. She encouraged me to be in a good mood since I suddenly felt like I had an anxiety attack. I knew that there was a chance of seeing her since we both loved anime and manga a lot. I thought I was ready, but I wasn't. I did go back to Artists' Alley by myself to buy stuff, but I just avoided her because of the threat. The female friend who was there for me at Anime NYC texted me throughout the con asking if I was okay when we weren't together because she sensed how fragile I looked.

To tell you the truth, after that January, I thought about quitting the entire anime/manga community entirely. I had enough. Was it really worth it going through all this pain for fandom? I realized that I was trying to chase my own happiness at the cost of someone else's. I know people get told that everyone should strive for their own happiness, but I think some of that advice is a big fucking pile of horse shit because most people decide to hurt others without thinking about them by chasing after happiness. That's why I cut off my social media accounts for a while, but slowly came back. Going to Crunchyroll Expo was a big life saver for me since I didn't have to deal with potential East Coast drama. It was a new and different environment that I needed to be in.

At Anime NYC, I went to a panel called "Cosplay with Disabilities" on Saturday. It was very heavy as you can guess. They talked about not being judged by those who will never get you. I was going to bawl because there's a part of me that felt I was being judged all those months ago. But I was conflicted because I know I messed up the friendship. Some of my friends that knew about my ex-friend asked "Why would you still to talk to someone who indirectly made you want to kill yourself?" I wonder that myself. But I believe in the potential of people to redeem themselves, including myself.

I could avoid her, yeah. But I've come to realize that to avoid her is to basically get rid of a huge part of me that she helped unleash – my interest in embracing my love for 2D men, being sexually ambiguous, and wanting to do cosplay of female characters that I like. Around her, I was the real me. I was truly myself around her. A "me" that I've been accepting more and more over the years. She did something that I wish I can pay her back in some way. I still treasure the memories we had together over the years.

I'm a beta male deep down. I didn't mind girly things when I was little. I recalled watching The Little Mermaid on CBS in junior high with no worries, but when I told one boy that I liked it, he was like "Really?" with a look of disgust. I think that made me want to keep my feminine interests hidden in order not to be teased. Almost all of my best friends are women. Some of the current ones I have are all in the anime/manga fandom. I never found myself comfortable among alpha males. I had an alpha colleague who was always talking about Japanese prostitutes because I follow the adult film industry sometimes, but I found his talk so uncomfortable because I just absolutely hate talking about porn with most men. I actually like talking about it with women and they in return tell me some really dirty (and good) jokes, even better than men's.

I've been so influenced by the women that it's not even funny. My mother influenced me to learn how to cook, a woman influenced me to cosplay, a woman influenced me to do blogging, etc. I get harem jokes and sometimes I get flustered, but I've always felt that I'm a girl deep down inside a man's body.

That's why it's really hard for me to move on because this is happening in the community where I call my safe haven. I later read up on relationship loss/grief and how to deal with it. A lot of people don't know how to handle loss of anyone important to them. Another thing is that even the losses that seem insignificant can have a detrimental effect on someone's psyche. The most important lesson I learned from that research is that you may never fully move on. The pain will always be there. It will always hurt. You can do whatever you can to avoid it, but when it comes every now and then, you won't escape it. You can learn to let it go instead.

Because I fully accepted letting go, for the 1st time ever, I don't hate myself. I picked up on what flaws I had and addressed them. I read up on books about the flaws of "positive psychology" because that line of thinking was making me worse. Although it did cost me anime-viewing time, I made up for it by still reading a crap ton of manga. At the same time, I still want to be the kind person who still places others before himself (though more calmed down) that my old friend and many others like. It's scary when people tell you that you're different in a good way.

Though because of my ex-friend, I am now using the kindness & wisdom she's given me all those years towards me as a catalyst in what I'm secretly planning for the anime/manga community. I think now is the time to give back to the community in a way that goes beyond fandom drama. I want to let you all know that it's okay to cry over lost relationships even if you can't get over them. Take all the time you need and if anyone tells you otherwise, that's their opinion. If you've expanded your worldview in a productive manner like I have, you're trying and you're a winner to me.

I just want to say to my ex-friend when we ever run into each other again at next year's Anime NYC that I felt scared from her "legal protection" comment because I would rather grovel into a corner than go after someone. I would also forgive her because I know it's hard to handle certain kinds of people. I would also say that we don't need to be friends anymore, but if she knows someone who's an anime fan and has mental health troubles, that she can always point them towards me.

I would finally say that I will always, always love and respect her, no matter what.

[[UPDATE: I spoke to her recently via email. She said that I’m free to do what I like to. We’ll probably run into each other again some day. We may ignore each other, but I still want to be there for her if she asks for my help.]]

To all the women that I talk to in my life, I'm glad I'm friends/acquaintances with you all. Also, I'm so sorry for my actions regarding suicide and the ones taken on one of your own.

Thank you to anyone who’s read this far. I know it was heavy, but I felt this was something I want everyone to know about me going forward.

I will keep on observing and trying for everyone. If you have anything you want to say, you can email/message me. Comments are closed for this post.

#psychology #fandom #life #friendship #relationships #loss #Anime NYC

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dailybestiary · 7 years

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Moloch

(Illustration by Kieran Yanner comes from the Paizo Blog and is © Paizo Publishing.)

Hold on to your tophets, ladies and minotaurs…it’s Moloch time!

Moloch’s inspiration is a Canaanite god who gets a lot of bad press in the Torah and the Bible—two holy books that, let’s be fair, don’t exactly have a track record of playing nice with the neighbors. But Moloch also gets some pretty bad press from the Greeks and the Romans, and the phrase “child sacrifice” gets thrown around a lot, so I’m perfectly fine with him being used as an archdevil. (There’s actually a post floating around the Paizo Blog that basically says, “Well, that’s kind of how religion worked in those days”…but I possess the ultimate authority on good vs. evil—Monte Cook’s Book of Vile Darkness (what, you were expecting Spinoza?)—and it firmly puts child sacrifice in the Evil category, so screw Moloch.)

In early editions of AD&D, Moloch ruled Malebolge as Baalzebul’s viceroy. In 3.0 and 3.5 Moloch had an even rougher time of it, getting replaced first by the Hag Countess and then Glasya. Pathfinder’s Moloch, on the other hand, is firmly in control of both the Sixth Layer and indeed all of Hell’s armies. If you’re looking for a devil who’s a servant or a patsy of another power, Pathfinder’s Moloch is definitely not it.

Probably the four most interesting things about Moloch are as follows:

1) Moloch is publicly worshipped. Devil worship is not popular, by and large. Even for truly dastardly faith communities, worshipping gods, even evil ones, is a safer bet than worshipping beings that explicitly come from Hell. (“Would you like to spend eternity building a pyramid for the Pharaoh God of Taxation and Making Slaves Grovel? Or go to the place with the fire pits and devils and eternal torment?” “Gosh, the fire pits do sound appealing. But seeing as I’m already experienced at being taxed and groveling...Imma hafta stick with what I know.”) So devil worship is usually a cult thing. Heck, even Asmodeus isn’t that popular in any land where he doesn't have governmental backing—without a throne, inquisition, or similar power structure in place, his church is at best seen as a necessary evil. The other archdevils’ cults mainly stick to the shadows.

But not Moloch. His worship happens out in the open. His followers build giant sacrificial ovens. Whole armies subscribe to his message. Of all the archdevils, he is the one most likely to be worshipped under the glaring eye of the midday sun. And he gets that worship, because…

2) Moloch is responsive. He answers the prayers of his followers—often in a quite literal and personal fashion. Is your village threatened by flood? Forget subtle shifts in tributary courses—Moloch just shows up in avatar form and dams the river. Is an army about to ransack your town? Moloch’s army is bigger, assuming he doesn’t just squash the looters himself.

Yeah, the price for this prompt and professional service is an eternity slaving away in Moloch’s army for anyone who asks for his aid or offers even the slightest hint of praise. But when floods, rapine, and slaughter regularly threaten your subsistence-farming-level existence, being a mule skinner for an archdevil might seem like a decent trade, especially if you don’t have to pay it off till you’re dead. Which means that Moloch has a surprising number of worshippers, despite being a walking metal furnace that swallows victims whole and to burn alive in his stomach. Speaking of which…

3) Moloch has interesting symbolism and visual associations. Which means interesting worshippers and sidekicks. He’s got a bull thing—use some minotaurs as his cultists. He’s got a furnace/child sacrifice thing—use the tophet. He’s got a walking, fiery suit of armor thing—there are tons of constructs, golems, elementals, devils, and undead like that. And he’s a general—which means animate war machines like juggernauts or colossi.

With a lot of archdevil nemeses, the PCs’ journey fighting their servants goes tiefling —> lesser devil —> medium devil —> nasty devil—> archdevil, with maybe a fiendish dragon or something in there for variety. Moloch’s followers are waaay more interesting that that. Literally any soldier of any race might be found in his legions, either living, undead, as a fiendish version of itself, or as some kind of twisted einherjar. Pick up thematic cues from his description and his mythology and go nuts.

And since we’re on the subject of him being a general…

4) Moloch is a general. He’s the leader of Hell’s armies. This means facing him is going to be like facing any general with godlike power. He’s going to have lots of troops he can call for aid. He’s going to have aerial assault teams and assassination squads and giant hellfire-fueled juggernauts. He’s going to be physically powerful himself, and canny and strategic as well. If you come at him, you risk literally having all the armies of Hell chasing after you.

That said, it also means he has other fish to fry. He has Heaven assaulting one front and the demon hordes assaulting the other. He has lesser generals and colonels who want his job. He has some mighty demanding bosses to please. And, as noted above, he’s very attentive to his flock. No matter how big you think your beef with him is, you’re probably the lowest item on his to-do list.

Which means you might be able to sneak into his vast army camp and ambush him. You might be able to challenge him to single combat to gain some small concession. You might be able to put a treaty in front of him to sign. Keep your goals reasonable and small, and he might just to decide to send his flunkies after you in retaliation rather than deal with you personally, or burn your great-grandchildren to cinders a few generations from now…but that’s their problem. Generals are patient, generals can wait, and generals pick their battles. He will always come down on you like a hammer, but it might not be today. And when dealing with archdevils, those are as good odds as you’re going to get.

Adventures are asked to investigate a so-called Children’s Crusade, only to discover it is a sham—slavers are herding the children (and their hapless friar guardians) like cattle to boats crewed by gnolls, hobgoblins, witchwyrds, denizens of Leng, and worse. The trail leads past strange cyclopean isles to a forbidding and cruel coastal nation of military dictators. There the children are to be fed to giant, animate tophets meant to fuel the archdevil Moloch’s fires in Hell…unless the brave adventurers step in.

A solar and an uinuja formed an unlikely friendship, despite their differing ethics, spheres of influence, and relative power levels. Now the solar languishes in a Hellish prison, and the plucky azata wants to do what even the archons do not dare: stage a rescue, even if it means facing the Lord of the Sixth himself. Fortunately, she knows some adventures who are just as plucky—or crazy—as she is.

The cult of Mithras has spread throughout the Roman Empire—in particular, throughout the Roman Legions. But as the cult has spread, so have disturbing rumors about secret rites, bloody and fiery sacrifices, and worse. At first, the Senate and certain famous adventurers chalk this up to the usual politics and rumormongering Rome is famous for. But then word comes out of Anatolia that the great god Mithras is dead, slain by an imposter who now usurps his throne and perverts his rites. The usurper is Moloch, and he has turned much of Rome’s military might to his service—for even those who resist his call in life have sullied themselves enough so that he may claim their souls in death. Worse yet, the dour god Pluto is angered by the potential theft of shades from his kingdom. His priests threaten that if this Mithras/Moloch is not stopped, Pluto will send an army of undead through the Lacus Curtius to drag the Roman army down to the Underworld, no matter what the collateral damage. Great heroes have to act—and fast.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 6 30–31

(I’ve always thought the rapid spread and equally rapid decline of Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire was pretty fascinating. So naturally I wanted to give your PCs an excuse to be players in that particular rise and fall. Now, on to some housekeeping…)

Edit: Also, somehow my Google-fu utterly failed me, and nothing I read pointed me to the fact that there was a section on Moloch in Pathfinder Adventurer Path #105: The Inferno Gate. (I had to skip that AP because I was so behind; it’s on my to-read pile.) I’ll be interested to read how my take conforms (or doesn’t) with Editor Emeritus @wesschneider‘s canon version, but that’s a project for another night.

Hi all. First of all, again, apologies for the absurdly late post. This article literally sat half-written on my desktop since something like June 18. We’re talking a month. Sure, this blog isn't the *daily* Daily Bestiary it once was, but I’ve never been as lax with my posting as that. Two posts in June and none so far in July is unacceptable.

Toyota earned its reputation for amazing cars not through one outstanding model or innovation, but through a company-wide suggestion system that leveraged lots of tiny improvements. Unfortunately, the same is also true in the negative. There’s no one reason I haven’t been able to blog or one big nightmare I had to tackle (okay, there was one—a four-day, 46-hour workweek that sucked beyond measure—but let’s pretend I didn’t say that). There have just been a thousand tiny distractions and mini-hurdles. The short version is: June was lame, I had to take some time for me, I probably took too much, and I’m hopping the end of July is better. Much love and thanks to you all for your patience, yet again.

Tumblr folk already know this (so forgive me if I quote myself verbatim) but my Blogger folk don’t: My second episode as a guest of the Laughfinder podcast is up! Once again, I aid Bryan Preston, Jim Meyer, and Tommy Sinbazo to fight evil conjured by Dorian Gray and Ben Hancock. Once again there are many NSFW riffs on Baltimore landmarks. And most importantly, my blood feud with Aaron Henkin erupts into passionate FURY. Enjoy!

#pathfinder #paizo #3.5 #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd #moloch #archdevil #devil #outsider

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the-firebird69 · 4 years

Text

Pyramids

I take your advice and fire up the Shapes on a regular basis i heard the interest they said keep doing it until we meet opposition. And we understand the dangers but these are so intolerable it's gross.

Hitting now, firing all main reactors. Juicing waiting, hitting. We let it run, higher it goes up, firing, and down charging, hitting, firing up secondary reactors, huge billows of steam Rise tons of moisture. Do much it will help yiu breath. Firing up all main reactors globally. Massive crowds assemble outside its range, show fear, rush in not out, heard you no, it's exhilaration they feel gives them a boost, usually happens to them, it's hard to resist. Like being really horny

And he does resist similar all day and night. Tons of times.

The entire crowd follows, curious and content it's safe feel exhilarated, run in. Fire weapons at it it bounces off or is destroyed we hear doit again. They fire bigones the same way hit more then. Try harder maybe higher??

They get knocked out... It hits here, all around here.

We fire the short haul crew gay jackass macs disguised as blacks.

Continue coming we continue killing, what idiots race in like idiots to tell us

....... So your dead.

They fire up to max hit they fall, huge gashes in some as raw metal was right next to them. Giant things stuck in them they were working on.... Antenae stuck right through them

Massive coronary from following bja diet, huge pieces of fecal matter in thier shorts usually discolored or halfdigested. Mega gas in thier decomposing bodies from sugar and bad as hard water grows bacteria.

Massive wounds fromstomachs exploding afyer being dead for only minutes.

Animals have been found eating them but as if sick and continuing. We haul them in clean them up and give them job's. Usually quite sick. Cats and dogs survive better than these old imbiciles.

Giant piles of crap on the floor as corky forgot to pay rent or too cheap to buy a plunger.

It's sick these are very sick too, far too many diseases to be near him not to mention on top of him as they threaten, having beer w them got them all riled up, tons found the time to drink. Huge piles of fecal matter by the road where lots had to stop 3-4" High, 10-12" around empties them all out.

We find it atrocious. All fags here gross comments all day and it's non productive just repeats.

No more ppl please. No more. Mine.

Thor

We hear you and demand ours come forwards and explain why

Olympus

They say it's death and can't help it. We research it some of it is mostly they use it as cover or a motif or like abusing him and are oblivious.

Arrianne

A class a answer

Thor

They think it works, have been what they think they call"using it" to take over... Threats on me to hit thier father in turn those threats used for wwiii or other. They say it's concealment and moreso a constant threat, feel the threats will leed to a wmd detonating of thier own and war would begin. The constant threats used to signal threats on ours as they use a tight analogy to my body to my ppl. Issue actual orders with it as they may try to tommorow if Trump's impeachment is handed to the Senate this validating it, trial or not it is then a valid impeachment by the house house being analagous to this house and where ours live, documents drafted, units sent

Volunteers now accepting for this task from hunting issuers and enforcers to house ours to seeking persons who hire ppl to

Trillions and more roll in. This one and freeing ours are open ended and voluntary conscription into our formal ranks.. now accepting for the above. We track allours volunteering now send them greetings and instructions and announce instructions now

Tons of threats for the orders purpose and all blatantly obvious. It's like being in the jungle surrounded by sick chimps. Do this and this only. Try to overcome they leave it on even if it's petty stuff they shouldn't do

Yimmer yammer all day to harrass have me Yammer I hit them here with it and nearby

Lately I couldn't bear it death on them not fast enough for me to eat properly enough as they addictively try to incarcerate me as a way of ammassing power for a few and to send orders.. usually both always resulted in thier failure in the past

None of them acknowledge the failures occured none have recolection of living in any of the places he was in, most make it up.

Tons of errant calls and idiot statements to threaten me and try to hospitalize or imprison and now both to kidnap me to DC for a rigged trial probably using Trump as he hates us for our role in his life Mac had us do.

And connecting me a youngster with evil characters and top brass to be threatened coerced etc for an unending amount of time

Physical abuse daiky walking me excessively trying to incurr disease death threats for stress bad food wrong food cutting off things or trying too ie turkey, reducing caloric intake after working out reducing oxygen often serious bug bites lots of times. Warts infesting me all as threats for things we

NEVER DO

We never comply never provide. Never

The threats are to deconstruct your rhealm. Reduce your forces and standard of living and power to start wwiii.

But

Mostly I am abused severly at times, daily. And my income is always threatened such a teensy fraction of what I'm owed, standard I kiving low very low atmosphere very hostile Joe is half orc is violent has a gun is sickly angry due to his poor treatment, Preston I'll from plastic poisoning and on blue is angry large and his person has killed millions by hand over the past few years. Others here abused tortured HV hair triggers are called guns threaten me.

No war only me getting out down constantly turned away stolen from a bit and I sit doing nothing but my work you lose to but I'm threatened with

A ball injury imnever happy with killing quadrillians if you s for as you never let me up and simply don't do any of the killing now just bother me too not allow yours to live in any capacity to recover with

And you deteriorate now quickly your mental status is very poor angry suicidal and you go out shooting ppl as monsters to vent. We allow it as we sponsor it.

But my personal time is bill, I'm numb or in painno emotion usually definitely not allowed to feel good mb a second here and there on purpose held off me.

Push me taunt to get a reactionthreats to do stuff i always counterman or detonate destroy including your here escape vehicles, nukes wmd DOOMSDAY and anything you can war using including comm just to get you louses off me so I can eat or shower so hearing stupid crap for hours.

You need to stop coming here thinking threats on me bear fruit or stay ing fmdoung it. Your leadership turned into cats and eaten as cakes. Mostly nuke your own stuff and are incinerated doing so.

What I'm saying is in English and easy to read comprehend and verify, yeh, you s do all this, deconstruct as Mac planned fight for DOOMSDAY for one idiot, but, in your threatening I'm forced to have your escape methods erased, your wmd and somuch more and you still can't figure it out

Are you stupid s??.

Zues

It gets broken we put u in the middle as we did with the Ukraine.

Mac

Without heat no fire without fire no smoke without potential for massive fire no firemen. Dork

Zues

I finally figured it iut you say a few hotspots sufficed then Ukraine then infight then we stalked blaming no war on yiu tards do it religiously, a gig. But for real yes they do. Ours use real stuff. Not just wackung the same idiots at the ymtoop.

True too we come dn onhimit hurts

Mac2

So you see. Problem being too late. No ody of mine wants to live like me and I'm very valuable most don't want to live like me if they are really smart most. It's so fantastically assinine I'm amazed any s is alive, vulgar. Ohh we don't need to pay you a dime, cuz ull do it regardless.... How so, any human being treated as such might not but I'm familiar emwith your sophomoric method. Stockhlm and a couple other cheese sticks

What you HV smdone has caused half or more of yiur s to die the majority of mine I those areas cleared safe now, away from you.

And yet you persist, ignorant to most math and other. Foma basic human standpoint most would plot to burn pc to the ground just due to the call letters I'm a very intolerant person and meaner than ghwb but other govts will pay me not spit on me. Do Macs fuck off. Die be proud you started a war between our kinds be knowledgeable that your losing, cry out yell like corky, demand and lose.

Keep being a loser I mean don't you see?? You gotta do what your doing now have to it helps me and mine.

We plow through your ranks in the Midwest closing city agmfter city, crushed the north, it began falling grabbed the south it weakened, blasted the north the Midwest caves now we almost have it all cleared zapping in progress, the north teeters he says take weakin the Midwest, we did, oh yeh the upper Midwest, we shall, then work a patch work, thanks Macs helpful and refreshing

Thor

Zues mostly my story above

0 notes

placetobenation · 4 years

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SmackDown on Fox Episode #12 SmackDown Episode # 1,061 Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center 12/20/19 The show opens with a video recap of The Miz vs Bray Wyatt match at TLC as wells as the return of Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan comes out to start the show and he talks about how when he looked in the mirror for the first time after what happened with The Fiend he didn’t notice that his hair and beard were gone but instead noticed that the Daniel Bryan brand that he created was gone. Bryan says that his daughter Bridie cried when she first saw him because she didn’t recognize who he was as all she has ever known was Daniel Bryan the brand. Bryan vows to change Bray Wyatt just like Bray Wyatt changed him. Bryan calls out Bray but The Miz comes out instead and talks about Bray terrorizing his family and that at TLC it wasn’t about winning or losing as much as it was about protecting his family. The Miz then says he is going to take the Universal Championship from Bray Wyatt and this brings out King Corbin. Corbin claims to be the next in line for Bray’s Universal title since he beat Roman Reigns at TLC, Corbin goes on to insult Bryan and The Miz and say they had failed as fathers, just as Bryan and Miz are going to attack Corbin Dolph Ziggler slides in and attacks both Bryan and Miz and this sets up the main event match for tonight. I liked the promo by Bryan about how the brand he had created and the way that most people (including his daughter) had come to know him might be dead but with that brand dying he found his real self once again. That was really good stuff as was the continuation of the love/hate relationship that Bryan and Miz have with each other. Everything was going good in this opening segment but that would change because of course, we can’t have an opening show promo without involving King Corbin, although I will say he wasn’t that bad this week, the line about Bryan and Miz failing as fathers was a great heel line. Corbin actually brought up a credible point that he should be number one contender since he beat Roman Reigns at TLC. It was obvious once Ziggler attacked what our main event was going to be for the evening.

As the show comes back from the first commercial break we get an interview with Heavy Machinery where they talk about what happened last week with Cesaro slamming the ham on the ground and how that really hurt Otis’s feelings. Mandy Rose then walks up and says she has a present for Otis and she presents him with an all-new ham and then kisses him on the cheek which leaves Otis happily surprised while at the same time my own hopeless romantic heart has me going Aww! Match #1: Heavy Machinery vs The Revival (Miracle on 34th Street Fight) The Revival mock Heavy Machinery who is dressed as Santa Claus. All four men start brawling until Heavy Machinery hit stereo backdrops on The Revival and then squish Dawson’s head between their two massive guts. Wilder grabs Otis from outside the ring and snaps his neck across the top rope while Dawson sends Tucker into the steps on the other side of the ring. The Revival send Tucker face-first into the announce table and then try to shove some of the Christmas cookies that were at ringside down the throat of Otis. The Revival throws around all the presents that were set up around ringside so that they can set up a table next to the ring. The Revival attempt to double suplex Tucker through the table but Otis stops that from happening, Otis lays Wilder across the table and just when he is fixing to jump off the apron and put Wilder through the table he is sprayed by a fire extinguisher that Dawson grabbed from under the ring. The Revival powerbomb Otis through the table as we go to commercial. We come back to see The Revival in control as they are working over Tucker on the ramp, but he fights them both off and hits Dawson with a suplex on the ramp. Wilder hits Tucker with a present that turns out to be a bowling ball, Wilder rolls the ball down the ramp and right into the family jewels of Tucker. Dawson rolls Tucker into the ring while Wilder puts on one of the Santa jackets and grabs one of the trees from ringside so he can put it in the ring. We get a shot of the Otis’s ham at the announce table and Cole tells Graves to keep his hands off it and Graves replies that he is more of a roast beef kinda guy and knowing how Graves is there is a good chance that he wasn’t talking about the actual food roast beef if ya get what I mean. Back in the ring, Wilder has went crotch first into the Christmas tree when Tucker moved out of the way. Tucker hits Dawson with a hip toss that sends Dawson out of the ring to catch a breather. Dawson hits Tucker in the gut with the fire extinguisher and then The Revival sends Tucker flying across the announce table which causes Otis’s precious ham to hit the floor. Dawson picks up the ham and slams it on the floor and this fires Otis up as he grabs Wilder and sends him flying into the presents and Christmas tree at ringside with an exploder. Otis and Dawson are in the ring and Otis hits an exploder on Dawson. Otis looks around confused until he finally gets out of the ring and looks underneath it where he pulls out a bag that ends up being revealed to be full of Legos. Otis picks up Dawson and slams him into the pile of Legos and we see that some of them have stuck to Dawson’s back. Otis then hits an electric chair and fall away slam combo on The Revival. Otis splashes Dawson in the same corner that had the Christmas tree in it and then hits the Caterpillar elbow drop. Otis picks up Dawson and Tucker runs in which allows them to hit the Compactor for the win. Winners: Heavy Machinery via Pinfall Match Rating: ***1/4 As we go to break we see Dana Brooke hanging out and talking to Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross as Lacey Evans walks up with her daughter. As we come back from commercial we see Mandy talking to Sonya backstage when Otis walks up and apologizes for what happened to the ham during the match and this leads to Mandy hugging Otis but his sweat rubs off onto her dress and she walks off a bit aggravated but isn’t hateful toward Otis like you would expect, this leaves Otis standing there with a sad look on his face. I can’t believe I am saying this but I loved everything that involved Otis tonight, first off the match was a lot of fun and had spots that made me genuinely laugh which isn’t something that always happens with these holiday-themed matches. I like how they use Legos as the most dangerous weapon in these comedy matches because those things actually hurt like crazy but at the same time, it’s funny to see these grown men sell being thrown into a pile of blocks. I also liked the Mandy and Otis stuff as their story has been a slow build throughout the year where they would give you just a bit of interaction just to remind you that there is a story between those two, it will be interesting to see where this story goes from here. I will take this story with Otis any day over Mandy calling other women ugly. I wonder if they are starting to split Mandy and Sonya as it seemed like they were each doing their own thing on the show which isn’t something we have seen from the two of them before. Whether I will like this Mandy and Otis stuff in a few weeks is debatable as it could just be that I like it this week because I’m in a good mood because it’s the holiday season.

We cut back to the ring where The Revival is frustrated that they have to compete in matches like they just competed in as they are a serious tag team. They do not want the fact that they compete in silly matches like a Miracle on 34th Street Fight to be apart of the legacy they leave behind. Elias comes out and sings a song and for the second straight week, he says something questionable as he talks about Revival needing to make a major change just like Caitlyn Jenner did. It’s as if Elias’s gimmick is saying stuff on purpose that he knows is going to get Twitter in an uproar, but that’s not too surprising given that Vince and Bruce Prichard are the ones running things on SmackDown and they are not the most PC people you will run across. We go back to the locker room where Sami Zayn walks up to Braun Strowman and talks to him about being his secret Santa, this leads to Cesaro and Nakamura coming in to back up Zayn and Strowman tells Zayn that he wants a shot at the Intercontinental Championship for Christmas. As Carmella makes her way to the ring we see that she now has pyro. We go to commercial before the match starts. Match #2: Carmella vs Sonya Deville They lock up and Sonya hits a couple of knees to the gut before taking Carmella down to the mat with a snapmare and a sliding knee strike which gets a 2 count. Sonya chokes Carmella across the middle rope until Carmella tries to make a comeback with some slaps but Sonya gets her in the corner and delivers a series of kicks. Carmella catches a charging Sonya with a boot and then hits her with a clothesline as Carmella is getting back into the match. Sonya tries for a takedown but doesn’t get the full effect of it as Carmella slides between her legs and then dodges a couple of kicks from Deville. Carmella takes Sonya down with a superkick and then locks her in the Code of Silence which Sonya eventually taps out to. Winner: Carmella via Submission Match Rating: **¼ This was a decent match but just as I said last week it would’ve been better if they had more time. I really can’t wait until it’s Sonya’s turn to really shine on her own in a feud for the title as she has so much potential and I don’t think we’ve even seen half of what she is capable of. As Carmella is walking up the ramp and celebrating her win we get the entrance of New Day which leads to a fun little interaction where Carmella dances and then mimes jumping rope as we go to commercial. Carmella seems like she would be really fun to be around as she seems to have a very infectious personality that you can’t help but love. We see another Sheamus return promo, I just saw this on Twitter a moment ago and I can’t believe I didn’t think about it before, but now that Sheamus is back being a singles star what are the chances they try to do Bryan vs Sheamus once again at WrestleMania. It probably wouldn’t be as bad as we would imagine it would be because once we finally got a proper match between Bryan and Sheamus at Extreme Rules 2012 it turned out to be a really good match that a lot of people think very highly of. Match #3: The New Day vs Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura w/ Sami Zayn Kingston and Nakamura start things out and right away Nakamura runs over and knocks Big E off the apron. Kingston and Nakamura trade strikes until Nakamura sends Kingston into the corner but he springs off the ropes and hits a dropkick. Kingston sends Nakamura into the ropes which allows Cesaro to make a blind tag, Nakamura shoves Kingston into a European uppercut from Cesaro and then Nakamura hits him with a backstabber for a 2 count. Cesaro hits Kingston with a gut-wrench suplex and then locks in a rest hold which Kingston quickly escapes from. Cesaro tags Nakamura back in and he tries to get a hold on Kingston but Kingston fights out of it and then lands on his feet on a back suplex attempt and this allows him to make the tag to Big E. Big E knocks Cesaro off the apron and then hits a series of belly to belly suplexes on Nakamura followed by the big splash. Big E looks to set up the Big Ending but Nakamura hits him with a spinning heel kick instead. Big E catches a charging Nakamura with a uranage out of the corner which gets a 2 count as Cesaro breaks up the pin. Kingston uses his legs to launch Cesaro out of the ring where he then hits him with the trust fall dive. Nakamura lands some kicks on Big E thanks to a distraction from Sami Zayn. Big E rolls to the outside where he is mowed down by a clothesline from Cesaro. Nakamura rolls Big E halfway into the ring and hits him with a running knee strike and then he sends him into the steps as we go to commercial.

We come back from commercial to see Big E backdrop Cesaro over the top rope and to the floor. Big E tries to make the tag but is cut off by Nakamura who knocks Kingston off the apron. Nakamura comes off the middle rope with a diving knee to Big E. Nakamura sets up for the Kinshasa but is turned inside out with a clothesline from Big E. We get a tag on both ends and Kingston springboards into the ring with a clothesline and then delivers some chops and a dropkick before being sent into the corner, but just like earlier he springs off the ropes and this time he hits Cesaro with a hurricanrana. Kingston hits the mushroom stomp that gets a 2 count. Kingston hits a jumping clothesline and follows that up with a Boom Drop that only gets a 2 count. Kingston goes for the Trouble in Paradise but Cesaro avoids it and hits Kingston with a pop-up European uppercut for a 2 count. Big E clotheslines Cesaro out of the ring and then launches Kingston into the air and onto Cesaro and Nakamura at ringside. Kingston throws Cesaro back into the ring and then comes off the top with a crossbody that only gets him a near fall. Nakamura pulls Big E off the apron and the distraction allows Cesaro to roll-up Kingston but he is only able to get a 2 count. Cesaro gets Kingston in the big swing and then follows up with a double stomp into the gut and yet again Kingston kicks out at 2. Cesaro looks to hit the Neutralizer but Kingston backdrops him and then catches Cesaro with a small package out of nowhere to get the win for his team. Winners: The New Day via Pinfall Match Rating: ***1/4 After the match, Cesaro, Nakamura, and Zayn beat up New Day until Braun Strowman makes the save. Cesaro and Nakamura are able to get some shots in on Strowman including a kick to the head from Nakamura but he eventually fights back and hits Nakamura with a running avalanche and hits Cesaro with the shoulder block on the outside. Strowman attempts to hit the Powerslam on Nakamura but Zayn pulls him out of the ring in time. The match was the typical above-average TV match that you see every week from the New Day. I like that they are putting Strowman into the Intercontinental title picture as it is past time for him to win a singles title and if they aren’t going to go all the way and put one of the top titles on him then the Intercontinental title will have to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if they put the title on him next week as a way to make their last show of the year (and of the decade) have a big moment that lets the fans go home satisfied.

In the back we see Bryan and Miz getting ready for their match against Corbin and Ziggler. Miz thanks Bryan for saving him at TLC as Bray was fixing to smash his face in, but Bryan says he didn’t do it to help Miz and this leads to them arguing about who hates the other more. Bayley and Sasha Banks make their way to the ring for the next match as we go to commercial. Match #4: Bayley w/ Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke They lock up and Bayley pushes Dana into the corner where she delivers a forearm and then smashes Dana’s head into the turnbuckle. We get a spot that was too similar to what Sonya did earlier in the night as Bayley hits Dana with a snapmare and then follows up with a sliding clothesline for a 2 count. Dana makes a comeback with some forearm shots followed by a hip toss and a kick to the head that only gets her a 1 count. Bayley slams Dana to the mat by her hair and then hits a running knee that knocks Dana back into the corner where Bayley stomps a mudhole in her. Bayley hits a suplex on Dana that gets a 2 count and then she locks Dana in a chin lock.

Dana elbows her way out of the hold and then lands on her feet on a back suplex attempt. Dana hits Bayley with an enziguri and then goes up top where she connects with the Swanton which would’ve got the win but Bayley is able to reach the ropes. Dana is on fire at this point as she hits her handspring back elbow and then follows up with a shoulder block and a cartwheel splash for another 2 count. Dana sets Bayley up for the Brooketista Bomb but Bayley is able to escape and flapjack Dana across the top turnbuckle which leads to Bayley hitting her awful new finisher to get the win. Winner: Bayley via Pinfall Match Rating: **1/2 After the match, both Bayley and Sasha get in Dana’s face and berate her until Lacey comes out to make the save. Lacey then calls Sasha a Legit Bully and challenges her to a match that will happen after the commercial break. Match #5: Lacey Evans w/ Dana Brooke vs Sasha Banks w/Bayley Lacey and Sasha start the match talking trash to each other before Lacey picks up Sasha and drives her into the corner where she bashes the back of Sasha’s head into the turnbuckle. Lacey charges at Sasha but Sasha grabs her and gives her a receipt as she starts bashing Lacey’s head into the turnbuckle. Sasha hits a running Meteora to the back of Lacey’s neck as she was still leaning against the corner. Sasha stomps and chokes Lacey in the corner before hitting her with a suplex for 2. Lacey fights her way out of an armbar only to be taken down with a dropkick from The Boss. We then see our third snapmare setting up for a running grounded move as this time Sasha hits Lacey with a running Meteora that gets a 2 count. Sasha starts to toy around with Lacey while also taunting the crowd. Sasha sends Lacey back into the corner where she lets her know that she is the leader and Bayley is the role model. Lacey makes her comeback with some knee shots to the mid-section and then the two women fight on the apron where Lacey comes out the winner as she catches the leg of Sasha and slams her down to the apron, Lacey then slingshots from the apron into the ring and kicks Sasha to the floor in the process. Lacey goes out to attack Sasha and slams Sasha’s head into the ringside floor a couple of times. Lacey feints a Woman’s Right to Bayley which causes her to fall back onto her butt just like Sasha did a couple of weeks ago. Sasha uses that distraction to send Lacey into the ring post and then into the barricade right in front of where Lacey’s young daughter is sitting and while doing this both women are counted out. Winner: Double Countout Match Rating: **1/4

After the match Sasha mocks Lacey’s daughter who is at ringside and Lacey’s daughter is not taking kindly to this as she has this mean look on her face and actually almost punches Sasha when Sasha gets too close to her, this finally leads to Lacey attacking Sasha to the point where she has to be pulled off of Sasha by the referees and Dana Brooke. I really enjoyed both of these segments involving Dana, Bayley, Sasha, & Lacey as it was the most storyline development we have gotten in the SmackDown’s women’s division in over a month which was nice to see. I think Lacey is doing a fantastic job as a babyface as I have enjoyed her babyface promos a lot more than I ever did her heel ones. I’ve said it in the last few SmackDown reports I’ve done but it’s good to see Dana get more time on TV. Lacey’s daughter’s reactions to Sasha mocking her and beating up her mom were really great and if I remember nothing else about this episode of SmackDown I will definitely remember that, pissing off and making kids cry seems to be a hobby of Sasha’s as I will never forget when she ripped off Izzy’s Bayley headband back when Bayley and Sasha were feuding in 2015 and it made Izzy cry. This whole women’s segment was the highlight of this week’s show for me. We get a recap video of the King Corbin vs Roman Reigns match at TLC before we get ready for our main event.

Match #6: Dolph Ziggler & King Corbin vs The Miz & Daniel Bryan Bryan and Miz argue about who is going to start the match but it ends up not mattering as all four men start brawling. Miz sends Corbin out of the ring while Bryan hits the Yes Kicks on Ziggler, Miz tags himself in and starts hitting the It Kicks. Bryan intersects Corbin with a dropkick to the knee and then both Miz and Bryan hit the kicks to their opponents in stereo which sends the heels rolling to the outside as we go to commercial. As we come back from commercial Corbin is working over Miz but he quickly makes the tag to Bryan. Corbin sends Bryan into the corner but Bryan backflips out of it and then hits the running clothesline. Bryan is fired up as he starts a Yes chant and then hits a couple of dropkicks in the corner but when he goes for the third he gets caught with the Deep Six by Corbin which gets a 2 count. Corbin tags in Ziggler who rubs Bryan’s face across the laces of his boot and then rubs it across the top rope. Ziggler keeps talking trash to Bryan which allows Bryan to try to make a comeback so he can tag in Miz, but Ziggler grabs Bryan’s leg and pulls him back to the center of the ring. Ziggler knocks Miz off the apron and brings Bryan back into the heel corner where Corbin tags himself back in. Corbin continues to beat down Bryan and then mocks the Yes chant. The heels are in full control as Ziggler gets tagged back into the match and he continues to taunt Bryan. Ziggler beats Bryan down in the corner and then tells Corbin to finish him off as he tags him back in. Corbin delivers a running clothesline in the corner and then repeatedly elbows Bryan in the collar bone region. Corbin sets Bryan up on the top rope but Bryan fights him off and is finally able to hit a big move as he comes off the top with a missile dropkick.

Bryan makes the hot tag to Miz who hits repeated kicks on Ziggler in the corner and then hits him with the corner clothesline. Miz boots Corbin in the face and then slides under the legs of Ziggler where he tries to get a pin but Ziggler kicks out. Miz hits the snap DDT on Ziggler and then hits the Skull Crushing Finale on Corbin. Ziggler hits Miz with his big DDT which gets a 2 count. Miz catches Ziggler’s leg off an attempted superkick and locks Ziggler in the figure-four. Bryan hits Corbin with the running knee before he can break up the figure-four and moments later Ziggler taps out. Winners: The Miz & Daniel Bryan via Submission Match Rating: *** It was announced that next week there will be a triple threat match between Corbin, Miz, and Bryan where the winner will face Wyatt at the Royal Rumble for the Universal Championship.

The show ends with the three men who will be in the triple threat match next week in the ring as the lights dim and Bray Wyatt’s laugh echoes throughout the arena. This was a good match and lasted just the right amount of time as some main event matches can get a bit long which tends to make me lose focus and attention on them but I was focussed on this match the entire time. If they keep this whole Miz and Bryan being frenemies story going after Rumble I wouldn’t be surprised to see WWE make them a long term team and have them go for the titles at WrestleMania, because it isn’t likely that either of them will be in the Universal title picture at WrestleMania as that is most likely going to be Reigns vs Wyatt. I wouldn’t complain too much about a New Day vs Revival vs Bryan/Miz match at WrestleMania as they could put on one hell of a match. I was surprised that there was no Roman Reigns or Bray Wyatt on this show, but I’m pretty sure they will be back next week as they want the final SmackDown and Raw shows of the year to be big.

While this episode wasn’t out of this world amazing I thought it was a lot of fun and was easy to both watch and review which isn’t always the case. I liked the storyline progression in the women’s title feud but still, I wish the women’s matches that don’t involve the champion got more love and more time. I enjoyed everything with Otis tonight as it was harmless fun and the stuff with Mandy was sweet and well done. The best thing about SmackDown tonight was the fact that Corbin was tolerable and the material he was given in his promo didn’t suck so good job to whoever wrote it, actually I felt Ziggler was way less tolerable on this show. After watching tonight’s show I actually look forward to next week and hope I can at least get a 2-week streak of good SmackDown episodes that are fun to watch. I’ll see you guys next week when I review the final SmackDown of 2019 and of the 2010s.

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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pcmobilezone · 7 years

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HAS BEEN HEROES REVIEW

So a warrior, a monk, and a rogue walk onto a battlefield and then... they die. A lot. And then they have to start all over. That's been the punchline of so many of my attempts with Has Been Heroes, and while I may have laughed a couple of times in my first few hours and enjoyed some of the good ideas put forth, my goodwill has become a has-been itself. It's bruised my admiration of the otherwise-appealing premise of this roguelike lane-brawler to the point that right now I’m content to let these heroes remain the has-beens the title says they are.

We get to hear relatively little about that. Story is hardly a strong point in Has Been Heroes, and it's chiefly limited to a handful of cutscenes with cartoony illustrations in which we hear about how the titular heroes used to be great warriors who slew dragons and giant spiders and performed other feats of derring do. Now, though, decades after their prime, the best they can hope for is escorting two princesses to school.

It's not a bad premise, and in the right hands it could even have been funny.

It's not a bad premise, and in the right hands it could even have been funny. For the most part, though, Has Been Heroes leaves that potential limited to a smattering of lame one-liners you read in text boxes as the little band works its way across the maps. The maps themselves aren't that impressive, either. Sure, it's nice that they alternate from snowy fields to dark swamps, but I never found any visual touches that made me stop in awe like I did with developer Frozenbyte's previous impressive visual design in Trine. If anything, it kind of looks like what you'd expect from a standard mobile game.

There's still a ghost of Trine's design floating about here, though, since the gameplay essentially relies on playing all three heroes at once. Each runs toward the right in their own lane, while the enemies trudge their way left like zombies marching toward plants. As in Trine, your crew is motley bunch, with the warrior dealing out massive damage in one hit, the monk knocking out two fairly weak hits, and a rogue dishing out three medium attacks.

In theory, at least, this makes for a fun setup that holds up well in the first couple of hours. Almost all the enemies marching leftward have stamina bars that must be whittled down before the heroes can knock down their health bars, and the characters usually need to change who occupies which lane in order to take turns whittling them down. You can only switch out while one character is attacking, though, and this is so crucial that Has Been Heroes rightfully pauses the action after each attack. You then switch another hero into the lane to (hopefully) finish them off. In practice, this means I might knock a few stamina points off with the monk, send in the rogue to knock the stamina bar all the way down, and then, once the health bar is exposed, send the warrior rushing in to knock off the majority of the enemy's health.

After an hour or so I became familiar enough with this little dance to sometimes ignore the oh-so-helpful option to pause before making a move. There is a bit of a learning curve, though, and the spartan tutorial does little to explain moderately helpful strategies like switching a hero currently in play to a lane with enemies that are "behind" him or her while he's attacking so as to hit them on the way back to the left. Figuring that out for myself took a while, and some simple instruction would’ve made my opening hours much more fun.

It doesn't help that the controls never really became second nature. On an Xbox controller you use the X,Y, and A buttons to select and swap the lanes, B to attack, the left bumper to pause, and the right to cast spells. Even hours in, I still found myself taking annoying amounts of time to get the heroes in the proper lanes I wanted them in.

But here's the main bummer of Has Been Heroes: gosh, it's hard. Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate a good challenge, and I often opt to play games on hard mode for the first time. But there are limits: I spent a couple of hours trying to get past the first boss of Has Been Heroes, and honestly, I've yet to beat the giant skeleton with a bandana on his skull. The only times I've been able to get past that boss encounter have been the times when the random level generation has given me a mage-type boss instead. He’s no pushover either – he randomly switches lanes and spawns shadows who can kill you in one hit (although luckily they die in one hit as well). When it's the big skeleton guy and his horde of other skeletons, I get easily overwhelmed. And then I die. And then it's back to the beginning.

That’s especially time-consuming because taking the most direct route through a level is the wrong way to play Has Been Heroes – or most other roguelikes, for that matter. Instead, you should explore the various nodes on the randomized maps, buying spells from vendors that appear or opening chests, thereby having an arsenal of potentially devastating spells and items when you arrive at the boss, such as one that shoots out lightning when a hero lands a melee hit. Do that, and you might have a chance. The problem is that, despite my best efforts and best collections, I still often found myself on maps where there were just too many enemies with massive stamina pools to handle properly. And then I had to start over.

Maybe that wouldn't be such a problem is almost all of the enemies in the early hours weren't just skeletons of some form or another. Some can heal, some have tougher armor, some will throw up shields that can thwart your precious timing while you wait for melee attacks to recharge. Sometimes you'll get barriers or big man-eating plants, but most of the time you're just up against a pile of skellies. Has Been Heroes' strategic strengths manages to sustain the fun for several hours, but in time, this makes for a mind-numbingly dull and repetitive experience. Next to something like Darkest Dungeon, which has several different styles of enemies you can fight in the early hours, it becomes monotonous too quickly. There’s just too much stick and not enough carrot to make this roguelike as addictive as the best of the genre. Needless to say, I never saw the end of it after more than a dozen hours.

Making things worse is the fact that Has Been Heroes doesn't even give you information about the items that drop while using a controller – the only way I could find out how to decide which character should pick up an item was by using a mouse while playing on PC. Hardly ideal.

I want to like Has Been Heroes. It brings some good ideas to both roguelikes and lane-based games. I even had fun for several hours before the appeal wore off. But after suffering through failure after failure even with my best efforts, I'm fine with these heroes hanging up their swords for good.

The Verdict

There are some good ideas in Has Been Heroes, such as the way it uses multi-lane battlefields to make us use strategies that involve switching between the strengths of three different heroes to achieve victory. It's a recipe for fun that manages to last for a while. Eventually, though, the heavy emphasis on the luck of level generation, the frustrations of enemy repetition, the poor tutorial, and the tendency to overrun you with tough enemies spoil the whole. Hard games are great, but there are limits.