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#ronin will not be getting personal space for a hundred years
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I swear, Ronin is the equivalent of "why are we here...? Just to suffer??" In the B.E.N.T. au while his other dimension brothers are causing chaos. Somehow, Ronin is still the youngest, but he also feels like the oldest wrangling a bunch of kindergarteners and trying to make sure they don't set the place on fire. That guy is a walking existential crisis
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this is how it feels 24/7
forever subjected to little brother
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thecreaturecodex · 4 years
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Devil, Bulugon
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Image © Green Ronin Press, by Torin Macbin
[Commissioned by @justicegundam82. Unlike many of the creatures from The Book of Fiends, I’ve actually used the bulugon in a game, many years ago. Bulugons are among the many monsters that feel fat-shamy, especially in 3rd party products, and so I wanted to stress why this was fat and evil, not evil because it’s fat or fat because it’s evil. As such, I ended up turning them into caricatures of celebrity chefs. Name them after your least favorite Food Network personality!]
Devil, Bulugon CR 5 LE Outsider (extraplanar)
This scaly humanoid has the head of a horned crocodile, the hands and feet of a frog, and leathery wings. It is nearly spherical, and a stream of drool oozes from its mouth. It clutches a trident in its hands.
Bulugons, or glutton devils, are creatures of physical pleasure. They work hard to create situations that indulge others. They are pushers of idleness and sloth, encouraging mortals to ignore their responsibilities and duties, and causing them to slide into evil through spiritual inertia. A bulugon in the Material Plane may be found providing encouragement to a contract devil’s marks, using victuals to tempt creatures towards evil, or accepting and devouring live sacrifices to devilish powers.
A typical bulugon would rather be in a court or kitchen than on the front lines, but they are sometimes called upon to fight for their lords. If their personal domains are intruded upon, they fight gleefully. They serve well as artillery and magical support, strafing formations and spraying them with acid or spells. A bulugon usually enters melee with a dive—they are not agile flyers, but they have enough inertia to make such attacks devastating. A bulugon can and will swallow man-sized targets whole.
Many bulugons apply their minds to culinary matters, serving in the staffs of infernal courts and diabolists. As neither they nor higher ranking devils truly require food, this allows them a huge amount of freedom in what they prepare and how. Such feasts may be used to impress mortal guests, poison them, or both. They are fond of extravagant waste, spending hundreds of gold pieces to create the “perfect” dish if allowed to. A bulugon is obsequious towards superior devils, but a tyrant to lesser creatures, and most of them have a staff of imps and mephits that they browbeat and humiliate at all times. When a bulugon’s temper or hunger gets the better of it, they are known to eat their underlings. They prefer warm climes, and their kitchens can be stiflingly, deadly hot to mortal intruders.
Bulugon CR 5 XP 1,600 LE Large outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful) Init -1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., Perception +10, see in darkness, scent Defense AC 18, touch 8, flat-footed 18 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +10 natural) hp 57 (6d10+24) Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +7 DR 5/good or silver; Immune fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 16 Offense Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (poor) Melee masterwork trident +10/+5 (2d6+6), bite +4 (1d8+2 plus grab), gore +4 (1d6+2) or bite +9 (1d8+4 plus grab), gore +9 (1d6+4) Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft. Special Attacks breath weapon (5d4 acid, 15 foot cone, Ref DC 18 half, 1d4 rounds), dive bomb +2d6, swallow whole (AC 15, hp 5, 5d4 acid) Spell-like Abilities CL 6th, concentration +8 At will—darkness, delusional pride (DC 13), greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs only) 3/day—create food and water, fear (DC 16, single target only), suggestion (DC 15) 1/day—fireball (DC 15), poison (DC 16), summon (3 imps, 50%, 3rd level), unholy blight (DC 16) Statistics Str 18, Dex 9, Con 18, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 15 Base Atk +6; CMB +11 (+15 grapple); CMD 20 Feats Death From Above (B), Hover, Persuasive, Power Attack Skills Bluff +10, Diplomacy +12, Fly +2, Intimidate +12, Perception +10, Profession (chef) +10, Sense Motive +10, Swim +17 Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal, telepathy 100 ft. SQ create feast Ecology Environment any land or underground (Hell) Organization solitary, pair, troupe (3-6) or staff (1-3 plus 2-9 imps and mephits) Treasure standard (masterwork trident, other treasure) Special Abilities Create Feast (Su) When a bulugon casts create food and water, it can choose to make fine food and wine instead of gruel and water. Dive Bomb (Ex) Whenever a bulugon makes a charge from higher ground, it deals an additional 2d6 points of damage.
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pestopascal · 6 years
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face
Sometime late into the Ronin line. Judith in @saintsrow1‘s canon with Mickey
It takes at least five flicks of her phone, before she presses number one. Speed dial, specific number. Eyes still shut in the dark, but habit drew Jude to finding some comfort in hearing the other line ring out. Like there was still family on the other side, somewhere far from here. 
Thirteen rings. New record. Straight to voicemail, and Jude hears the cheery voice of her sister filter through. Her nieces and nephews, chipper and bubbly and she smiles despite herself. Makes her feel just that little heavier, like her mattress was going to swallow her whole. Did Adele even have her number anymore? It’d been nearly five years this September, she figured. Give or take a few good weeks. 
Snaps her phone shut when the line dies, no message left. Never did anyway. Better to let Adele live her life with Michael, or Steve, or Bob. Whoever that guy was. The one who bought her flowers everyday and got them that fancy house, lots of land. Dogs and shrubs and the white picket fence. Photos had long since stopped rolling in, but that didn’t mean Jude didn’t stop looking. Double checking. Look her up on social media, and watch her family age. 
One day she’d just roll up at Adele’s door. When she wasn’t skinny and bruised and her hair was brushed. Not like the last time. A few more hundred in the bank, and Jude was sure she could just leave this place behind.
There’s a knock at the door. One that echoes through the empty apartment. With an eye cracking open, almost immediately closing at seeing the sunlight that had managed to get through her curtain, Jude realised it was getting on. Creeping into the afternoon. Appointment soon, probably? Right? Had to get her face on. Had to answer the door.
Jude drags the blankets with her, as she approaches the knocker once more. Someone was impatient. She had half a mind to consider that if she opened the door, she might get blasted right in the face. Be it Ronin, or Brotherhood, or even stragglers of Los Carnales out for some payback. Jude thinks of her phone, and how the call rang out. She didn’t really give a fuck, anyway.
Pulling the door open until the chain stops it, she peers around. Nothing remotely shiny or dangerous appears in her line of sight, just a shirt pulled a little too tight over a chest. 
“I didn’t think it was my birthday today.”
The delivery wasn’t quite there. Even she could tell. Mickey at least gives her something in the way of a disapproving sigh, sidestepping any sort of emotional confrontation at two in the afternoon. Too early for her to be sobbing over a bottle of wine, surely. 
“May I come in?”
And Mickey? He’s too polite. Too careful. Even as she shrugs as best as she could under her blankets, popping the chain and letting the door just swing open, he gives her space. More than she was used to. Jude was used to the ones who sidle up, try to touch, try to speak. Weird being treated as a person, and not a service. She hadn’t quite decided if she liked it so much.
It all boiled down to money, in the end, anyway. Only reason she was still on the Saints’ payroll was because the income wasn’t awful, and it meant more in the safety deposit box, while the Ronin kept topping her off — at least until that ended, whenever that would be. More than once, Jude had begrudgingly asked the Saints to give her a timeline. Los Carnales closed up shop a little too early last time, when she was still coasting the business. Apparently they still existed in some capacity, but it wasn’t the same. 
At least the Ronin gave her business class seats when flying her out whenever she was needed.
“Who’s the guy?” Was it wrong to consider this some form of being pimped out? Jude had long since done this sort of shit, or at least, thought she had. Mickey claimed it was private contracts through him, but sometimes she still had to take her bra off. Flopping on the couch, she can barely see the clock. She might be able to fit in an assassination around dinner, if need be.
On the coffee table, covered in magazines, and magazines, varying handhelds and other things, does Mickey place a paper bag. The smell hits her first, inciting her whole body to yell food! at the face of the red haired mascot. 
Carefully, she opens the top of it. “You brought me food?” Like the smell hadn’t told her anything else, but it was still. Weird. So weird. Like the last few weeks had been a gradual chain of weird events, that just seemed to take another corner whenever it was time. 
Jude wasn’t sure if she was failing upwards. But the burger smelt good, and the fries were salty, and Mickey just flicked through tv stations while she licked sauce off her thumb.
More news, about buildings going up in flames and people dying in the streets. A regular Thursday in Stilwater. Jude spills a pickle on her blanket, flicks it away, and tucks her feet underneath herself. Like Mickey had unlocked the secret to getting her more active so early in the day: greasy food.
“So, what’s the job? Been a couple of days since I last saw you.” Which was true. Last she’d seen Mickey, it was a rush job. Some cop turned politician turned whatever the fuck he was spouting, just before his brains had ended up on the pillows. 
Mickey shifts from his position in the armchair. Crosses and uncrosses his legs, like he was uncomfortable. Jude did have to spare a quick look to check that yes, she was wearing clothes under the blankets, so it wasn’t on her. Just him, and his politeness, and his weirdness.
It’s the first time he didn’t look her in the eye when he spoke. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright. And that you had eaten, ma’am.”
Almost habit to roll her eyes at the name, by this point. “How sweet.”
“You did kill a man.” And had she been any other kind of gal, Jude would’ve understood.
Except she wasn’t. “You say that like it’s never occurred to you that I’ve killed lots of men before.”
For the first time, she manages to get Mickey to look surprised. Sure, he’d always been the one to take the shot. Before things got too heavy, stepping out of the bathroom or the closet, silencer on. Jude just figured it was some professionalism on his behalf. The dots just had never connected that he had been trying to prevent her from bloodying her hands. That was adorable to consider.
“I hadn’t—”
“It’s fine. Not like I introduce myself that way… you wouldn’t have known.”
Something sits on his face. An emotion Jude couldn’t place. One that took the air out of the room, and there wasn’t enough bun left for her meat to distract her anyway. She settles for draining the remaining part of her cola, far too noisy (something to fill the quiet). 
Almost like. Almost like he cared on some retrospective level she didn’t have time for. Jude didn’t chase that sort of thing, because it didn’t mean much in the end, anyway. Like Mickey was the first guy to come along, hand her a bunch of papers, a few photos, set her out to work. How did he think she got her apartment, for starters. If that was sympathy, directed towards her, Jude wanted it gone. Leave feelings at the front door.
Clearing her throat and throwing the wrappers in the bag, Jude wipes her hands on the couch. Kicks her feet up on the table, and looks at Mickey expectantly. Move on, she thinks. Move on. “Anyway. Back to my question: do you have a job for me?”
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jackstamper · 5 years
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Avengers Endgame-Spoilers after the Cut!
So, I saw Avengers Endgame yesterday, and found it amazing. But, while seeing it so early means Freedom from Spoilers...it also means having no one to talk about it.
So I’m doing the next best thing. Writing about my thoughts here on Tumblr and hoping, someone finds it and argues with me.
So, last warning, behind this here cut are two Top 5 rankings with PLENTY of Spoilers. If you have seen the movies, please read and tell me your thoughts! If you haven’t and want to be spoiled: Be my guest, and I gladly answer any question you may have about it. But if you want to stay unspoiled before going into the movie: Just don’t click on read more.
...all okay? Good. LEt’s start with some criticism
Top 5 underdevelopped plotlines in Endgame
5. The Aftermath of the Resnap
So yes, first big Spoiler: The dusted people ALL come back. To be fully precise: Five years elapse from Thanos Snap to the main action of Endgame. The world lived on, which, for the heroes, is most prominent in Tony Stark fathering a child. This makes a Reset-Button very tricky to use...Stark made it clear from the beginning, that his daughter is a priority, she should not vanish. So? They make the next logical wish on the Gauntlet.
Bring everyone back. Into the now. Everyone that snaps comes back into existence, but in this very minute.
The movie then STARTS to look into it, as Hawkeyes formally dusted wife calls him, and Cap notices a few more birds than normal in the trees. But before we can look into this some more...Thanos attacks and almost kills them all again. I mean...I expected at least Hawkeye to die from being bombed by an intergalactic spaceship, but seems his Ronin-Armor is tougher than I thought.
Anyway, this tragically cuts this plotpoint back a lot. Think about it: Everyone is back in the now. Families, that moved on, suddenly have their members appear among them. If they are lucky: Dozens of buildings are abandoned, and now suddenly people appear in them, confused, as to what happened. And remember that Post-Credits scene with Fury? People dusted while driving cars or Helicopters...do they materialize on the streets? In the air? What about aliens in space, who flew in Spaceships? Is it dependent, on where their dust lies? How will they react? Chances are, this results in a major panic. So many questions are unanswered, but...well, the movie didn’t seem to have quite the time for that.
4. Captain Marvel...who?
Here’s a thing about the whole movie: It gets a hundred times better, if you say the other 20+ movies before it. Heck, they basically visit several of the old movies. But Captain Marvel, in particular, is important...or, rather: The Post-Credits Scene. Because without it, you’d be completely confused, who this glowing woman at the start was.
Captain Marvel was...an oddity in this movie. From what we can tell, she’s clearly the strongest fighter of the group (Yes, even more so than Thor and Hulk), yet she basically disappears early in the movie, and only reappears halfway through the climax. Maybe they wanted her strength to not intervene with the plot? Her in-universe explanation of needing to help all the other planets after the Snap certainly wouldn’t have prevented her from going to the past with them and...saving all those other people from the snap.
But what might be the biggest dropped ball about her is her introduction. In that: She has none. Her intro was that Post-Credits scene from her movie. The Avengers are trying to keep the Pager alive, and she’s suddenly among them, asking for Fury. First thing we see here is her dragging Iron Man and Nebula back to earth and then hang around, as if she always was a part of the group. I’m not even sure they say her name once...and I think it would have been real easy to at least have Tony ask about her or something.
3. Rescue
Many people, even before the movie came out, started talking about Rescue and her being in the movie, and...that might cause some confusion for others. Rescue was not mentioned in the movie, and she comes out of nowhere...some foreshadowing notwithstanding.
To clear the confusion up: Rescue is Pepper Potts in her own set of armor. Early in the movie, Tony makes an armor (well, we only see the helmet) for her for their anniversary, but he says, she never wears something he made. And...that’s it. That’s all we get, until the final battle scene, where Pepper suddenly appears, wearing the armor. Not much is said about this, because basically everyone else appears as well, which...further undercuts the impact this has.
She has a few scenes in the movie, a corrdinated battle with Tony, rescuing Peter Parker and the Gauntlet, supporting Captain Marvel, and of course, telling Tony he can rest after the Final Snap. But as to why she donned the armor so quickly, how Dr. Strange knew he could throw her in, how SHE knew, she can fight here...no clue, no idea. Certainly could have benefitted a bit of an explanation...how about right after the Resnap, when Tony, after starting to think, everything worked, calls Pepper and tries to say, what’s up...only for everything to explode. This would give Pepper the immediate motivation to suit up herself...and heck, who cares about magic to bring her there, she just flew, and happened to arrive at the same time. But...yeah, the movie was already mroe than 3 hours, so...
2. Loki...kinda lives?
So, Loki gets his own Netflix-Series, which kinda means, he has to survive, right? Eh...well, Vision and Black Widow both get further content as well, and...they are kinda dead, or still dead at the end of the movie. Loki as well, but...wait, is he? No, he didn’t trick his death again...during time travel shenanigans, Tony accidentally gets knocked aside by Past Hulk, and looses the Tessarect, which lands to Past-Lokis feet. Loki, confused, but quick on his feet, grabs it and escapes. In the movie, the main setback was loosing the Space Stone and needing another timeline to get it. But...that kinda glances over a lot, doesn’t it?
First of all, the obvious: Loki is freed in a timeline, and has the Space Stone to go where he wants. Which...could be the perfect segway to his show, but said show is meant to be him reacting to different time periods...does he get the Time Stone as well? No? So...does Loki exist in the main timeline now? Or only this other time line?
For a moment I also thought, him disappearing with the stone means, now one of the Infinity Stones is actually gone from the Timeline, and the Ancient One has every reason to be upset with Bruce for lying, but...I guess he stayed in the same timeline, so, at least that is clear. But what exactly happened to Loki, and what it means to our timeline has not been answered at all.
1. Professor Hulk
This...is the big one for me. And it might not be, if there wouldn’t have been so much setup, and if it wasn’t such a big plotpoint in Infinity War.
So...the Hulk and Bruce Banner...kinda merged. In what is known as Professor Hulk. When we first see Bruce Banner, he is in Hulk-Form, but...retains his full intellect. And he explains, he basically made peace with the Hulk and merged Brains and Brawn.
And...it stays like that until the end.
There is one interesting insight, when the Ancient One seperates his consciousnes from his body, because suddenly, it’s the human body of Bruce Banner floating around, arguing with her...not the merged form. This might be a clue, that the persona of the Hulk is actually really gone...though personally, I hoped, that this was setting up a big reveal: At some point, I hoped, Bruce would give up arguing, and just say: “Get her”. And the Hulk suddenly tackles her. She kicked Bruce Banners Persona out, but the Hulks was still in the body, waiting for his partner to give the signal.
Sadly, this didn’t happen. Instead, the conclusion of the big “Why doesn’t the Hulk want to fight”-plot of the last movie is...completely off-screen. And all the conflict of the Hulk is gone. He even works as an actual professor...wait what? I...guess he’s not a wanted man anymore, but...that /is/ a big step. Would have been nice to see more development there, or a less wholesome state.
These things bothered me in the movie, because there were interesting points present...but they apprarently didn’t have the time to develop them properly. Which isn’t surprising, when the rest of the movie already takes 3 hours. Do they ruin the movie for me? Heck no, I love that movie! And it did take a surprising number of things and gave it the proper development and conclusion it deserved. I love this movie, and I will probably make more lists or talk more like this, and hope some people interact with me about this!
Bonus Point, that bothered me: Limited Pym Particle-Plotpoint. According to Ant-Man, they only have enough Pym Particles for each of them to take two Time Trips, after all the testing is done. One trip to the past, and one trip back. First obvious point: Get the Timestone, and you have all the Time Travel options in the world. Have Tony and Bruce take a look at the particles, get Pyms Formulas and try to synthesize more, just in case. But no, the main Problem I have with that, is: Pym Particles were not the stuff that made them time travel, it only made them shrink enough TO time travel. So...everyone can only shrink and regrow twice...really? Someone better tell Scott Lang this, since he shrinks during the Caper, and changed his size multiple times.
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kayawagner · 6 years
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Gnome Stew Notables – Donna Prior
Donna “Danicia” Prior is the Sparkly Princess of Social Media & Community Management. She is currently the Organized Play Manager for Catan Studio and the Executive Director of OrcaCon, the inclusive tabletop games convention. She has worked in both video games and tabletop games. In short, gamer, geek, and future wife of Wedge Antilles. Lives on Twitter as @Danicia. Find Donna on about.me/Danicia and Twitch.tv/Danicia
What projects have you worked on?
I’ve been working in the games industry now since 2007, starting with the video game industry. I got my start on Pirates of the Burning Sea, Guild Wars 2, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, TERA Online, and numerous properties for SOE (Sony Online Entertainment). I met Chris Pramas, CEO of Green Ronin Publishing, while working on PotBS, as we both worked at Flying Lab. I started contracting with Green Ronin a few years ago as the Events Manager, handling the Gen Con volunteer GM presence and outlining a Volunteer GM Program aka the Green Ronin Freebooters. After my last video game layoff, I was forwarded the Organized Play gig with Catan by a friend and that’s where I am today.
  You work in areas of gaming that are often overlooked in favor of the creators and designers, but the industry relies on hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are not  in the limelight. What does your job entail, and how did you get into that area of games?
My role as the Catan Organized Play Manager involves a lot of spreadsheets. Hah! I schedule regional Qualifier tournaments for the Catan National Championships where Catan is published in the English language. My largest amount of work is the US program, but I’ve also restructured the Canadian, UK, and Australia programs, plus created new programs for Ireland and Vietnam. I’ve still got so many more to put into place. I also coordinate and facilitate the Catan Masters Invitational, which a special tournament for the top tier US players. Plus, I coordinate with our team and Asmodee for a presence at shows such as Origins, Gen Con, UK Games Expo, and more.
Whilst Organized Play Management is different from what I’ve been doing (Community Management), it still involves community outreach, communication, coordination of people and events. There’s an aspect of content creation, social media interactions, and more. My plan is to also build out some typical community gathering spaces, to help grow said community of both competitive and casual Catan players.
As far as Community Management as a career? I was actually hired right out of a game community to work on PotBS’ Community Team. I was naturally already doing outreach, working with fansites, moderating and running communities on forums, LiveJournal, and more. It was a natural progression to actually start doing it for a living. Left the IT field behind without looking back!
For the future, I’d love to do some more writing and freelance work.
You spend a ton of time traveling to conventions and events. What are your secrets for survival? 
Alone time! No, seriously! I avoid parties. I make sure to take extra care to eat and drink plenty of water. I will meet with friends for dinner sometimes, but otherwise, I am back in my room in the quiet, watching Netflix or reading. It helps, when you’re running a 64-person event with all the chaos that it entails. I tend to bring along protein snacks with me when doing shows, or pick some up when I arrive. Nuts, cheese, trail mix, that sort of thing. Carbs might get you a big energy rush at first, but then you crash right on down. I also don’t drink sodas, eat candy, or chug coffee. I sit whenever I can, as the standing in one place thing is super hard on one’s body.
For the travel part of it, I tend to pay for slight upgrades on flights. As example, if it’s not too expensive, I’ll upgrade to first class for the relaxation of it. Doesn’t always work, but I go for creature comforts whenever possible.
There’s a lot of discussion of community and community responsibility lately. How can we build a better, stronger gaming community that welcomes everyone?
Gosh, there’s so much to unpack with this one. Really, it has to start from the top down. Geeks & gamers are not an oppressed group. Gaming and geek things are mainstream, and we should welcome the chance to play with everyone.
First, companies and community leaders should actually listen to people who aren’t already gamers. You’ll get a very different response on what people want in games and game communities. Listen to why people don’t feel welcome in game stores. Why people have a hard time finding D&D groups, tabletop groups. Find ways of making people feel welcome, instead of excluding. As an example, I was visiting a local game store. I talked with the owner at some length. He’s got a heavy Magic & Warhammer clientele. That’s not bad at all, a lot of those stores are very successful. But he wants to create a hub where everyone feels welcome to play games. Where women and families feel welcome. I asked him, “Do you have tampons and pads in your restroom?” and he looked at me like I was speaking a different language. It’s not that he was excluding people intentionally; I felt he was truly baffled why he couldn’t generate a good board game meetup hangout establishment. He’s got LOTS of potential in his store, but he just doesn’t know how to fix it.
I am experienced with games for years and years, so you have to do something super jerky for me to feel unwelcome. But, your average consumer will totally feel unwelcome if your store looks like someone’s extended basement. Clutter, posters on the wall with masking tape. Dust, unpainted concrete floors. Broken furniture (or cheap Costco folding tables and chairs) and the like. If you want to become a destination for communities, you need to clean the place up and make it friendly. It’s a hard thing, too, because that all costs money, which is something not a lot of FLGS (friendly local game stores) have, with the margins on games being so tight. That’s where it starts. If you create a welcome and safe environment, don’t tolerate harassment and grossness, you start creating a healthy community.
If you wanna have grognard shop, that’s fine, too. Some folks like that and that’s okay for them. For me, it’s sad, because it means there are heaps of people who will never feel welcome to play games, but folks can run their business how they want.
You’re also an avid gamer. Which properties and settings do you most love?
I am an unabashed lover of Forgotten Realms. One of my hobbies is actually just making characters and developing backstories, in hopes of playing them in a game someday. Hell, I hope to play in a game where people love the Realms as much as I do, and will have a super RPG heavy campaign. (HINT HINT IF ANYONE IS LOOKING FOR PLAYERS). I’m a huge fan of the Shadowrun lore, but HATE the system(s). I hate math. There, I said it (I’ve got Dyscalculia). I’ve always been a big Classic Deadlands fan, but it’s super hard to find compatible players. I love love love the Dragon Age setting and hope to kick off a Roll20 campaign after con season. I don’t know Blue Rose as much as some, but I love the setting and nope to get into a campaign (or run one). And I AM SO VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE EXPANSE RPG.
What is your dream game? (Either to make, or play.)
Sense8. I would LOVE to play in the Sense8 world, or run a campaign. Once Modern AGE comes out, I may try to pull together a mini convention game if Joe Carriker will help me. We have been chatting about working on this for fun ever since the series came out. Of course, I started brainstorming characters to be in different Clusters.
What upcoming projects or events are you excited about? 
I DID MENTION THE EXPANSE, RIGHT? I am also excited about REVOLUTIONARIES — American War of Independence RPG, Good Society: A Jane Austen Roleplaying Game, Sigil & Sign — Cthulhu Mythos RPG where you play the cultist, Satanic Panic, Mysteries of the Yōkai: An RPG Inspired by Japanese Folklore, A Delve in the Cave: 5th Edition Adventure, Overlight RPG: A roleplaying game of kaleidoscopic fantasy, and and and…well… a lot of other things.
Gnome Stew Notables – Donna Prior published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com
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kayawagner · 6 years
Text
Gnome Stew Notables – Donna Prior
Donna “Danicia” Prior is the Sparkly Princess of Social Media & Community Management. She is currently the Organized Play Manager for Catan Studio and the Executive Director of OrcaCon, the inclusive tabletop games convention. She has worked in both video games and tabletop games. In short, gamer, geek, and future wife of Wedge Antilles. Lives on Twitter as @Danicia. Find Donna on about.me/Danicia and Twitch.tv/Danicia
What projects have you worked on?
I’ve been working in the games industry now since 2007, starting with the video game industry. I got my start on Pirates of the Burning Sea, Guild Wars 2, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, TERA Online, and numerous properties for SOE (Sony Online Entertainment). I met Chris Pramas, CEO of Green Ronin Publishing, while working on PotBS, as we both worked at Flying Lab. I started contracting with Green Ronin a few years ago as the Events Manager, handling the Gen Con volunteer GM presence and outlining a Volunteer GM Program aka the Green Ronin Freebooters. After my last video game layoff, I was forwarded the Organized Play gig with Catan by a friend and that’s where I am today.
  You work in areas of gaming that are often overlooked in favor of the creators and designers, but the industry relies on hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are not  in the limelight. What does your job entail, and how did you get into that area of games?
My role as the Catan Organized Play Manager involves a lot of spreadsheets. Hah! I schedule regional Qualifier tournaments for the Catan National Championships where Catan is published in the English language. My largest amount of work is the US program, but I’ve also restructured the Canadian, UK, and Australia programs, plus created new programs for Ireland and Vietnam. I’ve still got so many more to put into place. I also coordinate and facilitate the Catan Masters Invitational, which a special tournament for the top tier US players. Plus, I coordinate with our team and Asmodee for a presence at shows such as Origins, Gen Con, UK Games Expo, and more.
Whilst Organized Play Management is different from what I’ve been doing (Community Management), it still involves community outreach, communication, coordination of people and events. There’s an aspect of content creation, social media interactions, and more. My plan is to also build out some typical community gathering spaces, to help grow said community of both competitive and casual Catan players.
As far as Community Management as a career? I was actually hired right out of a game community to work on PotBS’ Community Team. I was naturally already doing outreach, working with fansites, moderating and running communities on forums, LiveJournal, and more. It was a natural progression to actually start doing it for a living. Left the IT field behind without looking back!
For the future, I’d love to do some more writing and freelance work.
You spend a ton of time traveling to conventions and events. What are your secrets for survival? 
Alone time! No, seriously! I avoid parties. I make sure to take extra care to eat and drink plenty of water. I will meet with friends for dinner sometimes, but otherwise, I am back in my room in the quiet, watching Netflix or reading. It helps, when you’re running a 64-person event with all the chaos that it entails. I tend to bring along protein snacks with me when doing shows, or pick some up when I arrive. Nuts, cheese, trail mix, that sort of thing. Carbs might get you a big energy rush at first, but then you crash right on down. I also don’t drink sodas, eat candy, or chug coffee. I sit whenever I can, as the standing in one place thing is super hard on one’s body.
For the travel part of it, I tend to pay for slight upgrades on flights. As example, if it’s not too expensive, I’ll upgrade to first class for the relaxation of it. Doesn’t always work, but I go for creature comforts whenever possible.
There’s a lot of discussion of community and community responsibility lately. How can we build a better, stronger gaming community that welcomes everyone?
Gosh, there’s so much to unpack with this one. Really, it has to start from the top down. Geeks & gamers are not an oppressed group. Gaming and geek things are mainstream, and we should welcome the chance to play with everyone.
First, companies and community leaders should actually listen to people who aren’t already gamers. You’ll get a very different response on what people want in games and game communities. Listen to why people don’t feel welcome in game stores. Why people have a hard time finding D&D groups, tabletop groups. Find ways of making people feel welcome, instead of excluding. As an example, I was visiting a local game store. I talked with the owner at some length. He’s got a heavy Magic & Warhammer clientele. That’s not bad at all, a lot of those stores are very successful. But he wants to create a hub where everyone feels welcome to play games. Where women and families feel welcome. I asked him, “Do you have tampons and pads in your restroom?” and he looked at me like I was speaking a different language. It’s not that he was excluding people intentionally; I felt he was truly baffled why he couldn’t generate a good board game meetup hangout establishment. He’s got LOTS of potential in his store, but he just doesn’t know how to fix it.
I am experienced with games for years and years, so you have to do something super jerky for me to feel unwelcome. But, your average consumer will totally feel unwelcome if your store looks like someone’s extended basement. Clutter, posters on the wall with masking tape. Dust, unpainted concrete floors. Broken furniture (or cheap Costco folding tables and chairs) and the like. If you want to become a destination for communities, you need to clean the place up and make it friendly. It’s a hard thing, too, because that all costs money, which is something not a lot of FLGS (friendly local game stores) have, with the margins on games being so tight. That’s where it starts. If you create a welcome and safe environment, don’t tolerate harassment and grossness, you start creating a healthy community.
If you wanna have grognard shop, that’s fine, too. Some folks like that and that’s okay for them. For me, it’s sad, because it means there are heaps of people who will never feel welcome to play games, but folks can run their business how they want.
You’re also an avid gamer. Which properties and settings do you most love?
I am an unabashed lover of Forgotten Realms. One of my hobbies is actually just making characters and developing backstories, in hopes of playing them in a game someday. Hell, I hope to play in a game where people love the Realms as much as I do, and will have a super RPG heavy campaign. (HINT HINT IF ANYONE IS LOOKING FOR PLAYERS). I’m a huge fan of the Shadowrun lore, but HATE the system(s). I hate math. There, I said it (I’ve got Dyscalculia). I’ve always been a big Classic Deadlands fan, but it’s super hard to find compatible players. I love love love the Dragon Age setting and hope to kick off a Roll20 campaign after con season. I don’t know Blue Rose as much as some, but I love the setting and nope to get into a campaign (or run one). And I AM SO VERY EXCITED ABOUT THE EXPANSE RPG.
What is your dream game? (Either to make, or play.)
Sense8. I would LOVE to play in the Sense8 world, or run a campaign. Once Modern AGE comes out, I may try to pull together a mini convention game if Joe Carriker will help me. We have been chatting about working on this for fun ever since the series came out. Of course, I started brainstorming characters to be in different Clusters.
What upcoming projects or events are you excited about? 
I DID MENTION THE EXPANSE, RIGHT? I am also excited about REVOLUTIONARIES — American War of Independence RPG, Good Society: A Jane Austen Roleplaying Game, Sigil & Sign — Cthulhu Mythos RPG where you play the cultist, Satanic Panic, Mysteries of the Yōkai: An RPG Inspired by Japanese Folklore, A Delve in the Cave: 5th Edition Adventure, Overlight RPG: A roleplaying game of kaleidoscopic fantasy, and and and…well… a lot of other things.
Gnome Stew Notables – Donna Prior published first on https://supergalaxyrom.tumblr.com
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