#npcs and settings ask game

[linkedspirit-fanartfunart]

Alright we’ll if I inspired this then Linebeck and Skyloft UwU

[Image Description: 3 lineart comic panels. 1: Linebeck holding onto a Tree, wind blowing over the edge of Skyloft. Someone shouts "Are you ok sir?" and Linebeck responds "Perfectly! I'm just investigating the differences in trees so So Very far above Sea level...." 2: Linebeck leans over Beedle's Airshop counter, patting Sky on the shoulder with a grin. "Now. We Both know you're a scam, but you rely on good word to keep people comin' up- SO-" he says. Beedle looks at him with a glare, while Sky looks worried. 3: The bay doors of Beedle's airship are open, and Linebeck, in a toonier style, falls, wide-eyed, shouting "WAa?" while Sky descends with his sailcloth with a scowl. End ID]

Personally, I don't think the man would get along very well with Skyloft lol.

[puppppppppy]

learning abt friendship decay and "not reaching out to your friends for months at a time unprompted is not neurotypical behaviour" has me feeling a certain way

[yuniper]

i was showing my mom kingdom come deliverance because she likes historical fiction and i always try to win her over and change her mind on video games. so anyway, when the game was loading up and it was talking about king wenceslas she was like "oh, your great grandpa had such a nice royal name." and i just sat there like. what.

so, turns out i only ever knew my great grandpa by his nickname.

[kayzero]

in the spaces between not working on zwg and not finishing brother’s burden, i’ve been, uh…

thinking about something new.

[neriyon]

Gotta ask for 15 and 20 for the pre-dawntrail wol questions! 😌

Pre-Dawntrail WoL questions

15. What would your wol be if they weren't the wol? What would they do as a job or career? Would they be happier?

Hawu'li would be some sort of travelling healer! Slowly going around from village to village, focusing on helping places that might not have their own resident healer. So technically not that different from now haha - just with a lot less god-killing and world saving, and more focus on individual cases.

As for how happy he would be: he'd defenitely like that and could not think of a better career, but he'd never meet even half of the people he meets now and I feel like that'd be a huge loss for him. Not to mention his separation anxiety would probably always stay around the ARR/HW levels (bad), since he might not have companions he'd slowly grow to trust to be there even when he can't see them at that exact moment.

20. What is your wol's best quality? What's the thing that they do that really gets stuff done of makes people like them? Hard mode: their own perception vs. a friend or partner's perception.

Hmm, I was first gonna say kindness, but maybe his very social nature? He's not afraid to start conversations and seems to naturally get along with people he meets. Like every time Scions arrive to a new location and start the "time to do some chores to get friends", chances are Hawu'li's already chatting up some random passerby. Leave him at it for a hour or so and he'll most likely return with 5 new friends ready to answer questions.

[chibishortdeath]

This might sound silly, but I think it's really cute/funny that Simon still gets hit on and called attractive by folks in the Town of Alba, even with the curse plaguing him.

I agree tbh lol. I’ve seen a couple translations of it that say the women are a little more uh what’s the word.. blunt in the original Japanese, fun fact! Think like the difference between someone saying “you’re cute” and “I want you” lmao. I love imagining Simon, cursed and dying, getting hit on and being all awkward about it cause he’s not used to compliments in the first place and also he knows he looks like a corpse right now 💀💀💀. It’d make for a silly cutscene or something X,,,D.

[connormoving]

so close to being done with one step in the larger step in the larger step of the spreadsheet.

i ran out of space in the tags so im continuing them under the cut bc i wasnt finished... and if you let me finish i would of finshed my santance

anyways i have some countries like. the borders r pretty close to irl countries and i have them in my notes as x country but other ones i split them into like. just smaller subregions of the continent based on irl like. regions. like i split africa into . Madagascar + East Africa + Central Africa + Southern Africa + Western Africa + Northern Africa and its referenced off of maps where those r like. the recognized regions (well. madagascar is usually just counted as either east or southern africa but yk). but idk... im worried its a shitty thing 2 do i just dont know what else 2 do with it. maybe i should just use an actual world map instead since im going more realistic with like. the time periods and stuff. IDK i just rly wanna avoid the shit the sims does so much where it lumps a bunch of cultures together like. the chinese world in ts3 world adventures having a torii gate for the icon. -_- yk. the map was kinda superfluous anyway and more judt a way to visualize where the worlds we have were distributed + also was mostly influenced by that one ts4 mod which takes that more simplistic approach but maybe i can just step away from that and just go more realism based Its just hard bc i dont wanna like. lose the more like. silly isnt quite the word (itis kind of but not fully) ig i mean i dont wanna lose the abstraction kind of thing the sims has. but like. I am auite literally making a spreadsheet to get rid of some of the abstraction the sims has so what am i on about. IDK i just have been thinking abt it a lot basically... like sims im already making shit up and locking the sims to like real world history stuff it only makes sense to like. do the same thing with The world and not have it be abstracted. so yes that was a lot of words to say i think im just gonna move to thinking of the sims as living on Basically earth. In my personal the sims palace that ive made up. this is not to say i personally think of the sims as tkaing place on earth or anything ive just decided to do like. Bc this whole thing is basically an au im making anyway like. taking ts3 sims and making them be from the 1950s thats already Not what the game is like. so ill just make it a Realworld sims au. ok yay 👍 thats all sorry for talking sm abt something so pointless and also for not using a SINGLE paragraph break im basically just writing in this like i write in the tags (stream of consciousness) but the tags have the benefit of being naturally split up so yes i dont think anybody is reading this far. when i was little and playing skyward sword for the first time roughly 7-8 years old i got to the like trial on skyloft and i got so scared i smashed the cd so that i wouldnt have to do it . and then i blamed my dog for it. and i did this even tho lamp had JUST started a skyward sword playthru which idk if i knew at the time but i do feel rly guilty abt it. but i was rly scared. ok thats all

[mbat]

if it matters im over here thinking more about some random WoW NPCs that i bet literally no one has ever spared more than a few thoughts about at most lmao

[glimmeringtwilight]

SAW THE UR TAGS SAY THAT YOI SYARTED ON A SUNDAY PIECE IM SCREAMIGN RATTLING YHE BARS OF MY ENCLISURE LET ME IN

JFHAHFKAJ ur so real and valid!! I've been stewing on writing for him since he appeared for the first time bc I saw that man and I Knew he was freaky.

I'm such a whore for men who act prim and polite but are controlling (CANON. HIM BEING CONTROLLING IS CANON I?'M WJAJEOSJ) and crazy im. BARK. BARK ABKRNS AKFNSNSL

I'm really really trying to wait for more from him in the upcoming update (SOON) bc I need to see how he acts and I'm. .. .x.swjjd3jsoems i'm so. I can't wait. I thankfully have the day... of? After? The update off?? Idk. I'm going to blast through the story asap though.

[shizunitis]

the world of pidw is malfunctioning. wives already wed are not triggering their wife plots, and the story is suffering!

to fix the issue, the system has grabbed the soul of shen yuan to act as wife plot enacter. he must now set in motion the wife plots for every wife who does not stumble onto it by herself, as well as keep the timeline on track.

luo binghe thinks there’s a weird meddling kidnapper with access to aphrodisiac plants who’s jealous of either him, or his harem. he genuinely can’t tell. the man, who he’s never seen but had been described as kind, beautiful and gentle, was either too kindhearted to hurt any of his wives or a malicious spirit. some of the wives even come back with gifts. as apology? enticement? luo binghe doesn’t know. some wives even want to go back, while others ask the emperor for leniency. he’s yet to manage to catch this mysterious man.

the system has applied a special tag to npc shen yuan’s character profile: “protagonist halo’s blindspot”, which allows him to evade every attempt at being discovered by the protagonist while active! it’s really quite helpful.

eventually luo binghe figures out some kind of pattern to the whole thing (airplane had a system) and, disguised as the wife in “danger”, he allows himself to be kindapped and taken to a modest but warm home where he’s shown to “his” room and told to wait by the most beautiful man he’s ever seen. he’s given books and food, and assured no one will bother him until the emperor shows up.

when luo binghe doesn’t show up to save the wife, shen yuan begins feeling bad for keeping her cooped up and starts keeping her company. they talk, play table games, she cooks for him when he proves hopeless in the kitchen. shen yuan feels horrible: where is binghe? this beauty is waiting to be saved, and he’s nowhere to be seen! and she’s so cool, too! very powerful cultivator! why would binghe not want to save her? he’s left the appropriate amount of clues! also, where’s the system?! the damn thing announced it was enacting “final wife plot protocol” and then fucked off!!! shen yuan was so close to freedom!!!!!!!!

and that’s the story of how luo binghe found his empress

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than drawing

Just beat the boss of the 3rd stratum in Etrian Odyssey 5 and idk if it's just my party composition or what but. 2nd Stratum Boss: "I will bash, slash, panic, and paralyze you relentlessly." 3rd Stratum Boss: "Nooo don't kill my low hp minions I need them to do anything!"

[linkedspirit-fanartfunart]

For the side character asks:

Medli in castle town (you choose which one)

[Image Description: A lineart drawing of Medli holding up a young Malon to the Minish Cap Castle Town bell. End ID]

Minish Cap has such a CUTE castle town, I HAD to

[theroundbartable]

The whole Merlin show is a dating sim and Arthur is the player.

Albion is actually just the name of the game and Arthur keeps playing the game over and over again. He's obsessed with it, really and even tries out dating each individual character if he can.

It's a game in a world setting where magic keeps corrupting his family and betraying him and he fights it off every damn round. The game has consequences for his actions and Arthur likes exploring those.

For some reason tho, Merlin is the last one he decides to date. At first, Merlin sounds like an NPC who really just exists to annoy him. But the more he plays the game, the more Arthur starts to like the annoying bastard and eventually decides to court him in the game.

It unlocks a storyline he did not see coming and makes him question everything this game has offered him before.

The thing is, as Arthur researches, this Merlin NPC exists in no other Game. The entire storyline is new and people keep asking him for updates on it, so he streams it with other people to watch because it just IS that crazy.

And then something even odder happens, because when Arthur goes back to a save file, the dialogue options suddenly change. And that has never happened with the other characters.

Because Merlin remembers.

[dirthenera]

Ok I need to get this out with the news about devs being fired dropping.

There will be spoilers for Veilguard here so proceed with caution.

EA fucked the game, and the more I think about it, the more angry I am with them.

It all starts with one choice- the devs wanted the veil to come down in that opening, and EA told them no. Told them they couldn’t bring the veil down at all.

It was never going to be a player choice- it couldn’t, it would create two entirely different worlds leading forward, so it would have to be something outside player control, and they were told no.

The veil coming down was outside forces and the veil staying up was Rook’s choice. And had to be Rook’s choice.

Because of that, our Rook could never see the veil coming down as a worthwhile option. Which means we could never engage with it as a reality. We could never ask what that would look like, or question the morality of the veil, either practically, or as a thought experiment. No companions will bring up what it might be like in any positive way or even just as an “I wonder.”

We only get to see veil =bad so Rook must be right.

They cut Solas’ elven followers because having even *one* npc on his side for noble reasons would make us question too much, and we were not allowed to have an opinion other than veil =good, because the devs were hamstringed by it.

No companions ever discuss what it could be like without the veil, and they *should*. Can you imagine Emmrich and Bellara debating it? Emmrich absolutely fascinated by how it would impact spirits and they wouldn’t need to possess anyone or anything, Bellara leery after seeing so much wild magic in Arlathan but wondering if uninterrupted etheric flows would create more stable magic over time. Taash surprising the party by being way more cool with it than expected due to their Rivaini upbringing, and more open to that than necromancy.

Lucanis and Harding being firmly against it to the point it causes some friction in the team, Davrin just staying out of it because he doesn’t get it and doesn’t want to. Harding has a moment of questioning at a weak point after reminiscing about Cole, and wonders how many like him there could be if the veil did come down.

Neve feeling extremely mixed about it, between it possibly allowing a reshuffle of power in Tevinter, removing the ability for mages to make deals with demons, but also upset at the potential raw chaos.

But we never even get to look at that. Because there was no option there. Even if each character landed on veil=good, we never even got to have the discussion, because we couldn’t do anything with it.

And we can see how that spirals out and created a much less morally complex game than we’ve previously gotten. Rook is the good guy because they said so, Solas is the bad guy who, despite being beyond willing to talk to anyone who will listen to him, refuses to expand on what the veil coming down looks like. Because he can’t. Because then we might agree with him.

We’re only allowed Varric’s point of view, which makes sense for the beginning, but there was never an option to expand it. There is one single dialogue option where we can tell Solas “whoops didn’t know that.” But that’s the beginning and end of that train of thought.

They even set us up as this FANTASTIC foil to Solas, having meddled in a ritual we didn’t understand and unleashing multiple blights and elven gods, essentially destroying the south, blighting most of the north, partially destroying a city, and a countless death toll. But taking actual responsibility with that isn’t allowed- because we may sympathize too much with Solas. Because we clearly did the right thing because the veil is still up. It’s not even addressed in the regret prison! Solas tells you thousands would still have died if he took down the veil, but thousands did die as a direct result of Rook meddling. And nowhere can you acknowledge that.

[sixeyesonathiel]

very niche drabble from my drafts but honestly i would die without posting anything new in a day so i hope y'all will like this and see the vision LMAO, will have different parts <3 since lyra have pointed it out, just saying now that the reader is the cashier :D

isekai'd as game protag nerdjo x isekai'd as saintess npc reader, fluff.

the sunlight catches in your hair again.

satoru doesn’t mean to look. really. he doesn’t. but it’s kind of impossible not to when it glows like that—when every strand shimmers gold in the light of the descending sun like threads spun from divinity itself. it’s almost offensive, honestly. like the devs knew exactly what they were doing when they coded your idle animation to lean forward with a hum and tuck a loose wisp behind your ear just so.

he shifts his weight from one boot to the other, arms crossed, mouth tight, trying to look casual and not like he’s completely entranced by the way the snow melts before it even touches you.

he shouldn't be staring. he shouldn't want to.

because he already has a crush.

back home—real home—there’s a girl who works at the little corner store where he always buys his merch and energy drinks and plastic gacha keychains. she wears cute earrings. remembers his name. slips extra digimon stickers into his bag when she thinks he’s not looking.

he can’t seem to recall what she looked like, probably because of this whole isekai thing but he was sure about one thing. he was going to ask for her number, eventually. probably. maybe. someday.

but still he could not peel his gaze away.

you’re kneeling by a bed of bluebells—early bloom, thanks to your passive skill, blessing of spring. soft petals brush against your fingertips as you gently trace the outline of each flower, humming a song he’s pretty sure isn’t in the game’s ost. a small smile plays on your lips. the world around you feels alive in a way it never did when he played this on his old console—birds chirp too realistically, snowflakes glint too sharply, the wind carries your voice just enough to tease at the edge of his hearing.

and he’s just standing there. holy sword at his side. cape slightly crooked. heart lodged firmly in his throat.

“you’re staring again,” their rogue probably says behind him. maybe it’s their archer this time. he doesn’t hear. or rather—he refuses to.

because how the hell is he supposed to focus on defeating the demon king when you smile like that?

he’s the hero now. the chosen one. satoru gojo, level 99 celestial knight. maxed-out stats in everything that mattered: strength, speed, light magic resistance, charisma so broken it’s been nerfed twice since launch. and yet here he is—still taking psychic damage from the way your lashes flutter when you blink at him.

he’s been here for weeks ever since dozing off in a middle of some cutscene. isekai’d straight into his favorite game—celestial hearts: divine war of fate—which was absolutely not supposed to be a dating sim. it was about strategy and honor and battle mechanics. not about feelings or pretty saintess girls in glowing white cloaks and soothing voices who keep patting his head when he looks tired.

“sir gojo?” you say gently, glancing over your shoulder at him, smile soft and patient.

your eyes catch the light and sparkle—sparkle, literally sparkle. like someone turned the shader settings all the way up just for you. “you look flushed. are you feeling alright?”

“y–yeah,” he says, cracking audibly. god. why did his voice do that. he clears his throat. straightens up. resets his face to what he thinks is a neutral, knightly expression. “must be the sun. y’know. too hot.”

you blink. your lips part in polite confusion, and you glance up at the sky.

“but it’s snowing.”

“…right.”

his hands twitch at his sides, fingers flexing restlessly in his gloves. damn this game. damn the developers. damn their incredible, stupid attention to detail. your hands—bare, of course—hover over the flowers again, cupping one like a tiny offering. your sleeves fall past your wrists, white and gold embroidery catching the breeze. he knows your bio by heart: “saintess of the divine spring, miracle maiden of light,” the usual npc flavor text. maxed healing. high affinity scores. probably a tragic backstory somewhere in your questline.

but none of that mentioned how your laugh sounds like windchimes strung across heaven’s gate.

“sir gojo,” you say again, standing now, brushing imaginary dust and flower petals from your skirts. your movements are dainty, practiced, but your brows draw slightly inward with genuine concern. “you’ve been standing still for a while. are you sure you’re not overheating?”

his cape flutters awkwardly in the wind. his fingers go rigid. he can’t even blink.

girl. please.

he opens his mouth. closes it. opens it again, as if maybe this time something normal will come out.

“maybe i’m…” his voice trails off as he wills his brain to function. “overheating from your… divine radiance?”

the words leave him like a spell miscast.

a pregnant pause.

then—your eyes go wide. your lips twitch. and you laugh.

not a dainty giggle this time, but a laugh. soft and delighted and surprised all at once, curling from your throat like a melody no bard could replicate. you lift your sleeve to hide your smile, cheeks faintly pink—not blushing, no, the game probably just coded you to respond to compliments with a heat shader—

he’s going to die.

he’s actually going to drop dead right here in the middle of a flower field over a non-playable character.

somewhere deep in the forest, a bowstring snaps with unnecessary violence. someone—probably the mage—lets out a strangled, exhausted noise of pure despair.

satoru barely notices. he’s busy fighting for his life.

you’re still smiling at him. the wind rustles the bluebells. your hair glows like god’s personal sunbeam. the scene is perfect. it looks like a damn cg cut-in. he expects text to pop up any second with your name and some sappy line like “i’m glad you’re here, brave knight.”

but instead you just say, softly, with an amused little tilt of your head, “you’re strange, sir gojo.”

“i get that a lot,” he mumbles.

and somehow, impossibly, you smile brighter.

he has to beat the demon king. return to his world. back to traffic, vending machines, anime reruns, and microwaved curry. back to a life without hand-drawn skies and snow that melts against your skin and the way you say his name like it’s a blessing.

but you’re looking at him now like he’s the one glowing.

and satoru thinks—maybe. maybe just a little longer.

a few more days of fumbling compliments, of you laughing at his dumb jokes, of trying not to combust every time your hands brush his.

a few more days of your soft voice calling him “sir gojo” like you don’t even realize you’ve already enchanted him more deeply than any demon ever could.

[ettinjiggywithit]

Hey folks! I'm crowdfunding a reprint of Hard Wired Island, my cyberpunk TTRPG. Backers can get a discounted physical copy or just a PDF!

Hard Wired Island is a retrofuture cyberpunk game, inspired by 90s anime. It's set on a space station orbiting Earth in an alternate 2020 where a meteorite strike supercharged public interest in space exploration. The player characters are regular Grand Cross citizens doing their best to live their everyday lives while fighting for the station's future.

This 400-page game includes:

An easy-to-learn system where social actions and problem-solving skills are at least as important as hacking and getting into fights.

An alternate 2020 setting in an O'Neill cylinder near Earth.

Descriptions of the many locations of Grand Cross, from the busy downtown Voyager Ward to the high-tech parkland of Mariposa to the Agriculture Ring that feeds the station.

Seven Occupations, including the Fixer, the Hacker, and the Influencer, along with a plethora of character options.

Over 100 detailed NPC descriptions, from corporate heavyweights to android crime lords to just regular citizens of an Earth-orbit city.

A flexible mission prep system that allows characters to adapt their plans on the fly without wasting their earlier efforts.

A wealth system that tracks the financial burdens placed on you by the capitalist system you live in.

A cybernetics system that doesn't dehumanize you for installing augments.

A lot of great art from a lot of great artists.

No genAI because we're not gormless hacks.

The game released in 2021 to great reviews. We sold out of print copies long ago and people keep asking us for more, so now's your chance!