#i was on pc for once and decided to get the image that way per previous advice lol 😭🙏

[akkivee]

HEY HEY HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ITS DOPPO DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cadaverdolls]

Already posted a doll today and I want to post another badly. Decided to draw something else since I want to space it out. Want to keep it to one per day. Might try making some of the LIs or NPCs into dolls if my urge to make more is too strong.

I’ve made DOL pcs but I haven’t made an oc that isn’t an orphan. Since I saw a couple of other peoples I now want to make my own! Working out the details on what the character does and how’d they’d fit into the town. It will change as I learn more about the NPCs and LIs.

Murmur the botanist

Height - 5’5 to 5’6 // Age - 23-26 (haven’t settled on an exact number) // Place of work - Botanical Gardens (I image that this place would be right next to the museum)

Murmur has a lot of energy. It’s almost endless! Like a husky. Her voice is loud and she’s going to make sure everyone knows what she thinks. Doesn’t mean she’s going to be impolite, just doesn’t mince her words.

The drawing is a chibi style but I plan on making another drawing later that isn’t in this style so I can get a better feel on her looks. As in, her jaw line. Don’t know if I want her to have a soft face or a jaw that can cut glass. Though the chibi style does fit with the cute character model in the game.

This drawing is just meant to get the vibe on her eye shape, hairstyle, and clothes.

I’ll make her an official tag later once I make the second drawing.

Under the cut is my long as description about her. What she does and how a pc would interact with her.

Minors DNI

Warning - Drugs and implied non-con? (Its mentioned so I added it just incase.)

(I’ll make another post in the future to explore her better. Make it more concise? Explain the interactions one could have with her and what interactions she’d have with NPCs and LIs. I kept her relationships vague since I’m still not fully sure how others would react to her as a person.)

Murmur the lure

People in this town lunge at anybody that looks attractive. Looking for the weak so they can make them into prey. Murmur doesn’t look particularly strong and looks quite naive with the way she dresses. Choosing to stand out with the bright pastel colors. Easy prey? Ha. Laughable notion.

Dart frogs are so cute and small. The golden dart frog is a beautiful thing, ranging in colors of yellow, blue, and orange. Something that everyone knows about dart frogs is that they aren’t something to be messed with. Those bright colors aren’t stupidity, it’s a warning. If a predator ignores those warnings and eats it then it ends up choking on the deadly poison that is within the dart frog.

Murmur has cans similar to pepper spray filled with spores and medicines made from the strange plants that surround this town. Hallucinogenics, anesthesia, drugs that make you see stars. In that large puffer jacket is where they keep it all. It’s basically a bullet proof vest with the amount she has on her.

Murmur knows that the predators learn by observing the others die trying to eat those frogs. So she uses these drugs to make sure that anyone that attacks her forgets her face. Not forgetting the pain of course! That be no fun for Murmur! She’s cruel to those that attack her first and she’s also a sadist. Just loves to see them writhe in pain. Free test subjects for all the new things she makes!

You know how you don’t get charged with assault if you pepper spray a wolf? Anyone the pc can pepper spray without getting assault added on to their criminal status will face much worse if they attack Murmur.

Due to working so much with these drugs she has an immunity to them. Pepper spray doesnt work on her.

🪻Thing involving a pc🪻

You can build love and trust with her. When I say love I mean she’ll see you like a younger sibling. Trust involves her business. If her love is past 50% you’ll get a note passed to you if you’re trapped in the prison or asylum that will ask if you want help getting out. Checking off yes on the note will result in either a guard or worker escorting you outside the building to Murmur’s car. Above 80% and she’ll give you pepper spray for free every week. Bailey isn’t someone she wants to mess with. While she wants to protect you she knows what their capable of. Things would get a lot worse if she involved herself.

The drugs she makes are sometimes legal. She sells both illegal and legal drugs. Supplying to places like the hospital or brothel. Sure, she’s steps on some powerful people’s toes sometimes but compared to the usual stuff you can get in town her stuff is far better. So she gets a pass.

Her garden is open to the public, plants of all kinds! There is a private section where she’s growing all the plants she using for her business. A pc can approach and ask for work, this leads you to picking one of two options - taking care of the garden or going into around town to collect plant samples.

Both have there own dangers but once you get high enough trust with her she give you the opportunity to test out her drugs on your attackers. You can earn about 1000 per can you test. Why is the pay so much? Well here are the potential results you can get when you use the sprays she gives you to test:

50% - the drug results in your attacker being unable to continue their attack // 25% - the drug results in your attacker becoming disoriented or pained, making it easier to escape // 25% - the drug results in your attacker becoming more aggressive or persistent in their efforts, making it incredibly hard to escape

🌸Thing involving NPCs and LIs🌸

Basically, she does know and frequently talks to NPCs involved with the brothels and hospital. It’s business so she’s not really friends with them.

Remy buys from her as well. She knows a lot more about them than she wish she did. Being polite to Remy is hard for her since she hates their guts.

If she could she’d avoid Bailey as much as possible.

Alex and Eden are the only LIs she has talked with. Done some studies on Alex’s farm and has encountered Eden a lot when she goes to the forest to gather samples. Eden in her eyes is sad and pathetic, but in a cute way.

[fatoujallovv]

so here’s my disclaimer: I hardly know what I'm doing. This is my glued together homemade giffing method that I’ve created over months of just random experimentation and bits and pieces from all kinds of tutorials. there are probably better or more correct ways to do a lot of these things! this also isn’t a completely universal tutorial, some of the specifics are geared towards giffing skam, specifically skam france. 

I gif in photoshop cc 2020 on a macbook. Some things like keyboard shortcuts and little things about the photoshop interface will probably vary if you are on a pc/ other version of photoshop! 

this is very long and very unprofessional, but I hope there is something in here that someone will find helpful!

we’ll be going from this:

to this:

up to date as of October 25, 2020

downloading clips

selecting what part you’re going to gif

cropping

my action for resizing, converting to a smart object, and sharpening

coloring

exporting and setting the delay

tldr tips

1. downloading clips

4k video downloader (which you can get for mac or pc here) is great for things posted to youtube, especially from skam france because all the clips are on their youtube with no weird geoblocks or anything! it’s really easy, you just have to open the clip in youtube, copy the link, and go into the program and hit paste link. I like to put on smart mode first and set the destination folder so all my clips go into the place I want. 

There is a 30 video per day download limit, so if you’re thinking you really want to gif lots of stuff from the show, and want a big chunk or a full season it’s definitely worth hunting for a mega or google drive with full episodes to download because it’s just less hassle! I might come back to this post later and compile a list of all of those, but for now if you type “[remake] no subs google drive” or “[remake] no subs mega” into a google search, you’ll probably find something! the all of skam website has no subs for several remakes, but not all!

If you don’t have enough space on your computer to be keeping full seasons, I know there are methods to get screencaps without having to download (generally for giffing movies and regular tv I think this is a common method), but I’ve never done it so I’ll redirect you to this tutorial that explains it! you should probably just go there for the whole thing tbh it’s much more coherent than this, but I digress. 

2. selecting the piece of the video you want to gif

now that you’ve got your episode or clip you’ll want to just open it in photoshop! if you go the screen capping route the way to do that is a bit wonky, so you can keep following the tutorial I linked above and join back in here at coloring if you like!

if the timeline at the bottom doesn’t pop up automatically you can go to window > timeline and turn it on! now you can use the scrubber bar thing to find the moment you want to gif! 

The advantage of this over screen capping is you can scrub with more precision. the arrows circled in blue below let you jump only one frame, where in screen capping I'm pretty sure you can only go by ten second or one minute intervals. 

I usually drag the scrubber as close as I can to the start of the shot/moment I want to use, fiddle with the arrows circled in blue below to jump forward or back one frame at a time until I'm at the first frame I want. I move the left grey handle to the scrubber and then I hit the play button and let the whole shot/moment play. Pause and repeat the shuffling with the arrows until you’ve landed on the last frame you want to use and move the other grey handle. 

the moment you want to use should be between your handles (it’ll look like what I have circled in red), and if you hit play, you should see the thing you want to gif playing on loop above the timeline. the speed will probably be weird, but we’ll deal with that at the end. 

now I recommend doing command or control + s to save your gif as a psd (photoshop document). this is a working, editable file which means if photoshop crashes you can open your file right back up and keep working as long as you’re hitting command or control + s at regular intervals as you work. later we’ll go through exporting in gif format that can actually be uploaded to tumblr.

3. cropping

next I crop out any logos or black space at the top and bottom. Just click on the crop tool on the lefthand side of the screen, drag the edges and hit enter when you’re done. you can of course crop out more than just that, but regardless of what you crop out, now is the time to do it. 

you can set an aspect ratio for your crop at the top of the screen if you’d like to be positive that all the gifs in your set will be the same:

4. my trusty action: resizing, converting to a smart object, and sharpening with one click

Now is when I use an action I made that does all the resizing, converts to a smart object, and sharpens. I’ll take you through the steps so you can conceptually get what’s going on, but I highly recommend using the actions window to record your process as you follow along so you have this action as well. It easily shaves at least 5-10 minutes off of the whole process, and these steps will be the same every time. 

here’s how you make an action: go to window > action and open the action panel. click the plus symbol to start recording a new action:

in the window that pops up, give it a name and hit record:

now just continue with the steps below, and it will save them!

first you flatten frames to clips (I think it says flatten to layers on older versions of photoshop). this is in the menu at the top right corner of your timeline:

next you convert to frame animation by clicking on the symbol in the bottom left, circled in red:

if there is more than one thing in the frame animation, delete the extra one. you don’t need to keep the last one but it won’t let you remove it until there are other frames in there. also go into your layers and delete video group 1 and its contents. don’t ask me why these steps are necessary, I don’t really know, but I’ve noticed it sometimes gets wonky if you don’t do this:

now you want to make frames from layers and delete that first frame that was there before:

then we return to the timeline: 

use command + option + a (control + alt + a for pc I'm pretty sure) to select all layers and then right click within your layers window and select convert to smart object. It’s important to convert to smart object after you go back to the timeline, or the gif won’t move:

next I resize. gifs for tumblr should be 540 pixels wide. for recording your action you should just go into image > image size and only change the width to 540 in case you ever have gifs cropped to different aspect ratios. don’t touch the height, let constrain proportions figure it out!

now, here’s what our base gif looks like, no sharpening, no coloring:

now to sharpen. go to filter > sharpen > smart sharpen. this is up to personal preference, but my go to settings are:

this is what we have after sharpening:

now is when you can stop recording your action. 

just press the stop button in the action window:

this action is pretty much universal and after I select the moment the gif will be and crop however I want, I use it on every gif I make!  so although this initial setup is tedious, now you’ll never have to do these steps again, and the process is magically much quicker.

5. it’s time to jump into coloring!

I typically start with exposure and sometimes some brightness/contrast. with really dark gifs like this, you kind of have to make it worse before you make it better. I did this:

now the gif looks like this:

we have some static and some ugly bits, and this is where selective color comes in to fix it! boost blacks like this:

and now your gif looks like this:

the skin tone is looking a little sickly and weird, so I go into the yellows and reds in my selective color layer to fix it! I also messed with the greens here because I didn't want color in the background (that part is totally optional and just up to your preference):

now we have this:

to really take the color 100% out of the background, I did one more separate selective color layer for cyan (again, I just felt like it but this is optional!):

and now the finished gif:

there’s lots of fun extra things you can add like text and tints and overlays and all that I won’t get into, but feel free to reach out for help on those types of things! 

this gif was certainly not the most complicated to color. some ridonkulously dark clips (*cough cough* vendredi 20h27 *cough cough*) take tons and tons more effort than this and a lot of the time you’ll want to use color balance layers and vibrance layers and all of that to mess with your coloring. 

with all of this coloring business, I really just learned by doing. I don’t know all the technical purposes of each type of adjustment layer, and I tend to stay away from curves just because I find them confusing and annoying. The bottom line is that you should always experiment and find out whatever coloring works for you and run with it! I’m sure every gif maker you talk to does things at least a little differently! 

I highly recommend taking the time to go through all the types of adjustment layers and just move the sliders around to see what they do! That’s honestly one of the best ways to learn and decide what you like!

6. now to export and adjust the delay!

the keyboard shortcut for exporting on mac is command + option + shift + s, control + alt + shift + s for pc, otherwise you can go to file > export > save for web

my settings are here:

the settings only need to be configured once! otherwise just hit save and follow the pop ups to choose where to save and what name you want to give your gif. Since you saved as a psd way back, that will be the name it’s automatically given, but call it whatever you want!

then I adjust my delay by opening the gif I just exported (not the psd, the .gif file) and using one of my delay actions. I’ve made an action for each delay between 0.05 (real time) and 0.08 (really slow mo for certain super short shots, typically for more ~artsy~ sets). 

all my action does is select all frames:

adjust the delay (which will differ based on whether you want them slowed down and by how much): 

for reference, this is a 0.05 delay:

and this is a 0.08 delay

now you just export the same way you did before! 

remember if you’re recording this as an action, you don’t want to touch the file name, just say yes when it asks if you want to replace the file. if you always save your gifs to the same place, your action will now enable you to override any gif with the incorrect delay with the correct one with one click!

7. tldr: the main tips

for downloading 4k video downloader works well for non geoblocked youtube videos, the all of skam website is another place you can look to download with no subs, here’s the screen capping method if you don’t want to download

The main way I combat dark lighting is to bump exposure to the right, gamma correction to the left, and then enhance black in a selective color layer. The amount of these three adjustments will vary gif to gif. I know lots of people use curves, but I find them really confusing for some reason, so this is my method! As my graphics teacher likes to say: there are always at least 3 different ways to reach the same result!

there’s a little bit of additional coloring on this one, but here’s another before and after example so you can get an idea of how those steps get you a better lit result without making the lighter parts super over exposed:

besides those three steps, you have free rein to use the other selective color channels, as well as color balance, vibrance, hue/saturation, etc. to restore color that was lost or to change the colors altogether! mess around with it and have fun experimenting!

7a. bonus coloring tip: 

sometimes you can make use of selective color to completely alter an isolated color in your gif. You can get very adventurous with this, but here's a simple example of changing blue tones to teal (I got away with these gifs being longer because they were in rows of two in the set I posted them in. I'm too lazy to trim frames so I can put them here at 540 px without going over the 10mb limit so just ignore the quality ok):

7b. actions, actions, actions! 

if you find yourself doing a certain thing over and over, always record it as an action. the amount of time they will save you is honestly really impressive. 

You can duplicate actions, so, for example, if you have different sharpening preferences for different shows or scenes, you can duplicate your gif process action and go into the steps, double click smart sharpen, and alter it however you want! 

This could also be good to do for the different widths for tumblr if you ever do sets with rows of two or three! Duplicate actions is also how I made my actions that set delay at 0.05, 0.06, 0.07, and 0.08!

when in doubt, always make an action! it’s worth minimizing the tedious bits of the process as much as possible so you can focus on the fun part of seeing your awesome gifs come to life! any little task you find yourself doing often, make an action!

and for now that’s all I have. if any of this made no sense, if you want to suggest a correction or addition I could make, if you’re ever curious how I did something on any gifs I post, or if you have any other sort of questions, feel free to send me an ask or a dm! if I can’t answer your questions I’ll be happy to try to direct you to someone who can or a tutorial to help! again, I'm no expert, not even close, but I hope at least one person will find one thing in this mess that helps. 

[ommsims]

story process challenge

i was tagged  by @xldkx​​ to do this challenge, created by @herpixels​​​ , like a month? a month and a half? ago and it’s been sitting half finished in my drafts for nearly as long. *sigh* (regardless, i love stuff like this so even if it takes me forever to get to it, i appreciate the tags! 💕). 

i decided to answer all the qs because it took me damn long enough to get to this, so i might as well put some extra elbow grease into it (plus it was fun!). btw it’s all going under a cut b/c it is long. i apologize in advance.

1. My Writing Process - used to be a hot damn mess. literally word docs strewn throughout my pc. However, I recently switched to using Onenote (it’s what i use to organize my d&d campaign notes) and hoo-boy is it so much nicer. this is how it’s set up and it’s honestly night and day. i can have a page with outlines, a page to organize & order screenshots, and a separate page for drafting text, and i can easily toggle though them without having to switch windows? a big thumbs up from me.

When it comes to actual writing- I used to write my drafts in novel format, which i enjoyed but it made “converting” them into tumblr posts time consuming and frustrating. I ended up scrapping most of the text in the process, retaining pretty much only the dialogue. 

Anyway, nowadays I write in more of a screenplay format: dialogue only + key scene information with the occasional note to self. 

I do keep a master “arcs” page with key events and each individual character’s arc from beginning to end and secondary “outline” pages with slightly more detailed outline for each leg of the project. No screencaps b/c spoilers galore! 

My typical work flow process for a scene goes: (1) brainstorm scene ideas, (2) take screenshots, (3) organize screenshots into a rough storyboard, (4) add 1st draft of text, (5) edit photos, (6) edit text, (7) upload to "drafts” here on tumblr, (8) let sit for a bit (9) take a final look at things/proofread and edit as needed. It may sound counterintuitive, but i find it much easier to write dialogue for a set of images rather than attempt to take images based on prewritten text. I feel more comfortable editing and tweaking tone and content in the text this way. Otherwise, I get frustrated when I “can’t” shoot a scene exactly as it appeared in my head.

2. How I build my scenes - A lot of what i do is rooted in gameplay, therefore my sets are usually (a) play-tested and (b) not super pretty. I’ve certainly improved at decorating & building over the years but more often than not I download lots off tumblr and the gallery because I don’t have the patience, aptitude, or time to build all of my own sets. That being said, I frequently gut builds only to build a number of completely unrelated mini sets inside to reduce the number of times i have to replace lots. I also keep a list of “important locations” and where certain characters live / will move to, to help keep this all straight as there aren’t nearly enough lots per neighborhood or even per world in this damn game...

my least favorite part of scene building is actually decorating. lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love clutter. I honestly do. but fuck me if i expect myself to spend hours meticulously decorating a set, spend another 3 hours toggling back and forth b/w BB & live modes adjusting things to get rid of the damn routing errors. (yeah, yeah, i know i could ignore them, they’re not important, especially in those scenarios where i’m using a set for screenshots and nothing else, but idk. it really grinds my gears.) and then have to replace the lot like a week later because there aren’t enough lots in the game. *sigh*

3. CC/Pose Making - i do not consider myself to be a cc creator nor a pose maker but i do dabble occasionally. And to be completely honest i’d much rather spend my time doing other stuff, so it’s not high on my list of priorities atm. plus there are so many talented cc creators in this community; i can usually get by with what’s already out there.

4. Getting in the zone - Honestly, I do a lot of brainstorming for plot & dialogue in the shower. I don’t have any particular playlists to get me “in the writing mood” but I do enjoy listening to music as I work. Either instrumental stuff or simply artists/songs I like. If something just so happens to “fit” a scene I’m working on, one i’ve got planned, or even just gives me vibes for a certain character or group, I add a quick note to the top of said scene’s draft. Most of the time I stick it in the recesses of my brain and add a quick link when I finally get to the point of posting the draft to tumblr. For whatever reason, when I have one of those “oh this song is perfect for X” moments it’s essentially ingrained in my mind for the rest of eternity. 

5. The screenshot folder - this will most likely give some of you out there major anxiety. but i swear it’s an organized chaos. :)

yep. 32.9gb of screenshots & related things... 

So with the raws from a single random scene selected, you can see i take roughly 10 screenshots per image posted. not terrible i guess but i’m working on it. Typically I take screenshots and once I’m done editing a scene I’ll move them from the general folder to a more specific project folder.

6. Captions - I’ll answer this in three parts:

for my townie story. not really. I prefer using the text box. I tend to write (& re-write) the dialogue for each one of these scenes several times over as I add more “scenes” into my drafts. It would be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and would waste a lot more space on my pc to have to save .psds of each image just so i could edit dialogue when I decide: “oh hey maybe so and so needs to bring up X in this scene” and then change my mind an hour later.

for niko, noor, & co. I’m a text on image type gal here. don’t really know why, but it gives the project a different energy. ironically it makes it feel more laid-back to me. which i guess makes sense, it’s a much more light-hearted “story” than my townie project. which is, imo, very soapy haha.

for legacy stuff. all text goes below the images in the text box. reasoning: it’s gameplay, I don’t brainstorm, outline, or pre-write for this. I play the game, take screenshots, plug ‘em into my drafts and write some commentary / dialogue to go along with it.

7. Editing - i am a creature of habit and have not majorly changed my editing process in probably a year and a half (when I began using reshade and had to adjust my color correcting psd). it’s a super basic system:

drag & drop my “color correction” psd.

run actions in ps. (i made my own “all-in-one” actions to really streamline the process; i have different “actions sets” for my premades’ story and for other things that get posted to tumblr. even if no one else notices it, i like the little details that keep my projects separate and “identifiable”. 

voila. all set to upload.

sometimes i crop images, add “text effects”, or do more in depth editing (i.e. editing a phone screen or adding rain etc.) but overall i try and keep it simple for myself. 

8. Throwback - i posted an image of one of the first (but never posted) scenes I’d written for my townie project up above. but as for how would i redo a scene i’d already posted. well i’m currently re-doing my townie story so i guess i’ll just say you’ll see how it’s redone when i get to part 1! 😉

anyway, no tags because i’m so embarrassingly late to this party but if you hadn’t gotten around to this tag, wanted to do it but didn’t get a tag, or started it and left it to sit and now you’re thinking “oh god that was months ago should i even post this anymore?!?” consider yourself tagged by me and go ahead and post it for all to see!

[jamiebluewind]

Charatcter Descriptions and Summary 2.13

As always, let me know if I need to edit or add anything and tag/ask/PM me about art and stories so I can check them out! I'll try to add warnings later. Also, we have 8 episodes left including this one, so the last one should be number 20.

***

Things

Dusk Moss

Hallucinogenic moss with very few alchemical properties that puts the user into a state of lucid dreaming where they are also concious of waking world (basically fantasy marijuana)

Is a flammable powder that cannot be unlit once lit

Crumpkin said his brother swears by it and that everyone should try it at least once.

It will even you out if you take a little bit and a quarter of teaspon will send one of them on a trip all day (so what about the size and race of the person?)

Can buy in a massive block from Tinkerer's Hall where a dose of the powder can be shaved off the block to use

Mystery Rune

The rune was abjurative magic: metamagic school (instead of protection, wards, and shields) which shapes the nature of magic itself. Specifically, the rune involved curses and a way to mask powerful curses and spells. One can take a tremendous amount of spellcraft (or the ability to cast multiple spells), put it into a curse, and have the curse ride under other curses. In other words, if connected to an object, the object would have been "cursed" to be a vessel for a wealth of other spellcasting (flash drive), but hidden under another curse (advanced encryption and a virus).

The larger and more permeable the curse, the more able it is to ride under another curse.

The curse on top (dummy curse) works best the more widespread, static (can't be easily ended or doesn't have random frequent spell effects), ambient, and passive it is like using a magical landscapes or creatures instead of a spell made by a spellcaster.

***

PCs With Datemates

Kristen

Took a picture on her crystal of the unknown goddess mural (originally wondered if it was a tequila advertisement)

Kissed Tracker and the tree she was hiding behind

Wanted rosé with the cold fratatas, but thought it was weird that he put both kale and spinach in them (as did Tracker)

Looked through the medical papers Adaine and Riz found and figured out how to cure the Kalina infection (greater restoration due to studying records or a tinsure that requires dusk moss, the alchemical supplies Gorgug got from the tinkerers, some things Adaine can pull from her jacket, and one or two things they'd only be able to find beyond the wall)

Her and the group decided on the tincture method despite the risk of curing behind the wall as she can only cast greater restoration once per day (only one 5th level spell slot and 5 infected: Tracker, Sandra Lynn, Ragh, Riz, and herself), but the option of using greater restoration on herself and Riz while leaving the others behind or inside Van was discussed (side note: could she team up with any of the locals bards/clerics/druids/artificers/celestial warlocks who know greater restoration and teach them the specifics of the altered spell while they wait on the others to get back?)

Suggested they pretend they all died after they take the tincture in order to give them an advantage due to Kalina thinking the party was cut in half (all but Adaine agreed)

Owns little handcuffs with her and Tracker's initials on them

"I don't know why I'm saying this, but Go Ball."

Assumed that the team in hell were just stuck in a waiting room, possibly drinking pina coladas

Investigated where Aelwen, Adaine's mom, and Killian entered the briar wall. It was much more tangled, far from Arborly, up a cliff with difficult rocky terrain between them and the temple. It was a place where they wouldn't be looked for, but it would take them longer to get there.

Tracker

Said the thing with Vraz made her werewolf issue with the Shrine of Thorns the second weirdest thing that's happened

Started transforming after glancing at the uncovered mural image of the unknown goddess, growling as half her head transformed as she fought changing before rolling off and hiding behind a tree (per Kristen's suggestion)

Couldn't go to hell because she couldn't enter the shrine

Gorgug

Got springs put in his shoes by the gnomes which gave them thick rubbery soles (Spring Coiled Sneakers of Bounding) and also asked for shock thing from tinkerers which would have a spare the dying effect (unknown if he got it)

Wears size 19 canvas shoes

Looked through a big log book with the alchemic ingredients in tinkerer's shorthand before buying the same alchemical ingredients that Killian bought (magnesium, antimony, and mercury which are used in magical candles) for 350 gold. Killian also bought two huge blocks of dusk moss incense (600 gold for both which he split cost wise with Fabian), but he was nervous about buying it (dusk moss details above).

Explained cell towers to the tinkerers

Considered jumping into space to either get to or place a satellite

Found a picture of his parents launching their satellite into space (Wilma and Digby giving double thumbs up, the van tipped on it's nose with it's back doors open to launch the satellite from the back of it, a lot of papers and a mobile desk in van's glovebox) and found space tech-esk routing info for the satellite in Van which allowed him to make a satellite phone

Originally left his crystal and the info with the tinkerers (original timeframe 1-2 days), but came back to help which speed up the process

Was curious why Gilear wasn't infected by Shadow Cat like Sandra Lynn and was later sorry he brought it up

When they found out they couldn't enlarge/reduce Van, he considered making a massive vest with massive pockets he could wear that everyone could jump in before they used enlarge/reduced on him, but the idea was scrapped

Suggested that if they played dead after taking the tincture to not warn Gilear so he wouldn't be acting when they "died".

"Hey, this is based on nothing, but I feel like Gilear is dead."

Believed that hell wasn't as bad as people said it was, just unfamiliar and like 5 degrees hotter

Ran into the briars after the portal closed

Likes a hot hot tub because warm ones just makes him wonder what's cooking in there

Was up all night sweating with his hoodie off (first time in a long time) working on his phone before finishing up the crystal pack (made his phone into a satellite phone). He felt pretty good about making it work.

Got a slew of unread messages once he turned his phone on (few old ones from Zelda, some from his parents checking in, and tour stuff)

Called Zelda with a video call, putting his hoodie back on as it rang and rang (most of the call is in Zelda section)

Told Zelda he loved her for the first time (after she said it first). Said he wished he was there, but hadn't figured that technology out yet and admitted that he might not have service once they went into the forest ("I'm here to communicate")

The gnomes erupted into cheers over the crystal working, but he was equally exciting over Zelda saying she loved him. They popped some gnome wine (pink fizzy champagne that smelled like cloying sweet strawberries) and shared it with him in celebration

Got a bunch of DMs from the other seven maidens saying "Way to go big guy"

Zelda

Was at Ostentata's house at night for a party (everybody was telling the story of when Gorgug jumped the fire elemental there and when he backyard wrestle smashed the beer pong table while time was stopped) when Gorgug called

Told her adventuring party he was calling before she went outside, but they followed

Answered her phone while still wearing her earbuds and assumed he was back, but was told he figured out how to make his phone work. He did it because he felt like it was important to be able to talk to her, the world, and her (not because it was part of the quest). She asked if they had cell towers, but Gorgug said that he had been working on artificer stuff and used his parents' satellite.

Started crying over Gorgug doing a whole bunch of new science to make his phone able to call back, apologized to him over getting upset, and said she missed him and he was the best

Was embarrassed by the other maidens eavesdropping (they called out "Good lookin out Gorgug! Stand up thing to do! You did it!"). Gorgug went on speaker and said "Well hello guys!" before she shooed them off to talk to her boyfriend

Made sure that Gorgug's friends weren't in danger over him working on his project, but was reassured that he was having down time and it would also help them in the long run

Told Gorgug that she loved him for the first time and freaked out (insulting herself) before he said that he loved her too. This was followed by her saying "oooh I just wanna... I just wish you were here."

Said the Red Waste was super hard, but they were done and thought they would get a good grade on it

Called Gorgug cool (and was called cool by him). Said what he did meant a lot to her. The call ended with one last quick I love you from Gorgug.

Fig

Subpoenaed to be a witness for Gortholax before a tribunal due to him being negligent for his infernal domain (after his 9th and final request for appearence lapsed). The print of her subpoena got so fine that it was mostly illegable without a magnifying glass. It was also in infernal (which she can read)

Asked Vraz if she could leave the door to hell open with them following later (left open, but was yelled at)

Considered disguising herself as Gortholax and offered to disguise herself as a famous lawyer from billboards to help Gilear

Wanted to know more about law so she could defend Gortholax domain and yelled "THE CHOSEN ONE!" when she discovered that Gilear knew the law

Wanted to start a grass roots campaign about the demons working with the nightmare king (as devils hate them both)

Asked her mom why Gilear wasn't infected and discovered her parents had slept together many times, but not in the last 3 years

Got upset with Riz over his opinion on devils (quote in dialogue link)

Had to be the first through the portal to hell, but straddled the flaming doorway with Riz on her back to try to keep it open

Tied a rope around Hangman so she could wakeboard while smoking a clove, library card behind her right ear

Thought Gortholax's home was tasteful and knew the door code.

Blamed herself for the quality of Gilear's life (quote in dialogue link)

To Vraz "What going on with you? Do you need a hug?"

Lit a cigarette in court, told them that Gortholax was trapped in a gem, put her feet up, and said Kalina the Shadow Cat used a proxy to trap Gortholax with the assistance of demons (but was able to hide the fact that she was the proxy from Vraz)

Asked for help getting into the forest of the Nightmare King, but got yelled at because calling a recess does not mean the trial is over

Cut her arm and offered the tribunal her blood as proof she was Gortholax's daughter, but the blood sizzled when it hit the ground and either summoned or created an imp which served as proof

Ayda

Told Adaine what the rune was (details below)

Still working on plane shift

Got upset over Fig getting sucked into hell, insisting that they had to go rescue her "Well, we should do whatever we can to make it happen as fast as possible because I'm going to get another kiss, whatever happens"

Said Fig's lips are the softest things she's ever felt (grossing out Adaine) and "If I don't smell Fig's hair again, I'm going to incenerate"

Asked Adaine for advice as the Oracle, wanting to know how many potential futures there were were Fig wouldn't want to kiss her or be around her anymore and if they could be avoided. She was also worried that Fig might have kissed her, but not felt attracted to her.

"If we kissed a bunch of times over the course of an hour, does that mean we are girlfriends or wives?" (potentially but ask to clarify)

Was worried that she would look sad, weird, or not normal from a social standpoint for asking Fig to clarify if they were girlfriends (to which Adaine said she was not and was in face very very cool).

Worried about her mind being foreign to other people and despite not being the same as Adaine, felt better after talking to someone who understands not being like everyone else.

Told Adaine "You're a very special person to me and your friendship means the world to me. I hope we study magic together for a long long time" and that she loved her.

Has notes on how her brain works and built an entire friendship section in the library because she was so lonely.

Went to the Synod to be alone because she lived "on a dirty pirate island"

***

Other PCs And People In The Party

Adaine

Released an aura in the crime scene and might have put on gloves

Found the non detection runes her mother had placed (to keep elves off the trail) and the remains of two rituals, one to kill Killian and one to put the Devil's Heart (with Gortholax) inside Killian. The rituals happened 24 hours appart, meaning they left the night the teens arrived or her mom knew to kill Killian before Aelwen arrived.

While looking for something in the room (something nice her mom might have said about her), she found a blank piece of parchment on a small desk and revealed a message using "the pencil trick" ("Aelwen is with me. You are betrayed. You have no other choice darling. Come with us.") which she believed was probably for her dad. Later got the original copy (wrote out for a sending spell) by using mend on ashes she found in a trashcan

Suggested a cold fratata picnic

Pulled beautifully printed pamplets out of her jacket for Fig's grass roots campaign, but they had a typo so she tossed them

Told the group to give a thumbs up to someone who had the message spell (currently only Fig and Adaine) if they had something to say to keep it from Kalina

Was caught by briars and ejected from the hell potral, keeping her from entering, but decided that heaven and hell were just reflections of each other so she wasn't worried

On dusk moss, said "I've heard it's good for anxiety." and suggested that they all got high while waiting on their friends to return from hell (but was unable to convince the others)

Discovered that the unknown goddess' spellbook had a distinguishing mark on it, an occult rune that was in a lot of stuff at Compass Points (which Ayda would have studied) and on the coin given to Kalvaxus (more info under mystery rune)

Liked a hot tub that started off very warm at first and then got more comfortable

Messaged Ayda late at night for help "Avast ye scurvy devil. How is plane shift going? Also, need info on rune. It looks like [x]" (answered back "I'm not a scurvy devil. Let's use the synonym. Right jacket pocket.")

Found a key made of glowing blue crystalline energy in her pocket as the keyhole on a nearby door started glowing slightly blue.

Was given a scroll with a first level spell by Ayda that granted her access to the Synod of Spyre which is a meeting place for wizards

Told Ayda "I think your great",  made her laugh by telling her that curses were "ten a penny", and told her that she enjoyed talking to her about their magic as Ayda is someone who gets it and is not mean to her

Asked Ayda to tell her everything (about the kiss), but then realized that she didn't want or need to know everything. She did say (about Ayda and Fig) "I support this. I am happy about it. I am amazed. Oooo she's secretive!" and that while on a macro level, some people will kiss without caring, Fig wouldn't because she cared about everybody (she did kiss those two older guys though?)

Admittedly that being oracle only let her help out a little every day and occasionally she got a terrifying vision, but she doesn't know when the event will occur or what will cause it

To Ayda, "If you like a person and they like you and the relationship is good, it shouldn't matter how other people feel about it? I think."

"I want to be alone and also surrounded by my friends at all times."

Riz

Worked the crime scene in the Owl and Harp with Adaine (putting on gloves before starting)

Found that the rituals were specifically to get Kalina into Silvar by bypassing the need for permission from a devil authority by using petrismosis to move from an infected creature into a gem to commandeer the devil within it

Petrismosis: The body's ability to start having elements of the magical gem within it to start permiating orgainic membrane; the process of an organic body and gem to become one which includes osmosis of blood to gem (ragh mom constrantly fights against the being within her gem using her rage, blood, and soul)

Told Adaine "It's great to fin- be around someone who just focuses up. Me and you? Everybody else is super horny. Super emotional. But me and you? *slaps hands together* No emotions between the two of us." (she was looking for something nice from her mom)

Discovered that Adaine's mom had packed WAY more rations than they needed to get to the temple, some alchemical ingredients, and all primary work, leaving only hints behind as well as some research and medical diagrams (which Adaine and Riz took). The medical diagrams were extremely old velum grave robber level medical stuff written in a character based pictogram language (think hieroglyphs, almost like emoji) that was most likely centaur. One medical diagram was of a disected and dismembered centaur with dark, very scary looking cat symbols (refered to as the disease or infection) behind eyes, in ears, on tongue, deep in sinuses, and on spine. It also showed that the brain was carefully taken apart and looked at, but the infection was not present there.

He and Adaine deduced that Kalina could only look through one person at a time using their senses and couldn't get into their brains, but could cause paralysis. The only safe place would be the moon haven/Kristen's hallow, but Kalina might be able to ride one of the infected into the haven if she was actively trying to do it. They could however talk anywhere using telepathy (such as the message spell).

Was worried about going to hell while infected, but later said "I meantioned that I was concerened about going to hell and her possibly being able to see the trial, but hell is also bad so I don't really care if they end up fighting and killing each others. Let's just go to hell. Also, they're super far along already. They have Gortholax and they're in. So it's not like... yeah."

Might have internalized racism/goblinphobia and has bias towards devils (both from his reactions in this episode and his reaction to Gortholax in season 1)

Suspicious of devils and doesn't think they should be super cool with them (quote in dialogue link), later becoming upset over what Hangman said about goblins ("Oh like goblins have such a great reputation.") and the others reaction to his and The Hangman's statement.

Road into hell holding onto Fig's back.

Upon seeing Gilear knocked out, said "See I told you that hell was bad! I mean, this is awesome, but this is bad." Pointed out the irony of Gilear getting mad at him a long time ago for stealing the first aid kit that gave him the healing feat.

After Hangman said the evil souls were murderers, thieves, and liars, he started sweating and said "Liars huh?" (side note: Riz has actually done all three)

Grabbed Gilear's face and investigated him to figure out why he was so confident (he said no to an offer from Sandra Lynn). Hissed at Gilear and then apologized, saying they were in hell, it was weird, and the things said about goblins earlier made him feel kinda crazy

Hissed at Vraz repeatedly, even after she threatened him.

To Vraz "Well I'm Riz The Ball and I'm just gonna ROLL WITH THIS! We're here! We're here for your trial thing! *hiss*" Is held back by Gilear while Fig tried to push him forward towards Vraz (told her to stop it)

Hissed at Vraz again (when she was mean to Fig) saying Vraz calling somebody in the middle of a trial was weird before the pair got in another hissing/screaming match. Asked The Hangman to hold him back and got his foot run over.

Fabian

Ownes 250 to 312 pairs of shoes (depending how many have been thrown away or given to childen), has size 5 feet (and is self conscious about it), said he had delicate feet and was lithe and dexterous, and his father had small feet and mother had normal sized feet

Said "god damn it" when he discovered Krumpkin wore the same size shoes as him, lied and said he had big toes and wore a 5.5 because he didn't to exchange shoes with a gnome, and quietly said "...let's go" when Gorgug asked if he wanted little bells on his shoes (side note: was he teased in the past?)

Completely confused by tinkerers logbook, so he deferred to Gorgug. Tried to help by rubbing his sheet on the gold coins they were buying supplies with, but nothing happened

Was nervous about buying or using dusk moss, saying he knew a guy who tried it while wearing a hat and now he always felt like he's wearing the hat. Told the rest of the group "We bought so many drugs." when they dot back.

Fabian's bardic "You feel the power of Fabian's support and care for you" (the explanation of his new stats is linked below)

When asked if he wanted to stay in the Tinkerer's Hall, he answered "Absolutely. With all these weird little men and women. No thank you. Ragh, let's go!"

Has a bunch of private stuff on his phone that he doesn't want anybody seeing

Tried to ride Hangman into hell, but caught by the briars and ejected as the portal closed

Told Hangman "You are literally the sweetest meanest thing ever."

Mutters "Go off The Ball, go off" while Riz was in a different dimension from him (yelling at Vraz in hell)

Said he didn't worry about his father as he was thriving, but he missed him. When told he could get word to him, originally assumed Bill would be busy, then agreed but asked Hangman not to be needy about it, then tried to pretend that he was cool either way and that he didn't need it and it wouldn't fill him with joy, then admitted that it would fill him with joy, and finally just asking "yes please do it"

Likes a warm hot tub due to it being better for his skin and he can stay in there longer

(Multiple quotes can be found in the dialogue link below)

Hangman

His presence (a devil) closed the portal to hell, seperating him from Fabian. He could still talk to Fabian telepathically, but freaked out. When asked to turn it down, he replied "I can't turn it down, I'm sad!"

Said that the portal was created for the dark tribunal and afterwards the devils are required to deposite them from where they came from

Gave Gilear his mark by making his eyes glow dark red pinpricks and etching an infernal ruin of blood and fire on his forehead

Got pissed off over Gilear having to ride on him, but did it to stop his complaining. Meanwhile, Riz also road on him (with a "Huzzah!") and Fig tired a rope around him so she could wakeboard on her skateboard behind him

Approved of Riz hissing at Gilear

Said the souls falling into The Bottomless Pit were evil and of murderers, theives, and liars

Got the tribunal to allow them to stay at The Bottomless Pit (as Fig was both Gortholax's daughter and she had passage there) instead of prison

When he was told only Fig was going to go in the hot tub, he pouted and said "I want to go too!"

Offered to send word to Bill Seacaster for Fabian

Gilear

Made fratatas (with both spinach and kale) immediately, but they all got very cold due to the teens being away for hours (were so cold that they thought he put them in the freezer)

He was not "the face" when he worked in Fallenel at the elven counsel (where he said he was a glorified paralegal), but was still an expert in international and interplaner law

When Fig told him that it was his moment and she needed him, he immediately replied with "Nope!". He eventually gave his word to help, but was confused about how they got into trouble in Arborly, discovering the trial was both in hell ("what? what? oh no.") and delivered by a really keyed up woman who was probably working through something ("I...what have you done?")

From Adaine's jacket, was given a barrister wig from Fig ("None of the cultures I've worked for use these wigs"), a gavel from Kristen, and a black robe from Adaine

Found that the subpoena had no clause concerning ther souls, but hell would send people to get Fig if she didn't go

Wears boat shoes and had a powerful aura of disease coming from his feet (again Gilear DOCTOR! or have a healer greater restore!)

His bald spot was hit by a bit of fire before a blast of fire hit him and knocked him out, setting his wig on fire. He was healed by Riz, but left with burns.

Was given the Mark of The Hangman, which was an infernal ruin of blood and fire etched on his forehead which caused a red force field to appear that protected him from the fire as long as he was with The Hangman

Noticed how Fig was acting (library card behind ear) and started asking her questions, but she dodged them until Riz confronted him about his confidence and got him to confess "I got confidence because Sandra Lynn asked to sleep with me and I said no!" Said that he and Sandra Lynn talking until morning and towards the end she made an offer, he said "No. Thank you", and everyone was still happy and fine afterwards

Told Riz he was very scary and intense sometimes, resulting in Riz hissing at him

Did not actually help during the trial due to fear.

(Has multiple quotes in dialogue link.)

Sandra Lynn

Covered for the teens messaging by talking about finding where Adaine's mom entered the forest as the teens nodded along

Had to explain to her daughter that her and Gilear slept together, but she could have gotten the Kalina disease anytime in the last 3 years and Gilear wouldn't have been infected ("I love you. It's weird. Sorry for all this weird info.")

On Kristen attempting to handcuff her "So help me god Kristen Applebees. I understand that I work for you, but so help... wow."

No longer with Jawbone, but ended on good terms

Was very kind to Gilear the first night in Arborly. She offered to sleep with him at one point and was turned down.

When she asked what the teens were messaging about (dusk moss), Kristen said Spring Break and suggested Sandra Lynn have a spa day with a hot tub soak and a massage with cucumbers on her eyes. Gorgug suggested cucumbers on her ears. Fabian said they should get the weird gnomes to pound her (dear god Fabian! XD) with Kristen saying "gnomes all over your body", Adaine adding that they would walk on her back, and Fabian adding that the little shoe bells would be meditative

Ragh

Asked for a lost spring from the tinkerers

Wears a size 17.5 shoe (quote in dialogue link)

Was paranoid about buying dusk moss (ARE YOU A COP!?), but after Crumpkin's reaction, he grabbed Fabian and Gorgug's arms and said "I think drugs are legal here"

Took a solid chunk of dusk moss and was found staring at his hand ("My hand is just little animal on the end of your arm")

Came into the van later, shirtless and looking like he'd sweat ten gallons. Said "Everything in the world is connected", (on Adaine thinking of trying it) "Adaine, for real? I can never be anxious again because I don't even know if I can ever be fully in my body again.", and (response to Fabian saying it sounds scary) "No no. I'm part of the universe dude" before drinking a glass of water and going off to go to bed.

***

Gnomes

Crumpkin Springbill

Head Tinkerer of the Tinkerer's Hall of Arborly

Confused as to why anybody would be mad about people buying or using dusk moss

Told Gorgug that it would take a long time and a lot of materals to build a cell tower

Size 5 shoes (but likes a little toe room) with curled toes so he can puts little bells on them (sounds like the general style of shoes for the gnomes there as well)

Said hello to Zelda enthusiastically over a video call

Polly Pullypad and Osmand Wobbletrouble

Accidentally flew into where they stacked all the old pots and pans (Polly)

Brought Gorgug his altered shoes back and bowed to Gorgug

Asked to examine Gorgug's crystal in exchange for the spring shoes (Osmand)

Suggested they try to skip building a cell tower and connect directly to a satellite

(Unnamed Twins)

Shallower cone hats with tufts of fur on the ends of springs

Took gorgug shoes off his feet

***

Devils

Vraz the Mean

Sarcastic erinyes with a +13 insight and a beautiful but uncannoy vally porcelain face with a beauty mark

When Fig and Kristen asked if she could leave the door open so they could follow "Are you guys having a fun time? BECAUSE YOU SEEM PRETTY FUCKING GLIB! Keep your sass to yourself!", but still left the door open

Got hissed at by Riz a lot (multiple quotes in dialogue)

Said she is having a bad time between her title (Vraz The Mean), species (Erinyes), running hell, and her title (Arch Secretary)

Called the tribunal into order (with her two co-jurors in a room with a small 3 seat judges bench), stating that it concerned the issue of Gortholax's infernal negligence

Tried to call her boss Blozo, but he couldn't come due to traffic

Found that being trapped in a gem counted as extenuating circumstances and he would not be punished, but they needed a new regnant for the Bottomless Pit so they called a recess while they consulted the bylaws.

Yelled at Fig for asking for help after the recess saying (in a durr voice) " *points at temple* Do you know what words mean!? Do you know what words mean!? *jacking off motion* Huh?"

Was going to imprison "the mortals", but was convinced by Hangman to put them under house arrest at The Bottomless Pit

Kystrona (Ky-stron-ah) The Chained

Vaguely humanoid figure that is just like

A person with chains coiled where arms would be as well as the torso and head, making a massive mound of chains

Moved with a lot of strain (including trying to shrug) and voice is muffled from all the chains

Lorzug (lore-zug) The Impaled

Bone thin naked person with incredibly pale skin and translucent vains all over

Impaled through the stomach about 10 feet up a jet black iron spike as they kick and scream

Only responded with screams

Retch Rot

Tiny blood red imp with a scorpion tail summoned by Fig's blood (calls her mistress)

Might look like a red Boggy with really long legs for his size (Ally wondered if he looked like "a really famous mouse", including suspenders, but I personally give Emily's description more weight as she is in fact in hell as Fig)

Valet to Fig while in the Bottomless Pit

Wanted to show them to their quarters and the many doors of The Bottomless Pit (but had to make it clear that the doors were just rooms in the pit and not portals)

***

Other Stuff From 2.13

***

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[fancoloredglasses]

Dungeons & Dragons episode review Module 1-4: Valley of the Unicorns

(Again, thanks to Jenny Saqua)

Another episode written by Paul Dini, and one that Venger is not the primary antagonist!

(WARNING: This module is very Uni-centric, if the adventure’s title wasn’t a giveaway. As I previously stated, I don’t have a particular beef with her, but I know most fans’ opinion of her are similar to TNG fans’ opinions are toward Wesley Crusher. If you don’t like Uni, you may want to skip this one. Otherwise, check out Watch Cartoons Online)

Where the PC are: The entire party has reached level 4, but judging by where their current XP totals are, I’m going to guess that only half the party will reach Level 5 this adventure

We open in a spooky forest (where even the trees have creepy faces) in a thunderstorm...

(Once again from Jenny Saqua)

(OK, who pissed off the DM this week?)

...where a purple unicorn (no, not Twilight Sparkle!) is being chased down by a pack of 5 dire wolves!

Meanwhile, in a sunnier patch of the forest, Uni suddenly huddles in fear in Bobby’s arms. While the party wonders why (except Eric, who’s too busy bitching), they hear the purple Unicorn in the distance and rush to its aid (well, Uni does...like she’d be any help...and the party gives chase)

The unicorn appears to be holding its own (or at least losing valiantly) when this adventure’s villain arrives...

(Thanks to Recap Retro)

...Kelek the wizard. A quick online search lists him as a 7th Level wizard (kind of a step down from Venger, isn’t it?) worth a whopping 650XP if defeated. I take back my earlier prediction. If this is the big bad this adventure, ain’t no one leveling up!

Kelek orders the dire wolves to hurry the hell up and take down the unicorn. Naturally this is when Uni shows up, trips over her own hooves, and tumbles to the feet of Kelek’s mount. Kelek immediately grabs for Uni, who immediately runs. About this time the rest of the party shows up and Kelek withdraws for the moment.

Bobby and Eric lead the charge, with Bobby’s club causing a fissure in the ground that swallows up 2 wolves. While the rest of the party is occupied, a dire wold grabs Uni and takes her to Kelek. The other unicorn gives chase, but is quickly surrounded, so it...teleports away? Can unicorns do that? *Checks Monster Manual* Huh...I guess they can!

Anyway, Uni is a captive of Kelek and tries the same trick, but she hasn’t mastered that power yet, apparently. Kelek recalls the remaining wolves as the party realizes they’re short one unicorn, but gained...90XP per dire wolf defeated? That’s it?!...for a total of 180XP (I think the DM is overcompensating for those first few adventures...) Hank uses his Ranger tracking ability (yes, it’s A Thing) and pursues the dire wolves (once again, with Eric bitching the whole time. You know, another Ranger ability is moving silently in the wilderness, but there’s no way that would ever succeed with Eric’s bellyaching announcing their presence a mile away...)

A while later, just before Bobby is about to knock Eric’s whiny teeth out for even hinting he wants to abandon Uni, Dungeon Master appears. Eric shows he has some intelligence after all by writing down everything Dungeon Master says (where the hell did he get a spiral notepad and #2 pencil?) Dungeon Master explain that the purple unicorn is Silvermane, leader of the last herd of unicorns (given that a herd generally only has one male, the species is about to be extinct...) His Riddle of the Week is “The fate of one is shared by all” (Mr. Spock he ain’t) before vanishing, leaving the party to figure out how to get through a grove of thorny brambles.

Hank decides to make Eric be useful for once, using his shield as a kind of magic bulldozer. The party eventually catches up to Kelek, just as he makes a tower sprout from the ground and enters, the party following (Does anyone smell a trap? I think I smell a trap)

Now, in my research for this adventure, I saw some rather disturbing descriptions of the following image and what it says about Kelek...

(yep, Jenny Saqua again)

All I’m gonna say is that unless the last herd of unicorns has at least 3 members remaining, he’s in trouble (yes, those are unicorn horns. Nice knowing you Uni...) and his taste in esthetics is appalling. I mean, he could have at least made the statue symmetrical!

Kelek uses his magic on Uni, removing her horn and moving it to the statue. Surprisingly (well, maybe not, since this is Children’s Programming) Uni survives the procedure, but her coat and mane turn grey and she seems to lose her vitality. Kelek begins ranting that the unicorns’ power will make him more powerful than Venger (does that mean I should boost his XP value?)

The party rushes to attack, but...

(Hi Jenny!)

Kelek hits the party with magic that freezes them in place as he casually strolls past them (OK, that’s kinda badass) and announces he’s going to the hidden Valley of the Unicorns to capture the final unicorns.

After Kelek leaves, Bobby is finally able to invoke Barbarian Rage (yes, it’s A Thing. Nice to see the party actually using their class abilities) and breaks free He then charges the statue as Hank manages to get free somehow. Hank frees the others as Bobby’s swings at the statue are met by a magical barrier.

After the party is freed, they hear a noise deeper in the tower, and discover other unicorns (similarly de-horned) in cages. Not entirely sure why Kelek didn’t kill them. Maybe the horns lose their power if the body dies? Anyway, Uni manages to convince the herd to trust the party and they lead the party to their secret Valley (I’ll be it takes longer when they can’t teleport...)

Eventually the party comes to...

(Thanks to imdb...what? I can’t let Jenny supply all my images...)

...a technicolor waterfall (you know, this doesn’t seem so secret...or hidden) The unicorns lead the party to a tunnel behind the waterfall. Uni rushes to Silvermane, but this happy reunion is spoiled when Kelek and his wolf brigade show up (he knew the party would free the unicorns and try to beat him to the Valley, so he followed them and discovered its location. Not a bad tactic)

Kelek captures the final three unicorns (just enough for his statue...WHAT A COINCIDENCE!) and buries the party under rubble before they can attack. Fortunately, Eric uses his shield to keep the party from being crushed, though they’re still buried.

The party manages to crawl out from under the rubble (except Eric, whom I’m assuming is still maintaining the barrier preventing the party from being crushed) when Dungeon Master shows up (in mid-adventure? That’s unlike him. I guess the DM thought the party needed more hints) and says “Sometimes your worst enemy can be your strongest ally” (so...I’m guessing Venger’s showing up later?)

The party treks their way back to Kelek’s tower, when Presto goes back and reads my last paragraph again. He decides to cast a summoning spell to call Venger. Unfortunately, his spell misfires as usual and he is instead teleported to Venger’s domain! Presto manages to stammer out enough of an explanation that he isn’t vaporized where he stands as we dissolve (so to speak) to Kelek’s antechamber.

Kelek has taken the horns from all the unicorns except Silvermane. Eric somehow manages to distract Kelek long enough for Sheila to free Silvermane. Unfortunately, Kelek isn’t distracted for long and attacks Hank, disarming him. Then Kelek calls the Wolfpack to finish off the party!

At that time, Presto reappears and the Dire wolves are transformed into Dire pups. That’s when Venger makes his presence known. Venger demands the unicorn horns from Kelek, but Kelek says the kid-friendly version of “fuck that!” and attacks Venger! Cue epic wizard battle!

In the ensuing chaos, the statue is destroyed and the unicorn horns are scattered. Presto attempts to magic the horns back on the unicorns, but...

(Jenny, Jenny...you’re who I turn to)

...and who is surprised by this?

Eric checks his notes and deduces Presto doesn’t need to magic all the horns, just one. Presto tries again, this time on just Uni...and this time, it works!

Without the unicorn horns, Kelek is no match for Venger and is easily dispatched (no XP for the party, as Venger did the heavy lifting). However, now Venger wants the horns! Hank tells the party to mount the unicorns and they can teleport everyone away.

Back at the Valley, Bobby is sulking because it looks like Uni will be leaving the party (you know, we already went through this. Car ads aside, Uni can’t go with them if they ever find a way home. So maybe it’s better if--

(Thanks to Jedi’s Paradise)

...never mind)

So...180XP total, or 30XP each. No one levels up on that chump change.

I wonder if the players gave the DM a head start before chasing him down and kicking his ass?

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep20-21: Everyone's Gonna Die For Like the 3rd Time

So a few days ago I kinda tossed my phone at my bro and I was like “listen, it’s dead, don’t ask why this has happened, but I can’t get it to boot. I don’t even want to deal with it right now. I’m so over it. You fix it.” And so he fixes it by doing a factory reset and was like “so...what happened?” and I was like “I can’t say right now, it is too embarrassing.”

So, keep that story in the back of your mind as we go into this episode.

It’s a Final Threat like a Final Fantasy sort of meaning of the word Final, I see.

Anyways, a review:

Anyways, Noah has a superpower now that uses these pink balls of power. There’s only 6 of them, so it’s not quite Dragonball, unfortunately. They have some writing on them but I don’t know enough Duolingo to tell you what it is right now.

Especially since I kind of stopped using Duolingo a few months back, so now all of my limited Hiragana and few scattered kanji are gone forever. Thanks brain, glad I spent like a year trying to learn that. Domo. What I tried to go and do in order to read half my twitter feed.

YEP. THAT’S RIGHT.

Yugioh broke my freakin phone.

So anyways, I tried doing a reverse image search on my PC, which is how I got Calligraphy up there. Which I realllllly don’t think is uh...the word. Then, by using a handwriting reading website I got “to fight”, but because I have pretty BAD handwriting in English even, and because I don’t know the order of strokes for really any kanji at all, that was the only one I could find.

If y’all know Japanese, I’d be very curious as to what these are. It’s probably related to something vaguely religious as that’s been Noah’s MO this whole game.

And yes, now that my phone works again, I could just try and re download Google Translate, and give it another go, but this image might actually be cursed, as is Yugioh tradition.

(read more under the cut)

But before we do anything in this upcoming duel, Pharaoh wants to make sure to immediately tell Noah he’s a freakin weirdo as quickly as possible.

Noah is not that surprised. I mean Noah is a computer brain that’s been isolated for 6 years before going cray, he does not care if Yugi thought he were the king of England. Which Yugi was once in a spinoff game, the King of England.

We get a little explanation as to why Noah has such a God Complex (without playing a single God card, ironically) in that he likes to play this rare deck that Pegasus made that I guess Kaiba and Yugi sort of forgot about? I don’t blame them, I would also try to forget about this deck.

I like that no matter where Pegasus travels, he puts on that same Banana Republic khaki white-person uniform and just marches out there. The same outfit he wears digging in Egypt is the same outfit he wears visiting Indonesia or India or Canada wherever this is.

This is probably somewhere famous, but I don’t recall it off the top of my head, forgive me. There are a lot of massive relief sculptures in Asia.

Anyways, after that one travel through the vaguely East/South East, Pegasus had a *phase.*

Now listen, I don’t really think it’s my job as a reviewer to say if shoving vaguely religious/mythical/cultural iconography into playing cards is a good idea or a bad idea, because that’s been talked to death in a million other articles you can just go and read. Every art piece has it’s own reason to exist, and every artist is their own person with their own unique life experience. I have had to sit through so much weird ass installation art and avante garde performance art, that I have learned solely one thing about art critique. I am not art Jesus. I cannot save a piece, I cannot condemn a piece. So, I will not throw down, and I will not prop up--unless of course it is weird little shorts on your main villain matched with long black golfing socks--but I am allowed to say--

...huh?...

Remember how about ten or so episodes ago I was like, low key a little confused that it appeared like Yugioh was waltzing casually into religion territory? Remember how I was like “dude do they realize this is a reference to Lazarus? Like, they’re saying Kaiba could have been THE Lazarus?” Remember when I thought that was a big deal?

Well, Yugioh turned to itself and was like “hold my beer” and then just straight up outdid itself in so many weird ways. And don’t get me wrong, most of these cards are overall fine, nothing really all that shocking, but still like...

...OK, kid’s show. I’m sure all the children in the audience understood the references in this 100%.

Also, the fact that Noah is like “I turned to somewhat religious deities from antiquity to fight your ass” is kind of funny when you recognize he’s fighting a literal Pharaoh who has like 2000 of them of them under his belt already (counting himself). Like, nice job, Noah, you got like...12 in that deck? Congrats.

Anyway, Noah and his slightly problematic deck gets thrown by a bunch of Yugi’s cards and then Noah just plops right out of this giant dude. Or dudette. I didn’t really catch the gender on the Seraphim that is actually a fairy card. But, it was like Noah was being birthed for a second time. Well, third time, if you count when he was reborn as a robot.

So long story short, now he’s a boy again.

Noah had the foresight to put his clothes back on before he fell out of this gigantic robot god thing who’s name I’ve forgotten. A shame, it would’ve been a good gag to just see how long it takes Noah to realize he’s ass naked when he’s a robot who has no sense of touch. Or...body.

Anyways, Yugi’s friends immediately start doing what they do best, which is to trashtalk the other team so badly that it would get you tossed out of most sporting events. It backfires on them not just once but...several times, and I’m telling you, it is surprising that they never actually learned in this entire episode that all they ever had to do was shut their mouth and stop backseating.

But apparently, it’s courageous to catcall your opponent. Its a sign of undying friendship as per Yugioh law.

Anyways, we’re gonna get death 169 this episode, so stop scrolling right now and then think to yourself--who’s it gonna be. Who’s gonna be death 169?

Some of you (all of you) might know this show by heart but for those who haven’t (none of you), this’ll be our little interactive portion.

OK, here we go.

YESSSSS HE FINALLY DIED.

I knew that if I kept saying “Duke will die next” that eventually the dice fall in my favor. It took like 5 or 6 deaths before this actually happened, but can I say “called it?” Is that allowed? I’m gonna say “called it” and pretend that I called this.

Although, unfortunately, I did not call everything.

Wow, Tristan won the shipping wars! All of them! He’s death 169! So NICE!

I did not predict that at all, I honestly thought that 169 would be Duke, and Bro thought it would be Kaiba. We were both so wrong.

It makes sense though. Like he is the littlest horny monkey here. He deserves 169.

Anyway, then the sad stuff starts piling up. Just like so much sadness at once. Yugioh does not pace sadness like, at all, so you never get a chance to grieve since so many deaths are back to back in this show. And by back to back I mean, they play only one round of cards in between each death.

The writing team was so excited to kill everyone off, that it was the fastest rounds of cards I’ve ever seen this show play. We should tempt them with killing off their core cast more often.

So, seeing that half of his friends have been cursed with an eternity of being brain dead and living out their existence half alive in this weird digital universe, Pharaoh starts to doubt everything about his own abilities.

How weird is it to solve your ghost’s existential crisis when you’re trapped in some VR world he shouldn’t be able to exist in anyway?

But youknow, Pharaoh does this sometimes. Sometimes Pharaoh just gets really anxious if not enough people are telling him “It’s OK, Pharaoh, you’re basically a God. You already died once even so how could it possibly be worse? You’ll probably be OK!”

It’s the typical Yugi meltdown that accompanies every Yugi duel, except Pharaoh style, so it’s lower pitched and his hair is a little bit taller.

Noah tries to take advantage of this lapse of confidence, but Pharaoh’s melt down isn’t quite enough to make him quit a game.

Again, Noah seems constantly shocked that all of Kaiba’s friends and Kaiba himself are just incapable of putting cards down and walking away. This is like the 4th time he’s begged these kids to just stop and they just kept going.

And then, it’s time for the romance of the ages that we completely forgot existed. That’s right, shippers rejoice, YugixTea is back on the table, and it’s entirely because everyone else is dead.

Show, can you even be bothered? Like I feel so bad for y’all who shipped the canon ship because they just...forgot about y’all like...a lot.

But don’t worry, it’s still very vague, and instead of giving any sort of sentimental dialogue, Tea is just going to tear into Noah like a yummy sandwich.

Also, Tea thinks that Pharaoh has control over turning people to stone, that’s a weird thing she thinks now. 

I mean for all I know, he can totally do this. Why the hell not? Go ahead, Yugioh. Surprise me.

And then...Noah just kept her alive a little longer?

I know that he was turning people into stone every turn but did I hear that wrong or did he seriously take a turn longer to freeze Tea, just to spite her?

What is it with the Kaiba’s and Tea? I make jokes that she’s the Mom of this mess of a family, but even Noah let her live way longer than anyone else here.

He got over it, though.

And then Pharaoh decided to die.

Like he wasn’t actually dead, he was just low on lifepoints, and was like....that’s it. I’m done. Goodbye world. It was a good couple of years that I haunted the Hell out of everybody through this weird, very strange child. See you next Millennium.

And then he just kind of took a nap.

Like canonically, Pharaoh just took a nap in the middle of this duel. He is out for like...kind of a while.

Pharaoh melt-downs are kind of the worst because they do seem to involve him completely shutting down. At least in this game, he isn’t lying completely flat on his face, as I have seen him do in a duel before.

PS How does this work?

I know I’m not supposed to think about it, and I’ve held back on talking about it for 20 episodes but like...Noah uploaded the mind of Yugi. Not Pharaoh.

Pharaoh’s mind is attached to Yugi through the puzzle...but the puzzle is not attached to the computer in any way. While Yugi’s brain now has a labyrinth problem, that doesn’t mean that Pharaoh would even be here. He is a magical ghost attached to Yugi’s body which is Not Actually Here.

So like...how is this happening?

Can you seriously trap Pharaoh here in this realm? You can’t, right? Like it isn’t possible, he’s the only one who’s not ever actually here in the first place.

Like...Pharaoh should be able to just wake up in the pod, open the door, and walk right out of there, just like he did with Bakura in Season 1 when Yugi got turned into a playing card. Mind you, in Season 1, Yugi’s soul was dislodged and not his brain, but this just seems like a little bit of a retcon.

I have already thought about this more than the people who made this kid’s show, so I’ll let it go, but this is one of those things I have to try real hard not to think about because...

...if Noah has full control of all their brain functions and projects images on to their brain via hallucinations, then how can they hallucinate anything else? How can you pass out and have dreams?

Which doesn’t matter of course--this doesn’t matter to the plot really, as this is a kid’s show and so just go with it--but I have been thinking about this in the background for 20 episodes and this is where I kind of couldn’t ignore it anymore because we’re gonna dive into some hella weird territory, get ready.

So anyways, Yugi comes down like some sort of cherubic angel and it was very hammy and legit pretty funny I mean look at this.

If this were Sailor Moon, Yugi would be ass naked and have huge, beautiful fairy wings covered in holographic glitter and cherry blossoms.

I’d normally just put in a picture of the infamous last episode of Sailor Moon I’m referring to in order to make this joke complete, but knowing Tumblr I’d be flagged in like two milla-seconds because this blog gets flagged KIND OF A LOT FOR A RECAP BLOG OF A KID’S SHOW, but just google it for yourself and bear with me here cuz like,

These two?

Same energy.

I see this image and I can immediately hear that woodwind just bounce off the back of my brain. It’s like conditioned in me although I allllways skip the intro.

So in this dream/literal brain world reality that they’re walking through, despite being in a digital world, Yugi has stuffed some hand selected hallucinations that seem to have like...a personality embedded into each.

So...Yugi can just create clones in his head that act like he remembers his friends act.

Really interesting superpower there.

And yes, this does mean that Pharaoh not only has no long term memories, he flat out refuses to check on his short term data as well. He is just acting purely on a margarita mix of impulse and anxiety. He is such a freakin mess.

I can’t believe this guy went on a date once.

And like, of course this is all a metaphor for how even if your friends can’t be with you physically, their memory is enough to push you forward when you’re feeling all alone. It’s a nice moral of the story, it’s just that it’s a little spooky when it’s literal.

So yeah, Yugi has a fake Kaiba at all times just flinging insults at him from within his own mind. It’s one thing to say you got the voice of all your rivals, friends, and parents pressuring you in the back of your mind, but to literally have them always stowed there, trapped together in the back of your mind is...that’s very Yugi.

This kid needs so much help.

PS nice little frosting on the cake that that he does not store any family members in the short term memory zoo exhibit. Sorry Gramps, you were uninvited from this show in S2 when Bakura knocked you unconscious and you fell off screen and then we just...forgot to ever check up on you ever again.

I’m sure Gramps is probably fine.

DON’T THINK ABOUT IT, GUYS.

I keep thinking about it and it never comes full circle. Just--the hearts of our dead friends are in these cards, although the friends we were just talking to were absolutely fake people that Yugi has copy-pasted into his clip board in his brain hut. Also, these cards were drawn before they would have given him these cards so they didn’t...actually give him cards. They just...lodged their hearts in there real good.

Although their minds are trapped in a weird rock state and their bodies are trapped in some pods...their hearts are good to go wherever.

It doesn’t matter, in the end, Yugi played a bunch of different moves--I want to say like all six cards in the longest and most complicated Yugioh turn in the history of the Earth--in order to finally end Noah.

I can’t have nice things.

Speaking of, I forgot to mention the most tragic death of this episode.

.

.

.

He may have been resurrected, but his soul was deffo disconnected with his body, or at least my PAD data (during Monster Hunter fest even) and all of my pictures and videos are gone. My auto correcting is also really effed up now, and it’s been auto correcting in kind of...really offensive ways...and I have no idea why because it’s only been rebooted for like...2 days. So it’s almost like my phone got resurrected as an evil person or something like it got Marik’d or something. Either way, I had a fun time explaining some texts at work that my dumbass phone decided were a cool idea.

The things I do for this side blog.

Anyway, if you just got here, this is a link where you can read these from the start in chrono order.

[weshallneverrevolt]

B&C Behind the Scenes: Retro Video Capture On a Budget

People who follow Bread and Circuses know that the blog is dedicated almost entirely to pop culture analysis. But people who are my friends also know that I’m a huge geek for computer hardware. So today, you’ll get you a man who can do both. This is my first behind the scenes feature, where I talk about crazy learning experiences in being a small-time YouTuber. This piece will be very technical, so I don’t blame you for skipping it.

The next project for Bread and Circuses is a full documentary and retrospective on Final Fantasy IX (2000, PlayStation), maybe the most important game in my life and one of the best RPGs ever made. Due to the scope of the video, I’m replaying all the original Final Fantasy games for the original PlayStation to jog my memory and give context for the less researchy parts. I am doing this on original hardware and a tube TV, without resorting to emulation or the re-releases. And I’ll be recording the entire game.

The choice for original hardware came for a few reasons. For one, the newer ports of Final Fantasy games are…mixed, at best. IX’s updated ports feature higher quality models and cutscenes, but the backgrounds are blurry, the new fonts and interface are hideous, and the overall “feel” of the original game is somewhat lost. As inspiration for writing the script, I also want the nostalgic experience of how I first experienced the game.

With that being said, I had a major hurdle to overcome: how do I record 50+ hours of gameplay from a 1995 console?

Step 1: Capture Setup

Most game capture these days is done in two ways: via the device playing the game, or via a capture card. The first method is quite easy on PC: you just fire up Open Broadcaster Suite, use a quick setup guide and you’re good to go. This is what I’ve done for all my videos thus far.

For modern consoles, you can use an HDMI capture card like the Elgato HD60. The cards aren’t exactly cheap, but they’re affordable enough for most streamers and let’s players.

But there’s one problem: both the original PlayStation and PlayStation 2 do not have HDMI output. The early model PS3s can play PS1 games and have native HDMI, but they are rare, expensive, and often break.

While you can buy HDMI adapters for the OG PlayStation, they are spotty in quality and present yet another challenge: such adapters often introduce noticeable input lag. Though FFIX is not a fast-paced game, the lag is still bothersome. They also don’t work with my tube TV, which is critical for my desired creative process.

That leaves me with two capture options: composite or S-Video. Composite video is the little yellow guy you used to plug into your tube TV. It looks decent on those, but when captured digitally, the blurriness and drab colors are immediately apparent. It’s for this reason that I purchased S-video cables; without going into boring technical detail, S-Video delivers far richer colors. Because the adapter includes both, I can output to my TV and computer at the same time with no additional equipment!

Speaking of adapters, the PS2 also has the option to output component video, arguably the best analog video available. While capture solutions exist for component video, my tube TV does not accept it. So to use component, I would need a system of complicated adapters and converters to both record on my computer and play on my TV at the same time. It’s too much hassle for not enough results.

So instead, I did some research and bought this little guy: the Hauppauge USB Live-2. There are many adapters like it, but Hauppauge has brand recognition in this area. This adapter also uses 4:2:2 chroma subsampling, meaning that it sacrifices very little in color depth compared to some cheaper models. It plugs into any USB port.

My tube TV only supports mono sound, which means it only needs one audio cable. I hooked up the left channel (white cable) to my TV, and the right channel (red cable) to my capture card. When outputting FFIX in mono mode, both devices receive the same sounds, and the music doesn’t suffer from missing stereo effects. Perfection.

Step 2: PS1 or PS2?

So as most people know, the PlayStation 2 is backwards compatible with original PlayStation games. The method by which this is done, however, differs based on the model.

Early PS2s have an actual PS1 processor on their motherboard. For the PS2 it’s used for sound and input/output, but when playing a PS1 game this CPU is instead, providing nearly perfect PS1 support. Sony actually did the same thing with the first PS3, but soon realized it was very expensive and scrapped it.

For later models of the PS2 – the slimlines – Sony switched to software emulation to save costs and space. The software emulation works very well, but it is just that: emulation. It is very rare for emulators to be literally perfect replications of the original experience, and Sony’s for the PS2 – called POPS – is not 100% accurate. I also don’t have a slim, so there’s that.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I first dug out my old PlayStation 1, purchased new in 1998. While the system itself still works shockingly well (despite some skipping during movies), I quickly ran into a problem: the PS1 outputs at 240p. For the uninitiated, video nomenclature like 240p refers to the number of lines in the image along with the scan type. So 240p means there are 240 lines of pixels in the image, and they are updated progressively, meaning all at once.

Older tube TVs can accept 240p input, but output it in interlaced form. This means that the TV quickly updates every other line of the image, rather than the entire image at once. It works pretty good for this type of TV, but on a modern monitor introduces some problems…which I’ll get to in a bit.

Image from dummies.com. Fitting.

However, this was a problem for me because my new capture card did not accept 240p input. I tried countless times to get it to accept PS1 video, and it just didn’t work. However, I noticed that my PS2 did. That’s because the PS2 outputs by default at 480i, an interlaced mode that my capture card accepted.

So I opted to use my “fat” PS2 instead, which is a SCPH-30001 model, purchased new in 2001. It includes the original PlayStation chip, and – to my enormous surprise – read my original Final Fantasy IX CDs perfectly. Because the PS2 accepts PS1 controllers and PS1 memory cards, it was an almost flawless version of the original PS1 experience. Awesome!

Step 3: Recording

With setup out of the way, I got to the final step of the project: actually recording digital video.

I use Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) for all my video and streaming projects. It’s free, powerful, and pretty fast. My capture device was immediately detected by OBS, but there was one immediate problem.

Remember the interlacing I mentioned earlier? When you display interlaced video on a progressive screen – AKA any modern flat-panel monitor – you get a horribly ugly effect where the video seems to be ripping itself apart. This is called combing, and it sucks. Thankfully, OBS supports native deinterlacing, so I was able to fix it right up.

That being said, let’s break down the different parts of recording with OBS:

Resolution: the PS2 outputs in 720x480 pixels, but my videos are at 1920x1080. However, recording at 1080p requires more hardware power, so I get more definition at the expense of less overall quality. I chose instead to record at 720p, which is closer to the PS2’s native resolution and allows me to capture better colors with less blur.

Framerate: this is where things got interesting. I master all of my videos at 60 frames per second. Very, very few PS1/2 games (FFIX included) hit 60fps, because the hardware of the time just wasn’t capable of rendering graphics that fast. However, they do output at a 60 hertz refresh rate, meaning that the image updates 60 times per second even if the console doesn’t actually produce new frames that fast. So if you record at under 60fps, you get noticeable judder in your footage. That being said, 60fps was a requirement.

Encoding: I wanted to get the highest possible quality picture. My computer has a Ryzen 5 1600 processor – a capable mid-range CPU – and is excellent at software video encoding. I used the OBS x264 encoder running at medium quality. Any higher than medium and I started experiencing skipping footage as my CPU went to 100% utilization. I gotta admit, it’s pretty cool hearing my computer fans kick into overdrive as the CPU is pushed to its limits.

Bitrate: I’m recording a lot of footage here, so while I needed high quality, I also have to keep storage limitations in mind. I did some experimenting and decided on a bitrate of 9000kbps, still above YouTube quality while also saving space. This also means that each hour of footage is about 4GB; given that FFIX is about 40 hours long, that means roughly 160GB of footage for the game. Not bad, considering.

Deinterlacing: OBS presents a slew of options for deinterlacing your footage, and the differences can be tough to spot. The only option that gave me zero trouble – no juddering or excessive blur – was Yasif 2x. I also increased the brightness and saturation to make up for some of the analog video deficiencies.

I’ve included sample footage below, along with pictures of my setup. If you’re an aspiring retro YouTuber or streamer, feel free to PM me with any questions. This stuff was kinda intimidating to figure out and I’m happy to help!

Until then, I’ll be in Gaia. Or Terra, once I hit Disc 3.

Jon

Full Setup

Cable Routing Detail

The TV inputs run through this old AV hub I dug up from my teenage bedroom. This lets me run the cables behind my desk to keep things a bit neater. I say a bit because you can still see the cables back there, but that’s showbiz, baby.

Sample Footage

[thatboomerkid]

Twist of Deadly Wishes

Twist of Deadly Wishes -- Pathfinder Feat

... Glancing away, the mage visibly struggled with his emotions. “Any wish, then. Is mine.”

“Yes.”

“Mine to make as I see fit.”

The demon smiled. “Oh, indeed. Most certainly and truly, master.”

“Any ... any wish at all?”

Shadibriri shrugged. “Within ... ah, limited guidelines. Barring a wish for more wishes, there is little of which I am not capable. As I have said before, to other men in other places: I can call forth any spell, I can resurrect the dead, I can rewrite time and space. I can create from nothing, and make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams; I can open doors to other worlds, and cast you across the infinite pleasures of the planes as you desire. I can turn lead to gold, pig-farmers to pigs, and day to night. With but a word, I can unmake mountains, reshape flesh and topple kings ...”            

“Very well.”            

The demon smirked. “I was not done, master, and am still bound to speak the truth. The whole truth. I can also rewire your brain so that you think you’re a hummingbird, or set your bones on fire, or turn you into a pillar of salt and throw you into the ocean to dissolve, as a certain nameless sorceress once discovered. My abilities are not much limited; you drink from the very waterfall of creation’s torrent when you unleash my gifts. Be careful, I suppose they say, what you wish for.”            

“It is to you, then, to interpret the meaning of my wish?”

The demon shrugged again. “My powers are great, and call on majesties older that your species can fathom; even I do not truly comprehend the full scope of what I do, any more than you understand the mysteries of digesting a glass of warm milk and turning it into blood and flesh, nor how it is that you fall to sleep, and dream, and then wake again. I would be careful, were I you, to know exactly what you want, and to make it clear to me what you want, and to phrase what you want as precisely as possible. Barring that, you should also hope that I’m in a good mood, and that my values coincide rather perfectly with your own.”

The mage swallowed, hard. He then allowed himself a thin smile, but it was wry, and without much humor. “Heh. Yes.”

-- from Twisting Amongst Mages

You command the very waterfall of creation’s torrent.

Brought to you absolutely free to enjoy, to test & to share – as always – by the fine folks of my Patreon.

original image from here

Prerequisite: Ability to use spells, spell-like abilities or supernatural abilities of any kind; non-good alignment; see Special, below

Benefit: When you gain this feat, roll three ten-sided dice and arrange them in order from highest to lowest; you will generate a three-digit or four-digit number from your result (somewhere between 111 and 1099). If your highest score is a ten, it represents 1,000; otherwise, tens always represent zero.

For Example: Mike rolls a 3, a 9 and a 10. His final result is 1093. Amber rolls two 3s and a 7. Her final result is 733. Kelsey rolls two 10s and a 1. Her final result is 1,001.

This is the total Twist Score you much reach to Cash-Out your wish. Each time you Cash-Out, you re-roll this 1d100 and once again begin the long climb to your new target score.

If any magical attack you make – or supernatural ability you use – would ever kill a living intelligent creature outright, you may choose to reduce your damage by any amount and thus leave the creature alive; if you choose to do so, you may demand that your victim make a wish.

If your target hears and understands you, and freely chooses to make this wish, you gain the ability to grant this wish (caster level 21st), much like an efreeti or glabrezu.

A wish made in this way must be a statement that can be uttered, in full, in six seconds or less.

Demanding that your target make a wish in this way ends your turn. On your opponent’s next turn, she may speak her wish as a free action. On your next turn, you may then grant this wish as a full-round action.

You may not grant more than three wishes per day. If you are a PC, you may not grant the wish of a fellow PC. Whether you are a PC or NPC, you may not grant a wish to an ally of any kind; if you attempt to do so, your attack’s damage is not reduced in any way and your ally is instead slain.

You may always freely choose to fulfill a wish of this type in a destructive or even deadly manner, although you must TECHNICALLY fulfill a mortal’s stated desires by use of this magic: if a target states that she wishes she could see in black-&-white, rather than in color, you could not, for example, just summon a horde of baboons to beat her to death and then say “your wish is granted.”

If your target says “I wish for limitless riches,” however, you are 100% percent within your rights to crush them beneath a tide of gold coins Plutokinesis-style or banish them to a section of the Elemental Plane of Earth composed entirely of diamonds ... but without a breathable atmosphere.

Your GM is the final arbiter of what are and are not legal responses to the granting of a wish; strong, open and above-all honest communication with your GM is not simply encouraged for this feat but is instead required.

If your GM cannot decide what a specific character would wish for, she may choose to roll 3d6 on the chart below (ignoring any result and rounding down if that option has already been used too many times) to determine the character’s wish; possible responses from you are also listed after each choice:

I wish I wasn’t here! / I wish I was somewhere else! [You may plane shift your target to the Abyss, to the City of Brass or to another location of your choice]

I wish I could escape / I wish there was something I could do to get away safely! [You may baleful polymorph your target into a rabbit or a frog]

I wish you weren’t here! / I wish you would just go away! [You may use greater teleport, moving to any location that is outside of your target’s immediate visual field]

I wish I was home! / back home! / at home! [You may teleport your target back to their home, bringing along yourself and your party or other combatants if you desire]

I wish this hadn’t happened! [Your target is teleported, unharmed and healed of all conditions & wounds, back to where they last awoke or to wherever they were 12 hours ago, whichever is greater]

I wish you would just let me go! [You and your target are both teleported 100 feet into the air, with you grappling your target. At the end of your action, you are teleported back to your previous location]

I wish you were on fire! [You gain the benefits of fire shield]

I wish you would leave me alone! [Your target is subject to a maze effect]

I wish I could kill you! [Your target is given one round to kill you. All other creatures in the area benefit from a sanctuary spell. If you are not dead at the end of the round, your target dies]

I wish you couldn’t see me! [Your target gains permanent natural invisibility, as per an invisible stalker. She also gains a permanent overwhelming scent of rot, death and the grave (or some other scent, as you choose); all opponents within 30 feet may freely detect her purely by sense of smell. If she is upwind, the range increases to 60 feet; if downwind, it drops to 15 feet. Her exact location is not revealed, only her presence within range and the general direction toward her. When she is within 5 feet of any creature with a sense of smell, that creature automatically pinpoints her location even if otherwise blinded to her. She may also be tracked by her smell: any creature may attempt to follow from where she has been by making a Wisdom (or Survival) check to trace her movements and current whereabouts, even if she possesses the trackless step ability. The typical DC for smelling her out is 10; this DC increases by 2 for each hour since she departed the area. This otherwise follows the rules for the Survival skill.

I wish I was immortal! / I wish I was undefeatable! [Your target gains the benefits of the Immortal Creature template and is subject to a baleful polymorph effect]

I wish I was invincible! [Your target is transformed to adamantine, as per a special flesh to stone spell]

I wish your magic would fail! [You may gain the benefits of transformation]

I wish there was another way we could settle this! [You and your target are both teleported to another location, as per a maze spell. You may challenge your opponent to any test of skill -- that is NOT combat! -- that you desire; if you opponent fails against you, she dies]

I wish you would face me alone! [You and your target are both teleported to a location of your choice]

I wish you were dead! [You instantly split yourself into a pair of creatures: your spectral true self and your corporeal false self. Your true self becomes both invisible and incorporeal, and must remain directly adjacent to your false self until this effect ends. You may take no actions while you are so disjointed, nor interact with your environment in any way except to observe. Your false self dies for one hour per character level you possess or until you choose to end the effect. At any time while this effect is active, you may choose to end the effect as a free action: thereby collapsing yourself back into a single creature under your full control. All reversible effects related to your death are undone instantly at this time, just as though you had not died; this includes any damage and/or all secondary effects that would have been avoided if your false self had not died. You are the beneficiary of a true resurrection effect.

I wish ... I wish ... uh ... (stuttering) [your target is forced to answer the following round]

I refuse! [you may not force the creature to make a wish]

You are not required to grant a wish made of you in this way. For example, if a victim says “I wish your bones were all broken,” you could offer to your GM the option “Very well ... I gain all the benefits of an elemental body (or fluid form) spell, and all of my ‘bones’ are ‘broken’”; if your GM doesn’t like that, however, you are within your rights to simply say “I will not grant such a wish.”

If you choose not to grant a wish, you lose one Twist Point from your current Twist Score. This does not count against the total number of wishes you can grant each day.

Each time that you grant a wish by use of this feat, you add a number of Twist Points to your Twist Score equal to your target’s Hit Dice. Once you have reached your goal, you may Cash-Out all of your Twist Points as a full-round action and immediately gain the benefits of a wish spell.

Special: This feat assumes that your GM will establish additional specific, in-universe backgrounds and requirements for gaining this ability; the prerequisites (above) for this feat are thus left intentionally vague, entirely up to the storyteller. In a traditional fantasy game, this power might be limited only to elves or to other creatures with ties to the First World, only to demons and their mortal kin, only to wishcrafters or witches with specific Patrons, only to members of a certain lineage or arcane tradition, only to mad chaos-gods and their spawn, to the seventh son of a seventh son, or to certain “chosen ones” who are born to fulfill a dark destiny.

—

NOTE:

This website uses trademarks and/or copyrights owned by Paizo Inc., which are used under Paizo’s Community Use Policy. We are expressly prohibited from charging you to use or access this content. This website is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc. For more information about Paizo’s Community Use Policy, please visit paizo.com/communityuse. For more information about Paizo Inc. and Paizo products, please visit paizo.com.

[jaredkittelson-blog]

Comparability Of On-line Music Shops

No, flac to wav converter free I always convert my audio to AIFF or WAV first. edit and optimize louder ringtones flac acquire volume Phrases comparable to "mp3 normalizer, mp3gain have develop into widespread lately; baixar mp3 normalize audio batch volume lower wav normalize software. Obtain Mp3 Converter Scale back Size at MP3 Informer. how you can increase volume mp3 recordsdata program to improve your tune recordings. normalisieren von musik. Audio modifying software the right way to repair excessive quantity recording How you can improve volume in your Apple iphone by 50-one hundred%? download mp3 resizer free volume conversion audio amplifier finest normalize software normalize beneficial properties on batch of mp4 Low sound mp3 to excessive sound converter.

Within the settings of the convert dialog field, only change the Profile half. Choose the audio format that you just'd wish to convert to. By default, the codecs present in the drop down are Audio - MP3, Vorbig (OGG), MP3 (MP4), FLAC, CD. Choose the format you might be converting to. FreeRIP is a high quality CD to MP3 converter: it means that you can high quality grain set compression parameters. Anyway if you're not a digital audio professional, simply go away FreeRIP MP3 encoder settings on their default and you'll get high quality MP3 files with great compression charge. On the forum we typically choose to make use of the term "Save" to refer to "Saving Audacity Tasks" and the time period "Export" for "creating normal audio information". 2.Formats Supported: SPX(Speex),MP3,WMA,MP2,OGG,WAV,AAC(utilized by iTunes),flac to wav converter free, APE,AC3,MPC (MusePack),WV(WavePack),OptimFROG, TTA ,Ra(Real audio). Earlier this week I wanted convert a stack of previous audio books from them4a format to a more Android-friendly format likemp3 — and SoundConverter did what I needed effortlessly. Essentially the most evident and necessary distinction between free and for-pay software program is speed of conversion. Throughout testing, Freemake, the very best free audio converter software program, took four instances so long as the fastest program, Switch, to transform a 625MB WAV file to MP3. The opposite free converter we tested, File ZigZag , is an internet converter tool that was 30 instances slower than Switch at changing our check file. It additionally limits you to one file over 180MB per day and 2GB or smaller information. If that you must incessantly convert recordsdata or a large number of files directly, we advocate spending between $20 and $30 on a program that doesn't crash usually and might batch convert multiple files at once. As we know, WAV is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is an utility of the Useful resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) bitstream format method for storing information in "chunks", and thus can also be near the 8SVX and the AIFF format used on Amiga and Macintosh computer systems, respectively. It is the important format used on Home windows programs for uncooked and sometimes uncompressed audio. The usage of the WAV format has a lot to do with its familiarity and simple structure. Because of this, it continues to get pleasure from widespread use with a wide range of software program functions, often functioning as a 'lowest common denominator' on the subject of exchange sound files among different programs. Thus, it's more convenient so that you can possess WAV format than FLAC.That is the default setting. When this feature is chosen, Audacity copies the imported file(s) into the project's audio information. It's important that files are copied into the mission if the Audacity mission is to be moved, opened on another laptop or despatched to someone else, or if that you must to move, rename or delete the original files.After loading a number of audio files to , you simply want to decide on one of many output formats from beneath. When the file is ready to be downloaded, use the small download button to put it aside to your pc. More than likely you may be utilizing a compressed or uncompressed lossless format like PCM Audio, WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC, or APE. An uncompressed PCM audio file is about 10 times greater than a CD quality MP3 file.It is vital for an audio converter to be able to importing all obtainable audio formats and converting them to a format you need to use. There are greater than 50 audio file sorts in use today, and one of the best converter software program programs can work with all of them. The free converters we examined can import the popular lossless formats, like WAV and FLAC, and convert them to widespread lossy codecs, like MP3 and AAC, however the most effective for-pay converters may import lesser-recognized formats, including proprietary audio formats from companies like Sony, Microsoft and Yamaha.FLAC WAV Converter permits you exchange FLAC to WAV Audio. After all it is best to hearken to the songs after you might be executed to verify if they're just the way you need them. increase quantity of MP3's download program to lift phone. software program audio normalizer. Improve sound iphone. How you can improve ringtone music? Code to make nokias louder.Sadly, we found that not to be true. In blindfold take a look at, we could inform the distinction. The unique file always sounded higher - extra open and a wider stereo image. We tested various ranges of FLAC conversions and found that all of them performed in another way as nicely. Even reconstituting the FLAC again to WAV(2) didn't outcome within the WAV(2) sounding like the unique. So, we made the choice to release WAV files in 2008.

[lovelivelaughh-blog]

ZSUITE REVIEW – BECOME A PRO FROM SCRATCH

Generally, zSuite OTO is a 4-in-1design app containing Youzign, Gifzign, Mockzign and Logozign that allows anyone to create stunning and engaging Pictures, InfoGraphics, Logo, Gif, Mockup, many more... from scratch. Since zSuite is niche-independent which means it will supply you with unlimited choices for marketing campaigns, introducing a new product or promoting brand.

Another good part is, the industrial License included enables one to be a true freelancer by provide professional design service and charge hundreds bucks. Such a potential land, is not it?

So, what's inside these 4 design apps that make zSuite stick out? Go on reading and you'll know.

Martin Crumlish is the name behind this product. His name is truly well-known for showing up on leaderboard so often.

ZSuite was born after 4 years researching and producing by Martin together with his partners Magnus and Bertand. It passed through several tests over the years and perfected.

Besides including 4 powerful design apps, zSuite is filled with other amazing benefits. Let's dig into these 4 applications first then I will show you the rest.

Program 1: YOUZIGN

Use Youzign in form of:

Youzign online platform

Youzign Desktop app

Youzign WordPress Plugin

Youzign Android and iOS mobile programs

Features inside Youzign:

Unmatched drag n drop interface

Borders and shadows

60 design formats and preset sizes

Huge pool of templates, never struggle for inspiration again

Supports any languages on Earth

Share layouts with any other user

Smart guides that will assist you keep straight lines and design properly

100s of built-in high resolution graphics and icons sorted in categories, including arrows, backgrounds, patterns, buttons, play buttons for videos, mascot characters, and much more we are adding graphics every day.

One-click backgrounds, tee-shirt designer

Background removal

Instant preview technology

Create from scratch or start with a picture

Free access to Youzign marketplace, easily sell your designs

All design formats constantly monitored and upgraded

Integrated into 50+ top marketing programs

Organise your layouts in folders, create unlimited folders

Save layouts as templates and re-use unlimited times

Countless incorporated copy-right free pictures

Retrieve your layouts on your favorite apps with Youzign API

Program 2: GIFZIGN

Gifzign is a Desktop app for PC and Mac that helps you to:

Turn any video on Youtube, Vimeo or your personal computer to a GIF in just a few seconds

Record a video from your camera or screen and turn it into a GIF

Customize your GIFs with text and images

Add other special effects like looping, instagram-like filters, and much more

Create cinemagraph with any uploaded, cloud video or recorded video

Select distinct GIF Player styles with dynamic behaviours

Select different frame mockups

Program 3: MOCKZIGN

Mockzign is a Desktop app for PC and Mac that helps you to:

Simultaneously create 100+ mockups with a single image add

100+ different mockup templates

Create laptop mockups, attire mockups, tablet mockups, desktop mockups, phone mockups and much more

Easily edit and customise your mockup pictures; resize, crop or rotate to match your screen

Upload an image from your computer or beam from any place on the internet with one click

Create mockup that are ready for printing and also optimized for the internet

Program 4: LOGOZIGN

Logozign is a Desktop app for PC and Mac that helps you to:

Create infinite logos for yourself and customers the easy way

Design with No specific skills needed

Immediate real-time downloadable logo mockups

Monogram features included

Mascot features included

Modern icon library with millions of icons

Use different logo styles and containers

Choose Modern design standards

Upload and use your own fonts

Save your logo project and continue editing later

Upload SVG files and continue editing them with Logozign to add to your logos

Last but not the least, in order to offer you a decent with expertise, the team will bring you some other amenities

Commercial license is included so that you can sell your layouts and keep 100% profits

YOUSTART Video Training Course: Everything you will need to know about getting started with Youzign, visual advertising and launching your brand online even if you have zero design skills.

24/6 Support: there should be some time you struggle hard to handle a few tasks, then feel free to contact for assistance

30-day money back guarantee

Weekly training webinars: Join the zSuite for one hour of free training every Friday. Plus instant access to almost two years (100+ webinars) value of recorded training.

Now, let's take a look at some people's opinion about these 4 apps:

I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE YOU SHOULD GET ZSUITE NOW FOR SOME REASONS:

Before coming to zSuite, perhaps you have to use these 4 applications instead. All take you monthly recurring fee, at $73 per month! Oops! This price is not certainly profitable for business owners who has low-budget, a newbie or a start-up. That's why you need to seriously think about getting zSuite, meaning using a access to 4 design apps with the same outstanding features and the price tag is truly affordable. $67 one time payment for eternally using.

The next reason is, you know Upwork -- the most significant labor market for freelancer?

Companies, Organizations, Entrepreneurs are hungry for these kinds of designing service. The demand keeps growing all of the time. For those who don't need to do dead-end job anymore, you can try getting a professional designer working at home. Since zSuite has all kinds of necessary, niche-independent templates and design together with complete customization, it lets you develop your imagination from zero and make money from it.

You must be curious how it performs in action. So, please listen to my following illustration on a few fundamental design

Building a LOGO WITH LOGOZIGN

There are 4 sections You Need to notice when creating a Logo: Name, Slogan, Symbol and Container

Step 1: Name your own Logo, and make a Slogan

Step 2: Upload SVC in Symbol segment and make some adjustments

A few alterations on text: Size; Font, Spacing, Color

You have a gorgeous Logo like below:

Step 3: Download and Save

You may also save Transparent variant when clicking on it in Container segment .

MAKING FACEBOOK COVER WITH YOUZIGN

Here's the main DASHBOARD

Step 1: Once you log in, hit the"NEW DESIGN" button to start create a new one

As you can see, apart from Facebook, you are able to create impressive cover for virtually all of the social platforms such as Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest,...

Step 2: Designing process

There are 4 sections: Background, Graphics, Text, Filter, Upload

Search Graphics on Pixabay based on key word

After adding text and correct it, you can also insert your designed logo on the cover

Step 4: Download and Save

Building a GIF AD USING GIFZIGN

Step 1: Choose from the GIF library or decide to upload your own/ record a new one

Step 2: Make a few adjustments

Upload your designed logo

Adjust the length of the GIF

Go to Filters If You Would like to test what kind of color is suitable

Making Mockups (for MUG) with Mockzign

Step 1: Choose a kind of mug you want to design

Step 2: Click on"PLUS" button that I highlight on the step 1 picture to upload your designed logo

Step 3: Hit download on the right corner

Above all, zSuite also instructs carefully on how to upload each of these logos, covers or GIF in your Facebook or other social networking network. A summary video for you to recap everything you can do with

To be clearer, please watch the DEMO VIDEO under:

https://uprafficoto.com/

[goodenoughtopotato]

How to Bypass Surveys

Received an email from a nameless reader asking help on a way to block, disable or skip CPALead surveys and different online surveys. For individuals who are not familiar with CPALead or online surveys, these are CPA or Cost Per Action advertising gear that some human beings use to monetize their website and are common for sites that provide popular media and different downloadable content material.

When you attempt to get admission to a site with a CPALead survey or different online surveys, you’ll be greeted through something like this: 

Users are required to fill up those online surveys or download and install video games earlier than they are able to continue and get the stuff that they need. For maximum users, these online surveys are very traumatic and time ingesting and commonly, filling up surveys doesn’t assure that the content material they’re seeking out can be provided. That’s why many customers would similar to block, disable or pass these online surveys for you to get immediately get entry to to the stuff that they’re searching out.

Also, Read Miracast for Windows 7

Today, I’ll percentage you with you a few simple however powerful tricks on a way to block, disable or bypass online surveys.

Mozilla Firefox No Add-on Method

1. Open Firefox. 2. Go to the website that has the web survey (Let website load absolutely). 3. On Firefox, click on on View > Page Style > No Style. Firefox No Style 4. Firefox will disable all internet styling elements (CSS, Javascript). 5. You should now have got right of entry to to the content material without being bothered by the online survey.

With the CSS & Javascript disabled, the web surveys received show up so you’ll have to get entry to to the content material that you want. This has to paintings most of the time unless the website is designed to test if the web survey is going for walks or no longer. If that’s the case, then you may try any of the methods under.

Also, Read Dolphin Browser for PC Windows 7810 and mac Vista Linux free download

Mozilla Firefox Add-on Method #1

1. Download and Install the NoScript Addon for Firefox. 2. Restart Firefox. 3. Go to the website that has the How to the online survey (Let website load absolutely). 4. Click the NoScript Addon Options located at the bottom of the browser (Displays all enabled/disabled scripts). NoScript Options 5. Scripts vary for each website. You can decide which one is the web survey script by means of allowing scripts one after the other. Once the online survey pops up, revoke get entry to to the final script which you allowed. (Options > Forbid [name of script]) 6. If you’re looking to access an embedded video, permit it through Options > Blocked Objects. NoScript Blocked Objects 7. You need to now have to get entry to to the content without being bothered by means of the net survey.

Mozilla Firefox Add-on Method #2

1. Download and Install the QuickJava Addon for Firefox. 2. Restart Firefox. 3. The QuickJava toolbar will appear on the bottom of the screen of Firefox. QuickJava Addon Toolbar 4. Go to the internet site that has the net survey (Let internet site load completely). 5. Disable scripts via a click on the icons: Js — Javascript, J — Java, F — Flash, SL — Silverlight, I — Images or CSS (Disabled = pink icon, Enabled = blue icon) 6. You have to now have access to the content material without being stricken with the aid of the web survey.

Methods 2 & three are practically similar to the No Add-on Method but they are a piece extra complicated and allows more manipulate over which scripts to permit/disable.

Also, Read Super VPN for PC Windows and Mac

GreaseMonkey Script Method* (Mozilla Firefox & Google Chrome)

1. Requires the Greasemonkey script. Get it here if you don’t have it yet. 2. Install the CPALead Remover script from Userscripts. CPALead Remover Script 3. Restart your net browser (Firefox or Chrome). 4. Go to the website that has the CPALead survey. 5. You have to now have access to the content material without being troubled by using the net survey.

NOTE: Make positive that you most effective use one upload-on/script at a time to keep away from conflicts and to make sure that the script/addon features well. Try out each one and keep the one that works for you.

Hope this educational on how to block online surveys become able to help you prevent time and get rid of the one's traumatic online surveys. If you realize of another methods or tricks on a way to block, disable or skip online surveys, please do proportion on the comments phase.

More info Clicks Bestoftool.com

[probablyrpgmechanicsideas]

Ideas: It takes a vill-er... party

Although rarer, some tabletop groups/DMs allow the players to run multiple characters at the same time. It’s also the norm to meet that one party member who will seduce and beyond anything.

... However, maybe this could be made as an advantage in multi-character games.

Suppose this: A campaign where players can control multiple characters at once, and more than just putting their first character through an AU prompt (younger, alternate timeline, “I’m you, from the future,” etc.) Players must - obviously - create their own characters at first, but opportunities will later show themselves so that players may make their own additional characters or may adopt a favorite NPC as a new character (and gods help you if +1 player want the same NPC).

Once players have established more than one character in their “cast,” or if two players cooperate, PCs in the campaign may choose to have children. Then, should any of that character’s cast members die, and one of the aforementioned opportunities don’t show up, they can bring up one of the kids as a new adventurer. A good failsafe of avoiding campaigns suddenly ending in TPK without the players having to adopt to COMPLETELY new roleplay personas (See: Like father like son, mother like daughter, etc.)

If you like this idea, and are already seeing the inner mechanics in your head, good for you! Otherwise, I’ll put a system I’ve used for years under the bar.

First: when I create characters, no matter how far they’re developed, I always give them a one-word prompt or theme to try to start the foundation on. In cases where I’d create kids between characters, this has actually helped quite a bit.

As shown in this example image, even characters based solely on a one-word concept can bring a lot of fun and creativity when makin’ kids. Compounding the words together, associating them with a third word in common, there’s plenty of room for wordplay after the foreplay! XD

Now be wary of “compounding” systems like the left-hand side of this family tree. Notice how, after the compound word is made, I simplify it to a more easily handled term. If you create a system that doesn’t use compound words but still “compounds” the characters’ prompts, instill some way to simplify the prompts so that players don’t bend over backwards finally figuring out the only two cast members who make a “ sports-man-ship “ child.

Otherwise, have fun with different ways to represent individual family members! Prompts could be words, but the PCs could also represent characters and children by RGB colors (and adding, subtracting, averaging, etc. the RGB values for the kids). Get creative with how to represent your characters in the simplest prompts like this!

Next: we’ve covered the semantic side, but what about the syntax? the “pen” bard child above could be a wordsmith with some skill in music and spacial magic from their parents, but do they have their bard parent’s charisma? Their mage parent’s magic skill? There’s lots of different ways to go about calculating a kid’s stats, including just rolling/point-buying them like you would any other new character. However, I’d take a more genetic approach:

Calculate the parents’ average score per each stat, then roll 1d6 to have some genetic mutation to add some variety! Assign the mutations to the stats you want, or assign them by the order you roll them. Whatever you’re feeling! As for classes, equipment, gold, backstories, etc., that all is basically the game itself! The stat rolling makes your character borderline playable, and the creative prompts give you some idea what the character is like. But fleshing out the character can be integrated into the campaign, and it could be a nice, less violent change of pace to interrupt the “Great War” or the “Threat of the Dark Lord” for a bit to watch the kids learn, grow, and eventually decide their classes in a coming-of-age style semi-campaign. Or, if your group is short on time, DMs can put their players through a lightning round: instead of acting out the story in-game, have the players improvise the kids’ life stories so that they can be brought up as playable characters instantly. So what if it breaks the laws of in-universe time~? Happy family-ing~!

[pallesencorneliussen5-blog]

What Application Professionals Could Learn From A Couple of Outstanding Applications.

The amount of people possess downloaded and install the Windows 8 Creator Sneak peek considering that this was first created openly accessible finally month's CREATE conference? Customer relationships typically aren't like friendships: both you and your clients are actually busy, as well as most of our team comprehend that our organisation concentrates work schedule as time go on as new tasks and challenges turn up in work as well as in life. A technician on the Office Mac panel stated that this is a known trouble along with their built-in style sheet format, and also MAY BE dealt with when the first primary improve emerges, but no commitments. I can easily say to through exactly how usually your hefty concern for the sacredness of lifestyle evaporates upon shipping. However the exhibit likewise showcases other nerve organs network-based tools, consisting of design transactions, which makes use of neural depictions to recombine and divide content and also style from approximate graphics." This enables the performer to mash up a Manet and a Picasso the means a DJ may combine a stand out and a home song. Like Concepts, you can easily define and also spare your own Tissue Styles, also, making that basic to use a personal type to any sort of cell. CSS3Machine makes the most innovative CSS3 styles basic to apply as well as exciting to explore. This lifts some major questions about whether or not the journey for significance in lifestyle is an efficient effort. Meet her in the apartment or condos from the Presidium Commons as well as you may decide to revitalize your relationship. You as a 3DS fan Eli need to know my emotions regarding this, Fantasy Lifestyle on 3DS is actually an amazing video game I don't know how many hours I invested in that. However give me one thing like an intangible including Insurance or manufacturer's warranties and I'll market next to nothing. In my screening, a WebDirect-enabled data bank accessed in Trip or even Chrome on my Mac computer supplies regarding 95 per-cent of the experience of accessing the same database the old fabricated way", that is actually, utilizing FileMaker Pro as a client. I recognize just what that emotion is like, the sensation Chloe verbalizes throughout the 2nd and third episodes of Lifestyle is Strange. For physical fitness tracking, the Life Band Contact could mention steps taken, proximity travelled, pace or even fats burned. That fits along with Apple's method operandi: provide our team additional functions, but maintain the overall electric battery life the exact same. 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[chaosd1]

You know, when I reblogged that, it was mostly to showcase an issue that’s been present for YEARS, but keeps cropping up every now and then because most of Channel Awesome’s fans still think it’s 2010. If I had a Patreon dollar for every person who asked me something about “____ DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY!” despite that not being a thing I’ve done for over half a decade, I would probably not have to worry about paying off that damaged tire, or any future repairs to my car and/or PC. Long story short, they aren’t very good at letting things go.

I know people who want me to share my story are hoping for the same level of juicy gossip or levels of hypocrisy or betrayal that have accompanied so many of these other stories but I’m sorry to say it’s not quite that interesting, or even remotely “gotcha” in any sense of the word. If anything it’s more a reveal of how the company feels about its low-tier producers, and symptomatic of the larger issue that they clearly DON’T want anyone but the Chicago crew, or anyone that’s possibly bringing in their own audience. Remember when JonTron and PBG posted on Blistered Thumbs? I’m pretty sure they’re still kicking themselves over that one. As a bit of background, I always wanted to be on the CA site in some form, and by the time I had a show to offer up, I was already pretty close friends with a lot of the producers. In fact, it was Julien (Sad Panda) who decided to post up one of my videos in his schedule slot as a way to offer me a test spot. It was well recieved enough, but video games were almost always relegated to BT at the point, so off I went.

Despite being the more “respected” site by some audiences, all snafu’s aside, I felt that Channel Awesome treated Blistered Thumbs producers as second class citizens. Posting on there was like the Wild West. You put up whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted, and as often as you wanted, and hoped someone with a show that consisted of a three-hour long livestream split up into 15 minute increments wouldn’t end up pushing your video off the main page slider within the next few hours. It was very much for that reason I pursued some means to get myself listed on the main site by cleaning up the YEARS worth of spam and reported comments. After bringing it to the right people, I was permitted to post videos on the main site as well. It went well enough... for a while.

Once BT was shut down, a few of my friends (specifically MegaGWolf) were unceremoniously let go without an ounce of communication. (Most everyone on BT who wasn’t brought on to the CA “merger” had to find out via friends, as Michaud didn’t directly inform them.) Despite the promise of rebranding and stronger promotion, the BT audience didn’t really follow over to CA as the site didn’t really fit their desires, and the core CA audience was basically “NC, Linkara,and that’s it.” Views tanked and it was around the time I decided to move over to Youtube as the Blip waters were already pretty troubled.

At some point I started doing relatively well on Youtube, to the point CA felt like an annoying afterthought. I had to make special titlecards for CA as they had a ridiculous format I’d purposefully ignore later on just to see if they were paying attention. For example, the images were all supposed to be JPGS, though I always made them PNG, and since they were hotlinking them from my site anyway, WHY DID IT FUCKING MATTER?! It most felt like this ridiculous push for control and a power play that no one bothered to enforce anyway. Each time we scheduled we had to provide a link, a title, and a link to a special made titlecard. Did you have a special instruction or link you wanted to include when posting on CA? Good fucking luck they would ever include it, or spell half that shit correctly. Hell after a while, I figured it was pretty non-coincidental that after changing the title format from “MMO Grinder: Name of Game” to “Name of Game - ChaosD1,” views coming from CA were barely a percentile of the overall views I’d get from every other source. It wasn’t worth making them a stupid special title card and hopping onto a painfully broken scheduling site (a site that, by the way was designed for Sporting Events, and was so filled with non-updated dead links I occasionally would troll them by posting my category as “Blistered Thumbs” and “The Inebriati” both still available in the category dropdown menu. I’ll bet you they are still there to this day.

My issue didn’t come about until a sudden rule change. A rule I didn’t really have an issue with until the market started dying down, and my constant crushing depression over winter and my wife’s illness kicked in. Basically, “Post one video a month, or you’re stricken from the site.” later on that was changed to TWO videos per month and my show was almost always a ONCE per month deal. Seemed a bit suspect and draconian. There were people who didn’t post videos for several MONTHS that were still listed on the site, but they suspiciously had pretty strong followings elsewhere. Still I figured some form of warning or amnesty would take place to some extent. So in April of 2017 it was a pretty shitty month. Most of it was spent working on Eternal Crusade which was such a miserable slog none of us felt like doing much of anything else, there were no games to Sidequest for the suddenly required 2nd video per month, and I was pretty sure I was going to get some flak for it.Keep this in mind, I was WELL AWARE of the risk I was taking by not posting a second video, despite me rather often saying my show was monthly at the most. I figured they might know this, I’d get a warning, and that’d be the end of it. However, I was able to get out Eternal Crusade at the very end of April, but didn’t get around to posting it on the schedule until May 1st. May 1st rolls around, I check the site for any feedback and comments, and notice the video isn’t posted at all.... and I can’t access the scheduler anymore. One day late of posting consistently for 5 fucking years, and I’m locked out of the site like I stole a laptop from the studio. So I hopped on Twitter. Partially to express dismay, and partially because... I noticed I didn’t really have an audience on Channel Awesome anymore. I asked this very specific question and joked with some of the replies, most of whom confirmed my suspicion. They really only watched me on my site or my YT channel.

Still in talking with the CA chat in Skype, (I’d be on that Producer’s chat more often if I didn’t basically swear off Skype after Discord included screenshare. The producers and former producers really should make a Discord channel already.) they informed me that they’d probably reverse their decision if I just contacted Greg. While I didn’t think it was likely worth the effort, I figured I would anyway. Maybe pipe dreams of being included in an anniversary special some day. I just couldn’t wait to be the guy sitting slightly out of camera range in every shot with the one exception of getting to say “What should we do now, Critic?” for my first and only line in the movie. So I contacted Greg. It went a little something like this (for the Skype uninitiated, my words in Blue, Greg’s in grey):

So yeah, always fun to have to wait several days for a sentencing to the crime of being a day late on a post.

Of course, I cropped out the rest of the image, because the response without any contact in-between immediately afterward was this:

Yes I was being a sarcast there. I’m a sarcast... but when I’m last told “we’ll go through everything” and that is immediately followed up by “Sorry I took so long to get back, but... get lost scrub” I’m probably going to be a bit miffed about it. Of course this is CA and you can’t talk bad about them... or post something on Twitter they presume is talking bad about them, as this was the response to my sarcastic reply:

So yeah, Greg not quite understanding the concept of linear time (again I posted the tweet BEFORE I sent him the Skype message, not after) apparently you can’t even ask your audience where they still watch your videos most. They take it as a personal insult, like I didn’t enough appreciate those generous table scraps us low-tier producers had to fight over.

All things considered though, I knew the risk of not posting a second video in that month, and I valued my sanity over tossing out content for the sake of a suddenly imposed deadline. Could I have contacted Greg? Yeah, I suppose so, but why should I even have to? To be only a day late and have everything stricken without warning, like a robot looked over the feed and said “Well a month has passed, and there was only one so fired lel” without considering why, or even checking in on the employee in question, is the kind of corporate "numbers-only” bullshit that I swore off retail for. It’s fitting so many people in charge of Channel Awesome used to work at Circuit City is all I’m saying.

So that’s it. Nothing major, something I basically brought on myself, but still a fairly telling story of how you’d be treated as a content producer on that site.

And to all the current and remaining producers that aren’t showing up to the studio every day, or have a sizable enough audience to make a dent if you were to leave... they don’t WANT you there. They do not care about you. You are a liability. The very second they have a logical-to-them reason to cut your ass from the site, they will. Why put yourself through all that stress for a job that makes demands of you, without even paying you, promoting you, or benefiting you in any way? You know they don’t care about that site now that they are where they are with their YouTube channel. (Currently there are two producers that haven’t posted since December, that are still listed on the site. I must have been a special exception, or maybe it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a video as long as you keep telling them you don’t.) You’re white noise to them. Stay or go. As much as you think it might, it probably won’t make a difference to you... 

...but it definitely won’t make a difference to them.